Chapter 13: Planting a seed.

Kurenai let out a long sigh as she took a sip of her beverage. She was technically on duty so, unfortunately, she couldn't have any alcohol, but just the act of having a drink helped to calm her down. Once she got the news that her team had returned earlier than expected she cornered Kakashi and demanded he debrief her at the lounge.

"So…" she started "the lady was cheating on the client, and her lover tried to kidnap her? Thereby resulting in Hinata almost dying while Shino and Kiba were distracted."

"Basically, yeah," Kakashi answered.

"And where were you during all of this?"

"I was watching, don't worry."

"See, but I am worried, because of the part where Hinata could have died." Kurenai frowned.

"She could have… but didn't." Kakashi smiled. "You're welcome by the way."

Kurenai let her face fall into her hands as she let out an even louder, longer sigh.

"In fairness, I did ditch the mission after the first sign of trouble like you asked." Kakashi defended himself. "You're not making this next part any easier on me by the way."

"Next part? Is there more bad news?"

"Well, no, not per se." Kakashi cleared his throat and did his best to appear professional. "It's more of a request."

"Kakashi, I've been doing you an awful lot of favors lately." Kurenai scowled.

"Well, the good news is that you wouldn't have to do anything if you agreed to this." Kakashi retorted.

With another sip and a sigh, Kurenai finally motioned for him to continue his request.

"You know that Sakura is being trained for the chuunin exams, right?" Kakashi asked.

"...Yes, why?"

"Well, she needs a team. A team that I would like Hinata to be on."

Kurenai gave Kakashi the type of look that one would give a small particularly-stupid child.

"What? What in the name of all the gods would make you think that was a good idea?" She asked.

"I saw her fight." Kakashi started. "She's good, she's outpacing Kiba and Shino, her martial skills would complement Sakura's more support-oriented strengths, and it would simultaneously help her get stronger and distract her from Konoha and Hyuuga politics. Just taking her out on the mission helped her immensely, I could tell. She managed to make it to the semi-finals in the previous exams, and the only reason she lost there was because she went up against Neji; as a chuunin, she would have more weight behind her views in her clan, and it would allow her more freedom to grow outside of the rigid scout-focused paradigm your current team operates under."

Kurenai's eyes narrowed more and more as she listened to his explanation. "You're a real asshole when you make sense you know that?"

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "I do, so I take it you agree?"

"No… at least not entirely." Kurenai hummed to herself. "I wouldn't let you watch over Hinata during the chuunin exams after the last mission."

Kakashi moved to speak but Kurenai held up a hand, prematurely cutting him off.

"However," she continued. "I may be persuaded to let Hinata join the exams with Sakura on the condition that I can go with you and keep an eye on her throughout."

"Makes sense," Kakashi nodded. "But what about Kiba and Shino? I don't think we could get permission for a four-man cell."

"I'll talk to them but I think they'll be fine watching over the home front. They both come from clans that have ample opportunities for personalized training. Besides, I don't think they would want to go anyway. With everything that's been going on, I think they're both longing for a vacation"

Kakashi nodded. "I thought you said they were getting restless?"

"That was before they had to kill a man." Kurenai retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Right, well, that's all well and good, but that still leaves us with the problem of finding a third member for our little chuunin exam team."

"I'm going to categorize that firmly as a 'you problem.' I've already done my part in whatever the hell type of plan you've been working towards."

"My dear Kurenai, you're implying that I have a plan at all." Kakashi sighed before resting his head in his hands. If he hadn't been born with white hair, he'd be going gray by now.

UN:PoA

Naruto sat cross-legged in the vault under the Uzukage tower thinking. He had all of his now masked clones up top helping the Dokeshi clan get settled in, with orders to pop should anything fishy happen. As it turned out only Yagi and Shio had the fiery red hair and snow-white skin, the rest of the clan appeared like a much more normal version of those two. They were still a bit pale and tended to have reddish or light brown hair, but nothing like Yagi and Shio had. He assumed it had something to do with their bloodline.

Yagi had promised a more in-depth discussion with Naruto once his people were fed and given water. Naruto's clones were busy catching small birds and digging up roots and shoots to help feed them while they drank from the river flowing down from the small mountain in the center of the island.

Naruto had no idea what he was going to do going forward. He may be the Uzukage now, but he was still a genin with zero leadership experience. Eventually, deciding that worrying was getting him nowhere he had gone back to studying fuuinjutsu, in an attempt to get his mind off of it. Judging from how ragged and worn the Dokeshi people were, they didn't pose any threat, and he could feel that only Yagi and Shio had any real training in chakra usage. Either that or they were all hyper-advanced at hiding their chakra signatures, in which case he would be screwed regardless.

Naruto started looking further into the kuihimo method of balancing seals. He was finally starting to memorize some of the most common morphemes in seals and figuring out how to balance them to create a seal. Essentially every seal was a sentence that he would have to write, when someone pushed chakra into the seal it would flow with the ink and change its nature depending on the characters used. So, if he wrote a simple seal that said something like: 'to be like stone' it would theoretically strengthen the object he'd written the seal on. Depending on the seal and the amount of chakra the duration of the effect could last only as long as he pushed chakra into it, or the seal could act as a battery, holding a chakra charge to keep the effect going longer.

Naruto hummed to himself. He was getting a bit tired of learning all this theory and wanted to put some of it into practice but couldn't think of how to do so safely. Every book that he or his clones had read all started with a warning of how if you started practicing seals without knowing what you were doing you could get yourself killed. Aha! He'd come up with a plan on how to practice seals safely.

Explosive tags!

Ok so maybe 'safely' wasn't the right word, but he knew what the seals on explosive tags looked like and he'd used them before. If he could re-create the explosive tag, he would have a better understanding of how seals worked. All he needed was a piece of paper and some carbon-based ink. There was plenty of spare paper in the vault, and even if he couldn't find the proper ink he'd read that you can make your own with just charcoal and fat or grease. He hadn't showered in at least 3 weeks so his hair was plenty greasy!

And so it was that he set about the job of creating improvised explosive devices… safely!

UN:PoA

Sasuke sniffled; he had slowly started getting used to Karin forcing him to eat outside. He had finished his lunch rather quickly as always but she appeared to be taking her time.

"What did you tell Orochimaru yesterday?" Sasuke asked suddenly, causing Karin to choke on her seaweed salad at the suddenness of it.

"Ek- koh!" She coughed before finally swallowing. "What do you mean? I told him what I always do." She said once she got a hold of herself. "You want more training, but you're doing well overall."

"Then why does he keep asking you secretly?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "If my progress has been steady that could be summed up without talking to you in private."

Karin huffed and looked away for a moment. Staring off at some birds as they flew nearby.

"Karin…" Sasuke said to draw her out of her contemplation.

"He doesn't know that you know that I'm keeping an eye on you, ok?" Karin finally mumbled to him.

"What?" Sasuke looked at her with a questioning face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he doesn't know that I told you that I'm watching you. He's afraid that if you knew you'd get angry and run off." She huffed.

Sasuke blinked at her for a moment. "You weren't supposed to let me know?" He asked her.

"No, you're supposed to think I'm just a training partner." Karin said, "he's really paranoid about making the same mistakes Konoha did and pissing you off."

"He seems to care about what I think an awful lot for someone who wants to steal my body," Sasuke mumbled.

"Three years from now." Karin shrugged as she finished eating, laying back. "Besides, he doesn't want your body so much as he wants your eyes. Not even necessarily both of them."

"What?" Sasuke cocked his head to the side.

Karin smirked at Sasuke and winked. "No offense Sasuke, but you're not exactly the top physical specimen. In terms of bodies, there are plenty of buffer guys that Orochimaru-sama could take." She teased.

"If all he wants is my eyes then why wait?" He asked, ignoring her jab. "I'm almost completely at his mercy, he could probably take them now if he wanted."

"Heck if I know. All I know is I'm assigned to train with you for the next three years so nothing's happening for a while." She shrugged before laying her head on his lap and closing her eyes. "You ever hear the phrase 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth?' Because for someone who doesn't want his eyes or body stolen, you're complaining about them not getting stolen a lot."

"I'd rather know more about my enemy's motives than not." Sasuke frowned down at her and scooted back so her head fell off his lap.

"Oof-" Karin grunted as her head fell onto the blanket and looked up at Sasuke with a glare. "Rude…" She mumbled before sitting up. She took Sasuke's face in her hands and looked directly into his eyes. "Then know this. Even in a worst-case scenario. You've got three years before anything bad happens. So shut up, learn some jutsu, eat your tomatoes, and relax."

Sasuke scowled at her for a solid 60 seconds before finally slurring out in a grumble. "Leh go of my fashe…"

UN:PoA

"Congratulations," Tsunade smiled down at Sakura. "You managed to completely stem the bleeding. You lost the limb, but managed to save this little cat's life."

Sakura just stared up into the blue sky with dull eyes. She didn't want to be a complainer, but being tossed back and forth from Kakashi to Kurenai, to Tsunade, and being trained to exhaustion every day was finally getting to her. Her hands were covered in blood, and so was her dress.

"Yay…" Sakura finally managed to mumble through slightly parted lips. "Now it'll be disabled forever… go me."

Tsunade rolled her eyes kicked Sakura in the side gently. "Listen Sakuda-"

"My name is Sakura." She corrected, now out of habit. She swore Tsunade was getting her name wrong on purpose at this point.

"Whatever- listen, I know you're having it rough right now, but you aren't allowed to go brain-dead just yet. Once you hit chuunin you can take a nice long vacation, but for now, you've got to focus alright? I can see you're worn out, so I won't push you any further today. Kakashi-san is back from his mission with team 8 so he's going to start taking over your training again."

"Obviously, this is subject to missions and such, but from now on I want you to report to the hospital every Saturday at 6 am sharp understood? Your continuing training will be done as a Nurse's assistant where I can check on you occasionally."

"You want me to start operating on people!?" Sakura shouted in shock as she shot up from the grass into a sitting position.

"What are you fu-" Tsunade took a breath, remembering she was talking to a child and censoring herself. "No, Sadura-"

"Sakura."

"You won't be operating on anyone any time soon." Tsunade continued as if she was never interrupted. "However, your progression will soon start to become stunted if we continue to operate on animals and I can't keep tutoring you one on one like this. You'll be observing real hospital procedures and helping where you can. You'll be changing bedpans and observing, not practicing medicine in any real degree, at least not for now."

Sakura laid back down on the grass with a sigh of relief. She still didn't entirely trust herself with a cat, let alone a human. She didn't relish the idea of changing bedpans, but it was certainly better than accidentally killing someone.

"Ok, I'll be there this Saturday." She mumbled, closing her eyes.

Tsunade nodded and looked down again. "Are you going to sleep?"

"No, just resting my eyes a bit," Sakura said, barely above a whisper.

"Do you want me to take you somewhere or leave you here?"

"I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei will find me eventually and nobody else comes out here. Y'know?"

Tsunade just nodded. "I'll let Kakashi know. Sleep tight."

With that Tsunade walked off, but not before sneaking a sip from her hip-flask.

UN:PoA

Naruto bit his lip as he carefully wrote the kanji "爆" or "Baku" or "burst" in the center of a scrap of paper, he wasn't entirely sure what the stroke order was but hoped that it didn't matter too much so long as he was careful with his handwriting. Slowly tearing a piece of dried skin off his top lip with his teeth to help him focus, he spit it aside before holding the paper out at arm's length.

"There… I think that's it." He mumbled to himself. He'd thankfully found some dried-out ink in the vault that he just spit in to rehydrate it so he didn't have to make his own.

Naruto stood up and walked out of the vault, letting the stone walls slide shut behind him like they always did. As he climbed up to the surface, he received a flood of memories from a popped clone. It appeared that the Dokeshi clan had all been fed and Yagi was finally willing to sit with 'Haku' and have a real talk about some long-term solutions to the situation.

Blowing on the ink until it dried Naruto folded the paper and stuck it in his pocket before running off to find the old man. Pulling his mask into place he jumped from rooftop to rooftop and swung from bamboo shafts like a monkey until he eventually landed in front of the pale patriarch.

"Howdy," he said, standing up from the crouch he'd landed in. "I'm the original. I had a clone tell me you're ready to talk?"

The old man did his best to perform a low bow, using his walking stick to help him keep balance. "Yes Uzukage-sama, my people have been taken care of and I can now direct my attention to less immediate needs. Those being your desires for the future of your island and my people."

Naruto shrugged. "Like I said, I don't see anything wrong with letting you guys stick around. The question is how long you want to stay. Do you want to stay refugees or become citizens?"

"Citizens?" Yagi asked, popping his back as he stood back up straight. "Is that an option? You've already given my people so much, of course, we would love to make this place our permanent residence, but-" He paused. "Well, what would the duties of a citizen entitle?"

Again, Naruto shrugged, taking a seat on a nearby stone. "I dunno, pay taxes and stuff? Swear loyalty to Uzu? I don't know much about Uzugakure politics or justice systems yet so I'm just rolling with the punches until I can do more homework."

"Uzugakure? You mean Uzushiogakure?" Yagi tilted his head to the side. "You have no idea what you're doing do you?" He chuckled with the type of kind grandpa smile that only an old person could pull off.

Naruto leaned back on the stone, raising his hands. "You caught me," he chuckled. "I'm not gonna lie. All I know is that I'm an Uzumaki, and this land is mine. Other than that? I'm open to suggestions."

Yagi nodded. "Well, I do have leadership experience. I could offer my services as an advisor in exchange for your offering of shelter to my people."

Naruto leaned forward, placing a finger to his masked lips, and hummed as he thought. That could work, couldn't it? If the Dokeshi had wanted to be hostile they would have acted by now, and the idea of learning by doing sounded much more appealing than even more homework to him.

"Alright… alright deal!" Naruto stood up and reached a hand out to the old man. "From this day forth the Dokeshi are an official clan of Uzugakure. We'll find some buildings to make your clan's territory. You can self-govern for most things and stuff, just don't be an asshole or I'll have to beat you up. Y'know?" He smiled.

Yagi couldn't help but chuckle, considering a mere 48 hours ago he had been praying to God for a miracle, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to find a new homeland for his people.

Reaching his hand out, Yagi took Naruto's and shook it happily.

"Deal!" the two said in unison.

UN:PoA

Kakashi hummed as he slowly walked to Sakura's home with the sleeping girl slung over his shoulder. He'd tried to wake her to no avail and figured she'd be more comfortable in her bed than on the forest floor. About halfway to her residence, he felt the girl jolt awake in his grasp.

"Huh? Eh!? I'm falling!" Sakura shouted, struggling in confusion.

"Nope, just tired." Kakashi chuckled as he placed her down on her own two feet. "Tsunade-sama let me know you were done training for the day so I decided to bring you home."

Sakura looked around, her mind trying to shake off her post-sleep confusion. "W-what? Oh." She let out a sigh as she got a handle of her surroundings. "No, I can't go home yet, dad's out on a mission and mom will get worried if I come home early. Not to mention I'm still covered in dried blood."

Kakashi nodded down to his student. "Well, I can tell you're not in any shape for training right now, so what would you like to do? Ramen? It's on me if you'd like."

"What were you planning on doing after dropping me off?" Sakura asked with a stifled yawn.

"Talk to Kurenai about some things, talk to Gai about some things, get something to eat, then go home and read some dirty books before I cry myself to sleep pondering all of my failings and this meaningless existence."

Sakura squinted up at her sensei for a moment, not sure how to reply to that. "You're weird Kakashi-sensei. Y'know?" She finally managed to say.

Kakashi just laughed and pat her head. "You're just figuring this out now?" He teased. "So, I take it you want to run errands with me until you're done for the day?

Sakura shrugged. "I mean, I've got nothing else to do. Ino is busy, and I can't go home or mom will freak out. I should probably change too."

Kakashi nodded as he started walking away, Sakura falling in step behind him. "We'll stop by the river for you to wash off once we get you something to eat. That'll have to do unless you have some spare clothes hidden somewhere."

"I don't, but that's a good idea." Sakura mumbled, "I should start doing that, y'know."

Kakashi chuckled, soon they would be at team 8's training ground.

UN:PoA

Hinata was kicking her feet as she sat on her favorite tree stump. Taking a bite of some of the ice cream that Kurenai had gotten for her. She should have known that Kurenai would freak out after hearing about what happened on her mission with Kakashi.

Kurenai was sat next to her, arm wrapped around Hinata's shoulders lovingly, almost motherly in nature. The two had had a long talk after Kurenai managed to get Hinata alone. Making sure everything was ok. Much to Kurenai's shock Hinata was doing extraordinarily well all things considered. Hinata had debriefed Kurenai in her own words and now the two were simply enjoying the rest of the evening.

"Can I ask a question sensei?" Hinata mumbled softly, finishing the last bite of her ice cream cone.

"Of course, what is it Hinata-chan?" Kurenai smiled down at her, rubbing her shoulder softly.

"Why did she do it?" Hinata asked simply after a short pause.

"Hmm? What do you-"

"Why would she cheat on her husband like that?" Hinata clarified; the question had been bothering her since the woman had revealed her infidelity. "She had a beautiful daughter, she had a loving husband, she had everything someone could want, but she chose to throw it all away. Why?"

Kurenai sighed and thought in silence for a minute before responding. "Well, Hinata, you said that she brought up her husband's wealth, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Well, some girls don't marry for love. They marry for money. They treat their love and their bodies like a business." Kurenai tried to explain in the most PG terms she could think of. "I think that's why the woman married her husband. And then she fell in love, real love, with another man."

Hinata looked down. "But still, her daughter. Her husband. They must be heartbroken right now."

Kurenai just nodded again. "I'm sure they are. She had a duty to her husband and daughter, but as I said, she fell in love. And when there's a conflict between love and duty. Well, duty rarely wins."

Hinata hummed to herself, thinking about what her sensei had said. A conflict between love and duty…

"Now," Kurenai said, interrupting Hinata's train of thought. "It's my turn to ask a question."

"Hmm?" Hinata looked up to her sensei, waiting patiently for the question to be asked.

"What did you think of your time spent with Kakashi-san?" Kurenai asked.

"Huh?" Hinata hummed and looked down. "I liked it. It was fun. Well except for the last bit, but that wasn't his fault."

Kurenai just nodded. "I see, and would you like the idea of extended training with him again sometime?"

"Yeah, that could be fun I guess." Hinata shrugged. "Why, do you need to help Sakura-san out some more?"

"Well, something like that." Kurenai smiled. "I'm more worried about helping you at the moment. Speaking of Sakura, what do you think of her?"

Hinata hummed and shrugged again. "I dunno, I don't know much about her. I know that I was jealous of her being on a team with Naruto-kun, and that she had a crush on Sasuke, but other than that I'm not sure. Kakashi talked about her a bit, he told me that she was having a hard time dealing with Naruto-kun's death as well. I haven't talked to her though."

Kurnai nodded. "Well, I have a proposition for you. One that you can say no to if you want, alright?"

Hinata just nodded again, wondering where her sensei was taking this conversation.

"Sakura-san is planning on going to the chuunin exams in the Land of Hot Springs in a few months, but she needs two more teammates."

Hinata nodded. "So, you want me to join her team for the chuunin exams?"

"No," Kurenai said bluntly. "I want you to do what you want to do. If you're not comfortable with the idea, then you have veto power over the entire thing, alright? And I'll be with you every step of the way."

Hinata hummed to herself as she thought. "What about Kiba and Shino?" She asked.

"I've already talked to them," Kurenai answered. "Neither of them wants to go to the next exams, and both are happy so long as you're happy. Kiba even said that you had 'the potential to become a total kick-butt chuunin.'"

Hinata giggled to herself at that. "He didn't say 'butt,' did he sensei?"

Kurenai held a finger up to her lips in a faux-shushing gesture before giggling in return.

"Good evening!" Came a loud familiar voice from across the training ground. Hinata looked up, to see Kakashi and Sakura walking towards them. Kakashi appeared like his usual self, while Sakura- well she hadn't seen Sakura in a while, but she assumed the bags under her eyes and blood-stained hands weren't normal for the 13-year-old girl.

"Kakashi-san?" Kurenai asked, a bit upset. "I thought I told you to not come here until tomorrow? Why is it you're always late except for when it would be helpful?"

Kakashi nodded and placed a hand behind his head. "Sorry, sorry!" He chuckled. "I was planning on waiting, but Sakura is a bit too tired for training today, and she doesn't want to go home early either."

Sakura looked up at Kakashi. "Why are you blaming me? You said this was your plan for the day anyway-"

Kakashi placed a hand over Sakura's mouth. "So anyway, I take it you've talked with Hinata about our little plan?" He said as Sakura struggled to break free.

Kurenai sighed and nodded as she stood, crossing her arms. "We just finished, lucky for you she's taken pity on you and is willing to accept your offer."

"I mean, 'pity' is a strong word," Hinata whispered to herself, placing her fingers together. "Besides, it c-could be fun. And this way I'll be able to g-get stronger." She stuttered.

Kurenai frowned; it had been a while since Hinata had stuttered last. She was already getting worried she was pushing the young Hyuuga matriarch too far.

Finally, Sakura broke out of Kakashi's grasp and took a deep breath of air. "Wait, what!? What do you mean? She's on the team now? But what about her other teammates? What about-"

Again, she was cut off by Kakashi placing a hand over her mouth.

"Really Kakashi, you didn't even tell your own student?" Kurenai asked with a huff.

"She'll be fine, she's learned to roll with the punches." Kakashi smiled. "So, I take it you two are fine with the idea of training together then?"

Hinata looked up to Kurenai for guidance. Kurenai simply shrugged. "It's up to you Hinata." She offered.

Hinata looked to Kakashi and the now red-faced Sakura. She nodded and gave a quick bow. "Y-yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." She smiled at their antics. It reminded her of Naruto.

Kakashi smiled in return. "Perfect, then we just have to go get our third member and we'll be set!"

"Oh, and who might that be?" Kurenai asked.

"Well, I had the thought of creating a sort of femme fatale if you would. We shall be recruiting Tenten, from Team Gai!" He announced triumphantly.

"Uh-huh, and have you talked to Gai about this?" Kurenai asked.

"… Not yet!"

"And have you talked to Tenten about this?" She started tapping her foot in frustration.

"… I'm sure she'll love the idea!" Kakashi coughed.

"Oh, and how does Sakura feel about it?"

Kakashi looked down to Sakura who was now unconscious in his hands. He had been a bit too successful in keeping her quiet it seemed. "That's probably not good."

"Ehh, Kurenai-sensei. You said you'd be going with us, right?" Hinata asked, a bead of sweat falling down her forehead.

"Now so more than ever." She mumbled as Kakashi did his best to re-awaken Sakura.

UN:PoA

Naruto pressed the explosive tag onto a bamboo shaft, having licked the back of it to make sure it would stick. He summoned a single clone and saluted him.

"For the greater Naruto," he said.

The clone saluted as well and repeated "For the greater Naruto."

With that the clone walked to the tag and placed his finger on it, sending a minor pulse of chakra into it. The explosion was not quite as potent as a store-bought explosive tag would have been, but it was still more than enough to obliterate the bamboo as well as the poor clone. Naruto had to cover his face to prevent shards of broken bamboo from hitting his eyes. A goofy smile creeping across his face as the clone's memories flooded his mind. The clone had followed its pre-programmed orders to the letter and had done his best to watch, or rather feel, the flow of chakra as it went through the ink in the tag even as it exploded and tore him apart.

The chakra didn't react with the ink, so much as it reacted with the kanji that was written. He didn't have any magic eyeball powers, so he couldn't be certain, but he was fairly sure that the carbon-based ink was just a vessel that the chakra traveled through, like blood through a vein. Only once the chakra had completely filled the 'vein' did it appear to alter its nature to the seal's will. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sure was cool!

As Naruto was brushing the debris off of him, he noticed a quickly approaching chakra signature, recognizing it as the younger of the two Dokeshi bloodline users. Shio?

The boy landed next to him, taking a knee as he did. "Uzukage-sama, are we under attack?" He asked quickly. "I heard an explosion, are you alright?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry, I was just practicing some seals, I probably should have told you guys beforehand."

Shio looked around and stood up, nodding. "That would be appreciated in the future Uzukage-sama, yes."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I'm not super into formalities and stuff. I know I'm like, technically your boss or whatever, but seriously don't stress out over this stuff."

Shio paused, looking around momentarily. "Yagi-sama has advised I treat you with the utmost respect." He spoke.

"Listen, dude, I'm not gonna tell you what to do" Naruto replied, "I'm just saying, I won't give you any shit. Y'know?"

"Thank you for the thought, Uzukage-sama, but as I said, my clan head has advised I address you with the respect due to someone of your position."

"…You guys are real sticklers for the rules, aren't you?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"No, but Yagi-sama is, and I have a great deal of respect for him," Shio replied.

Naruto placed a hand on Shio's shoulder as he started walking back towards the city. "My judgment of character has recently been brought into question since my 'best friend' killed me, but I think I see a beautiful friendship about to bloom between us. Y'know?"

Shio just walked beside his kage awkwardly. It took a moment for him to process what was just said. "Wait, what?"

UN:PoA

"Hold your ground!" a booming voice came from the tree-line as Kakashi approached with Kurenai, Hinata, and Sakura in tow. Sakura had no other option than to go with him, Hinata wanted to tag along, and Kurenai 'couldn't wait to see the coming storm,' which Kakashi felt was very unsupportive of her.

In front of Kakashi landed Konoha's own green beast, Mighto Gai, followed closely behind by his entire team. Lee, who looked like what would happen if Gai ever decided to reproduce via budding. Neji, who was his usual solemn self. And Tenten, who was currently wielding a sword that was about as long as she was tall with a perhaps too big smile on her face.

"Kakashi-san, for what purpose have you come here today?" Gai asked, standing straight with his arms crossed. "Have you come to challenge me to a duel! While I can appreciate the ABSOLUTE YOUTH of the desire for immediate combat, I am currently training my team."

Kakashi waved to the boisterous man. "No, I'm not here to fight Gai-san. I was coming with a proposition for you."

Gai looked to the others and then to his teammates before returning his gaze to Kakashi. "Very well, I see this proposition is something of great importance if you felt the need to bring your girlfriend along to bear witness."

"I am NOT his girlfriend!" Kurenai shouted angrily, taking a step forward. She managed to get a hold of herself when she realized she'd made Hinata jump at her outburst.

"Not his girlfriend? Then did he propose!? Is this the proposition you have brought me, old friend? I would be most honored to be your best man at this most YOUTHFUL of weddings!"

Kurenai grit her teeth and stared daggers at the back of Kakashi's head, silently daring him to make a wrong move.

"N-no Gai, me and Kurenai are uh…" Kakashi looked back to her, before deciding that was a very bad decision as she subtly scowled at him. "We're not ready to label our relationship in such formal ways. The uhh… flames of youth must not be blown out by the winds of haste."

Gai nodded solemnly. "Yes! Of course, dear friend, my own haste has frightened away many a potential mate. You are so WISE in the WAYS OF YOUTH!" He shouted into the air as he took up a wide horse stance.

Kakashi did his best not to imagine what type of woman would even agree to date Gai in the first place. He needed to reign the Taijutsu master in or they might spend the next hour talking about youth. "…Right, well back to my proposition. You are aware of my desire to enroll Sakura in the coming Chuunin exams, yes? Currently, our team consists of only her and Hinata, and we need a third member."

"I am aware of your desire to enroll her, yes," Gai said simply, prompting Kakashi to continue.

"Well, how would you like to be able to focus more of your attention on Lee and Neji, while Kurenai and I get together to train Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten," Kakashi said with a faux sense of enthusiasm. "It'll be a very youthful femme fatale… or something."

Gai returned to his standing erect position, holding his hand to his chin as he thought. "Hmm, yes. Yes, that could potentially be beneficial to all parties. Very well, I CONSENT!" He shouted, holding out a thumbs up and smiling in the way that only he could.

Kurenai's jaw dropped as she watched the interaction. This had had the potential to be a comical disaster, how had everything managed to go so… so smooth!

"Great," Kakashi smiled behind his mask at Gai and returned the thumbs up, albeit less enthusiastically. "Tenten, would you like to join me and my team?"

Tenten hummed and looked at her teammates. It's true, they were nice but… well with Lee-kun and Gai-sensei's antics she rarely got any proper training in. But Neji had been in a deep funk since Naruto's death and she was apparently the only one that understood constant training was not the answer to everything. Biting her lip Tenten cleared her throat to speak.

"No, I think I'm good here," she smiled.

The sound of leaves ruffling as a stiff breeze blew was all that could be heard for a few moments as everyone looked at the smiling girl as she laid her sword against her shoulder. Kurenai couldn't help but let a smug grin cross her face as she looked at the wilting figure of Kakashi as he processed what he'd just heard.

"Oh- uh… Are you sure? It would be a chance to show off your girl power and um… could be very youthful?" Kakashi asked, in an almost begging tone.

"Yep, I'm sure." Tenten smiled. "I'll stay here, I don't want to go to the next chuunin exam. Good luck finding someone else to join your team though, Kakashi-sensei!" With that, she started the process of re-sealing her sword into her scroll. Her team's training was nearly over anyway and she wanted to get dumplings on the way home.

"Hmm, that is most unfortunate Kakashi-san," Gai spoke. "I would have thought Tenten-chan would have been up to the task. However, I will not force her to alter her decision."

Sakura couldn't help but feel sad as she saw her sensei wither away. The entirety of his plan for the next 5 months had been shot down with six little words. She reached out to place a comforting hand on his back.

"It's ok Kakashi-sensei," She started. "I'm sure we'll find someone else who will-"

"GAI-SENSEI I WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER TO TAKE TENTEN'S PLACE!" Lee suddenly shouted, standing in the center of the two groups with his hand raised, looking directly at Sakura with his giant round eyes. Hinata had to physically cover her ears the shouting had been so loud. "I shall join Sakura-chan on her quest to become a chuunin and aid her along the way!"

"Lee!" Gai looked at his favorite student in shock. "What are you saying?"

"Gai-sensei, this is Sakura-chan. The girl I told you I met in the chuunin exams, remember?"

"Wait," Sakura said, collecting herself. "You told him about me... WHAT did you tell him about me?"

"Hmm, YES!" Gai replied. "Now I remember! Of course, Lee, this is the young woman whom you claimed has sparked your YOUTHFUL heart towards romance!"

"Yes, that is correct Gai-sensei. I believe that her flames of youth and mine burn similarly, and that should we join together our combined flame shall burn WITH THE FORCE OF A THOUSAND SUNS!"

Gai fell to one knee, taking his student into a hug. "I understand now Lee-kun! The flames of romance burn within your heart! You must not suppress it! You must let them grow until the time where they can explode out. The flames of your YOUTH shall EJACULATE from your soul until you brighten the darkness of the world with your light!"

"Did he just use the word 'ejaculate?'" Kurenai mumbled to herself. Hinata still had her ears covered, but it was clear from the blush on her face that she had heard it as well.

"Well, um, good. I'm not sure how we'll fit you into the team dynamic Lee, but beggars can't be choosers." Kakashi said, finally interrupting the two. "Welcome to the team!"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei, I shall do my best!" Lee replied, either he didn't notice or didn't care about the subtle slight. Probably the former.

UN:PoA

Naruto hummed as the Dokeshi leader walked the streets with him, helping the old man pick out a few buildings to make the official Dokeshi District. Seeing as there were 80 of them they would need a sizable chunk, but nothing too extreme. Finally settling on a couple of apartment complexes and a decrepit gym that could be remodeled into a clan headquarters.

"Say, Yagi-san, do you have any plans for that boat of yours?" Naruto asked, thinking of all the things they would need to get Uzu back on its feet. Living on roots and shoots wasn't sustainable in the long term, and he had yet to find any farming equipment. With a boat, they could do some fishing and even some trading.

"No, not really, Haku-sama" Yagi answered, taking a seat on what used to be a bench press. "But, we're a peaceful people, a people of God. I'd rather it not be used for raiding."

"Raiding?" Naruto cocked his head to the side; the thought hadn't even occurred to him. "No, I was thinking about a little port town back west. It's called Shiokiri, ever hear of it? It's got some nice fish and we could probably buy supplies there."

"Oh," Yagi sat up a bit straighter. "Well then, I think we could work something out. We're a part of Uzushiogakure now. What's mine is yours… My apologies for making assumptions. I'm far too used to the rampant piracy of my homeland."

Naruto just shrugged, "No offense taken." He sat next to Yagi on another piece of ruined equipment. "Do you know much about trade? Because I certainly don't. I'm used to just spending my stipend on ramen at the start of the month and then wishing I'd saved some."

"Stipend?" Yagi asked curiously.

"I'm an orphan, I used to get a monthly stipend from the-" Naruto paused before he could say 'Hokage,' "From the country I used to live in." He amended, not wanting to give away any details about himself.

Yagi just nodded in understanding before answering Naruto's earlier question. "I know some but not much, my people have always been outcasts for our beliefs. What little trade we could secure was usually over-priced."

Naruto nodded, thankfully he'd found a few grocers back in Konoha that would offer good prices, but there were always the few that tried to swindle him.

"Can I ask why they treated you badly?" Naruto asked.

Yagi hummed. "I suppose there's no use hiding it, it's such a part of who we are that if it's going to cause a problem it's best to know that now."

"What, do you guys eat babies or something?" Naruto laughed, suddenly a bit nervous at the serious tone Yagi had taken.

Yagi laughed and shook his head. "No, Haku-sama, we don't eat babies. However, many in the east consider our sin to be much worse."

Naruto swallowed, waiting for Yagi to continue.

With a sigh, Yagi spoke. "We only believe in the one God, Haku-sama."

"… That's it?" Naruto asked, a weight lifting off his shoulders. "I mean, I knew plenty of ninjas that only worshiped the Shinigami. Actually, that's the only god that I really know about. I know there are more but I never really paid attention."

Yagi shook his head. "No, Haku-sama. We do not simply worship one god over the others. We only believe in one true God."

"What?" Naruto queried. "But, there are lots of gods! Like, at least ten or twelve."

"That is your belief and, while I vehemently disagree, I shall respect it. This is your land after all."

"But," Naruto continued "The Fourth Hokage summoned the Shinigami 13 years ago. A-and The Third Hokage summoned him just a few months ago! How can you not believe he exists at all?"

"I did not say that I don't believe the entities you worship exist, Haku-sama. I simply said I do not recognize them as gods." Yagi said, emphasizing the word 'gods.'

"Just as the tailed beasts exist, and various other lesser demons and spirits exist, so too do those beings that you worship exist," Yagi explained. "But they are not gods, at least my people, and I do not believe so."

"Well…" Naruto paused for a moment to think. "that's weird, but not a big deal." He finally answered.

Yagi breathed out a sigh of relief before standing. "I am grateful for your tolerance, Haku-sama. Now, about that trading you wanted to do. Why stop there? I believe we could bring Uzushiogakure back to its former glory in no time."

Naruto chuckled as he stood up with the old man. "You're suddenly chipper. Any reason for the newfound energy?"

"Haku-sama, you've given me and my people a home that will accept us in all our oddities. If there is only one God, then you're certainly one of his angels." He laughed. "I may be old, but I'm not one to pass up an opportunity like this. If Uzu is going to be the Dokeshi's new home I want it to be as strong as possible."

"Sounds good to me, but where do we start?" Naruto asked.

"First, we need to rebuild, but then, we need to get the other nations to recognize us. And in this world, that means we need to build a military."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Naruto asked. "All we have is me, you, and Shio. No offense but unless your bloodline is crazy powerful that's not enough people to form a military. And I don't know how to turn civilians into ninjas."

"Remember why the Dokeshi came here Haku-sama?" Yagi asked.

"Something about some wars and stuff, right?" He answered with a query.

Yagi nodded. "A bloodline purge and eventually all-out war are about to erupt in the east. There are going to be plenty of refugees as things continue to deteriorate. Now imagine telling them all that there is a safe harbor from the storm."

Naruto's eyes lit up in understanding. "We could get hundreds, maybe thousands of shinobi joining our ranks in the next few months, couldn't we?"

Yagi nodded again. "Haku-sama, I think the story of Uzushiogakure is only just beginning." He said with a smile.

UN:PoA

All the grown-ups were talking off to the side and Neji and Hinata had returned to the Hyuuga compound for the day. Lee was currently attempting to do 3981 pushups with just his left thumb, so Tenten took this opportunity to pull Sakura aside for a private conversation.

"Hmm? What's up?" Sakura asked, stumbling in shock at the sudden tug on her dress.

"Listen here bubbles-" Tenten started, poking a finger into Sakura's chest.

"Bubbles?"

"I don't care what Lee says, that boy is mine do you understand?" she growled angrily to assert her dominance. "He just doesn't know it yet."

"Umm, I think you've got the wrong idea here-"

"If you so much as think about his tight, spandex-covered ass…" Tenten's eyes went slightly unfocused as she continued. "Or his thick luscious eyebrows… or the way his bowl-cut sways in the wind when he runs… or the cute way he pumps his fist when he's excited…"

Sakura slowly detached herself from the clearly unwell girl. "Right… I can promise you I won't be thinking about any of those things, Tenten." She said as she started walking away.

"…What the hell was that about?" She mumbled to herself before getting hit in the head with a sandal. "Ow!"

"No swearing!" Kakashi ordered from a distance.

~Author's note~

You know what? I'm not even gonna apologize for the delays anymore. It is what it is. Sorry fam, I am (unfortunately) doing my best. For the people wondering how far we are into the story, I'd say we're roughly halfway.

Anyway, TIME SKIP INCOMING! The next chapter will take place 5-6 months, and a lot of boring grindy shit, later. I highly doubt you guys want me to continue with my theory of sealing lessons, so I'm trying to keep it brief. I'll unveil a little bit more as time goes on, but will avoid bogging this fic down with mumbo jumbo. If you want to know what the basics of sealing are based on, just look up "Rockwell Retro Encabulator" on the youtubes. It offers a very VERY basic summary of the way I approach fuuinjutsu. The video is pretty blurry, but just focus on what he says and you'll be fine.

Also no, I didn't steal the idea for a clash between monotheistic vs polytheistic cultures from Battle Star Galactica. And even if I did you couldn't prove a thing!1one