Heh, by the time this get's out, it'll be really late, but oh well.
I'll just say sorry now.
The holidays were busy, I had the flu and I had an actual life to live(for the first time in years).
That and I didn't have access to my files.
Add on the fact that I got writers block on page three (then a second on page six) and you get a really long wait.
Alright, welcome to chapter three of...
The Second Kyuubi Vessel
Zeo woke up with a yawn as his alarm went off.
"Shut up and go..." he said as he went back to sleep, a mistake he would regret as he ended up sleeping in.
After another thirty minutes, he finally got up and looked out the window with a blank stare for a few seconds before his eye's widened.
"The test!" he exclaimed as he jumped up and, on instinct, made some ramen and ate it before remembering what his sensei had said.
"Uh oh" he muttered with a chuckle.
"Oh well, I just have to get going" he muttered as he put his clothes on and put on his headband.
"Alright, I better get going!" he exclaimed as he jumped out the window and sprinted off.
Meanwhile with Naruto
Meanwhile, similar events were taking place with Naruto.
"Gah, I didn't do it!" he yelled as he jumped up when his alarm went off.
"Oh, right, I have an alarm now" he muttered as he almost grabbed some ramen before remembering what his sensei said.
"Damn it, I'm hungry" he muttered, holding his stomach as it growled.
"Oh well, Kakashi sensei knows best" he muttered as he ran off, dodging a few rocks that got thrown at his head on the way there.
Meanwhile, with Zeo
"Alright, now that everyone's here" Kazu sensei said with a glare as he looked at Zeo, who was fifteen minutes late.
"Uh... sorry, I slept in? Heh heh" Zeo said.
"Just be glad this isn't a battle field. You'd be dead if you did that anywhere else" Kazu sensei muttered.
"Now then, let me explain why you shouldn't have eaten anything" he said with a smirk as he told them the deal.
"What do you mean we don't get to eat if we don't get a bell!" Taichi yelled angrily.
"I mean if you fail, you don't get to eat, and you also get sent back to the academy" Kazu sensei said with a yawn.
"Wait, but there are only two bells!" Zeo pointed out.
"Your point?" Kazu sensei asked.
"If that's true, one of us fails no matter what" Kenji muttered, eyes closed and leaning against a tree.
"But that ain't fair!" Taichi exclaimed, knowing that, as powerful as he was, he was the weaker of his two team mates.
"Too bad" Kazu sensei said with a smirk.
Now then, let's begin" he said.
"Three... two... one... go" he said as the others jumped off and hid.
"He's a jounin though, we don't stand a chance, I mean... me and Naruto... didn't before" he muttered, remembering the assassin that had attacked them a few weeks ago.
Taichi was having similar thoughts.
"There's no way we can beat him. I mean, he's a jounin, we'd never be able to fight him in one on one. Anyone should be able to figure that out" Taichi thought.
"Wait, that's it! We won't be able to get any bells alone, but if we work together, despite the fact one of us has to fail, we'll be able to get both!" he thought, too bad Kenji had different plans.
"The others should do fine for weakening him. I'll just take the bells once those losers are done" he thought.
At that time, Zeo had decided to attack.
"Even if I can't beat him, I don't need to, I just need those bells" he thought as he attacked.
"Water blade jutsu!" he said as a sword made out of hardened water appeared in his hands as he attacked.
"A water jutsu?' Kazu sensei thought as he blocked the attacks with ease before Zeo suddenly made a fake attack and swung lower than expected.
Kazu sensei jumped back, not noticing what was going on behind him until it was nearly too late.
You see, while attacking with the sword, Zeo had done a one handed jutsu, Kage Bunshin no jutsu to be exact, and it was thanks to Naruto that he knew it.
When Kazu sensei jumped back, from the sword, he ran into the clone, who had used a henge on a pebble to disguise it as a bell.
As Kazu sensei went past, the items were switched with the left hand while the Zeo clone reached in with a fake grab for the bell using his left hand.
Kazu sensei saw that and quickly destroyed the clone.
However, he didn't notice the switch that took place or the 'pebble' that fell to the ground after.
Zeo quickly made a few regular bunshins as a distraction as they all attacked slid in to attack.
The real Zeo quickly grabbed the 'pebble' that had been dropped and watched as his clones were knocked away.
Taichi, having watched from a distance, and having used a pair of binoculars, knew what had happened and smirked as he watched Zeo go in for another bell, only to be knocked away and forced back.
" I have to back up" he muttered, aloud, on purpose as he jumped back, just in time for Taichi to attack with Kazamaru working as the shaodw clone as he used his claws in place of a sword.
"Gatsuuga!" he yelled, causing a distraction for Kazamaru who attacked from behind and switched the only remaining real bell with yet another pebble before pretending to try and take a bell, only to get knocked away.
"Kazamaru!" Taichi yelled as Kazamaru was knocked to the ground and detransformed.
"Damn it" he muttered angrily as he went on a pure offensive.
Zeo sighed as he saw that. "I better pretend I still need a bell" he thought as he went in to attack as well.
After about ten minutes, both genin had to back off, leaving Kazu sensei a bit out of energy.
"They're stronger than expected" he thought as he began to check the bells when Kenji Hyuuga attacked full force, using chakra to cut the rope of the 'bells' and grabbing them before continuing to attack.
"You have the bells, why are you still attacking?" Kazu sensei asked as he dodged.
"I won't just get the bells, I'll defeat you" Kenji said coldly as he continued to attack.
"If that's how it is" Kazu sensei said as he knocked him away, causing the bells to shake.
When they didn't ring, Kazu sensei noticed something was off and pushed Kenji further back as the bells came into his sight, he took a close look and immediately knew they were fake.
"But when?" he thought as he tried to think when the alarm, ending the test, rang.
"Alright, everyone out" Kazu sensei said, seeing the smug look on Kenji's face.
"Looks like you two are headed back to the academy" Kenji said with a smirk as he showed off the bells before Taichi and Zeo pulled out the real bells and grinned.
Kenji's eye's widened as he activated his Byakugan and saw that both of his bells were fake.
"Damn it!" he growled.
"Who's goin back now huh?" Taichi grinned as Kazu sensei looked in confusion before shaking his head and getting rid of the illusion on the bells.
"Pebbles?" He thought, even more confused.
"Alright then you two, mind telling me how you got the bells?" Kazu sensei asked as he looked at Zeo and Taichi.
"Eh, alright" Zeo muttered as he told his story.
After that was done, Kazu turned to Taichi.
"Heh, I just followed 'im" Taichi said with a grin.
"Damn it" Kenji repeated as the scene took place with Kenji Hyuuga tied to the pole while Zeo and Taichi sat there.
"You two pass both parts of the test" Kazu sensei said to Taichi and Zeo.
"You however, pass neither" Kazu sensei said to a tied up Kenji.
"You used your team as bait." he said to Kenji.
"But you, Taichi, have very low test scores so I can't pass you just yet. Here's the deal, I'll pass you, and the only deal is that you two, Zeo and Taichi, cannot give any of your food to Kenji" Kazu sensei said as he left.
After Kazu sensei left, Zeo sighed, looking at Kenji pretending that he wasn't hungry. That was something he wasn't very good at however.
Especially since he had gotten in trouble at the Hyuuga manor the day before and hadn't even been given dinner, meaning it had been about a day since he had last ate, as the branch Hyuuga were no longer allowed to take lunches to the academy due to some new rule the Hyuuga council made.
"Ah, forget it, here" Zeo muttered as he gave his food to Kenji.
"Why are you giving it to me? I fail either way, and you are risking your chance" Kenji said, confused.
"Eh, doesn't matter, just eat" Zeo said with a grin.
"I can't" Kenji said. "Oh come on, I don't care, just eat" Zeo said.
"No, I mean I can't, I'm tied to a pole" Kenji said, causing Zeo to sweat drop.
"Ah... right, well than, open your mouth, I'll have to put it in your mouth for you" Zeo said.
"No way" Kenji said.
"I'd rather starve than... uh" he muttered as his stomach growled badly.
"... fine" he said with a glare as Zeo began to feed him.
At that point, Kazu sensei reappeared, using a really strange genjutsu as a background effect. "You all..." he yelled as he appeared.
"Pass" he said with a grin as Taichi fell on his head.
"What the hell!?" he yelled.
"Simple, even with your chance to continue on the line, Zeo still tried to help Kenji, and even with his pride at stake, Kenji accepted the help, even if he only did it due to being hungry" Kazu sensei said as Zeo looked at him confused while Kenji glared and smirked at the same time, angry that he had been tricked, but glad he had passed.
"Alright, report here in two days for your first mission. And... try not to sleep in this time" Kazu sensei said with a smirk.
Meanwhile, with Naruto
At that time, Kakashi sensei had not yet even arrived with Naruto's group.
"Where is he!" Naruto yelled, annoyed.
He thought he would have been done by now, him and Zeo could have done a lot of training by now, but instead, he was standing there, fuming at the fact that a freaking jounin was late.
At that point, Kakashi appeared.
"Why are you all so early?" Kakashi asked calmly.
"EARLY! You said to be here at 8:00!" Naruto yelled in anger.
"Really? I meant to say Twelve" Kakashi said, most likely smirking under his... masks.
"Hn, let's just do it already" Sasuke said, annoyed as well, but not willing to agree with Naruto in any way.
"Fine, the test is simple." Kakashi said as he pulled out two bells.
"Whoever has a bell when the time runs out will pass, should you fail... two things will take place. For one, you will have your lunch eaten in front of you" Kakashi said, listening to the genin's stomach's growl before continuing.
"Two, you will be sent back to the academy" Kakashi said.
"But wait, there are only two bells!" Sakura pointed out.
"Correct, that means one of you fails no matter what happens" Kakashi said.
"Anyways... three... two... one... go" Kakashi said as Sasuke and Sakura jumped back to hide while Naruto went on the offensive.
"Hn, just like him" Sasuke thought, annoyed.
Due to Zeo's help, Naruto's taijutsu had increased to the third highest in the class.
Naruto's taijutsu level was just below Zeo's, and Zeo's was just below him.
Due to this, Sasuke had pushed harder than he would have usually, beginning the training of a style he would not have attempted for a long time.
But even with the extra training, it seemed Naruto had no real chance as he was easily knocked away, only to grab onto a branch with one hand and throw seven kunai at Kakashi, leaving him only one spot to jump, to the left.
Kakashi, underestimating Naruto's plan, did just that, and nearly ended up skewered by about 30 shadow shuriken.
At the last minute, he used a henge and escaped, only to fall into yet another trap, and another, and another.
"Something is off here. There's no way he could have set up all these traps so quickly." Kakashi thought before noticing something, no matter where he appeared, the area around was always the same.
"A genjutsu!" Kakashi thought as he quickly broke it, or tried to anyway.
"Damn" Kakashi thought before thinking quickly.
"It seems to stop my henge's, so what if I were to use something else?" Kakashi thought as he quickly did some hand seals and shot off a Grand Fireball jutsu, ending the genjutsu.
"Not bad, but... where is he? There's no way a genin could keep a genjutsu like this in place even after leaving" he thought before his eye's widened and he looked down to see if the bells were still there.
"Good" he thought. "Heh, how da ya like my Henge canceller?" Naruto said with a grin as he appeared, standing on one of the trees.
"Not bad, but why didn't you take the bells?" Kakashi asked.
"Simple, that's the flaw, when you do the henge, it absorbs the energy around and causes it to waste more energy, but if I were to enter the area, it would break the genjutsu and you would actually drain my chakra. That's it's major flaw right now" Naruto said with a grin as he ran forward again.
"He already broke my genjutsu, but he used a lot of henge's, either way, he has less energy then he usually would" Naruto thought as he continued to attack, using a weapon he had found before.
It was similar to Asuma sensei's weapon in the fact that it was a weapon placed on the knuckles.
But there was a difference, these covered the entire hand and were quite similar to claws.
Due to what was in Naruto, this fighting style suited him pretty well, though he didn't know that was the reason, he hadn't yet thought of the two as being connected.
Naruto continued his constant attack, every now and then throwing a kunai or kick to throw Kakashi sensei off.
Sasuke and Sakura just watched, dumbfounded.
"Damn it. Naruto's already got a weapon of choice, and he's effective with it. That means he has an advantage at close range after all!" Sasuke thought angrily.
"Since when can Naruto do all this?" Sakura thought, remembering the genjutsu Naruto had made.
"What technique was that anyway? I've never even heard of it" Sakura thought.
Kakashi was also amazed.
"I expected the entire team to be less than this with all their abilities added together, but instead, this one kid... he's not matching me, but he's fighting at a low chunnin level already" Kakashi thought.
"Well, I better end this though" Kakashi thought as he quickly did a few hand seals, one's that Naruto, Sasuke, and even Sakura recognized as a katon seal.
"He's going to annihilate him!" Sakura thought.
"Good, he'll be out of the way" Sasuke thought, but neither moved to help him, one through fear and confusion, the other because he was telling himself he didn't care.
"And now, for the most powerful taijutsu technique in Konoha" Kakashi said as he used a henge on Naruto's strike and appeared behind him.
"Thousand years of pain!" Kakashi said as he rammed his fingers up Naruto's ass, sending him flying towards a nearby lake.
But Kakashi didn't end there.
He quickly followed up by running after the flying Naruto and knocking him back towards the ground, where he had made a hole.
From there, he disappeared.
As Naruto landed, he was pulled underground, cutting off his ability to move as only his head was out.
"Damn it! That was a cheap shot!" Naruto complained as he struggled to get free.
A very difficult challenge when the only movable part of your body is your head.
"Well... that's one down" Kakashi thought as he jumped forward, dodging a spinning kick from behind.
He then spun around to see Sasuke in a stance he hadn't expected.
"You have got to be kidding me" Kakashi said with a sigh.
"Gai and Lee's stance? I expected better" Kakashi thought with a sigh.
At that point, Sasuke launched himself forward, at an impressive speed, considering he was only a genin.
Kakashi dodged the attacks with ease however, taking out his famous book and beginning to read it, only for it to suddenly catch flame.
"Alright... now you've got my attention" Kakashi said as he put the burning book down and attacked Sasuke, getting ready to use his thousand years of pain once again.
That was when he heard a yell from behind him.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled as twenty clones were made and instantly attacked Kakashi, causing Kakashi to lose focus on Sasuke long enough for Sasuke to counter with a grand fireball jutsu, which actually managed to hit Kakashi and do a bit of damage before Kakashi got annoyed and disappeared before destroying all the clones.
Sasuke nodded to Naruto, thanking him, as well as giving a signal for him to distract Kakashi.
Naruto nodded back, understanding the plan.
A bit annoyed about it, but understanding nonetheless.
He also held his kunai up at an angle, letting the light flash where Sakura was, telling her to use a genjutsu as well, and with that, what would have happened, changed completely.
Naruto ran in for an attack, pushing Kakashi into range of Sakura's genjutsu, causing Kakashi, who was currently occupied and didn't notice the change, to lose track of his surroundings.
Sasuke used this chance to use his most powerful technique at a near point blank range.
At the last second, Kakashi saw the attack, but he couldn't use a henge, due to the fact that Naruto had used his genjutsu as well.
In less than a second, Kakashi turned, and blocked the jutsu, but he didn't notice Naruto switching the bells at the last second.
He than ran past Kakashi, throwing a kunai at him to try and distract him.
From there, he slipped a bell to Sasuke before running off at a sprint to Sakura.
He quickly slipped a bell into her pocket, without her noticing.
At that point in time, the bell rang.
"Time's up" Kakashi said, noticing his bells were gone.
"They did better than I thought they would. But I was holding back. I... really need to get used to fighting without my sharingan" Kakashi thought as everyone walked up.
"Alright then Sakura, seeing as you don't have a bell, it seems you fail" Kakashi said as Sakura sighed and nodded.
The only reason she had helped was because she wanted Sasuke to pass.
"Hey, what do you mean she doesn't have a bell? Check again!" Naruto complained, pointing at Sakura's pocket.
"Hm? Can you check your pocket Sakura?" Kakashi asked, confused.
"Uh, okay" Sakura said, confused also.
As she reached, she felt her hand bump into an object, she closed her hand around it and slowly pulled it out.
It was one of the bells.
"Then that means mine's a fake!" Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto.
"Nope, your's is real" Naruto said with a small grin.
"Then that means you don't have one?" Kakashi asked.
"He was the one who got the bells, yet, he gave both of them up. I guess this means I can skip the next step." Kakashi thought.
"Ya, I don't" Naruto muttered with a sigh.
"In that case" Kakashi said in a menacing voice, you all... pass" Kakashi said in a happy voice.
"Re-really?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Yep. The point of this was teamwork even though one of you would fail either way. And it looks like you all did just fine. At first, there were a few problems, mainly Sakura staying hidden until there was a chance to help Sasuke, and Sasuke staying hidden until Naruto was out of energy, but you all pulled through in the end. Anyways, report back here in two days at the same time, dismissed" Kakashi said as he teleported away to go buy another copy of his book.
Later
"So how'd ya do?" Zeo said with a grin as he saw Naruto walk up, grinning just as wide as him.
"Heh heh, I got both bells, and gave both away, because of that, I passed, and got a compliment" Naruto said.
If he could have, his grin would have increased, but that was impossible for a human body... but let's get off the topic of what a human can and can't do.
It doesn't belong in a world where people breath fire, use hair as a weapon or have super strength.
(Sorry, I'm tired and I'm too busy listening to music to notice I wouldn't usually do this) "Cool, I got one of the bells, and the sensei didn't even notice until I pulled it out and showed it to him at the end" Zeo said as both him and Naruto began to laugh.
"So... did you try the jutsu out?" Zeo said with a grin.
"Yep, Henge blocker worked like a charm" Naruto said with a laugh, beginning to have trouble breathing due to all the laughing.
"So how long did it take for him to figure it out?" Zeo said while lying on the floor laughing.
He'd already gotten over the original joke, now he was just laughing to laugh, and that's usually the hardest to stop.
After a few more seconds of laughing, the two had to stop however, mostly due to the lack of air.
"Well, when's your first mission?" Zeo said with a laugh.
"Two days" Naruto said, trying to stop himself from laughing, but failing in the end.
"Well... it probably won't be anything big but... once the real missions begin, we won't be in town very often... so we won't be able to see each other" Zeo said, looking down at the ground as that fact dawned on Naruto.
"That's not fair!" he yelled.
"I know, but it doesn't change a thing either way" Zeo said with a small shrug.
"Well than, that just means we have to train more" Naruto said with a grin as he thought of something.
"Huh?" Zeo said confused.
"If we make Chunnin, we get to choose our own teams! We won't have to work with our current team at all!" Naruto said with a grin.
"That's right!" Zeo said, grinning.
"But for now..." Zeo began.
"Let's go get" Naruto continued, smirking.
"RAMEN!" they both yelled as they raced towards the ramen shop, ignoring the yells, telling them to slow down.
Zeo reached the shop first, by only a second however.
"Hah, that means you pay this time!" Zeo said with a grin.
"Ah man" Naruto complained, but, even now, he was still grinning his head off.
It was great, just to hang out with his friend. And it made it so much better when he thought about how things had been before, he thought with a frown.
"Two bowls of ramen" Naruto said as he shook his head, breaking the line of thought and quickly ordered.
"Coming right up" Ichiraku said with a small smile as he handed them the ramen.
"Itadakimasu!" Naruto and Zeo said with a grin as they began to eat.
In seconds, the bowl was empty and they ordered seconds.
Then thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths... this continued until they had each had twelve bowls.
"That was good" Zeo said as he got up and waited for Naruto to pay.
After that was finished, Zeo turned to Naruto.
"Like you said, we need to train" Zeo said seriously as Naruto nodded and they headed for their secret training area.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto and Zeo said.
Naruto was currently trying to teach Zeo more about the jutsu, since currently, Zeo could only manage one weak clone, a major difference between the power in his.
Zeo had so far managed to reach up to 4 clones, but he couldn't make more.
Not because of lack of energy, but merely because something in his body stopped him.
What exactly stopped him was unknown, and would likely stay that way for a while.
But Zeo had a feeling he knew what it was.
Way back when, when the nurse had attempted to kill him, he had felt something, he wasn't sure what, but it was powerful nonetheless.
After about 8 hours of training straight, they both decided it was time to turn in, mostly because the sun was now coming up and they wanted all the rest they could get in case their "first mission" was more challenging then they expected.
"Seeya" Zeo said with a yawn as he walked off.
"Ya" Naruto said, rubbing his eyes as he walked off to his house.
As he reached it, he entered and went directly to his bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Zeo reached his house and went to sleep as well, despite the fact that the sun was in his eyes, glaring into his eyes through the broken window, which hadn't been there the day before, but he was so used to such happenings that he didn't even notice.
Or that might have just been tiredness, who cares anyways.
All he knew was that, not only had they both made genin, but they had proven themselves to two jounin.
If that didn't help lessen the pain, what would? It seemed things might just be turning up for them at last.
Eh, 26 pages, better than nothing though only 4400 words or so though. Hope whoever actually reads this enjoys it, seeya