And now, after getting two chapters of my X-Men story out, I'm back to this one... I do realize I haven't updated my others but... eh, who cares.
Here's Chapter 6. Today's date is 9-22-07. That way you'll know how long it took me to get it out.
Disclaimer: I always thought I'd rather be considered lucky than good... sorry, that's part of a song. I don't own Naruto, and my imagination is for sale if anyone wants one (bored)
The Second Kyuubi Vessel
"Man, it's so boring now" Zeo muttered as he walked through the town.
His sensei had said no more missions, and he just couldn't train on his own.
Naruto had to be there too, otherwise he wasn't determined or enjoying it any.
That was when two ninja's ran by him... on their hands.
"Yosh! Gai sensei, this training is great! I will become stronger quickly if I can do this, and if I can't, I'll do 1000 push ups. And if I can't do that, I'll do10,000 punches while hanging upside down. And if I can't do that-" one of the two said towards the other, who was now labeled as Gai sensei.
"Lee! The power of youth is as strong as ever in you!" Gai said in tears.
"What the hell?" Zeo asked as he looked at the happenings with a look of complete confusion.
"Eh, looks like it could be fun, and listening to those two talk is funny. Guess I have something to do after all" he muttered with a grin as he tapped his legs and arms and activated the chakra controlled weights he had bought on his first day as a genin.
He'd also bought a pair for Naruto, but he had forgotten to give them to him.
After musing over how he had forgotten, he quickly ran to where the two people in the strange green outfits were.
"Hey, you two!" he yelled as he ran up.
"Yes?" Gai sensei asked, still running on his hands.
" what amount of weight do you have your weights set on?" he asked.
"300 pounds!" Lee said with a grin while Zeo sweatdropped.
"I've got mine at 75" he thought with a sigh.
"Well, anyways, can I join you two?" he asked with a grin.
"Yosh, of course you may! Your youthful choice says much about you! Who are you anyways?" Gai said as he attempted to give his usual pose while running upside down.
This caused him to trip and slam into the ground, rolling a few feet before finally stopping.
"Er... name's Zeo" Zeo said with another sweatdrop.
"I hope I don't regret this" he thought as Gai got back up and had a youthful talk with Lee before beginning to run again.
Zeo flipped onto his hands and ran after the two.
"What a bunch of freaks" he thought.
"So, how far are we running anyways?" Zeo asked the two as he caught up.
"200 laps around the village!" Lee said with a happy looking grin.
Zeo nearly lost his balance when he heard that.
"What? Sheesh, isn't it like... 5 miles around the village" he asked.
"Yes! We shall run it all, and on our hands at that. The power of youth will not falter!" Gai yelled out confidently.
"Er... ya..." Zeo muttered as he calculated how far they planned on running.
"1000 miles!" he thought as his eyes widened.
"Well, I guess I better give it my all! I ran 600 miles before, though not on my hands... and I kind of fell unconscious afterwards. " he thought.
"Then I ran about 4500 miles with the us of soldier pills once, and I was unconscious for three days. Eh, I guess it's possible." he thought.
"Alright, sounds like a challenge" Zeo said with a smirk.
"Yosh, the power of youth is strong in you indeed!" Gai exclaimed as the three ran.
"This is insane" Zeo thought as he continued.
About four hours later, the three finally stopped.
As they did, Zeo fell to the ground, unable to move his arms, and having large amounts of difficulty breathing.
"You people... are insane" he muttered.
"No! We are merely youthful" Lee said with a grin as he got up and sat there.
"Heh. Well, I'm surprised I managed to do that" Zeo said as he turned off his weights and moved his body a bit.
"Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh! You had weights as well?! What were they set to!?" Gai asked with his trademark smile.
"Er... only 75. I've only had them for about two and a half months. And that time was on a battle field so I didn't have time to train or increase the weight. For the most part, I had them off as I needed to be at my best there" Zeo said to them.
75 pounds was pretty large in the long run, but compared to them, he felt ashamed for having so low an amount of weight.
"I see! Well, now that we have finished this running warmup, let us train!" Gai said with his famous pose.
"Er... warmup" Zeo thought as he stood up and realized that he was already healed.
"The heck? This is like what happened that one time" he thought as he remembered some of the battles from before.
"Alright, so what's the training?" Zeo asked with a grin.
"We will train on martial arts! As you haven't even started, I'll stick with helping you for now!" Gai said with a grin.
"Lee! You shall train on what I taught you last week!" Gai said.
"Yes Gai sensei! I will!" Lee said with a nod as he ran a few yards away and began to train.
"Er... alright then, here goes" Zeo thought.
"I will teach you a martial art style that is most common for a ninja to learn!" Gai said as he began to talk to Zeo and show him certain moves, which Zeo picked up instantly.
"How is it that you pick up these moves so easily?" Gai asked after a few hours of training.
"Simple. They're pretty much the same as the moves from the style I learned. The one I know is a combination of about 40 different styles, including weapon usage as well" Zeo said with a grin.
"Oh! This is great! You are strong indeed!" Gai exclaimed.
"Er... ya" Zeo muttered. "Well than, let us have you spar against Lee! We shall see whose youth is stronger!" Gai yelled as he went into his pose.
"Ah! My eyes!" Zeo yelled, falling to the ground twitching at Gai's smile. After a few minutes, he stood back up.
"Alright then... a spar... just taijutsu then?" Zeo asked.
"Oh! Yes! I had nearly forgotten to say that! You are thanked!" Gai exclaimed again.
"Er... ya, let's just spar" Zeo said as he got into stance before glancing at the weights he had on.
"Keep the weights on?" Zeo asked.
"Yes! For if you were to remove them, this spar would not train you as much!" Gai said.
'Ya... shouldn't have asked" Zeo muttered as he waited for Lee, who had stopped training as he heard the key words spar as well as his name, to get into stance.
"Alright! Let's begin!" Gai exclaimed loudly.
At that second, Lee launched forward with a punch using the left hand.
Zeo moved to the right side and parried the strike before pulling Lee the rest of the way through.
Zeo then jumped back a few feet and waited for Lee's next strike.
"So easily he deflected my attack! He is a worthy rival indeed!" Lee yelled out, causing Zeo to sweatdrop.
"Concentrate on the match Lee!" Gai yelled to him.
"Oh! Yes Gai sensei!" Lee exclaimed as he charged forward with a Konoha Senpuu (leaf whirlwind).
Zeo smirked and dodged the first part of the kick, pushing Lee's leg in that direction.
When Lee attempted the second part of the kick, the extra spin had him out of control and he merely spun around before slamming into a nearby tree.
"Unreal! He's only seen the move once, and he figured out how to counter it" Gai and Lee thought.
"Lee! I do not want to see you lose. Take off your weights and let this battle continue!" Gai said.
Hearing this, Lee pulled his weights off, as did Zeo.
At that second, Lee disappeared from sight and slammed his fist into Zeo's face, sending Zeo flying.
He then launched himself forward and past Zeo before spinning around for an attack.
As Lee shot his leg forward for the attack, Zeo moved his body and turned himself to the side, avoiding the kick.
He then shot his fist out into Lee's side.
Due to the speed Lee had shot Zeo off at, Zeo was fast enough to land this hit, sending Lee back a few feet.
"I have better technique, but he outranks me in speed and power" Zeo thought as Lee shot back at him.
Zeo was barely able to block the punch, but did not manage to block the inverted punch, which sent him flying back.
"If I had more speed and power, this would be easy" he thought as Lee kicked him into the air.
Zeo could do nothing but continue to fly up into the air as Lee continued his kicks, knocking him further into the air.
"Damn it" Zeo thought before smirking as he caught sight of a flash off the trees.
"So that's how he's continuing up. He's kicking me up, then kicking himself off the trees. Well, at the last strike, I'll have my chance" he thought as he waited.
After a few seconds, Lee got to what was likely to be the final kick.
They were now about twenty feet above the trees, meaning that Lee seemed to be moving slower when he reached Zeo.
That was when Zeo countered.
He moved to the side of the final strike and elbowed Lee towards the ground.
He then continued, doing what Lee had done, except in reverse, this time shooting down, meaning the power was not lost during the strike.
Likewise, the speed was only increasing, meaning even Lee had no time to counter.
After a few seconds, they reached the ground and both ninja's jumped back, both beaten up to their limit.
"I won't lose to you" Zeo panted out.
"Nor will I to you!" Lee exclaimed tiredly.
At that, both shot forward with the last of their strength and threw a single punch.
Both fists collided and both fighters fell to the ground, out of energy.
"Are you still conscious?" Zeo asked Lee.
"Yes" Lee said tiredly.
"Damn" Zeo said with a laugh.
"Guess that means I didn't win."
"Nor did you lose though!" Lee pointed out.
"Yep" Zeo muttered as he continued to lay there.
After a few seconds, both finally fell unconscious.
It was around that time that Gai finally found where they had landed and sighed.
"These two have fought with the full power of youth. They have both been exhausted to the limits of their youth" Gai said as he picked the two up and left to take the two home, grabbing the weights as he went.
He dropped Lee off first as he knew where Lee's house was before looking around.
"Now where is Zeo's house?" He muttered.
"I'll take him" Kazu sensei said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Alright then. I thank you!" Gai exclaimed as he handed Zeo to Kazu.
"I take it he trained with you and Lee?" Kazu asked.
"Yes! He did! He then sparred against Lee and the battle ended in a tie!" Gai said as he began to go into detail about the fight.
Ignoring him, Kazu walked off with a sigh.
"Those guys are still freaks" he thought to himself as he walked off.
"But I suppose it would be a good thing if he was to train with them. I don't have time to help him right now as it is." Kazu thought as he carried Zeo to his house. "He better not begin acting like those two though" he thought with a sweatdrop as he pictured Zeo with his hair in a bowl cut and the famous green leotards that signified one of the two taijutsu users.
"... I better check on him and make sure he doesn't do something like that" Kazu thought as he opened the door to Zeo's house and dropped him off.
"Well, either way, my team improving even more than they are sounds fine with me... they're already so powerful in comparison to how the teams used to be... and I hear the other teams have shown large amounts of skill as well" he thought.
"Well, if anything, the chunnin exams will be really interesting when these guys enter" he thought as he left Zeo at his house, locking the door as he left.
For three weeks, Zeo continued his training, waiting for Naruto to return, but he still didn't.
Zeo was, at this point, becoming quite anxious.
"That bastard better not have died damn it!" Zeo complained.
"If I can't even help him, then what the use of it all!?" he yelled at the wall, no one actually there.
"Damn it to hell! If he's not there, then what's the point of it all" he muttered, sitting there crying.
"I don't know if he's alive or dead! I can't help him at all! How am I supposed to deal with this" he muttered, trying to stop his tears.
"I hate this! If I'm not there helping him, then what the hell was the point of training for all these years so I could help him achieve his dreams!" he yelled again.
"You sure do yell a lot" Kazu sensei's voice was heard from behind the door.
"Er... you weren't supposed to hear that" Zeo said awkwardly.
"I know. I mean, who wants anyone to hear that. You sounded like you were gay" Kazu said with a smirk.
"What!? That's not true. I'm just worried about my friend. If he dies then everything we've worked for is useless!" Zeo yelled at his sensei, annoyed by the remark.
"Ya ya, whatever. Anyways, I thought I'd tell you that Kakashi and his group were seen passing the border into our country last night. They should be here in a few hours" Kazu said.
"...oh... so Naruto's fine?" Zeo asked.
"Yep, anyways, I'm going back to what I was doing before, seeya" he muttered as he left.
"Alright! Naruto's alive! Ya!" Zeo said with a grin as he jumped out the door and rushed over to the gate's.
"I said a few hours" Kazu muttered as he saw that.
"He really seems to care about his friend a lot" Kazu muttered.
"But it may be too much. There are too many ways this could be used as a weakness" Kazu muttered as he left.
"Come on! Where is he! It's been like forever" Zeo complained, pacing back and forth near the entrance.
"... you've only been here five minutes" one of the gate watchmen muttered under his breath with a sweatdrop.
"How long do I have to wait? I know, I'll go to him!" Zeo thought as he ran out the gate.
"Wait! You're not allowed to leave the..." the gate watchman said before stopping as Zeo ran out of sight.
"Sheesh, the new genin are insane" one muttered while shaking his head.
"That's for sure" the other said as they went back to waiting.
After a few minutes of running, Zeo caught sight of them... he was then in front of them, to the surprise of Sasuke and Sakura.
Kakashi had caught the movement, but hadn't been able to concentrate on it.
However, as there had been no killer intent, he saw no reason to say anything.
"Hey!" Zeo said with a grin. "Zeo!" Naruto said, grinning back.
"... impossible! He moved faster than Haku did! That's not possible" Sasuke thought with a glare.
"How much stronger has he become? Why can I not keep up with either of them damn it!" Sasuke thought angrily, still glaring at Zeo.
"Hey, didn't I tell you to change the anger to hatred already?" Zeo asked, blinking as he looked towards Sasuke.
"Shut up!" he yelled as he threw a punch at Zeo.
Zeo merely moved to the side, grabbing Sasuke's arm and throwing him forward, using Sasuke's own force to throw him to the ground.
"... so who are you, and how did you get admission to meet us?" Kakashi asked, looking at the one in front of him, who had just easily thrown Sasuke aside.
"He's Zeo! He's my best friend!" Naruto said with a grin.
"Hey! Wanna race back to the village?" Zeo asked Naruto with a grin.
"Sure!" Naruto said, grinning back as they ran off, barely avoiding Sakura, who currently attempting to punch Zeo for throwing Sasuke.
"... but, we're still about 30 miles from the... never mind" Kakashi muttered as he watched the cloud of dust from the two running.
"There are two Naruto's? That'll be annoying" he thought as he saw Sasuke get up and run after them.
"Hey, wait for me Sasuke!" Sakura said as she tried to keep up with him.
"... I guess we'll be running" Kakashi muttered, shaking his head as he ran after his students.
"What a weird group" he thought, thinking back to the mission they had just finished.
"It's so similar to my group it hurts" he thought, looking towards the ground with a sad look.
"But that won't happen to my group... I swear it" he thought to himself as he ran past them.
After about thirty minutes, the group finally arrived at the gates, or at least, Zeo and Naruto did.
Kakashi only jogged it, and still got there after about 35 minutes.
Sasuke took 40 and Sakura took around an hour.
"Damn it! A full ten minutes!" Sasuke thought angrily.
Even if it was Hatred he needed, it was difficult to not be angry when he seemed so weak in comparison.
"I need to train harder!" he thought angrily before catching sight of something on Zeo's legs.
"Leg weights? That's what it is! Then I'll get weights too! I'll get stronger than him, or else!" he thought angrily, or at least, he thought he thought it.
In reality, he had said it out loud. "I thought your plan was to beat Itachi?" Zeo asked, partially confused.
"Shut up, idiot!" Sasuke yelled at him.
"Whatever" Zeo said with a grin.
"Let's go train!" Zeo said as he turned to Naruto.
"Yeah!" Naruto said, grinning still as the two ran off.
"I won't let them surpass me!" Sasuke said as he walked off to train as well.
"Sasuke, wait for me!" Sakura said as she ran after Sasuke.
"... I guess I'll turn in the papers for the mission then" Kakashi muttered with a sweatdrop as he headed for the hokage's office.
"So then, the mission was successful I take it?" the hokage asked as Kakashi walked in.
"Yes, also, a message from Tazuna... due to some of the circumstances of the mission, it increased to an A rank, so... ya" Kakashi muttered.
The hokage merely lifted his eyebrow at that.
"Both you and Kazu's group end up with a mission of high rank. On top of that, both took a lot longer than expected. A strange coincidence considering" the hokage muttered.
"... yes, it is, but I don't think it's possible to stage it either way" Kakashi muttered, wondering now who Kazu's team was.
"Anyways, your team is dismissed... even though it seems they dismissed themselves a while ago" the hokage muttered as he waved Kakashi off.
"Yes sir" Kakashi muttered as he left to find the file on Kazu's team.
As he did, he noticed one thing, the image of the boy Zeo that he had met earlier.
"It is a strange coincidence indeed... But it seems these teams should end up becoming very interesting indeed.
Well, either way, it's time to get back to my book" Kakashi muttered as he left for his house.
ya... sorry it took so long. I wrote a few chapters on my other story, then I tried writing the whole entire Zabuza saga here, but it didn't work, so I left it, hoping to get some inspiration for it. After a month of waiting, I just deleted that part and started from scratch. End date is 11-6-07. and Zeo and Naruto are not gay. 20 pages