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Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter IX

No way...

Naruto just looked on at the paper in amusement for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Pfft. Hahahaha. Oh... Oh..." He held on to his sides. "Sweet kami. The irony of it, is just too good."

There in Shino's hand laid a crinkled up piece of paper. He was only mildly annoyed at his sensei's reaction but waited until he calmed down to ask about it.

"Oh." Naruto started calming down then let out another small chuckle. "Ah, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thank you."

"Sensei, which affinity do I possess?" Shino asked once Naruto had composed himself.

"Well, Shino. You, my dear student are a walking bug zapper." Naruto tried to stifle a laugh as he noticed the slight twitch in his student's eyebrow.

"Let me explain. Your affinity is lightning. Lightning is an incredibly powerful element given its speed, piercing potential, raw power, and also the ability to set stuff on fire from the sheer heat of it. Lightning chakra can also be used to supercharge objects, like weapons, water to increase its effect, and obviously people." Naruto said as he raised a finger for each point.

"Normally shinobi with lightning chakra could just have the electricity running through their body. You on the other hand have those beetles inside of you, and I'm almost certain you don't want to zap your entire colony because you wanted to hurl some lightning at a guy." Naruto concluded.

"So, I won't be able to use my chakra affinity?" Shino asked with only a minute trace of sadness in his voice.

"Well, I didn't say that. We just need somewhere for the electrical currents to stay instead of having them roam around your body. Like..." Naruto thought for a moment before he noticed the twin ninja-to on Shino's back. "Like those blades of yours." he said as he pointed at them.

"How would I be able to use handsigns if I would need to be holding the swords at the same time?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I could explain it, but it would be easier just to show you." Naruto said as he stood up. "Thanks for the food Ayame!" Naruto called out to the back before setting the money on the table and walking out, followed by his genin.

Hinata trailed behind slightly, still blushing quite fervently but being able to stay conscious as long as she kept her gaze on the ground, only looking up to make sure she didn't run into a pole or something.

xXx

A short walk later, the four ninja found themselves back at training ground 13.

Naruto stopped in front of them and pulled out a single kunai and held it up. "Now, as I mentioned before, lightning chakra can be channeled into objects like kunai for example. This is also true for the other natures." Naruto demonstrated by taking out a second kunai and throwing it at a tree.

"You see, a normal kunai would only be embedded into the tree but," Naruto charged the original kunai with wind nature, giving the illusion of a longer transparent blade. "Add a little element to it..." He threw the empowered kunai at a boulder next to the tree, all three genin watched in amazement as the kunai went straight through the boulder, and the tree behind it before lodging itself into a second tree. "And the result is much more... deadly." He smirked behind his mask at their reactions.

"Tell me you can show us to do that..." Kiba sub-consciously asked as he continued to look through the hole in the boulder.

"Well, no. Your affinity is fire, Kiba. So this is what would happen if you charged up a kunai." Naruto stated as he pulled out a third and channeled fire chakra into it.

"Cool." Kiba was nearly drooling at the sight of the fire enhanced kunai.

"And when used against a poor defenseless tree, this is the result." Naruto let the sentence drag on as he launched the kunai at a nearby tree, causing it to explode in a shower of flames to the surrounding trees.

I should probably do something about that fire... Naruto ran through a quick set of handseals before shouting. "Suiton: Water Jet Jutsu" Naruto quickly put out the growing fire with a stream of high pressure water.

"So, that's what you need to do Shino. I might just have to start your elemental training somewhat earlier, at least the basics of it." Naruto said after thoroughly dousing the burning trees.

"What about me sensei? I mean Hinata is getting your custom fighting style, Shino gets elemental training, what do I get?" Kiba asked with slight annoyance over being left out.

"Well Kiba, you don't have the skill for my fighting style, and fire is your element so I'm sorry for not jumping at the chance to give YOU the ability to blow things up or set them on fire. I will eventually give you elemental training, but for now you are much too reckless to be given full control over fire." Naruto stated firmly.

Kiba now had a downcast look. "So... You don't trust me?" he asked.

"Pretty much." Naruto replied curtly.

"Fine. I'll prove it to you sensei! Teach me my fire jutsu and I swear I won't burn anything down with it." Kiba promised.

"Kiba, the fact that you have to actually prove to me that if I taught you a fire jutsu you would have to promise me not to burn anything down with it should be reason enough not to teach you, but if I don't I'm sure you will just constantly bug me about it." Naruto reasoned.

"So that means?" Kiba asked with a gleam in his eye.

Naruto simple pulled out a scroll and tossed it at Kiba. "That's the fire spray jutsu. It's a D-rank because It's not very destructive, but it also doesn't need handsigns so you could use it while your running." he explained.

"Sweeeet!" Kiba exclaimed as he pumped the fist that held the scroll in the air.

"Shino, I'm sure you've waited patiently for yours as well, right?" Naruto asked as he turned to his last member.

"That is correct, sensei." Shino replied.

"Alright, for you I'm going to have to show you a different jutsu than what I had planned. You know, due to the zapping your colony thing." Naruto said with a shrug at the end.

Shino simply nodded in understanding, as destroying his entire hive did not sound appealing.

Naruto rubbed his chin for a few moment as he pondered what he could teach his bug-affiliated genin. Bingo! "Alright Shino, I'm going to teach you the thunderclap jutsu, you won't have to run an electric current due to it being thunder and not lightning. This jutsu also doesn't require handsigns like Kiba's, you just need to gather some chakra, call out the name, and slam your hands in the direction that you want it to go." Naruto explained before creating two clones.

"Shino, Hinata, go train with these two clones. I need to personally oversee Kiba's fire jutsu to make sure he doesn't burn down the entire forest." Naruto instructed.

Kiba just grumbled to himself about already promising he wouldn't burn down the forest.

Shino and Hinata did as they were told and followed the clones to separate corners of the training ground.

"Alright dog-boy, let's teach you how to shoot fire." Naruto said wearily.

xXx

With Shino and Clone

"Alright Shino, all you need to do is gather some chakra into your palms, call out the name, and slam them together." Naruto explained.

"Gather chakra in my palms? I was not aware I could do that." Shino admitted.

"It's like the leaf spinning exercise I gave you, just push chakra into that part of your body." Naruto further explained.

Shino nodded and concentrated on focusing chakra into his palms. After a few minutes of visualizing it, Shino called out "Raiton: Thunderclap" and slammed his palms together in the direction of the clone. While the jutsu only caused a small shockwave compared to a normal version, it was still a good first try.

"Pretty good. I felt the breeze while I jumped away from it." Naruto said with a smirk, or what could be considered a smirk under that mask of his. "Now you just need to work on your chakra control, because I doubt an enemy will just sit down for a few minutes and let you concentrate." Naruto told him.

"Hai, sensei. Shall I continue to work on my jutsu or return to the leaf exercise?" Shino asked.

"Try the first one I showed you. The one to stick the leaf on your forehead, that will help you learn to gather chakra at different points on your body, as well as teach you how to use enough to form a successful jutsu and how to use just enough so you aren't wasting chakra." Naruto stated.

Shino nodded, pulled the leaf out of his pocket, and started to focus chakra at his forehead. It held for a few moments before being pushed off.

"That's where the using too much chakra part comes in. If you push too much chakra into the leaf, instead of sticking to it you will launch it. While this is also important for when we learn to travel on trees, at the moment you need to learn to find the balance between enough to stick it on you and just enough so that it won't be shot off of you." the clone informed him.

Shino nodded once again and returned to his chakra control training.

xXx

With Hinata and Clone

"So, Hinata." The clone started.

"Y-Yes, s-se-sensei?" Hinata stammered out.

"Did you study the scroll on the snake style yesterday?" The Naruto clone asked.

"H-Hai, s-sensei." She said before a frown appeared on her face.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" The clone asked.

"I-I'm st-still not sure i-if father would allow me t-to train in a f-fighting style, apart from Juken" Hinata informed her sensei's clone.

"I see." The clone paused for a moment. "I told you to leave your father to me though, I'll speak to him tonight if he has time. You just keep working on the snake style." the clone told her.

"H-Hai, sensei." Hinata replied with a slight nod before taking out the scroll, Naruto gave her yesterday and began studying it.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask." The clone informed her before taking out a scroll out for himself.

The two sat in silence as they studied their respective scrolls before Hinata spoke up. "U-Umm, sensei?" she asked.

"Yes, Hinata?" the clone responded.

"A-Ano, I think I-I understand the basic f-forms now." she stated.

"Alright, show me." the clone said as he rolled his own scroll back up and get her his full attention.

"O-Ok... sensei." Hinata blushed and was starting to feel somewhat light-headed at having the undivided attention of her sensei and hero. Even if it was only a clone.

Hinata started going through the first kata, only to be stopped after a few seconds by the Naruto clone.

"Ok. Hold on Hinata." the clone said as he help his hand up, and walked over to her. "You're doing it again."

"D-Doing wh-what again sensei?" Hinata asked. She tilted her head slightly to the left in confusion.

Kami... she even looks cute confused. NO! Stop checking out your student you pervert. I swear I'm going to kill both Kakashi and Jiraiya for what they did to me. Shaking his head of his thoughts he continued to walk over to her.

Hinata blushed even more than she already was when she saw the clone stop in mid stride to stare at her face for a moment before it continued walking towards her.

"You're trying to use the Snake style like it was Juken. They are polar opposites in fact, the Snake style requires you to be flexible while the Juken requires you to be an immovable powerhouse. You need to loosen up and be like a snake. Snakes are flexible, slippery, and they slither into an enemy's defenses to deal a fatal strike." The clone clarified.

"S-Slither?" Hinata asked as she paled slightly while still holding her blush. How she managed that, the clone would never know.

"I was just trying to give you examples, Hinata. I don't actually expect you to get on the ground and slide around." the clone said as he scratched his cheek in embarrassment at the awkward situation.

"O-Oh." Hinata was definitely relieved to hear the clone say that. I don't like snakes... they're slimy, clammy, and creepy! She shuddered slightly.

Inwardly laughing at her shudder he figured he would explain why it was needed. "Don't worry Hinata, you only need to know the basics of the Snake style because they will allow you to gain the flexibility and speed to get inside an enemy's defenses, quickly and quietly." He paused for a moment. "It's ironic when you really think about it." the clone trailed off.

"Wh-What is, sensei?" Hinata asked with curiosity.

"That the Swooping Eagle style was born from the Snake style." The clone said with a chuckle.

"S-Swooping Eagle, sensei?" Hinata asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow before realising he never told her. "Oh sorry, the Swooping Eagle is the official name for the Assassin style." The clone informed her.

"O-Oh. Why did you choose an eagle though, sensei. Aren't they supposed to hunt snakes?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah... that's the irony of it, but the reason I choose the eagle was due to how I found out about the first Assassin art. You see during one of my many travels with Jiraiya I happened across a book..."

xXx

Flashback (5 years ago, Naruto age 7)

"What are we doing here pervy-sage?" A younger Naruto asked his godfather. It was already dark, eight maybe nine at night when they entered the city.

"I'm meeting a contact from my network here." Jiraiya said before handing the blonde boy some money. "Take this and go get some dinner, or go do whatever you want. Meet me at the hotel I told you about in an hour. And try not to get into too much trouble, gaki." the Sannin told him.

"Whatever..." The boy grumbled and walked away. "The old pervert is probably just going to look for the nearest brothel." he muttered under his breath. Even at the age of seven, after knowing Jiraiya for as long as he had, he knew exactly what brothels were for.

Naruto walked around looking for a ramen stand or anywhere that might serve ramen. Suddenly his ninja training was sending him warning bells and when he looked up at the roofs he noticed a hooded figure running along the top.

The man had a white long sleeve cloak with a long hood that shadowed his face. It went down to his knees and mostly covered his black pants. He also wore what looked like metal bracers.

xXx

"So naturally my curiosity got the better of my and I climbed up to the nearest roof and chased after the guy." The clone recalled.

"Was he a ninja, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"I'm don't think so, he was running across scaffoldings and jumping between walls without using chakra. I'm not sure if it was so he wouldn't be caught by chakra sensors or if he just did that normally but his movements were so fluid, like he knew how and where to jump before without even thinking about it and maintaining his speed. I was having a hard time keeping up with my chakra-enhanced speed. Anyway..."

xXx

Flashback (5 years ago)

The man ran towards a large building and climbed it with practiced ease, jumping between hand holds, windows, bars, and grooves in the stone.

The young Naruto watched this man climb the to the top of the giant building in thirty seconds flat without using chakra. "You're joking right?" He just stood in awe for a few moments before realizing that the man was getting away. "Oh well." Naruto charged up chakra in his feet and began running straight up the building.

Naruto finally made it to the top of the building in time to continue his chase of the hooded man. They both ran atop of the tiled roof. Naruto was gaining on him, but kept far back enough to not be noticed. The hooded man reached the edge of the building and what he did next left Naruto wide-eyed.

The stranger leaped from the edge and plummeted straight down. Naruto rushed to the edge, only to find the hooded man jumping out of a cart full of hay and scaling another building on the opposite side.

"Is this guy insane or something?" Naruto asked himself as he gathered chakra in his left and made a huge leap towards the building across, barely making it to the edge.

I wonder who's crazier, the guy jumping off of roofs with no chakra or the idiot following him for no reason? Naruto pondered to himself as he watched the hooded man slow down some.

Naruto saw that the hooded man stopped two houses ahead, and ran across the street to the other houses so he could get a better view on him.

Naruto watched as he just sat there in the shadows, he was just looking down at the street. The house that the mysterious man was on top of was quite large and looked to be that of a rich person.

After what seemed like twenty-minutes a fat man with five guards walked out of the house. The hooded man looked directly to where Naruto was, startling him before jumping off of the roof and driving what looked like two long daggers coming out of his sleeves into the fat man.

The man in the white cloak and the fat man hit the floor hard, but the hooded man quickly sprang up and killed two guards before ten more came out of the building.

The hooded man killed four more of the guards but one managed to slash him across the back. Naruto took this moment to jump down to a nearby alley and get a closer look. Something fell down from inside of the hooded man's cloak to the floor.

It was only a minute later before the assassin finished off the guards and pulled out what looked like a feather and dragged it across the fat man's wounds coating it in blood.

Another ten guards ran out of the building, but the hooded man was already scaling it and making his get-away. They chased after him on the streets.

xXx

"Curiosity got the better of me once again and I ran up to look for whatever the hooded man dropped. Turns out it was a book." the clone stated.

"What was it about, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"It had many things written in it, from weapon plans, assassination targets, some information on a 'brotherhood of assassins', and details on the Shikaku." the Naruto clone told her.

"Sh-Shikaku? As in your Nara trainer?" Hinata asked as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

There it is again... damn that's cute. "No, the Shikaku or 'Assassin Vision' is a special jutsu I created based on the notes in the book, the fact that my Shikaku-sensei has the same name is only coincidence. From the assassin's description, it seemed that only special lineages or blood lines were able to unlock the Shikaku. So obviously I thought it was a kekkei genkai at first, and from what he wrote, it almost sounded like it was the Sharingan." The clone paused for a moment to stretch out his legs that were going numb from kneeling on the ground.

"Anyway, it sounded like the Sharingan because it had two levels. First would be the 'Eagle Vision' as he called it, then came 'Eagle Sense'. Essentially level one allowed an assassin to track their targets by marking them in red, the notes also said that anyone else with the Shikaku would be able to mark targets. Then level two Eagle Sense allowed an assassin to basically track a target even if the trail had gone cold, and roughly predict where they were going due to the movements in their muscles like the Sharingan." Naruto explained.

"H-How did you create a jutsu for it if it's a b-bloodline trait, sensei?" Hinata stuttered out.

"Well I thought it was a bloodline, it wasn't. It was actually passed down, through generations of assassins which is why I thought it was a bloodline but in reality, when an assassin trainee was ready to become a full member of the brotherhood they were given their last test, if they passed they were given the Eagle Vision. I'm not sure how they managed it without chakra but somehow they did, luckily this guy had notes on in and seemed to be going for unlocking his Eagle Sense so I also had some notes on that. Anyway I read the book over, and kept it hidden from Jiraiya while I worked on trying to unlock it. I had thought I figured it out when one night but when I used the jutsu nothing happened. It wasn't until three months later that I was able to use it." the clone stated.

"Wh-Why did it take three months, s-sensei?" Hinata questioned.

"I don't think that it 'took' three months, I just didn't have the prerequisite until three months after using the jutsu for the first time." Naruto paused for a moment. "It wasn't until three months after that day, that I did something I had never done before." he told her.

"Wh-What was th-that, sensei?" Hinata was really curious now.

"Taken a life." the clone answered quietly.

"Hu-Huh?" She wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"Three months after using the jutsu I killed someone, after it happened my irises turned bright yellow, like an eagle's and everything turned gray. I could see the person I had just killed, with a slightly grey glow about them. I was scared at what had happened, people had either a blue or white aura around them, while a few had red. I didn't know what was going on but this seemed familiar so I pulled out the book and found out that this was the Eagle Vision. I tried to released the jutsu, and my vision went back to normal. To this day only four people know I can do this." the clone informed the girl.

"O-Only f-four?" Hinata wondered.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya, the Hokage, and you. I'm trusting you with my secret Hinata." the clone said with a smile from behind his Kakashi-style mask.

He's trusting me with his secret? I won't let you down Naruto-sens... kun. Hinata smiled slightly back at her sensei with the ever-present blush on her face.

Oh sweet Kami... The clone swallowed before speaking again. "Right... Well, to answer your question as to why I chose the eagle, it's because it was called Eagle Vision, the book had eagle feathers as bookmarks, and well, eagles are awesome." The clone then remembered something else. "Also I kept up the bloody feather thing, dunno why, but I felt compelled to. I didn't use it on everyone I killed, but anyone that I assassinated as a mission, I swiped an eagle feather across their death-wound." the clone told her.

"I... I see." Hinata said after a few moments.

"Well anyway, try your katas again and this time remember, be like a snake! Actually no, your element is water so be like water! Water is flexible, water can easily change form, and water can flow naturally, so just imagine yourself as water and try the forms again." the clone suggested.

"Hai, sensei." She said before trying the katas again.

xXx

With Shino and Clone

Over the past hour, Shino had made progress with the leaf sticking exercise, he was now able to keep the leaf on his forehead for well over a minute, his latest attempt was close to two.

"Well Shino, why don't you try out the jutsu again? Remember gather, visualize, and attack!" The clone told him.

"Hai, sensei." Shino said before concentrating chakra into his palms and finally yelling out "Raiton: Thunderclap!" This time Shino actually made a visible air distortion and sent out a small wave towards the clone, who easily dodged it.

"Not bad Shino. Only took you about twenty seconds to gather your chakra this time, but this jutsu is meant to be used instantly, to keep an enemy away from you. Let's stop that for now and start something else." the clone said as he stood up from his sitting position.

"Something else?" Shino asked as he raised his left eyebrow.

"Yeah, like those swords of yours. Blades are fine and all, sometimes you can get a lucky hit in, but if you don't know how to wield those things then you might just end up hurting yourself." The clone stated before pulling out one of the ninja-to hidden under his trench coat.

Shino paused for a moment before unsheathing both of his ninja-to from his back, the sheaths on his back, still keeping the X formation.

"You should practice with only one before you try dual-wielding, or you can go for it and see how you do. Doesn't matter to me." The clone said with a shrug.

Shino wasted no time and darted straight for his teacher. Having no prior training before, Shino's attacks were slow, sloppy, and held no form whatsoever.

After a while the Naruto clone quit trying to block it and just dodged all of Shino's attacks effortlessly. As this went on he could see that Shino was trying too hard to swing a ninja-to, using much more force than necessary. He was sure that it wasn't because Shino was getting mad. Or was it?

After a few more minutes, the clone's thoughts were answered as Shino halted his attack and dropped his weapons on the ground.

"They're too heavy for you aren't they?" the clone asked. He noticed the slight flinch in Shino's eyebrows when he said that, which equals him being screamed at to shut up. "Well, I didn't really expect a long-range fighter to have that much upper body strength anyway... all you need is lighter weapons." the clone stated.

"Like what, sensei?" Shino asked as he picked up his ninja-to and sheathed them.

"I'll handle that. You keep on working with those two for now and try to get used to the weight of a weapon in your hand. if I put in the order today, they should be able to have them ready within a week or two." the clone said the second part to himself.

"Have what ready, sensei?" Shino asked.

"Chakra weapons. Specially made weapons that can hold elemental chakra easier, I think I might have them make you some kukris." The clone said while nodding to himself.

"What are kukris, sensei?" Shino questioned.

"Kukris are essentially bent machetes. I'll just ask them to make them slightly longer than normal. This way it solves your elemental problem, as well as you not having the strength to swing around two thick pure steel five-pound ninja-to." the clone finished with a snicker.

"So I should continue training with the ninja-to untill then?" Shino asked, now recovered.

"Yes. When the boss gathers you up again, I'll have him give you a scroll on basic sword stances. For now though, get back to the leaf training." the clone told Shino who nodded in response.

xXx

With Naruto and Kiba

Naruto threw a water bottle at Kiba. "What's this for?" Kiba asked as he looked at the plastic bottle.

"Two things. One, it will help you visualize what you need to do, and two, your first couple of tries will most likely end up with you burning your tongue." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"Har. Har." Kiba replied sarcastically.

"OK. Take a drink of water and hold it in your cheeks." Naruto instructed.

Kiba took a quick drink and puffed out his cheeks then waited.

"OK. Now look that way." Naruto pointed in the opposite direction he was standing. "And spray out the water." he said after taking a precautionary leap back.

Kiba nodded and sprayed out the water. "So, what now?" Kiba asked.

"Now I want you to take a deep breath, gather some chakra in your stomach, visualize it as fire, and then spray like you did with the water." Naruto directed. "Oh and say the name first."

"Ok. Katon: Fire Spray Jutsu!" Kiba did as instructed and took a deep breath before puffing out his cheeks with air. A moment later he blew the air out and created a decent sized fire spray.

"Well then. I've got good news and bad news." Naruto said, Kiba smiled at the sound of good new but frowned at the bad. "The good news is that it seems you're a natural at fire jutsu." Naruto stated.

"And the bad?" Kiba asked with a frown.

"Well the bad news for everyone else is that you seem to be a natural at setting things on fire. I might just have to hold you to that promise of not burning everything to the ground." Naruto said with a smirk.

"I promise sensei!" Kiba said jovially.

"Good. Now for the rest of our training time I want you to work on the leaf sticking exercise, it will help you make that fire bigger and last longer." Naruto told him.

Kiba's eyes lit up at the sound of him being able to create bigger and badder flames. He immediately ran to a nearby tree and plucked a leaf. "Get ready leaf, because I'm gonna kick your ass!" he shouted before sitting down and gently setting the leaf on his forehead.

Naruto just sweatdropped at the sight. *sigh* I'm a glorified babysitter alright...