(AN: Gaara is definitely one of my favorite Side Characters.)
"I've got to come up with a plan," Naruto muttered from Nanashi's lap.
Currently, the boy was face up, lying in the dirt with his head on Nanashi's crossed legs as the woman drank from her sake bottle. "You already have the location, right? Just make some traps. You'll be fine." While the woman still wasn't feeling well, she had decided to go out with the boys to a nearby training ground. Though, it was mostly to let the workers fix all the broken walls and doors without unnecessary questions.
"Would that be allowed?"
She shrugged. "He did say it would be a match, right?"
"Yeah, but—"
"You're a fully fledged Shinobi now, brat. You've got to learn how to set up an ambush eventually. Now's the time to practice." Of course, Nanashi knew he would have some sort of extra Genin test. Everyone did them now, having stolen the idea from the Third Hokage and the Sannin. She knew the boy would pass, of course. It would be easy for him.
"You'd better keep up with your training, dobe." Sasuke huffed nearby, working on his katas.
Naruto merely waved the boy off. "I will. Though I might take a few days off, that way, you'll have a little bit more time to catch up."
The two on the ground snickered as Sasuke gave them the stink eye.
"Seriously though, Nan-chan. Are you sure you're feeling better?"
"A little sake always helps." She flashed the boy a grin. "It's my nirvana."
Naruto merely grimaced but didn't push the issue further.
"Alright... so long as you're sure."
To be honest, her stomach was flipping over itself a million times a minute. But she'd suffered worse.
"You'll be fine, Naruto. I trained you, remember?"
Naruto shuddered every time his sensei's eyes raked over him as if he was being treated like... He'd show the man. The boy looked to his other two teammates, two more Civilian students, and gave them a quick thumbs up. Sheepishly, the two smiled back.
"—Uzumaki! Stop distracting your teammates." A look of displeasure was plastered on his face, but Naruto simply shrugged it off. "Now then. I'm going to head into the forest behind us. You will have five minutes of prep and strategizing, then you can come after me. Your goal will be to take this necklace from around my neck, and you will have thirty minutes. Your times starts—"
The man disappeared into a puddle of water, and Naruto grinned. He'd have to learn that, just like Nan-chan's clone technique.
"Anyone have a plan?" Isamu, a civilian boy, asked.
"I set up a boatload of traps yesterday," Naruto smirked. There were plenty in the field around him, as well, though they needed to be triggered by his own chakra to activate meanwhile—
The forest erupted as flash and smoke bombs popped. Fujiko, a girl, openly gaped at him. "Is that even allowed?"
Naruto shrugged, "Sensei never said it wasn't!" He glanced at the two with a large smile.
"Uh, so—" The other boy cut himself off, looking at the ground grimly. "This is my second time doing a test like this, but... I can only give some information. Do either of you specialize in anything?"
Fujiko kicked at the dirt, blushing, "No, I don't really have anything special about me. What about you, Naruto?"
"Taijutsu! With a bit of ninjutsu, all wind, though." He gave a thumbs up. "What info can you give us, Isa?"
"Isa?" the boy blinked before shaking his head. "Uh, yeah. Obviously, our sensei is going to hold back, and on my last attempt, we were told it was secretly a teamwork exercise. It may be the same, or it could be different. But if we all work together, I'm sure we'll stand a better chance of passing."
"I like it!" Naruto shouted. "Are either of you good with shuriken jutsu?"
"I'm proficient."
"I can hit the target most of the time..."
"Sounds great to me!" His positivity was almost blinding. "I can stay up close and personal with sensei if you two want to try and keep back out of range. I'd appreciate that backup." A timer rang throughout the field, and the three looked at each other. Isamu looked nervous, and Fujiko was actively wringing her hands together, but Naruto merely sighed and held a fist out. "Come on! How about a fist bump, and then we can get this started!"
"A fist bump?"
He shook his fist with a smile.
"Alright, fine." Isamu met the boy in the middle, and Fujiko quickly followed.
"Let's go show sensei we're worth the time to train!"
Honestly, if you had asked Fujiko if she believed in Naruto, she would have immediately said no. However, according to Isamu, teamwork is the most important thing today, and Naruto's plan has merits. Of course, seeing the boy immediately slam into the man hard and fast was a sight to behold.
Naruto smirked as their sensei immediately stumbled back, just as a shuriken slammed into a small tag stuck to a tree to the man's right. A smoke bomb went off, and Naruto snapped out a kick before falling into the Gentle Fist style, aiming for the man's joints with the slightest bit of chakra. The first jab landed with a howl of pain, but their sensei was smart and leaped high into the air.
"Got you!" Naruto flicked a kunai into the air, a tag wrapped around the handle. The other two genin dropped to the ground as Naruto flipped into the air and kicked the weapon at their sensei, watching it blow up into a fiery mass. He'd have to do something nice for Nanashi, lending him the money for all of these tags.
The Jonin stumbled out of the smoke, slightly singed, but immediately hit a trip wire. "You damned brat—" A light blossomed once more, and Naruto had to cover his eyes as the flash bomb went off. He moved closer, pumping chakra into his arm as he fell into the Strong Fist style.
"Water Style: Shrouding Mists!" Naruto watched the man unfurl a scroll, and a few gallons of water spilled out, only for it to quickly shroud the area in mist. The blond grinned as their sensei's words echoed around.
"Well done, but you'll need to do better—" Making sure that the other two students were behind him, Naruto flashed through several hand signs before using his own jutsu.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The mist evaporated, and he was able to see Akami-sensei's dropped jaw with satisfaction.
Fujiko took the opportunity to throw two more shurikens, missing wide on both. However, the Jonin still looked around for their landing spots, looking for another trap. Isamu was closer, nearly catching the man's arm, but was deflected by a kunai.
"That necklace is ours, sensei!" Naruto was practically blinding everyone with his smile now. "You're going down!"
Nanashi almost felt bad for whoever was going against Naruto. Most genin didn't know any elemental jutsu at this point in their lives apart from clans that actively used them, like the Uchiha. But his Taijutsu was also nothing to laugh at.
"I think the fish is alive?" Sasuke muttered behind her. Turning, she watched the boy poke a definitely dead fish.
"Throw it on the pile and try again."
Muttering death threats under his breath, the boy did as he was told, pulling the next one out and pushing chakra into his palms.
"Don't worry, brat, once you learn this technique, no more fish will have to die!" Nanashi laughed as the boy continued to practice his Mystical Palm technique. "Sucker." She had a clone at the other pile, descaling and gutting the fish for dinner that night. Naruto would get quite the feast for his accomplishments. Another clone was already at Ichiraku's placing a delivery order for ramen to go with everything. It would be perfect for the brat. However, she did have to get a mountain of tomatoes for Sasuke. It was worth it, though. For once... for once, Nanashi actually felt like she had accomplished something... something that meant something. Bah, that was too many somethings. She took a swig of her sake and nestled further into her chair. That brat had better appreciate everything she did for him.
Naruto's hands were on his knees as he breathed harshly. Their sensei had eventually gotten tired of the forest filled with traps and led the group from its confines. Right into a baby powder, explain courtesy of Naruto. The man was now covered in white dust and had fury written on his face. But he was also tired and breathing heavily. Naruto grinned and stood to his full height, taking a slow, deep breath inward and saturating his lungs with chakra, just like Nan-chan had taught him to. He exhaled, feeling his body slightly revitalize itself, and turned back toward his sensei.
"Ready for round four, sensei!" he laughed at the look he received.
"Damned D—brat." The man cursed with more venom than Naruto thought he deserved. But it would be fine. He'd be a true Genin soon, just like his new friends. He looked past the man as the other two genin flanked the Jonin. They had been running low on ammunition, so Naruto had easily given up his own weapons, which, judging from their sensei's white-knuckled grip on his own kunai, might have been a mistake. Naruto would survive, though. He always did.
Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet and raised his fists to his face.
"Another style?" The Jonin looked exasperated.
"Push chakra to your feet, let it swell. Remember when you first learned Tree Walking? Burst forth." Naruto rocketed forward and twisted his feet as his sensei tried a quick kick. The blond slid past, dodging, and slammed a fist into Akami's hip. The Jonin spun, trying desperately to catch him. Still, Naruto moved once more, dancing around the man, slamming hit after hit, moving between his different styles, until finally, a lucky kunai from Isamu and a barrage of Shuriken from Fujiko distracted the man, allowing Naruto to place a kick to the back of the man's leg, sent him to one knee.
Naruto ripped one last kunai with a tag from his back pouch and threw it in front of the man, allowing light to burst forth. The man reared back, throwing his hands over his face, and the genin allowed him to stumble past. And so the blond boy jumped into the air, arm outstretched. Victory was so close.
Naruto's face turned ecstatic as he reached out, his open palm closing over the metal dog tags the sensei was wearing. So close. Closer. He felt the metal tingle against his skin, and then—His arm snapped up as his sensei looked furious, smacking the arm away and breaking at least two of Naruto's fingers. The blond gasped but swung his other arm up to try again, only for his sensei to viciously grab his wrist and flip him through the air.
"Damned brat." The man hissed.
Naruto slammed face-first into the ground, breathless. He grimaced as his non-broken hand was wrenched back and outright screamed as a foot connected with his elbow, snapping his arm in half.
Fujiko and Isamu gasped nearby as a timer went off from nearby. The man dropped Naruto further into the dirt, grimacing at the other two students.
"Get him to the hospital if you want. The three of you failed." And the man stalked off, ignoring the looks the Genin hopefuls shot at him.
Naruto heaved into the dirt as he struggled to catch even an ounce of breath. His ribs ached, and at least several were broken. He felt hands grabbing him as the pain slowly faded and the numbness took hold. Still, it was so hard to breathe... so... so hard... to...
Nanashi was more than a little pissed. A whole day wasted on Naruto. The sun was going down, yet the brat still hadn't shown up. She gritted her teeth and took a deep drink. "You'd better not be hurt... brat." Finally fed up, Nanashi slowly made her way through the lone, empty Uchiha district, and shoved open the gate with a fire in her eyes. She just had to remember what training ground he went to. Or maybe their sensei had taken them out to dinner? Questions, questions. She'd at least be able to pick up his trail at the training grounds; she just needed to leave a clone with Sasuke in case the boy came back. "Since when did I become the responsible one?"
"Miss!" Who was shouting now? Nanashi turned her head and watched as a little girl ran up to her, huffing and puffing the whole way.
She rolled her eyes and said, "If you're looking for Sasuke, he's not here right now." Damned fangirls.
"No," The girl tried sucking in air, only to fall into a coughing fit.
Nanashi looked to the sky, praying to anyone, but slowly leaned over and patted the girl on the back. "Come on, kid. Get it out."
"It's—It's Naruto. He's your son, right? You're Nanashi Uchiha?"
"Son!?" She couldn't help but shout. "Since when!?"
Finally, the girl stood tall, her breathing evening out. "Uh, well, you're his guardian, at least?"
"Accidental teacher/not teacher." She muttered. "What about the brat."
The girl wrung her hands together and couldn't stop staring at the ground.
"What. About. The Brat?"
More hand wringing, but eventually, "He's in the hospital."
There went her good buzz. "Tell me everything."
(AN: And that's the chapter! Hope you all enjoyed, eventually I'll get back to Press Start To Begin, but I've been wanting to do the next couple of chapters for MTON first. Next chapter we'll get a nice little show down between a War Era Jonin and a Peace Era Jonin. Of course, one is a drunkard, and one is someone who semi keeps up with their training, so we'll see! Anyway, for the next chapter's question. What is your favorite Arc in the original Naruto? Don't forget to leave a review, and I will catch you all next time!)