Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Imouto Trilogy :: Hatake :: Even After All These Years ❯ Chapter 14: The Teammates ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

 

Claimer: I do own Kyomi and the story plot.

 

(1) - Iwa means rock. This means that he's a shinobi from Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Stone.

 

Thanks to my beta reader, BattleStations.

 

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Even After All These Years

 

Chapter 14

The Teammates

 

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After Naruto's first "solo" mission his schedule picked up even more. He still trained with Kyomi and Kenmaru all the time, but now he often went on missions as well, occasionally even long term missions--though still no longer than a few days.

 

Kyomi always stayed hidden during this time. Watching but not interfering. Naruto had to decide on his own what to bring with him, perform the mission, and then go to the Hokage Tower to take care of the mission report. Only then, once he was done, would Kyomi show up. Generally they would then go over the mission and what Naruto could have done better.

 

During the few times when Kyomi had a mission and couldn't train him she had Naruto train with Gai's team. Even if their team was a bit strange Naruto found that it was a good experience. After all, it meant that he got to fight against a Taijutsu specialist, a weapon specialist, and a Byakuugan wielder. It was good practice and it was also nice for him to get to fight against people his own age again.

 

To Naruto's surprise, however, he also found that, especially when using Kage Bunshin, he was able to fight against two or three of them at the same time without too much difficulty. It seemed that his training was really paying off. Tenten had even asked him who had taught him how to wield his axe!

 

Despite all this Naruto still had to go on missions with his team everyday--well, at least when he wasn't on missions of his own. He found that he didn't mind it so much though; since the mission to Hajime their team dynamics had changed. Sasuke and Sakura watched him more carefully now and dealt with him differently as well. It was like they didn't quite know how to act around this different, quieter, Naruto.

 

Naruto had also begun to wear his black outfit around more often. His teammates never questioned it, but more than once Naruto had caught one or the other staring at him.

 

The situation wasn't quite awkward, but was certainly...strange.

 

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Naruto let out a sigh as he left Team 7's training grounds. Though, granted, the term "team" wasn't quite accurate as they never actually did any training together anymore. Even the amount of mission they did together had dropped so that they could spend time with their separated sensei.

 

Today they had had a couple of minor missions to do. After that they'd returned to training ground #7 and then split up.

 

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to do with himself today; both Kyomi and team Gai were currently away on missions. He supposed that he could go train on his own, but...

 

"Naruto?" The blonde heard from behind him. Blinking in surprise he stopped in his tracks and turned to face the speaker.

 

To Naruto's confusion it was Sakura who was approaching him from behind and wringing her hands nervously. Sasuke was trailing a few feet behind her with his hands shoved into his pocked and looking generally indifferent.

 

"Umm..." Sakura hesitated. "Would...would you like to go out for lunch? With us as a team, I mean," she hastily added. The dark haired boy didn't look up, but he did stop when Sakura did.

 

Naruto stared at his two teammates surprised. He hadn't expected them to approach him. The blonde haired Genin opened and closed his mouth a couple of times unsure as to how he should respond. Finally, a small smile curled at the edges of his lips.

 

"Sure," he replied, "Why not."

 

Sakura's shoulders slumped in relief and Sasuke looked up in surprise. 'Had they honestly expected me to say no?' Naruto thought. 'I may have changed, but I haven't changed that much...Right?'

 

"Ramen?" Sakura ventured.

 

Chuckling, Naruto nodded. "Ramen," he agreed.

 

It took the group only about ten minutes to reach the Ichiraku ramen stand. They were silent during the trip as none of them felt like starting a conversation. The air was tense and unsure. 'When had it become like this?' Naruto thought sadly.

 

Upon reaching the small restaurant Naruto ducked inside with his teammates following him. "Hey, Old Man!" Naruto called out loudly, a wide grin stretching across his face.

 

The owner, Teuchi, chuckled at the greeting. "Naruto-kun," he greeted. "Back already? You were just here with Kyomi-chan a few days ago."

 

Sakura looked questioningly at Naruto. "You come here with Kyomi-san?"

 

Naruto nodded absently. "Yep. We usually come here after missions." Following his lead Sasuke and Sakura sat down on either side of him. Sasuke seemed to be studying him closely though Naruto attempted to ignore it and instead ordered his ramen.

 

"You go on solo missions with Kyomi-san as a watcher, right?" the Uchiha finally asked. At Naruto's nod he continued, "I do the same with Kakashi-sensei."

 

Naruto blinked in surprise at the almost random statement. 'Okaaay...' he thought. Aloud, he said, "Um, that's...great?”

 

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the response. He didn't look angry or even disgruntled though. Rather, he looked as though he'd been expecting a different response and was now trying to figure out why Naruto hadn't reacted the way he'd thought he would. It was...odd.

 

"I don't get to go on higher level missions often," Sakura put in. She made a face. "I have to work at the hospital almost every day. Don't get me wrong, I love my work, but...Sometimes I wish that I could do more field medic-nin work."

 

Naruto couldn't help but grin. "Well, maybe we'll get to go on a high-class mission together as a team sometime, ne?"

 

Sakura stared at Naruto in surprise for a minute before abruptly breaking out in a wide smile. "That'd be nice," she said honestly.

 

Sasuke grunted, though a smirk flitted around the corners of his mouth. "I'd totally beat you, dob--...Naruto."

 

Naruto laughed with amusement dancing in his eyes. "You wish!" he joked back.

 

Before their conversation could go any further however, Teuchi came back and set their food before the team.

 

"Thanks, old man!" The blonde exclaimed happily.

 

"No problem, Hige-kun," Teuchi chuckled.

 

Naruto's face immediately fell. "Not you too!" he groaned, hanging his head. He'd hoped that even after hearing Kyomi use it so often the nickname wouldn't catch on, but it was not to be.

 

"Hige?" Sakura giggled.

 

"Yeah," Naruto said with a sigh. "It's a nickname that Kyomi-sensei came up with."

 

Sakura giggle once more. "Well, I think that it's cute," she said. "...Hige-kun."

 

Naruto scowled at her but she just continued to laugh and even Sasuke smirked widely. After several minutes, as they all continued to joke around, Naruto found himself starting to relax in a way that he hadn't been able to do around his team in years.

 

Perhaps...perhaps there was hope for them yet.

 

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After a half an hour Naruto noticed the time and suddenly cursed. He quickly shoved the last of his ramen into his mouth as he began to pull out his wallet to pay for the meal.

 

"Sorry guys," the blonde said as he swallowed his food, "But I've got to run!" He slammed down his money and not a moment later was out in the streets.

 

Naruto dashed across the rooftops of Konohagakure no Sato as quickly as he could. 'Shit!' he swore in his mind. He'd lost track of time and now it was entirely possible that he'd be late for his training with Kenmaru. That old man was going to kill him!

 

Faster than he'd expected, Naruto found himself outside the rundown front of Kenmaru's shop. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that he wasn't late and then straightened his clothing and stepped inside.

 

The shelves of the store were bare as usual, but all of Kenmaru's customers knew that the real products were kept in the back, hidden away from civilians' eyes.

 

As he entered Kenmaru looked up, grinning. "Right on time, Hige-kun," he greeted and Naruto let out a sigh. Was everyone going to call him that now?

 

Without any further preamble the spry older man began to lead Naruto toward the door in the back of the shop. They passed through the dark hallway, through another hidden door, up a creaky narrow staircase, and into Kenmaru's private quarters.

 

The first room after the stairway was a large room with smooth but well-worn wooden floors. The room was almost completely empty except for the numerous weapons hanging on one wall. This was Kenmaru's sparring room where he and Naruto trained. Naruto had never been past the sparring room and into the area where Kenmaru lived, and he never expected to. He and Kenmaru had a different sort of relationship than he had with Kyomi.

 

"Come, boy," Kenmaru barked. He strode over to the weapon wall, pulled down two dulled axes, and then tossed of one them to Naruto. The blonde Genin caught it easily and hefted it up and getting a good grip on its handle.

 

Kenmaru didn't say another word before abruptly leaping at Naruto with his axe swinging through the air. Naruto quickly rolled out of the way, but Kenmaru twisted as he fell towards the floor aiming towards Naruto once more. Having no other choice the boy brought his axe up to block Kenmaru's attack.

 

As the two axe blades met they set a screech of grinding metal through the room. Naruto grunted under the exertion of holding Kenmaru back; the elder man had more strength than anyone his age had any right to...Except maybe for Tsunade, but she was insane, and not just strength-wise. After a moment however, Naruto managed to throw Kenmaru off him and then immediately slashed at the man. Kenmaru avoided the strike of course, and the battle began in earnest.

 

Naruto fought against Kenmaru for at least twenty minutes before the older man finally let him take a break. Any minor scratches that he'd collected during the fight had already healed leaving behind few traces of their existence.

 

"Damn, Kenmaru-sensei," Naruto grumbled as he plopped onto the ground against one wall. "You never go easy on me, do you? What if you accidentally cut off my arm or something?"

 

Kenmaru snorted. "If that happened then it'd be your fault for being too slow," he replied. Ignoring Naruto's indignant look he continued, "And knowing you, you'd probably just re-grow the arm anyway."

 

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Your antipathy reminds me of Sasuke," he muttered.

 

"The Uchiha?" Kenmaru questioned. "Your teammate? You've never spoken much about your teammates before."

 

Naruto shrugged uncomfortably. "We...We're not all that close."

 

"Be careful of taking them for granted," Kenmaru murmured almost to himself. Surprised by the statement Naruto looked up only the find that Kenmaru was staring off into space as if lost in memories. Though his face remained impassive his eyes looked very sad. "Or one day they might suddenly be gone and there will be nothing that you can do about it. No time left to make up for past mistakes..."

 

Naruto frowned fiercely staring down at the wooden floor beneath him. Kenmaru's words had struck a chord in him. A world without Sasuke and Sakura? He couldn't imagine it. Even though he wasn't very close to them they and Kakashi had been some of the few constants in his life. Sasuke nearly defecting had been difficult enough, but for both of them to suddenly and permanently be gone...

 

"Well, come on, Hige-kun," Kenmaru suddenly exclaimed breaking Naruto from his reverie. The old man was grinning widely as all traces of sadness and regret were gone. Or perhaps just hidden. "There's something that I've been meaning to show you for a while."

 

Before Naruto could even open his mouth to reply Kenmaru had darted into his living quarters presumably to fetch something. The blonde let out a sigh and rested his head against the wall behind him with a thunk. Kenmaru's words about his teammates were still echoing through is mind no matter how hard he tried to push the thoughts away.

 

Within just a few minutes Kenmaru returned to the sparring room. In his hands were what appeared to be a block of wood and two stone bowls. Kenmaru set the items down in front of Naruto and then sat down himself on the other side of them.

 

Peering closer Naruto found that the block of wood--which was about a two feet by a two feet across and a foot tall--was in fact a game board. Black lines crisscrossed it, forming several hundred squares. The stone bowls, the blonde also saw, were filled with smooth polished stones. One bowl held all black while the other held all white.

 

"I'm going to teach you how to play Go," Kenmaru declared.

 

"Eh?! Go? Isn't that that old mens' game?"

 

Kenmaru scowled at the Genin and leaned over to whack him over the head. "It's not a game just for old men," he snapped. "It's a strategy game, and it's very good for shinobi especially. The game teaches you to look many steps ahead at what your opponent will do in the future. You have to predict how the game is going to turn out, and react accordingly. As a shinobi it is very good to learn to do this in real life. If you can predict what your opponent will do...Well, it'll help quite a bit in any fight that you get into.

 

"You in particular need to learn how to read your opponent's moves. And this game is going to help you with that. Every time you come over here we're going to be spending some time with this game. Now to start off..."

 

As Kenmaru began to explain the rules of the game Naruto let out a sigh and moved into a kneeling position in front of the board. Oh well, at least he wasn't getting his ass kicked by Kenmaru's axe.

 

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The next morning Naruto was awakened by a sharp knock on his front door. Grumbling under his breath, Naruto shuffled to the door while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He sensed no aggressive presence on the other side--damn, both of his sensei were making him paranoid--so he unlatched the locks and opened the door.

 

To his surprise it was Kyomi standing on the other side. She smirked upon seeing Naruto's surprised expression and then strode inside and threw herself down onto the couch without waiting for an invitation.

 

"Good morning, Hige-kun," Kyomi chirped.

 

Naruto continued to blink in confusion as he let the door close. "Kyomi-sensei?" he questioned. "You're back?"

 

"Yep! And guess what?" She pulled out a scroll and tossed it to the blonde. "You have a mission."

 

Still in a stupor, Naruto stared down at the scroll in his hands. This was different; Kyomi always waited until their training sessions before giving him the mission. She'd never actually delivered it to him before.

 

Finally, Naruto remembered that he needed to actually open the scroll and he quickly did so. His eyes scanned over the scroll's contents, but then he suddenly froze while in the middle of reading the mission details.

 

It was as assassination mission.

 

Naruto's eyes rose, seeking out Kyomi. She sat on the couch with half-lidded eyes and an otherwise unreadable expression, watching his reaction. Naruto had never had an assassination mission before. He knew it. She knew it. However, they also both knew that it was essential for him to get used to performing them if he was ever going to rise in the shinobi ranks.

 

Naruto looked back down at the scroll and continued reading. He would have to perform the mission. He was a shinobi after all and their business was death.

 

Kyomi didn't say anything else even as Naruto began to make breakfast and Naruto didn't expect her too. After having gone on so many "solo" missions, the Genin knew how things worked: After she'd given him the scroll, it was to be as if she'd left. Naruto would have to get ready on his own, leave the village, perform the mission, return, and write up his report. Only then would Kyomi appear and--almost always--take him out to eat and cover the mission on what he could have done better.

 

Unlike most Genin Naruto had no specific time by which to leave the village. He had to decide that on his own. However, both Kyomi and Kenmaru had pounded punctuality and swiftness into his head so Naruto quickly got ready and left his apartment.

 

As soon as he'd been out the door Kyomi had disappeared from view while trailing silently behind him. It was a testament to Naruto's ever-growing tracking skills however that he was able to sense flashes of her chakra every now and then. His senses really were getting much better.

 

Once he was out of the village Naruto immediately took to the trees. At the speed that he was capable to travel at Naruto knew that it would take a day and a half to reach the village that his target was in. This meant that he would probably be back in Konohagakure in four days.

 

It was mostly silent as Naruto traveled along. He came across no human life, though that was probably partially because he traveled alongside the road, rather than on it. After many house of boring travel--Naruto eventually found himself counting the number of deer he came across because he had nothing else to do. If nothing else solo missions had helped to increase his patience--the sun finally began to set.

 

As it grew dark Naruto spent some time searching for a good hidden spot to spend the night. Said spot ended up being a large old oak tree that would provide more than sufficient cover. Once he was set up for the night he ate his dinner--a ration bar--and then went to sleep. Had he been with other shinobi he would have set up watch for the night, but he was alone and that wasn't possible.

 

The next day progressed much the same as the first. Naruto was almost beginning to see why Kakashi always read that book of his; long term missions were insanely boring especially when you were by yourself. At the moment Naruto felt as though even he would gladly read Kakashi's book.

 

By the time that Naruto arrived at the large bustling town that was his destination he was nervous. He was glad that he was there so that he could get the mission over with, but he also half wished that the trip had taken longer. He had to wait until it got dark to progress further anyway though, so...

 

Naruto took several deep breathes as he stood on the edge of town. He knew that he had to do this, and it wasn't as if it was his first kill, but that didn't make it any easier.

 

Quite suddenly Naruto leapt to the ground while shoving his thoughts away. Maybe if he just didn't think about his mission it wouldn't be so difficult. Naruto quickly put a Henge no jutsu (Transformation Technique) of a farmer around himself and then strode into town.

 

Naruto spent the day in the market district wandering around and listening to gossip. He quite quickly managed to locate the home of his target who was a fairly well-off merchant. The man wasn't cruel or evil, Naruto had found, but had just managed to piss of the right people. That simple idea sent shivers down the blonde's spine; he was killing someone solely because some random person with money wanted someone else dead.

 

When darkness fell Naruto found himself in an alley outside of his target's large home. Activating Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique)--which he was really beginning to be glad that he had been taught--the blonde began to scale up the side of the wall before him. After only a moment he reached the window, which was closed and latched. Fortunately, the room he was looking into was unoccupied so he would be able to get in without too many problems.

 

Working swiftly Naruto used Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) to create a clone beneath him and then used Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) to switch himself with a vase that was resting on the floor inside. The clone outside caught the vase, climbed up the wall of the house, and then handed it to Naruto as the boy opened the window. Naruto then put the vase back in its original place. The switching Jutsu made sure no one would be able to tell how he'd gotten inside. He did however leave the window unlocked--but closed--and the clone outside; they would be useful for a quick escape later.

 

Still under the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) Naruto quietly stalked out of the room and down the hall. Only one of the doors on the upper floor was lit with light so Naruto made his way towards that one; with any luck that was where his target was.

 

Naruto crouched outside the door and placed his ear to the wood in order to hear what was going on inside. He could have felt for chakra signatures, but that would cause his own signature to flare so he figured that it'd be best not to for now just in case.

 

Immediately, Naruto was able to discern several things: heavy breathing and slight mumbling--the sounds of someone who was asleep. Behind that however there was another sound; it was that of breathing as well, but light and quick.

 

Naruto's eyes narrowed. A second person? One who was awake and alert, and who had been trained to breath quietly. A shinobi, but not a Jounin or an ANBU; if it had been Naruto wouldn't have heard the breathing at all and his chakra signature would have already been detected. It couldn't be a Genin either because the breathing was too quiet and they also almost always worked in teams--there was only this one guard here. That only left one rank: Chuunin.

 

So it was a Chuunin guard who'd been hired to protect his target. Damn, that made the situation just that much more difficult though Naruto thought that he'd be able to handle it. After all, this was a B-class mission which meant that he'd had to prepare for the possibility of encountering shinobi.

 

Naruto leaned back on his heels as he contemplated what to do next. He needed to take care of the Chuunin first and hopefully without waking his target. He also wanted to try not to wake the rest of the household; it'd be easiest if he could get in and out with as few people as possible noticing his presence. It was fortunate that he already had surprise on his side.

 

Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh. He needed to do this without opening the door; that would not only take away his surprise, but also could make too much noise. You never could tell especially in these older houses.

 

There was only one way to go about this situation. The first part would leave him blind to the situation during the first few moments--the most crucial part--but with luck the element of surprise would balance that out.

 

The first thing that Naruto did was release the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) and instead placed a Henge over himself so that he looked like a twenty-something year old guy with dark hair and eyes. He then created half a dozen Kage Bunshin on the other side of the door with instructions on what to do. The blonde didn't hesitated for even a moment before quickly following that with Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement Technique), switching places with one of the clones inside. He left it there outside the door as both a guard and as a means of escape for later.

 

Once inside the room, Naruto took a second to appraise the situation. The target--a middle aged man--was still asleep in his bed undisturbed. Meanwhile the Chuunin--who according to his hitai-ate was an Iwa-nin(1)--was being held down by his five clones one of which had his hand over the man's mouth preventing him from making a sound.

 

The shinobi struggled violently against his restraints however, and managed to dispel one of the clones. As it faded away in a poof of smoke Naruto had to stop a sudden grin from coming to his face; he had an idea.

 

Working quickly Naruto dispelled the four remaining clones, causing a screen of smoke to spread throughout the room. Using this to his advantage, Naruto slipped behind the Chuunin and placed a kunai to his throat.

 

When the shinobi froze in shock and fear, Naruto took the pause in movement to quickly remove the kunai and strike its base sharply against the man's temple, knocking him unconscious. Naruto then caught him as he crumpled and lowered him to the ground.

 

As he stepped away from the man's body Naruto let out a shaky sigh. He knew that most people would have killed the Chuunin instead of just knocking him out, but the blonde boy definitely didn't want to have to kill any more than was necessary. It was difficult enough that he would have to assassinate someone today, but the Chuunin hadn't even tried to kill him or anything. He'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to do his job. Naruto turned his attention onto his target whom was still sleeping heavily, and began to walk to the bed.

 

As the Genin stood over the man with a kunai in one hand he took a deep shaky breath. He was trembling--he knew--but he had every right to be. He couldn't believe that he was doing this, but...

 

He was a shinobi and unfortunately this was just a part of the job description.