Author's Note: I LIVE! My computer doesn't, but I live! Fuck me, lol.
And of course, with my triumphant return, we're getting all of our shit done. =3
AdV: After enough of my complaints, he got his hands on a second hand laptop. Remember kids, to get by in life all you need to do is bitch and whine. It works wonders with technology. Trust me I'm IT.
DMS: I was trying the whole ass time to do something! XD Finally lucked out; you can thank my wife for that.
...Also posted the wrong document for this chapter last night because I was in a hurry to get to work. My apologies. XD
A Different Road
Arc One: Genin Buntai
Chapter Five: Learning New Tricks
"Haa-a!" A panting Kishu exclaimed, trying to take a deep breath. Straightening her back once she did, she spun around, folding her arms over her chest, her face sporting a toothy, triumphant grin. "I win."
A moment, and her grin stretched wider.
"Again."
There she faced Naruto, who was slowing down from their race, sweat clinging to his brows.
"Only a matter of time before I catch up," the blond grumbled, before he returned her grin.
It had been about two weeks since their Red-on-Blue exercise with Team Gai. The first few days of training afterwards had been hellish.
Never before did any of them think they could be so tired at the end of a day until the next one reminded them that it could be worse. Repeatedly.
But, of course, said training eventually died down to something less… punitive, as it were.
…and they thoroughly learned to never again displease the fucking slave driver they had disguising as a sensei.
Higurashi sat upon a fallen log in the middle of their training ground, busy learning more about genjutsu arts from the scroll Kakashi had given her that morning while Naruto and Kishu focused on physical training. Kakashi, meanwhile, was back at the Hokage office, apparently called on short notice for something, but it was only a matter of time before he returned, they figured.
"Uh-uuh." Kishu shook her head, a familiar glint in her eyes that had Naruto eyeing her wearily, "Not a chance. You'll be stuck chasing this tail forever Naruto, if I have anything to say about it." She punctuated that statement with a teasing booty shake and a tap upon her rear.
...Naruto didn't quite know how to respond to that, blinking.
On one hand, he wanted to prove her wrong… but on the other, he wanted to tease her back, resulting in his brain short-circuiting for a moment.
Kishu winked at Higurashi, who only stared back at her blankly, face betraying no expression as the Aburame girl did her best not to scowl.
Fortunately, her ire came to an abrupt halt as Naruto turned his attention to her and approached while Kishu went to check on her snoozing nin-ken dog.
"Sooo," the blond began, clasping his hands behind his head, looking down at where she sat, "How's your progress going?"
"It is sufficient."
Naruto waited.
She didn't elaborate further.
He sighed, his hands falling as he gave her an exasperated look.
"Higurashi…"
"My apologies," she said, staring at him. Had it been anyone else, he'd have found it creepy the way she did "I am still not used to socializing like this." Higurashi looked down at the scroll and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Kohoki no Jutsu is very different from what I am used to, but I can see why Kakashi-sensei recommended it."
Seeing that his friend was willing to speak more than three words in a sentence, the whiskered blond grinned, plopped his ass down in front of her, and crossed his legs.
Illusions were not something he cared at all about, but Higurashi was… something. Someone. That was enough for him.
He cocked his head. "I'm all ears."
"...The technique itself is a relatively low-tier one that allows me to make alterations to the appearance of an area using my chakra," Higurashi began explaining, wording her explanation carefully. "They are completely illusory, but because the illusion is cast upon the environment itself, spiking one's chakra does nothing to dispel it."
"Uhh…'' Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Mind repeating that? I don't think I caught most of it."
"My apologies," she repeated, smiling faintly. She found his willingness to admit it admirable. "Simply put, it is like Henge no Jutsu, in a way… but instead of making myself look different, I am making my surroundings do so with an illusion. This technique is typically used to make booby traps invisible."
"Ah, okay," Naruto muttered thoughtfully.
"And because it is affecting the enemy from multiple source, the whole environment, it is harder to dispel."
"I see!"
Sure, she was wrong about Henge no Jutsu, but her explanation made sense to the blond. (1)
The two of them quickly slipped into a comfortable silence and the brunette was just about to take another crack at the technique, but then...
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss~!"
Their third teammate appeared out of nowhere, wrapped her arms around both of their necks, and pushed them closer.
Both Naruto and Higurashi turned beet red.
Fortunately, Kakashi came to the rescue, appearing behind Kishu and giving her a light bop on the head with the spine of a book, which made her release the two.
"Enough of that," he chuckled, thoroughly amused by their antics. "How goes training?"
"I am making some progress," Higurashi replied, "Naruto and Kishu have been improving as well―they're both almost finished with their scrolls."
"Erm― that's good?" Kakashi nodded, yup, he was pretty sure that was good. "In that case, you're all getting a new exercise to do. This is one of the core skills for ninja in the field, and it will help improve your control faster than most other jutsu."
That got their attention, much to Kakashi's amusement.
"Right, then," he said. "I believe a demonstration is in order." And with that, he gestured for his students to gather round.
And proceeded to walk up a tree.
"Gah!"
Thud!
Naruto groaned, more in annoyance than actual pain as he glared up at the tree.
He glanced at his teammates, seeing them both making far more progress than he was, and pouted in annoyance, before flipping back on his feet and taking another crack at it.
He began with a running start as recommended, channeling chakra into his feet to try and stick to the trunk, and managed one step more before he slipped.
"AW COME ON!"
Thud!
The exercise was called tree-walking. As the name implied, they were to try and stick to the surface of the tree until it became second nature. It did wonders in honing one's chakra control and was very useful for their careers in the long run as mobility was not to be underestimated.
Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't having much luck with it. Or any.
If he wasn't being blasted off the darn thing, he was slipping.
He learned how to soften his landing in the process, if nothing else, so that was nice, but still...
Even the stupid pooch was getting ahead of him!
Kakashi let out a thoughtful hum and made his way over, Icha Icha held open with one hand. He popped a squat next to the prone blond, who was huffing angrily. "You sure you're following my instructions?" He drawled, thumbing over to the next page.
"To the damn letter," Naruto grumbled with a heavy pout.
"You're just gonna have to do better then," Kakashi said, giving his sole male student an eye-smile.
"I'm trying―!"
"Try harder." The man deadpanned.
Naruto groaned and did precisely that.
And as he watched the blond continue to fail, again and again, quite explosively at times, before taking a break to calm himself and regain focus… only to be blasted off the tree the next time he tried, a thought crossed Kakashi's mind. (2)
He had been informed about Naruto's… difficulties with the Academy techniques.
Watching him now… he had a few suspicions about what might be the problem.
Rin was adamant, after all, that he hadn't been slacking. He was as hard a worker as one might expect from a boy his age, and then some. And he wasn't stupid―slow at times, but certainly not unintelligent.
He was certain she had her suspicions too…
"Hey Naruto!"
The boy, landing on his ass with a scowl, looked at him over his shoulder.
"What?"
"...I might have an idea―come here; let me try something."
About an hour or so later, Naruto sat cross legged in the middle of a seal network drawn up by Kakashi.
Kakashi being something of a seal journeyman himself…
Higurashi, his cutest little minion, had been impressed immensely.
Her teammates, less so…
And so, now Naruto had a few seals drawn up on his chest as well and had an ofuda stuck to his forehead.
Of course, this meant that he was shirtless, much to Higurashi's well-hidden enjoyment… and Naruto's embarrassment, especially when Kishu gave him a few teasing catcalls.
Kakashi chuckled as he stood up from the array.
For a scrawny brat, he was rather well defined.
He checked, and rechecked his work, nodding to himself. It was fine.
The network was a set of seals typically used by ANBU to see if a new recruit's chakra control was up to snuff and allowed the one who placed them to discern why it might not be.
Obviously, he needed the Hokage's permission to do this, but that was not hard to get, given Naruto's situation.
None of Kakashi's students quite knew what to think about a pair of fucking ANBU being called to help with this, but Kakashi put them at ease, explaining that Naruto is an unusual case because of his uncommonly large chakra reserves, so they needed some more specialized assistance to figure out what might be wrong with the boy's chakra control.
…It wasn't entirely untrue.
The real issue was the cause of those massive reserves, but they didn't need to know that. Not yet, at least.
His munchkins were still quite gullible, buying the story. He'd have to fix that soon.
ANBU did not interact with genin. They better start looking not just at the underneath of things, but the blatantly obvious too.
Another chuckle escaped him. Ah, to be so young and green…
"You're up."
"Uh, you're sure this is safe sensei?"
Kakashi shrugged, his mask hiding his smile.
"Probably."
"Probably?!"
"Chop chop, the Hokage doesn't pay us by the hour after all."
The blond grumbled some choice words.
Naruto was instructed to start molding his chakra and the seal did the rest. They started to glow, burning bright enough to blind them, until he was instructed to stop a few minutes later.
"How curious," one of the ANBU commented.
He wore a dog mask and his boots, gloves, and hooded cloak hid any distinguishing features that remained.
"Go on," Kakashi urged, not bothering to call them aside. This news was meant for the entire team to hear.
"The issue is a surprisingly-simple one: Naruto-san has too much chakra to handle at his age."
Kishu gave a wolf-whistle upon hearing this, elbowing her team leader with a pointed look on her face.
Higurashi… tried not to blush, and surreptitiously elbowed her back.
"It's condensed immensely, and sluggish to use. It shouldn't be an issue in the long run, but right now, he literally shouldn't even be capable of molding it at all. I'm surprised it doesn't hurt him, being that it's so dense." The man in question had suspected that the issue would be more directly linked to Naruto's… unique status, being privy to such classified information, but that was apparently not the case.
He looked at Kakashi.
"How did no-one at the Academy realize this and move to rectify the problem?"
"Most likely, they simply didn't think of it." Kakashi replied with a helpless shrug.
It wasn't like Naruto was inept in the Academy. He was bad, but stubborn enough to get passing marks.
Give or take a year.
"So, what? Other kids get cool bloodline stuff and I get fat chakra coils?" The blond questioned with a touch of sneer.
Kakashi patted Naruto's head and gave him a ruffle, "Just so you know, most ninjas would sacrifice their firstborn without thought to have your problems. You're quite lucky."
The blond grumbled to himself.
"So then, ANBU-san." Kakashi offered the ninja an eye-smile, "Any recommendations?"
"I'd suggest going in reverse," the dog-masked one replied. "Start with chakra control exercises that require more output and have him work his way down to the more basic ones."
"I figured that would be the way to go…" In fact, Kakashi was considering that from the start, but wanted a second opinion before proceeding.
As it turned out, the more basic chakra control exercises like the leaf hat and tree walk required more control but very little chakra. They were more about precision. The more advanced ones, meanwhile, like water-walking, the chakra slide, and the chakra leap ― all techniques used by ninja to the point of subconsciousness ― were the other way around. They required more output as the more basic ones had the side effect of building up one's reserves while bettering their control.
Of course, there were those that required quite a bit of both, those being the expert-level ones, the most basic one of that lot being nail bed-hopping, which was every bit as… spiky as the name would imply, but Naruto was a long way from taking a crack at that one.
"Looks like someone's going to learn how to jump before he walks or crawls."
Naruto just… stared at Kakashi upon hearing that.
"What…?"
About thirty minutes later, Naruto stared down at the Hokage monument, briefly wondering why it looked so small. And then, realization set in as gravity followed suit.
"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"
FWOMP!
Soon after, an orange blur slammed into the massive air cushion Kakashi had handy from above. After just one crack at the new exercise, Naruto quickly learned that he didn't like falling from such great heights.
In fact, he might get a fear of them!
Of course, both Kakashi and Higurashi in particular were quick to check on him, seeing how neither of them had expected the blond to jump so high.
Though certainly rattled, he wasn't hurt.
His hair looked like an even bigger mess though…
"Well, at least we know the cushion will do," Kakash chuckled just a tad bit nervously, "Erm― Let's try putting less chakra into it, now, shall we?"
"R-right," Naruto muttered, face devoid of blood. "I'll do that." Fear was one of the best motivators, or so they say…
Kakashi gave his sole male student an eye smile. "Good, good!" Then, he turned his attention to Higurashi. "As you were," he commanded.
At her stare, he added, "I'll make sure your boyfriend doesn't get hurt."
Try as he might, the man couldn't help but tease her a bit.
"She's not my girlfriend," Naruto protested, face regaining colour while he pouted childishly. "I mean, she's kinda cute, and nice to talk to, but we're not dating or somethin'…"
Higurashi, equally flustered at first, turned an even brighter shade of red when Naruto called her cute.
Not that he noticed, though their sensei most certainly did.
And so too did Kishu, who burst out laughing.
Said sensei let loose a hearty chuckle of his own.
"Right then, get back to training, kids."
Higurashi was able to stick to the trees somewhat reliably, now, so it was just a matter of getting to the point where it was second nature. Before she left, though… she faced Naruto and smiled faintly.
"B-best of luck," she deadpan-cheered. The thumbs up she gave him looked utterly out of place.
"Uh, thanks," the blond replied awkwardly, without even knowing why. "You too."
The Aburame girl nodded and returned to the tree she had been practicing on, several paces distance from Naruto's 'landing' cushion.
The blond scratched the back of his head, looking back at her, before he got ready to try again.
The exercise itself was more or less the opposite of tree-walking. By channeling chakra into his feet and unleashing a short burst, he would perform a superhuman―much like many things chakra could accomplish―leap.
In summary, it was a more controlled, deliberate version of what happened when he put too much chakra into the tree when he was trying to stick to it, typically used to hop over obstacles, quickly ascend buildings―or in Konoha's case, their massive trees―or close gaps.
In theory, it was meant to help him master his chakra easier by helping Naruto get used to releasing it in smaller amounts.
In practice, it meant Naruto was forced to come up with a working Landing Strategy™ before he broke something.
Of course, the cushion helped, but the blond was scared that he might pop it if he relied on it too much.
And so… Naruto channeled some chakra into his feet, doing his best to make sure it was less than last time, and tried again.
Fear, as it turned out, really was an amazing motivator.
Later that day, an utterly drained Naruto was leaning against Higurashi as the girl agreed to help him back to his apartment.
Of course, Kishu teased them mercilessly on the way out, but her compound was thankfully in the opposite direction, so that was at least brief.
But still… The mental image that bitch planted of a mini-Naruto with sunglasses was going to haunt her dreams! Higurashi's cheeks were still burning...
"Uh… hey, Higurashi, are you okay?"
"I am fine," she replied, trying her damndest not to grow even more flustered.
It was challenging.
"You sure?" Naruto pressed further, already leaning against her he only needed to angle his head to bring their face closer… heedless of her subsequent squirming as he squinted, "Your skin looks kinda rosy. You sick? Tired? I can drag myself on my own if you are."
"I-I am not," she assured. Though her tone was as even as ever, she shyly averted her gaze. "I am merely… a-affected by Kishu's comments from earlier."
"O-Oooh."
''..."
"Uh… Right. Can't say I blame ya," Naruto muttered with an awkward chuckle. She was teasing her so much even he was picking up on it more often than not. "But don't let her get to you." He used his free arm to reach up and scratch his cheek, a nervous tick, "It's not like I plan to do something like that."
Of course, he didn't mean that in a bad way, but when Higurashi started pouting, Naruto immediately panicked.
"I mean… not unless you wanna," he added hastily, before blanching as he just realized what he'd said. "I-I mean… I… uh… I don't wanna get in the way of your career or anything and… and… uh... w-well, I'm sure you'll find a really nice guy someday and have lots of cute kids with." he babbled, face alternating between bone white and apple red.
Foot, meet mouth.
Higurashi only started blushing harder at that, the devil on her shoulder reminding the hormonal girl that they were heading to his apartment… and that he lived alone.
And to her dismay, Higurashi's shoulder angel was too busy gushing over how considerate he was!
So, mustering herself, she responded in turn.
"I… feel it wise to remind you that I too am going through puberty," she told him, flushing. "And that I am currently escorting you to your apartment. Please refrain from tempting me to breed with you."
"B-b-breed?!" Naruto squeaked, looking shocked, worried, and… slightly interested.
He was a teenage boy. Hormones ruled his behavior.
"Indeed." She nodded, visibly unable to look him in the eye, despite her blank expression. "It is commonplace for a girl my age to get flustered easily. I am equally susceptible to becoming… hot and bothered, as they say."
"R-right."
"I am also very likely to conceive if we were to take advantage of the fact that you live alone right now."
''Ngh―!"
Aaand just like that, the blond immediately started pitching a tent, accidentally poking the brunette's leg as a result.
Higurashi froze for a second and glanced down.
"...I may have said too much." (3)
"S-sorry…"
"There is no need to be. It is perfectly normal for healthy, young males to have erections." And rather flattering, in all honesty, given the situation. "I believe you are a rather healthy, sizable specimen from this observation."
It did not help her self-control, though… not in the fucking slightest.
Fortunately, nothing happened as a result of that… save for a pair of loud and explosive orgasms in two different beds.
Ahem.
The next morning proved rather awkward as well, when Naruto and Higurashi met back up at their training ground, but not nearly as bad.
That is, until Kishu joined them. The instrument of incessant teasing was more than willing to milk the situation for all she could in the hopes of cracking her teammates' composure.
It was just too damn fun to resist… their reactions never failed to be utterly priceless!
Of course, there was no guarantee that she'd be able to join the fun if they did become a thing, but she wouldn't mind too much if that never came to pass.
They needed it more than she did.
Fortunately for them, however, Kishu soon curled up and took a nap while awaiting Kakashi's arrival, giving Naruto and Higurashi a much-needed break. Of course, Byakkomaru stood watch, prepared to wake his partner when their sensei did arrive.
As for the blond and his musically-inclined teammate, the two of them slipped into a comfortable silence, their cheeks still burning every time one glanced at the other while said other wasn't looking.
Higurashi thus decided to distract herself the best way she knew how: playing a little tune on her shamisen. Naruto, meanwhile, did his best to try meditating. Typically, he'd have a hard time sitting still like this, but the Aburame girl's music was very soothing, so that actually helped a lot.
Of course, Kakashi arrived soon after as expected. Being tardy with teaching would give him a quick boot to ass courtesy of Hokage.
As Byakkomaru nudged his partner awake and his other students perked up, the man in question addressed his students.
"Right," he said, giving them an eye-smile, "let's see how the three of you perform today, shall we?"
And with that, their day began in earnest. Soon enough, Kakashi was evaluating their progress, taking note that Naruto's chakra control was visibly improving―he was getting much less air today, results!―while Kishu and Higurashi were getting the hang of the tree-walking exercise.
Nodding in satisfaction, he made an announcement.
"Alright, you three," he called out. "Keep it up and we'll be heading to the missions' center after lunch."
All three of them perked up at that. So, they were finally deemed ready to start doing missions, then?
Of course, Kishu and Higurashi didn't have very high expectations; they were still rookies, after all, so it would be a while before they were doing anything particularly dangerous.
Naruto, on the other hand, was very eager to see what their sensei had in mind, already imagining the scenes of epic clashes and princess rescuing from his favorite movies.
Particularly Princess Gale.
But, soon enough, he'd learn that they had a long way to go before any damsels in distress were being rescued… (4)
Later on, after some more training and lunchtime, Team Kakashi stepped foot into the Konohagakure Missions' Center for the very first time as promised.
The office in question was situated on the ground floor of the Hokage Tower, as one would expect. That was the administrative building of Konoha, after all. As such, the council chamber, the Hokage's main office, the census department, and the records' depot also rested within said building―alongside the accommodations for no less than three full units of ANBU's security division, for obvious reasons.
It was for the same reason that this building was in the center of the village, alongside ANBU headquarters and T&I.
As for the missions' center itself, it was quite spacious, sporting two large waiting areas―one for ninja, and one for clientele. There were multiple desks for accepting either as well, and even a small food court for when days got a bit busy.
Kakashi gestured for his students to head towards the ninja waiting area while he headed towards the appropriate reception area. Naruto, meanwhile, couldn't help but stop and take in his surroundings along the way, before Higurashi grabbed his sleeve and gave it a light tug, prompting him to follow.
The place was just so different from what he'd been expecting… though not in a bad way.
As they took their seats, Kishu predictably started "resting her eyes" with Byakkomaru curled up in her leap. Higurashi, meanwhile, turned her attention to Naruto. Knowing how jittery he could get when forced to sit still for too long and seeing how long the line was, she took it upon herself to keep her blond teammate occupied.
"So…" she began. Despite her even tone, Higurashi somehow retained all of the awkwardness of a twelve-year-old girl next to her crush.
Mini-assassins they might soon be, but they were still hormonal kids…
"I wasn't staring!" Naruto squawked.
Higurashi turned bright red in an instant. She cleared her throat. She could tell he wasn't. And clearly, that was only because he'd been putting in the conscious effort not to.
"...I see your progress has been slow, but steady," she stated, distracting them both from the awkward exchange. "Perhaps I can help?"
The boy shrugged haplessly.
"Dunno. We're just starting," he said gloomily, "It usually takes me weeks to get any progress."
In this case, at least, according to Kakashi-sensei, but still…
"Perhaps," she told him, "but I have an idea that is at least worth trying nonetheless."
How much it would help could very well be negligible at best, but it was certainly worth a shot.
"Perhaps reducing the amount of chakra you have prior will be of assistance? I noticed that you were having an easier time after several attempts."
"You mean like using a bunch of techniques before I start?"
That sounded like a good idea, actually. A pretty basic one, too… Naruto wasn't sure how he hadn't thought of it.
"Among other things, yes." She turned to look at him directly. "My hive also eats chakra, so perhaps they could be of assistance?"
"They'd like that, wouldn't they?" Naruto chuckled. "That doesn't hurt, does it?"
"Not inherently," Higurashi stated. "The species I utilize simply needs to be in contact with your skin to drain it. You might start feeling groggy and lightheaded if they drain too much, but I honestly doubt that they could, given the sheer quantity you have."
"Ah, okay then…"
"Another thing you could do is perform a few hand seals to assist in molding your chakra," she added. "I could show you a sequence I learned to aid in my genjutsu."
"Oh, really?" Naruto sounded rather interested in that.
"Indeed."
She showed him a sequence of five hand gestures, and from there, the two of them practiced it together so that Naruto could memorize it.
When Kakashi returned to check on his students, he immediately recognized the sequence of hand seals Higurashi was teaching Naruto. It was a sequence that he was actually going to teach the boy tomorrow to see if that helped, but the Aburame girl beat him to it.
Clearly, she was taking her role as team leader seriously…
The sequence was repeatable, too, so if performing it once wouldn't do the trick, he could do it again and again until he got his chakra to behave. Of course, that would get him killed in combat, but the sequence itself was strictly meant for training anyways, so that shouldn't be an issue.
"Doing my job for me, I see," Kakashi commented with a warm chuckle.
Higurashi couldn't help but blush at that.
"Oh, hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out, causing Kishu to jolt awake. "So, what's the new mission?"
"We don't know yet," the man chuckled again. "Today's a busy one, so that line was for signing in. We should be called in soon, though; they're pretty quick about it."
And quick they were…
Not five minutes later, Kakashi heard his name being called and he and his students approached one of the desks. It was here that they came face-to-face with a curly-haired, bespectacled woman that Naruto vaguely recognized from the academy.
The woman was Suzume Namida, a former instructor who apparently now worked as a mission handler.
"So," she began, "we have quite a few available. Is there anything in particular that you would like them to do?"
"Two of my students seem to be getting… curious, if you know what I mean," Kakashi stated.
One could practically see the question mark above Naruto's head while Kishu visibly tried not to snicker and Higurashi felt her cheeks redden.
Of course, her expression didn't change in the slightest, though.
"Something to teach them what they might be getting themselves into, then," Namida mused aloud, looking at her clipboard.
''...Sure."
"We have a few of those…" She looked at Naruto and then back at the clipboard, before writing down the names of a few clients on a separate piece of paper. Namida handed it to Kakashi, giving him a questioning look.
Getting the message, the silver-haired man read the names to see if there were any who might be… troublesome. Some clientele were less recommended than others for genin to deal with than others to put it lightly.
The instructor in question nodded in satisfaction. None of the names stood out.
Namida nodded back and turned to a young man serving as her assistant. "Be a dear and fetch Ms Kurosawa, will you?"
The young man nodded and set off to do precisely that.
A woman garbed in gold and purple approached the team a few minutes later. She had deep, purple eyes and long, raven hair, her attire and jewelry made it abundantly clear that she was quite wealthy, too―as was to be expected from a prominent merchant of Konoha. She was rather tall for a woman, clocking in at nearly six feet, with an ample bosom and a very nice figure.
She paused, eyeballing Naruto for a moment.
Though not a fan of the… mischief she'd seen over the years, the woman kept her thoughts to herself.
"I take it that you are the team assigned to me, then?"
"That, we are," Kakashi replied with a polite nod. "I am Hatake Kakashi. These are my students, Aburame Higurashi, Inuzuka Kishu, and, from the look of it, you know Uzumaki Naruto."
"I know of him," she stated with an uncaring shrug. "He does have quite the reputation, after all, but as long as he behaves himself, I have no complaints."
Naruto had the decency to look rather sheepish at that. Mayhaps he shouldn't have spent so much time pranking…
"I shall be sure to keep an eye on him," Higurashi stated.
The woman was visibly taken aback by her… lifeless tone.
It wasn't like ninja stereotypes were known by the civilian population and those who weren't already used to them had little reason to interact with the Aburame.
"Right, then… where are my manners?" She plastered on a forced grin and bowed to them politely. "I am Kurosawa Hiroko. I am in need of someone to watch over my home and child for one month."
Naruto simply could not contain his confusion upon hearing that. Was the child in danger? Were there assassins after him?
A few hours later, after going back home and packing a month's worth of clothing and such, Team Kakashi found themselves in a rather large and luxurious house in the richer part of town. The property was also quite large, sporting a swimming pool, an apple orchard, and three gardens―one for fruits and vegetables and two flower gardens.
Naruto sported a sour look on his face as he tried his best to calm the wailing baby boy who already missed his mommy. He visibly hadn't the foggiest clue what he was doing, but he was doing his damnedest.
"Kakashi-sensei, I gotta ask," he began, "what does babysitting have to do with being a ninja?"
"Not much directly," the man admitted, while Kishu took pity on the blond and came to his rescue, relieving him of both his burden and ignorance. "The point is to help you learn patience and responsibility in preparation for later. It's pretty common for us to serve as bodyguards and the like, after all."
"Ah," was the blond's succinct reply.
He didn't see it.
"It also helps you learn parenting skills for when you put a baby into your girlfriend," Kishu added teasingly.
Naruto tripped and actually face-faulted.
The whole team stopped in their tracks to look down at the blond.
"Ugu-gaga!"
"Good thing I grabbed you before he did that, huh?" Kishu cooed, patting the child in her arms on the back.
"Will you please behave?" Higurashi deadpanned, helping Naruto back to his feet.
Kakashi merely shook his head in amusement. His cute little students were such a handful.
"It's not my fault you two are so fun to tease," the tattooed brunette giggled. Of course, her torment was all in good fun. "That being said, we should probably assign certain duties to one another. I'm okay at cleaning and this little guy is about the same age as my brother, so I have some experience in that department as well, but I am absolutely terrible at gardening."
"I'm pretty good at that myself," Naruto piped up, happy to know something others didn't. (5)
"We should all learn how to take care of Aito-san," Higurashi suggested. "Relying too much on you alone for that would be unwise. No offense intended."
"None taken," Kishu replied with a shrug.
The less time she had to spend changing diapers, the better… especially with her sense of smell being a factor.
She wouldn't be having brats any time soon, that's for sure.
"That being said," the Aburame girl continued. "I would suggest working in shifts. It would also be wise to continue training while we are here." She turned to address Kakashi-sensei. "Perhaps we should take turns, one of us takes the day off to train with you while the other two are performing the mission?"
The silver-haired man eye-smiled. "I was going to say the same. Good work, team leader,"
"I am merely attempting to be efficient."
"You can take a compliment, you know." At her mulish expression, he looked at the others, "Since Naruto needs the most help with his chakra control, I'll train him first. We'll start that tomorrow, though, after you three have had time to adjust."
"Sounds good to me," Kishu commented.
Higurashi nodded. "Very well then," she replied, before turning her attention to her teammates. "That being said, we should share what we know with each other. Naruto will be in charge of the gardens, while Kishu is primarily in charge of making sure Aito-san is being taken care of. I will be in charge of keeping the house itself in order as that is what I am best at in this situation."
Beside her, Kakashi reached out and started patting the young Aburame on the head. Her nose scrunched up almost cutely as she looked at the older shinobi questioningly.
Naruto and Kishu just stared.
"I mean it. You're doing a good job," the man said, giving Higurashi an eye-smile and a thumbs up. "Keep it up."
"I shall do my best," she muttered. It was barely visible, but her teammates and instructor could tell that she was embarrassed as all hell.
The next day, Naruto blazed through the hand seals Higurashi had taught him, before performing a chakra leap into the air cushion Kakashi had provided. Now, he was managing to reliably hop only one-hundred and fifty feet into the air, rather than the absurd-ass height he'd reached on his first try. His precision had also increased, but he couldn't get the distance to go down any lower quite yet.
Still, it was progress, which Kakashi was more than happy to see.
As Naruto landed with a thud, Kakashi took notice of a familiar girl observing them from atop a tree branch, just outside of Hiroko's property. He could also feel the presence of someone else ogling Naruto in particular through the wall. The latter had been popping up on occasion for some time now.
Apperatantly, his genin had himself an admirer of a particularly shy Hyuuga. She had no headband, so she must've been a kouhai―an underclassman.
Kakashi couldn't help but find that amusing, given how many girls Minato-sensei had to avoid lest he be swarmed… and how many of them a certain redhead beat off with a stick.
"That's enough for today," he called out, grabbing the blond's attention. "Go check on the gardens and make sure Higurashi did a good job. When you're done with that, you have the rest of the day off."
"Uh… okay, then," Naruto muttered. Had he already been doing this for that long? It felt like they'd only been here for a few minutes!
Not that he was complaining, of course… and Rin-neechan should be off-duty soon, if he wasn't mistaken. And with that thought in mind, Naruto stretched and bowed to his instructor before heading off to check on the gardens.
Interestingly enough, Higurashi was apparently already done and now looking at him expectantly.
"I wish to confirm that I tended to everything sufficiently."
Naruto smiled at that. The way she put it was kinda weird, but he more or less got the gist of what she meant.
"Well, let's see how well you did, then," Naruto said, flashing her a bright smile.
Higurashi only blushed as she followed him around and observed Naruto inspecting the gardens. She was, however, quite pleased to note how satisfied he looked while doing so.
Naruto made sure he left no stone unturned in his observations, either. The dried out or wilting flowers were decapitated, the weeds were pulled, and any pests in the area were also dealt with.
"You did a good job," he said.
Higurashi felt her cheeks burn again. "I… did my best to follow your instructions," she said.
"Well, keep it up, then! Don't forget to water everything around seven or so. That's the best time to do it right now. Basically, the sun won't have a chance to dry it up, but it's still bright enough to see what you're doing."
Of course, in the fall and winter, it was recommended to do so sooner, around six or so; in the summer, meanwhile, it was better to water one's garden a little closer to eight, but they won't be here for that long. Konoha's climate shifts were particularly mild, ranging from cozy to swelteringly humid, but never too hot or too cold…
"I will not forget," Higurashi replied with a nod.
Some time later, Naruto was cut loose to do his own thing, so of course, he was more than happy to take a stroll on down to Rin's house in hopes of catching her and checking in on her.
And from the look of it, she was indeed home, too… or rather the smell of it.
His stomach growled when he caught a whiff of whatever she was cooking.
He made a beeline for her door and knocked.
Inside, Rin frowned above the cooker. She hadn't been expecting anyone. Putting her hibachi-style fried rice on the backburner and plucking a few extra poison-coated kunai out from a hidden slot in the counter for good measure, she made her way to the front door.
"Coming."
Truth be told, it was likely that she was just being paranoid, but as a student of the Yondaime and veteran of the Third Great War, Rin couldn't afford to take any chances… especially after what happened to Kurenai-san's teammates.
If even they weren't safe, then she shuddered at the thought of what someone might do to her. (6)
Tucking the knives into a concealed holster in her sleeve while approaching, she called out again while approaching the door.
"Who is it?"
"Rin-neechan, it's me!"
The brunette perked up at that, visibly surprised and frowned slightly.
Cautiously opening up, she looked down to see that it was indeed him.
And just like that, her hackles went right back down.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Kakashi?"
Naruto pouted. "My team's doing our first mission," he said, crossing his arms and managing to look downright adorable like that. "Babysitting and taking care of a house. It's super lame."
Rin booped him on the noise.
"Bad Naruto." she scolded as the blond rubbed his now-tingling nose, "There are no lame assignments. A mission is a mission."
"The Academy sure as heck didn't advertise that," the blond muttered.
Rin leveled him with a look.
Rolling his eyes, the still-pouting blond continued where he left off. "Our team leader, Higurashi-chan, suggested that we take turns training while we're at it. I was given the rest of the day off when I finished mine." he explained.
"And you came here."
"And I came here." Naruto affirmed with a cheery nod. "I knew you had today off, so I wanted to see how you were doing."
Rin donned an amused look at that, chuckling warmly as she ruffled his hair and pinched his cheek. "How sweet of you."
Naruto beamed up at her before turning his attention to the source of that nice smell and squirming past her and the doorway, as much home as he would be at his own place; mayhaps even more so.
Stumbling into her apartment, he looked towards the kitchen.
"So… what're you cooking?"
"Just a bit of hibachi-style rice." Rin giggled. "You want some?"
"Hell yeah!"
Rin couldn't help but let out another giggle before beckoning the blond in, before looking up and flashing a certain someone a knowing grin.
Later on, as evening began approaching, Naruto and Rin could be seen hanging out at the park. The two of them sat at a bench, opting to simply enjoy each other's company while resting for the time being, before Rin spoke up.
"You know," she began, "I hear the latest Princess Gale movie is coming out soon."
"Oh, already?" Naruto asked, looking rather surprised. "Last I heard, it was going to come out in half a year."
"That was almost half a year ago. It'll be out in a few weeks."
"...I can't believe it's been that long." The blond let out a sheepish chuckle. Where did all of that time go? "Ooh! You wanna see it with me?"
Rin giggled at that, hugging him to her hip. He was just so precious! "I'm sorry, but I'll be very busy for the next month or so…" She then flashed him a teasing grin before continuing. "But I'm sure those girlfriends of yours would enjoy the offer~!"
Naruto turned bright red at that, doing his best to sputter some semblance of denial. It only served to draw another giggle from her.
"Teasing aside," the brunette relented, "I seem to recall you mentioning that one of your teammates is also fond of that series."
"Sh-she is," Naruto muttered. "Higurashi-chan has been practicing the theme song for a while now, actually."
"I'm sure it would make her day if you invited her to watch the premier."
Naruto blushed again. "Y-yeah…"
"Speaking of your teammates, though, it's getting pretty late." Rin looked up to see that the sun would be setting soon. Time really did fly when you're having fun, didn't it? "I'm sure they're going to start wondering where you are if you don't return soon."
"Yeah, they probably will," Naruto replied, pushing off from her side. "It's been fun talking to ya, Rin-neechan!"
"Likewise!" Rin gave him a wide, happy grin as she waved the boy off. And once the boy was out of earshot, she turned her attention to a nearby bush. "So… where have you been all day?" That teasing grin returned. "Stalking your crush, I take it~?"
The bush wiggled.
DMS Notes and Trivia
1: Or so he thinks…
Yup, as is rather common in fanfics in general, we're going with the fanon Henge no Jutsu, where the one they teach at the academy is an illusion, but Naruto's is unique because Fox. He can actually transform, but Higurashi cannot.
Juujin Bunshin, meanwhile, is a different matter.
AdV: So, we want to avoid the glaring issues Naruto being able to turn into a Fuma shuriken or turn Bunta into the fucking Kyuubi… at least, what they mean for the world at large. If Henge, an academy technique, can fucking change your material…. Well, to avoid ranting, just think about it.
So, for the purposes of this fic. Henge is illusion, because reasons.
Naruto can transform, because kitsune reasons. Mostly into other humans/female form. Maybe some animals his size or smaller. Because kitsune.
And he's hardly going to 'talk about it' ― to him it's normal and no one else pays close enough attention to notice what the hell he's doing. Kakashi might catch it… but how often would Naruto, a frontliner genin, need to use Henge anyways…
2. Y'all might want to keep "Not so Sticky no Jutsu" in mind, lol. Unlike the original source material, we intend to take that information to its logical conclusion.
AdV: Dune will be overjoyed I'm finally putting my idea to writing xD.
3. Pretty sure this is the moment where she started hijacking the story in earnest. XD
AdV: I think so. Poor Shiba-chan…
4. Though not really in character, this still feels like Naruto, honestly. And it gives him a bit more personality than "I wanna be Hokage, 'ttebayo!" and "SASUKEEE!"
Character development means more personality, not less! He was so horribly flanderized in Shippuden!
5. Really wish we saw more of this in canon, specifically with Naruto's team. I love seeing characters interact and bounce off of each other and working together to tackle something. Be it by way of picking an assignment that the individual members are good at or by seeing them put their heads together to deal with something none of them can deal with particularly well, I love it!
I mean, we see this all the time, but almost exclusively with Squad Not-7. And that bothers me. Could be missing one or two instances, but the closest thing to that I remember off the top of my head is that trash fire at the end, where Naruto and Sasuke carried everyone else for the overwhelming majority of a fight against this random chick with literally all the power in the world and equal levels of unadulterated stupid. That does not count.
6. I don't recall if Kurenai was later confirmed to be a teammate of Asuma or not, since I wasn't keeping up with Shippuden nearly as well as Part One, especially after Pein (should have ended with him, honestly)), but this is what we're going with regardless, lol.
AdV: It was heavily implied in Part 1 Chunin Exams that Kurenai was their junior, and that they didn't know her all that well.
Every fricking sensei suddenly being in the same generation, as was alluded in Shippuden, can go jump off a cliff!
Parting Notes: And that's a wrap for this chapter!
Also, one last thing, it's come to my attention that we misremembered the thing about Naruto taking the graduation exam twice prior. I never thought to double check the manga, despite owning it, because I had always assumed that was a writing mistake on the author's part.
It's not like we don't have our first plot hole on Page 9, after all. But regardless, that's on me.
AdV: I can't give a rat's ass. I don't need someone to tell me he's the same generation as K9. I know that.
I also know he was dead last hopeless, so there's no way he'd be allowed to try early. Sasuke, who is top of the class as well as -Boner, didn't try to graduate early. Remember, the brat who defected to Orochimaru because powah.
For the purpose of this story, and any story we so choose, Naruto is older by 2 years.