Chapter 12
Looking at his mirror Naruto couldn't help but smirk. He was like a completely different person...well mostly. He wore an almost identical-looking coat from 'The Last Movie'. Not to mention his pants were also not Orange. It was black with a few red lightning bolts on it.
His hair was a little longer than before and from now he was going to bind his forehead protector on his left arm.
"Well, that more like it." He had a smile as he left the apartment. Even the thought of Konohamaru barging on his last date with Hinata was not going to bring his mood down. Not to mention Hinata had already promised to go on another date. He just had to make it more memorable.
It was not like he could take her to most restaurants. He was not that rich. Not to mention most restaurants wouldn't let him in. But at the end of each date, he felt fulfilled because of her smile.
He was at the training ground just like his two teammates. Sasuke and Sakura both looked at him with surprise.
"Naruto? When did you change your clothing? You look... different." Sakura said as it was hard for her to admit Naruto looked handsome. Sakura also didn't want to admit he was handsome in front of Sasuke. Not that he minded, that was enough praise from her.
"Is it your way of trying to impress that girl, Hinata if I am right." Sasuke smirked at Naruto. "You will need it."
"I don't need advice from someone who has never been on a date," Naruto said his smirk challenging. "Then again I have doubts on the fact you are straight." His words made Sasuke stop smiling and Sakura froze in her place.
Naruto could practically hear inner Sakura scream to high heaven and beg anyone that Sasuke was not gay. Even her color seems to be fading in the wind.
"Don't get your hopes up. I am straight as it gets." Sasuke said with a small frown, his teeth gritted. Sasuke was not happy to hear the accusation. "Besides, I can get dates anytime I want."
"Well, seeing how many times you rejected Sakura, I thought you swung the other way." Naruto's smile got bigger saying that. "Then prove me wrong by going on a date at least." He pointed at Sakura. "We even have a volunteer."
Naruto's challenge was like new rays of sunshine for Sakura. Inner Sakura was cheering in happiness and thanking Naruto.
"It will only waste the time I could train," Sasuke argued. Even then Sasuke was thinking about accepting it just so his other fangirls would stop harassing him. Besides Sasuke could see Sakura improve right before his eyes.
"Are you backing down?" Naruto's smile turned mischievous and his eyes were laughing at Sasuke. Even Sasuke couldn't handle the look he was giving for a few seconds. And yes he was trying to get them together. As for the reason future will tell.
"Okay, I will go on a date and prove I am straight," Sasuke said with gritted teeth.
But the winner of the battle was Sakura, who was feeling like it was her best dream ever.
"You all seem lively today," Yamato said as he entered the training ground. Naruto was happy so he smilingly greeted his Sensei.
"Sensei how did my requests go?" He asked as he was ready to send his shadow clones. Simply put he had almost mastered everything he knew. To the point he even had to decrease the amount of shadow clones for training use.
"Your request to learn medical jutsu will take some more time," Yamato said as he took several scrolls out of his Jonin vest. "Here are Shunshin jutsu and sensory jutsu for all three of you. Don't worry if you can't learn the sensory jutsu, not everyone has the talent for it." Yamato then took out three slips of paper.
"These are chakra nature testing papers, it will tell us which chakra nature jutsus you have the highest affinity with." Yamato gave each of them one of the slips of paper. "If it turns soggy, your highest affinity is water. Crumble then it's earth, split in half then it's wind, wrinkle then it's lightning and finally if it burns then it's fire." Yamato said as his slip of paper turned soggy. Naruto knew all that but his excitement was more than enough for him to listen to it carefully. He forgot how many times he had heard that explanation.
"Oh, and before I forget that destroy the scrolls after memorizing the contents in them." Yamato reminded them. Though Naruto was already thinking of starting his training right away. But he was also a little curious if his chakra nature was the same or not.
"Just inject a little chakra into it." With that, all three of them injected chakra into it.
Naruto's paper got spit in half, making Naruto grin. He had a lot of things planned for his future. And the first step of his nature release would be mastering wind nature.
Sasuke's one wrinkled. Sasuke looked surprised by the result. Sasuke thought it would be fire.
Sakura's paper crumbled, making her look at Yamato with hopeful eyes.
"This is a Jutsu list, it's effects and requirements." Yamato handed them a scroll, "Pick one and I will get it for you. And if I know I will teach you now."
*
Sakura looked through the list as her mind raced. Even though she wanted to dance around with joy, she could do that later, in the privacy of her room.
But now she had to pick a jutsu. She first put away those with high chakra requirements and too many hand seals.
"I want to learn, Wind style: Great breakthrough," Naruto said with a smile already picking one for himself. And here she was just looking at the names.
They were mainly D or C rank jutsu, and as far as she could see none of them were marked as B rank.
There were two jutsu that fit most of her criteria. They were Earth style: earth wall and Earth style: rock fist. The former would let her have a good defense. Her position as the support also would become far safer as well letting her protect the client or things. The jutsu was also not hard to learn. She was very much tempted to pick it.
The latter would give her the chance to increase her offensive power. She'd kunai, shuriken and Taijutsu as her offensive. But with the jutsu she would be able to increase her punching power... though, she also was not sure by how much.
But still, she decided to read them more carefully.
"Sensei I want to have Lightning style: Lightning Flash." A Jutsu that works as a support for Bukijutsu. Yes, she could see how it would be useful for Sasuke.
Now that both of her teammates had their pick she decided. She was going to choose Earth style: Earth wall. She was the support of the team and had to stay behind, for the time being, so she decided to be the best supporter.
"Sensei I am picking Earth style: earth wall jutsu for now. But in the future, I wish to learn the Earth style: rock fist jutsu, too." She made up her mind and told her Sensei about her decision.
"Knowing too many jutsu is far less helpful than having mastery over few. As for your wish to learn another jutsu, you will have to show me good enough results in at least two of the jutsu." She understood Yamato Sensei but was also not sure if she could even learn the sensei jutsu. But still, she gave a small bow, "Thank you Sensei, I will do my best." She had a bright smile as she said that.
"Now that all of you have three new Jutsu in your hand, work hard to reach an acceptable level on them. At least you should be able to use them in battle." She was already going through the first scroll.
She had a lot of things to think about and a lot to worry about. But for her sake, she was going to work hard.
*
The next day
Yamato hid behind a tree as his team was getting ready. Their mission is to guard his earth clone. All the while he would act like an enemy shinobi, whose target was the client his team had to try and protect.
A little amount of chakra through his ears, and now he could listen to them talking.
"I don't like the fact that I can only use two shadow clones," Naruto grumbled a little as he took out ninja wires. Yamato had no other choice.
"This is a training mission and you can make too many shadow clones. I don't know anyone that can find the real you from all that many shadow clones." Sasuke was busy looking around. Yamato had to agree with Sasuke. He was not even sure that even Hokage Sama would be able to see through that many shadow clones, and able to find the real Naruto.
"I am feeling nervous, even though it's a training exercise. Yamato Sensei don't go too hard on us." Sakura said to the Earth clone, she was a little nervous.
"I am just a civilian." The earth clone said with a deadpan face, making Sakura sigh a little.
"Don't worry, Sakura, have a little more confidence." Naruto had a smile on his face as he glanced at his shadow clone who was busy using sensing jutsu.
"Stop talking and focus." Sasuke was looking around completely serious.
' Naruto is far more dangerous than before. Wind style: great breakthrough jutsu just made him even more dangerous. Now his long-range attack problem is gone and his idea of adding fire to it makes it even more deadly.' He moved to another tree as one of Naruto's shadow clones was coming closer to his position. 'His sensor jutsu is also getting better and better, it's just a matter of a little more time and he will be able to see through my hiding skill.'
His chakra was under his control, silent and hiding inside his skin, moving far slower than normal. He had to give his best. A part of him was telling him that Naruto was hiding his true capability. But getting found was not a problem.
'I still think it will be a nightmare if hundreds of Naruto's shadow clones use great breakthroughs and combine them with fire... Even without the beast's chakra, Naruto is very much a chakra monster.' In the beginning, he had the plan to make them train like ANBU trainees but his plans had to change, at that time. Even with more than a few changes he was pretty sure his team was no longer just another genin team.
Without counting Naruto he was pretty sure Sasuke could take on most chunin and win, pretty easily at that. Sakura was improving at a great speed now that she was no longer sabotaging herself. And before the chunin exam, his team would be more than strong enough. More than strong enough to breeze through the entire Chunin exam. Though he was pretty confident that Naruto was already at that level.
He wondered for a moment should he have revealed his wood release... But gave up that train of thought. He knew Third Hokage was okay with it. His time as the Jonin instructor of Team 7 was limited and he would go back to ANBU.
'Not knowing about that is also good for them. It's not like they don't have enough on their plate.' Naruto had to live as the vessel of the Nine Tail beast and Sasuke who had the goal to go after one of the most wanted man in the Shinobi world.
'I have already given them enough time to prepare.' He mused as his chakra started to flow faster through his body, and he vanished from his spot.
The reaction to Yamato's action was immediate. One of Naruto's shadow clones poofed out, and all three of them got ready for the ambush.
"Sakura, create a protective dome with an earth wall." Naruto's command made Yamato nod. His team knew he was stronger and faster than them, and with what they had going on the defense was the best action. Couple with the fact that his earth clone was a substitute for a civilian client it was a good decision.
He slightly moved his head a kunai went passed him. He was cautious but with Naruto having to hold back from using no more than two shadow clones, it was far easier.
In a blink of an eye, he was before them. A substitute and he dodged two fuma shuriken, he already knew Sasuke's habit of using shadow shuriken. And so without much of a surprise, he had jumped back as both fuma shurikens came from his back. A good tactic if you ask him, just like the lightning shock being combined with it.
A moment later he again had to move out of his place, shurikens moved very fast barely missing him. He smiled inside as the Naruto's shadow clones were busy trapping the entire place. Without his massive experience in ANBU, it would have taken far longer for him to realise. And probably getting surprised by it in the end.
'Or getting badly injured by it.' He said in his mind as he saw dozens of explosive tags in the traps. He decided to take it up a notch as an earth clone tried to catch Sasuke's feet from the ground, even if it missed it gave him the time to get closer to the real Naruto.
Next, they started a heated Taijutsu battle making him feel surprised, he knew Naruto was getting strong very fast, but the reaction speed... It was far faster than what he had seen before. It was not good enough to shop him for more than a few seconds, but it was enough for Sasuke to destroy his weak earth clone and come to work with Naruto and double-team him.
And so both of them worked together with each other and tried to defend. It was in that when he felt shocked when Naruto substituted with Sasuke and vice versa, making it far more complicated. In his entire life, he had never seen anyone use substitution jutsu like that. He also could see if he was a little slower he would have to try and survive fireballs boosted by the great breakthrough jutsu.
With a flick of his wrist, two kunai went toward both Naruto and Sasuke. While Naruto deflected it, Sasuke dodged it, only for Naruto to widen his eyes in surprise. The deflected Kunai crumble into the earth.
"You are not the only one who can use it," Yamato said as the other kunai turned into an earth clone and ran. Its destination was Sakura, who was hiding behind earth walls from all sides, protecting the client.
"Wind style: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH." Yamato blinked as a shadow clone of Naruto used a great breakthrough to give Shurikens enough power that they went through his earth clone like a knife through butter. It was fast enough to even make him pause for a moment and think again about his next actions.
"Your job is to protect the client from any and all danger." He said as he took some distance away from them. "And that means." He vanished from his spot, not having to explain the obvious.
From now on Team 7 would have to stop his ambushes.
*
On the other side of the leaf village, inside a clan ground.
A Japanese house surrounded by bonsai trees and small ponds. Water flowing all around the house. Inside the house a man with a lot of bandages sat, his one eye and one arm were wrapped with bandages.
He sat there both of his eyes closed in meditation. He was none other than Danzo Shimura.
Suddenly there was a masked shinobi next to him. The new arrival was waiting while bowing, one knee to the ground, fist to the ground and bowed head.
"Hmm, you can report," Danzo said without any emotion, both in his face or voice.
"We received this message scroll from a snake." The shinobi said as he put the scroll down in front of Danzo.
"The scroll has been thoroughly checked." The shinobi said nothing more as Danzo started to read the scroll.
For the next minute, the place was quiet. Only the sound of flowing water could be heard.
Danzo rolled the scroll and put it beside him. He took out another scroll and started to write. After some time a new scroll was ready, his reply to the the message, whatever that was.
Danzo sat in his room as the masked shinobi took away his message, his one revealed eye looking at something.
"In this way, the hidden danger will get nipped in the bud, and no one will be able to point a finger at me." He muttered so low that even he could barely hear it. But one thing was for sure, even when he was in so-called home arrest he was not out of the picture.
As for what the message contained only the future would tell.
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