Chapter 11 The New Routine
Welcome to November my friends.
I'm glad that everyone liked addition of the chakrams, or at least didn't hate the idea. Other weapons used by the Organization will show up as the story progresses, but probably not all of them, and I won't be adding a keyblade.
I have gotten some reviews saying that Naruto is growing too strong, too quickly; and those readers may be absolutely right, but I respectfully disagree. Naruto has shown time and again that he can master the most advanced and/or complicated techniques at an almost impossibly fast rate: Kage Bunshin, Rasengan, Rasenshuriken, Sage Mode, and I think Killer Bee said that Naruto was able to perform the Biju Dama without Kurama's cooperation, but only in training and only with a 20% rate of success. The way I see it if Naruto is creating the techniques from scratch and in most cases discovering them accidentally then I'd say haven't deviated that much from Naruto's canon counterpart. Those who disagree tell me, and I'll slow down but so far those reviews have been few, I just wanted to know what the rest of you think.
Anyway, dark techniques this chapter, enjoy.
It had been about a week and Naruto was certainly enjoying his new living arrangements; for the first time ever he felt like he had an actual family. He almost wished the mystery man never got caught, so long as Iruka and Anko stayed with him. He felt terrible for entertaining such a notion, he didn't want Hinata or anyone else to get hurt because of the attacker. He thought that he should just enjoy the time they spent together now.
Right now Naruto was getting some much needed sleep, but that was about to change.
"GOOD MORNING NARUTO!" Anko yelled as she jumped at Naruto's bed feet first. Luckily, Naruto managed to dodge, but he was sure that Anko's little wake-up call almost gave him a heart attack.
"What the hell Anko-neechan?" Naruto asked, breathing heavily and clutching his chest, and not even realizing what he had called Anko.
"If you want to be a ninja you have to be ready for an attack at all times," Anko said, as what she had done were the most normal thing in the world. She then asked, "Did you call me Neechan?"
"I'm sorry Anko-sensei, it just sort of slipped out," Naruto said, worried that he had upset her.
"It's fine, Iruka-kun is making breakfast so wash up and get dressed," Anko told the boy.
Naruto had done just as Anko had said and met both her and Iruka in the house's modest dining room. When he sat down he began to eat in silence. Iruka, sensing something was wrong with his student, asked, "What's wrong Naruto?"
"Nothing Sensei," Naruto said, putting a fake smile on his face for the first time in a while.
"Naruto, I can tell when you're lying. Whatever it is you can tell us," Iruka said, concern showing on his face.
That did it. A single tear trailed down Naruto's face. Both Anko and Iruka saw it but Anko was the first to speak.
"Naruto?" her voice full of concern.
"I'm a terrible person," Naruto said simply.
"Why would you say that, Naruto?" Iruka asked growing more worried.
"I know it hasn't been that long but for the first time in my life it feels like I have a family, part of me even wishes that the man who attack Hinata-chan and I never gets caught so I won't be alone again," Naruto said as the tears started to flow freely.
"Naruto, it's…" Iruka started to say.
"I know it's selfish and I know that it's wrong. But I can't help it. As long as this guy is on the loose everyone could be in danger, and part of me doesn't care. I want us to stay together. I'm sorry, you both must think I'm a monster," Naruto finished. With that done Anko went to embrace the young blonde and Iruka put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"That's not true Naruto, no one thinks you're a monster," Iruka told the boy.
"Yes they do. Not for wanting to stay with the two of you, but they think I'm a monster," Naruto said.
"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Anko asked.
"He means people can't see past me," the Kyubi said coming to Naruto's rescue.
"Am I speaking with the Kyubi?" Iruka asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
"You don't actually have to speak I can hear your thoughts just fine," the fox replied.
"So you know about the fox?" Anko asked her surrogate little brother.
"He knows everything: about me; who his parents were; and the truth about that night," the Kyubi said.
What do you mean "the truth about that night"? Iruka asked mentally.
The Kyubi proceeded to explain what had happened from the Shinju to his first meeting with Naruto.
I'm not sure what to think anymore, Iruka thought, as his anger at the fox shifted to the masked man.
"The masked man may have released me but I did kill your parents, and I suppose I owe you an apology," the Kyubi said. The kid must be rubbing off on me, he thought, although he didn't sound too upset about it.
Yes you did, but I have been judging you unfairly for the past twelve years and for that I am sorry, Iruka replied.
Thanks for the history lesson Kyubi but right now we have a crying child to console, Anko reminded the others.
"Indeed you do, I'll leave you to it," the Kyubi said as he cut the link between himself and the two older ninja.
"Naruto it's okay, Anko-chan and I will always be there for you," Iruka said.
"I know," Naruto said as he started to calm down. Before anything else could be said there was a knock on the door.
"That must be Kurenai, dammit we're late," Anko said.
"Anko-chan, maybe Kurenai can handle both Naruto and Hinata today, I think we need to talk to the Hokage," Iruka said.
"You're right, I'll ask her," Anko said going to answer the door.
"Naruto, don't worry everything will be just fine, we'll talk after you get home this evening alright?" Iruka asked his student.
"Okay Sensei," Naruto replied. With that Naruto went to meet Kurenai for his morning training.
When Kurenai and Hinata saw the signs that Naruto had been crying they were shocked to say the least. Hinata latched onto him as if to shield him from whatever life could throw at him. Kurenai had agreed to handle both kids today but not before she made sure that Naruto wasn't upset by something Iruka or Anko had done. When she was satisfied she led the two to Training Ground 7. Kurenai wasn't exactly sure how to help Naruto; she didn't practice snake style and she wasn't sure an academy student should know any genjutsu beyond what she had taught both of the children already. Thankfully, help had appeared in the form of two familiar figures at the Memorial Stone.
"Asuma is that you?" Kurenai asked.
Sarutobi Asuma was a tall man, with brown eyes, short, black spiky hair, and beard. He wore the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way; a flak jacket; regular shinobi sandals; and forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.
"Hey Kurenai, It's been awhile," he greeted.
"Seven years isn't "awhile" Asuma," Kurenai shot back.
"No acknowledgement for me, I notice," the second person, Kakashi, said.
"Sorry Kakashi, how are you today?" Kurenai asked.
"Oh you know, same as always, and glad that my old friend is back in the village," Kakashi said.
"I didn't know you were one of the daimyō's guards Asuma," Kurenai said noticing the sash.
"Yeah, the Twelve Guardian Ninja was great until half of them decided they wanted to revolt against my dad; replace the daimyo; and conquer the rest of the Elemental Countries," Asuma said as though such a thing happened daily.
"What?" Kurenai asked wondering if she had heard right.
"Yeah, me, a buddy of mine, and the guy who led the half of the group that planned the coup are the only surviving original members," Asuma said with a sigh. He went on to say, "We have our issues but I love my dad, I wouldn't let anything happen to him."
"Should Hinata-chan and I have heard any of that," Naruto asked.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to have students already Kurenai," Asuma said.
"It's not official, but I am hoping to get a genin team," Kurenai said. She then introduced her two students, "This is Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto."
"Hey, how's it going?" Asuma greeted.
"Nice to meet you Asuma-san," Hinata said.
"You're Jiji's son?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, my old man is the Hokage," Asuma said. Getting back to Naruto's earlier question Asuma said," About what you two heard, it isn't a secret or anything but I wouldn't go around talking about it."
"No one will hear about it from me," Naruto responded.
"Nor from me," Hinata added.
"They're cute, where did you get them?" Asuma asked.
"Actually, Anko was teaching Naruto snake style taijutsu and Kurenai was teaching Hinata a few things on the side," Kakashi said before Kurenai could answer.
"Snake style? No one has shown an interest in that for years," Asuma stated.
"Gai-sensei suggested it, he said it would work well with my weapons," Naruto explained.
"What weapons?" Asuma asked not seeing anything.
"These," Naruto said as he summoned Interdiction.
"What are those?" Asuma asked in shock.
"Those are ethereal blades, Naruto wants to be the first ninja in the world to create and use Mu style jutsu," Kakashi said.
"Looks like he's off to a decent start," Asuma said.
"He can do more than that and he can use all the elements as well as light and darkness," Kurenai told the bearded jonin.
"I've got to see this," Asuma said.
"Alright," Naruto said as he showed Asuma what he could do: he used the jutsu the Hokage had shown him, Kurouzu, and a weakened version of Rakuhouha.
"Impressive," Asuma said after the demonstration.
"Thank you Asuma-san, but I still have a ways to go. I only meant to create one new nature transformation and now I have to make three and I seem to be stumbling through it," Naruto said.
"Hey, a lot of great things were discovered by accident, take the Suiken for example" Asuma said, trying to raise the boy's spirits.
"Drunken Fist, did you make that up?" Naruto asked.
"It exists but we're getting off topic, you sounded like you were having trouble," Kakashi said.
"Yeah, I've hit a snag creating darkness jutsu, Kurouzu is all I've got," Naruto admitted.
"What do you know about darkness?" Kakashi asked, in an attempt to be helpful.
"I know it absorbs light and color; that it obscures vision; and I'm able to manipulate gravity with it but that's all I know," Naruto told the masked jonin.
"You're right Naruto. And you should never forget that as ninja the dark and the shadows are one of our greatest weapons," Kakashi said.
"Hide in the shadows," Naruto said to himself, with a contemplative look on his face.
"What's wrong, Naruto-kun? Did you think of something?" Hinata asked.
"Possibly," was all Naruto said in response. He then made himself transparent and fell on his shadow. Instead of hitting the ground like everyone expected him to, he was absorbed into his shadow. His shadow changed shape into that of a circle and began to move around until it was behind Kakashi. Naruto then jumped out of his shadow with a smile on his face and said, "I think I'll call that Shadow Sneak."
To come up with something like and be able to perform it so quickly, not even Minato-sensei could do something like that, Kakashi thought.
"Excellent work Naruto. How did you do that?" Kurenai asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, I just thought if the darkness absorbs color and light then my shadow could absorb me if I was intangible," Naruto explained.
"Interesting, well we've kept you kids long enough you need to get to class," Asuma told them.
"You're right. It was nice meeting you Asuma-san. Ja ne Kakashi-san," Naruto said as he, Hinata, and Kurenai headed off towards the academy.
"Good-bye," Hinata told the two male jonin.
"I'll see you both later I suppose," Kurenai added.
When they were gone the Asuma turned to Kakashi and asked, "That kid is gonna be turn the ninja world on its head isn't he?"
"In ways we can only imagine," Kakashi answered.
Upon arriving at the academy, Naruto and Hinata quickly took their seats and waited for class to begin. Naruto was not looking forward to seeing Iruka after his breakdown earlier; but knew he would have to face both Iruka and Anko at some point.
Sensing his distress, Hinata asked, "Are you alright Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Hinata-chan, I'm just worried about what Iruka-sensei and Anko-sensei wanted to talk to Jiji about," Naruto answered.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about Naruto-kun, Iruka-sensei and Anko-sensei care about you a lot," Hinata said, trying to reassure her crush.
"I hope so, I'm sorry you had to see me right after I finished crying Hinata-chan," Naruto said.
"It's alright Naruto-kun, but what exactly happened?" Hinata asked.
And so Naruto told her everything: about how Iruka and Anko became the family he never had; about how his greatest fear was that he would be alone again; about his desire for them to stay together; and about how part of him wished the mystery man never got caught so that they could stay together.
Hinata, after listening to Naruto's story, had no idea what to say. She saw how badly he was hurting but had no words of comfort that he would accept. She could only hope Iruka and Anko could fix what was wrong with her crush. Before Hinata could give the matter anymore thought, Iruka and Mizuki entered and started class.
Class had proceeded as normal, although Iruka seemed to pay extra attention to Naruto, which Hinata had assumed was a good sign. Once the students were let out for break Iruka called Naruto over to him.
"Naruto, I think you should cancel your after school training today, Anko-chan and I have something to tell you," the chunin told his blonde student.
"Okay, Iruka-sensei," Naruto responded, his voice sounding almost hollow. After that Naruto left the room to find Hinata waiting for him.
"Sensei said that we should cancel our after school training session, he and Anko-sensei want to tell me something," Naruto told her.
"That's fine Naruto-kun, it probably won't hurt to take a break," Hinata said, worried more about Naruto's emotional state than keeping up with training.
As the two made their way to their usual spot for lunch they were joined by their other friends: Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Within the last week the six had become rather close.
"Is everything alright Naruto, something seemed to be bothering you?" Choji asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I've just had a lot on my mind," Naruto said. After a moment of consideration, Naruto turned to Shikamaru and asked, "Shikamaru, what can you tell me about shadows?"
"Troublesome, probably nothing you don't already know," Shikamaru answered. "Why do you want to know about shadows all of a sudden?" Shikamaru asked.
And so Naruto demonstrated Shadow Sneak to his friends. After a brief demonstration he explained, "I was just wondering how far I could take this technique, I think it has potential beyond just sneaking around, but I guess asking about shadows is like asking you to divulge your clan's secrets, sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru said not really caring one way or the other.
The small group of friends ate in peace until…
"Dobe, what was that you did a little while ago?" Sasuke asked.
"Sasuke, if you want to join the group just say so, you don't need to wait for me use a technique to come over," Naruto told the last Uchiha.
"I have better things to do then waste time with you and these slackers, now answer my question," Sasuke demanded.
"I'll consider it if you apologize to my friends and say please," Naruto responded.
Rather than swallow his pride and look like he was asking for help, even though that was exactly what he was doing, Sasuke started to storm off somewhere.
Before he could get very far Naruto said, "Sasuke, my earlier offer still stands, even you must get lonely."
Sasuke just pretended like he hadn't heard and went on his way.
"Well I tried," Naruto said as he and his friends started to eat.
The rest of the school day was uneventful, just a lecture on how to break genjutsu. Once class let out Naruto and Hinata went up to Iruka and waited for him to take them home. Once Hinata was safely within the Hyuga Compound's walls Naruto and Iruka made their way to the Namikaze house.
The closer they got to the house the more nervous Naruto seemed to get. Noticing this Iruka said, "Naruto, you don't need to look so worried, you know Anko-chan and I don't bite."
"Good one Sensei," Naruto responded in a hollow voice.
"Naruto," Iruka said at a loss for words. He wasn't accustomed to seeing Naruto in such a state.
They continued the rest of their journey in silence, upon arriving at their destination, Iruka ushered Naruto inside to where Anko was waiting for them both.
"Hey gaki, how was school?" Anko asked, trying to make Naruto as comfortable as possible.
"Fine, Anko-sensei," Naruto answered simply.
"Naruto, do you remember how Anko-chan and I said we were going to see the Hokage this morning?" Iruka asked.
"Hai," came Naruto's answer.
"Well we told him everything: that you know about the Kyubi; your parents; and how upset you were this morning and the three of us are all in agreement," Iruka continued.
"It was fun while it lasted," Naruto said quietly, although the adults heard it.
"You mean you don't want us here anymore?" Anko asked, trying to keep the mirth out of her voice.
"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligent reply.
"Naruto because of you status, adoption has unfortunately never been an option for you, but the Hokage agrees that since this house is yours by right, you can allow anyone you want to live here. And I'm sure you remember that Anko-chan and I said we were looking for a place for the both of us," Iruka explained.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Naruto asked in a disbelieving tone.
"As long as you'll have us, we'll stay with you," Iruka answered with a smile on his face.
"Iruka-kun and I understand what your life has been like, at least to some degree," Anko added with a smile.
Naruto couldn't hold back his tears, "Iruka-niisan, Anko-neechan, thank you both so much, I 'hic'."
"We know Naruto," Iruka said.
"We love you too, otouto," Anko added.
After Naruto had calmed down the three had dinner and went off to bed, ready to face tomorrow and every day after that, as a family.
And done. I hope that ending wasn't too sugary for anyone. I thought the story could use some more tender moments before anything else happened.
I would like to thank the DragonBard and Caspian123 for the idea for Shadow Sneak. I know it might not have been quite what either of you envisioned when you both suggested hiding in shadows but it will get there soon enough, promise.
I would also like to apologize for the delay in posting this chapter; I had a problem with my hard drive. Thankfully I was able to move the story to a flash drive before anything catastrophic happened.
As always read, review, suggest ideas, and it doesn't even have to be in that order.