"...":
Speech
Italics: Thoughts
Bold: Kyuubi
Bold
& Italics: Naruto talking (mentally) to Kyuubi
Whatta...?! My
reviews more than doubled since the last chapter! Must be doing something
right, then, hehe.
As usual, responses can be found at the bottom! THANKS!
Behind a Mask
Chapter 04:
Adversities
After catching
up to the blonde enigma, the both of them walked together in silence to the
restaurant, 'The Emerald Leaf', they had decided to 'grab a bite' at. Finally
arriving after several minutes of unnerving silence, they found the place to be
a bit crowded - at least more so than Ichiraku Ramen normally was, and the
smallest table available was a four-chaired one.
When the two
seated themselves Naruto ordered, rather reluctantly of course, a vegetarian
noodle soup. The very same as what Tenten had ordered, with the only exception
that he had gone with a large portion of extra noodles together with his.
The Kunoichi
had merely rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to whack him hard over the head.
It wouldn't had looked good, she told herself. Plus, the tiny fact that
he was her superior probably had something to do with it with it as well. She
came to the conclusion that she had to be happy that she had gotten him this
far. It had been nothing short of a miracle that he had complied to eat
anything that was not ramen.
They got their
meals out almost instantly, and Tenten started eating at her usual, human,
rate. She was hungry, it was past noon and the patrolling and sparring had
demanded quite a lot of her, but she wasn't about to act rude and gulp down the
whole meal right away. After satisfying her stomach with a few hasty mouthfuls,
she slowed down and cast an eye at the young man across the table.
Normally, if
he had been eating ramen, not that he actually was eating anything right
now though, he would've downed that bowl, along with an additional dozen, in
just under the a minute. Instead, he sat there, eyeing the content warily and
poking 'some green stuff' with a chopstick. His experience as a Shinobi, as
well as a human, told him that anything that colourful had to be
poisoned. He stole a glance of Tenten's bowl, noting that her meal was also
portrayed in the same array of disoriented colours.
Naruto then
eyed the waitress. She seemed nice enough, not suspicious at all. Well, not
'I'm poisoning my customers'-suspicious, anyway, although he did think that it
was weird that she seemed to be blushing a bit when she noticed him looking at
her. Shrugging that rather silly and weird thought aside, he instead cast
another suspicious glance at Tenten. It didn't look she was showing symptoms of
poisoning, so maybe that whole idea had been far off from the beginning.
She did,
however, show symptoms of something else, the blonde man noted. At first, she
looked curious, probably towards his strange behaviour, but that was replaced
with subtle rage. Subtle rage wasn't good, he knew that much. A certain event
from yesterday, involving a katana and what used to be a three centimetre long
goatee, reminded him of that. Subtle rage definitely wasn't good...
He plastered
his everyday grin on his face and reluctantly fitted one of those... green
things... between his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
"Mhmm..."
Naruto tried making it sound as sincere as possible, and to his great surprise,
it wasn't all that hard. It was far from the best thing he had ever eaten of
course, but it wasn't that bad either.
Looking up
briefly, half expecting a grimace on Tenten's face, he was puzzled for a moment
when he saw her looking past him towards the direction of the door, obviously
following someone's movement, with a smug expression on her face. Expanding his
senses out of curiosity, he felt two distinct chakra signatures entering. He
estimated the two of them to be around Chuunin level, definitely less powerful
than Tenten.
He turned
around slightly and got a good view of the Shinobi's, or rather Kunoichi's
entering but quickly faced Tenten again upon realizing who they were. Oh
crap. Why do I always find myself in these situations?
There was no
mistaking it. Haruno Sakura, flanked closely by Yamanaka Ino made their way
inside before they noticed Tenten sitting at a table, looked towards each other
and decided with a nod to move towards the brown-haired Kunoichi. He felt this,
and snuck a peek at Tenten.
His jaw almost
hit the table when he saw she was actually waving at them, motioning for them
to come and join herself and the blonde. The same smug expression was still
persistent on her face for a moment, until she noticed Naruto looking at her
and then decided to replace it with a painfully obvious fake-innocent face as
she pretended to be oblivious about the whole situation
"What?"
She asked, playing clueless. I'm sorry, Naruto... but I can't pass up this
chance at getting to know more about you, now can I? It's your own fault for
not telling me anything before, Tenten told herself.
"Humph."
The blonde boy pouted, readying a speech about how he knew exactly what she was
doing, and how he wouldn't have tolerated it if they were still working (or so
he liked to think, at least). As he was about to tell her this however, the
visitors had already arrived and cut him off before he even had a chance to get
started.
"Hello
Tenten! How are...." Either Ino or Sakura began - who it was he couldn't tell
as he was busy trying to hide his face as much as it was possible. She, whoever
it was, continued. "Ooh, who's this? You two wouldn't happen to be on a
date, would you?" The question was obviously directed towards Tenten, but
he could still literarily feel the gaze of two people burn through his back.
"No! No,
of course not!" The older Chuunin defended herself, waving her arms in
front of her. Her cheeks were flushed, however, and had they been able to see
Naruto's cheeks, they would've noticed that his were as well. "He's my new
captain."
"Oh yeah,
you told us you were going to join." The other girl, who he by now was
certain was Sakura, said. "You don't mind if we sit at your table, do you?
All the smaller once are full..."
"No, of
course I don't mind..." Tenten answered a little hastily, not allowing
Naruto to object. He looked at her with an equally annoyed and helpless
expression, while she just grinned back.
"Thanks.
I'm Haruno Sakura," The pink-haired girl said, directed towards Naruto, as
she sat down on the opposite side of him - next to Tenten. "That is
Ino...-pig." She continued, the last part barely audible.
"What was
that?" Ino growled as she sat down next to the blonde boy.
"Huh?
What? Nothing..."
"Never
mind pinky over there, she just likes to nag on people because of her defected
forehead. I'm Yamanaka Ino, nice to meet you."
"My
pleasure, Ino-san, Sakura-san." He said, for the first time looking them
straight in the eyes.
Tenten
smirked, waiting for the obvious reaction that was bound to come, at least from
Sakura. However, no reaction of the sort Tenten had hoped for came.
How can
they not recognize him? Sakura was even his team mate, she thought, looking
over towards Naruto again. She noticed that something was different about him,
but didn't know exactly what... His face? Wait a minute, his cheeks, it
was then that she noticed; his birthmarks?! They're gone! Genjutsu...? But,
that's cheating!
"So
you're Tenten's captain? How old are you?" Ino asked.
"Seventeen."
He admitted, although reluctantly. He didn't like to lie, simply hiding the
truth felt better.
"Ah, then
you're as old as us!" Ino squealed in delight. Suspicious delight.
"And already an ANBU-captain? You must be pretty skilled! When did you
join the ANBU?"
"When I
was fourteen."
"Fourteen?!
There's actually people joining at that age?" Sakura asked, baffled.
Sasuke was supposed to be a genius, but he was no-where near the skill of an
ANBU at age fourteen.
"There's
records of Shinobi's becoming captains at age thirteen..."
"Oh..."
Ino looked thoughtful for a moment. "So you're a Jounin?"
"Special-Jounin."
Naruto was beginning to get slightly annoyed by all these questions. How did
real geniuses, like Kakashi, stand all these questions? Naruto had never
considered himself special in anyway, aside from a huge monstrosity imprisoned
in his stomach, of course.
"I have
to go, I promised a friend I'd spar with him today. Being stuck with a couple
of students is boring him to death." He excused himself as soon as he had
finished his food, or at least most of it. He left the extremely colourful 'thingies'
on the plate.
"But we
just came, can't you stay a little longer?" Ino pleaded.
"Sorry,
Ino-san. I'll see you tomorrow, Tenten. Same time, same place, but you probably
know that." He grinned, leaving some money - what he estimated would
enough to pay for his food but in reality was enough to pay for both him and
Tenten, and then left. Tenten and Ino looked disappointed about his rather
abrupt disappearance, while Sakura looked a bit puzzled.
He looked
familiar, somehow... But I don't know where I could've seen him before, Sakura thought, but
decided to keep her thoughts to herself, convinced that she was imagining
things.
"Tenten,
you're lucky!" Ino said, being the first one to break the silence.
"I am?
How?"
"He was
cute! And he must be skilled too!" She said before leaning closer to the
table, whispering conspiratorially "Perfect boyfriend-material."
Tenten merely
rolled her eyes at the younger girl. "Then why don't you make a move on
him yourself, Ino-pig?" Sakura asked.
"Aww,
don't be so boring, forehead-girl! Besides, I might just do it." The
blonde girl giggled.
:::
"Hey
guys!" Naruto greeted as he walked into the clearing the training area
that, informally, belonged to Konoha's genin Team Nine.
"Naruto-nii-san!"
Konohamaru was the first one to reply, or rather shout. "Look, I've
mastered the Goukakyuu no Jutsu last night, so you're gonna teach me a new one
now!"
"I am?
Well, let me see it first." The blonde-haired ANBU grinned.
"Ok!"
Konohamaru said confidently, turned towards a near-by tree and, after doing the
appropriate hand seals, shouted "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
He took in a
deep breath and let it out through the hole his thumb and index finger had
created in front of his mouth. But instead of air, a roaring fireball shot out,
turning the top half of the tree to cinders. After watching the result; a half
burnt-down tree, Naruto saw that he hadn't mastered it completely yet.
"Sorry kiddo, not yet. You don't concentrate enough, and you're not
holding enough chakra in your lungs. Practice a bit more, and I'm sure you'll
get it by tonight." He said, looking at Konohamaru who was now pouting.
"Well, I
did warn you it was going to be tough to master... Now go join your friends and
master the tree-walking. Better chakra-control allows you to master Jutsu's
faster." He grinned.
"All
right!" The brown-haired genin shouted as he turned around and darted off
towards the tree where his team-mates were training.
"I didn't
expect the three of them to still be here, Genma. Extra training for the
Chuunin exam, huh?" He said, turning towards the Jounin-instructor.
"Indeed.
Unlike a certain Shinobi I know, I want them to pass on their first try."
He said, a smug smile forming on his lips.
"Bah! You
know I would have passed on my first try too, if it wasn't for that stupid
invasion. Especially the way I pummelled that Hyuuga."
"Sure you
would." The older nin teased. He had to admit it, though not openly, that
he had been impressed by that fight.
Seeing a
twelve-year-old handle that kind of power, power entitled to demons,
wasn't something you saw everyday. It had shaken the whole village more than
anyone really cared for. The one always considered a failure, a demon-spawn;
came out victorious out of a fight everyone thought he had been destined to
loose. While most ended up hating Naruto even more after that day, he had
earned his respect from some of them.
"Sometimes
I just want to shove that toothpick down your throat, or rather up
somewhere else, you know that?" The blonde grinned.
"How many
times do I have to tell you, it's not a toothpick it's a---"
"---It's
a senbon-needle, yeah yeah, I know." Naruto cut him off.
"Good.
Why are you here, by the way? Shouldn't you be off training around now, as
usual?"
"I was
hoping to be able to train with you, since Jiraiya is off on some mission, and
it'd be nice to spar with an equally skilled person for a change. But since
you're busy, I'll get going."
"Feh.
You're hopeless."
"You know
I try." The young ANBU stuck out his tongue at the Jounin and disappeared
in a flash.
:::
Thirty minutes
after being rather abruptly left behind by a certain blonde ANBU-captain,
Tenten now found herself making her way towards the house she lived in. It was
bad enough that he had just left her there to face a never-ending supply of
questions asked by Ino. Questions mostly about him. But to think they
actually hadn't recognized him.
It was sad,
and she found herself subconsciously furious on behalf of Naruto. Especially at
Sakura. The pink-haired girl was supposed to be his old team-mate. Geez,
why am I getting so worked up over this anyway? It's not like I care...
As she got
inside and closed the door, she heard her mom calling out to her. "Hi Dear."
"Hey mom.
You're back already?" Tenten asked her mother. She had, along with her
husband - Tenten's father, been on a b-ranked mission in a foreign village.
They had been away for several days already, but weren't expected to be home
until tomorrow.
"Yes, we
came back earlier this afternoon. Are you hungry? I made dinner already, come
and join me and your father in the kitchen and tell us all about your day, and
what it's like in the ANBU."
"I'm not
hungry, I just got back from a restaurant." Tenten said as she made her
way into the kitchen and sat herself on one of the chairs, opposite to her
father.
"Alone?"
Her fathers baritone voice asked.
"No,
together with my captain in the ANBU, Sakura and Ino." How would they
react when they found out that Uzumaki Naruto was her captain? Did they hate
him like everyone from the older generations seemed to do? She hadn't thought
about that, but on the other hand, would it really be a problem? It wasn't her
decision who her team-mates were anyway.
"Who are
they? I mean your captain and team-mate..." Her mother asked, with the
same curiosity that Tenten seemed to posses most of the time.
"My
captain's name is Naruto and the 3rd memb---"
"---Naruto?
The one that beat that Hyuuga in the Chuunin exam?" Her father asked,
unsure of how to take the news. He had been there, all those years ago. He had
lost many friends fighting Kyuubi until the fourth managed to seal the beast
away into that poor boy.
He didn't feel
any hatred towards Naruto himself, but did he trust him, and that seal,
enough to let him take responsibility off his little girl? That was a
completely different matter all together.
"Yes,
what about it?" Tenten perked up. Maybe this was a good opportunity to get
a clue or two on what the blonde could have done in the past...
"Erm...
Nothing. He's captain in the ANBU already? It wasn't more than seventeen years
ago that..." He tried to change the topic, to no avail. Silently cursing
himself for letting his tongue slip, he tried to correct himself. "I mean,
he can't be more than seventeen years old."
"Seventeen
years ago, what?"
Damnit...
"Nothing."
This time the word came from Tenten's mother instead. "I'm sorry honey,
but we can't tell you."
"Why
not?"
What happened
seventeen years ago? Tenten asked herself. Well, of course there was Kyuubi - she had
heard about a demon attacking the village and killing many. But it was absurd
to believe that Naruto had had anything to do with that. He quite possibly
wasn't even born back then. No, there had to be something else.
"Why
can't you tell me?"
Her father
sighed deeply. He did not like the idea of that kid being his daughters
captain, but he had to admit the gaki was in a totally unfair situation. The
unofficial rule imprinted on the people that prevented them from telling others
about his special 'relationship' with Kyuubi might have been his only chance,
and the boy deserved at least that much. But once people that had no idea what
had happened to Kyuubi all those years ago grew suspicious of why he was
treated the way he was, it began to create problems. What could one tell people
that began asking questions? 'A rule says that I can't answer. A rule you
shouldn't even know about.'?
There had to
be a better way, but yet he came to the conclusion that there simply wasn't.
And it was still better that she gave up this quest, since if she really did
find out, there was a chance that she wouldn't be able to trust him. His nearly
40 years of experience which he had gained through countless of battles and
deceptions told him that a team without trust did not function.
"There's
a rule. No one is allowed to speak of it." He finally said, ending the
rather long silence.
"Oh."
That was certainly not what she had expected to hear, and naturally it
complicated things for her. Especially since she was still as hell bent as ever
to find out the answer.
"If he
himself, or Hokage-sama, decides you need to know, I guess they'll tell you. If
not, there's not much we can do about it dear." Her mother added.
"Fine..."
She reluctantly agreed and stood up, her chair screeching in protest as its
legs were dragged backwards across the wooden floor. With a wave goodbye, she
left her parents and slouched upstairs to her room, poised to think more about
the new information she had gained.
:::
Naruto dropped
himself wearily on the couch in his apartment after letting himself inside. He
had been training all afternoon, the first couple of hours spent on perfecting
a few techniques and, after the sun had set down behind the horizon, he spent
another couple of hours running - in an effort to raise both stamina as well as
speed.
Needless to
say, he was extremely tired at this very moment.
His diminished
thought-process presented him three options, right now. He could A; sleep now
and eat ramen/shower as soon as he woke up. B; shower first, and then eat ramen
before turning in for the night, or C; Eat ramen now and then shower after
waking up tomorrow morning.
Of course, he
could also improvise, he thought after trying to choose between the various
options for a minute or two. He could eat ramen first, and then take a shower.
Then, as he came out of the shower and got dressed, he could eat an additional
cup of instant ramen! Naruto! You're a genius! He praised himself, and
with new-found strength managed to pluck himself off of the couch and move into
the kitchen.
He prayed a
silent prayer to the ramen-god, since there surely must exist one of those
somewhere along the divine vault, and offered him his apologies for deserting
him and his heavenly food earlier. Five minutes later, the blonde had cooked
and devoured two cups of ramen and was now heading for the shower.
Just as he was
about to enter the bathroom, several impatient knocks resounded through his
apartment, coming from the front-door. After muttering curses to himself and
asking who in their right mind would disturb him at this time of day, he had
half a mind on just ignoring whoever was standing outside his home. He decided
against it however, since he had a feeling it'd be important - it was rather
late after all.
Three
additional rapid knocks could be heard before Naruto had made it to the door.
"Ero-sensei,"
He greeted his visitor. "Shouldn't you be out peeking at poor defenceless
ladies about now, you old pervert?"
"How many
times haven't I told you not to call me that? And for the last time, I'm
not a pervert!" The tall white-haired man glared at his student.
"I know,
I know..." The blonde yawned. "You're actually a super-pervert. A
really lame one at that." Naruto said, before a particularly rusty
gearwheel in his absent and tired mind shifted. "Wait a minute, aren't you
supposed to be on some mission?"
"I just
got back from briefing Tsunade-hime."
"Uh-huh.
And then you thought it'd be a good idea to come over here and bother me before
I could get some sleep?"
"You
could say that," The sannin grinned. "The real reason is that I
wanted to give you some of the mission details." The white-haired nin
continued with a serious voice, the tone of which told Naruto that this was
going to be important. Further more, he also realized that it'd be a while
until he would get an opportunity to sleep...
"Fine,
come in." The blonde replied as he moved out of the way. "I'm going
to get a shower first though." He said and moved towards the bathroom. The
sannin positioned himself on the couch where he, once seated, took out a pen
and a notebook and started scribbling down notes with a blush etched on his
manic grin.
Ten minutes,
and about five pages in Jiraiya's notebook later, Naruto emerged from the
shower wearing casual clothes. He took a glance at his perverted sensei and
muttered a curse. The white-haired sannin sat there without a worry in the
world, occasionally nodding once or twice to himself and giggling before
writing down another few lines. He decided that he would let the pervert be
alone for an additional minute or two while he boiled water for his ramen,
since he of course hadn't forgot about it. How could anyone forget about
ramen?
After boiling
the water and adding it to two cups of instant ramen, Naruto now found himself
propped on his couch right next to his sensei, desperately trying to get the
white-haired sage's attention.
"Oi! Stop
writing in that perverted notebook."
The sannin
growled, obviously disappointed. "Fine."
"You're
the one that wanted to talk to me in the first place..."
"Yes, I
thought I might as well give you a personal briefing this time, seeing that you
fell asleep last time there was a public briefing."
"It's not
my fault that the old hag was boring the hell out of me, is it?"
Jiraiya
sighed. He, personally, didn't mind Naruto calling Tsunade a hag, although if
it were anyone else, he probably would. Also, he knew better than to correct the
little baka, since it didn't have any effect anyway. It reminded him a bit
off his previous student, Yondaime.
"Anyway,"
Jiraiya started. "I've been doing a little, shall we say, spy-duty on the
sound the last week. I think they're about to move soon. But from the look of
it, they're going to try to round up some allies before they do. I know
Orochimaru isn't dumb enough to try anything with their current army,
anyway."
"What
really troubles me is just who those allies might really be. Sand is out
of the question, he already tried that once - and they're not foolish enough to
make the same mistake twice. No, he's not going for the Hidden Sand, which only
leaves the Hidden Cloud and Stone powerful enough, and the Hidden Stone has no
interest in our country at all." It was true. A more reclusive country
than Earth, where Hidden Stone lay, was hard to find. They didn't care much
about the outside world, and only liked to mind their own business. Hidden
Stone had been involved in wars before, yes, but they had never started the
wars themselves.
"If he
finds any ally, it'll be the Hidden Cloud. We've been to war with them before,
as you know, and they're just looking for a way to destroy Konoha. I also know
that Tsunade-hime's brother was killed by the Cloud, something that would
greatly satisfy Orochimaru's twisted humour." A long silence followed
while Naruto took in everything he had just been told.
"So we're
going to war?"
"No."
Jiraiya said firmly. "Not yet, we still have time to stop it. We know for
a fact that Orochimaru still hasn't contacted the Cloud, so he hasn't proposed
a deal to them yet. Our spies that I contacted informed me that he's about to
send a group of three people to Lightning Country. We need to stop them,
preferably kill them, before they reach Hidden Cloud. Kabuto is probably one of
the people that Orochimaru will send..." Naruto perked up immediately at
the silver-haired Shinobi's name.
"I'll
go." Naruto said flatly. Ever since he found out that Kabuto had been spy
working for the enemy that day five years ago, he had wanted to settle the
score between them. He was also aware of the fact that he was finally powerful
enough to kill him. The blonde boy had never liked killing, but he felt that
sometimes it was needed - possibly even justified.
"Hold
your horses there, gaki. We don't even know for sure if Orochimaru even trusts
Kabuto enough for that."
"He
trusted him enough to spy at us, didn't he?" The blonde shot back.
He's
becoming sharper, Jiraiya thought, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "Ok,
fine. I know how important this if for you, Naruto, and I already talked to
Tsunade-hime about it anyway. She said she'd think about it. That she'd
possibly, possibly allow your team to go, on the condition that you
bring one more... experienced shinobi with you. A shinobi of her
choice..."
"Thanks
ero... I mean Sensei!" Naruto grinned mischievously while scratching the
back of his head, sleep already forgotten. Bringing someone experienced
doesn't seem too bad. In fact, it doesn't seem bad at all, he thought. If
he only knew how much he'd regret thinking that...
:::
Two days
later, Naruto found himself in full ANBU-fatigue together with the rest of his
team on their usual meeting place, the bridge. It was a typical morning in the
comfortable climate that Fire country found itself in this time of year. The
sun graced everything with its divine light as it was rising just above the
trees and the birds were chirping merrily to each other'svarious tunes.
Someone,
however, wasn't as merry as the feathered beings.
"I swear
that if you tell us that we're going to do nothing but train today as well, I'm
going to..." Was the greeting Naruto received from his male team-mate.
"Can't we have a normal mission today instead? You know, something that
involves us doing something else than training?" Iwashi continued.
Tenten,
although silently, agreed. They had done nothing but running, sparring and
perfecting techniques and chakra control these last two days, things she hoped
she wouldn't see again after joining the ANBU. Where was the thrill, the
action? Hell, patrolling was more fun than this.
"Hello,
nice to see you too." Naruto said, before continuing. "Actually,
we'll be leaving for a mission today. A, or maybe even S-class, in fact."
He grinned profoundly beneath his mask. This would be fun.
"Really?"
Tenten asked. Now this sounded interesting.
"Yes,
that's why we've been training these last days. We're not going alone however,
so we're just waiting for the temporary fourth member to come along - and after
getting acquainted, we'll be leaving."
Interesting
indeed,
Tenten thought, but couldn't help but to feel a tad bit nervous. She had done
very few A-class missions before, and when she had, it had always been together
with her old team and sensei. This mission she was going to do together with
her new team, whom she had just known for a few days. Of course their teamwork
had improved over the last two days of training, but it was still far from
perfect. Not to mention, who was this new mystery shinobi that was going to
accompany them? She decided to ask.
"I have
not a single clue, to be honest. All I know is that he, or she, is supposed to
have more experience than any of us. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
He's supposed to show up any minute now..." He said in a cheerful voice,
scratching the back of his head.
Two hours of
waiting later, just before Naruto was about to call the meeting off and search
for the Hokage, he noticed two figures moving towards them from the edge of the
forest. Squinting his eyes, he was able to make their identities, and didn't
like it one bit. Actually, he almost felt furious.
Coming towards
them in a slow pace was one silver-haired and one raven-haired Shinobi. The
first of which wore a mask, and gave the term 'fashionably late' a whole new
meaning.
"Copy
Ninja" Hatake Kakashi together with his prize-student Uchiha Sasuke.
Naruto
definitely didn't like this...
Author's Note:
I'm so evil!
:D
Weee! Another
chapter down! And WOAH! Reviews! I almost peed my pants after opening my
mail-box the day after I released the last chapter and noticed that I had a
humongous amount of reviews in it! The last chapter got more reviews than the
first three chapters together, and that's quite an accomplishment, eh? I even
passed the 100-mark, after only four chapters!! Go me!
Yeah, I know
it's shorter than my usual chapters. I'm sorry for that, but this was only
supposed to be some sort of filler-chapter anyway. Judging by the ending, I'm hoping
you'll understand that there's hopefully gonna be a lot of action next chapter!
Yay!
And yes, yet
again, I'm sorry for the terribly long delay. If anything, I'm gonna blame
school this time... Yeah.. for fucking up my daily rhythm and keeping me busy
with a bunch of annoying stuff.
Everyone in
favour of burning down school, raise their hands.
Also, there is
the question of how strong Naruto is in this fic. Some have been asking me if
he's sannin/kage-level, and I can inform you that he is indeed not. Unless in
an AU-world, or something interesting happening - like Naruto merging with
Kyuubi, I cannot see a 17-year-old Naruto being at Kage-level. Yes, Itachi is
17 and he's at Kage-level, yes, but he was a genius growing up, he had a
head-start. Naruto never was a genius.
In this fic, I
picture him a bit stronger than Kakashi/Kabuto, and of course growing rapidly
strength-wise. Not as weak as he would loose a fight versus one of them, but
not so strong either that he would win without a scratch. I guess you'll find
that out soon, though. :P
Yes, I am
aware that this chapter feels rushed. I had a terribly hard time writing some
of the scenes, actually, and it rubbed off of the quality. I'm sorry about that
too - and I'm gonna blame school here as well.
As usual, I'd
like to thank Erikkoekkoek for being.... well... what he is, I guess... dutch,
annoying, slightly perverted and a damned good beta.
That's pretty
much it, I reckon. On with the review-response! (I love this part :D)
Erikkoekkoek: Yeah, pretty much
about time, me thinks... Well, 8 chapters in 2 weeks? Well, you got 1 chapter
in 4 weeks, but that's just as good, isn't it? :D Thanks for reviewing and
beta-ing and stuff... (asshole :P)
Princess-Tsunade: Woah, there... That's
like a, 3 to 4 pages long review!! YIKES! :D I'm sorry that I don't have time
to go over everything you said, since I'm in quite a hurry, but I believe I
already talked to you about it over icq after I read your review the first
time. Thanks a bunch for reviewing, your reviews are always the best :D I hope
you enjoy this new chapter, too.
Frank
Cadena:
Thanks for the review... but well, Lee is pretty much all over the place
though... He's in the prologue, the second and third chapter, I think... Well,
you got 3 more of the old genins in this chapter! About the SakuNaru idea, yeah
- guess I could've done that... But onesided inonaru is funnier, because Ino's
character is just great to use that way.
Max Knight: Yes, his speed as
increased, but I still think Naruto would be better - not faster, but overall
better. Well, of course Naruto would lose if Lee opened the gates, but that's
not gonna happen in a sparring match, I think.
Kepelus: Sorry about those
mistakes, my beta usually goes over the chapter after I write them, and then I
go over it alone again, but still there seems to be things that slip under our
attention, so to say. Thanks for reviewing!
Darren: Read the Authors note
about your question. Thanks for the compliments!
Hattuteline: Yah, I agree on most
of your points. And I guess the NaruTen isn't concealed, but well, it isn't
supposed to be either :P They're not going to fall head over heels with each
other in just one chapter either, I already got some complications planned over
the next chapter, hehe. Thanks for the compliments and for reviewing! It means
a lot to me!
Peradis: Thanks for the
compliments! Ah, yeah, I believe you should have received my reviews too, and I
love your story. As I said in a review, I normally don't go for fics like that,
but yours is awesome! When is the next update, though? :P I know I shouldn't be
one to whine, since I'm the epitome of laziness, but I'm looking forward to an
update! Yes, you should do an unusual pairing-fic! They're so much fun to
write, you have no idea! Thanks a bunch for reviewing!
Blazer6: At some points, the
sand-siblings will be in this fic, yes. And well, you'll just have to guess
what will happen with Sasuke :P Thanks for the review!
Alden-san: You already got your
ino-dosage, I think. Temari will definitely be in it sooner or later, and I
guess our lazy friend will too. Yeah, I'm sticking to Lee as a comic-relief :P
He's really funny to write, the scenes where he's in is some of my favorites...
Thanks for reviewing!
waat: Thanks for being this
weeks biggest comic relief, and weirdest moron yet. I guess I'll take your
review as a compliment, though, and that death-threat? Hilarious! Actually,
just so you know, I toppled over laughing the moment I read your review, which
delayed the chapter further by a minute or two. Now that your 15-seconds of
fame is over, I wish you all the good things this world has to offer (even a
brain-cell or two, since you seem to be missing out on those...). Thanks for
reviewing!
BloodShinobi: Thanks for reviewing,
mate! Glad you liked it. And yes, unusual pairings are way more satisfying than
most naruhina/saku ones (even though those are great too...).
Calophi: My own personal
stalker! Weee, I always wanted one of those. I guess I really am the lucky one,
eh? Thanks for reviewing!
Xero-ghost: Hehe, no problem :P.
And yes, in some fics, Naruto are overly-powerful, and it's not even fun to
read... I decided that he, unless something really drastic happens (read my
authors note) can't be at kage-level at age seventeen. I'll try to add more area-description
next time, just for you Thanks for reviewing, I appreciate it!
Big thanks
also goes out to One Azn Dragon, element4life, Gopu, skuld's
Sentaru, panuru4u (twice! :D lol, thanks!), SilverMoonlight
(hey, you reviewed twice as well! Thanks!), esanime, ghettomusick23,
writer-golore, lazyboy, crutches, SilverNinjaHikaru,
tenten, trickmaster, HellHound, Shippou-chan, Omnis
Morganis, playgrrrllll, DaemonAvatar, Licht Sieger, AkiaBinZaid,
swt-angel-babi3, Hanyou-Ria, AnGeL70, EfrainMan, davis4ever,
evilmustardman: Thanks for reviewing, all of you!
Well, I'll see
you all (I hope) next time I update! :D Please keep reviewing!!! I LOVE
REVIEWS! :D