With the day stretched out before you, you're sure you'll be able to
manage some
mischief.
The grumpy kid's not hurt hurt or anything, is hard to tease, and Naruto… well, for all your inclination to have some fun, he
didn't succeed, but he also
didn't fail as hard as you suspected he would.
Time to hop off Sasuke's head and snag a piece of paper: you have notes to write.
Sasuke's apparent relief at you leaving your perch isn't mollified in the least by you tearing a few pages from his notebook. You haven't practiced writing as a cat much more, but you did well enough for Shibuki to read. Naruto should be just fine. Now, what to say…
'Worse than arm broken if Shanpu hadn't made tumble softer for duckbutthead: work harder to control self!' ought to make sure he understands just how severe the situation was…
and a second page reading
'Meet Shanpu at Mighty Guy training place — taking runt to more control practice with strong people!' Between the two, that should take care of Naruto for now.
You roll the notes up and grip them firmly in your mouth. You nod at Sasuke, the kid's not too, too bad, but he doesn't return it. He just tilts his head to look back at the board. Striding elegantly over the tables to Naruto isn't any trouble at all. The annoying girls seem conflicted about whether or not to pet you, but make the wrong decision and try to ignore you. Dog Boy doesn't seem inclined to start another kerfuffle, though that might be Akamaru's influence — he's rather clearly the brains of the outfit, despite being such a young pup.
Naruto's head is down when you approach, he's staring at his notes without blinking much. He starts when you hop next to him and drop the notes — but you don't stick around to get a reply.
You've got a classroom full of potential left to sound out. While you're giving half an ear to the last dregs of classroom instruction, you'll wander about the kiddy feet, and give them a chance to reveal to you who among them are wise enough to properly pamper a cat just for passing them by. Any who pass your fiendishly subtle test are obviously the most elite of the class.
You'll remember their faces — cat lovers are always fun!
You slink not quite back to Sasuke's desk, but rather to that of his two most… dedicated fans. It's quite the shame that neither seems to have forgiven you for bothering him, while you can see the desire to stroke your luxurious fur in both their eyes, neither gives in to the temptation, though the girl with pink hair seems to regret it when you turn again to look. The real shame is that they're the two with the best hair in the classroom, if their taste is this bad, what can you expect of the others?
Dog boy keeps a close eye on you, but doesn't reach out. Not unexpected. The sunglasses kid next to him does, but then there's a bug in your fur that you have to kill and you keep your distance from him. The other two heirs to your friends' families, the Akimichi and Nara boys, both give a pat here and there, one lazily and the other heavily. Still, at least someone recognizes proper protocol. Most of the rest of the class tries to ignore you, a couple give you half-hearted nudges, but there are no other real pets to be had until you come to the last row.
The girl shrinks away a bit when you first brush up against her, but reaches out tentatively to scratch behind your ears. After a few moments of that, she picks you up and sets you on her lap, and continues patting your head while paying attention, or trying to. Her eyes — and don't they look strange, almost like she was more blind than Musi — flicker over to Naruto regularly, and she blushes every time. Clearly, she's impressed by his sudden growth in strength, as is only proper. Between her appreciation, he excellently maintained long black hair, and the way she gets that spot right at the base of your left ear, you decide to allow her the benefit of your company, at least for the rest of class.
When class ends, it is
time to go hunting! Y
ou need to find Fuu and Guy — and if you're lucky, Hiroko, Haruka, and even
Takeo, too! You'll gather up all the fun people, pronto! After all, there's a lot to do. You're going to want Naruto, too, but that will take hot water. No sooner has the bell rung than you shoot out of the kid's lap at top speed and down the hall to the bathroom. One Hidden Weapons-and-water aided change later, you're back in human form and dressed for the occasion.
You arrive back in class to see your blond target still sitting over by the windows. Excellent. You vault Sasuke's desk with ease, snatch your student by the back of his jacket, throw open one of the windows — you've learned your lesson about destroying Academy property — and finally leap out amidst some degree of protest from Iruka. And Naruto, you suppose.
"What? Shanpu take shortcut, think Naruto not want wait for training. Shanpu wrong?"
"You could have warned me that-"
"So, Shanpu right. Naruto go to training ground and await Shanpu now, yes? Warm up so can begin when Shanpu arrive."
"But, my bag is still-"
"Naruto forget bag?" You sigh. "Shanpu fix." The window is still open, and your legs are more than powerful enough to get you up a measly storey or two. The class has emptied rather significantly, though a sizable fraction is plastered to the windows. Naruto's bag is easy enough to spot, you shove his supplies inside — honestly, he shouldn't be so inattentive — and are back out the window in a trice.
"Oof!" Naruto wasn't even paying enough attention to dodge the backpack. At least he managed to remain standing, but every so often you have to worry about his future. Still, that's him sorted, so with a friendly smile, you saunter off to find your friends.
It doesn't take you very long to notice that you're being followed. Oh, the kid's good, but it's not unexpected from his reactions earlier that Sasuke might try to spy on you. You are a little surprised that he didn't go after Naruto, maybe pride? Whatever his reason, you'll
move just slow enough so that the brat tailing you doesn't fall behind… 'cuz you're curious what they're up to and wanna see!
Given the relationship between the three families, it seems sensible to ask after Hiroko first. Your tail stays well back when you go up to the door and knock. It's not Hiroko that opens it, but Chouza.
"Ah, clan head! Shanpu has finished techniques, wanted to show them to Hiroko as promised, can take for training?"
"Already done? From the way you were talking, it sounded like it'd be a while, yet."
"Shanpu too, too good, and Mighty Guy help." You can't help but smile at your own success.
"He's… talented, certainly. Hiroko isn't here at the moment, she and Haruka are on duty today. I'll tell her you asked after her, I know she's been excited to have the chance to learn more about those techniques of yours. Of course, I am, too, I suppose!" He laughs like a cannon, slapping his chest with a meaty palm.
"Aiya, Shanpu know, but promised friends first. Must ensure can be easily taught, yes?"
"Of course, of course. All the same, keep in mind our offer. I imagine they'll be more than happy to offer you some nice things to get expert advice, but if you'll train our clans, well… the things we can offer are far greater. Where will you be?"
You don't actually know the name of the training ground. That might make this difficult… but only so much. "Training with Mighty Guy and Fuu! Will be too, too easy to find. Now, Shanpu must go. Clan head be well!" He waves you off, and you barely remember not to Hot Foot your way back to Guy. Sasuke picks your trail back up fairly quickly, but you could lose him pretty easily if you rush. Children need to learn to be faster.
Once everyone's all rounded up, you're going to ha
ve oodles of similar training things to do! Practice against Guy alone, with Fuu, with Guy and Fuu against you — and you won't forget the blond runt! Unskilled or no he's plenty strong to handle it — and you bet he'll figure out how to manage his strength more easily against properly hardy foes! If he does make a mistake, well, you'd have a hard time thinking of three better people to deal with a too-strong screw-up.
When you arrive at the training ground, it's… it's not quite as you were expecting. Naruto is standing slackjawed and watching Guy and Fuu spar — you hope for his sake he's already done his warm up or he's going to be hurting later on. Watching him is the nice girl from class, presumably here to spy on the secrets of his strength? Oh, you could smack yourself, of course — she must be working with Sasuke to divine the changes in Naruto. Makes sense, and he is still tailing you, hiding somewhere in the trees back behind you.
You have to wonder if that's a good idea, seeing the state of the area around the spar. Both Guy and Fuu are flickering to and fro, exchanging flurries of punches and kicks, sweat dripping from their brows. Fuu dips beneath Guy's high-kick and lands a blow on his chest, knocking him into one of the few remaining trees standing by the clearing. He slams into it, wood cracking beneath him, and then vanishes almost from sight, flickering back into easy vision to deliver a punishing counterstrike that sends Fuu spinning. She turns and tumbles, and is clearly about to continue when she catches sight of you out of the corner of her eye.
"Shampoo!" With a roar, Fuu flings herself your way, a vivid aura coalescing around her body as she flies through the air toward you. You Hot Foot it out of her way, losing sight for a moment but avoiding the driving kick that turns the spot you were standing into yet another crater to dot the local landscape. Fuu is panting, her hair matted with sweat — Guy, from what you can see, is in a similar state. "Because of you, I have seen hell!" Really? It's not like you- "We have been doing this all day long."
"Shanpu sorry. Only meant to cheer Fuu up and get her some training with good teacher. But, Shanpu here for training, too, and Naruto. Can take over so Fuu can rest?"
"You owe me," the usually untiring Rider says, before she falls right on her back. "Run, Naruto. They're crazy people."
Your student looks far too tempted to take her advice, so you make sure to smile at him. "Naruto want learn control strength, yes? Then come spar Shanpu."
Hesitantly, he steps forward, shooting a nervous look in Guy's direction — who flashes a smile in return that doesn't seem to help much. You crack your knuckles, and sink into a defensive stance. "Naruto attack when ready. Go slow like with Guy in morning."
He does, and you resist the urge to take advantage of his opening by kicking him in the face. Instead, you proceed to go through the reverse of his earlier lesson with Guy, making sure he doesn't apply more force than he intends to even on the attack. You're pretty sure you're going to have some bruises, but he's showing some promise, to be sure!
An hour later sees you still with two "hidden" watchers. You're not entirely certain how you want to deal with them, but for simple sparring you've been happy to let them observe. You rather hoped that they'd come out and reveal themselves, but both seem content to hang back and just observe. Too,
too boring! When things get a bit dark, though, you start to wonder. Hiroko, Haruka, and Stupid Takeo will be by soon, and if you teach them secret Amazon techniques — even if they're just the ones you came up with — well, the watchers will see. And at that point, you should probably at least know both their names.
Then again, they're kids, and dealing with them might be something of a hassle, you know Naruto dislikes Sasuke at the very least, and you can't imagine he likes the kid's little girlfriend much better — though he should, she's nice to cats.
The sound of footsteps in the distance and a laugh you're pretty sure belongs to Hiroko clenches it. You've got to do something, and you'll:
[ A ]- SEND HOME SPIES
—[1]- You're not about to reveal secret techniques to more outsiders. Both of them need to get on home.
—[2]- The rivalry thing is cute and all, but that just makes it more important that you handle Sasuke, now.
—[3]- You don't know anything about the girl, and nice as she is that means you can't trust her to stay and watch.
—[X]- Write in!
[ B ]- WELCOME WATCHERS
—[1]- Rivals only help the learning process, so you'll call out to Sasuke and get him involved. Two children, one stone, and all that.
—[2]- Anyone that likes cats is welcome with you. You don't know her name, but you'll invite her to join in for the rest of the lesson.
—[3]- To seek strength is noble, you're not going to turn aside anyone that shares that vision. You'll bring both brats into the evening lesson, and show them what it really means to train!
—[X]- Write in!
[ C ]- PROCEED AS PLANNED
—[1]- Haruka wants to get better at Hot Foot, and you've definitely got a lot of advice for her on how. Movement is vital to fighting well, so you'll share that first!
—[2]- Hiroko saw part of the Chestnut Fist training, and it's by far the easiest to learn — it's the foundation of your own techniques, after all. Starting there seems only sensible.
—[3]- If you're going to make a good impression on Chouza, you might as well lay it all out. They each saw a little bit of something, now it's time to reveal the rest of each.
—[4]- Okay, sure, they're probably interested in the Chestnut techniques, but the Breaking Point is just so much more useful. Also, it lets you hit
Takeo people with boulders.
—[X]- Write in!
[ X ]- WRITE IN!
—[X]- Write in!
A/N: At long last, from what many thought long forgotten, an update! AHAhahahahahahaHA! This isn't dead, and won't be until it's done. It's going to be slower to update than Old Soul for many reasons, but it'll still be updating all the same. Speaking of which, I've gone back at long last and touched up the fight with Hidan (updates
8 and
9 -- though not in any major way, just... one of the points of this is obviously action fun and the learning to do such for me, and having the first fight be SO WEAK, even in comparison to what comes after... isn't a good sales pitch). I have also added the long-awaited Cologne interlude to
update 38 (because with regards to in-quest chronology it makes more sense there). The Hidan fight didn't change so much as to really
require a re-read I wouldn't say, but you
might want to check out what happened with the matriarch there, in no small part because it's like 10~ pages of bonus content.
