Thank you all for reviewing!! Seeing Shippuden somewhat revived my interest in the Naruto fandom, which has all but disappeared. I must admit that they really brought it in with a bang, especially with the musical differences. I can't wait until the next OST comes out…
BUT ANYWAY, on to the review response(s):
Rovak: I've actually been asking myself that exact same question. Originally, this story was supposed to be a one-shot, then a five-shot, and now it's a full-fledged multi-chapter. And as for it's length, I expect it to end somewhere between chapter 20 and chapter 40. I just hope I'll have the patience to finish the story without botching it any more than I already have.
Yonboy: Thank you for the compliments; they're very much appreciated. And I fully realize that I need to tread VERY carefully with Anko and her motives. Even if I have to rewrite future chapters regarding her over and over again I will get it right! As for Uchiha and Sasuke, well, you'll have to be a little patient with that.
I must admit, I am surprised that I received no blatant flames for teaming up Anko with one of her worst enemies; I must thank you all for that.
And in response to some reviews regarding the pairing(s), I do intend to end this story as a NaruTen. In regard to other pairings, the only other solid pairing is NejixHina.
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
Chapter 16: The Hidden Talents of Masquerading Children
Hige woke up in a cold sweat, panting as his alarm screeched shrilly. It wasn't an uncommon thing for the young Inuzuka; ever since he was younger he was haunted by the same horrible dream. And as he sat up in his bed, the sweat glistening on his slender torso in the morning sun, he reached over to his bedside table and grabbed the small white pills and tall glass of white that sat there, like he did every morning.
He vowed to himself, a long time ago, that he would never let the others know of the illness that ravaged his body. And as he set down the now empty glass he threw the heavy down comforter off of his body and got on to his feet, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
The door than creaked open, and Hige sleepily greeted his older brother as he entered, but couldn't help but notice how grim he looked.
"Is something wrong, Onii-chan?" Hige yawned as he stretched out his arms, not taking his eyes off of his older brother.
"Nothing, Hige," Kiba answered as he walked up to his younger brother and rested a hand on Hige's shoulder. "I just wanted to say goodbye before I left, that's all," he explained with a small smile. Despite the smile, though, Hige could sense that his brother was wrong; he had never seen Kiba so calm before going on a mission. "I should only be gone for a few weeks though, so I'll probably be back in time for your birthday," he added in a promising tone.
"That's good," Hige answered with a smile. 'If that's how he wants it, fine by me; I'll just beat him at his own game.' "How was your date with Sakura last night? I meant to ask you when you got back, but I was already asleep," he nonchalantly asked. He inwardly scoffed as Kiba broke eye contact with him and a small blush adorned his cheeks. 'Bingo.'
"It went fine," Kiba stammered. "Anyway, I should get going, I need to meet my team in five minutes," he hurriedly said as he removed his hand from Hige's shoulder and began to leave the room.
"See ya," Hige responded as the door closed behind him. He then heaved a heavy sigh as he fell back on to his bed, hands clasped loosely over his knees. 'He has no idea how lucky he really is,' Hige thought to himself, but quickly dismissed the envious thoughts. 'I really need to stop pitying myself so much; it won't give me shit.'
"Crap; I need to get ready," Hige muttered as he glanced at the small clock set on his old, battered, wooden bedside table. He then sprang up on to his feet and searched throughout the piles of clothes and garbage in his room for a decent outfit.
Ten minutes later he was running out the door of the Inuzuka main housewith Midorimaru, while carnivorously eating a piece of toast.
And as he sprinted throughout the near empty streets in the pre-dawn dimness, he could only think about the events that had transpired the previous night; he still couldn't get over that he, a genin still fresh out of the Academy, could've destroyed a friendship that had survived through everything that was thrown at them all because of some girl.
'I hope I never understand the logic behind that,' Hige thought. 'I hope that I'll never be that girl obsessed.' During his thoughts, however, he didn't notice the person that was following until it was too late.
"I hate you so much," Hige groaned as he spit out dirt from his mouth. He began to form handseals stealthily and quickly so that his attacker wouldn't notice.
"A shinobi should always be prepared for an attack. That's one of the first things we learned from the academy; or are you starting to get sloppy?" lectured the boy that had Hige pinned to the ground. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius."
"Do I hear jealousy in your voice Kazuki?" gasped Hige, sarcasm dripping with every word. "Or is it that you're just embarrassed that a 'mutt' kicked your ass in the genin examinations?" sneered Hige. "You're lucky that you're part of a lower clan, or you would've gotten your ass beat for losing to me."
"Shut up mutt!" Kazuki yelled as he punched the pinned Inuzuka hard in the back of his head. But when he struck, Hige disappeared in a cloud of smoke. And his place was a now-smashed watermelon, its juices dripping like blood from Kazuki's fist.
"You better pay back the vendor Kazuki, he's looking pretty pissed right now," Hige advised with a feral grin from behind Kazuki, who quickly turned around to face his fellow genin. And sure enough, when Kazuki looked to where the Inuzuka boy was pointing, there was a vendor fuming over his destroyed product.
"Hey I'm not the one who chose it as the subject of a kawarimi; you pay for it 'mutt,'" Kazuki growled as he faced Hige. But when he turned to look at the boy, he was gone. 'Damn it! I'll kill him, I swear it,' he vowed to himself. 'But right now I have more pressing matters to deal with.' "Hey, old man, how much does the fruit cost?" Kazuki called to the vendor.
Kazuki's eyes widened as he realized that he didn't have his wallet with him as his hand grasped at the emptiness inside one of the many pouches in his artillery pouches.
"Sorry old man; seems as if I don't got any cash with me. You can put the bill on my tab," Kazuki explained sardonically. And before the vendor could respond, Kazuki had taken off, running on the roofs of the buildings. 'I will pay you back for this 'mutt-boy,'' Kazuki mentally threatened as he jumped from roof to roof, acting as an alarm clock for several unsuspecting citizens of Konoha.
Hige appeared at the training grounds in a swirl of leaves with a less than graceful entrance, via tripping over a stone. And as he got up on to his hands and knees, humbled by his careless mistake, a kunai was placed to his neck.
"What do you do?" the man demanded as he held the kunai pressed the kunai into the boy's neck, drawing a small trickle of blood.
'Shit, I barely get here and sensei's already all over me,' Hige cursed as he thought about what exactly he'd do in this situation. And, to his disgust, he found that he had no idea what to do. And so he did the first thing that came to mind; absolutely nothing. He knew that the worst thing that could happen was that he'd fail a test; he could deal with that.
"This isn't a test where you can do nothing Inuzuka; think of a solution and think of it now," demanded Naruto as he pressed the kunai even more into the genin's neck. 'What the hell; does Naruto-sensei have multiple personalities or something? First he's laid back and goofy, then he acts like a little kid, and now he's a total hard-ass,' mentally whined Hige. 'The only way I'd survive this is if I had a teammate…' thought Hige. And then the answer came to him; he couldn't survive this without a teammate. And, fortunately for him, he did possess a teammate; he just wasn't human.
As Hige glanced at Midorimaru, who was beneath his body, unnoticed by the jounin, Hige clenched his teeth and whistled in a tone too shrill for human ears. Midorimaru instantly reacted to the tone and lunged at Naruto's groin. It was a tactic Hige did not want to use such a damaging and underhanded technique on his sensei; but the second he was put into that life-or-death situation he needed to treat Naruto as his enemy.
Hige winced as his dog latched on to his sensei and the kunai dropped from Naruto's hand; but was hardly surprised at all when he poofed, causing Midorimaru to fall to the ground.
'It figures that he'd send a kage bunshin,' sourly thought Hige as he stood up onto his feet as he applied a very small amount of medical salve to where the kunai pierced his throat. 'But why would he test only me when…' Hige immediately scanned the area, and, for the first time, registered the fact that he was the only one in the clearing.
"He's testing us for our individual abilities to analyze and solve problems," he muttered to himself as he formed the inu handseal, concentrating all of his chakra to his ears to discover any hints as to where his teammates and sensei were.
After several seconds of standing perfectly still, he burst into motion; sprinting to where he had heard only the sound of deep breathing and the execution of kata.
'It has to be him; there are two major signs of human activity to my left and right: Hanabi and Kazuki,' he thought as he ran through the undergrowth of the forest.
However, once again, he did not notice a medium sized stone in front of him. And for the second time that day, ended up on the forest floor.
"I really hate stones,"Hige grumbled to himself as he got back on to his feet and resumed his journey.
Overall, Hanabi was unimpressed by the effort her sensei put in designing the traps he laid. She had easily seen through the tripwire and noticed the slight disarrangement of the shrubbery that usually meant pits. She had even predicted an attempt from behind her, which she countered easily with kaiten, causing the shadow clone to disappear.
'Something's not right,' she thought as she stood attentively in the small clearing. 'Those traps were way too easy to avoid and he knows that I have the Byakugan. No way was he even attempting to catch me with those techniques,' she analyzed as she scanned the area around her for any more signs of danger. 'There's only one direction he can come from…' She spared no time in getting out of the way as the ground beneath her began to crumble away and a hand grasping a kunai sprung forth from the earth.
"Just because that cheap technique worked on Hige doesn't mean I'll fall for it," Hanabi gloated as she prepared to charge Naruto. But he never came; instead, he threw the kunai. It soared harmlessly passed her, however, instead just barely soaring over the grass to her near right. Hanabi instantly realized the danger this posed for her as one of the tripwires snapped, unleashing a barrage of projectiles.
She quickly preformed kaiten, the projectiles bouncing off the chakra shield harmlessly. But before she even stopped spinning the ground beneath her began to break. This time, however, Naruto did emerge from the ground. But there was no Hanabi; in her place was a log.
"Guess he isn't that moronic after all," Hanabi muttered to herself. "I'll be neutralized the second I'm underground."
"I always knew that the Hyūga were all bark and no bite!" Naruto goaded loudly with a moronic grin on his face.
Hanabi exhaled deeply as she tried to control her anger. 'He's just trying to rile me up so I'll give up my location,' Hanabi thought as she began formulating a plan on how to overcome him. 'Where are Kazuki and Hige? They might actually have been useful for once.'
"You know, your teammates have already passed their assessments; you're the slowest out of all three of them to beat me," Naruto called out into the forest.
"You're lying," muttered Hanabi. And right before her eyes, her sensei disappeared. 'Shit,' she thought as she immediately jumped to the ground, narrowly avoiding her sensei's kick. It was then that she realized what must be done if she wanted to pass the test set before her.
"I'm the prodigy on this team; do you hear me sensei? No matter what you do you will never crush me; heiress of the Hyūga clan!" Hanabi shouted defiantly as Naruto once again disappeared.
'I won't fall for the same cheap trick twice,' she thought as another tripwire went off. And as the projectiles flew toward her, she concentrated chakra into her hands and released quick bursts of chakra whenever one neared her body, successfully deflecting each of the shuriken.
And, just as planned, the ground beneath her began to crumble away, revealing her sensei again attempting to grab her. But instead of merely avoiding the attack, she grabbed his wrist and pulled upwards with all of her strength, temporarily lifting Naruto into the air.
She then thrust her other palm into Naruto's abdomen, causing flames to spring to life on his clothing. "Hakke en'en," she shouted as she observed Naruto writhe in pain, and then disappear before her very eyes.
"Kage bunshin," she stated plainly before walking further into the forest, leaving the untriggered traps where they were. 'He can clean up his own mess.'
"Where the hell is he?" muttered Kazuki as he arrived at a large clearing; the designated destination for training. "But more importantly where are Hanabi and Hige? While they may be morons sometimes they're never late," he wondered as he fell back on to the grass and looked up towards the clear blue sky.
'Wasn't it just cloudy a minute ago?' Kazuki wondered as he carefully drew a kunai from his pouch and began to twirl it around on his finger as he began thinking. 'How are you supposed to counter genjutsu again?' he asked himself. 'I have to disrupt chakra or something; I think. Or I could just wait until the caster attacks; it shouldn't be that long a wait,' he thought as he stopped spinning the small dagger.
'Or I could make a huge explosion and weed him out the fun way,' he realized with a grin. He then took out two medium sized scrolls from his pockets and them into the air after smearing some blood on them before making several handseals.
"Tobidōgu: Happa!" he called as a large variety of weapons, mainly shuriken with explosive notes or exploding pouches, exploding smoke grenades, and makibishi, were scattered throughout the area, creating an innumerable amount of explosions around him. However, Kazuki never thought of the fact that he could be caught in one of the blasts; but that is what happened, and he never saw it coming.
And when the blast threw him back several feet he only barely missed the makabishi that were scattered throughout the entire area. He wasn't so lucky as to avoid colliding with a large tree and blacking out however.
Ten minutes later, he arose from his state of unconsciousness with a horrible headache and a large bruise on the back of his skull. As he quickly drew a kunai and fell into a defensive stance, he observed that his technique had worked; the sky was once again cloudy and the entire area around him was riddled with craters and weapons.
The caster of the genjutsu was nowhere to be found.
"Got ya," Kazuki smirked as he lowered his guard, but still left the kunai in his hand just in case. "Now to find Baka-sensei." He then began to cautiously navigate through the annihilated training ground, away from where he thought the streets of Konoha were.
Uzumaki Naruto sat in meditation, awaiting the arrival of his three students, in Training Ground #54; the only place in Konoha where there was hardly any plant life, just packed dirt and stone. Overall, they had done better than he had expected, each one of them passing their tests in under seven minutes. Well, everyone except for Kazuki that is.
'I wonder if I was too hard on him,' Naruto thought. 'After all, he is fresh out of the academy.'
'You think that putting a simple genjutsu on him is "too hard?" His method of dispelling it was more dangerous than that! And anyway, didn't you say you were gonna drive these kids into the dirt yesterday?' the Kyūbi scoffed.
'Yeah, but still; both of his teammates completed their warm-up battles much quicker than him. I can't help but wonder how they would've fared against the genjutsu,' Naruto wondered.
'You are stupid, do you realize that Kit? For one, that prissy little girl student of yours is basically immune to genjutsu and the mutt boy's dog could probably detect the location of the user. And anyway, you put the other two in much worse predicaments; pointblank with a kunai and using shinjū zanshu with trigger wires and pitfalls. The prick just sucks; that's all,' the Kyūbi retorted.
'True…but I won't let him suck anymore,' Naruto thought confidently. 'I'll make a ninja out of him by the end.'
'If there's anyone bullheaded enough to try it; it would be you,' the Kyūbi declared. 'Oh, and he comes,' the kitsune announced as Kazuki appeared through the forest, caked with dust and dirt.
"Congratulations," Naruto said with a large grin as Kazuki approached him, a weary look on the boy's face. "You're the last one to finish your warm-up," Naruto declared, never dropping his grin. "Now go run seven laps around Konoha and then when you're done with that do two hundred push-ups and sit-ups. And after that you'll be sparring with your teammates, who've already begun their laps," Kazuki merely stood there staring blankly at him. "What?" Naruto asked, feigning clueless ness at his student's expression.
"Are you trying to kill us? How the hell will we ever be able to become ninja if we're so exhausted we can barely move?" Kazuki asked incredulously.
"Yeah, pretty much," Naruto answered nonchalantly. "There's only one way to become a great ninja, and that's working until you can't even move without hurting. If you want to settle for mediocrity that's perfectly fine with me, just know that you'll have to find a new sensei 'cause I'll have no part in it," he explained. This time, Kazuki merely glared at his sensei disdainfully.
Naruto childishly stuck his tounge out at him behind his back as he began his laps. 'Just wait until you see what I have in store after you get used to this training schedule.'
By the time the team of jōnin assembled at the gates, the sun was still hidden by a haze of clouds and the first lights of dawn were only just beginning to hit the earth. And, as usual, they were waiting for their last member.
"Can't he just be on time for once in his life?" Kiba complained as he leaned against a tree, stifling a yawn.
"No," answered Neji, who was just as agitated as his teammate. He just didn't express it as openly.
"I don't why the Hokage just doesn't assign him a few hours earlier than us," Kiba wondered out loud as he ran his hand through the fur of his canine companion.
"How do you know she doesn't?" Neji countered. "For all we know he's already three hours late," he added. After effectively shutting up Kiba, he directed his attention towards his other, quieter teammate who seemed to be trancing out.
"Tenten?" asked Neji. Tenten immediately was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked towards Neji.
"Yeah?"
"You look tired. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tenten quickly assured. "I'm just getting over a bad cold." After this neither of the three talked to the other as they awaited their fourth member; their team leader. After another thirty minutes of waiting, he appeared in a swirl of leaves, his face buried in a book.
"It's about time," Kiba grumbled as he walked towards the rest of the group, Akamaru trotting next to him. "What took you so long?"
"Well, you see," Kakashi began to explain, but was cut off by Tenten.
"Okay, we get it; it's none of our business. Can we just go now?" she asked pleadingly as her teammates and squad leader looked at her in surprise; Tenten was supposed to be the level headed one out of the four of them; the peacekeeper. "The sooner we leave the sooner we can complete our mission," she justified indignantly.
Kakashi eyed her strangely but did not commence giving his lame excuse. He then pulled three scrolls from one of his pockets and handed one to each of the jōnin.
"Read the mission carefully and memorize it. Then burn the scroll," he commanded. Five minutes later the team was moving, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes, which scattered in the cold morning breeze.
By the time Naruto finished drilling his genin it was mid-afternoon and the genin could barely walk.
'So, do you think I trained them hard enough?' Naruto asked in a satisfied tone.
'No; they shouldn't even be able to stand,' the Kyūbi responded. Naruto merely shook his head at the kitsune's words.
"Come back here tomorrow at the same time," Naruto instructed as he stood over his students. "Make sure to get plenty of sleep!" At this all three of Naruto's squad murderously glared at him. Naruto merely grinned and preformed shunshin, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"I hate him so much," groaned Kazuki as he leaned on the trunk of a tall sakura tree for support. "Why couldn't I have been on Team 3 or Team 9?" he complained.
"You just don't like him 'cause he's not afraid to beat the crap out of you if he needs to," snickered Hige as he lay spread eagled on the ground, his chest steadily heaving as he breathed deeply.
"Shut up; mongrel,' Kazuki spat contemptuously at the other boy.
"Dobe," retorted Hige. "At least I didn't almost blow myself to bits to get out of a simple genjutsu." Before the argument any further, however, Hanabi interceded.
"Both of you stop acting like spoiled little brats," Hanabi said; condescension clear in her voice.
"Oh you're one to talk Hyūga," scoffed Kazuki. "If anyone here is the brat it's you; little miss princess."
"Just remember that "little miss princess" can beat the crap out of you," Hige reminded with a snicker. At that Kazuki blushed; he had been bested in taijutsu spars two times by the younger Hyūga while only landing a few hits.
"You know what, I'm leaving," Kazuki announced in frustration as he began walking away from his teammates.
"Watch out," Hanabi advised as she watched him disappear behind a tree.
"For what?" called Kazuki toward the Hyūga. But before Hanabi could answer, the ground under his feet crumbled and he was sent spiraling down into a hole.
"Pitfall," Hanabi answered with a grin.
Naruto stood entranced over the Memorial Stone as the bright light of the Sun, which had only recently come out from behind its veil of clouds, caused the polished stone cenotaph to gleam like a sword. As he stood over it he could not help but remember all of the people he could call his loved ones that had died protecting their village.
'Oji-san, Gejimayū,' thought Naruto as he ran his finger across the engraved names of the great ninja of Konoha. 'I hope you're doing well, wherever you are. Both of you deserve happiness in the next life.' But even as he recalled the fond memories he shared with the two, there was a shadow lurking behind each one.
'Sasuke,' he thought with a large sigh. 'You belong on the memorial, no matter what the others may say. You were always a soldier of Konoha at heart; your death alone proved that. I'm sorry that I couldn't at least get your name on here, teme. But it looks like no one fifty years from now will ever know your name. Ironic, isn't it? The beloved Uchiha genius will fade with time but someone, somewhere, will know the name of the demon spawn jinchūriki.' As he was thinking, someone else approached the Memorial Stone, blocking the rays of the sun.
"I've heard that you've got yourself a team Naruto," the newcomer announced in a quiet tone. Naruto smiled as he heard the man's quiet voice; he hadn't talked with his old teacher since he had left for the last retrieval mission.
"You've right Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered, without turning to face the older man.
Iruka smiled warmly as he heard Naruto call him "sensei." 'So he still insists on calling me that even though he's surpassed me by leaps and bounds,' he thought. "So have they driven you insane yet?" Iruka jokingly asked.
"Not yet, but I won't be surprised if they do," Naruto answered sincerely. "They're cocky, obnoxious, and overwhelming," he complained. "They remind me of myself when I was their age," he added as he folded his arms behind his head like when he was younger.
"Just hope they don't turn out like you though," Iruka jokingly said. "Or they'll all turn out being ramen obsessed hyperactive future hokage who surpass their sensei too soon," he added as he clasped a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei," Naruto began quietly. "Do you mind if we go for ramen, like when I was still in the Academy?" he asked. Iruka blinked in surprise, but his face soon returned to its paternal look that captivated the minds of so many young children; and young women.
"Sure," Iruka responded. "My treat?" he asked, not waiting until after his former student ate to find out that he was stuck with the bill.
"Nah," Naruto answered. "We'll split the bill," he added with a smile as he turned to face the man that had been like a father to him all of his life. "But do you mind if I take someone with us; he's gonna be one of the next of academy brats," he added.
"Why not?" Iruka asked with a small shrug. "The more the merrier, right?"
And as they walked towards Naruto's apartment, where Naruto would be picking up the other person they would be dining with, they chatted about the weather, local gossip, and other useless matters.
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," Naruto interjected as Iruka was talking aimlessly about one of the newer academy. "After everything that's happened over the past few weeks, I just need something to remind of when I didn't have to worry about my friends dying and when I could just screw off and be a kid, you know?" Naruto attempted to explain. And as he tried searching for the right words, he grew more and more frustrated; to the point where he merely asked the last part sighing.
"It's no problem," Iruka dismissed with a smile at the younger man. "Now go get my future student so we can get some ramen," Iruka passively instructed as they reached the entrance to the apartment complex. Naruto quickly ran into the building, leaving Iruka alone outside the building.
Once Naruto had gone out of sight, Iruka frowned, his forehead creasing. 'What's happened to you Naruto? You were never this…calm…before,' he thought, struggling to find the right words. 'And the fact that you talked about your childhood in such a longing way…who have you become in these past few weeks? Are you really still that same hyperactive prankster I taught a few years ago?'
But Iruka knew, deep in his heart, that his questions would only be answered with time. However, he also knew that no matter what happened to his surrogate brother, nothing would ever crush his dream.
'He will become Hokage whether the Counsel likes it or not. Because no matter what happens, Naruto will never, and has never, let his dreams die; not when there are so many people rooting for him to accomplish it.'
'And that is my nindo. I will never let my students, any of them, give up on their dreams.'
hake en'en - eight trigrams blazing palms
Tobidōgu: Happa – weapon summoning: explosive blast
Thank you for waiting this long for updates and your ongoing support!!