Hey everyone. Its been exactly a week since I last updated and i got my first 3 reviews finally. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
The reason why this chapter didn't come up sooner was beacause its the longest thing I have ever written.
If you don't understand parts of it, please feel free to write it in a review.
I am also looking for suggestions for the name of Naruto and Yondaime's Kekkei Genkkai. Its a Doujutsu by the way. If you know any japanese, please help me out by translating "seal eye/speed eye".
Well, here is chapter 3 of Leaf Warriors. Enjoy.
'Normal Thoughts/Flashback'
'KYUUBI THOUGHTS'
'summons thoughts/Inner Sakura'
"KYUUBI SPEAKS"
"Normal People Speak"
"Summons Speak"
Chapter 3: Growth
It had been four years since Naruto and Sasuke had become friends and they had trained whenever they had the chance. They were making sure they left no stones untouched and even Naruto had started paying attention in class after a while.
Well, it was after Sasuke had informed him that it was unbecoming for a future Hokage to be skipping class on a regular basis and no matter how strong Naruto became, they would not even nominate him if he didn't have any book smarts.
Naruto was in class alright, but he was sleeping…..or appeared to be sleeping.
If anyone bothered to listen to the speed of his heartbeat, they would realize that he was wide awake and listening to the lecture Iruka was giving about the different Shinobi countries and their major elemental affinities.
Fortunately, there is a good reason for Naruto to be pretending. It happened about a year into his training with Sasuke.
Flashback.
"Amazing, if I didn't know any better…I would say you were an Uchiha" Sasuke intoned in his non-caring voice "You've learnt the 'intercepting fist' in roughly the same time as me. And the fact that you learned Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu and Katon: Gōkaikyū no Jutsu in roughly a day each."
Naruto blinked at the rare praise from Sasuke and muttered sheepishly "Arigatou, I worked really hard on it…..and the scrolls were very detailed."
"Hn" Sasuke drawled "It also means we have grown stronger. We can keep on fighting for almost 12 hours without stopping now."
"Hai, that is true." Naruto concurred shaking his head "Ah Sasuke, I was in the library the other day that you were suffering from chakra exhaustion and I came upon something interesting" Naruto said in a serious voice.
Sasuke gave him his full attention by looking at him with both eyes and raising a delicate eyebrow.
"It has to do with team assignments. You see, the records say that the Hokage and council try to maintain a certain balance amongst their upcoming shinobi." Naruto said with a serious expression "Basically, they usually pair the rookie of the year with a mid-class student and the dead-last."
Sasuke's eyes widened in realization.
"So, if we want to be on the same team…..one of us will have to be the deadlast and make a good show of it, because there is no certainty that we would be together if we tried to be rookie and someone whose grades were mid-table." said Sasuke.
Nodding his head softly to show he had already deduced that, Naruto shocked Sasuke by saying "I will do it. It will be easier for people to accept it from me who was once close to the back of the class anyway. Plus, the only reason I will be at the top would be because I was using your families fighting style……It would be suspicious if an outsider was more proficient than the owner."
Sasuke nodded at Naruto's deduction and said "Better yet, lets not use the 'intercepting fist' at all during the academy…..Strictly the academy taijutsu. That way we can measure up with the rest of the class in skill and not look overly better."
Naruto groaned at having more restrictions put on his skills but nodded nonetheless.
"Hn, put up a good show Naruto" Sasuke said as he slid into an offensive stance of the 'intercepting fist'.
"I will" Naruto said with a grin, while sliding into a similar position to defend himself.
Flashback Ends.
A piece of chalk was flying towards his head, and he was using all his willpower to refrain from catching it before it hit him. It wouldn't do to blow his finely knit cover now.
WHACK…..
The class bursts out laughing.
Naruto looks up from his "slumber", wiping the imaginary spit from the side of his face and rubbing the spot he was hit with a scowl on his face.
"Itai, what was that for?" Naruto asked Iruka who shook his head disbelievingly at the boy.
"Because you were not listening in class, baka" Iruka said in a angry, yet disappointed tone "If you were listening, you would know what techniques shinobi from the Sand Village use."
"Ano, don't they use Sand techniques?."
And the class burst out into a new bout of laughter.
Iruka now openly fuming shouted "QUIET."
This got the intended effect as everyone in class immediately became silent.
"Because of Naruto's transgressions, you will all be reviewing Bunshin no jutsu and Naruto, you will have to stay after class and read all my notes over and over until you understand everything" Iruka said causing Naruto to scowl and several other students to snicker at his turned back.
Everyone was called to the front of the class to perform the jutsu and were able to produce 1 or 2, and in Sasuke's case 7. Then they got to Naruto who was sweating bullets before he took centre stage and started gathering chakra for the technique. A puff of smoke later revealed a sickly looking Bunshin on the floor coughing and begging for Kami to take its life now. Everyone looked on disbelievingly at the clone.
At the end of the day, Sasuke started walking towards Naruto making hand signs that roughly interpreted into 'Was that acting?'
Seeing this, Naruto shook his head slightly in the negative with his head downcast.
Sasuke frowned and made more hand signs before passing Naruto interpreting into 'we will practice. I can't make any less than 7 without them looking sick as well.'
Naruto nodded and walked towards Iruka's table.
"Ah, Iruka-sensei….can you teach me a good chakra control exercise?" Naruto asked in a sing song voice.
"Heh, I will if you promise to listen in class from now on." stated Iruka.
"Hmmmm, but your classes are so boring Iruka-sensei" Naruto said while ignoring Iruka's disapproving look "but it seems like a fair trade. Deal?"
"Well, ok then" Iruka said and shaking the blonde boys hand "I will teach you about the 3 most used chakra control exercises in the Hidden Leaf village"
Iruka then stepped towards the chalkboard and went into what Naruto would dub 'Iruka's Lecture mode'.
"The first method is the leaf control exercise. In this exercise, you have to keep a leaf a certain distance from your forehead by releasing a specified amount of chakra continuously." Iruka said. "This is an academy level chakra control exercise, and you would have heard me explain it in full, if you had only listened in class in your first year.
"The second method is the tree walking exercise. This exercise is for genin level shinobi and may be a little dangerous for you at the moment to do unsupervised so stick with the first. The concept is simple, run up a tree while using chakra to stick to it. Too much chakra and you are pushed off the tree. Too little chakra and you will slip off the tree. It's dangerous because theoretically, the bottom of the foot is the hardest place to gather chakra on the body, and if you slip and fall….you could get hurt."
"The third chakra control exercise is called water walking. It is a chuunin level exercise and is inadvertently more dangerous than the previous two. Do not attempt when out of chakra or else you made end up at the bottom of that particular body of water. It is similar to the previous two because you have to expel chakra continuously but it is different because you have to adjust to the flow of the water. One mistake and you are swimming with the fishes eh, Naruto?" Iruka said while turning to face Naruto with a grin on his face.
Only to see a paper man with bright yellow colored hair sitting where Naruto should have been sitting.
On the outskirts of the forest was a blond haired boy in an orange jumpsuit. All that training was paying off because he was running faster than he ever had in his life. He stopped momentarily when he heard an angry voice shout….
"NNNNAAAARRRRRUUUUUTTTTTTOOOOO"
"Sorry Iruka-sensei, but I can't afford to blow my cover by showing you I actually listen…..especially to anyone who will pick the teams" Naruto said as he continued running.
After a few minutes, he came upon a training ground with a small stream at the end. Spinning around, he blocked a kick from Sasuke.
"You are getting better and detecting chakra signatures….I guess your title 'Genius' is well deserved after all" Naruto said.
"Hn" was Sasuke's reply while bringing down his leg "I take it you acted you part well with Iruka-sensei, dobe-kun" Sasuke said mockingly "….if that shout was any indication." he added as an afterthought.
"Hai, genius-teme" Naruto replied before going serious "And I got some useful information on chakra control exercises. In fact, I start paying my 'three techniques' debt tonight."
"Show me" was a grinning Sasuke's reply.
Naruto pulled out a small scroll that he had drawn diagrams from Iruka's lecture and explained everything to Sasuke. Immediately after, both boys lay down on their backs and put a leaf each on their foreheads. After two or three tries, they both got the hang of the exercise and just continued pushing chakra out until they were exhausted. They would have to try the bunshin no jutsu again in the morning.
"Bunshin no Jutsu" was all Sasuke heard before jumping to his feet and going into a defensive stance a few yards away from the voice. What he saw made his eyes open wide and nearly pop out of their sockets. Standing in the clearing around him were over 2 thousand healthy Naruto clones.
Reigning his own surprise, Naruto said "I guess we need to move onto the next chakra control exercise if I want to get them down to two clones."
Nodding his head in understanding, Sasuke performed the technique to see if he could perform it better as well, and to gauge how much extra training he would need. With a puff of smoke, 3 Sasuke's stood in the clearing alongside him. Quickly doing the math, Sasuke came to a humbling realization.
Naruto had roughly 4 times more chakra than he did.
"Naruto"
"Hmmm?" questioned Naruto after turning to look at his friend.
"Do you train while I sleep or when I am suffering from chakra exhaustion?" Sasuke asked, after coming to to the only logical conclusion possible.
"…..No, not any more at least. I used to when we were learning the 'intercepting fist' because I had very little agility and speed unlike you…..So to adapt, I figured I would need to work about twice as hard to learn it. It paid off because I managed to master the style only about 5 months after you, the 'genius ninja'" Naruto said, nearly missing the glare Sasuke had on his face before he nodded and started walking towards a tall tree.
"Wake me up whenever you are doing one of your late night training sessions or you are not getting those new clothes that you wanted" Sasuke said while smirking at Naruto's distraught face.
Flashback.
It was a cool evening which was welcome for the two boys after training for so long. They were just sitting down with their backs facing the bark of a tree and staring up into the sky. However, one of them was anything but peaceful and different emotions danced across his eyes as he tried to figure his comrade out.
Sasuke sat looking at the sky and if a shinobi of at least chuunin level rank was observing, he/she would have caught the raw emotion in his eyes. Confusion, sorrow and understanding.
'Every time I go to town with Naruto, it seems as if the villagers want to take his body and burn it on a stick. What could he have possibly done to the people of this village to deserve such behavior. He is probably one of the nicest people I have met, always trying to make others happy. Well, maybe I can get more information in the village, but I need him to come with me because he seems just as curious about it.' Sasuke thought , while trying to think up a suitable excuse to get Naruto into the village.
"Naruto" Sasuke said as he stood up "Why do you wear that orange jumpsuit? It will get us killed in a mission if you don't stop wearing such bright colors."
"Heh, I can't change this color, even though I agree with your description of the consequences I will face" Naruto said in a subdued voice and taking note of Sasuke's shocked face "It means so much more than just a color now. It was the first thing I ever remember getting on my own. The owner was a bit mean to me and probably gave this to me because he thought I would be an easier target to whoever was trying to harm me."
Sasuke, surprised but not completely out of it asked "why?"
Sighing Naruto answered "I have no idea why they are that way to me, but I know that this color and jumpsuit became like a beacon of light in the darkness for me. I believed that just as I had gone through numerous shops and gotten kicked out, there was still hope for me to become someone when I got this orange jumpsuit."
"What about reporting this to the Hokage? Why haven't you already done that? How do you go on with all those people glaring at you?" Sasuke nearly shouted but managed to calm down by biting his lip.
Naruto shocked at the concern from Sasuke managed a small smile and answered "Because of that night…….. Hokage-jiji took me out for ramen after I failed to make any friends at the playground again. He talked to me and told me the story of the Hokages past and present and what they fought for. I was awed by his story and swore that I would stop feeling like the world was after me and make them respect me by becoming Hokage. Then I would be able to do what the former Hokage's did and protect this village. And….and….I would make them proud, whoever they were." Naruto said with tears at the brims of his eyes and ready to fall.
But those tears never fell. They disappeared and his normally happy demeanor changed to one of seriousness. Sasuke was awed by this eight year olds willpower. His respect for the blond took a few leaps higher into the air.
"I made a promise then and there. I would protect those alive by becoming a shinobi and then Hokage, and make all those watching from the skies proud of me…..And Uzumaki Naruto never goes back on his promises" Naruto said in a serious tone "I will be respected and the villagers will have no choice but to acknowledge my existence.
Nodding his head, Sasuke spoke to Naruto with a smile on his face because of his friend's bravery "Good, because I intend on being by your side as your friend when you get the Hokage title dobe-kun…..but you have to admit that you need to tone the orange down a notch and maybe find a better design for yourself."
Smiling sheepishly and completely breaking the tension around the two Naruto answered with a flustered "Hai, I wouldn't mind changing the style and maybe toning down the amount of orange because I wouldn't want any of my future teammates to be in trouble because of me."
"Then I will order some clothes in my size for you once we graduate and become full fledged shinobi." Sasuke said postponing his appointment to get information till a later date.
Looking slightly shocked at the offer Naruto recovered with a short bow "Arigatou, Sasuke."
He would have to find a way to pay back Sasuke's kindness one day. Maybe help him kill that Itachi guy.
Flashback Ends.
Sasuke had never really found anything concrete on the village hating Naruto since then though. He had gone and asked questions and even talked to drunks in the middle of the night after they got out of a bar. But it seemed even the drunks knew how to keep a secret of such great importance even when inebriated. Eventually, he had just let it go and figured that one of them would find out soon enough.
Forgetting about his past musings, Sasuke watched as Naruto ran to a tree, kunai in hand and started to climb up. He reached about 12 feet before literally blowing a hole through the bark of the tree with the amount of chakra in his last step. Scratching the bark with his kunai and spinning lightly in the air before landing on his feet, Naruto looked back to inspect his work and was shocked.
He could see the shape of his foot indenting itself into the tree bark.
"GAH, I was trying to put the smallest amount of chakra I could into each step. Guess I need to concentrate a bit more and maintain that flow for as long as possible until it becomes second nature to me." Naruto said while nodding his head sagely.
'Well, that was insightful' Sasuke said with a sweat drop on the back of his head.
Looking at a tree in front of him, Sasuke ran up the tree and gets about 10 feet above where Naruto had stopped before blowing up a piece of bark as well. Falling gracefully after scratching the bark of the tree, Sasuke landed with little to no sound.
Smiling to themselves and thinking of the progress they could both make in the two off days they had, and the possibilities learning this technique would give them in a battle excited them.
Turning to their respective trees, they decided to make this a race to the top.
It was finally the day before the Genin exams and Sasuke had all but secured his place as the rookie of the year even without taking the ninjutsu test that was scheduled for the next morning.
The same went for Naruto at the opposite end of the class. Naruto had possibly done everything in his power to goof up on all the tests. Now, all he had to do was perform two clones tomorrow when Iruka-sensei asked, and he would graduate despite being the 'dead-last' as some people had started calling him.
Both boys were currently having a no ninja tools or techniques spar. They were level and had been going at it for a few hours now. Sasuke soon called the spar knowing that Naruto would definitely outlast him, and he would need some chakra for tomorrow. After finishing a small meal of fish and bread, they sat down and started reading some scrolls on creating jutsu and elemental affiliation's that Sasuke had borrowed from the library.
After reading the scrolls for a few hours, the boys decided to meditate in an attempt to increase their mental strength. They had read that it was useful for shinobi who were battling an enemy with genjutsu techniques.
After a few minutes of the exercise, Naruto started breathing hard and was sweating profusely. Sasuke went over to him and shook him back to consciousness. Naruto bolted into a standing position and nearly knocked Sasuke down.
Jumping back and quirking an eyebrow, Sasuke asked "You can run around the village for hours at speeds that chuunins find it hard to keep up with, but you can't sit still for more than thirty minutes to perform a mental exercise?"
Glaring at him while trying to regain his breath, Naruto muttered "Night….nightmare."
Shaking his head, Sasuke sighed "the point of the exercise was not to sleep, but…"
"Kuso, I know the point of the stupid exercise…..I was sucked into my own mind by these huge set of red eyes and sharp teeth."
Sasuke looked doubtful at first but when he saw his friends face remain serious, he too became serious. Looking around and trying to sense any enemies around. Red eyes could mean it was 'that man' here to take his life after letting him live for almost 4 years ago. Adding more chakra to his eyes so he could see in the dark. Neither he nor Naruto ever noticed that his eyes flashed red with two tomoe's in each eye. In another second, it was gone.
Continuing, Naruto said "It said it wanted to eat me…….It wanted to get free…..It wanted to kill……but it respected that ma……"
Before he could complete his last word, Naruto fell into a fetal position on the floor holding his stomach. Sasuke shocked into immobility just stood stock still as a blue chakra aura started to surround Naruto and flow into the air.
'Amazing, how much chakra does he have to actually make it visible. I am sure the ANBU will be on their way here any minute because of the amount of chakra Naruto is releasing. I need to get him away from here because one of them may just want to kill him for the heck of it.' Thought Sasuke, as all the plans of escape he and Naruto had discussed started forming in his head. Discarding all the plans that wouldn't work, Sasuke decided to just run and hide every few seconds while carrying Naruto to a safe location and covering their trial with minor genjutsu's, and kunai's with exploding tags attached were thrown in different random directions.
Naruto had kept his end of the bargain by involving Sasuke in his schemes and pranks after all.
Blinking as Naruto's screams and cries of pain died down and the aura left him with hints of yellow and red chakra at the end.
Sasuke rushed towards Naruto's form, picking him up and heading to where he thought the Academy training grounds where, while executing parts of his prior plan.
After getting there, he managed to set up a few traps that would alert him to anyone else's presence. Sitting down against the trunk, Sasuke quickly fell asleep thinking about what had happened to his friend.
At noon the next day, Naruto wakes up to find himself standing next to the academy, tied to a tree with a letter scratched right into the tree bark in front of his nose. It said:
Naruto,
I had to leave for the final tests. Make sure you get here on time and do your test as well. It would further show you in a light that you need to be placed with the rookie of the year if you are a bit late. Hopefully, we will get someone sensible and not a fan girl. (maybe that Hyuuga girl you have a crush on).
I could not take you to the hospital because it would have blown our cover and too many questions would arise.
I will be heading back to the Uchiha mansion once I am done because I need to get away from my fan girls, and I can't stand to watch all those parents come and get their children.
Make sure you make it on time for your test.
Meet me after you are done at the Uchiha compound. I have the new clothes and ninja gear over there.
Don't miss it dobe.
Your rival.
Sasuke.
Looking up at the sky and finally realizing the time, Naruto unties himself and runs to his classroom only to find Iruka-sensei about to call the last persons name. Fortunately, he was only one name before that, so he put on his 'acting mask' and shouted
"Iruka-sensei, wait. I'm here….Sorry I am late, I think I over slept" Naruto said with a sheepish smile.
"Okay then, come along Naruto. Ino, I will be back for you in a second." Iruka said with a smile on his face, and happy to see his favorite student didn't fail his genin exam.
"Okay Naruto, you have successfully done the Kawarimi no jutsu and the Henge no jutsu. For you final test, you are to perform the Bunshin no jutsu." Iruka stated.
"Create only two clones" Mizuki added
One night ago, Naruto was positive that he could do anything with his chakra because he had mastered all three chakra exercises that Iruka told him about. But today was different, where he could do the aforementioned techniques with ease the night before, there was something making his chakra control go bad today. Almost like another chakra source interfering with his own.
With a huff, he stepped forward, brought his hands up and started sealing. After the final seal, he gathered his chakra and a few puffs of smoke were heard around the room.
There stood about 20 healthy Naruto's crouched on the floor in front of Mizuki and Iruka.
With a twitch, Iruka shouted "You fail."
Seeing Naruto's surprised and hurt look, tore Iruka to the core of his heart but rules were rules. And Naruto had skipped out on his chakra control lecture or so he thought.
"Ah, you are to hard on him Iruka….Let him pass, I mean he did create 20 of the clones and all of them were battle ready and healthy" Mizuki said with a small smile to Naruto.
"Rules are to be followed, Mizuki. You of all people should know that. Naruto was given specific instructions and he stepped out of the perimeter guidelines. In a mission, disobedience could cause his teammates to lose their lives." Iruka said as Naruto walked out.
Naruto walked out of the building with his head low and his eyes nearly overflowing with tears. This was not the way it was supposed to go. How could he and Sasuke fulfill their dreams now. Becoming Hokage and killing Uchiha Itachi were two examples of the hardest things to accomplish during the short lifespan of a shinobi. Passing the academy exam was supposed to be a breeze.
'Am I even cut out to be a shinobi? After all these years of training and I am still no good' were some of the thoughts going through Naruto's head.
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he never noticed the person watching him from the trees above him with malicious intents.
After several minutes of watching the demon boy mourn for not passing, and not having the love of a mother or father when he looked at the other kids…..Mizuki decided to step in and give Naruto the second chance at the test that he wanted.
After taking Naruto to a secluded place, he explained why Iruka was so harsh on him and what he could do to pass the test.
Distraught and wanting a leaf forehead protector so bad, Naruto took everything in and set out to start his mission. This was definitely going to be a long day.
Getting into the Hokage tower was the easiest part of this mission yet. The ANBU patrolling around had been extremely skillful and were not going to allow any intruder get past them. Thus the reason why they were knocked out on the wall with twin trails of blood coming out of their noses from a Harem no jutsu.
Walking into the room that Mizuki-sensei had described that contained the scrolls, he came face to face with the aged Hokage.
"ah Naruto, What a pleasant surprise…..Have you forgotten the way to my office?" Sarutobi said in amusement as he watched Naruto start going through seals at an amazing pace for an academy student.
"Orioke no jutsu" Naruto said as he was obscured by a puff of smoke and sent the Hokage flying a moment later with his nose bleeding like the guards outside.
"Pervert, he could have at least been more of a challenge" Naruto muttered under his breath as he collected the scroll Mizuki had described to him.
Looking around, Naruto found a yellow scroll which said 'Some Chuunin level elemental techniques by Kazama Arashi.'
'Hmmm, I wonder who that is….No matter, I think the techniques will be useful and I can pay Sasuke back fully.' Naruto thought as he left the building through the window and started roof hopping to a clearing next to his training ground so he could practice.
It had been over 3 hours since Naruto had started practicing the jutsus in the forbidden scroll. He had currently learned the Kage Bunshin and all its other uses and was working on the basics of fuuin jutsu which lead to a really complex seal. He was actually surprised that he understood it so easily and it almost seemed natural for him. Like he was born to make seals and fuuin jutsu.
Finishing the basics of the fuuin jutsu, he decided to test out something he had been thinking about since he started reading the basics. Bringing out the scroll of chuunin level techniques and drawing some runes in blood around the scroll and connecting it to a tree. It was relatively short and didn't take more than 5 minutes to draw and cross check with the forbidden scroll.
Going through a few short hand seals, Naruto placed his hands on the ground and pushed his chakra through it. With a bright light, Naruto was momentarily blinded. After regaining his sight and looking at his work, he was overjoyed to see two scrolls of the same color sitting next to each other. Looking at the tree, he saw part of the bark missing and realized that he had just found a way to replicate things easily. Pocketing his own version of the Chuunin scroll, he was about to continue reading the forbidden scroll when Iruka landed in the clearing.
"Naruto, what the hell do you think you are doing? Heh, no matter…..its all over" Iruka stated in his most scary face possible.
"ah, you found me already Iruka-sensei" Naruto said with a good natured chuckle "I have only managed to master one jutsu and get the basics of another"
'He is not lying…He has been out here practicing. I can tell because of all the smudges of dirt on his face and fatigue in his movements.' Iruka thought while looking around the destroyed clearing 'did Naruto do all of this?'
"So I can pass now….right Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked a confused looking Iruka.
Snapping back to attention, Iruka asked "Who told you that Naruto?"
Reigning in his surprise that Iruka didn't know about the extra requirement for passing, Naruto answered with a curt "Mizuki-sensei."
After those words left Naruto's mouth, they heard the sound of objects moving through the air. Immobilized by hours of training physically and mentally, Naruto could only stand and watch as numerous kunai's came flying towards him. Iruka played savior though and jumped in front of Naruto and pushed him away before the kunai's could impale him.
Taking the brunt of the kunai attack, Iruka looked up to see their enemy. Shock was apparent in Iruka's eyes from the person standing on top of the tree branch opposite him.
"Well Iruka, it seems you found his hiding place before I did….It doesn't matter, it ends here for both of you" Mizuki said.
Sasuke had not been having a good day. First, he had slept in an uncomfortable place and had to leave his only friend, who probably needed medical attention, asleep in the woods next to academy. At least he had gone to the spot he had left Naruto immediately after his exam to make sure the boy had woken up in time.
After losing his fan girls in a very tiring two and a half hour chase, he had been walking back to the compound when he had heard some academy teachers saying that 'the demon boy' had failed the graduation exam.
Shrugging off his irritation at not knowing why they called him such a stupid name he sat down and thought about the possible ways that Naruto could have failed. There could only be one explanation. Whatever happened to him yesterday must have caused him to fail the exam. Thinking quickly, he thought it would be best to inform the Hokage of their developments and the fact that Naruto was almost level with him in skill and had a lot more stamina than he had.
Packing up his and Naruto's new clothes, he started making his way to the Hokage tower. Upon getting close to the tower, he noticed a multitude of shinobi standing in front of the Hokage. Keeping out of sight he decided to listen in to what was going on.
"Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the forbidden scroll" the Hokage started only to be silenced by the shouts of outrage from the shinobi that were in front off him "SILENCE!!"
After getting their attention, the Hokage continued "I want Uzumaki Naruto brought to me alive with the forbidden scroll.
"Hai" the shinobi's said before disappearing in blurs of motion.
Sasuke forgetting about his thoughts of talking with the Hokage dashed of to find his best friend.
After a few hours of going through Naruto's favorite hiding spots, Sasuke decided to make his way to the last place on his list.
The training grounds that they always trained on.
Thinking back on his decision now, he realized he should have come here first because it was the most likely place for Naruto to hide because he could protect himself. Although ANBU had probably tripped all the trap wires here last night, Naruto didn't know that and would come here to protect himself against a mass raid from superior shinobi.
'Oh, that's right, Naruto didn't become a shinobi today because of yesterdays accident.' Sasuke thought before he was pulled out of his musings by the sounds coming from the clearing to the side which had a small hut that Naruto kept some of his prank materials.
Being as stealthy as he could, which was pretty impressive considering he had started joining in Naruto's pranks and had never been caught, he crept up to were the noise was coming from and hid behind a tree.
"Well Iruka, it seems you found his hiding place before I did….It doesn't matter, it ends here for both of you" Mizuki said.
It seems he would get the answers that he had been chasing for so long.
Elsewhere, Sarutobi who had been searching by using the Tōmegane no Jutsu with his clairvoyant crystal ball, and had finally found the three people in the clearing and the one hiding in the shadows. Quickly piecing the situation together, he realized that Mizuki was behind Naruto stealing the scroll and hearing Mizuki reveal the information about Kyuubi to Naruto in the way that he did made him furious at Mizuki, but worried about Naruto.
He also watched the myriad of emotions going across Sasuke's face. He was no fool and had realized that Sasuke and Naruto were good friends. He sometimes watched their training and was amazed by their progress. If he had to hazard a guess, he would say they were at least low chuunin level shinobi who had little to no weaknesses in the arts of shinobi except genjutsu. But that weakness would be null once they both unlocked their respective doujutsu's.
Well, Iruka had just pulled off a great trick on Mizuki, by performing a Henge no jutsu into Naruto while Mizuki had Henge'd into Iruka, thereby stunning the transformed Mizuki when he was kicked in the face. A little glare action and then they had started talking again.
"Why do you fight so hard for it? Don't you hate the Kyuubi for what it did to you?" Mizuki asked with hatred lacing his every word.
Not realizing that two boys were listening attentively to the conversation on different ends of the clearing Iruka looked solemn and even sorry.
"Yes, I do hate the Kyuubi for what it did to me and for killing my parents" Iruka said with finality but softened soon after by adding "But Naruto is not the Kyuubi, he is my comrade and a shinobi in training of Konohagakure no Sato." Iruka said.
'That's right, I must have been foolish to think that the person who saved me from the darkness that was consuming my heart is the same as the monster who killed all those people years ago….He is just the vessel. It all makes sense now. Kuso, I should have noticed it sooner.' Sasuke thought.
'I….Iruka-sensei….Arigatou' were Naruto's thoughts.
"Yare, yare, yare. With the scroll, we could both have become powerful enough to defeat even a Kage" Mizuki said while removing the second fuuma shuriken "It seems that you will die with that demon tonight."
Cocking his arm back, Mizuki was shocked when Naruto hit him in the face with his knee, thereby sending the fuuma shuriken into the trees above.
"If you touch Iruka-sensei, I will kill you" Naruto said with his head down and in a loose fighting stance.
"Heh, lucky shot brat, you won't catch me off guard again" Mizuki said while wiping the blood off his lip for the second time that night "Now, I don't have to search for you to kill you and get the scroll."
"Bring it on." Naruto growled "whatever you do, I will repay it thousand fold…..Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu" Naruto said while crossing his fingers together.
Several smoke clouds later, everyone in the clearing except Naruto was gawking at the amount of clothes standing in the air.
"What's wrong, are you too scared to fight us" all the Naruto's intoned while looking at the frozen Mizuki "Well then, allow us to show you what we have in store for you."
And with that, all the Naruto's charged Mizuki and pummeled him relentlessly.
"You can open your eyes now Naruto." Iruka said in a kind voice.
Immediately opening his eyes and noticing what was going on, Naruto gave a wide smile and hugged Iruka "Arigatou, Iruka-sensei."
"How does it feel Naruto?" Iruka asked, before clarifying when he saw Naruto's confused look "I mean being a shinobi now."
"ah, it feels great Iruka-sensei….I can't wait to tell Sasuke." Naruto said before realizing his slip up when he saw Iruka's shocked face.
"No need to go so far dobe, I have been here for a while now" Sasuke said while coming out of the bushes he was hiding behind.
Naruto and Iruka had wide eyes as they turned to face him. Naruto out of fear of Sasuke not understanding and Iruka out of wonder that he had never even noticed him.
"How much did you hear?" Iruka asked, knowing that they might have to swear Sasuke to absolute secrecy sometime soon.
"Enough to know that this village doesn't deserve a hero so brave and kind" Sasuke said while looking directly into Naruto's eyes "You have my respect, Naruto"
"Arigatou, Sasuke" Naruto said hesitantly, with a small smile on his face.
"What kind of future teammate would I be if I was closed minded enough to believe someone who lived like you, would be the Kyuubi." Sasuke said with a smirk coming onto his face "besides, we still have to finish our deal."
Naruto was beginning to smirk himself until four shadowed figures walked into the clearing.
"Uzumaki Naruto-san, please hand over the forbidden scroll" said the ANBU with a clear mask and white cloak signifying he was a captain.
Shaking his head, Naruto replied "I will not let go of this scroll until I give it directly to the Hokage….You should understand. As a shinobi of this village, I have to protect its secrets to the best of my ability and four cloaked, masked high level shinobi don't exactly count as the people on my trust list.
Shaking off their stupor because of Naruto's intelligence the ANBU nodded and started escorting the group and prisoner back to the Hokage tower.
The next morning found Naruto and Sasuke walking to class together, with Naruto explaining the full details of yesterdays commotion.
Before walking to the academy, they had met up with each other early in the morning and gone over the chakra control exercises, which ended well with Naruto back at his former proficiency. After celebrating by trying to out-eat themselves at Ichiraku's Ramen, the boys had gone back to the Uchiha residence and put on their new attire.
Naruto was wearing an orange long sleeved shirt with a high collared black shirt over it and black weighted bandages covering the entirety of his body up to his neck, to act as a form of protection. He also had black sandal shoes on instead, of the normal blue that was common among shinobi. On the back of his shirt was the spiral symbol that was on his former jumpsuit and his forehead protector was black with slightly longer straps at the ends.
Sasuke was wearing the exact same thing except with a blue shirt to replace Naruto's orange and with the Uchiha insignia on the back of his black shirt.
They were currently sitting down next to each other and looking at different areas in the room while acting as bored and nonchalant as possible due to the silence in the room.
But the silence in the room was disturbed when all Sasuke's fan girls entered the room in a frenzy of movement and noise.
"I got here first, so I should sit with Sasuke-kun…so go play with Shikamaru or something Ino-pig" Sakura's voice was heard
Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Sasuke turned to look at them with disdain in his eyes. Finding out that was a bad idea when they all turned to him with hearts in their eyes, he decided to just look forward and not pay attention to his fan girls.
After Sasuke turned away, they all turned to see the person already sitting next to him and were surprised to see a good looking Naruto looking back at them.
A good looking Naruto? Ha, it must have been a play of light or genjutsu.
Sakura was quick to act "Get off my seat Naruto-baka or I am going to hit y….." she never got to complete her sentence as Naruto turned back to Sasuke and nodded towards him while getting a nod in return.
Thinking that she was being ignored, Sakura decided to make her threat again and maybe even hit him if he whined to much or tried to get fruity with her like he always did. Prepping her voice she was already shouting " NARU…." only to notice that the blond had already walked past her and the rest of the bewildered girls to sit next to Shikamaru and Chouji.
"What are you doing here Naruto? I heard you failed yesterday" Shikamaru asked reigning in his surprise that Naruto actually walked past Sakura and was not being loud and troublesome "ah, forget it….it's too troublesome to find out" Shikamaru added after seeing basically the whole class lean in to get the information.
Shrugging off the glares sent his way, Shikamaru was about to put his head on the table and sleep, but Naruto pulled out a Shougi board.
Now Shikamaru's interest was peaked.
"Ano, Shikamaru….Hokage-jiji said that people from your family were good at this game. He said that it helps with strategy and that I have potential in that area. I was wondering if you would teach me how to play" Naruto said with determined eyes.
So the next few minutes was spent explaining and Shikamaru and the rest of the class were surprised Narruto took to it so fast. In fact, he got it down so fast that he had held Shikamaru to only one win while Naruto had a surprise win of his own. And no one had ever beaten Shikamaru except hs own father. They had gathered a few followers including Sasuke, who were all watching the third game when a bandaged Iruka came into the class.
Quickly getting to their respective places before sparing Naruto and Sasuke another glance because of their change in demeanor.
After giving his final speech, Iruka started naming the teams and being the smartest student in the class, Shikamaru was beginning to believe that some people had played possum apart from him.
'Its too troublesome to think about anyway' Shikamaru said while looking at Naruto's serious face from the corner of his eye.
"Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura" a singular squeal of delight sounded across the room and several sighs of defeat "and Uzumaki Naruto" Iruka said while looking at the two boys and seeing small smiles on their faces which was cut short by a loud shout.
"Ano, Iruka-sensei….I understand why Sasuke and I are on the same team" Sakura said. "True love rules….yeah" was inner Sakura's rant, while throwing punches at lightning speeds "but why is Naruto-baka on our team?" Sakura ended.
"Heh, for someone who has got the highest grades in class, you sure don't apply it to your words and actions" Naruto started with a smirk on his face as Sakura turned to face him, with a glare.
"When choosing teams, the teachers and Hokage go for balance of all the teams. This means that no matter what, the person who brings up the rear in the class will be placed with the person who tops the class." Sasuke spoke with his own smirk as Sakura turned to face him with wide teary eyes.
"That accounts for both me and Sasuke being on this team. If I am not mistaken, you said you knew why Sasuke and you were on the same team….Care to explain?" Naruto said with eyes of steel and a straight calculating face.
Looking back at Sasuke for support, She found the same face that Naruto wore a second ago when she was looking at him.
Sakura was on the verge of tears when Naruto spoke once more.
"Gomen Sakura, maybe we went to far….but your arrogance and superiority complex towards me would have cost us our teamwork in the future. It was best to give you a taste of your own medicine before it got out of hand" Naruto said while offering her a small smile and looking again towards Iruka.
"Hn" Sasuke said while turning his head to look at Iruka with his apathetic mask back in place.
'Their teamwork is already beyond normal teams….Amazing' Iruka thought before going back to the team lists.
"Now that is out of the way, Team 8 consists of Hyuuga Hinata" a few people noticed Naruto's smile grow slightly wider and a small rosy hue come over his face "Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino."
"Team 10 consists of Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Ino Yamanaka."
"Take a lunch break and come back so that your Jounin-sensei's can pick you up" Iruka finished as people started filing out.
'Naruto…You have definitely grown' Iruka thought with a smile on his face and pride in his students actions.
Naruto and Sasuke had left the classroom together and had basically dragged Sakura along. When they got to a bench a few minutes away from the Academy, they let her sit on the bench.
With her eyes down, Sakura spoke in a barely audible whisper "Gomenossai Naruto."
"ah, we all make mistakes Sakura…..it all depends on how we change" Naruto said.
Shocked at Naruto's easy acceptance, Sakura looked up to see both Naruto and Sasuke smiling at her. She was just about to ask Sasuke out on a date when he interrupted her.
"No, I will not go out on a date with you. I will not go out with anyone who can not protect themselves." Sasuke said with a straight face "I am going to be straight with you….you are by far the weakest on this team."
Seeing her about to object, Sasuke countered.
"No, you are not anywhere close to Naruto….He played possum throughout the academy to get people to think he was an idiot. I will say this, Naruto and I are probably on roughly the same level." Sasuke said looking at her shocked face "we planned it out like this because we wanted to be on the same team. Either one of us could have been rookie of the year but he chose to take the fall."
"We are not looking for a love sick girl that follows Sasuke around everyday, Sakura….We need a kunoichi who can watch our backs when we are in trouble. A kunoichi we believe you can become." Naruto said with a comforting smile.
Smiling back and finally realizing that she would need to step up to the occasion and not let her new teammates down, she nodded her head solemnly.
After getting back to the classroom, they watched wave after wave of jounin came into the room and collected their subordinates.
Naruto and Sasuke decided to pass away the time by showing Sakura the chakra control exercises.
Kakashi walked in three hours later to see two scowling boys and a happy Sakura because she completed the wall walking exercise on her first try.
'It took us almost 3 and a half days to get that exercise down, and we burned all our chakra everyday before even coming close.' Naruto and Sasuke sulked.
"Well, my first impression of you is…..I am not exactly sure" Kakashi eye-smiled with his single eye.
Three sweat drops followed.
"Ma, meet me on the roof in five minutes." Kakashi said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke and Naruto shrugged and grabbed Sakura at the same time.
In a puff of smoke, the three disappeared.
Well, that's the end of the chapter. Remember, please review and give me constructive criticism on my writing. Also give me names for Naruto's Doujutsu which will probably be introduced in the next few chapters.
By the way, this is not a NaruSasu fic. The stuff I put in these past these chapters is kind of a brotherly relationship from two shinobi who understand the life of pain and hardships. I am sorry if I gave you any false impressions. It will change in the chapters to come.
Thanks.
The 6th fire Shadow.