Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Hope you are all doing well. Sorry about the wait, last year was insane. All those... exams, urghhh. Just wanted to give a quick shout out/thank you to Caliban Super Saiyan 0 for telling me how to make the poll works. I'm a total noob when it involves making fanfictions. So thanks buddy :D. Also, icedshadows, if you're reading this, just wanted to say your review made me smile and that I made this chapter with a cold drink by my side 👌. But without further adieu, let's get into this!

Disclaimer: Naruto and One Piece are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda

Chapter 3: Introductions

The morning sun began its ascent over the Hokage Rock, illuminating the sleepy village of Konohagakure, stray rays peaking through curtains and waking a particular blonde Jinchuuriki. With a stretch, Naruto woke up and found himself in an unfamiliar room. Sitting up, Naruto began looking around and noticed that the room was simple and contained the bare necessities.

The single bed he was sitting on was propped in the corner of the room with the window positioned near the head of the bed. On the other side of the room sat a plain brown desk with the flowers he bought propped against it. Before long, Naruto's brain jogged up to speed and processed the previous day's events and how he was given shelter in the Sarutobi compound. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a loud grumble. The blonde rubbed at his stomach sheepishly before deciding to get ready for the day.

After quickly getting ready, Naruto headed out of his room only to stop as a smell wafted towards his nose. Giving a few more sniffs led drool to trickle down the corners of his mouth as he smelt what appeared to be bacon. Getting closer, his nose appeared to be proven right as his ears picked up on the sizzling of bacon the closer he got to the kitchen. Upon entering the dining area, Naruto was slightly surprised to see the Hokage himself in the kitchen cooking.

"Jiji? You're the one cooking? Don't you have clansmen to do that for you?" Naruto asked bewildered at why the old man would cook.

Chuckling, Sarutobi finished up preparing the final bits of bacon before heading towards the dining table. "As a Hokage, you tend to have little time for yourself. Especially with all that… paper work." The old man ended with a little shiver running through his body. Naruto chuckled at the notion as he began piling food on his plate to eat. "Anyways, Konoha and her people always come first so I spend a lot of time looking after them. When you get to my age, the responsibility can become stressful so doing the simplest of things like cooking can really soothe one's mind, almost therapeutic in a sense."

The serene look on the old man's face become sombre as he looked toward a hanging photo of himself and his family. "Cooking was always Biwako's favourite thing to do. She would always cook our meals with a smile on her face. I don't think I can allow anyone else to cook in that kitchen… it wouldn't seem right."

Naruto paused mid bite before gaining a sympathetic look. He remembered hearing how the old man's wife died during the Kyuubi's attack.

"Jiji, I-"
"Old man! Get ready to fight!" Whatever Naruto was going to say was interrupted by a small boy charging in with what looked like a wooden shuriken in his hand, inadvertently dispersing the sombre mood. He had what looked like brown spiky hair poking out of a grey helmet with a blue scarf draped around his neck. "I'm going to be the fifth Hokage!"

No sooner had those words left his mouth, the boy tripped on his scarf and face planted into the floor. Neither of the occupants at the table said a word before returning to their meals, Hiruzen sighing while Naruto chuckling under his breath. The boy shakily stood and looked around the room for any more 'traps'. His gaze landed on the blonde sitting at the table. "It was you wasn't it? You're the one who tripped me!" The boy demanded, not believing for a second the cause for his fall being his clumsiness.

"Eh? How the hell do you think I managed to trip you when I'm sitting down and eating at a table?" Naruto asked, his eye twitching from the accusation. Hiruzen sighed again.

"Naruto, meet my grandson, Konohamaru."

'Hn, that's right. I'm the honourable grandson of the Third Hokage.' Konohamaru thought smugly.

"Well nice to meet you Konohamaru. The name's Naruto. I'll be living with you and Jiji from now on. Hope we get along!" Naruto greeted with a toothy grin. Konohamaru just stood there for a minute.

'Did he just call me by my name?' The boy's train of thought was broken as the blonde spoke up again.

"Oh, by the way, I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm afraid the best you can do is become sixth Hokage. I'm going to become the next Hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed whilst thumping his chest. The old man gave a chuckle under his breath at the interaction between the two boys.

"Oh yeah? What makes you think you can become Hokage before me huh? I'm the grandson of the 3rd Hokage, I'll find a shortcut to becoming Hokage!" Hiruzen and Naruto shared a look before the blonde sighed. He turned his attention back onto the brunette in front of him.

"What exactly do you think being Hokage means?" Naruto questioned.

"Being Hokage means you're the strongest ninja in the village, the most respected ninja. People will see me for me. I'll be able to walk out of the old man's shadow and stand next to him as an equal." Silence permeated the room as Konohamaru awaited the blonde's response. Despite feeling disappointed in the answer his grandson gave, he made no motion to correct him, instead interested in how Naruto would respond.

"Being Hokage is more than being the strongest and most respected. Don't get me wrong, the past Hokages have been Konoha's strongest ninja no doubt, but it wasn't their strength that was the main reason for them becoming Hokage. They became our village leaders because they love Konoha and its people more than anyone else, enough that they would put their lives on the line to protect the people. Without the people, a Hokage is just a strong individual. Without a Hokage, although we may suffer and struggle at first, we can still live on because Konoha still stands. Her people still stand. That is what it means to be Hokage. I may not have the ability or popularity that being Hokage demands but I won't give up. Even if it means working for years or even decades, I won't give up." The Sarutobis couldn't help but just look at the self-proclaimed fifth Hokage, one with pride and the other with awe.

Konohamaru never thought of it like that. He never realised the burden that came with becoming Hokage, how many lives were on your shoulders. The old man made it look easy, yet now it seemed anything but. All this responsibility appeared daunting, yet the blonde in front of him looked unfazed at the prospect. The young Sarutobi couldn't help but admire that, his opinion of the other boy changing.

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile, his pride showing exuberantly. The boy definitely held the will of fire within him. Suddenly, the boy was no standing there, an ethereal form of another familiar blonde now stood in his place.

'He's like you in more ways than one. You would be so proud of your boy Minato. If only you and Kushina could see him now.' Sarutobi thought sombrely.

"Although, it's got to be said, the sooner the better. Jiji could use the rest and relaxation to catch up on his perverted readings." And in a blink of an eye, the form of the yellow flash faded, revealing Naruto sporting a cheeky grin. His eye twitched as he saw that even his grandson was giving him the same look.

Ino sat towards the back of the class with a thoughtful expression on her face, the rowdiness of the classroom excited to meet their new teams and start their life as shinobi not disturbing her in the slightest. Despite the fact that she lost to Sakura, who managed to beat her into the class and score a seat next to Sasuke again, Ino didn't feel too upset.

Yes, being beaten by Sakura and having her gloat about it was enough for Ino's eyebrows to twitch up a storm, but she didn't feel as bothered by losing then she would have any other day. After the interesting exchange yesterday with Naruto, Ino has been a bit more focused on her job as a florist.

She never knew those flowers he picked out yesterday could do something else other than smelling nice and looking pretty. It honestly got her intrigued what else the other flowers could. As soon as her parents got home, she bombarded them with questions about flowers and if they could be used for anything. To say that her parents were surprised at her eagerness to learn of her own free will would be an understatement, but they readily taught her a few things they knew.

Thinking back, the way she asked only made her flush with embarrassment, but it was well worth it since she learnt so much. Hopefully her new sensei knew a thing or two about apothecary and would be willing to teach her so that she'll be able to provide something more than her clans talents of mind transferring to her team. If not, then she could always ask Naruto for help when she sees him again. The thought of the boy made Ino smile. If he never came into her shop yesterday, then she would probably be grumbling about the fact that her rival was less than half a metre away from their crush.

'I wonder when I'll see him next. There's so much I don't know about flowers and herbs. He might even know some things that even Tousan and Okaasan might not know.' Ino wondered a little eagerly.

"ALRIGHT QUIET ALL OF YOU! I know today is exciting but settle down for the next 10 minutes. Alright, first things first, I want to introduce a new graduate. Naruto, you may come in." Iruka introduced as he looked at the door.

'Naruto? What's he doing here? Wasn't he going to be a med- wait, don't tell me… He's going to become a medic and a ninja. A medic-nin. Hah, I guess I'll be seeing him sooner than I thought.' Ino thought with a smile. The sliding door opened to reveal Naruto wearing the same clothes he usually wore. He walked up to the front of the class and gave a small wave to the rest of the students.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class." Iruka suggested to the blonde.

"Hey, my name is Ichiraku D. Naruto, nice to meet you all. I like ramen, helping people, my family and sword fighting. I dislike the 3 minutes you have to wait after pouring water into a ramen cup, ignorant people who can't tell the difference between a kunai and a scroll, bread, and losing those close to me. My hobbies are sword fighting, eating ramen and helping people. My dreams? To become the best medic in the world and become the Hokage so that I can protect everyone. I look forward to possibly working with you all in the future." Naruto introduced with his famous foxy grin.

'A medic-nin? What a waste.' Thought an arrogant Uchiha.

"That was wonderful Naruto, take a seat anywhere free." Naruto looked around and spotted a familiar crop of platinum blonde hair at the back of the class before heading up the stairs towards her row. Naruto set his sword next to him and sat down next to the girl.

"So… bread huh? What's the story there?" Ino asked, amusement clearly written all over her face.

Naruto's cheeks reddened before laying his face on the desk.

"Hey don't blame me! My Nii-san was the weird one that hated it. I just sort of got influenced by him, heh." The blonde boy replied sheepishly.

"Haha sure thing weirdo." Ino laughed back before being shushed by Iruka.

"Okay, back to the matter at hand. I will now announce the team placements. Team 1 is… And finally, Ichiraku Naruto. Due to your unexpected arrival into the shinobi system as well as there being an odd number of students, you will be a Tokubetsu Genin, and will be in a 2-man cell with Anko Mitarashi." After this, Iruka seemed to go on a tangent about how proud he was about his students but Naruto blanked at this and focused on the Genin around him.

This particular graduate class housed most if not all of the clan heirs and heiresses. This could potentially be the strongest wave of Genin Konoha has had in years. Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as the students started moving about with their lunches, some leaving the room whilst a few others decided to stay. The ones who decided to stay so happened to be the clan heirs.

"So, you're a swordsman? Can you even use this sword? It's massive." Asked Kiba as he walked up next to the sword in question.

"Yeah, I guess you can say I'm a swordsman, I've been training ever since I was 6. Not with this sword obviously, that would insane, swinging a sword this long as a short kid this high. I barely reached past the sheathe." Naruto laughed as he put his hand at a short distance from the ground to demonstrate his height. Kiba couldn't help but laugh as well at the obviously exaggerated answer. It had only been 15 minutes since he met this guy and he already liked him. He seemed pretty down to Earth.

"You said you like ramen? What flavour?" Asked Choji as he continued to munch on his chips. Shikamaru looked on as if he was bored but was curious about the blond enigma as well. He wondered how he would respond to the chubby boy who talked with his mouth full of chips.

"I love all types of ramen but if I had to name my absolute favourites, I would say pork and miso ramen. The broth, the texture, the noodles. Kami, it's the best!" Naruto responded with a dreamy look on his face and drool trickling down his mouth before he wiped it away.

Choji grinned at the response, glad to meet another hardcore food addict who wasn't an Akimichi. Shikamaru considered Naruto a good guy since he didn't have any negative opinions on Choji and his size, making him alright in his books. This Q & A session went on for a while, the group getting to know each other until the sound of crashing glass interrupted all conversation as they looked at the front of the class to see a broken window and banner. The banner read, 'Tokubetsu Jounin-Sensei Anko Mitarashi is here!' The group could only sweat drop at this.

"The name's Anko Mitarashi, now where's Ichiraku?" A purple haired woman said as she appeared from behind the banner. Standing, Naruto picked up his sword and walked towards his sensei after saying his goodbyes to his new friends.

"That'll be me sensei, so where to?"

Author's Notes:

Andddddd that's the chapter. As you can see, the two man cell with Naruto and Anko won out. It was a close call with a single vote difference. I hope everyone who wanted Naruto to be on Team 10 or any other team will still like the story. Also, what were your thoughts on Ino? I feel like I may have rushed her feelings towards Naruto a bit too much. Like a hardcore fangirl of Sasuke to a bit nonchalant towards him and wanting to see Naruto again. I wanted Ino to see Naruto as a friendly and knowledgeable person who seems like a nice guy to be around. Although the over the night shift may be a bit too fast. I don't know, let me know in a review what's your thoughts on this.

That's all for now, hope you guys enjoy the story, au revoir! 🖐