Coming from the Shadows: Truth
Naruto woke up to the shrill trilling of the birds outside. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he got out of bed. "I wonder who else knows," Naruto muttered, surprised at Itachi's revelation the night before.
Throwing on some clothes, Naruto quickly left to meet up with his team. Walking through the streets of Konoha, he scrutinized the citizens and other shinobi he passed. He frowned. Didn't seem like any of them really recognized him as the Yondaime's son.
Arriving at the café where the team had their first real get-together, he saw he was the first to arrive. Seating himself, in clear view of the entrance, he sat patiently, thoughts split between what the scroll just recently revealed to him and the fact that for at least one other individual, his heritage was known. He frowned at the direction his thoughts were taking him. He didn't want to think that his sensei saw him as his parent's son instead of as himself.
Hearing the chime of the door jangle, he looked up and saw his teammates approaching, only Itachi was absent now. "Hey Ino, Shino." Naruto greeted them as they slid in next to him. "What do you think we're going to do today? More of the water-walking exercise?"
"Perhaps." Ino said, "it would make sense with what he said on the topic yesterday."
Shino nodded, "In addition to that possibility, there is also the likelihood of our team undergoing our first mission. I've heard rumors of one such mission, and even if they are only marginally accurate I would find partaking in that mission exceedingly distasteful."
Ino frowned. "Where is Itachi-sensei? He should have been here by now."
"Think I should go look? I could leave a clone here in case he shows up, maybe?" Naruto asked, a little wary at their sensei's lateness. He's been particularly punctual thus far.
As Naruto stood to make the ram seal, Itachi walked out from the shadows. "I'm not particularly impressed with your observant skills, you three. I've been in the shop the entire time." Itachi said, disappointed. "Seems like you three have another skill to improve upon."
As he walked past them, he motioned with his hand. "Come. Shino was right, we do have our first mission today, and you can be relieved it isn't the mission you heard whispers of, Shino."
Naruto and Ino shared an amused glance before they followed their sensei.
They arrived at the Academy where missions were handed out, and approached the Hokage. "Team Seven requests a mission, Hokage-sama." Itachi said, announcing their presence.
"Very well, I believe you wanted this one, correct?" the Hokage said, handing Itachi a scroll.
Glancing over the mission details, Itachi nodded. Turning swiftly, he lead them out of the Academy.
"Our mission is on the outskirts of Konoha. We are to assist farmers in harvesting their crops and repairing their fences."
"Fujimoto-san, we are Team Seven, contracted with assisting you with your farm work for the day." Itachi said, shortly after their arrival.
The old man nodded in thanks. "Let me show you the process. And be careful. Any mistakes will be taken out of your pay." He said, strictly.
The three young ninja watched him like a hawk, determined not to make any mistakes.
Several hours later, the three genin collapsed to the ground exhausted. "I never knew farm work could be so tiring." Naruto said, having a new-found respect for farmers.
Ino nodded tiredly, lacking the energy to speak in agreement.
Shino, however, was interested in a newly discovered insect found on the farm.
Itachi just chuckled at the three. "If you three are done resting, we should report back to Hokage-sama as our mission is complete. I'd still like to fit in some training today."
Naruto smiled weakly, whereas his teammates just stared at Itachi like he was insane. A complete sadist. Groaning in discomfort, the three genin got up and followed Itachi back.
Returning to the Academy, Team Seven presented themselves to the Hokage. "We've finished our mission, Hokage-sama." Itachi said.
"Well done. The four of you will find the deposits in your accounts later today." The Hokage said, giving them a subtle dismissal.
"Of course, Hokage-sama." Itachi said with a slight bow. Leading his team away from the Academy. He turned to them with a feral smile. "And now, today's training begins."
The three genin distinctly wondered how Itachi made the word training sound like torture.
Unlike the day before where they were training to master the water-walking exercise at the lake within the Uchiha compound, today they found themselves at a natural hot springs undiscovered by Konoha's civilians.
"Today's training is simple. You water walk successfully, or you find yourself submerged in scalding waters." Itachi told them, curious at how well they'd react to this method of training.
Naruto just glared defiantly at his sensei and marched confidently onto the calm surface. Surprising both his teammates and his sensei, he was able to stay on top of the water's surface without any signs of sinking. "I thought we were going to do some real training today, sensei." Naruto whined out, reminding Itachi of the fact that while they are ninja, they're still children.
Itachi raised an eyebrow at the boy. "And just how did you suddenly master this exercise?"
"Um. I might have continued training after I got home." Naruto said, looking like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Until when?" Itachi asked, voice stern.
"I might have stayed up for a while and went to bed at two?" Naruto stated, almost as a question.
"You only got five hours of sleep?"
"Try three. I wake up at five." Naruto corrected his sensei, unable to keep his mouth shut.
Itachi practically growled at the boy. "You are going to sit there, and watch while your teammates train. I forbid you from training. Absolutely forbid it."
"Um, I take it I should mention I have two kage bunshin training at home, more or less twenty four seven?" Naruto added on, apparently unable to keep his lips from flapping.
Itachi just looked at the red-haired boy. He opened his mouth a few times as if to say something then just shut it. "Never mind. Never mind. I'm going to ignore that. I'm going to completely ignore that." Itachi said, mostly to himself, before turning to his other two genin.
"Get to work, you two. With Naruto training like that, you'll have to work hard so he doesn't leave you two behind." Itachi said, wanting to motivate his teammates.
And it worked. They instantly leapt to the water's surface and began working to master the technique.
Itachi turned back to his other student. "You are going to tell me, right now, every last thing you are capable of, where you learned it, and anything new you're aware of that I should be privy to."
Naruto just looked down and said, "Everything I've learned has more or less been self taught using a scroll my parents left me. It's how I learned the kage bunshin, and began learning to use weapons. As you might have noticed, I'm not going to rely solely on weapons. Only having a single attack method makes one easy to be countered. In fact, what I know of you, sensei, has been something of an inspiration of mine. I hope to, one day, master every shinobi art there is. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Bukijutsu, Bunshinjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and the many other subsets of the shinobi way."
Itachi looked stunned. "What you know of me...?" He asked, surprised.
"You're not like most of your other clansmen. You possess a high degree of skill in the three main shinobi arts, and you don't rely on your sharingan to pave the way to victory. It's merely a tool for you, much like a kunai or a shuriken, whereas most Uchiha, from what I've heard, treat the Sharingan as a way of life." Naruto said, getting a little nervous.
Itachi smiled genuinely at him. "Thank you, Naruto. You don't know how much those words mean to me."
"Anytime, sensei." Naruto said, smiling.
"Sensei! We've done it." Ino yelled out, reminding Itachi that it wasn't just him and Naruto there.
"Well done." Itachi said, nodding. "I guess we can start the next part of my teaching. For that we must decide upon roles depending on the mission type."
"As an example, the one in charge of staying back and protecting a client while his or her teammates take out enemy threats?" Shino asked, eloquently as usual.
"Indeed, Shino." Itachi said. "From what I've seen Naruto is probably the best individual for protecting a client."
"What?" Naruto and Ino asked in unison, surprised.
"Yes. With his clones he can, by himself, form a triangle around the client, protecting them from attacks of any direction with no blind spots. In addition, with his weapon skills, he could still participate in the fights without endangering the client." Itachi said, elaborating. "Shino is also a possibility. With his Kikaichu, he'd have a fairly large circle of protection around the client. He wouldn't be able to provide as much long distance support or as much protection for the client as Naruto, but he still remains a decent possibility." He added on, giving them an alternative.
"And me?" Ino asked, hesitantly.
"You're not suited for that role, Ino. You've stated yourself that you dislike taijutsu and don't have very good weapon skills. That would leave you and the client extremely vulnerable in that situation. I believe you'd be suited to genjutsu, supplementary ninjutsu, and your clan arts. All fairly useful, but not all that helpful in a protection role." Itachi said, answering her question bluntly but honestly.
Itachi paused as he ran through various scenarios in his head. "More or less, you'll each need a particular branch of skills so you can, as a group, handle any situation. Ino, I think you should first be taught genjutsu and supplementary ninjutsu. You don't have a lot of chakra, but those skills don't have many jutsu that require a lot of chakra. Shino, you should work on your ninjutsu and working in tandem with your Kikaichu. Naruto, work on your bunshinjutsu, taijutsu, and weapon skills. I'll find a taijutsu style that is best for you two to use, and work with you three on developing and improving your soon-to-be areas of expertise." Itachi stood up, looking at the declining sun. "As with yesterday, we should stop for the night. Ino, Shino. Train with your clans tomorrow, they requested it. Naruto, you'll be with me. Come to the Uchiha compound at nine tomorrow."
Having said his peace, Itachi quickly departed in a shunshin.
"Dammit. I meant to ask him something," Naruto said swearing lowly to himself. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed under the twin gaze of his teammates. "Ah. See you two, the day after tomorrow." He said to his teammates, leaving quickly himself, if not quite in a shunshin like his sensei.
"Yeesh. That was close," Naruto muttered, once he was sure he was out of hearing range of his friends.
"Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll make sure to ask him about my parents." He vowed to himself.