In Which:
Naruto trains- Sakura studies- People are impressed.
It had been two months since the failed mission, and five weeks since Naruto had first let the others "catch" him training. He was careful to let them find him at least once every week, but just to be sure, he had varied the time between each incident so they seemed truly random. It had been two days since the Rookies and company had "caught" him, but there had been seven days between that time and the one before. He would let them see him again today. And he was going to make it impressive.
He knew that Sakura had taken to letting them find her making or practicing modifications of techniques that already existed. Today, he was going to take a page from her book, and start working on his idea for a modified Rasengan.
The water exercise he had invented had been truly effective: He had practiced it every day and his control was almost seven times better. On top of that, his chakra reserves had doubled and his already-insane stamina was even crazier. That meant that he no longer needed a bushin or even two hands to make the Rasengan. In fact, since last week, he had been able to make and hold one in each hand for almost an hour.
Both Jiraiya and the Hokage had taken to tagging along with the Rookies when they went to look for Naruto or Sakura, mostly to make sure they weren't doing anything stupid. Usually they appeared around noon, so he had about an hour and a half before they came to watch him train. (They knew better than to interfere- both Naruto and Sakura had blown up pretty spectacularly when anyone tried.)
So. An hour and a half to figure it out. Well, he could work with that.
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Inside Konoha library, Sakura was pouring over a book. Beside her was a rather tall stack of books she found useless and a significantly smalled stack of thinfg she found helpful. Since this was not an uncommon sight to the other Rookies, they took little notice of the books when they arrived to ask her to lunch.
If they had paid closer attention, they may have noticed the low-level genjutsu cast on those books. If they had paid closer attention, they would have found rather a lot of books on current Konoha laws.
If they had paid closer attention, they may have found a clue to the plans Sakura and Naruto were making.
Sakura accepted the lunch offer without so much a one nervous glance at the books. She was proud of this fact for the rest of the day.
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Sitting in a small taiyaki place near the Hokage's tower, the Rookie nine ( minus Naruto and obviously Sasuke) were involved in a spirited discussion of which weapon was better for long range combat: shuriken or kuani.
Within ten minutes of ordering, Jiraiya joined them along with the groups' senseis and Tsunade. A second table was dragged over and the whole group involved themselves in an energetic meal, discussion punctuated with arm gestures and loud laughter. Then Asuma, who wasn't aware of the state of affairs between Sakura and Naruto, asked a question.
"Hey, where's the blond gaki?"
There was an uncomfortable silence. Quickly falling into her assumed role, Sakura stood quickly and opened her mouth to respond.
She was cut off by a wave of chakra that had every head turned towards Konha forest.
There was a short silence, then the whole group marched out, Tsunade telling the shop owner to put the meal on her tab. As they headed towards the forest, one thought was universal.
What has he come up with now?!
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Naruto lay on his back, panting. Damn, that had been awesome!
His experiments had been mostly successful, and he could sense the others moving towards him rapidly. Until his lapse in concentration (due mostly to an encounter between a bug and his eye) it had gone practically perfectly. He grinned. The others were almost at the edge of the clearing. Time to put on a show.
Groaning softly, he staggered upright. "Once more. Once more and I'll have it." His mutter reached the ears of his audience, and the reaction was immeadiate. The regular watchers pulled the jonin senseis into the shelter of a large boulder, and turned expectant eyes on his form.
He took a deep breath, and as he expelled it, concentrated. in his hand, palm turned upwards, a Rasengan formed. From behind the boulder Naruto heard his sensei mutter a disappointed that's it? The others shushed him and continued watching.
He held the technique for a second. Then, much to his audience's puzzlement, it began to shrink. For a moment it seemed like he was releasing the technique. Then they realized that the ball of swirling air was not disappearing, it was being compressed. Barely a second after the shrinking had started; the Rasengan was the size of a pinhead, a tiny spot of intense light in Naruto's hand. Then, beside it, another appeared. And another. And another.
In thirty seconds, Naruto was surrounded by dozens of pinhead Rasengans. Then, he lifted the hand he had used to make the first one, and pointed to a huge oak tree on the very far side of the lake. The tiny balls of light shot across the open water at an amazing speed. And the oak vanished.
The group, including Naruto andsSakura (as far apart as they could get) walked over. Naruto examined the remains of the tree, pointedly ignoring Sakura. There was nothing left. No shards of wood, no heap of ash, just a few exposed roots.
Jiraiya turned slowly to look at the blond. "Holy shit. Brat, how do you think these things up? Multiple projectile Rasengan, each smaller than a coin? What's next, a jutsu for creating food from air?" He narrowed his eyes at the sudden smirk on Naruto's face. "You're planning something. What are you up to?"
Naruto grinned at the white-haired ninja. It was so mischievous, so sly, so quintessentially Naruto, that the group couldn't help but smile back. "Now that would be telling!"
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Naruto looked out the window of his apartment. The sky was that peculiar shade of purple-black it only aquires when its so early in the morning that its still late at night. Those few minutes that straddle the line between "really late" and "before dawn" do strange things to a person's mind. Things, while not necessarily clearer, are sharper and more focused. This was the time when the most familiar things become alien and strange.
This was the time in which things changed.
Naruto stood. He changed swiftly into his non-colour clothes, strapped on his weapons, and leaped from the window ledge to the roof of the next apartment building over. Hurdling over the rooftops at a remarkable speed, he made his way through the city to the forest completely undetected.
Settling on the bough of a tree at the edge of the clearing and lake he had trained at, Naruto pried a large piece of bark off the trunk beside him to reveal a small cavity containing his newly-created field pack. Over the course of the last few weeks, he had smuggled everything he would need for the trip to sound to this spot.
He slid the straps of the pack over his arms and settled it comfortably on his back. He checked the straps and making sure he had everything, then scanned the clearing. Finding the one small piece of cloth he had left out and then gathering some leaves, he eliminated every trace of himself from the clearing. Careful not to break a single twig or leave and tracks, he moved slowly away from Konoha. When he was a mile away, as dawn coloured the horizon he picked up speed.
His friends had seen him today, and they were now used to his erratic comings and goings, just as he and Sakura had intended. They would not expect to see him again for at least five days, so he had a good head start for when they found out he was gone. His playacting with Sakura had been effective; no-one would think to ask her where he was since they were so clearly at odds. And as soon as people started asking questions, she too would disappear.
With luck, he would be in Sound before anyone found out he was gone.
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So there we are. A bit late, but it couldn't be helped (exams are evil. Evil!) Questions, comments? Any and every review is welcome. -Heliotropic