Chapter Five

After Naruto made it home after meeting his official new team, he went to visit his favorite weapon shop. Not because he was in need of a weapon, but because he wanted to see Tenten, whom he hadn't seen in the longest.

"Hello?" Naruto said as he entered the shop hoping to see his friend for the first time in a while. "Hey Naruto!" Said a female voice from the back of the shop. Naruto felt warmer inside hearing her warm greeting after so long. As TenTen came from the back, she greeted Naruto again with a big hug. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me Ototo!" Tenten playfully complained while crossing her arms. "Never, nechan!" Naruto laughed. Naruto's mood very quickly changed as the playful energy around them both faded. Naruto's face took a serious look. "Tenten, i'm leaving the village soon. Most likely in the next few months." Naruto said, waiting for her response. "What..why? I mean, I know you said the people here don't treat you the best, but.." Tenten started to stammer, she always knew Naruto held some hate for the villagers, but she never knew he'd leave. "It's a lot more than you would understand.. It's a lot more than I could tell you. Safely." Naruto sighed. Tenten was still confused and a bit angry. "I just don't understand. You know they'll send anbu after you since you're a ninja now, right?" Tenten tried to remind him. "We've already thought it all out Tenten." Naruto assured. "We? Who? Do you mean the kyuubi? He's making you do this, isn't he?" Tenten hounded. "I just wanted to let you know that I wont be here soon. I have to go now." Naruto turned to leave. Tenten looked frustrated at not being able to save her friend from going rogue and slammed her fist on the counter she takes orders. Naruto walked home while talking to Kurama about training. "For now, train with your sword you bought and with chakra control. I'll teach you to walk on trees and water after you meet with your team tomorrow." Said the demon. 'Alright' responded Naruto. When Naruto got home he practiced stances with his sword and he practiced slashing with it to get used to the weight and handle of it. He knew he'd have to use it a lot in these next weeks. He'd told Tenten he would leave in some months to make her think she had time to convince him when in reality, he'd be gone before she knew what happened. Naruto had trouble sleeping that night. Everything was dawning on him. It was a lot to carry for a twelve year old.

~The Next Day~

Naruto woke up and made some eggs for breakfast. "Feeling rebellious, huh?" Asked Kurama. "He recommended we not eat. It wasn't an official order." Responded Naruto. After he ate his light breakfast, he went to the training ground. Sasuke and Sakura were already waiting there but Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. "Hey Naruto, did you see Kakashi-Sensei when you were walking here?" Sasuke asked. Naruto was surprised to see the Uchiha still trying to be friendly despite his supposed power increase. "No. I couldn't even sense him on my way here so he might be a while." Naruto decided to see how far Sasuke would go with the nice act. "You're a sensor?" Sasuke asked with genuine surprise. "Yeah. My bloodlinelimit gives me constant increased senses just like the Inuzuka clan. I'm not a professional at sensing yet but i'm moderately good." Responded the blond, actually letting his guard a tiny bit down with the Uchiha. The Uzumaki and Uchiha talked for about an hour with the occasional budding in of the Haruno with the immediate shut down from the other ninjas. After an hour and a half Kakashi finally arrived. "Yo." He said as he walked into the training grounds. "You're LATE!" Screeched the annoying pink-haired banshee with all three of the others covering their ears. "Anyway, let's get started." Kakashi pulled out two bells and started explaining. "I have two bells in my hand. You have until sunset to get them from me. You must use lethal force because if you fight without the intent to kill, you won't get anywhere." "Also, whoever doesn't get a bell will go back to the academy and ill eat their lunch in front of them. Now, begin!" With that, Kakashi jumped away from his students and all three of the genin jumped backwards into the forest behind them. Immediately, Sasuke went to go find Naruto as Sakura went to go find Sasuke. After about three minutes the entire team seven was together. "Alright. What do you think is the real motive of this exercise Naruto?" Asked Sasuke. This took Naruto aback. He wasn't expecting Sasuke to keep up this act for so long. Maybe it wasn't an act. Maybe Sasuke really did think of Naruto as an equal now. "Teamwork." Naruto finally said. "In all of shinobi history, there has never been a two-man team. Therefore, they wouldn't break us up and send one of us back to the academy. So with all that information, we can confidently say that this exercise is about turning the team on each other and seeing if we would abandon each other. Essentially failing us all." Naruto rambled. The other two looked at him as if he grew a second and third head. "Hey, dumb it down a bit." Joked Sasuke. "Heheh, yeah sorry. Basically, we just need to work together to get the bells and we all pass." Naruto said. "Okay. Let's do it." Said Sasuke. "Yeah!" Followed Sakura. The three sprinted off to set up a plan.

~Fifteen Minutes Later~

"I wonder where-" Kakashi was cut off when seven kunai flew at him at surprisingly fast speeds. *fwew* *fwew* Kakashi dodged the kunai but one of them turned into a Sasuke who threw a kick at Kakashi's face. Kakashi blocked the kick but it broke his guard. Naruto then came out of a nearby bush and attempted to stab Kakashi in the stomach. Kakashi transformed into a log and reappeared nearby. "So, you're fighting with killing intent huh? What if I couldn't dodge that stab?" Taunted Kakakshi. "Then you would've been better dead if a Jounin was killed by some green-behind-the-ears genin." Said Naruto with little to no emotion. Naruto seemed way different from the Naruto moments before. He looked as if he fought with no emotion, but so much determination at the same time. Even though it was only a training, Naruto looked like he would complete his task no matter what. 'Hm, he has determination and complete, emotionless focus at the same time.' Kakashi thought. Kakashi was thrusted out of his thoughts when more slashings and stabbings came his way from Naruto. Kakashi was easily dodging Naruto's sword but then he sensed Sasuke get behind him for an attack. Now both Sasuke and Naruto were attacking Kakashi simultaneously. Kakashi was having slight trouble dodging all the attacks and he was surprised that they were giving him this much of a hard time. While the three of them were locked into a sequence of slashing and dodging, four shuriken flew towards the back of Kakashis head. Kakashi went to dodge but it momentarily left him open allowing Naruto and Sasuke a opportunity to grab the two bells and quickly dashing back before Kakashi could retaliate. After a few seconds of Kakashi gathering what had just happened, he spoke. "Well then. I heavily underestimated the three of you's ability to work together." he started. "But, now you must make a decision. Who goes back to the academy?" Kakashi said crossing his arms. "I will." Naruto said, knowing it was a trick. "Hmph." Kakashi grunted. As Sakura came out of the nearby bushes with the last of her kunai and shuriken in her hands, Kakashi finally spoke. "Fine then. I guess you all pass." He said with his signature eye-smile. "Yeah!" The three cheered together. For once Naruto felt as though he belonged here. He felt as though he belonged with this team. Aside from the usual Sakara annoyance, they felt as though they were the family he was deprived of his entire life. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting such a fight. Even tho we're a new team, you guys showed amazing team work. That's why, i'll be putting you through the chunin exams in a few months." Kakashi admitted. "The chuunin exams already? Don't we get our own teams when we become Chuunin?" Asked Sakura. "No. That's only when you become a 'Jonin Sensei'" Responded Naruto. Sakura rolled her eyes without Naruto seeing and mumbled something about Naruto thinking he knew more than Sasuke under her breath. Although Naruto heard her, he decided not to make a big deal of it. "Correct Naruto. You only get your own Genin team if you decide to become a Jonin Sensei. However, you might get assigned a mission where you have an apprentice for a few months or so. You never really know." Finished Kakashi. With that, they all went their separate ways, Naruto going to train with Kurama. Once Naruto got to a training ground that he thought was discrete, he started talking to Kurama. "Hey Fox. Now that i'm officially a Genin, I think it's time you teach me some Jutsu." "Fine kid. Pick up a leaf and put some chakra in it." Naruto did as told. The leaf split in half, both sides were damp. "Hm. It seems as though you have strong wind affinity and water as your secondary." Said the fox. "So what does this mean?" asked Naruto. "It means, with a lot of my help, you could become an extremely deadly ninja with dangerously sharp wind to cut your enemies, hot water to boil your enemies, or ice to stab them." Said the Kyuubi with an evil grin. "Woah, that sounds like a lot." Naruto said getting excited. "It is kid. You have a lot of untapped potential. And i'm going to harness it so you can destroy this sorry excuse of a ninja village." Roared the fox. Naruto seemed to lose a bit of his smile. "What if they're not all bad, Fox?" He said. "Going soft are we? Did you forget the years of torture? Did you forget how they treated you? Just because you found some teammates that aren't completely trash to you doesn't mean this village is redeemable. Go take a walk around this place and remind yourself that you're still a demon to them. You're still a monster that should've been killed by your father." Kyuubi silenced Naruto. Naruto gained an extreme amount of anger in his heart. He reminded himself of his years being an outcast. How drunk villagers tried to murder him. He let that sorrow fuel his hate for this village. He turned to the training trunk, took out his sword, and cut completely through it with one slash. Naruto trained vigorously for the rest of the day.

~Two weeks later~

"Today will be our first C rank missions, team. For the past four weeks, we've been doing D ranks working on our team work. Now, I feel as though we're ready to take on a C rank escort mission." Announced Kakashi to his team. "It's about time." Sasuke said with a smirk. "Yeah, what sasuke said!" Sakura joined in. "Who're we escorting, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked. "I'm not sure yet. We have to go accept the mission. So let's go." Kakashi said as he started to walk towards the hokage tower. The rest followed. A few minutes later, they arrived at the tower and entered the Hokages office. "Hello, Hokage-sama." Kakashi greeted. The Hokage was happy to see Naruto after such a long time. "It's been a while, Kakashi." Hiruzen said. "We're here for the mission, sir." Said Sasuke. "Ah yes, enter!" Hiruzen ordered. As he said that, a drunk looking man that smelled of booze came in. "So i'm gonna be guarded by a buncha runts and a cyclops?" Grumbled the drunk man. "Hey! My Sasuke-kun is no runt!" Screeched Sakura. "Eh whatever, we leave for the bridge in the Land of Waves tomorrow." Said the man as he left the room. The team then finalized everything and went home to get their things for the mission. In the four weeks of D-rank missions, Kurama taught Naruto the basics of sealing. Naruto could now seal basic things like weapons and he could also seal then on his body making it way easier to carry his sword. Naruto had also bought weighted seals since he couldn't quite make them yet and he's been training with them to increase his speed. Naruto put basic shinobi needs into seals and placed the seals on various parts of his body. He also put the seal with his sword on the palm of his right hand. All he had to do was channel chakra to it and he could make it seem like his sword appeared out of thin air. He trained some more that day and then attempted to go to sleep but he was far too excited for his first mission to get any solid sleep. The next day he did his morning routine and met his team at the gate. "Okay, team." Started Kakashi, "We're going to be in a formation based on your skills, sensing, and fighting ability. Sakura will be in the middle guarding the bridge builder. Sasuke will be to the right, I will be to the left, and Naruto will be leading with his crazy senses." Kakashi explained. "Why isn't Sasuke in the front?! He's stronger!" Sakura complained. "Shut up Sakura. I don't have nearly as good of senses than Naruto. But, i'm more of a long range jutsu user right now. That's why im behind him." Sasuke explained to the banshee. "Oh, that makes sense Sasuke-kun." Sakura blushed. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the idiotic excuse of a shinobi listen to the Uchihas every word. "Okay, now then. Everyone got their stuff?" Kakashi said. "Yup!" Answered all of them collectively. "Then let's get into position and go." Everyone got in their positions and they sprinted out the gate of the leaf. Making their way to the Land of Waves and beginning their first C rank mission. Naruto smirker to himself, he would complete this mission and take his first life while being a shinobi.

~End Chapter Five~