A Team of Troubles
Ino and Sakura walked into the Yamanaka flower shop and found the bored Patriarch of the proud clan sitting there dozing in the late afternoon.
"Hi Daddy!" said Ino as loudly and brightly as possible making Inoichi jump at the sudden loud voice. When he noticed his daughter or his princess as he liked to call her, he smiled warmly.
"Hi princess how was your day?" he asked, he still hadn't noticed the pink haired girl that had followed Ino into the shop today.
"DADDY!" shouted Ino loudly, quite embarrassed that he had called her princess in front of her friend.
"Wha…oh hello Sakura, how are you?" asked Inoichi when he finally noticed Ino's longtime friend Sakura. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen her in the last two years at all. "It has been quite a while since I have met you." Sakura nodded, but she had a hand on her mouth as she was trying to stifle the laughter that was trying to come out after seeing the interaction that Ino had with Inoichi.
"Yes, Mr. Yamanaka, it has been a while and I am fine thank you. How are you?" Sakura replied after she has successfully held back her amusement, she did not want to ruin the new chance she got with Ino, not for anything.
"Fine, as you can see. Ino you still didn't say how your day was," inquired Inoichi again, and now that his daughter has stopped glaring daggers at him, he was on safe grounds.
"My day was great!" exclaimed Ino before she remembered Naruto. "And I met a really nice boy today." At Ino's remark, her father was instantly interested. She was interested in someone other than the misbalanced Uchiha; maybe this could be something that he could work on to break her attraction to that emotionally troubled boy.
"Who was he?" he asked, keeping his face and voice neutral so that his daughter did not suspect any of his hidden motives concerning his boy.
"His name is Naruto Uzumaki and—" Ino was about to say more but her Father's bright smile made her stop midsentence.
"Naruto Uzumaki, a blonde boy with blue eyes that Naruto?" asked Inoichi, though he knew his daughter's answer before she even said it.
"You know him?" she asked as her eyes narrowed, there was something fishy about this whole deal.
"Yes, I know him alright," said Inoichi but he knew most of the boy's true info was classified so he would improvise as he went along.
"How?"
"Do you know his parents?"
"How is he so strong?" asked Ino and Sakura, shooting one question right after the other.
"Whoa, calm down girls," said Inoichi as he held his hands up, stalling the torrent of questions. "I know him because I have seen him at the Hokage's office…a lot, and no I don't know his parents because he is a…an orphan." Inoichi stopped as he saw the girls' eyes had grown the size of dinner plates.
"That's horrible!" exclaimed Ino and Inoichi just slapped his forehead; this is how a serious conversation goes with twelve year olds.
"I know!" Sakura exclaimed back.
"You know what Sakura?" asked Ino.
"What?" responded the pink haired girl.
"We should be nice to him from now on," replied Ino.
"Yeah, totally, be really nice to him." Sakura said and Inoichi stood up from his chair before fleeing the room for his own sanity's sake.
THE NEXT DAY AT THE ACADEMY
Students poured into class as the bell rang indicating the start of classes and, to Iruka's surprise, a certain blonde student was missing today. "Well, he does have his duties with the Hokage-sama," thought the academy instructor as he started class but he noticed some changes that made him raise his eyebrows. First off, Sakura, and Ino were sitting side by side and they were behaving like normal people around each other, no they were behaving like friends! Second, they had not sat by their favorite Uchiha and he looked displeased that his two favorite fan girls were not fighting over him as he kept glancing at the pair over and over again. "This is quite entertaining," thought the brown haired Chuunin as a small grin stretched across his face.
"Eh, where's Naruto?" asked Kiba from his usual spot behind Shikamaru.
"Don't know man, probably running late. But he can't sit with us, you see all the seats here are taken," he pointed out, yes the girls loved to sit as close to Sasuke as possible and today was a special occasion too since Sasuke's two biggest fans were not sitting near him.
"I liked him, he was pretty cool," said Choji between bites of chips and his two friends nodded in agreement.
"Oh well, may Kami help him," said the Nara and Kiba smirked. The only open seat that was left was the one by Sakura and Ino, and nobody other than Sasuke got close to them unless they had a death wish.
"Yo, Iruka Sensei!" shouted Naruto as he jumped into class from the window, flipped over three rows of desks and landed effortlessly in front of the startled teacher.
"Naruto, please don't take the window again, there is a perfectly fine door for this classroom," said Iruka as he indicated the door to Naruto.
"Sorry, keep that in mind," said the blonde boy as he rubbed the back of his head.
"So why are you late?" he asked and Naruto gave him a small scroll, which he unfurled to see that it was pretty much a pass by the Hokage, and by the looks of it Maito Gai was driving Naruto quite hard with his strength and conditioning training.
"Alright, take a seat." He said as he got back to his desk to look over some papers that he would need for the class. Naruto looked around uncertainly, his seat was taken by a red haired girl as she was openly gawking at Sasuke, and he was ignoring her just like he was ignoring everything else in the class. Naruto finally noticed an empty seat as Ino raised her hand and beckoned him over to sit next to them, and Sakura even moved over a seat so that he could sit between them. Kiba, witnessing the whole situation, shook his head very much like a confused dog before looking at Shikamaru and Choji.
"What did I miss?" he asked and Akamaru barked as if agreeing with his ally and friend.
"Don't look at us, we are just as surprised as you are," replied the Nara before putting his head down and going back to sleep.
"Man, I gotta ask Naruto his secret, he got two of the hottest girls to be friends with him in one day," mused the Inuzuka clan heir to himself as Iruka started lecturing the class on the duties of a genin.
"Is this boring or what?" muttered Ino as she looked out the window a little enviously, the late spring weather was definitely tantalizing. The blonde jinchuuriki had to agree with her, the outside looked much more appealing than sitting in a small classroom and listening to lectures involving a job that he knew he was more than capable of doing.
"Maybe we can sneak out of class once Iruka sensei leaves the room," whispered Naruto but Sakura was quick to admonish.
"We will do no such thing! Come on, we can be out in the sun as soon as school runs out or we can even go out to town for lunch, no need to risk getting in trouble when you can avoid it," Sakura looked very much like an angry teacher as her brows were furrowed and she looked at them with a severe frown on her face.
"Yes ma'am," said Naruto immediately making Sakura go back to normal and smile at him approvingly.
"Man girls are weird," thought Naruto but kept silent as he let out a long sigh, no wonder Shikamaru went to sleep whenever Iruka sensei started lecturing.
"You got afraid for Sakura using her special move on you," said Ino as she winked at Sakura over the boy's shoulder, and her friend winked back.
"Huh? What technique?" asked the blonde boy as he looked from one girl to the other with a confused expression on his face.
"I don't know if that technique has a name but it sure works, especially when she is using it on someone for the first time," said Ino with a laugh and even Sakura had to smile, she had made Ino do things for her when they were young because it frightened the blonde girl a little when Sakura used it on her.
"Oh, that can be quite a useful skill," thought the blue-eyed boy as he thought about that technique and its advantages over an unsuspecting enemy, it had a lot of drawbacks but if used correctly could produce good results. Sakura looked at Ino and she looked back skeptically but both kept their comments to themselves.
"So wanna have lunch at town?" asked the purple clad girl as she looked at her pink haired and blonde haired friends.
"Ya know, that does sound appealing," replied Sakura with a nod, she was definitely not feeling like eating the school lunch, it would be a welcome change to go somewhere else to eat.
"Sure, my treat if you go to the place where I will take you?" said Naruto surprising both his classmates with the unexpected and generous offer.
"Naruto, you don't have to," said Sakura but she did give the boy a genuine smile.
"Yeah, we will pay for our food, but you can still take us there," said Ino, at least being nice to this boy yielded results; Sasuke was as cold as an iceberg even if she tried her best to be really nice to him, if she only knew what would make that broody mysterious boy want to like her.
"If you girls come with me then it's my treat okay no arguments," insisted Naruto a little forcefully, making the girls concur, they never really had a guy who was this nice to them. It felt good to have someone who showed that he cared for them once in a while after all.
TWO HOURS LATER AT ICHIRAKU RAMEN STAND
Kurenai sat at the ramen shop waiting for her order to come; she was taking a much needed break from the Dango that her friend, Mitarashi Anko, had been feeding her for the last three days at lunch. "So Kurenai-san, how are your missions going lately?" asked Ayame, a very eager girl, into her mid-teens, when it came to shinobi affairs but a great cook for someone as young as her nonetheless.
"Ahh, they have been quite boring actually, I haven't had a mission that is above B-rank in more than three months," replied Kurenai, but the change in pace was making her all the less eager to have her Genin team. That would mean endless D-ranked missions and hours after hours of teaching before they could even move up to some C-ranked missions. "I am seriously starting to wish that I get Naruto in my team, that way I will be able to get good missions a lot faster than just regular genins," said the kunoichi, she was well aware that Teuchi and Ayame were one of the few people that knew about Naruto and his confidential rank of being the apprentice of the Sandaime Hokage.
"Hehe, yesterday Kakashi-san and Asuma-san were arguing about the same thing over dinner. It was becoming very scary once they started to stare deaths at each other without speaking a word." The red eyed Kunoichi could only shake her head, no wonder the other two were fighting over the blonde as well. As the most qualified of the Jounin teachers for genin teams, she knew that it was going to be either Asuma, Kakashi, or herself that would get to teach the blonde farther in Shinobi skills, but she also had the nagging doubt in her mind that the young boy might be stronger than his senseis in certain skills as a shinobi. He was being taught by the 'Professor' himself. And the boy knew sealing! Yes it was a forgotten art from the lost lands of whirlpool country, but sealing was one of the strongest methods of attack and defense ninjutsu that anyone could ever hope to master. It was what made the Yondaime become the Flash of Konoha, and allowed him to put an end to the Kyuubi's rampage.
"Come on Ino-chan, I promise it will be good!" said a loud voice from outside the stand, and the customer as well as the owner of the stand recognized the sound immediately.
"Speak of the devil," muttered Kurenai interestedly, was there a girl with him?
"Yeah Ino, don't be so quick to judge, I hear that it's one the favorite food joints for ninjas," said Sakura as she stared at the small ramen shop in wonder. How can such a small stand be so popular, especially with full-fledged shinobis? Maybe the food is just that good.
"I am not complaining now am I," said Ino, jeez her two friends could be really persistent when they put their mind to it. Naruto smiled at that and led both his friends into the shop.
"Kurenai-chan, how is it going?" asked Naruto as he gave his teacher a bright grin.
"Quite well Naruto what about you?" she asked politely, but did not miss the fact that Naruto had just walked in with two very cute girls.
"I'm great!" he said as he jumped onto one of the stools followed by his 'classmates'.
"Kurenai?" echoed the girl with pink hair, staring at the red eyed kunoichi with open curiosity. "As in Kurenai Yuuhi, the genjutsu mistress of Konoha?"
"That's what they call me," said Kurenai with a grin, these two girls seemed to have done their homework (literally).
"Sugoi," said Ino as she sat up a little straighter in presence of one of the most well known Jounins of Konoha.
"Say what now?" asked the blonde boy as he stared from one Kunoichi to the other confused.
"Seriously Naruto, have ever read your textbooks?" asked Sakura and got her answer when Naruto have her a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Jeez, sometimes boys can be really stupid," said Ino as she agreed with her green eyed friend.
"Hi Naruto, what would you three like to eat?" asked Ayame as she came from the kitchen to the counter to take orders.
"Um, how about a bowl of Chicken ramen?" said Ino as she looked up from the menu a little uncertainly.
"Hmm, got it what about you?" she asked as she turned her head towards Sakura.
"I will take the same dish as Ino, thank you." Sakura replied and Ayame noted down her order as well.
"I assume you will be taking the regular Naruto?" asked the Ichiraku as she looked at her favorite customer.
"Hee hee, you know me Ayame-chan," replied the blonde with a large grin on his face.
"Alright, your orders will be coming right up," said Ayame as she went back in the kitchen to prepare the meal for her new customers.
"You all know about me, but what are your names?" asked Kurenai as she looked at the girls, and her thoughts went to their physique. "Why are they so scrawny?" thought the Genjutsu Mistress but kept her thoughts to herself.
"Oh, sorry my name is Ino Yamanaka," said the blonde girl in purple as she extended her hand, which Kurenai shook. "She certainly has the looks; maybe she is the daughter of Inoichi," the genjutsu mistress mused to herself.
"My name is Sakura…Haruno," said the pink haired girl a little shyly as a faint pink color rose to her cheeks.
"Nice to meet you both," said Kurenai as Ayame placed a bowl of steaming Ramen in front of her.
"What you got there Kurenai sensei?" asked Naruto as he tried to peer at her bowl.
"Naruto that is really rude!" shouted both his classmates indignantly making the boy jump; they couldn't believe the blonde could be so tactless.
"Don't worry about it girls, I have known Naruto since he was very young, so I am used to his behavior," said Kurenai with a chuckle, it seemed to calm them down a little. "But it would be nice if you could knock some manners into him." Both the girls nodded before returning to glare at Naruto, who gulped.
"So how come you know Naruto?" asked Ino, Kurenai was obviously a busy woman, so it was a little surprising that she knew Naruto from when he was very little.
"I used to babysit him," she said smoothly, making Naruto glare at her with a grumpy expression on his face, but she knew it wasn't entirely a lie. She was assigned a lot to keep a watch over the boy, and more often than not she was the one who carried the boy back to his orphanage after he fell asleep exhausted on the playing grounds, and sometimes near the training areas. That usually happened before he was taken as an apprentice by the Sandaime.
"Oh, that must have been quite a hassle," said Ino and Sakura nodded, they were both trying to hold back their laughter but were failing miserably.
"Yes it was," said Kurenai was a smile of her own formed from the contagious expression on the other two young Kunoichi's faces, making the blue-eyed boy grumble some more.
"Here's your order," said Ayame as she placed steaming bowls in front of the three academy students, an especially large on in Naruto's case. As everyone ate, they learned a little about Naruto and Kurenai, and in exchange they learned a few things about the pink haired and blonde haired girls who were aspiring to become the best kunoichis in Konoha. After a while, it was first that Sakura realized Naruto was on his fourth bowl of ramen. No way could his body hold that much food and he definitely wasn't overweight like Choji.
"Naruto, how much ramen do you usually eat?" she asked as she looked at the boy before her eyes returned to the nearly empty fourth bowl that he was having.
"Usually eight or nine, but if I am hungry I can go up to twelve, maybe thirteen?" said Naruto as he started thinking about the limit to how many bowls he could eat, completely missing the sweat drop that everybody in the ramen stand had.
"H-how?" asked Ino, she had dropped her chopsticks and hadn't even noticed.
"Jiji says that it's because I have a really high metabolism," replied the blonde. Kurenai also nodded, she was there when the test results came out, and even the doctor was shocked to see that the boy's metabolism was not like anyone else's that he had ever seen. As Naruto finished his sixth bowl before moving onto the seventh one, Kurenai and the girls got to know a little more about how the genins were selected and were dismayed to know that they will be tested again, this time by their Jounin sensei to see if they are really up to the task of becoming a full-fledged Genins.
"But why is there a second test?" asked Ino as she looked intently at the red eyed Kunoichi.
"Yeah, we get tested in the academy, why do we have to take another test?" moaned Sakura, feeling miserable, why was nothing ever as easy as it seemed?
"Well, you see, the academy lets all those graduate that show that they have the potential to be genins, but your Jounin senseis will test you to see if you can handle being one," replied Kurenai, clarifying the reason behind the second test without giving up too much.
"What do you mean if we can handle it? If all the students that graduate has the potential then obviously they are ready to handle becoming genins right?" asked the blonde haired girl, she noticed at everyone was listening to her conversation to Kurenai with interest, well everyone except Naruto of course. He just moved from the seventh to his eighth bowl of ramen, a happy and care-free smile plastered on his face.
"No having the potential to do something and having the understanding of how to go about it are two completely different things. You might have the potential to become a really good chef but if you don't have the slightest idea of what to do you will easily be seconded by someone who might not be as good as you but she will know where to start and as a result will have a head start on you from the very beginning. We, as Jounin senseis, always look for Genins that can become strong ninjas in the future and will not get killed in the field. Not because they are going to become good shinobis, but because they have the ability to use what they have effectively and turn the tables on their enemies instead," said Kurenai, making it clearer to Ino just what she implied in her previous statement.
"Oh," said Ino as she blinked, looking and feeling a little dazed at what she heard. "I…I have never thought of it that way," she muttered.
"Hey, I am glad to help and I hope all of you graduate and become genins. Good luck," said Kurenai before putting down some money on the counter and heading out, she had to meet her team before they left on a mission the next day.
"Naruto, we should go, it's almost time for classes to start again," said Sakura as she tugged at the boy's sleeve nervously.
"Okay," he said as he pulled out a really fat and green foggy wallet. "Gama-chan, I will make sure you are fat and healthy again in no time," whispered Naruto as he rubbed the wallet to his cheek tenderly before paying for the ramen and heading out of the ramen shop. Ino and Sakura looked at each other and grinned, the more they learned about Naruto, the more they started to like him.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Sakura suddenly as she looked at the time. They were walking leisurely towards the academy until she remembered they were already running late.
"What happened?" asked Ino as she eyed her pink haired friend curiously.
"We will never make it back in time, there is only two minutes left before class starts and the school is all the way in the northern part of town," moaned Sakura. Iruka always got rather furious if students returned to class from lunch late.
"Crap," said Ino as similar thoughts ran through her head as well.
"I can get there faster," said Naruto and his friends immediately looked at him with pleading eyes. Smirking, Naruto only gave them a brief warning before moving to action. "Hold on tight!" With that blonde picked up Ino and Sakura with an arm around each of their waists before taking to the rooftops at full speed. The girls' screams were cut short as wind whipped at them but before they knew it, Naruto was putting them down in front of the building where their class was.
"You should have given a better warning than that!" shouted both the kunoichis and Naruto earned sound slaps on each of his arm. He followed them into classroom grumbling but soon smiled when he saw Kiba and Shikamaru waving towards him. All three of them went over to the table where Shikamaru was sitting.
"Hey Shika," said Ino, she knew the boy for years now, she used to spend a lot of time with him when they were younger, but after joining the academy, those times had become less and less frequent.
"Where did you guys go during lunch?" asked Choji, it was one of those rare moments when the boy was not munching on anything.
"Just took them to Ichiraku's for a nice lunch," said Naruto as he gave a large grin and rubbed the back of his head.
"Wait you took both of them out on a lunch date?" asked Kiba as he looked from Naruto to the girls and back so fast that the blonde was surprised his neck did not snap. Two slaps to the head and he was knocked out on his desk. Akamaru whined worriedly as he tried to make Kiba open his eyes, but to no avail.
"Jeez you two, he was only asking," said Shikamaru in an annoyed tone as he checked to make sure the Inuzuka was not severely hurt or worse. Seeing only two slight bumps on his head, he turned back, the boy would wake up in a few minutes. "He'll be alright boy," said the Nara as he patted the dog's head a few times which seems to put him a little in ease.
"Hey, you know we should play ninja tag today after school," said the Akimichi suddenly.
"What's that?" asked Naruto and got very curious stares from his fellow classmates.
"You have never played ninja tag?" asked Ino and Naruto nodded.
"Well, when we play after school today we will teach you, it's very simple and with how fast you are you will probably never get tagged," she said giving a small smile to Naruto.
"Sure, Ino-chan!" he replied, as loudly as he always did making everyone smile at the blonde's antics. Well everyone except a certain Uchiha who had also taken an interest in his new classmate, but for very different reasons.
AT THE SANDAIME'S OFFICE AFTER ACADEMY HOURS
The Hokage's office was packed as everyone inside waited to find out what Naruto had deduced after snooping around Mizuki. Iruka had the report that Naruto had turned in and was on his way since the academy hours had ended just a few minutes ago. "What have you decided Hokage-sama?" asked Kakashi, finally breaching the subject that had become the source of argument among three really good friends constantly.
"What decision are you talking about Kakashi?" asked the Hokage though he had a good idea of what it was. Even at home he had felt the tension from Asuma about wanting Sandaime's apprentice to be in his team.
"About whose group Naruto should be in," asked the silver haired Jounin impatiently, and drawing the rest of the room's attention towards him. Even Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chouza were interested in hearing this.
"As far as the class dynamics go, it is proving to be exceedingly difficult to put him in a team at all," replied the Hokage as he rubbed his temples. He sure as heck did not want to put Naruto in a tracker team, the boy's talents laid in raw power and infiltration rather than being able to stalk a prey. He was not going to be in Ino-Shi-Cho either though that was the only one that seemed logical, but then there was also Team Seven.
"Maybe I can help there Hokage-sama," said Iruka as he reached the Hokage's office with a small file clutched in his hand.
"Do enlighten us Iruka," said Inoichi with a slight smile on his face, this topic had just become very interesting; it was quite uncommon to see Jounin senseis fighting over one boy.
"Well, Naruto's addition to this specific class has really misbalanced the dynamics so at least one of the pre-confirmed groups will have to break if there is room to be made for Naruto, unless we are making teams that have different aspects to each of them." Iruka already knew that their Hokage would not stand for any unfairness but this issue was about someone whom he considered his own grandson, so he would make sure he was in the right path before giving his idea on any of this.
"Iruka, you know as well as I that having unbalanced teams from the same village is very dangerous, I want no teams to be overly qualified or under qualified for any reason. If I have to break the teams that we talked about to make it fair then so be it," commanded Hiruzen with all the authority of the wise and firm leader that he was.
"Then I suggest that we reform Team eight and replace Shino Aburame with Naruto Uzumaki, and replace Akai Kemichi from Team seven with the Aburame," replied the academy instructor and Hokage thought over it before looking at the original Ino-Shika-Cho for their opinion on the matter.
"Hokage-sama, I have no problem with breaking the Ino-Shika-Cho trio that the academy is trying to form right now," said the patriarch of the Akimichi clan with enough confidence to make the leader of the village more than a little curious.
"Chouza are you sure?" asked Inoichi, a little taken aback by his friend's willingness to put his god-son into a different team.
"Yes Inoichi, I know as well as you and Shika that our personalities are not the same as our children's, especially my god-daughter's," replied the Akimichi as a chuckle escaped from the Nara standing beside the Yamanaka patriarch.
"You also think about Ino that way?" asked the mind walker as he looked at his other friend and team-mate curiously.
"Sorry to tell you this Inoichi, but your daughter is too much like her mother. Sure our sons and your daughter have inherited the same skills as us due to our bloodlines but what made us an effective team was because we learned to understand each other and appreciate each other more as equals. Shikamaru, on the other hand sees Ino as bossy and…overbearing. I think that they would make rather good friends and maybe even get close enough to love each other like siblings but they would not make good comrades, not now as they stand anyway," the Nara clan head also gave his opinion of what he really thought the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio.
"Hmm, that just makes me look like a bad father you know," muttered Inoichi with a sad look in his eyes.
"You know if we started listing Shikamaru's and Choji's shortcomings right now, you would sound like the ideal dad," said Chouza and both the Akimichi and Nara laughed at that, yes their families weren't perfect but it was theirs and they loved it with everything they had.
"But that is what teams are formed for, so if Hokage Sama intends to keep those three in a team I will support that decision too," said Chouza and Shikaku nodded in agreement, much to the relief of Inoichi.
"So are we going with Iruka's plan or are we breaking off the team we had thought of before?" asked Asuma, as he looked from Iruka back to his father.
"I am seriously considering putting Naruto with Sakura and Sasuke; he told me that he had made good friends out of five students from the academy. Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, Choji, and Sakura were the names that he told me," the Hokage paused as he looked at the three members of the famous strike team and continued when they nodded. "I will remove Akai Kemichi from Team Seven and put Naruto in his place." Sarutobi sighed; this could have gone a lot differently. The three Jounin instructors waited with abated breath to see if their Hokage was going to tell them who were to be the teacher of Team Seven but when he didn't Kurenai couldn't wait any longer.
"And who is going to be leading Team Seven?" she asked loudly, frustrated that the Hokage was playing this game with them. The Sandaime looked at the angry red eyed Kunoichi and a new fear rose within him. Asuma, Kakashi, and Kurenai were all strong Jounins of Konoha, and they were three of the best in his village, upsetting two of them could prove really bad for his health. Gulping, the Hokage decided that he would rather stick to the decision he had made because he knew that he wanted what was best for Naruto.
"I must say that the choice was quite difficult to make but in the end I think I chose the one that I thought was best. I hope you will not see this as favoring someone or that I am being biased because my foremost concern is what is best for the newest generation of genins and nothing else. The instructor for team seven will be Kakashi Hatake." Hiruzen fell silent as he saw his son glaring at his face, a wide eyed look on Kakashi's, and the narrowed eyes of Kurenai, she was leaking quite a bit of killer intent in the process too.
"As you wish Hokage-sama," she finally said stonily before she stared out the window, her lips no more than a thin line.
"My, my, this has gotten really tense," said Kakashi, smiling a little nervously.
"Oh, well…damn," thought the Hokage as he turned to look at Iruka once more. "Let's see what Naruto's report says on Mizuki," he ordered as he extended his hand for Iruka to hand him his student's report. He read the report as his eyes flicked across the paper rapidly for a few seconds before looking back up. "It seems that our doubts were right, Mizuki acts like a suspicious suspect should, what is more disturbing is that he is keeping tabs on students that are doing bad in class."
"So is our plan a go then?" asked Inoichi, he and his teammates had devised a plan to take him down while he was in the act, catch him red handed and head him off to prison then there, problem solved."
"Not quite," said Hiruzen as he re-read the note just to make sure he was reading it right. "Naruto has a special request it seems, he wants to make it look like he failed the exam. That way, if Mizuki is planning to use one of the students to do the dirty job for him, Naruto will be placing himself as bait."
"You are not seriously thinking about this are you?" asked Inoichi instantly, placing a child's life on the hands of a ninja who was thinking about betraying his whole village, that can't be reasonable at all.
"Why not, the plan seems pretty good, and Naruto is more than capable of handling himself in situations like this," said the Sandaime; he was in fact impressed with his student's initiative in helping the village anyway he can.
"But these kinds of missions are usually reserved for shinobis of Chuunin, and in most cases Jounin level, not inexperienced Genins," blurted the Yamanaka, worry for the young Uzumaki evident in his voice.
"Inoichi, calm down," said Asuma as he tried to explain why the Sandaime was allowing Naruto to follow the plan that he had formulated. "I understand that you think Naruto to be an untested genin but as far as skills are concerned he is well beyond the people of his age. In fact, if it did come to hand to hand combat, I can assure you that Naruto is more than capable of overpowering the Chuunin."
"How can you say that?" asked the mind walker suspiciously, and his team-mates looked curious as well.
"Well…haha," he said nervously as he looked at his father while running a hand through his hair.
"Hokage-sama, exactly how strong is Naruto?" asked Shikaku, he had quickly caught on what they had been trying to hide, and given the boy's display of skills over five years ago, it would be understandable if he was strong enough to be a higher level Chuunin. The Hokage sighed tiredly before shooting a glare at his son for his carelessness.
"He is strong enough, skill wise, to be Jounin level," replied the Hokage making three jaws hit the floor.
"Hokage-sama, I believe you will understand if we are a little skeptical," said Shikaku as he looked a little apologetically at the leader of Konoha. The Hokage's response surprisingly was a long belly-deep laugh.
"Yes, indeed it is hard to believe," said the man still chuckling, which made the members of Ino-Shika-Cho trio shuffle their feet nervously. It did not help that Kurenai, Kakashi, and Asuma were also laughing at their disposal.
"Well, all I can say is that I am glad he is my daughter's friend then," said the Yamanaka clan head and raucous laughter broke out all across the room, even Iruka, who was able to stifle his amusement till now, burst out laughing at the antics of the respectable clan head. As the laughter slowly died, Shikaku asked the question that would have come up one way or another.
"So what are we to do? Since this is now in Naruto's hand, I am assuming that we are not needed for this anymore," the Nara deduced, a little disappointed at the sudden turn of events.
"Oh I am not so sure about that," said the Hokage as he took a long drag from his pipe before continuing. "Naruto maybe strong but he is still very inexperienced and quite young. I am not going to let him handle the mission as a solo one even though he specifically requested it, you three, along with Tenzo and his group is going to monitor the situation from the shadows. One wrong move from Mizuki and you are to take him down. I am quite sure that Naruto still has a lot to learn…" the Sandaime might have continued but a loud groan stopped him midsentence.
"Oh here we go again," said Asuma, he half groaned and half moaned the words out, like he had heard this over and over again, and still expected to hear it for quite some time before it stopped.
"What do you mean?" asked Kurenai as she glanced curiously at her comrade.
"You know, my father would brag about his apprentice for hours on some of his accomplishments almost every day, but in the end of it all he would always remind us that 'I am quite sure that Naruto still has a lot to learn'," mimicked Asuma, though it was a very sorry mimic and more of a mock.
"Well if you are done with the family drama, I would like to see this mission of Naruto's myself," said a rather rough voice of a kunoichi as she jumped into the office through the window, while eating a dango from a stick.
"Not a chance of that happening Anko," declared Kakashi in a voice that brooked no argument…unless it was Anko Mitarashi, everyone realized.
"What did you say, you scarecrow rip off?" she screamed at his face, her own face red with anger.
"You heard me, not a chance of that happening unless I am also there," said Kakashi in the same voice which made the woman turn towards the Sandaime, fires of determination burning bright in her eyes lavender eyes.
"Now now Anko, before you say anything, I agree to all of Kakashi's terms," said the Sandaime raising his hands defensively to protect himself from a determined and a little crazy ANBU operative.
"Good old man, I will be there," said the trench coat wearing Kunoichi and jumped out the window after giving a quick hug to her best friend Kurenai.
"Dear Kami, that woman scares me more than Tsunade," thought the Hokage, wondering if he had taken the right decision in sending Naruto to train with her.
"VICTORY!" was the thought that was going through Kakashi's head as he gave a one eyed smile to the Hokage before leaving.
Hey guys, I hope you liked this chapter. Yes, Naruto will remain in Team Seven with Kakashi. So people suggested some pairings that I like, and there are some unique ones too that I have not seen in Fanfic yet. I like Naru/Ino, but hey I might just make it a triplet! Lol, me and my devious mind. And oh boy was I surprised by the amount of reviews I got for the latest chapter, that was amazing, please keep reviewing my story like that, it was very appreciated and quite motivating. Next chapter is the first team meeting and maybe the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto will grow some more, but there will be a slight twist to it. I have to say that updates will be slower because now my internship and summer job has started, I will write as much as I can but it will still be a slower pace than this, sorry. Poll about Zabuza's sword still stands. Please, please, please don't forget to review.
Thanks,
Tanneal.