The Next Generation of Young and Some Crazy Run-ins
Hey everyone! Sorry for the long update time. School sucks. Plus I've finally discovered what "writers block" is… I now have a new respect for writers. I've still got that poll open. Again it is: Should Sakura die on the mission I have planned? You can vote by review or by the poll on my profile page. Thanks go to Lostmydragon for help and shkamaru15, Darknasty31 for the reviews. Thanks to all who review. I hope you enjoy the story and again sorry for the wait!
Disclaimer: Kingswriter does NOT own Naruto, but he and several other people are plotting to own it as you read this.
Naruto was walking down the spiral staircase that wrapped itself around the Hokage tower like a giant serpent would around a tree. From the stairs you could see the length of the village, from The Hokage faces in the mountain, to the village gates that stood poised to guard the endless sea that was Konoha. Naruto slowed down his decent to look at this magnificent display. From his perch on the stairs, the city looked much like a rather large toy set. The people, hustling around to their usual mannerisms, looked like a large assemblage of tiny ants, moving around unaware to their gallant (yet stupid) observer. He looked at them and though, 'It's so weird that they all seem so powerful down there, but are tiny from up here…' Naruto just shrugged and mutely went down the stairs and out of the tower.
He was wondering whom he should visit first. He had some friends, and was very loyal to them. 'Lets see… there is Iruka, Konohamaru, the old man at the ramen shop and his daughter (Someone, if you know, tell me their names because I haven't got a freaking clue… I think the daughter's name is Ayame or something…), Rock Lee, maybe Neji, don't really know Ten-ten so probably not, Shikamaru and Chouji are ok, Ino's a bit too bossy, no idea how Shino feels, Kiba's loud but kind of fun to hang out with, and Hinata…' he listed the people he knew as he thought. He was at the area of the city that had the Academy and Hokage's office in it. 'I guess since I am in the neighborhood, I'll visit Iruka-sensei.' Naruto thought as he made up his mind.
As he walked towards his old school, the number of people in the streets astounded him. 'I guess being a ninja and running on building tops has its advantages… I've forgotten how many people actually call this village home. I guess I now know why that "subway" thing is so big.' He thought while walking. After a while he arrived at his desired destination. The ninja academy was about 5 to 6 stories high. It had a 10-foot wall surrounding it and the wall was painted a light gray. The building itself was painted a light tan, almost like a yellow dust color.
As Naruto proceeded through the doors, he noticed some pictures hanging on the walls. 'Oh yeah that's right… the wall of graduates. It has a copy of each of our ninja pictures the Hokage uses. Right next to them they put a picture of our Jonnin instructors.' Naruto thought, as his eyes scanned down the wall. He then noticed a familiar face among the other pictures. 'Wow, it's Konohamaru! Class of 2002… I can't believe he's already graduated. I wonder who his sensie is..' he thought as he searched. He laughed with ecstasy at the apparent suffering man with round glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose, and what appeared to be a dark navy blue bandana wrapped on the top of his head. 'Now I almost feel sorry for Ebisu… the key word being "almost"'. As he looked next to Konohamaru, he spotted both Udon and Moegi were on his team. Well that is good for Konohamaru, to have his friends on his team.' Naruto thought, happy for Konohamaru (I hate typing that name…). As turned his body to the left, towards the stairs that would lead him to his old classroom.
While walking up the stairs, Naruto was recalling memories from his past of the academy. He remembered the countless pranks he used to pull. He chuckled a bit as he remembered the time he swiched the labels on the men's and women's bathroom stalls, and got Kiba in huge trouble with Ten-ten, thus efectivly labling Kiba as their class pervert. He did however feel sorry for Kiba when Neji found out. Kiba missed classes for a month. Naruto trembled when he remembered the time he acedently kissed Sasuke. 'I promised myself that I would forget that, and I did for a while, but it seems there is a drawback to all of the nostalgia in this place' Naruto thought as he searched for a drink of water to get a sudden bad taste out of his mouth.
After Naruto got his drink, he walked towards his old sensei's classroom. As he got closer towards it, he heard the familiar sound of "YOU KIDS BETTER STOP RIGHT NOW!" Naruto stiffled a laugh as he listened in on the class. It seemed Iruka was up to his old trick of trying to scare the crap out of little kids. Naruto suddenly got an idea. He knew how most people thought that his main weakness was Genjutsu, and it was considerably weaker than his other areas of the Ninja Arts, but he wanted to show off how much he had imroved under Jiraiya's supervision. So Naruto decided to cast a Genjutsu that would make him blend into the background, like a chamilion. This jutsu gave him the ability to basically be invisible. So Naruto opened the door to the classroom and headed inside.
Iruka looked up suddenly as he thought he heard a door close. 'Must have been my imagination.. I really need a vacation' he thought, while quitly sighing to himself. Right now it was about 15 minutes till lunch break, and they were going over basic chakra control tecniques. While he contineude his lesson, Naruto watched the students in class, as to asess what they were like. 'It hasn't changed much...' he thought as he watched the young childerens attention span. Most of them weren't paying attention, either dozing off or the ocasional book-worm who was actually paying attention. 'I wonder who is the class clown this year…' Naruto thought. His pondering was soon to be answered. As he looked around the room, he saw one child particullary active. He seemed to be shaping something wet in a spherical form. The child had shoulder length hair that was so dark brown, that from a medium distance it appeared black. He looked to be about Five-foot and Two-inches at his current age, and hadn't appeared to have hit his growth spurt yet. He donned a orange-red long sleve shirt that was hidden under his camoflage overcoat. For pants he had selected a dark brown cargo type with many holes to hid stuff in. He had standard ninja shoes on his average sized feet. He accesorized himself with a cross necklace around his neck and fingerless jet-black gloves that rose up his arm to his elbow. As soon as Iruka turned his back to the students and faced the chalkboard, the child raised a tube to his lips and inserted the wet sphere inside. Naruto shook his head as he recognized what the child was doing. The childs cheeks swelled and then flattend back out again as he shot the soaking projectile at the unfortunate target. The ball hit a young girl who was too busy paying attention to her teacher to register the sopping missle headed directly towards her head. Naruto held back a laugh as the object sunk itself into her hair.
"Iruka-sensei! Susumu just shot a spitball at me!" the girl cried out, as she tried to get the saliva out of her hair. At her outburst, the children who wern't paying attention started to and those who were already paying attention were either shooting disaproving glares at the child called Susumu, or shaking in their chairs with laughter.
"Calm down Ayako. He will be punsished as usual. Susumu, see me after school today… again." Iruka responded without even turning back towards his students.
"But Iruka-sensei! You didn't see anything!" the young Susumu protested.
"Well, it usually is you Susumu and besides, you need extra practice with kunai." Iruka replied.
Susumu crossed his arms acrossed his chest as he pouted the result of the argument with his teacher. Naruto shook his head as he remembered when he, too, would have done stunts like that. 'Time sure does fly…' he thought.
The class continued normally until the luch bell rang, to which a stampede of students poured out of the room while the one one called Susumu, with his shoulders drooped, walked slowly out of the room in a gloomy manner. As Iruka collected his lesson papers into one pile, Naruto decided it was time to reveal himself. Naruto pressed his hands together and said "Kai!" to release his Genjutsu. Iruka visibly jumped as he heard a poof behind him. He recovered and quickly turned around to see clouds disapearing to reveal a grinning Naruto. "Naruto!" he exclaimed as he saw his former student.
"Hello Iruka-sensie" Naruto replied while still wearing his fox-like grin. Iruka walked up to him and wrapped him in a hug.
"It's grat to see your back Naruto! When did you get back?" Iruka questioned after realeasing Naruto from his grasp.
"It's great to see you too. I got back about a hour-and-a-half ago."
"I see you decided to sneak into my class, a surprise considering I remember you used to try to sneak OUT when you went here." Iruka laughed as he recalled the memories.
"Aw, come on Iruka-sensei! I surely wasn't that bad." Naruto tried to respond while slightly blushing.
Iruka laughed at this. "Well, it seems that I've finally got you cornered, huh?"
"You may have won this round, but I'll be sure not to lose next time." Naruto joked as the age-old student-teacher argument continued.
"So Naruto, I didn't sense you when you came in. No doubt this was a result of your training with Jiraiya, right?" Iruka inquired.
"Yeah! Ero-sannin taught me some awesome new tricks! I can't wait to show them to people!" Naruto exclaimed while throwing his fists into the air.
Iruka laughed at this sight. "Even after time, some things never change."
Naruto looked at what he was doing and quickly put his hands, interlaced, behind his head while a giant sweat drop mysteriously appeared on the back of his head. "I try to avoid doing that as much as possible. Sometimes my bad habits appear back up on me again."
Iruka laughed some more. It was just like the good times he thought, as he wiped a teardrop from his eye. 'Yep… just like the good times' he thought while smiling. "I didn't sense you come into the room… have you been working on your Genjutsu?"
"Yep! Ero-sannin really has been making me work hard on that, since it is my weakest ninja area." Naruto explained. "My chakra control has improved a lot, but it still isn't perfect…"
"That doesn't surprise me, especially because of your… um… guest." Iruka said, referring to the Kyuubi sealed inside of Naruto.
Naruto nodded. "Yea, that asshole has really been a thorn in my side for a while now. The healing helps, but the excess flow of chakra from him throws me off sometimes."
'He must have really grown up for him to be able to so easily admit his faults' Iruka thought, "Well, with all of that extra chakra, you must be a near master of Ninjutsu, huh?"
"Well I'll proudly admit that Ninjutsu is the easiest to perform for me, I still don't know even a hundredth of all the Ninjutsu out there." Naruto said while thinking 'I will need to expand my variety of jutsu if I'll ever be able to fight off the Akatsuki or get Sasuke-teme back…' Naruto then appeared to be lost in thought to a curious Iruka.
Iruka noticed this look and asked "Hey Naruto? You feeling alright?" while worried.
Naruto looked up. "Hm? Oh, I'm alright, just thinking." Naruto said while these words crossed his mind: 'Sasuke… I'll get you back.'
Iruka decided not to push the point. "So anyway, when did you come in the room?"
"Right before that kid shot the spitball. Was he called Susumu?" Naruto asked. Iruka nodded. "Anyway, he seems like a real prankster." Naruto said while slightly grinning from memories of his own prankster years.
Iruka sighed at the child's mention. "Yes he is the clown of the year. He doesn't quite seem to have your dramatic flair though," Iruka said, deciding it was time to take a shot "but he does seem to be able to do more pranks than you, even if they are less creative."
"Well, it is true that I probably was the best prankster that ever graced this village," Naruto boldly claimed "the reason other people can do more pranks is that they can probably afford the materials to do the prank easier than I can." Naruto said with a tone of sadness in his voice. Iruka looked at him with concern written on his face, but Naruto shook his head. "Well, anyway, usually people only pull pranks to get attention so what's Susumu's story?" Naruto questioned his former teacher. 'Maybe I can help him out later. I'd hate for anyone else to have to go through anything like I went through' Naruto thought, and shuddered when he remembered the unpleasant childhood memories.
Iruka shook his head. "It's really not my place to say but…" Naruto nodded, trying to find out what had happened, "Well it starts during the Chunin exams. You remember the invasion right?" Naruto nodded. "Well," Iruka continued, "his parents were among those who died that day. His mom was buried alive under the wall the three-headed snake broke through, and his dad was later swallowed alive by the same creature." Iruka hung his head down as he continued. "His parents had already gotten a divorce before the invasion and his mom had remarried. He now lives with his stepfather, two stepbrothers and two stepsisters. He probably feels out of place and not loved. I'd bet you that's the reason he acts out."
"Yeah that's bad…" Naruto said while thinking on this a bit. Soon he was snapped out of his thinking by a loud bell ringing.
"Looks like the students will be coming back from lunch soon." Iruka noted.
"Yeah…" Naruto said. "Well I'd better get going now. Got a bunch of people to visit. Haven't seen my friends in a while." Naruto said as he walked towards the window and opened it.
Iruka nodded. "Yeah, see you later Naruto!"
"Later!" Naruto said. He jumped out of the window just as the door opened.
"Who was that Iruka-sensei?" questioned a confused Ayako.
Iruka smiled slightly at his answer. "That was a student of mine from before. One who is set on being Hokage."
Hinata frowned slightly as she flew past building after building, looking for the man she cared for. 'Naruto-kun… where are you?!' she thought as she passed another alley. Just as she passed a certain ramen stand, she got an idea. She walked into the small stand, which now sported a design for a new shop.
The old man in the back looked up and asked "Ah, Hinata. What brings you here?"
"Hello Teuchi-san. I was wondering if you had seen Naruto-kun."
"Naruto? Is he back?" the old man asked with a hopeful look on his face.
"Hai. He got back and hour or so ago." Hinata replied while anxious due to her being stressed for time, for fearing that she was too late.
"That's good to hear." He said while smiling. "During one slow season his stomach alone kept our stall open."
"That's an interesting story but if you see him, tell him that I'm looking for him" Hinata said.
"Will do Hinata. Take care," he said as she flew off. 'Hmm… I wonder what her hurry is?' he thought, but then shrugged. "Hey Ayame! Guess what?"
Naruto was thinking as he headed through the village. 'I wonder where I can find everyone… I know! At least some of them will be at the training grounds. I'll look there.' Naruto nodded to himself and took off.
After a little running, Naruto arrived at the training grounds. As he checked them one by one, he noticed some of them empty, while some of them had Gennin's training in them. As he neared the next training ground, he heard a loud yell of "Youth!" Naruto's ears perked up as he realized that could be only one of two people who would yell that ridicules phrase. 'Well, looks like I found Lee or Guy-sensei.' Naruto thought. As he rounded some trees to the training ground, he happened across a horrible sight. He HAD found both Lee and Guy-sensei, but it was the manner in which he found them that caused Naruto's distress. There appeared to be a sunset over a water horizon that was connected to a sea. On the beach connecting to the sea were two figures running in slow motion towards each other, each adorning green spandex suits. Both had giant black eyebrows on their heads and identical bowl hair-cuts. One could almost assume that they were twins, but then that person would notice that one was a bit shorter. As soon as the two ran to each other, the embraced (yuck!) in a hug.
"LEE!" the taller one yelled.
"GUY-SENSEI!" yelled the other.
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
This pattern continued until the two semi-clones heard a yell of anguish come from behind them. They then turned and saw our unsuspecting (and unfortunate) hero. The pair of Taijutsu specialists then ran at a blazing speed, and the sun and ocean setting somehow magically disappeared, and both bear hugged Naruto while yelling "NARUTO-KUN!!" Naruto soon wished he was dead, and thought he soon would be due to lack of air. Lee noticed Naruto gagging for air and soon released him, and Guy did the same. Naruto then fell to the ground while gasping to try and recover lost air.
"Naruto-kun! Your back! When did this happen?" Lee inquired while Naruto still lay heaving on the ground.
"About (cough) two hours (cough) ago (cough)" Naruto managed to wheeze out between breaths.
"You look much more youthful now Naruto! Have you been training hard?" Lee asked as Naruto got up, fully recovered from the assault of Lee and Guy's greetings.
At this question, Naruto grinned. "Yep. Been training my butt of, and has it been worth it." Naruto said as he fist punched the air. "Have you been training too Bushy-Brow?"
At this Lee's eyes seemed to catch fire. "Yes my youthful companion! I have been training non-stop for the last two and a half years! I have been training to finally become a respected ninja that only uses Taijutsu! I have not rested, except when ordered to by Guy-sensei, the whole time!" Lee yelled enthusiastically.
Naruto sweat-dropped on the back of his head. "So, I guess he hasn't changed, huh Bushy-Brow-Sensei?" Naruto asked as he turned to Guy.
At this both Lee and Guy flashed one of their signature blinding grins. Naruto howled in pain while rolling on the ground screaming "MY EYES!" He then heard someone say, "You'll get used to it." Naruto looked up, and through the blind spots in his vision, saw Neji and Tenten.
"Hello Neji, Tenten…" Naruto mumbled out while trying to get the blind spots in his eye to clear up.
Neji smirked "Hello, Naruto." Tenten smiled sympathetically "Hey Naruto"
Naruto turned to everybody and said, "Sorry, but I've got to go get my eyes checked now and maybe see some more people that I've missed." Naruto then ran away to the city.
"See you later Naruto" Team Guy replied as they saw Naruto fly away.
Hinata was still looking for Naruto when she ran into Jiriaya. "So you're saying you'll help me find Naruto?" she asked the toad sage.
Jiraiya nodded, "That's right Hinata. I'll help you find Naruto."
Hinata was questioning his reason for helping so she asked, "Why do you want to help me?"
"Well, Naruto could use a girl like you and besides, I think he likes you too." Jiraiya responded with a smirk.
"Naruto… likes… me?" she asked with a blush. Hinata's shyness seemed to return instantly as she heard those words.
"Yes, he mutters your name in his sleep. He likes you alright, but you just have to bring those buried feelings to light." Jiraiya explained.
"Naruto… likes… me?" she repeated.
'Sigh… this could be harder than I thought…' Jiraiya said while slapping his forehead with his hand. Hinata then fainted as Jiraiya's last words about muttering in her sleep reached her. Jiraiya caught her with one arm before she hit the ground. He then put her beneath a nearby tree. 'Much harder…', he thought as Hinata lay unconscious beneath the tree, 'Oh well, might as well work on my book as I wait' Jiraiya thought with a perverted giggle.
'Man… I'm glad I got away from that freak show. Those two eyebrow-loving freaks scare me. I'll have to visit Neji and Tenten later and explain. I think they'll understand…' Naruto thought as he walked down the streets of Konoha once more, 'I admire bushy-brows work ethic, just not his over-eager, youth-loving attitude… and I'm just afraid to turn my back on Might-be-gay Sensei…' Naruto was walking down an alley between two buildings when he heard snoring. He looked down to see a sleeping Asuma and Shikamaru. Suddenly, there was the loud yell of "There you two are!!" Naruto looked up to see a raging Ino followed by a worried Chouji. Asuma and Shikamaru grunted a bit, but still kept on sleeping.
"Hey Naruto." Chouji greeted. "I guess the rumors about you coming back are true huh?"
"Yes, I guess they are Chouji. Otherwise, I'd be wondering how I got here." Naruto replied as he chuckled a bit. Chouji smiled at this.
Ino didn't seem to notice Naruto as she proceeded to pull both Asuma and Shikamaru by the ears, in an attempt to wake them up. The sleeping duo just swatted away this futile attempt while still, somehow, sleeping. Naruto anime-sweat dropped at this.
"Is this a common occurrence?" Naruto asked Chouji.
Chouji nodded. "You get used to it after a while. Ino never gives up trying to wake those two so eventually they'll wake up."
Ino's anger only seemed to rise at the lack of reaction from the two sleeping beings. Next she turned to slapping their faces left and right repeatedly. The lazy geniuses just kept on snoring, even as their heads were being lashed left and right, while a large red spot started to appear on their faces.
The sweat drop on Naruto's head grew larger as he watched this. "Why is she trying to wake them so viciously?" Naruto asked as he cringed from a particularly loud slap.
"Well," Chouji replied, "She has been mad ever since Sakura passed her up and has been training relentlessly. She has been demanding that we train more and more often. Even I am tempted to pull a Shika…" Chouji said while rubbing his temples to alleviate the pain in his head.
"Pull a Shika?" Naruto questioned.
Chouji looked up. "Yeah," he said as the slapping continued, "run and hide in a corner so I can take a nice long nap. But these demonstrations keep me from doing it" Chouji said as a slap echoed down the ally.
Naruto nodded. "I can see why."
Since Asuma and Shikamaru had not responded to the slaps, Ino decided that it was time to pull out the heavy artillery. She approached Shikamaru, reared her leg back, and quickly and powerfully and purposely kicked him right in the groin. To say the least, Shikamaru was woken by this cruel and hilarious act. As he rolled on the ground in exponential pain, she did the same exact thing to Asuma. This had the same effect on him as it did on Shikamaru. As both rolled and cried on the ground, Ino decided it was time to yell various profanities at them for sleeping when they should be helping her train.
As soon as Chouji and Naruto saw what she did to the sleeping two, they squirmed a uncomfortably adjusted their legs to protect their private parts. 'Damn…' Naruto and Chouji thought at the exact same time, 'Note to self: Never piss Ino off…' Naruto and Chouji suddenly both felt a pang of sympathy towards their fellow men.
Naruto looked at Chouji with wide eyes. "Has that ever happened before?" he questioned.
Chouji shook his head with equally wide eyes. "Never."
After Ino was done yelling, she turned her attention to Chouji. "Chouji!" she yelled, "get them off the ground and bring them to training ground 8." After she said that, she turned on her heel and left the ally without saying a word to Naruto.
Chouji sighed. "Well, see you later Naruto." He said as he hoisted Asuma and Shikamaru up to lean on Chouji's shoulders for support. Chouji then followed after Ino, with two men in pain on his shoulders.
"See you later Chouji!" Naruto yelled after him. 'Man', Naruto thought, 'this sure has been a weird day so far…'
He had no idea how weird it was about to get.
That's the latest installment of A Dream Revealed. I hope you enjoyed it. My poll of: Should Sakura die on the mission I have planned? is still open. You can vote by review or by the poll on my profile page. Once again, sorry for the wait and thanks for viewing. Please rate and comment… oh wait… that's Youtube! Please review. And as for flames… BRING IT ON!
Footnotes:
I put 2002 on the year Konohamaru graduated because the first manga was released in 1999, and that's when Naruto graduated. Also Naruto trained for about a year with Team 7 before going away with Jiraiya to train. I thought Konohamaru would graduate 2 to 3 years after Naruto.