Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
An old man sat at his desk awaiting the arrival of an appointment. While he was waiting he was finishing off the last of that particular day's paperwork by signing off on one of Danzo's Ne's "secret" missions. In all reality that was simply a formality as the old warhawk would do the mission anyways, if it hadn't already been done. As he finished signing the document, his thoughts wandered to a certain blonde genin that he was particularly fond of. Said genin was Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, and jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
The sun-kissed blonde was so full of life and the aptly named "Will of Fire" that it was almost palpable whenever one spoke to the young preteen. This was even more remarkable when one considered that the boy was an outcast in his own village due to his jinchuriki status. This train of thought brought the elderly Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, back to the appointment he was scheduled to have with the boy's Jonin sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Almost instantly after that thought occurred in the Hokage's head, he heard a knock come from his door. After inviting the person who knocked inside his office, Sarutobi greeted the white haired, one-eyed man.
"Hello Kakashi-kun. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The seemingly cyclops-esque Jonin replied "Hokage-sama I would like permission to use Minato-sensei's old training chamber to train my genin squad for any challenges they might face. This would be prudent due to the fact that two of my genin are very special cases and are at risk of attempted kidnappings, and it has been brought to my attention very recently that genin Haruno Sakura lives in an abusive household, making myself, her jonin sensei, her pseudo-guardian" the young Jonin said with barely concealed rage threatening to erupt like a volcano under the half mask he wore around his face.
The Hokage quickly assessed the situation and promptly responded with a simple yes. He then asked the elite jonin "Kakashi-kun, how much time will you need?" The stoic jonin's response was simple "ten months Hokage-sama. That would give me ten years in the chambers to get them up to at the very least jonin level, and they would be back a month before the annual chunnin exams."
"Thank you Kakashi-kun. Your leave starts tomorrow, so I would suggest having your genin ready. And do not worry about the Haruno household, while Mebuki and Kizashi were fine shinobi in their day, it appears time and old age have worn on them."
The Next Day
The three genin of squad seven stood in their designated training grounds, training ground 32, waiting for their jonin sensei to appear. The shortest of the three gathered, the blonde haired boy with strikingly blue eyes, clad in an almost all orange jumpsuit, let out a small yawn, testament to how early they were gathered. The pink haired genin dressed in a red dress with white around the edges and a white circle on the back merely ignored the yawn as a glazed over look in her green eyes hid that she was contemplating whether or not she should set a booby trap for their perennially late sensei. The third member of their group, a black haired and eyed boy wearing a blue, high collared shirt with a red and white fan on the back simply heatedly glared at a tree in the training grounds. Immediately after the blonde let loose the yawn, a whirlwind of leaves announced the arrival of their jonin sensei.
"Alright team, we have been cleared for a ten month training trip by the Hokage. This trip will be special as we will actually be training for ten years, however where we are going time goes faster, so it will be ten months to the rest of the world, it will be ten years to us. We will spend a year on each aspect of being a ninja, and after that we will begin elemental chakra training and more. Any questions? No? Good." And with that said, the white haired jonin made hand-seals that were too fast for the untrained eye to see and the group vanished without a trace. That would be the last time Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura were seen. For from that day forth, to the shinobi world they would be known as Konoha's shingigami trio. On that day the legends of the White Death, the Black Shingigami, and the Red Valkyrie began.
Two Months Later
Time had flown by, Kakashi noted. His cute little Genin had finally reached his predetermined levels of pique physical fitness, and it was time for his team to start branching out into the more obscure shinobi arts beyond their individual studies. The Hokage had probably intended for them to be a strike team, capable of taking on any force the elemental nations had to offer if they were allowed to work in tandem, but the one-eyed Jōnin would not allow them to neglect their other skill-sets. Kakashi had been a master of infiltration and assassination after all, and he would be remiss if his students weren't as proficient in those arts as he had been at their ages.
With his team's future usefulness in mind, he began to plan how they would spend the next eight years of their lives. All three of his subordinates were proficient in their primary elements, and had already begun to develop secondary elements to complement their budding skills. Mastering the two they were already learning, and a third, would make them more well-equipped than most of his peers for shinobi-to-shinobi combat. Though to accomplish that, they would need larger chakra reserves, especially his female student.
'Chakra Control exercises till they're exhausted', he wrote on their training schedule for the mornings of the next six months to a full year, resolving to hone their taijutsu in the afternoons on Tuesday's and Thursday's. The afternoons of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be devoted to helping them individually however he could in their fields of choice.
Naruto had taken quite a liking to Fūinjutsu, much like his parents had, and Kakashi would be damned if he didn't at least try to increase the blonde's skills in the area. His pink-haired student was a budding Iryōjutsu prodigy, and her penchant for the oft-overlooked skill of archery created an interesting dynamic for her as a support-type; even with her highly advanced Taijutsu skills. The Uchiha was surprisingly intent upon the use of combat-grade Genjutsu, attributing his interest to his brother's reputation as a Genjutsu without comparison.
Each one of them individually was probably capable of fighting Chūnin-level opponents to a standstill, possibly even defeat. Combined, the three could take on most Jōnin if they kept their heads on straight, which was no guarantee. Even if they were more than capable of functioning as a team in the field, there was still strife amongst his team, and it caused the Copy-Nin an untold number of headaches. Sakura had grown out of her crush on Sasuke as time wore on, as Naruto had done with his crush on her, but it took some explosive fights to hash out the differences between the two.
Sakura was accustomed to Naruto being so far below her in skill level, that his rapid improvement to being above her hadn't sat well with her. After weeks of trying to be a supportive teammate, she gave into her petty urges and became hostile towards the blonde, ruining the growing rapport the two had begun to share. Naruto, always trying to appease, came to the conclusion that his emerald-eyed teammate was simply tired of hearing the whine of his voice, so he wrote a voice changing seal and applied it to himself.
That served as a lesson in why the sealing arts were so obscure and so dangerous. Naruto would probably never speak again, the seal simply releasing chakra into his vocal chords, frying them. Sakura was distraught, but her sadness quickly turned to anger at the Jinchūriki. The terse silence lasted three days, but the guilt eventually won out, and Sakura apologized profusely. Their bond was stronger for it, but the final member of Team Seven was still emotionally disconnected, if less so than when they had started out.
Breaking him of that would be on his to do list, Kakashi mused, before shutting their training schedule till they were ready to move onto elemental training. The group dynamic would work itself out with a little guidance, and a lot of the hormones of puberty out of the way at the end. At least, he hoped it would.
Three Months Later
Naruto dodged the incoming kicks from his rival-turned-teammate, and couldn't help but smirk at the almost imperceptible widening of the eyes that his action inspired in his friend. Not to lose the initiative, he shot out with a few strikes of his own, all probing his opponent's defenses. He hadn't been able to catch Sasuke off guard in weeks, doing it now was no small feat, especially not with the three tomoe spinning wildly within his opponent's Sharingan. Deciding to change tactics, he kicked out at the Uchiha's shin, causing the raven-haired young man to go airborne. With a grace that could almost be described as catlike, Sasuke flipped and hammered his leg down onto Naruto's shoulder, eliciting a loud crack from his shoulder.
"Medic," Sasuke mockingly called as he walked off the field, grinning at their mutual progress, and his victory in their spar. Time had changed the Uchiha, as it had all three of the younger members of Team Seven. He himself had mellowed out a great deal, through intense meditation and reflection. His teammates had each become extremely strong individually; Naruto through his unprecedented understanding of Fūinjutsu and his recently discovered Jinton (Swift Release), and Sakura with her chakra enhanced strength and archery techniques combining with her ability to strategize plans that would make even a Nara jealous.
As a team, they had immense destructive powers, especially when Naruto used the Kyūbi's powers to their most devastating effects. Even though Sasuke himself was more of an assassination-expert, he could still wreak havoc on a battlefield if the situation demanded it. His Raiton and Katon attacks were more than capable of ensuring wide-spread chaos, while his Doton techniques were a very useful resource during defense or interrogation scenarios.
"Good fight, teme," signed Naruto with Konoha-standard sign language. The duo had never stopped their rivalry, it had only intensified as they became closer. It helped that the Uzumaki was the only other person on their team that practiced Kenjutsu, and he even was a practitioner of a dual handed style like himself, though Sasuke preferred his chokutō to the blonde's hook swords.
"You too, dobe," Sasuke shot back verbally, getting a very creative use of sign language in response. Sakura just rolled her eyes at their incessant teasing and kept on healing Naruto's shoulder. Sasuke stretched and enjoyed the comfortable silence the three had settled into, when their silver-haired sensei appeared from inside the house they had created upon arrival.
"Come inside you three, physical training is over for the day."
Four Months Later
"Formation 12-H boys, attack pattern Delta," called out Sakura, rushing to her spot twelve yards back and three yards to the right of Naruto's initial rush at Kakashi. While the blonde engaged their sensei in close range, Sakura prepared to take the pressure off Naruto when he disengaged with their combatant. She began channeling chakra to her fists, focusing on maintaining her control over it without losing her control.
'There!' Thought Sakura as she leapt into the fray and her Uzumaki teammate jumped back to join Sasuke who had been layering Genjutsu on Kakashi the entire time. She pulled her hands behind her head, and as she landed behind her sensei's shoulder, she brought her fists hammering towards the ground, creating a massive shockwave that toppled Kakashi.
Before the renowned Copy-nin could regain his bearings, he was buffeted by a strong wind, and the longer he stood within the wind the sharper it got. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Kakashi attempted to disengage by jumping backwards out of the range of the technique.
'Perfect' noted Sakura, as the Jōnin was met by the tips of Sasuke's chokutō. When he lashed out with a Raikiri charged fist, she sprinted into his defenses, landing right behind him.
"It's over, Kaka-sensei," she said with a tone of finality, an arrow already nocked and aimed at the back of his head. Their teacher let out a small sigh, and a couple of grumbles about 'uppity brats', but she knew he was proud of their work. Taking down opponents at Kakashi's level was a feat in and of itself, though she knew that Naruto and Sasuke had both begun to defeat the silver-haired man fairly regularly in their individual spars.
'Hell, if he doesn't go all out from the start with me, he loses eight times out of ten.' She thought to herself, unable to help the small smile that graced her features. They had all grown so much in the past 9 years they had been together, she couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of leaving in a year's time.
Getting out and fighting other actual combatants would do them good. They had all become fairly accustomed to fighting each other, and the complacency that naturally bred was hard to stave off. While this didn't affect their training at all, their spars had become mere routine, only when they went all out could anyone glean anything from their sessions fighting each other. Gains that were made marginal by the fact that it often meant the participants of the spar were incapable of doing anything other than recuperating for at least a week after said spar.
The green-eyed young woman sighed, thinking about their stagnation made her want to hit something. While the team's skills hadn't plateaued, not by a long shot, a change of scenery would've been nice. Having to deal with Naruto attempting to figure out how to use another kekkei genkai that he shouldn't have been able to have would probably frustrate her to no end.
'Perks of being Kurama's Jinchūriki my ass' she internally grumbled. The former knucklehead had discovered his ability to use Jinton (Swift Release) seven years ago and his mastery with it was beyond impressive, something that irked her to no end since it seemed practically designed to neutralize her in a fight. Combined with the vast number of other techniques he could use, it gave him a serious advantage against most any combatant he would face.
The blonde had mastered every element to maximize his combat potential, at her recommendation after having found out his Jinchūriki status and the unique advantages it had offered. Mixing his work ethic with the Kage Bunshin technique, and how many dopplegangers he could produce, it was no surprise that he had quickly mastered all the elements. A decision that had the added bonus of boosting his chakra control a tremendous amount, something that made the Uzumaki chakra battery an extremely effective ninjutsu user.
It wasn't like the blonde had slacked in any of the other arts as well, his taijutsu was on par with Sasuke's, and he was only a little bit behind in kenjutsu. She had reassurances from the Uzumaki himself that for the rest of the year he would be focusing on Taijutsu, and putting his Jinton to work in hand-to-hand combat. His Fūinjutsu was beyond reproach, and he could effectively notice and disrupt most Genjutsu with relative ease. Not to mention his abilities as a Jinchūriki had gone as far as he could take them. He had reached an agreement with the Kyūbi, where they appeared to be friends united towards a single goal. It was something that always weirded her out a little bit, if she was being honest with herself.
'Ah well, if it makes us stronger, than I don't particularly care' she mused, before looking over and seeing Sasuke. Another especially strong shinobi who did things that bent the rules beyond belief. He had developed his Genjutsu skills to the point where he could even fool other Sharingan users, a feat formerly thought to be impossible. His mastery over Katon and Raiton was outstanding, he had even managed to incorporate them both into his kenjutsu style without much trouble.
The mix of abilities seemed feeble, but his ninjutsu repertoire was almost as large as Naruto's, and he only had a third of the number of elements to work with. Contemplating everyone else's skill levels almost made her feel weak, till she remembered all of the things she had accomplished and discovered over their time in the time capsule.
'Come to think of it, this all seems kind of cheap... We're all pretty much at a level where we can fight S-rank shinobi as Genin, the two months till the chunin exams should be a breeze!' She reassured herself, before running inside the house, eager to get dinner and then some rest.
One Month Later
"You three ready?" Asked Kakashi one last time, to the annoyance of his three charges. Realizing that they were all ready, the Copy-nin sped through 52 hand seals, and with a pulse of chakra, they were back inside Konoha.
"I've got a report to go file, I'll try and get us a C-rank while I'm at it, so go wait for me by the gates." Ordered their sensei, and all three obliged, disappearing as soon as his orders were given.
Author's Note: Well, there was all that I suppose. The addition/rewrite of this story three years after the fact. I still don't really know where this is going, but I'm sure I'll find a place. I at least have how I want the Wave-arc to go. That'll require some grade A rewriting, unfortunately I'm a grade C writer at best. So we'll see. As far as pairings go, I honestly have no idea. As one reviewer pointed out, the kids aren't kids anymore. They'll have their emotional quirks and whatnot, but generally they'll have to make new friends because all of their former friends will seem extremely immature and annoying to them. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, methinks.
No one reads these anyways so I don't know why I'm writing mine. But it's cathartic I suppose, so there's that.
Got something new coming out soon too, it's more my speed. A more classic Team 7 bonding story, starts on the night of the Uchiha massacre. Sakura has Bakuton (Explosion Release), and her parents die in the massacre as well (for reasons yet to be explained to anyone). Naruto is pretty much regular old Naruto, he'll just get some boosts throughout the story, namely chakra chains.
