Naruto was jumping from tree to tree going over the strategy in his head. He knew he could defeat Mizuki at his current level but any mistake could lead to his death. A genin could defeat a Kage if they made the wrong mistake. He cleared his head of those thoughts as he spotted Mizuki in a clearing and dropped down to him.

"Well well, I'm surprised that you actually managed to pull it off. Congratulations Naruto. Now just give me the scroll and you pass." Mizuki said with a grin on his face, not suspecting a thing.

Naruto nodded and took the scroll off his back tossing it towards Mizuki. Mizuki grabbed the scroll and began to laugh. "Great! Now I can give this scroll to Orochimaru-sama and he will reward me with all the power I desire!" Mizuki yelled out loud.

Naruto played the part and looked dumbfounded. "What do you mean? You're giving the scroll to Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and the best part is that they will never know I took the scroll. They'll blame the Kyuubi brat for it and have you executed!" Mizuki said while laughing maniacally.

"There's one problem with that plan." Naruto said, dropping the charade. He activated his Rinnegan and stared at Mizuki. "I won't let you leave here with it."

"As if you could stop me brat!" Mizuki yelled as he attached the scroll to his back and pulled out a giant shuriken. He drew back the shuriken to throw it when he heard a 'poof' behind his back. He turned quickly to see that the scroll was gone, replaced with a shadow clone of Naruto. "Oh shit…" Mizuki said as the clone began to glow white.

"Shadow clone explosion." Naruto said as his clone exploded, blasting Mizuki towards him. He drew back his fist and coated it with lightning the best he could, and when Mizuki got close enough, he slammed his fist into the traitor's face releasing the lighting chakra. Mizuki was launched into the ground creating a crater. When the smoke cleared Mizuki was lying among the rubble unconscious, with the upper half of his torso burnt and smoking. Naruto grinned before jumping down in the hole and applying a chakra suppression seal on Mizuki and tying his arms and legs together.

Naruto grabbed Mizuki and quickly made his way back to the Hokage tower to report to the elder Sarutobi. When he arrived he handed the unconscious Mizuki to the ANBU who took him to the prison. He then turned to the Hokage and smiled. "Mission Success Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen looked at the young blonde and smiled. "Good job Naruto-kun. Did you have any problems with him?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, he underestimated me and never even got a chance to attack. I took him down with a clone explosion and a lightning punch. After that I put a chakra suppression seal on him." Naruto replied.

Sarutobi reached into his desk and dug for a moment before he found what he was looking for. He came up and tossed the object to Naruto who caught it and smiled. Naruto looked down in his hands at the blue hitai-ate he now held. "Defeating a chunin level traitor is a step above the genin exam if you ask me. It seems like even with the setbacks you're already past chunin level. You'll have time to readjust and grow before the chunin exams in 6 months then you should be able to come out and expose your true self."

Naruto tied the hitai-ate around his forehead and nodded towards the Hokage. "Sounds good Jiji. Thanks."

"You're welcome Naruto-kun. Now go home and get some rest, team assignments will be at 8:00 in the morning." Hiruzen said as Naruto turned to leave.

Naruto made it almost to the door before he suddenly turned back. "Jiji if I might make a suggestion about the teams."

"Go ahead Naruto-kun I'm listening."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Next morning at 8:00

Naruto sat in the classroom with all the other students listening to them buzz about who they wanted on their team and who they didn't want, what sensei they would get, and things like that. He was rather bored since he had no friends at this point in his life, and he already had a good suspicion of how the selection would go.

After several minutes of chatter, Iruka finally entered the room and gathered everyone's attention. "Good morning class. I know for some of you this is the last time you'll be in the classroom with me. Your jonin senseis should be here any time now to select their teams before taking you out to administer the true genin test."

At this point in his speech the classroom erupted with everyone questioning Iruka about the 'true test'.

"Calm down everyone. It's just as I said. It is up to your jonin sensei to give you a test to see if you are worthy of being shinobi." Iruka began and was interrupted as the first of the jonin senseis arrived. Surprisingly enough it was Kakashi Hatake, who had a terrible habit of being late all the time.

"What he says is true. If you fail our test then you will be sent back to the academy for another year of remediation. The failure rate of my particular exam is one hundred percent so far. No team has ever passed my exam." Kakashi finished while all the students were praying that he wasn't their sensei. Naruto just giggled as he remembered his test with Kakashi the first time.

"Alright then, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuga." Kakashi said making all three students stand up. "Meet me at training ground 7 in 30 minutes. If you're late you fail." Naruto thought it was kind of ironic for Kakashi to preach about tardiness but shrugged it off before heading towards the door with his team in tow.

The next sensei to arrive was Kurenai Yuuhi. She picked her three students; Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, before leaving to have her team meeting at training ground 8.

Before Kurenai could leave Asuma Sarutobi showed up and picked Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka. They left and went to training ground 10.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Team 7

Naruto led his teammates out of the classroom and began walking towards training ground 7 with them in tow. Sasuke was pretty quiet like normal, and Hinata was trailing behind playing with her hands. Naruto quickly grew tired of the silence and tried to start up a conversation. "So I know we haven't been the best of friends until now" Naruto started, remembering all the fighting he had done with Sasuke. "But how about we put the past behind us and start fresh?" he finished holding his hand out towards Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Naruto for a moment and extended his own hand, grabbing Naruto's and shaking. "It'll make for better teamwork this way. I can't afford to have anyone slow me down." Sasuke said and Naruto sweatdropped. "He's still a cocky prick but at least it's a start."

Hinata watched curiously as the scene played out, wondering if Naruto would do something similar with her. She wasn't disappointed when Naruto looked at her. Of course he knew now that she had a crush on him and was too shy to admit it but she didn't know that. "Hinata you've always been pretty quiet, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"

Hinata turned a deep shade of red but managed not to faint. "W-W-Well… Y-You know that I'm the heiress to the Hyuga Clan. I-I am t-training in my f-f-family's taijutsu style, the g-gentle fist. My f-family doesn't support the teaching of o-o-other styles so I've trained e-exclusively with my f-f-father in taijutsu and c-chakra control until now." She stuttered out before looking at the ground.

"That's fine and all but what about you, what do you like to do for fun?" Naruto asked with a small smile. He knew he was making her uncomfortable but that's what it took to get her out of her shell.

"I-I-I like to…" She paused for a moment "I like to cook. My f-favorite dish is cinnamon b-buns." She said quietly without looking up from the ground.

"Cool you should cook for us some time Hinata-chan! Naruto said pretty loud as he patted her on the shoulder. The sudden physical contact was more than she could handle and she fainted instantly. Luckily Naruto had quick reflexes and caught her before she hit the ground, hoisting her up bridal style and continuing on to the training ground.

Sasuke just smirked at the interaction of his teammates. Naruto seemed to have settled down since the days in class, although he was still a bit loud for Sasuke's taste; Hinata was exactly the opposite, very quiet and shy, but it wouldn't take long around Naruto for her to open up.

It wasn't long before the trio reached their destination where Naruto sat Hinata against a tree and then took a seat himself to wait on Kakashi. "Sasuke you should have a seat, something tells me that Kakashi-sensei will be a while." Naruto said before Sasuke nodded and sat down next to the other members of his team.

Naruto and Sasuke began to chat with each other for several minutes until Hinata woke up and joined in, after apologizing for fainting. It seems that they would be a good team after all. Unbeknownst to the three genin, the one-eyed jonin they now called sensei was hiding in a tree several yards away watching the scenario. "They look like they will do fine in the teamwork area. Maybe this team will be the one to finally pass." Kakashi thought as he smiled under his mask.

Kakashi jumped down from the tree and started walking toward the three genin while holding his hand up in a waving motion. "Sorry I'm" "YOU'RE LATE!" He began before being interrupted by Naruto who was now standing up pointing at him and glaring daggers. "Sorry, a black cat crossed my path on the way here so I had to take the long way around." He finished causing the three genin to sweatdrop. He simply responded with an eye smile before continuing. "My name is Kakashi Hatake and should you pass my test, I'll be your jonin sensei. First I'd like everyone to introduce themselves. Ill go first. My name is Kakashi, I like reading my book and not much else. I dislike many things. My goals are… I haven't really thought of anything. You next, Blondie."

Naruto scoffed at the nickname but let it pass. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and training. I dislike those who try to harm me or my precious people. My goal is to become the greatest Hokage ever, Believe it!" Naruto said while fist pumping the air.

"Now you broody." Kakashi said pointing at Sasuke. He earned another scoff at his choice of name. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training to become stronger. I don't really dislike anything, but I hate a few things, like a certain someone. My goals… I don't really have a goal. It's more of an ambition really. I just have to become strong enough to kill that certain someone.

"Okay now you loudmouth." Kakashi pointed at Hinata, causing her to turn red. "My n-name is Hinata Hyuga. I like cinnamon b-buns and c-cooking. I dislike those who are m-mean to others for no reason. My goal is to become the Hyuga clan head and unite the main and branch house under one roof." Hinata said, building determination towards the end.

"Okay then, I have a loud blonde, an emo avenger, and a shy clan heir. This should be interesting." Kakashi said mostly to himself. "Alright here's the plan. I've got two bells on my belt, and your job is to get them from me. If you get a bell you pass my test, if you don't get a bell then you spend the next year back at the academy. You have until lunch." Kakashi said lazily before reaching into his pouch and pulling out his… Icha Icha Paradise book. The three students sweatdropped but quickly regained their composure before they leapt away and into the woods to formulate a plan.