Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"Speech"

Thought

Jutsu

Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha

By: Sealed-Dragon

Kurogane looked over his team. They were currently doing a round of push-ups. Hinata and Ryuu were holding their, own while Naruto looked like he was trying to move the Earth by pushing it.

It had been two weeks since the last incident. Although Hinata would appear late every now and then, it wasn't ever because of over working. She had been acting a little bit weird towards Ryuu, meaning that as she would speak with him, she would lose all of her stuttering. As for her physical state, she was advancing rather quickly, though she probably got more from her father's training then from his.

Ryuu was getting stronger, but Kurogane had learned that trying to teach him ninjutsu was pointless. Not because he couldn't, but because he wouldn't let him. He would say something about learning things that would benefit the team, not his 'crummy techniques'. Of course after he'd say that, Kurogane would tease him about what had happened with Hinata. Needless to say, he'd get very loose tongued, as he tactfully yelled profanity at him. He was just to easy.

Naruto was a miracle case. Not only had he improved over the past two weeks, he'd begun to excel. After surviving his kunai chase, he'd quickly done all the exercises he'd been told to do, and then started over. Then when he'd told him to stop, he'd moved onto the chakra control exercises. He could not figure out where he got that kind of stamina from, but he was sure that there was a way to slow him down, both figuratively and literally.

He'd taken them all to a clothing shop once he'd managed to make Naruto stop doing the exercises. He wasn't to proud of what happened, but the moron deserved it.

- -Flashback- -

They walked into the store, looking around at the merchandise. Naruto seemed to be a little skittish about being in a store, and repeatedly told them that he'd wait outside for them. Of course, this made them practically drag him back in to continue their search.

After a few moments, Kurogane noticed something. The owner of the store was glaring daggers at Naruto. Containing his anger, he walked over to him. The moment he moved between the owner and Naruto, the man seemed to brighten. "Hello sir, what can I do for you?"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is an impressive flip-flop."

"What do you mean sir?" the man asked innocently. He had no idea what would happen.

"One minute you're glaring daggers at a customer, and then you are completely nice to another, care to explain?"

The man looked at him confused. "What do you…"

Kurogane moved away so that he could once again have a clear sight of Naruto. He flipped back to glaring daggers towards him. Kurogane was resisting the urges to strangle the poor man.

"You see? You are being nice to me, while you are glaring daggers at him." he felt himself sweat a little, he'd nearly slipped on that.

"What are you talking about?" the man leaned over so that anyone else in the store couldn't hear him. "Don't you know what he is? He could…" The man didn't get any farther because Kurogane glaring a katana at the poor fool.

"You really don't get it do you? When you treat one customer that way, you're basically treating them all like that." Kurogane grinned evilly. "If you know who I am, then you'll know that I have enough status to make your store go out of business in one week."

"You can't do that! It's just…" the man stopped short, finally recognizing who he was. And he definitely could make anyone go out of business in one week, if he was being generous.

When they had finally picked out something suitable, they brought them over to the cash register. Naruto was surprised when the man not only let them buy the clothes, but he didn't overprice them. When he asked Kurogane about it, he just shrugged.

- -Now- -

Naruto was now dressed much more appropriately. He was wearing a black tee-shirt, with his symbol on both of the shoulders. He wore a dark red vest over it, which carried a huge amount of weights. He wore dark khaki shorts, with a kunai pouch tied to both sides. He'd found that Naruto was pretty ambidextrous, and he felt that he probably should encourage that. To finish his new outfit up, Kurogane had bought him a pair of dark red legwarmers. Underneath those were leg weights.

When he thought of the weights, Kurogane hung his head. It was yet another thing in which he'd underestimated the boy's logic.

- -Flashback- -

He'd just bought the weight for Naruto, and was quickly explaining it.

Naruto raised his hand. "But sensei, if I continually put new weights in, it'll become noticeable."

Kurogane smiled. "Well, that's why these are special weight for such training. They feel light, but once you've added chakra to them, they can weigh whatever you want."

"Really? Hey sensei, does that mean the weights in my vest do that to?" Naruto's eyes looked like they'd nearly come out.

"Yes Naruto, what's your point?" as he watched, Naruto began to focus his chakra to his chest. He continued to channel chakra for a full minute before he stopped. Kurogane was somewhat confused. "Naruto, what did you just do? You know I had it all set up for you, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes sensei, but the way that you'd set it up wouldn't have gotten me very far. It was at to comfortable a weight. So all I did was channel more until it felt like it's just gotten uncomfortable." He'd grinned sheepishly at his gawking sensei, not knowing just how much wisdom might have come from those words.

"Naruto, you do realize that you can't lower these weights, right?"

"What? Well, if I make a mistake then I'll just force it to work!" Naruto punched his fist into the air. Kurogane smiled, and shook his head. If anyone could do that, he was sure that this kid could.

- -Now- -

Kurogane sighed again. He looked up at the sky for a moment. "Team! We need to go if we want to get a mission."

They all snapped up. Kurogane suddenly felt something twist in his gut. Naruto looked a little mad at hearing that he was going on a mission, which really didn't seem like him. He knew that if he didn't do something, he would probably do something that he'd regret.

xX At the Hokage tower Xx

Kurogane looked through the papers carefully. He looked at the Hokage, feeling somewhat confused. He'd just given them a C ranked mission to the Wave country. He was more than certain that his team was ready, but some part of it just didn't make sense to him.

He looked through the papers again, and froze. Tazuna, he'd heard that name before. He looked up at the Hokage, feeling he emotions swarming.

"Hokage-sama, you do realize who this is don't you?" He asked, trying to dodge any questions that might come up.

The Third looked up to him. "Kurogane, is there some reason that you feel your team is not ready?"

"Oh their ready," He said, dodging the evil glares that Naruto had sent at him. "It's just, this man was my first C ranked mission with Minato."

"I see, well then all the more reason for you to take the mission then, right?" The Third looked expectantly at him. After thinking it over, Kurogane gave in with a small nod.

"Thank you sensei!" Naruto tackled him, thanking him for trusting in his skills. Ryuu however, was suddenly in turmoil.

"Sensei, who's Minato?" He watched his sensei freeze up. He obviously hadn't thought that he'd heard that.

Naruto noticed this and quickly scrambled off him. Kurogane stood up. "Minato, was my teammate."

"What was his last name sensei?" Hinata asked, catching on to what was happening.

Kurogane flinched. He really hadn't wanted to explain this to them. After a moment of silence, he bowed his head. "Namikaze."

"What! You trained with the Fourth Hokage, and you didn't tell us!?!" Naruto yelled at him. Kurogane was suddenly resentful of giving him those history lessons.

"Yes Naruto, but that really isn't important right now. Team, we'll meet at the Northern gate at nine o'clock tomorrow. Understood?" They all nodded. He smiled at them, and then he quickly used the body flicker jutsu to go home quickly.

As soon as he'd left, all eyes were on the Hokage. He held up his hands, in a position of defeat. "I didn't know that much about my successor. If your sensei decides to tell you, he'll do it on his terms."

They all nodded. They understood that he might simply be uncomfortable talking about it. That didn't mean that they wouldn't try.

xX Sundown: Hyuuga compound. Xx

Hinata was feeling happy. Her sensei trusted her enough that he'd given them all a C ranked assignment. She hadn't quite understood what had happened after, but she was feeling pretty sure that someone would explain it to her later.

She suddenly felt pressure in the air. It was a dark, ominous pressure that seemed to suck out all the air. She looked around, seeing no one. She activated her byakugan. No one but Hyuuga's sitting down in a meeting. She deactivated it and sighed.

She walked towards her room again, still feeling that pressure. Just as she passed the meeting room, when the door opened. "Hinata, please come here."

She looked at the man curiously, and then walked in. It was a little bit weird to be called into any sort of meeting. She'd only sat in on one once, when mother was still on the council.

As she walked in, she looked at the individuals on the council. There was something that just seemed off about it. As she looked around a second time, she noticed it.

Her father wasn't there.

She felt a small twinge of panic. Were they going to put the seal on her? But then, why wouldn't they have had her father there? She quickly got the answer. "Hinata, your father isn't here because it's already been decided, and even if he were here, he wouldn't make the balance flinch."

Hinata felt several knots in her stomach. They were going to do it…put the cursed seal onto her.

"Well Hinata, we'd better get started."

xX 10 o'clock: At Kurogane's house Xx

They moved as quietly as the wind. They had been told who their target was, and they planned on getting it over with soon. If they didn't, they would be in a lot of trouble.

They slipped through a window, quietly stalking down the halls. They'd been told that if they didn't watch themselves, they would find themselves in a world of pain. They were nearly at his room when a light came on. To late, they couldn't move as the person walked out.

It was Kurogane, walking through the hall with a glass of milk, in black PJ's with pink flowers all over it. He was also wearing pink bunny slippers. If they hadn't been devoid of emotion, they would've found the scene rather funny. As it was, they were only put on guard.

Kurogane put the glass to his lips when he noticed them. For a moment, no one moved. Then Kurogane looked at his milk. "Well it's not spoiled, so that means you guys came early, again."

They all looked at each other. Ok, they could work with this. "Can we take this out side?" One of them asked.

Kurogane quickly drank the rest of his milk. He motioned for them to lead the way. Once they were outside, Kurogane suddenly got a very serious face on. "I know who you are and who sent you, my only question is what your purpose is?"

"We are here for the Kyuubi." One of them said, in a monotone voice. He didn't realize what he said would nearly get him killed.

What happened next was all a blur for them. Kurogane moved behind them, pulling out several hidden kunai. He quickly began to slash and beat at them until they were a mangled heap. One of them was close to dying, and another was close to losing a leg.

Kurogane looked over the heap. "Leave, and tell Danzo that if he ever make an attempt to kidnap or kill Naruto, I'll personally make sure that he dies a quick death. Now leave!"

They didn't need any more insentive to get going. They grabbed their comrades and ran off. Kurogane watched them leave, radiating in killer intent. If anyone was planning on killing Minato's son, he would make sure that they died, and if they didn't, that they wouldn't ever be able to threaten him again.

He sighed. It was definentally a bad sign to have some unexpected guests before an important mission. He was just happy that he wasn't that superstisious. That was more like…

He shook his head. If he kept on thinking about his team he would end up worse than those who went though ANBU. After all, if he continually blamed himself for both of his teammates deaths, when he knew he couldn't do a thing, it would affect his team.

He looked back to the house. Naruto, he thought to himself. Naruto, I promise, I'll make you strong. And then I'll have completed half of the favor that Minato asked of me. I promise.

Author's Note:

Hurray! Chapter 5 is up!

After much consideration, the votes for Naruto's pairings will stay open. lol, I still don't have a clue on which pairing to choose!

Please Review!!!