A/N: Hello all! Sorry about the delay, things piled up! Never mind, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters, plots, etc.
Act 1 – Chapter 5 – Progress
Naruto grunted as he landed flat on his back for the fifth time in as many minutes. "Kuso!" he muttered, clambering back to his feet.
His classmates around him gave a slight chuckle at his predicament. Naruto was, once again, finally, trying to climb a tree with the rest of them. His progress was better than before, but still not great, and he just couldn't figure out why!
"A-Ano, Naruto-kun" Hinata mumbled shyly, her face quickly turning an impressive shade of scarlet as Naruto turned his attention to her. "I-if you'd like, I c-could watch your chakra t-to see where it's going wrong."
She turned away, predicting the expected rejection, but was shocked to hear Naruto's hurried acceptance.
"That sounds great, Hinata!" Naruto beamed. "I just can't seem to get this down."
Nodding, not trusting her voice to not betray her, Hinata motioned for him to prepare to try again. As he did so, she performed the necessary hand-signs; necessary only for her, she noted sadly. Neji-nii-san was already at the point where he could activate it without any hand-signs. Mentally reprimanding herself for getting distracted, she had to suppress an 'eep' when she saw Naruto waiting for her to do something.
"Byakugan!" she announced, the clearly defined veins popping around her eyes signalling her family's dōjutsu was now active.
Turning her full attention to Naruto, she gasped audibly. He had so much chakra. That was even more chakra than their senseis! She'd seen him before with the byakugan, but never from as close as she was now. As Naruto bounded towards the tree, she watched him focus more chakra into his feet than she was able to channel full stop, and subsequently be thrown forcefully away from the tree after only a few steps.
"You're still using way too much chakra Naruto" Kakashi said simply, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Hinata mouth snapped shut, her opportunity to give those exact words of advice robbed from her by her now least-favourite sensei.
"But I'm using as little as possible Kakashi-sensei. It feels like I'm barely channeling any at all at this point!" Naruto whined childishly.
Rolling her eyes at Naruto's immaturity, Sakura spoke up. "Kakashi-sensei, I thought you had a sensei meeting inside, is it finished already?"
Kakashi eye-smiled in response. "Not quite, I'm still in the meeting. This me is a clone"
Silence greeted his words, before Tenten asked the question that everyone was waiting for someone to ask, but was desperate not to ask themselves.
"I thought clones were immaterial? You just touched Naruto, how could that be?"
Kakashi placed a hand under his chin, wondering how best to explain it, or, considering that it was technically a kinjutsu, whether he should at all.
"You've split your chakra in half" Neji stated, staring at Kakashi with his byakugan active. "You have half of Kakashi-sensei's chakra, and the other half is still sat in the meeting along with the other senseis."
Kakashi sighed. Well, Tora's out of the bag now.
"This technique is called Kage Bunshin, or Shadow Clones. It is clone created purely out of the user's chakra, making it both incredibly chakra intensive and very versatile. As you have noticed, shadow clones are physical constructs, but it goes beyond that. Each shadow clone has its own internal chakra system, much the same as all of you do. This means that the clone has all the abilities of the original, whether it be ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu, just to a slightly lesser degree, due to the chakra being only a portion of the original."
Seeing several of his students eyeing up this technique interestedly, Kakashi hurried on with his explanation. "This technique is a kinjutsu due to the chakra being split. For the human body to function, a minimum amount of chakra is required. If you go below this amount, you will come down with chakra exhaustion. Go too far below this mark, you'll die. This technique was deemed a kinjutsu because of the ease with which someone could kill themselves with it. For example, I can make probably about twenty clones before I begin to seriously feel the strain. If Sakura were to try to make one, she would probably die from the strain."
Silence greeted this ominous statement as the students considered the risks and benefits of this new technique.
"What about Naruto?" Chōji asked, leaning on his bo staff lazily. "He has plenty of chakra to spare, and you said he's using too much. If he uses a shadow clone, it will halve the chakra he's got, right?"
Kakashi looked thoughtful for a second before replying. "That's true, it would most likely be a quick way to speed along his training in tree-walking, then we can get everyone started on water-walking instead."
Looking around at his students, he made an executive decision. "Alright. I am going to teach Naruto, Sasuke and Chōji the shadow clone technique, as they are the only ones with sufficient chakra to safely use it at the moment. Once the rest of you get to a point where I believe you could use it without danger to yourself, I will teach it to you as well. It is a Konoha technique, and one of our best, so it makes sense that Konoha's brightest generation in years should learn it."
'Yeah, that works' Kakashi thought to himself. 'Though I have just offered to teach academy students a dangerous kinjutsu...Hokage-sama is going to kill me."
"You did what?!" Sarutobi bellowed, his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and anger. "Have you lost what little of your mind was left?! I give you a talented generation and you do whatever you can to kill them! I swear-"
Kakashi shrunk further and further in on himself as his leader continued to berate him. Casting a pleading eye over to his fellow senseis, he was met with a trio of hard looks.
"-left you in ANBU where you do the damage I want you to do!" The Hokage drew a deep breath after chewing Kakashi out. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. Why did it always have to be so complicated?
"Hokage-sama, in Kakashi's defence, Chōji was actually the person that raised the issue of Naruto balancing out his lack of chakra control by using the Kage Bunshin to reduce the amount he's dealing with" Asuma placated his father.
Hiruzen sighed again, gazing frankly at his subordinates. Inwardly however, his mood was slowly lifting as he thought this through. This would allow Naruto to grow rapidly which was always a plus, both for himself and the village as a whole, and it was also quite a heartening show of solidarity from some of his top jōnin, something he was always very keen to encourage.
"Well Kakashi, are there any other surprise learning plans you have for me?" the Sandaime queried sarcastically. "Maybe you would like to see their elemental affinities and teach any lightning-style users the Chidori?"
Kakashi looked horrified at the thought. "Hokage-sama, that's purely an assassination technique, I would never teach it to genin!"
Steepling his hands in front of him, the Hokage gazed thoughtfully over them at his newest teachers. Really, they had done a remarkable job, especially Gai. The students were already looking physically fit enough to be genin, well, most of them. There were one or two that had lasting damage done to their physique by previous bad habits, but it was rapidly being undone thanks to Gai's torturous training regimen.
"Alright, I'm going to trust your judgement on this one" Hiruzen announced. He offered the jōnin in front of him a reassuring smile. "You've done well with your students thus far, I can allow you some leeway on this. But please, please, no more kinjutsu?"
"Hai Hokage-sama" the four jōnin droned together, grateful to be able to get off with a slap on the wrist. It was Kakashi's insane idea but frankly, they were all in this together; they weren't about to throw him under the bus now.
The Sandaime waved them away, and turned to face his window as they departed his office. He gazed out over the village, seeing the bustling to and fro, the ninja co-existing quite happily with their fellows and the civilians they would lay down their lives to protect, and smiled contentedly. It may not be the worldwide peace that his wandering student so fervently pursued, but he would die happy if the Village Hidden in the Leaves could remain this peaceful forever.
"Baka!" Kurenai scolded Kakashi with a smack to the back of the head. "Did you not even think to consult us before you attempted murder on three pre-pubescent genin?!"
To her even greater fury, Kakashi didn't even have the decency to look sheepish. Granted, it was next to impossible to convey emotions when ninety percent of his face was permanently covered, but he managed mocking and arrogant just fine, he could at least attempt contrite, even if they all knew he didn't mean it!
"If it helps them, then it was worth it. Besides, you saw Naruto with that technique. I've never seen anyone pick it up that quickly, even sensei took a few days to get it down, Naruto was able to make a solid clone after only a few hours! The technique looks like it was practically made for him, which, considering his chakra capacity, does make sense. But still, he did incredibly well with it. To me, that's more than worth a scolding from Hokage-sama." Kakashi reasoned reasonably.
"Besides" he continued, interrupting Kurenai's attempt to continue telling him off. "Do you really think that I would teach it to the students based only on chakra capacity? Please, a little credit here."
He gazed around at his fellow teachers, only to find their impassive gazes looking back at him. "No?" Sighing deeply, he continued. "I gave it to Naruto because with his chakra capacity, it would be almost impossible for him to harm himself with it, it would take something like the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to exhaust even a portion of his reserves. Once he got the single clone down successfully, it was clearly not even a noticeable drain on his levels. I gave it to Chōji because he's already been trusted with dangerous power; I know for a fact he is quite advanced in his clans techniques, and that his father has at least mentioned the Akimichi Food Pills to him. If he hasn't gone down that route, I doubt he's going to overuse a technique that is actually less dangerous. And I gave it to Sasuke because the boy is one of the most driven people I have ever met, albeit driven towards an unpleasant goal. He wouldn't let something little like chakra exhaustion kill him. In fact, he was the first to stop practicing with the technique. He may be arrogant, he may be talented, he may be determined, but he knows his limits, which is a blessing for us all."
Asuma and Kurenai considered Kakashi's words carefully, rolling them around their mouths as though to trust their authenticity. Kakashi was well known for talking himself out of almost any situation, and Kami damn it this looked no different!
Gai's response was more...Gai.
"YOSH!" Gai exploded, throwing a thumb in a wide arc to eventually rest pointing towards his blinding smile. "Kakashi my hip rival, you had me at hello!"
Silence greeted his outburst, as it usually did.
"Gai…" Kakashi replied slowly, in a manner not unlike someone tiptoeing around a sleeping armadillo. "I didn't say hello…"
"So…" Kiba began falteringly, hesitating before coming to a complete stop. Honestly, what could someone say in this situation?!
Sat around the table in the Rookie Common Room was every rookie, including those not normally found there. The chairs had been somewhat rearranged to accommodate the newcomer, who, with a somewhat nervous look on his face and a somewhat squirmy demeanour, was seated directly between Lee and Shikamaru.
Naruto laughed uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his head. "Guys, I really-"
He was cut off by Sakura's outburst.
"Are you the Kyūbi?" she asked bluntly.
Naruto recoiled visibly, as though struck. Seeing this response, Shikamaru fixed Sakura with a very pointed Look. In fact, this was closer to a visual Kunai than a normal gaze.
"Does he look like a gigantic destructive demon fox with nine tails Sakura?" he snapped sharply. "Think about it before you speak."
Sakura angrily glared back at Shikamaru, refusing to back down. "Of course he doesn't, I didn't say he did! But I, unlike you, listen to gossip amongst the villagers. I don't live in a clan compound, I live in the centre of the civilian district, so what they say, I hear. And I've heard people speaking about Naruto more than once as a demon, or as the 'fox brat'. I never understood the fox brat, but I assumed it was something to do with the whisker marks on his cheeks." At this she looked guiltily over at Naruto.
"I never thought that they could be talking about anything...else. I guessed that they just didn't like you because the civilian district used to be your main...'hunting grounds' - I understand why they chose that phrase too now, wow - when you were doing your pranking rounds. I guess I should have looked under the underneath there." Sakura seemed to pause for a minute, considering her next words carefully.
"Sorry Naruto" she stated simply.
During her speech, Naruto had been gazing at her with a look that ranged from clearly worried at the beginning to obviously relieved at the conclusion. Looking between her and Shikamaru, he realised something. Sakura had just apologised to him for the way she had treated him, or at least for not realising a connection between the way everyone else treated him. And Shikamaru jumped to his defence! He daren't hope.
"N-Naruto-kun… I think they're wrong a-about you. Y-you're not a demon, they just d-don't understand."
"Indeed. It would be quite illogical to consider yourself the Kyūbi. Why? Because why would the Kyūbi destroy half of the village and then, when supposedly reincarnated inside its walls, not continue the job."
Kiba slammed a hand down on the table, making Hinata, who was sat right next to him, almost leap out of her skin. "I knew there was something! Akamaru has always told me that you smell of foxes! Now I know why!"
With his declaration out of the way, Kiba rocked back in his chair looking smug. "So long as Akamaru trusts you, I've got no problem. Nobody, I mean nobody, fools Akamaru's nose. Isn't that right?" Kiba addressed the last part to the fluffy white puppy perched quite contentedly atop his head, who yapped happily in response.
Ino and Chōji simply shrugged at the whole idea. With a glance at one another, they knew they were in agreement. "If Shikamaru is good, we're good" Ino stated simply, seeing no reason to discuss it further. Though she'd admit to being a tad intimidated by the idea of the Kyūbi being locked away in one of her classmates, Naruto had always seemed harmless enough, if somewhat annoying. Chōji ate chips. Nuff said.
At this point, Naruto could feel himself welling up. He had hoped, despite his best attempts not to, that his friends wouldn't reject him for this. He finally had some real friends, people he knew he could count on, and people that he felt were finally coming to accept him as a person in his own right. To see that they truly did, and that he wasn't going to be ostracised like he was before, he struggled to keep his tears at bay.
"Hn" Sasuke uttered from the far end of the table. "I'd think that a country-destroying fox would have a lot more power than the dobe showed. Even if you were intent on doing harm, you wouldn't get past me." He glared over his clasped hands in front of him, resting his elbows on his table.
"In your dreams teme! You've just gotten lucky so far, I got you good in our last spar!" Naruto shouted back, outwardly enraged by Sasuke's arrogant dismissal of his skills. Inwardly, he grinned. Nothing had changed.
"My eyes would have seen if you were a threat. I can see now the two chakras melding with one another, but when I wasn't looking for it, it went unnoticed. Your chakra appears to be suppressing it efficiently." Neji stated expressionlessly, if with a tinge of pride in his familial abilities and a slight hint of dismay at having missed it in the first place.
Tenten gazed at her peers around the table and sighed. "Why is it the only ones that are talkative are the logical ones?" She looked back at Naruto and gave him a simple smile. "I've never thought you were dangerous, and I'm not one to blame someone for something that happened to them."
"My youthful friend is right!" Lee said vigorously (Lee being only one of two people in existence to be able to say something vigorously). "It is not your fault that the Kyūbi has been sealed within you, you are the jailer, not the prisoner, and I will not treat you as such."
Naruto sat back in his chair, more than a little bit awed by the response he had received. Sure, he was hoping for one or two people to still be his friend, but everyone? His megawatt grin threatened to envelop his entire face as he stared back at his friends.
They may not realise it yet, but to Naruto, being friends was the most deadly serious thing there was. And now that he had them, nothing would take them from him so long as there was breath in his body.
"Ready Naruto?" Asuma asked, nervously fiddling with his cigarette. This technique was a kinjutsu for a reason! To be encouraging, and helping, a student learn and perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was treasonous, he just knew it.
Throwing his sensei a cocky grin, Naruto drew his hands into the [insert name] sign and did his best to dredge up the amount of chakra he had used when he last performed the technique.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto uttered, focusing all of his efforts into creating a perfect replica of himself. A popping sound from his right told him he had succeeded. "Yatta!" he screamed, leaping high into the air.
Expecting to see his clone beside him, he was shocked to see himself with a clone either side. So shocked, he landed square on his backside with a resounding "oomph". Growling to himself, he lamented the fact that the technique taught to him to prevent him being in a situation like this just put him in a situation like this.
As his clones reached down to help him to his feet - so he helped himself to his feet, now that was a strange thought - he looked over questioningly to Asuma. "Sensei...why are there two of me? Or...three of me?"
Asuma sighed as he looked at the trio of curious-looking faces. Boy did things just get real complicated, real fast. The most dangerous secret of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu found out by accident by an academy student. Only Naruto.
"The Kage Bunshin...is different to most ninjutsu. Increasing the chakra you put into the jutsu won't cause it to destabilise, merely increase the number of clones." Asuma hesitated here, unsure whether to explain any more. Well in for a kinjutsu, in for a ryō? "There is a certain level of chakra input which is then classed as the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's not really a different technique, just the same technique on a far greater scale, but because of the much greater risks, it was classed as a kinjutsu in its own right."
Asuma frowned at the look of deep concentration on Naruto's face. "This technique is on a completely different scale to the single Kage Bunshin Naruto, even for someone with your reserves, this could be dangerous."
"Hai Asuma-sensei, I'll be careful" Naruto promised earnestly, happy that he was being entrusted with something that was clearly not common knowledge.
"That's alright then." Asuma closed the matter, bringing his mind back onto track. "How do you feel with those clones out Naruto?"
Naruto looked down at himself for a second, almost weighing himself up. "I feel fine. Honestly, I can't really feel the difference."
Asuma smiled triumphantly. "Perfect, then let's rejoin the group, and we'll see if this works."
"YATTA!" Naruto yelled victoriously, pumping a fist into the air.
"Baka!" Sakura scolded. "You fell again, why are you celebrating?"
Naruto simply grinned widely at her in response, pointing at the hole in the bark of the tree which had been blown open by one of the Narutos' attempt. The hole was a full metre above the last.
"YAT-AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH" Naruto screamed as he fell from the tree. From the top at least.
"This technique is the more advanced version of tree-walking. We have taught you to walk on solid surfaces, to the point that you can all remain attached to a solid surface for fifteen minutes whilst concentrating on something else. Now, you will be learning on an uneven surface." Kurenai explained, hiding her mirth deep inside. Considering the chakra control of a few of these students, this could end up being very funny indeed.
"For this exercise, you need to constantly redistribute the chakra you are outputting from the soles of your feet to compensate for the unsteadiness and the movement underneath you. If there is a dip where a small amount of your foot is higher above the water than the rest, then that part of your foot requires more chakra to adhere over that distance. If all of a sudden the water surges upwards, your output needs to decrease so that you can easily follow the ebb and flow, only to increase again once the water has regained its stability." Glancing over to Kakashi, she gestured for him to proceed.
"Doton: Tsuchi Kairō!" (Earth-style: Earth Corridor) Kakashi uttered, slamming both hands into the ground. Seconds later, the earth rumbled and four walls began to rise out of the ground, leaving a hollow basin in the centre. Calling out "Suiton: Suijinheki!", Kakashi spewed out copious amounts of water, until the basin he had created, about twice the size of his still-standing stone arena, was filled to the brim with water. Flashing a two-fingered salute to Kurenai, he returned his nose to its rightful place in his book and promptly blocked out the rest of the proceedings.
Shaking her head in a mixture of disbelief and absolute reassurance of her beliefs in Kakashi, Kurenai leapt gracefully to the top of the pool of water, balancing easily upon the surface. "This is what you will be learning. It is a more advanced technique but it is vital to learn as a ninja, not just for the obvious reasons, but because it is recognised as an excellent tool to improve one's chakra control. Who's first?"
Sakura, buoyed by her earlier successes with her control, shyly raised a hand to volunteer. With a reassuring smile, Kurenai beckoned her forwards, taking note of Kakashi's lazy look over towards them. As lackadaisical as the silver-haired Jōnin was, there were very few people alive that could boast to care quite so much about their comrades as he did. It was a lesson he had learned in the very hardest way, and one that he had clearly never forgotten.
Sakura walked over the edge of the wall, placing one foot gingerly atop the water. Concentrating for a moment, feeling the flow and ebb of her chakra, she began to place more and more weight upon her foot, feeling it give slightly before taking hold. Sighing in relief as she felt her classmates' gazes boring into her, she placed her second foot next to the first and focussed simply on staying above the water.
She started as she felt a hand upon her shoulder. "That's excellent Sakura!" Kurenai said warmly, quite visibly proud of her student. "To get the water-walking exercise on the first try is very rare."
She smiled at the other students and invited them to join her and Sakura. "All of you have a go now that's Sakura's shown you how to do it."
One by one, the remainder of the class began attempting the water-walking with varying degrees of success. Shikamaru, surprisingly, was getting the hang of the exercise quite quickly. Chōji… was having rather more trouble.
Of course, no-one was having as much trouble as the resident jinchūriki. Naruto was already soaked through, as were his three clones. Together, they had a corner of the makeshift pool to themselves, largely so that everyone else could avoid the ripples and splashes caused by them regularly, loudly and dramatically falling in.
"Kurenai-sensei" Ino asked, trying to switch her concentration between staying afloat and querying her teacher. She succeeded...mostly. "Why have - pppssshhbbbbttt - why have only two senseis been watching our lessons? For the past week or so, we haven't had all four of you together."
The class looked up, in Naruto's case from underwater, to hear Kurenai's answer.
Asuma's voice came from behind them, making all of them jump and at least half of them sink. "It's because we've been training too."
"Each lesson, two of us oversee your lesson and the other two go off to train together and spar together. Normally we'd be doing missions and the like to keep our skills sharp, but what with us being here every day, we had to find some other ways to stop ourselves getting rusty." Kurenai explained. "Today, it was Asuma and Gai's turn to go train."
Most of the class nodded at this, quite happy with the explanation. Apart from Kiba.
"Could we watch, sensei?!" Kiba questioned Kurenai excitedly.
Kurenai hesitated, torn between making her charges very happy with a simple spar and protecting them from the possibly dangerous backlash from their spar. Friendly or not, they were jōnin for a reason, and each of them was quite powerful in their own right. Any spar between them usually left the area they were in quite badly damaged, so she was ill at ease filling the target area with children.
"I'm not sure-" she began, before being cut off by Kakashi's lazy drawl.
"Sure" he answered coolly. "Who's turn to spar is it tomorrow?"
"YOSH!" Gai bellowed. "Kakashi, tomorrow you and I are destined to explode in a glorious display of our youth. We will pit our flames against one another, and may the best man win!"
A grin began to crawl its way across the students' faces. Kakashi vs Gai? This should be a very interesting fight. Considering they'd seen Kakashi's speed, or rather, couldn't see his speed, when he demolished Naruto what felt like a year ago, and Gai was the apparent taijutsu master, a spar between the two of them promised to be very good indeed.
"Ne sensei, why not all four of you?" Naruto asked, his grin getting even wider as he thought about it. "Since there's not going to be a lesson at the same time, all four of you can train together in a tag-team duel, like you make us do sometimes when we spar!"
A collective 'ooohhh' erupted from the class, their faces lighting up as they imagined being able to see four powerful jōnin fight without having to hold back as they did against their students.
"Oh, oh, I know! Asuma and Kakashi vs Kurenai and Gai!" Ino called out, almost drooling at the thought of the two men on that team. Sure, Asuma-sensei was a little...beardy...but Kakashi-sensei was hot!
"No" Shikamaru answered. "That's two specialists vs two all-rounders, it would be a landslide either one way or the other, depending on who got the first attack in."
"Ok, so one all-rounder and one specialist on each team then." Sakura answered, wondering who should be paired with Kakashi and who should be paired with Asuma.
The senseis stood staring at their pupils, sweatdrops rapidly forming on the back of their heads. Maybe showing these kids a little bit of strength had been good for their determination, but it had given them almost an unhealthy appreciation for power, knowing now how hard (and it was very hard (usually that is, stupid Uchihas)) to gain that level of strength.
They considered breaking the debate up one way or another before Lee's voice cut through the crowd. "So it's decided!" A chill descended on the back of three of the four senseis' necks. "Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei will do glorious battle with Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei!" His announcement was met with a chorus of nods and verbal agreements from his peers.
"...uh, what?" Kakashi wondered aloud, wondering how that conclusion was reached, and how by Kami he had been paired with his apparent 'Eternal Rival'.
Glancing over to Kurenai and Asuma, he was surprised to see their shoulders slightly shaking. Quirking an eyebrow (the only one visible of course), he poked Asuma in the side.
"Gwahahahah!" Asuma burst out laughing, a hearty sound coming clean from his stomach. "Ok class, then we'll do this spar on Friday afternoon, ok? That way Kurenai and I have the weekend to recover."
A confused silence greeted his somewhat insane laugh and more than a little befuddling statement.
Kurenai sighed simply, somehow she knew it would come down to this. "Agreed. I'm not having to deal with you lot after that, I'd rather just sleep it off."
Kiba voiced the question arising above most of their heads. "Uhh, Kurenai-sensei? Why is Asuma-sensei laughing?"
Kurenai quirked an eyebrow (this time one of the two that were visible) at her student. "Really? Have your parents not told you about key ninja in the village?" Passing a gaze over her students, she realised with a group of civilians borns in Lee, Tenten and Sakura, she needed to go over this anyway. No time like the present.
"Each village has certain key shinobi. These shinobi are usually high-A to S-rank and are always internationally known. Konoha has more than most, somehow always managing to churn out more A- and S-rank shinobi than any of the other villages. Currently, Konoha has three key shinobi inside the village, and five in total."
Listing them off on her fingers, she began counting back. "First, there is the Sandaime Hokage. Known as both the Professor and the Kami no Shinobi, he is proficient in all ninja arts, likely the world's best user of bojutsu and can use all five elements with almost effortless skill. He is one of the main reasons that Konoha emerged victorious in the Second Great Shinobi World War, being able to demolish entire platoons single-handedly, as I have shown you before." Waiting to see the dawning light of remembrance and comprehension in their eyes, she continued.
"Second, we have Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin. They are both legendary in their own right. Tsunade is famous for her incredible strength and her healing prowess. In fact, she is recognised as one of the physically strongest people in the entire world, and she is universally accepted to be the greatest medic that has ever lived.
"Jiraiya is famous for his espionage techniques, being able to infiltrate locations with minimal effort and escape again. He is in charge of Konoha's entire spy network: without his work in the years following the Kyūbi attack whilst Konoha was weakened, it is very possible Konoha would have been invaded. In fact, there were a few small forays, but Jiraiya, through obtaining vital information about enemy troop movements and feeding them misinformation about our own platoons, ensured that each of their units was ambushed by at least three Konoha units, each of which was specifically assembled according to the skillsets that their opponents possessed. Information that was provided, once again, courtesy of Jiraiya. He is also Konoha's only Sage, and one of the few Sages alive in the world. Overall, despite Tsunade's clear advantage in Taijutsu, Jiraiya is considered to comfortably be Konoha's most powerful active shinobi."
Kurenai halted for a few seconds, making absolutely sure that she held the classes full attention before continuing.
"The last two shinobi are Kakashi and Gai" she gestured to each of the two shinobi in turn. "Each one of them is quite famous for their exploits, though Kakashi is more internationally famous."
Gai slumped as Kakashi eye-smiled and patted him on the back. Ignoring the pair's antics, Kurenai continued.
"Gai here is known as Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey-" she waited for the disbelieving snickers to die down "-a name he was allowed to choose in the bingo book. He is actually unique in that respect, as he is the only ninja in history to select their own bingo book nickname. Granted, he was only allowed to pick it because no-one could figure out how to describe him concisely. As you can see, he couldn't either." Gai's head was hung so low at this point Kakashi was actually attempting to prop him up to stop him keeling over.
"He is world-famous for his taijutsu. It is well held that in a straight taijutsu match, Gai is nigh unbeatable, possibly only Tsunade and the Fourth Raikage being able to defeat him, though both through the use of their nintaijutsu techniques. He is also thoroughly proficient with every kind of weapon and deceptively powerful with his ninjutsu, though he refuses to use them, often even in life-or-death situations."
Lee's eyes were sparkling with wonder as he stared at his favourite sensei, his idol. Gai-sensei became that powerful through taijutsu alone?! Then that means…
"Kakashi is known as the Copy Ninja or Sharingan no Kakashi, Kakashi of the Sharingan. He is famous for many things, but most of all his extreme proficiency in the use of the famed Uchiha bloodline. Even members of the Uchiha clan came to respect his ability to use their dōjutsu, albeit begrudgingly."
Sasuke eyes were glowing like fiery coals, desperately trying to burn through Kakashi's headband to see incontrovertible proof that Kurenai's words were the truth. Kurenai continued undeterred.
"He is known to have copied over a thousand techniques, allowing him to select from an unparallelled repertoire of ninjutsu in any situation. He is also rumoured to have never let an enemy escape after revealing the sharingan in battle. Though the last one is unconfirmed, it being very difficult to ascertain the truth of these matters." She glowered at Kakashi. "Most shinobi attempt to disguise their prowess, to encourage their opponents to underestimate them. It is one of the privileges of the elite few that are able to flaunt their power, knowing full well they could eliminate mostly any opposition they encountered."
"Maa, so mean Kurenai. Don't be a hater, ne?" Kakashi shrugged, a fluid motion that seemed to roll down his body. Unconsciously following it, his class snapped out as the motion hit the ground, only to find his nose back in the book.
"Kami be damned! Where does he keep pulling that book from?!" Ino whispered to Shikamaru. "Every time he pulls it out, he distracts us so we can't see where it's kept!"
Shikamaru sighed as he leaned in. Regardless of how troublesome, Ino was one of his oldest friends and was as hard to ignore as her fellow blonde. Or his mother. He shuddered, imagining the three of them in a room alone with him. Rattling his head to dislodge the evident nightmare-fuel, he answered the Yamanaka heiress.
"He didn't hide it before, but remember when Naruto tried to prank Kakashi?" he questioned.
Ino nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, he tried but Kakashi just picked him up and threw him out the window before doing that vanishing thing." She thought again. "Actually, that was the last prank Naruto tried to pull on anyone this year. He stopped from there on."
Shikamaru flicked her forehead. "Don't cause it to burn out now" he warned, taking the punch to the arm as appropriate punishment for his mocking. "But Naruto told me before he was going to try to steal Kakashi's book and see what was in it. Since he failed, Kakashi never lets anyone see where he pulls it from, just in case."
Ino sighed despondently. "I understand wanting to protect your stuff, especially from Naruto of all people, just think of what he'd do to it to get under Kakashi's skin. But still, it was a good idea. I really want to know what's in that book!"
"You're not old enough to know" came a whisper from behind her, sending her leaping forward with a shriek. Spinning around to face her sneaky adversary, she was irritated to find her chain-smoking sensei.
"And that's why you pay attention" Asuma stated smugly, turning back around to walk to the back of the group.
He promptly disappeared and reappeared behind Ino as she lunged for his legs. "And that's why you train harder." He chucked at he flicked her on the forehead, exactly where Shikamaru had, only her sensei's flick landed her on her rump on the floor.
The class was split into two groups, one laughing at Ino who was sputtering in anger and embarrassment, and the other watching the ever-escalating argument at the front.
"You are arrogant Kakashi!" Kurenai yelled. "Yes you're powerful, but you're not all-powerful and so you shouldn't act like it. I hate people who act like they're Kami's gift to women, but you act like you're Kami's gift to shinobi as a whole!"
Kakashi fixed Kurenai with a powerful stare, stopping her tirade in her tracks. "Are you done?"
Kurenai hesitated, having a lot more to say, but acutely aware of who it was she was saying it to. Sure, Kakashi didn't technically have any authority over her, but he was a senior jōnin whereas she was new to the rank. He'd been ANBU for years, being a Captain for a long time before becoming the ANBU Chief, a rank that he was rumoured to still hold even now. Sure, they were technically the same rank, but he could actually annihilate her with fairly little effort if it came down to it.
Kurenai was many things, but no-one got to call her a coward. Decision made.
"Yes" she answered meekly. Damn.
"Good" Kakashi replied, eye-smile fixed firmly in place. He panned his gaze to his stunned students, all faces plainly shocked at how easily their female jōnin sensei had been cowed by their cycloptic teacher. "So we'll have our little spar on Friday afternoon, that's settled."
The class shivered as Kakashi's gaze became decidedly chillier. "For now" - Kakashi held one hand in the tiger sign as he pressed his other to the side of the basin - "let's add some incentive."
As steam began covering the area, rising up from the now significantly warmer water, all that could be seen was a sadistic yet smug look on Kakashi's face and sweat forming on his students' faces. Sweat that it was safe to say was only partly down to the heat.
And that's the end of that chapter! Phew, that was surprisingly hard to write. Their reactions to Naruto's confession was especially difficult, but I'm happy with how it came out in the end. I'm sure there are people that will be miffed that there's not more drama surrounding it, but I'm trying to instill a tad more maturity into the characters, and frankly, in the manga when they were less mature than what I'm pursuing now, none of them seemed in the least bit fussed.
I've decided to put my replies to reviews at the bottom from now on. There's been more reviews than before (which I love), and I don't want to force people to read through them if they don't want to. I know, aren't I kind?
thestorymaker2: I get that ninjas (assassins) are supposed to be sneaky, but I liked the idea that these ninjas aren't just assassins. Some of them don't sneak, they're right up front. Sure, some will be good at silently killing, some will not require words for their techniques, but then for some others who might specialise in direct combat, words will actually serve uses as concentrations aids, possibly even intimidation techniques. You'll have to wait and see what I do with that! And I compared Sasuke to Itachi because I've always found that unfair. Itachi got a lot of assistance when he was young, had a wartime academy with much better standards, had Kakashi as a captain throughout ANBU and was given special training and assistance because he was the clan prodigy. Let's face it, Sasuke wasn't really given the chance to approach his level before his entire family went kaput, which I don't think helped his development.
Abel Sephaos: Thanks. I must confess, I enjoy the way you speak!
Rain Dove: Enjoy said Shadow Clone!
Mizuhara Setsuna-Chan: Cool name by the way. I like stories where there is a little less Sasuke's an ass and Sakura is utterly worthless, so it's not going to be like that, I can say that much.
skg1991: I'm glad to hear that my story is different, no-one likes reruns.
darkhuntressxir: Now, he doesn't have to face it alone.
xXKyuubi-DevilXx: Thanks, I'm never sure how writing the emotions comes out, but I'm happy to hear I got you with them. I am considering the outfits yes, just trying to figure out how to go differently about it. Wait and see I suppose.
ZrPx: His chakra is kind of beastly when you think about it. Especially, consider that he had enough chakra to enter Sage Mode at all whilst restraining the Kyuubi. Hell, think about the fact that when the Kyuubi and he merged, he had enough chakra for his own chakra to act as a purifying agent to channel it throughout probably about 40,000 shinobi! It is insane when you actually sit down and think about it.
RealmeNevertobeseen: I'm happy you like the story idea, thanks for the good luck, think I'm going to need it!
Faroffinho: I'm trying to type fast, but my fingers, they bleed, they bleed!
Dareagon: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the story, I'm desperately trying to keep the characters in character, there's no bigger turn-off for me when I'm reading a story than when a character goes completely 180 degrees.
Alabaster Ink: Oh all right, I wrote this chapter just because you asked for it. I'm thinking about the politics of the jinchūriki, it's hard to know how it really works. I mean, Konoha seem to work hard to keep theirs shtum, but everyone else seems to boast about it. But then none of the higher-ups seemed to realise Gaara was a jinchūriki. It's all very strange.