Chapter Three: Green Light A
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The young Uzumaki regaled his 'personal summon' with what had happened the previous night and what he had learned, proudly wearing his headband he had gotten from Iruka. His turmoil, visible to those who could read his body language, was apparent: over Mizuki's betrayal, finding out he was the "seal" the Yondaime had used against the Kyuubi, and of still not being told about his mother, let alone his father.
He knew that his mother had had friends, or at least acquaintances, from the same generation of his peers' parents, and that he got his family name from her. He had asked the Inuzuka matriarch a little bit, making sure to not ask too much or assume she knew everything, and had found out his mother's name: Kushina. Did other orphans feel this way, finding out the name of one of their parents: the warmth and swell of pride? He didn't know either way.
The brash clan head kept quiet talking about his father, though, and didn't reveal much more on his mother. He didn't ask around, though; besides "old man Hokage" and Tsume, he didn't know anyone else that could know any answers.
He was still recovering from Mizuki's betrayal, too.
It wasn't that he had liked Mizuki as a teacher, but…he thought he was one of those he could gain respect and acknowledgment from, like Iruka.
Naruto sighed heavily.
"Are you even listening to me?" He found himself face to face with an annoyed Sakanade. 'Crap, I was lost in my thoughts too much there!'
Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, the blonde Uzumaki apologized, "Sorry, 'nade, just a lot on my mind…"
"Yes, I know, Naruto. But are you really going to let this get you so 'down'? I haven't known you as long as your teacher and only about the same as your tutor, but you're not acting the same as usual," the lady mustelid made an odd expression.
"Sorry; I hate being sad or depressed, but with this…how can I not be more effected than usual? It isn't the whole 'my life's been an entire lie' thing, either. I spent years wondering why people gave me…gave me those looks and isolated me," she didn't like the look of fear and one akin to trauma that passed through his eyes.
He continued, though, "I know you're right, that 'this' isn't me, and the old man and Iruka know that, too. But…what am I supposed to feel and how am I supposed to feel it? I'm not saying I don't know emotions in general, but…even if I didn't like Mizuki-teme before this, I wanted his acknowledgment. I wanted to prove him wrong, like the rest, you know?"
"Sometimes there are people who won't be convinced, Naruto. And you were betrayed, that isn't something easily accepted, let alone forgotten or forgiven." Her tail, near ethereal as it was, swished back and forth; Naruto could never tell if this was the "dog-like happy tail wag" or "cat-like 'Do what I want or I will scratch you to death'" motion.
"As for what I was saying before you decided to imitate the Uchiha boy, I was going to tell you about the rest of my family," she paused, "Well, at least those of age to be summoned for what you need or want."
Naruto felt like an ass, "Sorry, sorry, 'nade. I heard a bit of what you said, didn't mean to tune you out…"
"Good boy," she grinned, needle-like teeth shining, "Now, let me tell you about my family, the Ashi-Magari. I already told you we're a bit smaller than when we last had a summoner, and you read a bit of our history among the humans of the Land of Iron I believe. We all specialize in misdirection, a bit of sabotage, and distraction-making."
"Yeah, I read that much in the scroll, 'nade…"
She raised a clawed paw, letting it glint in the mid-morning sun, quieting him, "I'm one of about a dozen that are 'battle-ready'. My specialty is in wind…" She caught his gaze, prompting.
"The five basic elements are wind, lightning, earth, fire, and water, they have a 'weak to, strong to' chain, like with water beating fire and fire beating wind. Some clans have a unique kekkei genkai that lets them have extreme control over one of these elements, or a sub-element, like the Senju's Mokuton." Give the boy a ramen bowl, he remembered that part.
"Very good; right now, I'm the only one with a wind affinity. Some don't have an affinity for an element at all, but most have one in fire or lightning," she had his attention, mainly because she knew he was impatiently waiting to learn elemental jutsu, and affinities helped greatly.
"My family is run similar to some of the other summons' clans, but with the passage of time…we're lower on numbers than the more prominent ones, like the more famous Toads, now. At the moment, there's a bit of a resurgence of strength due having a summoner again," she grinned a bit as she let the blonde draw his own conclusions from that. His expressions were priceless.
"My uncle Kajunsa is the current leader, though my grandfather Oukan and grandmother Youhou are the 'working' advisors."
"Are your grandparents the oldest of your family, 'nade?"
"Yes, they are, Naruto; in fact, I'd say my grandfather will return to leadership for a while. My uncle was the decided successor to him: needs more field experience, but has a better grasp of recent events. Grandfather and grandmother know up to your Sandaime's early years as Hokage, but are taking time to readjust."
"So…should I summon others of your family to gather more information, 'nade? I know I have enough chakra to sustain at least two…"
"That was exactly what I was thinking, yes. Now, the one you want to summon is my cousin Hogoshoku; he's the currently appointed 'courier' right now, and arguably the best defensive fighter of us all, only surpassed by grandfather Oukan…"
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"So his summons' are wanting to reconnect with the Land of Iron, Hokage-sama? Are you sure that that's wise?" questioned the still masked ANBU member, the porcelain marked like a cat's face in red and green.
"Mifune still retains his neutrality, to be sure, but summons are used as messengers quite often, and if Naruto is able to gain connections there, all the better; neutral allies are better than none."
"Agreed, Hokage-sama."
Seated unnervingly regally in front of the Third's desk, right next to the masked shinobi, Naruto's future teacher Dawon stared into the glass orb with a quirked eyebrow. Her dark green hair and yellow eyes were highly unusual outside of lands like Kusa, but her Konoha headband, hanging from her neck on a dark grey band, was obvious, standing out from her mostly forest-suited garb.
"I see you haven't changed in clothing choice, Dawon; mostly greens and browns, but a splash of orange, hm?"
"Better than what the kid's wearing right now, Sarutobi-sama. Kami know I'm going to get him a set of clothes more suitable for ninja," the tiger summoner commented, "Not that he'll mind; I'm not going to get rid of all the orange. It's my favorite color, too!"
"You know moderation on such things, something Naruto-kun lacks in a few areas," a short puff of smoke, "Now…I trust I don't need to inform you of Naruto-kun's status, Dowan? Or correct any misgivings or hatred therein?"
"I'm not a civilian, Sarutobi-sama, and I know seals well enough to know, cliché as this sounds, the difference between the scroll and the kunai. He's an Uzumaki, too, and I know who the first Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was. I wasn't raised to be a fool."
"Good. You will be working in tandem with at least 'Yamato' here," gesturing to the ANBU, "to train Naruto-kun to the best of your abilities so that he can prosper as a ninja of Konoha. 'Yamato' will work with you, but you will be his main instructing jounin."
"I take that as permission to remove my mask, then, Hokage-sama?" With a nod, he did so. "Has there been a decision made on the three-man genin team situation? I understand that there will be some discontent."
"I have discussed it with my advisors, but have not yet told the clan heads or the instructors, which is as it should be. While some discontent may arise, I am certain that things will work out. If nothing else, I can modify the three-man system for this group and see how it turns out in their first chunin exam."
The two in front of him nodded, with Dawon speaking up, "So, who will Uzumaki end up on a team with if this doesn't work out?"
"We'll all see how things go before I make that decision, Dawon. He is one of two that are having special instruction like this, and I have made arrangements so that, if push comes to shove, both will have a team: the same or different ones will be decided then."
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"Oi, Naruto, before the banshees start shrieking, how'd you pass?" Kiba questioned the blonde as the freshly minted genin began to file into the room at their own pace. All the children from prominent clans had gotten their headbands, "And what happened yesterday? Hana-nee said you got into trouble with Konohamaru's tutor."
"Eh, I was able to make up the Bunshin jutsu by learning another type of it; apparently my reserves are too much to make a regular one, even if I learned some of the most complicated, and boring, chakra control exercises." This was the cover story he was ordered to explain, Mizuki's betrayal would be aired out within the week, but no mention of Naruto's involvement would be given to civilians or his peers.
"As for Konohamaru…let's just say he was sick and tired of his sensei being a suck-up to the old man and wanted me to teach him a jutsu or two." He made sure to leave out that it was his Oiroke jutsu; the Inuzuka matriarch and her daughter would rip him a new one if they found out about that part of it.
"Hn. Sounds like the sort of tutor I'd hate to have." Sasuke commented.
"Eh, dad has me train with him or one of my uncles or cousins," Chouji spoke up, "Not really tutoring, though."
Timidly Hinata gave her own thoughts on the subject, "I-I have had some tutoring, but my tutor had to leave on a mission last year and hasn't been able to continue it with me."
Ami, one of the non-clan children who had graduated, pouted, "Darn, all of you getting some clan training by experienced ninja. The only sort of 'special training' I've got has been with Suzume-sensei when my taijutsu and weapons' scores were dipping low." The others from clans of lesser to no renown nodded a bit at that.
"Eh, don't worry about it, Ami; I barely scraped by on the written test. The dates were killer," Naruto voiced.
A few snickers broke out, but Ami shrugged, slumping over like Shikamaru, who was snoring next to Chouji.
The peace and chatter died when Ino and Sakura ran into the room and unleashed their own special brand of drama.
Minutes later, in which said drama was loud and painful to those with working ears, sensitive or not, led to Naruto nearly kissing Ami from another student's nudge, and Sasuke's scowl deepening from annoyance and the "banshees".
Iruka's arrival heralded an end to it within seconds, though not before Ami threatened the blonde in orange with no less than seven kidney punches if he did end up kissing her.
"Alright, all of you sit down and shut up," a few noticed the bandages under his vest, "Shikamaru, wake up or I will send you to your mother!" The lazy genius groaned in annoyance, but did as told.
The chunin instructor coughed, "Now that I see all graduates are here and paying attention; I would like to formally and informally congratulate all of you for passing the genin exam. It has been an honor to teach all of you, and I wish you luck in any and all fields you pursue to serve your Hokage, your village and homeland, and comrades."
"I compiled all of your records from the Academy and all additional notes and handed them in to the Hokage and his advisors. Copies are being handed out to your jounin instructors as I speak. Teams were hand-picked by the Hokage himself with this information in mind. No matter if you are from a clan, "greater" or "lesser", or a civilian family or orphan, he and I have made sure to keep your best interests in mind in these decisions."
He made sure to catch their eyes with these words; they were important to him, now more than ever, "Moving on to the teams…"
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"So you're Dawon of the tiger summons? I had heard you arrived yesterday to be one of the instructors, but not much else," Yuhi Kurenai smiled politely, "Nice to meet you."
"The same to you, Yuhi-san," a pause, "Weren't you tutoring the Kurama girl? Sarutobi-sama mentioned it when he debriefed me."
The black-haired woman nodded, turning away, "Yes, I was, but Hokage-sama decided to pull me off of that position when the girl's health took a dive; right now it's better than she receive help from the medics and Yamanaka specialists."
"Eh, don't worry about it, 'nai-chan. Yakumo was a really nice girl; a bit overly polite, though." Anko snacked on her dango as the assorted jounin instructors watched the team selections. Kurenai twitched a bit at that comment, but let it go.
"The big surprise is Kakashi-senpai arriving early for this," commented Yamato. The others knew him in passing as a junior ANBU to the chronically late scarecrow, but he and Anko seemed to act like old companions, despite his stoicism.
"…Hokage-sama has his methods," pouted the man in question.
"Are they going to hurry up on calling names?" A tall, orange-haired man leaning against the wall of the room spoke up, "The sooner I get to teaching, the sooner I can get back to missions."
Asuma rubbed his temples, "Patience is a virtue, Banto; I would have thought Shimura-san would have that drilled into your head by now."
"I'm not like the others, Sarutobi; that much should be obvious," he waved his amputated, copper-covered forearm, "Not asking it out of impatience. Just a bit bored; I got called back from a good mission on the border with Earth. I even got to gamble a bit with some of Iwa's Explosion Corps members." His grin reminded them of Ibiki on an average day in T&I.
"…I'm sure I don't want to know, but at least the Earth-Fire border is doing well. Water seems to be the only one of the Five that we are having issues with right now." Kakashi noted, "The other lands have had some bandits and missing-nin run around a bit too much, though."
"Mist is still dealing with the fall-out from the abandonment of the Seven Swordsmen; last I heard only two or three are still active as Kiri-nin. We can't get any more information, but it does look like the civil war is continuing, even after the assassination attempt on the Mizukage and his unexplained disappearance. The animosity and distrust against kekkei genkai still lingers throughout the entire Land of Water," Aoba added.
"I've heard rumors and rumors of rumors that we would be allying with the rebel faction if it broke out into a Fourth Shinobi War," voiced Raidou, adding "I ran a mission to the Land of Tea last month," to explain himself. That got him a look from Anko.
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"Team Seven will be: Haruno Sakura," she perked up, "Hibachi," she slumped in her seat with a mutter and the bandana-wearing boy groaned ,"and Unagi," the two boys shared a fist-bump, "; your instructor will be Gekkou Hayate."
"Team Eight will be: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata; your instructor will be Yuhi Kurenai. Team Nine is still on the roster, as was Team One, so Team Ten will be: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji," the two boys looked over at their pale-blonde friend in an almost long-suffering way, "; your instructor will be Sarutobi Asuma." The Nara heir had a contemplative look at that name-drop.
Two more teams were called, before the only ones not on a team were Sasuke and Naruto, and everyone had their thoughts on this. "Due to the odd number of graduates, and Hokage-sama's choice on this matter, Uchiha Sasuke will be instructed by Banto," no one recognized the name, "and," now the class was attentive, "Hatake Kakashi."
Iruka continued without letting any of them speak up, "Uzumaki Naruto will be instructed by Dawon," another name that none of them recognized, "and Yamato." Having two unknown instructors, and only a single name for each, the blonde gave had a confused and excited expression cycling.
"Wait, why do they get two jounin instructors, Iruka-sensei?" Ami piped up. "I know Sasuke-kun," thank kami the girl was the least annoying fan-girl, "and Naruto did really well with their tutors, but why this?"
"If I knew, Ami, I don't know if I could tell you; as it is, this is Hokage-sama's decision." Discontent sparked a bit among the gathered genin, "However, I can say this: there is the chance you all will be working with them on missions, and the second instructor is short-term for both of them."
He clapped with an odd smile, "Now, this is your first unofficial mission, and an order from a superior officer: gather together in your teams and wait on your instructors." He turned to look between Naruto and Sasuke, "For you two…Naruto, be prepared for a shopping trip. Sasuke, try to not mouth off to either of your instructors."
With a grin that only Naruto had seen him use before, and which the class thought was too much like one of the blonde's, he gave a short salute at the doorway - they hadn't even seen him move - "Bye now."
Awkward silence reigned before the members of Team Eight moved to be seated next to each other, which started the domino effect of the others following suite.
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"Well that was anti-climatic," whined Anko.
"There wasn't any blood, of course you would find it boring, Anko," Kurenai resisted the urge to face-palm.
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A.N.: I'm sort of "just" "going with the flow" on this chapter. Wasn't planning on cutting off here, but I want to keep chapters to a consistent length: both for you all, the readers, and for myself.
Thanks to chrnno again for beta- and proofreading. Hope you all enjoy; leave a review if you'd like, I certainly appreciate them.
A few name definitions...
"Oukan" - traffic, coming and going; crown, diadem; bottle cap; the last translation made me laugh, and pretty much cemented my choice on it.
"Youhou" - directions, rules of use; "Kajunsa" - trouble or troubled police, and "Hogoshoku" - protective coloring.