I don't own Naruto, but I love to read it

A/N: To make it clear to all of you before you read this chapter that I don't have a dislike for any female character in Naruto. I like all of them generally especially Kurenai(she looks nice, but Temari is still the best for me), Anko(She's just funny being the crazy woman that she is) and Temari(She's my favorite, she just looks so nice). As for what is the point of this reminder? Read the chapter to find out.

Prelude to the next chapter in their lives

"Its weird to what can happen in the span of twelve years." Uzumaki Shizune thought as she hanged the laundry to dry in her home in Konoha. The now wife and also mother of two happy little children was now there hanging the last of the laundry before taking her one day of the week of, Sunday.

As she finally sat down in the garden of her home she couldn't believe how things had developed. First all after her marriage she had moved with Naruto into Konoha only to become one of the heads of the medical division in Konoha as well as her husband becoming one of the more popular ANBU of the village.

"Yo, Shiz chan! Me and Iruka here are going out to meet the others!" Naruto shouted as he dragged the jounin to where he and their friends would meet, yes, Iruka had been convinced to try for jounin and actually managed to pass. Now both he and Naruto were officially best friends as well as she and Kurenai were best friends.

"Sure Naruto! Be back by dinner, okay?" Shizune responded back as the duo now left for their destination. Shizune relaxed herself and returned to her rest. That was until a very good friend of hers called from the other house.

"Shizune! Wanna go out? It's a bit boring without the boys around!" Umino Kurenai shouted as she exited the door of their next door house which was in all an average house. Shizune felt a bit bad for Kurenai. She and Iruka were both jounins, but they weren't as financially gifted as she and her husband were.

"Sure, wait for me!" Shizune responded as she left to change not wanting to disappoint her friend by making her wait too long. She remembered to take some more extra money with her as her friend wouldn't be able to pay for everything that they wanted. She smiled as she left her house with Kurenai and her wearing their civilian attire consisting long skirts, blouse and a pair of slip on shoes.

Shizune motioned for them to leave as Kurenai checked her purse. Inwardly she sighed. She just didn't have enough money from the missions she did to go out and have fun. She was also glad though that Iruka had been working hard enough to earn enough money for the house and all other expenses. She couldn't believe that she was now married, but now she decided to make the best of it. Although she considered Iruka not to be the ideal lover material, but at least he was good husband material. She considered it to be nice that he was like that, but she doubted that she would ever consider him as a good lover. She suddenly felt disappointed at herself for that kind of thought, but she never understood why she was thinking like that. It was not till later that she would know, but for now she was surprised when Shizune suddenly pulled her the moment that she saw a horse suddenly running wild and nearly flattening the woman into a pancake had not her shinobi friend pulled her out of the way.

"Kurenai! Are you okay?" Shizune asked her friend as Shizune began checking her for injuries. Thankfully enough Kurenai had no injuries. Although Kurenai was uninjured, but she was still worried about why did Kurenai space out like that

Standing up despite Shizune's insistence that they go to her house and rest for awhile worrying that Kurenai might get in even more trouble as they traveled around Konoha. Kurenai thanked her and moved off towards the marketplace. Inside her head Shizune knew exactly where she could get Kurenai to speak. She was just glad that Kira, Kurenai's son, was still at school with her sons twelve year old Renji and his eight year old brother Shinji She hoped they weren't going to have a problem. She was fortunate that they were training at the Academy grounds with their friends Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru(Much to his father's insistence) and Shino who seemed to not want to be left out.

KONOHA ACADEMY, TRAINING GROUNDS

"Watch out!" a young voice shouted as a boy that was lying on a tree branch turned to avoid the upcoming kunai only to fall to the ground feet first. The boy sighed as his pineapple like hair was now had some wood splinters in it.

"How troublesome!" Shikamaru thought. It had been time and time again that near death experiences like that occurred to him. First Chouji struck the tree while missing Kiba during a spar nearly shaking him off, then there was Akamaru who tried to answer the call of nature using him as a medium to do so, but was shooed off by a bribe of a doggie treat by Shikamaru, then Renji managed to get a few water balloons above him nearly wetting him had he not henged a rock to become an umbrella. The he groaned as the only successful one to wake him was Shinji who did the direct approach.

"I won!" the eight year old shouted as the others counted their money. They hoped that Shinji wouldn't make it a habit to beat them in this especially Kiba and Chouji, since if it wasn't Shinji it was Renji who was racking up the wins. Right now however they were glad that ramen and nothing else stupid or expensive was the prize of the winner to the brother's case. Since ramen was cheaper and that the ramen stand owner gave them discounts whenever they ate since Renji's father was their best patron with the record of eating twenty ramen bowls in one sitting.

"Yare, Yare" Shikamaru said as a red eyed black haired boy arrived.

"Hey guys!" Kira shouted as he entered the academy training grounds with a rather weird looking man in a green jumpsuit was being dragged by him while the said man was unconscious and behind him were three genins. Renji and Shinji recognized Lee who was frequent visitor of their household asking training from their father which he rarely granted since their father was training them as well as their mother most of the time. Despite that the boy had become one of the fans of their mother's cooking. As such Lee knew Kira as well since their families generally dine together at least twice a month in the park while watching the stars or at each other's house since both families lived so close to each other.

"YOSH! Renji kun! Shinji kun! It is good to see your flames of youth training!" Lee hollered as he recognized his friend. Kira just smiled as well as the Uzumakis while the other academy students looked in horror at Lee's 'nice guy' pose which terrified the rest as well as Akamaru who was howling in fear. Even Shino flinched as he watched Lee do his pose.

"You know them Lee?" a girl with brown hair folded up into two buns and was wearing a pink Chinese dress with black pants asked. The other who stood silent was unknown to the rest except to Renji who remembered his father mentioning a Hyuuga bloodline as well Shinji who had asked his elder sister Haku a few weeks ago.

"HAI! This black haired child wearing a plain black shirt with shorts and rubber shoes is the son of Umino Iruka the Mizu specialist and Umino Kurenai the genjutsu specialist, Umino Kira, while the blond wearing a blue shirt under a black vest, a pair of black shorts with a pair of black rubber shoes is Uzumaki Renji while the brown haired pony tailed one wearing a kendo training outfit is Uzumaki Shinji the younger child.

"Nice to meet you guys. What happened to their sensei Kira?" Renji said pointing to the unconscious man whom Kira was caring. Kira just laughed and mentioned that Kakashi had made a bet as to which one would fall unconscious first after crashing into a wall while running at full speed. Turns out Kakashi wanted to knock him unconscious so he wouldn't be disturbed from reading the new volume of Icha Icha paradise." Kira mentioned as Shinji shook his head with disappointment while Renji laughed his ass off. The other children just shook their heads not knowing what they were talking about.

"Why is Kakashi senpai such a pervert?" Shinji said making Kiba remember who the person they were talking about was.

"Oh now I remember. Mom said that there was this jounin who was good, but he was a big pervert who was a fan of Icha Icha Paradise one of the most perverted novels ever to have existed." Kiba said while Shino and Chouji listened carefully while Shikamaru just yawned of boredom. Just then Lee jumped forward to attack Renji who block the punch to the face and the following punch to the stomach with just one arm. Lee smiled and also attacked Kira who blocked a kick while letting go of Gai as he blocked the kick to his head with his left arm while his right hand caught the punch that was aimed for his stomach.

Getting the message Lee, Kira and Renji began a sparring session. Not willing to be left behind Kiba and Shino joined in with Chouji while Tenten was asked politely by Shinji to spar with him. The only ones who didn't participate were Neiji who didn't care, Shikamaru who found it too troublesome and Gai who was still a bit unconscious.

KONOHA MARKET PLACE

"Dang! How much stuff do girls need!" A black haired jounin cursed as he was nearly buried under a pile of shopping bags that he was carrying.

He flinched when a white haired jounin smacked him behind the head with his shoulders as he too was nearly buried beneath shopping bags, but thankfully his bloodline limit would allow him to withstand such pressure.

"Itai! What the hell was that for Kimimaru!" the black haired jounin as he glared at the eldest white haired Uzumaki who was wearing his jounin uniform and was currently seventeen years old as opposed to Itachi's sixteen years of age. The jounin just looked onwards to his younger sister Haku who was currently shopping for more clothes. He found it rather amusing to see his friend get easily annoyed, but when he was given difficult people to handle Itachi wouldn't even move a muscle as he dealt with them with ease.

"Stop complaining Itachi or else Haku will not allow you to see her for a month." Kimimaru said as Itachi stiffened up to see Haku. Kimamaru smiled.

It had been years since Itachi first broke away from his clan to fend and exist for himself. It was not an easy task, but unknown to his sister, the short haired ice wielding beauty as Itachi secretly called her, she was the source of Itachi's inspiration. The ice wielding woman wore the standard jounin uniform as she picked her clothes unaware of the pair of Uchiha eyes that were staring at her lovingly.

Itachi smiled. There was nothing in the world he would not do to for Haku to love him. She was the one that inspired him to stand on his own as well as learn to break free from the grasp of his father. He watched as she smiled. Her smile could intoxicate his mind whirling it like a hurricane while tearing out his current thought as well as placing the thoughts of her in their places as they placed the most beautiful of thoughts(according to his opinion) in his head on top of the pedestal that inspired him to treat her like a goddess. His rather poetic thoughts were interrupted by some one showing him a fourteen year old Haku wearing a blue two piece bikini when she and her family went to the pool to cool down during one hot summer. This prompted Itachi to faint dead on the spot while Kimimaru made a kage bunshin to catch the things that Haku had brought not willing to hear his little sister cry at the thought of her hard earned money being wasted. Kimimaru didn't bother to look as he spoke to the man responsible.

"You enjoy doing that don't you?" Kimimaru said as continued to watch Haku who continued to shop much to his dismay while a blue skinned man with wrappings around his sword continued to laugh.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Hoshigake Kisame laughed out loud while wearing his jounin uniform. He was not someone who enjoyed pranks, but the reaction Itachi had made him such a pleasant victim plus the fact that Itachi was a well known cold hearted man. Seeing him act like this was the funniest thing that he had seen. His long time companion Zabusa arrived just then bringing with him and their drinking buddy Asuma.

"You gave him the picture again?" Zabusa asked seeing Itachi's nose had began to bleed and the fact that he was unconscious and had a rather perverted smile on his face. Asuma just smiled while taking out cigarette. Recently both Kisame and Zabusa had been on the call with A class missions, but for now it was good that they were given some time off. Asuma just thought of how much Kisame and Zabusa would torment Itachi now that they had so much time on their hands.

"You sure don't take it easy on a guy, don't you Kisame?" Asuma spoke up taking his cigarette out again for a second time while Zabusa fixed his gaze at his sword which was attached to his back as he wore his jounin uniform. The blue skinned jounin just smiled a sharky smile while he jerked his finger towards Haku.

"If he wants Haku to be his then he's going to have to deal with it." Kisame said as Zabusa shook his head while Asuma just smiled while looking at Itachi. They hoped that no one from the Uchiha clan would be here.

Asuma remembered that Haku had been the one that most of the Uchiha blamed for Itachi breaking out from the clan. The moment Itachi laid eyes on her his world changed. At first they were constantly fighting only to end up being team mates and then eventually friends. However it took Itachi a near death experience with a Renjin shinobi squad, from the moment that he had seen Haku when he nearly died Itachi knew from that point on that she was the one for him and no other. Asuna admired the sincerity that he was showing, willing to be cast out just to stand for the one whom he loved. Although he had to admit that it was funny to see Itachi unable to confess under Haku's eyes where as the Uchiha deserter actually feared nothing not even his own clan that was out to kill him for desertion.

Asuma smiled as Haku approached and tried to wake the young Uchiha and only succeeded in doing so when she stood above him while threatening to undress him in public. This caused the young Uchiha to stutter and blush as he stood up while the rest just laughed it off at his expense.

"Haku chan did you really want to strip me?" Itachi shouted at the Haku while she laughed with the others making Itachi glare the rest of the jounins since he could never glare at his 'Haku chan'. He sighed as he thought what could have been if she would not have been promoted as jounin. He fantasized at the things that he could have her do and get it away with glee. This caused Haku to bop him over the head and then drag him and Kimimaru to shop some more.

"Poor kid, he seems to really head over heels in love with Naruto's girl." Asuma said while Kisame grunted an agreement as Zabusa decided to talk about something while he took them to their favorite hangout, the barbecue stand.

"Oh by the way Kisame I heard that Hokage sama wanted some of the other jounins to go back into teaching genins, but curiously enough Kurenai wanted to have a genin team of her own.

"The Hokage decided to what?" Kisame asked unbelieving of what he heard from his friend from the Mist while Asuma just nodded an affirmative.

"It's true Kisame. Some of the jounins are going back to teaching genins." Asuma said wondering why this shocked Kisame. As a jounin of the Mist he should have been that unfamiliar with this kind of thing.

"Not that Asuma. I mean the second one he said." Kisame replied while Asuma took a sip of his sake while Zabusa continued to place some meat to barbecue while he answered.

"Oh about Kurenai actually volunteering to take in a genin team of her own?" Zabusa said while Kisame had a sad look on his face. Inwardly Zabusa smiled over the years Kisame became rather fond of having children. It was not his usual habit, but it seemed that Kisame had gotten that trait from Naruto and as result was close to the Kira, Renji and Shinji. Zabusa nodded as he knew that it was Kira who would be feeling the most of the strain. It was not invisible to them that there was something wrong with the relationship of Iruka and Kurenai, but Zabusa knew that Iruka was doing all he could to set things right and he knew that the father truly cared for his son. What they didn't know was that Shizune was having an almost similar reaction to that and also what Zabusa and Asuma didn't know that Kisame had placed a special request for an apprentice with Kira being his primary target for apprenticeship while he smiled at the last minute.

TAMA'S DANGO SHOP

"Nani? Your own genin team?" Shizune asked unsure if she had heard her friend right. She knew how much time this would take from Kurenai and thus she would have very little time for her family much less her own son.

"I know what you are thinking Shizune. I mean Kira is growing up and needs to learn to be independent and grow up. Iruka also knows that I need my own time thus he also knows that I need to do something for myself also." Kurenai said not knowing weather she was right or wrong in what she said. She just didn't look Shizune in the eye as she took a gulp of the tea she and Shizune had bought at the dango shop. Shizune however took a different perspective of the matter one Kurenai had also considered.

"Yes, I know that Kurenai. Naruto and I are trying to do the same thing with Renji and Shinji. He is still starting to do the rather serious stuff with Renji, but Shinji is another case as he is just beginning to learn the same lessons Renji was given at his age. What my concern actually is that when you start to teach, can you devote time for your family? When the time comes whom will you choose you students or your family?" Shizune said. The medic nin knew that it was an unfair choice, but she knew it would come one day and she hoped in her heart that it would not come.

"Yes, I already took that into account and considered it. I know that I will make the right choice." Kurenai said with confidence in her voice. She had made up her mind years ago when Kira was born and with every step Kira took it reminded her of her husband.

"Are you sure about this Kurenai?" Shizune asked as she remembered the times where she would not be able to spend long hours with her family. It was something she disliked. It was the same with Kurenai, but having a genin team would mean she would have to choose which ones to prefer or train. Shizune doubted Kurenai trained her very own son, but she never voiced it out to her friend. She was not the one to judge Kurenai she after all had less time than she did since both she and Iruka were on missions.

"Yes." Was the only answer Kurenai gave before she gulped the last of her tea to go to home and cook up something for her family that she had for so long. At this she just showed no emotion as her face was rigid and business like which worried Kurenai.

HOKAGE'S OFFICE

"Kurenai is going to what Hokage sama?" Iruka asked as he, Naruto and their entire team entered the Hokage office for some announcements. One of which concerned one of them, but right now Iruka was just surprised at what he had heard. Sure Kurenai must have wanted to do that, but she didn't have to wait at the last minute to inform him. It was just depressing.

"Gee, looks like Kira and Renji might be shifted to her team then?" Naruto asked not really surprised Kurenai would tell Iruka at the last minute.

"Not really. However considering who might pass we are going to list down the possible ones who would be on the teams this coming exam and just hope that they all do well." The Hokage said wondering what concerned them in the list. It was not till the Hokage read the list that they realized why.

"Team 7 Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Renji and Haruno Sakura." The Hokage began as the said white haired jounin stood up among the Anbu members.

"Team 8 Umino Kurenai, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata." The Hokage said as he relaxed at the mention of two of Kira's friends. With them around he wouldn't have anything to worry about.

"Team 10 Momoichi Zabusa, Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino." The Hokage mentioned again as Naruto nodded with affirmation.

"However the only problem is that one shinobi requested for an apprentice to pass on his skills to. Thus if Umino Kira will pass he will be sent as an apprentice to Hoshigake Kisame." The Hokage said considering the necessity of Kisame to pass on Samaehada soon to someone. He knew that the former Mist nin was not getting any younger. He wondered when Zabusa would do the same.

Iruka smiled. He wanted to take part in the training, but he needed for the boy to grow up as well. That didn't mean that he wouldn't slip in a little help in once in awhile, but then he would need for the boy to actually try to come and talk to him. He smiled at that. After that they were dismissed with Naruto asking Kakashi to take care of his son for him.

As they approached their homes which were about across from each other, they stayed silent as they waited for time to bring them home. Each wanted to talk to them about something. Iruka thanked the heavens that Naruto spoke first.

"Iruka do you really love her that much?" Naruto asked while he didn't look into Iruka's eyes. However Iruka just smiled and looked forward as he stood up. In the man's heart he remembered the days while he was holding her hand in his during a very cold winter.

"Yes I do Naruto and believe it or not I hope that Kurenai can remember that she does." Iruka said while Naruto just continued onwards.

"Do you know that when an animal is hurt it holds a grudge? Especially after being hurt by the one it trusts so much and dedicates itself to." Naruto said as Iruka understood the warning and thanked Naruto, but he still remembered the little picture Kurenai had given him and he had hoped that Kurenai would remember her promise as he strode home. He smiled as he saw Kurenai smile at him when he arrived how and which she would deny later on to be true.

AN/ Hey guys I'll upload the Village of the Tenshi's next chapter on Monday after I edit and upload something else. So have fun!