Salvation in the Middle of the Mountain
The Chthonic Professor
Summary: One night of fooling around leads to a little mistake, and nine months later Yamanaka Sukui becomes the firstborn child of Yamanaka Inoichi. However, Sukui has power unlike anything the Yamanaka clan has ever seen; he can see flashes of the future, as well as his own past life. He knows what he has to do, and in doing so, he will go down in history as the Teacher of Legends.
Warning: Naruto with an entirely OC team: if you don't like that, then this won't be the story for you.
-.-
Chapter One - Team Thirteen
-.-
For the last hour Sarutobi Hiruzen had been gazing tiredly into his infamous crystal ball. He'd been witness to the entire proceedings of the night's activities, from Naruto settling down and learning the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, to Mizuki's traitorous actions and the revelation of Naruto's status as Jinchuriki to the Kyuubi no Yoko.
His heart was warmed slightly at the sight of Umino Iruka's kind gesture, in handing over his own hitai-ate to Naruto the man had made an indispensable bond, probably without even realizing it.
The wizened old man finally tore his gaze away from the crystal ball and began methodically tearing into the paperwork that this incident, as well as it had finally turned out in the end, had produced.
He'd just been about to change the new Genin team rosters to include Naruto when he felt a presence in the corner of the room that hadn't been there only a moment before.
"You're making a mistake, Hokage-sama."
As experienced as he was, and as many battles with mind-bogglingly powerful opponents he'd participated in, Sarutobi Hiruzen, hailed as both The Professor and God of Shinobi, could not stop the shiver that ran down his spine.
"Kamonohashi(1), how… unexpected of you." Hiruzen stumbled over his words awkwardly. He'd never really known how to deal with this particular shinobi of his. Then he cocked his head slightly, the young man's words finally registering in his mind. "A mistake? What mistake could you possibly believe I'm making, Kamonohashi?"
"… It has occurred once more, Hokage-sama."
The man's grey eyebrows almost rose into the shadow of his conical hat. "It has occurred once-… a vision. You've had another vision?" He instantly leaned forwards over his desk, eyes glinting with curiosity.
"Hai." He responded strongly, taking a knee and bowing his head before his leader. "Hokage-sama, if you would allow me to speak freely?" He spoke, head still bent, the knuckles of his right hand pressed tightly into the aged wood of the Hokage's office.
"Of course, Kamonohashi. Tell me of this vision of yours."
The young ANBU took a deep breath, but was otherwise unmoving. He seemed content to tell his tale from where he was kneeling before his leader.
"I believe assigning Uzumaki Naruto to the team you had initially intended for him is a mistake." He spoke cautiously.
"Yes, and why would assigning Naruto-kun to this team be a mistake, Kamonohashi? Does something happen? Something that you wish to prevent?" Hiruzen spoke softly, encouraging the young man to divulge more information.
"It is… difficult for me to explain, Hokage-sama. I have seen a long period of struggle followed by happiness and peace, and yet… I feel as if this path is not the one with Uzumaki-san's best interests in mind."
"You wish for me to change my initial team rosters based upon a feeling, Kamonohashi? What has caused your sudden interest in Naruto-kun's well-being?" The Hokage questioned, though not incredulously. He wouldn't patronize the boy, he didn't deserve that. Hiruzen knew the boy's powers were convoluted at best, and sometimes incredibly difficult to interpret, despite their versatility.
It was one of the reasons Kamonohashi had entered the shinobi forces at the tender age of seven. Hiruzen had even allowed Danzo to tutor the boy, under the strictest conditions that it was Danzo and Danzo only who could tutor the boy in the way of the shinobi, and not have one of his not-so-secret ROOT operatives do it for him instead.
There was no doubt that he was incredibly powerful with immense potential, but his power was immeasurably difficult to control.
Because of his strict training under Danzo (and entirely because of Danzo's methods) Hiruzen had been afraid to place the boy under his tutelage. His fears had been unfounded. Kamonohashi had proven to have an incredibly resilient mind, one any Yamanaka would have been proud of, and had come out of Danzo's training the better man.
It was that man who now looked up at Hiruzen through the slits of his ANBU mask. The battle-hardened warrior's breath hitched as those penetrating yellow eyes gazed up at him, burning with what was unmistakably the Will of Fire; the need to protect Konoha's King King: the Next Generation.
"Uzumaki Naruto is going to save the world." Hiruzen almost didn't stop himself from dropping his jaw on time. He had never heard such conviction in another man's voice before.
"No matter what any of us do, he is going to save the world. I just want to make his life a little easier along the way. He deserves at least that much." Hiruzen almost didn't hear the young man's next words.
"I owe him at least that much."
Then Hiruzen understood.
"You know." It wasn't a question.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kamonohashi once more bowed his head.
"Another vision?" Questioned the Hokage, eyes narrowing.
"No, Hokage-sama. It was not too difficult for me to piece together the facts, though I did not know for sure until just now."
The Hokage sighed, taking a moment to stuff some tobacco into his favourite pipe and light it. He puffed on it once, twice, and then let out another sigh.
"He saved your life that night, didn't he?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I owe him not only my life, but I owe him for saving the life of my baby sister as well. The best way for me to repay him is by making sure that his son lives the life he deserves."
Hiruzen smiled down at the black-clad shinobi before him, puffing away at his pipe.
"Very well then," He spoke with a slightly over-dramatic flair, "I guess have no choice other than to renounce your status as ANBU. Thank you for your service, Kamonohashi." The Hokage pulled out a scroll from a secret compartment beneath his desk, wrote something quickly at the bottom, and stamped it with his official seal. "Hand this in to the commander at your earliest convenience."
Then he held out his hand in anticipation, and was rewarded with a smooth ceramic mask.
"Yamanaka Sukui, you are hereby assigned to the position of Jounin-Sensei, with Team Thirteen under your command." With a smile, the Hokage handed Sukui the scroll upon which he'd stamped the young man's retirement from ANBU.
"Go on, Sukui-kun. I'm sure your family will be ecstatic to finally see you after such a long time. Dismissed."
Yamanaka Sukui vanished from the Hokage's office without a trace.
Hiruzen's heart was warmed at the sight of the small smile he'd seen on the boy's lips just before he left.
He could only hope that he'd made the right decision in trusting Sukui with Naruto.
-.- One Week Later, Team Placements -.-
Naruto's head was hanging. Iruka-sensei had been calling the team placements for a little while now, and still his name hadn't been called. Sakura had been placed with that bastard Sasuke on team Seven with some other guy Naruto didn't know, Kiba had been placed with bug-boy and that creepy girl with the white eyes on team Eight, and both Chouji and Shikamaru ended up on team Ten. As his sensei continued calling out names for the subsequent teams, Naruto was beginning to think he wouldn't be placed on a team at all!
"… and finally we have Atarashiokami Wakawakashi, Bakuchiku Sukoshi… and Uzumaki Naruto. You will be team Thirteen under Jounin Yamanaka Sukui." Iruka put down his clipboard and smiled up at his class. "Alright, break for lunch, but make sure to be back here in an hour. Your Jounin sensei will pick you up here. Class dismissed!"
Most of the students began gathering together in groups of three, most likely to get acquainted with their new Genin teammates, but Naruto sat still in his seat. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't on Sakura-chan's team, and on top of that, he'd never even heard of his teammates' names before!
Naruto's attention was diverted by some kind of commotion going on by the door.
"Hey!" A girl's voice yelled loudly, attracting everyone's attention. "Is Uzumaki Naruto in this class?" She asked, looking around. The girl had purple hair and purple eyes and had to be at least as pretty as Sakura-chan, in Naruto's opinion. Behind her was a boy with rather generic mid-length dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Naruto slowly stood up, drawing both the girl's and the boy's eyes to him.
"Ah… that's me," Naruto waved a little awkwardly and bounded down the steps to the front of the classroom. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He introduced himself.
The girl beamed at him, and behind her the boy smiled nervously. "I'm Sukoshi, and this is Shi-kun," She jabbed her thumb at the boy behind her, "We're the other two members of team Thirteen!"
Naruto couldn't help it, a slow, genuine smile was beginning to pull at his cheeks. He couldn't help it. This girl was just so cute and bubbly.
Naruto was just about to re-introduce himself with his regular theatrics, when he felt a shift in the air behind him and scowled.
"Che, what do we have over here? Dobe, your teammates are even smaller than you? I didn't think that was possible. You all must suck to be on team Thirteen." He sneered. "Fitting that the dead last gets the dead-last team, isn't it?" Behind him Sakura and a couple of Sasuke's other fangirls were snickering.
Naruto growled deep in his throat and glared at Sasuke over his shoulder, his eyes like wicked sheets of ice. Some of the students in the class actually flinched back in surprise. They'd seen Naruto and Sasuke get into fights before, but they'd never seen Naruto look so genuinely murderous.
"We may be small, teme," His voice was barely more than a whisper, but it was one of the most unnerving things Sasuke had ever heard, "But my teammates could kick your ass seven ways to Sunday any day of the week."
Then he whipped his head around, marched forwards, grabbed each of his teammates by the arm, and stormed out of the classroom.
-.-
It had only been a couple of minutes since they'd left the classroom, but Naruto had finally calmed down enough that he could think straight. Once he could think straight, he finally realized just how rude it had been of him to manhandle his teammates practically halfway across the village without a care in the world. So, he began to apologize. He didn't really know what it was, but he didn't want these two to dislike him.
"I'm really sorry, y'know," Naruto apologized, bowing in front of his two new teammates. The two of them seemed caught off guard and flustered by his apology. The both of them were waving their hands about in front of them and telling him that he had no reason to apologize.
He looked up at them and smiled. He was starting to think he could really get along with this team.
"So, hey," He began, eyes alight with happiness, "Since we're already out of the classroom and all, you guys wanna come get some ramen with me? It'll be my treat, for everything that happened back there."
"A-ah, it's okay, Naruto-san, you don't owe us anything, there's no reason to pay for-" Wakawakashi began, only to be cut off by Naruto who was grinning so hard he was squinting.
"Sure, sure, but I'm paying anyway. That just means that one of you two has to pay for our next team meal. Deal?" Naruto held out his fist before him in invitation.
The two of them looked at Naruto's outstretched fist, then to each other, and then back at Naruto's fist.
"Deal." They said simultaneously, pumping their fists together.
"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed before whirling around on his heel and setting off down the street.
"Ichiraku's is this way!" He called over his shoulder, beckoning for his teammates to follow him. In moments they fell in step beside him, making Naruto grin. "They sell the best ramen in the whole village, probably the whole world even! It's run by old man Teuchi with the help of his daughter Ayame, who's a civilian just a couple o' years older than us. They're both super nice people and-…" Naruto continued his spiel on the wonders of ramen as he led his teammates through the bustling streets of Konoha's market.
It only took a couple of minutes for the three of them to be seated at the counter of the small stand, steaming bowls of delicious noodle soup making their mouths water.
As the three of them dove into their meal, Naruto posed a question that had been plaguing him since he'd first seen the duo seated beside him.
"So, Sukoshi-chan, Shi-kun, how come I've never seen you guys around the academy before?"
"Oh," Sukoshi turned to look at the blond boy seated at her left, "That's because we were in the other graduating class. Almost all of our activities were separated because we were in two different classes. It's actually rare that graduates from two different classes are put on the same team, but I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes." She explained, smiling up at him.
"Cool, cool," Naruto nodded along. Her explanation made sense. "So then, are you guys strong?"
It came completely out of the blue and was an absolutely loaded question, but Sukoshi didn't even skip a beat.
"Of course we are!" She crowed with a big grin on her face. "He doesn't look like it, but Shi-kun over there had the top-marks in our class, and I scored the highest on the Taijutsu and Ninjutsu examinations."
"You know, you two are surprisingly familiar with people you've only just met." Wakawakashi mumbled into his noodles. His comment was completely ignored by the two more hyperactive members of team Thirteen.
"Though, it only makes sense that I scored the highest in the Taijutsu exam. I mean, I am learning the strongest Taijutsu style in the world." Sukoshi said with a smug look on her face.
"No way," Naruto breathed, his eyes wide in awe. Sukoshi's smile only got wider. Wakawakashi rolled his eyes from where he was seated on her right. These two were going to be insufferable, he just knew it.
"Yes way. I'm learning the Sarutobi clan Taijutsu, after-all; the Saruken."
Naruto's jaw dropped. "What? You're related to old man Sarutobi?" He exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah, the Hokage is my great-granduncle. Though, my family name is Bakuchiku because my mom took dad's name when they married. My mom was still born a Sarutobi, though, and she taught me everything I know about the Saruken."
"That's so cool!" Naruto gushed, unable to believe that one of his teammates was related to the old man. His team was going to be awesome!
"Hey, Shi-kun, you had the top marks in your class, right? That means you can do something cool too, right?" Naruto asked excitedly, leaning across the counter so he could look at Wakawakashi properly.
"I- yeah, I guess, but you'd probably find it boring Naruto-san." Wakawakashi blushed and looked down at his lap, cracking his knuckles nervously. "It's- well, it's actually a little hard to explain, I don't- well you see, I can, well, it's a little like- uh, well… humph." After thoroughly confusing both Naruto and Sukoshi with his mumbling, Wakawakashi huffed, furrowed his brow in concentration, and waved his left hand with a slight flick of the wrist.
There, floating in the air where Wakawakashi had waved his hand, was a book.
Naruto and Sukoshi both gasped in unison at the sudden appearance of the book. It was bound in black leather, and had intricate designs inlaid in silver on both the back and the cover. On the cover was what looked like a tribal dragon, and on the back was a tribal sun, or star, with six 'tails,' for lack of a better term.
"Wicked," Breathed Sukoshi, leaning in close to get a good look at the tribal sun on the back of the book. "How'd you do that?" She questioned, looking past the book and up at her new teammate.
"Ah, well," Wakawakashi blushed a little and scratched his cheek, "The book was a birthday present from my parents, when I was eight, but when I opened it my chakra, like… absorbed it, or something. It was a notebook, so the book was blank, and for a while I didn't know what had happened."
With another flick of his left wrist the book, which was still floating, flew open, flipping through the pages seemingly on its own. On cue, the two of his teammates gasped simultaneously at the display of, what seemed like to them, magic.
Then Wakawakashi (who had gone from nervous to showing off quicker than an Akimichi entering an all-you-can-eat buffet) twirled a finger above the floating book, and it spun around to face his teammates.
The two of them had leaned over until they were teetering on the edges of their seats, and Naruto had to read over Sukoshi's shoulder to see what was written on the page.
"Then I learned the Bunshin no Jutsu, and found everything I knew about the technique already written down in this little book."
True to Wakawakashi's word, there was the Bunshin no Jutsu written in bold letters across the top of the page. Below it were, quite literally, statistics, from the hand seals required to perform the technique to the amount of chakra required to use a single Bunshin written down in units. Below that was a short description of the technique and possible uses for it.
"Okay," Sukoshi pointed at the unit of measurement beside the words 'Chakra Requirement,' "That's cool."
Wakawakashi grinned at her.
"I know, right! It's not entirely accurate, as it's more of a guess based on my own calculations and it doesn't take chakra control into account entirely, but it's pretty damn close. I should only need a couple of weeks to smooth out my calculations to make it incredibly accurate!" He got really excited, but before he could get into a spiel about mathematical calculation and chakra theory, Naruto intervened.
"So, what else can your little book do, Shi-kun?"
Wakawakashi blinked at Naruto through his glasses for a moment, then gave a slight smile.
"Well, on that same vein of thought, I can actually use my chakra to scan a person's body and record data about them in my book, like how much chakra they have and how physically fit they are. By combining those statistics with what I already know about the person, I can make a generally accurate assumption of a person's overall skill as a shinobi."
Naruto and Sukoshi sat back for a moment in an attempt to process what Wakawakashi had just told them. The Sukoshi slowly spoke up.
"Hey, Shi-kun?" She muttered, eyes unfocused.
"Yeah?" He responded tentatively, slightly put-off by the reactions of his teammates.
"That's really, really cool." She said, thinking about the pure potential his ability presented.
Wakawakashi leaned back in shock at his teammate's words and then looked over to Naruto, who was nodding vigorously in agreement.
"It's totally awesome, dattebayo!" Naruto gave him a thumbs up and a grin, getting a small smile from the other boy in return.
"Shi-kun, you totally gotta show us how that works!" Sukoshi lurched forwards, grabbing onto his hands. Wakawakashi seemed a little uncomfortable at her sudden outburst, but he wriggled his left hand free and began flicking it before the pages, turning them as if he was actually touching them.
Finally he seemed to find what he was looking for, and was about to proceed when he had a thought. He stopped and beckoned his two teammates to stand in front of him. They complied, the both of them bouncing hyperactively on the soles of their feet.
Wakawakashi let out a small smile. He was already beginning to really like his team.
The brown-haired boy took a deep breath before starting. "New Entry," He said lowly, but clearly. His two teammates leaned forward to see what he was doing. To their surprise, there was a little vertical line of glowing blue light blinking slowly at the top left corner of an empty page.
"Bakuchiku Sukoshi," He intoned, making sure to speak slowly and clearly. Naruto and the girl in question watched with wide eyes as the name 'Bakuchiku Sukoshi' appeared in print at the top of the page. "Age: 12. Gender: Female. Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato. Rank: Genin." He paused and looked up at her. "You ready?" He asked, a little bit of excitement in his voice. More often than not, the people he was scanning weren't even aware they were being scanned, so he was having a bit of a moment. After receiving her nod Wakawakashi smiled. "Alright then. Initiating Scan!"
Naruto hadn't known what to expect. A flash of light, maybe a whirring sound accompanying the scan. He had not expected this.
Absolute silence.
"Eh… did it work?" He asked, eyebrows raised incredulously. Had Wakawakashi been playing a prank on them?
"Yup~" Wakawakashi smiled, dragging out the 'Y'. He twirled his index finger around once more to allow his teammates a better view of the page. Now, on the top right corner of the page beside her name, was a picture of Sukoshi. Wakawakashi began to read out loud:
Name: Bakuchiku Sukoshi
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato
Rank: Genin
Height: 4 Feet, 8 Inches (142.3cm)
Weight: 72lbs (32.6kg)
Physical Ability: 29/100
Chakra Capacity: 5,881.2
For a couple of moments nobody even breathed. Then Sukoshi couldn't hold it in any longer.
"What the heck does 29/100 Physical Ability mean!" She burst out, sounding a little indignant. Wakawakashi seemed to shrink back into his seat.
"T-that's actually the third-highest score I've seen so far. The only other students who have a higher Physical Ability than you are Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Sasuke, from Naruto-san's class!" He cowered, not wanting to subjugate himself to the wrath of a female. He was in luck, it seemed, as Sukoshi was appeased.
Naruto, ever the excitable blond he was known to be, intervened with a question of his own. "So, Shi-kun," He grinned, "What are your stats like? Are they higher than Sukoshi-chan's?"
Without a word Wakawakashi flipped to the first page in his book. Staring up at them was, of course, a picture of Wakawakashi. His page read:
Name: Atarashiokami Wakawakashi
Age: 12
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato
Rank: Genin
Height: 4 Feet, 7 Inches (139.7cm)
Weight: 81lbs (36.7kg)
Physical Ability: 8/100
Chakra Capacity: 4,212.5
"Ha! I have a greater chakra capacity that you do, Shi-kun!" Sukoshi jumped up laughing as Wakawakashi grumbled about his physical ability being the result of his lower chakra reserves.
After taking a moment to collect themselves, both of Naruto's teammates suddenly turned on him with grins on their faces.
"Alright Naruto-kun, it's your turn to be scanned!" Crowed Sukoshi, curious about her second male teammate as she'd never had classes with him. To their surprise, Naruto ignored Sukoshi with a pensive look on his face.
"Hey, Shi-kun," He suddenly spoke up, piercing the smaller boy with a suspicious glare, "How come you have both Kiba and Sasuke-teme already scanned in your little book, huh? How come I'm not already in there?" He questioned, crossing his arms as he stood before the diminutive boy.
"A-ah, no reason at all, Naruto-san, I'm sure you're just as capable as Kiba-san and Sasuke-san, I must have probably just missed you the couple of chances that I had to scan the members of your class, I meant nothing by it, nothing at all…" He trailed off nervously, suddenly unsure how to act under Naruto's scrutinizing stare. Sukoshi may have been unaware, but Wakawakashi knew all about Naruto's reputation as a troublemaker and a deviant. Though he'd seemed nice at first, Wakawakashi couldn't be sure if it was an act or not. His mother had always told him not to judge a book by it's cover, and so far he hadn't, but it was hard not to when one had a cover as odd as Naruto's.
"Right." Was all Naruto had to say in response, nodding his head as if all was right in the world. "So, I guess it's my turn to be scanned, huh? Let's see what we've got."
"S-sure, yeah, right." Wakawakashi took a deep breath to steady himself. "New Entry, Uzumaki Naruto." He began, "Age: 12. Gender: Male. Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato. Rank: Genin. Initiating Scan!" He called out once more, and once more he and his teammates watched as clear printed script filled a previously blank page, a picture of Naruto with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed appearing in the upper right-hand corner.
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Age: 12
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato
Rank: Genin
Height: 4 Feet, 9 Inches (145.3cm)
Weight: 88.5lbs (40.1kg)
Physical Ability: 33/100
Chakra Capacity: 726,726
There was another moment of silence as the three members of team Thirteen read Naruto's statistics to themselves.
"WHAT!?"
Sukoshi's resounding shout could be heard from every corner of the village.
-.-
Kamonohashi = Platypus. (Sukui's ANBU mask.)
AN: So, as surprising as it sounds, that height/weight ratio is on the Naruto Wiki. He was 4'9 at the age of twelve, and by the time I'd researched his height I'd already decided that his teammates would be shorter than him, so… yeah, team Thirteen is incredibly short. Anyway, I know I shouldn't be putting out another one. I know, but I have to. I really like this idea. As it is, I'm going to try and write Santoryu no Naruto, The Spirit of the Tree of Death, Brotherhood, and this all at the same time. For those of you who like NarutoxOnePiece or NarutoxHarryPotter, go check those out. SNN is already four chapters long, and the other two only have the first chapters up.
Do me a favour and drop me a review? Tell me what you think, any and all opinions are welcome, even if your opinion is that my writing is so horrible that I should die. I'll just laugh at you for adding to my review count.
Oh, and for anyone who's interested in how I calculated the Chakra Capacity, I'll probably be putting up a companion story to this one titled Wakawakashi's Notes, or something like that. You can go ahead and use it if your like the calculation method, or you can argue about how deplorably wrong my calculations are, or whatever. It'll be there if you're curious.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Peace, people!
The Chthonic Professor