Naruto: Cautious Ninja

Chapter 25: Chapter 025



"No… that wouldn't work," the jinchuriki groaned, eyes squinting as he tilted his head. "I don't look good in full blue and it all depends on the weather. Where the hell would I get enough electricity for a jutsu like that, anyway? Aaahh, damn it!" He kicked at a stone and stomped on dejectedly, at the same time flipping through random hand seals. "Bird, Tiger, Ram, Hare, Hare, Dragon, Monkey, Ox, Bird… why the hell is this so hard?"

In his quest to find the perfect technique the jinchuriki had tried to perform several jutsu he'd read from the academy library's scrolls, but none of them seemed to fit him. It wasn't like he couldn't perform them, he could, but they just didn't speak to him as a signature, nor were they that impressive. If he wanted to use a particular jutsu it was obvious for his type of person and character that he would have to practice that technique a lot in order to master it, just like Iruka said.

It wasn't like someone was going to conveniently rock up and teach him the perfect jutsu for him. The world didn't work like that. He wasn't a genius like Sasuke or an inherited type from any clan like Kiba, Choji or Shikamaru, or at least one that he knew of. So what the hell was he supposed to do?

Form a random hand seal, hold his hand out and hope for the best that something cool would happen? That's how jutsu were formed right? With the extensive number of hand seals and different combinations out there in the world, weren't there like thousands of potential techniques yet to be discovered?

That's what he thought anyway.

"Yeah! Like I'm going to suddenly perform a jutsu on the spot," Naruto exclaimed sarcastically, forming a Tiger seal and slapping his hand against an empty wagon sitting on the road. "Oh look, I can blow up stuff with the touch of my hand! How convenient is that?"

The second he removed his hand however, there was a loud whooshing sound followed shortly by a violent gust of wind that tore into the road at the blonde's feet. Naruto's head snapped towards the wagon in alarm where he saw dust and debris begin twisting violently around the point he had made contact with the cart. It was almost like a vortex had sprung up right where he had placed his palm against the carriage.

The villagers too became aware of the disturbance through the wind whipping across the street and looked towards the anomaly with a start.

A split second later, as soon as all eyes were engaged with the scene the gust of wind blasting off of the side of the wagon suddenly lifted the stationary object right off the ground. The massive cart took off with a sonic boom ringing out all around, rocketing into the air like it had jet engines attached to it and disappearing over the tall buildings to God knows where. Its sudden flight left a startled Naruto and a street full of dumbstruck civilians in its wake.

All eyes then turned toward the jinchuriki.

Looking down at his hands, Naruto shook his head. "What… was that?" Did he just use a jutsu? If so, then what the hell kind of jutsu was it?

A grin formed on the jinchuriki's face and he balled his fingers into fists.

"That was awesome!"

XXX

Meanwhile…

Up in the academy in the classroom run by Iruka Umino, the scarred homeroom teacher himself was sitting at his desk looking intently over the files of each of his students. He was currently in the process of updating the current levels and skills of his students on paper, as well as their profiles and results. Based on their culminated written examinations and practical tests, they'd all been doing quite well as a group.

But there was one student in particular that stood out from the rest of the crowd, one that he knew quite well.

Naruto Uzumaki's file was splayed out in front of him with the jinchuriki's face paper-clipped in the top right corner. The boy really did take a good picture when he was serious about one, his wide grin bringing an amused smile to Iruka's face as he scanned his history. Even though the Chunin had been on the receiving end of a lot of his pranks as well as being the mop-and-bucket man of many more, the blonde had something about his person that made him unique and appealing compared to everybody else. He was like a shining ray of sunlight.

Still, this didn't diminish the fact that his tests on paper were poor. This was a well known fact since the youngster was always either absent or didn't stick to the requirements of his assessments. Sure he got them done, but his record was all over the place, ranging from bad to bloody excellent.

He was like radio waves, constantly undulating. The Uzumaki couldn't sit still and he didn't exactly follow instructions as well as the others; very free-spirited. But despite how poorly he did in certain occasions, Iruka couldn't help but give his records a second go over just to make sure whether the assessments had been fair on him. His most recent taijutsu match and win over the three enemy kunoichi had been a real eye opener to him.

Since most of his record was written down right here in front of him it made reassessment more convenient and after reviewing most of it in the time that he had, the man with the pony-tail arrived at a rather startling realization.

He was just about to delve further into this through pen when he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey there, Iruka. I was wondering where you were," came the obvious voice of conscious, also known as his good friend Mizuki. The white haired man strolled into the class with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face, a greeting he received in kind from Iruka. "Catching up on some work?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Iruka chuckled, going back to the documents in front of him. "There's a lot here. I need to make sure I have it all filed correctly."

"I see," Mizuki exclaimed, waddling over and taking a glance at the papers. He was surprised to see a lot of documents related to Naruto Uzumaki on the desk. "Oh, if it isn't the practical joker. Are you going to book him again?"

"Not until Monday, no," Iruka chuckled, sliding one of the other sheets aside for a blank one. "Actually, since we're on the topic of our favorite prankster, what do you really think about young Naruto, Mizuki?"

"Me?" the man replied with a bat of his eyes. He never expected to be asked for his opinion on one of the village's biggest banes on society to date. Seriously. There hadn't been this much chaos in Konohagakure since its inception and back then those problems had stemmed from clan disagreements. However, with the question out on the floor he had no choice but to respond. "Well… I think he's very open-minded and crafty for a child his age. He's terribly naïve and has a very simple view on life… extremely childish and immature, yet has a certain knack for causing people a lot of unwanted grief. It wouldn't be the first time…"

He mumbled the last part rather spitefully.


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