Chapter XVII: "Echoes"
"I am you and what I see is me…" – Pink Floyd, "Echoes"
"I thought you three would be more excited." Kakashi fished as his team made camp.
"Well," Sakura hedged while she began setting up tents, "you'll have to forgive us if some members of the team recall the last C-rank mission we set out to complete."
"Or, just maybe," Naruto began in a singsong voice, "some of us feel like this is an unnecessarily elaborate 'test' that has no objective meaning, but is merely an extreme way of vetting our already vetted skills."
Kakashi smiled. A little birdie named Anko had told him she'd spotted the two on a date last night. Seems like it went well. "Kaori-san said something similar, but I was able to convince Hokage-sama of my sage wisdom, students. Doctor Yamanaka might be pretty and have a siren's song that convinced the three of you to reveal long-thought-buried secrets, but I'm still your Daddy. I'll decide how to rear you. When to feed you, when to praise you, when to discipline you… all of that, as well as holding onto the money, is for me to worry about." The Jounin smiled as his two students rolled their eyes in that special way that only teenagers could manage before he turned towards his third student as the Genin finished placing logs in the pit he had dug for the camp's fire. "Anything to add?"
Sasuke stared at Kakashi, the former's Sharingan lazily spinning as it recorded everything it saw while its wielder mulled over his response. "Only a reminder to myself," Sasuke finally began, "that Itachi murdered the last father figure in my life." The Uchiha tucked a nest of dried shavings under the logs and started the fire. "Perhaps history will repeat itself?"
Naruto snorted. "See? Just look at us now– the very picture of well-adjusted professionalism!"
"Speak for yourself, Naruto-kun. I'm still on the fence—fifty-fifty, as it were—but culling some bandits like wheat from the earth should help me decide," Sakura added helpfully before she turned her beaming face towards her sensei. "For I am a farmer of men, come to reap the harvest!"
"Then perhaps it's time to iron out our strategy, hmmm?" Kakashi suggested as his students wrapped up their assigned tasks. The Jounin dropped down from his perch on a nearby tree and moved to the fire his students were congregating at. "We know the basics: one camp, two Chuunin, thirteen-or-so bandits. I'll be summoning Pakkun later to give us the exact location, but our intelligence says we need to keep heading North." He glanced at Sakura. "When should we strike?"
"Around three." The girl replied succinctly, somewhat unsure of her sensei's motivations. Surely he wasn't going to crowdsource a plan?
"Why?"
"Because I figure that's the best window of opportunity to catch most their forces asleep," Sakura shrugged. "If they at least have some shred of self-preservation left, they would at least have some form of watch rotation."
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Good," he acknowledged before turning to Naruto and Sasuke. "Any comments?"
Naruto's grin shone in the firelight as he positively glowed. "It's what I would do."
"Hn."
"Excellent!" Kakashi agreed. He wondered how many of his peers laboriously planned every step of their students' missions for them; that wasn't how you did this. The Jounin might have never taught a team before, but he had been taught. Oh, had he ever been taught. "Now, Naruto," he continued, turning to said blonde, "I don't want you to spam your shadow clones when the battle starts. Yes, we could drown them in the things and brute-force the issue, but then we'd all learn nothing!" Kakashi sniffed and turned away. "How dreadful."
"Can I still use my clones to scout?" Naruto asked, not really bothered by the request.
Did he already have three plans for wiping out the bandits using his clones? Sure, of course he did. Plan C was hengeing clones and hurling them, en masse, over the camp and letting them release their Daibakuha as they rained down from the sky. He was still going to try that someday, someday soon, but Naruto was always eager to think outside the box.
Kakashi was right about one thing, however.
Clones were easy. He couldn't fully grasp just how easy they were because he didn't have chakra the way Naruto had chakra. A shadow clone for Kakashi was a deadly blade. It could be honed and directed as an instrument of death. To see Kakashi Hatake on the field of battle was tantamount to a death sentence for the average shinobi. What were those poor bastards to do when there were two of him?
Naruto was different. With his reserves of chakra, he was an artist. The fight was his canvas, the clones his brush and paint. Chakra and imagination were constantly driving his tactics when it came to shadow clones. The Genin was rather convinced that most shinobi didn't appreciate the constructs properly. Truly, they were the thinking man's bunshin.
"Of course," Kakashi replied, drawing Naruto away from his elitist fantasies. "In fact, I want you to approach opposite Sasuke and Sakura. We'll run a little scenario, even– how fun!" The Jounin rubbed his masked chin in thought for a few moments before snapping his finger in conclusion. "Got it! Sasuke and Sakura," he began, "you are on a mission in enemy territory with vital intel for Konoha. You must hold out for reinforcements in the form of a typical Chuunin squad. That's four people."
"Can Sasuke and Sakura each have a squad of clones?" Naruto asked.
"Hmmmm… no," The Jounin declined, "let's keep it as simple as possible. Let Sasuke and Sakura engage the bandits before you flank them with your three clones. We'll need to actually see the camp for ourselves to get a bead on the two Chuunin there, but I'll distract them myself until you three are ready to engage them."
"Will you let us fight them ourselves?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course!" Kakashi chirped. "I'll step in if the need arises, but I intend to let my little birdies fly on their own," Team Seven's sensei added in a wistful sigh. "Zabuza robbed me of the pleasure of watching your first, real fight– you don't teach another man's kids how to ride a bike."
xxxXXXxxx
The camp, it turned out, was rather lackluster.
The bandits had chosen to hold out near the edge of a small copse of trees that surrounded the banks of a shallow creek. The gentle sound of running water conveniently drowned out the various creatures going bump in the night along with the approaching Team Seven.
The position was great from a survival standpoint. The trees would shelter them from rain and wind, the water was fresh and clean, and the small clearing had enough room for the bandits fortunate enough to have tents.
Naruto spied some less fortunate souls quietly dozing in the camp's outskirts. The blonde assumed they were the members with the lowest standing or weakest skills.
The Genin was currently waiting just beyond the camp's Northern border as his clones scouted the camp and helped relay information to the rest of his team currently standing by near the Western border.
Kakashi had easily located the two Chuunin, sitting by the fire. The morons still wore their scratched-out hitai-ate on their heads. It was a shame, really, because they were unremarkable in every sense of the word– they might have gotten away in the fracas if they'd just taken them off.
But Hibari Misora and Matsuo Bashou had decided not to and as a direct result of that action, now had the Sharingan gaze of Kakashi Hatake pinned firmly on their rapidly fleeting lives.
Naruto just hoped there was enough left for him to have some fun by the time he could participate. The Hokage hadn't been joking when the intel on the two marauding Chuunin had been verified and there was no doubt the two Chuunin were working alone.
It was a shame Kusa didn't pay ransoms to Konoha, though. Naruto didn't object to killing the two shinobi, but he would have preferred more money. That and the fact that one could not gloat over dead people and be appreciated by the intended audience.
"Such a pursuit is beneath us." The Kyuubi chimed in as Naruto's kage bunshin began dispelling and passing along their observations. "What sport can be found from these walking corpses?"
"How bored are you that you're talking with me?" Naruto asked as he began to sift through his new memories. The bandits only had two people patrolling their perimeter in addition to the two Chuunin. None of Naruto's clones had spotted any prisoners and after checking in with his sensei, confirmed that Kakashi hadn't seen any either.
"Much more bored than I was last night," the demon assured its container. "Tell me, why not simply mount the female and–"
"Fuck off," Naruto interrupted, "I'm not going to rape Sakura."
"A coward's excuse. There is only taking that which you desire in a world filled with pathetic wretches too frightened to reach out and do so for themselves." Naruto felt the Kyuubi's sneer between the syllables of the demon's words. "Your debilitating humanity blinds you to a more enlightened way of thinking."
Naruto ignored his bijuu roommate and focused on the task at hand and not the things he wanted to do to Sakura– but only if she was willing. By the Mother, Naruto wanted her to be willing…
The blonde shook his head to once again clear his thoughts of Sakura's lips and the feeling of her body pressed up against his own. There were far more pressing matters. The clones were currently creating copies to serve as runners between the members of Team Seven. The bunshin assigned to Kakashi would report their findings and await either new orders or the signal to commence the operation.
"Ah, wetwork," Naruto thought fondly. The Genin might not be the best fighter running around playing at shinobi, but his involvement in the Brotherhood had at least made him a rather competent killer. He figured Sasuke could take to it, his stealth was commendable and his skills even more so; that, along with the Uchiha's apathy, could produce very desirable results. Sakura, on the other hand was a toss-up. Team Seven's kunoichi was competent enough, but Naruto questioned whether or not she had the temperament for such assignments.
Eradicating bandits was the shinobi version of pesticide. Bandits were dirty, often carried disease, and positively ruined any corner of the planer they managed to root themselves in. It was babytown frolics of the most mundane sort.
Shinobi didn't decide who they killed when it came to wetwork, unfortunately. Bandits were easy, but mothers, fathers, and children took a steadier hand and steelier nerves. Sakura was an extremely well-rounded kunoichi thanks to Anko's personal involvement, the younger girl had been encouraged to use her sharp mind to make up for any lacking physical prowess.
Naruto might never admit it to Sakura's face, but—personal feelings aside—he rather admired his pink haired teammate. All she had achieved and all she would achieve would be hers without a demon's power or the resources of a noble clan.
What Sakura didn't have was Sasuke's apathy or whatever it was inside of Naruto that was currently making goosebumps bloom on his skin in anticipation. The girl might be a nihilist, but that didn't mean she no longer cared.
Musings for another time, Naruto decided as a clone's memories returned to him. There were thirteen total bandits in addition to the two Chuunin by the fire. A second clone dispelled and Naruto made three shadow clones who quickly henge'd into generic-looking Chuunin with vests and blank hitai-ate.
The operation was under way.
Naruto spied his two teammates moving on the far side of the camp. Sakura was setting up near their original location while Sasuke began moving towards the river, closer to the sentry currently filling his canteen.
A few seconds ticked away as the second sentry approached Sakura's position near the camp's Southern border before two kunai sailed through the darkness to catch the two unsuspecting sentries in their throats. The pair dropped where they stood, Sakura's victim muffled by the grass underfoot, Sasuke's grabbed by the Uchiha and dragged quietly behind some overgrowth near the river's Western bank.
Kakashi descended towards the two Chuunin, quickly ensnaring them in a suggestive genjutsu to keep them occupied while his students went to work.
The night bloomed into a canvas of crimson artistry as Sasuke and Sakura began clearing out the tents closest to them while Naruto removed the Ebony Blade from its sheathe. The blonde spared the odd sword a brief glance, the weapon had changed since claiming the life of Haku. Despite Naruto's best efforts, he could not get the weapon to reproduce the black flames that once adorned its edge.
Naruto watched the frost emanating from his blade as it began to chill the air around him.
"Strange." Naruto remarked before disappearing in a shunshin and driving the blade into the side of a bandit's head. The woman twitched once before going still, Naruto's blade already traveling on to its next destination as it left only the blood soaking into the pack the bandit had used for her pillow behind.
A bandit emerged from a tent about ten feet away, gasping in shock as Naruto slit the throat of another bandit, just as a kunai entered his mouth and penetrated his soft palate before burying itself into his lower brain.
Naruto grinned at one of his "teammates" as the others continued the culling around him. Soon, the blonde was surrounded by seven, very dead bandits quietly watering the ground with their blood. He turned towards a source of motion to find Sakura quietly stabbing a bandit snared in some of Sasuke's wire.
The blonde exploded into movement the moment he saw a bandit crawling out from one of his dead fellows, knife in hand, and rushing Sakura from her blind spot. The kunoichi began turning, intending to break inside the bandit's guard and finish him–
"Grk–!" The bandit suddenly paused as Naruto appeared next to Sakura with a raised brow whilst the bandit stared at his two attackers, eyes roving back and forth frantically, before a deluge of blood spilled from his neck and the bandit's head rolled cleanly off his shoulders.
Naruto watched the bandit's body flop to the ground, spying the glint of shinobi wire in the moonlight as Sasuke reeled his preferred weapon back in. "That was easy," he remarked when Sasuke and Sakura had rejoined him.
"Hn."
"Fun times." Sakura added. "We ready to deal with the Chuunin?"
"Sure," Naruto grinned, "we'll let my 'teammates' lead the charge and follow through with a decisive strike."
"Fire, death, and destruction?" Sasuke asked innocently.
"Man, I want to so badly," Naruto admitted regretfully, "but we'd probably score more points if we kept this quiet. Sakura should herd them with her shadow snakes while you try to wrap them up in wire."
"What about you?" Sakura asked curiously.
Naruto's hand cackled with electricity, briefly illuminating his face and casting shadows under his eyes. "That wire is made of conductive metal, no?" Naruto paused and the Uchiha smirked at his blonde teammate. "Electricity moves in silence and violence," the blonde pointed out, "just wrap 'em up for me and I'll finish them off."
xxxXXXxxx
"Using Kubikiribouchou as cover was very quick thinking," Kakashi explained as Team Seven approached Konoha's Northern gate, "summoning it from a scroll is easy enough and the metal the blade is made of is strong enough to stop or at least part most elemental attacks. However," the Jounin continued, doing his best to not smile at the completely devoted look on Sakura's face as she attempted to absorb his advice, "I'd advise against becoming overly reliant on that tactic until you master the sword properly. Against two no-name Chuunin, you can get away with it, but any shinobi worth his or her rank will take that sword from you and use it to hack your legs off."
"I–" Sakura objected before coming up short. She sighed as her shoulders drooped. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei. I'll continue to work on my kenjutsu."
Kakashi couldn't help himself as he ruffled the downtrodden girl's pink locks. "Now, now, don't be so down. You did well, but you could always do better– it's my job to help all of you see that." The Jounin eye-smiled at his kunoichi. "Besides, if you can improve your strength enough to use that sword, I'll teach you some kenjutsu moves that'll make Naruto green with envy."
"Red is more my color," the blonde dismissed as the four shinobi presented their ID badges and mission scroll to the Chuunin at the gate.
"Not black?" Sasuke asked, eyeing Naruto's monochromatic outfit.
"Black is nice," Naruto agreed, thumbing the front of his shirt like he was wearing a pair of suspenders, "but red is my favorite, for sure." The blonde grinned toothily. "But if our enemies see red, then it's too late."
Sasuke smirked appreciatively. "Hn."
Team Seven continued on, each member enjoying the return to the village in their own way as they moved towards the Hokage Tower to turn in and officially complete their mission. The quartet moved at a sedate pace, each happy to be back inside the comfort and relative safety of Konoha.
Kakashi had to admit that he was proud of his little monsters, they were developing their skills at breakneck pace and learning how to work with each other in a way that balanced out their shortcomings. That was an important mindset to have in a shinobi, it would serve Kakashi's students well.
However, the veteran knew that there was no substitute for real-world, firsthand experience. You could plan how you'd do it, and you could even practice it, but nothing prepared you for a fight like other fights did.
Sparing was the best answer anyone had ever come up with, but it was still a distant second to the real thing.
The four ninja found themselves being ushered inside the Hokage's office in short order, with the three Genin coming to attention a few steps behind their sensei.
"Kakashi!" The old man greeted jovially. "Everything went as expected, then?" Hiruzen asked, eyeing the three Genin who looked none too worse for wear."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi reported. "The targets are dead and we recovered the bodies of the two shinobi leading them." The Jounin stepped forward and placed two scrolls on the Hokage's desk. "They did very well." He turned to regard his students fondly. "For Genin."
Hiruzen chuckled at the miffed expressions on the children's faces. "Excellent!" The Hokage withdrew his pipe and lit it. "Have you spoken with them about the upcoming Exams? Have you made a decision, Kakashi?"
"Exams?" Sakura asked.
"The Chuunin Exams," Kakashi elaborated, "they will be held in Konoha in eight days from today. We are nearly at the deadline for me to submit you three as candidates– if I deem you ready, that is."
Naruto snorted. "Then why are we pretending that we aren't ready?"
"Merely participating is no guarantee of promotion, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen answered. "The bottom line is that these exams are dangerous. Genin will die in them."
The blonde jinchuuriki was supremely proud of the herculean effort he put into successfully stopping himself from grinning like a kid in a candy store.
"I understand the risks, Hokage-sama," Naruto finally responded, "but I also understand my team is ready. I didn't need another C-rank to tell me that."
"Your confidence is one of your more adorable features," Kakashi interjected, much to Naruto's annoyance, "but your opinion, unlike mine, means nothing to anyone with a semblance of authority or involvement in these exams. My opinion matters because I decide if you three are ready or not."
"Do you not believe us to be ready?" Sasuke asked tiredly. He was ready to head home, shower, and eat.
"Oh, most certainly not," Kakashi denied. "In fact, I'm very much looking forward to watching you terrorize my peers' students," the Jounin grinned, causing his eye to crinkle in mirth, "but it never hurts to make damn sure."
"Agreed," Hiruzen nodded as two plumes of smoke wafted out of his nostrils like a dragon. He reached inside his desk and withdrew three pieces of paper and handed them to Kakashi along with a pen. "Your sensei is right to ensure you are ready for a challenge such as this after a mission like Wave."
Kakashi handed the consent forms and pen to his students, doing his best not to openly laugh at how eagerly all three of clambered for the pen in their haste to sign their names. In a scant, few seconds Sakura was smiling radiantly and respectfully placing the forms on the Hokage's desk.
"And to think, Iruka-kun wanted to test all the rookie Genin himself because he was worried they weren't ready…" Sarutobi mused as Kakashi began ushering his students from the room.
xxxXXXxxx
It was rare to see Genin as enthused as Team Seven currently was. Life at the bottom of Konoha's ninja ranks was often inglorious and unenviable. That was the way of things when you lacked both skill and experience.
But the three Genin had just received their golden tickets to advance up the career ladder. As rookies, no less! If the three of them simply did well enough in the coming exams, they'd all have their fancy Chuunin vests and a more lucrative paygrade.
"It's a shame we have to wait a week for the exams to start," Sasuke lamented. "With the exams this close, we can't even take missions to pass the time."
"Yeah, it sucks," Naruto agreed before hastily adding, "but the exams mean we should be seeing foreign shinobi soon. Maybe things will get… exciting with so many foreign faces and egos. Should be fun!"
Sakura snorted at the ponderous looks on her teammates' faces. "Only you two could romanticize a potential street brawl with deadly ninja." The kunoichi pointed to the wall surrounding the village. "Inside the wall is supposed to mean 'safe,' remember?"
"Stop being a spoilsport," Naruto chided. "We're gonna be Chuunin soon! How is that not wetting your panties?"
"You seem awfully confident in your impending promotion," Sasuke observed, doing his best not to smirk at the blush on Sakura's face, "what has you so certain?"
The blonde smiled. Sasuke's Sharingan let him know it was a genuine smile, the kind Naruto had when he tucked into a fresh bowl of ramen, and not the kind he plastered on his face when greeting people in positions of authority.
It still didn't make him feel any better when Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke and Sakura, pulling both shinobi in close for an obnoxious, three-person hug.
"Just look at my teammates!" The jinchuuriki enthused. "The last Uchiha and the smartest kunoichi in the village! What more could a guy holding an all-powerful demon in his stomach ask for?"
"Hn." Sasuke grunted before shrugging off Naruto's arm. "Your optimism is inspiring," the Uchiha deadpanned, "but I'm going home to unpack and eat before your cheery smile gives me diabetes." With his part said, Sasuke nodded towards Sakura and began strolling towards his apartment.
"So," Naruto began with a lascivious grin towards the girl still under his other arm, "what might you be getting into, Sakura-chan?"
The girl smiled as the two began walking away from the Hokage's Tower. She should probably be more bothered by Naruto's closeness, but the kunoichi couldn't quite bring herself to car about the warm arm resting comfortably on her shoulders. "I need to tell Mom the good news– knowing her, she'll want to have you and Sasuke over for dinner soon."
"How fun." Naruto chirped.
"Yeah, for you two. It won't be your mother telling embarrassing stories and showing off baby pictures," Sakura countered. "I'm sure that I won't be able to look either of you in the face after it's all said and done– it doesn't help that Sasuke will basically record everything, either."
"Did you ever stop and consider that Sasuke and I don't have mothers to embarrass anymore?" Naruto asked. "No, you didn't, because you only think of yourself."
"Oh!" Sakura was embarrassed. "I didn't think– I mean, I didn't realize…" The girl trailed off as she saw Naruto trembling with suppressed laughter. "You asshole!" The kunoichi accused, striking her friend in the chest.
"Ow!" Naruto complained. "I was just fucking with you, Sakura-chan, no need to get violent!"
"I hate you." Sakura shot back petulantly.
Naruto squeezed her tighter. "No, you don't. You can't deny that we had fun before we left for our mission."
"But I want to. So, so very much."
"So dramatic, Sakura-chan," Naruto admonished, pinching the girl's cheek. "The mission went great, before that our little date was fun and profitable, and now we're in the Chuunin Exams! Life is good right now, Sakura-chan, let's enjoy it while it lasts, no?"
Sakura giggled. "When did you become such a bleeding optimist?"
"The moment shit started going my way!" Naruto beamed.
"It's a good fit for you," Sakura admitted, ignoring the fluttering of her heart when Naruto smiled at her, "much better than 'cynical asshole who likes to play with people when he's bored…" The kunoichi grinned, hastily looking around, and dragging her companion into an alley between two of the village's downtown shops. "Is that why we're suddenly getting friendly?" Sakura asked, pushing Naruto against one of the buildings now providing the two Genin with some privacy. "You bored and looking to play with me?"
The blonde, for his part, stared at his teammate in a new light. Naruto could feel the gravity of the response forming on his tongue. He was at a crossroads and he could lie or tell the truth– two diverging paths stumbled upon in the woods. The Kyuubi was laughing at its container's pathetically mortal situation.
Naruto grabbed Sakura's wrists and quickly reversed their positions, keeping hold of her wrists and holding her hands stretched above her head. "I am always bored, Sakura-chan," the blonde whispered huskily, squeezing Sakura's wrists just to remind her who was stronger. It was a fair trade, if Sakura didn't want to be exactly where she was she need only take one of her dainty knees and drive it into Naruto's groin. "But I don't think you're boring." Naruto concluded before crushing his lips against Sakura's.
The kunoichi mewled, urging her body forward as Naruto held her against the building's wall. Sakura could feel the brick abrading her skin through the fabric of her top as she ran her tongue along Naruto's lower lip.
The jinchuuriki growled and responded by meeting the girl's inquisitive tongue with his own. The two teenagers were by no means experts, but they both made up for their lack of experience with abundant enthusiasm. Naruto let Sakura's arms go, pushing his tongue into her mouth and probing its depths, and quickly felt both limbs encircle his neck as she tunneled her fingers into his hair and pulled him even closer.
Sakura was hot. She was hotter than she' even been in her life and she was acutely aware of the entirety of Naruto's hard body pressed against her own. She could feel Naruto's desire stirring against her lower abdomen; the thought should have terrified her but it only emphasized the fact that her breasts were crushed against Naruto's deliciously toned chest and she was desperate for air, but was beginning to care less and less–
Naruto pulled away, breathing heavy and grinning like an extremely rotund cat laying in the sun. He had thought Sakura looked striking on their date, but Naruto was quickly learning that an attractive outfit had nothing on flushed cheeks, swollen lips, and heavy-lidded eyes that burned with want in their emerald depths.
"You don't bore me," Naruto repeated, placing kisses along Sakura's jaw and neck that made the girl shiver and tug his hair, "And we have fun together. Let's keep having fun and see how we feel after we're Chuunin?"
Sakura laughed. "I'm so glad I don't bore you, Naruto-sama," she drawled, "I'd hate to bore you…"
"And I would hate to bore you," Naruto agreed as he stepped away from Sakura before he started considering the things his body currently wanted– it was hard enough to do on its own, but the Kyuubi's suggestions were not helping Naruto's efforts. "Besides, we're thirteen, just Genin. Don't tell me you're looking to settle down already, 'cause I can put a baby in you if you're looking to ruin your life–"
"Enough, you ass!" Sakura chided, thumping Naruto on the chest with her fist. "I just don't want things to get… weird on the team. And I sure as hell don't want you running around the village telling everyone who'll listen that I let you touch me!"
Naruto chuckled. "My mouth is sealed," he promised, "but if Kaori-san has taught me anything it's that at least two ANBU saw what we just did."
"Fuck." Sakura hadn't thought about that part.
"I would love to," Naruto agreed silkily, "but you have to go see your mom and I have to go… walk off what you did to me."
"You started it," Sakura pointed out with a grin.
"And I'd love to finish it," Naruto answered with a grin of his own and a quick peck to Sakura's lips, "but, as we recently reminded ourselves, this is neither the time or place."
"Then I'll see you later?"
"Yes," Naruto nodded, "later this week. Maybe around when your mom wants the team over?"
"Sounds good!" Sakura chirped with a blush before steeling herself and approaching Naruto. The kunoichi cupped her hand on the length in Naruto's pants, surprising the blonde. "You should take care of that, Naruto-kun," Sakura whispered huskily as she licked the skin at the juncture of Naruto's neck and shoulder before biting down hard enough on the firm muscle to make the blonde groan, "it looks uncomfortable trapped in there," she concluded with a firm rub that made Naruto's knees weak with need.
Naruto gaped like a fish. Who was this woman in front of him?
Sakura giggled, stole one last kiss from her blonde friend, and left the alley with all due haste.
The jinchuuriki let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and leaned back against the wall, doing his best to ignore the erection throbbing painfully in his pants. Something deep inside him—not the Kyuubi—was demanding he track the pink haired girl down and demand she finish what she started with her hands.
Not quite knowing what to do with himself, Naruto quickly made ten clones and sent half of them off to run errands like shopping, depositing his mission check, and restocking supplies. The other half, Naruto sent on pointless distraction runs. They were just gonna pop up around the village and see what they saw.
Anything, really, to take Naruto's mind off the erection in his pants.
"Fuck," Naruto grimaced as he finally started walking out of the alley. Perhaps he'd go grab a bite at Ichiraku's?
It wasn't pussy, but it would do. The hungry couldn't be picky when it came to what they ate, after all.
xxxXXXxxx
Temari was having a pretty good day so far. She and the other Suna shinobi had arrived in Konoha without much fuss and had all been issued their exam visas forthwith. The Suna delegation had been in Konoha for a little over two hours and Gaara hadn't even killed anyone– things really were looking up.
Even the weather was cooperative. Living in a desert made a person adjust to living in sweltering heat, but Konoha, while warm for most, was a paradise to Temari. The breeze was even humid enough to not crack the skin on your lips!
Luxury if Temari ever knew it.
While the Suna kunoichi didn't agree with her father's plan to invade Konoha, Temari wasn't going to let her disagreement prevent her from enjoying the free week she and her brothers had before the exams officially began. She fully intended to sample Konoha's food, bars, and famous onsens.
Hopefully, Gaara would be in a cooperative mood and refrain from murdering anyone outside the scope of the Chuunin Exams.
Hopefully.
Until then, however, Temari was content to take in the sights after she and her team checked into their hotel for the duration of their stay. Tracking down Kankurou was her current priority, though.
Her oldest brother had wandered off and was no doubt up to no good. While Gaara was a mass murderer with a demon inside him, Kankurou was the type of ass that got arrested by shinobi police forces. Temari only prayed that his incessantly running mouth didn't attract the attention of Konoha ANBU.
If they were anything like Suna ANBU, they were quite capable of making noisy, little Genin behave themselves.
So, it was with that thought that the kunoichi found herself wandering away from Konoha's administrative building in search of her ne'er-do-well younger brother. Gods knew the cat suit and face paint should help.
Temari continued on her walk, craning her head back and forth as her eyes sorted through the numerous villagers and shinobi going about their daily routines in her currently failing attempt to find Kankurou.
It was then that the blonde kunoichi came to an abrupt halt and considered whether she actually wanted to find her brother. Kankurou was loud, Temari would almost certainly enjoy herself more on her own… however, the idea of running into Gaara, alone, in their hotel room legitimately frightened her. Temari was always the best at calming the red head, but she still preferred to have backup when speaking with her youngest brother.
"Hmmm…" the girl pondered, tapping her chin as she weighed the pros and cons of abandoning the search for her brothers.
"Excuse me!" A voice suddenly materialized next to Temari. "Are you looking for somewhere in particular, shinobi-san?"
Temari turned to regard the shorter blonde now standing next to her. "I'm not, actually. I'm looking for someone– my teammates."
"Ah, I haven't seen any other Suna headbands walking around recently," the boy offered regretfully.
"They'll turn up," Temari dismissed before introducing herself with a short bow. "I'm Temari, by the way."
The blonde smiled sunnily. "Naruto Uzumaki at your service!" The now named Naruto peered around the kunoichi to examine the large fan at her back. "That is some tessen, Temari-san! I don't suppose you're here for the Chuunin Exams?"
"Right in one," Temari grinned, reevaluating the ninja in front of her, "does that mean you know how to use that sword at your back and I can expect to see you there?"
The smile Temari received was almost blinding in its brilliance. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Temari-san!" Naruto smiled shyly and Temari had to force herself to not laugh when he scuffed the toe of his sandal demurely. "It's my first time."
Temari laughed at that. "Mine, too, Naruto-san. Should be fun, yeah?"
"I sure hope so," Naruto enthused, "ridding myself of D-rank missions is motivation enough, honestly. Though…" the male blonde rubbed his chin, "I have a massive asshole on my team, so it'd be nice to have something to rub in his face!"
"That doesn't sound very nice, Naruto-san."
"He's an acquired taste," Naruto dismissed easily. "I don't suppose you'd like some help tracking down your teammates? No reason we can't all play nice until some Jounin grade us on how well we try to kill each other."
"They'll turn up, they can't have gone far," Temari reiterated, enjoying her conversation with Naruto, "but I wouldn't mind some company while I wait."
"Where are you guys staying? Maybe a stroll to your hotel is in order?" Naruto suggested. "Seems like the best chance of running into them, unless they had plans."
"That sounds good to me," Temari agreed with a smile. The older blonde withdrew a piece of paper from the light purple one-piece she was wearing. "We're staying at the Regal Vista. Do you know where that is?"
"I do," Naruto answered, doing his best not to look at Temari's impressive chest, "it's actually quite close to here." The shorter blonde whistled low, impressed. "That's a swanky hotel that surely can't hold all the visiting participants. How did your team score digs like that, Temari-san?"
"Must be luck of the draw," Temari dismissed, glad she hadn't given Naruto her clan name. "Shall we?"
"We shall!" Naruto agreed with an over the top bow that made Temari chuckle. "Right this way," he pointed, indicating a road South of their current location.
The two shinobi move along at a sedate pace, Temari scanning her head left and right to take in the sights around her.
People in Konoha seemed more at ease than anyone she had ever seen in Suna. The villagers were perfectly content to congregate outside shops and around cafes without any desire to escape their surroundings. Temari attributed this to their climate. No one really wanted to bake under the sun in the middle of a desert for any longer than necessary. Konoha had more trees than it knew what to do with and their weather was mostly cooperative, to Temari it felt like paradise.
"Is everyone in Konoha as friendly as you?" Temari asked curiously when they turned left onto another street.
"No," Naruto laughed, thinking of sealed demons, ANBU in the dark, a monster that desecrates what it means to be 'human', and a genius that obliterated a clan from the annals of history, "I'm afraid not," the younger blonde smiled at his companion, "I just happen to be a people person, Temari-san!"
"So you say, Naruto-san," Temari scoffed with a lazy roll of her eyes, "but come test time? Your silky spiel—that I'm sure drives the local girls wild, Gods above, if only I was a few years younger!—wouldn't be worth listening to if I didn't think you knew how to use that sword on your back. I don't know exactly how they do things out here in the trees, but in Suna they'd never let a Genin run around with a sword like that if they couldn't competently wield it." The girl shrugged, the act doing things to her chest that Naruto did not gawk at. "I can't imagine Konoha is much different."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Naruto drawled. "Temari-san, I can't just give away my abilities to you. Then I won't have anything to surprise you with during the exams!"
Temari halted her gait, frowning. "Surprise me with?"
"'A few years younger?'" Naruto parroted back, waggling his eyebrows and making a show of appreciatively studying Temari's form in a manner that caused the kunoichi to blush prettily. "I'll gladly prove to you that age is just a number, Temari-chan."
The girl stared at her new acquaintance, cheeks reddening further as she examined the strangest boy she'd ever met, before she scoffed and shook her head. "Your confidence is admirable, Naruto-san." Temari smiled, an absolutely gorgeous thing that could have given Ino a run for her money, before her eyes sharpened and her delicious-looking lips slid into a predatory grin. "It'll help you if you run into my team during those exams you're so looking forward to."
Naruto smiled. Apart from almost getting royally fucked by a rogue Jounin, things were starting to kick the young blonde's way. Life was a constantly alternating struggle to maintain some grip of stability and Naruto was able to appreciate 'good fortune' as those cliché fifty-fifty tossups falling in his favor more often than not.
"No," he finally concluded, "we certainly wouldn't want that."
The two shinobi came to a halt at an alley between a bakery and a fenced in lot
Temari pinched Naruto's cheek, causing the younger Genin to pout dejectedly. "You are just too precious."
"You can't resist my charms forever, Temari-san!" Naruto recovered gracefully before pointing at a tall building a hundred or so yards further down the street they currently traveled on. "But that is your hotel over there, so–"
"HELP!" A young boy screamed as he rounded a corner, running as fast as his skinny legs could carry him.
Naruto and Temari both turned to stare at the screaming boy as he shot past the two blondes and disappeared into the alley, his long, blue scarf trailing behind him comically.
"Is that common?" Temari asked curiously.
"Well–" Naruto stopped again, eyeing the familiar head of pink hair storming angrily in his direction.
"Where did he go?" Sakura demanded with murder in her eyes. "I know you saw the little shitstain."
"Sakura, calm down–"
"—don't tell me to calm down! Don't you ever tell me to calm down!—"
"—and take a breather." Naruto turned to Temari. "This is my teammate, Sakura Haruno," he turned back towards the latter, "Sakura, this is Temari…" Naruto paused and turned back to Temari questioningly.
"Temari Yoake," the Suna kunoichi supplied.
The name sounded familiar for some reason, but Naruto couldn't place it. "And I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced to no one in particular. "Now to whom are you referring to, Sakura-chan?"
"That brown haired kid!" Sakura reiterated. "I'm going to break his scrawny legs!"
"What did a kid do to you?" Temari couldn't help but ask.
"He ran into me, almost knocking me down and had the gall to blame me!" Sakura began heatedly. "Then," she snarled, "this little shit and his friends start calling out numbers like they're rating me on some scale. Like a fucking piece of meat," Sakura elaborated, incensed, causing Naruto to take a step back. "I explain to them that rating women like objects is degrading and that they had better knock it the fuck off! Do you know what that scarf-wearing abortion-that-survived said to me, Naruto?" Sakura asked dangerously.
"…no." Naruto answered.
"Well, he's a little demon, and he said that they weren't rating me– just guessing how many dicks I could fit into mouth." Sakura paused, sighing heavily. "And now he has to die."
"Sakura," Naruto began, mastering his desire to laugh loudly and rudely, "you can't murder a child, you know the Hokage would–"
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!?" A furious voice suddenly yelled.
"I asked if you knew who you were running your dick-holster at, cat face!?" A petulant child yelled back.
This time Naruto did guffaw loudly, before schooling his features after glancing at the murderous look on Sakura's face.
The three shinobi rounded the corner to find an older boy, wearing a strange catsuit, dangling the small kid Sakura had been chasing in the air.
"I think you need to be taught a lesson, punk," the unknown shinobi growled as he tightened his grip on the small boy's shirt, "that mouth of yours is writing checks your ass can't cash."
"Kankurou!" Temari interjected sharply. "What the hell are you doing?"
The male Suna-nin turned to the kunoichi. "Just teaching this little shit a lesson," Kankurou answered before shaking said kid, making the boy whimper in pain, "wanna help? He could do with a lesson on respect."
Sakura watched the boy begin to cry as he looked over to her and Naruto for help. The kunoichi cursed her soft heart as she felt her righteous anger dissipate at the sight of a ninja threatening a small child.
The girl sighed. "It's my fault, shinobi-san," Sakura began, "I was… watching him and he got away from me." The kunoichi turned to Naruto briefly and noted the blonde looked supremely disinterested. "We'll take him and have a nice, long chat about treating others with respect."
Kankurou turned back to the boy with a raised brow.
"…y-yes," the boy nodded fervently.
"Mmmm," Kankurou mulled the idea over, "no. I think I'd be a much better teacher."
"Kankurou!" Temari hissed as she made her way to the Suna-nin. "Let him go before you embarrass me."
"My sister's not gonna help ya, pinky," Kankurou taunted, "if you want the brat you're gonna have to take him." The Suna-nin rolled his free shoulder and balled his fist threateningly. "Otherwise, it's lesson time…"
"We could take him from you, ya know."
Kankurou turned to the blonde leaning against the fence and laughed. "That a fact, shot-stop?"
Temari felt uneasy as Naruto pushed off the fence and moved to stand next to Sakura. The two Konoha-nin were suddenly facing her and her brother, both eyeing the small boy trembling fearfully in Kankurou's grasp. The younger blonde had seemed friendly enough but his affable demeanor seemed to have vanished like smoke in the breeze the moment Temari's brother had challenged him.
"It is," Naruto confirmed as a pair of clones dispelled out of sight to update him on the reinforcements currently getting into position, "though I'd hate to spoil my afternoon by curb-stomping a stranger." The younger Genin paused thoughtfully before glancing at Temari with a warm smile. "Temari-chan and I were having such a good time."
Kankurou snarled at the implication, making the small boy whimper as he continued struggling to breathe. "Say my sister's name one-more-fucking time–"
"I'm the Hokage's grandson!" The boy screamed hysterically. "You can't hurt me I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi," he insisted desperately as his stumpy legs kicked at the air, "my family will make you pay!"
Even Temari laughed at that after a short, collective pause.
"Not what this is about, kid," Kankurou resumed after everyone had calmed their titters down to manageable levels. He pointed at Temari, "Temari Yoake," he pointed at himself, "Kankurou Yoake. We're the Kazekage's son and daughter."
"It's cute how the younger ones always think it's all about them," Naruto chimed in as a third clone dispelled and informed him that everything was in place. They'd even fetched Sasuke because they cared.
"Innit?" Kankurou asked with a grin before turning back to Konohamaru. "So, what do ya say, punk? You wanna start the Fourth Shinobi World War? You won't be around to see it, but they'll totally write about it– AUGH!"
Temari sprang into action and hurled a pair of shuriken to pin the foreign one that had just sliced through Kankurou's hand and cut the wire attempting to direct it towards her.
"Naruto talks too much," a newcomer spoke as the small boy scrambled to hide behind Sakura, "because he is in love with the act of hearing himself talk– I lack his patience for toying with bullies."
Kankurou snarled heatedly as Temari unstrapped her tessen and moved closer to her brother.
"I told you he was an asshole," Naruto smiled at Temari as his teammate shunshin'd next to him. "And you might want to think real hard about whatever it is you're doing." He added to Kankurou, who was currently unshouldering the bundle of bandages hanging off his back.
"We don't spill blood on the sand lightly," the older boy growled as he kept the newcomer in his periphery and avoided looking directly at his new opponent's Sharingan. "I'm gonna need my pound of flesh."
"Then I'm you're huckleberry." Naruto answered promptly as he stepped forward and palmed a kunai. "Tell me what part of yourself you'd like to sample and I'll carve it off myself."
"Yeah? You and what army, you little shit?" Kankurou taunted as he moved to unwrap the bandaged object next to him.
"That one." Naruto smirked as he pointed above the Suna-nin.
Kankurou, despite knowing better, shifted his slightly to inspect the roof of the building to his left. What he saw made him frown. About thirty copies of the little, blonde shit were standing upon the roof's terracotta surface, gazing silently at Kankurou and his sister.
Temari prepared to open her tessen and–
"Kankurou."
Naruto raised a brow as the blonde kunoichi froze in place with a look of terror on her exceedingly beautiful face before turning to the newcomer. He wore a black shirt and pants accompanied by a white sash that wrapped around his body. Naruto made note of the leather pouch on his hip and the ridiculous gourd strapped to his back. The blonde jinchuuriki was beginning to wonder if back accessories were a Suna thing.
Considering his conspicuous profile, Naruto was rather impressed the Genin had managed to slip by everyone—clones included—without anyone noticing. Naruto smiled. The Chuunin Exams were going to be fun.
"You're embarrassing our village right now," the red head continued menacingly, causing Kankurou to flinch noticeably, "by causing a scene. Stop," he ordered just before he disappeared into a cloud of sand that drifted down only to reform between what Naruto assumed were his older siblings. "Or I'll devour you where you stand."
That comment got some looks from Team 7.
"Gaara…" Temari began shakily, "Kankurou didn't mean it, he was–"
The youngest Suna-nin turned his head and silenced the blonde with a look that seemed to ask if she really wanted to take Kankurou's place.
"I'd prefer if you didn't hurt Temari-chan," Naruto interrupted, delighting in the purest loathing burning in Kankurou's eyes. He smirked as he realized the older boy wouldn't dare speak up in front of his younger brother. "We're becoming friends, you see, despite Kankurou-san's dreadful manners."
Gaara turned to face the assembled Konoha shinobi and regarded them with supreme unconcern, much more occupied with attempting to mentally placate Mother who was currently howling for her son to consume the three people in front of him. "I am called Sabaku no Gaara. What is your name?"
"Naruto Uzumaki."
"Naruto Uzumaki…" Gaara repeated to himself as his right hand moved to open the pouch at his hip.
The members of Team 7 tensed as shards of glass began nosily trickling out, clattering on the ground and rising like a serpent to begin spinning in front of Gaara.
The Suna Genin, for his part, didn't take his eyes off the blonde in front of him as shards of glass in front of fractured and shot off towards the score of clones watching from the adjacent rooftop. The constructs attempted to dodge but were unprepared for the shards to suddenly fracture once more and accelerate like a cloud of birdshot.
"I will remember that name," Gaara continued as the chakra smoke from the destroyed clones cascaded down from the roof like a milky waterfall, "when I kill and devour everything you know and love in a rolling ocean of blood to feed the starving, divine madness inside of me."
The blonde stared back at the strange shinobi. The destruction of the clones meant nothing in the grand scheme of things—Naruto could make a thousand if he wanted and barely feel the expenditure of chakra—but the blonde was concerned with how Gaara did it.
Naruto could toss shadow clones out like candy because they cost him nothing to produce, couldn't be copied by most shinobi, and literally cost more chakra to create than a good number of shinobi had to spare. Competent ninja didn't just toss techniques out unnecessarily; every surprise was another weapon in their arsenal, after all.
The three Suna-nin in front of Naruto were clearly competent shinobi, he concluded as the glass on the roof began clattering to the ground and making its way back into Gaara's pouch. If the red head could casually fling glass around at will, what else could he do?
"He has one of my lessers sealed into him," The Kyuubi answered. "Shukaku is the embodiment of the desert. His containers are similarly gifted."
"Explains the glass," Naruto acknowledged. "That gourd is probably filled with sand, then…"
"A likely conclusion," the demon fox agreed before grinning to itself. "Would you like to have the last word?"
Naruto grinned as the sand shinobi began turning to leave. "Sure."
"I created a philosophy amongst my siblings…"
"Gaara!" Naruto called, causing the three Sand Genin to pause as the requested one tuned to regard Naruto, his black-ringed eyes narrowing. "The weakest of the nine's screams won't be enough to save you from what's inside of me."
The red headed shinobi grimaced as he closed his eyes, raising a hand to rub at the crimson kanji tattooed on his forehead. Gaara took a deep, shuddering breath before lowering his hands and opening his eyes to reveal a pair of golden, star-shaped irises glowing ominously in ink-black sclera. "You will die screaming," he promised in a grating and flanged voice, "with oMuYr voice as your only lullaby!"
Gaara blinked once, his eyes returning to their original coppery green, before regarding the blonde one last time and resuming his departure.
Team 7 watched their Suna counterparts leave without further incident, the only remaining evidence of their presence the few drops of blood Sasuke had drawn from Kankurou.
Naruto couldn't help but smile at the thought of putting Gaara's words to the test– the blonde had never met another jinchuuriki before and he certainly never expected to meet one his own age. It left him with a question.
"I can't help but wonder what powers you're hiding from me. What are you the embodiment of?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" The Kyuubi asked silkily.
"I'm sorry for what I said to you, kunoichi-san," Konohamaru sniffed wetly, bringing Naruto back to the present. The little boy was clutching Sakura like his lifeline.
"It's okay…" Sakura sighed, patting the boy's head awkwardly before she turned to her two teammates. "So, you guys think all the foreigners are going to be assholes, or just the ones from Suna?"
Sasuke snorted.
A/N: Excuse the delay, but enjoy the long chapter! I decided, after consulting with a friend, that the date would be better served as comedic relief in a conversation between Anko and Sakura in the next chapter. The next installment of our story will cover the last few days before the exams and part of the first portion– possibly all of it. I would love some reviews to let me know what you all thought of this chapter as well as any ideas for things you guys would like to see during the exams. I have a pretty solid outline of how it all will go down, but I am always open to well-reasoned suggestions. See you guys next time.
