Return to the Light

Naruto and Sakura faced the dark haired boy together. So far he had beaten them both quite badly in sparring. Naruto was not certain but this guy had to be at least chunin level already and Shin had called him just another trainee. The blonde helped the pink haired girl to stand as he popped her dislocated finger back into place. Under his breath he talked to her, "Okay, I think I have a plan to get this guy at least once. Shin said it is a spar, right? But he never said anything about rules. We are using our best stuff on this guy and not getting anywhere separately. We need to work this together."

Sakura could barely open one swollen eye after the sparring from today and was willing to try anything at this point to get a few shots in. "What are we doing?"

"When you see me make a Ram seal close your eyes and wait for the flash. Then you take out his ability to breathe. I'm gonna beat on Shin too if he falls for it," Naruto said.

Sakura nodded and moved off to Naruto's left. Naruto charged headlong at the dark haired boy once more but pulled up at about 3 steps from him and focused his chakra and made a Ram seal.

Sakura ran up trailing and was ready for it. The chakra flash Naruto created lit the room bright enough to make Sakura's eyes hurt even when closed. The flash faded as she ran past and jumped at the dark haired teen. She saw his hands up by his face and she grinned ferally as her foot connected a side kick with the boy's stomach. She was surprised however when the boy shattered and she was sprayed with ink. Sakura managed to roll as the resistance to her kick vanished.

Naruto heard a sound to one side as the dark haired boy was scribbling on a scroll. He followed with a hand sign and a new clone rose. 'Dammit,' Naruto thought. 'He is one step ahead of us.' Naruto really wanted some weapons at that point. He was getting tired of everything in this place. He wanted to sleep. He wanted some ramen. He was fed up with playing to these traitors.

"Enough," Shin called out. "It is time to stop for now. Sakura let me see your hand."

Shin made a hand sign and his hand glowed green as he ran it over Sakura's finger. "Hmm, some minor damage to a couple of ligaments. Hold still." Shin then focused as he held the palm over the wounded area.

Naruto yelled, "You can heal but you let Sakura-chan be in pain from all kinds of bruising for days now! What about her eye?"

Shin looked at Naruto but still never changed his expression. "Healing simple bruising is a poor use of limited healing ability. The bruising reminds her that she should improve in her taijutsu ability. However, in the case of her finger she would be limited should the damage heal incorrectly. Waiting two weeks for that to occur would be a waste of valuable resources. In this case it makes sense to provide healing for that area."

Naruto grumbled his annoyance. He could not fathom why he was feeling so angry at everything the past day. Instead of dealing with Shin, he looked at the dark haired boy. "Do you have a name? Heck, can you even speak?"

The dark haired boy looked to Shin who nodded briefly as he still focused on Sakura's finger.

"I have no assigned name at this time," he said blankly

Naruto frowned, "I can't get your attention with a 'hey you'. I'll call you Gashi (Artist) since you draw stuff for jutsu."

Shin finished his healing on Sakura's finger and turned away. "Follow," he commanded.


Sarutobi was discussing the upcoming Chunin Exam with the clan elders and his advisors. He had always liked hearing other people's opinions and gave them weight in his own decision making. He agreed that allowing as many possible teams of genin to participate in the upcoming Exams would be a benefit to Konoha. Limiting it to just the Elites like on foreign Exams would never let Konoha find hidden diamonds in the rough. Some of the more revered clans grumbled at the idea but they understood that a strong Konoha would make them look better in the long term.

The meeting was interrupted when a noise of a body falling sounded outside the room. The ANBU at the door came to alert but recognized the ninja who came in the room. The ANBU who entered bowed to Sarutobi, "My apologies, Hokage-sama, a spy who was listening in on this meeting was just disposed of. Everything is secure."

"Good, send out the alert, Deer," Sarutobi replied.

The people in the meeting frowned at hearing of a spy but Sarutobi just raised a calming hand "We must always be cautious of spies and people who would harm the Konoha that we all love. Isn't that right, Danzo?" he asked.

The old crippled advisor nodded, "Konoha must always be protected, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi hardened his features and looked squarely at Danzo. "I take it that your failure at disbanding Root when ordered was you way of protecting Konoha, Danzo?"

Danzo narrowed his sole eye at Sarutobi, "What are you referring to, Hokage-sama? Root was stopped after the last war at your order. It no longer exists."

"The time for games is over, Danzo. The spy the ANBU just eliminated was your man. The same man that has followed you to every meeting in the Tower for the past year. Your spies working in the Tower administration have been apprehended. Your facility is being raided as we speak. If you truly love Konoha, surrender and take your punishment."

Danzo stood and glared at Sarutobi. "What kind of lies have been filtering into your senile old mind, Sarutobi?" he countered.

"No lies, Danzo. Just that he time has come to put an end to your plans to turn Konoha into an aggressive power. To make sure that our children and grandchildren can have a chance to live in peace," Sarutobi said.

Danzo sneered, "Peace, feh. The only way to live in peace is to be the strongest power in the world. You are letting Konoha grow weak with your soft ways, letting ninja 'retire' instead of using them as the weapons they are. You talk of peace and allow lesser villages to grow strong. You allow enemy ninja to live and allow bandits to be turned over to daimyos for trial instead of executing them as you should!"

"That is the law the Daimyo set forth and Konoha will obey it. We serve him, not the other way around. As far as my so called 'softness', people should not live in fear of their rulers. Ninja who follow through loyalty will always be better than those that follow through fear. You never understood that love of family and friends makes a Konoha ninja strong and willing to do the hard things; to make the hard choices. Every Hokage has known this and done so. And now I have to as well."

Danzo scoffed, "What do you mean by a hard cho-"

Danzo's question was cut off as his good arm was removed from his body by an ANBU tanto. A hidden kunai clattered to the floor from Danzo's kimono.

The assembled people were splattered with blood before the ANBU covered the wound.

"The choice of whether or not to let you live, Danzo," Sarutobi said quietly.


The hawk flying over Konoha made the signal it was trained to make.

In various areas of Konoha, teams sprung into action.


Single jonin entered shops in various parts of the village. They requested that the owner of the business come with them. The Hokage had questions for them regarding their business practices.


A team of chunin led by a jonin entered the quartermaster. They took a certain man into custody. Once they had left, another man tried sneaking out the back door only to be apprehended by ANBU as an accomplice.


The hidden entrances to the Root warren were flung open by ANBU who rushed into the lair. Traps set off by the forced opening of the portals killed or wounded more than a dozen ANBU and set off an alarm inside. Those dead ANBU melted into mud or water or simply dissipated into chakra smoke.

The second wave entered into the lair. An Aburame clan member accompanied each team and pointed the way past false passages and dead ends. The alert was silenced after seconds but it served its purpose. Some additional masked ninja appeared in the passage to stop the invaders but a brief fight ensued. The ANBU were limited to hand to hand encounters with kunai due to the narrow passages but this did not stop the Root ninja. One rushed ahead to combat and block one team while his comrade spat out a fire jutsu in his wake. The Root ninja died along with the ANBU team. The jutsu user fled from the flaming bodies to wait and ambush another group.

In another passage, the shouts of the dying team echoed. The Aburame in this squad paused and pointed to a spot in a shadowed alcove. Flung kunai peppered the shadow before a single Root ninja collapsed out of it. With that ambush thwarted, the Aburame waved the team forward.


Naruto and Sakura stopped eating and both looked up as the alert sounded. Shin and the dark haired boy Naruto had dubbed Gashi both looked around before Shin stood.

"Follow," he commanded as he strode out of the room. Gashi followed immediately and Sakura looked at Naruto who shrugged and got up to follow. The spies caught up to the Root agents outside of the door. Shin looked both ways and listened before heading down a corridor Naruto and Sakura had never been down.

"What is going on?" Naruto asked in a low voice. Shin was back at him in a moment with a drawn kunai to Naruto's neck.

"If you speak again, you will die. Nod if you understand," he hissed.

Naruto nodded and felt the kunai leave his throat.

"Follow," Shin ordered again and moved off quickly with the other three following.


Inu was impatient as his team made their way deeper in the Root labyrinth. He trusted Shibi's clansman and followed along behind the guide. Every so often their guide would call his bugs back within his body as the team passed through certain areas. The chunin finally led them to a room that looked like a shower.

The Aburame would not enter the shower room. "This is where the primary scent trail leads to. A lesser scent trail leaves the room. Logic says it would be their gear. The scent does not leave the room otherwise."

Kakashi silently moved into the room and lightly opened one tap. The barely noticeable scent of something was mixed with the water. He nodded. It was a means of avoiding the Aburame destruction bugs. He shut off the water and nicked his thumb on a kunai. Five hand signs later, a number of ninja hounds sat in the room.

"Yo," said a pug. "This place stinks."

"I know, Pakkun. I need your noses. We need to find a pair of kids down here. They are doused in whatever scent this room is putting on them. The dogs all sniffed around the room and headed out the door. They growled and yipped at each other as they cast about for the most current scent. Finally Pakkun spoke to Kakashi, "The most recent one is here. They keep following the same trails."

Kakashi nodded and turned to the Aburame. "Take the squad with you and follow your bug's original scent trail. Likely that should be an equipment room of some kind. Secure that and recover anything belonging to the targets."

The group with Kakashi nodded and took off down a different hall. Kakashi turned and followed his hounds deeper into the labyrinth. They quickly found a training room and beyond that an eating area with several half eaten bowls of … something green. The hounds all avoided the bowls. The freshest trail led out a different doorway. Kakashi had the scent himself now and hurried after the missing youths.


Naruto stumbled after Shin and Gashi and helped along Sakura as they heard voices and battles in the corridors around them. The two older boys knew their way through this maze of passages and Naruto didn't. Something serious was happening. They passed a single body wearing a mask but not wearing normal ANBU clothes. 'He must be a Root member,' Naruto thought.

Out of a side tunnel, a wounded ANBU operative appeared and grappled with Naruto. The man dropped a small gas pellet, which puffed out a cloud around Naruto and Sakura. The blonde could only grab onto the man in a reaction and try to not get carried to the floor. Sakura slumped against the wall for a moment before responding to the attack. Her leg came up between her enemy's legs at full force. There was a grunt before the man paused in his attack on Naruto. A second kick did the job as the man released Naruto. The blonde followed up by grabbing the head and held it while he struck with a knee directly to the mask of the ANBU where he estimated was the chin. The mask shattered under the force of the blow and the man fall to the ground stunned.

Naruto grunted in pain. 'Okay, that was not a good idea to do that. It just looked so cool in the movies I figured it was a real move. Those masks are HARD,' he thought. He stumbled away from the fallen man and hurried after Shin and Gashi. The entire melee had taken under 10 seconds. Neither of them had even thought about it, just reacted.

Shin led them deeper into the tunnels.


Four ninja boiled up out of the ground into the alley. The masked Root ninja quickly shed their armor and masks. Without the distinctive Root garb, they could pass as ordinary ninja and clear the area to safety. The three men and one woman then quietly began to walk toward the marketplace when a fireball forced them back into the alley. A group of blue masked ninja wearing blue robes stood on the eaves above them. "Surrender, Root ninja. You cannot escape," one spoke in an authoritative voice.

The woman pulled out a handful of kunai with exploding tags and activated them in the same motion. Before she could hurl them, she was struck by a half dozen kunai herself. The activated tags fell to the ground and exploded. The buildings on both sides of the alley were heavily damaged by the blast. The four Root ninja died. The blue masked ninja jumped down to render aid to the wounded civilians.


A jonin was leading what appeared to be a squad of chunin out one gate of Konoha when a swarm of bugs landed on the group. The ninja all screamed as their chakra was drained. The gate guards were shocked by this and went to aid the team until an ANBU motioned for them to wait. "They are spies."

The guards were scared and one stammered out, "But their papers were legitimate."

The ANBU only nodded, "The papers likely were legitimate. However, the people were not. Bind them and do not let them escape. Someone will come for them shortly." The ANBU returned to hiding after that while the bugs retreated back into the trees.


Another explosion rocked the market district. The ground under a shop collapsed as its hidden supports were destroyed. Several ninja leapt out of the hole and raced off in several directions past screaming civilians. A pair of ANBU followed as two others lay wounded. One woman was knocked out but was being tended to by her teammate as he wrapped a bandage over his own wound. The moving wounded ANBU waved off the healthy team members to pursue the enemy. They could only follow two of the escaping enemy. They split up and pursued.


Inu made his way following the scent. Fear laced into the trail now as Pakkun led the way. He saw a wounded ANBU struggling to rise. He paused to help the man and the agent gasped out, "I saw the blonde and pink haired kids down here. I tried to gas them but they took me by surprise after catching a good whiff of it. Watch out for her kicks cause she got really good aim."

Inu nodded, "How long ago?"

"Not even two minutes ago," the man gasped out in a cough.

Kakashi continued on his mission. Now a moment of doubt crept into his mind. Had the teens gone over to the side of Root?


A lone Root ninja crawled out of the tunnels and looked about with no expression. Danzo-sama must have fallen in his efforts to bring Konoha to glory. He stripped his clothing and doused himself with a bucket full of what looked like water. A vigorous scrub of his hair and a small bug fell out of the short strands. The man dried himself and put on civilian clothing. The young merchant would go back to his store and blend back into the population.

His walk down the street was halted as a pair of men in blue robes appeared on either side of him. The Root man never noticed the senbon that impacted his neck as darkness took him.


A squad entered a hallway full of bolted rooms. Panicked voices sounded from within. The masked Special Forces peeked into the various rooms. A dozen children of various ages between five and ten were rescued from confinement. The older children seemed much more sedate than the younger showing they had gone through some sort of emotional training.


The squad originally with Kakashi had only a single person to deal with as they secured the equipment room. From within a weapons pouch belonging to Naruto crawled single Aburame destruction bug. It flew over to land on the Aburame chunin and rest on the man's shoulder as it took in chakra. The man knew it was not one of his own colony but allowed the small bug to feed. He dispersed his own bugs into the room and they quickly identified the personal property of the targets. The squad gathered the items and departed before sealing the room behind them.


Sakura was in a haze now. She had just reacted when the masked man had attacked Naruto. She clung to the blonde as he led the pink haired girl through the tunnels. The last of her strength was gone. She just wanted to eat, to get some sleep, to not have any more pain. She finally just closed her eyes and let herself slip away.

Naruto suddenly found himself bearing the entire weight of his friend. He stopped to lift her up in his arms.

Ahead of him Shin and Gashi stopped as well. "Leave her," Shin commanded. "The mission comes first. Our mission is to escape."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the gray haired teen before him, "Not without Sakura-chan."

Shin stepped closer. "You will be caught by the ANBU if you slow down. They will execute you for killing a Konoha ninja," he said in the same monotone.

Naruto backed up step for step as Shin moved forward. He was tired and he could barely hold up Sakura. He had no weapons and no idea where under Konoha he was. The anger he felt kept gnawing at the back of his mind. He just decided to finally tell his taskmaster off.

Shin felt the edge of worry appear in his mind for the first time he could recall. Naruto's eyes subtly changed as the blonde stood straighter. The color changed from blue to red as he spoke in a voice laced with hatred.

"I will not leave my friend behind. If I have to face death to protect her then I'll face death. Damn your mission and damn you! I am a ninja of Konohakagure no Sato and we do not leave our comrades behind like trash!"

A voice behind him spoke out, "Well said, Naruto. Please step aside so I may deal with these Root traitors."

Naruto lost his focus as soon as he heard the voice. His eyes returned to their normal blue color as he turned his head to look. Shin darted forward at Naruto with a kunai poised to strike. Naruto swung around to put his back between the blade and Sakura but a pug attacked Shin from a shadow. Naruto fell to the ground as Kakashi slid past him.

The battle was as brief as it was violent. Shin could not defend himself with Pakkun hanging on his arm. Kakashi stabbed the gray haired boy in each shoulder then kicked the teen's feet out from under him. Shin fell and took a blow to the temple before he could even hit the ground. Kakashi faced Gashi next. The dark haired boy had only stood while Kakashi and Shin fought.

"Surrender and you will be allowed to live," Kakashi said.

Gashi looked at Kakashi then at Shin as if needing orders. Kakashi took control of the situation by closing the gap and knocking out the unresisting teen. He pulled out some bits of wire to bind both Root ninja.

Naruto was lightly shaking Sakura trying to wake her. She was still breathing so he was not very worried. He felt drained and wanted to collapse even more than ever. He lay her down on the ground and shakily stood back up as he kept feeling weaker.

Kakashi turned to see the blonde haired boy tending to his friend, "Time to go, Naruto. Time to get you back home."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and blinked trying to clear up his tunnel vision. He kept trying to remember. He had seen this ANBU before. "Inu? You … you used to carry me home ... when I always got lost in Konoha … a long time ago."

The dog masked Kakashi nodded, "So you do remember that, Naruto. Good. The Hokage was worried and sent me to get the pair of you out of here."

Naruto nodded slowly as his eyes were closing. "So where we going now, Inu?"

Kakashi caught the blonde as he collapsed and he laid the boy next to Sakura. "Back into the light, Naruto. All three of us."


Naruto woke suddenly and sat up in the hospital bed. He looked side to side and his eyes focused on the flash of pink he saw in the next bed. Sakura lay sleeping on the bed next to him. He actually felt better than he had in weeks. His stomach felt a bit off but other than that he was good. He wasn't even angry anymore. The wires taped to his head and chest were the first things he removed as he glanced about the room.

The door opening quietly put him on alert. A nurse came in with a smile on her face. He could see a guard outside the room before it closed. The nurse stopped at the foot of the bed.

"You're awake a lot sooner than expected Uzumaki-san," she said. "With what you went through the past week we thought you would be out at least another day."

Naruto looked at her warily, "What do you mean? Where am I?"

"In the hospital of course," she said with a smile. "You and Haruno-san were in bad shape when the ANBU brought you in. If you would excuse me, I need to send word to Hokage-sama that you have awakened."

Naruto was confused, "Um, yeah, sure."

Once the nurse had left; Naruto lay back to think. The past few days were a blur in his memory. They had an almost dreamlike quality to them. He recalled Shin, Gashi, the tunnels, and finally Inu. His guilt over hurting Sakura during the sparring returned. He just sat in silence as the time passed. He seemed bursting with energy and it took all of the self discipline he had learned the past six months to not get up and run around.

The door opened once more to admit an old man, the Hokage. The smile on his face after so long was like a warm sun after a cold winter's day for the boy. "Hey, Old Man," he said softly.

The Hokage stopped at the foot of his bed still smiling. "I am glad you're recovering so fast, Naruto. It seems Sakura is getting along better as well. You both had us worried when you arrived. Both of you were suffering from chakra exhaustion."

Naruto looked at him confused. "Um, Sir, Old Man, how long have we been here?"

"Two days already. The destruction of Root went well. We got their base and most of their key people and ninja. Without you being taken to their headquarters, we would never have found it in that maze they built down there. I have teams still down there mapping it out for missing areas before we fill it in. I think we can call your mission completed."

"Most?" Naruto wondered.

Sarutobi smiled, "I had Aburame Shibi plant a few of his clan's destruction bugs on each of you. Once you reached the base, some left you and returned down the back trail and found ways out that avoided the defenses Root had installed against them. Then more went into the base and marked every person in there. This allowed us to capture some that had been there but left. I assume some members of Root have escaped by the simple fact that they had not gone to the base during the time the bugs were settling on everyone."

"Bugs?" said a confused Sakura in a soft voice.

"Sakura-chan! You're awake," cried out an excited Naruto.

"Yeah," she grumped. "Turn down the volume." Sakura was obviously not a morning person.

Naruto ducked his head slightly, "Sorry."

The Hokage chuckled. "As I was saying, the Aburame bugs got carried into the base by the pair of you and sent back several as guides to the main colony. They infiltrated the Root warren and attached to every person in there. We were able to identify several who had left by the time our raid occurred."

Naruto grinned, "So we did good, Old Man?"

Sakura threw a pillow at his head. "Show the Hokage some respect, Naruto," she said.

The teens made faces at one another for a minute before a laughing Sarutobi broke in. "All right, settle down. There are a few downsides that need to be dealt with now."

Sakura and Naruto both stopped and looked at their leader.

"First of all, the doctor in charge of you both had needed to pump your stomachs and for lack of a better non medical term, clean out your insides to get rid of whatever Root had been feeding you both. It was laced with a chakra inhibitor and some drugs that we have not fully analyzed yet. You both need to spend a few more days in the hospital to make sure they are out of your systems."

Sarutobi looked at Sakura, "You young lady have a few more days of healing before all of your bruising is gone. I hope you can explain why you are so beaten up?"

Sakura looked nervous and Naruto hung his head in shame. "It was me, Sir," he said in a low voice. "They were making us spar full contact as training. If we held back, they would threaten us with death. My bruises just healed faster than Sakura-chan's did."

Sarutobi nodded and frowned. "I am not pleased that you both had to go through that but I can understand the need for you doing what needed to be done."

Naruto smiled some at that, "Just watch out for those kicks of hers if you ever spar with her, Old Man. She is mean with them."

Sarutobi nodded as Sakura blushed this time.

"Well, now the real issue to be dealt with. During your mission there was a large amount of intentional disinformation passed around regarding both of you. The rumor that you both attacked the pair of instructors was widely spread and many do not believe that it was falsified. Naruto, many added that to the undeserved reputation of yours."

Naruto nodded solemnly.

"Either way, both of you are going to have some trouble with certain sectors of the civilian population for some time after this. The ninja of Konoha were informed that you both were assigned the blame on my direct orders and that neither of you did the actual deed. Word that an enemy force was being built from within Konoha and that the pair of you were being used as bait to locate it was also given out. Sadly, that may lead to few other genin trusting you closely for some time as well. I felt you both should know that right away because it might come up before you leave the hospital"

Sakura sighed at hearing that.

"I'll save the rest of the official business for when you both get out of here. Now, since you both are up, I think you are both due some visitors. A number of people have been hoping to see you both," Sarutobi said.

The aged leader went to the door and opened it before motioning to some people outside.

Sakura's mother came in and hugged the teen. "I was so worried about you sweetheart. When you vanished like that, the Hokage came to see me that you were on a secret mission. The rumors were awful. He told me they were all lies and a cover story but I still worried."

Naruto watched the red haired woman talk nonstop at Sakura after that while he just sat. Then he noticed a familiar face come in.

"Hiya Naruto," Iruka said.

Naruto grinned as Iruka playfully bonked him on the head and the pair caught up on the recent events.


Two days later, Naruto and Sakura were released from the hospital. The ANBU had returned the clothing recovered from the Root equipment room but had held onto the rest of Naruto's weapons and scrolls. They gave him a receipt to claim it later instead. The normal attitude the ANBU operative would display was different to the pair and seemed to convey a bit of respect. A letter from Hiro was also included inviting them to come by and get some spares if they needed it; at a discount of course.

The pair had received visits from Team 10 but only a few members from their remedial class. They had never been well liked there so it did not bother them. Ayame had come in and brought them ramen once. Sakura felt strangely upset when the waitress had given Naruto a kiss on the cheek.

At their release, they were escorted to the Hokage Tower. Naruto noticed a few openly glaring stares but also a few smiles in his direction. Sakura was not really prepared for the negative reaction but tried to not let it bother her. The training they both had over the previous months let her maintain a calm expression even if she was troubled inside. The days of both being unnoticed in their military clothing were over.

One pair of eyes focused on the passing group. The thought behind them was malevolent but the face never changed.

A short wait found them standing before the Hokage. The old leader stood and walked around his desk. He held out a ninja headband to each of them. The new metal gleamed in the light. The teens both smiled and took them. They quickly placed them on their foreheads and bowed to their Hokage.

Sarutobi pointed them to the couch and motioned for them to sit. He sat in a chair adjacent to it.

"Now, there is a lot to tell both of you and a few decisions to be made. First is what to do with the pair of you. I have already assigned you both to a jonin sensei but I have been asked by a half dozen others to consider them for the position. The ones asking include Cat and the man Hiro from the clothing store. Those two are the biggest surprise since neither of those people has shown any inclination to be a teacher. However, I am going to go with the choice I made seven months ago when I was forming teams."

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly at that as the Hokage continued.

"I am going to place the pair of you with Hatake Kakashi. I know he failed you Sakura but that team was not the one I had originally intended. Believe it or not, Naruto was supposed to be a part of your team with Uchiha Sasuke. The third member of your team will depend on the outcome of the Chunin Exams in two weeks.

"My main concern right now is where to place you. The Elite program is where I would normally place both of you but your mission has left you both with some negative publicity that many daimyos try to avoid when hiring Elites. Also, by the same token, neither of you would fit well into the standard military program. You both are showing potential well above that skill level."

"We need to find a place for you but the current organizational structure makes it difficult. So I needed to find something outside the current structure. After much thought, I decided to keep doing what I asked of both of you once already. I have decided you will be part of a team that answers directly to the Hokage, much like a junior version of ANBU."

"Officially, you will be counted among the Elites but your mission assignments will be less public and more military or black ops related ones. You will not be getting those ghastly public relations D Rank missions the rest of the Elites get as genin. You would be getting more escort style missions. You will likely be placed into situations that fall into the gray area when a normal Elite team might not be the best choice and an ANBU team would be overkill. A Shadow Elite."

Naruto looked over at Sakura and back to the Hokage. "What about our future, Old Man? People are all talking about the Chunin Exams and how that is the best way for a genin to advance in rank. If we are not a part of that, how will we get promoted?"

Sarutobi smiled at the boy. "Your promotion to chunin would be decided by me alone when you warrant it. You both have the right attitude but lack the practical experience right now. Cat will also be checking up on your training as it progresses. She will also help it along in some areas, especially with Sakura."

Naruto looked happy while Sakura thought for a few seconds before speaking. "Sir, about Kakashi-san, will he be like he was that time as my jonin instructor? I mean he was three hours late that one time I took his test. I don't know if that was part of it but I remember in the Academy, Iruka-sensei was saying that being on time was a part of being a ninja."

Sarutobi chuckled, "He will be on time for anything team related, Sakura. He has had a few problems in his past that he is still dealing with but I have stressed to him that he will not be having his lateness tolerated."

"Will it be just the three of us then?" Naruto asked.

"That depends on the Chunin Exams, Naruto," the Hokage replied. "It depends on how the last potential member does during it."


Next Chapter: Testing and More Testing


End Notes:
Ah, writers block coupled with lots of extra work and family get togethers mean long delays in postings. My other stories suffered more than this one but I wanted to tie up the story arc on this one first before I get back into the others.

Review Notes:
I hope I did not let too many people down with my mini civil war going so quickly. I didn't want to draw it out any further. Of course ripple effects will happen into the next arc.

The new team will be the Hokage's personal use team in cases when ANBU would be overkill or unnecessary. The Fire Shadow's Elite or Shadow Elite