Author's Notes: Freshly baked and ready to serve here is chapter 7! WOOHOO! Hope you enjoy. I'd like to thank all who favorite and follow this story and a special thanks to these special people for reviewing:
mellra
pharix
Darkryus
Jimmy BZ
Tigrezztail
Disclaimer: let's get this over with, I do not own Naruto. Or anyone else for that matter, I am against SLAVERY.
The sun rose, freshly over the mountains. Slowly illuminating the carven faces of the Hokage's. All the Hokage's, whether dead or alive, at this moment, were looking over their village, which they gave so much for. The Third Fire Shadow was standing in his office looking out towards the forest, taking in the beauty of the village he leads. His eyes strolled over the various clan compounds, Nara, Yamanka, Aburame, Hyuuga… Uchiha. He looked down at the lifeless compound with regret and sorrow in his eyes. He thought about the sacrifice a young man had to make, he gave his life away, took the life of his own clan, destroyed his brother's life, and went into exile, forever having to run from the peaceful life deserved.
He sat back down at his desk, trying to take his mind off that clan. He pulled out his pipe; he lit it and leaned back in his chair, taking in the smell and feeling of his favorite pass time. Sadly his eyes strolled over a pile on his desk, the damned PAPERWORK. He sighed as he picked up his pen and was about to start filling in forms when…
"Hi Jiji." A bright happy voice reverberated through his office. Hiruzen didn't need to even look up from his paper work before calmly saying,
"Good morning Naruto, I see you've placed a seal in my office."
"Yeah I thought it might be useful." Naruto chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. The Third looked up at him, studying his features, his bright blue eyes, vibrant sunshine hair, whiskered cheeks, and his signature orange outfit. With him was his team.
Kakashi, the masked, former Anbu, the one that had been through too much for any normal person to be able to bear, he had seen death time and time again, lost all those he loved. Hiruzen hoped that Naruto would be able to brighten up his life, and have the same effect on him as he had on everyone else who has come to know him. Sasuke, the lone survivor of the Uchiha massacre, forced onto the path of an avenger, sworn to get vengeance.
Sakura, a bright enthusiastic girl, with unique pink hair, although she hasn't been through much he knew that in time, the life on a ninja will take its toll on her too. The three looked a little distraught from the teleportation but they didn't seem upset, after all, it had saved them from having to walk back to the village.
"Ah so you're back, I take it the mission was a success?" The Hokage more stated than asked.
Kakashi nodded and said, "Yes Hokage-sama, however it wasn't the average C-ranked mission."
"Why?"
"It's a long story. Can they go?" Kakashi asked motioning towards his team. Hiruzen nodded and the three Genins left saying their byes. Once they were gone Kakashi began narrating the events of the mission. After half an hour of speaking Kakashi was finally done. Throughout the whole story Hiruzen had kept silent apart from a few gasps; finally he sighed and spoke up,
"How did I know something crazy was going to happen? Wherever that boy goes something pops up outa' the blue. Due to the circumstances I'll promote this mission from a C-ranked to a A-ranked mission. After all, you did have to fight one of the Seven Swordsmen of The Mist." He said tiredly, knowing this would lead to countless hours of paperwork. Kakashi stood up to leave but then Hiruzen said, "It seems Naruto is using the Flying Thunder God jutsu more and more proficiently, it's only a matter of time until someone puts two and two together and figures out his heritage. I need you to try and keep him on the down low. The last thing we want is one of his father's enemies to come after him."
Kakashi nodded his agreemen. He left heading towards Naruto's apartment. He might as well get this out of the way. When he arrived he found that Naruto wasn't home. 'Great, just great, now I have to go and find him.' Kakashi thought to himself.
-Ichiraku's Ramen-
The Uzumaki, Haruno and Uchiha sat at the ramen stand eating the ramen Naruto had suggested. They had agreed as Sasuke had no one to go home to anyway and Sakura just felt like tagging along. They were finishing up when Kakashi, of all people, arrived.
"Yo guys!" He happily greeted.
"Hey sensei, what's up?" Naruto replied.
"I wanted to tell all of you that I want to meet you at the training grounds tomorrow at six p.m. See ya. Oh, and Naruto no more using your jutsu for everyday things alright. That means no more instant ramen trips." The silver haired Jounin said before POOF and he was gone.
"That reminds me, Naruto, how did you learn how to do that space-time jutsu?" Sakura asked, she had been wondering about this for a while.
"Yeah, uhhh... that's my bloodline. Like Sasuke's sharingan. Anyway, I wonder what we'll be doing tomorrow." Naruto said trying to change the subject. He knew he would have to tell people eventually, he just didn't want them to see him as only the Fourth's son; he wanted to be known for his own accomplishments.
"It's probably just training." Sasuke said trying to dismiss the subject.
"But then why would it be so late?" Naruto inquired to this Sasuke, to this the Uchiha scion just shrugged. They would find out tomorrow so it was useless wasting time on the subject today.
-The next day 6pm-
-Training Grounds-
Naruto made it to the training grounds expecting to his team waiting for him, actually he was expecting to find Sasuke and Sakura, and he already knew Kakashi would be late. What he didn't expect to find the entirety of the Rooky Nine and a few new faces as well, complete with their senseis. He stood their puzzled at the sight, and then he saw something that shocked him even more… Kakashi was there! He wasn't late! In fact, he was early! This was an once-in-a-lifetime moment.
He walked over to the group, still a little baffled by the strange miracle. "Hi Guys. Why're you all here?"
Kiba replied, "Dunno. Apparently our sensei's set this up."
"Oh. Then who're those guys?" Naruto said pointing towards Team Gai.
"They're a team from last year's graduation class; they're a year ahead of us."
"Cool." Naruto ended and sat down on the grass with them. When senseis noticed his arrival they walked over to the front and Kakashi began to explain why they were here.
"Yo people. Today we're going to do a special overnight exercise; it will help you learn how to live off the land properly without civilized help. We will be sorting you into groups of four because one person from team Gai" He motioned towards the new team. "Will be acting as a sensei. To make this a little more interesting you're not going to be in your actual teams, you will be placed randomly with two others and a member of Gai's team since they are more experienced than you. So… shall we get started?"
"YOSH! Kakashi this training promises to be most youthful!" Gai said loud and excitedly.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Kakashi said vacantly trying to pull the green clad man's strings.
"There you go again, with your too hip and cool attitude. It is most un-youthful!"
-Several minutes later-
Everyone was sorted into their teams and was waiting for the senseis to let them begin. The teams were:
Sasuke, Ino, Kiba with Neji as acting sensei.
Shikamaru, Shino, Choji with Lee as acting sensei.
Sakura, Naruto, Hinata with Tenten as acting sensei.
"Why'd I get put in a team with all girls?" Naruto whined. Sakura hearing this punched the back of his head.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? What? Are you scared of us?" Sakura screamed at him.
"N-no it's just that…" He trailed off, knowing that if he said another word he'd either be attacked again or chased out of Konoha.
Meanwhile Ino was thrilled; she was on Sasuke's team. The boy she along with almost every other girl in their class had had a crush on throughout the four years of the academy.
"So Sasuke-kun we're finally together." She said adorningly.
"Ugh. Lord kill me now!" Sasuke wished in all seriousness.
"Hey! You should be glad you can spend time with me!" Ino screamed into his ear.
"AAAH! Don't do that you-!" He said holding his ears.
"Oh shut up you. You know you like me now that were on the same team you might as well admit it."
Sasuke tasted vomit coming into his mouth. If she thought he would like someone as obnoxious, loud and annoying as her, she needed to seek mental help. Kiba, who had been standing back and watching the show, began to laugh hysterically seeing Sasuke's revolted face.
"What's wrong Sasuke? You look sick." He said mockingly. Sasuke glared daggers at him. "Oh I know what's wrong! Ino said that you like girls. Ino! You know that Sasuke is really Sasu-g-" He was about to finish when Sasuke rugby tackled him sending both of them to the ground with Sasuke on top. Neji looked on and seeing the position the two BOYS were in started thinking that Kiba had been right, that looked WRONG!
"Now," Kurenai said loudly getting everyone's attention, "You will go off into the forest and survive off it. We want you to make your own fires, camp, get your own food and be ready for any surprises."
"What do you mean surprises." Someone asked.
"Oh don't worry, you'll see. Whilst you are out in the forest one of us," She motioned to the sensei's standing beside her, "will watch over you to see how you do. So, GET GOING!"
At those words the groups began heading into the forest, by now it was getting dark and they needed to hurry to have everything ready by nightfall. Naruto lagged behind his group, everyone was running and he was walking casually. He had a plan.
"Naruto hurry up!" Sakura shouted to him.
"Why?"
"Because we need to find a camp site, collect some food and create a fire, and we only have an hour before it gets dark!"
"Wait! Everyone just stop!" Naruto called. They all stopped and Tenten (team leader) asked,
"Why're you stalling? We need to hurry."
"Look I have a way we can spend the night without any hassle." They looked at Naruto confused. He spoke on, "I can take us to the village and we can get a hotel for the night."
"But that w-would be ch-cheating Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered so they weren't overheard.
"Look, if you were on a mission right next to a village, would you camp out or get a hotel for the night?"
"Hotel but-"
"Exactly! A ninja must look underneath the underneath!" Naruto said putting his hand in the middle, "Now who's with me?"
"Wait even if we do try the person tracking us will just stop us." Tenten argued.
"Trust me. We'll be gone in a flash."
"There's no point in arguing." Sakura said simply.
Naruto dropped one of his special kunai so that they would have something to teleport back to. They all put their hands on top of his, as soon as all the hands were in the middle, the group disappeared.
Leaving Kakashi, who was following them, speechless, that little runt was cheating. Not only that, he specifically told Naruto not to use The Flying Thunder God Jutsu every minute of his chibi sized life! He ran towards the village, and began to search for Naruto.
Moments later Gai stumble across the deserted kunai. "Leaving behind traces of your team is most un-youthful!" He said and pocketed the kunai.
-Ichiraku's Ramen-
Naruto and his team popped in without warning. He had a huge smile on his face as he took in the heavenly waft coming from the Ramen. With him were three girls, one of which who Ayame recognized as his teammate, however the other two were new to her. A sly grin crept across her face.
"Hi Ayame!" Naruto said warmly.
"Hey Naruto. You're quite the ladies' man!" She said evilly. The three girls with him instantly radiated killing intent, at the same time blushing deeply. Naruto too was blushing heavily but words wouldn't leave his mouth.
"We are not here because we want to! We are his team for a training exercise we're doing and Naruto suggested we cheat!" Sakura screamed, making Ayame cower in fear.
"Okay, okay. I was only joking." Ayame said trying to regain her composure. "So what would you like today?"
The group stopped blushing and decided on what they wanted. Ayame took their orders and called to the back, "Dad! Two pork ramens, One Chicken and Naruto's usual."
Hearing this, an elderly man popped his head out the back, "Did I just hear my favorite name?" He asked cheerfully. He came up to the counter where Naruto and his team where sitting, he wore his chef's hat on his gray hair; he was quite broad (probably due to ramen) and had a great big smile on his face.
"Hi Teuchi!" Naruto said, hugging the man over the counter. Teuchi chuckled and said,
"How's it been Naruto? Being a ninja turning out how you expected?"
"Nope. It's even better!" Naruto said cheerfully, making the man laugh.
"Great! Who're your friends?" He asked.
"This is Sakura, my teammate. Hinata, she's a Hyuuga and has those cool eyes," Naruto said motioning to the two. Hinata, at Naruto's compliment blushed lightly and looked down at her fingers that she was playing with nervously to hide the blush. Naruto continued, "And this is Tenten, she's a year older than us"
"Okay and one last thing Naruto. Which ones your girlfriend?" Teuchi asked slyly. Naruto's jaw dropped. What did he just say? Teuchi, feeling mischievous, said, "I bet it's this one." He ruffled Hinata dark hair. Hinata blushed into the color of a tomato at the thought of being Naruto's girlfriend. Suddenly, for the first, but not last, time in her life, everything went black and the Hyuuga heiress fainted with a smile on her face. Everyone's eyes went wide as Hinata began to fall off her stool, instinctively Tenten caught her. She began shaking her to try and get her back up. But her efforts were fruitless. She wasn't waking up anytime soon.
"Well, what do we do now? Who knows when she'll wake up."
Naruto sighed, just when things were going so well. To add insult to injury, at that moment Kakashi came raging in. SHIT! They were caught.
"NARUTO! What do you think you're doing?"
"K-k-kakashi…" Naruto stuttered, scared of the consequences of his cheating. Quickly a thought came to mind, "Sensei, you can be mad at me later, right now we need to take care of Hinata." Kakashi looked down at the female Hyuuga she apparently had fainted. He put his anger to aside to think of what to do. He had it.
"Naruto, do you have a seal at the hospital?"
"Uhh… No but I have one near it."
"Okay, take us there." Kakashi commanded leaving no room for argument. "Everyone grab on to Naruto." They did so. And they disappeared. Reappearing in a dark alleyway.
"Naruto why'd you place a seal in an alleyway?"
"For quick getaways. Now let's go!"
The group followed Naruto as he led them towards the hospital, with Kakashi carrying Hinata. When they got there, they rushed past all the people waiting in line and found an empty room. There they put Hinata down and called for a nurse. A tired looking nurse walked in, and began examining Hinata.
"So, you say she just fainted?" The nurse asked.
"Yeh. She was sitting down and fainted for no apparent reason." Tenten answered.
"I can't find any reason why this would happen. Tell me, what happened right before she fainted?"
Naruto blushed and let Sakura answer, "A man joked that she was Naruto's girlfriend." Naruto blushed even deeper.
"Aah, that explains it. Some people faint when something really dramatic has happened or in this case embarrassing. It's nothing to worry about, right now she's probably having a nice dream. I'd advise you not to embarrass her, especially since she seems to have a crush on that boy." She said pointing at Naruto. Said blonde's jaw dropped. Hinata liked him? No, it can't be. He'd only ever spoken to her a few times anyway. Actually now he thought about it, she did seem to blush a lot when she was with him. But that didn't mean she liked him, did it? He decided he would ask Kakashi when they were alone. Speaking of Kakashi, Naruto remembered that he was still angry about them cheating. He stole a glance at the masked ninja and found him staring at him. The nurse excused herself and walked out of the room, leaving them alone. As soon as the door shut Kakashi said,
"So I guess we have to wait till she wakes up. In the meanwhile you'll have to try and convince me why I shouldn't torture you."
"Well, we assumed this was just a test to see if we'd use common sense, and spend the night in the village." Naruto answered knowing he was wrong. There couldn't be a hidden message behind everything.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE? It was YOUR damn idea!" Sakura roared, pinning the blame on the blonde.
"So it was Naruto's idea?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.
"YES!" Both conscious girls said in unison.
"Then you can go. Go home. Straight home. And come to the training grounds at seven in the morning tomorrow."
The two girls sighed in relief and left. Leaving Naruto, Kakashi and Hinata alone.
"Now, Naruto time for your punishment. You will be doing training every morning with Gai every day for a month. No skipping it." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.
"Is that it? Training for a month. Piece of cake." Naruto confidently said, genuinely believing that this wasn't even punishment. MAN WAS HE WRONG!
"Yup. I'll leave it to him to train you however he wants." Kakashi said with a knowing chuckle.
-Training grounds-
Sasuke layed down in the clearing his team had secured. They had set up a few traps with trip wires just in case of any surprises. So far nothing. As he waited for sleep to come he thought of his brother. The one who had taken all that was dear to him away, not only that he had crushed his heart. He had always looked up to his brother, before the incident he had tried to get strong so that he could live up to what his father expected, so he could rival Itachi and make his father proud. Then the night of that incident changed his ways forever. He had closed himself off to the world, relying only on the will of his revenge. He tried harder and harder each day so he could finally avenge his clan.
He took his mind off those dark thoughts and thoughts and began to recall the events of the day. The training was simple enough, Neji had used his Byakugan to quickly find a nice clearing for the night, Ino had been sent off to collect some fire wood, and when she was back he (Sasuke in case you forgot =D) had used a small fire style jutsu (Katon) to light a fire. Kiba had used his nose to smell for food and they had found a little brown rabbit which they had killed and eaten, much to Ino's disgust. They hadn't run into any problems and they the training was pretty boring.
He thought about the people in his team, Kiba: was the annoying one, he reminded him (Sasuke) of Naruto and liked to push his (Sasuke) buttons. Ino: Don't even get him started. Neji: The Hyuuga, since the birth of the clans, the Uchiha and Hyuuga had disliked each other, it was physically impossible for Uchiha and Hyuuga to get along. Both believing that their doujutsu was superior. He along with every other Uchiha (Which were dead!) loathed them, for being so stuck up and-
JINGLE. (bells jingle bells Jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a- sorry got a little carried away =/ )
That was the sound of an alarm, the Uchiha quickly got up and activated his sharingan. Checking the surrounding area for any movement. In the darkness any normal eye would be blind, unable to see a thing, however the sharingan was special. The doujutsu his clan possessed allowed the user to detect even the slightest movement, copy hand seals instantaneously and gave them the ability to see through illusions. In the bottom left corner of his vision he noticed a slight movement in the shadows, by now his team was standing beside him, "down there," he whispered to his teammates.
Neji quickly activated his own doujutsu, the Byakugan. Without a single movement his 360 degree vision searched through the surrounding area instantly. In a bush on his left was a small dog. However this dog wasn't normal, he was wearing small dog-sized ninja vest. It was a summon animal.
Kiba and Akamaru (his little white dog) sniffed the air, with their enhanced sense of smell they quickly picked up the scent of another dog close by. 'Down there, in the bush' he thought. Ino was the last of the group to notice the dog. In fact she didn't even notice it until it leaped out the bush towards Neji. Neji, with his Byakugan, dodged and pinned the dog to the ground. Strangely the dog began to laugh. Laugh? Since when do dogs laugh? Then even more strangely it began to speak,
"Just my luck, I try and sneak up on a group with an Uchiha, Hyuuga and Inuzuka." It said in a rough voice.
"Wait! You talk!" Ino screeched, alarmed by the strange dog.
"Yeh." It replied simply. "Kakashi summoned me to sneak up you for this training. It was designed to see if you would stay on the alert. Anyway, well done. Bye. WOOF." POOF it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
-Hospital-
Naruto and Kakashi sat there in silence, Kakashi was, as ever, reading his perverted orange book. Naruto sat their hoping Hinata would wake up soon, as he waited his eyes wondered around the room lazily searching for something to think about. He remembered the training he was supposed to be doing with the rest of the rookie nine and Gai's team, with a devilish grin he excused himself from the room saying it was for a potty brake. As soon as he was out of sight he vanished.
Kakashi instantly felt the jinchuriki's chakra signature disappear and boiled in rage. THAT LITTLE…
(sorry if I carried on I'd have to make this an M rated story. So for the meant time I'll let your devious minds be imaginative)
Naruto reappeared at the kunai he had left behind, but instead of appearing at the training grounds he ended up in an apartment. He confusedly looked around at the strange objects in the apartment. The walls were a dark green. He felt adventurous and curiosity got the better of him so he decided to look around. In between every door way was a chinning bar (that thing you use for chin-ups) and almost every room had some kind of training equipment. It was strange but one of the rooms was dedicated to a collection of strap on weights. Suddenly Naruto heard faint splashing of water. Someone was home. He followed the sound and it led him to the door, of what he suspected, was the bathroom. He pressed his air to it as he heard someone having a shower inside. Unluckily, the person inside began to sing, HORRIBLY! He heard the singing/wailing in side and decided it was about time to leave. He stepped away from the door, when the door began to slide open revealing…
AAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Naruto screamed at the top of his voice. A heavily built man with huge eyebrows and a bowl cut came out of the bathroom. He was expertly toned and every inch of him seemed to be on steroids. He was obviously built however to be quick as his lower body was more defined. Speaking of lower body did I mention that he was completely naked? And showed a hefty…
Naruto screamed again and quickly disappeared, leaving Gai, bewildered that an orange clad child was in his apartment. He didn't really mind that the kid had seen him naked. After all if you pronounced his name wrong you'd uncover a secret truth. And that he was as straight as a circle.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading and NO this is NOT gonna turn into some homo story. Remember to review. Till next time. C'ya =D