I do not own Naruto or any of the cannon characters/events.

The anxiety for waiting for Naruto to come back was honestly one of the largest problems that the Uzumaki were having. Kira had complete faith in Naruto to bring the medic back, but it was Karin who was anxious. She wanted to meet the greatest medic in the world for multiple reasons, with the most obvious being her medical skills. The least obvious, would be that wanted to meet the woman who made Kunoichi a force to be reckoned with. Sure the Uzumaki had plenty of powerful Kunoichi, but it was Tsunade who made it a trademark for dangerous Kunoichi. While Karin didn't want to have the slug summon like Tsunade did, especially due to the fact that she had the same summons as Shiba did, she did want advice on her healing ability, especially when it came to he ups and downs to the medical seals that she had with her.

Shiro, who after the Exams had been postponed, had went to the T&I department to ask for a internship in the department. He had wanted to be a part of the T&I department since he was small, and the fact that he went showed that he really wanted to be in there. Then there was the fact that with Shiro's chakra control, he was able to create Genjutsu that would given Nightmares to even the most strictly trained Shinobi. When it was looked back on now, it would have been a smart idea to have Shiro on team 8 more then Kira, though Hindsight was twenty twenty, so there was no point in worrying about it, though the fact that everything was working out at the moment just showed that something out there was looking out for all of the genin. Though it could be said that Kira was happy she didn't have to take the Tora mission.

Getting back on track though, three Uzumaki's and Two Hyuga, one formerly so, were sitting in the same area just outside of Konoha, while Kira paced. while Kira was missing team 8 in general, after the whole chūnin exams incident, none of the genin really had the time to get back to their regular teams. The fact that Kira had a good guess that there were a couple of the people on her team getting promoted, did nothing to put her at ease. The only real problem that Kira had was the fact that Naruto may be refused a promotion due to his circumstances, and with her 'tenant' being known by some group in Konoha, things may end up getting worse. Sure, the idiot Danzo hadn't quite done op anything yet when it came to the Uzumaki's anymore, she figured that it was only a matter of time, before the work hawk was killed.

Shiba, the one was was searching for means to kill Danzo, had found a small detail that she would need Tsunade's permission to go into, but that wasn't the current problem. The problem at hand was the fact that Kira was still pacing around the room, and it showed that her nervous habit was making some others uncomfortable. The only time Kira did this, however, was when she was extremely worried, or she had a gut instinct that something bad was going to happen. Eventually Hinata made the girl sit down, but even though she did, she was still literally thrumming with energy.

"K-Kira? W-why are y-you pacing?" Shiro decided to ask to break the silence.

Kira, turned to him with a slightly anxious look, before she stood up again and said "I just feel like something bad is gonna happen. I don't know what, but I just have this gut feeling."

Karin sighed at that, before she stood up and made the clan heir sit down. Once she did, karin said "You just need to calm down. We'll burn that metaphorical bride when we get there. Until then, sit down, shut up, and wait."

Kira did exactly what Karin told her to do, but no matter what she did, she couldn't get the feeling out of her head. She knew something was going to happen, this was the same feeling she had before her mother left, so it had to be something bad now as well. She didn't know what was going to happen, but if her gut feelings ever turned out to be false, she would dye her hair green for a week. That was something she had always told her friends, and she always said that it would be a couple days before the gut feeling would leave, so if the feeling left before the bad things happened, that meant her hair would be green, and she would be making sure two certain gate guards didn't make fun of her.

It took a couple of hours, but eventually Kira saw something in the distance that looked like people. A couple of seconds later, a body came flying forward faster then would seem possible, and out of nowhere, Kira, Shiro, and Karin pulled out signs that held the numbers '10' '9' and '9' respectively for the monstrous distance that Jiraiya, the one was sent flying, went from a punt, or punch, from Tsunade, while Naruto was laughing.

When everything calmed down, Kira walked up to Naruto with a calm face, before she hit him in the head, her hair going in nine-tail's mode. With a pissed off expression on her face she yelled "What took you so long Dumbass?! Do you realize how worried you wouldn't come back I was?!"

Naruto, who was holding his head at the moment, looked up at her with angry, tear ridden eyes "Well I'm sorry! It's not my fault we had to deal with Orochimaru!"

Kira froze for a second, before a wave of killing intent was sent at Naruto "ARE YOU STUPID?! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU DIED?!"

While Kira continued to cuss Naruto out, Tsunade, Shizune, and the rest of the group looked at Kira in both amusement (the females) and fear (the males), though when Tsunade saw the way that Kira was berating the blonde, she laughed slightly and said "She's like the second coming of Kushina."

Shizune gave a small smile, while Jiraiya nervously chuckled at the fact that the similarities between Kushina, and Kira, were extremely close. Both used violence to berate someone, both had incredible tempers, though that could be an Uzumaki thing, and both were extremely good with Kenjutsu. If Kira ever became a mother, one could only fear for the husband. Guess that's part of the reason that Neji was smiling nervously at Kira while she started to yell.

Tsunade, on the other hand, just shook her head as she said "I need to get to the Hokage tower. While I am not officially Hokage, I can still perform my duties."

Everyone who was listening nodded towards that, before Tsunade left. A couple hours later, a council meeting was given, and all of the clan heads, as well as the civilian council, had appeared, with Tsunade being the only one sitting. When Shiba saw Tsunade, however, she grinned and said "Tsunade! It's good to see you again!"

Tsunade gave a confused look towards Shiba, before she recognized the woman in front of her "Shiba? Your here? I thought you were dead!"

"You can't kill me so easily, and you know it. Can't say the same for Jinbei though. But enough of that. We can catch up later." The matriarch stated with a small frown.

Tsunade gave a nod toward that, before she waited for everyone to sit down. In all, the only ones that looked surprised by Tsunade being there, was the civilian council. They must have expected the 'demon brat' to fail at getting the medic back. The fact that said woman was sitting in the chair that was meant for the Hokage, just proved the theory that Naruto had the Devils luck with anything. If only they knew what Naruto had to do to get the woman back to Konoha.

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin." Tsunade stated towards the council "While I am not officially Hokage, I am taking the seat. The first order of business however, are the chunin promotions. First on the table, is Sasuke Uchiha."

The civilian council was about to say something, but Shiba got there first "I don't think we should. He has the abilities of a chunin, but not the mindset. He was late to the exam, just barely coming in time for his match, as well as the fact he wasn't playing out his attacks, he was just trying his best to get through as fast as he could, instead of using a battle plan."

One of the civilian's scoffed, as she said "You just want your daughter to become Chunin and no one else."

Shiba, at that comment, let out a subtle amount of killing intent, that didn't affect the Shinobi in the room, as she said "If I recall, Hiruzen had stated that you are unable to voice your opinions on the chunin promotions."

Tsume laughed a bit at that, before she said "I actually agree with what Shiba said involving the Uchiha. He didn't even care about the fact that he could have gotten his arm ripped off by that Gaara kids sand."

A lot of the Shinobi side agreed to what the two 'wild' clan heads stated about the Uchiha, and it was decided that he wouldn't become a chunin, at least not this time. With that out of the way, Tsunade said "Next on the list, Shino Aburame."

Shibi, being the father of said Aburame, said "While he has the mental set of a Chunin, I believe that he is not quiet ready to lead a group of Shinobi on a mission."

Mina, who gave a soft smile towards Shibi said "I would have to disagree with you Shibi-san. Shino-kun, seemed to plan out what he wanted to do when facing Shiro Uzumaki. The only reason that he lost in that match was due to, as my husband would say, 'the Uzumaki having a red haired Nara with then'. I would promote him, but I would not give him anything above a C-rank mission for the time being."

Shikaku, who had been silent at the time, finally decided to speak at this point, when it came to Shino "I would actually promote both of them in this case. Shiro Uzumaki, and Shino Aburame. Both showed excellent plan forming skills, even if one was more logical then the other."

The whole table seemed to agree with this as well, despite the fact that the civilian conceit had left at this point considering that there was nothing for them to do. On the inside, Shiba was laughing like a mad woman, because there was a council meeting that wouldn't have arguments for once. In reality, she wasn't the only one happy about this, as a bunch of the other clan heads, had agreed with the fact that the civilian council shouldn't be involved with this, though the fact that Shino, and Shiro were being promoted, was something that everyone was fine with.

"Next on the list, Kira Uzumaki and Hinata... Uzumaki? She looks like a Hyuga, why does she have the Uzumaki name?" Tsunade asked with a confused look.

Hiashi, already seeing this would happen, said "She was banished from our clan due to the Hyuga elders Hokage-sama. The Uzumaki clan had adopted her, so that she would be unable to receive the caged bird seal, as well as living on her on."

Tsunade looked towards Shiba, with a small smile, before she said "Anyway, Hinata, for promotion. From what I have heard of the fight, while she was able to use her tactics when fighting Karin Uzumaki, I believe neither of them should be promoted just yet. I believe that both need more time to grow before they should be promoted, but I believe that the next Chunin exams would provide them with enough experience."

No one really argued with this fact, and while Hiashi wanted his daughter to be promoted, he understood what Tsunade was saying. She would need more actual experience before she would actually be promoted. In a sense, Tsunade was actually ensuring that she would be able to become chunin next time due to what little she needed to work on when it came to the rank.

"Next, we have Kira Uzumaki, and Tenten, Higurashi." Tsunade stated when the next pair came up for promotion.

Inoichi shook his head at that, as he said "I believe that Both should be promoted. Tenten, while she was fighting against a bad match up due to Kira's Futon attacks, was able to hold her ground fairly well. I believe that if Tenten would have been against a better match, then she would have won. The problem with her matchup was because Kira has both Futon, and Kenjutsu skills, while Tenten is a weapons master."

Hiashi was the next to speak as he said "When it came to Kira, she seemed to have everything planned out, and if that plan didn't work, she would work onto something else. Her analytical skills, while not that of anyone planning to work in such areas, was still more then enough."

Shiba grinned at the fact that they were saying good things about Kira, but she didn't comment herself, when it came down to what was going on with her daughter's promotion. In the end, both girls were promoted, as it was decided that both had the means to become chunin. The next pair ended up being with Shikamaru, and before anyone could say anything about it, a unanimous vote for him to be promoted went out, despite Shikaku's mutter of 'troublesome' about his sons promotion. The final group to be put in the spot light, was Naruto Uzumaki, and Neji Hyuga.

Surprisingly it was Hiashi who spoke first as he said "I believe both should be promoted. Neji was able to fight on par with Uzumaki, while he was constantly putting through battle plans, that will multiple people, would be deadly. It was due to Naruto catch Neji off guard with the attack from behind, that he had won. In honesty, both performed exceedingly well and I request both to be promoted due to such."

Shiba, was surprised that Naruto had actually been defended by Hiashi, but what surprised her even more was the fact that more and more people were recommending both. She eventually saw a smile on Taunade's face, that when she said that both were going to be promoted, grew into a grin. With that in mind, Tsunade decided to make the other bit of information known.

"Due to the war, we lost a good number of our forces, as well as the Sandaime Hokage. Due to this, I am ordering emergency actions, and sending every able body Shinobi, clan heads included, onto missions." Tsunade stated before gave a sad look towards the clan heads "I am sorry, but we must show we are not weak after the attack by finishing every mission we possibly can."

Shiba gave a nod towards that, as she said "I'm sure that all of us combined have enough clan members to help that you won't need to send out the Genin at the least. After the invasion, I don't think it would be good to send them on to many missions."

Tsunade gave a nod towards that, though when the meeting was dismissed, Shiba stayed by with a soft look towards Tsunade. Shiba was going to say something, but with a shake of her head she walked away from the area, letting silence reign. Shiba had wanted to thank Tsunade for helping save so many Uzumaki at that point, but she didn't know what she would say after that. It was due to all three of the Sannin that so many Uzumaki managed to get away, but she didn't know what to say to the remaining two that were loyal to Konoha. She had already decided she was going to kill Orochimaru when she could, but it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to just yet. With a sad sigh, she grabbed a mission request from the pile that Tsunade left for the clan heads, and she used shunshin, to go home to get her equipment for the mission.

With Kira, she was extremely pissed at the moment. First of all, Sasuke had almost used the chidori on Naruto, while the blonde almost used the rasengan on Sasuke in turn. She didn't know what was going on between the two, but she wasn't going to get in the middle of something that could kill her. She was just thankful that Kakashi had stopped them from killing each other. Though when you thought about it things were going pretty bad at the moment. She didn't know where Hinata, or Neji were at the moment, but it became obvious that someone needed to be with them when they were together at all times, it was just to bad that Kira's gut feeling started to get stronger. She didn't know why, but it felt like something really bad was going to happen, and she didn't know why.

It wasn't until the next day that she had found out why. Her morning was fairly normal, though most of the older clan members had been sent on missions, leaving the couple pregnant woman, and a majority of the children that were at most 7 at home. She was feeling extremely nervous at the moment, but when she walked out of the clan compound, she was almost right away bombarded with Naruto running towards her with anger in his eyes. She didn't say anything, though she gave a concerned look, but when he spoke her eyes grew wide in anger.

"Sasuke left the village."

So did you guys like this chapter? I hope so becuase we are two chapters away from the time skip. So make sure you vote when it comes to the poll on whether I do the skip or not, and so far the 'yes' for the skip is winning. Please review