A/N: Got some fighting in here, and a surprise from our fav little ninja. A new arc has begun! This is a longer than usual chapter as an apology from not updating and the for going away for a week and not being to update for that week. Thank you to all of you who had commented and told me your opinion for the next arc, it means a lot to me.
*One week later*
"Kakashi! You alive bitch stop that!" screamed Naruto as he frantically ran to where Kakashi and Obito were standing, Kakashi attempting, but not succeeding, in putting Obito into an early grave. Iruka, who was closer to them and who was also running, turned and shot a confused look at Naruto, before looking forward again.
"Kakashi! Why are you doing that to Obito? What did he do?" Iruka yelled, finally reaching the two and wrenching them apart. Spinning and trying to calm Obito down, only Naruto noticed the slight sag of Kakashi's shoulders. Chuckling lightly, Naruto patted Kakashi's hair and whispered, "Try something a little less violent when you want Iruka-chan's attention, ne?" which just resulted with Kakashi shifting guiltily in place.
Finally convinced Obito was recovered from the surprise murder attempt, Iruka turned to face Kakashi, glare already on full blast. Both Kakashi andNaruto shrunk back. Even though the glare wasn't directed at him, the years of being in Iruka's class created an ingrained reaction in Naruto when even just in the general vicinity of the glare. Giving Kakashi one last pat on the head for good luck, Naruto retreated back to where Obito was still standing, far enough away that the two of them wouldn't be caught in the range of the glare. The two shared a look before focusing back to where they witnessed Kakashi get a thorough verbal beatdown from Iruka. Once Iruka was done, Naruto decided to bring up the topic he was going to talk to the team about before the 'attempted' murder happened.
"Uh, now that Iruka-kun is done with, ah, expressing his opinion, it's time to go get a mission!" Naruto shouted nervously, shooting looks between his team.
"Yatta! Finally Naruto-sensei! What are we gonna do, rescue a princess, free a country, go back in time to save a lost civilization?!" Obito grinned, his previous mood erased.
"Uh, no Obito-kun, we're doing none of those things. But!" Naruto hastily added, aware that once Obito became 'depressed' there was little to do to snap him out of it, "We're going to help rescue a cat!"
Kakashi snorted softly before looking away, his light blush being covered by his mask. "Right up your alley Obito." Iruka shot Kakashi an angry look before turning around and smiling brightly at Naruto, causing the rest of the team to sweat-drop.
"I'm sure we'll all have fun, right guys?" Iruka said lightly, as if to alleviate the mood. The emphasis he tacked on at the end shattered that possibility. Naruto just chuckled nervously.
"Yes, well, to the Mission Desk!" And with that, the team departed.
"Um, Uzumaki-san, would you like to take a look at the missions or have you already decided?" a nervous chunin stuttered, smiling nervously at an evil looking Naruto.
"No need for that, I have decided to take the Tora mission." The chunin shrunk down in his chair, too scared of Naruto's aura to do anything. The chunin to the left just sighed and reached down to pick up the Tora scroll.
Smiling at Naruto, he said, "Have a nice day!" before elbowing the other chunin hard enough to knock him out of the chair. Ignoring the nervous looks his genin team was shooting at the Mission Desk, which had broken out into shouting and what sounded like crashing furniture, Naruto just hummed and took out a juice box from one of his seals.
Sipping away, Naruto led his team to their meeting spot before lightly putting down the juice box. Opening the scroll, he began reading. "Mission Objective: Capture and Return of Tora. Rank: D. Client: Madame Shinji. Reward: 500 yen. That's all, any questions?" asked Naruto, placing down the scroll and picking up his juice box again.
"Are we doing this alone? You're not gonna help us?" asked Iruka, plans already running through his head.
"I will be on the communicator line, but I will only step in if there is serious risk of injury, which there shouldn't be. Any other questions? No? Ok, well, get to it!" Naruto commanded, and they all took off into the trees.
"So what you're saying is that while on the mission, a D-Ranked one might I add, Iruka-kun here got stuck inside a tree because he had a latent gene for mokuton and the tree just absorbed him? And Obito-kun activated his sharingan to try and help and ended up stuck in there as well? And then Kakashi-kun panicked and ended up electrocuting the tree which set it on fire, which you then had to put out with the biggest water jutsu there is?" The Hokage blandly asked, mind already out the window and on a farm herding goats.
"Um, yes Hokage-sama, that is correct?" Naruto said sheepishly, the sentence ending on a questioning tone. "In my defense at least, that water jutsu was the only one I knew off the top of my head. And they showed teamwork?" Naruto said, hopeful that the last part would lessen the punishment that the Hokage was to surely give out. The genin were not there, as Naruto had sent them home and ordered them to clean up and report to their meeting spot the next day, which left Naruto to brave the Hokage alone.
Hiruzen sighed, and put his head in his hands. "I need a successor to deal with this i'm to damn old for this." he mumbled, causing Naruto to flush with embarrassment. Groaning with stress, Hiruzen looked up and shot Naruto a small glare, the heat behind it practically non-existent.
"Listen, because of Iruka-kun's bloodline, I will have to ask Tsunade to come back to the village. Unless, I suppose, you would like to take your team and go to her?" the Hokage asked, folding his fingers on his desk.
Naruto smiled nervously before saying, "Actually, if we could do that, that'd be great." the Hokage blinked in surprise before nodding.
"Let's me write up the mission, and then you will go tomorrow." Naruto nodded sharply before traveling away using the Shunshin, leaving a pile of leaves on the floor. Hiruzen sighed. "Can't they just leave using the door? I don't want leaves in my office!"
"Here's the tea," Naruto started, addressing his team. "Since Iruka-kun unlocked his bloodline, we're gonna be taking a little trip to find a slug."
A confused Obito raised his hand. "Ano, what slug?"
Naruto leisurely shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, you know, the famous Slug Sannin, Tsunade Senju." Iruka gasped loudly, drawing attention away from Obito and to himself.
"Really!?" Naruto grinned.
"Yeah, 'really'."
"That's amazing! Am I gonna be learning from her?"
"Yes Iruka-kun, you are." Naruto replied, reaching over and ruffling Iruka's hair. "Since she is a Senju who remembers how the Shodai used his Mokuton , she's gonna tell you how to use yours." Naruto turned to the rest of his team. "While Iruka is going to be learning from Tsunade-sama, you will be learning from me." Here, Naruto let out an evil cackle. "I'll be teaching you the basics for your elements, once I test you."
Obito and Kakashi shot a triumphant glance at each other, before turning to look at their other teammate. "Which is not to say that I won't be training Iruka-kun. While he will be getting bloodline training, i'm sure the both of you do as well. He will still be training with you, but he will be having a separate training session with Tsunade-sama. Let's hope we won't burn down another town, or forest. Alrighty team, allons-y!" Naruto shouted.
The rest of Team 7 shot confused looks at each other before following Naruto out the gates and away from their home. "Ne, ne, Iruka-kun, did you understand somewhat Naruto-sensei just said?" Obito asked Iruka as they jumped through the forest. Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"Did you not listen?" he asked snidely, before looking the other way when Iruka shot him a glare.
Turning back to Obito, Iruka said, "Don't listen to Kakashi-kun. Yeah, some words didn't make sense with context, but you should know Naruto-sensei, some words just never make sense."
"Aww, are y'all talking about me?" Naruto asked cheerily, watching with glee as both Iruka and Obito stumbled over a branch, surprised at his arrival. Kakashi rolled his eyes, but Naruto had noticed his little twitch of surprise.
Smile fading into a light grimace, Naruto spoke. "Coming up, there are three enemy ninja. Now, while i'm sure some of you are confident of your abilities," Naruto shot an accusing look at Kakashi, who just tilted his head. "please leave this to me. I can tell these are no ordinary nins. Keep in formation, and remember to retreat if something happens to either you or your teammates. Go!"
The three genin flew into the higher branches of the thick forest, buzzing with nervousness and anticipation.
"Finally." the Kyuubi rumbled. "Now we can really play."
"Now now Kurama," Naruto berated, "you know we shouldn't leave this place too gory. We have to 'clean up' afterwards."
Kurama snorted. "And if by 'clean up' you mean torching it all with a fire jutsu, it shouldn't matter."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "There are little gremlin genins here, I wouldn't want to traumatized them too soon ya know. Ooo, shush! They're coming."
Naruto hovered his hand over the seal that kept the Raijin safe. To not make his genin too worried, Naruto neglected to tell them that this particular trio of ninja were missing nin listed in the Bingo Book under B-rank. Not overly strong, but not very weak either. Softly grinding the front of his foot in the dirt, Naruto was prepared when a small zing was heard. He immediately ducked and drew out his sword. He didn't immediately channel lightning chakra into it just yet, but was ready to do so at a moments notice.
"Well well well, look who we have here." Three ninja appeared out of the forest, on the other side of where Naruto's genin hid. "If it isn't the Kami no hai. I wonder what you're doing outside of Konoha." Naruto scoffed.
"No need for small talk. What are you three doing here?" The nin in the middle smiled.
"Oh, defensive hm? Are you here with someone? Or perhaps, some people?" Naruto squinted his eyes.
"If you're not gonna move, i'm afraid i'm going to have to make you." The ninja in the middle grinned.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to make me." And with that, the other two ninjas moved in, pouncing on Naruto. He smirked, letting the lightning chakra flood into the blade, and took a wide swing. The lightning came into contact with one of them, and they flew back into a tree, sliding down. Using the time that was being used for the other nin to get his bearings, Naruto swiftly preformed the signs for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and two clones appeared.
One went off into the woods to help his genin understand and comprehend the battle, as well as standing in as backup should it be needed. The other clone began to attack the ninja with fast flurries of taijutsu while Naruto led the leader to a different spot.
"Fūton: Kami Oroshi!" shouted Naruto as he began to push back the ninja.
"Doton: Doryūheki!" the other ninja shouted as a wall began to rise in front of them.
"Fuck! Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" Naruto cursed as the the wall shattered, and the wind began to dissipate, the ninja still far ahead.
"Suiton: Rekkū Suigeki !" The water traveled quickly, and soon reached the other nin. The ninja fell, and didn't move. Naruto motioned his clone to follow him, and spoke in hushed tones. After the clone nodded, it walked up to the other ninja and inspected him. Looking up to motion that the ninja was dead, the man sprung up and cut the clone in half.
With no expression, the real Naruto sent a Katon: Haisekishō at the ninja, which landed and finally killed the nin. Walking towards the body, Kyuubi spoke.
"See, wasn't that fun?" Naruto snorted.
"If your idea of fun is being in a life-or-death situation and knowing one wrong move could lead to your death, then sure, I suppose it was fun." Rolling his eyes, Naruto took his sword and cut the head off of the ninja, and then burned the body until nothing remained.
"At least your genin know how you got your name, Kami no hai." Naruto shrugged. "They didn't need to know, but I guess i'm pulling a Kakashi-sensei today and following his example of letting the enemy ninja tell my genin my title. Saves me some time I guess." Walking back and doing the same thing to the other ninja that his clone fought, Naruto made his way to where he could sense his genin hiding.
"All clear. You guys good?" Naruto asked, concern clear in his voice. Kakashi just seemed to give him a look of approval that had a tinge of admiration in it, while Obito visible brightened and began cheering. Iruka smiled on in pride.
"Wow sensei! That was super cool! Are you gonna teach us stuff like that?" Obito asked.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I suppose, but before we can begin, we need to get you guys prepared for…" here Naruto trailed off. He didn't want to give them the idea that war was coming, but because Naruto knew when the war began, he knew it would begin soon. "For later in your lives!" Naruto finished, his smile heavy and his eyes blank.
Kakashi shot him a look of suspicion, while Iruka looked at him in concern. Obito just squinted off into the distance, as if sensing something.
"Well, let's get moving, shall we?" Naruto asked, while praying that his kids would get out of the war without as much scarring as their counterparts had. It might not happen in the same way that it once had, and Naruto was banking on the fact that because he was changing the timeline as much as he had, but praying gave him hope; hope for a brighter future.
"Come on kids, lets go."
"Oh Naruto, if only you knew what I was planning."
A/N: "Kami no hai" means "Deity of Ash", according to google translate. Here it is, the beginning of a new arc. The saga begins!
(Also, the headcanon that Iruka is related to the First Hokage gives me life)
