Circle of Leaves

Chapter Three

Naruto sat at his desk reading over the reports that the new Jonin squad leaders handed him, 'this class has more potential than mine did,' he thought to himself as he leafed through the accounts of the testing.

Now it is true that as Hokage his really shouldn't play favorites, but he couldn't help but be more than just a little pleased at the out come of two teams in particular, teams eight and nine, had no chance at failing the final test, and it put an even bigger grin on his face when he heard of his son taking charge and leading his team.

His daughter had done the same thing, but that was expected from her, she was always like that. But to hear that his son had done so was a great feeling. 'That kid, oddly enough, models himself after the laziest ninja in this village. If he wasn't mine I'd swear that that he was a Nara.'

Naruto had an idea in mind for a gift for his children upon their success in joining the rank of genin and being recognized as shinobi of the leaf. His day dragged by as he was looking forward to it himself, it would be quite a surprise for them.

His day was soon over and he changed out of his robes before leaving the office. Donning his long orange and black overcoat, that was styled after this father's old cloak. But where the Forth had worn a cloak that was mostly white with an orange flame design along the edge, Naruto's was a dark orange, with black flame along the edges.

When Hinata had made it for him, while he did love that she did it, was still apprehensive of dressing in it. He had grown out of his orange phase a long time ago, when he saw all of his friend's points, it was not the most tactical color he could wear.

Hinata had told him that, while it was true this cloak was not suitable for missions (not that he did that anymore) or diplomatic meetings, it was perfectly fine to wear around the village. Besides she liked seeing him in that color, it just suited him.

As he walked the street he noticed the difference from the kind of looks he would get thirty years ago. When he was a child the villagers, with a few exceptions, would give him hate filled looks or turn their backs on him, some would even be openly hostile to him.

Now it was completely different, he was no longer the container for a demon. He was someone who was willing to give his life to protect this village and its people. It had been a long hard road but he was finally, truly accepted.

He would get friendly and respectful greetings from the villagers old and young alike. The women of the village would glace, flirtatiously at him, even when he was with his wife. Naruto had wondered how his father had dealt with it. From stories that Kakashi and Jiriaya had told him, the forth was the envy of many men in the village and the desire of many women. Jiriaya had, many times, expressed his jealousy at his former student's status.

They had also said what his mother was like in those cases. Kakashi had once equated Naruto's mother to Hinata, kind hearted and gentle, but very protective of her own. Naruto had seen the look that entered Hinata's eyes when women where being too forward.

All the same Naruto kept the same smile on his face as he walked the street. While it was obvious that any other woman had no chance, he had decided that he didn't have to be a jerk about it like the teme was when they where still in school.

Naruto reached his destination, a weapon shop owned and operated by a retired shinobi, the owner's daughter was also a good friend of his wife's. But the fact that this was Tenten's family's shop was not the reason that Naruto remained loyal to them. They had the best equipment and where the only weapons shop that did not throw him on his ass when he was a struggling Genin.

The bells on the door jingled as Naruto entered, the clerk at the counter looked up from his book keeping and smiled. He stood and bowed respectfully, "Hokage-sama, welcome."

Naruto nodded his head back to the man, "hello, I'm hoping that my order is ready."

The owner of the shop appeared from behind some curtains and entered the shop area from the back room. Seeing Naruto there, "Naruto-sama, please come back here. Your order is just about ready, one final thing to do and I obviously cannot do it."

"Right," Naruto said and made his way to the back room. "Right you are Yoroi-san."

It was hot back there. The fire in the Smiths stove was roaring, that coupled with the cramped feeling of the cluttered room made the room itself like an oven.

Wiping sweat already forming from his face Naruto remarked, "I will never get how you can stand this all day long."

The older man chuckled, "I hardly notice it any more. I've been enjoying this type of work for years now, besides someone has to keep the blades of Konaha sharp."

"Yeah, I guess so." Naruto looked around and spotted a familiar sword propped up on the rack, "that's Sasuke's sword," Naruto said eyeing the white and black wooden sheath.

"Yes," the older man replied. "And a fine blade it is, the chakra enhanced metal used should have made it last a life time. I can only guess that the amount of times Uchiha Sasuke runs an electric current down the blade, it has weakened. But by the time I'm done with it, it will never fail him. Still your order is in my office, we can finish it up there."

They made there way into a drastically cooler room in the far back of the shop. On the table of the office were two small boxes, Naruto removed the lid from one of them to reveal a tri-pronged kunai. These where different from the ones that he normally carries.

"Made from the same type of medal as the Uchihas sword, and the late Sarutobi Asumas blades." The owner said, "I hardened these to withstand quite a beating."

"Hopefully it won't need it," Naruto said as he lifted one from its container. He saw that the blades on the prongs were curved almost as though they were wings, half folded around either side of the main blade.

"That adds to the momentum and force of the throw," said the old smith, "your father's original design was good, but the wings actually cause some resistance on that type."

"Yeah that's true, those kunai seem to have a whole different flight than a normal one." Naruto remarked turning the blade over in his hand to see the inscribed initials of U.M. in the blade.

"These however, where Tenten's idea, she got the idea after seeing one of yours. She figured that if it where molded like this the outer blades would add a spin to it, increasing the range and damage that could be done." The man said, "I haven't been making them like that because if normal metal is used the thin 'wings' are more susceptible to breaking. A strong enhanced metal is needed for durability, but that type of metal is far too expensive for a regular kunai that literally gets thrown away."

"Really impressive, you have out done your self this time Yoroi-san. But you always make the best." Naruto said. "And the price doesn't matter, nothing is too good for them."

"Yes, I completely agree," smiled the old man. "Nothing but the very best there can be for our children, would be acceptable."

Naruto then got to work on the modified seal, he removed the wrapping from the handle of the knives and etched the design into the metal with his finger glowing with chakra. Once the seal was completed he bit into his thumb and spread a bit of his own blood over it. The seal glowed brightly for a moment before fading back into the black of the metal. "There, the next person to channel some of there chakra into the seal will be recognized as the only one who can use this Kunai effectively."

The handles were rewrapped tightly and the knives placed back into their respective containers. The clerk and the older man bade him good-bye after Naruto paid for the items, "if you need anything else, Naruto-sama, please don't hesitate to ask." said Yoroi.

"Absolutely, I'll let you know." He replied, "Eventually I will need another one made like this, in a few years anyway."

Naruto made his way home and entered the house to find his family, and others, in the main sitting room. Hinata was gushing over her clearly embarrassed children while the new teammates of the kids looked on with various expressions from neutral to slightly embarrassed themselves.

"Mom, please stop," muttered Minato. "We are not kids anymore, we are shinobi of the leaf now."

Naruto smirked at the sight and cleared his throat loudly. The other new Genin that seemed to have been invited over all jumped up and greeted him with a bow, "hello Hokage-sama," they seemed to say in unison, as though practiced.

The small blonde boy ran over and jumped up at his father, "hi daddy," and noticing the two boxes in the older blondes hand, "did you bring me anything?"

Naruto chuckled slightly at Jiriayas antics, the boy has been taught by his mother's side of the family in etiquette yet he still is too much like Naruto, at least for his grand-fathers taste. "No sorry this is not for you, yet anyway, though someday you will be getting something like this as well."

He put the six year old down and turned to the new shinobi, "well firstly I want to congratulate you all on your passing the exams, you all have do very well."

Minato and Hana looked slightly embarrassed still, but the other four young genin bowed again and thanked him.

Naruto walked over to his twins and said, "I have something for the two of you, something that I have been waiting to give you for a while now."

They opened the boxes that he handed them and each pulled out a single kunai, Hana was looking her Kunai over, "it's kinda like one of yours, daddy but still it's not."

"Well it's a modified version to it," Naruto explained. "I want you two to make sure that you have the one that is meant for you, your initials should be engraved on the one you hold." The twins looked the blades over and confirmed that they did have their initials on them. "Good now channel a bit of chakra into them."

The kunai both started to glow blue for a moment and then turned back to black again, "What was that?" asked Minato.

"You just activated the seals on them," Naruto responded. "These Kunai can now only be used by you for that technique. Be very careful with them and use only as a last resort. You are shinobi now and you should be able to handle anything that comes your way. But you will be starting missions tomorrow, and there might be a time when you have to use it, though I hope not."

"Thank you father," the two said as one.

Their younger brother was looking at the blades with envious eyes, turning to his father with a pout on his face, "when can I get one of those?"

Naruto smiled gently at his youngest, "not until you graduate, Jiriaya, just like them."

When the night was done and the other genin left for home, Naruto was laying in bed with Hinata resting her head on his chest, "you know Naruto-kun I hope that they never have to use those gifts of yours."

"Me too, Hinata-chan, just as I hope you never have to use the one I gave you."

She sighed, "it's just they grew up so quickly and now they are genin, about to take on possibly dangerous missions."

"We knew that it would happen, Hinata-chan," he said running his fingers through her hair. Naruto then gently moved her head to look in her eyes, and with a grin said, "Hopefully they won't hate me for the kind of missions that they will be taking for a while."

Authors note: please review this story, every review helps. so remember like most writers i am a review junkie. Till nextime, later