Disclamer: if I owned Naruto... well.. he wouldn't be in an orange coat.. now would he?
Okay.. so I need a vote from all you guys... This pertains to the three year training trip with Jiraiya and Naruto.
There are three choices.
One, Naruto and Jiraiya go on a training trip, and we time skip to the end of it.
Two, Naruto and Jiraiya go on a training trip, and we watch his progress along the trip.
Three, Naruto doesn't go on a training trip with Jiraiya, and he trains at home, but for three years. This will be a time skip.
Each of these choices will not effect what Naruto becomes at the ending of the story, but it will effect some of the path along the way.
For instance, if you pick path three, Naruto will NOT get a second summoning contract, but he will be at his strongest of the three, because he will have mastered Mizu Kanryuu completely. Jiraiya, will sadly, not help Naruto during this time, as he has to take care of his spy network. You will not be able to see how he trains it up. I will have flashbacks to talks about each of the steps, but not in clarity that you'd like it to be.
If you pick path two, I'll have to go up, and type out what happens, and some of the things that happen during the training trip will make sense in later chapters. You will get to see how Naruto masters steps 4 and 5 of Mizu Kanryuu. It will take a bunch of chapters though, as many things happen inside that three years.
Path one... Naruto will be a badass power house, muahahahhaha. And I will not have flashbacks to stuff during his training trip. So you will be confused as to certain stuff until I clarify it. I will be able to jump up the story's progress, and get to Hinata and Naruto being... friendlier... then before. (perverts)
The choices will be up on a poll in my profile.
The reason I'm asking you guys to decide? Well, I just can't choose... each one of them have their upsides and downsides, and I couldn't flip a coin on this one, sooo... well.. here ya go.
Now, on to the fic...
–
Chapter 12: Wait... WHAT!? And chuunin exams.
The hokage was having a great day. It was the day before the chuunin exams, and he managed to defeat his arch enemy, the paperwork today, and he was reading from his icha icha tactics, gold edition. A blush was adorned on his face, and he giggled pervertedly.
A monster named 'fluffy' died somewhere. (this will be an omake at the end)
Just as Sarutobi was going to flip a page, the hokage quickly shut the book, noting the page, and turned to look like he was doing work.
Two seconds later, Naruto, followed by two girls walked into the room.
Sarutobi smiled, 'hehehe, no one will ever know.' "Hello, Naruto. I haven't seen you around for a month."
"Hai! I was training with Jiraiya at a stop designated just for me by my father." Naruto said. A gleem was in his eyes. "Oji-san... have you been reading smut?"
Sarutobi's eyes widened. He quickly felt his nose, and sure enough, a little bit of blood was coming down it. 'Drat...' He sighed, and quickly looked for a way to change the subject. "Naruto, who are these two girls?"
The two girls that walked in were twins. Both of them had dull grey hair that was tied into a braid that went to their feet, but didn't touch the floor. They were shorter then Naruto by about 2 inches. They were small and child like. Almost no development of breast could be seen, except for the fact that they were wearing skin tight black ANBU clothing that covered EVERYTHING from their neck down. Even their hands and feet. They had no baby fat in their cheeks, but otherwise, they looked like 8 year old girls. Their eyes, though, was very different. They were slitted, red around the iris, and faded to green going out to the edges of the pupil.
Naruto chuckled nervously. "Yea, a long story about that."
Sarutobi thought for a second, "I have time. And I would like to hear how you trained in the last month as well. Jiraiya always refused to talk about it, saying 'it's a secret' every time."
Naruto nodded. "Uh, could I have a seat?"
"Oh, sorry about that." Sarutobi said. He waved his hand over a seal on his desk, and a chair popped into existence behind Naruto. It was a comfy chair. The girls also got chairs, and they sat down. 'Thank god Minato put these seals in.'
"Okay, where to start. Ah I know, the first day," Naruto started
–
Naruto has already told about the hokage first day, when he and Jiraiya had talked about his parents. We're skipping to day two.
Flashback (It's not going to be italicized.)
Naruto fluttered his eyes open. The last thing he remembers was seeing a man's face in a sun burned sky. He slowly got up, and took in his surroundings. The world seemed so much more focused then he was used to, a lot more real.
He remembered the power he had felt when the powers merged like that. He felt so calm, so peaceful.
"Hey, gaki." Jiraiya said, as he walked into the small cabin.
The cabin was basically three rooms. A bedroom, a living room tied into a kitchen, and a bathroom. The living room had access to the outside and the other two rooms. The bedroom and bathroom were side-by-side, but didn't have a door to each other.
Naruto was currently sitting on the couch in the living room.
"Hello, Ero-ji-san."
Jiraiya face faulted. "Gaki, could you stop calling me that?"
"Only if you stop being perverted."
"I told you, I'm not a pervert. I'm a super pervert!" Jiraiya said in a hero pose.
Now it was Naruto's turn to face fault. 'Who would be proud of that?' (the author sneezes)
"Anyways, gaki." Jiraiya said. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
Naruto looks down, and closes his eyes. "I felt calm, safe. I don't really know what happened last night. But I do remember one thing. It was burned into my mind, and whenever I close my eyes I see it. A man's face. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a smile. That smile... when I saw it, I felt the safest I've ever been. I felt calm and collected, and I felt that I could do anything when I saw that calm smile." He opened his eyes, and looked back up, straight into Jiraiya's eyes. "Who.. who was he?"
Jiraiya got a saddened look on his face. "From the way you described him, it was your father."
Naruto looked surprised. "M-my father? But.. how did I see him there?"
"That place was special for your father. Hell, he used to sit on Sarutobi's head, too. But he loved to sit on the fourth's head a lot." Which wasn't a lie. Once Minato got his own head, he would love to sit on it, and feel the whole world.
Naruto got teary eyed, but he fought them back. "Jiraiya, I'm going to make a vow, right here and now."
Jiraiya looked at Naruto seriously. The way Naruto put that sentence, it wasn't going to be something soft.
"I vow, here and now, to train so hard that my parents would be able to look me in the eye and say, 'I'm proud of you.' when I finally meet them." Naruto fought back more tears. "And one more thing. No matter what's thrown at me, no matter what happens, I will stand for the will of fire. I will become hokage." Naruto had said that for years, but this time he had put so much spirit to it, that he felt something inside of him change.
Jiraiya nodded, he felt he had to add something to it. "Do you Naruto swear into this nindo. Do you make it your ninja way?"
Naruto nodded.
"Then, from this day forward, we," at that point Nelrim showed up on Jiraiya's shoulder, along with Kina, "will make you into the most powerful ninja in the village. No. the whole known world." Jiraiya said. 'I may have failed with my past apprentice, but I WILL not fail on this one.' "And, Naruto. One final thing. No matter what you do from here on out, your parents will always be proud of you."
Naruto's smile came back. The one from last night. He felt calm, cool, collected. He wasn't a hyperactive kid anymore. He was going to show the whole village that he could protect them, and in turn earn their trust.
Nelrim took his turn now, "The trials ahead of you, in the next step of Mizu Kanryuu is tougher then before. You might die learning this next step. Do you still wish to take the challenge?"
Naruto's smile did not disappear. "I will. I will take whatever comes at me, and stand right back up."
Nelrim nodded. "You will start step three today, then."
Jiraiya spoke up. "You will also start learning advanced fuijutsu, and the rasengan as well."
Kina added in her two cents. "You will also be taught advanced stealth techniques, advanced speed training, strength training, and advance from point balancing to waterfall walking. I will add in Sage training as well if you have the energy." Kina paused. "Are you ready for the hardest month of your life yet?"
Naruto slowly nodded. "Yes, I already said so before. I will not back down."
A feral smile appeared on all three faces. "Then let us begin, the first week of hell."
Naruto certainly thought that the oncoming week was hell.
End flashback
"That's what happened on the second day." Naruto said.
"That still doesn't explain these two." Sarutobi said.
"I'm getting to that."
Flashback
About three days before the visit to the hokage. The sun was setting for the day.
Naruto had advanced from point balancing to waterfall walking in chakra control exercises. Naruto nearly pounded his own head in when he finally figured out the point to it. He had to make a tiny sphere of chakra under his feet, and on his hands. The point of the exercise was to limit the chakra down to such a point that barely a trickle was let out. After that, it was quite easy. The smaller the amount, the less he had to focus on it.
Naruto was in the field practicing balancing energies inside of himself. It was what was required of waterfall walking. He's already figured out how to do this one, but it was aggravating. He had to create a small cloud of chakra that would grab the water, and push it backwards with his feet. This, of course, increased the speed of the water going down, but this would act like an anchor, and be able to push up with each foot. Too much, and the water would be pushed away. Too little, and he couldn't make an anchor.
He needed to be able to balance the energy inside of him to do it, though. If he didn't make just the right amount of chakra, he would fall and get himself wet. Not that it mattered. He was only in a bathing suit.
An idea hit him. 'What if I created clones using the different types of chakra?'
Naruto smiled. He would do the waterfall walking when he was less aggravated.
Naruto, once more, concentrated, but this time it was easy. He gathered the natural energy in the air. Ever since that day on the fourth's head, he found it very easy to gather the energy.
Once he entered into sage mode(1), he made a simple clone out of the energy. He found that the clone was also in sage mode. He popped the 100 percent, and released sage mode.
Naruto once more gathered energy, this time, yokou. He created the clone out of pure yokou. He found he added too much, as the smoke popped out. This clone was different. Since it was made out of pure yokou, it turned into Kina, in human form. She had a young body, dark red hair, and blazing red eyes. She was dressed in a blazing orange and white kimono. She had nothing for her feet, and no accessories.
"Naruto? How did you make a clone out of me?" Kina said as she looked at herself. She was completely human, not hanyou. "Wow, this feels nice. Now, can you tell me how you did that?"
"I made a clone out of pure yokou... yours." Naruto said.
"Hmm... dispel me, I want to see something." she said.
Naruto nodded, and the clone disappeared. Kina showed up minutes later. "Wow, that was different. Do it again!"
Naruto nodded, and created another clone of Kina. "Wow, it works." she giggled a little, "This is fun! I've never had a human form before." and it dispelled itself this time.
Kina got the memories. "Wow, now I know how you feel once you get the memories."
"Yea, it stings a little, huh?" Naruto said.
Kina nodded. "Well, now. You don't need to summon me mentally anymore. You can just make a clone. What were you doing?"
"Well, I was experimenting. I got an idea of what would happen if I made clones out of the different energies." Naruto said.
"Okay, what have you yet to try?"
"The special chakra." Naruto said.
"Well, pull it out, and let's see what happens."
Naruto nodded. He gathered the special chakra, and made a clone out of it. Again, he overestimated the amount needed, and this clone poofed as well.
This clone was different as well. It had long blond hair, blazing deep blue eyes. It didn't have any whisker marks on it's face. The clone, being male, also had a blazing golden aura around it's body.
"Cool." The clone said.
"Dispel yourself." Naruto said.
"Right, boss." The clone said.
The clone felt light. Not as in the feather weight light, the other light. As in warmth rush through his body.
Kina got a bright idea. "Hey, Naruto. Try making a clone out of all four of the energies you have."
Naruto nodded, and sat down to gather chakra. As soon as he had enough, he went to create a clone.
When the smoke cleared, not one, but two female girls showed up. (They are the ones at the top of this chapter, except that they were wearing what Naruto was wearing. Instead of braided, they had long flowing hair though.)
"Wow, they look cool." Naruto said.
"Indeed."
"Hey, what do you feel?" Naruto said. The two clones looked at Naruto and... just looked. They didn't even opened their mouths. "Hello?" Naruto said. "Can you understand me?" that got a reaction. They smiled and nodded.
"Well, it seems they can't talk." Kina said. Again, they nodded.
"You know everything I know, right?" Naruto said.
They nodded. "Okay, that means you have my memories, not Kina's right?"
They nodded. "So why did you turn into girls?"
"It must have been my energy that did so." Kina said. "Dispel yourselves."
They looked at her. "Well? Are you going to do so?"
They shook their heads.
"Why not?"
They shrugged their shoulders.
"So, let me get this right." Kina said. "You can't dispel yourselves?"
They nodded.
Kina and Naruto looked at each other. "So, what do we do?" Naruto asks. "I can't seem to dispel them either."
"We could try hitting them, until they dispel." Kina said.
"Okay." Naruto walked up to them. "You ready?"
They nodded, and closed their eyes. He hit them with enough power to dispel a 100 percent clone. The two girls were flown back, and destroyed several trees. They both got back up, healing themselves.
Naruto went to punch them again, when Kina stopped him. "Wait." he stopped. "I can sense their chakra and yokou. They have their own chakra coils."
"So, they're alive?" Naruto asked. Clones never had chakra coils, simply because they weren't alive. The reason being that they were just made of chakra. Even the 100 percent clones, even though they had organs and everything, were just pure chakra, and had a time limit. If these clones had chakra coils in them, then essentially, they had a spirit in them, and a real body.
Kina shook her head. "No, they aren't, but it seems that they can build up chakra. Call your two clones back here."
All of a sudden, they were next to Naruto. He didn't even make a command. "How the?"
"Wait." Kina said. "How did you two know to come back? You two were knocked very far out of hearing range."
They pointed at Naruto, then at their own heads.
"You have a mental connection with him?" They nodded. "Naruto, do you see what they see?"
"No." he paused. "Wait, I'll think of a yes or no question, please answer it." Naruto said.
A moment past, and they both shook their heads.
"What did you ask them?" Kina asked.
"'Do you think Kina is a boy?'" Naruto said.
"Well, that wasn't very nice." Kina said, crossed.
"Hey, had to ask a different question then normal." Naruto said. "So, you can see everything I can?"
They nodded. "All the other senses as well?"
They nodded again.
Kina suddenly looked at Naruto. "Hey, Naruto. Didn't you build up your chakra faster then normal?"
"I don't know. Isn't it always fast?" Naruto asked.
Kina thought for a moment. "Girls, do you feel like you're giving Naruto energy?"
They nodded.
Kina smiled wildly for a moment. "Hey girls, since you seem to be sending him chakra, try to send him some natural energy."
They nodded, and sat down. They began focusing, and soon Naruto felt the 'oh, so warm' feeling that always encompassed sage mode.
Kina went wide eyed. "Wow, now that seems highly convenient." Kina said. "I wonder why these clones ended up like this?"
"Maybe, I don't know, but maybe that's because it had all the energy types out their, I created a human body so close, and you know every clone uses a piece of your soul. Since I used two pieces from me, mind and body, a piece of nature, and a piece from you, that this happened." Naruto said.
"Good speculation. Well, then again, it might be for a different reason." Kina said. "Who knows except for Kami herself?" One of the clones grinned at that.
Naruto nodded. He turned back to the clones. "What should we name them?"
"Good point, and we can't just call them clones." Kina paused. She looked at the one at the right. "You'll be Uzu." she looked at the other one. "And you'll be Kasai. And your surname shall be Kitsune. Since you're related, energy wise, to both of us."
They both nodded, liking the names.
"What do you think Nelrim will think of this?" Naruto asked.
"I don't really know what to say." Nelrim said, as he appeared on Naruto's shoulder. "But I forbid you from using that technique again, until we find out whether or not they are real, or clone."
"Why's that?" Naruto asked.
"Well, if they actually need to eat, unlike a clone, then they will be mouths to feed. And we can't have a hundred of these suddenly pop out of nowhere." Nelrim said.
Naruto nodded, understanding.
Nelrim looked to the girls, and smiled. "Well, since they don't actually exist, how about we make them so?" Suddenly, two sets of ANBU clothes popped out of nowhere. "You'll be Naruto's personal shadows. As the hokage has ANBU shadows, so shall you, Naruto. And since they can transfer energy, they will be your way of getting natural energy. Hell, we already know that you have long distance with it." Long ago, they had a clone go as far as they could from Konoha. It ended up at Iwa's borders, and Naruto could still see through it no problem.
Somewhere in ANBU headquarters.
"Hey, who stole my clothes?" a girl asked. "Cat, did you do it again?"
"Maaaaaaybe." Cat smiled behind her mask. She actually didn't, but she loved to tease.
Back with Naruto and gang
Naruto looked sad. "But I already have a way of getting natural energy in a battle." He focused chakra into his arms, and several seals appeared on each arm. About 10 each. "9 seals on each arm, making a total of 18 minutes of natural energy." The last seal on each arm was one of the gravity seals.
Nelrim smiled. "You can use them if you need to, but if you don't then let these girls be your transfer. Hell, it still takes a while for them to grab the energy, just use one seal, and then let them give you the rest for the duration of the sage mode."
Naruto smiled. He turned back to the girls, and they nodded. They grabbed the clothes, and left to dress. They knew that having a different gender would be quite... tough. Kina left with them to help them out. She felt they needed to add something to it.
After a few minutes, the girls came back. They had braided their hair, and slipped into the ANBU suits.
"Now all we need is fox masks." Nelrim said, then sighed. "Sadly, no matter where I look, no fox mask exists."
Naruto smiled, "Maybe the hokage has a couple of masks."
"Let's ask him the day before finals." Nelrim said. "Now get back to waterfall walking, or I'll beef up the strength training."
Naruto went wide eyed, and went back to concentrating.
"Now, you two." Nelrim said. "With me. I'm going to teach you two in hiding techniques, since it's one of the things ANBU are supposed to learn anyways."
They nodded, and left with Nelrim.
End flashback
When Naruto finished speaking, the hokage took in a deep breath. Naruto had told him about the whole month of training, and the hokage knew there was going to be trouble when it seemed the two would never pop away. 'They eat, drink, and even need to use the bathroom.' he thought as Naruto told about that part.
A puff of smoke left the hokage's mouth. "That's quite a tale." He paused. "Alright, yes I do have fox masks hidden away. Ever since Kyuubi attack Konoha, no one seems to want to use them." He went over to a storage closet that was in his office. He went to the back of the room, and unsealed a chest. He rummaged around it for a bit, and then came back out of the room, and sealed the door. "Here." They were pure black ANBU masks with a Knonha leaf symbol on the forehead. "I think it would be best, since they don't need to be seen. Ever." He added in tone. "These two will be the ghosts among ghosts. Jiraiya can teach them how to hide better then Nelrim can, as he was an ANBU squad leader at one point."
The three nodded, and the two girls donned the black masks. It stuck to their face.
"Now, since it seems you two can't talk, we'll give you sign language. You can talk using that, and it's not using ANBU hand signs. Hell, you can even make your own signs that would work only for you." the hokage pulled out an old dusty scroll, and gave it to the girls. "No one uses it anymore, anyways."
The two nodded, and gratefully took the scroll.
"Alright you two, one more thing. Since I have given you ANBU masks, you will obey my orders like any other ANBU would." Sarutobi said.
The two nodded once more, and looked to Naruto. "Don't worry, your main commander is still him, but I'm in second command. Got it? You can even do missions for ANBU, if you pass my test. I have to tell you though, those missions can be painful to your body, mind, and soul."
The two thought it over for a minute, and looked to Naruto.
"Hey, it's your own decision." he said.
The two then looked back at the hokage, and shook their heads. "Alright then. You two will still need to pass a hiding test. It'll be very hard though, but I bet you two can do it. Hell, the original can sneak past an ANBU. If you two actually train hard enough, you'll probably get past me, no problem."
At that, Naruto snickered a little. The twins smiled behind the masks.
"Alright, hide right now, and become Naruto's shadows." The two nodded, and disappeared from sight. "Not bad." He looked back to Naruto. "Naruto, one last question."
"Yea, Oji-san?"
"What about this.. Mizu Kanryuu... step 3?" Hokage asked, as he went over his memories. Naruto didn't talk about that in particular.
Naruto smiled. "That, my old man, is a secret to be shown on the day of the finals a month from now."
Sarutobi smiled and nodded. "I can't wait to see it then. Is step three finished?"
"No, I'm still working on it, which is why I said the chuunin exam finals." Naruto said.
He nodded. "I wish you luck with it then. Is that all you needed?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yeah, see you later, Oji-san." Naruto said. And left out the door.
"You never cease to amaze me, Naruto." he said.
–
Naruto was walking around aimlessly. He had just eaten ramen, and he had several hours to burn before he had to do anything.
He was walking around, until he saw that Sakura was chasing down Konohamaru.
"What did the kid do this time?" he asked, as he chased the two down. As he rounded a corner, he stopped when he saw that the kid was being help in the air by a make up wearing suna nin.
"Put me down, you baka!" Konohamaru said.
"That hurt you little brat! I'm going to teach you some manners." he said, as he raised his fist.
"Kankuro, don't do it. He might be nearby." the female suna nin said.
"Don't worry. He's not around, and this will only take a minute." Just as it was about to come down, a hand had wrapped itself around his wrist. "Who, the hell are you!?" The nin asked.
"Put the kid down before I break your wrist." Naruto said calmly.
"Kankuro." a monotone voice called out. The two suna nins froze. "You're a disgrace to us all."
"H-hey there Gaara." Kankuro said. "I-I was just teach-"
"Shut it." Gaara said, before he looked at Naruto. "Who are you?" He had seen Naruto move. It was faster then Gaara could keep up.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?" Naruto asked, as he let the Kankuro go.
"Sabaku no Gaara." The red haired boy in the tree answered.
Naruto got a weird feeling from Gaara. He suddenly remembered something.
'Beware of number 1. He's bloodthirsty.' The warning Fu had given him.
He could definitely feel bloodthirsty hidden inside the boy. Naruto quickly gathered yokou. A cloud puffed up near Naruto. "What's up Naruto?" Kina asked in her human form.
"Him," he pointed to Gaara.
Kina looked to the boy. She gasped. 'The rings around his eyes. Insomnia. Blood lust coming from inside.' "You guessed right, Naruto. That's number 1."
"Right, go ahead and dispel. I want to talk to him." Naruto said.
Kina nodded, and disappeared.
"What was that about?" The girl asked.
Naruto looked to her. "Oh, hi. May I ask your name as well?"
"Sure... it's Sabaku no Temari." She said.
"Okay, Temari-san. May I borrow your brother for a bit?"
"Kankuro?" she asked.
Naruto looked to the paint wearing freak. "This guy is your brother as well?"
She nodded.
"Wow," naruto said. "You have a face painted clown or mime for a brother?"
She nodded with a sad look on her face.
"HEY!" Kankuro said.
Naruto looked back up to Gaara. "I need to talk to you for a bit. Do you mind?"
"No. I wanted to ask you something as well." Gaara said.
"Right, follow me." Naruto said, and dashed off.
Sakura walked up, and helped Konohamaru up. "You okay, brat?"
"Yea, sure." The kid responded.
She looked to the two remaining suna nins. "Can either of you explain what just happened to me?"
They both shook their heads no.
"Right."
–
Training ground 13.
"Ah, the old training ground 13. Haven't been here in a month." Naruto said. "Well let's cut to the chase."
Gaara just starred at Naruto, trying to figure out why his demon was sniveling in a corner rather then calling for blood.
"Hello, number 1. I'm number 9." Naruto said.
'Number 1? Wait, I'm the jinchuuriki of...' His eyes widened. "Yo... you're the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"
"Exactly. And you're the jinchuuriki of Ichibi no Shukaku." Naruto said.
"Correct." Gaara said. "Now, can you tell me why Ichibi no Shukaku is shivering in fear? He wont answer me."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I have no clue."
"It's probably because of me." Nelrim said, as he appeared on Naruto's shoulder.
"You know, could you stop appearing on my shoulder?" Naruto asked.
"No, because I love this shoulder. It's nice and comfy. Now, where were we?" Nelrim asked. "Oh yes, scaring the shit out of Ichibi. Or should I say Herald."
"Herald?" both jinchuuriki asked
Nelrim laughed. "Ichibi is the name of priest that was sealed into the demon. The priest, who was a bloodthirsty scoundrel, then made Herald go crazy. Hence, why he was sealed away. It was a sad day indeed. Ichibi attempted to become completely immortal. In the process, he became completely insane." Nelrim paused. "Never ask for immortality. You might regret it." He had sad eyes when he said that.
"What... nevermind, we probably don't want to know..." Naruto said.
Gaara spoke up, "Can you tell me why 'mother' is acting so... differently?"
"Oh, it's simple really. My roommate is the one who forced Ichibi into Herald. The side effects weren't what we hoped for." Nelrim said. "And then he stuffed Herald into a ceremonial teapot. He gave it away to the wind country."
"So, he's scared because your roommate was the one who put him in a teapot?" Gaara asked.
Nelrim shook his head. "No, he's probably scared because of what I am."
Naruto tried to stop Gaara, but he spoke anyways. "What are you?"
Nelrim made an EVIL smile. See ? That it was all capital there. Yea, that's the upgraded form of Evil, which is a step above evil.
The air around them all got colder. Naruto and Gaara froze. They felt hollow inside. If they moved one tiny bit, they would break.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Nelrim said. When neither could breath, much less open their answer, Nelrim responded, "Okay, then. I guess you don't." And the air got normal once more. Gaara and Naruto dropped to the ground gasping for breath.
"I tried to stop you, but noooo you still had to ask him." Naruto said. "Listen Gaara. You might be a badass, but that cat there is more powerful then you could ever imagine."
Gaara coughed once. "I'll take your word for it." He stood up. "I'm going now." He turned to walk away.
"I assume you'll be in the chuunin exams?" Naruto said.
Gaara didn't turn back. "Yes. And Uzumaki Naruto, I want to fight you and kill you to prove my existence."
Naruto grinned. "Go ahead and try."
–
The next day.
Hinata and Shino were standing outside the academy.
"Where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. "We only have half an hour left."
She hadn't seen Naruto in over a month, and she was getting anxious to see him again.
"He'll be here." Shino said.
"These past months have been weird, haven't they?" Hinata asked.
"Quite. Did you hear about the ANBU headquarters getting painted pink?" Shino asked.
"Yea, that was weird. Or how about the time that the hokage tower got painted orange." Hinata asked.
"Weird times... weird times indeed." Shino said.
Naruto turned around the corner, and started walking up to the two.
"Hey, you two." Naruto said.
Hinata's first thought after seeing Naruto was, 'Is it just me, or does he seem calmer, and more collected then normal.'
Shino's First thought. 'Naruto seems different. My bugs are even calmer then normal around him.'
The first Action Shino took, was count down with his fingers. First three, then two. BAM! Then one.
Before Shino made one finger, Hinata had pounced Naruto. It was getting to be a normal thing, ever since Naruto got his black trench coat with the kanji for sage on the back.
Naruto chuckled. "I missed you, too, Hinata-chan." He tickled the girl off, as it was the only thing he could do to get her off. He got back up, and brushed his coat off, and gave a hand to Hinata to help her up. He looked to Shino. "Hey, Shino. How's everything going?"
"It's great. Ever since you gave me that taijutsu training scroll, I've been training in it to cover up my one weakness." he said. It was true. About three months ago, Naruto was kind of down for leaving Shino out of the advanced training. To make up for it, he tried to think of a way to help Shino. After a bit of pondering, and asking Kina, he finally got an idea, and gave a taijutsu scroll he got from the Mini-Gai.
"Cool. That means we've all gotten stronger." Naruto said.
Shino nodded his head. "Indeed we have, Naruto. It is logical to assume that we all have a fair chance, if we stick together. Me with my long range attacks. Hinata with her short range."
"And me with my medium range attacks." Naruto added in.
Shino nodded. "Now, we should all head into the building. We are almost at our deadline."
Naruto and Hinata nodded.
"By the way, Naruto-kun. Where's Kina?" she asked.
"Well, she decided not to come for the first portion, and she'll meet me at the second portion of the exams." Naruto said.
"Why did she do that?" Hinata asked.
"I don't know, she said something about not wanting to be bored to death for an hour." Naruto said.
The other two just shrugged, and went into the building. They walked up the first set of stairs. When they got to the second floor, a group of gennin were standing around a door, and two other gennin were blocking it. The room had 301 on it.
"Shino, catch me if I'm wrong, but are we on the second floor?" Naruto asked.
"Yes we are. It's obviously a genjutsu used to weed out lowbies. Let's just walk past these teams, and get to the third floor." Shino said.
They all nodded, and walked right past them.
Behind them, Team 7 were walking up as well. "Hey, drop that genjutsu." Sasuke yelled out. "This is obviously not room 301, and Sakura here can vouch for that, as she's our genjutsu specialist. Isn't that right, Sakura?"
Sakura couldn't help but smile, as she was getting attention. "Yes, Sasuke-kun."
Team 8 just sweat dropped. Sasuke just screwed up big time, but it wasn't for them to deal with, and they continued to walk up the stairs, to room 301.
"Hey, you three." Kurenai said, as she was standing by the door. "I'm glad you all made it. Now get in there, and show them not to mess with team 8."
They nodded, and went into the room.
When the door closed behind them, they felt Killer Intent rain down upon them from the other gennin.
Naruto just said, "Fuck off. I'm not scared of you all." That got all the attention off of his teammates, and onto him. He just smiled. 'Manipulation. Works like a charm. Got to thank Nelrim for that later.' The reason he needed to do this, was because he didn't like anyone glaring at his teammates, and since he was used to it, he used himself to get the killer intent off of them.
They walked over to a corner of the room that wasn't occupied, and occupied it. Naruto sitting down, and Hinata and Shino sat next tom him on his right and left, respectively.
Team Gai walked in after that, and found a spot to sit down.
Team 7 walked in right after them. Sasuke looked a little bruised.
"Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled out, as she glomped the emo from behind.
"INO-PIG! Get off of Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out.
"SHUT IT! BILL-BOARD BROW!" Ino yelled back. Sasuke had to plug his ear.
"Well, it seems like were all here. All 9 of the rookies this year." Shimaru said.
"9? I only see 6 of us. I bet that team 8 chickened out, since they had the dobe on their team." Kiba said.
Shiamaru only smiled, and pointed to them. "They're over there. Troublesome dogs."
"Hey, I heard that!" Kiba said.
The rest of them looked over to Naruto. They were surprised to see him dressed in a lot of black. And Naruto's face had a hood over it, making it hard to see his face. Next was Hinata. Instead of her normal coat, she had on a long light blue coat, and a hood as well. Shino had his normal attire, but a hood went over his head, too.
All in all, you couldn't see their face very well.
"What's up with the hoods?" Kiba asked. "I mean, I've seen Aburame around with hoods, but I didn't know hyuuga did it."
"Hey, you guys. You're rookies, aren't you?" a silver haired teenager with glasses said, as he walked up.
The 6 look to him. "How can you tell?"
"Well, you're creating quite a scene. Very much like rookies." the teenage said.
'I smell a snake.' Naruto thought. 'And it's coming from that silver haired guy.'
"You look like you're experienced, third time in?" Sasuke asked.
"Actually, seventh, and my name is Kabuto, nice to meet you." Kabuto chuckled nervously.
Kiba laughed. "You must be weak then."
"No, I was unprepared those times. Now I have plenty of info on everyone." he said. He pulled out a deck of cards. "Here I'll show you." He placed a single card down on the ground, and channeled chakra into it. "This card shows you how many ninja from each country are joining the chuunin exams." he said as an image appeared. "40 Iwa, 20 Kiri, 36 Kumo, and 44 Konoha. There are some from small time villages, like the sound, since they are new, or not powerful enough."
Sasuke looked at it for a moment. "Do you have info on individual ninja?"
"Yes, give me a description, and I'll pop it right up." Kabuto said.
"Lee Rock and Hyuuga Neji." Sasuke said.
Shikamaru spoke up. "Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata."
"Why do you want to know about them?" Sakura asked. "They're weaklings."
Shikamaru just shrugged. But mentally he thought, 'I'm getting a strange vibe from them.'
Said individuals tensed up. If he had accurate info, then they would be in trouble.
"Awh, you know their names. That's no fun." He said as he took out a card. "First off, Hyuuga Neji. Age 15. Teammates, Lee Rock and Tenten Higurashi. Known skills high level of the Hyuuga taijutsu, Jyuuken. No other known skills. Missions – 100 D ranked, 13 C ranked, and 2 B ranked. Quite impressive for a gennin team." He pulled out another card. "Next up, Lee Rock. Teamates already said, Ah here we go. High level of Taijutsu. No other known skills." He pulled out another card. "Next up, Hyuuga Hinata. That's strange. She's a hyuuga, but she doesn't have a high level Jyuuken."
At that, Neji just scoffed.
"All the rest of it for skills is that it says she's a sage. Of what contract, no one knows. Teammates are Aburame Shino, and Uzumaki Naruto. Team missions – 120 D ranked." a lot of people whistled. "5 C ranked and one C ranked turn A ranked joint mission with team 7." Now plenty of the group looked startled.
Ino just said, "I bet most of the work was down by Sasuke-kun." she swooned.
Sasuke just 'hn'd and looked back to Kabuto.
"Lastly, Uzumaki Naruto." When he put down the card, Kabuto gasped. "What the?"
"Something wrong?" Kiba asked.
"Yes. It doesn't talk about ninjutsu he knows or taijutsu he's learned. Hell, all it says is that he's got a sage cloak on, which tells people he's a sage. But of what contract no one knows."
The rest of the group, except Shikamaru, looked confused. Finally, Sasuke asked. "What's a Sage? And what do you mean by contract?"
"Well, let's look at that card." He pulled out a card. "Ah, here it is. Sage. Requirements, has a contract with an animal summoning clan and the approval of the clan head." he paused. "To sum up what it says, learning sage mode is incredibly dangerous, as adverse side effects can happen. Some even include death. To become a Sage is a great feat."
The group looked to them. Sasuke said. "They don't look anymore powerful."
"The next part of this card says that they need to gather up natural energy to use sage mode. That means they need to sit still." Kabuto said. "For how long, no one knows."
They all smirked. 'Yea, they can't use it if we attack them.' All but Shikamaru.
'I don't like this.' Shikamaru thought.
Suddenly, a couple of sound nin rushed at Kabuto. Kabuto moved to dodge the punch thrown at him, but a second later, he keeled over, and his glasses broke.
Team 8 analyzed what just happened, and stored it away for later. The stupid sound nin just used a trump card in front of them all.
"Put this in your stupid cards. The sound gennin WILL become chuunin in this exam." The leader said.
Sakura walked up. "Kabuto-san. You okay?"
"Yea. I'm fine." Kabuto said, as he stood up.
A puff of smoke, saying it was a shunshin, appeared at the front desk. "Alright you brats. Shit down and shut up. I'll be your proctor for the first exam, my name is Morino Ibiki." Naruto shivered. "And you sound shinobi. Do that again without permission, and you're out!"
"Sorry about that, Proctor-san. We understand." the leader said, and backed down.
"Alright, will everyone turn in their forms for the first test to this guy on my right." He pointed to the chuunin. "He will take it, and give you a number. You will be seated randomly. The first test is a written exam."
At that, Naruto started to sweat.
"Now line up, sit down, and shut up until all of you are seated." Ibiki said.
It took only a few minutes, but after that it was done.
Naruto was in the middle, with Hinata towards the back, and Shino was off to the left in the front.
"Now, I shall explain the rules." Ibiki said. "Listen carefully, as I will only explain it once."
'Wait, rules?' Naruto thought.
"First. Each person will be given 10 points. Since there are 10 questions on the exam, each question wrong is minus one point. Your entire team must have one point each in order to pass." Ibiki paused. "If you are caught cheating, 2 points will be deducted from your entire score, once you reach zero, you will fail, and your team with you. At the final question, you will be given verbally, after we add in some more rules."
Naruto caught one part specifically. 'Wait, whenever I cheated in the academy, they just threw me out of the class, and gave me a zero... what if...' and a smile crossed Naruto's face.
Hinata, in the back of the class saw Naruto's mood shift. 'Looks like he caught it as well. Oh, Naruto-kun, I knew you had brains.'
"Alright, BEGIN!" Ibiki announced, and they all flipped their papers over.
'Alright, I only need one question to pass.'
When he looked at them, they were questions he didn't know answers, too, but he wasn't worried. Someone in here had to know an answer. He pulled out a small inscribing pen, and quickly started making a seal on the paper.
Naruto had come to love fuinjutsu. Hell, there were times they couldn't get him away from the books, as the ideas alone kept him going.
The current seal he was making, was a three part array. One part to shift the ink used to make the seals into the answer. Second part was to push chakra into the other two seals. And the last part, was to tell how the ink was to shift, mimicking an answer from far away. Once he was done with most of the seal, he looked up, and looked around. He saw Sakura, she was busy writing down answers.
'Time to finally make you useful, Sakura-san.' Naruto thought, and finished off the seal to make the location of copying. He had to be precise though. If he was off by even a little, he would fail the technique, and it would blow up in his face.
Something that Naruto got way better at, due to his dodging training. He could easily judge how far away something was, and time it perfectly.
Once the seal was finished, he pushed a little chakra into the middle seal, and let the ink form. After he was done, Naruto put away his inscribing pen, and sat back.
A kunai flew right by his ear.
"Number 53. You lost all your points." Ibiki said.
"Numbers 132, 13. You're disqualified as well." a chuunin called out.
'Heesh, could they be any closer to my ear?' Naruto thought.
Time passed, and Ibiki called out, "Alright, you maggots. Put your pencils down, it's time for the final question. As I said before, there are more rules."
'What's with all the rules?' a lot of people thought.
"First, you may choose whether or not to take this question. If you choose not to, you will lose all your points, and be disqualified from the exam."
Kiba slammed his hand down on the desk. "Of course we'll take it then."
"Hold on, I'm not finished. If you choose to take it, and get it wrong, not only will you be disqualified from this exam, you will be barred from ever taking the chuunin exams again." he finished. "Now, with that being said, who wants out?"
"That's a load of bull." Temari yelled out. "There are several people here you has taken the chuunin exams before. They were never barred from the chuunin exams."
"Well, tough luck. I wasn't in charge then. I am now, and I make the rules. Now who wants out?"
Several people raised their hands, and several teams were disqualified.
Naruto smiled a little. Then it went into a full blown grin.
Ibiki starred right at Naruto. 'Silver hair, steel blue eyes, and fox tails with ears. That's the one Anko told me about.' Ibiki smiled. 'He definitely seems smarter then the average ninja... that, or he keeps his cool better then most.'
After a while, people stopped raising their hands.
"Is that all?" Ibiki asked. "Last chance."
No one raised their hands.
"Alright, now for the final question." He paused once more to hope that someone else raises their hand. "Everyone in here. YOU PASS!"
Several people face faulted. "What.. what was the final question?" Temari asked.
"There was no tenth question." Ibiki said.
"What was the whole point of us taking the first questions then?" Kiba asked.
"Knowledge and information gathering is an important technique that all shinobi must have. But you have to be secretive about it. If the enemy knows you are gathering information, then they can give you false information." He pulled off his bandanna, on his head was several scares. "If you fuck up in the shinobi world, you will fuck up big time. This isn't kindergarten, kids. If you gather the wrong information, then you and your teammates can die in an ambush set up by the enemy."
Naruto filed that away for later. It was true advice, and Naruto always wanted to look out for any kind of danger.
A crash was heard at the window, and a brown thing flew through.
'Oh, hell no.' Naruto thought. 'We're all screwed.' and he proceeded to bang his head on the table.
"Hello, brats. The name's Mitarashi Anko, and I'll be your proctor for the second exam." Anko said, as a big sign was behind her. She paused for a moment. "26 teams. You're getting soft, Ibiki."
Ibiki just sighed. "You're early, once again, Anko."
"Bite me." Anko said, and looked back to the teams. "I have a test that's guaranteed to cut them in half. Alright, since you all seem to be confident, meet me at training ground 44 in 30 minutes. If you don't know where that is, follow me. But be quick, I don't like stragglers." She made a sly smile, and rushed out the window. Several of the shinobi rushed after her, as they didn't know where it was.
"Naruto, a second if you please." Ibiki said.
Naruto, who was leaving out the door like a NORMAL person, stopped, and went to the man's desk. "What is it, Ibiki-sensei?"
Ibiki looked Naruto over. "You've gotten bigger over the years. It's amazing how time can change people."
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
Ibiki just laughed. "I used to take care of you. Hell, because of you, I know how to change diapers." He chuckled a little more.
"Wait, you took care of me?" Naruto asked.
"Yea, until you turned 2, then Jiraiya-san took over." Ibiki said. "It's good to see you again. You're turning into a great guy."
Naruto smiled his genuine smile. "Thanks, oji-san." he bowed then left.
Only then did Ibiki catch the name Naruto gave him. "Oji-san? HEY! GET BACK HERE!" but Naruto was already gone. He heard a chuckle behind him.
"Naruto calls me that, too." Sarutobi said, as he stood by the window.
"Hello, Hokage-sama. I knew you were among the chuunin that was used to watch the students, I just didn't know which one."
"Yes, and I have to say, nice performance." Sarutobi said. "About that title Naruto gave you. It's actually an honor from him. If he respects you, he gives you a way to know it." he chuckled a little. "Do you want to know what he calls Jiraiya of the sannin?"
Ibiki stayed silent.
Sarutobi chuckled even more. "'Ero-ji-san.'"
Ibiki smiled, then laughed. "Alright, I'll accept the title of old man. Jiraiya seems to have it worse."
'You certainly are a unique shinobi, Naruto.' Sarutobi thought, and then he vanished.
–
"Alright you brats." Anko said, once they had all gathered at training ground 44. "This is training ground 44. Otherwise known as the forest of death."
Naruto chose to say something. "If the snakes and lizards don't kill you, the poisonous bugs and plants will." He shivered. "I recommend staying away from the northern part of the training grounds."
Anko smiled mischievously. 'That area has my house. He's talking about me!' She flung a kunai straight at him.
He easily dodged it, but Anko was right behind him with another. She sliced Naruto's cheek a little. "He's got a point." as she licked some of the blood off of his cheek. "I would stay FAR from the northern sector of these grounds." She licked her lips. "Unless, of course, you want to DIE!" Right when she said that, she pulled out a kunai, and almost stabbed the tongue that held a kunai behind her. The tongue was long, and twisted coming from an Kumo nin.
"Sorry. I was just giving you back your kunai." the nin said.
"Well, it would be a good idea if you didn't do it with KI. I would've killed you just now." Anko said.
"Sorry, the blood in the air made me go a little frenzy." the nin said.
"Right, well." she disappeared, and reappeared near the gates. "This will be a scroll battle."
"Scroll battle?" Temari asked.
"You got it brat. Each team will be given one scroll each." She held up two scrolls, one with the kanji for heaven and the other earth. "Each team will get either a heaven scroll or an earth scroll." She paused. "In order to pass, you need to have both scrolls and be at the tower in the center," at this she held up a map, but only for a second, of the training grounds, "of the forest. If you did not get both requirements, you fail." She paused to let that sink in, "But first, I need you all to sign a waiver form."
"Waiver?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, this waiver basically states that if you die in this part, which some of you will, there will be no repercussions on us,, the proctors, or the village itself." Anko said.
Many gennin nodded, and the waiver was handed out.
"Once you sign it, one of your teammates will take all three to the booth over there." she point at a booth that had curtains to hide the people inside. "They will take your papers, and give you on of the 26 scrolls."
Everyone signed their waivers that they had received, and handed them to their team leaders.
Naruto went up to the booth, handed the waivers in, and then got handed an earth scroll. He quickly sealed it away into one of his 4 storage scrolls, which in turn was in a seal that was on his leg. Naruto was happy he figured out how to make simple storage seals. He had many all over his right leg. Most of them were for kunai and shuriken, but a few was for food, first aid kits, and extra assorted weapons.
He walked outside, and found his team. "Come on, we're gate number 12."
They nodded, and followed him to their gate. "Hello, Naruto." Kina said, as she appeared on his shoulder.
"Hello, Kina-chan. How's everything going?" Naruto asked.
"Just peachy, thank you." Kina said.
At that, Naruto got worried. Whenever Kina said 'peachy,' it meant that her next prank was ready.
"Everyone in their places?" Anko yelled out. She got a confirmation message from all the jounin at each gate. "BEGIN!"
–
Okay, that's it.
One, No one is around, so I'm not describing what it looks like yet.
Don't yell at me for the twin girls thing. It's an Idea I had from the beginning, and they hold more secrets then what's been revealed. So, give them a chance, eh? As for the other stuff, I hope you like it.
--
Omake: The monster named fluffy.
In another universe
A group of 8 foot tall mechanized beings were all standing in front of a giant monster.
This monster had two horns, and stood on two feet. Parts of the skin were scratched off to show metal parts underneath. It stood almost 50 feet tall, and had a demonic look to it.
"Okay ACC, The Bellatos and Corites are coming soon." yelled the commander, who had just scanned the map. "I want you to stand firm, and not let anyone pass! We must defend fluffy!" The bots nodded, and some of the bots assembled their launcher kits. "Get your OC pots ready!" a bunch of the bots soon glowed a small red.
All of a sudden, even bigger mechanized things came rushing down the only entrance to the mining shaft, followed by very child like humans carrying staffs and swords, and elf like creatures soon followed after. Behind all of them, slowly walking was an elf in a suit followed by a creature that had a giant jet pack on, and he was carrying a smaller then usual staff. He raised the small wand up, and a nuke missile came down from the sky, and broke through the mining shaft to kill all of the defending bots. All but one.
The opposing force decimated the giant monster.
The remaining bot fell to his knees. "FLUFFY! NOOOOOO!" and then he was killed. (If anyone can tell me the game this was modeled after, you win a cookie. Funny thing is, the HSK really is called fluffy on our server... at least by the players.)
Omake: The Pranks. Part one.
Three months to the chuunin exams.
Naruto was walking down the hallway to his apartment. He opened the door, and inspected the inside of the apartment.
He had been pranked ten times since the start of the prank war, and he had just pranked Kina back two days ago. He had a resolve to get the prank before he sprung it.
After he took a good look around, he went to close the door, but found that he couldn't take his hand off the doorknob. He jerked and pulled at it, but no use.
"AHAHAH!" Kina laughed, as she popped in on the floor near Naruto. "I can't believe you fell for it! Now to complete the prank." She lifted her finger up, and Naruto saw a small tiny little wire next to it. "I win." and she touched the wire. Immediately, a bucket of ice cold water was dumped on Naruto, freezing the glue on the door handle even more. When Naruto thought that the water was done pouring, he smiled, thinking it wasn't that bad. Until, of course, the bucket fell on his head. He tried to take the bucket off, but it was the same as his hand, stuck. "Don't even try, Naruto. You're stuck to that doorknob, and your head stuck in the bucket." Naruto was stuck there, until Nelrim came by the next morning to get Naruto out of the trap.
Naruto smiled though. Why? He already had his next trap set up.
At the training grounds, Kina was sitting in the same exact spot by the water on a rock that she always sat at. All Naruto had to do, was step on a certain rock in Nelrim's field to set it off.
Naruto was standing in the same spot, along with his clones. All he had to do, was shift his feet by one inch. He moved his foot over the small rock, and smiled. He started concentrating on his work. The rock had a secret wire to it, that tripped another set of wires. This set of wires then set off another set that were connected to cans.
About three minutes later, Kina came into Nelrim's training area. She was covered head to paw in silly string. "I don't know how you did it, Naruto-kun, but I will get you back."
All Naruto could do was laughed trying to look innocent.
Nelrim? He was the observer for this little party. He secretly tallied 10 to 11, in Naruto's favor.