A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
I will try to make a general response to some review I had asking for Naruto to show off more skills or for his relationship with Natsuki to move on to the next level.
I'm trying to have my story cover every key part of the "classic" Naruto timeline while giving enough modification to the content to be linked to my main themes being Naruto master of the wind and his relationship with Natsuki.
I would run out of idea if I showed too much too soon and I don't think it would make Naruto's progress in skill or in love believable.
Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 5: Friendship and Trust
Training ground 8
The newly formed team eight just arrived at their destination, training ground eight following their jonin instructor Yuhi Kurenai.
Kurenai was a beautiful woman with long black curly hair and red eyes, she wore customized clothes and she had an aura of maturity despite her young age for a jonin.
"Welcome and congratulations on becoming real ninjas to you three" she said "You already know my name but let's introduce ourselves properly" she finished.
"My name is Yuhi Kurenai, I like training to perfect my genjutsu skills, passing time with my best friend Anko and eating Dango. I dislike perverts, arrogant and sexists people. My dream for the future is to teach you all to reach your full potential as ninjas and for me to be one day recognized as the best genjutsu user in the elemental nations." she said before giving a nod to Hinata to go on.
"My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I like my family and learning my family taijutsu style, my dislike are the same as sensei and my dream is to reunite my family into a family with no distinction between main and branch members."she said hesitantly and stuttering a little.
Kiba knew he was next and began "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and here is my companion Akamaru, I like my family and learning my family jutsu, I dislike fan-girls, arrogant pricks who think they are better than anyone and people who disrespects animals and my dream is to be a good clan head in the future." Naruto nodded as he thought that Kiba was a good guy behind all his idiocy.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like training and reading, I dislike arrogant ignorant people and my dream for the future is to become the strongest Hokage ever and protect everyone in Konoha even those who don't deserve it." he said to his team.
Kurenai then explained to them that they had to pass her test in order to truly become genin, she hold out two bells from her pouch and told them they would need to get the bells from her in order to pass the test and that obviously at least one of them would fail and get sent back to the academy.
She then gave them the signal to start as she disappeared in a swirl of leaves into the forest.
Kiba and Hinata were about to rush into the forest when Naruto called them back.
"Guys wait, it's a trap we have to work together to get those bells." he said to them.
"How do you know Naruto?" asked Kiba while Hinata stayed silent and blushing a bit at being called by her crush.
"Have you ever heard of a one man cell or even a two man cell?" he asked them "Yea me neither, Konoha policy is to promote teamwork and I think this is a test to see if we could perform up to their standard" continued Naruto.
His teammates were surprised that Naruto who never stood out during the academy days was so good to read behind the mission objectives. Kiba did not have a problem with working as a team since his family motto was to work for the good of the pack before all. Hinata saw the truth in his words and decided to follow them.
As they ran into the forest in a single line formation they spotted several traps and evaded them all, the formation idea was surprisingly Kiba's idea, the logic behind it was good too thought Naruto.
Hinata went first with her Byakugan, she spotted all traps left by Kurenai but also could see right through their sensei's genjutsu traps too.
Naruto was in the center as they recalled his perfect score in weapon accuracy he would be the perfect one to launch counter attacks once a threat has been identified.
Kiba took the rear guard using his enhanced sense of smell and hearing he could prevent attacks from behind the team.
Kurenai was impressed as she saw the newly assembled genin work so well together as they were evading her traps and following her in the forest. She then decided to increase the difficulty and made her presence known as she started to change her strategy.
Hinata suddenly stopped running signaling there was a problem, "I can still see sensei but there's a problem" she said. "Sensei chakra signature is now coming from four directions and I can't tell which one is the real one with my Byakugan"
"I can't tell them apart either, they all smell the same" added Kiba.
"Okay I've got a plan listen to me" said Naruto to his team as he began to explain to his teammates his plan to beat Kurenai's Kage Bunshins.
The moment Kurenai and her clones arrived, coming from all the cardinal directions around the spot where her team was supposed to have stopped, a trap was heard and several smoke bombs went off. The area was soon covered with smoke.
When the smoke cleared out after a short time, Kurenai came face to face with seven other "Kurenai" in the clearing where she should have found her team and only three of her doppelgangers.
Now she knew three of them were her clones and she thought for a moment to dispel them all to know who to target specifically but decided against it for two reasons, first is because it would weaken her advantage against the "fakes" who would then in turn all decide to attack her at the same time, and second is because she found their strategy remarkable and wanted to see if their plan had something else after the surprise effect they just displayed against her.
More over she found a hole in their plan, if even she could not find who was a fake and who was a clone in those seven, so how could the genin. They shouldn't know either who to target after the smoke screen cleared.
Then all of a sudden four "Kurenai" charged at the remaining ones, including the real Kurenai who obviously faced one of her genin henged into her, in a four two versus two taijutsu spars.
Upon first contact, all of the attacking "Kurenai" changed back into Hinata, Kiba, a Kiba-Henged Akamaru and finally Naruto with Naruto being the one who faced the real Kurenai.
Now even though she was a genjutsu specialist, it didn't mean she could not hold her own in taijutsu, plus having the snake mistress of Konoha as a sparring partner helped a lot in that aspect knowing that Anko was a master of the very deadly Snake taijutsu style.
Hinata and Kiba were no slouch either as their style were heavily based on their family very powerful taijutsu. Her clones did overpower the genin after some time but did not have enough chakra left to amount to anything more so they dispelled themselves.
Akamaru was not that lucky as he was quickly taken out by his cloned opponent.
That only left one Naruto slightly winded after facing the real one and two Kurenai on the field.
The real Kurenai smirked in advance at her imminent victory though she decided that she would pass this team anyway with the teamwork they displayed it was enough for her even if they didn't get the bells.
She did not expect her clone to suddenly throw a bunch of kunai and shuriken in her direction, narrowly escaping the projectiles, she landed a few meters backwards but a sudden white and yellow blur caught her attention "He's fast!" she thought before the impact.
She took a clean hit into her sternum section and was thrown back sliding to the ground for a few meters. She stood up holding her stomach and ready to use some high level genjutsu to slow Naruto down when he smirked at her holding up two bells in his right hand.
"I think we win, sensei" said Naruto with a grin on his face.
She was astonished as she didn't even felt him taking out the bells. Deciding to try a final test and seeing as the other two were out she said to him "Very impressive Naruto, I didn't expect the clone facing Akamaru to be one of yours and not mine"
"Thanks sensei" answered Naruto as Akamaru stood up from his fake unconscious state and rejoined his master who really was unconscious.
"How did you and the others know who was a clone of mine and not a henged teammate during before the fight?" asked Kurenai.
"Easy sensei, first I took out Akamaru's opponent during the confusion and then ..." answered Naruto as he made his Kurenai clone hold out her hand, it had some kind of marking written with a pen or something and then he made it dispelled.
"Very clever, you win, now choose who you will give the last bell to Naruto and who will be sent back to the academy" asked Kurenai.
Naruto seemed to think for a moment what to reply to her when he took the bells and threw one near Hinata and the other to Kiba.
"It was a team effort to take those bells from you sensei, even if I am the last one standing I choose not to abandon my comrades." he said with determination in his eyes.
Hinata and Kiba chose this moment to wake up and their respect for the blond grew tenfold after hearing his words and the fact that he didn't profit from their unconscious state to go ahead and claim a bell for himself.
Kurenai also was impressed and with a smile on her face announced "Team 8, it is my pleasure to say that you all passed my test for the genin admission application" with pride in her eyes.
"Yahoo! Do you hear that buddy we passed!" shouted Kiba as he took Akamaru in his arms.
Hinata just smiled and thought that maybe her father would be impressed with her for once.
Naruto felt pride too, he never knew that teamwork could be so fulfilling, he knew that he could have probably gone alone against Kurenai but having shared this moment with his teammates made it more impressive to him.
"That is all for today good job team eight, meet me here tomorrow at nine and we will begin our missions" she dismissed her team but quickly called Naruto back.
"Naruto would you come with me to the Hokage tower please, I think there are things we need to discuss" she said in a tone that clearly showed that 'no' was not an option.
He gave her a nod and followed after her as his teammates made their way back to their home.
Hokage tower – Hokage office
As Kurenai was about to knock on the Hogake office's door, Naruto simply kicked the door open and went inside.
"Hey there Jiji, long time no see I'm a shinobi of the leaf now!" exclaimed Naruto as he saw Sarutobi behind his desk.
"That I see my boy, congratulations it seems you're one step further to take my hat Naruto" replied the old man.
"Anyway what are you doing here surely you didn't come here just to tell me that, I am the one who made the team arrangement after all and I already knew that you passed the exams" continued the old shinobi.
"Actually Hokage-sama I am the one who called Naruto here" said a still shocked Kurenai at the display of familiarity between her student and the man called the Shinobi No Kami.
Naruto was starting to get nervous at the reason why Kurenai wanted to bring him here.
"During our fight to determine if Naruto and his teammates had what it takes to be real Konoha ninja, Naruto here displayed some impressive skills, I would even go as far to say that those skills were too impressive." she continued.
Naruto was cursing in his head, he did show too much during the fight and Kurenai was no chunin instructor with no field experience, she knew when she saw real power in a fight.
Kurenai described to the Hokage how the fight went on, Naruto's use of Kage Bunshin to fool her in the final confrontation and the last move he performed to hit her which was from what she could tell well beyond genin or even chunin in terms of power and speed.
After that, a long pause went on until Sarutobi said "Naruto please tell me how you could perform the Kage Bunshin, and what that last move was and don't forget anything" the old man had a look in his eyes that told Naruto that lies would not be well accepted.
Naruto took a long breath, closed his eyes and then nodded.
"You may want to make sure the room is secured Jiji, what I will tell you will rock your world and in the wrong ears could prove to become a hassle for Konoha." announced the blond.
Sarutobi's eyes widened at this since he never saw Naruto so serious before and quickly made hand signs to secure his office from prying ears.
Once done he motioned for Naruto to speak, "It all started six years ago, the night I was attacked ..." began Naruto.
He told them everything, his encounter with Natsuki, his training with her for the last six years, the general content of said training, how he knew of his mother Kushina and with that the reason why the Kyuubi attacked twelve years ago.
Sarutobi was at first scared that the Kyuubi was somehow manipulating the young ninja, but the facts that Naruto came up with during his tale made him believe in the blond when he said that Natsuki was trustworthy. He also felt a great fear at the mention of a man capable of controlling the Kyuubi. Finally he knew that he would have to tell Naruto soon about his father too. He just hoped Jiraya would be there too to help him announce the news to Naruto.
Kurenai for her part was impressed at what Naruto had to endure during his life up to now, she was also sad to learn that Naruto was the son of her late sensei Kushina and that she had not been able to help the boy when he needed it in his childhood. She made a silent promise to help the young man in front of her from now on and maybe teach him a thing or two about his mother.
"So Jiji, sensei, am I in trouble?" asked Naruto.
"No Naruto you are not, even tough I would have preferred for you to come to me and tell me everything sooner, I can understand that you have trust issues with people after what you've been through." replied the sandaime.
"I understand too why you did not reveal everything you could do during our fight Naruto, and I'm not mad at you. We will have to talk about what you can do though in order for the team to function properly. While we are on the revelations, I can tell you that your mother was my jonin sensei when I was a genin, I would be honored to tell you about her if you wish after this." replied Kurenai.
Naruto was relieved, he never liked to lie to the old man and he felt that he could now trust Kurenai too as she was a student to his mother.
"That would be all for now, the genin official papers will be ready before the end of the day and I will see you Kurenai and your team tomorrow for your first mission." announced the Hokage before dismissing them.
Naruto's apartment
Naruto made it to his apartment and opened a link with Natsuki "Do you think I made the right choice to tell them everything Na-chan?"
"Only time will tell us Naru-kun but I think they are trustworthy" replied Natsuki.
"I guess you're right I'm a bit winded from today's fight and revelations, I'm calling it a night" said Naruto as he fell asleep.
Hokage Tower – Mission Hall
A month had passed since the genin exams, Naruto and team 8 had done their fair share of D-ranked missions.
"Ah team 8, you will be pleased that I have a C-ranked mission for you, if Kurenai here thinks you are ready of course" exclaimed Sarutobi.
"My team is ready Hokage-sama" replied Kurenai with pride. Teamwork with her team was flawless as she had Hinata loose her crush on Naruto and Kiba focus more during fights.
"Alright then, team 7 was in the middle of their first C-ranked mission to wave country when they encountered more resistance than the mission parameters. Protocol would have wanted for the senior officer Hatake Kakashi to withdraw from the mission and pull back his team but it seems he "let" his genin decide if they should continue the mission or not.
"Needless to say the Uchiha wanted to continue to prove to the world that he is the best" anticipated Naruto with a nod from Kiba and a bark from Akamaru.
"That is correct" replied Sarutobi, before adding "However genin Aburame Shino had the presence to send one of his familiar back to warn some relatives who in turn warned me about these new developments." continued the Hokage.
"Looking at their opposition, I think that it is safe to say that they will need reinforcement for their mission. That's why team 8 will deploy in one hour to join them in wave to complete their mission. Kurenai will assume leadership over the operation once your team joins team 7, is that clear?"
"Yes Hokage-sama" replied Kurenai.
"Then dismissed and good luck" finished the old man as team 8 left for their first real mission.
A/N:
What do you think? No new wind specific moves during this chapter but I found it interesting to use Naruto strategy to beat Kiba in the classic Naruto chunin exams during this fight with tweaks :)
Wanted to do wave a little differently than classic with team 8 as the back up for team 7. Expect some funny moments when the two teams meet.
Read and Review please.