Into double digits dear readers wow, we also have hit 100 favs. A huge thank you to all who have enjoyed my writing. I know it's not amazing but I'm glad you enjoy it all the same.
We'll have 1 chapter of downtime here I think then we'll be kicking it into high gear with the chunin exams. I hope you're ready because I have some fun fun fun shit planned and I've been waiting to put it into place.
As always, please leave any feedback you wish I enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Back at the 'hidden gem' village
After Naruto, Satsuki and Kakashi defeated the Gekai brothers and they managed to find and free every captive in the tunnels they emerged from the earth and were welcomed back as hero's, the people kept in chains ran and hugged their families and friends and the three leaf ninja who had liberated them were given applause and tearful embraces, which Satsuki actively avoided and Naruto wasn't too happy either considering his wounds were still healing so the human contact wasn't exactly pleasant.
"Mother!" Minami shouted as she ran out of the inn wearing much more modest clothing.
As she ran, an older green haired woman ran to her also to embrace her.
"Mom! I was so worried." Manami spoke as she wept tears of joy at seeing her mother.
Naruto and Satsuki looked at the scene and honestly didn't feel that great.
They both looked around to see the joy on the people's faces, and while they should feel pride or joy at their accomplishment, they both just felt empty.
Naruto turned to Satsuki seeing her gaze downcast and empty, he'd seen that look before, but now he knew where she went when it appeared, she was back to the night her family was killed, as she knew she'd never come home and weep with joy at seeing her clan alive. He had a look too, the envy of the feeling of being reunited with family and the hollowness that followed as Naruto knew that the experience would forever be utterly alien to him.
"You okay?" He asked, standing right next to her, he'd always been hesitant to approach her before, because she was so much better and cooler but now they were teammates and friends? He'd have her back.
"No. You?" She asked emotionlessly, wishing to every deity that she could go home and have her family waiting there to see her with tears in their eyes, only for their lifeless eyes to flash in her mind, they'd never come back.
"Nope." Naruto spoke simply next to her, the concept of what she missed was completely alien to him, and that made it hurt more, the fact that he couldn't sympathize, the idea of family was unknown to him, he had no idea what it felt like to lose that, so he just tried to be as supportive as possible to Satsuki.
"Seeing this isn't good for them both." Kakashi thought as he looked as his two most promising students stood by one another, clearly not comfortable seeing so many joyus family's around them.
"Excuse me. You're the daughter of this village's elder? The one who made the request?" Kakashi asked, walking up to Minami's mother who wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Yes, that's me. I'm Madoka, my father Gonjo sent off the request and those savages killed him for it. It was terrible." The now named Madoka answered.
"I'm terribly sorry for your loss, well we found your missing people so I'd call that mission complete. Well take our leave after my team have some rest." Kakashi answered her kindly.
"We are forever in your debt, please why not stay with us for some time?" Madoka asked him, clearly trying to offer any sort of thanks she could muster only for Kakashi to hold up his hand.
"While I certainly appreciate your offer the whole village had just been through a great ordeal, it would be wrong of us to ask for service when you could all do with a break far more. Besides I know a good place across the border in the land of steam, they cater specifically to shinobi so I'll take the team there. Ah, also we extracted your fee from the brothers coffers so you needn't worry and here's something for you." Kakashi said as he took out a small pouch of precious gems from the storage scroll he used to raid the Gekai brothers' vault.
"I-I don't know what to say, you really are too kind." Madoka spoke, first they'd saved them and enacted vengeance on the vile men who had taken them, and now they were offering them monetary compensation.
"We are leaf shinobi, we pride ourselves on our honor as ninja, this has been our way since the first Hokage founded the hidden leaf." Kakashi answered, it was often a point of contention in village and inter-village politics about the more peaceful and kind nature spoken of in the will of fire all leaf shinobi are taught to follow, but Kakashi knew that fire burned brightly, and allowed heros and truly exceptional shinobi to be born, after all the hidden leaf had more then just fare share of legendary and infamous ninja compared to the other ninja villages, so they were obviously doing something right.
"Well know you and other leaf ninja will always be welcome here, we owe you a great debt." Madoka said as she and the rest of the villages bowed to the four leaf ninja out of respect.
"I kinda feel like I'm stealing some of the spotlight here." Sakura thought sheepishly as it was her sensei and two teammates that did everything.
After some more heartfelt goodbyes that Satsuki decided to stay out of, her good mood at finally being able to utilize her Sharingan properly being soured by the family reunions she would never experience.
As they set off, Sakura asked a very prominent question.
"Kakashi-sensei this isn't the way back to the village?" She asked, it was true, they were not leaving the way they entered the village coming from the hidden leaf.
"that is correct, we are going into the land of steam, there's quite a prominent hot springs resort there that caters to shinobi, it's said that our first Hokage was an avid patron even, as we just had another difficult mission and I found and plundered the brothers little vault while in those tunnels I feel we are all owed a little relaxation at their expense. I sent a group of clones to take back a prisoners I took to the Interrogation and torture department along with any other mission relevant materials to report to lord Hokage, so get ready for a full week of relaxation, you've all earned it." Kakashi said, eyes smiling.
All three perked up at that, a full week at a luxury resort that even a Kage was an avid fan of, Naruto was feeling pretty cruddy about walking more with a major lack of chakra and his wounds, Satsuki was of a similar mindset as her chakra way pretty much fully tapped in her fight against Dogeki.
"Alright Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, him and Sakura having wide smiles and bright eyes, Satsuki was keeping her excitement internal but nevertheless it was there, the idea of soaking away in a hot spring even for a bit sounded like heaven. While she did want to start training her Sharingan she was too tightly wound right now, the idea of training like this was utterly unappealing, and that was training with Sharingan of all things, something she had wanted since she was a child, that alone of evidence enough that she needed a break otherwise she'd just burn out.
Upon some more travel they finally reached where Kakashi had been leading them.
A fancy sign read 'steamy oaks private shinobi resort' the wood was of the highest quality and was expertly carved, the i's even had shuriken instead of dots.
"Now this is what I'm talking about." Naruto said looking around seeing the whole place was made of fine wood and was of the highest quality, he also saw a few shinobi around, while they wore comfortable kimonos they all carried their village symbol somewhere on their person, they saw a few leaf ninja, a women and man from the hidden grass, a four man group from the land of frost and two from the land of steams hidden village.
"Woah there's even ninja from other nations here." Sakura said as she saw some ninja from the surrounding nations.
"As I said this is very popular place among shinobi, nevertheless these are people from other nations and while we are all at peace with them and we are in fact allied with the land of steam don't antagonize any ninja from other nations, it's kind of an unwritten rule to leave other ninja to their own devices here." Kakashi explained as they walked over to the desk where a female clerk was sitting.
"Ah hello, will you be staying with us?" The woman asked kindly.
"Yes we will, four rooms, Kage package for a full week." Kakashi spoke kindly.
"Ah! Mr Hatake, it's good to see you again, of course, we greatly value our repeat customers as you know and I assume this is your students first time here, if you'll please show your shinobi ID's." The woman asked, seemingly recognizing Kakashi after a few seconds, it seems like he's been here before.
Kakashi and his genin all presented their ID and were all verified and Kakashi passed them all room keys and he told them he'd sort out payment.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Satsuki asked as she looked over her room key, which seemed to be a wooden card with a fuinjutsu formula on it. It made sense, no basic locked door would stop any of this establishment's patrons so it made sense they'd use seals. She mainly asked because leisure and 'taking it easy' we're not something she really knew how to do
"Whatever we want! I'm going to go check out the hot springs, aren't they meant to be amazing in the land of steam or something?" Naruto said excitedly, excited to fully enjoy a break from missions and everything.
"I'm with you there Naruto, they are supposed to be the best in the world." Sakura said, planning to enjoy the hot springs herself.
"I'll just stay in my room I guess?" Satsuki said, not really feeling the buzz her teammates were.
"Satsuki don't be a buzz kill, come and enjoy it with us." Naruto said happily, wrapping his arm around her neck in a friendly embrace while she had an irritated expression at his antics.
"Fiiiiine." She dragged out, going along with Naruto.
Later when they had all changed into some fine light blue kimonos provided by their rooms they finally went to the hot springs, although Satsuki did drag her feet slightly, it appears that there were two different sets of springs, one for regular guests and one just for Kage package guests that their seal keys unlocked.
Naruto walked in to find it empty, looked like he had the whole place to himself. He smiled as he looked at the springs, there was a hot steaming pool of water and formations of rocks and even a tree in the corner that had shed a few perfectly formed leaves that floated in the pool, it was a pretty great atmosphere for a leaf ninja I couldn't lie, he disrobed and slipped into the pool, feeling his muscles untense and stress leave his body as he submerged himself in the hot springs.
"Ahhhh man, this is great." Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes and just enjoyed himself.
In the girls section Sakura sat in the hot springs but she was slightly peeved, girls were meant to chat, talk and have fun in hot springs yet Satsuki had distanced herself on the other side of the pool, she had closed her eyes as she sat in the spring but Sakura could see she was still tense.
She quietly moved over her and as Satsuki opened her eyes to see the disturbance in the water she was face to face with Sakura.
"Yes?" She asked, her tone irritated. She really was not in the mood for people right now.
"Come on Satsuki, let's sit together, just us girls." Sakura spoke as she sat next to her.
"Kill me." She thought as part of her wanted to get out of the water just to escape Sakura…but this water was really really nice~.
"Are you doing okay? I know Kakashi-sensei ran in to save you but you were captured by those awful people, I consider you a precious comrade and we are on the same team so I was really worried about you." Sakura said as she had a caring look in her eyes.
"I'm fine…I was slightly worried for a moment but I managed to escape. Weren't you worried about Naruto?" She asked her, she did slightly downplay her worry, she have a panic attack during her imprisonment, there was real and honest danger that her life would have ended right then and there, either by dying in her escape or being sold as a slave, the latter was honestly worse then death for someone like Sarsuki.
"Wah?! I mean of course I was worried about him but with you being a girl and a member of the Uchiha clan you're a lot more special then he is." Sakura spoke, trying to correct her words. She was honestly worried about Naruto but he was a legendary knucklehead, he'd pull through, Satsuki was in real danger at the hands of those swine.
"He's an utter moron and the biggest loser I know." Satsuki uttered sitting in the still water, looking at her reflection through the steam, thinking about how much of an utter idiot her male teammate was.
"I know rig-." Sakura started to say only for Satsuki to cut her off.
"But don't ever say he isn't special." She cut in, that's something she took offense to.
"He may be stupid but in battle he'll think up stuff nobody else will because he thinks so differently. He'll say different things, use jutsu in different ways, not to mention how odd his skills are, he can't control chakra to save his life yet he had enough to make clone after clone and even with that he pushed through to keep pace with me during the tree climbing. He's about as special as they come, in every wrong and every right way." Satsuki admitted, they'd only been a team for a few weeks but in that time she'd seen a lot of Naruto, a lot of the fool, chasing the mountain known as Hokage and then the shining moments of the leaf shinobi, who was already scaling the lowest parts of that mountain with unparalleled perseverance and willpower, Satsuki was…happy to have a friend like him.
"I guess you're not wrong there, I'm going to get out and go rest in my room I think, remember not to stay in too long." Sakura said, not really knowing what to say as Satsuki admitted her acknowledgement that Naruto wasn't just some bumbling fool, at least not entirely.
"Sure." She offhandedly spoke as she sat there, now alone in the springs.
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"Satsuki?" She heard coming from the bamboo wall separating the male and females sides, it seemed she'd gone right near them when she got in.
"Hey Naruto." She said back staring up at the dark sky as the steam rose around her vision, the brighter stars just starting to come out.
"It seems another mission went sideways huh? Maybe we'll have a normal one next time?" Naruto joked, looking at the private spring the tree in the corner really did bring the whole look together, now that Naruto thought about it, he'd always enjoyed nature.
"Maybe, hey Naruto are you okay, I mean…we killed people." Satsuki said soberly, bringing the mood down slightly.
"I've…been trying not to think about it, I mean, they were bad people right?" Naruto spoke back, he had a flash of the two people who's heads he cracked open, it happened again, he knew it this time, he'd gotten angry, angry that people like that existed and they were going to sell Satsuki like a fucking thing. And it came out again, he remembered the red this time, chakra more plentiful and potent then anything he could muster running through him, igniting a blaze of bloodshed all catalyzed by his aggression.
The worst thing? He liked it, he liked that he punched a steel door off its hinges, he liked that it set him free. He liked that he used that power to get back to Satsuki, and he was questioning how wrong that was, and if letting that chakra help him win was the worst thing.
"The worst kind of people, nobody will ever miss them, Naruto . I can tell you that. I don't know whether to feel happy or just nothing that I killed them?" She answered. For the longest time Satsuki's goal had been vengeance in blood, the last Uchiha blood that should ever be spilt by another Uchiha. And yet she'd finally taken the plunge, finally killed a man, a man almost as awful as her brother, but then again she was bias.
"I guess we should feel…just? Maybe? I mean, think of how many people they will never hurt now that they're gone." Naruto spoke, trying to figure out how he did feel and how he should.
"Killing someone for justice is my reason for living I suppose, I can't hate that." Satsuki said back to him, glad he talked to her like this.
"Yea, your brother. I suppose that's a point, if you kill someone to prevent suffering or if you have no choice? Maybe that's alright?" Naruto reasoned, he wasn't sure how he felt about that but it wasn't…bad? He was still working out his own ninja way and as combat is the way of a shinobi, it was important to come to a conclusion.
"I can live with that…maybe we should ask Kakashi? He's probably thought the same as us? He should have some advice. Speaking of, did you see that jutsu he used?" Satsuki spoke, switching the topic to the masterful display of lightning style she'd seen used.
"What do you mean 'did I see it'?! I can never unsee it, man, to think ninjutsu like that existed, my chakra is building up just thinking about it!" Naruto replied excitedly, to think their normally lazy sensei could do stuff like that, it was clear they had only seen a small fraction of what Kakashi could do.
"You and me both, I need a jutsu like that, something big and bold." Satsuki spoke, picturing herself wielding jutsu like that in a childlike fantasy, only for it to switch to the more morbid fantasy of standing over Itachi's motionless body, her potent jutsu dealing the killing blow.
"Are you serious?! You have all those fancy fire jutsu! How is that not big and bold?" Naruto said back to her, honestly he was quite jealous that his teammate could literally breathe fire.
"While the Fireball jutsu is a right of passage for a young Uchiha shinobi and the Phoenix flower is useful for crowd control they lack punch, it was only after a awakened my Sharingan again that I could see the weaknesses in Dogeki jutsu and defeat him, I need something that can break through tough defense like that." Satsuki spoke, while her current two fire jutsu were indeed potent weapons, she needed something big for any situations she may encounter where the enemy had immense defensive abilities.
"That makes sense, I want to get my hands on a better jutsu too, I only really have shadow clones to attack people with, I need some offensive jutsu like you have." Naruto answered, while he loved his clones he needed more ways to use the massive amount of chakra being a jinchuuriki granted him, he needed to talk to Kakashi-sensei when he had the chance.
"I agree." Satsuki spoke as she closed her eyes and relaxed, both content to enjoy the silence.
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"Ahhhh I'll never get tired of this place *unintelligible* how about you?" a mature voice next to Naruto spoke, Naruto turned to look to see an adult male with dark bronze skin and long black hair relaxing in the water, the oddest thing is the steam covered his face, Naruto tried to focus to see it only for his head to hurt, he clutched it and as mysterious as he appeared, his disappeared, the water wasn't even disturbed.
"I'll admit it's always good to come with you here *unintelligible* but you know I could just sneak into your side so we could bathe together, it's moronic talking through a wall." A voice said next to Satsuki, she quickly turned to see a woman sitting in the water next to her, she never heard or felt her presence at all, she was pale skinned and she saw the woman was well endowed, her sizeable chest above the water, her large amounts of black hair covering most of Satsuki's view of her face while the rest of obscured by steam, she tried to get a good look at the woman only for a sharp pain to fill her head and as soon as it dissipated she saw the woman was gone, she instinctively activated her Sharingan and looked around to see her, only to see nothing, not even a ripple in the water.
"Urrr Satsuki. I think we've been in here long enough." Naruto spoke, rationalizing what he just saw with his mind playing tricks on him due to the steam.
"You're right, I'm hungry anyway." Satsuki spoke, coming to the same conclusion as Naruto.
They both wrapped their towels around themselves and got back to their room and put some fresh clothes on, they both attqched their headbands to their sashes as keeping your headband on you in some capacity seemed to be something most people did.
Naruto was outside his room when he saw Satsuki exit, her hair was slightly damp and let down some because of her lack of headband and her skin was glowing from the recent time in a hot spring. While Naruto had always looked up to Satsuki as everything he wanted to be as a ninja he'd never really caught up with the other male members of his class that cared about such things but Satsuki was…really pretty, he'd never really noticed it that much before.
"What are you looking at, loser?" She said as she saw him looking at her blankly.
"Huh? O-oh well I-I. Sorry, I just sorted zoned out, you know me, hahaha." Naruto spluttered out, if Satsuki found out that he was looking at her and thinking she looked nice she'd probably poison his meal…if he was lucky.
"I sometimes forget that you have to struggle with that void of nothingness you call a brain. Let's go." Satsuki spoke, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along.
"Was he?..no Naruto is too much of a dunce to ever…especially me of all people." Satsuki thought, unsure of herself.
They made it to the dining hall to see Sakura and Kakashi who were enjoying some appetizers.
"Oh, hello you two, we've already ordered a spread. It should be here soon." Kakashi said kindly, eye smile and all.
"Hahaha. I thought that was you captain." a friendly new voice spoke as a brown haired, plain looking man walked over to them, seeming to know Kakashi.
"Tenzo? What are you doing here?" Kakashi said in shock at seeing a man seemingly called Tenzo, he appeared to be a member of their village shown by the leaf village plate he wore loosely around his arm.
"Enjoying a mission well done, same as you I guess. So these are the three miscreant genin you've been tasked with huh?" Tenzo spoke in a joking tone, making the three genin give an unhappy look at being called 'miscreants'.
"Hey! I'll have you know Naruto and sensei are the only miscreants on this team." Sakura said forcefully.
"Hey!" Naruto retorted.
"Why me?" Kakashi asked, hurt by the accusation.
"You're always reading that pervy book in public." Sakura said deadpanning with Satsuki giving a nod.
"She's got you their captain." Tenzo said, chuckling at him. He liked these kids.
"I'll leave you and your team to eat, come have some Sake with me and my squad later, we'll catch up." Tenzo spoke as he gave Kakashi a reassuring and friendly pat on the shoulder.
"So is that another jonin you know Sensei?" Sakura asked him.
"Sort of I've worked with him on missions a lot in the past, afraid I can't say too much about it." Kakashi spoke as he distanced himself from the topic.
"Hmmm. I thought as much, you were in anbu together." Satsuki said smirking, knowing she was right as his lone eye opened slightly.
"Nothing gets past you does it Satsuki. *sigh* fine yes before I was resigned as a jonin sensei I did a lot of work as a captain of the anbu black ops. As the name suggests I can't really talk about anything I did without the go-ahead from lord Hokage." Kakashi admitted, pulling down the kimono on his left side to show the tattoo to signify membership in anbu, Satsuki remembered her brother had one just like it.
"Woah, no wonder your so strong." Naruto said excitedly, while he didn't know much about anbu he did know they were those guys in the cool masks and were the best shinobi in the village.
"Well you don't just have to be strong to get in anbu, I know a jonin who's as strong as they come but he's definitely not cut our for anbu." Kakashi admitted thinking of his 'rival' best friend.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei I was thinking, can you teach me any cool new jutsu when we get back to the village?" Naruto asked him, excited and more then willing to learn more.
"I'm afraid they'll be little time to do so Naruto I'd be better if you worked on your fundamentals in the time you have." Kakashi told him cripticly.
"What do you mean there's no time?!" Naruto asked back angrily.
"*sigh* Honestly I wish I could, but as your abilities to learn a new jutsu could be impaired by the lack of chakra control you have, I wouldn't have time to do so. After all, when we get back to the village you'll maybe have a week before it happens." He said, once again not getting to the point.
"Before what happens?" Satsuki cut in, her gaze hardening.
"While part of me didn't want to enter you three until the next one, you've shown me incredible progress. It's why I brought you here, to fully relax and unwind. Before the chunin exams." Kakashi spoke, and that got all of their attention.
"Chunin exams?" Naruto questioned.
"Indeed, they are held twice a year and are one of the best ways to show you are ready, of course there are many ways to become chunin, having a field promotion after showing you are capable is the most common, but through the exams you can truly shine and show your potential, I believe that going through these exams will be vital to your development as shinobi." Kakasho revealed, obviously he didn't tell them he thought none of them could possibly become chunin just yet, they were still too green and let their emotions rule them too much, but they needed the challenge and almost certainty of failure to push them further, from what he'd seen so far, Naruto and Satsuki especially will continue to grow to be truly exceptional shinobi, he had no doubt.
"Man, chunin exams, I'm already so ready for them, thanks Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said excitedly, hyped up for the exams.
"Well don't thank me yet, people die in these exams Naruto, they are not for the faint of heart, so just make sure you definitely want to do this, all three of you." Kakashi warned, he had seen enough chunin exams to know they were not easy or forgiving, people died and unprepared shinobi did not fare well, they had to be one hundred percent sure.
As he let them think on that their food arrived, all manner of fine foods, Naruto almost wanted to complain there was no ramen but he could always have some Ichiraku back in the village, there were all manners of quality seafood, crab, lobster and all manner of sushi not to mention spreads of other luxury foods. The whole team dug in with gusto, Naruto and Satsuki had a thought in the middle of the meal, Kakashi's mask had to come off for him to eat right? They looked over to see a large portion of food already devoured and Kakashi with a seemingly pleased look on what they could see of his face.
"How the hell did he do that?!" they both thought in tandem, eyes open in shock as the speed of his eating, was it some kind of jutsu?
The three genin tucked in, all letting out small noises of delight as they ate, even Satsuki let out a small one as she ate a tomato based rice ball, which Naruto thought was a bit odd but it seemed she certainly enjoyed it if it got an outward reaction from his usually stoic teammate.
"Man I don't know if I've ever eaten that good aside from Ichiraku." Naruto spoke happily as he patted his full stomach, a large grin on his face.
"Man I've been watching what I eat but I'll allow this as a cheat day." Sakura spoke just as happily, she'd been on a diet recently so being able to stuff herself with high quality cuisine was a welcome treat.
"I definitely see why this is a popular resort, I don't think I've ever eaten that good." Satsuki said, more inward with her dinner based euphoria but no less pleased then Naruto or Sakura.
"You know Sakura kunoichi don't really need to diet, training will burn all the fat and calories you need." Kakashi childed the girl, he did forget Sakura was of civilian upbringing and thus retained a few misconceptions about shinobi life.
"I-I understand sensei." Sakura spoke, slightly embarrassed that her sensei called her out like that, I mean she'd seen Satsuki eat plenty during her training on the wave mission and just now.
"Alright well, I'm going to hit the hot springs then meet up with Tenzo for some drinks, you all feel free to call it early or just enjoy yourselves, it's your week, do what you want with it." Kakashi said smiling as he left the table and walked off, leaving the three. All of them were exhausted from their walk and more so the whole day previous to that, Naruto and Sakura had both been blown up with Sakura having a sharp shard of rock being pirced through her arm, Satsuki had been drugged and both her and Naruto had been imprisoned, fought their way out and then battled a mad chunin class shinobi by themselves, suffice to say, all three of them needed the rest.
The three yawned and walked back to their room and all of them quickly drifted off to sleep in their futons, as he was starting to drift off he looked around his room. It was really nice, not only was it of high quality he had it all to himself, no need to share with Kakashi sensei.
The walls had pictures of mountains and trees there was even a bonsai tree in the corner, it was very peaceful maybe even more so then his place in the leaf village. Naruto silently drifted off to sleep.
With Kakashi
"So the demon of the hidden mist, another addition to your exemplary record captain." Tenzo spoke as he took a sip of Sake as he and three others sat with Kakashi.
"Well it was more the injuries he sustained killing Gato then what I did. He died a true ninja's death." Kakashi spoke as he took a sip from his cup, too fast for his once fellow anbu to see mind you.
"So how's the babysitting treating you captain?" One of the other anbu members said, personally Kakashi had never worked with them so he had no name for them, better that way, anbu were used to no names.
"Originally I wasn't keen to be honest, but they've grown on me, Naruto and Satsuki have shown amazing progress in a short amount of time, they'll definitely go far." Kakashi spoke as he took another sip, they were all starting to show early signs of intoxication.
"Really? The 'you know what' kid? I thought he was some no-talent loser who couldn't even do a clone or something?" The first nameless anbu said, his words slightly slurring but still having enough sense to not say the word 'jinchuuriki' out loud.
"Naruto? Yeah his fundamentals are very rough but when it comes down to it he's definitely got some skills and intuition for ninja work, he definitely needs some more training. And the clone thing? Well kids got too much chakra, can't make a clone to save his life but can make a small army of shadow clones." Kakashi said, a slight blush appearing on his visible cheek due to the alcohol.
"Shadow clones?! As a genin? Man that's odd to think about, I remember doing some as a chunin once and knocking my ass out for like two days *hiccup*." The third anbu said.
"Yea well kids special. And talking about special students, Satsuki is about to become stronger in leaps and bounds, she just got her Sharingan." Kakashi said.
"Seriously? Damn, this younger generation is gonna put us out of a job Kakashi." One of the anbu, drunk Kakashi, couldn't remember which one at this point.
"I'll drink to that!" Tenzo said loudly as he had more Sake.
At the end of the night Kakashi stumbled back to his room, having a good time talking about his recent missions and team with the anbu members and hearing some of the things Tenzo had been up to, Kakashi lay down in his pillow, glass of water ready for his inevitable hangover the next morning.
That night Naruto and Satsuki had odd dreams, they saw faces and places that felt familiar yet they had no recollection of them, but as soon as they awoke it was gone, disappearing like breath on a mirror.
The next two days went by without issue, the team relaxed, soaked their bodies and generally let their stress go, Satsuki just let her mind know peace for the first time in a long while, she didn't know if it was the hot spring baths or just the general vibe of this place but for just a small moment, there was no training, no Itachi, no avenging, just peace, part of her wished she could be like this always, her mind calm and peaceful, but she knew the scars her brother left would rear their ugly heads at some point, not allowing her to eat, drink, breath or sleep while Itachi continued to live in this world. But for now it was blissful.
On the forth day Naruto had invited Satsuki to have a look around with him as he knew there was still more to see, part of her wanted to tell him to go away but she went along with him, mainly because she was going a bit stir crazy, she was Satsuki Uchiha, she didn't 'relax' the concept of relaxing was often lost on her. But she had enjoyed this brief moment of it she had to admit.
"Hey what's this?" Naruto asked looking at a sign in front of a grove at the back of the resort.
"Here is the steam oak grove, after two shinobi of opposing villages battled against resort rules and caused this land to be incredibly damaged the man who stopped the fight and long time patron of our establishment Hashirama senju used his legendary wood style ninjutsu to repair the land." The sign read as Naruto repeated the words out loud.
"Woah, so all this was made by the first Hokage." Naruto said as he walked through the trees with Satsuki.
"There has been nobody else in recorded history with ninjutsu like the first Hokage, wood style is often said to be the strongest ninjutsu ever, but I'm not sure if that's wood style ninjutsu or just how strong the first Hokage was." Satsuki spoke, everyone who was anyone knew about the wood style, most exalted of all nature releases.
"Yeah I don't remember much but I do remember the first Hokage had some crazy jutsu that allowed him to use trees and stuff. He made the forests surrounding the village right?" Naruto asked, while he was generally not very good at history and any schoolwork in general, he'd say the Hokage's were his best subject, mostly because it's one of the only things Iruka-sensei droned on about that interested him.
"I think so, it'd be better to ask Sakura about these things, I'm more interested in how he used it to fight and specifically his greatest rival." Satsuki said, having read up on any information she could find on rivalry between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
"He had a rival?" Naruto asked, definitely interested, any ninja who was a rival to the first Hokage was worth knowing about.
"They don't normally teach that much about her even though they should, she was the clan head of the Uchiha clan when the village was first founded, the peace treaty she made with the first Hokage was the foundation of the village itself, she was also the only shinobi that could match the first Hokage in combat. She's uhhh, pretty cool." Satsuki spoke, blushing and scratching her cheek, she felt embarrassed about the fact but since learning about her, Madara Uchiha had become a bit of an idol to Satsuki, yet her goal to surpass her as the greatest Uchiha Kunoichi and ninja of all time still held strong, as gaining enough strength to surpass her and avenge her clan went hand in hand.
"Yeah she seems pretty cool, so you want to be better then her then?" Naruto asked, if Satsuki looked up to someone, the confident Kunoichi that constantly stood into front of him on her own two feet, you know that was a ninja worth knowing about and respecting.
"I don't just want to be better then her, I will be, I'll become an even stronger Kunoichi that the great Madara Uchiha and avenge my clan." Satsuki spoke with singular conviction and purpose.
"Well it's good I'm going to be the greatest Hokage then, because if you want stand up to me when I become that, you'll definitely have surpassed her." Naruto spoke, his goal was not so different, next to her conviction to avenge her clan, she also wanted to be strong, the strongest and greatest Kunoichi of the Uchiha, he didn't just want to be Hokage but the greatest Hokage so I'd make sense that his rival would be the one to surpass the strongest Uchiha.
"Please, with both know I'm stronger." A female voice rang out in the grove, it seemed to bounce off the trees so they had no idea who the person was.
"It's not about who's stronger *unintelligible* it's about what we fight for." A male voice spoke, similarly disembodied.
"Sounds like the philosophy of someone weaker then me." The woman's voice spoke.
"Oh we both know my *unintelligible* is way more versatile and stronger then your *unintelligible* all that does is protect you and break things!" The male voice argued back loudly.
"You hear that?" Naruto whispered to Satsuki who nodded, it was so…off, they couldn't focus on the words.
The voices devolved into an unintelligible argument they couldn't make out so they just decided to leave the grove.
"That was really odd right? Think it was some kinda jutsu two people were using?" Naruto asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"I mean I guess? It's odd that people are using some kind of jutsu like that here." Satsuki spoke, just as confused as Naruto.
The next day Naruto was looking at the sky from his room.
"Now that's a view." Naruto spoke as he looked at the star filled sky before he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in." Naruto said not turning away as Kakashi opened the door and sat down next to him.
"Quite a view." Kakashi spoke simply as he sat by his student.
"Isn't it." Naruto said smiling.
"Naruto…I'm here to talk about what happened on the mission, you and Satsuki…you both killed another living person." Kakashi spoke, he knew it could break shinobi to have their first kill, others it warped into entirely different people, he'd let the two genin stew for a few days on their actions, now it was time to give any caring words needed.
"Oh. Yeah…it got out again Kakashi-sensei, the red chakra came out again and I broke out of my cell and a killed those two people." Naruto spoke as his face became solemn, this was worse then Kakashi thought, not only did he end the lives of two people but he was under the influence of that things when he did it, lesser men would blame the fox for everything but Naruto was a far cry from people like that, Kakashi knew he'd blame himself double not only for killing two people but for letting the fox out at all.
"I can't offer any words or advice to completely make it alright, but I can try. The first thing is, did you enjoy or even set out with the intention of killing those people?" Kakashi spoke, being as gentle as he could with his words.
"I think that chakra wanted me to hurt people, pay them back for taking me and Satsuki." Naruto spoke, it was clear that the chakra had a bad influence on him, Kakashi wondered if it was better to try and train Naruto to keep his head while under it's influence or to suppress it, but that came with its own can a worms, asking Naruto of all people to suppress his emotions? Definitely not.
"Well you should know those people are not worth crying over, they made their beds you just put them in it. As long as you never take any kind of joy in what you did, your gonna be okay." Kakashi said kindly as he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Yea, me and Satsuki talked about it, we thought something similar, I geuss as ninja, it's okay to kill if it's for survival or for a good reason? I mean, that bastard Dogeki can never hurt anyone ever again." Naruto spoke, still not 100% sure of his words, but knowing that the world was definitely a better and safer place without the Gekai brothers in it.
"That's a good way to thinkb about it, I have a similar outlook to things, after all I was in anbu so missions where I have to kill a target is something I'm familiar with. I think back to something the first Hokage originally said to help. 'A shinobi is one who endures'." Kakashi spoke to Naruto.
"Heh, said and did quite a few good things that first Hokage of ours." Naruto said softly, thinking on that quote.
"Just don't let this change you Naruto, you and Satsuki did nothing wrong." Kakashi spoke as he left Naruto with his thoughts.
Kakashi left the room and knocked on Satsukis door, she opened it to see her sensei standing there.
"Can I come in?" He asked, she simply nodded and they sat down at a small table with a pot of tea, it seemed Satsuki had been enjoying some.
"You can have some if you want, I wanted to challenge myself so I boiled the water with just a change in chakra nature." Satsuki said as he poured Kakashi some tea.
"Hmm, seems your mastery of your fire nature is coming along well. But I wanted to talk about what happened on the mission, about the people you killed." Kakashi said, making Satsuki's eyes hardening slightly.
"I'm not sorry." She said simply, made sense she was more sure of herself then Naruto, he expected that.
"Nor should you be, those people had black hearts and didn't deserve pity. I need to ask if you enjoyed it?" Kakashi asked her simply.
"No. I'm not sorry and I know killing is a part of shinobi life, but I'd avoid it if a could, but I'll take a life if absolutely necessary. There's only one person a truly want to kill." Satsuki said, her tone getting darker towards the end.
"I see, well I want you do know I'm always here to talk if you need. Just never enjoy the killing Satsuki." Kakashi spoke, he should have known she be more sure then Naruto, but her continued obsession with Itachi did worry him, but he knew she would never waver in her conviction, all he could do was try and help her not make terrible choices in her quest to avenge her clan.
"I won't, you needn't worry." She spoke as Kakashi left, she said not to worry, but part of him did.
Some time later Naruto heard another knock on his door, he went to open it thinking it was Kakashi again only to find Satsuki at his door.
"Sup loser." She said smirking, which got him to deadpan but then break into a smile.
"Wanna come in?" Naruto asked as she nodded and walked into his room, they sat down at a table and looked out at the sky.
"Hmm, nice view." Satsuki said idly as she sipped her tea as Naruto poured himself some from the pot she brought with her.
"Yea I know. So, how's your trip going so far?" Naruto asked her sipping some of his own tea, it was good stuff.
"I'm not really used to relaxing like this, I kind of want to get back to training, I've been using chakra for any little things I can so I don't get lax." Satsuki spoke, while she was definitely enjoying this trip, she'd enjoy getting a new jutsu or honing her current skills more, but she knew that moments of rest like this were needed, she'd make no progress if she just burnt herself out.
"Yeah I'm in the same boat honestly. Feel off if I'm not pushing myself to get stronger, but I've eaten better then I ever have here, well aside from from two for one special at Ichiraku on the anniversary of their opening, man I made out like a bandit that day." Naruto said chuckling at the end, thinking about old man Teuchi and Ayame's faces when he got ten bowls of the good stuff for the price of five.
"So. Chunin exams." Satsuki said getting Naruto to perk up and give a bright smile.
"Yea, man I'm so hyped, I wonder what we'll be up against?" Naruto wondered, honestly he could wait, overcoming these chunin exams and gets promoted was the first step towards becoming Hokage, he'd give it his all.
"Honestly I'm not the most bothered with becoming chunin, I just want further ways to push myself." Satsuki admitted as she looked out to the star-filled sky.
"I mean, I'm excited about that too, but becoming a chunin would be awesome. We'd get better missions and everything too." Naruto pointed out, now that caught Satsuki's attention, more serious missions, hopefully she'd never be stuck doing those utterly worthless D-ranks ever again and some high clearance and status in the village definitely couldn't hurt.
"Good point, it may be in my best interest to become a chunin after all." Satsuki said as she thought about becoming a chunin.
"You just said I was right? Think this place is doing things to your head Suki." Naruto said jokingly, using her disliked nickname.
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day, Naruto, and don't call me that." Satsuki said verbally jabbing Naruto back.
The two continued to sit there and talk into the night, arguing and talking about general things. Satsuki had to listen to Naruto rant for five minutes about his ramen pet peeves.
They both looked out towards the sky.
"Hey when these chunin exams come around, I got your back, no matter what." Naruto said determinedly, Satsuki looked at the fire and absolutely lack of uncertainty as he said those words, she felt her cheeks heat up some.
"y-yeah. Same here, I got your back too." Satsuki said, giving a rare kind smile.
Naruto smiled at that, a true smile of joy. They both looked out at the night sky and almost unconsciously, moved their hands to their sides, fingers slightly brushing together before they both clasped one another.
Both Uzumaki and Uchiha looked away from one another slightly blushing at the contact.
Naruto eventually spoke up.
"Uhh, S-satsuki, y-your hand." Naruto stuttered out, a volatile mix of embarrassment, an odd feeling in his chest he wasn't sure what to make of and fear that Satsuki may stab him for holding her hand.
Only for her to place her head on his shoulder, an embarrassed look on her face.
"Just shut up. You loser." She spoke as they sat there.
"God what am I doing?!" Satsuki shouted in her mind, this wasn't her? She didn't do things like this did she?! I mean sure Naruto made her feel safe and like a normal human being not the broken mess of trauma and vengeance she normally was. It was odd how she felt she could be vulnerable around him, she'd never been like that with anyone. Vulnerability was weakness and she had to rid herself of all weakness in order to stand against her brother, lest his Sharingan see that weakness.
Yet she liked it anyway? It made no sense. But for now? In this moment? It didn't really have to.
Naruto and Satsuki's explanation corner
Chibi Naruto and Satsuki show up again in front of three large scrolls showing some jutsu
"So in the last chapter Dogeki and Suigeki's band of chumps and the two of them used some new jutsu." Chibi Satsuki said as she pointed to the three images.
"Yea, nature jutsu, which I still can't do." Chibi Naruto said depressed.
"Yeah, because you suck." Chibi Satsuki said, smirking at him, which got Chibi Naruto riled up.
"Hey! Imma get a super awesome nature jutsu one day that makes your fire style look like kids stuff!" Chibi Naruto Yelled at her.
"Yea that'll be the day." Chibi Satsuki scoffed.
"Anyway, what are these jutsu?" Chibi Naruto asked the smaller Satsuki.
"First up is earth style:rock skewer. It's a pretty simple jutsu, literally hundreds of shinobi know it, it uses existing earth and animates it using one's chakra and sharpens the stone into spikes, making the rock itself into a weapon, simple, few handsigns and not immensely chakra taxing." Satsuki explained pointing to the picture on the scroll showing three spikes of earth bursting out from the ground.
"Next up is water style:pressure lance. This is a bit more of an advanced jutsu. It's a variant or even an evolved form of water style:water trumpet. Forming a small circle with your thumb and index finger you blast an incredibly thin and pressurized beam of water at your opponent, this jutsu can cut through rock and even thinner pieces of metal." Satsuki said, showing the image of the jutsu slicing through a large boulder. (A jutsu version of Sasori's water beam attack if that helps)
"Finally we have the jutsu of those bastards Dogeki and Suigeki armament arm. Using chakra you form an arm like shape where your missing arm would be, you encase that arm in nature chakra essentially forming a new limb, however there are limits, it doesn't respond as well as a normal arm and disruption in one's chakra can break the jutsu. Dogeki went even further with this jutsu, allowing him to shift the arm into weaponry and even take it to the highest level to work as a suit of armor but like any suit of armor, there are always weaknesses in the armor which big me exploited." Chibi Satsuki finished showing the final picture featuring close ups on the Gekai brothers and their arms.
"Why didn't Suigeki do something similar against Kakashi sensei?" Chibi Naruto asked Chibi Satsuki.
"Because he wasn't stupid, he would have indeed used the same technique but he was up against Kakashi, a man famous for his potent lighting style, the armor could conduct and only bring Suigeki to his end quicker, not that not using it helped avoid that much." Chibi Satsuki said, showing a picture of Suigeki into a large mass of water with many 'arm' like whips reaching out to attack, only to then switch to a picture of him getting shocked inside it and his unmoving body afterwards.
"Ohhhh, that makes sense." Chibi Naruto said, as he gave an overly enthusiastic wave and Chibi Satsuki have a lazy lift of the hand as a wave.
"See you next time."
"See you next time."
They both spoke in unison, only their tones being different, Naruto excited, Satsuki dull.
Naruto and Satsuki's explanation corner end
Boom and we are done, sorry this took a little longer then I'd like but I struggled to write an end for this one. So we see Naruto, Satsuki and the rest of team 7 take a breather, Naruto and Satsuki are hearing people that aren't there and Kakashi has told them of the upcoming chunin exams which we will pick up with next time.
Part of me wanted to have them stay at the village they saved but it seemed off to have them given service and luxury when a large portion of the people were just freed from imprisonment so they crossed over to the land of steam to a favorite spot of the first Hokage and many other ninja.
Second explanation corner is here, wasn't sure what I wanted to do with these, they are probably going to just be like Omakes, non canon segments I will use to explain original jutsu in more detail.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a very happy new year.
