First Imperial Guard of Konoha
Chapter 4
"I see, that's quite the adventure you had there, Naruto-kun," The Sandaime stated, taking a drag from his trusty pipe. He looked at the blond with a proud smile at being able not only to find but also talk with the elves.
"Yes and very informative as well," Naruto was grinning, looking at his grandfather figure.
"Hmm, so, what do you think we should do with Filavandrel's proposition?" The old Hokage asked, looking with an eye full of curiosity at the blond, who looked thoughtful for some time before focusing back on the Sandaime.
"I already gave much thought about it and how to approach you with this. Honestly, I think it's a great opportunity to gain a very good ally. Not only can the Evls teach us a lot about the world's history, but their insight on the Spiritual side of Chakra might be a great breakthrough in Chakra theory," The blond looked out of the window for some moments before looking back at the Hokage.
"And I think that we should help them, to save them from the wars that plague their lands. Besides, if what he said is true, we might have an enemy willing everything to destroy us and their knowledge might be invaluable,"
Hiruzen nodded, a slight frown marring his old visage. He was glad that the blond's reasoning was not only led by the potential power they could gain, but also by his compassion and willingness to help others. Even then, the news he learned was troubling and if the worse came to be, Konoha might really be facing a disaster not seen since the Third Shinobi war.
"And I believe that their knowledge of sword making is necessary for the future of the Imperial Guards,"
"Yes, your right. However, Minato surely left some notes in the scrolls about the more shady side of the Village,"
"Danzo, yes Tou-san left a whole profile on the man,"
"Then you understand that I can't simply allow the elves to become a part of the Village without the possibility of Danzo taking action against them," The Hokage cursed how his old teammate and best friend seemed to complicate things.
"Yes, that's why if you were to accept, the Imperial Guard Division would take all the elves as its members,"
"Hm, that might be a resolution to our problem, however, what will you do if they decline in joining? After all, they would be coming here in hopes to avoid conflict and if you forced them to take arms in the Village's names, they surely would go back,"
"That's alright, the drafts for the base are quite large, so we will need a workforce to maintain the place. I was thinking about offering them the work and still declaring them as part of the division,"
"That's a very good idea, then, if they decided to not fight, they would not be forced to and Danzo or anyone else wouldn't be able to touch them as they are part of a division that answers only to me. Brilliant idea, Naruto-kun,"
The seven-year-old blond's grin widened and looked at Sarutobi with a more serious expression.
"If we are going to do this, then I think it's time to start renovating the old Uzumaki clan compound before they arrive," The compound was built after the marriage between Mito Uzumaki and Hashirama and was used for any Uzumaki that came to the Village. After the Fall of Uzushio, which Kushina was the sole survivor of, she and Mito moved in there, but after the Kyubi attack, the compound was left alone, since the Village had more pressing matters.
But now with the Imperial Guards, the compound was an inheritance left to Naruto as the next Clan head and was going to be built to quarter the division, but it needed to be rebuilt from scratch and Minato already had some plans laid out for it, which Hiruzen and the blond used as the base of what the compound should look like.
"Right, they should be some buildings in the west wing that are not destroyed, but the rest is pretty much in rumbles after the Kyubi attack. The Elves can live there until the whole compound is not restored,"
"Do you know anyone that might be good for the job?"
"Hm, if I remember right, there is a Master Bridge Builder in the Wave country. His and his crew's reputation is well known in the region, he might be the right man for the job,"
"Thanks, I will send a messenger to him later,"
"Very well, I will send an ANBU team to the Land of Swords with my response to Filavandrel once The Building crew starts the work on the compound,"
"Alright, I will be going to meet with Mito,"
"Hm, Kakashi came some time ago to see her, he might be still around," Sandaime said with a small smile seeing the excitement in the blond's eyes.
"Kakashi-Nii is back?" Naruto grinned thinking of his older brother figure. While the silver-haired teen didn't spend too much around him and Mito since his duties as ANBU captain kept him on missions, whenever he had some time, he spend it with them. "I will see you later, Jiji!" Naruto shouted as he ran towards the Sarutobi compound.
In one of the houses in the Sarutobi compound, a lone blond boy was sitting at a desk. It was noon during the warm summer of Konoha and Naruto was reading a book about advanced Chakra theory. Next to him sat a silver-haired teen with a blue mask covering the lower half of his face while his forehead protector hid his left eye.
The blond's eye twitched when Kakashi let out another perverted giggle, reading his own book. A small, orange book known to all adults in Konoha and most parts of the world, the Icha Icha series written by the Toad Sannin, Jiraiya.
"Can you stop that?" the irritated seven-year-old asked, making the ANBU look up from his book. Kakashi sent his younger brother a questioning look.
"Hm, you said something?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the older boy and shrugged with a small smile, before turning back to his book.
'Oh! That's a bad sign,' Kakashi mused in his head, his body tensed, ready for anything the blond might try. Seconds turned into minutes and the silver-haired teen slowly let his guard down, content that nothing bad was going to happen.
Just as his eyes drifted back to his book, he felt the faintest pulses of energy before his senses screamed at him. He jumped away from his sitting position, ready to defend his precious book. Only to blink seeing that Naruto's eyes still were glued to his own book.
'What was tha-' Another pulse and before the ANBU realized it, a small streak of lightning shot into his book, causing it to catch on fire quickly. Kakashi screamed in despair as he used an E-rank Suiton Jutsu to extinguish the flames, only to realize his folly.
Horrified, the teen looked at his, now damp, Icha Icha with a hole right through the middle of it. He scowled and looked at the blond, whose eyes still didn't look up. "What was that for" He almost shouted, but refrained from doing so, reminding himself of the one-year-old Mito sleeping in the next room.
Finally, Naruto looked at Kakashi with a confused look and asked. "Did you say something?" it came out innocently, but the slight twitching of the blond's mouth revealed how Naruto truly felt about it.
"Why you little!" Kakashi said through his clenched teeth and lunged at the blond, bent on making him pay, only for the genin to jump away and ran towards the back door, which led to a small training ground.
Kakashi followed, hot on his heels, and tried to catch the blond again, and catch him he did, at least until the blond didn't vanish in a puff of smoke. It took a second for the teen to realize only to find himself holding a log. He looked at the other half of the training ground and saw Naruto sticking his tongue at him and pulling his eyes lid.
"As if catching me would be this easy, Cyclops!" Naruto shouted and ran away. Kakashi grumbled and rushed after the boy, not noticing a shadow standing on the roof of the house. The shadow jumped down once the ANBu was out of sight, without making a single noise before entering the house.
Their eyes were instantly drawn to the door leading to where Mito was sleeping. Before they turned right into the living room and stalked there silently. The shadows walked up towards the desk and saw the two books laid down, before slowly, carefully picking up the ruined Icha Icha.
Blue eyes read the blurry lines with curiosity only found in a child. Said eyes widened further and further after every line. They would continue to do so, if not for the ominous feeling behind them. Slowly, the shadow turned around and came face to face with the narrowed eye Kakashi.
"Mind telling me what are you doing there, Naruto?" The ANBu spoke slowly, an ever-present threat barely concealed behind the words. The young boy grinned with sweat pouring down his forehead, racking his brain for anything to say before an idea popped into his head.
"D-Don't worry, Kakashi-Nii. I was j-just... eh, well... looking at the damages done to the book?" The Genin answered, hoping his older brother would buy it. The Scarecrow didn't look convinced, making the blond swallow the lump in his throat.
"Ah, I see and what can you tell me about the damages?"
"Well, you certainly need a need book,"
"And who is going t buy it?" Now that was a trick question and the blond knew that the wrong answer would result in torture that Kakashi would call a training session.
"Me?" Naruto whispered, prepared to bolt through the window right behind him. For a moment there was a deafening silence before Kakashi eye-smiled and nodded.
"Good answer," The blond let out a breath he didn't know he held before a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up at the still-smiling Kakashi with a questioning look. "And your going to do it now," It was not a question, but a command. the blond grumbled before going to take some money and go buy Kakashi his book.
In one of the training grounds in the Uchiha compound, one could hear the sounds of a fierce battle. Most people would most likely get alarmed by said noises, however, the Shinobi living around the area were already used to it.
So it was no wonder that no one who was around there at the time wasn't even surprised when a shout of pain rang around the area. Had they investigated, they would have stumbled on a scene of Naruto being thrown into a tree by Itachi while Shisui laughed at the blond's expense.
The blond hit the bark of the tree with his back and shouted in pain. He looked up from the ground with a scowl at the laughing Shisui and a smirking Itachi. he slowly lifted himself up and massaged his hurting back.
"So you wanna go serious?" Naruto asked with a smirk, making the two Uchiha look at the blond with curious faces. The two-tomoe Sharingan in Itachi's eyes moved lazily, yet were prepared for anything the blond might try.
"Hn, it won't change much," Itachi answered, trying to rile his best friend up, making Shisui grin. Naruto took a breath before tensing. The younger Uchiha prepared himself, his eyes keenly observing Naruto, who looked at his opponent with a serious expression.
"Shunpo," Naruto stated before taking a step. Itachi's eyes widened when Naruto disappeared from his sight, not even his Sharingan could follow the blond's movement.
The Namikaze appeared at Itachi's side, his leg already extended, hoping to catch Itachi in his chest. At the last moment, the young Uchiha prodigy lifted his hands up, but the kick broke through his hasty-formed guard and sent him back.
Itachi stumbled across the ground before stopping in front of a shocked Shisui. 'My Sharingan barely saw him, what is this technique?' The older Uchiha thought, his fully matured Sharingan looking at the blond with fascination.
Itachi groaned and held his hurting ribs, which felt like a sledgehammer had hit them. He looked to a smug looking blond, who looked at him with a wide grin.
"Ha! Now that's speed!" The blond shouted, referring to Itachi's earlier statement that Naruto was too slow for his eyes. He turned to Shisui with a smug smirk. "What do you think?"
"Amazing! What is that technique? My Sharingan barely saw you and even then it couldn't copy it," The ten-year-old Uchiha asked curiously how the blond acquired such a powerful technique.
"Shunpo, Flash Step, is a perfect technique against our Dojutsu, cuz it can't be copied,"
"Hm, how so?"
"Because it doesn't use Chakra, just pure Spiritual Energy,"
"Great, so Naruto has now a high-level speed Jutsu, just what we needed," Itachi muttered with a scowl, still nursing his ribs.
"Ah, don't be sad, if you train hard you will one day match my speed, maybe... or not," naruto said with a childish giggle, only to yelp when Itachi threw a pebble that hit him square in the forehead protector.
"What about a speed tag? My Shunshin against your Shunpo?" Shisui asked with a grin, excited to see how the blond's Jutsu measured his mastery of the teleportation technique. Speed tag was just a normal tag, but for Shinobi. It was a training exercise used for training speed and building endurance for high-speed battles and quicker reflexes. Naruto smirked and nodded, the two of them moving to the middle of the training ground.
"Alright, you're it," the Uchiha said cheekily and prepared himself. Naruto tensed, knowing that Shisui was one of the fastest Shinobi in the Village even without Shunshin, so he had to go all out.
Suddenly the blond appeared next to the older Uchiha, his palm about to touch him. Shisui managed to move at the last second and appeared a few meters away. When his feet touched the ground, he felt a tap on his right shoulder, startling him. He saw Naruto smirk and vanish. The black-haired Shinobi grinned as he felt the rush of adrenalin at having found someone so fast.
The two disappeared, most Chunin, even some Jonin would barely be able to follow them and Itachi had to really strain his eyes to see the two dashing around, doing acrobatic and sharp turns to avoid becoming it.
As Shisui became it again, he decided to take things up a bit. 'Let's see how you do now!' He blitzed past the blond, tapping him on his back, before having to duck under a flying blond that lunged at him, trying to get him with a surprise. As the game went on, Shisui went faster and faster, constantly pushing naruto to his limit.
Naruto felt the light tap on his hand and grit his teeth. 'He is getting faster every second, I can barely keep up!' He rushed at the Uchiha, who dodged just barely. Naruto's feet touched the ground for the briefest of moments before he pushed himself away toward the Uchiha.
Again and again, Shisui kept dodging him, just barely out of his reach. The next time Naruto landed, he felt a sharp pain in his legs and came to a stop. The blond was sweating like never, gulping the air greedily, supporting himself on his knees.
Shisui and Itachi came over to the blond, one with a smug smile, while the other with an impressed look on his face. naruto looked at Shisui and smiled seeing how sweaty the oldest of them was.
"Man, you really are fast," the Namikaze said between heavy breaths, he grimaced and lay on the ground, watching the clouds drift about. Shisui looked proudly and sat down next to the blond with Itachi.
"You're one to speak. Even I wasn't so fast at your age, by the way, you alright?" Shisui asked, looking as Naruto massaged his legs. Said blond nodding with a slight wince.
"Yeah, my body isn't used to such speeds yet. I feel like I was running for hours without a break," Shisui laughed at that and patted the younger Uchiha on his shoulder.
"You really have to step up your training, if you don't want Naruto to win all your future spars," Itachi frowned at that, the thought of losing to his rival. "Well, unless you found any weaknesses in this technique?" Shisui asked, genuinely curious. Even Naruto was listening, wanting to hear Itachi's input. The Uchiha sat silent for a few moments before shaking his head.
"It's a troublesome technique. Unlike Shunshin, which is very difficult to make sharp turns with, Shunpo allows Naruto full agility. Honestly, I have no idea where the weakness of this technique would be,"
"Hehe, I am great, basking in my glory peasa-," naruto shouted when Shisui bonked him on the head.
"I still beat you though," The older Uchiha smirked, making the blond pout.
"One day, I am going to beat you in Speed tag, just you wait," The blond proclaimed, making Shisui smirk.
"Sure, sure, maybe when I will be an old man that can barely move... nah, not even then,"
"Why you!" Naruto's eye visibly twitched as he prepared to lunge at the older Uchiha.
"Calm down, calm down. Rest for a few minutes, we will spar two against one after,"
Soon, the trio of friends launched themselves into vigorous training, each wanting to get stronger than the other two, well, in Shisui's case, wanting to keep himself stronger than the two younger ones.
The winter came early to Konoha this year and it was one of the coldest in the past few years. A thick blanket of snow covered the Hidden Leaf, while more fell from the clouds, yet the people of Konoha were going on with their lives. Many Children ran around playing with the snow, building snowmen, or using it as makeshift projectiles in their Ninja games.
In one of the numerous shops opened, an eight-year-old Naruto sat, enjoying the late afternoon with a cup of hot tea, with a three-year-old Mito sitting next to him, who was drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies.
People who walked past and saw the two, waved or nodded at them with smiles, knowing well who they were. While Naruto nodded back, Mito was waving to every person back with a huge grin on her face, reminding many people that knew Kushina of her younger self.
"Naru-Nii! Why did you get a cool sword from the pointy-ear-man and I didn't?" The younger Namikaze asked, getting a chuckle from the blond at how she referred to an elven smith. Naruto looked at the basic katana resting on his lap, it had dark purple wrapping around the hilt, a circular guard, and a red sheath.
"Well, it's part of the deal I made with them about a year ago, this is my Zanpakto, this sword is a part of my soul," The blond said, putting his hand on the handle. He didn't really understand how a sword was a part of his soul, but Filvandrel told him that once the right moment came, he would understand. When he didn't hear anything from his sister, he looked over at her and saw her pouting.
"It's so cool! I want one too, can I get one, Nii-san? Can I? Can I? Please, pretty please?" Naruto laughed and patted the star-eyes Mito on her head, making her pout again.
"One day, when you become a Shinobi and decide to be a part of my division, then sure, but until then you should finish your chocolate before it gets cold," Naruto answered, making the young red-heads eyes widen before focusing back on her drink and cookies.
The two sat in the warm shop for some time before a shout from the street got their attention.
"Hey! Stop them, thieves!" A middle-aged man shouted, pointing at two cloaked forms that were running away with his stolen wares. Naruto looked around and saw no one pursuing these two and decided to do it himself. He created a Shadow Clone and turned to Mito, who even though had seen him do it many times before, still looked at the clone with awe.
"I will be right back, Mito. Wait here for me, ok?" He saw her nod twice before giving pursuit to the two thieves. He saw them duck into an alley and smirked, knowing that it was a dead end.
he entered the alley a second after them and saw two cloaked figures standing with their backs to him, looking at a high wall, that civilians wouldn't;t be able to jump over.
"Alright, so... what did you steal?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. The two turned to him, slowly backing against the wall. Naruto walked up to them slowly, keeping the distance, and stopped once their backs hit the brick wall. "Well?"
One of them, the taller one, but not by much, tensed, and Naruto waited patiently, wanting to know what they would do. The blond was slightly annoyed that the hoods of their cloaks were big enough to shadow their faces, making it hard for him to see their facial features.
The taller one finally seemed to come to a decision and rushed at him with impressive speed. For a civilian. The person swung a wide hook and the blond stepped to the side and then moved his face to the side to avoid a follow-up kick. The person turned on his heel and jumped away, prepared to defend himself but no counter came from the blond.
The young Namikaze looked at the person with a small smile, finally realizing that the two thieves were not much taller than him, actually, the second one was the same height as him. 'Kids having to steal? I wonder why,'
The taller one jumped at Naruto once again, throwing punch after punch, trying to mix in kicks in hopes of hitting the elusive blond. Said the blond merely danced around the cloaked person with a small smile on his face, making it look like he was just playing around with the taller person.
The second cloaked person, who still stood with their back against the brick wall, looked on petrified. It was the first time they saw someone play around with their partner. After all, they have seen her friend defeat a Genin not even a week ago!
But this blond kid was making it look so... so easy like he wasn't even trying. And then it was over, one moment the taller cloaked person launched a spinning kick and then she blinked and he was flying away, crimson blood flew through the air, staining the pure white snow on the ground.
The person saw the tall thief fall to the ground, holding his face, blood seeping through his hand, and groaning in pain. The smaller thief turned to the blond who stood still, with his right hand extended, blood on his knuckles.
'A single punch? He defeated Renji with a single punch?!' The smaller one panicked, running to their friend's side.
Naruto wiped the thief's blood on his pants and turned back to his downed opponent, his smile widening when he saw that the hood had lifted, revealing a young boy's face, long red hair put in a ponytail.
"So, I see his face, how about you or do you want to fight me too?" The Namikaze asked with an amused expression, making the smaller thief lift their hood with an air of resignation around them. Naruto blinked when she saw a young girl with light skin, and big purple eyes, that reminded him of his mother and Mito, with black hairs of which several strands hanging between her eyes.
She looked at the blond with an air of resignation, already knowing what will happen to the two of them.
"My name is Namikaze naruto, what's yours?" That was not what the girl was expecting. She thought he would shout for a Shinobi or take them in himself to the Uchiha Police force, but he asked about their names. And then she couldn't hide her surprise at meeting the son of the Fourth Hokage. Sure, she heard about him around the Village, but she has never seen him.
"I am Rukia and this is Renji," She answered uncertainly, making Renji look at her in shock.
"Rukia! Why did you tell this jerk our names?" His voice was muffled by his most likely broken nose and the hand that was still holding it.
"And what do you want me to do?" The young girl asked with an annoyed expression, lifting her eyes from Naruto and glaring at her red-headed friend.
"This!" Renji shouted and leaped at Naruto once again, hoping to catch him off-guard, only to stop to a stretching halt when the blade of a Ktana rested near his throat.
"That's not a good idea," Naruto stated and sheathed his sword back. Renji swallowed and took a cautious step back.
'I didn't even see him unsheath it!' The boy panicked in his head, seeing how futile any further resistance might be.
"Alright, so, why did you steal whatever you stole?" Naruto asked, looking at them with a quizzical expression. The two expected him to look at them with a sneer or with disgust, like anyone else that caught them before. But to their surprise, there was none of it on his face, he merely looked confused.
It was a known fact that Konoha had many Orphans, caused by the third Shinobi war and the Kyubi attack and while there were orphanages in the Village, many of orphans ended up on the streets. The Village had more pressing matters to spend money on that Orphanages, like rebuilding the Village, bolstering its forces, and rebuilding its economy. Many people looked at the homeless Orphans with contempt as if they were a stain on Konoha's reputation and treated them as nothing more than thrash.
Seeing that Naruto wanted to see what they stole, Rukia took out two thick blankets and showed them to the blond.
"The winter is really harsh and I and Renji need them but can't afford to buy them," Rukia muttered, her hands clenching the warm blankets the two needed to survive.
"Ah, you two are homeless then?" Naruto asked sadly, getting two slow nods. They expected him to end this by getting them to the Police station, but they saw a small smile bloom on his face and whatever they expected wasn't this.
"Then how about a deal?"
"A deal?" Renji asked, not liking where this was going.
"Yes, have you two thought about becoming Shinobi?"
The two friends looked at each other and then back at Naruto. It wasn't rare for Orphans to be enlisted by the Village to become Shinobi, but they didn't have heard about homeless children being offered this chance. It was a dream of every orphan to one day become a famous Shinobi, go explore the world, earn well, and become famous and it was no different for these two.
"What is it to you?" Rukai asked, not willing to raise her hopes high. Naruto gave the two a large grin and motioned them to follow him. They looked unsure but complied. The trio of children walked through the Village at a leisurely pace, when they got back to the area where Mito left her sister, he turned back to them.
"Alright, give me the blankets," The Genin said and extended his right hand. Rukia complied with narrowed eyes and Rneji grumbled under his breath.
"I told you it was just bait, to get us to give it back," The red-haired boy said to his friend who sent him an annoyed look. Naruto walked into the shop and a few moments later came back. "Now that's done, let's get my sister and I will show you where you can stay over," Without another word, the blond walked over to the shop Mito was still staying. Renji and Rukia looked at him with stunned silence, making the blond turn around when he noticed they weren't following.
"Y-You mean it?" Renji asked, not sure if the blond was just playing a cruel joke at their expense. Naruto looked at them with an understanding look and nodded.
"Yeah, you see, I am in charge of an upcoming division that will be right under Hokage's control, but I need people for it,"
"And we are to join this division?" Rukia asked and Naruto nodded in response.
"If you want, but even if you decide against it, I will let you stay for the winter. After all, we orphans have to help each other right?" Naruto said and turned around. "Come on, it's getting dark soon and I will need Mito to go to sleep soon,"
The next day, early in the morning, Naruto stood in the Hokage office in front of the Sandaime. After explaining Rukia's and Renji's situation and their agreement to join the Imperial Guard as well as giving his report on his progress, Sandaime was pleased to hear the news.
"Well, if it works out, you will have two loyal Shinobi in your division,"
"Yeah, and I think they will be strong,"
"Oh? And how did you come to this conclusion?" The Sandaime asked with an amused expression, yet not refuting the blond's statement.
"Renji has some good moves for his age without any prior training and Rukia has a large amount of Charka for a civilian," Even though he was not a sensor, he still felt her Charka pools when the two of them were standing next to each other.
yesterday, after picking up Mito, he led them to the Imperial Guard HQ and gave them two rooms. Tazuna, an old master bridgebuilder, and his crew were working on rebuilding the old Uzumaki compound and had already half of it prepared to live in.
The plans for the HQ were to split it into five districts. One in the middle, and four around it. The plan was to divide the Imperial Guard into five sub-divisions with a Captain each, who would then get orders from the blond, who would lead the first division. Something like ANBU was using, but not as dispersed, and with a more stable hierarchy by using a system of seated officers who would have seniority, depending on their position.
The elves, that came with Filavandrel, which accounted for around thirty of them, of which 20 were female, were a part of the fourth division and lived in the southeastern part of the HQ. Filavandrel was the current Captain of the division and took care of the elves, since only they were in the division for now. Renji and Rukia were given rooms in the first second division, which was in the northwestern part of the HQ since it was the only other one that was ready to be used.
Tazuna and his crew were currently working on the central part of the compound, which was the first division's quarters, and were around halfway done. The plan was to have each division own its own barracks and training ground in hopes of creating better comradery between the different division members.
"What about their training? They are not Shinobi and have not been attending the academy," Hiruzen asked, lighting up his pipe.
"Well, I was hoping to get Kakashi to do me a favor and train them on the basics when he had some free time and I would take over once they had the main concepts down,"
"I see, well I will leave that to you. Now, there is something important I want to talk with you about,"
"What do you need, old man?"
"The Chunin exams are approaching and will be taking place in Konoha this time around,"
"Is it the time already? I thought there was still some time left till the next exam,"
"Yes, the first part will start in two weeks' time. I want you to enter,"
"But I don't have a team?" The blond stated with a confused expression. For a moment a thought about Hiruzen placing him on a team flew through his head, but he dismissed this idea.
"Exactly, I want you to enter alone and claim the victory for Konoha,"
"Alone? Is that even allowed?"
"In special cases, yes. Your father was one such case and he even set up a record for the second part of the exam that none had beaten so far,"
"Ok! Count me in," Hiruzen smiled fondly, understanding how much Naruto wanted to surpass his father's legacy and this was one of the opportunities he had to do so. "Anyone else interesting joining?"
"Hm, not really, but the container of Nibi is supposed to join,"
"Kumo is sending a team? Well, that's interesting. What about the other three great Villages?" It was a known fact that both Iwa and Kumo still were sore after their humiliating defeat in the third Shinobi war and the tensions were high, especially with the events a few years prior.
"The Tsuchikage has declined the invitation, the Mizukage is sending three teams and the Kazekage is sending five teams. The smaller nations are sending teams as well, but nothing that would catch your eye,"
"Okey, so when does the first part of the exam start?"
"12 December at the Konoha academy, ten in the morning,"
"Is Itachi going to join?" The blond asked, curious about his friend and rival. He heard about his team and they sounded to be ready for the exam, but even if they didn't he was sure the council would pressure their Sensei to make the team join just for the Uchiha's sake.
"Their Sensei had yet to confirm their entrance, but I am sure that once they come from their C-Ranked mission you will have your answer,"
"Sweet, I need to prepare to crush the exams, see ya around," The blond shouted and ran out of the Hokage office, leaving an amused old man behind.
Alright! The next Chapter is done. To be honest, I wanted to make a time skip but decided to go over some events in Naruto's life, like introducing new side characters and showing some of his progress, and getting his Zanpakto.
This Chapter takes place over a year in the story and after some thinking, I wanted to give Naruto and Itachi a Chunin exam, which will be in the next Chapter. I plan on making Rukia and Renji important later on in the story so I will be fleshing out their characters in the next chapters.
An Important note, I will be using probably a lot of characters from other series which I mentioned in the last Chapter to make out the members of the Imperial Guard division since I think they will be easier to write and read than any OC's I might make. Even then the characters will probably differ slightly from their regular personalities in their shows.
I am debating between two Zanpaktos for Naruto and can't decide which to use. One is really OP, but I think it would match better to Naruto's character and soul than the other, but I am afraid it will make him too strong.
Let me know what you think in the reviews.
Next Chapter: The Chunin Exams!
Thanks for reading, see ya!