CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – Present Day, Human World, Village of Konohagakure

(there is a water stain near the upper left corner of the page)

Kyuubi stood at the gate of the village, adjacent to the guard post. Her son, Naruto, as well as Hinata and his team, were part of the entourage to be sent to the Land of Waves to help train them into becoming a ninja village under their own rule. "Remember son, these people know nothing about ninja arts, so you're going to have to go easy on them." Her advice to him largely came as redundant, considering since he'd trained such people before.

"Thank you, mother, but I really don't think that'll be a problem." He gave her a hug and kiss and then turned to the official from the Land of Waves. "Are we ready to go?"

The man nodded, emptying a flask of sake. "I am glad we could arrange this, Yondaime-sama." He bowed to the fourth Hokage. "Your son is truly a marvel of ninja skills."

"As long as I get him back in one piece, there won't be a problem," Yondaime replied. "Be strong and resilient, my son!" He waved as the group left.

And thus, as Naruto and his group left, they went about their latest journey with much anticipation in mind; what exactly would await them? How quickly or not would the villagers of the land of waves take to becoming ninja trained? These were the sort of thoughts they wondered. Naruto had trained genins before, but they had some degree of knowledge about chakra and could, at the very minimum, sense theirs. He would not only have to teach these people how to be stealthy and use jutsu, he'd also have to teach them how to sense their chakra, a task which took ordinary ninjas quite a bit of work. He could only guess how long it'd take some of the villagers to do so. He doubted many of the adults would be able to learn it at all and it would end up with the children only being able to take to it. Being a shinobi was an art; and like many arts, you couldn't get good at it if you started halfway through the game.

Nonetheless, they showed up in the midst of the village, just like they remembered it. Or, rather, as Naruto remembered it; none of the others had been here. The first place Naruto went is to see a friend he recalled quite well.

"Naruto!" Tsunami cheered, opening the door. She overcame her excitement at the young blonde ninja and looked at the group. "I see we have some others with you!"

"Yes," he nodded. "We are here because the governor of this land made a deal with Konohagakure that we should assist in the training of your people into becoming ninjas. It won't be mandatory that all be trained formally, but any who want the training can apply."

A door went sailing across the room and crashed into several pieces against the far wall. From the room it had been blocking, a plume of smoke came out. From there, a smoke-stained diminutive figure exited with a wild grin on his face. "Naruto-san!" Inari shouted. "I've been training since you left during the Zabuza incident! This's my new fire jutsu!"

Tsunami shook her head. She didn't know whether to be pissed at him for destroying the door or happy. "Inari's been gung-ho about the whole thing since you left. Found him an old ninja scroll at a market in a village across the bridge and has been training since!"

"We'll get to all the formalities tomorrow," Naruto reminded. "For now, I want to rest."

"Rest soon enough! I anticipated your arrival and got food ready!"

Naruto pumped his fist. "Yaata! Let's eat!"

The next morning, Naruto woke everyone up bright and early for a town meeting. With the village's population seated in folding chairs, he stood in front of them and spoke through the announcement system. "Attention, everyone! I am here because the governor of the Land of Waves made a decision that was given the okay by his council, and that decision was to have professional shinobi from the village hidden in the leaves to train various members of your society into becoming shinobi yourselves. I am hoping very much that a good percentage of you will at least try out for size the idea of training for the program, as it was your populous that presented him with the idea.

"I must warn you, though, it will not be easy and I guarantee you, your lives will be on the line. Furthermore, I'm not going to guarantee that you guys will even have very talented ninja for this generation. The best ninja villages around the world didn't have talented genins and elites until several generations down the road. Nonetheless, this is where it all starts. I'm going to have sign-up sheets at the tables you see lined up in front of you. We're going to start our first lessons later on tonight. I will be your senior instructor, Naruto of clan Uzumaki. Should any of you doubt my ability as a ninja, I am the honorable son of lord Hokage, and I also am one of the elite members of my village."

From the crowd, the predictable lot of strong young men came up and filled out their names on the sign up sheets at the folding tables. Many of the children signed up, more than likely due to the sight of Naruto's squad. He anticipated that at least three hundred people would agree, and close to seventy more than he guessed did. He did not, however, expect a great deal more than double digits to actually have any chance of making it at all. Furthermore, he expected every single one of the adults to drop out of the program simply because every talented ninja he thought of started their training at a very young age.

The first lesson came at six o'clock that evening, after all the formal paperwork was filled out. There were so many different groups of people that Naruto decided to group them first by age, then by order of knowledge. Some had taken a brief interest in the ninja life after the Zabuza incident, and as such, knew at least a tiny bit about being a ninja. There were would-be shinobi like Inari, who seriously started training after the incident (although, these were not as common). There was even one or two former ninjas who fled their home villages for a simpler life in the land of waves, who decided to take a refresher course (Naruto recruited these to help him). However, the overwhelming majority were just ordinary people. And that, Naruto knew, meant a very slow procedure.

That evening, the groups were divided up amongst the few from Konoha that were believed to be talented at instructing. Otowano's group found it a bit difficult to take seriously a boy as young as he as a talented shinobi, but a demonstration quickly put those doubts to rest. Hinata had her own group and she had to work on her apprehensiveness beforehand, but Naruto had faith in her. Ultimately, the group in Naruto's immediate presence started with the very utmost basics.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Land of Waves," he began his lecture. "You have taken a step towards greatness; you have taken a step towards being a shinobi village. I worked with most of you immediately before this class so I'm going to take a bit of a leap and assume that all of you at least sense your inner chakra. Am I correct?" He waited for hands to rise. All did except a small group. "Those of you who don't, please work on that tonight and prepare for lessons tomorrow bright and early. If, after tomorrow you cannot sense your chakra, please do not bother coming back as you have no chance. That sounds harsh, I know, but you must realize that a ninja's life is hard. What you will learn from us in these classes are the tip of the iceberg. They are nothing compared to what lies ahead in your life.

"Now then, let me explain chakra. It is the combination of your chi—physical energy—and your mental energy. It is what enables you to go about your jutsu which you may learn later on in life. It is in all of you regardless of your ninja talent, and it is in non-human things as well. There are many uses of chakra, both involving death and healing; a double-edged blade it is. There are many misconceptions about chakra, one being that you are limited to what you're born with. While difficult, it is possible to increase your maximum chakra. I have given you all copies of scrolls. You are to read from these tonight and meditate as instructed. You may leave now; I cannot teach you more until you can manipulate it. Tomorrow I will provide assistance to those who can manipulate it at least on a very basic level. If, after tomorrow you cannot prove to me your ability to do so, I will have to cut you from this class." He waved his hand and the group scattered.

In a building just outside the border of the village, two figures sat at a table across from one another, sipping sake. A muscular, blonde-haired figure sneered as he regarded his ally. "Mr. Governor, you have a brilliant plan going on here," he complimented.

The governor matched his friend's evil smile. "Thank you, my greatest weapon." He lifted a hand to his right cheek, and slowly removed his face, revealing a pale figure with dark hair very much unlike the usual grey-haired governor. "But then again, it would not be possible without you."

"Why say that, Orochimaru?" He took another sip. "With my assistance, this will be Akatsuki's chance to once and for all achieve the artifact, but you without me would be nothing. Speaking of which, how goes the search?" He leaned back in his chair.

Orochimaru shook his head. "We are closer than ever but it still eludes us. How is the ruse going?"

"The team from Konoha—especially Naruto, my son —are as in the dark as ever. They believe that they are actually under orders from the governor of this land to train their people into shinobi." He laughed at the humorous prospect. "If he gets even academy student level ninjutsu out of these old folks and useless children I'll be impressed."

"So, shall the plan continue as previously decided upon?"

The blonde nodded. "It shall, lord Orochimaru."

"As the will of Akatsuki shall pass, my higher allegiance." They clinked glasses and separated.

Naruto and Hinata walked lockstep from the buildings to the ramen stand of the village. The blonde jounin wrapped his left hand around the shy girl's right; she resisted her urge to faint. "N...Naruto-k...kun," she stammered, "do you...do you...think...that this training will go well?" Inside she cursed herself for not being able to say what she actually had on her mind.

He looked at her. "I don't see why not. My words certainly helped the group get motivated." he focused his gaze forward, and away from her for effect. "But, I can tell that's not what's on your mind, is it Hinata?"

She swallowed hard. "Wh...what...what makes you think that?" She shifted her eyes from side to side rapidly. "I...mean..."

"If it's something you don't want to talk about..."

She interrupted him, fiddling with her fingers the entire time. "Uh...don't...worry about it...Naruto...kun. I'm...just fine..." FUCK! she thought. Will I EVER get to say it?...!

Naruto scratched his head. "You want to go get some meat? I think it's about time I got you acquainted with something you'll be eating from now on...human flesh."

She almost jumped. "WHAT?"

He nodded. "You're a fox demon...now that you've been exposed to Kenzo's blood. We have to eat human flesh because it's a necessary staple of our diet."

She shivered. "B...But I do...don't wanna eat...people..."

He faced her, wrapping his arms gently around her waist and pulling her close in. "I know you don't," he elaborated in his gentlest voice. "But if you don't learn to eat before a craving strikes, the hunger will force you to attack innocent people. If you preempt your cravings, you can choose the lesser end of humanity—the criminals and unwantables— to pick off and eat. You wouldn't want to hurt people who're innocent, would you?"

She had no problem contemplating his question. "No, Naruto-kun," she replied.

He smiled sweetly. "I thought so. Besides, you'll get used to it. You'll have to." He kissed her forehead. She blushed very prominently, almost fainting. "Whenever you're ready." He began to pull away.

"Naruto-kun..."

"Hmm?"

She shifted her gaze left and right nervously. "...Hold me a bit longer."

"Of course." Soon she would have to take her final step towards becoming a mature member of the fox demon species, but right now, she could spend a few more moments with her arms around him with her cheek against his chest, lost in his body warmth.