Colors
by
Canis Black
Chapter 3
It was, Naruto thought to himself, surprisingly hard for him to follow through with his plan. It had been easy enough to plant the tags on Kakashi's extremities while fighting him, and the activation sequence was absurdly simple. He didn't even need to concentrate on it anymore, not like the Shadow Clone technique. No, the mechanical aspect was absurdly easy. The hard part had to do with Naruto himself.
Some part of himself that had not been lost in the anger and hurt that had consumed his world for the past week was screaming that this was the wrong way to do this. The rest of him believed that this was the only way. He'd never heard of anyone who'd graduated from the academy returning for more training and therefore had to assume they'd either died in their attempts to pass or been kicked out of the program completely. That wasn't something he could allow to happen to himself.
When that line of logic wasn't enough to quell the sick feeling in his gut he told himself that he was only doing what he was told. Kakashi had explicitly stated that they were to come at him with the intent to kill. Doing so obviously carried with it the implied possibility that one of them would succeed in realizing that intent. Still, the words rang hollow.
Kakashi's odd actions that the man attributed to his attempts to be an actual teacher tore Naruto up even more. Something about the man seemed genuine in the way that only Iruka's smiles and the Old Man's frank words of encouragement and admonishment had before. And yet...Naruto still did it. He'd been overwhelmed by the sheer rage, resentment, hurt, and pure-unadulterated fear that had been swimming just under the surface of his thoughts since the moment Mizuki had spilled the beans and Iruka had given his silent confirmation and set off the explosives he'd planted on Kakashi and blew the man up.
Something was different about the explosives though. He'd been experimenting with explosives and seal-tags since he'd first managed to get his hands on information about them in his second year at the academy and had blown up thousands of them. He could dissect an explosion from the edge of his auditory range and tell you exactly what kind of explosive had been used, how far away it was, the size of the detonation, what had been blown up, and a hundred other little facts without even seeing it.
His visual experience with explosions was even more extensive. He knew that from the end of the activation sequence to final burn out should take two point eight-seven seconds, but for some strange reason it was taking longer. Far, far longer.
Something inside him had forced his eyes to remain on Kakashi as he set off the explosives and he'd watched with horrified fascination as the man's eyes darted frantically about himself in search of the explosives. The fascination had faded when the man's eyes had locked with Naruto's own and transmitted Kakashi's sick knowledge of the fact that it was too late to get away. The horror had escalated when the explosives had slowly detonated, the flaming expansion slowly moving to envelop Kakashi as shock washed over the man's face.
Naruto's eyes had remained locked with the doomed man's until the explosion had washed across Kakashi's face and broken the eye contact and suddenly Naruto's world snapped back into focus and he stumbled backwards to fall on his behind in shock. When Kakashi's face had been obscured something inside of Naruto had shattered. He was still angry, still hurt, and still afraid, but he was also guilty and ashamed. He realized that he'd been acting no better than the monster they'd always thought him to be and it made him sick to his stomach.
Then he noticed the explosions burned themselves out and the sick feeling in his stomach took on an entirely new meaning as he watched the smoke clear to reveal Kakashi standing there seemingly none the worse for wear save for singed sleeves on his shirt and legs on his pants. That feeling only intensified as he observed Kakashi's eyes do that creepy smiley thing they'd done earlier and a grin so wide and broad that it stretched, quite literally, from ear to ear and was visible underneath the all concealing face mask.
"Ah," Kakashi's voice was full of something Naruto would have called warmth and affection if he hadn't just tried to kill the man, "You were actually listening to me and struck with intent to kill. I think I'm beginning to like you now."
"Yep," Naruto thought to himself, "I am sooooo screwed."
Sometimes Naruto enjoyed being wrong. It was an extremely rare occurrence (enjoying being wrong, not being wrong itself) and Naruto could count the number of such occurrences on one hand and still have fingers left over, but it did happen. Today being a shining example.
Following Naruto's failed attempt to blow his teacher into itty-bitty pieces he'd been engaged by said teacher in a taijutsu battle that had left Naruto clearly on the defensive and had left no openings for Naruto to make a follow up attempt to at turning his teacher into bloody kibble by slipping explosive seal-tags onto the man. Not that Naruto believed that he would have done so even if there had been opportunity and explosives enough for a repeat performance.
The exchange had ended on an incredibly humiliating note as Kakashi had managed to get behind Naruto and used a peculiar technique that the man had loudly proclaimed to be Hidden Leaf's ultimate hidden taijutsu technique and named it the "Thousand Years of Death," just before shoving his stiffened fingers into a particularly sensitive region of Naruto's posterior causing Naruto to involuntarily launch himself into the air.
When Naruto pulled himself out of the river he'd landed in Kakashi had been nowhere to be seen and the blond had spent the remaining test time searching for his teacher. Needless to say he'd been worried when the man had shown up to retrieve him shortly after the surprisingly loud alarm had gone off. He'd fully expected to be tied to a log, and by that time he'd been so hungry that he'd already had to do a bit foraging during his search to keep his stomach from grumbling and giving away his position. So when Kakashi had sat him down in front of the middle post and walked a few feet away and begun to talk Naruto had been understandably confused.
While keeping an ear out as Kakashi spoke about the monument stone located only a few dozen feet away from the posts, what it meant to be a ninja, and how he believed ninja that abandoned their comrades were worse than trash ninja that failed to complete their missions, he pondered what had occurred. He'd clearly tried to kill Kakashi, yet the man had actually been happy that Naruto had done so. Even the fight following that attempt and it's humiliating end had been devoid of any actual malice on the part of Kakashi. Further Naruto had quite clearly not gotten a bell so why wasn't he tied to a post? Naruto's thoughts chased themselves around in circles as Kakashi spoke until he registered something surprising.
"...so I've decided to give the three of you a second chance," Naruto then noticed that he wasn't the only one present. Sasuke and Sakura were there as well, and now that he noticed that he realized that while he'd been preoccupied with his thoughts the two had been interacting with Kakashi through various questions, shouts, and grunts. His thoughts were jerked back to the present as Kakashi continued though. "Naruto, since you came closest to retrieving a bell I'll allow you to eat lunch. You're not to feed Sasuke or Sakura or all three of you will fail."
Kakashi handed Naruto two box lunches and Naruto assumed they must have been intended for the two who had retrieved a bell. Assuming that anyone had managed to retrieve a bell that is. Naruto took them gratefully even if he still wasn't quite sure of everything that was happening.
"I'll be back in an hour. Use that time wisely and you'll have nothing to worry about. Later," and Kakashi vanished into a cloud of smoke with a small pop leaving Naruto by himself with a pair of incredibly unhappy Genin-hopefuls tied to posts.
Almost on autopilot Naruto took one of the lunches and set it to the side while opening the other and preparing to eat. He had a good sized bite mere inches from his mouth when a thought hit him and he stopped. Putting the bite back into the box he thought about what he'd heard, but not listened to earlier.
Kakashi had spoken about the teamwork. He'd spoken quite passionately about it in fact, going so far as to say in language that could almost be termed plain that the team came before the mission. Following that he'd given instructions that contradicted what he'd said about teams and taking care of each other before leaving the Genin by themselves and telling them to make the best possible use of that time. It didn't make sense unless...Naruto's eyes widened. That was it!
Getting the bells hadn't been the test at all! The test was lunch, and Kakashi had given them the answer as plain as day. "In the world of the ninja those who fail to complete their mission are seen as trash, but to me those who abandon and do not care for their comrades and teammates are lower than trash," he'd said. His seeming turnabout when telling Naruto not to feed his two teammates was a test to see if he was really listening to what Kakashi was saying.
As had been his custom since he was very young, Naruto immediately turned from thought to action and placed his already opened lunch on his lap before focusing on a technique he'd gained increasing proficiency with over the past week and created two Shadow Clones on either side of him. Both clones were identical down to the tiniest detail, including the lunch sitting in his, now their, laps.
The clone on the left tossed the box in his lap carelessly to the side and accepted the still sealed second box from the original Naruto while the right-side clone was emptying his box of every last speck of replicated food. Naruto had no idea if it was edible or what kinds of strange effects it would have on someone's digestive system should it be eaten and didn't believe that now was the time to find out. When his clone was satisfied that there was no more replicated food he joined the original and the other clone and they divided the two boxes into three roughly equal portions. Naruto just might have kept a tiny bit extra for himself.
Throughout all of this he'd been aware of his teammates staring at him. He didn't know what they were thinking while watching him, and quite frankly he didn't want to know. Even if he hadn't been conscious of the thoughts running about their heads, he should not have been surprised when they refused his aid when the clones split up and attempted to feed them.
"What the hell are you doing Naruto! Didn't you hear Kakashi? If you feed us we'll fail!" Sakura's shouted admonition came moments after she turned her head from the offered food.
"I'm passing this test is what I'm doing," he snapped back in irritation at Sakura's inability to see what was, to Naruto's eyes, blindingly obvious. It never occurred to Naruto that his thought processes might be considered unconventional by most.
"How exactly does doing the exact opposite of what Hatake told us to do qualify as passing the test moron?"
Sasuke. The cold condescending attitude and arrogant superiority dripping from the boy's words even while tied to a log pissed Naruto off and stirred up feelings of resentment that should have been long buried. Naruto was well aware of the special treatment the boy got because of his family name and was, for a moment, tempted to withdraw his help. Fortunately for them all he used his better judgment and explained.
"Were neither of you actually listening to Kakashi? Didn't you hear what he said about those that don't take care of their teammates? The bells weren't the test at all. This is. We're supposed to break the rules to take care of our teammates. That's how we pass his test." Sasuke glared and turned his head, obviously rejecting Naruto's aid, but Sakura seemed to be thinking it over leaving Naruto some hope that she would accept his help even though she normally took her lead from Sasuke.
"That...makes sense. More than it should," Naruto grimaced internally and swore to be twice as annoying about asking Sakura out on "dates" for the foreseeable future. "Alright Naruto, I'll accept the food, but if you're wrong about this I'll beat you down so badly you'll wish you're great-grandparents had never laid eyes on one another."
Used to the Sakura's rather uncreative, but surprisingly descriptive threats after a year of classes together he was able to cover the reflexive nervous swallow to the point that she didn't notice it and directed his clone to begin feeding her. He also ate sat down to eat his own, but not before gesturing to the remaining clone to continue to offer the food to Sasuke. To his pleasure and surprise, Sasuke finally broke down and accepted the food with a put upon grunt at roughly the same time that Naruto finished his. Incidentally Sakura was once about three quarter finished with hers and protesting half-heartedly that any more would ruin her diet. Naturally that was when Kakashi appeared.
Naruto's performance in the test had been surprising and enlightening for Kakashi. The boy's initial assault and it's actual goal had proven that the boy had what it took to be a good ninja, but it was his reaction to the subtle genjutsu Kakashi had cast on him the moment he'd realized that Naruto had been planning to blow him up that left him with the most hope. Even with all the formerly buried emotions running rampant, Naruto was, at his core, still a good kid.
The following taijutsu assault told Kakashi even more. The kid was damned good for his age, and with a bit of spit and polish he'd be a match for any Chunin and most Jonin in a straight up taijutsu battle. With hard work he'd probably be on Gai's level in a couple of years and push beyond even that man's daunting level within the decade. It was a truly frightening thought. For Naruto's enemies that is.
Sasuke had been somewhat less of a surprise following Naruto's fight, though Kakashi had still had to keep a closer eye than he'd have liked on the boy. The biggest, and only, surprise in his evaluation of Sasuke's skills was when the boy had used the Dragon's Fire Breath on him. Kakashi had been half expecting the Grand Fireball which his old teammate had mentioned was considered to be a rite of passage within the Uchiha clan since the clan's inception.
The high level fire technique hadn't been enough of a surprise to get past Kakashi's guard, and the boy's sense of superiority was something that rubbed Kakashi the wrong way. He'd taken entirely too much pleasure in leaving the sole surviving member of the Uchiha clan buried up to his neck in solid rock.
Sakura on the other hand had been much less than expected. Since her report had tagged her as a potential support type with a slight talent for genjutsu he'd decided to start her off with a simple test of her genjutsu detection ability. She'd failed completely as the absurdly simple and easily detected and broken sleep spell had taken her completely. She hadn't woken up until he was halfway finished tying Sasuke to his post – a full ten minutes after he'd tied Sakura herself up.
His decision to tie Sakura and Sasuke to the posts and leave only Naruto to figure out the riddle of the true test had been made sometime between his defeat of Sasuke and his location of Sakura when he realized that of them all, Naruto needed that lesson the most. His original intent to tie up only Naruto might have worked had it not been Naruto who had the biggest trust issues.
Naruto had trusted very few people in his life, and had been betrayed on more than one occasion. In a sense it would seem that even Iruka and Sarutobi – the two people who were the closest Naruto had to family – had betrayed his trust on more than one occasion. To Naruto trust was not something that would come easy and unless based on Kakashi's observations the boy wouldn't extend it to his teammates unless he believed it to be necessary. So Kakashi took a gamble and placed the fate of Team 7 in the hands of the last person anyone would expect to puzzle out the truth of Kakashi's final exam.
It was, therefore, with great pride that Kakashi watched as Naruto thought things through before eating his food. Even more gratifying was seeing the boy move smoothly from thought to action as he created Shadow Clones (something he'd have to talk to Sarutobi about) and split the food between them. Oddly enough his thoughts as he watched the clones dispose of the replicated food mirrored Naruto's though instead of discarding the thoughts he added that to the list of things to talk to the Fire Shadow about when he made his verbal report later this afternoon.
When Sakura and Sasuke initially refused the food he was glad he'd had the foresight to plant a small microphone and transmitter at the base of the middle post yesterday evening as he was too far away to pick up what they were saying with his ears and his binoculars weren't powerful enough to allow him to lip-read from his current distance. Sakura's attitude would need some adjustment, she seemed to be too quick to berate Naruto and her threats of violence while somewhat amusing on the surface would end up being counterproductive in the long run. Still, she at least listened which was a point in her favor. The diet of course would have to go, though it did provide a probable cause for why she'd fallen to the sleep spell so easily.
He continued watching, hoping and praying that Sasuke would finally cave and accept the food Naruto was offering. Kakashi didn't want to have to actually give them a second go at the bells because he'd not given any thought as to how he'd manage to let them get the bells without making it obvious that he'd allowed them to obtain them. That would cause them to ask questions he wasn't allowed to answer.
With a sense of relief he could only compare to the time his old teacher had arrived just in time to save himself and Rin just after Obito's death he watched Sasuke finally allow Naruto to feed him. Taking that as his cue he teleported to their location once more and silently cast a genjutsu on them, shaping it so that they perceived a giant rumbling thunderhead to have suddenly formed above them as he glowered down at them from his perch on the middle post. Their expressions were priceless though there was a glint in Naruto's eyes that he wasn't quite certain he liked.
"Naruto," Kakashi spoke ominously, "What did I tell you about feeding Sasuke and Sakura."
"You told me to feed them," Naruto's glib reply coupled with the shit eating grin that was now splitting his face open was starting to creep Kakashi out, and based on their reactions Sasuke and Sakura were a little unnerved by it too.
"How, exactly, did you come to that conclusion?" Kakashi's voice was so scathing that Sakura could not stop herself from flinching even though the question was quite obviously direct at Naruto.
"You already know my reasoning Kakashi-sensei," and now Naruto revealed the reason for his absurdly upbeat mood by lifting his left hand and revealing the microphone that had been planted at the bottom of the center post. Kakashi was really starting to like this kid.
Releasing the genjutsu he smiled to himself at their startled blinks as the sun reappeared as swiftly as it had, to their eyes, disappeared. "I suppose I do. Congratulations are now in order I suppose. The three of you are now Team 7. Meet back here tomorrow morning at ten," seeing the dubious look on Sakura's face and the flicker of glee in Naruto's eyes even as he adopted the same dubious look as Sakura he decided to clarify. "I will be here on time tomorrow morning. I'll not say anything about other mornings, but if you aren't here on time tomorrow you'll miss the instructions for your training. Dismissed."
"Kakashi-sensei, should I release Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto's question caught Kakashi off guard, but he quickly recovered.
"That's alright Naruto I'll take care of them. Why don't you head over to the Academy and get Iruka to take you out for ramen in celebration," Kakashi grinned at Naruto with his eyes and took a silent delight in the boy's poorly concealed shudder. It was one of the most amusing reactions he'd ever had and got the feeling that he wouldn't get tired of it either. Maybe that was why Tenzou kept using those Ghoul Eyes of his (and just the memory of that had a silent shiver running down Kakashi's spine).
"Ramen! Yeah, see you tomorrow Kakashi-sensei," Naruto's voice was loud and full of cheer. A sharp contrast to the quiet words that followed. "I'm...um...sorry about...you know."
"Hmm...?" Kakashi feigned ignorance for a moment, "Oh that, that's fine I did tell you to after all. Just because you came closer than either of your teammates is no reason to apologize. Just remember it was for this exercise only and we'll call it even. Deal?"
"Deal!" Idly, Kakashi wondered if it might be possible to tap that smile for electricity. The wattage alone would be enough to cover his bills for months. The impressive speed with which Naruto departed while chanting "ramen, ramen, ramen," under his breath was barely even noticed. Kakashi had personally seen the boy ghost through a crowded boulevard at twice the speed in order to evade pursuit after a particularly nasty prank had been pulled on a merchant that had later been found to be participating in the slave trade. Oddly enough that evidence had been uncovered during the prank's clean-up.
Putting those thoughts out of his mind as he turned to Sasuke and Sakura after making sure Naruto was well out of sight he paced over and cut Sakura from her bindings and directed her to sit at the base of the poll. He then turned and began to pace while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. After several minutes of thought he turned to Sakura and began.
"Sakura, I heard you mention a diet to Naruto earlier. Care to tell us what exactly this diet consists of?"
"I eat two meals a day, midday and evening. The food is light on calories, fats, and carbs so I don't put on weight." was her prompt response.
"That's it? There's nothing else, no exercise, no vitamin supplements or energy drinks in place of breakfast?" Kakashi prompted.
She shook her head, "No, just the food. Why?"
Kakashi sighed dramatically and hung his head before placing a level gaze on Sakura. "Oh, just wanted to know what I was working with. I had hoped, though not expected, a nice sensible diet tailored to an active kunoichi's lifestyle but instead I find that not only is the civilian idea of pretty once more the "so thin you could pass as an Earth Country famine refugee" look, but that the so-called most intelligent member of the graduating class is intent on conforming to that look in hopes of getting into the pants of the single most asexual member of the male species to graduate from the Academy since myself?"
On reflection it might not have been the best way to phrase it, and he certainly hadn't intended to let that bit about himself slip, but he could be forgiven. He was having flashbacks to his own initiation to team Arashi with the stuck-up aloof genius, the not-so pretty but still attractive girl who had no idea just what she'd actually signed up for, and the emotionally damaged outcast (for that's what Obito had been – the bastard son of a high ranking member of the clan and a whore he'd been the shame of the Uchiha and only been taken in because he had the potential to awaken the Sharingan, something he'd never done). Kakashi didn't think his psyche could handle a repeat of that team's fate and so he was taking corrective measures now.
The many faces Sakura cycled through – outrage, disbelief, outrage, contemplation, outrage, disbelief, outrage, acceptance, outrage, and finally even more outrage – were humorous enough to derail his morbid train of thought before it had gotten too far from the station. Her spluttered denial of "Sasuke is NOT asexual," followed swiftly by, "What is asexual again?" was absolutely priceless. Not to mention hilarious. What made it even funnier was the fact that Sasuke was gaping like a stunned fish.
"Sakura, asexual means that Sasuke has no interest in anything sexual at all. He's not interested in girls or boys. It's far preferable to his brother's own sexual preferences," now why had he brought up that horrific topic? The feel of Sasuke's eyes burning holes in his back reminded him of the reason. He was looking for something to shut the boy up and put him off balance. Hopefully this would do the trick. Otherwise it would get nasty.
"No Sasuke, we are not discussing Itachi's fish fetish now or ever," yep, that did the trick. He then turned back to Sakura who was looking vaguely disgusted and began to discuss a proper diet that would help her built strength, endurance, and chakra capacity while allowing her to maintain and even improve her figure so that she could be a more effective member of the team. Sasuke would, despite the wishes of certain parties, have to wait.
Author's Notes:
Damn, that was a fast chapter. Don't count on Chapter Four making it out in anything close to this amount of time. I'll also say that other than the last scene Chapter Two had been sitting on my hard drive in a mostly completed state for several months and finishing that chapter took about a week.
I've had no questions, so therefore there are no answers to give. Hopefully people will start asking things soon, but then again I'm still in the first arc (check out my website sometime today. Hopefully I'll be able to find the password and update it before the day's over).
Haven't got anybody to embarrass here either. Oh well. Next up's the first day of training and hopefully I'll have figured out just how I'm going to deal with this Sasuke. One thing's for sure Kakashi's going to be keeping the guy out of trouble even if it kills him (Sasuke that is) while turning Sakura into a decent ninja and polishing Naruto's rough edges.
Oh, that reminds me. While it would seem that I've set up Naruto to be stronger than Sasuke, at this point they're roughly even. It's just that Naruto fights dirtier than Sasuke can even conceive of. In an actual all-out fight, Sasuke would actually hold the advantage since Naruto doesn't have any kind of offensive ninjutsu techniques and his ability to use throwing weapons is limited to distractionary tactics since he has no accuracy of which we may speak nicely (in other word's he could clip the broad side of barn with a single weapon, but would require a full barrage to actually score a hit).