The Pathless Sage
Beta read by 'I before A except after K'
A/R: Surprisingly, I have returned to my original reason for not sticking to just reading, but writing as well. You got it people, I am so damn bored that I am writing like a freaking maniac again.
I'm really surprised to see nobody got where the ALADEEN MOTHERFUCKERS! came from.
On with the story!
It had been six months since the start of the supplementary Academy classes had begun for the ten year olds. Naruto had been progressing quite well. His Chakra reserves resembled that of two Kage combined, thanks to the combined efforts of both the Kyubi and his Uzumaki heritage, his Genjutsu and Ninjutsu were quite strong for someone still in the Academy (especially his defensive ninjutsu), his Kenjutsu was still subpar since Kisame handn't gotten around to training him and his Taijutsu was the best in the Village.
Yep, Naruto Uzumaki had officially surpassed Maito Guy and the Hokage at Taijutsu. He was constantly training under Kisame with a very large number of clones at his disposal, so right now, Naruto had a total training time of two hundred and sixty years, give or take a few months. That was just the pure amount of training time though, it didn't factor in time to sleep so truthfully, it would equal to something around five hundred years of hardcore Taijutsu training under Guy.
Not only had he trained with his clones so much that his technique had become near flawless, he was also training with over three hundred pounds worth of weights on, though that was still unknown to him. He was under the impression he was still wearing hundred and ten pounds, not knowing that Itachi had added small amounts of weight to his existing weights every night while he slept. It was small enough that he didn't notice the change, but large enough that once it was accumulated over a long time, it would make him very, very fast.
While walking down the road, he noticed a newcomer walking down the main street. He looked about to be about Naruto's age, but he was really tall (easily 5"9) so Naruto couldn't be sure. He wore what looked to be remnants of a simple black kimono, though it could hardly be called anything but remnants since it was so tattered, and had a katana strapped to his right hip, though from the length of the blade, it looked more like a Nodachi.
He looked muscular, but somehow gangly, with long black hair that looked wiry and was swept back roughly. He had a pouch for ninja tools on his right thigh, so Naruto could guess he was right handed. From the angle he was standing at, the boy looked underfed and malnourished.
Naruto decided to ignore the boy for now, but from the corner of his eye, he could see the Villagers giving him the very same glare they reserved solely for him. That got Naruto's attention, and he decided to ask the boy why something like that would happen if he ever met him again.
-TT-
Usually, Naruto would sit near the back of the room so he could pretend to be asleep, while he actually paid rapt attention to what happened in class. Though people usually didn't believe him, he was actually quite interested in learning.
However, this one September morning found Naruto seeking a seat beside a certain lavender haired Clan heiress. Why? Because he had noticed her stalking him for the past four months, though he was sure it was happening for much, much longer, and frankly he wanted answers as to why she was stalking him. Did she like him, or was she just plain creepy?
As he sat down on the only seat next to the Hyuga girl (she was sitting on the outer edge of the bench designed for three people, so Naruto was sitting in the middle seat) he saw her start and heard her let out a small "Eep!" though it was so quiet, he might as well have imagined it. He didn't know why, but she seemed to be cowering even more into herself than usual.
Deciding to go right into the questioning, seeing as nobody but the stoic Shino was in class yet. He turned to her, intent on finding out answers, but lost himself in her pupil-less eyes. Was she always so beautiful, or were his eyes playing tricks on him?
Breaking out of his stupor with a sudden shake of the head, he thought it best to get the questioning over and done with before he got a bigger audience for his interrogation.
"Hinata-san, why have you been stalking me for the past four months?" Naruto asked tentatively, not sure as to how the shy girl would react to being directly confronted.
"I-it's not b-been o-o-only f-four months ..." Hinata stuttered quietly, but due to his enhanced senses from being a Jinchuriki, he heard every word perfectly.
"Okay ... how long have you been stalking me for? And, please don't stutter. You have nothing to fear," Naruto reassured, hoping that kindness mellowed the girl out enough to get him some honest answers.
"It has been four years, since we started in the Academy," Hinata replied, forcing away her stutter and willing her blush away, though her voice still stayed quiet. She could never get over her shyness, something her father had ensured by his mistreatment of her.
"Okay, so you have been stalking me for the past four years. Why? What do you see in me that drives you to stalk one such as myself?" Naruto asked, somewhat afraid of the answer he was going to get.
It took a while to explain everything, but she told Naruto of her treatment at the hands of her father and the Main Branch of her family, how Naruto embodied the determination she seeked, how he was her ray of hope, and how she liked him.
"Thanks Hinata, you're the first girl that said something like that to me," Naruto hugged her lightly, not noticing the dark crimson blush that crept slowly up her face.
Shino's bugs buzzed lightly and he smiled lightly under the oversized collar of his trench coat, while Hinata promptly fainted.
-TT-
Iruka came into the class an hour or so later to find it a rowdy bunch of newly passed students chattering loudly amongst themselves. "Weird, they're usually chatty, but they aren't that loud. Must be their excitement over finally being able to graduate. Well, they earned it, most of them passed the Graduation Exam twice!" Iruka thought proudly, reminiscing about how hard his students had trained over the past six months.
-Flashback- (Hey! I might have decided to time-skip, but I ain't just gonna hand em powerful techniques without explaining them somehow!)
The class Iruka Umino had been in charge of was excited. They had been taking his supplementary classes for just about two months now, so they were excited about this 'cool move' Iruka was going to show his class. Honestly, it had been hard work, but they had made much more progress during these two months of catch-up classes than they had ever done in the Academy.
Iruka walked into the class to find a bunch of ten year olds looking at him expectantly, rather than chatting amongst themselves like they usually would. He chuckled, his trick of telling them he would be teaching them something interesting got their attention really fast.
"Alright class, today I am teaching you Nature Manipulation," combined shouts of "COOL!" came from his class, as he almost held his ears in pain. Years of duty as a ninja made his hearing quite sensetive.
Iruka walked over to each of his students and handed out what looked like small bits of paper. After he had handed everyone a medium sized square, he went back to his desk and went into full lecture mode.
"Before I teach you anything about Nature Manipulation, I am going to give you a lesson on them so you know what you are getting into," at this, everyone except Sasuke and Naruto groaned out loud, even the stoic Shino managed a small sound of displeasure. "Of course I am, you didn't think you would get away without a lecture from me, did you?"
"No, sensei!" The class chorused simultaneously.
Iruka giggled softly like a schoolgirl and went into his explanation. "There are five basic forms of Elemental Chakra. I say basic because it is possible to combine them later on through extreme control or Bloodline Limits, but that is far beyond the capability of Academy students. Anyhow, people have a genetic affinity to a certain Element, which is the easiest for them to master. Due to the high amount of Chakra that is needed to use Elements, very few ninja are capable of using more than two Elements."
"The Elements are balanced in a circle. Each Element is stronger against one, but weaker against another. This is the natural order of the Elements. When two Jutsu of the same Element collide, the one with more Chakra in it will win. However, if there is a perfectly equal amount of Chakra in the two Jutsu, then they will just cancel each other out. This is known as the Rule of Counterbalance."
Normally, when Iruka gave them lectures, half of the class fell asleep. This time around, he could see everyone paying close attention, even Naruto and Shikamaru.
"So what does the paper have anything to do with this?" Ah, leave it to the class genius Shikamaru to ask the million pound question.
Iruka chuckled. "These papers are specially made from Chakra trees, these Chakra papers react to the slightest amount of Chakra. The way they react tell you what kind of Chakra you have an affinity to," he held up a piece of paper much like the ones he gave to his class, only a second later it burst into flames and burnt to ashes. "I have an affinity to fire, so my paper burns away. If you have an affinity to wind, it will be slashed to pieces, water will dampen the paper, lightning will crumple it slightly and earth would crumble it to small pieces of dirt."
The class eagerly tested out their Chakra Natures, while shouting out their affinities gleefully. A large portion of the class had an affinity to fire, seeing as this was the Land of Fire they were born in.
"Erm, Iruka-sensei, it seems I have an affinity to all five Elements," Naruto called, displaying a row of five rectangular strips of paper that showed the five different reactions Chakra paper was supposed to have upon coming in contact with Chakra.
"Well, it seems you have. No matter, it's rare, but it's possible for a person to have more than one affinity. Though all five is a shocker though, that's a great gift you have there Naruto." Iruka called, he was rather calm considering his student just demonstrated a feat not seen within the last hundred years. (Lies, Nagato can do the same thing, and they're almost from the same generation)
"Now, what I am going to teach you are basic D rank Elemental Jutsu. They are all defensive Jutsu, so there will be no fighting eachother to test your Jutsu out, am I understood?" Iruka asked the class in general, to be answered by a chorus of "Yes, Iruka-sensei!"
"Good," Iruka handed each of them Jutsu scrolls based on their Chakra affinities, though he handed the Uchiha two, upon strict orders from the Civilian Council to hand him the lightning scroll regardless of what his affinity was, and fire scroll if his affinity was lightning, and he also handed Naruto one of all five of the scrolls, courtesy of his affinities being numerous.
"Now get out into the playground, and practice your Jutsu!"
-Flashback End-
Iruka smiled, remembering how Naruto had been the first to not only master one of the Jutsu, but all five of them before one of his classmates finished mastering one of them. Over the four months that he had spent practicing the techniques, he had also found a nifty trick that increased the strength of the Jutsu.
Snapping out of his reverie, he decided to humour his students and use the Big Teacher Head Jutsu for the last time on his class.
"SHUT UP YOU BRATS!" Iruka yelled, feigning anger despite being pleased with his class. "You all passed your Graduation Exams and are now Gennin. I will announce the teams and your new Jounin sensei. They should be here to pick you up after lunch."
Iruka proceeded to announce the names of all the fodder teams, meaning teams 1-6.
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno-" Iruka was cut off by a huge shout of glee and another of outrage.
"YAAAYY"
"NOOOO" Cookies for guessing correctly who these two individuals were.
"-And Zaraki Kenpachi. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake." Iruka finished, as if he hadn't just been rudely interrupted. At his announcement, many looked confused. Who was this Zaraki kid? He certainly wasn't part of their class. Catching their looks of befuddlement, Iruka decided to enlighten them. "He is an orphan that has been enrolled into the ninja system recently and has been taking personal catch-up classes on his own. He has passed the Graduation Exam due to sheer skill in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. Ah, here he comes now-"
And lo behold, a tall raven haired kid entered the class with a sword strapped to his side. It was the same kid he had seen in the street when coming to the Academy, Naruto realised, and he looked quite scary from the front.
"Hope I ain't late, I kinda got stuck on the roads," Iruka, knowing his reputation for getting into fights, just waved him on. He took the only available seat in the class, which happened to be next to Naruto.
Naruto didn't bother talking to him, seeing as he wasn't talking to him, but it was kind of uncomfortable having people stare at the new student next to him, who decided it was a wise choice to wrap his hitai ite around his hand so that the metal protected the back of his hand. Weird, his hitai ite seems smaller than normal.
"Team 8: Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi," no surprises there, Konoha had been looking for a good specialised tracking squad for a while, though the perverted leer that Kiba sent Hinata's way was quite infuriating to a certain Jinchuriki for reasons unknown to himself. "Team 9 is still active, so Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi." No surprises there either, the Ino-Shika-Cho team.
"Wait a second," Naruto called, "Aren't you forgetting something? Who am I with?"
"Naruto, due to you being the Dead Last, you have been assigned a personal sensei. You are alone on a team with Kisame Hoshigaki." Naruto scowled, why was he the only one with a one man team? Well, at least he had Kisame to bail him out if need be.
"What a drag ..." Naruto drawled, making his best friend Shikamaru smirk. He was starting to rub off on the young blonde.
-TT-
It was three hours later than the appointed time for their Jounin sensei to come pick them up, all of the other squads were gone, other than Naruto. Who was this Kakashi, and why was he so late? And what the hell was that annoying tapping sound that kept grating on his nerves?
"Baka, will you stop?" Sakura exclaimed, smashing Naruto over the head with a fist. Naruto immediately halted the pencil he didn't notice he had been tapping and muttered a small apology.
"Why let her bash you around?" A deep, gravelly voice asked. Looking around, Naruto saw that the newcomer had spoken for the first time in the long day. "You are obviously stronger than her, so why are you letting her do something like that?"
"Zaraki, right?" Naruto asked, not bothering with the customary honorifics. Zaraki only nodded slightly. "Don't worry about it, I'm the Dead Last of the Academy, so even though I want to, I can't actually do anything about her beating me up."
"What the hell? He's obviously lying through his teeth. No way in heaven or hell is he weak enough to get beaten around by a fangirl." Before Zaraki could make his feelings known, though, he was interrupted by a door opening and two men walking through the door.
"KISAME! YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto roared at his sensei.
"Oh, I got Naruto. They told me I had to train the Dead Last, but the idiots obviously just handed me the cream of the crop." Kisame mused out loud, not bothering to reply to his student's accusations.
"Sorry guys, Kisame and I got talking ... so we kinda lost track of time," Kakashi interrupted the rabid fangirl, who was obviously about to make some remark about Sasuke being the best and Naruto being the worst. "Meet me on the roof." And with that, Kakashi was gone in a swirl of leaves.
"Seeing as you're not in an actual team, you get to skip the team test. You can start taking missions from tomorrow, I'll give you a note so you can take as many missions as you want without me being there." What annoyed Naruto wasn't the fact that his sensei left right after he said this, but all the while he was saying this, he was slowly vanishing in wisps of mist.
"DAMMIT! STOP DOING THAT WEIRD VERSION OF THE SHUNSHIN!" Naruto roared, apparently at thin air, though he got a creepy chuckle as a reply.
-TT-
Naruto was in the Mission Center, with a scroll in his hand that was given to him by Kisame. He remembered what Kisame had told him the night before and scowled for a second.
"I have taught you all the Taijutsu I can. Technically, since I'm your official sensei now, I'm not allowed to teach you Kenjutsu until you are a Chunin. So, since you're a ninja now, go do some D Rank missions, make some cash and enjoy life a bit more."
True, he hadn't had much money to enjoy his life with. He was given an allowance by the Hokage to live on, but it was just about enough to pay for his housing and buy food to live off of. Of course, Itachi and Kisame paying for their food and shouldering a portion of the household expenses helped, but it still wasn't enough to truly enjoy life. It was only enough for him to get some better food.
So now here he was, in the Mission Center, determined to make some money. He looked absently to the chart that hung behind the Chunin on duty, showing how much money was paid for standard missions.
SS Rank - £500,000
S Rank - £100,000
A Rank - £25,000
B Rank - £1,000
C Rank - £250
D Rank - £10
Needless to say, Naruto was surprised by the sudden increase in pay rise from B Ranks and higher, but he knew that new Gennin weren't allowed anywhere near them. He might have been strong enough to do one, but the Village didn't know that.
Walking over to the Chunin, he started asking questions about the mission procedures. Tezuka was more than happy to explain to Naruto, seeing as he was a fellow ninja and he held nothing against the boy.
"Basically, you take a mission, complete it and get the mission scroll signed. If the client has any extra comments to make, they can write it into the scroll. If they want to give the Gennin a bonus, they can just give the money to your team directly. The money for the actual pay is paid directly into the ninja's account in the Ninja Bank. Though that makes me ask, where is your sensei or your team?" Tezuka asked, curiously.
As a reply, Naruto just gave him the signed scroll with a small note inside.
"I, Kisame Hoshigaki, give permission for my Gennin team, comprised of: Naruto Uzumaki, to do missions on his own without my supervision. I also allow him to take as many missions as he wants at a time."
"I see ..." Tezuka mused.
"Alright, Tezuka-san, can I get two hundred D rank missions with standard pay?" Naruto asked with a steely glint in his eye. Tezuka had a hell of a lot of paperwork to do to sign out all those missions.
"...Right. I will be seeing you in a few months." Naruto took the large stack of scrolls outside, but not before leaving a parting comment.
"I'll see you at the end of the day."
Outside, Naruto summoned up a thousand clones and arranged them in teams of ten. Giving out two scrolls to each team leader, he started giving out
"Alright, I want you to go around and finish off one mission at a time. Once you have finished the mission, get the scroll signed and dispel all clones other than the leader. The leader will then come in and give the scrolls to the clone I leave here, and then dispel. The clone I leave here will give in the scrolls once all scrolls have been collected, then dispel." Naruto made another clone stand outside the Mission Center. "GO!" All of his teams headed out.
Naruto headed to Ichiraku's, it had been a while since he visited.
A/R: -sobs- Why people no review? With the hit counts as high as they are, even if I got one review for every 100 hits, I should still be getting 30+ reviews per chapter? Why people be so stingy?
Kiddin'! :P Anyhow people, I'm happy with so many reviews, but that doesn't mean I don't want more. Greed is said to be a sin, but Greed is a necessity for advancement, for it is Greed that compells humans to better themselves.
Please review, favourite and alert this story, it really helps me out and encourages me to write. Spreading the word with family and friends brings more attention to the story, increases the reader base and also really helps me out.
Question though, do you guys want to see the Wave arc or not? I really want to because I have awesome Inari-bashing in mind, but I will skip it if you guys want me to ...
3.5k, quite a long chapter by Pathless standards.
Original Jutsu:
Earth/Lightning/Fire/Wind/Water Wall
D Rank (potentially B Rank), Defensive
Basic walls of their Elemental Chakra that provides small amounts of protection from enemies from all angles, though the strength of the Jutsu can be increased through higher Chakra usage. The Chakra control required isn't as high as other Elemental Jutsu, nor is the Chakra consumption, but can take a toll on a normal Gennin or Academy student if used for an extended period of time or cast multiple times.
=*=*=Personal Opinion Rant=*=*=
The rant this time is going to be short but sweet.
HAS ANYONE EVER SEEN THE 4TH HOKAGE?! Yes? So I take it everyone in the Leaf Village is an UTTER retard? Everyone looks at Naruto every damn day and they NEVER make the connection?
Shikamaru apparently has an IQ of over 200, and yet he manages to overlook something so GLARINGLY OBVIOUS?
WTF Kishi? Are you retarded or is the Leaf Village retarded? Which one?
=*=*= Personal Opinion Rant End =*=*=