Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this... Fine. I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever. That good enough? Good...

Hey guys! Back again with another update! I'd like to give special thanks for the challenge .kitten gave and decided to take her up on her challenge to see if I succeed, or utterly fail!

The challenge was about using Ibiki, Inoichi, or Anko as their sensei when they graduated and needless to say I liked the idea. To who I chose you'll find out soon, so get reading!

On with the story!

Years had passed since Naruto had given Anko that little surprise, and in that time Naruto had gained a few allies along with Haku. First was a girl named Tenten; she was the spunkiest of them all and after an embarrassing incident Naruto had learned why the brown hair girl had loved weapons so much.

After the first year in the academy and her subsequent joining she'd apparently been watching the two in the back with a close eye and had judged them appropriately after talking with them under the shade of Naruto and Haku's favorite tree in the clearing nearest the school.

Eventually she started to join them every day under that one tree, and she even went so far as to sit next to them during class. After that she would walk home with them under the guise that she wanted to hang out for a bit, which turned out to be fairly true. Although in Naruto's opinion he'd say that her shock was priceless since he guessed she'd never quite imagined that two nine year old's could live together without anyone supervising them.

A few months later and Tenten had moved in with them. Essentially they just stared at her wide-eyed, but after her explanation about her own orphanage they made room easily and swiftly. Though Haku made it clear that she was the only one who would ever be allowed the honor of sleeping with Naruto under ordinary circumstances.

When asked about the Hokage Naruto just waved his hand and said that his Jiji wouldn't really care too much. Though from the tales that he'd tell Naruto the paperwork following her leaving the orphanage would be fairly substantial considering some of the minor things that would require larger amounts of paperwork.

The second person to really befriend them was the lazy Nara who would always end up sleeping during class. Naruto had debated with Tenten and Haku about it and they'd come to just think that he was lazy, not stupid. After all, who really would stay awake if you already knew it all? It made sense to them. Or at least that was their guess. It could've been the opposite in that he could've just been lazy and just plain stupid. That theory was quickly put to rest however after his joining them under the shade, and a light conversation with him.

According to Shikamaru he'd been tested to have an I.Q. ranging somewhere near one-hundred and eighty. So yes, he was a genius. And before they could ask Shikamaru told them of what his father said to him about Naruto and how he should try to make friends with him, as troublesome as it was. Haku had actually asked him once why he hadn't tried earlier. All Shikamaru said was that it was too troublesome and said not to ask why he had done so now.

And like a flood gate two more friends followed Shikamaru's example. They'd made themselves known as Chouji Akamichi and one Ino Yamanaka. Naruto had actually narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight of Ino since she'd do nothing but fawn around that one black haired pompous brat in class. An Uchiha named Sasuke, Tenten had said to Naruto's bemusement.

He didn't care for names really. They just made something look bigger and more impressive, and from what he'd been informed, as far as clans go, it was adequately true. The name represented the clan.

However what wrought Naruto's wrath on the Uchiha boy was when he actually came up to Haku and asked for her to go on a date with him. A simple request, but nonetheless it distressed Naruto enough for him to visibly tense and his eyes to widen. It was short-lived, of course, when Haku shook her head slightly before visibly grasping Naruto's hand in a silent gesture to the Uchiha.

He'd narrowed his eyes acutely until finally he trudged back to his seat. That was their third year and from then on Naruto harbored within him a form of hatred for the Uchiha, at least for Sasuke.. The rest of his clan were an unknown since he'd only ever seen a few other Uchiha's before. Once with Haku, and once when the three orphans were walking home together.

The difference between meetings was that before they looked proud, with their chests huffed out with large smiles on their faces. Now whenever Naruto saw one they always had a somewhat empty look in their eyes. Naruto understood why though. Having one's clan nearly eradicated in only one night by one considered so precious was a sure blow to their pride, and for some the beginning of mental degradation into depression.

A process undeserving of them if he, Haku, and Tenten had anything to say about it.

Shortly after Sasuke's rejection Haku had leaned over to what he assumed was to whisper something to his ear when she kissed his cheek making him and by proxy Tenten blush since she'd begun watching to see and hear what she'd say. And what left Sasuke more confused was the beguiled look Naruto gave Haku after.

Naruto had narrowed his eyes at Ino, grimacing at her wincing stance, and asked why. Ten minutes later Naruto held Ino in his arms while she cried. She wasn't a bad person. Just someone who needed a true friend. Not a one-sided crush, and heated rivalry.

Chouji was easy to figure out. He'd seen him follow Shikamaru around plenty of time's before so it really wasn't an occasion of how he came to be there, it was a situation of when. And in Naruto's eyes Chouji was fun to hang out with, but upon inspection Haku had said that she'd prefer it if he didn't eat all the time in front of them with such a loud bite. Of course, she had only said that to Naruto and Tenten when they'd reached their apartment again.

Through it all though Naruto went through the academy scoring very well in the class as the number one student for males with Haku as the number one for females. Tenten had scored just below Haku with Shikamaru and the others scoring in the middle. Why Shikamaru decided to score so low was a question on how fast he fell asleep during their tests. The other courses on the other hand proved their prowess in battle since every day after school Naruto would take whoever was willing to the 'abandoned' training ground seven.

Naruto had taken interest in Haku's senbons and could accurately acupuncture someone into a death-like state identical to Haku. Tenten had taken to using an arsenal of weapons and a fair hand at fuinjutsu in order to be able to use her own unique battle style she'd developed. The others just grew into their families jutsu's and continuously practiced with them whenever they had time to spare.

One thing that set them apart from the rest, besides becoming friends, were the white masks harboring the Konoha symbol on them. Once as a group they'd confronted Naruto and Haku with the issue and as reward they'd just told them about the benefits of wearing one among hostile people. It was the truth, after all.

However, what they didn't expect was for each of them to ask for one as well. Apparently if they had one the others wanted one as well. Monkey see monkey do, ne?

"Alright everyone, settle down." Iruka shouted, arms waving.

"Hey Naruto." Shikamaru asked from one seat ahead."What sensei do you think you're going to get?"

He shrugged, he honestly had no idea. Looking over Haku said softly, "Do you think that Anko will become ours, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled and brought Haku into a firm hug where he kissed her forehead. "Maybe."

Haku smiled brilliantly with flushed cheeks.

"Naruto!"

The blonde sighed dramatically granting smiles to the others around him, "Yes Chouji?"

"Do you think any of us will be on a team together?"

"Probably." Naruto exclaimed.

Seeing the confused look on Chouji's face Naruto elaborated, "Chouji. You're parents are the famed Ino-shika-chou trio. I know they're going to recreate that group simply because they were so famous."

"Oh..."

Naruto sat back and waved. "No worries, if anything we'll still be able to train together regardless of our sensei's."

The others nodded and turned back around at the sound of the door opening. It seemed their jounin sensei's were here. Several walked through the door, but only one really caught Naruto and Haku's attention.

Anko had told them a while back about her taking Ibiki's place as head of interrogation. From her tale's they'd gathered that Ibiki wanted to pass on his expertise through younger, more creative, minds. That had raised their curiosity quite some and from then they'd proceeded onward to finding out why by asking the man himself.

At first he simply said that he just wanted to try and train some genin, but upon further inspection he confirmed that he wanted to grow the interrogation department and, from what he'd been told, the best way to do that was by expanding the awareness deeper into the roots where everything began.

So when Naruto's group saw him they weren't as surprised as others. The prime example being Iruka's wide eyes as he saw Ibiki's black trench coat flutter behind him.

As if scanning the room for targets, Ibiki's eyes crossed Naruto's. His eyes widened for a split second before smirking and crossing the room to where Naruto was sitting. Ibiki stood tall looking down on Naruto, Haku, and Tenten as he pointed at the three and made the gesture to follow when he began to walk to the entrance.

"These maggots are mine." Ibiki said. Opening the door Ibiki looked back once more to see the three standing obediently behind him. "Meet me at training ground forty-four tomorrow evening and we'll begin, dismissed."

Tenten sat at the bar-stool with stilled apprehension. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe that Ibiki would choose them. And what she couldn't believe even more was how Haku and Naruto were acting! They just met the previous head of the interrogation and torture department-again- and they were acting like it was nothing as they sat and continued eating their ramen with a serenity she very obviously wanted to join!

Haku stopped eating for a moment and looked over at Tenten calmly. It was obvious she was troubled but they'd all met him before and he seemed to be an overall companionable person, putting aside his sadism, he wasn't that bad. She recognized that when she'd met him and from the look on Naruto's face she'd say he understood as well.

Deciding to put Tenten's fear to rest Haku took one more bite from her ramen and began, "Tenten, you shouldn't be so troubled you know?" Haku smiled lightly. "His position doesn't make him someone utterly cruel. It's his job, and besides we've met him previously, yes?"

Tenten nodded. "Well in that case you should remember how he treated us. He may have had a rougher voice and more exaggerated statements than most but his overall stature towards us was one of a comrade. So I doubt his test or even training would put us into any compromising positions."

Tenten nodded dumbly as she started eating her ramen.

Naruto just smiled at the two of them. Haku was always a good counselor and since she was like family he'd try to mimic her every once in a while to ease her nerves sometimes. In fact, if memory served the last time she really doted on him was when they were about to take the genin exam to see who passed and who didn't. They were just like family in his mind. He'd known Haku for six years and Tenten for just 3 but in his opinion she was just as important to him as Haku was.

His stomach rumbled and he chuckled at both his best-friends looks. He looked to the woman named Ayame manning the counter and said, "May I have one more bowl of miso-ramen, Ayame-nee?"

The young woman nodded quickly before yelling back to a man in the back named Teuchi. From how long ago he'd known these two was a mystery to him. They'd been helping him since the beginning. And he'd dare say that he knew Ayame before Haku which said a lot on his and their parts. However he never did get to really know them as well as he wished.

Even so, he thought of Ayame as an older sister of sorts and Teuchi as a cool uncle. They'd be his protectors when the orphanage threw him out at age four by taking him in for two years without the Hokage knowing. Eventually though the orphanage was pressed to let the Hokage know where he was since he'd been asking about him for some time.

Anbu had swarmed Ayame and Teuchi's house like locust once they found where Naruto was and after a very heated argument with them the Hokage had compromised that he'd set up an apartment for him.

The rest was history. He found Haku, made friends with Tenten, and everything flowed after.

Finished eating Naruto paid the amount owed and actually went behind the counter to receive a hug from them before leaving hand in hand with Tenten and Haku. They were his family after all.

"Take care Naruto-kun!" He heard Ayame and Teuchi yell behind him.

He just waved and said goodbye before heading off with a huge smile on his face.

On the trip back Naruto's mind worked. There was no really important reason. It had more to do with comfort than it did anything else. He nudged Haku and whispered something in her ear before she reared her head back in surprise. Taking a moment to think she nodded and then turned her head behind Naruto's. "Hey Tenten," Haku asked, "Would you like to join Naruto and I tonight when we sleep? Maybe that will settle your nerves."

Tenten stumbled a step and fixed her pace. She looked to Naruto who nodded and said, "Alright."

A/N: Did I do good? Did I? Say yes, and you get a cookie!

To be honest this chapter was somewhat difficult to write. All the history and piecing together killed my brain. Though in the end I suppose it worked out! I think I need to work on my dialogue more since whenever I read it it seems sloppy.

Well R&R guys and I'll be raking another chapter out soon!

P.S. Now that I think about would anyone be willing to draw up a picture for the story? Preferably a picture of Haku and Naruto together and then send it to me? I'd be glad to use it since every picture I look up always has Haku with her mask and that damnable Kiri symbol at the top!

See ya!