Chapter 3.


Pairing: Naruto x Yugao.

A/N: Thanks for a lot for your honest answers to the question I asked the last chapter. All of your opinions have been taken into consideration!

Also, a more serious question. I found out that I picked the wrong pairing for this story, a lot of my notes and outlines got switched up because I write them on actual paper, so I kind of fucked up. So I want you guys opinion, should I give it a try with Kurenai or go with my original idea? I'll tell you who the next chapter, just let me know your preferences in the reviews and PMs!

Though, if you do pick Kurenai. I can't guarantee the quality of the results. You've been warned. My sincerest apologies.

And I guess a "Minor Sakura bash" warning is in order for this chapter...


Kakashi's Apartment - Naruto's Room.


Waking up with a loud groan, Naruto lifted his head groggily from his pillow while palming his forehead, "So much for the Kyuubi's healing factor… I can't get cancer, but I can get a hangover?" He muttered out in a seemingly rare monotone voice.

"I'm not going to allow you to die since it would result in my death too. A hangover doesn't exactly kill you, does it now, Ningen?" The noisy fox's deep voice rung in his head, causing his headache to get much worse.

'Still, what's even the point to this…' Naruto muttered in his head, letting his head fall onto the soft pillows again with closed eyes.

The large fox seemed to be smirking to himself as he responded, "Being locked up behind these bars with sewer water to knees, I believe I deserve some kind of entertainment, noisy gaki."

"Touche…" Naruto mumbled out to himself, flipping onto his back as he stared at the ceiling that seemed to still be spinning around.

Swinging his legs over the bed, Naruto grabbed his head with a nauseous look on his face as he started to make his way out of his room, knocking over a chair and his sheathed sword before he finally got through the door, into the kitchen in front of the sink.

In the kitchen, Kakashi was seated with a large eye-smile as he enjoyed his morning coffee. "Want some sake to go with your coffee?" He asked with a light chuckle.

"Please, if you mention alcohol again I'll throw up in the sink…" Naruto whispered, rinsing his face with the cold tap water.

Humming to himself, Kakashi turned back to his warm coffee, "Hmm, does sound like an awful amount of cleaning, fine, I won't bring it up again."

"Thanks…" Naruto finally responded after having dried his face with a towel, and seating himself in front of Kakashi while gratefully accepting a preprepared coffee mug filled with said content.

Kakashi watched quietly as Naruto took a sip of the warm liquid, "So, what are your plans for today? Jounin Uzumaki." Kakashi asked with a hidden smirk.

Naruto put down the coffee mug with a smirk of his own, Jounin Uzumaki, it had a nice sound to it in his own opinion, "Well, not quite sure really. I do have a meeting with Kurenai later at her place to discuss genjutsu, but that first later on tonight. I suppose I'll go by my parents' house and see if there is anything left behind…"

"Ne, getting hot for teacher, Naruto?" Kakashi asked teasingly, making the blond blush while sending a glare his way.

Naruto sighed loudly, slumping back into his chair, "No… I'm not. The only thing Ero-sennin couldn't really teach me that well was genjutsu, so I thought I'd seek out an expert on the matter."

"Sure…" Kakashi mumbled while eye-smiling, causing Naruto to groan loudly, "By the way, a lot of your parents' stuff was moved into storage because of their value. Weapons, Jutsu scrolls, stuff like that. It surprises me that you were able to find those notes on kenjutsu when you snuck around the village."

"I see, I guess I'll go see Baa-chan first then, but I also want to see if there is more stuff of…. Personal value." Naruto sighed, making Kakashi nod in understanding.

Nodding again Kakashi stood up and moved over to place his mug in the sink, and waved with a smile, "Well, I have an appointment with Hokage-sama already, I'll let her know to expect you later."

"How late are you?" Naruto then chuckled with his eyes closed and instead of answering Kakashi just eye-smiled widely.

"Ja Ne!"


Kakashi found himself standing in front of Tsunade's office a few moments later with his favorite book in his hand. Humming quietly to himself, he looked up and the wall and noticed he was only around ten minutes late. Well, more reading time for him then.

"Kakashi, if you are going to stand outside that door and waste my time for one more second I will bash your head in!" Tsunade suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs, making Kakashi sweatdrop with a nervous gulp as he clapped his book shut.

Opening the door, while giving his infamous eye-smile, Kakashi opened the door slightly and stuck his head inside, "Mah, you called Tsunade-sama?"

Scoffing a bit at the Jounin's tardiness, Tsunade leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms beneath her bust, "Hai, now get your ass in here. You've wasted a lot of time already."

Nodding quietly, Kakashi pulled the door fully open to see Jiraiya leaning up against the wall on the other side of the room. "Jiraiya-sama." He politely addressed, causing the Sannin to smirk with a nod in return.

Leaning back up from her chair, Tsunade propped her elbows on her desk and intervened her fingers in front of her face, "What I'm going to run through you now Kakashi, is an S-Rank secret. This idea has yet to gather the needed financials and the required suspects. I tell you beforehand because you will essentially be the leader of this initiative."

Looking beyond confused, Kakashi's lazy gaze traveled between Tsunade and Jiraiya both looking quite serious for a change. "Okay, understood."

"Good. As you know the Sannin is a split up group of Shinobi. Jiraiya is never in the village, and always around in the world managing his spy network, writing his smut, and peaking on women in international bathhouses. I've become the Hokage and is essentially trapped behind this desk day in and day out unless a Kyuubi class catastrophe hits the village. And well, you know about Orochimaru already." Tsunade paused, allowing Kakashi to process this information.

"I'm well aware of this, but what has this to with me, or this initiative?" Kakashi asked quietly, his curiosity peaked.

Jiraiya decided to give in his own two Ryo at that, "As you know, every other great nation so far has their group of exceptional Shinobi to handle stuff that is too troublesome, or simply too hard and dangerous for ordinary Shinobi. Kiri has its Seven Swordsmen, Iwa has its Demolition Corps, Kumo has their 'tag-team brothers', and Suna is apparently reinstating their training program for puppet users."

"I see, so you fear Konoha is lacking in this department since the sad fate of the Sannin?" Kakashi asked softly. A lot of the pieces to the puzzle starting to be put together.

Tsunade and Jiraiya gave a synchronized nod at that, and the busty Hokage added, "Hai. These groups are not only a huge sign of the village's strength but also their go-to for completing missions that are simply not meant for simple Shinobi."

"Isn't that what the ANBU are for though?" Kakashi mumbled a bit confused.

Sighing, Tsunade rubbed her forehead softly and Jiraiya gave a dry chuckle and decided to answer, "While that is indeed supposed to be the case, it isn't stopping the other villages from doing this. And to be fairly honest, the ANBU in the village has seen better days… I mean, they are next to non-efficient during the invasion four years ago."

"Which is why we'll be putting together a plan to get our ANBU Program back up to speed, times have passed and their system and methods are beyond outdated, but that is not important right now. This group we'll be creating are going to be Konoha's pillars of strength, your feats will show that despite what Konoha's has gone through the last few decades, we are still standing strong as ever, and not to be messed with." Tsunade explained, a small smirk forming on her lips.

Nodding with a satisfied look, Kakashi decided to give an audible sigh though, "And I assume you want me as the leader, because of my expertise in leading a team? You must have looked through my history in the ANBU then…"

"Indeed I have. You have an almost perfect mission record and is still the most respected Captain there have been in years. You'll have to get yourself together though, we can't have the leader of this team slacking on the job. This job is not only to handle hardships of difficult missions but also to give the outside world a glimpse of Konoha as I said." Tsunade nodded in confirmation.

"So, who's on this team? And do we have a name?" Kakashi asked subtly.

Jiraiya took this as his cue, and grabbed five folders out of his haori, and placed them on the desk in front of Kakashi. "This is the five people that are at the time considered to join, your file is here, so I'll put that one aside if you decide to accept this role. The rest is up for debate and change, and we'd like your input on this. Frankly, you've been around the village more than us the last decade, and been interacting with its shinobi more too."

Kakashi hummed as he slowly went through each file on the table, with the last one getting his interest peaked, "A few years ago I would have questioned someone's sanity for putting this file here, but now I'm not really that surprised. I guess I should have expected this one."

Jiraiya smirked widely at that, "Tsunade and I discussed that it would be a waste to keep having him doing simple missions with his current strength, so he was the first prime candidate we had in mind for this initiative."

Nodding with satisfaction from Jiraiya's answer, Kakashi tapped his fingers on the desk before he pulled two files away, "These two are great Shinobi with all due respect, but I might have two other nominations that would suit the team a little better…"


Waltzing through the busy streets of Konoha, Naruto had a cigarette trapped between his loose lips as he minded his own business. People were still treating him like yesterday, and it was confusing him greatly. A few years ago they looked at him like he was a freak and a pariah, but now they seemed almost kind to him. Couldn't they recognize him? Or did Tsunade have a hand in this? Were the questions that had yet to be answered…

It didn't matter anyway. A lot of his youth had already been spent on trying to please the ignorance of certain civilians until he figured that the only acceptance he needed was from his friends. The rookies, the senseis, his mentor Jiraiya and their Hokage, or as he would call her. His Baa-chan. The rest of the people could kiss his naked butt for all he cared, but it did feel nice to have a more cozy welcome than he thought he would.

Throwing the remains of his cigarette onto the ground and stomping on it, Naruto adjusted his haori and started to enter and waltzed through the Hokage tower, until he found himself outside of Tsunade's door.

Knocking quietly on the door, he opened it slightly and stuck his head inside to still see Kakashi seated with the two Sannin, "Oh, sorry for interrupting I'll come back later."

"No, please come in. We were about to call for you anyway." Tsunade answered quickly before the blond could close the door.

Raising a curious brow at that, Naruto stepped inside and closed the door behind him as Jiraiya gave him a knowing smirk.

"So, how's the headache? And the lady?"

Naruto rubbed his head at the first part, and then suddenly blushed at the second part, "L-Lady? What are you talking about?"

"Stop tormenting the poor body Jiraiya! Naruto, despite how much Jiraiya wanted to set you up with the bartender last night, Kakashi and I made sure it didn't go that far." Tsunade quickly answered, making Naruto sigh out with relief as Jiraiya grumbled about spoilsports.

"That's a relief…" The blond sighed, rubbing the sweat off his forehead.

"Why don't you want to get laid with such a beautiful female creature?!" Jiraiya raged up at the blond, steam blowing out of his ears.

Naruto grew a large tick mark at that, and flew up in Jiraiya's face, "Because unlike you I don't collect STDs like they are trading cards!"

As Naruto threw his insult, Jiraiya seemed to fly out of the window like a punctured balloon, causing the entire room to sweatdrop at his reaction.

Coughing into her hand, Tsunade spoke up again, "Anyhow, Naruto, we have something very important to discuss with you."

"Yeah, I got a request too, my family's stuff, and my heritage. I would like to have it back." Naruto requested politely, and Tsunade a nod with a small smile.

Smiling a little more, she gave a comical thumbs up, "Already ahead of you, the stuff is being transported back by the ANBU, so by the end of tomorrow it should all be there."

"T-Tomorrow?" Naruto stuttered lightly.

Tsunade raised a brow at that a shrugged, "If you had any idea on how big your family's vault of techniques and notes were, you wouldn't be surprised. Plus there is a lot of heavy lifting, Kushina owned a ton of weapons."

"That I'm not surprised about…" Naruto sighed, smiling fondly at the memories of the few notes he had been able together. There were tales and stories about all of his mother's adventures with experimenting with weapons, learning not only kenjutsu but tons of other weapons as well!

"Anyhow, you had an offer for him, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi cut in, surprising the blond male.

Tsunade smirked widely at that, dropping a ton of files onto the desk, "That's right, now, Naruto. I have an offer for you, and I hope you'll accept it. I just have one warning, if you do agree, Team Seven will be disbanded with effect immediately."

"Then why would I even consider it? Kakashi-sensei, you can't be serious?" Naruto asked loudly, this offer was outrageous! He treasured his team with everything he had almost, so why disband it?

Sighing softly, Kakashi waved his hand lazily, "Please Naruto, let Tsunade-sama speak."

Huffing a bit at this sensei, Naruto leaned back against the door he had entered through earlier with his arms crossed over his chest, with his eyes carrying an intense look.

"As I was saying, this is a very important thing for the village." Tsunade, started as she explained everything in detail of which she had told Kakashi. Every little detail sinking into Naruto's brain, making him frown more and more by the second he kept letting Tsunade speak.

"And that is why Jiraiya and I discussed this initiative. Even without this Naruto, it was unavoidable to let Team Seven stay the way it was forever. Sakura is going to be sad about this too, but the paths you are choosing are leading in different directions in our time. The only way it worked when I was still working with Jiraiya, was because it was wartime. And look now, even we have split up because the war ended." Tsunade tried to reason, while she was expecting an angry outburst from the blond any moment now.

Naruto stood quiet a few more minutes until his lips turned up into a sad smile, "I… Understand."

"You what now?" Tsunade asked, not sure if she heard correct.

"I understand your reasoning Baa-chan. Not only is this for the village's strength but with having this image to the outside world with this team, more contractors would without a doubt contact Konoha if it ends up successful…" Naruto mumbled out, starting to understand the huge importance of this.

Frowning lightly, Tsunade leaned back into her chair making it creak quietly, "I know it's hard for you. Your team has had a dream of getting back together one day, all of you. The sad truth is simply that the world is changing by the day, more and more desperate measures are required by us with each passing year, and even if I do want to put people's happiness above everything else, there can't be any happier if we let our economy fall even further. We also can't afford to let the other nations get the idea that we are weakening. The last thing we need after the last two decades is another war."

"You don't have to explain it anymore, I understand the seriousness of this. It's also beneficial in hunting down terrorists like Akatuski and Orochimaru. I just can't understand why I'm a candidate though. I'm the Jinchuuriki, wouldn't the Akatsuki be after me?" Naruto asked, his voice returning to its normal tone.

Tsunade gave a small smirk at that, confusing the hell out of the blond, "Sometimes… Our desires are our weaknesses. Hell, look at Jiraiya with his female problems, he has had more trips to the hospital than a frontline fighter in the second war because of his weakness for naked breasts." Tsunade tried to joke a little, causing the blond male to chuckle a little bit.

"That's true."

Nodding at him, Tsunade pushed the folders forward on the desk and sad in a soft tone, "You don't have to accept yet, but please consider-

"I accept, I'll be a member."

"You what now?" Tsunade asked with great shock written across her face.

Naruto smiled lightly as he walked forward after pushing himself off the door, and looked at the files spread across the desk with great interest, "If Kakashi-sensei is having so much faith in this, that he'd join instead of continuing on Team Seven. Then it must be really important. I guess I'll need to talk with Sakura then..."

Kakashi stayed quiet but nodded nonetheless. This had been inside his mind for hours until Naruto showed up, he had given it a lot of thought and in the end, accepted. Even if he loved and treasured his team, he knew from experience from his ANBU and Team Minato days that nothing lasted forever. To move forward, steps had to be taken, and this was a huge step in the right direction.

"I'll handle Sakura... And well, that went better than I expected. Excellent, I'll call for the other candidates that Kakashi and I have picked out. You guys will all meet here tomorrow evening. In the meantime, Kakashi has agreed to help me fund this project, but for the rest of the funds to come in there might go a small month before the initiative starts for real." Tsunade explained quickly, causing Naruto to give a small smirk.

"I'll help with the funds, take as much as you need from my family's bank account you need before handing me the account details. I'll gladly support the future of the village, and again if Kakashi-sensei even sacrificed money he could have used for Ero-sennin's books on it, then I'll do the same to support it." Naruto added in with a big smile, making Kakashi eye-smile proudly at his student's maturity.

Nodding her head deeply in gratitude, Tsunade smiled brightly and slammed her fist into her hand, "Alright then! A new era for Konoha has yet again begun, and you guys will be the front of it. Now, leave! I'm sure there is other stuff you want to do this afternoon instead of sitting in an office all day."

As soon as she had said that, Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other and sweatdropped before shunshinning out of the office.

As the former members of Team Seven had left, Tsunade sighed with a small frown as she called, "Boar!"

"Hokage-sama?" The ANBU addressed as Boar answered as he dropped from the ceiling, kneeling in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Please send word for Sakura Haruno, I have some… sad news for her."

XXXX

While Naruto was normally seen with a smile on his face, he was now seen with a small frown as he sat on the soft covers of his bed, seemingly staring at the floor. If people would see the face and behavior he had in private, they would question if Naruto ever really returned home.

Sighing heavily, the blond pulled a picture off his nightstand and stared at the picture that was taken the day he was placed on Team Seven. Chuckling a bit, he let a small smile form on his lips as he looked at Kakashi who was desperately trying to get a decent picture, despite him and Sasuke were once again at each other's throats.

It was beginning to feel like all of it was coming apart before it even started. He and Kakashi were leaving for the new initiative, Sasuke had abandoned the village and Sakura? She had yet to become fully aware of the fate of Team Seven. If he had to be brutally honest, he didn't mind not being around when that paper bomb would explode.

But this was how things were going to be now. Sakura would have to live with it. They weren't kids anymore, they were growing up. Or at least he was. Times were changing too, and he had learned the hard way that how he had been living four years ago should have resulted in his death long ago.

Lifting his face to stare at his reflection in the lone mirror in his room, Naruto moved a lock of hair out of his face and sighed for what felt like the hundredth time today. He hadn't expected to change, sure four years was a long time and all, but he had never expected that he wouldn't return the same.

Would people accept who shined through if he dropped the facade? That was a question he often had on his mind. While he didn't care for what the citizen thought of him, his friends and comrades were another matter. If he suddenly wasn't the same anymore, would they still see the Naruto Uzumaki they went to the academy with? Or would they see a stranger? And even if he didn't just let it show, would it even be long before they'd figure out that something was wrong?

Would he even have the words to explain what happened? He didn't know. He, of course, knew what happened, but formulating words to describe the soul-shattering, changing, and reforming pains, he didn't know how to.

"Would it be easier to show them?" He mumbled quietly while pulling his collar down slightly. Reaching down under his shirt, he pulled up two necklaces. One being the necklace Tsunade had given him, but he was thinking of returning it. With his resolve and desires changed, should he even have this?

Having the necklace in his hand, he started clutching his hand tightly around the crystal, he squeezed tightly with his face turning into a scowl. Gritting his teeth tightly together, he took a deep breath as the scowl disappeared completely from his face before he let the necklace fall under his shirt again. Now wasn't a time to be emotionally comprehended.


Having slammed the door shut behind her, Sakura completely ignored her teacher calling her name as she rushed out of the Hokage tower. How could she have done this? Team Seven was special to her, and true she might be selfish, but didn't she have a right to? She had after all desperately tried to get this team back together for so long.

Rushing out of the Hokage tower, her search started as she scowled with anger and hurt. There was just no way that Kakashi-sensei or Naruto could accept something like this, and abandon the team and friendship they had worked so hard to perfect, right?

She craved answers. No, she needed them.

Finally having found one of the people she searched for, she stomped into the Dango stand with heavy breathing. The eyes of all the Jounin senseis landed on her, along with a purple-haired woman wearing the ANBU uniform, and the creepy proctor from her first chunin exams.

"Kakashi-sensei… we need to talk." She spoke in a voice, that didn't allow him to refuse.

Sighing, the silver-haired Jounin clapped his book shut and slowly stood up from his seat. He had seen this coming. it would, after all only be a matter of time before she would find out.

He walked out of the Dango shop before motioning Sakura to follow him to someplace that would be appropriate to talk about this. That and he doesn't want anyone getting caught in the crossfire of her temper.

For Kakashi, it was only a few minutes but to Sakura, it felt like an eternity before they both arrived at their destination. In front of them was Training ground 7 where the two had a lot of memories. Some good and others bad. Kakashi walked over to a boulder before jumping up and sitting down before his gaze landed on his old student who just stood in front of his spot with her arms cross, eyes narrowed and a face that demanded answers.

"Well?" Kakashi said nonchalantly before pulling out his baby- I mean his book that is always with him before opening it up to where he left off.

"Well? Is that all you can say right now?! Just 'well' as if you don't even care our team is disbanding at all!" Sakura yelled out to her sensei.

Kakashi just waited for a moment for her to calm down but knowing her that would probably make her madder.

"Sakura. You have to understand that the village needs this new team to work. Not just for us but all of Hi no Kuni. You should know about the elite groups that represent each major village so I won't bore you with those details. This team needs to be made and work to show the world that Konoha is not weak or growing lax after all this time. That we are still the strongest village out there and for good reason." Kakashi said before flipping to the next page in his book before he continued.

"This team is to be made up of the best or the soon to be best that we got here. Tsunade-sama wanted me to be the leader of this team because of me being a student of the Yondaime Hokage, participating in the third war, having massive amounts of experience in leading teams and combat, along with my time in ANBU." Kakashi said before he raised his hand to stop her from shouting when he noticed her about to explode.

"Look I know you're mad and sad, believe me, I am too. But it is not just about us that we have to worry about. It's the whole village we have to worry about. The needs of the village come over our selfish ones that-" Kakashi stopped and jumped off the boulder that Sakura smashed to pieces.

"I don't care about that! This is our team, the one that brought us all together and yet your abandoning it for, what?! To please Shishou?! Just tell her to get someone else to do it! For crying out loud they could probably find someone else to lead it than you! That way we all can still be a team especially when we get Sasuke-kun back to us and free him from Orochimaru's grasp!" Sakura yelled before taking a couple of breaths to get the air back in her lungs.

"Sakura you have to know I don't want the team to disband either. This was the first team I passed and was truly proud of since being on team Minato. But sometimes it is not just us we have to worry about, but the people as well. Like I said earlier, this team, if it is a success, will make Konoha look stronger so the civilians and everyone else can be safe." He said before walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But sacrifices have to be made for the greater good sometimes and this is one of them. Besides, even if Sasuke did come back, he would still be punished for siding with Konoha's biggest traitor and the man who killed Sandaime-sama. Him being executed would be a very likely option as well. Sometimes you just have to move on Sakura. whether it is easy or not." Kakashi said in a comforting voice hoping to appease her.

But it was for naught when she slapped his hand away before storming off. Before she left though she left some last words for him.

"If you wanna be that way then fine! See if I care. I'm sure when I convince Naruto to help, he and I can get Sasuke ourselves! And also keep Team Seven alive!" She said before finally leaving the training grounds.

Kakashi just sighed to himself before going over and picking up his book before walking back to hopefully continue talking with his fellow Jonin.

"Oh if only you knew Sakura…. If only you knew."


To those wondering: I created this team, because: Let's face it. Leaving threats such as Orochimaru, Akatsuki, and who else to team 7, even if Naruto is the main character and Kakashi is supposed to be a big deal. It's dumb. It's a genin, chunin, and a single jounin. Against, guys that are supposed to all be Kage level for crying out loud. So I thought it would be more appropriate for a squad to be formed, that is meant to deal with such things. Plus it will allow me to expand on other less shown characters that I think deserve recognition.

Question of the chapter: Who do you think is on this team? And what do you think their name is?