章 26: Chapter 026
Iruka didn't pick up on that. Instead, he simply moved on with the topic at hand. "He doesn't fair well on paper and he doesn't really stick around long enough for stuff to be thoroughly explained to him. It's in his nature to wander about looking for new and interesting material. That being said, he's definitely the kind of kid that plays to his strengths…"
"Do tell," Mizuki exclaimed curiously.
"I've been looking back at his history: troublemaking, vandalism, endless pranks, constant failings in by-the-book examinations, absences from class, and a penchant for causing disaster wherever he sets foot. He's like a walking storm system; wild and untamable with a single purpose fixed inside of his head," Iruka said with a smile, "To become Hokage. It's ludicrous, isn't it?"
"What exactly are you getting at?"
"Beneath all of this bad rep and low scoring, have you ever noticed in all the times where Naruto actually does succeed, all of the things he's done right?" Iruka asked, looking up at his comrade to see him shrug. "His pranks are pulled off flawlessly and not a single person has been able to catch him; quality stealth at its finest. The inimitable traps he's able to set and spring upon unsuspecting victims; a genius level of creativity and understanding of physics and shinobi tactics. The materials he's able to utilize, whether as throwing weapons, extensions of his hand, or devices to use in his endeavors; resourcefulness and superb aim. He knows his environment well enough to get away, is quick on his toes, and he's more than just slippery when it comes to pursuits. Even I sometimes have trouble trying to track him down."
Mizuki blinked, scratching his chin as he looked out the window, "Now that you mention it, he certainly does possess a high degree of skills outside of the academy system that can make him inadvertently dangerous. There's a lot of potential behind his abilities." This he meant, since he clearly remembered the time when Naruto had managed to hit all the Chunin in the academy at once without them knowing.
For example: the boy had managed to cram apples filled with worms without breaking the seams and given them to Iruka and Mizuki respectively. He replaced every single soda can in the cafeteria and vending machines with cans filled with dog urine (as they later found out to their dismay), which he'd collected from the Inuzuka kennels over a period of two months. Hell, there was also the one time the jinchuriki had unscrewed and undone every nail from every single piece of furniture, fixture and wall in the academy. They didn't know how he did it, but he did it, and the entire establishment had to be rebuilt from the ground up after a particularly strong breeze came by and knocked it all down.
This sneakiness and skill to strike at others indirectly showed outstanding shinobi quality. In any one of those instances Naruto could have poisoned every single man and woman in the building, drugged them, or set bombs off to bring down the entire area and sent them all to kingdom come. Now that Mizuki thought about it, the boy was an incredibly terrifying force to be reckoned with.
He made a note to check his office thoroughly next time before getting comfortable.
Eyeing the man's face had Iruka smirk. "See…"
"If he's so good, then why doesn't he put these skills of his to better use, like to his schooling?" Mizuki wondered, giving the man a suspicious glance.
The Chunin shrugged back, "Because he finds the system 'unbearable'. I can't change his nature. His resolve is even more steely and potent than his chakra and stamina. The best thing I can do is point him in the right direction and hope that the village survives to see the next day."
"You make him sound like some kind of monster," Mizuki chuckled, though inwardly admitting that that was probably true. Every adult in the village knew what he was and what he was carrying. It was hard for them not to put that thought out of their minds.
"He's not a monster. He's just a boy with insurmountable potential for growth, and has an odd way of dealing with problems," Iruka replied, leaning back in his chair and glancing up at his friend to see him smirk. "That's another thing, have you ever seen Naruto training?"
"Not really. He's usually alone most of the time, isn't he? Like Sasuke."
"It's been bothering me for a while. Do you remember the taijutsu sessions from last week?" Iruka asked. He saw his friend nod back, both of them scrutinizing that particular memory at the same time. "Every single student this academy's ever produced has either studied and practiced the basic forms of combat from the school's scrolls, or practiced their clan's or parents' taijutsu styles. Naruto's fighting style though… I just… can't seem to identify it or place it."
"Now that you mention it his fighting style is sort of weird and uncouth," Mizuki murmured, scratching his cheek. "All that moving about with no guard, jumping, flipping and bending… he's very acrobatic."
"He's very unorthodox and wild. On top of his flexibility and agility, he has an uncanny sense of timing too," Iruka murmured, rubbing his chin. "When he first started at the academy he was an incredibly direct fighter, always wanting to get into a hitting match with his opponents. He didn't have much talent for the area and was always beaten up by the other students because of it. But after a few months I saw his fighting style change from crude, to academic, to being incredibly diverse. It didn't click with me until a year later when I saw his style had changed completely. It seems so unrefined now, but he's damn good with it."
"That's really creepy," Mizuki stated, his mind coming about to another important fact. He looked down at the boy's profile picture in slight alarm. "Actually, now that I think back to his other spars, he doesn't seem to be taking hits from anyone anymore. He's always dancing around his opponents or jumping over them."
On top of them too. The boy possessed an innate ability to distribute his weight instantaneously and contort his joints to the point normal people would have been in pain. His flicker jabs and swaybacks were a good example of this. He could take shots at his opponents while he was in close with them and not receive any hits in kind because he was so agile.
Analyzing his fighting style from a distance, Iruka and Mizuki also arrived to another important conclusion.
"His reflexes are like lightning," Mizuki murmured.
"That quick, huh?" Iruka smiled, nodding towards the file of the blonde haired student grinning back at him. "Even better than Sasuke's. I didn't even notice." Naruto really was further ahead than the Chunin originally thought. Looking underneath the underneath, just like how shinobi were supposed to look at challenges and obstacles, they both saw a side to the jinchuriki that they never knew he had before.
However…
"He doesn't like the theory and he can't perform the Bunshin no Jutsu at all," Iruka stated, folding his arms with a puzzled quirk in his expression. "He's good at Kawarimi and his Henge transformations are flawless, despite his fooling around, and even though he's good off paper those other two aspects continue to disagree with him."
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