Disclaimer: I do not own any wrights to Naruto or Shadow Skill. I merely use their characters and themes for entertainment purposes.

The day for Tsunade's inauguration finally came. Everyone in the village turned out for the ceremony. As the populace looked up at the sight of the Third passing on the triangular Kage hat and his duties to Tsuande, many of the older shinobi could not help but remember a similar scene several years ago when the Third did the same for the Fourth. All whom watched the ceremony prayed that, as similar fate would not befall the Fifth.

Up on top of the Hokage Tower just below the stone visages of the previous Hokages. Tsunade gave her speech to the village. "My predecessors have all said that people are truly at their strongest when they are protecting those precious to them," Tsuande spoke loudly. "To be the Hokage means that every one in this village becomes their precious person. For that reason the Hokage must be at their strongest whenever the village is threatened, and is not a position to be taken lightly. I, Tsunade, granddaughter of the First Hokage and student of the Third Hokage gladly take the position of the Fifth Hokage to ensure the continued protection of Konoha." With her speech concluded everyone raised their voices in cheers at their new Hokage.

After the cheers died down and the new Fifth Hokage left the crowd began to disperse. All were eagerly commenting about how Tsunade looked during her speech. Many of the women commented that she retained the grace of lady with power of the kunochi. Some of the men commented that she positively gorgeous in the Hokage Robes. And the perverts were commenting about how her chest was still easy to be seen even from far distance and under the Hokage's robes, they were often smacked by a woman that was close enough to hear.

Among the last to leave the area were Naruto and Hinata. Both had stayed behind for the simple reason that they wished to talk for a while. They had not had much opportunity to talk over the past couple of days and probably would not for a while because of Naruto's new position. "When do begin your training Naruto-kun?"

"Tomorrow actually," Naruto answered. "Today I meet up with my team and we get to know each other a little." He thought for a minute and smiled, "Kind of reminds me of when we were Gennins in a way."

"I understand Naruto-kun," Hinata responded. "When I went into medical training I was assigned a small team as well. If fact from what I heard from the others all specialized divisions go through similar processes."

"Not surprising really," Naruto said, "People tend to learn more and better when they work in a unit."

Hinata nodded in agreement then asked, "What are you doing after until you meet your team?"

"Well that wont happen until later this after noon," Naruto answered. "But before I go meet them I need to pick up a weapon I ordered. I was told to come and check on it after a couple of days. I went to check on it yesterday and Tenten said it would be ready today." Naruto looked at Hinata for a minute and saw a bit of disappointment in her eyes, "But that should only take a few minutes, if you come with me we could get something to eat afterwards." Hinata's face brightened and she nodded in agreement.

Once they arrived at the weapons shop they were quickly greeted by Tenten, "Hey Naruto, Hinata. I got order right here." She reached under the counter and brought out sheathed combat knife with custom grip. "As per we discussed I made the grip to your hand, only you'll be able to hold it properly. I also incorporated a knuckle guard for a bit more protection."

"What about the pressure sensitive release?" Naruto asked.

"It's there," Tenten replied, "It would be useless to tell you how much pressure is needed to activate the release. The only way to find out is to do it. I can tell you that it takes a descent about but I would start with a firm grip then slowly increase the pressure while pulling against the sheath that way you can get a good idea how much it will take." Naruto took the advice and gripped the knife. As Naruto applied pressure to the handle he began to pull the sheath. After about ten seconds the blade came loose, when it did he examined the blade and noted it was the same one he looked at when he was with Sakura. Placing the blade back in the sheath Naruto tried again, it took him less time to figure out the pressure this time around. After three more repeated processes Naruto could grip the handle and pull out the blade with in less than a second. "I guess that about does it, after the deposit you made it will cost fifty thousand yen."

"Here," Naruto handed over the payment and then turned to Hinata, who was waiting patiently for the two to finish. "Shall we go, Hinata-chan?" Hinata smiled and followed him out of the shop. "So where do you want to go?"

"I know a place near by that is pretty good," Hinata answered. "I went there when Neji introduced me to Tenten." The place Hinata was talking about did not serve ramen and she knew that Naruto would be a bit upset but she was not really in the mood for ramen. She was also determined to widen Naruto's diet a little more.

"Ok lead the way then Hinata-chan," Naruto said.

After lunch with Hinata Naruto went off to meet his new team. He made his way into the administration building and towards the area dedicated to the Hunter-nines. When he entered the are he saw several people wearing masks like the Anbu but instead of having unique animal masks the assembled shinobi's masks were flat with just a little bit of coloring. As he was looking around a Hunter-nin along with a medium sized dog came up to him, "Uzumaki Naruto come with me?" the Hunter-nin spoke with a gruff voice but seemed to harbor no ill will towards the voice's intended listener.

Naruto complied and followed the one that addressed him over to a slightly taller Hunter-nin that appeared to be female. When the two got closer the female Hunter-nin took off her mask revealing a plain but not unattractive face with dark blue eyes. "Hello I'm Yamato, Tenko and I'll be the leader of you new team."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto greeted, "it's good to meet you. And who's this?" he asked gesturing to the third member of their party.

"You all ready know me Dobe," the person returned, "Though I probably shouldn't call you that any more." The Hunter-nin removed his mask revealing slited eyes with red triangular tattoos on his cheeks.

Naruto stared for minute trying to recall where he had seen this person before. After glancing at the dog for a minute and then back to smile showing the elongated incisors it dawned on him, "Kiba! I didn't know you became a Hunter-nin."

"Yeah well with me an Akamaru's tracking abilities it was a natural choice really," Kiba replied.

"Good you two know each other," Tenko said. "That saves us a bit of time." She began to walk off saying, "Common I'll tell you what you need to know while we go pick up your mask."

The three humans and the dog left the administration office and headed into town. Along the way Tenko began to talk a little about herself, "Well to start I'm actually only a little older than you are. Nineteen to be exact," she explained. "I've been in the Hunter-nins for about three years now and technically my rank in only Chunin. But that really doesn't matter with Hunter-nins."

"Oh why is that Tenko?" Naruto asked.

"Because among Hunter-nins its experience determines rank and matters most not rank of the shinobi," Kiba answered. "And since I've been one for a year you'll have to follow my orders, Jounin." Kiba smirked at the last part causing Naruto to sigh somewhat. Kiba always had a bit of a bossy attitude even before they became Gennins.

"Yeah and you're still under my command," Tenko joined in. "So shut up about it." Kiba flinched a moment and nodded silently, Naruto seeing his reaction smiled somewhat but was also nervous as well. From what he could remember not many people could make Kiba shut up. "Still Kiba is correct, he is your senior in the Hunter-nins. But that really won't matter because you'll both be under my command for a while."

Another few minutes past that consisted of Naruto answering Tenko's questions about himself until they arrived at ceramic shop near the center of town. "Is this where we're getting my mask?"

"Yep," Kiba answered. "They make all the masks for both Anbu and Hunter-nins for the entire village."

After the entered Tenko walked up to counter and said, "We need a Hunter-nin mask for him," pointing at Naruto.

"Ok, Ok," the old man behind the counter said. He went into the back and pulled out a box holding six masks. "Take you're pick."

Naruto examined the masks for moment and like the other Hunter-nin masks they were flat with only different paint on them. After glancing of over the masks Naruto saw one that had a red inverted triangle on at the top with in between the eyes and three black lines on the sides. "I'll take this one." He said picking it up.

Naruto was trying to figure out how to put it on his face when Tenko spoke up, "Just put it over your face, they have special jutsu that holds it there until you remove." Naruto nodded and put the mask on, to his slight surprise it held. When he turned to the others he saw them nod in agreement, "Nice choice, it seems to fit you. We may not get custom masks like the Anbu but each Hunter-nin tries to pick a mask that fits them best."

"Well now that's done," Tenko said, "We'll meet in the forest tomorrow to test your skills then we can go from there."

"Ok I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," Naruto said leaving the store and made his way to his apartment.

He was about half way home when an Anbu came up behind him saying, "The Hokage wishes to see you immediately." Without another word the Anbu disappeared.

"Wonder what the old man want now," Naruto thought, "Oops I guess it's old woman now." Naruto changed is direction and went to the Hokage Tower.

When he arrived the guards immediately let him in and to his surprise he saw the former Hokage, the current Hokage and Jiriaya all waiting silently for him to arrive. "Why did you guys want to see me?"

"Naruto," Tsunade spoke, "We called you here because we felt that it was time we told you about your family."

Naruto was taken back by the answer. No one had ever mentioned anything about his family before. In fact he just assumed that they died in Kyuubi attack. He never even bothered to ask if the Hokage knew who they were. Taking a deep breath he asked, "So what about my family?"

"First," the Third began, "Please understand that even we were not positive on whom your family was until a year after you disappeared and we did not tell you sooner because we…"

"Honestly did not know how to tell," Tsunade finished. Naruto nodded silently not really knowing what to say.

"Naruto," Jiraiya spoke, "A year after you left I was tracing some information that I had been trying to gather for a long time. As you know the Fourth was an orphan, as his sensei I always felt an obligation to try and find out where he was from. Even after he died I continued, mostly for myself I admit. During that time I came across some references to some nomads that had no affiliation to any nation or Shinobi Village. It turns out that the Fourth was a member of this tribe. He was the son of one of the tribe's leaders and was born in Konoha. Apparently they were here to negotiate a trade deal with Konoha, because of their life style that was how they made a living." Jiraiya paused and saw he had Naruto's undivided attention then continued, "details are unknown as to what happed to the party sent to Konoha, but along the way they were attacked and the only one to make it too the village was a woman carrying a small child in her arms. The woman died just as she entered the gates. The child was taken in by the village and raised to become the Fourth."

"What does this have to do with me?" Naruto asked in a quite voice. He had become adapt at putting things together over the years but the anticipation of learning about a family he never had overridden the deductive parts of his brain.

"We're getting to that," Tsunade answered, "Like Jiraiya the Fourth was also searching for his family. He never told anyone because if his family came from an enemy village then it could become a dangerous situation."

"It turned out that he had better luck than I did," Jiraiya said. "He found out about a year before the Kyuubi attacked and was planning to meet them. Because they had no loyalties to any village it would not be much of a problem. Through many correspondences they arranged a meeting and the tribe sent another party to Konoha, this time consisting of an elder sister to the Fourth. It turns out that siblings within the tribe could instantly tell each other if they ever got separated."

"Unfortunately," the Third continued, "On their way here they came across the Kyuubi and were attacked. The Fourth's sister was eight months pregnant at the time and attack sent her into labor. The two other survivors rushed her to Konoha." Naruto had at this point become completely stone quite. "I remember that the night the Kyuubi attacked I was talking with the Fourth when he suddenly stood and used his Shunsin no Jutsu and disappeared from the room. It was probably because he sensed his sister close by. He returned about an hour later carrying a baby in his arms and sounded the alarm of the Kyuubi's attack. Naruto that baby was you."

Naruto was completely silent for several minutes as he absorbed the information. The Fourth Hokage and him were related, not just related but he was the Fourth's nephew. "Are they…I mean is there…do you know where?"

Understanding what Naruto was trying to say Jiraiya answered, "The tribe is currently camped in Plains Country west of Wind Country."

"Do they know I'm alive?" Naruto asked finally regaining his voice.

"I'm afraid not," Jiriaya answered, "The last time I talked with someone from the tribe was about six months ago. And at that time I was still not aware of your true state. But you should know that I've already sent a message to them saying that you are still alive."

"Naruto I know you just began your new…" Tsunade began.

"Don't worry," Naruto said. "I won't leave." His statement caught the three off guard they had though Naruto would insist that he be allowed to go to them. "It wouldn't do much good to go there unless they know I'm alive first. So until you get a message back Ero-Sannin I will continue my duties at the village."

"You realize it could take several months for them to respond Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah," Naruto answered, "But I've been waiting most of my life to know my family, what's another couple of months. Besides the village needs me now. But if they send a message back I may request a leave of absence." The three smiled and nodded in understanding, "Now if there is nothing else, I have training in the morning and need to get some sleep."

"Very well Naruto," Tsunade smiled, "You're dismissed." Naruto nodded and exited the office. After he left Tsunade said, "I think that just proves more than anything else who will be the Sixth." Her two companions could not agree more with her statement.

The next day Naruto reported for his first day as a Hunter-nin. There he met up Kiba and Tenko and they got started. True to her words Tenko tested Naruto on his abilities that were required for Hunter-nins; tracking, stealth, individual combat, assassination, and even group combat. Naruto was able to past all the tests with little difficulty, except for the stealth, he had to avoid being tracked and caught by Kiba and considering Kiba was a natural tracker and one of the best among the Hunter-nins it was not an easy task. Even with the difficulty of the stealth portion Tenko was quite impressed by Naruto's performance. "You did well Naruto," Tenko said at the end of the day. "In fact I don't think you really need much instruction. The rest of you'll need, will be easily picked up after the first few assignments. Now the thing you'll need to remember is that a Hunter-nin can sometimes go several months with out getting an assignment or they can spend months on one. So you may not even get one for some time. So in between missions as a Hunter-nin you can often take missions open to your current rank. But your duties as a Hunter-nin come first so always report Hunter-nin office before you begin another mission."

"I understand," Naruto said.

"Good then I'll see you tomorrow," Tenko said. "Oh and Kiba, if we get a mission soon you might want to cut Naruto some slack at first after all he may get back at you if you go on a normal mission and he's your superior."

Kiba visibly paled at the comment and even more so when he saw the thoughtful expression and mischievous smirk on Naruto's face. "Say Naruto why don't we get some ramen and I tell you the different assignments you'll be working on."

"Sure," Naruto agreed.

At the ramen stand Kiba was explaining the different classes of Missing-nins, "So you D-Rank are usually ones that leave the village because they don't want to be shinobi anymore and go without permission. They're usually Gennin that have only minimal knowledge of the training methods. C-rank are shinobi that leave the village that are Chunin or above. They know training methods and can be considered a threat to villages. B-rank are usually Jounin or Anbu level that steal something from the village and try to sell it too another village. A-rank Missing-nins are also Jounin and Anbu that become a direct threat or have purposely killed members of the village. And S-rank are people that have committed crimes so horrible that all villages will kill them on sight if seen."

Naruto was nodding his head as he followed along, but when Kiba finished he had to ask, "Do we have to kill all Missing-nins we track down?"

"Well some villages do but we don't," Kiba answered. "We only kill ones that are B or above. D and C we either arrest them or put a special seal on them that keeps them from using jutsus or having their chakra pathways studied."

"Where did that jutsu come from?" Naruto asked.

"The Second made it," Kiba answered, "In fact it was the original idea for the Curse Seal of the Hyuuga Branch House."

"Yeah I remember Hinata-chan telling me that the Curse Seal was originally a binding seal given to those Hyuugas that were selected for duties outside the village," Naruto commented. "But after the division of the Main and Branch Houses was when the part that can cause death was added."

"That's the one," Kiba confirmed. "Well I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget until after you complete a few assignments on a team you won't do any solo work no matter how powerful you are."

"Thanks Kiba," Naruto replied, "I'll see you in the morning."

Naruto spent the next month and a half going on missions as both a Hunter-nin and a regular Jounin. He used experiences from both to complete the missions more efficiently. Thus only increasing is reputation as a very capable shinobi. He had mostly gone team missions as a Hunter-nin that involved more then one Missing-nin or an A-rank. But because of the skill he showed he was able to track the occasional B-ranks on his own. When he went on missions as a typical Jounin that required more than one person he would often find himself teamed up with Hinata as his medic. He figure that some higher power, Tsunade, had arranged these missions. For those that knew him and gave him the assignments knew he did not require a medic all that often. As a result Hinata would often become more of his combat partner than his medic. Another result of how much Naruto and Hinata were working together was they were becoming increasingly closer. If fact on one mission called for a pair to pose as newly-weds and of coarse they were selected.

That particular mission, while they were told it was a B-rank, it was nothing more than a C-rank at best. Apparently the hotel that requested the mission merely wanted to test their own security, and having two Jounin level ninja do the mission was more than excessive; having to give a full detailed report to Tsunade, even the sleeping arrangements, was more than enough to justify the classification. At least that's what Naruto and Hinata's impression was when they stood before the Hokage and saw her try, and fail, to keep from laughing during the report. They both vowed not to take any more missions that were from hotels that required a couple.

One day Naruto was called before Tsunade for a mission. There was no mention whether the mission would require him to be a Hunter-nin or not. Only that the Hokage had requested him directly. When he entered Tsunade's office he saw the typical sight of her avoiding work, "At least she's not sleeping this time," he thought. "You wanted to see me Hokage-sama."

"Yes Naruto," Tsunade said. "I have a mission for you that requires your unique position. News has reached us of a B-rank Missing-nin from Konoha. The problem is that the Missing-nin is in a far off country that does not have a shinobi village of it's own."

"Ok I understand you wanting a Hunter-nin for the job but why me?" Naruto asked.

"You did not let me finish," Tsunade said. "The B-class Missing-nin is only half the mission. An influential party in the Country also wishes to meet with someone from Konoha have sufficient rank that could negotiate a trade deal. Some one of at least Jounin level."

"I see," Naruto said, "And I'm the only Jounin level Hunter-nin available."

"That and the name Shadow Claw has certain influence in some areas," Tsunade said.

"I get the message," Naruto said. "So where…."

He was cut off when the door opened and someone else walked in, "Ah Hinata-chan glad you made it. I was just telling Naruto-kun about the mission you two will be going on."

Naruto looked at the Fifth with a frown, "This isn't another hotel mission is it?"

"No Naruto," Tsunade assured with a giggle after remembering how embarrassed the two were when she insisted on details from that mission, "Hinata, as the heir to the Hyuuga Clan will be going as a representative of Konoha Council. She is going for pure political reasons. It's only a coincidence that its her you are teaming up with." Naruto had a look that clearly said he did not believe her, but made no word of complaint either.

"Ok so back to my earlier question," Naruto said, "Where are we going?"

"You are going to Plains County," Tsunade said with a broad smile.

Naruto froze at the mention of the country after several seconds of silence he asked, "A…are you sure?"

"Yes," Tsunade said this time with a soft caring smile, "Jiraiya confirmed it himself. Once you arrive in Plains Country you are with the leader of Savil Tribe and get further details on the Missing-nin and then begin negotiations."

"I will take this mission Hokage-sama," Naruto said, "And thanks." Naruto bowed and took Hinata out of the room.