Hey guys, quite a nice chapter for you today I think, but don't get used to it! If I could somehow add a clip of evil laughter here I would because it's gonna get bumpy soon!
The first time Naruto went out wearing her new coat was two days after her Jounin promotion.
Although Team Seven weren't officially a team anymore-since Sasuke was a Genin and Naruto and Sakura were Jounin and Chunin respectively they did decide to still train together.
Karin had been invited but she'd had a meeting with Tsunade to discus her plans for her future in Konoha-Naruto wasn't entirely sure what her cousin would choose. She knew she'd certainly stay in a village but there was no way to know if Karin would decide to become a shinobi of Konoha, it wasn't something Naruto discussed with her, after all she didn't want Karin to feel pressured to join the ranks so to speak.
Ironically Kakashi wasn't going to be there either-he was going to discus the plans for the future of team Seven-or team Kakashi as they'd be called, Naruto and Sakura would likely go on a lot of missions with them, but they wouldn't be attached at the hip anymore as they had been, and Kakashi was going to need two new Genin for Sasuke to take the next Chunin exams with.
In any case the trio were on there own as they made their way towards the training ground that they all secretly thought of as theirs.
They received several shocked looks as they made their way through the streets of the village from the adults, a fact which greatly amused the young blonde girl, after all they were Shinobi, she honestly didn't understand how none of them had recognised her to begin with.
The first people to actually stop them were Asuma and Kurenai, their teams minus Shikamaru trailing behind them.
It was Kurenai who spotted them first, and she grabbed Asuma's arm tightly, her eyes going wide as she nodded towards Naruto, who resisted the urge to roll her eyes, they weren't being subtle, especially when Asuma started coughing after inhaling too harshly on his cigarette.
"See something interesting?" Naruto called out the words lightly, an amused look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"You-that coat."
"It belonged to my dad." Naruto gave a cheeky grin and a whirl to show off the back-which had the added plus of the bottom of the coat whirling out dramatically-a fact which she loved. "Like it?"
"What's so special about a stupid coat?" Ino piped up, "It's just a coat right?"
"Yeah." that was Kiba, "There's nothing special about a coat-"
"Rude, this used to be my dads." Naruto grinned as Asuma coughed even more."
"My father said he knew your parents." that was Hinata, her voice ever so quiet as she pressed her fingers together.
"I should think her parentage was obvious." that Shino, and Naruto grinned.
"Oh? You think so."
"Yes, why? Because that coat is clearly an adjusted version of the Yondaime's cloak. She has said it belonged to her father and during the final exams Nohara-san managed to get through the barrier that surrounded Orochimaru when members of Anbu were unable to. How? I would suggest she used the Jutsu her father was famed for."
"Y-your father was the Yondaime?" Ino gasped out, "Seriously?"
"Yep." that was Sakura, "And I've known since before she even came to Konoha."
"She knew before I knew." that was Sasuke.
"Is it true you made Jounin and they made Billboard brow a Chunin?"
"Yep." Sakura looked smug as she gestured to her flak jacket, "Duh."
"Of course." Naruto grinned.
"And they left you out Sasuke-kun?" Ino's expression was suddenly torn between sympathetic and hopeful.
"I'll pass next time." Sasuke shrugged calmly, "No big deal."
"Maybe you could join our team-"
"Please don't." Choji spoke up, pausing his eating for a second, "No offense but Ino'll be insufferable."
"Hey!" Ino hit his arm hard, "Shut it!"
"Ino." Asuma managed to stop coughing for long enough to bark out his students name, giving her warning look.
"But-"
"No." Asuma managed to turn his gaze to Naruto, and Kurenai suddenly laughed.
"We should have known Rin-chan wasn't your biological mom. She was always the responsible member of team Minato. I did think it out of character for her to have a kid so young."
"Yep." Naruto grinned, "She said that to me on more than one occasion."
"What I wanna know is how the hell did Rin come to take you in?" Asuma asked after a moment, "Weren't..." he paused before his eyes widened even more. "Holy-"
"Yeah I think I know what you're thinking." Naruto grinned slyly, "Don't worry I've got all that totally under control." she patted her belly lightly.
"Right." Asuma nodded slowly, his face slightly pale, "That does explain a lot."
"Of course it does." Naruto tucked her hair behind her ear. "Now I hope you don't mind but we were totally gonna go and train."
"Right." Asuma nodded, "Of course." he paused, "Congratulations on your promotions Naruto-san, Sakura-san."
"If you're upset you ca-" Ino moved towards Sasuke, who tried to slyly slide behind Sakura, who snickered slightly.
"Ino-chan we have to go." Sakura flipped her hair over her ear, "Come back to us when you're Chunin okay?" she waggled her fingers and grabbed
Sasuke's arm, taking off quickly, and Naruto laughed as she watched Sakura tow Sasuke away while Ino's face turned a bright shade of red, and Naruto took that as her cue to leave.
"Buh bye!" She waved and took off after her teammates, her laughter echoing behind her.
She caught up with Sasuke and Sakura at the training ground, where Sasuke and Sakura were already working, racing their ways up some of the trees. Naruto grinned when she saw them.
"Hey you two, it was mean to leave me behind like that!"
"Yeah yeah loser." Sasuke called back, "Can you blame me?"
"Okay no, I get wanting to get away from Ino-san." She paused before grinning "Jump down and we could rac-"
"No!" Sakura and Sasuke yelled the word in unison, giving the young blonde dirty looks.
"You cheat." Sasuke declared, "You use your dads Kunai-"
"My kunai thank you very much." Naruto poked her tongue out as Sakura snorted.
"Either way you use them and that's totally cheating."
"Ugh, you two are so boring." Naruto was smiling despite her words as she rocked back on her heels, "Never mind I guess. So what training should we do?"
"Hm..." Sakura tapped her cheek thoughtfully, "Okay, so ground rules, you can't use Hirashin, Rasengan or Kurama's chakra."
"Ooh, is this gonna be a two vs one fight again?" Naruto asked eagerly, "You've both gotten stronger than you used to be so this should be super
fun."
"Sounds good." Sasuke nodded, "I won't use my Mangekyou or the Chidori."
"Hah, you can't use your Mangekyou you don't know how to yet." Naruto pointed out teasingly, "But sure, sure you'll hold back and not use it."
"I hate you."
"I'm going full out." Sakura's voice was unashamed when she spoke up "I don't get any epic power ups like you guys."
"We're just better than you." Naruto said with a playful grin.
She only just dodged in time to avoid Sakura's fist, and her eyes widened in shock when the fist almost exploded the tree behind her.
"Say that again?" Sakura's voice was sickly sweet and her grin was downright evil.
Naruto exchanged shocked looks with Sasuke, who gave a small shrug, his eyes just as wide as Naruto's.
"When the hell did you learn to do that? It was awesome." Naruto said loudly, a huge grin on her lips, "Like, so freaking badass."
"Tsunade-sama's been teaching me how to enhance my strength with Chakra. I've been training a lot, she says I'm a natural."
"I am so glad I'm on your team." Sasuke declared, "Please never punch me."
"Then don't piss me off Sasuke-kun."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "So I have to avoid little miss fists of fury. This should be fun."
Then she was taking off as her teammates chased her back and forth.
It was much harder than it had been last time they'd fought, Naruto had to take her two teammates much more seriously-both of them were Chunin level at this point and Naruto had no doubt that they'd climb much higher very fast when given the chance.
She spent much of the time ducking and dodging their blows-Sakura and Sasuke were both fast and strong but so was she, her best plan would be to just outlast them for now, it would give all three of them a fair struggle-especially when Sasuke started using his fire Jutsu.
"Struggling brat?" Kurama sounded very amused and Naruto resisted the urge to snort as she climbed up into a tree and took off leaping from tree to tree, branch to branch.
"Go back to sleep you pest."
"How rude Naru-chan, after all I've done for you."
"Don't mock me."
"Careful, that Sakura could cause some serious damage."
"Do you have nothing actually useful to add?"
Naruto's thoughts were almost a whine. "Don't get me wrong Kurama I love you but you are not being
helpful."
"Of course I'm not I'm having far too much fun."
Naruto's foot missed the branch she was aiming for, she was so close she could almost feel it, but then she was dropping and she reached out, managing to grab the branch just in time. She shook her head, shifting her body and swinging herself up and onto the branch-but the moment of distraction had cost her dearly and a moment later the whole tree shook with the force of Sakura's kick and she pushed herself up, pushing her Chakra into her arms and legs as she launched herself towards the next tree.
Then a fireball was in her path and she was cursing very loudly and twisting her body, hands moving and then she was blowing out a gust of wind and using the air to push herself back and away from the fireball, flipping as she did and landing in the tree again in time for another blow that made it sway dangerously.
Naruto leapt again, this time in the opposite direction, only to find Sakura leaping up towards her, pivoting, foot flying out towards the blonde and catching her in the stomach, sending Naruto crashing back into the tree.
She grunting as she hit it before she was pushing herself off and forward, ignoring the slight ache from where Sakura's foot had met her stomach.
Well if her teammates were gonna be like that she might as well have some fun too.
She bit her thumb, swiping it over the seal that held her premade seals that were designed for pranks, pulling a couple of them out and taking off again, slapping them on the branches of trees.
When Sasuke first set one off the outraged scream told her, and she smiled to herself, cackling evilly, next was Sakura's shriek, and Naruto made her way back to the main clearing of the training ground, perching on one of the stumps jutting out from the ground.
It was perhaps another fifteen minutes before her teammates made their way back to the clearing, and Naruto burst out laughing at the sight of them.
Sasuke was coated in a layer of orange paint and glitter, and Sakura had a mixture of glue and feathers dumped on her head.
They both gave Naruto an evil look and Sakura was the first to speak, "New rule. You're not allowed to use Fuinjutsu during our training matches."
"Hah." Naruto grinned, "It was within our old rules so I won."
"I no longer love you." Sasuke deadpanned, giving Naruto a withering look, "You're disowned from the position of little sister."
"But Sasuke-kun, little siblings always terrorize big siblings isn't that like, a part of it?"
"Have I ever mentioned I hate you?"
"Eh, you love me really." Naruto waved a hand dismissively. "So, you guys wanna go home and clean up."
"I swear if you don't Hirashin us there I will stab you." Sakura's expression was deadly serious and Naruto grinned, "Fine." she reached out, grabbing a handful of Sasuke's shirt-the only part of him that wasn't covered in glitter and Sakura reached out to grab Sasuke's arm, and then they were in the Uzumaki estates and Sasuke and Sakura sprinted off to the bathrooms-there were about four showers in the house, a fact that Naruto was insanely grateful for since it meant there was never any bickering over getting to shower.
Naruto herself didn't need to shower, so instead she headed down to the kitchen to make herself some instant ramen.
