Chapter 6
"Yo, Naruto, you awake?"
Naruto turned from his position facing the wall to look into the crimson eyes of his redheaded friend.
She, along with Tsubame and Anko had decided to spend the night in his apartment so, while the purple haired woman snoozed on the couch in the living room, the girls had opted to share the bed with him, resulting in both girls taking up a part of the mattress while he took the edge closest to the wall facing the Hokage Monument.
"I've just been told that the reason everyone hates me is because the man I looked up to as a mentor, who coincidentally happens to be my dad, sealed an entity that wiped out about a quarter of the people in my home town into me." He answered quietly with a small hint of amusement in his tone. "Sleep, unfortunately, is the last thing in my mind."
"Not exactly surprising, I guess." She replied with a smile of her own. "A better question would have been, and I'm asking you, how are you holding up?"
He shrugged noncommittally, the light of the half-moon just bright enough to illuminate his movement for his friend. "Pretty good? Bad? Horribly? I honestly can't say."
"We'll get through this." She replied. "We always do."
They both went quiet after that, listening to the sounds of nature's nightlife.
"Um... Kazehana?" Naruto started uncertainly, his eyes unable to connect with hers.
"Something bothering you?" She asked with a small furrow of her brow. "You can tell me whatever's on your mind."
"Oh, well..." Naruto still seemed unsure until he felt her hand reach out to grasp his. "I-I... Well, you and Tsubame never... You guys never really said anything about what you thought of the big reveal.
"I know it's stupid considering that both of you still stuck with me, going so far as to stay here with me to make sure I'm OK, it's just..."
"You want a verbal confirmation." Kazehana finished. "Y'know, I never knew you were so in touch with your feminine side."
"Say what?!" Naruto whispered furiously.
"You know those books I read? Yeah, well some of them are romance novels and in most of them it's the female that needs the verbal confirmation of their lover's... love." She explained with a wide grin. "So, when did your 'Oiroke' part take over?"
"Oh... Haha." Naruto replied sarcastically. Then, a sly smile that would have terrified Kazehana, had she seen it, slid across his lips. "Well... Supposing the 'Oiroke' part, as you called it, were taking over, wouldn't that mean you're the lover?"
"What the-?" The redhead sputtered indignantly before she caught on. Then, she chuckled. "Touché."
They quieted down again and once more the the sounds of nature echoed around them.
"Honestly?" Kazehana started, again breaking the peaceful silence. "I really don't care."
"Really?"
"Naruto. You couldn't be the Kyūbi if you had fur, pointy ears and nine tails popping outta your ass." She replied bluntly. "You're way too kind and I don't think even a mindless bijū is blind enough to have a fucking huge crush on a pink haired brat while not noticing the even larger crush another girl has on it."
"Oh haha!" Naruto scoffed. "What a way to explain why I'm not the Kyū- wait. Someone has a crush on me?"
If the room were well lit, the blond would have seen the eye-bulging stare his friend threw at him.
"You didn't know?" She asked incredulously.
"Was I supposed to?" Was the clueless reply.
Cue epic facepalm.
"I swear, when Tsubame said that you were too oblivious to know of the fucking 'white elephant in the room' crush, I bet with her that you just ignored the poor girl to focus your attention on your 'dream girl'. It never once crossed my mind that you could actually be as oblivious as she said."
"You realize this means you owe me right?" A new voice stated smugly.
"Oh great." Kazehana groaned. "Of course you'd wake up in time to hear that Tsubame."
"Actually, I've been up long enough to hear most of your bonding moments." The silver haired girl replied, the same smug tone still evident in her voice. "And to answer your earlier question, Naruto, I don't care either. You're way too much fun to be a raging demon of hate and all that."
"Thanks, Tsu-chan." Naruto replied warmly. "But seriously, someone in our class has a crush on me?"
"Yup." Tsubame replied cheerfully. "And no, we won't be telling you. So figure it out Blondie."
"Nah, lets be a but kind. You've got about three hours till sunrise to try to figure it out." Kazehana stated. "Get on your own or we'll tell you but you'll forfeit ramen nights for three weeks."
"Wha-?"
"Night Blondie-kun." Tsubame giggled as she snuggled a bit. "Only three hours stand between you and no ramen for three weeks..."
—~ ~—
"It's Hinata-chan, isn't it?" Naruto sighed as they munched on their breakfast.
They lived on the ground floor of their apartment block, sharing three rooms. The farthest end from the entry point was Naruto's, the closest was shared by the girls and the middle room they used as a shared living slash dining slash kitchen area, connected to their rooms by a door.
It was seven-thirty in the morning and they were gorging on the meal Anko had made for them before she had headed back home to prepare for her day.
"Wow!" Tsubame mumbled through her full mouth. "Ramen really does motivate you."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"It is." Kazehana confirmed. "She had a sort of 'love at first sight' crush on you when we first started out at the Academy then it grew into this HUGE crush when you stopped that idiot Bo Lin and his band from bullying her."
"Damn." Naruto swore softly as he leaned back in his chair, the meal forgotten. "I always knew she was shy but a part of me just thought she was weird. Y'know, with the finger-poking and the fainting spells."
"She only ever fainted around you, Blondie." Tsubame pointed out. "Hell, she only really displayed her quirkier... quirks around you."
Kazehana nodded in agreement. "Guess you were too busy chasing Sakura to ever truly notice her."
Silence reigned for about a minute before she added: "So, you like her?"
The blond boy sagged in his seat. "Honestly? I don't know. I mean, I've been so focused on Sakura that both of you are the only other girls I know in our class. Every other girl is a blur and for someone to consider Ino a blur then what do you think Hinata will be?"
"Hmm..." Tsubame mused then she perked up. "Why don't you tell her the truth?"
"What? Are you serious?"
"I am." Came the sure reply. "Get her to your side and talk to her. Let her know your honest feelings right now."
"I'm going with Tsu-chan on this one." Kazehana nodded. "If you tell her, she won't be so stuck up on you and so she'll see that there might be someone else for her. It'll also give you time to know if you honestly like her and if you honestly like Sakura 'cause I know that when you get your head outta your ass, you'll see that your dream's just that: a dream."
"Sakura's..." Naruto began only for Kazehana to cut in, reminding them that they had barely an hour left to get to the Academy.
"Well?" Tsubame shot back with a smile. "I'm the one waiting on you two."
"Wait wha-?" Naruto sputtered as he saw the silver haired girl's empty plate.
"Yeah, hurry up Naruto." Kazehana added as she picked between her teeth with a fingernail. "I was considering us checking out some new threads yo mark our graduation to genin."
"Damn!" The blond swore as he dug back into his larger-than-average meal. 'Their just lucky this isn't ramen!'
—~ ~—
"You know, now that I know about... uh, Furry, I can understand why the villagers throw such hateful looks at me all the time." Naruto said quietly as they walked down the corridor leading to their class.
"Understanding it doesn't make me like it any more." Tsubame replied. "But I see your point."
"You guys might wanna be quiet." Kazehana hissed. "You know... S-ranks and all..."
"Yeah..." Tsubame's thoughts swung in another direction. "Yo Blondie, I saw a certain Hyūga princess going ahead of us a while back."
"Yeah..." Kazehana joined in the teasing. "You ready to admit your undying love for her?"
"I would answer but I don't deem that worthy of the time and energy to be spent." The blond shot back calmly as they walked into the class.
After a quick glance around, the blond jumped onto a table then leapt up the ascending levels until he landed directly in front of a blue haired girl. "Hey Hinata-chan!" He yelled in his usual, idiotic and obnoxious voice.
"Uh... Um... H-h-hi N-n-naruto-k-kun." Came the timid reply from a very red faced girl.
"Wanna walk around a bit after we're done here?"
'Naruto-kun asked me to walk around with him! Me! Kya!'
And with that, her face took on a deeper shade of red... Just before her head hit the table with a soft thud.
Naruto sighed as he sat beside her. Doing as Tsubame and Kazehana advised would be amazingly difficult if the blue haired girl kept fainting like that.
Just then, the door to the class blew inward like it was slammed by a certain Sannin's punch.
"Oh yeah! Sasuke-kun's one true love makes it in first! Again!"
"Like hell Ino-pig! My foot clearly swung in before you even thought of pushing the door!"
Naruto and about half of the non-fangirl population of the class groaned upon hearing the obnoxiously loud voices that accompanied the slamming doors. 'Does Sakura-chan really have to be so loud?'
"I won Pig! I get to sit near Sasuke-kun!" The pink haired girl argued.
"He clearly prefers more balanced girls like me! You know, without the protruding stub of a forehead to interrupt while we enjoy long kisses?" Her blond combatant shot back with a sneer.
"Everybody QUIET!" A man with a disproportionately large head roared from the podium in the center of the room, resulting in everyone, from the wannabe divas to the fainting princess to shoot upright in their seats.
Graveyards had been more noisy than this class.
At least for now.
"Now." Iruka began after glaring at the few troublemakers who were about to get the ruckus started back up again. Surprisingly, it was actually the queens of the Uchiha fan club that had the noise-making ants in their pants. "Normally, this should take place an hour from now. However, Hokage-sama has decided that the allocation of teams should be done as quickly as possible. As such, I will now be announcing the team numbers, the teammates and the jōnin they are allocated to. Are we clear?"
Various forms of assents were shown around the room and the scarred chūnin nodded.
Immediately he began, Naruto simply tuned out, directing his mind to only call him when either his or his friends names were called.
He was jolted out of his space-out when an annoyingly loud squeal pierced his ears, making himself and Kiba flinch.
"That's the power of LOVE!" Sakura screamed as she held up her fingers in the victory sign. "Take that Ino-pig! Kaho! Kuno!"
"Sakura Haruno." Iruka cut in calmly before the pinkette could yell out the names of all her rivals. He leaked out just a tad of Killing Intent to enforce his seemingly gentle words. While the use of Killing Intent was on Academy students was forbidden, the pink-haired girl had just graduated. "Please be quiet and let me finish."
The entire class was sweating bullets as the heavy (to them) KI blasted them.
In a certain blond's mind, though, an old voice popped up.
'Ha.' It scoffed as Naruto suffered under the aura. 'This is what passes as Killing Intent nowadays? Useless.'
Of course, being pinned to his seat in terror, Naruto wasn't in the right frame of mind to hear the voice in his head.
With a small, satisfied smile, Iruka let the KI dissipate gently, allowing the kids to breathe. "As I was saying: Team Seven, teammates; Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Tsukiumi Kuno jo-"
"Take that you pink haired washboard!" The 'lucky' fan girl shouted as she pointed at her rival much to the ire of their chūnin sensei. "Your love ain't nothing to my-"
Her 'what' we would never know as the scarred chūnin exploded in a raging storm of KI.
"QUIET!"
'Now THAT'S more like it!' The voice in Naruto's head said approvingly.
Of course, in the grave-yard silence that followed, Naruto still didn't hear it.
"Anymore disturbances..." Iruka left the threat hanging. "Team seven, jōnin sensei: Hatake Kakashi."
Just before he could continue, he was interrupted again, only this time, by the head teacher of the Academy.
"Good morning, Iruka-san." The brunette nodded in greeting. "I trust all is going well?"
"Good morning Hibiki-sama." Iruka greeted back. "Everything is going smoothly."
Both Ino and Sakura were tempted to say something but we're instantly shut up by the glare their teacher shot at them.
Who knew that the mild sensei could be so... Harsh?
"Well then, I would like to sit here and watch." Hibiki smiled. "Seeing them grow is a reward I always enjoy."
"You really don't have to ask Hibiki-sama." Iruka pointed at his seat. "Please enjoy yourself."
Going back to the scroll in his hand. Iruka read out the next team. "Team eight. Teammates: Hyūga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba. Jōnin sensei: Yūhi Kurenai."
Apart from a slight whoop from the Inuzuka, there was no outward response from the members of team eight.
Inwardly though, a certain person was throwing a tantrum...
'Why? Just when he finally asks me out I get stuck on a totally different team? Murphy you son of a bitch if I get my hands on you there won't be a number for the total Jyūken strikes I'll slam into you!'
Moving on...
"Team ten, teammates: Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji and Nara Shikamaru. Jōnin sensei: Sarutobi Hiruzen."
Response: a groan and a head slam, munching on even MORE chips and a mutter of 'troublesome' followed by a lazy yawn.
"Team nine, teammates: Kaguya Tsubame, Misora Kazehana and Uzumaki Naruto. Jōnin sen-"
AGAIN the chūnin was interrupted, this time by a loud cry of 'what?' echoing around the class.
The loudest yell, however, came from behind the chūnin.
"Umino-san explain to me how it is that he graduated." The raging Hibiki asked through clenched teeth.
"Perhaps we should take this outside for a while." Iruka murmured. "The reasons are tied to... Laws..."
Catching onto the hidden message, the brunette swept out of the room in a rage.
"Damn." Iruka muttered as he followed her out.
—~ ~—
"Umino-san what is the meaning of this?" Hibiki asked as she stormed into her office. "I distinctly remember that he failed the graduation exam yesterday. Who graduated him?"
Iruka took a deep breath in and prepared himself for the coming explosion. "I did."
Three.
Two.
One.
"WHAT?"
"I said I graduated Uzumaki Naruto." He instantly threw his hands up in a pacifying posture. "I, however, did so under the orders of Hokage-sama."
Apparently, that was the right thing to say as, immediately she heard that her leader had a hand in the 'demon's' graduation, she calmed down somewhat.
"Why would he promote the... thing?" She asked a bit more civilly this time. "Does he not remember what it did to our people?"
Iruka took a deep breath in. What he was about to say was something he would never of his own volition. However, the Hokage, through his secretary had relayed a message to him just as he woke up this morning. She had come to him in the hospital to explain some things to him.
—~FLASHBACK~—
"Good morning Iruka. Feeling better yet?" A soft voice asked as the door to his room squeaked open.
The scarred chūnin lifted his arm off his face and turned to see his visitor. She was looking splendid as always though for some reason, she had a black trenchcoat on... "Ah! Momioka-san! Good morning. I'm feeling much better thank you. The medics are wonderful as usual."
"That's great! Wonderful in fact." The blonde replied as she took a seat beside him. "Have you called anyone to take over the allocation of the new genin to their teams?"
"Unfortunately not yet." He replied. "I was considering calling up either Uluquiorra Nnoitora or Hitsugaya Toshiro to help me out. Both owe me favors so..."
"Don't bother. We need you to be the one there today." Rangiku cut him off as she put her hand into the trenchcoat and pulled out an envelope.
"We?" He asked in confusion as she pulled out a scroll, a folded piece of paper and another, smaller but bulkier, envelope.
"Yes. We." Taking in a deep breath, she quickly explained everything that had happened between the time he left the Council Room the night before and the time the Hokage left.
"I'm impressed. Some of Naruto's classmates actually stood up for him? Wish I was there to see that."
"Regardless of their opinions, the Hokage had to pull a bit of wool over the eyes of the Council and he did so by saying that he gave you permission to promote Naruto. The first scroll is the cover for that."
Reaching out a bit stiffly (for all their great work on him the medics were not Tsunade. There were bound to be a few stiff parts), he picked the scroll, unrolled it and read its contents.
"A B-ranked 'Investigation and Possible Apprehension' mission? I didn't even know missions like this existed."
"To most shinobi, they don't." Rangiku answered. "However, to the few that receive such missions, they do."
"What's it all about?"
"Unlike the more common 'Assassination' or 'Escort' missions, these missions are almost always internal. They involve investigating a specific person or group of people who seem to be working against the interests of the Village. Only the Hokage and those he sees fit to know about it will and it is never to be spoken of when completed. There are rarely ever more than one or two of these missions assigned in a year though." Rangiku explained.
"Making it the perfect mission to be handed out given the situation." Iruka nodded.
"Exactly. A similar mission scroll is being held in waiting for Naruto as his cover. It will also cover how you had the authority to promote him."
Iruka's respect for his Hokage grew. To think that this entire ploy was created on the spot. "Interesting. Hokage-sama definitely has this all planned out."
"He does. However, to the real reason I came to meet you: the Academy."
It took a few seconds but then it clicked in the chūnin's mind. "There has to be a cover for this that will also avoid too much interest."
"Exactly." The blonde woman smiled approvingly for a second before her face tightened up. "Hokage-sama has a plan but you will most definitely not like your part in it."
With a small frown, Iruka took the folded paper.
"I have to say that?" He whispered furiously. "Why?"
"I don't like it either Iruka but this is the best way to appease the civilians. It won't settle things completely but its might reduce some of the hate. Or just turn it into something less than hate." She replied resignedly.
"Or turn into something more than hate!"
"Look! I don't like this either but we don't have a choice here and you're the only one we can trust this to. As soon as he is done with his jōnin-sensei for the day we will call him over and explain it to him to avoid any misconceptions on his part." She shot back. "Now. I need to leave so I can deliver a letter to the doctor that will allow you permission to leave for the allocation."
With that, she stood up to leave.
"I don't like doing this." Iruka stated, dissatisfaction evident in his tone. "However, I will do it for Naruto."
Now standing by the door, Rangiku nodded once. "The bulky envelope has your pay in it."
And with that, she left.
—~FLASHBACK END~—
Iruka sighed inwardly before he steeled himself. Like it or not this was for Naruto. His 'little brother' needed protection and he would protect him.
"Hokage-sama told me to explain to you that promoting him was a strategic move. As much as people don't like the boy he still contains a massive amount of power."
"Power that should never be trained!" Hibiki spat in disgust.
"That's not the opinion of our enemies." Iruka replied. "Iwagakure and Kumogakure have two jinchūriki each. All four are rumored to be able to harness the power of their beast. As much as I hate to admit it, Konoha has no shinobi powerful enough to face off against one bijū to say nothing of two. As such, we need the boy's power harnessed."
"And if it turns on us?"
"It could be a problem however Hokage-sama says that he has something he can use to keep it in line."
The brunette woman scowled as she thought over the idea of training the demon that had killed so many of her loved ones... Yet she knew that if they ever faced such a threat again it could be their only hope...
"I do hope Hokage-sama can control it..." She muttered darkly.
"He wouldn't be the 'Shinobi no Kami' if he didn't have a few tricks up his sleeve." Was Iruka's reply.
"Fine." She growled out. "Return and finish the allocation."
With a small smile, the scarred chūnin left her office.
—~ ~—
Upon getting back to class, it was hardly a surprise to see most of the other graduands swarming Naruto with questions. It was, however, astonishing that the blond wasn't on the table screaming out how awesome he was to have beaten up a chūnin. Instead, he had his fingers entwined behind his head and was whistling softly.
"Alright break it up!" Iruka yelled. With small growls the students returned to their seats and Naruto threw a discrete thumbs-up at his sensei. 'Guess he was getting a bit stressed under all that pressure.'
With that settled, the scarred chūnin picked the allocation scroll to continue from where he'd stopped. "Team nine, teammates: Kaguya Tsubame, Misora Kazehana and Uzumaki Naruto. Jōnin-sensei: Mitarashi Anko."
He arched an eyebrow upon reading out her name. Wasn't she a tokubetsu jōnin? Eh well, whatever the Hokage felt was necessary.
"Now, eager as you all undoubtedly are, you might have to wait a bit until your sensei get here. Train hard, listen to your sensei and be the damned best you can be."
With that, he strolled out of the class.
"Alright! Spill the beans Naruto!" Kiba growled as soon as the chūnin stepped out of the class. "How the hell did a dead last idiot like you pass? You sure as hell didn't make it yesterday!"
Ignoring the boy, Naruto simply turned to the blushing girl beside him. "Hey Hinata-chan. Can we take that walk now?"
"N-n-now?" She stammered. 'He really meant it?'
"Sure! You heard Iruka-sensei! The jōnin are typically busy so they might not be here for a while. Let's go!" The blond replied with his wide grin.
"O-ok."
Again, totally ignoring his classmates, Naruto grasped Hinata's hand and pulled her out with him, throwing a discrete thumbs-up before he left the room.
"OK... Am I the only one that saw the dobe totally ignore Sakura and talk to Hinata?" Kiba asked with a confused look on his face.
"What I'm more interested in knowing is how the hell he graduated!" Sakura scowled. "He failed yesterday didn't he?"
Ino, a very sly grin stretching her lips, turned to both of the blond's friends...
Only for Tsubame to glance at her disinterestedly. "Don't bother. We're about as knowledgeable about it as you are."
With that, the silver haired girl put her feet on the table and linked her hands behind her head while her redheaded friend simply pulled out a small book from her hip pouch and flipped it open to a dog-eared page.
"Well... That's a bust."
—~ ~—
Hinata and Naruto quietly sat on the stairs leading into the Academy in silence, both unsure of what to say.
'Damn! I should have asked Tsu-chan to give me a few pointers on what to say!'
'I really wish I knew what to say to Naruto-kun. He must be feeling a bit weird about talking now...'
Finally, growing more than a little uncomfortable with the silence, Naruto spoke up. "Hey Hinata-chan? I'm sorry."
The blue haired girl recoiled in shock. Sorry? "F-f-for w-what?"
"Never seeing you." Naruto replied bluntly. If he was going to take the girls' advice then he might as well jump straight in. "I mean, throughout our stay here I never really saw you for who you were. I always thought you were a bit weird because of the way you were always red-faced so I never took time to be your friend. And I'm sorry for that."
The Hyūga's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. He was sad that he never got to know her? Where was this coming from? "A-ano, it alright Naruto-kun."
"No. It's not." He replied, sadness seemingly creeping into his voice. "I mean, I always wanted to be seen for being me and to be acknowledged. You were always there in the background but because I was always chasing Sakura-chan I never took time to acknowledge you. Talk about hypocritical."
Hinata could only remain silent as the blond spoke of things that had hurt her over the years. With all the things going on at home, the Academy was her escape of sorts and Naruto and his undying will were her anchors. Yet she had always wished that he would even speak to her instead of her pink-haired classmate. Listening to him now, she could only remain silent.
"And then, after a shitload of things were dropped on me, I got to realize that you weren't weird. You just liked me." The blond looked into her lavender eyes and smiled. Thank Kami that the younger grades had gone home for a quick holiday break or else this would have been totally awkward.
Hinata wanted to cry. Scratch that, she wanted to rail up against the cosmic entities and bawl her eyes out. Why the fuck was life so unfair?! The only guy she ever liked finally discovered that she liked her on the day they would be torn apart. Stupid team allocation and stupid whoever the fuck had thrown her into a team without Naruto!
"B-but now that we're in d-different teams how will we ever get to know each other?"
"Well, I was worried about the same thing until our jōnin-sensei were announced!" Naruto replied happily. "You got Yūhi Kurenai right?"
She nodded uncertainly.
"Well, I got Anko Mitarashi." Naruto cheered. "They're best friends so I think we might be able to persuade them to let us work together! Then we can get to know each other more!"
A small light of hope sparked in her eyes as the blond spoke and and it had grown into a great flame by the time he was done. "We can get to see each other!"
"Yeah!" Naruto cheered again. Just as he was about to offer to walk her back inside he remembered something else Tsubame (or was it Kazehana? Whatever) had told him back home.
Something about letting her know that there could be someone else out there for her...
Not knowing how to say such a thing, he just decided to throw it in and watch her reaction to it. "We could even get to know if we're gonna be OK together or whether to get to know someone else while still being friends!"
Watching Hinata's face drop back into despondency made him feel like he'd kicked a puppy.
'I really hope telling her that was a good idea.' He thought with an inward wince as he asked her to walk with him back to class.
—~ ~—
"Well its about damned time!" Kiba snapped as the two walked back into the classroom, his canine familiar yipping in what seemed to be agreement. "Could you two have stated out any longer?"
"Oi! What crawled up and died in your ass?" Naruto fired back defensively. He could see the looks of interest in the eyes of the remaining students (apparently, only the newly minted teams seven, nmeight and nine remained in the room) and he was really not in the mood for this.
"Only that I've been waiting for your return with my genin." A familiar female voice answered from behind him. "That enough of a reason?"
Turning slowly, he looked up a bit to start into the only other pair of natural red eyes that he knew.
With flowing black hair accentuating the beauty of her face and clothed in what seemed to be broad strips of bandages combined with her aloof personality, she had an almost ethereal, haunting beauty that had her ranked as one of the most beautiful women in Konoha.
Not that any of these crossed the blond's mind.
"Kurenai-san!" He smiled happily at the woman. "You're here early!"
With a small scoff she replied. "Like I'd be late... I'm not a certain man, you know?"
Throwing a small, pitiful glance at the members of team seven, the blond shook his head sadly. "They're gonna be here quite a while."
"True... So, wanna give me back my genin?"
"Ah yeah!" Naruto exclaimed having forgotten her reason for being her. Turning to the timid girl by his side hr pointed to Kurenai with a smile. "Hey Hinata-chan, this is Yūhi Kurenai! She's the friend I talked about."
Glancing up, the blue haired Hyūga shot out a meek "Hello" before ducking her head again.
With a raised eyebrow, Kurenai studied the girl. No matter how good or bad she was, she'd never amount to anything if the confidence issue wasn't quickly taken care of. That would have to join the small schedule she'd put together for her team. "Well then, thanks for taking care of my young lady here but team eight have to get the ball rolling."
"Bye Kurenai-san!" Naruto greeted as the woman gently took hinata:'s hand to lead her out.
"Bye Naruto." Kurenai smiled back. "Hey Hana-chan, Tsu-chan, keep him out of trouble. We all know how much he sucks at doing that on his own."
"OI!"
Ignoring their best-friend's indignant yell, both girls smiled happily. "Won't be a problem Kurenai-san!"
With a final wave to them, Kurenai walked out with her team.
"Oi Blondie! Get your ass over here!" Tsubame shouted to him.
Shaking his head for the umpteenth time at the nickname, he bounded across the tables to get to her.
"So? How'd it go?" Kazehana asked as he sat between them.
"As well as it could go without knowing exactly what to say." He shrugged. "I apologized for not noticing her and offered to ask if Kurenai-san and Nee-chan would allow us to train together sometimes."
"What else?" Tsubame asked eagerly. "Did you talk about the possibility of finding someone else?"
"I did and I felt like a total villain after it." Naruto sighed. "She looked like a puppy someone kicked in the stomach."
"Damn." The redhead swore softly. "Well, maybe-"
"The brats of team nine?" Anko called out from the doorway. "Meet me at 'that' training ground."
Immediately after, she disappeared in a shushin.
"Think she means..." Naruto started.
"Yup." Both girls nodded before bursting into a run. "Race ya!"
"Not fair!" Naruto yelled as he vaulted the tables and broke into a run after them.
Managing to toss a quick 'bye' to the members of team seven, he dashed out if the class doors, his head already calculating the fastest path through the Village to his destination.
—~ ~—
"Damn it!" Tsubame swore as she landed in the grassy field of the training ground. The reason for her expletive was seated under the shade of a tree, resting calmly on the trunk and grinning cheekily at her. "How the hell did you manage to make it here before we did?"
Just then, their redheaded friend dived out of some shrubs and rolled to a stop. "Did we make it?"
"Nope." Naruto answered happily. "I'm still the fastest of the three."
"Only because you know all the shortcuts!" Kazehana shot back amidst puffs of air.
"Glad to see you all made it." Anko called out.
Turning, they saw her seated in a tree a few meters from them, picking her teeth with a dango stick. "You actually made it a few minutes earlier than I'd predicted."
"Yo Anko-nee!" Naruto greeted with a wide grin. "Or should I say Anko-sensei?"
"For now, whichever floats your boat." The purple haired woman shrugged. "Before we go on, I'd like to introduce to you your secondary sensei: Yūgao Uzuki. Or, as you're more familiar with: Neko."
From the behind the tree Anko sat in came another purple haired woman. Contrasting Anko's short ponytail, she had longer hair that flowed down to her shoulders. She was dressed in standard ANBU gear though the mask was absent.
"Hello Naruto, Kazehana, Tsubame."
"Woah! We get an ANBU as our sensei too? Awesome!" Naruto yelled in his usual happy tone.
The girls, on the other hand, were a tad more curious.
"Not that I don't like having you here, Yūgao-sensei, but why exactly do we need two sensei?" Tsubame asked.
"That's because you guys have a Strategic Resource on your team." Anko replied as she jumped off her branch to land beside the firmer ANBU. "Your graduating set is the most valuable in recent times. You have every single clan heir plus the last of a near-extinct clan plus Naruto here. If anyone from your set dies, the clans of Konoha might have problems with their heirachy which will lead to a weaker Village. That's why you guys get some of the most powerful jōnin in the Village."
Yūgao took over the explanation: "Hatake-san, being possibly the most powerful after Hokage-sama trains the last Uchiha while protecting him from threats. The new generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō formation get Sarutobi-san, Hokage-sama's son who will undoubtedly be an excellent sensei for them while being powerful enough to hold off any threats on their lives. Kurenai-san trains the heirs to the Hyūga, Aburame and Inuzuka clan while being string enough to protect them from threats until support can arrive."
"And Yūgao and I get to whip you guys into shape!" Anko finished with a bone-chilling smile.
"But i'm not special." Naruto said in confusion. He could get every other part but, as far as he knew, he wasn't anything spectacular.
The two purple haired women glanced at each other, worth flashing over their features.
"Naruto, the truth is, much as the villagers don't like you, being a jinchūriki is more than just being a prison for a powerful entity." Anko started softly. "Jinchūriki are... weapons... Konoha has never treated any of its jinchūriki like that but then again, you're the first jinchūriki that Konoha citizens actually know about."
"There was another Council meeting this morning and Hokage-sama chose me to escort him." Yūgao stated. "The Civilian Division lobbied for you to be placed under the Strategic Resources Program."
"The what now?" Kazehana asked. In all her pretty extensive readings she had never come across something like this.
"It's a program that is designed to enhance the battle capabilities of a shinobi of extraordinary talents. However, it has had the side-effect of estranging them from others. As such, it, entry into the SRP is voluntary and the volunteers are always informed of the risk."
"That's what they wanted Naruto to be part of?" Tsubame hissed angrily. "I swear the dammed Civilians are way too overrated!"
"Maybe. Anyway, Hokage-sama denied their request. He did, however, grant them a seeming compromise: you, Naruto, have been elevated to the rank of being a Strategic Resource. As such, you have been granted a few benefits. One of those being this training field. The others, Hokage-sama will tell you about later."
"What's up with the training field?" Tsubame asked.
"Besides the fact that it's one of the farthest from the Village?" Anko asked amusedly. "It was also your mom's training field."
Silence dominated for a few seconds then Naruto jumped up. "Really? My mom's?"
Yūgao smiled. "Yeah. Because of Konoha's close ties to Uzushiogakure, an entire area of land was dedicated to the envoys of Uzu for their stay whenever they came around. After the... genocidal war on Uzu, your mom was the last known Uzumaki so this field was given to her. It was here that she trained her genin... Myself inclusive."
Naruto's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "You were a genin under my mom?!"
"Yes she was." Anko cut in as she pulled out two paper balls."And you'll only get anymore info if you can pass the true genin test."
"The what?!" Naruto yelled. "So what the hell did we do in the Academy yesterday?"
"That?" Anko scoffed as she held out the two balls in her palms. "That was just to make sure no wimps graduated. "This test is to determine whether or not you've got what it takes to be truly inducted into Konoha's shinobi forces."
Upon hearing this, the three stood straight and glared at the trenchcoat-wearing woman.
"What do we need to do?" Kazehana asked.
"Simple. Get these balls from me by any means. Don't get a ball? Back to the Academy it is."
Naruto clenched his jaw angrily. This had to be a sick joke. Back to the Academy? Only two people in his set were older than the rest so something was off with this entire thing...
"Now, rules are simple: come at me with the intent to kill cause I'll be doing the same to stop you from getting these balls. You have just one hour to get them so I'd advise you to get going and not waste time jabbering. Your time starts... Now!"
With that, she vanished in a swirl of leaves and smoke.
"Guys? Something's off about this." Tsubame stated, unwittingly echoing all their individual thoughts.
"I agree." Kazehana nodded. "She:s pushing us to get those balls for a reason but there are only two..."
"Yeah... And she's a jōnin..." Naruto added, all his enhanced senses darting about to get a hint of the woman's location. "Newly minted, yeah, but her skill level must be well above ours for her to have been given that rank. Individual efforts aren't going to cut this."
"Teamwork it is." Tsubame nodded. "Naruto, can you do that replicating thing you did yesterday?"
Memory flashing, he grasped what his silver-haired friend meant. "I believe so, yeah."
"Okay... I've got a plan..."
—~ ~—
Anko glanced at her wristwatch impatiently. It had been over ten minutes since she'd left them so what exactly was holding them? Had she not baited them enough?
Just as she was about to crawl out of her hiding place, she heard a loud yell of 'gotcha!' from behind.
Instantly, she dived out of her hiding place, tucking herself into a roll as she went.
With a quick move, she jumped to her feet and turned to glare at the blond behind her.
"Well, even if you're bound to fail, the least I can do is to is to give you a few pointers..." She mused. "One: never yell an attack if you can help it. It gives your opponent time to escape."
With a small growl, the orange clad boy charged forward. As soon as he got in close, he lashed out with a series of combos, punches, kicks and a few elbows flying at her.
With a barely restrained grin, she danced around each attack, watching as he tried to correct each sloppy attack and failing miserably. Deciding to put him out of his misery, she lashed out with a fist only for him to grin and duck beneath it.
Feeling the explosion of chakra from him, she instantly leapt back, giving him a large amount of room.
A moment later, she was glad she did.
The clearing she had backed out of was swamped with a horde of orange wearing blonds, each with a shit eating grin on their face.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" They yelled before diving forward to attack.
"Aren't I a fast learner?" One clone asked as it attempted to punch her in the gut.
Returning fire with a blindingly fast punch of her own, Anko's face stretched into a smirk. "I guess you are. So time for lesson two!" She instinctively ducked, letting another clone fly over her head, fist outstretched.
"Lesson two;" she shouted as she grabbed the clone's foot and swung him around like a bludgeon. "Quantity doesn't mean squat against significantly greater quality!"
Having let the unlucky clone go straight into another cluster of the damned things, she tossed a ball up, pulled out a kunai and then let the ball drop into her pocket.
—~ ~—
Watching their soon-to-be sensei mowing through the clones, the girls glanced at each other.
"Damn she's good!" Tsubame commented.
"Yeah she is." Naruto agreed from behind them. "I'm here now, though, so you can start your part."
Immediately he said so, they let loose a hail of kunai and shuriken at their target.
A few minutes later, they felt a small impact on their necks.
—~ ~—
"What happened?" Naruto slurred as he opened his eyes.
"Lesson three." Yūgao smiled at him. "Never take your eyes off your opponents."
"But I was watching Anko-" he then facepalmed as he realized what she meant. "Yeah... You were in on it too huh?"
"Yeah." Yūgao nodded. "I'm surprised that you're already up. Your friends are still in dreamland."
The blond just shrugged. "I've always healed fast. Must be a part of it. So, where's Anko-sensei?"
"She left to register team nine as an official team."
"Wait. We passed?"
"You did." Yūgao confirmed. "The test wasn't actually for you to get the bells. It was a test to see if you could work together or crack under pressure."
"YATTA! WE PASSED!"
—~ ~—
And Cut!
Too tired to say much now so I'll just say this:
I have a plan for Hinata.
Read & Review Please.
The Ethereal Lord.