"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"SCREAMING/YELLING/SHOUTING"
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast talking"
"Tailed Beast Thinking"
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 15: We need to prepare
[+]
*Previously*
|Arena|
Hayate raised his hand. "Twelfth and final match: Begin!"
Dosu quickly put distance between him and Gaara then tossed two shuriken at Suna genin. The shuriken were immediately blocked as sand rushed out of the gourd on Gaara's back and defended him. The sand then immediately shot towards Dosu who rolled out of the way, avoiding the strike.
Dosu ran forward at Gaara and attempted to punch him in the face, but the sand blocked the fist. The device on Dosu's arm proceeded to release sound waves which were amplified and focused directly at Gaara's ears.
Gaara's eyes widened immediately as he started to scream in pain. The sound entered his ears and created a painful ringing noise. He clutched his ears tightly.
[+]
|Balconies|
"What the…?" Kankuro's eyes were as wide as Gaara's. "How is he doing that?"
"Gaara's being hurt…" Temari realized in panic.
'Orochimaru… Why is one of your brats trying to defeat Gaara? He should know that Gaara is needed in the finals.' Baki, the Suna jonin, questioned with narrowed eyes.
'What is that fool trying to do?' The sound jonin (Orochimaru) fumed mentally.
[+]
(Team 7)
"Well, I guess that the sand can't block the sound." Sasuke noted.
"… Wow…" Hinata mumbled in disbelief. "That's the first time he's been hurt?"
"Kurama says it isn't over." Naruto commented, his eyes focused on Gaara. "He's taking damage, yes, but that does not mean he's over."
[+]
*Chapter 15 starts here*
"The noise! Make it stop! Now!" A voice shouted in Gaara's head.
'Yes mother.' Gaara responded to the voice, the maniac jinchuriki motioned for his sand to chase after Dosu. The bandaged boy evaded the first wave but was smacked backwards by the second wave, Dosu recovered just in time to notice another wave of hovering over him.
"It's over." Came the emotionless voice of Gaara as he commanded the sand to fall.
'No… I refuse to give up. I WON'T GIVE UP UNTIL I'M RECOGNIZED.' Dosu yelled mentally.
With that the Oto Genin jumped out of the way as the sand hit.
"Sand Shuriken!"
Dosu dodged every drizzle of sand and closed in, once close enough he landed a fist on the sand surrounding Gaara and released another sound wave which was amplified and directly to his opponent's ears.
"AHHHGH!" The red head started to scream again, clutching his hands against his ears once more.
'See me now, Orochimaru-sama?' Dosu thought, his eyes filled with passion for his master. 'I am no mere pawn! I am Dosu Kinuta!'
Meanwhile the Snake Sannin was busy formulating ways he would bisect the boy if he survived this encounter.
Sadly Dosu won't be around to experience them.
"End this. End this noise. KILL HIM!" The voice in Gaara's head screamed.
'Yes… Yes mother…' Gaara responded. "Sand Coffin!"
Faster than anyone could blink Dosu was wrapped in a cocoon of sand. 'Wait WH-'
Gaara clenched his fist, "Sand Burial!"
BANG!
Several of the Genin watching the fight turned green while some began to throw up as a fountain of blood and gore rose halfway to the ceiling.
"W-winner: G-gaara S-sabaku of Sunagakure!" Hayate shakily announced.
Gaara's sand flowed back into its gourd, pulling the cork back into place as Gaara made his way back to his team. Everyone cleared the way for the psycho not wanting to be his next victim.
'Now everyone will be suspicious of him and by extension us.' Baki frowned mentally, before the exams begun he had told the Jinchuriki to control his blood thirst until the final exam but clearly Gaara didn't listen.
Kakashi was watching the Sound Jonin secretly, the latter didn't even show any sign of emotion especially after Dosu's unlikely demise which wasn't normal for a jonin-sensei. The Sharingan user wasn't the only one watching; Hiruzen had been observing the Jonin ever since the Preliminary and judging by the slight emotional slipups during the fights he was almost certain that was his rogue student.
The Sound Jonin in question then vanished in a shunshin, Hiruzen nodded at Kakashi who then went after the target not before saying a quick 'Be right back' to his students.
[+]
|Outside the Tower|
Orochimaru smiled grimly as Kakashi appeared before him, "So you saw through my disguise."
"You didn't react to the death of your student." Kakashi answered plainly, "Which kind of sensei does that?" ANBU agents now surrounded the two of them.
"I have no longer have use of those failures, plus they can always be replaced." Orochimaru dropped his disguise seeing that it had been compromised.
"What do you want Orochimaru?" The Silver-haired slipped into a battle stance, "Why have you returned?" Kakashi pressed on.
The Sannin snickered, "Oh you know what I want and as for the second… I want to see the Leaf burn."
"Sorry to disappoint you but you aren't going to succeed." Kakashi said, putting his right hand down then consuming it with crackling electricity. "Even if you are one of the great Sannin, your ambitions shall never be fulfilled, ANBU with me!" Kakashi and the surrounding ANBU leaped simultaneously at Orochimaru, the snake master cackled and lashed out with a sword hidden in his throat. Several unfortunate ANBU agents were bisected in half before the Sannin leapt up and flashed through hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" A huge snake was summoned into existence and began to thrash around, taking out numerous ANBU. Kakashi charged with a Chidori and gouged out the snake's throat in a spray of blood. The snake fell in a great thump and exploded into a cloud of smoke. When the smoke had dissipated Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn! Quickly secure the exits he can't have gone far!" Kakashi yelled. The remaining ANBU scattered to find Orochimaru.
[+]
|Tower|
"I would like to congratulate the twelve of you (cough) (cough) for advancing to the next round!" Hayate told the Genin in front of him.
The twelve winners, Neji Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, Rock Lee, Eito Kishida, Himari Kishida, Atsushi Kishida, Hinata Hyuga, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Temari Sabaku, and Gaara Sabaku, stood next to each other in the above order.
"The third exam will be held exactly one month from today and will be held like a tournament. Each of you will participate in single battles, fighting one-on-one until the tournament ends." Hayate explained.
"…So it's a tournament? Does that mean only one of us becomes Chunin?" Shikamaru asked.
"No." Hayate shook his head. "Winning matches doesn't determine who will become a Chunin. A group of judges, including the present Kages, will be observing the matches and making insight on who deserves to be promoted based on the fights. Winning is not a requirement for promotion. However… ahem…" The proctor proceeded to cough loudly before continuing. "… winning the matches let you fight in more matches. The more you fight the more chances you have to impress the judges and earn your promotion."
"So what are we supposed to do until the finals?" Atsushi asked.
"I would suggest training." Hayate advised. Anko walked down the stairs carrying a bag, once the snake mistress was by his side he continued. "(cough) in this bag, I have twelve different numbers. One at a time, I'd like you all to come forward and draw numbers. Once all numbers (cough) have been drawn, we will know who is going to fight who."
One by one, the Genin walked forward and picked out a number from the bag. They then read off their number.
"I have two." Hinata stated.
"Eight." Sasuke stated.
"Twelve!" Atsushi read.
"I am number seven!" Lee declared.
"Eleven!" Himari said.
"Three." Shikamaru read.
"Nine." Naruto said with Kurama roaring in laughter.
"Five." Eito stated.
"Six." Sakura read.
"One." Neji read as he gave Hinata a glare.
"Four." Temari said.
"Ten." Gaara read.
Hayate nodded after receiving numbers and taking note of it on paper. He then presented the paper.
"Then, I present you all the match-ups for the third exam of the Chunin Exams." He said.
Senary Finals
Match 1: Neji Hyuga vs. Hinata Hyuga.
Match 2: Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari Sabaku
Match 3: Eito Kishida vs. Sakura Haruno
Match 4: Rock Lee vs. Sasuke Uchiha
Match 5: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Gaara Sabaku
Match 6: Himari Kishida vs. Atsushi Kishida
Ternary Finals
Match 7: M1 Winner vs. M2 Winner
Match 8: M3 Winner vs. M4 Winner
Match 9: M5 Winner vs. M6 Winner
Final
Match 10: M7 Winner vs. M8 Winner vs. M9 Winner
[+]
'Neji-niisan.' Hinata thought sadly as she saw the pleased grin that Neji wore.
"Troublesome, I have to fight another girl," Shikamaru muttered. Unfortunately for him, Temari heard it and sent him a dark glare.
'Why are Kishidans immune to Genjutsu!' Sakura wailed mentally.
Lee and Sasuke looked at each other then grinned excited at the prospect of testing their abilities against each other.
Naruto gulped loudly as Gaara gave him a maniacal grin.
'This may be a problem.' Himari and Atsushi both thought, since they both had the same abilities.
"Those are the matches for the Third Exam." Hayate repeated. "I would (cough) advice that you train well this month. You are now all dismissed."
[+]
An hour later
|Ichiraku's|
Kakashi decided to take his team out to celebrate but not everyone was in a celebrative mood.
Hinata had to fight against her cousin.
Naruto had to fight a psychopathic sandman.
All in a month's time.
Long story short the celebration wasn't celebrative at all and the news that Kakashi was taking Sasuke away for some training didn't raise Naruto's spirits until Atsushi offered to ask Areku if he can train them both.
[+]
Half an hour later
|Hyuga Estate|
Hinata arrived at the Hyuga compound and walked in quietly to avoid being noticed, unfortunately her father Hiashi was standing just by the entrance of the main house presumably waiting for her.
"Hinata, you finally back." He noted, "And I heard you made it to the finals."
"Y-yes, father I-I have." Hinata replied, giving a quick bow to her father.
"Then good job." He acknowledged.
"Nani?"
"I said good job on making it to the finals." Hiashi repeated.
"Um... thank you father."
"I also heard that you will be facing Neji in the finals, is that true?"
"Yes father, we are scheduled to fight each other in the first match."
"Very well then, be in the dojo tomorrow no later than 8 AM. I will personally be supervising your training."
That comment caused Hinata's head to shoot upwards towards her father in surprise. In the past few years, before becoming a Genin, Hinata had been instructed to train with other members of the main branch while Hiashi spent most of his time training her sister Hanabi.
"We have plenty of work to cover if you are to beat Neji and I'm going to do my part to make sure you that you do." Hiashi said firmly.
"Understood!"
"Good. We have a busy day tomorrow so you should probably get an early sleep today." Hiashi stated.
Hinata nodded and started to walk off, just as she was about to make a turn she was called.
"Yes?"
"I'm proud of you." Hinata blinked then gained a smile that would given Naruto's a run for its money.
[+]
At the same time
|Kishida Compound|
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun but I can't train you." Areku said sadly.
Naruto's face fell, "But why?"
"Being Ari-kun's uncle and guardian I'm required to focus solely on training him for the finals and no one else." The Jonin said before returning his attention to some documents he was working on.
Atsushi patted the Uzumaki on the back, "May be Hokage-sama can assign-"
"No." Naruto cut him off, "I will find someone else."
The Kishida frowned slightly, "You still angry about your parents right?"
"Kinda." Naruto meekly said.
"Don't worry I'm sure you will find someone." The green-haired teen comforted.
"I hope so."
"Actually I can help with that."
Before Naruto could ask what Kurama meant he doubled over in pain, "ARRGH"
"Naruto?" Atsushi yelled gaining his uncle's attention.
"Huh? What's happening?" Areku tried to grab the boy but was repelled by the demonic chakra which exploded out of the Uzumaki.
'Kurama?'
"Don't fight it kit." The Biju replied.
The next thing Naruto knew the chakra receded.
"You okay?" Atsushi asked.
"Yeah." Naruto answered slowly getting back up, "So any ideas on what just happened?"
Areku raised a brow, "Shouldn't we be asking you that question?"
"I'm not-" Naruto paused as he suddenly felt strange again, the two Kishida watched as the blonde glowed blue then red and purple before red chakra poured out from his seal. The chakra settled on the ground before materializing into a nine-tailed chibi fox.
They stared at the fox as the fox stared back at them.
"Yo." Kurama greeted giving a paw like salute.
Both Kishida fainted.
"Ok… I wasn't expecting that." Kurama said once they hit the floor.
"Kurama?" Naruto began, "How… how are you outside the seal?"
"Oh I used a Biju clone." Kurama answered before glancing round the room, "Man! These guys sure love the color green."
"Biju Clone?" Naruto asked ignoring the second part.
"It's the Biju's version of Shadow Clone Jutsu." The chibi fox began, "Using my chakra I create a clone of myself then transfer my consciousness into said clone creating a Biju clone."
"So your real body is still in the seal?"
"Pretty much." Kurama replied before his stomach rumbled, "So got any good food around here?"
Naruto just stared at the fox.
[+]
Some minutes later
"Ugh."
"My head."
The Genin and Jonin Kishida groaned as they woke up from their short nap.
"Areku-san." Atsushi began, "Why are we lying on the floor?"
"I… I don't know," Areku answered just as confused as his nephew, "The last thing I remember was a blonde boy and a multi-tailed chibi fox." His voice became lower as he remembered what happened.
"Blonde boy?"
"Multi-tailed fox?"
"NARUTO." They both yelled in unison about to run out in search of said boy when….
"BWAHAHAHA… Oh Man! That's rich!" Was heard from the Kitchen.
'Huh?' The two thought before heading towards that section.
[+]
Naruto and Kurama were seated on the dining table (The latter was seating on top of said table) munching on some chicken legs with the former retelling stories of his infamous pranks while the latter roared in laughter.
This was the scene that the two Kishida walked in on.
"Fascinating." Areku muttered before walking over to the miniature fox, the Kishida brought out a measuring tape from thin air and began to measure Kurama's Height, Length, width and fang size.
"Umm Areku-san." Naruto began sweat dropping a little, "I'm sure Kurama didn't come out to receive a medical checkup."
"You're telling me!" Kurama said as the Jonin measured his hind legs.
"Interesting." Areku continued ignoring the two.
Atsushi sighed, "Don't worry he will snap out of it… eventually." He said before turning to the blond, "So how is he out again?"
"Well according to Furball here." Kurama growled at the nickname but Naruto ignored him, "He used a version of the Shadow clone jutsu which he calls the Biju clone then transferred his consciousness into said clone and voila here he is."
"Incredible." Areku muttered once again completely oblivious to the world around him while jotting notes in his notepad which the three were sure wasn't there a second ago.
"Okay… but why is he out?" Atsushi then asked.
"Because I'm gonna train the kit for his match." Kurama answered.
That snapped the Jonin out of whatever trance he was in.
"And how are you going to do that?" Areku asked dropping the notepad, "If someone sees you it could start quite a fright." He revealed.
"He does have a point." Naruto added.
Kurama smirked and was immediately covered by a bubbling red chakra. The chakra grew in height gaining limbs and a humanoid shape, once done it receded revealing a crimson haired man about 6ft tall, tanned skin and exotic red eyes wearing a red and black leather jacket with the kanji for 'Nine' imprinted on the back, brown jeans and finally black boots.
"So what do you think?" Kurama asked in a perfectly human tone.
Areku and Atsushi stared at the red haired then themselves before fainting.
"…I had a feeling that will happen." Kurama mumbled while Naruto grabbed a marker.
[+]
Two days later
|A local Inn|
Kin laid down on her room's bed and just stared at the ceiling, she had been discharged yesterday and according to the nurse no one visited her…
Except for one Atsushi Kishida.
Not Orochimaru, not Kabuto not even her surviving teammate Zaku but someone who wasn't connected to her in anyway. The Nurse explained that the boy wanted to talk to her but couldn't due to her state of consciousness at the time, if Kin remembered correctly the medical personnel informed her that the Kishida checked up on her at least five different times but when Kin asked why…
She didn't get an answer.
[+]
Five days later (Three weeks until the finals)
In Training Ground 11 Naruto was seated against the bark of a tree resting up his throat muscles after attempting a fire jutsu, Kurama has been training the Uzumaki in the use of his newly discovered fire affinity which Naruto had acquired from the nine-tailed fox, unfortunately since fire was weak against water it didn't come easy for the Uzumaki as he could only manage a puff of smoke but Naruto was determined to get it right.
Naruto's mornings were spent with Gai and Lee as the two helped the Uzumaki with his speed, Kurama had warned that if he wasn't fast enough to evade his opponent's sand then he is as good as dead. Atsushi decided to join in with the blonde since his taijutsu also needed some work but the main reason was to prevent the two taijutsu maniacs from corrupting the blonde teenager with their flames of youth.
So Naruto's training schedule was…
07:00 – 10:30 = Training with Gai
10:30 – 11:30 = Training Break
11:30 – 14:00 = Fire manipulation with Kurama
15:00 – 16:00 = Ramen Break with his teammates
16:00 – 18:30 = Wind and Water manipulation with Shadow Clones
18:30 – 07:00 = Rest/Sleep
Atsushi's own was quite similar except that Fire manipulation was switched with Earth while the evenings were Kenjutsu practice, since his opponent made use of a bo-staff Areku began teaching him on how to use a Wakizashi.
Hinata's training was also similar but with no Ninjutsu, just purely Jyuken and chakra control exercises. Hiashi was impressed by his daughter's rapid improvement especially in the use of a watered down version Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms and Palm Rotation, he was also surprised to know that Hinata was modifying the Gentle Fist to suit her Primary Water Affinity.
Their Gentle Fist style is suited for somebody who is grounded and firm. That is why most Hyuga clan members have earth as their primary element, unfortunately Hinata had water as her primary and earth as her secondary so she was more flexible and freer than the rest of her clan members. Because of this fact Hiashi realized that Hinata would never be a true master of the Gentle fist even if she is able to learn it, so after a few minutes of pondering he decided to help her renovate the Gentle Fist a bit. [1]
Sasuke and Kakashi were at a secret location, the latter was helping the former with his speed, use of his Sharingan and lightning affinity.
[+]
One Week Later (2 weeks until the Finals)
|Hokage Tower|
Hiruzen Sarutobi was busy going through the never ending piles of paperwork on top his desk when he was interrupted by the opening of his office window. A tall man with white spiky hair jumped in, he wore a green kimono, matching green pants and a red haori. He also had a large scroll attached to his back and on his head was a forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil' written on it.
"Paperwork is a pain, right sensei?" The man asked casually, a small grin on his face.
"Yes it is, Jiraiya-kun." Hiruzen answered sourly before gaining a smile at the end, "I see you got my letter."
Jiraiya nodded, "After reading it I headed here as fast as I could," He paused, "So Orochimaru is back eh?"
The Third nodded sadly, "He is trying to mark the Uchiha but I'm sure he's planning something big."
"Well according to my informants, the teme is involved with the new village: Otogakure, but I'm not certain by how much," The Sannin answered, "He could possibly be the damn leader of the village."
Hiruzen groaned at hearing that, "I knew something was fishy when that village requested entrance for the exams… And it also explains why he disguised himself as one of their Jonin-sensei."
"Why not interrogate one of their ninjas?"
"We can't because they are all gone."
"Gone? You mean they disappeared without trace?"
"That or they are probably hiding somewhere but our ninja are on the lookout."
"You don't think that he's planning an Invasion… do you?" Jiraiya asked.
"I'm certain." Hiruzen answered, "Jiraiya due to recent events I hereby dismiss you from your duties outside the village until otherwise."
"You want me to dig up as much information as possible on what Snake-teme is planning." Jiraiya assumed.
"That is correct." The Sarutobi confirmed, "And once this is all over I will introduce you to a special someone."
Jiraiya smiled a bit, "I will be looking forward to it." With that the Toad sage left through the window.
Once he was gone, the Hokage's smile dropped a bit, 'I need to fix my relationship with Naruto.' He thought, "Neko summon Naruto Uzumaki."
[+]
|Training Ground 11|
"Fire Style: Fox Fire Missile!" Naruto spat out a fox shaped fireball which promptly incinerated a training dummy.
"Good power and control." Kurama complimented, the Fox was in his human form supervising over the Uzumaki, "Keep that up and you will be ready for the flame bombs."
"I can't wait-" He was cut off by an ANBU appearing in a puff of smoke.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage wishes to see you." A cat masking wearing ANBU announced, the Uzumaki and disguised fox shared a look before the former sighed.
"I'll be there, Neko-san." The ANBU nodded before vanishing in a shunshin.
"Well we are done for today." Kurama said before he seemingly vanished in a red shunshin while in reality he dissipated into red chakra and returned to the seal.
Naruto sighed then gathered his stuff before heading over to the tower.
[+]
Some Time Later
Naruto stood before the Hokage's door contemplating whether to knock or not. This happened to be the first time that he was actually visiting the old man after finding out the identities of his parents a few months ago.
With a sigh he opened the door, "You wanted to see me Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked after stepping in.
"Ah yes Naruto-kun, please take a seat we have much to talk about." Hiruzen replied then made a hand motion sending his ANBU away.
"Not all of them left." Kurama pointed out.
"There's an ANBU behind the bookcase." Naruto notified. Hiruzen's eyes widened before he vanished in a burst of speed and yanked the hidden ANBU out into the open and threw him to the ground.
"ROOT" Hiruzen muttered as he saw the mask. He called back his ANBU to have him taken away to Ibiki and Inoichi. "You've grown stronger Naruto, I didn't even sense him." Hiruzen praised.
"I have been training, Hokage-sama." Naruto answered, the 'Hokage-sama' part made the senior frown.
"Naruto what's wrong? You haven't visited me in quite some time now and you usually call me Jiji."
The Uzumaki took a deep breath and said, "I know who my parents are."
Hiruzen's eyes widened before he sighed and activated the privacy seals, "So you found out, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I read up that only an Uzumaki can be the container of the Kyubi no Kitsune which the latter confirmed saying that I'm the third one to have contained him." Hiruzen nodded already knowing that fact, he also knew that Kyubi could communicate with its container so that wasn't a surprise to him.
"Please go on." He urged.
Naruto nodded, "I did some research and found out that the only Uzumaki in Konoha around the period before my birth was one Kushina Uzumaki who was rumored to be in a relationship with the 4th."
"Actually they were married but it was hidden away from the public for obvious reasons." Hiruzen explained.
"So why wasn't I told? Why did you lie to me all these years?" Naruto barely restrained from yelling out angrily, he had suppressing a lot of anger and disappointment after discovering this interesting secret.
"Naruto-kun, I wanted to tell you about your parents, I really did, but you were already in so much danger that I didn't want to put an even bigger target on your back," Hiruzen replied. "I was planning on telling you after you became Chunin. Then I felt that you would be able to handle the responsibility."
"What do you mean bigger target?" Naruto asked curiously.
"If we revealed to everyone that you're Minato's son, his enemies will hunt you down or they will want to use you to get their hands on his property."
Remembering what his dad did to end the Third Shinobi War Naruto perfectly understood, "But what about my mother?"
"Kumo." Hiruzen answered quickly, "After the destruction of Uzushiogakure in the Second War, the Hidden Cloud Village has been on the lookout for the remaining members of the Uzumaki clan mostly likely because of their special chakra, they once snuck into this very village just to abduct Kushina but were stopped by Minato."
Naruto nodded sadly as he recalled reading the demise of his mother's village, Konoha and Arashi were occupied on the western front with Iwa and Suna respectively that they weren't paying attention to the East until Whirlpool was surprise-attacked by combined Kumo-Kiri forces. Eventually Iwa and Suna were defeated in the end but by then it was already too late to save Uzu.
"I'm sorry for lying to you all this time but I will find a way to make it up to." Hiruzen promised. "Anyway, I do have some good news for you Naruto."
"What is it?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.
"Your Godfather has arrived." Hiruzen informed.
"I have a godfather?" Naruto's face fell.
'Ok just how many people abandoned this kit?' Kurama asked himself.
The Third once again sighed sadly, "He's Jiraiya of the Sannin and before you come up with any ideas, it's partially my fault that he wasn't around all these time."
Naruto blinked in confusion, "Your fault?" Hiruzen nodded, "But how?"
"Jiraiya owns a spy network which is invaluable to Konoha's safety, so I offered to take care of you while he ran his spy network, unfortunately he can't see you now thanks to certain events but once this all passes over I will introduce you to him."
"I see." Naruto paused before adding, "I won't hold it up against either of you."
"That's all I ask… so how about I treat you to some ramen." Hiruzen offered.
The Uzumaki perked up slightly, "I thought you will never ask, Jiji."
[+]
One week later (One week until finals)
|On a hill, somewhere within Konoha|
Shikamaru was laid down on lush green grass doing his usual stuff: Cloud Watching when…
"Hey you!" A loud voice called out.
The Nara lifted his head to a seemly familiar blonde heading towards him, "Can I help you?" He asked with a sigh.
She stopped and narrowed her eyes, "Actually yes you can?"
"With what?" He asked lazily.
She grinned then cracked her knuckles, "A little sparring match?"
Shikamaru lazily raised a brow, "You're my opponent in the finals, Temani right?"
"It's Temari." She corrected. "And yes I'm your opponent."
'Just what I need a good-looking and troublesome sand kunoichi who wants to fight me before our match.' Shikamaru thought sarcastically, "Then why do want to fight me now? The finals are just a week away?"
"I noticed that you weren't training for our upcoming match? Is it because you think I'm an easy opponent?" She asked with a hidden tone which promised pain if he answered incorrectly.
Luckily for Shikamaru he saw right through it, "No, I watched the preliminaries and you aren't weak."
"But that doesn't explain why you aren't training?" Temari pointed out.
"It's because training is way too troublesome."
The girl blinked, "Excuse me?"
"I actually didn't want to make it to the finals and making chunin will mean doing more tasks and missions."
"So summary is that you're lazy?"
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious."
"It is pretty noticeable." The Sand Kunoichi shrugged, "Any way we are still going to spar."
The Nara sighed at her persistence, "Fine." He got up and stretched a bit, "You ready?"
"Hai." Temari replied before reaching for her fan, just as she was about to grab it she noticed that she couldn't move, "What?"
"Shadow Possession Jutsu is a success." Shikamaru's shadow had already stretched out and caught her's, "Looks like I win."
'I can't believe he caught me under seconds.' Temari thought, "All right you win, now let me go."
Shikamaru instead smirked, it wasn't everyday you had a hot-looking blonde girl at your mercy. Mimicking his movement he sat back down compelling her to same. "Since you came all this way why not stick around for a while."
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" She panicked because there was no one around for miles and he had her sitting down next to him on the grass. "You pervert! If you try anything I will-"
Shikamaru chuckled cutting her off, "Relax, you will just watch clouds with me for a few minutes then I will let you go."
"Watch clouds?"
"Yea clouds, you know those white fluffy pillows of the sky." He pointed out.
Temari stared at him with amazement, "So you spend your free time watching clouds? Not on training or working on jutsu but clouds?"
"That's right." He answered before lying on the grass promptly Temari to do the same.
"You really are a lazy fellow." She deadpanned.
"I thought we established that minutes ago."
Temari laughed at that. "I guess we did."
"Nice laugh by the way." Shikamaru unconsciously complimented.
Temari turned and gave him an evil grin, "Flirting won't make me go easy on you during our match."
"I know."
"That doesn't bother you?"
"Why would it?"
Temari didn't know how to answer that so she keep quiet, the silence reigned for a few minutes until…
"I have released my jutsu so you're free to go." Shikamaru informed expecting her to get and leave but surprisingly she didn't, "I said you can go."
"I heard you." She replied then sighed, "It's just that I'm mostly on my own. My teammates and Sensei are always occupied with their own stuff, plus I have done nothing but train these past three weeks so I'm bored and I guess watching cloud is a bit refreshing."
"Don't forget entertaining." The Nara added.
"And beside you aren't as annoying as most guys in my village?"
Now Shikamaru was curious, "How so?"
"Well they are always trying to prove that they are better than me and the fact that I'm the Kazekage's daughter makes them think I'm so sort of prize to be claimed."
"Sounds troublesome."
"Yeah it is." She paused before asking, "So how about you?"
"My life isn't as interesting as you might think."
"I still want to know." She pressed on.
Shikamaru sighed, "I'm the heir of the Nara clan, we use shadow jutsus to take control over our opponent's body and we love playing shogi."
"…Will you be able to bring one tomorrow?" She asked quietly.
"You play shogi?" The nod he received surprised the Nara, "Ok then."
"Thanks."
The two laid back down and resumed their cloud watching.
[+]
A/N: Finally done with this chapter.
I glad that you all enjoyed the previous chapter, this chapter was focused on training and others so it won't be as interesting as the former but not all chapters are meant to be action packed.
[1] – I changed her affinities to Water and Earth.
Answers to some questions in the reviews:
- Naruto does know about the Uzumaki clan, that's how he was able to recognize Karin during the second exams.
- He won't be getting the chakra chains; he is going to be badass without it.
- Hinata learning ninjutsu… that will be decided during the chunin exams.
- Hinata learning medical jutsu? Maybe?
See you later.
Next Chapter: It's Showtime.
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Total number of words: 5537 Words
Jamesco1292002