I published two chapters today… this will not be the norm so please don't expect that from me.

I don't own Naruto or any other thing I write about, by now I guess we all know who owns it... So, Only the OCs are mine to keep.


Chapter 2

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a bad headache… a really bad headache. First was the Naruto fiasco, in which the Hokage revealed to him the truth about his tenant and the story Hiruzen came up with to prevent Naruto to be ostracised. Needless to say it went bad. No bad is wrong it went horrible and Naruto was furious but not about his situation than rather the burden of Kazumi, which was placed on her shoulders without having done anything.

Hiruzen was thankful that the he decided to withhold some information or Naruto could have resorted, unknowingly, to the chakra of the nine-tailed fox. Thank god that didn't happen but it could be seen that something broke between the two, hopefully Naruto could understand and forgive him for what he had done.

Already having a bad day Hiruzen called the Jounin-sensei to him and listened to their propositions for the Genin-team assignments. He wanted to see how his subordinates would place them before he would make a final choice. In an effort to reduce his workload.

As everyone was at his office the Hokage was extremely curious and hoped that this would make his day a bit better. He picked up his pipe and smoked it for a bit before he started "You are all here because you were selected to train the teams with the clan heirs. The current situation is that we have 8 clan heirs in this year's graduation class if you count in Naruto as well. Every one of you was required to form a team. Tell me about it." He looked expectantly at Kakashi who got the wink thankfully.

"Maa… I thought that Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha were a good team. Naruto has massive amounts of chakra and will be a powerhouse in the future. Sasuke is a Ninjutsu type and extremely gifted as he is already far better than most of the current genin and with his sharingan he will become one of the best, plus I am the only one who can help him with his eyes.

Sakura has a lot of strength in her body and has extremely good chakra control due to her small reserves. I plan to make her either a genjutsu support or a medic-nin… she has the talent for that, she just needs something that will her help to live up to it. All in all I plan to make them a frontline team" Kakashi explained and stuck his nose back into his book.

"I plan to make a tracking team and selected Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. I know Hinata extremely well as I was her escort to the academy… She has a low self-esteem and I will need to change that beside that she would be a perfect tracker with her family kekkai genkai. Her taijutsu is as you would expect very good and she would work well together with Kiba on the front and Shino from long distance. Kiba is almost the opposite of Hinata. He is loud and brash and has a tendency to be overconfident in his abilities. Kiba has the typical Inuzuka personality with a pack mentality, when he accepts you as member of his pack he will be undying loyal. He has an extremely good partnership with his ninken Akamaru additionally he is very advanced in his clan techniques and specialises in Taijutsu. Shino on the other hand is quiet and observant, he doesn't speak very often but when he does it, it is on point. He seems highly intelligent and would be the strategist. His problem however is that he is too quiet and in a battle something like that could be fatal. Like Kiba and even Hinata he depends too much on his clan skills which he, by the way, excels in. I will need to correct that but I am pretty confident that they would make a formidable team." Blurted Kurenai nervously out.

It was understandable since she became a Jounin just a few months ago and wants to proof herself. None the less Hiruzen noticed that the other three people's brain, including his, stopped to work somewhere between these lines.

Asuma seeing that no one was focusing anymore lighted his cigarette, earned a glare from Kurenai and coughed to get their attention. "Well… I have the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. They will be highly competent in information gathering and espionage. What else is there to say…? I know what will come at me as all three of them are rather similar to their parents."

Hiruzen nodded and thought about. It made sense, the teams sounded balanced and didn't find anything wrong with them but he had to warn them. "Hmm… I would come to the same decision as you but I can see that the only one who really bothered to think about their team is Kurenai…." That got him a few glances from the other two. "A team is not only about skill and history. It is also very important that the members are compatible with each other… According to their files, Naruto and Sasuke are highly competitive be careful of that Kakashi. Sakura seems to only have eyes for Sasuke and from what I heard about her… she is obsessed with him. This could easily turn into a situation where Sasuke gets all the attention of the team while Naruto gets nothing." Hiruzen said to them and especially to Kakashi who nodded.

"The other teams are okay. Ino, Shikamru and Choji know each other literally almost their entire life, they will stick together even ahead of that and Kurenai already knows her team weaknesses and strengths." He finished. They discussed that a bit longer and promised them at the end that they would get their teams.

Now Hiruzen had to deal with the last remaining student… Kazumi. He knew he had done her injustice and that she most likely hated the village. He needed a plan and a good one at that, to keep her on track. She seemed like a highly talented Genin and could achieve great things in the future.


PoV Naruto

After his meeting with his Jiji, Naruto was sitting on Konoha's signature monument, on the head of his hero, the yondaime Hokage. When he first heard what he contained he was afraid but his jiji explained it to him in great detail. He was safe and even more important was that the village was safe, all because Naruto contained the nine-tailed-fox in his body. He was a hero for Konoha and extremely proud of that.

What made him really furious was what his jiji told him afterwards. His classmate Kazumi was made the carrier for his burden in the eyes of the public. He felt guilty because of that and what made him even guiltier was the fact that he was actually thankful for this decision.

He saw how Kazumi was treated and how afraid she was of adults especially of males, even if it has gotten better over the years he knew her, there was still the sudden stiffness in her shoulders and the widened eyes when she was surprised to see one.

Naruto couldn't and didn't want to imagine what happened to her to have such a reaction but from what his jiji told him she had a hard life. She was kicked out of the orphanage at three and lived for a short time on the streets of Konoha until she retreated into one the forests, where she is still living.

Naruto made his way to his apartment and followed his feet without noticing where they led him. When he stopped to look around, he saw the one thing he didn't want to see. Kazumi… She was sitting on the porch of a small teahouse. His first thoughts were to go to her and apologize and explain it to her.

That was the moment she saw him, her slotted eyes focused on him and a small smile made its way up her lips. At this exact moment Naruto realized he was a coward when it came to emotions like guilt and ran away as fast as he could, leaving a very confused Kazumi behind.

How could he tell her that he was living her life? How to say her that she would have a home if it wasn't for him? Maybe even his friends. No he couldn't… He couldn't tell the first person among his peers, who has accepted him as him, not tell these things. Sure she was strange, sometimes more animal than human but he didn't wonder anymore about the reason because he knew it. She grew up despised by mankind and lived in a forest. It was more than likely that animals were her first and best friends.

And so he ran… until he came home and closed the door. He sank on the ground and was torn between a strange feeling of hate and understanding, guilt, pity and joy for both his jiji and Kazumi.


Normal PoV

Kazumi was sitting in her usual place of the classroom, in the right corner in the last row and that hopefully for the last time. When Naruto entered the classroom he did everything to avoid looking at her which she found rather strange but there was nothing she could do. She heard Shikamaru ask "Hey Naruto, how come you are here. You have to pass the exam to get a team." Naruto proudly showed off his headband and took the seat beside his self-proclaimed rival Sasuke.

When Ino and Sakura came into the room they made a huge racket. "Ha, I was first billboard." Ino shouted in triumph. "In your dreams, Ino-pig. My foot was clearly faster than yours." They glared at each other and stomped to the seat that Naruto just took. "Hey loser that is my seat." Sakura declared to Naruto who just ignored her. "Hey didn't you listen to me that is my seat." She tried again.

Naruto stood up, walked in front of Sasuke and observed him… closely. So close that their faces nearly collided. "Naruto what is your problem? Leave Sasuke-kun alone." Sakura asked angrily and pumped up her fists. Suddenly in the row before them a student stood up and forced Naruto to stumble… just to kiss Sasuke… on his lips. Needless to say that he got the beating of his life for that and Sakura claimed the seat beside her Sasuke-kun.

Ino made her, headshaking, up to Shikamaru and Choji. When she took her seat she turned to Kazumi and gave her a big smile. When Iruka came in the class was rowdy, like always and tried to calm them down.

"Calm down kids. Today is your last day here and I want to say something to you." Seeing that almost no one heard him, Iruka used his famous "Big head jutsu" and yelled "SHUT UP!"

He coughed and began again "Before I tell you which team you are assigned I want to tell you all something. Throughout your life as a shinobi you will work with many and very different kinds of shinobi. There are, of course, missions that you will have to do on your own but that is not the norm, most of the time you will work in teams. Most teams, like your future Genin-team, will be a four man cell. In your example three Genin and one Jounin who will act as your sensei and team leader.

We do this because of the will of fire, together we protect Konoha and each other. Each one of you will have to work together to achieve great things and your Genin-team will always be with you. Even if you don't like them yet you will have to work together for a long time, at least until you are chunin but often beyond that.

And now the last thing I want to say is that if anyone needs something you don't need to hesitate to come back here and ask for advice. Stay safe and well in the future." Iruka-sensei said and to be honest it was an at least decent speech and while Kazumi thought about that, she overheard the first six teams.

"Team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki,… Sakura Haruno,…" Naruto interrupted, turned to Sakura and shouted "Yahoo" "and Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura coming back alive "YES, True Love Overcomes Everything! Take that Ino-pig." Sakura seemed satisfied the complete opposite of Naruto "Iruka-sensei, why has a great shinobi like me be on the same team as the bastard?" Iruka just sighed "Naruto… if you want to complain go to the Hokage, he is the one who decides the teams." That took the wind out of Naruto and he shrank to a chibi version of himself, a very sad chibi version.

"Anyway, where was I? Ah… Yes. Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Abruame. Team 9 is still in existence from last year and Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. Kazumi Uzumaki… you will be in an apprenticeship under a Jounin-sensei." And with that Iruka left and many eyes wandered to Kazumi who just shrugged them off, in an experienced way.


The Genin were all collected with the exception of team 7 and Kazumi. A short time later a purple haired woman came in and called "Kazumi Uzumaki?" Kauzumi just nodded "Follow me" and the woman left with Kazumi on her tail.

The purple head stopped before a tree and walked it up, Kazumi still on her trail followed her. When the woman sat down on one of the branches, Kazumi did the same. "I understand it right that you like to sit on a tree while you eat?" Kazumi nodded and smiled a bit, maybe this woman was not as bad as she thought, at least she considered her preferences.

"Good we will do instructions first. I am Yugao Uzuki, eighteen years old and Jounin of Konohagakure. I like my peace and quiet, a good tea now and then and training. My dislikes are unloyal people, traitors and people who hurt my friends. As far as hobbies… hmm… training, reading and watching the moon. My current goal is to make you ready for the chunin exam in six months." Yugao introduced herself and Kazumi smiled even more, she guessed that she could have gotten it worse.

"My name is Kazumi and I am twelve years old. I like the same things as you as well my nekos, Ino-chan and Tomomi-baachan and dislike… the villagers and most of the male populace. My hobbies are hanging out with my nekos and spent time at the library and at Tomomi-baachan's teahouse. My goals are to become strong enough to protect those precious to me and become worthy of my summing contract with the nekos."Kazumi made herself known to her new Sensei.

"Good, now we… wait did you say summing contract?" Yugao asked confused. "Yes. I have the summoning contract for the nekos. Wait I show you…" Kazumi said before she made the necessary hand signs and slammed her hand on a branch and Miyako puffed into the world.

Yugao was stunned… She hadn't expected this. She was told to train a girl that was thought to be the container of the fox until she learned the truth from the Hogake. How on earth did she get one…? She was brought out of her musing as the cat in front of her snuggled herself onto Kazumi and began to purr as her new student stroked her.

"This is Miyako, my personal summon. She lives most of the time here in Konoha with me. Miyako meet my new Sensei Yugao." The cat opened her eyes and studied the woman in front of her, who claimed to be her summoners new sensei. "I am Miyako of nekojima and I will keep an eye on you as long as you didn't earn my trust."

"Hello Miyako. It is a pleasure to meet you… So… Kazumi, how did you get your hands on a summoning contract?" Yugao greeted and asked the question that was burning in her mind.

"I… Well, I saw some tall white haired man try to use the jutsu and well he seemed rather… unwell and tried so often that I could copy the hand signs. He was not exactly… fast acting so it was rather easy and seeing that he could talk to toads… I too wanted to be friends with animals" Kazumi explained and Yugao knew instantly what happened. Jiraiya the drunken idiot was so drunk that he couldn't even perform his signature jutsu right, she would have given much to see that but well… it at least explained some things.

Yugao nodded her head and started where she left off. "So as I was going to say. Usually, Jounin-sensei give their students some sort of test that has mostly to do with teamwork but seeing that you are my only Genin and we will have an apprenticeship like relation, I will not test you. So congratulation Kazumi, you are officially a Genin of Konohagakure. We will meet again in two days at 6 am at the gates of training ground 44. A friend of mine recommended it highly for Genin training. Let's take a look at it." Yugao said and let Kazumi go home for the day.