Kakashi wasn't even surprised that Naruto returned with a new stray to live in the village and even less surprised it was someone who suffered because of Orochimaru. It was slightly surprising that Anko had included a promotion recommendation in the mission report, he'd talk with Jiraiya and Yamato about that later.
The Hokage had been considering his own team for promotions, he just didn't want to seem like he was showing favoritism. If he was honest he was mostly holding Sasuke and Naruto back for Sakura's sake, but he'd have a talk with Gai about testing Sasuke's full ability and see if Kurenai would be willing to test Sakura.
"So," Kakashi began, steeping his fingers as he stared at the new arrival and mentally shelved thoughts of promoting his team, "Isaribi-chan, I assume you'd like to keep the bandages on and your reasons for visiting Tsunade-sama secret?" he asked.
Isaribi nodded bashfully, she was a little surprised that Naruto had referred to the woman who would be treating her so familiarly when the Hokage put so much respect in her honorifics. Then again the blonde Uzumaki referred to the Hokage himself as sensei and only seemed to use affectionate honorifics, she'd never heard him use -san or -sama when talking about anyone.
"Naruto-kun," Kakashi added, and Isaribi wasn't even surprised the man referred to the blonde with that honorific at this point, "are you intending on housing her?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto grinned, "Sure, I've still got space in my home." he confirmed happily, Haku didn't react but his lack of supportive smile told plenty and amused the Hokage who viewed underneath the underneath.
"Alright then, I'll inform Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said with his own grin that crinkled his visible eye, "welcome to the village Isaribi-chan." he said kindly and Isaribi smiled happily and bowed in gratitude.
After this the team were dismissed with their payslips and Kakashi started writing missives for Jiraiya, Gai, Yamato, Asuma, and Kurenai, finding it kind of annoying how much of his time as Hokage was taken up by writing. At least he managed to get some training done in his spare time.
Gai and Yamato were the first to respond to the Hokage's summon, the other three being out of the village, "Naruto-kun was just recommended for promotion by Anko after their mission together." Kakashi began, "How do you two think my students in general have been doing, give me your honest thoughts about all three of them." he requested, although it was worded like an order.
Yamato gave no visible response, "Naruto-san is a ninjutsu specialist," the man said simply, "he has yet to learn any Doton no Jutsu, but if he witnesses one with the Sharingan I imagine it will swiftly be added to his repertoire." he praised, "Sasuke-san seems far more well rounded, but witnessing his spars with Naruto-san I'd say he's a kenjutsu specialist, he's no slacker when it comes to the other schools of being a shinobi but most of the time his losses against Naruto-san can all be attributed to his unwillingness to use lethal force while Naruto-san has a far wider range of ninjutsu as well as more chakra and stamina, it also doesn't help Sasuke-san that Naruto-san can devise odd strategies on the fly." the man added, "Sakura-san is a fine chunin, but has no specialization, while I would call her the most well rounded of them all she is not ready for promotion like the other two might be." he finished and Kakashi nodded, having suspected that sort of answer.
Gai raised an eyebrow, "Well, I haven't seen much of your other two students in action, but I must agree that Sasuke-san is better suited to kenjutsu than any other discipline, although he is keeping up with Neji and Lee in taijutsu quite well." the man said, "Even without Raijin no Ken his skills with kenjutsu are superb. I'd have to give him a match myself to be certain of his promotion status." he finished with a shrug.
Kakashi nodded his head, considering their responses carefully, "Thank you both, once I've spoken with Jiraiya-sama and some other jonin to get their opinions on the matter I may ask one or both of you to test some of my students." he said.
The Godaime Hokage himself had become full jonin at their age, but he was still hesitant to just promote them.
Tsunade looked at the girl Naruto had brought to her office, the brat had brought the bandaged girl in not even a minute after the message about her arrived from the Godaime, "Alright," she agreed with a sigh, "I'll do what I can, but I'm a busy woman, this could take a while and you'll have to come in once a week." she warned.
Isaribi bowed gratefully, "Thank you, Tsunade-sama." she said happily and the Sannin got the impression the girl was on the verge of tears while the woman checked her schedule.
"Alright, I'm free in two days, be in my office at 1330 hours sharp." Tsunade ordered once she found a spot.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" Isaribi agreed eagerly.
"Thanks for helping her out, Obaachan." Naruto said with a grin and Tsunade's eye twitched, she knew the boy was just using the term affectionately but she wished he would pick something that didn't remind her of her age.
Karin and Kin exchanged a look when Naruto and Haku brought Isaribi home, Kimimaro didn't seem bothered at all and simply stood at attention while Naruto introduced the girl who would be living with them. The two girls already living in the Uzumaki house were thinking similar things thanks to their iryonin training, Isaribi was shy, fidgeting, and looked downright guilty just to be there, and she was covered in bandages that the blonde didn't explain.
"What's with the bandages?" Kin decided to be the blunt one to spare Karin seeming rude and Isaribi flinched which just made the other two girls more concerned, "Are you injured?" she pressed.
Isaribi frowned and averted her eyes, "Tsunade-sama has agreed to assist me, I will be fine." she assured, refusing to make eye contact.
Karin just became more concerned by that, "Naruto-nii," she began, not fully sure if she should bring it up like this but concerned about her growing family, "she doesn't have leprosy does she?" the red eyed Uzumaki asked, surprising Isaribi and confusing Naruto.
"No, nothing like that." Haku answered for the blonde who didn't seem to actually know what that was, "But it is something she doesn't want to talk about." he added, although it implied a rash there wasn't much else he could say.
Naruto frowned, "Isaribi-neechan you can just tell them," he said, "they aren't going to force me to kick you out." he assured, Kin rolled her eyes since she couldn't if she wanted to and Kimimaro just nodded in agreement for the same reason.
Isaribi kept her gaze down but unwrapped the bandages around her face to show the green scales, figuring it was probably better than them thinking she had an infectious rash or disease. Karin gasped at the scales, wondering what happened.
"A Hoshigaki?" Kimimaro asked with a raised eyebrow, confusing the others save for the other former resident of Mizu no Kuni.
"No," Haku said with a shake of his head, "I thought so too at first, but Isaribi-san was the victim of experimentation by Orochimaru." he said now that the girl was showing the alterations, "From the sounds of it the idea was to create a force of shinobi similar to the Hoshigaki clan of Kirigakure but even more suited to fighting underwater." the boy finished.
Kin just frowned, "So what? She was just shy about her appearance?" she asked and Isaribi blushed in embarrassment, "Don't be so vain," she scolded, "Kimimaro over here can rip his spine out and use it as a whip." she pointed out and Isaribi turned a pale green as she imagined it.
Karin closed her eyes to get a look at the new girls chakra, "Hm, well you seem okay by me." she hummed, "Your chakra is a little dull but I won't hold it against you." she decided with a shrug.
Isaribi tried not to cry tears of joy as she bowed gratefully to hide her embarrassment, the girl should have known Naruto's family would accept her, but she hadn't expected them to be such a mishmash of people. Kin showed the purple haired girl to an available room, one of the only two left.
Naruto grinned happily, "Man, we'll have to renovate this place and add more rooms soon." he said and Haku sighed at the implication that the blonde had no intention of stopping his adoptive tendencies.
That night, after bathing and getting into bed, Haku cuddled up to the blonde, glad to be back in the bed they shared, "Naruto-kun," he began to get the attention of the Uzumaki, "you know you aren't really a monster, right?" he asked.
Naruto frowned and wondered what brought that question of, having forgotten his vicious display back in Umi no Kuni, "Yeah of course," the blonde answered, "why?" he asked.
Haku sighed, "You just acted like you'd forgotten when fighting Amachi." he answered, relaxing against the blonde at his oblivious answer.
"Oh," Naruto said in realization, "right, that." he added as he scratched his cheek with the hand that wasn't wrapped around Haku's shoulders, "Sorry Haku-chan, I didn't want to be scary, but it seemed like Isaribi-neechan needed to see what a real monster would look like, and I do have the power of a monster." he explained.
Haku was surprised the blonde felt the need to apologize, "It's fine if you feel the need to use the power of a monster," he assured, "as long as you keep using it as kindly as you do." he finished with a smile as he gave the blonde he was using as a body pillow a reassuring squeeze.
Naruto grinned, "Yeah, I promise." he said, resting his free hand on Haku's side as he gave the older boy a squeeze in return. The two soon fell asleep in each others arms.
Unsurprisingly Naruto wasted no time returning to training, greeting Sakura at the training grounds happily. The pink haired girl explained that Sasuke was off on a mission with Team 10 and the blonde regaled her with the tale of his mission to Umi no Kuni.
Sakura stared at Naruto in disbelief before turning to Haku, "Naruto-kun left out the fact that he basically adopted Isaribi-san and killed an immortal monster made of sea water, but other than that he's telling the truth." the boy confirmed the story and revealed Naruto was actually downplaying his heroic deeds despite how much of a braggart he acted like.
The pink haired chunin wasn't sure what to make of that, she had barely even made progress on part two of her Doton chakra training, having found that the second phase of each Seishitsu Henka training seemed to be a far more chakra intensive exercise than the first step.
While Naruto and Haku were gone, Kin and Karin had joined Kimimaro for training one day and had become semi-regular training partners for Sakura. Karin had purchased chakra kannoshi for the two of them and they'd discovered that Kin had an affinity for Suiton while Karin had an affinity for Doton. Sakura had enjoyed being a step ahead of the red haired Uzumaki and happily helped the other girl and given her pointers, finding it slightly vindicating that the two girls performed at a more normal pace that made Sakura seem like she really was a fast learner. The chunin felt a little guilty about it but it had helped her confidence somewhat.
Then Naruto had to go and finish cutting the waterfall in half while Yamato wasn't around and decided to start on Suiton chakra training, taking to it fast due to his prior experience with Suiton no Jutsu and his use of kage bunshin. Kin had been surprised when the blonde had swiftly caught up with her before overtaking her completely and joining Haku and Kimimaro in phase two. Sakura gave Kin a sympathetic look as Karin watched her blonde cousin train in shock, having never truly witnessed the intensity the blonde boy put into his training.
The next time Yamato joined them to find Naruto creating water out of thin air with Haku and Kimimaro he raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing, Naruto-san?" he asked politely enough.
"I cut the waterfall in half, so I decided to join Haku-chan since I know a bunch of Suiton ninjutsu anyway." Naruto answered with a shrug.
"I see." Yamato said neutrally, looking thoughtful, "How is your chakra right now?" he asked suddenly.
Naruto frowned, "Uh, pretty good I guess, why?" he asked, wondering what was prompting the question.
Yamato knew the blonde chunin had truly monstrous chakra reserves, but this was still impressive to the man, "Well then, I would like you to spar with me for a moment." he requested, signalling the other shinobi to clear the field. Haku frowned but did so, Kimimaro did so without any response or indication he was concerned about the outcome at all, Sakura and Karin exchanged a look but moved aside, and Kin grumbled something under her breath about her training being interrupted.
Naruto shrugged and took the stance he'd learned from Haku, Yamato recognized it as the taijutsu stance common to kenjutsu specialists of Kirigakure but didn't comment. Seeing as the chunin didn't lift his forehead protector to reveal his dojutsu the jonin decided to open with a ninjutsu, "Doton: Doryuso!" he exclaimed and Naruto jumped to avoid the spikes of stone rising out of the earth.
Yamato palmed a kunai and tossed it at the airborne ninja, expecting a kawarimi in response. Instead Naruto made a single kage bunshin which pulled him out of the way before the two blondes started their own hand seals. The Gokakyu that raced towards Yamato was enhanced into a grand inferno by the Daitoppa and the jonin hastily ran through hand seals before spitting a torrent of water from his mouth, forming a Suijinheki to protect himself from the flames.
The steam was quickly turned into a Kirigakure no Jutsu by Naruto, so Yamato used his Mokuton to form a three folded wooden shield over his left arm and a wooden ninjato in his right hand. The man turned in a circle, completely on edge and ready for an attack from any direction, but he still barely caught Naruto's right foot on his wooden shield before swiftly striking the blonde in the leg with the flat edge of the wooden blade.
The bunshin dispelled in a cloud of smoke from the hit and Yamato turned around quickly, anticipating the attack from his blindside and swiped at Naruto, the blonde having managed to get dangerously close behind him. The chunin caught the wooden ninjato on the forearm guard under his jacket on his left arm and pressed his right hand against the wooden shield, trapping Yamato in a Suiro no Jutsu.
The mist cleared to reveal a proudly grinning Naruto and a trapped Yamato to the other ninja watching, only for the grin of the blonde to falter as the jonin became a featureless wooden dummy with a sword and shield. Yamato rose from the ground behind Naruto and trapped the chunin with Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu.
Naruto scowled, not fast enough to use kawarimi to escape the wooden bindings in time, but Yamato was impressed that the blonde had captured his Moku Bunshin, "Well done, Naruto-san," he praised, "your ninjutsu is impressive for a chunin, especially at your age."
After releasing Naruto the jonin left the group of ninja to train so he could report the results of his match to Kakashi. Yamato wondered if the blonde might have won if he'd used the Sharingan, but figured the dojutsu probably wouldn't have seen through the bunshin anyway, although it would likely have caused the fight to go on for longer if the boy had managed to avoid the final jutsu.
Tsunade looked over the results of Isaribi's blood test, finding herself disgusted with Orochimaru more than usual. Calling him a madman was an understatement, the results of the blood test made that apparent and Tsunade was glad the poor girl wasn't there to see the disgust on her face.
Isaribi's blood was barely human, and even after various tests there was no telling how many different sea creatures were used to alter the girl. Actually changing her back to a full human would likely be impossible but the legendary iryo specialist wasn't sure how to break that to the altered girl, at best she could help the girl by performing surgeries that would hide her scales while she was in human form but the form of the Kaima would likely be within her forever.
Next time the girl came in she'd have to do some chakra tests, Tsunade had spoken to Karin and had been surprised when the young Uzumaki girl had revealed that Isaribi's chakra disgusted her. Karin hadn't said as much to the altered girl to spare her feelings, but the red head was uncomfortable around Isaribi and had only revealed it to Tsunade when the woman promised not to tell the purple haired girl.
The only other thing the blood test revealed was that despite looking barely sixteen the girl was actually likely in her twenties, with how much she'd been altered it was hard to say exactly, but the alterations had likely slowed her aging. Tsunade mused that was probably due to Orochimaru's obsession with immortality, and also decided she'd ask the girl exactly how old she is next time they met.
Kurenai wondered why she'd been asked to stay behind after her genin were dismissed, "How well do you know my old genin team?" Kakashi asked her, which just confused the red eyed woman even more.
"The Nidaime Sannin?" Kurenai asked with a raised eyebrow and the Hokage nodded, "Not well, truthfully. I've heard they're powerful so I assume you must be proud, but I've only had one mission with Sakura-chan." the woman explained.
"How did she perform?" Kakashi asked, pressing the issue.
Kurenai frowned, "Well it was a while ago, and a low ranking mission at that," she said, trying to remember it, "but she did well for her age, she takes orders well and as an aptitude for genjutsu and shurikenjutsu." the dark haired woman praised with a shrug.
Kakashi frowned under his mask, "I see." he said, sounding a little disappointed to the surprise of the woman.
"Why do you ask, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai questioned curiously, wondering what had prompted this line of questioning.
"Others are recommending her teammates for promotions," Kakashi confessed, "I'm hesitant to let her be left behind." he added, "However it sounds like I may have to let her remain a chunin while her team is promoted." he finished with a sigh.
Kurenai nodded in understanding, everyone knew Kakashi had a thing for teamwork so she was glad he wasn't thinking of promoting someone before they were ready or holding those who deserved a promotion, "They can still be a team, jonin and chunin work together quite often." the woman pointed out helpfully before she was dismissed.
Asuma resisted the urge to light a cigarette as his team and Sasuke were dismissed, "Asuma-san," Kakashi began, "I'll cut straight to the point, do you think Sasuke-kun deserves a promotion yet?" he asked, putting an empty pipe up against where his mouth would be under his mask and the jonin resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the prop.
"I don't know," Asuma responded with a shrug, "the kid is powerful sure, but he has an issue with authority. He'll obey orders he agrees with but tends to have an arrogance that he knows better than his superior officers at times." the man answered truthfully."
"You aren't the first person to point this out," Kakashi admitted, "however interestingly he had no issues taking orders from Naruto-kun." he pointed out.
Asuma raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? The kid only seems to take orders he likes, maybe his teammate just knows him well enough to give him orders he agrees with?" the man suggested, not sure how else to explain it.
"Maybe," Kakashi agreed, "but could you test his kenjutsu for me? It's been mentioned he seems to have a knack for it, I asked Maito Gai to test his ability too." he told the jonin.
Asuma shrugged, "I'll see what I can do, but like I said it's not his ability that's the issue." the man explained before he left to collect his payment for the mission.
Tayuya scowled at Inoichi, she was sick of the Yamanaka constantly trying to get information out of her and resisted at every turn, even if she didn't know much that Kimimaro hadn't already given away she hated the idea of helping Konoha. The girl still refused to believe she was Uzumaki, which would be more apparent if she only ignored that name instead of refusing to respond to any name at all.
Inoichi and Ibiki were getting sick of her, but neither was willing to kill her just yet, and while they were tempted to resort to physical torture they agreed with the still loyal Sannin that it would be better if she defected. With that in mind the Yamanaka had taken to just listing off information Kimimaro had given them to elicit reactions, from what he'd gathered she actually probably knew less than the Kaguya.
"You know, I really hope we don't have to keep you prisoner forever." Inoichi said with a sigh, "I'd hate to kill you too, I got a daughter of my own, same age as your other family in this village." he rambled on, ignoring the red heads continued glaring, "Ibiki thought we should break your flute in front of you," he added, noticing the way her eyes widened before narrowing into an angrier glare, "I convinced him we should talk to Naruto about it first, but he was away on a mission, just got back a few days ago. Knowing what I know of that kid you should thank me, he'll probably tell us that it would be too cruel." the Yamanaka explained with a shrug.
Tayuya didn't respond as she mentally prepared for her flute to be destroyed in front of her in the future.
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as Kakashi updated him on the situation with Naruto, and when Yamato added his own update on how the kid had been doing both of his eyebrows were up, "Damn," the Sennin summed up, "so he already finished his Futon chakra training?" he asked and Yamato confirmed it with a nod.
"How is his Fuinjutsu?" Kakashi asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Easily specialist level," Jiraiya responded with a shrug, "he prefers ninjutsu for combat definitely, but his fuin are nothing to scoff at, he figured out the Hiraishin after all." he pointed out.
"What rank would you recommend for him?" Kakashi asked, and the Sennin noticed Yamato was watching him carefully too.
"I'm tempted to say jonin, but his only defense against genjutsu is that eye he got from the Uchiha." Jiraiya answered, "That being said, his skills in every other area are good, and his ninjutsu is easily S rank, so it's hard to list him as tokubetsu jonin unless you mark him down as a Fuinjutsu specialist. since those are somewhat rare." he explained.
Kakashi nodded, "I was wondering what specialization to give him if we went that route." the Hokage confirmed, "Honestly I'm tempted to just promote him and Sasuke-kun to full jonin, but I'm waiting on some other jonin to test Sasuke-kun for me." he informed the old man.
"Want me to test both of them myself while I'm in the village?" Jiraiya offered, surprising Kakashi, "I can give them the classic bell test without any tricks attached, if they can get the bells off someone like me when I'm not holding back they definitely deserve the promotion." the Sennin pointed out with a smirk and the Hokage nodded in agreement, Kakashi thought that would be a fine idea.
"Hey, Uzumaki-san." Ibiki called out, stopping Naruto and Haku on their way home from the hot springs, "Inoichi-san thinks we should ask you what to do with the prisoners flute," he told the boy, who frowned in confusion, "since you're her next of kin." he finished and the blonde's eye widened in realization.
"Oh," Naruto began, "why?" he asked, not sure how to respond or why something needed to be done with it.
"It's technically her weapon," Ibiki pointed out, "not that anyone else can use it mind you, but it's gathering dust." he told the blonde, obscuring the real reason in the hopes the boy would just tell him they could toss it out or something.
Naruto frowned, "Oh right, well I guess I can hold onto it until she's ready to defect to the village." the blonde answered with a shrug. Ibiki mentally cursed the missed opportunity but nodded, telling the chunin that the flute would be delivered to his house.
Sasuke was vaguely bothered that Naruto was already working on Suiton chakra when he returned and threw himself back into Katon chakra training immediately. The Uchiha was proud of himself for finishing it by the time Jiraiya joined them again.
"How do I train Raiton chakra?" Sasuke asked the Sennin as soon as the man showed up on their training grounds.
Jiraiya laughed, "Well before I answer that question, I've got a test for you and Naruto," he said, amused by the Uchiha's eagerness, his words getting the attention of the blonde, "Hokage's orders." he added with a smirk as the two one eyed chunin stood at attention, wondering what kind of test Kakashi wanted Jiraiya to give them, "Pretty simple really," the man began, "I've got these two bells," he said as he pulled out the bells and Sakura's eyes widened in recognition along with her team, "no tricks this time by the way, you two just need to get the bells from me." the Sennin explained as he tied the two bells to his belt.
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a glance and smirked, the Uchiha already had the base form of his Sharingan active and the Uzumaki raised his forehead protector to reveal the other one of the paired dojutsu. Jiraiya was glad the two were taking it seriously so when Naruto threw a kunai he leaped to the side and started running through hand seals, knowing the boys would predict and recognize it.
Sasuke didn't move as Naruto leaped between the Uchiha and the incoming Gokakyu and countered it with a Daitoppa, creating a massive twisting inferno between the two chunin and the Sannin. Before the smoke cleared Naruto charged at Jiraiya with a ninjato, the Sennin wondered where the Uchiha had gone as he palmed a kunai to defend himself from the blonde.
Jiraiya noticed a kunai flying at him and deflected it off the edge of his own kunai as he sidestepped a cut from Naruto, realizing too late why the blonde was doing so well with the ninjato as a second Naruto appeared with his own ninjato in hand and joined Sasuke, who had used henge to appear as Naruto, in attacking the white haired man as his Hiraishin marked kunai fell to the ground.
The Sannin was surprised to find himself on the defensive but recovered quickly, moving faster than the boys could react despite their predictive abilities to knock Sasuke out of the henge with a backhand and dispelling the kage bunshin acting as Naruto with a knee before leaping back to avoid a hail of shuriken that littered the ground where he'd been standing.
Jiraiya tossed his kunai at the airborne Naruto before he landed and ran through hand seals, finishing by slamming his palms to the ground as Sasuke charged him and Naruto evaded the kunai by using kawarimi on a log, "Doton: Yomi Numa!" Jiraiya declared, trapping the Uchiha in the mud before turning to catch Naruto's ninjato with a kunai he swiftly palmed from up his sleeve.
Sasuke scowled and pulled out his vajra, activating the Raijin no Ken to solidify the swamp as he struggled to use chakra to avoid sinking into it. Jiraiya prepared a Rasengan and Naruto backed off, unable to do the same one handed and not willing to lose his ninjato for the sake of a test.
The Gama Sennin was impressed with the two kids, but aside from a smirk he didn't show it. He tossed the kunai at Naruto and used the Rasengan to block the Raijin no Ken and knock Sasuke backwards through the mud, skipping the boy like a stone, before running through more hand seals.
Naruto avoided the flight path of the kunai and unhooked his half of Kiba from his sash with his left hand before charging the old man, flowing his chakra into the legendary blade to get Raiton chakra ready, "Katon: Endan." Jiraiya declared, shooting the ball of flame at his blonde student.
The Uzumaki's eyes widened, not recognizing that fire technique and wishing he'd caught the full hand seals, but noting that unlike Gokakyu the chakra build up happened in the mouth and something besides pure Katon was going on there. Still, knowing how it worked didn't help much with blocking it since he didn't have much in the way of defensive ninjutsu and his hands both held swords so Naruto leaped aside to let the flame burn on the top of the swamp they were fighting on top of.
Sasuke realized the purpose of the swamp was to force them to use chakra just to dodge and fight effectively, but couldn't figure out a way to combat the jutsu besides using Raijin no Ken to solidify the mud and knew neither he or Naruto had the ability to force the Gama Sennin out of the swamp.
Jiraiya was running through hand seals again as the two chunin charged him from opposite sides, he was impressed the two had thought to pull out their lightning swords since against Suiton and Doton defensive jutsu those blades would be particularly effective, "Doton: Doryuheki!" the man declared, placing the wall of stone between himself and Sasuke regardless since the Uchiha was the more dangerous one in close quarters and focused on dodging swings from Naruto's dual wielding attacks.
"Ninpo:" Sasuke called out from atop the wall once he got up there, "Iwa Nadare!" the boy exclaimed, flaring lightning chakra through the Doryuheki as Naruto disengaged the surprised Jiraiya, who seemed to be buried under the avalanche.
"Did we overdo it?" Naruto asked, a little worried that they may have just killed the man. Sasuke frowned, a little worried too, but confident someone as legendary as a Sannin wouldn't be done in that easily so he shook his head and reactivated his Raijin no Ken as he shifted the vajra hilt to his right hand, remaining on top of the stone rubble as he did.
Naruto was caught off guard by a tongue wrapping around his waist and lifting him into the air. Not wanting to hurt the toad too badly he pressed the flat of his legendary blade to the tongue and winced as he ran chakra through it, electrifying himself and the toad. The blonde twisted in mid air to land on his feet at the edge of the swamp.
Once Naruto hit the ground Jiraiya leaped out of the swamp and swung his hair at the boy, the white bundle almost resembling the mouth of a lion. The Uzumaki blocked with his blades and was stunned by the weight behind the blow and that the electricity from Kiba didn't flow into Jiraiya as the Sennin followed through with a vicious side kick to his stomach, the wooden geta knocking the wind out of the blonde as the boy was sent stumbling backwards.
Sasuke leaped at the man, unsheathing his tanto and swinging Raijin no Ken to solidify the ground where he landed and following it up into an upwards slash at the Sannin who dodged backwards. The Uchiha gave chase with a thrust from his tanto.
Jiraiya made the snake hand seal and Sasuke saw the chakra gather in the man's hair before he twisted, swinging the bundle at the boy who tried to parry with Raijin no Ken. The blade of electricity held the hair at bay but the boy had to use his tanto to deflect a volley of shuriken as the man circled around his right side to return to the swamp.
Sasuke chased with another arcing swing of the Raijin no Ken that Jiraiya backflipped away from. Naruto left his ninjato on dry land and stabbed Kiba into the ground to make a kage bunshin before picking the blade back up and charging the Sannin as his bunshin ran through hand seals.
Jiraiya made his own pair of kage bunshin and the three retreated back to the surface of the swamp running through their own hand seals. Naruto and Sasuke both copied all three sets of hand seals, but Sasuke frowned when he realized he couldn't figure out what was going on with the Katon no Jutsu the man was doing.
"Gamayudan!" The first Jiraiya to finish said, spitting a blast of oil towards the boys. Sasuke scowled and leaped backwards, "Endan!" the second Jiraiya called out.
"Suiton:" Naruto's kage bunshin called out, "Suiryudan no Jutsu!" he shouted, releasing the dragon shaped bullet of water at the ignited oil bullet as the real Naruto dashed aside.
The final Jiraiya finished his hand seals, "Toppa!" he declared, enhancing the flaming oil jutsu and overpowering the Suiryudan to destroy the bunshin. Naruto scowled and stabbed Kiba into the ground before running through hand seals. Sasuke sheathed his tanto and used a one handed hand seal to shunshin next to the blonde to defend him as the Sennin and his two bunshin charged the blonde.
Jiraiya and his bunshin completed their hand seals first, "Doton:" two said in unison, "Katon: the third declared, "Doryudan!" one said as a dragon of mud rose up and started shooting mud balls at the chunin, "Endan!" another exclaimed and ignited the mud balls, "Dosekiryu!" the final Jiraiya declared, and a dragon of stone rose up behind the three to descend upon the boys.
Sasuke's eye widened, he still wasn't sure what the secret behind the Endan was, but that seemed like a dangerous combination and he readied his Raijin no Ken when Naruto didn't move to dodge, "Suiton: Daibakufu!" the blonde shouted and unleashed a torrent of water from his mouth, shocking Jiraiya that he could make that much water with pure chakra as the Uchiha enhanced the water by blasting it with rings of electricity with Raijin no Ken.
The waterfall smashed into the stone dragon and extinguised the flaming mud balls, the electricity flowing through the chakra intensive jutsu breaking down the Doton no Jutsu. Jiraiya's bunshin were dispelled and the man himself was thrown into his own swamp.
Naruto collapsed to one knee and closed his left eye, breathing heavily. Sasuke wasn't quite as tired but he hadn't performed nearly that level of intensive ninjutsu and he was starting to feel the strain too. Jiraiya pulled himself up out of the swamp and Naruto forced himself to his feet and opened his left eye again.
The Sennin had to admit, the two were definitely already jonin level, but he wasn't going to make it easy on them even if he was impressed. Jiraiya charged the two, running through more hand seals as he did. Sasuke charged to intercept, readying Raijin no Ken as he and Naruto copied the hand seals with their dojutsu, "Ranjishigami no Jutsu!" the Sennin called out and swung his chakra infused hair at the Uchiha who blocked with Raijin no Ken.
This time Sasuke was the one kicked in the stomach, but to the surprise of Jiraiya the boy was dispelled like a kage bunshin and the muddy rose swiftly out of the swamp with a kunai in his mouth and reached for the bells with both hands as Raijin no Ken fell. The Gama Sennin grabbed both of Sasuke's hands only to be surprised again when Naruto appeared with Hiraishin, teleporting to the kunai in Sasuke's mouth and grabbing the bells as the Uchiha wrestled with the older and stronger man for just long enough to let the Uzumaki do so, the blonde even managing to catch the vajra hilt before it hit the swamp.
Jiraiya was impressed, they'd succeeded, "Well I'll be," the man said as he released Sasuke, "you two actually did it." he said with a laugh as Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma appeared in the training grounds with shunshin.
Karin was awed by the display, Sakura felt like she seriously needed to work on catching up to those two, Kin was just more certain she'd made the right choice with accepting Naruto, Kimimaro noted that his new master still had some ways to go before he'd actually be a match for Orochimaru, and Haku was just proud of the blonde boy he'd helped train.
"I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting them to pull it off." Asuma confessed, which annoyed Sasuke a little but the boy had to admit that had been a difficult fight and he could barely keep his Sharingan active after using that kage bunshin but he was determined to keep it active as long as possible. Practicing maintaining the Sharingan had become a constant chakra control exercise to the Uchiha.
"Their flames of youth are most bright!" Gai exclaimed enthusiastically, giving the two boys a thumbs up. Naruto grinned proudly, closing both eyes to bask in the praise as he pulled his forehead protector back down over his left eye. The Uzumaki was exhausted but tried not to show it.
"Well, congratulations you two." Kakashi said proudly, his own smile revealed by the crinkling around his visible eye, "With that display I doubt there will be any complaints with my promoting both of you to jonin." he said and the two newly minted jonin grinned in pride, the Uchiha forgetting about his question regarding Raiton chakra for the moment.
That night Naruto invited Sasuke and Sakura to have dinner at his house to celebrate, since Isaribi was cooking stew and made enough to have leftovers anyway. Kakashi, Jiraiya, and the jonin were also invited, but Asuma and Gai politely declined while Jiraiya said he had important research to attend to. Naruto was a little annoyed that the old man was blowing off a celebration dinner to peep on girls but was happy Kakashi accepted.
Isaribi was surprised at the guests, and was stunned to hear about how Naruto and Sasuke had managed to match a Sennin in open combat. The girl gazed at Naruto in a way that made Haku just a bit annoyed during dinner, and afterwards Naruto pulled out the sake bottle he'd been given by Kiba for his birthday.
They all shared a drink to celebrate the promotion of the Uchiha and Uzumaki to jonin before Kakashi had to leave, complaining about how being Hokage gave him almost no free time. Sasuke looked forward to grabbing his first solo A rank mission, although the boy had dropped his Sharingan as he was reaching the point he would pass out if he kept it up.
Sakura stayed a bit longer with Sasuke, happy for her two teammates despite wishing she had kept up with their level. After another drink each, which revealed Isaribi had the lowest tolerance out of all of them, Sasuke and Sakura bid their blonde teammate goodnight and went home.
Kin helped Isaribi to bed, the bandaged girl apparently being the crying emotionally clingy kind of drunk that kept sobbing about how happy she was for Naruto while hugging the blonde and the former Oto kunoichi decided to spare the older girl the wrath of the increasingly agitated Haku by assisting her to her room.
Karin sighed, "I can't believe how strong you and Sasuke-kun have gotten, Naruto-nii." she said, reclining on the couch next to Kimimaro while Haku shared a chair with the blonde Uzumaki, the dark haired teen feeling clingy after watching Isaribi hang all over the younger blonde, although the alcohol might have had something to do with Haku's desire to cling to Naruto.
"It makes sense," Kimimaro said with a shrug, "he has ambition and drive, and he works hard." the white haired young man pointed out, "To be fair his monstrous stamina allow him to make the most of said hard work." he added.
"Well yeah," Karin agreed, "but still, I remember him before he got that Sharingan, his growth since then has been amazing." she praised, Naruto seemed quite pleased with the positive attention.
"You two should have seen him when I met him." Haku spoke up, "One of his academy instructors had basically sabotaged him, he was borderline self taught back then, I'm so glad to have had a part in his growth." the teen sighed, leaning against the blonde.
"Yeah," Karin said with a smirk, "I bet you would like being a part of his 'growth'." she said with a giggle that made Haku blush bright red and confused Naruto.
"Well yeah," Naruto said, "he just said that." the oblivious blonde pointed out. Kimimaro decided not to get involved and sat back to watch the exchange.
Karin just giggled more, "Naruto-nii, we said the same thing but meant something a little different." she tried to explain.
"Don't you dare." Haku said, more embarrassed than annoyed.
"What?" Naruto asked, visibly confused.
Karin ignored the warning from Haku, "Doesn't something grow when you kiss Haku-'chan'?" she asked with an amused grin, her grin only widening at the look of realization on the face of the blonde Uzumaki that swiftly reddened in embarrassment.
Haku glared at Karin but refused to let his embarrassment cause him to get up even if he was getting uncomfortably warm under the collar.
"Naruto-sama," Kimimaro spoke up, "how did you not realize what she was talking about?" he asked the bright red blonde, "I know you're young but really." he added with a raised eyebrow.
"I just didn't think about that." Naruto defended himself with a pout.
"Now you'll be thinking about it in bed!" Karin teased with a laugh as Kin returned, the dark haired girl only having heard some of what they were talking about.
Naruto glared at Karin, trying to think of a way to get her back but he didn't know if she had any crushes on anyone, "Well," he began, clearly thinking hard about what to say, "wouldn't it be weird not to think about that!" he exclaimed after a moment, his outburst silencing the laughter of the red haired girl.
"I seem to have underestimated Naruto-sama's maturity." Kimimaro quipped, causing the blonde to sputter and try to say he hadn't meant it quite like that.
Kin raised an eyebrow, "Karin you're kind of a pervert." she said bluntly, causing the red head to blush and glare, "Then again with this house I can't blame you," she mused, looking up in thought as she placed a finger on her chin, "we've got the lovey dovey couple who are both boys but one looks like a girl," she said, pinning some of the blame on Naruto and Haku who averted their gaze but still refused to stop sharing a seat, "and we've got this guy." she added, gesturing to the white haired Kaguya.
"What about me?" Kimimaro asked, wondering how he was to blame for any of this.
"Well," Kin said, not sure how to phrase it since she was still sort of scared of the white haired teen, then she remembered Naruto's performance against an actual Sennin and figured she was safe, "look at how you dress." she pointed out.
Kimimaro raised an eyebrow and looked at his own outfit, "I fail to see your point." he said, wondering why Karin was looking away from him and Kin was staring at his chest.
"You're kidding right?" Haku asked the white haired teen, "Your shirt doesn't cover your chest at all." he pointed out.
Kimimaro just looked confused, "So, I'm a man." he said.
Kin scoffed, "Wow, you're as dense as the blonde." she said.
"Hey!" Naruto cried out, not sure what they were talking about either but taking offense at being called dense.
"Girls like looking at guys chests too." Kin said, "Especially guys like you." she added with a shrug.
"Oh so you've been looking too?" Karin asked, finding her voice as a reason to go on the offensive occured.
"Oh fuck yeah," Kin agreed shamelessly, "he's eye candy." she said with a nod as she crossed her arms, Kimimaro wasn't sure how to feel about this knowledge.
"Also," Haku spoke up quietly, "the male chest can be an, uh, ero zone too." he pointed out, looking down as he said this, Naruto's bright blush hinting at why Haku knew that exactly.
Kimimaro blinked impassively, "You kids shouldn't have more than one saucer of sake until you're older." he said in a flat tone, attributing the current discussion to the alcohol.
Kin shrugged, "Well, I'm going to bed." she decided, "Goodnight." she added with a wave as she left for her room.
"Me too." Karin said quickly, leaving while avoiding Kimimaro's gaze. Naruto was pleased to have something to tease her about next time.
"I'm going to lock my door from now on." Kimimaro told Naruto and Haku before he stood up to leave too.
Once they were gone Haku looked at Naruto, "So," the dark haired teen began, "what exactly do you think about when we're kissing?" he asked with a sly smirk. Instead of responding verbally the blonde glared and lowered the arm wrapped around Haku's shoulders and grabbed a handful of the older teens ass, causing the boy to squeak in surprise.
Haku was suddenly very aware that Naruto was the apprentice of someone he called Ero-Sennin.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Ibiki, "Are you kidding?" he asked the scarred man.
"Absolutely not." Ibiki replied, "I'm sick of that stubborn red head, you made Naruto Uzumaki a jonin right?" he asked, "Well put Tayuya in his custody." he continued without waiting for an answer.
Kakashi wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Is that a good idea?" he asked, not sure why Ibiki was so insistant on getting rid of a prisoner.
Ibiki shrugged, "From what I've heard he knows Fuinjutsu," he pointed out, "so why not? Besides I'm sure that Kimimaro kid can keep her in line. Inoichi-san is pretty confident she doesn't know anything anyway." he said.
"So you're just giving up on being able to mentally torture her?" Kakashi asked, hoping to change the other man's mind by appealing to his pride as a professional.
"Yes." Ibiki answered shamelessly, "Whenever I manage to get a verbal answer out of her she just swears, insults everything within eyesight, insists I'm lying, or all of the above." he explained.
Kakashi sighed, "Alright, I guess I'll approve, you can explain it to Naruto." he said in a resigned tone, knowing the blonde would be angry beyond belief if the village killed someone who was apparently family even if she was Tayuya.
Isaribi answered the door the morning after Naruto's promotion and really wished she hadn't, "Who the fuck is this cripple bitch?" the red head who was in chains asked.
Ibiki ignored her, "Good morning," he said to the bandaged girl who answered the door, "my name is Ibiki Morino," he began with introductions, "is Naruto Uzumaki home?" he asked, "I have a delivery for him." he explained, gesturing to the chained up girl.
Isaribi was very confused but nodded, "I'll, uh," she said, glancing between the tall scarred man and the girl in chains, "I'll just get him for you?" she asked and the man nodded to show that would be appreciated.
A few minutes later Naruto answered the door, "Why is Isaribi-neechan sputtering about 'indecent servitude'?" was the first thing the blonde asked.
Ibiki shrugged, "No idea," he lied since he could guess easily why the girl was confused, "anyway this is your problem now." he said, clapping Tayuya on the back before turning to leave.
Naruto just stared at the second family he'd ever had for a moment, "What the fuck are you staring at, pervert?" Tayuya snapped angrily.
"Well I guess you might as well come in." Naruto said, "Kimimaro!" he shouted and Tayuya jolted in fear, "Tayuya-nee is in my custody now, could you come watch her!?" he called into the house and the girl shivered behind him.
Kimimaro appeared with shunshin, took note of the chains on the red head and narrowed his eyes at her, "Very well." he agreed before Naruto nodded and left the two alone, "Tayuya-san I have no idea if you are allowed to be out of those chains, so I'm leaving them on until Naruto-sama tells me otherwise. I may not be allowed to kill you but there are two aspiring iryonin here who could likely use live practice." he told the girl in a flat tone and she nodded fearfully, "I am glad you understand, now get inside and behave yourself." he ordered and Tayuya rushed in to obey.
Naruto returned with a flute, "This is yours, right?" he asked and the red head blinked owlishly, having thought it was still at T&I despite being explicitely told it was given to the blonde who claimed to be her family.
"Naruto-sama, she's capable of using that to perform genjutsu and kuchiyose." Kimimaro warned.
Naruto shrugged, "Yeah I remember, but I'm going to put a chakra suppressing Fuin on her anyway." he said, "It'd be kind of hard for her to bathe and feed herself in chains." he pointed out as he handed the flute to Tayuya who clutched it close to her chest.
Later, Haku entered the living room to see Naruto drawing a fuin array on a blushing Tayuya, who was covering her bare chest while Kimimaro watched impassively, "I'm really glad I know what you're doing." he said before going to explain to Isaribi that they had not had a red headed slave girl delivered to their door.