Chapter 18

Now they were down to just a handful more students and Naruto was starting to wonder when the hell he was going to be-

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uesu Taida please take your places!" Zae called, a hush leveling the area before each student began to murmur with one another.

Huh...Looks like she decided it best to work from the top to the bottom rather than the bottom to the top.

He stood up, listening as Taida did the same, both of them marching down to the practice ring.

When they arrived, Taida bowed at the waist. If there was one thing that could be said about the Samurai clan boy it was that he was polite and did his best to follow the traditions of his family.

Which meant his greatest strength was essentially Taijutsu. He aced all of his tests and written tactic exams, was slightly above average in accuracy, but, most likely due to his upbringing before coming to the village he didn't put as much effort in his ninjutsu, so that was just average.

Which essentially meant, especially due to his size, he had to use his ninjutsu to its fullest advantage over him.

He took his stance, the basic academy stance, Taida did the same though his was a bit more rigid in his foot positioning. He probably wouldn't use too many kicks if that was the case. So overcoming the taijutsu reach advantage wouldn't be impossible, just unlikely now.

"Begin!" Zae shouted.

With a handseal Naruto focused. "Bunshin no jutsu!"

He was never good at making a single, regular clone.

One hundred was an entirely different matter.

Within a second the academy practice grounds were covered from corner to corner in grinning blondes.

The students gasped, even Zae leaned forward in her seat, looking intently now at the fight.

Taida's eyes widened, but in quick motion drew his shuriken and began throwing.

A few of the clones dispelled as the weapons cut through the fragile illusion that formed them.

The rest charged!

To Naruto's surprise, Taida didn't choose to flee as most Shinobi would have done, trying to get to a more advantageous position, or even buy time in order to think of a plan.

He held his ground, bracing himself.

Charging in the middle of his clones, Naruto grinned.

It was a good plan.

He could think of more than a few ways to...kill his enemy, none would fail. He'd gotten too good at killing dead things that refused to stay down for an aspiring gennin to have a prayer, even with him like this.

But he didn't want a clean win. He just wanted to see how much work he still had waiting for him. How much distance he'd have to cross before he could even have a prayer.

The clones struck, and the blows passed him by, doing no damage and merely dispelling themselves with the fragile break.

Until finally there was one solid kick across his face that nearly knocked him over.

Until his hand snapped forward and grabbed the owner of the offending limb.

With a brutal punch to the stomach that knocked the wind out of him, and a followup that hit him about as hard as Shizune's opponent had hit her striking him across the cheek, Naruto scarcely had time to catch his breath before he was thrown onto the ground with a solid thud.

Not even fast enough to avoid an academy student...

He recovered and looked up as Taida pounced, looking to pin him to the ground and get the win.

And for a moment, he was not in the academy training grounds. He was not facing an all too polite exchange student. He was not in a friendly test.

He was in a battlefield. The screams of dying, wounded men rising up to a crescendo of noise around him, a hurricane of sound that clawed at his ears as he looked up at the lone sharingan eye spinning in its iris, the crackle of lightning roaring over the battlefield noise as Konoha's last Hokage rushed in for the kill, the howling of a thousand birds meeting the unrelenting force of a Rasengan before his own deathblow came at the hands of a tearful Sakura, his body sealed and burned by his remaining student.

The Last Hokage...the first of Team seven...

His chakra surged, taking form in his hand, the shape of a whirling sphere coalescing into the faintest silhouette before he caught himself, blinked. The memories of a dead man in a dead future vanishing like the ghosts of shadow and he stops holds back from the deadly blow. from sheer...reflex.

He vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Leaving only an academy standard explosive trap at his feet.

Taida's eyes widened, his legs bracing to move when the thing exploded in a massive cloud of smoke, leaving him sputtering and hacking up a lung.

"Gotcha!" The students heard through the cloud before Taida stumbled out of the impenetrable smoke, still hacking up his lungs with tears leaking from his eyes.

"Match." The students heard Zae shout before a quick E rank wind jutsu did its work to blow the cloud away, revealing Naruto sitting at the edge of the ring, grinning from ear to ear despite the bloody lip.

Soon enough the muttering of the other students began and Zae clapped thrice to get them all to calm down. She looked tense, her lips pursed a bit more than usual as she looked them over. Naruto didn't dare look up, worried that if he did, and she'd seen that second...that moment...if she'd felt the killing intent, his look would be all the confirmation she needed. "Alright students, we're done for the day now I suggest you all go home and enjoy your weekend. Next week will be your last before the final examinations and we see which one of you made it. Good luck." And with that the teacher began to gather her things.

Taida made his way over still coughing a bit, his eyes still red from tearing up. "A good match." The raven haired youth said, bowing at the waist, smiling as he straightened. "If that had been actual explosive tags..."

'You'd be dead in that case too.' The faux four year old grinned once more, this...damn smile slipping on so very easilly all over again.. "Hah, that was fun! I want a re-match!"

Taida's smile grew a bit, holding just the slightest bit of bemusement. "You are rather odd Naruto-san."

-0-

By the time he got back home Naruto was full and satisfied. Tsunade had picked him and Shizune up, healed their cuts and bruises and then treated them to an early celebratory lunch.

Three more days and he'd find out who exactly he was getting on a team with. He'd be a gennin, one step closer to hunter nin.

When he stepped into his home, it was to be greeted by the now, familiar sensation of his nightly watcher already in wait and Kakashi-sensei leaving, with his shift now done with her arrival.

It was a moments curiosity that wormed its way into his brain, idly trying to think of who she was. The signature was familiar but strangely alien...

As he went about his nightly routine, getting ready to sleep, that idle curiosity kept on gnawing at him, getting just a little bit stronger. A little bit more irritating.

Finally, as he was about to step into bed he realized something.

Why the hell doesn't he just ask?

And so with a sharp about face, he follows the signature, marching out of his room and down the hallway towards his potted plant.

He stretches out his hand.

And with a glimmer in the air, the genjutsu falls away, revealing the woman in an Anbu mask.

She's surprised...any Anbu would be really.

But still he can't recognize her behind the mask.

He smiles up at her.

"Hi! I'm Naruto! What's your name?"

She tilts her head to the side. Looking at him as though she is the most curious of hawks. One that had just found a rodent willing to walk up to it in order to curiously sniff at its talons.

In a way, he rather supposed he was.

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