Naruto: Shadow Walker

by Soleneus

Pseudo X-over. The Shadows exist within everyone. This is much is true more-so for Naruto Uzumaki, A child of the Lord of Shadows. When Naruto meets his dad for the first time, he is given power. But, at a price. Some things remain the same. Others don't.

Naruto: Shadow Walker.

A/N: This is going to be largely AU. Mostly with Fem! Characters, as well as some changes to canon.

But, then again, it wouldn't be Fanfiction without some changes, right?

Since the beginning of time, and even before it, there has been a realm underneath our own, where a timeless deity controls everything.

The Shadow Realm.

The Lord of Shadows, or more simply known as Umbras, has lived far longer than anything else, because he is an eternal being. Having lived for so long with nothing to do, Umbras decided that he should interfere with the above realms, if only to relieve his boredom.

Copying himself several times, the Shadow Lord sent them out into the realms, to find females to bear him an heir.

While the Lord of Shadows is ruthless, he still had his morals. No child of his was ever conceived without consent.

Over the next several centuries, the Shadow Lord would send fragments of his power out into the realms, to find willing companions to bear his children.

With his children being born, Umbras knew, that to survive, they would need power. He created a technique that would allow his children to send their souls to his realm, so that he might impart some of his power into them. Being the Deity of Balance, the first one of his children to arrive was given his some of his power, but at a price. He lost all sense of feeling, but was able withstand any attack.

And so, whenever his children would arrive, they would be given a power, and have a part of their humanity stripped away from them in exchange.

There came a time when the Shadow Lord's children had passed on, leaving him with no heirs worthy enough to take his seat from him.

But, there was one realm he hadn't visited. Sending a fragment of his power into the realm, a child was born, right as the fragment was returned to the Shadow Lord.

With the birth of his child, Umbras watched, and waited. He knew it was only a matter of time before his child sought him out for power. And seek him out the child did.

…

"This is too easy!" A blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, about four feet six inches in height, ran through the forest surrounding Konohagakure. On his back was strapped a large scroll, with the large kanji 'Forbidden' clearly imprinted on the back.

The boy's name was Naruto Uzumaki, the orange wearing prankster Hokage-wannabe of Konoha. He had failed his genin test for the third time, and had been approached by one of his sensei's, a chunin named Mizuki.

He had snuck into the Hokage's tower, successfully stolen the scroll of seals, and was now making his way to an abandoned shack in the middle of the forest. Stopping next to the shack, Naruto pulled the scroll from his back and settled it down on the ground, rolling it open.

"Alright, I just have to learn one jutsu from this scroll, and then I'll be a genin, dattebayo!" He scanned the first entry and groaned. "More clones? Argh! Those are my worst technique!" He sighed and pulled a smaller, blank scroll from his pocket, and copied it down. "Might as well try it later, I guess."

He scanned through the scroll, copying down the 'cooler' ones and skipping over the ones he deemed 'lame'. Finally, he got to the oldest part of the scroll. The words were slightly faded and he couldn't read most of them. All he could see was the title of the Technique and the handsigns.

"'Reverse Summoning: Shadow Realm'? That sounds awesome, dattebayo! I bet it's some awesome jutsu that will make me all dark and cool and stuff! Maybe then Sakura-chan will pay attention to me!" Naruto crowed triumphantly.

He went through the handsigns slowly, then slammed his hands on the ground. "Reverse Summoning: Shadow Realm Jutsu!"

The light faded from his eyes, and his soul went somewhere else…

…

The Shadow Realm.

Naruto looked around wildly. He appeared to be in a room that had shadows that were literally crawling up the walls, spiked tentacles and other terrifying things lurking beyond his vision.

"So…my child finally arrives." A dark figure rose from a corner, wreathed in shadows. It was tall, far taller than Naruto, and towered over him. It didn't seem to have any discernible features, beyond a head and shoulders.

"What the hell!" Naruto shouted at the figure. "What's the big idea, taking me here?"

The shadowy figure chuckled darkly. "Fool…you brought yourself here, as have all of my children. Have you come for power?"

Naruto blinked. "Power? Do you mean the kind that would make me awesome? That would be sweet, dattebayo!" The would-be genin completely skipped over the 'all my children' bit, dismissing it as unimportant.

Somehow, the blonde could feel that the figure was smirking. "Good. I have several powers to choose from…why don't you take a look?"

The figure waved a hand, and seven white masks appeared out of thin air in front of Naruto. The first looked like an old plate helm, except that it was pure white. The next had angular eyes and a flat face that curved inwards. The next appeared to be a skull, without the lower jaw, and the upper jaw smoothed out and covering the lower half of the face. The next had round eye holes, and what looked like a rectangle with a circle in the middle of it over the mouth. The next was an angular mask that covered the entire face, with two thin plates on the sides that ran around the head, with four small slitted eye holes. The next to last appeared to look like a blank ANBU mask, with the exception of the right eye, which was large and seemed to be made of black glass. The last was a smooth, completely round helmet that had a thin, curved spike curving out of the top.

"The first belonged to a weapons specialist, a man who could use any weapon, and use it in the best way. The second belonged to brute of a man, who could smash metal doors down with little effort. The third belonged to a Close-Quarters-Combat master, who had a knack for sharp weapons, mostly knives. The fourth belonged to a woman that could disable or kill her enemies with just a scream. The fifth belonged to one of my favorite children. He could walk through other beings shadows, and possess them via the shadow they cast. The sixth, belonged to a woman who could see a target from a mile away, and hit the center with any weapon. The last belonged to one of the fastest men to ever live. He could run around the planet in a week, and still have enough energy to do more." The figure spoke with grudging respect in it's voice.

Naruto was deep in thought, something that happened very rarely. He looked up at the shadowy figure and asked, "What's the catch?"

The figure laughed loudly, the room shaking. "Good. You know that power comes with a price. But, I will not tell you what it is until you choose. You may only choose that which you may carry in your hands."

Naruto thought over his words, then looked up at the masks, choice made. Quickly, he reached both hands out and snagged the third and the fifth. "Ha! I can carry two in my hands! Take that, dattebayo!"

Dark laughter seemed to reverberate from around the room, and suddenly the blonde felt that he had made a bad choice.

"I must admit," the figure drew up to it's full and very impressive height, completely dwarfing Naruto. "You are smarter than you first appeared."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but the figure spoke over him.

"But you are still an idiot. There is always a price to pay for power." Sharp white teeth appeared in a crooked smile on the figure's head, as red slit eyes glared malevolently at Naruto."And double the power…"

The figure lunged at the small blonde, lifting him from the floor with ease. "…Double the price!"

Naruto let loose a blood-curdling scream as darkness consumed his vision.

…

Yuugao Uzuki was not a woman to scare easily. Being an ANBU captain, and all that came with it, proved that. But when she heard a scream that could have only come from a dying Naruto, she felt real, horrible, fear.

Rushing through the trees, she dashed towards the center of the scream, hoping beyond hope that nothing bad had happened to the blonde that had wormed his way into her heart.

When she arrived in the clearing with the shack, she found Naruto thrashing around on the ground, clutching his eyes and screaming. Darkness seemed to contort around him, centered on his head.

Yuugao jumped down and dashed to Naruto, pulling him to her chest as she tried to comfort him. But he just screamed and screamed, before she chopped him in the back of the neck, knocking him blissfully unconscious.

Turning him over to see what was wrong with his eyes, her heart nearly stopped, and her eyes widened behind her cat mask.

Instead of his lovely cerulean blue that Yuugao loved…

…there were only black pits staring back at her.

…

Naruto's Mindscape.

Naruto awoke in a white room. The walls were bare. The floors were bare. The ceiling was bare. It was so white, it nearly took a minute for his eyes to adjust.

"Hello!" He shouted, with an echo of his voice bouncing back.

"Hello." A quite voice that sounded from behind him made nearly jump out of his skin. Turning around, he spotted two men standing a little ways away.

The first wore the skull mask, with thick white armor that wrapped around his entire body. Several knives were strapped to his person, mostly his chest, legs, and arms.

The second wore the mask with four eye holes. He wore a small amount of armor on him, made for quick dashing and speed. Black cloth wrapped around his slim figure underneath it. He had a short blade strapped to his hip, and his arms were crossed.

The skull masked one looked Naruto over and spoke with contempt in his deep voice. "This is the one we have to train? Some four-foot sun reject?"

Incensed, the blonde shouted, "Hey! I haven't reached my growth spurt yet, asshole! I'll have you know that I'm the 24th tallest in class!"

The skull man sniffed disdainfully. "Out of how many?"

Naruto had no answer.

"Exactly."

The other man spoke in a soft, raspy voice. "Miles, quit antagonizing the boy. We are here to help him, not make him lose his confidence."

"Whatever, Walker ."

Walker turned to look at Naruto, though the blonde had the feeling that he was blind. "Your name is Naruto, correct? We have been pulled from Paradise by my father to train you in the usage of our skills."

Naruto made a 'Pfft." Noise. "I don't need your help! I'm awesome, dattebayo!"

Miles laughed. "Really? Somehow I doubt that a shrimp like you could be even passable. And you are now worse off. Because you were stupid enough to try and trick the Shadow Lord, you're blind now."

The blonde gasped. "WHAT?"

Walker spoke bluntly. "You tried to fool an ancient deity, one who commands the shadows themselves. For that, he took your eyes."

He pulled his mask off, showing several bandages wrapped around his eyes. "As he took mine, once before."

Naruto blinked in shock. "I…I'm blind?"

The masked man nodded, placing his mask back over his face. "Yes. But your dream of being a warrior is not out of reach."

"How?" The blond asked incredulously.

"We will train all of your senses to the maximum, as well as your body. We will also teach you our techniques and styles, though you will have to master them on your own." Walker snapped his fingers, and the room was engulfed in darkness.

"First lesson. Fighting blind."

The sound of knuckles being cracked echoed in the darkness.

"Oh yeah," Miles laughed, "I'm going to enjoy this."

…

One Week Later… Konoha Hospital.

Yuugao watched over Naruto, running a hand through her hair on occasion. She worried about the short blonde, though 'short' hardly described him anymore.

During Naruto's week-long coma, his body had started to grow. The ribs that could be seen sticking out of his chest were covered by a layer of muscle. He grew, his arms and legs lengthening. His musculature changed from that of a nine year-old to that of the fourteen year-old he was.

The Sandaime Hokage would visit occasionally, to look over Naruto and sigh. He was not the only one to visit. Kurenai Yuuhi, the blonde's secret genjutsu teacher, would sometimes visit for hours at a time, simply holding his hand and crying quietly. A few of the genin from his class, namely, the Uchiha girl, the Yamanaka Heiress, and the Hyuuga twins. Even a few girls from above his year, Tenten and Nejiko, would visit occasionally.

Sometimes, Naruto would thrash around, and yell, but other times he would be deathly still.

Then, after a week of tenuous ups and downs, Naruto groaned, and the machines connected to him began to beep rapidly.

Yuugao sat up from the chair she had been slumping in, caressing Naruto's hand with her own.

"Naruto-kun?" She asked tentatively.

Naruto didn't respond as his mind was still sleepy. It had seemed like he had just gotten to sleep. He sniffed the air and smiled slightly.

"Hey, Neko-chan. How long have I been out?" He asked.

Yuugao stiffened in surprise. "About a week, Naruto-kun. How did you know it was me?"

The blonde fingered the bandages wrapped around his eyes. "Well, you're the only woman I know who smells like plum blossoms and weapon oil. Plus, the fact that you're touching me, and you're the only person who has calluses on their hands, but still has really soft skin tipped me off."

Whatever Yuugao was about to say was interrupted by the door to the hospital room opening up, the smell of tobacco smoke, ink and paper alerting Naruto to the presence of the Sandaime Hokage.

"Ah, Naruto-kun! I'm very glad you are awake. You had us very worried for quite some time there." He said around his pipe.

Naruto kept playing with the bandages on his face while responding, "Sorry about that Jiji. I didn't think that jutsu I found would do that do me."

The Sandaime sighed. "Which brings us to our next topic…Naruto, I need to know what jutsu you used from the scroll?"

The blonde thought for a second, then replied, "Some old reverse summoning thing."

The old Hokage paled. "Was it Reverse Summoning: Shadow Realm Technique?"

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Yup, that's it."

Clutching his heart, the Sandaime sat down heavily. "Ye Gods! And you survived?"

Naruto made and 'eh' motion with his hand. "Kinda. I lost my eyes, though."

The Sandaime breathed deeply several times, trying to calm his beating heart. "Why don't you tell us what happened from the beginning?"

Naruto took a deep breath and recounted his tale. Yuugao had squeezed his hand when he told them about his failure of the genin exam. He went on to tell them about how Mizuki had approached him with an 'alternative' test. Then he told them about breaking into the tower and stealing the scroll, using his Sexy Jutsu to knock the Sandaime unconscious and escape.

And then, he told them about performing the Summoning, waking up in what he called the Shadow Realm, where he met the Shadow Lord, made a deal, and lost his eyes.

Finally, Naruto told them about meeting Walker and Miles in his mind.

"So the men, whose masks you picked, appeared in your mind and taught you how to use their skills?" The Sandaime asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Not all of them. Walker taught me how to posses people and how to Shadow Walk, as well as some of his skills, but he gave me the basics for other techniques to see what I could come up with. Miles taught me hand-to-hand and knife combat. And also how to dodge pointy objects." He shuddered slightly at a memory.

"What about the masks you chose? Where are they?" Yuugao questioned.

Naruto frowned. "Walker said that I needed to envision the mask in my mind, then draw on the spiritual half of my chakra and focus."

He held out a hand, palm up, and focused. Nothing happened after a moment, and right as the Sandaime was about to speak, the shadows under the hospital bed moved.

A tendril of shadows crawled up the leg of the bed, slithered across the bedspread and up Naruto's arm, pooling in his hand. The shadows seemed to condense, becoming an orb of pure blackness. It shifted into an oblong shape, and the shadows began to dissipate.

Left in his hand was smooth, white mask.

Four small eye holes, two pairs perpendicular to each other on each side of the face, followed by a hole that looked like the nose of a skull in the middle of the face. Four lines were carved into the part that covered the mouth, vertically. Two tilted plates connected to the center plate which covered the cheeks.

"Hm. I thought I would get Miles's mask. I guess I got a mixture of both instead." Naruto hefted the mask in one hand, getting a feel for it. "It's not as heavy as I thought it would be."

He set the mask aside for the moment, and asked the Hokage, "What about Mizuki? Did your guys catch him?"

The Sandaime answered slowly, still in shock. "After Neko retrieved you from the forest, she tipped off several chunin in the area to where the scroll was. They arrived in time to stop from Mizuki making off with it, and they managed to subdue him. Your explanation is the final nail in his coffin. He'll be executed tomorrow for treason."

Naruto nodded tightly. "Good."

Yuugao gripped Naruto's hand slightly, showing that she was trying to move the conversation away from things of that thread. "You know, Naruto, Sandaime-sama had to push the team assignments back an entire week for you."

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly. "Why? I'm not a genin, I failed."

The Sandaime snorted. "Bah, as if. You managed to sneak into the Hokage's tower un-aided, without being spotted by ANBU, knocked out a potential target and escaped without hassle. If it had been a serious mission and you were an enemy nin, I could have been killed, and the Scroll of Seals stolen. The only reason I knew it was you is because you didn't kill me."

The Neko masked ANBU giggled lightly. "If that's not ninja material, then I don't know what is."

The Hokage agreed. "So what if you can't do a single E-ranked jutsu? The summoning you used is forbidden because it drains a huge amount a chakra from the user. It is more complicated than the Bunshin, and you still managed it fairly easily."

"So, congratulations Naruto Uzumaki, and welcome to the Shinobi Corps of Konoha." He tossed a headband at Naruto, forgetting for a second that he was blind.

It didn't matter though, because Naruto intercepted the metal plate and cloth before it nailed him in the face, much to the surprise of the two older shinobi.

The Sandaime blinked in surprise. "I believe that we need to have someone re-evaluate your skills, Naruto-kun. It appears that the team setup that we were going for is not going to work."

Yuugao stood at the Sandaime's nod, giving Naruto's hand a squeeze and leaning down to place a kiss on his cheek. "I'll gather a few jonin tomorrow at Training Ground 5. See you later, Naruto-kun."

"Bye, Neko-chan." Naruto waved as she disappeared in a shunshin.

The Sandaime smiled slightly, and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "I'll see you later Naruto-kun. Rest for now, and I'll come by tomorrow to take you the training ground for your evaluation."

Naruto nodded and sighed. He hated hospitals. "Alright, I'll talk to you later Old Man."

The Hokage nodded and walked out of the door, taking one last look at Naruto, who was staring at ceiling.

Once the door shut, Naruto relaxed, and let his senses stretch out. Finding no one, he seemed to slump in the bed. The shadows underneath the bed wriggled and stretched, reaching up and wrapping around the still blonde.

The shadows condensed, until a human-shaped pit of blackness sat in the hospital bed.

…

Kurenai Yuuhi, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi and Might Gai stood in the center of Training Ground 5, conversing in hushed tones.

"So, who are we supposed to be testing?" Kurenai asked quietly.

"Meh, who knows? I just hope it doesn't take too long, I want to read some more." The lazy jonin Kakashi replied, his one eye on the Icha, Icha in his hand. Kurenai scowled at the man, and his choice of literature.

"That's so Unyouthful of you, Kakashi!" Might Gai in all his green jump-suited glory shouted exuberantly. "I heard that we are evaluating a genin who wishes to change his standing in class!"

"Yeah, cool, whatever." Kakashi mumbled in reply.

Asuma glanced at his watch and at the surroundings. "When's this guy supposed to get here? It's not like Pops to be late."

"He's probably looking for me."

The jonin spun around in shock, weapons appearing in hands as if by magic.

Naruto ignored the trench knives, kunai and fists near his face. Sitting on a tree stump, with his fist on his chin, he looked rather bored.

Kakashi glanced at the Konoha headband around the stranger's neck, and lowered his kunai. "How long have you been behind us?"

With a bored tone of voice, Naruto answered, "About ten minutes."

This confused the jonin. Being veteran ninja, they were always aware of their surroundings. How some genin managed to sneak up behind them was strange and irksome.

Kurenai lowered her hands from the handsign she had prepared for launching a genjutsu when she recognized his face. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw the bandages wrapped around Naruto's eyes.

"Oh, Naruto-kun!" She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled the unresisting boy into a hug, his head resting against her chest. "So there's no hope for you to get your eyes back?"

Kakashi and Gai looked unsurprised by this turn of events. It was well known in the jonin circles that Kurenai and Naruto were close, though no one knew how close, exactly. Asuma arched an eyebrow at the two of them, looking mighty confused.

"Nope. Any eye that they try to replace would just become like the originals." Naruto replied, lifting the bandage from his eyes to show Kurenai the black pits that his eyes had become. "Sorry Kure-chan, but seems like that genjutsu boot-camp you put me through was all for nothing."

Blinking her tears away, Kurenai smiled. "Baka, I don't care about that…I'm just glad you're still alive."

How close Kurenai and Naruto were became apparent when the beautiful jonin leaned down and placed a light, chaste kiss against Naruto's lips.

Asuma sighed. There went that option.

A cough interrupted the two from doing more than holding each other, as Yuugao and the Sandaime appeared behind the jonin group in a shunshin, Yuugao glaring at Kurenai with fire in her eyes.

"There you are, Naruto. Your hospital room was empty, so we looked all over the village for you." The Sandaime said.

Naruto shrugged. "I got bored."

The Old Hokage sighed. "Whatever, Naruto. Get over here so we can begin the evaluation."

The blonde squeezed Kurenai slightly, before extracting himself from her arms and walking over to stand next to the Sandaime. The old man nodded to the jonin and began to speak.

"You are all here to evaluate Naruto Uzumaki on the various abilities of a shinobi. I have evidence that his class work was tampered with, so we'll use this evaluation to rank him in class. Gai, you are first with taijutsu."

"YOSH! Let our flames of youth explode, Naruto-kun!" The eccentric green jonin yelled excitedly, stepping forward into his Goken stance.

Naruto simply nodded in respect to the man, before bring his own fists up into guard.

…

After the evaluation, Yuugao and Gai dropped Naruto off at the academy, with promises from the Green Beast to challenge the blonde to some more youthful spars.

As Gai sped away, Yuugao bent down and lifted her mask up, kissing Naruto on the cheek and whispering in his ear, "I'll see you tonight, Naruto-kun. Don't put your mask back on, or I'll tell Anko."

The blonde nodded and kissed her back, before she disappeared in a shunshin. The bandaged boy hopped up the steps with ease that belied the fact that he was blind.

Upon reaching the door to the classroom, from which loud voices emanated, he opened it and entered, causing the voices to die out.

Most of the new genin wondered why a somewhat familiar stranger, with bandages wrapped around his eyes, wearing an off-white shirt with a swirl in the middle, and green shorts was entering the room. A blonde mob of hair sat on his head, and three whisker marks were set on his cheeks.

Ino, the only other blonde in class, knew who it was the instant she saw the hair. She stood from her seat and made her way over to Naruto, looking slightly nervous.

"What can I do for you, Ino?" Naruto asked without turning his head.

Blinking away the surprise she felt, Ino said, "How are you, Naruto? I visited you in the hospital, Suki and I both did."

Naruto smiled slightly at that. It was good to know that he had kids his age who liked him enough to visit him when he was injured.

"Thank you, Ino-chan. And thank you too, Suki-chan." He turned his head to 'look' at Suki Uchiha, the twin sister of Sasuke Uchiha and all-around a lot nicer than he was.

Suki opened her mouth to speak, but her brother interrupted her. "Is it true you lost your eyes, dobe?" He asked arrogantly.

A loud smack followed the question as Suki slapped her brother upside the head. "Uke-Baka! Don't ask delicate questions like that!" She slapped his upside the head again after a moment of thought. "And don't interrupt me!"

She turned to Naruto with a sympathetic expression on her face and in her eyes. The blonde was amused by the quick change of countenance that Suki displayed. "Did it hurt at all, Naruto-kun?"

It was no secret that Suki Uchiha had a mountain-sized crush on the blonde idiot, who seemed oblivious to it, much to the males in the class's ire, who would rather have her attention on them.

"Of course it hurt Suki-chan," Naruto said gently, reaching out laying a hand on her own. "But thank you for caring about it."

Suki blushed heavily, her thought process flying along the lines of: Oh Kami, oh Kami! Naruto-kun's touching me!

A lavender-eyed girl and her sister, who had brown hair as opposed to her indigo, glared at the Uchiha sister, though her twin tried to hide it under a mask of indifference.

"Who cares about that baka anyways?" A pink-haired girl screeched loudly. "If he's blind, why's he a shinobi at all?"

Ino and Suki turned to berate the girl when an ANBU wearing a bird mask shimmered into existence behind Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage-sama requires your presence in his office." The man said in a slightly muffled voice.

Naruto seemed to stare at the ANBU in surprise, before sighing and pushing back out of his chair, standing. "Alright. Take me to the old man."

The ANBU nodded and laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder, his other going into the half-Ram in the beginnings of a shunshin.

Within a blink, Naruto moved. His elbow struck point-first into the ANBU's unprotected kidney, the other arm reaching up and twisting the wrist until the man bent forward. Naruto slammed his fist into the joint of the ANBU's elbow, and with a sickening snap, broke it. Grabbing the ANBU by the hair, he slammed the unfortunate man's head into the corner of the table, dazing him.

"Naruto-baka!" The pink girl shouted. "What did you do that for?"

Naruto answered by putting his hands in a handsign and intoning, "Kai." A quick burst of chakra dispelled the genjutsu on the mask, showing it to be blank. "Sakura, the real Tori is a woman."

Sakura looked sheepish about that. She did not seem to realize that Naruto was blind, and therefore couldn't have known that was Tori. Suki, Ino and the Hyuuga sisters did, though. Another question was raised in their minds. How could he have seen the mask? Two ANBU, along with the Hokage and a large scarred jonin appeared in a swirl of leaves. The two ANBU grabbed the man and vanished, along with the jonin.

"Excuse the interruption, my new genin, but it appears that Iruka couldn't make it today, as he is in the hospital, recovering after catching a traitor last night." Gasps littered the room, but the Hokage continued nonetheless. "So, as a special treat, I will be announcing the genin teams!"

The aged Hokage moved down the room to the podium in the front, pulling a list from one of the sleeves. Shuffling the papers, he began to announce to teams.

"…Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sasuke Uchiha, under Kakashi Hatake." Sakura didn't dare interrupt the old leader, but everyone could practically feel the excitement coming off of her in waves.

Sasuke shivered in terror.

"Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Hyuuga Hinata, and Ami Sakusan under Kurenai Yuuhi." Shino made no other notice that he heard beyond a nod, while Hinata looked disappointed and Ami looked indifferent.

"Team 10 will be Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka, under Asuma Sarutobi." Choji and Shikamaru high-fived each other, while Ino sighed and hung her head.

"Team 11 will be Hanabi Hyuuga, Suki Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki, under Genma Shiranui." Hanabi looked completely indifferent to this, but her eyes held a measure of happiness. Suki looked completely ecstatic, and Naruto nodded and smiled.

The Sandaime rolled up the papers and stuffed them back into his sleeve. "Your jonin sensei will be here to pick you up soon. I look forward to seeing how all of you do in future as shinobi of Konohagakure."

He bowed and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The genin shuffled around and gathered in their teams. Hanabi gave a false long-suffering sigh and stood, moving over to sit with Naruto and Suki. Suki was shooting Naruto glances, blushing and looking away, then repeating the cycle.

The door opened, and in walked several jonin. One wearing a bandanna headband on his head and a chewing a senbon in his mouth stepped forward. "Team 11? I'm Genma Shiranui."

The genin stood and moved to the jonin, who greeted them with a wave. "Well, let's get out of here. How about we meet up at the Brass Kunai? It's in the middle of the shinobi district, you can't miss it; it's got a bunch of brass kunai stuck in a wooden sign. Meet me there in 10 minutes."

He watched as the genin ran out of the door, then vanished in a shunshin.

…

The Brass Kunai was a shinobi only bar, and their quality of drinks was legendary, as was their dango and red bean soup.

Naruto, Suki and Hanabi all stopped under the sign, which, true to Genma's word, was impaled with several brass kunai. The two girls looked at each other questioningly, realized who they were looking at, and looked away just as quickly.

Naruto walked past the bouncer, who waved him in with a smile, and opened the door for him. The smell of smoke and alcohol wafted out, making the girl's eyes water. They shuffled nervously past the bouncer, who gave them a disinterested look, and followed Naruto through the door.

Inside the bar, several jonin and chunin sat in booths, various drinks and bar food in front of them.

Genma sat in his own booth, somehow sipping a saucer of sake with his senbon still in his mouth. A short-sword, like a tanto but completely straight, leaned against the table.

The jonin looked up as made their way to his table, smiling slightly as they neared.

"Good, you made it all in time. Sit down, and I'll introduce myself." He nodded towards the empty seats across from him.

The new genin sat across from him, Suki and Hanabi on either side of Naruto. Genma gave them a questioning glance, then shook his head.

"Alright, as you know, my name is Genma Shiranui. I'm a jonin, and a part of the Hokage's Guard. My likes include training myself, learning new things, and yakitori. I don't like traitors, or thieves. My hobbies include training, practicing new techniques, and protecting the Hokage." The genin took all this information in, before Genma motioned for them to introduce themselves.

Suki went first. "My name is Suki Uchiha, I'm a genin and one of the last Uchiha. I like-" She stumbled over her words, glancing at Naruto and blushing, before picking back up. "-I mean, I like my brother and my friends, as well as practicing my techniques. I dislike the stupid things my brother does, and too sweet stuff. My hobbies include stal-" She stumbled again, quickly correcting herself. "-watching birds, training, and finding new techniques to practice."

Naruto gave her a strange look through his bandages, while she blushed and stared at the table. Hanabi's hands were quivering under the table, clenched tightly in anger.

Naruto spoke up next. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like training, practicing techniques and mastering new ones. I dislike Summoning Jutsu, vegetables, and the fact that I'm blind. My hobbies include training, gardening and meditation."

The senbon-chewing jonin nodded at Hanabi, signaling her turn.

The Hyuuga girl sighed like she could be something more important, and spoke in a bored voice. "My name is Hanabi Hyuuga, of the Hyuuga clan. I enjoy training in my clan's taijutsu style, apples, and N-" She stumbled over her words, for the first time since she was a little girl. Blushing heavily and shooting small glances at Naruto (which didn't go unnoticed by Suki.), she resumed her introduction. "- I mean, my cousin, Nejiko. I dislike sweet stuff ("Like cinnamon buns," she muttered), and people who spy on other people's secrets. My hobbies include training to become stronger, and sta-studying Jyuuken!" She stumbled once again, shooting Naruto fervent glances, hoping he didn't catch her slip of the tongue. If he did, Naruto didn't show it.

Genma nodded, a small smirk on his face. "Good. Now that we all know each other, we can work more effectively as a team." He tipped a saucer of sake into his mouth, before setting back on the table. "Well, tomorrow, we have our first mission as a team. I'd like all of you to meet me at Training Ground 11 at seven 'o clock tomorrow morning. I'll explain what we are doing then. Until tomorrow."

He stood from the booth and picked up his sword, waving at the genin as he left.

Suki turned excited eyes on Naruto, almost bouncing with excitement. "So, Naruto-kun, what do you think we'll be doing tomorrow?"

Naruto heard footsteps approaching their table, and smelled the familiar smell of the barkeep. "If he left us with the bill, than killing our sensei in the most painful way possible."

The barkeep, a man who looked quite like a bear, stopped by the table, holding a slip of paper in one hand. "You're Genma's new students, huh? Well, good luck to ya. You couldn't have gotten a better sensei. He's such a nice fellow! He bought everyone a round of drinks right before you got here!" He looked at the slip of paper and set it down on the table. "Also, this is yours."

Hanabi peered at it closely, before crumpling it up and tossing it over her shoulder. "That dick." She muttered. "He left us the bill."

Sorry About forgetting Hanabi's intro. Hopefully, this brings some insight into her character.

Keep Being Awesome! (And review!)

-Soleneus