A/N: Hello all and welcome to chapter 3! So Before we start here I want to address one thing. Some feel that Naruto needs to have some more focus. To that I say, he will be he gets a bit more focus this chapter. He gets more next chapter and in chapters to come as well. We have been giving a bit more focus to the OC's last chapter and a bit in this one because they needed to be built from the ground up as they are all new characters to the story. So yeah that's all really other than special thanks to my co-author and friend MaxGentleman1! And to my friend and fellow writer Sheltie aka the inventor of Rei Uchiha. Also my co-author found some errors in this chapter so I edited and re uploaded it.

"Talking"

Jutsu

'Thinking'

"Biju Talking"

'Biju Thinking'

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto, though that would be great if we did!


Chapter 3

It had been a few days since the Mizuki incident as they had all decided to call it. And it was finally the day for team Assignments, Naruto was nearly giddy with excitement. Despite what he had learned that day, he felt normal, nad had also chosen not to tell any of his other friends, not yet anyway.

He was very excited for the Team Assignments though, he could have any sensei or teammates. He was hoping to maybe get on a team with Sakura, or his best friends, or maybe even Sasuke, and hopefully he'd get Kakashi as a sensei As he approached the school he found Akira talking to his little brother before he entered school.

"Yes, Konohamaru you need to go home you can't go in with me your classes start later this is my team assignment day." He said gently.

"Aww, come on, big brother," The little boy complained.

"No ifs, ands, or buts, now go home," Akira ordered, causing Konohamaru to start sulking. Seeing this, Akira gave a small smile as he knelt down to his level, "Hey, if you go home I promise to teach you how to properly wield a kunai."

The little boy's eyes lit up at this offer, "You really mean it?!"

"Yep, just don't tell mom, okay?" Akira said with a smile.

Konohamaru leaped into his brother's arms and gave him a big hug, "You're the best, big bro!"

"I try." He said as Konohamaru jumped down and saw Naruto, smiling he gave him a hug too; "Good luck you guys!" He said running off towards his home.


"Are you really going to teach him to use a Kunai properly?" Naruto asked as they entered the building and headed down the hall; "Yeah so long as he doesn't tell mom, dad taught me at his age, and I swear she nearly killed him."

They entered the classroom and headed for seats near the back of the room, Rei was already waiting there in a deep conversation with Sakura and Ino regarding different forms of Taijutsu and which to take up outside Academy style.

As they entered Ino smiled over at Akira who gave her a casual wave and a smile.

Before anyone could say anything more Iruka entered, and called for silence they all became quiet as he spoke; "Alright my former students, today you will all be sorted into Teams of three under one Jonin, the sensei will show up and take you away. When I call out your names please sit beside your new Teammates. "

All the teams were assigned their respective members. The teams were as followed: Team 8 consisted of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka, and his dog Akamaru. Team 10 was Chōji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Team 7 included Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sai Shimura. And finally, Team 9 consisted of none other than Naruto Uzumaki, Rei Uchiha, and Akira Sarutobi.

Naruto had a feeling that this might've had something to do with them being the ones to catch Mizuki, not that he was complaining at all he was happy with who his teammates were, now they just had to wait for who their sensei was. Iruka finished mapping out, the teams and started mapping out the sensei's.

Naruto was not paying much attention until it came to his friends and their sensei's; "Team 7; Sensei Kakashi Hatake." Iruka said and Naruto huffed, Kakashi had been his fathers student, and he was still a very close family friend, but he supposed there was nothing he could do about that. Sasuke seemed less than thrilled, but didn't say anything.

"Team 8 sensei; Kurenai Yuhi." Iruka said and this time Rei slumped just slightly, there was a slight lack of konoichi in the Leaf and she had wanted a chance to work a bit closer with one of them.

"Team 9 sensei; Itachi Uchiha." Iruka said and that got the best reaction yet. All the members of Team 9 rose to their feet pumping their fists in the air in triumph Sasuke stood a look of jealousy and outrage on his face; "Why do they get Itachi?" He demanded.

"The teams are put together by a combination of your skills, and abilities, the opinion of the other teachers, and the Jonin's own abilities as well. These things all factored into the sorting of the teams and your sensei's.

Though Sasuke didn't like the answer, he accepted it, sitting back down with a huff of breath.

"And finally, Team 10 will have Asuma Sarutobi as their sensei," Iruka said, finishing off the list, "Your sensei's shall arrive here in a few minutes to take you away for your first day of training. With that, I bid you all farewell and good luck," Iruka said before picking up his clipboard and a few papers and leaving the classroom.

Sure enough, after about five minutes, Team 8's sensei showed up and took the three newly appointed Genin away. Shortly after that, Team 10's sensei showed up and did the same only with his students. Minutes passed by and no one else came to the door to pick-up the remaining six Genin.


Five minutes soon turned to ten minutes, which quickly turned to twenty, and still nothing. While the six of them were waiting, they began to have a conversation.

"Huh, you know usually Itachi isn't late, I wonder what's going on?" Rei asked carefully a little worried for her brother/sensei.

"I'm sure it's nothing really he's probably with Kakashi, and Kakashi's is late for almost everything has been for year's. " Naruto said factually, and it was true he couldn't really recall a time that Kakashi had been on time.

"I hope so. " Rei said.

"Wait, really is he always this late?" Sakura asked and Naruto nodded; "Unfortunately, and you might want to remember that for the future. He's still really good though, great even." He said as Sakura nodded a bit glumly.

"Great so you all get Itachi, and we get a lazy late guy?" Sasuke demanded.

"I think we'll all be alright, we just need to be patient. " Akira said getting annoyed by Sasukes attitude and wanting to stop an argument before it started he knew Naruto saw Kakashi as a big brother of sorts.

At that very moment, the door slid open and in walked an older man with silver hair and wearing a cover over his mouth and his headband over his left eye. Next to him was Itachi.

"Good morning students," The man with silver hair said pleasantly, "As I'm sure you all are aware, I am Kakashi Hatake. Pardon mine and Itachi's tardiness, we were caught up on the Path of Life."

"I just wanted to see how you'd react to my being late," Itachi said with a chuckle.

"Are you serious!? We've been waiting here for over half-an-hour!" Rei complained, earning a chuckle from her older brother.

"Well consider it a kind of lesson one, things will not always go according to plan when you expect it to, now my team please follow me." Itachi said as the three of them rose and followed him out just in time to hear Kakashi say; "My team meet me on the roof." He said before he Sushined away; "Good luck!" Naruto called out for them.

Itachi, smiled and lead them all out and over to the top of the village gate where he had them all sit across from him; "Alright, now then I've known all three of you for your whole lives, but being your sensei puts me in a different position than I have ever been in before, your lives are in my hands." He said seriously and they all nodded.

"As long as you understand the seriousness of being shinobi and where we find ourselves now then things should be fine, but I need to know that you will take this seriously." Itachi said.

They all nodded saying; "Yes Sensei!"

He smiled; "Alright then, now let me ask you all, what is your dream, why did you want to become shinobi in the first place?" Itachi asked staring at them each. Not surprisingly it was Naruto who spoke up first.

"Well, I guess I wanted to become a shinobi so that I could be Hokage aone day after Tou-san finally decides to step down, I want to help protect everyone in the village, it's my home and I also want to be respected." Naruto said making them all smile, asRei went next.

"I want to be a powerful, konoichi, there are, not a lot of us who rise to prominence I want to prove that we can be strong too, and I want to be as good as you one day." Rei admitted and Itachi felt some pride as he smiled again Akira spoke up.

"I...I want to be as good as people say my Grandfather was, he was the second man to be hailed as the Kami no Shinobi (God of Ninja), and he had no Kekkai Genkai (Bloodline Trait) I'd like to take that mantle one day, and also to become one of the few to be a Sanin." He said

At hearing each of his student dreams, Itachi put a hand to his chin and rubbed it in thought with a small smile.

'Interesting. Very interesting," He thought to himself as he opened his eyes and spoke.

"Alright then," He began, "Tomorrow morning, I want you all to meet me by the lake in the woods. Try to be on time," He said.

"We will if you are," Akira said with a smirk, which Itachi returned.

"I make no promises," He said before Sushining, leaving the three teammates alone.


-The Next Morning, Lakeside-

The three teammates met by the lakeside at seven o'clock the next morning; the break of dawn. For someone like Naruto, this was way too early.

"Ugh, why did he make us get up this early?" Naruto complained.

"Maybe it's a part of the test to keep us pretty tired, to make things a bit m...moooore challenging." Rei said yawning in the middle of her sentence and a still tired Akira simply yawned and nodded.

"Right you are Rei-chan." Itachi said appearing high in a tree above them; "The world doesn't wait for you to be ready especially in the life of Shinobi, you need to learn to be ready at all times. Today I will be testing your brains and brawn, to decided if you get to be Genin" Itachi said.

"Well, yeah I guess, but Itachi sensei, why do we need to have a test!? I thought we had already passed that?" Naruto asked stunned into waking; "Well I can tell you why, but you all will not want to hear the answer." Itachi warned.

"Oh come on, you already dropped the big news you might as well tell us what the reason is." Akira said seriously and Rei nodded.

"Fine then, here's the real trusth of the situation of your whole graduating class only twelve of the thirty of you will actually get to become Genin the rest will be sent right back to the academy to try again next year." Itachi said.

"What?! No way!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You can't be serious, Itachi!" Akira said.

"Told you you wouldn't like the answer," Itachi said, looking away from his students.

Hearing this news, that only twelve of the graduating students could become Genin, gave Rei pause before she steeled herself and said what was on her mind, "Well if only twelve of us can pass into Genin, than I'll make it so the three of us are part of that twelve."

Hearing this, her friends' hearts grew bold at her words.

"Same with me," Akira said.

"Same here! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed confidently.

Seeing his students and hearing their words, a smile grew on Itachi's face, "Very well then. Your first test shall be one of brains. Your scenario is this: You stand at the bank of a river with a small rowboat and with you is a dog, a live chicken, and a bag of grain. You have to get all three across by taking one item across at a time."

"And we can't leave some items behind because the dog would eat the chicken and the chicken would eat the grain. Come on, Itachi-sensei, we all know this riddle," Akira said.

"What riddle?" Itachi asked before pointing over to the lake and showing a dog, a live chicken, and a bag of grain sitting next to a small rowboat.

"The test is simple you need to get all three across the lake, without one eating the other only one of you can row the boat and the other two have to watch the three things, but you are not allowed to take the other two across, all three need to cross in the boat only." Itachi said. smirking as they all stared at the three things.

The Dog was about the size of Akamaru maybe just a bit bigger, with amber colored fur and bright green eyes. It trotted over and wolfed at them before turning and growling at the chicken and making a run for it.

The three of them chased after it determined not to let a dogs appitite be the reason they went back to the academy. Akira managed to catch it in his jacket and turned to the other two; "Okay so we need to find a way to get everything across, which will be easier said than done becasue this is an Inuzuka trained dog, and that means eventually I may need a new jacket." He said.

"Right so, Naruto with Akira dealing with the puppy I think you should be the one rowing things across and I'll watch over the chicken. Rei said.

"Okay, but we need to figure out what order to take them across in." Naruto pointed out.

The three of them went silent as they began to think the scenario out in their heads. It was a minute before Akira snapped his fingers and had a eureka moment.

"Alright, so here's the plan," He began as Naruto and Rei listened up.

First, Naruto took the chicken across. Then he came back, took the dog across, switched it for the chicken, and came back across to switch it out for the grain. Taking it across and dropping it off, he went back and brought the chicken over with Akira and Rei meeting him on the other side of the lake.

After placing the chicken down on the ground, Itachi appeared from a puff of smoke before his three students with a small smile on his face.

"Congratulations. You've all successfully solved the first test," He said.

"Hooray," Naruto said tiredly before collapsing to the ground in a heap, tired from his back and forth rowing.

"Okay, we'll let Naruto rest for a bit before we move on tothe second and final part of your test meet me in training ground three in an hour." He said before vanishing again. Naruto huffed and sat up.

"Great another test." He sighed.

"Yeah I can't believe they all just lied to us about graduating like that." Akira sighed; "I can I mean the life of a shinobi is secrets and deception after all, maybe it's all a part of the final test." She sighed as they all sat down the dog trotted over and barked at them.

"Yes your a good dog, now why not go dig a hole or something until it's time to go?" Naruto asked. It barked at him before coming over to Akira and whimpering needingly; "I don't have anything for you."He said.

It whimpered again and jumped into his lap before curling up and yawning; "Hey come on your cute and all, but I need you to get off." He said, but the dog didn't move it just licked his hand.

"Aw, he likes you!" Rei said scratching the dog behind it's ears.

"Yeah I got that, but it needs to eave me alone for the next test." Akira said; "Looks like the dog disagree's with you." Naruto said chuckling as the dog seemed to nod it's head and lay back in Akira's lap.

"Fine I guess you can stick with me, but just for the day then you go back to the Inuzuka kennels." He said and the dog just barked as he caved and scratched it behind the ears.


After their hour of rest, Naruto, Akira, and Rei made their way to Training Ground 3 to meet up with Itachi. When they arrived at the training ground, they found Itachi nowhere to be seen.

"Don't tell me he's pulling this stunt again," Naruto said, annoyed.

"And what stunt would that be?" Came Itachi's voice from behind them, causing the three Genin to jump in surprise.

"Ah! Seriously, you wanna give us a heart attack!?" Naruto exclaimed, clutching his heart.

"Seriously, Itachi-nee, give us some warning next time!" Rei yelled.

"When we're on duty, it's Itachi-sensei Rei and why, an enemy won't give you a polite warning before they attack. As I said you need to learn to be ready at all times, it's what I am trying to teach you." He said as they all huffed and he chuckled.

"Now, this final test is one of strategy and brawn, the test is simple. You all have to land a single hit on my chest before the timer goes off, you will have let's say four hours to land that one hit on me. Now, if you don't not only will you fail, but I will tie you to a tree and make you watch as I eat my lunch, then I'll come and get you in time for dinner." He said

"Oh, that's just cruel!" Rei said as her stomach growled a bit loudly as did the other two's it had been a long while since breakfast after all.

"Well then, how about a bit of extra incentive if you all win, I'll treat you all to lunch and I have weapons for each of you." He said casually as they all perked up a bit more as Itachi leaned against a tree; "Sound like a deal?" He asked.

"Of course it's a deal, one misely hit, and that's it!?Please, you don't stand a chance Itachi-sensei, just say go and we've got this!" Naruto said confidently, as he took a ready stance.

'Only you Naruto.' Rei thought fondly as she and Akira took their own stances.

"Alright then the test begins...now!" Itachi said waving his hand and vanishing at the same time as they all had leapt at him causing them to land in a heap of limbs.

"Okay so that didn't work and now we lost him...not exactly off to a terrific start here are we?" Rei asked as they stood up dusting themseleves off and staring around to try and find him.

"Yeah, but I'll get him and graduate!" Naruto said heading towards the woods; "Wait! Naturo we need to..." Akira started, but Naruto vanishedc into the tree's; "Strategize." He he finished with a sigh.

"Do we chase after and stop him?" Rei asked seriously.

"Not yet, no we stay back and observe and after he loses to Itachi then maybe he'll be willing to listen to us." Akira shrugged; "Plus it could be kind of entertaining." Rei admitted smiling as they chased after Naruto.


-With Naruto-

Naruto was leaping through the tree's looking around until he came across another large clearing in the tree's to find Itachi just leaning and against a tree staring at the clouds, not looking at all concerned with anything.

Naruto jumped out of the tree's and landed across from him; "This time I've got you Itachi-Sensei!" Naruto.

"You know Naruto part of being a shinobi is that your supposed to be sneaky." Itachi said casually continuing to stare at the clouds high in the sky; "Come on, look at me and fight!" Naruto grumbled.

Sighing with slight annoyance, Itachi did as Naruto asked and got into a fighting stance, "As you wish, Naruto," He said.

They stood there silently for a moment before Naruto made a run at Itachi, his hands making the crossed hand sign.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" Naruto yelled as five other hims appeared and charged at Itachi.

Itachi merely smiled at this before closing his eyes and reopening them, and springing into action of his own.

Just as the clones were upon him, he quickly dodged out of the way of them. One tried to tag him in the chest, but Itachi dodged out of the way before grabbing the clone's arm and swung him around, slamming him into a tree trunk, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke.

At that moment, Akira and Rei arrived on the scene, watching the fight from the tree tops.

"Looks like Naruto found him," Akira said casually.

"This isn't going to end well for Naruto is it?" Akira asked.

"I very much doubt it, but he's going to really try, and we can observe." She shrugged.


-Naruto and Itachi-

Naruto's other clones tried leaping at Itachi from either side of Itachi simply twisted grabbing one by the wrist and swinging it into the other sending both flying backwards and disappearing in a puff of smoke. Spinning in a small cirle Itachi threw a kunai and it hit one of the other Naruto's that vanished in another smoke cloud.

"Charging in wildly, without thinking things through was not exactly your best strategy Naruto. WIth the way Rei talks about you when it comes to pranks I must admit I expected better from you." Itachi said smiling casually as Naruto growled at him and charged in before smirking as two other Naruto emerged from the woods behind him and grabbed Itachi from behind in a full nelso and by the feet.

"Haha, you were right I distracted you with those other clones and had one sneak in behind you, now I graduate!" Naruto said jumping up into the air and going to kick Itach in the stomach only for Itachi to turn into a log and hit Naruto's foot hard.

"Yeow!" Naruto yelped as he fell to the ground, clutching his now bruised foot, "A substitution technique?!"

Suddenly, Itachi appeared right in front of him and put his index finger to Naruto's forehead.

"It'll take more than that for you to tag me, Naruto," He said simply, pushing him backwards so he was flat on the ground, "Try thinking outside the box," He said before disappearing once again.

Steaming at Itachi's cavalier attitude, Naruto shook off his minor injury and tried to focus in on exactly which way Itachi went. Sensing chakra to the west, Naruto pinpointed it before heading off in that direction.

Or he would have been headed in that direction had Rei not grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him back causing him to fall flat on his ass; "hey what are you doing!? I need to catch up or I am going to fail!" Naruto said.

"No, we all need to catch up and tag him or we all, fail did you forget that?" She asked seriously and Naruto looked down feeling just slightly ashamed; "Right, sorry I guess I charged in little too quick huh?" He asked and the other two nodded.

"Okay, so then what exactly do we do? He's too tough for any of us to fight alone at least from a skill level standpoint, we aren't ready." Naruto said standing up in the circle.

"Of course we can't, but you need to remember we aren't trying to defeat him here. We are just trying to get one hit each and we really need to work together and come up with a plan." Rei said.

They all thought, quietly and then Naruto snapped his fingers; "Guys I think I've got it."

They leaned in and together the three of them came up with a plan and set it in motion for the perfect time, now they had to lure Itachi into it and that would be the trickiest part.

"Ready?" Naruto asked and the other two nodded and together they set off to find Itachi.


-With Itachi-

Itachi was getting a bit worried time was running low and since Naruto's first attack, he hadn't heard them at all, 'It will be very dissapointing if some of the top students can't pass still maybe they weren't ready.' He thought to himself and no sooner had he thought it when he heard a roaring sound from his left.

'Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)' Akira thought breathing fire towards his sensei who just barely managed to avoid the attack only to find a net of ninja wire surrounding him and tangling him up, with Kunai headed towards him. from the front and back. Thinking quickly he pulled a kunai from his weapons pouch he channeled chakra into it and sliced through the wire.

Freeing himself from the wire, he moved with a great amount of speed he started to dodge and knock the shuriken away. As the last one fell beside him Rei's foot slammed into his gut knocking him backwards.

Sent reeling from the blow, Itachi wasn't able to avoid the hard kick from behind that came from Akira. Sent tripping forward, he did his best to recover as he heard Naruto yell loudly. Recovering, he looked up to see Naruto heading right for him before leaping into the air feet first.

Just before Naruto struck Itachi in the chest, Itachi raised both his hands, making a T with them.

"Time!" He exclaimed, confusing Naruto before Itachi caught him by the foot mid-flight, causing him to fall on his back.

"What do you mean 'time', Itachi-Sensei?" Naruto asked as he tried to get back to his feet.

To answer his question, Itachi pointed a finger in the direction of a stump where the timer had run out of time.

"No, I failed, but I was so close, you mean I have to go back to the academy!?" Naruto gasped staring at Itachi in shock and sadness.

"You can't do that, a lot of this was Naruto's strategy!" Rei said as Akira nodded; "Yeah and plus, we all worked so hard to set this up, and we did so well you have to give us another chance at this." Akira said.

"I can't do that, but.." Itachi started before Rei cut him off; "Then I'm going back too, we're friends." She said.

"Yeah, and we are team we tried this together and we failed this together, so we all need to go back." Akira said keeping his arms folded as all three of them glared at Itachi who smilied; "I was going to say, that O can't do that, but it hardly matters really because you all pass." He said.

They all stared at him stunned; "We passed?" Naruto asked.

"What are you talking about, Itachi-Sensei?" Akira asked, confused.

"I'm saying you all passed the real test," Itachi began to explain, "You see, the test I assigned to you was merely a cover story for the true test I had for the three of you."

"And what was the real test?" Rei asked.

"Simple. The real test was teamwork; to test how well you all could work as a team and how well you can come up with a strategy together," Itachi explained.

"It didn't matter whether or not you managed to tag me, if you didn't work together than you would've failed anyway."

"So then, are you saying..." Rei trailed off a little.

"Yes, you all pass with flying colors and as I promised I will buy you all lunch and, if you'd like I can give you all the weapons I will be training you in now or after lunch." He offered.

Before any of them could say anything all of their stomachs growled, and Itachi laughed; "I think the weapons can wait a while, come on we'll get Barbeque." He said smiling; "Aw, I wanted ramen!" Naruto said.

"You always want Ramen, you have to balance out your diet or you'll never grow, and you'll get fat, and not fat like muscles fat, fat like fat, fat." Akira said seriously as they followed Itachi into the village.

"Yeah, Naruto, you'll end up like Choji pleasantly plump if you're not careful," Rei said with a small giggle.

Naruto couldn't help but shudder at the thought of being that fat, "Remind me to do some sit-ups after lunch," He said with a depressed frown.

Everyone else couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's expense as they made their way away from the training ground. Before they made it to far however, they heard a small bark and turned around to see the puppy from the first test run up to them and stop at Akira's feet, looking up at him with its tongue hanging out.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about you," Akira said.

"Okay, you guys go and I'll go return this little guy to the Inuzuka pound and meet you guys there." He said picking up the puppy who practically leapt into his arms and heading off to the pound.


-Inuzuka pound-

Akira arrived with the pup now seated in his arms barking happily, as he went inside he found Hana Inuzuka tending to all the dogs and she turned when the bell above the door rang smiling when she saew Akira holding the pup; "Ah, there's the pup I was hoping that I wasn't going to have to wake Itachi over the head next time I saw him,Thanks for bringing the little guy back AKira-kun." She said smiling at him.

Hana Inuzuka was a very pretty girl she was eighteen and had long brown hair which she wore in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face over her large, black eyes. She also wore a light shade of lipstick and has the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks, in addition to a tattoo on her upper right arm that resembles a flower. Hana was wearing the beige Konoha medic uniform,like she always did while on duty here.

Akira blushed at the praise from her as he handed her over the puppy, or rather he tried to. When Hana went to take it the dog whimpered and bit into AKira's jacket sleeve.

"Come on little guy, you've got to go home." He said gently as she gave a small tug, but the dog whimpered again and looked at him pleadingly; "I think the dogs gotten attached to you." Hana said smiling

"Rather literally it seems," Akira said, trying his best to pry the dog from his arm without hurting it or him. The dog simply continued to whimper as it clung to Akira's arm.

This action seemed to give Hana pause as she observed the dog's action until she remembered an old saying in her clan.

"You know," She began, getting Akira's attention, "There's an old saying in my clan that states that a person doesn't choose the dog, but rather the dog chooses its master," She explained.

"What are you saying?" Akira asked now staring at the dog dangling from his arm; "I'm saying why don't you keep him? Ninken can be incredibly useful and loyal creatures, it's why my clan works with them so much. They can be taught many different techniques, they are great trackers and strategists and some of them can even learn to speak human." She said as he stopped shaking and brought the dog closer.

"Plus, he clearly likes you, and they can be great home pets as well so why not?" She asked as Akira thought on it remembering all that Kiba's dog could do and then looked at the dog who he set on the ground and knelt in front of; "Well, do you really want to come home with me?" He asked.

The pup barked happily and jumped at his face licking him; "Okay, okay you can come with me...Kaneda, but if you go to the bathroom in the house I'm bringing you back here got it?" He asked and the dog licked his face again.


-Restaurant-

Naruto, Rei, and Itachi sat in a booth at a barbecue restaurant, Naruto scarfing down some short ribs off the grill as soon as they were done.

"Save some for the rest of us, Naruto," Rei said.

"Excuse me, but were you the one who had to row a boat back and forth across a lake?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"He has a point there, Rei-chan," Itachi said with a smile.

"So I'm allowed to call you Itachi-nee now?" Rei asked.

"Well we're not on duty, so of course."

"Thank you Itachi-nee." She said as Akira finally arrived and sat beside Naruto as the puppy from earlier jumped up and settled itself into his lap staring at them all.

"Hey weren't you going to return him to the Inuzuka's? Akira-kun?" Rei asked smiling as the dog curled up on his lap and gave a little yawn; "Well, I was, but he sort of became attached to me, Hana thinks he liked my scent from being stuck in my jacket. Anyway he wouldn't let me go, and she suggested that I keep him, so I named him Kaneda."

"I like the name, but do you think your mom will be okay with him?" Itachi asked.

"As long as I take care of him, it ahould be fine." He said

"Either way, grab yourself some chopsticks and have some short ribs, you all deserve it after how well you all did today," Itachi said.

"Thanks, Itachi-Sensei," Akira said, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and digging into the meal, giving a few bits to Kaneda from time to time.

After the group finished their meal, they left the restaurant with their bellies full.

"Oh man, I'm gonna sleep good tonight!" Naruto said with a wide grin.

"Good, you'll all need a good night's rest tonight, I have more to teach you tomorrow morning," Itachi said, "Meet me at Training Ground 3 for the next stage of your training."

"Yes, Itachi-Sensei," The three young ninja said before making their ways home. All in all they agreed that the day had been long, but satisfying.

Itachi smiled to himself as he walked home with Rei, he had carefully observed them each and knew where they need to improve, but all in all his team had a lot of potential, he just had to find a way to bring it out.


A/N: So that's the latest chapter! We hope you liked the story so far! Also fir those who saw we gave Sai a last name, a very specific last name that will come into play later on down the line.

Next Time: Weapons, and a New Mission!