All hail the time saving flashbacks.
Naruto was pissed. No, that was putting it too mildly. Naruto wanted to kill something. Preferably one Neji Hyuuga. The memory of that match made itself known as he mercilessly pounded the poor training dummy.
Flashback:
Hinata spat out blood as Neji struck her in the heart as she made her final charge. No amount of cheering from Naruto could save her now. Naruto barely made out the words Hinata said before Neji charged her in rage. "No Nissan… you are the one caught in the pain and destiny of the Hyuuga." The blond's rage was almost tangible when Neji tried to attack even though the match had been called. He arrived before the jounin, all of them frozen to the spot when they felt a very familiar killing intent. A stunned silence filled the crowd as Neji's palm was flat against Naruto's chest, but the blond didn't even flinch.
"You have three seconds to piss off." Even Neji felt fear immobilize him as se stared into Naruto's glowing and…slit blue eyes. Sakura was already by Hinata's side before the medic team arrived, and she was doing her best for Hinata. Naruto sent one last wave of killing intent at Neji before walking to Hinata's side and scooping some of her blood in his hands. He turned to face Neji once again, holding up his bloodied hand.
"Neji Hyuuga, I swear to you that I will crush you like the rat you are next we meet."
End Flashback.
And then there was the match with Lee against Gaara. Naruto still couldn't believe that Gai didn't jump in to save Lee after the Ura Renge failed.
Flashback:
Lee's eyes widened in terror as the sand shot forth to consume his body. He tried to get away, but even he knew it was over when he felt the sand start to run up his arm and leg. He waited for the pain, but instead he felt a burst of chakra and then arms stopping him from falling to the ground. There, in front of him, stood Naruto and Sasuke combining their chakra to fend of the sand. "Are you okay, Lee-san?" Lee could barely believe it.
"Sakura-san?" Sakura was holding him, and a green light was emanating from her hands. Lee tried to grin and tell her that he was fine, but he winced when he tried to speak.
"Why did you save him? He failed." Gaara's hiss of a voice barely reached Lee's ears. Naruto's however, didn't have that problem.
"Bushy-brows is our comrade. Our friend."
End Flashback.
A chuckled escaped Naruto's lips as he remembered how Lee had promised to run one thousand laps around Konoha to prove himself, and then how Sakura had knocked him out in order to stop him. The chuckled quickly ended and was replaced by a shudder as he remembered how Gai had somehow managed to pull all of their team into a forceful embrace and then cried on them, blubbering about gratitude and the flame of youth.
"Jeez, what'd the dummy do to you, Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he hopped down from a tree. Naruto blinked curiously at his teammate before turned and looking at the more or less mauled remains of the training dummy.
"Whoops…" Sasuke half-sighed and half chuckled at the blond.
"Come on, dobe. Himaru-sensei wants to meet us at the bridge." Naruto nodded, and could barely contain his excitement. A whole month for training! The genin vanished into the trees of the woods.
'Watch out for the sand boy, Kit.'
'Gee, you think?' He felt Kyuubi growl in his mind.
'I believe he holds Ichibi.' Naruto nearly fell out of the trees.
'That would've been nice to know earlier!'
'It took me a moment to bring myself to admit it.' Naruto quirked an eyebrow. 'I'll explain later, Kit.' Naruto frowned at the answer, but let it slide for the moment.
'So there are other's who hold demons too…'
Flashback:
Naruto had never been happier in his life. He could barely even move, and he smelled of sweat and blood, but he was happy. Himaru-sensei was teaching them all such cool jutsu, and he even got to fight some low- level oni.
'Did you enjoy the hunt, Kit?' Naruto's heart nearly stopped.
"K-Kyuubi?"
'So Karite has taught you well.'
'Karite? Wait, why are you talking to me!'
'You've even figured out you only need to think to communicate. Much improvement.'
'Are you calling me an idiot?'
'I'm saying you're less of an idiot than you used to be.'
'You've been living in my body and making my life Hell, and now you're mocking me? If you were here I'd rip out each one of your damned tails!' Naruto could feel Kyuubi smirk.
'To threaten me like that…you've got guts, Kit. You'll make a fine demon.'
'Wait, what!' There was no reply. 'Come back here you damned fox!'
End Flashback.
Naruto rolled his eyes at the memory. Figuring out that he was slowly merging with Kyuubi had been a bit freaky. But it was also AWESOME! Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as he ran out of tree branched and plummeted to the ground. "Ouch…" Sasuke shook his head.
"Dobe."
"What took you guys so long?" Sakura said from her spot on the bridge, making her presence known.
"Took me awhile to find Naruto."
"Oh, sure. Blame me," Naruto said as he wiped the dirt off of his clothes.
"I'm good with that." Naruto flipped off his black-haired teammate.
"Psst!"
"Huh?" Naruto asked and the trio looked from side to side.
"Under here!" They recognized Himaru's voice and looked underneath the bridge. Sure enough, their sensei was clinging to the bottom of the construction with his chakra.
"What are you-"
"Just get under here!" Himaru interrupted Sakura, and with a shrug from Naruto, they followed their sensei's lead and stuck to the bottom of the bridge.
"Why are we meeting under the bridge?" Sakura asked her very on edge sensei.
"Oh, no reason. Just thought it'd be a nice change of pace." The genin didn't buy it, but left if alone for now.
"Sasuke said you have black chakra and used it to fight this weird demon-possessed snake guy. Naruto, always to the point. Himaru's mood turned serious, though he still let his eyes wander, as if waiting for something.
"I figured I'd have to tell you this eventually. Well, as you probably guessed from my whole 'start a new village thing', my childhood sucked ass. But the reason for it was actually very similar to Naruto's."
"You have a demon sealed inside of you?" Himaru shook his head.
"Now. Well, first off, my real name is Karite, and I am the half-human son of the Shinigami." All three genin fell into the water. Himaru waited for his now soggy team to resituate themselves before continuing. "People not only saw me as different, but the few who knew my real secret hated me as an incarnation of the thing they feared most. I've noticed in the past few years that my situation was not unique. Not unique by far. So I've been planning for awhile now."
"So what about our training?" Everyone but Naruto fell into the river this time. Himaru's head bobbed above the water, and he laughed, despite the fact that his bangs were plastered against his eyes.
"Good old Naruto. Well, I want you all to find summoning contracts." The three of them looked at their sensei, utterly bewildered. "What? All good ninja should have summons. I do."
"Really? Can you show us?" Naruto somehow managed to hop in excitement even when hanging upside down.
"Ehhh, this might not be the best place. My summons are a tad…noticeable." This of course only made the young ninjas want to know what he summoned more. Himaru, or Karite, sighed and wiped the hair out of his eyes. "Look, I-" Karite stopped talking suddenly, and his eyes bugged out. "I got to go. Once you find your contracts, hunt me down. Oh, and don't call me Karite in public. Bye!" In a puff of smoke, their teacher was gone.
"That's odd," Sakura said, a frown adorned her features.
"I think I know what the problem is," Sasuke said. A hint of amusement found its way into his voice. "If I know his body language correctly than he's…" Sakura and Naruto leaned closer to Sasuke. "…Being chased by a very scary fan girl." Both Sakura and Naruto face-faulted right into the river.
"You brats seen your sensei?" They all turned at a certain proctor's voice. Anko just stared back expectantly. "Well?" After a brief pause, they slowly shook their heads from side to side. Anko's eyes narrowed at them. "I don't believe you." The members of Team 7 were off like lightning in three completely different directions before she even finished the sentence. "Damn."
Naruto finally skidded to a halt by the springs. "That lady's scary." As the blond shinobi caught his breath, he heard the sound of giggling behind the women's bath. Male giggling. Naruto caught himself scowling. "A pervert." He quietly sneaked behind the spring, and sure enough he spied a white-haired old man peeking into the bathhouse. A wicked grin suddenly spread across Naruto's face.
'Oh, you're evil, Kit.'Without another thought, Naruto began to put his plan to work. First, he took an explosive note and crumpled it into a small ball and then rested it on his thumb. He flicked the little wad of deadly paper to the old man's feet. He saw the man blink in confusion when he felt the paper hit him, and as soon as he looked down, Naruto activated the note. A loud explosion occurred, and was quickly followed by lots of screaming and the very familiar sound of women beating the tar out of you. He waited until the noised died down before peeking around the corner to check on the old man. He burst out laughing at the pervert's broken form and fell to the ground, clutching his sides.
"You're the one who three the explosive note!" Naruto had to blink to clear away the tears of laughter. The pervert sure recovered fast. Guess he was a ninja.
"Serves you right, you old pervert!"
"Insolent brat!" The sound of firecrackers made its way to Naruto's ears as the very strange man performed some sort of dance. "I am the great Toad Mountain Sage, Jiraiya!"
"So you have a summoning contract?" As Jiraiya nodded proudly, Naruto suddenly regretted his prank. "I don't suppose you'd let me sign it, huh?" This time, the pervert burst out laughing.
"Of course not, a measly little shrimp like you isn't worth my time!" That was a bad idea. Naruto wasn't short anymore, but he was still a wee bit sensitive of his height.
"What'd you say?" Naruto clapped his hands together into seals, snapping the sage out of his laughter. "Oiroke no Jutsu!" Jiraiya's defensive stance was pretty much crushed at the mere sight of the jutsu.
"Hub-bu-bu-hub-bu-bu…"
"Please give me your contract, Jiraiya-sama," Naruto said in the sexiest female voice he could muster.
"You're a genius! What do you call this technique?" Naruto's eye twitched. The old pervert hadn't heard a word he'd said.
"The Oiroke no Jutsu." As he spoke, another idea popped into Naruto's head. "I'll teach it to you in exchange for the contract." For a moment, it looked as though the Toad Sannin was about to agree, but then realization hit him like a truck.
"Pfft. It's just a Henge." Jiraiya's disappointment was almost tangible. Surprisingly, Naruto smirked.
"I could make it real." Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow at the boy.
"It's not wise to lie to me, boy." Naruto's smirk turned into a grin.
"Don't you know? Foxes can shape shift." Jiraiya, for the first time in awhile, was truly shocked. The boy knew…? Meanwhile, Naruto dispelled his own Henge and started walking towards a tree.
"This'll do." Naruto plucked a leaf from the tree and formed to hand seals while holding the leaf: monkey, rock. Jiraiya wished he didn't recognize the last one: an upside down boar seal. Naruto placed the leaf onto the tree. "Shinsei Henge no Jutsu (True Transformation Technique)!" The tree turned into a female Naruto with green hair. The blond Jinchuriki turned to face the stunned sage, and scratched the back of his head.
"I'm still working out the-" Jiraiya was already behind him and feeling up the unmoving body before Naruto even finished. "Pervert…Well, how about it?" Jiraiya was practically salivating.
"Oh yes…"
"Okay, give the contract, Ero-sennin!" Jiraiya's eye twitched at the nickname.
"First, teach me how to truly transform things." Naruto mumbled something about perverts before speaking loudly enough for anyone to hear. 'I'm probably going to save several women this way.' "It's pretty simple, you merely have to channel chakra into a leaf while performing the seals for monkey and rock."
"And what, pray tell, is that?" Jiraiya knew, he wasn't a sage for nothing after all, but he wanted to see if Naruto knew exactly what it was. Said blond looked confused for a moment before the answer hit him. Naruto smacked himself.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't know any demon seals, do you?" He didn't show it on the outside, but internally, Jiraiya was concerned about the fact that Naruto knew that he was using demonic abilities. Jiraiya decided to talk to the old man about it later, but first…
"Give me the contract or I'll mentally scar you for life." Jiraiya seemed amused by the threat.
"Oh really." With a sigh, Naruto quickly performed some hand seals, making sure the old sage didn't see them. He placed his pointer and middle fingers on top of Jiraiya's head since his forehead was covered.
"Oiroke Omoi no Jutsu (Sexy Thought Technique!" A second passed before Jiraiya fell to the ground and convulsed, all the while a perverted grin on his face. Naruto sighed again as he sat down. "Well, looks like I have a good five minutes to blow."
"Now imagine that reversed," Naruto said as soon as Jiraiya attained consciousness. Said Sannin's smile all but evaporated.
"Right then, on with the summoning!" With a shout, Jiraiya summoned a toad who then rolled out a scroll on his tongue. Naruto barely waited for the tongue to unroll completely before grabbing the scroll and opening it.
"Just sign your name in blood and then leave your finger prints in blood at the bottom." Naruto quickly, obeyed, and it took several bites to keep the blood flowing.
"This'd be a lot easier if I knew how to control this," Naruto mumbled as he bit his thumb for the fourth time. Jiraiya observed the boy as he struggled in writing his name in blood.
'Interesting. I thought the Kyuubi only healed him when he had serious wounds. Another thing to talk with Sensei about. Oh Arashi, I hope the Kyuubi isn't tainting your legacy.'
"Done!" Naruto's shout startled Jiraiya out of his thoughts. "Now what?" Jiraiya showed him the hand seals and Naruto tired it out almost immediately.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" With a poof of smoke, a small toad appeared.
"I want candy. I'm not gonna play if don't have candy." While Naruto searched his pockets for candy, Jiraiya grappled with two thoughts. One: the boy not only summoned an actual toad on his first try, but a talking one! Second: he wasn't startled by the fact that it could talk.
"Found one!" Naruto chimed as he pulled a mint out of his pocket. He handed it to the brightly colored toad. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?" The small toad popped the candy into his mouth.
"I'm Gamakichi. I like you, Nissan." Gamakichi turned to face the still slightly stunned Jiraiya. "You're that pervert that Otousan doesn't like." As Jiraiya realized that it was Gamabunta's son they were dealing with, Naruto burst out laughing.
"Even his own summon thinks Ero-sennin's a pervert! That's gold!" Both boy and toad laughed their hearts out.
"I really like you, Nissan! I'm gonna go tell Otousan about you!" With that, the small toad disappeared.
"See ya, Gamakichi!" Naruto waved to the air before turning to walk away. "See ya, Ero-sennin!"
"W-wait!" Naruto stopped in mid step. "Don't you want some more training?" Naruto turned and faced the Sannin.
"I have a sensei." Naruto sweat dropped as the sound of firecrackers filled the air again, and Jiraiya started dancing.
"Yes, but I am the Great Toad Sannin! One of the tree legendary ninja of Konohagakure no Sato!" Naruto paused for a bit and thought. On one hand, Ero-sennin could probably teach him some cool things. On the other hand, Himaru said to track him down after he got a summoning contract. Seeing the boy's indecision, Jiraiya made another quick mental note on something to talk to the Hokage about. Whoever must be teaching this kid would have to be good to command this kind of respect.
'I promised Arashi I would train the boy at some point, and it looks like he might need help now most of all!' "I'll teach you how to beat the Hyuuga!" Of course, Jiraiya had no idea of the current grudge Naruto held against a certain white-eyed genius, but promising such power would sway any genin.
"Really?" Hook, line and sinker. Jiraiya had to resist smirking.
"Yes. With your natural chakra level, there's a way to beat the Hyuuga at what they prize most: taijutsu!"
Jiraiya bounded across the housetops. He still felt like patting himself on the back. Teaching the boy about water walking and then leaving a clone to watch him so he could have that much needed talk with Sarutobi was pure genius. Jiraiya felt a pang of sympathy for whatever poor Hyuuga Naruto obviously had his sights on. If he kept building and honing his chakra like that, he'll be able to render the Jyuuken useless. Jiraiya eventually made it to the imposing Hokage Tower and let himself in through a window.
"Hey, Sensei." A grin plastered itself on the old man's face.
"Jiraiya! It's nice to see you! I have a surprise for you!"
"No time, old man." Sarutobi blinked. Jiraiya rarely did business before pleasure. He supposed his surprise could wait. "I need to talk to you about Naruto." Yes, the surprise could definitely wait.
"Hold that thought, Jiraiya." Sarutobi reached for the summons bell before the door to his office was bashed open and then slammed shut in the same instant. A black blur launched itself underneath Sarutobi's desk. "Hi-"
"If you have any gratitude for what I did, stay quiet!" Himaru whispered back. There was only a second of stunned silenced before the door was bashed open again, this time by Anko.
"Hokage-sama!" The jounin briefly bowed to her leader. "Have you seen Himaru? I've been looking all over for him." To say Anko looked frustrated was as much of an understatement as saying that Jiraiya was straight.
"Er…I'm afraid not, Anko. Did you check by his team's meeting place?" She didn't' buy it, and it showed. Anko didn't make it to jounin by being stupid after all. However, she couldn't exactly order the Hokage to tell her where Himaru is, so with a resigned sigh, she left the room, but not before bowing and saying a few final words:
"If you do see him, Hokage-sama, please tell him that his 'thank-you' present is still available." A few moments after the badly beaten door was closed, Himaru crawled out from under the desk and stood up.
"Why are you running?" Jiraiya asked the very relieved ninja. Himaru brushed the hair out of his eyes before answering.
"Frankly, Jiraiya-sama, she scares me." The Sannin didn't look the least bit perturbed that Himaru knew him, after all, he was famous. Sarutobi coughed to get everyone's attention.
"Jiraiya, this is Himaru. Naruto's sensei."
That took me awhile to finish. If anyone's wondering why Naruto so carelessly brought up the whole Kyuubi thing, please hear me out. One: Naruto's issues with that are very much dead. Two: Naruto knows that any ninja in the village knows about his secret, so he didn't see a point in hiding it. Anyway, flashbacks are wonderful, aren't they? Oh, and one more thing, for those of you concerned about Orochimaru becoming a good guy, that's both yes and no. Please read and review, and please tell me if I'm getting things wrong! My knowledge after Naruto's training with Jiraiya for the third exam is based almost entirely on fan fiction! Alas, I live the life of an American anime fan with a computer too crappy to download subtitled anime straight from Japan. T-T