8 8 Kobato the temporary sensei

The next day, after the reset, walking passed the pair of disguised chunin on his way to the written test as usual, but thinking about the events of the last time through, Naruto paused and asked, pointing toward the door. "Okay, I know that is an illusion, and you two are chunin. So how do you do that?"

The pair of disguised chunin snorted. "What? The door? It's called the Veil technique, and with it you can cloak small areas in a different appearance."

"So, how do you do it?" he pressed with just enough eagerness to get their egos stroked.

One of them shrugged. "It's not hard, only a D-rank technique. Mostly you just take a standard Transformation and project it outward. You have to stay nearby or it falls to pieces, and it costs more chakra to keep active. But it can be useful to fool clueless goons, like most of you hopefuls."

"And the handseals?"

"Here," one of them showed him. "Now get out of the way and don't clue in anyone else. We have a job to do, weeding out the unfit."

I I I

Having liked the last set of events he'd set in motion, Naruto decided to repeat it for a while. That meant passing the test and forging a note to Ebisu so he could get the scroll so he wouldn't look odd to Tenten when she woke him up in the morning after sleeping outside in the forest.

They'd train together, and pretty soon he had the basics of all of her tricks down. All that was left from that point was to refine and practice them, but doing so he got to be good friends to her.

She didn't remember him past any resets, obviously, but as he learned to like her and know her better he was able to learn her buttons and impress her and build a surprisingly good relationship in a fairly short time.

While obviously not in the same boat as him, Tenten was a very lonely girl and eager to have more friends. He found it easy to respond to that, and soon was seeking her out for more than just training.

There were also those conversations, learning everything he could from the Sand team. And the entertainment value of seeing Sasuke's balls crushed over and over somehow never grew tiresome! It just kept getting funnier every time he saw it! He'd even spooked Gaara once over how HARD he'd laughed while Sasuke got gelded!

But it was all for training purposes, really. He had to repeat it all that way, because... uhm..? Ah! Yes, there was no other way to get the Sand siblings to the table, that was it. Useful information and all.

It was just a side benefit that seeing the psychopathic insomniac creeped out by HIM was a hoot all on it own!

But forming a few hundred shadow clones into a Harem variant that had them all dressed like cheerleaders, and having them all loudly celebrate the Sand demon's victory jumping about waving pompoms wasn't too much, now was it?

No, there had been some times in there where he'd really disturbed Gaara.

As far as training, things were going swimmingly there, between Tenten's help and Ebisu's scroll. Plus, he also had a significant personal project on his own he was fitting in on the side.

Learning how to project a Transformation technique when what he did wasn't a standard transformation was a fair bit of work. He tried his own as a basis and it didn't work, or at least it wasn't possible given what knowledge he had.

Luckily, at least no one was out to stop him from learning an Academy level technique, so he could go ask Iruka or look it up himself to learn the basic Transformation, the real one this time, in addition to his own version.

For simplicity's sake, he decided to call the academy version the Disguise technique within himself, because that was all it did, and his own Shapeshift, as that was equally descriptive.

Picking up the Disguise technique was easy by now, as was perfecting it, as he already knew all of the ins and out and tricks for it, having done it all already for his own, much harder version.

His improved chakra control over his academy days helped a fair bit, too.

From there it really wasn't too hard to take it that one step further and get a version of the Veil going. Knowing the internal workings of the Disguise, as he did, made the rest of it seem easy. His experience with the Shadow Clone also helped him quite a lot, and his mastery of the basic Clone also pushed his knowledge along, as that one already dealt with a projected illusion.

Really he found it so easy he was surprised that it wasn't harder. Oh, there were a great many details to work out yet, blurred edges and all of the things Ebisu had named, but he was able to get SOMETHING going quickly.

And that gave him a significant hope, as between his Disguise and the new Veil he'd have three illusions to show off to Kurenai. Mastering them wouldn't be too difficult after all he'd already done, and with three good, solid illusions to show her instead of one he'd have a greatly increased chance to convince her to accept him as a student, even if just for one hour.

One hour, that he could be infinitely repeating.

No, his chances for acquiring a specialty were definitely looking up. Even if it would be months of work on his own to get these perfect, he now had a route to follow that he could work on that led to a definite hope of success.

It would have been enough by itself to keep him interested, but there was also training alongside Tenten in the mornings.

Also, at the same time, he was getting to know Temari and Kankuro more on the other end of that same schedule, having bizarre lunches with them while Gaara squeezed Sasuke's balls to mush before crushing him to death, and the Sand siblings were also surprisingly good people, once you got to know them. Perversely, they were almost as lonely as Naruto was, and for almost exactly the same reasons. On that surprising basis, he found himself building something of the same odd friendship he had with Tenten with them.

Naruto learned to love Kankuro's sense of humor, and found flirting with Temari so fun that once he'd delayed and delayed at the table until before he knew it Gaara was sitting there with them.

Being within arm's reach of the deadliest person outside of Orochimaru he'd yet met was something both frightfully terrifying and yet strangely normal after all that had happened.

Really, it was exactly like he was just playing in a movie instead of feeling he was there for real. And, to him, it kind of was, as no matter what happened, the next day, all the players would be back to their starting positions, ready for another take. Plus, he got a good amount of valuable information out of the sand siblings. Who were, admittedly, amused by his attitude towards his teammate's death. So he might as well have some fun with it when he could.

Although it was creepy when Gaara whispered across the table to him, "Are you here to validate my existence?"

Then the blond from Konoha found a new depth of bravery he hadn't suspected in himself and reached across the table, offering his hand to the red haired boy. When the short psychopath didn't seem to know what to do with it, the Konoha genin offered him a grin as well. "Here, take my hand."

Strangely, Gaara did so, placing his own in the proffered grasp. The demon container from Sand had no fear, as he knew next to nothing could hurt him. The sand shield that protected him was automatic, and even if it were not, he had his sand armor on.

No, this clasping of hands was akin to a mouse asking a serpent to open wide. It gave every advantage to Gaara at no danger to him.

Naruto clasped his hand around the other and smiled, saying, "Gaara, I don't need to die to validate your existence! I can do so as your friend, instead, and I acknowledge you! You are important to me! You are significant, and you can make the world a better place for everyone if you choose to do so!"

Gaara continued to stare at him for a very long time, before releasing his hand and not killing him.

His siblings were shocked speechless, to say the least. Kankuro dropped a fork since he was so stunned he'd forgotten to hold on to it.

Gaara didn't let Naruto leave his side for the rest of that reset.

The next step, Naruto thought, was to find some way of doing that before Gaara killed Sasuke. If he could do that, then they could advance through the test and possibly he could discover something about getting out of this loop!

Of course, that was made more difficult by Sasuke picking fights with Gaara and interrupting his plans to befriend him before anyone died.

I I I

Naruto was so preoccupied by his thoughts of how to discuss things with Gaara before Sasuke died that he forgot the next time to pass on his warning about the test to Tenten, which meant that news did not spread, and Sasuke did not hear it.

Naruto tried to tell him directly, only to not be believed.

So, there they were, getting attacked by Orochimaru as usual when it just got too much to handle, coming as an interruption to all his other plans, as it had.

"Oh, I give up. Just bite the bastard and be done with it. I'm tired of this." Naruto folded his arms, sat down, and pouted.

"Kukukuku!" Orochimaru laughed, before deciding, "Thank you, I believe I will. But aren't you in the least bit worried about my killing your team?"

"Feh. Why should I be?" Naruto started to pick his nose. "They're all useless. Look at little Miss Trembling over there. As near as I can recall, she's never hit anyone in anger except for me, and she does that for me trying to be nice to her. All she does in a fight is stand there and tremble, waiting for her hero to come make it all better, then afterwards she's all proud and boasting as if she'd won the whole thing herself."

Sakura's jaw had dropped open and she stared at Naruto, too shocked to tremble anymore. Shocked, and a little bit afraid, Naruto's loyalty had been the one thing she could always count on in her life, and now he was giving her up to die?

Suddenly she felt very small and vulnerable.

"And that useless waste of flesh you're facing," Naruto pulled out his finger and wiped it on the branch. "He's as pathetic as they come. Every hour of every day since I met him he's spent feeling sorry for himself, and of course all of the girls our age are stupid enough to think that's cute. Everyone gives him anything he asks for and treats him as some kind of hero thanks to the family he was born in - but he's never done anything himself. As soon as he gets faced with anything the least bit hard he gives up, just like now when he was trying to give the scroll to you."

"Oh? Kukukuku, interesting." The Snake Sannin looked back to the boy who had been approaching him to surrender their team's scroll.

The blond genin snorted. "He's pathetic. If something isn't given to him for free by being a stupid Uchiha he doesn't want it, and then he has to go treat everyone else like garbage because he can - he's the Uchiha. Feh. Pathetic. Here we are in a fight for our lives, you're about to kill us all, and what does he do? He's playing 'sorry for himself' again. Heck, he's every bit as wimpy as his fangirl over there. But they're both so stupid they call ME 'Dead-Last' when it's always ME who's pulling them out of these things. But when I do they both instantly claim credit for themselves, as if it was THEIR worthless behavior, standing there waiting for someone to rescue them, that somehow saved the day. Without me, they'd have lost every fight they've ever been in, they'd both be long dead by now, both them AND their teacher, but they have to treat me as if my grades at the academy somehow, mysteriously, make it so my saving their scrawny, pathetic, useless lives in every fight since then doesn't matter. Go ahead, kill them both. They deserve to die."

Sakura, who'd been shocked out of her paralyzing fear enough to listen, winced at every statement. Then she looked over to Sasuke, questions in her eyes. Had she been fooling herself all along? It didn't seem possible, but...

Suddenly Sasuke didn't seem so invincible anymore.

The Uchiha, however, was enraged that ANYONE would DARE speak about him like that! It was a close call, but he elected to attack their enemy instead of Naruto, and when he launched his attack, he actually impressed the snake summoning freak.

So the freak beat him up, bit him, and was gone, leaving them all alive for the first time in what felt like forever.

Naruto was so stunned he nearly fell off the branch he'd been sitting on.

Sakura was torn between mortified, scared and furious.

Sasuke would have been raging mad, but was too busy being comatose and nearly dead. Sakura didn't attack Naruto for only two reasons: dealing with her crush was a higher priority, and she was now scared of him.

Naruto was still blinking. They were alive? Okay, quick, commit what happened to memory so he could do it again!

I I I

Later that same reset, they were both kneeling over Sasuke's feverish and shaking body in a shallow cave made by tree roots when it happened.

"Na..." Sakura cleared her throat painfully. "Naruto? Do you think, maybe after we get out of here, you could take me out?"

He'd been a complete gentleman with Hinata, after all. That lunch date they'd been on together had been very cute.

Surely it couldn't be too bad?

Sakura's reasons were complicated, and she didn't fully understand them herself. Yet suddenly the fear of losing Naruto's support terrified her, and she'd begun to realize that would hurt her, that no one else had been so nice to her, and that she'd been driving him away.

So she'd acted to do what she could to reel him back before it grew too late.

The boy sighed, diverting his eyes to go look out over the rest of the forest. "Sakura, I asked you out once a day, on average, for six years. That's two thousand, one hundred and ninety requests for a date, and each time you turned me down was worse than the last. Sorry, but I'm not interested."

"Oh."

Sakura was devastated. He'd gotten away from her. She didn't know how, or when it had happened, but she had lost him. Her attempt to reel him back had come too late, and she'd missed all of the danger signs of his approaching separation. She felt shame as she realized it had been too late to keep him before she'd even thought to try.

What had she done? Had she been so terrible? Except, well... maybe she had. Looking back on it, she couldn't recall the last time she'd said or done something nice for the blond haired boy.

She hadn't wanted to encourage him, but...

Suddenly she realized that he'd become her foundation. He'd been her one constant, a never ending source of affection bearing her up no matter how life got her down; her ace in the hole against Ino, and something to cheer her up every time Sasuke turned her down - And now she had truly lost him.

She couldn't put to words how much that hurt, or how scary it was to find herself cut free of that support, to suddenly find herself adrift in the world having to face all of the little hurts and Sasuke's rejections on her own.

With a bite out of her heart she realized Naruto hadn't even been calling her Sakura-chan. It had always annoyed her before, but now... she missed it.

Neither drew any attention to the fact that she began to cry behind him. It was an hour or more before she choked out, shyly, "... Naruto?"

"Yeah?" He did not turn to look at her.

She spent a moment shivering over his coldness. "Do you... you know so much I never expected. Do you know any special healing powers? I think Sasuke could really use some help just now."

The blond boy softly sighed. "No, Sakura, I don't."

"Oh," she replied equally softly, her voice tinged with concern on behalf of their fallen comrade, and his plight.

Inwardly, Naruto was thinking, 'Just because I don't know any right now, doesn't mean I won't. Sakura is right. Healing my own wounds real fast isn't an excuse not to have any medical skills, because people around me can get injured. I've been careless, not studying those before. Well, it won't happen again. Before we come to this place again I'll be a medic. Maybe even good enough I can save Sakura from choking on her blood if that happens again.'

Sakura was so wrapped up in her own misery she did not take as good a care of Sasuke as she might have, and he died, the cursed seal having overcome his frail vitality without that tiny extra edge.

Love has a healing power all its own, completely apart from ninja skills, and the focus Sakura had once given to Sasuke had transferred some of her energies to him during those critical hours while the seal was turning his own chakra against itself. No matter how weak or powerful, a person is always equally matched against themselves, and the body paid the price of this battle the cursed seal initiated, usually ending in death.

It may seem a small thing, but that was really the deciding factor in who lived and died upon receiving the cursed seal. Those who had someone to love and care for them lived, as even so tiny a boost was enough to tip the balance, while those who did not died.

Orochimaru was ignorant of this himself, having no idea why one person lived and another died, despite decades of experiments.

Healing techniques, all being chakra based, got turned about the same way as a patient's own chakra supplies and were useless. Love, being made up of an entirely different energy, made up the difference in a way that got around the cursed seal's effect.

However, with Sakura focused on her own misery and suffering, she did not have the total devotion to spare that had been bolstering his constitution that final, extra degree their first time through the forest.

So, Sasuke died, and they reset.

I I I

Naruto started getting severely frustrated.

It did not take him many repeats to discover that it was not his performance that made the difference in whether or not they all survived that fight with Orochimaru.

It was Sasuke.

Naruto could commit everything he had to that fight, or nothing at all, and it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. The only thing that mattered was getting Sasuke worked up enough to go all out against the Snake Sannin.

If Sasuke impressed Orochimaru, then the missing ninja wouldn't kill any of them in order to let Sasuke continue on in the chunin exams. Sasuke, like everyone, needed a three man team in order to progress, and as near as Naruto could tell, the freaky snake guy wanted that for some reason.

A bit of trial and error proved that Naruto didn't even have to get sealed during those fights. It happened if he went all out and forced the freak to deal with him, but he didn't have to do that, didn't have to do anything at all.

It was all Sasuke.

Life sucked sometimes.

I I I

"Hey! Kabuto! Wait up!"

The named genin and his team turned around to face the Uzumaki boy, who came running up to catch them, through the crowd leaving after the written test.

"Hey," the boy called out once he got closer. "Kabuto, I need to be a medic ninja. Do you know how I should get started?"

"You? Be a medic ninja? I'm afraid that's not really possible, Naruto. You'd need perfect chakra control, among other things."

Kabuto laughed, but not with any real malice.

Not about to be deterred, Naruto pressed on. "What about that regeneration technique you do that I heard about? How do you do that?"

Still laughing, the silver haired one shook his head. "You know, if I felt there was any chance of you being able to use it, I'd never tell you. But just to show you how impossible it would be, let me show you how it works. Then you can try it yourself, and see how far away you are from doing this, and maybe pick a more reasonable specialty for your talents."

I I I

"Hey! Kabuto! Wait up!"

The named genin and his team turned around to face the Uzumaki boy, who came running up to catch them, through the crowd leaving after the written test.

"Hey," the boy called out once he got closer. "Kabuto, your dad is the chief of Konoha's medical squad isn't he? I was wondering if you could introduce me. I was hoping to pick up some basic stuff to do in an emergency. My team hasn't got a medic on it and that lady who is to give us the next test scares me. I've heard of her reputation."

Kabuto smiled. "It's no problem, Naruto. Why don't I show you some myself? We've got time before we prepare for the next stage of the exam."

I I I

"Hey! Kabuto! Wait up!" the boy called out once he got closer. "Your dad is the chief of Konoha's medical squad, isn't he? I was wondering if you could introduce me? I was hoping for some tips and pointers. I know a little, but my team hasn't got a real medic on it and that lady who is to give us the next test scares me. I've heard of her reputation."

Kabuto smiled. "It's no problem, Naruto. Why don't I show you some myself? We've got time before we prepare for the next stage of the exam."

I I I

"Hey, Kabuto! I've been reading some books on how to be a medic ninja, but I don't feel up to a real challenge yet, and I've heard some rumors about the next stage of our test tomorrow. I'm worried that I might not be able to do enough for my team if anyone gets injured. So, do you think you could point me toward some resources?"

Kabuto smiled. "I could help you myself."

I I I

"Hey, Kabuto! I've been hearing rumors of the next stage of this test, and I've got to say I'm concerned. I'm the only medic my team has got, but I'm only half-trained and my medical techniques stink. I was wondering if you knew someone who could help me."

Kabuto straightened his glasses. "That's very surprising, Naruto. I hadn't heard you had any medical experience at all. But I'll be glad to help you. There is a spare office in the hospital that is usually empty this time of day. We can use the charts and tools there."

I I I

"You really need perfect chakra control to be a good candidate for learning this technique," Kabuto told him.

"Yeah, I know, but the girl on our team has no interest in such things, and I've been elected. So how do you do the technique?"

"Well, it would be easier if you had more knowledge of anatomy."

I I I

"Say, Kabuto. Do you know where the ANBU have their anatomy classes? You know, the ones where they study nerves and pressure points for taking down targets? Kakashi told us about how they train hunter-ninja to do that."

"Yes, of course I know. They do get most of their supplies from the hospital, after all. But why would you be interested in such things?"

"Aw, there was this girl who did this thing on our last mission to induce false death in a target she wanted to capture. Our teacher wants us to look up those points so we can recognize them next time. Personally I think he's just doing it to get out of teaching us anything himself."

I I I

"Well, Naruto, I don't really have time to teach you anything further. My team and I have to get ready for the test tomorrow. But if you still want to learn more, how about I introduce you to my father? He could at least loan you some books. He has an extensive library."

I I I

"So what now? How do I get to be a better medic ninja?"

"I don't know that I'd call you a medic-ninja, Naruto. Your healing techniques are clumsy and unpredictable, frankly I don't know how you got them to work at all given your chakra control isn't half of what it ought to be to even learn them. I know I'd certainly never want to be your patient. However, you've got all of the book knowledge we ask of even our best shinobi healers. In fact you know everything they do. I'm impressed. The only things you lack are chakra control and experience. But if you do go after the latter, you'd better do all of your practicing on missing ninja, because I don't want anyone from Konoha subject to your clumsy attempts!"

Kabuto laughed, but not with any real malice.

Not about to be deterred, Naruto pressed on. "What about that regeneration technique you told me about? How do you do that?"

Still laughing, the silver haired one shook his head. "You know, some secrets are best kept in families, Naruto. My father showed me that one, and I'd rather not be giving it out to anyone else."

I I I

"Hey! Kabuto! Wait up!"

The named genin and his team turned around to face the Uzumaki boy, who came running up to catch them, through the crowd leaving after the written test.

"Hey," the boy called out once he got closer. "Kabuto, I need to be a medic ninja. Do you know how I should get started?"

"You? Be a medic ninja? I'm afraid that's not really possible, Naruto. You'd need perfect chakra control, among other things."

Kabuto laughed, but not with any real malice.

Not about to be deterred, Naruto pressed on. "What about that regeneration technique you do that I heard about? How do you do that?"

Still laughing, the silver haired one shook his head. "You know, if I felt there was any chance of you being able to use it, I'd never tell you. But just to show you how impossible it would be, let me show you how it works. Then you can try it yourself, and see how far away you are from doing this, and maybe pick a more reasonable specialty for your talents."

Naruto grinned