So, I'm back and officially a United States Sailor! I'll be keeping up with all of my stories now that I have more time to actually think on my own! Hope you enjoy and thanks again to mellra for being amazing and patient.
"Why is he always so damn late!?" Sakura shook her fist at the spot where her sensei should be standing, ready to give them their damn test. It had been well over two hours and all three newly-appointed genin were starving until Naruto had produced three boxes of food and a bottle of hot sauce out of apparent nothingness.
While Shino and Sakura ate, they made sure to sit as far as humanly possible away from the sin against humanity that resided in the jar next to Naruto's knee.
So, as his teammates ate and he cracked to seal on his bottle Naruto pondered the point of this test, ignoring the bark that was peeling off the trees and the birds that were fried to a crisp midlfight.
'Well, it's obviously a test to weed out the weak genin who skated through the Academy on good grades.'
'I figured that, but I believe there's a much deeper meaning behind all of this.'
'Your instincts have never been wrong before. Except for that one time when you-'
'Let's not think about that right now,' Naruto silenced Kokuō rather hastily.
Right when the young shinobi were about to give up, their sensei appeared in a plume of smoke with his trademark eye-smile,"Yo!"
Suddenly, Kakashi's crotch began to get very hot, very, very hot.
"What did I say about being late again, Kakashi-sensei? I believe my words were, 'I will boil your testicles from the inside out'. Have you forgotten or do you just really not value your manhood?" Naruto increased the temperature again slightly.
"H-hot! HOT! I-I'm sorry, never again!" Kakashi shed millions of anime tears as he was at the mercy of his young student.
And just like that, his crotch cooled.
Although the mental scars still burned.
"T-today for your f-final test you will have to snatch these bells from me b-before time runs out. If you don't, you'll be returned to the Academy" Kakashi shakily produced two bells and placed a timer on a stump
"Easy enough" Naruto grinned and stepped forward, only to quickly find himself on the ground with a kunai pointed at the back of his head.
"I didn't say go, Naruto. You are a strong shinobi already, that I know, but you still have a ways to go before you're on par with a seasoned jonin" Kakashi had to admire Naruto's tenacity and with an eye smile, he let the grumbling blonde up.
'You know you shouldn't underestimate him, he's right about you being powerful but you're also inexperienced, Naruto so don't be so quick to charge head on into a fight with an enemy you know nothing about.'
'Yeah, that was an idiotic move on my part. He's speed is incredible…We'll have to figure out some sort of strategy that makes speed useless…'
"Shino, Sakura, follow me" Naruto flashed away into the trees, leaving a steam clone to keep the jonin somewhat occupied for the time being.
"Hmph, I expected more of a full frontal assault from Naruto" Kakashi mused to himself quietly.
With the Trio
"What are we going to do? We can't take on a jonin!" Sakura shouted.
"Yes, doing so would not be very beneficial to our health" Shino agreed with his teammate.
"Exactly, which is why we won't be taking him on from the front" Naruto grinned mischievously and whispered into his teammates ears.
Sakura's eyebrows rose along with Shino's as Naruto laid out a simple, but quite effective, plan.
Distraction.
With a devilish smile, Naruto brought his fingers into his favorite seal.
"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu" the blonde whispered and slowly, the training ground filled with mist supplied by the nearby pond.
'Hmm, so he took away my sight, speed, and reduced my total combat effectiveness in one jutsu. Not bad, Naruto' Kakashi grinned slightly as he began to raise his headband.
A buzzing sound stopped him short, whipping his head back and forth he could not seem to locate the exact source of the annoying sound that seemed to fill every inch of his head.
'What is that sound, I can't think straight,' Kakashi tried to shake his head of the overwhelming sound.
Naruto sat in a nearby tree, a wicked grin on his face as he witnessed his sensei fail to shake himself off of the sound. Their plan was going off without a hitch so far, it was Sakura's turn now.
Kakashi slowly began to inch forward, careful to observe his surroundings as best as the buzzing would allow.
'One foot in front of the other...What is that ugly patch of dirt doing there? A trap that obvious, I'm kind of disappointed.'
The cyclops stepped over the trap rather quickly, never noticing the rope hidden by a slight layer of dirt that lay right in front of the other trap.
With a sharp snap, Kakashi soon found himself suspended high above the training ground.
"And that's what you get for underestimating your opponent, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto appeared from his tree with his hand stretched out.
"Did you really think I'd be caught that easily?" the Kakashi in front of Naruto exploded in a cloud of smoke and Naruto crashed into the ground with a heavy thud.
Kakashi vaulted into the air and landed on the side of a tree, a small smile under his mask. His smile slowly began to falter as his chakra seemed to be depleting at an alarming rate.
"Seems you've forgotten about my bugs, Kakashi-sensei" Shino's voice droned from somewhere deep in the mist.
At his words, Kakashi's eyes feel onto his sleeve and saw hundreds of the bugs crawling over his skin. Using a small burst of chakra he quickly dissipated the swarm before leaping onto the ground.
"That was a surprisingly intricate plan" Kakashi had to give his genin credit where credit was due.
"I have a feeling you're about to say 'but' somewhere in that sentence" Naruto stood a cautious distance away from his sensei with Sakura and Shino on his flanks.
"But against a seasoned jonin, it was useless" Kakashi whipped out his porn book and started reading, much to Sakura's ire.
"Then I guess it's time to step it up. Shino, Sakura...Go!" Naruto shouted.
The Shino and Sakura standing next to Naruto exploded into more steam as his teammates rushed their sensei from the sides, as he charged up the middle.
'Always impressing me' Kakashi smiled as he deflected kunai and shuriken that were hurled at him before dropping to one knee and flashing through hand seals as Naruto neared.
"Naruto, watch out! He's making a jutsu!" Sakura cried to her teammate.
'I've never seen those seals before' Kokuō mused to Naruto.
The blonde was too late in stopping his charge, so he barreled on and threw a roundhouse kick at his sensei in a hope to disrupt his concentration. His hopes were in vain.
"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi!" Kakashi cried before firing two fingers up at the speed of light...
Right into Naruto's unprotected ass.
With a girly shriek, Naruto launched into the air and covered his violated butt up until the point he slammed into the lake.
'That...that was just plain disturbing. I-I don't even have words.'
'You have no idea, you're not the one who just got violated' Naruto sank to the bottom of the lake and stewed.
Shino and Sakura could only look on in stunned silence until they snapped into taijutsu stances and squared off with their teacher.
"We will get those bells, Kakashi-sensei" Sakura's voice sounded resolute.
"I agree, I refuse to go back to the Academy" Shino whipped his bugs into a frenzy.
"That makes three of us!" Naruto rocketed from the lake, his nose bursting out steam.
All three began to converge on their teacher, fists cocked back. It seemed they had their sensei dead to rights.
And then the timer rang.
It was as if all the steam, no pun intended, had been taken out of their attacks as they stared at the clock in horror. Even Shino was wide-eyed.
And when Shino show emotion, things are definitely not good.
"Well, my genin. You fail!" Kakashi whipped out a spool of rope and quickly bound Sakura to a post that resided on the field and then produced lunch.
"Eh? What's with the bento boxes?" Naruto questioned his sensei.
"Well, I've decided to give you all one more chance at a pass. So we'll break for lunch, only you can't feed Sakura. That's a direct order."
With a smile, Kakashi poofed away.
Sakura's stomach was the only thing making a sound.
"Did you not eat lunch, Sakura-san?" Shino asked.
"I did...I just pushed myself too hard today" she hung her head.
"Then here" Naruto held out his bento box, free of his hot sauce in respect for his teammates well being.
"B-but Kakashi-sensei ordered you not to!" Sakura was dumbfounded as Shino pressed his food forward too.
"Since when have I ever cared about orders? I may be somewhat mannered and loyal but I know when orders and laws are meant to be disobeyed. We're teammates, Sakura, and we won't let you fall behind!" Naruto smiled widely as Shino simply nodded.
With a small smile, Sakura bit into a riceball balanced between Naruto's chopsticks.
"What are you doing!? I ordered you not to feed her!" Kakashi's voice boomed across the field as he appeared in a large explosion that spelled doom for the genin.
"Feeding my teammate, Kakashi-sensei. Why would I leave her to starve when I have the tools to feed her?" Naruto replied nonchalantly.
"I am in agreement, our teammate does not need to suffer when we can help her. It is illogical" Shino took a step towards Naruto and Sakura.
"Well then, I only have one thing to say!" Kakashi reared his head back, the three genin prepared for the coming tongue lashing they were sure to receive.
"You! All! Pass!"
All three were stunned into total silence as their teacher had a good laugh at their expense.
Naruto was the first to react," Why?"
"Because, my cute little genin, in the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Your comrades come before anything and everything, and you should protect them with your life" Kakashi had a far away look in his eyes as he seemed to be remembering something from long ago.
"So what now?"
"Well, now we start taking missions" Kakashi stressed the word missions rather heavily.
"Why do I get the feeling these missions are going to suck?" Sakura wilted slightly.
"Oh, you'll find out...You'll find out."
Two Days Later
"This is the ninth time today that we've caught this stupid animal!" Naruto snarled at the daimyo's wife as she cradled the demon animal known as Tora to her cheek.
"Naruto, watch your temper" The Third Hokage spoke from behind him.
"Well maybe if she realized that she doesn't need to strangle the damn thing then it wouldn't run away and create a living hell for all people involved!" Naruto then proceeded to show the woman how to hold her cat properly.
When Tora's purring filled the air, the lady shrieked in delight and gave Team 7 a huge bonus before scampering out of the room at top speed.
"N-Naruto? Did you just end the Tora Crisis?" Hiruzen was speechless.
"You all have Kokuō to thank for that" Naruto mentally gave his bijuu a high five.
"I guess your team has earned a break, eh?" Hiruzen smiled before ushering the genin from the office for some well deserved rest and relaxation.
The teammates wandered down the streets as Naruto put his hood up to hide his face from the eyes of the villagers, the orange hoodie not doing much to distract them.
"Are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura looked at her teammate, or dare say she 'friend', in worry.
"Yeah, don't worry about it" he avoided the question deftly.
"So what arr all of your plans for our day off?" Shino inquired.
"Well, I was planning on finding a certain Hyuuga and taking her out for dinner. What about you guys?"
"I'm going to go see if Sasuke-kun wants to do something" Sakura sighed dreamily.
"You know that's he's going to say 'no', right?" Naruto grimaced slightly.
"The power of love will conqu-"
"Sakura, do you want to survive in the shinobi world?" Naruto angrily interrupted her.
"W-what's that supposed to mean?!" Sakura shouted.
"I realize that I myself goof around quite a lot, but when it comes down to the wire I have my skills to back up any idiocy I give off. No offense, but you can't say that! If you want to live in this world, then you have to have the skills to make sure that you do! If you want Sasuke to notice you then train! He wouldn't want a weak fangirl who only wants him for his status, put yourself above those shallow girls and show him what you're made of!" Naruto pumped his fist in a show of encouragement.
Sakura herself was speechless, she'd never expected such a blunt assesment from Naruto but she had to admit...He wasn't wrong.
"You need to focus on yourself instead of him all the time, I don't want to see you get injured, killed, or, Kami forbid, raped because you didn't have anyone to back you up" Naruto got really solemn as he looked at his teammate.
"Maybe you should as him to train with you, Sakura-san?" Shino added his opinion.
"I-I...Thank you, guys. Maybe I'll go find Ino and train" Sakura smiled slightly.
"We'll be with you to help every step of the way!" Naruto wrapped his arm around Shino's shoulder and gave her a wide smile.
Sakura thought to herself that maybe she was lucky to have been paired with these two.
Very lucky indeed.
With Naruto (One Hour Later)
"I had a great time, Hinata-chan" Naruto smiled gently and wrapped the Hyuuga girl in a hug as she blushed fiercely.
Right in front of the Hyuuga gate guards.
"Umm, Uzumaki-san?" one spoke up?"
"Yes, Hyuuga-san?" Naruto responded politely.
"Hinata-sama has fainted."
"Oh, so she has" Naruto laughed lightly as he handed the smiling girl over to the pair who smiled warmly in return.
It was no secret that Naruto was quite welcome at the Hyuuga Estates after he boiled a Kumo emissary to death after he'd tried to kidnap Hinata and run off to Kumo with the Byakugan. Fortunately, Naruto had been at the right place, at the right time as he'd been training with Kokuō in his steam manipulation.
After the very timely death of the emissary, Kumo had demanded the corpse of Hiashi Hyuuga with the Byakugan still active and untainted as recompense of the 'unprovoked and dastardly attack' on a Kumo official.
After some strong words from Naruto, including the first time he'd ever said the world 'bullshit', the Hokage vehemently denied Kumo's request and prepared for war. Every shinobi was put on high alert until Kumo finally backed down, knowing that they could not best Konoha.
They were still pissed about it to this day.
'Well, colt. We still have to deal with Danzo sooner rather than later' Kokuō echoed into his container's mind.
'But how? He's an adviser to the Hokage and runs his own private army, I may be powerful but definitely not that powerful.'
'Well what about Sai?'
Sai.
Naruto's only link to what Danzo was planning other than the Hokage himself. He'd met the pale skinned boy one day outside the orphanage, and something struck the blonde as odd.
Although Sai had worn a large smile, Naruto could see no warmth or actual emotion behind his ebony orbs. This had drawn Naruto to follow the boy deep into the forest as though some kind of force compelled him.
It was only after being caught and interrogated at length that Naruto had been able to convince the boy he was no enemy of Konoha, only a curious bystander. After a lengthy talk, Sai told Naruto that he reminded him of someone very dear to him.
When Naruto asked whom, Sai only smiled slightly. But, as the blonde boy was somewhat surprised to see, it was a genuine smile.
Since then, Naruto had spent years reversing what he'd found out was Danzo's taint from Sai's mind. Since then, the quiet boy was loyal friend and useful informant for Naruto as he wanted to protect his first real friend.
'I think our best course of action would be to gather allies to assist in the fight that I'm sure is going to happen when we finally confront the old bastard.'
'But how are we to do that?'
'By looking high and low, allies seem to appear in the strangest ways. Sai is case in point.'
'You have a point, colt.'
Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by Hinata scampering back to him from inside the compound with a cry of," Naruto-kun!"
"Yes, Hinata-chan?" Naruto smiled widely.
"I just-I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful time tonight" Hinata smiled shyly.
"It was my pleasure, Hinata-chan. I do really enjoy spending time with you."
"T-thank you, Naruto-kun...Oh! I got you something" Hinata perked up and handed him a wrapped package.
The blonde quickly ripped the wrapping apart and found a book.
It was the book on the Uzumaki clan that he'd searched every library in Fire Country for. To the fourteen year old, this was one of the greatest gifts he'd ever received.
Hinata was quickly wrapped up in the tightest hug Naruto could give her.
"Thank you! Thank you! How did you find this!?" Naruto fired off his question.
"W-when my team went on our last mission, we rescued a traveling merchant who was grateful enough to allow us to pick something from his shop and this was the thing I picked, just for you Naruto-kun."
"Hinata, I can't thank you enough" Naruto began to lean in as did the Hyuuga heiress. Their faces got closer and closer until they were a few centimeters apart.
"Hinata-sama! Hiashi-sama has requeste-AH!" Neji Hyuuga stopped and did a double take at the scene he had stumbled upon.
'Perfect timing as always, Neji' Naruto mentally groaned as the blushing Branch member quickly turned on his heel and left the pair alone again.
"Well, I guess your dad needs you" Naruto rubbed the pad of his thumb over Hinata's knuckles.
"I guess so" Hinata leaned up and quickly pecked Naruto's lips before sprinting back inside the compound at top speed.
As Naruto walked away, he couldn't suppress the giant smile on his face.
A Week Later
Kakashi stood before Naruto as the blonde was on his two-hundredth push up and gave a proud smile before checking on Sakura whom had drastically improved over the last few days.
At Naruto and Shino's request, Kakashi had upped the training to allow for Sakura to close the gap between her and her teammates.
After everything was said and done, Naruto had been appointed team leader when Kakashi was away. A fact that Kokuō was very proud of his container for.
The last week had consisted of nothing but boring D-rank missions. Picking weeds, painting fences, helping old women carry groceries home. If the missions weren't bad enough, a few of the villagers had tried to stiff Naruto out of his pay. Sakura and Shino were growing more and more worried about the well being of their teammate in the village.
They'd become so worried, in fact, that they'd discussed it with Kakashi. Kakashi had merely told them that it would be Naruto's choice whether he told them or not.
Naruto had still yet to crack under their unrelenting questioning.
'You know you'll have to tell them eventually, right?"
'I realize this, I'm just trying to delay it as much as possible.'
'Delay it till when?"
'Till one or all of us are too drunk to remember.'
'You're a jinchūriki, you can't get drunk.'
'Shut up.'
"So, Naruto..."
'Here we go again.'
"Yes, Sakura?" Naruto twitched.
"Why are the villagers so cold towards you?" she asked as she twiddled her fingers.
Naruto could only sigh in defeat before looking to Kakashi and nodding ever so slightly.
"What I'm about to tell you is a double S-rank secret that can only be disclosed by myself and Hokage-sama. Fourteen years ago, on October 10th, the Gobi attacked Konoha. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, battled against the beast for a few hours before permanently sealing it away inside of an infant, his son. That child was me, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, container of the Gobi and child of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze" Naruto stood proud as he told his tale to his two dumbfounded teammates.
"That's so...Ridiculous!" Sakura shouted, startling Naruto.
"W-what?" this was hardly the reaction he was expecting.
"Why do they blame you for something that you literally had absolutely no control over? It's just-it's just not right!" Sakura was so angry she was sputtering and her face was turning crimson quickly.
Even Shino was angry, if the buzzing of his insects was any indicator," That is...not logical!"
Kokuō could only smile as his container's fears were totally put to rest by his teammates.
"I...Thank you, guys. I really never expected you to react like this" Naruto had his hair covering his eyes, but his smile was wide.
"We're teammates, Naruto. Like you said, we'll be with you every step of the way" Sakura pulled Naruto to his feet.
"We'll protect you no matter what, Naruto-san" Shino stood by his side.
Kakashi could only smile at his genin as they gave Naruto the support he really needed the most," The same goes for me, Naruto."
Naruto's only response was a very wide smile.
Hokage's Office an Hour Later
"You needed to see us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi addressed his superior.
"It seems as though your team is ready for its very first C-rank mission. Coincidentally, I just got a request from Wave for an escort detail."
"Who are we to be escorting, Hokage-sama?" Naruto spoke next.
Hiruzen motioned for his secretary to let the new client in, and into the room stumbled a middle-aged man clutching a sake bottle tightly in his hands.
"Who are these brats? I asked for a protection detail, not the latest class from daycare! These kids look like their barely out of diapers, let alone actual shinobi!"
Naruto blasted a bout of steam from his nostrils at the insult but reigned in his temper at Kokuō's urges.
'Naruto, it would be bad for business if you killed the client yourself.'
'Temper...rising!'
"I assure you, Tazuna-san. These are some of the best genin that this village has to offer, and their sensei is easily one of my best shinobi" Hiruzen held his hands up in a placating manner in hopes of appeasing the man.
"It seems like it's going to be an interesting mission" Sakura whispered to Shino.
"I agree, Sakura-san. It will be quite interesting to see if Naruto-san kills the client before we even leave the gates."
Sakura was shocked," Shino...did you just make a joke?"
"I...think it was."
"Naruto sure brings out strange things in people, doesn't he?"
"That he does, Sakura-san. That he does."
Man, it's been far to long since I've given you guys anything. I'm thankful for the people who hung with this story while I was at RTC and Corry Station for training, it's definitely been a real ride so far! Thanks to mellra for never giving up on me and keeping me super motivated! Be expecting plenty more updates from your favorite ginger!
See you next time!