Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, go figure.
Posted: 1/9/09
A/N: I think by now pretty much everyone has caught on to what's happening here. Except for Naruto, of course.
Here's chapter three.
Chapter Title: Jump by Van Halen
"Hey!"
Naruto pretended to ignore the voice. Maybe if he willed it hard enough, it would just go away.
"Hey! Hey, boss! I'm talking to you blondie!"
It was worth a try.
Naruto spun on his heel and confronted the loud midget who had been yelling after him for nearly a block.
"Do I know you, kid?"
The small boy attempted to glare at him in between loud pants, while simultaneously trying to adjust the long scarf that trailed after him so that it hung neatly. He only succeeded in looking rather ridiculous.
Naruto really didn't have time to entertain the kid right now. On second thought, maybe he did. His new sensei hadn't been particularly prompt the last two days. Regardless, he wasn't in the mood to be babysitting.
The boy was still looking at him through narrowed eyes. For a seasoned recipient of malicious glares like Naruto, it seemed a rather poor attempt at cowing him.
"Oh, right. Right." Naruto scrunched up his face in mock confusion and placed his hand on his chin in thought. He let the silence stretch out for a minute before snapping his fingers in staged realization. "You're the Hokage's grandson."
The small boy, having regained his breath, straightened and crossed his arms over his chest in protest. Naruto just grinned back. He probably should have felt guilty jerking the younger boy around, but he was feeling a bit playful and – quite frankly – sometimes there was nothing like having a laugh at the expense of someone younger and stupider than you were.
"Wait, wait. It's coming to me." Naruto held up his right hand to stop the boy from interrupting him while dramatically placing his left over his forehead – making sure to surreptitiously keep an eye on the boy through his goggles. "Oh, I got it! Konoha! Um, Konoha…ta…ra…"
The small boy was fuming now. "It's Konohamaru!"
Naruto dispensed with the act and dropped his hands to his sides. "That was my next guess. Jeez, talk about impatient youth these days." The blond could only break out into a laugh at the grumpy look that stole across Konohamaru's face. "I was just kidding, Konohamaru. Now what did you need? I have to meet my sensei for our first mission in fifteen minutes."
The scowl dropped off of the young Sarutobi's face immediately. "Really? Are you going to go fight dangerous missing nin? Or guard a princess?"
Naruto grinned. "Yeah, that would be pretty cool, huh?" The grin slipped away. "Almost as cool as you telling me what you wanted."
Konohamaru blinked a few times before pulling a small scroll from the pouch at his waist. "I got the scroll you asked for."
Now it was Naruto's turn to blink as he accepted the scroll from the other boy. He turned the rolled parchment over in his hands before pulling on the loose end and finding the words Body Flicker written neatly along the leading edge of the paper. "No kidding? I thought it'd take you a while longer."
Naruto was legitimately surprised. When the brat had asked the blond to teach his sexy jutsu to him the other day after witnessing it's use against the Hokage, he didn't think the kid would turn up with one of his anal-retentive sensei's jutsu scrolls so quickly – especially since the blond had been specific about which jutsu was to be traded. In fact, Naruto hadn't expected the kid to come through on the deal at all.
"Yeah! So can you teach me that awesome jutsu you used against the old man now?"
Naruto nodded slowly, still a bit dumbfounded by the ease with which the brat had swindled his sensei. "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you this afternoon, alright?"
"Which jutsu is that, by the way? I'll bet it's a big one that blows away your enemies, right?"
Naruto shrugged him off and turned to continue on to the small bridge where he was to meet with the rest of his team.
"Okay, well, I'll see you this afternoon, right?"
The blond gave a small wave over his shoulder and pulled open the scroll to begin reading. He really wanted to learn this technique.
Mastery of the Body Flicker technique requires proficiency in pedal tension and adhesion skills. Under no circumstances should a ninja attempt to use the Body Flicker without first gaining combat-proficient capabilities in these control elements.
"What. The. Hell."
Naruto growled in frustration as he stepped onto the wooden bridge where Team Seven was to meet. He angrily rolled up the scroll and stowed it away as his two teammates turned to see him. Sasuke looked away almost immediately and went back to leaning against the wooden railing of the bridge. Sakura spared him a longer glance from her place across from Sasuke before going back to staring over the water.
Naruto wondered how long they had both been standing here. Surely Sakura had tried to talk up her crush for at least a few minutes before his indifference deterred her.
No matter. He had a scroll to work through.
On second thought, maybe she knew something about pedal tension or control elements? He almost asked, but his better judgment shot that idea down immediately. They didn't sound like things that were taught in the academy, and he was sure he'd never heard anything of the sort mentioned in Iruka's lectures.
At least the ones he had been present for.
Well, if he wasn't going to be making any progress on the Body Flicker, then he may as well try to find something else worthwhile to learn. Naruto had the shadow clone jutsu, true, but what he really needed was something powerful. Something destructive. Something flashy.
Something with fire.
And he knew just who to get it from.
"Hey bastard, what was that fire technique you used yesterday against Kakashi?"
Sasuke looked at the blond for a moment before smirking. "Saw that, did you? It's a clan technique passed down from parent to child. An Uchiha isn't considered an adult within the clan until he can perform it." Naruto thought he saw the unflappable boy's face tighten at the mention of his clan. He knew that the Uchiha was an orphan like himself – that his family had died sometime right after they had entered the academy. It was no surprise that mention of them brought up conflicting feelings for Sasuke. "It's called the Grand Fireball jutsu, and all Uchiha learn it."
There was definitely an opening there for a tasteless jab at Sasuke's family, but Naruto had already worked out his mean streak this morning and taunting the dark haired boy would only hinder him in his personal mission for the morning. The Uchiha's pride was the boy's weakness, but exploiting it required a good deal of care.
"Can you show me?"
Sasuke snorted. "Now why would I want to do something like that, moron?"
Naruto cocked his head and appraised the dark haired boy for a moment. "Never mind. Sorry. I should have realized that it took too much chakra. We wouldn't want you passing out on our first mission, after all." Naruto walked over to the railing of the bridge opposite from the Uchiha – a few feet from Sakura's side – and leaned over, staring down at the gently flowing water absentmindedly.
It only took ten seconds for Sasuke to crack. "Unlike you, moron, I have plenty of chakra to spare."
Naruto gave him a glance over his shoulder but quickly went back to watching the water under the bridge.
"Fine."
Naruto heard Sasuke stomping across the bridge to stand next to him. He had to work to suppress the small grin that threatened to creep across his face, but managed to control himself as he turned to watch Sasuke with a quirked eyebrow. Sakura had perked up a bit and was watching the two boys intently.
"Watch and learn, moron. This is why I was the top student in the academy and you were, well, you."
Naruto kept a frown from forming, but only just. He needed to pay close attention here if he was to learn anything.
Sasuke walked to the railing and stood in a relaxed pose while breathing evenly and deliberately in anticipation of his demonstration. Finally ready, his hands jumped through a short series of seals before he inhaled deeply, brought his right hand to his mouth with his thumb and index finger meeting in a circle around his lips, and blew out a thin stream of white hot fire that quickly spread into a mass more than ten feet across over the running water below.
Naruto was glad for his odd goggles then, because even though the exposed skin on his face was subjected to the heat of Sasuke's fire, his eyes were completely protected from the blaze – which would have normally caused him to squint or look away. Once again, Naruto noticed the crimson aura of flames surround the boy's body before he released his jutsu. It was definitely something he'd have to look into sooner or later.
The technique as a whole didn't seem too complicated. Naruto had easily picked up the seals that Sasuke had used to mold his chakra. There was more to it than that, of course. Using ninjutsu took intent and control of one's chakra to actually work. Anyone could make the strange hand signs that ninja used, but only a person who had learned to manipulate his chakra properly could form it into ninjutsu.
He had all of the clues that he needed though.
At least he thought he did.
Sasuke had made a big to-do about sucking in a huge breath of air before unleashing his flame. In fact from where Naruto stood it had looked like the Uchiha had actually breathed out fire – like some sickly-pale, stuck-up dragon.
Well, Naruto could do that too. He hoped.
Slowly, he moved his hands through the seals that Sasuke had used. He'd never been particularly good at these – mostly due to lack of trying. The academy jutsu only took a few seals each. The Transformation jutsu only used one. Stringing them together certainly wasn't his forte. He'd have to remember to correct that, and soon, if he wanted to start learning some more complex ninjutsu.
And damn did he ever.
"What are you doing, moron?" Sasuke was watching Naruto with a frown on his face as the blond moved through the seal sequence slowly and deliberately.
"What does it look like? I'm going to try this baby out."
"You can't do that!" The Uchiha sounded almost alarmed.
Naruto dropped his hands and turned to look at his teammate. "And why not?"
Sasuke had regained some of his composure and was quickly trying to think up a good reason. Even Naruto could smell the bullshit before it came out of the boy's mouth. "You don't have a fire affinity."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow, though his goggles mostly hid the action. "What the hell does that mean?"
The Uchiha smirked back, much too pleased with himself for Naruto's liking. "Like I'd tell you, moron."
Leave it to Sakura to jump in and try to awe her teammates with her chuunin-level book smarts.
"Does everything seem to be in order, then, Kakashi?"
The addressed man looked up from the picture he was holding to nod. "Why did Naruto wear his goggles for his photograph, Lord Hokage?"
The older man sighed and settled gently in the seat behind his desk. "I'm afraid that the events of a few nights ago may have left a lasting impression on the boy. He had the goggles on him at the time, and I fear he's been clinging to them a bit more strongly than usual since then."
"When he killed Mizuki with the Kyuubi's power?"
"Yes. I believe he was slightly traumatized by the whole ordeal. He was acting a bit oddly when I saw him for his registration. Hopefully, he'll come to terms with it sooner rather than later. The goggles are most likely merely a comforting item that he's latched on to."
"So you let him take his picture with them on. I see."
The old Hokage gave a low chuckle. "I don't recall making you remove your mask for your registration picture, Kakashi. You never did drop the habit of wearing it, either."
"No, Lord Hokage. I didn't."
"So all of the information checks out then? Excellent. I must say that I'm proud of you for finally taking on this responsibility, Kakashi. I have faith that you'll do an excellent job of guiding these three."
Kakashi set the picture back on the Hokage's desk. "I think I'm running late enough now, Lord Hokage. I should be off."
The older ninja's face contorted into a confused frown. "Late? What time did you tell your genin to meet you, Kakashi?"
"Hm… about an hour and a half ago, I think." With that, the jounin was gone.
Sarutobi could only shake his head at his top jounin's antics. Hopefully the children would have humor enough to tolerate the man.
"So how do we know I don't have a fire affinity?"
"Because you haven't been tested yet to see which affinity you have."
Naruto blinked. "Okay, but I still don't how that means that I don't have a fire affinity. If anything, we just don't know that I don't. Have you been tested yet, Sasuke?"
"Hmph. All Uchiha have an affinity for fire. It's part of our bloodline."
"Fascinating." Naruto turned back to looking over the stream below and going through his hand seals. He wanted to get this right.
"Naruto! Haven't you been listening?"
"It's fine, Sakura. It's not like the moron can do it, anyway. If anything, he'll just hurt himself."
The blond almost growled at that. He was damn sick of everyone telling him he was useless.
Now he really wanted to do this right.
Another few minutes of practice and he was ready. Do the hand seals. Draw his chakra to his lungs. Exhale. Think fire. He had to want it.
Oh, did he want it.
Naruto was a bit stunned when white-hot flame erupted from his mouth. He could feel the heat on his cheeks, and was so elated that for a moment, he lost his concentration.
That had hurt. He'd have to put some ice on his cheeks or something – water at the very least. They must be a bit burned from that.
Still, he kept the jutsu going for a number of seconds after recovering from his temporary lapse in control. It was amazing, really. His fireball was definitely bigger than Sasuke's – easily over a dozen feet in diameter. It was so large that the bottom of the sphere was boiling the top of the stream with its heat, causing blistering vapors to billow up from below the bridge.
As his lungs reached close to empty and Naruto prepared to end the jutsu, he was hit by a moment of inspiration. Could he push the fireball forward? So far it had only affected the area right in front of him, but maybe he could throw it – or blow it away from him? That would be an even better attack. He could use it at long range!
With a thought and a concerted push with his chakra, Naruto's lungs were empty and his Grand Fireball was rolling forward through the air at impressive speed – faster than a ninja could run, anyways. The fireball angled down toward the stream, its heat causing more and more of the peaceful waters to roil and burst into steam as it came in contact with the fluid. When the fiery orb finally settled into the water, steam literally exploded out from the point of impact causing a massive geyser of superheated water. It was so large that it obscured the stream from view and rolled off onto the roadway on either side of the streambed and into the streets. The white cloud continued to roll and lift until it had covered nearly a city block before slowly dissipating in the cool morning air.
"Oops."
"Naruto!"
"…"
"Sasuke!"
The three genin turned to see their jounin sensei land on the railing of the bridge with a stern look in his eye.
"You should know better than to use such a jutsu within the city limits. What were you thinking? Someone could have gotten hurt."
Sasuke said nothing, his face twisting into an expression of apoplectic fury that none of the other ninja present had ever seen on the boy.
"It was Naruto, sensei! He did it."
Kakashi stared at the pink haired girl for a few moments, trying to digest her words. "What? Do you honestly expect me to…"
"I'm sorry sensei, I did it." Naruto rubbed the back of his head ashamedly. "I didn't expect it to be so big, actually." He stopped rubbing and took on a pensive expression, easily ignoring the slight burns on his cheeks. "I'm kind of surprised it worked, too."
The masked jounin looked between his three genin in confusion. "Naruto did this? How?"
The blond spoke up immediately. "Well since you were running so late, Sasuke was nice enough to teach me…"
"I did not teach you!" The Uchiha's voice was dripping venom as he glared with hate at his blond teammate. "I showed you the damn jutsu because you asked me to! You stole it!"
Naruto stared at him for a moment. "What the hell did you think I was asking you for, bastard? It's not like I enjoy watching you show off."
Their argument was interrupted in its early stages by the arrival of three, masked ANBU, who promptly turned to Kakashi. "What's going on here, sir? Did you see what caused the disturbance?"
This time it was the white haired jounin who rubbed his head in embarrassment. "I apologize. It seems my students are even more impatient that I gave them credit for and felt the need to experiment with ninjutsu in my absence."
The leading ANBU's masked face turned to look at the three children, eventually settling on Sasuke. "Are you saying that one of your genin caused this? On accident?"
"That's correct. And again, I apologize. I'll be sure to keep a closer eye on them in the future."
The ANBU agent nodded before turning back to the genin, still giving Sasuke most of his attention. "As impressive as that jutsu was for a genin, please be cognizant of where you are performing techniques. Luckily no one seems to be injured, but such things can carry heavy consequences if they happen too often or in the wrong place." The man turned back to Kakashi before issuing his goodbye, spoken with no small hint of reverence for the one-eyed man. "Good luck with your missions today, sir." Kakashi's nod was to his back as he and his partners departed swiftly.
Naruto couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the man thought that the Uchiha was the culprit. Not surprising, really, though it did seem to make Sasuke even more enraged. Maybe he was sore about receiving praise that he didn't actually deserve?
"I think we need to have a quick chat before we head to the tower. Follow me to the training grounds." Kakashi left at a good clip – never once turning to make sure his team was following – but slow enough so that they could keep up even with their short legs and basic skills.
"So let me get this straight. You," Kakashi pointed at Naruto lazily, "asked Sasuke to show you his ninjutsu that you saw yesterday during our exam." He received an enthusiastic nod in reply. "And you…" He next pointed to Sasuke, ignoring the murderous glare he was sending his teammate, "showed him."
Sasuke didn't answer.
"Exactly! So he was showing me how to do the ninjutsu!"
Sasuke lost it. "I was showing you the ninjutsu, idiot! Not how to do it!"
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Well you did it where I could see it, bastard, so you were showing me how to do it by showing me!"
Kakashi put his palm to his forehead, the beginnings of a headache already forming. It was only ten fifteen for God's sake! "If you two weren't screaming at each other about this, I'd think you were pulling my leg. You really used this jutsu on your first try, Naruto?"
"Well, yeah. But I was trying really hard to get it right. I did burn my face a bit, though."
Kakashi followed the boy's hand as he moved it to his right cheek, but couldn't see what the boy meant. Maybe he had just felt the heat on his face and overreacted.
Naruto blinked in confusion. "Well I was burned. I guess it healed already."
"Dummy! Burns don't heal that quickly!" Sakura had finally decided to enter the fray.
The blond frowned a bit. He knew that he healed faster than other children, but had never given it much thought until now. His face twisted into an ugly scowl as realization hit him.
That damn fox!
Then again, super-human healing was certainly a plus, now that he thought about it. So was being able to take out an off the reservation academy instructor who wanted to separate his favorite adult's head from his shoulders.
Maybe there was something to be said for being an ultimate weapon?
"Regardless, I'd like to see you perform the jutsu again if you're feeling up to it, Naruto. Frankly, I've never heard of someone mastering a jutsu of this level in just a few minutes from seeing it done once and without it being copied outright."
Sasuke flinched and, if possible, looked even dourer than before. Naruto could literally feel the hate rolling off of him now.
"Knock that off, Sasuke. You're teammates and I expect you to act like it."
Sasuke turned his glare on Kakashi, who simply raised a bored eyebrow, before taking a deep breath to calm down. He still glared at Naruto – just without the tangible aura of hatred that he'd exuded before.
Naruto shrugged. He'd been getting glares like that from ninja off an on for as long as he could remember. Turning away from the group, he walked up to the edge of the river where he'd been humiliated the previous day and took a deep breath.
He was confident he could do it this time, now that he'd done it once already. Flashing through the hand seals as quickly as his sub-par ability allowed, Naruto again focused his chakra to his lungs and concentrated on the flickering flames, the warmth, and the freedom of fire as it danced – almost as though it were alive. Exhaling, he was relieved to see the blistering flames shoot out and form into a ball as he concentrated on the spherical shape of the jutsu, careful to maintain his concentration and avoid more burns.
Unlike last time however, Naruto didn't wait until his air supply ran out to release the jutsu. As soon as it had formed into the massive ball of flame, he gave it the same push he had before and sent it rocketing out over the river, causing steam to leap up from beneath its passing. Nearly thirty feet out, the ball dipped into the gently flowing water and burst in a massive pillar of super-heated vapor. Smiling at his success, he turned around to give a triumphant look at the rest of his team.
Sakura looked mildly impressed, though she seemed to be suppressing some emotion there. Sasuke still looked murderous and wouldn't meet Naruto's eyes. Kakashi's one visible eye was as wide as Naruto had ever seen it, still looking towards the path of the fireball.
"That was…well… it was perfect." It was by far the biggest compliment that the jounin had ever given in their presence. In fact, it may have been the only compliment he had given.
"You see! He stole my technique!" Sasuke wasn't going to let this go without a fight.
"What do you care, bastard? I may save your ass with that jutsu some day. Aren't we supposed to be working together to get stronger? And isn't this something you learned back when we first entered the academy? What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? I spent a month and a half just trying to get it to work at all! I still haven't mastered it yet!" Sasuke stopped like a deer in the headlights, shocked at having admitted his own failings. A moment later he recovered and resumed his rant with renewed fervor. "Teach me that clone jutsu you used yesterday, then! A jutsu for a jutsu! It's only fair."
"I can't teach it to you. The old man specifically told me that I'm not allowed to. It's a restricted technique."
"Then how the hell did a moron like you get his hands on it? Kakashi, tell this idiot to teach me his clone move!"
"Enough!" Kakashi looked to be at his wit's end, his hand once again resting on his forehead. "Sasuke, Naruto is right. That clone technique is dangerous and shouldn't be taught to a genin, ever. Naruto really shouldn't know it right now, but learned it due to special circumstances. He has permission from the Hokage to use it."
"I don't care. He stole my jutsu! He has to give me something in return."
Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke. You should know better than most that a ninja's jutsu are only his own if he can keep them a secret from others. You showed your jutsu freely and your teammate learned it. Naruto also has a point – we're here to become better ninja. We should be sharing our knowledge with one another, not hording it away. When we start missions, we'll be depending on one another's strength to succeed. The stronger each of you is individually, the stronger we'll be as a team." He paused for a moment in thought. "I'm going to cancel our mission for today and we're going to do some training. Sasuke, Sakura, I want you to stay here while I put Naruto to work."
The Uchiha was still fuming, but Sakura gave a shallow nod of understanding.
"Come on, Naruto."
Together they walked along the bank of the river until they were about twenty feet from the other two. "Alright, Naruto. How are you feeling, chakra-wise?"
Naruto looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean how tired do you feel? Do you have enough chakra for another of those jutsu?"
Naruto smiled and nodded. "I feel fine, sensei. Not tired at all."
Kakashi looked skeptical, but continued on. "Alright, I want you to use the Grand Fireball as many times as you can until you wear down your chakra. Don't exhaust yourself though. When you start feeling tired, head back over to where the rest of us will be, alright?" Seeing the enthusiastic nod Naruto gave him, he frowned slightly. "When I say stop when you feel tired, Naruto, I mean that. Ninja can kill themselves by overusing their chakra."
Naruto's head stilled and he took on a pensive expression before giving one last firm nod. "Alright, sensei. I'll be sure to stop if I start feeling tired."
"Good. Try working on making your hand seals faster while you're at it. If you want to be able to use this technique in battle, you're going to need to be quite a bit faster than you are." With that, he set off back towards his other students.
Naruto decided then and there that his first order of business would be to improve his sealing. Well, maybe second order of business. He still wanted to ask Kakashi about the earth move he had used.
Twenty minutes later, the jounin returned with look of supreme concentration in his one visible eye. Or at least that's what Naruto thought it was. "How many have you done, Naruto?"
"Uh, fourteen. Am I doing something wrong, sensei?"
Kakashi's eye widened. "You don't feel tired at all?"
Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest and held his chin the in the palm of his hand as he pondered this. "A little, I guess. Probably."
Kakashi just stared at him.
"But I could keep going if…"
"No, that's enough for now, I think. Why don't you work on practicing your seals for a bit? No more jutsu for now, though."
"Okay, sounds good. Do you think you could teach me the earth technique you used on the bastard yesterday sometime?"
Kakashi sighed. "Most genin are lucky to be able to use techniques of even one chakra element. It's pretty much unheard of to be able to use two for someone so inexperienced. You're obviously a fire type, so there's really no point in me teaching you an earth jutsu."
It wasn't what Naruto wanted to hear. "How do you know that? I did Sasuke's move just fine."
"Work on your sealing for now, Naruto. We can talk about this later."
Naruto frowned, but supposed the man had a point. Better to have one jutsu he could actually fight with than two that he couldn't.
Just then, a thought crossed his mind and he pulled out the scroll he had been given by Konohamaru earlier. "Um, sensei?"
The older man turned around and gave the boy his attention.
"What the heck does 'proficiency in pedal tension and adhesion skills' mean?"
Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "What's on that scroll?"
Naruto blinked. "Oh, nothing important. It's just a jutsu scroll I'm borrowing from a friend."
It was an obvious lie, but the jounin let it go. The boy wouldn't be learning that for quite a bit of time. "Basically, that's the fancy way of saying that you have to be able to walk on walls and on top of water."
Naruto groaned. "What's with all of this long-winded crap? Who can understand it? Why the hell didn't they just write that instead?"
"Maybe so that genin wouldn't be able to figure it out and end up hurting themselves trying to learn it without supervision?"
"I'm just saying, it's no way to teach." Naruto's eyes went wide. "You did say walk on walls and on water, right?"
Kakashi nodded slowly. "Both are chuunin level skills, though we may start on them early since they're excellent chakra control exercises and damn useful abilities in a fight."
"Awesome!"
"Right. So… hand seals." Kakashi turned and gave a small wave over his shoulder before strolling back over to where Sasuke and Sakura were going through taijutsu forms.
It looked damn boring to Naruto.
Almost as boring as doing hand seals all afternoon.
Naruto was roused from slumber unceremoniously to a loud banging on his front door. Groggily, he opened his eyes only to shut them as sunlight streamed in through the crack in the curtains of his window.
His alarm hadn't gone off, but he frankly didn't care. He rolled over and went back to sleep.
Or attempted to. The banging was hindering his current plan of action, and it was becoming persistently louder and more rapid.
Resigning himself to fighting the intruder off, he rolled out of bed and shuffled slowly to the door to his small apartment, doing his best to tune out the intrusive noise.
He opened it a crack to look outside, but again recoiled at the abundance of damnable light.
Unfortunately, now that the door had been cracked, it seemed eager to open completely.
Or maybe it was the kunoichi pressing against the other side of it.
Naruto raised a hand to shield his eyes from the morning – he thought it was morning – sunlight. Also unfortunately, that lasted about a second and a half before a hand grabbed his arm and yanked it down from in front of him.
Naruto groaned.
The kunoichi screamed. Loudly. Right at him.
It was short, but the damage was already done.
"Okay, I'm awake now, what do you want?"
"N-Naruto? What happened to your eyes?"
He had to pull his pinky out of his ear, where he had been hoping to ease some of the sonic damage incurred by the outburst. "What?"
"What's wrong with your eyes?"
He frowned. He hadn't had time to put on his goggles before he answered the door. "Infection."
It was getting a bit tiresome telling that lie. At least he was fairly sure it was a lie. There had been no change whatsoever in the appearance of his eyes, and he hadn't felt any discomfort. He just didn't know what to do about his little problem and, if truth be told, didn't care to do anything about it. As far as he was concerned, they worked just fine. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. He'd heard one of the older villagers say it once, and it seemed like sound advice.
The man hadn't seemed to be trying to disseminate false wisdom to nosy jinchuuriki, anyway.
"You can't be serious. That doesn't look like any infection I've ever seen. Maybe you should go get them looked at."
"Look, Ino. Could we just drop it? I don't really want this getting out. It would only cause problems for me, ya know?"
"But…"
"They work just fine, I promise. So unless you can tell me what the hell happened to them, there's no point in talking about it any further, alright?"
She seemed ready to argue, but must have thought better of it. Then her eyes traveled up and down his body. She scowled. "Why the hell aren't you dressed?"
Naruto looked down at himself. He was wearing a navy blue pair of pajamas – the top of which he'd never bothered to button up the night before. Scratching his bare chest absently, he could only frown in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Ino's scowl deepened, and Naruto began to get alarmed. He'd obviously forgotten something important. "What day is it? What time is it? Am I late for training? Why did they send you? I didn't set my alarm, and must of overslept. Damn!"
"Idiot. It's Saturday. New genin teams don't take missions today, remember? It's probably why you didn't set your alarm. And by the way, it's ten thirty and we're supposed to go shopping and I can't believe you forgot!"
Naruto cocked his head to the side at her outburst. "You were serious about that?"
That apparently wasn't the right thing to say, because Ino grabbed his ear painfully, spun him around, and pushed him towards the back of the apartment and his room – hard. It didn't help Naruto that she was bigger than he was, as pathetic as that sounded. Well, maybe not heavier, but certainly taller. It irked him.
"Nice hat, by the way."
Naruto stumbled into his room and tossed the aforementioned sleeping cap – which when donned, looked like some sort of creature trying to devour his head whole – onto the bed and began to remove his pajamas, replacing them with a clean pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
Well, maybe not completely clean, but pretty clean. He could put them up to his nose and inhale without gagging, at least.
Grabbing his goggles, he threw them on, collected his toad-styled wallet, and joined Ino in the kitchenette where she was amusing herself by wrinkling her nose at the messy state of affairs she found there.
"Hehe, sorry about the mess. Sorta forgot you were stopping by today. Anyways, shall we get a move on?"
Ino nodded and led the way, all too eager to leave the dirty apartment, while Naruto locked up behind them.
"So, where are we headed?"
"I know a nice shop that caters to shinobi – they sell more durable stuff, you know?"
"And where might this shop be?"
"Oh, just a few streets down."
Naruto was a bit nervous. It wasn't so bad that the vendors wouldn't sell him their wares – usually – but they certainly weren't happy about doing it. Frankly, he tried to go shopping as infrequently as he possibly could. He never did like the crowds. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad since Ino was with him. That or she wouldn't notice the stares.
A few minutes of walking and idle chitchat later – mostly talking about Ino's lazy teammate, Ino's constantly gorging teammate, and Ino's chain-smoking sensei – they reached their destination. It was a medium-sized shop with tinted windows and signs advertising shinobi wares. It looked decent enough.
Entering, Naruto followed Ino like a lost puppy as she strode about the store like some sort of human divining rod. Having no sense of fashion whatsoever, and knowing this, Naruto could only hope that she found something good.
"Did you really steal one of Sasuke's jutsu the other day?"
"What? Who told you about that?"
"Sakura, who else? So you did steal it, though?"
"I wouldn't call it that. He showed me how to do it and I just did it. Of course, he says that he was showing me just to show me, not so that I could use the jutsu too. Makes me think he wanted to rub it in my face, but I guess I got the last laugh, eh?" He neglected to mention that he had prodded Sasuke into showing the jutsu to him for the exact purpose of learning it himself. It would make him look like a bit of an ass, after all.
"So you learned a jutsu just by watching someone else do it one time?"
"Well, it was actually the second time I'd seen it, but pretty much."
"Huh." At this point she pulled a pair of black pants from a shelf and held them up in front of Naruto. "Black is your color. That or white, but dressing so light isn't the best idea for an ninja, you know?" She nodded distractedly to herself before pausing. "Oh wait, you don't know. That's why I'm here."
Naruto groaned. "You really think so? It's just so… dull."
"I really think so. Now do you like baggy, or tight?"
She looked to be going for the tight pants that she had indicated, so Naruto quickly spoke up. "Baggy. I like baggy."
Ino seemed reluctant to give in, but decided to acquiesce. It wasn't worth starting a fight over. Holding up the looser pair, she wrinkled her nose at the wide foot holes at the end of each pant leg. "You'll have to tape these, otherwise your cuffs will be flapping around all the time."
"Aw, I don't mind showing off a little ankle, Ino." He grinned widely at her, and a moment later she was fighting to suppress a smirk of her own.
"Okay, now for the top." For this, Ino led Naruto over to an area that held a wide variety of thin undershirts in a rainbow of colors. "Black again, definitely." It only took her a moment to pull out a shirt in his size. Stuffing it into his hands – where the pair of pants already rested – she guided him forcefully to the back of the store where the changing rooms were. "Well? Go throw them on and let's see how they look."
Naruto nodded and entered. Truthfully, he was a bit reluctant to finally retire his old orange jumpsuit, but it really was as much an eyesore as everyone had told him and only helped to make him stand out to the none too friendly villagers even more. Two minutes later, he emerged in his loose black pants and too-tight shirt. The pants were great – giving him full range of motion while being thick enough to hinder the odd kunai or shuriken attack. The shirt, however, was a different story. It was supposed to be tight he knew, as it was an undershirt, but was only a bit removed from the normal black T-shirts he was used to wearing under his orange jacket. It had no sleeves and the fabric transitioned to mesh just above his breast – reaching up to and over his shoulders and meeting in the back at his shoulderblades.
"I already have undershirts, Ino. This seems a bit excessive." Naruto stuck a finger through the mesh. "And what's with the holes?"
The kunoichi huffed. "It breathes better than a normal shirt. Helps keep you from overheating in a fight. Plus it looks good."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Breathes. Right. Got it. So what next?"
Ino smiled. "That's it. We're done."
The blond boy blinked. "Ino, this is an undershirt."
"Yeah, well, it makes for pretty good eye candy too, so I'd call it a success." The sly grin on her face made Naruto decided uncomfortable.
"Did you really just say that? What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were supposed to be helping me, not satisfying your perversions."
Ino's grin only widened. "Well you definitely weren't going to get a girlfriend wearing that ratty jumpsuit, and now you have a lot of ground to make up, so I figured we'd go full tilt."
Naruto palmed his forehead in a way reminiscent to Kakashi. "This isn't funny, Ino. I can't go around wearing just this."
Ino pouted a bit. "Well it doesn't look that bad on you. I mean you've got that tan thing going for you."
Looking up, Naruto sighed. "Thanks for that, but I think it needs something else." He turned to scan the store for inspiration as Ino went back to bustling about. Then something caught his eye. "That."
Ino followed his arm to where he pointed to see a simple yet dignified black, long-sleeved gi with silvery-gray hems placed on a mannequin. "That's formal wear, Naruto. Though since it's ninja gear I guess it's probably sturdy enough to fight in…"
"I want it." It was everything Naruto could have wanted – loose, baggy in the arms, and – best of all – it fit into Ino's color scheme. Taking it down, he threw it on and knew it was for him. It was a bit loose in the shoulders and hung down to a few inches above his knees, but he could grow into it – or at least he hoped he would.
Ino studied him carefully as he turned to face her. "Well, I guess it works. And it doesn't look too bad either. Guess we'll just need to find a belt for it now."
"Nope, I have a better idea." Naruto was eyeing a pile of rope lengths that were made to be smooth and flexible – specifically to be used as part of traditional dress. Each was around six feet in length, with a decorative tassel on either end. He surprised Ino by grabbing five.
"Rope, Naruto? And what do you need five of those for?"
"You'll see, Ino. This is going to be so awesome."
It only took another two minutes for Naruto to don his shorts and T-shirt and fold up the new clothes. Ino insisted that he buy four sets of the gi and pants along with seven new undershirts. He thought it was a bit excessive, though Ino assured him it wasn't.
Did he really smell that bad? This was troubling.
They made their way to the front of the store, from where an old male clerk had been eyeing them shiftily since they entered the store.
"Just this." Now was the moment of truth, and Naruto hoped this guy wasn't going to give him trouble.
The man scowled down at him from behind the counter and began adding up their total, only…
"That's way more than those things were priced!" Ino had no problem voicing their sentiments.
"You must have read them wrong then, miss." The man didn't try to hold back his dislike for either of them, though focused more on Naruto, as expected.
This happened on rare occasions, and was generally why Naruto stuck to more familiar places when he had to buy anything. Sometimes the vindictive bastards would watch him take his time picking out whatever it was he wanted to buy, only to overcharge him exorbitantly or refuse him service after finding what he needed. It probably gave them a perverse sort of pleasure to mess with him. Now that he knew the reason for their dislike, though, he thought it incredibly rude to be so callous in front of a friend.
"That's the price. Take it or get out."
Ino looked to be somewhere between confused, hurt, and angry. She had no idea why they were being treated this way – in a store that she apparently frequented no less – and wasn't sure how to react.
Naruto's heart went out to her. It was a case of evil by association, apparently.
She didn't deserve that. It made him rather angry.
Then he had an idea. A wonderful, brilliant, wicked idea. Perhaps there were advantages to having people think that you're a ten-story demon from hell? Or at least that one had your back.
"Listen you miserable old bastard. Do you know what karma is?"
The man sneered at him. "Of course I do, but probably not so well as you."
Naruto leaned in close to the counter, his face twisted in anger. "The way I see it, you can sell some clothes to a twelve-year-old kid without robbing him blind now, or when your karma catches up with you, it can bite your ass hard – or swallow you whole." The man wanted to mess with him? Fine. But two can play at that game.
The man furrowed his brows in confusion, then widened in realization. Yes, the Kyuubi boy had just threatened to eat him.
"F-fine." He punched in the numbers quickly, eyes constantly flicking up to Naruto – probably checking to make sure that he wasn't getting impatient. Or hungry.
When the price came back, Ino's brows furrowed in confusion, but Naruto just pulled out his wallet and paid. The final cost was actually significantly less than what the clothes were priced at, but the man probably was willing to cut his losses just to get Naruto out of his store at this point.
As they walked out, Ino grabbed Naruto's shoulder and spun him around. "What was that all about?"
Naruto shrugged. "Can't tell you now. Maybe someday. It's a pretty messed up story, actually."
She obviously wasn't happy with his answer, but was apparently willing to set it aside after seeing the grim look on his face. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Quickly, she pulled a pair of glasses out of the shorts she was wearing – it was the weekend, after all – and handed them to Naruto.
"What's this?" It was a pair of glasses, alright. They had the same red tint that his current goggles had and sleek black frames. In fact, they were a bit of a sports-goggle sunglass hybrid, as far as he could tell. The lenses were large and, when worn, would wrap around the sides of the wearer's head a bit – most likely in order to allow him the full use of his peripheral vision. Naruto's goggles tended to give him tunnel vision, as they weren't really meant to be worn for anything but swimming – or maybe something else. He'd never thought to ask.
"New glasses, of course. You can't keep wearing those goggles with your new outfit, after all. They're green for God's sake."
"I really appreciate this, Ino, but these goggles were a present and I'd like to hang on to them."
"Idiot. Those glasses are a present too. I already bought them after all – when you were in the changing rooms – though the guy didn't seem like he really wanted to sell them to me." She trailed off looking thoughtful at the end, her mind clearly drawn back to the incident with the clerk.
"Damn. I guess you got me there." Quickly, he removed his goggles and slipped them into a pocket before putting the new glasses on. They were held in place on his head by a thin elastic strap that ran from the ends of the temples around the back of his head where it became lost in his blond locks. The range of vision was much better in these, and frankly they were more comfortable as well. "Thanks a bunch, Ino. These are really great."
"Consider those a present for all the present-giving holidays I may have neglected to get you anything for."
"Really? I've never gotten you anything either, Ino."
She put her finger to her lips in mock contemplation and hummed. "You know, you're right. How thoughtless can you get, Naruto?"
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'll get you lunch."
"As long as they serve salads."
"You know you're a kunoichi and not a model, right? You're supposed to be eating healthy so that you can get stronger, not starving yourself with that rabbit food."
"Like you're one to talk. From the way you used to go on and on about it, it seems like all you ever eat is ramen. Maybe it's stunted your growth."
Naruto flinched a bit. "Oh come on. I eat other things too. Sometimes."
Ino looked skeptical. "Whatever. There's a nice little place up here around the corner."
"Sure, sure."
"Don't start that Shikamaru crap with me, Naruto."
On his way home from lunch, Naruto stopped by a shop close to his apartment that he visited from time to time to buy patches and other implements to repair his clothes with, when he had to. Today, though, he only bought a bottle of dye. Orange, of course.
This was going to be awesome.
Sarutobi looked up as a soft knock sounded on the door of his office. It was nearing the end of the day and he was nearly done finalizing the documentation for the new genin teams.
He steadied himself for this conversation. He had a good idea of who was knocking.
"Come in."
The door opened about halfway before a short figure slipped through. Sarutobi's eyes widened a bit at the change in attire his young charge had chosen. He looked almost like an entirely different boy – golden hair aside. He was dressed in nearly all black – his loose gi lined with a shade of matte silver. He also sported a new pair of glasses that were a good deal more fashionable than his old goggles. His forehead protector was conspicuously absent from around his neck, but it was the boy's day off, after all.
What really caught his eye, though, was the rope belt tied around his waist to hold the gi closed over his chest – or rather the large, elaborate knot that rested on his left hip. It was dyed a bright orange color, and from it hung long, orange lengths that ended in tassels just below the boy's left knee. One. Two. Three. Four.
The boy turned his left side to the old Hokage as he shut the door.
Yep. There were nine of them. Nine lengths of that offensive orange the boy loved so much, hanging neatly down the side of his left leg.
Sarutobi suppressed a groan.
"What did you need, old man?"
"Naruto, what are you wearing?"
"Oh, this? You like it? Ino took me shopping for some new stuff today. It's a little bland, but otherwise pretty good, don't ya think?"
The Hokage smiled a bit at hearing that Naruto was finally connecting with some of his peers, but the glaringly orange ropes brought his attention back to the issue at hand. "I meant the rope, Naruto."
"Well, obviously, it's a rope. I like it better than a belt. That, and it's orange."
"Nine lengths, Naruto?"
The blond sighed. "It's not like anyone doesn't already know. They tread all over me like I'm not even a person, old man! This way, at least, they'll know that I know – that their words actually mean something. I'm just tired of taking their shit, old man. If they thought I was a monster then they wouldn't go around antagonizing me like I won't fight back, and if they thought I was a kid they wouldn't treat me like I'm something disgusting or evil. I just want them to remember who it is they're talking to."
The Hokage thought long and hard about Naruto's words. In his decades as the leader of this village, he'd made many mistakes. Naruto's life was just one of them. The people may have respected the letter of his law for the most part, but hardly any of them followed the spirit of it, or of the dying wish of their Fourth Hokage. The boy's life had been harsh for something he had no control over, and he made a good point – the people really were hypocrites. They took advantage of his helplessness with no repercussions, and it was high time it stopped.
If allowing Naruto to wear a reminder of just what his sacrifice – and the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage - meant made the villagers even a bit more circumspect, he'd allow it. None of his methods had worked so far, and the boy was a ninja now. It was high time he started taking control of his own life.
Sarutobi would like to say that wearing such an obvious defining mark was a security risk, but he didn't fool himself into believing that anyone who mattered didn't know what Naruto was. If even the most loose-lipped civilian knew that the boy was a jinchuuriki, then he could damn well bet the Tsuchikage knew it all the way in Rock Country by October the eleventh those twelve long years ago.
"Alright, Naruto. I suppose I'll let you wear it. But that's not why I called you here."
Naruto grinned, but his expression sobered as the look on the Hokage's face turned grave.
"Did you threaten one of the shopkeepers at an outfitter market today?"
Naruto frowned. "He was trying to rob me, old man, with Ino standing right there! All I said was that treating a twelve-year-old kid like shit might come back to bite him in the ass someday."
"He said you threatened to eat him."
The blond didn't speak, but slowly a grin spread across his face until it split wide in raucous laughter. The old man didn't think it particularly funny, until he went back over what he'd just said. Then, despite his best efforts, he joined the boy in a long chuckle.
Naruto finally got a hold of himself. "I promise I won't eat anyone, old man. Especially not a saggy old sourpuss like that bastard."
The Hokage settled and regained a serious demeanor. "Naruto, you can't go around threatening citizens, especially now that you're a ninja of the village. You should know better."
The boy's grin fell. The old man really did look disappointed. "I understand, old man. I won't do it again, and I apologize."
"I want you to know that I understand why you did it, Naruto. You're a ninja now though – an adult in the eyes of the village – and sometimes you'll have to be the one to act like an adult even if the one giving you trouble is older than you are. Not all men grow wise. Sometimes they just grow bitter. Try to remember that."
"Alright, old man. Is that all?"
"That's all, Naruto. Good luck with your training this week, and hopefully I'll see you again for another mission soon."
The boy nodded and walked out, pausing only when the old Hokage's voice reached him as he exited.
"Remember that my door is always open to you, Naruto."
The boy waved and was gone.
Sarutobi returned to his thoughts. The boy was changing – maturing. Maybe even a little too fast for the Hokage's liking.
What could he expect, though, when so much responsibility was set at his feet in so short a time?
Now he was truly glad that he hadn't revealed the rest of the story to Naruto, though he knew he couldn't keep it a secret for long. The boy was strangely perceptive at times.
Just like his father had been.