Um hiya all well hope you all had a good summer and are readjusting to school (if your still in school) ok. I know..sniff... I want to sleep in more but I'll live... So far homework status has been okish but mainly chaotic... our teachers like to lure us into a false sense of security I tell you, and just when you let your guard down they plow you through with heavy text books!! ok and now that my random ranting is done read on!
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As Team Seven made it to the predescribed training grounds, Naruto stretched. It was a beautiful day. Birds were singing, there were only a few clouds drifting lazily through the sky, a mouse scurried about, and a nearby squirrel chattered happily. Naruto smiled but couldn't put away his gut feeling. It was a nice day... too nice. It was the kind of scene you'd see before something horrible happened. Except minus the cheery music.
He rubbed his stomach idly trying to find the source of his uneasiness. He looked around and focused. Naruto's eyes soon widened at the cause of his unease. His team mates stared at him as he made several faces. "SPANDEX!" Naruto shouted out suddenly. The remaining Team 7 members blinked.
"Uhh, you ok?" Sakura asked watching as Naruto looked around nervously before charging up a tree.
Sasuke shook his head in exasperation. "You still wanna go half on the happy hotel?" He asked with a sigh.
Sakura was about to answer but Haku caught sight of what Naruto had earlier. "GAH!! QUICKLY! HIDE! DIVE! CLIMB!" He screamed out as he too climbed up the tree. Sakura and Sasuke were left standing at the bottom of the tree looking up into its branches trying to locate their insane teammates.
"Get down here!" Sasuke demanded. "Crazy bastards..." He said as an afterthought.
"So I guess now - whooooo!" Sakura started to speak when her breath was punched out of her, making her words come out into a wheezing noise. Sakura suddenly believed that she was the crazy one for not running up the tree when she had the chance.
"SAKURA-CHAN! I THOUGT I SAW YOUR YOUTHFUL SPARK!" Lee shouted as he took Sakura into a death hug from behind. Sakura held out her arms, helplessly flexing her hands as if trying to grab the tree in front of her to whack Lee with it. "AH! AND SASUKE TOO! I HOPE WE WILL BE ABLE TO SPAR!" Lee said, releasing Sakura and giving the nice guy pose to Sasuke, teeth lighting up the forest. Sakura fell to the ground and was left gasping for air. She was planning to escape when Gai-sensei came over and stood behind Sasuke.
In the tree Naruto looked down to the ground with Haku. Naruto shuddered knowing all too well what power that 'attack' held. Naruto had fled up the tree mainly to escape a death hug of his own knowing full well that Lee never forgot what someone did for him... and never let them forget it either. Naruto really didn't want to be made an honorary spandex scout mostly. "Always fear their ocean sunset..." Naruto advised Haku as quietly as he could.
Haku's eyes widened and twitched as well remembering what Naruto had said about the two below him. Lee alone is fine and one could handle his outbursts. Gai alone is a bit scarier, but otherwise mostly ok unless paired with Kakashi. Gai and Lee together though, was something to be feared... something that no Ninja would want to be near unless they had no other choice. But most importantly, stay the hell away from the hugs... and when they start shouting each other's names back and forth, make sure for the love of air, (or if you just plain like functioning lungs and breathing) you're not caught in between them. Haku now understood what Naruto meant as he watched a gasping Sakura below him.
"SAKURA-CHAN PLEASE, GO ON A DATE WITH ME!" Lee shouted as his teeth pinged.
"First you...gasp... try to kill me...wheeze... then you ask me to date you?" Sakura got up and began winding up a punch. "Not on your life!" She went to punch, but Lee bent down on his knee and grasped Sakura's hand.
"DO NOT WORRY LEE! YOUR FLAME OF YOUTH IS STRONG ENOUGH TO CHARM ANY LADY!" Gai pinged.
"Please?!" Lee tried again. A little less shout and a little more pout was put to play.
"NO!" Sakura shouted as she moved to hide behind Sasuke. Sasuke twitched but didn't move focusing all his attention on the two green beasts.
"What are you doing out here anyway? I thought you were ordered to take it easy." Sasuke said noticing all eyes moved to him.
"I WAS TRAINING! I COULDN'T WIN MY MATCH SO I MUST TRAIN TWICE AS HARD AS BEFORE!" Lee shouted happily.
"AND LEE, MY ADORABLE YOUTHFUL STUDENT, YOU WILL BE STONGER THEN EVER BEFORE!" Gai said, pumping his fist for emphasis
"GAI-SENSEI! IF I DO NOT WIN SAKURA'S HEART, I WILL RUN 100 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE!" Lee yelled to his sensei
"AND IF YOU DO NOT RUN 100 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE, I WILL DO 500 PUSH-UPS!" Gai boasted.
"AND IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO DO 500 PUSH-UPS, THEN I WILL DO 1000 JUMP ROPES!" Lee wailed, tears starting to form.
"Now watch Sasuke closely, Haku. This is what not to do when caught in between a Gai and Lee hug..." Naruto said up in the tree pointing to the spectacle below them. Haku nodded fighting the smile as Naruto sounded like an old instructional video. "Observe Sakura. She'll demonstrate what your supposed to do when this occurs...hopefully." Naruto continued.
"This will hopefully demonstrate the do's and don'ts of dealing with Gai and Lee." Haku swallowed a laugh.
"LEE!" Gai cried
"GAI-SENSEI!" Tears flowed forth
"LEE!" Gia started to move forward
"GAI-SENSEI!!" Lee ran to his teacher, arms stretched out.
"LEE!" Gai got down on one knee, tears flowing like waterfalls.
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee stopped a few feet away leaving just enough room for Sasuke and Sakura who were cowering in between the two.
"LEE!" Sakura bolted away as Gai leapt forward
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee jumped to his sensei while Sasuke whipped his head back and forth as the 'hug of death' crashed towards him. An ocean sunset seemed to appear in the background. Sasuke tried to scream only to find his lungs were failing him. Sasuke was stuck as the two spandex wearing ninja cried on either side of him, slowly soaking his shirt.
When Gai and Lee broke apart they instantly ran off as fast as they could, screaming about what they would do if the other failed to do something else. Sasuke stood there for a few seconds on unsteady legs before he finally collapsed to his side twitching slightly. Sakura looked to the tree, fire flaring in her eyes as she hit it as hard as she could. Haku and Naruto were knocked out of it.
"And that concludes the do's and don'ts pertaining to Gai and Lee!" Naruto said quickly as Sakura aimed a punch to his head. "Hey! What was that for?" Naruto asked as he dodged another blow.
"WARN US ALL NEXT TIME, IDIOT!" Sakura growled as Naruto jumped and stuck to the side of a tree. Naruto just shrugged. "JUST LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO SASUKE!" She screamed, noticing Sasuke was still on the ground and seemingly knocked out. She threw another punch just as a poof was heard.
Kakashi blocked the punch that sailed towards him and looked cautiously around the clearing. "I said practice attacking, not try to kill each other..." Kakashi sighed as he looked to Sasuke. "Anyway, your teamwork and trust assignment is pretty simple in design, but will take a lot of work to be able to get it right." Kakashi said eyeing all the Genin in front of him. "It will also be for my entertainment." Kakashi said with an eye smile causing the conscious Genin to face vault.
"Do we even want to know what you're planning..." Naruto asked in monotone.
"Probably not... But regardless, you'll be doing it." Kakashi said evilly
Sasuke sat up and wheezed, eye twitching slightly as Kakashi began to explain the team's exercise.
--
"You know, by the look on Kakashi's face while he was explaining the assignment, I thought it would be a lot harder than this..." Sakura said.
"Speak for yourself!" Naruto half yelled.
"What's the matter dobe, don't you trust me?" Sasuke asked sarcastically as he punched Naruto a bit, trying to make him move.
"Oh of course I trust you... I trust you'll run me into a tree or off a cliff!" Naruto said still not budging.
"I'm not having any problems." Haku said.
"Meh, Naruto." Kakashi said coming over to the stubborn blonde. "It's the rules. You have to let Sasuke lead you around for all of today and keep the blindfold on! You have to trust him to not run you off a cliff, and Sasuke will have to trust you not to exact revenge if he does..." Kakashi eye smiled to his team. "Remember to lead your partner where ever they want to go and the only time you can take the blindfold off is when your inside a bathroom. We'll switch it up until everyone has had a turn with everyone else... Have fun now! I'll be watching!" And with that, Kakashi poofed away.
"And I was hoping to hold Iruka to his ramen promise too..." Naruto mumbled.
"Umm, Sakura, could you bring me to a pet food place." Haku asked Sakura nodded and soon the pair disappeared.
"Ramen?" Sasuke asked getting an evil gleam in his eye.
Naruto sighed. "Fine then, let's go..." Naruto said reluctantly. Sasuke gave Naruto a push towards the main shopping district and Naruto took a tentative step forward. "Oh, ha ha, very funny..." Naruto said as he walked right into a tree.
"I'm hating this just as much as you are, you know." Sasuke said angrily, though he was smirking.
"Uh-huh, and I have three heads..." Naruto mumbled, sticking his hands out in front of him. 'Stupid trees and their almost invisible chakra signature!'
Despite Naruto's doubts, Sasuke had gotten him to where he needed to be. Iruka was at the academy and was just finishing up his morning class when Naruto and Sasuke came up to him. Iruka looked to the pair confused. "Um, hi Naruto... Sasuke... Whats with the blindfold?" He asked somewhat concerned.
"Its Kakashi's stupid training exercise." Naruto said with a sigh. "So far all I've learned is that Sasuke likes to steer me into trees poles and fences..."
"And though amusing, this 'training' is pointless. I should be training for the Chuunin exams!" Sasuke said angrily.
"Well in a way this is kinda good training. We're honing our other senses when were the one blindfolded. Like I can hear your angry breaths and sense your chakra levels rising." Naruto stated causing Sasuke to blink
"I see..." Iruka said with a smile "He's trying to get you to trust each other and to help you hone your senses to be able to predict your opponents moves with more than your eyes."
'I don't really blame him for doing this trust thing... it must have hit him pretty hard when he found out what Sasuke was eventually going to do. Still, this is not going to prevent much.' Naruto thought. "So, you promised to take me out for ramen!" Naruto said pointing towards Iruka.
"That I did... I was just hoping to get my pay check in before you asked me..." Iruka said as he took out his wallet and began counting his money. Naruto laughed as they began to head towards the ramen stand.
About a half hour later, and a much much thinner wallet on Iruka's part, Naruto spoke after downing the last of his broth "Ok, so um, lets go to training ground three and have a spar, hm?" Naruto said sitting his bowl down. He had a few noodles on his shirt from his failed attempts to get his chopsticks into his mouth. Iruka sighed slightly pouting over his wallet, but he was still happy Naruto had made it to the finals.
Sasuke grunted giving the 'let's go' as he pushed the blonde up. "I'll see you again Naruto and I'll treat you again after the Chuunin exams are over, alright?" Iruka called as Sasuke yet again steered Naruto into a garbage bin.
"I hope you're enjoying yourself..." Naruto mumbled as he finished rubbing his knee.
"More than you can imagine." Sasuke smirked. Naruto let out a sarcastic laugh as they continued on to they're destination.
--
Naruto stood in the attacking position about five feet away from Sasuke. Sasuke lunged and Naruto ducked under a punch. Sasuke stared at the blonde 'Maybe there's something to this.' Sasuke thought as he dropped to kick Naruto's legs out. Naruto back flipped away but hit his head on a log. Sasuke tried to drop kick Naruto but the blonde nin rolled out of the way. Sasuke then threw a Kunai, pinning Naruto to the tree he rolled into. He quickly leaped using his arm to put pressure on the blonde's neck. "One for me." Sasuke said as he unpinned Naruto. The two ended up sparing until sundown, Naruto slowly made it harder on Sasuke, easily predicting his movements making the black haired nin work harder to hide his chakra and be quiet.
"Too loud! I could hear you a mile away!" Naruto laughed as he jumped out of the way of a punch. "I can feel your chakra rising!" As Sasuke got better at hiding his signs of attack, Naruto moved faster making himself harder to hit which in turn made Sasuke have to hide his signals faster. When Sasuke finally became too tired to train anymore he and Naruto fell backwards, Naruto lifting the blindfold off. Naruto blinked a few times allowing his eyes to adjust to the bright light of the moon.
"26 to 25. I win." Sasuke panted out.
"Yeah and you improved quite a bit. Gaara won't stand a chance!" Naruto said. 'Few more days and I should be able to find Jiraiya'
"I'm still better then you" Sasuke said. 'Never mind that sand jerk. Itachi, I will kill you.' The two fell asleep there in the training field within a few minutes of laying down. When they woke up the next morning Sasuke was the one who dawned the blindfold as the training continued.
Naruto gave a punch to Sasuke's head, letting his chakra out enough so the black haired nin could pick it up. Unfortunately, no matter how much he leaked out Sasuke seemed as lost as ever. Naruto sighed, knowing he was making enough noise too. Sasuke stood up waiting for the next move. Naruto kicked at Sasuke's legs causing the Uchiha to fall back and be pinned by Naruto.
"Wow, you're really bad at this!" Naruto laughed as he helped Sasuke up. "What is it now? 10 to 0 I believe." Naruto smirked.
"This is pointless!" Sasuke half yelled in frustration.
"Just gotta concentrate. I mean, if I can do it surely the great Uchiha Sasuke should be able to do it with ease!" Naruto smirked, knowing full well how to motivate his dark haired friend. "If I was to go any easier on you, I would be standing still!"
That did it. Sasuke's anger rose as he attacked Naruto. Naruto dodged out of the way as Sasuke ran into a rock. Naruto kept his movements silent as Sasuke charged at Naruto from spot to spot until Sasuke caught him. "One for me." He snapped as Naruto smirked.
As the day went on Sasuke was slowly getting better at sensing Naruto, who was suppressing his chakra more and more. Soon Naruto was getting a bit tired from the constant movement, as was Sasuke. Suddenly a wisp of smoke appeared next to Naruto. Sasuke attacked the chakra spike just as Kakashi appeared. Kakashi was greeted with a punch to the head just as the word "yo" left his concealed lips.
Kakashi was bowled over by Sasuke who soon realized the person he was sitting on was too big to be Naruto. As Sasuke felt slightly embarrassed, Kakashi sighed. "I really have to stop popping in to be attacked by my students...oh and Sasuke, get your finger out of my eye. I only have one I can use on a day to day basis you know..." Kakashi shoved his student to the side as he got up.
Kakashi faced Naruto and eye smiled, making Naruto fidget. "What?" Naruto asked, finally giving up on waiting.
"Well you're the only one here who can see me smiling." Kakashi said in an overly pleasant way.
"Great... so what's the matter Kakashi?" Naruto asked as Sasuke tried to join the two only to stumbled over a rock.
Kakashi eye smiled. "Well I just wanted to see how you were coming along..." Naruto smirked as Sasuke fell. "And I was talking with Tsunade..." Kakashi's smile never wavered.
"And?" Naruto asked tapping his foot.
"She wants to talk to you, so in the mean time I'll keep watch of Sasuke and direct him around..." Kakashi watched as Sasuke ran himself into a tree trying to get back over to Kakashi and Naruto before falling down a small hill. "And make sure he doesn't run off that cliff..."
Naruto nodded. "Where is she?"
"If I recall, she said she was by the hot springs..." Kakashi's eye smile seemed more than just amused at Naruto's reaction.
"Great sounds like she caught Ero-Sannin..." Naruto said before turning to leave. He waved to Kakashi, who giggled a bit as he watched Sasuke walk into yet another tree.
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Le sigh and there we have chapter 23! I think that one was pretty long. Hehe the blindfolded thing was a fun game to play in drama... Well as long as we weren't on the stage when we were playing it... Oh the bruises... I know this kinda felt like a filler chapter but I wanted to find something to put in there to show how Kakashi was training all his students. (see! method to my madness!) oh well anyway see ya round! Hopefully... and now for the exit I like to call... SWAN DIVE OFF THE STAGE! Kimcat out! (puts hole in floor)
THANKS HELKAT FOR BETAING