Naruto Namikaze

Arc One: Life of a Genin

Chapter Three: Training, Missions, and Secrets

OH LOOK A NEW CHAPTER ALREADY. (It's to help make up for the fact it'd taken so long to update which again I'm hugely sorry for. I hate when people write a story I'm very interested in and then never finish! So I thought I'd make it up to you guys by working extra hard to get these next few out even faster! Maybe I'll have another one out soon!)

A/N It's good to get back into writing, though I still feel like this story will be slow starting, I don't want to rush. If anything slow is probably better, in the long run anyway, which is what I want this story to aspire to, a long run. So anyway, here we'll finally see the beginning of Book One's plot.

A sigh of exhaustion escaped the lips of a very overwhelmed man as he continued doing one of the most trivial and agonizing things he'd ever have to do. Reading and organizing mission documents and reports, though there were indeed worse things he could be forced to do right now, nothing seemed more boring than having to read the mission report of a captured pet, or what color fence a Genin team worse paid to paint. It was one of the reasons why he hated the weeks right after Genin teams were assigned.

It was just after he finished reading and filing the final report when a soft knock came at his door, curious as to the fact he didn't know of any appointments for the moment, the tall Blonde took his seat behind his desk.

"Come in." His voice was calm and straight forward, but he was very curious as to what this visit could entail.

Upon seeing the entrant, after his allowance he immediately stiffened up, as he gazed at the man who opened the door, adorned at the moment not his ANBU Captain regulars, but instead simple civilian clothes.

"What can I do for you, Itachi?" The Hokage's voice was very stern as if, he knew the information Itachi had for him wasn't going to be the kind of news he wanted to hear.

"The banished one is attempting to start his first move." Itachi's voice was as unwavering as his Hokage's and his gaze as serious as the one he himself was receiving.

One Month of D-Missions later

"Awh, come on Kakashi-Sensei! Why do we need to paint a dumb fence and pull weeds?" Despite his childish attitude, he had reflected the thoughts of both his teammates as well, and gave Kakashi a reminder of a former teammate of his own.

"Well Naruto, it's really simple, before you can be trusted to go out and work dangerous life or death missions, it's imperative that you develop a good deep trust with your teammates as well as a good feel for each others personalities." The explanation had been almost an exact replica to one he remembered Minato-Sensei telling his team when they asked a similar question.

"Not to mention it's good way for the village to make steady income, from doing all of these D ranked missions within the village as well, helping our own economy function!" The also tired voice of the pink haired teammate added on.

"Sakura's right, Naruto." Kakashi gave his team an eye smile as he noted how much work they had completed over the course of the day. 'This fence not included, they've completed five missions already today. They just seem made to function as a great team.'

Following his thoughts, Kakashi gave a look to the fence that Naruto and two of his clones, Kakashi had forbid him from making more than such, they were nearly finished and Sasuke and Sakura had nearly finished with all the weeds as well.

"But I'll tell ya what." Kakashi's light tone had caught all of his Genin's attention, "When we finish here, I'll teach you guys a neat trick for working so well together." Looking at Naruto directly now, "In fact it'll probably benefit you the most Naruto."

"Really Kakashi-Sensei!?" Naruto's excitement at this point knew no bounds as he hoped up to his feet about to working ten times faster on the fence he and his clones were painting.

Kakashi however as blunt as ever answered him as such, "Of course Naruto, after all you do have the worst Chakra Control."

The joke didn't miss Naruto as he held a very deadpanned look on his face, "Gee thanks Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto's response of course left him the focal point of the rest of his team's now fair bit of laughing, all in good spirit of course.

"Yeah Ha-ha-ha." Naruto only fueled their laughter as he mocked it and went back to painting grumbling to himself the only audible words being, 'revenge, pervert, and orange book.'

It wasn't all the much longer after having been given the extra motivation to finish their mission that the Genin were sitting under a tree each resting after the full day of work. Despite their eagerness to do more challenging missions earlier in the day, they were just kids, and a full day of manual labor would make anyone tired. Kakashi could have let them rest a bit longer but he had promised them to teach them something new and even if they weren't tired, it would be something they'd have to work on more than a single day anyway.

"Wake up my cute Genin team." Kakashi had decided to go with the friendly approach knowing that at least two of his team were about to become very frustrated once they started on learning the technique he was going to show them.

Slowly but surely each of his team had finally cracked their eyes open to see their Sensei standing over them orange book in hand, as he waited for them to all wake up, and lift themselves off of the tree they were resting against.

"Let's go back to our meeting spot, for some training." He noticed that his team was still fairly tired each of them rubbing at their eyes and groaning, "Unless you don't want to learn a new technique after all?" Which was all he needed to say as they all jolted at the mention nearly forgetting his offer earlier in the day.

"That's more like it now, come on." His last words merely echoed a bit as he shunshined away towards their normal training spot, and was soon followed as the rest of his team quickly leapt into speed heading there as well.

Naruto and Sasuke of course near the front as they couldn't think of anything more exciting than learning a new technique, especially if it was a cool Ninjutsu attack.

"Oh! I wonder if it's anything like your Great Fireball jutsu!" Naruto wondered his thoughts out loud knowing Sasuke was just to his side a bit, "What do you think Sasuke?"

Thinking about it for a moment, Sasuke wasn't really able to come up with anything, "I'm really not sure, I can't say I know enough about him other than the fact they say he knows over a thousand jutsu, so it could be anything." This bit of information had caught Naruto by surprise as he really hadn't had much chance to ask his dad much about him.

"Wow, really? Over a thousand Jutsu? I wonder if he is as strong as Dad…." Naruto had now fallen into a bit of deep thought over the issue, "Dad was his sensei after all! So it would make sense he is really strong as well!"

The thought had now gone to Sasuke as well as he began to wonder about their sensei as well, "Ya know I forgot that your Dad was his Sensei, I guess we should feel extremely lucky then huh?" Giving it a true bit of thought Sasuke had begun to realize a few things, 'Naruto is the Hoakge's son, and I'm the Uchiha clan Leader's youngest son, isn't putting us on a team a bit of overkill, especially with the Fourth's only living student as our Sensei. There is something behind this…'

Behind them a bit was a very conflicted pink haired teammate, 'I feel like I should be lucky to be on a team not only with Sasuke-kun, but also Naruto, I mean he's the Fourth Hokage's son! Though sometimes he does act a bit like a little kid, he's still extremely talented, he helped us pass our test with Kakashi and everything!' Feeling even more down about herself she continued on, 'Then there is me, I'm just some girl with a large forehead, I don't have a clan or a famous father or anything.'

Taking Sakura out of her thoughts however, was the teams arrival at their training ground and seeing what seemed like an unbelievable sight. Kakashi was hanging upside down on a tree just standing there like it was normal reading his book.

"How are you doing that, Kakashi-Sensei!" Always the first to burst Naruto was giving a look of utter disbelief and only continued to as he watched Kakashi calmly walk down the branch back to the trunk and then slowly walk down the trunk and to Naruto.

"That is what we're going to learn tonight." His words were short and sweet as he closed his book single handedly and placed it back into its pouch.

"Sakura why don't you show them how it's done?" Kakashi had sounded confident as if Sakura had already been taught how to do it, which only confused her.

"What are you talking about Sensei, I can't do this!?" Her panicked look had showed Kakashi what he had feared before, she was doubting her skills and didn't realize she was more talented then she realized.

"Oh, no?" Kakashi's tone, seemed to show he did in fact have some method to this madness, "Why don't you focus a steady amount of chakra into the souls of your feet and walk up this tree?" Kakashi had point to the one he had just descended, which the branch he climbed stood around at least fifty feet into the air. Wasn't anything insane but should stand to be a good starting point and give Sakura a little bit of a treat.

"Hai, Sensei." Focusing some chakra into the souls of her feet, she solemnly walked up to the tree and placed a foot onto the bark, feeling an odd gripping sensation as if it were no different than the gravity keeping her on the ground.

Feeling a bit more confident she began to take more steps and before she realized it was quickly walking up to the top. Looking down she saw the shocked faces of Naruto and Sasuke, as well as the proud face of Kakashi, "Great job, Sakura!" signaling for her to walk back down, she was surprised by Naruto who also had a big smile on his face.

"That was amazing Sakura-chan! You gotta show me how to do that too!" His excitement wasn't missed by the rest of his team, as Sasuke also walked over to them as well.

"He's got a point Sakura you definitely seem like you got this down." Though he wasn't as excited as Naruto, Sasuke was showing his approval in a well very Sasuke style.

"CHAAA! WE'RE SO BADASS!" Inner Sakura was doing wonders for her self esteem at the moment as it was quickly relishing the fact her teammates and Sensei were giving her so much positive attention at the moment.

"That's not a bad idea Sakura, why don't you work with them on getting this down a bit better, while I go give Sensei these reports, and find about giving us another mission." He saw Naruto about to turn and protest, "And no, Naruto I'm not going to ask if he'll give us a C rank mission just because you're his son, Ha-ha. He'll give us what he thinks we're ready for."

Naruto sheepishly grinned and scratched the back of his head, "Well ya can't blame me for tryin' ha-ha" With that, Kakashi quickly vanished away leaving his Genin to work on mastering this new technique, and leaving one self-doubting Pink Kunoichi, feeling a lot better about her skill and her motivation about being a Shinobi.

Frustration was an easy word to explain the way the still fairly young Hokage, but positions of power and stress often age a person harder than anything else in life. So despite the fact Minato was only thirty-five, he felt as though he was closer to fifty, after the events that have transpired since he's become Hokage. However, a small bit of relief came over him as he felt a familiar presence at his window, "Ah Kakashi, are you ever going to learn to use the door?"

Kakashi simply smiled as he pocketed his book, "Seeing as how I've always been late for everything I never saw a reason to learn how, Minato-sensei."

"So how, is your team doing, Kakashi? They should have completed quite a few missions today, correct?" Minato now took the time to spin his chair around in order to see his former student who he could now see was lounged in the window like it was a couch.

"Honestly?" Kakashi couldn't help but feel even prouder, "Better than I ever could have expected. Though I do need to help Sakura, gain some confidence so that she may find for herself where she belongs. She has more talent than she thinks, though being on a team with Sasuke, and Naruto would make anyone doubt their abilities, to be honest."

The revelation of Team Kakashi's growth was a huge comfort of Minato's and made his decision final, "Do you think they're ready for a more difficult mission then, like say…a C ranked one?" The voice of the blonde Hokage seemed a bit more serious than the moment called for and Kakashi was quick to notice.

"Minato-Sensei?" Taking the time to step in from the window sill and move to the front of his desk, Kakashi's face though stone straight for the most part, Minato could feel his unease, "Is it going to happen?"

Minato could only sigh in disappointment, "Yes. Itachi confirmed it." Kakashi's face could only show terror, "The Uchiha are going to attempt to assassinate Naruto and kill me, in order to take control of Konoha for themselves."

"I could understand why they would go after you, but why would they go after Naruto's life?" Kakashi couldn't fathom a reasonable explanation for the tactic.

"Fugaku, knows." Minato's voice for the first time in a long time that Kakashi could remember heard fear in his sensei's voice.

"But, how? Other than, you, Jiraiya, The Third, and myself, no one else knows." Kakashi couldn't imagine any in that list would say a word even under torture or fear of death.

"There is one other who knows, though I have only told Jiraiya and Sarutobi, because they've been on the look-out for him." Minato, had assumed he would have to tell Kakashi eventually, but he wanted to wait until he had confirmation, which the current situation had now done that for him.

"Who in the world could avoid the likes of Master Jiraiya, and The Third, "The God of Shinobi" Kakashi was visibly disturbed, someone who could get to the core of men like the three after him, was someone of ungodly abilities.

"Because the man they are after should be dead." Minato now stood up mission assignment in hand as he walked towards Kakashi.

"Who is he?" Kakashi's face now full of interest.

"Madara Uchiha." The name sent a resonance of information throughout Kakashi's body, and despite the tons of questions he had, he thought better of it, as he knew that it was unlikely Minato knew the answer to many of them.

Looking now at the mission papers handed to him by Minato, he understood the point of the mission, "You want me to keep Naruto and Sasuke out of the village so that they will concentrate on you, and keep them safe, because you know they wouldn't risk coming at you shorthanded just to get Naruto."

"As well as keeping Sasuke from becoming influenced by his insane father, and attempting to join this crusade of his." Pointing down at his desk for emphasis, "Right now, his friendship with Naruto is going to be the most important thing in his life, especially if Itachi is killed, because there is not a guarantee he will survive, especially, if they find out he was our insider."

"And to think, I thought Orochimaru's new place of residence, "The Sound Village", was going to be our biggest problem." Minato could only shake his head, "We're lucky his weakness is that his ambition is focused merely on himself, rather than an ideal otherwise they might ally with his new village and that could really be a problem."

"But, what are we going to do about the Uchiha?" Kakashi was now in full soldier mentality, as if he were about to march to war.

"Sarutobi had an idea, that we should dispatch some of our Black Ops ANBU along with Itachi to slaughter them all in the night, using their own privacy seals against them." It was a tempting plan, but Minato could never condone the action of murdering so many innocents just to stop them.

'Wow, no wonder he was once called the "God of Shinobi", such a tact was brilliant as it would be easy to scape goat, but it called for a strong constitution and little fear of his own conscience, one he was sure Sarutobi had gained from the wars he'd been involved in.' The reveal of such information was surprising to Kakashi who suddenly began to worry why he was being told so much.

"This is all extremely vital information, but it seems with my purpose to be to keep Naruto and Sasuke safely outside the village is doesn't seem like I'd need to know it." Kakashi wasn't one of the smartest Jounin for no reason, and Minato nodded to signal he was correct.

"You're right, but if something were to happen to me…"

"Nothing, is going to happen to you Minato-Sensei, you're the strongest Shinobi in the world I don't see how even the entire Uchiha clan could get to you let alone against you and the rest of this village." Kakashi refused to think there was anyone even viably able to rival his sensei's strength, even the Raikage, had to admit he was an impossible force to overcome.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san, that means a lot." Minato again felt that odd sensation of relief, to hear that from his student someone he found truly important to him. However there was one more thing he need to hear from Kakashi.

"It's been about a month, since I 'told' Naruto." Minato had a curious look on his face as if he was unsure if it was the right thing to do, "He seemed to have dealt with it fine, but there are times when he has this look of terror on his face. It's almost as if his mind makes him think he was the Kyuubi, has he acted any different to you?"

"There are times when he seems like he's at a distance thinking, and he also arrives to the training ground sometimes just minutes before me." Putting together what he'd noticed he came with a semi conclusion, "It seems like he's not getting a lot of sleep? Possibly bad dreams? Or just restless, you'd have to get Inoichi with him to be sure."

Minato knew Inoichi, fairly well, he was a good man, and a great Shinobi, "I think he could be trustworthy of the information, watch Naruto, when you leave maybe have a conversation with him about it, see what you can get. Depending on how the mission goes, and if he gets better than we won't have to worthy about it" Realizing the amount of responsibility he laid on Kakashi he thought that it deserved some explanation.

"With the way Naruto feels about the Hokage's I doubt he would want to come to me if he's having bad dreams or having trouble with anything, and I'm sure that's doubled by the fact I'm his father." Minato had personally wanted to talk to Naruto about it before even mentioning it a few times over dinner, only to get short responses about it being no big deal, 'Kushina was just like him, he takes after her so much. She never wanted to look weak to anyone, and I'm sure Naruto inherited a lot of that from her. She'd know how to beat some sense into him.'

"Anyway, as for what I am going to do about the Uchiha, well…"

Itachi had returned from his meeting with the Hokage not too long ago, and had made sure that he was completely undetected coming back, but had been surprised by a presence outside of his home.

"Shisui, what are you doing here?" A small alarm went off in Itachi's head as he had been confused as to why Shisui, would be waiting for him here, 'Does he know?' He had thought that his clan had ordered him to spy on Itachi to make sure he was fulfilling the cause, but being that he was his best friend, otherwise like a brother to him, he wasn't in much worry.

"Ah, Itachi-san, it's about time you got back." A smiling Shisui turned around, taking Itachi by surprise as he saw the copious amounts of blood spilling from his right eye, or rather where is should be.

"Shisui, what happened?!" Itachi quickly moved closer to his friend, in order to check him for further injury.

"I tried to save our clan, by using my Mangekyō Sharingan, Madara isn't that only one behind this." Shisui felt himself become more tired, as his multiple uses of his Sharingan had been rough on his chakra, "Danzo, is also part of the fuel to this fight, so I thought if I could stop him I could save our clan from this foolish plot."

Itachi's immediate thoughts were that he needed to inform, Minato as soon as possible, but was taken out of those thoughts by Shisui as he reached up for his remaining eye. Itachi could only watched in stunned silence as Shisui carefully grab his eye by his fingers, and extracted it in what could only be viewed as an intensely painful act.

"Here, you should take this, I think it would be much safer in your hands then it would be in mine, for I'm afraid Danzo will simply take this one as well." Still smiling at his best friend Shisui made sure to continue, "Please save our clan do not let this be the end of the Uchiha, but also protect our village, I can't do so any longer, so I want to make sure you can."

Shisui, sighed as he turned away from where he sensed Itachi, "Itachi-san, I need you to do one more thing."

"Shisui?" Unsure of what else would be required of him, he waited as if on pins and needles, willing to do anything for a man he considered his brother.

"Destroy my body, nothing can remain of it." He turned back around to face Itachi one last time, "Good luck."

A/N I wasn't originally going to end it here, but it was honestly a good spot. And though to me it's a bit short, it has a lot of information in it, and moves everything forward a bit. In the next chapter we'll see the mission that Minato has for Kakashi and his team, as we'll as maybe a little bit of civil war, MAYBE.

Just a side note, in case anyone is confused, as to misinformation about who caused the Kyuubi attack on Konoha. I do know it was in fact Obito who caused the Kyuubi to attack Konoha not Madara, but it was influenced by Madara. And the fact it was an Uchiha who was so powerful as to be able to control a bijuu it was only reasonable that the Fourth along with the others would assume it was Madara. But that's of little concern at the moment but will come to fruition later on in the story. Just thought I'd mention that now so no one thinks I'm a fool :P.

Any questions just let me know in the reviews, and hope you enjoyed a LOT of plot moving forward this chapter. As well as Naruto's obvious hiding of his problem dealing with the finding out about the Kyuubi and how it's messing with his head.