Two and the Same
Training Arc: Individual Training? Where's Kakashi!?
Naruto groaned out in frustration at seeing Kakashi-sensei still not at the field nearly an hour after their usual training time was to begin for Team 7. Sakura and Sasuke were already looking around while they all kept working on running up the trees using only chakra on their feets, but Naruto was wanting to learn more Jutsus, damn it!
"Looks like whatever happened between him and Sakura got to Kakashi-sensei…" Kurama muttered.
Naruto's frustration turned into worry given that thought passing his mind. Kurama wasn't wrong, even Naruto could read between the lines on Kakashi-sensei's sudden disappearance as well as Sakura's tears, but neither Naruto nor Kurama had enough information to really make heads or tails of it. Sakura had explained none of what happened, just passing it off with a distraction of Ichiraku Ramen, but Naruto and Sasuke both thought there was more to it that Sakura was telling them.
It was her choice in the end, but Naruto really was sick and tired of this, it's been almost a week now and Kakashi-sensei was nowhere to be seen while Sakura was adamantly telling them that she had no idea what was going on.
"Looks like you got company, Kit. Might want to pay attention." Kurama gave him a heads up, forcing Naruto out of his thoughts to see the three people approaching. Naruto motioned towards Sakura and Sasuke, both having been on adjacent trees before they climbed up into the treeline to wait. It wasn't Kakashi-sensei or anyone they knew, and given the warning that Kurama gave; it wasn't a bad situation, just a new one. That didn't mean they shouldn't take caution.
A glance over to Sasuke saw him setting up ninja wire around the team and even throughout the small, shaded training field while Sakura went about setting some…uh…Notice me not Genjutsus? Naruto wasn't entirely sure what they were called, but Sakura was insanely proud when she successfully made Sasuke not notice the red x that was on her cheek. Then immediately deflated when Naruto asked about it.
Naruto, on the other hand, was already setting up some pranks for any unsuspecting victims to fall prey to. Even Iruka fell for them now and again when he masked his chakra alright enough. Then after all of the traps were set up, the three waited in a triangle formation, making sure to try and not have anyone pop up on them. It wasn't easy and was insanely stress inducing, but Kakashi had more than once appeared behind them and used his evil Two Thousand Years of Pain technique.
Needless to say that none of them wanted to have that happen again. It took a few minutes, but Naruto was able to notice the three people coming their way, "Oh? I didn't think they were that far along on their trap-making techniques. You sure Kakashi's team wasn't a Capture and Infiltration team instead of a Combat Assault team?" The first voice, male and smelling faintly of cigarette smoke, asked.
"Sakura didn't do half bad in remembering her Genjutsu lessons, making sure to keep to small, easily forgettable Genjutsus rather than trying to brute force them. Still room for improvement though." The second voice, one that Sakura seemed to notice if her shocked smile was anything to go by and female, ignored the question in favor of evaluation. Naruto raised an eyebrow, wondering if this had anything to do with Kakashi-sensei's disappearance, but Sasuke merely shrugged at his questioning glance.
"It's not really our place to ask honestly, but I'm surprised that he wanted me to teach a little brat like these. They're not half bad, but nowhere near ready for the Chunin Exams." The third voice. Another male said, his voice was a monotone, sounding like he didn't want to be there or care at all about it.
"Hey, kids, we know you're up there! You can come down now!" The first voice sounded as Sakura immediately jumped out of the tree, but Sasuke and Naruto stayed up top in case of an ambush. After seeing no signs of one over the course of the next four seconds, they both jumped down behind Sakura.
In front of them were what looked to be three Jonins, two of which Naruto was somewhat familiar with. Kurenai-sensei, Hinata's sensei and the one that taught Sakura her Notice Me Not thingy stood between Asuma-sensei, Choji's sensei that was helping them find a new formation for their team and someone that Naruto didn't know.
The third guy had a senbon between his teeth while looking completely dead on his feet. His hair was almost the same color as Naruto's blond hair, but was a lot more disheveled than his own was. Even despite that, Naruto felt his hair go up on end around the three like it did around Kakashi-sensei.
"So, these are the brats we're supposed to train?" The third guy asked, looking towards Asuma.
"Yup, I think you'll find them full of surprises," Asuma stated before turning towards Team 7, "I think you guys have noticed Kakashi hasn't been heading to your training lately, right?"
"Yeah, do you guys know what happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked immediately as the three stilled briefly, "You do! Tell us, what's wrong with him!?" Naruto demanded as Kurenai sighed.
"He's been assigned a mission out of the village. We don't really have any Jonin to spare that can do the work he can, so he's gone for about another week."
"Then why didn't he tell us? He would have assigned someone to help us after the first day or so. There's something you aren't telling us, isn't there?" Sasuke pointed out as the third guy groaned.
"Even if there was, we're not telling you guys unless you beat us, which you won't."
"Oh yeah!?" Naruto was furious with his response, but didn't budge just yet. These guys were on the same level as Kakashi-sensei, and he knew how bad it was to rush one of them down. He looked towards Sasuke and Sakura and saw they were on the same page.
He grabbed some kunai from one of his many pockets before noticing the Jonin get on guard. He looked towards Sasuke and Sakura before noticing they were gone and flared his Chakra to see them appear again, "Oh? I didn't think you would notice that so quickly." Naruto stepped back before throwing his kunai, making them multiply with Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu and summoning a few clones.
Putting his Shadow Step Style to good use, Naruto took to the edges of the pack, making sure that he wasn't alone but also outside the main conflict before starting the hand signs he knew of the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu: Air Bullet Barrage. After getting to the 20th hand sign of Dragon, he mumbled the name of the attack before all his clones seemed to disappear.
Kurenai, Asuma and the weird Senbon Man blinked before jumping back as Naruto and his clones appeared merely five seconds later. The area where the Jonins were smoked a bit from the impact as Naruto used his position in the air to try a form of the Shadow Step Style that he never really had a good time to practice. Using his clones as footstools, he twisted in midair to where his feet were in the hands of some of the clones, who proceeded to push him and some of the other clones forward towards the Jonin.
His hands went through the three signs that he brought the Wind Style: Air Bullet Jutsu down to over the last week of training as he fired a barrage of wind chakra-infused bullets at the Jonin, forcing them to dodge or risk damage, leading them straight into where Naruto's clones were hiding to make way for pranks.
Lots and lots of pranks as the Jonin discovered when buckets of paint fell down on them, glitter sparkles flew off of Asuma and the weird guy, while Kurenai sported a pink hairdo. This was enough to go about pissing them off as the Jonin went on the offensive, "OKAY, THAT'S IT!" Kurenai shouted, enraged as she rushed towards him, but Naruto merely grinned as the ninja wire Sasuke set up during the assault, as well as hidden by Sakura's Genjutsu, caught and dug into Kurenai's outstretched arm.
Naruto's danger sense went off a bit too late as he felt a kunai against his throat moments later, "You do not mess with my hair again, or I will make you deal with a Genjutsu so horrible that it will leave you catatonic! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?" Kurenai-sensei yelled in frustration as Naruto nervously tried nodding his head, only getting part way before the kunai would have dug in and then moved back up over and over again. As quickly as the kunai had appeared, it disappeared back to wherever it had come from, "Good, now that that lesson was drilled into your head, let's setup who's training who. Sakura, you're with me as per usual. Anko is also going to help out, so it's just going to be extra Genjutsu practice."
"Hai, Kurenai-sensei!" Sakura stated without that much nervousness. Lucky her.
"Sasuke, you're with Asuma, he'll help you develop strategies for your Taijutsu style and Ninja wires. Also, he'll be helping expand your Jutsu pool a bit outside of Katon techniques."
"Hn, alright." Sasuke looked towards Asuma with a bit of a contemplating look, but Naruto didn't get the time to focus on it as Kurenai-sensei looked towards him.
"As for you, Genma will be the one training you. From what I've heard, you only know Futon techniques alongside your Shadow Clone Jutsu. He'll help you learn how to use Senbons as well as teach you some Raiton techniques." Kurenai-sensei explained as Naruto nodded.
"Great…I get the little rodent?" The newly dubbed, Genma, asked sarcastically. Naruto already hated this guy, but grinned when he saw a fellow glint in his eye, "Sure, I can deal with that…" Genma-sensei muttered aloud.
"Don't blow up the village this time," Kurenai deadpanned easily as Genma merely shrugged, "I mean it, Genma!"
"Mah, Mah, you worry too much," Genma waved off without much care put into it before looking back at the Genin, "You all have a lot to prepare for, even without you all taking the Chunin Exams this year, so don't fall behind." Genma explained before looking specifically at Naruto and vanishing.
Naruto grinned viciously at the challenge before chasing after the Jonin-sensei, waving a quick goodbye to the others as he followed the smell left behind in the wake and used his Shadow Clones to split up to help look. It wasn't long before he found the Jonin-sensei, casually waiting at Training Field 11. Naruto wasn't entirely sure what the difference between the Training Fields were, but unlike the forest with a lake that Training Field 7 had, this one was about the same but with no lake and a lot more plains area than the other one had.
Genma merely raised an eyebrow as Naruto walked up in front of him, "I see you can keep up, can you reach me, I wonder?" Genma's eyes grew a glint to them as Naruto jumped back from pure instinct before ducking below the Senbon, tiny little needles that could kill nearly instantly if thrown with that intent, flew past where his shoulders were before Naruto brought in more Shadow Clones, but stayed about where he was.
Both Naruto and Genma knew that Genma could kill him using something like this, but Naruto had a reason to wait. Naruto was walking into territory that Genma had time to set traps in, it would be suicide, or at least very painful, to just rush in without a plan. So, while the clones started setting off as many traps as they could, Naruto started going through hand signs of his own before getting to his current limit. He still didn't know what the next sign was, and this wasn't the place to try out signs that he wasn't sure of. It felt like the disc flattened and became sharper, thinner as well, but Naruto wasn't sure how to shape it further.
Honestly, it felt complete, but Naruto knew better than to think that. Something was missing, but until he found out what, there wasn't much he could do…so he didn't bother as he focused his chakra and took a deep breath, making sure to try and follow the chakra as it went through his lungs towards his hands before he disappeared from where he was.
Meanwhile, Genma merely raised an eyebrow at the clones before his danger senses screamed at him to move away. Jumping back, he watched the original Naruto and his clones appearing with Air bullets, but noticed that none fired it. Genma watched in curiosity, but had to use the substitution jutsu when he noticed that Naruto had gathered more Chakra to his mouth along with his clones before firing straight at him.
Genma grinned when he saw the gaping hole in the slab of wood before he wrapped his Raiton along the Senbon and sent them at the clones, popping quite a few of them before they started ducking below to dodge and splitting up to find him. Both parties knew better than to stand still as Genma dashed to stay on the move.
This might actually be fun.
Sakura hesitated. It wasn't really like her to do so, but she wasn't sure if she should be able to ask why they were about to do what they were going to do. Healing a fish was…stress-inducing and took plenty of burnt fish before Sakura and Hinata could somewhat get a handle on it, but that was nothing compared to what Kurenai-sensei was asking Sakura for.
Apparently, Kurenai-sensei had learned from Anko-sensei in the art of throwing someone over a cliff and asking them to latch on and survive for she was instructing Sakura to heal one of the medic-nin who would be guiding her through the process to not die. Why, Sakura didn't really know, but she couldn't afford to back down. Biting down that hesitation and doubt of her own skills, she looked towards the medic-nin and got out a first aid kit.
"With your Chakra." Kurenai-sensei reminded her unnecessarily as Sakura shook her head.
"We use a regular first aid kit first to make sure that bruises and minor scratches aren't wasting the Chakra, then move on to diagnostics to make sure on what needs to be healed and if we can even use Chakra for it, given bones would have to be put into place before you use any Healing Palm Techniques, and then you also have to make sure that the Chakra doesn't rebound. I know what I'm doing, Kurenai-sensei." Sakura recited effortlessly, having memorized the entirety of the "Med-Jutsu for Dummies (And Stubborn Jonin)" handbook within the first week of training…for the most part. She wasn't entirely perfect with remembering everything in the handbook, but could tell quite a lot of it to anyone else with how easily remembering stuff came to her.
"Really now? You've only been training for a week or two at most, I doubt you memorized absolutely everything, but, go on then, impress me." Kurenai-sensei said, not really sounding all too surprised despite her words, but Sakura merely ignored her for the moment as she tried to remember exactly how it was all written.
"Is she alright?" Sakura numbly heard the medic-nin ask after a while of her thinking.
"She's a ninja," Kurenai-sensei stated simply, as if that answered the question before looking back at Sakura, "Trying to recite the textbook isn't exactly going to calm your patients down, you know. It's your job to let your patient know exactly how well or bad the injury is and what you can do about it." she instructed as Sakura merely nodded and let the information soak in.
Nearly instantly afterwards, Sakura put up the most reassuring face that she could to the medic-nin, "I will be right with you here shortly. This injury isn't really that deep, and I think that all we really need is a bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball to wipe the blood away and a bandaid to put over the wound to make sure that it doesn't re-open." Sakura stated nicely with closed eyes, before opening them back up and pointedly ignoring the medic-nin's wide-eyed stare.
After a bit of awkward silence as Sakura went to work, the medic-nin eventually spoke up, gently grabbing Sakura's arm, "You're going a bit too rough with it, go a bit gentler," The medic-nin explained, moving Sakura's hand as to make the cotton ball go in small dabbing strokes on the medic-nin's skin, "Doing it this way makes it where the cotton doesn't try to stick to the skin given the rubbing alcohol. Sure, it takes longer, but it is a lot less painful for the patient. Given that ninjas are wont to freaking out from sudden pain, it might be better that way." Sakura merely nodded as the medic-nin kept still enough for her to finish up the cleaning before looking throughout the body.
"No poison, clean wound now and no extra bleeding…Do you have any other injuries that you can tell?" Sakura asked, mentally going through the checklist.
The medic-nin shared a look with Kurenai before shaking her head, "None that I know of, but my back does hurt a bit."
"I see, take your shirt off for me, please." Sakura asked as kindly as she could, getting up and walking behind the medic-nin to see a light burn. Nothing too dangerous, but brutal enough that a simple med-kit wasn't going to help out given it stretched across the entirety of the medic-nin's back, "This won't take too long, but I will have to use chakra for this one." Sakura lied, pushing down the anxiety at how brutal the burn looked despite not looking all too bad.
The skin looked marred with bits of the skin still sticking to the shirt that the medic-nin had taken off, yet the medic-nin didn't look too phased by it. Either numbness of nerves caused by them burning off, pain medicine, or it wasn't as bad as it looked. Sakura held back a gulp of nervousness as she slowly did her best to handle her chakra into the Water Style: Healing Waves jutsu. Adjust it to the person's chakra…take all the nature affinities out of the technique by imagining it as water flowing from oil…. Sakura thought to herself, remembering the scroll she had read near religiously after the team's Wave mission in order to make sure something like that never happened again. It took a bit of convincing her Chakra to work with her, mostly due to the memories, but she was eventually able to see the glowing green aura around her hands that signaled the Mystical Palm Jutsu was in effect.
The medic-nin sighed in relief as Sakura gently placed her palms on the burn spot, careful to not inject too much Chakra into the wound as she watched the green aura ease the aggravated nerves, muscles and skin in order to start repairing them. Sakura wasn't sure how long she spent healing, but found herself utterly exhausted after finishing up with it all. After merely a few pants, Sakura felt herself being pushed back into a sitting position, having fallen flat on her back beforehand, as Kurenai-sensei smiled at her.
"For your first time, that was really good, Sakura-chan. Congratulations for your first successful healing of a fellow ninja," Kurenai-sensei praised sincerely, but Sakura couldn't stop the forbidding feeling that the praise welled inside her, "We'll be doing this fairly often from her on out, but for now, we'll head back since it's been about 2 hours since we started." Sakura blinked at the time frame given.
"Two hours?" She couldn't help but ask as Kurenai smirked and nodded, "How has it already been that long? I thought we'd only been here for at most a half hour!"
"You took a long time actually healing the injury, you were a bit too careful with it, too hesitant with your Chakra. Then again, it made sure that you did it correctly this time; you did good, Sakura," Kurenai assured her before leading her back towards Training Field 7, "We'll just have to work on it more in order for you to be able to use it effectively on a battlefield."
"Alright! Thank you, Kurenai-sensei!"
Sasuke gritted his teeth as he jumped away from another fire jutsu being sent his way, doing his best to set up as many wire traps as he could before bouncing off the last one to set them off, dragging two trees down behind him and jumping to another tree away from Asuma-sensei. It didn't seem to stop anything as kunai darted past Sasuke fast enough that he had to use the Kawarimi no Jutsu in order to get away, the poor log being shattered to pieces with the kunai that pierced through it. Asuma gave him no time to waste as Sasuke got to work on setting more traps before jumping off another wire, this time towards Asuma.
"You sure you want to do that?" Asuma-sensei wasted no time jumping on the attack as Sasuke engaged in Taijutsu against him, being quickly overpowered as the two fell towards a pitfall trap Sasuke set up in the ten minutes allotted before the match began. Making sure to try and keep Asuma busy, he made an effort to try and break free for a while to try luring him far down enough before grabbing onto a wire he left there to break him off with some kunai before he used the Kawarimi no jutsu to get to safety. He couldn't hold back the annoyance when he saw Asuma merely stare at the spot with a smirk before tapping the safe spot to reveal the hole, "Nicely made, but the wire kinda made it easier to look out for. The land doesn't exactly blend in correctly if you know what you're looking for, but I can see this fooling a lesser ninja or someone distracted enough. You should probably learn a bit of Genjutsu to mess with the senses of someone, might help out with making it work. Now that we got trap making and Taijutsu out of the way… Let's teach you some Ninjutsu to even out your skillset." Asuma instructed.
Sasuke sighed, a bit disappointed the trap didn't work as he jumped down from the tree he was hiding on, watching Asuma closely, "So, what are you planning on teaching me, Asuma-sensei?"
Asuma smiled, "Well, given that Kakashi is probably planning on teaching you Raiton jutsu to cover your main weakness, I'll teach you some Fuuton jutsu in order to use alongside your Katon jutsu. One that'll probably help you the most would be the Fuuton: Daitoppa; although, that's a C rank jutsu and since you're not used to Fuuton jutsu, let's not start you out with that. First up, let's teach you Fuuton: Toppa, which is the basic version of it," Asuma instructed, slowly walking Sasuke through the signs, "For the Fuuton: Toppa, the signs are simply Dog, Horse, then Bird; however, this is definitely one you should try to get to signless as soon as you can as it would help you tremendously in learning not only the Fuuton: Daitoppa, but also with continuing to learn your Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu as you improve your control over your Chakra in your gut and core." Asuma said as he first slowly went through the signs, letting Sasuke watch how they worked before doing the jutsu, before simply doing it again signless with very little noticeable strain or loss of strength.
Sasuke smirked as he watched the destruction the jutsu caused, "I bet I can learn it before we have to head back to the others." He said a bit cockily, seeing as Asuma described it as easy and how it looked a lot like the Gōkakyū no jutsu.
Asuma merely mirrored the smirk, "I would love to see you try."
Naruto was left panting in exhaustion as he once again jumped to another tree to dodge the many senbon that rushed to attack both his previous location and his new one, forcing yet another jump before he was forced to merely grab and spin around the ledge and jump to the left of the previous tree. They both knew that Naruto would've been killed many…many times over if Genma truly wanted to do so, but still the chase kept going as Naruto did what he could to leave as many tripwires, paint buckets, ninja shuriken and senbon that he could in the few seconds of rest he could gain with each jump he did.
Nothing worked, and Genma couldn't just shut up and let that be, "What's wrong? What happened to that spirit you had!?" He taunted as he continued throwing his senbon, aiming for easy targets of the legs and arms that wouldn't do more than hurt. Naruto hated it, hated being unable to do anything as he gritted his teeth, trying to get enough time to use a shadow clone jutsu, but couldn't never keep ahead enough to do so. Any time he got somewhat far enough to attempt it, a senbon would be sent straight towards him to prevent him from doing so. He could hardly use his chakra either at this point, with Kurama screaming inside of him as he continued fighting against the senbon's paralyzing effects whenever they hit.
Naruto continued jumping away, doing his best to get the offending senbon out of his right leg as he did so before using the Kawarami no Jutsu to substitute out of the reach of some senbon, grabbing the log and using it to catch them before kicking off of it a mere second later. The second was all it took as Naruto soon had to use the jutsu again to get away from the Raiton jutsu that went his way.
Panting and out of ideas, Naruto knew that his hiding spot on the ground would soon be discovered as he went about trying his best to set up as many traps as possible in the shortest amount of time before incorporating some of the techniques he saw Sasuke using. He wasn't sure how to use Katon yet, but he merely started up the twenty handsigns he had learned for the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu: Air Bullet Barrage. He knew he didn't have much time, having first sending out some shadow clones to keep up some bait, even sending some around where he was to not make it too obvious and maybe bait into some of the traps while he continued working through each sign, concentrating as he made sure to pour as much chakra as he could into it.
Kakashi-sensei had warned him about trying out new signs, Naruto knew that, but he wouldn't win if he didn't try here to hopefully get through it, 'Kit, don't you try it. Wait,' Kurama's voice rang through Naruto's mind as he was tempted to make a twenty-first sign, 'You're already exhausted, and the backfire of this could be enough to make it hard for me to heal you. Don't do it. Just sit tight, an opening will present itself if you make it.' Kurama instructed instead as Naruto thought a moment before grinning, a plan hatching in his mind as he held onto the Dragon handsign, waiting for that moment where his clones would lead him right overhead.
It took a while as the memories from the clones would pop into Naruto's mind periodically, with Genma looking more bored and annoyed with each one that was popped, but Naruto stayed patient, willing his chakra as stable as he could, only starting the jutsu the moment that Genma appeared in his vision. Genma was already on alert the moment Naruto disappeared, surrounded as he was with trees before jumping away as the air bullets started flying at him.
Then a weird mist started to form around the area, confusing Genma for a moment before he looked up to a sight that his nose couldn't help but bleed out at, "Oh, Genma-san~"
Naruto grinned as he watched the clones he created with the jutsu flaunt themselves at a now-fainting Genma with the Henge jutsu variant that Honoke taught him, "YATTA!" He couldn't help but cheer, giving a peace sign as he ran out of the area, not wanting to be subjected to his wrath later on…that and to share in the laughter that Kurama was engaged in.
'T-That worked!? Kami, are all the ninjas in your village down that bad!?' Was but one of the many things that Kurama asked throughout his roaring laughter. With his 'trainer' down cold and nothing else to do, Naruto merely went back to the main training field, hopeful that maybe one of his clones or Kurama saw what signs Genma used for that Raiton jutsu earlier.
While he wasn't able to get a good look at it before while in combat, Naruto was able to somewhat understand what it was when looking back on it. It was some weird enhancement for the senbon, leading to them piercing through the wood of the Kawarimi no Jutsu and would have electrocuted him if they hit him. Naruto honestly wanted to do that, it looked awesome! He also couldn't help but feel that he understood a bit more on why his style and Sasuke's were connected the way they were. It wasn't so they could be two different styles, but more so they could flow into the other one better.
It felt weird at first, the idea of letting his clones soak up the attention while he sat away from the battlefield, watching, setting up traps and planning, but Naruto couldn't help but understand why it worked as well as it did. He was able to outsmart a jonin, even if by sheer underestimation and a cheeky jutsu that the jonin wasn't expecting Naruto to use, but that didn't change the mere fact that it worked to begin with. Either way, that senbon technique could be crucial to Naruto, the mere idea of adding it either to the traps or using it to lure enemies into said traps, or even to escape a bad situation. Add that it didn't look exclusive to senbon?
Naruto couldn't help grinning even wider at the mere concept of that jutsu in his repertoire. He needed to branch out, that much was certain at how little his Fuuton jutsu was working against Genma and how he honestly wished he had Sasuke's Gōkakyū no Jutsu when he went about attacking in order to use the trees to his advantage in a way of the smoke masking the use of henge or being able to burn the senbon away. Either way…he had a goal now.
So while Naruto was walking towards Training Field 7, he marched proud, with the full intention of heading to the library later to see if there was any jutsus he could learn that could help out, as well as the knowledge that he had improved, even if it was mostly in his endurance….and with Kurama's help. A lot of it…. Whatever, those were just details!
Another slash through the throat was all it took as Kakashi walked into the base, doing his best to will the flashbacks away as he slipped back into that cold facade he kept up in Anbu. The ability to remove oneself from the equation, to leave pure logic and emotionless decisions in its wake, was both a blessing and a curse; a curse that Kakashi couldn't help but return to as if a drug he couldn't escape.
He didn't want to, he really didn't, but the memories hit too hard too fast. Rin…god where did he even go wrong!? He did everything he could to try and change after his actions led to Obito's death, to him sacrificing himself for Kakashi and going so far as to give his own eye to Kakashi…the cursed eye didn't dare let Kakashi forget it all, despite how much he wished for it.
Another flash of Rin's face had Kakashi struggling to breathe for a moment until he forced the bile down. He still had a mission to do; this base wasn't going to destroy itself, nor was the information going to collect itself. He took a deep breath and willed the memories to the back of his mind again. Repress, repress and repress once more.
He went on the move again, silently running as he leapt around the forest towards the next encampment, looking for the mountain base that Orochimaru was supposedly operating out of. The information was sparse, barely anything other than some light rumors from the Land of Rice Fields that something weird was going on that was causing people to go missing at a higher rate than usual.
It could be nothing, The Third wasn't even tempted to send anyone to check given how little information it was and how few ninja remained after the Nine Tails attack years ago, but Kakashi begged long and hard for a mission out of the village, so here he was. He was ever grateful that he was able to convince The Third that he could do it alone and that it could very well be a true rumor or something like that.
Kakashi honestly didn't care much about the mission itself as he went through another bandit in his way. He had to get stronger, his skills were lacking and awful again. So, given that this mission is long term and that Kakashi didn't have to be back for a few weeks…it was time to train.
The Third Hokage sighed as he looked outside the window towards the village below him, wondering just where he had messed up over the years. The Chunin Exams were scheduled to begin soon, just within the next week at the latest and yet it felt like they were less prepared than ever before. Danzo hadn't taken kindly to the fact that Team 7 wasn't nominated to participate, trying to go over Hiruzen's head any way he could to make it happen almost desperately.
Hiruzen knew that something was wrong, the rumors of Suna having a conflict regarding their Kazekage and the presiding Daimyo being widespread knowledge throughout the Great Ninja Villages. The mere fact that the Sand Daimyo was even giving Konohagakure, despite how nice it was for their struggling reconstruction fees, probably was merely giving Suna more reasons to wage war against Konoha…if it had the yen to even afford it all, and yet Hiruzen would have had to be stupid to ignore how many Suna nin were participating in the Chunin exams this year nor how they were being the host to the Kazekage's son and the rumored holder of the One Tailed Beast.
He wasn't stupid enough to not see the signs, but he was stupid enough to have pushed the planning of this to his attendants while he focused on the repairs to the village. Danzo knew what he was doing, and Hiruzen could see the weaving trails of betrayal whenever their eyes met. They were supposed to have been gone, away from this blasted game long ago when Minato took up the mantle…and yet Minato's reign was the shortest the village had ever seen. So much potential, gone in but a bit over a year after the Nine Tails… after Kurama had broken free and nearly destroyed Konohagakure.
Hiruzen didn't have the ability to fix this corrupted world, Naruto and the rest of this new generation were the only ones that could by bringing the ideas of the young with the guidance of the old. Minato should be the one watching his son grow up…but life stated otherwise. Instead Hiruzen was the one to have to find a way to halt the flood that was no doubt leaking all around.
Kurama might not have had tact, but Hiruzen knew that the words it spoke were true when all was said and done. Hiruzen had messed up a lot over the years, there was no denying that and he knew that whatever happened now would be when it all came together and fell apart. He sighed as he watched the everyday moments of the citizens below. The people needed the Hokage to lead them, like it or not, and Hiruzen wasn't one to back away from a job needing to be done. He looked back to the accursed hat and the innocent-looking sheet of paper on the desk that held more weight than the whole village ever could.
It had taken time to arrive, and Jiraya had yet to return himself after Choza and Tenzo returned in a rush to report all that happened over in Amegakure, but Jiraya's old pupil had kept true to his word about wishing to host the Chunin Exams alongside Konoha. The paper featured that they wished to host the first exam as a gesture towards peace and the development of the villages' shared friendship.
Hiruzen might have been old and wishing that people were good…but he still couldn't help but wonder about what caused the sudden change in Amegakure. Even Choza and Tenzo were nervous with the power displayed over there and, although neither directly stated it, didn't seem to believe Konoha would survive an attack from them.
Hiruzen sighed once again, feeling the pressure of the paper weigh down on him yet again. Such a powerful message in just a tiny piece of paper and yet it made Hiruzen feel like the world was crumbling down around him. Either way…he could do nothing more than accept it for the one thing that Hiruzen…no, the Village of Konohagakure, needed the most was simply that: peace and well-forged alliances with the world around it. Konoha couldn't handle an attack from Amegakure and both parties knew it, they both knew the other gained more from the alliance just from the protection both gave to each other despite being so far away.
Hiruzen hated this situation, but merely brought out his pen all the same, hoping that he could shove Choza into office as soon as possible or grab someone to get Tsunade to do it, it just wasn't soon enough at this point. It didn't even help that Choza had reported no sightings of the mysterious Genjutsu user that had infiltrated the village yet, and Hiruzen had no idea what to do about it. He was running out of time. A knock at the door cut his musings short. Hiruzen once again put his hat on and sat down in the chair proper before turning the paper upside down, having a good idea of who was here.
"Please, come in," He spoke, watching as Danzo walked into the room, bowing his head as he did so.
"Hokage-san, how are you today?" Danzo asked as his one uncovered eye seemed to scan the room before focusing on the lone sheet of paper on the desk.
"I am doing fine, just reflecting on our decisions and how they brought us to this point," Hiruzen answered with a small smile as he gently moved the paper away, "The generation after us should have been here to replace us, yet here we still are."
"Are you getting senile, Old Friend?" Danzo joked with a chuckle, "I never knew age graced you with such luxuries."
"Maybe one day I will, until then I'm still here. What were you requiring?" Hiruzen looked at his friend, knowing that the conversation below their jokes concealed was nowhere near as pleasant. The joke of him going senile could have meant him asking if Hiruzen would be giving him the Hokage seat after Hiruzen's jab at Danzo about their decisions bringing them here. It was getting exhausting keeping up with all the hidden meanings yet such was his job.
Danzo took the hint, clearing his throat and the small emotion from his face, so the Hokage did the same, "For the Chunin Exams-"
The Third Hokage didn't need to hear more to know where Danzo was going with it, "Kakashi doesn't believe his team ready if that is what you are referring to."
"Yet his team contains not only the Uchiha, but the Jinchuriki. What does that say about Konoha's strength if they are not front and center?"
"And why should we show our hand so soon?" The Third Hokage countered with merely a raised eyebrow, watching the shocked expression take over Danzo's face, "Those two are our trump cards, especially with the fact that all three of them are unique in their own ways. Haruno Sakura was the first to break free of the Genjutsu and managed to break the rest of her classroom out of it including a Jonin that had fallen under. Even our own Genjutsu Mistress was unable to do that, meaning that Haruno's talent in Genjutsu is already there despite how early on in her training. Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal Uchiha to Konohagakure and has an excellent understanding of his Katon jutsu and the Taijutsu style he is working on mastering, not to mention a mind for tactics that almost rivals the Nara clan. Uzumaki Naruto is the holder of the Nine Tails and possesses a downright absurd level of chakra and mind for tactics that he hones alongside his team. On top of that, his application of the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the fact he is working to complete a jutsu he does not currently have all the signs for at a rapid rate speaks wonders to his potential."
"Then why not showcase that? Why not have their strength be center stage to show that we are still the leading village? To keep the peace between the villages?" Danzo interjected, "If you praise their skills so much, then why allow Kakashi to hold them back?"
"Because, while they are strong, they are still inexperienced. Kakashi does not currently feel they are strong enough because their only combat experience was here in the village when they noticed the Genjutsu user that infiltrated the village and there was very little fighting even then."
"And yet you have them listed for a month of D ranked missions here in the ledger?"
"Exactly, but not the D rank missions you are probably thinking of," The Third Hokage couldn't help but smile at the confused look that Danzo gave, "Their D ranks would be to help them train under other Jonins that can help expand their repertoire of jutsus and skills. Naruto will train under Shironai Genma in order to improve his use of Seals as well as expand the amount of elements he can utilize in battle; Sasuke will train under Asuma, working on improving his trap making and quick judgements in battle as well as expanding the amount of elements he can utilize in battle like Naruto; Sakura will continue her training under Kurenai to train both of them up, learning to make better use of her talent in Genjutsu and teaching Kurenai to get out of her stagnant state that she currently resides in. On top of that, Sakura would be continuing her work in Medical Ninjutsu in order to better support her squad and learn to utilize her Suiton and Doton elements. This will give them time to improve even further than they are right now and take the next Chunin exams by storm to where all three essentially dominate it and showcase the power you wish for them to demonstrate, as well as give them time to be in more combat related situations outside of mere sparring matches."
Danzo had to take a moment to digest that, probably unable to see many flaws in the arguments presented. After a moment, he merely sighed, "The world's in a dangerous state right now, Hiruzen. How do you know it would even last long enough for them to make it that far? We're low on Jonin that are able to fight and the damage to the Academy made an entire generation of Shinobi crippled in terms of said experience. If we do not show we are strong now, then what's stopping other nations from taking advantage of that?"
The Third Hokage's smile faded slightly at that, "I don't know. All I know is that as of right now, the Sensei of Team Seven currently does not deem his team ready for the Chunin Exams. As you are well aware, the sensei of the team makes the decision on if they are ready and the Hokage approves or denies that claim based on what he sees."
"Then what do you see!?" Danzo couldn't help but snap, "You stated yourself that they are brimming with potential and well skill in the now! Why sit on that potential!?"
The Third Hokage paused for a moment to allow Danzo to calm down a bit before continuing, "Because that's all I see right now. Naruto's main technique is useful, but flawed and unfinished to where he's unable to truly make use of the speed that the technique provides. Sasuke has a great mind, but cannot focus on too many variables at once and is unable to adapt well to an opponent that sees through his strategies. Sakura is still recovering from the Genjutsu and barely has the stamina to truly compete as of right now, having to constantly strengthen her body in order to catch up while expanding on her arsenal of Genjutsu techniques. Each one of them are brimming with potential, but I would be unable to even see any of them become Chunin unless they were to improve in the aspects they are training to overcome. The Chunin Exam is in mere weeks, many delegates are already here and ready to go wherever the first exam will be held, and yet they are not ready in the slightest. If I sent Team Seven out there as they are….they would simply get killed." The Third Hokage spoke honestly, allowing the information to sit in the air.
Danzo had many emotions pass by his face, the most prevalent being frustration before he merely sighed again, "I see…" The Third Hokage could understand the defeated tone of the statement, and the frustration that came alongside it.
He indeed mirrored that frustration. Team Seven had the most potential of teams seen in years and yet were unfit to even participate with the lack of combat experience and the general lack of proper techniques they could utilize. Kakashi was still teaching them many things, and they had plenty left to implement before either Kakashi or himself could ever see them as ready to participate in the Chunin Exams, "I understand, dear friend. Is there anything else you require?"
"...No sir. I will be on my way." Danzo said, bowing his head slightly before walking out the office.
AN: Uh...Whoops? Sorry for keeping you waiting for well over a year now, my bad! I'm hoping this one doesn't glitch out the formatting when I upload it (Trust me, I WILL be keeping an eye on it...) but I admit the biggest reason why I didn't finish this up was I was just genuinely unsure of how I wanted the final part of this chapter to go. I wanted to give a good logical argument to both sides, why Team 7 should and shouldn't be included, and also to point out the main difference from canon outside of the many of examples. Canon Team Seven has real combat experience at this point. Fighting a Ninjutsu user, especially an S rank one, is way different from a Genjutsu one and the fact that they hardly physically fought during that mission is greatly different than when canon Naruto fought alongside Sasuke to beat Haku and then challenged Zabuza. It makes a world of difference, especially when Genjutsu users are so rare in the world, hence why Hiruzen doesn't view them ready.
Also, if you're curious, yes I use both the Third Hokage as well as Hiruzen in order to showcase which personality is in command at that point. They are the same person, it's just a way I use to separate the two.
Here's hoping this doesn't break and I know I'll have the next chapter out before next year since I think I know where I want to go with this. Once again, sorry for the wait, hope this chapter doesn't break in formatting for my own personal sanity, and I'll see you guys in chapter 15.
-Char Mossirren