Naoya in Naruto

Imma try to write one more chapter cause why not.

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The journey to the Land of Grass was uneventful, with me avoiding roads by following a river. This hopefully lowered my chances of running into any Konoha shinobi. The days passed in the blink of an eye, as I was upon the border faster then I expected. After crossing the border, I needed to ditch the riverside and get out of the forest to better orient myself towards Kusagakure.

While I expected it to be difficult to find my way to my destination, Lady Luck smiled down upon me. I had found a Kusagakure shinobi, sparing me the trouble of orienting myself, now all I had to do was remain undetected as I followed this genin towards his home. I smirked to myself as I kept a constant distance between me and the shinobi. This Kusagakure ninja looked to be 10 years old, his hair a light brown, he had a oval face and delicate facial features, with bright green eyes.

As I trailed behind him, I tried to look for anymore Kusagakure shinobi. I doubted even a village as weak as Kusa would leave their genin without any supervision. It would be a dumb decision even with their lack of manpower, as leaving their youth alone and unattended is just asking for them to be killed. And such a thing would need to be avoided more than anything else for a small village, especially because they are still recovering from the last war. With their meager population and subpar training, protecting their future shinobi should be a priority.

Despite my paranoia, nothing happened. I kept following him even after we got through the forest and eventually my guard lowered again. This kid was actually alone. Now, came the difficult part. As he was setting up camp in a clearing for the night I considered whether to approach him and tell him that I wanted to join their village, or to just keep following him and barge into the Kusakages office and demand I be part of the village. I doubt that the Kusakage would deny me most demands I want to make, considering the leverage my clans non-special jutsus hold, but it is always better to be introduced through a friendly face.

After considering both options, I approached the kid as dusk fell, ready to tell him my intentions. I have no reason to be scared of him, as even just my Reinforcement technique is enough to defeat a genin from a second rate village. I put on my friendliest smile, as I spoke;

"Got room for one more? I'm tired from my journey and am willing to stay on guard duty while you rest" I spoke with a warm demeanor, and a relaxed stance. Contrary to my expectations, what I got was not suspicion, but a bright smile and a thankful expression;

"Of course! I'd love to get some proper rest! My name is Baki Akana! What is yours?" I honestly feel bad for this kid. Truth be told, I felt bad for the kid, being named dumb ass was bad already but actually being one was even worse. But, in the end, I'm not gonna question his hospitality.

"My name is Naoya Zenin. If you need any supplies, I'm willing to share." Getting his gratitude seems to be easy enough, now I just needed to use his naivety to get in the good graces of the other villagers. Hopefully.

And so, with their introduction done, Naoya and Baki started conversing.

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Turns out Baki was regarded as one of Kusagakures most talented genin, which is why he was allowed to go on solo missions even though he is quite inexperienced. Most Kusa shinobi teams are composed of two genin and one chunin, with them not having any jonin to spare to teach the new generation. Which only meant I could get more leverage in the Kusakages courtroom. And so, we set out together after a whole night of bonding.

Because Baki seemed good-hearted enough to support me, despite the fact we met just yesterday, I told him my plans of joining his village as a shinobi. And boy did that excite him, he kept telling me about how he could finally make a team big enough to take the Chunin Exam. I, however, doubted we would be taking the exam anytime soon.

Not only would I be considered untrustworthy for the villages top crass for a considerable amount of time, Baki, while impressive for Kusagakure was nowhere near the level he needed to be to take the tests and succeed. But I wasn't gonna tell him that. Let the guys who actually decide that break the news to him, I've got no reason to do so.

We traveled through the forest for what seemed like an eternity, the trees unchanging, all being the same type of pine, with bramble bushes scattered throughout the forest floor, their green leaves contrasting with the dark ground, which was devoid of any grass. Quite ironic for the so-called land of Grass to have such a dense forest which kills off all the grass in it.

As soon as we left the forest I found out why exactly this was called the Land of Grass. Blades of grass that were up to two meters tall lined up one by one, creating a wall of them, and there is a plain full of them, seemingly stretching beyond the horizon. I stuck close to my new 'friend' to not get lost and after what felt like hours, but, more realistically was thirty minutes, we reached a clearing.

As the tall grass parted I was greeted by the gate of Kusagakure, two chunins stationed at its gate as protectors. Baki quickly took them to the side and explained who I was, and what I was here for. One might wonder how Baki was suddenly smart enough to take the initiative on such a thing. Its quite simple. I told him to do so.

One of the two chunin, a man with long grey hair and his sideburns went down into a beard, went to station a meeting with the Kusakage. While I waited, Baki reassured me that the Kusakage is a gentle and caring man, though it remained to be seen.

After the sideburns chunin returned, he escorted me to the Kusakages office. As soon I entered the office I could see a middle aged man who has dark brown hair that had the occasional white strand, with deep wrinkles in his forehead and a scruffy beard of the same colour as his hair. The man had an imposing figure, swelled with muscle, dressed just like any other ninja from Kusagakure, the only noticeable difference being his Jonin flak vest and his lack of a forehead protector.

"This man is Junnosuke Sena, the Kusakage." Said sideburns. And so, the negotiations began.

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Turns out, getting a clan into the village is a thing that would elevate its position by a lot, even if the clan only has one member. Simply the techniques that would be added to the national libraries would be more than enough to give a normal person the life of a king in Kusagakure. To say the least, things went smoothly, the Kusakage being willing to give me political power, something I asked for to make my other demands seem more reasonable, and compromise with me on most issues.

The only thing he refused to do was give me rank higher then genin, claiming that 'The best way for a shinobi to build himself up is from the beginning, if you were to be given everything at the start, you would quickly stagnate.' I begrudgingly accepted that fact, as I agreed with him on some level, and dropped the issue.

My team was decided by the Kazukage on the spot, entrusting me with Baki and Karin Uzumaki. That Karin Uzumaki, the magic healing girl. She will be useful, so long as she knows her place. Assigned as leader to this team was one of the villages few Jonin, Dekiru Atsui.

And now, my life as Zenin clan head begins. I am now no longer just a former heir of a once great clan. I smirked as I went to meet my new team, at least the two members I didn't know. I was also granted a villa in the village center as clan grounds, and I promptly went there to dump all of the supplies that I had been carrying with me all this time.

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The meeting point with my team was a clearing in one of the forests near Kusagakure, which seemed to be used as a training ground by some shinobi, as the ground had marks of battle and there were different mannequins with multiple holes in them, probably from being used as target practice. The trees also bore such marks, some even having collapsed branches and attempts at traps.

Dekiru Atsui was a tall man, that looked scrawny, who had black hair that reached his shoulders, his forehead protector stopping any stray strands from getting in his eyes, which were a lighter shade of hazel. His complexion was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He was dressed in standard ninja gear, the only defining feature being the bandages around his neck.

He kept a relaxed stance as he looked over his new team, his gaze intense as he searched for any inadequacies in all of us. His eyes stopped on me for much longer than my teammates. I simply gave him a grin as I leaned back on a tree and put my hands behind my back.

Karin has crimson eyes, fair skin, and the characteristic red hair of the Uzumaki clan. She also wore a brown pair of glasses over her eyes. She also seems to be around our age, a.k.a ten years old.

She looked to be extremely nervous, even after her do called 'caretaker', Zōsui, left she did not relax in the slightest. Her eyes darting to each one of us and looking away as soon as we looked back at her. She was trembling slightly and was trying to cover the marks left from her healing the ninjas.

Both Karin and her mother have an interesting ability to heal people who bite them. This was abused by Kusagakure in the Third Ninja War to treat their shinobi, which lead to Karin's mother dying of exhaustion and leading to Karin having to take over her duty.

In contrast to her nervousness, Baki was practically bursting from excitement, struggling to restrain himself from talking and keep still. He looked at all of us in admiration, his green eyes shining in interest, especially as he looked at our sensei, Dekiru. Considering he has reached the rank of jonin, and is still alive after participating in the war as a genin, his strength, experience and contribution to the village has earned him the respect of most aspiring shinobi from Kusagakure.

I continued to bask in the sun as I waited for the jonin to speak first. And boy did I have to wait, this guy just kept staring at me as I rested.

After about twenty minutes, Baki couldn't contain his excitement anymore. He jumped to his feet and approached Karin. After calming her down with some candy and started talking to her.

As I turned my attention back to my new sensei, I noticed that his mouth was ever so slightly open, out of it, came out a few trails of drool. Was this guy asleep? I picked up a rock and threw it at him, without getting up from the ground. It hit him square in the jaw.

He looked to be confused beyond measure, his head wondering from left to right as he tried looking for a clue as to where he was. Suddenly, without warning, he clapped his hands, drawing our attention, as he said:

"My name is Dekiru Atsui. Now, the reason for which we gathered here, is because the Kusakage got this funny little idea of assigning me a group of students without consulting me first. Now, at first, I was pretty unhappy with this arrangement, until I realised that if I trained you hard enough, you three could take over my duties, and I could retire. So, you better train hard, so I don't have to make you train hard. Now, state your name, age, strengths and weaknesses."

Before I could get up to answer, Baki had already shot up to answer. Karin was very much startled by his sudden actions and scrambled to get up herself, and greet her new sensei. I, however, stayed in my laying position, as I gazed at this so called 'jonin', unimpressed.

"My name is Baki Akana. I am ten years old. I am a genius at taijutsu and shurikenjutsu. I lack mid to long range destructive power."

An answer that I did no expect from Baki, although discipline seems to be something that is instilled very fiercely in Kusa shinobi, if even he is capable of giving a short and concise answer without any shouting or boasting. He seemed proud of his answer, visibly puffing up his chest at our 'sensei's nodding.

I raised myself from the ground, dusted off my robe, fixed my hair and started talking:

"My name is Naoya Zenin, leader of the Zenin clan. I am ten years of age. I excel in near to mid range combat, utilising my clans techniques. My weaknesses would be my still maturing body, and my lacking chakra control."

Deiki motioned for Karin to speak, the girl appearing nervous, before speaking.

"My name is Karin. I am ten years old, just like the other two. I can heal people who bite me from most injuries, my weakness being my lack of combat training."

Seemingly satisfied with our answers, he created three clones, before laying on the ground, and going to sleep. The three clones burst into action, each one grabbing one of us before taking off to different parts of the forest.

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Now despite me trying to react, the clone moved much faster then I expected and, even as I struggled to free myself from his grip. Although I could have escaped using Projection, he would just catch me again, and he is most probably separating us for training. The only reason I struggled was to see if he is actually jonin or not.

He promptly threw me at the floor. I rotated my body mid-air, landing on my feet. The clone took out a kunai and jumped towards me, ready to slice me up. I hurriedly dodged his attacks, using my Reinforcement to strengthen legs and put more distance between us. I tried concentrating to create a Projection behind him, but because of his constant assault, I could not pull it off. When I got close, he started slicing madly, faster then I could react forcing me to keep my distance, whenever I got too far away, he would throw kunai at me at a disturbing speed.

I needed to break out of this deadlock. While I could definitely dodge until he ran out of kunai's, this was clearly a test of how I would handle myself under pressure. And so I did something he didn't expect. I dodge into one of his attacks, instead of away from them, and headbutted him as hard as I could, which wasn't hard enough. The jonin recovered quickly, kicking me with incredible force, cracking several ribs, pushing me through a tree. Now, this hurt quite a lot but it also gave me enough time to pull off a projection. Now all I had to do was lure hi-

My thoughts were interrupted by a kick, that would have hit me in the head, were I not to dodge in time. I quickly rushed to the middle of the clearing, hoping he would follow me into my trap. And so he did. I quickly picked up a kunai as he rushed at me. I met him head on, my elbows creaking under the force he used, my Reinforcement running into overdrive to keep him from crushing me.

I flashed him a cocky grin, before using my projection to appear behind him and tab him in the back. The clone disappeared with a puff of smoke. I headed back towards our meeting spot, to meet up with the original and see where I could get treated. Or if that bitch was actually capable of anything and wasn't lying about her powers.

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