Guardian Angel
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"
'Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'
A/N: Hello everyone! I don't have much to say except you may not see a whole ton of action, nor will I be jumping past the academy any time soon. I've still got one or two more characters to introduce as well as some development on my current ones. That and we'll see what Naruto does for training. Anyway, lets get moving ne?
I own NADA, ZILCH, CERO meaning this is just for fun, no money, that's Kishimoto's job
It was a rather bittersweet day, at least, according to Naruto it was. While he was overjoyed that he had an honest to god friend, he was dismayed about the fact that his class was having a sparring tournament and almost every single girl was sending furious glares towards one Kikioko Atezuiryo, the only exception being a blue haired girl wearing a bulky tan jacket and navy blue pants with matching shinobi sandals. Hinata Hyuga, if Naruto remembered correctly though in all honesty he avoided the 'white eyes' as much as he could so it didn't surprise him that her name wasn't exactly memorized within his head.
"Alright students, there has been a slight change in our little tournament," Iruka called out over his chattering students, effectively breaking Naruto out of his thoughts. Currently the class was standing outside of the academy in one of the larger training grounds and many were curious as to what their teacher meant by a small change.
"We're actually going to have an assessment day today class," started the chuunin, the kids all groaned in annoyance. Assessment days were when they were tested on everything they had learned so far then given their rankings. Iruka waited for them to stop complaining before smirking and speaking again "Don't worry, you'll still fight but today you will be fighting in front of not just your classmates but also in front of," here he paused for a dramatic effect. Suddenly there was a massive explosion of white smoke behind Iruka, causing some of the genin to cry out in panic or surprise while the chuunin merely grinned in amusement. When the smoke settled, what was revealed left many of the students staring in shock.
"Class, today you'll be judged by the hokage himself, jounin who may become your sensei as well as some of the council," Iruka announced proudly as he stepped aside to let the wizened Hiruzen step forward, his red and white robes swishing ever so slightly as he faced the awed academy students.
"Hello everyone," the hokage spoke warmly, emitting that grandfatherly aura that helped put the children at ease, "There have been some slight changes in the council and because of that, we are creating a change in the academy," informed the old man calmly, sending ripples of murmurs throughout the gathered children, all confused as to what their leader meant by "changes". Naruto on the other hand, couldn't keep the grin off his face.
Kiki merely tilted her head to the side in confusion for two reasons. One, what did the old man in the cool hat mean by changes and second, how did Goza get on the council? Currently the demonic merchant was standing next to a black haired man that reminded her slightly of Sasuke, but he had brown hair and much more stony appearance along with crease lines under his eyes, and right behind him was a figure in a black formal suit with an extremely pale face and seemingly no muscle on it, like skin just stretched overbone. The most noticeable features however were the eye patch over the left eye, leaving only one single icy blue orb visible, the mahogany cane in his right hand and the top hat upon his head. However what really caught her attention was the fact that no one seemed to notice Goza's more… demonic features.
Deciding she could figure it out another time, the girl allowed her gaze to wander over the other people who were gathered there. First she observed those who seemed to be on the council. Barring Goza, the guy that looked like Sasuke and the pale guy, the other council members consisted of a feral looking woman with red triangles under her eyes, a rotund red haired and armored man with swirls on his cheeks, a tall platinum blonde man with a serious face, a lazy looking black haired man with scars on his face, another pale man with white eyes and no pupil or iris to speak of, then there was another man who was wearing a high collared white trench coat and his eyes were covered by a pair of wraparound sunglasses. Rounding out the council was a man in a white porcelain mask shaped like a dragon in what she assumed was standard ANBU uniform, an auburn haired girl in a doctor's uniform with half moon glasses and the final member of the council was a very large dark skinned man with gigantic muscles, a rugged brown beard and almond colored eyes that seemed to constantly be squinting.
Her gaze then traveled over to observe what she assumed was the jounin of Konoha. For the most part there weren't many interesting ones to look at but there were a few that caught her attention.
The first one that she noticed was a female with long shoulder length untamed black hair, red eyes and pale skin. She also had purple eye shadow and red lipstick. However, it was what she was wearing that caught Kikioko's attention the most. The jounin was wearing what appeared to be a blouse made out of bandages with a thorn style to it that covered a red mesh top with one long red sleeve covering her right arm. Both of her hands were wrapped in bandages and even the shorts under her blouse seemed made out of bandages. Finishing her look was the standard Konoha headband and standard shinobi sandals.
'Wow…' Kiki thought as she stared a bit more at the woman. Shaking herself slightly, the girl allowed her eyes to fall onto the next jounin. This time Kiki could only blink in amazement at what she was looking at.
The next one was another female but she had purple hair tied in a peacock like ponytail with light brown pupiless eyes. However what really caught Kiki's attention was the woman's attire, or rather, the lack of it. The woman wore a tan trench coat along with a full body mesh suit and a skimpy orange dress that barely reached past mid thigh. Coupled with this look was a pair of white shin and wrist guards along with a pendant around her neck that looked like a snake's tooth. If that wasn't enough, the woman had a devilish smirk on her face and a light in her eyes that twinkled dangerously.
'Note to self' thought Kiki with a slight smirk 'find out woman's name as soon as possible'
The next one to catch our young lady's eye was a man who was wearing the standard Konoha ninja uniform, the flak jacket sipped up and the headband wrapped around his head. The man had a full black beard and spiky short black hair along with brown eyes. The most noticeable features about him were the cigarette in his mouth and the strange loincloth around his waist with the kanji for fire on it.
Kiki wrinkled her nose slightly at the man. The red head didn't particularly like cigarettes, she could barely stand Goza's occasional cigar as it was and the man in front of her seemed like a chain smoker.
Finally, Kiki's gaze landed upon the strangest jounin out of the bunch. He was wearing the standard uniform though he had fingerless gloves with metal plating on the back. The sandals were standard but that's where normalcy ended on this man. The guy had spiky silver hair that seemed to absolutely defy gravity; it just seemed to stand straight up! His headband, while located on his head, was also slanted so that it covered his left eye and he wore a face mask, covering up his nose, chin, mouth and jaw, leaving only one bored looking black eye to stare at a strange orange book in his hand.
Kiki had seen that book before but was told she was never allowed to read it until she reached a "respectable and mature age" or at least, that's what Goza had told her. All she knew was that the book both interested and enraged her for reasons she didn't understand. Before she could ponder this, though, she was brought from her musings as Iruka clapped his hands together.
"Now, lets get this tournament started," announced the chuunin, sending ripples of excitement through the academy students. "The first two fighters will be Aburame Shino vs. Kiba Inuzuka!" declared the instructor. Soon two boys entered the arena and Kiki recognized them as them as the dog boy and quiet kid from before. She deduced that the feral one must be Kiba leaving the quiet kid to be Shino.
"Alright you two, the rules are that you can't use any weapons or jutsu, hand to hand combat only, got it?" Iruka asked with an icy glare. Getting a nod from both boys, Iruka started the fight and leapt out of the way.
Immediately Kiba lunged at Shino, his clawed hands trying to slash the other boy across the chest. Shino however merely leaned back and raised his right leg for a kick towards Kiba's exposed left side. The foot connected and Kiba rolled with the blow, lessening the effect the kick would have had if he had stood still but damn did it hurt! Growling, Kiba dashed at Shino again and let loose a flurry of slashes against the shades wearing academy student. Shino for his part dodged a good number of them, but he didn't get out unscathed as there were a few tears in his coat that revealed some lightly bleeding claw marks.
"Ha! That a boy Kiba!" Tsume Inuzuka cheered on her son, a feral smirk on her face. "You've got a pretty good kid there Shibi," the matriarch commented towards the trench coat wearing man.
"Indeed," replied the man in a monotone though under his collar he was wearing a small smile.
The fight continued for a couple of minutes until it ended with Shino tossing Kiba out of the ring after he had grabbed the Inuzuka's leg. "Winner is Shino Aburame!" declared Iruka. There were some claps of appreciation for the boy while Shino went and helped Kiba up, both thanking each other for the fight.
"Next up is Hinata Hyuuga vs. Ino Yamanaka," Iruka called out. Everyone watched as a platinum blonde haired girl with a long ponytail entered the ring with a confident strut and flip of her hair. Kiki remembered her as being Ino which left the rather timid looking blue haired girl as Hinata. After getting a confirmation that both girls understood, Iruka began the match and left the arena.
"Come on Hinata, come at me with your best shot," Ino taunted as she took up the academy stance. Hinata however got into the beginning stance for her clan's taijutsu style and waited nervously for Ino to attack.
There was a few seconds of tense silence and anticipation, no one made a sound, no one moved a muscle as they watched the two females stare each other down.
Finally, Ino became impatient and launched herself at the Hyuuga heiress, right fist cocked back. The distance between the two was immediately eaten up and Ino let her fist fly. Hinata merely pushed it aside with her left arm and delivered a lightning quick palm strike to Ino's stomach.
The blonde girl gave a gasp of pain and stumbled a few steps away from Hinata, but the Hyuuga made no move to press her advantage, if anything, she looked for all the world like she wished she wasn't here.
Ino, thinking the Hyuuga was taunting her by not attacking, gave a furious growl and launched herself at the girl with a high kick aimed for Hinata's neck. Eyes widening, the pale eyed girl grabbed the approaching limb with both hands. The grils were then locked in a stalemate, Ino trying to push her leg through Hinata's gurad while said girls tried to throw the offending limb away.
Shikamaru, who was sitting at the front of the group around the ring, raised his hand palm upwards to Shino who was seated next to him. "Purple silk, pay up," he drawled lazily though there was a slight smirk on his lips as he stared towards the ring. Shino merely put several bills into Shikamaru's hand and continued to watch the fight.
Growling in frustration, Ino yanked her leg away from Hinata and went for a straight punch to the other girl's nose. Hinata once again dodged and with speed born from years of jyuuken training, delivered a chop to the back of Ino's neck, rendering the blonde unconscious.
"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata," Iruka declared proudly. Everyone congratulated the girl with either applause or some small cheers. This caused the shy girl to turn red and a small smile to creep upon her face. Turning towards where the council was seated however her face fell.
The pale man in the business suit upon seeing Hinata's forlorn face grew puzzled and turned his attention to where she was looking. Shifting his eye he saw that the girl was staring into the cold harsh unflinching gaze of one Hyuuga Hiashi.
Confused, the pale man tapped Fugaku Uchiha on the shoulder. The short brown haired Uchiha turned to the man with a curious look. "Can I help you Huxley-san?" asked the clan head.
Fredrick, for it was the reaper in a human disguise, nodded before pointing over towards Hiashi, "Would you mind telling me why Sir Hiashi is giving his daughter such an unsavory look?" he asked.
The Uchiha head looked over to Hiashi and frowned before turning back to the reaper with a slight scowl. "It is not my place to say what happens inside the Hyuuga compound, for that is Hiashi's business," Fugaku started, "However I will tell you this, it started with his wife's death and cemented with his brother's death," with that the Uchiha turned back to watch the upcoming fights.
Fredrick frowned as he heard those words. 'Why would the death of his brother and wife result in a hatred for his daughter?' wondered the reaper. It was not uncommon for an uneasiness to develop between a parent and chil after one parent died nor was it uncommon for the child and remaining parent to become almost inseparable, but for this level of cold disdain and borderline hatred to occur? The skeleton just shook his head and sighed, it was best to leave it be for now.
"Alright the next match will be," The chuunin glanced at his clipboard with a puzzled expression for a moment before shrugging, "Shikamaru Nara versus Sasuke Uchiha," he called out. Wordlessly, both boys got up and proceeded to the ring. "Begin," commanded the instructor and as soon as Iruka left the arena, Sasuke sprung into action and attacked Shikamaru with a straight jab that was followed up with a rising kick when Shikamaru deftly caught his opponent's fist.
With jarring force, the kick connected with the lazy boy's chin and the Nara fell flat on his back and made no move to get up. "Yo sensei," the boy drawled from his spot, eyes listlessly watching the clouds, "I give up,"
Everyone sweatdropped at the boy's words, though a good portion of them were not surprised, not even the council members or hokage were surprised barring Goza, Fredrick and Kikioko of course.
"Your son is quite the fighter, ne Fugaku-san?" Goza said the ever-present smile on his round face.
The Uchiha smirked slightly at the merchant's words. "Just as I'd expect from my sons, Goza, especially Sasuke," he responded.
"Oh?" inquired an amused demon, "And why would you expect it from Sasuke especially? From what I hear, Itachi seems to be the prodigy and pride of your clan," Goza responded casually, a slight twinkle in his green eyes.
Fugaku gave a low chortle, "True, Itachi is one of the best but Sasuke has something his brother doesn't," the Uchiha swiveled his head to look at Goza's curious expression and gave a slightly condescending smirk to the demon. "Don't think I'm going to tell you what it is though, that wouldn't be fun at all,"
The merchant simply laughed it off and turned back to watch the last two remaining fights, 'Now to see how those two can do in a fight' though the goblin, his thoughts reflecting that of a certain reaper's.
"Next up, Sakura Haruno versus Kikioko Atezuiryo," Iruka called. Not seconds after he had finished speaking the pink haired girl had appeared in the ring, glaring into the crowd as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.
Naruto watched with knots in his stomach as his friend calmly began walking towards the ring. As she passed, the red head gave him a small smile which the blonde weakly returned. Soon, Kikioko had stopped and was now staring at Sakura with a serene expression across her face while the pinkette killed her a thousand times over with her glare. This promised to be an interesting fight.
Iruka didn't even have to ask if the two were ready to fight and simply said "Begin" left the ring and waited for them to start.
"I'm going to enjoy beating you into the ground," Sakura declared as she settled into a ready pose.
Kiki just rolled her visible eye at the Haruno and sighed, "If this is about me slapping you than you deserved it," the red head replied.
Sakura growled at that and charged in for a haymaker to the face. The Atezuiryo then did something no one expected of an academy student.
As soon as Sakura let her fist fly, Kiki dodged the attack then quickly moved in and grabbed both of Sakura's shoulders. With an amazing demonstration of upper body strength and agility, the red head seemingly flipped over Sakura and as the back of her right foot came over Sakura, she put both feet on the girl's back and used Sakura as a makeshift springboard.
The pink haired girl gave a short gasp of pain as the red head sprang off of her spine. Turning, the last thing Sakura saw was one crystal blue eye and a fist.
Kiki frowned at the unconscious girl, slowly shaking her hand to dull the pain it received from decking her. "Damn that girls got a hard skull," she muttered to herself. Feeling something was off; the girl raised her head to see everyone staring at her with somewhat awed looks, Naruto being the most amazed while Goza just had a large grin on his face, one that showed off his giant razor sharp tombstone like teeth.
"Kiki-chan that was awesome!" exclaimed a voice and before she knew it Kikioko was in one of the warmest and most bone crushing hugs she had ever been in. The one giving the hug was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the biggest grin on his face as he crushed the girl.
"Ack! Ease up a bit you're crushing my spine Whiskers!" gasped the red head. Upon hearing this the blonde immediately let go and chuckled sheepishly, one hand rubbing the back of his head. "Sheesh whiskers, you trying to kill me?" she asked with mock hurt, a cute pout on her face as she regarded the jinchuuriki.
"No way! I'd never try to hurt you!" Naruto exclaimed head shaking from side to side in a blur of movement, he stopped however when he heard her giggle.
"I'm just kidding Naruto, besides if you even tried, well…" here she trailed off and gave him a look that promised pain, lots and lots of pain.
"Hehehe…" the boy chuckled nervously, 'Note to self, DON'T piss of Kiki-chan' thought the young shinobi to be.
A cough interrupted any further conversation and both children turned to see Iruka looking at them with an amused expression. "As touching as this scene is, its time for the next round," he said in a joking manner. Both blushed in embarrassment while Kiki gave Naruto a quick goodbye before dashing back into the crowd. "Alright since Naruto is already here, Chouji Akamichi please come to the ring," Iruka shouted.
While Chouji, a somewhat short and proudly chubby red headed boy, walked into the ring the council were speaking about the fight they had just witnessed, or rather, they were pestering Goza for details on what just happened.
"Goza-san, what exactly happened in that fight? I have never seen an academy student do something that your daughter has done," the large and brawny looking dark skinned man said. The man stood at an impressive six feet and 2 inches and was built like a bull. He was wearing a simple white shirt that in reality just acted like a second skin along with a brown apron covered in ash marks. Finishing his look was a pair of black boots and brown pants.
"Now why would I ruin the fun of a mystery, Seido-san?" asked the demon with a cheeky grin. "If I were to ask you how you forged your greatest weapons would you simply tell me without hesitation?" asked the demon.
Seido along with some of the others chuckled at that. "Point taken, Goza-san. I'd put myself out of business if everyone in Konoha knew how to make weapons. What use is a blacksmith in a village full of them?" asked the man earning some more chuckles from the group and nods of agreement.
"Regardless, skills like that are not common in an academy student," Hiashi interjected stoically, his cold white eyes boring into the round green ones of Goza's own mischievous orbs.
"Oh ho? So you think me and my family a threat eh?" chuckled the demon, the twinkle still in his eye. At this the mood immediately became uneasy. Spies were common things in the shinobi world and no village believed themselves free of them. To be accused of being a spy was a serious matter, one that could lead to bloodshed.
Hiashi merely narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps you have a guilty conscience Goza-san, I never said anything about you being a spy," he said smoothly.
Goza just chuckled at the man, "True, but I don't recall asking if you though we were spies Hiashi, I merely asked if you thought us a threat," he replied casually, a grin threatening to split his face as Hiashi inwardly seethed in anger at the demon's words while the other council members and hokage bit their tongues to keep from laughing. A simple merchant had just outsmarted Hiashi and made the Hyuuga clan head look like he was paranoid and scared of Goza's family.
"Needless to say Hiashi-san, my family is no threat to you so long as you do not give us a reason to become threatening," here the goblin let his smile take up almost all of his face, revealing those wickedly sharp white tombstone teeth. His green eyes also seemed to widen and take on an eerie yellow shine to his sclera, leaving only his pointy green ears and red fez to be seen by Hiashi for even with the Byakugan, Hiashi could only stare into that horrible smiling visage that took up everything in his sight. "I openly admit my family isn't normal but do you really want to mess with something you don't understand?" he asked in a near demented whisper that only Hiashi could hear.
However, the illusion was broken when Iruka shouted to begin and the match between Chouji and Naruto began. The Hyuuga head blinked as he noticed that no one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. If anything, the only one who seemed to have an inkling of what happened was Goza and himself, if the giant grin on Goza's face was anything to go by. Shuddering internally, Hiashi turned to watch the fight, never once noticing the icy blue eye of death staring at him with an amused twinkle.
'Never mess with goblins, especially Goza' thought Huxley with a small chuckle. 'Time to see what Naruto can do in regards to hand to hand combat' thought the skeleton as he turned back to the fight. He immediately frowned however when he saw how Naruto was fighting. 'This… is going to take some time to correct'
Naruto dodged a punch sent by chouji but took the following one full in the face. The blonde reeled back before growling and flying back at the large boy with an aimless punch. The red headed boy easily blocked the punch and retaliated with a kick but Naruto dodged and punched Chouji in the face.
The Akamichi stumbled back and the blonde jinchuuriki was immediately on him, sending a flurry of kicks and punches at the larger boy, all of them thrown with no accuracy and the fury of a man possessed. For his part, the larger boy held pretty well against the onslaught but Naruto, while being a bit malnourished, had more stamina than any other student or genin as well as strength equal to Chouji. In the end, the larger boy let his guard drop and was sent flying out of the ring with Naruto's next punch.
The blonde panted a bit till he started cheering at his victory causing some to roll their eyes, giggle or just ignore the deadlast as he cheered about his victory.
"It would seem that you have your work cut out for you boya," Goza spoke up to Fredrick.
The reaper simply sighed. "I just hope Echo receives my letter sooner rather than later," muttered the undead man, "from what I've seen, Naruto has combat skills equal to what you'd find in an Irish bar fight,"
Goza merely frowned as this Echo person was mentioned. "I still don't see why you asked that slug jockey for help, you and I are perfectly capable of teaching the boy what he needs to know," the demon complained then a smile graced his face, "Besides, an Irish bar fight is quite something from what I hear, a good brawl," he stated.
Huxley just palmed his face before slowly dragging it down his face. "Why can't you let go of that one game Goza?" he moaned.
"He cheated! I just know he did! No one beats me at my own game!" declared the pudgy creature. Fredrick just sighed and rapped the demon on the head with his cane. "Ow!"
Ignoring the demon's cry of protest Fredrick continued, "Besides, Echo has more experience than any other being besides the gods themselves and we just can't go pop in on one of them and ask for training," the Huxley paused, reaching into his suit to take out a pipe that he stuffed with some tobacco and lit with a simple snap of his fingers "Naruto could learn a lot from Echo, and the boy might be able to reignite the old boy's fire," Huxley stated before placing the pipe in his mouth and taking a couple of puffs.
Goza simply sighed and allowed a sad look to grace his normally cheery visage. "That fire has been extinguished for thousands of years Huxley," the demon replied tiredly.
"Ah but the beauty of life is that it can still be relit so long as we have the proper fuel and one simple spark," replied the reaper happily. Goza just snorted but allowed a smirk to grace his features. 'As much as you claim to dislike him, he is as much your friend as he is mine' thought the reaper with a smile.
Time passed as the rest of the students fought with each other and when Sakura finally regained consciousness she continually shot glares of pure loathing towards Kikioko. "Alright class," Iruka called out, "next we're going to test your weapon skills!" called the chuunin. The class merely nodded and began moving towards a different field, the council not far behind.
As they walked Kikioko decided to ask Naruto what weapons assessment entailed. "Hey Whiskers-kun," she greeted as she fell into line next to him.
"Hey Kiki-chan," he greeted back, though he wondered why she insisted on calling him whiskers. 'Then again is it so bad? At least she's not calling me demon or dobe' mused the boy as he continued to smile at the girl. Shrugging mentally he decided not to bring it up. Why lose one of his only friends over a nickname he actually preferred?
"So…" Kiki started, putting her hands behind her back as she looked up at the blue sky, "What weapon skills do you guys learn?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
The blonde blinked for a minute before taking up a thinking pose, one eye closed and the other screwed up to stare up and nowhere in particular while his face frowned in thought. "Well, if I remember correctly, Iruka-sensei said that all ninja should know how to use the basic weapons of the trade," the blonde said with a satisfied nod and smile.
Kiki tilted her head to the side cutely as she asked, "And what weapons are those?"
Naruto nearly fell over in surprise at that question. How could she not know about the most basic of ninja weaponry? Before he could respond though, the group had finally reached its destination and Iruka had called everyone's attention. "Alright class, first we'll test your throwing skills with kunai," here he held up a black dagger of sorts with a ring at the end of the white cloth wrapped handle and a spear like shape for the blade, " and shuriken," here the chuunin lifted his other hand to reveal a black bladed four point star like weapon with a ring in the middle. "When I call your name, take five of each and try to hit as close to the bull's-eye as possible," the teacher instructed as he gestured to the target set up about twenty yards away. "First up, Aburame Shino," he called.
While the students started, Goza and Huxley walked up to the hokage, the demon on the old man's left while Huxley was on his right. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes the aged military leader allowed a smile to grace his features. "So how are you enjoying yourselves so far?" he asked.
"I must say I'm mostly impressed with the students you have here, but there are a couple who leave more to be desired," Goza stated as he watched the Haruno girl take her turn. He frowned as he watched her do some decent throws but they were nowhere near the bulls-eye. The throws were mediocre at best.
The hokage sighed, "If you mean Shikamaru then I'm sorry but its just the way Nara men are,"
Fredrick chuckled at that, "Oh I know what you mean my friend, I remember when I had to reap a Nara, I gave him the choice of either taking the long and scenic route or be devoured," here he paused to take a puff of his pipe, "and that man, honest to God this is what he said. 'It'd be too troublesome to walk, so just hurry up and eat me so I can go back to watching the clouds'" the reaper laughed heartily while shaking his head. "Apparently I got one of the more energetic ones as other Nara souls would just ignore you in hopes you'd get bored and leave, but I digress, Shikamaru is not one of the people that need improvement," Fredrick finished.
The wizened ninja cocked an eyebrow at that, "Then you probably mean the civilian children and Naruto, correct?" he asked.
Goza nodded, his eyes never leaving the students as they tossed their weapons. "Naruto we already knew needs work and Fredrick has sent a letter to an old friend to help teach him," here the hokage's eyes widened before he put the impassive look on his face again, but he would be talking to the two later about this new person. "As for the civilian kids," they watched as a kid failed miserably at trying to hit the bulls-eye, Goza frowning slightly at the display, "They need a hell load of work if Naruto is deemed the dead last of his class," the green skinned man stated.
The hokage gave a sigh, "I've known this for a while now, but every attempt at rectifying the problem was blocked by the council," a slow smile started to spread across his features, "But not anymore. That's why I'm here now, so I can see how much change will be needed," the man finished with a grin.
Meanwhile, the females of the class, sans one red head and one blue haired girl, erupted into cheers as Sasuke Uchiha had just scored near perfect, hitting the bulls-eye 8 out of 10 times, quite the accomplishment for an academy student of two years. Iruka had merely nodded and complimented the boy before calling the next student. "Kikioko Atezuiryo," he called.
Kiki was about to go before she felt a hand pulling on her own. Turning she saw Naruto giving her a fox like smile. "Good luck Kiki-chan," he said.
Kiki merely giggled and smirked back at the blonde before heading up to the chuunin instructor.
Wordlessly, Iruka handed the kunai and shuriken over to Kikioko before stepping back, just in case. The girl stared at the kunai in her hand for a few seconds, testing its weight and balance. Nodding to herself the girl set the shuriken down and grabbed the other four kunai in her right hand as her left was reared back to launch the kunai. Everyone watched as the girl stood stock still, not moving an inch and her blue eye never leaving the target.
Suddenly, her left hand launched the kunai from her hand, sending the kunai screaming towards the target at an amazing speed and the knife was followed almost immediately by the other four kunai.
Thunk! ThuThuThuThunk!
Everyone stared amazed at the bull's-eye that had five kunai in it, all of them dead center. Kiki smiled at her accomplishment before reaching for the shuriken and readying to throw them.
Everyone waited with bated breath to see how she would do with the bladed stars. Kiki frowned as she reeled her arm back to throw the stars in one go. This time she hesitated for a split second before launching the stars. What happened next, no one expected.
Two of the shuriken flew straight and true and landed slightly outside the innermost ring of the target however three veered way off course and were whistling straight towards the hokage, Goza and Fredrick.
However before the hokage could ready himself to catch them and before Huxley could take evasive action (hide behind hokage) three green blurs shot from the sleeves of Goza's robe and struck all three throwing stars and pinned them to the ground, for the blurs had curved themselves towards the ground upon release.
The blurs, upon pinning themselves along with the shuriken into the ground, were revealed to be simple throwing knives, but they had a green sheen to them.
"Ah! Sorry! I'm not used to throwing those things! I'm really sorry Tou-san!" Kiki apologized franticly as she ran over to retrieve the knives and shuriken.
Goza merely laughed at the girls concern as he walked up to retrieve his weapons.
"Relax girly, you know how much I love to throw my knives around, besides this is a ninja village ne? Gotta keep on our toes some how," Goza stated waving his hands in a dismissive manner. Retrieving his knives he ruffled the girl's hair and said, "Besides that was some nice throwing you did, minus these babies of course," he complimented her as he gestured to the throwing stars.
Iruka had finally come over and was trying to apologize to Goza, but the demon waved him off. "Don't worry about it boya, but if you really want to make it up to me than you'll let me teach these kids a thing or two about knife work from time to time," the demon stated with a grin.
Iruka blinked at that while everyone but Kiki, Fredrick and the hokage stared at him strangely. "Umm, I'm sorry but I don't think you have the appropriate skill to teach these guys, I mean while what you did in stopping those shuriken was impressive you're not a ninja so…" the goblin rolled his eyes and proceeded to produce a pair of the strange green daggers from his sleeves.
"Fine, then I'll just show you what this merchant is capable of," Goza stated. "Pick a target, any target at all, and I'll hit it," Iruka just stared at him. The demon sighed before barking out, "Naruto! Pick a target,"
The blonde jumped in surprise for a second before blinking. Thinking for a second, the blonde looked around for a challenging target before his eyes landed on the jounin smoking a cigarette. "Hey! Jounin-san with the cigarette," he called. "Come over here real quick,"
Asuma, for that was his name, blinked before shrugging and walking over to the jinchuuriki. "What do you want kid?" he asked kindly.
"Can I borrow one of your cigarettes?" he asked. Asuma blinked and looked over to the hokage for support. The old fire shadow merely shrugged before giving a slight nod. The jounin wordlessly handed Naruto one of the death sticks and watched in wonder as the blonde dashed off towards a tree that was a hundred yards away from the main group.
"Alright Pointy Ears, I challenge you to nail this cigarette from where you are with one of those knives!" Naruto hollered at the demon, excited to see just what this guy could do. The blonde may be loud but he wasn't a fool. He recognized skill when e saw it and to take down three shuriken with three daggers all aimed for their rings and curved towards the ground… yeah that took skill that wasn't seen a lot.
The demonic peddler laughed heartily at this. "Alright boya! Don't flinch or you may end up like Huxley here!" he shouted back. With a face splitting grin, Goza grabbed the dagger in his right hand by its blade and drew back for the throw. Silence… then…
With speed that could rival the Hiraishin and Gai's top speed, Goza threw both knives and imbedded in the tree Naruto was next to, was two halves of a cigarette, the top half perfectly balanced on the blade while the bottom was embedded in the tree by the second green dagger.
For a while, there was silence as Goza just smirked at the gob smacked expressions of everyone around him. Then the silence was shattered by our favorite orange loving shinobi.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, all the while jumping around in excitement.
"Hahaha! That's not even the best part Naruto boya!" Goza called back. The group looked confused except for Fredrick and Kiki, who merely smiled.
Naruto however stopped jumping around when he heard that. "What do you mean Pointy Ears?" he shouted back. The merchant just grinned and pointed at the tree behind Naruto. Curious, Naruto turned to face the tree and went slack jawed at what had happened to it.
The wood had become white and dead while the leaves had become black and shriveled, and were falling to the ground in droves, disintegrating before they hit the ground.
Naruto stepped back in sheer amazement at what he was seeing while everyone had varying amounts of surprise on their faces. The hokage was especially amazed. "What the hell kind of poison did he just use?" he whispered to himself, but the pale man next to him heard it all the same.
"That my friend was no poison," the reaper stated. "That was youki, more specifically, Goza's youki,"
The hokage blinked as he watched Iruka and Goza discuss possible times when the merchant could come teach the kids knife work. "What exacty do you mean by his youki, Fredick? I thought youki was simply the demon form of chakra," the hokage aasked surprised.
Fredrick merely laughed. "True but there are a lot of differenced between chakra and youki, but that is a lesson for another day," he stated. Sarutobi seemed a bit put off by the quick dismissal of his inquiries but he could wait. Today promised to be exciting enough, the last thing the old man needed was a lesson in demons. Sighing in seeming disappointment the hokage watched as the last student went up to the throwing range, the last student just happened to be one Naruto Uzumaki.
Excited and inspired by the earlier display Goza had put on, Naruto grabbed the kunai with a wide smile, his blue eyes glinting with excitement. However before the blonde threw his kunai and shuriken with reckless abandon like he usually would, he stopped and thought for a second. 'Kiki-chan and Pointy ears stopped and did something before they threw their weapons' thought the boy, the picture of Kiki standing with the knife poised to throw and her eyes locked onto the target flashing through his mind. Slowly, the blonde placed all the weapons down except for one kunai.
Slowly, Naruto raised the knife in a throwing position and locked his eyes onto the target, more specially, the red center of the target. Naruto ignored the stares of incredulity and curiosity he was receiving, ignored the mutterings that spoke against him.
Then, the blonde felt a tug, an instinct telling him to throw, and so he did. The knife whistled through the air at an impressive speed and…
THUNK!
Everyone who had known of Naruto's skills were stunned, shocked, flabbergasted even, but none more so than Naruto was. The kunai had hit the bullseye dead center.
For a moment, Naruto just stood there, slightly slack jawed before he quickly grabbed the next knife and repeated the process, this time slightly faster. The knife flew through the air and once again hit dead center.
Excited beyond belief, the blonde grabbed the last three knives and fired them all in quick succession. Sadly, the knives did not hit the center but they instead bordered the innermost ring, while this in it self was fairly average, it was an accomplishment of grand proportions for the dead last who would be lucky just to hit the outer most ring with one kunai.
Naruto, who could barely contain his excitement, quickly grabbed the shuriken and once again took aim before throwing. Feeling the tug once more, the blonde fired all five shuriken in quick succession and watched in wonder as two landed in the bullseye while the rest landed along the second innermost ring. Again, it was rather average if not a little below but to Naruto, it was one of his greatest accomplishments in life so far, second only to making a friend in Kikioko.
"YATTA! I'm so freakin awesome!" shouted the blonde ecstatically, fist pumped in the air as he began to jump around in celebration at his accomplishment. A good portion of the group present either rolled their eyes at the deadlast or laughed in amusement at the blonde's antics.
'Hehehe, I knew this kid was interesting. I'm gonna be making bank sooner than I thought if this keeps up' Goza thought with a grin as he rubbed his hands together greedily.
'Well it seems Naruto is an observational and kinetic learner' Fredrick mused.
"Way to go Whiskers!" Kiki shouted while giving her friend a slap on the back in congratulations.
Naruto just grinned, but it soon vanished at the next words of Iruka. "Alright class, now that weapons is done, we'll be doing a ninjutsu assessment so I want everybody to come up and henge themselves into whatever form they wish," Iruka stated.
This time, the students just lined up in no particular order. This allowed Kiki and one extremely twitchy Naruto to stay in the back. This didn't go unnoticed by Kiki so the girl decided to ask what was bugging the young jinchuuriki.
"Why ya twitchin' so bad, Whiskers-kun?" she asked, head once again tilted to the side in confusion.
The blonde jumped a bit at the question and mentally debated whether or not to tell her. Sighing the blonde turned to her and replied, "I suck at ninjutsu," he admitted with a shamed look, Kiki blinked but opted to remain silent until the boy finished.
Seeing that Kiki was waiting the boy sighed. "I can't make a clone to save my life, they always come out wrong, and that's putting it mildly," he began, "My substitution isn't too bad but I always just end up making the object I'm switching with either break apart or just appear in front of me like a shield, I can never switch with it properly," here the blonde grimaced, remembering how the log he had used last time just exploded from chakra overload. Some students still couldn't remove some of their splinters.
"So what about this Henge thing?" asked the Atezuiryo as she watched another student transform into a replica of Iruka. "I don't blame you if you can't do that one, it looks hard for those who aren't shapeshifters," she commented.
Naruto threw up his hands in annoyance at hearing that. "That's what I told Iruka-sensei, but he keeps saying that it's the easiest one out of all three!" ranted the blonde. "How the hell is it easier to change into something than it is to switch places with a god damned log!"
SMACK
"ITAIII!" shouted the blonde who was now holding his head in pain on the ground.
"Thou shalt not speak ill of the most holy log!" declared the loud voice of Sarutobi Hiruzen as he brandished a brown leather book with a log on it above his head. The aged hokage however was dressed in black priest robes instead of his usual hokage robes and he wasn't wearing his hat which let everyone see his mostly bald head and the white hair that stood straight out on the sides of his head along with his perfectly pointed white beard. All in all, he looked a bit demented and ridiculous without the hat, but that's just this author's opinion (And mine!-Echo)
Goza just blinked before erupting into raucous laughter at the sight before him as the old fire shadow began lecturing young Naruto about the holiness that is the log. The demon had been listening in on the conversation and relaying their words to both Sarutobi and Fredrick so that they could get a grasp on where Naruto was in regards to ninjutsu. None of them were surprised the boy couldn't do the basic Bunshin no Jutsu, as the technique needed only a small amount of chakra to work but because Naruto had a bijuu in him, he'd never be able to do the simple clone technique without years of chakra control practice and even then it would be like forcing a tsunami through a straw. Then when they heard about the substitution problem they had been slightly concerned, well Fredrick and Goza had been concerned while Sarutobi went into respectful mourning for the death of the log.
However both Fredrick and Goza had been surprised to hear the boy had trouble with the Henge. The boy had a Kitsune sealed in him, transformation should be a simple thing for him! Heck, it should be easy for any tailed beast jinchuuriki period! Their demons could alter their from whenever they wished so shape shifting should be no real challenge for ones such as them!
"Umm hokage-sama," Iruka spoke nervously. Hiruzen stopped his preaching of the log and turned to face the chuunin. "As important as it is to respect the log we really need to assess both Naruto and Kikioko and time is running a short soo…" here he trailed off with a nervous grin.
The man merely nodded before walking back to stand at the forefront of his group once more, still in his priest robes. "Right then," Iruka stated awkwardly, "Since time is running out, Naruto, you and Kiki will go at the same time," he stated. "Kiki if you can't do the jutsu then that's fine as you are a new student,"
"Eh, I'll give it a shot, I think I get the basic concept," the girl chirped. With that, the red head did the seals she had seen the others perform while simultaneously gathering her chakra to perform what she wanted. Finishing the girl proclaimed "Henge!" and was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared there stood a replica of Naruto. However, the girl was missing a whisker mark on each cheek and the hair color was still red plus she was missing the prayer beads that were around the original's neck.
"Very good work for a first timer," Iruka complimented the girl as she released the technique with a burst of smoke that dispersed to reveal a smiling Kikioko. The teacher then turned to Naruto. "Now its your turn Naruto and no funny business, got it?" stated the chuunin to the boy.
"Yeah, yeah give it a rest," Nauto said with a dismissive wave, "You're like an old lady you know that right?" the boy inquired cheekily. Te chuunin glared at the blonde as several tic marks developed on his head while everyone else just giggled. "Alright lets do this!" Naruto declared before putting his hands in the tora seal. "Henge!" shouted the boy. Once again, smoke appeared and engulfed the Uzumaki when it cleared it showed a rather… interesting sight.
Naruto was still Naruto… somewhat but the hair had become long and was divided into two side ponytails and his face had taken softer features, feminine actually. That was actually the best word to describe Naruto's transformation, for the Uzumaki had henged into a girl! Thankfully he… she… Naruto was clothed but dang! Naruto made a pretty cute girl!
Iruka blinked at the henge before sighing in exasperation. "Naruto, while this is a fairly decent henge you've missed the entire concept of it,"
"Eh?" exclaimed the blonde before shifting back into original form, causing the eyes of Fredrick and Goza to widen in surprise. "What do you mean missed the point! I transformed just like you told us to!" he shouted.
"True and its definitely an improvement but the entire point of the henge is to take on a different form altogether, not a female version of yourself," seeing the depressed look settling over Naruto, Iruka sighed before smiling at the boy, "Though I do commend your ability to do it with only the tora handsign," he finished warmly. The blonde grinned in response to this. Iruka merely shook his head at them, "Alright class, head on back inside for the written part then head home, I'll have your rankings up tomorrow," he called. Turning the instructor bowed to the council, "If that is all hokage-sama I will hae their test scores on your desk withing the next few hours should you require them," he stated formerly.
The hokage, who had changed back to his kage robes, merely chuckled at the chuunin, "That would be good if you could get them to me as soon as you can but don't rush the children to do it,"
"Hai, as you wish sir," Iruka replied before bowing and walking off with his group. Nodding to himself, the old fire shadow made a half tiger seal before vanishing in a swirl of leaves along with the rest of the council in a mass shushin. It was time to determine the future of the Academy.
A/N: And done! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I got hung up on writing this and well, life in general. Fun fact though, I figured out I can go from one side of my town to the other in about an hour so long as I keep a steady pace and move in a straight line. Anyway read and review and be sure to check out my other stories!