A New Order : Introductions
Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto, Star Wars, or any obscure references to other owned or written material, either official or those of fandom. They are all property of associated parties.
A/N : Well I am proud to announce another chapter. Enjoy...
Iruka staggered into the semi-crowded classroom heavily, his stance betraying his physical and mental condition. For the last fortnight, the classroom teacher had been worried sick and losing sleep over the mysterious disappearance of his favorite pupil. From what he was able to piece together from various sources, after failing the exams Naruto had gone to be alone at the Hokage monument. There Mizuki had caught up with him and had some sort of conversation about an alternate way to pass. With that goal in mind, Naruto had broken into the Hokage's office and incapacitated the old man though the details were currently classified. With the forbidden scroll in his possession, Naruto had tried to escape into one of the more remote training grounds around the village to meet up with Mizuki. That was when whatever plan he had gone wrong. Rather than making it safetly to the meeting place, Naruto had been apprehended by Konoha's ANBU.
That was where things got murky, as he had gotten varying responses from different sources. The general outline was the same though, and eventually he had spoken with one of his close friends in the ANBU, who had gotten permission to share the details with him because of the teacher's relationship with Naruto. Right after exiting his meeting with the Hokage, his friend had pressed an official manilla folder into his hands and walked away, blending into the crowd before Iruka could thank him.
Now he was standing in the same classroom he had taught at for years, with the same students he had been teaching for the last year. Well, all the ones that had passed at least.
He sat down at his desk and dropped the folder on the stack of papers already present. Before reading over the roll and making his congratulatory speech, he read over the mission report once more. Maybe he had missed something about the wereabouts of his favorite student when he had read it the last... five times.
The official report was that the boy had somehow managed to lose his pursuers and fled from the village, but behind that opening page, a different truth was known. A three man squad had been dispatched to bring the boy back with orders to capture him alive. The three had found the boy running through the wooded lands, away from Konoha. When he was apprehended and confronted, the boy had shown genuine confusion at the consequences of his actions.
He had given a statement that one of his teachers had put him up to the task with the promise that upon succesful completion of stealing the scroll, he would be immediately promoted to Genin. When the leader of the ANBU squad informed the boy of the fabrication, if the tale was true, Naruto had been frightened and confused. He had offered the scroll back to the ANBU squad leader, apologizing profusely and showing, once more, genuine concern.
The squad leader had given the orders to his squad then. He would personally return the scroll to the Hokage to ensure its safe arrival. Deer would escort the boy back to the village, and Tiger would inform the Shinobi body that the boy had been found and captured, to call off the search. That was when things had gone bad.
While the leader and Deer had followed their orders, Tiger had not. Rather than escorting the boy back to the village safely, he had taken the opportunity to satisfy the rage that he had held since the day of the Kyuubi attack. Though most of Konoha had restrained themselves from mistreating Naruto for being a Jinchuuriki, they had not gone out of their way to make his life pleasurable by any stretch. Constantly ignoring him, chiding their children for interacting with him and eventually driving him away entirely, the container's life had not been an easy one, even with the lack of physical retribution.
Unfortunately, the Tiger-masked ANBU had found the moment simply too perfect for him not to enact his retribution for the death of his wife and unborn daughter. Despite having no hard feelings toward Naruto himself, all he could see when facing him was the grinning face of the monstrosity. As long as Naruto lived, the threat of the Kyuubi remained, he simply couldn't take that risk. The boy had to die.
Drawing his standard-issue blade from its sheath on the small of his back, the man had apologized to the boy for his actins, explaining his actions with a slight hint of regret. When Naruto had caught on to what the man meant by his words, he had panicked and made a break for it, trying to escape through the trees. Tiger had given chase, and managed to inflict significant damage to the boy, ending his flight.
The boy's execution had been interrupted by something strange. While the exact events were unable to discern from the site, Tiger had been found in the forest alive and in critical condition. In the center of his chest, just an inch from his heart and lungs, was a single charred wound of unique and mysterious origin. The surrounding tissue had been cauterized, seared shut, and there was no bleeding, only charred flesh and muscle. The man's last words were his explanation of what had happened. Between his dying gasps, the attending medic-nin had managed to derive a description of a man-like figure who had appeared before he could kill the boy. The details were... questionable, at best due to his state and PTSD was to be assumed, as well as extreme shock. The wound he carried was a testament to the accuracy of his description of the weapon though, and he described it as a similair weapon as those used by Wind-country and fired a condensced bolt of red energy, faster than the eye could see, that had burnt like fire. All he had seen was a flash of crimson, he hadn't even had the oppurtunity to dodge.
Further details were impossible to discern, and the man had died soon after from his wounds, which were beyond the medic's ability to treat. Upon the man's death, they had searched for any indication of what had happened to the boy, as he was nowhere near the ANBU who had been chasing him. The tracker-nin found the light trail of blood that they could only assume belong to Naruto. Where it seemed he had stopped and fallen to the ground, began a set of tracks that belonged to someone heavy with an odd footprint, leaving deep imprints in the soft earth. They led away from the body in the direction of the Forest of Death before trailing off in the harder dirt.
That was where the mission report had ended, though there were indications that a further search had been started. If it had ended succesfully, they were doing a rather effective job of keeping it hidden.
Iruka leaned back in his office chair, rubbing his head to combat the headache that was starting. Luck was on his side when he looked through one of his desk drawers and pulled out a bottle of asprin that still had two pills left in it. He made a mental note to buy some more on his way home, and downed them both. Closing his eyes, he decided to let himself sit quietly for a moment before doing what he had to-...DAMMIT!
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of two pairs of stomping feet rushing down the hallway toward his door, signifying the arrival of two of his loudest students.
"Ha! In your face Ino-pig, I was here first so I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun."
"You wish, Forehead-girl, I was in way before you!"
"Liar!"
"Mountain brow!"
"Pig!"
"Banshee!"
"Both of you shut up! In case you haven't noticed, there are two empty seats beside Sasuke." One of the remaining students had had enough and pointed out the obvious to the oblivious.
The two fan-girls shut up and stared at the empty chairs for a moment before scrambling to the seats and playing tug-o-war with the object of their affection. The rest of the class just shook their heads before resuming whatever they had been interrupted and trying to ignore the sad sight before them. Kiba gave up on the lost cause and pulled out a tennis ball so he could play fetch with the small white puppy riding in his fur coat. They were cute, sure, but they just weren't worth the trouble that would go along with them. After all, there were plenty of civilian chicks that would jump at the chance to go out with a real ninja.
After a few more minutes of bickering from the two fan-girls and murderous glances, as well as a near-aneurism from the last loyal Uchiha, Iruka showed his lack of patience for the ensuing pandemonium in his classroom. The teacher sighed at the chaos in the room before using his signature technique to calm them down.
"Alright, sit down and shut the hell up!" His voice was amplified as his head swelled to three times its normal size in an instant before returning to normal. Once Iruka was satisfied with the concentration focused on him, he continued.
"Okay guys, you know the drill. When your name is called indicate your presence. Uchiha Sasuke?"
"Hn."
"Inuzuka Kiba?"
"Yo!"
"Akimichi Chouji?"
"-munch- Here! -munch-"
The list continued until he neared the end.
"Nara Shikimaru?...Shikimaru? Somebody wake him up!"
At the back of the class was a grunt and a muttered 'Troublesome'.
"Uzumaki Naru-..." His voice stopped as he winced and there was a barely audible sob before he was interrupted again by the door opening and revealing. A vaguely familiar male walked into the room. He stood a clean 6'4'' and was built like some kind of athlete. He wore a loose pair of black cargo pants with a chain used as a belt. Tucked into his pants were a heavy sounding pair of combat boots with a metal toe-piece on the exterior. A light grey undershirt was covered by a thin, black leather jacket that ended at his waist, compensating for the crisp and cool autumn weather. His hair hung loose and shaggy, a vibrant contrast of sun-kissed blond and dark black. Around his neck, he proudly bore a metal penchant with a pair of silver dog-tags on it, engraved on each was a seperate symbol that none of them had ever seen before. Over all, he cut a rather impressive figure, but his piercing blue eyes captivated anyone who made eye-contact.
After examining the class, the young man shot the group a rather intimidating grin, the tip of one canine protruding over his bottom lip, tinting the soft pink flesh with a glimmer of white.
"I would apologize for being late, but apparently I'm right on time..."
The only sound from the entire class was Hinata muttering, "Naruto?..." before slumping over her desk in a dead looked around the entire classroom, enjoying the disbelieving expressions he was being given by his peers.
"Damn Naruto, is that really you?"
Naturally Kiba was the one to break the silence and Naruto feigned hurt.
"I'm gone for two weeks and you already forget about me? That hurts man, that hurts deep."
Naruto grinned, bearing his new 'fangs' and headed over to his usual seat next to Sasuke and Sakura only to find that it was taken by Ino. He sighed loudly and glanced around the room looking for an empty seat only to find one next to his oldest friend, Shikimaru.
He dropped down into the chair and leaned back, propping his legs up on the table, one bent at the knee and the other hanging straight, sitting on two chair legs. Naruto looked around and examined the looks of the still shocked Genin.
Kiba had a confused look on his face, obviously trying to figure out where the change in looks and growth spurt had come from, while Akamaru was chewing away on the tennis ball.
Shino was looking emotionless as ever, though there was a slight buzz coming from under his jacket and one eyebrow was slightly elevated., about as much emotion as the Aburume clan members ever showed.
Chouji was still eating but gave him a casual wave when he met his gaze and then starting eating faster, all the while with a slight frown.
Shikimaru had muttered troublesome and gone back to sleep, not really a big surprise there.
Sasuke had a small glare on his face and was leaking an almost pitiful amount of killing intent, Naruto could practically smell the hatred radiating off of the young avenger. He must have been able to sense the aura of power emanating from him when he walked in. Again, not really big surprise.
Sakura was openly glaring at him. For thef irst time he found himself questioning the 'love' he had felt for her for so many years. How did he ever find her attractive? He had been surprised when Bane had approached him about his relationship with the pink-haired Kunoichi-in-training. After a discussion that found Naruto getting rather infuriated, he realized that the only reason he had ever pursued her was because of what she symbolized. In his state of social deprivation, he had come to believe that Sakura was the epitamy of social standing. Beautiful, smart, she was everything he could ever hope to have in a girlfriend. With this in mind, he had tried to gain her affection in theb elief that if he could somehow get her to accept him, he could get the rest of the village to follow suit. Regardless of his reasonings though, it didn't matter anymore. That was his old life. The old him. That Naruto is dead.
Ino's expression was a bit of a surprise. She had a confused look and under it lay a hint of... attraction? It wasn't something he was used to so it was hard to identify. It probably had something to do with the way he had matured. He couldn't help but smile a little at the reaction though.
Iruka wasn't a big surprise but it was still good to see. He had a happy glow on his face and his eyes were lit up. It was obvious he was trying to keep himself under control while in front of the classroom.
Across the room, Hinata was stirring awake and looking around confused, her eyes widening when she saw him. As soon as she caught his eye she blushed and hid in her arms. He chuckled softly He had a class to mess with. He put his arms behind his head and laced his fingers.
"Well Iruka-sensei, I believe you were going to tell us something?"
Iruka blinked for a second, confused then he remembered.
"Right, right. Anyway, here we are at the end of the term. You have all studied and trained hard to get where you are today and now it will begin to pay off."
The scarred Chunin went into an in-depth explanation of their new rights and responsibilities as Genin of Konoha and how it was now expected of them to act in a way that would benefit Konoha. Naruto listened to the first part of his speech, partially amused at that. The thought of doing anything for the 'Good of Konoha' was laughable. He soon zoned out however, choosing instead to focus his attention on the guy beside him who had by now fully awakened, though by the look he was giving it was against his shot a glance at the young man sitting next to him, and couldn't help but feel a bit surprised at the change he had undergone. Naruto was bigger, stouter, and had a look about him that said he wasn't the hyper idiot he used to be, always good to see.
"So Naruto, what happned? You disappeared for two weeks and came back... different."
Naruto glanced at him casually and just shrugged nonchalantly.
"Meh, I met some people and they helped me..." He trailed off, unsure of what word to use. "Let's just say they helped me not suck."
Shikimaru smiled at the comment.
"Well it's good to see that you haven't changed too much."
"You know it guy!"
"Are you two ladies done catching up back there?"
The two turned their attention back to Iruka who was giving them a faux-glare of irratation, though he was obviously too overjoyed at having Naruto back to get mad already.
"Alright, now is the time that every class is divided into multiple teams, according to your rankings in the classes. This will help place you where you will do the most good, and get the most help."
Their teacher's voice had returned to its usual tone, filled with pride at his students as he started reading down the list of students, calling out names, team numbers, and their Jonin squad leader.
"Team Seven will be Uchiha Sasuke..." Naruto had the vague thought that most of the girls in the class must have been selling their souls to the Devil. "Haruno Sakura..." Apparently Sakura was the first one to reach the Prince of Darkness, judging by the violent squealing from the pink-haired girl. "And Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."
Everyone in the classroom had expected Naruto to be jumping for joy when he learned of being on the same team as Sakura, but instead he groaned loudly and slammed his head on his desk with bang.
"Naruto! Don't break the desk! Team Eight will be Inuzuka Kiba... Aburume Shino... and Hyuuga Hinata. Your Jounin instructor will be Yuuhi Kurenai."
The shy heiress looked over to see Kiba with a disheartened look on his face and Shino nodding, apparently he had figured out why they were teamed together. If anyone would, it was him.
"Team Nine is still in rotation from last year. Team Ten will be Nara Shikimaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin instructor is Sarutobi Asuma."
Ino's attetion was drawn from Naruto and brought to Iruka just in time to catch the team she was on. She glanced over to see Shikimaru and Chouji glance at each other and smile before returning to their activities. The mind walker sighed and zoned out again, her attention returning to the blond. She knew it was Naruto, but there was something bothering her. He had dissapeared from the village for two weeks without telling anyone and then he just shows up the day of team assignments with a completely new look. Plus he acted differently and wasn't obsessing over Sakura, as was his usual fashion. She shrugged it off and her thoughts went to her team, what had she done wrong? Why did Sakura get to be on the same team as Sasuke and meanwhile she was stuck with two of the laziest poeple in the class?
"Okay guys, you have your teams and for now all you have to do is wait for your new Senseis to arrive. Some will be waiting longer then others but I suggest you all take this time to get aquainted with each other. This will probably be the last time we see each other for a while so I just wanted to say it's been great teaching you guys." The scarred teacher walked to the door but stopped after opening it and turned to Naruto. "Oh, and Naruto. When you get done with Kakashi I would like to speak to you. I will be with the Hokage by then. A bit of advice for your team... get comfortable." With that he winked and walked out the door, closing it behind him and leaving the class to their own.
After Iruka left the group of Genin seperated into their individual teams and waited for their team leaders. Naruto and Shikimaru were two of the last ones to get up.
"Well that sucks. I was hoping me and you would get on the same team, at least you got Chouji though."
"Yeah, that's true. Though we still have to deal with Ino."
Naruto just grinned.
"Pfft, that's no problem. I have to deal with Sasuke and Sakura, at the same time!"
The young Nara just turned his head up in thought before shrugging.
"Yeah, I guess you got me there. Good luck by the way, I think you're going to need it."
Rather than some over-the-top yelling about whatever it was he believed, he just shot back a confident grin.
"It's nothing I can't handle."
Shikimaru just stared at one of his best and oldest friends, eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
"Naruto... what happened to you?"
Naruto stood up slowly and turned his back to the large congregation to face his team and paused. He thought on some possible answers to the question but eventually just chose to go with he simplest and truest. He turned his head to look at Shikimaru over his shoulder.
"I grew up..."
With that he walked over to Team Seven where Sakura was once again trying to convince Sasuke to go on a date with her and failing admirably. All who had heard the question spoken stayed quiet for a moment thinking on his answer. Only one thing came to mind. Was the change good... or bad?
Sasuke was sitting in his chair and tring to ignore the pink haired fangirl to his left. Truthfully he didn't really understand why he had been put on this team. He had been assigned to the most annoying fangirl in the world and the dead-last moron. It didn't make any sense but since he didn't really care. Both of his teamates were idiots, and were going to drag him down. Now he was going to be expected to compensate for the other two when going on missions. His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto walked over heavily and dropped down into the chair opposite him. Like when he sat next to Shikimaru he propped his legs up on the desk and leaned back comfortably.
"Okay listen up you two." Sasuke tried to look like he was ignoring him but listened. Something had happened to him over the past two weeks and it was possible that he was about to explain it.
"You two don't like me, and I sure as hell don't like either of you." Sakura's mouth fell open at the declaration and focused her attention on the boy speaking. He had never shown any signs of anything other than die-hard devotion of her in the past, so why had he said that?
"But we are going to be stuck with each other for a while, so I suggest we at least try to get along. Sakura, you need to wise up. We're legally considered adults now and it is time you started acting like one. You have the potential to be a great Kunoichi but you wil never be one unless you get over your obsession with Sasuke. You focus on your looks more then your ability, content with the idea that someone will always be there to save you. That's not true. There will be a moment when Sasuke and I will be distracted and unable to help you. You will need to be able to protect yourself or you will die. Our world is as simple as that and the sooner you learn that, the higher your chances of living to make Chuunin. There are people willing to help you if you just show your sincerity. I will help you if you ask and I am willing to bet that our Sensei, whoever he is, will do the same. I just hope you realize that before something happens to you or someone you care about that forces you to. Don't pass it up until then, it won't be pretty. Our world never is."
Sakura just sat there silent and dumbstruck. The old Naruto had never said anything like that to her before and honestly, it kind of hurt. Naruto showed no sign of caring though and turned to the other male member of their team.
"And you... Look, what happened in your past is nothing less then a tragedy but you are taking it way to far. I understand what you must have gone through after the destruction of your clan but you need to let it go. The rage you feel will destroy you if you let it control you. Mourn yes, never forget them yes, but devote your life to revenge? Is that what your family would have wanted? Is that what your mother would have wanted? From now on every choice you make will dictate the rest of your life. This is a fresh start for all of us, don't dismiss it. Think long and hard on what you want, your hopes, your dreams, your plans, your life. In the past two weeks I have been forceed to come to terms with nightmares I had never even imagined and it was hard. But I survived as I know you can do. Both of you."
Here Sakura looked up and Sasuke had a dark look of rage on his face. Unable to contain it he lashed out at the boy before him.
"What the hell do you know? Don't talk to me about nightmares or my family. I will never know what my family wanted because that bastard killed them in cold blood. You will never know what it means to lose your mother because you never had one! So don't give me that crap. I don't give a damn what happens to my life. All I want is to kill him myself, nothing matters beyond that. And if you ever stand in my way, I will kill you as well."
Sakura looked at her crush with wide eyes, surprised at the sheer hate he was aiming at Naruto. This was a side of Sasuke that she had never seen before. Naruto however just shook his head in disgust and turned away from the young avenger. He had offered and tried to help Sasuke turn from his path of darkness but one had to be willing to change before he could help them. He had done all he could, the rest was up to Sasuke.
Team Eight was getting along a little better then Seven, but there was still some problems to be worked out. When Hinata had gone to the table where Kiba and Shino sat, Kiba was once again trying to start up a conversation with the stoic Aburume, and once again failing miserably. Shino would only answer a direct question and even then with minimal detail.
"H-hello Shino-kun, Kiba-kun."
The two boys looked up as Hinata sat down and Kiba grinned.
"Hey Hinata, me and Bug-boy here were just getting to know each other."
Though Shino showed no outward sign of emotion from the comment, a very quiet buzzing was heard emmiting from his jacket causing Kiba to wince and Akamaru hide his head in Kiba's jacket. Kiba glanced around for something to distract him from the male before his eyes landed on the new Naruto 'chatting' with his new teammates.
"Hey, you guys see what happened to Naruo? I wonder what happened to make him change so much so fast. I mean two weeks ago the guy was a midget and now look at him, he's freaking HUGE!"
Hinata blushed slightly when Naruto was brought up, but was able to hide it from her teamates, or so she thought.
"It would seem that Naruto-san underwent a rapid change in not only body but also personality. I am sure there is a logical explanation for it, but as to what that is... I don't know."
Kiba looked at Shino in shock for a minute.
"Dude, you said more then like, three words in a sentence. I didn't even know that was possible for you. Congratulations!"
Shino just sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose with two fingers before sinking back into silence. Kiba turned to Hinata and was about to say something before he was interrupted by the classroom door opening and an attractive woman walking in.
"I'm looking for Team Eight?"
"Yo, over here!" Kiba yelled, raising one hand.
"I'm your Jounin Sensei so please follow me."
Shino nodded and walked over to the woman with Kiba in tow who was busy admiring her form. Hinata glanced over to Naruto and flashed him a worried look. Naruto caught it and just smiled out of a corner of his mouth and gave her a thumbs up, boosting her spirits. Hinata smiled back and walked over to where her team was waiting before they all left the room together.
Team Ten sat together and mostly silent. Ino had tried to start up a conversation but Chouji had just answered a little bit and kept eating while Shikimaru kept trying to go to sleep and muttering 'Troublesome' and doing his best to ignore her whenever she would ask him something. She was just about to give up when the door opened again.
"Where is Team Ten?"
The group turned to see a tall, well built man with a cigarette in his mouth who was seemingly irratated with being assigned a Genin Team.
"Here we are!" Ino yelled loudly, causing her teammates to wince slightly.
"Well come on then, we're burning daylight."
With that the burly man left the room, causing the other three to have to hurry to catch up, though Shikimaru just walked casually as usual with his hands in his pockets.
When they had left the rest of the Genin teams began filing out with their Sensei's whenever they arrived until finally only Team Seven remained.
After two hours Team Seven was still sitting alone in the long emptied classroom. Apart from their initial conversation, the group had barely exchanged any words. Sasuke sat by a window in his usual seat, making plans for his future, as well as thinking on what could have happened to the blond idiot, though the latter was a bit reluctantly. Sakura was sitting right next to him, staring dreamily at the last Uchiha and occasionally throwing an irritated glance at Naruto. Naruto meanwhile was in the corner farthest from the other two atop a desk with his legs crossed underneath him. His hands were resting above his knees with the palms facing upward and floating just above them were two silver throwing knives, tips pointing to his palms. The one over his right hand was spinning slowly counter-clockwise while the other was spinning clockwise at the same speed. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly and steadily. He had started doing that shortly after the last team had left the room.
- Flashback: 2 hours -
When the door closed behind the last team, Naruto gave a short sigh.
"I suppose we are in for a long wait." He turned to his teammates. "I would suggest you find something to occupy yourselves. If what I have heard about our Leader is correct, we are in for quite a wait."
Sasuke just snorted in disgust.
"Shut up Dobe, he'll probably be here in the next couple of minutes." Sakura was quick to back him up.
"Yeah Naruto-baka, our Sensei wouldn't show up late on our first day together."
Naruto shrugged and turned his back to the pair, looking around the room for a suitable place to train himself.
'Okay, now the question is do I want to train right here in front of them? I don't really want them to see what I can do but it's not like they won't see eventually anyway. Yeah, I might as well get some practice in before our 'Sensei' shows up.' He frowned at the word. 'That just doesn't feel right. I mean if he was teaching me something I wouldn't have a problem with it but nothing he can do he can teach me. Whatever, I'm not calling him that. If he has a problem with it too bad.'
As he was looking around the room he saw a suitable spot in a corner of the room away from his teammates so he started rearranging the desks while the other two just watched on in curiosity.
When he was done he had formed an island with all but one desk moved away and the last one isolated. The blond hopped onto the desk and sat cross legged in his favorite meditation position. When he was comfortable he reached into his jacket and pulled out two throwing knives, sitting them next to him. Then he removed his coat and folded it up and dropped it off the side of the desk to the floor, causing a muffled thump when it hit the ground. He took a few deep breaths to prepare himself and picked up the knives by the tip of the blade, holding them for a moment.
Sasuke and Sakura watched silently waiting for something to happen. When nothing did Sakura got frustrated and was about to yell when Naruto let go of the blades. Instead of falling to the desk they just stayed up, hovering about an inch above the center of Naruto's palms. After a few seconds they started to rise until they were a good six inches off his hands. When the stopped moving up they began to spin. At first they were uneven and sloppy but after a few minutes they started to stabilize until they were moving smoothly.
As Naruto was performing the exercise he frowned internally. The confusion radiating from his teammates was making it hard to concentrate on his training. Eventually he decided to answer the obvious question coming from them just so they would stop staring at him. He released the flow of the energy and caught the knives as they fell.
"This is a training exercise my Masters taught me. By concentrating and focusing the Fo-... your chakra through your palms you can manipulate the air currents around the kunai. This strains your control and refines your current ability, causing you to become better quickly."
Sasuke nodded and turned around to look out the window but Sakura kept watching him.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
"As I said before, my Masters taught me to do it over the last week. It's simple but far from easy."
Sakura watched as he lifted the knives again and they restarted their movements, mesmerized by their constant spinning before going back to staring at Sasuke, her mind however stayed on the blond. Something had happened over the last two weeks to change the boy and it was bugging her that he wouldn't explain it.
When Sakura turned around Naruto almost sighed in relief. He was worried that his slip had been noticed but apparently he was safe... for now. Honestly he wasn't sure how much to tell his teammates about the Force. Sakura would probably react neutrally, but she didn't have the necessary willpower to use it efficiently. Sasuke meanwhile would only see it as a tool to use to kill his brother. That wasn't something Naruto wanted in his new Jedi Order. He sighed in frustration and pushed the thought out of his mind. He had plenty of time to worry about that, but right now he had work to do. With his mind at ease he returned his focus to his exercise and reciting the Sith Code.
'Peace is a lie, there is only Passion.
Through Passion I gain Strength
Through Strength I gain Power
Through Power I gain Victory
Through Victory my chains are broken
The Force shall set me free.'
He had found that by dividing his attention during his Force training, he was straining his subconscious mind, causing it to become a reflex rather than just a learned action. He had a feeling that his Masters would frown upon him using such an advanced method to train since he was supposed to still be considered a novice, but he felt he was ready.
- End Flashback -
As Sakura watched the blond meditate, her mind was spinning with what she had told him. Was she really that wrong in her perceptions of the ninja world? Sure she wasn't the best at fighting, but she wasn't that bad... was she? Her thoughts where interrupted when Naruto's eyes opened swiftly and he flicked his fingers in the direction of the door without warning.
As though connected to ninja wire of some kind, the two levitating knives were catapulted in the direction of the door just as it began to open inward. The moment a head appeared in the doorway the two small blades embedded themselves in the wall on either side of it, causing the man to freeze and giving the three Genin a chance to give him a once-over. The man had unruly silver hair that was barely held out of his eyes with a Konoha headband which was pulled down over his left eye, hiding it from view. The lower half of his mask was hidden by a basic bandanna like mask leaving only his right eye visible.
"My first thought of you?...You need to lay off the caffeine.
"I assume that something unavoidable held you up on your way to meet with us, yes?"
The masked man pushed the door open fully and stood in the doorway looking over the three Genin without answering. When he was done with his initial silent inspection he turned to Naruto and gave an expression with his visible eye that would suggest a smile.
"Yes actually, you see a black cat crossed my path so I had to take a longer route"
Naruto sat silent for just a moment, as though waiting for more of an explanation before grinning and shaking his head.
"Damn, I thought HK was just over-exaggerating when he gave me a report on how lazy you were with your 'excuses'. I guess not though, it's a pity. I was expecting more from someone of your... caliber, Hatake-san."
Kakashi frowned when Naruto called him by his last name but ignored it for now. After all, there was a good chance he would never have to be corrected anyway.
"Meet me on the roof in five minutes so we can get to know one another better."
With that said the Jounin disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving the three alone again. Naruto shook his head again still grinning before he got off the desk and popped his neck.
"Come on guys, we would hate to make Hatake-san wait."
Naruto chuckled to himself at the statement and pulled his leather back on before heading to the doorway. On the way he stopped by the pair of kunai which were buried all the way to the leather wrappings.
'Damn...' He thought to himself as he extricated them from the wall. 'I didn't mean to throw them that hard. I need to work on my control more, that's for sure.' He holstered the weapons and walked out the hallway.
The other two Genin had just watched the exchange in astonishment. Regardless of how much Naruto had changed , they had never expected him to actually throw a kunai at their Jounin Sensei. Especially not for being late! The two glanced at each other before hurrying to catch up with their departing teammate, not wanting to be left behind.
- Five minutes later -
Kakashi was leaning on a railing on the roof, counting down the seconds to go.
'Five... Four... Three... Two... Damn!'
His count was stopped prematurely by the door being pushed open and Naruto walking through, quickly followed by Sasuke and Sakura bringing up the rear breathing hard.
"What took you guys so long?"
Sasuke just shot him a dirty glare while Naruto shrugged and sat down by a low set wall around the roof edge. Sakura meanwhile, was quick to revert to her normal self.
"THIS BUILDING IS FIVE STORIES TALL!"
Kakashi and the other two boys winced and rubbed their ears from the volume of the shriek and the Jounin just shrugged.
"Okay, right now we are going to formally introduce ourselves to each other for the sake of familiarity. Who wants to go first?"
"Uh, what do you want us to say?"
Kakashi pretended to think Sakura's question over.
"You know, the basics. Name, Likes, Dislikes, Hobbies, Dreams for the future. That sort of stuff."
"Why don't you go first? You are the Sensei after all."
Kakashi gave a shrug and looked up disinterestedly.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes but not a lot of dislikes. I don't really have any hobbies, maybe I should get one..." The three Genin gave a mild sweat drop at that. "As for my dreams... you aren't mature enough to understand them."
'So all we learned was his name? Great...' The thought was shared by all three of the younger ninjas.
"Okay Pinky, you're up next." Kakashi said with another eye-smile, causing Sakura to glare from the nickname.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like Sasuke-kun and flower arrangements. I dislike Ino-pig and Naruto-baka! My hobbies are..." She cast a glance at Sasuke and giggled softly. "My dreams are..." Again she cast a glance at Sasuke but this time she giggles even harder and blushed slightly, causing the males to sweat-drop.
"Okay... Emo, your up next. You know the drill."
Sasuke glared at him as well before throwing up his usual look of indifference.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like few things and dislike many things. I have no hobbies unless you count training and I don't have a dream, rather an ambition. I will find a certain man, and when I do I will kill him."
Kakashi dropped his head and sighed. Hopefully at some point in his training Sasuke would give up on avenging his clan but so far it looked like that chance was remote.
"Sure you will. Okay Naruto, your up next."
Naruto showed no outward sign of caring that Kakashi already knew his name and instead looked up. Honestly he wasn't sure what to say. A month ago it would have been obvious. He would have yelled about liking Sakura and ramen and wanting to become Hokage. Now however, it wasn't as blatant.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I enjoy training with my Masters and friends, and preparing myself for my future. I dislike people who are unwilling to see from alternate perspectives and those too stubborn to admit they are at fault, as well as those who harm the innocent for personal or monetary gain. My hobbies are much the same as my likes, as well as discovering all I can about the world around us..."
Naruto stopped talking and gazed over the railing he was leaning against, opposite the other three with his back turned to them. He looked out over the village and the cloudy blue sky silently for a short moment, gathering his thoughts.
"And your dreams for the future?" Kakashi prodded.
"Sorry, just giving it some thought. I guess you could say that my dream for the future is to bring together two great factions, riddled with strife and conflict and death. In doing this, I hope to show to them that in following their separate ways they are bringing themselves and innocent people needless pain and destruction."
The boy turned to see the small group staring at him with a look of complete shock.
"What? You asked..."
Kakashi was the first to shake himself out of his stupor and just sighed deeply again.
"Well, that was most... enlightening. Anyway, I would suggest the three of you get a solid nights sleep. Tomorrow you are going to meet me at Training Ground Eighteen at Seven sharp for your Genin Exam."
"But Sensei, we already took the Genin Exam, why do we have to take it again?" Sakura was quick to ask her question, putting Naruto out of her mind for right now. She would get answers from him later.
"That was just to find out if you were capable of being a ninja. This one is to find out if you actually going to be one or not." With that he turned to leave before adding over his shoulder. "Oh, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to throw up." The Jounin was about to Shunshin away when Naruto called out to him.
"Hey Hatake-san, I was going to see the old man about my... vacation. Do you want to come?"
Kakashi shrugged and threw him an eye smile before disappearing in a swirl of dark green leaves which were blown away by a gust of wind. Naruto chuckled quietly and turned to his teammates to find that they were staring at him. He looked over the railing to his right to gauge the distance.
"Naruto, what happened to you? You disappeared for two whole weeks, where did you go? What do you mean 'Masters'? What are the two factions you were talking about? I didn't know you had a clan."
Sasuke frowned at Sakura but didn't show any signs of leaving. He wanted to know the answers to the same questions as well as some of his own.
Naruto threw them a grin with his fangs parting his lips ever so slightly.
"Like I said, I grew up."
With that simple remark he braced one arm atop the metal railing and flung himself over the side of the tall building and into the air, eliciting a scream from the pink haired girl and a slight gasp from the dark haired boy. The two rushed over to the railing where Naruto had jumped only to see him hit the sidewalk with his legs bending at the knees and bouncing up easily. He threw a glance over his shoulder at the two and gave them a casual wave before walking away, completely unharmed and his thumbs hooked casually in his pockets.
Sakura released a breath she didn't realize she was holding before staggering over to the stairwell to head home. Today had been a long day and surprisingly tiring. All she wanted to do was take a hot shower and get plenty of sleep before she had to meet her team in the morning.
"Bye Sasuke-kun, see you tomorrow!"
Sasuke just gave her his usual grunt and stared at the back of the blond boy, lost in his thoughts. The academy building was five stories tall. There was no way Naruto should have been able to jump off of the roof onto solid paving and stand up unharmed. Even he doubted he could land that fall, let alone walk away from it as easily as Naruto did. Something had happened over the past fortnight and it was nothing as simple as Naruto 'growing up'. No, there was more to it and damn it, he would find out what it was. Even if he had to beat the information out of him.
With that final dark thought the young avenger left the rooftop to get in some final training hours before retiring for the night. Tomorrow morning was going to be interesting and he wanted to be well ready for it. There was no way he was going to fail now. Not after all he had gone through to get where he was. This was the next step to killing his brother and no one, nothing was going to stand in his way.
- Konoha Main Street -
Naruto walked down the largest and busiest street in the village, heading towards two of his favorite people in the entire city. Apparently the rumors of his disappearance had been wide-spread, as he kept getting odd looks from the other people walking down the road.
When he saw the familiar banners of Ichiraku's Ramen stand, he grinned happily and quickened his pace, eager to get his fix. He hadn't had ramen in two weeks, and he was craving it badly. He ducked into the small restaurant and strode to his usual place at the bar.
The old man caught his eye, and he instantly started to worry. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep, and he lacked the usual spring in his step that he always had whenever Naruto saw him. His first thought was that something had happened to Ayame, his daughter, but that was proven wrong when the girl walked in from the back of the kitchen, holding a large pot full of noodles.
She too looked like something had happened, and her face was sad and eyes were puffy and swollen from crying so much. She also walked a bit slower, without the pep he had come to associate with her so much.
"Hey old man! Who died?"
Naruto almost fell off his chair laughing when Teuchi spun around as though he was stung by a bee, eyes searching for who had called him old man. His eyes lingered and stopped on Naruto when he saw him, and they widened slowly as recognition flooded his features.
"Naruto?" His voice was a whisper, but his face lost twenty years of age when he smiled.
"NARUTO! I can't believe it!"
"Believe it!"
The blond yelled in his usual matter, bringing back a hint of who he used to be, only for the old man and his daughter. The young woman came running when she heard his voice, and almost threw the hot noodles at one of the few people eating at the bar in her haste to grapple him.
"Oh my god! Naruto!"
She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her tightly, causing him to gasp out as the air rushed out of his lungs.
"Ay-Ayame...can't...breathe..."
Teuchi chuckled at his daughter's reaction before coming to the boy's rescue.
"Ayame, I think you should let him go now, you're suffocating the poor lad."
"Oh! Oops, sorry Naruto."
She backed away from him with a heavy blush, then ran into the back of the shop to prepare Naruto's ramen. Teuchi meanwhile was quick to start questioning Naruto on his absence.
"Naruto, you disappeared for two weeks! I thought you were dead, we both did. Ayame was worried sick." He pointedly ignored her shout of indignation from the back of the store. "So what happened?"
The tall blond grinned happily as a steaming bowl of ramen was set down before him on the table, splashing a tiny bit of the soup on the counter, though it went unnoticed. He tore into the bowl ravenously and the old man and his daughter waited patiently for him to finish that on before he told his tale.
"Well it happened like this right? Two weeks ago I only just failed the Genin exams, right? Well after that..."
By the time he had eaten his fill of the delicious noodles, he had finished his story, killed about an hour, so he made his way in the general direction of the Hokage's Tower. It was about time he said hello to the old man.
A/N : It seems like the majority of you don't particularly have any preference of main pairing. A number of you vocalized your opinions, but they weren't enough to convince me to change what I have planned. Feel free to continue to guess, the pairing won't come to frutition for another couple of chapters yet, so you have plenty of time to tell me what you think. I know a couple of you must be rather displeased with my choice of Teams, but I ask you to trust me. I assure you, this will not follow a common route, stick around and you'll see what I mean.
Stay Frosty...
- Nikolai