Chapter 4: The Team

The meeting with the Hokage... was rather reminiscent to his more recent ones... with the add on of a lecture.

"Naruto I understand that you have being going through a hard time." the old man began. "But it really is no excuse to have attacked like that! Whether with intent or not you've left one of our Jonin with more then one new scar for his collection... scars from a wounds that our best medic nins are having considerable problems treating." he berated.

Naruto shrunk under the voice. The old man was one of the few he really respected and to hear him so angry... no so... disappointed, in him.

The old man sighed "This is mostly my fault. Right now you are going though what most psychologists term 'the stages of grief'. First depression, disbelief, bargaining, and you rather clearly demonstrated rage. All you can really do at this point is go through the final stage. Acceptance."

Naruto blinked "Accept what old man?" he frowned "That I'm a monster? That I butchered most of this village just over ten years ago?" he was starting to get angry at this point.

"Yes." came the clear response. "That you Were a monster. That that monster Did almost destroy this village on that night twelve years ago. And that you've being given a second chance." he said finally.

Naruto blinked. That had being... emotional. It reminded him rather drastically of the night with the forbidden scroll. "What... what do you mean old man?"

"You Were the Kyuubi no Kitsune. In many ways you still are. You are for all intent and purpose... it's reincarnation. This however, also means that it's crimes are only your own if you repeat them." he continued. "You are Youkai, You are Kitsune... this much is true, and will always remain as such. But Who you are is still up to you. You can be Naruto Uzumaki if you want to be. Or at this point, you could become a wild beast, a demon lord. I will be honest, I can not stop you Naruto. You've already reached the point were the only way I could would be to kill you, and all that would do is restore the beast you once were." he smirked "I figured I could give myself a good accounting, and perhaps last a minute against That kitsune."

Naruto didn't know what to say really at that point, 'Am I really that strong?' he knew he was dangerous. He was winning against Kakashi, and had utterly destroyed Mizuki. But to fight against the Hokage? To actually be able to fight on that level of combat... it was mind blowing.

"If you want I can place you on a team. Technically you passed Kakashi's test, and if he is unwilling, I can likely find another instructor for you. Or you could become a simple civilian with all your considerable ability. As I've said you could simply run lose, and strike out into the world. There are not many who could slow you down, much less stop you."

There was no hesitation "Put me on the team." Naruto replied "I... Owe you a lot old man. I can't really make it up to you as a civilian, much less if I'm not even here. Nah I made up my mind a long time ago old man. I'm going to be a shinobi of the leaf." he grinned. "So what if I'm a demon. You don't care. I don't think Iruka cares. That's enough fore me. Besides, you know I never give up old man!"

He blinked suddenly, coming to another realization "Crap... I guess I'll have to explain to Sakura and the Teme." he scratched the back of his head.

Sarutobi rose an eye at that "Is that so? You realize you do not necessarily have to tell them anything. You could easily start again with a new team." he responded, this early the arrangements were actually rather easy to do.

Naruto shook his head "It's not like I'm going to be telling them everything... just let them know exactly What I am. The way I figure it odds are they might guess it on there own, and even if they don't it's not like I wouldn't need to explain what I am at some point or another... I mean, I have a fear inducing aura, heal way to fast, and thats not even getting into the shroud... I mean clan techniques only go so far right?" he explained away.

The old man frowned, but nodded "True enough. Still..." he seemed to be considering something or other. "Very well." he walked over to his desk and pressed down on the call button "Send for Team seven."

-----

Explanations were never really Naruto's strong suit, so he was understandably nervous at the situation, however... it had to be done. After everything he had gone though, after... braking, like that, he had to step forward, if he didn't he would be stuck in self doubt for the rest of his life. That wasn't something he was willing to do.

He looked at the group, Sakura was nervous, Sasuke dispassionate as always, though hints of annoyance and curiosity were there to those who knew him... and as such they passed unnoticed. Kakashi caused him to wince, his chest was wound up tight, and other bandages showed hints of what could have being crippling injures if not for the mans skill.

"Right... I guess you want to know whats going on... well you know part of it at least right Sensei?" he flinched slightly, at that, like he had any right to... No! Enough of that. "Right, I'll state this plainly... I'm not like you guys."

"No duh dobe." came the ever sarcastic reply of Sasuke, this eased Sakura's fears slightly. If Sasuke was confident there was nothing to fear right?

Naruto smiled weekly. "Right... Well I guess I'll do my best to explain, you see, my... heritage." a glance at the Hokage confirmed this was the right word. "Has recently... well awakened for a lack of better word. I got kinda... messed up because of it. It doesn't help that my Yoki seems to make my emotions more intense."

Sakura peeped up first, he should have expected it, Sakura had the best grades in class on book knowledge after all"Yoki? Wait! Yoki is demon energy, why would you have demon energy?"

Sasuke frowned again "That's what that red stuff was? Yoki?"

Naruto nodded "Yah... You see it has to do with that heritage I was talking about... Turns out I'm a Youkai." he shrugged in a classic 'who'd of thunk it.'

Thump!

"Gah!" The blond swiftly darted over to the now passed out pinket. "Sakura are you ok?"

A blink and green eyes greeted the world once more "Sasuke?" she asked as her vision cleared before she screamed at the sight of slitted blue eyes backing up like a crab on caffeine.

"Chill out Haruno." came the Uchiha's reply. "He told us he was a demon, not that he was out for our blood. Human villages have had demonic protectors before, or didn't you remember Iruka's lessons?" A Youkai eh? Well that explained a lot. Did his ego a bit of good as well, of course he feared the blond, Youkai inspired fear in ANY human that saw them in battle to some degree, no matter the power of the demon or skill of the human... it was a simple survival instinct. Like any other one it could be suppressed, and the fact that he had unknowingly done so enough to function around Naruto while he was in full battle mode said a great deal For him, it was said even the Shodaime flinched the first time he encountered an inhuman opponent, and he had power OVER demons.

"Indeed." The Sandaime replied with a smile, well at least one of them seemed able to work with Naruto... that was good. "Kohona itself has more then one Youkai amongst us in the past. It is owing to this and there occasional blessings that we are so rich in powerful clans today. Naruto is still getting used to the nature and potential of his demonic abillatys... Which as you can imagine are considerably more difficult to control then our own."

Naruto scowled at that "It's not THAT hard old man..."

Sakura had calmed down slightly. "So... what now? I mean we got the bells but Kakashi sensei said that wasn't enough."

Naruto scowled "Thats one thing I'm going to deal with right now. If any of you have a problem working with me that's fine, Old man said there was other spots for me if I couldn't work with you."

Sasuke lunged at the opportunity, Kakashi was legendary, he had read up on the man after the watching the fight, but Naruto was what he was always on the look out for... a worthy sparing partner. No a superior sparing partner. If he was going to fight Itachi he'd have to fight on a level that most humans were completely Unable to reach. Logically, the only way to reach that level was to be used to fighting on a level then beyond human. "I'll stay. It'd be no use sticking the Dobe with a group that would freeze up the moment he enters combat."

Kakashi winced slightly at his own injury's. "I'll be frank, I don't like you." he said to the blond. "But if need be I can work with you." Naruto... well first impressions aside, the... being... in front of him was what his sensei had died fighting. The Yondaime had wanted the boy treated anew, but there would always be that level of... disdain.

Sakura looked at Sasuke pleadingly. She couldn't understand why he'd want to stick around that... beast. Naruto had gone completely out of control back there. Hell Kakashi had barely kept up and he was a Jonin! What if next time he went after them? Sure Naruto wasn't Seemingly at fault, but that didn't change the fact he was dangerous. Exceedingly so... was Sasuke really worth that danger?

"CHA!" Roared her inner voice "Being a kunoichi is dangerous anyway! Sasuke knows what he's doing!"

Mind made up Sakura nodded "I can work... but is there anyway to... you know, help keep him from freaking out again?"

Naruto frowned "Don't worry Sakura, I'm not going to let that happen again."

she glanced over with shear distrust, but after a glance at Sasuke, nodded "Ok."

The Hokage frowned. Kakashi wasn't happy with this, and Sakura was obviously still afraid of the blond. Well he was planning on doing this anyway... "Very well. With one small change Team seven will remain intact." he shot a glance at Kakashi, who wisely kept silent.

"This team will be slightly unconventional in more ways then one. I will be assigning a second Jonin, to act as... well your handler Naruto." Sarutobi continued.

"Handler!?" Came the indigent reply. "Whats the big idea old man?" A look silenced him.

The old man sighed "Naruto I was going to do this regardless, I do not doubt your loyalty, but I can not risk you losing control. It so happens that one of my direct subordinates happens to have the rare ability to purify Yoki. He will be tagging along in case you lose yourself." Sakura was visibly relieved at hearing this, as was Kakashi to a lesser extent.

A man with shortish black hair and an odd helm emblazoned with the Hidden leaf symbol of there village shortly stepped out. He looked normal enough, about early to mid twenty's with the stress lines of a person twice his age... It was his eyes however that were unnerving, a dark almost black brown that held a sort of... emptiness. This was a person who had stared into the abyss for a bit to long. Long enough for it to not only have seen him back, but to know him well enough to memorize him on sight. Kakashi recognized him as one of the main 'nameless' ANBU. A man her personally knew as Tenzo. An 'Orphan class' Shinobi, trained since he could walk to be among the best of the best... a dark legacy from more bloody times. He was also the only known liveing Mokuton user. In his time as ANBU, he had worked with the wood wielding warrior (Say that twelve times fast I DARE YOU) a considerable number of times... he had in fact provoked his hobby of gardening.

"He will be using the name Yamato while working alongside you." the Hokage explained.

"Using?" Naruto asked not really getting it.

Sasuke scoffed, powerhouse or no, the dobe was still a dobe. "Most ANBU give up there names. It's supposedly to both protect themselves, and there relations. It's also why they were the masks. When you get to that rank you make a lot of enemy's." more then a few Uchiha had made there way up to that rank, so he was rather familiar with the policy's of. "'Yamato' is a fake name, that he'll be using while working with us."

"Oi." Snapped the blond. "I didn't ask for a lecture. I just wanted to know what he meant by 'using' a name."

The dark haired nin merely rolled his eyes.

"This team will operate slightly differently then a conventional Genin squad." 'Yamato' added in at once. "Normal Squads begin with basic D rank missions to build up teamwork, and train the basics. However in this case, doing so would be a simple waste of resources."

Sakura felt a small twitch in her stomach at that, she didn't like the sounds of this... she had being hit with so many things one after another, after another.

"Team seven has at the moment, the top rookie of the year, and the greatest academic student since the likes of the Sannin, along side Two top ranked Jonin, and a Jonin equivalent Youkai." Kakashi stated suddenly. "Trial by fire. Your sending us strait into C and B ranks aren't you old man?"

Again the third nodded. "I will again offer the chance to withdraw." a pause. Again there were no takers. "Very well then. While Kakashi is recovering, I am assigning team Seven a week long training mission, with Yamato as acting commander."

This induced a wince in the pinket and blond, More training? And spending it with the beast as well... Well at least it was with Sasuke added the sole female member of the squad.

Sasuke was actually slightly excited, though he didn't let it show. Finally, direct tutelage from a field active shinobi. A former ANBU black ops as well. If anyone was going to help him up to task in his ambition then it would be from that core group of elites.

-----

A few minutes later they were standing in a familiar training ground. "Right. It's time to take you all to task. Sakura, I was told you are an expert on book knowledge but had below average scores in practicals." the red clad kunoichi bristled at that. "Now now, That can actually be a good thing. If you are very intelligent but not to strong physically, then the odds suggest you will likely have good chakra control. This will give you a great head start on genjutsu, and medical ninjutsu, alongside some of the more finicky ninjutsu that require more control then power... As an example, one of Kakashi's old favorites is a lightning ninjutsu from cloud he got in the war. It's a little finicky for a combat technique as unlike most the more chakra you pump into it the more likely it will backfire, but with enough control well..." he snapped though five seals at a semi blurred pace then lanced out index and middle fingers out like a gun "Raiton: Byakurai!" a horizontal bolt of lighting lanced out and burnt a hole clear though the tree he had pointed at, despite it's strong grounding.

Sasuke looked interested, he had stuck mostly to Katon jutsu, fire being the family specialty, but he had never seen a fire jutsu strike with such speed.

"Byakurai on average actually only takes a bit more chakra then a dozen normal Bunshin... slightly less then a grand fireball." he directed pointedly at Sasuke. "But takes intense control to refine and direct. If you lose control if it, you can easily end up shocking yourself rather painfully, rather then burning a hole though a target." he commented. "Just like taijutsu, some ninjutsu are simple but effective with raw brute force, but needing considerable power to every use. While at the same time there are others that are complex, highly efficient, but require intense precision concentration, and control. Genjutsu also fallows this. While perfect control is needed to completely master the art, there are some basic illusionary techniques that need nothing more then raw power to overload the senses." A snapped hand sign and at once they were blinded by a snapping flash of light.

Naruto recovered first, only moments later blinking harshly, as he noticed Sakura prone and panicking, and Sasuke standing ready with a kunai in hand. "Wow... That was cool sensei!" to be honest he had almost tapped into his yoki there, the sensation had being such a shock.

Yamato smirked slightly as the others regained there vision. "That was a basic combat genjutsu. Hirame, I will be teaching you all shortly... You might find it of particular use Sasuke. It was originally designed to counter dojutsu." not that it would work on any sharingan user if they knew of it, the precognitive abilities of the eyes let the master realize what was happening long enough to close them.

Sasuke however seemed to have already deduced that by his scowl. Still it could have it's uses... and there teacher had yet to prove himself totally inept.

"Naruto. You will be learning something different then the others." the former ANBU stated as he locked eyes with the blond. "Chakra control is useless to someone who doesn't have any chakra in the first place. I maybe able to suppress Yoki, but I have no idea about controlling it otherwise. So while I am showing Sasuke and Sakura a few things, your going to be doing you best to call out and regulate your own power. Just remember, what works for chakra might not work for you, but then again, it might work after all." he shrugged. "The first thing we will be learning is tree climbing..."

And so it continued.

Sakura proved to indeed have near perfect control. The near being swiftly pounded out of her as Yamato added more and more complex control methods to her agenda. The moment something was mastered something more was put in front of her, or another thing added. Her reserves increasing drastically with the endless demand even within the short span of time.

Sasuke was taught a few fire techniques to his already impressive (for his age) arsenal. Water, earth, and a few scant lightning techniques also added to this as well. Unfortunately the young Uchiha proved to have no talent what so ever with wind jutsu. But, as Yamato commented, 'those techniques are a rarity in fire country anyway.' His occasional spars with Naruto (mostly in there 'off hours', an already rare commodity) having boosted his own speed, endurance, and resistance to mental assault (IE Naruto's Killer intent) drastically vea shear necessity.

Naruto's progress was... sporadic. At times he would spend days at a time working on various things for no gain, at others he learned things with frightening ease. The inadvertent discovery that while incapable of many jutsu, he was able to totally master those he Could to an all but instinctive level with even one use was a major plus. He was also swiftly developing his own version of normal ninja techniques. Something that had irked Sasuke to no end. He was however slowly gaining ahold of himself. It proved to be that his emotions, mostly rage, were intrinsically tied to his power. This was explained to him by Yamato.

It turned out that while Chakra was an equal mix of Chi and Kai, the physical and spiritual energy's. Youkai was in fact purely spiritual. Demons did not typically have a natural body, being not of this plane of existence. They used there power and there will and enforced there presence onto the world, normally though a medium of some sort. Typically ether possessing some item or creature (including humans often enough), or by simply gathering the dust of the world and shaping themselves a vessel. This was also why demons were inherently immortal. It didn't matter what you did to there body. All you were doing was damaging something that in essence was a puppet. No mater how badly damaged the vessel, the demon itself, effectively immaterial, was immune to all conventional harm. This is why demons were sealed. Trapped in a vessel not of there making. It was the only effective method of combating a demon... well unless you had another demon on your side who, in theory, could attack it in ways immaterial.

There teamwork was progressing at a fast pace as well. Naruto proving to be a excellent close range combatant, his sealess use of jutsu, inhuman killing intent, healing factor and bolder shattering strength and speed allowing him to effortlessly dominate. Sasuke and Sakura mostly providing range support in the form of Nin and Gen jutsu, again to the Uchiha's dismay. They were however simply not up to the blonds level of raw power yet.

The fact the blond was gaining more control over his emotions, and with that, his powers wasn't helping to close that gap. Still they were trying.

Naruto jumped down dropping one shoulder slightly as a kunai passed by harmlessly. A feral grin to his demonic visage. Flicking his wrist a trio of stricken each coated in bright blue/white flame. A darker blur shot out of cover, right as the flaming metal cut into bark. Crimson slitted eyes, met crimson human eyes... though the presence of two rotating comma like marks on each detracted slightly from the human norm.

Hands flashed at a pace invisible to untrained eyes as the scion of the Uchiha clan rose a hand to mouth and spat forth golden flames, tinged with red at there edge, and blue at there core... Sasuke might not have being able to mimic Naruto's techniques, but that didn't mean he couldn't learn from them. My watching the way the young demons energy flowed in his own fire casting, the brunet had managed to increase the heat and intensity of his own fire jutsu by an entire magnitude.

The blond charged strait though the flames, moving in a blur, clawed hands lashing out in swift animalistic swipes. It was simple and brutal, no finesse outside of natural grace, but at the speeds that the blond was moving he didn't need anything but that.

The dark blur started swinging on the spot, spine contorting like a serpent as he swayed in and out of place, legs always moving on the retreat. He had improved drastically, but right now it was only his bloodlines perception altering abillatys that were keeping him from experiencing what many fruit had at the mercy of a high powered blender. 'Come on Sakura... don't have all day here!' There was no use trying to block the swipes with kunai, experience had long since proven that the weaponized gardening trowels wouldn't hold for even a moment to those claws.

All at once Naruto started swinging wildly, were before he was missing by millimeters, he was now missing by centimeters, then more... The Uchiha didn't need to guess what was happening and swiftly darted back full speed gaining ground away from the swinging blades of doom. His opponent would notice in moments that he wasn't fighting the real him, and he need to milk this window for all he could. Rooting himself to a tree branch he started flashing though seals as fast as he could. Right as the blond's brow knotted, and nostrils dilated.

Swinging a hand Naruto unleashed a wave of Yoki charged wind, slicing though 'Sasuke' and several trees behind him. The mass unleash of the destructive energy dispelling the illusion just in time to see his real target unleash a lightning fast dragon made up of the namesake element. A thunderous cracking sound screaming out as he jumped the strike, grinning and inhaling as one hand glew red as he crashed down, slamming the charged limb to the ground.

For a split second nothing seemed to happen, then at once Sasuke jumped, evading the newly grown branches of the tree he was standing on. Unfortunately he hadn't predicted the kitsune to unleash a more 'subtle' attack to strike right in the wake of the sneak attack. A energy charged roar slamming into him like a wall and pinning him to another tree behind him. 'Crap.'

The blond approached slowly, triumph gleaming in his slitted eyes, sapphire bleeding in to the ruby color that signified the use of his power. "Ready to give up now Teme? I snagged Sakura with the same tree bind I got you with." he grinned.

"Really?" asked a sweetish voice from behind.

Blue eyes flashed in shock as the orange clad ninja dodge swiftly, a kunai biting into his shoulder as he did. His hand flashed out and at once he pushed and pinned the pink haired kunoichi to the ground. "Damn it." he cursed. That had being a close one.

"Close, very close... you to should feel proud. I know a lot of chunin who couldn't last that long." came the eye smiling reply of there original sensei. "Then again, that was largely do to your overconfidence there Naruto. What did I say about declaring your self the winner?"

"Don't assume anything until there dead. And make absolute certain there dead." he monotoned.

"And always be wary of any unknown enemy's." Kakashi added. "If this was a real mission, you could have easily lost your head there." he eye smiled "And Sakura. What have I told you about alerting an enemy about an attack?"

The pinket sighed "Never let the enemy hear you, even if you think you have them cornered."

"Right." he nodded slightly "While reflexes on that level are rare. You Will encounter people on occasion that can avoid with even a millimeter of a strike. Others will have defenses that can be raised at a moments notice." the Hyuuga's ultimate defense sprang to mind.

"Still... regardless of some flaws that still need to be ironed out here and there. I'd say your about ready." continued the gray haired man.

All three immediately perked up. They had being asking for missions for a while now. Every time Yamato and Kakashi had turned down the requests, siting 'your not ready yet.' Could there enigmatic Sensei mean that they were finally ready to do what that they had being endlessly trained for?

"Team seven, this is your mission. This is officially a C rank mission..." began the Mokuton user to his attentive audience.

The games... had begun.