A few years had passed by and now Naruto was twelve, going on thirteen. He had grown over the years, standing an inch over five feet and wearing clothing that was pure white that strangely enough didn't have a single scuff or dirt clod on it.
Currently, he was sitting in the academy for the final day so he could become a gennin.
'Why the hell do I have to sit through all this crap again?' Naruto thought to himself as he waited for Iruka to call his name for the test.
"Because last year you thought it was so important to train that you forgot that you could have graduated." Zagger commented, figuring he throw it into Naruto's face as an 'I told you so'.
Naruto twitched at his twee and wanted to throttle it, but it was hard to do that to something that lived within your very essence. 'Hey, I remember you saying that training was important.'
"I won't say otherwise, but I did tell you not to skip class. Then we could have graduated and been doing some serious training."
'OUR TRAINING HASN'T BEEN SERIOUS! NO FUCKING WAY! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!' Naruto mentally screamed as all the images of the training, sometimes more like torturing and tormenting sessions, popped into his head.
"WHAT THE HELL?! SHUT THE FUCK UP NINGEN! I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP!" Kyuubi yelled out as the sudden scream had woken her up in a very unpleasant fashion.
"I just told him I haven't been training him to the full potential of his abilities." Zagger commented humorously.
Kyuubi only snickered. "Oh! I've been wondering when you were going to let the damnable human know about that."
'WHAT THE HELL?! WHY ARE YOU TWO TALKING TO EACH OTHER LIKE YOU KNOW EACH OTHER?!' Naruto yelled at both Kyuubi and his twee, already haven been told about Kyuubi by his twee two years back, Zagger realizing that Naruto needed to be somewhat mature to tell him, and ended up confronting the fox days afterwards.
They weren't exactly on the best terms, but Kyuubi had come to accept that if Naruto died, she would die too. So she tolerated Naruto and helped give him a push in the right direction despite wanting him to use her power more then his own.
"Don't think he's limited to only talking to you as I'm apart of you to. And he is the only other intelligent being in this body and I need company." The fox demon spoke in a rather annoyed tone, wanting to go back to sleep.
"She is very intelligent and most of my best ideas have come from her, mainly Shinra Tensei as we still wouldn't have figured it out without her. And after a while with only talking to you, I need someone else to talk to! I was going insane for a while." Zagger added on, emphasizing his last two sentences.
"Okay... My twee and the fox are apparently going out and my training hasn't have been as tough as it can be. Perfect." Naruto whispered to himself as soon as he shut off his mental link with the two, getting way too confused.
"Naruto stop talking to yourself and get down here! I've already had to let Ino go in front of you as you were in another dimension!" Iruka yelled at Naruto, getting annoyed that the blonde had ignored him calling upon him, once more.
He understood there was something about the blonde and the fact that he shouldn't still be an academy student, but he was still in his class and he wasn't going to treat him any differently then the other students. Mizuki on the other hand...
"Hai, hai. Keep your pants on Iruka-sensei. Wouldn't want to let anyone know you're going commando again." Naruto commented loudly as he walked down to the front while Kiba turned pale as a ghost.
Iruka did as well; however, he turned blood red a second later. "DAMMIT NARUTO! THAT WAS YOU THIS MORNING!"
"Believe what you want." Naruto stated as he went through a few hand seals. "It is Clone, right?"
The room was suddenly filled with mirror images of Naruto in a line, wall to wall. Iruka's mouth closed as he was about to confirm it was while Mizuki's dropped as he had a hard time creating that many in one go.
Quickly regaining his wits, Iruka nodded as he marked down on his clipboard. "Yes and that was far more then necessary. Now if you can show me a Replacement, a Transformation or a jutsu that is at least D-rank or above, E-rank if cleverly applied."
With the same hand seal, Naruto used a simple transformation and turned into a nude young woman with red hair and a large set of breasts.
Needless to say, both Iruka and Mizuki were knocked back and out of their chairs by nose bleeds as were some of the more perverted male students, some female students as well.
However, Naruto was forced to quickly transform back as both Kyuubi and Zagger began to tirade in his head.
"HOW DARE YOU USE MY BODY FOR YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT?! I WILL TEAR YOU APART IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"
"Don't ever use that again without it being absolutely necessary and we'll tell you when that time has come!"
After they were finished, this left Naruto confused. 'Wait, how the hell do I know what she looks like naked? I thought she was just a giant fox.'
The links were suddenly cut as both realized how he knew what she looked like, leaving Naruto out to dry as Iruka jumped up. "NARUTO THIS ISN'T A JOKE SO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! I SHOULD JUST THROW YOU OUT NOW AS THAT WAS A CHEEP AND DIRTY TRICK!"
Thinking on his feet, Naruto quickly came up with a logical answer. "Well, that it may be sensei, but it works and you two could have very well have been killed by the next move as your defenses were completely dropped."
As Iruka tried to find a comeback, Mizuki stood up and shook his head. "He has a point there. He could have simply stuck kunai into us while we were down and we would be dead. It is an effective distraction even if it is a little improper."
Being unable to deny either of their statements, Iruka grumbled before picking up a headband and throwing it Naruto. "You pass, but don't use that any where near some of the jounin kunoichi. They would castrate you during a burning crucifixion for that."
"I think I might like these women. They know how to torture people." Kyuubi commented, linking back up with Naruto's conscious mind with his twee.
"Stay away from them at all cost. The likeliness of death is 99.974242324..."
Naruto cut the link between the two of them, still wondering how he knew what Kyuubi looked like naked. The fact that Kyuubi was a chick wasn't lost on him, but he was taking on one problem at a time.
Tying the headband to his forehead, he took his seat before Iruka sighed as he looked over the class. He liked this class for the most part and was probably going to be one of the most successful and his personal favorite unless a better came along, which he doubted would be for a long time.
"As of today, all of you have graduated, so congrats are in order. However, you will still have to come here one last time tomorrow to be put on your gennin squads, which I will go over tonight. And before all you leave, I will name the number one of both shinobi and kunoichi before announcing the Rookie of the Year."
Seeing the close get quiet, except for Naruto who was off in his own little world at the moment, Iruka shook his head. "The top kunoichi is Haruno Sakura and the top shinobi is Uzumaki Naruto, who will be this year's Rookie of the Year."
The sudden silence turned into a unanimous chorus of "WHAT?!" by Sasuke, Kiba, a few other passing gennin of no significance and Sasuke's fan girls. Even Naruto was mildly surprised as he really didn't try in the class, having taken it last year.
Sighing as he rubbed his forehead and ignoring the look of shock on Mizuki's face, knowing the chunin to have a grudge against the fox demon, therefore most likely Naruto, he responded as if it was rehearsed. "It really wasn't a contest. Naruto was just that much better then everyone in all practical and was even with Sakura and Shikamaru, when he tried, in academics."
As Shikamaru muttered troublesome under his breath, Iruka rolled his eyes before continuing as he gathered his clipboard and papers. "Not to mention that he would have been last year's Rookie of the Year if he hadn't skipped out the final semester of class and did his own training, so don't be so shocked that he won. Now be back here tomorrow at twelve for team placement. Bye."
With that, the dolphin flickered away in a swirl of leaves. The next to follow was Naruto, flickering away in a similar fashion except it was leaf-less.
Appearing in his favorite place, Naruto grinned as he stretched out his arms seeing his favorite person. "Ayame, I'm home!"
Ayame only huffed at him as she stood behind the counter while Teuchi only smiled seeing his favorite customer. "Might as well be your home. I've never seen you go home before."
"Semantics. Now three bowls before I have to run from the mob of Sasuke fan girls that will want to lynch me." Naruto ordered as he sat on a stool, next to a large man that looked eerily similar to Chouji. "Chouza, my man!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll spot you this time." Chouza stated with a smile on his face, knowing what the blonde was already going to ask. He was so predictable when he was here and the boy was like a second son and one of Chouji's best friends.
Speaking of Chouji, the boy was rolling towards them panting while Shikamaru was an entire block behind them. In an instant, the boy was on the stool next to Naruto. "Ayame, twelve bowls please!"
Chouza was chuckling once more, but he waited for Shikamaru to arrive before he spoke. "So seeing that all three of you are here, how'd you do?"
"Fine, dad. We all passed and Naruto was named Rookie of the Year... Oh man! I think I was followed here by some of Sasuke's mob!" Chouji was excited at the beginning before he was suddenly dreading the eventual-ness of being chased by the mob.
"Nah. I would be more worried about Sasuke himself." Shikato spoke as he walked in with Inoichi besides him. "Hm... Where's Ino?"
"Probably with the said mob." Inoichi chuckled to himself as he took a seat besides Chouza as Shikato sat besides him, who was nodding.
Naruto nodded in agreement as his three bowls of ramen arrived and scarfed them down quickly. "Yeah, Sasuke is probably going to challenge me when he realizes that I was the best... Not that it was a challenge with my twee and all."
"Naruto, don't talk about that out loud. If others learned about it, they would be demanding you for one." Shikamaru commented as he reached over Chouji and slapped him in the back of the head.
The slap barely fazed the blonde as he was already finished with his bowls. "Bah! They would learn how forceful I could be if they did."
The three adults nodded as Naruto was telling the truth there, especially with his emphasis on forceful knowing it meant his two most powerful techniques.
Over the last few years, the boys had become good friends as Naruto fit right into their system. He kept up with Chouji's appetite and he was just as lazy as Shikamaru when he didn't feel like doing anything. He did butt heads with Ino, but so did Chouji and Shikamaru when it came down to it.
But it was his arrival into the group that made him nearly as beloved in Ino's eyes, possibly equal if not greater if they didn't butt heads so often. He had gotten both Chouji and Shikamaru to train more seriously, herself included. As a result, Shikamaru wasn't as lazy and attempted to work every now and then while Chouji was still the largest kid in their class, but not by much.
"NARUTO!" Ino's voice came from behind.
The said blonde turned around before catching a CD thrown at him as Ino sat down next to Shikamaru. Naruto blinked for a moment as it was the CD he asked her for, but didn't think she would have given it to him after the results. "Um, aren't you mad at me? And where is Sakura?"
"Of course I mad, idiot! You should have graduated last year! ...But, I kind of figured you would be the Rookie of the Year. I mean, I've never seen someone with your power before." Ino yelled somewhat angrily before ending in an exasperated sigh as she had grudging respect for the blonde's skill and abilities.
"And Sakura is currently trying to lead the mob to another one of your hotspots as she knows we're here. So thank her the next time you get a chance." Ino answered his other question as the pink haired kunoichi was added to their group after she helped Chouji when other students were trying to pick on him once more.
The pink haired Sakura was probably the oddest of the group mainly because it seemed she didn't click all that well with anyone but Ino. However, after some work and some time, she adjusted and gotten use to Shikamaru and Chouji and had hit it off with Naruto.
Simply shrugging his shoulder, Naruto knew better then to say anything as that was as good of a compliment as he was going to get from Ino since she became one of Sasuke's fan girls. Pulling out a portable CD player, he decided to give her an answer anyways. "I know, but I didn't believe I was ready to graduate, despite Zagger saying otherwise."
This only made Ino twitch before sighing once more. "I don't see how. You've held your own with..."
"Ino, don't talk about it in public. You don't know who might be listening in." Inoishi stopped his daughter from continuing, sensing that someone was listening on their conversation and was decently skilled, for a gennin.
Naruto also caught this before sighing as he knew the Uchiha had been following him recently, trying to figure out why the blonde was more successful then he was.
Standing up and stretching his limbs out, Naruto yawned before placing the ear buds into his ears. "Well I'll be seeing you tomorrow I guess. I still have to improve what I have so far. My pull is outstanding but my push is giving me trouble still."
Understanding what he said, both the elder and younger Ino-Shika-Chou knew what he was talking about and gestured him a goodbye in different fashions.
But as he left, he turned on the walkman and purposely stood besides Ino, starting to shake his hips. "I'm on fire and now I think I'm ready..."
"NARUTO!" Ino yelled out and nearly punched Naruto in the face as a fierce blush blemished her face.
It, however, simply slowed down before Naruto moved his head out of the way. As he smirked at the blush at Ino's face, he could see the widening of all three of the parents' eyes seeing what happened.
Before he could press play on his walk off as the adults went into shock, Ino stopped him by grabbing his arm and pulling an ear bud out of his ear, her blush now even darker, whether it from his song or by what she was about to say. "By the way, Sakura wants a date for saving you from dealing with the lynch mob."
"Hai, hai. Tell her I'll pick her at eight." Naruto commented before putting his headphones back in. Then he simply turned around and shook his waist while singing the words of the song, leaving all of them to sweat drop as he left.
"Tell me that you're alright... Everything is alright." Naruto sang to himself, dancing as he walked to the academy, ignoring everyone looking at him as if he was insane.
He could only smirk as at least they were paying attention to him now. While it wasn't positive attention, it wasn't negative either except for the 'What in the world?' looks they were giving him.
"I will never understand you humans. If this is what you call music, bah!" Kyuubi complained, not liking the song at all and despite her protests, he continued listening to it anyways.
Naruto simply played the music louder, to annoy the said fox, before the academy was well in view. Seeing a familiar face glaring and seemingly waiting for him, the blonde sighed before pulling out his ear buds and putting away his walkman. "What do you want Sasuke? Team placements are in ten minutes."
"Fight me, Uzumaki." Sasuke stated; his hands clenched tightly as his onyx eyes gazed into Naruto's Rinnegan.
Sighing again, Naruto gave Sasuke a pitying look as other graduate heard this and slowly began to slink their way towards them. "Sasuke, your arrogance is asinine. You know..."
"I don't care. I know you are strong and well deserving of the title as it means nothing to me. But I've seen nothing to warrant you to be so much superior then everyone, myself included. I want to prove at least that much, even if I can't beat you." Sasuke stated; his eyes burning brightly as he was determined to fight Naruto.
At first, Naruto didn't seem too moved by Sasuke's words but after a moment, he sighed as he knew this would happen sooner or later. Just as he was about to respond, a girl that was in Sasuke's fan club chimed in. "Of course you can win Sasuke! He just won by default!"
As Sasuke gave her a cold glare, Naruto took a few steps back and widened his stance. "Then let's hurry this up. I don't want to be late of team assignment."
"Don't use Shinra Tensei..." Zagger tried to state before Naruto quickly interrupted him.
'I know. It is too dangerous to use it offensively against friendly competition, even if I could use it without it backfiring. I'll stick with using it as a defense.'
Not hearing anything else from Zagger or Kyuubi, Naruto simply waited for Sasuke to make the first move as the raven slid into his stance.
As the two stood waiting for the other to make a move, the same girl that spoke before did so again, this time standing with most of the fan club, boosting about how Sasuke was going to win to the rest. "Watch, Sasuke is going to win so quick. I wouldn't be surprised if he won in the first move."
"I doubt that." Sakura's voice chimed in as she walked up with Ino, shaking her head having a good idea of the outcome already. She had warned Naruto this would happened the day before as she had spied on Sasuke, for personal reasons of course.
Another of the girls from the fan club spoke, criticizing Sakura's sudden change of heart. "Oh come on Sakura! You're one of the Sasuke's biggest followers!"
Not denying it, Sakura simply shrugged her shoulders. "I might be, but you forgot that I'm also part of Naruto's fan club too and happen to know him way better then I know Sasuke."
Ino nodded, being in the said club as well, before sighing. "This won't be a contest. I've trained with Naruto before with Chouji and Shikamaru... If this fight is decided in one move, it will be Naruto who wins in one."
As some of Sasuke's fan club couldn't believe what they heard from two of the biggest members in it, Sasuke was the first to get impatient and attack, using kunai to try and lure Naruto into counter attacking.
However, to the amaze of everyone there, they simply bounced away from him as if they were repelled by something. Not sure how to respond to this, Sasuke quickly followed with a flurry of quick seals and breathed a heavy stream of flames towards Naruto.
"Katon: Gokakyu!"
As the flames rushed around Naruto, everyone was simply amazed once more as Naruto simply stood in the middle unflinching and seemingly unharmed from the blaze that was consuming him.
Watching in utter shock, Sasuke wasn't sure what to do next as he had never seen what Naruto had done before as the dust cleared. The blonde still hadn't moved and he hadn't even left so much as a burn on him.
Knowing that he had to make a move if he wanted to stand a chance, he was going to go with hand-to-hand seeing that his long range arsenal wasn't going for him.
As he neared Naruto, he suddenly felt his own momentum was increasing as if something was pulling on him. Not sure what this was, he was about to alter his attack when his feet left the ground and continued heading towards the blonde against his own will, not noticing that Naruto's hand was extended towards him.
Before he could even react, a kunai appeared in Naruto's other hand and just before Sasuke was on him. He kneed the Uchiha in the stomach before placing the bladed end of the ninja knife against Sasuke's shoulder just as the boy fell to his knees, the wind knocked out of him.
Seeing the raven trying to stand, Naruto put some pressure on the kunai, cutting into the cloth and placing the blade tightly against his flesh. "Sasuke, this fight is over. I could have just as easily stabbed this into your heart instead of kneeing you."
Removing the kunai from Sasuke's shoulders, Naruto looked up and noticed a few jounin standing on top of the academy. Knowing that they were going to be the jounin instructors, Naruto simply shook his head and sighed before walking in, leaving almost everyone stunned at what happened.
"Oh my god, oh my god! Naruto won in one move like Ino said!" The first fan club girl stated in an overwhelmed tone, not sure how Sasuke was beaten so handily and was feeling giddy and oddly excited by what she had just seen.
Ino wanted to tell them that Naruto had actually used three but decided not to as there was no real reason to give that information away. Besides, it looked better for him if she didn't say anything, knowing a few of the girls would be switching fan clubs real quick.
As everyone piled into the class room, Sasuke being the last as he was still in disbelief on how quickly he was beaten, Iruka smiled as he pulled out his clipboard. "Good afternoon class. This will be the last day you see me... Well at least as a teacher. We might end up having missions together later on."
"Anyways, let's get to the team assignments. Team one..."
"That wasn't half bad use of your abilities. I think you could have used the reflection to end the fight and not have had to absorb his fire jutsu." Zagger commented after he had gone over all the fine details of the battle and had analyzed them.
"Still, we need to practice more on Shinra Tensei before continuing work on the other. It has, by far, the most offensive potential and your offense is lacking despite having a near perfect defense."
'Yeah, yeah. We'll get work on that after learning who my team and sensei is and whatever else is after.' Naruto responded while trying to listen to the teams called as he was waiting for his name.
"Team seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino and Haruno Sakura." Iruka stated before a loud "YES!" came from Sakura's direction as she jumped up with her fist pumped into the air, eerily similar to Naruto's fist pump.
Iruka just rolled his eyes before naming the next team. "Team eight, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata and Akimichi Chouji."
Quite pleased with his team and thinking of how it could work, Naruto missed Iruka's next team he called before catching the final team. "And team ten will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Inuzuka Kiba."
"Now that all of you know your teams, your jounin instructors will drop by to pick you up soon, unless your instructor happens to be Hatake Kakashi. Then you will be waiting her for the next two to three hours." Iruka state being dead serious making every single gennin dread, hoping he wasn't there instructor.
However, the first batch came quickly, a woman with dark brown hair, almost black, being at the front. "Team eight, come with me please."
Sighing in relief he wouldn't have to deal with the one eye cyclops as a sensei, Naruto quickly followed after the brown haired kunoichi along with Chouji and Hinata.
Once they were outside the academy, the kunoichi led them towards the academy training ground and had them sit at a picnic table. As they sat, she gazed over her three students, studying their postures to learn more about them.
After a moment of silence, she suddenly smiled before speaking in a melodious voice. "Alright you three, I am your jounin instructor as you know. Before we even start getting to training and missions, we must first get to know one another and the first step on that way is to introduce ourselves. Seeing as I'm the senior here, I'll start first."
"I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, also known as the genjutsu mistress of Konoha."
"And the Ice Queen of Konoha... Sorry, that just came out." Naruto commented before apologizing, knowing what the woman could do him with her illusions alone and didn't want to be at the wrong end of one.
Kurenai twitched at Naruto's response before sighing understanding how the blonde heard the name. "Yes, I am known by that name as well through the men in Konoha. Just please don't call me that again, I don't like the name."
"Hai." All three stated as they understood her reasoning.
"Anyways, as my nickname suggest, I excel in genjutsu with almost no one within the village rivaling my abilities. I'll admit I still need to work on my ninjutsu and hand-to-hand, but I'm still proficient enough to defeat those who could negate my illusions. I happen to like working on bettering myself as a ninja and hanging out with my friends, particularly Anko and Yugao."
Seeing how Naruto paled at Anko's name, Kurenai reminded herself to ask why later. "I dislike all the guys that call me the Ice Queen just because I wouldn't go out with them. I also hate open perverts and go out of my way to punish them. I don't mind guys being perverted as it is natural for everyone to be so, but the least they can do is hide it."
"Finally, I have a few dreams, one being known throughout the world for my skills, not just my illusions. After that happens, I wouldn't mind settling down with the man I love and having a few kids." Kurenai finished with a smile on her face.
"Now you don't have to do it like how I did, but just give enough so we can get to know you a little better. Hinata, seeing as I know you, why don't you go first." Kurenai spoke once more, choosing the Hyuuga heiress first due to the training she gave the young girl outside of the academy.
Nodding timidly, Hinata took a deep breath before starting in a soft voice as she fiddled with her fingers. "Hi, my name is Hyuuga Hinata, heiress to the Hyuuga clan. I only know my family's taijutsu outside of the jutsu taught in the academy s-so I'm not really sure what I'm good in."
Gaining some confidence after hardily stumbling over her words, Hinata continued with her voice being a little louder and stopped fiddling with her fingers. "I like taking care of p-people and making them feel better. I really don't have anything I dislike other then people who belittle others for no r-reason."
"And I really don't have a dream yet. I just really want to make my family happy and get a certain someone to notice me..." At the end, Hinata trailed off with a deep blush scorning her face as her seemingly pupil-less eyes gazed towards Naruto for a brief second before turning away.
Kurenai, however, caught this quick glance and had to smile, thanking Iruka for putting the boy on the same team with her. It would do wonders for the girl's confidence and even if they didn't become anything more then friends, they would still have a close connection as teammates you were given as a gennin were, more times then not, like family.
Turning to Chouji, she motioned for him to go next before frowning as she noticed he was eating a bag of potato chips. "Can you stop eating those for a moment? After the meeting is done, you can eat again, okay?"
Seeing he was up, the large boy sighed as he put his chips away before nodding. "Alright, I'm Akimichi Chouji. I'm only really good in hand-to-hand combat with my strength and my family's jutsu and I would like to have a few jutsu that could help me if I happen to get stuck in a long range fight."
"I really like my friends, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru and Ino as they are the ones to ever stand up for me. I also love going out to eat at an all you can eat buffet as the food is good, but the quantity is absolutely divine!" Seeing the look on Chouji's face and the small amount of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth, the both females had sweat drops falling from their heads while Naruto only nodded in agreement.
Returning to reality, Chouji finished his introduction off with a smile. "And for dreams, I want to help my friends achieve their life long goals and start an all you can eat restaurant of my own that serves any and everything so anyone could come in and eat."
Smiling at Chouji, Kurenai was so far very pleased with her team and now it was for the final member to introduce himself. Turning to Naruto, she motioned for him to go. "You're up Naruto."
"Alright!" Naruto stated loudly and proudly as he gave a very wide grin. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage! My abilities are wide spread but I really excel in my defensive abilities and still working on improving my offensive ones. I cherish those who are my friends and would die to protect them. I absolutely love Teuchi and Ayame as they make the best ramen in the world!"
After such a startling beginning, Kurenai had a large sweat drop on the back of her head just about his announcement of loving ramen. "I also respect those that can be open about their perversion as they don't try to hide who they really are. I know people hate them for it, but they are the ones getting the last laugh as they don't compromise and try to be someone different, so in the end they are the real winners."
Kurenai wanted to say something but she just couldn't. Despite her hatred for open perverts, Naruto had a really good and valid point. She had to settle for a small snort and allowed him to continue. "The only thing that I really hate is those that harm people for their own amusement or those who hate others for no legitimate reason."
"And as for a dream, I don't have one. I am going to become Hokage and show everyone that I'm the best and lead this village, hell, the world to prosperity that has long eluded the human race." Naruto finished with confidence brimming in his voice while his Rinnegan burned brightly.
The passion in the blonde's voice really caught Kurenai off guard. While she knew who he was and had heard stories about him, she hadn't believe him to be this fiery just for introductions. If he was like this for a simple thing like this, what was he like during more vigorous activities?
Quickly catching her mind as it started to wonder to places were it shouldn't go, especially since she was sixteen years older then the boy, Kurenai shook her head before she crossed her arms over her chest. "Very good. I think this team will do wonderfully... But there is a catch. You three really aren't gennin yet."
As both Chouji and Hinata looked shocked Naruto merely banged his head against the table. "Not another freaking test! I hate tests! Can I just blow it up?!"
"Yes, yes you can. Cause massive destruction and allow me to hear the shrieks of terror from the ignorant people!" Kyuubi cried out to Naruto, hoping he would do something that would mildly entertain her and possibly excite her.
"Naruto, if you listen to her I will shut off your nervous system, effectively paralyzing you. Kyuubi, stop or our dinner tonight is off." Zagger quickly spoke out, sounding somewhat robotic as he did from time to time.
'Wait, you two are having dinner? How the hell is that possible?!' Naruto mentally screamed at the two, which just resulted in both cutting off their links from the blonde, not wanting to answer his question.
"No Naruto, you can't blow it up." Kurenai told him as she rolled her eyes. "I promise; it won't be that horribly difficult as there is a secret to the test. What it is, I won't tell you as you three have to figure it out on your own."
While Hinata looked thoughtful, Chouji winced while Naruto groaned out loud. "Oh no, not more use of my brain! It hurts so much from the academy already!"
This only made Kurenai laugh for a moment before she calmed herself down. "Trust me; you won't have to deal with mind numbing papers for a while so it isn't all that bad. And you only deal with those when you complete a mission on your own or a mission you were team captain of."
"Anyways, meet me at training ground eight tomorrow at eight. Don't be late." Kurenai chimed, purposely stringing all the eights together and purposely rhyming before she disappeared in a swarm of sakura pedals.
Right after she left, Naruto was the first to stand. "Well, I'm going to get some last second training in for tomorrow just incase she tests our physical abilities."
"Alright Naruto. Don't overdue it and put yourself in the hospital again." Chouji responded, knowing that this latest technique his friend had been working on was giving him great trouble as it seemed to be against his nature to push things away.
As Naruto was about to leave, Hinata spoke up in a rather light tone as she didn't like hearing that Naruto had physically harmed himself training on whatever he was trying to do. "Ano, Naruto, um, maybe we can join you as we are a team?"
Chouji merely shook his head for Naruto as the blonde stopped to think. "No, I think it is best to allow Naruto to practice this alone. He did use it against Sasuke today, but it was only for defense, the one that deflected the kunai."
As Hinata's eyes widened hearing this, Naruto followed Chouji up and explained the rest. "The true purpose of the jutsu is offensive as it has the capacity to level entire forests, possibly even villages if enough chakra is used. I'm just having trouble focusing it on a single point instead of spreading it around me to shield myself."
The look on both Hinata's and Chouji's face was absolutely priceless as their jaws slacked, nearly unhinging from their skulls. Shaking his head, he gave them a simple wave as he turned around before putting in his ear buds before he started singing as he walked off.
"Has he lost his mind; can he see or is he blind?"
"Where is he? It is almost eight." Kurenai spoke, very miffed that she couldn't start her test early as Hinata was there by seven and Chouji came around seven forty.
She had expected Naruto to be the last, but she hadn't expected him to be cutting it this close. Most gennin wanted to make a good impression on their jounin instructor by showing up early, but apparently Naruto didn't want to give her one. Then again after yesterday, her impression of him couldn't drop too far as she doubted he would be late.
As it hit eight exactly, Naruto suddenly appeared in a leaf-less flicker, his entire body coated in sweat. "Sorry, my alarm went off a little late while I was training."
"Do you ever go home, Naruto? I mean you live right next to Shikamaru after that freak explosion in your old apartments and he says you are never home except around six in the morning and you're leaving then." Chouji asked, curious to know if his friend were his friend slept as he could see there was no given sign of sleep exhaustion at all.
Naruto simply shrugged as he stretched a little, popping his shoulders. "I do, but I only need three hours of sleep from my body to recover from a day's work. And Shikamaru doesn't see me come home as I come home at three in the morning and wake up at six."
While Chouji and Hinata looked at him oddly at the amount of hours he slept, Kurenai understood why he needed so little sleep. She assumed it to be the fox's work and due to the rate it help him recover from the injuries he had over the years, it was quite understandable that he need so little sleep and could train harder and longer.
"Seeing as all of you are here and on time, though Naruto you cut it really close, I guess we'll start. This test is a two-fold test, meaning I'm going to be grading you on two separate areas to see if you are ready to become gennin." Kurenai stated, ready to unveil her test to the three gennin.
Pulling out slips of paper, one with each of their name marked on it, she started to explain her test. "With this training ground, there are three slips of paper with your names on it sealed with a scroll with a simple chakra seal. Find the one with your name and you may have passed. Don't, you fail and are sent back to the academy."
"Oh, be warned that I'm only giving you till noon to find the correct scroll and I will be randomly attacking you and placing traps to test your skills along the way." Kurenai added on, giving them the nicest evil smile any of them had ever seen.
In fact, the only way to get an eviler nice smile was from it to come from Hinata and that just wasn't happening as the girl didn't have a single evil bone in her body...
As she could see all three of their faces fall, well Naruto was more creeped out by her smile, Kurenai added on one last tidbit of information. "And even if you do succeed and find your name, I might not pass you if you don't meet the two requirements I'm looking for in this test."
"And you aren't even going to tell us what they are, are you?" Naruto said with a sarcastic tone to his voice, knowing all too well she didn't.
"Nope!" Kurenai chirped happily as the slips of papers in her hand suddenly disappeared. "Now the test begins, now."
Just like the day before, Kurenai disappeared in a flurry of sakura pedals. Or so she thought as Naruto threw a kunai, cutting her cheek and dispelling the illusion. "Can't fool me a second time."
"...Naruto, I'm the one doing the testing, not you!" Kurenai yelled out at him before disappeared in a swirl of leaves, miffed that he had to show up her favorite genjutsu.
As she flickered away, Hinata spoke quickly despite the softness in her voice. "She's going to go after you first for that, you know."
"Eh, it was still worth it to show her illusions only work once." Naruto responded with a shit eating grin before popping his shoulder. "So what do you two want to do? Try it on your own or work together. I'm fine with it either way."
Thinking for a moment, Hinata spoke with a little timidity in her voice. "I think... we should work as a team. ...I've known Kurenai-sensei for a while and I think that's one of the t-things she's grading us on."
"Chouji?" Naruto turned to the round boy, wanting to know his answer as he was perfectly fine with going along with Hinata and teaming up with them.
"Let's do it. My dad told me in his gennin test that team work was one of the key factors they tested his team on so I'm betting that's what it is here." Chouji stated, agreeing with Hinata entirely as he remembered all of his dad's stories about when he was a gennin.
"Good, now let's go get those scrolls while I keep Kurenai distracted." Naruto stated before he brought his thumb to one of his canines and easily cut through the skin allowing blood to drip.
"Ano... I don't think it is team work if Chouji and I... Are you going to summon?!" Hinata shyly spoke before she nearly yelled, knowing the hand seals he was going through.
"Um, yeah. What does it look like I'm doing? Crocheting?" Naruto questioned her before he finished the last seal and slammed his palm to the ground.
In an instant, before Hinata could even fathom a response, a giant dog that stood twice, almost triple the height of Naruto with Rinnegan eyes stood besides the blonde. "I have a hundred pounds of raw deer steaks, courtesy of Shikato and Yoshino, for you if find the woman in this forest and keep her busy. Do not kill or severely hurt her under any circumstances and you get them, alright?"
The giant dog just barked before rushing off, intent on finding Kurenai and following his master's orders, wanting those steaks. A second later, Kurenai screamed as the dog found her and the sounds of jutsu flying all over the place could be heard for miles.
While the sounds of battle began to echo through the forest, Naruto turned to his two teammates. "So, let's find those scrolls while she's busy. I think we have an hour or two before she manages to dispel it."
Neither could say anything as the dutifully followed Naruto, having once more been surprised by the blonde Rinnegan wielder.
"Ah, there's the last one and I bet this one is mine." Naruto stated as Hinata pointed it out to him, having seen it first with her Byukugan.
Hinata just sighed as she was doing a lot of the work for finding the scrolls while Naruto summoned the dog to distract Kurenai. She felt sorry for Chouji as he really couldn't do anything other then get the scrolls for them as Naruto had taken all the trouble out of the test.
But just as they were about to get to the scroll, Kurenai appeared in front of them, not looking too much different then she had before other then a thin sheet of sweat covering her entire body. "Naruto... You are an asshole! I said I was suppose to be testing you, not the other way around!"
"I thought it was a good idea at the time and it weakened you to an acceptable level so the three of us could stand a chance in defeating you." Naruto stated as he knew a jounin was far beyond a gennin in level and under almost no circumstance could three gennin defeat one on their own. The fact that he wasn't a normal gennin didn't seem to cross his thought process...
Kurenai simply growled before she noticed that both Hinata and Chouji had their scroll. Seeing as she really didn't want to test them physically now as she was nearly out of chakra thanks to the summoned cerberus dog, which she learned could grow heads back the hard way, she devised one last way to test them.
"Chouji, Hinata. Seeing that you have your scrolls, you two are done with this test. Both of you passed." Kurenai chirped, trying to get it where it would be Naruto alone so she could teach the boy a lesson in pain.
Instead, Chouji stood besides Naruto and shook his head. "No way! The most important rule for a Konoha shinobi is to never leave a comrade behind, regardless if you fail the mission. I won't back down until this test is over for all of us."
Hinata nodded, standing besides Naruto as her Byukugan flared to life once more. "Chouji is right, Kurenai-sensei. Leaving behind a friend just because your job is finished is s-something I, nor any Konoha shinobi can or should do."
Smirking as both stood besides him, Naruto lifted both his hands towards Kurenai and gave her a shit eating grin. "And that goes double for me as a Hokage won't let his friends down under any reason! Now move out of the way, sensei otherwise we're just going to go right through you!"
Twitching for a moment, Kurenai had to state the obvious. "You three know I'm a jounin and am far more skilled then you three, right?"
"And you're chakra is almost depleted, sensei." Hinata stated back to her, seeing her chakra was far lower then she had ever seen it before and knew she was running low.
Catching this, Naruto had to add on. "And with our combined abilities the rest of would be drained and then you would be forced to fight all three of us hand-to-hand and I doubt you want that to happen against us."
"And what abilities could topple me? Despite the state I'm in, I am an elite ninja and use to getting out of situations like these." Kurenai asked, somewhat proud that her team was standing together and acting as one knowing the situation.
"I'm great in physical combat and with my chakra at its peak I can use my jutsu to restrain you." Chouji stated first as he slid into stance, ready to use his family's jutsu.
"My family's special taijutsu is meant to immobilize and drain my opponents leaving them battered and weary." Hinata followed as she slid into a classic Gentle Fist stance.
Naruto stayed silent for a moment, before he finally finished for them. "And I'm the finisher, as each of my abilities is meant to finish my opponents off. And if that's not enough, I can move them to where I want in order to allow others to finish the battle for me."
Taking in the responses, Kurenai closed her eyes before reopening them with a smile as she bent down and picked up the scroll and threw it to Naruto. "From this day forward, I am officially your jounin-instructor and you are my students."
Seeing all three breath sighs of relief, she motioned to the pieces of paper. "And those papers I gave you are elemental cards. I wanted to see what your affinities are so I can come with an effective training regiment for you three outside of your family and/or regular training. So just push a small amount of chakra into them and you'll learn your elemental affinity."
Both Chouji and Hinata quickly did as she said and after watching what the slips of papers did before telling them their elements. "As expected, you have an earth affinity Chouji and you are surprisingly fire, Hinata. Naruto you are... NO WAY!"
Looking at his slip, she noticed that everything that could happen to the small sheet of paper happened. "...You have every single affinity."
"Yeah, I could have told you that. It's a side effect of my doujutsu." Naruto commented, as he crumbled the paper before throwing it away.
Blinking a few times at this, Kurenai sighed and decided that she was going to have a talk with Naruto later so she could sort out a lot of things she was just learning about him that weren't written in his report. Same as Chouji, but so far the large boy hadn't surprised her so much.
"Anyways, from now on I want you to return here every day at ten for either training and/or a mission. I'm also going to schedule days so I can teach you one on one and seeing that there are a lot of question I would like to ask, Naruto our first session will be tomorrow after the team session." Kurenai asserted as she gave him an annoyed glare.
"But for now, you have the rest day off to celebrate you are officially gennin so I'm going to take you three out to eat." Kurenai chirped; smiling as she covered up for her stomach growling as she was really hungry as the fight against the dog summon left her worn out.
"Ichiraku's?" Naruto and Chouji asked, hoping to get some ramen as that was their traditional lunch.
Kurenai just shook her head. "Might as well. I've heard Ayame was making a diet special."
"YATTA!" Both boys yelled out loud before rushing in the said direction of the restaurant leaving both girls to sweat drop at them.
Jutsu Translations
Shinra Tensei - Force Pull
Katon: Gokakyu - Fire Style: Grand Fireball
A/N: Not much to say then I believe I fixed some of the mistakes I had in the first chapter in this chapter. If you find any, let me know. And if anything wasn't clear, let me know as well so I can clarify it. And seeing as I forgot to do this last chapter, I Do Not Own Naruto or any of the song lyrics I might have used or will be using.