Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto… (I wish..! *sobs*)
"Hyōton: Ice Shield."
"What…?!"
"How did he do that…?!"
Earlier
A heavily bruised Naruto and a fuming Sakura were now standing in the Hokage's office. They were met by an equally bruised Jiraya and a fuming Hokage. Shizune who was standing behind Tsunade sweatdropped watching the two pairs.
"Yo, baa-chan, nee-chan…. How you doing?", Naruto finally spoke up with his trademark grin.
"Good Naruto-kun. You have really grown up, haven't you?", Shizune replied with a smile.
"Not at all, Senpai, not at all….",Sakura said pointing to Naruto's head, whereas the said blonde whined and cried fake tears.
Although the other blonde felt her brow twitch at Naruto's earlier 'name-calling', she decided to ignore it this once. She got up from her chair amd hugged fondly, the boy who had saved her from enemies and herself.
"I missed you, brat.",Naruto only blushed a little before hugging her back.
"I missed you too."
Sakura and Shizune smiled warmly, and the toad sennin decided to not take out his research notebook considering the still fresh bruises.
"Alright , back to the business at hand..", the Hokage declared stepping away from Naruto,"KAKASHI..!"
"Yo,Hokage-sama… Naruto.!", the silver haired jounin appeared with a puff and clearly surprised by seeing Naruto.
"Sensei..! Oh, I got you a pre…"
"Later, Naruto..",Tsunade cut him off now speaking in her authoratative voice,"Naruto, I have decided to test your progress before promoting you to chunnin."
"Yosha..!", Naruto punched the air and bounced with excitement, finally stopping after receving a few sighs and a glare from his team-mate.
"Sorry, I got a bit carried away…. O-Okay so what do I have to do.?"
Tsunade threw him a scroll before continuing,"You will have to protect this scroll till sunrise tomorrow from your opponents. Kakashi and Sakura will be your opponents."
"Sensei and Sakura-chan too…!"
"Don't tell me you are afraid of me, Naruto.", Sakura teased.
Actually I am. Naruto thought with a nervous chuckle.
"But, Baa-chan isn't Sakura-chan a gennin to..?"
"Stop calling me that brat and no. Eveyone of your friends are now chunnin and Neji is a jounin."
Sakura gave Naruto a grin raising her fingers to form a victory sign.
Naruto only gaped at first but when realisation finally struck he hung his head emitting a depressed aura from him. Eveyone else in the room dropped a sweat seeing his antics.
"Now, now Naruto calm down. Show them what the Legendary and Magnificient Toad Sennin of Konoha has taught you in the last two years and reach awesomeness..!", Jiraya yelled with his trademark pose earning him a smack on the head from Tsunade.
"Shut up! I am not finished yet. So.. well.. actually that's all. Dismissed."
"Alright Naruto and Sakura meet me at the team 7 training grounds.." or former team 7. Kakashi mused.
15 minutes later…
Naruto stood on one side of the clearing, with Kakashi and Sakura facing him a little distance away.
"What are his odds Jiraya..? Kakashi is a seasoned jounin and Sakura is equally lethal. This test you suggested is more like a jounin rather than a chunnin test."
"Like I said Hime, you will be surprised. He may not be a genius like his father but he makes up for it with his sheer determination and tenacity. His will to protect others will one day make him the shinobi that our wretched world needs. Moreover, this test is to protect that scroll and the one thing that he has always excelled in is stealth."
Tsunade grunted in reply,"Ha, that brat will never hide, he will more more likely yell a battlle cry and charge them head on with those ridiculous amount of shadow clones."
The toad sennin only smiled but did not reply. He knew better.
Meanwhile in the clearing the test was beginning.
"Clearly we can't take it easy on you anymore, Naruto. We will come with the intent to kill.", Kakashi said removing his headband covering his left eye, revealing the feared sharingan.
"Get ready, Naruto.", Sakura said wearing her fingerless black gloves.
As if Kakashi-sensei wasn't scary enough… Now Sakura-chan too. Oh hell with it. Naruto thought to himself.
"Alright, guys I am ready."
The three took up their stances and waited for their opponent to make a move. There was silence and the only noises came from the rustling of the leaves and the excited breathing of the three shinobi. Naruto finally decided to make the first move. He threw a few smoke bombs to cover himself.
No direct assault like his former self… Hmph he has matured. Kakashi thought.
A hail of shurikens emerged from the smoke and headed for Kakashi and Sakura. The two of them easily dodged or deflected them with their kunai, and the shurikens ended up in the forest behind them.
That was a lousy throw . The pinkette thought. What surprise are you preparing this time.
WHAT THE HELL IS HE THINKING?! Inner Sakura yelled.
When the smoke cleared Naruto was standing there with a Fuuma shuriken in one hand.
"Alright guys, time for step two.", Naruto said loudly.
Kakashi and Sakura were confused for he was not speakig to them.
Who is he talking to? And what was step one. The silver haired jounin thought confused and now on alert. He could see in his peripheral vision that Sakura had tensed too.
Suddenly, a stream of fire and water emerged from the forest and collided in the middle of the clearing covering the entire area in steam.
Kakashi's eyes finally widened with realisation.
That was his plan all along. Those shurikens were Naruto's clones henged into shurikens. So, step one was to get his clones into hiding without us noticing. Step two was to reduce my sharingan's abilities with the steam. The steam is heavily laced with chakra, it's messing with my sharingan He plans now before charging now, I see.Kakashi smiled proudly underneath his mask. But...
"Sakura, stay close to me." My superior hearing and sense of smell will give us an advantage. Sakura complied and moved closer to him getting into a defensive stance. They now stood with their backs to one another.
"Sensei, we are surrounded. I can sense twenty chakra signatures around us.",Sakura added.
The sound of a shuriken cutting through air caught their attention and they barely dodged it.
Crap. We have to hide and think of a strategy quick.Sakura thought.
PUFF..
Kakashi didn't get the time to curse himself as the Fumma shuriken changed into Naruto with a burst of smoke and attacked him.
Kakashi engaged Naruto in a taijutsu battle. Sakura readied her stance and looked for an opening. However, before she could move a step another Naruto came up from behind aiming to knock her out. Sakura sensed the attack and dodged before the chop connected. Kakashi and Sakura were now each facing a Naruto and they had no idea who or where the real one was.
Meanwhile, in the forest Jiraya was chuckling at Tsunade's amazed face.
"When did the brat become so intelligent? Hell, when did he start planning ahead?", Tsunade asked.
"Heheheh. Naruto has always been a genius when it came to in-battle strategies. You see Tsunade he has bloomed finally."
Tsunade's face softened into a smile before speaking," I will never understand that mystery of a boy. I am glad I met him though . But don't count out out Sakura yet. She is my apprentice after all."
Back inside the steam the heat was getting to Kakashi and Sakura. They had managed to dispel a few clones but they were replaced soon after. The clones no longer charged blindly but in coordinated attacks unlike the thirteen year old blonde they knew.
This is getting troublesome. Kakashi thought.
"Sensei, jump..!", Sakura yelled suddenly.
Kakashi didn't need to be told twice, for he already knew what was coming. He concentrated chakra to his feet to give him a boost and jumped. He brought hus hands in front and braced himself as best as he could.
What came next shocked Jiraya and Naruto, who was hiding in the forest commanding his clones, out of their skins.
"SHANNARO"
Sakura brought her fist down on the ground creating a huge crater. The resulting shockwave cleared the steam and dispelled the remaing clones inside the steam.
I really have to be careful now or else they will have to carry a mangled lump of flesh tahat was once me to the hospital. Naruto thought making a nervous face and happy at the same time seeing her strength.
It was now Jiraya's turn to be shocked,"What the hell was that, Tsunade?! You have created a worse monster.." SMACK "Owww.."
Kakashi landed gracefully just outside the crater. I will never get used to this. Man, my students are really messed up. He thought chuckling.
"Sensei, are you alright..?!", Sakura asked coming up to his side.
"Yes."
They didn't have time to check for injuries as more Narutos landed before them.
"So, Naruto you have an affinity for fire and water..", Kakashi asked.
"Umm… Not really sensei.", one of the clones supplied. As if on cue two of the clones started going through a set of handseals.
"Doton:Mud Slide." "Futon:Wind Blade."
Sakura leapt in the air to avoid getting trapped in the mud. Kakashi on the other hand managed to dodge the blades due to his Sharingan.
Impossible, he can use four elements and he dosen't even have the Sharingan like Sensei to copy the jutsus. Sakura thought surprised.
"Wind is my primary and water my secondary affinity. I learned the other three too, although lightning is being a pain in the ass.", one of the clones supplied seeing the shocked faces.
Tsunade though shocked was concerned too," Jiraya is it the Kyuubi..?"
"No, it is something else. Naruto had asked the Kyuubi too."
Two words flocked in Jiraya's mind as he watched the test continue.
Chakra God.
Next time Hyouton…
A/N: Alright people I am incredibly sorry for the delay. The finals were bitting me in the ass pretty hard among other things.
Reviews like "You are awesome Sensuto-sama" "I love you Sensuto-sama" will be received with open arms.
Sakura: Shut up you terrible writer ..
Me:Oi.. I am talking to my fans. Take that back or I will make Hinata marry Naruto in this story.(Aside to myself: Over my dead body..)
Sakura(smiling): You won't do that…. I take it back I am so sorry..
Me:Apology accep….. Wait that's the sweet fake smile… HELP..!
SHANNARO…!