Chapter 13
AN: Another chapter for you guys, soon I'll pick back up with the Mascot fic. It's just, writing pure comedy takes a lot of energy when the largest portion of my day is spent thinking about school! Anyway, don't forget to send me which fic want written next. So far, The Danzo, Time travel with Sai and Naruto, and the mini Kakashi are tied for first!
Moments after opening the door…
"I repeat, what are you doing in my apartment, sleeping in my BED?" Naruto tried again when it became obvious Hikaru was still half asleep. The older teen blearly sat up.
"Oh, chibi-kohai, I wasn't expecting you back until tomorrow" He greeted. Naruto's hand rested on a seal placed on the wall; just a burst of his specific kyubi chakra and hundreds of kunai would launch from a series of traps and converge on the futon and skewer Hikaru alive.
"Sempai, you have three seconds to start explaining why you're here and not in your own apartment or I will try out my new home security trap seals on you." Naruto threatened. Hikaru gulped.
"Heh, no need to get hasty! See, my apartment is infested with rats so I had to move out for the next week. We're room mates now!"
"Hell no. Why aren't you at hq, the dorms are there for a reason?" Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Dragon-teme kicked me out for having 'no regards for tidiness' whatever that means and the captain and Yugao said you wouldn't mind!"
"…Just, how can a Hyuga be so…un-Hyuga like?" Naruto questioned when the shock caught up to him. "Your apartment is so messy that rats invaded, the dorms aren't capable of housing you, and everybody is pawning you off to me, the youngest" Naruto pointed an accusatory finger at his friend, who upon closer inspection had several articles of clothing, books, and weapons laying around. "Well I refuse to let you be this way, Hikaru! While you are here you will be neat and tidy"
"But cleaning is boring, you're just like Hiashi-sama, you don't understand that my apartment is like a canvas of art and art is messy!" Naruto shuddered in remembrance of his last mission.
"I won't tell you how to keep your…canvas, but this is MY 'canvas' and I happen to like seeing the floor with the use of the Byakugan. Clean this up while I'm in the shower or I'm telling Guy you want to room with him." Instantly Hikaru was cleaning the whole apartment, while a shadow clone of his dusted. A thought came to his mind. "Hey, Hikaru? I'll sleep on the couch tonight, as a reward for you actually cleaning."
Next morning…
Naruto stretched lazily at nine in the morning, and slowly took off the ear plugs `from both his and Angel's ears. The cat mirrored his stretches.
"Naruto!" She purred at him as she received a back scratch. "Did we actually get to sleep in?"
"Yep! Hikaru just begged to be Guy's training partner today, so who were we to refuse?" Naruto chirped. Angel blinked.
"Huh?" Naruto chuckled.
"Don't worry about it; Let's go on a run before breakfast. We don't have to be at the training grounds until noon." He bit a thumb through his mask and did the summoning jutsu. Akira and Hisoka appear with dual yawns.
"What's the big idea, calling us so early?" Akira mumbles.
"Oh, just a proposition for you." Naruto replies easily.
Noon, training ground three…
Naruto strolled into the grounds to find a very irritated Kuranai, Asuma, and crying Guy, while the genin worked on various exercises.
"Naruto, you're late! We've been here since seven this morning, you were scheduled to start your traps and obstacle course two hours ago." Kuranai lectured in a chiding tone. Asuma snorted.
"Why are you surprised? Kakashi has been trying to make him a clone of his; lateness is just a part of it."
"YOSH! MY YOUTHFUL NEIGHBOR. LET US REIGNIGHT YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH! HIKARU WASHED IN THE FLAMES OF YOUTH THIS MORNING! YOU'D DO WELL TO FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE OF YOUTH." Guy kept rambling until Kuranai wacked him. Kuranai turned towards Naruto but he held up his hands.
"Listen, I'm sorry for being late, Sempai told me noon, swear!" Kuranai relaxed and Asuma sweat dropped. "Damn Kakashi, let's see how he likes a henged him leading a crusade against Icha Icha" he muttered. After a moment he looked back. "Oh, sorry. Anyways, gather your students up and I'll start the exercise"
"Wait, but don't you need to prepare?" Asuma asked. Naruto shook his head.
"No, let's just say a few friends of mine setting up the forest."
"Er…okay then. Hey everyone! Come over here" Asuma called and the genin gathered around. Confused looks from every one but team seven came when they gazed at Naruto standing among their senseis. "This is your next instructor, Naruto. He's filling in for Kakashi today."
Naruto eyed his former classmates wearily. He'd dressed in his off duty gear, without the flack jacket or headband- both were stored in a scroll on his hip pouch though. Overall he didn't give the impression of 'ninja'. Good, he smirked inwardly; he wanted to see their faces when his former tormentors and classmates realized he wasn't 'dead last' anymore- even if they didn't find out he was a ninja now, much less a chunin and ANBU.
"Oi, what's the failure doing here?! Akamaru could beat this brat! Right boy?" Akamaru yipped at his master's boasting, but Naruto kept a blank face. The others started questioning him.
"Um, N-Naruto, w-why are you teaching us t-traps?" Hinata asked with a blush. Naruto eyed her.
"Because I am proficient at them and they have helped me in the past. You twelve will be completing a 'mission' so to speak. My partner, a young hell cat named Angel, is napping somewhere in the training grounds. Your objective is to find her and bring her back…safely. There will be opposition from some of my summons as well, but you are to disarm or avoid setting off any traps on your way to and from." Hinata blushed when he looked at her and she turned away.
"Whatever, loser, me and Akamaru will beat this course all by ourselves!" Kiba boasted. Naruto chuckled.
"Too bad, your captain is Sakura, any insubordination will be punished severely."
"Forehead's the leader?! No way, Sasuke-kun is the strongest, he should lead" Ino insisted, but looked over at team seven. Sakura looked like this was normal- it was, as Kakashi-sensei and Hikaru-sensei had made her lead due to her brains and support role- while Sasuke gave a grudging shrug. He had to admit, letting Sakura come up with the plans enabled him to get more experience fighting.
"It's troublesome, but I agree with Ino that Sakura isn't the best choice. And you failed the academy so you are not our superior." Sakura looked ready to correct him but silenced her with a look, one Shikamaru caught.
"Sigh, too bad. I'm your teacher today and I assign Sakura as the captain. Follow her orders like you would on an ANBU or jonin squad." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes slightly at the analogy but assented. "Now, you have thirty minutes to plan before my summons will start attacking…though knowing Akira she'll begin in about ten. Time runs out at sunset." With that Naruto pulled out a kunai launching tag Jiraiya had taught him. He wanted to expand the effective range from ten meters to at least fifteen, it's just fitting the expanded matrix on the same sized paper was proving difficult. Plopping on the ground he shooed his former classmates away.
"YOSH! My eternal rival, we shall complete this task or I will run around Konoha fifty times on my hands! If I can't do that then I'll climb the Hokage mountain with my teeth!" Lee would have continued if Naruto didn't look up, deep in thought about his seal problem.
"Sorry Lee, what'd I miss?" Lee and Guy face faulted while the other jonin sweat dropped at Naruto's obviously accidental echoing of Kakashi. Ever since Guy began training him, Naruto and Lee had become sort of rivals, though it was more Lee trying to rope him into a contest and Naruto refusing each time.
"Curse your hip and cool, Naruto!" Lee cried. Neji, who had worked to keep quiet as wasting his breath on losers was beneath him grabbed his teammate and dragged him towards the group of genin. Neji would make the Haruno relieve command to him, the genius, and then they would beat the failure Naruto's course. With the Byakugan it would be easy, even if the boy did have summons.
Naruto watched them go and turned back to his work with a smile.
"Say, Naruto?" He looked up at Kuranai.
"Yes?"
"They're going to win with two Byakugan, an Inuzuka, and an Aburame, are you sure you don't want to do something else? And putting Sakura of all people" Naruto glared sharply.
"I'm sorry, sempai, but you forget; I have a Hyuga on my team"
"But my youthful student is a prodigy" Guy pointed out, only to grow confused at Naruto's snort.
"He may be good for a 'genin', but Hikaru is a decade ahead of him in both ninjutsu and the Byakugan, despite being only two and a half years older. Hikaru is a real genius, even if he doesn't flaunt it. In my…position, I learned enough traps and how to use them in ways that make the fancy kekkei genkai your students rely on useless, as you will see. As for leader ship, I picked Sakura because she's intelligent, stronger than most of the other genin now, and has experience in my tests."
"What about Shikamaru? I know you keep tabs on your old classmates; you know he has a high iq and is a master at shogi."
"Hmph, he gives up, and I'd bet he'd even quit in the finals for the chunin exams if he believed it too troublesome. Also, he's weak, while with Sakura, even Hikaru is becoming nervous with her use of senbon and tactics. Though, I still don't expect them to win. Not when Akira is so motivated" he mused. Asuma took a puff.
"And what did you promise that insane feline?" He asked, remembering the challenge between Kakashi and the blonde. Said blonde rubbed his head sheepishly.
"Oh, nothing. Just that, if she kept the genin from even reaching Angel I'd teach her how to activate exploding seals. She's very eager now." Just then Kiba's scream and later yell of 'damn cat! Who would pick the devil's summon?! NARUTO- YEOCH. STUPID TIGER' made the gathered wince. "Wow, only twenty seven minutes early. I didn't expect her patience to last that long."
With Kakashi…
Our favorite copy ninja crouched low in a deserted alley way, still even after six hours of waiting. Dragon and Tenzo were next to him.
'Stay still' Dragon signed in annoyance when Tenzo shifted just a bit. 'Keep waiting, it shouldn't be long now; Iwa is supposed to be sending their Jinchuuriki this way. Remember the plan.'
Kakashi gripped his knees, really hating this 'plan'. Konoha, in all her wisdom, decided that since Iwa had been confirmed to sending a small aid in forced to Konoha in hopes of destroying them, that one of the Jinchuuriki they'd be sending, Han, should be taken out of the picture. Intel from a certain ANBU inside Iwa who worked at Han's favorite Dango shop, confirmed the Jinchuuriki was headed towards the western border for a simple assassination mission.
Too bad he wouldn't make it. After all, the commander, a Sharingan user, and a wood style user against a jinchuuriki was hardly a fair fight.
And if his death was quietly blamed on Kumo so that they'd have to focus on Konoha's rival? All the better.
Kakashi just hoped his little brother/student was handling his genin okay.
AN: A short chapter, but next one I'm very excited about! The plot thickens, The Konoha twelve's attempts at completing the task, and Naruto will be interacting more with them. Also, what happened to Hikaru? Did he manage to survive Guy's training, and finally, how long will it be before Naruto and Kurama finally move on?
P.S. please leave your preference if you haven't already for the next story. I decided to keep the options open for another couple of weeks as I am getting a steady stream of pm's. Today, the Danzo and time travel stories are tied.