Naruto Chapter 4, also, my update time will decrease even more for a few months. I have some extra work in school, and I won't be home for a week or two with no access to computers due to skiing.(Not complaining there. A week off school to ski heh heh). Added on, when I return, it will be the end of the school year... meaning many tests. From there, it will be summer, meaning I won't be at my computer any. Well anyways, here's chapter four, won't come out for a while. And to show you how long the wait will be. Today is 2-27-07 where I am. I'll tell you the date of when I finish as well
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I only own the characters that make up Zeo's team...
The Second Kyuubi Vessel
The next day, or rather, later that day, as they hadn't fallen asleep until about 5 in the morning, the two were found training yet again.
They had made a deal and they planned to keep it, simply enough.
They needed to get stronger, that was a fact.
Currently, they were training with their weapons of choice.
Naruto was weilding his claw like weapon and Zeo was using a blade, very similar in appearance to the water blade which he had used in the battle against his jounin, Kazu sensei.
To be more precise, they were trying to do something even some jounins never learned.
How to transfer their chakra into their weapon and give it elemental abilities.
To anyone passing, it just looked like two genin standing there, tensed up and concentrating.
And it was to that site that Sasuke Uchiha walked up to.
"Hn, why am I even thinking of this?" he thought, tempted to just walk away before they noticed him.
You see, the day before, he had seen how effective Naruto had been with his weapon, and it had angered him.
He had followed Naruto to find out exactly how he had gotten so strong, but all he had seen for about three hours was Naruto and Zeo laughing and eating ramen.
He had been getting ready to leave when Naruto and Zeo got up from the ramen, with a serious look and they then ran off towards the forest.
Luckily, they didn't take off at full speed.
If they had, Sasuke might have lost them as he was a bit behind and they made a lot of turns on the way there.
While lost in thought and memory however, Sasuke lost his chance to leave as Zeo and Naruto saw him and stared.
"Hey Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked with a grin as he held his hands behind his head.
"Uh... I... never mind" Sasuke said as he began to turn.
"You want to train, and you're wondering what me and Naruto do that gives us so much progress right?" Zeo asked seriously.
Sasuke just turned, not sure what to say.
Zeo understood perfectly, but there was no way he was letting this dobe be an equal to him.
So in response, he just "hn"ed and continued to watch.
Zeo sighed and nodded at that.
Sasuke was the type that would never admit anything.
His anger over the death of his clan had been dulled a bit too much, and he had fallen into the cool and collected image to the point where he couldn't break it.
His mistake after all, but either way, whether Naruto understood or not, Sasuke had agreed and chosen to learn.
"Well, why not. We've grown so used to each other's attacks that they really don't seem to be learning much anymore. A new person to train with will benefit all of us" Zeo said with a small smirk.
Sasuke just glared in response. If it turned out that he was helping them rather than the other way around, he would be leaving instantly, but for the time being, training with them would likely help him more than anything.
He would be able to learn their style and judge how close he was to their power if nothing else.
"Alright, I'm ready to fight" Sasuke said with a cold stare.
"No, you're ready to train" Naruto corrected from the sidelines.
"Whatever" Sasuke muttered as he got in a fighting stance.
Zeo just sighed at this.
"Naruto is right. We need to train you and test you before fighting us will be of any help at all" Zeo said.
"Tests? Like what?" Sasuke asked.
"For one, there's always finding your main and secondary element" Zeo said.
"Yep, let's start with that one!" Naruto said with a grin. "I already know what my main element is. It's fire" Sasuke said, smirking.
Zeo then pricked him on the arm with a needle.
"Hey! What was that for?" Sasuke yelled at Zeo.
"The fact that flame is your main element is nothing to be proud of" Zeo said.
"Especially with your second element being what it is" Zeo said calmly.
"What?" Sasuke asked, angry still, but genuinely confused.
"Your other element is shadow. A rare element, and often considered to not be a true element, but either way. This means only one thing. Flame represents anger in this case. Shadow is hatred. For those two to exist as a permanent element in coordination shows of a tragedy. The hatred level has dulled, but you're trying to hide it with anger. Due to this, your elements are in the wrong order, so you can't reach your full potential" Zeo said calmly.
"I hate him no less than I did that day! Never doubt that!" Sasuke growled out angrily.
"There is anger in your voice, not hatred. Due to the way you just spoke, you proved me right" Zeo said, dodging to the side as Sasuke attempted to punch him.
"Whatever. I'm out of here you dobe's" Sasuke said as he left.
Those two were pissing him off way too much and, training or not, he didn't want anyone to ever say that.
After Sasuke was out of sight, Zeo sighed.
"Looks like he wasn't ready for his training" Zeo said as he turned back to Naruto.
Naruto nodded to him and they returned to their training.
A few hours later, Sasuke could be found sitting in a tree, hidden from view.
He was currently huddled in a ball, trying to make sure he didn't cry.
As much as he hated it, Zeo and Naruto were right.
He didn't really hate his brother, he was merely angry... but only the very back of his mind would ever admit it.
"Wait a second... that idiot Naruto noticed it as well... was it the training they did that allowed it to be so obvious to them? If it was... NO! I won't ask for help from them! I can do this on my own!" he thought.
"First things first... I need to change this anger back into hatred... even if I don't like what Zeo said, his theory about my power was true" Sasuke thought to himself as he did a few handsigns, forcing his own mind to relive the events that had brought forth the hatred.
Unknowingly, the fact that he subjected himself to these memories would someday make Itachi's Tsukuyomi technique useless on him.
Sasuke was not seen for the rest of that day, nor was his chakra sensed, causing a few rumors to spread among those who could sense chakra.
Sasuke had a tendency to hold his energy out, trying to show off.
And yet, there was no chakra at all, quite a surprise to most.
The next day, the many teams that had passed gathered for their first D rank mission.
"Alright! My first mission!" Naruto exclaimed, cheering as he got to the training ground, only to find Kakashi wasn't there.
"Ah man... why's he have to be late anyways?" Naruto groaned, sitting down in the grass.
He could see Sakura sitting to the side, waiting as well.
She seemed to be just as annoyed as Naruto, though she was trying not to say anything.
Her body movements made it obvious nonetheless.
Sasuke was sitting in a tree nearby, as usual, silent, and yet, for once, Sasuke's aura was controlled.
"He actually listened to what me and Zeo said!?" Naruto thought, confused.
A few hours later, Kakashi sensei finally showed up.
"Sorry, I was almost here when I saw a cat stuck up a tree." Kakashi began.
"Can it, you've wasted enough time as it is" Sasuke said, jumping out of the tree.
"Um... right, well than, time for your first mission" Kakashi said.
"Alright! Finally!" Naruto said, grinning.
It was then that Kakashi announced the mission.
"We are to escort... a toddler to his daycare" Kakashi said, watching as Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke's jaws fell to the ground.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT!? That's not fair! We're ninjas!" Naruto said, glaring angrily.
"You're also genin... and as it is, you cannot start with any other missions unless it is during a time in which such missions are a waste" Kakashi said.
"Like when? When would that be? I want it to be that sort of time!" Naruto complained, getting a glare from Kakashi.
"Those times are time's of war" he said coldly, causing Naruto to gulp.
"Nevermind" he said with a small laugh.
And so, team 7 began on their first mission... Naruto, and Sasuke as well, hated every single second of it.
Sakura was just glad to be near Sasuke.
Meanwhile, Zeo and his team were having a similar discussion.
"Why the hell do I have to protect a god be damned... basket of cookies anyways!" Taichi complained.
"Like you could suffice to complete any other mission anyways" Kenji said coldly.
"Shut up, I wasn't the one tied to the post!" Taichi said, annoyed, causing Kenji to glare with a look of pure hatred.
"Sheesh, would you guys calm down?" Zeo asked with a sigh.
"The sooner we get enough of these missions, the sooner we det to go to higher ranked missions anyways" Zeo said with a small smile.
"... if that's true, this should be easy. I can locate the one we are delivering this too on my own." Kenji said.
"And I can go find sensei real quick..." Taichi said.
"While I go to the Hokage's to tell him we're done with our mission." Zeo said, figuring out what they were planning with relative ease.
About thirty seconds later, their mission was complete.
Seeing what they were doing, Kazu sensei sighed.
"They are working as a team... but they are divided... oh well, they seem to be working well enough together" he thought.
By the end of that day, Zeo's team had already completed a full 50 missions of the D rank status.
"I need them to do something else... I'm running out of missions to give" the Sandaime thought with a sigh.
The next day, Zeo's group entered, expecting another D rank mission... or rather fifty.
Instead however, they were assigned a C rank mission.
"Are you sure this is wise?" Kazu sensei asked the Hokage while the team were standing there, amazed they were actually getting something else beside's D rank's already.
"No, I'm not sure. But I can't refuse to give them a mission at all in their first week and if they keep this up, I won't have missions left to give" the Sandaime said with a sigh.
After a few minutes, the genin's returned their attention to the Hokage.
"Alright, you will be protecting a messenger that is leading to a hidden village of which I have no authority to mention to any below Jounin class. He is currently injured, yet he needs to deliver this message. Usually, a mission such as this would demand a team of our best Anbu. Due to the fact he is a ninja himself however, the rank of this mission is only C-rank, meaning the four of you should suffice" the Hokage said, looking at their faces with a small smile.
"Perfect, I can prove myself here and now" Kenji thought.
"Hell's yeah! I'm gonna kick ass!" Taichi said with a grin.
"Alright... a chance to get stronger... I wonder how Naruto's team is doing" Zeo thought with a mental sigh.
"You will be given one hour to pack supplies and then, you will meet in front of the gate" the Hokage said.
"... dismissed" he said as Kazu sensei disappeared and the rest of them walked off .
Naruto's team on the other hand weren't doing quite as well.
In the past two days, they had only completed 4 missions, leaving them nowhere near ready to move up to C rank
"Alright! Hell's yeah! Booyaa!" Taichi exclaimed as they took their first step out of the village.
"... what the hell is wrong with you?' Kenji asked calmly, even though he was a bit freaked out.
"This is the first time I've gotten to go outside the village!" Taichi said with a grin.
"Er... same for me... but I didn't have to do that" Zeo said with a sigh.
"Well, anyways, it's about time we found the one we're supposed to be guarding" Kazu sensei said, looking around.
"That would be me" someone said as they got up off the ground.
It was obvious he was injured due to, for one, the large amount of freshly made scars across his chest, and the fact that he was limping greatly.
He had a forehead protector one, but it seemed to be blank.
He had Black hair in a style similar to Sasuke's, surprisingly enough.
Beside's the hair style, there were no other similarities for him to Sasuke though.
He had an eyepatch over his left eye and his clothing was pitch black.
At his side was a Samurai sword, seeming out of place in ninja artillery.
"So... we ready or what?" the man asked with a cocky smirk on his face.
"... yes. May I ask your name?" Kazu sensei asked calmly.
"Name's Rio... I ain't gonna answer what clan I'm from though" Rio said with a smirk.
"Alright then, let's get started" Kazu sensei said.
"You'll have to lead the way however" Kazu sensei said, sweat dropping when he realized he had no idea how to get there.
"Duh" Rio said, still acting really cocky as he began to walk off. Kazu sensei turned to his team and told them what formation to get into and so, the journey to protect Rio began.
... short as hell, but it's been over a full five months, I need to update this thing some time... only about 1/3 if my usual
... date is 7-27-07...