Long time no see eh?
Sorry about the wait, college happened and I'm not coping well.
On with the shitty fanfic! Also, there's going to be a few paragraphs of time skipping/fast forwarding because I can't be bothered to spend a load of time on basic training stuff.
TtTtTtTtT
Chapter 2: Blank Faces
"Now, I know I just said you would be enrolled into the academy right away, but I'm afraid that just isn't possible. There are still three months left in the semester, and I can't have you disrupting class at this moment. So… you will be given a private tutor to help you catch up to the children in your age group."
When the Hokage started talking, Nao had a huge smile on his face. At the words 'private tutor' however, the smile dropped.
"A private tutor? What kind of tutor?"
"The best tutor in all of Konoha. A Jonin, one that I entrust with the training of my own grandson, will teach you the way of the Shinobi. Ebisu!"
A tall man wearing a bandana and sunglasses walks in. Kakashi physically stiffened upon seeing him, and patted Nao's shoulder.
"Now Nao, Ebisu here is a Jonin like me. He's very intelligent, and can really… bring out your potential. Good luck!"
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, "How did leaves get in here in the first place?" thought Nao, and Ebisu walked in front of Nao.
"Hello, Namikaze-san, I a-"
"Hell no. Don't you dare call me that name. I want no ties to that name."
"Namika-er, Naomasa-san… forgive me. My name is Ebisu, you may call me Sensei, or Sir. I will be your tutor."
Nao looked back at Yamato, and whispered, "Is the stick always that far up his ass?"
Yamato chuckled from beneath his mask, "Hokage-sama, may I make a suggestion?"
The old man smirked, and waved for Yamato to proceed.
"Let me train him."
"Hokage-sama I must insist that I-"
"I will accept your request on one condition. You will train him not as a friend or as a Jonin, but as an Anbu. You will treat him with all the harshness you would treat any recruit."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. That was the plan."
"I can't see his face, but somehow I can still picture the scary grin…"
"Okay there blondie, this will be your mask. As you are just a trainee and not a real Anbu yet, you get a grey mask. You can have a wolf, bear, pig, or squirrel mask. Take your pick…"
Nao reached for the wolf mask, and went to place it on his face. It fell to the floor, and Cat laughed.
"Right, forgot about that. I've been wearing the masks so long, it's become second nature for me. You need to use chakra to hold it to your face."
Seeing he would receive no further advice, Nao tried again. This time, he lifted the mask to his face and held it there. He slowed his breath, and tried to feel for the chakra.
"There's nothing. I can't feel my chakra. Is that normal?"
"It isn't that you can't feel it, it just hasn't quite been... 'activated' so to speak. Once you 'unlock' your chakra, you should be able to feel it whenever you please."
Cat reached a hand out, and placed it on Nao's head. Nao's breath caught in his chest as he felt a significant jump in his energy levels. Moments ago he had felt a little drowsy, not being used to so many exciting events. Now however he felt like he could run ten miles without stopping.
"Feel it now?"
Nao's response was lifting the mask back to his face. He felt his chakra, and imagined it was like a glue that stuck to the mask. He removed his hand and, for a moment, the mask stuck. Almost immediately after, the mask shot off his face and into Cat's waiting hand.
"Nice catch."
"You're not the first person I've taught this particular technique to. You've got the hang of it, faster than anyone I've ever seen, but you're still missing the biggest component. Restraint."
"Restraint? What… what does restraint mean?" he said, chuckling embarrassedly.
"Right. You never went to school… Restraint is the ability to hold back. Sometimes with chakra, you feel like you can conquer the world. With restraint you can truly control your chakra, and without it you're bound to overdo it and hurt yourself."
Nao nodded, and tried again. He spent the rest of the day sitting there, sticking a wooden mask to his face.
ONE MONTH LATER
"Now, Nao, you've made a ton of progress. You're reading and writing is at a high enough level to not cause concern. Your chakra control is near the point where you can keep the mask on your face without thinking about it. We've got two more months, and I'm going to give you a choice. Learn taijutsu, which is hand to hand fighting, or you can start learning basic ninjutsu. Whichever one you don't pick, will be the one you do in the final month of your training."
Nao didn't even need a second to think.
"It would be smarter if I started on Taijutsu, no? Then I'll have two months to work on the fighting, and by that point I'll have done enough chakra control exercises to do the ninjutsu stuff easier right?"
Cat nodded, and under the mask he was smiling. "The kid's smart. He might not have much in the way of book smarts, but he knows his way around nonetheless."
He began showing him the bare basics of taijutsu. How to punch, how to kick, and the proper way to set your feet. Throughout the next two weeks, Cat would show Nao how to do all the movements of the academy's taijutsu style, Kihonken(basic fist). The next two weeks were spent on combinations and how to fight while moving. Throughout this, Nao had learned to keep the mask on his head as well as resting on his hip when not in use. This growth seemed to be astronomical for someone of Nao's age and background, but Cat had his suspicions.
"His last name is Namikaze. His hair is blond, not quite like the fourth's but not dissimilar either. He has to be of some relation, even an idiot could see it."
(A/N. Forewarning, do not just assume that this is going to be a 'naruto's brother/cousin/family fic. Do not even assume that he is actually related. Anything can change *wink wink nudge nudge*)
At the start of the third month, Nao began his jutsu training by staring into a mirror.
"I'm sure you know what you look like, but to create a truly perfect clone you need to understand exactly what you look like. It might be easier if you clone yourself while wearing the mask, as you'll have less detail to work with."
Slowly, very slowly, Nao made the proper hand seals. He flared his chakra in the way he was taught, and a poof of smoke enveloped him and the place next to him.
"Hey, you look familiar!"
He did it! He made a clone! Him and his body double went to high five, but the clone evaporated on contact.
"The clone jutsu is a very useful distraction, but any decent ninja can tell the difference between a simple clone and a real person. Don't rely on them too heavily."
"I didn't even think of using them to fight! I just wanted some help with my inevitable homework…"
He continued to teach Nao the basics of the clone jutsu. How to make multiple, how to mask your presence to appear as if you're a clone yourself, and how to use them tactically.
After a week, Nao was able to create ten clones and could effectively coordinate himself so that he could hide within their ranks without being noticed. His mornings were spent on ninjutsu training, his day spent on taijutsu and speed training, and his nights were spent reading up on all the history he had missed.
Two weeks before he was to be entered into the academy, Cat met with the third Hokage.
"How is his progress coming along, Tenzo?"
"It's… It's amazing honestly. He's mastered the clone jutsu, he's able to pull off a rough substitution, and his grasp on taijutsu is unlike anything I've seen. In three months he's gone from an average civilian to a potential candidate for rookie of the year."
"Well, it seems I made the correct decision in allowing you to teach him. What are his thoughts on all of this? How is he faring mentally, with all the physical strain you are putting him through?"
Tenzo sat down and put his head in his hands, "It's… not great. He gets frustrated when he can't do something. He thinks that because everything has come so naturally to him, that he must be miles behind his age group. I tried telling him, but he refuses to believe that his future classmates are going to be at his level."
The Hokage hummed in understanding, and replied with "Well, that can't be helped. Until he is able to test himself against his other classmates, he'll simply believe he's inferior."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Beyond that, he seems to be fine, but he's very stressed. I'm afraid that, when he gets to the Academy, he's going to give up before he even begins…"
Two weeks later…
"Hello class, and welcome to your final semester here at the Academy. As you all know, I should hope anyway, I am Umino Iruka, and I am your sensei. We have a new student here, a boy of your age group who's never been to the Academy. Nao? Can you come down?"
The young blond made his way to the front of the class, and stood next to Iruka.
"Uhh.. Hi, I'm Nao. I'm 12 years old…" he faltered, not really knowing what else to say.
"What's your dream for the future?"
"Oh, that's easy!" he yelled, before remembering what Tenzo had told him that morning.
Slightly useless flashback…
"Now, Nao, I must stress this to you. You can not tell anyone of your involvement with the Anbu. We're a bit of a secret, our identities and such. So you can't tell, got it?"
Return to present time(told you it was useless)
"I uh… want to be an elite Jonin. Yeah, that's it!"
His real dream was, after meeting Kakashi, to be an Anbu captain. He couldn't exactly tell anyone that, so he settled for Jonin.
"That's a big dream. I wish you luck!"
"WAAAAAIT SENSEI! DON'T CALL ROLL YET, I'M HEEEEERE!"
A boy with blond hair and bright eyes ran into the room. Short, dressed in an ugly orange jumpsuit, and wearing weird green goggles around his neck, Naruto Uzumaki arrived late to the first day of school.
"Naruto! What did I tell you about being late?"
"Sorry, Iruka-sens… Nao?"
Nao chuckled and shot out a hand, "Guess who's in your class now! I bet you're top of the class, you've been in here so long!" Nao said, but got nothing but laughter from the class.
"Naruto? Top of the class? The only thing he's top in is stupidity!" a boy wearing a large hoody joked from the back. A small dog yipped from inside the sweatshirt.
"You're one to talk Kiba! You're grades are only a few points higher than mine, dumbass!"
Naruto and Kiba began to bicker back and forth, while Nao turned to Iruka.
"Why is everyone laughing? Is Naruto really that bad?"
"Well… he's bottom of his class in almost every category. History, Maths, Writing, shuriken and kunai throwing, all the bottom. He's above average in taijutsu, and takes top marks in stealth, but his abysmal ninjutsu evens that out."
Nao sunk his head. "Way to go moron, you just showed up and praised the biggest idiot in the whole academy! Everyone's going to laugh at you now…"
"Okay class, quiet down and take your seats! We're gonna take roll, and then we'll start with taijutsu training alright?"
A few minutes later, the class made their way outside and circled around their sensei.
"Okay, so I can get a gauge on where he falls in the rankings, we're going to have Nao spar first. You'll be fighting against…"
"Me," a voice from the back said.
A boy with long dark hair stepped forward into the circle. He had a bored expression on his face, but his eyes showed something different.
"Sasuke? This is a first, you never volunteer… Alright, Uchiha Sasuke vs Namikaze Nao. Go ahead when you're ready!"
The two squared off in different stances. Sasuke had his legs spread wide, and his knees bent. His arms were crossed in front of him, and he looked ready to defend anything. Nao however was in a very simple stance. Arms up, legs shoulder width apart and bent ever so slightly. One leg was about eight inches ahead of the other, and his face was a blank mask.
Between the two boys, a leaf was falling from a branch overhead. The moment it hit the ground, both boys sprang into action. Sasuke sprang forward, breaking the illusion that he planned to defend. Nao spun into a kick, catch Sasuke's forearms as he blocked the hit. With one hand, Sasuke reached out and grabbed Nao's leg before it could retract, and with the other he swung a strong punch forward.
Nao spun in Sasuke's grip, bringing his other foot up towards Sasuke's head. Releasing the leg he held captive, Sasuke leaned back out of the hit. Nao had planted both hands on the ground, to hold him up while he kicked, and proceed to push himself up into the air.
He did a backflip, bringing it into a kick, which he dropped straight onto the waiting boys head. Sasuke took the hit hard, and began forming hand seals.
"That's enough! The fight is over, I've seen enough. It's a draw."
Really, in Iruka's eyes, Nao had won. But declaring Sasuke the loser would cause more headaches then he could imagine from the fangirls present.
"What?! That's crap Iruka-sensei! Nao clearly won that fight!" Naruto yelled. Some of the other boys, like Kiba and Choji, were nodding their heads in agreement.
It wasn't that the boys didn't like Sasuke, they just hated that he got all the attention because of his name. Seeing some new guy beat up on the academy's golden boy was a breath of fresh air for them.
Before he could respond however, the girls had already begun screaming at Naruto how he was an idiot and how "clearly Sasuke had been holding back on him."
Nao didn't disagree, it seemed like Sasuke hadn't been taking him that seriously. But, if he weren't going to take him seriously, why would Sasuke challenge him like that?
"Sasuke, Nao. You two stay out here. The rest of you are to go inside and get your kunai sets. You have five minutes"
After everyone else left…
"Sasuke, what was that?"
"I… lost control, sensei. It won't happen again."
Iruka glared at the boy, before turning to Nao, "And you. Where did you learn to fight like that? You've never been to the academy, yet you've perfected our style already?"
"A… A guy I know taught me how to fight. I'm an orphan, lived on the streets for a few years, and he was one of the people who helped take care of me. Old, retired ninja I guess."
He really should have asked for a better excuse from Tenzo, this one had a lot of holes.
"I've been a ninja for a while. What is his name?"
"Shit. Shit. SHIT."
"Uhh, Jake? Son of the owner of the State Cherry Farm?"
"Ah, old Ken State had a son eh? I used to have to do missions for him as a genin. Never knew his son was a ninja though, what rank?"
"I don't know, he wore a vest like yours…"
Iruka took that as enough, and turned back to Sasuke.
"You know the rules, no jutsu in spars. You could have seriously injured him out of your blind anger."
"Yes sensei," he said, turning to Nao, "I didn't mean to try and hurt you. It won't happen again."
As the boy went inside to get his Kunai, Nao thought "Well, it's not an apology but it's something."
"Damn Nao, you really kicked the teme's ass!" Naruto said as he ran out of the building, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"It's the same style that you should know, mine's just better…" he said. Nao was never good at lying to Naruto, the kid always managed to see through him. So instead, he avoided the question.
"Awesome! That means I could beat the Teme too, right?"
"Uhh… yeeees?"
"I'M GONNA KICK THAT TEME'S ASS, DATTEBAYOOOOOO"
Nao shook his head, his hands pressed firmly against his ears. "It doesn't work! His scream still gets through!"
While Naruto was busy yelling, Nao went inside to grab his kunai set. Waiting for him in the room was Sasuke, and he didn't look happy.
"How did you do that?"
"Heh? Do what, fight?"
"How did you, some orphan from who knows where, best an Uchiha on your first try? You must have cheated…"
"Look here, I'll admit that I probably got lucky. You took me on lightly, why I don't know, but I swear I didn't cheat."
The raven-haired boy shook his head.
"I've never lost, so I guess that was an eye-opener for me…" he said to Nao, before mumbling to himself, "how am I ever supposed to beat him in this state… Hey, Nao."
The blond was digging in his desk, hunting for his Kunai set. He smacked his head hard off the desk when he tried to stand up.
"Agh, what is it?"
"Teach me. Show me how to fight like that."
The blonde cocked his head in confusion, "But… shouldn't you already know this style of fighting? It is the academy style, or so I'm told…"
"The 'kihonken' is a load of crap. It's just basic punches and kicks, little 1-1-2 punch combos. What you did was took the basics and made it unpredictable as hell. Half the things you did I've never seen, and the others were so random that even if I had predicted them I still don't think I could stop them."
"Well damn, Cat, you must have taught me well…"
"I guess we could have a few sessions, if you want. I don't mind!" he said because, hell, what did he have to lose?
Or so he thought, but when he told Naruto about his new training pal, he was met with screams.
"You're gonna help HIM and not ME? I thought we were friends!"
"We are Uzu! You just didn't ask me for help, and he did! Besides, why does it matter if I help him?"
"Because he's….he's…. He's Sasuke-teme!"
"Do you not like him or something? He seems alright to me…"
"He's always picking on me! The little comments and the rude names, I hate him dattebayo!"
Nao shrugged, and poked Naruto on the forehead, "I know you Uzu, I've known you for a long time. Did you mess with him first, and he retaliated?"
"...I might have tried to fight him a couple times, yeah."
"How about instead you, oh I don't know, try talking to him? Like a normal person?"
"Talk? To the Teme? You're just as funny as I remember Nao! Always speaking crazy stuff like 'Maybe you shouldn't antagonize the police' or 'it's wrong to steal people's ramen'!"
"Uzu. Those weren't jokes, and I'm not kidding. Talking to people is the only safe way to resolve your issues. Not fighting."
"Fine, I'll talk to him! But I won't enjoy it, 'ttebayo!"
Later that day, Nao met Sasuke outside of a large, walled in area.
"Jeez man, where did you drag me to? Is this trespassing? Because I can't get caught again…"
"This is the Uchiha compound. Former home to the strongest clan in existence, as well as some of the best training grounds in the land of fire."
"Uchiha? That's those guys who got… oh, right. You're the last Uchiha, aren't you?"
"Hn."
Sasuke said no more, and led Nao into the compound. It was full of houses, dozens of them, and many of them shared a common theme. Burnt, crumbling walls. Collapsed roofs. Burn marks all over the ground, slash marks in the houses. It didn't look like a family compound, it looked like a warzone.
"The taijutsu grounds are in the back, follow me if you can."
The boy took off at full speed through the streets, with Nao hot on his tail. Sasuke assumed that, because he had only been in the Academy for a day, Nao wouldn't have the speed to keep up with him.
"Huh, you're pretty fast too," Sasuke told him when they arrived at the grounds. Large wooden mannequins stood up around the field, as well as various strength building contraptions. Sasuke walked to the center, turned, and dropped into the academy stance.
"Let's start with a simple spar. Slow motion, fifty percent at best. I want to understand your movements."
And so the two went at it, Sasuke would throw a punch and Nao would tell him what movements he would make and why he would make them. Eventually, he got to a point where Nao was on his back with Sasuke axe-kicking his chest.
"Now what would you do, in this situation? You're flat on your back, your arms are up so you can't push yourself in any direction, is there really anything you can do?"
Nao grinned. He kicked his leg up into the back of Sasuke's knee. It buckled, he fell backward, and Nao jumped up and put his hand on Sasuke's neck, signifying that he won.
"Tch. Should've known…" Sasuke said as he tried to stand. His knee buckled again, and he fell to the ground.
"Here, come on man, let's get you to the hospital. They'll heal you up real quick."
Nao lifted the Uchiha up and put his arm over his shoulder. He helped Sasuke to the hospital, and after setting him down in a chair he walked up to the desk.
"Hi, I need to check in my friend? His knee is messed up, maybe dislocated?"
"Of course! Your friend's name? And how was he injured?"
"Uchiha Sasuke! We were sparring and.."
"WHAT?! You hurt the last Uchiha?! That boy has no family, and he's practically royalty and you just decided to beat him up? Get out of here before I call the police!"
"Wha-okay! You're crazy, dragon lady!" he said, because the lady was large, ugly, and hissed like some nasty sort of reptile. Because snakes were thin and sneaky, he opted for a dragon.
(I stole that name from my all time favorite Fic, Acceptance by Uzumakisunspydr)
"Hey Sasu, I gotta go. The nurse thinks I hurt you on purpose! I'll come back tomorrow if I can, sorry!"
On the way back to his new apartment, graciously gifted to him by the Hokage, Nao ran into Naruto.
"Hey Uzu! What's up man!"
"Iruka-sensei promised to buy me ramen if I can make one clone by tomorrow! I gotta go train!"
"Cool! Mind if I come with you?"
The two went to Naruto's apartment, and immediately Naruto began to try the jutsu. Horrible, deformed clones kept popping up, looking sick and useless.
"Bro, slow down! You've got to think, you can't just keep spamming them until it works! Take a look at this one, what's wrong with it?"
"It looks dead, it can barely stand, and it's pale."
"Okay, pale. Work on that first. When you do the jutsu, focus your chakra into making the skin color correct."
He nodded, and spammed a few more clones out. Three of them were pale like before, but the fourth had a hint of tan skin.
"Sweet! I did it! Now what!"
"Well, keep fixing the appearance. We can worry about how it moves later, right?"
And so he did. The eyes were grey, he made them blue. The hair was a pale yellow, he made it gold. The ears were not even existing, so he fixed them.
"Alright! They look like me now! So… how do I make them move?"
"Normally, they should move when you tell them to, or even by your thoughts… maybe you don't have the control for that?"
"Control? I've got plenty of control, 'ttebayo!"
Nao facepalmed.
"Dude. Chakra control. You've got none, I can tell by the way you have to focus your chakra before you even make one clone.
Hey… don't tell anyone I taught you this okay? It was shown to me, and I think it can work for you too…"
He walked over to the window sill. Though the boy's home was trashed, he did seem to keep his plants well cared for. Nao plucked a leaf off one of the flowers and handed it to Naruto.
"Here. Focus on sticking this leaf to your head with chakra. Once you get that, you should probably be able to make a clone!"
Naruto stuck the leaf to his forehead with his thumb and focused his chakra. He removed his hand, and the leaf immediately flew off and impaled, yes impaled, itself into the wall.
"Damn dude, you have a ton of chakra! You're gonna have to tone it down Uzu, else you'll never get that clone down!"
Nao left him to his training, and went to his own apartment. It was only two streets down from Naruto's, which was convenient for when he wanted to see his friend.
"You, why were you in there?"
"Heh? That's my friends house, who are you and why do you care?"
"It's not safe kid, he's not safe. He'll turn on you and kill you before you get the chance to blink. Don't trust a… monster like him."
"Uzu? A monster? He's one of the nicest guys I know! He's always been treated like shit, and he's never done anything wrong!"
"That… boy… killed my wife! My kids! Don't you tell me he's nice! Don't you tell me he's normal! He is the kyu-agh!"
The man dropped, and a black blur appeared in front of him. A dog mask faced Nao, and from the mask came a voice.
"Now, kid, don't listen to this big bad man. Your opinions are your opinions. If he doesn't want to like someone, that's his choice. Don't make his mistake, and be misguided by something he heard at the bar. "
"What do you mean? He called Uzu a monster! Is he stupid? The only 'monsters' are the ladies at the orphanage that abused him! The only 'monsters' are the assholes at the stores who wouldn't let him buy anything, or overcharged him for no reason! They're the monsters!"
"Shit, he's got the right idea but he's not thinking about it the right way."
"Now, Nao, just head home. I'll send someone over in a minute to talk to you, okay?"
When Nao got into his apartment, Kakashi was sitting at his kitchen table.
"No more Dog mask, eh?"
"I know how much you hate them, I figured it's probably better if I forego the thing altogether."
Nao nodded, "So, what do you want?"
"You like Naruto, right? He's your friend?"
"Duh. Uzu and I go way back, of course he's my friend! I just spent the past half hour teaching him how to make a clone!"
Kakashi smiled, or at least that's what Nao assumed he was doing, due to that stupid mask.
"Good. I'm not sure if you know this, but you're kind of his only friend, and even then you haven't really talked to him much in years. He's got a couple acquaintances at the academy who get along with him, but that's about it…"
Oh. Well, needless to say, Nao was shocked. First he finds out that Naruto is the dead last, and now he learns that he's got no friends either?
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Help him. One of his problems is, because of how he's treated and how people look at him, Naruto tends to be loud and obnoxious to gain attention. That's also why he started to wear the bright orange, or so we think…"
Nao nodded, and Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"He has got to show me that some day…"
NnNnNnNnN
Eh. It's not a bad chapter, but as you can tell I'm still a little rusty at this whole "third person" thing. It'd probably be better if I did this in first person, in terms of writing style, but I also feel like third person(omniscient?) is the only way to truly tell this story.
I haven't decided on teams yet, so I'm wondering this. What do you guys think about me completely switching around teams? Maybe Nao's inclusion kicks someone else back a year/doesn't graduate?
Here's what I'm thinking for teams so far, leave a review/pm telling me what you think.
Team 7 - Hatake Kakashi
Namikaze Naomasa, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura
Team 8 - Sarutobi Asuma
Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Hyuuga Hinata
Team 10 - Yamato(Tenzo)
Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Yamanaka Ino
Choji… I don't even know what to do with him. I honestly just find him irrelevant…
Halp me!