Strength of Fist and Heart
Darklion74

A/N: Yeow! Over forty-reviews in this chapter, and some of the critical reviews are pretty good. In looking over a few of the overall reviews here, there have been a few who may not have understood that the last chapter had taken place one year before the manga, as Naruto and Haku have returned earlier. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, et al were in the class before Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, Naruto and Haku in this fic.

As for eventual pairings... you will have to wait and see.

Chapter Eight
Who is My Superior??

Umino Iruka had a bit of a pressing problem this year, since all of his genin students had passed. He was pleased when he saw Uzumaki Naruto actually struggle but create three viable bunshins, though it looked like it tired him out. It was good to him that Naruto, being a somewhat bright individual had a chance at being a shinobi, especially as he struggled during the month he was brought into the graduating class of the academy. A ninja with little ability, but one with great potential, at least that was Iruka's opinion based on what he had seen.

Haku, on the other hand, had stunned the class by creating five mizu bunshin as if it were nothing, and was given the honorary rank of class salutatorian, just being Hyuuga Neji, since he wasn't there for the entire year. Iruka felt that Naruto's foster brother was a godsend to the leaf, getting an otherwise mist-nin type of style to add to the arsenal of Konohagakure. If Iruka only knew he saw a little less than a fifth of the nin's current ability.

Iruka had no idea that the boys were technically already genins on the rolls of the Leaf, and elite genins at that, having earned no command rank but completing a very high class mission even before they were officially granted the rank of genin by passing the exams, and possibly may be called on to do high class missions aside from the ones their teams would do.

Still he had the duty of trying to set up teams and he was given one instruction by the Hokage at this point in creating the teams, something that was without precedent in any chuunin instructor's tenure. Regardless, as a chuunin, he wasn't about to cross the Hokage. Especially with the story a little less than a month back, that a chuunin instructor was incarcerated, as well as severely beaten up by a pair of hidden rank shinobi, probably ANBU, but he wasn't certain of the details. All Iruka knew is that the instructor was his assistant, Mizuki, and was disappointed that Mizuki would do something just to gain power.

The instruction was to make sure Haku and Naruto were not on the same team, not yet in any case. An odd instruction if he ever found one since he felt the two nin balanced each other out perfectly with one of average ability. Still, while odd, it was hardly insurmountable; he just had to shuffle things around. Teams were made of nin of high ability, average, and low.

He chuckled, as he knew exactly where to place the two. He also chuckled at the fact that the real exam was about to begin.

Class started the following morning in mostly the same way, since most of the students from the previous class graduated. Hyuuga Neji was already there an hour or so early, considering the peace of the classroom when nobody was there a fitting sanctuary for his private thoughts and meditation. Haku also came in fairly early, but usually followed very closely by a female mob trying to find a way to date the enigmatic youngster. In truth, while he liked most of them, he didn't really care to start dating right now, as he had too much on his mind. Naruto was surprisingly not the last one in today, as Tenten came in just behind the blonde.

Tenten for the past month had been determined to find out more about the blonde dummy and his genius foster brother. She had found out that they were not ordinary academy students, but even in the past month, she had little time to find out more since she did have to study for the genin exams, which she had passed.

Iruka came in and with a bit of a bang on the desk quieted everyone down. "OI! Quiet down you brats! Well, I suppose I should say congratulations on graduating, but your real challenge begins now as you have attained the first real rank of the shinobi. Each of you will be placed on a team of three, which is balanced by ability. After I have announced the teams, your jounin sensei will be introduced one by one."

Iruka then picked up the final team sheet he had created last night, as the class was getting anxious. Even Naruto and Haku were nervous, forgetting that they could have found out the information any one of ten different ways. Iruka started to call out the names, and the cheers and groans had begun.

"Team Four: Rock Lee..."

The green suited kid with the bowl haircut, fuzzy eyebrows, strange eyes and a dazzling smile jumped up in excitement with an enthusiastic cheer.

"PIPE DOWN, Lee! Next is... ummm... (sigh) Umino Haruka!"

The red-haired kid, barely six years of age, jumped up and down with even more excitement than Lee, saying that she was going to be the best in the world, as her hair was braided back to avoid it going into her eyes.

"Ahem! Sit down, squirt! Lastly, Momochi Haku!"

Naruto stood up in shock, as Haku himself was shocked and somewhat crestfallen. The brothers who had done so much together were being separated into different teams. Both ninja sighed sadly then sat down, knowing that this was an inconvenience, but not a farewell. The female side of the class was shocked, and angered that the 'kid' of all people got to be with their Haku. They were quietly starting their plans on how to do away with their annoying former classmate.

Upon the completion of the naming of team four, the door opened, and a voice issued dramatically from the doorway. "Ha Ha! I have heard my calling and have come to answer it, to teach three shining stars to be the best that they can be, if not far, far better, for I am the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha..."

Then a man in a large green suit, with the same haircut as Rock Lee, the same bushy eyebrows, but fairly normal eyes came in with the flourish of the kaiten, the heavenly spin and a theatrical bow. "...Maito Gai!"

The entire class blinked at the entrance of the green-clad jounin. Rock Lee already had stars in his eyes, as he felt that this HAD to be his sensei. The attraction of student to teacher, as a son would love a father was already felt.

Momochi Haku had made the calculations and merely banged his head on the desk, and shook his head pitiably. It was without a doubt that he was stuck with THIS lout as a jounin-sensei, and he was not certainly happy about it.

"Kuso!"

The female mob became compassionate, and tried to comfort their distressed idol of crazed fandom, forgetting their competitive streak against one another.

As Gai lit up his radiant smile, a smile that could blind a room with the brightness of his teeth alone, he felt a small tug at his pants and looked down to see little Haruka with her hitai-ate of the leaf on there, her face in a small frown. "And what do we have here? A little child who wants to play at being a ninja... isn't that cute! But you realize that you should not be trying to impersonate a genin after..."

While Gai was speaking, he was also patting Haruka's head, not quite noticing that the girl was getting angrier by the second, or that her eyes were beginning to glow.

Iruka tried to interject. "Ummm... Maito-san, you were supposed to come in after I finished the list..."

Gai merely waved Iruka off. "I know the technicalities, Iruka-kun, but nothing should impede the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha from getting to know his students. I see that there's quite an attractive young man there, just waiting to be taught the secrets of fighting from the greatest jounin in all of the Leaf! And I see another of my students, strangely distressed, but being comforted by friend. Fear not! For I will teach you to be a shining star of a shinobi!"

Rock Lee was pleased beyond measure at Gai's words. Haku had turned from distressed to suicidal giving a look toward his brother that said only one thing: 'SAVE ME!'

Naruto looked back with an easy look and a smile then pointed at Haruka, as he began to duck under his desk.

Haku looked incredulous until he saw the gleaming glow of fiery chakra emanating from the six-year old prodigy. He gulped, having seen this before and ducked under his desk, taking cover. The girls thought this was an invitation until they felt the heat of the chakra from where they were, then noticed the angry girl with the braid, and they too ducked under their desks, suddenly fearful for their lives, as they screamed in terror.

The terrified screams caught the attention of the rest of the class, as they too screamed and ducked under their desks, wondering when the nightmare would be over.

Gai looked on with befuddlement as he continued to pat the head of Haruka, not knowing that the sheer level of chakra that the little girl was emanating was slowly burning his hand. Iruka gulped and said one last thing before ducking behind his desk.

"Gai-sensei, Kami have mercy on your soul!"

Gai was even more puzzled then looked at the little fireball he was petting and smiled, not knowing he was looking death straight in the eye. "AH! I recognize you now, Haruka-chan! I didn't know you were in this class, you've grown so much in such a short time! How wonderful that... ummm... Haruka?"

Gai got the message a little too late as Haruka unleashed her strongest jutsu. "Kasainami no Toukai!"

A tremendous wave of fire struck the hapless jounin into the chalkboard, not only burning him, but also starting to crush his bones. A few more seconds and the jounin would be dead. Haku had a bit of hope in him, but it was dashed when Iruka came out with the one word that would change everything.

"Cookie?"

Haruka immediately stopped her fiery rampage and ran to her elder cousin with a smile on her face. "COOKIE!" She scarfed down the sugar cookie with a smile and a giggle, as the mention of sugary confections always calmed down the flame-haired little girl. As she bounced up and down with delight, crumbs on her chin.

Haku looked up from the desk as Gai fell from the chalkboard and onto the unforgiving tiled floor. His hopes were dashed as Gai started to breathe normally, albeit unconscious.

Naruto merely chuckled a bit at the whole thing, earning a baleful glare from his elder foster brother. Iruka, having made a copy of the list that was destroyed by his cousin's infantile outburst began to read off of that and started to list off a few more teams, then getting to just about the last one.

"Team Nine: Ikegata Tenten..."

Tenten, who was staring blankly at the destroyed desk, chalkboard and wall, finally focused on Iruka-sensei.

"...Hyuuga Neji..."

Both Neji and Tenten groaned, as neither really liked the other, as Tenten acted too much like a girl and not a shinobi for Neji's likes, and Neji acted like a stuck up prick according to Tenten.

"...and Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto blinked, as he was going to be paired with both the girl who would not leave him alone and the valedictorian of the class, the one who always watched him with suspicion and distrust. He began to envy Haku a little bit, since at least his brother's team was going to be easier for the genius to manage, than the one that Naruto found himself in.

This time the window opened and another jounin made a startling entrance. This time a cloak exploded into a sign that introduced her as a jounin sensei. This person had a mischievous grin and a smart look to her eyes. Her hitai-ate was on her head, and a tan overcoat over her uniform. Iruka merely sighed and put his head on the desk again, wondering if the other jounin were going to be as problematic as these two are.

"So, I hear I have a few bright students, eh? These names look familiar, Hyuuga, Ikegata, and... what?"

She looked up to find a face she had not seen for nine years, a face she thought that belonged to a corpse she could never forget. Her eyes widened momentarily before her trained shinobi instincts controlled the level of her surprise.

Tenten watched the strange ninja make her entrance then turned to her blonde-haired teammate only to see him stare with shock, and perhaps even a little fear. The jounin and her new genin student locked a gaze of shocked terror for one painful second, before she regained her composure, but he kept the look for an additional second before he recovered.

The jounin gave a smile then just gave a few words, ending with a wink. "Team nine, meet at the edge of the town park, six o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Don't be late!" With that, she vanished.

Iruka quietly finished the list as the class was suitably subdued after the last entrances of both jounin. He indicated to team four and team nine that they were dismissed until tomorrow, but urged the remaining students to wait until their sensei arrived. As Naruto and Tenten left, she tapped him on the shoulder. Naruto nervously looked back at his now new teammate.

"Naruto? Did you meet our new sensei before?"

Naruto blinked, remembering the face, but not sure if it was really her, the one that tried to kill him so many years ago. He had a very uneasy look on his face, and his normal bravado was strangely absent. "I'm not sure... maybe when I was really young, but I can't remember."

Naruto then looked off resolutely in the distance as he began to walk toward his house. Tenten raised a hand as if to touch Naruto on the shoulder, trying to tell him that it was okay, that she was there for him if he needed anything, but she held back, not sure how he would react, and merely gave a pained look to the street. Naruto then looked back and saw the pained look.

"Nani, Tenten-san? What's wrong?"

Tenten gulped and chuckled nervously, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Oh! Nothing! Just... ummm... nervous about tomorrow I guess."

Naruto's enhanced senses detected while that in itself was mostly true, it wasn't the true answer to his question. Then again, Tenten was always a lousy liar, so it didn't take enhanced senses to detect this. But they then separated and then waved their goodbyes. They had become friends over the past month, but nothing more than that, even with Tenten's fascination with Naruto's past remaining.

Umino Iruka had quietly returned to his office, sighing, rejoicing inwardly that finally, he had a small vacation coming to him at the end of the academic year. But as he opened the door for his office, he heard quiet bouts of crying, mostly quick breaths, sniffling and the occasional whine. He turned and expected to find a failed student that he would have to console, but instead found out that it was the same voice that cried the same way nine years ago after finding out that Naruto was supposedly killed.

It was the quiet crying and tears of the blonde genin's new sensei, Mitarashi Anko. As she looked up to see who it was, her crying became louder and she immediately went over to cry into the shirt of her kouhai, as the mental anguish of nine years began to pour out. It would not be healed immediately, but it healed slowly over time yet now, she was in the position of being the sensei of the kid she tried to kill as a toddler so long ago.

To Anko, it was going to be a living hell to look into the face of that sweet innocent boy day in and day out.

Yet she also saw he was no longer the innocent little boy, he had grown in ways others had not seen. She knew he was holding back, on purpose, but not sure as to why. She also knew that what she would give them tomorrow would be like unlike anything she ever gave before. The road to redemption would have to wait, forever if need be, for their mettle needed to be tested to see if they could survive as genin...

...to see if they could ever possibly survive him.

Naruto had an uneasy sleep as he tossed and turned in bed. Disjointed images, of a wall, trees, snakes, foxes, wolves... of kunai, shuriken, needles... of happy faces, saddened ones, ones he misses, and the faces of those wanting the boy dead. As the surreal experience continued, the face of Mitarashi Anko appeared as she was today, and the face of the woman, torn between killing him and letting him go, and both faces, one younger and one older... were both the same.

Naruto awoke with a start, as he saw that it was almost six o'clock, as his memories went into a bit of a whirl as he got dressed, poured hot water onto his ramen, ate then got going. His mind was still reeling a bit when something from within him growled as he sped off toward the meeting place.

"Calm down, brat. I know this woman who is to be your jounin superior was only a tool of the damn snake, but it doesn't make it any easier. One thing I do remember is that seal and her scent. She was taught by the snake, that's for certain, and more likely than not, developed some of his talents."

Naruto kept a straight face as he spoke inwardly with the fox. "Taught by the snake, you say, furball? So she was Orochimaru's student... Jiraya and Okaasan never said too much about him except that he was very dangerous and the last member of their team under the Hokage, a long time ago. Say, why are you being so helpful after being silent for so long?"

"Not by choice, kid, but really by necessity. If it were up to me I'd find a way to keep control of you, and find a way to have my vengeance on these creeps. If she's anything like that snake, her test is going to be anything but normal. It'll probably be beyond anything you ever face and will force you to close a few weaknesses in your own technique."

"My weaknesses? What do you mean, I thought Okaasan and Jiraya took care of those."

"Many of them, yes. I won't give away everything but I will give this advice: believe nothing that you see, and even less of what you hear. That's it, kid. Don't get killed."

With that, the growling voice within went silent as it left Naruto to ponder those words as he met up with everyone, even the distant look of his jounin superior, Mitarashi Anko. Without looking back at anyone, she nodded. "Welcome to your first mission, Team Nine. Before we go on, I'd like to know a little bit about each of you, your likes, dislikes, dreams, and fears."

Tenten, while a bit tired from being unable to sleep much the previous night gave an incredulous look to her new sensei. "If you don't mind, sensei, I think we should know a bit more about you as well."

Neji, while keeping quiet and distant just nodded and Naruto leaned against the tree, apparently staring off into space, the words of the fox still bouncing off in his head.

Anko turned around with a bit of a glare at Tenten, but nodded, as she didn't like to talk about herself all that much at all, before settling with a fierce smile. "Fine, my name is Mitarashi Anko. Like all of you, I have my own dreams, and my own fears. What I like and dislike will become apparent as time goes along. Now, you, with the meatballs on your head, lets hear about you first."

Tenten bristled inwardly at the insult by the jounin. "Very well, Anko-sensei. My name is Ikegata Tenten. I like showing how strong a woman can be, and people who are honest about themselves. I dislike anyone saying otherwise about women, as well as people insulting my hairstyle. My dream is to be as strong as the legendary Sannin, Tsunade."

Anko wasn't quite expecting that response, but kept her smile. 'I thought she would have been a bit more air-headed. Guess she does have some things straight. May not help her though.'

She then turned to Neji. "Okay, now you, Hyuuga."

Neji looked neutrally upon the strange jounin. "My name is Hyuuga Neji. What I like, dislike and what I fear are none of your business, jounin. My dream however is to remove the shackles placed upon the branch families by the main family of the Hyuuga clan."

Anko merely smirked in response. 'A kid with a tough act. Though I gotta admit, with the proper use of the Byakugan, he might be able to back it up.'

Anko paused for a moment then began to tap her foot. "Anytime, blondie."

Naruto glanced over at Anko with a curious look. "I thought you knew me, already, seeing as though we already met... considering you were one of the shinobi who tried to kill me nine years ago. But then you never took the time to get to know me. Only on what you thought I was."

Anko was taken aback inwardly, but kept a neutral face otherwise, yet the following words he spoke would stuck with her during her entire life as the glared at her with fierce and angered passion in his voice.

"Who I am is Uzumaki Naruto, the one whom the Villagers of the Leaf tried to murder when I was only two years old, the son of the Yondaime Hokage. My likes and dislikes will become apparent as time goes on. My dream is to become the Hokage, so that I may continue on my father's noble work. My fear is what would happen if someone like your sensei ever tried to control the leaf... and I will make sure that never happens."

Anko's facade of being indifferent broke slightly as her eyebrows shifted. She then closed her eyes and nodded. 'Nicely put, kid. Whoever raised you did a damn good job. If I could ever undo the evil done to you... I would in a heartbeat. But in order to mold you, I need to perform even more evil on you. I hope you can forgive me for this, someday.'

Anko then lifted her head and gave a devious smile. "Very well. Your first mission today is item recovery."

Neji grunted. "What do you mean item recovery? We did a number of those in the academy."

Tenten nodded fervently. "That's right! What type of mission is this?"

Naruto just remained quiet, as the words of the fox were becoming a bit more clear. "There's something more to this mission than just recovery, there has to be."

Anko grinned. "Better and better, kid, but I'm not going to give away too much, except for this. This is the same mission being given to everyone, just in different ways. The failure rate is 66%, and those who fail, go back to the academy."

Tenten widened her eyes in shock and screamed out "WHAT!" Neji and Naruto looked at each other and sighed, both of them expecting something like this.

Anko then smiled a malicious grin. "But yours is an easy mission, at least, I think it will be. There's a small golden watch in the forest just behind me. At six thirty, the mission begins. From that time, you have until eight o'clock to return the watch to me, and you must all return. If anyone is left in the forest by the time eight o'clock strikes, or if the watch is still there, you all fail. That's it, kids, mission starts in three minutes, so get ready."

With that, Anko vanished in a puff of smoke. As the three kids looked at each other incredulously, none of them were certain what to expect. But one of two things were certain, either this was going to be very easy, or unfathomably hard.

Tenten hoped for the former.

Naruto and Neji expected the latter.

Well kids, sorry for the wait, but it took awhile to make this chapter with all the chaos that is going on. However, the Genin Exam from Hell will begin soon! I was thinking of putting it into this chapter, but I feel I kept everyone waiting long enough, and it may give me time to create a far more detailed examination than I may have originally planned. Kyuubi however has run afoul of Mr. Snuggles and is thus unable to answer reviews this week, but I thank everyone for reviewing, as I was not expecting this many reviews!

I hate cutting this short, but unfortunately, I'm currently looking for employment and that is taking a bit of my time, so I just don't have the energy at this point. I hope everyone understands and I hope Kyuubi is well enough to discuss reviews with everyone next chapter. Please review and stay stuned for the Genin Exam from Hell!