CH 17
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
Team Seven met on the Friday for the first time since they'd returned from the Land of Waves. The two boys were standing on the top of the bridge frames and juggling six balls of different sizes and colours between them. This was one version of a game they'd just invented a couple of days ago.
There was a bridge frame in between the ones the boys were standing on and then they had decided that one ball had to always hit the middle frame. The ball to hit the middle frame was thrown in a predetermined pattern, cycling through the ball colours.
It took them about half an hour to fall into a rhythm and soon the speed of the juggling had increased to the point where Sasuke almost needed his Sharingan to track the balls, but that was his test. How much faster can they do it without activating his Kekkei Genkai accidentally?
It was two days ago that they'd learned to juggle the different sized balls with Risa and from it, being the youngsters they were, they invented a game out of it. The boys had improved the game and were now using it as a training tool while they were waiting for their sensei. This new tool helped with their chakra control, their balance, tracking and their hand to eye coordination.
More importantly, it was fun!
Sakura had arrived to find that she was alone, until she chanced to look up at the word "Red," from Naruto, which had been quickly followed by, "Green" from Sasuke. She gasped and stared at what they were doing. 'There's no way that I'd ever be able to do that,' she thought. 'How much more do they know? When did they learn this?'
Kakashi-sensei had kept an eye on his students when they were in the Uchiha compound and had to approve of their ingenious method to get Risa to work with her hand again. He didn't know what happened inside the school building, but he'd observed the outside training that had been done.
He was now watching a game that had been developed two days ago and was amazed as the evolution of it as it happened before his eyes. He looked around and noted that Sakura was standing on the bridge, feet firm on the ground and she had not even selected to join in the game. She hadn't even walked up the bridge frame to observe it more closely. He shook his head and hoped that Risa's medical review had been a success yesterday or else the boys would be severely disappointed.
He flared his chakra to put out a killing intent and he watched to see what the boys would do. The balls fell to the bridge walkway immediately, some bounced into the water and the game was forgotten. The boys were now standing back to back on the middle beam with a small sword out in one hand and throwing items in their opposing hand.
Naruto had four shuriken and his ninja goggles were down. Sasuke had twice as many Senbon and his Sharingan was activated seeking out the enemy.
Kakashi looked around and noted that Sakura had a single kunai out and was looking left and right for the danger. He looked up to the sky, sent a small prayer to his old sensei for guidance and then he jumped down onto the bridge.
"Well done," he told them after he'd released his chakra from the emanation he was putting out. "Why don't you boys put those away? We have a meeting with the Hokage in five minutes."
The weapons were put away quickly and the balls were re-called from where they'd landed including the ones that had fallen into the water. They were put in a net bag and then spun around vertically to spin out the water from their rounded forms. The bag was then hung at the blond Genin's waist to dry further, if needed.
They flitted from rooftop to rooftop and actually arrived in time for their meeting with the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The old man had been surprised at the medical report that he'd received from the person that had reviewed Genin Inuzuka Risa's case. This came from someone that had never seen the girl prior to the evaluation that she'd been given the day before.
The medical report had been very informative, as girl had explained to the one reviewing her hand. Part of the problem they'd discovered was that the medical glove that was too small to allow full motion of her hand. The medicine prescribed had muscle-numbing properties and that the new soaps she'd been given to use as a bonding gift for her and her pup contained something similar. They had found that an ingredient conflicted with the properties of the medicine for her hand and aggravated the healing, which resulted in the lack of progress.
During the two days without using the medical glove or medical cream the hand was more flexible and it was evident that in a bit of time the girl would be fine. The person doing the evaluation recommended that she could return to active duty, lightly, as long as the team she'd be placed on kept an eye on the girl's hand and helped her out when needed.
'With this, I will have no difficulties in letting the girl join a Genin team,' Sarutobi thought. 'Although I'm wondering about the wisdom of it,' he had been secretly amused by the coloured dye bombs that had been let loose in the Shinobi Barracks the night before. The coloured smoke had dyed all of the ANBU masks and all uniforms, including those belonging to the Jounin and Chunin that resided in the barracks. All uniforms were dyed in eye-searing fluorescent pinks, purples, blues, greens and reds.
However it wasn't something that he could attribute to Naruto because the boy had been fast asleep at the time it happened. 'Looks like I might have another prankster on my hands.'
The masks were easily cleaned, but the uniforms were not. They couldn't even be replaced because for some reason moths and rodents had eaten and nested in most of the replacement uniforms in storage. That had been an unfortunate discovery, so now there were various ranked ninja strolling around Konoha in bright pink or bright green uniforms. Most of the shops in the marketplace had made a hefty amount of Ryo during the first half hour of their morning sales because they sold a lot of dark coloured clothing dye.
The Hokage was there in his official get up, hat and all. "Team Seven," the old man said looking up. He glanced at the coloured balls and raised an eyebrow at the Jounin sensei. "I have read through all the reports related the two missions you were assigned in Wave Country."
Kakashi only signed in explanation of the coloured toys. (…Training…)
"I've called you here to address some issues of concern that were noted," the Sandaime told them. "I've received four mission reports from the Jounin that accompanied you and three requests for member changes."
"Three," Sakura blurted. Then she looked at the two boys that had made up the rest of Team Seven. "Both of you," she said. "So Sasuke that means you want Naruto gone too, right?"
Kakashi-sensei looked at the girl and said, "Both boys have petitioned to have you removed from Team Seven."
"WHAT?" The pink hair girl shrieked. "WHY? WHY ME? WHY NOT, THAT WASTE OF SPACE, NARUTO?"
"Naruto is not a waste of space, Haruno-kun," the last Uchiha said. He used that name ever since she'd been caught in his tent because that always stopped her from continuing to speak in ear, shattering decibels. "He's been working hard, much harder than either of us. He's succeeded in gaining rank before either of us and he still trains three or four times harder than either of us. He deserves to stay on Team Seven."
"Bu...but... what about me?" She asked looking at him with hopeful, love struck eyes.
"You don't train, you don't try and of the seven elemental spells I've lent you, how many have you successfully done?" Sasuke asked in that bland emotionless, elite Uchiha tone.
"Two," the girl admitted. "My chakra reserves aren't as high as either of yours, you know."
"Have you tried to improve that," Sasuke asked and she flinched. "Have you done all the possible exercises that exist in order to increase or improve your chakra control? We've nearly exhausted our chakra several times in order to learn that kind of control."
"I've done what was asked of me," Sakura admitted. "I've done everything that was asked of me."
Sasuke looked at Naruto and signed to him. (...Do you have anything to add?...)
(...If I say anything, she'll either attack me or...) He paused and then said. (...Who am I kidding? Of course she'll attack me. You keep at it, you're doing fine...)
However it was their sensei that said, "That's the other problem. We had to ask you to improve. We had to tell you that you needed improvement. You asked me only once for assistance. I directed you towards a training regimen that would help you to improve your weak chakra reserves and you've ignored it completely whenever Sasuke was within your sights."
The Hokage held up his hand to stop further arguments and sighed. "It is with regret that Team Seven is disbanded, effective immediately. Genin Haruno Sakura, you're to be recycled to the Ninja Academy for three months to address your lack of self-training issues. You've earned your rank and it will not be taken from you and so you'll still receive the base pay for your rank. However you cannot work on another Genin team or mission until you've addressed your failings. Kakashi will you please escort her to the Ninja Academy, now?"
"Of course," the Jounin said and ushered the pink haired girl out of the meeting room. He knew that if she were to listen to what was going to happen next the girl would completely flip.
The old man then looked at the boys and said, "Genin Uzumaki Naruto and Genin Uchiha Sasuke, you've shown improvement and have exceeded the training set forth for standard Genins. Would the two of you be comfortable remaining on the same team?"
"We would," the boys said together. There was no hesitation in either of their voices or stances. They were both standing at 'parade rest'.
"Excellent," the Hokage said and nodded his to the ANBU guard in bright purple standing at a side door. The door opened, where Risa had been waiting with Akoba at her feet. "I trust that you boys know Genin Inuzuka Risa and her ninja-dog Akoba."
"Yes sir," they both said, trying to hold in their excitement. The girl was motioned to go stand next to the boys, which she did and her pup sat beside her looking at the old man, as though he was waiting for an order too.
"You three are now Team Seventeen," the Hokage told them. "You'll be instructed jointly by Jounin Hyuga Tokuma and Jounin Hatake Kakashi, until further notice." Tokuma stepped forward and stood behind three Genin. "Genin Inuzuka you still have a bit of rehabilitation to go through, but I believe that working on an active team and with these boys, you may be able to overcome many of your previous obstacles."
"Yes sir," she said with confidence and her dog barked in agreement.
"You three are dismissed, unless you'd like to accept a mission today," the old man threw out there casually. He watched the three exchange glances and then he widened his eyes as they used the military code and hand sign for the word (…Yes…) to their sensei.
"I believe that they would," Tokuma-sensei said, pursing his lips to stop from smiling at the looks that the three were getting from the Hokage and the ANBU guards in the room.
"Excellent," the old man said. "It's a simple upper D-Rank, of course." He tossed the scroll to the boys' new sensei, who quickly ushered the three Genin out of the room before he even bothered to open it.
Then the old man had to chuckle when he heard, 'Scheming Jiji-sama, you're gonna...', muffled...muffle grumble and footsteps stomped away from the room.
'I guess, they are still children after all, since they couldn't maintain their professional stance much longer,' the old man thought with a grin.
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
"That old fart," Naruto said with a pouting scowl, as they left the building. "Babysitting Konohamaru and his two twisted side-kicks, oh, man." The black haired boy only sighed.
"Don't worry about it," Risa said. "We can teach them to juggle, what do you think?"
"It will take them a long time to learn and it will tire them," Sasuke observed and then shrugged. "Why not?"
"Juggle," Tokuma-sensei asked. "When did you…" The black haired boy told him that it was a couple of days ago that they'd learnt.
"More importantly, how are we going to find them," Risa asked.
"Oh that one's easy," Naruto said. "You guys stay undetected or about two blocks away from me and just watch." He hopped about a block away from his new team and then dropped down to walk on the sidewalk.
Akoba growled and drew his companion's attention to something. "No way," she whispered and then she saw it…well them. "Oh, kawaii!" (cute)
Sasuke flinched and then noticed the looks weren't directed at him, but at some point down on the street. "What…" He said very softly. "There's no way…"
Tokuma looked and he too had noticed the scene. "Oh that is… kind of cute!" He stated and then asked, "Do any of you have a camera?"
"I do," Risa said. "Polaroid, though. Is that okay?"
"Don't keep talking about it, hand it over before we miss this," Tokuma said, holding out his hand for the device. As soon as he had it, he snapped several pictures and kept handing them to the two Genin next to him. It was funny to watch the blond Genin play ignorant, then chastise the kids for being obvious and then promise them a treat.
"What are we going to do with all these," Sasuke finally asked, looking at the handful of pictures in his hands.
"Give them to Naruto so he can transfer them to colour pencil or watercolour and then use them as bribes to get higher ranked missions from the Hokage, of course," Tokuma told him seriously. Sasuke looked like he didn't believe his new sensei, so the man asked, "How did you think we got the mission to the Land of Wave, so easily?"
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
Naruto had just hopped down and knew what his team were going to do. He put his hands behind his head and walked down the street for a bit, just whistling the most annoying song in the Shibobi world, '99 Ninjas that Battle and War' (…i…) because it repeats and counts down.
He felt the small trio begin their covert mission to catch their 'Boss' unawares. If they could successfully blend into their environment he'd treat them to a meal. If they didn't he'd treat them to a bit of ninja training. Either way the kids always won.
"Huh," the blond played along and looked around for a bit. "Suspicious," he muttered to himself. He walked several more feet before he passed a large telephone pole and then just as he passed it, he sighed.
The fence boards were vertical and the camo-drape had horizontal wooden boards drawn on it. He walked up to it and did three quick, power finger flicks to the small foreheads that were hidden behind the drape.
A young voice cried out, "Yeouch."
A second yelped, "Itai, itai…" (ouch)
"Oochies," the third sounded, and the drape fell.
"Come on you guys," Naruto whined with his hands on his hips. "You know better than that about the wooden fence slats. If they're vertical then…"
"The drape should be vertical too," all three lined up and said the phrase.
"So why were you three holding it up, like this?" Naruto then demonstrated their error.
"Oops," Konohamaru said. "As always, you're observational skills far exceed our abilities to conceal our poor selves, Boss."
"Boss is so cool," Udon said a now and without any sniffle or annoying snot-bubble.
"He's handsome too," Moegi said with a twitter behind her hand.
"Oi, Dobe," Sasuke said jumping down from the nearby roof. "Looks you've got yourself quite the fan club here?"
"Eh," Naruto said. "They're all right." He waved the others down and said to the three kids. "Troops, I want you to meet three special people. These are my friends and the members of Team Seventeen, plus one of our Jounin senseis."
"Wow you're a Hyuga," Udon said looking at Tokuma-sensei with awe.
"Are you a good Kunoichi," Moegi asked Risa. "Oh, you've ninja-dog, that's so cool!"
"That's Tokuma-sensei, Inuzuka Risa, this is Uchiha Sasuke and the dog is Akoba," Naruto said. "These three are my minions, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon."
"Hmph," Sasuke noised and playing along, he crossed his arms. "Minions, since when have you earned the right to have minions? They seem like trouble to me, I wonder if we should even teach them how to juggle or to play our new game? They don't look very coordinated."
"Oooo, an Uuu-chi-ha," Konohamaru said in a taunting voice. "Sharingan active yet?" He turned to look at the black haired boy of Team Seventeen and then he jumped back with yelped, "YIKES!"
"What do you think," Sasuke stared at the kid with his red eyes and two tomoe points not activated or whirled. He pulled away quickly to prevent anything from happening. He blinked to release the chakra that called them forth.
Konohamaru gulped and clung to Naruto's arm, shaking it. "Is he a good one, Boss?"
"Yes," Naruto said looking directly into the eyes of the last Uchiha. "He definitely is one of the good ones." He shook his arm and then said, "Neh, did you guys want to learn a new game or not?"
"You really know a new game," Moegi asked excitedly. "A training game?"
"Yep," Naruto said. "But first you have to know how to juggle."
"Juggling is easy," Konohamaru said in a bragging tone. "It's basic for hand-eye training."
"Oh really," Sasuke said. "Well then let's go test it at my compound. No one will bother us there."
"Good idea," Risa said. "It will actually be the best place for Akoba to run around too." The dog twirled on the spot, happy with that decision.
They spent the rest of the day teaching the kids to juggle with more than three balls and then they taught them the new game. "This is something we made up while waiting for Kakashi-sensei this morning," Naruto told them. "First we need three…"
"Dobe," Sasuke said. "How about just drawing circles in the earth?"
"Good idea," Naruto said. "How far apart?"
"Start small, about two feet should do it," Sasuke said drawing his circle and Naruto drew his six feet away. "Wait, Risa have you been able to call upon Earth Style?"
"Yes, why," she asked curious about what her new teammate wanted.
"Can you pull up a slab at the midpoint between our circles," Sasuke asked. The girl nodded and the pulled up a cylinder slab about three inches up from the ground. "Perfect, now Dobe let's show 'em…how many?"
"Teme," Naruto replied without venom. "Four balls should do it to start." He pulled the four smaller balls, began juggling them back and forth with the Uchiha. Then he said, "Now."
"Blue," Sasuke called out.
Naruto tossed him in a juggling formation, the red ball, the yellow ball, and then he bounced the blue ball on the slab and tossed the orange ball.
"Orange," Naruto called out. The other boy, sent the yellow, bounced the orange, tossed the blue and the red.
The children were bright and lit up at the challenge. "If you have a three man team," Moegi called out. "That third person should be calling out the ball colour."
"You're quite right, Moegi-chan," Sasuke said to the girl. "Would you do the honours?"
"YES," she shouted. She jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "Red... Blue... Red... Orange…"
Risa looked at the other two boys and said, "Come on, I'll pull up a slab for the both of you, how about we begin with three balls?"
"YES," the two boys said excited to try out the new game. The kids were bright and no one felt left out of the game because Moegi challenged Risa to it. They played it for most of the afternoon, until it was time to bring them back to their parents, near the mission office.
Tokuma-sensei was in charge of making sure that most of it was captured in photographs to give to the children's parents and for Naruto to have something to work with. The blond selected several to keep and gave the rest to separate and hand out to the kids' parents.
They were passing by a small shop that had a little bit of everything and Naruto looked at Risa, gave her some money, signed for her to get something from the shop. Then he walked away.
Sasuke noticed the exchange and wondered why, until he remembered about the demon fox. The kids were not aware of what happened, but they were completely aware that when the girl came back to them, she had three bags with her.
As soon as they'd arrived and were standing in front of the mission office, Naruto called out, "Ten-shun."
Quick and cute as you please, the three 'minions' lined up. "All right, men, and pretty lady," he winked at the girl, who giggled. "Successful completion of this mission hinged on several important factors. Juggling is fun, but also, what…?"
"A training tool," Udon said out loud, holding his hand up.
"Correct," Naruto said and he nodded to Risa, who handed a bag to Akoba who delivered it to the person that answered correctly.
"Next," the blond continued. "A key element had been added and what was once a game for two became…"
"A training tool for three," Konohamaru said with a wide grin showing the larger gap in his front teeth.
"Correct," Naruto replied and the boy received his prize via dog. "Now," he said with a lifted eyebrow. "When can a training tool be used?"
"When you're idle or waiting for orders or after missions and…" Moegi paused. "And… and… only during recess."
"Correct," Naruto said and waited for to receive her small prize. "Well done troops, diss…missed…" The parents and the Hokage had long since seen this in action and there were no other words for it, but super cute.
Moegi and Udon ran to their parents, who smiled at the Jinchuriki and waved to him and the boy's teammates.
Konohamaru just stomped over to Ebisu-sensei who still had a somewhat sour look on his face, but he'd long since grudgingly agreed that the blond's interference actually helped get 'Honourable Grandson of the Hokage' to refocus on his studies. It usually only worked, if the kid thought that he got away with escaping the planned lessons for the day.
Team Seventeen had been busy taking pictures of the parade and presentation. Risa had bought a couple of toy Polaroid cameras and lots of extra film. She gave a dark blue one to Sasuke, a dark purple to Tokuma-sensei and a grey one to Kakashi-sensei, who finally showed up, although the Genin knew that he'd been watching them from a distance. She even gave a bright orange one to Naruto, who laughed at the colour and enjoyed the joke.
"Naruto gets first pick of the pictures for specialized purposes," she told them. "He does give them back once he's done with them."
"Well," Tokuma-sensei said. "Come on it's time to write up the mission report."
"Write the report," Sasuke asked.
"We write the supplemental information," Naruto said. "I know Kaka-sensei never asked it of us, but Tokuma-sensei does."
"They're not hard, but you do have to use your good writing hand or else they'll make you do it over and over again," Risa said. "Come on we'll show you."
The report was a simple form. There were fields in the report where comments from each of the Genin could be written or else their sensei could add the impressions that the Genin exhibited during a particular mission in those same fields.
"At least it wasn't Tora," Naruto muttered singsong like under his breath.
"That's the next mission," Kakashi-sensei replied in singsong back at them softly and chuckled at their combined groans. He looked to Tokuma-sensei and said, "I think I'm going to enjoy working with Team Seventeen."
Tokuma-sensei grinned right back him and agreed with a nod.
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
TBC…(…i…) "99 Ninjas that Battle and War" – sing to the tune of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" – completely made up, but it goes like this:
99 Ninjas that battle and war
99 Ninjas that battle
Take a star to mow one down
Now you have, 98 Ninjas that battle and war
98 Ninjas that battle and war
98 Ninjas that battle
Take a star to mow one down
Now you have, 97 Ninjas that battle and war
97 Ninjas that battle and war (get the picture, kinda annoying isn't it, but terribly catchy too!)