Adventures of Naruto Namikaze

Last time, Naruto resolved to be the best Jinchuriki he could be to avoid making his dad look bad politically, and was thrilled to be on a team with Sakura, managing to earn major brownie points with her in one day, and getting even more the next day after the bell test and celebrating success with his parents, inviting her along, and walking her home afterward. And he might be in for a date with her in the future. Let's see what happens next.

Legal Stuff: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Just my fics and ocs.

The forest was very calm as Naruto hid in a bush, a voice coming over his radio.

"Sasuke, I'm at point B," Sasuke said.

"Sakura, I'm at point C," Sakura said.

"Naruto, I'm at point A," Naruto said.

"Okay, Squad 7," Kakashi said as something in the woods moved. "Target is on the move! After it!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura silently moved closer to the target.

"What's your distance from the target?" Kakashi asked.

"Five meters," Naruto said. "Ready when you are."

"I'm ready too," Sasuke said.

"Same here," Sakura said.

"Okay. Now!" Kakashi said.

The three Genin jumped the target, which was a cat, Naruto grabbing it.

"Got it!" Naruto said as the cat screamed and clawed at him. "Ow ow ow ow!" he exclaimed, holding the vicious furball at arms length.

"Can you verify a red ribbon on the right ear?" Kakashi asked.

"Yup. It's the one alright," Sakura said, giggling at the sight of Naruto getting mauled by the cat.

"Right. Lost pet Tora captured. Mission accomplished," Kakashi said.

"CAN'T WE GET A BETTER MISSION THAN THIS? I HATE CATS!" Naruto screeched into Kakashi's ear, making it ring.

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At the mission hall, Tora was reunited with his owner, the Fire Daimyo's wife.

"Oh my precious Tora! Mommy was so worried about you, you naughty little kitty!" Madam Shijimi exclaimed while hugging the crying Tora.

"Hahaha! Stupid cat deserves to get squashed!" Naruto said, laughing at Tora.

"If I was in that cat's place I'd have run away too," Sakura said.

"Okay, for Squad 7's next mission we have several available tasks," Minato said, looking over the list. "Let's see. Babysitting the chief councilor's three year old, helping his wife with her shopping, harvesting potatoes..."

"Noooo!" Naruto exclaimed. "I want to go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting! Not this little kid stuff! Come on, dad!"

"He's got a point," Sasuke thought.

"Yeah. I want something more challenging too," Sakura thought.

"I knew this was coming," Kakashi thought.

"How dare you! You're just a brand new Genin with no experience! Like everyone else you start with simple missions to build your experience and prove yourself!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked. "Babysitting is a job anyone can do! You don't need to hire ninja for that!" he exclaimed before Kakashi bonked him on the head.

"Will you put a lid on it?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto, you don't seem to understand these tasks you're given," Minato said, remaining calm even in the face of his son's behavior.

Naruto looked at Minato, a confused look on his face.

"Many different requests come into the village every day. Everything from babysitting to assassination," Minato said. "These requests are very carefully documented and ranked according to difficulty in the ranks of A, B, C, D, and S. With D being the easiest, and S being the most difficult. Shinobi have a similar ranking system. Kage at the top, and in descending order, Jonin, Chunin, and Genin. These missions are assigned to the ninja with the appropriate knowledge and experience. And if the mission is successful, we receive payment for our work, which is the main source of our village's income. You're untried Genin just starting down the shinobi path. Naturally, you're given D-rank missions," he explained.

Naruto groaned. "Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore! I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission!"

Kakashi sighed. "I'm going to be hearing about this later."

Minato stared at Naruto for a moment before chuckling. "Alright, son. You win," he said, surprising everyone present. "Since you're so determined, I'll give you a C-rank mission. You'll be bodyguards on a journey."

"Wow! Who are we guarding? A princess? Or a big celebrity?" Naruto asked.

"Patience, Naruto," Minato said. "Send him in."

The door opened to reveal an elderly man with gray hair holding a bottle of alcohol.

"What? A bunch of snot nosed kids?" the man asked, taking a long pull from his beer bottle, a slight blush on his face indicating that he nearing intoxication. "And you, the blond one. Am I really supposed to believe that you're a ninja?"

Naruto scowled. "I'll kill you!" he yelled, trying to run at the man, only to be held in place by Kakashi.

Minato chuckled. "You can't kill the client, son. It doesn't work that way."

The man looked at Minato. "That kid's your boy?" he asked in disbelief.

Minato nodded. "Yup. That's my son, Naruto Namikaze. And the one holding him back was once my student. I assure you you're in good hands."

The man looked at Squad 7, Naruto having stopped struggling in favor of grinning at his father's indirect praise. "Alright. My name is Tazuna. I'm a bridge builder by trade. And I need to return to my country, where I'm building a bridge that will change our world. I expect you to get me there safely even at the cost of your lives."

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Naruto was grinning as he stood before the village gate with his squad and Tazuna. "This is so awesome! I'm leaving the village for the first time!" he exclaimed as Minato appeared beside him. "What is it, dad?"

Minato knelt down in front of Naruto. "I came to see you off. And I have a gift for you," he said, pulling out a pair trench knives. "A gift from Asuma. They're made from a special metal that absorbs the characteristics of the user's chakra. Use them well, and remember what I taught you about wind chakra."

Naruto nodded as he put the knives in his hip pouch. "I will. I'll make you proud dad."

Minato smiled. "I know you will. You're my son after all."

Sakura smiled at the moment between father and son.

Naruto grinned. "Let's go, guys!"

Minato smiled as he watched the squad leave the village.

"Lord Hokage, are you sure about this?" Kotetsu asked. "There's no telling what kind of danger your son will end up in."

Minato just glanced at him. "I wouldn't be a very good parent if I didn't have faith in my own kid."

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"Hey, Mr. Tazuna?" Sakura asked.

"What is it?" Tazuna asked.

"You're from the Land of Waves, right?" Sakura asked.

"What of it?" Tazuna asked.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't there ninja in the Land of Waves too?" Sakura asked.

"No, there aren't," Kakashi said. "But there are hidden villages in other countries. The most prominent of these are the Five Great Nations. These five nations are the Lands of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. The Land of Fire is home to our village, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Land of Water: The Village Hidden in the Mist, the Land of Earth: The Village Hidden in the Stones, the Land of Wind: The Village Hidden in the Sand, and the Land of Lightning: The Village Hidden in the Clouds. Only the leaders of these five villages are permitted the title of Kage. Hokage, Mizukage, Kazekage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage. These five people reign over thousands of shinobi," he explained.

"So we might get to fight foreign ninja!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Not likely. Shinobi battles are rare in a C-rank mission," Kakashi said.

"Aw man!" Naruto groaned.

After a while, the group passed by a couple of puddles, which Kakashi glanced at for a moment. Once they passed the puddles, two men rose from them, their gauntlets connected by a shuriken chain. Quick as a flash, they wrapped Kakashi in it and tore him to shreds.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed as the two ninja turned to them, their headbands bearing the symbol of the Mist Village.

"Now it's your turn," the one with the Right Gauntlet said as they move to wrap up Sakura.

Sasuke leapt into action and pinned the chain to a tree with a shuriken and kunai, forcing the ninja to abandon it. The one with the left gauntlet went after Sasuke, while the one with the right went after Tazuna. The right one was surprised to find Sakura blocking his attack, but no wound on her arm.

"What the?" he muttered.

"Steel Style: Ultimate Shield!" Sakura said as she forced him away, revealing her arms to have turned dark black, her nails extending into short claws. "Bring it on," she said. "Gotta be careful. I may have a lot of chakra for my age, even among a clan famous for our large chakra reserves, but I don't have the reserves needed to armor my entire body for prolonged periods of time yet," she thought as the ninja attacked again.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he and Sasuke fought the left one, channeling his wind chakra into his new knives and slashing at the enemy, missing and carving a deep gash in a tree. Cocking his arm back to throw one, he noticed Sakura about to be overwhelmed, which made him see red. "No!" he snarled, throwing the knife with all his strength, which embedded it in the ninja's head, killing him.

"Gozu!" the other one yelled before Kakashi appeared and knocked him out, revealing that he had escaped with substitution.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're alive!" Sakura exclaimed, undoing her jutsu.

"Nicely done, you three," Kakashi said, looking at Naruto, who was staring at the corpse of the one called Gozu. "He's shaken up from making his first kill. I'll need to talk to him about it later," he thought. "Tazuna, we need to talk."

After hearing Tazuna's story about his country's plight, they decided to continue the mission after tieing up Gozu's brother, who was called Mezu, and leaving him for the Tracker Ninja, setting up camp for the night after sunset.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you," Kakashi said while the others went to bed.

Naruto joined Kakashi by the fire. "What is it, sensei?"

"You made your first kill today. You're shaken up about it, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looked at the fire. "Kinda. At the time, the only thing on my mind was protecting Sakura-chan."

"Do you regret killing him?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, but if I hadn't killed him, he'd have killed Sakura-chan, and Mr. Tazuna. Tazuna's our client, so we have to protect him, but..." Naruto hesitated.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"I can't stand the thought of losing Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. "When I saw him about to overpower her, I just felt so angry. Angry that he would try to hurt her. Sakura-chan means so much to me! I never want to see her get hurt! If I can help it, then I'll protect her from anyone that tries to hurt her!"

Kakashi eye smiled. "Then I trust you won't freeze up."

"No way! I never go back on my word!" Naruto said.

Unknown to Naruto and Kakashi, Sakura was lieing awake in her bedroll and had heard every word of their conversation and was currently blushing up a storm.

"Naruto, I never knew you cared so much about me," She thought.

"I doubt the same can be said of Sasuke," Inner Sakura said.

"No, it can't," Sakura thought. "Naruto's definitely a one of a kind boy."

"We should say yes to his date request," Inner Sakura said.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, we should," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

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The next day, they continued toward their destination, getting to the Land of Waves without further incident.

"My house isn't much farther," Tazuna said before Naruto threw a kunai into a bush.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"We're being followed," Naruto said, going over to the bush holding another kunai, finding a white rabbit where his kunai hit.

"Naruto! You hit a rabbit!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Wait," Sasuke said. "This time of year that rabbit should have brown fur. But it's white, meaning it was raised indoors."

Kakashi nodded. "It was used for substitution," he said as a whistling sound filled the air.

"Get down!" Naruto exclaimed, everyone ducking in time to avoid getting decapitated by a huge sword, which embedded itself in a tree trunk.

"Not bad, kid. You've got potential," a man said as he dropped onto the blade's hilt, his face covered by bandages, a Mist headband on his head, camouflage pants, and a bare chest aside from the straps that no doubt secured his sword when it wasn't in use.

Naruto growled. "Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist."

Zabuza chuckled. "A Genin knows who I am on sight. Impressive. I wonder how you got access to a bingo book."

"My father let me look through his," Naruto said, drawing his trench knives.

"What's your name, boy?" Zabuza asked. "Cause you look very similar to the Yellow Flash of the Leaf."

"No surprise," Naruto said. "I'm his son."

Zabuza's eyes widened. "You're the son of the Yellow Flash?"

Naruto's grinned. "Yup. I'm Naruto Namikaze; son of the fourth Hokage: Minato Namikaze."

Zabuza laughed. "The Copy Ninja: Kakashi Hatake, and the son of the Yellow Flash of the Leaf. This is going to be interesting," he said as he removed his blade from the tree trunk and landed on the ground.

"Beast Wave Palm!" Naruto said, swinging his arm in front of him, sending a blade of wind chakra flying at Zabuza.

Zabuza blocked it with his blade, though it managed to cut halfway through the blade. "Well... a wind user. Those are rare indeed. And to be able to cut such a nick into Kubikiribocho's blade, is impressive."

"Manji Formation! Protect Tazuna!" Kakashi said, uncovering his Sharingan.

Sasuke gasped. "How do you have Sharingan?" he asked.

"Sasuke, how do you think he got the nickname "Copy Ninja"?" Naruto asked as he, Sasuke, and Sakura got into a protective formation in front of Tazuna, Naruto at the front, Sasuke to his left, and Sakura to his right.

"Shut up, Dead Last," Sasuke said.

"Leave him to me," Kakashi said as he brandished his kunai and charged Zabuza, stabbing him, only for the Water Clone to fall apart into a puddle.

Zabuza appeared behind him in the mist and sliced him in half, only to find that it was a water clone. He gasped as he heard a kunai flying toward his head. Dodging, he moved onto the water, followed by Kakashi, who after a brief exchange, got knocked into the water. Zabuza was quick to trap him in a Water Prison, making a Water Clone to fight in his stead.

"Get away from here! Protect Tazuna!" Kakashi exclaimed. "Water Clones can only go so far from their maker!"

Naruto gritted his teeth. "No way, sensei! We're not leaving you behind!"

"You taught us that those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!" Sakura said.

"What they said," Sasuke said.

Naruto stuck his knives in his teeth before throwing a shuriken at the clone and running through hand signs. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said, the one shuriken becoming many, still flying at the clone.

The clone deflected them with ease. "You won't touch me with shuriken. I expected more from the son of the Yellow Flash. If you're this weak, then the Yellow Flash must be losing his touch."

Naruto snarled. "Don't you dare talk about my old man like that!" he exclaimed, making a hand sign. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said, making a large number of Shadow Clones and charging the clone with them, predictably getting knocked back, a number of them dispelling, hiding Naruto in the smoke briefly. Once it cleared, he tossed Sasuke a folded Demon Wind Shuriken.

Sasuke smirked and unfurled it, throwing it past the clone at Zabuza's real body.

"Smart kid. But not smart enough!" Zabuza said, catching the shuriken in his free hand, only to find a second shuriken flying at him. "A second shuriken in the shadow of the first! The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" he said, jumping over it to dodge, only to find and feel slash marks appear on his back, courtesy of Naruto. "How?"

Sakura smirked. The smoke from Naruto's Shadow Clones dispelling had been perfect cover for her to cast a genjutsu on Zabuza, making him think there were two shuriken, when in fact there was only one, and that Naruto wasn't coming up behind him to slash his back.

The sudden injury caused Zabuza to lose his grip on his jutsu, making the Water Prison fall apart, freeing Kakashi.

Naruto jumped back to his teammates, grinning. "Never underestimate a Namikaze, Zabuza."

Zabuza growled as his Water Clone charged at Naruto, aiming to cleave him in two.

Naruto grinned and stuck a knife in his teeth before raising his hand. "Beast Wave Gale Palm!" he said, forming a huge claw from his chakra, which destroyed the clone. He then put his knives away and ran through hand signs while Sasuke and Sakura ran through a different set of hand signs.

"Fire Style: Wildfire Tsunami!" they said together, Sasuke and Sakura breathing out a fireball each that combined, while Naruto used Wind Style: Great Breakthrough to make it larger and resemble a flaming tsunami.

Kakashi got away from it while Zabuza retreated further onto the water.

"Collaboration jutsu from fresh Genin?" Zabuza exclaimed as he ran through hand signs. "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" he exclaimed, sending a waterfall vortex at the fire. However, Naruto's wind jutsu made the fire strong enough to simply evaporate the water, though it was reduced in power by the time it reached Zabuza.

Tazuna was in awe. The three kids he thought were weak had just owned an A-class rogue ninja, and one of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen on the Mist no less.

"I think it's safe to say that I underestimated you kids," Zabuza said as the fire died down. He had escaped with his life, but was now sporting second degree burns all over his body, his face bandages burned away to reveal his face, and a mouth with triangle shaped teeth, similar to a shark. "You kids are going to be powerful. I can tell that much already."

"But you won't live to see it," Kakashi said. "This is your last battle, ever," he said as he drew a kunai. But before he could deal the killing blow, a couple of senbon found their way into Zabuza's neck, making him keel over, seeming to be dead.

"Thank you for weakening him. He's sent a number of my colleagues back in body bags," a young man who couldn't be much older than Naruto said, showing himself, a mask hiding his face, the symbol of the Mist Village on the forehead area.

"A Mist Village Tracker Ninja," Sakura said.

"This guy hunts rouge ninja?" Naruto asked. "He's my age."

"You are correct on both counts, Naruto Namikaze," the boy said. "It is an honor to meet three of the Leaf's clan heirs."

"How do you know we're clan heirs?" Sasuke asked.

The boy looked at Sasuke. "Your skill with Fire Style jutsu marked you as an Uchiha. The girl's pink hair, skill with genjutsu, and her skill with Fire jutsu mark her as a Haruno. And the blonde is skilled with Wind Style jutsu, and is also near identical to Minato Namikaze, the Leaf's current Hokage. So from that, I deduce that he is of the Namikaze clan. That and he identified himself earlier."

"Not bad," Kakashi said as the boy went over to Zabuza's body and picked it up, striking a suspicious chord with Sakura.

"Hold on a minute!" Sakura said. "Protocol states that upon killing a rouge ninja, the body is to be destroyed on the spot, not moved in the slightest. You only need the head for identification."

The boy was silent for a moment before leaving with the body before they could react.

"Dammit! He was saving Zabuza!" Naruto said.

"Looks more like he killed him," Tazuna said.

"He used senbon to pierce pressure points in Zabuza's neck, putting him in a death like state," Kakashi said as he covered his Sharingan. "But thanks to those burns, I'd say we have about two weeks before he attacks again. So we have time to prepare."

"That's good," Naruto said.

"Let's go," Kakashi said.

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"Tsunami, I'm home!" Tazuna called as they entered his house.

"Welcome home, father," Tsunami said as a little boy in a hat ran up to Tazuna, hugging him.

"Welcome back, grandpa!" the boy said happily before seeing Squad 7. "Who are they?"

"We're your grandpa's bodyguards," Naruto said. "We're gonna protect him while he finishes that bridge."

"Why bother? You're just going to die! Leave now while you can!" the boy exclaimed.

"Inari!" Tsunami scolded.

"It's true!" Inari exclaimed. "Anyone that stands up to Gato will die!"

Sasuke growled and picked Inari up by his collar. "You think you've got it bad, kid? You lost the closet thing you had to a father, sure, but you don't know what true suffering is! Imagine coming home one night to find that your entire family has been slaughtered! And that they were killed by one you trusted and looked up to... your own older brother!" he snapped, making Tsunami gasp and Inari's eyes widen. "That's exactly what happened to me! Six years ago my brother slaughtered our clan to test his own power! He didn't think I was worth killing, so he let me live. Compared to that, you have absolutely no right to complain! If you want things to change, then stop crying and do something about it! That's what I did. Instead of crying over it forever, I vowed to become more powerful, and one day kill Itachi and avenge my clan." With that, Sasuke dropped Inari and walked outside.

"Did that really happen to him?" Tsunami asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. He was a wreck for months, then he went all emo on us."

"I'd better go check on him," Kakashi said, following Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at the water as he sat on the edge of the porch.

"You okay?" Kakashi asked, sitting with him.

"Yeah. That kid is so pathetic, crying about the past. It doesn't help anything," Sasuke said with a sigh. "I think I understand now, the value of comrades."

"Oh?" Kakashi asked.

"When we were freeing you from that Water Prison, if I had tried to face him alone, I'd have been beaten. But with Naruto and Sakura's help, we defeated him," Sasuke said.

Kakashi eye smiled. "I'm glad you realize that now. So, that fire jutsu you three used, did you make that up?"

"Yeah, we just looked at each other and knew that we could pull it off," Sasuke said.

"Most shinobi take years to learn what you three discovered by instinct," Kakashi said, a small amount of pride trickling into his voice.

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Kakashi and his students stood in the woods behind Tazuna's house the next day.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we gonna be training in?" Naruto asked.

"You're going to learn to climb a tree without using your hands," Kakashi said, walking up a tree trunk and hanging from the bottom of a branch. "Focus your chakra to the bottom of your feet and use it to adhere to the tree. This will give you better chakra control. Use a kunai to score the bark at the highest point you reach each time."

"Right," the genin said, focusing their chakra and running at the trees, running up them. Each with different results: Sasuke got a few feet before being repelled, Naruto didn't adhere to begin with, and Sakura made it to the top on the first try.

"Well, now we know which of you has the best chakra control," Kakashi said. "And Naruto and Sasuke serve as examples. Too much chakra and you'll get blown off the surface. Too little and you won't adhere to begin with."

"Way to go, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning at his crush.

Sakura blushed at his praise. "T-Thanks, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blushed a bit. "She called me Naruto-kun!" he thought happily as he made a hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said, making ten clones. "Alright, get to work!" he said, the clones each getting a tree. "We'll beat Zabuza when he shows up again! No doubt about it!"

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Another chapter, done. Hope you enjoy it.