Naruto passes by the old training ground and finds Hinata sparring with Kiba and Shino. He watches them and is amazed by Hinata's hand speed. It's as if she's punching with a hundred hands. Her footwork on the other hand, needs a little more work. Kiba and Shino pull back among the trees and throw multiple shurikens at Hinata. Hinata creates a massive blue kaiten that slices up the weapons thrown at her. Her ragged breathing indicates that she's almost out of stamina and falls to her knees. Her teammates and Naruto help her up and seat her on a log nearby.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata blushes as he gently lets go of her arm.

"That was some kaiten Hinata." Naruto causes Hinata to be even redder.

"What brings you here?" Shino asks.

"I just came from the Hokage tower."

"For Sasuke's sentencing." Shino implies and Naruto nods.

"So, what did he get?" Kiba states as he throws a stick for Akamaru to fetch.

"I didn't stay to find out."

"Y-you want to join us in training?" Hinata shyly asks.

"As much as I'd like to, I'd have to say some other time. I have to pick up Howaito from the hospital."

Naruto arrives home after stopping by the hospital. Carrying Howaito in his arms, he gently places him over a rectangular basket with a comforter and pillow. Naruto rubs the fox's head and makes sure that the bandage on his side is still intact. Someone knocks on his door and he answers.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Do you want to go get some Ichiraku's ramen?"

Naruto pauses and sadly response with a, "no."

"I know you're still sad about Iruka-sensei, but I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did for Sasuke. The Hokage took your advice and punished Sasuke accordingly."

"I really don't care what happens to Sasuke. I did what I did to honor Iruka-sensei's kindness towards me."

Sakura, with her teary eyes, grabs Naruto's hand and softly pleads, "Naruto, please…please don't-"

"I can't be in the same group as Sasuke. I won't be forced." He takes Sakura's hand and gently squeezes it, "Even though we're not on the same team, we're still friends."

He releases his hold on Sakura and returns to Howaito.

"Besides, isn't this what you've always wanted—being alone with Sasuke." Naruto chuckles as he thinks back to their first days out of the academy.

His words remind her of the days when she mistreated Naruto for the sake of Sasuke's attention.

"People grow and change Naruto." Sakura tells him before she leaves.

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The next day, Gai's team, team 7, 8, and 9 are gathered in the Hokage's office.

"You're all here today because we need a change. First of all Naruto, you're promoted to chuunin. The way you fought Yondaime during the war, when elite jounins could not even land a punch, you found a way to survive and fight on almost equal level. Considering how much you've improved, I'm confident that you would've easily passed through the exams. Another thing I've noticed during the war was that everyone did not fight along side their own teams. You were all working with whoever was in your vicinity. So, to better improve team work among the groups, I'm going to mix you all up."

Tsunade holds her hand up to silence the murmurs among the crowd.

"Now to announce the new teams:

Kakashi's team 7 will consist Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata.

Kurenai's team 8 are Akamichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hawari Ten-ten.

Asuma's team 9 are Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto.

Finally, Gai's team will have, Rock Lee, Yamanaka Ino, and Aburame Shino.

The jounin leaders in each group will supervise how well each of you does on your missions. You will also find yourselves doing more missions on your own while your jounin supervisors are sent on different missions. All of you will have your missions tomorrow, so you have the day off for today. You're dismissed."

Kakashi watches as each person leaves with their team. He was even more attentive when Naruto left with his new team.

That night…

Naruto makes his way to Kakashi's apartment and stops when he sees two people outside. Kakashi was nuzzling Kurenai, who had her arms around his neck. Kakashi moves his hands lower to her back and receives a light slap on the chest from Kurenai. She giggles as he whispers into her ear and he envelopes her in a hug. After Kurenai kisses Kakashi on the cheek, she goes inside the apartment and Naruto decides to confront Kakashi.

"What the hell were you doing to Kurenai-sensei?"

"Hm."

"That, you guys were like…you guys were like…are you…what were you doing?"

"Naruto, (sighs) it's called a relationship."

"Huh?"

"Kurenai and I are in a caring relationship that enables us to… (thinks of the words) be intimate with each other."

"Intimate?"

"Well, you see people have these urges…"

"Urges?"

"Yeah, that can be satisfied by the opposite gender. But, uh, (coughs) our relationship is beyond satisfying urges in our body—"

"So you love her?" A confused Naruto asks.

"Well…um…yeah. But, she doesn't know that."

"Why not?"

"I…I haven't told her."

"Does she live with you?"

"She, uh, sleeps over but she still has her own place (clears throat)."

"So, when I get a girlfriend I'm going to get urges?"

"Something like that. But you can't force it you know…your girlfriend has to agree to it…"

"Kakashi-sensei, what is this urge that you're talking about?"

"(Thinks for a moment) why did you come here Naruto?"

"Mmm. I can't remember."

"Hmm."

"So, Kakashi-sensei, about those urges, are they similar to eating or going to the bathroom."

"Maybe you can ask your uncle?"

"The village is short on manpower so Tsunade-obasaan is sending him to a lot of missions. I mean, he did volunteer to help the village repair itself but I hardly see him."

"Well, he is very skilled and highly intelligent. I'd be afraid to go up against him."

"Oh yeah, now I remember! I need to borrow Pakkun from you and my team is leaving in a couple of hours—we need to leave before sunrise."

Kakashi blinks a couple of times at Naruto for forgetting such a simple thing and summons the dog.

"Here you go Naruto, is there anything else?"

"Yeah, so are you going to explain to me about these urges?"

"Mmm…no. I have to go get some food." Kakashiquickly leaves--avoiding to answer Naruto.

A few hours later, a breathless Kakashi feels Kurenai's soft curls rest on his chest and her warm hand rest on his stomach. He wraps his arms around her and waits for his breathing to be smooth and calm. His breathing's even but his heart still pounds in excitement.

"Kakashi," Kurenai lifts her head and makes eye contact, "How's your new team?"

Kakashi sighs and thinks for a moment, "You mean Hinata?"

"Well…yeah."

"She's fine. She did great on our first group training. You're worried about Sasuke being on Hinata's team."

Kurenai rests her head on Kakashi's torso.

"Yeah, yeah I'm worried about him doing something…"

"He won't be able to do anything and he knows it. If he does something, the bracelet he's wearing will explode when I form the proper seals."

"Do you think he'll come around? He won't need that thing on his wrist anymore?"

"He'll come around. I believe Naruto when he says that Sasuke's not a bad guy. It's just that he's living his life for his brother." Kakashi strokes Kurenai's arm, "I will protect my team with my life, so you don't have to worry about Hinata."

"I know, but I worry about you too. I-uh-I (clears throat) love you, you know."

Kakashi smiles as he hears this.

"I feel the same way, I love me too."

Kurenai scoffs and repeatedly hits him on the head with a pillow. Kakashi laughs and grabs the pillow from her and pins her on the bed, so that he's on top of her.

"You're the only one who knows how to ruin a nice moment," Kurenai smiles at Kakashi.

"Say it again."

"Say what again?"

Kakashi kisses her gently on the lips before staring into her eyes.

"I love you, Kakashi."

"Good. I love you too you know."

This simple statement causes both of them to grin like fools. Kakashi dips his head and captures her lips with his own as he rouses her and satisfies her rising urges.

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The next day, Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and Pakkun arrive at the Sand village in order to be briefed for their missions. They are greeted by sand shinobis and are led to a massive recreation hall.

"Feel free to amuse yourselves while a get the Kazekage and the council." The sand shinobi leaves after saying this.

"WOW!" Naruto's voice echoes through the room. "I bet this is where they train! Hey, Neji, bet you can't hit me 50 times."

Neji smirks and assumes his jyuken stance, "I bet I'll hit you 50 times before you hit me."

"Shikamaru, you wanna join?" Naruto looks at their yawning teammate who waves a hand to decline the invitation.

"You're afraid?" A deep voiced canine asks.

Shikamaru glares at the pug and replies, "You can join them if you want, I'm too tired from all the traveling."

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At around noon, Kakashi meets his team by the gates. He greets each one of them and explains their mission.

"Well, I practically have the same team except for you Hinata. Being a Hyuuga, I'm going to have high expectations from you."

"Yes sir." Hinata quietly replies.

They head out into the forest and make their way to the Corn field country.

"We have and B-rank mission, which could easily turn to an A-mission and we have to retrieve a scroll from the feudal lord Jirashi. But, there are also other ninjas who are after the scroll so we have to watch our backs until we return to Konoha."

"Why is Jirashi giving the scroll to Konoha?" Sakura asks.

"Well, Jirashi has a debt to the village for an earlier mission. The scroll is worth a fortune; it could buy a whole village with its worth."

Kakashi senses an aura of another ninja as they delve deeper into the forest. He notices Hinata flinch too as she senses the tiny bit of aura. She uses her Byakuugan and finds them 10 feet behind them, hiding in the trees.

"How many are there?" Kakashi urgently asks Hinata.

"There are 2 hiding in the trees."

"Sasuke, draw them out."

Sasuke throws 2 kunais at the trees and the ninjas show themselves. They don a light blue shinobi suits that hide their faces. They form seals with their hands and suddenly a rain of fire needles drops in every direction. Sasuke counters with a huge fireball anddeflects all the needles away. Sakura charges at the 2 ninjas with Kakashi in front. They try to hit their enemies; but are unable to do so when they disappear in a blur. As Kakashi and Sakura turn around they find the enemies in front of them and they jump back to avoid their heated attacks.

Sasuke activates his Sharingan and sees that these ninjas are highly unusual.

"Their chakra is leaking out of their bodies," Sasuke hears Hinata mumble.

The enemy shinobis release a form of chakra from their bodies in the form of fire and shoots them at Sakura and Kakashi. Kakashi covers himself and Sakura in a cage of water and avoid any damages. Sakura lands a punch on one of the enemy and her hand burns as soon as she makes contact. She jumps back beside Kakashi and she heals herself.

"We can't touch them."

Kakashi throws a bunch of shuriken at them, does some hand seals, and yells out, "Suiton shuriken."

The shurikens become covered in a blob of water but they quickly evaporate upon making contact with the enemy.

"Sen'eijashu!" A pair of snakes come out of Sasuke's sleeves and wraps themselves around the necks of each of the enemy. The snakes are slowly being consumed by fire and Sasuke notices the lake that's a couple of yards away but enough to do the jutsu.

"Sensatsu Suisho!" Sasuke forms a couple of seals and suddenly a bunch of ice needles hone in on the enemy. They melt on contact but Sasuke uses his speed to follow the needles and attack the enemies' feet.

Before Sasuke's snakes completely lose their holds on the enemies, Hinata jumps in and performs Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho simultaneously on the enemies. As their flow of fiery chakra halts, Kakashi jumps in and kills them with his Raikiri.

Sakura heals Hinata's burnt hand and smiles at her, "That was very brave, what you did."

"Thank you."

Kakashi and Sasuke approach them. The jounin takes a look at Hinata's injuries and sees that they're almost healed.

"We'll rest near the lake and start moving again by sunrise."

The two kunoichis nod their head, while Sasuke just sneers.

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Sasuke goes to the lake and washes his hands. He stares at his bracelet—his restraint and unsuccessfully tries to pry it off. On the other side, he witnesses Hinata practicing her jyuken. He scoffs before returning to the campsite where Kakashi and Sakura are sitting around a fire.

"Have you eaten Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks.

Sasuke doesn't answer. He just picks up one of the fish that's being grilled on the fire and begins to eat it.

"Those shinobis we encountered were odd. We don't know where they come from and their chakra control was really odd. To be able to give it a form and release from all your pores…" Kakashi looks to the lake and sees Hinata approaching them.

She sits beside Sakura who offers her a fish, which she gladly takes.

"How's your hand Hinata?" The jounin asks as he looks at her hand.

"They're perfectly fine, thanks to Sakura-chan."

Sasuke finishes his food and goes to wander off. He finds himself moving towards the moon's direction and enjoys the silence the night offers. A rustle annoys him out of his reverie and glares at the jounin who disturbed his peace.

"You need to let go Sasuke," Kakashi appears beside Sasuke. "This brooding, tough guy act of yours is not going to affect anyone."

"I'm not trying to get to anyone. I want out of here, I want this stupid thing of my wrist, I want to train—"

"To kill Itachi right? Konoha is not holding you back. If that was the case, you have to question why Konoha was stronger than Orochimaru. You call yourself an avenger—an avenger of what? Nothing. You want to take revenge on your brother for killing your family and your clan, but what you're doing—"

"I know what I'm doing!" Sasuke seethes.

"I don't think you do. What you're doing shows that you don't care about your family. You're not honoring them properly-"

"Shut up!"

"Itachi is still your brother, whether you like it or not. He murdered your family. Making yourself stronger for his sake is not honoring your parents or your clan, but shows how much he controls your life. If you really cared about your father and mother, then you would live your life according to your own terms—not for the sake of Itachi. You think you'd find power by going against the village? There are people in the village who are trying their best to help become stronger and you just slap them away with your ignorance and arrogance."

Sasuke turns his back on Kakashi—not wanting to hear anymore.

"Sasuke, if you want to know the meaning of strength, then ask yourself 'why is Naruto stronger than you are?' How did he defeat you?"

Kakashi returns to camp while Sasuke stays where he is. When Sasuke did decide to return, he finds that Sakura and Hinata are still up and talking.

"So…do you like anyone in particular?" Sakura pries.

Hinata blushes as she thinks of Naruto.

"Uh—I think I'll go to sleep." After saying this Hinata retreats to her tent and leaves achuckling Sakura.

"You're such a gossip." Sasuke tells Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura was surprised that he was talking to her.

After they reach their destination and easily retrieve the scroll, team 7 makes their way back but take a rest stop at a bath house. Sasuke sits in the warm water with his eyes closed. Kakashi pulls him out of his thoughts as he sits beside him and adjusts his mask.

"It's so nice to wind down and relax isn't it?"

"Whatever." Sasuke retorts.

Kakashi looks around and finds that the men's bath is only occupied by him and Sasuke.

"I'm going to show you something that only you and less than 5 people have seen."

Sasuke faces him and watches as Kakashi removes his mask. All of a sudden, Sasuke sniggers and Kakashi quickly covers his face.

"What's so funny?" Kakashi asks with annoyance.

"It's just that, I was expecting you to have a lip problem or have hideous teeth."

"Why would you think that?"

"Why would you cover your face if it weren't deformed?" Sasuke smirks. "If it's for identity purpose then you would trust your own team to see your face. I'm guessing when you were a genin, your team didn't even see your face."

"You're right, but it's nice to have you say more than one sentence."

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"Geez, this is so troublesome." Shikamaru watches as Naruto and Neji spar with each other.

Unlike their match at the chuunin exam, Naruto is more strategic this time and takes advantage of the long range attack. Neji, although his forte is close range combat, is more capable of using genjutsu for long range attacks. He suddenly binds Naruto in chains and prepares to attack him with his Hakke Rokujuyon Shō technique. Sensing that this was all an illusion, Naruto closes his eyesand increases his chakra. When his eyes open it's Neji who is now bound in chains and Naruto punches him in the face.

Naruto grins and says, "That's 50 hits so I win."

"How many times did I hit you?" Neji rubs the spot where he was punched.

"49," Shikamaru responds.

"And you were going to try to hit me with the Hakke Rokujuyon Shō technique?" Naruto smirks.

The great doors open. Temari and Kankouro arrive and wave at their guests.

"Shikamaru, get your lazy ass up and spar with them." Temari sneers.

"What for?"

Temari hits him in the head for his sloth.

Gaara soon arrives and shakes hands with Naruto, Neji, then Shikamaru, and with the exception of Naruto, the two Konoha ninjas look at each other in shock.

"On to business then." Gaara invites them in his office.

In Gaara's office, Kankouro pulls out a map of the village and points to the red dot.

"This was the area that Akatsuki occupied. After the war, 3 of our men were killed nearby this location. We believe that this spot is being occupied again by the Akatsuki. I know it sounds stupid to go back to there but maybe they're expecting us not to notice or suspect that area again. I've led a team to investigate the area but found nothing. Just yesterday 3 more died in this location." Kankouro removes the map as he finishes reporting.

"Since we're short in military support, your Godaime was kind enough to send you three and investigate. Kankouro and I will be accompanying you." Temari tells them of their plan.

"Was genjutsu used to mask their location?" Neji inquires.

"Maybe, but we've tried dispelling it and nothing has worked. We also haven't found any seals but I'm confident that cave is still active." Temari answers.

"Akatsuki is not looking for war and they already have the one tailed demon. We don't know who's in there and what their objective is." Gaara adds.