Chapter IV
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Team seven left the Hokage tower, busily perusing their mission assignment. "'Search and recover'," Sakura read out. "What exactly are we looking for?"
Naruto took the paper from her and pointed to the picture. "It seems as though the cat belonging to the Daimyo's Wife got away again."
"So she hired ninjas to find it?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
Sasuke chuckled. "Good forethought on her part. If everyone in Konoha refuses to find her cat, she could tell her husband to stop sending us assignments until she gets her precious Tora back."
"Tora?" Oscar asked, "Is that the cat's name?"
"Yeah. Didn't you read the assignment?"
"Well I started to, before Sakura took the paper away."
"I took the paper away so you wouldn't eat it!"
"Just because I ripped a piece off with my teeth doesn't mean I was going to eat the whole thing!"
"Alright," Sasuke said, already sick of the bickering, no matter how amusing it was. "We need to focus on catching the cat. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"Well," Naruto began, "I could have a couple shadow clones search for the cat. They could even catch it on their own without us having to do anything."
Kakashi shook his head; nose buried in his little orange book. "That probably wouldn't work. I know this cat both by reputation and by personal experience and it could probably dispel any shadow clone you send after it without too much effort. But the scouting idea should be fine. Everyone take one of these headsets." Kakashi slid a hand into his kunai pouch and pulled out four headsets. "I don't have enough of them for all of us, so you four will have to handle this without me. Come and find me when you have the creature and we'll start our other training for the day." Kakashi wandered off.
"Alright, let's start. Naruto, make a couple of clones and set them to searching, while we all put on the headsets." Sasuke waited while everyone did as he said. "Now, I think we ought to split up. Keep in contact, and as soon as one of us spots it, follow it and wait for the others, do not try and catch it by yourself."
"Why not?" Naruto smirked. "You don't think we could handle a cat on our own?"
"I have absolutely no idea about your level of cat-handling skills. However, if this cat actually has a reputation, and if it could dispel Naruto's clones without much trouble, this is going to require more than one of us. When one of you sees him, call the rest of us and we'll try to pin it down."
"Alright." Sakura set off down the street while both Sasuke and Naruto opted for the rooftops. Separate rooftops, of course. Oscar watched them go, mind still racing, then he took the road that ran parallel to Sakura's.
After a good five minutes of radio silence, everyone began to hear so strange background noises. "Is that your radio, Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"No. Is it yours Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn? No, not mine. It must be Oscar's. Where are you, Oscar?"
"Oh, nowhere. By the way, what does this cat look like?"
"It's brown with a red ribbon around one ear. Seriously, where are you?"
The noises in the background faded away. "I'm out in the street in the market district."
"And where were you just a second ago?"
"Approximately twenty feet to the left of where I am now."
"Oi. I've spotted the cat," Sasuke cut in.
"Alright, just follow it and we'll all come and surround it." Those of the group who were currently on the ground took to the rooftops for speed. When Naruto and Sakura arrived in the deserted street, one on either side of the road, They saw Oscar crouched in the middle of the street. Naruto was about to break radio silence to ask what Oscar was doing and suggest that he hide, when he saw Oscar reach up and switch the radio off. Then Naruto spotted the cat ambling out of an alley, roughly one hundred feet in front of Oscar.
The cat paused and sniffed, nose in the air. Sasuke was standing five feet from the cat, frozen in place as though he did not want to frighten it away. Tora yawned lazily and began meandering toward Oscar. When Tora was close enough, Oscar cautiously held out his hand, palm up, holding something. Tora seemed to consider his hand for a second before carefully sinking her teeth into it and biting down hard. Oscar's other hand came out and quickly clipped a leash onto Tora, who upon feeling this, broke and ran.
Cursing hard and clutching his hand, Oscar staggered to his feet and raced after the cat, which was already being pursued by the rest of team seven. The chase ended abruptly when Sasuke, who was in the front, stepped on the end of the trailing leash, bringing the cat up sharply and making her choke and gag.
"Naruto, can you come here and pick it up?"
"Why don't you do it?"
"Because you're wearing long sleeves, dobe. If this cat is prepared to bite the hand that feeds it, it probably won't allow itself to be carried without a fight."
"Fine. But only because you put in the time to find a better reason than 'because I don't like you.' By the way Oscar, what was that stuff you gave it?"
"Catnip," Oscar said miserably, trying to stem the bleeding in his left hand. "Those noises you heard over the radio before were when I was in the pet shop getting the catnip and the leash."
As they left from delivering the cat, Kakashi asked, "How'd it go?" He eyed Naruto's slashed sleeves and Oscar's bleeding hand.
"As well as could be expected," Sasuke said loftily.
"Alright. I'll give you a break. Meet me on the training grounds in an hour. There's someone who approached me yesterday who I need to introduce you to."
As they left for lunch, Naruto and Oscar noticed team eight leaving the Hokage tower without an assignment sheet. "Did you guys just finish a mission, too?" Naruto asked, addressing himself to Shino.
The Aburame nodded. "We were thinking of grabbing some ramen before we do some training later."
Kiba chipped in, "Kurenai-sensei told us that there's someone we're going to meet after lunch."
"Funny, Kakashi-sensei told us the same thing. I wonder if it's the same person," Naruto said.
"Probably. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise." Shino looked over his shoulder to see Hinata trailing behind the group, trying to hide her face. "Hey Hinata, are you having lunch with the rest of us?"
Hinata blushed and pressed the tips of her fingers together as the four boys turned to look at her. She avoided Naruto's gaze. "I-if it's not t-too much t-trouble Shino-kun, I think I m-might come."
"Okay." Kiba turned to Naruto, who was still looking at Hinata over his shoulder. "Who do you think the visitor is?" He asked the blonde boy.
Naruto's eyes switched to Kiba. "I don't know. Do you think he's from Konoha or from somewhere else?"
This topic of conversation lasted until they reached Ichiraku's, where Hinata sat on the end stool, Naruto sat next to her, much to her embarrassment, And first Kiba, then Shino, then Oscar sat down (in that order.) They were still discussing the mystery guest when Ayame came over to take their orders.
"What will you guys have today?"
"Vegetable ramen," Hinata mumbled.
"The usual," Naruto said.
"As if I couldn't have guessed that." Ayame smiled at Naruto before continuing. "What will you have?" she asked Kiba.
"Beef ramen."
"Shrimp ramen," Shino ordered.
Oscar wasn't paying attention. "What do you want?" Ayame asked him.
Oscar's eyes lit up. "World Domination!"
Everyone sweatdropped except for the waitress, who had not yet been exposed to the dark boy for long enough to get used to him. She simply stared.
Oscar looked around, confused, before his expression cleared up. "Oh! You meant ramen-wise. I'll have shrimp, please."
While they were waiting for the food, Naruto, who had finished picking Kiba's brains, turned to Hinata on his other side. "Do you know who the visitor is?"
Hinata pressed the tips of her fingers together, biting her lip and avoiding the blonde's eyes. "N-no N-naruto-kun."
"Well, do you know anything about him?"
Hinata took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I overheard K-kurenai-sensei t-talking to K-kakashi-sensei when w-we were returning f-from our assignment. I d-didn't hear all of w-what they said, but it s-sounds like this visitor isn't f-from Konoha." She was mostly relieved, but still a little regretful when Naruto turned eagerly back to Kiba to chew this over.
Meanwhile, on Kiba's other side, Oscar was trying to convince Shino to roll up his sleeve, which Shino flatly refused to do. In the end, Shino persuaded a few of his insects to consent to crawl out onto the back of his hand, just to stop Oscar from asking.
When they had finished eating, Oscar deftly prevented Hinata from slipping off by suggesting that they all go to the training grounds and see if they could catch a glimpse of the stranger a little early. Everyone else agreed, so Hinata was forced to go with them, not having an excuse to leave. "By the way," Oscar said casually to Kiba, "Kurenai didn't happen to tell you which training ground we're supposed to go to, did she?"
"Of course she did. Didn't Kakashi tell you?" Kiba said in surprise.
"Well, not specifically…"
"Just follow me, then. I know where we're going." Kiba moved to the front of the group, Akamaru trotting at his side.
When they reached the training ground, Naruto recognized it as the large field where he had practiced by himself in the weeks leading up the genin tests. Hinata recognized it too and avoided looking Oscar in the eye as well as Naruto. The five genin, and one dog, moved through the trees bordering the field and sat down in a ring on the grass to wait. "I guess he's not here yet," Naruto said, disappointed. Hinata, much to her own confusion, once again found herself seated next to Naruto. Then she realized that Naruto had addressed this last comment to her. She scrambled to find a response, unused to actually speaking to her crush.
"I g-guess not. W-we d-did arrive a l-little early I th-think." She stared determinedly at the grass, not noticing the intensity with which those blue eyes were studying her. Naruto was a little awed by the dark-haired girl. He had hardly ever gotten to know any of the girls in his class, save Sakura. And, Whereas Sakura was loud and demanding, Hinata was quiet and deferential. And kind of cute, Naruto had to admit. He pulled his eyes away from the shy girl when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. Team ten was approaching, minus their sensei, as were Sakura and Sasuke. Those already seated on the grass scooted back to make room in the ring for the five newcomers.
As he sat down, Shikamaru remarked, "I guess we're all in for the same surprise. No chance he's here yet, is there?"
"Well, actually…" an unfamiliar voice came out of the trees that bordered the field. Naruto and Hinata almost fell over when they spun around to face the voices that had come from behind them. Two people emerged from the trees, each an identical copy of the other. Each had the same gray eyes and wore the same kind of black bandana sporting a hitai-ate over most of his hair. They also dressed identically, wearing the same dark green shirts and gray cargo pants. Both of them stood awkwardly until Hinata and Shino moved apart to make a space in the ring big enough for the two newcomers. They nodded in thanks.
"Are you twins?" Naruto asked, interestedly.
The two strangers paused for a moment. "No."
"Then how come you look exactly the same?"
One of them sighed angrily. The other said, "Even though I specifically told your senseis that I didn't not want to explain this to you on my own, they seem to have gone ahead and abandoned me anyway. Just please try to understand that it is not easy for me to talk about."
"To talk about what? Why don't you start with your names?"
"As easy a place to start as any. Or as hard. My name is Jaitan." They all waited a few seconds for the guy on the left to introduce himself. When he didn't, Ino asked,
"And what's your name?"
He eyed her balefully, "Complications," he muttered. "My name is Jaitan, like I just told you."
"Wait," Kiba said. "But the your brother or whatever just said that Jaitan was his name. I don't get it."
"Most people don't get it until I explain. I was just collecting myselves. Okay. I'm ready. Here's the thing. Jaitan is my name."
The person on the right spoke up, "Jaitan is also my name."
"So, what? You both have the same name? What's so bad about that?"
The guy on the right glared at Kiba while the one on the left continued, "We are not two people with the same name, that you must understand. We are the exact same person. Ask your senseis for details, it would take to long to explain right now and it makes me feel weird. Bottom line: we are two bodies of the same mind. One mind shared by two bodies. However you want to say it, we are not twins because we are only one person. I beg you to just try to accept that without question."
Everyone sat in confused and shocked silence, until Shikamaru broke it, "I've never heard of that before. Do you mean that you have two separate brains which share identical thought processes, so that one always knows and thinks the same things as the other?"
All four of Jaitan's gray eyes peered at Shikamaru, who was lounging in the grass as if he talked about such things all of the time. "I believe that the phenomenon could be described quite accurately in that way. You are of the Nara clan, are you not?"
Shika nodded lazily. "So anyway," he went on, "meaning no offense, but why exactly are we meeting you?"
"Ah. Excellent question. Um, well, I have taken it upon myself to request permission from your senseis as well as the Hokage, and they have agreed to allow me to assist in your shinobi training. If you'll have me, that is." The two pairs of eyes stared anxiously around the circle of genin. "What do you think? Are you willing to try it?"
After a moment's dubious silence, Shino asked, "What exactly will you be teaching us?"
"While I don't claim to be a master of anything specifically, I do have a basic understanding of all of the elements, my specialties being fire and lighting. I also have a wide array of Justus and chakra control exercises, in addition to some knowledge in the areas of tai- and genjutsu as well as sealing. My knowledge on poisons is slightly lacking, but I think that it's almost made up for by my medical knowledge. Out of all of those, I have enough to teach to last a good while."
Most of the genin were astonished not so much at the list, but more at the apologetic eager-to-please voice that he recounted it in.
"Whoa," Naruto said, about summing up the feelings of the group. "And you want to teach us all of that stuff?"
"Well, if you're willing to learn it from me…"
"I have no objections." Shino turned his head, studying everyone's faces. "Does anyone mind at all?" There was a chorus of 'no's.
Both of Jaitan's faces split into identical relieved grins and the tension left his bodies. "Great! I think perhaps we should start tomorrow, now that-" The body on the right stopped talking abruptly, biting his lip. The one on the left looked slightly ashamed.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.
"I was so not looking forward to talking about my selves that I forgot to have you go around and say your names. Do you think you could do that before we leave? Then we can come back here tomorrow at, say, eleven o'clock?" They all obligingly went around the circle saying their names and even Akamaru got an introduction, because Jaitan specifically asked.
When they all got up to leave, Naruto unconsciously found his eyes sliding around to study Hinata, seeking her reaction to the new turn of events. She looked slightly surprised, but not in a bad way. Naruto could tell that she had every intention of taking advantage of the new training program, as was he, in fact. It occurred to Naruto that the ten of them would most likely be training alongside each other. Perhaps this could be turned into an excuse to get to know Hinata a little better.
A/N: Ahh! The NaruHinaness begins! It took its sweet time.
I know that Jaitan was really abrupt and incomplete with his explanation, so if you want to get a better sense of his condition, check out his bio on my author page. I apologize if this chapter wasn't quite as funny as the others, but I had to get this stuff out of the way before I could begin some of the other stuff that I have planned. If you have any questions, feel free to include them in the Review that I am sure you will submit when you are finished reading this. That's all for now. Praise the log! Submit reviews! Submit reviews praising the log!