NEW DAWN
Bargain with Uchiha-Hime
For the Sake of Saving
~ Forenote ~
I still need a Beta reader for this story, if anyone wants to, or knows someone who does, please PM.
His body hurt. That was normal for what he'd just been through.
However he wasn't normal. Naruto knew that his pains should have already passed. Unless he hadn't slept as long as he had thought he would.
Opening his eyes Naruto could barely make out the form of their Jonin sensei standing over him. The beating he had given them had been completely uncalled for! Where the hell did it come from?
Bastard-sensei hadn't done this to them last time. Naruto was sure of that! So why? Why had the masked Jonin gone on the offensive?
There was a groan from beside him as the Uchiha began to wake. His hand lifted from the ground and covered his eyes.
"What the hell?" The Uchiha moaned.
"No one ever told you that I wouldn't fight back." Their sensei's voice was almost cheerful. Bastard! Had he enjoyed that?
"Well since all three of you have woken up, congratulations! You managed to actually pass my real test without even trying."
Blinking the pain from his eyes, Naruto looked around for Sakura. She was on Sasuke's other side. She had actually managed to sit up. Her hair was a tangled mop almost completely covering her head and shoulders.
It was soaking wet. And so was she. When Naruto tried to sit up as well he realized he was wet too. Well that explained why he had woken up. Sensei must have dumped the whole river on them, if the soaking ground were anything to go by.
"Oi! What do you mean we passed? And why the hell didga kick the shit out of us for!?" Naruto accused his sensei.
"The test was never really about the bells." Their sensei explained. "It was about the mission to get them, and how you would perform it. If you had all attacked on your own, you never would have gotten close. And if you had fought each other…"
Letting that statement hang the masked cyclops gave each of them a pointed look.
"The only way a group of Genin has any chance to win against a Jonin is if they work together and get very lucky. However even that was a test. You were given a mission that would normally have caused you to fight against one another, and in order to see the true test you needed to be able to look underneath the underneath. That was something I thought you would have had trouble figuring out without it being explained, but even a Jonin can misread someone."
Naruto tried to ignore the look Sasuke was giving him.
"You are all officially Genin. Meet back here tomorrow at noon for our first mission. I would suggest spending your free mornings training here together and your afternoons working on individual training in one of the other public training grounds."
Pulling out his book their sensei turned on heel and began walking away. His suggestions echo'd in Naruto's ears. Last time he had told them to be there at eight in the morning and then never shown up until noon. Why did he give them a different schedule this time?
Why were so many things so different! First he showed up at the academy two hours early, then they had introductions here instead of on the academy roof, and he actually fought during the test… Now this.
If things like that could change then what else might be different? What else might be changed from what little he could remember of his past life?
"Naruto…" the Uchiha had turned to look directly at him. "How did you know about the test?"
And things just kept changing! Sasuke had just called him by his name!
0o0o0
After talking his way out of the Uchiha's curiosity, Naruto fled to the training ground behind their own. The Circle of Pillars. Training ground seventeen held all sorts of landscapes and terrain. From the trees in the back to the cliffs on the wall. The river and beach that flowed behind the stone column. The circle of pavement that went around it, separated from the column by a deep trench. The grassy plain in front and the ten training posts where Naruto meditated. All of it was encircled by the hundreds of towering posts that gave the training ground it's name.
This was where he had agreed to meet his supplemental sensei tomorrow. But that didn't mean he couldn't train here without him did it?
Taking his seat on the widest training post Naruto began meditating. He had lost many clones during the test, and he had yet to release the rest of them still out there. Slowly he allowed the chakra of his copies to reenter him and absorbed with the chakra all the thoughts and feelings that the clones had experienced. He wasn't anywhere near good at Reading the Feedback. But he was able to get more than he had the first few times he'd done it.
A couple clones had been all that was left by the time he finished meditating, and those were the ones he'd assigned to stick around until the training ground was clear so he could reclaim his gear used in the test.
His traps had all been cloned tools, but in order to use the shadow projectile as often as he had, he had lost a real tool each time. It wouldn't be very long before the other two finally went home… or wherever they were going. Until then Naruto would go over the forms and kata he had learned for his taijutsu.
The test had gone great! He had made his impression and earned their respect in a matter of mere hours.
As he moved from one stance to the next, the blonde considered his previous concern. Things were changing. As he had meditated a few moments ago, he had gained a clear view of his previous version of the bell test. His sensei had tied him to the training post for trying to eat the lunch boxes. It was a foolish thing to do, and he had been punished for it. And that was when Sasuke and Sakura passed the test, allowing them to become Genin. His memories of a certain technique that their sensei used on him brought out a whole new disrespect for the man.
However unlike then, this time they had all fought together and his sensei had beaten the living hell out of them for it. What happened to change it?
The time displaced teen spent his entire training session trying to figure it out. When the answer finally came to him, he almost had a panic attack. The only things different were things that had been affected by what he did. The thing changing everything was him!
It started with his bet, Ebisu-sensei had been forced to train him and that was how he got so much better than he was last time around. Next it was his fight with Sasuke before team placement. That must have been what caused Kakashi to change his test.
Sasuke hadn't been there so they hadn't introduced themselves. Sakura had been the one to fix him up, if the fact that her name was stamped on the bandage on his lower back said anything. Something she had done had gotten Sasuke to open up during the introductions this morning.
And everything else had been him trying to make sure they passed! His traps, his warnings to Sasuke. They had been what got the three of them working together from the beginning and that was why they had passed the way they did.
Sensei had only fought back because Sakura had cut him a little. Her surprise attack had surprised all three of them. And the fact that the very tip of her kunai had tasted blood was something Naruto had never thought would ever happen for the girl.
Every single thing that he did changed things. And everything could be changed if he didn't try to keep it the way it was. How could he be sure they would get the same mission's or even the exam?... Naruto was certain nothing he did could stop the exam from happening in the first place, but how could he be sure they were in it?
He needed to find a way to make sure things happened as they were supposed to. And then, when he had the chance, he would stop Sasuke from leaving before he made it out of the village gates!
0o0o0
Uchiha Sasuke wasn't fooled by a single one of the excuses Naruto had made. Saying things like "That's just common knowledge" and "Everybody knows Genin teams are three Genin to one Jonin" didn't explain anything! It was all bullshit! Sasuke had seen several Genin squads with only two members and he had witnessed first hand as several of his clansmen were taken as apprentices.
Naruto knew something before the test! There was no doubt in his mind that the blonde had been the one to set up all those traps Sakura was using. It wouldn't surprise him if the boy had somehow been behind her little ambush of their sensei too.
Still, Sakura was the only one to have gotten the drop on their sensei. She had actually drawn blood! Even if it was only a tiny splat on the point of her kunai, the blood was still blood of a Jonin.
When he and Sakura had tried to look closer at the traps, they all vanished in a cloud of chakra. The scroll with the map disappeared with them. All that was left were a few kunai and shuriken that Naruto had used in the actual battle with their sensei.
A pair of clones quickly swept all of those up. Solid clones! When did Naruto learn to make those? After the beating he had taken the Uchiha had began looking over every memory he had of the dobe, he had thought the dobe had just been holding back a little, but now…
His speed and technique from the bell test were leagues above what the proud Genin could manage. The taijutsu style he was using was so unfamiliar to the Uchiha. Even their sensei had been taken by surprise. And the sheer amount of these solid clones he had used. If Sakura's understanding of the concept of substantial chakra constructs was right then Naruto had at least a hundred times the amount of chakra Sasuke had.
Talking it over with the kunoichi brought the two of them to a single conclusion.
Naruto was not a Genin. He couldn't be. There was no way the Naruto they had known could have been hiding his abilities so well otherwise. If he had simply been hiding without any true training then he would have slipped up. It was a bizarre conclusion, but they were convinced. He was a spy for the Hokage who had been placed on the team. Once Sakura had confirmed where Naruto lived they had no doubts. No child his age would be allowed to live alone in the redlight district!
At first Sakura thought that he had been replaced entirely! Like maybe he had been dropped from the program and someone else took his place. But Sasuke was certain that wasn't the case, or his disguise would have been disrupted when their sensei had attacked.
The pinkette admitted she knew he was the same person too, because she could feel the same body size and shape when she kicked him. If he had been in a henge it would have felt different.
It actually made more sense if he had been a plant even back in the academy anyway. Naruto had always been pulling things in class and always got bad grades even when he did the work.
It took a little arguing but they soon agreed that the adults did treat him differently than the rest of the students. All of the hushed whispers as he walked by their parents, the glares always sent his way. They had assumed his treatment was because of his behaviour. The only one who seemed to like him had been Iruka, and he was the boy's main target most of the time.
The conclusion. Naruto, a shinobi who lived in the redlight district and was good buddies with their sensei outside of class, who had the ability to completely hide his true skills, which were on par with at least Mizuki-sensei, had more chakra than anybody they had heard of, except maybe the Hokage, and routinely evaded the Anbu, was being treated like his very presence was an insult to the other instructors.
The only explanation that fit, was that he was a secret agent placed there by the Hokage because of the number of clan born students in that class. And the other sensei didn't like a full shinobi infiltrating their class. He never did his work because he was always bored from having done it already. Finally, once they had graduated Naruto had been put on their team to protect the sharingan.
Sasuke knew that since that night, he had been placed under guard by the Anbu when he was alone. And since Naruto had been there with them even before then, it meant he wasn't there simply to keep the sharingan safe.
That must have been a new mission. It also explained how he had been made a Genin anyway.
They had probably expected him to be finished when his mission at the academy was over and that was why he failed! He would have been able to simply drop the act and 'return' from his mission.
As skeptical as the two of them were about that final conclusion, the alternative was that Naruto, the goof, had been flawlessly hiding at least Chunin level abilities, that surely would have passed him from the academy a long time ago, and that he had been getting punished when he displayed them as part of a village wide scheme to keep him down for something that he or his family did some time in the past that nobody was allowed to talk about.
Shinobi infiltration, or village wide secret conspiracy against a hyper, super genius, moron as a person. Easy answer in a shinobi village where they all trained to be Shinobi.
0o0o0
Morning arrived with Naruto making his lap around the Circle of Pillars. He wasn't sure why, but last night had been a very strange sleep. It felt like he had been told some huge joke and he couldn't remember it.
Whatever it was, his mood had been affected greatly by it. Everything seemed to make him laugh today.
It slipped his mind that his shadow clones had only returned with his missing tools after he'd fallen asleep. But the tools were all there in the morning so he repacked them and dressed in his new Orange.
Today Kakashi would likely take them for their first D-rank. But if not, it meant Naruto's slim grasp on the few changes he had made was worse than he thought. Try as he might, Naruto couldn't remember what his first D-rank mission was. All he remembered about it was that Iruka had yelled at him in front of the old man for complaining about it.
That wasn't the only time Iruka had yelled at him for it either. Naruto had one more hint at what the big mission was. He had been begging for a new mission and Iruka had been there then too, which meant that it was going to be during a break in the academy.
Classes started up again in a week, and they would go on for three months before the next break. That must be when it would happen. During the spring break. Naruto had until then to figure out how to ensure they were on that mission. Other wise there was a chance that their sensei wouldn't let them take the Chunin exam. And that meant that what ever happened in the end would happen differently. He wouldn't get the chance to save the old man. Naruto wasn't sure how he knew the man would die, but he had been so sure the old man had been dead when he first returned. He wasn't going to miss the chance to save him.
His musings finally came to an end as he sensed movement just outside the training ground.
It was Ebisu-sensei. "Ah, Naruto. You've already taken a lap this morning?"
The Jonin quickly jogged over to the ten posts.
"Yeah sensei. I was going through my kata before grabbing something for breakfast."
Straightening his glasses the Bandana browed shinobi considered. "How long until you are to meet with your Team?"
"Noon." The look Naruto received from Ebisu told him that the Jonin hadn't expected it any more than he had.
"In that case I'll treat you. I know a good place to get tamagoyaki and yakizakana this early in the day. I guarantee they'll serve you with the utmost respect."
Naruto certainly wasn't going to waste this chance! Not only was his sensei going to treat him, but it was at a place he'd never gotten to eat before.
Ebisu led him across the village to the market district. As they walked Naruto explained how their Bell test had gone. Ebisu had been surprised it had gone so well, thankfully he had thought of excuses for Sasuke so he had his newer revised ones to tell his sensei.
The man chuckled when Naruto told him about Sakura's tramp stamp of legal possession. And he gaped at the fact that she, out of the three of them, had managed to bleed the Jonin!
Arriving at the restaurant they took seats at a table near the far corner, in a private booth. Naruto had to do a double take when he saw the waitress quickly, but not appearing rushed, heading in their direction.
She draped herself over the Jonin. Her pink kimono spread as one of her legs wrapped around his waist. One of her hands seductively caressing his jaw line. "Bisu-honey, please tell me you haven't forgotten our arrangement."
"I have not, Mitarashi-chan." Nature was certain that the closet perv was getting close to passing out as he turned red from her touch.
"Awwe so formal, if you talk like that then people might not get the wrong idea about our relationship."
Naruto knew her from somewhere. He was also certain this was not where she belonged. "Hey, I thought you were a shinobi! What are ya doing working here?"
At the Genin's question, the familiar woman turned away from her victim and gave a wide feral grin.
"I'm serving tea to some very important customers!" She exclaimed. As she did so she also squeezed his sensei's arm into her generous bust.
The blushing adult had explained several instances like this over his education. It was simple security to have a shinobi of their village prepare and serve accommodations for any high risk visitors. But who could have come to the village at this point in time? The Chunin exams were several months away.
The blonde voiced his question.
She gave him a sultry look as she answered. "Why Naru-kun, don't you know that when providing services…" Her face came very close to his as she spoke into his ear. "Every customer is Important."
Ebisu-sensei cleared his throat.
Before Naruto knew she had even moved, the seductress had draped herself back over the Jonin, and was whispering in his ear. His reaction however, was a sudden reduction of blush as his face became stern.
"Well I did promise Naruto-kun breakfast." The man sighed.
Giggling, Mitarashi whoever, bounced off of him. The result drew the man's eyes straight to her chest behind his sunglasses. From the angle his head was turned, Naruto had a bare glimpse of his eyes from the side.
Pervert.
"I'll bring you both plenty to eat. And then maybe I can serve you dessert later tonight. Just. The. Two. Of. Us."
As they waited for their food Ebisu pulled out a small square of paper. "Let us begin our work on item number five. Your advanced elemental training."
Handing Naruto the paper, he instructed the Genin on how to use it, resulting in a split cutting all the way through the square.
"Ah, You are a wind user, fortunately for you that element can be added to many different skills even without jutsu. Such as using it to extend the reach of your blade or kunai and even boosting the speed of your thrown weapons."
He was simply restating it. Naruto remembered from many different points of view the lectures on how chakra could enhance shinobi tools. Wind and lightning were the two most kenjutsu type elements, Fire could be used to make the blade burn but fire didn't really cut. While water was a good supplement to kenjutsu, it wasn't a direct enhancer. And without certain bloodlines, Earth was a purely defensive element when it came to kenjutsu.
"Unfortunately," the Jonin continued. "There are very few Wind users available to instruct or even assist my instruction. I know of several Anbu who use it however they cannot be spared, there are only four others in the village who might be able to assist."
Ebisu adjusted his glasses as he began his list. "The first option is your sensei. Through his doujutsu he has acquired many wind jutsu. In using them he may have gained some understanding of them." Naruto's thoughts on that probably showed on his face, because the lecturing hastened past the copycat.
"The next is the Hokage himself, his element is not wind however he is quite capable of using it. He is busy, but I can ask for pointers to give you from him, or he might even be able to get some from an anbu for us."
That was an idea! How awesome would it be to get training from the Hokage himself!?
"His son however, is a wind type like you, but he currently has his own team to train. The last is an elder of the village who was an extremely skilled wind user. It would be best not to consider him for this though. His time is spent elsewhere."
They continued to discuss the issues of training in that element until their food was served. Ebisu-sensei would request the pointers from the Hokage, but he could at the very least get him started on the Leaf Splitting Palm. Said jutsu was the wind type of the first five forms.
The instructor had just began explaining the primary scale of steps that could be taken using solely the Splitting Leaf Palm, when she returned. As she served them, she bowed low enough that both males could see she had loosened the sash holding her kimono closed.
Ebisu's hand immediately gripped his nose to prevent the coming bleed.
With a wink at the pervert, the kunoichi stood, turned and walked away. Ebisu's eyes were glued to her retreating form until she vanished around a divider.
Shaking himself out of his trance the Jonin ushered him to eat. The food was amazing! Grilled fish and an omelet with toppings and sides to spare! Naruto had eaten food like this before, but for some reason eating it this time gave him the same feeling of being extra awake as eating at Ichiraku's.
As they ate, Ebisu asked about his plans for team training.
"I donno. I guess I was just going to wait until sensei told us his plans."
He wasn't sure if Kakashi would even be having them train together. He had told them to train on their own in the mornings, which was different than before. It was entirely possible that the fact they had impressed him was what he had been waiting on last time around.
The Jonin nodded his head vigorously. His bandana swishing as it moved. "Yes, that is a sensible intention. However one must at least have an idea of their goals. What thoughts have you considered about your team training?"
"Well I was kinda thinking I'd just keep training with you or by myself when on my own, and do whatever team training that sensei gave us."
The blonde ducked his face into his food when Ebisu gave him a disappointed look.
"Naruto, you are part of a team now. That means you need to think about more than just making yourself stronger. Increasing their strength will only increase yours in the end."
As a small flush of shame entered his face, Naruto told him his thoughts on the Jonin telling them to work individually in the mornings suggesting that he already had things planned for after the mission.
Ebisu sighed. As long as that was their plan, the Jonin advised him, after Naruto did his lap and Kata they would be able to meet every morning to train. They could even eat out like they were this time if Naruto was doing well.
Naruto was about finished with his food as Ebisu pressed the issue of team training. He was adamant that since Naruto could water walk and they couldn't, his first course of action should be teaching his teammates to do so as well.
Naruto didn't want to lose his advantage against Sasuke, and even more so, he didn't want to change things any further. But it wasn't like he could tell Ebisu about why.
So he settled for arguing that he shouldn't have to give up his hard work to someone who would just copy everything!
But the Jonin chuckled and replied "Sharing your training with your teammates is the correct thing to do. It would be abandoning them to do otherwise. Still though, if you do share your training, you don't have to do it for free…"
"Wait! You mean I could make them pay me for the training?" Naruto was sure that it wouldn't work. Sakura would think he was trying to get a date and Sasuke wouldn't be able to accept it without hurting his pride.
"No. Certainly not!" The man quickly rejected Naruto's inquiry. "What you can do however, is to trade the training for jutsu. Do remember that the requirement of our bet only includes teaching you the advanced elemental conversion. While it is possible to use wind in an excess of ways without actual jutsu, the Uchiha is certain to have the wind jutsu he could trade."
"Sasuke would never go for that! He's too proud to give up anything in exchange for getting taught by the dobe!" It sounded like a great idea. Naruto could actually get behind it. But how could he ever get the others to agree to it?
Once more his sensei proved to him exactly how little he really knew. "That's not a problem at all. Just inform him that an added benefit of the training is that if he manages to learn it, his chakra control should be well past the level at which he would be able to activate his sharingan. Most Uchiha are able to do so after the tree walking training. I'm sure that if you bait the deal with that, then he'll agree without hesitation."
That would definitely work! But Naruto still didn't want to lose his advantage against the Uchiha or change things any worse. But as he no longer had a reasonable argument, the Genin resolved to simply drop the subject.
0o0o0
When they met at the training ground for their first mission as a team, Naruto's return to the color orange was as surprising to his team as his first outfit change had been.
It seemed they had thought he would be permanently garbed in his Anbu-esque uniform.
He explained to them that the Anbu Uniform was his formal outfit and he didn't believe this mission would require it.
Both Sasuke and Sakura shared a look. At the same time, Kakashi's visible eye narrowed into a squint.
There was little talk as they made their way to the mission office. Just as Naruto remembered, Iruka-sensei was there.
He hadn't payed any attention to the others during the last time that they had learned they would only be doing chores. This time, he watched as their expectant expressions quickly morphed from surprise to defeated groans.
His reaction was a little less than the adults had been expecting. He didn't argue or groan like his teammates and so, Instead of getting yelled at the way he had before, both of his sensei were staring at him as if he'd loudly passed gas.
Again, his teammates looked at each other.
He wasn't sure why, but that look made him feel as if he was missing some kind of big joke and felt a ghost of laughter rising in his chest.
Their first mission was painting a fence. So while their sensei took the scroll, they followed him to the address listed. As they worked Sasuke and Sakura began whispering out of earshot. Naruto considered creating clones to help, but decided against it. If he did create a clone, the construct would be just as distracted as he was.
His dilemma over whether or not to teach Sasuke to water walk was beginning to eat away at him. Sure he could teach Sakura, if she'd let him. But then, she would turn around and show Sasuke. And while that might help her to bond with him, Naruto still couldn't think of a way to get her to agree to it.
It took the whole mission, but he eventually decided that this time, Sasuke would stay in the village. He could change things right? If he change things, they wouldn't be what he remembered. But he didn't want Sasuke to be the guy he remembered. So why not? Already his act of revenge had changed the boy's attitude towards him. So why not stop Sasuke from leaving in the first place, instead of trying to make sure he could bring the boy back this time?
If he really was the one changing things, then that meant all he had to do was make sure he only changed certain things! Things like what he did around his teammates and friends. Those couldn't have too much effect on the big stuff. And as long as they went on the same big missions and took the Chunin exam things should stay roughly the same right? He could only remember one mission that could change anything before the exam, and that was the foggy mission where he had gained two of his rules. Anything else should be fine to change.
This meant that Naruto could do everything he could to stop the Uchiha from leaving! The best way to stop him was to make Sasuke want to stay.
To do that, the blonde needed to rebuild his bonds with Sasuke and make them even stronger than the last time! Which meant he had to forget his anger at the boy for what his other self had done. He needed to stop thinking of him as the guy who abandoned them, who killed him in the Valley of the Ends. Naruto need to forgive and forget that Sasuke. This new Sasuke couldn't be 'Sasuke-teme.' He was a different person. He would become a different Sasuke.
Naruto had come to his decision. In order for this Sasuke to become different, he had to treat him different. His actions were what changed things, so if he changed the way he acted towards Sasuke then it should change what the boy felt.
To that end, his rival and onetime friend was no longer 'Sasuke-teme.' Just as Sakura was no longer his Sakura-chan.
From that point on, Naruto would fully support Sakura's efforts to gain Sasuke's love. This Sasuke was not the teme, instead he would be...
"Uchiha-hime!"
Sasuke flinched and glared at him for announcing the boy's new nickname.
"What do you want Naruto?" The newly titled Princess demanded.
"You think we could get this knocked out a little faster already? Lets pick up the pace, cuz we're already almost finished and I want to see what kinda training sensei will have for us when we're done!"
Both of his teammates lit up at his suggestion and they had the rest of the fence painted only a few minutes later.
The masked Jonin led the way back to the mission's office with the signed mission report. His pace seemed to have increased the same way theirs had while painting.
The Hokage had already left and Iruka sensei was the one handing out the day's payments. After turning in their mission, instead of getting a new mission or being dismissed, Kakashi told them they had five minutes to get to the training ground or they wouldn't get to sleep tonight. After he had made good on his words about throwing their breakfast up, all three of them bolted out of the office.
Their arrival at the training ground was punctuated by a ringing timer.
Naruto had ended up dragging Sakura along by her arm when she began to fall behind. Of course because she couldn't keep up, he hadn't been able to run at his full speed. He would have just picked her up, but he was certain she would have hit him for trying to carry her.
As it was they had only just made it. Their sensei was already there sitting on the Memorial stone and reading. As the timer rang he slipped his book in his vest and addressed them.
"Okay boys, you two are going to spar while Sakura is going to fix her endurance problem." he announced, then looking at the Kunoichi he continued "Sakura, you're going to tag the monument and then run back to the office and tag my clone. We will both be counting so you should get started, you have until nightfall to make a hundred laps."
With a gasp of despair, Sakura deflated and ran over to the Hero's stone. Then she began her way back to the mission's office.
0o0o0
As Kakashi thought, Naruto was holding back again. The Genin wasn't moving anything like he had been in the bell test. It was as if he wasn't even channeling his chakra at all. The Genin was sparing solely with his body's own speed.
"Naruto, why are you holding back?" Without missing a movement the boy responded "So Sasuke can keep up."
The Uchiha balked at that, but then his eyes flared and he pressed harder. Forcing Naruto to dodge and weave away before continuing.
"He won't get stronger if he doesn't at least stand a chance of beating me. At this speed he has to work for it, but it's still possible. And that means that he will work for it, as hard as he can if necessary."
Kakashi hadn't expected that answer. It was too matured, and more… The Jonin had thought that Naruto would be wanting to show off. But instead the boy was focused on helping Sasuke improve.
They continued to spar like that until Sakura had finished her laps. Their wordless clashes becoming less and less even as time wore on. Naruto appeared to still be fresh after their hours of contact. By the time the pinkette returned from her final lap Sasuke had become thoroughly exhausted.
The moment Sakura tagged the monument the last time, Kakashi announced that he expected all three of them here the next day at noon. Then he vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Picking himself off the ground Sasuke gathered his things and began trudging towards the Uchiha district.
"Uchiha-hime!" Naruto called out before Sasuke had gotten too far. "Hey, you should ask Sakura if she wants to eat dinner with us."
Sasuke had been slightly stunned by the continued use of his new nickname, and the fact that Naruto had basically implied that they were going regardless and mindlessly complied. Sakura's mouth hung open as she began to blush.
Hastily agreeing she rushed to catch up with them.
After eating at that the last place with Ebisu-sensei had gone so well, Naruto decided to let the other two pick their dining. Which meant that when Sakura saw Ino, they had no choice but to go to the Yakiniku shop where team ten was dining.
Naruto had been intending to start bargaining with them over the training during the meal. However since they were dining with team ten, the male blonde tried his best to simply be the happy kid he had been when he first graduated last time around.
Sasuke naturally sat in an open seat causing Sakura and Ino to get into their usual argument about who would sit next to him.
With a raised eyebrow, Shikamaru stated that Sakura's name was already on him. He left his statement hanging when Ino glared vengeance at him.
"Sorry ladies, but Uchiha-hime requires a proper dining environment as such me'n Choji will be sitting beside him."
The tubby boy looked at him in shock, when Naruto simply picked up Sasuke's chair, interrupting the boy's search for the written name as he had to hold on to keep from falling off, and moved it to the other side of the table. Taking the seat on the other side of it from the larger boy.
As soon as Ino heard the name he had called Sasuke, she grinned, "Hime huh? Well that explains some things…"
Naruto didn't know what she meant, but a tremendous sense of overwhelming doom settled on his shoulders.
As they ate she told them about how her dad was busy making house calls for some sort of food poisoning epidemic. From what she had eavesdropped there was a single person involved with all of the shops effected and she thought they were trying to find out who had been the one to poison them all.
Shikamaru told them about their sensei and what all they did for their test and then Naruto and Sakura regaled them with stories of their own bell test.
0o0o0
That night was restless. Naruto had eaten too much trying to keep up with Choji, Ino's random comments still made Naruto feel like he'd done something horribly wrong. And he still hadn't been able to start changing Sasuke yet either. Although he was certain that the boy's stuck up attitude had been a little better while they ate. The Uchiha had actually told Shikamaru about their sensei and agreed to play a game of shogi later that week.
Through most of the night Naruto spent his time awake going over everything he could think of to help change his friend. He even rehearsed his plot to trade Sasuke's jutsu for water walking and how it would help him unlock his doujutsu.
The Genin tried to remember the last time Sasuke had unlocked his eyes, but instead all he could remember was the Uchiha dying… and the color red...and anger. Rage!
Well, he knew that hadn't been the way it went or Sasuke-teme wouldn't have been able to kill him. So for now it did nothing to help Uchiha-hime unlocking his eyes. There was something else… he wasn't sure what it was though. It had something to do with the mask, and the mirrors… and maybe a girl?
Thinking about that mission made his chest hurt but he didn't understand, who was that girl… why was she so important. He had flipped through his bingo book, but outside of a few pictures he thought he recognized, only Sasuke's brother stood out in his memories. He was certain that the fish dude that was with the clankiller was Hoshigaki Kisame. But Naruto had no idea where he had even seen the two of them together.
He could remember something about boobs and a toad… and the perverted Shinobi. But that had nothing to do with the mission that he was trying to remember right now.
That mission with the words of his past, and the deep seated feeling that he had made a mistake carried him off into a fitful sleep.
0o0o0
The next morning Naruto finished his laps and did his Kata with a weary slump. Once done, he left a clone at the training ground to let Ebisu know where he was going. He was going to talk to Sasuke about the training and once he had taught it to Sasuke, the Uchiha could teach it to Sakura.
The clone would explain his idea's to the man and get whatever instructions he had for Naruto to do for the day. Then the clone would come to Naruto and tell him about them directly to ensure nothing was lost in the feedback.
It only took a few minutes to find Sasuke. He was already up and training in the Uchiha training fields. His body no longer wrapped in the bandages that he had worn the previous two days. Making a clone to tell his other clone where to find them Naruto announced his presence.
"Yo! Uchiha-hime, I got some training plans I want to talk to you about."
The Uchiha immediately stopped his agility motions and trotted over to the edge of the field to glare at Naruto.
"Did you know about the tag?" The Uchiha's borderline accusation was laced with venom.
"It wasn't really safe for my health to say anything…" Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. He was ready to bolt if Sasuke retaliated. "We both know Sakura has been looking for a reason to hit me and I didn't really want to give her any now that we're Genin."
The taller boy almost flinched. Not fully but more than just a blink. His downcast expression lost the heat of wrath from only a second ago.
"What kind of training did you have in mind?"
So the Uchiha had been changing already! He hadn't said anything about Naruto being the dobe or even sneered at him. Sasuke had simply asked what he had in mind.
"Well I know a pretty cool chakra control exercise that I can show you. I'm told that most Uchiha unlocked their Sharingan during this training… And since you haven't yet, I was thinking you might be willing to trade for it."
At the mention of his clan's dojutsu, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What would you know about the Sharingan?"
"Other than that you, Sensei and your Brother are the last who have it? The basics." Sasuke was clearly surprised about something he had said.
Naruto thought he heard him mumble the word "sensei" but that didn't make any sense.
"The doujutsu of the Uchiha clan," He continued. "It is capable of providing the user with a time dilated point of view, allowing faster reaction speed, a higher level of detail orientated perception and it also much like the byakugan gives the user the ability to actually see chakra and chakra networks, thus granting the autonomous copying of any motion or jutsu performed by those being observed. It is primarily a reaction based tool, however it is also an effective genjutsu instrument and can easily cast or break most Genjutsu with little skill or effort required from the user."
By the time he had completed his textbook description of the Sharingan as Ebisu sensei had explained it, the Uchiha's jaw had dropped just like Sakura's had been doing lately.
Snapping his fingers to get the boy's attention the blonde grinned widely. It looked like he had convinced his teammate already.
"I can give you the training that I offered or you can wait until Sensei gets around to it, but if you want to go on higher ranked missions sooner, then we can't just sit back and wait for them. If you agree to trade training I will expect you to share this training with Sakura. She probably wouldn't want to do anything I suggest but I'm willing to bet she could get the training down faster than you do."
"How much?" The Uchiha cut right to the point.
"Any wind jutsu you have."
"Not the training." Sasuke shook his head with a small smile. "How much are you willing to bet that she can finish this training faster than me?"
"Oh!" A matter of his pride! It was unintended but perfect! "Well how about if she does, you have to ask her on a date, and you have to tell her that she'll get the date if she does before you start teaching it to her. And if I lose, I'll let you copy some of my jutsu."
That was perfect! Not only did he help Sakura out, but now Sasuke was more motivated than ever!
"Deal!" the Uchiha agreed without hesitation, obviously thinking about getting his hands on the shadow clone. "What is this training?"
"Unuh! Not yet hime! First," Naruto wagged his finger at him. "My price. I'm a wind type and there are no wind users available to teach me any jutsu of that element. I'm sure your clan has at least a few wind type jutsu written down right? Well, If I teach you, then I need a wind jutsu or two in exchange."
Sasuke thought about it. His face expressed a deep conflict. Then he brightened. "Do I get to copy any jutsu I give you when you finish them?"
"Only once sensei says that I'm doing them effectively, with my levels of chakra I tend to waste a lot and we don't want you copying me if I'm too sloppy." That was the main reason he had asked Ebisu for the four jutsu he had. Because his past encounter with the man had explained how he wasted too much chakra.
The Uchiha agreed once more. They had a bargain.
0o0o0
The deal was set. And what a deal it was! What ever rank the Fake really was had become Irrelevant the moment Sasuke was convinced that Naruto could help him unlock his Sharingan.
Note to self, the Uchiha thought, Find out what the fake was talking about when he said our sensei had the Sharingan!
If the orange colored Genin was right about the training, the Sasuke would have gladly payed any of his jutsu for it. Once he unlocked his doujutsu he could simply duplicate any of the jutsu he saw. Besides that, because Naruto had agreed to let him copy the jutsu he gave him, he would even be getting extra training in using his doujutsu afterwards.
What was a few wind jutsu compared to that?
When he agreed to the final deal he was told he had to pay up front so that Naruto could be training on the jutsu while he trained. So the Uchiha rushed into the Uchiha compound. He made his way towards the collection of jutsu he had gathered from the empty houses. The Uchiha had a jutsu library. However with them gone, it had been transcripted by the bank with all the other major valuables of the clan. He had access to it when ever he wanted. But it couldn't just be left in the empty compound.
Still he had found many hastily written jutsu scrolls and notes throughout the compound as he took inventory.
The entire compound had been inventoried within the year. The majority of the houses had been emptied of anything that wasn't decor and furnishings. All the tools, cloths, foods, toys, papers, and anything else they had found had been sifted through.
Cash and valuables went to the bank with the library. All food items were donated away. He had needed to make choices on almost all of the rest of the items found.
Most he had simply put off, by sending them to the bank vault. He had all the clothing found sorted and placed in storage. Several items had simply been donated, but the majority of them bore the clan symbol.
He had given most of the toys to the local orphanage. Along with any of the children's clothes that didn't have the clan emblem on them. As repayment for that kindness, the Hokage had waived all fees for the upkeep of the clan until he became a shinobi the other day.
He had all tools stored in a single location, basically the military police armory had been boosted by any other tool that could be useful.
The documents however had been sorted out before being given to him for allocation. Many had been from the military police, which were confiscated as village security files. Others had been sent to the bank as valuable assets & financials, the rest had been given to him for sorting. There were journals and letters and autobiographies, there were even a few half written novels. He had thrown out all the attempts to recreate the Icha Icha series without even looking at them. Mostly though he had sorted out the jutsu kept by individuals.
Most of the jutsu he had found had been added to the library, but if the jutsu was already there then he added it to his collection.
His sorting of these had been just as meticulous as the sorting of the Library had been. He easily found three wind jutsu that would work. He had more than a few in the library but only seven in his collection. Picking the lowest rank of each type of wind jutsu, impact, blast, and cutting, he headed back out. To where Naruto was speaking with his clone who vanished in a cloud of chakra before the Uchiha got in hearing range of their conversation.
0o0o0
After explaining the various steps of the chakra walking training methods to the shadow clone, Ebisu decided to spend the day with his original charge.
Not all shinobi could just power through the training. The correct method of learning was a series of broken down steps, from geta walking, in which one wears a pair of strapless clogs, to water walking was a vast number of steps. And it all began with picking up a leaf on the back of one's hand.
Once he wrote all the step on a scroll he gave it to the clone to deliver to the original and told the clone that he expected the original to master all of the steps as well. Each step helped to refine the process and could very well increase his control proportionally.
Charging out behind the clone Ebisu headed off the Hokage's night nurse, who would be dropping Konohamaru off at Gemna's
Today, Ebisu would see how quickly Konohamaru could pass each of the steps.
He began by having the boy float a leaf on his forehead for ten minutes. Unlike all the times he had told the boy to do it before, Konohamaru didn't complain once. Then he asked the child to try picking one up with the back of his hand. It took about twenty minutes before he could pick it up and hold it.
So he moved on to the same task with the foot. As the Jonin watched Konohamaru's improvement he couldn't help but acknowledge the effect Naruto had on the boy. Nothing he had ever said to the child had gotten this much effort out of him. By the time they broke for lunch, Konohamaru was able to walk with the Geta on his feet.
After that they would begin walking up increasing inclines until it was time to move to the stone wall. The last step before tree walking. Naturally Konohamaru wouldn't be able to get that far as quickly as he had come this far, it required much more chakra capacity than the child had. But it was a great progress.
The last three days the Jonin had gotten the vessel caught up in most of the academy lessons. There was very little left for them to cover that applied to practical use. The rest of it was simply history and politics. They would cover maps more as they continued but yesterday's work on geography had been quite successful.
It was time for him to work on the bet. He had already started Naruto on item three. The taijutsu. He had taught the boy every basic Kata for all the styles he knew. He focused heavily on defence. But that would always be a work in progress. With the Uchiha on his team, Naruto had only six months to get most of it down, but that would have to be enough.
Item five, the wind element would also take time. It was likely that even with the shadow clone jutsu, they wouldn't finish it before the exams. In working on it he could also help Naruto with the wind jutsu he received from the Uchiha.
He would locate the other four jutsu and teach them to the boy once he had finished learning at least one of those.
Once the boy had gone through each step of the true chakra walking training, he would start Naruto out on his first idea towards item four. The kaiten. He would have to either find someone willing to teach it to him, or arrange for them to teach it to Naruto. It was even possible that he may be able to reverse engineer it to create a jutsu of the same effect.
His work on item ten was mostly complete. Naruto knew how to get and maintain shinobi tools. All that was left for that was teaching him about the processes of making the tags and the bingo book. And making good on his extra promise of explosive cloned tools.
Item's one and two however, would not happen until after the exam. That was certain. From the progress Naruto had displayed already Ebisu was sure that those two would be the only things he had left in the bet by the end of the next year.
Reflecting over his past assumptions, he was astounded to find his opinion of the child so greatly changed. When this had began he was certain it would take years to teach him everything.
Now he was actually planning for most of them in a period of six months!
~ Note ~
The Spy thing: Sasuke is already being watched by anbu at night, and Naruto suddenly became more skilled, mature and intelligent overnight.
They heard the comment about Mizuki being weak and thought that it meant Naruto's skills were at least as high as his and if that were the case he would have graduated already. So he must have been hiding them for some reason.
And between a village wide scheme and him simply being an anbu in a disguise jutsu placed there to keep all the clan kids safe which is the more logical option? It explained everything, from his idiot act even though he clearly knew it all, (based on his new displays of intellect) to his boredom and mistreatment by the teachers.
Most of his actions after they thought of this, only reinforced the idea in their heads.
Uchiha-Hime: Naruto still had a lot of anger and resentment towards the Sasuke who killed him. He knew he couldn't completely forgive and forget so he had to separate the two in his mind and call Sasuke something else.
Most items in all my Naruto fan-fictions will be based off of T8: Retroversion's timeline. Many of these details will be universal across them all.
Meaning any mission or OC, or other major details will be included, based on their background and trigger events.
{This will not include Kurenai's conspiracy or Hinata's abuse}
While T8: Retroversion will be my main Fic, Five others are on my list to work on at the moment: LATE Naruto: Life After the Ends; Uzumaki: A Lone Fox; The Thousand Ninja; Village Hidden in Plain Sight; and Wisdom of Chance. Descriptions on profile.