That night, Naruto asked his mom, "What're you going to teach me next, Mom?"
"Chakra Seal Manifestation," she said. "Once you get that down, I'll teach you the seal for Adamantine Sealing Chains."
"I'll be able to make chains like yours?" he asked.
"Yes, the chains that come from the seal will be able to suppress chakra like my own chains," she said. "Chakra Seal Manifestation is also useful for other short-duration seals like Privacy Seals or for quick traps. Your father used it with his Hiraishin seal during tough fights. The easiest way to use it is with your hands, but when you get better at it, you can use your feet to do it. It's also possible to use your chains, since they're extensions of your chakra, but that's much harder. It took me years to be able to do it like that."
"Awesome!" he said. If he could spawn the seal for the Sealing Chains with his Attacking Chains, that would almost make up for not having his mom's "special chakra."
"Hey, Mom?" he said. "Do you have something that will help me when I eventually have missions out of the village? My Shadow Clones don't typically last longer than a day."
"I have been working on a seal, that should draw natural chakra and convert it to make your clone last," she said.
"Natural chakra?" Naruto asked.
"It's the natural energy that living things leave behind in the earth. People who can use it directly are called sages. This particular seal slowly draws from it and converts it to normal chakra."
"That sounds pretty cool," Naruto said.
"It's rate is very slow, slower than a normal shinobi's recharge rate," his mom said, "but it will be enough to support a Shadow Clone that isn't using a lot of techniques."
"So my clones wouldn't be able to make a lot of seals, while I was gone?" he asked.
"Not all at once," she said. "You could do a few every hour, but certainly not up to your standards."
Their second day of training, Kurenai talked about her plans to train them in teamwork exercises, tracking theory, stealth, trap making, and ambushes as well as physical and chakra conditioning. She also offered to teach Sakura her personal taijutsu style which paired well with genjutsu.
"I don't know much about the Hyuuga or Uzumaki fighting styles," she said. "I'm going to assume that you have your own resources for those."
After she had finished outlining what areas she would teach them, she asked, "Can anyone tell me what the most important aspect of teamwork is?"
"Communication?" offered Sakura.
"It's true that communication is very important for teamwork," Kurenai said, "and we'll be learning some very important communication skills, but that isn't what I feel is the most important."
None of the girls said anything.
"Trust," Kurenai said. "You have to be able to trust your teammates."
Tsunami felt guilty. She was hiding three major secrets from her teammates. Granted, they were all S-rank secrets. The Hokage had absolutely forbidden her from telling anyone her parents' identities. She was even forbidden from confirming that she was a real Uzumaki to anyone not on her team, although the observant would figure it out. She was also forbidden from letting anyone know about her special Disguise Technique unless it was life or death. She was allowed to tell her team, if it were mission critical (the Hokage told her that mission critical meant that it could not be solved any other way with a degree of success) and she trusted her teammates. The only one of the three, she could tell outright was that she held the Kyuubi. The Hokage only asked her to use her best judgment and to be cautious.
When she had asked why her Disguise was S-rank, when by all rights it should be A-rank at best, the Hokage had told her that someone had leaked her jinchuuriki status against his will and that her secrets were not safe with only the usual precautions.
"I'm not saying that you can't have secrets," Kurenai continued. "Eventually, if you advance in rank, you'll be privy to village secrets that you are required to keep from even your closest friends. Plus, everyone is entitled to a certain amount of privacy. What do you think I mean by trust?"
"You have to be able to trust your teammates to have your back!" Tsunami said.
"That's right," she said. "You'll be trusting each other with your lives. You have to be able to know that your teammates won't let you down. Part of this is that you have to really know each other's capabilities."
Kurenai then taught them the basic Konoha hand signs and they drilled on them for an hour.
"Are you ready for your first mission?" Kurneai asked.
"Yes!" Tsunami proclaimed. "How come we didn't do one yesterday?"
"A group of chuunin makes it a practice to flood the mission office on the day after the 'real' genin exam. Waiting in line for a D-rank is not my idea of fun."
Tsunami wondered what she meant about that.
"Why would they do that, Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"They think it's funny," Kurenai said, rolling her eyes.
"Why?" Tsunami asked.
"Mostly harmless hazing."
They walked to the mission office. The Hokage was sitting at a table. Iruka was assisting him.
"Good morning, Team Eight," the Hokage said.
"Good morning, Hokage-sama," said everyone except Naruto, who said, "Hi, Jiichan!"
"Tsunami-chan!" Iruka scolded. "I expect better from you than from your brother! Show Hokage-sama some respect!"
The Hokage chuckled. "It's alright, Iruka-san. I'm used to the attention from the Uzumaki twins and I don't mind it."
He shuffled some papers. "I have some very important missions here for your sensei to choose from. . ." He looked down at the papers again. "The Inuzuka kennels need to be cleaned out, the orphanage needs some story readers, the Akimichi need some supplies transported. . ."
Tsunami looked at her teammates. They were both staring at the Hokage with slack jaws. She knew that D-ranks were the least important missions, but these were just chores that anyone could do!
She looked at the Hokage. His eyes were twinkling. She had been pranked! And not just any prank. It was a prank that every genin was subjected to, judging by Kurenai, Iruka, and the others' faces. The Old Man would pay for this.
"Okay, you got me, Jiichan," she said. "That was a decent prank, not up to my own standards, but still decent. What are the real missions?"
The Hokage chuckled. "That's what makes this prank so good. . ." He paused to light his pipe.
"You mean?" she said in horror.
"Yep, those were the real missions," he said.
"Why didn't anyone warn us it would be like this?" asked Sakura.
"And ruin this moment?" the Hokage asked. He chuckled again. "Plus we would have a hard time convincing young people to be shinobi if we told them they'd have to do months of chores before being allowed to do 'real' missions. But now that you have your Badges, it's too late." The Hokage finished off with a passable "evil laugh."
The Hokage was laying the teasing on pretty thick. She smiled sweetly. Let him have his fun—she would return the favor.
She heard Iruka say quietly, "Uh oh, I recognize that grin. I think you're in trouble Hokage-sama."
He must have been louder than he thought, since Hinata giggled and Sakura hissed, "Don't do anything your stupid like your brother would do, Tsunami-chan."
Tsunami waved her off as Kurneai said, "We'll help with the supplies, Hokage-sama."
She took the mission scroll that Iruka handed her and led her students out of the office.
They met a middle-aged Akimichi woman at a warehouse in the market district. Their task was to transport fresh food ingredients to three different restaurants.
"I can seal the supplies into storage seals for ease of transport," Tsunami offered.
Kurenai thought for a moment. "I'll allow that, if you all agree to extra physical conditioning this afternoon. Part of the point of D-ranks is to help get you into shape for more difficult missions. I want to encourage you to think of ways to make your missions easier, but I don't want you to fall behind in your training either."
The girls all looked at each other and nodded.
The mission did not take long. After they reported success to the Hokage, Kurenai dismissed them for lunch. After lunch they met for physical training.
Tsunami enjoyed the training. She would always rather do things than listen to a lecture. Plus, it was always more fun to do things with others. Hinata seemed to quietly enjoy the training too, but after thirty minutes, Sakura started to complain.
"Sakura-san," Kurenai said gravely, "I thought you wanted to be a serious kunoichi."
"I do," Sakura replied.
"Shinobi are required to run for hours in order to get to and from missions," their sensei said. "Since our team is a 'First Response' type of team, this is especially important for us. If this type of exercise tires you after only half an hour, you need to step up your personal training."
"But Ishida-sensei said that a kunoichi should always look her best," Sakura protested. "How can we do that with all that running?"
"She's still at the Academy?" Kurenai said with a grimace. "Ishida-san is one of those that thinks that kunoichi have to be the type of kunoichi she was, an infiltrator. If you want to be an infiltrator, we can have you moved to one of those teams, but I warn you that most infiltration missions involve places of ill repute rather than palaces."
"No that's okay," Sakura reassured her. "I'll do better."
"Make sure you eat more too," Kurenai said. "I don't want you fainting from lack of energy. Hinata-chan can tell you how much you should be eating."
The Hokage was not laughing when Naruto strung toilet paper all over the Hokage Tower that night. Tsunami smirked all through picking up their mission the next morning.
Most training days were repeats of their second day: lectures and drills in the early morning, followed by a D-rank mission and then physical training.
Naruto got contracts for seals from two other shinobi-supply stores as well as the ANBU quartermaster.
The clerk at the second store took a look at the seals. "These don't look like the other seals that we carry," he said.
"Most seals use an obscuration method so that they can't be copied," Naruto said. "This is usually done even for simple seals in order to prevent the inexperienced from injuring themselves trying to copy a seal without guidance. I use a different obscuration pattern than most due to the way I learned."
Naruto danced around saying that he used the Uzushio style rather than the Konoha style. The Hokage still did not want him claiming his Uzumaki blood publicly.
"My boss will need you to demonstrate these, but I think he'll be agreeable, assuming they work."
A week after team assignments, Kakashi visited Naruto in the evening.
"How would you feel about joining my team for practices once a week, Naruto-kun?" he asked.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"Even though you're only in the Reserves, you should still keep up with more than just your seal work. My team would also benefit from another sparring partner."
Naruto thought about it. It would help him out to be able to spar in his original form. His only real sparring partners had ever been his mom in his mindscape and his own clones. The infrequent Academy matches did not really count for much.
"Alright," he said. "I can come on Wednesdays." That was one of two days, the other being Sunday, that Kurenai gave them off of training. That way he would not have to worry about a Shadow Clone dispelling at the wrong time.
"That works. Be at Training Ground Three at 10," Kakashi said before disappearing in a Body Flicker.
The next Wednesday, Naruto showed up at Training Ground Three a little before 10. He was wearing his Leaf Badge for the first time as Naruto.
"Hey, Dead Last," Kiba yelled. "What are you doing here? And where did you get the Leaf Badge?"
"Hey, Dog Breath," Naruto yelled back. "Kakashi-sensei asked me to come and replace you so that your team could have a real shinobi."
Kiba stopped and started. Shino and Sasuke stared at him too.
"What!?" Kiba shouted. "No way!"
Naruto burst out in laughter. "Just kidding. You should have seen your face. Nah, Kakashi-sensei asked me to come and give you guys another sparring partner. I have the Leaf Badge because I'm in the Reserves."
"How did that happen?" Kiba asked. "You didn't pass the test."
"Turns out Mizuki was sabotaging my tests," Naruto said. "He's currently under investigation to see if he was sabotaging anyone else."
"No way!" Kiba shouted. "You couldn't even do a Clone!"
"It turns out I'm too awesome for the Clone Technique," Naruto said. "Too much chakra to make it work."
"What?!" Kiba shouted. "I don't believe you."
"It is true that Uzumaki-san has a very large amount of chakra," Shino said. "How do I know? My kikaichuu can sense that he has at least as much chakra as Kakashi-sensei and so does his sister."
"How did you get so much chakra, Dead Last?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto shrugged. "I didn't do anything special for it. Maybe it's inherited, but we're orphans and nobody has told us anything about our family."
"Why did you join the Reserves if you should have passed?" Kiba asked.
He shrugged again. "After the way I was treated by Mizuki and some others, it lost its luster. Truthfully, the only reason I joined the Reserves is so that I could practice fuuinjutsu."
"Sealing?" Sasuke asked.
"I like it and I seem to be talented at it," Naruto said.
The conversation died and they all set to waiting. Naruto pulled out one of his fuuinjutsu texts and started to read.
Half an hour later, Kakashi showed up. Kiba yelled at him and Sasuke looked even more irritated than normal. Naruto was irritated as well, but it was not a complete waste of his time since he had his text with him.
Kakashi had them do taijutsu-only spars. Based on his experience in the Academy, he and Kiba were close to the same level if they stuck to pure taijutsu without Kiba's partner, Akamaru. Sasuke was better and Shino was last. It was not that Shino was poor at taijutsu—he was actually better than most of their class had been—but the other three were better. Since it had been only a couple of weeks since the Academy, the results were typical. Sasuke won all of his spars. Naruto happened to win two out of his first three spars with Kiba and all of his with Shino. Shino had gotten lucky and won the last of his three spars with Kiba.
"Aargh!" Kiba growled in frustration. "This isn't fair! Most of my taijutsu moves are designed to be used in combination with Akamaru! Let me use him, Sensei and I'll wipe the floor with the Dead Last!"
"Now, now, Kiba-kun," Kakashi said, lifting his gaze from the orange book he had been reading. "That wouldn't be fair. Naruto-kun doesn't have any clan techniques to use, right?" He raised a brow, daring Naruto to say differently.
"Actually, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said. "While I can't use any clan techniques, I do know the Shadow Clone Technique." This was true in that the Hokage had forbidden him from showing off any clan techniques trivially. "Hokage-jiichan allowed me to learn it after we discovered I had to much chakra for the normal Clone Technique. It'd be fair fighting Dog Breath and Akamaru-san if I can use Shadow Clones."
Kakashi stroked his masked chin thoughtfully. "Okay, Kiba-kun. You can use Akamaru-kun, your Four Legs Technique, and your Man Beast Clone, but no other clan techniques you might know. Naruto-kun, you can use three Shadow Clones. If one of them dispels, you can make a new one to replace it."
"Can I use Replacement too?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi nodded, "That would be okay, but Kiba-kun can use it too."
"You're going down, Dead Last," Kiba said.
Naruto bowed toward Akamaru and said, "I'll try not to hurt your servant too badly, Akamaru-san."
The puppy yipped in amusement. Kiba growled.
The match started with Kiba tossing Akamaru a pill, which turned the puppy red. Kiba shouted, "Four Legs Technique! Man Beast Clone!" Akamaru turned into a copy of Kiba and they both crouched and growled ferally before charging Naruto.
Naruto made the clone seal and formed three Shadow Clones. They spread out slightly. Naruto sealessly Replaced himself with one of the clones. Naruto himself target the "Kiba" he thought was really the puppy with the one of the clones. With some clever footwork and Replacements, he managed to get a good position on the presumed dog and gave him a hard blow in the back. The "Kiba" yipped and turned back into Akamaru.
The real Kiba had finished off the two clones facing him and charged Naruto. Naruto spawned two more clones to replace the two that had dispelled and turned to face Kiba. The new clones did not have time to spread out as Kiba clawed through them, causing them to dissipate in smoke. Naruto switched with his last Clone and then made three more as Kiba made short work of the sacrificial clone. This time they were able to spread out and come at the Inuzuka from all sides. Naruto was again able to get a favorable position on his opponent and hammered him into the ground.
"That was excellent use of the Replacement Technique, Naruto-kun," Kakashi made one of his rare comments. "I believe that was the deciding factor in the match."
After that, they went back to pure taijutsu matches. In the last match of the day, Naruto finally managed to pull a win over Sasuke for the first time ever—mostly because of his stamina advantage over the Uchiha boy.
When he dismissed the others, Kakashi asked Naruto to stay. "I was fascinated to find out that you knew your mother's taijutsu style, Naruto-kun."
"My mother's style?" he said, playing dumb.
Kakashi nodded. "You're not bad at it, but it seems awkward for you in places."
"I learned it from Tsunami-chan," he said. "Our bodies are different enough that I can't do things exactly the way she can."
"Where did Tsunami-chan learn it?" Kakashi asked.
"The Hokage forbade her from saying," Naruto said. "She picked it up before she came back to Konoha, but she's never told me much of what happened while she was gone." He paused for a moment. "That's pretty cool that it's my mother's style."
"I'm not the best for teaching taijutsu," Kakashi said, "but I can give you some tips on how to adjust the style for your body type."
"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.
The following day, Naruto overslept slightly. He transformed, dressed and ran out the door.
When she arrived, Sakura exclaimed, "Why do you have whisker marks like your brother, Tsunami-chan?"
"Huh?" Tsunami asked.
Sakura pulled out a compact and handed it to her. Naruto opened it up and peered into the mirror. Sure enough, her face showed the familiar whisker birth marks.
"Oh, I forgot to cover them up this morning," she extemporized.
"I think they're cute," Hinata said. "Why do you cover them up?"
Tsunami grimaced. "They're the reason that Naruto-kun is treated poorly. When I first arrived, he advised me to hide mine."
"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "Do they think he's the Kyuubi or something?"
Tsunami chuckled nervously.
"Wait! You're serious?" Sakura said, floored. "That's stupid. Naruto-san is an idiot, but he's mostly harmless."
"Well. . ." Tsunami said. "We were born the day that the Fourth defeated the Kyuubi and we have the marks, and nobody knows who our parents were. . . People drew stupid conclusions."
"Where do the marks come from?" Hinata asked.
"The Hokage only said that it came from a condition of our mother's," Tsunami said. "He said that the First Hokage's youngest son also had the marks, because the First's wife had the same condition, but very few people remember because he died young."
"Wait," Sakura said, "wasn't the First's wife an Uzumaki too?"
"Yes," Tsunami said. "If you don't mind, I'm going to cover the marks with a Disguise."
"Won't that take a lot of chakra?" Sakura asked.
"Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan," she replied. "I have tons of chakra. It won't be an issue for a Disguise this minor."
That morning they were introduced to the menace known as Tora. Naruto was already stressed due to worrying about why her Tsunami Disguise showed her whisker marks. Finally, they cornered the beast for the third time.
"Hinata-chan," Tsunami growled. "Is anyone close enough to observe us?"
"No, Tsunami-chan," the other girl replied after looking with her Byakugan.
"Good!" Tsunami activated her Adamantine Attacking Chains. They sprouted from her back and thrust into the ground and then came up underneath the infernal cat and snared it.
"Grab it, Hinata-chan, before I kill it," she growled.
That night, Naruto informed his mother about what had happened with his Tsunami Disguise that morning.
"Have you noticed anything else odd about your Disguise Technique?" his mother asked.
"The only weird thing is that it's costing less chakra to turn into Tsunami and it actually takes some to turn back to myself if I'm starting from Tsunami. If I'm naked, it costs barely more to turn into her than it takes to turn into my normal form."
"Huh," his mother commented. "If I were to guess, I'd say that your Tsunami form is becoming more and more stable, however, the most stable form includes your whisker marks."
Naruto stared at her. "Does this mean I'm going to have to worry about appearing as her with blonde hair too?"
His mom shrugged. "I'm not sure. The fact that you ended up with blond hair always seemed weird to me. Usually the darker colors dominate inheritance. As far as I know I don't have any blonde genes, so it was weird that your hair took after your father's. I'd just keep an eye on it. I'd recommend that you check yourself over before leaving each morning. Your hair color should stand out more than your birthmarks anyway.
Things went similarly for the next two months, training with her team most days and Kakashi's on Wednesdays. The three genin were once again in the Mission Office. The Hokage was listing off more worthless D-rank missions. Just as Tsunami was about to open her mouth to complain, Kurenai said with a humorous note in her voice, "I think we're ready for a simple C-rank mission, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage stared at each of the genin for a few moments before saying, "Very well."
He looked through some of his scrolls before selecting one and handing it to Kurenai. "Bring in the Taki tutor," he said.
A chuunin brought in a man in well-made, but not aristocratic, civilian clothing.
"This is Suzuki Akira-san, the tutor for the daughter of the Daimyo of Taki no Kuni. You are to escort him and his charge to Takimitsukeru no Sato, the seat of the Daimyo of Taki no Kuni."
Author's Note: Mitsukeru means found or discovered. The grammar is probably wrong, but oh well. It's a play on Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall).