Author's Note – The powerset used is taken from the Chicago Sentinels series by Marion G Harmon.

This chapter is scenelets that I had hoped to use.

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The Speedster

More Scenelets

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Hiruzen stared at the trio of genin, the trussed-upforms of the Jonin-sensei and Academy tutor who they had dropped onto the floor of his office.

"Let me get this straight." He finally sighed. "Aoi tried to trick you into stealing the Raijin and the Forbidden scroll before attempting to abscond with them with Mizuki's aid. You captured them both and brought them here… because?"

The three genin exchanged glances before Idate spoke.

"It… was the right thing to do?"

"It was indeed." Ibiki said as he stepped out of the shadows, giving his younger brother an approving look. Both men on the ground stared at him in horror, then tried to wriggle away. Ibiki strode over to them and grabbed them by the ropes, lifting them like luggage.

"With your permission, Lord Hokage?"

"By all means." Hiruzen sighed. "Report on what you discover tomorrow."

Ibiki smirked, nodded again to his brother and strode out of the office. Hiruzen turned his attention back to the trio.

"Well, this leaves me with a problem." He admitted. "The timing could have been better, I just finished reviewing the teams that had passed the genin test and I don't have any spare Jonin who are available at the moment."

For a long moment, no-one spoke, then Hiruzen smiled.

"For your actions in defence of Konoha, I am promoting you three to Chunin." He said, causing all three boys to stare at him in shock. "However, you will need to learn more before you can advance further, so I am re-assigning you as from next week. Idate, you have been learning interrogation techniques from your brother, correct?"

Idate nodded and Hiruzen's smile turned almost predatorial.

"I am assigning you to work alongside Team 10, they are an infiltration and capture unit. Yagura, your focus on taijutsu means that you will prove very useful on team 7. I have my doubts about how Kakashi will train them, so your skills will prove highly advantageous."

Yagura bowed.

"And Naruto." Hiruzen finished. "Your Kage Bunshin and no-time abilities will prove a godsend with Team 8. They are a tracking team. If they get ambushed, you can extract them with ease."

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered, then he paused and turned to the other two. "Ummm…"

"Oh, you'll only work alongside them every other day or on missions that take them out of Konoha." Hiruzen explained quickly. "I have no intention of disbanding a team that works as well together as yours does, but this way, you get experience in working with others and a chance to learn from multiple Jonin. I have no doubt that you'll teach each other what you learn."

All three newly-declared chunin nodded and Hiruzen chuckled before handing a scroll over.

"This contains pay for a C-ranked mission. Enjoy."

"Not ramen!" Idate and Yagura chorused before Naruto could open his mouth. The blond promptly crossed his arms and pouted.

"Oh, Naruto, please come back tomorrow." Hiruzen added. "There's something you need to know."

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Yagura looked at the trio before him and sighed, slightly adjusting his chunin-vest.

"My name is Yagura and I have been assigned to work alongside you." He stated. "Who are you?"

"The sulking emo is Uchiha Sasuke while the shrieking pinkette is Sakura Haruno." The brown-haired boy said before dodging the fist of the latter. "I'm Tobio."

"And where is your sensei?"

"He's always late." Tobio shrugged as he dodged another strike.

Yagura inhaled deeply, then he fixed the trio with a glare. "Then we shall spar until he arrives."

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Idate dropped out of the tree, landing between the three genin, all of whom had completely failed to notice him. Before they could do more than jump in shock, he spun on the spot, whipping wires around to catch all three.

"I thought you were a capture team." He sneered, channeling his older brother.

"They will be." Sarutobi Asuma said as he landed beside Idate, giving the boy an approving nod. "They're the next generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio."

"Then thay have a long way to go." Idate stated as he released them from the wires. "Shall we see if they can catch me before I run all the way around Konoha?"

"Yes." Asuma agreed. "And they'll do two more laps if they can't."

The trio stared at him in horror and he returned their gaze placidly.

"Why are you still here?" He asked, pointing to the dust cloud that marked Idate's exit from the clearing. "He isn't."

With a wail of angry despair, Ino lead the charge after the high-speed chunin.

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Naruto dropped out of no-time in the middle of the team he had been assigned to. Jonin Yuhi Kurenai hid a smile as her three genin completely failed to notice the new addition to her team even as she continued her speech.

"…and in addition, we will need to be aware of counter-ambushes or people who can sneak up on you." She finished and one of the boys snorted.

"Ha, sneak up on us? As if."

"It's quite easy, actually." Naruto said and all three genin reacted. The coat-wearing one stiffened, then spun round while the girl eep'd as she jumped into the air. The loudmouth yelped as he dived away, sending the small white dog that had been resting on his head flying.

"We will be working with Chunin Uzumaki Naruto, a specialist in covering vast distances very quickly and scouting out areas without being seen." Kurenai explained as the girl stopped hyperventilating and the boy scooped up his dog.

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"What a team." Yagura groused as the trio sat down around the table in Naruto's flat which had become their de-facto gathering spot. "I have to work alongside an emo and a fangirl. At least the third is eager to learn, even if he is clumsy."

"I have a lazy genius, a shrieking harpy and a boy with issues about his weight." Idate sighed. "I never realised how fast we had become until I realised just how slow they are."

"We do specialise in hit-and-run tactics." Yagura agreed and Naruto snorted with laughter.

"With lots of running."

Idate and Yagura both nodded in agreement and then Naruto leaned forwards, pulling a notepad out of his pocket. "I had a clone take notes on what Jonin Yuhi told us about Genjutsus."

"Nice." Idate commented.

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Wave mission

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The puddle erupted as two masked ninja leapt out. Even as they prepared to strike, the six people in front of them vanished in an orange blur.

"What the fuck?" The thinner one exclaimed, looking round for a clue as to where their targets had vanished to.

"What happened? Where's the bridge builder?" the larger one asked and then suddenly they were both hurled to the ground, wrapped up in veritable cocoons of ninja-wire.

"And that is an example of how my Bloodlimit, used properly, can totally kick ass." A voice gloated as the brothers writhed, trying to escape. "Now, Old Guy, why were they after you?"

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Zabuza hurled his sword at the group, only for them to vanish in a series of orange blurs. Leaping through the branches, he reached out to grab his sword, then heard a hissing from underfoot.

"What the…?"

The explosion hurled him straight through a tree and as he struggled to rise, he found himself staring into a pair of red eyes before the world went black.

"Hey, I caught another." Naruto called as he trotted up dragging a bound figure. "I can take them both to Konoha if you put them into a deep sleep and give me a small cart so I can pull them along."

"What about the water?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Oh, I'll just walk over it." Naruto shrugged. "Although the waves may be a problem, a bit bumpy."

"My house is only an hour away." Tazuna said. "I have a couple of carts… what?"

Naruto grunted as he lifted Zabuza onto the two-wheeled cart, then did the same with the smaller masked ninja. Kurenai waited until he was done, then reached into a concealed pocket and pulled out a couple of tags, placing them on the foreheads of the ninja.

"Sleep tags." She explained. "They should last up to a week."

"Be back soon, meet you at the old guy's house." Naruto chirped, then he and the captured ninjas vanished.

"Freaked out now." Kiba admitted.

"How did he get that cart so fast?" Tazuna asked in shock.

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"Hey, guys!" Naruto called and Kurenai looked round to see Naruto and a familiar figure at the door.

"Anko?"

"Hey, Kure-chan." Anko grinned. "Short-stuff here asked for help dealing with Gato, turns out that he's wanted in several nations for slave-trading. With shorty's help, we'll have him captured in no time. Almost literally."

"I'm not short." Naruto grumped.

"Oh, Ibiki says thanks for the prisoners, the younger one has a valuable Kekkei Genkei, Hyouton."

"Ice release?" Kurenai said in shock. "I… didn't know."

"Well, let me get some Sake, do my assassination mission and we'll talk." Anko grinned. "Damn, I love shorty here."

"I'm not short." Naruto grumped again.

"See? So cute!"

"Not cute!"

"D'awwwwwwwwwwww!"

Kurenai lost her struggle not to laugh.

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Authors Afternote – That's all the scenes I had. In canon, Aoi is a traitor who tricked Idate and forced him to flee from Konoha. I merely had him try to work with Mizuki, only for both of them to fall victim to Naruto's super-fast techniques and Kage Bunshins, aided by the other two.

Since I needed a reason to have Naruto interact with at least some of the Rookie 9, I came up with the "aiding the Jonin-sensei" idea.

And as for Naruto finding out about the Kyuubi… that's what Hiruzen was going to tell him about.