fifteen
Naruto panted as his arms burned, sweat dripping into his eyes.
“Do not drop your arm,” Hayate ordered from the side. “A swordsman cannot afford to lower their weapon. It leaves an opening for your opponent and projects weakness. You must maintain your form, no matter the exhaustion or potential injuries.”
Naruto gritted his teeth and nodded, gripping the hilt tighter.
“Discipline is the most important thing for a swordsman to master,” he continued to lecture, occasionally turning his head to cough into his shoulder. “Form, technique, speed, power will all come with time but are useless without discipline. Run through the first set of katas.”
Naruto moved, swinging his sword in purposeful strokes, slicing the training dummy in front of him. He ran through the combinations in his head, the sword and the dummy becoming his whole world for a few minutes. He felt a whack on his shoulder and glanced at Hayate as he finished the last one. The tokubetsu jounin swung his wooden sword idly.
“You must focus but you can’t lose your awareness of your surroundings. The sword should feel like an extension of your arm; you would need not need this much focus for controlling a limb.”
Naruto huffed. Right now the sword felt like a massive weight had been strapped onto his wrist. He didn’t dare voice his thoughts; it was hard-going but effective. He could feel the improvement after every training session and the last thing he wanted to do is appear ungrateful. He’d asked for the training in the first place so even if it was gruelling, he just had to suck it up. Hayate watched him for a long moment before he relaxed.
“You can stop for the day.”
Naruto slumped to the ground, panting heavily. He just managed to stop the sword bouncing off the ground. The last time he did that, Hayate had gone on to spend three hours talking about sword care and maintenance and the consequences of not doing it properly. All helpful information but Naruto wasn’t one for lectures.
“You’re doing well,” Hayate smiled at him. “I think you’re ready to try dual wielding next time.”
Naruto nodded, lacking the breath to respond verbally. He really needed to take a look at his physical conditioning; it evidently wasn’t enough. He had thought that it would be similar to taijutsu but kenjutsu was an entirely different story. There were so many things he had to think about and be aware of but he loved it. There was a sort of peace when his mind was so overwhelmed he had no choice but to focus.
Hayate was an interesting teacher. In general, he was pretty subdued; Naruto would even go so far as to say he was gentle by nature. He was calm, composed and Naruto couldn’t help but respond in kind. It was very different to Gai-sensei or Kakashi. He did censor himself more than he would with them but he didn’t feel weird about it. Things were straightforward and while Hayate was quiet, he was not soft. He was an unrelenting teacher and demanded perfection from Naruto. He knew that it was a strict discipline anyway and that it could take years to properly master kenjutsu, but there was nothing patronising or negative about the way Hayate critiqued him. It was all constructive and matter-of-fact and Naruto appreciated that.
“What did you do to the poor kid today?”
They looked over to see Yugao making their way towards them, looking to Naruto with an amused grin. Her long purple hung past her shoulders and she wore a simple black sweater. Her warm brown eyes looked at Naruto with sympathetic understanding.
“He is an absolute taskmaster,” she continued, crouching in front of him. “He was this bad when he taught me too and the worst part is none of our friends would believe it.”
“You make it sound way worse than it is,” Hayate defended himself but the moment Yugao had arrived, he’d melted. They were so gone for each other and while that wasn’t Naruto’s thing it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to put up with.
“I asked for the training,” he said, finally getting his breath back. “I would be more annoyed if he took it easy on me.”
Yugao ruffled his hair gently as he stood and he shook her off, glaring half-heartedly.
“You’ve got a good student,” she smiled over at the jounin.
“I do.”
Naruto wasn’t sure how to respond to the blunt praise so he busied himself with wiping his sword down, coating it in a thin coat of oil before returning it to its sheath. He was supposed to work on taijutsu next but he was fucking knackered. He might just inhale ten bowls of ramen and have a nap.
“Is next Thursday okay for you?” Hayate walked over to them.
“Yeah,” Naruto confirmed, running over his plans for the next few days. “I shouldn’t be on a mission then.”
Hayate nodded as he settled next to Yugao, the backs of their hands brushing gently. Naruto rolled his eyes; that was his cue to go. He liked the pair and they had a sense of serenity about them that he didn’t get from any of his other teachers but he had his limits. He remembered seeing them share a kiss before and the discomfort at the sight still haunted him.
“Thanks, Hayate-sensei,” he called out, turning to leave.
“Good work today.”
Naruto smiled to himself as he left the training field. He really did like them but that was something he kept to himself; couldn’t have people thinking he was going soft.
Neji entered the training grounds, hoping he finally had each distance that he could escape the prying eyes of the rest of his clan. He was limited in what he could train while in the compound and if he was ever going to get strong enough to keep his promises, then he had to train skills that the clan would not approve of. He’d picked the training ground furthest from the village itself; most never bothered to come out this far so it was usually deserted.
He spotted the orange eye-sore almost immediately. He frowned as blue eyes turned to meet his and a matching scowl appeared on Naruto’s face.
“What are you doing here?” Naruto glared. “Don’t the Hyūga have some super fancy training grounds you can use?”
“They do,” Neji said stiffly. “I cannot use them for what I intend to train.”
Naruto considered his words, realisation creeping into his gaze.
“You’re totally rebelling against your clan.”
“I am taking the opportunity to explore all training available to me,” Neji replied coolly. “It is no fault of mine that some of those options are not offered by the Hyūga clan.”
“That’s a bunch of fancy talk for saying yes,” Naruto grinned sharply. “Good for you; fuck the system.”
Neji rolled his eyes. The other boy was crude, which Neji would not normally appreciate, but there was something about the way Naruto approached things. He called Neji out on things that no one else would dare. His clan did not particularly care to dig any deeper and his peers were often intimidated by him. It was almost…refreshing, the way Naruto got to the heart of the matter with only a few select words. He had not seen the blond around since the argument with Tenten. It had not impacted Neji in any way but he had noticed it.
“How long do you intend to avoid my teammates?”
Naruto’s grin dropped and he returned to scowling.
“What’s it to you?”
“You are a common topic of discussion,” Neji replied, letting the distaste colour his tone. “I wish for them to drop it and move on but they have got into their heads that they would like to befriend you.”
“And you don’t?”
Neji blinked at the question. He could admit to himself that Naruto understood him in a way no one else had been able to. Lee and Tenten considered Neji to be their friend but he was not sure he reciprocated in the way that they wanted. He did appreciate them as his teammates and they worked well together. They had their problems; Tenten was hesitant to speak up when she had alternative ideas to his own and Lee constantly wished to fight him to prove some sort of point. He personally thought that Lee beating him in a fight was improbable but it would have very little impact on Lee’s future as a shinobi in the long run.
“I do not believe in wasting my time chasing people who do not want to be caught,” he answered. “I have never been one for friends as it is.”
Naruto raised an eyebrow but his scowl vanished, replaced with a considering look. Neji could admit to himself that Naruto had a profound impact on his future as a shinobi and there would always be a part of him that felt connected to the blond, but he was also not about to turn into his teammates and mope when someone did not reciprocate. Neji had been alone for a long time and he was perfectly content that way.
“Good,” Naruto nodded. “I don’t do whatever your teammates are after.”
There was a small voice in the back of his head pointing out that Naruto had been avoiding Tenten and Lee, not Neji, but he ignored it.
“Shall I pass on the fruitless nature of this endeavour to my team?”
“Why do you gotta talk like someone stuck a manners book up your ass?” Naruto crossed his arms. “Talk like a real person.”
“The Hyūga are a great and noble clan. Members must uphold the utmost decorum and etiquette as representatives of this legacy,” Neji replied, almost verbatim to the teachers he had when he was younger. “It would be a difficult habit to break considering it had been drilled into me since birth.”
“Well, you’re already rebelling against them,” Naruto grinned wickedly. “What’s one more thing? Come on, swear or something.”
Neji lifted one delicate brow. Naruto had brightened up considerably and walked closer to him. Blue eyes shined at him eagerly.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You saying you can’t?”
Neji narrowed his eyes at the blond.
“I most certainly can, you ass.”
Naruto laughed and Neji blinked at the openness of it. There was no underlying mischief or smugness or whatever Naruto usually did when talking to people. It was unguarded and unexpected.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Naruto smiled widely at him. “The Hyūga ain’t gonna see what’s coming.”
“You seem to be enjoying this,” he remarked.
“Any chance to stick it to the fuckers in charge,” Naruto smirked. “Now, how would the great and mighty Hyūga clan feel about their members learning ninjutsu?”
Neji immediately thought back to his clan jutsu instructors. There was a firm, if arrogant, belief that all the Hyūga could ever need was their clan techniques. The Byakugan was a great weapon and married perfectly with the style of taijutsu his clan employed. Neji himself had never seen any reason to look elsewhere for his fighting repertoire but a part of him had wondered that if he had another card to play against Naruto that the outcome of the fight could have been very different.
If any members of the main branch found out, it would not end well. The Hyūga were very strict about the purity of their fighting style. Neji had never heard of any Hyūga using anything other than the clan techniques. He would have to be careful not use it around his clan members but out on missions, there would be nothing to hide. He had promised himself to become strong and he could not do that if he limited himself to the narrow views of his clan.
“They would greatly disapprove,” Neji said, a smile creeping onto his own face. “It would be most unbecoming for a member of the clan to use ninjutsu.”
He could see the delight in Naruto’s eyes at the prospect of chaos. Neji was not sure why he was agreeing to this or why he felt more at ease with the abrasive blond than he did his own teammates; perhaps it was the absence of any expectations. He decided not to think about it. He had more immediate concerns.
“I have so much I can teach you,” Naruto clapped his hands together. “This is going to be good. I can’t wait to see their stupid faces.”
Neji had a feeling Naruto was up to more than teaching Neji some jutsu. He had heard of the blond’s pranking tendencies and vehement hatred of any and all authority and had an inkling that the Hyūga were in for a lot worse than one rebelling genin. He could not bring himself to care.
“You can’t tell your teammates about this though,” Naruto added. “I can put up with you because you’re an asshole but I ain’t dealing with those bleeding hearts.”
Neji frowned but let it go. He knew that he would probably be hearing a lot worse if he was going to be hanging around Naruto on a semi-regular basis.
“This is only for the purpose of training and defying the Hyūga clan,” Neji replied. “Nothing more; there is no reason for them to know.”
This was not what he had expected for today but Neji refused to lose such an opportunity. He had vowed to become strong and if that meant leaving some of the traditions and etiquette of his clan behind, he would do it. He would not let anything hold him back.
Naruto closed his eyes as he savoured the beautiful broth on his tongue. He inhaled deeply, the wonderful scent of delicious ramen taking over his senses for a blissful few seconds. The warmth of the gentle steam caressed his face and he smiled. He loved ramen. Everything was better with ramen. He opened his eyes as the flap to the Ichiraku stall was pushed to the side and the familiar voice of his teacher made its way to him.
“Naruto-kun!” Gai-sensei grinned.
“Hi, Gai-sensei,” Naruto replied before he turned his attention back to his bowl.
“May I have the heartiest bowl of beef ramen, Teuchi!”
The ramen chef smiled fondly.
“Of course, Gai,” he nodded, motioning to his daughter to start the order. “How are you today?”
“I am having the most Youthful day!” Gai laughed. “A bowl of your ramen will only improve it further!”
Naruto knew that Gai didn’t like ramen as much as he did but he appreciated the effort. In fairness, no one liked ramen as much as Naruto did. He’d never complained once though in the almost three years of apprenticeship when Naruto wanted to eat here. He knew other people got sick of it after a while, although he couldn’t fathom why, but Gai-sensei always came with him when he could. He would miss that when he got a new jounin-sensei.
“Coming right up,” Teuchi tapped the bench and went to help Ayame.
Naruto continued slurping up the heavenly noodles. This was the first time he’d seen Gai-sensei since the verdict was passed down by the Hokage. He didn’t know what he was about to say. He had faith in Gai-sensei but small, hurt part of him thought his teacher might be grateful to be rid of him. He’d be able focus on his real team then.
“I am sorry, Naruto-kun.”
Naruto coughed in surprise, noodles catching in his throat. He clamped a hand over mouth as he struggled to swallow, grabbing a glass of water and gulping it greedily. A large hand slapped his back strongly in an attempt to help and he lost the breath he’d just managed to get back.
“Are you okay, Naruto-kun?” Gai-sensei asked frantically, standing and hovering over him. “Shall I call a medic?”
“I’m fine, Gai-sensei,” he said hoarsely. “What do you have to be sorry for?”
“I have failed you as a teacher,” Gai-sensei announced dramatically but Naruto could hear the sincerity behind his words. “I have not been able to nurture you to chunin and I have been deemed a lacking jounin-sensei by Hokage-sama!”
Naruto shook his head, unable to help his amusement. Of course Gai-sensei would take the news as if there was something wrong with him and not Naruto. The man couldn’t think the worst of him even if Naruto burned down the village. He would probably cry about the brightness of Naruto’s Will of Fire.
“It’s not you, Gai-sensei,” he swirled the noodles around the bowl. “The Hokage just showed his true colours, is all. He’s just like everyone else.”
“Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama is trying to do his best by you…”
Gai-sensei didn’t say it with as much conviction as he used to. Naruto knew there was an almost pathological need in every shinobi to defend and honour the Hokage; it came from being a military state. He didn’t hold it against Gai-sensei, especially since he knew his jounin-sensei tried to see the best in everyone anyway.
“I’m the Kyūbi container,” he said bluntly, uncaring of anyone listening in. It was the worst kept secret in Konoha. “If there is a chance to screw me over, people always take it.”
There was a moment of uncharacteristic silence and Naruto worried for a moment that he had finally broken Gai-sensei.
“Naruto-kun, you are the most hardworking, earnest pupil I have had the privilege of teaching,” Gai-sensei said, his dark eyes serious. “You are honest and direct and you do not compromise who you are for anyone. My only wish is that you know how brightly you shine and how much others look up to you; that you may open your eyes to the positivity around you instead of only seeing the negative. You have so much to offer, Naruto-kun; you are only in the dawn of your Springtime of Youth.”
A lump rose in Naruto’s throat and he looked away from his jounin-sensei. He couldn’t listen to this. He wasn’t any of those things.
“I’m not who you think I am,” he blurted out, the truth pouring out of him. “I hate this place. I hate their stupid festivals and markets and their stupid, judgemental looks. I hate that no matter what I do, no matter how helpful I am, no matter how much I avoid them, that the village will always hate me right back. I hate that even with the few people who I can tolerate that I feel like tearing down this village with my bare hands. I want to leave Konoha, Gai-sensei, and never look back.”
Just because he was learning from Kakashi and Hayate, training with Sasuke and Neji didn’t mean his original goals had faded. He was grateful to them and he put the effort in, but he knew in his heart if he was given half a chance he would abandon them all without a second thought. He wasn’t proud of it but he couldn’t be stuck here. He couldn’t give up his chance at a life of freedom for anyone. He’d told Gai about this before but he had never been sure that the man had understood. He knew he could be burning this bridge but he couldn’t have Gai-sensei thinking he was this great, loyal genin he boasted about. He owed Gai-sensei the truth before they went their separate ways.
“Naruto, I have always known about your goals and I respect your decision,” Gai-sensei beamed, placing a warm hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “My goal was to make you feel as if you could stay if you wished to. I apologise for falling short.”
Gai-sensei was impossible. Naruto would miss him.
“Your ramen, Gai-san.”
The moment was interrupted by the arrival of Gai-sensei’s beef ramen and Naruto took it as the reprieve it was. This was too much right now. It had been great being Gai-sensei’s student but he had to move forward. He would be leaving this village one day and that included leaving Gai-sensei. He just had to think of it as leaving the man a little earlier than planned.
“Thank you, Teuchi-san!” Gai-sensei’s smile sparkled. “I look forward to cherishing your wonderful meals for as long as I can!”
Naruto didn’t miss the look his jounin-sensei threw his way.
Naruto loitered outside of the doors of the Mission Assignment Desk, trying to put off the inevitable. The Rinne Festival was coming up and that meant dozens of D-rank missions would be coming up; Naruto hated this time of year. He had been stuck with setting up the decorations every year since graduation and none of his old tricks of getting out of it were going to work. Last year, he’d purposely dumped them in all the wrong places in terrible condition and it just lead to him being forced to remake them all. It took three days and he hadn’t even gotten D-rank pay for it.
The Rinne Festival also signified the end of the year and the academy graduations would be in three weeks. Sasuke hadn’t stopped talking about it for ages and Naruto was sure that if Sasuke could murder his classmates and get away with it, he wouldn’t hesitate. He’d heard some horror stories, particularly about the so-called ‘fangirls’ and it just made Naruto grateful that he’d graduated ages ago. He couldn’t imagine sitting in a classroom and tolerating that bullshit again. He’d recommended that Sasuke beat the shit out of them during taijutsu practice; the Uchiha hadn’t taken him up on as far as he’d heard.
He was ignoring the fact he would be forced onto a genin team. He had shit to do and thinking about it wouldn’t change anything. He still trained with Gai-sensei a few times a week but he’d seen his jounin-sensei a lot less in recent weeks. It was mainly Naruto’s doing since he figured it would be easier if there was some distance already established but it also hurt, knowing that those days were numbered. He could shove the misery to the back of his mind if he avoided Gai-sensei; out of sight, out of mind.
Gai-sensei had been busy with his own genin team anyway. They had started on C-ranks last month and it had made it that much easier to avoid them. It had been over two months since the incident in the trainings grounds and while the anger had long faded, Naruto was nothing if not stubborn.
He did train ninjutsu with Neji occasionally but that wasn’t friendly, that was purely to stick it to the Hyūga clan. They always walked around the village like that had a silver spoon stuck up their ass; like they were better than everyone else because they happened to be born with some fancy eyes. Naruto and Sasuke were also born with some cool bloodline limits, the Hyūga weren’t as special as they wanted to think they were. It was well known how much they prided themselves on using only clan techniques so teaching Neji how to throw around huge ass fireballs gave Naruto a spark of joy he only felt when pranking civilians. It had nothing to do with Neji himself. They did sort of get along by the fact they knew that they were there to get shit done, not be ‘best buds’, so Naruto tolerated him. He hadn’t seen Tenten or Lee though and he had no desire to seek them out.
“Naruto-senpai?”
He closed his eyes. Why had God forsaken him? What had he done? Surely he’d been punished enough for a lifetime, why would this happen to him? He hadn’t physically maimed anyone recently and he was nice to animals; was that not enough to be granted just the tiniest bit of good karma?
“Naruto-kun!”
He opened his eyes and looked flatly back at Gai-sensei. He didn’t look at the flock of genin around him.
“Gai-sensei.”
“Here for the festival missions?” the man asked cheerfully.
“Against my will,” Naruto confirmed.
“What’s so wrong with helping out with the festival?”
Naruto looked at Tenten, raising an eyebrow. He held the look long enough for her to become uncomfortable. She hadn’t changed much from when he’d last seen her in the training grounds. He knew that he was being a bit dramatic now with his avoidance of them but it was just easier. He didn’t actually hold anything in particular against Tenten; her view on his strength didn’t actually matter. He was pretty sure she still couldn’t hit him with a kunai, but whether it was from lack of skill or backbone didn’t really concern him anymore.
He didn’t get the chance to answer before Lee cut in.
“It is an honour to be able to contribute to such an auspicious event!” He grinned, his smile a pale imitation of Gai-sensei’s. “We should be honoured that we can help the village celebrate and allow the Will of Fire to burn brighter than ever!”
Naruto took the other boy in, scanning the green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers and dumb bowl cut. He was the spitting image of Gai-sensei. He had predicted it a while back but the boy had taken it even further than Naruto had thought. A spark of anger flared his chest at the sight, although he couldn’t pinpoint why.
“If you say so, knock-off,” he answered dismissively.
Wasn’t it enough they got to keep Gai-sensei? They didn’t even realise how lucky they were and Lee didn’t even have the decency to have an original thought. He didn’t deserve Gai-sensei; he could copy any other jounin in this dumb village. Gai-sensei deserved better than some knock-off that was too busy trying to crawl up his ass than become a good shinobi. Neji was decent and Tenten was questionable but at least they relied on their own strengths. They didn’t try to copy someone they could never measure up to in any reality.
He knew his feelings for the boy were evident on his face but he wasn’t going to be Gai-sensei’s student anymore. He had no obligation to be nice to this moron. Gai-sensei would be delighted to have a carbon copy but his teacher wouldn’t be tricked into favouring Lee like that. Naruto knew Gai-sensei better than that.
“Naruto…” Tenten began but she stopped short at the glare he sent her way.
Maybe he was wrong about the anger having long faded; the longer he was around them, the more the urge to snap Lee’s neck crept up on him.
“Naruto-senpai, we heard you are being placed on a team of your own! They shall be most fortunate to gain someone with your experience!” Lee grinned and Naruto clenched his teeth.
There was no way he didn’t know what he was doing. He just had to fucking rub it in Naruto’s face that he lost Gai-sensei and they had him all to themselves. Gai-sensei had been the first person to meet him where he was at and see him for who he was. He liked Naruto as a person, even when Naruto knew he was being a shit. He even accepted Naruto’s ambitions even though they went against his own. Gai-sensei always saw the best in him and he knew his new jounin-sensei would be different. He would never have what he had with Gai-sensei and this asshole wanted to flaunt it?
“Go fuck yourself,” he snapped. He was too wrapped up in his fury to notice Gai-sensei’s disapproving look. “I’ll shove those leg warmers up your ass.”
“Naruto-kun, that’s enough.”
He took a step back at Gai-sensei’s words. It wasn’t fair; he was pretty used to being punished for shit that wasn’t his fault but this felt like the worst so far. He would not stand for Lee rubbing his face in it, not even to avoid disappointing Gai-sensei.
“I’m done with him anyway,” he spat.
He turned away from the quiet team and stomped through the doors, swiping the first scroll held out to him and diving out the first window he saw. He hadn’t been this angry in a long time. He crumpled the scroll in his hands at the thought of losing Gai-sensei to that fucker. He could imitate Gai-sensei as much as he wanted, it didn’t mean he would have even a fraction of the man’s skill. The kid couldn’t even beat Naruto.
Naruto steeled his resolve; he vowed that no matter what idiots he got stuck with on his new team he was going to make damn sure he could still wipe the floor with Team 9 on any given day of the week. He would show them that no matter how long they stayed with Gai-sensei, Naruto would be the best damn pupil the man would ever train.