Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is inspired by Lucillia's First Try and Shadowstar91's Tale of Kurai Kitsune. Scene Changes fixed
Following the Hyuuga incident
"Hiashi-dono, there is more. Because the treaty had been signed, the Daimyo of Kaminari is demanding recompense on the Hyuuga. He requested the head of the Head Ambassador's killer," The aged man informed his guest.
"I see, Lord Hokage. I, need some time, to set my affairs in order," Hiashi dismissed himself.
"No!" shouted Hiashi's twin, Hizashi. "Lord Hiashi," he began, "no, brother, its my place, as a member of the branch family, to go in your stead. Let me face the executioner's blade."
"Damnit, Hizashi, why must you always make this a branch versus main family debate!" Hiashi scolded his brother. "I am a man, and shall pay for my actions, head held high. Do not paint me as some honorless dog."
"Forgive me, brother," Hizashi whispered, before blurring out of sight, only to appear behind his brother. Hiashi fell to his knees, all of his tenketsu sealed.
"That's enough, both of you!" the Hokage shouted. "Konoha is no injured dog. We won't take their kicks lying down. Kumo must pay for their crimes. If it is more bloodshed that their daimyo wants, then we shall show him that our strength survives, even if the Yondaime did not."
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9 Years Later
"... Team Seven shall be Sakura Haruno and Uchiha Sasuke under Kakashi Hatake with his previous student. Team Eight will be Kiba Inuzuka under Kurenai Yuuhi with two other genin. Team Nine is still in rotation. Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi under Asuma Sarutobi. I suggest you get to know your teammates during lunch. After, return here, where your senseis will pick you up. Good luck," the scarred instructor dismissed his former charges.
"Sasuke-kun, would you like to get lunch with me?" Sakura asked him.
"Sakura, your annoying," said brooding ball of sunshine and rainbows replied before turning to walk away.
He didn't make it more than a few steps when he felt himself get pulled back. "Hey, now, Iruka-taichou suggested we get lunch together, now let's go get lunch together," someone said from behind him. Instinctively, he went for his kunai holster, only to find that it was gone. "Looking for this?" Sasuke turned to see the blond stranger tossing his holster in the air playfully. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki, your third. We've got a few hours until we meet with sensei, so you might as well follow me." With a flare of chakra, he shunshinned the three of them away.
"Wait, Iruka-sensei, what about meeee," Kiba yelled, having been left all alone.
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"Umm, Naruto-san, isn't this a bar?" Sakura asked dubiously.
"Yep, sure is," he replied nonchalantly. "Its also a rather famous pub."
"BAKA!" she shrieked. "We're too young to go in there."
"Its ninja only, so you won't have any problems," Sasuke replied as he pushed in. Inside, the rather spacious bar filled with mostly older shinobi.
"Naruto-sempai, over here," a rather buxom girl with indigo hair and pale eyes indicating that she was a Hyuuga called to him.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the other teams our age. This is Hinata Hyuuga and her teammate Shino Aburame. They'll be working with that Inuzuka kid, Kiba. The other three are Tenten Higurashi, of the Higurashi weapons shop, you won't find better weapons anywhere, Rock Lee, taijutsu specialist extraodinare, and Neji Hyuuga, the Branch Prodigy. They make up Team Nine under Maito Guy. You'll meet him soon enough. Neji, Shino, Hinata and I all fought in the Fourth Great Shinobi War," Naruto explained. Sasuke, just glancing at the war vets, could see the dangerous way they held their bodies.
"Gomen, Naruto-sempai, we took the liberty of ordering your usual," Hinata said, poking her index fingers together.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan," Naruto smiled at her, causing her to blush slightly. The waiter walked up to get Sakura and Sasuke's order, as well as to replace the teapot.
"Yosh, Naruto-kun, these are your new teammates?" Lee asked. "Forgive me for being unyouthful, but they don't seem like much."
A vein bulged on Sasuke's neck as he reached for a kunai for the second time today, only to be stopped again by Naruto. "Lee, you hurt his feelings," he mock scolded. "No one is ever much when they first make genin though, are they," he continued wistfully. His friends raised their glasses and drank to that.
"Umm, not that I mind, if this is a bar, and we're allowed to drink, why are we all drinking tea?" Sakura asked shyly.
"Because my teammate here becomes an uncontrollable human wrecking ball at the smell of sake," Tenten answered her. "It isn't worth the property damage to have any where he could accidentally grab it. Besides, besides Shino, Naruto and I, none of you can hold your liquor. I remember once Naruto got in a drinking contest with Tsunade Senju in passing; it lasted days. They stopped the war so everyone could watch and bet."
"She tried to cheat," Naruto pouted. "She poured a powerful anesthetic in my bottle, and she still lost." The waitress returned with their food and set it in front of them.
"Tell us about sensei, please," Sasuke asked objectively.
"If you haven't heard stories about Kakashi Hatake, you're in the wrong career," Naruto stated. "As the man who killed the Sandaime Raikage, as well as helped turn the tide of the war, its common opinion that he's being groomed to be the next Hokage."
"Is there any truth to the rumors?" he asked.
"When I asked him about it, he looked up from Icha Icha Paradise and said he'd rather take a vacation to Iwa, which, if you didn't know, has a standing kill on sight order on him, me, and for some reason, pandas."
"Maa, maa, Naruto, corrupting the shinies already?" a jonin at another table looked up from an orange book to comment on their conversation.
"Ehh, would you rather I took them to Ichiraku's?" the blonde scratched his head.
"You'd be even later than me," he deadpanned.
"So are you going to introduce yourself?
"I would, but I'm at a good part in my book, and there's time to do it later."
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"So tell me about yourselves," Kakashi ordered them. "You know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future."
"Do we really have to?" Naruto glared at him. "We both know you were listening in the bar."
Kakashi ignored his student. "How about you, sunshine, why don't you start?" he directed, glaring at Sasuke.
"Hn. I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I like little, and dislike a lot. My hobby is training, and my dream, my ambition, is to kill a certain someone, and to restore my clan."
'Sasuke,' Naruto thought. "Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I enjoy ramen, but dislike the three minutes it takes for the water to boil." Sasuke and Sakura's eyes twitched, remembering him eating ramen back at the bar. The stack of empties just kept going. "I enjoy learning new jutsu and finding innovative uses for jutsu. My dream is to be Hokage someday, and to end pointless bloodshed."
"Sakura Haruno, sir. I like a certain someone, and hate perverts like Kiba-baka. My hobbies," she giggled. "My dreams," another giggle.
"Right then," Kakashi interrupted her train of thought. "Technically, you two aren't ninja yet. You have to pass my test first." Sakura looked confused, and Sasuke scoffed. "It has a 66% failure rate. If you fail, you'll be sent back to the academy for another year. Meet me here at seven tomorrow morning, and don't eat breakfast, or else you'll puke. Ja ne."
"He's, going to show up late again, isn't he?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, most definitely," Naruto replied.
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"I was going to make you do the dreaded bell test today, but it seems that the council has used a loophole stating that since Naruto is already a genin, you all automatically pass. Therefore, Sasuke, Sakura, you'll be sparring against Naruto, do try not to end up in the hospital for too long," Kakashi intoned, before shunshinning on top of the posts he would have tied one of them to. Sasuke looked pleased at actually getting to do something and charged right in, kunai drawn. Naruto didn't bat an eye, reaching into his pocket to pull out a puzzle ring.
"Ano, Naruto-san, but Sasuke was rookie of the year, shouldn't you focus on him?" Sakura asked confused.
Naruto appeared to think about it, before looking at her, and going. "Nahh."
Sasuke stabbed, slashed, and swung at Naruto, who barely moved at all. While Sasuke began a particularly violent stab, Naruto caught the tip with the steel puzzle ring. "Wait. Don't move, I've got it. Okay, now its my turn." Sasuke paled.
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Sakura groaned, as she collapsed against one of the posts. Naruto fought like a beast, and hit like a sledgehammer. And Kiba said she hit hard. Her left hand went to her ribs and began checking them. Two were bent in, but not fully broken. She was going to need some medical attention after sensei dismissed them. Sasuke collapsed next to her, looking only slightly better for the wear. He had a rather nasty bruise under his left eye and was favoring his right leg when moving. The training ground was absolutely destroyed. Luckily they always seemed to be magically repaired after heavy training sessions anyway.
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Elsewhere
An Anbu wearing a tiger mask held his arm out for the mission messenger pigeon. Apparently, one of the new genin teams had trashed the training ground, which was a rather popular one, meaning he was going to have a long night. Maybe he would find out whose team it was and put the fear of the light into him. "Why do I always get these jobs.
"Because unlike the rest of us, you can just grow everything back. We'd have to transplant the plants from somewhere," Anbu agent Cat answered his rhetorical question.
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"Alright then, team, we'll meet here tomorrow at seven for training before we get our first mission. Naruto, get them to a hospital, if you would. Later," he said, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"I hate it when he does that," Naruto grumbled. He made a single shadow clone, who helped Sasuke to his feet and picked Sakura up himself. She protested futilely. "Your suffering from chakra exhaustion as well as several injuries. Its no shame to be carried to the medics after a long battle." They walked most of the way in silence.
Sakura was checked in so her ribs could get healed, and Naruto pulled Sasuke into an empty room. Naruto went to his knees, and began apologizing to Sasuke. Sasuke was speechless for a moment, before asking why Naruto was apologizing. "I didn't do anything to stop him. Sempai seemed a little strange that night, but he told me that everything was alright. When I found out what he did, I wanted to go after him, but the Hokage put me under heavy survellience. I failed your family, and I failed Shina-chan," Naruto explained.
"You knew Itachi," Sasuke realized. "Don't apologize. Had you tried to stop him, you'd be dead too." Unbidden, a memory from before the turning point in the war sprung to mind.
That Man was back from the Kiri border, where they were controlling the influx of refugees. He looked at father, and asked, "Father, what do you think of Uzumaki Naruto?"
Fugaku Uchiha, ever the stoic, hid his surprise well. But to Itachi, and Sasuke's surprise, it was Mikoto who answered. "A sad child, always alone. Nobody to love him. Why, Kushi-chan, why did it happen?" She almost whispered at the end.
"He was assigned to my squad, and I didn't know what to make of him," Itachi clarified his question. Fugaku led the older son to his study and activated privacy seals to prevent, (Sasuke's) peeping eyes.
Naruto got up and nodded at Sasuke. "I had to say it, for Shina-chan." Sasuke didn't personally know the name, but would look it up when he had gotten home. They collected Sakura and then went their separate ways.
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"Back already, team seven?" the Hokage asked from behind his pipe. "Will you be taking another mission today? You currently stand at 48 D ranks completed successfully. We have watering plants at the Yamanaka flowershop, babysitting some children, or painting a fence." Sasuke scowled, flipped through the abbreviated handseals (he had it down to three since he started training with Naruto, er Kakashi) for Grand Fireball jutsu, before firing it at the rank of D rank missions. The old man chuckled as the ball of fire dissipated against a barrier protecting the scrolls. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun, but we put up a barrier after Uchiha Obito tried that. I assume that means that you don't want another D-rank? Are they ready, Kakashi?"
"Ehh, I've just been waiting for something like this. Naruto can do most B ranks alone, and I do an S-rank before breakfast most mornings, so I don't see why not," Kakashi said without looking up from his book.
"About those, you really need to stop stealing the suicide missions from ANBU Headquarters. When Yin went to do one, he ended up picking flowers for the Daimyo's wife."
"Rare flowers from a valley on the other side of Iwa," Kakashi noted. "How is Yin doing, persistent bastard?"
"He's still trying to get a suicide mission so that he can die for his village, instead of in a bed. Now, Iruka, if you'd be so kind as to show our client in." The academy instructor nodded, before showing an old drunk into the room.
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Omake Chronicles: Super Shinobi Pals
"Naruto, I've got a present for you," the third Hokage said. With excessive dramatic flair, he pulled out a doll with bright blue eyes and vibrant blonde hair.
"Jiji! You got me a Yondaime SSP? They're super rare!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Not, quite, Naruto," the old man grinned. "Look closer."
"Hey, somebody drew on its face. It looks like..."
"That, is the very first Uzumaki Naruto SSP, Naruto. I requested one signed by the maker for you," the aged leader grinned, looking very pleased with himself. That is, until Naruto threw it out the open window.
"Jiji, I'm not even Hokage, yet. I haven't earned it," Naruto said. "You got my hopes up for notheing."
Sarutobi sweatdropped, before dropping his pipe to an earshattering shriek of, "," from the street below.
A/N: I know, I'm terrible. I just can't help all the plots that pop up in my head. This will feature a rather overpowered Naruto, but Sasuke's getting stronger quicker and Sakura, ummm, hmmm, well, her hair is soft as ever? Tell me what you think.