Chapter Seven

"Experimental Uzumaki Technique: Fire Blades!" Naruto said and yelped as scythe-like flames sprung from his arms. He ran towards the river and plunged his hands against the icy stream. Sighing in relief, he pulled them out and examined them carefully. "How do I protect my arms from getting burnt?"

"Na-Naruto-kun! A-are you alright?"

Naruto turned around and hid his arms guiltily. "Hinata-chan…" He smiled sheepishly. About to scratch his head in embarrassment, he remembered he was supposed to hide his arm. "I'm fine."

Hinata looked down and twiddled her thumbs, her face red, "I-I don't think you are."

"Aah! Hinata-chan sees right through me," Naruto whined and pouted. Reluctantly, he brought his arms in front of him.

Hinata gasped. Fumbling in panic, she searched for some healing balm in her pockets. When she found one, she offered it to Naruto, "Y-you can use this, Naruto-kun."

Naruto beamed, "Arigatou, Hinata-chan. You're so nice." Taking the small jar solemnly, he pulled the cork carefully and sat in a lotus position. He screwed his face in concentration as he dabbed a bit of the balm to his burnt skin.

Hinata watched him quietly.

"Neh, Hinata-chan," Naruto said, still busy applying the balm on his skin.

Hinata blushed and looked down. Did he know I was staring at him? "What is it, Na-Naruto-kun?"

"I heard Haru-sensei was your former teacher. Is that true?" Naruto asked.

"Hai, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered.

"Is he a good teacher?" Naruto looked up and grinned shyly. "Only, you see, he's our jounin-sensei and all and-and I just want to know if he's good or not. I've only met him a couple of times. Most of the things I know about him are from my father's stories."

Hinata smiled. "Haru-san is funny but very serious when it comes to training. He is really nice to me and encourages me to learn even when I am making mistakes. I think he's good at teaching different students because he knows how to adapt to their attitudes."

Naruto felt his jaw drop. "Hinata-san didn't even stutter." He beamed. "You must really like Haru-sensei."

Hinata's face reddened once more as she looked down. "He-he is very nice to me e-even though he is a branch member." She stuttered. "I'm envious of Naruto-kun for having him as his teacher."

Naruto nodded. "Well, he is a good man."

"Oy, oy," Ino said and tapped her foot impatiently. "Where've you been, Naruto?"

"Aaah! Gomen, gomen, Ino," Naruto scratched his head. "I was talking to Hinata-chan and I sorta forgot the time."

Ino gaped. "You? And Hinata?" She poked Shino's ribs. "Can you believe it, Shino? Him and Hinata?!"

Naruto blinked. "I don't get it. What are you so hyped about?"

She pointed an accusing finger at Naruto. "You didn't tell me you were dating Hinata!"

Naruto fell to the floor. His face red, he waved his arms frantically. "I am not dating Hinata!!! We were just talking!"

Ino looked at Naruto and waited. After a few seconds, she began tapping her foot once more. Finally, she smiled triumphantly. "Aha! I knew it!"

"You knew what?"

"You like Hinata! How do I know this?" Ino asked, smiling. "That's because you didn't say the magical words: I don't like her that way."

Naruto spluttered. "That-that isn't fair!" He shouted indignantly. "I do like her. As a friend."

Ino looked at him smugly. "Keep telling yourself that, Fanboy."

"Fanboy?" A voice inquired from above a tree. They looked up. "Cute nickname, Naruto." Haru said and grinned. "It suits you."

"It does not!" Naruto shook his fist angrily. "Why is everyone teasing me?!"

"I'm not, Naruto," Shino said calmly.

"You don't count coz you don't talk at all!"

Haru jumped down and whispered loudly to Ino, "All Kyozuka men stop thinking rationally when their women are being talked about. Actually, they stop thinking at all when it comes to women."

Naruto fell to his knees, shouting, "Hinata is not my woman or girl or whatever! Stop talking like we're an item."

Haru looked at Naruto in surprise. "You're not?" He raised his arms in defense when he saw Naruto dropped to all fours, growling. "Ok, ok, the teasing session stops now."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, dusting off the dirt on his knees. "Are we gonna start on missions today, Haru-sensei?"

Haru nodded. "Yes, missions start today. Before that though, I need to talk to you guys."

Ino sat on the grass as Naruto dropped unceremoniously besides her. Shino remained standing. Naruto raised a hand. "What're we going to talk about, Sensei? I want to do missions now! Can't it wait?"

Haru sighed. The boy really was for too energetic for his own good. "There is something you have to know before we start our missions." He paused and looked at them carefully. When no one spoke, he continued, "Most of the missions assigned to you will be D-Class missions."

Ino raised her hand and asked. "D-Class missions?"

"Also known as dirty work. You're gonna walk some dogs, look for missing pets, repaint entire houses, do some gardening, pick some trash, baby-sitting, senior-sitting—"

"What?!" Naruto stood up, his jaw hanging. "I worked so hard just to pass that stupid exam and for what? Watching over old men?"

Haru glared at Naruto. "Hey, some of those old men and women happen to be veterans of war; retired ninjas who can still kick your ass."

"Bring it on then!"

Haru blinked. "I'm not a retired ninja over the age of sixty. Besides, even that is too dangerous for you three."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked. "I thought it was a D-Class mission."

"Oh, it is," Haru nodded seriously. "But we only let the more experienced Genin do the work."

Naruto snorted. "How hard can it be?"

Hiroshi, age twenty-eight, was reading one of those cheap paperback novels when he heard a crash against his windowsill. Unperturbed—he was used to people crashing against various places in his house after all—he turned a page and paused as he calculated the amount he would receive from the insurance company. Not a lot. He thought and sighed.

"You think you can catch me?" A voice rose from Hiroshi's kitchen. The young man tilted his head. No, he didn't think there was anything of value there. He continued reading. "You're still a hundred years too young, my boy!"

"You're going down old man!"

Hiroshi yawned. Placing a bookmark over the page he was reading, he trudged to the kitchen to get a glass of milk.

"Take this! Old Man Technique: The Tickle of Doom!"

"What? There's no such thing as a—" The yellow-haired boy burst into laughter as the old man tickled him senselessly. Hiroshi avoided the pair, got his glass of milk and returned to his seat. He heard the doorbell ring.

"Sato-san?"

Hiroshi smiled, "Good afternoon, Suzuki-san. Can I help you?"

The young woman dressed in a nurse's uniform smiled back. "I believe one of our charges has escaped. Have you seen him? Only, Tanaka-san was hiding here just last week and the ninja we asked for..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at him hopefully.

Hiroshi scratched his head. "Well I don't know about hiding…"

Suzuki wrinkled her brows thoughtfully. "What do you mean, Sato-san?"

"Get back here!"

Hiroshi and Suzuki turned to the source of the noise and saw a small old man being chased by a blonde boy wearing the forehead protector of Konoha. Suzuki sighed, "Oh dear."

Haru was getting another headache. Biting back a sigh, he watched his two students argue. He knew that they would have a hard time with the mission but Naruto insisted and Haru had agreed, thinking, if he wants to get his pride injured by an old man then so be it.

After following the man into a residential house near the old retirement home, the boy had used his shadow clone technique, calling forth hundreds of Naruto-clones, and had almost destroyed the house because he had called too many. The good thing about this was that the old man had gotten trapped inside, giving Shino and Ino a chance to immobilize him.

Naruto was not pleased with the results. Ino was not pleased at all.

"Why do we have to do such boring missions, anyway?" Naruto asked, breaking Haru's chain of thought.

"Because of two things," Haru said, placing a hand over Naruto's shoulder. "First of all, you, all of you, need to learn patience. As a ninja, there are times when absolutely nothing will happen." He looked at the three carefully. "You may be given an A-Class mission to guard a VIP and find that no one, not even bandits, will attack you along the way."

"Or we can be assigned to an infiltration mission and find that there was nothing worth infiltrating," Ino added.

"A good example, Ino," Haru said, smiling. Lifting his index and ring finger, he said, "the second reason is: you don't trust each other completely. Yes, I've seen you work together and I know that you're all trying hard to make this team work but there are still some problems. You in particular, Naruto."

"What?" Naruto crossed his arms, pouting. "I helped too, you know! I thought up the practice session, didn't I? I should be leader, now that I think about it. I—"

"Oh I know that you're a good leader," Haru spoke firmly, his eyes leveled with the boy's blue ones. "But what the team needs is someone calm and cool-headed. You are easily excited, provoked…a bundle of emotions. Choosing you would be a risk."

Naruto looked down, shoulders drooping. "What do I have to do? How do I become a good leader?"

"What are we waiting for?" Naruto demanded, wiping the sweat off his face; the heat of the sun was making him perspire.

Haru yawned. "You'll find out." He felt movement to his left and grinned. "Five seconds from now."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "One, two, three, fo—"

"Yo!" Naruto fell face down as a figure sat on top of him.

"Geroff me!!!" Naruto growled, waving an arm weakly.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto," Jiro stood up and offered the boy a hand. "I really thought you were a chair."

"So these are your underlings, Haru," A broad-shouldered man with scars etched across his face, grinned. "A tad bit small, don't you think?"

"You were pretty small when you were their age, Ibiki-sempai." Jiro said.

The man grunted. "Don't remind me."

"Ibiki-sempai?" Naruto asked.

"He was a year older than us," Haru explained.

"So who's the brat I'm going to teach?" Ibiki asked looking at Haru's students. "Don't tell me it's the blondie."

"Which blondie?" Haru asked innocently.

"Naruto's mine," Jiro stated firmly, his hand on the boy's shoulder.

The scarred man lifted his hands and shrugged. "I don't need a fighter, Jiro. My work deals with interrogation and torture."

"Which is why I think Ino will be perfect for your work," Haru pointed out.

After a quick glance at Ino's direction, Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "A Yamanaka?" He grinned. "She will be useful in our line of work. The question is: does she have what it takes?"

"She looks tough enough, Ibiki-sempai." Haru said. "Try not to break her though. Her father will kill me if you do."

"Does that mean you will teach Shino, Sensei?"

The man nodded, "Yes, Naruto."

The boy tilted his head. "It kinda sounds like favoritism to me."

Haru shook his head. "It's not; it's just that his skills are a lot like mine in the sense that both can be used for gathering information and scouting."

Naruto thought about it for a moment before nodding. "It does sound sensible, actually."

They all agreed on a fixed schedule. Individual training would start on Friday afternoon after a morning of D-class missions. This individual training would continue afterwards every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon and would only be interrupted if either the teachers or the students had a mission which involved a long period of days outside of Konoha. In that case, another teacher would take over or Haru would assign them some individual work, even while in a mission. They were instructed to write reports of their progress—a task the three Genin were not looking forward to—and submit them after a month of training.

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons were spent in group study, from more group tests to planning out strategies. At this point, Naruto spoke up, saying that he would like to use some of that time as well to train his two teammates on different ninjutsus and genjutsus that he had already perfected. This request was met with some disapproval—mostly from the burly jounin who didn't know Naruto as much as the others did—but in the end Haru consented with a few conditions. One, there should always be an adult present during those training days and two, Naruto was to write a detailed report of all the jutsus he planned to teach with instructions on how to execute them as well as a description of what these jutsus can actually do.

Having come to a close, they ended the meeting and went their separate ways. Naruto headed for the Uzumaki manor to plan. There was a lot of jutsus he wanted the other two to learn. Plus, he was getting awfully hungry.

Jiro walked through the large gate of the Kyozuka estate and stopped for a moment, letting his eyes wander around the whole house. After the brief discussion he and the others had, he knew that it was time to clean some places and prepare. With Friday only two days away, he needed that particular place to be prepared for Naruto's training. The boy was now a full fledged ninja and Jiro knew that it was time for him to unlock some more aspects of the Kyozuka bloodline. How long it would take, he didn't know.
A/N: First of all, I will not come out of this measly hastily-made barrel in order to get hit by rotten tomatoes. Let's face it. No one likes rotten tomatoes.

Secondly, I'm very sorry that it has taken me this long to update. I was kidnapped by an evil plot bunny who wanted me to feed it carrots and help it rule the world. I'm also very sorry because this is a rather short chapter. And the next chapters will be just as short. Why? Because I'm going to try and write two stories at once. Most people can write thousands of words in a day, but I'm not as lucky so if you're going to expect a chapter a week (I have my fingers crossed), you're going to get shorter chapters.

And yes, there is a small Hinata/Naruto scene up there, confirming that their ship will happen. (If not in the distant future.)