I argue that this is not the case in English. It would be the case in French, but English only stole the diminutive form. Brunet is not a word in English. Instead the English use of the term is primarily, but not exclusively feminine.
A Shine of Gold on the Crimson Tide [Naruto/Exalted]
- Thread starter Grounders10
- Start date
- Crossover
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Yes, it is the male version of 'brunette'. '-ette' is a female forming noun (also diminutive and imitation, but that's not how it is being used here), '-et' is the male equivalent. Both were stolen from Old French's pockets after English clubbed it over the head in a dark alley, though '-et' is somewhat depreciated these days and most of the time it is simply left out entirely, but not always. (Islet, globulet, kitchenet, lionet, etc.)
Counterpoint: Baronet.
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I can assure you I'm not familiar with the word because I speak French, Fouredged Sword.
'Cause I don't.
I've encountered "brunet" used in English; I haven't encountered "brunette" used to describe a guy before.
That's is also a term we stole from french, but it doesn't mean a female baron in English. It is a specific rank, specifically the lowest possible rank of nobility in the English system. The male and female forms are Baron and Baroness, then Baronet and Baronettess.
Brunet isn't generally found in English dictionaries. Brunette is. Sometimes English borrows one of a gendered pair of words. Sometimes English borrows both. Other times English borrows both but they end up being completely different words in English.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Merriam-Webster, the Oxford English Dictionary (which I can't link because you need a subscription), Wiktionary and Dictionary.com all disagree with you, as does Google dictionary which pulls its definitions from the Oxford Languages database, and I'm going to take their word over yours.
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- Location
- Belgium
You know, I'm not that experienced with Exalted, most of what I know of it is thanks to other fanfiction, but I always believed that every exaltation did not pick a person according to some specific requirements, but that they picked the same soul every time, making it closer to reincaration or something. It just only activates according to those requirements.
And the power does have a sort of subtle mindfuckery going on, trying to get the new personality closer to the personality of the first time the soul exalted.
Since that was in the time period comparable to the Warring Ages, pretty much all of them were tyrants and/or warlords. It was just their methods that were highly different.
And since their mindset is more or less forced back to that state, combined with the sheer bullshit they can pull, it is quite reasonable that some considered Exaltation a curse upon the world.
Even canon Naruto always had some kitsune-like traits, like being a prankster. Kitsune were also well known for taking on the shape of a beautiful woman to play tricks or perform their duties, depending on the exact type of kitsune we're talking about.
Combine that with the possibility that Naruto's first Exaltation might have been female... That explains a lot, especially if you take in account that the core of his exaltation was technically already inside of him.
On the other hand, it is clear that Kurama doesn't quite know enough about the Exalation. A golden shard is a clear proof of a Solar, known for their immense Charisma.
And then he went out of his way to turn him into a pretty girl... In a world filled with perverts. That is the only explanation for Naruto's Sexy and Harem jutsus being so damn effective.
In any case, turning a Solar into a pretty girl? Thanks for the extra ammo, Kurama...
To be fair, I personally expected Naruto to wake up with fox ears and a fluffy tail...
Note: I would like it if someone could let me know if I got completely wrong with my ideas of how Exaltation works.
Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
So based on Kishimoto himself via scattered WoGs the Henge no Jutsu is technically not a physical transformation, yet is physical. It surrounds the user in a chakra shell and, if the transformation is smaller than the person, this shell uses space-time fuckery to make them fit. Note: That makes two 'basic' techniques that require physics to fuck off. Given that Kawarimi literally teleports a person in exchange for another object.
Naruto's is a more chakra intensive variant he stumbled on by accident, according to Kishimoto, and it is an actual physical transformation.
Now, here's the question, is any of this information actually accurate to my story? *Kitsune Floof* I leave that up to you and the evidence within the story.
You have Naruto as a solar exalt. That means if he really wants the jutsu to be real he will find a way to make that happen.
dracklor
Beyond the Frontier
- Location
- Texas
@drag00n001 Exaltation shards are specifically Titan killing super weapons that wedge themselves in between the two pieces of a human soul (Or the two souls, hun and po).
Humans qualify for Exaltations differently, Solars specifically go to heroes, at a time when they need just that push to perform the impossible.
Sidereal shards on the other hand go to people who were always destined to have them from birth.
Anyone can become a Solar, provided there is a free Solar Shard of Exaltation and they qualify.
However there are a few problems, first all Exaltations are cursed by the Titans as a final fuck you to those who defeated, tortured, and imprisoned them for eternity. An Exalt will become steadily more insane and inhumane over time as the curse slowly warps their minds.
Possibly the worst part of The Great Curse is that it renders all Exalted incapable of realizing that they are cursed.
Oh you weren't magically forced into murdering all those people in ways that would make the Joker gag, no obviously you actually wanted to do it, they must have been truly despicable beings, etc.
Also Exaltations copy the minds of their previous holders to give their new masters a knowledge jump start which the curse twisted as well so the god in charge of taking care of the Shards between hosts has had to attempt to constantly scrub the memories from them, incidentally he is the only one who knows about the Curse other than the Primordials that cast it, but he won't tell anyone for reasons.
I am leaving tons out.
Humans qualify for Exaltations differently, Solars specifically go to heroes, at a time when they need just that push to perform the impossible.
Sidereal shards on the other hand go to people who were always destined to have them from birth.
Anyone can become a Solar, provided there is a free Solar Shard of Exaltation and they qualify.
However there are a few problems, first all Exaltations are cursed by the Titans as a final fuck you to those who defeated, tortured, and imprisoned them for eternity. An Exalt will become steadily more insane and inhumane over time as the curse slowly warps their minds.
Possibly the worst part of The Great Curse is that it renders all Exalted incapable of realizing that they are cursed.
Oh you weren't magically forced into murdering all those people in ways that would make the Joker gag, no obviously you actually wanted to do it, they must have been truly despicable beings, etc.
Also Exaltations copy the minds of their previous holders to give their new masters a knowledge jump start which the curse twisted as well so the god in charge of taking care of the Shards between hosts has had to attempt to constantly scrub the memories from them, incidentally he is the only one who knows about the Curse other than the Primordials that cast it, but he won't tell anyone for reasons.
I am leaving tons out.
wingnut2292
<Verified Sugar Addict>
- Location
- Milwaukee Metro
Well, one of the greatest problems was the culture of Pre-Usurption Creation. Imagine Solar Presence, Performance, Socialize, Linguistics, and for good measure Lore.
Now add in the Lunar, Sidereal and Terrestrial versions of those Charms.
Creation was a giant echo chamber. Not an perfect echo chamber, as the Usurption did happen. But that echo-chamber did mask the Great Curse. There's something wrong with the Exalted Host? Repeat after me: Our Glorious Exalted Overlords are Perfect in everyway. (Minor Tie Intimacy, but backed by a fact introduced by Solar Lore, Supported by Lunar Intelligence and Wits, Written down on a propaganda poster via Solar Craft and Linguistics.)
The Exalted Host are utterly perfect and beyond the point of fallibility. To say otherwise is both lèse-majesté and blasphemy. Both are major, if not capital, crimes. So even as the Solars went mad, no one was able to find a common cause. It was genuinely inconceivable.
This might not be relevant, but it may come up if Naruto meets an Solar-supporting gods/Gold Faction.
Thankfully Naruto lives in an age where the Exalted Host is largely forgotten, even if some seem to pop-up from time to time. Even 3rd Age Exalted had the legacies of their prior incantations to live up to.
*Since Wingnut dropped his guard, he gets assaulted by a Siderial hiding in the shadow of his teacup.
Now add in the Lunar, Sidereal and Terrestrial versions of those Charms.
Creation was a giant echo chamber. Not an perfect echo chamber, as the Usurption did happen. But that echo-chamber did mask the Great Curse. There's something wrong with the Exalted Host? Repeat after me: Our Glorious Exalted Overlords are Perfect in everyway. (Minor Tie Intimacy, but backed by a fact introduced by Solar Lore, Supported by Lunar Intelligence and Wits, Written down on a propaganda poster via Solar Craft and Linguistics.)
The Exalted Host are utterly perfect and beyond the point of fallibility. To say otherwise is both lèse-majesté and blasphemy. Both are major, if not capital, crimes. So even as the Solars went mad, no one was able to find a common cause. It was genuinely inconceivable.
This might not be relevant, but it may come up if Naruto meets an Solar-supporting gods/Gold Faction.
Thankfully Naruto lives in an age where the Exalted Host is largely forgotten, even if some seem to pop-up from time to time. Even 3rd Age Exalted had the legacies of their prior incantations to live up to.
*Since Wingnut dropped his guard, he gets assaulted by a Siderial hiding in the shadow of his teacup.
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Is the great curse even a problem for this story? I mean all I know about the curse says it happens gradually over time but what exactly does that mean when exalted measure their lifespans in millenia? Also the Elemental Nations is a bit messed up with all the super powered professional murderers that start massive wars every decade or two so even with the attrocities that a solar exalt will eventually commit this would probably be an improvement provided she doesn't go straight from sane to murdering puppies for fun instantly.
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Short term Naruto will have bouts of absolute insanity and irrationality when she is tested emotionally. Long term the bouts will stop being bouts and become her personality.
- Location
- Eugene OR US
The great curse could have been dealt with by the Solar's if they knew that they were under it. The Sidereal's however choose to keep it secret and use it to their advantage in-order to usurp the solars and rule creation.
There was this big thing where the Sidereals looked into the possible futures and saw that if they let the Solars know about the great curse everything would be fine, they also saw that they could use it to turn the dragonbloods against the Solars and take over creation as its new rulers.
Yeah, but that's the Sidereals falling to their own curse. They can't every make things better ether. It's a White Wolf setting. Don't let the shiny powers and wixuia confuse you - everything is a depressing mess slowly spiraling down a drain that no power in the setting is capable of saving. Their world is one doomed to destruction and when the wilds take all of creation they too will lose the last anchor of reality that gives their fae lives meaning and they will be nothing.
Autochron may survive with the alchemical exalts, but that's about it.
wingnut2292
<Verified Sugar Addict>
- Location
- Milwaukee Metro
To be fair to the Sids, it was a 50/50 crapshoot. Revealing the systematic coruption of the Great Curse could save Creation... But could of doomed Creation as Solars warred among each others using the Great Curse as an excuse. (Imagine the folks with Compassion triggers fighting everyone with Conviction/Valor triggers. The result, is an apocalypse in all honesty.)
The Side opted for the certain Bronze Path over the risky Gold Plan.
The Side opted for the certain Bronze Path over the risky Gold Plan.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
That raises the question of what exactly the practical difference is between a chakra shell that perfectly mimics the properties of the transformed object, and actually physically shapeshifting into the transformed object.
I guess chakra drainers like the Aburame Destruction Beetles could drain a chakra shell, but not a physical transformation. But they could still drain the transformed person's chakra, and when they run out the transformation still reverts; I'm pretty sure Naruto 'falls out' of a transformation in response to being rendered unconscious at least once, which means that the shapeshifting version is an active\ongoing technique as well as the normal version.
In fact, putting it like that, it seems like Naruto's 'actual shapeshifting' version is explicitly inferior; it produces the same effect for all practical purposes, but costs more chakra. Which is beneficial for Naruto because he has terrible chakra control due to having so damn much of the stuff and so techniques that he can just pour fucktons of chakra into without giving a damn about the details work best for him, but for literally everyone who isn't a Jinchuuriki? The chakra shell version gets you the same physical properties as the shapeshifting version and costs less chakra to do so.
That is what the Sidereal wanted you to think; they were actually hiding in the shadow of the image of the teacup on the back of your retina.
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Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
I counter this with I'm using 3e which *explicitly* operates on the assumption that yes you can do anything if you bother trying hard enough.
It is, however, capable of fooling the likes of a Hyuuga and can be maintained while asleep if needed. The Chakra shell is also something that can be noticed by skilled shinobi. The shapeshift isn't. Shock, like getting knocked out, can break it as we've seen.
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Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
That is always true in Exalted, it's just that in the later editions they keep piling on more and more reasons why 'hard enough' is actually too hard.
(It's because the Sidereals are too smart for their own damn good!)
Is the Transformation Technique something that the Byakugan can see through? I know it can pick out clones, except for Shadow Clones, because Shadow Clones reproduce internal organs and chakra pathways as well. But I thought I remembered both Byakugan and Sharingan users being at least temporarily tricked by Transformations a few times in the story.
Oh yeah! Killer B uses the Transformation Technique to turn a chunk of tentacle into his body and Sasuke (and later Tobito) completely fails to notice, despite the Sharingan being able to see chakra, which implies that the chakra shell 'looks' like whatever it transforms into to chakra sensors as well. Sasuke also can't see through the Transformation of an Ame ninja into Naruto the Forest of Death, only noticing because of the flaws. So the Sharingan definitely can't see through the Transformation Technique, though an inanimate Transformation could well be suspicious as all hell because why does that rock have chakra?
Irritatingly I can't actually find any instance of anyone using the Transformation Technique anywhere near a Byakugan (with the singular exception of Naruto), which could possibly be indicative of its ability to see through it. The closest I can find is Orochimaru's face stealing technique that he uses to infiltrate the Chūnin exams, which evidently must have deceived the Byakugan or he would have been noticed.
Oh, and of course Tsunade uses the Transformation Technique to appear younger, but there's no indication whether any Hyuga see through that or not, so that's no use either.
The fact that the Byakugan can see internal chakra pathways would imply that it can probably at least tell when someone has Transformed into something that shouldn't have chakra, but if a person Transformed into another person, unless the Byakugan user was familiar with either person's chakra, they shouldn't be able to tell.
Pain also fails to tell the difference between Kakashi and his Lightning Clone, which I cannot explain as I'm certain that the Sharingan is supposed to be able to see through non-Shadow Clones.
And then there's that part in Wave where Naruto turns into a Fūma Shuriken and Sasuke instantly realizes when he picks up the transformed shuriken... somehow?
Ugh. I feel like the whole 'Naruto's Henge is real shapeshifting' thing is something Kishimoto pulled out of his ass to justify why Naruto could fool people like Kaguya with it, while no-one else ever even tried to do the same. Especially since you'd think that if Naruto was using an entirely unique form of Henge, someone would have said something about that during the story.
*Throws hands up in despair* Oda-san! Save me from the inconsistent authors!
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Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
I'll try to at least be internally consistent?
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
That is really the best I can ask for under the circumstances.
4. A Path of Crimson Tides
Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
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A Naruto/Exalted Crossover
A Shine of Gold in the Crimson Tide
By: Grounders10
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4. A Path of Crimson Tides
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The roof of the academy was a small garden often visited by students and teachers during lunch hours. Kakashi was waiting for them by the edge of the roof near a small free standing archway. Hana was sitting nearby with her three dogs. "Come over and sit down you three," Kakashi said, gesturing to a long stone planter across from him. The three of them took seats with Sasuke in the middle and the two girls on either side.A Naruto/Exalted Crossover
A Shine of Gold in the Crimson Tide
By: Grounders10
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4. A Path of Crimson Tides
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"Now, why don't the three of you tell us all a little bit about yourselves," Kakashi suggested, resting his arms on his knees.
"Like what?" Sakura asked before Naruto could.
He shrugged. "You know, the usual. Your favourite things, what you hate most, your dreams, ambitions, hobbies, those sorts of things."
"I'll go first," Hana offered, getting a nod from Kakashi, "My name is Inuzuka Hana, I like my dogs and running my clinic. I hate people who abuse animals and my dreams are to lead my clan. And my hobbies are my business."
"And what about you Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
The silver-haired Jounin shrugged. "Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes or dislikes. My dreams of the future are none of your business and I have a lot of hobbies." With each vague line, the three genin's expressions got flatter.
"All we learned was his name," Sakura grumbled.
"Now it's your guys turn. Starting with… you, on the right," he pointed to Naruto. She blinked then grinned.
Adjusting her headband she stood up. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen, going out for Ramen at Ichiraku's with Iruka-sensei and I hate the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to cook." That last one had Hana-nee shaking her head. It was the truth though! She hated waiting for her Ramen. "My dreams is to become the greatest Shinobi ever by becoming the Hokage and convincing the village to acknowledge me, and to restore the Uzumaki Clan." She would see her family rebuilt. It wouldn't be just her for long if she could help it! "And my hobbies are pranks and practical jokes… and training these days I guess." She almost had that Kunai Jutsu she'd found the day before, down. It fit in with her clones so well.
Kakashi and Hana both stared at her for a long moment. "What about you?" Kakashi asked after a moment, pointing at Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke there are plenty of things I hate and not that it matters since there isn't much I do like. It feels… unimportant to talk about "dreams", but I have an ambition. To restore my clan and kill a certain someone," Sasuke said, never lowering his hands from where they were clasped in front of his face. It gave him this vaguely sinister vibe that made Naruto shiver. She doubted he was talking about her, but she really didn't want to be whoever it was he was talking about.
"And the one on the end?" Kakashi said after a moment of silence.
"I'm Haruno Sakura," she said, "And my favourite thing is...well, not a thing, it's a person… a boy, and…" It was brilliant how deep her blush could go to Naruto. Kiba had called her a tomato, but Sakura was doing a much better impression than she had. "Um… let's move onto my dreams." And her blush somehow got redder as a very slight squeal reached Naruto's ears. Hana's dogs whined and pawed at their ears.
"I hate Naruto," Naruto flinched as Sakura switched gears. That hurt, admittedly a little less than it might have a few days ago, but it did hurt. "And my hobbies are…" The blush and look she sent Sasuke's way was so transparent it made Naruto gag.
"That's enough. I think we understand each other now," Kakashi said, "Your formal training will begin tomorrow."
Naruto grinned and leaped to her feet. "Really? What's our first mission going to be?" she asked.
The mask-wearing shinobi had crossed his arms. "Our first duty involves only the members of this cell," he said.
"Eh? What are we doing?" Naruto asked.
"Survival training," Hana answered as she scratched one of her dogs behind the ears.
Naruto blinked. Survival training? But, they'd been doing a ton of that in the academy. Evidently she wasn't the only one confused since Sakura asked, "Why would that be a mission? Our school days were filled with survival exercises."
He chuckled, sending the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck standing straight up. "But this won't be a normal training exercise. You'll need to survive against me for a start."
"That doesn't sound too different from the school," Sakura muttered. He chuckled more and Naruto shivered. "Why are you laughing Kakashi-sensei?"
"Well… It's nothing much, but if I told you, I'm afraid you'll chicken out," he said.
"No we won't! What're we doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, trying to push down the odd worry that was springing up in the back of her mind. Something was feeling odd about this.
Kakashi's grin was wide enough that it was visible through his mask. "You see, Of the twenty-seven graduating members of your class this year, odds are that only nine will actually be accepted as Genin Level Shinobi." Naruto stared and dropped to her seat as he continued, "The other eighteen must go back to the academy for further training. In other words, the test we will be performing has a sixty-six percent failure rate." They stared at him dumbstruck.
He started laughing. "See, you're chickening out already," he said.
Naruto twitched then exploded. "THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE GRADUATION EXAM!" She'd taken it three times and now she had to take another test.
"That? That was to get rid of the hopeless cases," Kakashi replied.
"Face it kids," Hana spoke up, "Most of your classmates really weren't up to the task of being shinobi. Better they flunk out before things start getting truly rough than give them false hope."
"Or have them waste the time of our Jounin who have a lot of other things to deal with," Kakashi said. Naruto grudgingly nodded and sat back down. There was a point there. She didn't like it, but there was a point. "In any event, we'll meet up tomorrow morning in the practice fields. Bring all your weapons and tools, you're going to need them. Oh, and don't have breakfast beforehand. Unless you enjoy throwing it up?" The little quirk of his eye was enough to tell Naruto just how amusing he'd find that.
She scowled at him. He was underestimating her. Just like the academy teachers did. It was enough to make her blood boil just sitting there. She was going to pass this exam. She wouldn't let it bring her down.
Kakashi stood up and withdrew a few pamphlets from his pouch. "Here are the details of tomorrow's assignment. Memorize them and don't be late."
"Throw up?!" Sakura was making a horrified face even as she accepted the handout.
Naruto looked it over. Eight o'clock huh? That was early, but not too bad. She'd been waking up earlier recently and her estate was nearly on top of the training grounds. Some of them anyway, and this one just so happened to be one of them.
"Alright, see you lot tomorrow. Enjoy the day off, Hana-san," Kakashi waved jauntily to Hana before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
Sasuke stood up and headed for the stairs without a word, though he did nod her way. Sakura promptly took off after him without a word to Naruto, leaving her with Hana. "You're going to have a busy day tomorrow," the older girl said, slowly petting one of her dogs. How did she tell them apart?
"Are you going to be involved in this Hana-nee?" Naruto asked. The handout didn't say anything about her involvement, but then it didn't say that they were going to be fighting Kakashi specifically either. The generic term "instructor" was used instead and seemed to imply this was a fairly standard test, though the specifics of what they needed to accomplish during their 'survival training' weren't included either. Odd…
There was something about this training that seemed unusual to her, but she just couldn't put a finger on it.
"Nope. It'll just be you guys and the lazy bum. Try not to let him get to you too much, kay Naruto-chan?" Hana smiled and Naruto grinned back.
"Eh, I'll be fine. A guy like that would be enough to get me down. Especially if I finish learning that new Jutsu tonight," she said. And maybe another one from the family scrolls? She really needed to get into the seals if she wanted to unlock the next portion of the scroll.
"Good to hear. What're you learning?" her teacher asked.
She shook her head with a grin. "Ah, ah, ah. Not telling Hana-nee. I don't want Kakashi-sensei getting wind of this," she said. It would be a surprise to be sure.
"Then you'd better get going. It'll be getting dark soon," Hana reminded her. It was October after all and the days were getting shorter.
Glancing up she confirmed the sun was starting to set. It was a bit of a walk back and unless she wanted to get home after dark it was better if she left now. "Yeah, I think I'll get going. Good night Hana-nee," she said, waving to the other girl, who waved back before she jumped over the edge of the academy and hurried off through the crowds.
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The next day Naruto wandered into training ground seven six minutes and thirteen seconds before eight. Sasuke was already leaning against a tree. Sakura wasn't far away. She was sitting in the clearing her eyes more on Sasuke then anything else.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted, waving as she walked up. "Geez, I thought I'd be the first one here since I live so close."
"There's still a few minutes Naruto, you aren't late," Sakura said, glancing over for a second before going back to her Sasuke watching.
"Any sign of Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, taking a seat by three stumps of wood that had been driven into the ground in a row. She glanced around. There didn't appear to be anyone lurking in the shadows, and even concentrating she couldn't pick up the telltale rustling of someone disturbing the leaves.
"Nope," Sakura replied.
"It isn't long until meet up. He should be here soon," Sasuke said, toying with a kunai.
Naruto nodded and popped out a scroll from one of her pouches. It was a copy of one of her family's techniques, The Mind's Eye of the Kagura, a minor trick used for sensing those around them. Figuring it couldn't be that long until he arrived she decided to spend the time studying up on it.
And so she studied while waiting. And waiting. And waiting…. And waiting some more. There really was a whole lot of waiting…
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He was three hours late. This was nothing new for Kakashi. Those who knew him had grown used to him being late for nearly everything. Missions were one of those things he wasn't late for, except for this one. The one he got every few months like clockwork. Test a bunch of genin to see if they met his standards. Being late was just a part of how he set up the test to be optimal. For him anyway. Not that he was allowed to fail this group. He could understand the Hokage's motivations, but it irked him that he was going to have to pass them on whatever minor technicality he could identify.
It was about eleven when he silently landed just outside the central clearing of training ground seven. Sticking to the shadows he crept closer to the clearing. Of the trio, only two of them were doing what he had expected. Sasuke was leaning against a tree with his backpack on the ground by his feet. Sakura was lying in the middle of the clearing watching Sasuke. Both were things he had expected from both his past tests and the personalities they had shown off the day before. Their files had helped as well.
It was the third of his would be students who didn't fit the mould. It was hard to say how much use Naruto's files were. He had been the one to up her stealth mark during her second year after spotting her infiltration of the school's Kunoichi classes. If the academy hadn't been able to spot her then, then it was unlikely they had managed to properly track her other grades if she had undertaken some form of deception.
Not that it seemed all too likely. From both her records and his observations from the day before Naruto was very open and outgoing. She was the sort to engage in stealth and deception, but only when in pursuit of a prank. That she had managed to infiltrate the Kunoichi classes had probably been due to her considering it an amusing prank. He honestly doubted she had expected to get as far as she had.
Now though she seemed to be engaging in something particularly out of character. She was sitting in a meditative position with her hands held before her in a ram seal and a scroll unfolded in her lap. Was she practicing a Jutsu now? Doing so directly before a mission was a risk that a genin should avoid. They lacked the chakra capacity of Jounins that allowed them to take such risks.
Then her hand snapped up, pointing in his direction. "I can see you Kakashi-sensei! You're LATE!" she shouted, alerting Sakura and Sasuke to his presence.
"What? Kakashi-sensei I-" Sakura stared towards him and blinked. "There's nothing there Naruto!"
"He's behind the tree now," Naruto stood up, dropping her meditative posture. Her free hand rolled the scroll back up and slid it into the pouch at her hips.
How had she detected him? Strange. That was definitely not on the files, but then again it seemed to be something new she was practicing. Interesting.
He sighed as the two girls started arguing. It seemed the jig was up for now. He stepped out from behind the tree and entered the clearing. "Yo," he waved. Sakura whirled on him, her expression dumbfounded for a moment before she swiftly turned red.
"I told you! You're late Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto growled, whirling on him with an expression that nearly made him wince. That was a look he hadn't seen since Kushina. It seemed that for one side of her family the apple hadn't fallen far.
"Sorry about that. I ran into a black cat and had to take the long way around," he apologized, regurgitating the false tale he'd used many times before. All it earned him were disbelieving looks from Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke just looked disgruntled. Too bad for them.
He ignored them and walked over to the trio of stumps that had been there in one form or another for as long as he could remember. He dropped his backpack by the middle stump and pulled out an old worn clock. After double-checking that the alarm was set properly he set the clock down on the central stump. It was the second clock he'd used for these tests. The first had died to a kunai during the first test. Why that kid had thought that destroying the clock would remove the time limit he didn't know, but evidence since had suggested it wasn't a common belief.
"I've set this clock to go off at noon," he said, turning to his students. He reached into his back pocket as the three kids stared at the clock. A curious look was crossing Naruto's face as her eyes went from the clock to his hand as he withdrew two silver bells tied to short red strings. Was she suspecting his ploy already?
"I have here two bells," he bounced them lightly in his hand, "Your challenge today to take them from before the timer sounds. Anyone who fails doesn't get any lunch." Sauke and Sakura paled while Naruto… Blushed? Oh dear. "Naruto, you did refrain from breakfast, didn't you?" he asked flatly.
She blushed harder as her teammates turned to stare at her. "I- I kinda forgot about that?" she admitted, "Bit stupid to skip breakfast anyway." Both of her teammates glared at her as she innocently ignored them.
Right, well two out of three would be enough to create division among them. He could work with this. "Anyway, anyone who fails to get a bell by the time the timer sounds gets tied to these stumps while I eat their lunch in front of them. All of you need just one bell apiece, but since there aren't enough to go around one of you is going to be tied to these stumps for sure. And whoever that is?" His gaze narrowed on them. "That person will be the first to fail and the first to be sent back to the academy." He hooked the bells onto his belt.
"You may," he continued, "use shuriken. Attack as though you intended to kill me, otherwise, you won't stand a chance."
Sakura looked alarmed. "But Sensei, that's really dangerous," she shouted, looking worried.
"Let me worry about the danger," he replied. Really, the odds of one of these genin being a legitimate threat was next to nil. Even with Naruto having eaten there was no way for them to manage against a Jounin of his calibre. He scanned their faces. Sasuke looked anxious to begin, sending him a glare that was marginally impressive for a genin. Sakura just looked worried. Naruto was grinning eagerly, but somehow reading more than that was difficult. Odd.
"Three… two... one… GO!" he shouted and the three blasted off. Sasuke disappeared into the brush to the left while Sakura vanished somewhere to his right and Naruto-
This was, he would later reflect, the moment when things started going wrong. And really, what should he have expected when a half-second after he had announced the start of the test he had to block a right hook aimed unerringly at his face. He had a moment to recognize the grin on Naruto's face before her leg caught him in the side of his face covered by his hitai-ate.
He stumbled away from the force of the blow and just managed to duck and weave through the next several punches and kicks. Shaking off the ringing in his head he blocked the right hook aimed at his face before ducking the follow-up kick to his head. His return kick sent her flying back across the training ground.
Taking a second to check his surroundings he spotted Sasuke and Sakura in the forest to either side. They had gone for hiding spots like normal sensible genin. Then there was Naruto who had gotten her feet under her before she hit the ground only to promptly kick off into a backflip to bleed more momentum. He leaned to the side to avoid the trio of kunai she had launched while still mid-air.
"You're an odd one," he said. He couldn't remember the last time a genin had charged straight at him the moment he said go. Actually, that was a lie. It was the previous year and the idiot had found himself on the ground after tripping over his own feet. What was new was him actually getting hit so soon. Either he was slipping, or there was something going on here that was at odds with her records.
"Says the guy who went grey by twenty-six," she shouted back, leaping into the air. He started. How the hell did she know his age? He stepped backwards and to the side, allowing another kunai to wiz past. His eyes widened at a slight hissing sound. He didn't even bother looking down at the exploding tag before using Kawarimi.
He watched from a nearby tree as an explosion engulfed his former position. "I'm not going to be able to read today, am I?" he sighed. Which really sucked because it had just been getting to the good part. Wasn't that just the kicker?
"Oi! Get down from there and fight like a man Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted pointing… His eyebrows went up as he realized her finger was pointing directly at his forehead. He tilted his head and watched as her finger adjusted to follow him.
"You seem to have the wrong impression of Shinobi, Naruto-chan," he called back.
She huffed, then formed a cross-shaped hand seal. Kage Bunshin? A dozen clones formed around her with a shimmer of smoke. Right, it looked like he wasn't going to get a quiet day beating up genin before finding some flimsy excuse to pass them on.
He jumped off the tree and headed into the forest that made up most of training ground seven. First, he'd lose these clones then see about testing Sasuke and Sakura. Once that was done he could-
To his credit, he very nearly ducked the flying kick that caught him in the shoulder as one of Naruto's clone came swinging around the trunk of the tree. He rolled with the blow and grabbed the clone by the edge of her yukata. He dragged her into the path of another clone. The two of them let out startled squawks of surprise and promptly popped as they slammed into a tree. Then the rest were on him.
One swung down from above, kunai in hand and promptly disintegrated under his fist. He weaved between the kicks of another two who flew past to bounce off the trees around him and come back for another round as another clone landed on the branch before it. It promptly snapped a foot ahead of him and sent the clone plummeting to her death while the other two had their feet caught by Kakashi. With a heave he swung them around as impromptu weapons, catching another pair of clones and crushing them with enough force to disrupt the jutsu.
He dropped from the branch as over a dozen kunai came raining in from either side. This was getting a bit ridiculous. No kid should have enough chakra to create a single Kage Bunshin let alone a dozen.
More kunai forced him out of the trees to the ground where the remaining six descended upon him. As he ducked, weaved, and blocked their blows something strange began to make itself known. A Kage Bunshin was supposed to be a fragile, yet exact, replica of the shinobi who made it limited only by the chakra given to it. And properly performed it was exact. Just as fast, strong, and skilled and yet…
He ducked a strike and casually backhanded one of the clones. These were slower than the original. Their movements less fluid and their reactions times perceptibly closer to what he had expected going into this fight. Oh, they were still far above mere academy students, their taijutsu was easily good enough for Chunin. But a Chunin wouldn't have been able to get the drop on him that easily. For some reason, Naruto's clones were, while physically identical in appearance, far weaker than she was. It was a curious difference.
Having learned as much as he could from evaluating the clones he finished them off except for one that backed off just in time to avoid his strikes. "Um… Truce?" it hesitantly held its hands up.
Kakashi sighed. "Really Naruto-chan?" The clone shrugged.
"Not really. Just need you to stand still for a second," she said before the shriek of shredded leaves started to approach from the direction of the training grounds. He didn't even bother wasting time dispelling the clone as he dived behind the closest tree. He watched as the clone died sticking out its tongue at him to the thickest hailstorm of Kunai he had witnessed in years.
Leaves were shredded, branches ripped asunder, and trees turned into pincushions as thousands of kunai turned several hectares of woodland into mulch. He waited with bated breath as the barrage ceased and a few branches crashed to the ground around him. After a moment with no sign of a second barrage, he relaxed.
Then they all started hissing.
-0-0-0-0-0-
As Naruto's clones disappeared into the forest Sakura couldn't help but stare at the girl slowly jogging across the field towards the single tree standing in the center. That… Since when had Naruto been capable of that? Sure she had thrown down well enough with Sasuke during taijutsu, but Choji and Kiba had typically flattened her in the spars. It couldn't have just been because she was a girl now. It might have explained a bit of the agility, but not that much or the fact that she'd actually managed to land several blows on their sensei.
She hadn't been able to keep track of everything, but the brief exchange of taijutsu had been well above Naruto's displays back during the academy. It had been well above anything she'd seen in the academy even the spars between some of the chunin-senseis.
And that did even get into the clones. She could see how the tree branches and leaves moved when they ran into them. Normal clones didn't do that. Illusions didn't ruffle leaves or bend branches. Somewhere, and she would have loved to know here, Naruto had picked up a bunshin jutsu that was solid.
As she was processing that Naruto sent out another pair of clones. One disappeared into the bushes on the far side while the other came straight for her. "Hey Sakura-chan," the clone said.
"You can talk?" That wasn't normal for bunshin.
"Yuppers," the Naru-clone cheerfully chirped as it snuck into the bush beside her. "Say, Sakura-chan, does this thing seem a bit odd to you?"
"Odd? You mean other than you managing… this?" she gestured at the clone's everything. The redhead snorted and leaned against the nearby tree.
"I mean the test. Something's bugging me," Naruto grumbled.
"Let it bug you somewhere else then. You're going to get me spotted," she hissed back. She glanced back out at the field in time to see the other Naruto clone drag Sasuke out of the brush. "HEY! What are you doing with Sasuke-kun?!" she whirled on the clone, coming to her feet so that she could try to strangle the other girl
"Oi!" Naruto complained as she danced out of the way, "I'm just getting him out of the blast zone."
Sakura paused as she processed those words. "Blast zone?" she asked.
The smirk the redhead sent her way was not at all reassuring. "Watch," she nodded towards the original Naruto who was… running up the side of a tree?
Sakura stared. When had Naruto learned how to do that? She had seen her parents do that a few times, but they hadn't taught it in the academy.
The original redhead was running flat out up the side of a giant oak tree as though it were flat ground. Her progress became difficult to track as she disappeared amidst the leaves and branches, but after a moment she popped out of the top in a leap that took her well above the treetops.
She blinked as Naruto hurled a single kunai from the peak of her jump into the distant forest before flashing through handseals at an alarming rate. Less than a second after tossing her weapons Naruto shouted, "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The air above the forest distorted, shimmering as if caught in a haze of smoke before countless Kunai appeared from the haze, all of them streaming down into the forest like a lethal downpour.
"Oh god. Naruto, you could kill Kakashi-sensei with that!" she gasped, whirling on the clone with horror.
"Meh," Naruto shrugged, "If that's good enough then he's not a very good Jounin."
Sakura opened her mouth to angrily berate her teammate when the horizon detonated. She screamed as the Naru-clone tackled her to the ground as the far side of the training ground exploded. The explosions continued to rock the world for the next few seconds and after it was over Sakura hesitated before pushing the clone off of her.
The destruction was almost total. Several acres of land had been turned into a hellscape of craters and blasted tree stumps while many of the trees closest to the blast, and even a few as far away as herself, had been stripped of leaves. A few fires merrily crackled amidst what had been the western half of training ground seven.
"Oh god. SENSEI!" Sakura screamed.
"Don't be like that Sakura-chan, he's fine. I think," The Naru-clone's head tilted to the side as the actual Naruto landed lightly in the clearing, not a scratch on her from the shockwave or the shrapnel.
"You THINK?! AFTER THAT! YOU LEVELLED THE TRAINING GROUND!" she screamed into the clone's face before punching it.
The explosion of smoke from its dispersal took her off guard, but then so it the girl in the field wheeling to face her and shouting, "THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR SAKURA!"
"YOU KILLED OUR TEACHER!" she screamed back, dimly aware of Sasuke and the other clone looking towards the stumps. Her teammate had just murdered their sensei. She'd flattened the entire area and no one could live through that sort of explosion.
"HE'S FINE OVER THERE!" Naruto shouted back, pointing towards the stumps. She whipped around to see their sensei standing just fine by the alarm clock.
"Sensei!" she darted in his direction.
"SAKURA-CHAN! WAIT-DATTEBAYO!"
"You're okay!" She said with relief as she got a closer look at their teacher. His uniform was clearly singed, but otherwise intact. She hadn't just been party to the murder of their teacher. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"It's nice of you to be worried about your teacher, Sakura-san, but do try to remember we're still in the middle of an exam," he chided gently.
"Eh?" she barely had a moment to process that before her teacher dissolved into flower petals. She blinked and gaped as the scenery changed around her. The trees were gone or little more than scorched stumps stripped bare of all twigs, leaves, or thin branches. The ground was cracked and burning with no grass left and the smoke swirled about, blocking the view of the village.
Had she- had Naruto's jutsu done-
"Sa-Saku-raah…" She spun on the spot as Sasuke's voice came from behind her. She froze on sight of him. His face was covered in blood, what wasn't simply one giant burn with his hair burned away and his clothes almost unrecognizable tatters.
"Sa-sa-SASUKEEEE!!!" The floor rushed up to meet her as the world went black.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Naruto was finding the Mind's Eye of the Kagura to be a very interesting 'trick'. Honestly, what was with her family and calling really useful stuff 'tricks'. Like they were sideshows or something. She had to wonder what their standards had been like for something that allowed the user to 'see' the world around them through their chakra to be considered a throwaway jutsu.
The moment before Sakura went down she could just barely see Kakashi's chakra wind about Sakura's mind. Genjutsu probably. It sounded like a genjutsu according to what she could remember from the academy. From what she had remembered Sakura had been adept at spotting them so it was surprising that she'd gone down so easily.
Still, as she watched Kakashi brush some soot off his shoulder something about this felt off. "Ne, Sasuke," she glanced to her teammate as he sidled up with her clone. It nodded and disappeared in a poof. As the memories of her brief argument to get him floated into her mind she continued. "Does this test thing seem a bit… weird to you?"
He spared her the briefest glance. "Define weird."
"... I think he's lying," she said, frowning at their teacher, "Remember what Techu-jiji said? There's always three Shinobi to a team."
"So?" Sasuke grunted. She rolled her eyes.
"So there won't be three if one of us is going to fail. Think about it. If every team drops one person then they'd have to reorganize everything again. And what happens when they get one or two extras? Do they send them back to the academy as well?" It just didn't add up to her.
"So the bells aren't important then," he replied, thinking as well. "If you're right-"
"Of course I am. I'm awesome," She grinned cheekily at him.
"Then what is he testing?" She frowned.
Sighing she grumbled, "That's what I can't figure out. This test just doesn't make sense." Across the field, Kakashi rolled his shoulders, nodded to himself, then his legs tensed. "Sasuke! Move-" she began to shout.
Then two Kakashi-senseis was there, right between them. She hadn't even seen him move. Just a flicker of light and he had crossed the hundred-plus meters. His clone kicked Sasuke in the chest and chased him into the brush as what she assumed was the real one launched a punch at her face. She caught it with her hands, but the force of the blow lifted her despite her efforts and she had to twist in mid-air to land feet first on the tree. Looking up from her crouch on the trunk of the large oak that she had smacked into she frowned at her teacher.
"We were talking Sensei-Teme!" She shouted, rudely gesturing in his direction.
"Sorry about that Naruto-chan, but after that last bit, I felt that letting you make plans would be a mistake," he said lightly, "My Kage Bunshin should be more than enough to evaluate Sasuke while I finish my time with you." He didn't give her another second. She flipped off the tree and over his head, launching two shuriken as she landed. His punch ripped an entire chunk out of the trunk before he leaned under the shuriken and immediately closed the distance.
It was clear from the first punch that he had been holding back in their earlier bout, and he probably still was if she had to admit it to herself. Two flew over her shoulder as she desperately tried to keep a step ahead, but the third she had to block and like before the force was far beyond what it had been before. Skill could only compensate so much for the fact that he was a grown man, a full Jounin, and she was a little girl who was just barely a genin.
She flew off into the brush and ricocheted off a tree. The ground came up to hit her as the world spun madly. Rolling to her feet after bouncing who knew how far into the forest she spat out a twig and looked towards the presence of her sensei. Eyes going wide she barely braced herself for the kick that picked her off her feet again and tossed her into another clearing.
Popping out of her roll across the ground with a handstand that carried her over the followed-up strike she formed the hand seal for Kage-Bunshin. Clones popped into existence all around the clearing, three of them immediately intercepting the Jounin, preventing him from pressing her any further. Not that they were lasting long at all. The symphony of exploding clones made it clear that her decoys were only going to last a few moments.
The first thing she needed to do was break line of sight. So long as he could track her by sight she would be vulnerable. That was easily done as her clones surged forward, obscuring her own vision in the process but keeping her well out of harm's way. She slipped away from her last position and tried to mingle with the pack of clones, weaving in and out of them as Kakashi tore a path through them away from her. Actually…
Without a moment's hesitation, she ducked out of the crowd of hers and into the forest. She needed time to think and trying to reason while a Jounin was bouncing her around the forest wasn't exactly productive. Not to mention that Sasuke was probably getting beat to hell and back without back up. Unlike her, he couldn't summon a small army to intervene.
She kept low to the ground as she hurried through the brush, all the while the memories of her clones continued to filter in. Kakashi-sensei was battering them aside without much issue but- A large explosion echoed behind her, wiping out nearly half of her clones, originating with a pair who had decided to suicide bomb the jounin.
Worse yet it failed to slow him down since he had simply swapped out for a log and reappeared further into the crowd, taking advantage of the surprise to tear through the unprepared clones.
"At least they're making it convincing…" she grumbled, leaping for the branches now that she was far enough to not give herself away. Up ahead thunder rolled as a glow lit up the trees with the colour of flames. She popped off a few clones to prepare to delay Kakashi-sensei and tried to hurry.
A few moments later she landed lightly on the branch of a tree missing all of its leaves from the earlier explosion. She peered around the edge of the limb. Down below on the ground was Kakashi's clone, kneeling by… Sasuke's talking severed head?! She blinked and shook her head. No, that wasn't a severed head. Somehow Sasuke had been buried up to his neck and now had to endure whatever lecture the clone had decided to give.
A lecture that was leaving him conveniently open, and why wouldn't he be? Going by sound alone you'd think a small war was going on further into the training ground. Even as she was observing him a few more explosions had shaken the ground as the last few of her clones had detonated their stockpiles of tags in an effort to trip him up. Right, if he hadn't suspected it before now, then he definitely knew she was gone after that.
Moving slowly and carefully to avoid making noise she drew a few shuriken from her pouches and eased herself around the tree. She was on a clock now, and even if Kakashi didn't immediately come running this way that clone wasn't going to keep lecturing Sasuke forever. Still, she hadn't outwitted ANBU and Jounin trackers during her pranks just to slip up here.
She drew a slow breath once, twice, and then her hands lashed out to either side, sending a half-dozen shuriken arcing around the clearing to catch the clone in a pincer. She ran the length of the barren branch and leaped out over the small clearing with her eyes closed, hands already fishing out the new set of shuriken. She felt the moment when Kakashi used kawarimi and lashed out to either side of the clearing with her remaining shuriken before breezing through the eight hand seals of Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
Kakashi's clone reappeared on a branch to her right and barely had time for its eyes to widen before a wall of shuriken hammered into its everything.
She landed perfectly on the ground, kneeling on the balls of her feet as she opened her eyes to see the surprised expression of Sasuke looking back at her. "Need a hand teme?" she asked, creating a pair of clones to drag him out.
"Where did you come from?" he demanded as her clones dragged him out of the ground. The loose soil gave way easily to the clone's efforts and soon they were dragging the disgruntled boy from the ground.
"That way," she gestured back the way she had come. In the distance, another explosion sounded as some of her clones attempted to slow down Kakashi. Their memories joined Naruto's a moment later. "And the real Kakashi-sensei is coming by the way."
Sasuke immediately started walking in the direction of the explosions. She grabbed his arm. "What are you doing you idiot?" she demanded. She'd just rescued his ass from getting planted like a tulip.
He pulled his arm out of her grip. "I'm going to take the bells," he said, "Don't get in my way."
"Get in your- The bells aren't even important! You just got your ass hammered into the ground by his clone and you want to go back for a second round? Over bells?" And he called her an idiot. Why was she the sane one today?
"Do you have a better idea? Maybe they're a fake-out, but it's all we have. Get the bells, or get tied up!" Sasuke snapped. They stared at each other for a few moments. Neither twitched as another explosion went off in the distance.
"Fine. But since they're a fake-out there's no point in trying to showboat and fight Kakashi-sensei by yourself. He's already kicked both our asses. There's no point trying to fight each other on top of this so let's team… up…" Naruto trailed off. They were supposed to be a team. "That's it."
Sasuke just gave her a confused glance. "What's it?"
"Teamwork. This entire test is about teamwork," She said. "Think about it. Teams are made up of three genin. You can't fail them separately. So why is he lying and saying he can? He wanted to split us up. This entire thing is testing whether we can work together despite having all the reasons not to. The bells aren't just unimportant, they're a diversion."
"Why both with this then? Why lie to us? It doesn't make sense. This entire thing is a waste of time!" he snarled, punching a nearby tree trunk.
"Because… because..." she chewed a lip. Why go to this extent to test teamwork? "Because they've already tested our skills," she said slowly, ignoring the distant crashes and explosions. "We're good enough to be shinobi, now the question is do we have the mindset? They aren't going to trust someone who turns on his teammates or the village the moment it's convenient."
Sasuke froze, his fingers digging into the bark. A long moment passed between them. "... yeah, why would they," he muttered, "Like Nii-san…" The bark of the tree snapped beneath his fingers.
Nii-san? She waited for him to elaborate, but after a moment of broody silence, she shrugged. "Let's go check on Sakura. If she hasn't woken up from all of this racket she probably needs help," she said, sighing and rolling her shoulders as she stretched. "Ugh, and I was enjoying this too… Think Kakashi-sensei will be up for a spar later?" she asked, already walking back towards the stumps. Behind her, Sasuke followed slowly.
Across the clearing the forest exploded, bringing them both to a halt as the light shockwave from dozens of rippling explosions rolled over them. The edge of the clearing was still intact, but they could see flames soaring above the treetops. A moment later the memories of her clones appeared and she sighed.
Was a four-sided ambush with exploding Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu too much? The answer was apparently no since Kakashi had once again survived mostly unharmed. Mostly. His hair had been on fire according to the last of her memories. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too mad?
-0-0-0-0-0-
Kakshi sank the blade of his kunai to the hilt in the neck of the last of this most recent group of clones and felt it pop into a cloud of smoke. He sagged against the tree, his breath heavy as he tried to catch his breath. "I- am out of shape," he groaned. Back during his ANBU days, this sort of rolling skirmish wouldn't have been enough to get him to sweat let alone breathing hard. He hadn't even been forced to utilize his Sharingan, even if it probably would have helped with spotting the fiendish array of traps Naruto-chan's clones had erected.
Arrays of tripwires, chakra triggered sealing arrays and coordinated ambushes. It was clear that Naruto was used to trying to fight someone who outmatched them, though he would have loved to know why. No fresh genin should be this used to counter pursuit action.
The crack of a snapping branch prompted him to toss himself back off the tree as another Naruto appeared from somewhere, gods he wished he knew where, and launched a brace of shuriken at him. The kunai in his hands caught the redhead in her chest, popping her into a cloud of smoke, and he landed heavily on the ground. Then the hissing, that fucking hissing, started again and he reflexively triggered another kawarimi. As the exploding tag array triggered.
Taking a rough breath he shook his head and barely avoided slumping against the tree. His eyes scanned the area. Nothing, again. Gods above she was dressed in bright orange this should not be so difficult. He'd thought nothing of the reports from ANBU about how hard she was to track after her pranks. Lazy ANBU in need of retraining after years spent taking care of matters inside the village was what he had thought.
It seemed he owed a few old friends some apologies. And some money. Tenzou was going to be so damned smug.
When nothing jumped at him, hissed, exploded, or otherwise ruined his moment of calm and peace Kakashi promptly jumped to the next tree. When there was yet more nothing exploding or attempting to skewer him, he relaxed just slightly. Was that the last clone? He almost didn't dare hope.
"She's far too much like her mother," he groaned. Perhaps it was an Uzumaki trait that their members were fascinated with the Kage Bunshin. Certainly, they could use it in a way that few others could. Why had he thought she wouldn't be able to just bury him under a human wave? This was the sort of mistake he wouldn't have made but a few years ago. He blamed the laxity of life as an ordinary Jounin.
His breath successfully caught, Kakashi leaped to the next tree and continued his race towards the main training area of Training Ground Seven. Behind him stretched hundreds of meters of broken and burning forest.
For once there were no further clone attacks. No bombs, no kunai, no traps. Just a simple run from tree to tree for the last hundred meters. It was almost enough to make him stop and set everything on fire just to be sure. Maybe use a couple of Doton Jutsu to uproot some of the trees ahead.
That was, however, his paranoia talking and not something he could really afford to spend chakra on to begin with. He was well-practiced at restraining that part of himself and by the time he settled into a tree overlooking the field he had only loosed two kunai at random birds and one Suiton Jutsu at an innocent tree. Progress really.
Down in the field Naruto was helping Sakura to her feet and chattering about something while Sasuke was leaning against a post. Did they really think this wasn't over? The alarm hadn't rung yet. Still, unless they acted then-
Naruto looked his way.
Reflexes honed over the last half hour flicked into gear and he launched himself from the tree. He couldn't afford to let her take the initiative. This was probably the real Naruto, in fact just the unnaturally smooth way she stood suggested it, so he couldn't strike a lethal blow. Which left him with less dangerous strikes, like a flying axe kick that made her eyes widen as she pushed Sakura away and braced. His heel hammered into her raised arms and she went down to one knee.
Her hands gripped his leg in a vice as Sasuke exploded into action. The dark-haired boy leaped from a standing start into a flying kick as Naruto yanked his leg forward in a surprising display of strength. He caught Sasuke's leg with an open palm and kicked off with his free leg. He managed to wrench his leg free, though he left behind his sandal in the redhead's hands.
Sasuke let out a surprised yelp as he was dragged along before Kakashi spun and launched him at the trees. The talented Genin hooked a branch as he was flying by and flipped up onto it.
Kakashi landed lightly and was halfway to reaching for a kunai when a ting-a-ling of bells stopped him. Standing smugly with his sandal in one hand was Naruto, holding up the two bells that should have been hanging on his waist. The hand reaching for the kunai slipped to his belt. He sighed. How did she do that? He hadn't even seen her hands reach for him.
Standing straight he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, you seem to have the bells," he said with a shake of his head. The alarm chose that moment to go off. And now he couldn't make a move to get them back.
He'd been beaten. Minato-sensei would have been proud.
"Yup, not that it really matters, does it sensei?" Naruto asked, flipping one towards Sakura, who snagged it from the air with a startled look.
Had they…? "I don't know, Naruto-chan. You tell me," he said, walking over to the alarm clock. He flicked off the alarm.
"It was rather obvious," Sasuke said smugly.
"Oi! Don't act like you figured it out!" Naruto snapped at him, sniffing haughtily before turning back to Kakashi.
"Naruto! Don't snap at him," Sakura protested. Naruto ignored her.
"Teamwork was what you were testing. Teuchi-jiji mentioned that genin teams always have three members. Two boys and a girl. You can't do that if you kick out one of them," Naruto said, grinning, "The bell's just a distraction. You wanted to see if we could put aside our own desires to work together."
He nodded, not denying it. "True true. All very true… You see that stone over there?" he asked, gesturing to the memorial stone in the corner of Training Ground Seven. They nodded. "That is the memorial stone. The names of every fallen Konoha Shinobi are written on it," he paused to let them absorb that, then added, "My best friend's name is written on there. Uchiha Obito." Sasuke started. "He coined a phrase that's become popular over the years. It's often said that those who break the rules in the Shinobi world are scum. He said on that: 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum'."
He looked around at them and nodded. "Take that to heart. That is the truth of Konohagakure Shinobi. We do not abandon our friends. And you are all Shinobi of Konoha from now on. Be proud, for tomorrow your duties to Konoha will begin," he finished. Naruto grinned and punched the air.
"YES! YES YES YES!" She grabbed Sakura in a hug that invited a surprised squawk from the girl and kept jumping up and down, practically swinging the pinkette around. As the two girls nearly came to blows Sasuke just smirked.
So it seemed he wouldn't need to make some bullshit up to pass them like the Hokage wanted. Still, there were a few things they needed to deal with. Oh well, he hated to ruin anyone's celebrations, but he had to keep his words. And besides, this was amusing.
"Now, now," Kakashi raised a hand to get their attention, "I'm not quite done yet. We've got one last thing to deal with before we break for today." After they settled down he continued, "Naruto-chan, congratulations on recovering the bells and figuring out the secret behind the test." The redhead grinned broadly and chuckled, an embarrassed blush forming.
"However," he liked the way the three of them sobered up, "I did say that anyone who didn't have a bell by the time the alarm rang would get tied to the post without lunch. Since neither Sasuke nor Sakura had a bell by the time the alarm rang, both of you get to be tied to the post." Three… Two… One…
"WHAT!"
Ah, Genin horror, a balm for his heavily scorched self.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Kakashi waited as the old man's secretary knocked on the office door. He tried to ignore the odd looks the hidden ANBU guards were giving him. It was hard since at least a pair of them were snickering. That all but confirmed that the Hokage had been watching the test with his crystal ball. Or it might have had something to do with the fact that his hair was bent ninety degrees to the side and slightly scorched.
"The Hokage will see you now," the secretary, a well-endowed blonde woman, said nodding to him as she returned to her tasks.
Sighing to himself he entered the office. The Hokage didn't so much as twitch as he caught sight of Kakashi. Lovely. "Kakashi-kun, how was your mission?" he asked.
"Eventful," he replied, taking the seat from earlier, "I take it you were watching Sandaime-sama?"
"Very closely," the old man replied, "I feel the need to apologize for the kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It was one of my agents who left the scroll on that for her to find. At least she seems to be putting it to good use."
Kakashi twitched as he recalled the multiple waves of explosions that had levelled nearly half of the training ground. As it was Training Ground Seven would take weeks to repair before they would even think of having Tenzo regrow the forest. "I would… prefer if you asked me before teaching Naruto-chan anymore jutsu, Hokage-sama," he said stiffly. He tried to ignore the Hokage's chuckle.
"I hardly taught her anything. An old man is allowed to give gifts every now and again isn't he?" he chuckled, earning a sigh from Kakashi, "More importantly she seemed to give you quite a bit of trouble."
"She did. I have questions about the veracity of the reports I received from the academy. While it did say that her taijutsu was in the upper percentile of the class there is a difference between being a good academy student and what I just witnessed. Hokage-sama, her taijutsu was easily jounin even if she is currently lacking in strength to make the most of it. To add to it her file makes no mention of her stealth capabilities, nor her Fuinjutsu talent."
"Her files were accurate as of her graduation, Kakashi," the Hokage replied.
He frowned. "With respect Sandaime-sama, no one improves that much in a week." No one went from scraping genin to throwing down with an elite Jounin essentially overnight.
"And yet, they were accurate. I watched her battle with MIzuki myself. I saw her final tests. Outside of her ability to sneak around, which you should have realized after spending years watching her make fools of Chunin and ANBU, everything was as listed," the older Shinobi replied.
"It doesn't make sense," the silver-haired shinobi sighed.
"I believe it has something to do with her seal, Kakashi-kun," Sarutobi said as he chewed on the end of his pipe, "Ever since her graduation night things have been odd around her. I have spent many evenings watching her in my crystal ball while she trains. She has been improving at a rate that makes the likes of Uchiha Itachi or Orochimaru look simpleminded. A week, Kakashi, and she has gone from barely being able to fight a Chunin, to nearly handing you your ass in a week." Hiruzen gave him a harsh look that made him wince.
"... I seem to have allowed myself to slip more than I had realized. I apologize, Hokage-sama," he said. He meant it to. By no rights should he come that close to defeat simply from fighting a Genin. He was one of the Elite and the standards expected of him were much higher than this. It seemed he needed to get back into training himself.
"We've all done it, Kakashi-kun," Hiruzen replied kindly, "Just try to avoid letting it happen again." He nodded his agreement. It was said a good teacher should be proud when their student overtakes them. He hadn't even started teaching and she seemed poised to run off into the distance without him. It was, quite frankly, embarrassing.
"You said you watch her train. How does she train, if I may ask Hokage-sama?" he questioned.
"With the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," the Hokage replied, "she battles large groups of them every evening for several hours while other clones practice nearly anything she can think of."
"I see," he said, and he did. If Naruto was truly capable of creating so many clones without tiring then she could leverage the jutsu's memory sharing ability to learn at an accelerated pace. It didn't explain the leap in taijutsu skill or the way she had picked up on strategy so quickly, nor did it explain why her clones were so much weaker than her. He voiced his thoughts and the old man nodded.
"I do not know. The only thing I can think of is, as I said, her seal. It is possible it was hiding her potential, or it may have to do with that matter we spoke briefly on last week. The one involving Minato's research," the Hokage replied, "I want you to watch her. Not to hinder or out of concern for her running away, but to try and figure out how talented she truly is. Clearly what happened to her seal is connected to this newfound brilliance, but I wish to know how connected."
"I will do as asked, Hokage-sama," he replied, bowing his head.
"Good," Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke, "Now, have you enjoyed your first experience with proper teaching, Kakashi-kun?" He chuckled at the hard glare the Jounin replied with.
"Is that everything, Hokage-sama?" he asked.
"Go relax Kakashi. Might I suggest a shower?" Kakashi ignored the Sandaime's chuckles as they followed him out of the room.
Sometime later Kakashi sat down at the corner table of a bar he frequented on occasion. He hadn't bothered with a shower. It could wait until he'd had something to drink. He sighed as he waited for the waitress to bring him his first drink. Gods, it had been a rough day and all because of one redhead with an explosive's obsession.
"Hey Kakashi," he looked up as he was reaching for his Icha Icha Paradise novel. His old friends and fellow Jounin Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai were all standing a few feet away. It was a testament to how tired he was that he hadn't noticed them sooner. Asuma nodded to the other seats at the table. "Mind if we join you?" he asked, scratching his beard before taking a drag from his cigarette.
"Sure, why not," he sighed. There went his idea for a quiet night.
"You look rough Kakashi," Kurenai said as she sat down beside Asuma.
"That he does indeed," Gai agreed, throwing himself energetically into the seat beside Kakashi. He pounded the scorched Jounin's back, sending a sharp pain through it from the light burns he had picked up, and laughed. "What, did your students decide to demonstrate the power of Youth? Ah to be that young again with boundless potential ahead."
"Yeah, what happened to you Kakashi? You look like you nearly got blown up. Again," Asuma chuckled. The silver-haired Jounin twitched.
"One of my students has a fondness for high explosives," Kakashi replied as the waitress returned with three menus and his drink. All three Jounin stared at him.
"Did you actually pass a team Kakashi?" Kurenai asked.
"Yup." Ah, he needed that drink.
"Gods. I didn't expect you to ever pass a team after these last few years. So how good are they? They've got to have a few tricks for you to come out looking like you've been fighting a war," Asuma asked before sniffing. He coughed. "You smell like it too."
"Uzumaki Naruto has a fondness for exploding seals, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and the Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," He replied after a moment's silence. "The world hasn't exploded that much around me since the third war." And the war rarely included this much explosives.
All three of them stared at him as he took a swig directly from the sake bottle before reaching for his book. So what if Kurenai was going to glare at him. He needed this damn it.
He froze, his hand rummaging around his empty pouch. He checked the other pair and found nothing. Frantically he began searching his pouches. "Where is it? I had it here earlier," he said, glancing into a kunai pouch that was far too small.
"You okay Kakashi?" Asuma asked slowly as his actions grew more frantic.
"I can't find it," he replied as he pulled off his jacket and started ransacking the pockets. He had had it at the end of the exam…
He frowned. He had, hadn't he? Except the last time he looked at it…
Was before he left for the test. He hadn't had time to read it during the exam. He hadn't even pulled it out. Not even once. So where was… it…
"They stole my book," he said dully. They'd stolen. His. Book.
"Book? Oh gods. Not that stupid perverted book Kakashi," Kurenai groaned, slapping her forehead as Kakashi stood up a scowl beneath his mask.
"Hey, hey, hey," Asuma stood up along with Gai. The two of them grabbed his arms and forced him back into his seat as he tried to leave.
"Let me go! They stole my book!"
"Gai, don't let him go!"
"My flames of youth are more than enough to restrain my rival Asuma-kun!"
As he tried to struggle out of his friend's grip Kakashi knew one thing. A certain redhead was going to be in so much trouble the moment he got free.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Naruto hummed as she climbed into bed. She'd had a bath, a good meal, and even given herself the night off from training since she'd spent the entire morning fighting. Now it was time for sleep. Well, reading, then sleeping. She picked up the strange orange book she'd pickpocketed off Kakashi-sensei.
"Icha Icha Paradise Volume 1, huh," she mumbled as she lay down on her bed. The cover was just the title and a girl in a red dress being chased by a guy. Shrugging she cracked it open to the first page and started reading. Five minutes later she shut the book with a blush that made it difficult to tell her skin from her hair.
"Kakashi-sensei is a perv," she said aloud as her blush slowly receded. Then she slowly cracked open the book again and kept reading. It took hours for her blush to recede enough to sleep.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Poor Kakashi, it just wasn't his day~ *Amused Kitsune* ah well, it could have been worse. At least he didn't actually get set on fire.
We've got one more section written for this story, then we'll be seeing updates for wGaE and TTP. Depending on how things go with school there may be a break as I work on my novel for a bit.
Discord and Patreon links in my signature as usual and a lovely thank you to everyone who supports me. Well, a Fluffy thank you. *Fluffy Kitsune Hugs*
LMAO. Guess Naruto is going to have a new favorite book. Wonder how, if at all, it changes her first impressions of Jiraiya.
- Location
- Elsewhere
'Well, there went plans A through G...'