Ino sighed contently as she pulled herself closer to her bedmate. Naruto's arms came around her protectively. The couple had just completed their date. It was a nice break from all the rebuilding they were doing. They went to a restaurant, then took a walk and ended up in Naruto's bed.
A savage knocking woke the blonds from their slumber. "What time is it?" Ino groaned as she rolled over.
"Ten o'clock." Naruto starred at the clock for a few seconds, the gears in his head not having enough time to start. "Shit! We're late." The pair rushed to get ready.
"Oi Naruto! Hurry up!" The front door swung open, revealing a shirtless Naruto. Hinata 'eeped,' turned a bright red then promptly fainted.
"She still got that crush on me?" Naruto asked. The remaining members of her team nodded. "Damn, thought she'd get over that once I started dating Ino. Hinata is a nice girl and all but she's to shy. Well might as well bring her inside." Kiba picked up the fallen girl and placed her on the couch.
Kiba let out a long whistle. "Nice place you got here Naruto. I've been meaning to stop by and check it out." Kiba, along with Shino, sat at the counter. Naruto quickly got them something to eat, after putting a shirt on.
"How did a genin manage to afford something like this?" Shino asked.
"Everywhere I go I look for bounties. I must have turned in about forty heads. That added up to two million and room full of trophies." Naruto finished his explanation and ran upstairs, only to drag Ino back down.
"Hey Kiba, Shino." She greeted them and was placed in front of Hinata to try and get the girl to wake up.
"I'd do it but she'd pass out again." Naruto said as he cleaned up. "So how late are we?"
"Only a few minutes, but then again Kakashi-sensei hasn't shown up yet." Naruto simply nodded. If its one thing he could count on its Kakashi being late and allowing him to sleep in a bit.
"She's awake." Ino called out and the trio of males walked over. "Sorry Hinata, guess you missed breakfast."
"We'll see you at the training grounds." Naruto place a hand on Kiba's and Shino's shoulder and they disappeared.
Ino turned to do the same with Hinata but the look in the shy girl's eyes stopped her for a second. "Yes Hinata, is something wrong?"
"Why you?" Hinata nearly screamed at Ino but managed to control her building frustration. "Why'd he pick you?"
"Naruto?" 'So that's what she's upset about.' Ino had to pick her words carefully so as to not set off the already emotionally unstable girl. "I don't know how to explain it really it was Sakura but he quickly saw that it wasn't working out to well for him. I guess it was because I never actively went out of my way to be cruel to him.
Hinata quickly reminded her about times she was mean. "I'll admit I did those things. But those times were just because I was there with Sakura and just went with it. I'm not proud of the fact that I said those things, but Naruto willingly forgave me and wanted to give it a chance, something that I at first laughed at but it worked out in the end. And I'm sorry to say Hinata, that although Naruto was aware of your feelings toward him, he wouldn't have acted on them regardless of the fact that we became a couple."
The Hyuuga heiress broke down crying. Ino waited until the girl calmed down before speaking again. "Let's get going." Ino placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and they vanished to the training ground.
"Now that everyone is here." Kurenai shot a glare at Ino and Hinata. "Seeing as you two are the last ones to arrive you'll have to spar each other. Right. Now." The two combatants jumped back into places.
Hinata was glad she was fighting Ino. She was still angry. She ran at Ino and went to deliver a palm strike right to the heart. The strike was blocked when Ino became covered in armor. She looked like a miniature dragon, that could walk on two legs. "That won't work." Ino taunted as she gripped Hinata's arm and threw her aside.
Hinata rolled on her side and recovered quickly and activated her Byakugan. She saw energy flowing through Ino. It was light purple and there was a lot of it. "That's not chakra." Ino delivered a punch to Hinata in the gut which sent her into the nearby woods.
"How observant." Ino quickly found her opponent. "I'm sure you've heard your cousin recount his loss to Naruto and that he wasn't able to shut down his chakra. We're the same." The armor on Ino vanished and she was now standing behind a black figure. Standing 7'5" it was wearing dull grey armor, a tattered grey cape. It's helm had two horns that curved downward. The armored figure gripped a large, two handed sword in both hands.
"What is your command my lady?" The new being spoke in a gruff, strained voice.
"Just incapacitate her Volus. No need for unnecessary bloodshed." Volus sprinted toward Hinata, swords raised. Though his excitement for battle was short lived as Hinata fainted from fear.
"What a pathetic human." Volus lifted her chin with the tip of his sword as if inspecting her. "I should kill her to make sure she doesn't reproduce more like her."
"I'd rather you don't kill her, it would be problematic for me." Ino started walking back to the others as Volus picked up the unconscious girl and carried her back.
"You summoned Volus?" Naruto asked when his blond counterpart returned.
"I figured it would scare her enough she'd stop fighting. It worked, a little to well but I'm not complaining." She kissed Naruto on the cheek and sat down next to him.
"I believe this belongs to you." Volus handed off Hinata to Kurenai. The jounin instructor tried not to show fear, but it was difficult when the only thing you can see of Volus' face is his eyes.
"Naruto and Sakura." Kakashi called out the next sparring match. "Lets try to keep it in the area so we can observe."
"I'll make sure not to make Ino's mistake." Ino huffed at him. He knows she'll get him back for that later so he laughed to himself. "So I'm sparring the weakest of our team. This'll be fun."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura turned red with anger, even more so when Naruto didn't even drop into a fighting stance. When she attacked Naruto easily dodged and chopped her on the neck, knocking her out.
"I gotta say that was an unfair match up." Asuma took a drag on his cigarette.
"Shikamaru. Kiba. You two are next." Kakashi instructed.
It wasn't the match itself that the two demon users were interested in, it was Shikamaru. "Shika was never that fast." Ino said.
"I know. Must have been Ruin's short lived occupancy in Shikamaru's body. Increased strength, speed and chakra capacity is what I'm predicting." Naruto explained. Several copies of Shikamaru appeared, they were solid and a shade of black. Naruto raised an eyebrow in interest. "That brings a whole new meaning to Shadow Clones."
A feral growl came from the clones and they charged Kiba and knocked him out. They then fazed out of existence. "I have more than those clones Naruto. When you removed that thing from my body it imparted the memory of techniques. Its troublesome to sort through them."
A few more sparring matches were held before the group disbanded. "Naruto, you're wanted at the council meeting. It starts in a half hour." Kakashi informed the blonde.
"Thanks sensei." Naruto stood up, dusted himself off and walked with Kakashi toward the tower.
"I must say Naruto, your training under Jiraya is propelling you forward, very impressive." Kakashi spoke.
"Thanks. It wasn't easy. There was this one time Ino and I caught them "going at it"." Naruto used air quotes, his sensei quickly picked up on the innuendo. "Man they trained us into the ground the following day."
"I'm sure they did." Kakashi laughed at his student.
"All we're saying is have Naruto "lend" some of his companions to Sasuke." A councilman said.
"I will do no such thing." Naruto brashly kicked in the door to the meeting chambers. "Demons are Uzumaki's domain and ours alone. It's our specialty."
"What about Miss Yamanaka? Last we checked she's not an Uzumaki." Danzo decided to point out. Inoichi burst out laughing.
"Something funny Inoichi?" His buddy Chouza asked.
"Troublesome. You couldn't figure it out, it's pretty obvious." Shikaku responded.
"True," Naruto started. "She's not Uzumaki." Naruto was now wearing a large smile. "Not yet at least." Naruto finally decided to sit. "Now then, is there a better reason for me being here or can I leave?"
"Naruto." This new voice belonged to Mik, who sat at the other end of the table. "We were discussing a response to the invasion. I'm assembling a small team, three members. So far its me and Jiraya, we were hoping you'd be our third."
"What's our objective?" Naruto asked.
"Just eliminating a snake, along with the systematic dismantling the Sons of Shadow." Mik explained.
Naruto thought about it for a second. "I'm in."
"Good." It was Tsunade's turn to speak. "You three will leave within the month. We don't rightly know how long this'll take so you three might be gone for a long time. So Naruto that leaves us with your promotion."
"Wait I thought Shikamaru was the only one getting a promotion?" Naruto sat straight up, more confused now than when they started.
"As fifth Hokage," Tsunade started. "And will be until you turn eighteen and rightfully take this position." Naruto's expression brought a smile to Tsunade's Jiraya's and Kakashi's faces. "It was what the third wanted, he named me his successor, and you are mine. But knowing about your extended leave of absence and the fact you'll further your training, I'm promoting to Jounin."
"Seriously!?" Naruto shot up from his seat. "I accept!"
"Here, Naruto." Kakashi held out a black vest. The blonde quickly put it on over his black t-shirt.
"This is so awesome!" Naruto smiled wider at the applause from the shinobi in the room.
"You are dismissed Naruto." In a cloud of smoke the blonde was gone.
"Hey Ino where are you?" Naruto asked, entering the house.
"Out back." Reaching the backyard Naruto spotted Ino and Shizune, both held small bundles in their arms. "Look daddy's home." Naruto took the child from Ino. It was the boy, Minato. His twin's name is Kushina. Jiraya and Tsunade named them and the two sanin are being effective grandparents.
"Hey Ino, I got promoted. Straight to Jounin." Naruto was immediately brought into a choking hug. "Hey, I get the kid here." Naruto coughed out.
"Sorry." Ino let go. "But I'm excited for you. What else did the council want?"
"Nothing really, except Mik requested Jiraya-sensei and myself to help him. I could be gone a long time Ino." Naruto said.
"Your point? I'll be here when you get back. Though I can assume this will take longer than a few months right?" Naruto nodded. "Well like I said, I'll be right here."
"God I love you." Naruto kissed her.
"Now, now you two, I could let it slip to Inoichi what you were about to do." Naruto stopped at Shizune's interruption. While Inoichi might have approved of their relationship, he didn't exactly like hearing any details.
"Right. Sorry Ino." Naruto chuckled.
"Make it up to me later." Was Ino's only response.
"Well Naruto, you got the hand signs memorized?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah I got them." Naruto let out a deep breath and focused on his target. "Alright, lets light it up." Naruto quickly did the hand signs and held his right arm with his left hand. A faint light appeared in his palm.
"Close. It took days for Sasuke to get at least that much when he attempted the technique." Kakashi looked up from his book. "Shouldn't take you much longer."
"Right." Naruto kept practicing the technique until the end of the day. "One more." Naruto went through the motions. He did the signs so many times he could see them when he closed his eyes. "Chidori!" The young Jounin stuck his arm through the training dummy.
"Well done. I knew you could get it." Kakashi smiled. "And Kurenai thought it was a bad idea to teach this to you."
"Just ask her out already. I'm tired of her nagging. She needs to get laid." Naruto complained as he held his burnt and scarred arm.
"In time Naruto." Kakashi chuckled. "Come on lets get you home. Mrs. Uzumaki wouldn't like it if I kept you out to late."
"In time Kakashi-sensei." Naruto responded, before passing put from exhaustion.
*Four Days Later*
"What's up Shikamaru?" Naruto asked the Nara who just previously knocked on his door.
"Sasuke left the village without authorization. We're going after him." Shikamaru explained.
"Whose we?" Naruto inquired.
"Us, along with Neji, Chouji and Kiba." Shikamaru answered. Naruto nodded and went back inside. Quickly grabbing his things. A black muscle shirt, black pants, black boots. Both tantos on his left side. He went into the trophy room, to a wood box on a table. Naruto opened the box, gazed at nothing.
"Oh fuck. Oh fuck!" Shikamaru stuck his head inside at Naruto's cursing.
"Everything ok in here Naruto?" Shikamaru asked his blonde superior.
"Ruin is gone. I think Sasuke stole him." Shikamaru's eyes widened. He knew the destruction Ruin was capable of, being able to wield some of that power himself. "This mission got a little harder."
"Lets get to the gate." Shikamaru and Naruto headed off to meet their squad mates. "Alright, we know that there are four enemies. They apparently kidnapped Sasuke." The others had the same look Naruto had, disbelief.
'Kidnapped my ass.' Naruto thought. 'I don't think Sasuke's coming back alive.' When the group finished their preparations they headed off.