Naruto : Chapter 30

Over the next week Kakashi kept his team busy and mostly out of the sight of the villagers. The only things anybody heard were from stories councillor Haruno spread, those that her daughter told her, that was if Sakura wasn't too tired to do more than showering, eating and falling into her bed.

It was one point the loud councillor was complaining about, the inhuman training her daughter was forced to do.

Isami Haruno was not happy that her little princess, who was meant to become the wife of the last Uchiha and bring her family more power through said marriage, was doing that kind of training. It would disfigure her beautiful body.

She would get calluses on her soft hands, which would push any man away.

Her shiny silky hair didn't get the necessary care and was losing its silkiness. But she had to stay on the team to prevent any other girls from stealing the boy for themselves. And then there was the fact that her little girl was always forced to be in company of the demon.

But all her complaints with the Hokage had been ignored. The only way that he would change the teams would be after the chunin exams if Kakashi nominated his team for them. The teams were made for good reasons.

Normally she and her fellow civilian councillors would have done something to sabotage the demon, but for some reason the Hokage now kept a stricter eye on them and had taken away their ability to command ninjas to do their bidding.

No ninja would listen to them, citing they weren't part of the chain of command. And yesterday they had been called in for a meeting of both parts of the council with the Hokage. It hadn't been a nice meeting.

The Hokage had taken away their responsibility for the ninja academy. His reasoning was that the academy was part of the military, run by teachers that were ninja.

The future ninjas of the village were taught there and therefore the curriculum was the responsibility of the military, not the civilian council.

So now the shinobi council was tasked with proposing a new curriculum as the graduation results in the last three years had been abysmal. Only teams that consisted of mostly clan children passed the tests of their jonin senseis and most tests were reasonably levelled for a team to have a chance to pass them.

That only thirty three per cent on average passed those tests was alarming and wouldn't be accepted anymore.

The villagers that requested genin teams for jobs, hoping to get to see the last Uchiha were disappointed. All jobs like weeding gardens, babysitting, grocery shopping and walking dogs were done by teams eight and ten.

It wasn't that team seven didn't do any missions; Kakashi just selected the physically most demanding ones and the ones outside the village walls. One of his favourites was catching Tora. So far team seven had chased the cat three times in two weeks.

Some jobs like painting fences, repairing roofs after bad weather, painting houses and the like, jobs that required handicraft skills in general were done by groups of shadow clones of Naruto Uzumaki.

Many had questioned why he did those missions without his team and got the answer that he didn't have clan funds to fall back on or a family to help him pay his bills, so he had asked the Hokage to do a few more D-rank missions to earn more money.

With the newer residents of the village, those that had moved here after the Uchiha massacre, the boy was fairly well-liked.

They had heard about his pranks and his disrespect to everybody, but were surprised about the image they now got after meeting the boy in person. While he was distant, he was perfectly polite and did his jobs well.

The older villagers tried to demand other genins to take the missions they handed in, but the mission office told them to either accept who they got sent or do the work themselves. Many then just glared at Naruto and his clones, but Naruto had too much experience with dealing with hateful villagers to react to it anymore.

The Hokage had ordered the ones working at the mission office to not give in to any demands regarding complaints about Naruto taking missions.

Additionally a chunin that the Hokage trusted absolutely was to inspect the missions once Naruto was done to avoid hateful civilians cheating on the money for well-done jobs.

As the village had too many D-rank missions to do all the time, he didn't want to lose the one genin that did more than requested voluntarily. And with so many D-ranks getting done, the village also earned more money.

With time the chunin at the mission office got used to the blond and started treating him better.

There always were those that couldn't get over their long standing grudges, but their numbers were falling. It didn't really mean the number of people that liked Naruto got bigger, but many stopped disliking him.

He was a genin, doing his missions for the village properly and he didn't even complain once about his missions. That alone was earning him respect.

The kind of training Kakashi was putting his team and himself through was also spreading in the ranks. Gai had been ecstatic that his eternal rival was finally embracing his flames of youth again and had stopped with his tardiness.

The more reliable information came from Asuma though, who had an idea what Kakashi was doing with his team. Many were astonished that he had put his genin under resistance seals and had them work the whole day on training and missions.

Those in the mission office knew that most missions Kakashi had his team do were physically demanding. And he seemed to take sadistic pleasure in having them hunt Tora.

...

On Monday morning after their laps and their normal exercises, Kakashi deactivated the resistance seals on Sasuke and Sakura.

They needed to get used to their new speed and strength regularly or they would have problems if they ever deactivated their seals in a fight.

Sasuke was testing his new speed amazed. This was fantastic. He felt light like a feather. And this was the effect after only two weeks of working out with the seals. What would he be able to do after six months?

Sakura was equally astonished. Her speed had also increased, even if not to the same level as Sasuke's. But she felt problems with coordinating her limbs. The higher speed required her to move differently.

She had to move her legs faster to control her movements. She could also lift the weights easier and managed more weight as well.

Naruto had kept his seals activated. If he really deactivated them he would probably be subject of a new wave of jealousy from Sasuke. If he was required to give a demonstration he could reduce their level back down to level four.

It would still mean a huge difference. He would see if he could have a sparring match against Kakashi at full speed sometime soon when the other two weren't present.

The day was a revelation and also an encouragement for the genin of team seven. Kakashi knew he had to have them experience the results of their hard work to keep them motivated. Well at least that was true for Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto knew why he worked hard and was way above the other two in skills already. He hoped at the end of the month he really could take his team on C-ranks. He wasn't concerned for Sasuke. He would be ready without question.

But Sakura had to accept that there was no way she could survive as a ninja another way than his training.

Team seven was a combat unit. Naruto and Sasuke the heavy hitters and Sakura the support and, if she worked on it, genjutsu user. Combat teams got more dangerous missions than capture and interrogation specialists like team ten, or trackers like team eight.

"Okay, team. Now that you have got used to your new abilities a bit, we will speed up your acclimation with them some. Meaning fast movements on a moment's notice. Naruto, I need a hundred clones." Kakashi said.

Sakura paled. A hundred of those infernal clones? What had Kakashi sensei planned?

Naruto just made the handseal and created the clones Kakashi wanted.

"I want you to split in five teams. One team of ten is going to the area where we hunted before and get us a few rabbits and apples for lunch. The second and third team of fifteen are going to pelt Sakura and Sasuke with rubber balls to get them used to their new speed and how to control their new strength.

Twenty five will do the same with Naruto and the last thirty five are working with me with senbons. But not the poisoned ones." Kakashi instructed. "The same rules as always, only deflecting the balls with your hands, otherwise dodging."

The clones nodded and separated in teams with ten taking off into the woods outside the village to get food. It was nice of Kakashi to give them the opportunity to collect a few more furs. The caravan was due in a week again and he could earn a good amount of money with the furs.

And the caravan was his favourite place to get some unusual weapons and more outfits. While Jakonato's was great for his normal needs, there was a merchant with the caravan that sold weapons from Iron Country and one from River Country where a guild of ninja tailors was living in a village whose clothes were simply amazing.

Their clothes were made of chakra conductive threads and accordingly expensive. Therefore he needed to save the money for a very special piece of clothing.

His father had theorized it in his journal, but never had the time to test it completely. Naruto wanted to have a cape like his father's, in colours of his liking, which would allow him to place seals on that would enable him to fly.

His wind manipulation was advanced enough to channel wind chakra though such a material.

He had worked out the seals; he now just needed the cape. He had placed his order six months ago when the caravan had been here last and the merchant had assured him the cape would be ready when they returned.

With all the money from the D-rank missions, the fur, hides and feathers sales, his collection of money from the now dead participants of the chunin exams and his normal income he wouldn't have any problems to get everything he wanted.

There was also one merchant that treaded with spices. Naruto liked to have a variety of tastes with his meals. If he could get away with it, he wouldn't buy anything with the civilian stores, but for eggs and milk he didn't have a choice.

Well, perhaps in the future, if the Takashimas held cows and chickens, he could get them there.

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