Disclaimer: Don't own.
Chapter 3
"So..." Iruka started, unsure how to put his questions. He and Naruto were once again in the small ramen stand that the boy adored. It was only a few hours after the boy had blown through his exams like they were nothing but an inconvenience.
Naruto sighed. He knew what Iruka-sensei wanted to know, and also realized why the chuunin was having problems spitting it out. For the first time since his unplanned time travel, Naruto looked, really looked, at his teacher, and wondered how much he could trust him.
Iruka was taken slightly aback when those calculating blue eyes focused on him. He sat deathly still, unknowingly pulling on the same instincts that prey who came under the gae of predators used. He wasn't even breathing. They sat there like that for almost a full minute. Then the eyes turned away again, and he quickly and quietly sucked a breath into his oxygen starved lungs.
Naruto sighed again (he seemed to be doing a lot of that today) and stood up, motioning for the man to follow. They hadn't even ordered their ramen, and now they were leaving.
Iruka eyed the boy cautiously. Suspiciously. After all, there wasn't a single reason he could think of for Naruto to leave a ramen stand. Could he be in the company of an imposter. If that was true, it begged the question of why someone would pretend to be a genin (or academy student, as Naruto had been acting odd for a week before the exam)?
Noticing the man's reluctance, Naruto frowned. "I know what you're thinking, sensei. All I'm asking is that you come to my apartment with me. What I'm going to tell you isn't for..." He paused and scowled at a man who was listening in to their conversation, "Unfriendly ears." He bit out.
The chuunin finally nodded and stood up from the counter. The two made their way to the newly appointed genin's apartment in silent contemplation. One trying to comprehend the reason a person would impersonate a genin, the other trying to come up with a way to explain his impromptu time-travel without looking like a lunatic.
The blond let them in with the key when they came to the door of his rundown apartment, which deactivated a plethora of traps that would befall upon hapless intruders if they were active.
Before the genin could close the door once they entered he found a kunai at his throat. Pushing the wooden door shut, he looked into the unsure eyes of his childhood teacher.
"Who are you?" Iruka asked, proud that his voice only wavered slightly.
Naruto wasn't quite expecting this. but it was better than the man immediately putting the knife in his ribs. "Naruto Uzumaki... sort of."
The kunai pressed harder, on the verge of breaking skin. "Sort of?" The man ground out.
"I'm not exactly the Naruto Uzumaki you knew from before. Could you put that away, so I can explain without the fear of having my throat cut?" Naruto pleaded slightly. Of course he knew several ways to disarm Iruka, or even use the weapon against him, but he wanted this to be civil. He needed someone to know the truth, and who better than a cherished childhood friend?
Iruka stood there silently for a moment more, before pulling away. He kept the weapon in his hand, but it was no long pressed against the kid's trachea. Naruto quickly moved past him into the living room. "Come on, you'll need to be sitting down for this!" He called over his shoulder.
Two hours, three pots of tea, and numerous disbelieving outcries later, Iruka knew the whole story, and sat back on the couch in a mild state of shock.
"So... you've traveled back in time?" He asked weakly.
"Yep." Naruto confirmed, sipping the cup of cold tea in his hands.
"You're really 19?"
"Right."
"Sasuke defects?"
"Not if I can help it."
"And you're the son of the fourth Hokage."
"Not that shocking if you think about it. Not too many people about with blond hair and blue eyes. So I was either related to him or a Yamanaka." Naruto shrugged.
"Right. Okay. Yeah. I can... I can deal with this. No problem. Stranger things happen every day, right?" The man asked.
Naruto raised one eyebrow. "If you can think of one thing stranger than this, than I'll make sure you're the next Hokage." He said sardonically. Iruka had no choice but to laugh a little at that.
Finally he stood up. The blond looked up at him with slightly worried eyes, afraid for some reason that the teacher would reject him (probably because the chuunin was so... good, and Naruto had just told him the story of his whole life, including the various deaths he had either directly or indirectly caused) and Iruka couldn't help but smile. "So you're not exactly the kid I've seen grow up, but you were him at some point. And you're still him, just a lot more world weary. Don't worry, Naruto, you're still the brother I never had, and that will never change."
His point was proven when he was tackled by a blond torpedo that was crying, and thanking him, and hugging him.
He left smiling, with a lot to think about. He had a feeling that the future was going to be fun.
OoOo
The next morning Iruka shambled into the academy, yawning tiredly. He hadn't gotten much sleep that night, thinking not only about Naruto's incredible story, but also about the teams he had to structure. He had only needed to make some minor changes to the list of teams that he had already begun halfway through the school year. Of course he let Naruto have his old teammates, but that didn't change the fact that he also had the other students to take care of. Some that he had placed on certain teams didn't pass the tests, and he had to do some shuffling to fill the gaps. All in all he was happy with the teams.
Only ten minutes after he had settled in his desk with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him Naruto arrived and took his seat. He watched the time traveler take out a new deck of cards and begin to expertly shuffle them. After a minute of that, he just gave in to curiosity and said in a questioning tone, "Cards?"
Naruto grinned. He would have no problem with explaining this to anyone. "I had them commissioned when I first came back in time. They were finally finished this morning. Or course, I had to use a henge to get the shop proprietor to take my commission but..." He shrugged. "Whatever. Anyone, they're not normal cards." To prove this, one seemed to jump from the deck he was still shuffling, and whipped through the air to bury its edge into the desk in front of Iruka. "Each of them is made of a very thin, almost paper like metal. But it's very very strong, and sharp as hell. I designed them myself um... in your way of thinking, about seven years from now." He laughed. "They're a bit of a joke, because people were always calling me the joker of Konoha, and also Konoha's number one surprising ninja. Joker, cards, not to mention what sort of enemy would suspect that the cards I'm shuffling were also weapons."
He looked fondly down at the deck. "These things have saved my neck more times than I can count." He admitted.
"But how can you shuffle them without getting cut?" Iruka asked, studying the card that had been in his desk.
"Oh, that was a tricky thing for me to work out, but Sakura figured out a way to do it almost as soon as I explained the problem. I coat my hands in an ultra thin layer of chakra, and that protects them. You can't see the layering, so it just looks like I'm casually shuffling cards. And they're great for boring guard duty because, you know, they're cards." Naruto laughed. He caught the card that Iruka-sensei threw back at him and easily assimilated it back with its mates.
Iruka smiled. "So I take it that your control is a lot better than it used to be, because that would take a lot of focus if you don't have sharp control on your chakra." Naruto just nodded. They had only wrapped up the subject when someone they didn't expect walked into the room. It was the guy who had replaced Mizuki during the genin test the day before. Ima-something.
Iruka frowned, "Imamura-san, how can I help you?" He asked politely.
The dark haired jounin nodded slightly in greeting. "I'm here to talk to Uzumaki-san, if you don't mind Iruka-san." He said.
Iruka shot Naruto a confused look, but was met with an expression matching his own. This was something the boy hadn't been expecting then. "Right, of course. Just make sure he's back in time for the team announcement."
Naruto had no idea what the man could want. He hadn't even known him in the other timeline. Of course he had breeze through the exam in order to gain this man's respect, but he kind of expected their interaction to end there. He followed Imamura-san to an empty, unused room, not quite sure what to prepare for.
Imamura-san stood there and silently stared at him for a minute before he seemed ready to speak. "Do you know what an apprenticeship is, Uzumaki-san?" He finally asked. Naruto nodded dumbly, wondering where this was going. "What do you know of them?"
"Well, firstly it's a title used by civilians who are training for a trade. But sometimes when one ninja wants to train a younger, more inexperienced one in a certain skill, he takes him on as his apprentice." Naruto had a bit of an idea, now, where the older man was going to take this.
Imamura nodded. "You're right, of course. And now I have a very important thing for you to consider, and feel free to think about it for a while before answering. How would you like to be my apprentice to train in my clan's style of kenjutsu."
Naruto gulped. He had no training in kenjutsu, and was sorely tempted, but there were a few things that held him from saying yes right out. "What about my team? I'll need a team to do missions and to go through the chuunin and jounin exams, won't I?"
The dark haired man nodded. "Do not worry. In that respect you will be like any other genin, and have a full team along with another teacher. I will stay by your side and teach you only what I see fit for you to learn in order to support the style, leaving the rest of your training to your other sensei."
Naruto smiled widely. This, this would be an invaluable opportunity. "Then I accept wholeheartedly, and thank you humbly from the bottom of my heart for not only considering me, but actually gving me the honor of this offer." He said formally, bowing. Then frowned. "But... not that I'm questioning you or anything, don't clans usually keep their techniques for anything, including kenjutsu, within the clan?" He asked.
For a moment he saw something sad and raw flash in his new teacher's eyes before it was gone. "My clan... well, there is no longer a clan. They were completely wiped out. I am the only one left."
Naruto gulped, hoping it wasn't the Kyuubi attack that had extinguished the clan. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" He was cut off when Imamura-sensei raised his hand.
"It's alright. You had a right to wonder. It was no fault but their murderer's. They attempted to keep a family heirloom from falling into the wrong hands, and died by those hands instead." He ran his hand through his hair in slight agitation, before shrugging it off. "Enough about that, for now. If you pass my tests and if you're actually able to become my apprentice, maybe I'll tell you more about it later. For now, it's almost time for the team assignments." Imamura moved aside, motioning for the boy to proceed him out the door. Naruto moved past him, silent in thought.
So now something big had changed. The question was, how much would this effect the set out path before them?
He walked towards the classroom the other new genin were in in silent contemplation, but pasted a smile on his face when he opened the door.
When he had left, no one except Iruka and himself had been in the room, but now almost every other classmate was there, with the exception of Sakura and Ino, who he remembered had both come in later in the previous timeline. He sat down in the seat he had vacated (luckily far away from Sasuke, so there would be no possibility of the last time being repeated) and waited patiently, taking his cards out of their specially designed and reinforced sleeve to shuffle them again.
A few minutes later Sakura and Ino came bursting through, fought for a few moments, and finally sat down and the room quieted. Naruto rolled his eyes at their antics, and then trained his gaze on his favorite childhood teacher.
Iruka read off each team concisely, mentally preparing himself to see most of these kids back in his classroom at the start of the next semester, or just on the streets as civilians. He had gleaned from Naruto's story the night before which of these teams moved past the secondary genin test. "Team Seven; Naruto Uzumaki," The boy smiled at him, and continued to manipulate the lethal cards, "Sakura Haruno," The girl wailed in disappointment, "And Sasuke Uchiha." The disappointing noise turned into one of triumph, while the boy himself sat impassive. Iruka mentally wished his favorite student luck.
Naruto sat back with a satisfied smile. He knew that they would be on a team together, but was glad to have that confirmed through this time. Now he just had to figure out a way to maybe get Sai and Yamato early, and including Kakashi, Team Seven would entirely be together again.
He pulled a random card from the deck, and smiled at the Joker. Maybe he could make this at least a little fun.
OoOo
Half an hour later he and the rest of the current team seven were the only ones still left in the room. Other teams had already been collected by their new teachers, and Iruka had left after announcing all of the teams. Naruto grunted, and glanced out the window. A flash of sunlight on metal caught his eye, and he smirked. That man, what a freaking stalker.
He pulled himself up from the desk and began to walk towards the door. Sakura, who had been fawning over a brooding Sasuke, screeched at him, "Where do you think you're going, you idiot? We have to wait for our teacher!"
Naruto barely managed to bite back a retort that probably would have set the girl to tears, and instead answered in a pleasant tone. "Well, the teacher is late, and if it's who I think it is, he won't even be here for another hour and a half. I don't know about you, but my stomach says it's lunchtime, so that's where I'm going. You're both welcome to join if you want." He offered.
The pink haired girl scoffed. "And why would we want to go to lunch with you?"
"Well, for one, it's my treat. For another, whether you like it or not Haruno-san, we're going to be teammates for the foreseeable future. We might as well eat together and make a little effort to get to know each other." The old him would have thought that would have been a good enough reason for both of them to agree, but he knew now he would need a bit more ammo. "I hear there's a new sushi place that opened up that serves pretty good rice balls, so that's where I'm heading."
With that, Sasuke managed to disengage his arm from the tight grip of the girl and move towards the door. Naruto fought back the grin that threatened to reveal his manipulation. He figured that a free meal of one of his favorite foods would sway the Uchiha. Sakura, seeing that her 'one true love' was going, quickly followed at his heels like a good pet. The blond rolled his eyes and took up the last position out the door.
He led his teammates towards the restaurant, talking about it to fill the silence. "I think it only opened about two weeks ago. The guy who owns it used to work at another sushi shop but decided to try his hand at owning his own business. Oh!" He spotted a sign for a public bathroom. "I'll be right back. You guys stay here, all right?" Without waiting for an answer he ran off. He knew the sushi shop owner would refuse to service him, even though he was in the presence of the Uchiha, so he needed a private place to don a henge so that no one would know it was him.
A minute later a boy with dark brown hair and green eyes walked out off the bathroom and over to Team Seven. "Sorry about that." He said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Now where were we?"
"Who are you?" Sasuke grunted.
The boy blinked, then smacked himself in the forehead. "Right, sorry! Forgot to tell you that I need a henge to eat at the sushi shop. The shop owner won't serve me otherwise." He told them.
"Naruto?" Sakura said incredulously.
The boy nodded. "Got it in one. So, off we go!"
"You said it's only been open a couple weeks right? What kind of trouble did you cause to already be banned?" The pink haired girl sneered.
Naruto glanced coldly at her. "None at all." He said, and did not explain more.
They made it to the shop, and spent lunch making polite conversation. Well, Naruto tried, Sakura just snubbed his attempts, and Sasuke occasionally grunted. By the time they had made it back to the classroom almost an hour later, they knew nothing more about each other than when they started out, and the blond was beginning to get frustrated. How was he supposed to change the future if these two were too stubborn to at least talk?
He sat back down in his seat away from them and fumed quietly for the next half hour, until Kakashi finally showed his (portion of a) face.
Naruto thought sarcastically, 'Well this is going to be fuuuun.'
OoOo
Kakashi Hatake watched his new students from the tree outside the academy window for half an hour after the brunette teacher had assigned them. So fa what he had observed wasn't too promising, but was almost exactly what he had expected.
The blond was completely ostracized by his teammates, sitting away from them and quietly playing with a deck of cards. He planned to stay in that tree for a full two hours, hoping to see some change, when the blond looked out the window, right at him, and smirked.
What the hell? A normal genin shouldn't have seen him at all, much less a below average one that all his files claimed he was. Then, instead of calling him out, the boy stood, and convinced the other two to go to lunch with him.
Kakashi, now interested in the boy's actions, followed the three from a discreet distance, traveling from rooftop to rooftop. At on point the boy walked away from his teammates, and another rejoined them.
It was embarrassing how long it took him to figure out that the new boy was new at all, only the other one under a henge. Almost a full second!
He had been checking up on his sensei's kid about once a year, and thus far the kid was uninteresting. Loud, excitable, and mischievous. Shunned as the container of the Kyuubi, but there was nothing the jounin could do about that. He had given up the kid as a lost cause, doomed to mediocrity, but now... there was something different. Now the kid had promise.
This... this could be fun.
I'm so so so so so sorry! I have a very valid excuse. Blame my puppy, because he tipped a glass of tea into my poor computer and completely fried my baby. I had to wait two months for her to come out of the shop! Anyway. I'll maybe try to update a few more times soon. I'm not making any promises though, because we're moving towards finals season in high school. Anyway, tell me what you think, point out errors, whatever. I love you all, and once again I'm sorry. Hopefully, barring disaster, see you soon!