I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.

INARI BLESSED

A shrill cry of an alarm rang across the clearing.

The occupants of the training ground paused in their activities and got ready to leave for the next mission.

"Wow it's already 12.3o!"Yumiko announced surprised.

Naruto finished the last of his cool down exercise. Kyoshiro silently sealed back both his Katana.

"Well, come on my minions, we will first have lunch and then go get a mission from hokage sama."Uzume announced with enthusiasm.

It has been like this for one and a half months. Ever since they passed Uzume's test, she had put much effort in their training. Uzume was a demanding sensei. This helped them improve, to much higher levels in the past one and half months.

On their first day of training itself, she had told them what she expected of them and what she planned to do with them.

FLASHBACK

Naruto, Yumiko and Kyoshiro stood at training ground 29 at precisely 5 AM. Uzume who was resting on a tree branch, jumped down once her genin entered the training ground.

All three of them had been surprised; it surprised them how she managed to suppress her chakra to such levels. They knew she had massive amounts of chakra, from the time she fought them during the test.

"Good, you are here on time. Punctuality is something I value very much. Making someone wait without a valid reason is equal to disrespecting them."

All three nodded in agreement.

"From today onwards we will be doing missions and training as team 11. I have a lot of expectations from the three of you and I'll not settle for anything less. As you know in six months there is going to be another chunin exam. And I plan on entering you and making sure that you make yourselves chunin."

Uzume's stern expression grew pleasant as she received three determined nods. Although surprised, the three genin took the news happily.

"I know about your individual training and your current levels are very satisfactory… here is how our schedule goes, our training starts at five in the morning. The afternoons will be spent doing D rank missions. We will do two missions a day and I will try to make them a little more… interesting for you."

They knew what D rank missions are, they had seen many genin running around cleaning up after many of their pranks, so they were not that much enthusiastic… but seeing the look on their sensei's face, maybe normal D ranks won't be so bad…

Uzume had to hold in a sadistic chuckle seeing the apprehensive look on the face of her minions.

"I will be working with each of you separately. Monday mornings, training will be for Naruto only, Tuesdays for Yumiko and Wednesdays for Kyoshiro. On those days we will meet up at Himeko's restaurant for lunch. The rest of the mornings will be for team training. After the D ranks, I'll have you spar against each other. Then you can go home and train if you want, but I want you at full energy every morning, got it? And remember, each of you will have two days without morning training, I know you will use that time responsibly." She said remembering about Naruto's training at the hospital, Yumiko's taijutsu spars with Rock Lee and Kyoshiro's kenjutsu spars with Hayate and Yugao.

"Tomorrow is Monday and we will start this schedule from tomorrow onwards. For today you will be doing something else… Try not to trigger too many traps this time."

That was the last thing they heard before an explosion send them flying in to the woods and the awaiting traps…

FLASHNACK ENDS

That afternoon team 11 had showed up at the hokage tower for missions with the three of them covered in red paint and white feathers, and with some twigs and leaves decorating their heads. Uzume refused to let them wash up or even use a henge. Every ninja who saw them on the streets or at the tower had a field day. The day the Prankster Devils got pranked. (Luckily they didn't know about the day before.)

Uzume was very polite and gentle whenever someone else was around; she only showed her creepy sadistic prankster side to them, although it shocked them the first time, they kind of got used to it.

She proved that she was a demanding sensei. During individual training days she worked with them on their weaknesses and sparred with them. During team trainings she mostly gave them, mock missions with the help of some other jonin or chunin who loses a bet with her or owes her a favor. The mock missions were done without any prior warning to increase their responses. She also covered the training ground with traps almost every day and changed training ground often to add variety to her traps. She had become the pranking god for the trio.

After a month, team 11 had become observant enough to escape every single trap with their pride unscathed.

She even used the D rank missions to train them. If it was a delivery mission she would double or even triple their gravity seals and make them travel without touching the ground. One time they were working on the roof of some old woman's house and she started throwing kunai at them. It was made of her chakra and would dissipate harmlessly if it touched anything other than her three 'minions' so as not to cause property damage.

All in all it was an interesting time.

Now they were going to get a C rank for being good minions as per Uzume.

"It seems that team 11 has completed their D rank requirements for requesting a C rank." The hokage said with a smile.

The team looked quite proud of themselves. They had completed 72 D rank missions, while suffering from Uzume's sadistic quirks; this was a matter of pride itself.

Iruka gave them a small smile; he had no doubt about the abilities of this particular team. After all, he himself had been part of one of their mock missions. (Iruka would never forget the beating he got from the three of them while he was disguised as an enemy ninja.)

Iruka handed a C rank scroll to the smiling hokage.

"It's an escort mission to the land of waves. Bring in the client."

The client that came in was not really up to their expectations.

"These are the ninjas that are supposed to protect me? I asked for ninjas, not brats. And that woman looks too kind to actually be a ninja."

Their annoyance at the first sentence was cut off by the drunkard's last statement. Naruto scoffed before looking away, while Yumiko shook her head. Kyoshiro looked amused.

"I suggest that you not insult my team Tazuna san. They are competent to complete this mission successfully."

Uzume said with a sweet smile that her minions had come to fear. But it didn't help to change the drunkard's opinion of her. So the man just scoffed.

"Well I am the super bridge builder Tazuna; you brats should protect me with your lives."

If Uzume was angry, she was very good at hiding it, so she just smiled. For some reason, Naruto had a bad feeling about this. The drunkard's emotions were all over the place, but he could not sense any ill intent towards any of them, aside from the fact that the man was very nervous and scared behind his boisterous exterior. The man was not harmful; at least not intentionally.

"Is something wrong?" Kyoshiro asked Naruto quietly.

"Nothing yet."

The conversation was caught by both Yumiko and Uzume. Yumiko frowned slightly.

Naruto was walking to the gate to meet up with his sensei and team. Kyoshiro had gone to get some supplies that he was lacking. Yumiko had gone to meet up with Lee and tell him that she won't be available for the spars. The three of them had agreed to meet up at the gate in time for the mission. They still had about fifteen minutes left before the mission starts. So he was taking a leisurely walk towards the gate.

He smiled when he sensed a familiar presence approaching. He may not be as good as Yumiko, but he was still a good sensor.

"Hello Aunt Mikoto." He greeted the woman with a smile. He had started calling her that after the woman requested it, saying that Kushina was like her sister and she had every right to be an aunt.

He often visited the woman when she was in the hospital. His friends visited her a few times as well and needless to say, they got along very well.

They had stopped visiting her after she was moved to the Uchiha compound to prevent running in to Shin. Other than him all remaining Uchiha enjoyed the company of the trio. Naruto could sense the anger boiling inside Shin every time he saw any of them together, so they stopped visiting so as not to cause any more family problems and since Mikoto had been confined to the bed and they had been busy with training, they didn't get much chance to meet each other.

"You look good Naru kun." Mikoto said with a soft smile.

"Did Sasuke let you out of house arrest?" Naruto asked with a chuckle. Ever since Mikoto was released from the hospital, Sasuke had gone ballistic every time she tried anything remotely strenuous.

"Well Akemi chan had to convince him that I am fully healed. I've been looking for you the past week but couldn't really get time to speak with you properly. Are you busy now?"

Naruto understood from the seriousness in the woman's voice that whatever she had to say, it was very important. If she hadn't been hiding her emotions so well, Naruto would've detected the traces of nervousness as well.

"Actually I have a C rank mission in about ten minutes. It will take us almost a month to get back."

"Oh!" Mikoto visibly deflated. "Well then I'll have to wait till you get back. Congratulations on your C rank mission, Naru kun, tell Kyo kun and Yumi chan as well."

"I will." Naruto smiled still confused by what Mikoto had to say that was so serious. Then to his immense surprise she pushed a scroll into his hand.

"The scroll contains some homemade food; you can enjoy it on your journey. Remember to share it with your friends okay?" Mikoto said with a wide smile.

"Oh I will Aunt Mikoto. Take care, bye." Naruto said and walked away as Mikoto left in the other direction.

As he neared the gate, Naruto could no longer sense the person that had been watching them when they were talking. So he casually took out the note that Mikoto had slipped into his pocket when she hugged him.

'The scroll contains a secret I've held close for a long time. If I am incapacitated in anyway once you return, I want you to open the scroll, otherwise I want to tell you and your friends everything myself. It never hurts to have a backup plan. We are ninjas after all.'

Naruto frowned and sealed the scroll into his wrist.

Kyoshiro reached just in time to see Naruto reach the gate as well. Yumiko came not a second later. Uzume was already there along with the client, who seemed to be drinking a lot more than yesterday and was more nervous as well.

"Right on time." Uzume announced with a smile when all of her team were present. "Let's begin shall we?"

"Mother, I am home." Sasuke said softly as he entered the house.

"Oh! You are early? Did Kakashi cancel training today?" Mikoto asked with a smile. But her smile turned upside down when her other son just went inside without even looking at her, Shin was becoming worse by the day and it scared her. He never talked to any of them anymore. At first he used to talk to Itachi, but only to ask (more like demand) for training. He was getting power hungry and revenge driven. Itachi had refused saying that Shin needed to change his attitude before getting anymore power. Since that day, Shin stopped talking to even Itachi. Mikoto tried several times to bring his son out of this destructive path, but her effort was brutally rejected every time by Shin.

Shin was disrespectful and hateful towards all three of them. Sasuke was not tolerant to Shin mistreating Mikoto and it ended in a clash between the brothers. They hate each other now. Mikoto tried and failed to bring her family together, it seemed that Fugaku had damaged Shin much more than she thought.

It didn't help that the civilian council suck up to Shin like leeches. Itachi, the current clan head and Mikoto were out of their limit of influence so they approached Sasuke and Shin. Among them Shin was more easily influenced and they took advantage of that. They gave Shin a high pedestal and encouraged his thirst for power. She knew that they were after the Uchiha fortune. For all the talk about the revival of the Uchiha clan, they just wanted their daughters (and even some males in Mikoto's case; proposals that had been brutally turned down by Itachi and physically attacked by Sasuke) married into the wealthy clan. Shin was the most susceptible target. Itachi was taking extra care to keep those civilians off of Shin's back, but without Shin's cooperation it was a difficult task.

"Mother, is that tomato pie?" Sasuke asked, effectively snapping Mikoto out of her depressive thoughts.

Mikoto couldn't really hold back her giggle at the sight of his pleased grin. She totally understood that the craving for tomato when she was pregnant with the twins was definitely from Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't even wait for a reply as he hurried to wash up and devour the tomato pie.

Mikoto laughed at her son's antics. She knew Sasuke was doing this to make her happy (and because he almost had a soul bond with tomatoes) and it was working.

As he ate the pie smiling, pleased with both the fact that his mother was smiling and with the fact that the pie was delicious, Sasuke told her how Kakashi blew them off again with some crazy excuse. He wouldn't really dare act like this in front of anyone except his mother, before the massacre; Shisui was the only one who could really make him act like a kid sometimes. Shisui's loss taught him a lot.

"Have you seen Naruto lately mother? I've been looking for a decent sparring partner and I can't find any of the three. Sparring with Sakura is so… I don't even know what to say." Sasuke growled.

Naruto, Yumiko and Kyoshiro had become his constant sparring partners over time. Sasuke's first lesson at humility was when he was beaten so thoroughly by someone he used to call a dobe. The four of them had become good friends after that.

"Oh, I saw Naruto this morning actually, but I don't think any of them would be able to spar with you." Mikoto said.

"What? Why not?"

"They have a C rank mission and will be out of the village for a month." Mikoto said.

"Huh? A c rank? They got a c rank? Why the hell are we stuck doing d ranks? Kakashi! that lazy pervert!" Sasuke was outraged.

Mikoto laughed at her son's antics. Sasuke sure knew how to lighten her day.

Behind the doorway Shin stood silently fuming. He left the room with a huff when he heard Itachi announcing his return.

He needed to get stronger and if the white haired sharingan thief was not going to train him, he will train himself. With that in mind he entered his father's study. No one else in the household ever used it any more. Only Shin did, and only he knew what all was kept inside here as well.

Yumiko was the first one who noticed; after all she was the sensor of the group. She had her eyes closed in concentration so as to increase her range and clarity of sensing. She signaled her teammates almost a mile before the actual confrontation.

Her teammates and sensei caught the signal.

"Strange…" Uzume muttered, what are ninjas doing here? This might not have anything to do with them at all. The ninjas ahead could be waiting for someone else or they could be rogues who took on stealing as a new profession.

She signaled her genin to not do anything unless provoked, with luck; they could avoid this without any unnecessary fight. Tazuna was blissfully unaware of this silent conversation.

"You got to be kidding me…" Naruto muttered exasperated as he saw the puddle.

Kyoshiro nodded in agreement. Yumiko only snickered with her eyes still closed.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked confused.

"Nothing important." Uzume said with a sigh. So they must not be waiting for them after all. They could only be expecting to trap a civilian with such a poor trick. Then her eyes strayed to Tazuna. A moment of doubt.

"Tazuna san, did you tell anyone else about hiring ninjas?"

"Huh? Oh a few people at Wave knew, including my family." The man was still confused but was more nervous, which all four of them noticed.

"I see." Uzume said. If the unknown ninjas in the puddle were waiting for Tazuna, then either they didn't know about Tazuna hiring ninjas or they expected to catch three genin and a jonin with that trick. If the case was the latter, it would be insulting.

When the demon brothers jumped out of the puddle and ripped 'Uzume' into pieces, she had only one thought in mind, 'this is insulting.'

"One dow…" the guy didn't get to finish before a white chakra chain wrapped around him and promptly smashed him into a tree and knocked him unconscious.

The other brother who was surprised for a moment jumped into action seeing his brother incapacitated.

"You little bastard…" he screamed as he saw the blond haired boy controlling the chain. The boy had no time to react as Gozu used his full speed and sunk his poisoned claw into the blonde's stomach. The blond coughed out blood and his teammates let out a scream of despair. As the blonde fell, Gozu turned to the cowering girl and frozen red headed boy. Then he saw his target cowering behind the pathetic kids.

"Hand over the bridge builder or you will suffer the same fate as your friend and teacher." Gozu said arrogantly.

"So you were after Tazuna." A voice echoed around the clearing startling Gozu. His surroundings distorted and changed as Yumiko canceled her genjutsu.

Gozu found himself trapped within the white chakra chain coiled around him like a viper. His unconscious brother was in the same position. The blonde and his teacher who they had 'killed' stood there, smirking.

"Who sent you?" Uzume asked sweetly as she moved closer to Gozu and cupped his chin with her palm gently.

"You can do whatever you want, you bitch. But I won't talk."

"You think you are so smart don't you?" she kept on smiling. She didn't even sent chakra into her hand; she just shattered his jaw within her hand with brute strength alone. The sound of breaking bones didn't even make the three genin flinch, but Tazuna felt sick. Gozu's screams were cut short as he was knocked unconscious.

She turned to Tazuna, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Start talking, Tazuna san, or you just saw what could happen." Her sweet… sweet… smile now frightened the shit out of Tazuna.

Once Tazuna was done explaining the situation, team 11 contemplated on the next course of action.

"According to protocol…since Tazuna has lied about the mission parameters, we should abandon the mission due to betrayal on part of the client." Uzume said gravely. Tazuna started begging and crying.

"But," Naruto said getting all of their attention. "Tazuna didn't really know about Gato hiring ninjas, did you Tazuna?"

Tazuna vigorously shook his head. Yumiko and Kyoshiro quickly caught up with their friend's idea.

"So Tazuna didn't exactly lie… he just thought that Gato would hire only thugs. Right Tazuna?" the gleam in Naruto's eyes made Tazuna nod.

Uzume chuckled. "In that case, it would be disrespectable to abandon mission due to an 'unexpected' rise in difficulty. So the right course of action would be to send a message to the hokage and continue the mission."

"Not to mention the fact that Wave could become a great trading ally once the bridge is built." Kyoshiro added.

"Well that tips the scales in your favor, doesn't it Tazuna?" Uzume couldn't really stop her laugh.

"Thank you, thank you… my daughter and grandson will be eternally grateful to you."

"Yeah yeah let's just get going." Kyoshiro said with a smirk. Uzume nodded.

She bit her finger and did a quick chain of hand signs before slamming her palm on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared. Once the smoke cleared a dove with a plume of royal blue feathers became visible.

"What can I do for you, milady?" The dove asked.

"It talks!" Tazuna shouted. The dove gave the old man a curious look, Naruto and Yumiko snickered.

"Ran, I want you to relay a message to hokage sama." Uzume wrote a scroll and handed it to the dove now named Ran. Ran clutched the scroll in its talons.

"Of course milady." The dove said with a slight bow. "It's good to see you again young lord and lady." Ran greeted Naruto and Yumiko respectfully.

"Likewise Ran." Naruto answered with a chuckle. He had long ago given up on trying making the doves call them by their names. The doves were very respectful towards Uzume, and as her students they received the same respect.

"Lord Kyoshiro." Ran bowed deeply to Kyoshiro. Summons always automatically recognized spirit guardians as such and had deep respect towards them.

Kyoshiro nodded respectfully.

Ran spread his wings and disappeared from sight, taking off at high speeds towards Konoha.

Uzume sent a meaningful look towards Yumiko who nodded.

"Come on guys lets go." Yumiko said and they moved.

"Hey what about your sensei?" Tazuna asked seeing that Uzume stayed behind.

"She has some business to take care of." Naruto said calmly.

And Tazuna kept quiet after that.

Uzume joined them, 15 minutes later with a scowl. She made eye contact with her genin and nodded grimly, conveying a silent message. All of them tensed, their next fight is going to be troublesome. She then carefully sealed the scroll containing the head of the demon brothers in a seal on her belt.

Sandaime hokage; Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned as he read the message from Uzume.

The hokage thought about the situation for a while, he had no doubt about the abilities of team 11. The three genin were exceptionally talented and Uzume was one of his top anbu, the only reason she didn't become anbu commander was because she had refused. While that was the case, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Kakashi had requested a C rank for his team for the next day since none was available for the day.

Hiruzen nodded. Although back up was unnecessary, it might give team 7 the experience they sorely need.

this is it for now guys. hope you like it.

See ya later.