Gah. After reading all the activity on the 'plot-bunny' / Team Explosive Youth thread, I went and came up with an idea for training Naruto. And then I had to get up and write a thousand words on it. And I never even got as far as the training, which I'd envisaged as teaching Naruto to use a mental shorthand for Kabuto's ninja-flahscards, profiling all the ninja who entered the final round of the Chunin exam. Know your foe and all that.
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Shikanenai looked sideways at the blond genin beside him. The boy seemed uncharacteristically nervous as they approached the Archives. "You're quiet," he said flatly.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Eh... do we have to go to the archives?"
"Well..." Shikanenai drawled, stretching out the word sarcastically, "It's be like going into the chunin Exam with one hand in an unbreakable cast, preventing you from forming seals. But no, I don't suppose that we *have* to go to the Archives, no. Why?"
"Hey!" came a call from one of the Chunin guarding the Archive's doors. "Get out of here, brat - you know you're not allowed here!"
Shikanenai rolled his eyes. "That why?"
Naruto nodded his head, slowing to a halt. "Yeah, that stiff-necked prick in charge said I couldn't go in. Ever." He slowed, then blinked as he realised Shikanenai hadn't slowed.
"Didn't I go to the Academy with you?" the Nara clansman called to the chunin at the door waving casually.
The man frowned and then squinted at Shikanenai. "Nara Shikanenai!" he said in surprise. "I haven't seen you in years - where've you been?"
"Ah, you know, out and about," the lanky chunin replied and casually crossed his fist against the surprised man's chin, catapulting him backwards into the doors with a loud boom.
"What the- ?" the chunin said in surprise, more surprised than hurt. Then he broke off, realising that he couldn't move and that Shikanenai was holding his hands in the final seal of the Nara's tradmark jutsu. "Shikanenai?" he asked uncertainly. "What are you doing?"
"Stomp him," Shikanenai told Naruto.
"What?" the genin said incredulously, eyes wide.
"You're a genin, I'm a chunin," Shikanenai said flatly. "This is an order. Knock him out. Now."
"Hey wai-" the pinned man managed to say before Naruto kicked him in the side of the head, silencing him.
"Good lad," Shikanenai said and pushed on the door, swinging it slowly open. Inside, it was dark and full of shadows, a far cry from the bright and sunny streets of Konohagakure. "Man," he muttered, "This place hasn't changed one bit."
Two shapes darted through the high stacks of scrolls, kunai gleaming in their hands. Shikanenai's shadow, clearly visible in the long rectangle of light that streamed through the door behind him, flicked to one side and there were simultaneous crashes as the two guards responding to the door opening suddenly found that their limbs weren't moving.
"Them too," Shikanenai ordered flatly.
Naruto hesitated. "No," he said. "Not unless you tell me why you want me to attack Konoha-nin."
A thin smile crossed Shikanenai's face. "Good," he said softly, and released the jutsu that was pinning the pair. "Following orders is required of a ninja, but not blindly. Of course, questioning orders in mid-battle is unwise, but the circumstances merited it. Well done."
The guards were on their feet now and had been joined by half-a-dozen ninja, half of them archive staff, the other half obviously simply ninja who had been in the archives and responded to the intrusion. An older ninja, with the characteristic white eyes of the Hyuuga shouldered his way through the loose ring that had formed around the pair.
"What is the meaning of this!" he demanded. "Who are you and why do you bring that menace here!"
Shikanenai smirked. "This is just a test of your security," he said casually. "This was not a real attack. If this was a real attack then you would be explaining to Hokage-sama why A CHUNIN AND AND A GENIN JUST WALTZED STRAIGHT THROUGH YOUR SECURITY!" he bellowed suddenly. "You!" he ordered one of the genin who'd come out of the stacks. "Fetch that idiot Haruno Shima from outside. And you!" he continued, glancing at the other guards - "Get the rest of the archive staff up here."
"Stop!" shouted the Hyuuga. "You are in no position to give orders here - take him into custody," he ordered. "Both of them in fact."
The Nara cracked his knuckles as Naruto looked around with a worried expression on his face. "You are not brushing this under the carpet," Shikanenai said silkily. "Your security here is paper thin. Until you satisfy the Hokage that you can be entrusted with the Archives again it is you who are in no position to give orders, Aramaki."
Responding more to the certainty of Shikanenai's words than to their content, the ninja scattered through the library, leaving Hyuuga Aramaki to glare at Shikanenai in frustration. "Nara..." he hissed. "You're that useless cousin of Shikaku's."
Shikanenai simply grinned and wheeled on the groggy Chunin who staggered into the Archives through the door he'd been supposedly guarding. "Shima, you were an idiot at the Academy and you're an idiot now! How you passed the Chunin Exam I will never know! Have you never heard of the henge jutsu!? A ninja you've not seen in years just turns up and you let him pin you for a genin to beat up on! What were you thinking!? Were you thinking at all!? And besides that you hold a kunai like a pansy! Are you limp-wristed or something?"
Leaving the chunin gaping, Shikanenai returned his attention to Aramaki. "And where is the reaction force!? Why aren't ANBU swooping down to aid the defense of the Archives? I've been here five minutes and not a peep! You didn't send for them, did you? Did you? No, of course you didn't! Are you sure that no one's made off with half the archives while you weren't looking? As far as I can tell you might as well have been asleep for the last two years - a team from one of the other villages could have romped through here and grabbed all our confidential files and you'd probably not even have noticed!"
"Are you really doing a security check?" Naruto asked once the two of them were ensouced in one of the private reading rooms on the upper floor of the Archives.
"Why of course I am, Naruto," Shikanenai assured him with a wink. He scribbled a note on a scrap of paper from his pocket and held it up for Naruto to see.
'I wasn't until I saw how paper-thin the protection was' the note read.
"But won't -" Naruto said and then broke off as the Nara clansman grabbed his mouth and pushed it shut.
"From now on," he said, "I will only allow you to communicate me in two ways: writing," he passed Naruto a notepad and pen, "and hand signals."
"But I don't know hand signals," Naruto protested.
Shikanenai put his little fingers into his ears. "I can't hear you," he said brightly.
Naruto scribbled on the note pad.
'DON'T KNOW HAND SIGNS!!'
"Well I guess this is your chance to learn," Shikanenai replied after reading the note.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
------------------------------------------------------
Shikanenai looked sideways at the blond genin beside him. The boy seemed uncharacteristically nervous as they approached the Archives. "You're quiet," he said flatly.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Eh... do we have to go to the archives?"
"Well..." Shikanenai drawled, stretching out the word sarcastically, "It's be like going into the chunin Exam with one hand in an unbreakable cast, preventing you from forming seals. But no, I don't suppose that we *have* to go to the Archives, no. Why?"
"Hey!" came a call from one of the Chunin guarding the Archive's doors. "Get out of here, brat - you know you're not allowed here!"
Shikanenai rolled his eyes. "That why?"
Naruto nodded his head, slowing to a halt. "Yeah, that stiff-necked prick in charge said I couldn't go in. Ever." He slowed, then blinked as he realised Shikanenai hadn't slowed.
"Didn't I go to the Academy with you?" the Nara clansman called to the chunin at the door waving casually.
The man frowned and then squinted at Shikanenai. "Nara Shikanenai!" he said in surprise. "I haven't seen you in years - where've you been?"
"Ah, you know, out and about," the lanky chunin replied and casually crossed his fist against the surprised man's chin, catapulting him backwards into the doors with a loud boom.
"What the- ?" the chunin said in surprise, more surprised than hurt. Then he broke off, realising that he couldn't move and that Shikanenai was holding his hands in the final seal of the Nara's tradmark jutsu. "Shikanenai?" he asked uncertainly. "What are you doing?"
"Stomp him," Shikanenai told Naruto.
"What?" the genin said incredulously, eyes wide.
"You're a genin, I'm a chunin," Shikanenai said flatly. "This is an order. Knock him out. Now."
"Hey wai-" the pinned man managed to say before Naruto kicked him in the side of the head, silencing him.
"Good lad," Shikanenai said and pushed on the door, swinging it slowly open. Inside, it was dark and full of shadows, a far cry from the bright and sunny streets of Konohagakure. "Man," he muttered, "This place hasn't changed one bit."
Two shapes darted through the high stacks of scrolls, kunai gleaming in their hands. Shikanenai's shadow, clearly visible in the long rectangle of light that streamed through the door behind him, flicked to one side and there were simultaneous crashes as the two guards responding to the door opening suddenly found that their limbs weren't moving.
"Them too," Shikanenai ordered flatly.
Naruto hesitated. "No," he said. "Not unless you tell me why you want me to attack Konoha-nin."
A thin smile crossed Shikanenai's face. "Good," he said softly, and released the jutsu that was pinning the pair. "Following orders is required of a ninja, but not blindly. Of course, questioning orders in mid-battle is unwise, but the circumstances merited it. Well done."
The guards were on their feet now and had been joined by half-a-dozen ninja, half of them archive staff, the other half obviously simply ninja who had been in the archives and responded to the intrusion. An older ninja, with the characteristic white eyes of the Hyuuga shouldered his way through the loose ring that had formed around the pair.
"What is the meaning of this!" he demanded. "Who are you and why do you bring that menace here!"
Shikanenai smirked. "This is just a test of your security," he said casually. "This was not a real attack. If this was a real attack then you would be explaining to Hokage-sama why A CHUNIN AND AND A GENIN JUST WALTZED STRAIGHT THROUGH YOUR SECURITY!" he bellowed suddenly. "You!" he ordered one of the genin who'd come out of the stacks. "Fetch that idiot Haruno Shima from outside. And you!" he continued, glancing at the other guards - "Get the rest of the archive staff up here."
"Stop!" shouted the Hyuuga. "You are in no position to give orders here - take him into custody," he ordered. "Both of them in fact."
The Nara cracked his knuckles as Naruto looked around with a worried expression on his face. "You are not brushing this under the carpet," Shikanenai said silkily. "Your security here is paper thin. Until you satisfy the Hokage that you can be entrusted with the Archives again it is you who are in no position to give orders, Aramaki."
Responding more to the certainty of Shikanenai's words than to their content, the ninja scattered through the library, leaving Hyuuga Aramaki to glare at Shikanenai in frustration. "Nara..." he hissed. "You're that useless cousin of Shikaku's."
Shikanenai simply grinned and wheeled on the groggy Chunin who staggered into the Archives through the door he'd been supposedly guarding. "Shima, you were an idiot at the Academy and you're an idiot now! How you passed the Chunin Exam I will never know! Have you never heard of the henge jutsu!? A ninja you've not seen in years just turns up and you let him pin you for a genin to beat up on! What were you thinking!? Were you thinking at all!? And besides that you hold a kunai like a pansy! Are you limp-wristed or something?"
Leaving the chunin gaping, Shikanenai returned his attention to Aramaki. "And where is the reaction force!? Why aren't ANBU swooping down to aid the defense of the Archives? I've been here five minutes and not a peep! You didn't send for them, did you? Did you? No, of course you didn't! Are you sure that no one's made off with half the archives while you weren't looking? As far as I can tell you might as well have been asleep for the last two years - a team from one of the other villages could have romped through here and grabbed all our confidential files and you'd probably not even have noticed!"
"Are you really doing a security check?" Naruto asked once the two of them were ensouced in one of the private reading rooms on the upper floor of the Archives.
"Why of course I am, Naruto," Shikanenai assured him with a wink. He scribbled a note on a scrap of paper from his pocket and held it up for Naruto to see.
'I wasn't until I saw how paper-thin the protection was' the note read.
"But won't -" Naruto said and then broke off as the Nara clansman grabbed his mouth and pushed it shut.
"From now on," he said, "I will only allow you to communicate me in two ways: writing," he passed Naruto a notepad and pen, "and hand signals."
"But I don't know hand signals," Naruto protested.
Shikanenai put his little fingers into his ears. "I can't hear you," he said brightly.
Naruto scribbled on the note pad.
'DON'T KNOW HAND SIGNS!!'
"Well I guess this is your chance to learn," Shikanenai replied after reading the note.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
![[Image: glasses.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/glasses.gif)