(A/N) We are back. I don't really have anything to say today, other than keep up the reviews, so we will go straight to the chapter.

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Chapter 12: Teams 7 and 10

After Hinata took Yugito and a grumbling Naruto shopping (they henged into civilians so that they wouldn't get any trouble), they headed back to the Namikaze compound. Naruto decided that he was willing to let Yugito full access to the compound, as she was his new sister. So he marked her chakra in the door before they walked through. Naruto and Hinata gave Yugito a tour of the compound, before telling her the ground rules.

First was that she would never enter Naruto's study or the cave in the side of the mountain.

Second was that she should put anything she used back in its place when she was done with it.

Third was that she was not allowed to bring any guests into the compound, without the explicit approval of Naruto or Hinata.

Finally, Hinata added that she was to always knock on the master bedroom's door to check to see if it was okay to enter.

With that done, they led her to her room and left her to her own devices. Naruto and Hinata then made lunch.

During lunch Naruto spoke up and said "So Hina-chan, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

Hinata responded by saying "We should first drop by the Hokage's office and get our missions before trying to find out the news of how the other teams did in their tests."

They finished off the rest of their lunch before doing the dishes and heading out to the Hokage tower. Once there, they got their twenty missions from the Hokage and set off their clones to do their jobs. While they were walking out of the tower, Hinata asked Naruto where they should look for news of the other teams.

"Honestly I have no clue where we should look." Replied Naruto.

"Then I guess we will just have to wander." Said Hinata, "Although I think we should start at some eateries, as I would assume that the test wouldn't take that long and if the team passed, then their senseis might want to take them out in celebration."

With that said, they began walking to the closest eatery, which happened to be the Akimichi family eatery. They walked inside to a few glares of the civilians eating there, but they ignored them and looked around. As luck would have it, they found team 10 sitting around a barbeque pit.

Asuma noticed them and said "Ah, Naruto, Hinata! Come sit and have a bite to eat with us! There is plenty to go around. We were just celebrating my team's becoming official ninja of the leaf!

Naruto and Hinata sat down next to Asuma by the pit, and Hinata said to the team "So you all passed? Great! What did Asuma-san test you on?"

Ino spoke up and said "Why should we tell you? After all you are just freaks who are trying to be cooler than Sasuke-kun!"

Asuma quickly berated her saying "You really should not behave that way, Ino. If you judge everyone superficially, then you will get nowhere in life. Especially in the world of the ninja. Believe it or not, if Naruto and Hinata teamed up on me, I'm sure that they would give me a run for my money."

Ino was shocked, but said "That's impossible sensei! You're a jonin and they are both genin! What could they possibly do to you?"

Asuma looked towards Naruto and said "Is it okay if I tell them?" Naruto nodded and Asuma continued "I'll let you in on a little secret. I happened upon Naruto and Hinata training with their real sensei one day as I was taking a walk. The things I saw them do were insane. There would be no way that I could replicate their training methods and live. If I didn't know better, I would say that their sensei was trying to kill them with what he was having them do."

Asuma's words sunk into his team, silencing them, when Hinata giggled and said "That's because he WAS trying to kill us with his training. His excuse was that "It builds character" (A/N: Calvin and Hobbes, anyone?). And he succeeded, several times in fact. Let me tell you, dying is NOT fun. Especially when the Shinigami wants to train you after you do die. His training is the absolute worst. All the pain in the world and no way to escape it. You can't die since you are already dead and you apparently can't fall unconscious when you are dead. Our only hope was that our sensei would take pity on us and revive us."

Ino found her voice again and said "What you are saying is impossible. If you died then you shouldn't be here alive! No one has the power to bring back the dead."

Shikimaru then spoke up and said "Actually you're wrong on both accounts, Ino. It's probably the most troublesome thing in existence, but there are actual jutsus to bring back the dead. I believe that I heard my father say that the nidaime Hokage created a jutsu like that. However, all of those jutsu come with a heavy price to pay in exchange. The only being with the power to bring back the dead without a price is the Shinigami himself, or so I've heard."

Hinata responded to him saying, "You are correct Shikimaru. The Shinigami is the only being allowed to revive the dead for free, but he can pass along that ability as a gift. He gave that gift to our sensei."

Ino's eyes shot wide and she said "So Anko-sensei can bring back people from the dead?"

Shikimaru responded saying "Were you not paying attention, you troublesome woman? Hinata said that their sensei is a "he", and Anko is definitely the opposite of a "he".

Choji then looked up from eating his barbeque and said "Then who is their real sensei?"

Shikimaru sighed and said "The answer is another reason why at the very top of my "most troublesome" list are Naruto and Hinata and not my own mother. If you think about it is quite simple. Their real sensei who has been training them since they were both 5 is the Kyuubi itself."

Ino just stammered out "But…but…that's impossible. Why would the very demon that destroyed the village try to help the village by training leaf shinobi?"

Naruto just scoffed and said "You really need to stop thinking so superficially, Ino. Just because he is a demon does not mean that he just hates humanity. While he is not human, he still has a soul, and he does feel emotions. While he does enjoy destruction, he would normally only chose to kill those that deserve death. Although I have to admit, a lot of the villagers do deserve death based on the way that they have treated me, and the way that they are now treating Hina-chan. They keep trying to refuse our services even though we don't want any money from them in return. But that's beside the point. The reason that he attacked our village is that he was controlled. He was not acting of his own free will, and I feel that his helping Hina-chan and I become stronger is one of the ways he is saying that he is sorry."

Ino was still defensive and she said "I still don't believe that. You are just trying to take away Sasuke-kun's rightful attention. I bet that those tails and ears are not even real! They have to be some sort of henge. And there is still know way that the Kyuubi is your sensei! He's a demon!"

Hinata had had enough of Ino's superficial behavior. She snaked one of her tails around Ino's neck and held her in the air by her throat. Growling, she said "Does this feel like a henge? Can a henge slowly squeeze the life out of your pathetic body? I have been patient but I have had enough of your superficial and fangirlish behavior!" Turning to Naruto, she ordered him "Summon him. I want this girl to see just how wrong she is. I don't care if it freaks out everybody in the building and causes an incident. Just our being here is freaking people out enough, and most of the civilians left when we walked in. So hurry up and summon him!"

Naruto was seriously scared of Hinata at that point. He had never seen her that angry before, so he quickly followed her orders. In a puff of smoke, standing there was Kurama in his half-human form. Hinata dropped Ino, who then proceeded to cower in a corner for fear of her own life.

Kurama just laughed and said to the terrified girl "You are really pathetic. I should kill you for being unworthy to even be called human, but instead I'm going to prove a point. I'm going to prove that I am not the mindless monster that you think I am by letting you live. Maybe that will knock some sense into you. Who knows, maybe you can learn to be useful by learning to view people for not only what they look like on the outside. My kit was right when he said that he thought I was sorry. I truly am sorry for what I did to your village, but if truth be told, I shouldn't have to be, since it was one of your village's own precious Uchiha that controlled me into attacking the village. So while I could rightfully slaughter you all, I am instead helping your village become stronger than it ever was by training the strongest Hokage and his wife that ever existed. So get it out of your pathetic head that I am mindless and evil! I am on your side, and will be so long as you never harm my kit and his vixen. Also, stop chasing after that stupid brat with the duck's ass on his head. He will never go anywhere in life if he stays like he is, so you might as well not drag yourself to his level. You have potential, but right now you are just a pathetic fangirl. Get it out of your system, train hard, and work with your team so that you will make a name for yourself!"

The civilians that had stayed even though Naruto and Hinata had entered the establishment were about to run out when they saw who Naruto had summoned, but when they heard Kurama start talking, they couldn't help but feel that they had been to judgmental of Naruto, Hinata, and the Kyuubi. They left that day changed people.

Asuma turned to Kurama and said "Thank you, Kyuubi-sama. When I watched you train Naruto and Hinata all of those years ago, I knew that you were trying to help them so that they could reach their goals. Ever since that day, I have learned not to judge things superficially, and I hope that Ino will reach that realization with what you have said to her. For that I am truly thankful, and hopefully this will mark a new start for my team. The only reason that I was able to pass them today was that Shikamaru managed to convince Ino to help him with his plan was by offering to get a piece of Sasuke's clothing for her. I hope that now she will stop being a fangirl and will now focus on becoming stronger."

Ino snapped out of the state of shock that she was in upon hearing these words, stood up and looked Kurama in the eye and said "I was wrong about you and wrong about the whole way I viewed the world. Your words have made me see the truth. I will stop chasing after Sasuke, as I realize now that while I have done everything that I could to get him to even acknowledge me, he never did. He isn't worth my time. For this, and I can't believe that I am actually saying this, I am in your debt, Kyuubi-sama."

Kurama let out a loud laugh and said "You snapped out of your shock quicker than I would have thought. You are strong, girl. It was only your attitude towards the world that had made you weak. But now I must ask you, what is your new goal?"

Ino answered without hesitation, saying "To help my team become the next and greatest Ino-Shika-Cho trio."

Kurama once again laughed and said "That is a fine goal. Keep it in your heart and you and your team will become strong. I have done my job now, and I figure that I should get lost before something bad happens, so I will leave you all now."

With that said, he poofed away in a cloud of smoke. Ino then turned to Hinata and said "I'm so sorry Hinata, I was acting so stupidly before. Can you forgive me?"

Hinata giggled and said "Of course I can. Now that you realize your mistakes, there is no reason not to forgive you. All you needed was for someone to snap you out of the state of mind that you were in, and who better to do that than the Kyuubi? He is very good with words, but he is very blunt about the truth."

Ino laughed and said "I know. But the sad thing was that what he said was the exact truth. I will need to work hard from now on to change that truth."

Naruto looked to Hinata and said "Well Hina-chan, I think we are done here. We still have to find out what happened with team 7, but I really don't want to speak to any of the team's members about it. So I suggest we find Kakashi. He is an old friend of mine, as when he was in Anbu, he helped save my life from the villagers a few times. I know exactly where he will be."

"Alright Ruto-kun. After we talk with Kakashi, it should be around dinner so how about we go on a little date afterwards? We haven't had an official one yet."

They said their goodbyes to team 10, before shunshining away to the memorial stone.

(Memorial Stone)

Kakashi was standing at the memorial stone, contemplating the day's events when a voice called out at him and said "Hey Kakashi-san, still moping about the past I see." He turned to see Naruto and Hinata walking towards him.

"Actually, I was thinking of how today's test went today." Replied Kakashi.

Naruto chuckled and said "So you were moping about the test? So how did those three do?"

Kakashi sighed and said "In all honesty, they shouldn't have passed."

Hinata asked "Then why did you pass them then?"

"Because if I didn't pass the Uchiha, then the council would kill me. They love that boy and I can't see why they do. He is just a stuck up brat who thinks he owns the world. The excuse that I came up with to let them pass was that Sakura followed Sasuke's plan perfectly, and Kiba actually saw the sense that he would need to team up with them if he even wanted to stand a chance. I also ended up tying Sasuke to a log and left him to watch his teammates eat lunch as part of the teamwork test, and I suspect that it was only Sakura's undying devotion to him that allowed them to pass that part of the test. Ironically, it was Kiba who showed the most potential of those three. His teamwork with Akamaru was superb."

Naruto sighed and said "I figured that you would be forced by the council to pass them, but I am surprised to hear of Kiba's potential. Maybe if he could figure out that women are not objects, then we could actually see eye-to-eye. I'm still willing to give him a chance, even after what he did in the academy. I figure the best way to knock some sense into him would be to beat him up in a fight, but I really don't want to do any joint training with your team. No offense to you Kakashi-san."

Kakashi chuckled and said "None taken. I don't even want to train my team. But I figure that I have to, and maybe I can get some sense knocked into them if I introduce them to Guy and his "Flames of Youth".

Naruto shuddered and said "While I agree that that actually might work, I just want to be as far away from them when you do it. I'm supposed to be 100% immune to genjustsu, and somehow I am still effected by the special genjutsu that Guy and Lee use together."

"I completely agree with you there. Did you know that the hokage had that jutsu rated as an S-ranked kinjutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"Really? That explains a lot. Anyways, Hina-chan and I have a date to go on, so we have to go get ready for that. I'll see you around Kakashi-san."

With that Naruto and Hinata shunshined away to get ready for their date.

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And that's a wrap. Next chapter will be Naruto and Hinata's date, and then I will probably start to skip time to the wave mission. So far this story has only taken place over a few days in Naruto-time, and I really want to get to the chunin exams. They are going to be a lot of fun to write.

In this chapter I had to bash the superficialness out of Ino. But now she gets the point and she won't be a fangirl anymore. I honestly am indifferent to Ino's character in the actual manga, but I don't want her to be a fangirl. I also don't like it when she is paired with Naruto and Hinata in fanfics. She is too superficial to like Naruto, but I guess some people like the pairing.

Anyways, on to the omake.

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Wheel of Torture chapter 5

"Today was the day." is what the root members thought. "Today is the day that we will get into the compound."

After numerous failed attempts to get through the main gate, one of the members had the bright idea of climbing over the walls.

And so they had begun to climb the walls.

They reached the top of the wall and were surprised to find that they were stopped from actually going past the peak of the wall by some sort of invisible barrier.

Just then, someone screamed into their comms "ABORT! ABORT! THE WHEEL IS SPINNING!"

The member who had said this watched the wheel on the gate spin. It chose to settle on "Cliffracers"

The members on the wall watched in horror as the sky was filled by puffs of smoke. Out of the smoke flew Cliffracers which proceeded to attack the members on the wall.

Several of the members chose to jump to their death, instead of facing the wrath of the flying pterodactyl type monsters.

The victorious shrieks of the cliffracers filled the skies as they left none surviving. They flew circles around the dead bodies until they poofed back to the Red Mountain in clouds of smoke.

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And that's the omake! For those of you who don't know what a cliffracer is, count yourself lucky. Or count yourself unlucky, because that pretty much guarentees that you haven't played Morrowind, which is one of my favorite games of all time. I really hate those flying bastards, as you could never see them unless they were right on top of you, attacking. They also made it impossible to rest while just one was in the vicinity.

Anyways, until next time.

Slice N Dicer