Title: Technicalities
Rating: T
Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki
Summary: Ninja technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?
Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.
Warnings: Bad try at humor here. Humor me, please. Oh yeah, my OC has a little monologue time at the end... It's just a little background information about her.
xXx Chapter Five: Open New Folder. xXx
Naruto grumbled in his head as the group made their way towards the Mission Room. Even Sasuke and Sakura looked disgruntled as they continued down the monotone routine that they had been doing for the past two months. Every day.
At first, all was well. The genin would all meet early to talk about random things, mostly quizzing Naruto on his information gathering abilities – "What color underwear is the Hokage wearing?" "Are you trying to scar me for life? ... purple and white..." – then Kakashi would arrive and they would do various exercises depending on the day.
They would run every day, no exceptions. Sakura and Sasuke both hated it and hated Naruto more for seemingly being used to a daily running schedule. Tari-chan had him run with her when he got tired of watching her do laps in the gym track.
Naruto liked running. He was very proud to say he could run swiftly, well enough to evade Anbu capture even. Pranks were so fun! Especially on the Anbu Headquarters. One day, he will be a part of their forces! And then he'd probably have to confess to his eventual commander, but his or her expression should be priceless.
Team Seven's schedule, however, was still fairly easy. They would do their workouts, finish a mission before noon, then gather for a team training. Then Kakashi would give the three individual attention for the techniques they were trying to personalize before either doing another mission or going out for a team dinner. Then he'd assign homework and dismiss them.
Regardless, it was now old news and the three wanted something new and exciting. They've caught Tora-chan at least fifteen times already. They didn't want to babysit, weed gardens, fold laundry, bake Girl Scout cookies or anything civilian related.
"Hokage-jiji! Enough with the D-rank missions! Please, give us a higher mission!" Naruto begged as soon as he entered the room and saw the Hokage there. The old man chuckled. "This isn't a laughing matter, Hokage-jiji! We're going crazy! Look! Kakashi-sensei isn't reading his book!" The room blinked at the sudden realization that the man really wasn't.
Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled to himself. His team had been on such good behavior lately, he'd already put in a request. But, he'd let the three find out for themselves.
"I see, Naruto." Sarutobi smiled patronizingly. Iruka sighed and put his face in his palm. "Well, if you really think you're all ready to handle a higher mission, I suppose we can find something. Are you three ready?"
"Yes!" The three said together. Naruto continued. "There's only so many times I can tell everyone the color underwear you're wearing, Hokage-jiji." Everyone not a part of Team Seven sweat-dropped and looked either uncomfortable or disbelieving.
"I want to put my genjutsu into use more practically than having Kakashi-sensei think his book is on fire." Sakura added. Kakashi glowered at her.
"I can't keep holding back against my teammates with my techniques. I need a proper adversary I can go full out on to become better with my kenjutsu." Sasuke added. He felt slightly embarrassed when the other two hastily showed their sword nicks as proof.
"Well..." Sarutobi trailed off with an odd expression. He fixed his gaze on the three genin and looked slightly upset. "I'm sorry. Naruto, you've been reporting the color of my underwear?" Naruto was the most caught off guard in the room. He fixed his red shades as he cleared his throat.
"Er, yeah. Every other day or so they ask me as if I don't know. Except I know everything, and when I don't, I can find out in an hour or less."
"...and you know what I'm wearing today?" Naruto fidgeted only very slightly.
"Well, yeah. I haven't told them today though 'cause they didn't ask!" He finished quickly. The Hokage nodded solemnly.
"You should be proud you have said nothing. I'd hate to assign D-ranks to such a promising team for the next four weeks." The old man said. Naruto offered a quirky grin, the tips of his ears pointed pink. "Now, Team Seven, the mission I have for you today is in fact a C rank mission." The three genin gave a small cheer – "Yatta!" "Yes!" "Finally!" – and the scroll was opened. "Your sensei had in fact requested it the other day." Three pairs of eyes swiveled towards one half a pair of eyes. They were greeted by an eye smile and promptly looked away. "Now, this is an escort mission heading towards the Wave. Your client is in fact just outside this door." The Hokage pressed a button on his desk and his assistant outside replied. The door opened after a few seconds. Naruto gaped in recognition.
"Whoa! Tazuna! THE Master Bridge Builder Tazuna! Wow, you're so super cool! I feel so super lucky and honored to be at your service!" Naruto exploded.
As Tari-chan got deeper and deeper into the mess that was surrounding the Akatsuki, she found various other things about the corrupted side of the world. She felt the poverty situation in Wave was a good example to emphasize the lesson for Naruto. He wasn't up to date on the dealings of the country because of this, being that his information was half a year old, but he had researched a little of bridge building because he knew nothing about it. He declared it boring, but at least if he seemed interested and slightly knowledgeable, the well known drunkard would be less fussy.
The old man seemed slightly taken aback before grinning widely and giving a loud laugh.
"Haha! It's nice to see youngsters these days holding a proper respect for their idols!" Naruto laughed out loud, secretly laughing at the man's gullibility and Tazuna laughed right along with him. He chattered inanely as the man walked out, staying behind and shutting up as soon as the door was closed. Without him.
"Ano," Naruto looked at the Hokage and Iruka, contemplating on what he should say. Did they know about the extent of Wave's troubles? Did they know just how much the small country was struggling financially? Did they know that they were most likely being sent into an under-ranked mission, Gato being a business man on the other side of the field Tazuna was on?
"What is it, Naruto?" Iruka asked. Naruto smiled at them.
"Thank you." He walked out. This was probably the best way to really see where his team's training ranked in the world. For now. He slid back with his group, no one seeming to be any wiser.
He remained quiet until the group was dismissed and told to prepare to leave within the hour. Naruto quickly hunted Tari-chan down. He found her at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.
"Tari-chan." He started as he calmly ordered a bowl of ramen. Who knew when his next bowl would be? The other woman looked at him with noodles in her mouth. She gave him a patronizing smile. He scowled.
"You already know what I'm going to say, huh?" She swallowed and cleared her throat.
"No, but I can guess. You're going on a mission that requires you to pack for long term travel, right?"
"Yeah. It's a C-rank." He admit as he reached for his bowl.
"You're sensei put in a request the other day." She said as she dug into her pocket. She pulled out a small sheet of paper folded into a 2x2 inch square. "I just perfected this too, so I'm hoping it'll be helpful." Naruto took it carefully. He looked at her questioningly, but she only smiled. No doubt the woman wanted him to guess.
It had a single black line drawn all around it in its folded stare, and just as he was about to open it, he realized the line was actually words. It was too close together to even guess the language, so he opened the paper. It opened to a fairly big 27x27 inch square. A seal was drawn inside. Not too familiar with seals, Naruto could only tell it seemed like a storage scroll seal, only not a scroll.
"Is it for storage?" He hazard.
"Yup! Scrolls are bulky, but this can be tiny. Flip it." Naruto did, and could see a star drawn vaguely with the writing disguised as a line. "That's like a protection seal. Only you can use this, and if you don't activate it in more than a month, it'll transport itself to another seal back in my place – just in case you lost it or it gets stolen. Cool, huh?"
"Yeah!" Naruto was slightly distracted by trying to actually read the star. The woman chuckled and slurped her broth.
"It's written in Melniks. I'll teach you when you get back unless you think you think you can learn it on your own during your mission."
"Thanks, Tari-chan." Naruto smiled. Tari smiled back before fixing his hair that was determined to poke out of his bandana. He laughed.
"No problem. So, where exactly are you going?" Naruto remembered why he wanted to talk to his friend before he left on his mission.
"What is the country of the Wave like these days?" Tari-chan hiccupped as she looked at him with a startled expression. Normally he'd laugh, since she never really choked on things and instead hiccupped with weird sounds, but not this time. He simply watched her expectantly.
"You're going to Wave?" He nodded. She glanced at the paper she gave him, open and laying on the counter like a placemat. He followed her gaze and absently started to fold it again. "With who?" Naruto looked around for other shinobi and promptly continued in English. He wasn't technically supposed to converse with civilians the details of his missions; except Tari-chan was listed as a shinobi of Konoha. She was just placed in a hidden cupboard in the inactive duty file room.
"My team was given a C rank escort mission with the bridge builder guy, Tazuna." The older blond raised an eyebrow.
"Wave actually has the ability to afford C rank missions? Tazuna has need of a C rank mission, for only escorting? He's a wanted man, whose state of well being is preferred as dead by Gato. This isn't a C rank mission. It's got to be an A rank at least!" Naruto poked at his noodles as Ayame glanced at the two curiously. She was one of the few people who knew that Naruto was multilingual, and that Tari was the one who taught the boy. She wondered what the two were talking about, but figured that Naruto was asking for the older blonde's advice as he was wont to do.
"What should I bring? What's been going on that I need to be aware of?"
"Bring a few pairs of warm clothes. It's the humid season, and that only means that there's more water vapor in the air and thus it's more wet and chilly because of the wind chill factor. And food. Bring enough to last awhile. In fact, fill that entire array with food. There's less and less going into the country every day. Even one extra mouth puts a considerable strain on an economy this fragile. Feel free to take it out of my fridge and pantry. I can always restock." Tari hummed as she thought some more.
"Clothes, food and the standard shinobi survival gear. Got it. What about tools? Do you think I'd be able to help with the bridge?" Naruto asked as he prepared to drink his broth.
"It's an idea. I know nothing of bridge building with wood, so I don't know what sort of tools. Do some quick research and raid my shed if you want. I don't ever use that old thing. Oh! And connect to the server when you can. The technology there from my time is more intact that here in Konoha. The only thing that could be wrong with anything is maybe rust, even though the metal used is fortified against rusting. Who knows what the years could do with such a wet environment." Naruto grinned excitedly.
"I didn't think of that! That's going to be the first thing I do!" Tari laughed.
"Remember to enjoy your time there. It's your first real visit outside of Konoha, isn't it?" Naruto nodded excitedly. "Well, hurry and go get packed. You leave soon don't you?" Naruto finished his bowl quickly and gave his best friend a hug.
"Bye, Tari-chan! Thanks Ayame-chan, Teuchi-jiji!" And he disappeared to an alleyway. He had to get under the sewers quickly and find the fastest route to Tari-house. He only had twenty minutes!
Tari-chan fixed her own red sunglasses and simply remained sitting, relaxing and resting her cheek in her palm. Ayame took her bowl without a word and flitted behind the stall to the kitchens to wash the dishes. She knew the older woman had a tendency to sit and stare at nothing when wearing those glasses. She was waiting for the day when Naruto started doing the same. Most of the time she really liked the other woman. The other times simply confused or befuddled her. Like now. She'd rather not have those reflective glasses seemingly trained on her every move.
The button on the side of her glasses pressed, Tari waited and watched. Hatake Kakashi was in her sight, though he didn't know it. He was watching her, but wasn't able to hide as easily as she. Never mind that she was blatantly visible. She chuckled, wondering what he was thinking about. He shifted on the pole he was balanced on.
"Take care of him, Hatake-san. If not, you'll be taken care of by him before you know it." She said before standing. Calling out to Ayame that her money was on the counter, plus a tip, she left and headed to the same alleyway that Naruto used.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and remained where he was. He didn't know that woman, but she looked uncannily similar to Naruto. And he wanted to know her intensions towards his student, considering they were awfully close and he had known the boy's real mother. And what was that language they were speaking in? And why were they speaking secretly? He slipped into the crowd of the street and walked towards the alleyway. There was a dead end. Naruto didn't know how to walk on walls, and the woman didn't seem like a shinobi... But those were assumptions, and there was always an underneath the underneath. Underneath... He glanced at the manhole to the sewers.
Ick.
"Later. I can figure it out later. I have a client to find and a mission to do." He was NOT going to explore the sewers if he could help it. If his cute little blond student arrived smelling like shit, he'd get a wealth of information without having to go down there. If not... then he will cease to care because he was not going down there while still owning his free will! Yuck!
He was on time at the gates, if only to see if his little minions would assume he would be late and thus try to be late themselves. Except they were all early and Naruto had changed his outfit again. His teammates didn't seem to notice him, as he was leaning near the duty shack and didn't seem to be packed.
He had on a cap, flipped backwards, and the hair poking out from the clap hole was dyed, or henged, a familiar shade of red; the same as his mother's. His glasses were tilted to rest at the top of his head, so his startling blue eyes were watching the world as opposed to how they had been since he graduated the Academy. His wrist bands were still the same, and so were his shoes and belt, but his clothes were lighter and more civilian. He could pass as a villager of the Wave with his baggy shorts and sleeveless shirt. He looked like a labor worker waiting for his boss (though a bit young), and Kakashi approved, but wondered why. They were on an escort mission, not an infiltration mission. He'd let Naruto learn though. Sometimes he tried to go above and beyond when it wasn't really necessary.
"So, everyone ready?"
"We're still waiting for Naruto, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said. Naruto cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Yes?" Sakura asked politely, obviously wondering why this strange civilian wanted to talk to them. Naruto raised an eyebrow and Sasuke was the first to realize.
"Che, dobe. Where's your gear?" Naruto grinned.
"I got it, don't worry." Kakashi thought about that seal array the woman gave his little blond student, and decided to accept it.
"Well, where is it? Are you henging it, or using a genjutsu? You're going to waste all your chakra, Naruto." Sakura disapproved.
"I'm not using chakra to hide anything, Haruno-san." Naruto said, as if offended he'd do such a thing. "I'm just trying to make it less obvious that I'm a shinobi." He looked ready to say more, but glanced at Tazuna and closed his mouth.
Kakashi gave Tazuna a side glance.
The man was startled by the admission, and seemed to relax a little because of it. Kakashi couldn't figure out why. Yes, the man was a well known bridge builder, but he wasn't that well known or important. If they were going to protect the man from bandits, part of that protection came as a deterrent just by being near obvious shinobi. Why would he relax if one of his protectors just lost that deterring factor?
Naruto knew something, and he wasn't telling why. He'd have to ask later, when they set up camp for the night.
So the group set off.
X
Naruto put on his glasses as they walked the trail at a civilian pace. He double-tapped the bend and hummed to himself. He figured it would be a great time to try to use his glasses the way Tari-chan did. She said it took mental strength to control the glasses, but she never explained how and his research on them pulled up nothing useful. She had just recently showed him the button that turned them on. It wasn't even a button, just a sensor to tap a finger on twice. The lenses flickered as they seemed to brighten, but that was it.
He thought of Tazuna and the glasses shifted. It almost made him fall to the side, as if his center of gravity was in his hand rather than his core.
"Naruto?"
"I'm good. Just stepped wrong. Sorry."
His glasses were showing two different images, and he thought that was so cool! It showed him what he was really seeing, and even a double vision of what he could be seeing if he was watching from the clouds. So cool! He figured the lenses connected to the satellites the way almost everything did. He wondered if the glasses could look in X-ray vision, or even heat vision.
The double image changed again, a little slower than he thought, and Naruto could see his group as bright white blobs with some grey and the ground nearly black. Then he saw a puddle of water that should have been all black, but had two white bodies of warmth.
He wondered if his glasses could also pick up chakra levels. He was about thirty yards from the puddle.
The glasses shifted and different lights engulfed each body. Tazuna was a pale blue, Sakura a light green and Sasuke a light green, Kakashi was a startling white, and Naruto was a pink, to his annoyance. He figured it had something to do with his yet-to-mature chakra being influenced by the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra, but pink? That was a blow to his growing manhoodedness!
There were two dark blue bodies of chakra in the puddle of water. And the numbers running next to them indicated that they belonged to two men, brothers, and at least chuunin level.
Naruto gently weaved a genjustu, not wanting to make anyone, especially his sensei, suspicious of what he was going to do. Everyone walked on, quiet and comfortable and not really wanting to do more than watch the scenery. They idly noted that Naruto had started humming to himself, except Naruto was really initiating a program on his Tolerance. He even activated Revenge to help with the smaller details like monitoring. He had just finished when the attack happened.
The puddle of water suddenly exploded and Kakashi had been easily decimated.
Naruto stared, his heart stuttering painfully in fear in his hiding place in the trees. His sensei wasn't supposed to die! He was a jounin! He had been in Anbu! Chuunin weren't supposed to take him down that easily! Except his glasses were still showing his bright white chakra, in the trees across from Naruto. The bits of gore and body parts were a henge... Naruto pulled his fingers out of the groves he made in the branches. He was going to have to get back at his sensei, or at least ask if there was a sort of sign that could be shown before pulling such a stunt.
'Paybacks a bitch, Kakashi-sensei.' Naruto frowned vindictively as he decided to learn from his sensei. The two attackers, shinobi from Wave, rushed towards the rest of the group and slashed at the clone Naruto left. The clone fell back and died in a cry of pain, having been sliced in half from the torso. Sakura screamed shrilly and Sasuke called his name in fear. Naruto felt a little bad, but he saw Kakashi shushin next to him, still hidden in the trees but obviously intent on checking on him in vain. Naruto tapped the man's shoulder, cringing by reflex when he was almost punched in retaliation.
"Naruto." Kakashi's tone was flat, but he was obviously surprised. The jounin glanced at the dying body, and was able to notice the tinge of chakra surrounding the area. The attacking chuunin were frustrated, as their aim was always off, and Sasuke was able to fight them off, allowing Sakura time to gather her wits and help him. "Genjutsu." The man concluded with obvious relief. Naruto grinned.
"Just a little fun." Kakashi didn't seem as amused. Naruto pouted and sighed. "Fine. I'm done anyway. Revenge, execute prior command." Naruto said in Romanian. His wrist glowed dimly, and Naruto was confident that his sensei didn't notice. The two chuunin screamed and darted away from the small remaining group as if shocked, and promptly collapsed.
"What did you do, Naruto?" Kakashi asked after a moment of stillness.
"Just a little revenge for killing you and me." Naruto said as he jumped out of the tree. Kakashi wasn't sure anymore the kind of boy Naruto was. He was still interesting, and Kakashi was definitely intrigued, but it was so different than the stories he'd been told.
"Naruto! You're okay!" Naruto gave Sakura a thumbs up and was wary when Sasuke and Sakura both gave him a hug of relief. Kakashi chuckled to himself, but then was put into the same treatment when his other students noticed him as well. He patted the two shaky children and fixed Tazuna with a stare. The man had collapsed in relief.
"Good job, Sakura, Sasuke. You did very well to hold those two off. Naruto, you did well also for keep the enemy distracted." Sasuke glanced at the bloody body still dying at the side of the road. Naruto's dying doppelganger disappeared in a static-y blink.
"But, Naruto didn't do anything." Sakura pointed out confused. She didn't doubt that Naruto could, or that her sensei was telling the truth – she wasn't blind or deaf to the things the boy has done and said since becoming a part of his team - but she didn't notice anything.
"He held everyone in a genjutsu, allowing the Demon Brothers to miss when they normally wouldn't, and you to hit, when they would normally dodge. We were all in it, even, and I hadn't noticed a thing." Kakashi praised, though he was just a little peeved to admit that he hadn't noticed.
"Why didn't you help right away! Why let the children handle it!" Tazuna complained, more than a little shaken up.
"I wanted to see what they were after." Kakashi replied easily, fixing Tazuna with his entire attention. "Were they attacking simply because we are from another village? Or were they attacking our client for a certain reason I can't fathom?" Tazuna nervously tried to fix himself and stand up. He glanced at Naruto and suddenly held a strange expression so Kakashi turned to see the boy raising his hand quietly.
"Are you seriously raising your hand to speak?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded happily.
"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi wondered if he should begin trying to get angry at the boy.
"They were after Tazuna." He stated. He seemed to let the statement hang, and Kakashi knew then that the boy had been expecting this to happen.
"What do you know, Naruto?" The phrase was starting to become well known.
"Gato is after him." Tazuna flinched violently at the name, but Naruto continued with a seriousness reserved for a life and death situation. "He doesn't want Tazuna to finish the bridge currently under construction because Gato is a gang lord and currently holds the entire country in his greedy hands. This one bridge is intended to be the main link between the small country island and the mainland and thus the future economy rests on this project. Wave can't afford anything more than what they requested. Their money is being siphoned into Gato's account rather than back to the country. These last business deals and charity offers are the remaining steps Tazuna had in finishing the bridge. Thus, if Gato can kill him, the bridge will never be complete and the country wouldn't have the means left to try anything else." The other three shinobi looked at Tazuna and Naruto both. The man was looking at Naruto like he was a miracle and a blessing both.
"But, why kill Tazuna? Why not just destroy the bridge if it's so important?" Sasuke asked, not able to see the logic that made Tazuna the target specifically.
"Tazuna is a Master Bridgebuilder." Naruto grinned. "His bridges aren't easy to break and destroy. They're amazing!" Tazuna blushed a little.
"We are a jounin and student genin, Naruto. We have been given a C rank mission in disguise as a high B rank mission at least."
"Well, technically, it'd be a high A-rank. This is political and national afflicting, after all." Kakashi conceded the point with a nod, though he did wonder how Naruto knew about the key factors determining the ranking of a mission. He hadn't learned about them until he joined Anbu, and it was still by accident.
"Regardless, do you understand the dangers we are going to face compared to the limited experience we have out of the village."
"I learn best by the sink or swim method, and I'm more buoyant than others." Kakashi rolled his eyes at his strange student but accepted his answer. He looked at the other two.
"I wouldn't feel right if we didn't try to help, Kakashi-sensei."
"We can take them. We can do this." Sasuke added confidently.
"Well, it seems we're at a tie. After all, three genin is only worth the vote of one jounin, and I'm certainly against this entire thing. Now it all rests on you, Tazuna-san. What is stronger? Your need for us, or your morals?" Tazuna looked surprised he even had a say in this. He watched as Naruto rolled his eyes at his sensei's last persuasive argument. He gave a bow to the ninja before him.
"I ask that you please help me and my country." Naruto grinned as Kakashi nodded his acceptance easily. He didn't think Kakashi was the type to ignore a mission anyway, no matter how badly ranked. He glanced at the two unconscious chuunin still under Revenge's pulsing influence. They were being jolted by their own body's nerve channels. Their chakra matrix was also being redirected and thus impossible to control. They were unconscious, but in pain and unable to do anything about it.
Kakashi sent a quick message to Konoha, hoping their ambushers (victims? Did they really stand a chance?) were picked up before they wake up. Naruto looked at them worriedly as they prepared to walk away.
"Ano, sensei? Maybe you should secure them more. If I walk away more than ten yards, my technique would begin weakening rapidly." Kakashi made a note of that particular limitation and did as suggested.
Sasuke watched quietly and Sakura spoke with Tazuna, listening for the conversation her odd teammate was having with their sensei. They glanced at each other, wondering just how far ahead their teammate was, and how far behind they were. It was obvious that Naruto knew things, it was his specialty after all, but there had been things that the blond would say, and Kakashi-sensei would look at him as if he was surprised Naruto knew about it.
x
That night, as the group relaxed in their camp just a few yards from the trail, Naruto relaxed on the dirt. The fire was bright and warm and no one was hungry enough for dinner yet, so there was only light conversation between Tazuna and Sakura. Sasuke would be dragged into it every once in a while, only because Tazuna would say every once in a while that Sasuke reminded him of his grandson, Inari. After the sixth time, Sasuke scooted closer to Naruto and gave him a rueful glare.
"Where is your gear, dobe? You're not expecting to sleep in the dirt, are you?" Naruto smiled, not moving.
"Maybe not the dirt, but the trees are pretty comfy. I don't think the trees in Wave will be as thick and accommodating, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can." Sasuke gave him an odd annoyed look.
"You sleep in trees?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Naruto..." Sasuke glared threateningly.
Kakashi watched quietly, wondering about his little blond student. He was a bit eccentric. Not Maito Gai eccentric, thank goodness, but eccentric all the same. He wondered if the boy did it on purpose. Sometimes the blond would smile and it would be a rather teasing smile that made him wonder.
"Ne, Kakashi-sensei. You can climb trees, right?" Kakashi missed the part of the boy's conversation that brought this up. He vaguely felt as if Naruto was going to give him a surprise. He still wasn't sure what he thought of the things Naruto surprised him with. He responded cautiously.
"Yes, of course I can."
"Without your hands?" Sasuke challenged. Kakashi's brain paused for a moment.
Could Naruto tree walk already!
"It's a chakra exercise." Kakashi replied as he stared at his littlest genin. "Each village has their specialized chakra exercises to take advantage of the terrain or weather of their country. Konoha has tree walking, water walking and leaf dancing."
"Suna has sand walking, heat synthesis and maybe chakra strings. Some people don't really consider that a chakra exercise so much as a Suna specialty." Naruto added. "Mizu has water walking, water sounding and the really high level guys can control the water of living things."
"Naruto, how do you know all this?" Sakura asked. Again.
"After Iruka-sensei started me on leaf dancing, I looked for more stuff. I can kinda do it, but I still have shitty control over quick genjutsu and can't do the medical jutsu at all. I suck at healing stuff and just end up burning things."
"Umino-san started you on leaf dancing?" Kakashi was surprised.
"Well, it was actually a detention for disrupting class, and Kiba-san, Shikamaru-san, and Chouji-san all had to do it too, but yeah! He did tell us the basic gist of it by having us concentrate a leaf on our foreheads. That's when I started looking into chakra exercises."
The group all traded looks. Naruto just fried their brains again. Kakashi decided a good long Q & A with Umino-san was going to be the first thing he did when he was finished with this mission.
"So anyway, yes it is possible!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, who flinched at the sudden raspberry.
"Idiot."
"I call first watch!" Everyone ignored Naruto's sudden change of topic.
X
Iruka walked from the mission office to his house, done with his day of working. On his way, with the sun setting and the light disappearing, he hardly saw and civilians. A flash of gold made him turn his attention towards his right and he scowled at the woman walking at his side as if she had been there all the while.
"Ume-san."
"Umino-san." She smiled back, shifting her own bag on her shoulder as if to salute. Her dark grey-blue eyes glittered at his obvious displeasure.
"How did you do it?" He asked quietly.
"Do what? I'm afraid I have no point of topic to follow you with." She looked at him with oblivious curiosity. Iruka saw through it though. He knew she was practically a she-demon. A witch! She cursed him, he knew it! He just couldn't figure out a way to let anyone know.
"Every time I try to talk about you, my mouth spouts off in another direction. What did you do to me!" He demanded as loud as he was able. Which wasn't very loud.
"I'm positive I have no idea what you are talking about. Though, it could be you do not know me well enough to explain me. After all, only a select few know about me." She replied almost coyly, running her fingers through her hair slowly as if playful. Iruka stopped walking and fixed her with a warning glare. He had been wondering about her identity since he was invited to her home for a celebration for his favorite student since he started teaching at the academy. Her home was, after all, underground. That much he could tell even blind. All of his searching pulled nothing, however. Whether he looked through the Shinobi Roster or the Civilian Residence List, or even the Bingo Books dating back the last five years, Ume Tarisha did not exist.
"I'm sure you do. Spy." He hissed. Tari's playful expression immediately shifted to a more serious and offended look.
"Spy? Excuse me?" Iruka didn't back down.
"I'll be keeping tabs on you, woman. One step out of line, and I will fight you, being Naruto's friend or no. I will not let you endanger Konohgakure."
"Hmm," She leveled her glare to a more calculating look, and Iruka slowly started to back away, deeming their conversation over. He didn't dare turn his back though. Tari shifted her bag to her other shoulder with a huff. "Is this about my obvious lack of public residency or my complete nonexistence as a person?"
"Both." Iruka bit out, fingers itching to snag one of his kunai. His body wouldn't let him though, as per the curse he was under. Tari hmmed again and seemed to relax. Iruka wasn't fooled.
"I see. Please walk me home, Iruka-kun."
"As you wish, Tari-san." His body complied quietly while he raged in his mind. That Demon! She had taken his free will from him completely! And on top it that, she dared to imply they were close friends! He never gave her permission to speak to him with –kun in his name!
They passed through the streets, occasionally calling out greetings to people to greeted them, but otherwise said nothing. Not that Iruka could in his case. Finally, they walked towards an empty street and Iruka gaped as Tari disappeared through the ground as if walking down stairs. His body followed, oblivious to the hesitancy in his thoughts and the slowly growing fear for his safety.
Tari gestured for him to sit at her rather large dining room table and he did, as cautious as he was able. He carefully maneuvered his body and as he realized he was in full control again, Tari walked up to him and placed a small plate of colorful bread rolls with various toppings. She sat next to him and slid a folder to him as she swiped a piece from the snack plate.
"What is this?" He asked as he started to read through it.
"My personal information." She said as she briefly covered her chewing mouth.
Iruka scanned the paper. It held the normal information of a person. Name, Age, Body statistics and parents. However…
"What about education, occupation, or past residency or-"
"Yes yes, or anything else. I know. That's where it gets tricky. Education? Far above yours yet so mortifying behind I have no idea what to say. Do you know about quantum science and the history of how the world used to be thousands of years ago? Well I still don't get the purpose of why certain metals conduct chakra or even how chakra can weigh more than water. Heck, I don't even know what makes wooden houses stay standing or how to work an oar for a boat. Occupation? Even trickier. I could be a ninja who can rumble with all the Kage's at once or just a simple nurse or even a teacher. I'm not used to saying I do just one thing. I used to do multiple things as a means to support myself before I found myself in Konoha about six years ago." She lowered her eyes to the table cloth. Iruka noticed it was glowing as she traced her fingertip over it.
"You 'found' yourself in Konoha?"
"Yup, and no one filed a missing person report about it." Iruka tried to think. She was being to forward to be a real threat, and if she were a spy she would probably have killed him rather than try to explain her situation, lie or not.
"Where were you before?"
"The past." Iruka stared. Tari looked back at him. "Umino-san, I was born more than two-thousand years ago, in a world you cannot even begin to imagine. I have been to the planets in space and the colonies there as well as in the deepest parts of the ocean. My existence is hard for you to comprehend, I know. Though, as Naruto often liked to say, you could explain my world just by wandering through an Odd Hole." She smiled. Iruka quirked an eyebrow.
"It's a bit unusual to wander through Odd Holes." Though, the idiom did help put the eccentric woman, and the blond boy she seemed to take care of, into a more reasonable light. The Odd Hole, while sometimes useful if they could find more than a hundred of whatever they could figure out, was more often than not, odd. Sometimes even dangerous. To have come from a place that created the Odd Holes, there was a lot of speculation and stories...
Iruka had heard the rumors of Wave having an Odd Hole infamous for holding monsters that can't be killed, as opposed to useful or interesting appliances. The area had a booming voice directing the monsters in a language no one knew, and music being played hauntingly without a source. The only positive point was the monsters remained inside the Odd Hole.
Odd Holes were never the same. If Tari came from the place that made them, no doubt her time somehow combined all Odd Holes.
"I suppose it could be a little unusual to most." Tari said smoothly, licking her fingers of her snack.
"If you are an, immigrant," He said the word slowly, unsure if it was the right term. "then why not simply register with Konoha?"
"I want to go home, Iruka." Tari said. She sighed and leaned her chin on her hands. "I came here somehow. I plan to figure out how to go home sometime before I turn 100."
"100?"
"Oh yeah. Longevity has been in my genes for generations. My great great great great great grandfather lived to be 713 before he died in a hyperchamber malfunction. My other grandparents are still alive, but he was the oldest in our family so far. My oldest living grandparent is only 654. She's a little crazy though. She likes to mountain dive into the ocean."
Iruka wondered if insanity was also a trait born into Tarisha Ome. It seemed possible, considering the woman had her own odd quirks he couldn't imagine were simply habits bred in a time he wasn't a part of.
"So! Back to the reason I wanted to talk to you!" Iruka supposed the woman had a reason to want to come up to him in the first place. He just wanted to go home at the moment though. "Are you free for Naruto's birthday?"
Despite himself, Iruka smiled. He supposed Tari couldn't be too bad if she genuinely cared for Naruto.
xXx TBC… xXx
HK: Okay, there's chapter five! I'm so sorry for the late update. I tried to upload this thing a while ago, but I got distracted and must have turned off my laptop or something. I guess I just believed I'd already sent the chapter in. I wasn't really expecting reviews for the story, so when I got only a few more for chapter four and not five, I just assumed one cared for chapter five… I'm sorry if you've been waiting for it! If you really liked it though, by all means let me know. I'll try to dedicate a chapter to whoever seems to like this the most.
On a side note... If I were to be a ninja I would have failed my teamwork test horribly.
I have been put through the trial not with a group of three, but a group of thirty-one. Instead of having two bells to fight over, we were divided into groups of four colors and given various 'secret missions' The top priority was always to 'not get out' when hit by a colored noodle, and all side missions were different such as 'you are at war with green' or 'you are allies with blue'. I had been pulled aside, as well as one from each other color, and was told 'you must all survive' as well as the do not get out command. The instant idea thrown out there between the four of us survivors was an immediate murder of our color-teammates. (Which didn't work out by the way. I started as soon as the word start was said, and no one else did. The other teams had immediately become defensive to their own designated survivors and an all out melee occurred anyway. It was war...)
After five rounds of not getting it, we all finally threw our colored noodle floaties down and managed to accomplish the main mission of staying in... I smacked my head and remembered Naruto. I almost felt like a horrible person. I say almost because it really was a lot of fun. There had been three promises to the class for that day. We will be handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten. With Noodles. Obviously, this was only the beaten with noodles exercise. Yay college credits for Leadership!
Anyway, review if you want another chapter! Thanks everyone!
Posted: 23Apr11