Chapter 1 - Sasuke's Girl

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi sprawled out on the grass. The three chunin had been working hard all day on a slew of C-ranked missions. Kakashi had been supervising, and as such, wasn’t tired in the least.
“Up for another, you guys?” he asked brightly. The groans he anticipated met his ears. Some things will never change, Kakashi thought with a mild grin hidden behind his mask.
“No way, Kakashi-sensei! We’ve done four missions already today! Give us a break!” Predictably, these words belong to Naruto. Being fourteen and a half didn’t mean he had matured in every way.
“Stuff it, loser,” Sasuke told Naruto tonelessly. “You’ve been complaining all day. Enough is enough.” Sasuke was taller and more muscular, but largely the same. Killing Itachi was his lifelong dream now, rather than his life’s purpose. He had another purpose now. He glanced at that purpose now.
Sakura, in her time as Lady Tsunade’s apprentice, had quelled most of the complaints that she was talent-less as a ninja. The undeniable proof came in the form of her boyfriend, Sasuke. Sasuke wouldn’t tolerate weakness. So the fact that he and Sakura were dating meant that she had outgrown her weakness. There was no doubt; the Sakura of today had blossomed into a talented kunoichi, with the potential to pass up Lady Tsunade someday, but that was years in the future.


The three had been promoted at the last chunin exams. They were the last three of the “rookie nine” to earn the rank, although the case could be made that all three were more or less honorary chunin before that. Of all the teams, they had tackled the toughest missions, usually with success.
“Sensei, I have a question,” Sakura piped up after a few moment’s rest. “How come we haven’t learned any new techniques? I mean, haven’t we honed the skills we already have pretty well?”
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’ve been thinking about that. I’m going to teach all of you a new jutsu, and very soon. Much like Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru can form the “Inoshikacho” combination, I’ve got three jutsus that will fit together nicely. But hang tight.”
“Hey, you hear that?” Sasuke asked.


The four peered around a tree, watching their genin friend perform jutsu after jutsu. It was clear he was near exhaustion. After a few minutes, he dropped ninjutsu, and focused on taijutsu. He bounced all over the clearing at a regular speed, then opening the first gate of chakra. Kakashi and Sasuke activated their Sharingan, watching Ekyt leap high, in excess of ten feet, then bring the heel of his leg down on top of a tall log. It cracked down the middle. Ekyt landed crouched, then uncoiled with a side kick that broke the log in half before the crack in the top had reached it. He finally closed the Gate, took a brief second to wipe the sweat off his face. He pulled off his vest, leaving just his T-shirt, and dropped down to do squat-thrusts. (A free-squat with a pushup attached) Ekyt was doing them on a square platform made of stones. From their viewpoint, Team Kakashi could see his hands and forearms bleeding and bruised from his training.
Then, without warning, he leapt off, racing through the tree tops to parts unknown.


“See you later Sasuke! Later, Sakura!” Naruto zipped off toward Lady Tsunade’s office, to see what his schedule was for tomorrow.
Lady Tsunade’s office had just been expanded. Their was increased need for ninja work lately, and sometimes she and Shizune had a hard time keeping it all straight. Somehow everything got straightened out.
The office had bay windows on two sides, usually open so Tsunade could enjoy the mild Konoha weather. In front of one window was Tsunade’s desk, a massive desk crafted by a local carpenter from the finest wood available. On the desk were scrolls, sometimes numbering over 100. With Academy enrollment down, the existing Shinobi had to double or even triple up on their assignments. Some genin were given C and even B ranked missions, sometimes without the supervision of a jonin.

“For the last time, no! I can’t do that, in good conscience! A genin traveling on his own! And even the work you suggested! What are you thinking?” Tsunade’s voice echoed in the hall. It was loud and firm, but not mean. In fact, she held an interested tone.
Naruto, being a curious creature, couldn’t help but eavesdrop.
“I understand. I just…I don’t want to be here for the chunin exams!”
Naruto’s eyes widened. That was Ekyt’s voice, and it was strained with emotion.
“You have no idea just how frustrating it is…I’ll never know if I have talent or not unless I seek it out myself. There’s no jonin to go around, and no genin for me to be in a team with, it’s been that way since I got here…”
Naruto opened the door just enough to peek inside. He saw Ekyt standing in front of Lady Tsunade. Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, leaning forward with her hands in the Tiger hand sign in front of her.
“I know it’s frustrating, but you’ve got to understand something. You’ve become a pillar of this village. The people like you, they’ve forgiven you for being samurai, and they even trust you to watch their children.”
Ekyt nodded, apparently emotional, despite his expression remaining stoic.
“It means a lot. I don’t mean to leave permanently. That’s not going to happen, and I understand why, and your position. If I may speak freely…” Ekyt looked up hopefully at Tsunade.
“Of course!”
Ekyt nodded his thanks, then continued. “We both know I won’t be a chunin as long as Ebisu has any say. Even if everyone else has forgiven me, he hasn’t. I have zero confidence, and even I admit that I should be a chunin by now.” Ekyt gave a deep sigh, finally letting emotion trickle into his voice.
“You don’t know…I’m trapped. I’ve got nowhere to go. Almost everything I’ve learned, I’ve had to learn on my own. The nights spent studying, all the exercising, jutsu after jutsu, until I pass out every night…all that training…it’s getting hard to find a reason to keep going.”
Tsunade appeared shocked at those words. Before she could speak, Ekyt continued.
“No encouragement, no notice of my skills…D ranked missions…” Ekyt’s head snapped up, determination replacing his sadness. “I KNOW I’m capable of more than picking up garbage and weeding gardens! But I have no way to realize that potential…or even to know for sure if it exists! Maybe I’m disillusioning myself…” As quickly as it had come, Ekyt’s momentum was gone.
Tsunade spoke slowly, staring Ekyt in the eyes, even getting up and putting a hand under his chin.
“I don’t want to deny you, but I don’t have a choice. This village losing you would be a blow. I’d never forgive myself if you died because I okayed this.”
Ekyt gave her a silent bow. He leapt out of the window, onto the roof, then jumped over to the next one, and kept going until he was in the distance.


“Come on in, Naruto.” Tsuande beckoned Naruto in. Naruto had completely forgotten that he had been spying. He still wanted to know what was going on.
“What’s up with him, Granny Tsunade?” Naruto asked. Naruto had a deep concern for his friends, despite most of the village thinking him a demon.
“Oh, I had to deny him a passport,” Tsunade said off-the-cuff.
“Huh? The pervy samurai wants to travel or something?”
Tsunade nodded, massaging her temples. She reached for a set of four scrolls.
“Here you go, these are for you and your team. You’ve got an A-ranked mission tomorrow. There are a number of rogues that are interesting in our protection. Or so they say. You and your team need to gauge their intentions, and offer them protection from their respective Village’s until they can be brought before me. Ask your sensei for the specifics.”


Things had changed in the Leaf Village. Two and a half years ago, Temari had left the Sand Village, disgusted with her blood-thirsty brothers. A few months later, Neji Hyuga left the village to train on his own, leaving Neji and Tenten without a partner. Temari had come to the Leaf Village, tired of the rogue life. She was inserted into Guy’s team. For some reason, she clicked perfectly with Lee and Tenten. Temari and Tenten had buried the hatchet, and Lee was welcoming to most anyone. All three had been promoted to Chunin within three months of Temari’s arrival.
Lee’s hard work had paid off. Somehow, he had managed to create a jutsu using what little chakra he could muster at any given time. He couldn’t maintain it long, but the “Journey of Success” jutsu had saved him and his team a number of times. The jutsu was simply chakra forming at Lee’s hands and feet. The twist was that if his strike landed within a foot of the opponent, even if he was aiming for them and he missed, the strike still did damage. Neji, Lee’s rival, had inspired the jutsu.
Tenten’s work with weapons had reached jonin level. Now she began to hone her empty-hand taijutsu skills. She had modest success at various kicks and punches. She didn’t have the chakra control Sakura did, or the insane training Lee had, so she wasn’t as successful as they were, but any improvement was welcome in her eyes. Her jutsu work was much better. She invented a jutsu of her own. It was a combination of her weapons expertise and the Shadow Clone jutsu. If she threw one kunai, she could focus her chakra in it and multiply it, throwing up to ten at a time in this way.

The team of Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji had finally overcome their initial dislike of each other. They were nearly inseparable. Even the standoffish Shikamaru didn’t seem bothered by the constant company. The three had improved vastly, their teamwork being their strongest point. Shikamaru had invented ways to make his Shadow Possession Jutsu more viable in combat. He could “Sew” shadow together. By tethering an enemy’s shadow to a tree’s shadow, he could attack himself without fear of retaliation. He had learned the Nara clan’s specialty, a jutsu in which he could make his shadow form a hand, which then could choke his opponent, killing or incapacitating as Shikamaru saw fit.
Ino had followed Sakura’s example, becoming a sturdy medic-nin. She had learned the “Mind Destruction” technique, and had even devised a way to make her body less vulnerable when she used her “Mind-Body Transfer Technique”. By leaving some chakra in her body, it created a “shield”, so anything she did to her “host” body wouldn’t hurt her normal body.
Choji was the surprise of the group. Thanks to Shikamaru’s unwavering faith in him, he had trained harder and improved. His main accomplishment wasn’t a jutsu for a technique, but rather a pill. Basing his research on the standard-issue rations pill, Choji had created a “Temporary Chakra” pill. Inside a capsule, he stored small amounts of his own chakra, which mixed with the ingredients in the ration pills, which doubled the amount of chakra he put in. When ingested, the user received a boost in chakra long enough to sustain them until their own chakra was replenished. The only catch was incredible fatigue, and potential poisoning if you took more than one pill per day. The body’s chakra network needed time to mend itself when that much chakra was expended.


Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame had become an elite tracking squad. Kiba was the most boisterous, so he generally led missions if Kurenai wasn’t present. He and Akamaru had both grown in size. Kiba, despite his brashness, knew he was weak without Akamaru, so he began to work on his taijutsu and ninjutsu skills. If something happened to Akamaru, Kiba wanted to be able to, at the very least, avenge his best friend’s death. His taijutsu had become fierce. He had learned to extend his “claws” without using a jutsu, instead only needing to focus chakra on them, and that was a minimal amount of chakra.
Hinata was still the shy, sweet girl that everyone knew. But since Neji left, she had rapidly become stronger. So much so that she was finally allowed to learn the Hyuga clan’s “Rotation Jutsu”, and she even developed her “Protection of the 8 Triagrams” jutsu, which surrounded her and her teammates with chakra. She could use that chakra to attack, throwing “chakra kunai” at enemies to keep them at a distance. No matter how much she improved though, she still hadn’t talked to Naruto about her feelings.
Shino’s expertise with bugs had grown exponentially. He could create multiple Bug Clones, and had learned to attract more to him. During their tracking missions, he and his team had traveled. They had encountered foreign insects; Shino had taken them into his body, adapted to them, and learned to use them in various ways. One Sunagakure insect, for example, excreted a powerful “Sun block”, strong enough to defend against fire attacks. With Hinata’s medical expertise, and Shino’s ability to extract this excrement from his insects, the salve was now standard-issue to ANBU agents.

The jonin of the village had grown in number, as well as ability. Iruka Umino had finally been promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin, and named head of the Academy. His teaching was well accepted among the students, and he had become a pillar of Konoha’s society.
Hayate Gekko, Anko Mitarashi, and Ibikki Morino were additions to Tsunade’s council. All three had been invaluable to Konoha the last few years, training students at a rapid pace, yet making sure they were quality warriors, rather than the dime-store imitations some lands turned out. They worked with Iruka and his students, so you knew the quality was there.
Ebisu still worked as a private tutor, but most focused on Konohamaru’s team. He didn’t have much luck, although it was debatable who the bigger problem was; him, or Konohamaru. Konohamaru was admittedly a handful. But Ebisu tended to be biased against anyone who had a friendship with Naruto Uzumaki, so it could also be pointed out that he might have been giving a less than-stellar-effort in teaching Konohamaru. His claims of “Training twenty candidates for hokage” had been proven false. Not to mention the well-liked Ekyt Kaguya had proved that he was nowhere near as skilled as he claimed.


Sakura hummed merrily as she brushed her hair. Carefully, so as not to mess up her handiwork, she tied her hitai-ate in place.
“There! I can’t wait to see what Sasuke has planned for tonight! (content sigh) He’s been so good to me since I got stronger! I can’t believe we’re finally…boyfriend and girlfriend! CHA!”


Sasuke glared at his expression in the mirror. Damn you, Naruto…Now I’ve got another reason to live…I guess I should be thanking you. It’s thanks to you Sakura and I are together. When I kill my brother, then marry her, my life will be perfect…


Ekyt rested on the rooftop of his favorite haunt. Being 19, he could drink a limited amount of sake. Time to invoke that right. He swung down into the bar/restaurant and took up a spot at the far end of the bar. He wasn’t in the mood to socialize.
“What’cha want tonight kiddo?” the bartender asked. She was a friend of Ekyt’s. She had also, not so subtly, been trying to hook up Ekyt and her daughter. Ekyt had no interest in the girl, nothing against her. He was just too depressed. Probably the same reason I never got the guts up to talk to Sakura or Temari. Oh well, they’re happy with their boyfriends, that’s all that matters.
“Cup of your best sake…and what’s the special tonight?” Ekyt asked, falsely chipper.
“Grilled salmon, fresh vegetables, red miso soup, and rice pudding.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll take one. Thanks.” Ekyt leaned forward, closing his eyes, then massaging them. He rested his chin in his hands, a thoughtful expression behind his mask. He contemplated his problem, finding no solution other than to ignore it or break the law. Since Ekyt wasn’t a criminal, ignore it was the only option. He would simply pretend the chunin exams weren’t happening. Not like he had anyone to go watch anyway.
His plate of food and cup of sake were set in front of him. The salmon looked delicious. Ekyt grabbed his chopsticks and dug in. Damn that Ebisu! he thought viciously, not for the first time. He hiccupped slightly as he drank too fast. That’s when he saw Sasuke and Sakura enter out of the corner of his eye. A small pang of jealously ate at him, which came bundled with a feeling of shame.
I’m happy for my friends. Period. He thought forcefully, finishing his first cup of sake, immediately asking for another.


Naruto stared down the tree. He focused his chakra, building it up and balling it up in his right fist.
“Rasengan!” he shouted, driving the rapidly spinning ball of chakra home onto a knothole in the tree. The tree cracked in half.
“Yeah, I did it! Believe it!”
“Very good Naruto. You’ve come really far from where you were. I’m proud of you. It looks like you don’t need me anymore.” Jiraiya nodded his approval at Naruto’s techniques while he spoke.
“Thanks Pervy Sage! Thanks for all the help! Hey, let’s keep in touch, get ramen sometime!”
“When you’re old enough, I’ll take you to Makeout Paradise. It’s a make-out bar based on hit series of books, you know!”
Naruto grinned mischievously. “Aw, c’mon pervy sage, I could handle THAT! Sexy Jutsu!” Naruto became the naked girl again, blowing a kiss at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya laughed, staring despite the sheer number of times he had seen this jutsu done. “Still a perfect ten!” he commented with gusto.


Sakura and Sasuke picked their table, ordered their food, and ate. Conversation was still a little forced between them, but it was getting better. Sakura had outgrown being the rabid fan girl that had initially turned Sasuke off. That didn’t mean she had any idea how to handle the volatile Uchiha boy, however.
“Hey, isn’t that Ekyt?” Sakura pointed him out.
“Yeah,” Sasuke agreed. “Hey, that jutsu of yours? The chakra scalpel. How does that work?
“Oh, you focus your chakra in a limited amount to your hands. Kind of like a real scalpel, but with chakra, you can make incisions with less blood and less chance of scarring.”
“What about in combat?” Sasuke wanted to know. His questions were short and clipped, Sakura noticed.
CHA! But at least he’s talking! And to me!
“In combat, you can cut muscles, tendons, arteries, all without your opponent knowing.” Sakura explained.
“So it’s useful in close.” Sasuke stated rather than questioned.
“Right,” Sakura replied with a vigorous nod.


Ekyt finished his third cup and ordered his forth.
“Obviously, kid, you’ve got money. Give it to me…if you value your life…”
Ekyt saw a kunai pressed against his neck, held their by a robber.
“If I valued life, I wouldn’t be drinking by myself on a Friday night, would I?” Ekyt replied.
“You little smartass! Skip the commentary and give it to me!”
“You want it?” Ekyt asked. POOF! A log?
“Then you’ll get it!” Ekyt said from behind the robber. The robber turned and swung at Ekyt, who blocked with his own kunai. He used his forearm to trap the robber’s kunai, then torqued his body to send it clattering away. Ignoring the cut on his forearm, Ekyt put his own kunai away and gave the robber a hard shove. The robber apparently took offense, because as he and Ekyt grappled, he used brute force to throw the genin backward.


“Whoa, look out!” Sasuke and Sakura hit the deck as Ekyt went flying through the window next to them. Sasuke got to his feet, ready to attack, but stopped at the site of the bloodied Ekyt leaping back through the window, tackling the robber, then delivering a hard punch that knocked the thief over the bar.
The robber leapt back up and tackled Ekyt around the waist, while Ekyt grabbed him in a front headlock. They both sailed backward, out the door, spilling onto the cobblestone street outside. Ekyt landed on the bottom, which gave the thief the chance to take a shot at Ekyt. The punch glanced off Ekyt’s cheek. Ekyt took exception to this and rolled backward, then swung his leg around with a kick to the chin that knocked the robber goofy. Ekyt dove back on, driving his fist into the thief’s stomach repeatedly, before finally KO-ing him with knee to the groin.


“Sorry about that,” Ekyt told Sasuke and Sakura.
“That wasn’t your fault, don’t be sorry!” Sakura exclaimed. Next to her, Sasuke nodded silently, clearly unhappy about their date being interrupted.
“Well, I should have just cracked him, instead of playing around. Oh well. I’d better go. See you around.” Ekyt gave a vague wave over his shoulder, lost in his own thoughts again.


Tsunade looked up wearily as Ekyt walked in.
“Holy Crap! What the hell happened to you?!” Tsunade exclaimed upon seeing Ekyt’s condition.
“Robber. The gate guards have him. He tried to jump me in the bar.”
“What were you doing in a bar?” Tsunade wondered. The kid is straight as an arrow! What’s he doing in a bar?
“…Drinking…I’m a little on the depressed side, and I thought some sake might help me calm myself down a little. It did, until that idiot jumped me…”
Tsunade sighed heavily. “Alright. The guards will be giving me the report, so you’re all set.”
Ekyt opened his mouth as thought to say something, but apparently thought better of it. He shook his head, bowed silently, then slouched out of the room, not at all the norm for him.

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