Chapter 6: Tests of Wisdom, Patience and Skill, Part Two
The next day found team 8 at their training ground waiting for Naruto. When he arrived he looked exhausted.
"Naruto what's wrong? Didn't you sleep at night?" Asked a concerned Kurenai, Hinata being too shy to speak and Shino silently nodding.
"Yeah kinda. Me and Kyu had a long chat. You see he wants to teach you about HIS type of Genjutsu. Said you got potential. That and we were also working on training schedules. Physically I am the most advanced but I doubt you'll be able to keep up with me. We also had a talk about our specializations. Long story short, while my body slept at night, I was in my mind scape discussing stuff." *yawn* "Sorry about that. Anyway me and Kyu also had a conversation about me getting him out here. I DO have the kitsune contract, but he's inside me so I can't summon him that easily. Sure I might be able to if I use his youki, but I don't know what it'll do to my body and I doubt its gonna be nice. All I could get down to was making a soulless Kage Bunshin and shoving him inside it. Still I'd have to speak with you before I get to it. You're our sensei after all."
"I see. Well Naruto how about you tell us your ideas? And keep Kyubi inside for now. Also what about your mind scape?"
"Ok first things first. Kyu said your genjutsu was amazing, even though he didn't explain how. He said I should ask you about it. He also said he'd try teaching you Kitsune Illusions, that from what I understand are so strong that can s actually cause physical wounds on their target. That and they are pretty damn hard to dispel. For example my Chakra Nami wouldn't work on such an illusion. On the downside they take a crapload more chakra to cast."
"I see. Well I'd love to learn how to use them but that's not a discussion for now. What else did you speak about?"
"Ok after that we had a chat about our training. I am pretty much an all around shinobi, except in genjutsu, thanks to my reserves and physical training. He said that while we should specialize in something we should also be good in a couple more areas and I agree. He said that Shino would be good with a pair of Kama while Hinata should also learn genjutsu, how to use Tonfa or some ranged weapon and maybe learn some medical jutsu. For you sensei he said he could try and teach you some taijutsu once he got out of the seal. He also had some pretty nice ideas about me and Hinata cooperating. He said that while my style focuses on counters and a lot of evading, coupled with aggressive footing, Hinata is the opposite. Hinata-chan, your natural fighting style is to avoid an attack and counter immediately while tricking the opponent that because you're on the defensive you are at a disadvantage. As for Shino he said you and your Kikai-chu pretty much cover each other so you could use them to warn you of danger, much like having a sixth sense concerning danger."
"I concur with Naruto-san's observations. I am however wondering what he meant by specializations since his previous statements all but countered said point."
After Kyubi spent some time explaining to Naruto what Shino had said, Naruto answered; "Because like it or not nearly all shinobi focus on something. For example, I am good in taijutsu, ninjutsu and have started on fuuinjtsu, but I'm most likely going to specialize on taijutsu. Even if you learn how to use Kama, you will focus on your bug jutsu. Its just something to fall back on. Anyway, Kyubi said my specialties will probably lie in reckon, close quarters combat and seals. Shino is reckon, strategy and long range assault. Hinata is reckon, support and close quarters combat. Kurenai-sensei is genjutsu and ninjutsu. This way we got all our bases covered."
"N-Naruto-kun, w-what d-did you m-mean about y-your m-mind scape?"
"The mind scape is a representation of your mind. It takes a lot of meditation to get inside but once you do, you understand a few things about yourself. Its a bit dangerous though."
"A-ano, what d-do you m-mean?"
"Inside your mind scape lie ALL your memories, dreams and nightmares. If you're not careful and have had a bad life, you might get traumatized. Its also the place where mine and Kyubi's consciousness can meet. Mine used to be a dark damp sewer thanks to the beatings I had received. In my case it symbolized my lack of confidence and permeating sadness. Now its a huge luscious forest with a lake and a small cave that hides my nightmares. Word of advice; if you ever gain entrance there, never ever go into the cave. You'll be forced to endure my life and even now I'm not sure how exactly I didn't go insane after all the shit I went through."
"Ok Naruto, now lets get down to the training regime. What did you have in mind?"
"Me and Kyu started thinking up a sort of upgradeable obstacle course. So we thought in the morning we should train our bodies and then go for a mission or two. After that I suggest chakra control and jutsu training. As far as training goes, Hinata is going to be my partner, no offense Shino."
"None taken. It does seem like a good plan. I do wonder though what training you will go through."
"Well since both me and Hinata-chan are close quarters combatants... I was thinking of joint taijutsu training. This way we'll be able to cover for each other. Hinata-chan is naturally flexible, while my kekkei-genkai also makes me extremely flexible. I think we can fight literally within each other's embrace so to speak. If we train enough we'll be able to know what the other is going to do and act accordingly. We could literally be the most dangerous pair in Konoha."
Naruto's speech was interrupted by Hinata that almost had steam coming out of her ears at the prospect of training alone with the crush. In a fighting style that would have them touching almost constantly too! Naruto noticing it rushed to help her; "Hinata-chan! Even though I do admit that your constant blushing and stuttering make you look cute and innocent on top of your natural beauty, there is a limit. If you want to keep on being in this squad you must act the part. I can't fight side by side with an ally that I can't trust to not faint out of shyness! Hinata-chan compose yourself immediately! Otherwise I will leave!" Naruto hate shouting at her, he really did but there was no other way.
'Way to go kit. Now you've broken her. And here I thought you were with the good guys tsk tsk tsk.'
'Oh shut up furball. You know as well as I do that she has to break out of it.'
Hinata was meanwhile trying to get out of the stupor Naruto's harsh words had thrown her into. She almost broke down sobbing before...
"Ok Hinata-chan look at me. I said LOOK AT ME! I know you have a crush on me and I know your family has destroyed your self-esteem. You think you're weak and all. Know what though? Out of everyone in our age group you're the only one that actually has a chance of beating me. Trust me not even Neji-baka has your potential. Its just that you limit yourself. I want to help you, but first you have to get over your confidence. Now get up and look at me in the eye! Tell me what you see Hinata!"
Hinata slowly got up and looked at her crush. She saw his concern for her. She started feeling worse by the second... She had angered her Naruto-kun.
"I-I am so s-sorry Naruto-kun. I-I am so w-worthless I s-should just q-quit." *sob* "I m-made you a-angry at me... I-I should just l-leave..." Hinata turned around while Naruto sighed in exasperation. Just what would it take for her to get over herself. Making up his mind he took off his shirt and formed his wings. Rushing forward he grabbed her bridal-style and took off. Hinata eep-ed before screaming in fear. Naruto ignored her cries flying higher and higher.
"Hinata I didn't get angry at you. I didn't shout at you either. I tried to shock you a bit so you could get over it at some point. Seems the only way to get over your shyness and fear is this."
With that Naruto dived, Hinata screaming. At the last second he spread his wings picking up speed. For Hinata, this seemed like the craziest ride she'd ever been on, at the hands of her crush no less. As the adrenaline began to set in however, her screams of fear turned into screams of exhilaration. For the first time in Kami-knows how long, Hinata was having fun. Her shyness and fear forgotten she enjoyed every second of her ride. When Naruto finally touched down Hinata pouted. It was nice. Then she got a look at Naruto's smug grin.
"Looks like you got over that eh? Now how about we go back? Here's a bit of wisdom Kyu himself gave me; 'you're only as strong as you want to be. The moment you loose confidence is the moment you will loose. No matter what others tell you, the only thing to gauge your worth is you. That way even if you were to loose, you will never fail.' Remember Hinata-chan, I believe in you and trust you with my life. So what if others think you're useless? Prove them wrong. Its all in the palm of your hand."
Needless to say Hinata's confidence was greatly boosted by Naruto's words. In a comfortable silence they both went back to their team. Shino raised an eyebrow seeing as Hinata seemed much more confident, while Kurenai took Hinata to the side to ask her exactly what had happened. After all was said and done the team got down to fixing the schedule, with Hinata blushing at how close to Naruto she'd have to be and Naruto chuckling at her expense, which in turn got Kurenai bopping him on the head. Shino for his part remained mostly silent but was visibly relaxing around his team. Naruto's laughter and jokes putting him at more ease than he had been outside his home since he could remember.
After a while Naruto asked about Kurenai's test. She explained to her team that exactly because she knew they were protected against genjutsu she had to make special versions in order to confuse them. First of all the Kurenai that spoke to them was a genjutsu coupled with a Kage Bunshin. The voices they had supposedly heard from their team mates were also genjutsu she used to counter Hinata's eyes. After all, the Byakugan, no matter how strong wouldn't detect a sound illusion. The last genjutsu she used was one that projected to the subject its innermost fears such as Naruto's childhood or Hinata's fear of rejection. Fortunately no one asked Shino what his innermost fear was, since whatever had the power to scare the ice-cold bug user must be the stuff of nightmares indeed.
Days passed and Naruto, having finished his obstacle course that was hard enough to give Kurenai a challenge, started getting bored. Sure his training with Hinata was awesome, they cooperated so darn well they could take down Anko. Hinata had started learning medical jutsu, that coupled with her already impressive knowledge about medicine, revealed her to have excellent potential as a medic-nin. Shino for his part had gotten several books on strategy from Kurenai's ex-part sensei Nara Shibi. He had also started some lessons in using Kamas, often using Naruto as his sparring partner, seeing as Naruto healed any injuries in seconds and a lot of stamina. Kurenai for her part spent a lot of time with her team and Naruto's rather... unique training regime (meditating long enough to enter her mind scape for example or focusing and condensing her chakra enough to have it take the shape of certain more and more complicated kanji). Naruto used his Kage Bunshins to study seal making and elemental chakra control. Well his primary affinity might be wind but that didn't mean he couldn't learn anything else right? For practice he had used some of his seals to improve Shino's weapons making them much sharper and sturdier than normal. He also applied some seal on Anko's bracers that allowed her to draw a pair of long knives, again improved with seals.
The team had decided after a week that they would have Naruto as the team leader. As the team leader it had come the time to request a higher ranked mission. So approaching the Sandaime Naruto spoke:
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, I believe it is time for my team to receive a higher ranked mission. We have completed the minimum for a C-rank mission and according to our jounin sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, our skills qualify for a simple C-rank that focuses around our talents. Therefore I believe I speak for my team in saying that we request a more difficult mission."
"Genin Uzumaki, explain to me why should I listen to a mere genin, fresh out of the academy? Am I not capable of discerning who I should give a mission to? Or perhaps you believe that in your infinite experience you know better than your superiors?"
"Simple Hokage-sama. We are shinobi. Young or old, fresh or battle hardened we are shinobi. While keeping us in D-rank missions does serve its purpose for most genin it is not the same for us. First of all as shinobi, we are people of action, destined to face adversities. Staying here, sheltered and secured, trapped in normalcy dulls our skills and that is unacceptable. True we need security and shelter, but we also need to get out and sharpen our skills, something that is impossible in the village. Also may I draw your attention to the purpose of my squad. We are reckoners. How are we going to do our job later on if we have no idea how the world outside works beforehand? Not knowing the smallest detail could spell disaster for our mission and therefore another squad's as well. By going out of the village at our small age, in simple missions, possibly by cooperating with other older and more experienced squads, can help a lot. We will know what to face later on as well as possibly setting up contacts outside the confines of this village. I am not asking for a solo or our team only C-rank. Instead I'm asking that we do our job and reckon for another team in a joint mission."
"Well Naruto-kun I see that your argumentative ability hasn't dulled. Good. Well I have a team going out to retrieve an item. Maybe your team wants to go with them? If you're ready that is. They are leaving in 30 minutes."
Naruto looked at his team nodding and turned to the aged Hokage.
"Hai Sandaime-sama. We will meet up with them. Prepare our mission scroll while my team and I prepare. I will return for it, as I can catch up to my team the easiest."
"Very well. Team 8! You are now on a C-Rank mission to Tea Country. Your objective is to reckon the house of a rich merchant for a stolen item. Once it is located you are to give th results to the other team that will perform the extraction. According to your performance will be your payment. Good luck."
With a curt nod Naruto and his team left to prepare. Having learned the Shunshin no Jutsu, they moved to their individual rooms and grabbed their traveling scrolls. After saying their goodbyes to their respective families they shunshined to the gate to wait for their allied team. Soon a team made of 3 chuunin appeared. As they were going to ask what was happening Naruto deftly landed in front of them.
"Greetings. I am Uzumaki Naruto, taicho of Team 8, a.k.a. Team F.E.A.R. We are your reckoners. I am a reckon and close quarters specialist, while Hyuga Hinata to my right is a reckon, support and secondary close quarter specialist. Aburame Shino to my left is our strategist, reckon and long range specialist. Behind us is Yuuhi Kurenai, our jounin sensei and a genjutsu and long range specialist. Here is our mission scroll. Pleased to be working with you."
|The chuunin looked at the team in front of them and blinked. Short and to the point introduction, on their time and covering all their bases. However they just had to have the damned demon brat. Naruto sensing their discomfort sighed. It would take a long time to be accepted. After the introductions were over the teams moved out using chakra enhanced leaps through the forest to move fast.
It took the teams two days to get to their destination. During those two days the chuunin team all but ignored Naruto and his team but by the third day they were starting to feel better around them. No signs of demonic control were there and his team was functioning like a well-oiled machine setting perimeters and guards every now and then with Kage Bunshins covering their tracks.
At night of the last day the two teams had reached their goal, a huge 4 story high mansion. It was time. Naruto signed to the jounin team to stay put while they did their job. Hinata activated her Byakugan and scouted the house for chakra sources. Meanwhile Shino unleashed a special breed of bugs with the ability to transmit images to him like a short video. As for Naruto, after warning the chuunin team of his unique kekkei genkai, activated his wings. The team just looked at him in surprise.
"Maa, daijoubou. Its just my kekkei-genkai. Got it the day the kyubi almost broke free. See the damned furball wanted to mess with my body so it could use it to get away in it. Thanks to Yondaime's secondary seals though I was able to beat it. The remains of its youkai gave me the power to shift my form a bit. Nothing terrible yeah but its real useful. Don't worry, Sandaime-sama, Jiraiya-sama and Yamanaka Inoichi-sama have all confirmed that the Kyubi is still sealed safely inside my gut. And yes my team knows it and they're ok with it. Now lemme do my job ok?"
With that Naruto left a group of stupefied shinobi looked as he shot up into the night circling the building, scanning it with his special vision modes. The chuunin leader turned to team 8,
"Are you alright with the fact that the kyubi's vessel is on your team? I mean the Kyubi could have taken over and..."
The chuunin was interrupted by Hinata's unusually cold glare. "Naruto-kun isn't the fox. He's its vessel as you have put it. Besides, if the kyubi couldn't take over Naruto when he had been tortured to the point of considering death a blessing, how would he take over Naruto-kun now? I mean even when the idiotic villagers tried to murder him and made his life a living hell, he never gave up protecting him. If he wanted us dead, we'd have been dead already and you know it. Hate the Kyubi's past actions but know that no matter what Naruto-kun will not become like that. He has something that is more important to him than anything else and that's his goal of being accepted by this village. So shut up and have some faith in him."
The chuunin looked at her surprised. Hyuga Hinata was supposed to be weak and timid, yet this Hinata was anything but. Curiously they turned to Shino.
"I concur with Hinata-san. Naruto is simply far too kind and caring to be affected by the Kyubi."
Kurenai couldn't be prouder of her team. The way they were going, they would really change the world. A few minutes later Naruto landed in front of the team. After revealing and cross-referencing their findings the teams turned to Shino. He was after all the strategist. After a couple of minutes of thought he laid out his plan.
"The defense seems weak and we already know their weak points. Team A will enter from the north, behind their storeroom. Kurenai sensei will cover them with a genjutsu. Meanwhile Naruto and Hinata will be stationed at the exit of the mansion so that in case the guards are alerted and their... termination is deemed necessary there will be no escape for them so as to keep the Leaf free of charges. I will stay at the extraction point and keep in safe."
The teams agreed and set off to their tasks. Thanks to Kurenai's genjutsu arts, the guards didn't find out a thing about the shinobi. A mere 3 hours later the two groups were well on their way back to Konoha. Sarutobi, after hearing about Team8's success rewarded them for a rank B mission considering the risks they took as well as taking care of every potential action.
After the mission Naruto went up to the Hokage and asked for a more advanced sealing book, since he had already finished the ones he had gotten before. The third gladly handed him a few books with more advanced seals. Naruto was turning into quite the seal master for his age. He might be low in experience but he sure had talent in the area. Making a mental note to ask Jiraiya for some more books next time he was in Konoha, he gave the team a couple of days off to enjoy to themselves. Their day was going fine as they went to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand for lunch until team 7 appeared. Sasuke scowled at Naruto and proceeded to goad him to a fight.
"Well well if it isn't team dobe. What are you doing here? Recovering from spending too much time thinking?"
Naruto always quick to put the Uchiha brat back into his place glared. "No teme. We're just having fun. Or have you forgotten that there is fun outside your Uke's happy time? Buzz off now asshole."
Sasuke bristled at the insult. "Get up dobe and back your words! Nobody insults an Uchiha and gets away with it!"
"I would if I didn't have to touch you Uchiha. Or if I really had any doubts about who would win the fight."
"Hn so you realize you would never defeat me dobe?"
"On the contrary you brat. I don't want to fight you because I know I'd beat you. No use fighting an enemy with no chances of winning."
"What did you say dobe? Get up and prove it!"
Sakura of course jumped to defend her crush. "Yeah Naruto-baka! Get up and fight Sasuke-kun or shut up like the baka you are!"
Naruto rubbed his ears. "Oh great the pink banshee. What do you want Haruno? Don't you have a wall to smash with your forehead? Geez..."
Sakura was sputtering after Naruto's insult. He never had insulted her as much as he had right now. And for some reason it hurt her. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you were, Sasuke rushed to 'defend her pride'.
"Get up and fight me dobe. Or are you going to hide behind that pale-eyed bitch of yours?"
Time stopped as chopsticks fell on the counter. Shino and Hinata both looked at each other and thought 'Idiot' Naruto slowly got up and turned to the Uchiha. Meanwhile Kyubi was asking for the brat's blood for having insulted Naruto's mate.
"Take... it... back..."
"What? You wanna fight for that looser bitch's sake? You must be more stupid than I thought. You have no chance against me. I am an elite Uchiha and you are a useless, worthless, son of a bitch that..."
Sasuke's tirade was stopped by Naruto as he literally exploded forth in a burst of speed sending a palm strike in Sasuke's sternum knocking the wind out of him. Right after he disappeared and reappeared behind him, smashing his elbow on Sasuke's ribcage making a cracking sound. As Sasuke was shot forward again Naruto waited for him, sending a punch into his face knocking him down. Sasuke twitched on the ground weakly trying to get up. Bleeding from his nose and lips, with a busted eyebrow and a shattered jaw, not to mention the right half of his ribcage almost entirely broken to pieces, he couldn't make a coherent motion. Sakura watched in horror. Hinata and Shino sighed. It would definitely leave a mark. Kiba laughed. Naruto marched over to the sprawled form of the Uchiha and looked at him in contempt.
"You are weak Uchiha, just like the rest of your clan. You lack a driving force, to push you through everything, therefore you lose to me. You are not scum. You are worse than scum."
Sasuke's mind had one thought throughout the pain. ' I must get stronger in order to beat him. I have to get stronger. I have to hate more. More hate. More...MORE HATE!' Sasuke's mind had been as fractured as his body. Naruto called for some medics. Sakura in the meanwhile started yelling at him for hurting her Sasuke-kun and that he was a monster and that she would take it to the council. Hinata stopped her mid-sentence.
"That would be stupid Sakura. Sasuke himself threatened and challenged Naruto to a duel and lost. That is something that the owners of this shop, three clan heirs and subsequently their cans will support. Since neither Sasuke nor Naruto are civilians, they would be tried only by the shinobi council. In other words your mother and the civilians won't be able to do anything. So get your useless excuse of a humanoid being and get out."
Kiba stared wide-eyed at Hinata's words while Sakura started retaliating with a barrage of insults and accusations making no sense even though one could easily hear the words 'Pale eyed bitch', 'demon', 'monster loving', 'blue haired slut' and a number of other insults. Finally the ANBU had enough of her and chopped her at the back of her neck knocking her out. Naruto apologized to them and asked them to keep it covered. After the ANBU left, Kiba and team 8 went to their training ground to have some fun.
A few days later, after the Uchiha was released from the hospital, he tried to press charges at Naruto. However without the backing of the civilian council, not even Danzou, Homura and Koharu could help him. Especially after the Hyuga clan head, Hiashi, made it plain that whoever wanted to condemn the boy that defended his child's honor would have to get through him first. It was an unnecessary threat however since most of the shinobi council supported Naruto anyway.
After the incident died away Naruto requested yet another C-rank mission, this time to aid Team Gai in taking out a bandit group in Mizu no Kuni. It all went well until the fight started. Naruto was paired up with Hinata against the leaders of the group, while Lee and Neji took down the bulk, using their extreme speed to take down the strays. Behind them Shino and Tenten showered the bandits with their individual attacks, keeping Lee and Neji safe. Gai and Kurenai were watching from behind, ready to interfere though.
It was soon discovered that there were a pair of shinobi leading the group. A couple famous for their use of poisons. The man used a ninjatou and was mostly using taijutsu to engage up close and personal while his wife used senbon and wide-area poison jutsu to weaken the enemy. She also had a ninjatou she used sometimes but was not nearly as good with it as her husband. Naruto was busy fighting the man while Hinata had taken the fight to the woman, using her own senbon needles to hit her nerve points, closing in whenever she could. It went well until at a concealed gesture, the nuke-nin pair both attacked Hinata in a flash, taking her by surprise. Before she could react, there was a sound of flesh being ripped. Blood sprayed on Hinata's face as a pair of blades protruded from Naruto's back. He had saved her at the cost of himself. Hinata started tearing up until she heard a growl.
"I... won't... let you... I... WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!"
With a primal roar, Naruto formed his claws and attacked. The pair thought that he was weakened by their poisons, not to mention a pair of swords going through him. Instead they got a clawed hand in their stomachs. With a grunt Naruto shoved his claws upwards effectively impaling them. His hands had entered at the couple's stomach region while four claws protruded from their shoulders, with the fifth claw (that of the middle finger) stabbed into their brain. Naruto threw them to the side and fell on his knees. He had never encountered this poison before, and coupled with his wounds he was weakened. Hinata rushed over him and started healing him through her tears. It didn't take long for him to be able to stand up. Neji spoke about how fate had declared that he was to live, before getting slapped by his supposedly weak cousin that tried to explain him that Naruto was alive because he wanted to and never gave up, not because fate declared it. Of course Neji didn't listen and Naruto was too annoyed by Neji to try and change his views. In the end they left in relative peace and went back to Konoha. Relative since Lee and Gai would never shut up about Naruto's flames of youth.
As the team reached the village, Team 7 was leaving on a C-rank mission to escort Tazuna to the land of waves. When Sasuke and Sakura tried to show Naruto up, he merely shrugged them off and told them they were coming back from a B-rank mission and an encounter with shinobi not mere bandits. Ignoring Kakashi's wide eyes, Kurenai followed her team inside the village all the while making fun of Sasuke's and Sakura's faces.
A/N: Woot finally done! Vacation is over so you can expect updates relatively regularly. I had lots of fun and have recharged my batteries. Hope you people did too!
P.S. 8.5k hits! Gotta love the feeling!
Today, on this 9/6/2012, I, Soulblazer87, do hereby leave this site, possibly forever.
I shall not update this, or any other story.
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