The Hidden Truths of the Village Hidden in the Leaves

Summary: Starting after the trip to the Land of the Waves, Sasuke has developed a sense of overprotectivness a shinobi feels towards their partner and Naruto has to deal with new surprises every day. The secret behind the Uchiha clan massacre is revealed and Orochimaru is scared of one man. ANBU and foxes flock towards Naruto as much as danger does. A whole new take on the life of Team 7 and co.

Two days later, the day they will meet their client and set off on the mission finally came. Naruto was so excited that he didn't even need Kurama to wake him up in the morning, as he was already vibrating with barely repressed energy. He had packed everything last night and was now all but running to the Hokage Tower, where he will meet with his team and the nine genin and other three jonin who will be a part of the mission! The fox was annoyed with his host's haste and kept telling him to slow down and not make a fool of himself, but Naruto was far too happy to listen to him.

And so, Naruto arrived just in time to nearly topple himself and Sasuke over as he and the Uchiha landed in front of the Tower at the same time, aiming for the same spot. They automatically reached out to steady each other and were only lucky that they didn't fall to the ground in a tangle of limbs. However, that didn't stop them from bumping heads, rather painfully, too. They groaned in pain as they stepped away from each other, still not letting go of the other's shoulder as they used their free hand to massage the sore spot.

''Ususratonkachi! Watch where you're going, will you!'' The black haired boy growled and it immediately had Naruto scowling at him, blue eyes glaring daggers at his rival and best friend.

''It's your fault, teme!''

''How, exactly, is it my fault that you are such a klutz?''

''Bastard! You were the one that bumped into me!'' The blond huffed at the other boy and Sasuke growled at him, glaring his Uhciha Death Glare that had never quite worked on this loudmouth.

''And how do you figure that? Moron.''

''Jerk!''

''Usurtonkachi!''

''Teme!''

''Dobe!''

''Don't call me that!'' Naruto was just about to launch himself at the slightly older boy when they heard a bark and Kiba's casual greeting of ''Yo'' which had Naruto stopping in his tracks to greet his childhood friend. Sasuke gave a grunt as his greeting as Kiba and his team approached them, Hinata fiddling with something in her hands that she had obviously meant to give to the blond. That unexplained anger blazed through the Uchiha once again but he ignored it as they heard yelling from the left. Everyone turned to see Sakura and Ino racing to their spot, still pushing each other like they used to do in the Academy and like how they had done in the Genin Games two days ago, glaring death at each other. Poor Lee, who had just landed a few feet away from Sasuke and Naruto, got trampled by the girls as they raced towards their beloved Sasuke-kun. Said Uchiha jumped out of the way and dragged Naruto with him and Sakura and Ino face-planted into the wall behind them. Naruto was watching with horrified eyes as the now three twitching shinogi tried to get themselves back together, Lee from the trampling and the two kunoichi from the impact to the wall.

Kurama, on the other hand, was laughing his nine-tailed ass off, howling with delight. It was a bit annoying, what with how loud he was and his laughing was urging Naruto himself to laugh alongside with him, but he knew that would be rude and that Sakura-chan and Ino would kill him if he did so. He would rather live, thanks. 'Would you stop that?'

Oh, come on! You know it's funny as hell! The demon fox complained after he got off of his laughing high but was still chuckling every now and then. And yes, Naruto did know it was funny, but he sure as hell wasn't going to die because of laughter! He can't die before he becomes Hokage!

''Lee! Are you okay?'' Tenten asked as soon as she arrived, looking at her teammate with pity and worry. Lee somehow managed to lift up his right arm and give her a thumbs up while trying to smile, but he would have to gather his teeth first, if he didn't want to scare off any possible passing children.

''Hmph, stupidity this early in the morning is not good for the intellect of actually intelligent people,'' A cold, aristocratic voice said a little behind Kiba and the others and they whirled around to stare at the frowning, white-eyed teen. Then they heard the sound of munching on chips and they turned the other was yo see Shikamaru and Chouji, who was eating (you guessed it) chips. The lazy Nara ninja sighed as he glanced at them all. ''So troublesome,'' was all he commented before proceeding to ignore them after greeting Naruto. Chouji waved back at Naruto before returning to his snacks.

''Good, you're all here,'' Kurenai commented as she appeared before them, ready as they were, for them to go. Asuma appeared not long after, also having a travel bag ready and then Gai sprinted towards them. ''Now, we only need to wait for Kakashi.'' Team 7 sweatdropped at that and found a comfortable place to sit down. The others stared at them and then proceeded to wait for an hour while Team 7 played the same word game they had on their way back from the Land of Waves.

Finally, the hot tempered Kiba exploded. ''Where the fuck is he!? Does he plan on making us wait all day?!''

''Kiba-kun, please c-calm down.'' Hinata tried to calm him down but then Ino joined in on his rant.

''That's right! Just who the hell does he think he is!?'' Then they both turned to the calm trio sitting together and still playing their game and pointed an accusing finger at them. ''HOW THE HELL CAN YOU BE SO CALM?!'' They looked at each other and shrugged, as they had long since gotten used to it. Sure, Sakura and Naruto still scolded the man every time he is late as soon as he appears, but it was more a routine, a habit, by now and not an expectation that Kakashi would actually change.

''You get used to it.'' The blond answered the two fuming teens just as Kakashi appeared behind them and greeted them with his customary ''Yo''. Ino and Kiba turned on the silver haired man and yelled in his face.

''You're late!''

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head in a fake sheepish manner as his eye curved up in a smile. ''Ah, well, you see, there was this granny that needed help getting her five kittens out of the tree-''

''WHAT KIND OF EXCUSE IS THAT?!''

''Will you just knock it off?'' Sasuke snapped behind them and they shut up at the cold tone of voice he used. ''Let's just go meet the clients and start this mission already.''

''Right,'' Naruto happily agreed as the three genin got up and headed straight for the Hokage's office, their sensei happily walking after them. Team Gai headed in as well and the others had no choice but to follow, some of them still grumbling about Kakashi's lateness. When they entered the Hokage's office, there were two people there already. Most of the boys couldn't help but stare and blush at the sight of the girl their age that was sitting beside what must have been her father or something of the like.

She was really pretty, with her long, silky black hair that reached way past her hips and brushed delicately at her upper thighs. She had bangs in her face, shaping it in a very seductive way. Her skin was naturally almost as white as snow. She was about Naruto's height and she was dressed in a dark pink kimono tied with a yellow sash. Her brown-reddish eyes looked them all over, lingering on Naruto and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Seeing this, Naruto couldn't help but blush too, although he got an uneasy feeling about this really pretty, obviously rich and important girl.

The man beside her looked to be around his middle forties but his hair had already started graying instead of being its once proud maroon color. He was wearing an equally fine blue kimono with a black sash. His face was tanned, showing that he sometimes traveled and his brown-reddish eyes settled on the jonin behind the genin that will accompany them. He nodded the assembled shinobi and his daughter bowed in respect. The sixteen ninja that were about to escort them to their destination echoed her gesture and bowed deeply to their clients.

Sarutobi watched all of this with a mild sense of dread, his old bit wise eyes trained on Naruto. In all of his twelve years of life, Naruto, for the very first time, will really be on his own, without his protecting shadow.

A hand slammed down on the Hokage's desk near midnight the night before the four teams were to go off on their mission. The hand's owner was livid, anger literally pouring out of his aura as he glared through his mask at the Sandaime.

"I refuse the mission." He said in an icy voice and Sarutobi resisted the urge to sigh and rub his forehead. He knew this would happen but he had foolishly hoped it wouldn't. "I refuse to go on this mission and leave Naruto-sama unprotected! What you are asking of me requires even Kuro Onyx with me! I will not stand for Naruto-sama having no protection what so ever."

"He will be with four jonin, one of them being Hatake Kakashi, and eleven other genin, two of whom are of the Hyuuga clan and one is of the Uchiha."

"That is not protection!" The ANBU growled as he leaned over the desk in a very intimidating manner. Hiruzen steeled himself to not flinch back at the dangerous man's approach. "That is called distractions. Other targets. Decoys, even. But not protection."

"There is no one else that could do this mission as well as you can. You don't even need to report until Naruto comes back to the village. As soon as you're done, go back to watching over him and I'll take your report when he gets back." The old man tried to placate the younger man but there was no way he would be happy without at least his trusted raven's eyes on his charge. Said raven was currently watching over a sleeping Naruto across the village as its master raged at the Hokage.

''My decision is final, Hokage-san.''

''Then you give me no choice but to hold Naruto back from the mission.'' The man froze where he stood, a stoic silence hanging over them and Hiruzen soldiered on while he still could. ''He will be the only one not to go on this mission.''

''What do you bloody want from me?'' The usually composed teamless ANBU captain demanded.

''I don't like to ask this of you any more than you like doing it, but I really need you to go on this mission. Believe me, I would rather have you watching over Naruto, but this is just as important in the long run. He is active again and I do not like that he is heading for Suna, our ally. Investigate this and return to your duties as soon as you make sure that there won't be an attack on them.''

''That's all?'' He asked and Sarutobi nodded. A sigh echoed throughout his office and the dark haired, masked man nodded. ''Fine, I will do it. But only this once.''

''You have yourself a deal.''

That was what he had said last night, but if he decides to make more mischief, he will really need to send Naruto's protector after him again. Seriously, to think one shinobi could be causing so much trouble. Hopefully, Sarutobi's trump card, er ninja, will get sick of it all and just deal with him at his earliest convince. But he can deal with that when the time comes. He has twelve genin, four jonin and two clients to focus on right now.

''Everyone, these are your clients. Buruto Inpu-sama and his daughter, Utsukushi-sama. They are from the Land of Demons. Your mission is to escort them to the border, where their estate is, and protect them on the way. This is a B-rank mission, so be careful."

"Land of Demons?" Sakura asked, as not even she had heard of the place.

"Yes. It's a rather big country, located two countries after the Land of Swamps. There's not much to say about it. They have few shinobi that are there more for protection than anything else. They keep to themselves and never make alliances or enemies." Kakashi explained and Inpu nodded. "So tell me, why do you need protection? More specifically, shinobi protection."

Inpu sighed tiredly. "My daughter was supposed to marry a daimyo from the Hidden Mist but he was killed and now his assassins are after us, believing that we are fleeing due to Utsukishi being pregnant with that man's child. It's a lie, as you can see. She never even met her fiancé. They, whoever they are, do not know this. It is for this reason that we asked protection as soon as we reached Konoha. We had managed to get some guards from the Mist but they turned on us. Had it not been for some of your fellow shinobi, we would be dead now."

Sasuke was watching them warily, Sarutobi noted, those dark eyes showing that he neither believed nor trusted them and their story. The Hokage frowned, wondering if perhaps he should stop this mission altogether, but then it hit him just why the Uchiha was showing disdain towards their clients. Utsukishi kept throwing shy glances in Naruto's direction and it was obviously ticking the slightly older boy of Team 7 off. Of course, it is something perfectly normal in acknowledged shinobi partnerships but as far as Hiruzen knew, the boys weren't even aware that their peculiar behavior towards each other had a specific name and meaning among ninja.

It was also one of the reasons he had sent off Naruto's guard despite not really wanting to. These two needed to set boundaries with each other without prying, if unseen, eyes watching them. For years, "accidents" and other strange events happened around Naruto in order to stop the ill-willed villagers from hurting the boy, curtsy of his protector from the shadows. If he deemed some situation needed his intervention, he would stop it from happening or alter its course. That, however, would impair the development of the bond that Sasuke and Naruto had unknowingly created. With his reappearance, Naruto's guardian was their best option to send away to confirm or put to rest their fears, in the meantime leaving the blond's side long enough for the two tween boys to figure out why they were like that only with each other. If they realize it, it will really be up to Sasuke to finalize it because Hiruzen really doubted Naruto would refuse such a deep bond, with anyone. Sasuke will be the one to decide whether they will have an actual partnership or will Naruto simply long for it with a hole in his already fragile heart.

And if Sasuke is put into doubt, it will all be ultimately Naruto's guardian's fault, which is why Hiruzen's been trying to hint at him that he should reveal his identity. To Naruto, at the very least. But no, he is a stubborn one, that man.

Hizuren sighed as his clients described the path his shinobi will have to take in order to reach their estate. This trip will either start or end a partnership that could have lasted a lifetime. One thing is for sure, the Hokage muses as he observes how the youngest Uchiha fumes whenever Naruto pays attention to the black haired, brown eyed girl, things between those two will have to change. They can no longer be at this standstill point, as it will only drive them apart.

And that is bound to chase Sasuke away and leave Naruto in Konoha, burdened by a broken heart.