I hate it when you've just eaten an orange and you're fingers feel all sticky
"Ren Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka!" Iruka shouted loud and clear.
Yay me. I couldn't help but think to myself 'This is going to be pimps'. Okay, don't underestimate her Ren, remember what happened with Sasuke. But as we crossing into the clearing it was hard not to. When I was younger, yes I probably wouldn't fight Ino, she had a little reputation for being mean and a harsh taijutsu fighter. It was that stubborn attitude. Yet I can't take her seriously. Is she really the same girl six years ago, who wouldn't bat an eye over anything that had nothing to do with herself? Nope. Well at least not in one half of my mind. Anyone who drools over the Uchiha boy that much can't possibly concentrate on their other studies if they're too busy looking good and trying to catch his eye all the time. Just screams pathetic.
I shook my head. We were standing at each end of the clearing now. And the moment Iruka shouted 'Begin!' and I saw that feral look in her eyes, I literally shat my pants. Yep I underestimated her too soon.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-
"Come on! Scream it into the dirt for me!"
"uhno..ih te sti und te mst bu-ih-ul ku-oi-i n ki-no-hu."
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
I managed to lift my face out of the ground slightly. "Ino is the best and the most beautiful kunoichi in Konoha." I gasped.
"Better." Ino smirked. She had me pinned down, sitting on my back, with her knees on the ground either side of me. She had both my arms in a certain lock behind my back with one hand, and used the other to push my face into the ground, effectively cutting off most of my air supply and almost crushing the bone's in my arms. And I really can't deal with pain well. I'm better than I used to be. Much better...but that's another story.
Noticing I had managed to raise my head, she pushed it down one more time to drive her point home. Hard. My body shuddered at the pain, especially since Ino had pressed my forehead against a very sharp stone. I could taste the metallic liquid before my mind registered I've been cut just above my eyebrow. Great. Head wounds produce a lot of blood. I could already feel it sliver down my face and around my eyes, in a few seconds I'll be temporarily blind. Well, at least when I get up, I can give Ino a good scare. I personally love the effect my glare has on people. Coupled with this, the effect would be awesome. Did I really just say that word? Eugh, Naruto's rubbing off on me.
"And don't you forget it." That sly smile wasn't going anywhere. She waited for the reconciliation seal.
I stood up slowly, back to Ino and the crowd. I looked over my shoulder and glared at Ino. Everyone who was smiling and laughing before at my expense, now cowered in fear- Okay I tend to exaggerate, their eyes were just widened and shocked, and a bit scared- , even Ino though she was doing very well. The only one who was grinning like an Idiot was Naruto, likewise he was the only one who was upset and horrified when Ino beat me.
The blood marks around my eyes were doing a nice trick, as well as the streaks down my cheeks, as if my eyes were bleeding, and...Ah bloody hell I can't see now. What a wasted effort, I barely had time to see their reactions, never mind bask in the glory.
"Well done Ino, You have one win so far, Ren you have none, but better luck next time!" Iruka gave me a hearty pat on the back and I grumbled. He guided me back to the side lines, me with my grumpy face and slouched. Ever since I came back here my posture has been horrendous. I seem to be taking a page out of Kakashi's book...no, not that one.
"Sakura Haruno and Ren Namikaze."
Okay, this time, this time I'm not gonna mess it up. She may look and act and sound pathetic. Doesn't mean she is. Don't do what you did with Ino. Imagine Sakura is a big snarling bull -Bull's don't snarl, but never mind- That spotted my red scarf and is after me. Don't look at her pink hair. Don't pay any attention to the love-dovey eyes she's making at Sasuke. She is a deadly flower, poisonous and full of deceit.
Standing across from her, I know I won't make the same mistake twice.
"Begin!" We both attack.
You've got to be kidding me. About two minutes into the fight I know I have already won, it just depends if I want to drag it out of keep it short. Scratch what I said before, this girl is pathetic, well compared to all the clan members. Her moves were very predictable and basic. She does perform them very well, I give her that. But that's it. At good speed, okay strength, but no surprises and nothing extra. This raging bull...is nothing but a dainty butterfly. And really, I should have known that, I mean COME ON! She has PINK hair! She only beats up Naruto because he refuses to fight back.
Her moves are routine. When Iruka helped me practice on weekends, he gave me the basic moves sheet. She did them all in that exact same order, never breaking routine. Although she is quite dainty, parts of her personality say other ways. Once she realized I was just toying with her- coming in close and leaving plenty of openings, and then stepping back a millisecond before she hit me, as well as seeing that glint in my eye, I call it eye-smirking- Sakura showed me her fiery side, her punches became slightly uncoordinated, but that's okay, what I praised her on - in my mind of course- was her increased of strength and not holding back anymore.
However the fight was beginning to drag on, and I couldn't care less anymore, ten minutes have already been, and If I don't end it now, Iruka's going to think I'm struggling.
Kicking her feet out from under her, Sakura let out an "oof" as she landed on her bum. Acting quickly, I streaked forwards, one knee open the ground, the other pressing into her gut, while my right arm pressed against her throat, effectively pinning her down. She struggled, but the moment I started pressing down harder, my greater strength holding her down, Iruka shouted.
"That's a very good pinning position Ren, good win. Sakura you basic skills are very well done, but that ferocity during that last few minutes would be very welcome more often."
"Ren Namikaze and Shikamaru Nara."
Good ol' Shikamaru, from what I'd seen from his fights, he couldn't give a rat's ass about it, lost everything so far except for Sakura. I saw him put a little effort against her. For one thing, Shikamaru doesn't like losing to girls. Another thing, if Sakura beats you, you're never going to get past genin. Even though he lost to Ino and Hinata, he still tried a bit, so at least he went down fighting, but with the boys all he did was stand there and wait for them to kick him to the ground, or in Choji's case, tackle him to the ground. After that little mishap, he merely sat on the ground.
So when it came to out fight, he simply sighed loudly. We both stood in our slouched stances, though mine looked kind of cool like Kakashi's whereas Shikamaru's looked, well just plain lazy. When we started both my punches were blocked and he attempted to give me a slow kick to the stomach. I grabbed his foot and twisted it. He did a Sasuke-like manoeuvre and turned his body by using his hands on the ground to give me another kick with his other foot too. He tricked me. A lot of genin give away where they are going to kick or hit with they're eyes. Shikamaru looked downwards. Instead his kick hit my face.
I stumbled back from the force though was slightly disappointed to find his kick wasn't at strong as it could be.
"Just hurry it up Namikaze; I couldn't care less how it ends." Shikamaru yawned.
"Are you going to take me seriously Nara?" I questioned icily.
"You're a girl. The only thing that should involve you and serious business is washing clothes." Oh no he didn't. The sexist prick. He knows what irks me.
The moment he saw me walking stiffly towards him, silent anger radiating off me in waves, he just shrugged.
"You're going have a tough time getting that blood stain out of your shorts."
"They're not shorts, and what bloo-"
"Winner Ren, bad luck Shikamaru, come on let's get some ice on that."
Sasuke winced, as if remembering his own wound, though his didn't bleed. Shikamaru clenched his teeth. "I'll get you back for this Namikaze." He smirked.
My fight with Hinata was very interesting. I didn't expect to win. Hyuuga's are very talented at taijutsu, especially considering its the base for their gentle fist style. My techniques struggled against hers, and though I was stronger and bolder in my attempts to subdue her, the Hyuuga's skill prevailed.
Since my failure against Ino, my other losses include Shino and Kiba. My win against Shino however was a mistake. Or more fitting, I shouldn't have won. Iruka knew that, that's why he placed Shino above me. Just before our fight Shino dislocated his shoulder in his previous spar. They couldn't get it to pop back in.
Instantly I thought it was going to be an easy win. How wrong I was. Shino was fast and strong. It took all of my skills and energy not to succumb, even with his dislocated shoulder; I could see why most of the class lost against him. It was his defence that made him win his other match's. Everyone else was on the offense, building up their attack, while Shino switched between, keeping his fort strong.
I barely won, and that was because of his shoulder. Iruka declared me the winner, giving me another point under my belt. This was the third day, so I still had the fight against Kiba. Two spars per day for the top ten.
It's true what they say about Inuzuka's. They really are animals.
Kiba came flying at me like a savage bear. He barely gave me time to think. There were plenty of openings, his defence was shit, but he would never give you the chance to strike out, he just kept coming, and coming. I was on my defence the whole time. Later on I'd be covered in bruises. I think you know who won that one.
On the fourth day the first one I fought against was Choji. Now, from what Kakashi told me I know not to expect slowness due to them being err...overweight. So once again I overestimated him. So glad I did. Choji was strong, really strong. The only problem was, he put too much power into his punches, he wasn't able to recover quickly if he missed, which left plenty of openings for me.
Though the kid has some stamina -probably all that fat I had to punch my way through- It took me a good half an hour, which is actually not too long or not too short.
"Ren Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki." Now this one. This one I have been looking forward too. Naruto gave me a smirk as we both entered the clearing. I have to watch with Naruto, from what I've learnt with his other fights, he's fucking unpredictable. And though a lot of students don't see it that way, it's actually a sign of cleverness, or cunning, which ever you prefer. I like cunning better, suits him.
Not only that, but he learns quickly.
"Begin!" I expected him to come running at me, like everyone else has done. Strangely enough he just stood there grinning like an idiot. What was he doing? He's waiting for me to make a move isn't he? Getting ready to charge at him, and focusing solely on that, just as I was about to run at the boy, he suddenly dived towards my feet. Fucking unpredictable eejit.
He tricked me into thinking he was letting me make the first move, and he knows that when I attack, I also leave myself open for attack. He's noticed during where my other opponents let me make the first move that there's a point in time when I am focused on one thing -building up my power-, that's very rare for me so the time limit on it is about five seconds. I'm aware of that because Iruka sensei told me. God, he's a good teacher. In that stance I would be leaning forwards and due to my position, anything outside my focus could easily knock me over.
Which Naruto did by sweeping my legs up from under me with his own. Falling backwards I managed to land on my hands, and do a sort of back flip, landing upwards, yet not stable. Noticing this Naruto quickly punched upwards into my gut, lifting me into the air where he had jumped and was now above me, getting ready to bring his leg down in a barrage technique.
But I can be unpredictable too.
As his leg was about to come down on my back, I quickly twisted in the air so it was brought down on my stomach instead. Due to being high in the air, I knew I had plenty of time. Naruto was too confident in his barrage. He didn't expect me to grab his leg with both arms, holding it to me. This meant he couldn't get free and get away. Reaching out, I took a hold of his jumpsuits collar under his chin and let go of his leg. If I was going down, he was coming down with me.
And now the fun part. I pulled his face to mine. His body followed, so his right leg was directly above my left and his left arm direct above my right arm etc. With only a few inches in between us. Then I rolled 180 degrees in the air, switching places with him.
I basically turned his own technique against him.
That whole process only took two and a half seconds
So he took the brunt of his own attack, because we carried the momentum in that kick earlier. We threw up dust clouds when we landed, so Iruka nor the students - apart from Hinata, who gasped- could not see what was happening. When the dust cleared Naruto was lying on his back and me on top of him, my arms holding me up. We had left a very small and shallow crater in the earth. Naruto must have used chakra with that kick, because if it could cause this...well I'm not even going to finish that sentence.
I could tell that Naruto could still fight. After all we have had quite a few spars when we were on missions and he was pissing me off. That boy had a crazy amount of stamina. So drawing back my fist I punched him in the gut at least three times, very hard. He coughed, but I knew he wasn't going to be throwing up blood anytime soon. It depends on where on the stomach you hit him, and I hit him in the least dangerous area. What sort of guardian would I be if I didn't?
Naruto smiled at me. After all that he still grins like that?! "You got me." He sighed in defeat, though he didn't look upset at all.
"Winner: Ren Namikaze. Naruto I'm very impressed with your skills lately, and Ren well done countering that barrage." Iruka looked like a very proud mother-hen. As I stood up I pulled Naruto up with me. We made the seal and I helped him back to the others, letting him lean on my shoulder. I think I've become soft. Just to make up for it the moment we got back to our places I suddenly pushed him off.
"Whoa!" Naruto tumbled to the ground. "He he," he chuckled. " You nearly broke the law, good thing you remembered before you got too nice and could never return."
"Shut it."
"Oh Ren thank you for the wonderful and good deed you just did."
"I'm warning you."
"Good-two-shoes."
"Orangutan."
"Teacher's pet."
"Idiot." I mumbled, he didn't realize his insult was completely irrelevant. Oh well, at least his cunning mind made up for it. I have to admit, If I hadn't thought as quickly as I had in that spar, I would be goner.
Now the last and final day. Mine and Sasuke's fight. It's also the last fight. Naruto actually did better than I thought against Sasuke. That's squirts full of surprises. The Uchiha had won against everyone, even Hinata. I was not going to let him win this one, I don't care if I get us both disqualified, he was not going to win. Let's just hope he fall's for it.
Unlike my taijutsu spars, I wore my swords today, on the outside of my flak jacket. Easily accessible. As usual they made a cross shape on my back with my favorite sword - Yellow Earth- under my flak jacket, still accessible but more difficult to pull out.
Whenever I sat down beside Naruto he wouldn't stop prodding and touching them. I cleaned them every day, I didn't want want his dirty paw prints on them
"Stop it." I hissed.
He ran his finger along the blade.
"You'll get cut." His grin told me otherwise. However it wasn't long before "Ouch!"
"I told you."
"But they're soo cool!," Surely he's not-yep, he still touching them. "Where did you get them from anyway, because I really want some."
"Naruto you wouldn't know-
"Ren Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka shouted.
"-Finish that sentence for me, I've gotta go." I half expected him to do, instead he just thrust out his hand into a thumbs up. It reminded me eerily of a certain jounin.
"Good luck, Renata-
"It's Ren you little pipsqueak!"
"-Ren, beat that mangy emo to a pulp!" I could have sworn one of his teeth sparkled. I quickly glanced around. Phew, Might Gai wasn't here.
Giving Naruto an eye-smirk - my own invention- I walked with my head held high towards the clearing, not even glancing in Sasuke's direction, only when I got to my starting point and gave him a determined glare.
"Tsk, don't get cocky, you know you can't win, and It's jut not right to pummel a girl into the ground." Sasuke warned. Not smirk included there. Well at least he did have some principles- hang on a moment. Did he just say what I think he did.
"First of all, I'm as strong as you, maybe even stronger, and I can take you." Okay no need to get cocky Ren, just stay cool and collected.
"Begin!"
And it started. Sasuke having the upper hand with, well more years of training and just his natural ability. He must train daily though, he was able to beat a Hyuuga. His defense was strong and his offence was phenomenal. It was bare will power that kept me going. Thinking back, that was also what kept Naruto going against Sasuke. I guess it's not just his body that has amazing stamina.
I managed to land two hits to his four. I was sore, bloody and tired. He had barely a scratch on him and the only thing insinuating he had been sparring was Sasuke's dusty clothes and faster breathing. Not only that but he was smirking. Always looking down on people who claim they can beat him, because he knows they can't.
Throughout the spar I made sure to keep touching my sword handles at intervals, as if I was itching to use them - which I was- and to catch Sasuke's attention. Which it did. From what I've learned Sasuke likes to proves others wrong. Wrong that they can beat him. Wrong that they are a skilled genin. Wrong that they have a different skill from his that he can't over come. This is attitude of his will aid me in this spar.
I know Sasuke would like to prove that my specialty was useless against him, and I know he thinks that I probably think I better than I say I am, and that I only know the very basic in Kenjutsu. How wrong he is.
Now, now's perfect. While he stood opposite each other, catching out breaths, barely four meter's apart. I quickly grabbed my left-handed sword hilt with my right hand. Then I looked as if I decided against using it and dropped my hands into a taijutsu stance. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and leaped at me I ducked, but turning my head slightly I could see a knowing glint in Sasuke's eyes.
As he sailed over my back, he grabbed two of my ones, one in each hand, and pulled them along with him, leaving my with Yellow Earth. There's a reason I had them crisscrossed on my back. Sasuke had them both in the wrong hands. A lot of people believe the sword handle closest to a hand is specific to that hand. Others don't even know some swords are molded for different hands. Which is why if an enemy tries to use my swords against me, he believes the one closest to my right hand is a right handed sword and vice versa, however as you can guess, I have to reach across the back of my head to get the correct sword.
Now, Sasuke saw me holding one with the wrong and hand and most likely concluded that the way they were positioned, he held them correctly. It's his turn to look like a fool.
Iruka looked ready to stop the fight, but one look from me he settled back down. I'm glad he trusts me. We're probably disqualified now, so what difference does it make. Also I think Iruka was curious, and due to a little over a month away from being genin, we could handle it, as well as Sasuke being far more advanced than the rest of the class.
"Come on then. Show me you're not just some worthless girl who was only made a genin due to pleading. I think we all know these swords are just for show." Sasuke glared at me.
"Fine." I shrugged. Then I glared right back at him, insinuating a challenge. " Prove it."
The Uchiha ran towards me, my sword tight in his hands. He was holding them all wrong, and when he swung at me, it was weak and clumsy, good for a beginner but clumsy nonetheless. I guess nobody told him swords are heavy and hard to swing correctly. I spent a good portion of my year at Kumo building my upper body strength, something I still need to continue. Because of this, handling them is a lot easier for than it used to be.
I dodged it easily. He swiped at my legs with swords, which I jumped in the air to avoid, only to land on them due to Sasuke making a cross shape with them. From there a kicked him in the chest, forcing him to stumble backwards, where I quickly moved to his side and stuck out my leg. Without his hands to catch himself, and too busy with preventing the swords from accidentally cutting him, Sasuke fell onto his bottom.
This made him angry, angry, but of course Uchiha's don't have emotions so I'll just scratch out the 'very' bit. He lashed out with one of the swords again in my direction, and I dodged. Using this time to get back on his feet, he once again started waving the swords at me, but this time with more ferocity and accuracy. It was getting harder to avoid the metal blades so I just kind of 'hand chopped' them away, if that makes any sense. probably not. Sasuke and clearly evident on the others faces were shocked, because all I did was keep batting the weapons away with my bare hands and not a single cut, maybe some bruises later but that was besides the point.
My fingers were together and hands straight hence why I said 'hand chopped', in that kind of shape, and with either the back or the side of my hand I would hit the flat side of the sword away. This is what they taught you in Kumo, or rather what a master swordsman would teach you. Yugito would often say to me "What if you were weaponless? And had only your hands and taijutsu skills, and we all know that unless you are very talented at it -which we all know you aren't- you would be a sitting duck. Or it could be that someone sneaks up and snatches your swords from you. What then? They are your biggest asset and you and me both know you can't do squat without them."
And then Bee would teach me. They said it's amazing how I picked it up so fast, however they were really just empty compliments. I trained ten hours per day, most consisted of swordsmanship, about a third was taijutsu and at least one day a week, had me training using this technique against swords. Agility and speed in those lessons was everything.
And that's what I was doing, blocking every blade his threw towards me. Trust me, this was a lot easier than doing it with Bee. Yugito would argue that it's better to start off facing difficult opponents, after of course the first day of a beginners lesson. And it really paid off. Even though I've only managed to block one hit from Bee every spar, it's brought my level up a good deal. A level that was much higher than Sasuke's.
Speaking of the navy-haired boy, -I..think it's navy, is it? I can never be too sure what certain hair colours are classed as. Maybe a just a darker Navy will do- his frustration was starting to show, as well a little bead of sweat dripping down his face. And yet his pursuit has not lessened one bit.
A stabbing pain in my gut brought my attention to my own body. Soon adrenaline alone would not be enough to keep the pain away from the wounds Sasuke had inflicted earlier. Not mention, compared to Sasuke, I was drenched in sweat. I should have put the plan into motion earlier, not just five minutes ago.
That's about right when Sasuke kicked me up and under the jaw, like an uppercut punch but with his foot. Dammit! I was distracted for a second and Sasuke took it. That's going to be a nasty bruise. I went flying backwards, my body curved, then landed, hard on the ground.
"Uuf!" Everything at that moment screamed silently in agony. "Oh no." This was not a good time to be getting a migraine. To my calculations I have about ten minutes before my brain gives in. A sword came down on me and pinned the side of my flak jacket to the ground.
Sasuke stood triumphantly above me. I really liked that flak jacket. Bastard.
I started struggling to get up, but seeing this, the Uchiha boy stuck one foot on my lower abdomen. Raising the other sword with two hands, he looked ready to bring it down on my chest. Not quite believing he wouldn't - I honestly wouldn't believe him either, he looked crazy- pierce through my body with it, Iruka looked ready to give the signal that the spar was over. What I found out much later was that the most Sasuke would have done was just bring to about an inch off my skin, to show that he had won.
Okay let's hope I can do this. Bee, I pray to god that you're training has paid off. Last time I tried this, and all the other times for that matter I either completely missed, or got my palms torn to shreds. Who wants a free ribbon! They're free. Made of skin and blood I'm sure you'll love your new ribbon. Enjoy!
Moving so fast that the sudden movement made the dust ply around us slightly so it was probably hard for Naruto and the others to see yet both mine and Sasuke's vision was clear.
The sword came down and my hands came together.
Naruto couldn't believe what he had seen! Sasuke was using swords, and in Naruto's opinion was quite skilled at it -remember, he'd never seen and actually fight involving swords before- and Ren! Ren was like the wind, her hands moved so fast in such a short space of time and area that it made her body look like it was going in slow motion. Not only that but she was blocking his every move with her bare hands.
He thought back to only ten minutes ago when he, along with the rest of the class was holding his breath when the Uchiha stripped two of the blades off Ren's back. But now Naruto understood. He wasn't much of bright spark, but unlike a lot of the class, he was cunning, which paid off in making quick battle strategies, however analysing what was happening or 'what had just happened' in a spar was always quite difficult for Naruto, unless it was something he himself would think of.
Looking back on the fight in his head, he instantly focused on Ren's little sword hints.
"I've got it!" he shouted out, striking his open palm with his fist and gaining the attention of those in the class who had not been taught to ignore him.
"Naruto, shut up! Sasuke's fighting, don't distract him! It'll be all your fault if he loses!" Sakura's dreaded fist appeared over his head.
how the hell did she move so-
"Ow Sakuraaa-chan." The orange-clad boy now rubbed a rising lump under his hair.
But he had figured out, that this was all a part of Ren's plan. She played on Sasuke's arrogance, something that only Naruto seemed to guess because he -besides Shikamaru, who wasn't actually paying attention to the fight- unlike most of the class doesn't cloud his arrogant and superior personality in coolness and cleverness.
However, so far it looked like Ren was a goner, from what he's seen last, Sasuke had her pinned down.
Now though, the dust was covering up both Ren and Sasuke and Naruto was busy jumping up and down and trying to climb on peoples shoulders to get a better view. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea and so no one got anywhere. All the girls were tense. They didn't like to see their Sasuke struggle, while all the boys were eager to see if Sasuke would finally have some of that superiority attitude beaten out of him. Hinata had nearly done so is well, yet in a way Sasuke's forward-going personality swamped her at the very last minute and he won.
The academy student's chattered loudly and quickly among themselves, and started holding their breath once more as the dust began to clear. Standing on his tip toes and increasing his height by a mere inch, Naruto tried and failed to spot Ren and Sasuke before the others did. He hated waiting, he was always an impatient child, unlike Ren who would hide and watch her surroundings for hours on end, hardly making a move.
"Woohoo! Go on Ren! That'll teach him to mess with us!" Naruto jumped enthusiastically off the ground, with his right fist pumping the air. From what the student's could see now, it was quite appropriate for those who never really like Sasuke.
Ren was still pinned down, beads of sweat trickling down her face and her teeth clenched, struggling against Sasuke, however her superior strength prevailed. Sasuke was also having a difficult time.
Both Ren's palms were clasped flat against either side of the blade, stopping it's journey. They were shaking, both of them. And when Sasuke saw in Ren's eyes that she wasn't going to give up, he retreated, pulling the other sword out of her flak jacket, as well as the one still firmly held in Ren's hands. However when Sasuke tugged at it Ren wouldn't let go.
Their eyes locked and Sasuke's hardened.
"My turn." Ren eye-smiled at him.
I released the sword and using both my legs kicked at his stomach simultaneously, propelling him backwards, he did well to land on his feet. Sasuke held back in a defensive stance, swords in both hands. The only difference was he had them in the right hands this time. I could his face marvel at how much more comfortable they were this way...and also that he had been tricked. He shot a glare at me.
I just reached behind my back and took out the hidden sword, double-edged and any hand. Yellow-earth. Naruto grinned and Sasuke smirked. H eseemed to think I won't be able to handle such a sword. He doesn't know that speed isn't everything. Agility is
I held it in both hands and pointing in the direction of Sasuke. It was much wider than the blades he held, and heavier. I still haven't managed mastered it to the degree I have the other two. This is the sword I use in the training against Bee, when we go through the outcome of two swords to one, or sometimes three swords to one. I've never even come close to winning, but Yugito said I improved each lesson, if only by a minuscule amount.
So with those thoughts in my head I charged at Sasuke. Our swords clashed, he'd put both up to protect him. Silly move. I released one hand from the handle and punched him in the face. Then began what Naruto would later call the 'epic showdown'.
I wish he's recorded it with a camera, i wanted to see if I'd improved. I was much superior than Sasuke in sword fighting, even with only one blade against his two. I'd block on swing with Yellow earth, then dodge another or use my palm against it. I would twist and turn and pivot on one foot, pushing him further and further away from the center. It was almost like a was dancing, and this was one thing I knew I looked graceful at.
I could see worry etched into the Uchiha's face, and concentration straining at his eyes. I'm surprised Iruka hasn't stopped this already, he must think Sasuke could handle this, and that when he became a genin, this would be good experience for him when he starts fighting in the real world. Still. I would have interfered already.
Maybe he thinks that its our own fault it has gotten far and that we should end it? I don't know, but I certainly am going to. I have to admit, I am showing off a bit, it's not really my thing to do so, but I love sword fighting, it's like a passion, and when I get into it, I don't want to stop. I'm not showing off on purpose, I was just...enjoying myself. With Bee and Yugito, I was beaten down every time but this time, I'm actually winning and...I haven't felt this joy in a long, long time. To be exact, when both me and Naruto beat those bullies six years ago.
But time was dragging on, and with "oohs" and "aahs." from the audience and more than often a "Sasuke, no!" told me too much time had past. I need to end it.
So I noticeably put more strength and speed into my swings, and a sudden change in my tactics, taking a page from Naruto's book of unpredictability. I ducked under his arm this time when Sasuke swung around head-height, and head-butted him in the gut. he stumbled backwards and I used Yellow Earth to hit that blade out of his hand. Serious business now. We carried on, until the other blade fell from his grasp and hit the ground.
Sasuke shocked, but not yet undetermined, put up his fists. He was worse off than myself. Noticing for the fist time since I took out my double-edged sword, I could see cuts along his arms and legs, neighboring bruises. A lot of the damage was done by himself, unused to swords Sasuke had plenty of times accidentally cut himself.
I still had some energy left. He didn't look like he had much. Walking towards him slowly, I dragged yellow earth's tip across the ground. Rain was falling from the sky. Only small drops. I pulled my white hood over my head. It would be suitable to say I looked menacing.
When I reached him, Sasuke was getting ready to charge. We were at most two meters apart. The rain hand't yet drenched the dusty ground. No was my change. The moment Sasuke surged forward, I stamped my foot and swept my sword along the ground, causing the dust particles to raise up in the air. I sidestepped Sasuke. The thick air made it difficult for him to see me, and thus it was easy fro my to do so, without him spotting it. The moment he passed me, I stepped in behind him, pulled his torso to me with my left arm, locking both his arms, and hovering my blade under his chin with my right hand.
The dust cleared and Iruka leaped upwards.
"That's it! No one wins or loses, both of you are disqualified, however from showing a lot of skill in this match I'm allowing for this to count as a draw, so you each receive half a point. Despite that, I'm very disappointed in you both to resorting to weapons, this is a taijutsu tournament, not kenjutsu. I will speak to you both on Monday! be glad you don't have any harsh punishments." Iruka shouted. He winked at me. He was just following the rules in what he was supposed to say, never mind mind letting the whole thing happen. And even though he's a teacher and supposed to be more mature than us, I suppose he thought that it would be good for the Uchiha if he were taken down a notch. I agree.
Sasuke angrily knocked the blade away. Our eyes locked.
Even though Iruka had disqualified us, or called it a draw, be both knew who won.
And he hated me for it.
Naruto wouldn't stop talking to her afterwards. Ren wanted to claw her bloody ears off. Not that, that would help.
"It was so cool when you..blah blah blah...and then when Sasuke almost...blah blah...but you got the better of him and...blah blah blah!" Naruto shouted loudly enough for the whole world to hear.
They were walking back from the academy together towards another mission. Ren had not done this one yet, but the Hokage would mention this among the list of available missions everyday, so she thought she would give it a go, how hard would it be to catch a cat? Yet as she and Naruto were walking through the village, her previous fight with Sasuke was catching up to her.
"Look Naruto, lets just get some catnip from the shop, I'm not feeling up to it today and would much rather get done and over with nice and easy, alright?" Ren turned to her blonde haired companion. He grinned back.
"Sure." And they changed direction.
Unknown to them, they had a little follower.
I'm not interested or curious in anyway, Sasuke kept silently telling himself and denying the truth. The boy had not enjoyed being the only one getting in the neck for Naruto's - and Ren's for that matter- silly pranks. Not only that, but he wanted- no, needed- to find out what they were doing, what could be so important that Iruka sensei could let Naruto out of detention without so much as a wave of his hand?
So here he was, the first day in a month that he hasn't had detention with the loser. Although he couldn't care less about Naruto, Ren was something to worry about. And she's a lot stronger than he had previously thought, as well as the fact that none of them knew much about her. And Sasuke's logic is that he is following -not stalking- her so he gain enough information to find her weaknesses and beat her. It's his destiny after all. To be come strong, meaning he has to be the strongest in the class.
Yet, as he followed them both, he couldn't help but wonder. Why the hell would someone like her, who was obviously above average in the academy skills hang out with the dead-last. "It's not going to help her in her future career." Sasuke mused aloud. She didn't even look like she was enjoying herself while Naruto was blabbering away, just narrowed eyes and expressionless lips.
She's trying to steal my look! Sasuke's eyes widened - only slightly, mind- in horror. Now she was definitely public enemy number 2. If only we didn't have to be put into three man teams, then I could do things on my own. But if I want to get stronger, I'll need a strong team, and she looks like a likely candidate, otherwise we won't even be considered for the chuunin exams. Still, I'd rather get stuck with Hinata, Sasuke thought to himself while keeping his presence unknown.
"'The hell?" Sasuke frowned in confusion when he saw the two enter a miniature supermarket. He creeped along the wooden fence until going through the doors himself. Picking up a basket so as not to look out of place, he kept an eye on them and keeping his distance. He rounded a corner of shelves only to stop abruptly.
Ren and Naruto were halfway down the small aisle, they had found what they had wanted and were turning this way, not enough time for Sasuke to move without them noticing him as he was already two meter's away from the nearest hiding point. So was amazing speed he grabbed a random object off the shelf without looking. He placed it in his basket just as his eyes found the kumo nin's, then Naruto's.
Ren's forest green eyes hardened and Naruto pouted when he saw that her attention was no longer focused on him, but his arch nemesis, the Uchiha.
"Ren, come on! I have the catnip and we've got stuff to do," Naruto whined, then glared at anyone else what Naruto had just said would have sounded kinky. "Don't tell me you like him too! He's got a stick so far up his-"
"Naruto, calm down, I for one agree with you." Ren replied, keeping eye contact with Sasuke. "Are you following us?"
"No." Sasuke said tersely.
"Then what are you doing?" She inquired, taking a few steps towards him.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm shopping!" He defended himself.
Looking into his basket, Ren raised one eyebrow at him.
"Is there something you're not telling us Sasuke-kun?"
"...wha-!".
Naruto, curious as to what they were talking about joined in. "Hey Sasuke! Why are you buying -what are they called?" He squinted closer to the object in Sasuke's basket.
"Tampons? What are those?" Naruto scratched his head.
Sasuke suddenly straightened in a comically anime fashion. His eyes trailed down until they saw the pack of tampons standing out like an Uzumaki in a room full of Uchiha's. He gulped. He could almost feel Ren smirking behind that scarf of hers that had somehow risen to cover the lower half of her face.
"There for my...uh..mothe- I mean my cousi-." Damn! Why did all his females relatives have to be dead at this moment in time.
"For you, don't you mean?" Ren drawled, clearly enjoying this.
Sasuke swallowed, evidently sweating, he tugged on his wide collar. He now had too choices, either lose his pride - and speak the truth in that he was following them- or his dignity...
"I get nose bleeds often."
Ren was taken aback, this was new. " What do you mean? Show me. The person behind the till won't mind as long as you pay for it"
Sasuke sighed. Goodbye dignity. At least I've still got pride left...,.
"They absorb...fluid." He cringed as he opened the box and tore open the packet containing one. He slipped the tampon out and twirled it in his fingers nervously.
Ren knew he was lying, but that didn't mean he was going to get out of it easily. "And then what?"
"And then..." He took a deep breath and shoved it up his nose, taking the cardboard surrounding the tissue off, so you could see a little 'tail' hanging from one nostril.
"Alright, I believe you." Ren lied, while Naruto looked on in wonder. Finally! Something to stopped nosebleeds without having to always use one hand!
"If you tell anyone..." He threatened.
"You owe me, I'll keep my mouth shut, but I'm not so sure about him." She jabbed a thumb at her orange companion, who had somehow gotten to the counter right under their noses to pay for the catnip
"Fine. I'll deal with him later." He humphed and was about to ask what they were doing but stopped himself. Remember, Uchiha's don't ask question about petty things because they are not interested in such things.
Noticing Naruto had slipped from her view Ren dismissed Sasuke without any signals and kept close to the hyperactive blonde.
Sasuke clenched his fists and refused to acknowledge her rudeness towards him. Even Naruto would say something, not just walk out of the room as if he didn't exist. He was to be clan head in a few years time. What about her? She doesn't even belong to a clan let alone clan rank.
"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said to himself. "She's nothing, she may think she's above me now, but one day she be like any other ninja wannabe and just fade into the background. She's a pathetic excuse for a ninja." He really believed that Ren was soon not even going to be memorable.
He left the shop with the packet of tampons back on the shelf and 30 yen on the counter. He had some training to do.
The sky had darkened and it was late afternoon, some would say it was night. It was slightly chilly out, but nothing an average citizen couldn't handle let alone a ninja in training. That night a month back was exceptionally cold, most of the leaves had frosted, an anomaly among the others, not even kumo nin could bear the icy air.
But being who he was, Sasuke had trained on that night too, given that he had set himself the challenge, wearing no more than his usual attire. And Sasuke is not one to lose a goal lightly. He was an avenger, and if he could not even master one night of training on the coldest day Konoha has had in over ten years- due to being a relatively warm climate- then he did not deserve the right to kill Itachi.
However that was a nearly a month ago, and now, here he was, doing the same thing yet in warmer weather. Sweat poured down his face and neck for he strives to improve himself greatly, although since that is quite impossible as he can't possibly improve a large sum anymore due to the limitations of his age and body, as well as how advance he is already, Sasuke will have to wait a few years to see a large difference from this day to when he is older.
The Uchiha was so focused in his training that he didn't finish until ten o'clock at night. The same time that both Naruto and Ren got home after finally catching that horror of a cat. Apparently the catnip was a waste of time.
Sasuke wiped his face using his t-shirt like the well brought up child he was and stated heading towards the Uchiha District which was quite far outside of Konoha. On the way through the village he walked past Naruto's apartment. He knew the blonde lived there, because Naruto would always tell Sakura very loudly that she should come see him sometime, and another incident ...that Sasuke would not like to share. He shivered at the thought of it.
Noises shouted from above. he looked up. Naruto's apartment and the one next to it were the only ones on occupied on the top floor and the only apartments with the lights on in the whole building. The noise was coming from Naruto's apartment. Not only that but Sasuke could hear things shifting around, and when he looked close enough he could see the blondes bed had been tipped on it's side and leaning against the window.
"He's being robed." Sasuke realized without any emotion whatsoever. He just shrugged at his statement and moved on. Yet after a couple of steps Sasuke stopped himself. If I prevent that loser's home being robbed, then he'll probably stopped pestering me and getting me into pointless detention, and not only that, he'll keep his mouth shut about earlier today! Sasuke thought.
Staying with this decision, Sasuke flattened himself to the ground and arrived in leaps and bounds as quick as possible to Naruto's door. Because these will naturally be civilians or lower class genin, the best option would be to have the element of surprise, and come in quick and fast and knock them out before they even realize what happened. Before he rushed in, Sasuke briefly wondered where the hell Naruto was, or his little follower who always seemed to be looking out for him, but dismissed it. It did not concern him.
Sasuke checked if the door was locked it wasn't. He burst through.
And was hit in the face by a frying pan that came out of nowhere.
"Told you it would work." drawled a voice.
I wasn't really shocked when my work of art booby-trap prevented someone from coming. Well at least not until I found out that intruder was Sasuke.
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked me.
"Positive. No other guy puts that much product in his hair." I replied after holding up Sasuke's hair to look at his face. The Uchiha had been knocked completely out, even ninja sense weren't enough to save him from my deadly frying pan contraption.
I wonder what possessed him to even think about coming in here. Looking back on when they were at the store earlier on, the only conclusions Ren could come up with would be either Revenge, or to try and get Naruto's mouth shut. Three weeks ago I would have said the latter. Now after getting know him, I'm not so sure any more, especially after witnessing declaring vengeance on a pea . He never got his revenge- Naruto ate the pea.
As I thought back to the shop I replayed the rest of the day in my head, I do that sometimes, I can't seem to stop myself because I enjoy being able to do it to every minuscule detail, like I'm watching a film in my mind that I've already lived.
It took us five hours to catch that bloody cat.
Tora. If the devil had a name, well I've got a pretty good guess as to what it is...
Anyway, when we did finally catch it -after taking off my swirl symbol necklace, I practically ordered it into submission. You know, I think Killer B and Yugito were right about what they told me before I left Kumo, well that just means I'll be extra careful to wear my necklace- We gave it back to that overweight walrus of a woman and claimed our reward, which I gave to Naruto considering he needed it more than I did.
Afterwards when we got back, Naruto's apartment had been robbed again, even all his ramen pots had gone, including his secret stash. So we started putting furniture back to where they were making a large racket, when I said to him:
"Naruto do you have a frying pan by any chance.?" I asked looking up at him on the other side of lifting the table.
"No, they took that too."
"I'm just going to nip back to mine, hang on-" I had zoomed back to my place, grabbed my last remaining frying that did not have a Naruto face print on it and returned to the exact same spot. "You've got ninja wire haven't you, I've run out-"
"It's under my bed-NO!" Naruto suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs at me. I took a step back. What the hell was that for? I didn't see a banner for a shouting contest. I glanced around quickly. Maybe I missed it.
"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SET UP THAT STUPID FRYING PAN TRAP!" Naruto carried on yelling.
"It's not stupid." I mumbled to myself, almost like a five year old getting told off by his mum and arguing, but in a way she can't hear him.
"It was only luck that it got me, how the hell is it supposed to stop an intruder it's just a frying pan, IT WON'T WORK!"
"Of course it will," I scoffed. "You have no idea." I dived for the bed. "Dammit!" The wire was out of my reach, so I hefted the bed up on it's side and propped it against the window.
"I said no, ya know!" Naruto shouted, quieter this time. "It's just going to get in the way, and it's a waste of my ninja wire, you have no idea how much that costs!"
It took me a minute to set it up, with Naruto trying to stop me. "I'm not having you getting hurt or robbed again!" I growled at him through gritted teeth. That mad him take a step back.
"Trust me, It will work. I bet you fifty yen" I reassured him as we both stood back to marvel my work.
"Deal. There's no way you can pinpoint where the head of the person is going to be, believe it, they had different heights," Naruto continued to argue and shook my hand as an agreement of the deal, however I grinned when he mentioned that part. I already knew how to pinpoint the exact location of anyone's face. This is my own technique after all and I've had years to perfect it."I doubt even a genin would get hit by-
CLANG!
"I'll never be right." Naruto groaned after he handed over the money. I pocketed it, and here we are.
"What should we do with him?" Naruto asked.
"I don't think he'd mind if we rolled him off the balcony." I offered. The blonde laughed.
"Well I don't know about that, but I what I am going to do is give graffiti his face." Naruto declared with an evil grin taking over his mouth, raising a sharpie pen with one hand as he gave Sasuke a makeover.
Feeling bored I kicked an empty Ramen pot. Something sparked in my brain. "Naruto, you must surely be hungry? I didn't see you eat anything all day."
"I'm fine mum," The blonde snickered. "I'm not hungry at all." I knew he was lying.
So when his stomach rumbled I said to him;
"Right, that's it! I'm making dinner. "
"Renataaaa." Naruto whined. "You don't have to baby me."
"Don't call me that, and I'm not babying you, it's just your skills in cooking haven't even surpassed that of a toddlers." I pointed out to him. Trust me, I took him up on his offer to make me lunch once. I won't go into detail but lets just say I had a lot of bathroom trips that day, and once I didn't quite make it.
"How do I know you're not going to give me food poisoning?" He had asked with a raised eyebrow and looking at me suspiciously. Abandoning Sasuke he sat down at the table.
"If I wanted to kill you kiddo, I would have done it already, now whist! I've got a cookbook back in my room, and I specifically remember there being a recipe for miso ramen." I had said.
He didn't say another word after that.
"First, lets get Sasuke onto the bed, I know he's a prick, but he's our prick." Taking Sasuke's top half because I didn't trust Naruto to 'accidentally' let it drop once we picked him up, we hefted him on the bed which had been placed back normally. Rumbling erupted from Naruto's stomach once more. My tummy barely ever rumbles, and I hardly ever feel hungry, so I often forget to feed myself, and go without food for two days sometimes. This was due to the six years I had been away. Naruto's stomach complaints jog's my memory that we need food to survive. So I fetched my cookbook and the correct ingredients from my place and brought them over. It was a simpler dish than it looked. Naruto kept peering over my shoulder to make sure I got it right which was rather annoying. I told him to piss off at one point.
"You're doing it wrong." He would suddenly say to me, and I'd wave the wooden spoon at him as a warning.
Kumo doesn't have ramen so I've never tried it before. Naruto was utterly shocked and to show how much he pitied me for this he told me and I quote . "Your life must have been hell, Renata."
I finished up and used the ladle to pour it into three bowls, Sasuke might be waking up soon and the boy looked like he needed something. His colouring was a bit a pale.
"It was, but honestly Naruto, food has nothing to do with it, Ramen in my mind is just something to keep me going." I placed the bowls on the table where Naruto quickly snatched his up and wrapped his arms around it.
"Don't listen to her! She didn't mean it , baby. Your still wonderful in my eyes, Ren's just blind to when it comes to beauty." The orangutan scowled at me. "I'll savor every last drop of you." He turned his attention back to the bowl, but then began eyeing it suspiciously as he remembered who had created.
"Oh well it's Ramen! Not even a nin-dog could make it taste bad." And I don't know how, but for some reason I don't want to find out how he did it, but Naruto swallowed the whole thing in one fell swoop. All he did was tip the bowl up to his face and slurped the whole thing in under ten seconds. I just sat there staring, chopsticks in hand, hanging in midair above my bowl, possibly with my mouth open. I closed my mouth and proceeded to perform my own technique, one passed down from Kakashi. The art of eating with a mask. Or rather without anyone seeing whats under your mask. I've almost mastered it and it will be good practice for me when I go on missions outside of Konoha, there my mask will always be just above my nose, whereas here in the village, I can change it to my preference and it wouldn't matter because the danger doesn't lie in Konoha.
"That was almost as good as Teuchi's down at Ichiraku Ramen!" He had the audacity to not ask for more though, since he knew from past experiences that I would only give him what he needed, or help him enough to stand on his own two feet. No more, no less. For now. If a life threatening situation suddenly appeared and push comes to shove, then I'll be by his side in an instant.
Suddenly both our chairs were knocked out from underneath ourselves and we fell to the ground. More like a fell to the ground and Naruto managed to stay on his feet, due to previously spotting that I had some left over Ramen and had already started reaching over to grab it. He may have the audacity not to demand, but he sure as hell didn't for asking.
Sasuke was awake, was what crossed my mind. A quick flicker of the light, and suddenly he was sat adjacent to me in the third chair arms crossed, with an annoyed expression planted on his face. That and graffiti.
"Explanation. Now." Was all he said.
"I don't think you deserve it!" Naruto harrumphed. "Spoiling a good meal like that." He stuck his tongue out at the other boy who frowned in return, and turned to yours truly.
"Don't look at me, my memory is piss poor." Lying was the best answer. It's not a good idea to give certain people an idea of your own unique skills. And people knowing I can remember everything, is not what I want them to know. The only people who I would trust enough, scratch that - I prefer not to trust people completely, maybe for certain aspects, like I trust my brot-Kakashi to keep specific secrets- are Kakashi, Lord Hokage, my father and mother, and maybe in time, Naruto. Who knows, the idiot could blurt it out if I wasn't careful how I went about things.
And truthfully, I didn't want to talk anymore. All I want to do now is to sit in silence with Naruto, who will possibly blabber about nothing remotely interesting. Just as long as I was with him, then that was alright. I sighed though.
"Here." I said after getting an extra bowl, full of ramen for Sasuke. I placed it on the table in front of him. Silence. I swear I heard crickets.
"Just eat it. You're obviously hungry." I said. When Sasuke refused I saw a glint in Naruto's eyes.
"No. I don't think he can handle ramen."
"Whatever, I'm leaving." The Uchiha got up lazily and was at the door by the time Naruto spoke again, making chicken noises.
"Chicken! Fine, go then!This proves I'm stronger than you and always will be, if you can't even eat a small bowl of ramen. Is your stomach that weak? No wonder Ren beat you!" Naruto yelled after him. Sasuke stopped abruptly.
Oh I see what Naruto was getting at. Clever kid. Not even Sasuke was immune to reverse psychology. Naruto really was caring, even to someone who was as arrogant as Sasuke. To be fair I wouldn't be bale to put up with him for long. The moment he refused, I wasn't really bothered anymore. I didn't really care about him at all. Now if it were Naruto...those noodles would be so far down his throat that he would't have time to say no.
"I'm obviously stronger, but if I eat more Ramen than you, promise to leave me alone at the academy and never come near me or talk me again, you too, traitor." He replied, taking back his seat. I shrugged. Whatever Naruto answered I would go along with.
"Deal!"Naruto struck out his hand that Sasuke reluctantly took. The kid clapped his hands together. "Renata! Make us some more ramen."
There was no getting out of this. I tied on an apron and Naruto point out to me tens of packets of noddles. "I thought you said the burglars go them all?"
"Only the cup ramen, You know I can't cook."
I began to make a lot more Ramen.
"What a drag." I quoted the famous Nara.
Fortunately for us, or more suitable, unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto won the Ramen eating 'contest'. I really didn't see how Sasuke didn't see it coming. But then again, sasuke never had dinner with Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen.
The score sat at 4:9 bowls to Naruto, not including the one he ate beforehand. Surely the kid should be tonne heavier than he is. Anyway, Naruto stayed with me for the fourth time since I've been here, the other two times had been that someone had released some toxic gas into his apartment, which had to be cleared out overnight. How he isn't dead is beyond me. I have to be more careful when it comes to situations like this. I keep telling him to stop with the pranks considering the results are hazardous to himself. But this was a bit too far for a few whimsy pranks, wasn't it?
The other time I had a nightmare. Naruto told me he could hear me screaming through the vent/window thing above our beds, louder than all the other times and even more distressed. I'd rather not go into that dream. He faced getting his in the face with a frying pan again just to comfort me. Apparently I'd stopped screaming the moment he wrapped his arms around me protectively and fell asleep. I displayed my gratitude in the morning when I hit him with another frying pan. Yes, I keep one down the side of my bed, is that so hard to believe?
I was surprised that I hadn't woken up, being a light sleeper and all. The dream was quite deep. After we had established that Naruto was himself and not some stranger I shook my head in annoyance and pointed at the door, after which he greatly emphasized how he did me a favour, then left when I glared.
So two hours after waking up, Naruto and I joined up once more and walked straight to the academy. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to collect the mission scroll after school hours, due to Naruto's lateness and meeting the Hokage would further ensue it.
The day at the academy wore on. Basically we onto nin jutsu now. Unfortunately for me, I don't even have a clue how to use chakra. But Iruka must have known this because unlike the others, eh didn't call me up to test me on my skills. I wasn't surprised to find Sasuke at the top of the class again, but I was to see Naruto at the bottom. Somethings not right here. Either he has little to none chakra, or large amounts and poor control. I'm betting on the latter. From what I know of the Uzumaki's, is that they had an even bigger chakra storage than us Okami's.
At the end of the day, I hopped down from the desk and signaled for Naruto to follow, for which he happily complied. He seemed a lot happier these days. I wonder why.
"And where do you think you're going, Ren,Naruto?"
We were greeted by both Iruka and Sasuke, standing in front of us and preventing us leaving. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets acting like he didn't want to be here. Which he probably didn't and Iruka was smiling that smile that said "I'm going to suggest something and you are going to do it, and you are going to LIKE IT!" smile.
"Ren, Sasuke. I have decided your punishment." I could hear Naruto quietly drum rolling beside me. "Stop that." I hissed at him.
"Your are to practice with Sasuke on your nin justu until you can perform it as well as possible after school everyday."
"BUT IRUKA-SENSEI!" Naruto leaped up and down. "What about our-you-know...thing?"
Sasuke's head snapped up. He was listening intently now. it seems Iruka already debriefed him on his punishment earlier.
"You can do without." Iruka replied simply, while I clenched my fists.
"But, she can practice with me can't she?" Naruto whined, desperate. I hoped silently too that Iruka would change his mind.
"No sorry, Naruto. You are the dead-last at the moment and you would be of no use to Ren. sasuke however has the best results, this will also bring up your grade in teamwork, Sasuke." Iruka told him to which he "hned".
"Don't bother, It's not going to change anything." I told the hyperactive blonde.
"Unfortunately." sasuke added on.
So while Naruto gave Sasuke a lecture on not treating me like an idiot a lot of jealous girls looked in my direction. If I could swap places with them, I would in a heartbeat. But that's not the case. And just after Iruka sent us of to train in a training filed, I overheard Sakura and a few other girls go up to Iruka sensei.
"Um sir, I don't think my ninjutsu is good at all. In fact it's been terrible lately. Perhaps Sasuke can teach me too?" The pink haired girl asked.
"Sorry Sakura, Sasuke already has a 'student', why not let Naruto teach you? I'm sure he could give you fine points." He replied catching on.
"Oh...no! It's all better now! Must have been that dodgy sandwich I had this morning." I've never seen anyone make up an excuse that quickly, was Naruto really that bad? I thought about it as I followed Sasuke into the forest.
I promise you the next chapter they will become genin, this has gone on longer than I thought. I just needed to get some information out of the way before they turned genin to explain some things, like Ren's protectiveness over Naruto, and their friendship, otherwise people would be like"how did they become close so quickly?!"
Anyway, question answering time! Now some I have already replied in email, but I'll put them up anyway in case people want to know the same thing, here we go:
DarkFlareX
Q. So are Naruto and Ren family by blood?
Btw, that Sasuke note thing was hilarious
A. Not exactly, it's more like years back some of the heads of the clan would marry the oldest girl of the head of the other clan, they are very, very,very,very distantly related. In incest terms though, they are not related, because it's too distant.
roxas1337
Q. I have to say I quite like this but some things seem like stupid to me. For example, Naruto does hiraishin at 6 years old, a S-rank jutsu, of his hero (and unknowingly his father of course). He would NEVER forget he did the jutsu and the Hokage should know this and think that he would try it again so he should've sent someone to possibly teach Naruto so he wouldn't be a dumbass and try it again... I personally agree with the guest who said the Sandaime allowed this to happen so Naruto could be manipulated. This shows since the excuse for Naruto not knowing his parents "Your father had a lot of enemies" but oh wait; Ren has the name, shouldn't she be in danger of being attacked too? There is no reason for him not to know now except Hiruzen doesn't want him too. And I know Naruto is a dumbass but I think his stupidity has gone a bit far :p you'd also think even.
A. I understand completely, and there were a lot of things that I never cleared up. For instance Naruto never forgot about what happened when he was six, there will be more about it in the next chapter and you'll see, I can see why you thought that considering he never mentions it(He doesn't want the others to think he was a loony or lying so he kept quiet about it)(he actually still pesters the hokage with questions and searches for 'the baby') To be fair, I needed an excuse for him to go back in time and I thought that would be the best one, also Kakashi became a chunin at age six, plus It wasn't exactly naruto who managed to complete the jutsu but mainly the fox, Naruto used his chakra, and the fox wanted him to try and complete the jutsu, considering it would have the possibility of loosening the seal(which it did, but only a little) so unknowingly to naruto, it helped him.
Naruto was already told that if he tried it again then he would most likely die. And because Naruto still was unsure about how he did it, he does not want to take that chance, Sandaime saw that as reason enough. I have to admit, the sandaime did ** all to protect Naruto, and maybe he did do it to manipulate him, you guys can decided that, I 've only got the reason that the third thought Naruto was smart enough not to try it again. Ren was targeted a few times by other villages when she was very young, however it was very widely known that the Minato had adopted a baby of civilian heritage, and they heard before they actually went through with the assassination.
Yes I have to admit, I have made him a bit stupid. But seriously, in the manga and anime, some things explained to him multiple times, and then doesn't get it, and other times he needs it explained to him in the terms of food. Don't worry though, in the upcoming chapters he'll be more cunning, plus he is a really good strategist during a fight, so he uses his head a lot in later chapters. Honestly, I just tried to match his intelligence in the manga, and I was pretty shocked at how stupid he is sometimes. I may have exaggerated his stupidity, and I'm sorry about that, sometimes it's quite hard to measure intelligence.
but anyway, thank you so much for reviewing, and giving me feedback, so i can fix things :)
Anonymouse
Q. If you can't even get your grammar right for your summary, how the hell do you expect people to read this story?
"I think we are all clear on one thing. Naruto's an idiot. However he's going to have to over come that in order to understand how he managed to save someones life. Someone who hardly anybody knew about, who was supposed to be dead."
Here, I'll fix it for you.
"I think one thing is understood, Naruto Uzumaki is an idiot. However, he's going to have to overcome that obstacle in order to understand how he managed to save someones life. Someone whom was hardly known, someone who was supposed to be dead."
A. Wow...um how do I go about this. One. I'm very grateful that you took the time and effort to help me with my summary, because honestly, I know it is piss poor, in English creative writing is my strong point, not all that...stuff(best word ever!). However, I don not appreciate people who are rude when they don't have any reason to be. One I don't expect people to read this story, I would like them too, but I didn't expect them to, that's why I was amazed that I got 23 reviews, which is far less than others, but to me I feel proud. Also I wrote this for my own benefit. I enjoy writing stories, always have, always will.
Two. With this summary that I have so far approx. 2080 have clicked on this story. Most don't even care about the summary, they just care about whats inside. (hey a beautiful metaphor!) I have read so many fanifcs, written beautifully with amazing plots that have had shit summaries. Not only that but 445 of those people have read the second chapter, meaning they did not click on ti by mistake, because they liked the first.
Now. I'm not going use that summary because I don't think that it's right of me to do that since I've just had a wee go at you and the used something that you made.
and last but not least:
Namikaze 9/3/13 . chapter 5
Q. Ren remembers so many things and does not remember that Naruto is mix of Minato and Kushina. She does not remember what happened to Kushina child.
A. Lovely, a very reasonable question. Well Namikaze, Ren was not with both Minato and Kushina during the Nine tails attack. Minato had actually left Kakashi to babysit her due to Kushina's contractions that had started. When the nine tails came about, Kakashi quickly took Ren first to the safe area underneath he hokage mountain, to be looked after by others,then went back. Ren remembers being inside the mountain during the nine tails attack. She also believed the baby died along with Kushina and Minato.
well thats it really, I hope that helps.
Okami out~