Kapitel 3: chapter 3
Naruto wandered downstairs to discover a thoughtful clone had picked up some cereal for him. Grumbling a bit at himself for forgetting to transfer his stash of instant ramen, Naruto sorted through the memories of the clones dispelled during the night.
A couple of things stuck in his head and he made mental note to explore them further but what really had his attention was Hiraishin no Jutsu. No way, this must be the Jutsu that made tousan a legend. Space-time ninjutsu? Oh, this is gonna take a lot of work.
From what he could understand, the scroll was the rough outline of an incredibly complex teleportation ninjutsu. He thought he got the gist of what he needed to do, but more than half the notes were gibberish to him. Damn, I'm gonna have to learn fuinjutsu theory. Won't that be fun.
Naruto headed outside intent on creating his clone army for the day. While he might get stuck learning 'protocol' today, at least his clones could get something done.
Before he could summon them, he noticed one of his clones from last night standing in the middle of a barren training field. Noting it had his attention, the clone started bouncing up and down excitedly.
"Boss, boss, you're gonna love this. Bunshin Daibakuha!" As soon as the clone uttered those words, Naruto was rocked back as the training field became a small crater.
Well, that certainly is interesting, but I'm pretty sure I said no explosions last night. Eye twitching in irritation, Naruto summoned 200 clones.
"Alright guys, form up in groups of 20." Once the clones formed rank, Naruto began handing them their assignments for the day. "Alright, first group, we need to massively improve our chakra control if we want to use the stuff from the library. I want you to do the leaf balancing exercise while you water walk."
With a quick salute, the first group headed down to the small pond near the back edge of the compound.
Group two, practice the henge and kawarimi. Tousan's notes said that when someone's mastered a jutsu, they can start to use it without hand signs. I want the ability to use a kawarimi without seals by the end of the day. Group three, practice the c-rank jutsu we found yesterday. Group four, calligraphy. Seals don't write themselves, ya know. Group five, find every book on fuinjutsu theory in the library you can and start reading. Group six, you get to work on the gardens. Try to keep most of it alive. Group seven, go move everything out of the old apartment, then I want an inventory of the house. Group eight, kaasan's taijutsu scrolls, get practicing. Group nine, kenjutsu training- use the kodachi. Last but not least, group ten. One at a time, practice that exploding clone thingy. In the already provided crater!" Summoning one last clone, "You. I want you to thoroughly re-read the Hiraishin no Jutsu scroll. Every time one of theory clones dispels I want you to read it."
Damn it, I forgot.
Creating a few more clones, "You guys, rasengan work. I want to be able to use it one-handed."
Watching his clones get to work, Naruto vanished in a shunshin.
Popping in with a quick "Morning Baachan!", Naruto swiftly dodged the paperweight the soared at his head. Sadly, he didn't see the empty sake bottle that followed it.
Tsunade felt a strong easing of her spirit as she watched the jar smash her insane grand-nephew back into the wall behind him. Ha. Doubt he'll stop calling me 'granny', but man, that felt great. Trying to maintain a straight face as Naruto dragged himself back on his feet, Tsunade considered how to break the news. Deciding Naruto would probably just prefer it straight, she sighed.
Alright Gaki, gonna cut straight to the chase. We don't have time for you to learn protocol, your fiancee is due today." Ignoring the sputtering and cursing her statement created she tapped her chin in thought. "There is a new problem too. Sunagakure promoted her to chunin, and you remain a genin. I can't just promote you, much as I would like to, but I have an idea." Seeing Naruto take a keen interest, she smirked, "I'll give you a week to get ready, then I want you to fight the students of Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, as well your own Team 7."
"Baachan, that's crazy" Naruto grinned. "I love it"
"Good to hear Gaki, now lets get down to the West gate. If we get there with time to spare, we can annoy Izumo and Kotetsu."
Temari was sick of riding in the carriage circumstances had forced upon her. She'd argued long and hard that she was still a chunin and she could walk, but Baki had maintained that they had to follow tradition – and traditionally, brides rode in the carriage. In addition to being extremely uncomfortable, the journey was taking twice as long as the last time she had made the trip.
Reaching over, she ran her hand along the smooth metal of her mother's war fan. At least I was allowed to keep this. Laying her head back against the seat, Temari focused on calming herself. Today, she would no long be a Sunagakure shinobi, but one of the Leaf, and that hurt more then she would have believed. Despite how her little brother had been treated, she loved her village and has been proud to wear the symbol of the Sand.
She was jerked out of her thoughts as Kankuro stuck his head through the window.
"Hey, Neechan. How ya doing?"
"I'm scared, little brother. I don't want to be married – especially not to a stranger from another village."
"I totally agree, Neechan," Kankuro said. "Only thing I've heard is that you're marrying into a clan, but other than that, I've got nothing."
Baki broke into the conversation.
"Looks like we're here. Seems the Hokage herself came to welcome you Temari – which is either a very good or a very bad sign."
Tsunade stood with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, wrinkling the red and white fabric of her formal robes of state. With her were Shizune, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.
Gritting her teeth in irritation, Tsunade whispered to Naruto.
"If Kakashi doesn't show in the next 30 seconds, I want you to burn all his books."
"Hai, Baachan," Naruto whispered back. "Your will shall be done"
Torn between laughing and hitting him, Tsunade eyeballed Kakashi as he wandered up to the group just as the four Sunagakure Shinobi approached. His timing meant she couldn't say anything, but the look in her eyes warned Kakashi that this conversation was not going away.
"Greetings and welcome to Konohagakure no Sato, I am Tsunade Senju, Godaime Hokage and I am most pleased to formally welcome you."
Naruto faced Temari nervously, bowed and spoke the phrase Tsunade had hammered into his head while they were waiting.
"I welcome you Temari, my water is yours and I wish you shade and safety."
Temari stared in complete shock. Not only had she not been expecting the traditional greeting of a Sunagakure groom to his bride, she couldn't believe this was who she was to marry. Snapping out of her reverie, Temari bowed in return.
"I greet you Naruto, I am thankful for the honor. May you always find water and may our home be blessed with shade."
She eyed him carefully – he seemed more serious than she remembered, more controlled. He had been a wild one during the exams, but now, he looked much more like the determined warrior she had seen defeat her brother.
Naruto stiffened as Gaara shuffled near. His green eyes still bore the crazed look but he seemed to have lost his murderous aura.
"Hey Gaara, how's it going?"
"Naruto Uzumaki," Gaara spoke tonelessly, "Will you protect my Neechan as one of those precious people you told me of?"
Naruto blinked, momentarily confused then gave Gaara a small, warm smile.
"I swear I will, Gaara, and I always keep my promises."
Gaara simply nodded, "Thank you, for everything."
"I'm not sure I follow all of that," Naruto said quietly. "I get thanking me for promising to take care of your Neechan, but what's everything else?"
"You showed me true strength," Gaara replied just as softly. "I have chosen to follow your path. I will protect those precious to me."
"I'm happy for you." Naruto smiled. "Has it been hard?"
"It is both harder and easier as time goes by. Ignoring the beast causes him to rage, but my mind is clearer. It's hard to describe."
"I understand." was all Naruto had to say.
Most watching were confused. Naruto had already confided in Tsunade so her grin was completely genuine, but Shizune was left wondering what the story behind this was. Temari and Kankuro knew what their brother meant, but he had not spoken to them in great detail about what had happened between him and the other Jinchuuriki. Kakashi looked interested, but masked it behind his usual apathy quickly. Sasuke was glaring at Gaara, still angry that he had not been the one to defeat him. Sakura was nervous – she would never be able to forget the images of what he had done to Lee.
"Well," Tsunade said into the quiet that had settle over the group. "I think Naruto should show Temari to their home, and I've made arrangements for the three of you in one of the hotels."
Naruto interjected, "Baachan, if it's alright, how about I take everyone with me? It's not like I don't have the room."
Eying him, Tsunade shrugged, "I suppose you can. Just remember I want you in my office tomorrow at nine. We need to swear Temari in and place her on team 7."
"I don't have an opening on my team." Kakashi said hurriedly.
"There are no open slots" Tsunade growled back, eye twitching in rage. "If you weren't always late, you would have heard me explain that an hour ago."
Secretly Tsunade had hopes that the time spent together on a team would cause the two to bond. She didn't want the little Gaki stuck in a cold, loveless marriage – it was perhaps one of the few things he would not survive. She believed Temari and Naruto could make it work, but without an extra push, might not make the effort to try on an emotional level.
Kakashi gave Tsunade one of his eye smiles.
"Well, that works but I'll need some time to evaluate her and get their teamwork up to par. Should be a busy week for us."
Naruto drooped.
Baachan, I'm kinda occupied this week. Didn't Kakashi-sensei get the message?"
Tsunade glared at the masked jonin.
"No, because he was late. Kakashi, Naruto is training for an impromptu chunin exam Monday. He will be fighting all the members of the 'Konoha 12' with the exception of Lee."
Kakashi stared, eye wide in shock.
"Hokage-sama, that is simply insane,"
Tsunade shrugged.
"Its what the Gaki chose."
Naruto lead his fiancee and guests into the compound right as the last of the exploding cones decided to blow himself up. As much as he wanted to laugh, he found he had his hands full getting everyone to put their weapons away.
"Guys, it was just a stupid clone blowing himself up. Nothing to worry about, I swear." Once everyone settled, Naruto began a small tour. "Alright, welcome to the Namikaze-Uzumaki estate. As you can see, we've got trees, some training grounds, a giant hole in the ground, stupid freaking clones, and gardens." Eying the general destruction Naruto felt he had to add. "Ne, Temari, I sure hope you garden better than I do, cause I think my clones really screwed that up."
To her own surprise, Temari found herself agreeing. The clones had really messed things up. Looking around a bit more, Temari felt that so far, her new home wasn't to bad. She would have some privacy even if everything struck her as being a bit green. Sunagakure didn't have much opportunity for gardening, but she had maintained a flower box of herbs in her room for several years.
The past week had been fruitful for Naruto. Constant brawls with his clones in the trees and on the pond had drastically increased not only his chakra control, but his new taijutsu and kenjutsu styles. While far from mastered, both styles felt natural to him - he figured they were probably both at least mid-chunin but he seemed to have hit a plateau with both. Probably need a real instructor to get better.
Shrugging it off, he couldn't help but smile. He might not know many jutsu, but those he knew, he had mastered – or in the case of the rasengan, almost mastered. He could do it one handed now, but it still took him a few seconds more to form it then Ero-Sennin. Still, not to shabby, and the other jutsu he had down to either a single seal, or no seals. That was going to come as a shock, and the best part was the teme couldn't steal his jutsu.
Using his new understanding of basic fuinjutsu, Naruto had managed to increase his conditioning with resistance and gravity seals. Taking ruthless advantage of his healing from Fur-ball, Naruto had more or less run himself into the ground. When he had released the seals this morning to adjust, he noticed that he was probably at least twice as fast as he had been, and he hadn't really gotten to test his strength after he destroyed the first training dummy accidentally.
His attempts to use his father's jutsu had been interesting, to say the least. The first time he almost insisted on doing it himself, before his clone reminded him of the 'Great Fireball Fiasco'. Are clones supposed to be sarcastic? Still, he'd ended up being grateful after the first clone launched himself 300 feet in the air. How the hell did tousan survive creating this jutsu? Undeterred, Naruto had continued expending clones, and soon enough, the survival rate began to succeed the deaths. Eventually, the clones were surviving every attempt and Naruto had decided it was time to try himself.
Focusing his chakra, Naruto searched for the beacon on the kunai. Feeling a faint pull, Naruto did the internal chakra manipulations from the scroll. With a flash of yellow, and how the hell did I see that anyway he thought, Naruto found himself standing next to his target kunai. Naruto allowed himself a short childish victory dance, then settled down.
Time to practice.
Practice had reduced the time he needed to attune to a beacon, but it still took several seconds. Naruto was not about to complain though – a couple seconds to cross most any distance was not a bad trade-off. His father's notes had also answered the question he had on deploying the kunai. His peers were already frustrated with his Kage Bunshin, he suspected that they were really going to dislike Shuriken Kage Bunshin using Hiraishin kunai.
Things with Temari were going as well as he could expect. She had a bit of a temper, but unlike Sakura, she at least tried to warn him off when she was getting angry – a side effect of having a dangerous brother, perhaps? He usually missed her clues and ended up with a metal fan being smashed across his head, but they were getting better. They were beginning to become comfortable with each other, sharing stories and jokes during Naruto's infrequent breaks from training.
Temari was beginning to enjoy life in Konoha. She was surprised on her second day in the village - all the kunoichi of her generation swooped in to visit with her. Ino lead the charge, but all of them, even Tenten, wanted to get to know their new comrade.
Temari apologized, at least in regards to her excessive violence against the other kunoichi, and made it clear that it had not been personal and that she didn't want her hanging onto a grudge. All was forgiven when Tenten was allowed to handle the war fan. The other kunoichi all rolled their eyes as Tenten swung the fan around with stars in her eyes.
She felt herself smiling as she watched – it was nice to have girlfriends. Being both a kunoichi and the child of the Kazekage had put her at a distance from everyone else. In the Leaf, she was at the same level as everyone else, and she found the sensation of finally being equal surprisingly relaxing.
It had also lead to an interesting discovery – apparently, Namikaze men enjoy overbearing women. Tsunade had told her several stories of her mother-in-law and her legendary temper. She hadn't been inclined to believe it until she saw the boy she had watched beat her bother being floored by one of the weakest kunoichi from the exams. It was a revelation - her betrothed may be smarter than she had believed, but she was going to have to be the one to keep the hyper idiot in-line. Still, she was beginning to think of him as her idiot, with a small smile.
Naruto hummed to himself as he stood over the stove. He found that cooking was actually enjoyable for him and it kept Temari from poisoning him with her so-called 'food.' He snickered when he recalled the time he told Temari that her cooking was probably the reason poor Gaara had been so homicidal. The joke was still funny half an hour later as he limped into the house.
Finishing up, he called, "Temari, dinner is done."
With a flash of blonde he could have sworn was Hiraishin no Jutsu, Temari was seated at the table. Tomorrow being an important day, Naruto had gone all out. Using info gathered from Ino, traded for a future favor to be decided, Naruto had prepared Temari's favorites. Kenchin soup and roasted chestnuts followed by a large chocolate cake. Naruto had some fun poking fun at Temari for drooling, but quickly shut up when her eyes promised retribution.
Naruto had inadvertently discovered that shadow clones made great kitchen staff. He got to cook, and make as much of a mess as he wanted and the clones had to clean it up. Temari tried to point out that with the clones, he would still get the memories of cleaning up, but Naruto was insistent. Best Deal Ever.
After the clones cleared the table, Naruto walked over to Temari and in a display of boldness slightly shocking both of them, kissed her check.
"I know I've been busy this week, but I wanted you to know that I'm glad you're here. Now, I need to go get some sleep, tomorrow will be a long day."
Watching him head upstairs Temari sat holding her check with a light blush. Being the daughter of a Kage, and the sister of Gaara, no one had ever kissed her before. With a smile she decided that it wasn't half bad.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein