Naruto: Potential Realised Chapter 10: In the Midst of Confusion, a naruto fanfic

Naruto: Potential Realised

Posted: 23-12-11

Updated: 11-01-12

A quick update thanks to many reviews I got on the previous chapter. I didn't see the point in waiting the full week before posting this bad boy, so fuck it, here it is people, and I hope you enjoy it. Tomorrow it will be the 6 month anniversary of Naruto: Potential Realised, so yay for me.

Credit goes to Jacobus Negromante for fixing up the errors in this chapter.

Don't forget to review, it makes my heart sing!

CH10: In the Midst of Confusion

(Hokage Tower)

"More paperwork?" Tsunade growled as Shizune came into her office with another stack of files and folders, smiling nervously at the sight of her master's scowl. "Put them there," Tsunade motioned to the six or so other foot-tall stacks of papers she had yet to go through. A migraine was steadily building up her in head. "Damn those bastards," the Godaime leaned back in her office chair, rubbing her temples. She must have been going at it for at least a good two or three hours of nothing but mind numbing paperwork.

Shizune put the files away and took her place standing behind Tsunade, overlooking her work ethic in case she slacked off, as the Sannin was prone to doing when left to her own devices. "Who, Jiraiya-sama and Naruto-kun?" she inferred.

"Yes, and that old fart," Tsunade added, retrieving a bottle of vintage sake from her draw and ignoring Shizune's disapproving look. "All the paperwork he reneged on doing is coming back to bite me in my ass. Ugh!" she bristled as she took a chug of rice wine. "I am going to kill that blonde little bastard," Tsunade claimed, almost slamming the bottle of alcohol on her desk and resumed with stamping and filing the paperwork on her desk.

"Perhaps you should delegate your tasks more, Tsunade-sama," Shizune suggested meekly. "With all the time you in put in the office, you can't possibly expect to manage your program at the hospital. Why don't you let me do that in your stead?"

"Maybe... sure, why not?" Tsunade agreed eventually. "You'll have to draft the students on your own, though, Shizune. I haven't even had time yet to even look at possible candidates." Tsunade gestured to a thick, green folder on a stand nearby, stamped 'GENIN'.

Shizune nodded, reaching for the stack of files Tsunade just finished reviewing and placing them on a separate pile. "And perhaps you could enlist the guards downstairs to help you with filing these files," she continued to suggest. Shizune knew better than anyone how unpleasant Tsunade could be when she was overworked. It would be both in her master's interest as well as her own to create a smoother working environment.

"What are their names?" Tsunade asked shortly before rewarding herself with another swing of rice wine. "And are they reliable?"

"Their names are Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo, I believe," Shizune informed with a thoughtful expression. "They aren't assigned to any division because Sandaime-sama had them run errands for him."

"What kinds of errands?" Tsunade asked, stamping another thick dossier with her own customised Godaime stamp. It had the kanji for 'five' just above 'S. Tsunade', both written in her own handwriting. It was one of the first things she was tasked with doing once she was debriefed by her old sensei's advisors.

"Oh, you know, returning and sending documents, fetching him lunch and... the latest issue of Icha Icha Paradise whenever it came out," Shizune added the last bit in a quiet tone.

Tsunade still heard it though; her expression soured with disgust almost instantly. "That old pervert... I knew Jiraiya had to get it from somewhere," she shook her head, her pigtails jumbling erratically, "And to think I blamed Orochimaru."

"You blamed Orochimaru for Jiraiya-sama's perversion?" Shizune asked half laughing. The notion was absurd and not in the least amusing.

The Godaime shrugged, opening her mouth to retort just as a massive explosion went through the village, rumbling and shaking the Hokage Tower.

BOOM!

"What the hell was that?" Tsunade demanded, already hearing shouting and calls resounding through the Hokage Tower's corridors and the marching footsteps of her shinobi running out to see what was going on.

Shizune rushed to the window and gasped. "There's smoke coming from the stadium, Tsunade-sama!"

"Tenzō!" Tsunade barked. Out of nowhere, seemingly from the shadows in the corner next to Shizune, Tenzō appeared in full ANBU garb.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade clenched her fist; she wanted to go investigate the sight on her own, but she was the Godaime now. She couldn't simply rush out whenever she pleased. "Go checkout the sight of the explosion. Do not interfere unless necessary. I want you back with a detailed report as soon as practical."

Tenzō nodded and phased through the ground once again.

"Tsunade-sama, who was that?" Shizune asked slightly alarmed, having never seen or even felt the ANBU's presence.

Tsunade didn't hear her assistant, gazing out of her window with a frown. "The stadium is where the inauguration ceremony is going to be held... Great."

-ooo-

(Konoha Stadium)

Naruto gritted his teeth, eyes wide open, red and slit as blood streamed down his face. He heard the soft cries of Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi, relieved that they were, for the most part anyway, unharmed. They were trapped under a mountain of debris. It was pitch dark and he couldn't see them, but he could tell they were close to him. With greater luck than he had imagined possible, he had managed to surge forward at the last second and stopped the massive chunk of concrete from squashing them with his own body.

His body shook uncontrollably, especially his arms as he tried to keep the massive piece of fallen ceiling from sinking him into the ground under its sheer, knee-buckling weight.

"N- Naruto-niichan?" Moegi whimpered, feeling drips of moisture fall on her arm. "Are you OK?"

"I'm just fine," Naruto lied, not wanting to alarm her by telling him he was dripping blood like a leaky faucet. They audibly jumped at the sound of his voice, now deeper and more gruff and raspy sounding under the Kyūbi's influences on his body. "Konohamaru, Udon, can you hear me?"

"Ye- Yeah," Konohamaru stammered. followed by Udon's quivering voice: "Yes, Na- Naruto-niisan."

The jinchūriki let out a sigh of relief. "Don't you guys worry, you're safe with me," he assured them. "I need you two to move closer to Moegi," Naruto instructed, and they did as they were told. "Alright, now stay calm."

Naruto closed his eyes, focusing on calling on as much of the Kyūbi's chakra as he could while his wounds were still healing. 'Come on, Naruto, focus, you can do this,' Naruto thought as he slowly and carefully moved the massive concrete and the smaller of pieces on top of it awkwardly on his back (that was going to kill in the morning).

DUNK!

Smaller pieces of stone fell down and judging from his yelp, a particularly large one hit Konohamaru on the head. "Sorry about that," Naruto said as he fell to his backside. He looked up and noticed that rays of light found their way through the cracks in the pile up. "I'm going to try and get you guys out of here through the ground," Naruto breathed heavily as he spoke, his body positively aching with agony. "So hold on close."

"OK, Naruto-niichan," Konohamaru nodded, now visible under the dim rays of light.

"Moegi, Udon, are you ready?" Naruto asked the two other members of the Konohamaru Corps. They nodded in response. "OK, move a little closer. I'm going to need room for at least two clones."

Once they moved, Naruto made his unconventional hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two Shadow Clones appeared in the small enclave and latched on to Konohamaru and Moegi whilst the original grabbed Udon. Naruto swallowed thickly, he hadn't made much use of this technique up until now, nor had he ever tried it with another person, but he didn't have much of a choice. Who knew how much longer they would be stuck under the debris? For all he knew, the pileup was about to collapse on top of them any moment now... "OK, on three, take a deep breath and close your eyes. One... two... three! Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu!"

Slowly at first and gradually faster as Naruto softened the earth with his chakra, they sunk through the ground as though intangible. Naruto almost panicked once they sank, thinking he should've sent one of his clones first, but just as quickly snapped out of it, forcing himself to be strong and move through the earth towards the thumping source of vibration, most likely from the footsteps of other shinobi on the bombsite. It was their best bet...

Moments later they emerged from the ground, shooting upwards and with chakra-enhanced jumps, gulping for air.

"Over here, we've got some survivors!" someone called out. There were shouts of acknowledgement as others ran over to them, some of them calling out Konohamaru's name as they recognised him to be Sandaime's grandson.

"Ebisu-san, over here!"

Naruto's clones dispelled as he wiped the mud out of his eyes; he had used so much chakra to soften the earth, it had become like a liquid substance. "Are you three OK?" Naruto wheezed, looking to the Konohamaru Corps.

They hiccoughed barely coherent responses. "Good," Naruto looked to one of the shinobi around them, recognising him to be Ebisu, Konohamaru's tutor. "Ebisu-san, Konohamaru and his friends need to be escorted home."

Ebisu already had his arms around the three, examining them for injuries as the other shinobi ran past them towards other survivors. "Of course, but what are you going to do?" the tokubetsu jōnin asked in response, somewhat put-off by the jinchūriki's relaxed demeanour.

"I saw the guy who did it," Naruto replied as he got to his feet and made another hand seal for his signature jutsu. "He can't have gotten very far, and if he did, there's no harm in trying. Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In an instant, with masses of pillars of smoke, hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto-clones appeared and took off in separate directions, tasked with finding the cloaked culprit, voicing their intentions as they audibly promised to tear him a new one.

"Remarkable!" Ebisu exclaimed at the sight of a good 400 pissed-off Naruto-clones taking off. A few other shinobi nearby were still picking up their jaws when Naruto looked at Ebisu impatiently. Despite his seemingly calm demeanour, the very fact someone had nearly killed him along with the Konohamaru Corps had sparked a rage inside of him he felt would explode if he didn't do something about it. Ebisu seemed to pick up on his ire and took the Konohamaru Corps along with him, who, surprisingly so, made no protest as they were probably still holding back tears from their fright and had yet to catch their breath from travelling underground, unlike Naruto, who had practiced the Doton jutsu on his own enough times to be more or less accustomed to the breathlessness.

"Uzumaki!"

"Naruto!"

Said jinchūriki looked to the distance and found his senior teammates from Team 312, Sarugaku and Hayase, approaching him. "Oh, right, you guys were scheduled to come back from your mission today," Naruto remembered out loud.

"Uzumaki, what happened here?" Sarugaku demanded with a panning look around the now ceiling-less stadium; the entire building was more or less destroyed. A few small fires raged here and there, but nothing a Suiton jutsu couldn't handle. Hayase whistled at the sight of the damage.

"Taichō," he greeted Sarugaku with barely veiled disdain, "What the fuck do you think happened? Somebody set off explosions here. I saw the guy who did it and when I get my hands on him, I'm going to rip him apart limb from limb."

Sarugaku looked around again, as though expecting to find the culprit peaking around a corner. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Because I had to look after my students," Naruto replied firmly, sitting on the ground to catch his breath. He hadn't taught them anything yet, but that didn't change the fact their relationship had changed from surrogate brother and younger siblings to teacher and students. Besides, that sounded a lot cooler.

Unable to argue with that, Sarugaku looked to Hayase. "We should go to the Hokage Tower and report to the council."

"That won't be necessary," Naruto fell in. "We have a new Hokage."

Sarugaku and Hayase looked at him with suspicion. "And who would that be, Uzumaki? Where the hell were you these past few weeks anyway?" the older shinobi scowled at him.

"Fetching Konoha's Godaime, Tsunade of the Sannin," Naruto held his gaze evenly; it irked his team leader a lot more when he acted like this: calm and all knowing, especially when he himself wasn't. "But don't take my word for it," Naruto said easily with a shrug. "I mean, why start now, right?"

Sarugaku opened his mouth to retort, but finding none, he grunted with annoyance instead. "Fine. I believe you."

"And that means the world to me," Naruto replied sarcastically.

His TL ignored this and looked to Hayase. "Go and find Nakamaru and Nara and meet me at the Hokage Tower in twenty minutes," he instructed. "Uzumaki, you say you caught a glimpse of the culprit?" Naruto nodded slowly with suspicion. "Then let's inform the Hokage. Meet us there once you've changed."

"Alright," Naruto agreed, picking himself up from the ground and taking off towards his apartment by the use of a Shunshin as Sarugaku went over to a few other nearby shinobi to help them out.

-ooo-

(Naruto's Apartment)

Upon entering his apartment nearly five minutes later, Naruto heard a ticking noise by the window, where he found a pure white and noticeably irate messenger hawk on his windowsill. 'Must be old man Gikan's bird,' Naruto thought as he opened up the window sill and screeched at him impatiently. It had been waiting for him for quite some time now.

"Yep, definitely the old man's bird," Naruto commented dryly as he relinquished the bird from its carrier pouch and withdrew a red scroll from it. Naruto moved to his kitchen table and held up a single hand seal: "Kai."

Poof!

Once the smoke cleared, his blade appeared on his kitchen table, sheathed in a pure white sword sheath with light blue, wavy decal. 'Who would have thought the old man had an artistic side to him?' Naruto briefly entertained the thought of Gikan painting beautiful murals in free time. It made him chuckle a little as he inspected the blade, which came with a matching belt.

He noticed a note attached to the bandage-covered guard of his sword and read it.

Uzumaki,

The sword sheath ought to be a perfect fit. Shiho did the decal – that was not me.

Understood? Good.

You owe me 230 ryō for the belt. I'm not running a charity, you know?

Gikan

Naruto crumpled the letter and threw it into his bin, noting how the last sentence had been crossed out, probably by Shiho. "Thanks for the good work, old man," he said out loud as he placed the sword back on the table and went to take a shower.

...

A good fifteen minutes later he emerged from the shower, content with having gotten the dirt and blood out of his hair. He threw his clothes in the bin; they were ruined now. He then got dressed in his skin tight bodysuit and usual shinobi attire with his modified regulation flak.

Figuring the kodachi would be best placed on his back, straight down his spine, Naruto strapped his tantō's leather sheath to his left thigh, shortly after putting on his utility belt, to which he attached several default pouches that covered the entirety of the small of his back. 'That looks about right,' Naruto noted, taking in his reflection in the mirror as he pulled on his metal-plated, fingerless gloves and then pulling his bracer over his left forearm. He ran a hand over his smooth surface, feeling a fresh wave of affection for the mad scientist that had given it to him.

Naruto made a mental note to speak to Jiraiya about his hair altering jutsu, it would save him time getting his cut.

-ooo-

(Outside the Hokage Tower)

"You're later," Sarugaku stated with a pointed glare and arms crossed over his chest as Naruto arrived a good fifteen minutes later than he had stipulated.

"Or maybe you're just early," Naruto replied flippantly. "I was covered in mud and blood, OK?" he added when his TL gave him an annoyed look, one he responded to with a blank expression. Noticing Shikamaru crouched lazily nearby, the blond grinned at the shadow-user. "How was your mission, Shika?"

Shikamaru shrugged, stifling a yawn. He looked like had just been waken up from a nap; probably so considering he had just come home from a mission. "We arrested two Akatsuki accountants. A duo of brothers, Ginji and Kyōya, settled in Otafaku Gai. I don't know what happened to them after we caught 'em though; all I did was provide strategy and use my Kagemane to capture them." Shikamaru shrugged indifferently, none to bothered with being kicked out the loop. "What about you? My old man mentioned you retrieved Tsunade-sama-"

"Catch up on your own time," Sarugaku barked with annoyance, turning inside the tower.

Hayase squinted his eyes at Naruto, or more specifically, the guard of his sword. "Is that a new sword?"

"Yeah, I picked it up on my mission with Ero-sennin," Naruto informed. "That reminds me, I've been meaning to ask you for some pointers in kenjutsu."

"Sure, no problem," Hayase agreed easily with a smile of his own. "I'm no expert, but it'll do us both some good to have a training partner."

"Yeah!" Naruto said excited at the prospect of duelling with the swordsman of their team.

Rei looked to Naruto, walking between him and Shikamaru. "What happened?" she asked him, to which Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, what did happen?" the shadow-user inquired lazily. "I was looking forward to having the day off..."

"Someone set off an explosion at the stadium where the inauguration is being held. I managed to get a look at the guy, so Sarugaku had us come here to tell the old lady. Sorry 'bout your day off, Shika. I'll make it up to you guys," Naruto guaranteed.

"How?" the lone kunoichi on Team 312 asked.

Naruto shrugged as they began to climb the stairs to the Hokage's office. "Well, I was planning on inviting you guys to a meal anyway, since my birthday's coming up and all, and I haven't seen any of my friends from the academy in long time now," Naruto offered. "I was thinking of going to a real nice place."

"I'm in," Shikamaru smiled.

Naruto looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Of course you would, you never turn down a free meal, you cheap bastard," Naruto replied. "By the way, I invited Shiho-chan and I told her you'd be there, so yeah, go with me on this one."

"Naruto... what did you tell her?" Shikamaru demanded with an annoyed sigh.

Naruto scratched the back of his head with a chuckle. "Oh, you know, nothing of importance really. Just that you kind of liked her – that's not lying, you don't exactly dislike her, do you?" he said as Shikamaru opened his mouth for an angry retort. "Ha!" Naruto exclaimed as Shikamaru shook his head and walked ahead.

"You shouldn't have done that," Rei commented. "Whoever this Shiho person is, you shouldn't have lied to her."

"It'll be fine," Naruto waved it off. "Shiho-chan refused to come unless Shikamaru would be there," Naruto told her. "It'll be fine! If Shikamaru really had a problem with it, he would've let me know, wouldn't you think?"

Rei shrugged. "There's no arguing with that logic."

The others came to a stop in front of the doors. Sarugaku swallowed thickly; they weren't summoned by the Hokage, so they had no real reason to be going to her office. Naruto grinned, brushing past him and opening the door, cheerfully greeting the Godaime. "Tsunade-baachan - Ouf!"

ZOOM!

A book came soaring through the air and struck Naruto dead-centre in the face with enough force to lift him off his feet and launch him against the wall behind him. "Gaki!" Tsunade barked angrily. "You did this to me!" she accused loudly, smacking the pile of papers on her desk. "On your knees and apologise!"

Naruto held his face, a tiny tear at the edge of his eye biting back the pain. "APOLOGISE?" he demanded with a high-pitched voice. "What is wrong with you? I didn't force you to take the job – gah!" he lightly pinched his stinging nose, his voice sounding thicker. "That was uncalled for!"

"Shut up! I apologise for nothing!" Tsunade declared shamelessly, moving back to her seat. "Well, what do you want?"

Sarugaku looked from Tsunade to Naruto with wide eyes, his jaw dropped, but no sound came from his mouth; Hayase swallowed thickly with squinted eyes, clearly terrified; Rei's eyes were widened and blinked a few times; even Shikamaru looked visibly unnerved, rubbing the back of his head.

"What do I want?" Naruto repeated, picking himself up, "Right now, I want kick your wrinkled ass from here back to Tanzaku Gai – Tsunade-sama, no!" he screamed the last bit in terror with a high-pitched girly voice as Tsunade threw her bottle of sake at him, narrowly missing his head.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Tsunade demanded, reaching for another bottle of sake.

Naruto swallowed thickly. 'Fuck me, she must be pissed at me for sticking her with this job,' Naruto thought with a sweat-drop, 'What the hell must she be going through to be this angry? She really needs to blow off some steam.'

"Well?" Tsunade barked at Sarugaku.

Sarugaku jumped involuntary at her glare; he gave one his patented coughs like he always did before speaking up, something Tsunade clearly did not appreciate (much like Naruto). "Uh, Hokage-sama," he stammered uncertainly, "We are here in regards to the incident at the stadium-"

"Which reminds me!" Tsunade growled at Naruto. "Why were you there? You could've gotten yourself killed, you idiot!" Naruto flinched involuntarily at the scolding. "The next time I see the Sandaime's grandson, I'm going to beat a few lessons into his pea-sized brain."

"I'll light a few candles and pour some liquor in memory of him," Naruto commented quietly.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at him. "What was that, smartass?"

Naruto didn't reply, opting to instead whistle inconspicuously and pretending to be admiring the portrait of the Yondaime Hokage. "You were saying?" Tsunade looked back to the Sarugaku somewhat calmed down. "The incident at the stadium is already under investigation. Do you have some relevant information?"

"Ah, yes, Hokage-sama," Sarugaku nodded, "Uzumaki here claims he caught a glimpse of the culprit shortly before the bombing. I believe we could, ah, be of some assistance in finding the person behind the bombings."

Tsunade sat back in her chair and eyed Naruto intently for a long a moment. "I've had a dozen or so complaints about your clones terrifying the villagers and unnerving the shinobi, Naruto. I assume you haven't found anything by now?" He shook his head. "Then get rid of them," she ordered.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes and focused on dispelling the clones, feeling some discomfort as the information came streaming back to him. "Uh, no, but hey, there's 15% discount at the new dango shop down by – I'm kidding," Naruto finished with a dry tone, catching Tsunade's look, weary of what she might do to him. "Look, I didn't see much of the guy, but I know for a fact he was male, around 5'6-"

"You must be jealous," Tsunade commented.

"-and he wore a brown cloak and a facemask," Naruto finished, biting back a flippant remark he had been saving for a special occasion. He wanted to actually be a part of this mission, and that was going to be tough if he was in the hospital, where he would undoubtedly end up if he pissed off Tsunade today by the looks of it.

The Godaime rose out of her chair and looked to Naruto. "Alright, then, it won't hurt to have a few more eyes and ears out there," she said. "I'm issuing you with a B-ranked mission, Naruto. Assemble a taskforce consisting of no more than three teams and search the village for the person matching the description you gave me. While you investigate in the open, I'll have the right people investigate from the shadows. It might throw off the culprit's game."

"Excuse me," Sarugaku fell in with a doubtful glance at Naruto, "I mean no disrespect, Hokage-sama-"

"Good," Tsunade replied testily.

"-but I am the team leader of this team," Sarugaku finished, swallowing thickly. "I believe I should take charge on this mission."

Naruto glared at Sarugaku but kept his mouth shut. As much as he disliked the guy, he didn't know the first thing about being a team leader. If anyone was supposed to lead them, it would have to be Sarugaku or Shikamaru. Surely they were more qualified-

"Right, this isn't a team mission," Tsunade clarified calmly. "This is a taskforce, one I have assigned Uzumaki Naruto to lead. Is that going to be a problem?" Tsunade grabbed a dossier from an archive next to her desk and plopped it on her desk, where she sat down and leaned back into her chair. "Naruto?"

Naruto snapped out of his daze, looking from his teammates to Tsunade. "I'm not sure if I – I mean, they're more-"

"It wasn't a request, Uzumaki." From the way she used his lastname, he could immediately tell she was being serious, so he decided it was best to just do as he was told. He neared her desk and nodded at her. "OK, I'll do it," Naruto smiled with insincere bravado, "It'll be good practice for the day I kick your ass out of this office."

"Oh, you'll have to drag me out kicking and screaming, brat," Tsunade shot back challengingly, though her expression remained steady and serious. "If you want this office and my hat, you'll have to beat me for it."

They looked at each other in silence for a moment of pointed silence that mystified the other members of Team 312. "What's this dossier for?" Naruto asked a eventually breaking the silence, picking up the thick folder and opening it up. "I see," he said when he opened it: it was filled with files on Konoha's genin. Skimming through the pages he recognised some from the academy, noting that some of the genin he had known in the academy had their files stamped with 'KIA'. He wasn't too sure how to process that information, so he decided to push it to the back of his head. Now wasn't the time to be pensive. "What are your orders... Godaime-sama?"

"As head of this taskforce, the responsibility to assemble the teams is all yours to decide," Tsunade stated with a calculative gaze at the respectful way he addressed her. "It falls on you to decide on who you will pick to be a part of this task force, and how you will balance the teams based on each individual's skill set."

To her surprise, Naruto placed the dossier back on her desk without hesitation. "I think have a pretty good idea on who I want for this taskforce, Tsunade- Godaime-sama," he struggled more with keeping up the respectful way he addressed her than he was proud of, but then again, he was never one for formality and by the look of her bemused expression, she appreciated the effort anyway.

"So soon?" Tsunade asked, to which he nodded.

"I would like to enlist the genin Teams 7, 8, 10 and Team Gai to be part of this taskforce," Naruto replied. "I've seen each of them in action at least once, and I'm familiar with them enough to work in a team."

Tsunade held his gaze and nodded. "I see, well get going then. You may send out summons to them by messenger hawks on my authority," Tsunade grabbed a piece of paper, scribbled something on it and them stamped it with her Godaime seal and then gave it to Naruto. "Now then, dismissed."

Sarugaku looked livid and promptly stormed out of the office, followed by Hayase, Rei and Shikamaru, who conversed quietly amongst themselves as Naruto stayed behind, straggling uncertainly as he looked at the Godaime. "What is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Do you really think I'm ready to lead a taskforce?" Naruto voiced his uncertainty now that they were alone. "I mean, I haven't even led a team yet, so how am I going to lead three on my first time being a leader?" He hated how weak he sounded, but it couldn't be helped. He wasn't a leading figure; he never had been up until now. It made him painfully aware of what was awaiting him the day became Hokage – which he now started to question whether that was what he really wanted. (2)

Tsunade picked up on his concerns; her expression softened. "You'll do fine," she assured him confidently. "I'm not exactly much of a leading figure myself, in case you haven't noticed," he smiled at that, "I've never been much of a leader. I was a good teacher, but never one that actively sought out to lead, I usually left that to others around me," she revealed. "But if I can do it, then why the hell shouldn't you be able to do it too? You're the one that convinced me to take this job, Uzumaki, and I'm not stepping down till you come and take my seat, so whatever is holding you back from becoming a leader, get over it. You can do this."

Naruto beamed at her. "Thank you, Tsunade-baachan," he said with genuine humility. "I won't let you down, I promise."

"I know you won't, now get out of my office!" Tsunade barked at him. "This whole touchy-feeling nonsense makes me want to hurl."

Naruto laughed as he nodded and turned to exit the office. He stopped by the door, and turning around the face her, he remembered a promise he made. "I need to ask you a favour," Naruto said with an unreadable expression.

"A favour?" the Godaime repeated with a raise eyebrow.

"Yeah, but not for my sake," Naruto was quick to point out from across the room. "I need you to look into a friend of mine by the name of Rock Lee..."

Tsunade recognised the name, having gone through a few files earlier that day. "What about him?" she asked, curious for his answer.

"He got hurt pretty badly during the Chūnin Exams a while back," Naruto began, "His injuries were so bad, he had to quit being a shinobi because none of the doctors were able to heal him. I was hoping you'd take a look at him."

She looked at him in a silence for a long moment, measuring how determined he was to help his friend and how much it meant to him. "You're not going to let this go are you?" He shook his head with a shameless grin, prompting her to sigh in defeat. "I can't promise anything, you know that, right?"

Naruto nodded with a grave expression. "I know you can't, but if anyone can help him, it's got to be you, Tsunade-baachan," he said he turned around fully and gave the deepest bow he had ever done. Tsunade scowled at his formality. "Don't be so formal around me. It doesn't suit you even if you can be a little more respectful."

He grinned at her and left the office. "I owe you one!"

The door closed with a soft click, leaving Tsunade to her own devices. "That kid is going to be the end of me some day, Jiraiya," she said to her fellow Sannin, who she had sensed moment before. He was perched by her window and smiled at her knowingly. "What?"

"I gotta hand it to the kid, he has a way with you," Jiraiya stated, much to her annoyance. "If it were anyone else, you would have flat out refused and told them to see Shizune about it." The sage was right, but they both knew she's be damned if she admitted to it.

Tsunade pulled her desk draw and her retrieved two saucers and poured one of herself and one for Jiraiya. "It can't be helped; he's just like Nawaki in that sense. Aside from not letting him fight on the frontlines, I don't think I've ever refused him anything."

"You look tense," Jiraiya observed with a gulp of his cup, emptying the liquor into his mouth in one. "Why don't you and I go blow off some steam?"

Tsunade a single eyebrow. "I'm listening."

-ooo-

(Forty-five Minutes Later: Briefing Room 12)

Naruto stood behind the lectern as Team 8, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Chōji, Neji and Tenten walked through the door. All of them had been summoned by messenger hawks sent out on the authority of Tsunade, who allowed Naruto to make use of the vacant briefing room.

"What's going on?" Ino asked Sakura as they saw Team 312 seated already whilst Naruto stood by the lectern, writing on a sheet of paper. Sakura shrugged, looking distracted as she eyed Naruto, who seemed to be engrossed in what he was doing. "Shikamaru?" Yamanaka looked at the shadow-user sitting in the front next to three other shinobi she didn't know.

"Yo," Shikamaru greeted, utterly relaxed as always and, judging by the small smile on his face, amused with the situation. "Chōji, Ino," the shadow-user motioned to the two seats next to him while stifling a yawn.

Team 8 looked at one another, voice their confusion amongst themselves. "Why is Naruto standing behind the lectern like some big man?" Kiba challenged, to which Akamaru yelped. The ninken had yet to forgive the blonde for tricking Kiba into knocking it out during their bout seemingly a century ago.

"It appears he is in charge, Kiba," Shino deducted easily, hands stuffed in his pockets and his face obscured by his shades and hood.

Naruto looked up from his lectern as the others sat down. His eyes held Sasuke's gaze as his former teammates sat in the front whilst the other members of the Konoha 12, save Neji, Tenten and Shikamaru murmured and discussed what was going on. "Thank you guys for coming," Naruto cleared his throat like he had seen his platoon leader do when calling for attention, taking his eyes off Sasuke.

"I can't believe this," Sarugaku complained to Hayase in an undoubtedly purposely audible whisper. Fortunately, much to Naruto's pleasure, Hayase ignored him.

Ino spoke up with her usual loud, demanding tone. "Naruto, what's going on? Why are you standing behind that lectern?" she asked as though the notion of him taking charge was too foolish to even consider. As much as it annoyed Naruto, if he looked at it rationally, he couldn't blame her. He wasn't exactly the type to give orders; he was better at receiving them and disregarding them (something he was becoming increasingly less proud of).

"It is not clear, Yamanaka? Hokage-sama has put him in charge of the mission we have been called to participate in," Neji clarified, a hint of annoyance in his otherwise completely stoic voice. Naruto was grateful for the Hyūga's lack of scepticism; having won his respect in their bout during the Chūnin Exams finals seemed to have a positive effect.

"I'll get to that in a minute," Naruto stated, waiting for Kiba and Akamaru to settle down. "Alright, so this taskforce has been put together to investigate the bombing of the stadium where the Chūnin Exams was held a few months ago and where the inauguration ceremony is scheduled to be held in two days from now."

"Why are we investigating it?" was Chōji's question.

Naruto was mildly irritated with the interruption, but didn't express it in words. "I was getting to that... I happened to be there when it happened and I'm the only one who got a decent look at the culprit," Naruto revealed. "We're looking for him in the open while the Hokage has her own guys investigating the matter from the shadows, as she put it, in the hopes of throwing the culprit off his game."

"That sounds sensible," Shino commented.

'I know it does, just shut the fuck up already.' Naruto kept his thoughts to himself. "This taskforce will be divided in three teams, lead by myself, Shikamaru and Sarugaku. I've tried to keep the teams as balanced as possible whilst keeping those who are comfortable working together on the same team." Naruto looked to his list and cleared his throat again as he read: "Team 1 will consist out of myself, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Nakamura Rei and Aburame Shino. Team 2: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyūga Hinata. Team 3, Sarugaku Tsuzumi, Hayase, Hyūga Neji and Tenten." Naruto put down the sheet and looked to the others. "Team one will be looking in the gated forestry since it's likely the culprit is on the run and hiding. Team two will be patrolling the abandoned apartment complexes on the outskirts. Team three will be stationed at the main gate, which is the only gate open at this time, in case the culprit tries to slip out under the guise of a merchant or something. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why are you in charge?" Kiba challenged.

Naruto's eye twitched, he really wasn't one for patience most of the time, and he was trying. "You suck, that's why, dog breath," he shot back. Kiba made a move to stand up; it took some considerable self-restraint from Naruto to not to walk over and beat the crap out of the ninken-user. "Don't pull your alpha male crap on me, Kiba," Naruto warned coldly. "I already beat the shit out of you once and I'll do it again if you push it. If you don't want to be a part of this taskforce, then there's fucking door." He gestured to the door for emphasis.

The tense silence that followed was thankfully broken by Sarugaku, who cleared his throat and stood out of his chair. "I believe we are done here," he stated smoothly. "Team leaders will brief you on the formations and the joint radio frequency-"

"That's the plan, Sarugaku," Naruto fell in, annoyed with himself for forgetting that part (even if it was his first time leading) and with Sarugaku for already trying to usurp authority. One of these days he was going to put the boot to that guy and himself in trouble, he just knew it. "Alright, Team 1, with me."

Naruto handed out a sheet of paper to Sarugaku and Nara as they left the briefing room; Kiba brushed past Naruto with his shoulder, prompting Naruto to vow to kick the shit out of him the next time he got a chance. "He's still angry about losing to you, he will come around eventually, Uzumaki-san," Shino assured as the other members of Team Naruto assembled around him.

Naruto nodded to the bug-user. "I know he will, I probably will have to kick his ass though," he said with a shrug.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, immediately locking eyes with him. "You look stronger."

"Don't I? Don't I?" Naruto quipped with mock arrogance. Sakura smiled at the sight of the rivals half-grinning at one another. "You better keep up, Sasuke, I'm getting stronger and stronger each day. I'm not the same fool you knew back then." Naruto warned him.

"You may have become stronger, but you're still a fool," Sasuke decided.

Naruto rolled his eyes at him, and then turned to Sakura and Shino. "Sakura, Shino, this is Nakamura Rei. We belong to the same department and team," Naruto gestured to Rei, who gave a polite inclination of her head.

Sakura smiled friendlily at Rei. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nakamura-san, my name is Haruno Sakura," Sakura introduced herself, returning the gesture.

"Aburame Shino," the bug-user introduced curtly. "I look forward to working with you, Nakamura-san."

Much to Naruto's surprise, even Sasuke partook in the formalities – more or less. "Uchiha Sasuke," the Uchiha introduced himself as he looked at Rei, sizing her up and noting how her eyes flickered subtly at the mention of his name.

"A pleasure," Rei replied. "Uzumaki spoke highly of you two in particular." That was stretching the truth to the breaking point, but Naruto didn't mind as his former teammates smiled at him, even Sasuke, as slightly odd and uncharacteristic as that was. "Shall we go now?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not yet, we all need to tune in on the same radio frequency," Naruto reminded them, pulling out his radio set and tying it around his neck and fixing the microphone position. They emulated him, pulling out their own radiosets and inputting the frequency Naruto told them.

"OK, now a quick briefing on the formation," Naruto started with a look to Shino. "You will be moving up first with your insects to explore the area ahead of us. After you, it's me and Sasuke, with Sakura and Rei-chan behind us." Naruto feigned ignorance over Rei's mild glare at the suffix. Though he genuinely was oblivious to Sakura's notice of how he dropped the suffix usually reserved for her and the way he addressed Rei. "Any questions?"

They shook their heads. "Good.

-ooo-

(With Team 2)

"Naruto sure has changed, hasn't he?" Ino said as they travelled, jumping rooftop to rooftop in the shadow-user's chosen formation: Chōji and Kiba in the front, Hinata making up the middle and Ino and himself making up the rear. "He seems different."

"Maybe he's changed a little," Hinata suggested timidly. "Being a chūnin comes with more responsibilities. Maybe it's only to be expected...?"

Kiba scowled with a decisive shake of his head. "He's the same stupid blonde bastard as always," the ninken-user sneered, to which Akamaru loyally yelped in agreement. "Acting like he's some tough guy... He got lucky that one time we fought, you know? Really lucky!"

Shikamaru yawned, trying to stay out of the discussion pertaining to his blonde teammate for as long as possible. "Shikamaru," Chōji addressed him, "What do you think? You're on the same team, you must've seen how much he's improved." The Nara's expression fell with annoyance, resentful towards his friend for including him in the discussion he had hoped to avoid altogether.

"Yeah," Ino spoke up, "What's up with Naruto? Has he really changed that much?"

"I guess he's changed," Shikamaru shrugged, he really hated these types of discussions. There was never an end to them since it always came down to personal opinion, meaning that any discussion on the topic at hand was, to him at least, a waste of time and effort. "He's a lot stronger than he used to be," Shikamaru said. "I'm not sure how much you've improved, Kiba, but if you're still around the same level as you were the last time you fought, then don't bother trying. He'll win."

Ino looked genuinely surprised at Shikamaru's statement. "Really, he's improved that much?" she asked incredulously. The Yamanaka shook her head, not quite convinced. "Hmm, well so have we. Especially Sasuke-kun," Ino added with sigh filled with fondness for the Uchiha. "I saw him training the other day, and he's gotten really strong."

"Probably," Shikamaru shrugged indifferently, "I can go only by what I've seen Naruto do, and aside from summoning Gamabunta-sama and beating Neji and Gaara, I know for a fact he single-handedly beat a B-ranked ninja on our last team mission."

"No way!" Kiba and Ino exclaimed simultaneously.

"Sasuke-kun beat Gaara... didn't he?" Ino sounded unsure.

Hinata shook her head. "I heard from differently from Kurenai-sensei," she interjected with a stammer. "Apparently Naruto-kun has been training with Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin," she said to the astonishment of Ino and Kiba.

"How the hell did he manage to get training from Jiraiya-sama?" Kiba demanded, outraged with the fact he was no longer in Naruto's league and how painfully aware he was of this. "That's so not fair!"

Ino looked thoughtful for a moment. "It would explain how he managed to beat Neji during the Finals," she said to Kiba. "Remember that red chakra shroud he was using? (1) Jiraiya-sama must have taught him that, wouldn't you think?"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he shook his head, muttering, "Idiots," under his breath.

Kiba picked up on it easily with his sensitive hearing. "Who are you calling idiots, Nara?" the Inuzuka demanded with a ferocious snarl.

"Back off, Kiba," Chōji warned with mild, though still rarely seen, aggression.

"What, so you and Naruto are best friends now, Shika, is that it?" Ino demanded. "What's your problem anyway, we were just talking. How does that make us idiots?"

"It doesn't. What makes you idiots is the fact you care so much for who is the strongest, you forget that, at the end of the day, we're all Konoha-nin. Why make such a big deal out of Naruto and Sasuke? They're our comrades. Their strength is our strength, and our strength is theirs," Shikamaru reminded them. "Pointlessly arguing who is stronger doesn't do any good. It just pisses off a lot of people unnecessarily."

Fortunately, that seemed to to stop the arguments.

-ooo-

(With Team 1 - Konoha Forestry)

With Shino up ahead, Sasuke by his side and the two kunoichi of his team making up the rear, Naruto was confident they wouldn't miss anything. He was nervous, he had to admit. A part of him resented Tsunade for pushing this on him, but at the same time he felt grateful for the chance to be a leader for a change instead of a follower or an individual. This would be just like he said it would: good practice for when he became Hokage one day. He was bound to be a leading man at some point, if he ever wanted to become a Kage. Not to say he would have to necessarily become like Sarugaku though, pretentious and a micro-managing hard ass. Instead, he would have to find his own grove in which he felt comfortable being the same guy he always was, while at the same time using his head more like Shikamaru, being (somewhat at least) by the book like Sarugaku, open-minded like Hayase and level-headed as Rei. (2)

It was odd how that hadn't struck him until now how different his team was, and how much they symbolised aspects of the shinobi he wanted to become some day. Was it mere coincidence, or maybe he was just imaging things? For a moment he even considered to be fate, though he quickly dropped that train of thought.

"My kikaichū have returned," Shino announced as several swarms of insects resembling dark clouds returned to his body. "This part of the forest is clear, Uzumaki-san," he reported dutifully. Naruto nodded to the bug-user and tapped his radio set tied to his neck, speaking into the microphone. "This is Team 1 to Teams 2 and 3," he called over the frequency. "What do you got for me?"

"This is Team 2," came Shikamaru's lazy response. "All is clear on our end."

"Great plan, Naruto!" Kiba snidely remarked over the radio. Naruto frowned, "Shut the fuck up Kiba," he responded gruffly with half a mind to send a clone to go and kick Kiba's ass. "Team 3?"

Sarugaku took his time to respond with an annoyed grunt, as though it was beneath him to report to the blonde. "Team 3 here," was his response as he reported in. "The main gate is clear. Hardly anyone is entering or exiting the village at this time. Hyūga-san has so far detected no suspicion movement with his Byakugan either."

"That is correct," Neji confirmed.

Naruto inclined his head to no one in particular. "Alright, Teams 2 and 3, keep me posted," he said shortly before tuning out. 'This is starting to look more and more like a wild goose chase,' Naruto thought with frustration. 'For all we know, he isn't even done yet. He might still be in Konoha, hiding in plain sight like a villager or something. It's not like he would be recognised, he was wearing a cloak after all.'

"What are you thinking?"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his former teammate. "This would be a lot easier if we had something more to go on other than my stupid description."

"Perhaps we're looking in the wrong place," Sasuke offered. "Maybe he's not on the run, but planning his next move."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too, but where would we look for him?"

At the end of the formation, Sakura and Rei made small talk to pass the time whilst they scanned the area with their eyes. Sakura couldn't help but feel there was something going between her former teammate and Rei considering they seemed awfully friendly with one another. "You and Naruto seem close," Sakura said to Rei as they jumped branch after branch.

"Your name is Haruno Sakura, right?" Rei asked for confirmation, to which the rosette nodded. "Uzumaki has told me a lot about you and Sasuke," she revealed to the genin. "For some reason he always seems to smile when he mentions his old team."

Sakura was touched, a small smile of her own creeping to her face. "You know, Naruto used to be dead last in everything when we were still in academy. We used to make fun of him all the time for not being able to write properly, recite the shinobi codes, or even perform a simple Bunshin... but now, looking at how much he's changed... he's gotten along farther than any of us have, with the exception of Shikamaru." As she said this, Sakura realised how much her respect for Naruto had grown. No longer was he the obnoxious brat that would follow her around, pestering her for dates and picking fights with Sasuke. He had started to change after their mission to Nami no Kuni and he started to progress at an incredible rate ever since. It was depressing in one way how much he had changed since she hadn't gone through much change herself, but it was oddly inspiring somehow. Seeing Naruto accomplish his goals, it made her want to try harder and believe in her own power.

"Do you regret not taking him up on his previous offers?" Rei asked bluntly after seeing the storm of different emotions play out on Sakura's face. She looked ahead to the aforementioned blonde for a moment, he was making some small talk of his own with Sasuke, and look back to the rosette.

Having no room to feign confusion, Sakura knew what her fellow kunoichi was talking about. "No," she said with a shake of her head, "I've been in love with Sasuke-kun for as long as I can remember... that hasn't changed." Though she said it, her expression fell into a sombre one. "Sasuke-kun doesn't seem to feel the same away about me though."

"I am going on a date with Uzumaki," Rei stated out of nowhere.

Sakura's eyes widened as she nearly slipped on a branch. "I- Well, congratulations."

"Will you please tell me something?" Rei asked of her, and Sakura nodded. "You have known him longer than I have, what do you think of him as a person?"

The question definitely seemed to have had a lot of thought behind it, so Sakura was at loss for words for a moment. "Why do you ask? Don't you seem to have a good idea of what kind of person he is if you agreed to go out with him?"

"I asked him out," Rei clarified.

"Oh, well, I..." Sakura struggled to find the right words. Then realising she was trying too hard, she gave a sigh and shook her head at her own stupidity, a small smile on her face when she found her answer. "Naruto's not exactly the type most girls go after, he isn't... you know, the strong silent type like Sasuke-kun. He's more of a person who you, I don't know, you get to know by observing their actions. He's the kind of person that'll say he'll do something and then do it. He also cares a lot for his friends, so he'll do anything to protect them... I think that's how he saved me from Gaara."

"I see..." Rei replied vaguely.

Sakura frowned a little. "Does that answer your question?"

"No," Rei shook her head to her surprise, then she smiled at Sakura, "But it helps."

"What are you two talking about?" Naruto asked, noticing them talking.

"Nothing," they said simultaneously.

-ooo-

(With Team 3)

"Hyūga-san, try again," Sarugaku ordered Neji as they stood on a tall building by the gates.

Neji's eyes flared with the Hyūga sight and panned the area with a long gaze, slowly taking in all the different chakra signatures. "It's all clear," he reported as his Byakugan faded. "We may very well have to go around asking questions."

"Yeah, he's got a point," Hayase agreed.

Sarugaku took one more look on his own and then nodded. "Alright, we should-"

BOOM!

-ooo-

(With Team Naruto)

As the explosion went off in the distance, Naruto and his team came to abrupt, crouching stops on branches. "What the hell?" Naruto shouted as he turned to the source of the smoke cloud spiralling upwards. "That's where the Hokage Tower is located!" Naruto punched the tree he was perched in with frustration. "Shino!"

Shino raised his arms. Kikaichū bugs swarmed out of his sleeves, taking high to the skies and heading to the heart of the village. "We were looking in the wrong place," Sasuke gritted his teeth, looking to Naruto. "What now?"

"Team 1 to Teams 2 and 3," Naruto pressed the radio set tied around his neck. "Head for the Hokage Tower immediately, the culprit might still be there! If you see anyone suspicious, I don't care if he's got a Konoha headband, you stop them!"

"Got it," Shikamaru replied.

Sarugaku's response came a moment later. "This is Team 3, we are already on the site!" he shouted over the radio. "The top floor of the Hokage Tower is on fire!"

"That's the Hokage's office!" Hayase shouted over the radio.

The device screeched for a moment, drowning out Team 3's voices. They could hear a storm of fire and shouting over the other side. "Team 3, come in!" Naruto shouted over the radio. "Neji, use your Byakugan damn it! Remember, you're looking for a man about 5'6 tall, probably still wearing a dark brown cloak!"

"Understood!" the garbled reply came a moment later over the chaotic shouting and screaming and roaring fires that went down at Team 3's location.

Naruto looked to his team and shouted, "Let's go!"

Author's Notes

This chapter took me only a few hours to write and edit (but knowing me, there's bound to be a few errors here and there, which I'll pick out at some point). I'm a little worried about the dialogue at some points. No matter how many times I rewrote them, it just didn't want to get any better. I hope y'all can overlook it this one time. And yes, before anyone points it out, Tsunade is a lot fonder of Naruto in this story than in canon (or at least she shows it more), though she's a lot more disposed to violence when it comes to him (I find it funny, sue me). I don't know why that is, I just enjoy writing it that way.

Finally, this arc, as you probably guessed, preludes the return of Itachi, which I'll put a special spin on. It is also an arc of personal growth for Naruto in more ways than one. Not to give away too many spoilers, but leadership isn't the only thing he'll learn about in this arc.

OK, that's all I got, people. Happy holidays!

(Psst! if you're thinking of getting me a present, reviews will do just fine!)

Notes

(1) Weird how they never addressed that in canon. A shroud of pure chakra isn't exactly a copout move, is it?

(2) Not everyone is born a leader, and that includes Naruto, who's been more or less an individual or a follower most of the time. It'll be quite some time before he's in any position to be actually leading an entire village. Him being in charge of a taskforce is really just Tsunade's way of throwing him in the ocean and see if he'll learn how to swim or drowns.

(3) There you have it, the true reason why the Naruto was put with Team 312. They all symbolise the characteristics of the shinobi Naruto wants to become: smart like Shikamaru, level-headed like Rei, open-minded as Hayase (and himself) while keeping a healthy respect for the rules like Hayase.

...

Jutsu Used:

(Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu – Underground Fish Projection) - C rank, supplementary. This technique is used for sneaking and striking silently, like a fish underwater, and then suddenly appearing to the ground's surface.

...

Character Stats

Team 8