ten
Naruto ran across the rooftops of Konoha, feeling as though he was flying. This was his favourite time of day. Early morning, the village hadn’t quite woken up yet, so it was just him, the crisp morning air and the occasional shinobi. He slid down the slope of a roof, leaping to the next with a wide grin on his face.
It had been two years since he had been apprenticed to Gai and his life had started to change for the better. He still didn’t have a great relationship with the village and he was as determined as ever to leave, but he liked the life he had built at present. He didn’t even have to talk to the civilians with the way things were now. Sasuke was still very reluctantly getting his groceries for him, making sure to voice his displeasure at the task every single time, and Naruto pretty much lived on the rooftops at this point. He could barely remember the last time he’d had to walk through the streets themselves without Gai accompanying him.
They hadn’t tried to force a team on him yet either. He was aware he would need one to be allowed to participate in the chunin exams, but Gai had insisted he wait and build his skills first. Naruto wasn’t thrilled about the delay but he knew there were teams that would need an extra body to attend the exams this year. This was going to be his year. He could feel it. He was already pretty much a chunin anyway; he was on exclusively C-rank missions and while he only rarely got to leave the village, it was worlds better than the D-ranks. He knew the village and the surrounding lands like the back of his hand at this point with how many patrols he had done. He had even managed to avoid doing too many D-ranks; he’d had maybe five in the past year and it had been totally worth it. He wasn’t about to let people talk shit about Gai.
It gave him time to work on his kenjutsu. He had started working with his clan’s swords last January and he felt like he had a pretty good handle on them now. He still had a long way to go but they no longer felt wrong in his hands. He’d read that the best swordsman always said their weapon felt like an extension of their arm rather than something they wield in their hand. He had also discovered that the swords were meant to be used as a duo; that was a steep learning curve. Learning to use one was enough of a challenge but he was determined to master this style. He owed to his clan. His taijutsu and physical conditioning had come a long way too but that was no surprise with Gai as a teacher.
Kakashi had given him a couple more ninjutsu but it still wasn’t Naruto’s favourite speciality. He had been trying to talk the jounin into teaching him ninjutsu he could use with his swords. The man had insisted that he learned how to use the swords first. Naruto was forced to agree after he managed to slice open his own leg during practice. His bloodline limit hadn’t evolved very much but Kakashi said that it would grow with him. Naruto knew that his eyes were only as useful as the rest of his skills so he tried not to bother himself about his lack of progress.
Another development over the past year was Sasuke. He had kept up his end of the deal and had taught the Uchiha how to tree-walk. To Naruto’s annoyance, the academy student had picked it up a lot quicker than he had. He felt a little better after showing him water-walking; something about Sasuke looking like a drowned, disgruntled cat was enough to make him smile. He had also managed to learn some things from the Uchiha which he hadn’t expected. The Uchiha taijutsu style was very interesting and very different than what he was learning from Gai.
He hopped off the edge of a building, landing lightly onto the dirt beneath him. Gai had said to meet him at the Hokage’s office and he hoped it was for the reason he was thinking. He was overdue to go to the chunin exams.
Gai hadn’t changed in the slighted in the last year and Naruto liked that about him. He was still in the same outfit, still making dumb poses, still yelling at the top of his lungs about the power of Youth, still challenging himself in the weirdest ways. Naruto honestly thought he was the best jounin-sensei in Konoha. The man still tried to talk Naruto into matching his outfit though and he was not having that. He may adore his teacher, but he could also acknowledge that he was a super fucking weirdo. He says that in the fondest way possible; only he and Kakashi were allowed to say that about Gai too. He will and has fought people that have insulted his teacher’s quirks.
He still hadn’t been able to figure out Gai and Kakashi’s whole rivalry thing. He’d had front row seats to most of their challenges and some of them couldn’t even be qualified as challenges as far as he could see. They were keeping score but the one and only time Naruto had asked what the prize at the end was, he’d gotten two blank looks back. He just decided to leave them to it. It made Gai happy at the very least.
He nodded at the chunin guards as he passed them into the building. The shinobi population have always been a bit more dismissive than outright hostile was some exceptions. Something had changed since he’d graduated the academy though. Instead of the demon brat or little shit or any of the names he had been bestowed over the years, they all just referred to him as Gai’s student. That was a huge improvement in his book.
He took a moment to knock on the Hokage’s door, entering before they had a chance to answer. This was it; he knew it. This was going to be the moment when they would tell him he was going to the chunin exams. He was so ready.
Hiruzen watched Naruto enter and walk up to stand in front of his desk. He really had grown so much since his assignment to Gai.
He had grown at least five to six inches in height and Hiruzen could see him being as tall as Minato one day, even if he still only barely reached Gai’s chest. His blond hair had been cut short on the sides of his head but kept slightly longer on top; he did recall the boy talking about length bothering him the last time he was in for a mission. He had kept the black trousers, sandals and bandages keeping them tied at the bottom on his legs, but his orange sleeveless hoodie had been wrecked on one of his patrols. It was too much to hope the genin would give up on orange altogether. He wore a bright orange t-shirt instead, with a black sleeveless hoodie over it. Bracers covered his forearms and reinforced fingerless gloves already looked worn with use. He had heard of Naruto’s tendency to destroy wooden posts in training exercises. The Uzumaki spiral was displayed prominently between his shoulder blades, hidden beneath the swords strapped across his back.
Blue eyes looked determined back at him. Hiruzen didn’t know if it was easy or difficult to remember the boy was still only eleven. On one hand, he was by far one of the most capable genin in the village; on the other, he still had a habit of pranking people. The threat of D-ranks had deterred the genin but not enough to stop him entirely. It was curbed enough to protect him from more serious repercussions at the very least.
“Naruto-kun, it is nice to see you.”
“Hi, Jiji,” the genin said and Hiruzen could see the expectation in his blue eyes.
He knew exactly what Naruto was expecting from this meeting and he sighed. It was time to let him down gently.
“Naruto-kun, you will not be attending the chunin exams this year either.”
Naruto’s grin feel off his face and Hiruzen could sense him clam up.
“Why?” he asked shortly.
“The exams are being held in Iwa this year,” Hiruzen replied gravely. “I do not think I need to tell you why you should not be attending these exams. No one from Konoha will be going. I am sorry, but you will need to wait until next year.”
He could see Naruto’s fists clench but it could not be helped.
“You know, Jiji, you have never actually told me why I cannot go to Iwa specifically. Is there some special reason?”
Hiruzen shot the boy a sharp look. He understood he was frustrated that he could not earn a promotion for another year but he was treading into territory best left alone. He knew that Naruto knew who his parents were but he also knew the boy would keep it to himself. It was a better kept secret than that of the Kyūbi and Hiruzen had every intention of keeping it that way. Konoha, and Iwa for that matter, were not ready to learn the Yellow Flash had a son. He hadn’t wanted Naruto to know until he was ready but the genin had figured it out at some point.
“That is enough, Naruto,” he scolded. “That is not why I brought you here today.”
He took a deep breath and looked at Gai, the jounin strangely silent during their exchange.
“The new class graduate next week and I wanted to ask you if you would take on a team.”
Gai grinned widely at him.
“Hokage-sama, I already have one wonderfully Youthful genin!” he gestured dramatically to still sulking Naruto. “I could not possible part with him before his journey as a genin reaches its conclusion and my student flourishes in the Springtime of his Youth!”
“I am not asking you to end your apprenticeship,” Hiruzen reassured. “Naruto will remain your apprentice until he passes the chunin exams. You would be taking on a team alongside him.”
“I didn’t think that was allowed,” Naruto spoke up, narrowed eyes boring into Hiruzen.
“Under normal circumstance, it would not,” Hiruzen nodded, leaning back into his chair. “However, you are very advanced for your age and rank, Naruto. You can undertake your patrols and C-ranks alone and I have every confidence in you as an individual operative. You will not leave the village unaccompanied but you can operate within the village limits independently. You will still train with Gai but perhaps not to the same extent.”
“So basically I’m a chunin without the actual rank?”
Hiruzen ignored that to speak directly to Gai.
“I have seen how successful you have been with Naruto and I feel that there are other students in the village that would benefit from your tutelage. Naruto is ready to become a chunin and while it is unfortunate, that cannot happen yet. That does not mean that other genin should lose out on a good teacher.”
The jounin turned to Naruto.
“I will leave it up to you, Naruto-kun!” Gai sent thumbs up to his genin. “You are my student, first and foremost! You are my priority!”
Hiruzen watched Naruto finally melt from the sulky stance he’d taken up since being told about the chunin exams. The genin was still resistant to teamwork and reportedly a bit standoffish on missions but Hiruzen didn’t doubt that he cared about Gai a great deal. On any given day, if someone wanted Naruto to do something Gai needed to be the one to ask.
“I think you should take another team, Gai-sensei,” Naruto finally admitted. “You are the best teacher in Konoha. I think you would like more students. More people to spread the Youth to.”
Hiruzen watched the tears well up in Gai’s eyes and promptly decided he did not want to deal with what was about to occur.
“Thank you, I will put your name down, Gai,” he said quickly. “You may both go.”
Gai grabbed Naruto and pulled him into a bear hug, tears streaming down his face and mumbling about Youth. He walked out of the office with the genin still firmly trapped in his arms. Hiruzen caught sight of Naruto’s look of regret just as the door shut behind them.
Naruto flopped down onto the grass of the training ground, dumping his swords beside him as he let out a dramatic groan. He thought he would never escape. He was pretty sure the jounin had bruised some ribs though they had probably healed by now so he couldn’t prove it. He made a mental note to never mention Youth within earshot of Gai ever again. It was not worth it. He didn’t care how happy it made the man. Never again.
“What are you whining about now?”
Sasuke’s stupid face appeared above him, smirking down at him in a way that Naruto was far too familiar with by now.
“Guess who isn’t going to the chunin exams this year?” He grumbled back, sitting up as Sasuke sat himself down beside him.
“At this rate we’re going to be taking them at the same time,” Sasuke sniped and Naruto sent an unimpressed glare his way. “They say why?”
“It’s in Iwa this year,” Naruto rolled his eyes. “Apparently they still have a bunch of murderous feelings about us left over from the Third War. I personally think it would be an even better test for who makes chunin but stupid Jiji said no one’s going.”
“So you’re stuck doing the same genin shit another year?”
“Yup.”
“Hn.”
“What is ‘hn’ supposed to mean?”
“Hn.”
“Gods, I fucking hate you sometimes.”
Sasuke shoved him over and Naruto let himself fall, staring up at the passing clouds. He and Sasuke had kept to their arrangement that they’d made over a year ago now. They met up once a week to train and for Naruto receive his groceries. He would never admit it out loud but he had sort of come to maybe not hate these meet-ups with Sasuke. The Uchiha gave as good as he got. He also didn’t slow Naruto down; he actually picked up techniques stupidly fast. It was very annoying.
He had miraculously managed to stop Gai and Kakashi from finding out too. It had been tricky, especially in the beginning, but he had settled into a routine with it. He knew it wasn’t as big a deal as he was making it out to be but after this long it had become a point of pride. Gai would have been thrilled but Kakashi wouldn’t shut up about it if he knew. It was just easier for no one to know. Sasuke was even more eager than him to keep it secret. The great Uchiha could not be found to be training with a mere genin after all; least of all the village pariah.
Saying that, they’d found themselves training outside of the agreed weekly schedule. There was an unspoken rule that that neither of them could acknowledge that they were hanging outside of the designated training times and Naruto was not about to lose that game. It would ruin what they had going for them; a half decent training partner that they could be an ass to without any real backlash. Naruto didn’t want to give that up. This didn’t mean they were friends; Sasuke was just slightly more tolerable than other people his age.
“So are you just going to mope or are we going to do something today?”
Naruto sighed heavily.
“Maybe I will just mope,” he sniped back, putting his hands behind his head in a show of getting comfortable. “It’s hard work being a shinobi. You academy students wouldn’t understand.”
He closed his eyes, waiting for Sasuke to make his move. He heard the other boy move away in silence but Naruto didn’t dare open an eye. He could not show weakness. It wasn’t until he felt the warmth over his skin that he realised what Sasuke was doing.
“What the fuck, you fucking asshole! Why are you shooting your katon techniques at me?”
“Hn,” Sasuke replied with a smirk, knowing that he’d won this round.
“Oh, you asked for it,” Naruto snarled, drawing his swords and stalking towards the Uchiha.
If Sasuke wanted to train, Naruto would train. If the Uchiha got slightly maimed, then that was his problem. He started it. Naruto was not having fun. He was not.
Naruto reluctantly dragged his feet to the academy building. He had no idea why this was classified as a C-rank; he personally called bullshit. He didn’t see how hauling all the supplies for the graduation exam next week to the building warranted the rank. He secretly thought that Jiji was doing it to punish him for something but he couldn’t think of anything he’d done lately.
“It’s you!”
Naruto groaned. It was never a good thing when people recognised him. He walked a bit quicker, hoping they would just give up. It worked on the drunk ones.
“Wait! Please!”
Naruto tightened his grip on the new target boards. This is why he stuck to the rooftops. No one bothered him on the rooftops. He turned slowly to see a tall boy bouncing towards him…smiling? That was ominous.
“I have being trying to find you,” the boy beamed as he stopped into front of Naruto.
He was tall, with round, dark eyes and black hair tied back in a braid. Something nudged at the back of Naruto’s mind but he ignored it.
“Look, whatever you think I did, I didn’t,” Naruto rolled his eyes. “So you are just going to have to get over whatever it is and leave me alone…”
“No! I wanted to thank you!” The boy insisted, his large round eyes far more earnest than Naruto was comfortable with.
“Thank me for what?” Naruto placed the boards on his hip, confused. He didn’t remember this guy.
“You are the one who inspired me to work my hardest for the exam!” The boy’s eyes sparkled and he leaned forward. Naruto leaned away. “I have done nothing but work on my taijutsu since we last met and I have every confidence I am going to pass the exam this week! I owe it all to you!”
Naruto racked his brain. When had he done that? He didn’t even like talking to people his age, never mind ‘inspiring’ anyone. The only person he even spoke to was Sasuke and there was nothing inspiring about that; he was more likely to call the other boy an ass and call it a day.
“What?” He couldn’t help but ask.
The boy’s smile dimmed a bit.
“You don’t remember me?”
Naruto squinted at him. Had he met this guy before? He was pretty sure he would remember someone with eyebrows like that. They looked just like Gai’s. The academy student looked back him with disappointment and Naruto frowned. He was more than familiar with that expression; he didn’t think it was fair that he didn’t know what he’d done to cause it though.
“No,” he said shortly, raising an eyebrow.
The boy shook his head, forcing a smile back onto his face.
“No matter! I did not introduce myself the last we met! The fault is mine!” The boy bowed low. “I am Rock Lee! I cannot use chakra and so I feared I would fail the final exam, but I met you and you told me to stop limiting myself and to try my best regardless of my situation. That was me holding myself back, not my lack of chakra!”
Naruto blinked. That didn’t sound like something he would say. That sounded more like Gai.
“Cool, good for you,” Naruto hefted the target boards into a firmer grip. “Sounds like I gave some good advice. Now if you’re done, I’ve got to get this done so…bye.”
Naruto turned and waved a hand to the boy behind him. That was weird. He was definitely sure he would never say something like Lee was describing; maybe the academy student had confused him for someone else? But that didn’t make much sense considering he didn’t look like anyone in the village. The bright blond hair, the whisker marks on his cheeks and the orange usually gave him away.
He stopped and sighed. This was Gai’s bad influence, he knew it was.
“Hey, if you’re serious about taijutsu you should lose the braid. It’s a massive weakness; anyone could grab it and use it against you,” he called behind him.
He didn’t turn to look, cursing Gai in his head. He would never have said that before he was apprenticed to Gai. He had been more than happy keeping to himself, avoiding people and telling them to go fuck themselves. His teacher was a terrible influence. He made a mental note to avoid this Rock Lee in the future; he didn’t need the hassle.
Genma downed the cup of coffee the minute it was placed on the table in front of him. He hated night shift. He hated the adjustment back to daytime hours even more. Raidou had kicked him out of the flat, stating that the fresh air would do him some good. Genma knew that was code for ‘you are being insufferable and I need a break from you’. He couldn’t hold it against the older man; he was insufferable after night shift.
Ebisu sat stiffly across from him, eyeing him with disapproval.
“You are a shinobi of Konoha, Genma. Have some sense of decorum.”
Genma just groaned, dropping his head onto the table. He should have just cancelled; he didn’t know if he had the energy of meeting up with his old genin team today. Gai was due any moment and he already had a headache building up behind his eyes. Maybe he should pull a Kakashi and just find a tree somewhere.
It had just taken ages to get the two back on speaking terms. Ebisu was stubborn in his dislike of Naruto and Gai wouldn’t hear of anything negative about his student. It had made for a stressful few months for Genma who had to mediate between the pair. Choza-sensei had refused to get involved, stating that his involvement in their team drama ended when they became chunins. Genma thought the man was being a coward but he couldn’t blame the Clan Head; Gai could be scary when he wasn’t his normal, happy self.
“My fellow team, what a most wonderful morning!”
Genma groaned louder, failing in his attempt to sink into the wooden table. He loved the guy, he really did after knowing him for so long, but he was so tired. He’d never seen Gai tired; he wouldn’t understand the pain of the normal folk.
“You are usually the first to arrive, Gai,” Ebisu raised an eyebrow.
“Ah, yes!” Gai boomed, his laughter carrying all the way down the street. “My beloved student mastered a most challenging kata in his kenjutsu today! He is a most wondrous example of Youth and I shall strive to keep up with his shining example!”
Ebisu’s face soured and Genma kicked him beneath the table. He did not make that much of an effort for Ebisu to screw this up. The man should be able to keep his mouth shut at least for a little while. He didn’t even get his problem with Naruto; Genma thought the kid was pretty good. He had never really cared about the whole Kyūbi thing. He trusted Minato-sama’s work and he knew most jounin his age did too. The kid was a bit grumpy and crass, but he cared about Gai. That was enough for Genma.
“That’s great Gai,” Genma yawned. “Hey, can you get me, like, three more coffees?”
“That much caffeine is terrible for you!” Gai turned to dramatically point at him. “Your vitality and Youth is enough to keep your spirits up!”
Genma just stared at him for a long moment.
“That’s just you, Gai-sensei.”
The three of them turned in unison towards the voice. Naruto stood nearby, arms crossed with a playful smirk on his face. It looked identical to Kushina’s; now that was a bit of a wake-up call. He’d grown a few inches since Genma had last seen him. He’s shaved the sides of his head and added a couple of swords to his back. He looked good, stronger, less…angry than when he’d barged into the Jounin Standby station.
He saw Ebisu’s shoulders rise in irritation and cut in before the uptight man could say something stupid.
“Thank the gods someone said it,” he grinned at the genin. “I think Gai is the only one who doesn’t appreciate the miracle of caffeine.”
Naruto looked back at him warily but he lacked the outright hostility from before. Gai had really made a big difference with him. Genma was glad to see it. Konoha hadn’t been there for the kid, but he hoped the genin was starting to see that they weren’t against him. The jounin and chunin weren’t anyway.
“Yeah, but can you imagine Gai on caffeine?” Naruto pointed out and Genma felt a level of horror he’d only experienced during the war.
“Gai, promise me you will never drink coffee,” Genma shot up from his seat and grabbed Gai’s shoulders, shaking him dramatically. “Gai, you have to promise me! PROMISE!”
Gai just laughed boisterously and Genma felt his panic start to rise even higher. That wasn’t an answer; that wasn’t an answer!
“Anyway, Gai-sensei I just came to say I can’t make the training tonight,” Naruto shrugged, as if he hasn’t just suggested an idea that will haunt Genma’s dreams at least for the next month. “They have me setting up the shit for the academy exams tomorrow. I have tried to get out of it but Jiji ain’t budging.”
“That is excellent, Naruto-kun,” Gai threw an enthusiastic thumbs up at his genin. “You will be aiding in the blooming of the next generation’s Springtime of Youth!”
“That’s one way to put it,” Naruto huffed, rolling his eyes. “I would call it the dumbest task ever. I’ll see you at lunchtime tomorrow at the usual training ground. Tell Kakashi to bring some better jutsu than last time.”
Naruto turned and starting walking down the street, waving lazily over his shoulder. Genma let go of Gai, slowly sitting back onto the bench.
Well, at least he was awake now.