Alright guys this is my second chapter, I hope you like it, thanks to everyone that left a review, a favorite, and followed my story, and I did not expect to receive as much praise as it has so far. A lot of people are asking me about the Harem I have planned and I'll cover that at the end of the chapter, as well as a few other things. Also there will be some Sasu/Saku/Kiba bashing in earlier chapters; while I do like all three characters respectfully I feel it adds a little more to the story. I don't own Naruto, if I did then I wouldn't be living at home still.
Chapter 2: Dates and council meetings.
Naruto let out a sigh as he exited the shower at the hotel he was staying at, the Sandaime said that he would receive his father's property after the team placements tomorrow; so he, Haku, Zabuza, and Itachi all had rooms at one of the high class hotels spread across Konoha. Drying himself off he made his way into the kitchen looking for something do drink while he thought about what he wanted to do for his date tonight. He would admit he had feelings for Haku, he would be stupid not to, she was a beautiful kunoichi who was not only someone who he could trust his life with, she had a softer side to that she let out when they were together. They would often be together when they weren't training over the years and became very close a while before they returned to Konoha. Deciding to wear black dress pants with a dark blue collared shirt that brought out his eyes, he made his way out of the hotel to find a gift shop, he wanted to make tonight right, believe it!
Ino was currently sitting at the front counter at her family's flower shop contemplating everything that had happened today. She had always thought Sasuke was the strongest person alive, every girl in their academy class did; but she also knew he was an arrogant jackass. She had lost her friend Sakura because of their childish rivalry to earn the Uchiha's heart, but after watching him get so easily beaten by someone who had real life experience it was unnerving for her; she heard the words Naruto had spoken to Sakura, and she wondered if she was the same. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the door open and the person who caused her confusion walked in.
"Hey…Ino, right?" Naruto asked.
"That's me, welcome to my family's flower shop. Looking for anything specific?" Ino asked.
"Umm, yea I need a bouquet of red roses." Naruto said. (How original right? I looked but couldn't find anything better.)
Ino was a little shocked that the blonde in front of her was purchasing flowers, she knew because of his lineage that there would be girls who wanted to get with him because of his family, but she didn't imagine he would already be having a date. He had only been in town for a day, either he worked really fast or he had a few previous relations inside the village.
"Oh, and who would these flowers be for? Anyone I know?" Ino asked, being the gossip queen of Konoha she had a reputation to uphold.
"I don't think you would know her, she was with me for most of my time away from the village, and she is actually from the Land of Water. Her name is Haku and she was with me earlier at the academy." Naruto replied, not wanting to divulge too much information at the moment.
Realising that the blonde in front of her no longer wanted to talk about his past or his current relationships, Ino went into the back and came out with a beautiful bouquet of red roses.
"How much do I owe you?" Naruto asked, taking out his wallet.
"Consider them a welcome to Konoha gift from me and my family. Just make sure to come back when you need more flowers." Or whenever you want, I wouldn't mind seeing more of him, Ino added in her mind.
"Thanks, I appreciate it, I'll be sure to come back whenever I need more flowers, Ino-Chan." Naruto said with a slight smirk as he walked out of the store, leaving a slightly blushing blond at the counter.
-Hotel-
Haku was currently a nervous wreck, I mean sure she and Naruto had hung out a lot during their travels together, but they had never been on a date, even if she had to initiate it. She knew that Naruto knew she liked him, and tonight was something she had been waiting for for a very long time. She wanted tonight to be perfect. She had picked out a beautiful blue spaghetti strap dress that ended just above her knees. The dress had a white trim with stitched patterns of snowflakes along the edges. The dress hugged her figure rather well, and although she was only a few years older than Naruto she had a figure that most older women would give anything to have. She was brought out of her thoughts when someone knocked on her door, and as she made her way over to open it she hoped this night would go exactly as she had envisioned it, unknown to her, the blonde behind the door was having the exact same thoughts as she was.
Naruto was waiting outside Haku's hotel room, smile on his face and the bouquet of roses in front of him, resting on his chest. The fact that this was going to be his first date ever was finally sinking in, and he was starting to have doubts that he would be good enough for Haku. They had been friends for years, and if he messed things up tonight, it had the possibility of ruining their friendship. So when the door opened to reveal Haku in her beautiful blue dress, Naruto's mind shut down, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Come on you idiot don't ruin this! Naruto yelled in his mind.
"Wow." Was all that came out of his mouth when he was finally able to speak. "You look beautiful Haku-Chan." Earning a slight blush from said girl.
"Well it's good to see you out of your training clothes for a change; I must admit you clean up rather nice." Haku said as her eyes took all of his features in. "You even got me roses!" Haku said as Naruto handed her the roses, her smile making his heart flutter just a little.
"Well, I wanted tonight to be perfect, you know?" Naruto said as he himself gave a genuine smile, making Haku's blush deepen a little more.
Putting the flowers inside Haku took Naruto's outstretched arm in hers as they made their way out of the hotel, ignoring the looks of jealousy both were receiving. They were still a little early for their reservation so they decided to spend the extra time learning the way around Konoha. While Naruto had knowledge of the basic layout of Konoha, a little bit has changed so he needed to get re-acquainted with the layout. They went into random shops, never really finding anything that either of them were interested in, and near the end went to Ichiraku's ramen to visit the father/daughter duo that worked there. They made their way to the restaurant that Naruto had made his reservations at, it was a quiet little restaurant named the Golden Dragon, it was nothing fancy, but for a first date they both thought it was perfect. They made small talk while waiting for their food to come, Naruto had ordered a plate of Tempura (deep fried fish and vegetables) with a glass of water while Haku ordered Soba (Noodles with soy sauce) and Yakitori (basically chicken skewers). They ate mostly in comfortable silence, a few attempts at small talk here and there, but both decided they just enjoyed each-others company with or without talking. After their meal Naruto and Haku walked around Konoha, taking in the busy night life of a major village.
"Hey Haku-Chan, I want to show you something." Naruto said as he grabbed her hand and started leading her to the Hokage Mountain.
"Where are we going Naruto? I thought we went around the village already?" Haku asked, confused as to where Naruto might be taking her.
"That would just ruin the surprise Haku-Chan, it's a special place that I used to go when I was little, and I want to show you it." Naruto replied
A few minutes later we find both Haku and Naruto standing on top of the Hokage Mountain, more specifically his father's head, overlooking the village. Naruto smiled as he watched Haku look over the village in awe, it was quite the sight to take in, and all the different colored lights put a beautiful glow around the village.
"So do you like it? I used to come up here and think when I was little. Back then I didn't know why the villagers hated me; this was my place to get away from it all. The pain of being alone with no one to look after you, I had the old man sure, but he's the Hokage, he would never be able to look after me all the time. This spot is one of the few good memories I have of this place, and I wanted to share it with you." Naruto said with another genuine smile on his face.
"It's beautiful Naruto-kun, how did you find this place?" Haku asked, still gazing over the village.
"It was by accident actually, I was trying to get away from a mob of villagers and just wound up here." He said, a little saddened by the memories of how he was treated. Haku noticed Naruto's change of mood, and moved a little closer to him and wrapped him in a warm hug. He wasn't expecting a hug so he went a little stiff at first, but soon calmed down and wrapped his arms around her, bringing them as close as physically possible.
"You're not alone anymore Naruto-Kun, you have me, Zabuza, Itachi, and everyone else. You have people here like the Hokage and the people at the ramen stand who care about you. You have proven to all of us the kind of person you are, caring, considerate, determined, and many other things that make you who you are." Haku whispered in his ear soothingly as she herself felt her emotions acting up. She hated seeing Naruto like this, his ever-happy demeanour replaced by memories of his hate filled past.
"Thank you… Haku-Chan." Naruto said as he wiped a few stray tears off his cheek. They broke the embrace much to Haku's displeasure, and Naruto moved towards the edge of the cliff before sitting down and motioning for Haku to join him. She sat beside him and gently rested her head on his shoulder, happy that he didn't try to move away from her contact. They stayed like that in relative silence for a little while longer, just enjoying the feeling of being so close to one-another, before they decided it was time they head back.
"You know, I had a lot of fun tonight Haku-Chan." Naruto said as they made their way towards her room. He thought that things had gone… well perfectly, he couldn't have asked for a better night with Haku, not yet anyways.
"Yea it was fun; I had a really great time." Haku said, nodding her head in agreement having similar thoughts to Naruto.
"Maybe we could do it again sometime?" Naruto asked a little hesitantly.
"I'd like that." Haku said, as she leaned down and kissed Naruto's cheek quickly and disappeared inside her room, leaving a blushing blonde with his hand touching his cheek as he made his way back to his room.
Naruto woke the next morning a little later than normal, he didn't have to be at the academy till nine and he decided he would take a break from his usual morning work-out. Crawling out of bed he made his way towards his closet, memories of last night playing through his mind as he picked out some clothes to wear for todays' team meeting. Going with the standard ANBU look he picked up his custom made armor set and went into the bathroom to go about his morning routine. He emerged twenty minutes later wearing standard black shinobi pants with plated shin guards, a black muscle shirt underneath his custom made black ANBU chest guard. It was plain design similar to the ones ANBU wore but he got it custom made out of lightweight material that was just as strong, making it easier to move around in. Finishing off his look he grabbed a pair of black plated bracers and strapped his father's swords diagonally across his back before making his way to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. After eating a breakfast that consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, he exited his apartment and made his way to Haku's room to pick her up before they left to go to the academy.
Naruto noticed a subtle change in atmosphere around the academy as he and Haku made their way towards Iruka's classroom. They heard whispers of a traitor who tried to steal the forbidden scroll from the Hokage's office. Brushing it off as nothing in regards to him he started to wonder if the Hokage had gotten the council to allow him and Haku to be placed on the same team. He would admit that they did work well and complement each-others skills quite well, after all they had been training together for the better part of six years. He ignored the looks he and Haku got as they entered Iruka's classroom, settling for a seat near the back of the room. Naruto was deep in thought about everything that had happened in the past few days, his return to Konoha, the Sandaime's mission for him and his group, and finally his date with Haku. It surprised the blonde that in such a short time his life had changed a lot, he wasn't used to staying in a single village for longer than a few days, but now he would be here for who knows how long.
A few minutes later Iruka entered the class, looking around he couldn't help but feel proud of all the students he had taught. He knew that not all of them would actually make Genin; seemingly only three teams were allowed to pass. Quieting his class down he began his speech about how proud he was of them, and that they were no longer kids, but Shinobi with responsibilities. Naruto, of course, ignored most of his speech as he had had what it was meant to be a Shinobi drilled into his mind from an early age. Only when Iruka started listing off the teams did Naruto start to pay attention. Of course Naruto already knew he would be on the same team as the pink banshee and emo king, he was more interested if the old man had managed to get Haku on the same team.
"Team seven will consist of, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno." Iruka said as Sakura yelled and thrust her fist up in the air. "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and… Haku Momoichi." Iruka said. I've never heard of a 5 man cell before, I wonder what the Sandaime is thinking. Your Jounin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake.
After hearing that he and Haku would be placed on the same team Naruto let a small smile cross his face as he looked at Haku, who looked just as happy as he was at the arrangements. Neither of them noticing the brooding Uchiha was glaring at Naruto, and Sakura was glaring at Haku, probably thinking she would try to steal her Sasuke-kun. So Kakashi is my instructor eh, it must feel a little ironic to be teaching his sensei's son, Naruto thought with a small smirk, as he once again drowned out Iruka's boring speech. After everything was said and done, Iruka dismissed the class for lunch, telling them to come back after to meet the Jounin sensei.
Three hours later we find Naruto, Haku, Sakura, and Sasuke all sitting in the now empty classroom, all the other teams had left over an hour ago with their sensei.
"Gaah I can't stand this anymore where is our sensei!" Sakura screeched.
Naruto hated to admit it, but he actually agreed with Sakura, of course he knew of Kakashi's excessive tardiness for anything other than high ranking missions or direct orders from the Hokage. Standing up with a sigh, Naruto made his way to the door, with Haku a few steps behind him.
"Where do you think you're going dobe? Not cut out to be a ninja?" Sasuke said.
"If I thought I wasn't cut out to be a ninja, what would that mean for you after I beat your ass into the dirt yesterday?" Naruto asked. "Besides I know our sensei personally and am aware he has a habit of being three hours later to pretty much everything, so I'm going to find him and drag his ass back here." He added as he and Haku disappeared out the door.
A few minutes later we find Haku and Naruto entering training ground seven, looking around the spotted the memorial stone and the lone figure standing in front of it.
"It's been a while hasn't it Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he came up beside the silver haired Cyclops.
"Yes it has Naruto-kun, but I thought I told you not to call me sensei anymore." Kakashi said, never taking his eyes off of the stone.
*sigh* "You did tell me that once, but now that I'm back in the village you have been assigned to be my Jounin sensei, along with Haku." Naruto said, motioning to the person who came up on the other side of Kakashi.
"How have you been Kakashi-san?" Haku asked
"It's been a little depressing the last few days, when I heard that you and Naruto were back in the village my mind went back to my old team. I couldn't help save Rin when she was in trouble, I couldn't do anything for you, Naruto, when you were younger, and I couldn't do anything to stop Obito from killing his entire clan."
"C'mon Kakashi-sensei, you know there was nothing you could do for me, Rin, and Obito, otherwise I know you would have. From what I learned in my time away, my father was always proud of how you turned out, he considered you the son he didn't have at the time. I'm sure he would agree with me that there was nothing you could do, but you can't keep living in the past like this sensei, it will only lead to more pain down the road. You will never be able to forget, but you can move on and become the man both my father and Rin would have been proud of." Naruto said as he put his hand on Kakashi's shoulder, he knew this was a sensitive subject for the man.
Kakashi thought about Naruto's words for a few moments, he hated to agree that there was not much he could have done to prevent what happened to Rin and Naruto. But perhaps if he had been a better friend to Obito things might have gone differently. No Naruto is right, I have to stop living in the past, it is what Rin-Chan and sensei would have wanted. I'll make both of you proud, Kakashi thought with conviction.
"You're right Naruto, now lets' head to the academy, I still have to give you guys my test." Kakashi said as he started walking towards the exit of the training ground.
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." Naruto said with his foxy grin.
"Yea, you're very modest to." Haku said under her breath, although both Naruto and Kakashi heard her, earning a pout from the blonde and a chuckle from the Cyclops.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, you said test right? Its' not going to be that stupid bell test is it?" Naruto asked, making Kakashi stumble a little bit.
"Uh… yea, I guess I forgot I gave it to you and Haku last time we met eh…mhm this is going to be interesting." Kakashi said, making Haku and Naruto sweat drop.
A few hours later we find team seven back at training ground seven, with a brooding Uchiha and pink haired banshee tied together back to back; with an amused looking Naruto and Haku standing over them. Kakashi had been forced to modify the bell test because he was used to only having three students, making it so that two would pass and two would get tied together if they didn't understand the meaning of the test.
*Sight* "Do you know why you failed Sasuke, Sakura?" Kakashi asked the two Genins.
"Because my teammates were useless and got in my way." Sasuke said as he glared at both Naruto and Haku.
"Wrong answer teme." Naruto said with a smirk.
"Hey! Watch how you talk to Sasuke-kun! You should feel privileged to be on his team!" Sakura yelled, making everyone else wince at the pitch of her voice.
"I guess it can't really be helped, Naruto would you explain the true reason of this test to them, I have a feeling the Council will make me pass them anyway." Kakashi said with a sigh.
"Sure thing Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he turned back to Sasuke and Sakura. "The real purpose of this test is to develop teamwork, which obviously you two lack for your own reasons. Sasuke, your arrogance is only going to get in the way of our team, if this had been a high level mission some of the shit you pulled would have got not only you, but probably Sakura killed. Arrogance will only lead to death in our line of work teme, you better be able to remember that, I won't always be there to bail your ass out." Naruto said. "And you, Sakura." Naruto started as he turned his gaze to Sakura, "You lack the drive to be a shinobi. You were the top in the class on the Kunoichi side for academics, but unless you plan on becoming a medic-nin, book smarts are not going to do shit in real life if you can't back it up when it counts most. I can tell you spend more time fawning over Sasuke then training, and it's very obvious that he has no interest in you. If you spent all the time you put into trying to look good for Sasuke into training, you might actually become a decent kunoichi. If not then remember this little talk we are having when you got caught by enemy shinobi, maybe they will go easy if they realize its' your first time, but I highly doubt it." Naruto explained, ignoring the glare from Sasuke and the slight shudder from Sakura.
"Now now Naruto, did you have to be so harsh on Sakura?" Kakashi asked as he, Naruto and Haku all made their way out of the training ground.
"Everything I said was true sensei, and you know it. While I don't like belittling people I also don't want to see a comrade die if I could have done something to prevent it. Sakura would make an excellent medic-nin, but she lacks the motivation to do anything other than follow the emo king. With the right push I believe that she will get over her fangirl stage and begin to take training seriously, like I said earlier we won't always be there to bail them out of bad situations. I just hope she starts to take training seriously before something bad happens to her." Naruto said, earning a nod from Haku.
"I guess your right Naruto…" Kakashi said, but before he got any further an ANBU appeared in front of them.
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and Haku Momoichi, your presence has been requested by the council." The ANBU said.
"Well this is going to be fun. Alright let them know we will be there shortly." Naruto said, getting a nod from the ANBU before he disappeared. "C'mon Haku, lets' see what kind of shit we got ourselves into now." Naruto said as he walked towards the Hokage tower, earning a slight giggle from Haku as she ran to catch up.
Naruto knew that the council hated him, but this was just ridiculous. He had spent the past hour watching as the civilian and shinobi side of the council clashed over whose' jurisdiction the last Namikaze was under. The civilian side was arguing that he should not be allowed to join the ranks because of the Kyuubi, regardless of who his parents were. The shinobi side held no ill-will for Naruto, well, all but one man… Danzo. While most of the shinobi side had argued that having someone with Naruto's training would add to their strength, it seemed that Danzo was trying to side with the civilians, just with a different approach. Danzo had been trying to get the Hokage's approval to have Naruto be trained by his ROOT program, much to the civilian council's approval and shinobi council's arguments.
"May I put in a word, Hokage-Sama?" Naruto asked, knowing full well what kind of situation he was in, earning a nod from the old man. "I do not believe I need to be put into your 'training' Danzo-sama, I have heard of your ROOT program and while I do believe it instills discipline into you're…. Men… I have been trained by some of the best Shinobi in all the elemental nations. I have already proved that I am way above the level of every other Genin, which is why the Hokage has offered me position of Chunnin until I prove myself capable of being a Jounin." Naruto said, earning glares from both Danzo and the Civilian side of the council, while the Shinobi side was smirking as someone finally put Danzo in his place.
"You can't be serious Hokage-Sama! How could you allow… this…thing, to be allowed the rank of Chunnin, while Sasuke-sama has to remain a Genin!" one of the Civilian council members yelled.
"Well I can see where the teme gets his arrogance from." Naruto said, only loud enough for Haku and the Shinobi side of the council to hear. Most had to hold back a snicker as they agreed with the young blonde, the Uchiha had basically everything handed to him on a silver platter.
"I have faith in young Naruto's abilities, I've personally talked with two of his teachers and the only reason I did not give him Jounin rank right away was because he lacks experience at the moment." Hiruzen said, earning more shouting from the civilian side of the council.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the Sandaime yelled, leaking killing intent that made most in the room shiver. "I have already made my decision, and because Naruto is now a ninja of Konoha you have no control over him anymore, now were there any other reasons why this meeting was called."
"There were a few more reasons Hokage-Sama." One of the civilians said as he stood up. "Seemingly as… Naruto… is the last of two prestigious clans; I feel that we should enable the CRA so that we can be sure to return both clans to glory. I have a list of potential candidates that I fe-"
"No." Naruto said, cutting the man off. "While I do not mind having the CRA enabled for me, I will not be getting into any arranged marriages. The laws surrounding the CRA state that I have to have at least four wives by the time I'm 18 before the council can arrange anything for me. And with the fact that I'm still only 12 years old, I have six more years to find potential wives."
"He is correct, as of right now the council has no power over who Naruto choses to be with." The Sandaime stated, again earning shouts of disapproval from the civilian members.
"Of course, Hokage-Sama." The council member who brought up the CRA said, "we also have the issue with one Haku Momoichi, also being the last of her clan, we believe that she should be given to the Uchiha to-"
"DEFINITLY NOT!" Both Haku and Naruto shouted at the same time before looking at each other with a similar hint of pink on their cheeks. "While I am not a clan head, I believe that I still have some clan laws that I am able to enact." Naruto said, looking at the Hokage who nodded with a smile, already seeing where this was going. "Since Haku set foot in Konoha she has been under protection of both the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans, meaning the council has no say in what she does."
"This is a complete outrage! How can you allow this Hokage-Sama!" One of the civilians yelled.
"I would advise you remember council member, that both Naruto and Haku are shinobi of Konoha, that being said it is not even required that you are present during these conversations." Hiruzen said. "And besides, its' perfectly within Naruto's rights to give Haku protection under his clans, although I don't think she would want to be with the Uchiha anyways." He added, giving both Haku and Naruto a sly smirk, causing both to blush.
"Now if that was everything you wanted to…discuss… its' getting late and I'm sure young Naruto would like to see his new home." Hiruzen said. When no one said anything else he dismissed the council and lead Haku and Naruto back to his office before taking them to their new home. Things are definitely going to get interesting around here, I have no doubt Danzo and the civilian council will do everything they can to hold Naruto back. Hiruzen thought with a sigh, not knowing how right he was.
Alright this chapter was a little slow I'll admit, I just wanted to introduce the council and Danzo into the story. Again thanks to everyone who reviewed, you know who you are. A few people commented on grammatical mistakes I had and I appreciate it, like I said this is my first FanFicion, and to be quite honest I was never much into English during high school. I do go through my chapters a few times before I put them up, and then use spell/grammar check before I finally put them up. Now for the Harem I had a few people comment about additions to the harem, while I don't mind any of the suggestions I don't feel very comfortable writing an extremely large harem right off the bat. If I can find a way to add them in a way that I'm comfortable with I won't hesitate to add more people, but ultimately it is my choice as the write and I'm sorry if you don't see a girl that you wanted in this story, I might add them into a later story though. Updates will HOPEFULLY be once or twice a week, three times if I'm feeling motivated to write. As for Naruto's group I think I'm going to add one more person from the cannon, then use three OCs for the rest. Reviews and suggestions are always appreciated, along with constructive criticism.