Their second C-rank mission was to deliver a scroll to a Konoha outpost on the border between Kawa no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. The trip to the outpost was short—two days at a jog.
At the end of the first day on the road after camp was set up, Sakura subjected the other two genin to another sermon on why Sasuke was so great.
"Sakura-chan," Tsunami interrupted her, "did you know that my brother has become a friend of Sasuke-san?"
"What!?" Sakura exclaimed. "There's no way an idiot like your brother is friends with Sasuke-kun!"
"Sakura-chan!" Tsunami snapped, irritated with the way her friend always talked about her other half.
Sakura chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Tsunami-chan. Your brother is just so irritating with his pranks and boasting."
Tsunami huffed. "Anyway, Sasuke-san and my brother actually have a fair amount in common; they're both orphans with lonely childhoods who spend a lot of time training to cope. It's somewhat natural they would be friends. Naruto-kun has been training with Sasuke-san's team once a week by invitation of their sensei."
"What!?" Sakura exclaimed. "Why?"
"Kaksahi-sensei said that Naruto-kun was originally supposed to be on his team until he was sabotaged into failing the original genin exam and decided to go into the Reserves. Kakashi-sensei must have felt bad about it."
"He was sabatoged? He's in the Reserves?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Yes," Tsunami answered, irritated. "You know he's about as good as I am. Did you really think he failed a legitimate test?"
"But he was the dead last!" Sakura said.
"It wasn't just the final exam that was sabotaged!" Tsunami snapped. With how smart Sakura was, her decided lack of observational skills was annoying.
Sakura looked at her blankly.
"You remember what we talked about when my whisker marks came out?" Tsunami asked. "Most of the village dislikes Naruto-kun because of that and there are a substantial number that outright hate him. Mizuki-sensei and a few of the other teachers were like that."
"That's idiotic!" Sakura said. "Even if the Kyuubi wasn't dead and he was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, treating him poorly because of that could have a serious backlash on the village."
Tsunami froze up. She felt the blood drain from her face.
"Wait!?" Sakura said. "He is? Is that what the marks are from?" She looked at Tsunami a little nervously. Tsunami supposed that defending a jinchuuriki in abstract was easier than doing it in person. Hinata was watching the two of them with even wider eyes than normal.
Tsunami struggled to get control of herself after having one of her darkest secrets discovered by one of her friends. "Not exactly," she finally said. "Our mother was the Kyuubi's second jinchuuriki. That is why we have the marks."
"Second?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Uzumaki Mito-sama, the wife of the Shodai Hokage, was the first," Tsunami said.
"I'm surprised that I haven't seen the signs of Naruto-kun being a jinchuuriki," Hinata said. "We Hyuuga are taught to see them."
"The Kyuubi is buried so deeply in Naruto-kun's seal that nobody has seen a trace of it since he was five," Tsunami answered. "He's never drawn on its power and isn't really even sure how to do so. Hokage-jiichan thinks he could if he were in a life-threatening situation. Does this change how you feel about him?" she asked both her teammates, but her gaze lingered on Hinata.
"I guess not," Sakura said, chuckling nervously. "He's still a goof—he's just a goof with a massive amount of power on his hands. . ." she trailed off nervously.
Tsunami rolled her eyes. "When has Naruto-kun ever played a truly dangerous or malicious prank? He's even stopped pranking altogether since graduation."
"Really?" asked Sakura.
Tsunami nodded firmly. "He's trying to be a respectable seal master."
"I think the way that Naruto-kun has handled the challenges he's been handed is admirable," Hinata said firmly. She was still looking down at the ground, but her stuttering had been absent for once.
"How did the Kyuubi get released from your mother?" Sakura asked.
"The seal on a female jinchuuriki often weakens during birth," Tsunami said sadly. "The village leaders knew this and made preparations to combat the weakness, but a masked man interfered and released the Kyuubi. Both our parents died as a result of the attack and Yondaime-sama was forced to seal the beast into Naruto-kun at the cost of his life."
"And you don't know who did this?" Hinata asked.
Tsunami shook her head.
Kurenai spoke for the first time. Tsunami had forgotten she was nearby. "What you have stumbled onto is an S-rank secret. Hokage-sama has forbidden spreading the fact that Naruto-san is a jinchuuriki on pain of death."
"But, Kurenai-sensei, Tsunami-chan says that everyone already knows!" Sakura protested.
"It's true that most of the adults know," Kurenai admitted, "but Hokage-sama wanted Naruto-kun to have a normal life and be able to grow up without prejudice. It hasn't exactly worked as he intended, but the decree still exists. Do you understand, Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan?"
"I understand, Sensei," both girls said.
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes. Tsunami was uncomfortable with the silence, so she decided to bring up the topic she was going to talk to Sakura about before they got side tracked. "I was going to tell you, Sakura-chan, that Naruto-kun has talked to Sasuke-san a fair amount since graduation. One of the things that Sasuke-san told my brother is that he despises weak fangirls and will only marry a strong kunoichi."
"You want Sasuke-kun for yourself!" Sakura accused angrily.
Tsunami rolled her eyes. "There is zero chance that I would marry Sasuke."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you! Sasuke-kun is perfect! There's no way you don't secretly like him!"
Tsunami huffed and Hinata shook her head.
"He's not perfect," Tsunami asserted, "but even if he was, I couldn't marry him."
"Why not?" Sakura said suspiciously.
Tsunmai sighed. "He's the last of the Uchiha and Naruto-kun and I are the last of the Uzumaki, as far as we know. Any husband I take would be required to marry into the Uzumaki clan and Sasuke-san would never be willing to do so. The reverse is true as well." She had thought about this a lot since Sasuke's last conversation with her as Naruto about girls.
The other reason is that she had decided that she could not risk getting pregnant so that what happened to her mother could not happen to her. The decision left her with an odd pang of regret. Before the talk with Sasuke, she had purposely avoided thinking about sex since her mother had given her the talk when she turned ten. Now the thought of having sex as a girl filled her with a sense of vulnerability and disgust (and, if she were honest with herself, a small amount of curiosity), but somehow the thought of not carrying a baby inside her left her strangely empty and lacking.
"Is that what happened to your father?" Hinata asked. "He married into the Uzumaki?"
"Not exactly," Tsunami admitted. "Circumstances did not allow him to take her name, but they had agreed that all of their children would be Uzumaki." Her parents' marriage was secret, so her father could not take the Uzumaki name publicly. While the Namikaze were not a shinobi clan, Namikaze Minato was a famous shinobi name. It was unlikely that her father would have changed his name even after the marriage was known.
"So Sasuke-kun wants a strong kunoichi as a wife?" Sakura asked tentatively.
Tsunami nodded. "While I suppose he wouldn't go for an ugly woman, he finds strength more attractive than any civilian concept of beauty. I think you shouldn't worry about trying to impress him at this point in your life, but if you really can't leave it alone, the best thing you can do is train hard and become a superior kunoichi."
Sakura nodded thoughtfully before a more comfortable silence than before enveloped the camp.
The drop off of the scroll at the outpost went off without a hitch. However, on the way back Tsunami and her team ran into a roadblock manned by three bandits. Tsunami's clones had warned them that they were there as well as the ones hiding in the forest. Kurenai had elected to spring their trap. One of them, probably the leader, held a sword. The other two carried spiked clubs.
"What do we have here?" the bandit with the sword said. "Three little girls and a big girl playing at being ninja?"
"Girls," said Kurenai, repeating what she had told them earlier for the bandits benefit. "Most of our missions until you reach chuunin will be clearing out bandits like this. I want you to take the lead on this. I'll back you up."
"I think the older one is scared!" said one of the others.
"Hardly," said Kurenai.
"Feisty," said the third. "I call dibs on her."
"I want the redhead," said the second.
"No way did you just say that!" snarled Tsunami.
Hinata started to tremble beside her.
Tsunami put a steadying hand on her shoulder. "These guys are chumps, Hinata-chan. You don't have any reason to be nervous."
The one with the sword said, "If you really are ninja, just the three of us might have trouble with you, but unlucky for you, we're not alone."
He whistled and the thirteen men Tsunami knew were hiding came out of the forest.
"That's it?!" Tsunami complained for effect. "I can handle twice your number by myself!"
"Calm down, Tsunami-chan," Kurenai said, grinning slightly. "I want you to take care of the new ones and make sure none of them escape. Hinata-chan, I want you to handle the leaders. Sakura-chan, I want you to back up Hinata-chan and make sure that she doesn't get overwhelmed."
All three girls voiced their acknowledgement.
"Shadow Clone Technique!" Tsunami called. Even though she did not need to call the name of the technique, she thought doing so added to the intimidation effect. She summoned 45 clones which would allow three clones per bandit and leave a few for overwatch. This was probably more than she needed, but figured it was better safe than sorry.
She kept herself out of the main fight, only darting in twice when bandits got lucky against her clones. She and her clones were rough with them. Some of them were likely to have bad concussions, but they were rapists and associates of rapists, so she did not feel bad.
When it was all said and done, Naruto had ended up killing two of the bandits with blows that snapped their necks. Of the remaining 11 that she had fought, another two appeared to be in comas. She was a little disconcerted, but it was not as violent or bloody as what had happened on the Taki trip with the false tutor. Hinata had disabled two of hers, including the leader, using the Gentle Fist. Sakura had ended up killing the third with a kunai to the throat. Sakura was kneeling on the ground and had vomited. Kurenai was currently comforting her.
Several of the bandits were screaming or moaning in pain. Tsunami dug some paralyzation seals out of her supplies and applied them to all of the surviving bandits.
When Sakura had recovered enough, Kurenai said, "We need to find their camp and make sure there aren't any more of them. Hinata-chan, is it in range?"
Hinata activated her Byakugan. "It's not, Kurenai-sensei."
Kurenai nodded in acknowledgement. "Tsunami-chan, send out six or eight scouting clones in all directions. Have them use your sensing technique and move carefully enough that they won't be spotted first."
"Okay, Sensei," Tsunami said. She wordlessly formed eight Shadow Clones and sent them out.
Fifteen minutes later she received the memories of a clone two kilometers to the northwest. Her Mind's Eye Technique had told her that there were three bandits. The clone had snuck close enough to verify that it was definitely the bandit camp.
"There are three bandits at the camp. It's about two kilometers to the northwest," she relayed to her team.
Kurenai had Tsunami leave Shadow Clone guards over their prisoners and the team went to the camp.
As they approached, Kurenai said, "Hinata-chan, can you verify three bandits?"
After activating her doujutsu, Hinata said, "Yes, Kurenai-sensei, there are three. Two are sitting around a campfire and one is asleep in a tent."
"Tsunami-chan," Kurenai said, "I want you to disable the one in the tent with a seal, if you can, while the rest of us confront the two that are awake. If he wakes up handle him however you see fit."
"Okay, Sensei," she replied.
As Tsunami snuck around to the tent where she felt the bandit using her Mind's Eye, she heard Kurenai announce their presence, "We are shinobi from Konohagakure no Sato and are exercising our treaty obligations with the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni to arrest you for suspected banditry. Throw down your weapons and submit to a search of your camp. If evidence is found of banditry, you will be transported to the nearest magistrate to stand trial. If you resist, we are authorized and willing to exercise lethal force. We have already dispatched those who we believe to be your comrades in crime."
One of the two called out something vulgar and Tsunami heard the sounds of a brief scuffle. The man in the tent was oblivious to it all and she slapped a paralyzation seal on him and activated it.
A brief search of the camp confirmed that they were bandits who killed and raped and were likely involved in some occasional human trafficking. Tsunami sealed the evidence into storage seals and used Shadow Clones to create enough prisoner scrolls to transport the bandits. Kurenai admitted that the usual practice was to kill bandits, especially those caught in murder, rape, or human trafficking, but said that she did not think that the genin were ready to execute prisoners yet.
They were a day late returning to Konoha, but not late enough to worry anyone, due to dealing with the bandits and dropping them off at the closest village. Tsunami suspected that they would receive a very speedy trial and execution as the village had not appeared to have the facilities to hold that many bandits. When Sakura had asked why they did not take them all to Konoha for trial, Kurenai explained that the nearest village was likely their primary victims and deserved to decide their fate.
Naruto continued to train as Tsunami with her team, but most of his progress still occurred in his mindscape, training under his mother. His main training focus was fuuinjutsu and the Chakra Seal Manifestation Technique. He was able to use Chakra Seal Manifestation to create a simple seal with his palm or fingertips that lasted up to two minutes.
"Excellent work, Son," his mother said as an explosive seal he had left on a post in their training meadow blew up after holding it for almost two minutes. "Your work in fuuinjutsu has also advanced enough so that I can show you the seal for the Adamantine Sealing Chains."
"Awesome!" he shouted.
His mother smiled indulgently at him. "I want you to keep working on the Chakra Seal Manifestation. Your next goals should be to be able to hold five seals active and to be able to manifest the chakra for them from your feet."
Naruto groaned good naturedly.
She smirked. "Just wait until you have to manifest them from the tips of your Adamantine Attacking Chains."
He groaned not so good naturedly.
Kurenai had given them a few days off to recover from the bandit encounter. After that it was more D-ranks. When Tsunami started agitating for another C-rank, Kurenai put her off.
"What?" Tsunami complained. "You know we can handle it, Kurenai-sensei!"
"I was considering nominating you three for the Chuunin Exams," Kurenai said idly, "but if you'd rather do C-ranks instead. . ."
"No way, Sensei," Tsunami said. "Bring on the Chuunin Exams! Right, girls?"
"Do you think Sasuke-kun will be there?" Sakura asked.
Tsunami glared at her while Kurenai frowned.
Sakura chuckled nervously. "I didn't mean it like that! I would only take the Exams if I thought I was ready, not just to see him. I was just curious is all."
"Do you really think we're ready, Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked.
"I think you're ready to compete," Kurenai said. "Very few pass on their first try and it is somewhat dangerous. However, I'm confident that you can handle the dangers and put in a good showing. The choice is up to each of you, but I will be nominating you so that if you want to do so, you can participate. The Exams are good training and a good chance to see how you measure up to your peers."
"Thanks, Sensei!" Tsunami said.
A few days later, Team Seven returned from their C-rank mission. Sasuke sought out Naruto to talk to him about it. Naruto's long-term Shadow Clone was able to make excuses to put it off until Naruto could talk to him in person.
"Say goodbye to your lucky wins in team spars, Naruto-san!" Sasuke boasted, showing off red eyes with single tomoes swirling around their shrunken pupils.
Naruto smirked. "Congrats on the Sharingan. You do realize that 90% of the spars Kakashi-sensei has us do are 'taijutsu only' because he's too lazy to properly spot for us, right? He's just going to tell you to turn them off."
Sasuke grunted. "You don't know the half of it," he complained. "Most of the time when you aren't there he has us doing only pointless team-building exercises."
"So what has he actually taught you?" Naruto asked curiously.
Sasuke grunted again. "Besides a little coaching in taijutsu and some communication skills, the first thing he taught us was tree walking—which he only taught us during our last mission because we were facing an A-rank missing nin."
"What!? Really?" Naruto exclaimed.
Sasuke proceeded to tell him about their near-disastrous mission to Nami no Kuni to protect a bridge builder.
After he was done, Naruto said, "Man, you guys are lucky. That mission could have gone wrong in so many ways."
Sasuke frowned. "As much as I hate to admit it, that's true. At once point, I thought I was dying even though I had gained the Sharingan by that point. I even passed on my mission of vengeance to Kiba-san, only to find out later that the idiot mutt had succumbed moments after me. We were lucky that by that time Kakashi-sensei was about to finish off Zabuza or else he would have been in a rough spot." He turned to Naruto and said, "If I ever do die on a mission, I want you to be the one to go after Itachi and kill him."
"Me?" Naurto asked, shocked. "Why me? What about Kiba-kun and Shino-kun?"
"Because I know you'll never give up on your promise," Sasuke said seriously. "You also understand what he did to me better than anyone else."
"Okay, Sasuke-kun," Naruto said. "I promise I'll hunt down Itachi if you die—but I'll do it my way." Naruto smirked.
Sasuke grunted. "I wouldn't expect you to do things the normal way, Dead Last."
Author's Note: The Wave mission went down mostly as is did in canon with the team's greater skill making up for Naruto's luck. Shino's bugs rescued Kakashi from the Water Prison Technique. Kiba dressed down Inari on Sasuke's behalf after Sasuke stormed out. Sasuke's meeting with Haku was superficially different than Naruto's due to his prickly personality and greater awareness, but Haku had an effect on him. Sasuke rescued Tsunami and Inari from the thugs and arrived at the bridge late. He thought he could take the fake Hunter who was fighting Kiba while Shino guarded Tazuna and entered the Ice Mirror trap. He activated the Sharingan before taking an attack meant for Kiba, who went down not long after. Haku arrived at Kakashi and Zabuza's fight in time to take the Rakiri meant for Zabuza. Gato arrived and the rest is similar to canon with Zabuza taking him out and dying shortly thereafter.