Naruto and Sasuke charged each other as the entire class watched them fight. Everyone knew they were the best in the class and while they sparred multiple times they had never officially beaten each other so this was the first time they could fight like they wanted.
All the girls screamed for the two boys to do their best. Sasuke threw out a punch to Naruto, but the blonde blocked it and sent a kick to Sasuke's side. The Uchiha quickly countered as he grabbed Naruto's foot, but not before giving a small grin.
"You've got to try harder loser," Sasuke said and Naruto chuckled at him.
"Come on Teme you know me. I like to warm up before I have some fun," Naruto said as he used his free leg to jump into the air. He quickly twisted his body causing his trapped leg to get free from Sasuke's grip while the Uchiha backflipped and took out a shuriken. Naruto smirked as he took out both of his kodachi. Sasuke threw the shuriken before going through a single handsign.
"Kage Shuriken Jutsu," Sasuke yelled as he sent the multiple waves of cloned shuriken at Naruto. The blonde quickly maneuvered through the countless shuriken as he weaved his handsigns. Sasuke was ready for anything as Naruto charged him. The Uchiha quickly went through his own handsigns as Iruka and Mizuki saw the tiger seal. They moved the children back a bit before Sasuke yelled.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu," the brunette yelled sending a fireball at Naruto. The fire was a controlled one that didn't go out past the mat, but that left Naruto inside while Sasuke chuckled.
"How is that loser?" Sasuke asked before he saw the fires dissipate. He gasped when he Naruto come out with half his shirt burned off giving the girls an amazing view as they all 'Kyaaaa-ed' over his body. Naruto wiped his brow from his sweat and chuckled.
"Not bad Sasuke-chan, but I think you underestimated me," Naruto said as he finished his handsigns and slammed the ground.
"Ninpo: Shin no Otoshiana," Naruto yelled as the ground beneath Sasuke crumbled. The Uchiha gasped as he felt down a sudden hole in the ground. Naruto chuckled as he heard Sasuke curse as he clung to the outer reaches of the hole. He looked down and saw multiple kunai at the bottom and narrowed his eyes.
"Alright loser. Two can play at that game," Sasuke said as he climbed out, but before he could get out he saw a swirl of leaves appear around him. He saw Naruto disappear and before long the Uchiha was suddenly sinking into the floor. He gasped and tried to get free, but it was like some type of living thing as it started to swallow him up. Sasuke cursed before he saw Naruto slowly come out of the floor with one of his kodachi in his hands.
"Say your prays Teme," Naruto told him as he lunged forward. Sasuke closed his eyes, but nothing ever came. He opened his eyes to see himself on the floor with Naruto smiling at him.
"I win Sasuke. Isn't genjutsu a wonderful thing?" Naruto asked as Sasuke widened his eyes.
"Genjutsu?" Sasuke asked and Naruto nodded. The Uchiha had been in a genjutsu ever since he threw that first kunai at Naruto. Sasuke growled as Iruka nodded.
"Winner of the fight, Naruto Yuhi-Uzumaki," Iruka said and the Naruto Yuhi-Uzumaki fangirls cheered for the blonde while Sasuke's fangirls consoled him. Naruto held out his hand and Sasuke took it as the Uchiha stood to his feet.
"Not bad loser. Don't think this settles anything. One day we're going to fight without limits or instructors. By the way, what was that genjutsu you used?" Sasuke asked and Naruto chuckled. It was a small D-rank genjutsu Kurenai taught him during his training.
"It's called Genjutsu: Chinbotsu Shita Akumu(Illusion: Sunken Nightmare Trap)," Naruto said and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"A simple D-rank that Kaa-san taught me. Looks like it worked well. I guess my chakra control is as good as Kaa-san said it was," Naruto said mentally thankful that Kurenai taught him the strictest chakra control methods so he could be taught her techniques.
"Well that was a good fight, both of you and it only took you about 10 to 15 minutes. A good time. Now then who's next?" Iruka asked while Naruto and Sasuke sat down.
It didn't take long for everyone to finish their parts mostly because no one had gone all the way to thirty full minutes. In fact the longest fight of them all was Naruto and Sasuke's fight. They might have used the entire thirty minutes if they could have used more higher ranked techniques, but that was beside the point.
Soon in about 3 or 4 hours, everyone had their turns and quickly proceeded to the test site for the shuriken and kunai target practice which was relatively easy for a select few of people. Naruto had easily gotten a 10 out of 10 and the same could be said for Sasuke. No one else got that perfect and everyone was around 7 going down to 4. The entire class had gone and now they were all back in the classroom waiting for their names to be announced.
"So Sasuke it's agreed. You're treating us all to ramen when we leave," Naruto said Sasuke grumbled, but he nodded while the blonde sent a thumbs up to his other friends.
"Still I didn't know that you could use genjutsu," Kiba said and Naruto chuckled.
"Really? My Kaa-chan is the is the Genjutsu Mistress and she trains me so you didn't think that she might teach me some genjutsu tricks?" Naruto asked while Kiba rubbed the back of his head.
"I guess you've got a point there," the Inuzuka said and Naruto nodded.
"Naruto Yuhi-Uzumaki!" an instructor said and the blonde walked out waving to his friends. Everyone waved back as Naruto walked through the halls. He came up to the room Iruka and Mizuki were in the room together.
"Congratulations Naruto, you've passed with a perfect score and as such you are the Rookie of the Year. Here is your headband," Iruka said handing the blonde a black Konoha headband instead of the standard blue that most came in. The Konoha symbol was engraved in a fine metal over the headband showing the exquisite metal. Naruto bowed with a small smile on his face.
"Thank you Iruka-sense, Mizuki-sensei. I'm gonna make you proud dattebayo," Naruto said leaving the room. Iruka chuckled along with Mizuki, but the latter mentally growled at Naruto for passing his exams.
"Dammit now I can get him to get the Scroll of Sealing. Oh whatever I'll just get it myself," Mizuki said in thought as a small smile came across his face which confused Iruka sightly. Nonetheless he was happy that Naruto had passed. The blonde came a long way from being a child.
A few hours later, Council Room
Sarutobi and the shinobi part of his council came together while the Sandaime Hokage pulled out a sheet of paper.
"I've received this year's genin hopefuls from Iruka. It seems we have a good pick this time," Sarutobi said and everyone nodded. They all waited for Sarutobi to announce the names and the old Hokage did just that. He said everyone name who passed, but everyone was only really interested in their kids and specifically Naruto for some reason.
"So Kurenai's kid became the Rookie of the Year huh?" Tsume said and Mikoto chuckled.
"Well what do you expect? He and Sasuke have been the best students for the past four years. It's not that shocking," Mikoto replied. Everyone seemed to agree with her while Sarutobi smoked his pipe.
"So what are the teams for this year?" Sarutobi asked as everyone looked over the list.
"Well it seems that Shikamaru and Kiba were the lowest, but I know my son and he's always been a slacker. Should we do the Ino-Shika-Cho trio as always?" Shikaku asked while Inoichi and Chouza thought it over.
"Maybe, but what if we paired the two top male students with the highest female student?" Chouza said, but Shibi shook his head.
"That is an illogical choice. That team would be too strong and we always want balance between our genin. So we always paired the highest scorer with the lowest scorer along with the highest female scorer and it should stay that way," Shibi said and everyone nodded in agreement with him.
"So what are we going to do?" Tsume asked before Hiashi stood to his feet and looked at the paper. After looking it for a feet minutes the Hyuuga gave everyone else a stern look.
"I suggest that we go with this plan," Hiashi said as everyone widened their eyes. It was a strange plan, but everyone didn't seem to mind it at all.
With Naruto
Everyone sighed as they patted their stomach while Sasuke sweatdropped at his wallet. He just lost like a month's worth of allowance treating everyone.
"That was so good," Chouji said while Kiba grinned.
"Food always tastes better when someone else is paying for it," the Inuzuka said making everyone else nod in agreement with him.
Naruto sighed in contempt before walking off.
"Well guys I'm going to go. Kaa-chan wants me to clean up the place while she's gone. I'll see you all tomorrow for team placement," The blonde said and everyone nodded waving goodbye before running off in their separate directions.
Naruto opened his jacket as he saw Mikata curled into the usual ball near his stomach. The blonde grinned as he walked up the stairs to his home and fished in his pocket for his keys. He managed to find them and quickly opened the door. Naruto got inside and saw that the place was vacant. He also saw the note on the wall reminding him of his chores so the blonde quickly got out of his clothes and laid them on his bed room. It was then that Mikata slithered out of his jacket and onto the floor. She leaned up in an upright position.
"Got choresssss?" She asked and Naruto nodded walking around the room while Mikata followed him.
"Yeah, but it won't take long. You can take a nap if you want," Naruto said as he dispelled Mikata's henge. The snake poofed and quickly grew another four inches. Naruto had used the henge technique for Mikata since she said that she would continue to get bigger throughout her life when Naruto asked her why many other snakes weren't big she simply said there isn't enough food for that and they simply don't wish to be that big, but she said that she would grow at least four or five inches every month which made Naruto wonder how large she would actually get, but that was for later.
Naruto quickly summoned two clones to help him with his chores. He quickly washed the dishes, swept the floor, and wiped off the counters. He also dusted off the table and some of the shelves. It was a slightly taxing job, but the blonde didn't seem to mind in the least.
It took Naruto about an hour or two, but he was finished with everything and was currently in his room looking over a scroll that Kurenai had given him to read while she was gone. She said she had a mission to do so she wouldn't be back till later. Naruto looked over the scroll and saw it was for some C-ranked genjutsu tricks that Kurenai had come up with and perfected during her life. The scroll was categorized from D-ranks up to A-ranks. Naruto decided to start on the D-ranks and C-ranks so as not to get overwhelmed by anything. He read through the scroll for a bit before he saw something creeping on the ground. Naruto narrowed his eyes and saw a small rat on the floor. He knew his mother hated rats and the sort so she was happy that Mikata was around. The place didn't actually have rats and mice as a problem, but on the occasion that it did then Mikata was more than happy to have her dinner. Naruto sighed while he didn't even look from his scroll, but gave a hidden smirk.
"Mikata, dinner!" Naruto yelled and immediately Mikata slithered into the room. One thing about her is that she was a relatively fast snake. She was probably the second fastest snake of her kind.
Mikata noticed the rat and forked her tongue. She then proceeded to slither under the bed where it was dark so it would camouflage her black skin. Mikata snickered while she forked her tongue out again.
"Thank you Naruto-sama," Mikata said while Naruto continued to read his scroll. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Mikata lunge for the snake and bit it sinking her venomous fangs into its skin. She slowly devoured the rat while Naruto chuckled making her turn around.
"You really do love rats and that stuff don't you?" Naruto asked and Mikata simply settled for staring at her blonde partner.
"What? I'm a snake. I love these things," Mikata said with her mouth slightly full. Naruto shook his head at her and simply continued to read while Mikata began the slow process of eating the rat.
Later
Kurenai sighed as she came through the door. Her latest mission was a big pain in the ass. Damn stupid Daimyou and his complaining, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was a jonin and so there were things like this. She was about to complain, but then she saw the room and smiled when she saw how neat it looked. She was glad that Naruto followed her instructions on his chores. He was her son after all so why wouldn't he listen to them?
Speaking of her blonde son, Kurenai looked around for Naruto and opened the door to his room. She lightly smiled when she saw Naruto sleeping while her scroll was next to him and Mikata was coiled up on his stomach. Kurenai closed the door to let him sleep, but she didn't know she closed it a little hard waking up the blonde.
Naruto yawned and opened his eyes. He had taken a rather long nap after going through his mother's scroll. He had been practicing them for a while before taking a break which went into the night. Naruto got to his feet and gently placed Mikata on the bed. He opened the door to his room and saw his mother on the couch.
"Hey Kaa-chan you're home," Naruto said making Kurenai turn around.
"Hey Naruto-kun, did I wake you up?" Kurenai asked and Naruto shook his head even though she kind of did, but he had to wake up anyway.
"No I just came to get some water and go back to bed. Oh Kaa-chan I passed the genin exams and I was named the Rookie of the Year," Naruto said and Kurenai stood to her feet. She patted her son's head before giving him a hug.
"That's great Naruto-kun. I knew you could do it. I also know that tomorrow is when your senseis are assigned to you. I also took up the job even though I'm a little new to it. So did anything happen today?" Kurenai asked taking a small sip of some tea she brewed.
"Nothing really. I was just studying the day away. Well I'm gonna go to bed Kaa-san. See you tomorrow," Naruto said to her. Kurenai nodded as she watched her son leave the room with a cup of water and go back into his room.
"I still wonder about this idea that Sarutobi-sama has for them. I hope Naruto's up for it," Kurenai said to herself before she got up and was ready to go to bed also.
Next Morning
Kurenai and Naruto were currently walking towards the Academy. They were going their for Naruto's team placement and Kurenai's team selection. Both walked into the academy with Kurenai telling Naruto to go inside and she would be with the other jonin in another room. Naruto understood her and walked inside. He saw all his friends and he saw the other kids chatting amongst themselves before the girls laid their eyes on the blonde and blushed while Naruto sighed. He sat in his original seat behind Sasuke.
"So who do you guys think will be on your team?" Naruto asked resting his head on the table. Everyone wasn't sure how to answer him since no one really had anything in mind. They all simply shrugged their shoulders while Naruto glared at Sasuke.
"Well I hope you aren't on my team. How would I know that I can kick your ass if I stay near you the whole time?" Naruto wondered while Sasuke merely snickered and leaned back in his chair.
"Whatever loser. If I'm was with you then I would leave you in the dust," Sasuke said and Naruto rolled his eyes before chuckling softly as everyone saw Iruka come into the room.
"Sorry I'm late everyone. I have some grave news. It seems that Mizuki tried to steal the Scroll of Sealing and leave the village with it. I just want to remind you all about the pressures of being shinobi. Learn from your success and your failures. This will make you fine shinobi," Iruka started while making a little speech which Naruto slightly missed.
"Now then it's time for everyone to be given their jonin sensei. Team one will consist of-," Iruka began while Naruto talked with Mikata about somethings just along the line of techniques they could use together.
"Team seven will consists of Kiba Inuzuka, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake," Iruka said and Sasuke smirked. He didn't mind it at all. He rather welcomed it. It would give him the chance to see how good he could do without his mother or Naruto around.
"Next Team eight will consist of Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Yuhi-Uzumaki. Your team is a bit of a special case so your sensei will be Anko Mitarashi," Iruka said and Naruto raised an eyebrow. Anko was supposed to be a tokubetsu jonin. She shouldn't be able to do this.
"Team nine is still in circulation so I will move on to team ten which will consist of Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi and Shino Aburame. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi," Asuma said while Sakura cheered for getting to be with Sasuke making some of the girls scowl at her.
Having assigned everyone their teams, everyone waited for their respective sensei to come in, but Naruto and his friends watched the other kids leave with their sensei, but they senseis were at least one hour late.
"Man what's taking them so long?" Kiba asked gritting his teeth making everyone nod.
"M-Maybe some trouble came up," Hinata said while the nine waited for their senseis to arrive. It was then that the door opened to show Mikoto in the room.
"Kaa-san why are you hear?" Sasuke asked a little confused before Mikoto smiled. She leaned on the wall leaving Sasuke's question hanging in the air and before long everyone's senseis came into the room.
"Alright hello everyone. We are your jonin sensei and we'll be looking after you, but before we begin we have a special order from Hokage-sama. You see he believes that there is a condition for you nine. From now one we aren't you aren't separate teams, but all one big team," Mikoto said and making Naruto and his friends raise their eyebrows.
"What do you mean we're all one big team? What about the other kids?" Kiba asked and Mikoto explained.
"Well recently Hokage-sama has started a small plan of action. It was announced to all jonin sensei yesterday. It's called a genin scramble. We take the clan heirs and the people who scored the highest on the exams to be selected. Now then what is the genin scramble you ask?" Mikoto said as she was about to answer their questions.
"What happens is that you all are going to be scrambled every one month with the jonin. It will create trust between all of you . Please understand that this is a new arrangement and the other genin don't know about it at all. However in the interest of other things you will also be scrambled with Team Nine. They have been informed of this as well. If this goes well then we will be able to do this in the future," Mikoto said before Shikamaru raised his hand.
"So what you're saying is that Hokage-sama made a knew plan for the academy and it's called a Genin scramble to emphasis more trust and teamwork between ourselves. Man what a drag," Shikamaru said making some people chuckle.
"Well in any case the end result is that we hope more missions will be successful as you grow with each other. The only thing here is that the two highest academy students at the time can never be on the same team unless authorized so Naruto and Sasuke won't be partners unless Hokage-sama allows it to happen. Now then let's get going. We have a lot of work to do," The jonin said making the genin even more confused, but they all nodded and left. Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata followed Anko out of the room and to a separate room.
"Anko-nee why are you teaching? Don't you have to be a jonin to do this?" Naruto asked and Anko grinned with a slight nod.
"That's right Naru-kun, but I was given some special permission to do this. As it turns out Asuma was supposed to do it, but he suddenly got called away and won't be back for quite a while. Mikoto is going to serve as a sub jonin instructor to any of us who need her around.
"Alright I understand," Naruto said and Anko nodded. She quickly took them into a room since Kakashi claimed that he wanted the rooftops. Everyone sat down while Anko leaned on the wall.
"Alright we will have introductions now so. Let's begin with our names, hobbies, likes, dislikes and our dreams for the future. I guess I'll go first," Anko said making everyone nod.
"Alright I'm Anko Mitarashi. I like dango, teasing others, my snakes, Nai-chan, and my little brother right there. I dislike those who hate dango, a certain pedo snake-man and anyone who dares to look down on me or my little brother. My hobby is training with my snakes, hanging with my fellow jonin and playing a few pranks. I don't have any dreams other than to make you all outstanding shinobi who know how to straighten up and grab the world by the balls," Anko said with a cheeky grin on her face. Naruto shook his head at his sister, but he found her funny nonetheless. Anko turned to Shikamaru and pointed.
"Your turn mister 'I copied my sensei's hairstyle'," Anko said making Shikamaru roll his eyes before he gave a small yawn.
"I'm Shikamaru Nara. I like taking naps and watching the clouds. My dislikes are too troublesome to mention. My hobby is the same thing as my likes so I won't waste my breath. My dream is to simply be a good clan head for my family and make my father proud," The Nara said as he saw Hinata gently smile while Naruto nodded. Anko grinned before turning to Hinata.
"Alright your turn," Anko said and Hinata nodded.
"I-I'm Hinata H-Hyuuga. I like tea ceremonies, my family and a few other things. I dislike those who look down on me and who don't work hard. I also dislike that my family is divided into branches. I don't really have any h-hobbies. My dream is to unite the Main branch and the side branch of my family," Hinata said and Anko nodded grinning like mad.
"Alright that's good. I'm gonna have to work on that confidence though," Anko said keeping the last part to herself. She then turned to her little brother and smiled.
"Your turn Foxy-kun," Anko said making Naruto slightly smile.
"I'm Naruto Yuhi-Uzumaki. I like Mikata( my snake familiar), ramen, Anko-nee, Kaa-chan, and my snake summons. I dislike those who abuse others, those who don't train or work hard. My hobby is practicing my genjutsu that my Kaa-san teaches me along with practicing collaboration techniques with Mikata," Naruto said as his snake familiar grazed his cheek before slipping onto the table.
"My dream is to show everyone the awesome power of genjutsu just like Kaa-san wants also," Naruto finished and Anko nodded with a small clap of her hands. Alright everyone that was great. Now then we can begin. Unlike the others I don't think those damn D-rank missions are enough to get any kind of experience so when we do missions we will be doing them on the real deal or none at all. Now then we will head to my personal training ground for some training. Naru-kun knows how I train so we'll just do this as we go along. I know Naru-kun's training style so I'll be working with Hinata and Shikamaru the most, but don't think I won't give you something to do either. Now then let's get going to the Forest of Death," Anko said making Shikamaru and Hinata gulp.
"Isn't that place like the most dangerous training ground?" Shikamaru asked, but Anko waved him off.
"Hey when I was your age I had been through the entire forest as did most of the other genin. Just because we have peace right now doesn't mean we can be relaxed even for a second or it will come back to kick us in our ass," Anko said as she left the room while Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru followed her
Forest of Death
Anko brought her group to training ground 44 and they all passed the fence. Anko brought them to the safe part of the training ground while they all sat down.
"Alright no normally I would test you with this stupid bell thing to see if you had good teamwork or not, but having teamwork on the spot in complete bull to me so we'll be working on your teamwork throughout the month that you're in my possession. Now then Shikamaru, Hinata how good is your chakra control?" Anko asked and the two looked at each other for a second while Naruto watched them.
"Well my chakra control is alright I guess. I know I could do better, but I find it a drag to try," Shikamaru said before it was Hinata's turn.
"I-I still need work with mine. I know could be better also," Hinata said and Anko nodded. She brushed a hand through her purple hair before turning to Naruto.
"Alright Naruto, since you're by far the most experienced here I want you to bring Hinata and Shikamaru up to snuff while I go prepare some things," Anko said getting to her feet.
"Count on it dattebayo," Naruto told her as Anko vanished. Naruto turned back to Hinata and Shikamaru before handing them both a kunai.
"See if you can't climb this tree," Naruto said making the two genin raise their eyebrows.
"How does that teach you chakra control?" Shikamaru asked while Naruto glared at him. The Nara widened his eyes and nodded.
"Oh, without using the hands. I got it. Sigh, this is such a drag, but I guess I don't have a choice. If I leave then mom will have my head. So how far do we have to go?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto thought it over as he walked up one of the larger trees.
"How about here at this branch?" Naruto asked making Hinata and Shikamaru nod. The two grabbed their kunai and added chakra to their feet. Both of them were from prestigious families so they were taught about techniques at a younger age. Both knew how to add chakra to specific points of the body so they quickly ran up the tree. Both got pretty far as Naruto was surprised, but they soon came crashing down or rather they backflipped away from the tree.
"Well it's harder than I thought," Shikamaru said and Hinata nodded. Naruto chuckled as he sat up at the edge of the tree.
"Yeah these trees are special and unlike normal trees these are a lot more harder to climb and require a lot more chakra control than with regular trees.
Shikamaru cursed while Hinata sighed. They should've expected this.
"Umm N-Naruto-kun how do you know so much?" Hinata asked and Naruto chuckled before he jumped down.
"Are you kidding? When I first started I hit my head on the ground so many times it was a pain, but I knew that if I wanted to master Kaa-san's techniques at genjutsu then I would have to do this. Simple as that dattebayo," Naruto said and before long Mikata slithered down his arm and stood upright.
"Naruto-sama I'm going like always. I'll be back later," Mikata said and Naruto nodded. He watched her slither off into the forest. She had always done this for the past two years.
"Where is your snake going Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked being a little curious. Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh that well Mikata is my familiar and because of that she's doing some type of training that the snakes are make her do. It's to help he become a better familiar for me. Normally the snakes would've assigned me one, but both Mikata and I said we were okay with her doing it so she's doing their training. There's some snake in this forest that helps her I guess," Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders. Shikamaru and Hinata nodded aimlessly with his answer as Naruto continued to watch them.
A few hours later
Anko returned to see Hinata and Shikamaru on the ground panting while Naruto was grinning like mad at them both. He waved to Anko and smiled.
"They both managed to make it up this tree Anko-nee. You really should've seen them. They were great dattebayo," Naruto said and Anko grinned.
"Alright that's good. Now we're going to have a small exercise. You three are going to go into the forest and retrieve three kunai that have been embedded a specific points in the forest. It will give you the chance to familiarize yourself with the territory. For your safety I've placed them at easier locations to reach for all of you so I expect a success from all of you," Anko said and the three nodded.
Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata ran off into the woods and were ready to begin. They had been resting for a while so it was a good enough break for everyone. Naruto hadn't been idle either. He had taken Kurenai's scroll with him for a small lesson to teach himself, but that was for later.
Currently, Naruto was ahead of Shikamaru and Hinata. He stopped on a branch and turned to Hinata.
"Hinata-chan would you mind?" Naruto asked and Hinata closed her eyes with a nod.
"Byakugan," Hinata yelled as she scanned the entire area. She found all the kunai, but like Anko said they weren't exactly in easy places to get.
"Umm alright there is one on top of the that tree. Another one in a nest full of...big insects and the other is on the ground right there," Hinata said pointing to it. Naruto narrowed his eyes since he knew Anko quite well.
"Alright it's not that obvious and Anko-nee isn't that nice to just offer us the kunai. Hang on," Naruto said as he summoned a kage bunshin and sent it to retrieve the kunai. It did as it was told and grabbed the kunai, but as Naruto thought the clone was starting to sink as it passed the kunai to Naruto before the blonde dismissed it.
"Quicksand. That's just like Anko-nee," Naruto said as he gave Hinata the kunai. The Hyuuga took it into her pouch as they headed for the second one. Naruto looked up and grabbed Shikamaru's arm startling the Nara.
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto's eyes gleamed.
"Hey I'm using teamwork. Hinata-chan searches for them while you and I get them. Simple right? Now get up that tree," Naruto yelled as he flung Shikamaru making the Nara scream.
"Man this is such a drag!" Shikamaru said as he grabbed the kunai and came down the tree while he smacked Naruto over the head.
"Did you think that was funny? It wasn't man," Shikamaru said and Naruto chuckled at him. Shikamaru sighed as he handed Hinata the kunai. The Hyuuga girl stored it in her pouch and the three quickly made it towards the insect nest. Naruto had to admit that his sister was was really mean at times. The place she sent them was in one of the more aggressive insect nests. Some of them if close enough to yo could suck away your chakra and their sheer numbers made for a quick death to anyone who wasn't ready for them.
"Alright we're here so what do we do now?" Shikamaru asked while Hinata gulped. The blonde thought it over for a second and smiled.
"Alright follow my idea. We're only going to have one good shot at this so we have to make it count since their not expecting us. Do you two see that small mark on the tree?" Naruto asked making Shikamaru and Hinata looked at the small cut made on the tree by Anko.
"Yeah what about it Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked not seeing what this had to do with anything. Naturally Naruto was mad at either of them since they didn't know how dangerous this forest could be when it wanted.
"Anko-nee told me one time that these insects have a large chakra sensory so if you pass this scratch mark then they will know were you are immediately. So we only get one shot at a plan. Too bad I don't really have one at the moment," Naruto said making Hinata and Shikamaru sigh. The Nara then took his thinking pose and closed his eyes while he brought the tips of his fingers together.
Shikamaru sat in silence for a few minutes before smiling and opening his eyes.
"Alright I have an idea. Naruto do you have a katon jutsu?" Shikamaru asked and the blonde nodded.
"Yeah, genjutsu is my main thing but I've got quite a few ninjutsu skills. You got something for me?" Naruto asked and Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head while he yawned. He immediately took out three kunai and attached them to some wire as he told Naruto and Hinata his idea.
The three stood a few feet from the insect nest and nodded as Shikamaru threw the kunai at three precise points on the trees around them.
"Go Naruto," Shikamaru said as Naruto did multiple handsigns.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu," Naruto yelled sending the small fire at the wires. It traveled along said wires and slammed around the trees causing a small fire to brew around the place of the insect nest. The insects swarmed in a frenzy around the fire as Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata ran inside. Naruto's katon jutsu wouldn't last long so they had to move fast. Hinata used her byakugan to find and capture the kunai in her hands as everyone quickly ran away not wanting to wait around for the insects to learn of their presence.
The three continued running for a bit longer and sighed as Hinata held the kunai in her hands.
"Did we get away?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto nodded.
"Alright then let's get this kunai back to Anko-nee immediately," Naruto told them. Shikamaru and Hinata nodded as they ran back to Anko.
Kumogakure
He was known for a lot of things. He was called the fastest man alive throughout the entire elemental nations and he was called the strongest of any Kumo nin. He was the Raikage of Kumo or A as some people called him and he was currently in his council room thinking over some things.
"Is that Hyuuga incident still hanging over us?" A asked and some of his council nodded that it was. Contrary to popular belief even though Kumo at the time had known that Konoha had killed one of their shinobi and asked for compensation or war they also knew that it was mainly their fault in the entire thing.
"Raikage-sama Konoha knows we were the ones who tried something first and as such we are at odds with each other. You know as well as anyone that the Hyuuga clan resents us for what we did. In fact we should be thankful that Konoha hasn't asked for some compensation also, but you know that they think about it all the time," a councilwoman said making the others nod. A sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"So if they never bring it up what are we going to do about it?" A asked not seeing much of a big deal in anything.
"Raikage-sama you know that Konoha has taken a few of our normal missions and clients. They are rumored to be the strongest of the Elemental Nations. After all they do contain the largest and strongest jinchuuriki," a man said and A found this to be true. He leaned back in his chair and thought it over for a few seconds. He sighed and leaned back up before pounding his right arm on the table.
"So what? You want to have some good relations to Konoha? How do we even know that they will agree to meet with us?" A asked and some of the others weren't sure. Soon someone stood to their feet and raised their hand.
"I propose a political marriage," the person said making A narrow his eyes and growl. He hated political marriages with a passion. He didn't like anyone being forced to marry someone else.
"There is no way there's no way I can agree to that. You all know how I feel about those," A told them all making his voice quake throughout the room while most people gulped.
"Raikage-sama please keep this in perspective of the situation. They wouldn't deal with us if we didn't do this. Raikage-sama your predecessor, the Sandaime Raikage, was the person who wanted the byakugan and went so far as to do this. Do you really want to start a war with Konoha Raikage-sama?" the man said and A gritted his teeth. He hated having to see the perspective in it all, but he knew his council members were right. He sighed and calmed down enough to listen to everyone else.
"So who would we send? In the interest maybe it shouldn't be one of our civilians or top shinobi," A said still not liking the idea, but he didn't see much of a choice. A sighed again while his council thought it over.
"What about our top genin? If I'm not mistaken then she will be perfect for this," a woman said and A raised an eyebrow.
"Mabui bring me the list of all the genin," A said as a dark-skinned female with white-ish grey hair came out next to him.
"Yes Raikage-sama," she said as she quickly left for a few minutes.
"So have our top genin marry their top genin? Isn't that a little out of the way?" someone else asked bringing everyone's attention to them.
"How else are we going to do this? It's not like we can chose something like this," another council person said as Mabui came back with the list and handed it to A. The Raikage looked it over and narrowed his eyes.
"I know this girl. She's Samui. She showed amazing skill in ever category of our genin test, but even so I won't have it if Konoha isn't up to Samui's level," A said to everyone.
"So what do you want Raikage-sama?" someone asked and A grinned like mad.
"It's quite simple what we're going to do. Has Kumo ever participated in a Konoha Chunin Exam?" A asked and the members nodded.
"Yes, but only three times. What are you planning Raikage-sama?" someone asked him and A smirked again. He got up from his seat and walked away leaving his council to wonder what he was planning.
"Mabui, summon Samui and her team immediately," A said and Mabui nodded. If this all worked out then A would be alright even if he didn't like political marriages at all.
Back in Konoha
Naruto and his teammates were deadbeat tired. Having completed the exercise that Anko had given them she had spent the entire day drilling into them important teamwork exercises that they would need on their missions. By the end of the day they were all sweating and huffing.
"Come on gaki, you all can't be tired yet right?" Anko asked while everyone settled for glaring at her making the Snake Mistress chuckle while she rubbed the back of her head.
"Are you kidding? You made us increase our stamina by running from one of your snakes. Man why do I always have to be around you troublesome people?" Shikamaru asked the rhetorical question. Naruto chuckled while he gave Hinata some water.
"Oh come on now. How about tomorrow I teach you all something good. Then the day after that we'll go on our first mission. Would that put you in a good mood?" Anko asked eating some dango with her team. Naruto nodded with a grin on his face while Hinata seemed to smile, but Shikamaru just sighed.
'Alright time to go home everyone. See you tomorrow and be sure to eat your breakfast. You're going to need it," Anko cooed as she shunshined away.
"Well guys I can't wait for our first mission. Aren't you glad we don't get D-ranks?" Naruto asked while Hinata slowly nodded and Shikamaru chuckled.
"I guess. It would be a drag to handle that labor that civilians are too lazy to do themselves," Shikamaru answered until Naruto got a gleam in his eyes.
"So your family must make a majority of all the D-rank missions right?" Naruto asked and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Very funny Naruto. Well I got to go home. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Shikamaru said to them. Everyone nodded and watched him leave.
"See you later Hinata-chan," Naruto told her. Hinata waved goodbye to the blonde and she watched him leave.
Two Days Later
Team eight was currently in front of the Hokage and Iruka who had been handing out missions to people. Imagine their shock when Anko came up to them and said that they would be taking a C-rank mission. Needless to say, but both of them were surprised.
"Anko are you crazy? Their just genin. They can't take a C-rank. You know they have to take D-rank missions to familiarize themselves with each other," Iruka said while Anko pouted.
"Are you kidding me? Those do nothing for no one except give the civilians a day off of work. Besides teaching them teamwork out in the field as a much better job in my opinion. As for getting to know each other the both of you know that Naruto was good friends with these two for the past four years. He was also friends with the others also. I don't think I need to test them on something they've had for four years. Besides I know how good they are. Hinata is good for close combat, Shikamaru is good for long range and Naruto is the best wild card as he can fulfill long range, close range and mid-range. Hey are perfectly balanced along with me. Tell you what, give us a C-rank mission and if we fail we take the D-rank missions like you said, but if we succeed we continue with the C-ranks until we're good for the higher stuff," Anko suggested making Iruka drop his job. Sarutobi sighed and turned to see the three genin kids.
"Naruto-kun, what do you think of Hinata and Shikamaru?" Sarutobi asked making everyone turn to him.
"What's there to say Jiji? Hinata-chan and Shikamaru are good friends of mine. Back in the academy I tried with them, Kiba, Chouji, Sasuke, Shino, Ino and Sakura. I know them and they know me. I trust them with my life dattebayo," Naruto said making Shikamaru smile while Hinata gave a small blush. Anko grinned like mad and patted Naruto's head.
"There you have it. So do we get one?" Anko asked making Sarutobi sigh.
"Alright fine Anko. The success of this C-rank mission will determine if you take D-ranks or not. The other jonin seem to think that their teams are better off doing D-ranks, but if you have so much confidence in your time then I won't hold it against you. I'll give you this C-rank mission. You will be escorting...this document to Numa no Kuni. I'm sure that's a good mission for you four. This document contains the necessary negotiations for a treaty. You are to deliver this document. Be wary that you will be sailing on a ship with a few other people so protect that document from pirates, bandits and the like. You'll leave in an hour," Sarutobi said as he handed the letter to Anko.
"Alright gaki, let's get going. We have a lot of ground to cover before he head to the port so let's get our asses in gear," Anko said and everyone nodded as they left the room.
"Was that really a good idea Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked and Sarutobi grinned while he smoked his pipe.
"It will be. Honestly Iruka, Anko has a point. I think it's time that we gave the genin harder challenges. They are nothing like when we were. When I was a child the genin were doing C-ranks and B-rank missions. I think it's time it got back to that," Sarutobi said and Iruka nodded. He did admit that they were more relaxed since nothing was going on, but that didn't mean they could slack off.
Soon as they were talking a jonin bursted through the door and bowed.
"Hokage-sama we have received a message from Kumogakure. It is strictly confidential at the moment and is waiting for your approval on how to proceed," the jonin said as Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Alright send me the message immediately," the Sandaime Hokage said and the jonin handed him the letter. Iruka watched his Hokage open the letter and noticed the shocked look on his face and the pipe fall from his face.
"Hokage-sama are you alright?" Iruka asked while the Hokage hat shadowed Sarutobi's face.
"This has to be a joke," Sarutobi said as he looked through the entire letter again.
With Team Eight
Anko and her team appeared in front of the Gates of Konoha with their backpacks.
"Alright then let's get going. We can finally get away from this place for a bit and have some fun," Anko said with a smile while the other nodded.
"How far away is the port?" Naruto asked and Anko took out the map.
"It's about half a day's journey away. Now let's get going," Anko said s they looked over their things. Naruto had everything while Mikata stayed around his neck. She had been shifting to all places from his neck, arm, and the inside of his jacket, but Naruto didn't mind at all.
"I'm ready," Naruto said.
"Me too," Shikamaru responded.
"I-I'm ready to go also," Hinata said and they all moved out ready to complete their first mission as well as first C-rank mission.
KG: I hope you liked it. Also as a side note for my story, can anyone tell me how tall or long they think Manda is? Just for a small reference. Thank you.