A/N - Ahh, I've been looking forward to this part. Now that all the back-story is done and the stuff explained I can just write the story and the direction I want to take it; so much more fun.
Seriously, to anyone that hasn't taken a go at writing, trying to portray an image/background of something major from a third person point of view without giving away certain things but achieving the required image that you wanted...
Yeah, as you can probably tell, it took a lot of planning.
Meh...
Anyway, I do not own Naruto and without further ado, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Four - A Night to Remember
(Naruto - age 12)
Naruto sprawled himself along the back decks off the academy classroom, arms clasped behind him to rest his head. At first glance one would think he was simply relaxing but he was far from relaxed. "I didn't sit through four Kami forsaken years of history that I was already knowledgeable in to wait another four for our sensei." He started tapping his legs showing his impatience.
The last three years had been much like the first one. They did history, chakra theory and then sparred. Of course there had been the extra stuff like learning the three standard Jutsu and branching into other arts like stealth and setting traps but it was all pretty simple. Life had continued as always, his landlord was still much the same, if not more weary after Sarutobi's "lecture."
Come to think of it, the only interesting thing that happened was Mizuki trying to pull one over on him.
The Chunin teacher had tried the method of bribing by promising to teach him a powerful Jutsu but only if he was able to steal and deliver the scroll of seals as payment.
To put it simply, it didn't work, in fact his plan had backfired; horribly.
Even if he had a brain made of brass, his years living it rough had taught him to detect a lie. Although he wasn't complaining; he got a handy technique called the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu so it was a win-win situation for both sides. After all, Mizuki stated that he hated the village and wanted to leave Konoha, albeit it was minus the scroll and with a few internal injuries but still, he had been granted his wishes; a win-win situation indeed.
That had only happened a little over a month ago, just after his graduation where he, yes he, got rookie of the year. 'Damn I'm awesome.' He would have preferred to say that he destroyed Sasuke on the long trek to the coveted title but he couldn't.
It was a close call, both were gunning for it but neither would admit it. He aced his written exam getting a solid one hundred percent while Sasuke got ninety six. He hit nine out of ten targets with both kunai and Shuriken. Sasuke got a perfect score. Apart from that they drew equal on everything else meaning it had to be decided in a spar, and again, although he didn't admit it, he was lucky to win said spar.
Sasuke had beaten him in their previous encounter and he had just managed to get the victory in this one by swarming the field in regular Bunshin. Although he had too much chakra to make two or three, he could easily make a hundred or more; with this knowledge he spammed the field keeping Sasuke blinded while he delivered vital hits; even then it was still too close.
After the victory Sasuke hadn't been too happy. It didn't help how he kept repeating that defeat is a learning process.
"Bah, why do I have to be in a team with you of all people? You're just going to keep me and Sasuke-kun back."
The huffing voice of a certain Yamanaka cut through his head.
'Of all the people to get,' He still couldn't believe his divine unluckiness.
He sat up, a look of confusion on his face, "I really shouldn't have to put up with this. Traditionally; every year the top rookie gets paired with the dead last and the Kunoichi of the year, it has been like that for the past forty high and mighty righteous prosperous loving, you get the point years but Kami said, 'you know what, fuck that guy' and gave me you two. You didn't get that Kunoichi of the year; either did duck boy over there." He sent a cheeky grin to Sasuke which earned him a curse. "By the way, how does me being rookie of the year equal slowing you two lovebirds down." That last comment earned him another curse which he responded with a comical thumbs-up.
He had just let off a lot of steam with that, hence the reason he never really took to Ino, nor her to him. The two just didn't mix well; she was bossy and he hated being bossed around.
Another point was that she always looked down on him, she just saw him as some no name orphan who had an inflated ego, plus the opinion of her parents probably didn't help. Her father was a good man, loyal and a great Ninja, then again, everyone knew that his civilian wife had him wrapped around her finger. He probably didn't mind her befriending him when they were younger, but nearly all the civilians disliked him in some shape or form. With Mrs Yamanaka wearing the pants of the house it was clear that Ino already had a negative mindset from the get-go, never giving him a chance.
He shrugged his shoulders, 'Meh.' By now he had learned to live with it. He would always be at a disadvantage in terms of reputation but that didn't stop him from being curious. When he was younger and more fragile he had just accepted it, now however he knew there had to be a reason. He was sure he would get to it bottom of it eventually but for now it was all hypothesis.
"Four hours..." This time it was Sasuke who interrupted his peace, the usual low voice hinting frustration, "How long does it take for somebody to get from one end of the village to the other? He's either late on purpose or... just plain stupid."
The sentence hadn't even finished leaving his mouth before the classroom door was swung open revealing a tall, silver haired Jounin, well that's what they assumed considering his standard Shinobi uniform.
"I haven't even met my team and one of them has already made fun of my intelligence, not a great start, is it?" If he was annoyed by the fact he didn't show it; his voice was lazy and unrefined giving them the impression he really didn't want to be here. "Now, let's see what we have."
He spent a few moments taking in each of them with one judging eye that made it all too clear he had already formed an opinion. "The spoiled prince of Konoha and an equally spoiled clan heir; then I have you." His shoulders slumped and a sweat drop appeared when he took in Naruto's sleeping form. Not three years ago and he could make a Root Ninja waver like a leaf, now he was struggling with academy students.
Shoulders still slumped he drowned out, "...meet me on the academy rooftop, and for your own good, make it snappy." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, making it clear to all that he was just a Bunshin.
They sat in silence, one of them shocked at how quickly they had been thrust into this situation. "Well, let's go!" Ino's loud scream seemed to have no effect on the pair.
Sasuke slowly rose from his seat before walking out the door, hands in pockets, "I'm not going to let some jumped up Cyclops get in my head," he finished just before leaving the classroom.
As per usual routine, her reflexes kicked causing her to scurry after Sasuke like a lost puppy; however she did spare one last glance at the blonde. "Baka, hurry up!" He paid her no mind; instead he was back in his resting position, eyes closed and all. "Damn-it Naruto, were a team now." It was up to her to sort this out.
Not thinking twice she walked over and deciding to ignore his peacefully sleeping form roughly grabbed Naruto by the ear with one hand and covered his mouth with the other before dragging him along behind her. "You're such a hassle Naruto." Contrary to her words, she did let a slight smile cross her face at his muffled screams.
"I wonder how long it'll take before they come here to complain." The aged Kage looked to the corner of the room, seemingly at nothing, "What do you think Boar, within the next ten minutes or perhaps latter."
There was a short moment of silence where the hidden Anbu was wondering whether or not he should answer; it was against protocol to make a sound, then again, it wasn't very often the Kage even acknowledged the Anbu in the room apart from the occasional wave of his hand telling them to leave. Letting out an audible sigh at being put into this situation he gave an honest answer, "No sir, I think the elders will be here sooner."
The people of Konoha really did know when to make an entrance.
Not a second after the words left the Anbu's mouth Sarutobi heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door before it was swung open leaving a handle sized crack in the wall. His ex teammates Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane often did have a bad temper, he assumed this was why they were both red with anger and had just slammed their hands onto his desk demanding to know the meaning behind the team change.
"What is the meaning of this Hiruzen, I thought we agreed on the Genin teams." Homura never was one for giving him respect.
"You really picked a bad year for this Sarutobi, it is important that the clan heirs get partnered with the right people; we had gave you the best combination but you went and changed it." Contrary to popular belief, not all old ladies' forced cookies and milk into their grandkids, if ever there was a person he truly detested it was Kohura, and she had only gotten worse in her old age.
He set his pipe on his desk and clasped his hands in front of him, "It appears you were correct boar, they were indeed here sooner than expected." Four years ago he had made a change to the way he ruled, he refused to be bullied by the elders and council any longer, he had been trusted to look after the village but instead other people were doing the job, he was just finalising their wills and wants. He had been trusted this title for a reason, not Homra, not Kohura and not Danzo, him, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had made mistakes and admittedly he had failed at the job, but reputation be damned, he was going to put in a hell of a good finish.
It was again Kohura who spoke up, a look of disgust on her face. "These past four years have been tough for us having to deal with you after your change, but this is a new extreme. To go ahead and change Genin teams without our approval at the last minute. I will not stand for this."
The elder Sarutobi responded in his typical light hearted tone, "By all means, please, have a seat." Seeing that the duo were about to explode at his response he hardened his face and adopted the voice that every Kage knew, "Before you even start to disrespect me again I warn you; just because we were once teammates and friends doesn't mean I'm above throwing you two into T&I. You are no different from the rest of the Ninja in this village therefore you will be treated similarly for such acts. If you had treated Minato in any way close to what you have me, he would have been rid of you years ago. I kept you out of good will, out of friendship but recently I have been stressed, so please, do not make this in harder for me." If the tone and severity of his words wasn't enough, his gaze definitely would've been, it was the look he would give an enemy.
As one might expect, the two elders were left speechless. Deciding to put the confrontation at rest for now, they both took a seat and waited for him to speak.
He wasn't going to rush himself, instead preferring to do what he always did when faced with a conversation that would no doubt give him a migraine by the time it was finished. He went through the usual routine and lit his pipe, this time taking a puff before he even got started. He then took it out of his mouth, holding it in his hand and savouring the sensation of peace before the verbal storm took place; he loved these moments of serenity. He took another puff, well aware of the forming tick marks on his 'guests.'
"Now, where are we, "He glanced at them both making it clear he didn't want interrupted during his explanation, "Ahh, yes. I believe you wanted an explanation or my reasoning to change the teams." He reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out the document furthest to the front; he was prepared for this conversation. Placing it on the desk it showed a picture of each academy student along with their final grades upon graduation. "I am one for long winded explanations so I'll try to make this one short and simple," He pointed at each of the students in discussion, "I'll give a brief overview of the students. Here we have Sakura Haruno who we originally agreed to be on Team Seven, she has an excellent brain, good at strategy and shows the right aspects to become a medic-nin or Genjutsu specialist. Whether she pursues this or not is up to her."
Without lifting his lowered head from the document he held up his hand, stopping the spew of words that promised to come forth. "Next we have Sasuke Uchiha, shows all round talent when it comes to being a Shinobi, his only weakness being his inability to cooperate and Genjutsu, but as I'm sure you know the former can be cured through time and the latter when he unlocks his Dojutsu." He handed the two files over to the elders, it wasn't long before they nodded their head, acknowledging what he said was correct.
"To finish what was supposed to be Team Seven, we have Naruto Uzumaki." He ignored the scowl that crossed their face at the mention of his name. "As I'm sure you remember, he exceeds in most of the arts but is more natural when it comes to Ninjutsu. Although I keep telling him to stop, he also seems to be quite fond of Fuinjutsu and his sensei, Iruka has personally told me that he lives up to the name Uzumaki; you can take from that what you will. Where he falls though appears to be Genjutsu; because of his...condition, it is unlikely that he will ever be able to perform the art although he is highly capable of dispelling them."
He stopped the explanation and leaned back in his chair, making it clear that they were free to talk. It would do no good to continue onto the next bit without explaining this first.
Not wasting anytime it was Homura who spoke up in a calm but confused tone. "I don't understand the three students that you have mentioned fit together perfectly, they complement each other in many ways and the only possible hindrance would be Sakura's attitude and Sasuke not getting on with Naruto however in your new team these are problems anyway." He didn't like this at all, not just the fact that Hiruzen had done something as important as this without informing him but mainly because there wouldn't be another generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, something that was so important to the village during the last war.
Hiruzen internally smirked, he hadn't just made this change on a whim, he had his reasons and they were good ones. "You are correct Homura-san, but if you look at Ino Yamanaka's file, she has the exact same attributes as Sakura, the only difference being that she seems to be more skilled with the herbal side of the arts rather than book smarts." He saw that Homura was about to interrupt him but he again rose his hand, already knowing what the man was about to ask. "I am well aware that this reason alone is not enough the make such an influential change, after all, I am breaking the famed Ino-Shika-Cho formation. The second reason is the two's personalities; Sakura is persistent and strong willed, excellent traits for any Ninja, Ino however shares these traits however additionally, and what has made me change the teams is her bossy streak."
The look on the two elders face was that of stupefaction, they clearly didn't think this was enough of a reason.
He gained his usual smile, "Now, now; let me explain this."
Leaning over his desk he retrieved all the documents he had handed out before positioning them in a way that they were easily in his view. "Consider everything about Naruto and Sasuke and do well to remember exactly who they are, how they act around one another and most important, how they have changed each other."
The way the duo acted around one another amused him; the strange relationship verging on hatred of each other had caused Sasuke to respect the blonde.
He shook his head dismissing the thoughts before moving on with the explanation, "After much internal debate, I decided to break the traditional Team Seven line up, ignoring the unwritten rule of the Kunoichi of the year, the Rookie of the year and the dead last being paired together. Now remember that we all agreed on one thing, that Naruto and Sasuke had to be paired together for the simple reason that they wouldn't be happy anywhere else. Unbeknownst to them, they are the closest both have to friends; they are too uncivil, each lacking the social skills to care about the others feelings; while this would drive anyone else apart, it strangely brings them together."
He continued speaking, ignoring the questions both wanted to ask, "I'm not fool enough to think that would be enough though," His chirpy voice turned serious, "Friendship is the key to success for this team and if history has taught us anything, it's that they don't always last. So we have two boys, both of which are important for multiple reasons; if we put them with anyone else they wouldn't be happy; if we put them together they will no doubt come to blows if left unchecked."
He stopped letting the information sink in, taking a puff of his pipe as he did so before delivering the final blow for his argument. "Do you really think Sakura Haruno would be enough to pull these two together?"
He smiled, upon seeing their expressions. Both had lowered heads and scrunched eyes, telling him that they knew where he was going with the explanation.
It also made it clear that they hated the fact he was right. "You see Ino has a stubborn streak in her that will bond this team; I'm not saying there won't be rough patches, but as she grows, so will her personality. She's too stubborn to be bossed around, even by Sasuke. She will eventually create equality, a neutral viewpoint where the others would be bias to their own. She is the perfect choice, the only choice and may I add Kakashi's choice."
In the Kage's mind it was all too clear why Kakashi wanted someone like Ino in the team. After all, Ino was very similar to Rin.
"Gah, you pig. I'm pretty sure you broke my right ear drum." Now on the academy roof the newly formed Team Seven were having the first of many arguments.
"Stupid!" She tried to punch the blonde only for him to duck, "You don't break your ear drum and I didn't even pull it that hard; besides you deserved it for sleeping."
With a disbelieving face he chirped back while still dodging punches, "I was not sleeping...just resting my eyes. What! I was bored and that desk is actually pretty comfy."
While the dumb blondes were about to start a brawl Sasuke could only roll his eyes. Sitting down with his hands in his pockets he looked up at his new sensei who was mirroring the position, "You not gonna stop them before they involve me in this?"
Kakashi responded with a typical eye smile, "From past experience I always find that its best if you sort your own problems, especially since you lot are now a team." His mind pondered on the last bit of his new student's question. "What makes you think you'll get dragged into it?" He was generally curious.
Sasuke took his hand out of his pockets, leaned back and used them to hold himself upright before sighing, "It's Naruto. What do you expect?"
"Ino, don't do it!" The sound of a soft thud was heard making it all too clear that Ino had finally hit her target. The groan that followed made it clear that the aim of said thud had hit a sweet spot.
Hand's on her hip and confident smirk plastered to her face she said, "That's what you get for calling me meat, baka."
Although it didn't hurt too much Naruto definitely wouldn't be letting that happen again, 'She's got more power in her arm than you'd think but still, not enough.' If she was hoping to keep up with him and Sasuke she would have to step up her game.
That made him think, 'Mmm, I wonder.' She wasn't past standing up for herself, that was for sure; come to think of it, in the past he had always made fun of her infatuation of Sasuke which never got too much of a reaction, however the one time he actually makes fun of her she had gotten quite angry at him, 'Maybe she's not a complete loss.'
"Naruto, Ino, hurry up!" He decided listening to his new pupil's advice would be beneficial for all, he hadn't even done anything with them yet and they had already come to blows.
Seeing that his new sensei was patiently waiting for them he hopped up before sitting opposite Sasuke. Ino had followed him although she didn't have much of a choice considering he grabbed a hold of her arm.
Seeing his three students seated in front of him with Ino in the middle caused Kakashi gave his typical eye smile, "Well now that you pair have finished touching each other up," he ignored Naruto's blank glare, "I think it's time for an introduction." Seeing his students give no reaction he again drooped his shoulders loosely, "Uhh, you're going to be a lot of work, I can already tell. Let me give you an example; my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are... I can't really think of any. My dislikes are traitors and my dreams for the future, ehh, I don't feel like telling you." He finished by pointing to Ino, "Okay, your next piggy."
She was in disbelief, "That didn't even tell us anything," She was being held back by both Naruto and Sasuke, "And then you called me piggy!"
Being they type of guy Naruto is, he replied, "Well, it is quite a fitting name as Sakura called you that since before the academy?" Even while restraining the ball of anger that was Ino he was unable to detect the danger.
With her rage turned to Naruto she again punched him in the sweet spot. Ignoring his low groans she reverted back to her normal happy self, "Fine. My name is Ino Yamanaka; my likes are flowers and other pretty things as well as my family. My dislikes are idiots and people who take things too seriously. I have two goals in life; one of them is to be with the man of my dreams and the other is to surpass my father to become the strongest Yamanaka clan head." She was well aware of how the others reacted to her, yes she was girly, yes she disliked conflict, but that didn't mean the life of a Ninja was taken for granted; she was the heir of the Yamanaka clan, she knew all about being a Ninja despite what others may think.
Kakashi just gave the typical eye smile, not letting his impressed thoughts show. 'Who knew the girl already had such a drive, I guess she won't be as much work as I initially thought.'
Not wasting a second he pointed towards Sasuke, "Go on Sasuke, your next."
Leaning forward he clasped his hands in front of himself, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, my likes are training and that's it. My dislikes are...," he looked towards Naruto. "My dream for the future, no, my ambition is to... avenge my family." He left it at that. Thanks to Naruto constantly making fun of him it was no secret what his ambition was.
This time Kakashi did let his surprise show. 'To think that he's changed that much; everyone always said he was revenge obsessed.' Obviously, he still held major hatred for that man but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as he thought it would be. 'Who would have thought I would be pleasantly surprised coming out of this, those two will still need some work but not anywhere near as much as I thought... hopefully Naruto will be t-'
"Stop zoning out like that ya damn Cyclops, we want to get started on something important."
His glazed over eyes slowly came back into focus only to see Naruto leaning back, legs and arms crossed looking thoroughly relaxed, however he didn't look to happy. "Oh, you're in a rush. That's quite hypocritical coming from the guy that was sleeping earlier."
"Ehh, that's not the way I see it," he scratched the back of his head before shoving his hands into his pockets, "Time sleeping is time well spent, it means I'm resting which allows me to train harder; sitting here watching you and knowing all too well what you're thinking about just wastes time, and by the way, I'm a completely different barrel of fish than these two." He gave a challenging smirk to finish.
Kakashi locked eyes his with those all too familiar blue, "That's quite a statement Naruto, please, enlighten us." He could see that the boy meant every word of what he said.
"Hmm, maybe later; so are we gonna do something or quit with this gimmick? These two know me and I'm sure you've did research." He knew exactly who he was talking too and also a little about him.
The silver haired Jounin withheld a laugh, 'You're exactly like your old man Naruto.' It was frightening. Although his father wasn't as brash, or as rude...or as mean. Now that he thought about it, they were really different; so why did Naruto remind him so much of the famed Ninja.
He gave him a piercing look, "Hmm, so you want to get started? I was originally going to save this test for tomorrow so you would be well prepared and rested, but sure; we can do it now."
The three Genin couldn't help but shift uncomfortably when their sensei's gaze became predatory.
He swatted a branch out of his way before jumping down from a tree, "I really got to stop trash talking to people stronger than me." He had a goal that he must complete and it was already getting dark. "Damn Kakashi, how can I do this?"
After the team was introduced Kakashi had revealed that he wasn't planning to test them until the next day; of course, after his little outburst that all changed. They were taken to training ground seven and told three words upon arrival: Endure to persevere.
That was all they were told before their new sensei started unleashing powerful punches and kicks; he still didn't know the meaning behind this but he and the others had picked up that it was a test; what they were competing for, they still didn't know but Kakashi was the predator and they were the prey, that much was clear.
After the initial surprise they were able to work together for an escape, he was able to create a fodder army of Kage Bunshin which bought them a little time, although weak, they still had kunai and shuriken so if left unchecked they could do damage to the experienced Jounin. Surprisingly Sasuke had backed him up in their retreat, he fired off a few fire Jutsu and although they were evaded they did what was necessary and slowed him down; as for Ino, she couldn't really do much. She didn't have the long range techniques of the other two besides her basic clan Jutsu and it was too much of a risk if she missed.
'A good thing Sasuke talked her out of trying it,' it was likely she would miss against someone like Kakashi. After that Kakashi had managed to catch up to them despite their efforts and they had been split up in order to evade him. He had acted as a distraction by creating around thirty Kage Bunshin before hengeing them into each member of Team Seven while the other two ran on; he still didn't know how he got out of that.
He knew exactly who Kakashi was and more importantly, how strong he was. Despite everything, he knew that Kakashi was out of there league, even with the three of them they didn't have a chance which meant either one of two things; they weren't meant to pass the test or beating Kakashi wasn't the goal. While running across the forest floor he looked up at the now star filled sky, 'It's going to be next to impossible to find them now, let alone beat Kakashi.' A trained Ninja could use the shadows to his advantage, they could not.
He continued walking along the forest floor making sure not to make too much noise, although it was hard to see he could make out most things if he tried. He really didn't know what he was doing; there was dead silence around him and no sign of anyone. Was the task over or would it just keep going until they completed the unknown objective. "Gah... what the hell am I suppose-" The words caught in his mouth when he barely made out a string of figures standing in the distance, letting curiosity get the better of him he slowly crept forward trying to get close enough to make them out.
It didn't take too long before he figured out what was going on. 'I see... well at least I know that much.' Standing in the distance were Kakashi's Kage Bunshin in a straight line; he was able to look up and down it noticing that it followed the boundary line of the training ground. 'I can only assume he has them surrounding the entire training ground; looks like we're penned in anyway.'
Although you would think otherwise, that information made him breathe a little easier. Knowing that the real Kakashi was somewhere in the training ground hunting him down like an animal immediately reversed these positive thoughts. "*sigh* I really gotta think of a plan. It's obvious I can't escape, and I definitely can't win against him..." Naruto stopped walking as he let his voice trail off, the sound of twigs cracking behind him until his voice again rang out, "If you want to keep all your limbs attached I would stop moving forward because Kami help me, I will beat your ass to Suna and back."
"Idiot, it's me, Sasuke."
Naruto looked around to get an eyeful of the Uchiha, "It's about time you show-" Without warning Naruto spun around and flung a pebble hitting Sasuke directly on the stomach. He smirked when he saw Sasuke keel over, "Good, you're actually Sasuke." He walked back and pulled his teammate to his feet,"Sorry you can never be too sure with Kakashi and his Kage Bunshin."
The fact that Naruto said that with a smile and a chirpy voice before walking away really wasn't convincing, "So now that I've found you we can try and take him down, I'm pretty sure I saw him heading back to the centre clearing." He finished by picking up and launching the same stone back.
Without knowing Naruto dodged the pebble by leaning to the side to scratch his neck; not noticing the disbelieving scowl on Sasuke's face he replied, "No; we have to get Ino before we do anything." Realising something a puzzled look came on his face, "Wait, I thought Ino was with you?"
Sasuke snorted, "She was with me but she couldn't keep up." Seeing Naruto's face shift to a frown made him elaborate; he really didn't need an angry Uzumaki right now, "When you distracted Kakashi me and her went left while you went right, but he only sent clones after you and he went after us. She wasn't as fast as me, neither did she have enough stamina so it was either leave her or get caught with her."
Naruto just shook his head, "Gah, and you call me an Idiot. I don't know the objective of this bastard's test but didn't you listen in history."
Sasuke deadpanned, "This is coming from the kid that slept through four full years of the thing."
This time it was Naruto's turn to snort, "That's because I knew it all, shit-brick. Anyway, Konoha has always heavily promoted teamwork above all else; by Kakashi's three words that probably isn't the goal but that doesn't mean anything. He will expect teamwork, not yearn for it."
In his opinion Ino would only get in the way, but if that's what it took then so be it. "Well I had to circle the whole way around the perimeter to find you so she's probably around three to four hundred yards west from here. She's trapped in an Earth Jutsu so she's going to need your help to get out." He nodded when he saw Naruto's questioning look. "I won't be able to get her out, she's in up to the neck and I can't do any Earth Jutsu."
A comical rain cloud appeared above Naruto's head, "I can't do any Jutsu." The voice was but a whisper.
Really, he got beat for rookie of the year by this guy, "Then just do the weird sealing stuff, the way you absorb fireballs and other Jutsu."
Naruto's frown slowly turned into a smile, 'Yeah; sealing will work...'
Naruto just waved him off before starting to walk away, "Yeah, yeah whatever, I'll go get Ino and you make sure Kakashi doesn't get to me. Don't engage him unless he's going to see me and make sure to lure him away. We don't have a hope but we can at least try to take this Cyclops down."
With that the two darted off to complete their goals. Sasuke had seen Kakashi head to the main clearing that was used for training so he would go there and try to keep an eye on him while waiting for Naruto; if he needed to intervene he would.
Knowing that Ino wasn't that far away Naruto was tempted just to run but he steeled himself; if Kakashi was hunting them down then he had been lucky to evade him for this long, he didn't want to push his luck so he as usual he kept low and moved slowly.
Not ten minutes had passed until he had reached the small clearing Sasuke had told him about, and sure enough, there was Ino, quite literally stuck in the ground. He guessed it was roughly between two to three hours since he had split from the trio as a distraction so she had been in that uncomfortable position for around the same length; he nearly felt sorry for her.
Before doing anything Naruto decided to observe his surroundings. It was quite rocky for being in the middle of the forest with a few boulders littered across the clearing; he also noticed that there was a small pond near the edge and part from Ino that was it. 'I'm not stupid enough to think he'd leave her unguarded, but I don't know what to look out for.' It could be a few traps littered around the area or more of his sensei's apparently limitless supply of clones.
He settled his features before slowly sneaking away from his cover into the clearing; approaching from behind Ino he could barely make out that she was awake but wasn't moving too much, that was another problem. He couldn't call her name or she'd panic before it was too late and if a barely visible figure started approaching her it would be even worse. Either way she'd react and their position would be given away. 'Meh, I never was one for planning.'
Deciding just to get on with it he again started to creep forward being careful to avoid anything noisy, at times like these he was really glad he was gifted at stealth. Approaching Ino he quickly darted forward and before she could react covered her mouth with his hand and leaned into her ear before whispering, "Shh, it's all good; it's me Naruto."
He felt her shaking body slowly stabilise before he slowly removed his hand allowing her the speck, "Never heard of being selfless; I nearly wet myself." The voice wasn't one of anger but more of relief.
The little devil in him couldn't help but deliver the witty comeback, "Wouldn't be the first time I did that." Although he couldn't see her face he could tell she was flustered; that's if the stuttering was anything to go by... or she was angry; probably the latter. Who was he kidding getting people to like him let alone a girl didn't happen.
Deciding to relieve her of combating a response he continued, "Relax, I'm kidding. Now, we have got you out of here." He was surprised there weren't any traps set but he knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"We'll encase you can't see I'm trapped in solid rock. You're not gonna be able to dig me out and-" her sentence trailed off when Naruto circled around in front of her holding one of those tags he always used; her mind but two and two together. "No way are you sealing me in a scroll; definitely off limits. I've seen you absorb Sasuke-kun's Fire Jutsu with them things."
He ignored her by sitting down cross legged; once situated he unfolded the sealing scroll and out popped a large bag. "Off course, sealing you into that would be terrible," He took out sealing paper and ink before starting to draw on a blank piece of paper, "I've never been stored in a weapons scroll before so I don't know what happens, what I do know however is that when I tried putting something else in my weapons scroll it came back tore to pieces; for all I know there could be no oxygen in it either so you wouldn't be able to breathe too." He finished drawing on the paper before holding it up making sure everything was okay with peeled eyes.
Ino had somewhat calmed after hearing that, although she really wanted out of here she didn't want to be put into Naruto's scroll of death; seeing that thing fire back Fireballs and all of Iruka-sensei's techniques has scarred the majority of the class so it didn't leave much to be desired.
Naruto was blocking her view but she could see that his weapons bag was filled to the brim. "For someone that complains about being broke you sure have a lot gear."
Naruto briefly looked up before concentrating back to his seal, "Yeah, about four years ago I...wandered... across it. It was full to the brim with labelled sealing scrolls and I tell you, there was a lot of scrolls, I mean there was everything a Ninja could ever need," His concentrated face let off a smile before finishing, "My guess is that it was owned by a wealthy survivalist with a hoarding complex." There was a serious amount of equipment in that bag; with it he had trained his Kunai and Shuriken skills for four years at the academy and he had still not put a dent in his reserves, that wasn't even getting started on all the other gems that it contained.
She couldn't help but let of a small chuckle at that information, "So what you're saying is that you stole somebody's life collection for emergency situations." She wasn't a bit surprised.
"Correct." He held up the seal again, this time nodding his head in approval before slapping it on Ino's head.
Of course, this sparked a rather rude reaction, "What the hell are you doing! I thought you said you couldn't do that; something along the lines of being torn to pieces and no oxygen."
It was funny seeing her this panicked especially because she was trying to keep her voice quiet yet sound angry. "No. I said that I wouldn't store you in the weapons pouch. This one is new and has nothing to cut you, therefore it's safe."
His calm voice only further infuriated her, "Uhh, what about the no oxygen bit?" And here she thought he was supposed to be smart.
He shrugged his shoulders, "It'll be fine if I do it quick." With that he placed his finger on top of the seal and while ignoring her panicked pleas for him to stop he sent chakra through it and just like that he had the Yamanaka clan heiress in the palm of his hands; literally.
"Oh, very good Naruto, but how are you going to get her out."
The lazy and unrefined voice was his only warning but before he had any time to react Naruto was sent flying across the clearing only to come to an abrupt stop against a boulder. With a groan he pulled himself out and looked up at his attacker, "So that's how you're going to play," He coughed some blood into his hand before standing back to full height in front of the three Kakashi clones, "Instead of wasting time making traps, you just sent a few clones to guard her." His voice didn't show it but damn that hurt. The strongest punch he'd ever received was by Sasuke and they hurt, that was at least ten times worse.
Kakashi lazily flipped the scroll in the air catching it with his other hand, "Correct, but one of us may be the real Kakashi, and in that case, you don't stand a chance. Come Naruto, remember, your friend might be suffocating."
Naruto's eyes widened at that; he had been completely played. Instead of just attacking him he used Ino as bait, waiting for her to be immobilised again and attacking when he wouldn't expect it. This way he was on a time limit but still fighting three against one.
If Kakashi expected hysteria then he would be very wrong. Instead of an expected panic or maybe even anger, his features instead settled to the usual cold frown, "Fine by me." With that he darted forward at top speed unleashing a brutal kick only for it to be blocked last second; he could tell by Kakashi's widened eyes that he wasn't expecting such speed or strength.
Using this to his advantage he continued dapping punches and kicks towards the unbalanced Kakashi. Faking a kick he instead span in the air before delivery and wicked jumping punch causing the clone to burst into a smoke.
Wincing again at the pain in his stomach he briefly hunched over clutching it, 'What the hell it wrong. Why does it hurt so much?'
Ignoring the pain he took in his surroundings; he could see that both clones, standing either side of where he was, stared at him with uncharacteristic open eyes. It was clear that Kakashi wasn't expecting this strength from a fresh academy student. He slowly moved backwards to keep both clones in sight, thus allowing him to see that the left one now held the scroll. 'The clone I was attacking must have offloaded it at the last second.' His analysis skills were usually correct.
"I can't say I'm surprised; you were Rookie of the Year but still, that's very impressive speed and strength," The figure of Kakashi zipped out of sight before reappearing in front of him, "But it's still not enough." Naruto again received a wicked punch catching him off guard however this time when Naruto flew back he was caught by the other Kakashi before being slammed to the ground.
The dust cleared revealing a split log, "Over here patch." Ten Naruto clones charged out from the tree line wielding Kunai and Shuriken while the real one had jumped over them and let out a onslaught of projectiles.
Being the experienced Ninja that he was the Kakashi clones were able to easily dodge and weave out of every punch, kick and combination thrown before swiftly dispatching them with a counterattack, whether this be a quick jab to a pressure point or something as brutal as a Kunai through the throat.
The sight of watching real life moving clones of him get slaughtered really was weird but he didn't take him too long to get used to it.
The last of Naruto's clones fell and again, Kakashi's remained unharmed. Just as they were about to continue the brawl the sound of an explosion raged off in the distance.
Finally getting a break Naruto's body lurched forward on impulse causing him to cough out even more blood. Again he ignored the pain, he had to get Ino soon as it had already been over two minutes however he still couldn't understand how one punch had dealt that much damage. Yeah, it hurt a lot but still, it was a punch.
He wiped the blood from his mouth before commenting in haggard breath, "It looks like Sasuke was right. The real you headed back to the centre which means you two are clones." He was pretty certain off this fact but confirmation was reassuring.
The Kakashi clone ignored his comment, "It looks like Sasuke has started using Jutsu, I guess that means It's only fair if I did too." Not giving Naruto anytime to react he ran through hand seals before shouting, "Water Release: Gunshot Comet."
A large water ball flew towards Naruto; Kakashi didn't see the smirk on his face because he was all too prepared for this.
At the last second he reached into his knee pouch and pulled out a tag, "Fuinjutsu: Reflection Barrier." From where the seal was thrown a blue transparent wall emerged which didn't just block the Jutsu but sent it right back catching the clone off guard and destroying it.
"Very good Naruto but yet again, you've left yourself off guard!" The cruel voice was all Naruto got for a warning before the other Kakashi slid towards him before shoving a Kunai into his stomach. Choosing not to hear Naruto's grunt of pain he held the back of his head keeping it from slumping forward before digging it in deeper, "You did well Naruto bu-"
He never finished the sentence as the figure in his hands pooped out of existence signalling it was a clone.
Before Kakashi was given a chance to think he received a powerful uppercut from directly underneath him; sourced from the hole Kakashi had made to trap Ino, his only warning, if it could even be called one was the slight movement of earth beneath him.
Momentum carrying him up he landed on the ground awkwardly with a loud thud causing him to stumble and fall; his stamina was superb but fending off three Kakashi clones was no joke. It took all he had and even then it felt like he was being played with.
Slowly getting to his feet he hunched over in pain finally feeling the true effects of Kakashi initial punch as the adrenaline wore off. This time he was forced to his knees due to the pain, "Move you idiot. You have one more job." Unable to get to his feet he weakly crawled towards the scroll. Upon reaching it he fell over but before he succumbed to the pain he put his finger against it and said, "Kai." Ino's body popped back into existence, however she wasn't moving.
Before giving in he leaned over to check her pulse and with a relieved sigh his arms collapsed on the weight of his body before his legs followed. It wasn't long before he joined Ino in succumbing to unconsciousness. One through internal injuries the other through lack of oxygen.
Hiruzen set his pipe down and crossed his hands in a disapproving manner. The elders had only just left as it took quite a bit of explaining before they were happy, or to put it correctly, could find no more faults in his decision.
At first they questioned about the Ino-Shika-Cho team formation and how it was no longer possible; that one was probably the hardest to explain because in all honesty, Sakura was the better member for the team. Unlike Ino, she wasn't bossy which in this case, was a good thing. It would allow Shikamaru to be the tactician while the other two were the power. He also had to explain how he had already spoken to the three fathers and had been given the go ahead and approval to do this as they had initially requested their next generation to be partnered.
That was the following setback, power. The elders didn't seem to think Sakura had what it takes to fill that void but after quite a bit of persuasion he managed to change their views. Sakura was built and acted very similarly to his own pupil Tsunade, not to mention she had extremely similar attributes and skills.
He leaned forward in the desk resting his head on his crossed arms, "*yawn* It's been a long day." He wished he could just sleep but he still had one more problem to deal with.
Raising his head and stretching out his back he waved his hand signalling the Anbu out of the room, facing forward he said in a weary voice, "You can come out now Danzo." Although he couldn't see him, he felt the concealed presence slowly make itself known as the held back chakra burst forth behind him. "You always were a strange one Danzo, but why is it that you feel necessary to stand behind me while I lecture the other two about matters they don't understand."
Danzo's voice was a drawl, bored, uncaring and monotone would be words to describe it, yet it still held a spark of urgency causing every word to sink in. "I merely wished to avoid another feud; If I requested to stay while they were forced to leave they would feel left out. When we would respond that it didn't involve them they would take in as an insult, this causing a feud and wasting my time.
He released a sigh, Danzo was always so direct, "So do I deserve your time? Is it about the team change?"
Danzo shook his head despite knowing that the Hokage couldn't see it, "No. The decision you made was correct."
That was as close as he would ever get to a compliment; although the old cripple was a hardy bastard, he was smart. "So what do you want to talk about?" The way to deal with Danzo was to be direct, the meeting or altercation were never pleasant so it was best to get them done and out of the way.
Walking around the front of the desk Danzo took a seat, "I want to talk about Naruto Uzumaki."
"It wouldn't be the first time." When the boy was young Danzo would all but demand authority to train him, when it wasn't that he wanted to make the boys heritage known as a means to bolter Konoha's outlook. "You're being very broad, please, elaborate for me."
"I think it's time Naruto was told about the Kyuubi."
He doubted he would get sleep tonight.
A/N - Annnd Cut.
So I got the teams sorted and the test done too. Next chapter is gonna be the explanation of what happened, and yes, there's a reason why I couldn't do that this chapter.
So we gotta see a little bit of Naruto's personality; he's cheeky, laid back and a little bit of a flirt but as always, this will develop and change. Give me a few more chapters to get his character laid out.
As for the future, I don't really want to be spending chapters upon chapters writing all of the training and D-Ranks. I want to get the story moving and so it will be going a nice pace. (That's a pet peeve of mine, stories that are too slow I simply can't read, too little is happening and although you know it will get good I just can't. The same with stories that are too fast paced, feels like the author isn't trying and I tend to get lost. Please let me know if I'm moving the story too fast or slow.)
Another point, if Kakashi came off as a little brutal with his fighting remember the image he was trying to portray, his key point to the test was for them to survive, if that meant making a few deep cutting scars to cement the lifestyle of a ninja into their minds he would most definitely do so.
If you have any questions or simply want to chat, please PM me, you're always welcome.
As always, please Fav, Follow and if you're feeling extra special Review. Any and all constructive criticism is appreciated and if you have any cool ideas for the story let me know.
Thank you for reading.