Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
AN: Getting ready to wrap up things before the time skip. There will be maybe one more chapter before it jumps to when they are a bit older, that's when the things really get interesting. The next chapter might be shorter than my 'now' usually length but that's because not too much more needs to happen right now.
AfroJedii: I was going to write up a lengthy explanation but I really don't feel like it. All I have to say is Hanaya is a stuck up Hyuuga.
Mr. Condescending Cynic, Narutomaniac, mbshadow: Harem… Hmm how can I explain this? AH! Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes... you three can think about that.
RasenganFin: My grandmother funeral was on my birthday. I can't go a year without remembering it now.
Vnvanman: I don't doubt that but I sure feel sorry for the person who says that to him.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Chapter 19: Choice of Place
It was only the next day after Temari and Sora were brought to Naruto's house so it was a given that things would be a little awkward. Everyone was currently eating breakfast together and keeping to themselves. If you thought about it you would know this was a potential disaster. Some of the people didn't trust or just plain out hated the others. Sora was able to move when Hinata was around but talking was still out of the question, fear still had a strong hold on her. If Hinata was thinking rationally she would blame Naruto for her current mod but as it was she blamed it on the two new arrivals.
Temari was a Kunoichi, always has been always will be. She was 100 loyal to Suna and if they said they needed her to under Konoha's control to prevent war then she would do nothing to jeopardize her mission. Of course she had her own opinions of the situation but they were unimportant compared to her mission.
Naruto looked over around the table and knew things would have to be taken care of soon to avoid complications to his plans. He turned to Anko and nodded to her, she knew what he was telling her and nodded back to him. The Hokage knew that Temari would not cause problems but Sora would, when she got over her fear that is. Then again of everyone in the house Sora was by far the weakest, even below Hanabi in skill and would not be able to do much of anything but it is best to avoid all trouble.
"We'll I have to leave now. I don't know when I will be home." He left with Hiraishin quickly after informing the bunch. Some noble from somewhere in the fire country wanted to meet with him about who knows what, probably going to try and get on Naruto's good side, there would be no shortage of people who wanted to 'befriend' the young Kage.
Immediately after Naruto left Anko decided she might as well get started immediately. "Temari and Sora, follow me, I have something important to tell you." The woman said. The two girls looked a bit confused but did as told. Anko led them both outside and a fair distance into a clearing on the property.
"Yesterday you were brought to live in the home of the Hokage as you are both 'guest' in Konoha. However you're not going to simply freeload during your stay, you two are going to have an important duty while you are living with us." Anko said.
"And if we refuse to do it." Sora said. She still had her suspicions about Naruto and this 'duty' made her nervous.
"Let me get a few things out of the way. The first thing I should let you two know is that I don't like you. You're both foreign shinobi and neither of you should be trusted with as much as a spoon. However Naruto-sama has decided to trust you two pieces of trash with the most important thing in Konoha; his life." Anko said.
"What do you mean by that?" Temari said. She almost felt the same way as Anko. No way did she think she would be trusted with anything important.
"Currently I and a few alternating ANBU officers guard him but that's not enough. Naruto-sama has enemies all ranging from useless civilians to S-Class criminals so it will be our duty to guard him at all times to defend him should he be attacked." The Jounin told.
"So you expect me to fight S-Class criminals for guy who's keeping me prisoner? Yeah fucking right." Sora said. Konoha was foolish if they thought that she would ever forgive them for what they've done.
"I wasn't asking you if you wanted to or not, I'm telling you that you will. You have no choice but to do as I say. If you decided to cause problems we will simply sell you to the highest bidding clan, I'm sure they would pay a great sum to have your bloodline limit." Anko said coldly. The snake users really didn't like these girls. She had suggested using Konoha ninja but when she learned of Naruto's plan for them she agreed that this was better.
"At the moment you two are pitifully weak so the first thing we will need to do is work on your skills. Now do you two understand your place or will I have to show you?" Anko said.
The fact that she would still officially be a ninja relieved Temari greatly. She had thought she would be stuck in Naruto's house for the rest of her life cleaning, cooking, or something. Fortunately that was not the case and she would be able to train and do something relevant. For Sora the threat of being sold was enough to shut her up, for now. "Yes." They both said.
"Good, now let's gets started. The faster we start the quicker you two become useful." Anko said.
Just as he suspected the man had been there to kiss up to Naruto and try gain favors. The man even had the nerve to bring his daughter who was dressed in little to nothing to try and catch Naruto's eye. The woman had to have been close to 20 and was the worst actress Naruto had ever seen. Her attempts to
look interest in Naruto were laughable at best. Anyway Naruto humored the two for a while and now the meeting was over. Naruto knew that wasn't the last he would see of the two.
The next meeting was scheduled by a Jounin who wanted to meet with him about something. He had a certain block of time where civilians and ninja could schedule meetings to discuss whatever they need to speak with the Hokage about. When he looked at the name he raised an eyebrow, why would Kurenai want an official meeting? She knew him personally and could just drop by his house if she wanted to talk. There was a knock on his door and Naruto figured he would just have to ask her. "Enter."
When the woman entered she bowed and took a seat in the chair across from him. "Hello Kurenai, I was a bit surprised to see that you wanted an official meeting with me instead of just coming by my house. So could you tell me why?" Naruto asked.
She took a deep breath and started to speak. "I was recently told of a Jutsu you completed, one that could make gathering information a quick and efficient job. With such a Jutsu there will no longer be any need to send Kunoichi on special missions." She spit that word out like hot coal.
Naruto sighed in annoyance because she wasn't supposed to know about that Jutsu. "I guess it was Asuma who told you about the Jutsu. I thought he understood that it was classified."
"He said you told him that he should bring back a hair or blood sample to you from enemies or suspicious people. He thought it would be a good idea for me to have that information." Kurenai said.
"Of all the active Jounin I had only told him, Kakashi, and Gai. If I had thought it would be a good idea to tell every Jounin I would have. Kurenai give me a piece of your hair." Naruto said. Kurenai slowly plucked a sting of hair from her head and handed to the boy. He could see that she didn't want give it to him and he didn't blame her. He could learn her deepest and darkest secrets so very easily, but he was the Hokage and she couldn't disobey him.
Naruto quickly added the hair to a scroll used to make the Uragirimono Bunshin and a clone of the Jounin was soon made. Before speaking Naruto looked the real Kurenai in the eyes. "Clone, tell me this one thing, what were you and Asuma doing when you were told of my Jutsu." Naruto said while never taking his eyes of the real woman. At first the Genjutsu mistress was confused as to why Naruto wanted that information but she realized soon and her eyes went wide. "We were in bed talking, after having sex." The clone said. Satisfied Naruto dismissed the clone.
"Asuma, the son of Sandaime, an elite Jounin of Konoha told you classified while in bed. Now if someone of his status would talk, people with no ninja training would as well. I'm sorry Kurenai but every Kunoichi was told of those missions being a possibility while at the academy. If they stayed that means they accepted that." Naruto said.
"That's bullshit and you know it. The only Kunoichi who get those missions are the attractive, clan less ones. Besides what other job can you get in Konoha? If you're not a ninja you're a second class citizen with fewer rights. The only reason people stay as civilians are because they don't have the skill to become a ninja." The Jounin said. It was true, for civilian's taxes were higher, healthcare wasn't free, and if a civilian and a ninja wanted the same thing the ninja always won. An example would be that civilian reservation to restaurants could be taken by a ninja who walked in. Konoha was a place where physical power got you whatever you want.
Naruto then thought for a few moments. "This isn't the kind of issue which can be resolved here and now. If you really want to change things then I'm going to need you to do 3 things. First you would have to gather statements of dissatisfaction from the majority of woman who perform such missions. Secondly you would have to provide an alternate method of gather intelligence, one better than the current one. The final would probably be the most difficult for you. You will have to complete one of those missions yourself. I know for a fact you have never been assigned one. If you can complete those three tasks then I will bring your case to the council and we will have a vote on the subject. If not then I can't help you."
Kurenai knew it wasn't going to be that easy. She had been pushing to help the image of Kunoichi for years and now that she knew the Hokage personally and about his Justus she tried to get rid of the biggest issue. She had trained hard, harder than most the men she knew to make sure that she was more useful on the battlefield rather than some bed. She knew that because she had no family and her looks she would be sent out for information gather unless she had other uses. Genjutsu specialist were rare, making them more precious than Ninjutsu specialist who were a dime a dozen. All that work would be for nothing if she decided to do what he said. However she could potential prevent others from those missions.
Naruto thought it was time to get out of the office…
"So you're telling me that the only Jutsu you know are the three basic ones. Why the hell would you try and compete in the Chunin exams with pitiful skills like that? Is Kusa that desperate to get some recognition that they would send a weakling like you get crushed?" Anko said to Sora.
"That was rather harsh Anko, if she doesn't know many Jutsu I would be happy to teach her some." Anko then turned to the speaker and bowed, one must show their Kage the proper respect. "You don't have to teach them personally." Anko said.
"Learning from a person is far better than learning from a scroll. Truthfully I have a few Jutsu in mind for the both of you. Anko could you and cover for me in the tower, giving out missions?" He really didn't need her to do that, a clone could do it but he just wanted to talk to the two girls with Anko gone. Anko looked defiant but left anyway with a frown on her face. That was until she was out of sight and now her face now wore a smirk. Playing her part was easy.
"Ok, as you probably know I'm the Hokage of Konoha. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm 12 years old. You may think I'm young to be running a village but Sandaime was around the same age when he became our Hokage. I married my wife Hinata to save her from her traitor father whom was trying to sell her simply because she used Jutsu not taught by them. My hobbies are creating Ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu for me and others to use. Now I would like to learn about you two, starting with Temari please." Naruto said.
"My Name is Sabaku no Temari and I'm the daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage. I'm 14 years old and my hobby is, well was riding the winds in on my fan." Temari said. Now that she thought about it, she would really missing flying around on her fan, it was her way of relaxing, not to mention fun as hell.
"That can be done here you know, I would be happy to help you fly with your fan. If you teach me how that is." Naruto said.
"My name is whateveryoucalledmeyesterday Sora and I'm 15 years old. My hobby was going out with my friends, shopping and such but I guess I'll never do that again." Sora said. If Naruto was willing to help Temari with her hobby maybe he would with her as well.
"We'll you two will be getting paid quite nicely so you will be able to go shopping. There are a lot of people in Konoha so I'm sure you will find friends as well. I might as well get those Jutsu for you two so you follow me back to the house please." The Hokage said.
Ino was currently traveling though Oto with 3 Taki Nin. Kagami and the Taki commander had decided to put one Konoha ninja with 3 others as to increase Konoha's involvement. Well that's what they said, the truth was that Taki wanted to keep an eye on the Konoha ninja and Konoha didn't trust Taki ninja to get the job done. The good thing about this arrangement was the Ino was the team leader. The Taki ninja didn't like this but since there were other Taki only teams as well they agreed on the condition.
Her current mission was to locate and eliminate Oto ninja that were occupying the city of Daruga. The Oto shinobi were currently forcing the inhabitants to pay an extra 10 sales and income tax to Oto. Ino's mission was not to save the city from the tax but to secure the tax for themselves. Once the Oto shinobi are gone they would stay and protect their position until another team relives them.
They were about three quarters to their destination when a hail of Kunai and shuriken flew at them from all direction. A quick burst of wind knocked away all the weapons headed for Ino but the screams of her teammates let her know that they were not nearly as lucky. When she looked back to them she was angry. Angry at herself for not saving them, assuming they could have done so themselves, angry at them for not being skilled enough to stay alive, angry and the enemies up ahead who were responsible.
"Well, well, well. I guess it is true that Taki shinobi can't match up to those of the great nations. They could only watch in fear while you easily evaded. The fact that you didn't cover them suggests that you're used to working with people with at least the same level of skill of yourself. The fact that you're not running away tells me that this is not your first battle. Sadly the fact that you believe you can defeat all 12 of us suggests that you are a fool little girl. How about you take that sword off of you back and use it to end your own life and save yourself from being beaten, because your loss will soon become fact." A Kumo Nin said. Out of the group of 12 there were 2 Kumo Nin and 10 Oto Nin. The Kumo ninja happened to be Jounin as well.
"Well since you like facts so much how about I tell you one. I'm going to give my sensei a really big kiss the next time I see him. Because we fought someone like him often you 12 don't scare me the slightest." Ino said before sliding in a fighting stance. The Kumo just shook his head and nodded to a Chunin from Oto. The man accepted his orders and dashed towards Ino with the intentions of stabbing her with a kunai. Well Ino didn't want that to happen so she used Kaze no Yaiba(Blade of Wind). The man was not fast enough to dodge the attack and was decapitated long before he reached the girl.
The Kumo Ninja was impressed because he honestly didn't expect her to win that fight. He then pointed to four more Oto Nin who sprung to action instantly. They decided to jump in the trees and surround
the girl, huge mistake. With a few hand seals Ino performed Konoha shuriken and all four were hit, although two of the managed to avoid fatal, or even critical injuries. Ino then jumped to the tree where one of the survivors were and kneed him in the stomach and hard as she could. When he bent over from pain she shoved a Kunai in the back of his head.
She then moved her head to the left and successfully dodged the other ninja trying to jam a kunai in the back of her head. Now that his arm was over her shoulder she grabbed with her left hand and used an upwards palm trust with her right hand to make his arm bend the other way. When he howled in pain she turned around and punched in the throat, crushing in wind pipe as well as knocking him off the tree branch, if the fall didn't kill him, suffocation will.
"How about another fact, there is only seven of you now and I don't have a scratch on me." She then bit her finger and summoned a snake. It was a red snake about 40 feet long and was very fast. She was going to try and end this fight as soon as possible while using as little chakra as possible because she needed to make sure she had enough in case she had to fight when she reached the city. Even with the death of her teammates the mission was still on. If this was a mission for a client she would have aborted the mission and returned to Konoha but this was a war. Besides Kagami made it clear, if the Taki shinobi slow you down, leave them behind. If the Taki ninja get in your way, cut them down.
The Kumo Nin decided it would be incredibly stupid not to all attack at once now. Anymore loss of Oto ninja decreases all of their chances for survival. 'Obviously she is one of Konoha's elite, but she's very young. It would be in Kumo's best interest for us to kill her right here and now.' The Kumo Nin thought. He then signaled everyone attack her, it was time to end this now.
They were going to surround her again but Ino found no reason to let them do so she and her snake took off in different directions with different targets in mind. The summoned snake used its superior speed to snatch off the leg of one of the Oto Nin. When another Oto Nin stopped to look the screaming man the snake dashed to him, wrapped around his body, then killed him by crushing him. Unfortunately for the snake the other Kumo Nin hit it with multiple kunai with explosion notes wrapped on them before he could remove himself from the man.
Ino used Kage Bunshin to even the odds; she made five clones and sent two towards the Kumo Nin and the rest to take care of the remaining Oto Nin, she herself decided to hide while she could. The first clone to reach an enemy used its copy of Ino's sword and cut through an Oto Nins Kunai, as well as his body. The second Oto Nin tried to dodge but Ino had use Kamaitachi and blew him away were he cracked his skull on a tree. The third clone killed itself and the last Oto Nin by exploding, Bunshin Daibakuha was a great Jutsu.
Now it was down to two Kumo ninja and one Konoha Nin. The four remaining clones had threw every Kunai and shuriken at the last two ninja but they only managed to hit the second one in the arm, a least Ino knew who to target with her next move. This was only likely to work once so she was going to use it on the stronger of the two; the one who had gotten hit was obviously the weaker.
After her clones were destroyed they two were searching for the girl but she was well hidden. The leader of the team was livid. How in the hell did he manage to lose 10 ninja to one little girl, he was sure to be sent back to Kumo and put on gate duty for a while. 'If I ever get back to Kumo.' Ino was far better than he had ever thought she could be and the possibility of him dying wasn't as low and he hoped.
While walking on the ground looking for his enemy a small snake burst from the ground in front of him. He jumped back to avoid being bitten but to his horror a sword shot out of the things mouth at incredible speed and pierced through his chest. "Hiirai get out of here, go now…" The Jounin said before a sword pieced his back and went through his heart, killing him.
The Snake retreated back into the ground and Ino pulled her sword from his back and looked at the final Nin who was radiating anger. He started to do hand seals until a sword slid out the front of his chest. He turned around and saw Ino looking at him with little emotion. He turned back to the Ino he was looking at and it popped into smoke, a Kage Bunshin.
Ino's expression didn't change when she removed the hitai-ate from all of the dead enemy ninja in the area. She sealed them in a scroll, and also sealed her dead teammate's bodies into scrolls. They might not have been much help but at least they could be buried in the village they gave their life for. The bodies of the Oto and Kumo ninja, they will be left for the animals.
When Aburame Shino received a message that the Hokage wanted to see him he was unsure as to the reason why. Even so he wasn't worried because it was illogical to do so. His clan was on great terms with the young Kage and he had made no mistakes, it was highly unlikely that he was about to be punished. When he arrived in his leader's office he was told something that was cause for celebration. He was being promoted to Chunin.
"I do however have a part time duty that I would like for you to perform in the future. As you know Morino Ibiki is the head of our torture and interrogation unit. He's is very good at what he does but I have techniques that makes him obsolete. Even so he will keep his position and won't be informed in of our new methods. I want you to be the one to interrogate prisoners using my techniques. I would like for you to start now but first you must learn what question to ask. So I want you to report to the interrogation unit at least once a week to be taught. Once you are ready you will be given special privileges when it comes to interrogation so that your sessions would be private." The Hokage said.
"It would be my Honor Hokage-sama." The new Chunin said. Naruto then tossed him a scroll and told him to give it to Ibiki on his first visit. It informed Ibiki that certain restrictions were no longer in place. No doubt the man would be happy. Shino soon left after that, he would see the man immediately after informing his clan of his promotion.
Fifteen minutes after Shino left his office Inuzuka Kiba entered his office. He had been called just like Shino but he on the other hand had been worried, he just might have done something wrong. "Inuzuka Kiba I called you here to inform you of your promotion to Chunin as well as give you an invitation to join the ranks of the Hunter Nin division of ANBU." The blonde said.
Kiba barely held back from jumping out of his seat. He was disappointed when he wasn't promoted after the exams but that didn't matter anymore. On top of being promoted he was asked to join the Hunter Nin Unit. He would be free to travel and track down traitors, hell yeah to that. "Thank you Hokage-sama!"
The Naruto that was in the office was nothing but a Kage Bunshin. The real Naruto was in the largest Dojo the house had with Temari and Sora. He had found Sora's hand seal speed lacking so he made 50 clones of her so she could practice for an hour which translated into 50 hours with the clones. When she was done the speed of her seal making was far from poor.
"This is awesome! You can turn one hour of training into 50, with more training like that I could actually become really strong." Sora said excitedly. She had always dreamed of becoming a Jounin but never actually believed she could make it past Chunin. "How many clones can you make at once?"
"I can easily make over 2,000 clones." Naruto said. He could make far more if he used Kyuubi's chakra but he never made much more than that, 2,000 was more than enough for training and if 2,000 clones couldn't defeat someone then more numbers wasn't the answer.
"Are you serious? One hour of training with that many clones is like 3 months of training. My god if I were to train for 4 hours that would be about a year." Sora was getting excited now, training four hours a day with that many clones for a month and she just might have enough skill to become a Jounin. 'Wait, calm down Sora, you still hate these people. The Hokage is a nice guy but his wife is evil. ' She thought.
Even though Temari wasn't showing it she was excited by the idea of training like that as well. Earlier today she was happy about truly staying a ninja and now it seemed she was going to be packed with power as well. She would make the most of the situation she was in. 'I'm going to be guarding a person who is obviously doesn't need anyone's help in a fight. We're probably just going to there as a show of power or something. Either way I plan on becoming as strong as I possibly can.' Temari thought.
Later that day Naruto was in his office with Anko. Because S-Class criminal had already entered the village once to attack Naruto she was taking her job as his guard seriously, it was rare for him to be out of her sight. If she could sleep in his room she would but Naruto didn't think Hinata would appreciate that.
"Naruto-sama I still don't think what you're doing is a great idea and it could come back and bite you one day. Not to mention that it could jeopardize your marriage." Anko said to him.
"It would be dangerous if I didn't have to ability to learn their every thought whenever I wanted to, but I do so it will be fine. I know that Hinata is angry that I brought more women into the house. She knows the official reason why those two are here not the true reason I'm allowing them to stay and that worries her. Besides my plan is the best way to insure that they will do their jobs." Naruto said.
"Tell me one thing Naruto-sama. Did you do the same thing with me and Hinata that you're planning with those two?" Anko asked.
"I had no ulterior motives when I was helping you two. With you, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Tayuya, Temari, Sora, and Itachi, and one more person my unit will be complete. Maybe I should have Danzo supply me with the last person. Once all nine are trained we can begin with our plans." He said.
