Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Author's Notes
Regarding Naruto's strength and future enemies; at first, he is probably going to come across as overly strong. I want to state that he is meant to be incredibly powerful, but a more experienced and powerful shinobi (A and S-rank) can still give him a decent challenge one-on-one for the moment if he doesn't catch them off-guard with his abilities.His enemies won't receive a power boost per say, but due to his eventual notoriety, the Akatsuki and others will take him as a far more serious threat and try to handle him as such.
Please don't hesitate to ask any more questions or express concerns in a review or PM. I'll answer any that I feel I can without spoiling too much of what I have planned.
It's worth noting now that there will be one re-occurring cross-over character from League of Legends that's introduced within this chapter. If you don't play the game, don't worry, as you will still be able to follow along without any knowledge about it.
Sarutobi Naruto: The All Seeing Monkey
Chapter 2: You Pass
(Anko's Apartment, Evening)
"…Are you sure you still want to come?" Naruto asked with a bit of mirth obvious in his voice as he looked at the slightly swaying form of Mitarashi Anko in front of him.
"Of course I do," said woman answered with a slur that would let nearly anyone know that she was rather intoxicated at that moment despite her shinobi training and high tolerance. "Beats being here alone," the violet-haired woman continued as she stumbled a bit towards the blond.
"Then you might want to change first," he recommended as he gestured at her casual outfit that she hadn't changed out of since he first arrived. "It's probably going to get a bit chilly later on."
"Naaaaaaah," she drawled out and caused the blond to forcibly stop himself from recoiling a bit due to the pungent scent of alcohol that drifted towards him. Moving over to where Naruto stood with only one small stumble, she leaned heavily against his side as they stood in the center of her small multi-purpose room. "Too comfy like this."
"Alright," the newly-promoted Genin said with a smile gracing his lips on his still-exposed face. "Grab on and I'll Shunshin us to the Hokage Tower."
"Noooo," Anko drawled out somewhat childishly with a pout on her face, causing the blond to have to suppress the urge to laugh at her. A moment later, despite her drunken state, he felt a pair of lithe arms slither quickly around his neck. Not even half of a second later, he also felt a matching pair of legs lock themselves around his waist.
"Carry me," she stated in a childish tone that could be confused for either a request or a command as she placed her chin on his right shoulder.
"…Carry you?" Naruto repeated as he turned his head to where her own was resting and quirked an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
The drunk woman merely nodded lazily on his shoulder as her breasts pressed into his back due to her leaning her full weight into him.
"Yes," she slurred out once again. "Carry me through the village."
"…Alright," he said with a growing grin as he saw that she seemed genuinely surprised at his quick acceptance. "What? The sexy and single Mitarashi Anko wants a ride on my back and you think I'll just turn her down?"
"Hehehe," the woman giggled with a grin that could only be described as Naruto-like in nature. "You should be paying me for allowing you the honor, Saru-kun~," she said teasingly.
Letting out a chuckle at her words along with a roll of his eyes, Naruto merely shook his head as he walked towards her door. "Whatever you say, Hebi-hime," he shot back as he exited her apartment and began walking towards the Hokage tower.
Their walk towards the tower was intentionally slow, as he imagined that this was something Anko had really wanted based on the smile that never left her lips – something he caught out of the corner of his white eyes.
As they walked, the villagers obviously took notice of the two of them. Many were left staring in unhidden awe at the Byakugan-wielding teen dressed so casually. However, much to his ire, several villagers directed a judgmental gaze towards the woman he carried on his back – something that they were strongly dissuaded against continuing when he shot them a fierce glare in return.
"You don't have to do that, you know," Anko stated softly from his shoulder with a small smile still etched onto her face despite the harsh looks. "I'm used to it."
"So am I, I suppose…at least in a way," Naruto stated as he glanced towards her before turning his gaze forward again. "Still, just because you're used to it doesn't mean that I'll let them give you grief while I'm around. You of all people should know that by now."
At those words, the smile on the Jonin's face grew a bit wider as she recalled the rare occasions that the two of them were together when not on a mission. Not only were they fun because someone other than Kurenai and Ibiki happily chatted with her and was generally much more talkative, but the blond would also usually go out of his way to ensure anyone who threw around her more…suggestive moniker within Konoha's walls wound up having a rather bad evening in one way or another.
"Well, you can't slip laxative into everyone's drink," the violet-haired woman stated with a silent giggle at remembering the time he did it to a group that had been harassing her a bit that night.
"Oh, I dunno~" Naruto replied in a sing-song tone as he glanced towards her. "I slipped it into your sake pretty easily before we left." His words were responded to by a momentary tensing of the female Jonin before her body relaxed again.
"You wouldn't do that to me," she responded confidently a moment later. "Not without me starting it at least."
Once again, Naruto's eyebrow quirked as he spared the woman a quick glance. "What makes you think that I wouldn't start a little prank war between us?"
"You like me too much," Anko stated with a smirk as she felt the blond's body tense momentarily beneath her before continuing on as if it were nothing.
With a very mild blush on his cheeks, the recently-official Genin spared another glance to the woman as he flashed her a small smile.
"I suppose you've got me there," he admitted as he wondered if she had been trying to infer that she knew of his real feelings for her or was merely teasing him like they usually would do to one another.
However, he couldn't get a proper read on her as Anko's eyes turned to the right and progressively turned back further as he proceeded along the road. Coming to a stop, he shifted his body to get a look at what had seemingly caught her eye.
His eyes widened slightly as he saw a rather extravagant black banner across the front of a store that read 'Kagishi Printing' in nearly blindingly bright and extravagant orange lettering that seemed to scream 'look at me!'
"Oooooo," Anko said in awe as she mentally compared the banner she was seeing to the one she usually used to 'announce' herself into public meetings.
Glancing at the woman he held, he chuckled silently at how awestruck she appeared to be as he moved to the door of the business. The violet-haired Jonin he held merely turned to look at him in momentary confusion as she only recognized they were moving towards the door right before they actually stepped inside.
Realizing what the blond was seemingly going to do for her, a Naruto-like grin once again graced her face as they stepped inside of the place and one last thought crossed her mind.
'Best. Birthday. Ever.'
(Several minutes later)
Knock Knock
"Enter!" came the familiar voice of the Sandaime Hokage.
"Oi, you're going to have to stand for a sec again," Naruto stated as he glanced to his right to see Anko still resting her head on his shoulder with her arms around his neck. She had only gotten down for a few moments in the printing building they went into, and even that was only so she could write down what she wanted on her shiny new banners…and the free promotional cards they got as a result of the rather expensive purchase.
Said cards were small strips of paper that were usually purchased only by people that ran a business of some sort, but the owner was apparently trying to convince people to get them for introductory purposes. Upon receiving 100 of them for free, the Jonin had been adamant about writing down her 'awesome' idea down for them. After an embarrassing interaction with the owner afterwards, he had taken the cards he was given to keep and sealed everything away. Anko had then taken her position upon his back again immediately, though he now had to hold her legs instead of her locking them around his waist.
"Awww, but my riiide," she drawled out lazily with a pout as her arms tightened a bit around his neck. It was clear from the scent on her breath that she was still intoxicated, and her half-lidded eyes seemed to show that she likely wouldn't be conscious for much longer as a result.
"…Fine, but at least reach down and open the door for me," he responded after giving a small sigh as he adjusted his grip on her thighs to keep her held up properly.
After the violet-haired woman successfully managed to grab the knob on the third attempt and pulled it open by a small margin, he slid his foot into the crack and opened it the rest of the way with a combination of his foot and knee before stepping inside. Once the frustrating obstacle had been successfully navigated, he was rewarded with the sight of the Sandaime smirking from behind his desk.
"Ah, Naruto-kun, how nice of you to finally join me. I thought you might have forgotten our appointment," the elderly man said with a small puff on his pipe before turning his gaze to the blond's passenger. "As always, it's a pleasure to see you as well Anko."
"Hehe, hiiii Jijiiiii," the Jonin drawled out again with a giggle from her spot on Naruto's back while giving a small wave towards the Sandaime. Despite her current state, it would be nearly impossible not to pick up on how happy she seemed to be.
Hiruzen, having a hunch, merely locked eyes with Naruto as his lips twitched to try to suppress the full-blown grin that so desperately tried to force itself on his face at seeing the female Jonin in such a state. "Fire Sake?" he asked, knowing that the woman had an incredibly high tolerance for alcohol in most cases.
"Fire Sake," Naruto confirmed with a small sigh as he adjusted his grip on Anko's legs again to make sure he wouldn't drop her – a gesture that caused the woman's face to blush a bit as his hands slid up her exposed thighs.
"I'm guessing it's safe to assume that she'll be joining us this evening then?" Hiruzen asked with a slightly raised brow.
"Hai," Naruto responded as he moved his head over and gently nudged Anko's head with his own since he couldn't actually point to her. "We probably would've been here sooner, but someone thought it would be a good idea to break into the sake a few hours ago."
"Whaaaaat?" Anko asked innocently from her perch as she ran a hand absent-mindedly through the blond's braid of hair that she had recently pushed over his left shoulder to make her position a bit more comfortable. "I only drank like…half a bottle. I'm fine," she continued after giving a small yawn and finally letting her eyes close entirely.
The Sandaime actually coughed a bit and adopted a genuinely surprised expression upon hearing this. After the brief fit was over, he regarded the two of them with slightly widened eyes.
"She actually managed to drink half of a bottle hasn't puked or passed out yet?" He asked with genuine surprise.
"Yuuuuuup!" Anko stated happily and with a grin from Naruto's back as she tried to press herself even closer to his back for the warmth he gave off. "I'm awesome, aren't I?" she asked with a slur.
Both men shared a knowing look with one another before Naruto responded to her.
"Yes Anko, you're awesome," he repeated while leaving in the slur she had given the word.
At this, the woman's arms tightened a bit around his neck again as she moved her head close enough to his to brush her cheek up against his own. After making contact with his skin, she let out a soft, happy-sounding sigh.
"This is why I love you so much," she slurred drowsily even as the blond's face immediately lit up in a blush and his eyes widened. A pregnant pause ruled the room for nearly a minute after that statement before the new Genin could do anything other than run those same words through his mind again and again.
'Did…did she just…? That was…? What…?'
"Anko?" Naruto asked softly after realizing that her breath become regulated against the crook of his neck during the silence. When he received no response, he shifted his eyes to the right and couldn't suppress a smile that tugged his lips back when he saw how peaceful she looked at that moment
'Of course she would fall asleep after saying something like that,' he told himself with an inward sigh. 'Figures I would hear those words from her after all this time when she's drunk. I guess it wouldn't be Anko otherwise though...'
"Well…it would certainly seem that your reveal to her went rather well," Hiruzen said mirthfully from his seat as he looked towards the blond.
"Yeah…" Naruto responded quietly as he kept his gaze on Anko's peaceful-looking face for a few long moments before turning his gaze to his grandfather in all but blood with a grin. "It definitely did."
"…Well, I'm happy to say that the work I had to do here today went pretty well too," the aged Kage continued as he stood up from his chair and moved to the wall that the scroll with Naruto's things was leaning against. He leaned down and grabbed it with a light groan before he spoke again.
"Your adoption into the Sarutobi clan went without any major hiccups, but I'm afraid I couldn't dissuade the Shinobi Council from voting to force the CRA on you after I filled them in on your real capabilities. You remember the specifics on that from the law book I made you read, yes?"
At this, the blond gave an outward sigh as his eyes glanced over towards Anko's face again for a brief moment.
"I figured they would push for it since you had to tell them about my bloodline," he said softly as he forcefully drew his eyes away from the woman that held his heart and back towards the elderly man. "It's the law where males with a known bloodline are obligated to marry multiple women, right?"
"Correct," the aged man stated as he kept his eyes locked onto the teen who was obviously nervous.
"How many?" Naruto asked in a soft voice, quite fearful at what was to come next since the council decided the number of mandatory marriages case-by-case.
"A minimum of five," the Sandaime stated with a heavy heart as he watched his newest family member look over towards the woman on his back yet again. "I did manage to get them to extend the deadline for the marriages for three years. They won't be able to mandate you enter into a marriage with someone until you turn nineteen," he stated with a frown on his face at seeing the blond's slightly downcast expression.
"For what it's Naruto, I'm sorry," Hiruzen whispered as he came closer and placed a hand on his free shoulder while letting his own eyes dart towards Anko, secretly thankful that the timing of her falling unconscious was so well timed. "Hopefully she will understand the necessity of it."
"Yeah…hopefully," Naruto stated softly as he readjusted his grip on Anko's legs again. "Let's just get out of here. I don't really want to think about the damned CRA or the council right now."
The two men and unconscious Jonin then proceeded to make their way out of the Hokage tower and into the streets of the village as darkness began to fall upon it. The street lights along the roads flickered on as they walked, granting them vision of where they were walking.
Even at nearly 8 in the evening by this point, there were still a fair number of villagers walking on the road for various reasons. It had always seemed incredibly hypocritical to him in the past few years to see the same people bow to the Hiruzen and then glare at his clone as if it didn't deserve to exist despite the elderly man's words to them.
Tonight, however, Naruto found their walk somewhat amusing because they would bow to the Hokage and stare at him with unrestrained curiosity just as they had when he was walking with Anko by himself. The looks leveled at his 'passenger' died down significantly with the elderly man's presence, but there were still some judgmental gazes directed towards the woman that Naruto warded off with a sharp glare just as he had before.
The walk itself was rather short seeing as the estate was rather close to the Hokage tower – something that Naruto was quite thankful for since he could feel Anko shivering slightly against his back. It was getting slightly chilly that night as he had predicted, and with the clothes she was wearing, her body's reaction wasn't too surprising.
"And here we are," Hiruzen stated as he stepped up to a walled-off, two-story house that seemed as if it would hold a 7-8 person family based on the size alone. There was an 8-foot tall solid-stone wall surrounding the entire estate save for the iron gate they stood on the outside of that allowed people to peer just inside the grounds.
Naruto, however, had a small frown on his face as he looked through the gate at the estate.
'I was right, this place looks way too big for just one person,' he thought as he let his eyes take in the full size of the estate.
"I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually, Naruto," Hiruzen stated from his side as if he was reading his mind. "Besides, I'm sure your parents would want you to have this," he repeated as he had several times within the past few months.
"…I guess you're right," Naruto said softly as he glanced towards the man as he felt the woman on his back shiver again. "Let's just head inside. It's getting a little chilly out here."
The aged Kage merely nodded in response before raising a hand and placing it a small, square area in the center of the gate. After a moment, a small flash of blue traveled from it the square to where the lock was most likely located.
Click
With nothing further, the Sandaime pushed the gate open with the hinges creaking softly. He then proceeded to step inside and shut it after Naruto had followed him in to ensure that it locked itself once more.
"Chakra lock?" Naruto asked with slightly raised brows as he turned to the Sandaime.
"Yes," the aged man responded as the gate clicked to signal that it was locked again. "A simple lock is too easily picked, and your parents were of the opinion that blood wasn't a very good alternative for a key. These were a favorite of theirs for their security."
"Huh…I didn't know that," the blond stated with a slightly surprised face. "Makes sense though, I suppose, since it's so difficult to replicate a chakra signature. If that's the security of the gate though, then where's the master acceptance array?"
"Hidden in the house and connected to the gate underground via a thin line of chakra metal, if memory serves," Hiruzen responded with a smile as he walked back up to the teen and pushed forward towards the house. "I'll make sure your chakra signature is on it before I leave."
Naruto merely nodded as his gaze swung from side to side to take in the parts of the grounds that he hadn't been able to see before. The place was mostly bare, all things considered, but the important thing was that it had a large portion of ground set aside for training judging by the grassless Earth. There were a series of multiple, life-like training dummies, an adjustable bar atop 2 grooved stones that looked like it was meant for pull-ups or other similar exercises, and even a sparring circle dug out of the ground.
"Huh…I guess you weren't kidding when you said my kaa-san wasn't a fan of gardening and the like," the blond stated as he noticed a distinct lack of any flowers or other things that usually decorated such a large estate.
"No, no she wasn't," Hiruzen stated with a chuckle. "Kushina was every bit as dedicated to training as Minato was, well…up until…"
"Yeah, I got it," Naruto replied a bit solemnly as he noticed that the elderly Kage seemed to be struggling for the right words to say.
The elderly man just nodded in acceptance of the blond subtly telling him not to say anything more as they came up to the door of the estate. Placing his hand just above the door knob, he went through the same process that he had done with the gate. With another small flash of blue, there was an audible click before the Sandaime stepped forward and pushed the door open.
As the two men stepped inside while Naruto still carried the unconscious member of their party, the blond's eyes widened marginally upon seeing the inside as the Sandaime flicked on the lights. He was always told that his parents weren't vane people, and it seemed as if the interior of the first room in the house reflected that.
In many households of this size, he would expect to see art on the walls or unnecessary statues within nearly every room. After all, if people had money, they were usually inclined to show off with it a bit. However, within the living room that they initially stepped into, there was really nothing that could be considered unreasonable.
There was a sizable black sofa in the center of the room that looked as if it could hold 3-4 people, a coffee table in front of it, and an old television slightly larger than Anko's own a ways away. There also appeared to be several cushioned hardwood seats along the walls that people could pull up if they desired.
Connected immediately to the living room seemed to be a dining room with a table meant for 4-6 people with 4 cushioned seats tucked underneath it. The legs of said table seemed to be carved, but it was a rather simple carving of the common Uzumaki swirl that had likely just caught the eyes of one of his parents.
On the wall overlooking the dining table was a portrait of who Naruto knew was his mother and father – Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. A small, sad smile crossed his lips at the sight of his father grinning happily behind his heavily pregnant mother with both sets of hands on her stomach.
"In case you're wondering," Hiruzen's voice called to snap him out of his momentary stupor, "it was Kakashi that kept the place clean all these years. He usually stopped by at least once a month to get rid of the dust and the like."
"…I'll have to remember to thank him tomorrow then," the newly official Genin responded without turning his gaze to the man. After a moment of thought about what to do first, he turned towards the couch and walked over to it before turning away from it and squatting down – subsequently causing Anko to sit on the cushion while leaning against his back.
Reaching up to his neck, he carefully pulled the woman's arms apart, smirking when he heard her groan from being moved. The blond then leaned backwards slightly, causing the violet-haired beauty to slump back against the couch without anything to hold her position against his back any longer. Turning around, he then slowly lowered her into a laying position on the touch, bringing over a nearby pillow to tuck under her head to make sure she was relatively comfortable.
Walking back over to the Sandaime after satisfying himself with Anko's current state, he was met by the soft gaze of the elderly man.
"…What?" Naruto asked after a few moments of silence.
"You really do love her, don't you?" Hiruzen asked, causing the blond teen to turn his head away slightly even as a rather obvious blush crossed his cheeks.
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to, Sofu," he responded as he crossed his arms in front of his chest defensively and let his gaze wander around the house again.
"…Fair enough," the Kage responded with a knowing smile pulling at his wrinkled face once again. "Let's explore the other parts of the house, shall we?"
Nodding in return, Naruto merely followed the man as he led him through other areas of his new home. All things considered, he was pleasantly surprised at how nice the place seemed to be despite the large size. He was shown to 6 different, fully-furnished bedrooms, the largest of which was obviously the master bedroom, along with the three different restrooms that were within the walls. He thought the latter was a bit much for housing under 10 people. However, he then came to the realization that important diplomats who were visiting would have likely wanted a restroom entirely to themselves.
One of the six bedrooms he elected to not explore for the time being, as Hiruzen had explained that it was designed to be his room. He merely made a mental note to explore it and deal with the raw emotion that it would likely cause at a later date.
Aside from the bedrooms and bathrooms, he was also shown into quite a sizable kitchen that was equipped with the basic appliances one might expect. A stove, refrigerator, toaster, and shelves with various cooking utensils were all there. There was even a slightly stained cooking apron hanging off to the side of the stove with the Uzumaki swirl embroidered into the front. He had to refrain from letting a few tears escape his eyes as he mentally pictured a possible life with his mother wearing it as a younger version of himself walked in sleepily for breakfast.
However, after not-so-subtly wiping his eyes on his sleeve, he and Hiruzen proceeded into the basement of the house through a stairwell that was in a small room off to the side of the kitchen. Once there, they came to a door with a large seal visible across the front and yet another small, metal square in the center.
"This one requires both a chakra signature and a bit of blood, Naruto," Hiruzen stated as he held his position a bit behind the boy. "My chakra will be able to unlock half of it, but you'll need to supply a bit of blood for this."
Nodding at the man, Naruto bit down harshly on his right thumb and proceeded to rub a vertical smear over the metal plate. Said plate glowed a bright blue for a moment as the life-giving substance was seemingly absorbed into it before an audible click was heard. A moment later, Hiruzen came up and placed his hand on the square before sending another pulse of it through the door – causing another click to ring out through the stairwell.
"Go ahead," Hiruzen prompted as he gestured to the door knob. "You should be able to open it now."
Not giving any sort of acknowledgment to the statement, but having heard it nonetheless, Naruto reached forward and turned the knob before pushing open the door.
Stepping into the room, it was almost…anti-climactic to the blond at first. The wood that made up the floor and walls of the room seemed to be pristine, presumably protected from any sort of long-term damage from seals that were likely engrained onto the boards on the outside.
Straight ahead of the duo was a cushioned chair in front of a sizable desk that had a few papers neatly stacked on the surface. The walls of the room aside from the desk and some small empty spaces in between were lined entirely with large shelves. Upon said shelves were something Naruto was very familiar with after his years under the Sandaime's care.
Books and scrolls. Hundreds upon hundreds of books and scrolls. Unlike the reaction many teens his age may have had, Naruto's eyes shot open as if he had been informed he had won free ramen for the rest of his life.
"This…this is…" the blond began to say before he quickly shut his mouth upon realization that the proper words escaped him at that moment.
"The second largest and library within Konoha, only bested by my own," Hiruzen finished from beside the boy as the two turned to look at one another. "However, within here, I wouldn't doubt that you could probably find intricate detail on some topics that you've never even heard of within mine."
"Incredible…," Naruto said simply as he let his mind run through the possibility and his eyes shifted from shelf to shelf.
"Yes, yes it is," Hiruzen admitted with a bit of pride at seeing the collection of knowledge his successor had accumulated once again after so many years. "However, you can look at all of those later. For now, I wanted to come in here to show you this."
With no further explanation, the acting Hokage walked around what Naruto assumed was his father's desk and raised a hand to the wooden surface directly behind it. With yet another application of chakra, three of the wood boards slid open to reveal an intricate seal array.
"Channel your chakra into this, Naruto," the elder Sarutobi clan member stated.
Wasting no time in doing as he was told, Naruto walked over and placed his hand into the center of the ray and channeled chakra into it – causing it to glow bright blue in the process.
"Keep channeling until the glow stops," the blond heard the elderly man say behind him. From the past few years of studying Fuinjutsu, Naruto was already aware of this, but a friendly reminder never hurt things.
After roughly 30 seconds, the glow finally died down as Naruto took his hand away from the array. Having a hunch as to how the mechanism that hid it worked, he placed his hand on the wood framing the array and channeled chakra into it. Just as he had predicted, the specially crafted wood quickly slid shut to hide the master seal of his new house's security system.
"And that's all there is to it," Hiruzen said with a smile as the blond Genin turned around to face him. "So, what do you think?"
"It's great, Sofu," the teen stated after a moderate length of silence. "I guess…I guess it just doesn't feel like home yet."
"Give it time, Naruto," the man responded as he placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know you'll come to love the place."
"If you say so," Naruto shot back with a small sigh. "I still think the villagers will nearly riot when they figure out that I'm living here."
"Perhaps, but like I've said, the defensive seals around the estate and my ANBU will take care of things if it comes to that."
"…Even so," Naruto changed gears a bit as he knew that the old man had him on that point, "I still think people will be able to start guessing my lineage when they hear about this."
At this, the elderly man merely sighed and rubbed over his eyes with his forefinger and thumb.
"Some of the more intelligent ones, perhaps," he admitted. "However, fibbing a bit and saying that the Yondaime wrote down that he wanted you to have his estate at sixteen would ward off most thoughts on the matter. The clan heads already know and are aware that they are to keep it a secret, so I can't see it becoming anything but a rumor at most...at least until they see you use something like the Hiraishin or Rasengan first-hand."
"Fine, fine," Naruto stated with a brief wave of his hands in front of him to dismiss the topic that the two of them had discussed frequently over the past three months he had been relentlessly working on his father's signature technique. "I'm here already anyway, so I'll make the most of it."
"Good," the Sandaime said with a brief chuckle as he clapped the boy on the shoulder. "Now, I believe that I am going to retire for the evening to get some much-needed relaxation. Any questions before I go?"
"No Sofu, I can't really think of anything off-hand," Naruto stated with a knowing smirk. "You can feel free to leave me here and go read your smut. I swear, you don't know what good reading material is…"
"Ah, Naruto, no need to be jealous of Jiraiya. I think your novel is just fine, but…" Hiruzen trailed off as a small drop of blood dripped down from one of his nostrils. "Romance novels aren't my genre of choice," he elaborated.
"Tsk…the number one book in the Elemental Nations for over a year and you still prefer Icha Icha," Naruto stated in mock hurt tone that was obviously not meant to be taken seriously.
"Now, now," the Kage stated. "You've got enough readers without me…or the entire male gender for that matter," he continued with a chuckle as he remembered walking out one day and seeing a black-covered book in almost every female's hands at the time.
"Ah, whatever," Naruto said with a small sigh. "Tales of the Kitsune is still better," he said with confidence as he defended his recently published novel.
"You keep telling yourself that, Naruto," Hiruzen stated teasingly with a final clap to the teen's shoulder before he turned and began walking out of the room. The blond quickly followed him out, only pausing to seal up the door to his father's office, and quickly found himself back at the front door.
"I'll take my leave of you now, Magomusuko. Remember, if you need anything, my door is always open to you as is our clan's."
The Byakugan-wielding teen merely let a wide grin come to his face at the realization of his recent name change.
"Thanks Jiji," he stated simply, instinctively referring back to his nickname for the man standing before him.
Merely giving a small nod in response as he tipped his Kage hat forward, Hiruzen pulled open the front door of the estate and exited the room.
'Alright then,' Naruto thought as he ran a hand through his hair. 'What to do next…' he continued as he let his gaze fall onto Anko's form on the couch. 'I don't know how long she'll be out, so I should probably move her to a bed.'
As he moved to the couch to gently wake the woman, he had to stifle a yawn at the thought of sleep – something he didn't particularly get a lot of the previous night. Given, any true shinobi would know how to function on minimal sleep, but the past few nights had been a struggle to get any rest due to his excitement. The thought of finally being acknowledged as an official shinobi of Konoha and being able to reveal his true self kept his mind racing more often than not.
'After that, I should probably pick a bed myself,' he thought as he shook his head a bit to wake himself up for the moment. 'I'm definitely going to need it if I'm going to need to fight Kakashi tomorrow.'
Squatting down, he placed a hand Anko's shoulder and pushed lightly, causing her form to shake a bit.
"Anko…c'mon, you need to get up," he said as he continued the motion. The response he received, however, was a groan from the woman as her eyes squeezed shut and she rolled to face her back towards him. At this, Naruto merely let out a sigh. Despite not spending a lot of time off-duty with her, he was quite familiar with having to wake Anko up when she had fallen asleep drunk – the state he found her in more often than not when he was informing her of a new mission.
"C'mon Anko-chan, you're beautiful enough as is, you don't need any more beauty sleep," Naruto said as he shook her body again.
"…Saru?" A rather groggy voice asked as the Jonin rolled over and cracked her eyes open just enough to see before shutting them again due the light that filled the room at that moment. "Where…," she began without ever opening her eyes as her memories seemingly caught up to her.
"My house, Anko," he answered with a smile towards her that went unseen. "You've only been sleeping about an hour, so I'm going to help you get to bed to sleep this off, alright?"
Instead of giving a verbal answer, the woman merely let out something akin to a sigh before nodding her head up and down.
The sight of the woman in a drunken state, while a common occurrence to many people, caused Naruto's smile to stretch out a bit further. Under normal situations, Anko would usually lash out at anyone that tried to touch her while she was drunk – a subconscious reaction the blond guessed she had developed to defend herself. However, over the past year specifically out of their three year partnership, they had found that she seemingly trusted him enough to let him touch her if she recognized on some level that it was him. To know that she trusted him to that extent, if nothing else, always managed to improve his mood no matter what it was.
"Alright, and up you go," the pale-eyed teen said as he pulled Anko to her feet and slung her arm around his shoulders for support.
"Woah…" the woman stated as she struggled to stay upright, the world spinning a bit to her. "Sorry," she slurred, "dizzy."
"Baka," Naruto chided softly from her side as he began to direct the woman towards one of the free bedrooms. "I told you not to get into the Fire Sake until later, but noooo~," he teased in a sing-song voice.
The intoxicated Jonin seemingly elected not to respond and chose to keep moving forward with the blond's help. Without anything more than a few stumbles, the two made their way into one of the bedrooms in a hallway of the house.
Upon opening the door, any onlookers would be able to note that it wasn't anything particularly fancy. It was a room roughly three-fourths of the size of Anko's entire apartment. Within the center of the room with the headboard against the left wall was a queen-sized mattress with fresh sheets and pillows atop it.
'I'm really going to have to remember to thank Kakashi for taking care of the place,' the blond thought as he looked at the room once again – having already done so with Hiruzen during the door. He shoved said thoughts back though as he carefully maneuvered his companion's form into the room beside him as they walked towards the bed.
However, as they neared the bed, Naruto failed to spot the mischievous gleam in the woman's eyes. As he shifted his weight to push her forward onto the mattress, a pair of familiar arms made their way around the back of his neck and dragged him down even as the form of the woman they belonged to fell back-first onto the bed.
Closing his eyes and pushing his arms forward to stop himself, the blonde only opened his eyelids again when he felt the soft cushion of the mattress stop him from falling any further. The sight he was rewarded with was a pair of half-lidded brown eyes staring into his own.
"So forward, Saru-kun~," Anko slurred teasingly as her arms tightened a bit around his neck. "You should at least buy a girl…dinner first," she ended with a yawn in between her words.
Despite the familiar tingle of a blush he felt in his cheeks at the obvious innuendo, the blonde kept from stuttering thanks to the teasing he was used to doing back and forth with the woman currently beneath him.
"Ah, well, I figured the dango from before could've been considered dinner. I guess I should've known better, a beautiful woman like you should only expect the best after all," he finished with a grin despite how cheesy the line could've been considered.
"Hehehe," Anko giggled as her eyes shut and eventually let out a happy-sounding sigh. "Flat…flatter…whatever," she conceded as her mouth seemed incapable of processing the word to describe the blonde at that moment.
"…So…" Naruto stated after quite a long moment of silence. "You gonna let me go anytime soon?"
"Hmmm…no," the woman responded as she kicked her feet back and drew him further onto the bed, something he decided to go along with for the time and crawled entirely onto the bed being despite the rather intimate-looking position. "Keep me warm," she said still without opening her eyes.
Letting his eyes soften at the woman beneath him, looking 'underneath the underneath' as Kakashi would often say, he noticed that the woman's face seemed to show a bit of nervousness. That, coupled with what she had just said, led him to only one conclusion.
"Nightmares again?" He asked softly, knowing that it was something she was often plagued by due to the mark upon her neck and what she had almost gone through during their only S-rank mission together.
"…Yeah," she all but whispered in return as she gave a slight nod.
Reaching back, he pulled the woman's arms apart from around his neck and easily slid her body up to the proper position on the bed. Her eyes cracked open and revealed her nervous orbs for a moment, but they seemed to curve upwards a bit in happiness as the blond sat on the edge of the bed and took off his boots before sliding in to the other part of the bed alongside her.
'A bit different than sleeping up against one another in separate sleeping bags…' Naruto thought as his mind drifted back to their last few months they were in the field together where she would often ask to do as much under the pretense of keeping warm. 'Whatever, as long as it helps her sleep peacefully, then I don't care what I have to do.'
Once he situated himself on his side of the bed, he turned onto his left side just as Anko did the same and pushed her back as close to his chest as possible – the bottom of her head close enough for him to rest his chin on if he wanted. Without a second thought, Naruto wrapped his arm around her mid-section protectively, a gesture that they were both somewhat used to as he often did the same thing over her sleeping bag in the past.
"Better?" Naruto asked as the woman next to him let out a satisfied sigh.
"Mmhmm," she hummed happily before letting out a rather loud yawn. Even as she began to drift off into what would hopefully be some much-needed and restful sleep, one final thought crossed her mind.
'Definitely the best birthday ever…'
(The Next Morning)
Naruto's pale eyes cracked open as the first rays of light entered the room he was currently in – something he had been trained to do since first living with the Sandaime. Said eyes widened marginally for a moment at the warmth he felt against his chest, but he relaxed once he remembered how he had fallen asleep.
Shifting his arm a bit, however, he realized that it must have moved a bit over the night judging by the soft mounds that his limb was now pressing against. He immediately moved to pull his arm away, but found himself stopped as a hand gripped his forearm gently.
"You really should learn to buy a girl dinner first, Saru-kun," Anko said as teasingly as possible in a somewhat-groggy voice.
"I might consider it if a certain girl would start using my actual name, Hebi-hime," he shot back with a small grin on his face.
After a moment of silence, the snake summoner relinquished her hold on his arm and quickly rolled over to face him. Though her voice had sounded groggy, her eyes told the blond that she was wide-awake, and possibly had been for a while now.
"Sorry," she began as her eyes locked onto his own. "I'm just…I'm not used to actually knowing who you are yet."
"It's alright," he responded with a small smile. "I know it's probably a bit strange to know my name after three years of knowing me as something else."
"A little," Anko admitted with a smile of her own as she gazed at his facial features again as a full-blown blush rose on her cheeks. "You're still the same idiot I've fallen in love with though."
At this, Naruto's eyes slowly widened drastically as he stared into the blushing face of the woman next to him. He quickly looked her over for any sign of her being mischievous, but could find nothing in her expression that made it seem it was anything less than a genuine confession. As a blush rose to his own face, he couldn't stop the wide grin from spreading across his face.
"Confessing to a man on his bed, Anko-chan? How very cliché," he teased as he watched her face turn an even deeper shade of red.
"S-shut up," the violet-haired beauty said as she huffed and punched him somewhat awkwardly in the chest before looking into his eyes again with a nervous expression.
"Well if I did that, I wouldn't be able to respond to your confession, now would I?" Naruto asked somewhat nervously even as he swallowed the lump in his throat at what he was going to have to tell her next. "There's something you have to know before I say anything though."
The Jonin's eyes immediately went from nervous to confused before ultimately becoming a guarded – a sign that she had likely tried to steel her emotions for what she was about to hear.
"What is it?" She asked, fearing the worst.
"As of last night," he stated with a sigh, "the Shinobi Council has deemed it mandatory for me to participate in the Clan Restoration Act."
"…Of course they did," Anko said more to herself more than anyone as she rolled onto her back and stared up towards the ceiling. "Fucking fantastic."
The blond, in the meantime, had pushed himself into a sitting position and merely watched her. His mind raged for him to reach out and touch her or comfort her in some manner – a small part even raged at him to beg for her to accept him. However, the logical part of his mind told him that it would be unfair to the woman to influence her thoughts on the matter. This was a decision that she should make on her own.
Glancing over to her right after a lengthy silence, Anko's brown eyes looked up into the white ones she was familiar with and sighed. Though he had hidden it quite well, there were a few things that she could read that showed how worried he was. Though nothing was said between the two, it was obvious what the issue was.
"Give me some time to think about this," she finally said after another lengthy silence as she sat up. "I just…I don't know what to think about this right now," she continued despite the fact that her emotions were telling her otherwise.
"Alright," Naruto said with a nod and a small smile that he put up to try to hide his worry. "I understand." He then turned and got off of the bed before grabbing his boots and walking towards the door.
"I'm going to make some breakfast before I have to head out to meet my team. Would you like any?" The blond asked as he swung the door to the bedroom open and turned to gaze at Anko's form.
Seeing how the blnd was trying to make things a bit less awkward for the both of them, the violet-haired woman merely nodded with a thankful smile on her face before getting up to follow him out of the room.
(Around 3 hours later)
After having finished a mostly-silent breakfast between Anko and himself hours ago, the blonde had been left to himself to do as he wanted until the designated time he was supposed to meet with his team. Given, said time was technically around 3 hours ago, but he knew he was still on time with Kakashi as a Jonin sensei. He had ensured to actually use the free time he was given by placing his meager positions throughout the house and flipping through some of the things his father had in his library.
However, he was currently walking into the training field with gear that was nearly identical to what he had worn during the Mizuki incident. The only noteworthy differences were that his monkey mask was on his belt instead of on his face, his black mask was bunched around his neck, his flak jacket was unzipped, and he wasn't currently in the best of moods. Even with the cigarette currently in the corner of his mouth burning down quietly, a frown was etched onto his face as if it were a permanent feature.
Despite it not being Anko's fault by any means, he couldn't help but feel incredibly frustrated at what had happened earlier. He had known for over a year that the CRA was a possibility for him after discovering his bloodline, but to have the woman he loved confess her love on the day after it was confirmed was absolutely infuriating. He only shoved such thoughts aside as he entered the Third Training Ground.
Said area was relatively simple when all things considered. However, it was one that held a good deal of history with the shinobi and kunoichi that had used it. It consisted of a small glade with heavy forest surrounding it entirely save for the river that ran along the southern end. Within said glade were three stumps that, as Naruto knew, were often used for tying up students. Near where he had walked into the glade from was a polished memorial stone that held the names of individuals who had been killed in service to Konoha – something that Hiruzen and others had used to drive home the point of teamwork to their students.
Glancing to the stumps, Naruto saw that his two teammates were currently sitting against them even as they stirred slightly presumably due to his appearance.
"You're late!" Sakura shouted as she stood up while he got closer.
The blonde merely turned and stared at her as his scowl deepened a bit further. 'I am not in the mood for this shit today.'
"Do you see Kakashi anywhere?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"No, sensei's as late as you were, baka!" The pink-haired girl shouted with a somewhat hesitant expression, still slightly unnerved at the change that the blond she 'knew' had undergone recently.
"I fail to see how I'm late if we haven't even begun then," Naruto shot back in an agitated tone as he took a long drag on the cigarette in his mouth and blew the smoke away. "If you two had done your research, you would know that Hatake Kakashi is notorious for being three hours late for nearly anything but an assigned mission. I took that time and made myself a nice breakfast before coming here."
"But sensei said not to have any breakfast!" Sakura shouted as Sasuke watched the interaction between the two of them silently, though he was also wondering why the blond had blatantly gone against what they were told.
"…You seriously didn't eat anything this morning?" The Byakugan-wielding teen asked with a glance down at each of them since he stood several inches taller. The pinkette looked ready to repeat what Kakashi had told them once again and Sasuke merely gave him a curious look as if attempting to understand what he was getting at.
'In hindsight, I guess I wouldn't have gotten it without my training over the past few years,' he admitted reluctantly within his mind as he looked at his new teammates and let out a sigh. 'Kami…what I wouldn't give to just be able to skip being a Genin entirely.'
However, before he could get a chance to explain why he had eaten, he was saved by the sound of someone else entering the clearing. At least…that's what he had expected. However, the sounds of multiple footsteps made him raise an eyebrow in intrigue as he turned around to glance at the newcomers.
'Son of a bitch,' he thought immediately as his eyes fell on four individuals walking alongside Kakashi as they entered the area. 'Of course he would change the test a bit when I already knew what it would be. Still…getting them of all people might be a bit much.'
"Yo!" Kakashi stated as the five individuals grew near with the four other than their sensei chatting amongst themselves quietly.
"Kakashi," Naruto greeted with a nod even as Sasuke and Sakura took his side – the latter of the two glaring at the man for being late, although not voicing it since there were others around. "I see you've decided to change things up from your norm."
At this, the two unknowing Genin-hopefuls turned to the blonde with a confused look in their eyes before turning to the masked Jonin in front of them.
"Well, it would hardly be any fun if you knew exactly what to be prepared for," he responded with an eye smile.
"What does he mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura questioned. "I thought that this was just supposed to be a survival exercise."
"Ah, and whose fault is it that you believed information you were given without questioning it?" Kakashi asked in return. "To answer your question though, this is the true Genin exam. If you fail to pass the guidelines that I set for you, then you'll be sent back to the academy for another year."
At this, the pink-haired girl immediately looked nervous, the 'last' Uchiha's eyes hardened in resolve, and Naruto merely retained the same expression as he had held before-hand.
"Your test will be to get these two bells before noon," Kakashi continued as he took out the items that meant a great deal to certain individuals. "Those of you who have a bell will become full-fledged Genin while anyone without one will go back to the academy," he finished with a firm look towards Naruto to let him know not to completely spoil this particular part for the other two since he would likely remain a Genin for the time being.
If possible, Sakura looked even more nervous at this news while Sasuke grit his teeth in a moment of frustration at the idea of being held back. Once again, however, Naruto's expression didn't change as the cigarette continued burning down in his mouth.
The masked Jonin then three a finger over his shoulder towards the man standing within the group.
"The man behind me is Might Gai, one of Konoha's best Jonin alongside myself. He and his Genin squad will be defending me during the duration of this exercise in a mock VIP scenario," he stated with a small smile underneath his mask.
"Yosh!" The man said rather loudly as he put his free hand into a thumbs up and grinned at the three teens. Two of them sweat dropped at the gleam that the man's teeth gave off, but Naruto merely drew out another plume of smoke as if it were a normal occurrence.
"A pleasure to meet you two," the man stated sincerely as he gave a wide grin towards Sakura and Sasuke. "And it's always a pleasure to see old student again, Naruto," he continued with a brief glance towards the mask that hung on the blond's belt.
"The honor is mine, Gai-sensei," Naruto said with a slight bow towards the man. However, the miniature version of the man that was behind him immediately sprung forward at hearing his words.
"Gai-sensei!" He shouted with enthusiasm as he looked up towards the man and back towards the blonde in quick succession. "Is it true?! Is this the one you always told me about?"
"Yes, Lee," Gai stated with a boisterous laugh as he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Meet Uzu-Sarutobi Naruto," he corrected after remembering the change in name Kakashi had told him about an hour ago. "He is the only other Goken user within the village walls."
"Sarutobi?" Sakura whispered more to herself than anyone else, though Kakashi and Sasuke managed to hear it despite the low volume.
"He was formally adopted yesterday," the masked Jonin stated to clear up any confusion with his name as quickly as possible. The two Genin merely took this new information in with a bit of shock in Sakura's case at the renowned name, and a bit of warranted jealousy in Sasuke's at the idea of being welcomed into another family.
"YOSH!" The now-identified Lee said as he walked forward and stuck his bandage-wrapped hand out towards the blond. "It is an honor to meet you then, Naruto-san. I hope that you and I can have a spar sometime!"
"That would be…most youthful," the blond said with a smirk despite his somewhat foul mood. He was rewarded with the sight of the spandex-clad teen's eyes igniting as if they had genuinely caught on fire.
"Not another one!" A female voice groaned from behind Lee as she walked forward with the last member of their team towards their more…enthusiastic teammate. "I can't handle anymore youth crap!"
"You can relax then, Panda-chan," Naruto said with a smile upon his whiskered face as he turned to face the girl who had her hair up in a twin bun style with her bangs hanging slightly over her Konoha hitai-ate. "I do not follow Gai-sensei's…youthful ways."
The teenage girl in question thanked Kami subconsciously for that small blessing, but outwardly formed a tick on her brow as she stared at the blond and resisted the urge to reach for one of her kunai.
"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you," she said far too sweetly to be genuine. "What did you call me, Naruto-san?"
"Panda-chan…your hairstyle kind of makes me think of panda ears," Naruto explained with a grin as he saw another tick form on the girl's brow. However, he merely turned his gaze to the noble-looking teen standing next to her that was giving him a mild glare upon seeing his eyes. "Hyuga-san," he greeted formally as the smile quickly dropped from his face.
"Sarutobi-san," he greeted in return as his glare intensified dramatically when their eyes met. "Tell me, does the world look better through eyes that do not belong to you?"
Suddenly, the area grew quiet as the two stared at each other. The two Jonin tensed slightly at the words the black-haired teen spoke, knowing that it was a rather delicate issue for the blond. Even Tenten's anger at what was seemingly her new nickname, fierce as it was, was quelled immediately by how tense the area grew.
"…I see some of the Hyuga clan is still happy believing that someone stole their precious eyes unjustly," Naruto responded with a harsh glare after a long moment of silence as he remembered the near-fallout in a political sense that occurred after his surrogate grandfather had saved him from a bleak and very dark future. "One of your clansmen robbed me of my sight, it was well within my rights to receive their own source of sight in return."
"Enough, Neji," Gai stated firmly as the teen appeared to have been opening his mouth to retort.
"…Hai, sensei," he stated after a few moments with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
"Well then," Kakashi spoke to try to get things a bit back on track. "Like I was saying, this will be a mock VIP scenario. Gai and his team will be protecting me, and these bells," he stated as he reached down and jingled them a bit, "are what you need to retrieve for your mission to be successful."
"S-sensei?" Sakura asked in a somewhat-shaky voice, clearly nervous about the entire situation.
"Hm?" The masked man hummed as he turned to the girl.
"This…isn't this a bit unfair? I-I mean, there's only two bells and this seems like a lot for academy students to handle."
'Well, at least she's intelligent enough to pick up on that much,' Kakashi thought as he scanned over her and Sasuke. 'I suppose that's to be expected from someone with nearly perfect academic scores.'
"Life for those in our profession is rarely fair Sakura," Kakashi stated with what sounded like a bored tone of voice. "That being said, this is something that isn't usually done. I was granted permission to do this because the expectations for this team is incredibly high, and Gai-san's team could use the experience."
"That said however, there are actually a few additional things you need to know about for the purposes of this exercise," Kakashi continued. "You are to subdue these three and the VIP," he stated as he pointed towards Gai's Genin and himself, "using non-lethal force only under the premise of interrogating them for information later. Lethal force is permitted against Gai, as he's too dangerous to take down otherwise."
"Any questions?" Kakashi asked after he had finished his explanation.
"…Is the VIP likely to put up any substantial resistance?" Naruto questioned after a moment of thought.
At this, Kakashi hummed as he turned his head into the air for a moment to think.
"The VIP is a known noble no formal training to speak of," he answered after a lengthy silence.
Naruto then glanced over towards his two teammates, hoping that they would get the idea to ask a few more questions. However, with a small sigh, he realized that they hadn't gone through enough real missions to know to ask for such information when possible. His teammates were merely staring at him as if he had grown a second head instead, presumably due to how calm and collected he seemed in this situation. Even Gai's Genin, despite their various opinions of him, seemed to be trying to appraise him while they had the chance.
"If there are no other questions, then let's begin, shall we?" Kakashi asked with a smile under his mask as he took out a familiar orange book and opened it to a marked page, causing Naruto's eye to twitch in the process.
"Remember, you have until noon," he continued on while never letting his sight drift away from the book. "Start," he said lazily, causing two of the three Genin to bolt away at their top speed.
"He…he knows you said start, right?" The remaining kunoichi asked as she stared at the blond who was still standing calmly where he had been before.
"I have no doubt that he heard Kakashi, Tenten," Gai said in a serious tone as he turned towards his students. "Lee, take off your weights," he stated as the three of them let their eyes widen to different degrees.
"A-are you sure, Gai-sensei?" Lee asked with a glance over towards where the blonde was located.
"Yes, I'm sure," the Jonin responded as he turned around to let his experienced eyes rest on Naruto's form. "I know the guideline I set for you regarding your weights Lee, but you will need all of the speed you can get. Do not underestimate these three, especially Naruto."
As Gai's mini-clone sat down on his rear and pulled down his orange leg-warmers, Tenten and Neji merely narrowed their eyes towards their only visible opponent. After all, if Gai felt the need to give them that sort of a warning, then this was certainly someone to take seriously.
"Ah, I see you've got him using weights too, Gai-sensei," Naruto stated with a laugh as the teen with the bowl-cut tossed a string of weights onto the ground. "I suppose I should remove mine too."
Flicking what tiny bit remained of his cigarette away after one final drag, the blonde leaned down and placed his palms over the engraving on the center of each of his shin-guards.
"Kai," he whispered just loud enough for everyone on the field to hear, causing Tenten to widen her eyes substantially.
"Weight seals," stated aloud for her teammates benefit more so than her instructor's as she grabbed a few kunai from her leg holster.
"Oh? So there's someone around my age that actually knows more about sealing than basic storage eh," Naruto asked in a happy tone as he leaned up and pumped his legs up and down a few times with impressive speed. "I actually thought I was the only one. It's nice to know I'm not completely alone in that department," he said with a warm smile towards the girl.
'…He has a really nice smile,' the brunette girl thought before gripping her kunai a bit tighter. 'Focus,' she told herself a moment later with a mild shake of her head. 'No stray thoughts, only the mission.'
"I suppose I should see what you're all capable of before I decide anything else," the blonde said with a wicked grin growing upon his face. "I hope you're ready…Byakugan!"
"Byakugan!" An identical call a moment later came from Neji.
Keeping their eyes on Naruto, everyone in the clearing saw as the veins protruded from around the outer edges of his eyes and temples as was expected when the Dojutsu was properly activated.
Suddenly, Naruto shot to life as his hand bolted down and grasped onto one of his tri-pronged kunai and tossed it towards the group. Though Tenten was caught momentarily off-guard from the odd shape, she immediately responded by tossing a kunai of her own at the projectile.
Clang
The blond's eyes widened marginally as he witnessed the noteworthy display of aim and reflexes. As a result, he shifted his gaze primarily towards Tenten, but still held them all within his peripheral vision.
Without a word he reached down and grabbed more of his kunai from the pouch before tossing them at his targets.
A moment later showed that he had tossed five separate kunai towards the group – one towards each member. Having already pulled additional kunai from her own pouch, Tenten quickly tossed them in response.
Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang
"Huh…to hit five separate moving targets that quickly in mid-air, well done," the blond complimented as he let his eyes fall to the various kunai on the field. He saw Gai's muscles tense up, presumably in preparation to make some sort of move against him, but wrote it off as he directed his gaze once again towards the girl who had captured his interest.
"Heh, is that the best you can do?" Neji asked somewhat cockily from the side of the group. "Any graduate could throw a kunai, that's pathetic."
He failed to notice the furrow in his female teammate's brow at that statement, as well as Gai's own.
"I doubt any graduate could throw a kunai with pin-point accuracy like your teammate just did," Naruto stated defensively as he let his white eyes drift over to the teen for a moment. "I suppose that we won't get anywhere like this though. Allow me to take it up a notch."
He quickly reached down from his pouch and grabbed another kunai before tossing it, though he made a quick series of hand seals this time unlike before.
"Kage Kunai no Jutsu!" (Shadow Kunai Jutsu)He shouted as the single kunai he had thrown multiplied into 50 all headed towards the group.
'No way I'm going to be able to block that many!' Tenten shouted inwardly as her eyes widened at how many kunai were suddenly headed directly towards them.
"Scatter!" Gai shouted before he grabbed Kakashi and flung himself backwards – Lee doing the same beside him. Neji merely elected to swerve between the kunai while Tenten quickly dove to the right to avoid the wall of projectiles.
Naruto, however, had directed his gaze towards the Hyuga who was not only foolish enough to have been separated from his Jonin sensei, but also had remained roughly in the same position.
'I can't say that I won't enjoy this,' he thought with a wicked grin.
Disappearing at a speed that nearly no Genin could ever follow, he appeared before the black-haired boy far too quickly for him to give any sort of reaction other than widened eyes. Even as he turned around from a twist he had made to avoid one of the shadow kunai, he spun face-first into the heel of Naruto's boot.
"Konoha Senpu!" (Leaf Hurricane) The blonde shouted as Neji flew back a few feet before rolling up to his feet and quickly clutching his freshly broken nose.
"Neji!" Lee called as he ran over to his side. Tenten also made her way over towards them, but she ensured to keep her sight on the blond as she did so to try to make sure she wasn't completely caught off-guard like Neji was.
However, she was saved from that worry as Gai made his presence known to everyone.
"Dynamic Entry!" He shouted as he tried to drop-kick the blonde only to miss and continue forward as he hit nothing but air. However, he curled into a ball and rolled to his feet smoothly as he turned around in a basic Goken stance without missing a beat despite the handful of kunai that were stuck in the ground around him.
"Guard the client! Triangle formation!" He shouted as he kept his eyes locked onto Naruto. Before he could do anything, however, said blond disappeared in a flash of yellow. His guard dropped only a moment as a result, but it was almost enough. Sensing motion to his right, he turned his gaze towards there only to swiftly bend backwards in order to avoid a debilitating strike from a black metal staff that had shallow engravings along the length. Recognizing the weapon immediately, he pushed himself away in order to try to make sense of what he just saw.
"What was that?" Tenten asked after witnessing Naruto suddenly appear atop one of the kunai that had been embedded into the ground earlier. She and her two teammates were currently in the standard triangle formation around Kakashi, having slipped into it effortlessly the moment Gai had commanded.
"What was what?" Kakashi asked in curiosity as he finally tore his gaze away from his book for a moment, silently thanking whatever gave him the idea to have Gai do this part for him.
"He just freaking teleported or something…and then pulled a staff out of nowhere!" The kunoichi stated with a glance to the masked Jonin to her left before returning her gaze back to the two men facing off in front of them.
"Oh, that," the silver-haired man stated as he returned to reading his book. "That is one of the reasons why you were sworn to secrecy before being brought here. He can teleport between markers using a technique known as the Hiraishin. The staff was merely pulled out of a sealing tattoo hidden on his right arm."
Lee was too preoccupied by the fight going on to pay attention, Neji turned his head in curiosity even as he clutched his nose tightly to try to stop the bleeding, and Tenten let her eyes widen dramatically once again as she turned towards the masked Jonin.
"The Hiraishin, are you serious?!" She whispered fiercely. Despite the fact that she would've normally found the idea of a sealing tattoo fascinating beyond all belief, she was well aware of the iconic history behind the jutsu Kakashi had mentioned.
"Mmhmm," Kakashi hummed as he flipped a page of his book lazily. "He's a genius at sealing, but he only figured out how to actually use it over the last few months. He can't use it to the same extent that the Yondaime did, but to have actually figured it out use it in combat effectively already is still nothing short of amazing."
Twirling the staff that was only roughly 3 inches in diameter and roughly 5 and a half feet in length, Naruto slammed the end of it down on the ground with a grin on his face.
"Careful Gai-sensei, I almost got you there," he stated teasingly despite the spar of sorts currently going on between the two. It was, unfortunately, a habit he had picked up from Anko over the years.
"So you did," Gai stated as his eyes darted momentarily to the kunai behind the blonde before returning to his face as he realized what had occurred. "I have to ask, however, why didn't you use the Hiraishin to move behind us when you had the chance?"
The blonde adopted a contemplative face for a moment before he spoke again, clearly having been thinking about his next words.
"I'm still a novice with the technique for the most part," he admitted after a small sigh. "I still fail when trying to teleport to moving kunai most of the time, and even then, the ones I had thrown had gotten out of my current maximum range."
"…I see," the spandex-clad Jonin said as he bent his knees a bit in preparation to jettison forward if needed. "Any other limitations?" He asked, happy to receive free information on a technique he knew little about if the blond was giving it away.
"Maybe," Naruto responded with another grin. "I'm not about to tell you anymore about it in the middle of a fight though, Gai-sensei."
Saying nothing further, the blond twisted his staff off of the ground and charged forward towards the man across from him. He lunged forward with a thrust towards his chest, but was predictably dodged as the Jonin swatted it to the side and stepped forward with a fist aimed towards his whiskered face.
Twisting to the left to avoid the punch that could easily shatter bones, Naruto transferred his staff from one arm to the other behind him in a well-versed motion and swung it at the man's legs, causing him to jettison backwards instead of jumping as many shinobi might choose to do. It was a decision that showed he was an experienced shinobi, as many people had lost their lives by taking to the air in the middle of combat.
Rushing back in immediately, Gai leveled a punch at his chest that he promptly pivoted to the right to avoid.
'Adopting some of Anko-chan's Hebi-style into Goken really was a brilliant idea,' the blond thought as he grabbed the end of his staff within his palm and tried to smash it into his previous sensei's cheek. Naturally, however, said man merely ducked in order to avoid taking such a blow and countered with a leg-sweep.
In response, the blond merely jumped into the air and slid his hands to the middle of his staff before thrusting it forward in quick succession towards the Jonin's face.
Gai swiftly dodged each of the attempted strikes before finally lifting his hand up and catching the end of the staff. However, the blond merely responded by letting go of the staff completely as his feet touched the ground and rushing forward in an attempt to land a punch of his own on chest of the Jonin.
However, Gai had sparred with him too often over the years to fall for one of his more common tricks. He immediately let go of the part of the staff he had grabbed and deflected the punch as he threw one of his own again.
As the blow was millimeters from landing, the blond disappeared in a flash of yellow once again. A moment later, and the staff that had been falling to the ground disappeared in a small cloud of smoke as well. Out of sheer instinct, Team 9's sensei ducked just as a feint whoosh over his head indicated how close he had come to receiving a harsh blow. Spinning around since he was already low to the ground, he went for another leg-sweep just as the blond jumped back to put some space in between the two of them.
'I think that should showcase their skills well enough,' the blonde thought with a slightly increased heart rate after the brief exchange with the man at near his top speed. The kunoichi obviously practices with kunai to same degree I do with Shadow Clones, meaning she's probably a weapon's specialist with a few jutsu behind her. The one dressed like Gai, based on what the group said before, is probably a Taijutsu specialist just like him. That leaves the Hyuga…but he probably doesn't have anything past normal clan techniques.'
"I think that should be enough for the moment," Naruto said somewhat cryptically as his staff disappeared in a poof of smoke. He turned his gaze towards the rest of the group before giving them a smile, though he never let his 360 degree vision let Gai truly out of his sight.
"See you all again really soon," he stated…before making an extremely fast series of seals and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"Neji!" Gai called out a moment after the blond had disappeared while still in his combat stance, not willing to let it falter until he knew it was clear.
"…He's roughly fifty yards to the west talking to one of the other two," said Genin stated in a slightly nasally voice due to how he still held his nose closed. "He doesn't appear to be ready to engage us."
"Good," the Jonin stated with a small sigh as he the sore palm of his hand that caught the blond's earlier staff thrust. "Tenten, please treat Neji's nose as well as you're able to. Lee, keep on-guard, it would be most un-youthful to let one of your comrades get harmed in a moment of weakness."
"Hai, Gai-sensei!" The boy responded before he proceeded to turn his head almost mechanically in an attempt to keep watch as best as he could.
The kunoichi, meanwhile, walked towards her remaining teammate as she reached into her supply pouch and pulled out a standard first-aid kit. After moving over to Neji, she was awarded with a moment of self-satisfaction as she forcefully realigned his nose. She wouldn't normally be sadistic enough to enjoy causing pain to others, but the comment he made earlier about throwing kunai had irked her a bit more than she let on.
'Man, Naruto must have some insane muscles to do this kind of damage,' Tenten thought as she felt the damaged nose of her teammate. '…Maybe he'll be willing to help me out with my technique after this is all done,' she thought with a smile creeping up on her lips. 'It'd be nice to finally be able to talk about seals with someone for a change.'
"So, I'll just come right out and ask, are you willing to work with me to get this done?" Naruto asked while atop a tree branch that had a slightly obscured view of the clearing despite how far away it was.
"…I can do this on my own," came the voice of Sasuke as he revealed himself entirely. "I don't need your help for this, dobe," he stated in a tone that made it obvious he didn't entirely believe what was coming out of his own mouth.
"Sasuke, you know by now that what you saw at the academy aside from team assignment day was nothing but a ruse," the blond countered in a slightly annoyed tone. "Besides, I highly doubt that you could even keep up with the speed that Gai-sensei and I were using out there."
At this, the Uchiha clenched his fists tightly as his lips declined into a bit more of a scowl than he usually wore.
"You don't understand," he whispered harshly as he returned his gaze to the group of shinobi you could just make out through the trees. "I have to be able to do this alone."
"Fine then," Naruto said after a moment with a shake of his head. "However, when I launch another attack, feel free to to try to get the bells."
Before Sasuke got the chance to respond, the blond disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"So, are you going to keep running around aimlessly looking for Sasuke, or are you willing to team up to get the bells?" Naruto asked a familiar pinkette as he reappeared next to her, causing her to jump a bit in fright.
"Baka!" She whispered fiercely after she had calmed down. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Giving her a deadpan stare for a moment, the blond merely sighed and shook his head at the thought of giving a witty retort to her comment.
"So is that a yes or…?" He asked with a circular gesture of his hand to tell her to answer quickly.
"…Is Sasuke-kun helping you?" Sakura asked after a moment. It seemed that, despite her nervousness in their current scenario, her fan-girl mindset towards the boy overruled her otherwise noteworthy intelligence.
"No," Naruto answered truthfully despite knowing what it would likely cause the pink-haired girl to do. "I asked him, but he turned me down."
'Cha! This could be my chance!' Inner-Sakura screamed within the pink-haired girl's mind, urging her to find the Uchiha.
"Then I'm going to find Sasuke-kun, he might need my help," she answered before promptly turning and walking away – shouting the boy's name in the process to try to draw him out.
'Fucking fangirls,' the blond Genin thought with another sigh as he ran a hand over his face. 'Fine, since they obviously won't help me with this test, I guess I'll have to take this seriously and deal with them later.'
Reaching upwards, the blonde bit down harshly on his thumb to draw out a bit of blood. Then, after blazing through a short series of hand seals, he slammed his right palm on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Jutsu) He shouted as a moderately-sized cloud of white smoke rose from the ground nearby.
Having sensed the high burst of chakra, Kakashi's visible eye widened as he closed his book and slid it into his pouch.
"Gai…" he began in an attempt to warn the man.
"I know," said man responded as his eyes darted around the clearing they were in. "Neji, you'll be with me to try to hit a few of his Tenketsu if possible. Lee and Tenten, you two guard Kakashi as best as you're able to."
"Gai-sensei," Tenten began as she pulled out some kunai and remained as alert as her instructor. "Is this guy really a Genin?"
"…Technically, yes," he responded after sparing Kakashi a quick glance. "You'll have to ask him if you want more details. Neji, can you see anyone?"
"He's walking into the clearing ahead of us, the other two are about fifty yards to the west," the Hyuga clan member responded with a voice that sounded much closer to normal than it had before thanks to Tenten's efforts. "It's…odd though. His staff seems almost like it has a chakra network of its own."
Just as Gai opened his mouth to warn of exactly what that staff could do, however, he was interrupted by a warning from Neji.
"Jutsu!" The boy shouted before settling into a defensive stance.
However, much to everyone but Gai and Kakashi's surprise, the only thing that happened is a thick cloud of ash coming from the direction he was located.
Still breathing out smoke from his Katon: Haisekisho (Fire Style: Burning Ash Pile), the blond ran through another set of hand seals even with a nearly identical staff to his previous one off to his side standing upright unnaturally without support.
'Futon: Daitoppa,' (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough) Naruto thought as a weak gust of wind blew forward from behind him and moved the cloud of ash forward substantially.
'I'm really going to have to think of another way to do this after I finally get to hone my wind affinity more,' he thought as he witnessed his cloud of smoke traveling far further than it would have otherwise. 'This is far too useful of a combination to just lose.'
Seeing that the cloud of ash had made its way into the middle of the clearing, however, he clicked the hidden flint he had in his teeth to create a spark.
BOOM!
Immediately releasing the stream of ash after lighting it ablaze, he grabbed the upright staff to his right and dashed forward with his Byakugan still active.
'They obviously wouldn't stay still for that since Gai-sensei knows that trick…where are they?' He asked himself as his eyes gazed through the steam and dust that replaced the giant cloud of chakra that had obscured his Byakugan's vision beforehand. Finally, after noting that they had taken to the tree tops, he grinned as he set the staff upright again as he ran through a long series of hand seals. However, he didn't miss the small eye that formed on the staff and stared at him in annoyance during it.
'Yoton: Yodan no Jutsu!' (Lava Style: Lava Bullet Jutsu) Naruto thought as his cheeks expanded after feeling a familiar burning sensation rise slowly up to his throat. A moment later, he spat out what more closely related to a glob of lava rather than a bullet towards the tree that the group was standing atop of.
"Lava? Is that freakin' lava?!" He heard a female voice scream as he watched the group jump over to the next tree as the trunk of their previous perch quickly caught fire.
Before he could follow up with another glob to inevitably burn that tree down as well, he saw Gai jump towards him at impressive speed and Neji following after him as best as he was able to. Not wasting a moment, he picked up his staff even as Gai used one of his favorite abilities.
"Dynamic Entry!"The man shouted at the top of his lungs as he aimed to hit the blond's face with a drop kick. However, much like the last time, Naruto merely side-stepped and let the man pass over him before turning to face him. The Jonin quickly turned to face him as well even as his Genin took a spot directly behind Naruto.
"Extend," Naruto commanded as he tapped a finger along the metal towards his back to indicate which direction to do so in. Within half a second of giving the command, the back of his staff jettisoned towards the Hyuga who allowed his eyes to widen in shock.
Thanks to Gai's quick and soft-spoken warning he had given when they had retreated into the trees, Neji had been expecting the extension itself. However, despite expecting the action, he wasn't expecting the speed at which it occurred. As he pivoted to the side, the staff still clipped his shoulder harshly, resulting in a loud crack.
"Retract," the blond stated upon seeing what had occurred with his 360 degree vision along with hearing the brief cry of pain the teen gave as he now held onto his injured shoulder. The staff obeyed immediately, retracting to the length his normal staff would be.
Despite his concern for his student at that moment, Gai kept his eyes locked onto Naruto for the time being. It might have been considered harsh for a training exercise, but he wanted his team to get a taste of what to expect in something like the Chunin Exams. A skilled opponent that could injure you incredibly easily or even kill you if you weren't careful was a very common occurrence. Knowing what Naruto was capable of, a part of him was incredibly thankful that Kakashi had chosen his team. Hopefully this would better prepare them for the future.
"A surprise attack?! MOST UN-YOUTHFUL!" The blond heard Lee yell from the trees as he deflected a series of kunai thrown at him with one of his own.
'Hm, seems Sasuke decided to take his chance,' Naruto thought as he distinctly saw the Uchiha in the trees where Lee was running. 'I wonder if Sak-'
"You'll have to do better than that, Pinky!" He heard Tenten yell as the sound of more kunai clanging off one another filled the clearing.
'Seems so,' he thought with a smile as he focused entirely on Gai and Neji once again. 'I guess it's time to try to bring this to an end then.'
Leaning back, he grabbed the end of his staff before throwing it much like a javelin towards the Jonin in front of him, getting slightly widened eyes from beneath the man's incredibly bushy eyebrows.
"Expand!" He shouted as he jettisoned forward after the staff.
The staff then immediately expanded immensely to the point that it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to wield efficiently. It served in making it substantially heavier and covering a much wider area than the previous version had, though it caused it to slow down in mid-air as a result. Though it wasn't by much, it was enough to allow Gai to duck under the make-shift projectile.
However, this was what Naruto had expected. Coming up immediately after the staff had passed, he aimed a kick directly towards the Jonin's face with his shin-guard. Much to his ire, though, Gai merely raised a hand and struck his incoming leg with it – effectively nullifying both blows.
'He's still so much stronger than me that it's ridiculous,' Naruto thought with a grimace as he pivoted quickly to his left to dodge a fist the man had quickly tried to uppercut him with. 'If he actually opened a few gates, I'd be so screwed.'
"Nice try, Naruto," Gai commented as he slid off to the side to be able to keep an eye on both the staff and the blond. "You'll have to do better than that to catch me off-guard."
At this, the whiskered teen grinned before letting out a chuckle – something that made Gai quite nervous.
"I've already won, Gai-sensei," he said simply as the staff he had thrown was suddenly covered in a cloud of smoke. A moment later, and an armor-clad figure jumped out of the smoke while bringing down a large, wooden bo-staff upon the Jonin's figure.
Gai shot himself back, knowing first-hand how much blocking one of those blows can hurt, as the staff smashed into the ground and brought up a cloud of dust. His eyes narrowed as he took in the form of a large, heavily-muscled monkey,
The monkey stood at roughly 6 and a half feet tall and wore a pair of spiked bracers that traveled from his wrists to his elbows. Atop his left shoulder sat a detailed shoulder-guard, while the right held a simple pad that provided protection while allowing better movement – both of which were secured with leather straps across his otherwise bared chest. The creature also wore a pair of loose-fitting black pants with a pair metal claws resting over his feet to inflict more damage with his kicks.
Perhaps more intimidating than even his combat gear, however, were the ominously glowing yellow eyes. There was no pupil evident within said eyes, which made his stare incredibly fear-inducing to most people. A small jewel within the center of the yellow straps across his chest also shared the same yellow glow along with a small jewel in his shoulder-guard.
"Gai…nice to see you again," the creature stated in a deep voice as he leaned forward on his left fist and held his staff with his right.
"Wukong," the man responded with a slight incline of his head as he slid further into his stance…right before his eyes widened and he quickly turned to get vision on the blond. Despite being a relatively rookie mistake, his attention had been fully grabbed when he had to dodge the creature's initial entry.
"The exercise is over!" Kakashi's voice resounded throughout the clearing as Gai looked up into the tree to see Naruto holding two bells up in the air.
"Thanks for the help Wu!" Naruto called out as he turned his gaze onto his familiar. "You can go home now!"
"Hn," the monkey grunted as he turned his gaze from his summoner back to the green-clad man in front of him. "Another time then, Gai," he stated before he promptly disappeared in another plume of smoke.
'I can't believe I got distracted so easily,' the spandex-clad Jonin thought as tears ran comically down his cheeks. 'As punishment, I will do 250 laps around Konoha…on my hands!'
(5 minutes later)
The two teams found themselves together at the training posts. Each member of the possible Team 7 stood before one of the wooden targets with Kakashi in front of them and Team 9 behind him. Though they could have left, Gai elected to let them listen in to Kakashi's inevitable speech. He doubted that he could word this particular lesson better than his rival could anyway.
"So," Kakashi stated as he glanced towards the blond who currently held the bells. "Have you decided who gets a bell, Naruto?"
Glancing towards the heavily bruised form of Sasuke who was nursing a moderately injured wrist and the heavily cut-up form of Sakura, he silently tossed a bell at each of them. Though he, Kakashi, and Gai all understood the meaning, it was clear that no other Genin did.
"Interesting choice," the masked Jonin commented as he looked at the blond neutrally while the two other members of his possible team looked at him in confusion. "Care to explain?"
"It was a test of teamwork," Naruto stated as he locked eyes with both Sakura and Sasuke. "Normally, Kakashi would test this himself, but he decided to mix things up a bit by involving a Jonin roughly of equal skill and their Genin squad instead. Not only does it make things a bit tougher with additional people involved alongside a Jonin, but it's a bit more realistic as well since enemies rarely work alone."
"No Genin is expected to take down a Jonin single-handedly," he continued with a chuckle. "That would be absolutely absurd…at least in most circumstances," he corrected at the last moment. "We were supposed to work together in order to get the bells, which we arguably did in a roundabout way."
"But there were only two bells," Sakura stated in a moment of confusion as she looked towards the Jonin.
"It functions as a secondary test that's meant to mimic sacrificing yourself for the good of the mission or team," the blond answered before Kakashi had the chance.
"Correct," Kakashi stated with a nod at the blond's words. "The bells are meant to be a test to see what you would do in a scenario where you couldn't all succeed. You may one day find yourself in an impossible scenario in a mission, and be made to choose between the mission or one of your comrade's lives. If there's one lesson that I could make sure you all learn…it's this."
Closing his visible eye as he recalled his old teammate's words to him.
"In the world of shinobi, rules and regulations will tell you to complete the mission no matter the cost. Those who break those rules are called scum, however…" he continued as he opened his visible eye and spared a glance to the three teens in front of him. "…Those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."
Hearing the renowned shinobi's words, Sasuke turned his gaze towards the bell sitting on the grass in front of him.
'I should have listened to the dobe,' he thought with an inward scoff as he glanced towards the blond. 'It feels wrong to pass like this…'
Without thinking, the Uchiha grabbed the bell and tossed it back towards Naruto, causing all of the eyes in the clearing to fall upon him.
"You're the only one that deserves to pass," he stated simply as he let out a sigh at the thought of being held back in the academy for another year.
Sakura, meanwhile, had been staring at her own bell with guilt wreaking havoc on her. Seeing Sasuke, the one who had likely put up a far better fight than her, give up his chance of passing only made it worse.
'He deserves to pass,' she thought as she remembered how the kunoichi on the other team had terrified her merely by throwing kunai and shuriken at her. 'I'd be separated from Sasuke-kun…but maybe he'd think a little better of me this way.'
Reaching forward, she grabbed her own bell and rolled it over to her teammate's feat, causing the eyes in the clearing to turn to her instead of the Uchiha.
"You deserve to pass more than I do, Sasuke-kun," she stated with a fake smile towards the teen. "If anyone should go back, it's me."
While Gai and Lee were crying in the background at the 'youthful display of companionship,' Kakashi merely let a smile grow under his mask as he stared at each of the teens in front of him.
"Are you sure about this, Sakura?" He asked as he turned towards the pinkette.
"…Yeah," she stated with a small sniffle before turning her gaze up towards the man. "I wouldn't want either of them to have to go back because of me."
"Well then, I just have one thing to say to all of you," he said with an even wider smile than before – one that completely reached his visible eye this time.
"You pass."
And finished, I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 2.
First of all, I'd like to say that I know Anko's confession may feel a bit rushed. However, keep in mind that there's 3 years of currently undetailed interaction between the two of them. Despite not having seen his face, the feelings were still there. I intend to touch upon their past interaction as the story moves along, so hopefully it will make more sense as the story progresses. I know she probably still comes across as soft, but this is my portrayal of her character in private with someone she has come to trust. If you absolutely detest it, then this probably isn't the story for you.
Yes, I had Naruto write his own novel. It's not an original idea, but I still like it nonetheless. Why he wrote it will be explained later.
Yoton is Naruto's Bloodline. I'll bring up how that's possible hopefully in the next chapter. I've also touched upon the constraints of Hiraishin at the moment, though it's worth noting that I obviously intend to make those go away over time as he uses it. There's also one other constraint on the ability at the moment that I'll bring up next chapter. Sorry, I just couldn't find a way to validate stating all of it in this one burst during the fighting.
Wukong is the crossover character I spoke of at the top. The gear he wore, for the most part, is taken from his General Wukong skin if you want to look it up to get a better visual.