Chapter 20: Test of Faith
Walking onto the practice field next to the academy Naruto knew, that the majority of his classmates were going to do horrendous and only the children that came from clans would shine.
While the final preparations were made up by the teachers Naruto decide he would warm up and stretch a bit as did Hinata who had decided not to wear her Kimono but her favorite white jacket and navy pants. Just in case Iruka-sensei complained.
While Hinata was doing some stretches while in a split, Naruto said with a grin while looking over at her. "You and your flexibility Hime."
Giggling Hinata asked, "Jealous Naruto-kun?"
"Hmm just slightly, though from Ino-san's pout I think she is extremely jealous?" Naruto said while turning to Ino who had taken to hanging out with the couple.
"Hmph" Ino said, "Well it's hard not to be jealous when you have amazing skills and a boyfriend who loves you so much."
It was clearly obvious Ino wasn't the only one who was jealous, ever since the Ino told the other girls that Hinata was Naruto's girlfriend they went into an uproar. Their fantasies of being held by that hunk of a boy was now ruined, due to that early growth spurt Naruto was taller and more in shape than the other boys being almost a head taller than the second tallest boy in the class. But ever since that growth spurt he had grown very little compared to the other kids his age, this was most likely due to the fact that his hormones had been thoroughly spent from that gigantic growth spurt and now Naruto was still recovering.
Giggling Hinata stood up from her split and patted Ino on the shoulder saying, "Don't worry I believe you can become a powerful Kunoicihi, and one day find somebody great to love you."
"Hmph I'm holding you to that Hinata," then whispering to her. "Cause if what you say about me finding a great boyfriend isn't true, then I'm coming after your man." Finishing with a snigger. Hinata just shook her head at her new friend's statement.
It was at this moment that Naruto decided to do a few pushups to get his blood flowing just as he was about to go down, he felt a weight suddenly on his back. Turning his head around he noticed Hinata was now sitting on his back. Looking at her with a raised eyebrow, Hinata replied. "Hey don't look at me like that you're the one who's always complaining how normal pushups are too easy."
The three swore they heard a loud scream of "YOSH" from inside the school but they put it off as somebody being overexcited about field day.
Naruto said in a semi-haughty tone while starting to do his pushups, "well it actually makes no difference Hina-hime, you being in such fit and perfect condition does very little to make this any harder."
Ino sighed at how corny yet romantic Naruto was.
But before Ino could fantasize any more, once again the 3 heard a loud "YOSH," turning to each other they just gave each other a shrug.
Just as Naruto was about to do another pushup he saw out of the corner of his eye something beige rolling through the air, but before he could take a clear look at what it was it landed on his back driving him nearly into the ground.
Hinata had nearly fallen off Naruto's back but was just able to stick on with the help of some chakra, turning to Naruto's assailant Hinata said, "ANKO-CHAN!"
"Standing triumphantly on Naruto's back Anko looked at Hinata and said, "In the flesh princess!"
"Anko-chan…" Naruto said struggling because Anko was purposely pushing down with chakra quite hard.
"So Naru-kun I heard that you said the princess wasn't enough for you how is this," Anko said as she increase the weight she placed on his back.
Naruto had completely given up on trying to do a push up, now he was just trying not to face plant into the dirt below. Finally having enough he said, "Fine, fine you win Anko-chan."
Jumping off his back she asked, "Was there ever any doubt." Anko waited for Hinata to stand up off Naruto's back than she reached down and pulled Naruto straight up so his back was facing her, immediately she craned her neck around his head and licked her favorite red whisker a few times. "Hmmm you taste better when you're sweating slightly Naru-kun."
Ino was shocked at the display in front of her this woman had just jumped out of no-where and was pretty much raping Naruto's face, and Hinata was doing nothing about it. "What is going on," Ino thought.
"Anko-chan what are you doing here, I thought u were playing with Hanabi-chan?" Hinata asked.
Not releasing Naruto from her hug she replied, "Well I was going to hang out with your sister, but I got a special assignment today from the Hokage."
"This assignment did not include trying to kill me Anko-chan." A voice said from behind them they all turned around and there the aged Hokage with his robes flowing in all their glory. "You didn't have to take off so fast did you? I'm not as young as I used to be."
"A ha ha ha" Anko said slightly embarrassed, "Sorry old man just got a bit excited about the mission."
The Hokage just shook his head he remembered the moment back at his office when he gave Anko the mission report after reading it, she ran straight at him and jumped past him through the open window behind him and dashed toward the academy. That was a minute ago.
Naruto Hinata and Ino bowed to the Hokage, than Naruto asked. "What is your mission Anko-chan?"
"Oh," Anko said. "Quite simple actually just have to accompany and protect the Hokage while he spectates this year's class's field day."
Naruto eyebrow rose at this, turning to the Hokage he asked. "Hokage-sama is this really necessary, I mean don't get me wrong I enjoy Anko's presence quite a bit. But you are inside your own village and there are quite a bunch of high level teachers in this academy, why would you need an escort?"
The old Hokage just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh never can be too safe, and since Anko was asking if there were any missions for her today. I just figured sure why not and bought her along." The real reason was that the Hokage wanted to help Anko in her quest to find a new home, somewhere preferably not the slums. As the Hokage he just couldn't give her a large sum of money and he figured most likely the banks would overcharge her on interest if she took out a loan.
So he did the next best thing in giving her simple but high ranking missions, this sometimes led to Anko's displeasure because she felt her skills could be used for more important missions. But with this current mission she had taken, the Hokage had received no complainants from her most likely because it somehow involved hanging out with Naruto and Hinata.
This current mission would usually be a D-rank mission since it was a relatively simple escort mission within Konoha. But because she was escorting a Kage that instantly made it a B-A rank mission which led to a significantly increase in pay.
Sensing the event was about to start Sarutobi motioned Naruto to come over so they could chat privately. Placing a hand on the boys shoulder he said, "Naruto you have grown strong over the years. Far stronger than any of the others here, but what concerns me is that I fear you will grow to be too ambitious and arrogant due to your power. Even so I still want you to show some of your true skills because you carry not only my legacy because you're my apprentice but also the legacy of the Hyuga's who have taken you in, the Senju and the rest of your heritage. But know this Naruto-kun if you ever start swaying toward the evil side of the path of the Shinobi I will put you down personally, I cannot have it weigh on my conscious that another one of my students went rogue. Do you understand me Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi finished with a completely serious look to get his point across.
Dropping one to one knee to show his conviction to the Hokage Naruto said, "I understand Hokage-sama, and you need not worry about me falling to the dark side. For if that day were to come I will personally take myself out rather than shame my family and you."
Sarutobi's face changed his face back to the one of the carrying and loving grandfather figure he placed a hand on Naruto's head and said, "Thank you Naruto for confirming that you are still loyal, though sometimes I wonder where you're true loyalties actually lie."
Looking up to the old man from his kneeling position Naruto questioned, "Hokage-sama are you implying I'm a double agent?"
Sarutobi chuckled slightly and said, "I'm sorry my boy, I can see how my words might be interpreted that way. Forgive me but what I meant was that you seem to have very little loyalty to the village itself but the majority of it is split toward me, the Hyuga clan and the ones you love."
Still confused though slightly relieved Naruto asked, "Is that not how it's supposed to be Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi grinned and said, "Yes it is most of the time but for one who one day might become Hokage and strives to bring peace, you need to be loyal to not only the ones you love but all those around you regardless of how they see you."
Bowing his head in understand Naruto answered, "I understand Hokage-sama, and I will try my best to take after your example."
Sarutobi nodded his head and said, "Excellent Naruto-kun, now I believe the event is going to start." Turning and walking away from the kneeling Naruto Sarutobi stopped turned his head slightly and said to Naruto with a mischievous grin, "Give them hell my boy."
While Naruto was speaking with the Hokage the girls had struck up their own conversation.
"Hinata who the hell is she, and why did you let her basically rape your boyfriend's face." Ino asked in shock.
Bending over slightly so she was eye level with Ino, Anko said. "Well let me tell you little girl, when one person loves another person very much. They sometimes do things to the other person that they might not actually want on the outside, but on the inside however they definitely do."
Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly and said, "I think you just described rape….."
Waving her hand dismissively Anko said, "Eh it's not rape when it's consensual princess."
Hinata scoffed at her and said, "There's no such thing as consensual rape Anko!"
Anko hmphed and said while rolling her eyes, "Fine you want to know Blondie, the truth is me and princess here are…
She was cut off when Hinata put her hand over her mouth, which prompted Anko to lick the palm of her hand with that snake like tongue of hers. Hinata would have removed her hand feeling the wet appendage sloshing the palm of her hand, but she knew the consequences of telling Ino about the CRA.
Giving Anko a stern glare that meant business, Anko stopped licking and cross her arms in annoyance. Hinata slowly removed her hand incase Anko wanted to say something just to spite her but to her relief she didn't.
Taking out her handkerchief she wiped her hand clean of Anko's saliva and said to Ino, "Ino-san we would normally tell you the reasoning behind Anko's actions today…. But because of your need to uphold the title of gossip queen of Konoha, we cannot due to the fact that this information might put Naruto-kun in some degree of danger… especially from fan-girls" she hissed the last part quietly toward Anko.
Ino pout and said, "Yeah, yeah you just try and keep your secrets from me. But I don't have the title gossip queen for no reason I'll find out eventually you two."
Just at that moment Naruto returned from his chat with the Hokage, "Ladies the events about to start, Anko-chan don't you have somewhere to go."
Holding in her desire to glomp Naruto, she just winked at him and walked toward the Hokage who was standing on a podium near the racetrack giving a speech to the students that were gathering.
Smiling and offering his arm to Hinata who took it happily and they began to walk toward the crowd with Ino in tow.
When they had reached the crowd the Hokage had already finished his introductory speech and all his jazz about the Will of fire. At this moment Iruka stepped up to the microphone and read off a list of name that just happened to include
Inuzuka, Kiba
"random name blah blah Uchiha, Sasuke"
"random student # 4 blah blah Uzumaki-Senju, Naruto"
As Naruto walked onto the field Kiba came up next to him and raised his fist in front of him, Naruto smiled and bumped his fist against Kiba's and said "good luck Kiba-san."
With a cocky grin he said, "You're the one who's going to need the luck Naruto, You got to impress your two girlfriends over there."
Smiling Naruto said, "Of course. But I hope you do well too so you could possibly attract the attention of some of these fan-girls away from me, so Hinata-chan or Anko-chan don't have to stress and do it themselves.
Kiba craned his neck slightly to look behind Naruto where there was a group of girls staring at Naruto like he was some sort or prize to be won, one of them even had whiskers on her face Kiba clearly remembered she didn't yesterday.
"That's an offer I can't refuse, with all the training my clan does with our Ninken partners I will definitely be fastest." Kiba said with a confident smile while waving at the girls who just ignored him.
A couple of lanes down Sasuke was cracking his knuckles and glaring at Naruto mentally he said to himself, "I'll beat you here dobe to prove that father was wrong when he wanted you to be the heir."
Just than they were instructed to assume the crouching position by Iruka, most of the runners knew what to do with the exception of a few. Naruto glanced around the crowd as a few teachers walked up and down the lanes to help fix some of the messier forms.
Naruto saw Hinata with her hands clasped together in front of her chest silently cheering for him, Anko who was staring at him with a smirk and the Hokage who seemed like was watching all the runners but Naruto knew that he was focusing on him specifically it was all but confirmed when he saw the slightest of nods, he turned his line of sight back toward the race track and just when Iruka shot the starting gun Naruto heard the third Hokage in his mind say, "Give them hell."
Kurama from inside Naruto's mind snickered slightly and pumped enough chakra into Naruto's limbs that it gave him an absurd burst of speed but small enough that nobody could detect it.
Immediately Naruto took off like a rocket down and around the race track. When he had looped around and crossed the finishing line, he took another glance at the crowd and they just all stood their stunned their jaws fallen to the floor.
Looking at them with a confused look Naruto asked, "What?"
Iruka shakily raised his hand and pointed at the rest of the runners where the leaders just passed the quarter way mark.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders and said, "And here I thought we were training to be ninja's." Walking over to Hinata he produced a beautiful pink carnation from his sleeve. "I saw this while running so I stopped and picked it for you. Maybe we can press it together later?" Hinata began blushing so hard that she made the pink carnation look pale. She couldn't believe Naruto was putting her on the spot like this in front of so many people, but that look of jealousy on those dammed fan girls's face was well worth it.
And speaking of fan girls the Uchiha's fan base had severely diminished, the traitors had all jumped off the Sasuke ship and to Hinata's dismay were now glazing at Naruto while drooling.
The Hokage was snickering at the sight of the young couple, but not only that but he had actually seen Naruto stop and dash a good twenty meters to pick up two of them before finishing his run. And he was sure the only other people who saw it was probably Anko and his hidden Anbu. Though seeing the boy run only bought back some memories of his past, "Minato he's just like you, especially when it comes to being a hopeless romantic." Sarutobi said mentally
Anko who was standing next to Hokage had a boastful grin on her face suddenly she felt something crawl up her leg, only because of her years of training with snakes did she not freak out and scream like most other females would have. Turning her sight downward she noticed a tree root crawling up her leg with another carnation attached to it she took it and slipped it inside her pocket to so she could enjoy it later. Usually she wasn't a flower type of girl, but this was a gift from her Naruto-kun so how could she deny it.
Back on the field Kiba had finished just slightly ahead of an angry looking Sasuke. (Look Kiba might not be the sharpest pencil when it comes to intelligence, but I'm pretty sure with his clan's attunement to dogs and such he would be pretty damn fast. Also I confirmed it in the data book Kiba is faster than Sasuke in book 1.)
To no surprise to anybody Shikamaru was the last to finish a full 30 seconds behind the second slowest.
Kiba walked over the Naruto with a surprised yet proud grin, "Dude that was awesome, you destroyed…. No YOU OBLIERATED the rest of us."
"Like you did to the Uchiha?" Naruto asked with a smirk
"Hah damn right I did; now maybe some of those fan girls will see how awesome I am." Kiba said while putting his hands on his hips than he said outloud, "The Kiba Inuzuka fan club. Has a nice ring to it don't you agree?"
Hinata just giggled and Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
Sasuke on the other hand was sulking his was toward Iruka and demanded to see the finishing times. Iruka sighed at the Uchiha and showed him the clipboard that he had recorded the times on. Seeing the numbers he gripped the clipboard with all his might.
1.Uzumaki-Senju, Naruto: 10.13 seconds
2.Inuzaka Kiba: 52.62 seconds
3. Uchiha Sasuke: 53.89 seconds
"Whoever was keeping tracking of the stopwatch should be fired," Sasuke said in an annoyed tone.
"Why is that Sasuke?" Iruka asked keeping his calm.
"Because there's no way that dog boy was faster than me I clearly beat him." Sasuke complained.
Iruka just shook his head while taking the clipboard back from Sasuke, "The stopwatches are hooked too chakra threads, so they are pretty much perfect down to the hundredth of a second Sasuke.
Sasuke huffed away as he thought to himself, "Just you wait I'll show you mutt and that dammed Uzumaki."
Next it was the girls turn to run, Naruto gave Hinata a good luck hug as she walked over to line up next to Ino. As Iruka shot the starting gun the girls took off around the track, as proof of her training for the last 3 years Hinata was able to finish a good 20 seconds before any of the other girls finishing with a time of 51.78 seconds.
She jogged over to Naruto with a proud expression but was cut off from Naruto by a fuming Anko who appeared in front of her, Anko grabbed both of Hinata's arms and starting spinning Hinata around like a merry-go-around. This caused everybody to look over at the scene as Hinata yelled.
"ANKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO!"
While still rotating Anko roared out, "HOW DARE YOU ALMOST LOSE TO THE DOG BOY, I THINK YOU NEED SOME REEDUCATION WITH MY SUMMONINGS AGAIN!"
With all the momentum Anko hurled Hinata into the air, bitting her thumb she ran through the hands signs for the summoning Jutsu intent on summoning a giant snake to swallow the falling Hinata. But she was stopped when Sarutobi bought a hand and gripped her shoulder causing Anko to grimaced slightly, luckily Naruto was able to catch the falling Hinata before she hit the ground, who was clearly too dizzy to land properly herself.
Naruto glared at Anko as he held Hinata in his arms bridal style, "Anko you didn't have to go so far did you? Hinata-hime could have been hurt!"
"Yes," the Hokage said sternly. "Don't you think you overreacted Anko-chan?"
Putting her hands on her hips Anko narrowed her eyes at Hinata who standing but was now leaning on Naruto for support and said, "When I train somebody I expect results princess, so the next few events I don't want you to disappoint me alright!"
Hinata stared back at Anko for a second than a fire ignited in her eyes to the shock of Naruto, he still wasn't used to the way the way the two's relationship was like to each other brimming with determination Hinata said, "Hai I will try my best!" Naruto and Sarutobi sweat dropped.
The next event was accuracy with a kunai, there were 5 straw targets shaped like humans side by side with two bull eyes on each of them, one on the head and one on the heart, they were asked to throw the kunai from a range of 15 meters.
Kiba went and was able to land 5 kunai's into the bull's eye area, clearly happy at his record
Sasuke went next and purposely bumped into's shoulder Kiba slightly and said to him with a smirk, "Figures a mutt like you would only barely hit 5 marks."
Kiba snarled slightly at him and said with a growl, "Well we all clearly know who's faster."
Still with his smirk Sasuke said, "Well that's because your clan is known for running with their tails between their legs, you get all the practice you need."
Just as Kiba was about to raise a fist to punch the Uchiha in the face, he felt a hand grab his arm turning around he saw Naruto holding onto it. Shaking his head Naruto said, "Kiba-san it's not worth it. You don't want to get into trouble especially with the company that we have."
Kiba look around and realized he forgot that not only were their multiple instructors watching them, but even the Hokage had a stern eye on them. Kiba shuddered slightly he knew he would have been in for some punishment if he started a fight. Kiba nodded at Naruto and allowed him to steer him back to where the rest of the students were waiting for their turn.
Sasuke took his turn to throw the kunais, throwing them Iruka said, "Good job Sasuke 8 out of 10 that's currently the best for today.
He turned back toward the crowd a directed an hmph at Kiba. His fan-girls immediately broke out in cheering, squealing and applauding at the sight of their great Uchiha besting the dog boy. One girl stood out above all due to her higher pitched cheering; she had pink hair and a red dress. Naruto narrowed his eyes because she looked awful familiar to that distasteful woman at the council meeting.
But before he could compare the two anymore his name was called to go next, standing at the 15 meter line he thought back to the training he had done with Itachi. Itachi had made him master throw kunai from every way possible whether it be laying on the floor face down or face up to hanging upside down from a tree by one leg, he remembered one particular quote that Itachi had told him. "Why throw a whole box of kunai's at an enemy, when one is enough.
Aiming down the range Naruto drew back and released the kunai's one after another hitting all 10 bulls eye dead on, allowing him-self a short moment of satisfaction.
He thought to himself "Itachi-sensei would be proud."
Iruka and the Hokage smiled at him than Iruka said, "Excellent work Naruto that's a perfect record."
This led to the Sasuke fan-club once again diminishing slightly and Naruto fan-club greatly increasing.
Though they were greatly upset when, He turned around and walked back over to Hinata who was clapping for him daintily when he reached in front of her she said, "That was very good Naruto-kun."
He took one of her hands and rubbed the back slightly, "Thank you Hime, I expect you to do the same too."
She returned his smile and walked past him for her turn. Taking one moment to concentrate she threw 9 of her Kunai's into the bulls-eyes, this wasn't even warm-up for Hinata. Much like how Itachi trained Naruto to accurately throw kunai's, Anko did the same thing but in a much more sadistic fashion. Starting with having snakes chasing her while she had to aim at targets that fired kunai's back at her unless she was able to hit the targets to stop them, to suspending her over a raging river while she had to hit moving targets before a fire burnt through the rope holding her above the river.
Staring at the last kunai in her hand for a moment, she turned back to Anko who was grinning at her. Hinata grinned back and licked the Kunai's blade and sent it at the last dummy completely missing the bulls-eye over the heart. Instead hitting the target much lower.
Iruka shook his head and said, "Close Hinata but that's only 9 out of 10 bulls eyes." Not understanding how she could hit 9 perfect bulls-eyes than miss the last one by such a margin.
Suddenly Iruka heard snickering turning his head he saw Anko laughing at him she said, "Well Iruka technically she did hit a bulls eye."
Iruka gave her a confused look and asked, "What are you talking about Anko?"
Still snickering Anko said, "Why don't you imagine where she threw that kunai on the dummy to where she would have thrown it onto your body."
The rest of the class and the Hokage all looked back at the dummy, and immediately the boys with the exception of Naruto and the Hokage shot their hands to their male specific organs even the teachers flinched slightly at Hinata's target.
Iruka gulped than cleared his throat slightly and said, "Well regardless that wasn't a marked target so she still only hit 9 out of 10."
Hinata who had walked over to them just shrugged her shoulders and said, "it's fine Anko-chan I don't really mind, cause at least it got the message across."
Anko just winked at Hinata and patted her on the back, "Yeah, yeah princess taking up after your sensei I see."
Hinata just blushed slightly and said, "Just a little maybe."
The next and final event was some basic taijutsu sparing, most of the fights were just brawls and what looked like street fights. And no offense to Hinata's skill but even her fight was a bit…. Lacking would be the word to use. But in no way was it Hinata's fault it was basically entirely her opponents fault, which so happened to be one of Naruto's fan girls. Who saw it as a chance to prove to Naruto that she was the one that should have his attention and not that Hyuga chick.
So the moment Iruka started the match the fan-girl charged at Hinata hoping she could quickly put her down and then announce her love to Naruto, who would shower her with love and flowers. She swung her fist blindly hopefully to knock Hinata out in one punch.
Hinata easily saw it coming and moved to counter her,
Hinata started chanting in her mind as she performed her counter, "Turn body to dodge strike, catch offending appendage, lock fist in place. Twist slightly counterclockwise to induce pain, straight up palm on underarm, use own momentum to flip and throw out of ring."
"Attack countered… Pride thoroughly damaged, ability to steal my boyfriend… never had a chance. Fear instilled into other fan-girls… achieved."
(For every one of the squealers theirs a juken strike to the throat, sorry couldn't help myself)
While Naruto had found the fight to be dull, Sasuke was greatly impressed by the girl. She was nothing like the other shallow girls in the class, what happened next made Sasuke maliciously smile inside
Iruka called out, "Next fight Uzumaki-Senju, Naruto VS Uchiha Sasuke!"
This was his chance to impress the Hyuga girl and put that dam Naruto in his place, stepping into the ring he said out loud, "Hey dobe Itachi isn't here to protect you this time, so get ready to get put in your place."
This led to some cheers of approval from his fan-girls watching the match. They then waited for Naruto to fire his own comment back but it never came.
Sasuke watched Naruto as he just stared back at him emotionlessly in a relaxed stance, oh how he hated how much it reminded him of how Itachi was like when he challenged him to a fight.
Hearing Iruka call for the match to start, Sasuke threw another jab at him hoping to irritate the Uzumaki, "Yo dobe I know you weak but are you deaf too? But that doesn't matter since we all know the outcome of this match anyway." Finishing with a smirk.
Sasuke glared at Naruto the effect he wanted didn't occur, Naruto just continue to stare back at occasionally blinking.
It was the complete opposite of what Sasuke wanted to happen, he was the one who was getting irritated now and Naruto on the other hand was calm as ever. Sasuke yelled out slowly losing his cool,
"THE FIGHT BEGAN YOU IDIOT ARE YOU GOING TO ATTACK OR NOT ARE YOU SCARED OR SOMETHING!"
His response was the same emotionless stare and posture, at this point Sasuke wanted to rip his hair out "why isn't this dobe attacking me!" he thought to himself, the Uchiha taijutsu style was heavily based on reading and learning the opponents style of fighting so it could be used against them. But because Naruto hadn't attacked him there wasn't much Sasuke could do either.
There was a couple of reason's Naruto didn't make the first move, one being he knew about the Uchiha style of fighting and two he wanted to see what Sasuke could actually do. Sasuke talked big game and Naruto wanted to see if he could back it up. "Not very likely" Naruto thought, "He's losing his cool too easily."
Getting fed up with Naruto's impassiveness, Sasuke rushed at him deciding he could beat him with the normal academy taijutsu style. All of his rage had blinded him from Naruto's next move, which was at the final moment a simple twist to the side than sticking his foot out slightly to trip the rushing Uchiha who couldn't stop because it was too late and tripped over Naruto's foot causing him to stumble and fall outside the ring.
"Winner Uzumaki-Senju Naruto" Iruka announced, as a wave of boos and awws washed over the crowd who were expecting an action packed fight. Especially after that intense stare off and all the trash talking done by the Uchiha.
Naruto walked over to the Uchiha and extended a hand to help him up, this was quickly knocked away by the fuming Uchiha who scrambled to his feet.
And got up into Naruto's face and said, "You cheating bastard, you weren't even using a proper taijutsu style."
Naruto cocked his head slightly and said, "And you could say the same about the most of the other fighters, I beat you fair and square so I don't know what you're complaining about Uchiha."
"Had you used a proper taijutsu style than I would have easily destroyed you but you had to resort to some underhanded tricks to beat me." Sasuke said as he shoved Naruto in the chest.
"That's enough Sasuke stand down," Iruka said from behind him hoping to quell any fighting before it actually broke out.
Turning to Iruka clearly displeased Sasuke said, "I demand a rematch with this dobe, he only beat me by using cheap tricks."
Iruka was going to say something but the Hokage intervened, "And what do you mean cheap tricks Sasuke? Because I watched the fight and I saw nothing even coming close to what you are implying, we are ninja not samurai in our line of work no move is a cheap or underhanded because this is how we ninja fight. As a ninja it doesn't matter how dirty your trick is or how unfair that skill is all that matters is you win or complete the mission."
Even with the Hokage's reasoning Sasuke wasn't pleased and he let out a pff
The Hokage saw this act of disrespect so he added on, "If you don't like the ideas of using dirty tricks than maybe you should drop out of the ninja academy and enroll to learn the art of the samurai, I'm sure your clan has connections in the land of iron who could arrange that."
Sasuke clenched his fist in anger and said begrudgingly, "It's okay Hokage-sama… I understand."
"Good, I'm glad you do." The Hokage said as he turned to Anko. "Anko-chan I think I have had enough excitement for one day since the events are over, Allow me to give my congratulations to the students than we can leave."
Anko responded with a nod. As she waited for the Hokage to give his another speech about him being old and the will of fire and that jazz again. Before he left the Hokage once again privately spoke to Naruto,
"You did quite well today Naruto-kun."
"Thank you for the compliments Hokage-sama, though I don't understand what the point of firing me up was for. I'm pretty sure you knew I could have easily won," Naruto responded.
The Hokage just chuckled slight and said, "Just wanted to help with your fan-girl clubs size a bit."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Hokage and said in a dark tone, "Hokage….-sama…"
Sarutobi was now snickering at the minuscule amounts of killing intent Naruto was letting out, Quickly he turned to Anko and nodded his head and shunshined away, Anko getting the message just waved goodbye to Naruto and Hinata and left in a swirl of leaves.
Since it was pretty much the end of the school day they were let out early so they could rest up, as Naruto and Hinata were about to leave they were stopped by another swirl of leaves.
This time it was Itachi who appeared, this caught Sasuke's attention so he walked nearby to overhear their conversation.
"Itachi-san what are you doing here," Hinata asked as she held onto her boyfriend's arm.
Reaching inside his vest he took out a scroll, "There has been a change in the mission regarding Naruto Lady Hinata, for the next month we are to double our meetings in training due to for some unforeseen issues that will arise at a later date."
Naruto was slightly shocked at this, he was told by Itachi that when he entered the academy they would only meet up 3 times a week to train. This was done so he could have time to work on his school work, but now he had to do twice that time, Naruto knew something was up but he chose not to call Itachi out.
Naruto just nodded at Itachi and asked, "When do we start?"
Itachi answered "Now." As he handed Naruto the scroll with the instructions of the mission and where to go than he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Sasuke who had overheard everything was furious, Naruto was just getting more training while Itachi offered him nothing. Sasuke than began to sulk back to the Uchiha compound looking to demand somebody to train him to become stronger.
Yes Itachi Uchiha was a harsh trainer, but this was just absurd over the month of double training Itachi was ten times as hard and 10 times as demanding. Well maybe it had something to do with the fact that there were now 10 times more Naruto's, He had learned the kage bunshin no jutsu the day after Itachi told him about the change in schedule.
While sitting in class that day Iruka was discussing the 3 most important jutsus that they would learn at the academy, which were the kawarimi, henge, and a basic bunshin.
It was at this time Naruto was pulled into his mind by the Hashirama, Approaching the giant cage he noticed that Kurama and Hashirama were having an intense match of shogi with gigantic pieces. On Hashirama side there were giant wooden pieces and on Kurama's side that were giant pieces made from demonic chakra.
Walking on the water over to them, Naruto noting that Kurama seemed to have on a pair of giant rectangular reading glasses, turned to Hashirama and asked, "Shodaime-sama you called?"
Not taking his eyes off the board he said, "Hmm, yeah I just remembered that you are required to perform the basic bunshin to graduate… just wanted to inform you that wouldn't be able to perform it."
"What?" Naruto questioned
"Yeah because you are a pureblood Uzumaki like my wife than there is no way for you to perform the basic bunshin, your clan just have too much chakra to properly make one and I'm pretty sure Kurama's giant reserves don't make that any easier." Hashirama said as he moved one of his pieces.
Tilting his head slightly Naruto asked, "Than what should you have me do Shodaime-sama?"
"Talk to the old monkey about it….. DAMN YOU FOX." Hashirama said as Kurama skillfully took the piece he just moved.
"Thank you for informing me Shodaime-sama I will ask Iruka-sensei to allow me to talk to Hokage-sama, Kurama if you would be so kind." Naruto asked as Kurama lifted his head slightly off his arms and puffed his cheeks and blew Naruto into the darkness.
Naruto blinked and he was once again back outside in the real world, he waited for Iruka to finish his explanation than raised his hand. Iruka called on him and asked.
"Is there a problem Naruto?"
Nodding his head Naruto said, "I just wanted to inform you due to a special problem I have, I cannot properly perform the basic bunshin, so I wanted your permission to be excused to the Hokage's office so I could ask the Hokage for an alternative and a legit note of reasoning."
Iruka looked over at Naruto and detected no sense of lying or malicious intent so he just nodded and allowed Naruto to go.
Returning 30 minutes later he provided Iruka with a scroll written by the Hokage and another scroll that held a copy of how to use the Kage bunshin that could only be opened by Naruto.
Later that day when he first tried it with Itachi he was easily able to summon over a hundred clones that were immediately put to work by Itachi on new Ninjutsu and scrolls of information.
Back to the current time it was the final day of the month and Naruto was wondering would their practices stay the way they were or go back to a normal schedule. Naruto hoped it was the latter, he was so backed up on scrolls Itachi had given him to study. Even Hitomi commented on how he looked like the Hokage with all the paperwork on the table he had to make in Hinata's room.
"Itachi-sensei are we going back to the normal schedule next week?" Naruto asked as he paused his practice to take a drink of water.
Itachi who was sitting on top of a large bounder staring out into the village didn't reply to him, Naruto worried about his brother-figured walked over to him and asked a bit louder this time, "Itachi-sensei are you okay?"
Itachi then said to Naruto and with a sigh, "Oh sorry Naruto. Just a lot on my mind at the moment, did you ask me something?"
Relieved but still slightly concerned Naruto asked again, "Oh I just wanted to know if we are going to stick with this schedule after the month is up?"
"Hmm we will see Naruto this will be discussed at a later date." Itachi said in a slightly depressed tone. Then he turned and faced Naruto and said with a slight smile, "You've done really well Naruto, better than anybody else I know. And I'm sure that you will surpass even me soon if you haven't already… Since it's been a long month why don't you take day rest of the day off and entertain your princess's."
Naruto blushed slightly than he said, "Thank you for the compliments Itachi-sensei but all my work is attributed to my great teachers, whether it be you, Kakashi-sensei, grandpa or Hokage-sama. I'm only this strong because of the faith all of you put in me."
Itachi stared at Naruto seriously and said, "Just promise me you won't ever let the pride and power get to your head."
Naruto nodded and said, "I won't Itachi-sensei… I promise."
Itachi gave him one of his rare smiles and just waved him off, Giving his sensei a short bow Naruto turned and left the training ground heading to the dango shop to find Anko and pick up some sweets for Hinata.
Seeing Naruto leave the training ground, Itachi tilted his head up to the sky and said "Shisui we tried didn't we."
Later that night
Itachi stood over the bodies of his parents as Sasuke stood at the door to their room in tears and panting heavily, Sasuke yelled out.
"WHY! WHY DID YOU KILL THEM?"
Itachi just glared back at Sasuke with that impassive face the same one that Naruto used on him every time they fought than slowly and in a monotone voice Itachi replied, "Why did I do this? Simple really little brother I want power and this clan is weak and pathetic and would have never gave me what I desired, my foolish brother….. if you want to kill me….. curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life…. Run away…. Run away and cling to your pitiful life."
Sasuke would have ran away but he once again let his anger blind him, his hatred for that bastard Naruto an Itachi and that dammed unemotional mask they both used. Immediately Sasuke grabbed a kunai and rushed at Itachi. With intent to kill his older brother but before he could even thrust his kunai into Itachi's body, Itachi had grabbed Sasuke by the neck and lifted him up off the ground squeezing it slightly so he would drop the kunai.
Itachi bought Sasuke up to eye level and said to him, "You are weak and you know why you are weak… because you lack hatred." Whispering the last part to Sasuke Itachi enabled his Mangekyo Sharingan and said, "Tsukuyomi!"
After the genjutsu was over Itachi just dropped Sasuke to the floor that landed with a thump. Itachi turned to get one last look at his parents, when suddenly he heard a voice.
"Itachi-sensei why?"
Itachi immediately wheeled around in shock! There was Naruto standing by the partially opened door.
"No," Itachi thought this can't be happening; Itachi tried to school his emotions but was only able to stammer out. "Why are you here Naruto?"
Naruto who was also slightly in shock at the bodies before him said, "I felt there was something wrong with you today so I followed you after I left the training ground, I saw you slaughter your entire clan why would you do that Itachi?"
Finally reigning in his emotions Itachi said in his monotone voice, "If you saw me kill my entire clan than you also know why I did it, I'm sure you overheard my conversation with Sasuke."
"Power." Naruto faintly whispered out.
"Yes, by slaughtering them I am able to test out my skills on those who reckon themselves as one of the strongest in Konoha, afterwards I am able to leave this wretched city to seek those who can offer me power and fame." Itachi answered.
"Then why did you teach me to never embrace power and never to allow my arrogance to control me. You are a hypocrite Itachi!" Naruto yelled.
Itachi gave him a smirk and said, "Maybe I never wanted you to become powerful like me, for all you know everything I taught you was a ruse. Did you really believe that you can find strength without embracing the darker side of the Shinobi lifestyle."
Naruto then said with a few tears flowing form his eyes, "I did Itachi… I really did."
"Then you are a fool Naruto, but at least you were a fool to the end. Unlike Sasuke you are not my brother so I will have no remorse in what I must do next." Itachi said while clenching and raising his tanto in his hand.
Naruto took the Katana Itachi gave him from his shoulder and held it horizontally in front of him with both his hands. He stared at the katana as a few tears fell on it. Than Naruto tilted his head back up toward Itachi and said, "Then do it Sensei… strike me down." With that Naruto dropped the katana to the floor.
Itachi's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly said, "As you wish." Itachi charged at Naruto raising his tanto above his head than bringing it down to Naruto's neck….
5 hours later
Itachi had run for 5 hours straight toward the border of the mist in order meet up with his new partner, he decided he would stop by a small shop on the side of the road to take a moment to rest ordering a small snack and cup of tea he looked down to the side where he had set down his blood stained tanto.
He softly whispered to himself, "Naruto…"
HOLY SHIT GIANT CHAPTER!
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