Story Title: Apprentice of a Hero

Crossover: Disgaea 3/Phantom Brave/Naruto

Disclaimer: I do not own any story, plots or characters taken from Phantom Brave PS2 game, Disgaea 3 PS3 game and Naruto Anime/ Manga

Chapter 2: Bow down to Naruto

Naruto smiled and stretched his lazy body as he woke up the next morning. The memories of yesterday running through his head. He had survived five years worth of training with Almaz yet only a minute of time had passed in the real world. He had also become quite powerful with the skills that Almaz had bought for him. Maybe not super powerful, but if he was to gauge, maybe high chunin or even low jonin level, with expertise in weapons handling and the various elemental techniques.

After the first three years period of basic training, Almaz had allowed Naruto to plan his own training schedules for the next two years. Naruto had taken Almaz's instructions to heart and had turned his focus to mastering his sword skills, wind magic and the Blacksmith skills for the remaining two years period of time. He had learn various sword techniques from Almaz which he was dying to show off to everyone.

The current sword he now carried had been strengthened by so much chakra poured into it that various special techniques had also being unlocked. Not that he would need the sword just for the skills though, two years was enough time for Naruto to implant a wide variety of sword skills he had gotten from boosting other items into himself. No, the reason the sword was so dear to him was because of the special ability that the sword grants to its wielder, which could not be implanted into himself.

As long as he was holding the sword, his natural speed tripled what it used to be. He could literally run circles around some of the monsters in the sub-dimension. That was the reason why he had named the crystal green sword "Wind Fang", because while he was holding onto the sword, he was as fast as the wind with the capacity to do a lot of damage.

Turning his head lazily, Naruto looked at his alarm clock and sighed, it was time to meet his new genin team. It still felt strange though, the memories he had of them had been diluted by five long years of training time, even though in real world time, he had only become part of Team 7 yesterday.

He no longer could summon up the irritation he had felt for Sasuke, even his love for Sakura he died away during those long lonely periods of training, when he had only Almaz sensei for company. As for Kakashi whom he had only met once, his memories of the man were a bit faded. All he could remember was a tall man, with a shock of white hair and a face mask covering half his face. The most prominent memory he had of the man was how he had been humiliated by him during the bell test.

Naruto shook his head wearily. The five years training in the sub-dimension had really messed up his sense of time in the real world not to mention giving him a giant headache. Perhaps it was best for him to not think too much about it and just take things one step at a time. Naruto washed up and stared critically into the mirror. He felt like a seventeen year old stuck in a twelve year old's body. Okay… maybe not seventeen year old, he did not felt like he really matured that much in all that time since all he did was train. But he did feel older than how he looked. Although it was perhaps a good thing that he did not age in the sub-realities, it would have been difficult trying to explain to everyone why he looked older.

Carefully placing his sword into the sheathe, he slung it across his back and made his way out of his apartment after making sure he had strapped on all of his standard ninja equipments.
"Sakura and Sasuke, watch and be surprised at the might of Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto swore to himself as he started to plot out his plans of showing off to his team mates.

OoooO

Sakura could not believe her eyes as she watched the scene in front of her. Sasuke had stiffened from his position under the shade of a tree as he observed Naruto with narrowed eyes. That was because Naruto was standing in the middle of the field swinging an exotic green crystal looking sword in smooth and quick stances that spoke of years of training and skills. Sakura's mind spun as she gaped at Naruto. How could the class idiot suddenly become so skilful with a sword?

Few ninjas specialised in sword handling in Konoha, many preferring smaller weapons that they could dispatch enemies with speed and stealth. Sakura's eyes widen ever further as Naruto swung his sword at a large boulder in the distance. A seemingly sharp arc of wind blasted out of the sword, slicing the boulder into two clean halves.

"How did you do that?" Sakura exclaimed, unable to keep her surprise to herself anymore. "When did you even learn how to use a sword?"

Sasuke leaned forward to hear Naruto's explanation as well, obviously wondering how the class idiot had seemingly became an accomplished swordsman over night.

"Oh, I've been training for years." Naruto said in a mysterious voice which he probably thought was cool, followed by a smirk on his face. "After all a ninja has to have a few hidden techniques up his sleeves. The Shadow Clone Technique isn't my only trump card you know."

"Are you trying to say you actually know other powerful techniques?" Sasuke asked, his eyes staring hard at Naruto.

"Oh mostly with different kinds of weapons." Naruto said with a nonchalant shrug. "You know the usual, spears, bows, axes and staves. Though I tend to specialise more with the sword, I also have a bit of training in elemental techniques."

Sakura and Sasuke gaped as Naruto made a slashing motion with his hand. There was a puff of air and a fist sized fire ball appeared in front of Naruto, slamming into the ground, leaving a small burnt crater formed from the impact. They did not notice Kakashi perched high up on one of the trees observing them as he eyed Naruto carefully.

"Hmm… I seemed to have used too much energy." Naruto mused and then gave a shrug as he walked out of the crater. "Well since Kakashi sensei is not here yet, I might as well train myself."

The two genins and their hidden instructor watched in surprise as Naruto sheathe his sword and began to move through several complicated bare hand fighting stances. Though it was obvious that his bare hand combat abilities was still quite raw, it was remarkably improved from the academy taught taijutsu stance that Naruto had been using in the bell test yesterday.

"Where did you learn all these?" Sasuke demanded. "Tell me who taught you all these techniques! You can't expect me to believe you've move from an idiot one day to a weapon expert the next!"

Naruto eyed Sasuke with a grin on his face. "I taught them to myself, I just don't want to show my true abilities so soon. But since I am a genin now, I see no point in hiding. Why Sasuke? Are you interested in having me teach you?"

Sasuke stiffened at the insinuation that he needed help from the class dead last. Except that the skills that Naruto was displaying now was well above what he expect from someone who had scored at the bottom of the class. A thought came to his mind and Sasuke's hands flashed into a handseal.

"Kai!" Sasuke called out, expelling a blast of chakra from himself.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with disbelief and humour on his face.

"You actually thought that I was a genjutsu?" Naruto asked as he began cracking up, rolling on the ground laughing.

Sasuke flushed and was about to retort when a kunai whizzed through the air, aiming for Naruto. In a flash, Naruto was up and had deflected the kunai with his sword. Kakashi appeared behind Naruto, another kunai in his hand, forcing Naruto into defending himself as Kakashi strike.

Sakura and Sasuke watched with morbid fascination as Kakashi and Naruto began to engage in a fight before their eyes, Kakashi was armed with a kunai in each hand while Naruto defended himself with his blade. It was a fight purely with only the usage of weapons, and Naruto was able to actually match up against Kakashi on even ground. Naruto was grinning a few times as he tried to attack Kakashi, obviously enjoying himself.

After ten minutes of fighting with no clear winners, Kakashi leapt back, keeping a distance from Naruto as he eyed his number one surprising student.

"You are not a genjutsu, but the real thing. Your swordsmanship is at least the level of high chunin or maybe even low jonin." Kakashi sheathed his kunai ignoring the gasps from Sakura as he eyed Naruto critically. "This kind of skill level isn't something that could be learn from a day. Tell me Naruto, how long have you kept your skills hidden and played the idiot, and where did you get that sword? It is of expert workmanship, a genin like you shouldn't have been able to afford it."

"Low jonin level swordsmanship?" Sakura cried out in disbelief. Sasuke meanwhile was simpering with anger that Naruto might have duped him with his class idiot act and was actually more powerful than he was.

Naruto on the other hand looked like a ninja caught in the act during an infiltration mission. He froze up and stared at Kakashi, obviously not expecting his sensei to begin interrogating him about his new skills.

"Erm… I…" Naruto stuttered. There was a pause and all gathered could see Naruto thinking fiercely before he suddenly straightened himself. "It happened five years ago. I met a man outside the village and we became quite close, he was a weaponmaster and had been looking for someone to pass his skills to. I guess I must have impressed him. He stayed and trained me in various weapons for a few weeks before continuing on his journey, leaving me with several manuals on how to use all sorts of weapons, and also several weapons techniques. He also gave me this sword as a parting gift."

"A weaponmaster?' Kakashi asked with narrowed eyes. "Do you still have the weapons manuals with you?"

"He told me to burn it once I mastered and memorized everything." Naruto said looking down. "He didn't wish his techniques to be used by someone unscrupulous."

"I see." Kakashi said eying Naruto. "Then the fact that you've burnt the manuals meant that you've already gained a certain level of mastery with weapons. Well I was going to train all of you in kunai combat fighting today, but since you're already an expert with weapons and have hidden that fact from everyone for so long, you're to run fifty laps around the village as punishment."

Naruto was about to protest when Kakashi's visible eye curved into a smile.

"Naruto, if you don't accept that punishment, I'll have to think up something else for you." Kakashi said sweetly.

Naruto hesitated and then rolled his eyes before breaking into a jog, disappearing out of the training area. Kakashi then turned to Sakura who was still stupefied at the fact that Naruto was most probably a more powerful ninja then her, while Sasuke was embroiled in hateful feelings of jealously.

"Teach me how to be more powerful than Naruto, Kakashi sensei!" Sasuke demanded.

Kakashi reached out a hand and rapped Sasuke hard on the head.

"You need to learn how to walk before you can run." Kakashi said light heartedly as he eyed his two students. "Take out your kunais and put more effort into your practice. I am sure you wouldn't want to lose to Naruto, am I right?"

Sasuke gave a growl as he quickly took out a kunai, while Sakura seemed to be stuck in a bad dream as she took out her weapon slowly. Her minds flashing back to the times she had called Naruto an idiot when it turns out that Naruto's skill level was actually much higher then hers. He must have been laughing silently at her all this time and probably think she's the idiot herself.

Guilt was visible on her face as for the first time Sakura broke out of her fan girl haze and realised that there might be more to people than what they seemed. She gave one last look in the direction where Naruto had ran off to and turned her attention back to Kakashi, resolve on her face.

OoooO

Sarutobi listened to Kakashi's team report for the day and raised his eyebrows when Kakashi told him about Naruto's apparent skills with the swords, and apparently several other weapons if what Naruto had said were to be believed. The fact that Naruto had somehow done a fire ball technique without forming seals was more than a little unbelievable.

"So Naruto had encountered a weaponmaster who was most likely proficient with elemental techniques and bare hand fighting when he was younger." Sarutobi mused with a frown on his head. "I do admit that I've been keeping tabs on Naruto's welfare periodically throughout the years. But I am busy with work and couldn't look after him every time of the day. This matter might have slipped passed me. I've also never heard any mention on Naruto's weaponmastery activities from the Anbus sent to guard him, which meant that Naruto might have been more secretive then I thought."

"The fact that Naruto hid this fact from the entire Academy and even you for so long meant that he possessed a certain level of cunning." Kakashi said carefully, knowing that Sarutobi regarded Naruto as his surrogate son and would never want to hear anything bad about him. "It might be wise that we keep a closer eye on him in the future."

"Yes that's true." Sarutobi said with a sigh. "He's becoming more and more like his mother everyday."

Kakashi straightened at the news. He had never heard any mention of Naruto's parents before, though news of the demon container was rampant around the village, with the civilians generating the largest amount of bad press about Naruto.

"Is his mother a Konoha ninja?" Kakashi asked looking at the Hokage. He saw a look of horror flashed across the Third Hokage's face briefly.

"I am sorry, but that information is an SS-rank secret." Sarutobi said looking at Kakashi sternly. "I must be getting old to let some details slipped out. I trust you not to say anything on this matter."

Kakashi nodded, covering his surprise that Naruto's lineage was such a high rank secret before asking. "So what should we do about Naruto?"

"I trust Naruto. He's a good kid at heart. Knowing that he had a high proficiency in weapons shouldn't change that fact, Konoha has few swordsmasters as it is, he will be a great asset to the village if he was properly trained." Sarutobi said as he thought about the matter. "I will have Hayate judge his level of swordsmanship. If Hayate is interested, I'll have Naruto be assigned to an apprenticeship with him."

"That might not be very good for the dynamics of Team 7 if Sasuke and Saukra found out that Naruto's receiving special treatment." Kakashi pointed out. "It's not my place to say this, but the council might be offended that Sasuke did not get similar specialized training."

Sarutobi paused and hummed for a moment as he pondered about the matter. He gave a weary sigh and look at Kakashi.

"How about this, if Naruto is accepted to an apprenticeship, he would learn from Hayate every three days of the week. In those three days, Team 7 would not receive any mission, but would instead study specialised skills under other instructors." Sarutobi said, his lips in a grimace. "I'll be assigning you to train Sasuke on those three days if that happens. Sakura… I've read the reports, her chakra control is top notch but she had pathetic chakra reserves…"

Kakashi waited as Sarutobi thought fiercely trying to pair a suitable instructor to the girl.

"Naruto and Sasuke both have great potential in ninjutsu, with Naruto's current specialization in swords, it's best to have Sasuke concentrate on furthering his ninjutsu techniques. Sakura should on the other hand focus on genjutsu techniques and mayhap chakra healing techniques." Sarutobi said at last. "I am assigning Ebisu to train Sakura in more advanced Genjutsu techniques on those three days. Once he deems her ready, she'll be sent to study under the medics at Konoha's hospital. I need you to start your team on tree walking and water walking to build up their control and reserves as well on the normal days."

"So soon?" Kakashi asked in surprised. "Normally we would give the genins some time to get used to the team before beginning serious training."

"If we're going to be giving apprenticeship out to the three of them, we might as well begin their training seriously." Sarutobi said. "I'll arrange for Hayate to test Naruto tomorrow. After the fight, depending on Hayate's decision, you're to inform your team of their future schedule."

"Yes Hokage sama." Kakashi said with a nod as he got up from the chair. "I'll make a move then."

Sarutobi nodded as he watched Kakashi walked out of the room and smiled. Naruto was truly living up to his name as the number one surprising ninja, he would have to watch his fight with Hayate tomorrow to get a better understanding of Naruto's skill level.

OoooO

Naruto sighed as he got home after the team training today. Not that he did much of any training. Kakashi had initially made him run around the village fifty times. After he had done that, Kakashi had proceeded to ask Naruto to climb the Hokage mountain thirty times while he train Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto had been sweating buckets by the time he had a chance to rest. The training was not that different from what Almaz had put him through. It fact Almaz's training sessions had been even tougher, seeing that he had to condense all his training into five years worth of time.

Naruto quickly took a quick shower before he readied his equipments and several cups of ramen plus a kettle of water, he planned to do some training for a few days in the sub-reality he could create with his Dungeon Monk skill. He could actually make the sub-reality last for half a year now but he had no endless bag of food or water like Almaz sensei, for him to last so long in the reality. He could of course empty his magic pouch to make space for food and water, but that means he would have no place to store his loot. With a sigh, Naruto made a mental note to himself to find out how much the Netherworld merchants are charging for food and water magical bags as they might prove useful.

He settled down into quiet meditation as he tried to access his Dungeon Monk powers. Due to his inexperience, it's going to take him a few minutes to create the sub-reality. Naruto stood still in his apartment as power welled up around him, a few minutes later, he vanished from sight and reappeared in the sub-reality he had created. Unlike the one Almaz had created for them to train in, this sub-reality was the picture of a perfect meadow covered with soft green grass and flowers. Almaz had warned him that even though he's virtually God-like in the sub-realities, the things he created there were pretty much random in nature.

Naruto looked around the empty meadow and then took out the blue pearl that Almaz had given him. If Almaz was to be believed, the pearl contained the power of the three-tailed beast as oppose to the Kyuubi which was seal in him. Now was the perfect time to try drawing out the chakra of the pearl. Naruto sat down and began concentrating on the object. There was a sensation of cool water flowing over him, the pearl began glowing with dark blue chakra before dying out.

"Huh? What's wrong with it?" Naruto mused, shaking the pearl in his hand.

He concentrated again. Same as the first time, the pearl began glowing with dark blue chakra before dying out.

"This is ridiculous!" Naruto said glaring angrily at the pearl. "It's like there's something inside the pearl resisting my attempt to draw the chakra out."

He gave it several more tries before giving a sigh of defeat. The chakra of the pearl would flicker out every time he managed to draw something out. Giving it up as a lost cause for the moment, he put it back into his bottomless pouch before drawing his sword from his back. He readied his sword in a guard position in front of him, preparing for the next part of his training. Accessing his Dungeon Monk power, he began manipulating the sub-reality.

Almaz had explained it as a wish type of ability. The one with the Dungeon Monk ability had to access his spiritual powers and 'wish' for the creation of sub-realities and monsters. Right now Naruto was putting in all his focus and concentrating on a wish for a lot of enemies that were slightly below his power level whom he could fight against. After all, since the monster creation process was also random, it would not do for Naruto to end up fighting a horde of creatures he could not possibly win. If one dies in the sub reality, the person would really stay dead… forever.

A dark haze began flowing into view around him before turning into the living bodies of a horde of monsters that looked like penguins with peg legs. Almaz had taught him how to identify the various creatures of the Netherworlds and these monsters looked like what Almaz had called, the Prinnies. Naruto grinned as he swing his sword at the nearest one, cutting off its head while the others menacingly took out butcher knives and charged at him. Naruto had implanted nine sword techniques into himself during the time he was with Almaz sensei, now was a good time to hone these sword techniques to an even higher level.

"Hurricane Slash!" Naruto cried out as he used his favourite sword technique and vanished from sight, pumping chakra into his legs to move at high speed.

All that was visible was the green flashes of the sword as a mini dust cloud built up around Naruto's blurred form. Only the dead monsters marked his path as Naruto immediately executed his second sword technique.

"Blade Rush!" Naruto bellowed, a grin on his face as he ran directly into the horde of prinnies, slashing those that was in his path.

Slaying monsters in a sub-reality was a therapeutic activity after a hard day's work.

OoooO

Author's Note: Apprentice Hero Naruto was created with the aim of being a Naruto Dungeon Crawl fanfiction. So there will be teams of Konoha ninjas traversing dungeons together in future :)