Chapter 51: Ge-nin fight! In your face!

The members of team five were looking at three kids from team 11; Neji’s team to be exact.
“So what are the three lazy bones doing here? Shouldn’t you be at school right now,” the tallest one said. “We’re resting from training, something wrong with that?” Kojirou said with a low growl.
The three started to laugh. “Seriously, you three training?” the light brown haired girl laughed. “That is just impossible,” the other girl (reddish hair) said. “Oh, if that ain’t Mai and Mei. Both still fascinating Masaru?” The two girls gave Amaya a growl, “Ain’t it hard to share him?” “Hey hey, they can both have me.”
Kojirou let out a snort. “Masaru loves harem doesn’t he.” The tallest of team 11 blushed a little. “If I were you I would shut your jab, none of you three will be able to defeat us. Especially not with the genius we have as teacher. I heard YOUR teacher is the village monster,” Masaru smirked.

“Not another word or else!” Amaya said as she had jumped up. “Oh, you love your sensei?” Mei giggled. Now it was Minoru to stand up. “You have no right to say such things, Masaru. You don’t know Naruto-sensei.” “Fine then let’s see how great you are,” Masaru said as he drew a set of shuriken he threw at the blue haired. Amaya quickly threw some of her kunai and managed to hit all the shuriken in time. “Your aim improved,” Mai said. “Mai, Mei take care of mister chicken, I’ll handle the other two.”
‘Mister chicken?’ Minoru thought, but soon found out it was him the dark haired had meant. He managed to get away from the punches and the kicks and started running.

“Minoru!” Amaya shouted and wanted to go help her team-mate but was stopped by Masaru. “Not so fast. I can handle you both at the same time.” “You think so?” Kojirou said as he drew a scroll and a brush. “NINPO: CHOJU GIGA,” the red haired shouted
“What the…!” Masaru let out in surprise as a giant tiger came after him. Kojirou turned to Amaya. “Go help Minoru!” he told her. Amaya nodded and ran in the direction her team-mate had gone.

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“Running away, chicken?” Mai asked sneering. She and Mei approached Minoru from two directions now and the boy was cornered since they were near a cliff with bellow a river. “Let’s throw him of that cliff.” “Hey! We’re fellow ninja’s,” Minoru commented. “So, you’re a weakling, nobody will miss you.”
The blue haired did a few steps backwards when he saw the two approaching. But suddenly the two were kicked away. Blinking his eyes Minoru looked at the back of Amaya. The two girls, Mai and Mei, crawled up. “Ow, that hurt,” Mei grunted. “You really think we would have kicked him off, come we were just scaring him Amaya,” Mai said as she came back to her feet.
“Stop the foolishness, what are you trying to proof?!” Amaya shouted. “Oh we will stop if you admit to us we’re better than you,” Mai smirked. “Fine, you two are better than us. Now leave,” Amaya said. “Ow you don’t mean a word of that,” Mei pouted.
“Come on, just leave. Get Masaru and go. You already know we’re weaker than you three are,” Minoru said almost begging. The two Masaru lovers came closer, which scared the blue haired somewhat. “Sure you are the weakest one of them all. It was because we scared you you managed to pass the bunshin test,” Mei said with a smirk on her face as she grabbed the boy by his ear and let him bent down. “Now say thank you for that. You know you wouldn’t have been here otherwise.” “Th-thank you!”

Amaya looked at it. She wanted to stop the two bullying her team-mate but right now it would be safer not to say a thing. Those two would get crazy enough to really throw them over the edge of the cliff.
“Good boy,” Mei said as she let Minoru go who fell down. She petted him like a dog. “You know your place. You on the other hand…” Mei looked up to face Amaya.
Amaya was surprised by a fist from Mai. She stumbled backwards, almost fell over Minoru but placed her other feet behind. She should have decided to fall on the ground because now she was stumbling and fell over the edge. Both Mai and Mei looked somewhat stunned.
“Uh-oh…” they both let out.
Minoru rapidly turned to look, got up and without thinking followed his team-mate.

Amaya had her eyes closed in fear until… “Amaya-chan, grab my hand!” She looked up and saw Minoru reaching out for her. Without another thought she grabbed his hand and he pulled her closer.

As soon Minoru was sure Amaya was holding him tight he brought chakra to his hands and grabbed the side of the cliff. After a few seconds they stopped falling and Minoru panted. Amaya, on his back, was shaking but impressed. She looked down and saw the crash they would have made otherwise.
The blue haired started it climbing up and panted when they were back at the top. Mai and Mei looked stunned but decided to get away from there as fast as possible, yet without being noticed.
“That was close,” Amaya whispered as got of Minoru. However the boy didn’t reply and turned his attention to the two girls somewhat further away. The next moment Amaya saw him hitting the two hard enough to let them fly a few meters through the air and hit a tree. After that they fell on the ground. “Your stupid actions will kill someone one day!” Minoru raged.

Amaya stared stunned at the boy.

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Kojirou avoided some hits. He ran around, quickly drawing little animals on trees without Masaru noticing.
“Are you keeping on running or are you going to fight?!” the black haired shouted frustrated. “Feh, you want me to fight, fine. Kirikomi no Biisuto Chimachima (Attack of the small beasts)!” From every place Kojirou had drawn a little creature the ink came to life and went for an attack at Masaru.
When all the miniature ink beast had disappeared after a minute a badly injured Masaru was halfway floored. “I see, so you three indeed trained. Interesting attack, Kojirou. But not good enough. Let me…”
The earth started shuddering and the two looked in the direction their team-mates were. The next moment Kojirou started dashing in that direction and found Amaya leaning against a tree, shaking. “Amaya-chan!” She turned around and the first thing Kojirou noticed was that she was crying. He slowed down and stopped next to her. “What happened?” “Minoru-kun he… I don’t understand what’s going on. Somehow he got a lot better in just a minute.” Kojirou searched for his other team-mate and found the blue haired avoiding kunai by jumping up. He used a tree to launch himself at the two girl that were attacking him and punched one of them hard enough to bury her in the ground a bit.

In the mean time Masaru had found his way to the rest and when he saw what was happening he threw himself in the fight. Minoru didn’t seem to care.

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Naruto stood up and strolled over to his door when there was knocking. When opening it he found Neji who grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him along. He was just in time to grab his shoes and close the door.
“Neji what is it?” the blonde let out confused as he tried to put on his sandals. “I sent my team to the woods to train for today, but when I went to check up they weren’t there. I used Byakugan to find them and they were fighting your team-mates.” “What?” Naruto said shocked.
The two jo-nin teachers quickly made their way to the forest.

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Minoru blocked a few kicks and hits from Masaru, who threw a set of shuriken when he jumped backwards. A couple hit his opponent who got a kunai and threw it at Masaru. Masaru ducked in time as the kunai continued his way and made a big hole in a tree further ahead.

“W-wow… what’s gotten into Minoru-kun so suddenly? I’ve never seen him like this,” Kojirou muttered. “Mai and Mei made me fall of the cliff. Minoru-kun saved me but after that he got this strength and started attacking,” Amaya said shaking.

Minoru threw another kunai, but Masaru knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge it this time.

Another kunai hit the first one and both fell on the ground. Minoru dashed over to Masaru again but a yellow blur stopped close to him, grabbed him by his fist and threw him against a nearby tree.
Masaru looked surprised, yet happy. But when he saw his teacher approaching him he started to get scared. “Explain the meaning of this,” Neji demanded to know as Minoru crawled up. “They started,” he said as he walked back to the scene, looking down and holding a kunai. Those stupid girls threw Amaya-chan of the cliff.”
“It was an accident!” Mei and Mai shouted afraid. “Bullshit!” Minoru shouted as he threw the kunai in their direction. Naruto grabbed it out of the air. Minoru started running over to the two girls but was grabbed by Naruto and pushed to the ground.

“Calm down, Minoru!” the blonde shouted, making sure the boy wouldn’t escape. He struggled to get free but was unable to get rid of Naruto. ‘Where’s this power suddenly coming from?’ Naruto thought

Amaya and Kojirou threw the scene a fearful glance. Amaya then ran over to Naruto and Minoru and face the blue haired boy. “Enough already, Minoru-kun. I’m alright,” she cried, “Please… stop it.” Kojirou stepped beside her, looking somewhat scared at the boy on the ground. Minoru stopped struggling all of a sudden.

“Naruto,” Neji said. The blonde turned his attention to him. The Hyuga pointed over to the kunai buried in a tree. Naruto’s eyes widened. At first he thought Minoru had somehow used nature manipulation, but then noticed that it was different. ‘It must be pure chakra he has used…’ The blonde looked around. ‘During the whole fight… Like Sakura using the right amount of chakra and unleash it at the right time to tear the ground apart.’ He then looked down and noticed the heavily bleeding fists of the blue haired. ‘Minoru, what exactly are you most afraid of? To be called a useless one or using the power inside of you?’
“Minoru,” Naruto said. Minoru flinched and hid his face by looking at the grass below. “I will let you go of you promise me not to start attacking again.” “I-I promise,” the young one mumbled. Naruto stood up; however his student remained on the ground.

“Neji, you and your team better leave, I’ll take care of this here. They’re my responsibility after all.” “Sensei…?” Amaya softly said and Naruto turned to look at her, “What happened? I don’t understand…” “Right now I don’t know; you three have a lot of explaining to do.”

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Konohamaru jumped from roof to roof; being in an overly happy mood. His eyes then fell on a girl below that was throwing away the stick of her just finished ice-cream. With a summer-roll he jumped down and landed in front of her.
“Yo Hanabi!” he shouted. The girl mentioned jumped back in shock. “Ko-Konohamaru…? Don’t do that!” “Sorry, but don’t you see anything about me?” “I only see a stupid idiot trying to take me to some place and then get lost.” Konohamaru sweat dropped, “Ow I said I was sorry about that.” Hanabi turned her head away, “Sure. Now get lost, I’m not in the mood for you.” “Sheesh…” Hanabi walked away.
‘Damn girl…’ Konohamaru thought and went after her. He grabbed her wrist and made her turn. “Before you leave, you really don’t see anything about me.” Hanabi closed one of the chakra points of the boy’s hand so he let her go after that she looked at him but remained silent.

“Look I’m a chu-nin now, come on. The chu-nin vest…” “So?” Hanabi questioned as she crossed her arms. “So…? You said I wouldn’t make it. So in your face, Hanabi!” He stick out his tongue.
A stupid thing to do because it had made the girl mad. She not just slapped him but punched him, making him fly to the other side of the street. “You don’t deserve to be a chu-nin!” she shouted and ran off.

Konohamaru crawled up. “Ow man… I seriously don’t get her.”

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Naruto let out a sigh. “You three,” he started as he looked at the three that had taken place on the chairs around the table. They were in his room. “They started,” Kojirou said. “Yeah, they approached us. Sure we might have said some mean things but…” Amaya continued. Naruto signed them to keep their mouth shut.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to punish you if that is what you’re afraid of.” “R-really?” Kojirou asked stunned. “Yes, but please… you three are just ge-nin. Don’t put on dangerous fights like that. Anyhow, Minoru you did a good job, though jumping of a cliff… well let’s say not many would do the same.”
Minoru remained looking at the table top. He was the only one who hadn’t said a word ever since Naruto got of him back in the forest.

“I’ll increase your training though. Expect water walking practise.” “Water walking…?” Kojirou muttered. “Yes, as soon I feel somewhat better we’ll start with that.” “What’s wrong, sensei?” Amaya asked as the blonde sat down on his bed.
“More or less found out I happened to have a cousin.” Kojirou and Amaya looked surprised. “Is it that girl… Mitsuki?” the red haired asked. “How do you….?” “Well, she just came back and she has the same hair colour as you. And she is on a same level as you, since she almost managed to beat you.” Naruto let out a chuckle, “Yeah… It’s Mitsuki. Anyhow you kids can go home now. It’s getting late.”

Amaya and Kojirou stood up and walked to the door, however Minoru remained seated. “It’s okay,” Naruto said as he saw the two looking worried at their team-mate, “Just go home. I’ll take of Minoru.” The two nodded and left. When the door closed Naruto looked over to the blue haired boy.

“I’m s-sorry,” he hiccupped. Naruto smiled a little, “You know… you don’t have to hide that you want to cry.” Minoru looked at his teacher for a moment but then turned his head away. Naruto sat down on a chair and looked at the boy. “It’s alright. Now tell me, what happen?” “B-but Amaya-chan and Kojirou-kun already explained.” “Yes their sides, I want to hear your side of the story. Especially when you jumped after Amaya to safe her.” Minoru rubbed the tears away as he slowly started talking. “I don’t know what happened to me, I just jumped after her and then I suddenly was able to use my chakra well enough to get a hold on the side of the cliff.” “And when you were both at the top again?” “I just… I… what they did… I…” Minoru mumbled at a loss with words.
“You got so angry you just attacked.” Minoru nodded ashamed. “I didn’t mean to…” “It’s okay, I know the feeling. I gave in to that a couple of times, but listen carefully. I ended up hurting my friends because of that, so please try to keep it under control. I will help you with it if you want.” “R-really, you had that too?” “Yes, now I want to know. Did this ever happen before?” For a moment the boy looked and then once again he looked away. “J-just o-once… I was five. Some kids were bullying me and I l-lost it. When I came back to sense and saw what I did I-I w-was really scared. I decided to never use that p-power a-again.”

Naruto stood up and walked to his fridge. “So in fact you’re not awful, you’re just afraid to use your power.” “M-maybe…” “You want some ramen as well, it’s dinner time already?” Somewhat taken aback the blue haired nodded. A couple of minutes later the two were eating.

“Minoru,” Naruto said at one point, “that ability of a great control over your chakra is wasted if you don’t use it.” “It’s not great control, it’s out of control!” “You need to use it the right way, you just need to learn that,” Naruto continued calmly. “You don’t know what it is like to have such a power!”
Naruto stared at his ramen. “Believe me… I do.”

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Hanabi let herself drop on her bed. “Stupid Konohamaru,” she mumbled into her pillow. She rolled on her back. “If he handed been acting so stupid I would have said congratulations… why is such an idiot?!”

She then heard knocking on her door. “Come in.” The door slid open and it was Neji that came in with three twelve year old. “Hanabi-san, could you please help me with something?” “Hm? What happened to the little brats?” “Don’t call me brat,” Masaru said with a growl. “If I want to call you brat, I call you brat. What’s up Neji?” “These three here need some punishment.” “Oh… you want me to fight them or something?” “In a way, yes… but see at as training them,” Neji sweat dropped.
Hanabi jumped of her bed and walked over to the dojo where Mitsuki and Hinata were training. They both stopped and looked over to the ones that entered. “What happened to those kids?” Hinata asked.

Nodoka, watching the training session of Hinata and Mitsuki, pulled one of the girls down and started treating her wounds.

“These three decided to attack you’re boyfriend’s team,” Neji explained. “Wh-what?” Hinata stuttered out of shock.
“Anyhow, Hanabi I understand you want to start ‘punishment’ training now, but can we wait until tomorrow. Right now they need some treatment.” “I’m almost done with two of them, only the boy is left,” Nodoka smiled. Mitsuki chuckled when she saw the surprised face of Neji. Ryudo, sitting next to Nodoka, did as well.
“Why do you think she joined us?” Ryudo said, “She’s quite a medic.”

“Fine, I’ll wait till tomorrow,” Hanabi mumbled disappointed. “Hey if you want to train, join us, Hanabi,” Mitsuki said.

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Naruto was walking with Minoru to the boy’s home. “Why are you coming with me sensei?” “I want to talk with your parents. How are your hands doing?” “O-okay, thanks to the bandages and that ointment.” Naruto laughed a little, “Yeah Hinata-chan’s ointment is really great.”

Soon the two entered the house. “I’m home,” Minoru said and took his sandals off. “Minoru, you’re late. AGAIN!” Naruto heard a stern voice saying, coming from the living room. “A-ano, s-someone is with me…” the blue haired boy muttered. “Then tell your friend to go home and then go to your room.” Naruto raised an eyebrow and walked over to the door of the living room.
“Sorry for intruding so suddenly, but could I talk to you mister Izumi?” The man on the couch looked up from the scroll he was reading with a surprised face. Minoru carefully looked around the door post.
“Uhm, d-dad… This is Naruto-sensei,” the boy muttered. Minoru’s father nodded, “Go to bed you, it’s late enough.” Naruto turned to his student for a moment. “Be at my place tomorrow morning at ten.” Minoru nodded and was of, but his father noticed the bandages around both the boy’s hands.
“Is everything going alright with him, Naruto-san? I’m Takeo by the way.” Naruto smirked and gained a not understanding look from Takeo. “Warui, I’m not used to the san suffix, but I appreciate your trust in me,” the blonde smiled, “though I wonder why…?” Takeo smiled as he signed Naruto to sit down. “Not many people can do the things you do. You saved tons of lives, so it’s only natural to respect a fellow ninja like that.” “You’re are one of the few to say that though. Anyhow to answer your question, I’m not completely sure. At the moment things are going on in my privet live so I cannot judge things right because of it. However I do know Minoru has a great potential with medical jutsu and genjutsu, yet he managed to screw up badly all the time. I though it was a matter of not believing in himself, though today he showed me another reason why.”
Takeo looked somewhat confused. “What happened?” “His team-mate Amaya was thrown of the cliff by some other ge-nin who feel they are superior to others. Minoru jumped after her and saved her. He was finally able to use that great ability of he has when using chakra the perfect way, however he completely lost it.”
Takeo looked troubled. “So that happened again.” “He told me it happened when he was five,” Naruto explained. “Yes, I had hoped he would be able to control it by now. Back then he…”

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Minoru sat down on his bed. He looked at his bandaged hands. “I really went overboard this time…”

(FLASHBACK)

“Come on pipsqueak, try to get it.” “Give it back, it’s mine.” “Try to get it.” The five year old jumped up but every time he missed the toy he had brought with him to school that day. “Can’t you jump higher little idiot,” the bully laughed.
Minoru stopped jumping and clenched his fist. “Just give it back to me or else I’ll hurt you!” “Feh, like such a little person could hurt me,” the bully said, which had been a big mistake.

When the bell rang, announcing the break was over, Minoru was holding his toy again but was also gotten out of his trance because of the sound. He looked afraid at the ten kids that had been laughing at him; they were floored. Some even unconscious. Scared the blue haired boy did a few steps back and started crying while a teacher came rushing over.

(END FLASHBACK)

“I don’t want to hurt anyone again. I swore to myself to never use that power again.”

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“In that case he’s scared by of his own abilities,” Naruto sighed. Takeo nodded, “That’s why I requested you to be his teacher.” Naruto threw the man a surprised look. “You carry a power around yourself. You are able to control it, so I hoped you would be able to help my son with it. Yet I’m surprised he even passed your test.”
Naruto grinned as he shook his head. “What kind of father are you, Takeo-san? Towards him you sound disappointed yet…” “I know, I’m a lousy father, I just want my children to be able to look after themselves.” Naruto nodded and stood up, “I have to go now. I’ll do my best with help Minoru, but you could help me with that.” “What can I do?” “Believe in your son and except him the way he is and making sure he knows that too.” Takeo just stared at the blonde who left without another word.