Title: The Sapphire Leopard (Working Title)

Authoress: Ranter551

Rating: Mature for violence, cursing, and 'mature situations'.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I do own Ryoko and all other made-up characters.

Summary: AU. Twenty-two years ago, Kakashi's childhood friend Shimizu Ryoko disappeared, along with all his memories of her. Now, however, a strange tattooed woman has entered the village, and she has... been assigned to be Naruto's teacher? What the heck is going on?

Pairings: Naru/Hina, Slight Kaka/OC

A/N: This is all set in the universe where the war was not only with Stone, but also with Cloud. I stole that war idea from the author of a wonderful Naruto trilogy, and I'm SO sorry but I forgot your username!

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Chapter One: Many Happy Returns

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Sprinting through the forests just north of Konohagakure was the same blue-haired woman, Shimizu Ryoko, only this time she was wearing a cat mask similar to that of the ANBU. The difference was, her mask had navy paint instead of the traditional red. Also, Ryoko was wearing a short black skirt and a long, long jacket; almost a cloak, in fact. She'd given up on running through the trees, as she might have need to conserve her chakra. Who knows, maybe the villagers still held a grudge against her.

After being run out of Konoha when she was five, Shimizu Ryoko returned to the village under the alias Hayashi Kaiya four years ago, at the age of twenty-two. She revealed herself to Sandaime and Sandaime alone. Ryoko and he agreed that she should not be out in the open -at least not for a while- for fear of anyone from the old days who still recognized her. So Sandaime gave her some extensive tests in private, and with that Ryoko was instated as a jounin.

Since she had no more living relatives in Konoha and was quite good at working alone (years of practice, you see), Sandaime sent Ryoko on the long-term missions that were far away so as to lessen the stress on ninja with family and friends in the village.

The last mission she had been on was to the Land of Honey, wherein she was supposed to get close to the leader of the Minamoto clan -Minamoto Kanaye- and when she was the last to be suspected, eliminate him. And so, Ryoko used a henge of her twenty year old form to pose as Fujiwara Aiko, an innocent girl who often 'unintentionally' flirted with the men surrounding her. It had taken longer then planned because the clan leader was an unusually faultless, clean man to the public. But nonetheless, Ryoko had been able to seduce and terminate him two days before the five month deadline.

For some reason, Sandaime had wanted her back by the end of March. As the target's house was located at the northern tip of the Land of Honey, she had had to use all of her collected speed to cross the country in one day. Now, out of chakra and out of time, Ryoko was simply booking it back home. Or at least, the closest place to home she could think of.

By late afternoon, she was standing in front of the Northern Gate. "Halt! Who goes there!" A female ANBU with a katana strapped across her back was standing in front of the gate, one gloved hand held up in front of her.

Ryoko shot back quickly, "Hayashi Kaiya, jounin, returning from a successful mission to the Land of Honey." She took out the scroll that held her mission specs, and after reviewing the scroll momentarily, the ANBU nodded shortly.

"You may enter."

Safe inside, Ryoko took her time on her walk to the Hokage's office. Once inside the building, 'Kaiya' was instructed to head up to a large meeting room on the upper floor, where Sandaime was waiting for her.

In fact, it was not only Sandaime waiting. Almost every jounin in the village not on a mission was in the room, and they all turned to look at her as she walked in. Ryoko walked up to the Hokage, who was sitting at a desk in the front of the room covered with a pile of assorted papers.

Ryoko whispered an apology for taking longer than expected and slid her report to him. Sandaime nodded in acceptance and stood up.

"Well, now that it seems that most of us have assembled, I will begin the meeting. As a minor first note, you will all now recognize one of Konoha's Jounin, Shimizu Ryoko." He held out a hand palm-up and with it gestured towards Ryoko.

She was taken aback. How could he just undo four years of elaborate lies and fervent running, in one motion! What could that crazy old man be thinking?

Murmurs darted around the room until the soft whisperings became one noise, a low, constant hum. The Hokage held up his hand for silence. "Ryoko-san has proven herself to be loyal, as she has been carrying out difficult long-term missions for the last four years. However, now I have decided to bring her back home, hopefully for her longest assignment yet."

Ryoko stepped back and into the crowd of jounin, somewhat embarrassed. Well, might as well mingle while her secret was out.

Sarutobi continued, "And that leads me directly into the next point. Tomorrow the Academy's graduating class will be separated into their squads, and I need ten of you that I believe are qualified to be jounin instructors." With that, he began to read from a list of names. As each name was read, a jounin stepped up to the front of the room, took a supplied scroll, and stepped into a shoulder-to-shoulder line in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Yamashiro Aoba, Namiashi Raido, Sarutobi Asuma, Nara Shikaku, Shimizu Ryoko, Inoue Rini, Watanabe Masakazu, Yuuhi Kurenai, Kato Usagi, and Hatake Kakashi."

Ryoko's head snapped up at the last name and the opening and closing of the door.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late." A cool voice sounded from the back of the room, stepping up to the desk and taking a scroll, then falling in line at the end.

Sarutobi nodded to Kakashi, then said, "I will need you ten to meet up with Umino Iruka, the teacher at the Academy whose class you will be instructing. He is expecting you within the next half-hour, and will give you further instructions." With this, he dismissed the remaining jounin, most of whom walked out the door or simply flickered out of view.

Kakashi, however, had stayed behind to talk to several of the other jounin in the room, including Asuma and Shikaku. Walking as casually over to Kakashi as she could, Ryoko interrupted politely, "Excuse me.. Kakashi-san?" She had to force herself to not add the '-chan' suffix to his name. It was amazing to see how much he had changed over the years.. Why, he had finally gotten taller then she.

The silver-haired man turned to look at her. The lower half of his face was covered by a mask now, and his left eye by his hitai-ate. "Yes?" He responded, equally politely.

Ryoko gently removed her mask, revealing her facial features to her old friend. "Do you.. know who I am?" She asked hopefully.

After studying her for a moment, realization dawned on him. "No, I'm afraid I don't." He said, then turned back to his companions.

"Oh, alright then." Ryoko said, more to herself than anyone. She put back on the mask and jumped out the window. The delicate mask hid the crushed expression on her face, which faded as she got closer to the Academy. Years had passed, but she still knew her way around the village.

--Scene change--

Umino Iruka was a man of no more then twenty-two or twenty-three, with short brown hair drawn in a ponytail. Upon her arrival, Iruka looked up and smiled, flipping through a book he had lying on his desk. "You are the first to arrive. Name?" He asked.

Looking about at the familiar room, Ryoko walked up to the chuunin teacher and stated simply, "Shimizu Ryoko."

After flipping to a certain page, he nodded, "Ah, Ryoko-san, your case is very interesting. Hokage-sama and I worked hard to put certain students into your team. You will be the jounin instructor for Team Eight. The team consists of Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto."

He pulled out three files with pictures of two boys and a girl. Iruka's notes were scribbled hastily on all pages with info that Ryoko would probably never get to read. "Hinata-san is the heir to her clan, but currently does not have enough confidence to properly take over that position. Hokage-sama told me that you would be able to deal with this." Iruka handed her the folder with a dark-haired girl on the cover.

"What an interesting looking girl.." Ryoko said softly, intrigued. "Confidence... I think I can work around that. But I've never taught anyone before. What am I supposed to do?"

Iruka smiled. "You test them, first, to see if they are worthy and skilled enough to become genin. The test can be anything; it is really up to you. If they pass, you take them on missions, teach them teamwork, jutsus, and generally how to be a proper shinobi. Now, next you have Nara Shikamaru," He continued, passing her another folder with a picture of a familiar looking kid with pineapple hair.

"Shikamaru-kun is extremely lazy and never does his work because he says it is 'too troublesome'. That will never do if he is to be a shinobi." The man said, looking up at Ryoko.

She nodded. If she had belonged to a team with one lazy member, she would have snapped by now.

"And last, but definitely not least, is Naruto-kun." Iruka slid her a folder with a picture attached of a boy wearing white and red paint, striking a very interesting pose. The folder was covered with Iruka's handwriting.

"Naruto-kun is the container of the Kyuubi, but the entire village believes he is the demon." Ryoko picked up the folder, scanning through it and coming across the photo of Kyuubi. Ah, yes. She remembered now. Ryoko had been in the Land of Water at the time and had heard many rumors about the demon. In fact, some of the aftershocks of Kyuubi's attack had hit Kirigakure. "Naruto-kun is very energetic and plays pranks in order to get people to recognize him, and dreams of one day succeeding Hokage-sama. But he needs a teacher that can be strict enough to settle him down, yet kind enough to encourage him."

Ryoko frowned. This was a big responsibility, something that would take all of her skill and likely all of her patience, and more.

"Ryoko-san, I realize this is asking a lot of you. You will be taking on the dead-last team, as all of these students, in one way or another, have extremely poor grades and participation. But Hokage-sama believes you can do this, and so I suppose we'll all just have to trust him, and you."

Nodding at the words, Ryoko felt encouraged slightly. This man had a wonderful gift; he could bring out the best in people. No wonder he had become a teacher. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Iruka-san. What time am I supposed to come by and pick up my team?"

Iruka informed her that she should be by around one in the afternoon, and with a nod of acceptance, Ryoko took the files and walked out of the building, as it seemed more respectful.

Once she was outside, however, Ryoko realized something very important. She did not have a house. Sighing, she headed back to the Hokage's office to collect the reward for her mission and, after that, find a place to live.

----Time skip----

Naruto leaned back in his chair, a triumphant grin on his young face. He laughed aloud suddenly, so glad that he had passed and become a genin. The bell had not yet rung, and people were still walking in the door. As they passed Naruto, however, they began to whisper amongst themselves.

When Kiba and Akamaru entered the classroom and spotted Naruto, the boy shouted over, "Oi, Naruto, you're only supposed to show up if you passed!"

Naruto snickered, pointing to his forehead, where a Konoha hitai-ate rested. "I know that, dog-breath!" He replied, grinning.

Slightly put out, Kiba swaggered on by and sat down in the front of the class.

As everyone gradually migrated to their seats, Iruka walked to the front of the room. "Alright everyone, I'd like to congratulate you on passing. As you know, when a shinobi becomes a genin he is put into a three-man team with a jounin instructor. Together they take on missions, train, and do various other things. Today I will be putting you in teams based on your performance, teamwork, and compatibility with your instructor. Let's start with Team One. Sato Genta, Raiki Mitsuhiko, and Edogawa Conan.."

Naruto paid rapt attention to the names being called. Team Five came and went and neither he, nor Sakura-chan had been called. "Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Aburame Shino." Crushed that he had not been put with his love, Naruto sat back and nearly missed his own name being called, not to mention Ino's cry of anguish..

"Team Eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, and Nara Shikamaru." Tilting his head to the side at this, Naruto twisted around to look at his teammates. Well, at least he knew Shikamaru. But when he looked over at Hinata, whom he knew nothing about, she blushed and turned away.

'What a weird girl..' he thought, puzzled slightly.

Iruka finished with, "Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Inuzuka Kiba." He looked around at the children in the room and smiled. "I suggest you use this time to get to know your teammates. After lunch, you will meet your jounin instructors." With that, he walked out of the room.

Shrugging, Naruto walked over to Shikamaru, knowing he wouldn't get off his lazy ass for anything. Eventually, Hinata walked over to the pair also, twiddling her index fingers and blushing enormously.

Shikamaru groaned. "I'm with you, Naruto?"

Leaping to his feet angrily, Naruto exclaimed, "Is that a problem?"

"Pfft. Troublesome." Shikamaru said, yawning and leaning back in his chair.

Rolling his eyes and sitting back down, Naruto frowned. Shikamaru never was fun.

Time passed. And passed. Noon came and went, with jounin coming in and out of the classroom to pick up their teams. Naruto was getting annoyed. What was keeping their sensei?

Apparently Sasuke's team's instructor wasn't all that good at being tardy, either, for eventually teams Seven and Eight were the only ones remaining.

Naruto picked up a chalkboard eraser and a stool, then walked over to the door, snickering to himself.

"N-Naruto-kun.. I d-don't think that you sh-should d-do that.." Hinata said, blushing furiously.

Turning to look at his teammate, Naruto laughed, "I have to teach him a lesson for making us wait, Hinata!" He turned back to the door, only to see a masked woman with blue hair leaning against the doorway, grabbing his hand.

"Now, you wouldn't happen to be Uzumaki Naruto, would you?" She asked, walking past him while still holding onto his wrist, effectively dragging the small boy off the stool and onto the floor. "I was warned about you." She said, smirking, then turning to the room and announcing, "Sorry for being late, I don't have a watch and got my times mixed up. I'm here for Team Eight."

Shikamaru stood up, looking to Hinata to make sure she did the same, and walked over to the woman.

"Alright. Team Eight, follow me." Suddenly, Ryoko turned to the other children in the room. "What team are you guys?"

"Seven." Sasuke grunted.

Ryoko's mouth formed an 'o' beneath the mask. "Ah, you are Kakashi's team. Apparently he has a habit of being late." She mused, getting lost in thought for a moment.

Hinata stared back at Shino, one of the few people she considered her friends, and asked timidly, "S-Sensei, c-could they c-co-come with us?"

After pausing for a moment, Ryoko said thoughtfully, "I don't see why not." She walked over to the blackboard and wrote:

Kakashi-san, Team Seven has accompanied us to the roof of the main building. -Shimizu Ryoko

With that, she turned to the six remaining people in the room and said, "Okay then, Teams Seven and Eight, follow me."

-----Scene Change-----

Naruto sat down cross-legged in front of the woman, who opted for leaning against the railing atop the building. "So, why don't we start off getting to know each other? Tell me your name, how old you are, what you like to do in your spare time, plans for the future, and... your favorite food." She said.

Shikamaru spoke up tiredly, "Sensei, shouldn't you start off? We don't even know your name.." Naruto nodded in agreement. If you wanted to get technical, they didn't even know what her face looked like.

Their instructor nodded her head to the side. "Point taken.. Shikamaru, is it?" The lazy boy nodded. Suddenly, she paused. "I do believe I've met your father before." Well, that was nice. Naruto didn't really care.

"Anyways, I am Shimizu Ryoko. I am twenty-seven years old and I like to train in my spare time, running especially. I don't really want to share my plans. My favorite food.. would be tempura." The identified jounin said casually. "You next, blondie."

Naruto gave one of his signature grins. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm twelve! In my spare time I train and collect and compare Ramen brands, because ramen is the best food ever!" He exclaimed. "I train a lot because I'm going to become Hokage one day, and make the entire village recognize me!"

Ryoko shrugged her shoulders, seemingly unaffected by the loud boy's rants. "You're up, Spike."

Shikamaru said without much emotion, "My name is Nara Shikamaru and I'm twelve, too. I watch the clouds in my spare time or play Shogi. I plan on marrying an average-looking woman, have two children, a girl and a boy, then retire after both have jobs and spend the rest of my life playing Shogi. My favorite food is mackerel and kelp."

"Interesting. And last, but not least, the little miss." Ryoko said, then turned to Hinata.

The dark girl hesitated momentarily then said, "M-My name is H-Hyuuga Hinata. I a-am a-also twelve and in m-my s-sp-spare time I-I press flowers. I-I want t-to ch-change my cl-clan a-and myself f-for the b-b-better. I l-like senzai A/N: A soft bean jam and c-cinnamon r-rolls." She stuttered, not looking up much and playing with her index fingers.

Ryoko nodded. "Alright, I get this. You," She said, pointing to Naruto, "are an annoying loudmouth. You," She pointed to Shikamaru, "are lazy as the day is long. And you," She pointed to Hinata, "need way more confidence."

Naruto jumped to his feet angrily. "You can't just come here and make all these assumptions about us!" He yelled.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Naruto, sit down. What she said is both true and obvious."

"Thank you, Shikamaru-kun." Ryoko said, nodding in gratitude to him. Naruto reluctantly sat. "Now, I'm going to go away for about an hour, but at about four o'clock I want you all to come down to training area eight for the test."

"What test?" Naruto exclaimed, worry obvious on his face.

"In order to become genin, academy graduates take an exam given by the jounin instructor that determines if they are worthy." The woman explained.

Hinata, also beginning to look tense, protested, "B-But sensei, w-we a-already took th-that test!"

"Wrong." An unfamiliar voice said, causing everyone to turn. Behind Shikamaru stood a tall, gray-haired man wearing a Konoha hitai-ate angled downwards over his left eye. Naruto certainly didn't recognize him, and was about to comment on this when the man continued. "The test you took determined if you had the skill to become genin. The test we give the squads decides if you will be genin."

Team Eight nodded in understanding, while Team Seven stood up and walked over just soon enough to catch this speech.

"There aren't enough jounin to waste on a bunch of kids, and we can't have a load of unskilled genin running around Konoha, so the test was created. There is a 66 percent failure rate, meaning only the best teams will be able to pass. Team Seven," The man said, turning to Sakura, Sasuke, and Shino, who snapped to attention. "I am Hatake Kakashi, your jounin instructor. Let's go to another place, so we not to disturb Team Eight as they prepare."

He turned to Ryoko and said respectfully, "Ryoko-san, thank you for watching my team while I was away."

Ryoko nodded back in acknowledgment, added a soft, emotionless , "It was no problem," under her breath. With that, Sakura, Sasuke, Shino, and Kakashi went downstairs.

Naruto frowned. There was clearly something going on with all these jounin, but he would not be able to concentrate on that until after the test. In the meantime, Ryoko was speaking again.

"Now, I want you all to work really hard on the test. The entire village accepts this as the dead-last team; all the worst students are on it." At this, Naruto and Hinata looked down, ashamed. "But I want you to be able to prove to all of Konoha that even dead-lasts can good ninja. Work hard, work together, and most importantly, remember that as ninja, you are to look underneath the underneath." Ryoko stood up and gave the group a nod of recognition, then disappeared.

A/N: Read and review! n.n