Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ To Measure My Capacity ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9

Kakashi pointed at Naruto.

“Why don't you introduce yourself first?” `I thought my team was short on. Hokage-sama must have brought him in from somewhere to fill in the missing position on this team. It will be interesting to see what he's like.' Kakashi thought privately.

“What do you want me to say?” Naruto prompted.

Kakashi shrugged. “Tell us about your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies - that kind of thing.”

“Why not introduce yourself first?” Naruto said. “Give us an idea of what you want.”

“Very well.” Kakashi started. “My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your business. Dreams for the future…hmm. I have a few hobbies.”

Naruto blinked. Sasuke frowned.

“So all we learnt was his name?” Hinata said to herself, barely more than a whisper. It was the first time Naruto had heard her speak.

`She really has some confidence issues.' Naruto thought privately. `Not exactly the kind of attitude I expected of one from the Hyuuga family. I suppose this is why she had such bad marks.'

Naruto grinned mentally. `But attitudes can be changed. If she's going to be on my team, she's going to need to change her ways.'

`Huh? You say something?'

`Oh, it's nothing.'

“I guess it's my turn,” Naruto said aloud. “My name...” Naruto smiled a melancholic smile. “Well, you'll find out soon enough.” He took on a dull, bored voice and continued, “My likes and dislikes are none of your business. Dreams for the future… hmm. I have a few hobbies.”

`Who does he think he is?' Sasuke fumed, glaring at Naruto. `You can't back talk a jounin like that. And the way he talked back to that Sannin… who is this guy? He didn't even give us his name!'

“Clever.” Kakashi said in the same bored voice Naruto had tried hard to imitate. `It would seem I am going to have a harder time than I expected getting an idea of who this kid is. I'll play along with his little game for now. He'll reveal himself to me in time.'

“You next.” Kakashi stated, pointing lazily at Hinata.

Hinata looked up when she was addressed, only to quickly look back down.

“My name is H-Hyuuga Hinata,” she mumbled out softly. “I like a lot of things. I dislike people who judge others harshly. My dream…” Hinata's eyes seemed even more downcast than ever. “My d-dream is to become stronger so I can be a strong l-leader of my clan. My hobbies are m-medical jutsu.”

“Good,” Kakashi said. `Well, we're going to have to work on her a bit' Kakashi thought. “Next,” he added with a wave of his hand.

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are few things I like, and many things I dislike. My dream… no, it's not a dream. My purpose is to kill a certain man, and restore my clan.” Hinata trembled slightly at this, while Naruto was slightly surprised at his reply. Sasuke really did want Itachi dead.

`No surprises there' Kakashi thought. `Definitely the most interesting team I've ever been assigned. And probably the most unlikely to pass the test.'

“Excellent.” Kakashi said. “We're all very unique, and will no doubt have our own strengths and weaknesses. Since the introductions are over I will explain our first mission.”

”Mission?” Hinata appealed, her eyes widening.

“It is a task we'll all do together.” Kakashi said ominously. “It will be… survival training.”

“We already did that at the Academy. That's why we're here.” Sasuke pointed out.

“True,” Kakashi conceded, “but this isn't like your previous training.”

“In what way?” Naruto invoked. `I doubt anything these guys do will be like my previous training'

“You see,” Kakashi started, “of the 27 that just passed the Academy test only 9 will actually be accepted as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy.”

“Then what was the point of the graduation test?” Sasuke questioned coldly.

“Oh that?” Kakashi continued darkly. “That was just to see who might have what it takes to become genin. Tomorrow's test is what really counts. Be at Training Field 4 at 5am tomorrow, and bring all your gear.”

“Oh,” Kakashi said as he turned to leave, “you might want to skip breakfast or else you'll throw up.” With that, Kakashi disappeared.

“Scary stuff,” Naruto said, standing and stretching before turning to his new team mates. Sasuke was glaring fiercely at Naruto while Hinata, in contrast, was staring at the ground between her feet, her hands fidgeting.

`Not very talkative, are they?'

`Hmm? Probably not. We should get working on improving your senses so I actually know what the hell is going on. You realize I haven't truly heard a noise in over 12 years? No birds' song, nothing.'

`Sentimental much?'

`It's the little things that count, as they say.'

`Who're “they”?'

`They. You're trying to tell me you don't know who they are?'

`Yep.'

`Bah! You humans - you think you know everything when really you know nothing!'

`Uhh, right.' Naruto thought, quite confused.

“Well, I'm out.” Naruto spoke up as the silence slowly started bearing upon the three. “I'll see you two tomorrow at 10am at Training Field 4 or whatever.”

“B-but,” Hinata stuttered, “Kakashi-sensei said for us to arrive at 5am.”

“Yeah, but I don't really believe anything he says.” Naruto replied, shrugging. “Ero-sennin said to arrive 3 hours after any time Kakashi sets, because he's never on time.”

“Ero-sennin?” Hinata asked, puzzled.

“The perverted old man who stood off to the side as the teams were called out.” Naruto responded.

“That was Jiraiya of the Sannin.” Sasuke said, still glaring at Naruto.

Naruto chuckled. “Sure. I don't believe anything Ero-sennin says, either, which is why I'm turning up at 10am rather than 5am. I suggest you two do the same, and don't skip on breakfast, either.”

At that Naruto left the two clan members to their own thoughts, privately discussing with Kyuubi what needed to be done to advance his senses beyond the norm.

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`You're quite sure this will work?' Naruto asked for the third time, pacing around his apartment.

'Sigh. Yes, I'm absolutely sure. All I'm doing is connecting my senses to yours using my chakra, and since there's a constant flow of potent chakra to those senses they will improve. You can further improve them by channeling more of my chakra to them.'

`Did you just say “sigh”?' Naruto asked, shaking his head.

`Maybe?'

`Whatever, just do what needs to be done.' Naruto muttered as he sat down on his bed. His world suddenly faded to black.

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When Naruto opened his eyes, everything seemed much clearer, and much sharper than before. Somehow the dingy old room seemed much more distinct and small details stood out much more. His room was easily visible, as if it were daylight, despite the low half-moon rising outside. Naruto could clearly see the smudgy fingerprints he had left on his window climbing in and out; and noticed various hairs and specks of skin on his pillow. He noted a vague color difference in the carpet where he had once spilt ramen over 6 years ago, something he was sure - at the time - no one would ever notice. The world seeming clearer was not what Naruto was most intrigued about, however. It was the strong, almost painful tingling in his eyes that caught Naruto's attention.

'Kyuubi?' Naruto called out mentally. `I like the improvements and everything, but what's with the tingling? Is it normal?'

`It's nothing to be worried about, Naruto-kun. They won't do it normally, it was just a little test of mine.' Kyuubi reassured.

`A test?' Naruto muttered in his head, not exactly happy to have a demonic fox performing “tests” on his unconscious body.

`Indeed. Go look in the mirror; I'm sure you'll realize what I'm doing.'

Naruto, moving through the gloom as if it were high noon outside, headed towards the bathroom and looked into the large, cracked mirror. What he saw were not his normal eyes. The whites of his eyes had a very slight pink, almost reddish tinge to them, as if someone had placed a pink, see-through filter over his eyes only. The pupils were a slight shade darker than normal, but they were otherwise unchanged.

`What's this?' Naruto questioned.

`You can't figure out what's going on? Maybe I should have enhanced your brain rather than your eyes.' Kyuubi muttered.

`You could do that?'

`…you realize I was insulting you, right? Or does the idea of becoming stronger override any other feeling? I'd like to think my cage was more intelligent than that.'

`Just tell me what's going on,' Naruto muttered, `I'd like to stop this tingling in my eyes. It's rather uncomfortable.'

`As I said, it's nothing to be worried about. I've increased the flow of chakra to your eyes to enhance them greatly, granting you sharper vision and ability to see normally with little light. As a result, the chakra has engulfed your entire eye region - my chakra is what's causing the tingling. The eye is not used to such an overflow and so it doesn't seem natural to you - yet.' Kyuubi explained. `The longer you keep this active, the more you'll get used to it. Eventually the tingling will go away.'

`Won't people notice if I walk around with these eyes all the time?' Naruto asked, ever so slightly worried. `The color change slight, but it's easy enough to pick up if you look close enough.' He didn't care think it'd matter that much, but he certainly didn't want to do anything to invoke further hatred from those who saw him only as the Kyuubi. Using the demon's chakra while walking around in broad daylight fell into Naruto's “What Not to Do” list.

`You won't be using this all the time, it's too much of a strain on my chakra.' `What the… too much of a strain on her almost infinite chakra?' `Besides, no one would pick up a color change that slight unless they had eyesight equivalent to yours with this ability activated.'

`What would happen if the chakra flow increased?' Naruto asked, while thinking that he could probably count every individual hair on his head with these eyes if he was bored enough. `Would my vision improve even more?'

`Yes, but your body - or more to the point, your eyes - can't handle that kind of strain right now. Your eyes would probably explode.' Kyuubi said.`I can try if you'd like?' She added as an afterthought.

`Uhh, no, that's fine. And what of my other senses? Can they be improved like this?'

`Yes, but they're much harder to fine-tune. There are so many different smells, and so many different sounds to sift through that - at this stage - your body isn't prepared enough for it. The bombardment of new sensations would be too much to process.'

`And when will my body be ready?' Naruto was prepared to do what it took to ready his body, if the results turned out to be similar to those of his eyes.

`I'm not sure. Everything you see with your eyes exists in a set way, which cannot be changed; it simply is. Only your perception of the world changes, and thus your perception can be enhanced to see what is truly there. With sight, you have always seen what is truly there, but your perception changes it in a way that can make you see something different from what truly is. That is why people “see things differently”; very few people have the ability to truly perceive what actually is there.'

`And this has what to do with improving my other senses?' Naruto prompted.

`Damn impatient kit, I had to explain that to properly contrast how much easier it is to improve sight compared to smell and hearing.' Kyuubi explained, annoyed.

`Just give me the watered down version.'

`Bah! Because you have always seen what is there, sight is easy to improve as you don't really see anything new, your perception is what changes. However, with hearing and smell, you pick up on many, many things you previously couldn't hear, smell or comprehend. Once you start getting these new sensations, you need to adapt and categorize them, or else it will consume you. Only once this has been done can you possibly put those senses to any practical use that could help you in any way.'

`I see' Naruto said, nodding. `Now, you still didn't answer my original question: when will my body be ready?'

`Probably never. Happy?'

`No, you could have just skipped the stupid explanation if that's the case.' Naruto muttered. `Now, how do I stop the tingling in my eyes?'

`Just control the chakra in your eyes like you would doing a jutsu.'

At that, Naruto closed his eyes, focused, and noticed the tingling stopped. When he opened them again the world was startlingly different to what it was a moment ago. Gloom engulfed him instantly, and he found himself barely able to make out his visage in the dusty mirror.

`Wow' was Naruto's only thought.

`Incredible difference, isn't it?' Kyuubi commented.

`I suppose you see everything I see, now?' Naruto questioned.

`Yes. It's quite a liberating feeling.' Kyuubi said, sounding almost… excited?

`That's nice. Well, I'm going to sleep.' Naruto said suddenly feeling extremely drained. He walked out of the bathroom and threw himself on the bed. `I'll talk to you in the morning.'

`Aww…' Kyuubi pouted as Naruto's eyelids closed, her world returned to its usual darkness.

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Pale light greeted Naruto when he opened his eyes. The gloom of his room instantly alerted him to how early it was - the chorus of birds' song that had woken Naruto the day before had not started, and the sun had not found its way above the horizon quite yet. Wiping the sleep from his eyes and yawning, Naruto slowly pulled himself out of bed and began the mundane task of preparing for what he expected to be a long day's hard survival training. He had not intended to wake up this early, but since he did Naruto decided he should get some training in before the team's mission.

`You know,' Kyuubi's voice invaded Naruto's mind as he went about his business, `you should keep that eye ability activated until you get used to it. You should also give it a name, so then you can shout it out in battles and act cool.'

`How about I don't shout its name out in battle?' Naruto thought back. `It's much more advantageous to me if the enemy don't have a clue what's going on. Still, I should give it a name… how about “Akaigan”?

`”Red Eyes”? Brilliant! Outstanding! Shockingly original! Absolutely marvelous! People with tremble at the very thought of it someday!' Kyuubi exclaimed gleefully.

`…' I really wonder about her sanity sometimes. Naruto thought privately. `Whatever, it doesn't need a good name. No one's going to know it, anyway.'

`What!' Kyuubi exclaimed. `You're not going to shout it out in heated battles? It's what all the cool ninja do!'

`By “cool” you mean “stupid”, right?' Naruto said, rolling his eyes as he opened his apartment door and made his way outside. `Guess I should start getting used to this eye thing while training'.

Finding it surprisingly easy to focus Kyuubi's chakra to his eyes, Naruto felt the tingling, almost painful stinging sensation return to his eyes. Instantly the world came into sharper focus, causing Naruto to blink rapidly in an attempt to get used to the sudden change. Further deciding it would be best to train his body while getting used to his new found ability Naruto headed to the training fields on the outskirts of Konoha.

The streets were virtually deserted of people, as the sun's rays were just now peaking over the horizon to bath Konoha in brilliant golden sunlight. Arriving at Training Field 1 Naruto was surprised to find it already occupied. A young kunoichi with brown hair styled into two buns wearing a pink shirt with navy blue quarter length pants was repeatedly throwing impressive amounts of kunai and shuriken at various targets - both hidden to her and visible.

Naruto could see with his Akaigan that every projectile landed in the center of every visible target. He could just make out through the trees surrounding the clearing a few more targets, obviously out of the kunoichi's line of sight with kunai embedded in them. One target hidden to the girl by the lush leaves had two kunai embedded in the red bull's-eye, barely a centimeter apart.

'Impressive' Naruto commented in his mind as he watched the girl continue to flail her arms out in a somehow graceful manner, showering the area in fast flying objects. Her actions suddenly changed as she fluidly dropped one of her hands to a scroll pouch attached to her waist, her other arm raised in front of her a defensive position, kunai in hand. Naruto watched as the girl quickly revealed a scroll and almost instantly had it unrolled, brushing the tip of her thumb along the kunai's blade as she did so. `A summoning contract?' Naruto thought briefly before a cloud of smoke consumed the girl. She instantly emerged from the cloud, viciously attacking an invisible enemy, two kama in hand. Her attack didn't last long, her invisible opponent either backing off or defeated. Throwing herself back, she entered into a high arc, throwing each of the sickle-like kama in opposite directions, landing sofly in a crouching position, a kunai once again in her hand raised defensively as each kama thudded in to the only two targets not turned into pincushions already. They embedded themselves deeply, most of the blade hidden from view - a result of how hard they were thrown.

The kunoichi turned around and her brown eyes widened as she saw Naruto standing at the edge of the training field watching her, most of his features hidden by his large white trench coat.

“Oh!” she said, surprised. “I didn't notice you there. I'll be done in a minute.”

She turned and began picking up her spent weapons, inspecting each one quickly as she replaced them in their respective weapon pouches.

“You don't have to leave on my account,” Naruto said, making his way into the clearing, stopping beside one target with a kama protruding out of it.

“No, it's fine.” The kunoichi responded. “I have to meet my team for a mission soon.”

Bending to pull the kama out of the target it was in, Naruto found it surprisingly difficult to remove. The blade was indeed embedded deeply in the wood. `Had this been a person's torso, I don't see them living the impact.' Naruto thought, slowly working the blade out of the wood.

“You're a gennin?” Naruto questioned, assuming she was based on her age. He estimated that she was a year or two older than he.

“Yes,” she said, easily removing the other kama out of its target. “I graduated last year,” she said, moving towards Naruto.

Naruto inspected the kama in his hands. It was made well, the blade extremely sharp and the wooden handle made of hard oak. It felt well balanced in Naruto's hand, even though Naruto had little experience with many weapons other than kunai and shuriken, but even he could tell it was made of excellent craft.

“You're extremely good with weapons,” Naruto said as he handed her weapon to her. “I didn't see a single target not hit dead center.” He added, quite impressed.

The girl smiled. “It's nothing. I've had a lot of practice, that's all. My father is a weapons master, he felt it was his duty to pass on his skills and experience.”

“He did a good job,” Naruto said. “I don't think I've seen anyone with that kind of skill before.” `Except maybe Itachi' he added mentally.

“Like I said, it's nothing.” The girl replied. “Anyway, I've got to get going or I'll be late. I'll see you around…” the girl trailed off, now realizing she didn't actually know who she was talking to.

”Naruto,” Naruto offered.

”My name's Tenten. It's was nice to meet you, Naruto.” Tenten said before turning towards the exit of the training grounds.

“You too,” Naruto called out. As he watched her leave, a thoughtful expression crossed his face. He was deep in thought for several minutes before Kyuubi interrupted him.

'Just what the hell was that?' She questioned.

`What was what?' Naruto thought back.

'The whole praising thing with that girl.' Kyuubi said. `It's like you were sucking up to her.'

`I wasn't sucking up' Naruto retorted. `I was simply admiring her skill.'

'Oh? And what about the whole gazing after her stunt you pulled as she walked away?'

`I was just thinking' Naruto said as he walked into the middle of the clearing and began going through a few Hyuuga-ish stances, the stinging in his eyes still a constant pressure.

'Thinking, you say?' Kyuubi sneered. `About her, no doubt!' Kyuubi concluded. `Is my cute little Naruto-kun getting his first crush?'

`No, not about her.' Naruto said, thinking he might almost be embarrassed about such an idea. He had no experience in the subject, after all, he was too young for such things!

`Oh?' Kyuubi pressed.

`Well, she was part of it.' He conceded.

`Only a part? You expect me to believe that?'

`You're an incredibly annoying fox sometimes.' Naruto muttered as he change into another Hyuuga stance, then quickly changed between two more - one for offense, one more for defense. Naruto was particularly fond of this particular defensive stance. It was the first stance he ever used in combat - 4 years ago he used it without previously doing so to dispose of one particularly brutal gang leader. It allowed him to defend easily, his left leg position slightly behind his torso, bent a small amount, making him lean back and appear shorter. His right hand was raised, open palmed in front of him, above his forward front leg. His left hand rested beside his kidney, coiled like a snake ready to strike as soon as the opponent made a mistake. And with these new eyes, he would easily pick up when this happened. The stance allowed him to defend gracefully, eluding and parrying attacks with his forward arm, while allowing for an instantaneous explosion of power from his left side.

`If you weren't thinking about her, then what were you thinking about' Kyuubi once again pressed as the silence continued.

`Mastering some form of weapon. I just don't know what type. Itachi-sensei told me people who use weapons use them because they aren't very good in taijutsu - this isn't true for me. I have my own style that's powerful. I don't want to give it up in favor of some weapon.'

`Then why even bother? Just stick with your taijutsu.' Kyuubi suggested.

`That girl, Tenten, showed me just how powerful weapons can be in the rights hands. I don't want to give up such an opportunity, but I can't think of anything that won't miss with my taijutsu.'

Naruto got the impression Kyuubi had shrugged. `Don't ask me, I never needed petty human weapons. I had my claws; that was all I needed.'

Naruto's eyes widened. He straightened up, breaking the stance dance he was engaged in. `That's it…' he thought, staring into space.

`What? Claws?' Kyuubi questioned, confused.

'No, not claws. Similar, but not quite claws. It's perfect for to my fighting style.' Naruto thought, smiling. `The number of tricks I could pull…'

`Well, what is it then?' Kyuubi asked.

`I would have both hands free at all times, unlike if I used a one handed weapon like a katana. Using a two handed weapon was out of the question from the start.' Naruto continued, clearly thinking to himself.

`Yes, great, what is it?'

`Wrist blades.' Naruto explained, barely able to contain his excitement. `I would be able to instantly switch a normal fist or palm attack into a bladed one. Anyone attacking with taijutsu will find their attacks being parried by metal as well as flesh. My coat would hide them, it would be unexpected. I can create an even newer `taijutsu' style using both flesh and blade.'

`Hmm, I could see it working' Kyuubi mused.

Naruto spent the next 4 hours trying to adapt his current stances to incorporate his new ideas. He was finding it immensely difficult; he just couldn't seem to find a balance to allow him to both attack as he usually would while allowing for him to change his attack into one using his imagined wrist blades without leaving an opening for counterattack.

Sighing, Naruto looked to the sky. “It's getting to be the time I met my team,” he said, turning and making his way out of the training grounds.

'If I'm going to get this mastered enough for it to become an effective style, I'm going to need some help.' Naruto thought deep in his mind.

Once again looking skyward, Naruto vividly imagined a lithe form flailing gracefully; a deadly rain of metal spiraling out from a calm center.

`Tenten, huh...'