Part Five of Lack of Motivation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: Here's part 5. Slightly longer than previous chapters, so enjoy! This is the edited version by MingShun and Sabakugirl and HarbringerLady (me of course). The update will be delayed. I'm not in the mood to write anything.

Part Five

Naruto impatiently drummed his fingers on the log he was sitting on. An hour had past since the meeting time Kakashi had set up. He had yet to show his face anywhere on training field 7. He would have either heard the man's screams or one of his foxes would have informed him of his arrival. Well at least Sasuke and Sakura will still providing ample amount of entertainment. Though the shouts, and explosions had stopped about 15 minutes ago. Were they just resting or were they giving up? It was so early in the game it would be very disappointing if they had given up, they were only in the second layer of traps after all.

Naruto raised an eyebrow when his fox informed him that Sasuke went to help Sakura for the second time. Apparently after Sasuke had finally gotten all the itching powder off and running into at least three more log traps that set off an assortment of others, he decided that he needed help to get out of here. Unfortunately for him the only other person around was Sakura, who had called him a slimy worm earlier that day today. The poor boy was all battered up, thanks to some holes he had covered up. After finally reaching Sakura he was able to cancel the genjutsu. Sakura became even giddier after her crush saved her, but she felt embarrassed and a little guilty when she remembered that she had called Sasuke a slimy worm.

Together, they were able to avoid many of the traps Naruto had set up. Unfortunately when they did accidentally trigger a trap, they often set off almost all of the traps that they had already past. And since the traps in 2nd layer were harder than in the 1st layer…well, you get the idea.

Naruto sighed happily as he removed a folder from his jacket. Life was so good. Naruto opened the folder and started to read. Inside the folder was all the information he was able to gather about the two who were stuck in the second layer of traps and a certain silver haired jounin.

Naruto agreed to come to the introductions so he could learn more about the people he was dealing with. He was willing to bet that if hadn't agreed to come with them then Hatake would have told Sandaime about it.

He already knew Sasuke's and Sakura's names but he didn't know anything about their lives. He hadn't known anything about the jounin until the meeting where he learned his name. And that was all he knew about them. Wanting to find out more about his teammates and his new sensei he created a shadow clone and had it henge into a middle-aged jounin. Naruto watched his clone walk past the guards that were supposed to be watching the building against any trespasser and it gathered the data he desired. Sometimes Naruto wanted to laugh at the lax security here in Konoha. They should have checked all the people who entered the building. His clone didn't even transform into any Konoha jounin, only relying on the Leaf hitae-ate and jounin vest for identification.

Kage-bunshin no jutsu. That was the name of the cool jutsu he used to get past the guards. He learned it while watching a jounin, who he didn't know, fight a group of bandits who had been found near Konoha's borders. With Kyuubi's guidance, he was able to successfully recreate the jutsu and was able to improve the clones a bit. Now his clones could withstand 4 hits before they would poof.

Naruto read Sakura's file next. It seemed that she came from a non-shinobi family. Besides the fact that she was an only child all the other information was either rubbish or thins Naruto already knew, so he went to the next file, Sasuke's.

Sasuke came from the Uchiha clan who made up the majority of Konoha's police force. The clan possessed a bloodline ability, a doujutsu called the Sharingan. The sharingan allowed members of the clan to copy jutsus and see through any genjutsu.

Hmm...Maybe he needed to research more about this so-called Sharingan.

Sasuke's father was the clan's leader. His mother retired from being shinobi after she married his father and Sasuke had a brother named Itachi. He raised an eyebrow and whistled when he read that Sasuke's clan was slaughtered by his own brother and he was one of the two survivors of the once proud Uchiha clan. Naruto tapped his chin. Was it his own brother that Sasuke wanted to kill?

Uchiha Itachi needed to be researched too.

Now for the last file that contained information about a certain sliver-haired jounin. Hatake Kakashi was the son of Konoha's White Fang who committed suicide because Konoha blamed him for the failure of a critical mission. Naruto shook his head sadly. This was another mistake Konoha had made. Kakashi's mother was the typical housewife. She died from an illness (AN: I don't know if this is true or not.) Kakashi became a jounin at a very young age, but remained with his genin team comprised of Uchiha Obito and Rin (AN: What's her surname?). They were under the guidance of...Kazama Arashi...

Naruto's jaw dropped. Kakashi was his late father's student? Now he wasn't expecting to find anything this shocking. Damn, he needed to read more about his father than just his techniques! He wondered whether Kakashi knew that he was his sensei's son. He wanted to ask the silver haired jounin about his father, but Kakashi would be most likely suspicious of him. He didn't want anyone to know that he knew that he was yondaime's son. He shook his head and continued to read.

"PS," he read it out loud. "Kakashi is also known in Konoha as the jounin with the greatest late record so far…WHAATTTTTTTTT!" Naruto shrieked. "He is known to be 2 hours later than the agreed time, so as a precaution for important missions, please tell him to come at least 3 hours before the designated time." Naruto closed his folder in annoyance. No wonder why the jounin hasn't shown up yet.

Naruto perked up when he heard an interesting comment Kyuubi.

"Punishment eh? Hmm...why not?" he replied.

Naruto smirked maliciously. The blonde opened the file once more and retrieved Kakashi's home address. Naruto got up and started to collect kunai and shuriken that had been used in the traps that had already been triggered, so he wouldn't need to buy more of them. He needed to buy another bag of itching powder, some wires, two gallons of brightly colored paint, and more explosive tags...well maybe not explosive tags... He wouldn't want to be sued for property damage by Kakashi. He could buy them anyway, for reserve, just in case he needed them later on.

Naruto thanked the Hokage for this. Believe it or not, the Third actually gave him an allowance for pranks. Of course, that wasn't without a promise, on the blonde's part. He wasn't allowed to damage any public property and not to prank the villagers. Even if he accidentally did, none of the clues should point to him. So far no one suspected him of those pranks. Almost everyone believed that it was the work of a group of hooligans because the pranks would occur in different places simultaneously. In the villager's' eyes he was a demon, and in the shinobis' eyes he was known as a demon or a boy who had not talent as a shinobi.

The only ones who knew that it was actually him, who did the pranks, were the Hokage, the insane woman named Anko who lust for blood, a guy named Shiranui Genma plus his sickly friend named Hayate-something and maybe the nasty head of Interrogation named Morino Ibiki. Thankfully they were all on his 'OK people' list. Well…maybe Anko wasn't too OK…she was crazy and bloodthirsty. Naruto remembered a prank suggestion that she had made. When he told the Third about it and asked if he could do it, the old man immediately yelled a 'NO!'. Too bad…her idea was very creative and he'd like to use it and maybe even improve it a 'bit'. He remembered that Kyuubi once told him that he liked that woman. Naruto only rolled his eyes knowing those 2 were bloodthirsty creatures.

50 meters from Kakashi's house, Kyuubi told him that the man wasn't in his house. Naruto smirked. He got into the house avoiding all of the traps and alarms inside. He even tinkered with some of those traps and alarms, improving them with his own and using them as he liked without triggering them. His clones arrived with what he needed and they started the real work. Naruto thanked whatever deity up there for letting him see the kage bunshin no jutsu that day. This jutsu was a real heaven's gift for a prankster and trap master like him. In just 5 minutes, they were done with the pranks. The 3-layered trap that he made in the training field 7 was made in an hour without him, only his 15 clones. He only needed to pour chakra for genjutsu since his clone wasn't advanced enough to use any genjutsu. The only ninjutsu they could do was henge at the moment, but he promised himself to improve them more. Having a demon sealed inside him was a curse, but also a blessing, especially when the said demon was Kyuubi, who had a very devious mind. Not to mention that he had the intelligence and power to back it up. Kyuubi's only downsides were his arrogance and his tendency to underestimate anyone. That was how he ended inside his belly in the 1st place. He underestimated the Fourth and let him finished the seal because of his arrogance thinking that it wouldn't do anything to him. When he knew what happened, it was already too late.

"Shut up, fox. It was your own fault you let my father seal you inside me." Pause. "Hey, it wasn't my fault that my father chose me to become your vessel. In case you forgot, I wasn't able to say no at the time!" Naruto jumped from Kakashi's window after dismissing his 5 clones and ran toward training field 7 wondering whether Sasuke and Sakura had finished with the traps yet. "Geez, your arrogance is your own downfall," he snorted angrily. His relationship with the fox was kinda a love-hate relationship. Okay, maybe not love, because he would never ever love the demon who caused him trouble in the 1st place. Kyuubi hated him for what his father done, but he couldn't do anything now, so he decided that Naruto had to pay for it by wreaking havoc to the village. Naruto himself hated the fox because he was blamed for something he didn't' do, but the fox was his only chance to become stronger. Plus he also hated the villagers, so he didn't mind annoying them. They made a deal. Kyuubi wanted to have a strong vessel (a weak vessel would make the fox a laughable material in the demon realm and weak vessels had the tendency to suicide. Also, if Naruto died, so would Kyuubi, and he didn't want to die even if it meant he needed to train the boy whose father was the one who sealed him), Naruto wanted to become stronger. Kyuubi hated his father and Naruto also blamed his father for his misfortune. Both of them didn't like Konoha. They decided to work together.

It's been 5 years since Naruto found out about Kyuubi and communicated with him; that was their relationship then and still was even now. There was no love lost between them and it was this relationship that they were most comfortable with. They didn't need to like each other to work together. Survival was the most important thing for them.

Naruto found the trunk he had previously sat on. Taking a moment to sit down, he then put 2 fingers to his lips and then whistled without sound. No more than 30 seconds later, 5 small red foxes were sitting below him waiting for his instruction. He told 2 of them to search for Kakashi, 1 to search for Sakura and Sasuke and the other 2 to stay with him. He jumped down to the ground and sat below the tree and petting the purring foxes sitting on his stomach and to his side.

2 minutes later the red fox on his belly, a red fox with a black strip on its neck perked up. It paused for a second before it yipped. Naruto smiled. The fox he asked to search for Sasuke and Sakura had found them. He put his hand on the black-stripped red fox and closed his eyes. Images bombarded his brain.

Sasuke was bandaging the wounds he recently got. 2 meters across from him, Sakura was angrily trying to remove the mud that covered her strawberry-colored hair. Naruto smirked. He asked the fox on his belly to tell its friend, who had its eyes on both genins, to continue watching them. He withdrew his hand from it and laughed loudly.

He stopped when the fox on his left side yipped. His smirk grew wider. They have found the jounin. He placed his hand on its forehead and immediately saw Kakashi in his mind. The jounin was standing in front of a stone that Naruto remembered as the memorial monument reserved for shinobi that died on a mission or to put it simply: killed in action.

He wondered what he was doing frozen in front of the stone. Did the jounin have any friends whose name was carved there? One of the fox got closer, so Naruto could see the names. He thanked Kyuubi for his enhanced eyes. Naruto saw Obito's name there and realized that it was the same Obito that was his father's student.

He understood the implication, but growled when he decided that even if Kakashi used his sweet time for his dead friend, didn't mean that he needed to be late for everything just to remember his teammate. It wasn't professio—The heck! Why did he care about shinobi professionalism? He sure as hell didn't want to be Leaf shinobi, and if Kakashi wanted to be late for Leaf's meeting, that was good for him, wasn't it? Afterall it would be Konoha that got the blunt of his lateness.

Still…it was him now that was waiting for the annoying jounin!

Shaking his head, Naruto quickly sent 5 clones to reinforce the traps on the way between them. The jounin needed to be taught not to stay late when he was meeting with Naruto or the consequence would be dire.

30 minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura arrived. Dirty, wounded, torn clothes, angry and of course not to forget wounded pride in Sasuke's case.

"What happened to you? You look like as if you were mauled by wild beasts or something?" Naruto couldn't keep the amused expression off his face. The 2 whipped their heads in surprise, they hadn't detected his presence.

When Sakura saw his clean state, she was angry. "IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT?" she bellowed.

"Me? It was me what?" he replied as innocently as he could.

"IT WAS YOU WHO SET THOSE FREAKING THINGS!" Sasuke glanced at them and then narrowed his eyes at the blonde.

"Why did you think I'm the one who built those traps?" he asked calmly, but his lips twitched, holding his laughter.

"SEE! YOU KNEW ABOUT THE TRAPS AND YOU DIDN'T TRIGGER THEM! THAT MEANS THAT YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BUILT THEM!" she yelled as loud as she could.

"Maybe it was you who couldn't avoid simple traps like tho—"

"SHUT UPPPPPPPP!"

"Okay," he shrugged in a way that infuriated her much more. With his 2 foxes in his hands, Naruto jumped higher on the tree to avoid her wrath. Good choice, because the pink haired girl was ready to kill him—not that she could, of course. She didn't seem to realize that Naruto had 2 red foxes with him, but Sasuke saw them and he stared at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

A loud surprised shriek sliced through the silence of the forest, quickly followed by a barrage of explosions. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other. They sympathized with the poor soul. Unbeknownst to them, those triggered traps were more dangerous than the ones they faced off. Luckily, it was a jounin, a genius one at that, who faced those traps or he wouldn't survive.

15 minutes later, after seeing 2 high-level katon jutsus break through the treetops and fly into the air, a disheveled silver haired jounin walked in limp covered by sticky green goop. Sakura made a disgusted moan after seeing it and thanked heaven that she wasn't the one who received it. Mud was much better. It would dry up and was much easier to remove than the sticky goop.

Sasuke and Sakura immediately glared at Naruto. The culprit was clear now. If the jounin himself was also at the receiving end of the prank than it meant that the clean one was the culprit. Unless the jounin made a mistake when he made those traps…but that was unlikely.

"Yo," he greeted the 2 incredulous genins. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was running from 4 colonies of bees that attacked me," Sakura almost yelled 'LIAR' when she saw his face—even the parts covered by his mask—and his hands were full with swellings. She gulped and nodded sympathetically.

Kakashi blinked when he saw his soon-to-be-students' states. He then looked up to where Naruto was. His clean state and the wide grin on his face confirmed his fear.

"…Anyway since most of us are not in the state to receive the test, and I don't think I'm ready to test you, I will postpone this test for 1-uh…3 days. Meet me here at the same time. Don't be late," a snort came from above, but Kakashi ignored it. "And don't eat or you'll puke. Dismissed!" this time Kakashi walked away instead of poofing out.

The 2 genins gaped in disbelief. They endangered their lives moving through the traps and now the jounin easily dismissed them just like that! And now they had to face the traps that haven't been triggered again! "NANIIIII!" this time Sasuke joined Sakura as they bellowed incredulously at the jounin who was not in their sights anymore.

Naruto grinned. Mission success. Now he only needed to hear about the other traps. Kakashi was wrong if he thought that he was already safe.

Inside him Kyuubi chuckled. Even if he was sealed, at least he got a decent vessel.

TBC…

Please review!