Chapter 64: Chapter 64
Ino pursed her lips in annoyance. "He's late."
Chouji gulped down his chips. "Maybe he ran into someone?"
That simple question ticked Ino off. She turned to Chouji, teeth bared, which scared the Akimichi into backing up a few steps. "Then he should have given us a different time! I could be doing better things than waiting around for a guy who doesn't bother to arrive on time!"
Chouji nervously chuckled as he tried to placate his teammate. "Let's wait for a bit. I'm sure he's on his way."
Beside them, Shikamaru lay on the ground. The Nara sighed; partly he agreed with the highly troublesome blonde on his team. He could be taking a nap, but Asuma-sensei insisted on this training session.
Shikamaru snorted. Training session. Right.
Knowing his friend, it would be anything but a simple training session. Looking back, Shikamaru would like to say that everyone on their team worked pretty hard, training to get better. Asuma had told them that Naruto had gone on a training trip with Jiraiya-sama, just like the Yondaime had gone. And everyone knew the result of that.
Naruto was already crazy strong when they were genin. He was bound to become a monster, and that proved true. A year ago, Asuma showed them that Naruto had managed to get an entry into Iwa's bingo book. And it was a pretty hefty entry at that. He was given the coveted SS-rank, flee-on-sight status, a status he shared with his father and Senju Hashirama.
Seeing just how far Naruto had progressed in only two years, all the rookies trained with renewed vigor. Shikamaru trained hard for the first time in his life and got his team to do as well. Chouji was already training hard, his reason being that he wanted to be strong enough to stand beside Naruto and Shikamaru. Ino was already fired up, saying that she wouldn't let Naruto get ahead of her so easily.
Shikamaru didn't bother telling her that Naruto was probably so far ahead of them that he couldn't even see them behind him.
The point was, Naruto was being trained by Jiraiya-sama, and the results showed in the form of his bingo book entry. Or at least that's what everyone liked to think. Even all the sensei were fired up. It was a glorious day in Konoha when Asuma shut Ino up by saying that he was going to resume his training.
But that was probably because Asuma didn't want to let Kakashi get ahead of him more than he already was. Kakashi-sensei had been training pretty hard as well. He was seen with Gai-sense more often than before.
"Hey, guys!"
Ino and Chouji turned around, with Ino's words getting caught in her throat and a pretty blush gracing her face. It was the first time she had met him after three years, and to sum it up: He. Was. HOT!
Naruto covered the yawn that escaped him and walked over to the team. "Sorry, I'm late."
"What, were you sleeping?" Chouji jabbed at him.
Naruto smiled. "Actually, that's exactly what I was doing."
That threw the Akimichi for a loop. "Oh." Then he remembered that Naruto was married. Blood rushed to his cheeks as he struggled to look Naruto in the eye. "Oh."
Naruto turned to Ino. "It's good to see you, Ino. It's been a long time."
It amused him that Ino stuttered out a greeting. She was the most hotheaded and outspoken girl among the rookies, and her shy demeanor tickled his sense of humor. He knew exactly why she was stuttering, and kept his smirk to himself. Naruto turned to the jonin sensei on the ground and nodded at him. "Hey, Asuma-san."
The jonin nodded back. Naruto turned towards Shikamaru, who still hadn't bothered to get up. He walked over to him and lightly kicked him in the ribs. "Wake up, you idiot!"
Shikamaru opened one eye to look at him with annoyance and got up, grumbling about troublesome blondes. Naruto gave him a sugary smile. "So glad you could give us your time of the day."
Shikamaru snorted. "Get on with it, Uzumaki."
Naruto took a deep breath and let it out. "Alright so-"
"YO NARUTO!"
Surprised, the blonde turned back to see Team 8 and Team 9 enter the training grounds. Kiba was waving at him, riding on Akamaru who gave a loud bark upon seeing him. Naruto turned to Asuma, looking bewildered. "You called them?"
The cigarette smoking jonin shrugged, looking completely at ease at the sudden audience they had gathered. "I slipped a word to Kurenai. Figured it would be an informative lesson for everyone."
Naruto lightly snorted, looking to the side. It's going to be a beatdown, is what it's going to be.
Lee was positively jumping around, all the while standing at one spot. "Yosh Naruto-kun! It seems that your youthfulness has increased so much more! So much that you are imparting it to others so that they may become youthful like you!"
As usual, Naruto had no answer for that. "If you say so, Lee."
Neji and Tenten shoved him along, going to stand alongside Team 8. Naruto clapped loudly, seeing that everyone had started chatting. "Is everyone comfortable enough? Or do you want some tea as well?"
He scoffed when he received sheepish apologies. Turning to Asuma's team, who were standing together facing him, he figured now was the best time to begin.
"Alright people, let's get this over with quickly because I got a meeting with our esteemed Hokage in about," Naruto did a quick mental calculation, "forty minutes."
Chouji spoke up. "What are the rules?"
Naruto hummed in thought. "Well, let's see. Number one, you will treat me as an S-rank shinobi who's out to kill you. Don't, and I'll make you regret it for the rest of the week. Got it?"
He was pleased to see Chouji and Ino gulping anxiously. Shikamaru on the other hand, gave no visible reaction other than the narrowing of his eyes.
"Number two, since we're comrades and this is a training session," he made sarcastic quote marks with his fingers, "let's not break each other's bones. But there's no limit to bruises. Got it?"
Ino and Chouji were definitely rattled by now, and even Shikamaru had tensed up. Good, it was rather nice to see his eternally lazy friend taking something serious for once.
"Number three, you get no outside help. That includes you, Asuma-san," he nodded at the jonin. He frowned at his exclusion, but accepted the rules thus far. There would be times when he wouldn't be with his team.
"Number four, you all get two strikes. If I land two cuts on you, or knock you out two times, you're dead."
"Why two?" Asuma asked curiously.
Naruto turned to him, shrugging. "I want to give them at least one chance to pass. I'll be holding back a lot."
He turned back to the team. "We start on my mark."
He then moved over so he was standing a few feet away, hands still in his pockets. "Also," he pointed with his index finger towards a surprised Asuma, "I can't believe that you invited all the rookies to watch me humiliate your team."
Ino's response was predictable. She blew up.
"HEY! Who do you think you're going to humiliate?! We weren't sitting down on our asses all these years! We were training hard! If you think this is going to be easy you got another thing coming! We are going to reck you!"
God, there were so many openings he could exploit that it almost pained him to remain in his spot and not strike them.
Naruto did his best to look unimpressed. "Oh really? You and what team? All I see in front of me is a flower girl who can't bother about anything but her looks, a lazy airhead who doesn't bother to move his ass around unless someone tells him to, and a fatass."
The teams on the sidelines winced collectively, even the sensei. Some even gasped. Everyone knew just how Chouji felt about being called fat.
Ino was growling about the remark he made about her, but Shikamaru literally had to hold Chouji back from rushing in. "Dammit, he's playing with us Chouji! Can't you see?"
Indeed, when the Nara looked into his friend's eyes, it became clear to him that Naruto knew exactly what he was doing. And as much as it pained to hear him about Naruto deliberately badmouthing Chouji about the one thing the guy couldn't tolerate, he couldn't do anything. The enemy wasn't going to care about their feelings.
Chouji growled and held back, but looked ready to pounce as soon as the fight began.
Naruto bent down and picked up a pebble, bouncing it in his hands. "You ready?"
The good thing was that Team 10 looked just about ready to tear into his hide. Taking it as a cue to begin, he flicked the pebble high into the air. It was a classic start to a competition, known to pretty much everyone. You flick the pebble or a leaf into the air and wait for it to reach the ground. As so as it touches the ground, you're good to go.
The trio watched the pebble sail through the air, their brain automatically calculating where and when it would land. They tensed up just as it began to descend, but got a whiplash right when it went down before their eyes.
Naruto was already there, burying a fist into Shikamaru's gut. All breath left his lungs as Naruto's fist tore into his abdominal muscles. The force was such that it knocked him back almost a dozen meters, rolling roughly on the ground. The one thing that was worse than the pain was that the force of the blow left him not unconscious, but on the verge of blacking out.
That took a while to recover from. A while in which his team stood no chance.
Ino and Chouji were so shocked that they were too late to react to what came next.
Naruto spun into a back roundhouse that caught Ino right in her face. The Yamanaka's tolerance to pain was significantly lower than that of her teammates, something which Naruto could just tell by looking at her. So it was most likely that she was knocked out as well.
He didn't wait to check whether she was knocked out or not. He completed his spin, just in time to catch Chouji's enlarged fists in his hands. The force was such that it sent him skidding back, but he used chakra to stick to the ground.
Chouji was still enraged by Naruto's earlier comments. He couldn't believe that Naruto would say such mean things despite being his friend, but that anger was quickly replaced by shock when he incapacitated his teammates in one second flat. It was only due to his intense training with his father in clan techniques in the last three years that he was able to attack before Naruto took him out too.
It scared him to see that no one on his team even see Naruto move.
Naruto was positively brimming with delight as he locked Chouji in a strength contest. This was just what he needed to wake up!
"I'm surprised you managed to turn around with that fat belly of yours!"
Under normal circumstances, Naruto wouldn't even think of calling his childhood friend the derogatory word hated not only by him, but his entire clan as well. But Chouji's short temper was one of his biggest weaknesses. Anger always blinded a person, and Naruto would take full advantage of that. He needed Chouji to see his weakness and work on it.
Naruto found it highly impressive that Chouji's entire face turned red in under two seconds of the ridicule. "Why you-"
Whatever he was going to say, Naruto didn't give him a chance to finish. His right heel brutally slammed into Chouji's chin, snapping his head back. He stumbled back due to the force of his kick, and Naruto took the opening. His left fist thundered right in Chouji's cheek, knocking him out.
Naruto stiffened in his place, then found himself grinning. "Whatever took you so long?"
He turned around to see a visibly straining Shikamaru, who was breathing heavily from the strain of keeping Naruto in place. He was still bent over, trying to give some relief to his muscles. Shadow bind was a great restraining technique, but Jiraiya had taught him how to get out of it.
Naruto flexed his powerful chakra, which created a spider web of cracks around him like a ripple. The technique snapped, and Naruto flash stepped to deliver a brutal knockout punch to his friend's face.
Strike one.
The teams on the sidelines were struck speechless at what happened in front of them. It seemed almost unbelievable.
It was exactly what Naruto had said: this wasn't a training session. This was a brutal humiliation of one of Konoha's best teams. Asuma's cigarette had long fallen out of his mouth when he saw Naruto take out Shikamaru and Ino in one hit each before wrestling with Chouji for a brief moment before taking him out as well. Then he saw Naruto casually flex his way- and he didn't even know that someone could possess chakra that powerful -out of Shikamaru's shadow bind and knock him out, for real this time.
Naruto turned to him. "That's their first strike."
Kami, all that training and these were the results? Taken out in one hit? This was just….absurd! Ridiculous!
Team 9 had varied reactions. Tenten was the only one gaping, while Lee and Gai were unusually serious for once, along with Neji. The three of them being taijutsu specialists, it was important for them to work on their speed. But even the three of them were baffled as to just how was Naruto able to build up so much speed without prior momentum, to move from one spot to the other? Granted, they were able to track him, but they had to admit they weren't sure they'd be able to react in time as well.
Team 8 was completely shocked. Kurenai was at a loss of how to react to Naruto completely decimating Asuma's team. It could be said that the Ino-Shika-Cho was not exactly a combat-oriented team, but they were a force to be reckoned with when they were together. Turning towards her own team, she was rather surprised. Hinata was watching everything with a peaceful smile, as if she always knew that Naruto was capable of this. Kiba wasn't showing an ounce of remorse for friends getting beaten up by Naruto, and Shino looked like he always did, analyzing everything critically and logically. Seeing the beatdown, Kurenai doubted that she could best Naruto in a fight. She was a bit embarrassed to say, and wouldn't admit it to anyone, but her speed was nothing in front of Naruto's. He would blitz her before she even moved. She doubted her Genjutsu would even work, given how dense his chakra was.
Naruto sat down and folded his legs, waiting for the team to come around. That was just embarrassing.
Thanks for the entertainment partner!
Anytime pal.
It was five minutes later that everyone was awake. Ino groaned as she got up, feeling the right side of her face tenderly with her hand. Dammit, what happened?
"You're dead is what happened," came a voice to her right.
Turning her face she saw Naruto sitting on the ground a few feet away, looking completely serious and disappointed.
After a couple of minutes, both Chouji and Shikamaru were sitting up, looking at him with alarmed eyes. Seeing that he had their attention, he stood up. "Let's go over what you did wrong, shall we?"
He ticked off a finger. "First, you waited for me to start. What are you, rookie genin? Your enemy isn't going to wait for the rock to fall on the ground. There are no rules in a fight between shinobi. You either die, or you survive."
He ticked off another finger. "Second, your decision-making? Everyone knows that when you face a superior opponent you retreat. Live to fight another day, or come up with a different strategy. Instead, you chose to fight me head-on. Seriously, guys, we are not Samurai."
He ticked off another finger, not bothering to look at Ino's outrageous expression. "Third. Chouji," he gave a pointed look to the Akimichi, "you let your emotions get the best of you. Anger blinds a person, it tricks them into making the simplest of mistakes which can ultimately cost you your life."
Chouji looked down, as if realizing for the first time just how much his temper tantrums could cost in the field.
He then rested his hands on his hips. "And fourth, what the fuck are you all doing listening to your enemy's monologue?! You wanna get your second strike right now?!"
Three pairs of eyes widened before the three members jumped out of sight. Naruto sighed and looked over to their audience, most of which looked dumbstruck. "If you wanna watch, then keep your distance."
With that, he vanished in a flash step.
The three members of Team 10 were hiding high up in a tree, chakra suppressed to their maximum capability. Ino was panting, frustration written all over her face. "Dammit! We can't beat him. He's too fast for me."
Shikamaru winced as he breathed slowly as to not aggravate the pain in his gut. Any plan that they had gone through to combat Naruto earlier in the day was thrown out of the window the second Naruto "killed" them in ten seconds flat. "He's too fast for all of us."
"And he's just not fast. He was strong enough to hold against me and beat me," Chouji added in.
"What the hell did Jiraiya-sama put him through to make him so strong and fast? He wasn't even using Hiraishin." Ino grumbled.
"If this is how an S-rank shinobi fights we're gonna get creamed against the Akatsuki," Chouji lamented in defeat.
Shikamaru shook his head. "No. Naruto fought like that because that's the way he fights. He is a speed-oriented fighter, the one who incapacitates or kills his enemies as quickly as he can. His entire fighting style is based on speed. And he has killed an Akatsuki member before. So if anything, we're against an opponent possibly tougher than an Akatsuki nin," he reasoned, trying to bring their morale back up.
Shikamaru kept checking his surroundings for any sounds, or anything that might signal Naruto's presence. "We need to come up with a plan."
"No shit, Shikamaru," Ino snapped. "But you can't bind him, Chouji can't beat him and therefore, I can't use my jutsu to take control."
Shikamaru paused. "He doesn't need to beat him. We just need to hold him, if only just for a second."
Chouji frowned. "How will you do that? He moves too fast, and he knows what you can do Shikamaru. All our plans are useless now."
Pieces of a plan were forming in Shikamaru's mind. "We need to hurry. Right now, he's hunting for us. Here's what we can do…"
Elsewhere, Naruto was walking leisurely among the trees. He wasn't actively trying to find anyone. He just switched his chakra to sensory mode, and was pleasantly surprised when he couldn't find them like that.
Well, Asuma at least taught them well on how to hide.
Still, there were other means.
Naruto sniffed out, his powerful nose picking apart the scents in the air. Males had a relatively easier time of hiding in the woods. Kurama was the one who taught him that females had a distinctive scent, which made them easier to track. This fact was the reason Temari had a can of "Camo spray" in her dressing closet. That spray disguised a kunoichi's scent to make it look like just any other scent.
Also, Chouji was eating barbeque chips when he arrived. That should narrow it down.
For a while, he just walked around, sniffing the air. A few dozen meters away, Kiba looked a little confused when Naruto started sniffing the air. "Huh? Since when can Naruto track by scent?"
The jonin sensei looked at each other, sharing a glance, knowing very well the reason why Naruto could sniff others out. What they missed however, that Neji caught their glances and narrowed his eyes. What did the sensei know that they didn't about Naruto?
Back in the woods, Naruto smirked as he caught a faint scent of barbeque. He created a shadow clone to check it out while he continued sniffing for Ino's scent. It took him a while, but the scent of flowers eventually entered his nose. The training grounds in Konoha mostly have just trees or bushes but not flowers. That's why he figured that Ino was bound to stand out. He narrowed his eyes.
Damn, it's broken up. Looks like I gave too little credit to Ino.
Prime, I got them.
A sudden spike in chakra caught his attention, followed by a rush of memories. A predatory grin spread across his face as he flash stepped, ending up in the clearing where Chouji had grabbed his clone. He arrived just as he saw Chouji jumping up. Getting excited, he called out. "Way too slow, big guy!"
His neck hair rose up in alarm, but he didn't bother moving. Instead, he let Shikamaru's shadow connect to his. Curious, he called out while flexing his chakra to break the bind once more. "You know this doesn't work, right?"
He ducked under the enormous arm that was Chouji, going in with a leg sweep that the Akimichi avoided. "What, you're trying to restrain me?"
He easily made his way into Chouji's guard and slammed his elbow into his ribs. Chouji winced in pain, but instead of stumbling back, he ignored the pain and wrapped his arms around Naruto, getting him in a chokehold.
Naruto's grin faltered a little when he saw Ino standing fifty meters away. Oh no, I can't let that happen.
"Nice ass Ino!"
The completely vulgar compliment about her butt came out of nowhere. The fact that it came from Naruto, who was a married man, sent Ino into brief shock. "W-What?"
Naruto used her shock to slam the back of his head into Chouji's nose, elbow him in the same spot once more and used his heel to ring Chouji's bell.
The Akimichi's hold immediately loosened as his hands clutched his crotch, an expression of pure pain on his face. Naruto put him out of his misery by knocking him out in one punch. He then jumped behind a tree to avoid a mind switch.
Kiba was snickering when he saw just how Naruto got out of Chouji's hold. "Hahaha, very clever! Distracted her perfectly!"
Kurenai glared at him. "He shouldn't be talking to other women like that when he has a wife!"
"But it worked rather well, I'd say," Neji's smooth voice stopped Kurenai from tearing into her student. "And I know Naruto. He only meant it as a distraction."
"Indeed. It shocked Ino long enough for Naruto to escape Chouji's hold. A comment like that sticks out in the seriousness of battle, which is most probably why the distraction worked so well," Shino chipped in.
Back with Naruto, he observed cautiously for any sign of Ino or Shikamaru. He wanted to avoid Ino's jutsu at all costs.
Just let her in one time. I'll give her a good enough reason to stay out the next time.
And didn't that just sound tempting? It was like the sadistic side of him was shaking hands with his inner prankster.
Promise you won't do anything serious?
I'll just scare her a little.
You'll traumatize her for life.
I AM a fearsome legend, after all.
Coming back to the present, took a quick look around. "Last chance guys. Chouji is dead. What do you intend to do now?"
His sense of danger buzzed again, and less than a second later, the shadows leaped at him, curiously shaped like sharp tendrils. What boggled his mind was that the shadows seemed to have a solid feel to them, a physical touch. He easily avoided them, flash stepping to the higher branches.
That is a new one.
His ears picked up the sound of something whizzing through the air. He jumped off the branch as shuriken peppered it, but was unprepared to deal with the shadow tendril that came through the air, wrapped around his middle and dragged him down to the ground. He landed as safely as he could with the shadow disrupting his balance before straightening up, but wasn't given a reprieve when tendrils kept grabbing him left and right. Naruto gave Shikamaru silent props when one tendril even wrapped tightly around his throat.
"Shintenshin no jutsu!"
Had Ino seen the grin on his face, she still wouldn't have known that it would be a trap. Shikamaru pulled back his shadows just as Naruto's body went stiff, pantingly heavily. He was honestly surprised he had managed to hold Naruto for as long as he did, given how weak his chakra was compared to the blonde's.
Well, he did say he was going to be holding back.
He got up from his spot and walked over to Naruto, who was standing in one place. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You got him Ino?"
He paused in his steps when he heard Naruto snicker. Why was Ino snickering?
"Oh-ho man, this is bad," Naruto kept snickering, and Shikamaru pieced it in a second. Naruto was in control, not Ino.
Not bothering to wait and think about how that was possible, he leaped away. He would have escaped successfully as well, had Naruto turned around and grabbed him by his ankle. He used his grip to slam Shikamaru on the ground, hard.
He's gonna have a bump on his head tomorrow, that's for sure.
All the jonin sensei landed in front of Naruto, alarmed expressions on their face. Asuma's face was especially pale, eyes brimming with terror as he looked at a snickering Naruto. Gai was looking dead serious, and Kurenai even had a kunai in hand. They were soon followed by their surprised pupils.
Lee was tensed up as well. "Gai-sensei, what is going on?"
Gai didn't answer, instead choosing to keep looking at Naruto, who was still snickering.
"N-Naruto?"
It was scary how quickly Naruto sobered up and met Asuma's terrified eyes with calm ones. "You didn't warn her?"
"I-I-didn't-I wasn't-"
Naruto held up his palm, silencing the Sarutobi. "Don't worry, she's fine. It will take a few minutes though."
Kiba was frowning. "Shouldn't Ino be in control right now?"
Naruto gave a grin that was all teeth. "Doesn't work on me."
"Will you let her go now?"
Naruto's eyes flickered to Kurenai, who was tightly clutching a kunai. She kept it in front of her, pointed to the side as if warning him to stay where he was. Just to mess with them, Naruto acted all nonchalant. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he tilted his head. "What is that kunai supposed to do, Kurenai-san?"
Kurenai slowly lowered the kunai, but eyed him with distrustful eyes. Naruto figured she was one of those people who never really forgot what happened all those years ago. He gave her a wide smile, as if thoroughly enjoying this. He didn't give a shit about what she thought of him.
"Naruto," Gai said slowly, "where is Ino?"
Naruto looked up with a thoughtful eye, as if the sky would give him answers. "She should be coming up right about…now."
Right as he finished, Ino's body shot awake with a scream. Not just any scream, but a scream of true terror. Naruto shut out all of his emotions when Ino's eyes locked with his, and tears leaked out of her eyes as she desperately shuffled back until her back hit a tree.
"S-STAY AWAY!"
Asuma and Kurenai rushed to her, with the former wrapping his arms around her. Hinata and Tenten walked over to Ino, trying to get her to calm down. Naruto stood rooted to his spot, knowing if he took even one step forward it would likely send Ino into a panic attack. All the chunin and Neji were looking at him and Ino curiously.
Neji took a cautious step forward. "Naruto?"
Naruto minutely shook his head, and Neji backed off. Now wasn't the time.
Naruto heaved a sigh. I thought you promised not to do anything serious.
Kurama's reply was indignant. I did no such thing! I just showed her my teeth and rambled a little nonsense. Nothing big.
She's traumatized, Kurama.
Hey, not my fault if they have such weak wills.
You aren't really a scale for comparison.
Why thank you. Plus, it was just a little harmless threatening! NOW LET ME SLEEP!
Naruto looked off to the side, a conflict raging inside. This was not how he wanted his friends to find out the truth, and he certainly didn't want to break it this way, to Ino of all people.
He took a step forward, ignoring how Ino's screams started again. He also ignored how Kurenai hissed at him to stay back. He came to stop right before Ino, who was almost buried into Asuma's side. The bearded jonin was shaking his head at him in a warning.
Don't Naruto.
Naruto shook his head back. I need to fix this.
He knelt down before her and hid his wince when Ino looked at him in terror. Feelings of hurt long forgotten came rushing back, and it took all of his training to not let anything show on his face.
He looked right in her eyes, feeling a bit guilty for the cruel prank. "I'm sorry you had to see that…." he paused, considering his next words, "and I sincerely apologize on his behalf."
"If you were sorry you wouldn't be laughing!" Kurenai spat.
Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten. He was so not in the mood to deal with Kurenai right now. He turned his head and when he opened his eyes, Kurenai's breath got caught in her throat when she gazed upon the hauntingly familiar red slitted eyes. The sheer rage in them was fully directed at her. "Trust me, no one except him is laughing right now."
He blinked, and his blues were back. Kurenai shakily released her breath when he looked away from her. She was reminded once again that she really shouldn't be provoking him of all beings.
Ino didn't even look like she had heard him. She looked seconds away from calling him the M word that he hated. Her voice was similar to that of a scared child. "What are you….?"
Naruto clenched his jaw and answered in a tight voice. "A sacrifice."
He then stood up and gazed around. All of his peers were looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "All chunin here," he paused, "and Neji, come to training ground 7 at eight in the morning tomorrow. We need to talk."
Without another word, he walked away. He hadn't taken more than ten steps when he paused and turned around. "Oh, Asuma-san!"
The jonin jolted in surprise. "What?"
He pointed to the unconscious forms of Shikamaru and Chouji. "I think you now know how they hold up against an S-rank shinobi."
He nodded and flashed away.
Lee stepped closer to his sensei. "Gai-sensei? What was that?"
Gai's answer was somber. "It's better if Naruto tells you, Lee."
XXXXXXX
Naruto appeared right outside the Hokage's office, scaring Shizune and almost making her drop the pig. "Oh, sorry nee-san."
Shizune smiled. "It alright. Here for your meeting?"
"Yeah."
Naruto opened the door, letting himself and Shizune in before closing it. He was only a little surprised to see Kakashi though. He gave him a wave. "Yo Kakashi."
"Yo Naruto."
He walked forward until he was standing right in between Yamato and Kakashi. Tsunade finished shuffling the papers on her desk and gazed at them. "I called you for an important announcement. I'm taking Team 7 off the mission roster."
And didn't that throw him for a loop. "Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade held up a hand. "I wasn't finished." She opened the drawer on her left and took out a large file, which she handed to Naruto. "What's this?"
Leaning back in her seat, she folded her arms. "I'm putting together a new group, called the Nijuu Shoutai. The sole purpose of this group would be to hunt down and kill Akatsuki members whenever they enter Hi no Kuni. I want Team 7 to be a part of this."
Naruto's eyes flickered over the list, noting that Asuma was in charge of Shikamaru, Izumo, and Kotetsu. Temari was put in charge of another group under Genma. Tsunade leaned forward. "So what do you say?"
Naruto bit his lip in thought. "I would love to accept but," he smiled sadly, "I would hate to get you into trouble with the elders."
Tsunade gave a dismissive wave. "Don't worry about that. I could give less of a fuck about what they care. I want every capable shinobi at my disposal right now, and Team 7 is quite possibly the strongest currently."
That was a pleasant surprise to hear.
Naruto glanced towards the jonin. "What do you guys say?"
He weighed the pros and cons mentally. Pros: he got to kick Akatsuki ass, get a chance to fight top tier shinobi, which meant some really good fights. Cons: literally do nothing until Akatsuki comes knocking. What to do…
"We accept."
Both Yamato and Naruto turned to face Kakashi. "We do?"
Tsunade smiled, clapping her hands once. "Great! You're all dismissed!"
Yamato and Kakashi turned to leave, the former looking a bit annoyed at Kakashi who cheerfully ignored him, but Naruto stayed. "What is it Naruto?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. Since I successfully completed an S-rank mission, do I still get two weeks off? Or is that rule null and void now that I'm on the Nijuu Shoutai?"
Tsunade looked at him curiously. "It still applies, but we never know for sure when the Akatsuki would come so….why are you asking, by the way?"
Naruto straightened up. "I was actually planning to take Temari out on a holiday."
Tsunade raised her eyes in disbelief. "Now of all times?"
Naruto shrugged. "I thought the rule still applied."
Tsunade folded her arms. "Four days."
"Six."
"Five."
"Deal!"
Tsunade blinked, as the space before her was suddenly empty. Grumbling, she sat down to do her paperwork. "The brat wants to go on a holiday, and here I'm stuck with this infernal paperwork!"
Shizune unhelpfully added in. "To be fair Tsunade-sama, you were on holiday for eighteen years."
"Goddammit Shizune!"
XXXXXXX
Orochimaru paced in his lab, utterly furious with Naruto.
The blonde had taken his prized sword! And the worst part was, he wasn't even aware just how many pains Orochimaru had to go through before he found Kusanagi. He hated how Naruto acquired his beloved sword just like that when he had to work his ass off.
Just like the sharingan, the part of his mind whispered that Orochimaru ignored most of the time. He ignored it this time as well.
If the theft of the sword wasn't the worst part, Kabuto's kidnapping certainly was. Orochimaru hadn't thought even once that someone could kidnap his right hand man like that.
Damn Hiraishin. Damn Naruto. And damn Minato too!
The flaky blonde was fucking things up for him from even beyond the grave.
Kabuto's kidnapping threw a wrench in his plans. Besides being the most skilled medic in the nations after Tsunade, the man was an excellent spy as well. He held various secrets from all other nations. He was also privy to some of Orochimaru's worst and most well-kept secrets.
He knew too much.
Orochimaru grit his teeth. "Prepare to move out. This base is compromised," he ordered the other scientists in the lab.
The scientists nodded fearfully and went to do as he asked. So absorbed he was in his fury that he failed to notice a pair of coal eyes watching him from the shadows.
Sasuke kept his smirk to himself as he watched Orochimaru rant to himself under his breath. So Naruto managed to beat his teacher, huh?
That meant he had gotten a lot stronger than Sasuke had expected.
In three years, Sasuke had gone through a lot of changes. Orochimaru was both indulgent and ruthless as a teacher, and Sasuke grown leaps and bounds under him.
But Orochimaru would still kill him in a fight.
Long ago, he would have gotten jealous of his teammate's growth. Now…he was still a little jealous, but no longer throwing tantrums.
Naruto could be a problem if I run into him. I'll need something to even things out between us…
Unnoticed, he slipped away.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone