June: Hey, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, every time I get a review my imagination decided that it has confidence to write another story, I've currently got another story I'm working on and I've got another 5 stories on my mind, so I'm trying to keep on track and get the updates out as quickly as possible.
Kit: Yes, anyways, Juney has problems with pairings so I decided for her; the romance is not going to be the centre part of this fic. NarutoxRaven was popular so we'll try for that one.
June: Also Kawaii and Llida need some pairings, please don't forget them. Also someone pointed out that I Hokage bash, I realise that in all my stories I bash all the people you're supposed to give respect to, I guess I'm just rebellious 24/7. Anyways here is chapter 4, sorry it was late but it was Shinos fault honestly.
Disclaimer: surprisingly enough I don't own Naruto but if I did, the Akatsuki would already have taken over the world!!!
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ANBU Elements
Chapter 4: Trust Has To Be Earned
Written By: June x
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Narutos eyebrow for the third time today was twitching. First it had been from the irritating bickering of two girls over the Uchiha, then girls had tried asking him out, then Kiba being an idiot had asked what was under Narutos mask, now the girls were squealing with excitement about what was under his mask. Naruto was about to lose it, and what's more he wasn't even sure if his eyebrow would ever stop twitching. 'BANG', he'd lost it. With all the killing intent he could muster Naruto let out his warning with a slight hiss.
"You are in a ninja academy to become kunoichi, not to squeal over guys. So why don't you grow up already, a shinobi won't stop on the battlefield so you can re-apply your lip-gloss, so why don't you learn how to fight or train instead of begging for dates."
That silenced them
Kit do you actually know how to handle girls
In case you haven't realised baka 3 of my best friends are girls. And I thought Kawaii was bad, what have I gotten myself into?
And with that the bell rang, now Naruto was faced with one of the most difficult things a kid ever has to do in any school; where to sit and with who? Naruto glanced around at the choices, a brooding Uchiha, not in this lifetime. Two girls squealing over the Uchiha, not after finally having gotten ridden of the eyebrow twitching. There were also Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji, Kiba's loud and annoying, Shikamaru's boring and Chouji is with them. A girl who was looking over at him and was blushing and trying not to faint, oh dear kami, please tell me I don't have fan-girls, that's just too much to take. The only boy who looked worth his time was the Aburame. so he went and sat with him.
"Why do you keep sitting with me?" asked the curious Aburame
"Does it matter?"
"Not really,"
"But, if you must know it's because, you're the only person here who looks worth my time."
"I thought you were friends with Shikamaru and that. You did walk in with them this morning." Naruto just replied with a shrug.
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"I don't believe it. Shikamaru look, that git your uncle asked you to try and befriend is totally ignoring us. Just who does he think he is?" Kiba ranted when he saw Naruto sit with Shino.
"Hmn, so troublesome. I don't know much about him to be honest, but my uncle said he would be really cold at first and that this was all a big change for him, so just give him time" Shikamaru mumbled from half-lidded eyes.
"Whatever"
"-Munch munch- sure, -munch munch- Shikamaru!" came the replies.
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The Uchiha spared another glance for the new student. That kid's interesting, he actually seems to want to be a ninja, and from what I can tell he has potential. He will never be as good as me of course, but he could become an ally to gaining strength, I don't usually spare the time for this, but I'm sure I'm more interesting than Shino. And from the way he handled the girls earlier he could help me out, though Ino seems to have taken a liking to him. And with this thought process Sasuke stood up and brushed himself off, prepared to make a 'friend'.
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Ino looked over at the new boy and blushed again, she wasn't the only one who had an interest in him, sure he wasn't her Sasuke-kun, but by flirting with him, she would get Sasuke jealous and then he would admit undying love for her and crush fore-head girl. Ino looked around at the other girls who liked the new-comer, she didn't have any competition, she was surprised at Hinata though, but that didn't matter, Sakura wasn't interested, so blondie was all hers. Now if only she could figure out why he was hanging out with a loser like Shino.
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Naruto could not believe his luck; his eyebrow was twitching once again. The Uchiha had actually worked up the nerve to tell Naruto to leave freaky bug-boy Shino and come and sit with someone worth his time and now Naruto was trying to restrain himself from kicking the temes ass, and the Kyuubi was just laughing. At times like this it was frustrating how almost everyone he knew was a sadist, he never got any sympathy.
"Well, are you going to ditch him or what? This really isn't worth my time."
Who the fuck does this asshole think he is, where are the fan-girls? Drag the bastard away already.
In case you haven't realised kit, everyone is just watching to see how you handle him. And they're all really interested, so you have my permission to kick his ass, but try not to send him to hospital, Nina well get on your case otherwise.
Since when have I needed your permission? Ah well, time to dislodge the stick up this guys ass.
Naruto stood up, looked Sasuke straight in the eye and said "Shut the fuck up teme." and with that delivered a chakra enforced punch into the smug bastards face.
Ino gaped
Chouji choked
Kiba laughed
Hinata blushed
Shikamaru smirked
And Shino did something un-Shino-like he stood up and although no-one could see his expression you could feel the killer intent directed at the boy who was currently sporting a broken nose from Narutos punch. Shino looked at him radiating bloodlust and simply stated "I am not a freaky bug-boy." and kneed Sasuke in the gut.
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To say Naruto was proud of how the day went would be an understatement; he was currently walking home with Shika, Cho, Kiba and to their surprise Shino. Naruto hadn't been expecting to make friends, but after knocking the Uchiha pride, a respect had been formed for him, the others just watched him with the exception of Shino, you never knew what he was doing. Their thought process was just utter praise for the blonde, he'd walked in scared their Sensei, gained a fan-club, scared the fan-club, got the longest sentence out of Shino in the history of the Academy, beat up the Uchiha and had unwittingly formed a new group of friends.
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When Naruto turned the corner with not just his nephew but three other boys, Jiino was in utter shock, but what was more was the obvious respect they held for Naruto they all seemed to be in awe of him. Naruto finally notciced his presence and looked up, a quick fleeting doubt passed through the boys features, he then pouted.
"Jiino, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked
"Yeah uncle, I'd like to know too." his nephew stated standing next to Naruto. Jiino sighed, it seemed Naruto had made extremely loyal friends who all respected him, worst thing was he would bet anything Naruto didn't give a damn about them in return. He had to speak to the blonde quick, and if that didn't work he'd ask the other volunteers, and as his last resort, Raven.
"Sorry guys, but I need to talk to Naruto, he's late for a family gathering as well." and with that the boys separated leaving Naruto with the elder Nara. Jiino sighed, Naruto could be so troublesome. "They want to be your friends Naru,"
"I have friends, and unlike those 4 wannabes my friends are strong," Naruto said with a dark scowl. Jiino hit him round the head. "Itai! Nani?"
"Don't what me Naruto, just because they weren't raised in ANBU doesn't mean they aren't skilled, they all have potential. Give them a chance, give the academy a chance. Please Naruto, give Konoha another chance. What would Raven say if she could see her 'sunshine' with this dark a scowl. What would Kawaii say if she saw you treating people with injustice without giving them a chance. What would Sai say if he saw you acting all emotionless. What would Llida say if she saw you holding a grudge instead of taking a path of forgiveness. What would Nina say if you didn't attempt to fight back at the injustice they did to you. What whould Kakashi say if he saw you abandoning new friends. What would Anko say if you didn't give the Hokage a show. Now that you've thought about that, take my words to heart, otherwise the next in line will be Yamato, and he WILL scare you."
Naruto just looked at the Nara, it was times like this where you really saw the genius gene. "Che, and I thought I was meant to be the troublesome one."
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And so the week continued, with everyday drawing closer to the final separation of his team. Naruto wasn't given much time to think about it, at the Academy he was very quiet and didn't speak much, he had an annoying fan-club which a girl called Ino seemed to be leading, and they followed him everywhere. He remembered when he told Anko and Raven about it, he could still hear their cold sadistic laughing, he shuddered. Shino and Shikamaru were his closest friends, Shino reminded him a lot of Sai and Raven, emotionless and stoic, Shikamaru was like Kawaii a secret genius. Naruto was very pleased when he found a fellow prankster in Kiba, he was already in Iruka-senseis badbooks, and Chouji was just a kind hearted giant.
The work at the Academy was fairly easy, he was suprised to find he was top of the class, much to the annoyance of 'Pinkie' and Uchiha. The class was just weak, he did well in the practicals, but made sure he never showed off, he was severely disappointed when he learnt the Hyuuga girl couldn't even throw a Kunai staright. Hyuugas were trained from an early age, she should have superior skills, but what's more the girl seemed to have an inferiorty complex and a huge crush on him, absolutely nothing like Nina.
Naruto had feared the Academy would stunt his growth, but he was sadly mistaken, soon as he got home he would have personal training with Anko and team training in the evening with Raven and the others, and in the morning he would up his weights if necessary and train with Kyuubi, who he had recently taken to calling Kyuu, it annoyed the fox at first, but with the amount of talking they were starting to do because of the pointless academy, they were becoming more and more close, Naruto hadn't really realised till then how much he looked at Kyuu as a big brother figure. You would think that Naruto had asked Kyuu about why he attacked Konoha, but Naruto did know a thing or two about tact, over time he had come to trust Kyuu with his life, and he was sure Kyuu would tell him when he was ready.
And with that the bell rang to symbolise the end of the day, Naruto shook his head off his trail of thoughts, when a new thought hit, tomorrow morning, he wouldn't see his friends again for another two years, Naruto could feel depression setting in.
Naruto was more than shocked when he stepped outside to see Nina, unsure he decided to wait for her to notice him, more to his suprise was when Hinata and a boy from the year above who was an obvious Hyuuga, but Naruto had never seen before, approached her. Naruto just stood and watched.
"What'cha looking at?" Kiba said from behind. Naruto inclined his head in his Kaa-sans direction. "The Hyuugas?" Naruto nodded "Doushite?" before Naruto could reply, Nina finally looked up and waved at him, Hinata and the boy quickly turned round to look at him. Hinata blushed while the boy just glared, Naruto countered with his own glare. Nina walked towards him closely followed by the two Hyuugas.
"Naruto, gomenasai for not warning you I would be here to meet you." Nina greeted her son.
"It's okay Okaa-san." This was greeted with shock from the Hyuugas and his friends.
"Your a Hyuuga!" Kiba yelled.
"No, I was unofficially adopted, but in no way am I related to the Hyuugas." Naruto quickly stated.
"Naruto, we might want to hurry if we are to meet the others, would you like to invite your friends?" his mother asked
"Not tonight mum." and with that he waved bye to his friend and vanished out of sight much to their shock. As soon as they had gone the Kiba turned round to Shikamaru.
"Well that was unexpected!"
"Tch, Naruto's troublesome" Shino said nothing, Chouji just ate away his disbelief and shock, Neji just glared at the spot in which Naruto had stood. Kiba wondered if he had realised Naruto had left the spot or if his eyes were set on permenant glare. Hinata was blushing and inside her mind was hosting a HUGE party! Naruto's with Aunt Nina, I might have a reason to visit him! I could go to Naruto-kuns house! I could go there before Ino! Or he might visit me with Nina, Otou-sama said it was a possibility she might train me, 'sigh' training with Naruto-kun! Finally Neji snapped out of glare mode and turned to his cousin, and proceeded to snap her out of her dream-like state.
"Hinata-sama, we should leave at once, your father would not appreciate you being late." Hinata nodded in acknowledgement, her father was ashamed of her enough without her being late.
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Naruto and Nina arrived outside the house, they had to hurry, tonight would be a formal gathering at ANBU Hq. it was his last night with his friends for another 2 years. Naruto sure as hell was going to miss them.
When Naruto was ready he came down the stairs into the kitchen so his attire could be approved by Nina. Naruto wore a black kimino with orange slashes on it, it looked graceful yet fierce, it had been one of a pair he had bought with Sai, except Sai's orange was slightly darker and was in the shape of flames.Around his neck Naruto wore a gold necklace with a pendant in the shape of a fox, this was also one of a pair the other one was a raven pendant and guess who that belonged to. Raven had bought for him in official recognition of their friendship, they were there own first true friends and from that day forth were inseperable best friends, but after tomorrow morning they were no longer inseperable, the famous Raven and Kitsune.
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Naruto stood at the party among his friends none of them felt like celebrating. Raven wore a black kimino with dark purple ligtening bolts, Llida wore her same green dress, and Kawaii wore a hot pink kimino with sakura petals in slightly paler pink on. The party continued many ANBU got drunk and even some former ANBU like Kakashi, Anko and Nina made a scene. Kakashi and Anko made out in the middle of the whole party, to Ravens horror, they were both her senseis and she hated mushy stuff. Raven hoped the makeout was alcohol induced. Nina and Jiino slow danced more than once leaving Naruto very suspicious of Jiinos intentions from there on in. But the party came to an end with the Sandaime giving a speech on the ANBU Elements, while said team just glared.
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The sun was rising over Konoha and six figures stood at the gate. Llida looked at Sai and Naruto and pulled them both into a hug and began to cry, their hearts breaking with every tear she shed, when she finally pulled herself together she looked into their eyes in turn and murmured a barely audible "Be careful". Kawaii then walked forward and threw her arms around Sai and told him that when she came back he better not be a social retard or else, and they all gave a weak laugh. Kawaii then turned towards Naruto and they hugged him and they held each other for what felt like an eternity, when they pulled apart Kawaii gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered goodbye, Naruto just nodded, things were going to be quieter without her. Raven stepped forward, glared at Sai who returned the glare back, they then both broke the glaring match and gave each other a small smile.
"Grow strong."
"You too."
Then Raven turned towards her best friend their eyes joined and they kept the contact, eyes saying what they couldn't bring themselves to say out loud, Raven lifted her hand in front of her, Naruto did the same. Their palms touched and their fingers intwined, this was how they greeted each other when they were little.
"Goodbye My Kitsune."
"Goodbye My Raven."
As the three girls turned to leave the village, the team could feel their hearts breaking, they were not going to see each other for another 2 years, words they said before for comfort now seemed empty exactly how they felt. It was as if someone was tearing them apart from the inside, taking away their most precious people and leaving them without their strength. It hurt so much. As the girls turned their backs on Konoha, none of them, could hold the tears at bay. Naruto and Sai watched the girls figures walk into the rising sun, making them glow with its morning light.
"Sai, it's time to go/" Yamato said finally stepping forward after watching the exchange. Sai nodded and turned towards Naruto.
"Bye, Naru-Chan."
"I'm not a girl god dammit, and when you come back I'll prove to you how manly I am!"
"I'll hold you to that." and with one final nod to each other, they gave each other one of their few true smiles, Sai also turned his back on Konoha and walked out the gates. Naruto stood there alone, barely withholding the tears, his heart was being torn apart, and there was nothing he could do. His life had changed and wouldn't be the same for another two years. When the tears finally spilt down his cheek, Naruto fell to the ground his body wracking with sobs of loneliness his shoulders shaking with anger, fear and sadness.
When he pulled himself together, he made a vow to himself and his friends that he would get stronger, he would protect them and he would never shed another tear until he saw their faces again, only they would now be able to warm his cold heart and hurt enough to make him cry. Naruto then turned his back on the gates and walked home, every step he took when against his instincts, every part of him telling him to go back to the gates, chase after them. Naruto had never felt this unsure before. When he arrived home he went staright to his room and collapsed on the bed emotionally exhausted, he wouldn't go to the academy today.
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When Naruto finally returned to the academy Shikamaru could sense the sad aura surrounding him, he questioned his uncle on it.
"Did Naruto tell you to ask me?"
"No."
"Then I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"He'll tell you if he trusts you."
"I thought he did."
"Trust Has To Be Earned."
"Tch troublesome."
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June: I am so sorry this is so late. I finally got rid of ANBU Elements, you probably didn't feel the sadness I did when i got rid of them, I was actually crying. They will be back in 2 years time so I guess about 8 chapters they will return, can you guess when they will return? heh heh game. Also in the next chapter I will finally get more into the characters of the volunteers and the other students in the Academy, I just needed to get his original friends out of the way, they meant everything to him and it would only disrupt the story if Naruto didn't concentrate on them. Naruto is going to be making new bonds, so get ready for the next chapter!!! x