Kakashi looked down at the mission report, then up at his team. Team Naruto blinked at him. The Godaime looked at the mission report again, then back up at his team. Team Naruto looked a little nervous.
"You guys just can't have a normal mission, can you?" Kakashi asked suddenly, the team at least seemed bashful of this fact, "Honestly, I'm impressed." the man confessed, putting the empty pipe down, "Your A rank mission turned S rank and you still succeeded." he praised, "You chunin took down jonin level opponents." he finished.
Sasuke did his best not to look too proud in case it was a trick, Sakura was failing not to preen under the praise and looking a bit embarrassed, and Haku was standing closer to Naruto than when they left. Kakashi thought that last part was as worrying as it was cute.
Naruto grinned widely, "I told you Team Naruto was on it!" he exclaimed boisterously. The blonde seemed incredibly pleased with himself.
Kakashi nodded, "You did say that," he acquiesced, "now, Koyuki-hime has initiated an interesting trade deal with the land of fire and the four of you are starring in a new movie." the man said, "Koyuki-hime also included this in the payment," he added as he pulled out what looked like a postcard, "I think I can guess who this is for." he finished as he handed it to Naruto.
It was a photo of Naruto in hospital, unconscious, with Koyuki kissing his cheek and dressed up as Fuun-hime, the woman had even written the words, 'You will become Hokage by not giving up'. Sakura looked at the photo with interest, glancing at Haku who was remaining surprisingly neutral.
"Damn, I guess you have competition for the blonde." Sasuke told Haku, seeing the opportunity to tease and going for it, the older boy turned an icy glare on him.
"No way!" Naruto said with a laugh, "Haku is way prettier than any girl." he said with a shameless and wide grin. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that as Haku blushed.
"Oh?" Kakashi asked, "Did those two finally-?" he began to ask.
"Yes." Sasuke and Sakura interrupted him in unison, Kakashi smiled, deciding to let that minor insubordination stand without issue.
"Did everyone know?" Naruto asked, eyebrow twitching slightly since he'd wanted to surprise his sensei more than that with the news.
Kakashi nodded, "You're very dense." he said, "Anyway, Jiraiya is out of the village, also yes he knew as well, and I'm giving you guys some time off." the man explained as he waved them off, "Go do kid stuff, romance or springtime of youth or whatever."
"What would you like to do, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked after they left the office and Sakura listened, the pink haired chunin had tried asking Sasuke on a date and he blew her off to go train again.
Naruto thought about it for a moment, "I miss Ichiraku." he decided finally with a nod, Haku simply smiled and nodded, following the blonde towards the ramen stand.
Sakura frowned, she'd been hoping to get an idea of what to do to entice Sasuke on a date. The pink haired girl couldn't figure out why nothing worked. Naruto and Haku practically fell into each others lap by chance during a C rank mission that turned A rank.
The girl wanted to hold out hope Sasuke was just being shy, but it was becoming clear that he just wasn't interested. She'd hoped her growing stronger might interest him but was now worried he might prefer a stay at home wife, Sakura even realized she'd gotten the battle couple idea from Naruto and Haku.
Haku and Naruto enjoyed their ramen together, "First thing back and on another date?" Ayame decided to tease, she always liked the reactions the two boys gave.
Naruto surprised her by grinning, "Yep!" he agreed happily. Teuchi turned around to stare, startled that neither boy was sputtering or flustered, or even blushing. Haku just smiled serenely.
"Wait really!?" Ayame asked once his answer clicked in her head, Naruto nodded as he went back to his bowl of ramen.
"It was an eventful mission." Haku supplied, wondering if he should elaborate further or let the teasing ramen chef suffer in ignorance.
"I heard you were back in the village, figured I'd find you here."
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto greeted the scarred chunin with a grin.
Iruka smiled back, "I didn't even get to congratulate you on reaching the same rank as me, took me a lot longer to reach that rank too." he praised, although the last part sounded annoyed.
"I just finished an S rank mission and rescued a princess, I'll outrank you in no time!" Naruto declared, finishing his ramen as Iruka laughed, the man assuming the young chunin was pulling his leg.
"It started as an A rank mission." Haku supplied helpfully and Iruka's laughing turned to coughing, having remembered mention of 'Team Naruto' going on an A rank mission.
"Wait, actually an S rank mission?" Iruka asked, concern as clear on his face as his scar, Haku nodded, "Wow, you guys can't have a normal mission. It's a wonder we didn't get assaulted every time you kids took D ranks." the man mused idly.
Naruto shrugged, "Our team would just kick any invaders asses anyway." he decided, crossing his arms and nodding as if that settled that issue.
"So, a princess huh?" Iruka asked, "I hope you aren't making Haku jealous." he tried to tease, Ayame smiled and decided to let Naruto do whatever he intended on doing.
"Jealous of what?" Naruto asked innocently, Iruka noticed it was too innocent even for the blonde and narrowed his eyes.
"I think he believes I would be jealous of the princess somehow." Haku supplied with a smirk at the older chunin, enjoying the surprise on the man's face and enjoying Naruto wrapping an arm around his waist even more.
"That's a weird thing to believe," Naruto mused with a cheeky grin at the academy instructor, "since Haku-hime is the prettiest princess I know." he finished, deciding to tease the boy he'd wrapped his arm around as well.
Iruka's jaw dropped and Haku's face turned bright red, "Cute!" Ayame squealed happily.
Iruka took a bit to recover, "Damn, I was hoping to get a few more years of teasing you with that." he grumbled, watching Haku carefully despite his apparent calm. The man noticed Haku hadn't fully recovered from embarrassment yet, the way he hesitated briefly to return Naruto's touch, and that despite his hesitation there was no shying away from the blonde's touch.
"Too bad!" Naruto laughed, sticking his tongue out at Iruka, the man just chuckled, satisfied that his former student wasn't being tricked or coerced in some way.
"Alright, well what are your plans for after this little date?" Iruka asked in an attempt to make small talk.
Naruto wanted to say training, but it was late and he missed his bed, "I guess I'll just take Haku-chan to bed." he said innocently, Haku turned bright red.
"You have no idea how that sounds to everyone else, do you?" Iruka finally asked with a stunned expression.
"How what sounds?" Naruto asked, answering the question.
"Usually couples do pervert things in bed." Ayame supplied helpfully, her phrasing apparently being enough to explain it to the blonde who was now blushing to match Haku. Iruka was glad there was still a way to tease them, even if subtlety would be useless against the blonde.
Karin was tossing shuriken at Naruto's dummy target, that looked oddly like the new Hokage, when the blonde returned with Haku, "Hey, welcome back guys!" she greeted cheerfully before her eyes caught that their hands were not merely touching, the fingers were mixed with each other, "Aw, Naruto-nii is finally okay with himself." she said with a giggle.
"What?" Naruto asked, wondering what the red haired Uzumaki was talking about but his response surprised Haku, who had guessed that the girl was trying to tease them.
"You're finally okay with being gay." Karin said with a shrug and a smirk, not sure why Naruto hadn't picked up her statement immediately.
"I'm not gay," Naruto began, surprising both Karin and Haku, the older boy looking a little concerned now, "I just like Haku-chan." the blonde finished and the older boy relaxed but the girl frowned in concern.
"So you like girls," Karin began and Naruto nodded, "and Haku-kun?" she finished and the blonde nodded again, "...Naruto-nii, I know he's pretty but he's still a guy." the girl tried to reason.
"I don't mind, Haku-chan makes a great girlfriend!" Naruto praised with a grin, stunning his cousin-turned-sister, Haku wasn't sure how to react to this as they hadn't really discussed the finer details during the trip, Sasuke hadn't asked and he hadn't let Sakura ask either. The most they'd done so far is cuddle anyway.
Karin wasn't sure what to say either and let them go to bed, packing up her shuriken and going to bed not long after.
Sakura noticed Haku grocery shopping and had an idea, she'd been considering who to ask for romantic advise. Ino was right out, they were still rivals, the only other girls her age that had boyfriends were civilians, and she didn't feel comfortable asking an older kunoichi.
"Hey, Haku-san," Sakura called out, figuring that since Naruto and Sasuke almost seemed like friends now maybe the older boy would have some advice, "got a minute?" she asked when the boy looked up from his produce shopping.
"How can I help, Sakura-san?" Haku asked politely as she approached, Sakura noticed he was always fairly polite.
Sakura thought of how to word her question, "Do you know how I can get Sasuke-kun to fall for me?" she asked quietly, embarrassed to be asking an older boy for romance advice even if he was really girly and into guys himself.
"I have no idea what Sasuke-san likes." Haku confessed with a shrug, assuming he wouldn't be much help at all.
"Aw come on," Sakura whined desperately, "you have to know something! You got Naruto." she pointed out, then they were both startled by a different blonde than the one they were discussing darting out of a hiding place.
"What?" Ino asked, giving up her hiding spot for spying on her rival to learn this new and interesting piece of information, "Naruto is gay?" she asked and Sakura nodded but the older boy frowned.
"Um, well, not exactly." Haku said, confusing the two girls, Ino and Sakura looked at each other and for a moment their rivalry was set aside to figure out what the older shinobi was talking about.
"Haku-san, he told us he was gay for you." Sakura pointed out.
"And you're a guy, right?" Ino added although it was a question.
"I am a boy." Haku confirmed with a nod, "However it seems Naruto-kun still likes girls, he even referred to me as his girlfriend, so I'm kind of worried he might only be interested because I look like this." the girly boy confessed, embarrassed to be admitting his concerns to the two.
Ino shrugged, "Well there's no helping that, physical attraction is important." the Yamanaka said with a nod, "If you're worried about him losing interest you should get make up."
Sakura rolled her eyes, "That's shallow," she accused the other girl without hesitation, "I'm sure Naruto just swings both ways, and prefers feminine beauty obviously, but he probably has a strong emotional bond with Haku-san from what I've seen." the pink haired girl guessed, sounding mature for her age.
"No way, nerd," Ino shot back, "Haku should double down on being the prettiest 'girl' he can be for Naruto." the genin argued against the chunin.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Oh like you'd know, Naruto has probably kissed Haku a bunch by now, right?" the pink haired girl asked.
Haku frowned at that, "Um, well, not as such-" he began nervously.
"What!?" Sakura interrupted, "But you two were all over each other!" she accused, much to Haku's embarrassment.
"We sort of just cuddled." Haku confessed in a quiet voice, cheeks pink and eyes downcast.
"I told you!" Ino declared triumphantly.
Haku thought about their advice and took a deep breath, "I think I know what to do, thank you both." he said suddenly, startling the two of them as he walked away.
"Both?" The girls asked in unison, confused since they were giving conflicting advice, but the boy was already gone.
Ino recovered, "So, romantic trip to Yuki no Kuni and Sasuke-kun still hasn't noticed you?" she asked, having wanted to make fun of the other girl for that the entire time.
Sakura pouted, "Silence, pig." she grumbled as she stormed away from her friend-turned-rival, the blonde girl laughing as she went.
Karin looked up to see Haku come back from his shopping trip, the boy looked determined. They didn't exchange words but she noticed him look at her, then towards the sound of the running shower, and then he had darted to his room, which was also Naruto's room. The red head sensed the boy performing a very low level jutsu and frowned, wondering what the hell was going on.
The shower turned off and soon Naruto walked out of the bathroom whistling, the whistling stopped when he reached his room and she strained her ears to hear.
Naruto stood in his room in just a towel, stunned. On his bed was Haku, at least it looked like Haku. Naruto was pretty sure Haku didn't have a sister, an identical twin sister. Naruto was pretty sure Haku didn't have boobs.
Haku had used Oiroke no Jutsu, it was just a variant of the henge after all, and was spinning a kunai on one finger while lying in their bed.
"Haku-chan," Naruto began with a blush, "what are you doing?" he asked, clearly confused.
Haku knew the blonde could be dense but was still embarrassed to say it out loud, "I'm in bed," he began finally, "what do couples do in bed, Naruto-kun?" he asked and the blonde went from a light pink blush to bright red.
Naruto still seemed confused but opened his left eye, surprising the older boy as the dojutsu glanced over his form, "Haku-chan, you aren't even actually naked under that jutsu," the blonde pointed out.
Haku pouted, "I'm also a boy under this jutsu." he shot back, seeming oddly contrite about something he normally was happy to correct people on.
Naruto just nodded, "Well yeah," he agreed, "but if we're going to be doing something like that," he began with a deeper blush, "then it should be with you and not a jutsu, right? At least for the first time?" he asked, clearly unsure.
Haku stared at Naruto for a moment in surprise before dropping the jutsu, revealing the boy beneath in his pink yukata and tears in his eyes, "Eh? Haku-chan what's wrong?" Naruto asked in concern as he approached the bed.
The older boy wrapped his arms around the shoulders of the blonde chunin, "Absolutely nothing, Naruto-kun." he said happily as he rested his head in the crook of the younger ninja's neck.
Naruto was glad Haku was okay, but also he was naked except for his towel and the pretty boy's words were still in the blonde's head, "So, are we going to do perverted things now?" he asked nervously, still red in the face, and unsure what to do with his hands so he just rested them on the other boys hips.
Haku reluctantly pulled back from the hug, "Whatever you want to do, Naruto-kun." he promised with a blonde moved in to press their lips together and the dark haired ninja melted into the kiss, pulling Naruto into bed on top of him.
Karin was shocked, but she believed her ears and fled the apartment to find something else to do with her face as red as her hair. The girl may like teasing but she didn't actually want to overhear something like what it sounded like they were about to do.
Meanwhile Naruto enjoyed the taste of Haku's lips as the older boy enjoyed how forceful the young chunin could be.
"Jiraiya." Kakashi greeted the Sennin with a nod, the Hokage still kept his face mask around, but had substituted his forehead protector for an eye patch. It looked like he'd had the eye patch sewn to his mask.
"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-chan, Yamanaka-san." Jiraiya returned the greeting, wondering why the other two were there.
"Inoichi-san has some information you may want to hear," Kakashi began, "and Tsunade is here to confirm the truth of his medical statements," he continued, "also to make sure you don't overreact."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as his unasked question was answered, wondering what had happened to warrant this.
Inoichi cleared his throat, "Well, how to put this," he began, "first of all I have no idea how to separate Naruto Uzumaki and his vassal Haku without causing undue duress to them." he decided after a moment, Jiraiya's other eyebrow went to meet his hairline, "I read over the mission report Hokage-sama gave me regarding their last mission and did some investigation. Haku-san clearly has severe separation anxiety, no doubt about that." the Yamanaka explained.
"Naruto adores the older boy," Tsunade spoke up, "they've been seen holding hands and Naruto has initiated public displays of affection." the woman explained, "They're definitely codependent at this point. Normally this would be a major weakness, but according to mission reports Naruto is violently protective of the older boy and seems capable of drawing on the demon's chakra at will without losing himself to it. He's nowhere near full fledged Jinchuriki, but as soon as the threat to Haku is gone the kid is somehow able to clamp down on the kitsune's influence."
Jiraiya realized what Tsunade was saying, "You think the Hyoton might be like the Mokuton?" he asked, taking a seat.
Kakashi shrugged, "We don't know that for sure," he confessed, "Haku hasn't tried to use ice to calm a raging biju after all, but his presence is definitely calming to the blonde."
Jiraiya frowned as he thought about it, "So if I take Naruto on a training trip, Haku goes too?" he guessed.
"Too dangerous." Kakashi answered with a shrug, "I've decided you'll just have to train him in the village until it's time for him to learn Senjutsu, hopefully by then he and Haku should have matured enough to deal with you taking one of them to a strange mountain for secluded training that the other isn't allowed to be privy to." the Hokage explained, causing the Sennin to frown.
"Also, they want to learn fuinjutsu." Inoichi spoke up.
"Both of them?" Jiraiya asked in surprise.
"Haku apparently asked Iruka how to make a kuchiyose contract between people." Tsunade explained.
Jiraiya sighed, having hoped they'd forget about that by now, "Alright, I guess I'll teach them some fuinjutsu, I was hesitant because of the kitsune to be honest." he said, sounding defeated on that front, "Can you spare the Mokuton for his training?"
Tsunade frowned, "Why do you want to train him to use that?" she asked, concerned about the young blonde immediately.
"Look, I've been researching the other Jinchuriki, from what I can gather the biju seem to have something besides chakra to offer." Jiraiya explained, "It's not well documented, but that Gaara kid had sand rushing to his defense, right? Even besides that, some Jinchuriki are apparently able to synchronize with their Biju."
Tsunade kept frowning, "I knew Mito, hell I've known all the Kyubi Jinchuriki at this point, none of them displayed anything like that." she pointed out.
Inoichi looked thoughtful, "With a swing of it's tail," he muttered, "the Kyubi no Kitsune is said to able to create a tsunami or level a mountain. It could just be raw power, the kitsune is said to be the most powerful right?" the Yamanaka suggested.
Kakashi shrugged, "Jiraiya, if you're sure about teaching Naruto to utilize the demon," he began and at Jiraiya's nod he continued, "then Tenzo-san will assist." he finished and an Anbu appeared as if waiting for the signal.
"Also, you should watch that new Fuun-hime movie." Tsunade added with a wry grin, "It'll give you an idea of how close the two are." she explained vaguely.
"What happened?" Jiraiya asked instead.
Inoichi decided to take pity on the man, "Naruto made a Rasengan with rainbow chakra, and Haku's chakra." he explained.
Jiraiya furrowed his brow in confusion, "There's no such thing as rainbow chakra." he said simply, "Two people shouldn't be able to blend their chakra together like that either." he added with more certainty.
Kakashi shrugged, "I thought it was movie magic too, but the Sasuke confirmed it when I asked him, he saw rainbow chakra with his Sharingan and witnessed those two make a combined Rasengan with it. From the look of it, the Rasengan was even stronger than what he's capable of normally." he explained at length, "Also he somehow learned some Hyoton." the man added, deciding not to elaborate on that.
"What!?" Jiraiya exclaimed as the old man jumped out of his seat and Kakashi was glad he hadn't elaborated, that response was hilarious.
"It only works to reshape ice and snow that already exists," The Hokage explained, calming Jiraiya down, "but with Haku able to freeze water with his chakra the two make a dangerous team." he finished as the man sat back down.
"Damn, well if they're in town I'll start training them now, every second counts since I'll need to keep track of my contacts." Jiraiya started, "Any chance I can grab them for some missions outside of town at least? Near as I can tell we have about three years before Akatsuki is ready to start attacking major villages, they only came after Naruto early because of the invasion."
Kakashi nodded, "I was thinking of giving them a mission to Cha no Kuni, but honestly I could probably spare genin for that, actually I might have Sasuke or Sakura try leading a team of their peers since we're still spread a little thin on the jonin front." the man mused, "Do you guys think I should promote Naruto? He did successfully lead an S rank mission." the silver haired Kage asked suddenly.
Jiraiya's jaw dropped, "Wait I thought he went on an A rank mission?" the man sputtered, stunned.
"It turned S rank, it went really poorly." Kakashi began, "Oh, that reminds me," he continued lazily, pulling out an odd and busted device with cables coming off of it, "at my request the Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni sent this to be examined."
Jiraiya looked at the device, "Damn, I knew they were a bit ahead of the curve with their tech, but what the hell does that do?" he asked.
"Now?" Kakashi asked, "Not a thing, it's busted," he answered with a shrug, "but it used to be able to drain chakra, near as we can tell it was intended to be a torture device that would slowly drain the wearer until they died." he explained, "It was put on Naruto," he continued and the white haired Sennin stared at it in shock, "apparently a Jinchuriki was a poor test subject. Thankfully they don't intend to make any more, the man who had this one made was killed by Naruto after all."
Jiraiya wasn't sure how to respond to all that, "It makes sense, demon chakra is corrosive." he mused, "Well it's good to hear you can't replace a Fuinjutsu Master with some fancy tech that easily." the man laughed.
"It'd probably show too much favoritism to promote the kid now," Tsunade spoke up, "he's got the power but he's reckless. A jonin commander who tries to take on every enemy himself is just going to coddle his team." she pointed out, "It's a miracle that pink haired girl can even keep up with Naruto and Sasuke, he needs more experience leading them before he's ready for it." the woman stated and Inoichi nodded in agreement.
Kakashi nodded as well, "Fair point," he verbally agreed, "alright, Tenzo-san please assist Jiraiya-sama with training our resident Jinchuriki, I'm pulling you from Anbu for an indefinite time, your rank of jonin stands and you will be known as Yamato for the duration of this time." the Hokage said and the Anbu pulled off his mask to reveal a man with short brown hair and black eyes.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Yamato agreed readily.
Hiashi Hyuga was an intelligent and shrewd man, as clan head of the Hyuga he had done much politics and planning in his time. Lately, something was not going to plan.
Thanks to Naruto Uzumaki he had managed to break through to Neji and get the boy to stop hating his daughter so much, he'd admit he should have given the boy that letter ages ago but he was only human, shinobi or not he missed his brother too.
But lately his daughter, the eldest, had been even more withdrawn and sadder than usual, and it hadn't taken much to learn why. Naruto was intimate with another boy, normally Hiashi wouldn't concern himself with such a thing but this went completely against what he thought should happen.
Uzumaki were remarkably resilient, and were known for their massive chakra reserves. Hiashi had always wondered at the idea of marrying an Uzumaki into the clan. Hinata's crush on the blonde hadn't been manufactured, but Hiashi had planned on it developing further.
Unfortunately for Hiashi's plan, the young blonde boy was interested in dark haired pretty boys. At first he assumed it was just a case of a cute older girl, but had learned Haku was male easily enough, it wasn't a secret and he had the Byakugan if it was. Not that he'd used the Byakugan on the boys.
Hiashi watched the two on their way back to their home from a training field and decided to offer wisdom and council to the blonde chunin, "Uzumaki-san." he greeted cordially as he approached.
Naruto seemed surprised, "Oh, uh, hey, what's up, Hyuga-san?" he asked, and Hiashi tried not to narrow his eyes as the boy just copied the honorific he used without considering their station.
The Hyuga took a breath to steady himself, "I would like to thank you for knocking some sense into my nephew, Neji Hyuga." the man said, and he knew the boy had been attacking with lethal intent but never brought it up so some had assumed the branch house prodigy had never been in danger.
Naruto seemed to remember his own intent judging by the nervous laugh, "Oh that? No problem, he sort of deserved it for how he was treating Hinata-chan." the blonde chunin waved off the praise.
Hiashi smiled at the honorific chosen for his daughter and the protectiveness Naruto had displayed, "Yes, as you can understand it would look ill of me to reprimand him physically, even for how he treated my daughter." the man began, watching Naruto's eyes widen at the mention of Hinata being his daughter, "So I thank you for doing so in my stead, and would like to assure you that you gave him quite the attitude adjustment. His politeness is no longer tainted by maliciousness or sarcasm."
Haku was staring at the Hyuga with curiosity, wondering why the man had come to personally tell Naruto this, he knew Hiashi was a clan head and could send a message without coming personally. He also noticed the older man glance at him occasionally.
"Uzumaki-san," Hiashi continued, "by way of thanks, I would like to offer you some advice. Think of it as a veteran clan head giving tips to the future head of the Uzumaki clan." he set down the offer with a benevolent smile.
Naruto blinked owlishly at the man, "Okay, lay it on me!" he agreed after a moment with a grin.
Hiashi hadn't expected that, "Perhaps you could join me for tea alone?" he tried, knowing from his information gathering that the blonde and his paramour were almost impossible to separate but having to try anyway.
Haku glared and Naruto frowned, "Oh, no, sorry then." the blonde apologized, not even bothering to offer an excuse.
Hiashi tried to hide his disappointment, "I see, then let me just leave you with these words of wisdom; a clan head may have more than one wife." he imparted and left, knowing it was risky to let that information sit with the blonde under the other boy's influence, but not wanting to push too hard and be rebuked for his efforts.
Haku continued to glare at Hiashi's retreating back as Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Why would I want more than one wife?" he wondered out loud with a confused frown.
Haku sighed, not wanting to answer that question truthfully, "Don't worry about it, Naruto-kun." he tried to assure the blonde, "Let's get some ramen." he added, smiling as the promise of ramen distracted the chunin.
Jiraiya sat down across from Naruto and Haku, gesturing for them to sit as he took out fuinjutsu supplies, placing ink and paper between them, "So, I heard you two are still interested in the honored and boring art of Fuinjutsu." the man began once they were seated, "We'll start with something easy, Kibaku Fuda."
Jiraiya burst into Kakashi's office, "He's a genius!" the Sennin declared with a manic gleam in his eye that greatly concerned the Godaime Hokage.
"Naruto?" Kakashi questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"No the Daimyo of Ramen no Kuni," Jiraiya responded sarcastically, "of course I mean Naruto!" he sounded hysterical, Kakashi was worried something had happened to the man, like a head injury, "Honestly I figured he'd be the slowest at Fuinjutsu because he can't handle kanji and sticks to hiragana, so I assumed the complexities of Fuinjutsu would be a mystery to him but he copied down a Kibaku Fuda on his first try!" the Sennin was ecstatic, "He can read fuin better than he can read kanji!" the man added with hysterical laughter.
Kakashi was surprised, he knew the Uzumaki were supposed to be known for that sort of thing but had assumed it was just a hijutsu or some hiden fuinjutsu lost to time. Now the Hokage wondered if a natural affinity to reading seals was just an Uzumaki thing, like their healing factor.
Jiraiya collected himself, "Anyway I tried showing them how to make a kuchiyose contract, figured it might help them deal with being apart if they could just have the other at their side with a bit of blood and chakra." he started giving Kakashi a proper report, "Naruto finished it and now they can kuchiyose each other, they didn't go very far to test it though but hopefully it helps them deal with their issues." he finished.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door, "Team 8 under command of Sasuke Uchiha reporting." the droll voice of the Uchiha called out.
Kakashi glanced at Jiraiya who shrugged and stood off to the side, "Enter." the Hokage permit, curious as to how the mission had gone, he was surprised to see his student was carrying a vajra in his right hand as the boy lead Team 8 into the office.
"Mission successful," Sasuke began before his team even lined up, "our mark, Idate, was annoying but he lived. Mission rank should be classified as an A rank, we ran into Amegakure genin as opposition and one jonin who defected from our village to join Amegakure, Aoi Rokusho." the Uchiha explained, causing Jiraiya and Kakashi to raise their eyebrows, they knew what that ninja had stolen, "Raijin no Ken has been recovered, permission to continue to use it?" the one eyed chunin finished, gesturing to the vajra in his hand.
Kakashi was tempted to say yes, "First of all," he began instead, "give me some specifics, how did your team fair." he asked, wanting to see how well Sasuke took to leading a mission, "Verbally please." he added as Sasuke pulled out a scroll.
The Uchiha frowned but put the scroll on the desk, "Alright, well they did well, Hinata Hyuga saw through the genjutsu the enemy genin attempted, and defeated her opponent in taijutsu and although she got hit by some glancing blows the kunai and shuriken weren't poisoned." he began, closing his eye to better remember what his Sharingan witnessed, "Shino Aburame singled out and defeated his opponent, but was forced back by Aoi when he attempted to deal with the man." he continued, "Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru were more than a match for their opponent while I dealt with Aoi. Aside from some minor arguments with the mark the mission went off without any problems." he finished as if he hadn't just told them he'd defeated a jonin while the genin fought.
"Thank you, Sasuke." Kakashi said with a nod, "The Raijin no Ken is, however, a relic." he started to explain, "It was owned by Tobirama Senju, the Nidaime Hokage after all. I'm afraid you'll have to speak with Tsunade Senju about being permitted to use it in battle." he decided, if the Uchiha could convince the Senju to let him wield it then Kakashi wouldn't have people accusing him of playing favorites with his team. There were already whispers about that, but it wasn't his fault his team had gotten so strong. The Hokage took a moment to consider that actually was something he was supposed to take credit for but ignored himself.
"Team 8," Kakashi began to stop his own musing, "congratulations on your successful mission and good work." he praised and the genin seemed pleased, "I'm sorry about my former students curse of mission rating affecting causality to drag additional and undue ninja and threats to your mission." he finished, confusing the genin and Jiraiya.
"I'm not cursed." Sasuke grumbled but it didn't sound like he believed his own words. Team 8 weren't sure what to think so they just bowed to Kakashi, accepted their mission pay slips and left. Sasuke turned to go find Tsunade.
Sasuke found Tsunade at the hospital being accosted by a frantic Karin, "-and I've been hearing moaning!" the girl complained, sounding mortified and embarrassed. That was all Sasuke heard and he was confused.
Tsunade seemed concerned, "I'll, um, have a talk with them." she assured, "In the mean time you can buy ear plugs."
Sasuke approached, curious about the discussion but not curious enough to eavesdrop further, "Senju-sama." he greeted politely, trying to keep it formal despite dropping in with a shunshin and ignoring Karin's startled yelp, "I retrieved the Raijin no Ken on my last mission, Hokage-sama informed me that I should ask you if I want to keep using it in the field." he informed, "I would like to keep using it in battle." he finished simply.
Tsunade was surprised and hesitant, Tobirama had never trusted Uchiha but Sasuke had given his eye to Naruto so the blonde would have a chance against Orochimaru from what she'd heard, "I see," she began, torn on whether to let the young shinobi use a sword that was supposed to be a family heirloom of her clan, "I have no use for it in the hospital, so fine. Just don't lose it or let it be broken." she decided after some thought, the Uchiha would probably use it to help Naruto anyway, and she had grown somewhat fond of the blonde Uzumaki.
Sasuke actually smiled, it wasn't his usual smirk, the boy was genuinely pleased to have the sword, "Thanks!" he said, running off before the Sannin could change her mind. Tsunade wanted to be annoyed but she could sense his gratitude and could tell he just wanted to go train with it.
The Senju also noticed that the red headed Uzumaki girl was watching Sasuke leave, "Got a crush on your brother's teammate?" she asked, startling the girl.
"Well, I, uh, that is," Karin sputtered nervously, "his chakra is bright and dazzling." she confessed, much to the older woman's confusion. Karin decided not to mention his chakra reminded her of Naruto's, since that would probably give the wrong impression.
"You're a sensor?" Tsunade asked suddenly, Karin nodded in response, "Damn, a shame we can't have you in the field already." the Sannin mused.
Naruto wasn't sure why Tsunade was leering at him as he and Haku approached the hot springs, "What's up, Obaachan?" he asked cheerfully, figuring it was nothing to worry about.
Tsunade ignored him, "Haku-san," she began, "whatever indecent things you've been doing with Naruto has scarred poor Karin-chan," she exaggerated and both boys blushed, "as a medical professional I feel obligated to know what you two have been up to, the poor girl mentioned moaning." she finished with a raised eyebrow, she didn't actually want to know what they were doing but she wasn't lying, she was concerned about the safety of the young blonde chunin.
Haku seemed appropriately mortified, much to the satisfaction of the Senju woman, "Just what Naruto-kun wanted to do!" he defended himself, eyes wide and holding up his hands in placating surrender.
"So what if we made out!?" Naruto channeled his embarrassment into indignation and the iryonin blinked owlishly.
"If you were just making out, then who was moaning?" Tsunade asked, confused by what she viewed as conflicting stories, suspecting the younger boy of covering for his lover.
Haku just seemed more embarrassed, "That was me," he said quietly, "Naruto-kun is just a very good kisser." he excused and the blonde blushed a brighter shade of red under the praise.
Tsunade cast an appraising eye over the both of them, not detecting a lie and noticing the bruised patch of flesh under Haku's choker. The woman nodded in understanding, "I see," she said after a moment, "well I wanted to say keep it at Naruto's pace, but it seems the kid has a faster pace than you do anyway." she finished.
The two boys sighed in relief as she left, that exchange had been particularly embarrassing.
Sakura was shopping for more weapons when she noticed Anko Mitarashi eating dango. The pink haired girl considered asking older kunoichi for advice, then remembered how she had used a banner to proclaim herself as 'sexy and single' to a room from of younger men and teenagers and the way she had given Naruto some kind of strange sexual awakening.
Sakura thought about her other options and realized she really was desperate as she approached the purple haired woman, "Excuse me, Mitarashi-san?" she tried.
Anko turned to the pink haired girl in surprise before swallowing the food in her mouth, "What do you want, kid?" she asked, remembering the girl from the chunin exams.
Sakura thought of how best to phrase this as the tokubetsu jonin drank her tea, "I was hoping for some advice, kunoichi to kunoichi?" she asked hopefully and the woman choked on her tea.
Anko smacked her fist into her own chest as she coughed, startling the younger kunoichi, "What the hell kind of kunoichi advice do you want from me?" the woman asked once she caught her breath.
"Well, uh, there's this guy," Sakura began but didn't get very far.
"Seduction training? At your age?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow and Sakura blushed since that was not what she wanted at all.
"No!" Sakura blurted, "Not that! I mean, sort of," she acquiesced after she thought about it, "I just want Sasuke-kun to like me." she confessed morosely.
Anko hummed and nodded in understanding, "Romance troubles." she stated with an almost sagely nod, "Well I can't help you, kid." she answered flippantly, "If I remember right, guys your age get freaked out by being chased, girls mature a little faster." she explained.
"So, I should be more passive?" Sakura asked hopefully.
Anko shrugged, "Sure I guess." she answered flippantly, unknowingly helping the young girl far more than she realized.
"Thank you, Anko-sensei!" Sakura cried gratefully before running off, leaving the purple haired woman choking on her tea again. The tokubetsu jonin made a note to avoid drinking whenever that girl talked to her, or around her, in future.
Sasuke had found out what training field Naruto was using lately and went there, he hadn't sparred with the blonde in a while and wanted to see how he was measuring up. Haku being there was expected, Jiraiya of the Sannin was less expected, the two watching the blonde chunin write something on a piece of paper was downright bizarre.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke decided to direct the question at Naruto, who looked up in surprise at him, Jiraiya simply glanced at him and Haku tensed up as the blonde looked away from what he was doing.
"Yo, Sasuke!" Naruto greeted before looking back down, much to Haku's relief, "Ero-Sennin is teaching me Fuinjutsu, it's kind of boring but pretty cool. I'm working on a storage scroll that can be filled with water right now." the blonde chunin explained as he continued what Sasuke could only call scribbling.
Sasuke looked with his Sharingan and was surprised to see the chakra pouring into the ink, "How is that different from a regular storage scroll?" he asked, his interest in sparring with the blonde temporarily overpowered by his curiosity.
"Well waterproofing matrices are standard in most kinds of ninja scrolls or tags," Naruto began, "but water still takes up a lot of volume and it needs to have just the right amount of pressure to pour out when activated without hurting the person using it, so as well as just being an extradimensional storage space it also needs force multipliers baked in beneath the storage swirls." he explained.
Sasuke was lost, Haku looked confused too, "Damn it, they aren't swirls they're called dimensional volume enhancers!" Jiraiya corrected the blonde, Naruto just shrugged as if it was the same thing. Sasuke did think they looked like swirls.
Soon Naruto sat back and let the Sannin inspect his work, "Looks like you did it." the man said after a few moments checking the brush work.
Sasuke knew enough of Fuinjutsu to be impressed, he didn't think it was the kind of thing Naruto would be suited for, "Now that you're done, spar with me." the Uchiha demanded, he may be impressed that Naruto was gaining a wider skill variety but he still wanted to see how they measured up in a battle.
Naruto grinned and handed the scroll to Haku, who just sighed and stepped back. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow but decided to let them have their fun. Sasuke standing straight with a sword on his back and Naruto taking a low stance reminded the old man of better times, then Naruto raised his headband to reveal the Sharingan in a pose that the man knew he copied off Kakashi.
The two chunin rushed each other, Naruto making three kage bunshin as he moved. Sasuke met what he thought was the first kage bunshin with a snap kick from his left leg, to his surprise instead of disappearing in a puff of smoke the blonde grabbed his leg and pulled.
Sasuke realized that Naruto had used kawarimi to protect his bunshin instead of his bunshin protecting him, the Uchiha barely managed to lift his right leg and kick the blonde off him to land in a handstand and push himself away to land on his feet before the three bunshin attacked.
Sasuke was forced on the defensive against Naruto as they both had Sharingan and he was outnumbered. The Uchiha saw the Uzumaki create another two bunshin and forced a right front kick through one bunshin to catch him in the jaw, however the Naruto making kage bunshin was another bunshin.
The dark haired chunin realized he'd lost track of the real Naruto and leaped back to avoid the blonde grabbing his leg, crescent kicking a grasping hand away as he started running through familiar hand seals.
The four Naruto started their own hand seals and Sasuke didn't recognize them, so he memorized and copied them before releasing his Gokakyu no Jutsu. Naruto responded with four Suidan no Jutsu, extinguishing the ball of flame into a blast of steam.
Sasuke took a defensive stance, he saw the chakra enhanced wind blast through the steam but wasn't fast enough to dodge the Toppa that sent him flying back, he tried to correct himself in mid air and noticed another Naruto had gotten behind him and was using another Futon: Toppa.
Bracing himself against the attack since he couldn't dodge in mid air, the Uchiha was sent hurtling back to the steam, instead of hitting the ground he felt the steam cooling and frowned to realize the blonde had trapped him.
"Damn it," Sasuke's voice sounded distorted from the water, "I lost to Suiro no Jutsu again?" he questioned, sounding irritated.
Naruto grinned, "I guess I'm just that good!" he declared with a laugh. Sasuke glared and palmed the vajra he'd been carrying, knowing it would hurt him too but willing to risk it to stop the gloating. Naruto yelled in pain and released the jutsu holding Sasuke as the ball of water became electrified.
Sasuke stood on shaky feet, holding Raijin no Ken, "Worth it." the dark haired boy coughed, his hair standing up to resemble a darker version of Kakashi's hair style. Jiraiya couldn't help but laugh at the two.
Naruto gripped his numbed hand as he dispelled his clones, "What the hell is that?" he asked, looking at the glowing yellow weapon with trepidation.
Jiraiya spoke up as he approached, "Raijin no Ken, once used by Tobirama Senju." he explained, keeping it short and to the point since it was Naruto he was talking to.
The blonde now looked interested in the weapon, his hurt hand completely forgotten as he checked the weapon out from multiple angles. Sasuke smirked, a smug aura surrounding the boy before he deactivated the blade of the weapon and stored it away.
"I'll figure out a way to beat that Suiro no Jutsu without relying on this." The Uchiha promised as he left the training grounds, Naruto just grinned happily at the challenge and covered the Sharingan back up with his forehead protector.
The next time Haku and Naruto met with Jiraiya he was standing with a man neither of them knew, "Haku, would you stand with Yamato-san?" the Sennin asked instead of introducing. The boy frowned but stood to wait next to the man who was standing at attention and staring intently at Naruto.
"Alright," Jiraiya began clapping his hands, "first of all, how do you draw on the kitsune." he asked, surprising the young shinobi.
Naruto scrunched his face up as he thought about it, "I mean, the deal is his chakra flows to my hate and rage." the blonde began, "So it's kind of hard to just call it at will for training purposes, but I think I can if I focus, why?
Jiraiya nodded since the words of the chunin made sense, "Starting today we're going to be working on your Jinchuriki training, if you want to stand up to Akatsuki you're going to need the kind of raw power the kitsune can give you." he explained.