Chapter Three – Welcome to the Team

"From this day onward, the three of you are no longer genin." Ibiki announced dourly, examining each young face with black obsidian eyes which betrayed not even the slightest of emotions. "Until the day you three graduate from the Morino Academy of Special ANBU Training, I will own your asses. You are not this village's shinobi anymore. You're mine. Understood?"

"What he means, is that the three of you are now ANBUs-in-training. That means that until you pass a proficiency exam telling you which division you are, you won't actually have a permanent title to your name," explained Fujino, her own red eyes glinting with mirth. "Taishou has kindly adopted you three as his apprentices, and he has already asked the other divisions to help in your training later on. That also means that you won't be answering to the Hokage anymore."

"But why? Isn't ANBU under the Hokage's chain of command?" Naruto asked.

"Ever heard of plausible deniability?" Ibiki growled. "We do the dirty work here. We do things that normal shinobi don't even dream of doing. Thing is, the Hokage has to be all nice and friendly-like to his people, and even to his enemies. If one of them accuses him of having us do something that isn't legit...well, he'd know nothing about it, and it's only our asses that get punished 'round here." He scratched one of the many scars which decorated his face, continuing, "See, you don't have the choice of being all proper anymore. You're ANBU, and ANBU don't get names like genin, chuunin or jounin. Since you're my apprentices, you're not formally shinobi of the village anymore—not until you've passed a test saying you're ANBU. If you so much as sneeze at me, and I find that disrespectful, mind, I can fire your asses and you'll be begging for work in the streets. 'Course, we ain't telling everyone about our grand scheme—ANBU matters remain within ANBU walls—so you don't go tattling to your friends. Same goes to the Hokage. Keep your bloody mouths shut."

"That means, to the rest of the world, you're still just a genin team. The only time we actually reveal otherwise, is if we find that you three are of no use to us, in which case, we simply send you back to the Academy where you can wait for another jounin-sensei to take over your team. Of course, you'll have to do at least one more year of Academy work, and that's only if you pass the tests a second time." Fujino smiled at the three youngsters—all wearing varying expressions of shock and nervousness—and added, "Taishou's fair, if it helps...unless you do something which really pisses him off, and even then you'd probably get off lightly. Oh, the stories I could tell about his old underlings."

"Fujino," Ibiki spoke in what sounded like a warning.

"Ara, ara, is the taishou angry at me again?" teased Fujino. "See? He can be nice at times. He could have cut off my ears by now, or quite possibly even my tongue, but he hasn't, because he values my services too much."

"I'm only keeping you because the other divisions think you're too much of a psychopath," Ibiki snapped.

"Everyone in TAI is, Taishou," Fujino reminded him.

"TAI?" It was Ino's turn to ask.

"Torture and Interrogation," Naruto supplied. "It's an acronym."

Ibiki sniffed and leaned back against his chair, folding his arms huffily. "Since you seem eager to tell them more about what they're to expect—my punishment to bastard disloyal underlings notwithstanding—why don't you go ahead and talk. I'll interrupt if I think you're holding something back."

"Or rather, when I'm saying too much, right, Taishou?" She asked. Knowing that she wouldn't get an answer out of him, she turned to her three new underlings and said, "Taishou's a very busy man, so you'll be answering to me most of the time. Yes, Naruto?"

"Sorry if I'm interrupting but uh, why you? No offense, but I just want to know who it is I'm actually answering to."

"Fujino is my third-in-command. She doesn't do any field work for me so she was the ideal choice for when it came to who would take over your training." He raised his hand, stopping Naruto from asking another question. "Not a lot of villages like Fujino. She did a lot of damage during the Third Great Shinobi War, so she's made a lot of enemies in foreign shinobi territory."

"The Cloud nins were going to kill my most precious people, Taishou. They killed Akihiko and Shinjiro-sensei. I couldn't let them kill Natsuki too," Fujino muttered darkly. Sighing, she shook her head and reached for the cup of tea which appeared to be by her side all along. It baffled the three young shinobi, the way she always seemed to have a cup of tea about her person, though none of them had asked her how that was even possible. "Let's just say that I'm not going out of Konoha anytime soon and leave it at that." Her expression relaxed, and the serene smile returned. "Now where was I? Ara, ara, Naruto's been a naughty boy—dragging me off topic like this. As I was saying, the three of you will be under my command most of the time. If I think you'll be useful helping the Cryptology division—which isn't really part of ANBU, but they're a useful group to know, if you need a certain enemy message decoded—I'll send you there, even if it means, simply having to file away their paperwork."

"The crypto-nins are a bunch of lazy assholes. If it weren't for young Shiho-san over there, I doubt they could even function properly as a group," Ibiki cut in.

"If I think you need to learn some chakra-control exercises, I'll teach you some. This is why one of the things we'll be doing first is to have you three do a mock-battle against me, tomorrow morning so that I can assess your abilities," Fujino continued and shot Ibiki an irritated look. "In terms of missions, you'll be taking some D-class missions for the Hokage to keep up with the pretence, but we'll try to keep that in moderation. D-class missions may be helpful for character-building, but for your own personal growth, they are frankly just a waste of time. I'll be looking to set you up with missions which the Hokage would normally rank as B or C. Of course, all this would be the under-the-table kind, and your payments will be coming from the ANBU's coffers."

"Which we acquire, in the same under-the-table kind of way."

"There's also the issue of your clothing. Keep in mind that we will be doing a variety of missions, and your clothes won't always be suitable." Fujino spoke, looking pointedly at both Ino and Naruto. "For example, though your clothes might be good for combat"—she gestured towards the gun and bandoliers which Naruto wore on his person—"there will be times when you must look inconspicuous. On retrieval missions, you must also need to move fast, and such objects might hamper your movement." She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face. "A henge might be a solution, but on enemy territory, such actions would be considered dangerous; some people are sharp enough to sense even the smallest of jutsus. By using henge, you might as well wave a sign about saying, 'I'm a target. Hit me.' We'll have to think about what kinds of clothes you should wear in the future."

"Fujino's just looking for an excuse to dress you three up," Ibiki observed derisively, leaning against the palm of his left hand.

Fujino rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Remember Kumogakure? You went there for a diplomat mission wearing full-body armour and a simple henge. And then what happened? They were giving you a tour to the Academy there, and one of the kids accidentally expelled too much chakra, dispelling your henge. They thought you were enemy shinobi, the way you looked."

"I happen to be comfortable wearing full-body armour," answered Ibiki defensively. "Formal wear just doesn't suit me."

"You barely got out of there alive," Fujino spoke flatly, narrowing her eyes.

"I didn't want that mission in the first place!"

"The Kage's daughter had a crush on you. The Sandaime thought it would be a tactical advantage for us if you went there for the peace treaty."

Ibiki grunted and pushed off his desk, walking towards the door. "I need coffee," he said to no one in particular, exiting the room, a sullen look on his face.

"And that is exactly why you should only use henges as a last resort," Fujino said solemnly, taking another sip of her tea. "You'll be reporting to my office at zero, five hundred hours every day on week days, and at zero, seven hundred hours on weekends. Any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand hesitantly. "How exactly do you manage to stay alive for so long, the way you act around him, Fujino-san?"

"I honestly don't know," Fujino spoke innocently. "And that's Fujino-sensei to you, by the way. Think of me as your jounin-sensei. Except I don't very much like rules, I don't have to do the paperwork for any of your missions, and I don't wear jounin vests because they clash horribly with my kimonos. Any other questions?"

"If we do out-of-the-village missions, who will accompany us as our jounin-sensei?" Ino inquired.

"Good question. We'll burn that bridge when we get there." She tilted her head. "Or is it cross? You know, I always confuse those two."

"Fujino-sensei, I'm afraid that I cannot be here by five o'clock in the morning every day, due to conflicts with my training. I can talk to my outo-san about this, and perhaps move my training to a different time, though I'd really prefer to keep the schedule that I already have." Shino spoke for the first time since the conversation started. He didn't seem particularly fond of talking, and even now he seemed hesitant to speak. "Would seven o'clock sound better?"

"I`ve worked with Aburames before. I know how much they value their routines," Fujino acknowledged. "Very well, you may report at a later time, but you must write a detailed report of your training during that time. You may skip the actual details of it, if you feel that you'll be giving away clan secrets, but I'd at least like to hear progress from you. Is that satisfactory to you?"

"Yes, thank you."

"My turn to ask a question," Fujino said brightly, placing her cup on the desk just besides her. Clamping her hands together, she asked in a light-hearted tone, "What do you think about body piercing?"

Naruto was exiting the ANBU building—there were five of them, though Naruto had only ever visited one—when Ixion interrupted his thoughts. I see you've passed your test, Naruto-sama. Congratulations.

"Well, I am brilliant, aren't I?" Naruto asked loudly. He made a face as he felt civilians gaze at him with a mixture of distrust and confusion. I guess I can't go talkin' out loud. He thought sourly, heading towards the direction of his apartment. Unless I want the word crazy and whatever synonyms it has, being added to their arsenal of curse words, for when they're lookin' for a fight against me.

They must be stupid then; only idiots look for fights they know they can't win against.

Hah. Naruto snorted. You haven't been here long enough, trust me. Ever know of divine favour? Well, the villagers believe that since I'm some kind of bakemono, they'd win against me, no matter what the odds. Something to do with the gods being in their favour and all.

Then they are even bigger idiots. Ixion concluded solemnly. So, are you having any trouble with the clothes?

Not at all; they fit me perfectly! Okami-baa-san knows some really good people, neh?

Indeed. What about the gun? Is it to your satisfaction?

I've tried shooting, but it's really hard, and recoil's always a bitch. Shouta-jiji says I need to practice on my stance and strengthen my arms. But overall, it's still pretty nifty. He hesitated, before adding, I'm not used to the weight though. It's kinda unbalancing, and I think the bandoliers will get in the way, if I ever do hand to hand combat. That's what Fujino-sensei said anyway.

I may have a solution for that. Remember the scrolls you found in the Kedamono estate?

Yeah, some of them are in my apartment. I think I'll need some more space if I want to build my own scroll library, Naruto admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed. My room's a mess, and even if I do clean it up, it's still too small to accommodate everything.

You needn't worry about that, Naruto. Ixion paused, as if considering something. Finally, he spoke. I need you to do a Kage Bunshin, Naruto-sama. Can you do that?

Uh, sure. Naruto didn't even bother forming the hand seals. He simply let his chakra stream out of him and felt it form a perfect copy of himself. He had done enough clones in the past few months—clones he used to orchestrate his devious plans to get back on the villagers—enough that he could now summon a horde of them without even batting an eyelid. Sometimes, he still formed the seal, but that was only for show.

What stunned him was the feeling of something—a presence of some kind, perhaps?—leave his body. He turned around to make a comment to his doppelganger, and almost bumped into a man with long snowy white hair tied in a ponytail and eyes of an icy blue, staring at him with something akin to amusement. He had a muscled frame, and reminded Naruto of a blacksmith, though his arms did not bear the burn marks of a man who spent his days in a smithy. "How do I look?"

"I-Ixion?"

"The one and only," the man spoke in a deep baritone. "I'll be going to the Kedamono estate to do some research for you. If things work out well, I may know of a technique that will make it easy for you to change clothes. In the mean time, will you be alright without my company?"

"Oh, yeah," Naruto replied, grinning up to the man. "Will you be alright though?"

"I know this village well enough." Ixion shrugged. "Besides, if I ever need to come back to you, all I need is to dispel this clone." He nodded and disappeared in a flash.

"Huh, who knew I could make a Kage bunshin and have one of my Aeons occupy it as its temporary body?" Naruto wondered to himself. "Maybe I could have Ixion spar with me in the future! Yeah, that would be kinda cool."

It did not take him long to reach his destination, and by that time, he had thought of several ways Ixion could help him in human form. He could be my personal bodyguard! Naruto thought, chuckling to himself as he rose up the steps. Not that he needed protecting of course, but it still sounded like a wickedly cool idea.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Oh, Shouta-jiji." Naruto waved at the old man and ran towards him. "What brings you here? Are you finally going to ask Okami-baa-san out for dinner?" Shouta lived just a floor below, and it was rare for Naruto to see him near his apartment room.

"Naruto-kun, you should know by now that someone as young as you shouldn't meddle with the affairs of us old people," Shouta admonished. "And just to answer that question: no, I'm here to ask you out for dinner. Whether you're looking for some underlying meaning there or not..." He left the last sentence hanging and beckoned for Naruto to follow them.

The village pariah made a face and followed Shouta through the crowded food street found in Toshikasa District. "Neh, Shouta-jiji, are you treating me to some ramen?" Naruto asked half-heartedly, already knowing the answer.

"Ramen again, Naruto-kun? Is that all that you think about?" Shouta grimaced. "No, don't answer that." They entered a small restaurant Shouta frequented and sat near one of the windows. "We'll be eating something a bit healthier than ramen today, Naruto-kun." The old man spoke, nodding to one of the waiters who came to give them their menus. "How are you today Kyoko-chan?"

The black-haired youth who was already serving them their tea, smiled in return. "I'm doing fine, Ojiisan." To Naruto, she said, "Eat your vegetables now, Naruto-kun, or else I'll shove them down your throat...one, by one." An evil energy erupted from her, making Naruto slide further down his seat, sweat trickling down his face.

"Of course, Kyoko-chan! I'll eat every one of them!" He replied and gulped, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"Good." Kyoko bowed and left for the kitchen, the evil aura disappearing as soon as she left.

"Maa, maa, do we always have to come here?" Naruto whined, folding his arms and pouting in a very childish manner. "Kyoko-chan scares me."

"Of course," Shouta said, doing a thumbs-up. "How else can I make you eat your vegetables?" He dropped his smiling expression and regarded Naruto with grave eyes. "Naruto, what's that on your ear?"

"Oh, this?" Naruto shrugged. "Fujino-sensei brought us to one of their fuuinjutsu specialists and had our ears pierced for these earrings. She said that if we're ever in real danger and we needed help—like fast—we send some chakra to the hoop which then sends a signal to someone else who also wears a similar piece of jewellery—one that has the seals engraved on it—to call for help. Fujino-sensei opted for the earring because she says that unless we have enough chakra control, we couldn't possible try wearing other kinds of jewellery—like a ring or a necklace—because those kinds of jewellery can be found near main chakra points. She says that a normal shinobi always use chakra for those body parts, so if we ever use jewellery like that, then we might be sending false signals all the time to our fellow teammates."

"Wait, slow down a bit." Shouta scratched his stubbly cheeks, frowning pensively. "So you basically had your ear pierced for an earring which, when filled with chakra, can send signals that can call for other members of your team to help you?"

"Yep!"

"Huh, efficient and fashionable at the same time. It still surprises me, sometimes, how advanced the shinobi equipment are, nowadays."

"Fujino-sensei must be a really good kunoichi," Naruto continued, as if Shouta hadn't interrupted him in the first place. "She wears a ring on her finger instead of earrings, and she never has any problem keeping her chakra from going to the ring." He stopped to thank Kyoko who had placed their dishes in front of them, before saying, "She also said something about wearing the ring to keep her suitors at bay, though personally, I don't see what's wrong with that. It must be cool to have fangirls like she does."

"Fangirls?" Kyoko sniffed. "I used to be a fangirl once, until that bastard Fuwa left me for his manager." She scurried away, muttering about vengeance on a certain popular singer and leaving the two of them with their dinner.

"Fangirls?" Shouta asked, echoing Kyoko's question. "Don't you mean fanboys?"

"She already made it clear a long time ago with her male suitors that she wasn't interested in them," Naruto spoke offhandedly, picking up his chopsticks and munching on his yakitori.

"Oh."

"Aren'tcha going to congratulate me on passing my genin exams?" He asked, changing topics to make up for the awkward silence.

"I suppose I can congratulate you, my dear boy, but seeing as your head is already too big for your shoulders, I doubt you need the extra praise," teased Shouta, returning to his cheerful self. "Besides, that's not why I asked you to come and eat dinner with me. Remember those scrolls you gave me yesterday?"

"Yeah, the gun's awesome, by the way."

"I'll need to take that in and make some adjustments to it," Shouta said. "I only managed to do a rough copy of an actual gun, so yours still needs a lot of fixing before it can actually last long in a battle. The reason why I've warned you not to use it too much is because for now, you can only use that gun three times in an hour. If you use it anymore than that, the gun will overheat and quite possibly explode. What's more is that I'd like for you to learn how to make your own guns and do modifications on them. After all, I won't always be here, and if you travel to other places for a mission, someone will have to be able to do maintenance on your gun to keep it in good working condition, and that someone can't be me. I ain't shinobi after all, so I can't go trailing after you. And I'm certainly too old for that kind of job anyway."

Naruto's ears perked up. "Did I hear right? Are you really going to teach me how to make guns?" The blonde shinobi asked excitedly. At Shouta's nod, he pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "Yatta! Thank you so much, Shouta-jiji. You won't regret this."

"I sure hope not," Shouta muttered quietly to himself. Tugging at Naruto's jacket, he motioned for him to sit down again. "Let's finish this up and head home. I'm sure you'll want to use up what little free time you have left today to do your little pranks. Starting tomorrow, you'll be too busy with studying and shinobi work to even make up a trap for one of those villagers on your hit-list."

"I won't ever be too busy when it comes to paying those bastards back for what they did to me," grumbled Naruto, dark blue eyes flashing dangerously at Shouta's direction. "I'll make time for those, even if I have to. Speaking of which, Fujino-sensei has made it clear that we will be reporting outside of her office every day at five o'clock in the morning. That means that if I'll be learning those scrolls for gun-making, we'll have to them in the afternoons."

"Ah, I always did love a woman who didn't like to waste time," Shouta said, smiling dreamily. He shook his head, chuckling, "Very well, afternoons then."

Wake up, Naruto-sama. A gentle voice whispered in Naruto's ear.

The blonde boy opened his eyes and looked around blearily. "Hmm?" He wondered why there was no one in the room. He could have sworn he heard someone speak.

Naruto-sama?

Oh right. He had an Aeon now who liked to speak inside his head. "What is it, Ixion?"

It is a quarter to five, Naruto-sama. You will be late for your first day if you don't get a move on now.

"Oh shit! You're right, Ixion," Naruto spoke hurriedly, stumbling out of his bed and grabbing the first clothes he could find. He ended up wearing what he wore yesterday, minus the belt which held his gun and the bandoliers he wore across his chest—those were with Shouta, and he wouldn't be able to get them until the next day.

Climbing out of his window, he took a moment to survey his surroundings, mapping out the quickest route to the ANBU building, Division Four. He was relieved to note that their building was close to the Toshikasa District, which meant that if he ran there now, he'd arrive on time. "Neh, Ixion?"

What is it, Naruto-sama?

"How come I never felt you come back last night?" Naruto asked, jumping onto another rooftop.

I'm afraid I had gotten caught up with reading the family scrolls, Naruto-sama. There was a hint of embarrassment in Ixion's tone as he replied. I've never before experienced the feeling of reading from an actual scroll. Forgive me if I had worried you.

That's not the only reason. Naruto thought back, too busy manoeuvring in the air to answer properly. Ever since I woke up, I've been getting...these snippets of being chased.

Oh! Er...I, well I wanted to see for myself the kind of night life you humans lead, and things sort of got out of hand.

But being chased by women, Ixion? What the hell were you doing? Stealing lingerie? Hell, even I wouldn't do that.

For your information, I wasn't stealing lingerie, Naruto-sama. Ixion sounded hurt. I happened to enter a bar, win myself a few free drinks, and the next thing I know, I'm being chased by a horde of women who wanted to erm...sleep with me?

Oh. Why would they want to sleep with you? You don't even have a room of your own.

...you don't get it, do you?

Get what?

...maybe when you're older.

Naruto rolled his eyes and entered Division Four, muttering about cryptic Horse-Lords and women. He turned around a corner and walked up three flights of stairs, trying to remember where to head to next.

"Naruto! Hey, Naruto, wait up." A voice called to him from below. He turned around and waved cheerfully at Ino who was running up the stairs as fast as she could.

"Good morning, Ino-chan."

"Morning, Naruto." Ino wiped off the sweat trickling down her forehead. "Man, do we really have to wake up this early in the morning? I barely had time to apply all of my make-up, and I've been awake since four!"

"Don't worry, Ino-chan," Naruto said consolingly, falling in step with Ino who fortunately knew where they were supposed to go. "You don't need to wear make-up to be a full-fledged kunoichi."

Ino punched Naruto's arm and hissed in pain as her hand connected with the hitai-ate. "What the—frick—what the hell does that mean exactly?"

"He means that you don't need all that make-up to pretty yourself up, Ino-chan." A highly amused voice with a slight accent greeted them. "You're already pretty as you are."

Ino blushed and looked down. "Good morning, Fujino-sensei."

Naruto grinned and waved, "Yo, Sensei!"

She bowed her head in reply and motioned for them to enter her office. "Ara, ara, the sun hasn't even risen yet, and already the two of you are so energetic. I feel old just looking at the two of you. It's truly a pity Shino-kun couldn't join us so early in the morning; I'm sure he would be brimming with youthful energy as well."

Naruto harrumphed. "Yeah, right."

"Ino-chan, will you make me some tea? There's a good girl. And Naruto-kun? If you could sweep the floor? That would be lovely." Fujino sat in front of her desk. "You are both probably wondering why I chose to have you come here this early in the morning, everyday during week days."

"Damn right we are," Naruto muttered darkly, beginning to sweep through Fujino's already spotless floor.

"This is because I've signed you three up as Courier-nins. You'll be working with skilled shinobi who deliver messages and packages to various people living inside the village. Normally, they do outside the village too, but I'd like for the three of you to stay inside Konohagakure as much as possible for now. As to why I'm making you do this, the job will help you build up your chakra reserves, increase your speed, and give you access to a lot of places inside Konohagakure that are normally restricted from genin and chuunin shinobi. People will be seeing you, and they'd know about your job. This is ideal for your situation because it gives you a reason to hang around in the different ANBU buildings. It will also benefit you greatly in terms of your knowledge of the layout of the village. You will find that there is more to this place than meets the eye." She turned to Naruto. "I heard you wanted to be the Hokage one day, and I applaud you for your ambitious nature. Well, one of the things the Hokage has to know is the village, because if enemy shinobi were to attack us on our turf, you will have to know the village inside out, to be able to use its resources to your advantage. Consider this a lesson." To Ino, she said, "Your chakra reserves are not up to par with our requirements. As I've said before, the job will help you build up your reserves, and that would benefit you greatly, especially if I am to teach you high-ranking genjutsu."

There was silence for a moment, and then, "Yatta! Hey, hey, did you hear that, Ino-chan? She's gonna teach us genjutsu," Naruto crowed excitedly.

Fujino coughed politely and spoke up, "Ino-chan will be learning genjutsu. You...well, I might be able to teach you some, but your chakra reserves will make it impossible for you to learn anything really complex. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure you'll turn out into a powerful shinobi someday, but you're just not cut out as a genjutsu user."

"Huh?"

"I've read it in your records that it's impossible for you to create a normal Bunshin, correct?"

Naruto pouted. "Hey! You don't have to rub it in."

"Well, the reason behind that is, because of your chakra reserves—which are far beyond any I've seen in such a young age, mind—it's hard for you to control your chakra and use jutsus which require fine-precision control to be able to execute successfully. It's like trying to push a fully-woven cloth inside a needle."

"Oh," Naruto's expression deflated even further, making him lean on his broom.

"If it makes you feel any better, you'll be learning a different set of jutsus from my former genin teammate, Natsuki-chan. She's from the Hunter Unit, but used to specialize on assassinations."

"The three of you will be learning to read footprints, identify false shinobi trails, and whatever else I feel necessary for you to learn." A voice spoke up, coming out of Fujino's bedroom. She wore a loose shirt and dark trousers while her hitai-ate was nowhere to be found. She moved fluidly, with the grace of a predator, blue hair flowing behind her like a river, sharp green eyes sweeping over the room with the ability of one who was trained to see everything and miss nothing. She stopped in front of Fujino-sensei's desk, sitting on top of it and crossing her legs. "For Naruto specifically, you will learn how to kill."

"Why just me though?"

The woman shrugged. "A favour from Shizuru. Personally, I don't care, as long as you don't get in the way of my work." To Fujino, she said, "Do I really have to wake up this early in the morning though? You know I'm a night creature by nature, Shizuru. Besides, you made me stay up so late last night..." she paused and blinked, "...doing your paperwork. Yeah, y-you had me do your paperwork," she added with a slight blush.

"Ara, ara. Are you embarrassed about our...relationship, Natsuki-chan?"

"Don't Natsuki-chan me," she snapped and huffed. "Damnit, it really is too early in the morning for me." Groaning, she grabbed the cup of tea Ino-chan was about to set on the table, taking a small sip. "It's just introductions today, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'm going back to sleep."

"Please forgive Natsuki—I mean, Kuga-sensei—for rushing off like that," Fujino spoke sombrely, after watching Kuga disappear in Fujino's bedroom. "I really did give her a hard time last night with all those...paperwork. As to why Naruto-kun was chosen to learn assassination methods on his own, I'm afraid you'll have to ask Taishou. It was his orders." She looked at the clock high up on the wall, opposite to her desk. "I believe it's almost time for us to meet your new somewhat semi-permanent clients. Naruto-kun, if you can send a clone later to wait outside the Aburame clan and lead Shino-kun to the Courier central building, that would be just great. We still have an hour and a half to spare until seven, but I'd like to give the two of you a tour of the building to get the two of you familiarized with your surroundings."

"Sure," Naruto said. "Just one question: do you guys all have sleeping quarters here?"

The rest of the morning passed by with very little happening. Their team leader—a senior Courier nin who would give them their missions and make sure they would stay on task—was currently in Grass Country, delivering a package. They instead used up the rest of the morning, fitting the three genin with Courier uniforms: a Courier's badge which allowed them free access in certain restricted areas and a dark green military jacket with matching trousers. The badge they could wear at anytime, while the uniform was only ever worn during formal occasions, or for visiting foreign countries, and that was only for show. They were also given maps to study, with markings placed on them to show which routes to take just before they were shooed off the building. Apparently, the Courier-nins were a busy lot, and they didn't need people being in their way right now.

That left them with enough time for Fujino's mock battle. A couple of minutes later, they arrived at Training Area Thirty-four—a scenic spot near a zigzagging river—the four of them silent as they placed their items among some trees nearby.

Fujino who wore a purple kimono folded the creases as best as she could and beckoned for them to attack her. "I believe we should start off with a free-style round. If I feel that you are lacking somewhere—perhaps you are using too many jutsus and not showing me enough of your taijutsu, then I will say so. Understood? In this mock battle, you must attack me with the intention to kill. Any other way and I'm afraid I will be very, very disappointed in you. Begin."

The three of them rushed towards her, weapons drawn and ready. Shino attacked from Fujino's left, and Ino from Fujino's right. Naruto would have summoned clones too, but with the two of them already engaging combat, his clones would only get in the way. Instead, he attacked from the front, focusing some of his attention to his surroundings, so as not to hit his two teammates instead. It was hard, really hard, to restrain himself, and that's when he realized how poorly he had been trained for situations like this; his taijutsu style focused on defeating crowds, not individuals.

It was then that he also realized another thing. "Why the fucking hell do we have to do this on the day that I don't have my gun with me," Naruto grumbled to himself as the three of them suddenly separated, dodging one of Fujino's attacks. A naginata had materialized in her hand, and she had slammed it blade first against the ground, breaking it.

He rolled behind a tree and closed his eyes, debating on whether to fight head-on, or use stealth. An idea popped in his head, and he smiled. Well, why not? He knew this battle had nothing to do with working together. Fujino wanted to evaluate their abilities, not as a team—because they haven't actually been trained to work together—but as an individual.

He shifted his weight and felt the gun materialize against the palm of his hand. He'd rather use the one Shouta had made for him—it could shoot chakra and normal bullets as well—but unfortunately that was out of commission. This one required more chakra and could only be used for summoning. "Shiva, goddess of ice, destroyer of worlds...come forth and do battle! Diamond Dust!"

He gritted his teeth and felt the force knock him off his feet. Quickly he recovered, and saw Fujino batting the large snow crystal away as if a mere fly. "Ara, ara. Is that all you can do?"

He smiled. Maybe if he could force Fujino to move, he would find a weakness. He shot another ice beam towards Fujino and used a Doton jutsu to bring a wave of mud crashing down against her. Instead of hitting the ice ball this time, she jumped away and rolled to her side, quickly using a Katon jutsu to solidify the mud. She then raised her hands up in time to block Ino's kick, slamming the butt face down and using the momentum to kick Shino's ribs.

They're using my attacks to their advantage. Naruto thought, chuckling to himself. And it also seems that Fujino-sensei can move quite well, for someone who wears a kimono. "Neh, Sensei, are you sure you want to fight us while wearing that flimsy thing? You told us once that you should use clothing appropriately."

"Do you really think I would need to change for a simple mock battle like this?" Fujino asked, unfazed by the fact that Naruto had just unleashed one of his more powerful jutsus.

Ah, bullshit. Naruto climbed up a tree and scratched his head, observing from afar as Ino and Shino continued to fight against Fujino. "Maa, we really need to get that naginata out of the way." He murmured to himself. He blinked and shook his head. "Yeah as if that's..." His eyes widened in realization. "Huh, maybe it will."

He took a deep breath and let the gun materialize in his hand once more. His right hand was already shaking from exhaustion and he knew he could only do three more partial summons right now. He raised his hand and aimed for Fujino. "Fire in the hole!" Ino and Shino scattered.

Another ball of ice flew towards Fujino. She tried to jump away, but a pair of hands grabbed her from underneath. Readying her naginata, she pushed the snow meteor away, and grimaced in pain. Her hands trembled and for a moment, the meteor looked like it would almost hit before it flew away, disappearing towards the sky just as quickly as the first.

"Clever," she commented, dropping the naginata and letting it fade away. Her hands appeared to be slightly burnt. "A mixture of an ice and thunder shot? And doing that Doton on me, while I wasn't looking? You're very quick with seals, Naruto-kun. Your profile speaks little of such abilities. Were you hiding these all along, or were your teachers merely too unappreciative of your skills to see what was in front of them?"

"I wouldn't know," Naruto admitted.

"When can you do those things though?" Ino inquired, breathing heavily. "I've never seen you use those kinds of jutsus before."

"They're a family jutsu I've only recently discovered."

He jumped off the tree branch and all four of them continued in their dance, with Fujino looking as if she was leading them to some unknown melody, always two steps ahead, her eyes taking careful note of each of the genin's skills. Ino was nimble on her feet, and got in twice as many hits compared to the two boys. Shino was a bit easy to read, though his had the best accuracy. Naruto, on the other hand, was true to his name as a raunchy powerhouse; his hits dealt the most damage, and Fujino took great care in dodging his attacks the most. She jumped back and signalled for them to stop for a moment. "Free-style's over, ducks," she said, giving them a lopsided smile. "Naruto-kun's already shown me some of his jutsus, but I'd very much like to see yours as well." She nodded to Ino and Shino.

The two shared a brief look. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino fell onto Naruto's arms. Silence filled the clearing for about ten seconds. "Gaaah! Don't eat me!"

"A useful technique," Fujino complimented, tilting her head in acknowledgement. "But not a good offensive one. I assume that is the strongest in your arsenal? You don't have to be shy. I assure you, I am not being judgemental here. I just need to know what you children need to learn."

The blonde kunoichi gave a weak nod and rose unsteadily to her feet. "T-that was a very...unnerving way to kick me out of your mind, Sensei."

"Yes, well I've been known to...unnerve people a lot." She pivoted and did a roundhouse kick against Shino who burst into a spray of insects. "Family jutsus from the three of you. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Clans nowadays prefer to have their children learn only their art. We'll soon fix that with common jutsus which the three of you can study in your free time. I believe Taishou left those Katon scrolls for you in my office. I'll be sure to have you three study them as soon as possible." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and moved back into a fighting stance. "Now that you've shown me your jutsus, why don't I show you one of mine?"

OMAKE: Paperwork

Ibiki slammed the office door shut and proceeded down the hallway, his face scrunched up in bemusement. TAI members found themselves shrinking against the wall as they watched him stomp towards Fujino's office, muttering darkly about something.

"Taishou, where are you going?" One of his underlings asked. He was just outside Fujino's office, sweeping rather innocently.

"I need to speak to Fujino right now. Get out of my way."

"Aah, I'm afraid I cannot let you in right now," the young man spoke hesitantly. "She's really, really busy."

"My news can't wait," Ibiki growly irritably. "I'm sure she'll have time enough to hear it." He took a step forward to grab the handle, but the man grabbed his wrist and shook his head, blushing really hard.

"S-she's doing paperwork, sir," the man stuttered, while his hands showed Ibiki all-too-familiar gestures.

"So paperwork's the new code word nowadays, eh?" Ibiki asked wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Tell them they have five minutes to make themselves presentable."

"But, Taishou!"

Ibiki's Death-glare did little to calm the man's nerves. "You do as I say."

"Can we at least send a kunoichi this time? She never punishes our kunoichi!"

The words fell on deaf ears.

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own Fujino, Kuga, Akihiko, Shinjiro and Kyoko. They're all owned by their respective owners: Sunrise, Atlus and Yoshiki Nakamura. Tell me if I miss anyone.

Toshikasa means senior or elderly.

About summoning: Right now, Naruto can only do partial summons. He can summon the Aeon's power and use it as an elemental shot, but it will be very much different from actual summoning. That will come later on once he has earned their trust, or if they feel that he needs the help. I can't very well have him summoning for about every single fight. It would be far too destructive.

Any other questions you might have, please just ask. I know there were a lot of iffy things—I really suck at explanations—so just ask away. I'll try to answer them as best as I can. Reviews in general are also welcome. If anyone can send me a Naruto fanfic recommendation (or even a manga or anime that sounds interesting), PM me or give me a review with the name and the author. They're my sources of inspiration. Plus, I get my OCs from other anime and manga. LOL.

Updates will be notified on my bio. As usual.