Chapter Forty Eight:
Changes and Promotions...
The New Mission!
Akina, sound asleep in her hospital bed, was woken by a very loud knock on the door. The blond girl slowly sat up in her bed and let out a yawn as someone continued knocking impatiently.
"Who's there?" Akina called out.
"It's time to get up Akina-chan; I'm here to get you the hell out of this crappy place!" Naruto shouted from outside the door.
"This is a hospital, you idiot! Shut up and get in here before you cause too much trouble," The girl sighed as her brother entered her room.
"Well let's go, there are lots of places I want to show you, and we've got to get you settled in, and I'm sure Tsunade-nee-chan will want to see you. Come on, we've got a very busy day ahead of us," Naruto said impatiently, tapping his foot.
"Okay Naruto, but first I need to get up and get dressed," Akina told him.
"Well, then get up already!" Naruto yelled excitedly.
"This is going to be a long day," Akina sighed.
Half an hour passed as the twins made their way out of the hospital after finally getting Akina released. The two walked the streets of Konoha together, and Naruto took the time to point out anything of interest as they walked. Almost instinctively, Naruto ended up taking Akina to Ichiraku's.
"Why are we at a ramen stand?" Akina asked.
"What? Because I'm hungry, of course! And there isn't anything or anyplace better than ramen and this ramen stand," Naruto replied with a grin.
"You've got to be kidding me," Akina said as she gazed hopefully at a restaurant down the street.
"No way, come on and sit down so we can get some food," Naruto told the girl.
"Why me..." Akina sighed again as she gave up and sat down beside her brother and the two quickly placed their orders. Naruto began to tell Akina about some of his deeds as a shinobi, when Akina decided to interrupt him. "Hey Naruto..."
"Akina-chan, what's up?" Naruto asked.
"Where am I going to live? I'm a little worried, I don't know my way around yet and all…" Akina trailed off.
"What do you mean? You're going to stay with me of course," Naruto replied confusedly.
"Is that alright?" Akina asked.
"Of course it's alright! I mean you're my sister after all. I'd have it no other way," Naruto told her happily. "After we're done eating we'll go back to our place so I can show you around and figure out where you're going to sleep,"
"Alright, I guess," Akina agreed as their food arrived.
Naruto quickly devoured four large bowls of ramen, Akina settled for one. The two paid their bill and immediately headed to Naruto's apartment. When they arrived and entered the building Hanabi who quickly ran up to Naruto and hugged him greeted them.
"Welcome home Naruto-nii-san!" Hanabi said.
"Hey Hanabi-chan, is Hinata-chan here?" Naruto asked.
"No, Hinata-nee-chan is with Tsunade-nee-chan," Hanabi replied. "Naruto-nii-san, who is this girl; you didn't dump my sister did you?" Hanabi looked at him worriedly and started to pout.
"What… No way!" Naruto shouted. "Hanabi-chan, I'd never dump Hinata-chan for anyone, and this happens to be my sister, Uzumaki Akina," Naruto said in a near panic.
Hanabi grinned at Naruto's worry. "Oh, well then… It's very nice to meet you Akina-nee-chan," she said with a bow. "If you'll excuse me, I must head to the academy now,"
"Sure, you go ahead. Oh, and make sure to tell Iruka-sensei I said hello!" Naruto called after her as Hanabi ran out the door.
"So, she's Hinata's sister?" Akina asked.
"Yes, when we got into that huge fight with Hinata's father we ended up taking Hanabi with us. We didn't want her staying with that bastard any longer," Naruto said, crossing his arms.
"So you actually opposed the Hyuuga clan?" Akina asked.
"Opposed, hell… I beat Hinata's dad, the leader of the main branch of the Hyuuga Clan. Hinata-chan did the same," Naruto said proudly.
"Naruto, aren't you even going to introduce her to me?" Neji asked from behind the two.
"Oh! Neji, I didn't even know you were here," Naruto replied.
"Of course you wouldn't, because you never shut up to listen," Neji said with a smirk. Akina couldn't help but smile at that remark.
"Shut up, Neji!" Naruto yelled before turning his attention to his sister. "Anyway, this is Hyuuga Neji, he's Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan's cousin. He also lives here with us,"
"Hello, my name is Uzumaki Akina. It's a pleasure to meet you," Akina said extending her hand to him. Neji accepted and shook her hand politely before turning to Naruto.
"I just came home to grab some of my gear. Tenten and I are going to do some training with Lee and Gai-sensei," Neji told him.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you later," Naruto replied.
"Yes, and Akina, it was nice to meet you," Neji said as left for his bedroom and then shortly after left the apartment.
"Naruto, if you already got three people saying here, how am I going to stay here?" Akina asked as the door closed behind Neji.
"Well, it's simple really. After we all got together and moved our stuff here into this apartment, well, we sort of divided the apartment evenly. I was going to get the master bedroom but we ended changing it so Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan could share a bed in the master bedroom, while Neji and I get our own bedrooms. The master bedroom is really big and could easily fit one more bed. So as long as you don't mind sharing, you'll have a room," Naruto told her, his voice seeming a bit hopeful.
"I see, but is it going to be alright with them?" Akina asked.
"No problem! We talked about it last night, actually," Naruto replied.
"I see..." Akina started to say before suddenly being interrupted.
"So there you two are," A voice said coming from the front door. Naruto and Akina turned to see Tsunade standing in the doorway.
"Tsunade-nee-chan, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.
"I need the two of you to come to my office," she replied. I was looking for you earlier, but you'd already left the hospital. Fortunately, I ran across Neji and he told me where to find you. We're going to have a little private meeting, and then we need to meet everyone in the main tower," They obliged, walking with the Hokage back to her office.
"So Akina-chan, how are you feeling?" Tsunade asked the girl.
"I'm fine, I feel completely healed," Akina replied.
"That's good news. I'm still going to place slight restrictions on you for now. It's just for safety precautions. I want you to limit yourself to only light training and exercise for two more days before you attempt anything serious, is that understood?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, I understand," Akina replied.
"Great, now for the next piece of business, you're going to be assigned to a team so that you can start your duties here in Konoha. So first, you'll need one of these," Tsunade said as she opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a box. She tossed it at Akina who caught it easily, and opened the box to reveal a brand new Konoha forehead protector.
"That's great Akina-chan, now you're officially part of Konoha!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I-I don't know what to say. This is more than I could have imagined," Akina said, uncertain of how to feel. She was happy, but it was new and unusual as well…
"Just put it on already," Tsunade said to the girl who quickly tied the head protector around her right arm.
"Thank you very much," Akina said as she bowed low.
"You're very welcome. However! I will not have you bowing to me, so come over here and give me a hug," Tsunade said with a smile. Akina did as she was told and Tsunade smiled. "Now, that's all I really had to say in private. Everything else will be said with everyone present. I have big plans and big things in store for all of you, so let's go," The three of them made their way to the main tower, and Hinata and Sakura who were already waiting quickly greeted Naruto and Akina upon their arrival.
"Naruto-kun, you're here," Hinata said giving her boyfriend a hug. "Akina-san, I'm glad you could make it and that you're feeling better," Hinata told the girl.
"Thank you very much! But please, just call me Akina," she said to the Hyuuga girl.
"Hey clumsy idiot, what's going on?" Sasuke said as he arrived, smacking Naruto on the back of the head.
"Shut up bastard!" Naruto yelled.
"Sasuke-kun, that was uncalled for," Sakura said, poking him.
"Come on Sakura, I was just kidding," Sasuke replied.
"Naruto-kun, my eternal rival, it's good to see you!" Lee called out from behind, causing the blonde to turn around.
"Fuzzy brows!" Naruto yelped. Several minutes passed and all the genin and their teachers arrived, Kakashi being the usual exception. Tsunade, seeing that everyone had arrived, decided to call everyone's attention.
"Thank you all for coming! I've got some major announcements to make!" Tsunade yelled loud enough to break through the background conversations. The room quieted as everyone's attention immediately transferred to the Hokage.
"My first announcement concerns the results of the Chuunin Exam," Tsunade said. "The council reviewed all the matches and contestants, and after a long debate, we as a whole came to a decision. Temari, Uzumaki Naruto, Rock Lee, Gaara, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Tenten, and Hyuuga Hinata, will you all please step forward?" Tsunade asked as all the mentioned people took a step forward. "All of you represented Konoha in the main matches of the Chuunin Exam. You all fought hard and did your best, making Konoha very proud, and for that I thank you. On behalf of Konoha, I hereby promote all of you to the rank of Chuunin. Congratulations everyone!" Tsunade smiled as a loud cheer erupted from the group. Naruto ran up to the older woman and hugged her tightly, before running back over to the group and hugging everyone within arms reach. Naruto quickly received several large lumps on his head from Sasuke, Shikamaru and Chouji when their girlfriends were on the receiving end of his hugs. The girls weren't entirely pleased either, and explained their feelings quite violently to the loud blond.
After several minutes everyone calmed down and the newly promoted chuunins received their vests. "These vests are proof that you are all now recognized as Konoha Chuunin," Tsunade told the assembled shinobi. "Now that the promotions are out of the way, I have some reconfiguring of the teams to do. I thought about it long and hard, and I think I've formed a couple groups that will work well together. Kankurou, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino, you three are now team one. Your new Jounin instructor will be Mitarashi Anko," Tsunade concluded, getting a cringe from the genin as their new instructor walked up to her group.
"Alright, I'm here to whip you guys into shape and get you ready for the next Chuunin Exam! I hope you're all ready for some intense torture. Oh… sorry, did I say torture? I meant training, of course!" Anko said with a wicked grin that made the three start sweating bullets.
"Alright, now the next team will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Akina..." Several others at once, all shocked to hear Akina's name suddenly interrupted Tsunade.
"What! Uzumaki! What the hell are you talking about? Naruto is the only Uzumaki in this village!" Kiba yelled in total shock.
Sakura, in the meantime, had turned to her former teammate. "Naruto, what's going on, why does that girl have your last name?" Sakura asked rather loudly.
"Everyone, shut up!" Tsunade yelled, finally getting everyone's attention. "It's true that Uzumaki Naruto was the only Uzumaki in the village for years, but that has changed. Most of you don't know the whole story, some of it I don't even know for certain. However, these two are in fact twins; they were separated on the night they were born by their mother and father. Their mother took Akina and fled the village in order to protect her, while their father took Naruto because he had an important destiny to fulfill.
The Fourth Hokage, he is Naruto and Akina's father, and was the one who sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi. He couldn't destroy the Kyuubi entirely, and had no choice but to seal the fox inside of Naruto, his own son," Tsunade watched the group, who was now totally speechless and mostly gaping. "I have welcomed Akina-chan to Konoha and have made her a genin, and I am placing her in this team with my expectation that you all will treat her well," The group stood in silence for a few minutes, taking in all they had just heard.
"So, the Yondaime Hokage, is Naruto's dad?" Kiba asked.
"Well they do look a lot alike. I kind of thought he could be related to the Yondaime, but at the time I thought that Naruto was an idiot and couldn't possibly be the son of a Hokage. Even though they looked alike, I didn't think anything of it," Shikamaru stated.
"This is definitely a lot to take in," Sakura said. "I mean, we were teammates from the start and none of us even suspected the Fourth could have been Naruto's father. Much less that he could also have had a sister,"
"Naruto himself didn't know he had a sister. You have got to remember that Naruto was an orphan and grew up by himself. How would he have known that he had a sister, or even who his parents were?" Neji asked matter-of-factually. The group continued to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes before Akina decided to speak up.
"Everyone…" she began, pausing as conversations halted. "I just want to say thank you again for letting me stay in Konoha. I will do my best to show my gratitude from this day forward and becoming the best ninja I can be, so please, I hope you will all accept me," Akina said standing before the group and then giving everyone a bow. She blushed slightly as the others applauded, and Naruto could clearly be heard shouting. "Go, Akina-chan!"
Tsunade took the moment to bring the group's attention back to her. "I'm sure that Naruto and Akina can answer any questions later on, after this meeting. Now, as I was saying, the new team seven is you three, and of course your sensei is... currently late!" She growled looking very annoyed as she scanned the group again.
"I figured as much," Sasuke sighed.
"Damn, why'd he have to be our sensei again?" Sakura moaned.
"What's wrong? Where is our sensei?" Akina asked, looking confused.
"Don't worry; this is just a very bad habit of his," Sasuke replied.
"Just remember that if he tells you to meet at a certain time; always show up two hours later," Sakura told the girl making her even more confused.
"Yo!" Kakashi said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "Sorry I'm late, but I was busy fighting off a group of wild pigeons. They were very difficult and almost pecked my eye out," the Jounin explained to the group.
"Liar!" Sakura and Naruto yelled.
"Same old Kakashi," Sasuke said with an exasperated look.
"This is my sensei?" Akina asked, sounding rather disappointed.
"Alright, now that all of that is taken care of, those of you with things to do may go. I do have one last announcement; I have a mission I need to hand out. It's a mandatory mission for you, Naruto," Tsunade said as she pointed to the blond.
"What, me? I got a mission already?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, it's an A-ranked mission," Tsunade told the boy.
"All right, that's so cool! Whose butt am I going to be kicking? Or is it a rescue mission? Come on, what am I doing?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"None of the above, kid! It's a training mission," Jiraiya interrupted.
"A training mission?" Naruto yelled at him.
"Yes, you and I are going to be training intensively, I'm going to have to prepare you to fight the Akatsuki," Jiraiya told the boy.
"The Akatsuki will not sit quietly for much longer, I'm sure. Now is the time to get you prepared, Naruto," Tsunade explained softly.
"Oh yes… by the way, Naruto, we're going to be gone for three years," Jiraiya mentioned, almost as an afterthought.
"What!" Naruto yelled in shock. The news of his newest mission and the length of time he'd be gone from the village was overwhelming, and he was caught speechless.
