Chapter 9
Just after Naruto walked toward his teammates both Jonins came back.
"LEE!" Guy went directly toward Lee. And punched him flying. All of the Team 7 members looked at Guy's action. And even Naruto was bewildered seeing that.
"THAT WAS A POOR SHOWING! HOW WILL YOUR JUNIORS RESPECT YOU!" Guy started to lecture Lee.
"YOU HAVE TO BE MORE ALERT WHEN FIGHTING. BUT DON'T WORRY LEE!" Guy hugged Lee. Putting one hand on his head to comfort him.
"YES! GUY SENSEI!" Lee shouted his tears coming out.
"THIS WAS JUST ONE LOSE! THE SUN IS JUST RISING! WE WORK HARD EVEN AFTER THE SUN SETS!" Guy said pointing at the Sun. Both of them hugged each other while crying. Around them a Genjutsu of the setting sun.
Naruto, Sasuke looked at it frozen not able to understand. While Neji and Tenten looked like they had long accepted their fate.
"I have accepted my fate," Neji muttered to himself.
"Kai."
"Kai."
"KAI."
On the other hand, Sakura was the only one trying desperately to get out of the genjutsu. She looked traumatized, with hairs sticking out, with a haunted look on her face.
"What....just.... happened?" Sasuke was the one who asked. As both Lee and Guy stopped hugging each other.
"Don't ask me...." Naruto said as he looked wide-eyed. Even he felt scared.
"We don't know them." Tenten said as she took a deep breath to calm down. She was mostly used to it.
"Ahham." Yamato cleared his throat to get his team's attention. Seeing all there of them looking at him.
"Well, now that you have seen the difference you will work smarter. As a ninja strength is not the only thing you should measure yourself with." Yamato said to them.
"We will meet you soon, Guy san." Yamato bowed a little.
"TAKE CARE YOU ALL!" Guy gave a nice guy smile and thumbs up to them.
Soon Team 7 left the training ground.
"Yamato sensei, was there any other reason for us to meet Team 9?" Naruto asked Yamato as they were walking.
"Yes, it is to get some advice from Guy san." Yamato said making both Sasuke and Sakura look at him. Even Naruto felt chill for a moment.
"Nothing like that." Yamato hurriedly clarified.
"I asked him for advice on how what kind of weight training I could give you three." He said looking at them.
"Unfortunately, not everyone is suited for it. Like, Sakura is not ready for weights added to her training."
"We also have to consider the dangers as well. As such you will only wear weights when doing physical training." Yamato started to give several warnings.
'Then why the hell does Lee wear weights all the time... Even in a life and death mission.' Naruto said in his mind but did not ask.
"We will buy beginners weights for both of you." All of them walked out of the training grounds as they entered the village.
The glares were far less compared to the usual. It was because not only Sasuke, Yamato a Jonin walked with Naruto.
They soon reached a weapons shop. The shop owner looked like in his late thirties. He was sitting there looking at them entering the shop.
"New customer, eh... Look around to see if you need anything. Or just ask." He said.
"Two sets of beginner weights." Yamato went to the counter and all three genins started to look around.
Naruto picked up a katana to see how it felt. But much to his disappointment, he felt uncomfortable doing a few swings. Naruto was far more comfortable using his fist or a kunai. He gave up and put it back in its place.
For Naruto Katana was like the best weapon. Especially in a shonin setting like his. He decided he would come back in the future to see if he felt comfortable with any weapons.
"Did you find anything you like?" Yamato asked as he walked to them.
"No, nothing sensei," Sakura replied.
"Well, if you want to learn any weapons remember it would take years to master it...in normal case that is." He paused for a moment and said that. He was right about that because of Naruto's shadow clones that would be far easier for him.
But Yamato was not fully right. Fighting experience was also very much needed to be a master. It was also the reason Naruto never said he mastered his Taijutsu. For him, it was good enough for the time being. For Naruto, sparing helps much more than training.
"These are beginners weights. Put one on each hand and leg. And wear this vest." Yamato gave both of them to were the weights.
"It's much harder to do everything," Sasuke commented as both of them walked around.
"Now, as I said before, don't walk around wearing those. Only wear when training."
And a little while later all of them left. Even Sakura got weights for her. And according to Yamato, he would let her wear those after she reached a satisfactory level. Whenever that was.
'Still a dead end.' Naruto said in his mind. One of the reasons for his shadow clones meditating all the time was to enter the seal and have a chat with Kurama.
But that was a bust.
'The seal is just too tight. And I can't purposely let Kurama's chakra out. That will just make me more of an observation target than I already am.' And he was right about that. Not to mention he couldn't even get out of the village to try something like that.
Naruto still lacked a lot of things. And it was not because of his lack of trying. It was all to not gain too much suspicion.
He was already not liked by most of the people of the village. And that included the higher-ups. He did not want them the opportunity to fuck him over.
"Hey, Naruto. Let's have a spar." Sasuke suddenly said to Naruto as they entered their training.
"Are you getting more confident... That doesn't matter. I am ready when you are." Naruto said as he entered his fighting stance. He had a small smile on his face.
"This time it will be different," Sasuke said as his face turned serious.
"This again. We just had a spar just a while ago." Sakura complained as both she and Yamato walked away to give some distance.
"Sparing in a safe environment is far better than jumping into a life-and-death situation. You should also join from time to time the experience will be something you will be thankful for." Yamato commented on Sakura's complaint.
At an unseen signal, both of them moved from their place.
It was fast. Especially in the eyes of Sakura. Naruto's attacks were strong and fast. His kicks were far more dangerous. Because Sasuke could far easily redirect his punches.
Just after a few seconds, Sasuke took a few steps back his left hand shaking a little. While Naruto put down his left leg after making a front kick.
"You know my Shadow clones were quite bored and they decided to learn a few interesting ways to use chakra. You will be seeing them." As Naruto said a small layer of chakra coated his whole body.
The next moment Naruto was in front of Sasuke.
'FAST!' Sasuke exclaimed in his mind as he tried his best to make some distance. Naruto was not just fast he was very much extremely silent. The layer of chakra had the job of lowering as much wind resistance as possible. But Naruto's chakra control had the problem of Kurama's chakra making problem for him. And so it was not perfect.
It was still more than enough to put Sasuke in a desperate situation. He could no longer try to block attacks. They had started to become far faster and stronger.
Deflecting to left, right, sidestep to get a little distance. Duck or one step behind to not get his face smashed by a kick.
Sasuke was trying his best to use his interceptor style. The problem. Without Sharingan the style was also not complete.
Sasuke was anticipating it. Naruto uses grappling moves. But instead, Naruto completely relied on his Taijutsu style and his chakra control move.
Both of them suddenly took some distance.
While Sasuke was sweating. Naruto was jumping from one foot to another as he had a smile on his face.
"Why are you not using grappling moves?" Sasuke asked after catching his breath.
"Aren't you having fun?" Naruto said as his smile got a little bigger.
Sasuke realized he was smiling. It was not a fight where he was only getting beaten by his opponent or the opponent was just too weak. And even with his back to the wall, he could fight like that. He was enjoying it.
"I can show more. But my chakra control is the problem. Those moves take a little too much concentration for me to use them in a battle." Naruto said as he clenched and unclenched his right fist.
"But, hey I can still smash this fist on your emo face." Naruto was ready for another round. Sasuke also entered his stance.
"Stop," Yamato said as both of them and Sakura looked at him.
"Today's team training ends, now. I have something to do." He said as he looked at something in the forest.
Sasuke frowned a little as his spar was interrupted. Where Naruto had a thoughtful look as he looked at the direction Yamato was looking at. His lips curved a little as two birds flew in that direction.
"What was that?" Sakura asked as Yamato left.
"Who knows, probably some emergency. Or he is meeting someone." Naruto said as he started to walk with them.
"Probably the latter. I saw him looking at something." Sasuke said.
"Well, that is better than it being any emergency," Naruto said.
"Hey, wanna go to eat ramen with me?" Naruto asked. In a way, he was trying at least to get closer to his teammates.
"If you spar with me tomorrow." Sasuke agreed with him.
"Oh! I will go, too." Sakura also agreed. Mainly because she could eat with Sasuke. She was really not a fan of ramen.
"Cool, I eat at Ichiraku. It's the best place to eat ramen in the whole village." Naruto said with a smile as all of them entered the village.
"Naruto why are people glaring at you?" Sasuke suddenly asked.
"What else! Because of all the pranks he did!" Sakura exclaimed as she glared at Naruto.
"That's one part of it," Naruto said with a hum. He didn't mind telling them about the Nine Tails situation. But he wanted to wait for a little more time.
"And you are not telling us the other part?" Sasuke gave Naruto a curious look. It would be a lie to say he was not interested in knowing more of Naruto's secrets.
"Well, maybe. When we trust each other more than this. Besides everyone has few secrets" To that Sasuke had nothing to say. He was hiding a few things, too.
"Hmm, we will be adding another person to the list," Naruto said as he changed his direction a little. One of his shadow clones saw Hinata wandering around.
Hinata and her teammates would meet at 9 in the morning, as usual. It was also the reason Naruto and Hinata could not meet with each other every day.
Both Sakura and Sasuke followed Naruto, they were also curious about the new person.
"Hey, Hinata-chan! Here!" Naruto waved calling Hinata. There were not many people around the path but Hinata looked at Naruto with a smile and then blushed. She also looked at both Sasuke and Sakura.
Naruto went to her and held her hand. To that, her blush increased.
Naruto had tried to make her less shy in the past. But decided to make her more confident and only then give her some hard pills of reality to swallow.
Seeing both of them holding hands Sasuke only raised one of his eyebrows and didn't comment.
Sakura on the other hand was shocked. She looked at them holding hands and then at their faces. Then she looked at Sasuke. She was jealous, alright.
"Let's go," Naruto said to them as they all walked together.
"So, from when you two are so close?" Sakura asked her jealousy clear. But she was also curious. At the back of her mind, her inner Sakura felt depressed as it also found out the reason, why Naruto stopped calling her chan. Or even asking her out on a date.
"A little over a weak, I guess." He said with a happy smile. Hinata herself had a smile on her face, even with her blush.
Though the only thing they did till then was to hold hands and hang around with each other. The few times they got the chance that is.
While Sakura wanted to ask more they reached the Ramen shop.
"This place... I have eaten here before." Sasuke muttered to himself. It was in the past years ago. At that time he came there with his older brother. The same brother who... He shook his head to get rid of that line of thoughts.
"Welcome." Teuchi happily welcomed them.
"So, Naruto finally decided to come here with more of your friends." He said with a smile.
"They are my Teammates Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha." Hearing that he looked at Sasuke a little more clearly.
"It's nice to meet you," Sakura said feeling a little awkward. She didn't know that Naruto was so familiar with them.
Teuchi wanted to joke and talk about how both of their parents came there in the past. But he just smiled and told them to take a seat.
"What will you order." They all saw the ramen menu as they started to order.
"3 bowls of Miso ramen." Naruto liked it very much.
"A bowl of salt ramen," Sasuke ordered.
"A bowl of vegetable ramen," Sakura said after looking through the menu.
"A bowl of Tonkotsu ramen." Hinata order. She wanted to make it three but decided against it.
Naruto said nothing about that. He was still working on Hinata's shyness but he was taking it one step at a time. At some point, he would have to give Hinata a shock about reality. But he would need to build Hinata's confidence to a certain point.
"So, how things are going with your team?" Teuchi asked as he started to prepare their ramen.
"I think it's going pretty well. Our jonin sensei makes us work hard, but the rewards are pretty good." Naruto said as Sasuke gave a nod. While Sakura wanted to talk with Hinata Sakura was on the opposite side. So, she was looking around.
'I hate oily foods like these!' Sakura's inner self complained as she sat there.
While the genins and Hinata were at the ramen shop waiting for ramen, Yamato was in another situation.
He stood on top of a tree as two root ninjas looked at him. One standing higher than him at a tree, looking down at him with his hands crossed.
"So, what is the reason for the sudden invitation? I am no longer an ANBU. I am now just a jonin sensei." Yamato said in a calm voice talking to the root ninja close to him.
"Don't be a smart-ass and give the report on Uchiha and Nine tails brat." The root shinobi ordered him rudely.
"You have no right to command me. And if you wish to know you can ask Hokage-sama." Yamato said in the same calm voice with no changes.
"Just give us the information. The Hokage will not lift a finger if we just ruf you up a bit. And you know it more clearly than me." And it was the truth. Whenever it was about Danzo the Third Hokage was ready to do his best, just to save him.
At that time Danzo was supposed to be under house arrest and no root shinobi under his control. And here they were threatening Yamato in daylight.
"There's nothing special. They are training with me and doing D ranks." Yamato gave as vague of an answer as possible.
"We want to know if the Uchiha has awakened his Sharingan and the Nine tail brat started to access the beast's chakra." The root demanded taking a step. Seeing that the other ANBU put a hand on his weapon.
"No to both. And attack me if you can the consequence will be something you will not be happy with." Yamato said as he got ready for battle. He knew it was just a tactic to use him in the future. They wanted him to give up information in the future without question.
"Are you ready then?" Suddenly there was another person who walked out in front of them. The root shinobis got even more tense as they saw the third hidden member was on top of the new arrival, lying unconscious.
"And here I thought there would be a fight," Kakashi said as he dropped the root ninja.
Kakashi walked beside Yamato and stood with him.
"So, when are you going to ruf us up?" He commented as he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Mission end." One of them said as he picked up the fallen root ninja. Both left after that.
"So, you just can't stay away from ANBU matters. And here I thought you would be enjoying your vacation." Kakashi said to Yamato as he took out his ANBU mask and put it on. A few seconds later few ANBU members came out.
"Captain, all clear." Said an ANBU.
"Good, let's go. We have to report it to Hokage sama. And stay out of trouble Tenzo." Kakashi said that. But even the new ANBU members knew nothing would happen. The complaint was just a formality.
"Take care captain Tenzo." They also gave Tenzo a respectful nod.
Authors note: Most root ninjas are not emotionless. In canon Shisui, Itachi vs two root ninjas showed that. They were so arrogant that they even attacked ANBU members and both the genius as well as the heir of the Uchiha clan. Even in the anime, it was shown that only a few root ninjas were emotionless.
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