The Sharingan had revealed that the fifty plus foot long freaking DRAGON had not been a genjutsu. It had been entirely real as far as he could tell. Further, from Naruto's comments, the dragon was the ally of one of his genin and apparently a mother. With Naruto being a friend of her son. He got that. Really, he did. Might have some problems wrapping his mind around several important parts of the concept, but he got it.
Naruto had leapt up into the air and had just stood there without any apparent support. This was atypical of genin in general.
With a genin who had a) gathered intel beforehand, b) demonstrated pretty damn useful skills, and c) was willing to put his team ahead of himself - normally he would be inclined to pass said genin.
Naruto had tossed something into the air and suddenly held a weapon. Not that unusual, but that he had such a thing indicated some basic proficiency in its use.
There were other considerations though. Giving a slight wave and waggle of fingers at the sudden profusion of ANBU in the dozens, Kakashi considered how best to put this in the most diplomatic fashion.
"No."
"Excuse me?" asked Naruto and Sasuke together.
"I'm pretty sure I never said it was okay to summon a dragon," explained Kakashi. "Sometimes, despite being ninja, we DO have to follow the rules."
"You didn't forbid me summoning a dragon," pointed out Naruto. Who felt that in terms of general coolness, he ought to get extra credit for doing so.
"Plus, you got the two bells, but one of your team is down," pointed out Kakashi.
"I was wondering about that," said Naruto. "You'd think she'd never seen a dragon before."
"Uhm, dobe?" Sasuke held one hand up. "Most likely she never DID see a dragon before."
"Oh yeah," said Naruto with a shrug. "Not my fault she spends all her time studying and doesn't get out much."
"Now, you've only got a half-hour to complete the test," said Kakashi.
"But I've got one bell, and Sasuke has the other," pointed out Naruto.
"Yes, by summoning a dragon," said Kakashi, shaking his head. "I ought to pass the dragon and send all three of you back."
"So if we defeat you, we pass?" asked Naruto.
"Well..." began Kakashi.
"RING BIND!" said Naruto, causing magical rings to close on Kakashi's wrists and ankles.
Kakashi blinked.
Sasuke leapt forward, ready to demonstrate what a ninja with several years taijutsu training could do to an immobilized opponent.
B-domf
"Wow, I didn't even notice him exchange himself with a shadow clone," noted Naruto. "Hey, ANBU-san? Can you all back up some? In order to find and flatten my sensei, I'm gonna have to cut loose some."
The various ANBU considered that, then the bulk just vanished into the shadows. The remaining one regarded Naruto, then addressed the air. "Kakashi Hatake. There better be a full report on this. Filed within two hours."
The last ANBU vanished.
Naruto nodded, slammed the butt of his weapon on the ground, causing similar runes to appear in midair around him and his weapon. "Wide Area Search!"
Six yellow globes shot away from him.
Three seconds later, Naruto opened his eyes. "Found you!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew within a few minutes that he should watch and see what was going on with Kakashi's Team 7 test.
He'd watched the dragon manage to cause one of the genin to faint. He watched as the dragon dismissed herself. He watched as the ANBU showed up.
He also watched as Kakashi apparently dug himself into a hole.
"He has some jutsu that allows him to find things?" asked an ANBU present. "That'd be handy."
The Third Hokage nodded slightly, not bothering to correct the ANBU. The test with the young Hyuga and Naruto had concluded with Naruto and himself having a little chat. Ninjutsu was slightly different from what Naruto was doing, but similar in some ways. So it was something that the Third had ordered labelled in the official records as hijutsu and specific to Naruto as the last of his clan.
That it was an excuse to set Naruto up as the functional head of a noble clan, tweak the noses of a few people on the council, and pull one over on a whole bunch of people who spent an inordinate amount of time annoying him - well, that was just a plus wasn't it?
"Lightning whip?" asked the ANBU. "He cut right through a tree with that."
"Ah, he has an attack which tracks and chases his target," said Sarutobi. "A useful technique."
"If Kakashi fails him after this, maybe he should go directly to ANBU," said the ANBU.
"Ah, a serpentine dragon formed of lightning that chases after a target, bites them, and then explodes into a ball of lightning," observed the Hokage. "It looks like Kakashi wasn't expecting that."
"Who would?" asked the ANBU.
"Tenzou? What is your opinion of Naruto's abilities?" asked the Hokage.
The ANBU glanced at his Hokage, considered the image carefully, before speaking at last. "He needs practice, particularly when working with others. Did you notice that the unconscious member of his team was a little too close to one of the discharges? Her head looks like a pink koosh ball."
"Didn't Kakashi read the ANBU report? Or did he just read the public report?" asked the Third Hokage, puffing thoughtfully at his pipe.
Tenzou's face was hidden behind his ANBU mask, and revealed nothing. He didn't need to say anything.
"I dunno," said Naruto, then making a gesture at the various ANBU surrounding Kakashi. "Maybe if Kakashi fails us, we can get another instructor?"
"Sounds good," agreed Sasuke, eyeing the little trail of smoke coming off their assigned sensei.
"I wonder why he didn't believe me," said Naruto after awhile. "I know I told the Hokage everything. Even gave him contact info on the Bureau."
"Maybe he didn't look 'underneath the underneath'?" asked Sasuke, remembering the odd phrase.
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(Posted Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:14)
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