Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Team of Misfits ❯ A Secret Revealed and My New Family ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Looking over his shoulder he noticed Shikamaru jogging after him. Naruto cursed under his breath.
"Shit," he thought. "Never knew Shikamaru could jog that fast!" If it weren't for the fact that he was running to keep his secret from being exposed, Naruto would have double over laughing. To think, Shikamaru actually trained.
"Well, I guess that is how he got those abs of his..." Naruto's mind went hazy and he crashed to the floor. His chin scrapped against the pavement as his thoughts replayed themselves.
"What the hell? Why am I thinking about stuff like that?"
"Tch, troublesome." Naruto lifted his head up and stared at Shikamaru. Smiling slightly he couldn't help but notice something different about him. His eyebrows creased in thought.
"Is he... worried about me?" Naruto asked himself.
"Shikamaru...?" Shikamaru shook his head and picked Naruto up off the ground. Naruto watched as Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to look behind Naruto. Naruto turned his head and saw Choji and Hinata running. When Choji was a few inches in front of them he bent down, resting part of his body on his knees, and panted. He wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. Shikamaru went over and began slightly beating Choji on the back. Choji coughed a few times before his breathing finally slowed down. He looked up at Shikamaru.
"Thanks Shika." Shikamaru nodded his head and turned to Hinata. Hinata stood in front of them and began to fiddle with her fingers again. Naruto sighed out and started walking towards "The New Moon". Shikamaru followed after him with Choji and Hinata trailing after him.

Naruto ran his hand through his hair. Sesshomaru had let him borrow a room in the back of the store to talk with Shikamaru. Hinata and Choji also decided to tag along.
"Well Naruto, how exactly did you get your headband?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto cursed again. He was sure Shikamaru would've bought Iruka-sensei's story, but then again it was Shikamaru; Naruto shouldn't be surprised.
"Ano... Shikamaru, Iruka-sensei s-said that... um..." Hinata stuttered. Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"No, Shikamaru's right. It was a lie. I did fail the test, and after I left the academy building Mizuki-sensei found me. He told me a lie about the Forbidden Scroll and I was dumb enough to buy it." Shikamaru made a sound in the back of his throat.
"Don't be stupid. You were desperate. Failing three times in a row will do that to a person." Naruto smiled at Shikamaru's attempt to cheer him up.
"Thanks Shikamaru."
"So that's why all those Chuunin were running about last night. My dad was with them." Choji spoke up. Naruto nodded his head.
"Yeah, anyway, I went to a clearing in the woods and started trying a jutsu from the scroll. I manage to do one, it was the Kage Bushin No Jutsu."
"Ano, N-Naruto... isn't that an... um... an A-rank j-jutsu?" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded his head again.
"A few hours later," he continued. "Iruka-sensei found me. We talked for a while before Iruka-sensei figured out that Mizuki-sensei tricked me. Mizuki came out of hiding and attacked Iruka-sensei and me... I-I found out that..." He bit his lip. He wasn't too sure if he should tell them about the Kyuubi or not. Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji all waited patiently for Naruto to continue.
"Do you remember the storry about the Kyuubi?" he suddenly asked. Shikamaru blinked but nodded his head.
"Yeah, the Yondaime killed it." Choji answered. Naruto opened his mouth to talk when Shikamaru spoke up.
"It was a lie, wasn't it?" he asked. Naruto sadly nodded his head.
"Yeah. The Yondaime couldn't kill it, so he sealed it inside a baby instead. That baby... it was me..." Hinata gasped in shock and Choji dropped his chips. Shikamaru's eyes saddened but he remained motionless.
"I was in shock, and Mizuki-sensei took the time to try and finish me off. Iruka-sensei protected me, but he got hurt. I ran away with the scroll, mostly because I was afraid, but I stopped when I remembered Iruka-sensei told me to return the scroll. I was gonna, but I heard them talking. Iruka-sensei, he stood up for me, even though the demon that killed his parents lived inside me. After that, I'm not sure what happened. I just had this need to save Iruka-sensei, so I ended up using Kage Bushin and I made a whole bunch of 'em. I think its 'cause of the Kyuubi that I could do it."
"I think you have the chakra coils of a Jounin." Shikamaru finally spoke. Naruto turned his head towards him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"My dad said that Kage Bushin was hard to learn because a shinobi needed to have a large amount of chakra. I think because of the Kyuubi you have too much, which is why regular Bushin never worked for you. You just had too much chakra." Naruto's lips curled up into a sad smile.
"Heh, guess that fuzzball is good for something, ne?" he joked. Shikamaru shook his head with a smile.
"Only you would have the guts to call a demon that." Naruto chuckled.
"Well, I'm just cool like that." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Sure you are." he said sarcastically. Naruto stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at him. Shikamaru stuck his tongue out right back. Hinata giggled while Choji happily went back to his chips; the mood in the room brightened up quickly.
"My, my, so this is what you children have been up to." came a feminine voice, followed by a chuckle. They whipped their heads towards the door and saw a woman standing there.
"Tsukiko." Naruto whispered. Tsukiko nodded her head, but she held up a finger and wagged it back and forth.
"Actually, it's Tsukiko-sensei." she scolded.
"Huh?" Naruto asked. She rolled her eyes.
"I'm your Jounin sensei." Naruto's mouth opened to form an 'O'. She turned towards Choji.
"You can stick around if you'd like Choji-kun. Your sensei, Hatake Kakashi, is known for being chronologically three hours late." Choji dropped his bad of chips for a second time.
"Three hours?" he asked in shock. She nodded her head.
"That's why I'm inviting you along." Choji nodded his head in thanks. Tsukiko head to the door and stopped in the doorway. She waved her hand at them.
"C'mon, let's go get us some lunch, okay?" They nodded their heads.

Naruto couldn't help but let a tiny bit of drool come out of his mouth as he smelled the aroma coming from the kitchen. The restaurant they were in was a quaint little place. It served all kinds of food, like dango, ramen, and it even had bento boxes for take-out. The best part was that the owner was a friend on Tsukiko's and she wasn't biased against Naruto. She actually respected him. Not many kids could say they could outrun ANBU. Naruto had blushed at the comment.
As they waited for their food to come they chatted with each other. Shikamaru just sat back and watched Choji and Naruto talking. He had a smile on his face. Hinata would occasionally add in her two-cents. Naruto would sometimes ask her what she had meant. Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a pinch in his heart. He frowned as Hinata grew a tad bit bolder. She was obviously flirting with Naruto, but Shikamaru couldn't fathom why his heart bothered with every comment she gave. He heard a slight chuckle. He turned to his right and spied his new sensei, Tsukiko, staring at him with a smirk on her face.
"What?" he asked. She chuckled more.
"You want to know why Hinata's flirting bothers you?" Shikamaru nodded his head for her to continue. "You're jealous."
"Wha'?"
"You're jealous over the fact that Hinata's getting all of Naruto's attention." Shikamaru couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he really jealous of Hinata? And if he was, why was he?
"Why?" he asked, knowing she would have the answer.
"You have a crush on Naruto." Shikamaru now regretted asking her that. He had a crush on Naruto of all people; question was, why? Tsukiko watched as Shikamaru stared off into space. He was thinking, no doubt about that.
"I think I may know why." she told him. He turned to her and frowned.
"Care to enlighten me?" he asked.
"First off, I'm aware of the fact that most Nara men think of women as being a nuisance. You might have developed a distaste for them from growing up to all your father's complaining about your mother. I think unconsciously your mind rejected the idea to grow interest in any women, no matter how nice. "There's also the fact that it's common for a twelve year old to be curious about the opposite, and same sex. That may also be the reason.
Secondly, if you have developed attractions to males and only males, then since you consider Choji a brother, you won't normally develop even a crush on him. Also, this is Naruto we're talking about. You don't meet people like him that often. It's natural for your interests to perk up around him. You're accustomed to the norm, and Naruto is far from normal. Sometimes curiosity develops into a crush; one of the reason why some girls your age like a 'mystery' man, like that Uchiha. It's not normal to be brooding in broad daylight, now is it?" Shikamaru chuckled a bit. It wasn't often you met an adult, a shinobi at that, that had a distaste for the Uchiha.
"So you're saying, it's normal for me to develop a crush?" he asked.
"That's right... but only time will tell if it's just a one time crush or more. You've already respected him and shown Naruto compassion. He will no doubt wish to spend more time with you." Shikamaru could feel his cheeks begin to heat up.
"Dear Kami, she's right. I do have a crush on him." He thought to himself. Shikamaru turned towards his friends and couldn't help but frown as Hinata slowly inched her chair closer to Naruto.
"Don't worry," Tsukiko reassured him. "I'm going to be breaking Hinata out of that crush of hers." He turned towards her.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"She's not really in love with him. True, she is devoted, but that's not only because of the fact that she's a kind soul, but the fact that she sees the person she herself wants to be inside Naruto."
"You mean, Hinata wants to be Naruto?"
"Not exactly. See, Hinata is shy and self-conscious. Her self-confidence is nil. The outgoing person she wants to be, that does not let people push around, is based on how Naruto acts. She's watched him as long as she remembered, and she admires his determination. He has had it worst than she has, and yet he manages to get up and dust himself off while she goes back to hiding in her little corner of the world. She wants to break out of that shell, and to her, Naruto is her desire to be someone her friend's can be proud of. She might be stuck in that shell of hers, because she's devoted to Naruto. In her subconscious, as long as she can feel at ease with her desire to be as outspoken as Naruto, she'll be happy. She's only pushing herself further into that shell she's created. And as a shinobi, her shyness can lead to hesitation, and hesitation can lead to a comrade's death. And if Naruto's the one that ends up dieing, her whole mind will shatter. The thing she revered the most will be gone and her true self will be gone forever. I'd rather not see that happen to someone with as much potential as her."
"This potential, is that why you chose us to be your students?"
"That's right. Naruto has the drive and determination to be a great protector, but the village won't do anything to help him. You can be a strategist as well as a kage master like myself, you however lack the drive for it. Hinata has a special trait that's rare amongst the Hyuuga's, but it's not only her attitude. Her chakra control is superb, as well as her byakuugan. She has the potential to become an extremely proficient medic that may rival the sannin Tsunade. She just lacks the confidants as well as the support she needs.
"I'll be honest with you Shikamaru. To your classmates and to the rest of the Konohagakure shinobi, you three are a team of misfits. They believe that you're a lost cause. They're not willing to take the time to help break you out of your bad habits. I, however, know you do in fact have potential. Even more so than the Uchiha. He might be able to learn things fairly quickly, but the way he's going with his ambition of revenge, he will not make it far in this world."
"What do you mean by that sensei?"
"The Uchiha believes he is man's gift from the gods. Our enemies will not view him that way. They will see him as arrogant, cocky, and an easy kill. A shinobi is not only unpredictable, but they should work together as well. If you can't match the boy in a one-on-one fight, then don't. Gang up on him. Have all three of your teammates focus on attacking him and getting rid of the stronger person, then go after the weak. Shinobi do not have honor. We won't be fair in any fight, so use that to your advantage. He might have potential, yes, but he's no genius. A genius isn't someone who can do something better than anyone else, it's the person who takes the shortest way out, and the shortest way is never giving up. They're not the fastest, they're the one's who found a loop whole, or a shortcut. Geniuses think outside the norm. They find the shortest way, and the path that takes up less energy. They don't give up either, just because they may happen to be the slowest. Remember that well. Your peers all think you're nothing but a hazard. Prove them wrong, but not for youself, but for you teammates. It's okay to be lazy, or to want to spend your free time relaxing. There is nothing wrong with that. It's just when and where you choose to take a break that is the problem. You cannot half-ass anything on a mission Shikamaru, because not only is it your life on the line, but your teammates lives as well. You want to be there for them, to help them to the best of your ability. Do not hesitate on a mission, not even a crappy D-rank. You cannot afford any mistakes from shirking your duties, and it's best to get into the habit now, then to be forced into it later. You might have to experience someone close to you dieing because you weren't being serious to break you out of it. I will not take that risk. Do you understand?" Shikamaru nodded his head. What his sensei was telling him was all true. It wasn't just his life on the line now, it was Choji's, Hinata's, and Naruto's lives he had to protect.
A deep fire lit inside Shikamaru's heart. He steeled his resolved and nodded his head.
"Sensei, can you help me with my taijutsu?" he asked with new found vigor. Tsukiko smiled at him.
"I'll do better than that." she said. "I'm going to teach you kenjutsu as well as a special type of affinity summoning." Shikamaru's lips curled up into a smile.
"When do we start?"
"Tomorrow after a little test I've set up. It's required to test the genin again when they're put on teams." Shikamaru nodded his head.
"Okay then."
"Oi!" Naruto called. Shikamaru and Tsukiko turned their heads towards him.
"C'mon, your foods getting cold!"

Naruto ran towards training ground eight. It was eight in the morning and today was the first field activity with the team. Naruto thought back to their lunch yesterday. They had stayed in the restaurant longer than planned. Choji's sensei had to go looking for him. Shikamaru had seemed a bit livelier after his chat with their sensei too. He had asked Naruto where he got his clothing and gone to the store himself.
Naruto shook his head as he arrived in the clearing. Hinata was resting against a tree, fiddling with her fingers. Tsukiko had taken the time to explain Hinata's behavior to Naruto as well as sex and puberty. Naruto shuddered at the thought of having a cranky Hinata or sensei once a month for a whole week. He was so not looking forward to that. As he thought about Hinata's crush on him, he realized that he felt absolutely nothing for her. It wasn't to say that he despised her or anything, he just wasn't attracted. Tsukiko had explained that Naruto thought of Hinata more of a sister than anything, since she was the only one to be nice to him since the first week he had went to the academy for the first time. Naruto had gotten upset the he was the cause of Hinata's behavior. Tsukiko reassured him that it was more than just that, and that she would take care of it all. He trusted their sensei, just like she had said she trusted him. Naruto was ecstatic to hear someone say that, to him of all people. He couldn't help but let out a little 'man' squeel as he figured that this was what it was like to have a mother.
Naruto looked around for Shikamaru but couldn't find him.
"Yo." Naruto looked over his shoulder and spied Shikamaru. Naruto's breath hitched. Shikamaru was wearing something completely different from his normal clothing, and Naruto couldn't help but think it was a total improvement. There was also a tiny little voice in his head; it was his voice definitely; that said he thought Shikamaru looked totally hot. He couldn't help but agree with the voice. Shikamaru was certainly a looker.
Naruto quickly shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts. What was wrong with him lately. He never thought this way about Shikamaru before. Heck, he never even thought about Sakura this way. Sure, he thought she had a cute charm to her, when she was nice, but that was it.
Anyway, back to admiring Shikamaru. Shikamaru was wearing a sleeve-less green vest-jacket, black combat boots, a black short sleeve shirt with a skull printed on it, and beige training pants. Naruto felt a slight tingling feeling in his gut.
"Why is my stomach tingling?" he thought. "Its never done that before."
"You know why dummy," the little voice in his head, which he dubbed Chi-Naru, spoke up. Chi was short for a chibi and Naru was short for, well, his name.
"You are so checking Shikamaru out! He really is hot in those clothes though."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed.
"Hey, if he looks hot now, image how he'd look like naked." Chi-Naru spoke up. Naruto could only nod his head at Chi-Naru while licking his lips. That fluttering he was feeling came back even harder now.
"-aruto, hey, Naruto. Naruto? Naruto, man, snap out of it!" Naruto 'eep' ed and jumped back behind Hinata. He poked his head around and stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru.
"What was that for?" he asked. Shikamaru shrugged his shoulder. He had a large smile on his face.
"You were spacing out." By now Hinata had promptly fainted due to close proximity with Naruto. Shikamaru leaned over so his mouth hovered over Naruto's ear. Naruto shivered as he felt Shikamaru's breath on his ears. A jolf of pleasure shot from his spine.
"Like what you see?" Shikamaru asked in a husked whisper. Naruto nodded his head, not trusting his voice.
"Cut it out boys, no flirting. At least not without me videotaping." Naruto squeaked while Shikamaru fell backwards from Naruto's squeak. They turned towards the entrance to the training ground that was visible from the road and saw Tsukiko-sensei smirking at them. Naruto's face burned red. Shikamaru snorted but got up anyway. Tsukiko spied Hinata's clonked out body and rolled her eyes. Kicking her in the ribs, Hinata woke up.
"Huh?" Hinata looked around herself in a daze. Tsukiko cleared her throat and soon everyone's attention was on her. She pressed her hands together and let a sadistic smile appear on her face.
"I have bad news midgets." Shikamaru quickly covered Naruto's mouth to keep him from screaming. Most of his classmates new how Naruto hated being called short just because he didn't get enough food in his system. Tsukiko ignored them and continued.
"Unfortunately for you it's standard processor to give you kids a test the moment you get assigned teammates." Naruto looked on in disbelief. Shikamaru patted Naruto on the shoulder. Naruto smiled at the gesture. A small chime brought their attention back to Tsukiko. She held up two brass bells. She tied them on her kimono sash.
"I have these bells. All you have to do is get one and you pass." she stated. Naruto's eyes creased.
"But there are only two bells." he commented.
"Only two of you will pass, that's why. The third will be sent back to the academy." Naruto mouth hung open. Tsukiko only smiled at them.
"Begin." she was gone in a flash. Naruto went a few feet ahead before stopping and coming back to the others.
"Hey, Hinata." Hinata turned towards him.
"Do you think you can find sensei?" Hinata shyly nodded his head. Naruto smiled and turned towards Shikamaru.
"Well mister genius, what's the plan. You are the best strategist I know." Shikamaru smiled and took a stick on the ground and began drawing diagrams on the dirt.
"Here's what we do. We'll..."

Tsukiko looked at her watched and frowned. It had already been an hour and no one was doing anything yet. Truth be told she knew Shikamaru figured the test out by now, but he should have come up with a plan by now.
Tsukiko quickly jumped as a shadow came slithering across the ground. In air she turned to look over at the direction the shadow came from.
"You're going to have to do better than that!" she taunted. She twisted her body and dodged an uppercut from Naruto. Using her legs she wrapped them around his neck and began somersaulting in midair. Shikamaru cursed as Naruto was thrown into the ground with their sensei landing on top of Naruto. He quickly forgot about her and ran towards Naruto. He began to massage Naruto's neck to relieve some of the pressure.
"You okay?" he asked. Naruto grunted but nodded his head.
"Yeah, but her thighs are pretty thick. She could suffocate someone." Shikamaru stifled a laugh and quickly helped Naruto up off the ground. Before Naruto could get his bearing Shikamaru pushed him down and blocked a punch from Tsukiko. Shikamaru was thrown back by the force and tumbled across the clearing.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto growled and got up. She charged at Tsukiko and threw his right arm back to punch her. He pushed his body weight into his hips and tried slamming his fist into her face. She intercepted his throw and twirled around. His body spun as she picked up speed. Finally deciding she went fast enough she let Naruto go and he went flying into a tree. She smirked at his vigor as he tried to get back up. Instead of engaging him, he left to check up on Shikamaru.
A whistling sound came from behind her. She jumped up, dodging kunai and using her chakra she stopped her jump and twirled in midair to avoid more kunai and shuriken. She let herself drop onto the ground feet first. She bent her knees to her legs could cushion the pressure. She turned towards Hinata and smiled.
"You have to do better than that." She back flipped as Shikamaru's shadow came chasing after her. She continued to flip in the air, dodging the shadow. She looked at the floor and watched its movement pattern. Calculating the trajectory and distance she predicted his next maneuver and ran forward, charging at Shikamaru. Shikamaru gasped as his Kage Mane no Jutsu caught Hinata. Tsukiko threw a right hook at him. Shikamaru flew back, Hinata following suit, and hit a tree. He groaned and tried to get up as Hinata struggled to break the jutsu. Naruto came out and quickly ran towards Shikamaru, knowing Hinata was stuck in the jutsu. Naruto helped Shikamaru up and he quickly canceled the jutsu. Hinata sighed out in relief as she was able to move her limbs freely again.
Tsukiko quickly took the moment and began to make hand signs and quickly utilized a jutsu. Shikamaru watched in awe as a kage jutsu similar to his clan's Kage Nui jutsu wrapped itself around them and quickly subdue them. He sighed as he realized that they were defeated. Tsukiko smiled as she walked over towards them, one of the tendrils holding Hinata quickly moved her so she was suspended next to Shikamaru and Naruto.
"I'll admit, that teamwork was quite impressive, but it won't work on me." Tsukiko turned her back to them and an eye opened up from the back on her head.
"I have a literal eye in the back of my head. It'll be hard to catch me off guard." An alarm clock rang and everyone groaned.
"Times up and no one got a bell. What do you have to say for yourself, hm?" she asked. Naruto sighed and spoke up.
"It's my fault. I focused too much on helping Shikamaru and Hinata back up on their feet. Send me to the academy, not them." Hinata shook her head and took a breath.
"Don't sensei!" she yelled in new found confidence. "It was all my fault. I was completely useless to them and I messed up. Beside Shikamaru did all the work." Shikamaru snorted.
"If you send one of us to the academy, then the rest are going as well." he answered. Hinata and Naruto shot their heads up and stared and Shikamaru.
"Really, all of you are willing to head back?" she asked, clearly doubting their words. Shikamaru simple nodded.
"Yeah, Shika's right! We're a team. One for all and all for one... I said that in the right order, right?" Shikamaru chuckled while Hinata giggled. Naruto pouted his lips.
"They're right sensei. We won't leave each other." Hinata answered. Tsukiko nodded her head.
"Well I guess that leaves just one thing..." She snapped her fingers and the kage tendrils released them and sank back into her shadow. She smiled at the brightly.
"Congratulations! You pass the test!" she said cheerfully. She laughed when they all had their mouths open in shock. She shook her head at them.
"To me," she began. "A team is a family. For a very long time, mostly depending on how long it takes you to become Jounin, we will be together for training, missions, and other such things. A family sticks to and up for each other. I won't have on even one student who'd willingly abandon their team. Family don't abandon one another and neither will we." Hinata, Shikamaru, and Naruto smiled at that. Hinata boldly grabbed Naruto's hand and Naruto gabbed Shikamaru's.
"One for all?" Hinata asked.
"One for all." Shikamaru repeated.
"Yeah, definitely!" Naruto chimed. Tsukiko smiled at them.
"Well, let's go celebrate! My treat!" Naruto cheered at the sound of free food. He raced ahead and back towards the road leading to the market place in the village.
"Wait up!" Shikamaru shouted and ran over to Naruto. Hinata squeaked and hurried after them. Tsukiko looked up towards the sky and smiled.
"Let's show the world what these misfits can really do." she whispered into the wind. Her voice was carried by the wind. In his shop, Sesshomaru smiled.
"Those kids'll go far." he commented and went back to work.

Jutsu Glossary;
Soutei: Kage Nui - Binding: Shadow Sewing
Kage Mane no Jutsu - Shadow Imitation Technique
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

AN: Here is the link for what Shikamaru's now wearing http://monosomy.deviantart.com/art/shikamaru-10687449 or you can just search for monosomy if it's easier.

Ja ne, minna-san! (Good-bye everyone)