Chapter 7: Pre-Chunin Exams!
Return From Wave Chapter 1!
Naruto's Seventh Birthday!
Both teams left The Land of Waves two days after the bridge was completed. Tazuna had decided to name the bridge after Naruto, stating that the boy was a shining beacon, and as he grew in fame so would the bridge. Inari had decided to follow in Tazuna's footsteps and become a bridge builder.
"Naruto you truly are youthful!" Gai said as the blond told the story of his fight against Itachi again. He didn't share everything, leaving out the part where he was possessed by the Kyuubi. He wanted to keep that as private as possible for now.
Ino groaned, "Naruto you've told that story like, twelve times today. Think of a better one please."
Sasuke was sharpening his father's kunai, using the method Kakashi had taught him. "Kakashi, is there anyone in the village who knows how to use a sword? The extra reach of the blade would be useful." he asked the white haired jonin.
The man looked up from his orange book, his one eye glancing over Sasuke quickly before flitting back towards the page, "I could teach you some time I suppose. And it's Kakashi-sensei to you."
"I also need to work on my genjutsu, Itachi is too good at it." Sasuke said.
"Maa maa, don't worry so much about Itachi, you'll get to his level soon enough." Kakashi said with a wave, "Besides, he has the Mangekyo Sharingan. Unless you awaken those eyes yourself you won't match his genjutsu."
"What is the Mangekyo Sharingan sensei?" Ino asked, slowing down to run beside the two of them.
"It is the ultimate form of the Sharingan. A Sharingan that has seen the death of its wielder's best friend." Kakashi said, then sped up, heading to the front of the group.
'I wonder what happened to his friend. Is that how he got his Sharingan in the first place?' Sasuke asked himself. 'Maybe I should ask Naruto, he should know.'
"That's so sad. He lost his best friend, and he watched it happen." Ino muttered to herself.
The two genin were quiet for the rest of the trip, as was Kakashi. The only sounds for the next few hours were from Naruto, Gai, and Lee, making jokes and telling stories.
When they arrived at the village the two teams went right up to the Hokage's tower and told him what happened.
"I see. You will each be paid as if it is an A-Rank mission. You have done well, dismissed." The old man said, a worried look on his face.
"Actually Jiji, I have something else that I want to talk to you about." Naruto said.
"Very well, the rest of you are dismissed. Have your written reports on my desk by tomorrow evening then take a week off." Sarutobi said. The group left and he turned to Naruto, activating the privacy seals in his office and telling his ANBU to leave with a single hand seal. "What is it Naruto?"
"I think the kyuubi's seal is breaking." The blond said, "I got mad on the bridge and I felt its power. It took over my body. It, no he, he called himself Kurama as he fought against Itachi. He was fast, I couldn't see what was going on sometimes because of the speed." Naruto clenched his fists, "He had these crazy jutsu, Dark Style, Dark Fire Style. He blocked the Amaterasu attack with a Dark Style jutsu that seemed to absorb the flames. He made these green fireballs with the Dark Fire Style. Itachi put me under a genjutsu named Tsukuyomi but Kurama broke out of it the first time, the second time it hit him though and that's how I got control back." Naruto's face hardened, "I need to be strong enough to match Itachi alone, without that power. He came for me Jiji, I don't know why but they came for me."
"Calm down Naruto. I will have someone train you. He has been asking about you for a long time but his mission has kept him away." Sarutobi said, "I will summon him back to the village. He has been gone long enough."
"You're calling Ero-sennin back?" Naruto realised that his godfather would be returning. Naruto had met the man only once in his life that he could remember. It was on his seventh birthday, the white haired man was in his house whenever he got home from shuriken practice with Kakashi.
-Flashback Start-
A six year old Naruto walked into the house he lived in with Kakashi. He was exhausted after training in shuriken and kunai technique with Kakashi for nearly eight hours. He had left Kakashi to do the cleanup while he went home to sleep.
"Ah there you are Gaki." The large man went up to Naruto and ruffled his hair, a large smile on his face. "I've been meaning to stop by for a while now. You sure are short." It was true, Naruto was always the shortest in his class.
"Who are you?" Naruto looked up at the giant of a man and rubbed one of his eyes, "You know my brother is the strongest ninja in the village right? He's cleaning up the training ground right now but when he come home and sees you he's gonna kill you." Naruto turned around and opened the door, "If you leave now I won't tell him. You look pretty drunk so I'm sure it's an accident."
Just then Kakashi walked through the door, "Yo! Jiraiya-sensei, how's it going?"
Naruto's jaw hit the ground, "JIRAIYA!" Naruto ran up to the man and hugged his leg, barely reaching the man's waist even with his spiky hair, "You're my godfather right?" Naruto asked, "Can you tell me about my daddy when he was little?"
Jiraiya laughed, "So you're being all nice now eh?" He ruffled Naruto's hair again, "How's about this, in the morning I'll take you out for breakfast at Ichiraku's and we'll talk. You should go to bed for now."
Naruto nodded, "Hey, tomorrow is my birthday! Did you know that? There's a festival and everything tomorrow night! Do you wanna come and meet my friends?" He asked, stopping in the middle of the stairs to yell at Jiraiya.
The man smiled, his eyes were sad however, "We'll see how long I can stay. I'm a busy ninja you know."
Naruto smiled, "I hope you can make it." He ran up the stairs and Jiraiya heard him shout, "AND YOU BETTER HAVE A PRESENT FOR ME TOMORROW MORNING-TTEBAYO!"
Kakashi's eyes widened, he had forgotten to buy Naruto a present!
The two men looked at each other and nodded, both running out the door.
The next morning Naruto woke up to see Jiraiya and Kakashi waiting for him, each of them had a wrapped gift in their hands. Kakashi's wrapping paper had orange foxes on top of the blue wrappings and was a small square shaped box. Jiraiya's was about the same size with toads littering the green wrapping paper.
"Happy birthday Naruto." Kakashi said with an eye smile.
"Seven now eh Gaki?" Jiraiya was also smiling.
Naruto ran down to the kitchen and sat at the table. Both men placed the gifts on the table and Naruto grabbed Kakashi's first. He ripped through the paper without hesitation. Underneath was a small box with a tag that read DANGER! Explosive! Naruto grinned, "Finally those explosive tags I've been wanting-ttebayo!" he opened the box only to find that instead of explosive tags it was filled with a year's supply of Ichiraku Ramen vouchers. "RAMEN VOUCHERS!" he jumped up and hugged Kakashi before sitting back down and ripping open Jiraiya's present. He opened the box and pulled out two things, the first was and orange toad's head with black markings. It's mouth opened to reveal that it was actually a wallet. The second was a long kunai with three prongs. Naruto smiled at the wallet, "I'm gonna name him Gama-chan!" He smiled widely. Then he took the kunai and looked quizzically at it, "Why is this kunai shaped funny-ttebayo?"
Jiraiya laughed, "It was your father's. He used it with the Hiraishin jutsu." The old man said.
Naruto's mouth hung wide open, "Really?" He had tears in his eyes, Kakashi had told him about his father's signature jutsu and how powerful it was, "Does that mean I can do the Hiraishin jutsu too?" Naruto held the kunai tight.
"I don't think so. Minato placed blood seals on those kunai, so only he can activate them. But I'll teach you some fuuinjutsu when you're older if you want." Jiraiya told him.
Naruto nodded his head, "I'd like that. I wanna be a super awesome ninja one day."
Jiraiya ruffled his hair, "Let's go spend some of those coupons!" He brought Naruto to Ichiraku's ramen stand and they ate 30 bowls between the two of them.
Later Jiraiya brought Naruto to the hot springs and taught the boy how to peep on women. After that Naruto started calling him Ero-sennin. They went to the festival together and Jiraiya bought Naruto an ANBU style fox mask, which the boy wore hanging around his neck.
The next day Jiraiya brought Naruto to a training ground, "Well Gaki, you have me here for one more day. Is there anything you wanna learn?"
Naruto pondered for a minute, "Ummm I wanna learn a super cool Jutsu!' Naruto said, "One like my dad!"
Jiraiya thought for a minute before the idea came to him, "Alright kid, I'll teach you the basis of your dad's second strongest jutsu." Jiraiya then took out some balloons and rubber balls. He filled half of the balloons with water and held one in his hand, "So all you have to do it pop the water balloon using your chakra." he held the balloon and after a couple seconds it exploded, sending water everywhere. "The second step is to do the same thing with the rubber ball." again Jiraiya took a rubber ball and held it in his hand. Naruto could see it stretching widely in all directions before exploding with a loud POP. "And the last step is to do both of those without popping the regular balloon." Jiraiya held a balloon in his hand and did nothing. "I'll show you what it should look like next time I come."
Naruto nodded and grabbed a water balloon.
-End Flashback-
"You know, I still have Gama-chan." Naruto smiled and showed the Hokage his wallet, "I've been waiting for him to come back. I'm ready to learn that jutsu." Naruto put the wallet away, "Thank you Jiji, for calling Ero-sennin back for me. I miss the pervert." Sarutobi and Naruto both smiled.
"I have too Naruto." The Hokage said.
-DATTEBAYO!-
Sasuke got home and emptied out his mission gear. He then took a shower and changed into more civilian clothes, a black shirt with the Uchiha Clan symbol on the back and a pair of blue pants. He left his headband on his bed and put his wallet in his pocket. He walked around Konoha for a little while, stopping at some shops to browse what they had before heading to his favourite gear shop, Tentetsu's Gear. It was a small shop, out of the way of the shopping district, but it had arguably the best gear in the village. Tenkuro Tentetsu, the owner of the shop, was a large man, his arms looked like they could lift mountains. His face had a large scar going across his right eye which was always closed. His brown hair was always in a high ponytail and Sasuke had only ever seen him in a brown blacksmith's apron with white, fire resistant clothes underneath.
"Tenkuro! It's Sasuke." The Uchiha called into the shop once he stepped in.
"Just in the back working on an order, be there in a minute." The gruff voice of Tenkuro rang out through the shop.
"I'm browsing the swords." Sasuke called back. Tenkuro liked to know where people were when he couldn't see them. He counted all his stock every night and morning and kept track of who bought what. The man was like a machine.
Sasuke looked at the blades. They were all nice, sharp and sleek, but they were average. He couldn't have an average sword, he needed the best. Tenkuro came out and saw the Uchiha browsing.
"You won't want any of those." The man said, "They're just average right?"
Sasuke shook his head, "You know me too well. I want a sword made of chara metal."
Tenkuro's eyes widened, "Really? I don't think you have enough money for one of those. You could buy a house with one of them."
Sasuke shook his head, "I inherited all the money from the entire clan, I have enough money."
"Even so, I'd feel better if you at least knew how to use a sword before you paid that much money for one. I'll give you a sword on the house for now. If you show me that you've learnt some swordsmanship I'll make you a specialised sword for half price. How's that sound?"
Sasuke scoffed, "Well Kakashi-sensei was going to teach me anyways, so thanks Tenkuro. I'll take you up on that offer."
Tenkuro smiled, "Alright, take your pick." Sasuke grabbed a wakizashi and spun it around, "I'll take this one."
Tenkuro gave Sasuke a scabbard for the blade and showed his how to fasten it to his belt, "Well Sasuke, I hope you're good, because I want to make a sword for the next Uchiha clan head, one that'll be passed down for generations and become a clan heirloom."
Sasuke smirked, "Don't worry Tenkuro, I'll make sure not to disappoint." Sasuke walked out of the shop with a "Thank you" just as he was about to walk through the door.
"That boy will go far in this world, I know it." Tenkuro said before returning to his work in the back.
-DATTEBAYO!-
Ino walked into her family's flower shop and called for her dad.
"Yes Ino?" The man appeared out of the greenhouse, "How did your mission go?"
"It was pretty scary actually. But because of it I need to step up my training. I started working on my Astral Clone jutsu but I need some help with it. Do you think you'd be able to train with me for a bit?"
Inoichi looked worried for a minute, "I want to hear the story first but yes, I will train with you."
Ino told her father the story, about how Naruto and Sasuke fought against Itachi and she could barely help, and how Haku and Zabuza nearly died.
Inoichi was angry that his daughter was put in that position on her very first mission outside the village but didn't interrupt, "We'll step your training up a couple notches. I'll help you with as many jutsu as I can."
"Thanks daddy." Ino smiled.
And that's that chapter. Just a quick break in between the Land of Waves and the Chunin Exams. Next chapter, Chunin Exams! Naruto's Worst Enemy, The Impossible Test! Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know if you liked it!
Also, I have couple spots open in the Chunin exam qualifiers if anyone has an OC they'd like to enter. I need 9 genin, so three whole teams. They can be from Iwa, Suna, Konoha, or Oto up to you. If any of you have OCs they'd like to see in the story send me a PM and I'll send you the template I'd like to receive them in.
End chapter 7