Before I start this chapter I just want to thank Margulis for letting me borrow an idea from his fanfiction; Finite Life. The idea I borrowed was the law concerning Naruto which comes to light in this chapter.
Oh! And Haku is staying as a guy, that's whgat he was in the anime and I just can't see him as a girl so... yeah he's staying as a guy. Sorry to any femHaku fans out there.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. ON TO THE FANFICTION!
Chapter 14 – Another mission... or a test
Last time:
"Don't worry Naruto, I will keep your secret, for I am your friend and you are mine." Haku told him with a sad smile. Naruto smiled back tiredly as his features returned to normal, he blinked as the fox eye jutsu left him. He blinked a few more times as he heard Inari and a lot of people yell something about being free before he finally lost himself to exhaustion.
This Chapter:
"Naruto, you little baka! You used too much of my demonic chakra." Kyuubi scolded the unconscious form of Naruto in the mindscape. A vein throbbed in Kyuubi's forehead when Naruto didn't wake up. "WAKE UP!" Kyuubi shouted at the blonde one.
Naruto's eye's shot open in the real world as he felt a pounding from his head. 'Damn, Kyu-sensei! Did you have to be so loud?' Naruto berated his tenant and sensei.
'Yes, I did. You wouldn't wake up and after the reckless use of my chakra, I thought you deserved some kind of punishment. I tried to stop you and tell you that your teammates were alive, but no, you wouldn't listen. You took my chakra and rushed in. Kami-damn it, you're lucky that, that much demonic chakra didn't cause severely adverse effects.' Kyuubi explained.
'What are you talking about Kyu-sensei?' Naruto asked , confusion lacing his voice.
Kyuubi mentally sighed. 'I've already told you, the human body was never meant to handle demon chakra. Demon chakra is so different to human chakra and so much more potent than human chakra, it is actually referred to as a different energy, namely youki. When you use my youki, there is a chance of it causing your body to deteriorate and harm you. Yes, it is alright to use for short bursts in a fight but using it for prolonged periods of time without allowing your body to adapt to it first is idiocy.'
'Wait a second what about in the forest? You leaked your youki into me then,why wasn't it dangerous then?' Naruto asked, a little angry that Kyuubi was scolding him like this.
'When I gave you youki in the forest to practice your jutsu, I gave you the bare minimum and you were using it right away for the training. In the fight on the bridge, you held it back after drawing on so much of it. If you're going to be doing that more often I need to let you train with youki more and give you more to use. Eventually you should be able to use more and more of it without having to use it right away, hopefully your body will adapt and you'll be able to use around one tail's worth of youki without any adverse effects.' Kyuubi explained slowly.
'And, what exactly can I do with one tails worth of youki?' Asked a very interested Naruto.
'Trust me when I say this, if you can get a handle on controlling the youki as well as you do your chakra, one tail should be more than enough to rival a kage's chakra capacity. Although when I look at your current chakra capacity you're already well on your way to having kage level chakra capacity.' Kyuubi replied in complete seriousness.
'... AWESOME! I have got to start training with youki, right now if I want it to be useful!' Naruto exclaimed as he started getting up, only to feel a slight pain in his back, leg and hand. He looked down at his hand and leg and saw that they were wrapped in bandages, then he saw the bandages wrapped around his bare chest, they seemed to be holding some padding to his back. 'What the hell is up with this? Where did the wounds on my leg and back come from? The one on my hand is probably from that kunai Zabuza hit me with but that wouldn't have taken long to heal. What's up with the slow healing and extra wounds?' Naruto asked Kyuubi in a confused and worried voice.
'I was hoping you would notice. This is another side-effect of using the youki. After using it, the healing ability I give you by using my youki to heal your wounds faster, is dampened because I don't dare use any more youki to heal you. After using that much youki in a fight, it may actually do more harm than good to use more on healing wounds.' Kyuubi explained in a plain, matter of fact voice. 'This means you will have to heal at your body's natural rate until all the youki has left your system and your body has had time to recover from the stress of using it.'
'Okay, that explains my hand but what about the other wounds, on my leg and back?' Naruto pressed on.
'You can ask your friends about that, Kit. As for me I'm going to take a nap.' Kyuubi said as he settled down.
Naruto, after some painful moving about to get into a sitting position, looked about the room he was in. It was almost pitch black so he couldn't make out much but he did recognize it as the room he used in Tazuna's house. He decided to just call out in the end hoping there would be some one else in the room. Not a second after he called out, Kakashi showed up on the window sill that was just behind him and to the right. Looking through the window Naruto could see that the sun had already gone down. He greeted Naruto with his usual 'Yo.', not once taking his eyes off of his little book. "What can I do for you, Naruto?"
"Well first off, I'd like to know how long I've been out. Second, where did these wounds on my leg and back come from?" Naruto asked, going into what Kakashi liked to call, serious ninja mode.
"Well, you've been out a little over ten hours. After the fight on the bridge and you passing out, Haku, your new 'assistant' for want of a better word, picked you and the zanbatō up. It wasn't until he did this, that I noticed you had some weapons stuck in your back and a few cuts on your leg. Some of Gatoh's men must have gotten a lucky hit on you, I guess you couldn't feel them because of your using Kyuubi's chakra and the adrenalin running through your body. He shunshined away after that." Kakashi said as he retold the events.
"Wait a second. If Haku took me away, how come I'm back in Tazuna's place right now?" Naruto asked looking about, confused.
"As far as I can tell, after I finished cleaning up the bridge of the bodies. I had to haul Sakura and Sasuke back here, they're both fine by the way." Kakashi added quickly, seeing Naruto was about to ask the question. "When I arrived, Haku jumped from the trees carrying you and the zanbatō, by which time he had taken all the weapons out of your back and patched you up. Best I can tell, he hadn't gone very far to heal you and then followed me back here for somewhere safe for you to rest." Kakashi finished.
"Okay, so where is Haku now?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He's currently tending to Sasuke and Sakura in the some other rooms. He thought he should try to make amends and this was the best way he could think of. I guess I should also tell you that he left the zanbatō just outside your room, he forbade anyone from touching it. He's a little over-protective and eager to please, it seems." Kakashi mused, looking over his book with his single eye.
"Can you blame him? He just lost his mentor, even after he did everything in his power to save him and that sword is something to remember him by. Now, he and the sword have been passed on to me, I'm supposed to be his friend not his owner. He's trying to show you guys that he is no longer a threat but an ally. He knows he upset me with what he did to Sakura and Sasuke and now wants to make it better." Naruto explained lowering his head. "Is this kind of shit always gonna happen wherever I go?" He said in a whisper, raising his head again.
"It might, but there's nothing you can do about it now." Kakashi replied, peeking over his book with his single eye. "Look on the bright side, the mission's almost over. Once Sasuke is recovered from the near death state and the bridge is complete, we can go back. Now get some sleep, I need someone to come with me to the bridge tomorrow and something tells me, you're the only one that will be recovered enough to go."
At that, Naruto nodded and went back to his lying position and tried sleeping again. Kakashi just jumped back to the roof.
Naruto awoke to a slight discomfort, he opened his eyes and through the haze of sleep he could see a light red aura surrounding his torso and leg. 'Thanks for the healing, Kyu-sensei.'
'No problem, Kit. I estimate your body should be fine to handle youki by now. Not that you'll need it, seeing as Zabuza has been taken out there shouldn't be anymore threats. Okay, I'm done, you're good to go.' Kyuubi replied non-chalant.
Naruto got out of the futon covers and started undoing the bandages. He checked over where the wounds were supposed to be on his leg and hand and found some light scars. He didn't bother checking his back because he already had too many old scars to notice any new ones. He did have scars on his torso as well but they were much lighter and harder to see, unless you looked extremely close or knew where they were, like Naruto.
When he finished his inspection, he rewrapped his hands in fighting bandages to cover his knuckles, he reattached his gauntlets and he got his steel mesh shirt, pants, kunai holsters and vest back on. He found his pouches and extra kunai holsters and scroll holders and reattached them to his belt. Finally, he found his hitai-ite, which he tied to his head and his goggles, which he put around his neck as was the norm now. He looked in the mirror that was in the room, his clothes had some ware to them. His vest had some rips and tears and, strangely, some scorch marks. 'Probably from using Kyu-sensei's chakra.' He made a mental note to find somewhere or someone who could repair his clothes. Once done in the bathroom he grabbed the zanbatō and headed downstairs.
Downstairs he found Haku, Kakashi and Tazuna's family eating breakfast. Tsunami looked up and spotted him with the zanbatō. "Ohayou, Naruto-kun! Oh, seeing you with that sword reminds me." Tsunami got up and walked to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with the two katana he had taken from the thugs. "You asked me to keep them for you." Tsunami said as she held them out to him.
Naruto placed the zanbatō to lean against the wall and took the katana. "Arigatou, Tsunami-san." Naruto said as he bowed to her. He turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei, do you mind if we stop by a store on the way to the bridge? I need a scroll to keep these swords in."
Kakashi looked over his little book for a second. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He said waving his hand in a shooing gesture.
Naruto grinned and turned to Haku. "So, how are you holding up?" He asked as he walked over and sat down across from Haku.
Haku looked up from the tea he was drinking. "I shall be fine, Zabuza may have referred to me as his tool but he is still the closest thing I had to a father these last few years. I will miss him, but now, I have a friend, you, to help me through it." He answered, smiling at the last part. "I'm glad to see your wounds have healed thanks to your ability as well."
Naruto grinned back. He turned to Inari. "So, exactly how did you get all the villagers to fight back?" Naruto asked, guessing at what the last few things he heard was.
Inari flashed a big grin to him. "I just showed some courage. I couldn't leave you and your friends to do everything alone, could I?"
"Glad to hear it, Squirt." Naruto replied, grinning ear to ear.
Inari pouted at the nickname, causing everyone to snicker and giggle. "Okay that's enough of that, we better get to the bridge or else it'll never be finished." Announced Tazuna, getting up and grabbing a tool bag.
"Okay, Haku? Could you stay here and watch over Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto asked the still snickering Haku.
"Of course, no problem, Naruto." He replied getting up. "I think I better check on them now actually. Sakura might wake up today and I need to make sure Sasuke drinks the medicinal tea if he is to recover any faster." He went on as he turned to go up stairs.
"If he won't drink it, just say I'll make him drink it when I get back!" Naruto yelled over to Haku.
At that, Kakashi, Tazuna and Naruto, after picking up his zanbatō, headed out. Naruto had to stop momentarily, telling the other two to go on without him. He needed to bring his weight seal back up to the appropriate level, after having released some of it the other day. He then had to attach the two katana to his belt and find a comfortable way of carrying his zanbatō, which was leaning it across his shoulders while holding on to the hilt with his left hand.
He caught up to them just as they entered the town. Needless to say, he got quite a few looks while walking through the streets. They were different to the stares he got back in Konoha, they were stares of admiration, respect and thanks, the things he wanted in his home village. A few people even cheered to him and Kakashi, things like, "Ninja's of the leaf rule!", "Demon killers!", "Ninja heroes!". There were some cheers directed only toward Naruto though, "Nice sword!", "Alright blondie!", "Nice going, Demon of the leaf!". The last one, even though it was hitting close to a sore spot, actually made him feel good. It made him feel closer to his village and he liked the sound of it, maybe he would introduce himself with that title from now on... maybe.
Cheering wasn't the only thing that happened, Naruto got one or two marriage proposals. He was surprised to say the least. When the father of a family walked up to him, he thought it was to provide thanks on behalf of all the family and it was. It was also to ask if Naruto would be interested in marrying his eldest daughter though. He almost fell over from surprise, the eldest daughter, he had to admit she looked good, was at least a couple of years older than him, she was blushing from next to her mother. "Thank you but I'm not quite ready for marriage yet. I'm sure your daughter will have no problem finding a good man with how beautiful she is though." He said quickly, causing the girl to blush a little more at the compliment.
The rest of the day went by fairly normally, Tazuna finished the bridge, saying he would hold off the naming and opening ceremony until the rest of the team had recovered enough to be present. Naruto managed to get a scroll, free of charge. He used three storage seals he had copied and then went over them with the ink he carried. All he had to do to finish the seal was write down what he was storing, then all he had to do was place the item, in this case his zanbatō, over the empty space and use some chakra while thinking or saying, "Seal," because that was the first sword he wanted to seal. The next two seals were filled with the katana, he decided he would fill up the rest of the scroll with more swords. He made a small promise then and there that he would take the sword of any enemies he defeated, if they carried a sword, and add it to the scroll. He also asked Kyuubi to teach him Kenjutsu, who accepted, saying he knew a few basics. He kept the scroll in his second scroll pouch, ready if he needed a weapon, now he had two empty pouches left.
Haku went ballistic when Naruto returned without the zanbatō. Naruto was almost impaled by a thousand ice needles, luckily he unsealed the zanbatō to defend himself. Thankfully, Haku calmed down after seeing it. Sakura had woken up by the time they had gotten back as well. She would be fine, she just had a split-lip, some light scratches and puncture wounds from the senbon and a small bump where her head hit the ground. She was up and about after a couple of days, she even used the weak med-jutsu Naruto had taught her to heal some of her wounds.
Sasuke was still bed ridden, not fully recovered from the near death state. He had to drink some medicinal tea, which he instantly took a disliking to. It was supposed to speed up the healing process. He hated every second of having to stay in the bed for so long. While Sasuke was stuck in bed, Naruto just trained with thenzanbatō or played with Inari, even teaching him to use chakra.
Haku managed to get on Sakura's good side after the first day. He shared his medical knowledge with her and taught her how to throw senbon accurately. He even gave her a few of his, seeing as she liked to use them in conjunction with kunai and shuriken. After the fight on the bridge he also kept the clothes that he used to fight.
After a few more days of this, they finally set out for Konoha. Sasuke, through his stubborn Uchiha pride, insisted that he could make the trip, even if Haku suggested more bed-rest. They all congregated on the bridge, Tazuna was on a small pedestal bidding them farewell on behalf of the whole village. "Thank you, for all you have done for us! We will welcome any of you or your fellow ninja with open arms here in the land of waves from this day on. We wish you a safe journey on your way back."
Inari walked up to Naruto. "Will you come back and visit us, Nii-san?"
Naruto looked down at Inari with a bemused look. "Sure, Squirt! I'll be back to visit sometime soon, believe it, cause it's a promise. I never go back on my promises, that's part of my nindo, my ninja way. See ya 'round Squirt!" He replied, ruffling Inari's hair. He had heard from Tazuna and Tsunami how Inari had gone all around the village gathering up the villagers. He was proud of the Squirt for finally getting up and getting things done.
Inari started sniffling as tears came to the corners of his eyes, Naruto spotted the tears as Inari was trying to hold them back. "Damn it! I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore!" He cried, rubbing away the tears with his forearms.
"Don't worry Inari, it's okay to cry at times like these." Naruto comforted him, small tears forming in his own eyes.
"Who says I want to cry!? Besides if it's alright why don't you do it?" Inari argued back.
"Fine, see I'm crying." Naruto said as a few tears fell. "It's okay to show tears to your friends and family Inari. Just don't cry in front of your enemies." Naruto said falling in step with the rest of the team and Haku. As he turned with the rest of them to leave Inari also let a few tears fall.
Once the group had been walking for a few minutes one of the villager's spoke up. "Wait a second we forgot to tell them the name of the bridge!"
"It's okay, they'll find out when they come back. After all they'll have to use 'The Amazing Bridge That Tazuna Built' if they want to-" Tazuna was smacked over his head by Tsunami.
"Tou-san! We already agreed on what we would call the bridge and that's not it!" Tsunami scolded him.
Tazuna sighed deeply. "Fine, they'll have to use 'The Great Naruto Bridge' if they want to come visit us. Maybe it will bring us luck in the future." He said as they watched the group of ninja near the other side of the bridge.
Team 7 plus Haku managed to get back to Konoha in a couple of days thanks to taking to the trees. They had some trouble with the guards on duty because of Haku but they got him through eventually. They went straight to the Hokage's office to sort out Haku's citizenship to Konoha.
Naruto kicked his way through to the Hokage's office. "Hey Jii-san! Mission successful! We kept Tazuna-san safe."
Sarutobi looked up from the paperwork he was doing, he was wearing his usual Hokage robes. "Oh, Naruto-kun. You know the mission report is supposed to be a little more specific than that. Kakashi, why don't you give the report, so Naruto-kun here finds out how it's done."
Kakashi stepped up and relayed almost everything that happened, keeping some of the things Naruto had asked for, to be kept a secret from his teammates. Namely how Naruto had stolen Zabuza's zanbatō, caught Zabuza for Kakashi to finish him off, how he mowed down the thugs with some help from Zabuza and how he finished Zabuza off with the zanbatō.
When he finished the report Sarutobi spoke up. "Considering the dangers of this mission I will raise it to A-rank. Therefore team 7 will be paid as such, it will also be added to your mission history. You are all dismissed." He said as he finished handing out the mission paychecks to team 7.
"Actually Hokage-sama, I wish to talk to you about Haku and Naruto here. Sasuke, Sakura you can go home or wait outside for Naruto, either way this concerns a personal matter." Sakura and Sasuke just bowed quickly to the Hokage as they left.
"Alright what is this about, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked, netting his fingers as he leaned his elbows on his desk. Staring intently at the three of them.
"Actually, Jii-san, I think I should take over here. I was hoping you would allow Haku here to become a ninja of Konoha. He has an awesome Kekkei Genkai and amazing skills, I would say that he's a chunin easily, maybe even a jounin." Naruto said in Kakashi's stead.
Sarutobi looked the ice user over. "Hmm, from what I heard in the report, you are now loyal to Naruto because of a last order from your sensei. I am not quite sure why he did this though, there was nothing in the report to suggest that he saw Naruto as a superior ninja." Sarutobi mused as he looked between the three. "Unless of course something else happened that you haven't told me about."
"Yeah, about that I guess I should tell you something Jii-san. I've been getting some extra training from a friend ever since I entered the academy. Give me a second." Naruto sped through some hand-seals, when he was done a shock-wave of chakra erupted from his body and covered the walls, giving off a dull blue glow. "There, Jii-san, before I go any further, can you make whatever I tell you now an S-class secret. I wish for only the people in this room to know what I'm about to say, Haku, you have a right to know since you've seen some of my abilities and I even used some of them against you. Also I wish for only myself and Jii-san to be able to tell anyone else what I'm about to say."
"Hmm, a sound-proofing jutsu. What you're about to tell me must be serious and to make it an S-class secret... Very well, I will do as you asked, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi replied looking at the blue barrier that was covering the inside of the room.
"Thanks Jii-san. Now hold on to your hat, this is gonna be a doozie." Naruto exclaimed as he started his explanation. He went over his first encounter with Kyuubi, all the exercises Kyuubi told him to do with the weights, training until he bled or collapsed. Being shown the compound, learning about who his parents were, Kyuubi training him via blood clone. Learning all the different jutsu, awakening his Kekkei Genkai, both of them, and how he held back in the academy.
By the end of the explanation, Sarutobi looked like he had his limited edition of Icha Icha Paradise stolen. "Naruto why did you not tell me this earlier? I could have offered to help. I could have made it so you were on another team so it would be better balanced."
"That's just it Jii-san. I didn't want any kind of special treatment from you. I mean, come on, I had a full family vault of jutsu, scrolls and scrolls of seals and all the books I needed to learn history and stuff like that. Not to mention an eons old demon that could help me learn it all. I have to say though, you're taking this better than I hoped." Naruto exclaimed.
"Of course, I must respect the privacy of my ninja. I already knew of Kyuubi's state of mind when he attacked the village. I thought it would only be a matter of time before he contacted you. When you told me you knew about him, I thought it was because someone had told you, I never thought he had come forward so early. You didn't really have to tell me all this, although if you had then you would be chunin by now." Sarutobi explained.
"Exactly, I wanted to rise through the ranks the same as everyone else. I guess I better tell you how this fits in with the mission." Naruto then went on to fill the gaps of the mission report. He covered everything that Sasuke and Sakura didn't know about and one or two things Kakashi didn't know about. "This is why I believe Zabuza passed the zanbatō and Haku on to me. Am I right Haku?"
Haku, coming out of the daze he was in hearing about all the harsh training Naruto had gone through and how this boy held back a demon, answered. "Yes, I believe that would be an accurate assumption. Zabuza has never seen another nin as his equal since Naruto-sama."
"Haku, I thought I told you to cut it out with that sama stuff. I'm your friend remember?" Naruto told the ice user.
"Forgive me Naruto-sama but I am now your servant from the last order Zabuza-sama gave me. This means I am to act as such in front of high ranking ninja." Haku replied.
'Wait a second, does this mean he doesn't consider me a high ranking ninja!?' Kakashi thought as he was reading his little book, a large bead of sweat forming on his head.
"I suppose this proves that you are loyal to Naruto in more than one way then, Haku. Very well, I will instate you as a chunin and I shall give you an apartment, until you want to move into somewhere of your own choosing. Although I'm not sure how to fill out your ninja licence. You have not given me a family name." Sarutobi said as he pulled out a chunin vest and a Konoha hitai-ite, handing them to Haku.
"Arigatou, Hokage-sama." Haku thanked the Hokage. "I would like my family name to be Momochi in honor of my late sensei. I would also like to be assigned to Naruto's team."
Naruto sighed deeply. "Haku, you can't be on our team. Jii-san will put you on a team with someone else, you'll be fine. You can also make more friends this way."
"Naruto-kun is correct. I will be placing you on a team tomorrow, once I find adequate team members that will be in balance with your abilities." Sarutobi confirmed.
Haku looked at Naruto's grin and believed what he said. "Very well Naruto-sama. I will do as Hokage-sama orders."
"Glad to hear it. From now on, you answer to him and whoever is your team-leader or jounin sensei." Haku just nodded. "Good. Jii-san, I trust you won't be telling the council about my two Kekkei Genkai. I have no interest in starting a clan, not yet anyway." Grinning at the last part. "I also want to wait until I'm Hokage or respected in the village to announce that I am the Yondaime's son. I want to earn the respect of this village through hard work, not my heritage." Naruto finished, a serious look on his face.
"Don't worry, as I said this is an S-class secret. I will only tell another person about this if it concerns them or the safety of the village." Sarutobi replied with his own grin. "Kakashi, Haku-kun, you are both dismissed, I wish to discuss something with Naruto-kun in private."
"Before I go Hokage-sama. I wish to inform you that Zabuza not only bestowed his sword and myself to Naruto-sama, he also gave him a title, in a way. Before they attacked the thugs on the bridge, Zabuza-sama called Naruto a demon from the leaf." Haku informed him.
Kakashi stepped up. "It's true, the residents of wave even used 'Demon of the Leaf' as a nickname for him. They were very grateful to our team so I doubt it was meant as an insult."
"Very well, with these facts I am obliged to list 'Demon of the Leaf' as one of Naruto's aliases in his ninja profile. You may leave now." The Hokage said as he went to pull out Naruto's file. Naruto just stood there, surprised that it would actually be an official alias for him. Haku and Kakashi just bowed to the Hokage before they headed for the door.
"Hey guys, when you leave, tell Teme to mind his own business." Naruto requested before they left, only opening the door briefly so as not to show the sound-proofing jutsu.
Sure enough, just outside the door was Sasuke leaning against the wall, apparently waiting for them to come out. Sakura had apparently gone home. "Naruto tells you to mind your own business Sasuke-san." Haku informed the Uchiha.
'What the!? How did the Dobe know I was out here!? Wait, that Haku guy is probably just bluffing, trying to make his new master seem stronger than he really is.' Sasuke thought, eyes narrowing at the ice user. "I was just waiting for Kakashi-sensei so he could carry on training me." Sasuke said coolly.
"Sasuke, I already told you to go home or wait outside if you wanted to talk to Naruto. I'm not training you right after we get back from a mission. Now go home and get some rest." Kakashi told the Uchiha from behind his little book.
Back inside the office Sarutobi waited a second before going on. "Alright, the reason I asked you to stay behind is so I can inform you of a law I passed concerning you and any of your family members. I passed it shortly after you were born and Kyuubi sealed within you." He opened a drawer and pulled out a large file. "This file contains all the laws of the village. The law concerning you is under amendment 3472, look for your self." Sarutobi explained as he pushed the file to Naruto.
Naruto immediately started going through the file skipping through everything until he came close to the amendment. When he finally came to the amendment, he was slightly surprised. "I understand the first three parts but isn't the fourth part a little excessive?" He asked not bringing his eyes from the page. The law stated as follows;
Amendment 3472:
A: No one may speak of Uzumaki Naruto's lineage or Jinchuuriki status under penalty of high treason.
B: Uzumaki Naruto is entitled the full rights of a noble clan heir, including additional guard by supplemental Konoha shinobi and full financial coverage until such time as he is of sufficient shinobi rank (Chuunin) and claims his inheritance, respectively.
C: Only Uzumaki Naruto and the acting Hokage may divulge his statuses to those ignorant of them without legal repercussions.
D: Uzumaki Naruto has full right to defend himself or any relation to him by any means he deem fit against any he deem a significant immediate threat.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, it's just a precaution. A lot of people were killed on the night Kyuubi attacked. I hope the village will have accepted you by the time you have someone that close to you but I added that part just in case. I know a lot of villagers still don't like you and I'm sorry for what I allowed to happen when you were younger. I don't want that to happen to you any more. If anyone attacks you in the village from now on, I won't be angry with you if you take advantage of this law to defend yourself. To be honest, I'm surprised you haven't already turned on the whole village, with the way they have treated you." Sarutobi lowered his head in shame.
"Don't worry Jii-san. I've already told myself, I'm not going to turn on the village. They just have a lot of hate and they haven't got anything to channel it to. Besides, what kind of hero would I be if I attacked the village I'm a hero to? That's how Dad wanted me to be seen and that's how I'm going to be seen, even if I have to die trying." Naruto replied, the resolve strong in his voice and a warm smile on his face.
The Hokage looked back at Naruto, awe, respect and happiness adorning his face. "I'm very glad to hear those words, Naruto-kun. Your father would be proud of you."
"Thanks Ojii-san." Naruto replied a smile on his face. "Well if that's all, Jii-san." Naruto closed the file and pushed it back to the Hokage. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow for new missions." Naruto brought his hands up and released the sound-proofing jutsu. That done he turned and headed for the door.
"Naruto-kun, how would you like one or two more C-ranks?" The Hokage asked as Naruto opened the door.
Naruto looked over his shoulder. "That would be awesome, Jii-san!" A grin forming on his face.
"Excellent, I have a few but your going to have to do a couple more D-ranks before them." The Hokage stated lighting his pipe.
"Fair enough." Naruto replied as he walked all the way out and closed the door.
'You will be a great Hokage, Naruto, I can tell.' Sarutobi thought as he turned his chair to face the village.
The rest of the day went by as any other, when Naruto came out of the tower his fan-girls caught up to him. He went for ramen with them as he usually did and then headed for the compound. He unsealed Kyuubi and set out to sort out a couple of problems.
"Kyu-sensei, would it be possible to put the weight seal that's on my back, on my vest?" Naruto asked Kyuubi.
"I suppose so, but why would you want to do that?" Kyuubi asked, bringing his hand to his chin.
"Well, it's just, back in wave it took really long to lower the seal affecting my whole body by just a fifth. I was thinking it may be a good idea to halve the seal on my back and put the seal on my vest instead. That way I could easily drop the weight off my body and if things get really tough I can still lower the seal on my back." Naruto explained, voicing his concerns.
"That sounds good but placing the seal on your vest would only work on specific muscles. I would prefer it if you were to keep using just the seal on your back, that way your whole body would benefit. I do see the problem with lowering the seal though." Kyuubi explained.
Naruto lowered his head slightly. "I know only some of my muscles would be affected with my vest, namely my lower body and some of my torso. I could put some parchment seals around my wrists to work on my arms. That would sort that out and my whole body would still be affected by the seal on my back just not as much."
"Very well. I guess those compromises will do. After all, every second counts in a shinobi battle. Better to lose a small amount of training on some of the body and shave seconds off getting an advantage than to die because the seals took too long being lowered." Kyuubi replied nodding his head.
Hearing this Naruto took off to the library. He found the weight seal used on his back and copied it and placed it on the vest quickly. He took the ink off the desk and went over the symbols carefully seeing as he had plenty of time before the seal would fade. When he was done, he went to work on the seal on his back, estimating when he lost half the weight. When he finally got to where he thought was half way, he felt awesome. It felt like he didn't weigh anything, he tried jumping without chakra and almost knocked himself out when he hit the ceiling. He went on to test his speed and almost crashed when he tried to get around the tight corners of the compound.
He finally stopped goofing off when Kyuubi caught him and threatened him with a heavy spar. Needless to say, he went back to the library and rose the seal level on the vest until it felt heavy on him, he also rose the level of the seal affecting his whole body slightly, just for good measure. He quickly found a smaller weight seal to put on some pieces of parchment and sorted them out. The weight seal he found for the parchment only went up in increments of 50kg and could only go up to a maximum level of 100 but he decided that would be enough for now. He stuck them on underneath the gauntlets and activated the seals on them. They felt good.
He finished off the night by running and punching until he collapsed and Kyuubi took him to the bed in the compound.
The next few weeks went by fast. After the first couple of days they held Zabuza's funeral. Only Naruto and Haku actually attended the burial. Naruto started training with more of Kyuubi's purified chakra and found he would feel less exhausted after each training session. Team 7 did another escort mission that was less eventful than the wave one. They had to escort a wine dealer back to his home town while also carrying his wine. Naruto's storage scroll made this a lot more easy, he now carried three scrolls which left a single empty slot for him. The third scroll he carried was a blank one so he could store whatever he may need in it. Of course this meant he had to change it every now and then when there was no space left for new seals. Nothing note worthy happened, although Naruto swore he saw some strange snake watching them one night. The mission was over in four days.
In the middle of the third week after getting back from wave, Naruto finally finished a seal that would be able to store Kyuubi's purified chakra. It took a full two weeks of studying the seal on his stomach with Kaiseki Boushi to understand all the symbols and a further few days to make the seal. The seal was the most complicated one Naruto had ever created, it was composed of several layers of symbols all working together.
It wasn't as complex as the one on his stomach because it only had to store a fraction of Kyuubi's youki. Also, it only had to store youki, not a conscious being like the one on his stomach, meaning the seal was smaller. The seal was small enough even, to fit on Naruto's arm and that is where it was placed along with three other copies, the trail of seals started on top of his left shoulder and finished just after his elbow. Before placing the seal Kyuubi obviously insisted that they test it, to see how much youki it could keep. Turned out it could keep a little over one tail's worth of youki, in Kyuubi's opinion. That was good because so far Naruto could handle a tail's worth youki without ill effects. Anymore than that and the seal would release all the chakra in a violent explosion, they found that out the hard way. They filled all four seals within four hours. There was a problem with having to seal youki in a small seal though, the seal wouldn't fade meaning the seals were there for all the world to see.
This was bad because as with any storage seal it stated in the middle of the clear spot what was stored, in this case it just stated 'Energy'. The only way Naruto could find of countering this was to cover his whole arm in bandages instead of just the knuckles and some of his forearm. He also covered the spot where the seal containing Kyuubi was, because anytime he used the youki the seal would appear. When he first showed up wearing all his bandages, his fan-girls thought he had been attacked and wanted to 'comfort' him. A lot of them said he looked good with them, saying he looked intimidating. Sakura of course went frantic, thinking he'd hurt himself while he'd been practicing a jutsu. She backed down when he told her it was just to help keep a new technique a secret. Kyuubi, of course, forbade him from unsealing anymore than one of the seals at a time. Warning him of the dangers that may come from trying to use that much youki if his body wasn't ready for it.
All in all it was a fairly interesting few weeks.
In a room, somewhere in the Hokage tower, a large group of jounins and some chunins had gathered. The Hokage was also present, sitting behind a small desk. "I have gathered all of you here today to inform you of the chunin exams. They will be taking place in a week or so and I need to know who wants to nominate their genin teams." Sarutobi announced to all the present jounin.
Kakashi stepped forward his nose in his orange book. "I, Hatake Kakashi, nominate my genin team. Team 7 consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto." The room erupted in whispers at the copy nins action.
Asuma then walked up. "I, Sarutobi Asuma, nominate my genin team. Team 10 consists of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji." There were more whispers about the room.
Kurenai finally walked up. "I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate my genin team. Team 8 consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino." The whole room was almost in an uproar now. Nine rookie genin taking the chunin exam was unheard of.
Iruka made his way to the front of the crowd. "Hokage-sama, please do not allow this. I taught all those genin, I know their skill levels. None of them are ready to take this exam." He yelled. 'Naruto, maybe but I won't say that out loud.'
"You underestimate your students Iruka." Kakashi stated, his nose still in his book.
"If you doubt them, you may test them by all means. Only if they pass your test will I allow them to take the chunin exams." The Hokage announced to the chunin.
"Arigatou, Hokage-sama." Iruka said as he bowed to the Hokage.
"Now, who else wants to nominate their genin squads?" He asked the other jounin. Several other genin teams were nominated.
Later on that night Iruka walked into the Hokage's office. "Hokage-sama, I wish to talk to you about my tests. I don't believe that Uzumaki Naruto needs to be tested but his team does. I would prefer to give them a field test. I wish for them to be given a C-rank that will more than likely end up in them fighting." Iruka requested.
"I see, I understand your reasoning with Naruto-kun. I believe he has told you about his holding back?" The Hokage stated more than asked. "I have a C-rank mission which involves apprehending some trouble-makers in a village not far from here. Well within the boundaries of fire country, the mission itself was actually requested by the fire Daimyo. I will allow them to take it, it should last no longer than 4 days meaning they will have some time before the start of the chunin exams. What about testing their other skills as well as their fighting?"
"I will be testing their ability in detecting genjutsu tonight. I will also test their ninjutsu tonight but that's dependant on wether they use any." Iruka replied.
"Very well. You can tell me tomorrow, after I send them on their mission, if they are ready or not. Will you be testing the other genin teams like this as well?" The Hokage asked.
"Yes, I will. I don't need to test the other teams teamwork but I will be testing them on their genjutsu detecting abilities, taijutsu and ninjutsu. If that is all you wish to know, I will be going to perform my tests now." Iruka replied. After the Hokage dismissed him, he bowed as he exited the room.
That night was rough on Iruka. Not only had every genin passed his test but he had been attacked and very nearly beaten on a few occasions. He tried performing the test on Naruto, just to be sure, but Naruto realized it was him before he could do anything.
"So, what are we doing today Jii-san? Weeding, picking up trash or walking more dogs?" Naruto asked in a bored tone, thinking back to the last dog walking mission.
Flashback
Sasuke and Sakura had a couple of small dogs each, while Naruto had one, big dog. At first he had trouble keeping the dog from walking him but he brought the dog in line when he became serious and deactivated the cushion seals on his feet. He almost sunk into the ground with how much he weighed with his weight seal and clothing now. The dog had a hard time from then on.
Flashback end
"Actually, Naruto-kun, I have a different mission for team 7 today. You must go to the Mantis village, ten miles north of here and apprehend some men that have been causing some trouble. They have been intimidating the villagers, stealing some of their food and even attacked a few. You are to subdue them, with force if necessary, and hand them over to the Land of Fire's law enforcement patrols. They will take care of them from there. It is a C-rank, before you ask." The Hokage explained, puffing away on his pipe.
Naruto looked at Sarutobi, a twinkle in his eye. "Awesome! We'll sort those guys out, dattebayo!" He yelled punching a fist in the air.
'Naruto, your handsome and all but you're way too annoying when your like this.' Sakura thought, a large bead of sweat forming on the back of her head.
'CHA! He'd be perfect if he wasn't so loud all the time.' Her inner persona piped up.
Kakashi informed them to gear up for the trip and meet him at the north gate in a couple of hours. They, of course, knew better and took their time, knowing to take three hours instead.
Naruto did what he planned to do from now on for missions outside the village. He packed everything he needed into the third scroll he carried and made sure to bring the scroll containing the three swords. He'd been practicing with the three intensely, the zanbatō more than the others, since the size made it slightly difficult to wield.
They met up at the gate and set out. It took them the rest of the day to make it to the Mantis village. Going by trees was much faster and the absence of a civilian made it that much easier. They arrived under cover of night fall so the thugs wouldn't run away and set up in another village. They met up with the village head and collected information on the perpetrators. They found out where the thugs stayed when not making trouble and where they usually attacked or threatened.
Sakura was slightly alarmed to hear that all of the thugs carried dangerous weapons. After a few seconds of thought though, she knew she'd be fine, after all Naruto-senpai had taught her how to disarm an enemy. Naruto, on the other hand, was very interested to learn what kind of weapons they carried. When the village head told him that a few carried swords he was cheering on the inside. 'New swords to add to my collection! Alright, I'll make sure to go after those guys.' Finally, Sasuke just hoped he wouldn't have to come to Sakura's rescue again, like he did in wave. Even if she was the one that had originally saved him.
"Alright, we'll rest tonight. Tomorrow we'll patrol the rooftops and wait for the group to show up. Naruto, I want you to use your clones to take down the weaker members of the group. Once they are out of the way, we will join the fight. Try not to kill any of them unless absolutely necessary, we're only supposed to apprehend them, after all. Finally, be careful, they may not be ninja but even civilians can be dangerous, especially when weapons are involved." Kakashi informed the three. He received a firm 'Hai' from the three and they were escorted to their rooms.
Team 7 was well rested, not all of them wanted to admit it but a couple of them had been tired after their trip. That was irrelevant now though, as Kakashi was hiding in a tree reading his book. Sasuke was lying,belly down, resting his head on his crossed arms, on a rooftop, looking out for the group with a look of boredom. Sakura had taken to hiding in plain sight, she had removed her utility pouches, kunai holsters, weights and her hitai-ite. She had given them to Naruto for him to keep in a storage scroll, Naruto in turn gave her the kunai holsters that he wore under his jacket so she would have some hidden weapons if she needed them.
Naruto, unlike the other three, didn't care much for staying in the village to wait for the gang. So, he created some earth clones that would take on the weaker members of the group, when they showed up, the clones hid themselves through out the village using the Kakuremino no Jutsu. He also made a single shadow clone that would disperse itself when the gang showed up so he would know when he was needed. While the clones were in the village, he decided to find a secluded spot to train with the zanbatō.
He found the perfect place, it was a small clearing in the woods near the village. He'd been practicing for the better part of an hour so far, Kyuubi giving him instruction in his head through out the whole session. He was wielding the zanbatō with just his hands. After all, he wouldn't always be using the fox tails when fighting. Thanks to the training he had done so far, he could wield the sword quite easily, even with the parchment weights around his wrists. He could even handle the sword with just one hand now if he had to.
He thought he might need the sword in this fight. Not only would it be very intimidating and hopefully resolve the fight without killing but because it was so large he could easily use the large flat side of the blade to knock enemies around without killing them. He was still having problems carrying the sword outside the scroll though, most of the time he just settled for leaning it on his shoulders. After all the training, he did just that and sat down against a tree. 'I can't train myself to exhaustion today, I need to be ready to fight.' He thought to himself as he took out a canteen and drank from it.
Back in the village, Sakura had just sat down outside a tea house for a rest from all the walking. To be honest though, she didn't need it, since taking her weights off she felt like she could have done the trip back to Konoha in half the time they had taken to get here. Since coming back from wave, Naruto had increased her weights again and had given her a couple more med-jutsu to work with. The first one she had learned from him was only really used for puncture wounds and small cuts but these new ones were much stronger, if a bit of a drain on her chakra.
Sasuke was still in the same position as was Kakashi, they were both thinking the same thing. 'Looks like today is going to be quiet.' Little did they now that at that moment, some of Naruto's earth clones were engaging the enemy, when the shadow clone came across the small battle royal he sent up a kunai with an explosive note to alert the others and dispersed himself soon after.
All three of them had seen the explosion in the air and all three had arrived to see the last couple of Naruto's earth clones taking on a group of ten conscious people with weapons while there were more, scattered, unconscious and unarmed, on the ground. The group dispatched the last couple of clones and turned to Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura had a few senbon out, ready to hit the pressure points to knock out some of the thugs. Sasuke had his sharingan blazing, while he slid into a ready stance. Kakashi just kept reading his book.
"Futeki, it looks like we have more trouble and these ones look real and the girl looks like she could be fun." One of the men announced with a sadistic grin.
A large, muscled man, turned his head to look at the three that had just shown up. He was wearing a green sleeveless shirt, some gray pants, a pair of boots and was wielding what appeared to be a pair of broad swords. He broke into his own grin as he looked them over. "You're right Gouka, she does look fun. Guys, let's get rid of the other two quickly and then have some fun with her." The one known as Futeki ordered the rest. He raised his two swords up as the other men brought up their own weapons, which consisted of some strange looking weapons, one of which appeared to be a nunchaku but instead of two bars there were three connected to a single central ring.
Sasuke moved slightly closer to Sakura at their looks. "They don't seem like much, you two can take them on. If you get into trouble then I'll step in but otherwise they're yours, I'm sure Naruto is on his way so leave some for him. And remember, try not to kill them." Kakashi said as he looked at the group from behind his book. A moment later he shimmered out of sight.
"Hn! What are you guys waiting for? An invitation?" Sasuke taunted them. The group charged at his taunt, one fell straight away thanks to a senbon in the neck. Sakura had tried taking down three guys with her senbon but the other two had managed to block them. She moved about dodging their blows for the most part, she kept knicking and cutting them when she could.
Sasuke was a flurry, dodging attacks while performing his own. Using the sharingan made it all too easy for the Uchiha. The problem was he got too cocky and forgot to watch his back. Futeki, the one that appeared to be the leader, had come up behind him with a sword raised, ready to take the Uchiha's head clean off.
Evil Cliffhanger no Jutsu! Actually it's not all that evil is it? Oh well, what will happen next, I wonder? Find out in the next exciting installment of The Simp-... I mean The Tenant, The Sensei.