AN: (The beginning of chapter 8 has been heavily edited. Please read the starting AN and the book sequence again. Thank you!)
140 new followers since the last chapter... That's...That's something. You guys and girls are really awesome.
Thank you so much for the incredible support. To show my appreciation, here's a looong chapter. Easily my longest chapter yet.
I miss having a normal sleep schedule.
"Team 1"
Miss Suzume's voice pierced through the silent veil that had settled around the unusually noiseless classroom. This place had never been so quiet with this many students in it before, always having at least a kid or two talking or whispering to each other. But today was a special day. For many aspiring shinobi, years and years of studies and training had led them to this point. This was the culmination of all of their efforts. Every single person within the room were giving their teacher their undivided attention.
"Ryou Kusata, Hachi Nanaimo, Miko Tanaka. Your sensei will be Genma Shiranui."
Our favorite Jinchūriki really wanted to have Kakashi as his teacher. Unfortunately, Kakashi was still needed right now and could not take in a fully-fledged team yet. While not as bad as several years ago, Konoha had not quite completely recovered from Kyuubi's attack. They still had a shortage of shinobi at their disposition making Kakashi have to work extra hard due to his high mission success rate.
Speaking of Kyuubi, Naruto had told him what he'd found out about the Shinigami and the mask, and how it was missing. Needless to say, Kyuubi was more than a little annoyed. The great beast had deduced that whoever had ripped out the pages of the book was the same person that had run off with the mask. That made his plans a bit harder than he'd first anticipated…
Another thing that had surprised him was the amount of information within the book. Such a powerful and dangerous Uzumaki clan secret should not be in a public library, even if it was restricted to Jōnins only. What was it even doing in Konoha anyway?
Now that he thought about it; when Uzu had been destroyed, anything that was salvageable had probably been brought back to Konoha since they were their only allied shinobi village. And he guessed that from there, it was kept somewhere safe. But now, with no mask, half of the pages missing from the book and a third of the pages being unreadable, it's not like anyone could really do anything with it.
But still…
"Team 4, Nakamura Keta, Shibuya Sari, Tanaka Jin. Your sensei will be Yamashiro Aoba."
Ah, dammit. He'd been so preoccupied with his train of thought that he spaced out and missed several of the formed team. His eyes met the ones of the student named Keta; a boy that had just been placed onto team 4. He recognized him. The memory was faint since it was so long ago and he was very young at the time, but this was definitely one of the kids that used to torment him back at the orphanage.
The apprehensive side-look that the older boy was giving him spoke more than words ever could. He recognized him as well and it made him nervous. He'd probably seen his fighting display from yesterday and worried that he'd seek revenge against his for his mistreatment.
A part of him enjoyed that feeling.
"Team 5, Soryu Yuna, Ito Sho, Uzumaki Naruto. Your teacher will be Wada Tomoda."
So that was his team…He glanced next to him at his would-be teammate, Yuna. She looked neither happy nor unhappy with her arm crossed and an eyebrow raised in mild curiosity.
Several minutes went by as Suzume finished reading off the new teams. Most of the students had moved to sit in groups with their new teammates, though Naruto and Yuna chose to remain in their seats since they were already on the same team.
"Are you two Naruto and Yuna?"
Both turned their heads towards another boy from their classroom. He was pretty tall for his age, standing at 5'7 when only being 13 years old. He had short spiky hair that was buzzed short on the sides, grey eyes and pretty muscular arms. His hair was some type of dark grey-charcoal color and his black eyes held this serious stoic look that he'd sometimes see in civilian soldiers. If Naruto had met him anywhere else but within the classroom, he would've thought him to be at least 15 or 16.
"What's it to you?" Snapped back Yuna with a mild frown. If the charcoal-haired boy was offended by her tone, then he did a good job hiding it.
"I'm your teammate, Sho Ito. Nice to meet you." He said in a cordial voice.
Naruto offered him a small smile as he stood up to let Sho sit in between him and Yuna. "I'm Naruto. I hope we get along."
Sho nodded and sat down in the offered seat as Naruto took his place next to him. Yuna eyed the newcomer before looking back out the window in disinterest, and the trio soon descended into an uncomfortable silence for the next half an hour.
Well, that was a great start…
—
"Team 5" A man with light brown hair and very small yellow pupils called out, drawing the three student's attention. Giving them a small smile, Tomoda gestured towards outside of the academy gates. "I'm Wada Tomoda. Let's gather up at training ground 5 and introduce ourselves there.
The three looked amongst each other skeptically before standing up and following after the man.
It only took them a few minutes to arrive to training ground 5. This field was right next to training ground 4, which was where Naruto had been training for the last 6 months. He absently noted that this place looked a lot drier that the one before it. Contrary to number 4, the greenery of number 5 had been mostly uprooted, leaving dry earth and dead grass behind instead.
"Now then." Began Tomoda as he idly twirled a stick he'd found on the ground between his fingers. "Tell me about yourselves."
…
"By all means, don't all speak up at once." Said the teacher after a few seconds of silence.
"…What should we say, sensei?" Queried Naruto. His two teammates remained silent, though both looked as equally perplexed.
"You know, the general stuff. Names, likes, dislikes, dreams."
"Shouldn't you go first then?" Said Yuna in a deadpan tone. "We already know each other."
"Hmm…" The Jōnininstructor rubbed his chin in thought before sighing. "Fine, fine…"
The three youths looked at their teacher expectantly as he cleared his throat. "The name is Tomoda. I'm 24, I like practicing katon jutsus and playing poker. I dislike water users." At that he used his hand to cover the side of his mouth and continued in a playful hushed tone. "They never go with the flow of my fire attacks."
Crickets chirped as the three children stared at their teacher in varying degrees of bewilderment. Yuna seemed irritated, Sho's face remained unchanged. Naruto just looked confused.
Man, tough crowd. Tomoda awkwardly coughed into his fist but kept going. "Anyway, my pass times are hanging out with my friends and training. My dream for the future is to be able to settle down and have my own family." He finished with a smile. "Your turn, miss sunshine and rainbow." The teacher said as he pointed at Yuna.
Yuna crossed her arms but obliged nonetheless. "Name's Soryu Yuna. I'm 12, I like my aunt and napping. I don't like people who talk too much and can't take care of themselves. My pass times are reading and training. My dream is to one day be able to write my own book."
Tomoda nodded and turned his eyes towards Sho. "Your turn."
Sho nodded and straightened his posture. "My name is Ito Sho. My likes are strength and my training. I dislike weakness more than anything." Sho's eyes hardened with conviction. "Strength is absolute. All is meaningless without victory. To be defeated is to lose everything." That statement drew stares from his two teammates and a pensive look from his teacher. What an interesting guy.
"My goal is to become the strongest."
Their teacher offered him a small smile. "A fine goal, Sho." He said, making the boy nod in thanks. Diverting his attention to their last and youngest member, Tomoda shot him an encouraging grin. "Your turn now, blondie."
"Right," Said Naruto as he steeled his nerves. Being the centre of attention was making him nervous.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like playing pranks and ramen. Oh, and also the colour orange." He tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "There's not much I really dislike except for being alone and eating vegetables. If I had to pick though, I'd say being alone. My pass times are mainly just training and pulling pranks. As for my dream,"
He trailed off at that. What was his dream? He wanted to free Kyuubi and the tailed beasts. He wanted to help the other Jinchurikis. He wanted the constant violence and hatred to stop. He wanted peace, even though he knew just how unachievable that was. He wanted people to not be killed in the street just for being a foreign ninja. He wanted people to be able to live without fearing that any day could be their last.
"My dream is to unite the world."
That drew surprised looks from everyone. 8-year-olds usually didn't have such ambitious goals; they usually were along the lines of 'I wanna be a cool ninja', or 'I wanna be Hokage'. But uniting the world is something that grown shinobi sought after having been on the battlefield and witnessing violence and prejudice on a daily basis.
Out of all people to follow up, it was surprisingly Yuna that was first to speak her mind.
"How would you even plan to do that?" She said with a frown. "Shinobi countries have been hating each other for centuries."
Unfortunately, the blond didn't have an answer for that yet.
"I've got no idea."
—
"Well, now that introductions are over," Said Tomoda after a few minutes had gone by, "It's about time we got started on your Genin test!"
"Test?" Said Yuna incredulously. "We already had one."
Sho nodded in agreement. "That's right. We were told that once we received those headbands, we would officially become shinobi."
Tomoda just gave them a small smirk that put Naruto on edge. "Ah, that's where you're mistaken. That test you took was the academy test to weed out the people that weren't even worthy of being considered. If you can't even do a bunch of D-rank jutsu, then what hope would you have against a real enemy?"
That did make a lot of sense now that the blond thought about it. That exam had been way too easy. "So that academy test was…"
"That's right, think of it as a preliminary test. This here's the real deal." The teacher was a bit too jovial about this for the genin's taste.
"So, what's the test?"
At that, Tomoda gave them a cheeky smile. Setting down a timer on the ground a few meters away, he used the branch that he'd been fiddling with to draw a circle around him that was roughly a metre in diameter.
"You need to make me step out of this circle. You can use any tools or techniques, or any underhanded method for that matter. You gotta come at me with the intent to kill. You have 30 minutes. Oh, and whoever doesn't manage to make me move will go back to the academy."
All was quiet in the clearing as the three children stared at their teacher incredulously.
"You can't be serious, sensei." Said Yuna in a miffed tone.
"I am dead serious." He brought his hand forward and made a 'come-at-me' motion.
—
Just what the hell were those Genin? Tomoda was by no means a weakling. In fact, if he had to evaluate himself, he'd say that he was about mid-Jōnin level. But these three kids…
Sho had this freakish earth ability where he used earth style to harden his skin, making it become noticeably darker. That was definitely the earth style: earth skin, also known as iron skin. And last he heard, that was a technique that was usually seen being used by a certain super-powered missing-nin from Takigakure. It wasn't too far-fetched to imagine that someone had seen that move and replicated it, but still, fresh Genin should not know these types of jutsu yet!
But that was okay, he was after all just a Genin. While his strength was nothing to scoff at, he could easily take it and retaliate. Him being so young made him inexperienced and uncoordinated with Yuna's Genjutsus that she would throw at him, which was easily shown when he flared his chakra to break her illusion and block a strong punch that was aimed at his face.
That blond kid though…What the hell was he? He was the youngest out of all of them, yet easily the most dangerous. He should be in the playgrounds with friends, playing tag and crying over a scraped knee. But here he was, being the most problematic out of the trio. He was throwing out these weird chains and those wind jutsu like it was nothing. And as if that wasn't enough, the little devil was quick!
A soft rustling made the Jōnin jump up in reflex, narrowly avoiding a golden chain that had shot out from beneath him and attempted to wrap around his leg. Taking out a kunai, Tomoda used the flat side to bat away a second chain on its way to spear through his shoulder.
'These are kinda dangerous.' Were the nervous thoughts of the brunet. Sho cracked his neck and rushed in close to Tomoda once more, bringing up two earth-coated arms to block his teacher's kick and skidding backwards a few feet.
'This isn't going anywhere.' Thought Yuna to herself in frustration. While Sho and Naruto were both surprisingly strong, they were up against a Jōnin. Everything that they threw at him was easily countered and returned. And with the additional threat of being sent back to the academy, they were all competing to be the one to stay.
'What the hell kind of rule is that anyway?' She complained as she threw another kunai at the teacher while he wasn't looking. Unfortunately, that too was caught and thrown back at her. It's like he was trying to pit them all against each other.
'What Genin team has only one member in it?'
Yuna suddenly skidded to a halt. Actually, she's never seen a one-man team before. Konoha was all about the 'will of fire' and having each other's back!
"That's it!" She said to herself, drawing the attention of the blond child next to her.
"What's wha-gah!" Yuna grabbed onto his wrist and began to run in the opposite direction, looking back at her second teammate.
"Sho, over here!"
Sho glanced behind and, after blocking yet another kick from his teacher, retreated to a safe distance before following after his two teammates.
Tomoda sighed slightly and dusted his arms free of the dirt that had gathered onto his sleeves. "Wonder where they're going…"
—
"Hey, what gives!?" Complained Naruto as he pulled his arm free from the brunette's hold.
Sho frowned and crossed his arms. "What did you want? If you haven't noticed, we're running out of time."
"Just listen." She snapped back. "When's the last time you've seen a Genin team with only one Genin? It's never happened before."
The earth user raised an eyebrow. "Your point being?"
"Konoha is all about teamwork, right? Why would he be the one to make the only one-man team?"
"Oh!" Said Naruto in realisation. "He's turning us against each other!" Yuna nodded at him, but Sho looked unconvinced.
"Why would he do that?"
Yuna shrugged. "Don't know. Making us see the bigger picture, probably. But right now, we need a plan."
—
"Man, this is boring…" Complained the sensei to himself as he kept fiddling with the stick in his hand. He'd been sitting here for the past ten minutes and time was beginning to run out.
'I'd give anything for this boredom to go away. Even an invasion wouldn't be so bad right about now.'
Glancing over to the clock, he saw that there was about 5 minutes left before time would run out. 'Did they give up? I wonder if I made the test too h-'
"Hey, ugly!"
Tomoda looked behind him and saw the youngest in his team pulling onto his eyelid mockingly with his tongue out. "Why do you like that stick so much, did your mom get it on with a dog!?"
"Why you!" A vein throbbed angrily on Tomoda's forehead.
"What's wrong dog-man, you got some ticks under your collar!?"
"You little brat!" Screamed the teacher. "Come over here and say that to my face!"
Tomoda suddenly felt a slight wave of dizziness as the shadows in the terrain began to merge together, causing him to immediately put his guard up. 'A genjutsu?' Making the ram seal, he flexed his chakra and broke the illusion, quickly dodging out of the way of two Naruto clones charging at him and easily dispelling them with his kunai.
"A diversion huh? I gotta admit, that was pretty well thought out. But it's not enough."
The teacher suddenly lurched back as Sho seemed to appear out of thin air and delivered a strong right hook to his face, making him stumble. Unfortunately, he quickly recovered and hopped over the following leg sweep, using a fireball jutsu to chase him away.
A double layered Genjutsu? Now Tomoda really WAS on guard. His eyes landed on the only female of the team who was holding her hands in a seal in concentration. Her chakra control must be exceptionally good to be able to pull that off.
His train of thought was cut short when the little terror that was the Jinchūriki engaged him once more, and Tomoda was back to dodging wind attacks and a fast pair of fists.
Yuna's eyes met Sho's who nodded in return. The tallest of the students soon joined the fray, making the teacher have to focus his attention on the second person and step up his game even more.
The girl put her fingers in the horse hand seal, but before she could do anything further, the loud ringing of a clock drew the attention of everyone in the training ground.
"Phew, you guys are relentless." Complained Tomoda as he wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve. "A bit longer and you would probably have gotten me. But you didn't manage to force me out of the boundaries." His eyes turned serious as he stepped out and picked up the clock. "You fail."
Instead of being met with dissatisfied looks like he was expecting, he was instead met with the cross-armed confident look of Sho and the satisfied smirk of Naruto, who rubbed his finger on the bridge of his nose. "Actually sensei, you're the one that failed."
Tomoda raised an eyebrow at that. "What are you talking about?" The clock sprang to life once more, making the teacher flinch back and look at the clock in surprise. What? What the hell was going on? The clock had already rung!
"Yuna came up with the plan, it was super smart!" Crowed Naruto in appraisal, making the girl huff and stuff her hands in her pockets. "While I was distracting and angering you, Yuna put you under a Genjutsu. That made you think that I was attacking you, when in fact it was Sho that was coming at you from behind."
Sho continued. "When your attention had been diverted to me and your full concentration was off Yuna and the clock, she placed you under a third Genjutsu that made you believe the timer had gone off."
The fire user looked down at the clock in his hands, then at the lines on the ground behind him. They'd tricked him! They hadn't forced him out of the boundaries, they made him willingly walk out!
'Those guys…Are something else.' He smiled in defeat and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Can't believe I got got… You played me like a fiddle."
Sighing, he continued. "This test wasn't just to see if you could make me come out of the boundaries, it was also to see if you had what it took to fight as a team." He said in a solemn voice. "But you guys know this already, don't you?"
That question was a moot point. They'd executed their plans perfectly. Yuna had rounded up the team, come up with the plan and provided long-distant support. Naruto was the diversion, and Sho had been the heavy hitter.
"You guys…Pass. Welcome to team 5!"
This was usually the time when the gathered Genin would whoop for joy and high-five, congratulate each other, celebrate, anything! However, the silent stoicism of Sho, the cool indifference of Yuna and the introverted nature of Naruto told him that this team still had a long way to go.
But if the small satisfied looked they were giving each other were any indication, then it wasn't a completely lost cause.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
Becoming a Shinobi had been a major step forward to achieving his goal; finding the mask and helping the Jinchūrikis. When he was training with Kakashi, he'd thought that becoming a ninja would finally let him get away from Konoha, explore the world, visit other nations, see what was beyond the massive forests that surrounded the leaf village.
He'd always been an optimistic. At least, he tried to be. It did get hard sometimes. The constant isolation and mistreatment had occasionally made him think very unhealthy and non-positive thoughts. But most of the time, he tried to see the silver lining in the situations that he gets himself in. Even if a mission would be boring, he'd still have explored the world a little more. Even if a training session had gone bad, he'd still had learned something from it.
"Sensei, you could at least pretend to help us!"
But even he could not see the silver lining in the atrocities called D-rank missions.
Unlike his two other teammates, Sho remained his typical quiet and stoic nature. But even he had a noticeable irritated edge in his eyes as he wrestled yet another pig out of the mud pit.
Tomoda laughed as he watched them from his spot on the dry land. "Hahaha, are you kidding? This is way funnier!"
After the test from yesterday, the three Genin had been filled with determination and had each celebrated in their own way. Naruto had gone home, -where Kakashi was already waiting for him- and he'd eagerly recounted what had happened during his test. Yuna had done the same to her aunt, though with less gusto than the blond had. Even Sho, did something special and treated himself to a celebratory meal.
Currently, the quartet were near the western border and helping a farmer round up the pigs that had escaped from his farm. Fortunately for the team, they hadn't gone far. Unfortunately for the team, they had taken residence in a big pit of mud and were squealing in delight as they rolled around and splashed into the murky waters.
"Grrrr, just stay still you pink abomination!" As much as he tried to wrap his little arms around the annoying creatures, they were just too covered in mud to get a good grip and kept slipping away when they thrashed about. "That's it, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Yuna stepped out of the mud pit, three pigs following obediently behind her as she led them to the tree where a few others were already tied up. Pretty soon, nearly all of the pigs had been rounded up.
'Hoh, so you can put even pigs under Genjutsu?' Thought Tomoda in interest.
A loud screech followed by the thunk of something hitting something else drew his attention back to the tree where most of the pigs had been tied up, only to see another pig that was covered in mud, passed out on the ground next to said tree.
"Sho!" Tomoda scolded. "Don't throw the pigs around!"
"Sorry." Said Sho plainly. He sounded anything but.
—
"Sensei, I really hate you right now." Complained the Uzumaki.
"C'mon Naruto, it wasn't that bad."
"I have to agree with him." Said Yuna plainly. "I need a shower."
"I think you all do." Agreed their teacher. "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll like the next mission."
—
"I HATE YOUUU!"
Naruto's scream could be heard for kilometers as he and his two teammates chased after the bane of every newly formed Genin team.
Tomoda couldn't help but laugh to himself once more. Hey, someone had to make sure that Madam Shimiji's cat didn't run away.
—
On their way back to the Hokage tower, the two teammates of our resident Jinchūriki had been noticing strange things. The villagers were behaving in a pretty weird manner around them, almost as if they were angry or afraid of them. They'd glare at them while staying a distance away and whisper among each other as if they were ugly creatures.
Or more specifically, they were acting that way towards the youngest of their group, which made no sense because despite his surprising strength, the blond boy just looked too cute and innocent. There was no way he could have done anything that warranted such treatment.
It didn't seem to bother the blond though, much to their confusion. It's like he wasn't even noticing it. That or he was just so used to it that he didn't notice it anymore. He just kept walking on forward with his hands thrown at the back of his head casually and his bored gaze staring up at the sky.
"Sensei,"Said Yuna quietly, drawing the attention of the Jōnin. "What's up with the people here? Why are they looking at Naruto like that?"
Tomoda looked back towards the villagers with a small frown.
"They are too lost in their own beliefs. Don't pay any attention to them."
The girl looked over towards her stoic teammate, who just shrugged back at her in equal confusion.
—
"So." The teacher began. "What do you guys specialize in?"
The trio of kids looked at each other, wondering who was going to go first. After a few seconds, Yuna hesitantly spoke up.
"Uh…I'm good at Genjutsu and Shurikenjutsu. And I've got pretty good chakra control."
Tomoda nodded along. "Yes, yes. And from what we've seen two days ago, you're also pretty good at thinking up strategies. And what about your weaknesses?"
Yuna raised an eyebrow. "Hand to hand I guess. My Ninjutsu is okay."
"Do you know your affinity?"
"What? No."
"Hmm…" The teacher rubbed his chin before digging his hand into his pouch. "Lucky for you, I carry chakra paper with me at all times."
That earned him weird looks from his students.
"Why…?" Questioned Naruto after a few seconds.
"Here we are!" A nervous sweat drop appeared on the blond's head when the teacher ignored him and brandished the paper instead. "Channel some chakra through this."
Yuna took the piece of paper and did as instructed. After a few moments, smoke began to take form on the corner of the paper before it suddenly ignited in a small burst of flame, making the girl yelp and drop it.
"A fire user, that's good. That means I can have lots to teach you in that department." He turned to Naruto. "Now, your turn. Strengths and weaknesses."
"Ah uh," The Uzumaki fumbled slightly at the sudden shift of attention. "I have a lot of chakra and stamina, I'm pretty fast and I'm alright at Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. I also get by in Kenjutsu and wind manipulation."
Tomoda nodded, hiding his surprise. That was quite the skill set for an 8-year-old. "Weaknesses?"
Naruto shrugged. "fire users? And basically anyone that's older and stronger than me."
Tomoda was about to move on to Sho when he realized that the blond looked like he wanted to say more. "What is it?"
Naruto hesitated for a few seconds. "Well…I have this other skill as well."
"Which is?"
Naruto didn't reply, but a golden chain slowly coiled out of the ground from the middle of their circle. It seemed to look around, almost like a snake before awkwardly waving at them.
—
Once the shock had dissipated and many questions had followed, Tomoda looked over to Sho. "Your turn."
Sho nodded and sat straighter. "I specialize in earth style and Iron skin which grants me physical power and defense. Weaknesses are Lightning types and Genjutsu, as well as people that are faster than me."
Quite the versatile team. Nodding in approval, Tomoda crossed his arms as he began to recapitulate. "To summarize, we've got a wind user, a fire user and an earth user. Sho majors in Taijutsu, Yuna in Genjutsu and Shurikenjutsu, Naruto in Ninjutsu, Kenjutsu and those chain thingies. I want all of you to pay special attention to your weaknesses. Having some are fine, everyone has them. But it becomes a liability when you neglect them and allow them to fester. Sho, Naruto, you too will be sparring together. Naruto, I want you to make full use of your speed. Same goes for you with your strength, Sho." He turned his attention to his third teammate. "Yuna, I will be teaching you how to hone your fire manipulation. These guys already know the basics for their elements, so I need to bring you up to par."
His students nodded at the rundown of their training. Standing up, Tomoda continued. "This will be Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays will be Chakra control and elemental nature refining as well as building up tolerance against the elements that you are weak against. As for you Naruto, you and I will be practicing your Kenjutsu. Thursdays will be focusing on you two, Sho and Yuna, on increasing your Chakra capacity and Stamina. We will be doing laps around the training grounds as well as doing physical work-outs."
Naruto raised a hand in question. "Yes, Naruto." Acknowledged Tomoda.
"I received a set of weights a few days ago. Should I bring them with me for practicing?"
The brunet shook his head. "While training weights are a good way of increasing your speed, using them at your age will be detrimental to your growing body and to your muscles. Especially for you."
The blond looked disappointed, but nodded nonetheless. Oh well, Gai's weights will have to wait for a little bit. But still, the prospect of training his elemental manipulation was filling him with excitement! Ever since he'd heard Kyuubi talk about Ninshu, he'd been extremely interested in the art. He couldn't help but feel that hand seals and jutsu were too restrictive. There was so much that you could do with wind! He wanted to be able to command it, bend it to his whim! Have it completely under his control so that all he needed to call upon it was a mere thought!
"Fridays will be an all-out brawl between the three of you. We will be doing our training every afternoon. Mornings will be for the missions that we will be undertaking."
Yuna looked at her teacher warily. "Please tell me we won't have to do D-ranks again."
Tomoda turned silent, unnerving the three Genin. He began chuckling to himself, which slowly devolved into full blown laughter.
His laughter subsided after a few seconds as he brought a hand to his face and wiped a tear with his fingers, still chuckling occasionally. "Oh, my dear students…"
"This is just the beginning of them."
Their resulting faces nearly gave him another laughing fit.
—
It didn't make sense…It just didn't make any sense!
"Raagh!" Sho let out a war-cry and threw another punch at the smaller blond, who caught it in his hands and skidded a few paces backwards with a wide grin on his face.
He prided himself in his strength. Everyday, he refined his skill, practiced his punches and kicks, lifted his weights, trained his techniques.
The blond threw a punch in return, making him lift his forearm to block it only to wince at the power that struck it. He disappeared from his line of sight and a sharp blow impacted against the left side of his back. Grunting and stumbling forward, Sho quickly righted himself and spun around to face the little menace once more, rubbing the sore spot on his back.
When he'd fought Tomoda during the test, his teacher had overpowered him even with the use of his iron skin. But that wasn't a big deal. The man was Jōnin, he was twice his age and was selected to train him and his teammates. That, he could understand.
Sho rushed at Naruto, and the blond did the same, they both met in the middle and locked fingers with both hands in a battle of mercy. The taller boy roared as his skin turned darker, his arms becoming heavier and stronger.
Then how? How the hell was this 8-year-old keeping up with his power? Even with the use of his Iron skin, even though Naruto was clearly struggling, with sweat dripping down his face and his feet sliding back under the brunt of his strength, he should have easily made him topple over by now!
For his part, Naruto was having the time of his life. This was the first time that he'd truly enjoyed a fight. He loved training with Kakashi, but getting his ass tossed around for several hours wasn't exactly his idea of fun. But the constant butt-kicking had made him be able to adapt to people above his rank, and for that, he was grateful.
Before Mizuki, he'd never actually 'won' a match before. He knew that the he'd been holding back during his test, but then again, so was he. He was confident that he would have been able to beat him if both had been going all out.
But this…This was different. Kakashi hit hard and precise, he did not waste time. He went in for the kill from the get go to teach him to not let himself be wide open, to keep his head in the game. With Sho however, he could really go all out to test his strength. He could beat Sho, he had no doubt about that. He was strong, but he was unrefined. Sho only had his strength. Naruto had a wide arsenal. He was fast, he had his chains, his wind manipulation, his sword. Even the strength advantage that Sho would usually have was practically useless now. Naruto was used to fighting experienced Jōnins.
In the end though, the iron skin proved too much even for him, the taller boy was managing to push his fingers back in their test of strength. Suddenly pulling his arms forward, he yanked Sho towards him and drove his foot into his stomach, making him choke up spit and kneel down on the ground and struggle to catch his breath.
The blond jumped high in the air and made a clone appear next to him at the apex of his jump. The doppelganger grabbed his creator by the wrist and spun him around several times, before throwing him with all his might at the earth user who was just managing to pick himself back up. Naruto stuck both of his feet out and double-dive kicked towards Sho, which the 13-year-old hastily countered by coating his skin with a layer of earth chakra.
"Whoa…" Yuna said, watching the 'spar' between her two teammates with nervous sweat trailing down her forehead. Sho had never shown anything like this iron skin in the academy. And then there was the blond wonder. Only 8 and still keeping up with people twice his size and age.
"Focus, Yuna." Chided Tomoda as he handed her another leaf. "Try again. Feel your fire nature coursing through your coils and channel it into this leaf.
"Ugh…"
Dull blond eyes stared sadly at the ground. Why did this keep happening? His feet dragged against the floor as he lamented his predicament. Day in and day out, it was the same old torture.
"Cheer up, Naruto. It's not so bad."
"Sensei, isn't it time we get a higher ranked mission?" Questioned Sho moodily.
Tomoda opened up the mission report, blissfully ignoring his students. "We are visiting an old fishing shack that is being run by a Tokita Mamoru, along with his son and grandson. Report says that the storm from last night toppled a tree over their cabin. Thankfully no one was injured, but the place in in disrepair."
Naruto seemed to snap out of his funk and glanced up at the teacher. "So what are we doing? Just fixing up the place?"
"That's right. And with your clones, this should be done in no time."
It was only 15 minutes later that they'd arrive and were introduced to the owners. The grandkid, Taro, was a pretty happy and energetic boy with messy dark-greenish hair. The father named Sakana was a tall man with a shaved head and a small rope tied around his forehead as most fishermen usually did.
The grandfather though; mister Mamoru, was a pretty weird guy. The man was balding with a goatee and had several ugly scars running across his face. He didn't seem like a bad person. But his eyes, they seemed empty. When you talked to him, he didn't look at you, he didn't answer, he didn't seem to even notice you were there. He just kept mumbling, always slowly mumbling something under his breath.
"Grandpa's been through all 3 wars." Naruto turned towards Taro when he noticed him staring, Yuna and Sho also paying attention to the conversation. "Dad says he's been like this for a while ever since the third war was over. He's aware enough to take care of himself, but he's not that good at having conversations." The young fisherman sighed and shook his head. "Dad lets him stay though. This shop used to belong to him and my grandma when she was still alive and was passed on to us. He's hanging in there, at least there's that."
The members of team 5 got to work without another word, all except for Naruto. He was still curiously looking at the old man who was sitting in his chair, staring at nothing in particular and fumbling with his own hands.
This guy had lived through three wars…He'd been to hell and back. He probably had a lot of amazing stories to tell.
Too bad that no one would be able to hear them.
"We're gonna fix your house right up mister Tokita, don't you worry."
The old man said nothing and kept staring at his hands with the same vacant stare.
"My eyes were…Fluid cobras…Yeah…"
He wondered what he meant by that.
"Naruto, get moving!" Turning his head towards where Yuna's voice had come from, he sighed and manifested five clones around him.
"Alright guys, let's do this."
"Thank you so much for all your help." Sakana smiled at the members of team 5 while accompanying them to the exit. "I don't know what we would have done without all of you. And you, young lad. That clone technique of yours is quite the sight to behold. It was my understanding that it used quite a lot of energy, but you look none the worse for wear."
Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm a special case."
"Sakana-san" Called out Tomoda, getting the fisherman's attention and gesturing towards the report in his hand. "If you would sign here please, this will conclude our mission."
As his teacher was being busy wrapping up the mission, the Jinchūriki looked back towards the chair that mister Tokita had been occupying the entire time. It was kinda unnerving the way he had barely twitched a muscle within the past several hours.
"You alright?"
The blond blinked and glanced at his female teammate who was staring at him with a curious expression.
"I wonder what he's thinking about."
Yuna tilted her head slightly at that. "I've met someone like this before. Post-Traumatic Stress can affect people in varying ways. Some break down, some become like this."
That statement made Naruto frown and stare at the ground.
"He must be in a lot of pain."
The girl with the ponytail stared at him for a few more moments before turning back towards the rest of her team. "Come on, we're leaving."
His gaze lingered on the old man for a little while longer, but soon turned around as well and followed after her.
—
"Phew, it's finally over."
Tomoda sighed as he and his students stepped out of the fishing shed. They'd been at this for nearly 6 hours, he really needed a stiff drink from Shushuya's right now.
Sho grunted and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'm just glad we had Naruto's clones."
"Yeah, who knows how long this would have taken otherwise." Yuna agreed with a small smile.
The Jōnin grinned as he listened to his students interact with one another. They'd each been pretty cold and distant at the beginning, what with Sho and Yuna not being very expressive of their emotions and Naruto being naturally introverted, but they had come a long way after two months of training and doing missions together. They could all hold an actual conversation together now, and could rely on each other pretty well. Their coordination in general still had much to be desired, but it was a drastic improvement to two months ago.
"Sensei? Sensei!"
"Huh?" He looked over towards the kids to see them all staring at him. He must have spaced out again, he really needed to stop doing that.
Yuna crossed her arms. "I was asking you what we were doing now. Are we meeting up at the training ground?"
Tomoda shook his head. "No, I can go report by myself. No training today so you three can head on home and enjoy your afternoons."
"If that's the case, I'll see you guys later!" Yuna said and hurried off in a random direction. Sho nodded to the two and he too went his own way.
Naruto stared at where his two teammates had previously been standing in not two seconds ago with bemusement. "What was that all about?" Hearing no response, he turned back around to face his teacher. "Sensei?"
When he looked over, he too was gone, making him the only one left there.
"what?"
This was a strange evening, Naruto had decided. The day had gone by as it usually did for the past 2 months. He'd woken up, did some stretching, had his breakfast and met up with his team near the Hokage tower. After that they had all gone to the mission lobby to get their usual D-rank and went ahead and completed it.
But the afternoon was when it took a strange turn. There was no training for once, which was strange. Tomoda-sensei was a stickler for consistency. He'd never given them days off before except for the weekends.
As if that wasn't enough, they'd all hurried off in their own direction, almost as if they were late for something. It didn't take him long to shake off the confusion though, he'd long gotten accustomed to his team's oddities. But the night just kept on getting weirder. He went to look for Kakashi at his usual spots; at his house, at the memorial stone, at Shushuya's, and even at Kinta's book shop! He was nowhere to be seen! Kakashi usually came to tell him whenever he'd leave the village to take on missions.
Even weirder, once he gave up on finding the elusive ninja, he'd tried going to Ichiraku's to treat himself to some ramen, but they were closed! He'd literally never seen that place closed before.
Having ran out of people to spend time with, Naruto dejectedly made his way home.
—
Rustle rustle.
Click.
Creeeaaak.
'What a disappointing day.' Naruto couldn't help but think to himself as he unlocked the door to his house and pushed it open, making sure to close it properly behind him. He knew it was selfish to think that,the people he knew had lives of their own and he couldn't always be relying on them to stave off his boredom and loneliness. But still…
Where was everyone?
Within the darkness, his hand travelled towards the switch to his apartment reflexively and flicked the light on.
"SURPRISE!"
The poor blond nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight that greeted him. Festive decorations were hanging on his walls with balloons and confetti everywhere. A group had gathered within his small apartment as well. Geez, he'd been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even sensed anyone here. Old man Teuchi and Ayame were wearing big grins on their faces, their cooking attire gone for once. His team was there too; Yuna and Sho were surprisingly wearing party hats. It was quite the funny sight to see his stoic, stone-faced teammates wearing those silly things. Tomoda was a lot more cheerful, loudly blowing on one of those party horns. Kakashi was also there, wearing his usual uniform. Though he too was wearing a party hat, and so were several of his Jōnin friends that he'd taken along. He recognized them! Kurenai, Gai, Yugao and Asuma.
What on earth was going on?
"Wh-wha…?" Naruto couldn't help but stutter in surprise. Kakashi's eye curved up at his former student's befuddled expression and stepped forward to ruffle his hair.
"Happy birthday Naruto."
The boy's eyes darted to his calendar that was hanging off the kitchen. What was today? Yep, sure enough, today was October 10th. How could he have forgotten what today was?
His eyes began to moisten again as the familiar yet unfamiliar feeling swelled up in his chest. There was even a cake and a few small presents strewn around on the table. That was so thoughtful of them.
"You guys…" He honestly didn't know what to say. Anything coming out of his mouth wouldn't feel genuine enough in his opinion. He couldn't even begin to formulate how grateful he felt. Thankfully, he didn't have to say anything. Kakashi had always been able to read him like an open book.
"Hokage-sama will stop by soon. He got a bit caught up at work but he'll make an appearance." Naruto smiled and nodded. Even if things were a bit rough between him and the old-man Hokage, he appreciated the fact that he'd be here regardless.
"Thank you, everyone…" He said shakily. And the smiles he received in return filled his heart with joy.
—
The party had been going on for 2 hours now. The adults were drinking and having a good time, and he and his two teammates had been happily talking amongst each other. The Hokage had showed up for a few minutes, wished him a happy birthday and left a present as well. Unfortunately, he had to leave again soon after.
Strangely enough though, Kakashi had suddenly pulled him aside from all the action with the strangest look in his eyes. He'd never seen him look so hesitant before.
"I promised you that I wouldn't keep anymore lies from you." Kakashi said suddenly, making Naruto nod hesitantly.
"There's…One more thing."
He seemed pretty anxious about this. He'd learned that he contained a giant beast that destroyed his hometown and killed the fourth Hokage inside of his stomach, and that same Hokage was his own father and had been sealed inside of the belly of the death god. What could possibly warrant such uncertainty from the Jōnin?
"Have you ever heard of Jiraiya of the Sannin?"
The boy nodded. Of course he'd heard of him. He along with the two others, Tsunade and Orochmaru were pretty much legends in the history books. As far as he knew, all three were still alive.
"He trained the Yondaime." He said, making the blond's eyes widen. "And…"
"He is your Godfather."
—
Naruto didn't know how to feel right now. It was like someone had ripped the ground from beneath his feet and his whole life had been turned upside down.
Jiraiya was his Godfather. What did this mean?
Jiraiya knew his dad. He had trained him and groomed him to be Hokage. That meant that the two were close, right?
He was a Sannin. And being a Sannin in pretty much the biggest military village probably meant an abundance of wealth, right?
So, either he was dead and no one knew about it, or…
He didn't give two fucks about him.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Muttered Naruto in a weak tone. "What should I do? What am I supposed to feel?" He was feeling so lost right now, so betrayed and a million questions were running rampant inside his head.
Kakashi stayed quiet as well, not really knowing what to say. He'd met Jiraiya before, he honestly wasn't a bad character, and he wrote some nice books. But he just couldn't agree with the 'I'm too busy' excuse.
In the end though, he decided to smile and place a comforting hand on the shorter boy's shoulder. "What I think isn't important. This is something you need to figure out on your own." He withdrew his hand and looked at the couch where Yuna and Sho were idly chatting. "But today is a day of celebration. For now, focus on what is good rather than what is bad."
He looked over to what had caught his teacher's attention, and his eyes fell upon his two teammates. They had all come a long way since two months ago. Sho never smiled and was still as stoic as ever, but only they could see that his eyes lacked the edge they held when they'd first met, or the fact that his demeanor was a lot less guarded.
Yuna noticed his eyes from across the room and gave him a small smile in return. Naruto smiled back and an invisible weight seemed to have lifted from his shoulders.
Yeah…Tonight, he wouldn't worry about that.
A sharp blade cut through the air and knocked away a kunai's trajectory, saving the young boy from a fatal wound. Sheathing the tanto and jumping up in the air to avoid Sho's double handed sledgehammer strike, the young Uzumaki flipped to right himself and willed two chains to burst out of the ground and tightly wrap around the older boy. Naruto deftly landed on the shoulders of the incapacitated earth user, as blue eyes shot back towards his other teammate, who was keeping her distance and watching him warily.
It hadn't taken long to determine who was the strongest of the three. In fact, it had taken about two minutes into their first 3-way brawl. As much as Sho loathed to admit it, the blond outshined him in every department save for brute strength when he had his iron skin activated. But even then, Naruto's broad repertoire made it easy for him to make up for that fact.
While Naruto wasn't as good as Yuna when it came to plan-making and strategizing, he was extremely clever and could come up with the most unpredictable scenarios on the spot. Last week, he'd managed to create a clone and have it transform into a pebble once they were both distracted and took them by surprise when they least expected it. Her superior intellect was countered with his cunning mind. Her skills at Shurikenjutsu was countered by his incredible control over his chains and his quick reflexes. Her Genjutsu was, for some reason, not having any effect on him. It was like there was something that was protecting him or making him immune.
So, the two oldest members of team 5 had decided to team up together in an effort to be able to beat him. It took a while for Sho to agree to the idea, thinking it was dishonorable to do so, but after a number of losses, he eventually complied.
The 9-year-old shunshin'd forward and threw a forward kick, which was blocked by the girl but still sent her skidding back a few meters. Rushing in close, Naruto sent two more punches who were narrowly dodged and countered by a low kick of her own. The blond jumped over it and spun horizontally, sending a punch to her gut, making her grunt in pain and keel over slightly.
Sho finally freed himself from the chains and jumped the distance, attempting to deliver a powerful double-kick at the smaller blond. Unfortunately, he was too fast and agile and managed to hop away at the last second. Sho landed heavily on the ground, kicking up a lot of dust and making visibility become poor.
Yuna coughed and leaned back up, a hand placed on her stomach. She sent an irritated look towards her oldest teammate and frowned. "Dammit Sho, now we won't be able to see him."
Sho didn't reply, instead put his hands in the snake release. Earth style: bottomless swamp. The earthy ground around them soon turned into thick mud, forcing the young blond out of his hiding spot and up on a tree branch.
Yuna sent a dozen shuriken at him, making him dodge to the side and pull out his tanto to deflect them. While he was being distracted, her hands flew through hand-seals. She breathed out a medium sized fireball that soared through the air, heading right at Naruto. The blond was about to go through hand-seals to counter when Sho landed next to him on the branch and delivered a right hook at his face, nailing him on the cheek and sending him headfirst into the fireball.
The flaming ball impacted against him and both Genin covered their eyes at the brilliant show of light. Once the fire had subsided, they looked at the results to find…Nothing? There wasn't anyone there anymore!
"Hehehe," A mischievous cackle made them look towards the other side of the clearing. Their youngest teammate was standing there, completely unharmed and rubbing his index finger under his nose smugly. "You guys are gonna have to try harder than that to get me!" The cheeky Genin said.
Yuna grit her teeth together and clenched her hands in anger. "I'll show you, you cheeky-" But before she could say further, the loud ringing of a clock signalled the end of their sparring match.
"And time!" Tomoda called out as he walked towards his three students. "Good job everyone, you did great. Sho, good use of the mud technique. Yuna, I saw that distraction you did with the shuriken. That was pretty smart. However, you should always assume that the enemy is still standing until you've confirmed that they're actually down for the count. Naruto, you did good, but next time use the confusion of your disappearance to your advantage instead of remaining hidden. Calling out to them was a big mistake. If the timer hadn't rung when it did, that would have been a huge missed opportunity. Every seconds and every little mistakes can be the difference between life and death on the battlefield."
Yuna tiredly fell into a sitting position to rest her sore legs. Out of the three, she was the least physically fit and the worst one when it came to endurance and hand to hand. Sho picked up a water bottle and took some long sips from it as he leaned his body against a tree.
"The day is still young." Remarked Tomoda as he looked up at the sky. "I think we have time for a quick D-rank." All three Genin groaned in response causing him to chuckle. "Don't give up guys, we're almost done with the required missions before we're able to move on to C-ranks."
Naruto scoffed and grumbled under his breath. "Wouldn't be so bad if you weren't a lazy bum…"
"What was that!?"
"Nothing!"
—
"Team 5 reporting for duty."
The fire leader looked up from his paperwork and smiled at the team. "Ah, Tomoda-san. Here for your daily D-rank I take it?"
"That's right Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen sifted through some paperwork. "Today we have a few interesting ones. The Inuzuka kennels need to be cleaned again. The various amount of honeys and secretions produced by the Aburame insects need to be collected, the garden around the Yamanaka compound needs to be trimmed, th-
BANG!
"Hokage-sama!"
"Taro-san! You can't just barge in like this!"
All heads turned to the door as Tokita Taro, the grandson of Tokita Mamoru, barged in with the Hokage's secretary Kimi following close behind. Naruto recognized the boy; he was the one they'd fixed the fishing shack for a few weeks ago.
Hiruzen waved his secretary off. "It's quite alright Kimi, you may return to your desk." The Hokage turned his eyes towards the panting child with an eyebrow raised questioningly. "Taro-kun, is something the matter?"
"Hokage-sama," Repeated Taro once he'd caught his breath. "It's my grandpa, Mamoru! He's gone missing!"
This drew surprised looks from everyone within the room, Naruto in particular. "That old guy is…?"
Hiruzen steepled his fingers together, a deep frown upon his features. "Hmm. That is troubling news, Taro-kun. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
Taro shook his head quickly as his face took on a pleading look. "No I don't Hokage-sama. Please, you need to find him!"
"Calm yourself, do not worry. We will find Mamoru-san." The Sandaime turned back towards the Genin team. "Team 5, are you up for the task?"
Tomoda saluted, along with his three Genin behind him. "We accept, Hokage-sama!"
Taro sniffled and wiped his eyes, looking at the people in front of him gratefully. "T-Thank you. Please find my jiji!"
Naruto's features became serious, and a look of complete conviction could be clearly seen on his face. "We will find him, I promise. You can count on us."
Or so he thought.
—
The village of Konoha was very, very big. Naruto had made twenty shadow clones, and even with 21 of him along with his two teammates and sensei, they still haven't found him after 3 hours.
"Nothing over here." Reported Sho through his ear piece.
"Acknowledged. Continue further. Yuna, any visual evidence?"
"None sensei. No one has seen him."
"Naruto, anything to report?"
Naruto cursed under his breath and pressed the switch on his ear piece. "My clones haven't found a damn thing yet."
Tomoda frowned and looked around from his vantage point. No sign of Tokita Mamoru. This wasn't looking good.
He was startled when a grey figure wearing a mouse mask suddenly dropped down next to him. "Jōnin Wada Tomoda?"
"Er, yes?" He replied in surprise.
"Report from the Hokage. Civilian Tokita Taro has informed us that former special Jōnin Tokita Mamoru had a residence East of the memorial statue."
"Does Hokage-sama think that he'll be there?"
The ANBU with the mouse mask nodded. "It's a possibility, one that is worthy of investigation."
Tomoda quickly thanked the ANBU and relayed the information to his team.
"I'm near that place." Said Naruto quickly. "I can get there in 2 minutes."
"Good. Naruto, go there and investigate. We will converge and join you there."
"Right." Replied the three voices at the same time. Naruto pumped chakra through his legs and body as he body flickered as fast as he could to the destination. There was the memorial stone that Kakashi-sensei spent so much time in. He continued past it and turned to the right, following the beaten path and soon came upon a small little run-down house.
"This is Naruto. I have arrived at the location. Going in to investigate."
"Good work. We're not far behind."
Naruto walked up to the door, an odd feeling of trepidation growing in the pit of his stomach. What was happening? Something was telling him he wouldn't like whatever he would find behind that door. Raising his hand, he knocked on the door several times and gulped nervously. "Mister Tokita? Are you in there?"
No answer. Naruto knocked again. "I'm coming in!" He said. Still no answer. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, slowly opening it.
A stack of ropes to the side caught his attention, all with their ends cut off and sporting failed fishing knots. He shakily brought a hand to his ear piece as he made his way through the corridor. "S-Something's wrong. I'm getting a bad feeling."
"Naruto, what's the situation?"
The blond didn't seem to hear him as he neared the end of the corridor and pushed the door open, who creaked in protest from old age. The Uzumaki stepped in, and felt his blood run cold.
Mister Tokita was there. And a rope attached to a wooden beam on the ceiling was tied around his neck, making his body hang loosely and gently rock to and fro.
The poor blond took a shaky step back as he fought back the urge to vomit. The door behind him burst open, his frantic teacher appearing and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Naruto! What's going…"
Tomoda trailed off as he noticed the scene being displayed in front of him, a strangled gasp escaping his lips. His two other students soon followed after him, though both skidded to a halt as they too saw what was going on.
"Oh god…" Yuna said as she covered her mouth in horror. Even Sho seemed greatly disturbed by this, his skin taking an unnatural pale color. Tomoda took a step forward as he placed his hands on the body and lifted it slightly to ease off the strain around the man's neck.
"Quick, somebody help me get him down." He said quickly. Sho rushed forward, a kunai in hand and used it to cut the rope off. Mamoru collapsed onto Tomoda's shoulder, who proceeded to lie him down gently onto the floor and pressed an ear to his chest.
Naruto watched all of this happening. He watched the angry red marks around his neck that the rope had left. He watched the drool that had gathered in the corners of his mouth during his final moments. He watched his empty eyes, glazed over and still opened in pain.
Tomoda pulled away in remorse when he heard no sound coming from his chest. Mamoru's skin was cold, this had been done a while ago.
He was gone.
AN: This chapter took a while to come out. Why? No real excuse, except that Fable 3 is a pretty great game...
If anyone is interested, check out the bottom of my profile to be able to see what Naruto looks like right now. A drawing of team 5 will also be added pretty soon to my deviantart.
Once again, thanks for reading. And please leave lots of reviews if you want to motivate my lazy ass!