423 replies to this topic

[Paradox Jast]

dude, if you're trying to make us drool... congratulations. I need to go get a drool bucket.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

It's definitely Shodai with the Mokuton. The Nidaime's famous for his water techniques if I recall correctly, and now, also the Impure Resurrection that Kabuto's doing.
I'm hoping to read your new fanfic too.

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 01 March 2011 - 02:14 AM.

[uzumakinaruko]

Well, good to see you're still alive, but sad that we must wait for more chapters of Training, especially considering you already have them written. Please post some before I die! Thank you.

BTW, could you at least post the chapters where the Hyuuga Matriarch gets what's coming to her? Please? I want to see at least that before I die!

Edited by uzumakinaruko, 04 April 2011 - 11:36 PM.

[uzumakinaruko]

It's been 5 months...anything new, Omni?

[desaix]

Nothing I can talk about, really. I'm doing some work on my original serial short story publishing idea, but nothing you can see yet even in that.

[desaix]

No news on Training to share, but I do have something people here might be interested in.

A while back, I mentioned that I'd started another Naruto fic (which I haven't been posting), a part 1 rewrite. Still working on that one... but I wanted to change several things about it:
1. I REALLY wanted to reduce the role I had given Gai.
2. I felt I was pushing too many Part-2 biases on Part-1 characters, and needed to tweak them.
3. I had this subplot in mind, with Tenten having been another surviving experiment of Orochimaru's (recieving Uzumaki Mito's DNA in the same way Yamato recieved the 1sts DNA), that really didn't fit in with everything else I was doing. I still think it's a neat concept, but I was starting to realize that it really didn't change much about the Narutoverse at this point in the storyline, other than making Tenten better at fuuinjutsu. Which I can do without implanting her with Uzumaki DNA, anyway....
4. I wanted Kakashi to be unavailable when the Bell Test was supposed to be given, necessitating a substitute. I felt the reason I gave for him to be unavailable was amusing, but too weak. I also decided to change who the substitute was (part of the whole 'reduce the role given to Gai' thing). I also wanted to move Sasuke to a different team, but I felt I was (in that 'part 2 biases on part 1 characters' flaw) being unfair to Sasuke (and Neji, because Neji got involved, too, since Gai was involving his team in the test). So I changed the teams from the get-go, instead of having the team be broken up after the Bell-test equivalent and first mission.
5. The Bell Test equivalent went on WAY too long. I'd say a good 60% of what I'd written was all in that part of the story, which was ridiculous.

So, I scrapped what I'd written and started over. I intend to cannibalize from the portion I've already written, where I can, but there is a LOT of written text (Microsoft Word says I was 70,000+ words in before I started over) where that won't be possible. Some of it, I'm just going to throw out completely. Some of it, as mentioned, will be cannabilized into the new version. The rest, though... well, since I really don't want to start ANOTHER fanfic, I figured I could toss it out here and see if anyone wants to include it in their own fic. So... here goes:

Prolog --Click here to view--

10 Years Ago:

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure (back in office after an all-too-short retirement), stared sadly at the seal on the door he was about to enter. His most promising student -- revealed only days before to be a traitor -- had put his signature on many, many sealed laboratories around Konoha. Most of the ones he knew about were conducting proper, council-approved research, and this one was no exception, but they still all needed to be searched.

It was a job which normally would be delegated to someone below him, either to Anbu or the Military Police. Normally, however, at least one of the ANBU or the Military Police would be trustworthy, which simply wasn't the case any more. ANBU was being run by Danzo, who was an old friend and rival that had grown into a power-mad war hawk. Hiruzen believed that Danzo truly loved the village, and valued their friendship, but his "the ends justify the means" beliefs were constantly a source of trust issues between them. It would be a disaster if Danzo obtained Orochimaru's research, as he likely would be tempted (perhaps more than tempted) to continue the research in underhanded ways.As far as the Military Police were concerned... well, to say he suspected that the clan that ran the Military Police, the Uchiha, might have had something to do with the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife would be an understatement. It might have been true, but the remedy his council, led by Danzo, suggested -- the genocide of the Uchiha -- was both unworkable and unthinkable; hopefully, they could come to some sort of accomodation before things got that desperate.

Danzo might not be as serious a problem much longer. He was due to be "promoted" onto the council, soon, which would force him to retire from being the head of all of ANBU... though there was still the matter of Root to deal with. Root was Danzo's own little black op project -- one the Fourth Hokage had ordered disbanded after the war with Iwagakure ended -- but that merely sent it underground. Hiruzen had a scrying crystal which told him that Root was still active, and still training (using practices he felt were absolutely detestable), but he lacked sufficient evidence to call Danzo out on it and denounce him before the council. Regardless, once Danzo was no longer the formal head of ANBU, Hiruzen would be able to resume control over it and could -- eventually -- trust it again.

But Danzo still was the head of ANBU, at least for the next three months, and if there was one laboratory Hiruzen didn't want him or anyone in Root (or the Uchiha clan, for that matter) to know about, it was this one. This was the home of Project Yamato -- an attempt to restore certain highly valued bloodline abilities that had been lost due to those clans having their blood thinned too far or having died out altogether. It was the first project begun once Orochimaru was made the "Special Project Director," but he hadn't presented any reports of successful results before he had gone "missing." As no-one was quite sure just when Orochimaru's corruption began, there was no telling if anything he'd completed had gone unannounced.

It was time to find out, however. Calling chakra into his hand, Hiruzen deactivated the seal, which burned to ashes as it was breeched. It probably could have been deactivated without being destroyed -- this was a legally authorized laboratory, which any of the hokage were supposed to have access to. It was unlikely that Orochimaru would have put any unreported traps on the door seal, since he wouldn't want to call attention to himself, but at that moment Hiruzen didn't want to take the chance. Especially not while he was alone. The seal gone, he opened the door and walked on through.

"Oh, gods," he said, surveying the room. It was a horror show -- bits and pieces of human bodies were littered all over the place, most (though not all) preserved in formaldehyde. The stench was strong... as was the stench of decay from those parts which had not been preserved.

A closer look, however, revealed that, at least in this lab, the body parts weren't taken from live victims. One pair of Uchiha eyes, sharingan activated, Hiruzen recognized from an ANBU Collections report as belonging to Uchiha Ankoku, who had gone blind after forcing too much chakra through her sharingan. She had agreed to an eye transplant, recieving normal eyes in exchange. The Uchiha weren't too upset at losing control of that particular eyes -- at least not publically -- since they had been rendered useless, but both they and Hiruzen had been left unaware as to their final destination. Evidently, Danzo had turned them over to Orochimaru for his research.

And that wasn't the only thing. Vials of blood, organs, and similar materials labelled Senju Hiyowai -- a Class C missing nin who had been tracked down and killed as the first B-class mission assigned to Minato's team -- were scattered throughout the lab. So were ANBU Collections archival material from several great clans -- Inuzuka, Nara, Hyuuga (most likely Branch member tissue, but Hiruzen wouldn't put it past Orochimaru to somehow obtain main branch tissue), and others. The most surprising were simple basic tissue samples from the hospital... belonging to Senju Hashirama (the First Hokage), Uzumaki Mito (his wife), and his brother Senju Tobirama (the Second Hokage).

There was a book -- evidently some sort of journal -- left open on a desk in the back.

"Day 739:

"Despite repeated requests, Danzo refuses to turn over any more Uchiha tissue samples. It might be possible to complete the Sage of the Six Paths without it, but I will need the co-operation of an Uchiha who has unlocked the mangekyo and someone with Senju or Uzumaki blood. At least something is going right, however -- one of the Mokuten restoration test subjects survived his injection, and chakra paper tests appear to show Mokuten potential. The few surviving test subjects for Uzumaki Mito's DNA injections haven't shown any hints of an extended lifespan in tests, and the test subjects for Senju Tobirama have quite visible chakra traces, but this proves the technique can work."

Hiruzen stopped reading there. Test subjects? No surviving test subjects had been found, but, if the date of this was right, the "test subject" was still alive as of the week before Hiruzen went to arrest Orochimaru. He would need to organize a search immediately....

*

"Hokage-sama," Hatake Kakashi, codenamed Inu, reported. He was one of the youngest and newest inductees into ANBU, and one of Minato's most trusted students. Kakashi was the young man Hiruzen had entrusted with the search for Orochimaru's hidden test subjects. "I've successfully found one lab filled with eight surviving human test subjects, ranging in age from infant to fifteen. I believe the Mokuton user is among them, who I have -- pending your approval -- codenamed Tenzo."

Hiruzen paused. "Did you say... Orochimaru has been testing on infants?"

"One infant," Kakashi replied. "No older than two or three years old, though she appears to be malnourished so it's hard to say. Female, unknown clan, who apparently recieved an injection labled 'U.M.' Codename, pending approval, is Tenten."

Hiruzen grimmaced. His former student was even more irredeemable than he had believed. "All right. The orphanage isn't too happy with me after the last baby I placed in their care, so perhaps you should approach them for me... but I want Tsunade to check her out from head to toe, first. See if she can find anything... unusual that this injection may have caused."

"Yes, sir, hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "And if she finds something?"

"Whether she finds something or not, I want this... Tenten, was it? I want her in the orphanage as soon as she's been medically cleared," Hiruzen replied. "Then send me a report. As long as she is healthy, nothing either good or bad is likely to manifest itself until she is much older. She may require special training; she'll be automatically enrolled in the Ninja Academy under the War Orphans Program, regardless."

"There are a lot of children being entered into the academy through that program," Kakashi cautioned. "I realize these kids deserve it, but the funds lost through Academy tuition will need to be made up somehow."

"I was thinking of doing away with tuition altogether, to be honest," Hiruzen replied. "We'll be able to select Ninja Academy students based on potential and not on their parents finances that way." He sighed then. "But I'm afraid if I do that, I won't be able to afford to give Tsunade the Medical Ninjutsu Academy she's been lobbying for."

"It'll also take a lot more jounin instructors to take on new genin teams than we're currently able to provide," Kakashi warned. "Not and balance current mission requirements."

"We'll work it out," Hiruzen assured him.

*

Present time:

"Ten years since saying that, and I'm still always running short on Genin Graduation Day," Hiruzen mused wistfully. Somehow, the dark memory of that conversation -- and the events leading up to it -- came to his head every time he needed to start assigning teams.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama?" Umino Iruka said cautiously. He had just dropped off the list of potential graduates, and was now waiting to be dismissed.

Hiruzen pasted a smile on his face to placate the Academy instructor. "Oh, just lamenting how understaffed we always are around this time," he said. "We normally have a spare jounin or two, just in case something goes wrong, but we're too short-handed this year. Twenty-seven students... that means we'll need to form nine teams, with nine instructors. All of the instructors must be full jounin, by law -- I can't even pull an teaching specialist like Ebisu away from mentoring my honorable grandson to be an instructor, since he's only a Tokubetsu Jounin. With so many other genin teams on active duty, we're running low on jounin."

"But we do have enough, right, hokage-sama?"

"If we didn't, the Academy class size would have been more restricted than it was this year," Hiruzen answered. "But just barely -- we have a five jounin team out inspecting a newly formed ninja village named Otogakure to see if they're peaceful enough to invite to the next chuunin exam, a team of four jounin escorting the daimyo on a diplomatic mission to Tetsu no Kuni, and several other missions involving jounin as well." He paused -- there was no need to trouble Iruka with his problems. "But I'll work it out. It isn't your concern -- yours is these students. Young Naruto got into a bit of trouble again, today, eh?"

"Just a small prank involving some petty vandalism of the hokage monument," Iruka explained nervously. "As you saw. Nothing too serious. I'll be supervising him as he cleans it off this evening."

"Will he graduate this time?" Hiruzen asked, amused.

Iruka shrugged. "I... don't think so, Hokage-sama. His bookwork is worst in the class, his taijutsu is average at best, he's average with kunai and other weapons, he's incompetent at genjutsu, and his basic ninjutsu... well, kawarimi and henge both seem adequate, but his bunshin is worthless."

Hiruzen nodded slowly. "I find it rather interesting that an Academy student can put hundreds of chuunin, tokubetsu jounin, and ANBU on a merry chase throughout all of Konoha for hours without being caught, only being discovered after dropping his guard, yet he cannot pass an exam to become a genin after three attempts."

After a moments hesitation, Iruka nodded. "Are you perhaps suggesting we should look 'underneath the underneath' with him, Hokage-sama?"

"I am merely suggesting that he seems to have the talent to be a ninja, whether he has learned the specific skills or not. We have arranged for special dispensations for ninja who cannot physically perform certain techniques, before...."

"And just what skill does Naruto bring to warrant such a dispensation?" Iruka asked. "That wierd version of the henge he uses? That and an abundance of chakra are the only things he could be considered remarkable in... besides his evasion skills, I suppose, but they never show up in his classwork. I'm not saying he can't grow into a good ninja, still, but if he still can't make a proper bunshin...."

"Yes, yes... I see your point," Hiruzen agreed, smiling slightly. "Very well -- you're dismissed."

With a bow and a puff of smoke, Iruka disappeared. Hiruzen picked up a nearby report from his spymaster, frowning at it.

"Unknown Ninja Academy instructor planning desertion and theft of sealing scroll. Plan calls for exploiting a failing student with advanced evasion skills."

The only student who could possibly meet that description was Naruto. After some investigation, Hiruzen was convinced the traitor could only be Iruka or another instructor named Mizuki... and he was leaning towards Mizuki. Still, this gave him an idea. Pulling out an extra large scroll, he started exploiting a long-unused skill: The ability to forge Uzumaki Mito's handwriting. Naruto would be stealing a sealing scroll, all right... but it wouldn't be THE Great Sealing Scroll that the First Hokage locked away after his wife passed away. It would be a selection of techniques from the original scroll that could only aid Naruto, that should have been his birthright as an Uzumaki... and hopefully, with Hiruzen's skill at forgery, Mizuki wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"First Technique: The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu..." he began writing.

*

Hiruzen looked on as the medics treated Iruka in the hospital. Not much medical ninjutsu was used -- most of the skilled medics were out on assignment, and the best medical ninjutsu specialist in town was a veterinarian and not a human doctor -- but he would be fine with the basic medical treatment he was recieving, as long as he took it easy. Still, he wouldn't exactly be comfortable.

"My apologies, Iruka," he said. "I could have intervened sooner. I saw what was happening on my scrying ball, but I wanted to see how things played out."

To his surprise, Iruka laughed. "Hokage-sama, I don't think I would be nearly as happy about the results of this mission if you had done anything, despite these minor cuts and bruises I've recieved. Naruto is now a genin... and he deserves it. But... since when has the kage bunshin been on the sealing scroll?"

"If Naruto had learned every technique on that scroll, it wouldn't have mattered," Hiruzen explained. "I was warned this might happen, so I provided an authentic-looking substitute."

"So... all that was for nothing?" Iruka asked, suddenly deflated.

"Hardly," Hiruzen huffed. "Revealing Mizuki as a traitor, informing Naruto of his burden in a way he could understand it and deal with it, instructing Naruto in the kage bunshin no jutsu to replace the bunshin no jutsu he cannot perform... not to mention giving you some much-needed action. Your skills are eroding, somewhat, Iruka."

Iruka chuckled nervously, putting his hand behind his head. "Well... I'm out of practice for most of my techniques. I've been an Academy instructor for too long."

Hiruzen nodded. "It can't be helped... though I suggest you increase your personal training, before you start getting Academy students who are more skilled than you are."

"So... since Naruto has graduated, what team will he be assigned on?"

"Teams are formed before the final exam, as you know, and before his little demonstration with the kage bunshin he was bottom of the class," Hiruzen pointed out. "I doubt he actually belongs there, mind you, what with the number and duration of shadow clones he now has at his disposal, but it's too late to change things. He'll be with some of your top students -- Uchiha Sasuke and... well, I threw a bone Naruto's way, and assigned him on a team with Haruno Sakura as well. He's always talking about her, you know."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Naruto hates Sasuke and 'loves' Sakura. Sakura hates Naruto and 'loves' Sasuke. Sasuke loves no-one and hates the whole world. Not exactly the most stable of teams -- they'll need a good instructor. Who is their sensei?"

"Hatake Kakashi," Hiruzen said.

The medic, who had been working on Iruka the entire time while remaining studiously uninvolved with the conversation, stiffened abruptly. "Ahem... I don't suppose you have a substitute for Hatake-san, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen slowly turned his attention to the medic. A feeling of dread washing over him, he asked, "Why do you ask that?"

The medic put a hand behind his head, running it through the exposed parts of his hair nervously. "Well, um, I'm not sure of all the details, and I would hate to speculate...."

"What a foolish thing to hate," Hiruzen shot back dryly. "Speculation, after all, can lead to many interesting theories, or even can be used to tell many fascinating stories. Please -- use your theories from this bit of speculation and tell me a story."

The medic sighed in resignation. "Very well, hokage-sama. It happened like this...."

*

It wasn't like Kakashi enjoyed battling Gai all the time. In fact, he worked hard to avoid the ridiculous "challenges" he was given... but he was proud enough not to throw the fight when he got himself challenged to one. At least, not when it was a challenge he could sanely attempt... which this one was. Their last "battle" had been a simple game of rock, paper, scissors. This was one they had tried before -- a simple foot race. The previous race was more of an obstacle course, having to navigate Konoha's streets, but this would be a simple sprint... and thanks to his training for the raikiri, Kakashi was fairly certain he could win a sprint against anyone but the Fourth Hokage in his prime... and the Fourth Hokage had passed away twelve years before. He just rarely used all of his speed unless it was for that technique, but he could summon it for other things as well.

Like the last time they had held a competition, there was a bit of an audience -- Gai's team of genin. One of them was making himself into a Gai clone, one of them had serious clan issues, and the third... well, he knew who the third was quite well, though he doubted she knew who he was. He had looked in on Tenten many times since rescuing her from Orochimaru's lab, but never let her know he was there. He sincerely doubted she even remembered that she had been a test subject in such horrific experiments when she was just an infant, and they didn't seem to have any lasting effects on her long-term development. She wasn't even displaying any significant talent with ordinary jutsu, and was getting by as a weapons specialist with slightly better-than-average taijutsu... though she did have a peculiar fondness for using sealing scrolls in weapons combat. Sealing was a noted talent of the Uzumaki, but it was a learned talent and not some sort of bloodline ability, and those seals were extremely basic. If there was any remaining after-effects from the experience, from what Kakashi could tell, it was in her hero-worship for the medical genius Tsunade, who had spent weeks treating Tenten for malnourishment before releasing her to the custody of the orphanage.

She was also acting as the official starter for this race... though she didn't particularly look thrilled with the job.

"Kakashi!" Gai cried, beginning his customary pre-match lecture. "You are about to embark on a journey to teach your own team of genin about the Power of YOUTH!"

Actually, Kakashi was fairly certain he wouldn't be teaching a team of genin. Last he heard, thanks to a student failing his exam, the two passing members of the team he was supposed to have mentored would be returned to the Academy for further training until a third team member was made available, and the third... well, normally, students don't continue their training after failing at the Academy just once; four times through was unheard of, but the student was one of the most unpredictable in the Academy's history. Even if he had been given a team... well, in six years, he hadn't found one combination of genin who could pass his test. It was a doubly tricky contest -- a bell test where, supposedly, the only way to succeed was for all three to work together to get the bells, with only two bells to test their capacity for self-sacrifice for the good of the mission. That wasn't the real test, however -- though he'd never had a team who had grasped the idea before. The real test would be in whether they would disobey orders (usually, not to feed one of them lunch or something of the sort) in order to make sure that they wouldn't leave a team member behind... a lesson which might have saved Obito during the war, if he'd had it. However, even the Hokage was unaware that it was the second part that was the real test, for him -- most just thought it was the first.

Not that he was going to tell Gai any of that, even if it would end his ridiculous speech.

"...final proof that will involve solely us. From now on, it will be tests that can best judge which of us is the better leader of students!"

He'd heard the same statement several times since Team Gai was formed, but -- as he still was without a team of genin for his own -- Gai would continue to challenge him until he did.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" he asked, deadpan. He was quite familiar with all of Gai's speeches, by now, but Kakashi loved Gai's exp​ression when he pretended to ignore him.

Before Gai could give his traditional jaw-dropped reply cursing Kakashi's hippness, Tenten intervened. "All right. I'm going to throw this kunai into the air behind me. When it lands, you start. Ready?"

Tenten was genuinely a master of weaponry. Her skills with throwing weapons, in particular, were almost kage-level. It had never occurred to Kakashi, before, but he began to wonder if the sealing abilities of the Uzumaki did, in fact, have some bloodline traits to improve them -- in particular, especially steady hands and eyesight, which could also be applied to precise weapons throwing techniques. Her short-range weapon techniques were far more average -- still expert for a genin, but not good enough for a chuunin-level weapons specialist to boast of. Her genjutsu and ninjutsu were also average, or even below average, per the reports he had read, and even kage-level throwing technique wouldn't carry her very far if she didn't expand her specialties a bit.

So a master of throwing weapons, she was... but she was also very much a genin when it came to thinking ahead. She didn't aim the overhead toss she threw, and a nicked a tree on the way down... but then it landed, and the two jounin took off.

Unfortunately, it "nicked" the tree well enough to make a large branch fall, and land right in front of Kakashi's path. Since he wasn't using his Sharingan in an effort to conserve chakra for the race, it was too late to avoid the hazard, especially at the speed he was travelling (the same flaw which had rendered the technique too dangerous for anyone without an activated Sharingan eye to attempt in battle), and so he ran right into it -- up around his kneecaps, since he actually collided with the branch before it hit the ground. He felt his kneecap pop, just as his unchecked running motion caused the branch to get tangled up in his legs. That sent him into uncontrolled flight, and without the ability to bend one of his legs properly thanks to his dislocated knee, he collided leg-first into a stone wall lining the side of the path they were running on. Unprepared, already injured, and completely out of control while moving way too fast, he knew what was about to happen even before his eyes and the nerve endings in his legs could tell him.

*

"...at least," the medic continued, "That's what I was able to gather when he was brought in for emergency surgery. Our more advanced medical ninja doing her best, but with multiple torn ligaments, a completely detached patella, lots of floating cartiledge, several shattered tarsels and metatarsels, and a set of snapped tibia and fibula, and even some hairline fractures along his femur... well, if the legendary Tsunade-sama were here, she might be able to get him back on his leg in a couple weeks, and then he could resume active duty again after another week of physical therapy. Unfortunately, no-one here is Tsunade-sama."

To describe Hiruzen as anything less than flabbergasted would be a severe understatement. They had no jounin in reserve, and here comes one of them being injured in a petty, ridiculous competition with another... and so badly injured he can't take over the team.

"Well..." he said slowly, turning to Iruka. "That's going to change things a bit. Excuse me, Iruka-san -- I need to find a certain someone."

(note: I'm still using the idea that the Hokage was warned ahead of time and that the Sealing Scroll Naruto stole was a fake, but I figured I could leave that bit in the part up for grabs)

Small snippet from later in the story --Click here to view--

"The Hokage's orders give me the right," Gai said. "That, and I swore that they'd be ready for C-rank missions by the time we're done, so..."

Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "I've seen their files, too, you know. A 'number one rookie' who can't work on a team, a bookworm with no practical skills, and a knucklehead with dead last scores. If you can make this team ready for C-ranks in a week, you're a better jounin instructor than I'll ever be."

It might have been intentional, but if there was one thing to say at that moment to unify Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, it was someone belittling all three of them like that.

"I am glad to see your accident on the last challenge has not dampened your enthusiasm for our rivalry, Kakashi! Challenge... accepted!"

For the first time, Kakashi seemed to look rather nonplused at Gai's ramblings. "Um, that wasn't exactly--"

Another small snippet --Click here to view--

Tenten watched uncertainly as her teammate seemed to be chattering with squirrels. She knew that Lee was a bit of an odd one, but this was strange behavior even for him.

"Uh... Lee-kun? I think the hokage has a few summoning contracts in his archives. We can check there to see if he has squirrel summoning contracts, if you want," she suggested.

"I couldn't use it even if I signed it," Lee replied, not breaking eye contact with the rodent. Then he stood, and the squirrel went scurrying away. "But like the Inuzuka clan has with dogs, I've been working on understanding squirrel speech. Gai-sensei suggested it."

Tenten nodded slowly. "And, uh, what did the squirrel say, Lee-kun?"

Lee frowned. "I... don't know."

Tenten let out a heavy sigh, both of relief (if Lee had claimed he could understand what the squirrels were saying to him, whether it was Gai's suggestion or not, she would arrange for him to get a mental evaluation as soon as training was over) and frustration. "Lee, don't waste time with things that won't work. We have to plan, here."

"That's what I was doing," Lee protested. "I might not be able to understand squirrels, but that doesn't mean I can't keep them calm while I put proximity tags on them. I'll know if someone comes within ten meters of that squirrel."

Tenten nodded slowly. Proximity tags were, in a sense, "unarmed" explosive tags, or rather the trigger that a large number of explosive tags used. They could be set up to trigger a warning signal, as well. Putting them out to give them a warning about the approach of the other teams could be a good plan, but... "Lee-kun, how will you know where the squirrel is when that tag is set off?"

Lee blinked. "Uh... oops?"

*

"If I know my teammates well at all, Tenten is busy fortifying her position and Lee is trying something wierd like talking to squirrels," Neji said.

A little explanation for why Naruto didn't recognize Gai's team --Click here to view--

"But you failed the exam three times -- you must have shared a class with them, once, right?" Sakura asked. "You'd have been held back... but wait, if you failed the exam three times, why are you only seven months older than me? You should be a full year, at least! Or did you sign up early?"

"I skipped a grade, once," Naruto said, shrugging. "I was top of my class the year we all studied evasion and camouflage. The teachers thought I was ready early, but I was completely lost that next year, and haven't really caught up again since...."

Sakura's mind boggled at the thought of Naruto skipping a grade, much less being the top of his class. Still.... "But you still would have been in the same class as them one year, right?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, thinking. "No... I don't think so. I might have seen that Neji guy at test time, come to think of it, but there were two classes of Academy student seniors one year -- I was in Mizuki's then, so they must have been in Iruka-sensei's. I don't remember if I saw Tenten at all, and I know I didn't see anyone with fuzzy eyebrows, so Rock Lee must have been one of those students who took an alternate test to graduate."

More squirrels! --Click here to view--

"Well... Tenten and Lee are staying in one place, and... I'm assuming that's Tenten who is setting all the traps. Lee... appears to be talking to squirrels." Kakashi wasn't sure if his sharingan was getting something wrong -- quite likely at that distance -- but Gai soon corrected him.

"I've been encouraging him to find an animal affinity," Gai said. "He is incapable of ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I figured if he could form some sort of alliance with the animals it might help his shortcomings. He chose squirrels."

"But... there are no ninja squirrels," Kakashi said.

"There weren't any ninja dogs until someone trained them," Gai replied. "Let him try!"

A little lecture for Sasuke --Click here to view--

"I am now ready to use the sharingan in any situation," Sasuke replied.

"Well, perhaps except against another, stronger sharingan? It develops in stages, you know," Kakashi pointed out.

Sasuke's mood visibly darkened -- not that it was all that sunny to begin with. "There's only one other pair of sharingan eyes out there to worry about."

"Is there?" Kakashi said, shrugging. "Perhaps there is only one other Uchiha out there, but sharingan eyes have been taken from dead Uchiha and preserved for centuries." He hadn't been intending to reveal it, but he decided it was probably a good moment to let Sasuke in on his little "secret." Lifting his jury-rigged eyepatch, he let his sharingan meet Sasuke's own. "My own was given to me by my late teammate, Obito. Some are in the hands of foriegn powers, captured in battle... and no-one knows what happened to all the eyes collected by ANBU after your clan's massacre. Making assumptions like 'I alone still have the sharingan' will get you killed."

Sakura Reacts to Lee's Come-on --Click here to view--

"Oh Beauteous Sakura!" Lee intoned, suddenly jumping between them with fire in his eyes.

"Beauteous?" Naruto repeated, glancing at Lee. He'd always known Sasuke was a rival for Sakura's heart... but only because SHE liked HIM. He also always been almost certain that Sasuke would never be interested in her, so he never felt threatened, before... but Lee wasn't Sasuke. He could be a threat.

"Naruto's impassioned pleas do strike my heart as correct. You should not be forced to subjugate yourself to Neji's whims through our alliance... but you do need to ally yourselves with another team to keep yourselves safe. I have a solution! Instead of following the stoic and resolute Neji, who trusts in fate more than any words you might offer as advice, I ask that you join with me to lead our combined teams... together! I promise I will protect you until I die!"

Lee posed there, teeth gleaming, thumb raised in determination, winking at the girl Naruto wanted as his girlfriend. Sakura, disturbingly enough, was staring doe-eyed back into Lee's eyes, and Naruto started clenching his fists. Well, he thought she was looking at him doe-eyed... but then, the difference between doe-eyed and wide-eyed with shock were subtle, as far as he could tell.

"Oh, gods -- absolutely not! Those lower eyelashes are awful! That hairstyle is awful, too! Those bushy eyebrows... just too intense! Everything is... you are FAR too unique for my tastes!" she shrieked, diving behind Naruto. She peaked out from behind him to see that Lee had turned to face them, stunned himself. "Eep!"

As Sakura ducked back behind Naruto, tangibly shuddering, Lee's exp​ression fell. Naruto felt sorry for the poor boy -- as many times as Sakura had clobbered him on the head or had harshly rejected his offers for a date, he'd still never been rejected quite as fiercely by his favorite pink-haired girl as that. Still, there was a little bit of satisfaction in that HE was the one she ducked behind instead of something -- or someone -- else.

"It was just a nice-guy pose," Lee whimpered. "You don't have to resent me that much."

Clones, Glitter Paint, and Doujutsu --Click here to view--

Neji slowly came to a stop, raising his arm to direct Lee to hold position as well. Impossibly, he had lost his quarry -- Tenten, Naruto, and Sakura had all vanished, and quite suddenly. He activated his byakuugan, hoping to find some trace of where they had left.

"What the--" he exclaimed. None of the three he was looking for were anywhere nearby, but there definitely was something strange in the distance. Lee was behind him... but he also was in front of him, with Sasuke -- who had disappeared before the chase began -- and another version of himself!

The other Neji was far out in the lead, broke into the clearing that the real Neji had stepped at only a few seconds later. He seemed startled, at first, to see his doppelganger, but then smirked.

"Where's Sasuke-teme?" the strange Neji asked.

"Behind you," the real Neji replied, shaking his head in disgust. "What kind of a plot are you trying for, here... Naruto?"

"Oh, I'm not Naruto," the other Neji replied. He took another step forward, just as the Other Lee and Sasuke broke into the clearing themselves. "I'm just a clone. See you!"

The clone jumped forward another could steps before the real Neji could react, stepping down on a trigger hidden in the leaves. A trigger Neji had missed until just that moment....

"Lee, run!" he warned, but too late. Several kunai and other throwing weapons started flinging themselves around, forcing everyone to dodge (and dispersing the Lee clone in the process), but they were just a distraction. The real threat was the sprays covering all three ninja and much of the surrounding foliage. When it was all over, Neji was a little surprised to find himself still standing... up until he looked over at a confused Sasuke, as well.

"...Glitter paint?"

*

"Where would anyone have gotten glitter paint out here?" Kakashi asked, curious.

Hiruzen laughed. "Remember, Naruto is a prankster, just like his mother was. He probably keeps some in his standard camping gear, just in case the right opportunity arises."

"But why go to all of that elaborate nonsense just to spray paint those three with glitter?" Kakashi asked. "That'll just get them mad."

*

If Neji were a lesser man, he might have laughed at the sight of the overly proud Uchiha coated in glittery green, gold, and purple paint. Well, perhaps he still would have laughed, except he was covered in the same substance.

"You know who did this, right?" he growled.

Sasuke sighed. "Of course. It was inevitable that the dead last in our class and an idiot prankster like Naruto would go to all this effort just to annoy us. I'm just surprised he used paint, though, and not something else."

Neji grimmaced at the thought. "We'll get to him, later. Rematch, then?"

Sasuke grinned, activating his sharingan. "Rematch."

Neji re-activated his byakuugan, but instantly turned his attention away from Sasuke. "What kinds of idiots are they to return here?"

"This kind," Naruto laughed, jumping into the battlefield. He threw a half-dozen kunai down right between Neji and Sasuke. At first, this seemed like a pointless gesture, but then Neji saw the tags on the kunai.

"Explosive tags!" he said, startled, jumping back... only he mis-identified them. They were actually flash-bangs, and they started going off in sequence, blinding both doujutsu users in an instant.

*

"Well, that's a trick to battling the sharingan even I never thought of," Gai said, amused. "I wonder where I'll find some glitter paint?"

"Neji and Sasuke won't even be able to look at each other without getting a headache until their vision clears," Kakashi said, shaking his head.

Small dialog -- Naruto, Sakura, and the Hokage --Click here to view--

"Hey, Old Man. What're you doing here?"

"Naruto!" Sakura squawked, startled. "Where are your manners? That's the hokage!" She turned to Hiruzen and bowed apologetically. "My apologies, Hokage-sama, but--"

"It's all right, Sakura-chan," Hiruzen said, trying to stop her from insulting her teammate. He sent a friendly glare Naruto's way. "While this little troublemaker could use some lessons in respect--"

"Not until you earn it, Old Man," Naruto stated firmly, crossing his arms and frowning fiercely.

"--I'm quite used to him, by now," the hokage continued, unable to hold back his amused smile. He ruffled Naruto's hair playfully. "It's a little humbling to remember that I still need to prove myself to some of my youngest and most junior subordinates. It's not a good thing to get too full of yourself."

This scene might appear in the remake, but will be changed enough to be unrecognizable; the original version might still work, though --Click here to view--

"The reason basic storage seals ask for infused ink instead instead of chakra manipulation, though, is that you want to be able to re-use storage seals, and ink allows you to do that -- you can still make those basic storage seals with chakra manipulation alone, but they can only be used once."

Naruto frowned. "So... if I want a reusable seal, I need to use ink, right?"

"Exactly," Hiruzen replied, glad that Naruto seemed to grasp that concept, at least.

He looked up at the hokage imploringly. "Hey, Old Man! Do you know any tattoo artists good enough to inscribe a basic storage seal on a person's skin?"

After a long pause, the bemused hokage shrugged. "I'll look into it," he said. "Come to my office tonight. I'll have a list made."

"Great!" Naruto cheered. "Now all I need is a good weaponsmith...."

"I can find one of those for you, too," Hiruzen said. "My son managed to get a special pair of trench knives constructed several years ago. He is slow, but he can handle special requests -- his weapons have been known to earn legendary reputations. Just tell me what it is you need, and I will see to it that Konoha pays for it."

"Wow!" the blond genin said in awe. "Thanks, Old Man!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "That's exceptionally generous, Hokage-sama. If I wanted a special sword, too, would you buy one for me?"

Hiruzen laughed. "If Konoha bought special equipment for all its ninja out of its own coffers, we would quickly become a very poor village, indeed. If your parents were willing to pay for it, I would gladly lend my aide in finding a craftsman for one, however."

"But why would you pay for Naruto's weapon?" Sakura asked curiously. "I mean, he's the dead last from the Academy -- what has he done to earn any special treatment?"

"Naruto is a ward of Konoha," Hiruzen explained, noticing Naruto's interest suddenly peaking. He decided to give the young man a hint of his heritage, even if he was technically telling someone else. "His parents died in our service. They had many enemies, however, who might try to gain revenge by killing their only child. The council believed the best course of action was to liquidate Naruto's inheritence, so that it could not be used to trace him. I... disagreed with the decision, but even the hokage has a finite amount of power in some matters. All Naruto gets from his parents sacrifice is the standard war orphan's stipend, which he has been living on for the last six years of his life. Konoha owes Naruto a debt it will can never pay, so I feel he is owed what help we can provide in equipping him."

Tag-team action. Tenten and Lee haven't arrived on the field, but Naruto and Neji are supposed to spar with Sasuke and Sakura. Neji and Sasuke start their own battle and abandon their partners --Click here to view--

Sakura glanced around the field, searching for Naruto. She was afraid he might get involved before she even saw him, but that wasn't the case at all. If anything, when she did finally catch sight of him, he seemed somewhat bored by the whole thing. He was carefully rolling up some scrolls and notes he had been taking -- an unusual enough sight Sakura wondered if she were in a genjutsu, since Naruto was usually so averse to book work -- and putting them away. Evidently, he, too, had been told to stay out of the fight.

It was really the ideal time to put him into a genjutsu, herself, but for some reason Sakura didn't see the need to bother. The only think Sasuke wanted, apparently, was for people to "stay out of his way," and Naruto was definitely staying out of the way. Still, best to keep her guard up around him, at least for the time being.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" he greeted, waving happily.

It was a rather unnerving way to be greeted on the battlefield. "Um... good morning?"

He glanced over to where Neji and Sasuke were locked in battle. Sakura couldn't really tell who had the early advantage in the battle, and from Naruto's exp​ression, he didn't seem to have a clue, either. Eventually, he just shrugged.

"Think they'll remember us before the exercise is over?" he asked casually.

"Sasuke-kun will!" Sakura insisted reflexively. At Naruto's incredulous exp​ression, however, she had to admit that was a pretty big assumption. "Um... if he wins. Maybe. Oh, I don't know!"

Naruto sighed, lacing his fingers together and stretching them until his joints cracked. "You know, as long as you don't get involved in the fight, I don't think Neji cares if I fight you or not."

Sakura uncertainly started to fall into a defensive stance. "Well... we should be fighting anyway, though, right? I mean, it IS combat practice, after all."

Naruto shrugged. "I wouldn't mind a light spar," he agreed. "But I don't think anyone will care, either way."

Remembering her earlier uncertainty over whether she could beat Naruto in a fight or not, Sakura hesitated. "Actually, I think I'd rather watch Sasuke-kun's fight," she said, only half-truthfully.

Naruto gave her a lazy grin. "Aw, come on. I've got another new technique I want to try! It won't hurt or anything -- I don't want to risk hurting you, after all -- but it'd be neat if I could get it up and running."

"Another new technique?" Sakura replied, eyes widening. "When did you have time to learn any new techniques?"

"Last night and this morning," Naruto said, lazily slipping into a fighting stance. Reluctantly, Sakura did the same. "It'll be really cool, too, if I can get it to work!"

"Is it a ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu technique?" she asked, a little annoyed at her own curiousity. He was talking about using this technique on her, after all.

"You know, I'm not sure?" he said, taking a few tentative steps back. It was starting to look like their "light sparring" session was inevitable. "I think it's a type of fuuinjutsu, to be honest, but it isn't anything like the fuuinjutsu I've read about before. I'll have to ask the Old Man about it."

It took a moment for it to register that Naruto was talking about asking the hokage. "Why would you bother the Hokage, of all people, with something like that?" she asked incredulously. She charged in, ready to fight a little taijutsu. She made a few regular bunshin so that Naruto wouldn't know which direction her attack was coming from -- not much of an advantage, but at least it would be something.

Naruto ducked under her punch, and a sweep of his arm dispersed the two fake bunshin. He moved to counterattack with a headbutt to her gut, which could have really hurt, but changed his attack at the last second, opting to pick her up with his other arm and toss her away, forcing her to roll mid-air so she could land on her feet. "Well, he told me if I had any questions, I should ask him."

Sakura ignored that comment, though, astonished at what Naruto had done. "Did you just... take it easy on me?" she asked incredulously. "You could have knocked the wind out of me right there, disabling me, but instead you just push me away?"

Naruto looked pained. "Aw, come on, Sakura-chan. This isn't a real fight, and I don't want to hurt you!" he said. Then he slammed his hands onto the ground. "But I do want to try this new technique. Kusari no chakra!"

Sakura braced herself, but felt... nothing. "Um... was that supposed to do something."

Naruto almost cried. "Aw, man, what did I do wrong? I followed the instructions perfectly, didn't I?" He pulled out a scroll and started reading. "Yeah... yeah... uh huh..."

Since he appeared to be standing down from their little skirmish, Sakura did as well. She approached cautiously, curiousity driving her on. "What was it supposed to do?"

"It's a technique designed to bind things with chains of chakra," Naruto explained absently, still scanning the paper.

"Where in the world did you find that technique?" Sakura asked. "I've never heard of anything like that? It sounds like someone might have tricked you with a phony scroll."

"The Old Man gave me a scroll full of what were supposed to be family techniques last night," Naruto said, still reading. "I've been working on this one ever since. It seemed to call to me, somehow, when I read that scroll."

"Oh," Sakura replied, blinking. If the Hokage himself gave Naruto that scroll, it probably wasn't a phony technique at all. "Well... if it's a scroll of family techniques, that could explain it. A lot of family techniques require certain bloodline abilities to be activated, first -- something which often comes with age or a basic family skill being mastered, first. You could be doing everything right, but still not be capable of mastering the technique just yet."

"Aw, dammit!" Naruto sighed, rolling up his scroll. "All that reading for nothing!"

Now, that sounded a lot more like the sort of student she remembered him being. It forced a lopsided grin out of her. "You should have asked the hokage before trying, idiot! Now--"

This time, Naruto did knock the wind out of her, tackling her from the midsection and driving her away. It wasn't an attack, though -- where she had been standing, before, a large fuuma shuriken was standing out of the ground.

"Well, now, that was just plain unnecessary," Tenten said. Sakura quickly located the other girl standing in a tree. "Naruto, you do remember you're on different teams for this exercise, right? She would have been fine -- I know how to use those things to stun and not kill, after all. What kind of a weapons-master do you take me for?"

"I'm not just going to stand by and LET you hurt Sakura-chan!" Naruto snapped back, rolling to his feet.

Sakura certainly couldn't object to that declaration. "Besides... you need to take out both of us," she said, pulling out her own kunai as a defensive weapon. "That has to be your plan, right? Beat Naruto and me, and just like Sasuke-kun and Neji-san keep each other busy like they always do, right?" She glanced over at Naruto. "Truce?"

"Were we fighting?" he asked, smirking. He brought his hands together to form an increasingly familiar set of hand seals. "Of course a truce! Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

A dozen clones appeared around them. Naruto charged off in what Sakura had only just noticed was Lee's direction with half of them, while the other half took up defensive positions around her. "Ready when you are, boss-lady," one of them said, giving her a thumbs up and Naruto's trademark grin.

Only worth it for one line... I think you'll know which one --Click here to view--

Sasuke glanced down at Tenten exp​ressionlessly, then back over to Sakura. "Didn't I tell you not to get in my way?" He asked snidely, tying Tenten up the rest of the way. The other kunoichi struggled slightly, but the wires were too sharp and too tight for her to try much. "You're completely worthless, just as I expected you would be."

And there, the dream came crashing down. "Excuse me?" Sakura said, unable to believe what she heard was what he said. "Worthless? What-- why--"

"Hn," he grumbled. "You couldn't even keep my other enemies away. I had to stop fighting Neji to rescue you. So, yes, worthless."

Sakura's fists clenched. "Excuse me?!" she repeated, louder this time. "Did I ASK for you to save me? I was doing perfectly fine without you!"

"She was about to knock you out," Sasuke replied dispassionately.

Sakura growled, pulling out her last kunai and throwing it at a disguised wire. It set off a trap that threw a whole slew of blades at her, all of which struck. Her delayed kawarimi activated, and in an instant she was on the other side of them. "Knock me out?" she growled. "I was--"

"Dynamic Entry -- Naruto Version!" a cry suddenly arose. There was a solid crack as an orange-and-blue clad foot connected with Sasuke's chin. "Dettabayo, b*tch!"

same scene, moments later --Click here to view--

Neji hopped into sight at that point, then landed on the ground. He stared impassively at Sasuke's unconscious form, then shook his head disgustedly. "And he thinks he can challenge me? He's a weaker competitor than Lee."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Lee-kun! What happened to him?"

"Eh, well," Naruto began, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I'd rather not say."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Naruto... what did you do?"

"I, um, hit him with the harem no jutsu," he admitted. Quickly, before she could say anything, he added, "But you weren't anywhere nearby! Nor were any other girls -- it was just the two of us, honest! And I had a bikini on with that transformation, too...."

Sakura's face fell into the palm of her hand in disbelief. She wasn't sure if she was having a harder time with Naruto's antics or Lee losing to them, but it didn't matter at the moment. A thought occured to her moments later, however. "Then--"

"Team LeeTen has been beaten," Naruto said, then glanced down at Tenten. "Sorry about that," he told the bound girl.

Despite her predicament, Tenten grinned up at him. "No problem. Losing is a part of training, sometimes -- you can sometimes learn more from a defeat than a victory."

That caught Neji's attention. "And what did you learn from this defeat, Tenten-san?"

She looked over her shoulder at her regular teammate. "That Lee-kun's straight," she replied deadpan. Sakura was amused to see Neji blush, and Tenten laughed as well... then winced. "And that Naruto-kun is gentler with his ninja-wire lassos than Sasuke is."

girl talk --Click here to view--

Sakura shrugged uncertainly. "I... I don't know about Sasuke-kun, any more. In the Academy, he always seemed so dark, mysterious, handsome, powerful... unbeatable in every way. But this past week, well...."

"I heard what he said to you yesterday," Tenten said. "That was uncalled for. You should have clobbered him."

"Sasuke's too good for me to clobber," Sakura replied, sighing. She opened her canteen to take a sip of water. "I'm surprised YOU aren't defending him. I know you think he's cute, and he certainly was looking at you like a slab of meat after he was done tying you up."

"I wouldn't mind taking him for a test drive if his attitude improved," Tenten admitted brashly. "But I could say that about a lot of boys. Honestly, if I were to go after one of your teammates, it would be Naruto-kun."

Mid-drink, Sakura started coughing. "Naruto?" she gasped once she was able to talk again. "Why him?"

"Well, he's funny, kind of cute, and he seems to actually be a pretty good ninja," Tenten began, then gave a naughty wink. "Plus, well, he's the only guy I know with enough stamina to keep up with Lee-kun's exercise routine -- I've got to wonder what else he can do with all that stamina."

Sakura flushed. "I... I... what? I... he... too young, and--"

The young weapons master laughed. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I know he's taken... or at least HE thinks he's taken, which is close enough.

One pre-written author's note I want to include --Click here to view--

I was rewatching the anime looking for something about Lee, earlier, and saw something I thought hadn't been brought up much in the manga: Naruto's raw observation skills are a lot better than he gets credit for (though he does, often, not understand what it is he is observing). For example: It was hinted that he ACTUALLY saw something on the way to Wave that inspired his kunai throw, drawing a substitution technique with a snow bunny. The bunny was what led Kakashi to notice there was someone else present, even though he did not see whatever it was that Naruto threw at (nor did anyone else). Also, Naruto was the first to notice the callouses on Lee's hands, and recognize what that must have meant about him. There were several other incidents like that which I have never seen other fanfic others pick up on, but which I've found rather telling about him. I also think that Naruto's ability to effectively 'copycat' a taijutsu technique of Lee's (for the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan) after only seeing it once (he was unconscious both times when Lee performed it prior to his invention of the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan; the only time he ever saw it was when Sasuke used it earlier in the preliminary test) and develop his own functional version of it could be related, and hasn't been remarked upon enough. So, that's why Naruto is the only one to notice Hiruzen was wearing his armor and therefore guess that their real opponent was the hokage.

Bench scene with a twist --Click here to view--

Naruto longed to disguise himself as someone else she knew -- Sasuke would be best, given her attention to the dark recluse -- so he could ask her what she really felt. He wanted to know what she felt about him, about Sasuke, about being a team, and several other things he doubted she would ever honestly tell him... but most of all, he wanted to give her a certain compliment that had been on his mind since he first saw the pink-haired pre-adolescent beauty.

She was asleep, so he still couldn't ask the questions he wanted to her (and, while he had more energy than either teammate, he really didn't feel up to disguising himself as Sasuke to ask them, anyway), but at least deliver the compliment. In the dreamworld of her sleep, she might even imagine them as coming from someone she'd like to hear them from, giving her a pleasant dream.

"You have such a wide, charming forehead," he said softly, kneeling beside her to quietly place a canteen of water within her reach. "It makes me want to kiss it."

Evidently, she was not as asleep as he thought, because the moment he said it her eyes opened wide... and angry. "Naruto!" she screamed... and proved that, even drop-dead tired, she could still deliver a punch that sent Naruto flying.

*

(don't worry -- Sakura forgave him)

Breakfast at Ichiraku's --Click here to view--

Much to his surprise, he found several people around the Ichiraku Ramen bar when he arrived -- Sakura, Sasuke, Gai, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and even Kakashi were present. He'd almost never seen anyone else at the Ichiraku at breakfast time, much less anyone he knew, but there they all were.

"Told you, Gai-sensei," Sakura said, smirking. "I knew he'd come here first."

"Sakura-chan... guys... what's going on?"

"Order breakfast, Naruto-kun," Tenten replied, gesturing to the seat beside her. "Gai-sensei has a briefing for us, and he'll cover a bowl for you if you'll pay attention to it while you eat. We've been assigned a mission. The briefing is unclassified, so it's fine to talk here."

Never one to turn down free ramen, Naruto jumped onto the seat. "Miso ramen with roast pork, Old Man!"

"Is it just me," he heard Tenten whisper to Sakura. "Or does he refer to the owner of his favorite ramen joint with the same reverence as he does the freaking hokage?"

"More," Sakura whispered back.

Naruto wasn't sure what the problem was. Both the old man running Ichiraku and the hokage treated him nice, gave him all kinds of advice, and helped him through some rough spots during his Academy days. Why shouldn't he like them both equally?

From that point on, the rest of what I had written can be salvaged into the new version of the fic or isn't really good enough to bother sharing. I think you could write a completely different fic from the one I'm actually doing, now, with the above as a starting point, so anyone who wants it is free to take it.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

You got some spelling mistakes, usually related to words with 'ie' and 'ei' confusion.

I saw that you misspelled weird as 'wierd.' And receiving as 'recieving.'

Oddly enough, you spelled shriek correctly...

Also, plot hole. If Sarutobi uses his scrying crystal to see Danzo training his ROOT members, why can't he use that as evidence? I mean, he can see it happen, and this is Ninja Politics, I doubt they'd have the same laws and such as actual, real life laws.

[desaix]

You got some spelling mistakes, usually related to words with 'ie' and 'ei' confusion.

I saw that you misspelled weird as 'wierd.' And receiving as 'recieving.'

Oddly enough, you spelled shriek correctly...

Also, plot hole. If Sarutobi uses his scrying crystal to see Danzo training his ROOT members, why can't he use that as evidence? I mean, he can see it happen, and this is Ninja Politics, I doubt they'd have the same laws and such as actual, real life laws.

Well, it wasn't run through a spell check, and I have a bit of dyslexia, so the ie-ei problem isn't exactly unexpected.

As far as the Scrying crystal question is concerned, consider just how influential Danzo is -- he was in the running to be the Third Hokage (and later became the 6th, sort of), he had enough influence to create his own semi-independent ANBU force (even if they were later disbanded), WAS, in fact, the head of ANBU at this time, and shortly after this he could, working with the Hokage's other advisors, essentially go behind his back and make arrangements to massacre the entire Uchiha clan (and all this was before he had that mind control power). Someone that influential, you can't just arrest him and denounce him your-word-against-his, even if you are Hokage -- that might just start a civil war, and with the other guy in charge of your ANBU (likely your most elite and powerful force) he's not someone you want to get into a war with.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

Well, it wasn't run through a spell check, and I have a bit of dyslexia, so the ie-ei problem isn't exactly unexpected.

As far as the Scrying crystal question is concerned, consider just how influential Danzo is -- he was in the running to be the Third Hokage (and later became the 6th, sort of), he had enough influence to create his own semi-independent ANBU force (even if they were later disbanded), WAS, in fact, the head of ANBU at this time, and shortly after this he could, working with the Hokage's other advisors, essentially go behind his back and make arrangements to massacre the entire Uchiha clan (and all this was before he had that mind control power). Someone that influential, you can't just arrest him and denounce him your-word-against-his, even if you are Hokage -- that might just start a civil war, and with the other guy in charge of your ANBU (likely your most elite and powerful force) he's not someone you want to get into a war with.

Ah, I didn't know you have dyslexia.


And, it's still a bit of a plot hole, because Sarutobi can use his scrying crystal and go, "Hey, look what this guy's doing" to a council of some sort. Unless the crystal ball is something he wishes to keep a secret....

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 14 November 2011 - 02:41 AM.

[desaix]

Ah, I didn't know you have dyslexia.


And, it's still a bit of a plot hole, because Sarutobi can use his scrying crystal and go, "Hey, look what this guy's doing" to a council of some sort. Unless the crystal ball is something he wishes to keep a secret....

The way I have the scrying ball work (in a scene not posted, where he's observing Naruto's "bell test equivalent" and explaining what he sees to the other people in the room), only Hiruzen can use it or see things in it. Which is why no-one else is ever seen using it. So, it would still be 'his word against Danzo's.'

[Anthony Harmon]

need Dissertation writing help

[uzumakinaruko]

It's been almost a year since your last post, and almost 5 years to the day since you last updated Training (This Friday will be officially 5 years). Any news on an update? Anything? Are you even still alive?

[desaix]

It's been almost a year since your last post, and almost 5 years to the day since you last updated Training (This Friday will be officially 5 years). Any news on an update? Anything? Are you even still alive?

Still alive. It's as frustrating for me as it is for you, but I cannot post anything else, just yet (which is annoying; I've got a lot of ficcage to post including some Naruto (both new chapters in Training and the new fic mentioned upthread), a chapter for my Voltron fanfic, an episode for my Patlabor fanfic, the start of new fics in the DBZ, Teen Titans, and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi genres (not all of which will see the light of day even when I do resume posting), and probably a few other things I've written over the past several years and forgotten about). I can't really add anything new to an explanation as to 'why,' other than 'I've been professionally advised not to' and leaving it at that.

[uzumakinaruko]

They act like it'll end the world or your life if you do. Sad. Glad to see you're still alive.

[tricksie]

Still alive. It's as frustrating for me as it is for you, but I cannot post anything else, just yet (which is annoying; I've got a lot of ficcage to post including some Naruto (both new chapters in Training and the new fic mentioned upthread), a chapter for my Voltron fanfic, an episode for my Patlabor fanfic, the start of new fics in the DBZ, Teen Titans, and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi genres (not all of which will see the light of day even when I do resume posting), and probably a few other things I've written over the past several years and forgotten about). I can't really add anything new to an explanation as to 'why,' other than 'I've been professionally advised not to' and leaving it at that.

I forgot to ask a while back: I'm curious about the 'professional advice.' Does it relate to your original work or your fanfic work? Or have you been professionally advised to minimize your ties between the two? I understand if you can't answer, so no worries. I'm just curious if it's about your fanfic stuff. For instance, if a publisher asked you to leave off your forays into fanficdom, keep it walled off from your original fic writing, as a connection might ding your credibility as a mainstream published author. Basically, for good marketing.

Just curious. It may be something else entirely, and I may have read it completely wrong. And again, if it's not something you can answer, even in the vaguest terms, no worries. I'll completely understand.

[desaix]

It does have to do with my original fiction. Essentially, I was told that publishers X, Y, and Z (who publish fiction in my main genre) have been known to blacklist authors if they find they are submitting to them while being active fanfic writers, but would accept a history of fanfiction writing provided you aren't actively writing them. In essence, until I can 'latch on' to one publisher who doesn't blacklist fanfic writers and\or get a track record of success which would cause said publishers to ignore my fanfiction and\or figure out how to make writing fanfics more of an asset than a hindrance to getting my original fiction published, I'm stuck. I've had some ideas on that last one, but so far they've either fallen through or been so heavily delayed I'm no longer confident in suggesting a possible date for when that breakthrough might occur.

Edited by desaix, 27 September 2012 - 05:43 PM.

[tricksie]

It does have to do with my original fiction. Essentially, I was told that publishers X, Y, and Z (who publish fiction in my main genre) have been known to blacklist authors if they find they are submitting to them while being active fanfic writers, but would accept a history of fanfiction writing provided you aren't actively writing them. In essence, until I can 'latch on' to one publisher who doesn't blacklist fanfic writers and\or get a track record of success which would cause said publishers to ignore my fanfiction and\or figure out how to make writing fanfics more of an asset than a hindrance to getting my original fiction published, I'm stuck. I've had some ideas on that last one, but so far they've either fallen through or been so heavily delayed I'm no longer confident in suggesting a possible date for when that breakthrough might occur.

It's interesting. I've thought about this for a while (and forgotten to post my response! ), and wondered about the different reasons a publisher could have for blacklisting authors. Especially after the success of "50 Shades." Actually, I thought the fanfic world would open up a bit, gain a little more legitimacy. But so far I haven't seen much evidence of it.

Also, I would think the success of "50 Shades" would be in your favor – as in that's less convincing you'd have to do that fanfic writing can be profitable. But on the other hand, I can see that if you became popular yourself, and wrote fanfics about multiple shows/mangas/stories, then you might be a big target for lawsuits. So that thought might prompt a publisher to steer clear, or at least push the author to radically distance h/herself from the fanfics. If not delete them altogether.

[Paradox Jast]

I think the biggest hits (in a negative way) to fanfiction is that should an author chose to continue writing of something that has fanfiction active, and should that author somehow write something that is -really close- to what someone wrote as a fanfiction author, then there would be a whole host of issues. Legally, morally, and otherwise.

For the most part, publishers just want to stay out of that mess, I think. It's simpler to pretend it isn't there... ignorance is bliss?

[desaix]

I know it seems as if I've abandoned fanfiction completely, but I actually am working on some things on occasion. I have a question for one of the fanfics I'm working on currently, regarding a possible issue in the canon brought up by a pair of flashbacks (namely, Danzo's flashback to a young Hiruzen Sarutobi having been named Hokage, and Jiraiya's flashback showing Hiruzen's age when the Sannin took their bell test).

Is Hiruzen supposed to have been an active Hokage when he took on the role of sensei to the Sannin? It isn't possible for the 4th to have been named, at that time, but it seems unlikely that a serving hokage would be capable of leading a team of students, either. Is this a continuity error in the series, or something, because it certainly seems as if Hiruzen is younger when he was named Hokage than he was when he was training the Sannin.

[KnS]

Is Hiruzen supposed to have been an active Hokage when he took on the role of sensei to the Sannin? It isn't possible for the 4th to have been named, at that time, but it seems unlikely that a serving hokage would be capable of leading a team of students, either. Is this a continuity error in the series, or something, because it certainly seems as if Hiruzen is younger when he was named Hokage than he was when he was training the Sannin.

I don't think it's a continuity error. If I understand the history correctly, Tobirama Senju set the precedent by having his own team of students (including Hiruzen and Danzo) while acting as the Second Hokage. It was during the first war that Team Tobirama got into trouble, and Hiruzen volunteered to sacrifice himself for the team. Tobirama chose to sacrifice himself instead, naming Hiruzen as his successor first.

So I'm pretty sure that Hiruzen was Hokage for a long time, a span which included when he was sensei to the Sannin.