Chapter 16 Being a baka is contagious
The field looked very different in the late afternoon. With the sun beginning to set, drawing an orange hue in the sky, it made the chaos caused from earlier seem more like some sort of memorial to some ancient shinobi battle that occurred a long time ago.
Sakura and Naruto were standing in an area of the field that wasn't completely destroyed in Sakura's…demonstration.
"Are you really sure it's alright Sakura-chan?"
"Naruto, for the fifth time, yes its fine." Sakura then thought of something, as she just realized how much pressure she was putting on her friend.
"…Is it ok with you Naruto?"
The question caught the blond off guard, and he dropped his gaze to the ground, looking deep in thought. 'Naruto, you should trust them, you may be in for a very pleasant surprise if you do and let them in about the Kyuubi.' The memory of Jiraiya echoed in his mind.
"Naruto…I'm sorry for being so pushy. You can refu-"
"Its fine."
Sakura's eyes widened as she met Naruto's soft smile. She chose not to say anything, and Naruto closed his eyes in concentration. That's when she felt the raging chakra building up from Naruto. While it wasn't overwhelming, she could feel the demonic presence radiating from her friend, it was enough to send a small shiver down her spine.
She noticed Naruto's hair seemed wilder than normal, and his whiskers indeed were more defined. She also noticed that Naruto seemed to have grown fangs that were slightly showing through his top lip. Her gaze fell to his hand and saw that his nails had grown at least an inch longer, and by the looks of it were razor sharp. Naruto still hadn't opened his eyes though, Sakura could see the hesitation clear across his features.
Finally he opened them and blood red met emerald. His eyes no longer contained its soft oceanic blue hue, instead they were replaced with almost a glowing crimson red, with slits running down the middle. Despite his slightly demonic appearance, Sakura could still clearly see that Naruto indeed was full of worry and she could tell his red eyes that there were traces of fear there as well.
"Well what now?" She asked softly, giving him a grin which caught him off guard yet again. He finally recovered from the slight shock with a soft grin of his own, a little bit toothy though because of the fangs.
Naruto shrugged, "Just sit back and watch the show Sakura-chan!" he beamed. Sakura took note that his voice seemed slightly deeper, and almost as if there was another presence mixed in with his own. Sakura nodded, and then took several steps back. Naruto formed his favourite seal and closed his eyes again in concentration.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He announced after several moments of silence. And a single clone 'poofed' into existence, also with the same new features as the original. Both of the Naruto's dropped into their stances.
Sakura noticed that Naruto's stance was very different than what it was earlier, it was lower to the ground, and Naruto's claws were raised to his sides. It definitely was something she had never seen before. When the Naruto's begun their charge was when Sakura really noticed what he meant earlier about altering the Inuzuka clans fighting style. Having seen Kiba fight in her chuunin exam, she recognised the movements straight away, both on the offense and defence side to the style.
Naruto's attacks were wilder and unpredictable, occasionally using his claws to swipe at the other. The receiving Naruto was just as wild and hard to follow. He blocked and avoided the incoming attacks almost like an animal. She also noticed that when either of them dashed side ways, it was more like a lunge a dog would do to the sides than a swift side step. Her eyes could barely keep up with his foot work, since it almost appeared he was gliding in sudden bursts of fast motion.
It was very different to the way Tsunade taught her how to evade attacks, where Tsunade demonstrated it was more like a strange dance, it depending on the speed of your attacker, the rhythm would change. Trying that against Naruto's fighting style would not work at all, since there was almost no rhythm to how he fought.
One of the Naruto's nails began to glow a reddish hue, as he prepared his hand for another swipe, 'What is that?' Her shock returned when upon the next strike, his inch long nails produced a whiplash like effect with glowing red chakra that extended by a foot. It almost looked like his claws had grew for an instant in the swipe, but with solid chakra. Although the other Naruto had avoided the attack, Sakura had strong reason to believe that that attack would have cut clean through him if he hadn't.
The fight still continued, and Sakura continued noting more observations after the other. One big factor was just how much more agile, and stronger both Naruto and the lone clone were. She winced at the sight of one of the blondes receiving a solid fist in the face, but again was in awe when the receiver shrugged it off as if it was nothing.
"Amazing." She mouthed out, as the pair still continued their brawl.
She already had questions brewing, ones she felt was right to find out from Naruto instead of through Jiraiya, "You can use that power at the drop of a hat?"
Her question made both fighters stop, and the real Naruto turned to her, "Kind of, it's hard to explain."
"Are there any side affects to using the Kyuubi's chakra?"
"Not really at this amount, although Ero-sennin said I apparently lose my temper more."
Nodding her head, she then remembered what Jiraiya told her, "What about when you use more of the Kyuubi's chakra? Jiraiya-sama said something about chakra tails."
That question made Naruto hold mid word for a moment, before looking elsewhere, "I don't exactly know what I feel when I start to go that far, it's just very...I don't know. Usually I feel a bit of a sting all over when using it, Ero-sennin said it was because my body can't normally handle so much chakra. When it's over, I get a little tired afterwards from the rush of chakra suddenly just vanishing."
His vague answer left one more question she was hesitant on asking, "Will you show me?"
Her question was left without an answer for a good tense minute, until the blond fidgeted, "I'd like it if I didn't have to." She nodded in acceptance to his answer. Naruto was after all being put on the spot on a topic he was wishing to otherwise keep to only himself.
"That's ok. Please continue then Naruto."
Growing a grin of appreciation, he turned to glare at the clone, "Ready teme?"
'He has shown me more than enough anyway. I am sure if worse comes to worse, I will be able to help him out now.' She mused, focussing back on the fight.
Her eyes narrowed in interest when one of the Naruto's who she assumed was the real one leapt back and shouted 'kage bunshin no jutsu!' and another single clone appeared. Sakura's eyes began to widen in question as both the Naruto's stood next to each other, with one of their hands lifted up in front, just touching the other hand from the side. They widened even more but in shock when she saw the familiar sphere of a Rasengan forming in the middle of the palms.
Only the Rasengan was growing...and growing fast. Within seconds it already was double the size of an ordinary Rasengan, but it still kept growing. It stopped at a roughly three times the size of an ordinary Rasengan. Sakura could tell by the chakra flying loose from the sphere as it span rapidly that it indeed was highly unstable. Sakura was too much in shock and surprise to react to the original clone's curse of "NO FAIR!!" Before the pair of Naruto's wielding the giant Rasengan charged straight towards the shouting clone. She heard Naruto roar out "Oodama Rasengan!" as the gigantic ball made contact.
The explosion was massive, covering roughly 10 feet in diameter in a blinding bright light. 'poof' As the smoke cleared Sakura caught eye of Naruto walking through the rubble rubbing the back of his head with his palm (as scratching at the moment would result in a pathetic self inflicted injury) with that ever so familiar wide fox like grin.
"So Sakura-chan what did you thi-" He stumbled, and Sakura was in front of him before he knew it.
"Are you alright?" She voiced full of concern, only when she was this close did she notice he was sweating and breathing slightly heavily. Her worry was slightly relieved when he nodded and gave his usual chuckle.
"That jutsu is still a bit of a work in progress. As you can see it is very unstable and has a little...bit of backfire."
Sakura's eyes widened ."You call THAT-" she shouted sarcastically pointing at the large crater "-a little bit of backfire?! Baka! Are you hurt?"
"Hehehe, no I'm fine Sakura-chan, just a bit winded." Sakura released a sigh of relief.
"Well...I can see where all your training has been focusing on instead." Sakura said. Naruto once again chuckled, as Sakura noticed he had changed back to his normal blue eyed and clawless self.
"Ero-sennin has been pretty persistent on training how to handle the fox-teme. While I don't exactly enjoy using its chakra, it is relieving to know I'm in control. It was very glad to know I wasn't a loose cannon like what happened with Gaara originally." Naruto said, his tone shifting to more serious towards his Gaara comment.
Sakura nodded in agreement until chuckling "You're still a loose cannon baka!"
Naruto put on a fake pout "Sakura-chan!" he whined, causing her to break into a fit of laughter. Sakura eventually calmed down and nodded, "Hai, I understand what you mean."
Sakura looked up at the sun to confirm the time. "We will need to head back soon, or the others are going to wonder where we got to." Naruto nodded until a realization hit him.
'The others....'
"Tell them when you're ready." Sakura instructed firmly while still showing her concern. Naruto slowly nodded, which caused Sakura to raise an eyebrow.
"Do you want me to start accusing you of being a genjutsu again?"
Naruto laughed, "Alright alright!... I'll tell them if I need to." Sakura nodded in acceptance, from what Jiraiya implied, he wouldn't even consider telling anybody, so at least it was a work in progress, and it was only the first day.
"But umm-" Sakura's ears perked at his hesitation, as the blond ran a hand through his hair.
"...W-What if they...hate me?"
Sakura went agape at how much fear was woven into his question, but smiled. "They won't Naruto, at least if they truly are worth calling a friend they won't. If...If somebody doesn't understand the truth, then that is something you are going to have to accept."
Naruto nodded, dreading the idea of losing one of his friends, but deep down, he agreed it was something he would have to accept.
"Ah, I get it."
Sakura grinned at her teammate, and decided to brighten the mood, "If somebody hurts you though, they will have to answer to me."
Something about her waving fist made the blond chuckle nervously, "Hehe, I guess I have nothing to worry about then."
"So, now what? We head on back?" Sakura asked, until she noticed her friend had 'that' look on his face. It was a look she came to know well in the blond.
His look that reeked of mischief.
He then summoned a single kage bunshin and Sakura's eyes narrowed, although she did look amused. 'Ok...what are you up to now?'
Naruto then spoke through his toothy grin, "If you do not mind Sakura-chan...I was wondering if you would be up for trying that trick again."
Sakura's eyes then narrowed more, 'Trick?? What tri-....oh.'
Sakura feigned seriousness with a scowl. "Naruto! That 'trick' would have costed me my leg if I was off by even a fraction of a second baka! It would be very stupid for me to do that again!" Naruto suddenly went wide eyed, but before he could apologize, Sakura talked over the top of his mumbles.
"Why not?" Her cheerful response made the blond return to that mischievous grin.
Once the clone made the Rasengan, the clone 'poofed' and Naruto held the Rasengan out to his side. Sakura sighed, as she reached for her gloves 'Ok...I admit that it was somewhat cool knocking it right out of his hands in the fight...and his expression was priceless. But why in god's name am I agreeing to do this? Lee-san pretty much highlighted how dangerous this was if I'm off.'
She then looked at her friend and inwardly chuckled, '...I guess being a baka is contagious.'
Shikamaru sighed as he rested his head over his arms crossed over on the dining lounge table. It was roughly ten minutes before their planned team meeting would start...and he was still missing half of his team.
He inwardly winced at the memory of his other team member and what he...attempted to do. Fortunately for Shikamaru, Lee somehow mistook the fridge in the kitchen as his...exterior region. That is not the say the fridge was grateful, since it probably would never be operational ever again.
'How in god's name did his fingers not break from that speed of that collision....if that had hit me-' He killed his thoughts as just even imagining the damage done to himself would have been considered S class jutsu scale...and probably would have put him in a wheel chair for the rest of his life.
Speaking of said team mate, Shikamaru turned to find him still 'sleeping' in the kitchen. For the first time that early evening Shikamaru smirked with an evil scheme. 'Naruto, you will pay for using that jutsu...I might just ask you to 'wake' him up and sit back and enjoy the chaos. And if Sakura tells me to do something I will just shrug and say 'too troublesome'...Perfect...' The shadow user inwardly nodded to his plan, this was one prank that would never be too troublesome to ensure success.
Shikamaru heard the bells ring of the front door being opened, since they were the only people with the key to the door, he knew it was his other two team mates. Within a minute he caught glimpse of them entering the lounge, they both were talking about something, and judging by the looks on their faces, it was about something highly amusing.
"Do I even want to know what you both are talking about?" Shikamaru huffed, secretly scheming when it would be the perfect time to spring his 'youthful' trap on the knucklehead. Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and burst into laughter. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at their very confusing antics. Naruto calmed down first and said over Sakura's chuckles.
"We just wanted to try out the flying Rasengan trick again!" Shikamaru looked dumbfounded at the so called name, but even if he had an IQ above two hundred, his mind did not want to believe what he just heard.
"...Flying...Rasengan?...oh god don't tell me."
"Yosha! Sakura-chan can hit the Rasengan at least twenty to thirty meters with her fist before it dissipates."
"I suppose you two never played the game called catch? You know, the game where you throw a rubber ball to one another. It's much safer and less hazardous to your health than launching a swirling sphere of chakra that could possibly kill someone on collision." Shikamaru decided to continue his scolding, since he really was under the impression that his team not only had one child amongst them, but two now.
"I thought I was leading a bunch of reliable and mature shinobi to protect a town from an evil organisation, not lead a bunch of kids that are playing games with...life threatening fire crackers in their spare time."
Naruto wasn't done with yet though. "But Shikamaru, it is a super awesome combo jutsu! What if we need to siege the enemy?!"
Shikamaru's eye twitched at the ridiculous claim, "Siege...the enemy??...Naruto, do I have to explain to you the difference between being discrete...like what shinobi are MEANT to be, and then just being plain stupid? Like what both of you are doing."
Then Shikamaru turned his gaze to Sakura, "You of all people should know better. Weren't you told just how lethal a mistake would be if you stuck your fist or foot into a jutsu that is meant for KILLING people?"
Sakura shrugged, not caring just how stupid her actions were, "We are shinobi that risk our lives everyday...to me, putting my well being on the line for a potentially lethal jutsu just comes with the job." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, usually he would have stopped arguing the moment they mentioned 'the flying Rasengan' but when your sensitive region is targeted twice in one day, all things just seem less... troublesome.
"How many times did you perform this 'flying Rasengan'?" Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes at the dubbed jutsu. Sakura went wide eyed and flushed slightly, she tried to give Naruto the signal to not tell him but it was too late.
"We launched over fifty rasengan's! After the third shot I used some kage bunshin's to run around and try and dodge the Rasengan. But Sakura-chan has pretty damn good aim!"
Shikamaru just stared blankly at both of them, causing Sakura's flushed features to intensify from her embarrassment, "...You know, at first I classified you separately from the others Sakura, but you just got promoted from a violent troublesome woman, to the second complete idiot of the team." Sakura seemed to have just completely zoned out as those words replayed in her mind.
'Violent woman....complete idiot.....'
Naruto barely held Sakura back in time, as she tried desperately to introduce Shikamaru to the wrath of her fist.
"SHANNARO!! I WIL KILL YOU, LET ME GO NARUTO!" Naruto looked at Shikamaru with a glare.
"That was low Shikamaru....hey which one of us is the first complete idiot on the team?" Shikamaru didn't say anything but look at the blond blankly...and that was all the answer Naruto needed. Somehow Naruto and Sakura had swapped places, with Naruto desperately trying to get at Shikamaru, and Sakura holding back Naruto.
"I'LL GIVE YOU A REASON TO SAY IM TROUBLESOME!!! SAKURA-CHAN, LET ME GO!"
Sakura on cue, gave the glare similar to what Naruto had done, "What is your problem Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru's eye twitched, "Nothing, it's starting to grow on me this attack from my behind thing, and it's only been the first day too."
Both Naruto and Sakura looked at him dumb founded but suddenly Sakura started laughing, and Naruto looked at her puzzled. "He-He mea-ans that L-Lee-" Sakura could hardly finish her sentence from her laughter.
"Lee-san did 'that' jutsu on Shikamaru!" Sakura cried out over her laughter, which was soon joined by Naruto. The shadow user internally snickered, while he threw a faux frown.
'Now that I got them where I want them, they will do what I ask next out of sympathy...revenge is sweet.'
Shikamaru waved his hand, putting on his best face to try and show he didn't care. "Just go wake up Lee, he is in the kitchen."
Naruto nodded still chuckling, "I'll get him Sakura-chan."
'They didn't even question what he was doing 'sleeping' in the kitchen? Oh this couldn't get any better.'
"Oh, Naruto-kun. How was your dinner?"
Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise to Lee's perfectly awake, and sober voice. 'What?! He actually was asleep that time? Forget that, he was no longer drunk?!...revenge is so troublesome.'
"Whoa! Who took a can opener to the fridge dattebayo?!" Came Naruto's voice from the kitchen. Moments later both Naruto and the surprisingly sober Lee, came out of the kitchen, both sharing the same baffled expression on their faces.
"Hoi Shikamaru, what happened to the fridge?" Shikamaru feigned innocence and shrugged.
Once everyone was settled, they all gathered around the table, where Shikamaru has rolled out an enlarged map of wave. After a few moments of thought Shikamaru cleared his throat and began "So far on the first day there haven't been any problems involving this osore oni or the organisation. This is the first day of three for their proposed threat of destroying the town. While I'm still sceptical how they are going to achieve this, we may have another issue to look out for in the next two odd days."
Shikamaru briefly paused, "Since Jiraiya-sama eliminated their spy before word got out about Wave asking for our help, we may have the element of surprise at hand. However there is also the issue that the organisation will wonder why they haven't received a report from their spy in a while. In saying this we may have to assume they already are suspicious on a shinobi presence here and may attack earlier than they planned." The group nodded in understanding to Shikamaru's logic, as he continued.
"So in saying this, starting tomorrow we are going to prepare numerous traps around the forest borders of Wave. Naruto, you will need to notify Tazuna-san to alert the current people of Wave not to linger from the main paths." Naruto nodded to his given orders .
Sakura asked, "So we are going with the assumption that we may be up against enemy ninja?"
Shikamaru nodded, "Might as well prepare for the worst case scenario. While the main entrance to Wave from land is via the bridge, we are completely surrounded by water. While this would be extra troublesome for bandits it wouldn't take much effort for a skilled shinobi to cross the ocean on foot once they reach a certain distance from the shore."
Shikamaru briefly paused for any questions, and then continued, "I am going to go out on a wing here and assume their threat to destroy all of wave is a bluff, they are still going to either target the bridge itself, or Tazuna-san's family. Judging by the report Konoha had on Gato, he was very stingy and tight with his money, and he would have to recruit an army to pull that kind of threat off. While the option is not ruled out, it is put on my list on very unlikely circumstances."
"So at least one of us will be watching over Tazuna-jiji at all times then?" Naruto asked, which the Nara complied with a nod.
"We will have Tazuna-san's family move into the hotel with us, the ones who are not on duty will watch them. You however are being assigned a special mission." Shikamaru grinned, knowing that the words 'special' and 'mission' were enough to make the blond go enthusiastic. The shadow user could not be more right in his prediction.
'Special mission?! YOSHA!'
"You get to play coast guard, and using your kage bunshin, will watch over the borders of Wave."
'...WHAT THE HELL?! HOW IS THAT SPECIAL!?'
" Yosha...I will give it all I got Shikamaru." Said Naruto, sounding a little deflated but more or less was willing to accept his ignored it and addressed the other two members.
"Between the three of us we will take it in rotations watching the bridge. We will watch it in pairs, with the captain of the coast guard paring up with one shift, and the other two in the night. I assume Naruto your Kage bunshin cannot continue working if you sleep?"
Naruto nodded, "If I lose consciousness they automatically dispel." Shikamaru grunted, knowing that was the case.
"So it looks like you will be watching in the night then, the citizens of the town can be our eyes of the coasts during the day." Naruto nodded in agreement.
Lee considered a possibility and voiced it to their team leader. "What is the plan if they do not respond with an attack Shikamaru-kun?"
Shikamaru shrugged, "Even though I have taken the option into account, there really is not much we can do. Our responsibility for the mission was strictly to protect. Since we have no actual information on the where about of this organisation, we cannot attempt to put this new leader out of business."
Shikamaru then looked at Naruto. "If all else fails, we can ask Jiraiya-sama for some information from the spy network to track their location down. We will take what we get from there."
Shikamaru then shared a glance with each member of his temporary team, before folding up the map and concluding the meeting.
"We will start the rotations starting tonight, Naruto and myself are on patrol. Sakura, Tazuna-san knows you from your first mission here, so go and inform his family on what is happening, and escort them here."
"Hai!"
"Any more questions?" Shikamaru took the silence as a 'no' and stood up. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he initially thought after all.