Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Atelier Uzumaki ❯ Chapter 8

Naruto Uzumaki was quiet… quite unlike him, his teammates and teachers would state, but for once they didn't mind nor question his actions because it was pretty much advantageous for them.

 

He was too loud, and when sneaking in, loud is death.

 

They were in the middle of a large body of water, with a thick fog creeping everywhere. Team Seven and Tazuna had finally arrived in a rather make-shift port, and had called on a friend to smuggle them across. Apparently, Gatou had been using patrol boats to sniff out goods going out of the country without his consent, and even controlling the flow of people going in or out.

 

The reason why Naruto was so quiet because Gwendolyn, the Wind Mana, had now been training him to feel the wind; apparently, one of the gifts you receive in making a Wind Mana your partner was not only the ability to control the winds in a way, but also read them as another part of his senses.

 

The Wind Mana had explained what he had felt earlier, when the two Mist-nins had attacked, was actually a talent that he would need to develop and train. Apparently, he actually had the gift, or the innate ability that was either caused by a bloodline or because he was a natural wind user.

 

Gwendolyn could not guess.

 

Not that it mattered; Naruto's pact with the Wind Mana had enhanced that current aptitude of his, and she began to train him in it. It was all in a state of mind, she stated. Keep calm, as the wind would disperse immediately if his mind was unstable; often listen because the winds would rarely, if ever, make a mistake on anything.

 

Naruto had to nod. He remembered ignoring it when Mizuki had dangled the carrot attached to a stringed pole in front of his face, luring him to steal the Forbidden Scroll. Knowing how useful the wind was, he began to train his senses by checking out his surroundings.

 

The wind was pretty much chatty, if Naruto kept still and quiet. It talked about how many patrol boats were around and where they were located. It also even gave him the image of a rather large structure, judging from its shape, an incomplete bridge.

 

That was probably what Tazuna was working on.

 

The blonde realized after a while that the Wind slowly becomes less understandable when he moved. Just moving his head slightly caused him to lose the location of five of the farthest patrol-boats in the area. In essence, the wind was a sort of radar that had the most effective range when he kept absolutely still.

 

“Whoa!” Sakura silently declared, pointing out the incomplete bridge.

 

“Yup…” Tazuna looked at his master work seriously. “That will be Wave Country's hope.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Disembarking in another make-shift port, Team Seven and their client, Tazuna, continued on foot. Everyone agreed that today, they'd take it easy, and just reach Tazuna's house, and then work on a plan tomorrow.

 

They passed on a wooded area, and Naruto stiffened. Something was wrong… he could feel it. He stilled himself, and listened to the wind around him. They were seemingly scrambling out of their way, as if there was some sort of invisible presence nearby. Locking on the location, Naruto suddenly threw his kunai towards the bushes.

 

Team Seven stopped, going silent. They looked towards Naruto, Sakura looking exasperated, Saki looking neutrally though questioningly, while Kakashi seemed to still.

 

“What the hell was that, idiot!? Don't scare me like that!” Sakura burst out suddenly. For once, the blonde ignored her and moved towards the bushes where he threw his weapon, and revealed a white rabbit. Sakura groaned.

 

“A rabbit!? You happy you idiot? You scared an innocent fluffy creature!”

 

Naruto, still ignoring her, looked slightly alarmed. He was pretty sure he threw it towards a rather large disturbance… the rabbit wasn't even the distressing the wind much, so it couldn't be the thing that had been bothering him, so he continued to look around, scanning, listening to the wind…

 

Kakashi himself was now alert. The fur of the rabbit wasn't supposed to be white at this season, meaning the animal was kept in captivity and as a ninja, keeping small animals like that meant one thing…

 

It was used for Kawarimi Jutsu.

 

The wind whistled… loudly. So loudly that even Kakashi heard it. He and Naruto ducked automatically, dragging down Tazuna, Saki and Sakura on the ground, as a very large and long sword passed, sliding past them, and lodging itself on a tree log.

 

A second later, a lithe, well-defined man came down from the tree top, landing cleanly on the exposed blade. His forehead protector was the same as the ones they had beaten days ago, and his mouth was covered in a dark cloth, like Kakashi.

 

“Ho…?” the man whispered quite quietly. “I see why the Demon Brothers have failed… They faced you.”

 

Kakashi stood up, his visible eye narrowing.

 

“Zabusa… Momochi Zabusa…” the jounin said.

 

“Oh… you've heard of me?” the man asked, and jumped from his position, grabbing on the hilt of the sword, and before he landed, placed it on the straps of his back. “It feels good to know that even someone like Copy Cat Ninja Kakashi, knows who I am.”

 

The jounin-sensei of Team Seven stayed silent, opting only to finally uncover his left eye.

 

“Oh… the Sharingan. To see it this early… truly an honor,” Zabusa declared neutrally.

 

Saki stiffened. Did she hear right? Her black eyes went straight towards her sensei, narrowing.

 

Naruto didn't say anything… he felt a small growl coming from Kyuubi, but he was still too distracted to even register the action.

 

Sakura and Tazuna seemed to look towards Kakashi with more respect.

 

As his students and client stood up, he extended his left arm to his side, as if to block any of them from moving. He said, “Don't move. Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura… protect Tazuna.”

 

Nodding, his students formed a triangle formation around their client, and all three somewhat rather excited as they felt that they were about to witness a fight they had yet to experience in their lives…

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Kakashi cursed inwardly as he felt the water around him harden, berating himself. How could he have been so careless? Granted, this was probably his first life-and-death battle since he had quit ANBU Corps years ago, but he shouldn't have been this bad!

 

He had fought off Zabusa spectacularly, until he got somewhat careless towards the end, where he was lured in a body of water, which he noticed in the end, was tough to move on. Before he could react, the water began to form a sphere around him, with Zabusa holding it in place.

 

It was SuirÅ no Jutsu… a water technique that imprisons a target in a sphere of water.

 

He could see his students shiver somewhat as they faced off multiple water clones of Zabusa. He had no chance to escape… unless he could do something to make the Mist missing-nin let go of the sphere, and his movements inside were already limited. He could only shout an order to his Genin…

 

“Get out of here!”

 

Saki growled. His orders, or his bravado if one would put it, were useless to the young Uchiha. His capture had voided their chance of escaping, and the man wanted them to escape? Granted, even if that was true, even if they left, Kakashi would forfeit his chances of survival, and who would stop Zabusa from going after them?

 

Sakura shivered, seeing the group of Zabusa, each of them with a large sword, stalking at them.

 

“Look at you shivering… cowering…” one of the Zabusa clones closed in.

 

“Like a bunch of babies…” another Zabusa clone seemed to ready his weapon.

 

“Are you really ninjas?” a third Zabusa clone had a leery expression.

 

“Or… just kids playing ninjas?”

 

Then, everyone could hear Zabusa's creepy laugh linger in the air.

 

“I guess Genins aren't what they used to be… I bet you little brats don't even know what it means to take a life,” Zabusa's voice continued. “Me… I had to kill to become one.”

 

“What…?” Sakura looked confused, also fearful. Her two teammates didn't fare better.

 

“The banned graduation exam of the Mist Village…” Kakashi replied in a clear voice. Zabusa, who was holding him inside the water sphere, looked surprised.

 

“Oh? You've heard of it?”

 

Kakashi looked solemn inside his water prison.

 

“Long ago, the Hidden Mist Village was also called the Blood Mist Village, because of how genins had to graduate…”

 

Zabusa chuckled darkly.

 

Naruto looked somewhat pensive. He had a rather dark feeling about it, judging from the look their enemy had.

 

“What was it?” Naruto asked, almost in a whisper.

 

“You want to know?” Zabusa looked at him. He seemed to smile under the cloth covering his mouth. “Graduates would fight to the death.”

 

“Sensei…?” Sakura looked out of it.

 

“It's true,” Kakashi replied. “They would pit the class at each other, one killing the other. This was the practice until ten years ago, when the Demon appeared.”

 

“Demon?” Saki looked at the jounin.

 

Sakura shivered. She didn't like where the conversation was going.

 

“What… what did that Demon do?”

 

Kakashi sighed. “He killed everyone in his class.”

 

All eyes went to Zabusa, who had, what Naruto could describe as a sick expression.

 

“Yes… that was quite fun,” he declared.

 

Naruto felt his stomach fall. It wasn't fear anymore of the man, who admitted into killing his class just to become a genin, but the fear of losing Kakashi, their client, and his teammates. Granted, they weren't exactly his friends (he loved Sakura-chan… or so he thinks), but they were still his team.

 

If he was unsure on what to do when the jounin was captured, he knew what would happen if he followed his orders: Kakashi would die. A man as remorseless as Zabusa wouldn't hesitate to kill him… and following that, his team and client would pay the price.

 

“If you're not prepared… you could get yourself or your team injured.”

 

The words of Kurenai had come back to him. Naruto nodded somewhat with understanding and prepared himself as he took a tentative step forward, surprising everyone around them when he did so.

 

“Oh?” one Zabusa clone muttered, looking at Naruto with a sneer. “A brave… or stupid boy… steps forward.”

 

The blonde steeled his eyes. Iruka had once told him… the Shinobi life was fraught in peril. One must be prepared to lay down his or her life for the village. He wasn't going to cower in fear when his team needed him.

 

“You don't scare me,” Naruto declared. “Those are just stupid Water Clones.”

 

“True… a water clone only has one-tenth of my strength… but even then…”

 

Suddenly, a Zabusa clone appeared in front of Naruto, making Kakashi stiffen and Sakura scream, as it raised its big sword and was about to swipe the blonde when suddenly, a wet stabbing sound permeated the air.

 

For a wild moment, Tazuna thought the blonde was done for… cut in half, skewered, or whatever other bloody and nasty things happen when flesh and bone meets a large piece of sharpened metal… but to his surprise, the Zabusa clone hadn't even begun his swing… in fact, it looked shocked before it transformed into a puddle of water.

 

Kakashi smiled somewhat as he saw the blonde had stabbed the clone with his Alchemic spear. He was even happier when he realized Naruto didn't stop at that.

 

Grab multiple of your ice bombs… throw them in a wide arc. Detonate after three seconds.

 

Got it!

 

Naruto followed Kyuubi's instructions, and when he did, he concentrated a slight amount of chakra, and like a remote detonator, made his bombs explode, sending shards of ice in multiple directions. Multiple clones exploded when they were hit by the sharp shards, turning them all to puddles of water.

 

Once again, everyone present blinked with the turn of events, with Zabusa being the one most surprised. He found an unsettling feeling as he saw the blonde's spear and his bombs, only to realize something important.

 

“Alchemist…!” he muttered in deathly whisper. Fun and games have stopped. He had thought the biggest threat of the Genin Team had been their jounin-sensei, but now, he had to contend to another dangerous opponent… an alchemist, who wielded an alchemic weapon.

 

“Kill the boy!” he ordered his clones.

 

All surrounding water clones suddenly converged towards the blonde, who looked somewhat surprised. Before anything could happen though, he heard his teammate suddenly shout an order at him.

 

“Naruto… duck!” Saki declared as she quickly performed seals with her hands, and took a very deep breathe. Realizing what she was about to do, Naruto ducked, and the youngest Uchiha blew out an intense fireball that got all but three clones.

 

Brat… take control of the battlefield.

 

Naruto obliged without much of a reply. Grabbing out his Fate Deck, he retreated a few meters back.

 

“Cover me!” Naruto declared towards the Uchiha who nodded, and was attacked by a water clone.

 

Quickly spreading his cards in the air, he grabbed three blank cards and his own, and executed the Jade Shift technique. Two of his clones appeared, one holding Gwendolyn's spear, and the other another deck of cards.

 

At first, Saki had thought she could hold off the Water Clone as easily as Naruto had, only to realize that the clone was pretty much faster and more powerful than she was. More skilled too from the looks of it, which actually made Saki suddenly question her skill level (and her blonde teammate's).

 

The water clone kept dodging her attacks, and countered at times, making the Uchiha step back in retreat. She spotted a Naruto who was holding a spear at her right try and take a stab at another clone, while the card wielding Naruto from her left try to smack another clone with his cards… and they didn't seem to be faring much better than her.

 

Saki could only blink in surprise, before she ducked because the clone she had been fighting with. Before she knew it, she and the two Naruto clones were back to back, facing their respective enemy clones, closing in on them, their eyes showing intent to kill.

 

“Damnit!” the Naruto with the spear muttered. “Any ideas?”

 

“Why are you asking me?” Saki growled slightly. “You seemed to be doing well earlier…”

 

“Yeah, but… I don't think they expected a mere genin to suddenly kill them,” the Naruto with cards replied. “And since our element of surprise is gone…”

 

Saki nodded. That made sense. It wasn't advance skill that Naruto had used to kill those clones earlier… it had been an element of surprise, and the fact that Zabusa had been underestimating them. She herself dispelled a few clones using a surprise tactic herself…

 

Of course, Saki had no time to feel relieved. Now that the man was serious, she and Naruto needed a plan to come out on top of this.

 

“Heh… I guess we hit the limit of our training…” the card wielding Naruto chuckled.

 

“And what's that?” the spear wielding Naruto asked.

 

“All our forms were to be used against single opponents… not multiple ones.”

 

“Oh yeah…”

 

“If the moron has any real plans, please share them now,” Saki growled, not liking how off-beat the Narutos seemed to be considering their situation.

 

“Heh… don't sweat too much, psycho-girl,” Naruto-Spear stated, earning a really murderous glare from the Uchiha. He suddenly whispered, in a very low tone, “Make your opponent think you're attacking the left side and go for it. I'll take care of the rest.”

 

Saki's eyes narrowed, though nodded. Looking in front of her, she shouted, about to stab a kunai towards her opponent's left side, only to feel a slight pull as she charged in… suddenly, the scenery behind her opponent changed… in fact, the stance of her opponent changed.

 

He was open for a left strike, easy picking for her kunai.

 

Back towards the other Naruto, who was reading the fate cards lined up in the air, he smiled as he pulled off a successful switch. It was a simple bait and switch, but using the Uzumaki-way. The two Naruto clones and Saki would do a very readable attack, each a different target area. Knowing the missing-nin was quite experienced, having bested Kakashi (temporarily as it was), the clones would automatically defend the places they thought would be in the receiving end of their attacks.

 

After that, all it took was to switch the position of the attackers. Naruto traded Saki's position with his clone handling the Fate Cards, who was traded for the one using the Spear, who was traded with Saki.

 

It ended with three dead water clones.

 

“Woot!” the card-wielding Naruto declared as he shuffled the cards between his two hands. Weeks of practice made the action pretty much second-nature to him. The switching itself took a very delicate and speedy process that without the training he got, Naruto wouldn't have been able to pull it off. “Now that's done, let's get Kakashi-sensei!”

 

Saki grinned, but along with the more serious spear-wielding Naruto, they nodded and the three charged towards the lake where Kakashi was imprisoned by Zabusa, who looked more than miffed watching his clones get turned to puddles of water.

 

Spear-Naruto smirked, and readied himself. Saki's expression turned curious she looked at what the clone was doing. Pointing the spear upwards, the clone heaved as he threw the spear as high as he could.

 

Zabusa blinked.

 

Saki blinked.

 

Kakashi blinked.

 

Sakura and Tazuna blinked.

 

Somewhere out there, a masked figure blinked as well.

 

It wasn't until a few seconds later did the genius of the plan start to unfold. From the skies, the spear transformed back into the third Naruto clone, who used his new Wind Reading skill to determine the location of his target. Since he was moving, the wind was not as clear as it could be if he was motionless, but he could still determine where Zabusa and Kakashi were. Without pause, tapped both his Storage seals in his sleeves, extracted as many Fire Bombs he could muster, and dropped them before he felt a pull, and disappeared from the air.

 

Next thing anyone knew, the whole area where Zabusa and Kakashi were exploded into what Saki (being the pyromaniac she is) would lovingly call the great big balls of fire.

 

Zabusa growled. He was just forced to release the Water Prison technique when he saw small shadows from above falling at them. He didn't have time to blink, and assumed it was an aerial attack.

 

His instincts proved right, because if he hadn't, he would have been barbecued by the blast. The fire still singed what was left of his already near-absent eyebrows, and as angry as he should have been, he consoled himself to the thought that Kakashi had probably been roasted by such a careless attack.

 

Of course, he suddenly heard Kakashi's voice.

 

“Naruto… when this is over, we need to talk.”

 

The Demon of the Mist blinked as he noticed that he was the only one near ground zero. Somehow, Kakashi had teleported near the blonde, the client and the pink-haired kunoichi. What was worse was the fact the jounin looked relatively unscathed, untouched by fire.

 

“How the hell did that happen?” Zabusa whispered, his anger rising. He suspected the blonde kid…

 

This is why he hated alchemists… too many cards up their sleeves.

 

Naruto, the original one who had his cards spread in the air smiled, although his fingers were now hurting. It took precise timing… he had expected Zabusa to let go of his technique when he spotted the bombs coming at them from above. According to Kyuubi, the Water Prison seemed to be maintained as long as the Zabusa held on to it, and when he would let go, Kakashi would be released, making it easier to retract his card to a safer place (mainly, back where Naruto, Sakura and Tazuna were).

 

Any later, Kakashi would have been toast. Of course, the blonde had hoped Zabusa wouldn't spot the bomb, and get blown to bits, and Kakashi would be protected inside the water sphere, but, as Gwendolyn once told him, he couldn't always get what he wanted.

 

All of this, Naruto wanted to brag. It wasn't everyday you pull a fast one on two jounins… considering Kakashi looked surprised and shocked at his current position, and the rather annoyed and heated look Zabusa was giving him.

 

He just smirked, wanting to push a few more buttons as he could, but since Sakura-chan was watching… maybe he ought to borrow a page from the psycho-girl?

 

“Sorry, but we're ninjas. Trade secret,” declared Naruto in his oh-so-cool voice. He stole a look toward Sakura, hoping she'd look in his direction.

 

Her eyes, shaped like hearts, were on Saki. Naruto looked like his plants died.

 

“Che…” Zabusa looked amused for a moment, before his eyes narrowed, and stared at the blonde, who's cards were still spread in the air. Naruto looked somewhat apprehended, when Kakashi suddenly stood in front of him, his regular eye and Sharingan stared back at the Demon of the Mist.

 

“I'll be your opponent again, Zabusa,” Kakashi declared in a serious tone. “Your tricks won't work twice on me…”

 

Saki and the other two Naruto clones seemed to fall back towards the group. Kakashi smiled slightly, feeling proud that his Team seemed to pull through (except for Sakura… he's gonna have a few words with her), especially Naruto, who's Alchemic Weapons were more than what they seemed, and Uchiha Saki, who was showing her willingness to at least work with someone.

 

He had embarrassed them when he was captured, he thought darkly. It was time he earned their respect again.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

“Wow…” that was the only thing Naruto could say. He dismissed his clones, and put back his Fate Cards in his pocket, though he was still somewhat alert in case Zabusa tried to go at them again…

 

However, the Demon of the Mist was now pre-occupied. Kakashi came back with a vengeance, attacking left and right at Zabusa who could only defend, wedging himself to a corner. The missing-nin tried his best to create space, and then, began to form seals.

 

To Naruto's amazement, he saw Kakashi copying the exact same seal sequence as Zabusa, if only slightly behind by a millisecond, but still enough to make Zabusa look fearful.

 

I hate those eyes…

 

Naruto blinked, hearing Kyuubi's hackles rise. This came to a surprise, because as far as Naruto knew, Kyuubi never really hated anything… well except embarrassment (mainly the blonde), and being sealed in him. But even then, the Fox Mana never growled, exuding as much hate as he did today.

 

What's bothering you, Kyuubi?

 

Nothing. Just… remembering the past.

 

Wanna share?

 

To an idiot like you? Hah!

 

Naruto blinked, then seethed. Saki, who was beside him, heard him mumble about stupid fuzz-balls, but she continued to watch Kakashi using her bloodline eyes (or an eye in this case) quite effectively.

 

Idiot Fox! Moronic fur ball! Ingrate! Pain in the ass!

 

SHUT UP!

 

Naruto's mind quieted down, but still angry. For a while, there was silence, before the Fox seemed to sigh.

 

Maybe I'll tell you one day.

 

Naruto was satisfied with that.

 

Two rather large bodies of water shaped as dragons came crashing into one another. The force was enough to launch the closer nin, Zabusa, who had unleashed his technique a second too late, into a tree. Kakashi was about to finish the man off when needles suddenly shot out from the trees, and embedded themselves in Zabusa's neck.

 

Everyone stepped back, surprised at the sudden turn of events. There was a slight movement on the branch above, overlooking the body of water. Naruto felt the wind suddenly pick up, going a bit off.

 

“Hunter-nin?” Kakashi asked, and the masked figure nodded.

 

“Hunter-nin?” Naruto repeated, confused.

 

“Yes,” the masked figure stated. The mist was clearing, and soon, everyone saw in more details about their new mysterious guest. “My duty is to hunt down Missing-nins like Momochi Zabusa.”

 

Judging by the voice and height, Kakashi surmised that the Hunter-nin was slightly older than Naruto. He found himself impressed, seeing someone so young in the Hunter-nin division. Placing gentle fingers in the neck of the fallen Demon of the Mist, he nodded with satisfaction, feeling no pulse.

 

Yup. Definitely dead.

 

Naruto only looked at the masked figure, sweating slightly. Kakashi, one of the most powerful man he had ever met (the old man Hokage didn't count because… well, he falls too easily for his Sexy no Jutsu), and even he had trouble with Zabusa.

 

The boy, who he knew was at his age or somewhat older, just killed Zabusa so… easily.

 

Is it so shocking, moron?

 

Kyuubi?

 

This is the ninja life. There will be kids much younger than you… yet stronger than your teacher. I'm the best example. I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune… yet I was defeated. By a weak mortal.

 

Hmph… you probably just overestimated yourself.

 

Well, the moron uses big words. Anything else you know?

 

Oh shut up!

 

“Are there any problems?” the masked figure asked as he or she approached the fallen figure of Zabusa.

 

Kakashi looked towards his team. It seemed Naruto was the only who seemed agitated by the presence of the Hunter-nin, so he placed a gentle hand on top of the blonde's head. Naruto looked at him, calmed slightly as he saw his sensei looking at him, and then nodded.

 

“No problems here,” Kakashi declared, covering his Sharingan with his forehead protector again.

 

The hunter-nin nodded, and carried the body before vanishing. Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly, a rather dark thought entering his mind, but before he could act on it, he fell down, exhausted.

 

“Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto's eyes widened, kneeled and check on the man. Behind them, Saki, Sakura and Tazuna rushed to them.

 

“Hey! What's wrong with Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked, looking concerned.

 

“Don't worry… its just chakra exhaustion,” Kakashi replied, taking a few deep breathes. The battle took too long, and his Sharingan eye had drained him quite a bit.

 

Naruto blinked, and immediately went for his storage seals, and extracted a rather small bottle of brown-ish liquid.

 

“Drink this Kakashi-sensei!” the blonde declared. The jounin blinked, but obliged, and instantly felt his energy levels refilling.

 

“Wow…” Kakashi whispered, feeling his chakra well enough he could stand and walk. “What is this?”

 

“A potion that instantly recovers chakra energies,” the blonde grinned, earning a questionable glance from Sakura. Saki, knowing his status as an Alchemist, didn't looked fazed.

 

“Where'd you get that?” Sakura asked suspiciously.

 

“Made it,” Naruto replied easily.

 

“Made… it?” Sakura blinked, and then laughed slightly. “Alright, stop joking… where'd you get that?”

 

Naruto frowned, but before he could reply, Kakashi tapped his shoulder, looking much better.

 

“You have anymore, Naruto?” the jounin asked. His chakra levels recovered enough for him to walk, but he still felt a bit drained. A few more bottles of that liquid, he guessed, he'd feel as good as new.

 

“Nope,” Naruto replied, shrugging. He extracted another bottle, this time filled with blue liquid. “I rarely make those… it's kinda hard to make, plus I hardly ever suffer from major chakra loss. Anyways, here, Kakashi-sensei… this one is for your wounds…”

 

Sakura looked miffed, her query unanswered, while their jounin-sensei took a small swig off the bottle, and then, nodded after a second, and began to drink all of it.

 

“Thank you, Naruto,” Kakashi said. He scanned the eyes of other genin, mostly towards Sakura's direction before he smiled somewhat. “Maybe its time to tell your teammates your… capabilities.”

 

Naruto blinked, and his eyes went towards Gwendolyn, who just signaled him, `Your choice.'

 

“Sure,” he replied finally. Why hide it anyway? Besides, the cool factor can win Sakura-chan's heart (don't bet on it)!

 

“Good. Teammates don't hide anything from each other,” Kakashi's visible eye smiled. “Plus it would do me good to know how good my students are, really. Great work by the way, Naruto, Sasuke. I'm proud of your growth. Now…”

 

Kakashi looked towards the road now visible.

 

“… let's go.”

 

To Be Continued…

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Author's Notes:

 

Before I say anything, I'm gonna ask anyone with a healthy interest in space adventure movies to watch Star Trek. I'm not a big Trekkie, nor do I follow most of the stories in that particular series, but the movie made me feel great. Good story, good performances, and good actions and visuals…

 

I also watched XMEN ORGINS: Wolverine, and I was very disappointed. I had thought, if worse comes to worse, I can at least get inspiration by watching Gambit, another card-wielding character, but… meh.

 

Naruto, if any of you noticed, is maturing faster than canon, which is the aim here. I will try to add the more powerful aspects of Alchemy to this story (one is the elemental synthesis found it Atelier Iris 1, and the `fix things up ala FMA', which is also found in the Atelier Iris Games, though only through story-wise.

 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Later!