Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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"So do you think we will get paid for an A rank?" came the gruff voice of the chain smoking jounin. He stared across the wagon they were riding in watching his partner jounin, it was nice of the people of wave to give their team a ride back to Konoha. However it did promote laziness, the genin from Konoha had fallen asleep.
"Your team probably will be paid as such, however I doubt it will count for my team. I screwed up, I should have forced my team to go back to Konoha. However on the other hand, Naruto really stepped it up on this mission and took it to a bar I never expected from him. I would imagine he would be a shoe if for being promoted, that of course if it wasn't for the fact that the chunin exams are right around the corner." The masked shinobi said with a single smile from his uncovered eye.
Asuma took a huff of his cigarette. That much was true, everyone that was attending the chunin exams likely already wanted to see the Uchiha fight despite him being a rookie. Asuma turned to the woman sitting in the corner of the cart that seemed content with watching Naruto sleep. Of course, that wasn't far off from what the black haired female of the group was doing. "So Konan, where is it that you plan to go once we get to Konoha?"
Kyuubi didn't respond for a moment, not recognizing her supposed name before she turned to the jounin and smiled. "Oh I don't know, I think I may get a hotel for a night or two before going on my way." she said with a small smile gracing her lips. The humans were far more predictable than Naruto was, it was pathetic. They appeared weary of her half of the time, and the other half of the time they were trying to start small talk with her. With doing actions such as that, she found it ironic that they felt the need to diagnose people with... what did the humans call it? Bi Polar... syndrome? She couldn't remember, nor did she really care. She was far more interested in what Naruto planned to do when he got to the training ground and tried to manipulate ice, and of course failed. He merely asked for all chakra affinities, nothing about combining said chakra affinities. She gave him what he wanted. Perhaps the boy would finally see it her way and learn how to use fire.
It was going to be a few hours before they reached Konoha and everything was going smooth, besides the wagon rolling over nature's little speed bumps... squirrels.
She really didn't know whether she wanted to stay close to Naruto, or go off and do her own thing. Despite being a demon, she too had contacts. More specifically however, she had eight other main contacts.
She was able to easily trick the people in the group since no one knew what Kyuubi or this Konan acted like. The blonde girl kept her mouth shut like a good lesser being should. Her test subject, Naruto however really wanted to find a way to turn her in without getting him and Ino in trouble. When he whispered that to her in the wagon, she could only laugh. 'Oh really, and what is your plan to do once you find out I'm free? Do you really think I will fall for the same mistake twice? Fool me once shame on me...' she left the quote open. It was a known saying across the ninja nations, especially in war. Iwa during the wars often put themselves in the same situations that Konoha's Yellow Flash could dominate. That was enclosed spaces.
How she knew about the wars? Please, she wasn't completely blind when it came to the shinobi world. She just didn't like making contact with humans. While some of their characteristics are interesting, for example this bodies lip ring. The extreme jealousy they feel, the hunger they felt for power. It was pathetic. She of course made sure to never say that to Naruto, he would just give some smart-ass remark like, "Well that is easy for the most powerful person in the world to say."
She opted to listen much more then talk during the wagon ride, as did the black haired shinobi, however she seemed nervous. Hell, she would be too if she was as weak as her and was forced to be brought in front of a council of shinobi and let them pass judgment on what she can and cannot do. Of course... that would never happen seeing as she would never be as weak as a petulant human.
The idea of remaining low key on her true self was frustrating. Not to mention, there was this ring that kept calling out to her. Yes, she knew what it did, it was obviously used for communication. Yet no, she couldn't use it with all these humans around. For all she knew, they didn't even know about this kind of technology.
There was one thing that made her happy however. It was her power, it was at its absolute height. Humans did get one thing right, which was rather frustrating. If a shinobi ever learned how to completely control their demon through the use and training of their body, then they could gain a level of power higher then that of the original tailed beast.
However, since she just found a way to eliminate the process of learning how to use her power all over again by just directly taking over a person's body... she was at her prime. She was surprised she hadn't thought of this before, it was much easier then several complex illusions over herself.
This body probably wasn't the best body to choose seeing as how she likely had allies that were shinobi and would probably come after her in a hissy fit. It wasn't like they were dangerous to her in any way however, she probably should have taken one of the woman's bodies from wave. The only problem with them however was... they were all flat chested.
Now, that wasn't a completely horrible problem, except for the fact that often times with human men it would appear that beauty is translated to their brains from their bust and ass first then the face and personality. She scowled, that was an annoying thought. She idly wondered what the sleeping blonde in front of her, her former container was thinking about when he looked at her. If he was looking at her body, or her face and actually liking her personality.
She grimaced, she must sound like a human the age of the runts around her. Why would she care what the boy thought, rude or not she could just beat that thought process out of him. Teach him how to think more like a demon.
Demons were a lot like the gods that humans randomly heard about in myths. They could change their form into anything they wanted, even bulls if they wanted. So when they choose a spouse or someone they would spend the rest of their life with they went for personality. Sure there were the few gods and demons that looked better then all the rest. That thought made her scowl as it reminded her of a demon she knew, 'Nibi...' However those demons tended to be rather promiscuous often know as mate thieves and would cheat on their spouses.
Kyuubi sighed tired of her train of thought, she leaned back rather roughly. Her head banging rather hard against a wooden post that helped hold up the tarp that covered the wagon. It was loud enough to attract the attention of the shinobi in the wagon, which she held up a hand to and motioned she was fine. She barely even felt the hit actually, it was likely due to the fact any injury she sustain was usually healed instantly.
She had no desire to spark up a conversation with the black haired girl, or join in on the small talk between the two-team leaders. So she did the only thing left that she could do, sleep. Damn humans were boring...
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Naruto sighed as he was the second last to hop out of the cart. Kyuubi had followed him shortly after. Naruto was about to go get something he had been missing in his life as of late, ramen. That was until Kakashi decided to shit on his parade.
"Naruto you do realize that when I made you mission leader, you would have to go turn in a mission report as the first thing you do. You also will have to address why Haku and Konan are here as well. So come on everyone, we have to go see the Hokage, regardless of whatever you may want to do right now."
Naruto looked down, like someone told him his goldfish died. He slowly began walking before he paused his walk and turned to Kyuubi with a scowl. He shot her a glare that clearly said, 'You better not fuck up my first mission report.'
Kyuubi only smiled innocently in return. Or at least as innocently as a demon who had killed countless humans before could.
Naruto sighed, they were approaching on the Hokage office soon, that was until he felt Ino tug on his arm. Part of him wanted to ignore her, and for her to think that he was going to throw her in the line of fire the entire meeting. However if he did that she may start to squirm, and that would only make it easier to find out that he was hiding something. Worse then that, lying on his mission report now about several things.
"Hey everyone, me and Ino need to talk about something for a bit, can you all go on ahead and we will catch up." Naruto caught both Kakashi and Asuma make a sideways glance at each other, which caused Naruto to frown. So he did the best thing he could think of, despite it being one of the least likely things to happen in this type of weather. He made it rain.
It turned out to be a good thing to do, even if it surprised many of the civilians walking around. Especially the ones that were wearing short skirts. He spotted Kakashi's presence just in ear shot of the conversation, however he wouldn't be able to hear a thing since the rain pounding on the metal overhang of a fruit stand. It sounded like someone was raining down pebbles on the roof constantly. All they had to do was whisper, and he wouldn't be able to hear a thing.
"What is it you want Ino?" Naruto whispered as he pulled her closer to him by the waist. It didn't exactly look appropriate, especially for it being two teens in front of a public fruit stand. Whenever they would whisper, to get past the noise it would appear that one of them was nibbling on the other's ear.
Ino shifted uncomfortably on her feet, "Are you going to rat me out?" Naruto scowled slightly at that, straight to the point? She hadn't said a word to him in days.
"I should... However I'm not going to." Ino looked surprised at that, she was expecting to go into this conversation and offering everything she had to Naruto just to get him to not go through with putting her name down on the mission report for Kyuubi and what not. However it brought about other questions.
"Wait... so then... your going to lie on your mission report?" Ino now felt bad about this. Lying on a mission report is considered treason. A shinobi can't become Hokage with any written record of treason on their profile.
"Are you sure?" she frowned when she asked this. She screwed up, she deserved punishment even if she didn't want it. Trying to get out of it at the cost of someone else's dreams was not something she was too fond of.
Naruto shrugged, "No Ino, I'm not sure about it. However considering that they will likely put you in jail for the remainder of your life... I don't have a choice now do I?"
Ino stayed silent at that and held her head down. She felt like she stabbed Naruto in the back when she continually flirted with Sasuke despite... what they did together. Now here he was putting his future as a shinobi on the line for her.
Naruto ran a hand through his hair, and groaned "I wont even both to get into the prettier bits of me getting caught with treason... Ino, I am saving your ass right now. I can throw you in the line of fire however whenever I want. You will be telling me why you did something so fucking stupid!" Naruto wasn't even bothering to whisper anymore. Ino looked ready to start giving a long explanation but Naruto held up a hand and said quietly once again, "Later..."
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Naruto held several papers in his hand, as he and Ino both walked into the Hokage's office where several shinobi were lined up. He walked straight to the Hokage's desk and whispered quietly, "Hey old man." before falling back to his team, standing in front of all of them as a leader would.
Sarutobi looked over the papers quickly, looking over mission reports nearly his entire life made him get rather quick at doing it. Especially when it came to finding reoccurring themes in the reports. The Hokage took a drag of his pipe and looked over the assembled teams before him, and two additional shinobi off to the side.
"So let me get this straight, despite you encountering shinobi on the mission you pressed on? Kakashi, why did you choose to do this." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and gave a weak smile.
"Well... it appeared that if we weren't going to go on the mission, then Naruto would carry on with the bridge builder regardless." Kakashi said that with caution, that could easily warrant him getting a demotion or Naruto going back to the academy.
"Well if that is the case, then why did you choose to promote Naruto to leader of the mission as you carried on?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow, from what he had read of the mission report. It was not something he was pleased with. Their actions were irresponsible regardless of the fact that the mission turned into probably one of the most beneficial rewards Konoha had ever received from a mission in the past 10 years.
Kakashi flinched, the man before them wasn't being openly hostile. However, the displeasure was written all over his face. The man before them held the seat of Hokage, and strongest shinobi in Konoha for a reason. "I chose to make Naruto leader of the mission because he was able to pull everyone together, and keep the morale of the group up despite the damage that had been done during previous encounters. He appears to have the qualities of a born leader."
Kakashi was being honest, but at the same time trying to word what he was saying in the best way possible to get himself and Naruto off the hook.
Sarutobi sighed, 'Okay, he had a point there. The boy did pull everyone together but...' "Well perhaps I should make Naruto the jounin, and you the genin Kakashi. From what I have read, Naruto seems to have become on good terms with a young kunoichi with a bloodline, who happened to save you student. He fought against the mist's demon brothers, two well respected chunin and was able to land the killing blow on both of them. He survived a battle with Warren Peace, and was able to return the Land of Waves their funds. Now tell me, why is it that he appears to have done the majority of the work?"
Kakashi normally would have scowled. When a mission report turned out sounding like that, it was normally because the person who wrote the report was a glory hound. However, it really sucked when two entire teams of shinobi were upstaged by a single genin, who held the title of dead last of the academy. "As I said sir, Uzumaki stepped it up on the mission. I was out of commission after my battle with Zabuza, and Naruto was able to take over and keep everyone together."
Sarutobi waved his hand dismissively, "Fine..." however Kakashi had been in enough after mission meetings with the Hokage to know that dismissive hand wave just meant that 'I will get back to you later.'
Sarutobi turned to Naruto, "So Naruto..." his gaze softened a bit. The boy was a spitting image of his father growing up minus the whiskers. "Why is it that you chose to carry on with the mission?"
Naruto knew deep down why he continued on the mission was foolish, and stupid. However, he wasn't going to openly say why he went on the mission if he could work around it. "His country was in poverty."
Sarutobi paused, "You went on the mission because his country was in poverty?" Sarutobi stared at Naruto and a frown came onto his face.
"Naruto, why would you do something like that? You put yourself and your entire team at risk." Sarutobi said, he was disappointed with Naruto in that regard. However the jab Naruto took back at him couldn't help but make him feel disappointed in himself.
"Yes well, I grew up in poverty all my life Hokage-sama. I couldn't help but feel emotionally compromised and felt entitled to helping them. My team didn't have to follow me." Naruto said, making sure to pull out a line from the shinobi rules and laws.
Sarutobi paused, the boy had thrown his upbringing back in his own face. Sarutobi decided against addressing something such as that right now. That is something that only needed to be talked about between the two of them. The others in the room didn't need to know.
Everyone could feel the tension in the room rise when Naruto said that, some more interested then others. However what they did know was they were in for an interesting story. Naruto was away from the group the majority of the time, he likely knew a lot more about the situation then anyone else. So they all stood and listened as Naruto explained in full detail what happened in wave.
Save a couple edited parts, specifically being Kyuubi and the bit about them stealing enough money to make him one of the richest people in Konoha.
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The teams soon left the Hokage's office. He had given them pay for an S-rank mission, and personally placed it on all of their mission records. Naruto being a special case, and they put him down for leading an S-rank mission.
It was a surprise to everyone in the room that their mission was an S-rank mission. However once the Hokage explained how he felt that the mission was at least an S-rank mission. It was one that could be publicly known, but still and S-rank mission. The encounter of A-rank missing ninja Momochi Zabuza, as well as The C-rank Demon brothers and the unranked jounin level shinobi Haku was part of it. Then the encounter of Peace, an S-rank missing ninja from the Mist was a 2nd part in the ranking.
The rank of Peace surprised most of the shinobi in the room save Kakashi and Asuma. The two of them more often then not looked at the bingo book. The third part however was the main thing that promoted the S-rank. They ended up bringing a country out of poverty, and ended up making near unbreakable beneficial bond between a port town that formerly thrived, and has one of the best trading industries in the world, besides Iwa's which Konoha doesn't have access to.
The Hokage also gave the teams expressed permission to take the chunin exams. They didn't have the amount of missions taken, and the chunin exams were rolling up on them in nearly a week's time. However judging from the performance of the teams on the mission, it wasn't a surprise the Hokage personally requested that they compete.
Naruto was about to leave the room with his team, and Kyuubi and Haku following before the Hokage called out to him. "Naruto I'm afraid you can't leave yet. I assume you want the shinobi you brought with you to be able to establish residence in Konoha correct?"
Naruto paused and turned around, "Yeah that is correct..." he said as he tilted his head.
The Hokage stood up with a light cough, "Alright follow me, we are going to go interrupt a council meeting." the smirk on Sarutobi's face told Naruto that that was not something they should be doing. However... it would have been too good to pass up. He followed suit, this would be his first time in front of the shinobi council. Hopefully, not the last either.
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Alright there you have it another chapter. I originally wasn't going to write one today because it is Halloween. However I feel like I would be cheating myself, and not "Going for burnout" properly lol.
So I wrote this rather quickly(a little over 45mins :( ) am I happy with it? It is alright, I don't know if it is "The best" however I feel it set things up for you to get a feel of where Haku and Kyuubi will be come later chapters. Next chapter I also hope to reveal the two characters that will be appearing in the chunin exams.
I have hinted at a couple things this chapter in Kyuubi's bit. I don't know if I plan to follow through or not on one of them. Time will tell.
I hinted at Naruto using ice jutsu to fight last chapter. I changed my mine, you saw as such above.
Why did I change my mind? Meh... I started playing Tekken 6... and that can do wonders for the "Screwing up of any fighting style you have planned."
Stuck between keeping him with the Brawler feel that Naruto usually has, or a more deadly feel that(If you want the example I am pulling from in Tekken, it's Lars and Miguel)
Both are interesting in their own right, even if you go check out who those characters are and everyone screams "OH PICK LARS!" because... his style is ridiculously awesome -.-'... I admit that much.
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Anyways, haven't had as long of ANs lately, don't plan to make this one either.
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Kyuubi: You get more insight how she feels about human life, and her current body. You get a bit of a look at trying to comprehend exactly how strong she is, which I will lay down a hard fact for this story atm. She is the strongest thing we know in the Narutoverse as of now(save 10tails).
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Ino: I contemplated getting into the conversation this chapter... but I really didn't want to write a lot on Halloween, so the conversation will be going in where I originally intended. "Soon"
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Haku: No talking from her this chapter, not many people talked actually. However, next chapter I do plan to expand on her.
If anyone can think of a way that Haku could live in Konoha, I am all years because as of right now in the story. She can't, post a suggestion if you want me to PM you as to why. Then you can give me any suggestions as to how she could live in Konoha.
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Anyways I don't plan to do this again, however here is a single line that will be in the chapter.
Council addressing Haku:
"We, the shinobi council of Konoha are afraid we must deny your request of residence Haku. We collectively feel that one right does not make up for a life time of wrongs."
cookies if you know where that is from lol...
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As for Haku, currently contemplating:
Hotels
not becoming a resident, but instead staying as Naruto house.
or not staying at all.
However as I said, I'm all ears.
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Anyways read and review.