No Yoda Here

It was September in Konoha, the leaves of the trees were still green, but in a few weeks time the Hidden Leaf forest would look like it was on fire. For now though, the foliage was thick and green enough to make stealth much easier for the Genin of Team Seven, for one of them at least. Since their formation in early June, three of their members had done everything they could to whip their fourth teammate, Sakura Haruno, into shape. Their sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, of course, was guiding them, to make sure they were teaching her the right way, and not punishing her too harshly. While she did need a lot of work, it would be counterproductive if they simply abused her for not taking the life of a ninja seriously.

So far, thanks to her other teammates, and the kunoichi collective known around Konoha as the Ice Queens, and to Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze as his soul-sisters, the rosette kunoichi was starting to bloom. She showed an awesome potential for taijutsu, with her unnaturally powerful kicks and punches. Kurenai was training Sakura in her own personal taijutsu-style, Kagaku hachi-shi or the Science of Eight-limbs. It was a taijutsu style that would allow the fighter to use knees and elbows, in addition to hands and feet to make attacks, it was a devastatingly brutal art, and if used properly, could be as deadly as a kunai. Also, in addition to training her in hunting, throwing, and survival, Naruto began training her in Uzumaki Aikijutsu. He said he wanted to spread it out into the world to prevent it from dying out, if something should happen to him, and the straight in striking of Hachi-shi was a good compliment to the neutralization and circular movement.

In addition to taijutsu training, Izumi had gifted her with a pair of tonfa, to compliment the Hachi-shi training, which consisted largely of Sakura punching, kicking, elbowing, and kneeing trees until her limbs were raw and bleeding, until Naruto with his Force Healing, Hinata's ointments, and Kurenai's Buddha's palm, alleviate her pain. Then once she was healed and recovered, they made her move on to throwing heavier and heavier, wooden dummies around the training grounds, to get her used to employing the techniques she learned with her Aikijutsu training. The heft of the human-analogue was made possible by the inscription of gravity and resistance upon them courtesy of their Jinchuriki teammate, these were the same wooden dummies he uses when he trains. He also bestowed a set of seals to her that she wears with the same features he used for the dummies.

All three of them sparred against each other, though Naruto usually got the better of those exchanges, the kunoichi acquitted themselves quite admirably for Genin. Sakura was still in the bottom rung of the skill ladder among the Genin, but she was quickly catching up to her fellow Genin kunoichi. Both of them had a long way to go before they could best Naruto singly, but if it was two-on-one, against their male teammate, they were able to best him if he got cocky. During their spars and when they were training, the two Genin did their best to motivate Sakura, both in their own ways. Hinata would belittle her, and taunt her, tearing her down emotionally, the way only another female can, which got the desired effect of making her rise to the challenge.

Naruto is a gentleman, and cannot bring himself to belittle a female, so he motivated her by using Sasuke as a goal for her. While it was true, Clan heirs do not have a choice in whom they may court, if they can impress the Clan enough with their performance as Leaf ninja, they could be persuaded to give someone a chance. The Uchiha mandate to bring in outside blood to revitalize their Clan was still in effect, Naruto mentioned it to her and Izumi confirmed it while she was training Sakura in using her tonfa. Sakura comes from a merchant Clan so she has significant enough political ties for her to look attractive to the Uchiha Clan, if she can become a strong kunoichi, Izumi promised her that she would consider allowing Sakura and Sasuke to date.

"It's not a promise I can set in stone, Sakura-san," the Uchiha Clan Head asserted, "at the end of the day, my clan's future is the most important factor to me. However, if you can become a Chunin by the time you and Sasuke are sixteen, I will consider you a potential suitress for my little brother. Also, if you fall out of favor with your clan, you fail to become a proper kunoichi of Konoha, or I find somebody better for Sasuke than you, this agreement is voided," Izumi stated, almost coldly, "I have had some significant talks with Hiashi Hyuga about Hanabi, we are curious to see what would happen if we breed the Sharingan with the Byakugan. That might make the Hidden Leaf, even more powerful," she mused absently, then with a piercing, ominous glare, "so you had better get motivated and stay that way, because if my fiancé is hurt due to your negligence, then marrying Sasuke will be the least of your worries."

Sakura's chakra control was better than Hinata's, thanks in large-part to her shockingly small pools. Thanks to regular training, both physical and mental, Sakura's chakra pools have increased significantly in the last three months. They were still smaller than Hinata's pools, but they were growing steadily, day-by-day. Kurenai was going to try teaching her to be a genjutsu-practitioner, and Anko was already teaching her dokujutsu, or the use of poisons, Sakura's intelligence and imagination, lent themselves well to the practice of both arts. Sakura was a Fire-user, and Kurenai being a practitioner herself, taught her manipulation.

All three Genin were taught vertical walking, and had become good enough that many of their team spars took place while standing on the backside of Hokage Rock, or at Uzumaki Caldera.

Right now, Sakura was stalking a pair of rabbits, this, and an occasional deer, were the only meat, she had been allowed to have since she started her training with her team. She had moved out of her parents house, on orders from her sensei. She accompanied Naruto to his mountain and had been forced to subsist, only upon the food she could scrounge around Uzumaki Caldera, and nothing more. The first week here, Naruto had accompanied her on a few hunts to show her how to do it. She had to eat what he provided. At first she was grossed out about having to eat a rabbit, and refused to do it, but after the first few days of starvation, she finally gave in and ate the rabbits from Naruto. After the second week, her sustenance was her concern, Naruto remained with her, but refused to share any of his kills. She was still required to train as hard as always but without food to eat, she began to backslide in what meager skills she already possessed. Her throwing got better but she was still unable to catch her dinner, she was almost desperate, and the first time to use a shuriken to kill her first rabbit, felt like she had been named Hokage.

Sakura preened at Naruto's proud smile, and he showed her how to process the rabbit, and which natural roots she could gather to season her food. For the rest of the time, as she got better and better at hunting, she began to improve in all the areas that matter to a kunoichi. Her clothes had been all but destroyed during that first month, but Naruto showed her how to make clothes, from rabbit-hide and then later from deerskin. The first few weeks of living up there with a boy were embarrassing to say the least, she had never been alone with a boy longer than a few minutes in her life, and now she was living with one. Naruto never tried anything, and to be honest, she was not really worried about that, despite all of the mean things she said to him, she never feared he would hurt her. He was chivalrous enough to create a space for her to change behind, and it was not as if they were always alone. If their sensei, and Hinata were not around, then Naruto's Kichona ane, not to mention his fiancé Izumi Uchiha, would be there, and Naruto never even looked at Sakura lustfully. To him, she was just his teammate, with a potential for friendship, but even if he was not already betrothed, Sakura did not think he would see her as anything more than that.

Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed as she studied her prey, and readied her throwing stars, carefully to keep even a glint of them from giving her away. She had gone to bed hungry more than once, because she had not been conscious of the sun reflecting off her weapon. With an organic, smooth motion, Sakura cast her weapon, which flew through the air, 'wthump,' "screech!" Sakura jumped up and ran to get her dinner, she picked it up and retrieved her shuriken. She suddenly heard a round of applause, coming from behind her, she turned to see her roommate for the past three months, step out of the bush.

Naruto was smiling happily, as he came to her, "good job, Sakura-chan, you dispatched that sow, quickly and efficiently, no wasted motion. Kurenai-sensei told me, you have a choice, you can let me have that and you go home and accommodate yourself with your parents, or you can stay here for another three months?" Naruto's grin just widened as he saw her running flat-out back to civilization, he looked down and grabbed the rabbit she all but dropped as she ran home.

Naruto had formally moved into his parents' house, which while not a mansion, was nonetheless quite substantial. It was on fifty-square acres of land, and ironically right next to his mountain, hidden away in the dense forest surrounding it. It had a wall that completely enclosed the property, his parents seemed to like their privacy, because it had an actual gatehouse, and the gate itself was massive, round and made of red-stone. It opened by rolling to the side, when he approached. The house itself was built in the traditional Hi no kuni-style, with gray-ceramic roofing tiles, the exterior was made of the same stone as the gate, and it had five bedrooms, a traditional family room, kitchen, and dining-room. The backyard held an onsen, a private training area, and an indoor dojo, which is where he moved the masks from the Uzumaki temple, and the religious symbols for the Church of the Redeemer, before burning it to the ground.

The house also contained a jutsu library: tai, nin, ken, gen, fuin, which was also where his family's financial records were kept. What he found out, when his mother explained it to him, made his blood boil. The Namikaze's were one of the first non-ninja clans to move into Konoha after its founding, and they bought up a lot of land as they did so, that land now comprised almost the entirety of the market district. What's more, they had brought many of the businesses that inhabited those lands to Konoha, and had even staked them the starting capital, making them, in essence, the lord and master of the economic future of the Leaf. What angered Naruto so much, nearly every business in the district had snubbed their nose at him since he could walk. Naruto wanted to just go and kick all of them out for their transgressions, but Mara and his mother managed to stay his hand, by suggesting that he wait until he had someone who could take over the space. This would prevent him from demolishing Konoha's economy, and alienating the populace.

In the three months since his graduation, in addition to learning the vertical-walking chakra-control technique, Naruto has completed mastery of kenjutsu and taijutsu. He only needed to earn battle-experience with them and he would be unbeatable with those skills alone. Naruto, had mastered vertical-walking sooner than the other Genin, but he kept his expertise to himself so as not to lower the self-esteem of his teammates. Hinata is his best-friend, and Sakura did not need anymore slights to her confidence. He would wait until their sensei started them on water-walking, before practicing it himself. In the meantime, just because he has mastered certain skills, does not mean he should stop training them. In the ninja world there was no such thing as invincible, there was simply, hard to kill, but the world was ever evolving, and just because one was powerful today, did not mean there could never be a contender for your crown. Thus, Naruto would continue to train these skills he has mastered, and with every new opponent there would be something new he could learn.

Still, even with the skills he already included under his belt, did not mean he was finished learning all he could. He still had to learn to use lightning chakra, something that Mara could not teach him as he was growing up, because even if she had the knowledge from his father's memories, she could not wield chakra. Living in his mind did not change these facts, he could imagine giving her this ability, but it would merely be an illusion, a fabrication manufactured in his mind. It was lucky for him that his fiancée was a master of Lightning-chakra and had begun to train him in lightning-manipulation. First she gave him a light-bulb and had him try to maintain the amperage and voltage, which was the key to making lightning-techniques work.

"That's one of the hardest components to master about raiton-jutsu, baby," Izumi affirmed, during one of their training sessions, "you have to be able to maintain the correct current in your technique, from creation to completion. It takes an immense amount of concentration to use even the most basic ninjutsu, and even then, raiton-energy is notoriously hard to aim," his fiancée confided, "I have only a few ranged raiton-jutsu in my arsenal. One per ranking, from D, all the way to S," Izumi confirmed, "me and Kakashi have both created our own ninjutsu for raiton, and both of them are merely a way to enhance our bukijutsu and taijutsu attacks, respectfully, to effortlessly kill our enemy. Anyhow, I am going to only teach you to manipulate your element, not any of my jutsu," she declared, "I hope you're okay with that, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto moved close to her and opened his arms to her, which she immediately stepped into, "that's just fine, Izumi-chan, I kind of want to utilize my own library for jutsu anyway." His voice was warm, gentle, and loving as he went on, "when I fight, I want to represent me, the Uzumaki, and the Namikaze, I cannot do that if I'm just aping your nindo. I will figure out which jutsu works best for me and which does not," at this point in his growth, he was shorter than her, but she did not care about that. Because she always felt safe within his arms, she knew that with the Force, he was a formidable opponent, and despite being one of the most powerful kunoichi since Kushina, she liked having a place where she could be vulnerable, even if said place was more of a metaphor than a physical one. Even before he officially became her future-husband (Kami-sama willing), whenever she would be in his presence, she felt herself relax, as if she was finally allowed to let go of a large weight. Now that they were officially a couple, she could hold him, and be held by him, this just made her happy. When she was in this house, in his arms, she could lay-down being the Black Widow of ANBU, lay down her duties as Head of the Uchiha Clan, and just be Izumi-chan. When we get married, this is the house I want to reside in, she dreamt, I am always an Uchiha, and when not within these walls, or in his arms, I will faithfully execute my duties to my birth clan. But, once I step one foot beyond that round door, that will be when I become a fiancée, wife, and later on, a mother, and leave all other responsibilities behind for a short time. If we ever find Itachi, or if Sasuke shows himself to be a capable leader, I might even abdicate my responsibilities as Clan Head. It's not like I'm gonna be an active ninja when I'm pregnant.

Naruto is meditating under a branch of one of the trees growing in his backyard. He was wearing the same clothes he wore after graduation, and only had his mother's blade with him, the rest was stored in the gatehouse. His eyes were closed as he allowed the Force to guide his hand along the length of the sword, familiarizing himself with it and learning about it. He used the Force to look into the weapon's past, learning where it came from and where it was made. It was originally from Uzushiogakure, and had been owned by Kushina's now Naruto's family, for generations, it was a symbol in Dai Uzu no kuni of the right to command other Uzumaki. The sword itself was nothing out of the ordinary, except that it could automatically channel the wielder's chakra into their primary nature affinity, and allow them to cast ninjutsu without using hand-signs.

Naruto allowed the Force to take him back to when the metal to forge the sword was mined out of the Earth. The metal itself was known back then as Shinko, or God-steel, but today would be known as a meteorite. It had a perfect, carbon-to-iron ratio, meaning it needed no refining, and the smith that had forged it, was a master of his craft. It was not a katana, or any of the traditional blades of the continent though it was made with many of the same qualities,. It had a single cutting edge, the blade was slightly longer than Naruto's arm, and as wide as his four fingers. His mother carried it on her left hip when she owned it, but Naruto preferred to wear it on his back.

Naruto had been studying and getting to know Akai-shi, or Red Death, since the day he graduated, even while he had to chaperone Sakura. He had really begun to resonate with his mother's blade, she had really started to become a part of him, she was his partner now and he felt something of a promise from her, to serve him well.

Today was not about forming a bond with Red Death, today was to investigate something. During their last bonding ritual, Naruto had begun to feel an echo of the vibrations he normally felt between himself, and her. It was faint, as if calling to him from a vast distance, he was using the Force and his chakra as a divining rod to locate the source of this echo.

As soon as Naruto's awareness had the resonance locked on, he rocketed up, passing through the tree-canopy, shooting high into the sky. It was not long before he shot past the clouds, he could perceive the curvature of the planet, and felt his trepidation as he approached the zenith of the atmosphere. "Do not be afraid, Naruto-kun,'' said a familiar voice behind him, "the Force is guiding you to the next step of your transition." Naruto turned his head to see two red-headed women accompanying him, he knew both of them quite well, since they had resided in his mind since he was three. One was his mother, and the other was his mentor in the Force, she was the one who spoke.

"Where is the Force taking us, my Master, Naruto asked with humility, he always adopted a diffident attitude whenever they were formally training? Normally, their day-to-day dealings were more like a friendship, or even an aunt and nephew, but when speaking to Mara Jade Skywalker while training, he gave her the proper respect.

"We will have to wait and see, my Padawan," Mara returned to him, "the Force will guide and be guided, lead and be led. We can only trust in the Force," she instructed.

The Force guided them through, moving faster than they ever had while in their bodies. They shot past the moon, and felt something within it that studied them as they did. It did not feel hostile toward them, merely curious, and they let each other be. They moved out into the solar system, the sun's gravity could be felt even if they had no physical bodies at the moment. "Interesting, but I think we're in hyperspace," Mara posited, her old spacer instincts kicking in, "it is a dimension where space and time are warped. It allowed the beings in my galaxy to travel from star to star for many purposes," she explained, she had explained a lot of the history and technology from her birth-galaxy to them, even if the concepts she talked about were light-years beyond their understanding. "One of the hazards of hyperspace was the existence of gravity-wells, like planets, stars, and other objects massive enough to act as barriers, for travel," Mara continued as they moved out into the Solar system, "we normally used navigation-computers to plot courses to avoid them when we traveled through hyperspace. I guess since we are just consciousness, at the moment, we don't have to worry about that," Mara concluded, "since we have no mass."

The Earth was the third hōrō-sha, or planet (1) away from the sun, so it came as something of a surprise when they flew by Akai hōrō-sha (Mars), at an extremely fast velocity. Naruto could feel himself getting closer to the source of the recent disturbance in the Force. The vibrations were getting more intense the closer he got to the object, so much that he was starting to get an impression of its shape and size in his mind. They crossed into the asteroid field between the Red planet and Kami no hōrō-sha no me (Jupiter).

Before long they came to a section of the debris field, just out of the gravity pull of Akai hōrō-sha and God's Eye planet. There, they found a cluster of asteroids, roughly the size of Hokage Rock. There were six asteroids in total, they did not look very impressive. As they approached them Naruto began to see a series of visions, moving forward and backward in time of forging his own blades, similar to his mother's Akai-shi sword.

Mara chuckled as she seemed to be getting similar visions to him. "I see," she mused, "it seems, like the Jedi and Sith of my former home, in order to be considered for promotion they had to construct a signature weapon, called a lightsaber. They were meant to signify their change from trainee to warrior," Mara taught, "now it seems you are going to have to make a weapon, or weapons that signify your transition."

"Transition into what, Master," Naruto wondered?

"I don't know, apprentice," Mara replied honestly, "but I sense that you will be forged into something as much as these space-rocks. What that is, only you can determine," Mara affirmed.

"The Force brought you here for a reason, Naruto-kun," his mother suggested, "I think these are the materials you're supposed to use."

"They won't do much good floating here in space," Naruto decided, "that means I need to bring them to me on Earth." Naruto pushed out with the Force and found the rock or rocks, that resonated with him the most. Which seemed to be in perfect harmony with Akai-shi being held in his hands back home. He found two such chunks of rock, he closed his eyes and summoned his ally, and reached out with the Force and grasped them.

Naruto gave them a harsh Force shove on the trajectory that would allow it to intercept the Earth at some point in the next few months. Both resonant rocks were the size of his mountain, "Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Kushina's voice soothed him, "the atmosphere will eliminate most of the mass of the two asteroids, before you get your hands on them. I predict, they'll be well within your capabilities once they get there."

(1) Planets got their name from the Greek word: Planetes, which means Wanderer. I used Google translate to search for the Japanese word for wanderer: hōrō-sha.

a. Also, science in Naruto's civilization is as advanced as ours, they just don't have our level of technology.

Down by the River

Tani no kuni: Katabami Gold Mine

The Land of Rivers was a nation of extremes. It had, lush, fertile grasslands, in one valley, and desolate, barren wastelands in another. Some places produced reusable, natural products, while others had it mined out. In one such valley, a rather extensive mining operation was occurring, specifically a gold mine operation. Recently, ownership of the mine had changed hands, when a bandit gang, led by the Kurosuki clan moved into the valley. They were led by an insane Kiri, his name was Raiga.

Right now, a funeral procession was solemnly marching up a hill. Sixteen people populated the procession, they wore black-cloaks with gold trim, over their clothes. Four men carried the metal coffin, with another two, walking ahead of them. Just behind the coffin, a man walked in the place of honored mourner, with two more men marching behind the mourner. The other eight brought up the rear.

The mourner seemed beside himself with grief, his wails of emotional turmoil were ear-splitting. "Wh- Why," he lamented as if to curse the heavens for his loss, "he was such a good man? Why did he have to be taken away," he screamed?

If one were to go purely by his words, they would be forgiven for pitying this man's loss. They would stop and pay their respects to the departed, and feel sorry for the man who was taking it so hard. If they ever got a chance to see the man's face, however, they would see a happy, almost mocking grin on his face. He hid his face, not to conceal his crying, but to prevent his smile from ruining the mood of the funeral. This was Raiga, and he liked funerals, and as the person in the coffin, who is beating his fists and pleading to be let out is finding out first-hand, the guests of honor for Raiga's funerals do not have to be dead.

"I remember the day you showed me… one of your most prized… possessions," Raiga began, barely keeping himself from crying out in exuberant laughter. "A pipe box, which once belong to your father," he stated, "it was a beautiful piece. No wonder it brought you so much pride to own it," Raiga continued, "when I took it from you, and smashed it on the ground, all you could do was smile."

"Your smile is the one thing I will miss most about you," Raiga commented, "even when we kicked you in the ribs and threw you into the coffin, your smile never left your face. It was the most beautiful smile, I'd ever seen."

Unable to contain his enthusiasm any longer, he roared out in satisfaction, "There's nothing like a good funeral!" He turned and began to make his way back to their headquarters. He passed one of the new recruits, and almost to himself said, "I can't wait for the next one."

Up in the sky, thunder began to roll through the valley. Which caused him to look up, he twisted his head in confusion, "that's odd," he wondered out loud, "I have never seen purple-lightning."

"Really, that's interesting," came a voice under his hooded cloak, "but I can't see it from in here."

This caused even more curiosity in Raiga, because there was usually nothing that could hide from his other half's Akaigan. "Are you sure," Raiga asked?

"Yes," the voice answered simply, then added, "three more have gotten away."

"One more funeral to look forward to," Raiga replied with a grim smile.

Konoha: the next day…

Team Seven was working on teamwork at Training Ground 3. They were playing a game, most children younger than them played from time-to-time: hide and seek. The game, Team Seven played was a combination of two children's games: tag and hide & seek. The rules were the same as the childhood games mentioned above, one member of the team was 'It,' and the rest of the team including their sensei had to chase them down, and tag the one known as, It; simple really, the only difference; the game was being conducted the ninja way. The game theater was not restricted to the forest floor, but extended to the canopy, and the out of bounds was the Village itself, and Training Ground 44. This was not a new game for Team Seven by any means, they have played it since they mastered tree walking, and started water walking. They used it to test their overall skills, because in this game there were no holds barred. Team Kurenai has given it, its own name, they call it, Capture the Missing-nin, and instead of 'It,' the target of the team's attacks is now called, Nukenin. Now, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, was a nukenin, being pursued by his whole team, and the object was not to just tag him, but capture him.

Naruto burst through the green brush, running desperately, looking back over his shoulder. His surroundings blended well with his tiger striped clothes. Looking ahead, Naruto vaulted upon a twenty-foot-high branch and began to bound from tree to tree. Behind him three-other people, lit upon the same branch the Uzumaki-Namikaze heir recently occupied. They recognized his diminishing back, studying each other, and nodding before jumping after him. Two continued the chase by going right after Naruto. The last one began maneuvering outward, in hopes of flanking him. Liting upon another branch thinking to catch his breath, Naruto's danger sense tingles. He hurdles away just as multiple shuriken and kunai, impact his previous position. Looking back, his eyes widen noticing only the two behind him. Searching ahead, noting how close he was to his destination, Naruto redoubles his efforts, and tapped into his chakra to give himself a boost.

Scanning the area with all his senses, he looks left noticing a familiar Force presence, and angles away from it, when from the right, a leg shot out across his throat, just as he jumped between trees, sending him plummeting to the ground. It had been a shadow clone of his sensei that kicked him, he did not notice because, shadow clones do not have a Force presence. Team Seven found that out the first week they were together, and Naruto got cocky, forgetting that a member of his team could summon shadow clones, and place illusions in his head. He learned that he was just as susceptible to genjutsu as his other teammates, he had allowed himself to become arrogant with the Force.

Just before he struck the ground, another form shot out of the forest and caught him in the head with a punch. A plume of smoke cleared, and a log was found in his place. Naruto came out from behind another branch and leaped right for the figure closest to the log, using her as a springboard, he bounced further up into the canopy. Naruto cleared another fifty yards before coming to rest on another branch.

Naruto used the branch to slow his descent, but as he reached for another branch, the very one he was reaching for suddenly morphed into a person. It was too late for Naruto to change direction, so he flipped into a kick, right into the kunoichi's sternum, who dispersed the energy with a cross-block, and non-resistance movements. The hit was not harmful, but sent the girl hurtling away, adding some extra power to Naruto's motion. Naruto used a Force push and Wind manipulation to send him to a nearby tree branch, which slowed his descent allowing him to go further down than expected. Naruto bounced off a tree near the forest floor and took off running after landing as fast as he could.

Naruto did not make it more than a hundred yards, before Hinata came crashing down upon him like a thunder bolt. Naruto leapt back a few feet, because a five-foot wide, two-foot deep crater opened right where he was about to be. Out of the crater she had just made stepped, Hinata Hyuga, "That hit to my solar plexus, was an excellent display of technique, Naruto. If I hadn't cushioned the blow, it might have really hurt me." Hinata dropped into a jyuken stance, the style taught to her by clan, and rocketed forward.

Naruto fell into one of the Gochowayubi Aikido no Uzumaki stances, and waited for her attack. Hinata shot a palm strike forward, then added a ridge hand on the inside. Naruto side-stepped the palm strike, and trapped the ridge-hand, while adding the momentum to a spin and elbowed the thoracic vertebrae of Hinata's spine, making her grunt and fall forward. She dove forward and onto her feet with a pained expression on her face. Then sprang forward unloading a salvo of kicks, punches, and counterattacks. While Naruto continued with throws and counter throws, as fast as they could, before a palm strike from Hinata, and a round kick from Naruto pushed them away from each other.

Suddenly, two figures dropped out of the canopy, right in front of them. One of them was clutching at her stomach where Naruto jumped from her, then began applauding, and she was grinning from ear to ear. "Excellent," Kurenai tells them, "you have all come along rather well, you're no longer the smelly fish, I took under my wing, four-months ago, you've now evolved into piranha." She checks her watch, "since it's close enough to noon let's get some lunch, the missing-nin for the day can treat."

"Fine," Naruto huffed, "but if I'm treating that means I'm picking and I say, to Ichiraku Ramen," he said finger pointed skyward before bringing it down and pointing toward the Village.

Later at Ichiraku's…

Team Seven had reached the ramen stand, and Naruto ordered four miso ramen for himself, and said to bring his friends whatever they wanted, and put it on his tab. Naruto was about to take his first bite when an ANBU ninja shun-shinned into the eatery. Naruto eyed the ANBU as he began to eat, but before he could even get the bite to his mouth the ANBU spoke up, "Team Seven is to report to the Hokage's office as soon as possible," she spoke to their sensei, before shun-shinning away.

Kurenai immediately stood up, followed by Hinata and Sakura, but Naruto remained seated and continued to eat his ramen. "Let's go, Team 7," Kurenai said, and made to leave the stand, followed by the other two.

"Why are you leaving," Naruto asked, and continued to eat his ramen bowls, although at a substantially accelerated rate?

"Didn't you hear, the Hokage wants us to report immediately," Sakura reminded him?

"I heard, as soon as possible," Naruto said resolutely, between bites, "which means after you finish what you are currently doing." Naruto was already on his second bowl, "if the Hokage had wanted us there immediately, the ANBU would have used the word 'immediately' not the phrase, 'as soon as possible.'"

Kurenai was about to refute his words when the logic of what he was saying made since. Having served as a member of the Hokage's ANBU detail in the past, she knew messages were required to be delivered verbatim, no addition or subtraction of any word was allowed. Kurenai nodded her head in agreement, "he's right team," she told them, "if the Hokage wanted us there immediately, the message would have included the word 'immediately'," Naruto's sensei sighed, "you can finish your ramen, and then we'll head to the Hokage's office." Kurenai grabbed some chopsticks and began methodically consuming her meal. The other two just smiled and tucked into their own meals.

The Hokage's Office…

Today was business as usual for the Hokage and his Elder advisor. It was a day like any other day, getting missions sorted into the proper hands was a day-to-day operation. They normally took turns, alternating between who would occupy the mission office and who would be in their offices, doing paperwork. This day, it was Sakumo's turn to give and receive missions.

Ninja were an eccentric people, with all the danger and death they have seen, they have adopted many unsavory character flaws. There was Anko Mitarashi, before she became a Chunin, she had another teacher that helped train her. When she was not on missions or training with her team, she was with him learning everything he had to teach her. It was Orochimaru, before he defected from the village.

When she heard about his fall from grace, she refused to believe it at first. She thought that the Village just misunderstood him, so she took it upon herself to go find him to get him to return to the Village. Unfortunately for her, she found him. Orochimaru conducted all sorts of experiments on her, all of which culminated in the Curse Seal of Heaven on her shoulder.

The seal is no longer a detriment for her, thanks to her little brother-figure, and his mother in his mind. They were unable to remove it, because it had some how worked its way into her soul, and removing it now, would be the same as if you removed a biju from a jinchuriki. It would kill her.

Hence, they altered it, to make it's benefits solely for her. They removed the corruptive influences, like a piece of Orochimaru's soul, which they fed to the Shinigami mask, and removed its ability to corrupt nature chakra. Now, what it does, is gather nature chakra, and convert it to chakra for Anko to use, either as an attack, or just to replenish herself.

That took care of the physical blemishes on her, but there were still quite a few emotional scars. Her loyalty had been corroded somewhat, while she remained steadfastly connected to the Leaf, she is afflicted by irreverence toward her supposed superiors.

At the moment, she was delivering her verbal report to the Hokage, from her latest mission. "The escort for the daimyo from the Land of Swamps, Chichiyasu, arrived at his destination without a hitch," Anko saw some dango sitting in front of the Hokage, since he had worked through lunch. It was just sitting there untouched, it was like putting a wounded deer in front of a starving wolf. Even among the alumni of Team Naori, Anko was ravenous over the sticky dumplings.

She casually reached down and grabbed the last stick of dango off the Hokage's plate, and took a big bite out of them. Sakumo's eye twitched in irritation. "Anko," Sakumo growled menacingly, "I was going to eat that."

"Man, oh man," Anko cheered, "dango in this village is the best in the world!"

This is when Sakumo began leaking KI, "Anko, you just took, the last of my dango!" He practically snarled the last word. Anko, realizing her faux pas, looked between the stick in her hand, and her Hokage, with a guilty smile on her face.

Sakumo rose from his seat and was about to give her a piece of his mind. Even Kakashi knows not to steal my dango, Hatake seethed. He was about to give her a piece of his mind, when there was a buzz on his intercom. He reached down and jabbed the answer button, "yeah, what is it," he snapped?

His secretary's voice came back reluctantly, "Team 7 has reported as you requested, Hokage-sama."

Keeping a suspicious eye on the kunoichi in his office, the Godaime replied, "please, send them in, Natsume-san, and thank you."

The door opens to reveal Kurenai, Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto. Upon entry, Naruto smiles at seeing Anko, and dashes over to welcome her home with a hug. "Anko-née, you're back," he exclaims!

She returns the greeting and the hug, "Naruto-ototo," she returns happily. As far as she was concerned, he was her brother in every way except blood, after what he did for her and her cursed seal, it was not even a contest. She kissed him on the forehead, and asked, "what're you doing here?"

"I don't know," Naruto answered, "Hokage-sama, called me and my team to his office. We were eating ramen, and I refused to leave the food of the gods," he asserted, "especially since I was paying for it."

"You're still calling those heretical soups the food of the gods," Anko gasped, "you may be my brother but you clearly have no concept of the divine ambrosia that is dango."

"Oh, but I do know about dango, oh sister of mine," Naruto began to preach, "and they are a fair treat for the taste buds. Ramen, however, is the nectar of the Gods," he assured her, "how could you hope to compare that tawdry little snack to nirvana in a bowl?"

All of the visible shinobi in the room almost face-faulted at the argument, and those required to be invisible had sweat drops on their brows. "If you two wouldn't mind," their Hokage inserted himself, "I would like to explain to team seven their first above D-rank mission."

That got their attention, and Naruto practically shun-shinned to stand next to his team, and stand at the ready. It was Kurenai who spoke, "Team Seven stands ready at your bidding, Hokage-sama. We're ready for our first C-rank," she declared formally.

"Unfortunately, Kurenai-san," he began with a side-long smirk, "a C-rank mission is below your team's capacity. This is in fact, a B-rank mission."

"What," they began in shock? Then, the Hokage held up his hand to forestall any outburst as he explained his decision.

"I realize that it is unusual for a Genin team to get this kind of mission, as their first," Sakumo realized, "but at the end of the day, that's just about the skill of the ninja. Genin, Chunin, and Jonin in actuality, are just military rankings, they don't bespeak of the true skill or strength of the shinobi. Team 7 despite being a Genin team, has two A-ranked ninja on the team, Kurenai and Naruto. Kurenai's experience speaks for itself, but Naruto has taken on and subdued an A-rank ninja, and an S-rank, before he even graduated from the Academy, and even humiliated four whole clans of Chunin to Jonin level ninja, just to test himself for the graduation exam. I fully believe Hinata-san is a B-rank kunoichi, thanks to Naruto's training in throwing and hunting, and has brought young Sakura-san from barely passable as a kunoichi to one of the more competent Genin in the village. In just four-months I might add," the Hokage concluded, "based on progress reports from you, Kurenai."

Kurenai nodded and they all turned tentatively to their Hokage. So he began explaining their mission, "approximately six-months ago, a gang of bandits, called the Kurosuki clan, moved into the Katabami gold mine. It's one of the largest mines in Kawa no kuni," Sakumo explained, "they ousted the local magistrate and took total control. Since then, they've begun to execute anybody they get their hands on, and reduced the rest of the population to slavery."

"Unforgivable," Sakura growled.

"Your mission, Team 7 is to escort our clients back to their home, and take-out this… Kurosuki clan, permanently," Sakumo declared! "It's a simple mission really," he added, "they're probably just a bunch of thugs. The only reason I upgraded it from C to B was because of the possibility of a missing-nin being present."

Kurenai looked at her students, the decision to go would be up to them if they took the mission. She has faith in them, but only they knew, where they really stood in terms of skill. Out in the field, she was their leader, but when it came to accepting missions the whole team should be in agreement, and any ninja could refuse any mission, if they felt unsure of themselves. All of them, closed their eyes and took a true assessment of themselves, their skills and their confidence.

Naruto reached out to the Force for guidance, but it gave him mixed feelings. He did not take long to decipher what they meant, the Force was telling him that it was totally his decision. His tenants were silent as they allowed him to deliberate, he did feel, that he was ready. He opened his eyes, and looked up at Kurenai, his fellow Genin were between him and her, had their heads turned to face their sensei. Almost as one, they nodded their heads in acceptance.

Kurenai turned to Hatake and stood tall in pride at her students, "Team Seven accepts this mission."

"Good, you've got three-days, before the clients will be ready to travel," Sakumo instructed, "they took a nasty spill into the river and got waterlogged. Kurenai, give them their marching orders!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she replied, then turned to her Genin. "Training is concluded from now until we return from this mission," she began laying out their instructions, "meet at the gate on the third day at 09:00. Until then, go home and prepare for a trip," she added, "if you need any help gathering what you need or are unsure about what you need, come by my place and let me know. Dismissed!"

"Hai, sensei," they chorused!