Author's Note: So this chapter is for my brand new Beta, NinetailsGirl09 ^-^ Also, I'm going to answer a review that I received from Nobother. Normally, I would have just PMed the person back, but they have it blocked to where I couldn't, and since it was a review that asked rather interesting questions that I feel should be answered, I decided to answer them here.
The Review Word for Word:
"this chapter is good and all
but i have to question if two "S" class ninja would really be that oblivious to some ANBU
i know that ANBU are elites but even so they can't be that good
i mean Kakashi is an "A" borderline "S" ninja every other ANBU should be worse the him
so how come it took them so long to find the ANBU and how do they not know of their observers when in the hotel room
And how did they not just simply shut the curtains wen talking last chapter"
My Reply:
May I say right off the bat; thank you for your review. I always enjoy receiving them, and yours is no different.
Now then, onto the questions you asked. As for the whole thing about Ryuu and Naruto being oblivious to the two hidden ANBU for so long, here's how I see things.
While it is true that Ryuu is labeled as 'S' Class in the Bingo Book, you have to remember that the Kazekage put Ryuu down as such before his supposed 'death' because he refused to do as he said, making him rather angry, and what's better a revenge than labeling a rouge shinobi as 'S' Class which would in turn make your life more difficult because more people will be after you for a reward, more experienced shinobi who usually go after real 'S' Classed shinobi. And as for the famous Dragon and Fox, they are only thought to be 'S' Classed because of the fact that they are willing to be hired by any and all, though they do turn down some job offers they feel goes against their morals (though few, they both do in fact have morals), and the jobs that they do take, are always done perfectly. Truly, I consider Ryuu much like Kakashi, as an 'A' Class ninja, border lining 'S'. As for Naruto, I would place him as a solid 'A' Class and that's only when he has Ryuu there with him. Without Ryuu, I picture my version of Naruto at a very high 'B'. While he is stronger them most his age, it does not mean that I'm going to have him as some untouchable god-like person. He is, after all, only fifteen years old, even if he hasbeen training for ten sum years on how to be a ninja.
As for the ANBU, they are called the best of the best for a reason. So yeah, they can 'be that good'. And where does it ever say that the ANBU all have to be worse than Kakashi? I mean, yeah, Kakashi has great power and amazing talent, but that does not mean that he's better than all of the ANBU, I don't care if he does have the sharingan or was a past ANBU captain for some time. It's as the saying goes, "While you may think you the best, there is always someone better out there." That goes for Kakashi just as much as everyone else. Please take that into consideration, for it also explains as to why the ANBU members are able to continue to watch the small group of four without being noticed.
And as to why they didn't close the curtains when they talked? While Ryuu and Naruto were and still are expecting to have people, like the ANBU, keep a close eye on them, like Shibuki warned them when going over the mission with them before hand, neither Naruto nor Ryuu expect them to be so paranoid to go as far to keep watch over them while they are in the hotel, so they never bothered with closing the curtains. Besides, this way it helps along with the plot that I have (semi) planned out. (Let's face it readers and fellow writers, if every last detail is planned out, the story is nowhere near as fun to write)
There, I believe that that explains everything that you wished to know. Hoped it helped ^^ Don't be afraid to ask questions like these, people. Believe it or not, I don't bite. I'll always explain when asked if it does not give away too much. And if that's the case, I'll try to explain as much as I can.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.
For the next nine days, the four from the Hidden Waterfall Village spent most of their time training, only breaking too sleep, eat, and tend to other bodily needs when needed.
Naruto, Akimitsu, and Akimi spent endless hours during those nine days working to their full extent; Naruto also using the time to get use to the twin's presence while fighting, and they getting use to his in return.
All three of the teens decided to train in some of the aspects that were either ignored before, or relearn some techniques that they felt they needed to brush up on once again, whether it be jutsu's, different forms of taijutsu, or creating and dispelling genjutsu (which usually ending only being Naruto in the genjutsu department, what with the twin's rather 'special' situation).
The three also fought against Ryuu; either one at a time, two of them teaming up together, in which case they would switch off partners in a tag team like manner, the only difference being that instead of having one fight and one waiting to jump in when needed, two of them would be fighting against Ryuu with the third teen waiting off to the side. Then there were times when it was all three teens going at it at once against the jounin.
While Ryuu usually won when he had to go against one the three, and sometimes when they used the tag team method, he found that he really had to work at it if he wanted to win when the three worked together. The nice part was that Ryuu rarely held back against them, so it was all the more realistic for the training teens. That, and if they were doing something wrong, he would not hesitate to tell them, whether it be something small like how Naruto could have done those hand signs faster if focused more, to the bigger things like how they should always be watching each other's blind spots. Ryuu made quite a few points with the latter, showing the three just how deadly it could be if they didn't. It's truly amazing what a few hard blows to one's head, back, or side can do in the name of learning.
Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu also worked with their individual weapons; Akimitsu and Akimi even willing to show Naruto, and in default Ryuu, more of what they could do with their control over the element water. The two of course did not show all that they could do, being rather weary of being inside of a different village and always having the off possibility that someone just might be watching them like Naruto and Ryuu said, but did show the two quite a bit so Naruto could have an even better idea of their skill levels and know what to watch out for since they both had some jutsu's that had rather wide range effects.
To show that Naruto really did appreciate the fact that they showed him some of their jutsu's, even when they both did not have too, he in turn showed them some of the different jutsu's that he gather from his and Ryuu's travels, or jutsu's taught by Ryuu. Though, he too did not show them everything that he knew, for the same as reason as Akimi and Akimitsu. No reason to give away all of his tricks just quite yet.
As a bonus for Naruto and Ryuu, Akimi and Akimitsu even offered to teach them both some of their clan's more basic of techniques. When asked by Ryuu if doing so would get the twins in trouble when they got back, Akimi replied that these techniques were the ones that are usually shown to others outside of their clan that wish to learn from them.
In return to Akimi and Akimitsu's kind offer, Naruto volunteered to show the twins how to make a proper earth clone and shadow clone even though the two already knew how to make water clones, as part of his thanks. He also showed them how to do some of the 'fun' jutsu's that the two liked when he was giving them examples earlier, which included letting them each have their pick on one of the few animal summoning scroll's that Naruto and Ryuu managed to come across during their travels.
All together, the two had a total of five different animal summoning scrolls, though Naruto only signed one of the five while Ryuu signed two of the five, even though he could have easily signed them all and Naruto sign at least another two to have a total of three different summon animals. Until he had a greater grasp on his charka control, Ryuu didn't think it safe to let him sign all five, which worked just fine for the blond teen; and to keep his options open, he only signed the one, leaving the other two slots open in case they came across an animal summons that he would really want, but could not have because he already hit his max for summons. As for the reason that they kept the other three was so it made it harder for others to gain them and sign them.
Then, to top off the already more than generous offer, Naruto had Ryuu help him teach the two some of the different training methods that he had learned when younger that only Ryuu's mind could think up. So, in short, the three did more of Ryuu's children's-games-turned-shinobi-training, the twin's favorite turning out to be Cops and Robbers. Ryuu had had the time of his life.
For Naruto, the hardest part of the nine days of training was learning how to use his kusarigama without having to worry about the off chance of hitting either Akimi or Akimitsu with it while swinging the blade from the chain or throwing it towards an enemy. Although he already had practice because he used it countless times while working on missions with Ryuu, there was a large difference between the twins and Ryuu when he used his beloved kusarigama.
When it was just Ryuu and he, they were able to work out a system over their many years of working together that allowed Naruto to use the weapon without the fear of hitting the man. After both teaching Naruto how to properly use the weapon and allowing Naruto attack him with it for practice (this was before Naruto was taught the many different ways of making clones), it was like Ryuu grew an almost sixth sense for the weapon when in use. Now, to Ryuu, it was almost second nature now to simply get out of the way of the blade or avoid getting caught up in the chain when Naruto swung it. He didn't even think about it anymore. Kind of unsettling, if one really thought about it, to have someone grow so use to another's weapon that they could virtually sense it.
With Akimi and Akimitsu on the other hand, though, the two were have problems getting use to Naruto's favorite weapon. Unlike Ryuu, this was only their second time ever seeing a kusarigama, much less in action, and the first was only a brief demonstration that they saw while still in school. To have Naruto turn it against them as a form of practice of dodging for the twins had been, quite frankly, a living nightmare.
Akimi and Akimitsu had of course first watched how Ryuu moved around and dodged the deadly blade and the chain it was attached to with such ease and grace when he allowed Naruto to use him as a moving target for Akimi and Akimitsu to see how it was done. Ryuu was just hoping that by watching him move around Naruto's kusarigama, Akimitsu and Akimi would pick something up on how to dodge either getting sliced by the blade, getting caught by the chains, or hit with the weight on the end.
Sadly, all it really did was make the twins even more frustrated with the chained weapon. Whenever one of them tried to dodge the blade, all they got in return was a cut; and if they did manage to dodge the blade, they would get caught up in the chain, making Ryuu jump in to catch the blade before it had a chance to wrap all the way around them and in default, having the sharp weapon cut into them which would not be pretty.
In the end, it was decided by both Naruto and Ryuu that while in the exams, Naruto would only use the weapon if Akimi and Akimitsu were clear out of range or if it was just he against an enemy. Akimi and Akimitsu happily agreed with the decision, happy that they would no longer have to worry about getting hurt from their own team mate's blade, even if by accident.
Then, before the real Waterfall Nins and fake Waterfall Nins knew it, it was the night before the first exam.
Akimi was bouncing on the floor of their rented hotel room, silently looking from the door to the bathroom to the door leading the way out. Naruto and Ryuu were both standing off to the side, switching between watching their only female teammate bounce in place rather impatiently and the bathroom door. The three were waiting for Akimitsu, who at the moment was finishing up taking a rather long shower. He was already close to half an hour.
Able to take no more, Akimi quickly walked up to the closed door and proceeded to bang on it with a balled up fist continually, only stopping to yell above the running water.
"Come onnnnn, brother! You've been in there for half an hour already!" Akimi whined out, "I'm the one that's supposed to take the thirty minute long showers, not you!"
The only reply that she got was the sound of the water shutting off and incoherent grumbling. After a few seconds, he yelled out, "Fine! I'm out, happy? Now let me get dressed!" His voice was slightly muffled, though his volume did help in making it more understandable.
Akimi squealed in excitement at being one step closer to leaving. Spinning on her heels, she practically skipped back over to her previous stop and resumed bouncing in place. The only difference from then and now was that her focus was entirely on the door leading out with a look of longing.
Throughout the entire exchange, Naruto and Ryuu shared a quick look. Naruto's spoke of slight annoyance at the situation while Ryuu's spoke of amusement.
Late last night, right before they were to go to bed, Ryuu had promised the three 'genin' that if they could beat him in an all out battle at some point the next day, meaning that they had to make him admit defeat, then as a reward he would let them have the rest of the day off and take them all out for dinner since the first part of the exam was to take place the next day.
The battle itself had been, as Ryuu had expected it to be, grand, brutal, and had the potential of turning deadly at any given moment. When Akimitsu, with the help of his sister and Naruto, finally got Ryuu trapped in a situation that demanded him to surrender, the training ground that they were using was pretty torn up.
Most of the tree's were uprooted and blown on their side, sliced in half; diagonally, had holes the size of a large man's fist piercing through them, or simply gone; literally blown up by various ways. The ground which was once smooth and flat then had decent sized craters, a trench looking crack off to one side, and sharp, spear looking rocks sticking out of the ground which either pointed straight up or to the side. Littered all over were piles of mud, mostly from failed earth clones or one of the twin's water attacks that missed and mixed with the dirt on the ground as a result. Then, if that was not enough, scorch marks were all over, either in circles or long lines.
Three of the four gathered could honestly say that they felt sorry for the poor guy that had to clean and 'fix' up the training ground. Naruto just smirked beneath his ever present mask, his eyes dancing with laughter at the mental images that that thought brought. He could easily imagine the poor soul's face when he/she/they saw the mess that his team created.
Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, the bathroom door opened, drawing Akimi's attention away from the other door to her brother.
Stepping out, fully clothed and rubbing his hair with a spare towel, Akimitsu glared at his twin sister.
"Happy? I'm out." His tone was sharp, his annoyance clear.
In response, Akimi made a great show of rolling her eyes, her hands resting her hips as she leaned forward in an 'intimating' way.
"Yes, and it's about damn time, too!" she huffed out, tapping her foot and staring down her brother and his glare with one of her own.
Naruto rolled his own eyes in irritation, something that he sadly found himself doing a whole lot more the past couple of days. All he wanted was to leave and eat! What that too much to ask? As if answering him mental question, his stomach growled, making his eye twitch.
Naruto watched as Akimitsu threw the towel he was drying his hair with at Akimi, who dodged skillfully; he listened to their traded insults; he tolerated their petty temper tantrums, his twitch growing all the while.
Finally, he snapped, losing whatever thin patience that he was able to keep.
"That's enough." Akimi and Akimitsu instantly stopped their fighting, which by then just turned into a 'Who-Can-Yell-Louder' match, to look over at the other teen, wide eyed. Though Naruto's voice was only a low whisper, a hiss like quality to it, it was easily heard even with the twins yelling back and forth as loud as their lungs would let them.
Ryuu mentally mused if Naruto secretly added chakra to his voice, and if so, if he could do the same to his own voice. He was brought out his thoughts by Naruto talking once again.
"Good, now you two are going to listen to me and what I have to say, understood?" They both nodded quickly, still staring at Naruto with wide eyes. Neither Akimi nor Akimitsu had seen him angry before, and despite the fact that he was not yelling like most tended to do when angered, his version was by far scarier than if he was yelling.
Ryuu found himself mentally praying to any God or Goddesses willing to listen to not let Naruto lose control of his anger. The last time that Ryuu heard the blond teen talk like this, with this amount of calm, the man he was talking to found himself knocked out, tied up, and hanging from a rather high tree branch above a women's bath house; butt naked. The two then proceeded to watch as the man made the mistake of asking for help, cut loses, than beat to a bloody mess. Oh, he was still alive, but when the medics finally arrived, none of the women bothering to offer any help, it was found that he suffered one broken leg, a broken arm, several cracked ribs, and a rather bad head injury. He would be lucky to ever work as a shinobi ever again.
One of Naruto's favorite sayings was, to this day, 'Why should one do all of the dirty work when one can set it up where others can do it for you?'
Naruto started down the twin's who were standing side by side, his arms crossed across his chest. Despite everything, his eyes remained blank, if not slightly narrowed. Akimi and Akimitsu both had to repress a shudder at the imposing looking teen before them. Now this was the look of a deadly 'S' Class Shinobi. His vibe alone could cause most to turn and run with imagery tails between their legs.
"Now, the two of you are going to hold off on your petty arguments and same them for a later date. Right now, we are all going to leave this room, go out and have a large dinner, maybe go and shop a little bit, do some sightseeing, and then we are going to return to our hotel room and get prepared for the first part of the exam tomorrow, which includes getting at least six hours of sleep. Got it? And if not, so help me Kami, you two will find out first hand why I'm considered an 'S' Class Shinobi."
Once again, Akimi and Akimitsu nodded hastily, Akimi even holding back her comment on how they did not have petty arguments, thank you very much.
Satisfied, Naruto inclined his head slightly, and dropping his arms back to his side. Going back to his aloof and emotionless personality, he casually asked Akimi a question, as if he did not just lose his temper a few seconds ago and virtually order them around with the threat of bodily harm.
"So are you still sure that you will be able to create that genjutsu for me?"
Still slight shell shocked by his quick personality change, she nodded before answering using words.
"Yes; it'll be quite simple for me to cover up your rather… interesting marks when the time comes for you to eat."
"Thank you for doing this for me. I've never been any good with genjutsu's, though I'm able to do some of the simpler ones. I'm much like Akimitsu when it comes to them even though I must have spent countless months trying to learn them."
Ryuu chuckled quietly, startling the twins. They forgot he was there for a few seconds. "Isn't that the truth? It's as if he just has too much charka and to little control to make them properly. It gets rather frustrating trying to teach him. I give you my sympathy, Akimi dear, if Akimitsu is anything like Fox here."
Akimi giggles while Akimitsu huffed angrily and crossed his arms across his chest much like how Naruto did earlier and Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at his father figure.
"We should be going now, Dragon." The blond said coolly.
Ryuu laughed and slapped his hand on Naruto's back, making Naruto almost tumbling forward from the sheer power of the slap. "Of course, Fox."
Glaring darkly at Ryuu's back, his own throbbing ever so slightly, Naruto fallowed after him, closely followed by Akimi and Akimitsu, amused looks on their faces.
Walking through the streets of Konoha had become much easier for the four over the past few days. All it really took was getting use to the stares that were sure to come, whether they are suspicious, curious, shocked and slightly hostile looks that recognized Naruto and Ryuu as Fox and Dragon, or just fleeting glances.
When the four finally arrived at the BBQ restaurant that they all agreed to eat at, they found the place rather crowded.
Akimi let out a light sigh, her brother whispering under his breath an annoyed 'great', Ryuu frown, and Naruto's eye to mentally twitch. He was hungry damn it!
When a waitress finally came to seat them, they had already been waiting with growing impatience for close to twenty minutes.
"I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. As you all can see, it's really busy around here. You four arrived at the beginning of the usual dinner rush. Here's your table." She finished saying in on large breath, ushering them all into one of the booths in the back in front of some Konoha shinobi before giving them each menus and leaving with a smile and promise to be back to take their orders soon.
"Well then," Ryuu finally spoke breaking the four's silence, "that was interesting." The twins just nodded while Naruto blinked owlishly. Talk about a speed talker.
Shaking his head, Ryuu began looking through the single lamented paper which made up the menu; the other three following suit.
"Hmm, so do I want meat, meat, or maybe some meat? They sure do have a lot of choices here, don't they?" Akimi jokingly asked rolling her eyes.
"Well sister dear, this is a barbeque restaurant. What all were you expecting? Some sort of salad bar?"
It was almost as if a tick mark appeared her forehead as she glared at her twin.
"Well dear brother," she spat out as is the word brother was the filthiest word know to man, "not everyone happens to like eating meat all the time like you."
Akimitsu's eye grew a twitch.
"You seem to forget, charming sister of mine, that it was you that suggested this place, not one of us meat lovers as you so kindly put it." He sneered back to her.
By this point, a few of the surrounding tables stopped their own talking to watch the two twins fight, some even going as far as leaning out of their own booths to get a better look. Naruto was covering his eyes with one of his hands, head shaking and muttering lowly under his breath different ways on how to make their seemly unlucky deaths look as accidents while Ryuu tried to hide his own face behind his menu, trying to hide his rather obvious snickers at all three of his 'students' antics.
"Well excuse me for wanting to make you three happy, brother." Her hands clenched and she became slightly flushed with her anger.
"'Happy'? Since when have you ever cared about anyone else's happiness? Are you feeling well?" He raised his hand to her forehead as if to check for a temperature. His hand was swatted away by Akimi's own hand.
"Keep your hand away from me. Kami knows where it's been." Akimi sneered, looking at the offending hand as if it was some sort of filthy creature.
Unsuccessful hidden laughter could be heard from the booth ahead of them, causing Akimitsu to turn around in his seat to glare at a (barley) dressed purple clothed blond, her hand covering her mouth.
"May we help you, Miss?" His eyes narrowed, taking in those with her. An older looking man smoking a cigarette, a heavy teen who ignored those around him and continued to eat, and a laid back teen who looked like he would rather be anywhere else then there. Nothing that really screamed threat, but then again looks were deceiving. Ryuu's kind appearance was an excellent example.
"Please ignore her." The lazy looking one spoke, his head tilted up towards the ceiling. "She's rather troublesome if not."
The blond immediately stopped her laughter, instead turning to glare at the half asleep teen across from her.
"What was that Shikamaru?" She hissed out. The supposed 'Shikamaru' only let out a sigh, not at all affected by the women's anger.
"Nothing, Ino; absolutely nothing." He rolled his head to where he was looking at her through half lidded eyes. The man sitting next to Shikamaru flicked away his cigarette butt, taking out a new one and lilting it up before inhaling a long drag, slowly letting it out. He, too, looked to be unaffected by the two teens fighting, as if it was a regular occurrence to him. Across from his, the other teen was still eating, even going as far as yelling out an order for another plate of meat.
Akimi and Akimitsu silently watched; Naruto and Ryuu even looked up to watch as the other two teens fought back and forth with one another; the boy calmly and with an almost bored tone while the girl heatedly stood up from her seat and yelled at said boy. They all could now see why people stopped to watch them; watching some people fight was rather amusing.
When it got to the point where the girl, 'Ino', dragged the boy, 'Shikamaru', up from his own seat and the oldest of the four finally stood to stop the soon to be fight, did the waiter come back to their table; still smiling.
"So are you guys ready to order yet?"
The twins and Ryuu blinked at her owlishly while Naruto motioned with his hand to the three standing a little behind her.
"Shouldn't you be doing something about that?" His voice was, as always, emotionless.
The waitress turned to glance at the three before turning to look back at them.
"What, that?" They four nodded. "Nah, it's quite common for those two to fight what with them being a new genin team and all." She shrugged carelessly.
Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "You mean that those three teens just now graduated from the academy? But they look much older than twelve."
Here the waitress gave Ryuu a strange look; as if he just sprouted another head without his notice.
"Of course they are not twelve's year old. About five years ago, the council members and Hokage decided to make the graduation age to fifteen instead of twelve, giving them a few extra years of training to do."
Ryuu made a silent 'oh'. "Well, that makes sense I guess."
She made a 'tsk-ing' sound, tapping her pen against her note pad. "So are you all ready to order or what?"
Glaring at the suddenly annoying waitress, the four took turns ordering, Akimitsu purposely taking a bit longer just to annoy the women.
Giving Akimitsu an annoyed look, the waitress turned and walked back the way she came, completely ignoring the still angry blond who was now being held back by the cigarette smoking man while 'Shikamaru' just stood there, looking as bored as ever. The fourth member of the team was still eating.
Shaking his head, Ryuu turned to Naruto.
"Who would have ever thought that Konoha would do something smart for once and raise the graduation age to become shinobi?" Naruto had to mentally laugh at that, agreeing. Outside of his mind, he just nodded.
Akimitsu scoffed. "Not like it's going to make any difference. As long as the three of us are teamed up, no one can stand in our way. After all, we got the legendary Fox with us." He smirked, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms.
Next to him, Akimi's eyes flashed excitedly.
"For once, I have to agree with my brother. I'd love to see them try and beat us."
Naruto smiled softly, though it was hardly noticeable what with his ever present mask.
"Be careful you two; overconfidence has a bad tendency to lead to disaster."
Here, Ryuu jumped in. "Come now, Fox, overconfidence is allowed if you got the power to back it up with. And I know for a fact that between you three, you all have more than enough power to win this exam."
As Ryuu spoke, Naruto continued to watch his fellow 'genin'. They were all possible exam takers. Possible enemies; possible allies. And if enemies, since when was he one to lose to the enemy? His smile widening, he looked over his two teammates and Ryuu.
Inclining his head slightly, he let his own eyes flash with excitement.
"Whatever you say, Dragon. You are, after all, the jounin instructor."
The twins shared a look of pure delight, Naruto's head still bowed. Ryuu looked them all over, mentally nodding to himself.
'Yes,' he silently mused, leaning back in his seat, 'quite powerful, all three of them. Now the only question left is if they will be able to have the control to properly wield that power.' He spared a glance over towards Naruto at the last thought.
The next day, the day of the first exam, could not come soon enough for any of the three, which of that he was certain.