Team seven was annoyed. It was currently 9:30 and there sensei still hadn't shown up.
"I must admit… I am surprisingly irritated with our sensei's lack of punctuality," Naruto stated blankly as he sat cross legged in the centre of the training ground.
"Agreed," came the annoyed agreement from a certain Uchiha.
"DAMMIT! WHY DOES THIS BASTARD KEEP MAKING US WAIT LIKE THIS?!" came the much louder cry of the pink haired member of the team.
"I am uncertain as to why, but I theorise that he is either doing this out of some form of sentimental reason… or he simply likes annoying us," the young blond stated bluntly, earning a pair of sweatdrops from his teammates.
"Yo," came the casual call from the cycloptic Jōnin as he appeared out of nowhere, shocking the young girl with his sudden proximity.
"You are once again significantly late Sensei, should we take this as a sign that you will never be on time for a meeting you schedule?" Naruto asked the chronically late Jōnin.
"Now where would the fun be if I told you that?" the one eyed ninja asked with an eye smile.
"It would be through not being castrated in your sleep," the black and silver eyed teen stated coldly.
"Is that a threat?"
"That is a promise."
"You honestly think you're good enough to castrate me in my sleep?"
"No, but I'm certain someone would be prepared to do it for us as long as the pay is correct," the blond stated, earning a sweatdrop from the silver haired shinobi.
"Okay… well then I think I'll just make today's training session so hard that you won't have the energy to hire someone," the oldest of the group said with an eyesmile that made the entire group nervous.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto had to admit, Kakashi was a slave driver when he wanted to be, teaching them the basics of a chakra control exercise that involved gathering your chakra to your feet and using it to stick to a tree while walking up it. The worst part however was the fact that the punishment for falling was running 10 laps of the training field, doing 50 sit ups, 100 single handed push ups with each hand and 50 squats. That might not sound like a lot but when you fall from the tree 35 times it easily adds up.
"So did you enjoy your day?" came a voice that you just knew was smirking while it said it.
"It could've been worse… I would have preferred to of learned a form of nature transformation but he's the one with the schedule," the blond replied in his mind, earning a snort of amusement from the Kitsune.
"Just because he creates the schedule does not necessarily mean he is doing what is best for you, simply what he thinks is best for you. Considering the fact that he doesn't know you at all, it is safe to assume that he is just giving your entire team basic training before going into something more complex," the power filled voice of the small orb stated emotionlessly.
"Yeah Yoku-chan, but the fact of the matter is that I need to improve on the basics before learning anything more advanced."
"At least you admit it… and another thing, why don't you get Hōgyoku to unlock your shinigami powers? I know you want to learn your ninja skills first but the fact of the matter is that you have people to teach you them, you have NOTHING to teach you how to use shinigami powers except Hōgyoku and she admits that she doesn't really know much when it comes down to their skills… just their power," Kyūbi asked in an attempt to persuade the blond to get his shinigami powers activated.
"I guess you have a point there… hey Yoku-chan, how long would it take you to unlock my shinigami powers and how severe would the transformation be?"
"In order to prepare your body for the transformation, it would require you to remain in the chrysalis stage for about a week. During the time you will not be capable of using anything except your muscles."
"Uh, how will I eat?"
"You will need to stock up on carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, salts and fats before entering the process, to put it simply, you will need to eat in a single serving, approximately 12 times more than normal."
"Let me guess, the metamorphosis will increase my metabolism and make my body burn through the food almost twice as fast as normal."
"That is correct."
"Actually you got your calculations wrong, you forgot just how much ramen he eats in one sitting… he'll probably only need to eat twice as much as normal to go through with the process."
"Ah, yes, I forgot about that."
"Well then, we'll start after training tomorrow."
"Very well then Naruto, I will ignore you're barriers on sub-elements for now and focus on unlocking your shinigami powers."
"Thanks Yoku-chan."
XXX XXX XXX
The next was essentially the same, except this time Kakashi arrived on time… probably to make sure that his students weren't coming late and to further annoy them, while at the end of the day, Naruto ate over 40 bowls of ramen, ready to undergo the next stage in his evolution… he had to admit that it felt weird to go to bed with the chrysalis smothering him.
XXX XXX XXX
"Hello little genin," came the chirpy greeting from the one eyed sensei as he arrived three hours late, "by the way Naruto… why the hell are you wearing a full body suit?"
"It is not a suit… it is a shell, I am currently undergoing another burst of evolution and as such, I am restricted to this cocoon and incapable of using chakra," the blond explained, surprising his teammates.
"So you can't use chakra huh? If you think that is going to get you out of this then you have another thing coming, after all, just because you can't use chakra doesn't mean we can't work on your taijutsu," came the menacing statement from the Jōnin.
"I wasn't expecting to get out of training sensei, I was simply stating that I will be incapable of undergoing chakra based training for the next week, which should give us time to work on my taijutsu, strategy and trap making."
"I see… well then, Sasuke, you can continue with the tree climbing exercise, same punishment as before, Sakura… you can learn a bit of taijutsu with Naruto," the one eyed ninja said with a tone that practically shouted 'do as I say or suffer the consequences', causing the young pinkette to slowly edge up to the slightly taller blond, "now then, you two will face me one on one in a taijutsu only spar, from there on I will determine whether or not I need to teach you... so how about you first whitey," he explained before pointing at the smothered form of Naruto.
XXX XXX XXX
That night, the blond was exhausted again. Once Kakashi had ascertained their skills, he proceeded to teach Sakura new Kata for her to follow and practice, only teaching her one at a time. While she was busy practicing her new attacks, Naruto was given a much simpler task… defeat him.
When the blond asked him why, the silver haired Jōnin's response was something he hadn't expected, 'because your skill almost tripled during my test and I could tell that you weren't holding back' or in other words, the Jōnin had said that the blond improved more through experience than practice.
XXX XXX XXX
The rest of the week went surprisingly quickly as the blonds training was changed to games of shōgi and practicing making traps.
The reason for this was a little problem the blond had discovered, he could no longer use his right arm during the spars courtesy of the now blade like form it took, of course he was assured by the orb that it was normal since every shinigami used to have a sword, but since he possessed a physical body, it was necessary for the ancient sphere to construct a solid construct for him to wield, apparently she broke some of his atoms down into their basic components(1) and reconstructed them as something different to create the weightless, steel extension of his body that was imbued with his soul.
Kakashi had informed him that once the blade had grown and he was certain of what he would be when finished, that they would then practice taijutsu for a week, before moving back to the chakra control exercise and teaching him jutsu from then onwards.
However what Naruto was most concerned about right now was the fact that his shell was cracking again… this time opening to reveal no changes except for the four foot long katana held firmly in his hands grasp. Its hand guard was designed like the spiral symbol that appeared on every Konoha flak jacket, except instead of being red, it appeared to be made of gold, while the grip was wrapped in a dark crimson cloth that was too long for the handle, resulting in it taking the appearance of a flowing tassel. The sheath was a simple crimson with golden flowers wrapping around the otherwise basic piece of wood.
Of course, Naruto had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with these new powers, simply that they were there and he would have to learn how to harness them sooner or later. However right now he was supposed to meet his team for training.
XXX XXX XXX
Arriving at training ground three, Naruto and the others had to wait two hours for their sensei to show up.
"YOU'RE LATE!" came the angered call from the pink haired member of the team when the silver haired Jōnin arrived.
"Sorry, but I got lost on the road of life," came the unconcerned response from the hated Jōnin, "anyway, I see that you've finally decided to come out of your shell blondie," the Jōnin stated after seeing the blonds face again.
"Indeed, and I now possess a new weapon," the silver eyed genin stated as he unsheathed his blade slightly.
"Is that what was growing out of your arm?"
"That is a correct assumption."
"Well, I'll put it to you this way, I'm not much of a kenjutsu user and I no longer have a functioning blade to spar with you with, so you'll have to find your own sparring partner with that one," the cyclops stated calmly, before resuming their training. With Sasuke still working on tree climbing and Sakura still practicing her new taijutsu style, Kakashi said two simple words 'beat me'.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto slumped into his bed that night completely exhausted. Going by the previous rules of taijutsu only made his battle with Kakashi extremely one sided, despite his enormous improvement. Simply by using his instinct he was beginning to see what did and didn't work and was beginning to see a pattern emerge during his fight… if they kept up the taijutsu sparring for the rest of the week then he might actually have a fully functioning style by the end of it.
Of course he really could do with finding someone that could spar with him in armed combat and allow him to develop his own style of kenjutsu, he would need to see the old man about someone that could fight him… of course he would need to be capable of fighting on a level where he could keep fighting after training before he could make use of another sparring partner.
XXX XXX XXX
Kakashi had to admit, Naruto was definitely a quick learner. In just one week he had improved enough to fight on par with him with a completely unique style of taijutsu that was still being improved by the blond. One of the parts that made the style so dangerous was the fact that most attacks involved grappling the opponent and using a combination of speed and agility to slip attacks through the opponents guard while adjusting his body weight to avoid any counter attacks.
Of course, today would be different. Today he would make the blond continue the tree climbing exercise, this time without the punishment for falling, after all, over the past week the blond had been doing nothing but train his body with constant fighting.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I have a question that has been irritating me," Naruto asked out of nowhere as he began to climb the tree with his chakra.
"What is it?" came the exasperated response from the Jōnin as he wondered what sort of stupid question the blond would come out with.
"Since we became genin, we have not been given a single mission, is that normal?" the blond questioned, causing the Jōnin to blink several times.
"No it isn't normal, however Hokage-sama has high expectations for your three and ordered me to give you intensive training this month, you will all get paid as if you have completed the average number of missions however when we finally do take a mission, we will apparently be restricted to C-ranks… that is why I want you all to be as strong as you can be by the end of the month," the experienced shinobi informed the trio, earning looks of shock in the process, "that is also why I am going to try to get Sasuke to activate his sharingan this week."
"His sharingan?" Naruto asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"His kekkei genkai," the Jōnin confirmed.
"Hey Yoku-chan, how long would it take to awaken Sasuke's sharingan?"
"Considering the fact that his ancestor had already had the limiters on that ability removed, it should only take a few seconds to remove the significantly weaker barriers he has… do you want me awaken it for him?"
"What will you have to do?"
"All that will be required is that you touch his forehead, I will do the rest."
"Kakashi-sensei, please wait a short while so I can do something with Sasuke," Naruto said calmly as he jumped from the tree and walked over to the dark haired teen, "just stay still, this will be over in a few seconds," and with that the blond placed two fingers on the dark eyed boys forehead, before the Uchiha's eyes bled red before changing into a strange design of three red eclipses overlapping at the centre, on top of a black iris.
"What the hell did you just do Naruto?!" Kakashi demanded upon seeing his students new eyes.
"I activated his sharingan."
"That ISN'T a sharingan," Naruto froze. The eyes Sasuke had weren't the sharingan, but he was certain that that was all the Hōgyoku had unlocked.
"Argh!" came the pained cry from the 'last Uchiha' as he began to clutch his head in agony, however by the time the Jōnin had reached him, he had stopped.
"Sasuke! Are you alright?" the cycloptic Jōnin asked in concern, already thinking about how to punish the blond for hurting his teammate.
"Yeah… I can't believe it… Itachi replaced my memories," the dark haired teen muttered, shocking the taller man in the process.
"What do you mean?"
"I can remember things I couldn't before… Naruto, whatever you did… thank you," Sasuke said with a small smile as his mind continued to process his newly unlocked memories.
"All I tried to do was unlock your sharingan and I didn't even manage to do that," the evolved blond muttered.
"No, you did," the raven haired genin corrected, shocking the others with his claim, " I remember now, Itachi's eyes were different to a regular sharingan during 'that'… he called it the Mangekyou… and said that the only way to unlock it was by murdering your best friend," the dark eyed teen informed them, further shocking his teammates, "I don't know how you did it, but I think you've managed to activate my Mangekyou… thank you."
Naruto was stunned, Hōgyoku had activated a level of the sharingan that his sensei didn't even know existed and not only that, but one with such a huge price to activate… then again she had also unlocked his shinigami powers so he couldn't really say it was surprising.
"Well then, if that is the case then we'll spend the rest of the week trying to figure out what your new eyes can do, so Naruto, get back to that exercise and Sasuke, come with me," and with those orders given, each got back to doing their own thing.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto had to admit, it was a lot easier to learn the tree climbing exercise when he didn't have to do an entire workout every time he fell, it was so much easier that with his enhanced mental capacities he managed to get it down in a couple of hours(2). Once he had finished the exercise, instead of finding his sensei, he used the time to try and harness his shinigami power and succeeded in killing a few birds when he released some of it.
Of course after explaining what had happened to Kakashi, he proceeded to find a more secluded area to try and figure out how to harness his Reiatsu. He had some success, in that he managed to call on the power at will, however other than that, he didn't really have a clue about what it could do except cause his enemies to freeze for a short time.
However at least now he knew how to harness that power, he would continue to practice with it when he got the chance and hopefully, he would find some use for it in the near future.
(1)I'm talking about Protons, Neutrons and Electrons, I'm not including Quarks since they don't really appear as their own entity.
(2)remember that he also has larger coils which means less pressure, making his chakra control better in the first place.