Chapter 2
Graduation Day
Finally. It was the day of the graduation exam. Waking up with a yawn and his door banging open, Naruto yawned. "Naruto-Kun! Are you up yet?" Hinata was there when Naruto set up his own security seals, and was keyed into them. The only other people keyed in were Jiraya and the Hokage, both of which were quite impressed with his seals. His Fuuinjutsu was almost as good as Jiraya's.
"Hinata-chan? Aren't you a bit early?"
Hopping onto his bed, Hinata threw her arms around Naruto and gave him a kiss. "Maybe a little early Naruto-kun. I'm just excited! After today, we'll officially be ninja!"
Wrapping his arms around her, Naruto returned the kiss. "Hopefully we can be on the same team too. I wonder what our sensei will be like? He can't be anywhere as good as Jiraya though. Let me take a shower, and no peeking with your Byakugan!" Hinata's blush told him that she had been planning on doing just that, not that he would be able to stop her even if he wanted to.
After a quick shower, Naruto threw on a pair of light black pants and a matching shirt before he came back into his living room to a blushing Hinata. "You peeked again, didn't you?" With a slight nod, Naruto just laughed. Personally, he blamed the Icha-Icha books. Hinata had her own stack on a shelf, next to Naruto's collection. Personally signed to Hinata by the author himself. Really, the two were still too young for such thing, but Jiraya was about as irresponsible of a role model as you could possibly get. Naruto suspected Hinata's father would be less than pleased at the influence Jiraya had on his daughter.
The rest of the apartment looked quite a bit different from a few years ago as well. He had a few more book shelves, filled with more books that Jiraya brought him from all across the elemental countries. There were a couple extra weapon racks, and Hinata even claimed a small part, having a pre-packed bag for emergencies and her own weapon rack. Her Kenjutsu wasn't nearly as good as Naruto's, but it was good enough that she could fall back onto a ninja-to or tanto if she couldn't make use of her Jyuuken, or to defend against against thrown weapons. A desk held all of Naruto's sealing supplies. Ink, brushes, several scrolls, a stack of empty tags. A few references were sitting open on the desk as well.
Naruto grabbed a couple of weapon pouches, attaching on to his right leg and back left hip. Another pouch on his back right hip carried his mobile sealing supplies along with a small stack of tags. Finally he attached a ninja-to and a tanto to his back. The tanto was angled down and to the left, to be easily drawn with his off-hand, while the ninja-to was angled up and to the right, for an overhead draw with his right arm. Most the shinobi would leave him alone these days, especially when he was with Hinata. Few were willing to court the ire of the Hyuuga clan by attacking the heiress or someone in her company, but there have still been a few incidents, leaving Naruto to prefer to stay prepared. Hinata grabbed her own pair of tanto's as well, attaching them to her back under her jacket. One was angled down and to the left, the other down and to the right. At a casual glance, only a trained shinobi would even notice she was armed.
Pausing for a minute before heading out for breakfast, Naruto made a few shadow clones to read over some books while he was gone, and Hinata did the same. Against Jiraya's advice, he taught her the technique, though she couldn't make more than just a few, and even then, they'd only stick around for at most an hour. Even with those limitations, leaving a few to read through Naruto's books while she was at the academy helped her improve a great deal, even if she was too exhausted in the morning to really pay attention in the Academy. It was doing wonders for her chakra supply too. When she first started, she could only make one shadow clone, and it wouldn't even last a minute. Even now, it took too much out of her to use them for anything but reading or light training. Practicing forms? Yes. Sparring? Not a chance. They took too much to make, and even then, were far too fragile.
Heading to Ichirakus, the two enjoyed a good breakfast. Hinata loved Naruto dearly, but his ability to inhale bowls of ramen by the dozen disturbed her on some level. "Naruto-kun..where does all that ramen go?"
Teuchi and Ayame couldn't hold back their laughter at the boys blush. "So Naruto, you're taking your graduation test today, right?"
"That's right Ayame! First step to becoming Hokage! Every time I see Jiji, he tells me he's ready to retire. So I'm gonna take that hat so he can enjoy his retirement!" Earning himself another round of laughter, the couple paid for their ramen and headed to the academy. After the training from hell that Jiraya put them through when he was in town, the graduation exam would be a joke.
xxxxx
The first part of the graduation exam was even easier than they expected. A written test covering some of the basics. What is chakra? How is it formed? What are the elements? A few of the questions were probably beyond most the class, but the overwhelming majority were painfully basic. Both Hinata and Naruto aced the test.
Next was the taijutsu exam. Hinata aced it with her Jyuuken, while Naruto went a bit above and beyond. Taking up a kickboxing stance, he launched a brutal roundhouse at the chuunin instructors head. Despite blocking it, the instructor was knocked off balance and left helpless when Naruto gripped his arm an launched himself, driving his knee into the instructors head while pulling his arm out the way. Knocking the instructor flat out in less than three seconds was enough to make the entire class stare at him. "Ah...whoops?" Iruka could only facepalm as Mizuki started to wake up.
The Ninjutsu exam was also well below the abilities of Hinata and Naruto. "Don't do it kit. Don't do it. You're going to do it, aren't you? Why do I even try..."
"Naruto Uzumaki." Holding an icepack to his head for the swelling, Mizuki glared at the boy. "Alright, show us a Bunshin."
Smiling, Naruto decided to go above and beyond the call, once again. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" A full two dozen shadow clones appeared. Twenty-five voices called out as one. "How's that sensei?" The entire class went silent, staring at the boy again. Even Sasuke only made twenty clones.
Iruka could only facepalm again. He long suspected that Naruto was holding back, but he didn't think he was holding back anywhere near that much. "Naruto...I'm half tempted to fail you for that. Where the hell did you learn to make shadow clones?" Scratching his head, Naruto smiled brightly. "Never mind, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Now do a henge."
Twenty-five blondes moved as one making a hand seal, to be replaced with twenty-five distinct ninja, from all five of the major hidden villages. Of course, Naruto couldn't just stop there. They all quickly turned on each other, turning into a massive brawl in the middle of the classroom. Since one solid hit dispels the shadow clones, it was a pretty short fight, with the only survivor being the Fourth Hokage. "Was that good Iruka-sensei?" Both Mizuki and Iruka were too busy trying to make sense of what they just saw to respond.
"Yup. You did it. Now everyone in the class is going to bug you about that..." 'Did you see their faces though? TOTALLY worth it!"
After the exam, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were tied for the highest score, all three acing the exam, even if the other two weren't nearly as flashy about it as Naruto. "Congratulations on passing the exam. In three days, report back here at ten, and you'll be assigned teams then. I'm proud to have had such a talented class this year, and I know you'll all continue to make me proud."
Getting their forehead protectors, Naruto and Hinata wasted no time putting them on and heading out to celebrate. Several of the other graduates were quick to join them. "Hey, how about Ichiraku's?" Choji was quick to shoot that down and suggest barbeque. Ino, Hinata, and Kiba were quick to agree, while Shikamaru just shrugged, finding the argument too troublesome and Shino had no preferences. Being outvoted, Naruto had no choice but to go along for barbecue.
After his performance on the graduation test, everyone was asking him the entire time about how he got so strong. They never even heard of solid clones before. Kyuubi's prediction played out all too accurately. Before long Naruto was wishing he skipped dinner with his friends. "And that is why you don't show off in front of everyone you know..." "Ok, fine, it was a stupid idea. It was still worth it!"
xxxxx
Mizuki had enough. He wasn't going to let the demon just go on to be a shinobi. He couldn't fail him. Even the council couldn't make that fly with his scores. He couldn't fail him, but he could kill him. Smirking, Mizuki went to get a few others. Some folks he knew would be more than happy to help kill the boy. Afterwards, he could dispose of them himself, and come out a hero. Maybe finally he could get out of this dead end instructor job and get the promotion he's long since deserved. What he didn't expect, was how much help his subtle recruitment would get him.
xxxxx
Sarutobi had to admit, this was definitely one of the worst council meetings of his life. He already had a migraine from it. Homura and Koharu, his advisers and Uchiha Sasuke's guardians, were determined to make his evening a living hell. The entire backing of the civilian council only made it worse. Teams were to be assigned, but everyone seemed to be arguing. The Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans wanted their kids on the same team, a second coming of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. That was one of the few teams that didn't raise any objections from either side of the council. Asuma had already been convinced to take the team by their parents, so there were no issues at all.
No, the real headache came with the top three of the class. Kakashi resigned from the ANBU commander position with the Hokage's blessing to become a Jounin instructor for one purpose, to train Uzumaki Naruto. He wasn't very concerned with who the other two members of the team were, though preferred Hinata as one. The council immediately shot that down. With the entire civilian council, the Uchiha vote from the advisers holding the seat until Sasuke comes of age, along with the single vote wielded by the advisers, Kakashi couldn't get Naruto. Instead they tried to saddle him with Sasuke over his protests.
Jiraya, having just gotten back in town too late to attend Naruto's graduation, was almost ready to start throwing councilors out the window, pushing for Kakashi to take on both Naruto and Hinata. Since Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were the top three of the class, the council argued that all three should be split. Kakashi being the only one with a Sharingan was the only Jounin qualified to train Sasuke, and as such, Kakashi couldn't train Naruto and Hinata would have to be split from him. Hiashi argued that Naruto and Hinata were practically a team already, and splitting them break one of the best team dynamics in the leaf.
Kakashi and the Hokage made the case that since the paperwork discharging Kakashi from the ANBU wasn't finalized yet, he didn't HAVE to accept a team and another Jounin could replace him, while the council argued that finalized or not, he already signed up to be a Jounin instructor and couldn't back out. The argument was legally dubious, but not clear cut enough to dismiss out of hand. Sarutobi was tired enough of the bickering from the civilian council, that he was starting to entertain the thoughts of a Hokage sanctioned coup and killing them, along with his advisers, just so Konoha could function again. Before he could do more than smile at the bliss of such a thought, a team of ANBU entered the council chambers. "Hokage-Sama! Naruto, and the clan heirs were attacked! They're currently being transported to the hospital." Sarutobi had to admit, every time he thought it couldn't get any worse, Kami would find a way to deliver. If it wasn't so serious, it would have been funny.
xxxxx
After dinner, the group moved to Naruto's apartment building. Technically, Naruto owned the entire building, even if he only lived in one of the apartments. After the previous owner was arrested for trying to break into his Naruto's apartment a few years back, the first tester of Jiraya's security seals, the Hokage confiscated the building and gifted it to Naruto. No one else wanted to live in the same building as the 'demon', leaving Naruto a great deal of free space. One of the apartments had a bed and few possessions of Jiraya, who was never one to turn down a free bed while in town instead of having to pay for a hotel. Being otherwise empty, the apartment building was a frequent gathering for the group. With the help of his friends, Naruto had knocked down a few walls turning the bottom floor into a hang out for a large chunk of his class, entertaining company once or twice a week, usually with food provided by the Akimichi clan. It was only fitting since Choji probably ate more of the food than the rest of the group combined.
"I wonder whats taking the council so long. Daddy usually isn't gone this long after graduations." Ino was leaned over the couch resting her chin on Shikamaru's head.
"Troublesome woman...Where did Naruto go?"
Opening another bag of chips,Choji took a break from inhaling them for a moment. "I'm pretty sure he went outside with Hinata."
"Man, Naruto's so lucky to have a girl like Hinata. Ain't that right Akamaru?" Sitting on Kiba's head, the dog gave out an agreeable bark.
"There's something wrong." Everyone turned to Shino. "Sasuke and Naruto are fighting." That was new as far as the group was concerned. They knew he didn't get along at all with either Sasuke or Sakura, and the feeling seemed to be mutual, but it's never come to blows before. Everyone looked towards the door when they heard the scream. That wasn't Naruto, Sasuke, or Hinata. Within a heartbeat everyone was on their way out.
xxxxx
"It's such a beautiful night out Naruto-kun." Hinata and Naruto were sitting in the grass outside enjoying the beautiful night sky, snuggled up to eachother. "I hope we're on the same team. I don't want to leave your side."
Looking into her eyes, Naruto gave her a quick kiss. "Don't worry Hinata-hime. Even if we aren't on the same team, you'll always be by my side, and I by yours. Even Shinigami-sama himself couldn't keep me from you."
"Don't make me puke Naruto." Sasuke came walking into the field, followed by a nervous looking Sakura. Down a ways, Naruto saw another shape moving, but it went out of sight. Assuming it was just one of the ANBU that swing by on occasion to make sure he's alright, Naruto ignored it. "And to what do we owe this pleasure teme?"
"Just how strong are you Naruto? We've always been neck and neck, but your performance during the graduation exam was completely different from before. How strong are you?" Sighing and giving Hinata's shoulders a squeeze, Naruto shook his head.
"Even if you asked nicely, I wouldn't tell you." As usual, the Kyuubi wasn't making any friendly with Sasuke. Naruto could almost imagine he could feel her backing into her cage snarling at him. "Get off my property you aren't welcome here."
"I'm not asking you to tell me, I'm going to make you show me!"
Reaching into his weapon pouch, Sasuke pulled out a kunai while throwing a spread of shuriken at the couple. Hinata immediately rolled to the side and pulled out her tanto. Not expecting Sasuke to actually attack them, she barely got out of the line of fire in time. Coming to her feet, she held her tanto in a defensive posture.
Naruto just laid flat as Hinata rolled out, the few shuriken that didn't go wide flying harmlessly over him. Noticing the fine ninja wire trailing behind them, Naruto smirked. Laying down as he was, the wires missed him completely. As they swung over him, Naruto rolled backwards, onto his feet, coming up in time to kick Sasuke's arm, forcing the kunai thrust to go wide of him. Spinning with the momentum of his kick, Naruto came back around and dug his right heel into...a log?
Shattering the log on his kick, Naruto looked around, searching for Sasuke. "Not bad Naruto. I guess I should get serious."
"Kit, stop holding back. Just end him already!" She really didn't seem to like Sasuke.
With another salvo of shuriken to cover his advance, Sasuke charged, meeting Naruto's tanto with his own kunai. Hinata sat back, making sure to keep on guard incase of any stray attacks, but content to let Naruto fight his own battle. She never knew why the two boys seemed to hate each other so much, and wasn't about to step into a fight when she knew Naruto could hold his own.
xxxxx
"Heh. Mizuki! Looks like we aren't the only ones with this idea." Smiling, Mizuki knew exactly who was fighting Naruto. If he had to guess, he'd say Sasuke didn't stand much of a chance at all. Not only was he going to kill the demon tonight, he'd get a chance to kill his whore too, and the most arrogant student to ever go through the Academy. Even better, he was going to be a hero for this. Tragically, he would arrive too late to save the three most talented students of their generation.
"Alright, kill the demon whore first. I want to see his face when she dies." The laughter told him that those with him wanted to see his face when that happens too. "Lets move!" A full dozen shinobi of the leaf moved in for the kill.
xxxxx
Naruto was the first to notice they had company. He'd just spent the last few moments dancing around Sasukes attacks, trying to get something out of this fight, before he saw the first one. The man looked to be about middle aged, and was heading straight for Hinata, sword held behind his back. "HINATA!" The panic in his voice stopped Sasuke in his tracks, clueing him in to the approaching visitors. Hinata wasted no time in activating her Byakugan, spinning just in time to deflect the approaching strike with her tanto...mostly. The blade sliced through her right arm, knocking her off balance while another attacker to drop down from above her. Barely rolling out the way of a dropping axe kick, Hinata rolled back to her feet cringing slightly at the screaming from Sakura, who just got kicked across the lawn.
Watching the incoming attack, Sasuke ended his fight with Naruto and moved to engage the new threat. He was an arrogant asshole, but he was Konoha's arrogant asshole. He wasn't going to let someone walk into the Hidden Leaf and start killing people. Jumping up and back, he ran through hand seals "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" One of the attackers didn't move in time and got caught by the fireball. The other three heading for Sasuke dodged the fire effortlessly. Throwing the last of his shuriken, he caught one more of his attackers before they were upon him. The first thrusted a kunai at him. Catching the man by the wrist, Sasuke spun. The movement over-extended his attacker, bringing him off balance, while moving into an elbow strike into the mans arm. With a sickening crunch, the strike broke the mans arm, bone through the mans arm. With a scream, he dropped his weapon. Instead of letting him go, Sasuke threw him into the next attacker, the one he hit with a few shuriken moments ago. He never saw the fourth attacker until it was too late.
Naruto was panicking. He wasn't panicked enough to freeze, but he couldn't get through the five people attacking to get to Hinata and help her. She was already bleeding. "She'll be fine! Concentrate on your fight!" Naruto was being driven hard. Too hard to even make shadow clones. He was being attacked from too many directions at once.
"Hahahaha! Whats wrong demon brat? Not as good as you thought you were?" Blocking one strike with his tanto, and another with his Ninja-to, Naruto was left open to Mizuki's brutal kick to his chest. "Watch as your little demon whore dies! Hahahaha!" Rolling back to his feet, Naruto had to dive out the way of a fireball, while another one tried to cut him off. Instead, Naruto slipped through his defenses and shoved his ninja-to straight into the mans chest. Another blow kocked Naruto away from the dying assailant. Taking advantage of the opening space, he tried to make some shadow clones. "Kage Bun-" Mizuki's knee to his face cut off his technique. "Hahaha! Is that all you got?"
"Mizuki! There's more of them!" Moving his head just in time to avoid a kunai thrown by Ino, Mizuki cursed. The cream of the crop of the graduating class was here. Half the fools he got to go along with this were only genin, and several of them probably weaker than Naruto's backup. They were the heirs of all the major clans.
Only two of the four that went after Sasuke were still moving, but at least Sasuke was down, and judging from the condition he was in, down hard. That he took down a genin and a chuunin before going down himself to a second chuunin was quite impressive. They'll just promote anyone these days. Glancing at the three still attacking Hinata, he was getting annoyed at how long she was lasting. A chuunin and two experienced genin. She should have been dead by now. Sakura was just getting up and running to Sasuke crying. He brought his attention back to Naruto just in time to see him slip an exploding tag on to his current attacker, before kicking him off. The other two jumped away in time, but the poor bastard didn't even notice the tag. Mizuki felt bad for whoever had to clean that mess up. "I'll take the demon! Kill his friends!"
"Mizuki-teme! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Another scream from Hinata caught Naruto's attention before he could do anything. Sparing a glance, he could see that she dropped one of her attackers, but was off balance with a few kunai sticking out of her, about to be run through. The rest of his friends were busy with the four attacking them, already half the bottom floor of his apartment building was destroyed by the jutsu being thrown at his friends. "HINATA! NO!" Running through a quick series of seals, Naruto used Hinata for a kawarimi just in time to save her. Immediately trying to dodge, he managed to avoid a serious wound, the sword slicing across his chest. The second attacker immediately moved in to finish the boy off, until a kunai thrown by Hinata sunk into the side of his head. Pulling another kunai out of her leg, Hinata dropped to a knee while Mizuki smirked down at her. "Guess if I want something down right, I'll have to do it myself. Picking up a fallen sword, he began to advance to finish her off until another scream caught him off guard, followed quickly by the body being thrown into him.
Rolling back up to his feet and turning back to Naruto, Mizuki froze. The killing intent rolling off the boy was enough to make his breathing stop. Chakra thick enough to see with the naked eye was coming off him. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Several clones appeared, all of them rushing Mizuki from several directions. Finally able to move again, he met the first one head on, trying to dodge and counter, he could only manage to trade hits and dispel the clone. The impact was hard enough to make Mizuki cough up blood. The next one kicked him in the face, breaking his nose and jaw, while a third coming from his right kicked out at his knee, breaking it and forcing him to collapse to his knees. A fourth grabbed him from from behind into a choke hold. Finally, Naruto himself kicked him in the chest hard enough to crack most his ribs and dispel the clone holding him.
Looking around for any other threats, and seeing no more enemies standing, Naruto shook off the Kyuubi's power. Thanks. I don't know if I could have saved her in time without you. "I admit, I'm fond of the girl myself. I almost thought I was going to have to step in myself. You let yourself get distracted!" Cringing at the rebuke, he knew the Kyuubi was right. He was more worried about Hinata than he was about fighting. He wasted too many openings by looking to Hinata instead of taking advantage of them. Looking at Hinata, he cringed again. She was cut up pretty badly, but they were mostly shallow wounds. She was shaking, a terrified expression on her face.
Stepping forward, he took Hinata into his arms, lightly kissing her forehead. "It's alright Hinata...we won. We're alive."
"I...I killed them Naruto..." Wrapping her arms around Naruto, she began sobbing into his chest. "I killed them!"
"No hime...we killed them. We had to. If we didn't, they would have killed us." Holding Hinata as she cried, Naruto spent the next few minutes whispering reassurances to her while the rest of the Rookie 9 were patching up Sasuke and themselves.
Sakura got off the lightest, having been taken out of the fight with the one hit before running to Sasuke.
Sasuke was bleeding pretty heavily, and didn't look like he was going to be moving on his own anytime soon. The large number of cuts across his arms and legs were making it difficult to stop enough of the bleeding, but Sakura was already putting compression bandages on some of the worst bleeding. The sucking noise coming from his open chest wound was scaring her too, but she didn't have anything to cover it on her.
Shino lost his jacket, along with a sizable portion of his hive, to a fireball. He managed to escape with only a few second degree burns fortunately. He was also helping Sakura try and stop Sasuke's bleeding
Ino had a deep gash in forearm along with a few other cuts. Most of the blood on her wasn't hers though. Shikamaru had an arm around her for comfot as she was throwing up.
Shikamaru's head was bleeding pretty badly and already he couldn't see through the blood anymore, but he was more worried about both Ino and Choji.
Choji's right arm was broken, and he looked to be dazed from what happened.
Akamaru limped to Kiba had a few broken ribs he was nursing. Picking him up, Kiba held Akamaru close. Both were shaking lightly, never having killed before.
It wasn't much longer until the ANBU arrived, too late to help with anything but moving them to the hospital and taking the survivors off their hands.
It was graduation night, and the Rookie 9 just won their first battle.
xxxxx
It was a subdued group sitting in the hospital waiting room. Being the least injured besides Sakura, Naruto didn't even bother trying to get medical attention. Without a direct order from the Hokage, most the hospital staff would gladly watch him bleed to death in emergency room anyways. Thanks to the Kyuubi, his wounds had already closed, so it wasn't a problem. He took a seat in the waiting room, crying quietly into his hands. He was shortly joined by Ino and Shikamaru, both sporting new sets of bandages and a few stitches. They weren't even in treatment for five minutes, having minor injuries. Sakura, sharing a mutual dislike with Naruto, sat at the other end of the room.
They didn't want to admit, but both Shikamaru and Ino were a bit afraid of Naruto. They knew most the people in town didn't like him, if not why. They weren't prepared to see a dozen shinobi try to kill him however, and they most certainly weren't prepared for the killing intent he let off at the end of that fight. Afraid or not though, they weren't about to leave him alone after what happened. Ino broke the silence first.
"Naruto. Why did they try to kill you and Hinata?"
"Because they hate me. They hate me for things I never did...They almost killed her, because of me." Slipping an arm around Naruto, Ino drew the shaking boy into a hug. Hinata was her friend too, along with everyone else still in the emergency room. She was still shaking herself, and felt like she couldn't get the blood off her hands from the man she killed.
"Troublesome...the entire council is here..."
The ANBU at the door quickly filled the council in on what happened, going from statements hastily collected on the way to the hospital, along with the condition of the group. One of the civilian councilors seemed to not like what he heard, and yelled out. "Why are you taking that boys word for anything! It's obvious he's responsible for this!"
Tsume, the clan head for the Inuzuka, was the first to point out the obvious mistake he made, by grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him him from the ground. "Are you calling my son a liar? How about Inoichi's daughter? Hiashi's daughter?"
"Put him down Tsume. I'm sure he didn't mean to imply that all our children falsified a report." Choza, the Akimichi clan head, put a hand on the mans shoulders, and gave it a crushing squeeze. "I'm sure he was just confused. Weren't you? "
Before anything else could be said, Ino pushed through the group to get to her father, giving him a hug. "Daddy!" Wrapping his arms around his daughter, he held her as she cried. "It's alright Ino. It's alright. You did what you had to. I'm proud of you."
Shikaku just went to go sit next to his son, the two of them seeming to communicate anything they needed to through silence. The Hokage and Jiraya took the two seats next to Naruto. "What happened Naruto?"
"They attacked Hinata, Sasuke, and me. Everyone else helped and we killed them. They nearly killed her! Because of me! They...tried to kill her jiji, just to hurt me..." Much more quietly, "I had to use the Kyuubi's power to save her. I was too weak on my own..." Both the Hokage and Jiraya looked at the boy in shock. They weren't even certain if he knew about the Kyuubi sealed in him, and here he just admitted to drawing on it's power.
Choji came out next, followed by Kiba and Shino. Hinata was the last one out. Heading straight for Naruto, she sat across his lap, and wrapped her arms around him, crying. He couldn't do anything but hold on, afraid of losing her. A nurse came out a few minutes later, informing them of Sasuke's condition. He was going to live, but it would be a few months before he could return to being a ninja. The damage done was just too extensive to easily heal. He would be discharged from the hospital within a week, if he so chooses, but he'll be in therapy for a few months, at least.
With everyone accounted for, and more detailed statements taken, the council returned to their late running session after arranging for various clan members to pick up the kids, all of whom still seemed to be in shock. Sakura, having no clan, left with the Yamanaka's, to stay with Ino for the night. Turning down Hiashi's invitation to stay at the Hyuuga Compound for the night, Naruto went home guarded by a pair of Hyuuga branch members, Kakashi, Jiraya, and two ANBU. The clans weren't taking any chances with their children's safety tonight, and no one was taking a chance on Naruto's safety. The boy was hurting, anyone could see that. Jiraya was half afraid Naruto would let the next attempt on his life succeed just to keep Hinata safe. A few other ninja from all the major clans would swing by at some point in the night just in case.
xxxxx
"We have to finish up, and it's nearly midnight already. No more arguments. Sasuke will not be assigned to a team until after his recovery. This brings the graduating class for team assignments down to twenty-three. Instead of holding over the two extra, the two extra will be assigned to Kakashi, leaving room for someone to join the team." The Ninja Council was beyond caring, but going to back the Hokage completely on his decision. The Civilian Council was more than willing to go along, because it meant Sasuke would be trained by Kakashi after he could join the active ranks. They would have liked for him to be officially added now, but it WAS midnight. They'd already won.
"Team Asuma will be the reformation of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Team Kurenai will be Kiba, Sakura, and Shino. Following Jiraya's recommendation, and judging from their performance earlier tonight, the two assigned to Kakashi will be Naruto and Hinata." At the immediate protests about the demon, Sarutobi smashed his hand into the table to shatter a chunk of it.
"SILENCE! Call him a demon one more time in this chamber, and I WILL throw you out, through the window! You're so afraid of him being influenced by the Kyuubi, but what did he do when he let instinct take over while fighting? He used Kawarimi take take a sword strike meant for one of his allies! Team Kakashi will be undermanned, therefore the two best graduates will have to be assigned. It is the Hokage's official recommendation that these three teams automatically pass the next test and become full fledged genin. They've already proven tonight that they are worthy of the rank and more than capable of discharging their duties."
Smirks and smiles could be seen across the entire Ninja council. About time he puts them in their place. The civilians have too much say in ninja matters. "The rest of the teams have been assigned already. Next, Anko has already given a preliminary report on the interrogation of the two survivors. The specific targets of the assassination attempt were Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto. Every participant was a Konoha shinobi. This is treason of the highest level, and will be dealt with accordingly."
Sarutobi was both relieved by that revelation, and greatly upset. That twelve of his own shinobi would attempt to kill Naruto and Hinata wasn't a comforting thought, but it was better than his first fear of Iwa knowing who Naruto was and sending assassins, or a deliberate attempt on all the clan heirs. There really aren't many shinobi left in Konoha that hate Naruto, where as Iwa would send hundreds after the boy if they knew of him. And if that wasn't enough, they would send hundreds more.
Finishing up the last few loose ends such as a waiver for teams Kakashi, Asuma, and Kuranei to have a few extra days of downtime to recover before being listed as active and thrown into the mission roster, as well as assigning A-rank pay and completion status to the genin of those teams, as well as Sasuke, for the events of the night, the council adjourned for the night.
xxxxx
For a few minutes still, it was graduation night. None of the rookie 9 could sleep. The adrenaline of the night had long worn off, the terror of it had not. They had all almost died several times, and most of them had killed someone. It was with many conflicting emotions that they laid in bed. The necessity of killing the men they fought was certain, their parents were proud of their actions, but the horror of seeing a man die, of taking a life with their own hands, wouldn't wear off. The horror of seeing their friends go down, not knowing if it's just a scratch or if they just died, that horror wouldn't wear off either. It was well into the next day before any of them would get to sleep.
xxxxx
A/N: Once again, any critiques and reviews will be much appreciated. Still extremely new to this whole deal, and will gladly accept advice. If you notice any errors, let me know, and I'll try to get them fixed. Chapter 3 should be ready in a few days :)