Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Juniper ❯ Braining I ( Chapter 8 )

Agent's Spiel:

Naruto will be using alternate means of communication:

Single quotation marks `' will be used to represent sign language.

Back slashes / will denote Naruto writing what he is saying.

Italics mean you are reading the characters thoughts; congratulations on becoming telepathic. Of course it generally only applies to Sakura and Kakashi so I'm not necessarily sure telepathy is good thing around those two.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Braining

“We have a lot of work to do,” Iruka stated looking at the three Genin in disappointment. “Some of the problems brought to my attention during your stay on the island are rather easy to fix. However, giving you the easy fix before you even realize what the problem is would be pointless. While Kakashi is going over everyone else's reports on your behavior, why don't you tell me how you would evaluate each other?”

“What do you mean?” Sakura asked nervously.

“What do you think went wrong on the island?”

“We weren't prepared to work together,” Sakura finally admitted after several minutes of awkward silence.

`Blossom and Bastard don't listen to me,' Naruto signed angrily.

“Yes, we noticed that,” Iruka responded.

“Noticed what?” Sakura asked.

“That. You two haven't adjusted to the fact that Naruto can't talk and so you aren't giving him a break during which he can respond. And neither of you is looking for those responses so he ends up with no input in the team whatsoever.”

“Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed that Naruto only resorted to throwing rocks at them once. It was more amusing than seeing him catch them off guard by tapping them on the shoulder.”

“Kakashi I thought you were studying the reports today,” Iruka stated, turning around to frown at the Jounin.

“I am. I just stopped by to check on how this was going,” Kakashi replied. “You aren't keeping them for long today, are you?”

“No. Only another hour or so. I have to take Naruto back over to Hokage tower to meet with one of the medics on his case,” Iruka replied.

“Another hour? Good, I'll just wait here and leave with you, that should make me two hours late,” Kakashi decided, sitting down on the couch opposite his students.

Iruka glared at him for a moment before turning back to the three Genin. “It's a pity you have such a horrible example of what a real shinobi is,” he lamented for them. “Now where were we?”

`Blossom and Bastard are idiots.'

“That wasn't nice Naruto. And it wasn't completely true either. Try to be objective for today,” Kakashi suggested. “You can always insult them more later.”

“Moving on,” Iruka sighed turning back to Sakura and Sasuke. The latter was glaring at Naruto and Kakashi, but Sakura at least looked properly reprimanded.

“Maybe we would have listened to the dobe if he had had anything useful to suggest,” Sasuke retorted.

“Funny, I don't remember either of you having to gather food the entirety of your time on the island,” Kakashi muttered.

“Now you're just instigating a fight,” Iruka sighed. “This isn't going to work. Sakura, Sasuke there are books on sign language for you to take home with you. You're giving them a week before their next meeting right?”

Kakashi nodded and added, “We'll meet back here in a week. By that time if you can't converse properly with Naruto I'll suspend training another week. The more time I suspend training the longer I will hold you back from promotions. Continue your own personal training during that week, and Sakura remember to talk to Sanzo about Ikko Akechi.”

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“What did the medic say?” the Sandaime asked later that afternoon. Iruka and Kakashi had shown up in his office four hours after Kakashi had been due. Not that the Sandaime had minded; his impending meeting had given him an excuse to keep Konohamaru out of the office.

“He doesn't know what's causing it. And since Naruto had no clue what we were talking about we couldn't learn anything about what was happening,” Iruka admitted.

“And the meeting with the Genin?”

“Would have gone better had Kakashi not arrived and encouraged Naruto to insult his teammates,” Iruka muttered.

“And Naruto is, where?”

“Training,” Iruka answered again.

“Well then, on to business. While waiting for Kakashi to arrive, I took the liberty of reading through the reports Anko, Kotetsu and Izumo submitted. I believe Kakashi has glanced over them and in order to save time I'd like to just summarize them for you right now, you can read them later,” the Sandaime said waiting for Iruka's approval of the plan.

When Iruka nodded the Sandaime picked up the three reports in front of him. “In general, the critiques weren't bad. You and Kakashi will be harder on the Genin than the rest of us. Kotetsu and Izumo both expressed concern with the health of all three Genin: they claimed they looked underweight. They also complained about their uniforms; while we are not particularly strict with our Genin, they felt that especially Sakura and Naruto should look into something different for missions. Aside from that, the main thing they noticed on the island was the stubbornness that prevented the three from working together properly. And for Naruto and Sasuke, pride that supposedly caused the majority of their mistakes. I don't suppose any of these had escaped your notice.”

“No, I convinced Kakashi to give them a week off to monitor Sakura and Sasuke's eating habits. I can control Naruto's now that he's staying with me, but if Sakura and Sasuke aren't eating correctly other steps will have to be taken. The rest will have to be dealt with during training,” Iruka responded.

The Sandaime nodded and continued, “Anko's report was a bit kinder and more in depth. She claims, `Uchiha and Sakura don't pay enough attention to their teammate. Naruto's fighting is messy but he makes a clever use of his environment against his opponents. Somebody tell that kid to stop scowling.' I think she was talking about Sasuke there. `That girl needs a life.' Sakura obviously. `Please, please make him laugh it's too depressing that he isn't even smiling.' Naruto I suppose. `Get him out of those dumb clothes.' That could be Naruto or Sasuke she wasn't very clear. `I hope they torture Kakashi for what he's doing to them. Kakashi and Iruka need to…' we'll ignore that last one for now it has nothing to do with the Genin.”

By the time the Sandaime had finished Iruka was trying to reign in his laughter and Kakashi was torn between glaring at Iruka and hunting down Anko and feeding her to his dogs. “Please tell me those were her actual statements and that I will eventually be able to show them to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke?” Iruka asked calming down enough to gasp out his question.

“They are, and you can once Kakashi allows it,” the Hokage told him in complete seriousness. Iruka was still trying to figure out how the elderly man had been able to say everything he had with a straight face and without intonation. “That being said, I have several suggestions for the two of you, but please remember that it is up to you to decide how to mold them. The first is to seriously consider their comments about the dietary needs of your students; I understand that you are already looking into this, but try not to let it fall off of your radar. Both Naruto and Sasuke, as orphans, have fended for themselves and even if Sasuke eats more than Naruto, whether or not he is eating correctly is always questionable. I've been forced to send Sanzo on more missions lately and that has left Sakura on her own. Many of the kunoichi in her year, and the younger years, have been gripped with fad diets and without her father to balance that out she may need more attention than the other two.

“Also consider their comments on uniform. I normally encourage my shinobi in their individuality; however, especially for Naruto in his current state, blending in is becoming more important. For Naruto to truly blend in, it may also be best if his teammates change at least slightly as well so that they blend in better with the older Genin. And for purely practical reasons, the more professional they look the more clients will trust them once they start doing missions.

“Lastly, and I assume you are already planning to work with them on this, their communication must improve. The fault cannot be completely placed on Sasuke and Sakura as this is quite an adjustment. Naruto needs to learn more patience to cope with his handicap.”

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“Just remember the blow must always be the final one. It has to incapacitate them because a skilled enough opponent who can keep their head after the injury will be able to use it to escape the genjutsu and you'll lose you're edge.”

Sakura nodded as she processed her father's words and closed her eyes to concentrate. She couldn't understand how Kakashi could have known about this jutsu let alone how he expected her to be able to learn it as a Genin. But not even Sakura would deny that she had a competitive streak and Naruto and Sasuke had set it off during their sparring matches. They both easily out did her physically and she had the feeling that had jutsu been allowed in the matches she would have been out even faster. But, she grinned, judging by their performance at tree climbing, neither has good chakra control, which means they both probably suck at genjutsu. At least until Sasuke develops the sharingan, I'll have leg up on them.

Although she wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble she had had to go through to convince her father that she was capable of learning a jutsu which she didn't actually believe she was capable of learning. “That will be true for all genjutsu you learn in the future. Pain is one of the most successful counters to the majority of genjutsu. Now show me the seals again.”

Sakura nodded again and went through the hand seals without putting any chakra into the jutsu. “Good. I think you've got the general theory and method down. The real problem for you is going to be the chakra. Until I give you the go, don't use this in training with anyone but me. And when you start missions don't use it unless you absolutely have to. This could almost wipe out your reserves at their current level.”

Sakura pouted and she heard her father laugh at her. “I'm just being honest with you. Now that you're a Genin I want you to take this seriously and that means understanding your strengths and your weaknesses.”

“Yeah and the second list is growing by the day according to Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura muttered back, dropping her arms and turning to look at her father.

“That means he's already doing more than your Academy sensei did for you,” Sanzo muttered back to his daughter.

“Iruka-sensei never had a problem with it,” Sakura retorted feeling oddly defensive of her former teachers.

“Umino Iruka? Of course he would. I'm talking about the other teachers, especially those Kunoichi they put you with. I swear if any of them had field experience for anything over D Rank I'd be shocked. I never could understand why the `feminine arts' were so important; it's wasn't like more than a fourth of kunoichi graduates would ever need them for espionage.”

“Yamanaka-san told Ino that it was because they don't expect more than a fifth of the kunoichi to rise above Genin level. Eventually they all quit and the training is more of an alternative than anything else,” Sakura explained.

“Maybe if they'd focus a little more on teaching you how to be shinobi, the girls wouldn't get so bored with it and take up those alternatives. If Tsunade-hime had stayed you would all have a better influence to look up to,” Sanzo sighed in response.

Sakura shrugged and waited until her father's back was turned before running through the hand seals. Her father froze momentarily and Sakura lost her concentration in the excitement of actually having successfully performed the jutsu.

Her father turned around as the jutsu dropped and eyed Sakura curiously. After a moment he motioned for her to walk with him muttering, “You've come pretty far for just a week.”

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“Very good Naruto.”

Naruto beamed over at Iruka and was rewarded by Iruka reaching down to ruffle his hair. “The Sandaime wants to see your progress today. So, after your meeting with your team, Kakashi is going to take you over to his office.”

`Where will you be?'

“At the Academy. I have to stop in for a meeting, but I'll be back later to fix whatever Kakashi does with you three,” Iruka assured him leaning back in his chair.

“I'm not that bad.”

Iruka's eyes widened and he lost his balance as his chair tilted too far backwards. As Iruka fell, Naruto stood up and pointed at Kakashi accusingly. “Can't you use the door?” Iruka bit out, standing back up and lowering Naruto's arm.

“I used the door. You were just too distracted to notice,” Kakashi countered.

“What would I have…you know what never mind. You stay here with Naruto until your students show up. I'm heading over to the Academy,” Iruka stated standing up.

`Nice work Pervert.'

“Thank you Naruto.”

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked up long enough to wave goodbye to Iruka as the older man walked out the door. `When do they get here?'

“Sasuke will be here…now,” Kakashi said standing up as he heard Iruka speaking with someone at the front door. “And Sakura will be here in a few minutes. I saw her on her way over here, but she looked a bit…woogly.”

Naruto blinked at him waiting for a better explanation but Kakashi went back to ignoring him. Getting fed up with it he walked over to one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out of pad of paper. Scribbling /Woogly?/ on it, he shoved the pad under Kakashi's nose and tapped his foot expectantly.

“I don't know how else to describe her. She was boneless and looked completely lost on her feet,” Kakashi replied, glancing up and motioning for Sasuke to take a seat as he entered the kitchen. Sasuke glared at the white haired man balefully as he sat down.

`Why are you angry?' Naruto asked, making sure to wave his hands wildly in front of Sasuke's face to catch his attention first. He waited patiently for an answer but Sasuke only transferred his glare onto Naruto.

“If you understood him, answer him. If you didn't go back home and study more,” Kakashi stated.

“I'm angry because this is looking like it's going to turn into another wasted day. I get more done training on my own,” Sasuke growled.

“We haven't started your training yet. I'm still testing you,” Kakashi retorted.

“We haven't learned anything new,” Sasuke retorted.

`Tree climbing,' Naruto signed, once again shoving his hands in front of Sasuke's face.

“Would you stop doing that,” Sasuke stated, turning to Naruto again.

`You won't listen to me.'

“Yes I will. Just stop shoving your hands in my face and find a different way to get my attention.”

Naruto glared at his teammate and Kakashi watched in amusement as the blond launched into a tirade of every insult he knew in sign language, and quite a few that Kakashi assumed were Naruto's original creations. “We'll be handling that later in the week. Your chakra control has to be better first,” he stated once Naruto had run out of steam.

Both boys turned to glare at him but they were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Hmm, that took longer than I thought it would,” Kakashi muttered to himself as he went to let Sakura in.

A moment later, he returned with Sakura twitching behind him. “What happened to you?” Sasuke asked.

“Thick-brows,” Sakura uttered barely containing the increased twitching of her eyebrows. Kakashi coughed suspiciously but ignored his students questioning looks as he led Sakura to the table before taking the last chair himself.

“Sakura, Sasuke, for the rest of the day you two are forbidden from speaking. You will use sign language only. If I am satisfied then we will schedule training for tomorrow. If I'm not, you'll have another week off,” he stated.

Sakura snapped back to attention and was about to retort when Naruto reached over and slapped a hand over her mouth. When he was certain she wouldn't speak he removed his hand and signed, `If you speak he'll decide he isn't happy.'

Sakura's eyes widened and she settled for turning to Kakashi with a glare before nodding for him to continue. “Today we are going to discuss you. Your normal personal training. Preferences in the shinobi arts. What you see as your strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly, my opinions about each of you. If you did your homework, you should have no problems with this. If I'm happy with what I'm hearing, I'll take you out to the training grounds and teach you something new.” The three Genin frowned but didn't bother arguing with him as they waited for him to begin the conversation.

“Good. We'll start with Sakura. Aside from training with your father in the evenings, what training did you do this week?”

Sakura frowned wondering how he knew when she had trained with her father but shrugged it off and moved to answer. `One hundred sit ups and push ups, three times a day. I noticed that I was slower than them, so I ran five kilometers twice a day to improve speed. I read about genjutsu and practiced chakra control.'

“Good. Sasuke?”

`One hundred sit ups and push ups four times a day. I ran ten kilometers in the mornings and ten at night. I practiced taijutsu, chakra control and the Katon jutsu that I know.'

“Good. Naruto?”

Naruto frowned and scratched the back of his head a bit nervously before starting. `I run twenty kilometers and do two hundred sit ups and push ups in the morning. Then I work on chakra control and do one hundred more sit ups and push ups,' he paused and noticed Kakashi trying not to laugh at the scowl forming on Sasuke's face. `After that Sensei made me read boring books. Then I went out, ran to the training ground, and ran another ten kilometers. I practiced with my kunai and shuriken, sparred with one of my clones, and did another two hundred sit-ups and push-ups.'

“Good. Now let me help you make a few adjustments. Sakura add another five kilometers dedicated solely to improving speed. Time yourself everyday and try to improve your time weekly. Actually, that goes for each of you. I want each of you doing a total of three hundred sit ups and push ups each day no more no less; we'll up your strength training by using weights. We'll go over weapons training later, but each of you should be spending some time with it on your own. Keep working on chakra control; tree climbing will help you increase stamina as well so Sakura especially should be working with that. From now on, even when we aren't meeting on that day, you three need to meet and follow the same sparring pattern I set for you while you were on the island.

“Also I'm getting a sense from the three of you for your preferences. Sakura you're leaning towards genjutsu even more now. Sasuke is still focused on ninjutsu. Naruto right now you're favoring taijutsu. Any plans for expanding elsewhere?”

`I want more ninjutsu,' Naruto signed still managing to appear whiny enough that Kakashi almost winced.

`I want to improve taijutsu,' Sakura added.

“Alright. You're beginning to sound more like three Genin I can work with. I have to run Naruto over to see the Sandaime, but I'm not done with you three yet. Be at the meeting spot from three weeks ago in an hour and we'll head down to the training field. For now you two are free to speak, but when we join you again I want to hear nothing out of you.”

Without another word, Kakashi ushered all three out of Iruka's house and took off down the street dragging Naruto behind him. Sakura hesitated momentarily before catching Sasuke by the arm. “Umm, do you wanna go get lunch or something before heading over to the meeting place?”

“No,” Sasuke responded apathetically.

“Please? I mean we don't have to get lunch or anything if you aren't hungry. We could just spar or something at the Academy. Or…or we could go to the library and try to figure out what Kakashi-sensei is going to teach us,” she suggested, glancing down the street reluctantly.

Sasuke eyed her suspiciously and sighed. “Did Kakashi-sensei tell you to do this? You sound more desperate than usual.”

Sakura was momentarily elated that Sasuke had paid enough attention to recognize an abnormal tone in her voice before she remembered her original reason. “It's just that…look my dad's old student is over this morning for this sparring session they planned last night at dinner and to be completely honest he freaks me out. I don't want to go home so I'm asking if you want to do something productive in the hour until we meet Naruto and Kakashi-sensei instead of going off and doing whatever you do alone,” she told him trying not to fidget too much under his glare.

“I'm productive enough on my own,” Sasuke countered turning to leave.

“That doesn't mean you can't be more productive with my help. Look, you're the better shinobi, but even you can't deny that I'm smarter and I have better chakra control. There has to be something I can help you with just to take up an hour of our time so that I don't have to go home,” she persisted.

Sasuke's glare deepened but he hesitated and Sakura picked up on it enough to turn to him hopefully. “Help me with sign language. I'm still not up to yours or Naruto's level,” Sasuke finally decided not want to admit he wanted her help on anything to do with shinobi arts.

“Alright!”

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An hour later, the Sandaime escorted Naruto and his Kakashi from his office claiming, “Your progress has been remarkable. I'll leave it up to Iruka and Kakashi now.” He glanced down the hall suspiciously and then back to Naruto pulling out a small book and handed it to the blond adding quietly, “Don't tell Iruka.”

Naruto grinned and took the book from the Hokage not even bothering to fight Kakashi as he pushed down the hall in front of the white haired man. “Where did you send Sakura and Sasuke?” the Hokage asked.

“I just told them to go home for an hour.”

The Hokage frowned and tapped his finger on his pipe. “You do know that Kotetsu and Izumo left to take care of that favor an hour ago, don't you?”

“An hour ago? Weren't they supposed to have finished an hour ago?” Kakashi muttered turning to head towards Naruto. “Mah…this could be bad.”

`What could?' Naruto asked.

Kakashi smiled down at him and shook his head refusing to answer as Naruto continued to question him all the way to the bridge where they were to meet Sakura and Sasuke. “Oh good you're both here and you aren't glaring me at yet,” Kakashi said greeting his wayward students.

`Should we be glaring at you?' Sakura asked almost forgetting to use sign language but correcting herself just in time.

“No. You three just happen to do that a lot,” Kakashi reasoned smiling sweetly at her. The dread was beginning to grow in Sakura's stomach as Kakashi led them towards their training ground.

“Well since we met so early today and your training regimes were interrupted, start by running five laps and doing fifty sit ups and push ups,” he told them. As they took off, he muttered to himself, “Time to wear them out.”

 

When Sakura finally returned home that night, she was bruised and scratched and her clothing was torn and muddy. Kakashi had had the three spend an hour climbing trees before setting them about using chakra to hang from the trees by their hands. It had been easier to channel but it was still tiring and her arms kept falling asleep from remaining in one position for so long. After that, he had forced them to run sprints for half an hour and then they sparred. First against each other and then against him. Instead of letting them leave after that, he had set them about tree climbing again. Once they were nice and sick of that he had forced them to work on their stealth and for every time he found one of them in less than five minutes they had to work on tree climbing for another half an hour. By the time the three had successfully hid for five minutes it was after dark and Iruka was sitting patiently at the side of the clearing trying desperately not to laugh at the three Genin. Instead of inviting them out for dinner, he had ordered all three to go home and go to bed. Kakashi had only reminded them to meet at the bridge the next morning.

Sakura had been too tired to even make it up the stairs to her room. She had entered the house and collapsed on the couch. When her father came out of the kitchen a half hour later he carried her up to her room, moving the outfit on the bed over to her chair and placing her under the covers. As an after thought, he closed the empty closet and drawers before going to sleep himself to prepare for the racket his daughter would make when she woke the next morning. A part of him wondered if he should warn the neighbors before he drifted off to sleep.

 

AS: There isn't any real reason to leave you guys here, but I think this ending is funnier so I'm cutting the chapter in half.

Woogly: Imagine Kakashi doing Orlando Bloom's impression of Jack Sparrow from the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

Also if their training seems a bit much just remember that all three have been repeatedly belittle by Kakashi and feel they have something to prove (that and Naruto and Sasuke are just a bit power crazy).

Thanks to GrayPhoenix for your review! I'm not sure what you wanted details on, if you were talking about like character details, setting details, that sort of stuff so any more information would be really appreciated!