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Naruto: The Art of Deception 04
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 01:32:46 +0000 UTCChapter 04: Recognition Delayed
Naruto stood motionless in the center of Training Ground Three, the weight of eight kunai balanced between his fingers.
Across the field, eight wooden targets were hidden within the environment. Some were buried in tall grass, others nestled in the branches of trees. The hardest ones were placed behind obstacles, requiring precision shots to hit their marks.
He knew where they were.
Not through sight. Not through chakra sensing. Just pure instinct, honed through years of doing this.
He shifted his weight slightly. The moment his foot left the ground, everything slowed. Jump. Twist. Throw. His body moved on autopilot, the sequence ingrained into his muscles after countless repetitions.
The first two kunai left his fingers before he even reached the peak of his jump.
A pair of solid thunks echoed through the clearing. Dead center.
Easy.
The next two—he threw wide. They sailed past the targets. Before they could fall, Naruto flicked his wrist, releasing two more kunai. These weren’t aimed at the targets. They were aimed at the first pair. Clang!
The mid-air collision sent them spiraling in opposite directions, twisting just enough to land exactly where he wanted them.
Thunk. Thunk. Four down. Still airborne, he reached for the seventh kunai and flung it downward—not at a target, but at a rock.
The kunai bounced off the surface, ricocheting at the perfect angle.
Thunk. Seven down. One left.
Naruto tilted his head slightly, already knowing where it needed to go.
He threw it behind him, over his shoulder, blindly.
And as it flipped through the air, he flicked his last kunai upward, striking it mid-spin.
The kunai shifted, redirected just enough. Thunk. Eight down.
His feet hit the ground, knees bending to absorb the impact. He crouched there for a second.
He reached up, gripping the fabric of the blindfold, and pulled it off in one smooth motion.
His eyes flickered to the targets.
Every kunai. Dead center.
He exhaled, lips barely twitching upward.
“Good.”
His training followed a pattern—a system he’d refined over the last 2 years. First came instinct and awareness. A shinobi couldn’t afford to second-guess in a fight. You sensed a threat, you moved.
Then came body conditioning—the brutal, repetitive work that built a shinobi’s real foundation. Strength, speed, endurance. If instincts told you where to move, your body had to be ready to follow.
Naruto hit the ground without hesitation, palms pressing into the dirt, muscles flexing as he lowered himself into the first push-up.
Then another. Then another.
Repetition. Routine. Every day, the same grind. He didn’t need to think about it anymore; his body just moved, chasing the familiar burn in his arms and shoulders.
By the time he finished, his muscles ached.
He flipped onto his back, hands laced behind his head. Sit-ups next.
Up. Down. Tight core, steady breath. He kept his focus locked in.
The fire in his abs built, but he welcomed it. This was maintenance.
Now the real work begins.A single seal.Poof.
Five clones surrounded him, already shifting into fighting stances.
Naruto smirked, rolling his shoulders. “Alright. Let’s go.”
The first one lunged.
He sat with his back against a tree, legs stretched out in front of him, a wooden food container resting on his lap. The aftereffects of training still hummed through his muscles—that dull, satisfying ache that came after pushing his body to the limit.
He picked up a piece of simmered mackerel with his chopsticks, took a bite, and chewed slowly.
“Not bad.”
Naruto was halfway through his meal when he heard a girl’s voice.
He glanced up.
Blonde. Big tits, big ass, stacked as hell.
…Wait.
Took him a second, but yeah. That was Ino.
He scanned the rest of the group. Shikamaru, slouched like he’d rather be anywhere else. Chōji, eating something as usual. And Asuma, hands in his pockets, cigarette dangling from his lips. They looked older, more expierenced, but at their core, they were still the same.
“I swear, if we get sent on another mission this week, I’m gonna lose my mind,” Ino grumbled, dragging a hand through her hair.
Chōji frowned. “We just got back. There’s no way they’re deploying us again so soon.”
Asuma took a slow drag of his cigarette. “Don’t be so sure.”
Shikamaru shot him a flat look. “That bad?”
Asuma exhaled a stream of smoke, watching the sky. “Let’s just say the situation in Suna is getting worse. Tension’s been high for weeks, and now we’ve got confirmed sightings of Akatsuki near their borders.”
That got their attention.
Ino’s arms dropped from where they had been crossed. “Wait, what?”
Shikamaru frowned. “How reliable is the intel?”
“Reliable enough that the Hokage is considering sending support,” Asuma said. “Temari was the one who reported it. She’s in Konoha as Suna’s ambassador, and she went straight to Tsunade after getting the message from her people.”
Naruto chewed slowly, filing the thought away. Interesting.
Ero-Sennin had mentioned them a few times—never much detail, but enough. And if they were starting with Suna,then that means Gaara was the target.
He was Kazekage. Strong as hell, way stronger than anyone gave him credit for. If Akatsuki thought they could just roll in and take him down, they were in for a rude awakening.
Dinner, shopping, training done.
Now it was time to check his gear.
Naruto had no idea where he was actually supposed to meet Kakashi and Sakura.
He reached for his cloth bag, putting the empty wooden food container inside before slinging it over his shoulder.
A sharp whistle cut through the air when he took a step forward. Reacting instantly for danger, his head snapped to the side. A kunai tore through the space where his skull had been half a second ago.
His eyes tracked the kunai as it embedded itself into the dirt ahead of him, still trembling from the impact.
A surge of chakra.
Close. Fast.
Naruto barely had time to register it before Ino was already there.
Her fist came up, chakra pulsing around her knuckles, aiming straight for his jaw.
The hit never landed. All Naruto saw was how slow she was.
His arm shot up.
Boom.
The air shook.
The force of the hit sent a dull tremor through the clearing, the ground absorbing the impact as Ino’s back slammed into the dirt. A gust of air kicked up around them, leaves rustling from the force.
Her body froze beneath him. Naruto was on top of her. His knee pressed firmly against her waist. One hand wrapped around her throat.
Her blue eyes widened.
Naruto probably would have enjoyed their brief closeness, but the next moment forced him to escape.
Asuma, with his chakra-infused blades, appeared right next to him—cold calculation and the calm of a seasoned veteran in his eyes.
A sharp sound pierced the air, and Naruto looked up just in time to see the blade approaching his neck.
Asuma intended to kill.
What the hell?
In the next second, Naruto used Shunshin no Jutsu and appeared two meters away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Shikamaru’s shadows closing in.
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and shouted:
“Wait! Wait! It’s me—Naruto!”
Ino quickly pushed herself up from the ground, her voice uncertain as she echoed, “Naruto?”
Asuma didn’t lower his blades but his eyes widened slightly as the realization settled in.
“Naruto?”
As the tension finally bled from the clearing, Naruto exhaled, rolling his shoulders as his body eased out of combat mode. Good. Looked like nobody was about to try and slit his throat anymore.
Chōji, now back to his normal size, reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar red bag. Within seconds, he was chewing, as if nothing had happened.
Naruto raised a brow. “Seriously?”
Chōji swallowed, giving him a flat look. “What? Fighting makes me hungry.”
Ino let out an exasperated sigh, dusting dirt from her skirt. “Forget that—what the hell are you even doing here, Naruto?!”
“I live here, remember?”
“That’s not what I mean, dumbass!” She crossed her arms, her blue eyes scanning him from head to toe. “You don’t even look like you anymore.”
Shikamaru, still watching him with narrowed eyes, let out a slow breath. “Tch… No wonder you felt off.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “ Your chakra’s different. For a second, I thought we had an intruder.”
Naruto clicked his tongue. “That’s some welcome, huh?”
Asuma was still studying him, but after a moment, he finally sighed, slipping his trench knives back into his holsters. “Well, looks like it’s really you.” He took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaling smoke into the cooling air. “You’ve been gone a while, kid. People change in three years, but… damn.” His eyes flicked over Naruto again. “You’re not the same brat who used to run around yelling about ramen and Hokage speeches.”
Naruto shrugged. “Yeah… I’ve changed a little. Had to. Traveling with Ero-Sennin wasn’t exactly a vacation.”
He rolled his shoulders. “If I didn’t adapt, I probably would’ve gone crazy.”
Team 10 didn’t respond right away, they just kept watching him.
Naruto glanced at the sky. “Anyway, I need to go. Baa-chan’s got some kind of test lined up. Evaluation or something.”
Ino took a step forward. “Wait—what kind of test? What did she—”
But Naruto was already gone.
Asuma took another drag from his cigarette, watching the empty space where Naruto had stood.
“Well… he is fast.”
Comments
rotamod
yes, she will be the main girl
Emmanuel Zamora
I’m already hooked also is ino going to be in the little harem if that’s the route you’re going?
Kaido
Cannot wait
rotamod
We will follow canon plotline but im gonna fill it with so many stuff that it wont feel the same. And Yes Strong Naruto assasin type in the begining and then God power house later on.
Kaido
Really? That actually sounds awesome do you plan to follow cannon? Or can we get a Naruto who actually does stuff the uzumaki did? Ik he’s definitely more competent than cannon for starters
rotamod
Yes it is a big and long project. Years in writing i think
Kaido
Do you plan to make this a long fic? Cause with how you space the plot it feels like it could be greatness
