Chapter 20: Konoha-Suna Teamwork

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Beta: AwesomeA909

A/N: Had to get a new computer guys.

Also Guest, I understand what you mean on the magic. My plan is that when Naruto realizes that doing jutsu for elements he isn't connected to takes a lot more chakra, which covers fire, lightning, and earth, he will make spells for those three elements instead. Since no one can train him in magic, it has taken a backseat. I plan on doing more for it soon though.

As for the summons you have brought up another good point. Since they have been training for their summons Kiba and Hinata should both be able to summon battle-ready partners. The situation hasn't really called for that, but I can introduce more summons. I need to start creating them, so they may not show up for another chapter or two though. (Horrible with naming things.) Kiba will certainly use his summons the least, having Akamaru and his transformation into the big wolf.

Naruto lay down on his bed, turning onto his side and let out a tired yawn. He enjoyed taking missions, but was overjoyed to be back in his own bed. As the blonde started to fall asleep his mind went back through the last few weeks. The mission they had been on, Koyuki reclaiming her throne, Snow Country becoming Spring Country, and Koyuki kissing him on the cheek and thanking him before they left. That part had caused Kiba to stay within five feet of him the rest of the mission. Then when they finally got back Tsunade yelled at them, angry that they hadn't considered reporting in.

After leaving Tsunade's office everyone went their separate ways, although Kiba tried, rather persistently, to get Naruto to come eat dinner at his house. With sleep coming over him Naruto cleared his mind of everything.

When he woke up, feeling a little stiff, early morning the next day he headed towards the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. After he finished eating and he headed outside, closing his eyes for a second to shield his eyes from the bright light. He had the day off and was going to use it to work on perfecting the jutsu he had used on Doto. He had to gather and condense the chakra faster in order for it to be used against people with actual ninja training. Doto, thankfully, relied on his armor.

Getting to the area he would be training in, a large dirt covered circle that was behind his compound with a few dummies and posts, the blond gathered his bright blue chakra in his palm. As soon as there was enough chakra for it to be visible he started condensing it. He trained the rest of the day, making shadow clones to work on the jutsu while he practiced with his sword. When the sun started setting slowly, casting a brilliant red hue over the village, he headed back inside before showering.

Over the next two weeks he barely left his compound, spending all his time in the training grounds behind the main house. He had wanted to go see Kiba more then anything, but every time he got done training he was too tired. Kiba must have been working hard as well, since the dog-nin never came to visit. Now that they had a team meeting again, though the blonde would get to see his boyfriend.

When Naruto got to the training ground he saw Kiba was there, although strangely Akamaru wasn't. Moving over to his boyfriend Naruto sat down beside them and leaned his head on the brunette's shoulder. "Where is Akamaru at Kiba-kun?" The blonde asked as he couldn't sense the dog in the vicinity.

Kiba let out a sigh. "He hurt his leg yesterday when we sparred with Hana-neechan and the Three Haimaru Brothers. He will be fine tomorrow, but sis said that he needed to stay in bed today."

Naruto didn't need to feel Kiba's chakra to know that the brunette was depressed, Akamaru was his partner after all. It made the blonde think about how devastated he would be if he lost Kyuubi, or Kami forbid Kiba. Not wanting to get dragged down by those depressing thoughts the blonde took a deep breath. "So did you get a lot of training in during our time off?"

Kiba nodded as he brightened a little. "You bet I did Naru. I learned two new earth jutsu, although they are both defensive, but Ma said they would be good for me to know. She also said that if I kept training hard, then by next month, I would be ready to start on the second step to mastering my earth chakra. When I do that I can start working on my secondary nature, which turned out to be lightning."

Naruto smiled at Kiba. "When you start working on lightning we will be able to come up with some good collaboration techniques."

Kiba nodded at that. "That will be fun Naru!" Kiba said excited about the prospect. Naruto's smile brightened slightly, since he managed to cheer Kiba up. Kiba looked at the blonde's smiling face before connecting their lips. As the two kissed Kiba suddenly pulled the blonde part of the way into his lap. As the brunette's left hand slid into the blonde locks of his boyfriend, Naruto pulled away.

Sitting beside the brunette he pointed to the left side of the clearing as Hinata walked in. A few minutes later Team Seven showed up, and Sakura was with them instead of at the hospital. The pink haired girl had a medical book with her that was thicker than any that Naruto had picked up, but there wasn't a title.

Kurenai arrived next with Team Ten and Asuma Sarutobi with them. Next to Sarutobi was Konohamaru, who had decided to spend the day with his uncle. The youngest Sarutobi was about to run to Naruto when Asuma placed a hand on his shoulder and held up his finger signaling for him to wait a moment. Kurenai looked over the two teams before speaking up. "You might be wondering why Team Ten is here. Last night we decided that Teams Nine and Ten would be joining in with the joint training sessions that we will be having every Saturday. You never know who you will be paired with on a mission."

Konohamaru moved over to Naruto quietly and waited for Kurenai to stop talking. "Nii-san, you have to tell me about your missions! I heard you had high ranking mission and that you saved a Princess!" The boy yelled bouncing in excitement. That caught the attention of Team Ten and the newly arrived Team Gai.

That made Naruto a little curious. "Where did you hear that Kono-kun?"

Konohamaru stopped bouncing for a moment. "Uncle Asuma told my Kaa-san about the missions and said that your team was cursed, because every mission you have went on outside the village has increased in rank. He didn't go into details though, did you really save a princess?"

Anko showed up with Kakashi at that moment and all the jonin wondered what Naruto would say. It wasn't against the rules to tell someone of the details of missions, as long as it wasn't a black-ops mission, after it was completed, it would raise Konohamaru's expectations only for the boy to start with D-ranks. Naruto chose not to talk about it though. "You know Kono-kun if you have time for these questions then you should have time to train."

Konohamaru nodded. "I finished the tree climbing though, so what should I train in? Ebisu has only been having me study." That got the genin in the area around them to all go wide-eyed. None of them expected an academy student in his second year to already know how to climb trees.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before deciding that Konohamaru should learn the other two academy jutsu as they weren't taught until the third year. "You should work on the Clone and Replacement techniques. The Clone technique is similar to the henge, but requires better control. You start by forming a shell of chakra over you and then push it off to the side. Since it is only a shell of chakra the clone will disappear if touched. Once you get it down you can work on making more than one clone.

The replacement is slightly more complex, but it doesn't require the same control. Now to preform the jutsu, you have to create a chakra link between you and an object, and using that link, you switch places with the object. The easiest way to create the link is by touching it, but when you get better at the jutsu, you will be able to do it in other ways. The most popular is through eye contact. It is done in the same way a genjutsu link is set up. I can't help you with the eye contact, as I just set up links to objects in my chakra cloud. When you are ready for that step, I am sure Asuma can explain how you do it. Keep in mind though, that the bigger the object, the bigger the chakra link needs to be. Now get to work!" Naruto finished his explanation with an order, and Konohamaru hurried off to the side of the clearing to start working on the clone.

Anko decided now would be a good time to speak up. "Alright brats listen up. We want to make sure that you can work with other teams, but having two on two fights will take too long. So what we are going to do, is have two teams of six, and then have you fight two jonin. The first team will be Naruto, Kiba, Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Shino. You six will fight Kakashi and me. The rest of you will fight Gai and Kurenai."

Gai spoke up at that point. "To speed this up, the six of you fighting Kurenai and me will follow us one training ground over."

After those eight left, Sakura moved over closer to where Konohamaru was training and pulled out her book. She was only here because she had a day off and wanted to see how her old team was. Kakashi looked over the group who were fidgeting. "Alright so here is the deal. You will separate yourselves into two groups. One group will battle Anko and I will fight the other. Afterwards we will wait for the others to return before having each of you work on what we will feel you need to work on."

Naruto took a deep breath, deep and slow, before turning towards Shikamaru. "What do you think Shika?"

Shikamaru looked the jonin over as well as his fellow genin. "It seems like our best bet would be to have the strongest person hold off Anko, while the rest took down Kakashi. However since most of us haven't worked together before that would most likely cause too many problems. I would send Naruto and two others against Kakashi and I will take two others to fight Anko."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. "Kakashi relies mostly on tai and ninjutsu. I would like to have Lee and Shino in my group." Shikamaru nodded his head and the six split up to discuss strategies. Naruto focused on Shino and Lee's chakra for a moment. "Shino have you ever tried to have your bugs move from one person to another."

Shino nodded his head. "Yes, why? Because-"

Naruto raised his hand to stop the boy. "I wouldn't mind hearing your explanation, but it isn't necessary Shino. You don't need to explain everything. If this was a mission, then we would need to get the plan in order as quick as possible." Shino nodded his head in understanding. "Can you place bugs on Lee's hands and have them move to Kakashi when the two exchange blows. It would take a moment, but we could slowly drain him of chakra that way."

Shino nodded his head. "If that is okay with Lee-san. Why? Never mind." Shino said muttering the last part quietly.

Lee shrugged his shoulders. "It will be fine with me. So what is your plan Naruto-kun."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Shino will stay back waiting for an opening to send his bugs in. While the ones he plant on you will move to Kakashi as the two of you battle with taijutsu. I will use my chakra chains to help you either by attacking or blocking Kakashi's attacks. We cannot give him time to use ninjutsu until we drain enough of his chakra that he wears himself out."

With that in mind the two moved to where Kakashi was standing. "So I guess we should begin." Kakashi said. The next moment the man was raising his hand to block a punch from Lee. He noticed the insects move from the boy's bandages to his arm, but ignored them for now. After all he was testing the genin. When he went to dodge a kick from Lee, Kakashi had to jump into the air to avoid a chakra chain that Naruto had sent his way. While in the air Kakashi was swarmed by insects, but he simply substituted.

While Kakashi was hidden he brushed the bugs off of him, they were slowly draining his chakra and he didn't want to let the genin win, he wouldn't go that far for the test. When Shino told the others that the bugs had been removed Naruto decided that he should be on the offensive as well. When he sensed where Kakashi was, the blonde used his chakra chains to destroy the branch the jonin was on. Kakashi quickly decided to jump back into the clearing and face the genin. Lee was the fastest and Kakashi had to block a kick from the genin. The weights the boy had on connected with Kakashi's forearm and the jonin winced slightly.

Naruto rushed at Kakashi's other side when his sword appeared in his hand. Kakashi brought a kunai up to block the sword, only for his blade to disappear and then reappear past the kunai. Kakashi's eyes widened and he substituted once more. Coming back into the clearing he held a hand up signaling the genin to stop, sending chakra around his hand to make sure that Naruto got the point.

Kakashi looked them over for a second before he spoke up. "Very impressive you three. Having Shino's bugs hide on Lee until he attacked me was an excellent idea. You did you best to keep me from using ninjutsu and watched each other's back. Naruto, that trick with your sword would catch a lot of people off guard, but at the same time, you should have waited a few more seconds before unsealing it, if you had it would have been too late for most people to dodge." Kakashi knew that the blonde most likely wanted to make sure the jonin had time to avoid it, but he wanted to make sure.

"The others should be done soon and then we will discuss what we want you to work on." A moment later Anko came over with Tenten, Kiba, and Shikamaru behind her. The three looked a little roughed up, but Anko actually had a scratch on her arm. Moving over to Kiba, Naruto asked what happened.

Kiba looked at Anko before explaining that Shikamaru had come up with a plan. Kiba attacked the woman head on with Tenten offering long-range support. They would lead Anko into a trap that Shikamaru set up. The trap would hopefully distract her long enough for Shikamaru to catch her in his shadow. When they caught her though she turned into a medium sized snake summon.

Kiba sighed here. "I kind of panicked and summoned the same wolf I used during the mission to Waterfall, whose name is Okamiyoru by the way, and she fought the snake. Anko decided that she would handle us without another summon and started beating the crap out of us. Tenten went down first, but she went down easily hoping sensei would move on. When Anko attacked Shikamaru and me Tenten hit her with a kunai."

Naruto smiled. "At least you guys got a hit, we weren't able to touch Kakashi-sensei."

Kiba beamed at the praise from his boyfriend. "So since my team did better then yours do I get a reward?"

Naruto thought about it for a minute. "What type of reward would you want?"

Kiba smirked as everyone sat down, and he pulled Naruto into his lap. "I can think of something." The brunette said as he kissed the blonde. As the two's tongues fought for dominance the other genin tried to ignore it. Lee looked away a bright blush on his face from seeing something so personal. Tenten thought it was cute, and Shino was sort of used to it. Shikamaru just thought it was troublesome.

Sakura came over to them with a slightly tired Konohamaru. Bopping them on the head with her book Sakura had a smile on her face when they look at her. "No one wants to see you two making out." She was only getting their attention because Konohamaru was wanting to show Naruto that he managed to make a clone, even if it was slightly unstable.

When Naruto moved off Kiba's lap, he noticed Konohamaru's chakra was really bright, but also sort of low. "How is your training session go Kono-kun?"

Konohamaru put his hand in the ram seal before making a single clone. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was still impressive. To Naruto it was proof that chakra control was one of the best things a ninja can train so he spoke with pride in his voice. "Pretty impressive Kono-kun. Your chakra pools are a little low, so you should rest the rest of the day."

Konohamaru nodded his head. Sitting down next to Naruto. He looked in the direction of the village. "Can I ask you a question Aniki?"

Naruto had a bad feeling considering that the small boy's chakra warmed slightly around his head. "What is it Kono-kun?" 'Please don't be embarrassing.'

Konohamaru looked at Kiba for a second before speaking. "Why do you like another boy?"

Kiba's eyes went wide when he heard the question and he could see Naruto blushing slightly. It took a few minutes for the blonde to speak. "I love Kiba-kun because of who he is Kono-kun. He is loyal, protective, and kind. He has always been there for me and over time we just grew closer and closer."

Konohamaru nodded, accepting the answer. After a few more minutes passed in silence, Gai and Kurenai showed up, followed by the rest of the genin.

Sasuke sat down next to Sakura, who had decided to sit down next to Konohamaru when the boy finished showing Naruto his clone. Haku and Hinata sat on the other side of Kiba. The rest of the genin sat down and they started talking while the jonin discussed the performances.

Kakashi watched as the genin started talking. "So Gai, how did Sasuke do?"

Gai smiled brightly. "Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji were the three genin that I sparred with. Sasuke worked quite well with them, backing them up with a few small scale ninjutsu while Hinata and Neji engaged me in taijutsu. Overall they did a good job."

Kurenai looked at Anko and saw the cut on the other woman's arm. Asuma who had been silent so far, watching the fights decided to ask how Choji and Ino did. Kurenai turned towards him. "Well they did alright. Although it took Ino a minute to realize she was in a genjutsu. Haku and Ino both used range techniques to keep me on my toes while Choji attacked when he thought he had an opening. I would recommend that Ino work on detecting and breaking jutsu. Choji, wasn't really willing to fight. Seeing as how he might fight someone who used to be his friend in future, he should be forced to spar against his friends. Haku needs the least amount of work right now, but I would have him work on his one-handed seals. Get to the point where he can do two jutsu at the same time."

The rest of the jonin agreed and turned to Kakashi. "Shino needs taijutsu training, whereas his bloodline revolves around his insects, he still should be prepared for an up-close fight. Lee should take up a weapon, with his speed and strength I would suggest a staff, but he would break a wooden one. As for Naruto, the boy is talented, my suggestion would be for him to work on mastering the skills he already has."

Anko decided to speak next. "Kiba needs to work on how he fights when Akamaru isn't around, he might not have him every mission or they could get separated. Shikamaru needs to work on his stamina and taijutsu, and Tenten should start working on some form of ninjutsu. She might run into another opponent that can make all her weapons useless, just like Temari did in the exams."

Gai was the only one who had yet to give his suggestions on what the genin should train in. "Hinata still needs work refining her new style of gentle fist. Neji could start learning more of the origanal styles techniques, although he has to recreate them, or work on elemental manipulation like Hinata has. Sasuke should work on his hand-sign speed. He is getting faster in his movements, but he stumbles over the hand-signs because he hasn't practiced them at his current speed."

With the discussion over the group of jonin headed back towards the genin.

(A month later)

Naruto yawned as he ran his hands across his bed. He was pretty happy about how the past month had gone. While they didn't go on any missions, Team Eight had improved their skills.

Kiba had spent half his time training alone. He knew that he couldn't always fight with Akamaru, but it didn't mean he liked being without his best friend. Hinata had been training in the new style of the gentle fist that she was creating and asked by her father to make scrolls for it. Finally there was Naruto himself. He had shadow clones working on mastering the skills he had, and spent a lot of time with Konohamaru and Tsunade. He knew that Tsunade saw him as family and with the time they spent together over the last month, he was coming to see her as an aunt or maybe a mother.

He had been wondering when he would get to spend some time with her, considering the missions he was sent on after her return and the amount of training he was doing. Still it was time for Team Eight to get another mission, hopefully one that would go right.

When they got to the Hokage's office only Anko was there. "Alright brats we have a mission on the border we share with Suna. We will be meeting a team there and taking out a bandit camp."

After being cooped up in the village Kiba was ready to leave, and rushed towards the gate. Naruto, Hinata, and Anko moved at a brisk pace to catch up. When they got there Kiba was standing in front of the gate tapping his foot. "We should hurry. After all we don't want to be late for a joint mission with another village."

Naruto shook his head at Kiba's enthusiasm. "Relax Kiba-kun, we have plenty of time. The trip to the border will take a couple days anyway, no need to rush only to tire ourselves out halfway." Kiba nodded his head in understanding and the group set out. It would take two days before they arrived at the meeting point, but when they did, no one was there.

Kiba slumped to the ground. "Man, they are late, I am ready to fight." He complained only for Akamaru to bark at him. "I am not impatient Akamaru!" Kiba snapped back.

Naruto smiled, but decided to voice the arrival of the Suna team. "They are not late, isn't that right Gaara?"

As he spoke Gaara blurred into existence at the edge of the river that ran along the border. He walked about halfway across and looked at Naruto. The blonde could feel the redheads chakra swirling in a slow pattern. Naruto moved out onto the river, even if it made his team nervous. Moving in front of Gaara, the blonde offered the other boy his hand.

The two sand nin still hiding were shocked when Gaara shook the blonde's hand, a slight smile forming on the redhead's face. Naruto looked over towards the bushes on the side of the river that Gaara came from. "So are those two supposed to be with you?"

Gaara nodded and introduced the two that were behind him. One was named Korobi and the other's name was Yaoki. Naruto leaned in a little at this point, which prompted Kiba to growl slightly. "And the twenty behind them?"

Gaara winced at that. "They are either here to watch or kill me."

Hearing that made Naruto snarl a little, but he kept it quiet. "Should we have them come out into the clearing and deal with it now?"

Gaara was about to say no when Kiba spoke up. "Hey whoever is out there, I can smell you, so come on out."

About twenty masked ninja came out into the clearing. "This doesn't involve Konoha, we are here from the Sand Village."

Naruto could sense the darkness in their chakra. "Are you on a sanctioned mission?" The blonde asked.

The apparent leader nodded his head. "Yes we are."

Naruto moved to stand in between them and Gaara. "You are lying. I can't help but feel this is an act of aggression." A kunai was sent flying at Naruto in that moment only to be blocked by a wave of sand.

Gaara's eyes darkened. "I will not let you harm my friend." The boy said before a small ball of sand formed, knocking the leader out.

Seeing Gaara block their leader's kunai and then only knocked them out raised doubt in a few of the masked men's mind. When no one else was attacked the doubt increased. "I would prefer not to hurt members of my own village, so please just return home."

When a few members dropped their arms, the others turned to attack them only for chakra chains to wrap around them. "Let us go, we will kill that monster and these traitors!" The members that dropped their weapons were surprised that their comrades would turn on them so quickly.

Anko flashed away and knocked the captured men out. Turning to the others she spoke. "We will let you take these men back to Suna. We still have a mission to complete."

The unarmed men nodded. The two teammates that Gaara had been assigned for this mission moved over to Gaara. "What do you want us to do Gaara-sama?" Naruto noticed that every trace of fear that they held when they first got here was gone. It seemed that seeing Gaara protecting someone helped improve his standing in the two men's eyes.

The mission was rather simple after that. The group of seven made it to the bandits' hideout and took down the men rather easily. Afterwards they went their separate ways Naruto telling Gaara to expect a fox summon to bring him a letter soon.