I don't own Naruto . That is simply a wish of mine.
Bold is demon/supernatural speech.
Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.
-Chapter Five: Acclimations-
Currently, our blond friend was standing on one hand doing pushups. When he finished his set on one hand, he changed to the other. Temari saw the shirtless ninja standing in their living room on his hand and wondered.
"Naruto, how many of those have you done?" Currently he was sleeping in the living room, as Kankuro was still clearing out his equipment from the guest room.
"five hundred on my left hand, I'm at one hundred on my right." Suddenly it made sense to Temari, Naruto was a very well muscled individual, and if he did one thousand push ups each morning, it explained it all.
Naruto finished his morning exercises and dawned a tight fitting tank top and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He took a thin gray gi, strapping on his sword and knives, as he approached the door he put on the tabi boots he'd obtained, and announced that he was going out.
Naruto had no real destination in mind, he just wanted to get a feel for the village. He had already met some of the ninja of the village, and was offered lunch by a bold Kunoichi.
Naruto walked the streets of the village trying to get a feel for the layout when a girl came up.
"Hi, my name is Nami, I was wondering if you'd like to go to lunch with me?" The girl was blushing heavily, and he saw a group of girls giggling a ways away.
"I'm sorry Nami, but I've actually got somewhere to be, maybe another time." He smiled and walked in the other direction.
The only reason he didn't accept is because he was sure the girl's friends had put her up to it. Another reason was that he wasn't particularly hungry, and had yet more exploring to do. As of yet he'd located the village's library, many restaurants, the weapons shop, which was a very interesting experience to Naruto.
Naruto walked into the weapon's shop, taking in all the sights he could in one fell swoop. The clerk then walked up to him.
"Morning boy, you don't look to be from around here. What can I help ya with?" The clerk was an older man, but by the appearance of his broad shoulders, and strong wrists and forearms he had yet to slow down.
"What gave me away? Was it the black?" Naruto scratched his head.
"Nope, it's the skin, you're not tan enough to have been here long." The man then spotted the sword on his back. "Can I see that there blade?"
"Sure." With expert precision he removed the blade, flipped it over and handed it to the man handle first.
With the trained eyes only a weapon smith could have, the man inspected the blade, the handle, the hilt, and even the pommel cap.
"A custom weapon? Most ninja can't afford something as nice as this, and it's made by the Kintori brothers, some of the Fire Country's best smiths."
"My teacher had it made for me as a gift."
"Who taught you?"
"Hashin Kaisho." The man's facial expression was that of shock.
"You're a practitioner of the famous Mushin no Shin Ryu?"
"I am indeed." He smiled, "What's your connection to our style?"
"Kaisho's master saved my father from a group of mercenaries when I was young, they outnumbered him twenty five to one, and he beat all of them with a dango skewer."
"Sounds like something out of an old martial arts movie." Naruto accepted his sword back.
"I know, consider it a thanks to your master's master, but anything you want from here is half off."
"I don't know if I can accept that."
"I insist, if ever you need anything, just let me know." At that Naruto bowed.
"Thank you sir."
"Call me Musashi, Kurotsune Musashi."
"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto then took his leave after having a quick look around.
Naruto found the training grounds after a short time, the one he was at was a valley that was surrounded on three sides by sheer cliffs. Currently he was observing a group of what he assumed to be Gennin by the looks of things. His position was hidden in a small cave on the high cliff, he saw that they were practicing two on one sparring, one of the group, a small orange haired boy was the one who was the victim of a two person attack. His two opponents were a pair of boys, one was smaller, and the other smaller.
The first attacked, the larger boy seemed to be trained in only basic martial arts, the orange haired boy ducked under the shot and delivered a right hook to the boys midsection, and came up outside the arm of the boy and plowed his left hand into the boy's temple. Turning, he narrowly dodged his second opponent's first blow, he kicked the front leg of the boy and then struck him with a flurry of body blows which temporarily stunned the boy.
The first opponent had finally regained his wits and tried to attack his seemingly unaware opponent, and this time tried a roundhouse kick, but had his back leg kicked out from under him. A pivot and a heavy straight kick took his other target out.
As the first boy began his next attempt at an assault, the orange haired boy ducked low and grabbed the assaulting arm, with a pull and a shift of his hips he slammed the boy down, and immediately feigned a knife hand strike to the throat.
At this time, Naruto decided to reveal himself, he came down and examined the three boys.
"You're a good fighter, who taught you?"
"My brother grew up in the eastern jungles where a style called Muay Thai was common. He taught me." The orange hair grinned.
"My name's Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, I'm Konoha's ambassador." Naruto bowed. The boys all returned the gesture.
"I'm Kuranesu Jon." The orange haired boy said.
"Naga Torimaru." One boy said, the taller of the two black haired boys.
"Ryouga Ashiru." The smaller one said. Naruto smiled.
"Well, where's your sensei?"
"He was KIA." Torimaru said, looking at the ground sadly.
"Well then, until you guys are assigned a new one, I'll be training you guys while I'm in town." Naruto smiled, he would look back on this one day as the best decision he'd ever made. "Alright, now the first thing I have to say is to you two, your movement is way off. Every single move you made Torimaru was so widely telegraphed that you may have well have sent a messenger. I'll be having you tighten them up." He looked at Ashiru, "Your moves are nice and tight, and it appeared that you had a great deal of power, but you have no speed, and that is your weakness." Finally he turned to Jon. "You are very fast, you remind me of a friend I have back in Konoha, but your style seems to require more power than you currently possess to reach it's true potential."
"But I took both of them down." Jon argued.
"Attack me, don't hold back, attack me like you're trying to hurt me." Jon did, it was a jab, which Naruto simply brushed aside, then a left straight punch, which he simply moved aside. The next was the strangest thing he'd ever seen, the boy stepped on Naruto's knee, and launched his other leg like a missile, his knee barely being dodged by Naruto whose style taught much avoiding.
Suddenly Jon felt himself on a collision course with the ground, he put his hands out quickly, barely catching himself, he tried to kick Naruto who caught the foot, and ended it with a powerful front kick to the boy's solar plexus.
"See, you lack power, a larger, more skilled ninja could destroy, not to mention if I drew my sword, knives or used a jutsu." Naruto said to the boy who was gasping for air.
"So how are you going to work with all of us to better our weaknesses?" Ashiru asked.
"Simple, I want you to come back here tomorrow, and I'll be here with a means of training all of you." Naruto then turned and left. Deciding he'd accomplished his mission.
When he returned to the house, he found Kankuro tinkering with a puppet, Temari was reading and Gaara was…painting.
"So what did you do today?" Temari asked.
"I met the weapon smith of the village, turned down some girl Nami for a date, and agreed to train a group of Gennin who lost their teacher."
"Sounds like you had some fun." Kankuro said, switching from a pair of pliers to a flathead screwdriver.
"I did. A promising bunch they were. I do need some things though." Naruto sat down. "Some cotton rope, a large punching bag, some gravity seals, and some candles."
"What exactly are you planning to teach them?" Gaara said, momentarily pausing his painting.
"Well, one of them happens to be very skilled at Muay Thai, but he's not very strong. Another is really strong, but has no speed. And the third telegraphs his moves badly." Suddenly it all became clear. Suddenly, Naruto thought of something. "Say Temari, could you take me to find some dinner? I haven't eaten much today, and I didn't find much for restaurants." It was a lie, but Naruto felt the need to take Temari along to dinner.
"You have a thing for her kid." The nine tails deemed it necessary to say things from time to time.
"Yeah, I'll come, let me go get changed." Temari blushed behind her back, had Naruto just asked her on a date?
Naruto felt it necessary to leave his sword, but did keep his knives carefully concealed on his person.
Temari had changed from her normal battle kimono to a black silken one with patterns of golden leaves and bamboo. The obi she wore was of a golden silk.
"Just…Perfect." Naruto said with a smile. And they set off in search of a place to eat. Words could not describe how well the dinner went, afterwards, they walked around, conversing of nothing in particular.
"Naruto, the last time I saw you, you were a loud mouthed punk, what's changed you so much?"
"My sensei was killed on a training trip, and I was taken in and trained by his brother after I passed out due to chakra exhaustion killing the people who killed my sensei." Naruto looked aside, the memories still haunting him. Temari reached out and took his hand.
"It must still hurt a lot. But I'm sure the pain will heal eventually. Your sensei would probably want people to remember him when he was alive, and be happy, not mourn him while he was dead. So let's hear what he was like, and be happy." Naruto admitted to himself that she had a point.
"He was always cheerful, a pretty sarcastic guy, he could always motivate me too. Like I'd be totally exhausted, ready to just die right there, and all of a sudden he'd say something and I'd be training again…" Naruto trailed off, continuing to talk about his former sensei. Hours disappeared while the two had found a park to sit and enjoy each other's company at.
They decided, after some time spent in the park that it was best to get home. Before they went inside, Temari decided she'd leave him with a gift.
"I had a great time tonight Naruto, thanks." And with a kiss she left him on the porch, holding his hand over his lips.
-Chapter Five: End-
Author's Note: I did it! I updated two stories in only a few hours. This chapter was difficult to do for some reason, I just couldn't quite get a feel for it, but I think I've got it down pretty well.