Hello everyone! Just going to tell you that there is a change in the harem. I just put TenTen, who I hate being paired with Naruto, on the list because I thought a harem had to be 4 girls and there was no way in hell I was adding Ino. So, I am adding Tayuya to the list, so now you know who Naruto's love interests will be in this story.
And, may I take a moment to proclaim the joy to the world that is school. Nothing like lugging around a 20-pound backpack after a long day of endless work and then having instrument lessons for the whole family depending on the day. Anyways, Read, Review, Enjoy!
P.S. I'm starting my next story after this. I'm not going to reveal much, just that it involves… sailing.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Animal speech"
'Kyuubi thoughts'
P.P.S. I don't own Naruto or its characters.
Sasuke sat in his hospital bed. Though none of the cuts were deep, he had been treated as if he was on the brink of death, seeing as nearly every doctor in the hospital had worked on him.
However, the raven-haired boy's mind was on other things.'Naruto… who is he really? Itatchi was the greatest ninja that this village ever saw and what I told him was true. But he doesn't indulge it. He purposely held back because he believed that he didn't deserve the title of Rookie of the Year because of his abilities.'
Sasuke tossed and turned it over in his head until he had done the mental equivalent of covering a training ground with craters. Finally, after the last doctor left with a look at Konoha's last Uchiha, Sasuke reached a conclusion. 'I will treat him with respect with my dying breath. I know he won't turn like my brother. He could, no, will be this village's greatest protector.
'Hey, kit. Hate to interrupt your beauty sleep, but its 7:30.' Naruto's head, which had been filled of images of ramen and his friends, snapped up so fast that it was only the combined healing abilities of Naruto and Kyuubi that stopped his neck from snapping.
"The hell, fox!Why didn't you wake me up?" Kyuubi physically chuckled. 'Well, considering you can get there in the course of a millisecond, I felt I didn't need to.' Naruto calmed down.
'In the time it takes me to put on my cloak, can you answer me a question Sarutobi can't?' 'Shoot,' Kyuubi thought while Naruto rose from his comfortable bed. 'Why can't I do a Henge for more than one minute? I feel dishonest hiding my form from my friends.' The last was thought with a furrow in the fur above Naruto's eyes.
Kyuubi gave a mental sigh. 'Our chakra, that's why. A Henge is a delicate thing, and our chakra is too chaotic to sustain it for more than a minute or so. Still, what's holding you back from showing our form to your friends? If you trust them that much, you should trust they won't overreact and run away screaming.'
Naruto gave a sigh of his own. He spoke aloud because his half of the mind was so troubled. "I do. I just don't want to take the risk." And with that he travelled to the Academy courtyard in the time it took most people to blink.
Naruto was convinced that the Yondaime's famous Hiraishin jutsu was leaked to the school. Almost the instant he stepped foot on the courtyard, all the students and sensei was on him.
"Where did you learn that move?" a random boy asked.
"How could you do that to Sasuke-kun?" a distraught girl screamed.
"Will you be my boyfriend?" the girl next to her asked.
"What was that style?"
"Will you be my boyfriend?"
"You almost killed Sasuke-kun!"
"You wretched fox, I'm gonna kill you!"
The last one got everyone's attention. Mizuki was in the air, with a giant shurikan in his hand. No sooner had that fact registered than Mizuki had thrown it at Naruto. The boy in imminent danger gave a bored yawn.
'Which counter should I use? It's your turn to choose.' 'I'd go with that variation of that Hyuuga move.' 'Sure.' Naruto looked at the giant spinning piece of metal with amusement in his eyes, if anyone could have seen them.
"Kitsune Fist Style: Claw Rotation!" Naruto started to spin like a top in front of an enraptured audience. A sphere of purple chakra appeared around Naruto, just like the Hyuuga's 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation. However, when the shurikan came near, it wasn't deflected as they expected. It was caught.
The form that looked like a chakra outline of Naruto stepped out of the dome and caught the shurikan. It then went back into the dome, carrying the shurikan with it. A black shape was found in the sphere among the purple now. Then a fox claw, about the size of a house, emerged from the dome, still carrying the shurikan.
Mizuki could only watch in fear as his own shurikan was thrown back at him. Just in time, he managed to twist out of the way of the deadly piece of metal. But this left him wide open. The claw, which hadn't stepped back in yet, reached out and grabbed Mizuki, burning the man's skin from the density of the chakra.
Mizuki stared at the claw as if it were the hands of Satan, Cerberus, Medusa, and every other mythological beast rolled into one. Naruto couldn't see the look, as he was still rotating at speeds that could make visible light jealous, but if he had he would have needed surgery to save his lungs from exploding from laughter. After the claw spun with the dome a few times, it let go of a near apoplexy Mizuki.
The entire crowd, temporarily silenced, didn't react as Naruto, stopping on a penny, walked towards the building. He took his seat near the back of the class and waited for the group to realize they had to get back in the building. Surprisingly, the first person to enter the room was Sasuke. He gave Naruto a look that would seem normal to any other person, but what Naruto saw as a message as clear as the sky. 'I respect you and wish to be your friend.'
Naruto gave the barest twitch of a nod. Sasuke gave his own in turn and he sat down, with some difficulty due to the somewhat hidden bandages, not out of sight. Next came both boy's fan girls, and finally the boys and Iruka sensei. Everyone looked like they would love to make more noise about Naruto, but they stayed silent, through some supreme effort of self-control.
"Now, today we shall split you into 3-person teams and assign you your Jonin senseis. Everyone shall meet their sensei after lunch." A few murmurs of confusion ran through the crowd, while Kiba raised his voice, which hurt Naruto's advanced ears. "Why to we have to be split into teams? We'd do better off on our own without anyone getting in the way!" "I second that motion!" Akamaru put in, though only Naruto understood.
Naruto, deciding that any and all anonymity was lost, answered the question himself. "One unimportant reason is that Konoha doesn't have enough Jonin to fit every graduate with a sensei. But the real reason is that although individual abilities are valued highly, in the Shinobi world a team is only as strong as their teamwork. If a team was sent on a mission of vital importance, feuding with each other would only serve to increase the chances of the mission's failure and their chances of getting killed. This is why we have 3-person teams."
Iruka gave applause to this statement, while everyone simply starred. "If you were still my student, I would give you a 100 test score and no homework for a week. That is precisely why. Now, if there are no more interruptions, here are the teams.
As Iruka listed off the names, Shikamaru whispered across to Naruto "Since when have you been this smart?" Naruto gave an equally quiet whisper of "I always was, just didn't want to show off." Naruto returned his attention past the dreamy stares of his fan girls to Sakura and Hinata, wondering why his romantic attraction to the pinkette and almost-more-than-friends one to the heiress was unusually high today. 'It's mating season for me, so all your feelings for your future mates are acting up.'
Naruto was about to protest that they were not his future mates when Iruka snapped him out with a slight increase in voice. "And Team 7: Sakura Haruno," Said maiden looked up. "Sasuke Uchiha," which elected groans from all the girls, even Naruto's fan girls, and a look of outrage from Ino. "And Naruto no Kitsune." Inner Sakura gave a little dance at the fact both the guys she liked would be on the same team as her.
Hinata was feeling a little down when her own team was called, which brightened her mood a little. "Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." Both friends took a long look at the introverted bug master.
"Can't believe it. Sakura on the same team as Sasuke-kun and Naruto. What did I do to deserve this?" Ino was angrily hissing as she glared daggers at her opponent in winning Sasuke's love. "Aw, cheer up Ino. It's not the end of the world. Our dads were in a team you know." Chouji said while eating his usual potato chips. "Kami forbid I get stuck on a team with you!" She almost yelled back, so loud she missed who Team 9 was. "And finally, Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. That is all. You can go to lunch now."
Everyone else went outside while Ino just sat down as if she had just been told she was heading toward a guillotine with her name on it. Naruto found Sasuke and Sakura and took them to where he usually sat with the whole gang.
"Well, it stinks you, me, and Hinata aren't on a team together, but I'm good." Kiba was overloud as usual, while Sakura took it as a cover to slowly inch her hand towards Naruto's hood. "It does. Well, anyway, how are you Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked while pretending to not notice Sakura's hand. "I'm fine." the boy replied, looking as moody as always, though Naruto found an undercurrent of respect in his voice. 'Congratulations, you got your first servant who will follow you until death.' Naruto ignored Kyuubi's too serious joke as easily as ignoring a fly.
The rest of the lunch passed with plans of how their lives as ninja would be, while Sakura kept on going, millimeter by millimeter, for Naruto's hood. "Sakura, I appreciate you want to put your arm around me, but it's time to go." The Kitsune walked of while an abashed Sakura followed. "Don't worry, you're not the first. I tried my Byakugan once, and he disappeared before they were on for a second." Hinata told her with no stutter; these moments of confidence were becoming more frequent; soon the blue-haired girl would not have trouble speaking at all.
The sensei for each team gradually showed up. After 15 minutes, Naruto saw a familiar face. "Kurenai Yuuhi for Team 8." The red-eyed mistress said. She gave a small wink to Naruto, which Naruto responded with a weak Genjutsu of him giving her one back without the cloak to hide it. She gave a slight smile, and led two of Naruto's friends away.
5 minutes later, Asuma showed up for his team. "Asuma Sarutobi for Team 10." He had his customary cigarette in his mouth. Naruto subtly used wind chakra to write on the back wall "Do I have Kakashi?" Asuma gave a nod which most would assume was to look at his team. They to were led away, making Team 7 the sole occupants of the room, for Iruka had left. It continued this way for another 40 minutes.
"Where is he?" Sakura asked, more to break the silence than to answer her question. Both boys gave no answer. Another 90 minutes passed, by which time even Sasuke's stoic expression was just an act. Naruto, used to Kakashi's lack of punctuality, simply had a simple debate with Kyuubi over whether claws or teeth were a better way to kill. Finally, the former ANBU stuck his head in the door with a "Yo." Inner Sakura was exposed for a moment.
"WHERE ON THIS FORSAKEN EARTH WERE YOU? WE'VE BEEN WAITIN 2 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto simply snapped to and said "Bit early Kakashi-kun. I didn't expect you for another half hour." This statement was met with twitching eyes and confused expressions from both Sakura and Sasuke. "To answer the loud-mouth, I was off mourning a friend. To answer Naru-kun, Obito was particularly silent, so I thought I might come here."
Naruto nodded while his teammates looked on in wonder. 'It's like they've known each other for years.' was the thought that went through their heads. "Meet me on the roof for introductions." And with that both Naruto and Kakashi vanished, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to climb the stairs on their own.
When they were all situated on the roof, Kakashi said "Now, I want you to give me your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. Pinky can go first." Sakura raised a hand. "Sensei, shouldn't you do that first, considering you were late or early or whatever?" Kakashi looked at her before answering from his position on the rail.
"I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have many likes and dislikes. My hobbies… you're not old enough. And my dreams are none of your business." Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a look. "That didn't help. All we learnt was his name." Sakura whispered behind Naruto's back. "Now, your turn." Kakashi said, pointing a finger at Sakura.
She took a deep breath. "My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like…" Here she looked at the boys next to her. "My hobbies are…" Again she looked at them both. "My dreams…" Here she had a red spot on her cheeks. "And what you dislike?" Kakashi inquired, noting her looks at his longtime student and his supposed prodigy student.
Sakura gave a bored look. "Ino-pig." Several hundred feet away, the platinum-blond gave a sneeze. "And you." Kakashi was pointing at Sasuke now. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. I dislike many things, and I don't really care for anything. My hobbies are training. I don't have a dream, but I have an ambition: to revive my clan and destroy a certain someone." Still the emotionless self on the surface, still the air of respect for Naruto which only a trained expert could see.
Naruto gave his own revised intro before Kakashi had to point. "I like strategy games, ramen, and Hinata-chan and Sakura-chan. I dislike soft food and people who never look past the exterior. My hobbies are training and napping. And my dream for the future is to protect this village until the villagers see me for what I really am. My name is Naruto no Kitsune." Kakashi was surprised he mentioned his romantic feelings, but otherwise it was what he expected.
"Meet me at the training grounds near the memorial stone at 7:00 sharp. And don't eat breakfast, unless you want to puke. Later." And with that the silver-haired man disappeared. Sakura was blushing when Naruto got up. "In order to celebrate us being a team, I'm treating you all to ramen." The cloaked boy then strode off with Sakura and Sasuke following belatedly after a moment.
He led them to the Ichiraku's Ramen. They all sat down when the chef Tenuchi greeted them like old friends."Naruto, always a pleasure! Please sit down! You and your friends can have whatever you want! On the house!" At the confused looks of his team Naruto gave an explanation. "I've eaten here so many times I probably gave him enough money to build an entire string of ramen shops. But he insists on staying here, so all the ramen has his personal touch." Then in a louder voice, Naruto said "A large miso ramen with everything, and keep them coming."
Sasuke and Sakura gave their own orders, and within a few minutes, they had their bowls full of ambrosial noodles before them. They didn't even glance at them, as they were busy staring at Naruto as he scarfed one bowl after another. The thing was, he ate them so fast that one moment a full bowl was before him, and then it was empty in the blink of an eye.
While he was eating, Naruto went over what he knew of his team. Sasuke was moody on the surface, with some hidden respect for him just underneath, but deep down in the depths of his soul was a darkness, an insatiable need to get more and more power. Naruto hoped he could remedy that.
Sakura… well she was Sakura. She was smart, beautiful, and had a gentle sort of kindness when she wanted too. Like Sasuke, on the surface she put up an act of what everyone wanted her to be. She obsessed with Sasuke because that's what every other girl did, but deep down she only saw him as a friend.
A new customer entered the shop. It was Hinata. Naruto looked at her, feeling the amplified feeling brought on by Kyuubi's mating cycle. "Hi Hinata-chan." She looked up, surprised. "Oh, hey Naruto-kun. Hello, Sakura, Sasuke." She sat down and gave her order. Sakura, realizing she hadn't spoken since entering the shop, tried to start up a conversation.
"So, Hinata, what's your sensei like?" Hinata was about to answer, but Naruto beat her to the punch. "Kurenai-chan is a genjutsu master; she is romantically involved with Asuma-kun, and is generally a kind person." Sasuke asked the obvious question. "How do you know so much about all these Jonin?" This time Hinata answered. "His adoptive father is the Sandaime Hokage."
Sasuke and Sakura won the jaw-dropping World Series. "You were adopted by the Hokage?" Sakura asked, while Sasuke was still reeling. "Yep, since I was 4." Sasuke ate his ramen and left without another word. 'Wonder what's wrong with him.' Sakura thought. Hinata drew up a deep breath, but Sakura spoke first. "Hey Naruto, can I tell you something?" "Sure." Hinata asked "May I as well?" Naruto looked at the two of them before saying "Sure," again.
They both blurted it out at the same time. "I have a crush on you." They both simultaneously covered their mouths, and then looked at each other, then finally at Naruto. Said boy was in a state of shock. He then said "Me, too, for the both of you." And then he vanished.
Sarutobi sat at the dinner table conversing with Kakashi when Naruto came in. "Hello Naruto," he said. Naruto didn't respond, just walked really slowly to his room. Sarutobi frowned. Kakashi tried his hand at getting the young Kitsune to speak. "Just to let you know, I'm giving the bell test tomorrow." Still there was silence.
At that moment, Konohamaru jumped from behind a door, going for Naruto's hood. He didn't attempt to stop him, thus revealing his fox features to the world. Sarutobi rushed forward and locked his grandson in his room before he hit the ground. "Naruto!" he yelled at the still unresponsive boy.
Only then did he look up. "What?" he said in an honestly confused tone. "Konohamaru pulled back your hood, and you did absolutely nothing. What is wrong?" Sarutobi used the tone he used to draw the council to his point of view. "Nothing; just that it's mating season for Kyuubi and the two girls I love just said they had crushes on me and I said so back."
Kakashi and Sarutobi were shocked, providing an opening for Naruto to retreat to his room and lose himself in the calm cage of sleep. However, Kyuubi's subconscious affected the dreams, resulting in some pervert images which Jiraiya would think were inappropriate. Needless to say, Naruto slept with a nose bleed.
The next day, the hungry Team 7 waited in the training grounds. Sakura kept glancing at Naruto, Sasuke sat in brooding silence, and Naruto sat on the ground in the lotus position. When Sakura came over, or tried to, she was pushed back by an unseen force. "Sakura-chan, I'm trying to meditate. You, I, and Hinata can discuss it when the test is over." She backed away.
After waiting with grumbling stomachs for 3 hours, Kakashi showed up. "Yo," he said, rolling Sakura's yell of "YOU'RE LATE!" like it was nothing more than a fly. "Today, you will go through the real genin exam. The test at the academy was just to see if you had the potential to be ninja."
Sasuke's brow furrowed, Sakura looked confused, and Naruto simply stood up. "You're goal is to take these bells from me." So saying, he held up two silver bells. Sakura raised her hand. "Sensei, why are there only two?" "The goal is to try to turn us against each other. With the threat of being sent back to the academy, we would try to take him down separately, doomed to fail. A ninja must look underneath the underneath, so if we were worthy of the title ninja, we would see that teamwork is key, and gang up against him." Naruto said this in a matter-of-fact tone.
Kakashi sighed. "Must you always steal my fun Naruto-kun? Just because you've known this for years doesn't mean you have to spoil it for everyone else." Kakashi held up the bells. "Since the cover has been blown, the point of this exercise is now just to evaluate your skills. Come at me as a team, and then we'll call it a day."
Sakura gained a new reason to like Naruto, while Sasuke just was relieved he didn't have to learn the lesson through trial and error. They jumped off into the trees, where Naruto laid out the plan. "I'll keep him busy, pushing him back. Sasuke, when he gets close, you jump him. When he tries to evade, Sakura grabs the bells. Break." Naruto rushed out at Kakashi after giving the plan, while Sasuke tried to adapt to the natural leadership of Naruto that he would evidently have to follow.
"Kitsune Fist Style: Claw Hurricane!" Naruto followed up the cry with a variation, much more graceful and deadly, of Gai's Leaf Hurricane. Kakashi, knowing Naruto's style left no room to counter, simply avoided the strikes as best he could. Then Sasuke jumped up behind him, surprising Kakashi due to the fact that Naruto had hidden all their chakra signatures. "Snake-Tiger-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
After the words left his mouth, a giant ball of fire came out next. Kakashi jumped into the air, surprise leaving a hole in his guard. Sakura jumped out of the trees and snagged the bells. When Kakashi landed, he was greeted by the triumphant smiles, or in Naruto's case, the feeling of a triumphant smile. "Congratulations. I know Naruto is a master strategist, but I never imagined your plan would work on the first try. We start missions tomorrow. Until then, celebrate your becoming of ninja." With that, the silver-haired Shinobi left to visit Obito. Or rather his grave.
"Follow me." Naruto led Sakura away while Sasuke took the familiar path to the now empty Uchiha district. Sakura followed after Naruto, noting that he took charge the way a judge or leader took charge. She liked that. After a few minutes of slow jogging for Naruto, all-out sprinting for Sakura, they came upon the Hyuuga mansion. Hinata rushed out to greet them.
"Let's go somewhere more private." Naruto led the interested females to a clearing in the forest, where he turned to look at them. "Now, I like both of you, very much." Both girls went shades of red not yet discovered by mankind. "I don't want to choose between you; it would only serve to hurt one of you. So can you girls, um, share me?" The great protector of Konoha actually sounded nervous.
Both girls looked surprised, looked at each other, and nodded. "I never noticed, but I always thought that bigamy was kind of cool." Sakura looked at her feet when she said this, while Hinata just kept on blushing.
Naruto let out a deep breath. "Then there's something you should know about me." Making one of the hardest decisions of his life, he lifted his hood. The girls didn't scream bloody murder, but they did look scared and confused beyond comprehension. So Naruto spilled the beans. He told them about the attack on him, Kyuubi, and everything that happened since. Kyuubi pitched in a few times, convincing the girls even more.
At the end, Naruto said "Now that you know the truth, you can decide whether you want to be with me or not. I perfectly understand if you never want to see me-""Are you nuts?" Sakura interrupted. "You're still Naruto-kun, we just know what y-you look like." Hinata looked him straight in the slit-instead-of-pupil eyes when she said this.
Naruto gave a grateful smile, which didn't show off his fangs too much, and gave them both a hug. "Well, I'll see you both later." "'Kay." They said the farewell at the exactly the same moment and bid fair to suggest that it would always be this way when they talked to him. Naruto took off for home, thinking that at least his love life was bound to be interesting.
Sorry for the delay, but I am so booked what with school and lessons and family events that I barely have a few hours a week to write. Hope you enjoy this interesting turn of events and check back to see my new epic which I will start writing along with this one. Believe it!