Yo Guys and Girls.
New chapter, I haven't really got much to say other than this one is starts slowly but has a nice plot twist at the end!
Enjoy!
Kitsune was still sat there the next day, staring out over the rising sun. The fox on his lap yawned, stretching out and flicking its tail. It looked up at Kitsune before moving in and nuzzling him. He sighed and picked it up, before stepping off the branch. He dropped down landing softly, he then placed the fox on the ground and watched it scamper off. He glanced up at the sky, judging the time to be around 6AM. He quickly leapt off heading towards the training ground, his trench coat fluttering out behind him.
I didn't take Kitsune long to reach the training ground. He passed by small farming huts, taking the time to glance inside one to look at a clock. 6:23AM. He guessed he arrived around 6:30AM but to check he called over a young boy who was passing. According to the young boys watch it was exactly 6:31. Kitsune nodded handing the boy 10,000 Ryo, he smiled slightly as the boys eyes widened at such a sum. He sent him on his way before settling down to wait for his new students.
They began to arrive at about 7:30. First came Shino and Neji who stood a dozen metres away studying their new teacher. He was sitting against a post, his head down making it look like he was asleep. Even his chakra was clocked so he actually looked dead Neji could see in his Byakugan. At 7:45 Lee, Shikamaru, Choji and Sasuke arrived. Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Sakura arrived at 7:55. At 8AM Sakura glanced at her watch. Where the hell was Kiba. She watched as it ticked over into 8:01, then 8:02, 8:03 and finally 8:04 before Kiba and Akamaru arrived. He tried to sneak in, moving quickly into the waiting group.
Kitsune's head snapped up, glancing sharply at Kiba. He stood up and began to stalk over to him, killer intent spreading out in waves so Kiba and Akamaru quickly began to back off.
"I thought I said do not be late!" He roared.
He leapt forwards driving a kick into Kiba's knee. The man cried out in pain as he dropped. Akamaru leapt forwards to defend his master but was beaten back by a punch which sent him flying. Kitsune walked over then, picking up Kiba by his hair.
"Ow! Ow!" Kiba cried struggling.
"Did I not say don't be late!" Kitsune roared into his face. "Or did you not hear me! Answer me!"
"I heard you! I heard- Argh!" Kiba cried as a fist was driven into his face.
"Hey wait!" Sasuke said moving forwards.
Suddenly a Kitsune clone appeared before him, blocking his path.
"Do not get involved." It said simply, sending out enough killer intent to make the remaining Konoha 11 back off quickly. Even Sasuke took a step back.
"Then why did you turn up FOUR minutes late!" Kitsune bellowed at Kiba whose was lying on the floor broken.
"I-I-" Kiba tried.
"THIS IS A MISSION. YOU ARE NOT LATE FOR MISSIONS!" Kitsune practically exploded on him.
Kitsune's boot thudded into Kiba sending him flying upwards. Kitsune then followed up with a devastating dropping elbow onto his stomach causing blood to spray out of the dog masters mouth. Kiba dropped then, lying knocked out. His face was covered in blood. Kitsune turned away staring down the remaining Konoha 11.
"Lee take him to the hospital asap, get that mutt as well. I expect you back here in 10 minutes or else." Kitsune snarled.
Lee rushed forwards picking up Kiba and Akamaru before leaping off like every Tailed Beast was chasing him. Kitsune watched him go before turning back to the Konoha 11.
"Listen up! I have been assigned to teach you 'Elite' Jōnin and increase your skills. I do not particularly want to do this. Actually I would rather be on the frontlines alone against the entire Northern Alliance that teach you lot. Let's be clear. I hate every single one of you with varying different levels of hate. I will not tolerate back chat, questions or disobedience. Any forms of those and you will end up like Kiba." Kitsune said, his anger barely contained.
The Konoha 11 nodded quickly, even those who hid their emotions well like Neji and Shino looked shaken up.
"Right to start I want 600 pushups before Lee returns, anyone who doesn't mange that will be facing punishment later! Start!" Kitsune said summoning 10 clones to watch the 9 members left, with one waiting for Sasuke.
Lee managed to return within his 10 minute time slot, arriving to see Sasuke, Neji, Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Shino finishing their pushups. Hinata only managed 541 within that time. Kitsune unloaded on her upon hearing this.
"You call yourself a ninja and you can't even do 600 pushups in 8 minutes!" Kitsune yelled into her face. "Your pathetic!"
Hinata rushed backwards at the pure hate in his voice, her already low confidence being crushed.
"Right you lot I want you running up that mountain carrying these." He said handing each of them 700 pound weights. "Lee you will be using these as you are already at 700."
He instead handed Lee 900 pound weights. The Konoha 11 minus Kiba stared at him. They were all having issues with these weights, but 900 pounds was insane.
"Now everyone up that mountain over there and back within 1 hour. Anybody who is late will be facing punishment with Hinata later. Move it!" He bellowed sending the Konoha 11 sprinting away.
"Right now time for some training." He muttered.
Tsunade had been showing Hawke and Itachi round the hospital with Shizune when Kiba had been brought in. She had spun around to see Lee coming sprinting in like the devil itself was chasing him.
"Lady Hokage, Kiba needs medical attention now!" He cried dumping Kiba onto the nearest free bed. "Gotta go!"
"Wait Lee!" She bellowed causing him to freeze in his tracks. "What in Kami happened here?"
"Kitsune said to meet him at the training ground at 8AM or we would end up here and Kiba was 4 minutes late. Also if I don't get back in time then I'll be here soon!" Lee said turning and sprinting off.
"I guess he must be scared shitless of Kitsune." Hawke said.
"Shizune deal with this! I want him back up and running as soon as possible!" Tsunade said to her assistant. "I'm paying this Kitsune a visit."
"Hawke will accompany you lady Hokage. I am needed elsewhere." Itachi said, vanishing with a poof.
"Lead the way Lady Hokage." Hawke said with a sigh.
He followed an enraged Hokage to the training ground. At least the argument would be interesting.
"KITSUNE!"
Kitsune halted in his Taijutsu training to see the Hokage and Hawke walking towards him. Well the Hokage was more storming but he didn't really pay attention before turning back to his training.
"What the hell! Why is Kiba in the hospital?" She exclaimed as she neared him.
"He was late." Kitsune said simply.
"Yes but I didn't expect him to be beaten for it?" She said.
"I warned him. Did I not?" Kitsune said. They could hear the rising of anger in his voice.
"Well.." She muttered. "But Kiba is a high ranking Jōnin he cannot be lying in the hospital again within 2 days!"
"Do you want me to strengthen them or babysit them?" Kitsune said, his voice lowered and the killer intent seeping out of him.
He turned delivering one final crushing kick to the tree, snapping it clean in half.
"Hokage, within four days you are heading to the frontlines to assess the damage. Myself and this lot will be accompanying you. They will not get stronger without witnessing the violence of the front line." Kitsune said. Turning away as if the conversation was finished.
"Fine but I am also brining Kakashi and Guy as my personal guards. Hawke too will be coming." Tsunade said turning to Hawke who simply nodded. "You will also be coming Kitsune."
The masked Hunter merely nodded before turning to the arriving Konoha 11. Lee arrived with Sasuke within 30 minutes. Not bad. The Hokage left then with Hawke to plan the training teams. 7 Minutes later Neji, Shino and Shikamaru arrived with Choji a minute behind. The rest arrived within the hour meaning everyone passed.
"Well done you all pass. Now in the next four days we will be heading to the frontline with the Hokage and her personal guard. Until then you will be driven to points where you cannot bear it anymore. Now everyone but Hinata start doing 1000 pushups now." He said. "Hinata come over here."
The Konoha 11 glanced at each other, they could feel the barely contained anger within his voice. Hinata shuffled forwards nervously.
"You are going to spar with me. Full force." Kitsune said.
"B-b-but." She managed before she was sent flying back.
Kitsune stood there where she had been, his fist had connected with her face. He quickly leapt forwards swinging his leg round and brining it crashing down onto where Hinata was lying. It connected with her stomach sending blood spraying. She cried out in pain as she felt her ribs crack. Kitsune shook his head in amazement.
"Hyuga most powerful clan my ass." He sighed.
He spun as he heard a roar behind him. Neji was leaping forwards to deliver a killing blow but he ended up hitting nothing. Kitsune had flickered out of vision. He appeared behind Neji.
"You do not interfere!" He roared into Neji's ear.
He sent a devastating right hook into Neji and the Hyuga went flying. Neji thudded down next Hinata groaning in pain. Kitsune turned to the remaining Konoha 11, walking slowly towards them.
"Training is over today. Tomorrow who can walk is expected here at 5AM sharp. Not a second later!" Kitsune said. "Tomorrow the teams will be changed. Each team is for a different purpose but that makes you unbalanced. The only currently unbalanced team is the InoShikaCho. The rest of you will be separated and moved into teams that suit you. Each team will be divided into equal combat teams, there will be no tracking or hiding or any crap like that. Now get out of my sight." Kitsune said vanishing.
"This is troublesome." Was all Shikamaru said.
The others nodded before moving over to pick up Neji and Hinata. Sasuke however stood aside staring at where Kitsune had been.
Over the next four days Kitsune ran them almost into the ground. They trained for 14 hours a day, barely having any sleeping time so each day they became even more shattered. However they could feel themselves becoming stronger. The teams were also rearranged like Kitsune promised. He surprised them all by saying that there would be no teams at all, having changed his mind. They were apparently one big team. When they asked the Hokage she informed them it was her choice, as he had told her he wanted them all unranked down to Chunin. She had flipped this and told him where to stuff it which was the apparent reason for the massive hole in her wall. Not by Tsuande but caused by his anger at her choice.
He had also worked on each of their areas developing them so they could fight Long, Mid and Close ranged. He worked on their Ninjutsu and Taijutsu so they were actually proper well rounded Jōnins. He did not however work Genjutsu at all, despite Tsunade asking him too. They became a lot faster reaching levels he expected but they were still way behind him, apart from Sasuke. Sasuke was nearing his level as he had already been strong. Sasuke was fast and could copy his Ninjutsu and Taijutsu styles. He still had his Purge style and Genjutsu so Kitsune didn't really fear him.
On the day that they were meant to head out the party had gathered by the main gate. Tsunade was there along with Hawke and her two bodyguards, Kakashi and Guy. The entire Konoha 11 was gathered after they had all recovered from Kitsune's beatings. They were well prepared and ready to move when they noticed Iruka walking towards them.
"Yo Iruka what brings you by?" Kakashi asked.
"He's actually here to replace Shizune, as she is standing Hokage till I return." Tsunade explained.
"Fair enough, are we ready to go then Lady Hokage?" Kakashi said shrugging.
"Not quite, we are missing Kitsune." Tsunade said, glancing at Hawke.
The Hunter Veteran simply shrugged. He had no idea where Kitsune was. Suddenly a little fox ran out from a building, climbing up his trousers and jacket to his shoulder. It nuzzled him, seeming to say something in his ear before heading off. Hawke nodded turning to Tsunade.
"Kitsune says move out, he will catch up. He's going to travel behind us when we move so if we are attacked he's a surprise." Hawke said.
"Fine but I want Sakura and Lee with him. They too will be useful in a surprise attack." Tsunade said.
"Alright but he won't like it. We will sort that out at our first camp tonight as we won't find him now." Hawke said simply. "Let's move."
The group of Konoha shinobi shot off, heading towards The Valley of the End.
The group decided to call it a night after seven hours of travelling. They quickly set down in a clearing, all of them exhausted apart from Hawke. He was merely panting lightly causing Guy and Lee to exclaim about his youthfulness. Within a few moments Kitsune joined them, moving out of the shadows like a wraith in the night. Ino yelped as she saw him emerge causing several Konoha ninja to curse her. Kiba however cursed him instead, causing the Hunter to glance at him with a small amount of killer intent. Just enough to make Kiba nervous.
"Ok, Lee and Guy go look for fire wood. Neji, Sasuke and Hinata go set some traps. Tenten I want a perimeter check. The rest of us will set up camp and get the area ready to bed down for a couple of days." Tsunade said.
"Why a couple of days?" Ino said.
"The Kazekage has agreed to meet us here instead of further up." Tsunade said.
Kitsune turned suddenly, moving towards the direction of Suna.
"I shall go meet him." He said.
"Oh no you don't. No one leaves this clearing until he arrives." Tsunade said with a smirk. "We are going to do some team bonding."
They all heard Lee and Guy shout about the youthfulness of wood gathering causing several of the Konoha ninja to laugh. This couldn't be that bad and it would help relax them.
"No."
"What was that!" Tsunade exclaimed turning to see Kitsune walking away.
"I said no. I will take part in no such thing." Kitsune said.
And with that leapt upwards and perched himself on a tree. Tsunade moved towards him but was blocked by Hawke.
"Just leave it." He said shaking his head. "Don't push him."
Tsunade growled angrily, something about annoying Hunters before pulling out a bottle of sake.
"Fine get the camp set up and we can start." Tsunade said.
Four Hours Later.
The group were sitting around the fire in good spirits. They had almost all taken turns telling everyone about themselves, causing laughter and sadness. Even the usually stoic Shino and Neji had joined in, and after some persuasion Hawke too. They each took turns telling everyone about themselves, covering things from Age to Favourite book etc.
"Hawke it's your turn. You're the second from last!" Tenten said, for some reason she was unusally happy.
Neji and Lee glanced at each other before glaring at Kiba. They were certain he had slipped some sake into her drink.
"Well I'm probably the last since he won't get involved." Hawke said pointing at Kitsune who was sitting on a high up branch staring at the stars. "So let's get this started."
The Konoha ninja, even Kakashi and Sasuke leant forwards to hear what they could about a Hunter, since their lives were spent being elusive.
"My name is Hawke Uzune. I am currently 37 years old, born in a small village within the Land of Fire. When I was five my village was ransacked by bandits and completely wiped out. My entire family and friends were killed within a day. However I managed to survive and move on. I joined the fire temple shortly after as a monk, training there until I was sixteen. I promptly left and became a mercenary for four years before I met Loki. Together we formed the Hunters which operated for several years before we grew. We gained Michu then shortly after we gained Kitsune who I had been training for three years. Within the past three years we lost Kitsune briefly and gained Cinna. Then we regained Kitsune. We also met Itachi and Kisame about five years ago and they joined our ranks." Hawke said concluding his story.
There was a snort from the tree above them and they looked up to see Kitsune staring down at them.
"You would do well to not tell them too much about us, Hawke." Kitsune said. "This lot cannot be trusted."
"What do they know? They know how we met but apart from that nothing else." Hawke sighed. "Now get your ass down here and join in."
Kitsune stared blankly at him. Before going back to stare at the stars.
"Kitsune..." Hawke said, staring at him.
"Fine." Kitsune said dropping down gracefully and leaning against the tree he had been on.
"My name is Kitsune. I have no last name as I disowned my parents. I am 22 years old." He said.
This caused several glances around, the Konoha 11 were being taught by someone barely older than them. Tsunade, Kakashi and Guy were more amazed that this guy was this powerful at 22 years old.
"I was born within the Fire Country. I was hated as a child, betrayed by everyone and became a Missing-Ninja at the age of around like 15 ish. Hawke was my sensei when I was 15 and quickly became my second best sensei. After four years I went missing before rejoining a year ago. The end." Kitsune said turning to jump back up to his tree.
"Excuse me, Kitsune." Ino said. "You never told us about your family? You had a wife and child from what Hawke told us."
Kitsune spun on Hawke and began to advance on him. Killer intent poured into the clearing, radiating from Kitsune.
"YOU. TOLD. THEM. ABOUT. THAT!" He roared. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL THEM OF ALL PEOPLE!"
Kitsune leapt forwards grabbing Hawke's neck and slamming him into a nearby tree. He lifted Hawke upwards, leaning in close to his old mentor.
"Care to explain. Sensei?" Kitsune growled.
"They needed to understand you." Hawke said simply.
Kitsune growled, throwing Hawke across the clearing to where he had been sitting before.
"I'm going for a walk." He said. "Don't follow me."
Kitsune stalked out of the clear, merging into the darkness.
"Well at least he didn't try to impale me." Hawke chuckled.
A kunai came sailing out of the darkness. Hawke caught it quickly laughing. He smiled at the group before they all fell back into the easy banter they had been in before. This lasted for several minutes before there was a deafening explosions that shook the earth from the direction in which Kitsune had walked. They were all on their feet immediately, however even thought they were on guard what happened next shocked them to their core.
Kitsune came flying from the darkness, flipping through the air. He bounced off the ground before being launched upwards head over heels. He crashed into a tree ripping it from his roots. He slid down it before slumping to the floor. The Konoha ninja and Hawke stared at Kitsune. His trench coat was half burnt and barely hanging on him. They could see several large open wounds across his bare chest, as his shirt had been completely burnt off him. His trousers were covered in holes, but what was worst was his hood had been ripped off revealing a large bandana. His face mask was still on so all they could see were strands of bright golden blond hair hanging from below his bandana.
"So boy, I see you haven't improved." A man said as the stepped out.
He was medium height and had a muscular tone. His bright orange hair was spiky and stuck up. His cloak bellowed out behind him, a cloak which was covered in red and white clouds.
Hope you all enjoyed the arrival of Pein! Heheh. This is going to be fun!
Thanks again for the Reviews, much love 3.