The Course of Nature
Gai watched with abated breath as two of his most youthful and hard working students faced each other. They were both in similar stances and Gai did not have to tell Lee to take off his weights, after all it was Naruto he was facing off against, the latest apprentice to the Sandaime Hokage himself. Even though his favorite student was a marvel as far as his capabilities in taijutsu was concerned, the blonde haired boy was an enigma in himself. He not only was able to learn taijutsus at an incredible rate, the boy practically soaked up any and every technique that was ever given to him! When he had first witnessed Naruto in action, he had been seven and had shown off skills that genins would be envious of. Not only was Gai himself, but all the others who witnessed it had been impressed by his growth ability, yes he had the potential to become an above average shinobi. Now the thought made him laugh, above average, the blonde was already well above average and he was not even a teen.
Yet, what never ceased to amaze Gai more than anything was the boy's ability to improve without impediment. He had been well ahead of genins at the age of seven and had not slowed down at all in the last, almost, six years that he had trained nonstop under Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi, and Maito Gai himself and had proven many times over that his potential was truly that of a person who was even beyond a genius, or a prodigy, titles that Konoha seems to bestow upon people only after they faced quite some hurdles and overcame them. His taijutsu, as Maito Gai had himself witnessed, was something of a miracle. His speed and power was unbelievable, while people had to train extensively for years with weights and other such implements, the boy had the ability attain that speed and nearly inhuman levels of raw strength almost naturally and as such never needed to train himself with weights. But what the boy had was nearly unlimited amount of dedication, belief, and will to believe in himself.
On the other hand was Rock Lee, his favorite student and a shining example, as the Hokage had praised the genin multiple times himself, of someone that undoubtedly possessed the Will of Fire. While he had no talent or ability in forms of shinobi arts such as ninjutsu and genjutsu, his will to prove himself a worthy ninja of Konoha had drove him to become the best he could with what he had and that was his body. He had become one of the most talented taijutsus users, and while his overall ranking was that of a mid-level Chuunin, his skills in taijutsu surpassed even Jounins in raw skill. He was perhaps second to none other than Maito Gai himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sannins, Kakashi Hatake, and…perhaps Naruto. A small wind passed over the field and a few leaves fluttered past the genins before they blurred into action without any sound of action.
Gai was not surprised that he actually had to concentrate if he had to keep them in sights as they were the fastest genins. They fought with impeccable form and it was very hard to tell who was better than the other, they were fighting at the same level and neither seemed to be able to gain the upper hand on their opponent. Naruto was not surprised that Lee was faster than before, of course he had put on more weights since the last time he had fought the spandex clad genin a little less than a year ago, and as such his speed was even higher than before. Although he was extremely fast and his hand to hand combat skills were impressive, Naruto was more than capable of keeping up with him, though Naruto could tell that Lee was faster, if only a little more, it was there. But the blonde had something that the black haired genin did not, and that was more experience in the field of taijutsu.
"Naruto, you have improved since the last time we fought like this," said Lee, his voice completely serious, his face scrunched in utter concentration as he traded furious blows with his blonde counterpart.
"So have you, bushy-brows," responded the jinchuuriki with a nod as he also concentrated on fighting his friend. He could tell that the toll of the fight was taking over both of them as they both had started to breathe a little harder and a few beads of sweat covered both of their brows. Lee could also feel the heaviness that had started to build in his body, and Naruto's thudding blows against his limbs send pinpricks of pain racing up his limbs having a slight numbing effect due to his superior strength that Lee knew of better than anybody since he had been sparring and training with the blonde almost always in the last two years. Even Tenten and Neji knew him well since Gai used to always welcome him over whenever they were having a training day because Naruto always proved to be a good challenge for Neji and him, and Tenten seemed to like his company more than a little.
"Yosh, Naruto is even stronger than before!" thought Lee as he recovered from receiving a rather painful kick to the stomach, only to see his opponent coming at him, while he was still vulnerable in the air, with a Konoha whirlwind. "I can take this," thought the green wearing ninja, as he maneuvered his body, so that how he was moving horizontally parallel to the ground but his body was vertical. Naruto jumped into the air, intending to give Lee a spinning kick, but before he could perform it fully, bush-brows had caught it and had pushed his leg away, so that now Naruto was moving the same way Lee was, his back to the bowl hair-cut ninja.
"SHIT!" thought the blonde as he guessed what was coming next, a primary Lotus most likely. Instead of bandages though, Lee's arms circled around his abdomen before tightening, he was performing a secondary Lotus. Naruto could not be luckier, because this was a grapple hold, something that he had trained in breaking for years under the Monkey Fist style. The younger boy grabbed his opponent's bandaged forearms and pulled, applying all his strength into it, he literally pried Lee's hands off his body in a sheer display of strength that left the spandex wearing genin in awe. Before he could react, Naruto had flipped over the overly thick eye browed genin's head, and pulled his arms painfully behind his back, and now he was the one in a hold by the blonde. They were nearing the ground now and Naruto placed a quick double footed kick to Lee's back sending him crashing into the ground as he separated himself from Lee and landed gracefully in a roll before coming back to his feet. Lee also pushed himself off as he shook his head a little to stop the ringing in his ears before facing the orange loving ninja once more.
"Yosh that was so beautiful my youthful students!" shouted Gai from his place while he gave two thumbs up to the sparring genins and anime style tears of joy rolled from his eyes.
"Yosh Gai sensei!" replied Lee just as enthusiastically.
"Absolutely Gai sensei," Naruto's reply was more reserved but that did not mean he didn't enjoy the overzealous nature of his of his mentor and friend when they were around, after all everyone was unique and is this was their way of expressing themselves, then why not enjoy it? Because you can be sure as heck that you can't beat them, might as well join them, as Jiji had told him many years ago.
"Okay, Naruto let us resume!" shouted Lee as he charged at his blonde haired opponent with newfound strength after seeing his sensei's display of pride in his students. Naruto also did the same as he met his sparring partner once more in a furious match of hand to hand combat. Naruto instantly noticed the change in pace as he saw Lee pulling out everything he had, finally he was serious.
"Oi, you better not start opening gates," said Naruto in a warning voice as he dodged Lee's punch to his stomach before giving him a cyclone kick that was soundly blocked. Lee gave a serious nod before continuing his assault, he had learned his lesson last time when he had opened two of his gates on Naruto and it had taken not just him but Kakashi and Gai as well to subdue Lee so that he did not end up hurting himself and Naruto while he was supercharged like that with chakra that he could not control at the time. Later he had also learned that while fighting an opponent, one only opens their gates when they have the intent to completely incapacitate or kill their opponent, and if Naruto had wanted, he could have turned in Lee for attempting to take the life of a fellow citizen, but he had dismissed that issue nonchalantly, only raising the respect that Lee held for his blonde friend higher.
"Alright Naruto this is it," said Lee in a serious voice before he came at Naruto at the highest speed he could muster and started to attack Naruto with all the strength he had. It had been over an hour since they had begun fighting and both the combatants were breathing hard and Lee could tell that he was nearing the end of his stamina, he also knew that he had to end it now before he was completely spent. Naruto was a little taken aback by Lee's speed; he had thought the spandex clad genin was at his limit with speed, but it jumped another notch suddenly.
"Guess he was not slacking at all," muttered Naruto as he also put in everything he had. Lee was still a little faster than Naruto as he had been holding back just like the blonde. He attacked Naruto with his advanced Gouken katas, but the blonde's katas completely changed, he was now solely relying on the combination of toad katas and monkey fist that he had developed once he had learned to fight against Jiji with everything he had, and for years he had refined it so he was considered a specialist in both. They both put in everything they had and both received new bruises but in the end it was experience that was left. Naruto was slowly but surely figured out the pattern of attacks that Lee was using, and while it was not consistent at all, he was using a base foundation from which he had build his ability to fight, and that had a few, though very small, openings that were not covered when the person was on the offense. Lee relied heavily on his speed to win when he was relieved of his weights, and while he was in defense he was crouched and watching for incoming attacks, but on the offense, he was constantly moving and with his high speeds, he had not yet faced an opponent that could take him down other than Gai, and that was only because his sensei was faster. But Naruto could easily see that when Lee was attacking, he left his lower body open to attack, although to attack that part of his body was incredibly hard because of the high levels of speed that he moved at.
Yet the opening was still there, and though Naruto was not as fast as Lee, he was close, and when he had power, agility, and flexibility all built into his body, he was a force to be reckoned with as well. He knew the maneuver he was attempting was risky but otherwise this spar would be considered a draw, so he crouched down before attacking depending on the crouching strikes that he was taught by Jiji, one of the toad katas' specialties.
HALF AN HOUR LATER
Kurenai, along with a now completely healthy and cheerful group of kunoichis were making their way back towards the point of convergence where all of teams had agreed to meet after the spars were over to tell the Jounin sensei what their students were lacking in and know what to train their students in to make them better at whatever they were slacking as well as finding out where their students' strengths lied. The red eyed Jounin was not at all displeased to see that although two of the kunoichis had lost, there seemed to be no animosity among the four as they seemed to be talking to each other and all four of them seemed to be enjoying the company among themselves.
"Hey Ino," asked Tenten suddenly as a certain question popped up in her mind regarding the chuunin exams that she knew Team Gai would most likely participate in this year.
"Yes?" replied the blonde girl inquiringly.
"Who do you think is the strongest member in your genin team?" asked the weapons mistress in an almost nonchalant voice.
"Hmm, I would say Choji, but that is because he is physically the strongest among the three of us," Ino stopped for a few moments as she tapped her chin thinking a little bit before continuing. "But in spars Shikamaru is able to beat us all because he is really good at spotting mistakes in our fighting styles and can exploit it extremely well," the blue eyed kunoichi nodded as she finished her assessment of her team to which Tenten noted down what strengths she had said her teammates possessed.
"What about yours Hinata?" asked Ino obviously implying the same question that Tenten had asked her only moments ago.
"Um…um…I believe K-Kiba-san is very strong," said Hinata as she twiddled her fingers nervously. She knew that Kiba was very outspoken about his abilities, but her other teammate was very quiet and she knew next to nothing about his abilities as a shinobi, but according to spar she was the best at taijutsu while Kiba was the best among them at ninjutsu and he used the Inuzuka fighting style with Akamaru very well. Shino, as far as she had seen, used nothing but his bugs to fight, whether they were to directly confront the opponent or to drain the opposer's chakra discreetly, he always relied on his Kikaichu bugs.
"Really, I thought Shino was the best you know he was the salutatorian of our graduating class," said Sakura distantly as she knew she was probably the next who would have to answer the question about her team's dynamics but to tell the truth she had no idea how strong Naruto or Sasuke was. Heck she did not even know the names of all the jutsus that the two knew, during the bell test Sasuke had used quite a few small ones the she did not know of and Naruto somehow knew how to create substantial clones.
"Yeah, me too," muttered Ino as she thought about the silent boy from the Aburame clan. He never talked to anyone and did not seem to have any friends either, but whenever he was asked question in class or to perform a jutsu, he always pulled it off without too much trouble.
"What about Team Seven Sakura?" asked Tenten, bringing the attention back to the discussion at hand. The weapon's handler knew that the blonde in Team Seven was one to be weary of, even Neji had admitted that Naruto was not to be taken lightly when they were discussing his spars against Lee and Neji, and how her overly expressive teammate who liked to wear green spandex had proclaimed Naruto as his 'eternal rival'. Even Ino and Hinata looked a little excited as they looked at the hesitant pink haired kunoichi expectantly.
"I…I don't…think I know who the strongest member of our Team is," she finally answered.
"How do you not know something like that?" wondered Sakura's friend as she ran a finger through her ponytail and got a disappointed look on her face. "Have you not done team trainings or something yet?"
"Team trainings?" asked Sakura a little confused. "What are those?" she asked a little timidly as she got three sets of eyes staring at her, well one set seemed to be glaring while the other two stared.
"Are you saying Kakashi has not trained you guys in anything yet?" Kurenai almost growled at Sakura, anger clear on her blood red eyes.
"N-no, we haven't trained as a team yet, in fact all we have been doing were a few C ranked missions but that's it. Plus Naruto always gets called away as ANBU gives him notes on a regular basis for some reason," blurted out the green eyed girl, not wanting to be the object of the Jounin's anger anymore than she had to.
"Well, then I just think I will just have to change that," muttered the Genjutsu Mistress as she decided to give that silver haired scare-crow a piece of her mind about what the word 'responsibility' meant, but if Naruto had to maintain his cover he would have to come out with a better excuse to meet the Sandaime for training.
"Wow…that was unexpected," whispered Ino as Sakura and Tenten nodded, even Hinata seemed to agree though she constantly kept averting her eyes as if she was hesitating with her own opinion on the matter. "So who do you think is the strongest person on your team Tenten, is it you?" she asked hopefully, that way at least it can be justified that she lost to one of the best genins Konoha had, unfortunately she was wrong.
"No," Tenten nearly laughed. "Not even close, Lee or Neji could wipe the floor with me anytime of the day, they are ridiculously strong, both of them. I can understand why Lee is, he cannot use any chakra whatsoever so he constantly trains in taijutsu whenever her gets the chance, and it is almost as if he is addicted to training because he never seems tired no matter how long we keep going. Neji on the other hand…well he is a genius plain and simple. Every technique that Gai-sensei shows us, he get it down pat in one try, at most two, and he excels at all the Hyuuga clan techniques that he has learned until now, even his Byakugan has a range of three kilometers, can you believe that, even grown Hyuuga shinobis don't have that kind of range, and it is unheard of that a genin can achieve that kind of control over their ocular powers!"
"T-That sounds very p-powerful," said Hinata, everyone looked over to see the Hyuuga heiress looking almost ashamed of herself as she praised her cousin.
"Well looks like almost everyone is done," Kurenai's voice intruded on the other kunoichis thoughts and when they looked up, all of them blushed with the exception of Tenten, as she just sighed. It seems her teammate had over done it once more. There lay Lee, his upper body was bare as Gai was looking over it with a critical eye. Naruto had managed to knock his opponent out but not before delivering some serious blows to his body, mainly his chest and abdomen, though the most serious ones were the ones on his thighs and shins, but Gai had already treated them with first aid, and was now looking over the rest of his wounds to see if any were severe wounds that could leave a lasting scar, after all a ninja's body was his greatest asset if he did not treat his body well, he could not expect his body to treat the shinobi well either. Yet that was not what drove the kunoichis to blush red like a rose garden, it was Lee's exposed physique. Being at the age of twelve, it is only natural for them to appreciate the beauty of the opposite sex, and physique definitely played a large role in impressing a member of the other sex. Lee, though unconscious, easily had a large advantage in that matter over most of his classmates and friends.
Going through the rigorous physical training that Gai puts himself and Lee through is nothing short of ridiculous, though it did have its advantages and positive effects. Doing handstands for hours, along with more than a few thousand sets of physical exercises, having to constantly weigh him down with immense weights, and intense taijutsu training had given Lee well built, nicely toned, and a well muscled body. Lean and rippling planes were plainly visible to everyone along with the faint outlines of a very nice six-pack was also visible. Ino's and Sakura's jaws were on the floor, while Hinata was twiddling her fingers rapidly as she tried to look away but surreptitiously kept stealing glances at the genin's body. Kurenai couldn't help but smirk since this was pretty much a déjà vu of what had happened with her and a few other kunoichis her age as they had noticed an unconscious and half naked Gai courtesy of the one and only Kakashi Hatake, when they were around the age of thirteen. "Alright Gai, put his shirt back on before some people starts drooling," snapped Kurenai, successfully gaining the aforementioned Jounin's attention.
"Hmm, just doing a cursory check, hold on a minute," Gai retorted before going back to doing what he had been doing for the last fifteen minutes.
"Ne Gai-sensei, what happened?" asked Tenten, as she also knelt down next to her teammate and handed Gai a cream that she had learned from her father was effective in taking care of bruises and shallow aberrations.
"He lost," the spandex wearing Jounin simply answered, and though Tenten was not as shocked now, she was pretty much in the same conditions that Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were in hearing their new friend's skills when she had the weapon's handler had first seen Naruto in action against Lee in taijutsu.
"So where's Naruto?" asked Ino as she looked around the training ground not noticing the brightly clothed genin anywhere.
"Check the tree-tops," said Kurenai and Gai simultaneously, making the three kunoichis share glances with each other. For a genin who was not really looking for being a shinobi in his life, Naruto sure was familiar with quite a few of them. "When I used to babysit him," Kurenai started explaining as he saw the confused glances that the newly minted genins shared. "I always found him on trees, either reading a book, or…just hanging out. I think he likes tree tops mainly because only few people will notice someone up there, and as a result even fewer will bother him if he decides to take some time alone or take a nap." The red eyed Jounin almost chuckled as she remembered Naruto, when he was younger and she used to usually find him sleeping in trees. He used to usually have his mouth open unconsciously during his slumbers resulting in voluminous amounts of drool coming off his face and onto Kurenai's clothes whenever she carried him to the orphanage. It wasn't until he was eight that Anko and Kurenai had decided to tell him about sleep manners and literally had to train him for a week before he got the 'hang of' keeping his mouth shut while he slept.
"I can see him sleeping," came a voice making everyone look in the direction of the newcomers to see Asuma with Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Shino, and the Nara was pointing at a pair of legs that were hanging off a certain tree. Well Naruto was not exactly asleep on the tree though, he was resting and checking out who were done so when all of them had gathered, they could get the lectures that the Jounins might give to them over with. Currently he knew that along with his fight, all the ladies were done, as well as all of his other friends. The only ones that remained was Kakashi-sensei along with Neji and Sasuke.
"Where?" asked Sakura as she looked around again, not noticing the feet that were dangling off a tree. Shikamaru obediently pointed at the tree, the sooner they were gone, the better, he could at least watch some clouds rolling by in peace.
"Hey, let's go wake him up," said Ino as she and her pink haired friend were on the tree in an instant, only they stopped seeing the contented and half serious smile on Naruto's face as he slept. Both the kunoichis stopped and shared a curious glance with each other before bending down to look closer at their sleeping comrade's face.
"His whisker-like marks look so real," muttered Sakura before smirking a little bit.
"Yea, kinda makes him look like a…dog? Nah wolf?" Ino just couldn't bring the right animal's name in her mind, but she knew he looked like a certain orange animal; she just could not bring its name to her mind.
"More like…a fox," said Sakura before she slowly raised her hand and traced one of the 'whiskers' on his right cheek, and he gave a deep purring sound, like the sound one would make from the bottom of their belly. The reaction was so unexpected that both kunoichis had to put hands on their mouths to stop from laughing out loud, after all Naruto just looked too cute while he was asleep and oblivious to the world like that. Ino couldn't help but do the same with Naruto's other cheek and got the same response only this time even louder, and they assumed that was simply because the stimulant amount was twice as much. The Kunoichis giggled silently, this was just too funny and uniquely intriguing to stop, and since Kakashi was still not back, they assumed it was okay.
Maito Gai had finally put a shirt on that ridiculously ripped body of a certain thirteen year old, much to the Genjutsus Mistress's relief, only for her to realize that the ones she thought were still ogling at Lee's body weren't there to begin with. She looked around to see Hinata and Tenten talking amongst themselves under a tree quite far away. Shikamaru and Choji were flat on their backs, while the Nara stared at the sky; the Akimichi did the same but also kept stuffing chips into his mouth, one fistful after another. "Where is Sakura and Ino?" wondered the red eyed woman as she gave a sweep of the whole field and only heard faint rustling coming from the tree upon which perched Naruto Uzumaki. "Of course!" thought Kurenai as she gave herself a mental slap, obviously they were with Naruto; she had seen just how familiar the two had become with the person she considered a younger brother recently. In less than a second she was perched on a branch of the same tree, adjacent to the one on which the blonde was on and was not at all surprised to see the scene that was playing in front of her. It seemed that the younger two kunoichi had found one of Naruto's sensitive spot on his face, the whisker marks. And although on some level she probably found it amusing, her instincts for the safety of the boy in front of her overruled all other as she gave a steely glare at the oblivious girls in front of her, as they continue their ministrations with their 'sleeping' friend.
"If you are done fooling around, I suggest you wake him up and get back down so that we can get this source of this get-together over with," said the Genjutsus Mistress, her voice was icy and it startled both the genins so much that they jumped when the older Kunoichi's voice reached them.
"H-Hai," choked out Ino as her face, along with Sakura's, was turning a bright shade of pink at being caught in such an embarrassing situation, giving the kunoichi on the other branch some satisfaction. Naruto could feel the little killer intent that was leaking from Kurenai-chan and decided, it was time to intervene, after all if she really checked, the Genjutsu Mistress would easily figure out that the blonde boy was in fact awake, and was exploiting the girl, not the other way round.
"Well, am I that attractive Ino-chan, Sakura-chan?" he asked as a grin spread across his face and his sapphire eyes snapped open. Kurenai almost laughed out loud, who the heck did she think these genins were playing with? After all it was Naruto, and that was probably a little overprotective of her to think that two regular genins might be able to exploit a guy whose skill in every aspect of a shinobi is that of a Jounin. With a smirk playing on her lips, the red eyed Genjutsu Mistress disappeared from her place on the tree.
"Y-you were awake all this time?" stuttered Sakura as she snatched her hand away from his whiskered face.
"Of course!" Naruto replied enthusiastically, only increasing the growing irritation that the girls were feeling for their new but friend.
"Why you—" snapped Ino as she pushed Naruto off the tree, what she had not counted on was the fact that if boy's mass moved away from the branch, the kunoichis would also misbalance the equilibrium of the branch, making them fall off the tree too. As the blonde was falling, a simple flip was all that was needed, and he landed effortlessly on his feet before looking up to see why his other two friends had suddenly shrieked. He face instantly turned into concern as he leaped catching Sakura before zipping towards Ino. He caught them fast enough and was soon putting them down on the ground as they both had their eyes shut tight, in anticipation of the oncoming impact.
"Hey, you guys are okay," said Naruto softly as he shook both the kunoichis shoulders gently and they each opened one eye before sighing in relief.
"Thanks, Naruto but don't you ever play with us like that again!" commanded Ino as Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Did you know because of that now Kurenai Sensei will probably be angry with us for a while," said Sakura in forlorn manner that made Naruto want to apologize, but it was so much fun having them rub his whiskers!
"Nah, I am pretty sure she won't," said Naruto brightly as he offered a hand to each of the fallen girls and they accepted it before hoisting themselves to their feet. Naruto felt three more chakra signatures approaching the field and sighed inwardly. "Will Kakashi Sensei ever be on time for anything?" he wondered as he made his way towards the others with the kunoichis in tow.
"You feel it too, huh?" asked Asuma as the blonde haired boy that he considered his nephew approached them and he nodded before snickering.
"I am sure Kurenai-chan will give him an earful for being so late." Even Asuma couldn't help it as a grin formed on his face.
"Oh I am sure he will get his fill," mused the bearded Jounin as he straightened to see a tall figure making its way towards them with two shorter ones following. "Well, why don't you go and hang with your friends, we have to talk a little, and then we can leave you guys free for the rest of the day." The jinchuuriki nodded before heading off towards Shikamaru and Choji, who were still on their back looking at the clouds.
WITH THE JOUNINS
"Nice of you to show up Kakashi," snapped Kurenai as the silver haired Jounin finally arrived on the place where they were supposed to meet.
"Maa, maa Kurenai-san," began Kakashi as he shook his hands in front of him to placate the miffed Kunoichi to only get cut off by her boyfriend and his friend.
"Shove that excuse Kakashi; let's get down to the task at hand." Asuma knew, and was used to the tardiness that always came with the ex-ANBU captain. There was no need to prolong this meeting by listening to his less than adequate excuses that he always had ready no matter how bad the situation was.
"Yosh, let us begin this youthful meeting then," exclaimed Gai as everyone sighed before Asuma began speaking.
"Alright I will go first then," said the bearded Jounin as he thought of lighting a cigarette but then decided against it as Kurenai was right next to him. Turning towards said Kunoichi, he began speaking once more. "Kiba and Shino are both talented and well trained shinobis, if only in their clan arts, they can use it proficiently and with results, though there is one thing that they both lack, and that is making strategies." Kurenai, along with the other Jounins nodded in accord. It was common knowledge that most genins lacked the ability to use moves by predicting the moves of their opponents since they had never been in a real fight themselves against shinobis. There were two genins in this year's graduates though that had the advantage of strategizing over others though, and they were Shikamaru and Naruto, both for obvious reasons. "Kiba needs more jutsu varieties because of his larger than ordinary reserves will easily enable for some C-rank jutsus, and maybe even a few B-rank ones. I would also recommend some elemental manipulation, though he might need some more chakra control before he can perform them with perfect accuracy. As for Shino, he really needs work on reserves as well as variety. His chakra control is perfect, even better than some of the girls, and yes he can be a real asset to your tem as a tracker because his control over the bugs are amazing, almost on par with Shibi Aburame, and that is saying something considering that he is the patriarch of the Aburame clan, but his reserves are low. Give him some chakra and stamina exercises so that he can grow physically allowing his chakra coils to grow as well. I know he cannot perform nature manipulation yet, so try giving him some simpler techniques, because other then the things he learned in the academy, he knows no other jutsus."
"Hmm, yes I was thinking the same things and I did give them the scrolls to learn a few techniques yesterday, but they haven't gotten those down yet. I guess I will also see what nature Kiba's affinity is, that way I can get an early start on his nature manipulation and chakra control. Anything else you want to add?" Kurenai looked at the Sarutobi next to her expectantly but when he shook his head she looked back at the others. "I will go then. First of all, I would like to talk about Tenten, and I am impressed by her abilities with weapons, her control over them is tremendous and she uses her strong points to her advantages very well, but I am also a little disappointed in you Gai." The spandex wearing man's shiny smile turned into a frown as he looked at Kurenai with a look of concentration on his face. "While her abilities with weapons are very good, and her taijutsus is well above average, she lacks physical strength and therefore hand to hand combat is a weakness for her. Gai, she is your student, her strong points should be hand to hand combat, I suggest you play more attention to her in that aspect, and do give her some techniques; she has none other than the scrolls she uses for attacking her opponents. As for her chakra reserves, I think her reserves are adequate for a kunoichi her age, and her control is also good, so you may start her on some elemental manipulation too. Now as for Sakura and Ino, well they were still able to impress me, but I am less than pleased with the two of you right now." The red eyes kunoichi turned her glare at Asuma before turning towards the silver haired Jounin.
"What, where did I go wrong?" asked the chain smoker as he looked at Kurenai with an expression of exaggerated incredulity pasted on his face. Kurenai almost chuckled but her eyes remained on Kakashi's face and the man wilted under her stare. She had hit a nerve.
"Well because neither Ino nor Sakura showed that they had learned anything new after coming out of the academy," the Genjutsus Mistress stopped as she gave a pointed look to both her comrades before turning towards Asuma. "And while Sakura has Naruto and Sasuke on her cell, Ino does not have the luxury of having two of the finest genins in her team from her graduating class. But both the girls are resourceful, smart, and both have a great sense of battle philosophy. If they had more stamina and jutsus under their belt, Tenten, or Hinata would not have been able to beat them in the spars. But as they are now, they are useless, a burden to their teammates, and a danger to everyone in any mission. If you want your cell to survive, I suggest both of you start a very strong regiment of training, especially for both the kunoichis in your Genin cells." Before she could continue, she saw both Asuma and Kakashi nodding their heads vigorously, everyone in Fire Country knew the consequences if not listening to the Genjutsus Mistress of the Hidden Leaf. "And Kakashi, what is this I am hearing about you not training the genins under your care at all?" Both Gai and Asuma took two quick steps back, away from Kurenai and Kakashi as the kunoichi confronted the ex-ANBU in front of her.
"What are you talking about Kurenai?" asked the masked man as he tried to feign ignorance in front of his comrade, but it was half-hearted and he was caught immediately.
"Kakashi…" the woman, even though she stood a head shorter than the silver haired Jounin, she was no less intimidating to him than his worst nightmares, and instantly his hands were in front of the woman, trying to placate her fury that was being directed towards him.
"Maa maa Kurenai, no need to get so hostile," said the Jounin as he gave her an eye smile.
"Fine, but the next time I better see some results," she declared menacingly, as Kakashi's smile turned into a grimace.
"There's going to be a 'next time'?" he asked, to nobody in particular, but his whispered comment was not missed by a certain red eyed kunoichi.
"Kakashi!"
"Alright, alright, you got me," came the, nearly panicked, reply from the masked man before Gai came forward.
"So what did you think of my youthful student Neji, my eternal rival?" he asked as he gave another one of his blinding smiles to the cycloptic Jounin.
"That he not nearly as youthful as you think," muttered Kakashi.
"What did you say?"
"That I was impressed by his skills," replied the silver haired Jounin hurriedly. "His abilities with the Byakugan and his abilities with the Hyuuga style of fighting truly make him a powerful ninja. But his greatest enemy is his own pride; the boy is good but has an ego to match. Especially when he was fighting Sasuke, I could literally feel the tensions that were flying between him and Sasuke, and it is no secret that the two clans heated each other because they both believed that their own doujutsus were superior to the other. His chakra reserves are well beyond that of a genin, and his chakra control is very good, I think he is already a high level Chuunin, by skill standards." Kakashi shut his mouth and waited for Gai to say something, but his green clad friend was in deep thought after hearing his own student's rude behavior towards a comrade of the village.
"You are right Kakashi," he said in a serious voice as he kept staring at the ground. "Neji's need to prove himself as an extra-ordinary shinobi is growing stronger with each passing day. He is becoming almost as relentless as Lee, but the goal of his pursuit is not noble at all. He intends to prove to the Hyuuga that if the strong always rule, then he will become the strongest shinobi in the clan and for that reason, he is growing apart from the family he still has. He hates his Uncle and blames the man for his father's death, and his growing disdain for his cousins will not take long to turn into hatred. But no matter what I try, I cannot change his views of the world."
"Well, all I can say is to give him some more time," said Asuma as he came forward and placed a hand on Gai's shoulder. "These kinds of things don't only need time, but also maturity before they are gone. He will grow up to understand that whatever has happened to his father, it was neither Hiashi's nor Hinata's or Hanabi's fault that his father chose to give his life. Hizashi knew well enough what the threat represented to Konoha, and he gave his life willingly for the coming generation, and if Neji cannot accept that even after he is old enough to, well then he should not be considered a shinobi in the first place."
"Thank-you my youthful friend," said Gai as he gave a smile, a genuine and serious one, to Asuma.
"So how did Naruto and Lee fare?" asked Kurenai, now that the tension was gone, she was still curious as to who would become the next Tai Jutsu legend in Konoha. First the title was given to Madara Uchiha, then it was given to the 'Professor', after that the famous 'Toad Sage' had held that name, before it was taken by 'The Golden Flash', and now it was 'The Green Beast of Konoha' Maito Gai. Who will take that name next? 'The Second Green Beast' she thought amusingly or…'The Ramen Hokage'? That thought alone sent a small giggle from Kurenai, but she covered it up before any of her comrades saw it.
"Naruto knocked Lee out," said the spandex wearing Jounin in a dead-pan voice. "In the most YOUTHFUL manner!" Gai threw his arms in the air excitedly as everyone else present sighed loudly.
WITH THE GENINS
"Well guys, I think we all done talking, so you are free to do whatever you want for the rest of the day." The smiles that now adorned the faces of most of the genins told the Jounins that it was a pleasing idea for their students indeed.
"Team Eight, Hokage's office tomorrow morning at eight. Don't be late," said Kurenai before she started walking away from the field.
"Team Ten you too," said Asuma as he walked off to catch up with Kurenai.
"Team Nine, tomorrow we will have a glorious mission so be there at Hokage sama's office too!" shouted Gai before he too bounced off after Kurenai and Asuma.
"Team Seven, tomorrow morning at Training grounds seven. Naruto do not be late," said Kakashi in a very serious voice before he too leapt off.
"Well that was curt," muttered Kiba as he looked at the faces of the other genins too.
"Uh so what do we do now?" asked Ino to nobody in particular.
"Ninja tag!" shouted Naruto and some chuckles were heard but they agreed, after all it was only the beginning of the evening.
"Will you play too Sasuke-kun?" asked Ino in a hopeful voice as the Uchiha had started walking off.
"I don't—" before he could finish he was interrupted as a restraining hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hey, at least stay," the raven haired boy turned to see Naruto there, with a hopeful grin on his face. He turned his face sharply in another direction but gave an answer.
"Fine, but do not expect me to participate in your foolish games."
"Alright!"
ONE WEEK LATER
"Tora-chan, I missed you soooo much," said an overly obese lady as she nearly strangled the cat while giving her something that faintly resembled a hug.
"No wonder that cat ran away," muttered Sakura, and a small grin spread on the thoroughly scratched face of her blonde teammate.
"Ne, Sakura, you should not say things like that in front of a customer, it gives us a bad reputation," said Iruka from his place next to the Hokage, who was also chuckling quietly after hearing the young genin.
"Now what is the next mission that I should give you," muttered Iruka to himself as he looked through the folders of D-Rank missions. "Oh how does this sound, cleaning up the park and then helping an old lady pick up fruits from her garden?"
"NO, no absolutely not!" Sakura nearly burst into tears as she heard another set of useless missions. "Why can't we get real missions, these are chores for children."
"Sakura, you guys are still genin, you cannot get—" Iruka was cut off as a sharp voice interrupted his lecture.
"Why don't you at least give us a C-Ranked mission Hokage-sama?" asked Naruto but even Sasuke and Sakura were surprised by the coldness in it. His blue eyes were also hard, as he seemed to stare daggers at the leader of Konoha.
"Hmm," thought Kakashi as he tapped his chin. "It seems he still did not forgive the Sandaime for hiding the truth about him being a jinchuuriki yet." The Sandaime sighed before nodding and pulled out a yellow folder, rather than the blue ones that they had been getting since they became genins.
"If you insist Naruto, this is an escort mission for a certain individual," said the Hokage as a mysterious smile spread on his lips.
"Who might that be?" thought Sakura as the curiosity in her bubbled to the surface.
"Hey, you can come on in now," said Iruka loudly and a side door in the room opened up.
"What are these, all I get is a bunch of brats?" came the husky voice of a man before he came in to the room himself. The man himself had grey spiky hair all over his head as well as a goatee. Glasses adorned his black eyes and rope was tied around his forehead, much like the forehead protectors that most shinobis wore. He also wore a simple black tunic with a white cloth tied around his waist and off-white pants with regular civilian sandals on his foot. But the most distinctive thing on him was the bottle of cheap whisky that he held on his left hand and was clearly half drunk by the gait of his movements. "Especially that short girly with the pink hair."
"What did you say?" Before he could take another step, Sakura was charging at him with the intent to kill, the only thing that held her back was the arm of Naruto around her waist.
"Calm down Sakura-chan, we don't want to kill our client now do we?" said Naruto, though his voice was a little strained with the force it was taking to keep Sakura from breaking free of him and ending that drunkard's life then and there. "Who are you?" Naruto's dead pan question took the bridge builder a little aback before he recovered and answered the question.
"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."
"Okay, now that we have the introductions out of the way, you guys better go and pack up. I will meet you with our client at the main gates of the village in an hour." Kakashi said cheerfully before he and Tazuna strolled out of the office followed by a stoic Sasuke, a bubble Sakura, and a smiling Naruto.
"Hmm, the course of nature has its own unique ways," mused the Hokage making an intrigued Iruka look up from the stack of folders in front of him.
"What do you mean Hokage-sama?" asked the academy instructor in a curious voice, making the Sandaime chuckle a little.
"Well before the latest shinobi world war, the jurisdiction of the Country of Waves fell under Uzushiogakure, and since Naruto is an Uzumaki, he is destined to learn about his cultures and the ways of his homeland in one way or another," replied the Sandaime, almost prophetically, making Iruka understand the meaning of the Hokage's earlier statement.
Okay I know I owe you guys an apology for this extremely late update. But what can I say, with the class that I was teaching at the University, along with taking a summer class was pretty hard and practicing for the final is something that I always hate. So anyway, finally Naruto is going to Wave, so from here on out, the story will start becoming more and more unlike Canon, though I was trying to make it different before too, lol. As always ideas and opinions from readers are always welcome and if you would like to discuss the story in farther detail, just send me a quick P.M. I was actually surprised by the amounts of alerts and favorites I got, but people did not leave much reviews. Still, loved the reviews I got, so please keep them coming. Poll about Zabuza's sword still stands. And please, please, please don't forget to review.
Thanks,
Tanneal.