Chapter 15 – Genin Days

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto. I do not own Naruko either. I don't even own Julie.

oOoOo

The Hokage was sitting in his office, in front of most of the teachers assigned to this batch of Genins. He had to admit, he was feeling like a schoolboy waiting to see the result of a massive prank. He wondered what Kurenai thought of her team, but seeing the small smirk she was wearing, she seemed to enjoy it. Iruka and Anko were there too. Iruka, as their old teacher; and Anko, well, because she didn't want to miss this, and threatened him to burn all his books if he was kicking her out. Suddenly, there was a small swirl of leaves and Kakashi appeared in the middle of the room.

"Ha, Kakashi, perfectly on time, we can start the meeting now."

"What do you mean, Hokage-Sama? Perfectly on time?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"Yes Kakashi, I told you that the meeting would be two hours ago, but the real starting time was supposed to be now. You must be feeling so relieved to not be late in front of the Hokage, right?"

"Of... Of course, Hokage-Sama, that's a great relief…" Kakashi answered, a bit miffed, especially seeing the smirks of all the other Jonins.

"Perfect, I'm happy that you agree. Then, let's start the meeting. You all have met your teams, and you either have tested them or accepted them without testing if they felt promising enough. I want to hear your reports."

"Team one failed. They didn't show any inkling of wanting to work together."

"Team two fail. But I suggest to see with Yuki Hidemi if she's interested to join the medics. She seems to have pretty good chakra control, she was trying to help the others, and would have probably passed the test if not for the two others, but she seems too kind or quiet for the Ninja Life. Medic life would suit her better I think."

"Hum" the Hokage answered "That could be a good idea. Iruka, you know her best, could you suggest her that option if you think she would be suited for that life?"

"I will, Hokage-sama. This would indeed suit her best."

"Then we can continue. Team four?"

"Team four passed, if barely. They were trying to work together, but couldn't show any teamwork and kept getting in each other way. They have the right mentality, but not the skills, so don't expect to see them trying for Chunin anytime soon, I'll have to work them to the bone."

"Very good. Take the time you need to make a working unit out of them, it's not like we are lacking in D-ranks. Next?"

"Team five failed, Hokage-sama. I don't know why they were trying. Kawamoto even threatened to report me to his father if I didn't let them pass…"

"Noted. This one will fail without going back to the academy then."

"Team six failed Hokage-sama."

"Team seven… passed. Don't even ask. The girls are the two worst fan-girls I've ever met, they are loud, obnoxious, and the boy is a loner. He completely disregarded them and tried to do everything by himself, while the girls were more than ready to work with him, even together. But I must admit, the brat is talented. In the end, I ended up tying him to the post, that could have been a mistake, the girls were more than happy to feed him…"

"I see. I hope you'll take their training seriously, Kakashi."

"Of course, Hokage-Sama, I take everything seriously."

The faces on everybody in the room at this answer was enough to make Kakashi sweat drop.

"Of course, Kakashi, we really believe you. Let's just continue. Kurenai?"

"Team eight passes with flying colours. The team showed a real synergy, and the three Genins were more than ready to work together." Kurenai answered, the smirk still plastered on her face.

Iruka couldn't resist to ask. "What do you mean, three? Don't you mean four?"

"What? No, of course not. Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Naruko Uzumaki. See. Three."

"But… Who's Naruko? And where was Yuri?"

"Oh. That? Not really important. You see 'Naruto' was a girl all along, and since Naruko didn't want to be sabotaged too much, she decided to go at the Academy henged into a 'Yuri Nakajima', but since 'Naruto' couldn't just disappear, she sent a clone henged into a boy at the same time, instructed to be as visible as possible, so she could live her school life peacefully. See, nothing important, details. Don't bother with such minor things."

The silence that fell on the room was nearly palpable. Even the root agent that was hiding in a corner actually showed some emotions. It took Anko rolling of the floor laughing to snap all of them out of their stupor.

"You mean the girl actually did a four years long infiltration mission, fooling everyone, while not even being Genin?" a Jonin commented.

"Not everyone" the Hokage answered. "Only Anko and I were in the known. I think she could even have done it without my help, but I eased things around for her. But yeah. This girl could clearly be an infiltration specialist in the future if that's her wish, but I don't really think it is, she only did it out of necessity."

Iruka, for his part, was still out of it. He was the one in this room who had spent the most of time with both of them, and he would have never suspected a thing. He was trying to search into his memory for any hint, any error, anything, and couldn't find anything. Yuri and Naruto had simply nothing in common.

"Anyway" the Hokage continued "That was for team eight. Asuma?"

"Team ten easily passes too. I was surprised, but they work well together, the Nara is a lot more motivated than what I was expecting, and he seemed happy that there were no 'troublesome women'. Kiba didn't seem to enjoy that as much, but his 'pack mentality' quickly took over."

"Okay, so, we have team four, seven, eight and ten. You all know your jobs. Iruka, don't forget to speak with Yuki Hidemi. You are all dismissed."

oOoOo

Anko and Kurenai were walking together out of the Hokage's tower after the meeting.

"You really pulled a nice one over me with this one, you know? Tonight, no dango for you!"

"Hey! I really wanted to tell you, but it was not my secret to tell. But okay, no dango tonight."

"What? No fight about it?"

"No, I was expecting it so I went and eat my share before the meeting."

"You are so not fun…"

"I know, so, what did you think of your team?"

"This will be a great team. I know Shino the less, but he seems more than willing, and the Aburame have always been a powerful bunch."

"Can I give you an advise about Naruko, being the one who knows her the best?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Don't wait until Chunin to test her elements. The girl is a prodigy in Ninjutsu. She was a pain to teach in Kunai and Shuriken, no real talent there, but in Ninjutsu… Her first Kage Bunshin had three successes, and that was one week after unlocking her chakra. The day she unlocked it, on her seventh birthday, she was already making a believable henge. And since she's not really talented in Taijutsu and Kunai, as I said, she will really need some Ninjutsu to have some way of attacking efficiently."

"I see. Thanks for the advice. It's true that I would probably have waited a bit. Fresh Genins usually don't have enough chakra for us to bother with elements that soon, but it's clearly not something to worry about with her."

"Okay, perfect! Then let's go to dangos!"

"No no no, nice try, but I didn't forget!"

"Damn."

oOoOo

Hinata was standing in front of her father. Her team meeting has been several hours ago, and once back home, she spent some time watching her sister's training. Then, ten minutes ago, her father summoned her in his office.

"So, Hinata, how did your team placement go?"

"Very well, father. As I said, I was the second best Kunoichi, but I learned today that I apparently had the same overall score than the Rookie of the Year, the Uchiha."

Hiashi was looking at his daughter, a hint of pride in his eyes. The Uchiha and Hyuga always had a bitter rivalry due to their Dojutsu, and he was proud that his daughter gave the arrogant pampered prince a run for his money. "Very well. And who is on your team?"

"Our sensei is Kurenai Yuhi, that you already know. Then for the other Genins there is Shino Aburame. He is a quiet boy, but efficient, as most Aburame as far as I know."

Hiashi just nodded. Despite the 'bugs' stigma, the Aburame were an honourable bunch, and it was better to have them on their side than against.

Hinata couldn't wait to drop the bomb, but still kept her composure. "And my other Teammate is the Kunoichi of the Year, Naruko Uzumaki."

For the first time in his life, Hiashi was truly surprised, and actually did look the part. "Wait, what?"

"Well, you know how I was friend with Naruto? Well, he never existed. He was a clone that was just here to draw attention from the real Uzumaki, Naruko, while she was impersonating Yuri Nakajima."

Hiashi didn't know what to think. He knew that his father, no scratch that, he knew that 'her' father was not to be underestimated, but that was something else. He had a full team of Hyugas observing the boy regularly for God's sake! Nobody never reported anything suspicious, just that the boy was loud and only average in talent, while in reality, it was a girl that was talented enough to best both the Uchiha brat and his own daughter? What the hell was going on? How could that even be possible? How did she manage to fool everybody for four years?

"And how do you feel about that?"

"Oh, I already knew. She told it to me several years ago because she didn't want me to feel betrayed once the truth got out."

"And you didn't report it because?"

"Because it was not my place to say. We Hyuga are honourable, we don't go blabbing secrets around, even to our own father. If people thought that the Hyuga couldn't keep their mouths as shut as their emotions, we would be the laughing stock of the village." Hinata answered with certainty in her voice.

"Very well. You gave me a lot of things to think about, you can go now."

"Thanks father, have a good night."

"Oh, and, Hinata?"

"Yes father?"

"I'm proud of you."

The smile that Hinata had when she left the room wasn't huge, but it was real.

oOoOo

"So, Shino, how did your team placement go?"

"It went well. At first, it was strange. Why? Because we were in a team of four Genins, and it seemed illogical. But when we were meeting with the teacher, I learned that both Nakajima Yuri and Uzumaki Naruto were the same person, named Uzumaki Naruko. So, I felt better. Why? Because it was way more logical to be in a team of three, as per usual."

"I see. So, the Uzumaki boy was a girl all that time. It seems logical that she would pretend to be a boy, then. Why? Because she would be in danger otherwise. And what do you feel about the team as a whole?"

"Satisfied. I think we can work pretty well together. Why? Because the girls are serious and motivated, and our abilities will work well together, so it seems logical to be satisfied."

"I see. You can go and continue your activities then."

"Very well."

oOoOo

The following day, all members of team eight met at the designated time. Kurenai wanted to start by testing them, in strength, speed, stamina and taijutsu.

After the tests, noticing that Naruko was way ahead both in strength and speed, she asked the girl if she could explain.

"Well, I couldn't before, since Yuri was not an Uzumaki, but I guess I can now. You see, when I was with Anko, we went to Waves during her ten days mission, and we found some Uzumaki Fuinjutsu scrolls. One of the seals taught was a Resistance seal that you put on your body. Then, by gathering chakra into it, you increase the resistance of your muscles a little bit, increasing both your strength and your chakra control. I could actually put in on Hinata, it would be of great help with her specialty, but I don't know how it would work for Shino."

"It wouldn't. Why? Because we feed our insects with our chakra, so we have too little to feed into a seal."

Kurenai and Naruko nodded. Hinata, for her part, was thinking that it could be of great help. She had excellent chakra control, but if this could increase her speed and strength, as a taijutsu specialist, she would be a fool to pass the opportunity.

"Yes, I would like that Naruko, that would be of great help."

Kurenai then added. "Would it be possible to do it on me too? As a genjutsu specialist, I don't often need to go in close range, but I could always use the speed to get out if things go south."

"Sure, if you want to come to my apartment at the end of the training day, I will draw the seals tonight. They are really easy to use and even easier to stop using."

Kurenai smiled. "That would be of great help for the team. Now I want to discuss what you would like to learn during our trainings sessions? Do you want to improve your skills, learn more things?"

Hinata started. "I mostly want to improve my taijutsu… And maybe learn some ninjutsu in secret. It breaks the Hyuga tradition, but I think that could be useful as a trump card."

Kurenai nodded while Naruko was thinking that she would need to have a lengthy conversation with Hiashi.

"I just want to train my bugs; I can't really learn Ninjutsu. Why? Because I don't have enough chakra, it would be illogical to waste it."

"Shino, I was wondering, is there a particular wood that your insects like to live in when they are not inside you?"

"Yes, there is a species of trees that we grow in our garden that our insects like. Why? Because their wood is really rich in chakra."

"Did you think about crafting a bo-staff out of this wood? So you could keep it with you, learn Bojutsu to fight with it, and use it to drop insects on your enemy with each hit. You could stay a bit further in range than usual and maybe even reinforce the bo to use it as a defence."

Shino thought about what the girl just suggested, and had to admit that it was a good idea and she made fair points. It would also increase the number of insects that he could carry. "Thank you, Uzumaki-san, It's a good suggestion. I will share that idea with my father. Why? Because he's the clan leader and is the one who makes decisions."

Kurenai then looked at Naruko. "And you?"

"Well, I have several objectives, and for once, I'm not limited anymore by my promise of not using more than five clones at once, so now, I can probably work on several things at the same time!"

"How many clones can you do?" Hinata asked, a bit curious.

"You know what? I never tried… As I said, I promised to Anko that I would limit myself to that amount until the end of the Academy, so I guess I should try?"

Seeing the three others nodding, she concentrated more than usual, pushing a lot more chakra inside it when suddenly, around five hundreds Naruko filled the training ground. All were sitting on the floor, with the hint of a smirk on their faces.

"Hum, that will be a bit much, I guess I can use a bit less then." Naruko noted, thinking out loud.

Kurenai was actually gobsmacked "Are you ok? Don't you feel any chakra exhaustion?"

"What? Oh no, I could have done more, but I didn't want my clones to get out of our training ground. And as I said, working with five hundred would probably be a bit overkill, and a big strain on my brain." Naruko answered. She then stood up and ordered the clones to dispel by groups of twenty five at a time.

"So, Kurenai-sensei, to answer. I would like to work on ninjutsu in priority, and maybe on Kenjutsu too. I found a scroll on the Uzumaki Kenjutsu style, and I hoped it would be a better fit for me that the Taijutsu."

"I see. Well, I can't teach you Kenjutsu at all, but I have a friend that could. I'll see with her if she could come and give you some pointers during her free time. For ninjutsu, I'm not an expert either, but I know enough to teach the bases, but you will have to master them on your own. So tomorrow morning, I will bring chakra paper and we will check your affinities, even you Shino. Even if you don't learn ninjutsu, just knowing your element can bring some unknown advantages."

Shino nodded. There wasn't any disadvantage in knowing.

"For today, I propose that we start by a basic chakra control exercise, you probably have learn the leaf sticking exercise in the academy?" Seeing three nods, she continued. "We will try the next stage, the Kunai sticking exercise."

The three Genins looked at each other's and nodded. "Hum, I guess we all know it. Kurenai-sensei." Naruko interjected.

"Really? Well, do you know the tree-climbing exercise?" Kurenai asked and, again, she could see three nodding Genins.

"It's a common exercise to go and gather our first hive. Why? Because they are high in the trees."

"We learn it really soon to improve our control of the junken."

"With my chakra, I was obliged to focus on control most of my life."

Kurenai felt a little bit useless. "Water walking?" This time, only Naruko nodded. "Then we will start with that. Naruko, you can either help them by giving pointers, or by doing the same exercise, but with ten clones trying to distract you."

"Or I can do both." Naruko answered, making eleven clones.

"Or that… Then after Lunch, we will take our first mission." Kurenai added.

oOoOo

The water walking exercise went way better than expected. Both Shino and Hinata had naturally excellent Chakra control, so they made progress in strides, while Naruko was so used to dodge Anko's attacks that she did it without thinking.

But at the end of the training, during lunch, Naruko could notice that Shino had a bit of sweat on his forehead. Apparently, he had so little chakra that even that was exhausting.

"Shino, you know, you should ask your father for the resistance seal anyway. Even if you don't use much, the advantage of using it continuously will probably help increasing your reserves in the end, since it would be some chakra actually used, and not just eaten away. You can always ask him what he thinks about it."

"I will. I will ask him at the same time as the idea for the Bo-staff."

Naruko just nodded and finished her plate.

After lunch, they all went in the Hokage's office to get their first mission.

"Hello, Hokage-Sama" the Genins said in unison.

"We are coming for our first D-rank, Hokage-Sama." Kurenai added with a smirk.

Apparently, all the adults in the room were anticipating the outburst of disappointment from the Genins. It was probably the highlight of their day.

"Hello team Eight. First mission you say? I have… Hum… let see. Well, this one. Pulling the weeds out of the garden of Tsusumi-san."

Sadly, for the adults, a Hyuga would never complain in public, an Aburame wouldn't find any logical reason for complaining, and Naruko already knew what to expect.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." They all answered without hesitation.

In the end, it was the looks of disappointment on the adults' faces that made the Genins' day.

oOoOo

At the end of the day, after a boring and tedious mission, Shino went back to his home, while the three Kunoichis went to Naruko's apartment. Since Yuri's place was in way better shape that Naruto's one, she decided to keep this one.

She then drew the seals on each of them, on the shoulder blade for Kurenai, and for Hinata, on her hip, same place than herself.

She then instructed the girls on how to use them, how to stop using them, and more importantly, about her decision to never use them outside of the village or in a dangerous situation and the reasoning behind.

Both agreed totally with her opinion, and they separated, each going to their respective homes.

oOoOo

The following day, as planned, Kurenai wanted to test their affinities.

"This is a chakra paper. It will react to the nature of your chakra as soon as you concentrate some into it. The result is pretty easy to figure out. If it burns, you are of the fire element, obviously. If the paper gets wet, it's water. If the paper wrinkles, then you are lightning. For the wind, the paper would split in two, and finally, if it crumbles, then that makes you an earth user. With me so far?" Seeing the Genins' nods, she then handed one paper each and instructed them to do it one after another.

Hinata started, and the paper instantly became wet. Then Shino's paper crumbled in dust. Finally, Naruko's one did split in two, then each side became wet. She had to admit, she wasn't all that surprised. Naruko's part of her was probably the wind side, while Julie's part was the water. She probably should have expected it, but just the wind affinity would have already made her happy, so both were a really nice bonus.

"Well, dual affinity this soon is really good. Earth and water jutsus will be easy to find, but I will have to search a bit for some winds. Wind users are not that common in Konoha. Then, today, let's continue the water-walking."

oOoOo

The following weeks went in a blur. They all mastered the water-walking pretty quickly, then they all learned one jutsu of their element. Shino decided to focus on defence since the girls' types were more of the offensive type and learned the Earth Wall. It was a bit chakra consuming for him, but it was more a 'last resort' kind of Jutsu. Hinata and Naruko both learned the Water Bullet, and Naruko added the Greak Breakthrough.

They still had not mastered them at the end of the two first weeks, since they were also doing physical training, teamwork exercises, and D-rank missions, but they were working hard.

Shino's father thought that the Bo was an excellent idea, and he hired a Bo-instructor for his son to learn the style during his free time. On the other hand, they learned that any kind of seals on an Aburame would be disturbed by the constant movement of the bugs in their chakra network, so the resistance seal was not possible.

Twice thus far, Kurenai brought Yugao Uzuki, a member of the ANBU specialized in Kenjutsu, to give some training to Naruko. The process was slow but she was still making progress and was way more at ease with a sword than with her fists.

oOoOo

Several weeks after the formation of their team, at ten in the morning, team eight was coming back from the Hokage tower with a new mission, that nobody really wanted to do.

"Can someone explain me again how repainting a barn will help us once on the field? I think I may have missed that lesson in the academy." Naruko muttered with a frown.

Nobody answered, because it was mostly a rhetorical question, and they were all of the same opinion anyway.

It was when they passed in front of the training ground seven that Naruko detected something that made her react. Sasuke, Sakura and Ino were all sitting on the ground, grumbling about late senseis. Naruko thought about it a bit, and figured that, maybe, she could do something about it. She made a clone who went in the direction of the memorial stone.

Both Hinata and Shino detected the creation of the clone, so they looked at Naruko, wondering what she was doing.

She just pointed in direction of training ground seven and said "Going to try to wake up their sensei."

They both nodded and team eight continued to make its way towards one of the dreaded D-ranks.

oOoOo

Kakashi was standing in front of the memorial stone, thinking that he could probably wait a bit longer before needing to go meet his team.

"Aren't you Hatake Kakashi? Sensei of team seven."

Kakashi turned around and saw someone he was not expecting to see here. Naruko Uzumaki, daughter of his late sensei, even if he only learned it was a daughter several weeks ago.

"I am. And who might you be?" he asked with an eye smile.

The girl just raised an eyebrow. "You really are going to pretend you don't know my name? Seriously? How dumb do you think I am exactly?"

"Well, let me just ask what you are doing here, then?"

"Better. And to answer, I was walking alongside the training ground seven, and saw the team sulking, so I was wondering where their teacher could be, and now I found you. Wow. You really must love seeing names written in that stone."

"WHAT?"

"Isn't that true? Apparently, you are doing all you can to add three names on it."

"What the hell?"

"Well, you are not training them seriously, and instead, you are spending your time here. What do you think will happen the first time they will be on the field with the kind of non-training you are providing? Do you think they can survive on their own? Do you think you can protect them all? How did that work for you until now, protecting others? Are you even training yourself seriously, so you can protect them? Are you on peak condition?"

Kakashi was at a loss for words "But…"

"There's no but. As a teacher, you are responsible for their lives, and can you honestly say that you are taking that responsibility seriously? And I don't know what names you're paying homage to, but how do you think they would feel? Do you think they would feel honoured, knowing you are abandoning your living comrades to spend time with the dead?"

"I AM NOT ABANDONING MY COMRADES!"

"Really? Aren't your three students waiting for you, alone in field, while you are here, late, without any good reason? Isn't that the exact definition of abandoning? What new skill do they have now that they didn't have at the end of the academy?"

Kakashi actually sighed "But you don't know what it is, the girls don't even try to make an effort."

"Because you do? Did you even try to talk to them?" The silence was an answer enough "I spent four years with them, so I know perfectly what it is, and I also know how to wake them up. I wanted to do it earlier, but they saw me as a girl their age and as a rival for their precious 'Sasuke-kun', so they would have never listened to me, thinking I was trying to trick them or some bullshit. You just need to talk the same language. You take them both on the side, without Sasuke, and you tell them that Sasuke is the last Uchiha, that he will need one day to rebuild his clan, and for doing that, he will only choose amongst the strongest, so he will be sure his children will have strong genetics. That an Uchiha will never be interested in a 'damsel in distress'"

Kakashi was thinking seriously about what she was saying. It could actually work.

"You can even try to fuel their jealousy, mention Hinata and me, say that for the moment, since we are the strongest Kunoichis among the year, we are probably the best candidates as a future miss Uchiha." Naruko couldn't suppress a shiver at the thought. "But whatever, don't say that in front of Sasuke, he will deny that he will ever be interested in them, it will be counterproductive. Then you just have to warn the two fan-girls that the Uchihas are interested in actions, not in words, so that pestering him for dates instead of training seriously actually lower their chances in the long-term."

Kakashi nodded.

"But all of that would be totally useless if you, on your side, are not doing your best too. Look at the names, would they really want you to be here all day long? Is standing her like a lost puppy is really the best way of paying them homage? Is doing all you can to send them the company of three Genins fulfilling their wishes? You really need to get your shit together, because you'll soon have three new names to use as an excuse to be late." And with these parting words, Naruko disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi actually crouched on the floor, letting out a deep breath.

'Fuck, it was even worse than when I was scolded by Minato. It was like the words of Minato, with the energy of Kushina… Shit, she'll be scary later…'

Kakashi looked at the stone in front of him. "She's right you know. You would be so proud of her. I really have to take care of the livings too. Obito would really hate me, I really have been lower than trash. I'll come see you again, but not in a long while. It's time to stop being in the past." He seemed to hesitate a second. "But I won't abandon my porn…" and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.