Hello! I'm really sorry for making you all wait. Hope you enjoy this chapter and the more that will come! ^^

"Thank you for meeting with me Jiraiya-sama."

The Toad Saanin eyed Rina warily as she took a seat at the table, he was surprised to hear that Naruto had a guardian now and only found this out when Rina reached out to arrange a meeting with him. Jiraiya closes his eyes then, feeling disappointed with himself; he had actually wanted to take Naruto with him on a training trip but now it seemed out of the question. According to Tsunade, Mashiro Rina was no pushover and she has full intentions of mothering the Uzumaki cousins so trying to take away Naruto would not be a smart move.

Rina meanwhile drinks silently from her glass of water, aware that Jiraiya was cautious; merely judging from his stature and facial expression. She clears her throat, eager to get it over and done with.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush. I want you to tell Naruto about his parents."

Well...that was blunt...

"Mashiro-san...Naruto is far too young to learn the truth. He will not be able to keep a secret like that and how did you know about his parents?"

"Oh please, any idiot with half a brain can see he has his father's features plus his mother's face and verbal tic."

Jiraiya sweatdropped at that, unsure of what to say until she spoke again.

"I met them before when I was much younger. They were nice people. I don't understand why the village hasn't realized the connection yet though. Surely the Red Habanero was a memorable character?"

The Saanin laughed, unable to help himself, "She was a riot!"

Rina smiled warmly at the loss of tension in his shoulders and slowly the two warmed up to each other as they reminisced about the couple that tragically passed away.

"Oi dobe! Stop for a minute!"

Naruto slowed his jogging pace until he stood in front of Sasuke, wondering what did the Uchiha want.

"What's up?"

"How does your guardian know Itachi?"

Naruto sighed before rubbing the back of his head in an exasperated fashion, knowing the question would come up, "Why does it matter?"

"Because he is my brother! I deserve to know!"

Naruto frowns, tilting his head at the Uchiha as if debating within himself whether he should tell him anything.

"Dobe answer me!"

Sasuke shoves him backward yet Naruto didn't stumble but it did cause the blonde to glare.

"If you want information, ask nicely first not push my cousin you dipshit."

Sasuke glares as Karin as she stops behind him before moving toward her cousin to stand next to him, visibly irked, "This is not any of your damn business 4-eyes."

She gives him the finger, enraging him but before he could make a move, he freezes upon feeling a kunai to his neck and a cold pair of eyes on him.

"Harm my cousin in any way outside of a spar or any sort of legal battle, I will stab you in the throat with this kunai."

Sasuke stiffens, surprised by Naruto's actions, it was really out of character for him to act this way. The blonde sounded like he would very well make good on his threat. Slowly he withdraws the kunai and Sasuke stands, making eye contact with a smirking redhead and bites his tongue from saying anything as Naruto was still eyeballing him.

"Why...are you guys...standing there?!"

The Uzumakis turn to see Sakura panting as she tried to catch her breath.

"Sakura"

The pinkette looks up to see Sasuke looking at her and almost immediately Sakura straightened her back and smiles widely, "Yes Sasuke-kun?"

Ignoring the quick change in demeanor, Sasuke asks her a question, "You know almost everybody in the village right? Do you know anything about Mashiro Rina?"

Sakura shakes her head, answering that she seemed to come out of nowhere and the only thing she has heard about her is that the villagers thought she was crazy taking Naruto in.

Karin clenched her fist, irritated as Sakura went on saying that the villagers thought Mashiro Rina was some sort of an idiot to take in the orphan scum as her ward. After hearing the name orphan scum a second time as Sakura continued, Karin had enough so she grabs Naruto's hand and drags him out of there wanting to be as far away from the insensitive pinkette.

"Why did you call Naruto scum?"

Sakura frowned, confused by Sasuke's disapproving look, "I am just reiterating what the villagers said."

"You could have used other names Sakura. That was low even for you. I know you can be oblivious some times but Naruto was probably really hurt by that."

"But Sasuke-kun! He hurt you! He put you in the hospital!"

"Naruto was not the one that did that. It was some female ANBU with wolf summons."

Sakura was shocked but even more so by Sasuke's light shudder in his shoulders.

The Uchiha closes his eyes, the memory hitting him hard; he heard the wolves come up toward him and he tried to stop them with his shuriken but it was no use, they dodged and pounced on him, attacking him menacingly with their claws and teeth before being completely pummeled by an enraged ANBU agent with an impressive amount of strength causing him to have extensive injuries and internal bleeding that landed him in the hospital for weeks.

"What kind of mask did she have?" Sakura asks curiously.

"There was a flower painted on both cheeks. Why?"

"Oh my gosh! You faced the Kohana!"

Sakura squeals, jumping up and down in glee.

"Who?"

"The Kohana is one of the most recognizable ANBU agents of the village. She is even said to have the medical prowess of Tsunade-sama!"

"How do you know this?"

"Oh well you know when in the Academy the girls had flower arranging classes right? While you guys got extra PE? Well, the female sensei at the time just gushed about her all the time. Apparently she is very popular in the upper ninja ranks but also the most mysterious, she wears a full mesh bodysuit that covers her entire skin and hair so nobody can give any physical description of her."

Sasuke frowns, realizing that definitely described his attacker, "Is there any way we can contact this woman?"

"ANBU are not easy to talk to much less find. They are rarely seen. If you want you can check out the night patrol and ask them?"

"I guess. You think Kakashi may know anything?"

Sasuke starts to jog and drags Sakura by the hand, realizing that if he kept standing there talking with his teammate, they won't be able to finish the course in time.

"You could try. Like I said, she is apparently popular."

Rina sneezes into a tissue she managed to pull out in time. After clearing her nose, she tosses the tissue into the rubbish bin before turning back to continue her conversation with the Saanin.

"So agreed? You will come pick up the kids after their training?"

"12 o'clock right?"

"Yes, thank you very much again Jiraiya sama."

She bows a deep bow to be polite and respectful causing the man to smile.

In his time with her, Mashiro Rina had shown to be a smart, attentive and a compassionate individual. He was glad now that Naruto was under her care.

"You really think Naruto will accept me as his godfather?"

Rina smiles as she stands up before brushing her hair from her face, "Naruto has always wanted a family to love and care for him. He will do more than just accept you, he would welcome you with open arms especially when he finds out you're the one that gave him Gama-chan."

Jiraiya flushes a little at the sincerity in the girl's tone but also embarrassed that she knew about that small fact.

"Well then, you better watch out! I plan to spoil that boy rotten!"

Rina and Jiraiya laughed together at the image of an eager Naruto asking for treats. This was the begging of a beautiful friendship.

The genins returned together to the training ground, exhausted. Kakashi waved them to come closer to him where he sat underneath a large oak tree to read his precious book under the shade from the glaring hot sun. When the genins finally reached the shade, they were just starting to crouch down to sit on the grass when they heard a loud voice telling them to stop. They turned to see Rina coming toward them.

"What were all of you thinking? Sitting down after an extensive exercise like that?"

"Mizuki-sensei used to let us sit after our runs!" whines a tired Sakura.

"Like I give a damn about him. Does Iruka let you sit after your runs in PE back at the Academy?"

Sasuke shakes his head, sweat beading down the sides if his face, "No he makes us do warm ups to cool off."

"Did he ever tell you why?"

"No but I thought the whole you must not sit after exercise was a stupid myth?"

"Heavens no! Kakashi you let them sit after intense exercise like this?!"

Kakashi doesn't raise his head, flipping a page in his book nonchalantly, "Well they don't really sit all the time. I supposed it's alright. Besides-"

The jounin yelped in surprise and dropped his book to grip his injured foot.

"What the hell?!"

Rina glared, unapologetic for stomping harshly on the man's foot before turning to the genin and ordering them to warm up immediately and promised to explain why later.

Kakashi watches her as she sits besides him, her arms folded across her chest looking rather cross as she looks on at the genin. He tilts his head so that his hair brushes against her temple and whispers softly to her.

"Come on Siren, don't be mad."

The green-haired teenager snorts, her eyes fixated on the genin who were not warming up in uniformity. Sakura seemed to be doing the stretches taught in the Academy, Sasuke was doing the katas she had seen his brother herself do for his warm ups while both her wards were stretching in almost sync and recognized their movements from the warms up she had personally taught them to use. However it bothered her that for something as simple as warm ups, the team were not all doing it together.

"Natsume come on-"

"Shut up Hatake."

The special jounin stiffens and watches dumbly as Rina calls the students to a halt and makes them sit around her and himself for a circle.

"We are now going to do two exercises so I can gauge how much chakra control all of you have. The first requires individual effort but the second one requires all of us to work together."

"Why do you care about our chakra control?" Sasuke asks suddenly, looking bored.

"Because chakra control is important. Can anyone tell me why?"

Sakura raises her hand as if it was classtime but Rina calls on her anyway and everyone listens as Sakura gives a lengthy textbook answer. After two good minutes of boredom, Rina stops her.

"Thank you Sakura that was more than enough, Naruto could you water down what your teammate said in simpler sentences?"

The blonde hesitated, feeling awkward with all eyes on him until Sakura accuses him of not listening.

"I did too! It's just that you used a lot of big words that I don't understand!"

"What is so difficult?"

"I-I don't know what gradually and perceptively means!"

"You're an idiot Naruto!" yells the irate pinkette.

"Enough!"

Rina pinches her nose irritably and takes a deep breath before speaking again, "Naruto if you do not understand something then please speak up. Sakura your answer was correct but it was such a carbon copy of the exact text that I wonder whether you really do understand-"

"-I do too! I scored the highest in the class! I am the top kuniochi!"

"Wrong."

Sakura frowns, confused until Rina clarifies what she meant, "I have seen your final exam. Your answers are plainly laughable because it's very clear that you have studied the textbook so many times that almost all of your answers were exactly derived from the book or just paraphrased a bit."

"So? They are correct anyways!"

"Regardless, it shows that you study hard but it does not mean you are the top kuniochi. In fact, in your cohort's taijutsu exams, Hyuuga Hinata scored the highest. Haruno Sakura, what you are is nothing more than a really good student with mediocre ninja skills however; I can tell that you are a highly self motivated individual who is determined to achieve what she wants which is why I would like to think that you are capable of much more provided you are trained with proper supervision."

Sakura blinks, puzzled and not sure how to respond. On one hand, her new sensei saw her as more than a fan girl but at the same time, Sakura could tell that Rina was looking down at her.

"Karin. Please tell me why chakra control is important in your words please."

The former Orochimaru operative adjusts her glasses before answering slowly, "Chakra control is needed because we need to be able to sufficiently control and conserve chakra because over time and proper training, our reserves grow. A ninja should only mold as much chakra as they need to perform the jutsu of their choice. If they mold more chakra than is needed, the excess chakra is wasted and they will tire out faster from its loss. If they don't mold enough chakra, a technique will not be performed effectively, if at all, likely creating problems in a combat situation."

"Very good Karin. However, I recognized a phrase you quoted; you studied from Chiyo-sama medical ninjutsu guidebook am I right?"

The redhead nods and Rina smiles before turning to Naruto to ask if he understood who answers a gleeful yes so in turn, she tells him to simplify in his own words. Much to her pleasure, the boys answers confidently.

"So basically! If we don't learn to control our chakra, we will get tired really fast and become useless right?"

Sasuke snorts, commenting how dumbed down Naruto had made the explanation. Before the blonde could retort, Rina interrupts.

"Naruto, good job. Fairly correct answer now I want you and Sakura to do push-ups for earlier. 20 each because you Naruto failed to speak up and you Sakura for not giving me a satisfactory answer."

"B-but-!"

Naruto doesn't argue unlike his teammate and quickly gets to work much to Sakura's dismay.

"Sakura, I am not asking again."

The pinkette groans and reluctantly moves to position until Rina barks at her to lift her knees up.

"I'm a girl! I'm doing the girl push ups!"

"You are kuniochi so act like it and do it properly or I will double the count!"

Sakura turns to Kakashi for help but the masked ninja pays her no heed, reading his book. With a small grunt, the pinkette starts the proper push-ups whereas Naruto just finished his. Everyone minus Kakashi watches Sakura do hers much to the pinkette's embarrassment. Once she finishes, she mutters that she did nothing wrong but Rina heard her.

"Then don't call your teammate an idiot for something that isn't his fault. He admitted to not understanding your explanation so the least you could have done is to try and help him comprehend what you were trying to say not make him feel stupid. That was rude."

Sakura reddens immediately and looks down at her hands but Rina ignores her shame and continues, "The key to teamwork is communication so if none of you are willing to get along or even try to at least co-operate with one another then none of you can ever progress as ninjas."

From the corner of his eye, Kakashi could see the change of demeanor in his students from his former lover's words. It seems like she got to them.

Good.

Kakashi eye smiles before turning the next page in his book.

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