"The Greatest Idea Ever"
By Quick-n-Popular
Disclaimer: "Naruto" and its characters do not belong to me.
A/N: A big "Thank You" goes out to those who have reviewed, liked, or have listed this story as one of their favorites. You guys rock.
Chapter Five: A Promise between two Chuunin Hopefuls
A series of clashes echoed loudly as two figures were dueling it out with their swords. However, it looked to be a one-sided fight.
Naruto was clenching his teeth as he blocked, parried, and tried to gain some sort of advantage against his teacher who didn't give him an opportunity to take the lead.
Hayate and Naruto have been like this the last couple of days. After learning the neat abilities of his sword, Naruto was at first given the task to alternate between the two forms that his sword took. While the easiest one to get used to was when the sword lengthened to the size of a nodachi, the flame form was harder for him as it still made him jump when it did that. However, unlike the first time, he didn't drop the sword anymore. Also, Naruto and his teacher discovered that the sword couldn't use the flame ability in its nodachi form or vice versa. So, for a while, Naruto continued to alternate between the two forms.
From there, Hayate began to teach Naruto offensive kenjutsu training. In a way it was similar to what Tenten had done with him, as Naruto was mostly defending against Hayate's attacks. Soon, though, his teacher encouraged him to try and counter his moves and gradually Naruto was gaining the confidence to retaliate.
Hayate instructed Naruto NOT to use the nodachi and flame forms of his sword during their spars against one another, as he told the blond teen that they were better to be used as a trump card in a desperate situation. Naruto had quietly accepted the advice despite being eager to show them off to his teammates and possibly Tenten.
Hayate soon called for a break and the two of them sat and rested with Naruto breathing a little harder from the exertion.
"You're improving, kid. You're still a beginner at this but you're doing pretty good thus far."
Naruto nodded, appreciative of the praise.
Hayate continued, "I heard you can use the Kage Bunshin kinjutsu from Kakashi, am I right?" Seeing the boy's nod, he said, "Then, tomorrow, I'll show you a technique of mine that'll work well with that."
Naruto was about to ask about the technique when the two of them were interrupted by the arrival of someone. It was a woman who was wearing the garb traditionally worn by the Anbu, with the exception that she wasn't wearing a mask to hide her identity. She had long dark shade of purple hair and her she had strictly business look about her.
"Hayate, Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you and some others about the exam."
Hayate nodded, "Thanks, I'll be right there." He then introduced Naruto to her. "Naruto, this is Yugao Uzuki. Yugao, meet Naruto."
Naruto gave a friendly wave while Yugao smiled and nodded, before turning back to her boyfriend. "I'm still amazed to hear that you're teaching someone."
Hayate shrugged before getting up and sealing away his sword in a scroll, before turning to Naruto. "We'll call it a day, for now, Naruto-san. Keep on practicing those katas I taught you and work on becoming more at ease with the flame form of your sword. You don't want anyone to take advantage of that while you're hesitating."
Naruto nodded and bid his teacher farewell as he and Yugao then left.
From there Naruto headed back into town glad for the reprieve from the strenuous lessons Hayate was teaching him. His travels seemed to be in an absent-minded, automatic, mode as he soon found himself at 'Totosai Weapons Shop' once more. These past couple of days he tried to come here often to see if he could catch Tenten but each time she seemed to be either out training or sleeping because of overwork. Naruto had asked Shin, her father, what's been going on with her but he seemed to be disinterested and said "She's training for something." Without telling anything more.
Getting anything more from the man seemed like an impossible task. However, Naruto just wanted to talk with Tenten, nothing more. He was starting to miss their time spent shaping him up.
So here, standing in front of her shop, Naruto pondered on whether or not to enter once more and ask for Tenten's whereabouts or if she was in.
However, luck, today seemed to be on his side.
"You're going to be covered in bird crap, if you stand there like a statue all day, you know." A voice teased him from behind.
Naruto's eyes widened and he turned around so fast, it was amazing he didn't topple over.
"Tenten!" He exclaimed in joy and relief.
The bun-haired kunoichi chuckled in amusement before looking apologetic. "I can see I have made things hard for you to come to talk to me, sorry about that. Dad told me about your visits to our store."
Naruto, shook his head. "He did tell me that you were training but not for what. I'm not mad just really happy to see you again."
Tenten was surprised by the warm feeling she felt when Naruto said that but she decided to disregard it for the time being as she wanted to explain to the blond teen why she's been such a no-show.
"Well, it's good to see you too. I really haven't been avoiding you, it's just my team got nominated to participate in the Chuunin Exams coming up and I have been training for it."
Naruto's eyes widened and then he grinned, "That's awesome! I have the same news that I have been wanting to tell you; my team is also going to be at the Exams!"
Tenten was surprised, she knew his team hadn't been put together all that long ago. However, his enthusiasm was contagious and soon she was grinned as well.
"Great!"
The two then went to a bench that was outside of Tenten's family's store and Naruto told Tenten about his new kenjutsu teacher, Hayate Gekko, and some of the training they were doing. He apologized when he said he couldn't show or tell her about what the seals on his sword did, as he had promised his new teacher to keep it hidden for now.
Tenten shrugged, not being bothered by it. "Everybody has their secrets and I sure as hell haven't revealed to you all that I can do, so no sweat. I'll bet I'll be seeing something in the Exams though. As will you, if you're lucky."
Naruto smiled, "I can't wait." He then took on a thoughtful look as he remembered something Konohamaru asked him the other day.
"Hey, uh, I was wondering something."
Tenten looked at him curiously before nodding for him to go on.
Naruto swallowed a nervous lump in this throat, before asking his question.
"Can we still practice together, after the Chuunin Exams when we're not so busy; you know, like we used to?"
The weapons specialist was surprised by the question and how anxious Naruto sounded. She thought about his question and what would be best. The blond teen had finally gotten a real sensei to teach him kenjutsu and didn't really need her makeshift lessons anymore as he had absorbed all that she could teach him. However, she knew she really enjoyed their time spent together and, oddly enough, she had looked forward to seeing him those days.
She paused as she realized that.NARUTO, made her happy, just by being near him. But why?
Pushing these thoughts aside, Tenten gave the boy an answer. "If you want. I don't mind, really. Though, if either of us become a Chuunin we'll be busier than usual. You do know that, don't you?"
Naruto thought on that but nodded but then he grinned, cheekily as said, "In that case, I'll just have to work harder so I can see you more, then."
Again, a sudden warm feeling went over her face by something he said. Feeling a bit overwhelmed and a little bit embarrassed, Tenten was having an urge to get away before anything more was said.
"An-Anyway, it's good to see you again, but I need to get clean from my training today."
Naruto nodded before getting up from the bench the same time she did and said, "Okay. I have to go too. I got training early with Hayate-sensei tomorrow morning so I need to hit Ichiraku's before heading home."
Tenten smiled as she thought of that ramen stand and how she learned so much about the teen those times she visited.
She then stopped and, after a moment's deliberation, punched Naruto's shoulder slightly with her fist, playfully, as she grinned, "Well, let's do our best at the Exams. Who knows, we might be up against each other in it."
Naruto looked surprise by this attitude before he, too, grinned and also punched Tenten on the shoulder with his fist, slightly, in the same playful manner.
"You got it. It's a promise!"
The following morning, Naruto made his way to the training area where he usually met with Hayate only to not find him there but the man's girlfriend, Yugao, instead.
"Hi, Naruto, was it?" She asked in a friendly manner.
Naruto nodded, "And you're Yugao, right? Where's Hayate-sensei?"
"He's going to be late," She replied, "He was summoned to the Hokage's office for a last-minute planning for the Exam."
Naruto nodded and was about to get comfortable and wait for his teacher when Yugao continued and he was forced to stop.
"However, he's asked me to look at your skills and make an assessment, while we're waiting for him."
Naruto nodded wordlessly and drew his sword as Yugao took out the sword that was sheathed on her back before the two started the duel.
During this evaluation bout, Naruto was struck by the difference between the way Hayate and Yugao fought with a sword. While Hayate was about strength and skill, Yugao was about improvising, dexterity, and finesse. Thus Naruto's body was having to work more to catch up and try to counter the Anbu soldier's moves.
As the time stretched into over forty minutes of swords-play, she called for a break and the two had a cool-down period, well, just Naruto, anyway.
As Naruto drank his bottle of water, Yugao, in her head, formulated what she noticed from her observations on how the green kenjutsu user was performing. It more or less coincided with what Hayate had told her. She saw no real glaring faults in Naruto's form or his strikes when he managed to get in a strike or two.
"You're doing remarkably well, for a beginner." She told the boy, finally voicing her critique of what she saw.
Naruto smiled, tiredly, but thanked the woman.
Yugao then looked at the kid's blade and noticed something she hadn't caught before and decided to bring it to the teen's attention.
"Do you have a 'Safety Line' for your sword, Naruto-san?"
Naruto looked at her, perplexed, "A what?"
"A 'Safety Line'," She repeated, "It's a thin strong cord that wrapped tightly to the handle of a sword and the other end of the line attached to the user's hand or wrist. It's used in a way that, should you be separated from your weapon, you can find or pull it back to you."
Naruto was surprised by this new tool idea he hadn't hear before. "I don't have that." He answered, honestly.
Yugao thought for a moment and then said, "Well, they are useful but to be honest, some get broken when fire jutsus are involved. So, it's not a 'sure-fire' way that can help you."
Naruto nodded. Still, he thought that it sounded like a good idea and that maybe he should go see Tenten's dad and see if he has any in-stock.
"Actually," Yugao continued, "We Anbu have a method that can correct that problem with those chords. Or, rather, we found a substitution."
"What kind?" Naruto asked, very interested.
Here, Yugao paused. She had just been just making an observation before but if she were actually to talk about this, it would be giving a Genin an Anbu tool. Debating on it in her head, she decided that it wasn't something THAT closely guarded within the organization and that her superiors wouldn't likely reprimand her for teaching it.
"They're called Chakra Strings." She told the boy and he looked confused by the unfamiliar term. "They are strands of chakra that 'string' down your fingers to attach to an object. It's originally a Sunagakure method for their Fighting Puppet division."
Naruto was surprised by this information. "So, your chakra 'grabs' something?"
Yugao nodded before grabbing a kunai and throwing it into a post several feet away from them. Naruto then saw her pinch her index finger to her thumb before a translucent dew of chakra came stretched between the two when she separated the digits. She then threw her hand out and then with a tug, she dislodged the kunai that came back to her quickly and she then caught in her hand.
Naruto was soon grinning, "That was awesome!"
Yugao smirked, "It's very useful. However it has a flaw where you need to be able to have the object you're reaching out to in sight. If you can't see it, then there's no point." She then tossed the kunai to the boy and then nodded to him, "I've done the demonstration. Now lets see you try it."
A week later marked the start of the Chuunin Exams for the village of Konoha. Ibn addition to it's denizens saw a number of foreign ninjas entering the village much like the trio Naruto had met earlier.
On this day Naruto as usual met with his team. They were then given a paper with directions by Kakashi on where they were supposed to go to testing meeting area. As usual Sasuke was full of confidence and taking the lead, while Sakura, was trying to mirror the Uchiha's bravado, and Naruto was coming up behind with enthusiasm.
They went through the large entryway for the gathering of the potential students and found themselves in a large room with a lot of Genin from other villages giving them a glare for being in the same room as them. Sasuke seemed to brush it off while Sakura looked around nervously. However, the atmosphere became even murkier by the arrival of the rest of Genin from Naruto's graduating class. Ino Yamamnaka launched herself in a flying tackling hug towards Sasuke only for him to pivot and causing her to trip into Sakura, which then gave way to an argument.
"You're being too noisy, Ino." her teammate Shikimaru Nara drawled as he entered soon after her with his teammate Chouji Akamichi nodding along while eating. The Nara's attention was soon drawn towards Naruto as he was now seeing his having a sword on him.
"You've taken up kenjutsu, or something Naruto?"
Naruto grinned, "Yeah, I decided to be even more awesome. You better watch yourself lazy bum."
"Troublesome." Shikimaru muttered before they were having others join them as well. Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga soon entered as well.
"Look, Akamaru, the rest of these chumps are here as well." Kiba said smugly to his dog. Shino said nothing but Hinata approached Naruto and greeted him. Hinata had always been nice and supportive at the academy to him and both he and she were friendly enough with each other, although he still wasn't sure as to why.
"Good M-Morning, Naruto-kun."
Naruto nodded, "Hey, Hinata. Are you going to be okay here?"
Hinata pressed the digits of her fingers together in a nervous fashion but managed to control her stuttering. "Yeah, I think so. My team and I have gotten stronger since we came together."
"Hinata! Quit flirting with the enemy!" Kiba called out grinning in a joking manner.
"I-I'm not flirting, Kiba-kun!" She protested.
"Hey, Kiba, Shut it before I neuter you AND your puppy in front of everyone." Naruto grinned as he put a hand on his sword for emphasis.
"That a challenge, Dobe?" Kiba growled.
Naruto shrugged before ignoring the boy and taking a better look at all those around their noisy group.
Aside from those of his fellow Genin from his academy class, he saw the same disturbing trio he had met with Konohamaru huddled in a corner of the room and giving out a menacing soon saw Tenten and what looked to be her team farther away but it appeared she hadn't seen him yet as she was talking to her teammate with the bowl-cut hairdo, while the other one who had the same unique eyes like Hinata, was looking like everyone and everything was beneath him.
Before he could scope out anyone else, A large man with a bandanna giving off a terrifying look yelled for everyone to be quiet and follow into the classroom for the first test. As Naruto went in, with the air of the place being as thick as tree; he mustered up his courage by reminding himself of his promise to Tenten.
Grinning fiercely, he said in a whisper, "I got this."
To be continued…
A/N II: Apologies on ending it short here. I needed a stopping point and I am trying to map out what exactly I want to see happen in the Chuunin Exams in this version. This chapter is more of an in-between but at the same time I didn't want to make it a filler chapter either. In any case, hopefully there won't be that long of a wait till the next posting. Till then, review, let me know what you think of the story thus far, and thanks again for reading.
Q-n-P