June: heh, heh, I'm really mean aren't I, evil cliffhangers are just so my style.
Kit: you can say that again both your stories are on cliffhangers!
June: yeah, well at least I'm being quick with the updates!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own the song lyrics used for Llidas songs. I do own Llida, Raven, Kawaii, Jiino Nara and Nina Hyuuga.
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ANBU Elements
Chapter 3: Academic Improvement?
Written By June x
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In a flash of black lightening the ANBU element team stood in the Hokages office.
"ANBU Elements, please sit."
"Hokage-sama, if this is about the festival-" Kawaii began
"No, no, not the festival! This, my dears, is about you. You see I think it is time for a change, I need to know that Konoha has a good future with its strongest nins and so in this favour, I'm afraid I have no other choice but to disband the ANBU elements team…"
Raven sighed, so I was right. "What, do you mean Hokage-sama?" quizzed Llida obviously shocked.
"I feel that it is in Konohas best interest that you undergo some new training." Training? Thank Kami-sama! I thought we were going top be split up, especially after what Raven said to me!
"YES! Training I can't wait I love team training!" Naruto shouted Llida, Kawaii and Sai gave a small smile at his hyper activeness. Raven just shook her head they were so obviously not getting it.
"Ah, please excuse me, I don't seem to be making myself clear, this will be separate training." Narutos face instantly feel, Llidas eyes started to water, Kawaii was shaking with anger, only Sai and Raven seemed unaffected by the news, Sai from being emotionless, but the Hokage was wary of Raven, he was pretty sure she wasn't just going to let this go.
"Hokage-sama, please, continue." Now the Hokage was really surprised, she seemed to be perfectly calm.
"Well as of next week, Naruto will be enrolling in the Ninja Academy, a week after Kawaii, Llida and Raven will go on a team training mission, they will be gone for 2 years, Sai will of course stay in Konoha and ANBU Hq. But will be leaving Konoha on more long term missions with his new sensei Yamato." Then he felt strong killer intent, here came Ravens reaction, maybe he should have thought this through more clearly before facing the sadistic girl. The others though were just sat there in shock,
"So what you're trying to say is your going to unfairly split us up, your going to keep 3 of us together, but leave the other 2 alone, one stays in familiar surroundings, the other is ditched into a completely new world with new people, somehow I found that not fair. So as team leader, I will decline your offer as I personally do not find it in my teams interest" Raven stated with all the venom and killer intent she could manage without castrating him where he stood.
"It was not an offer Raven it was an order." The Hokage calmly replied, but that was it Kawaii had reached the end of her tether.
"How fucking dare you! How about our best interest! Not the villages! OURS! Everything you Kages do for your villages' sake results in some poor kid taking the punishment. It was in Konohas interest Raven was on the team with the Uchihas; she ended up in a mental fucking coma for Kami-samas sake! It was in Konohas interest Kyuubi was sealed in Naruto, and ever since he has been treated as an outcaste and has been under assassination attempts too many times to count. It was in Konohas best interest that Sai joined ROOT, now he's emotionless and can't communicate socially. My father the fucking Mizukage decided it was in Kirigakures best interest that I became a hunter-nin with Haku; he ran away, I was almost killed by missing-nin Zabuza Momochi, and I too ran away. Orochimaru decided that it was in his future village, best interest, that they kidnapped an Earth Nymph, now Llidas forest lies in ruins and she can't return home, she was also forced to be a slave to the snake sannin who just happens to be your student, and that has traumatised her! Do you not see a pattern appearing! We will not suffer again, for a village's best interest!" Kawaii just stood there and let the tears fall down her cheeks showing her emotions fully but, she couldn't care less at the moment. I hate this so much, I hate the way the Kages make these decisions and control our lives my father and Aniki caused me nothing but pain. I will not suffer like that again, and I will die defending my friends from that pain. Against his will the Hokage had to admit, Kawaii had made some extremely valid points but that was to be expected from her.
"I am sorry you feel like that, but please; give me a chance to explain why I think this will also be in your best interest. Konoha need strong nin to protect, this new training I hope will make you stronger and better ninja, and i'm sure you would like to improve. Therefore both Konoha and you get something out of this…" Kawaii and Raven sat down, none of them said anything, and so the Hokage took this as a sign to continue.
"As Kawaii pointed out some terrible decisions have been made involving you, and for that I'm truly sorry, but I assure you, I have thought about this long and hard so you get the best. Naruto will unfortunately be sent to the academy alone, I would send you with him but unlike Naruto you four are all official ninjas. I also think it is time Naruto left the safety of ANBU Hq. And ventured out a bit more, being around kids your own age will hopefully give you the chance to make friends and regain trust in the villagers. Kawaii, Llida and Raven, you have all grown immensely in this village but we all know you still have a lot of potential, Konoha is only holding you back. I feel that if you were to go travelling for a long period of time, not only would it strengthen your friendships, but you would learn from different senseis' and learn new jutsu styles all together, for the next two years there will be no limit on what you can do, I would send Sai with you but I fear the change of surroundings for such a long time will make him even more unsociable. Sai I want you to stay under Yamatos guidance, he is a good teacher and you will learn new things with him, but I also want you to travel but come back regularly so you too have a chance to learn new things but don't feel too out of place, hopefully travelling around will also lead to you discovering some more fire techniques."
As much as they hated to admit it, what the Hokage had said made a lot of sense, but it still didn't change the loneliness they felt in their hearts, they were inseparable, sure, they hadn't been together more than a year, but it didn't mean they weren't incredibly close. They knew everything about each other and were forever smiling in each others company but they couldn't smile those true smiles around that many other people, there were a select few the group trusted, but they mainly trusted and relied on the group, to be split up was like having your parachute taken away when you were sky-diving, you felt like you were falling into a deep, deep pit of despair.
With nothing else to say the group left Hokage tower with a dark cloud above their heads. The Hokage sighed he really wished they didn't take this so hard, but they couldn't stay in ANBU forever and he really did think it was time for a change, and he was quite sure this wouldn't last forever, after all even Itachi hadn't managed to find a way to keep Raven and Naruto apart, the teams friendship was strong, and he was definite it could survive this split.
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Naruto lay in bed going over the meeting in his head; this all seemed surreal, like a terrible dream. He just wanted to wake up and hear Ravens voice telling the team off for something, hear Kawaii continuously sighing then giving an evil snicker as she came up with yet another evil genius plan, hear Sai calling him Naru-chan and to hear Llidas voice singing yet another song in dedication to the Earth that she loved so much.
With a sigh he climbed out of bed, he was not going to sleep tonight. He just needed to think, gain some normalcy back into his life, so he headed to his favourite place- 'Llida's Tree' – as they sometimes called it, it was the same tree in the photo on his bedside table and it was the teams favourite place to go when they needed to think, it was their private place filled with their own elemental peace.
As Naruto got closer to the tree he could just see in the moonlight four figures already there, he should have known, it would be an unspoken agreement to meet there and think things over.
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"Trust you to be the last one here Naru-chan", Naruto just gave a small weak smile. He also climbed into the trees branches and sat there among the others, just staring into the night sky.
"What are we going to do?" Kawaii finally managed, for once she was lost without a plan or an idea, and this was unfamiliar territory to her.
"What can we do?" came Sais reply
"We do as the Hokage says, we undergo new training." came Ravens strong voice.
"But Rae..."
"No buts Naruto, we have to do this. We can't stay in ANBU forever, and our lives can't remain perfect, we have to cope with this, this will make us stronger and there is no way they will be able to keep us apart. Two years. That's it, no more, no less. After two years we'll be ANBU Elements again inseparable best friends. Got it?" came Ravens command
"Got it!" came the chime and slowly they felt more comfortable at knowing it wasn't forever.
And so Llida began to hum one of her lullabies, but this time it wasn't dedicated to the Earth, but to them, her friends.
What I thought wasn't mine
In the light
Was a one of a kind,
A precious pearl
When I wanted to cry
I couldn't cause I
Wasn't allowed
Gomenasai for everything
Gomenasai, I know I let you down
Gomenasai till the end
I never needed a friend
Like I do now
What I thought wasn't all
So innocent
Was a delicate doll
Of porcelain
When I wanted to call you
And ask you for help
I stopped myself
Gomenasai for everything
Gomenasai, I know I let you down
Gomenasai till the end
I never needed a friend
Like I do now
What I thought was a dream
A mirage
Was as real as it seemed
A privilege
When I wanted to tell you
I made a mistake
I walked away
Gomenasai, for everything
Gomenasai, Gomenasai, Gomenasai
I never needed a friend,
Like I do now
Gomenasai, I let you down
Gomenasai, Gomenasai,
Gomenasai till the end
I never needed a friend
Like I do now
And with that the group slowly began to fall into a peaceful slumber in each other's company.
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Nina didn't understand it, she had missed something out and she knew it, she had promised to take Naruto out of ramen, but he had turned her down and what was even more surprising was he wasn't training at all, none of the ANBU Elements were, they just seemed to be spending non-stop time in each-others company, she had heard from a fellow ANBU member that during Narutos party there had been a summoning from Hokage-sama, since then the team had been together. She couldn't get near Naruto because he would just go off with the team, there was only one thing left to do she would go to the Hokage and find out what was responsible for her sons strange behaviour, she walked into the ANBU Hq. Main lounge to get Kakashi when aforementioned Kage appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Ah, hello Nina."
"Hokage-sama, I was just on my way to see you."
"Yes I expected that, would you be as kind as to gather all of the ANBU together with the exception of ANBU Elements I think you have the right to know the current predicament."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
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Within 10 minutes all 35 members of ANBU stood or were sitting in the main lounge. Seeing that all were gathered the Hokage stood up to tell them the news.
"Ahem, now as I'm sure you have all gathered, there have been some strange occurrences amongst the ANBU Elements team, I'm sure your all curious as to what has happened, but I will be straightforward, they need space and time, in three days time I am going to enforce a drastic change upon the five, they will need you there to support them more than ever…" now everyone was curious, just what was this change? "I believe it to be in theirs and Konohas best interests that ANBU Element team is disbanded." Nina fell off her chair in shock, Anko swore profusely, Yamato pulled a face that would scare Naruto, Kakashi dropped his Icha Icha Paradise and even Jiino was now wide awake.
Sure shinobi teams were disbanded all the time, but that was if there was a fault with the team, the ANBU Element team was one of the best combinations of shinobi in the ANBU, there teamwork was flawless, and they could only get stronger from here on in, why separate such a good team? Finally gathering her wits about her Nina asked the question in everybody's minds.
"Why?"
"I believe that the change is necessary and that all five will benefit from the experience and grow stronger, Konoha itself will benefit from strong shinobi. Now I'm sure you are also curious into how they will be split up, Yamato if you will consent, I have chosen you to be Sais sensei, you will be on long travelling trips, but will return to Konoha regularly, in which Sai will gain new experiences and you will encourage him to work on his social skills." many were jealous of Yamato for receiving such a talented student, but all Yamato did was nod in consent "Raven, Kawaii and Llida will be doing the same but they will be gone for a much longer period of time they leave in ten days time and will be gone for two years," Nina spluttered at the unfairness of the situation, to keep three together but completely separate the other two, no wonder they've all been reluctant to leave each others company. "Naruto though will be staying in Konoha but will actually be within the village, and attending the Academy" at this Kakashi stood up, blatantly furious.
"Hokage-sama you can't be serious. We took him away from that for a reason!" many others nodded their heads in agreement with Kakashis outburst.
"Kakashi please, calm yourself. The boy as you all know is Yondaimes legacy, but instead is treated with disrespect, as much as I hate to return him to the villagers incapable hands, I think Naruto has to make some new friends and learn to love the village he fights so hard to protect. Else I fear one day Naruto will question what he protects and then we could lose him, just like we did Itachi. But I am very reluctant to let past incidents reoccur, I need people who can appear in Narutos daily life, do I have any volunteers?" Nina stood up.
"If it is okay with you Hokage-sama I would like to return to the village, I would also like for Naruto-kun to live with me." The Hokage gave a smile and a nod in answer to Nina's request. Kakashi then stood, with his orange book.
"I'm leaving the ANBU anyway I don't see any reason why I can't check up on an ex-student every now and then." Anko soon followed.
"Jiji, I won't lose a student that easily, that gaki is one of my favourite lab rats, I'll leave the ANBU and check up on him on the condition I continue to train him."
"Anko I fear you are more a danger to him than the villagers at times." at this Anko only gave a sadistic laugh. Jiino stood up.
"Hokage-sama, while I have no wish to leave ANBU and therefore cannot check up on him regularly, but I do have a nephew his age who attends the academy, I'm sure he can keep an eye on him for me and he would be a good friend for Naruto."
"Arigatou, all of you. It relieves me to know Naruto will be in safe capable hands you will return to Konoha tomorrow so you have a chance to settle in, I hope this has cleared things up for you. And on that note I must leave, Ja ne." And the Hokage disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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Naruto looked at his new home; it was a small bungalow on the outskirts of Konoha. It was a traditional Japanese house, from the design, to the gardens and to the training grounds outside. Naruto was extremely grateful to the Old Man for providing him with his own personal training grounds. Naruto was to start in the academy the day after tomorrow, and he was not looking forward to it one bit. The academy would only slow him down, he knew all the childish techniques they taught there, his senseis had made sure he had perfect chakra manipulation and Kawaii and the all knowledgeable fur ball had made sure he didn't lack in any academic areas. He really didn't understand why he had to go to the academy with a bunch of snot nosed gakis.
Look who's talking
Shut up Kyuubi, you and I both know this is a waste of time.
I know kit; you shouldn't take this so hard. Just think of this as a test of the teams' friendship.
I guess, anyway they'll be around in a bit the team, Kakashi, Anko, Yamato and Jiino. They'll be around for a housewarming dinner. Then straight afterwards, I'm going to show them the training grounds and then we can have an all out spar.
I feel sorry for the training grounds
Why?
Because there'll be nothing left by the time you lot are through with it.
Very funny fox, do you have anything I can do to pass the time? I've already moved my stuff into my new room.
As a matter of fact I have a new technique I want you to try; you'll need to use my chakra for this. First concentrate the chakra into your hands, until you grow nails, and then I want you to start slashing at a tree, see how many slashes you can do before you lose the claws.
Ok, what kind of technique is this?
It's a new kind of Taijutsu, using demonic claws, its close range though so you need to be good at aiming. Get Nina to teach you were best to hit the body with this kind of style, I call it Demonic Precision.
Interesting name, I really need to find something for you to do in there; you have way to much free time to think.
And so Naruto began slashing at the tree, he was quite enjoying himself as it was a good way of releasing anger, he managed to keep the claws for seventy-two slashes, disappointed with his performance he pushed more chakra into the claws this time with an aim of making at least two hundred slashes.
"Training with Kyuubi sunshine?" said a voice out of the tree.
"Hi Rae, he's teaching me a new taijutsu style he calls Demonic Precision."
"Sounds cool, nice training grounds you got here, nowhere near as good as the ones in ANBU Hq. but good nonetheless." She said jumping out of the tree, it was then Naruto noticed her new set of weights.
"New weights Rae?"
"Yeah, 100 pounds on each limb, I'm going to do some laps to warm up, want to join? You can go back to slashing later, and then the team can join."
"Sounds like an awesome idea, but lets make this a bit more competitive, a little race, loser buys the winner ramen for dinner tomorrow night."
"Fine with me, just as long as you know, you have no chance of beating my lightening speed."
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Naruto stretched out his aching limbs he had been up all night sparring and training, Rae had of course won the race, even with her new weights she was still incredibly fast, and he shuddered at the thought of her speed without them. They had then gone inside for dinner; surprisingly Kakashi was on time, so the meal passed without any incident. The team had then followed Naruto out into the training grounds after another warm up race which Rae yet again won, they started an all out spar, while the older ninjas just stood by watching.
Raven and Sai had been quick to take out Llida from behind, with Sai first encircling her with fire so she had no way to escape, and then Raven blasting her with Lightening Blast from above. Kawaii and Sai had then gone into a close combat battle, Kawaii overpowering him with her strong Taijutsu and Kenjutsu; Raven had used the opportunity to hide in the trees to avoid Naruto and Kawaii ganging up on her. Naruto was rapidly using up chakra, knowing he could not out strategize Kawaii, he had aimed to overpower her, then just as she put her guards down, Raven caught Kawaii in her powerful Raven Feather Genjutsu, quickly knocking Kawaii out of the fight. Naruto had then decided to put Kyuubis' new taijutsu style to the test, knowing Raven lacked most in close range combat, seeing the technique he was going to use Raven quickly began to enforce her Kenjutsu training with Anko. Raven quickly performed hand seals for a jutsu Kakashi had taught her and she had then adapted, Black Chidori Sword, the black lightening was shaped like a sword but made out of chakra, it could be used as a normal sword or it could be used as a medium for precision lightening blasts, Naruto was quickly beaten through his lack of experience in his new technique and also the fact that every time his claws had contacted with Ravens sword he had received a massive electric shock. Raven had once again proved why she was their leader.
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Naruto was in a really bad mood, today was his first day at the academy and Nina expected him to be happy, when he came down looking ultimately depressed she had first put it down to nerves, but when she tried to cheer him up and he just glared at her, she had realised his bad mood was due to anger and annoyance. Nina had then continued to give him a long lecture on how he needed to give the academy a chance, and that if his mind was one tack only he wouldn't get anywhere in life. And on and on she went, by the end of the lecture Naruto was tempted to whack his head against the table repeatedly, she had most definitely picked up on the Hyuuga gene of always knowing best. Naruto put on the clothes Kakashi had bought him for his birthday, they looked good on him, and then at the last moment he put on his mask, just because the were kids and he would be going to school with them didn't mean he had to trust them, right? Naruto hurried out the door he was supposed to meet Jiino who would then take him to the Nara house hold to meet his nephew, Naruto would walk with the boy and the boys friends on the way to and from school, it just sounded like another annoyance, if he was with them he would be slowed down, hw wouldn't be able to get home quickly and meet the others.
Naruto only had to turn the corner, before he saw Jiino.
Jiino gave a sigh when he saw Naruto "Naruto why are you wearing your mask?"
"Simple, no-one ever said I had to trust them." this was going to be very troublesome indeed the Nara decided.
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Shikamaru gave another sigh this was so troublesome, from what his uncle described of the boy he was usually happy go lucky and a regular prankster. But the boy who was walking alongside him was cold, annoyed and obviously angry. Shikamaru decided to try and make conversation.
"My uncle told me you like to pull pranks."
"Yeah, my friend usually thinks them up and I perform them, they're great laughs especially when they're on people like the Hokage."
"You pulled a prank on the Hokage?"
"Yeah, I hung his grandson off Hokage Mountain," Shikamaru gave a small smirk at the idea of that "I also prank your uncle a lot."
"Like what?"
"Well, I once bored him to sleep"
"Doesn't sound that hard, I'm forever falling asleep"
"Hmn, yeah, but, it's a great feat. To bore someone who is already incredibly boring. I'll have to try it on you sometime to prove my point." Shikamaru gave another smirk, this boy was actually quite talkative, but he still couldn't wait to meet up with Chouji and Kiba. They then turned a corner just to see none other than aforementioned boys.
"Hey Shika! What's with the masked dude?" Kiba yelled out as a greeting
"Kiba, Chouji, this is Naruto. He starts school today."
"Hey Naruto, I'm Kiba and this is my dog Akamaru!" he said pulling out a dog 'ARF!' it barked in greeting.
"-Munch- I'm -munch-, Chouji, -munch munch-." Naruto just nodded in acknowledgement to both.
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When Naruto entered the academy classroom he was in a slightly better mood than this morning having found the three boys to actually be quite good company, but that mood quickly disappeared when everyone in the room turned to stare at the newcomer. Naruto just scowled, nosey brats. He looked around the classroom for a space to sit he saw two girls fighting over a stool next to a boy, he looked at the boy and for a moment was taken back by his looks, dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin, no doubt about it he was an Uchiha. Naruto scowled even more at that, he hated Uchihas, he remembered Itachi and his cold manner, he also remembered that Itachi put Raven in a mental coma; this would be one boy Naruto refused to get acquainted with. Naruto looked at the two girls fighting over the stool and wondered if he should warn them that Uchihas were nothing but trouble, he was quite surprised to see one girl had pink hair, Kawaii would absolutely adore her, if she managed to stop herself cutting it off to use as a wig! Naruto silently chuckled at his friends' evil genius. Naruto instead chose a chair next to boy with a high collared trench coat and sunglasses, from his clothes choice Naruto deduced he was an Aburame.
The class immediately began to settle down when a teacher came in. "Ohayo class, today we have a new student called Naruto Uzumaki!" everyone in the class turned round to face Naruto, Naruto sighed and mumbled a slight hi, but loud enough so everyone could hear him, when they did not turn away Naruto took a leaf out of Raven and Ankos book and glared at them all slowly seeping out strong killer intent. Everyone including the sensei shuddered at the boys actions, Iruka though managed a weak "Hi, Naruto, I'm Iruka. I will be your sensei." He quickly turned away from the boy and began the class. "Okay let's see if you all studied your homework, now then who can tell me what chakra is?" Naruto sighed this was going to be a long day.
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June: Yeah, there you go another chapter, another day, I hope I made Narutos separation from his team emotional enough, I didn't want to undermine the characters but I didn't want to overplay them. I just got in the bit at the academy in the end. In the next chapter- More academy, the team is finally split up and a cliff-hanger!!!
Kit: yeah, and guys now the story is really starting to kick in June really needs those reviews not just for inspiration but if anyone has any pairings.
June: I would also like to thank one of my best friends Issy for leaving a review! Please leave me a review, they really help me and I actually read them, and to answer another review, Action Naruto Lover-no Naruto is not going to be a dobe, but he is going to undermine his abilities so he is at their average level, and he is also going to be a prankster. I am considering NarutoxOC, do you have any preferences? June x