New Yet So Old

by Lil Nezumi

New chapters added -See CH 1 for full summary. Yes it's a back in time re-write of events from the Naruto manga and animé, but not an OMG I'm in the past kind of tale. Probably with hints of slash pairings, so far nada.

10. Chapter 10

CH 10

C-Class Mission: Land of Waves I

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Naruto kept an eye out for the bridge builder that was supposed to come from the Land of Waves seeking an escort home. Actually the man was really seeking Ninja aid in getting rid of some bad elements in the land instead of a true escort because if he truly needed an escort, why the hell did the man travel to Konoha alone.

They were slowly being introduced to the Missions Office procedures by coming in person, now, for their missions. They'd been slowly working together as a team and sometimes the two boys trained together after they'd generally finished the latest D-Class mission for the day.

Sasuke was learning to sense chakra signatures as well as improving his current techniques. He'd learned to hop the buildings of his compound, walk up their sides, over the roof and down others, on both his feet and hands. He'd also learned the hard lesson of ceiling walking while the blond had been around to spot him for the first few times. He'd had some spectacular bruises from falling several times until he learnt the proper amount of chakra to use.

Naruto had studied some of the scrolls that the dark haired boy had asked about. "Too advanced," was his answer for most. However, there were still quite a few that were E, D, and C levels that looked interesting, however there were elemental affinities attached. There were several that were fire based, which the blond already knew the other boy could handle and didn't include his 'Grand Fireball' technique. He also knew about the boy's lightning affinity, but felt they should all make a show of getting tested whenever that would happen he didn't know.

Sasuke carried two or three of those scrolls to learn during any break time they had and with Naruto's help he studied some of the techniques. He also continued to learn chakra sensing, which had pissed him off the day he discovered that his sensei was never far from them whenever the man was tardy. He'd noticed that the blond only ever reacted on days that their sensei was in the vicinity, not when the man seemed to be truly late for a valid reason.

Sakura's physical fitness and techniques were slowly improving, but without direction her focus tended to narrow too much into one subject. Her latest spiral was shuriken throwing and knife sharpening. She'd eventually found a rhythm, but did not own enough knifes. She'd also made a study of various other tools and had actually found an older student by the name of Tenten on Team Gai, who agreed to help find the one that suited her current personality and stature. So far nothing had come of it.

Naruto had finally spotted the old boozer going into a hotel-tavern the day before. He mentally checked the timeline and knew that this was the day that they needed to do something to get that mission. He pulled out four drawings to bribe the Hokage with. He knew that old man would object, but this is one thing that they could negotiate on.

Team Seven needed this mission to Wave in order to change the team dynamic into something more positive than it had been in the past.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Before going into the Missions Office that day, the one where the blond planned to get that fated C-Class mission, Naruto spotted one of his old Team Eleven teammates and his old sensei. They looked to be hovering or waiting outside building.

"Risa," he called out. He then ran up to greet her. His current sensei and teammates were surprised by the boy's honest happiness. The blond asked, "What are you two doing out here?"

"I came to see if they had a mission outside of Konoha for a while," Risa said. "Tokuma-sensei is going to help me learn what my elements are and then we're going to train in using them."

"But I thought that you didn't want to do that until…" He stopped talking when a small black and white, puppy's head popped out from the front of the girl's jacket. "Awesome, you bonded with an Inuzuka nin-dog. Is this the one you were talking about?"

"It is," Risa said. "This is Akoba (…i…). He's the one that was the closest to my heart."

"Congratulations," Naruto said, while his team watched him socialize more than they'd ever seen him. "Guys come on over, let me introduce you to some really cool people."

Kakashi-sensei nudged his reluctant students. Sasuke was afraid that the girl was about to go 'fan girl' on him, while Sakura gauged her as another rival for the Uchiha's affection.

"Hyuga," Kakashi-sensei said to the other Jounin, pulling out his porno book to read.

"Hatake," Tokuma said in response knowing that the man didn't quite like his surname. He just did it because it was fun to make the man twitch and growl softly in his direction.

"This is Inuzuka Risa," Naruto told his Team Seven members. "She's the best tracker I know and makes the most awesome bombs. Risa these are; Haruno Sakura, you know Akiko's little cousin," he said that part in a stage whisper that earned him a glare from the pinked haired girl. "These other two are Uchiha Sasuke and our Jounin teacher Kakashi-sensei."

"Wow, that's her," Risa said looking at Sakura. She looked at her up and down and looked back at the blond that had introduced them. "So not how I pictured her from what Akiko said." The she turned to the Uchiha. "Hey, if you want to learn how to make bombs let me know, I hear you're good with fire and that is always a bonus when working with explosives."

Sakura nearly growled at the girl for paying attention to her beloved Sasuke, but she was also upset that the girl hadn't thought to offer her the same. Not that she was interested in bomb making, but to not offer felt like the other girl was ignoring her on purpose.

"So what are you going to do if there are no Missions," Naruto asked.

"Well, we were also hoping that some new Genin team would be willing to let us tag along," Tokuma said with a broad hint, knowing that the blond was curious about his own elements too. "We do need to be outside Konoha for the kind of training we'd need to do, but it's better to have something else to focus on too. We're planning to bribe the team with element testing and primary training, that is, if they have excellent control of their chakra. We'd also be willing to be spar partners for Taijutsu practice."

"Perfect," Naruto said and then looked at his teacher, still reading smut, but who was also fully paying attention to the conversation. "Kakashi-sensei?"

The man looked up from his reading, "It'll mean that the pay will be split between all of us."

"I don't care," Naruto said. He looked to Sasuke, who shrugged and also looked interested because he'd developed a lot of control to his chakra. Sakura just looked confused, so the blond pointedly asked her. "Is it okay for them to join us, if we can snag a C-Class mission outside of Konoha?"

"I guess," Sakura said, hedging her answer. "How are we going to get one? You do know that there are no guarantees that any C-Class missions will be assigned to our team because we're still new. People only see us as Rookies and we haven't learned to control our chakra, yet."

"Mah," Naruto said waving off her concern. "What about you two, care to join us?"

"Naruto," Tokuma sighed in a tone that meant he knew that the boy was up to something. "What are you…"

"You'll see," Naruto said. "C-Class mission here we come." He marched into the building, with Risa giggling as her pup growled a question at his bond-mate, asking if the blond was insane. The rest just followed, as though they had nothing better to do or were curious to see how such a request would turn out.

Naruto just walked straight to the mission table, looked at the C-Class missions available, picked up the one for the Land of Waves and handed the old man four drawings that he'd done. "That's eight days of pay you owe me, all unranked too, but I'm willing to let it go for five days worth. Or...," he twirled the mission scroll on his finger tips. "You can let Team Seven take this mission."

"Naruto," his old Iruka-sensei said. "You can't just pick and choose..."

"It's all right Iruka," the old man said, as he looked at the drawings. One was of his grandson catching his first fish. The other three contained his grandson and his two friends that had tagged along with the Genin during boy's supposedly free days to camp and train outside of Konoha. They were cute pictures. This had been done under his direction and in cooperation with the other two children's parents.

"Only five days…" the old man said. "Officially..."

"Yah, yah, but you do owe me for those. Besides if Team Seven can take this mission it'll be the better deal for you anyway," Naruto said. "It'll get us away for a few days, but if you're concerned about our safety... Maybe we could have Genin Inuzuka Risa and Jounin Hyuga Tokuma, come along with us, you know to balance out your concern and maybe give us someone new to train with."

The Hokage beckoned the Genin with the pup and the Hyuga. "You've not been assigned to a new team because you're still in rehabilitation," he told her, as she nodded fully aware of the condition of her hand. "However if you'd like to join them, we'd be more comfortable sending you with a Jounin supervisor."

"I'm used to Tokuma-sensei, if he doesn't mind," she told him. "Naruto's used to him too." The blond nodded.

Tokuma then answered the implied question, "I don't mind. I could use the break and I had planned to aid Risa in her rehabilitation."

Kakashi-sensei held out his hand for the scroll that Naruto held in his hand. He opened it and read the requirements. "Seems simple enough and it will get my Genin out of town for a bit. We accept all conditions."

Tazuna, the bridge builder from the Land of Waves, showed up to the room and disparaged Naruto as he was the smallest of the group, but the man had no choice, but to take what was offered. He could only afford to request a C-Class mission in the hopes that he'd been able to get a high-level Genin team or low level Chunin one. To him it seemed like he was getting a low-level Genin team.

"Everyone go and pack for the trip, we will meet you at the front gates in one hour, Tazuna-san," Kakashi-sensei said, as they all walked out of the Missions Office.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Naruto ran to his apartment to pick up his prepared pack. He only needed to change out of his dark grey and reds, to his dark grey, deep blue and olive green under suit. His over suit was dark grey with small reflections of dark colours that would help him to blend in. He changed his weights to something lighter and more durable for the trek because he knew that he'd need to be faster.

Since he'd already been packed, he raced to Akiko's to pick up his live blades and then to Sasuke's in order to pick up some scrolls for training their elements. He couldn't wait to find out about their elemental affinity because they could begin their training in them earlier.

Sasuke had been packing when he heard a voice that yelled out, "OI TEME, I'M PICKING UP SOME ELEMENTAL JUTSU SCROLLS FOR US TO STUDY WITH."

"DOBE, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT ELEMENTS YOU'RE ALLIGNED WITH," Sasuke shouted back.

Naruto stood in the doorway and said, "That doesn't matter. You said you didn't want to keep your family's scrolls, right?" He watched the dark haired packs his things. "Even so, I'm only going to bring some of the low level ones and maybe a couple of C's and B's for all to share."

"When did you get those," Sasuke asked staring at the Wakizashi sheath on the blond's back and the shorter Tanto one at his hip.

"I was with Team Eleven when I started using the Bokken versions," Naruto explained. "Why do you ask?"

"How did you discover that you preferred them," Sasuke asked, as he shouldered his travel satchel and led the other boy down to the storage area where they'd separated the scrolls by level and affinity quite some time ago.

"The Academy," Naruto said and leaned down to snatch a few of the ones that were simple enough to learn by anyone with an affinity for those elements. He made sure to get diverse ones and hoped that everyone had at least something different from the common ones found in Fire Country.

"The Academy," Sasuke asked. "When did they show other weapons?"

"They had a class that explained all possible weapons that a Ninja could use and that any interested in something other than the basic throwing tools, we'd have to figure out and learn on our own, but they had practice weapons to do that too," Naruto told him. He looked at the other boy trying to remember that day and then snickered, "Oh... I remember when that class was given it was on Valentine's Day."

"That explains it," Sasuke said with a frown. "I refused to attend the Academy on that day." He looked envious of the blades and then asked, "It is too late to test for preference?"

Naruto snorted and said, "Baka, it's never too late. Let's to go to your armoury, I'm sure... wait what time is it?"

"We have about half an hour before 'our' time is up," Sasuke told him. The blond snickered and waved the other boy to lead the way. In the armoury the blond hunted up a storage scroll specifically made for weapons.

Naruto told him, "Let's load up the scroll with all the Bokken weapons here and we can test your preference as we travel."

"Good idea," Sasuke told him. "By the way are you still wearing weights?"

"Yes," Naruto told him. "Have you considered hiding the fact that you're an Uchiha?"

"Um," the dark haired boy hedged. "I don't know that I want to."

"It's your life," the blond told him.

"Do you think I should," Sasuke asked.

"Well if you ever activate your Kekkei Genkai you'll have no problem proving that you're an Uchiha," Naruto told him. "But you'd still be valuable if you didn't activate it. We've already talked about it, but the choice is ultimately yours." He continued to seek out Bo weapons and found a several pairs of 'brass knuckles'. "These are cool, can we take these too?"

"My family didn't like to use those because they felt it was cheating," Sasuke said. "Besides we can add chakra to our hits."

"That's silly thinking," Naruto told him. "These would be perfect, especially for any Genin that didn't want to waste their chakra on powering a punch when they didn't need to."

"Pack them," Sasuke said. "You get anything else you think we'll need. I'm going to change and repack my stuff." He ran to his room, removed his shirt and found another that used to belong to his older brother. He removed his 'Clan' shirts from his bag and replaced them with plain mottled blue and black ones.

"I feel strange without it," he told the other boy who'd been waiting for him on the porch of the main house.

"Here," Naruto held out a pair of light wrist weights and tossed them to the other boy. They were dark blue, but he pointed to the inside and that's when the Uchiha noticed the stitching. There was a clan symbol in them. "They can be added to your regular forearm covers."

"Thanks," Sasuke said looking down to the ground. "Do you think that during this trip I'll be able to gain my Sharingan?"

"How does it activate," Naruto asked.

"Watching someone move faster than normal," Sasuke said. "Sometimes watching battles or fighting and sometimes it'll never activate because it's a rare family trait. Although those of the main house usually gained it."

"Hm," Naruto paused. "There's always a chance that it could. You'd also need to train to use it correctly, if it does activate, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," the Uchiha replied.

"It's too late now to get you a pair of dark contacts, since we need to meet at the gates in ten minutes," Naruto paused. Then he looked at the other boy and asked, "Would you be willing to have a Seal placed on you to conceal your eye colour? I already know you don't want to wear dark glasses or Ninja goggles, but you'll need something to hide its activation, just until we get back to Konoha where you can train safely."

"Will it change my eye colour," Sasuke asked.

"Only if you want it to," Naruto said. "But it will last until we return to Konoha. We can't let it fail while we're out there, but it won't prevent you from gaining your Sharingan. In fact the Seal will act like a pair of permanent contacts, only without the irritation of actually wearing a pair."

"Can you do it," the dark haired boy fished for information on the blond Jinchuriki's skills. "Create a Seal to do that?"

"I can," Naruto told him with a nod. "It's basically a bound Henge and it can be attached to your skin. Any Seal can be set to work under many different or specific conditions. It's what I use on my whisker marks and hair from time to time. I do my eyes too, so I know that the temporary Seal I'm planning for you will work."

"Your hair," Sasuke asked. "What's wrong with your hair?"

"It's too easy to spot," Naruto told him with a huff as they approached the main gates of the village.

"Ah," the other boy said to him. They saw that Sakura was already there along with the other Genin girl, Tokuma-sensei and their client. "Looks like we have to wait a bit," Sasuke said when he didn't sense his sensei's chakra signature.

"That's good," Naruto said, as he sat at the gates and began to make the form of the Seal for the dark haired boy. He drew a few sigils and then added the uchiwa (fan) to it in order to link it to the boy.

"Sasuke," he said after nearly completing the marks on the patch of paper that would release the marking onto the boy. "Where do you want it and did you want to change the colour?"

"Somewhere no one's going to be looking," Sasuke said. The blond nodded his head and then told the gate guards that they were borrowing their weather shelter for a moment. As soon as they were hidden, Naruto told the other boy to drop his pants.

A loud "WHAT!" was heard by those waiting at the gate and one of the Chunin guards snickered because he'd caught the words 'drop your pants'. He was only going to tell his partner after the group had left.

"You don't want anyone seeing it, so the only place left is on an upper thigh, close to the hip, choose whatever side you want," Naruto told him patiently. "You'd have to be completely undressed for anyone to expose the Seal and don't worry about it getting wet either. There's a built in protection for it. Did you want to change your eye colour too?"

Sasuke sighed and asked, "Can you make them like the dark blue of my shirt?"

"Sure, if you want me to," Naruto told him. The other boy nodded and then the blond said, "Choose the side you want this on, while I finish making the Seal. Just remember once we pass the gates it will activate and stay active. It will only deactivate and disappear once you step past the main gates of Konoha."

"Okay," Sasuke said. "I want it on my left side." The blond boy knelt and waited for the Uchiha to make up his mind. The dark haired boy only exposed the part where the Seal would be placed.

Naruto did it quickly because it was obvious that the other boy was embarrassed for some odd reason. He put the paper on the skin and then pushed a bit of his chakra into it to transfer the ink. "You'll feel it pull a bit of your chakra," the blond to him. "It's what'll feed the Seal until we get back, but if you think it's pulling too much let me know after we've traveled for a day."

Sasuke could feel the Seal tugging on his chakra, but it wasn't like the times that they sparred on the water, so he shrugged it off for now. They rejoined their group in time to see that their sensei had just arrived.

"Everyone's here," Kakashi-sensei said. He received various nods and noises of agreement. "Good, then let's go."

As soon as they stepped outside of the gate, Sasuke barely felt the shift and soon the sensation was ignored as inconsequential. He chose to walk point for the time being in order to learn how to note the dangers in front of him. He practiced sensing chakra and was able to make internal notes on the chakra of the three new people of their group, uh…four including the puppy.

Risa walked next to him with her puppy on the ground shuffling around. She sniffed the air periodically to note her environment. The puppy followed her lead and asked her questions, which were answered in the human tongue. The others had fun trying to guess what the questions were based on the answers.

When they stopped for their first break on the trail, Tokuma took out several slips of elemental test papers. "Risa, take one and put it on the ground for Akoba," he told her. "Has he been able to access his chakra?"

"We practiced that part of it," she said.

"Very well," Tokuma said as he handed papers to the three other Genin. "You concentrate your chakra onto the papers and what happens after the chakra is released will tell you what your elemental affinity is, like so." (...ii...) He held the paper in his hand and then concentrated his chakra into it. His paper crumpled with a very loud DZAP to indicate that his affinity is lightning.

Risa, Akoba, Naruto and Sasuke were eager to find out, whereas Sakura was confused by the process, until her sensei pointed out that she already knew how concentrate her chakra for the Genjutsu that she already knew how to use.

Risa placed one of the papers on the ground and took the other in her hand. Hers barely crumpled with a dzap, after which it very visibly and completely crumbled to the ground. Her pup's burnt and nearly singed his tiny nose. "Wow," she said. "More Earth than Lightning and Akoba's got Fire."

Naruto's had ripped in two and then both pieces turned damp. "Cool," he said. "I have Wind and a bit of Water."

Sasuke did his at the same time as the others. His crumpled with a loud dzap sound, followed a flare, burning the rest of the paper. "Lightning and Fire, but I already knew about the Fire. It's good to know about the secondary element, though."

Sakura eventual managed to put out enough chakra for the paper to crumble to the ground in pieces. "Earth," she told them in a disappointed tone. "I only have Earth."

Tokuma then turned to the girl and said, "It's rare to have more than one element. Usually the indicator of a secondary element can also indicate the level of chakra you have available, however that is not always the case so don't feel down about that."

The pink haired girl still wasn't happy to learn that because it might mean that her chakra levels were not up to the same as the other two members of her team. They were sitting or walking around. Her eyes were tracking the dark haired broody boy of her team when she'd finally noticed that there was something different about him. She'd already noticed right away that he wasn't sporting his white and red fan on his back, but there was something not right about his features.

"EEEKKKK," she screamed. She stood up and ran to him yelling, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYES?"

Sasuke glared at her and said, "There's nothing wrong with them, now keep your voice down are you trying to attract attention?"

"Bu..bu...but, what happened," she said shocked and staring at the dark blue eyes that continued to glare at her. "Your eyes are suppos..."

"That's enough Sakura," Kakashi-sensei said. "The boy can do what he likes. Smart thinking Sasuke, I'M going to assume that if your family's Kekkei Genkai activates, this will hide it, correct?" The dark haired boy nodded. "Well then that's enough excitement for today, how about we continue on our way? We need to travel at least twenty more kilometers, before we make camp for the night."

"Yes sensei," Sakura said in tone that indicated that she wasn't happy with that turn of events.

"Naruto you take point this time," Kakashi-sensei told the blond youth. "Sakura you're with our client and Sasuke you take the rear for now. You two," he looked to the other two that were traveling with them. "Do what you need to do."

"Why thank you," Tokuma told him. The Hyuga had Risa follow the client as he instructed her on the elements she had. "You may have some Jutsus come out of that, but there are many things that can be learned through trial and error too. I don't know how to teach your nin-dog to access his fire, but I do know that he'll learn as you do and will eventually find his own way to use his element." The girl nodded and petted her nin-dog that was now sleeping inside her jacket. "I'll see if I can find you some scrolls that will help you to learn a few E-Level Elemental Jutsus before we begin learning the more kick-ass ones."

Risa laughed and so did Naruto, who could hear the conversation, even from where he was.

Naruto passed by a puddle on the ground and frowned. He did a few hand signs, up in the air when he was stretching and it only looked like he was stretching to the bridge builder and Sakura. Sasuke knew that the other boy was saying something with his hands, but couldn't make it out. They hadn't studied the more complicated hand signal speech of the ANBU or of those belonging to other Clans.

The older Genin girl nodded and signaled for Sasuke to pass ahead of her and that's when the Uchiha sensed the chakra from the puddle he'd just passed. He watched in fascination as the girl explained to her sleeping nin-dog about fuse times and how much fun it was tearing down an old house on her family's compound because many of the members had used that opportunity to vent their frustrations.

That's also when she explained that she'd had fun blowing up the toilettes, but that you'd had to move quickly to avoid getting splashed by toilette water. During her explanation, she'd pulled out one of her smaller bombs. Lit it and let it drop onto the puddle. She ran to catch up to the others as it bobbed there and sunk just a bit before exploding.

Water splashed in several directions as two people suddenly emerged from that puddle, coughing and sneezing. "What the hell did you think you were doing," one the ninjas yelled at them while the other was busy sneezing. "Who the hell drops cherry bombs in puddles of water?"

Naruto was laughing and saying, "That was brilliant Risa."

"I love things that go boom," she said with a grin. Tokuma only shook his head and Kawarimi'd out as a length of bladed ripping chain wrapped around a log that he replaced himself with.

"Guard the client," Naruto told Sakura and watched as she pulled out a kunai to stand in front of the man.

'Girl needs some other method to protect the man,' he thought. 'A kunai is not enough against high level ninjas,' he paused and looked at the ninja's chain stuck to a tree as Sasuke kicked both the men in their heads. 'Which these definitely are not!'

The two released their chains and split directions. One towards Sasuke, who was able to handle the attack and the other…

The second ninja was running to attack their client. Sakura screamed, but Naruto only flipped through the air, catching a powder bomb that Risa threw. He tossed it into the face of the attacker. He landed facing the attacker in a battle ready stance with his live Tanto blade out.

"Get back," he'd said. "Move to a secure location."

"But I want to help," she said.

"Help by fulfilling the mission parameters and protect the client," he told her in a pissed off voice. "Get him to a secure location, now."

"Think you can take me on little boy," the foreign ninja taunted.

"Baka," Naruto returned. "I'm not here alone, ya know and your friend is already down for the count."

This had the ninja in front of him slightly distracted, but it was enough that when the man's attention was turned away, the blond attacked in a way that ensured that the man's claws could barely touch him. The distraction wasn't enough and Naruto did receive a scratch on the hand holding the Tanto blade. He just switched hands and continued to attack and defend against the man. He'd managed to remove the man's arms guards by severely damaging the man's arms with his double bladed weapon.

Sasuke jumped on the man's back and put him in a sleeper headlock. That ninja had received a number of wounds and had been slowing down. The headlock helped to render him completely unconscious.

Tokuma and Kakashi had just finished interrogating the first one, as the boys took down the other.

"Well done Sasuke and Naruto," Kakashi said coming out of the bush. "Sakura that was good thinking in using that method to protect the client." He praised, as the girl had been clever in hiding the two of them with a Genjutsu while the rest had been occupied.

"You're out of practice," Risa commented as Naruto cleaned his blade before putting it away. "You shouldn't have been hit at all."

"I've been doing other things," Naruto told her. "I brought my Bokken versions to practice with, but the weights in them are too light for me now."

"There's another, larger town beyond this man's home village," Tokuma said. "I was planning to travel there to sell of a few things. I could pick you up another set if you like."

"That'd be greatly appreciated Tokuma-sensei," Naruto said. He pulled out a much smaller knife to open a couple of his deeper wounds to get rid of the poison he sensed in there. The fox's chakra flared to burn out the foreign substance and to prevent infection.

"Don't cut too deep," Kakashi-sensei told him as he watched the boy wrap up his hand.

"Nah," Naruto replied and held out his arm for Risa to wrap white bandages around the other cuts that were healing rapidly under the influence of the demon's chakra. "See," he showed his bandage limbs and did a few stretches. "I'm still good to go."

"All right," the Jounin sighed. "I suppose we should find a place to make camp for the night and far enough away from the garbage." He glanced at the bodies of the ninjas that had attacked them. He looked at their client and said, "We need to talk before we go further."

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

In the end they'd all decided to continue on the journey with their client, despite the change in the mission parameters and mission class level, although it was doubtful that they'd get paid any more for it. But it'd look good on their records if the mission level changed to a B or A, even if they didn't get the mission pay for it.

Kakashi-sensei had sighed and said, "His daughter would mourn his death and his grandson would cry."

Naruto snorted, which had earned him a look from his teammates. "It's nothing," he told them. "I get it. We go on, but have to be prepared for more dangers and definitely more attacks. Well that's a good thing."

"Why's that a good thing," Sakura asked.

"We'll be able to do more true ninja tasks other than just practicing it," Naruto told her. "This is a good time to test our skills or our conviction and see if we've chosen the right field to work in." This had made her pause and she knew that she'd be thinking about that for the duration of their trip.

"Hey Dobe," Sasuke called out to him holding and waving a scroll of Bokken weapons.

"Oh right," Naruto said. "Kakashi-sensei, do you know how to test for compatible weapons?" Tokuma looked at the blond, wondering why he'd asked the other Jounin when the boy knew that he'd be able to do that. It was then that he'd realized that the boy was trying to get his new sensei involved with their team and training.

"No I do not," Kakashi-sensei told him from behind his book. "Ask the other Jounin."

Naruto sighed, walked past the man and whacked him on his head with just a gust of wind that just ruffled the man's hair. "I know he can help, but he's not our sensei," the boy said. "You should know that you're going to be disappointed with the ending of your book." Then he turned to his old sensei and asked, "Tokuma-sensei will you help us out please? Sasuke hadn't attended the Academy's weapon demonstrating class and is interested in finding something that'll suit him."

"Sure," the Hyuga replied. "Let's see what you have in there first." He walked to where the Uchiha boy was holding out his weapons scroll.

"Why weren't you at the Academy for that," Risa asked, curious about why a boy serious about being a Ninja would miss such an important class. She joined them and sat nearby to watch her old sensei sort through some base weapons.

Sasuke face barely blushed and he mumbled, "It was given on Valentine's Day. I never went to school on that day."

"Really," the older Genin asked. "Why?"

"Fan girl syndrome," Naruto told her in a whispered tone. "Too many girls probably crowded him to give him chocolates or something."

"You know," Risa said laughing. "They did the same thing with Neji until he put every single Valentine he'd been given in the middle of the school yard and created a bonfire out of them."

"Hah," Naruto said with a grin. "That's what you should have done Teme. You could have used your 'Grand Fireball' and that would have gotten the point across. I bet the yard smelled good with all that melted chocolate."

"It did," she admitted. "I actually went home and baked a small chocolate cake to eat by myself."

Tokuma had sorted most out and stated, "The pole arms are too long to begin with, but I can see why you brought them. It's good to have a feel for the Katas (forms) that are used when manipulating such weapons. At least you a few shorter staff weapons, which you can practice with." He pointed to the Brass Knuckles and said, "These are a good idea to have too. Try out several pairs and then pick a pair or two that fit your hands and keep them close."

"You too Dobe," Sasuke said, after picking two that were similar in shape.

"Why," Naruto asked, but still testing a few of them and picking out a couple to pocket.

Sasuke sighed and explained, "You said they were a good idea and I know that the weights you're carrying aren't enough for you. Besides, if something like these fit," he show a pair that had a one flat top. "You could carve something in it to augment…"

"I get it," Naruto said and then looked at Sakura that had been hovering and hoping that she'd get a pair. "Teme," he pointed out the girl.

"Ah, Sakura," Sasuke said. "Come and try on a pair of Brass Knuckles. These will help when you don't want to add chakra to your strikes. You can borrow any you like, but after this mission I'll need them all back because they're accounted for in my Clan's armoury." The girl and the blond boy nodded.

"It'll be good to practice with them," Risa said. "We never thought to use something like this, Tokuma-sensei."

"It'll be good to get yourself some like this," Naruto said looking at the girl's gloved hand.

"The doctors agreed, but only after all the rehabilitation is complete," Risa nodded. "That's when they'll know if the hand is weaker that my other one."

"What's wrong with it," Sakura asked.

"It was burnt during our Chunin exam to Suna," Risa said. "The burn was third degree and I'd never noticed it." She wiggled her hand and barely flexed the fingers. "It'll take a long time for my fingers to move like they used to, but at least I can still come up with new bomb ideas."

"That's not very Shinobi like," Naruto teased the girl like he often did.

"Never claimed to be," Risa replied with a grin. "Say did you ever show your new team the new and improved Sexy Jutsu."

"Don't you dare Naruto," Sakura said with an angry growl.

Naruto sighed and said, "As you can see, they're not interested in it, but I did show them the dressed version of my female alter ego."

"Their loss of a great Jutsu," Tokuma told them. "Let me tell you that it saved my life, that and those cloth patches that Akiko created."

"Those are great aren't they," Naruto said. "I can shop in Konoha in complete disguise and actually get fresh foods. I still don't trust their meats, but being able to buy vegetables, fruit and good milk, is just awesome."

"You used his Sexy Jutsu," Sakura said nearly fainting at the thought that a Jounin of skill would use such a perverted thing.

"Yes," Tokuma said. "I was in a tight spot and my only route of escape was through a crowd of people. I'd crossed a street behind a cart, used the Jutsu and the patches change the colour of my clothing. I was able to use the Henge Technique to look like a local and then I calmly walked away from my pursuers."

"Whoah," Naruto said. "I knew it'd work."

"Didn't you invent that because you're just a pervert," Sakura asked.

Sasuke snorted and then asked Risa, "Did knowing about that Jutsu bother you like it does Sakura and most other girls?"

"Nope," Risa said. "Akiko and I had a good laugh about it when we first met as a team. We helped to improve it a lot too and we even did it ourselves, watch." She did the Jutsu and in front of Sakura was a drool worthy boy who was older and more mature looking. "You wouldn't think that this form hid a Kunoichi, which was one of the main reasons we chose to learn it." She let the Jutsu go and became her old self.

"Why would you want to hide the fact that you're a Kunoichi," Sakura asked.

Naruto shook his head and Sasuke blinked at her dense question. Risa only told her, "Think about it."

Tokuma the coughed and said, "Yes, well let's test out a few of these and then pack the rest only leaving ones you'll practice with, out."

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

TBC…

(…i…) Akoba – made up name, in no reflects any language of modern man. Think of it as coming from the Ninja Dogs' own language.

(...ii...) Elemental explanation - see: http :/ www dot leafninja dot com/jutsu dot php (you know what to do, remove the spaces and change the word dot)