Chapter XX
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Sasuke, Sakura and Oscar could hear the running water long before they could see the waterfall. When it came into view, they could see many blonde-haired figures cavorting around the base of the waterfall where the water was crashing down over the rocks and throwing up a fine mist. In addition, there were few on either bank of the river at the base of the falls and a few more who were struggling to keep their footing in the middle of the rush off water at the very top of the drop-off. When the three non-Naruto members of team seven were close enough for the shadow clones to see and hear, Oscar yelled over the sound of the roaring water to know what the Narutos were doing.
Blonde heads turned eagerly and many blue eyes focused on the three interlopers. Shortly, almost all of the clones were scampering toward the three genin, clamoring to be heard. They were each, even those who had not abandoned their posts, insisting that he was the real Naruto.
Oscar, Sasuke, and Sakura looked around at the laughing, yelling, whiskered faces in confusion, unable to tell which one was really the original. Unbeknownst to them, all of Naruto's shadow clones loved to tell people that they were the original, not because they truly believed it or even wanted it to be true, but because it was fun to watch the confusion of those who could not tell who the original was. Sometimes they would each chaotically insist on the fact that they were the original, as they were doing just then, but sometimes the clones would organize themselves quite cleverly, selecting a single clone that all of the others would claim to be the original.
Naruto knew all this of course, and often went along with it if he was present.
Finally, not caring if he got the original or a copy, Oscar snagged the waving sleeve of one of the Narutos and asked to know what was going on. All of the other shadow clones fell quiet so that only the sound of the pounding water could be heard in the background as the clone that Oscar had singled out explained the nature of the wind-chakra exercise that Kakashi had assigned Naruto.
"He wants you to cut a waterfall?" Sakura asked incredulously. She was greeted by a flurry of nods.
"How's that going?" Sasuke asked.
In the mass slithering of a unanimous movement that has never been rehearsed, all of the shadow clones shrugged expressively. "I'm sure we'll get it soon," one of the nearby clones said confidently. "We've had some good signs and even a bit of success."
Oscar looked around at the ring of clones. No one was sure if he had been listening to them or not. "Okay," he said finally, "This is kind of creepy. Which one of you is the original?"
The clones chuckled, sharing a joke. One spoke up. "None of us. The original isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message, we'd be happy to tell him."
Sakura frowned. "If he's not here, then where is he?"
Naruto leaned over to peer at the word Hinata was pointing to. "Prok-sim-i-tee," he carefully sounded out. He glanced up at Hinata for confirmation and she nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. "So, what does proximity mean?" Naruto asked, leaning back to look Hinata in the eyes. They were sitting in a public park, something Naruto had not often attempted to do. In fact, he was still getting annoyed looks from passersby, but none of them dared to comment with the Hyuuga clan heiress sitting beside him. In any case, it wasn't as if the pair was sitting on a bench by one of the main paths; they were sitting on the ground leaning against a couple of trees, the canopies of which mostly sheltered the pair from the eyes of those on the main paths.
Hinata explained the word to Naruto as he reflected that asking Hinata to help him read was a much better idea than getting Sakura to do it. The fact was, Naruto could now read decently well; the part he needed help with was better understanding some of the wordier texts he was currently studying. He was broken from his train of thoughts when he realized that Hinata was looking at him expectantly, clearly waiting for an answer to a question.
"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Naruto said.
"I was wondering if you were the original or a clone," Hinata said.
Naruto shrugged, "You could always hit me and find out," Naruto suggested, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"I wouldn't want to do that," Hinata said, "Just tell me."
"That's why this is the real me. When I get Sakura to read with me, I always have to give her a shadow clone so that she knows if she hits it, the clone will just dispel and she'll have to come find me to get a new one to teach. But I'm here in person now because I know you won't hit me if I annoy you."
"Since when have you ever annoyed me in the first place?" Hinata asked.
"Haven't I? Huh, that's never happened before," Naruto said. Hinata blushed a little and dropped her eyes to the book in her lap. Idly, she brushed away a stray fragment of leaf that had fallen from the tree above them.
To cover the awkward moment, Naruto began to read again, soon getting into the rhythm of the words and having to stop less and less frequently to work on his pronunciation. Every so often, he was forced to ask Hinata to define a word for him that he didn't know, but she was never condescending about it. At one point, Hinata had to move her left hand out from under the book to brush a leaf off of the page, but afterward she left her hand resting on the page. Naruto stumbled over a couple of words he knew that he had read before because he was busy glancing over at that hand. Eventually, he reached out his right hand, the one closest to Hinata's left, and slid it under hers, twining his fingers with hers and gripping them firmly and all the while, he didn't stop reading.
Sasuke rolled his eyes- he should have known that the clones wouldn't tell them that the real Naruto wasn't there and just assumed that he wasn't from the start- but just then a shout went up from one of the clones that was still standing at the base of the waterfall instead of clustering around Sasuke, Sakura, and Oscar. Sasuke peered over the heads of the clones around him to see that the clone at the base of the waterfall was somehow causing the flow of water to completely cease at a point several feet above the clone's head. After a moment or so, the flow resumed, water from above crashing down as though released from a boundary.
Immediately, all of the clones that had been clustered around the other members of team seven broke ranks, converging on the successful clone who emerged, triumphant, from the river and stepped out onto the bank. From what Sasuke could hear, all of the other clones were yelling at the successful one over the crash of water behind them telling him to expel.
"Alright!" he bawled, "Just hang on a moment!" The clone expelled in a puff of smoke and all of the other clones looked at each other wonderingly before each began attempting to imitate the first clone. It looked like they were making only as much headway as the first one had made, though they were all trying to improve on his progress. It would be a while before any of them could hold back the water for longer.
Over the past couple of days, Naruto had settled into a regular training routine. Depending on how many of the clones he had made the day before, he would make more and instruct all of them to continue performing chakra exercises and practicing any new jutsu, namely Kawirimi and Shunshin, though he always made sure to have some clones working to cut the waterfall and some working on refining his durable clone design.
In the meantime, while his clones did all of the chakra work for him, Naruto himself focused on physical training, and it wasn't long before Jaitan agreed to up the weight settings of Naruto's training weights. For the most part, Naruto trained alone, though he would occasionally get someone else to spar with him. Usually Naruto chose to spar with Sasuke, as the two were reasonably matched physically and neither had to worry about the other holding back. From an offhanded comment that Sasuke made, Naruto wondered if Shujin's rapid healing was affecting the rate at which he advanced in physical prowess.
It wasn't too long before Naruto received the inrush of memories signifying that something that Shujin deemed important had happened to one of Naruto's shadow clones. When Naruto examined these recollections, he was pleased to find that the group of clones he had deployed to the waterfall had managed to accomplish the task that Kakashi had set Naruto.
Naruto arrived at the waterfall, staggering, breathless, and muddy down one side. His Shunshin still needed a lot of work. He had had a slight unintentional encounter with a ditch on his way, an experience he did not want to repeat, at least not until he could change into clean clothes or until the mud dried and peeled off.
When all of the clones saw the mud on Naruto, they all immediately knew he was the original and, snickering a bit, they all dispelled. Naruto paused for a moment as most of their memories filled his head. When the thoughts had taken their places alongside Naruto's own memories of the same timeframe, Naruto moved forward, casually beginning to water walk the moment his foot touched the surface of the turbulent water. Over the last couple of days, as Naruto's shadow clones had gotten the hang of water walking on a moving body of water, so had Naruto.
Consulting his new memories, Naruto faced the waterfall and raised his arms slightly, never one to waste an opportunity for melodramatic theatrics. Shaping and directing his wind chakra in the way his clones had discovered, Naruto cut off the flow of the waterfall, allowing the water that was already falling to complete its downward motion, but holding the rest of the water in check. Naruto stood for a full minute like that, on tenterhooks should he begin to feel drained of chakra, but he felt fine. It seemed that it was possible for all of those clones performing chakra exercises to increase his ridiculous reserves. Hopefully that went for control as well.
Naruto released the wind chakra he had been using to cut off the flow of water and quickly got out of the center of the river as all of the pent-up water rushed down so fast, it was almost as though the liquid was embarrassed lest anyone had noticed it had paused.
Naruto wondered whether or not to try to Kawirimi to Kakashi to inform him of his success. It would be good practice, but Naruto didn't know exactly where to find Kakashi at that time. In any case, the mud on Naruto's face and clothes hadn't yet completely dried, and Naruto wasn't ready to have another accident with a ditch yet. To that end, Naruto decided it would be better physical training to try to keep running until he found Kakashi. If he put it as a challenge to himself to see how long he could manage without enhancing his muscles with chakra, it would make finding his sensei faster and more enjoyable.
It didn't take more than fifteen minutes for Naruto to find Kakashi, and by that point Naruto was barely out of breath, though he knew it wasn't much of an accomplishment. He consoled himself with the facts that he had been running hard and fast and he was wearing the training weights.
In any case, there was Naruto's sensei, little orange book open to somewhere near the middle and a stick of dango held apparently forgotten in the other hand.
Doesn't he have to remove his mask to eat? Naruto heard Shujin wonder. Naruto did not respond, but he had been wondering the same thing. "Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said tentatively.
Kakashi grunted as if he had heard and slowly turned his head so that his face was vaguely aimed in Naruto's direction, but it was a few seconds before he actually tore his eyes away from the contents of his book. He flipped it shut with one hand and stowed it in his weapons pouch. Without looking, he set the stick of dango down on dish on a counter conveniently located just beside his hand. There were already a few empty sticks on the plate and Naruto once again wondered if his sensei had removed his mask to eat the dango.
"Hai, Naruto?" Kakashi said.
"I have managed to cut the waterfall, sensei. You told me that once I had finished the task you gave me, you would get Asuma to teach me more about wind chakra."
"You can already cut the waterfall?" Kakashi said, a note of professional interest creeping into his voice. "How long can you hold it for?"
"Well, I held it for a good minute and didn't feel any drain, but I feel certain I could hold it for a good while longer with no problems. I didn't test how long I could do it for," Naruto explained.
Kakashi nodded. "Very well. I will speak to Asuma today for you and tell you when you can start training with him. Does that suit you?" Naruto nodded eagerly. "Good. Now, if you don't mind," Kakashi once again fetched out his orange book and picked up the stick of dango once again. Naruto knew he was being dismissed. He was disappointed, knowing he wouldn't get to see Kakashi pull down his mask to eat the dango if he left, but he also knew it wouldn't be right to stay. He walked away, casting one last lingering glance over his shoulder.
Naruto ran his fingertips over the serrated edge of the knife, letting them trace the jagged ridges up and down. The knife was solid and heavy, but not unduly so. Naruto handed it back to Asuma who accepted it with a nod. "You have been taught, I assume, to make your wind chakra into a blade capable of cutting a leaf, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Show me."
When Naruto had satisfied Asuma, the Jounin instructed him to take out a kunai. "Now, any knife has a blade capable of cutting already, but if you can channel wind chakra through a knife, its reach becomes longer and its slash more deadly. The thing is, you must not only channel the wind chakra, you also have to shape it. The better chakra control you have, the more effective your blades will be. The blades you already know how to make are fine for cutting leaves, but are a bit too thin and fragile to be enough in a real fight. You are essentially layering chakra over the edges of your kunai to extend, thicken, and sharpen the blade. Also, at least in the beginning, you may find it helpful to create a wind chakra blade that follows the basic shape and form of the blade you are using as a base. You already know how to form sharp edges, so concentrate more on sharpness and length than thinness and remember: as you're using a kunai to model your wind chakra blades, you're really forming two sharp edges, one on either side."
Naruto nodded, trying to hold all of these points in mind at once. Shujin, did you get all of that?
Yep. Don't worry; I'll remind you if you forget something, the fox's voice reassured him.
Naruto nodded absently, forgetting that Shujin wouldn't be able to tell he was nodding unless he was seeing through Naruto's eyes at that moment. Naruto was watching Asuma closely as the Jounin was now demonstrating his own chakra blades with the heavy trench knives he had shown Naruto before. Naruto couldn't exactly see the curved wind chakra blades in the way he could see solid objects; it was more like a combination of noticing disturbances in the air and sensing the paths through the air that were being manipulated and used. It was not a thing he knew that he would be able to describe easily, but he was almost certain he could recreate how it was being achieved.
"Can you always tell exactly where the boundaries of your blades are?" Naruto asked.
Asuma seemed to understand what he meant. "Yes. It's constructed of my chakra, so it's almost as easy for me to sense my blades as it would be for me to see the trench knives which are all that everyone else sees."
From the way he says it, it sounds as if wind chakra blades give you another advantage, Shujin commented, obviously fascinated.
What's that?
Well, if only you can see your blades, then an enemy could easily be taken unawares and cut-perhaps even fatally- while under the impression that your slash had missed them completely. If an enemy cannot see you blade, they won't know to dodge.
That certainly sounds useful.
"So you don't have to concentrate to maintain them?" Naruto asked, referring to the wind chakra blades that Asuma still had activated.
"Well, not very much, but I've been doing this for so long it's second nature to me. You will have to concentrate much more until you have enough experience to activate them quickly and keep them active without too much effort." Asuma retracted the blades and slipped his hands out of the grips of his trench knives. "Perhaps you should get to work. Use a normal kunai to practice if you can because unless you specifically get new equipment for this technique, you'll probably mostly be using kunai for it."
Naruto hefted the kunai in his hand. "Is it possible to fight with wind chakra blades without using a knife or any other kind of base or model?"
Asuma shot Naruto a curious look. "Technically it's possible, after all, what you're describing sounds similar to the idea of chakra scalpels, which are used as a medical jutsu, but independent wind chakra blades would take an ungodly amount of chakra control as well as quite large chakra reserves in order to practice and refine the technique. However, if you could eventually make that work, it would be incredibly useful, particularly if you are able to form the blades on other parts of your body in addition to your hands. Keep in mind, though, that when you first start practicing just then normal type of wind chakra blades, the type based off of an existing weapon, the wind chakra blades you make will start out very short until your chakra control and experience improves them and lets you form longer, more complicated extensions."
Asuma stood over Naruto for a while, ensuring that the blonde boy got the gist of the exercise and was making sufficient headway. Naruto soon got the idea, having seen Asuma execute the jutsu firsthand and having the benefit of both Asuma's and Shujin's pointers and suggestions. Finally, Asuma left to allow Naruto to practice more on his own. It wasn't more than three or four hours before Naruto, who was a quick study, could channel wind chakra through the kunai, though the result was rather crude and clumsy, not at all what Naruto knew it could be. However, Naruto decided not to spend more time on it that day, instead delegating the task to a fresh contingency of shadow clones. He could pick up personal experimentation with this jutsu whenever he wanted, but for now, he could afford to take a break. In fact, he could take a break for as long as he wanted and still gain experience in practicing the jutsu.
"Hey, Hinata-chan." Naruto was sitting reading with the Hyuuga clan heiress outside once again. "How soon are the Chunin exams?"
Hinata raised her eyes from her own book. She and Naruto were keeping each other company as they read, but they were reading separate books. Every once in a while she would still have to define a complicated word or concept for Naruto, but for the most part, they had been reading in silence. From the wide range of words that Naruto had asked her to define, she was quite curious as to what kind of book he was reading. "I'm not sure the exact date this year, but I know it's coming in no more than a couple of weeks," she said slowly.
"Are you going to enter?" Hinata had known that the question would come up eventually, and still wasn't sure she knew the answer.
"I don't know, Naruto-kun. I would be competing against genin from all over the Elemental Nations. Who knows, I might even end up pitted against you. I just think it might be better if I waited until the next time around, when I'm better prepared."
"But even if you enter and end up being defeated, it's not the end of the world, right? You can always try again. I think I've proved that, using myself as an example," Naruto said, tapping his forehead protector. "In any case, it's not like you don't deserve to be a Chunin. I know better than anyone that you've been working harder than all of the rest of us to get stronger ever since you earned your headband." Hinata turned faintly pink but she couldn't help smiling at the praise. Naruto continued, "When you fight during training, you don't even activate your doujutsu, which means that nobody really knows exactly how strong you are, and you still end up winning most of the time."
"But that's because I know the abilities and limitations of all of you guys! If I fought in the Chunin exams, I'd be up against people I know nothing about!" Hinata protested.
Naruto shook his head impatiently. "That doesn't matter. You understand better than most the way different types of people think in general, and that's important in a shinobi. You're adaptable and flexible and I believe that once you really start to believe in your own abilities, nothing anyone says will be able to get to you ever again. You'll only be able to work past your limitations if you think it's possible. But until the day comes when you accept who you are and what you're capable of, I want you to know that I believe in you. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that I'm older than you, that I have the Kyuubi's regeneration powers, that I was born with stupidly huge chakra reserves- what I'm saying is, if the playing fields were level, I have no doubt you could take me on. If you enter the Chunin exams and you and I end up having to fight, so be it. I promise I won't hold back as long as you do the same. Then we would really see what you're made of."
Hinata could feel her face heating up. Never had anyone tried to defend her from herself like that! Never had someone been so adamant in their insistence that she was strong. The open book slid from her lap as she leaned over and pulled Naruto close in an embrace.
He let himself be pulled in and held Hinata tightly for a minute before gently pulling away. He felt her tense in his arms, obviously afraid she had overstepped some boundary, but Naruto had only pulled away enough to look straight into her eyes, pale lavender and full of old insecurities, but at the same time blazing with determination. Naruto knew he had said all the right things and did the only thing that made sense. He kissed her.
Time passed. Naruto wasn't aware of breaking apart from Hinata, but the next thing he knew, the sun was setting and the last few tendrils of warm sunlight were giving way to the cool of evening. His arm was wrapped around Hinata's shoulders and she was snuggled down next to him, her head resting on his chest. Naruto hated to break the sleepy silence, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before a Hyuuga clan member was sent to look for Hinata. When he mentioned this, Hinata barely stirred, growling, "Let them look."
Jaitan had gathered Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi. As he faced them, one of his bodies spoke quite calmly to them while the other paced in an imitation of a nervous commanding officer before his troops the night before a planned attack, not making eye contact and not speaking.
"As you know, the Chunin exams will be taking place in just under three weeks. I have already informed the Hokage that I recommend all of the students on all three of your teams to participate in the Chunin exams, but the ultimate recommendations are your decisions."
"And then, of course, the final say is up to the genin themselves as to whether or not to submit the forms and take part in the exams," the nervously pacing Jaitan said, wheeling about to pace back the way he came.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going to recommend my team," Kakashi said, carelessly turning a page of the tiny book he was holding.
Kurenai and Asuma exchanged looks. "We're planning on doing the same, actually," Kurenai said. "I'm quite interested to see just exactly how far the members of my team have progressed."
"The same goes for me and my team," Asuma said. "I'm particularly interested in Shikamaru Nara. I've taken to playing go and shogi with him. There's no competition; he beats me hands down every time, no matter the game. That kid is a brilliant strategist and could have made Chunin a long time ago if he had any inclination or drive." Asuma brought out his lighter, applying it to the yet-unlit end of his cigarette. He breathed deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke. "The other one I'm really interested in is your kid, Kakashi. That Naruto Uzumaki. When I explained to him how wind chakra blades are formed, he immediately came up with an advanced idea that went a step beyond what I had told him. The kid seems to have an instinctive grasp of jutsu involving wind chakra. He's another who could go far."
Kurenai nodded slowly. "All that remains is to tell the Hokage and hope that all of our students take up the challenge and decide to participate."
Naruto was explaining something to Sasuke as they walked; slightly behind them, Sakura lectured Oscar on something she was reading about, the latter of which couldn't resist adding his own comments every once in a while.
Suddenly, Naruto threw out an arm, bringing Sasuke up short. The slightly taller boy looked at Naruto in part annoyance, part confusion. "What is it?"
Naruto jerked his head toward a side street they had been about to pass, a pleased smile stretching his whiskered face. "Look, Sasuke, a fangirl!" The Uchiha, who was pale by nature, turned positively ghostly and dived behind Naruto.
"Where?" he hissed. Naruto pointed and Sasuke looked. Naruto was indicating two people who were standing in the middle of the wide, shady road that branched off of the one team seven had been walking along. The boy on the right was dressed all over in black, while the blonde girl on the left… "Naruto, that's not what 'fangirl' means and you know it!" Sasuke said, annoyed.
Sakura and Oscar, who had had to stop walking when Sasuke and Naruto did, spotted the people down the side street as well. Oscar's face split into a wide grin. "Excellent! New people!" he said. Before any of the other members of team seven could stop him, the dark boy had darted forward to examine the new people. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke followed, afraid that Oscar would get himself into trouble.
When they caught up with him, Oscar was standing silently in front of the black-clad boy, staring solemnly and unabashedly at him like a child half his age. As his team approached, Oscar began to circle the boy he had been looking at. Oscar stopped directly behind the boy to examine him once again. The boy, who had broken off his conversation with the girl beside him when Oscar had approached, shot an annoyed look at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. "He with you?" the black-clad boy asked angrily, indicating Oscar with one thumb.
Before the members of teams seven could either confirm or deny this, Oscar spoke. He was poking at a large parcel strapped to the black-clad boy's back. It was completely swathed in bandages so that nothing of it was visible save for a small tuft of brown hair at the top. "Mister," Oscar said in a perfectly serious voice, "I think maybe your friend is dead."
The black-clad boy turned to glare at Oscar. "Don't touch my puppet!"
The blonde girl beside the self-proclaimed puppet-user rolled her eyes. "Geez, Kankuro, just tell everyone in Konoha what style you use, why don't you?"
"He started it, Temari," Kankuro half-growled, half-whined.
Oscar laughed, his shout of mirth escalating and rising in pitch and tempo until it was downright maniacal. Naruto couldn't help joining in.
"Are those your teammates?" Temari asked Sakura pityingly.
"Yep."
"What, both of them?"
"All three," Sakura corrected, indicating Sasuke who was shaking his head with one hand on his hip and the other covering his eyes. Temari cast Sasuke an interested glance. "What about you, is your friend on your team?" Sakura asked, pretending not to see Kankuro, Oscar and Naruto's scuffle.
"Not just on my team, he's my brother, too," Temari said.
"You're from Suna, I'd guess from your hitai-ates. Are you here for the Chunin exam?"
"Yep," Temari said, showing Sakura her pass.
"Where's the third member of your team?" Sakura asked, glancing around automatically.
"Gaara? He's probably around somewhere. He mostly goes where he wants to," Temari said.
Just then, a shout from the struggling boys caught the attention of Sasuke and the two girls. Kankuro had one forearm wrapped around Oscar's throat.
"I'll kill you, you little brat!" Kankuro yelled as he tightened his grip on Oscar's throat.
Oscar narrowed his eyes, air whistling slightly as he drew breath. "I bet I could take you, puppet or no," he hissed. Sasuke could see Oscar's muscles tensing and knew the dark boy was about to use a move that was practically guaranteed to free him from Kankuro's grip. Sasuke knew Oscar could do it, having been on the receiving end of that move more than once, but it would undoubtedly enrage Kankuro further. "Oscar," Sasuke said warningly. When this had no effect, the Uchiha picked up a stone and slung it at Kankuro. It hit the black-clad boy over the wrist, hard, forcing him to loosen his grip and letting Oscar pull free.
Kankuro rubbed his wrist, glaring at Sasuke. "You're next, show-off," Kankuro said, pulling his mummified puppet free of its harness.
Without warning, a voice spoke from the vicinity of one of the nearby trees. "Stop, Kankuro. Do not allow yourself to be wound up." All of the shinobi looked up to see a boy in the tree, his feet stuck to the underside of a branch and his arms crossed. His hair was short and bright red and his curiously pale eyes were black-ringed. On his back he sported a large, sand-colored gourd. Without warning, without so much as changing his stance, he began to spin. He vanished and reappeared between Temari and Kankuro in a swirl of sand. It was only when he was on the ground that the Konoha genin noticed the kanji inscribed on the left side of his forehead. The kanji for 'love.'
His face was inscrutable, but his teammates stammered apologies to him that didn't make any sense to the genin from Konoha. It was almost as though they were afraid of their teammate. The red-haired boy cut across his teammates' words. He addressed himself to Sasuke. "I apologize to you guys."
Sasuke, startled that the foreign shinobi should single him out like he was the leader of team seven, asked the first thing that came to mind. "What's your name?"
"Gaara of the Desert," he said after only a brief hesitation. "And you?"
"Sasuke Uchiha." Gaara studied Sasuke, his gaze flickering back and forth between Sasuke's eyes. Something of them seemed to meet with his approval because he nodded before turning to leave.
"What about the rest of our names?" Oscar demanded savagely. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. Apparently he was still looking for a fight. He was standing with his feet planted slightly apart, one placed ahead of the other. His spine was curved forward and his hands were clenched into fists. His narrowed eyes met Gaara's impassive ones with a look of aggressive defiance.
After a moment, Gaara said, "Okay," much to visible the surprise of his teammates.
Oscar came out of his fighter's crouch to stand upright, feet apart, arms crossed, and face perfectly blank in a flawless imitation to the way Gaara had been standing a moment before. The immediate threat was gone but the challenge remained. "I'm Oscar Junomaru," he said, before relaxing his stance and allowing a truly creepy grin to stretch his face from ear to ear and widening his eyes until they were round and mad. "Or you could call me 'that freak Junomaru kid.'" Gaara seemed to consider this, looking Oscar over once more, his gaze finally resting on Oscar's eyes before his pale eyes flickering over to Sakura's face.
"Sakura Haruno," she said, clearly not wanting to give away any more information about herself and just as clearly wanting him to move on to someone else. It seemed as though Gaara could tell how she was feeling, as his eyes lingered mockingly on her face. She frowned and crossed her arms.
Finally, Gaara's pale gaze arrived at Naruto. "And you?" he asked coldly.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said, his voice neutral. Then, unable to resist following Oscar's example, he added, "The demon brat of Konoha." He suppressed a wince, knowing that his voice had turned audibly bitter. To his surprise, Gaara took the longest time yet to study Naruto. The blonde-haired boy was not at all sure if he appreciated the intensity with which Gaara stared at him. Finally, after what seemed like an age, Gaara turned to go, his team following in his wake without his even having to beckon.
Once they were out of sight and out of earshot, Sakura rounded on Oscar. "Why did you do that?"
Oscar was looking thoughtfully after the Suna genin. "I was testing him," he said absently.
"What did you find out?" Naruto and Sasuke demanded in unison.
Oscar frowned and shook his head slowly. "Nothing good."
"What specifically?" Sasuke asked.
"He appreciates power… and pain. He considers his teammates to be a liability and he arrogantly believes that none of us could hope to defeat him in a fight. He also hopes to fight at least Naruto and you, Sasuke, though he probably will want to fight me, too."
"And do you want to fight him?" Naruto asked.
Oscar looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? That guy is way out of my league. The one I want to fight is the puppet-user. He has skill but it might just be possible for me to take him."
"How do you figure?" Sakura asked skeptically.
"People who hang around people so powerful that they're frightened of them often forget that there are other people who might be strong enough to defeat them," Oscar said.
Naruto stopped paying attention as Oscar and Sakura began talking about Oscar's analysis and the various implications that he was getting at.
That boy… Shujin murmured.
What about him? Naruto asked.
I can't place it… I don't even know what it is about him, but he seems familiar somehow. Shujin sounded frustrated. It'll come to me eventually.
Hopefully sooner rather than later, Naruto thought dryly.
Sakura yawned, barely troubling to put up a hand to disguise it. "What do you think Kakashi-sensei wants?" she asked.
"He's going to give us a promotion and a week off," Sasuke said sarcastically.
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Of course," Sasuke said, deadpanning. Sasuke was in one of those moods where he was so tired he was sharper and more sarcastic than he ever was when he was fully awake.
"We should have known when sensei asked us to meet him at the crack of dawn he would assume we would turn up three hours later, at the same time as him," Sakura said.
"Well, as he asked us to meet him so much earlier than he usually does, I just assumed he would be here on time," Naruto said. "I wonder where he is."
"Probably in bed, where any sensible ninja would be at this hour," Sasuke snapped.
Naruto glared at Sasuke, who glared right back. After a minute, Sakura stood up. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going home. I'll be back in three hours," So saying, she left.
"That girl has the right idea," Sasuke said, getting up.
Naruto followed suit. "No, Oscar had the right idea. I think he attached ninja wire to his doorknob and stretched it across the room so that he could hold it without getting out of bed."
Sasuke frowned, actually distracted from the prospect of getting back to bed. "Why did he do that?"
"So that he could charge the doorknob with lightning chakra when I tried to open his door and wake him up early," Naruto said ruefully.
Sasuke chuckled. "That's brilliant! You realize he had to have set that up last night, right?"
"Yeah, I got that," Naruto growled. "See if I wake him up in three hours. A simple 'Do not disturb' sign would have served the same purpose."
Sasuke shrugged. "Not his style. Anyway, see you."
"Yeah, see you," Naruto said. The two parted ways.
Three hours later, Kakashi walked into the clearing, poised to launch into one his famous excuses. However, the sight of only one member of his genin team, rather than the four he had been expecting gave him pause. "Oscar? Where are the others?"
The dark boy shrugged. "Haven't the foggiest."
"Here we are!" came a shout. Kakashi turned to see the three missing members of team seven running up. Once they were under the cover of the trees they stopped, panting.
"Where were you?" Oscar asked Naruto, who treated him to the evil eye.
"Well, now that you're all here, if I could have your attention," Kakashi said pleasantly. When he had it, he took out four slips of paper. "As you know, the Chunin exams begin in under two weeks. I have recommended to the Hokage that you take the exam and I recommend to you the same thing. These are your applications. If you decide to take my advice and go through with the exam, sign the form and turn it in to room 301 at four pm on the first day of the exam. The date is on the form."
Naruto looked at the paper in his hands. Only a few days away, really.
You going to go for it? Shujin asked.
Naruto smiled. What do you think?
A/N: I love being on break. This was actually an unusual chapter. It was just a bunch of scenes, each one equally important to the plot and to the set up before the Chunin exams are due to start. So- just a couple of things.
-Shujin only sees what Naruto sees when he consciously chooses to
-I hope you enjoyed the two NaruHina scenes in here (they were actually pertinent to the events taking place in the next few chapters)
-Just a reminder- I am going to take up a challenge and be writing that fic at the same as this one.
-Next chapter: The Chunin Exams Begin! (Finally)
-Review please, particularly those of you who have, as of now, read all twenty chapters of this.