Disclaimer: not mine, with the exception of my OCs

Warnings: male/male pairing(Genma/Naruto), AU, unbeta-ed version, upcoming OCs(Genin team)

Chapter 3

Early sunlight streamed into the bedroom, filtered by the shutters on the window, crisscrossing over flawless bronze skin, creating a mesmerizing picture for smiling brown eyes.

Genma caressed his lover's naked back lovingly, strong, bid hands following muscles and bones. It was a pity that he would only have a week to wake up like that. One week and then it would be back to worrying if his young lover would finally fall off the cliff he was currently balancing on and give into his death wish.

Naruto hadn't confided in him the reason for his aversion to staying in Konoha yet, but the way the hunter-nin was avoiding every last one of his former friends was very telling in itself. His lover was running away, with no intention of stopping any time soon.

The blond on his bed groaned and arched up into Genma's touch.

"Good morning." Genma said huskily.

Blond locks fell disarrayedly across the pillow as Naruto sleepily turned his face. Blue eyes opened halfway and full lips curled into a content smile. "Morning." The younger man mumbled back.

Leaning down into his lover, Genma's right hand curled around blond locks, his eyes gleaming with laughter. "I don't have to be anywhere before noon."

"Is that so?" Naruto replied amusedly, his voice still a little rough with sleep.

"Mhm." Genma's lips travelled from Naruto's left earlobe down his throat, nibbling and biting, leaving a nice set of hickeys in their wake.

"Whatever shall we do about all that free time?" the blond moaned, chuckling when Genma reached a ticklish spot Naruto had never known about before sleeping with the Jounin.

"I have an idea or two." Genma yanked the blanket off his lover and laid down on, covering his lover's body with his own, thoroughly enjoying the skin to skin sensation.

Yes, his lover had serious problems, but they were shinobi. Being a shinobi meant courting death every single day. They didn't have the time other people had to sort out their lives. Shinobi took what happiness they could get; they lived fully in the moments they were given or not at all.

In the Hokage tower Tsunade thought about ways to make her favourite brat stay in the village. Though ordering Naruto to take on a Genin team had only been a provisional solution, the blond woman rather liked the idea. Perhaps the forced contact with children would bring the old Naruto back to the surface.

There was only one tiny problem. Genin had to pass a test their Jounin instructor set for them and all Naruto had to do to be free again was to fail the poor team that was unfortunate enough to get him as potential instructor.

Of course, as Hokage she could always promote the team to full Genin herself, but she would need a very good reason and a team that was talented enough to pull it off.

"Shizune!" she called.

The door opened seconds later. "Hai, Tsunade-sama?"

"Send for Umino Iruka at once."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. You can sign these papers while you wait for him to arrive." Shizune put down a sizable stack of neatly ordered papers on the Hokage's already overflowing desk and left.

Tsunade cursed under her breath and asked herself for the nth time why she consented to take on an apprentice that was a workaholic and seemingly in love with paper work.

Ten minutes and four signed papers later there was a hesitant knock on her door.

"Come in."

The shy, brown haired teacher with the scar across his nose entered and bowed to his leader.

"I need your help putting together a particular Genin team. I know that usually that task falls to the academy teachers, but I am looking for a very special team and I will need your insight and knowledge of the graduates to make it possible."

Noticing the confusion on the Chuunin's face, Tsunade explained: "I want you to tell me the names of the three students who are suited best to become Genin in your eyes."

Iruka narrowed his eyes in thought, running through the list of his students in his head. Then he answered cautiously: "That would be Saito, Takehara and Misato, I think. They are smart, knowledgeable, strong and their techniques are flawless. Their tempers and characters don't really suit it each other and I wouldn't have commended putting them on the same team but neither are they averse to working together.

May I ask why you want to put together a special team?"

Tsunade nodded, Iruka's protectiveness regarding his students was well known (and feared) in Konoha.

"I want a team I can reasonably promote to Genin without them being tested by their Jounin instructor."

The look of abject horror on the Chuunin's face made Tsunade chuckle: "There is a particular Jounin who will undoubtedly fail any team I give him just to be free to go out hunting again. I want him to stay in the village for at least a year and I can't order him to do so without reason."

"Even Hatake-san was allowed to test and subsequently fail his teams. I don't understand who could be so special as to make so many exceptions."

"You don't really mean that, Umino-san. I'm sure you'll agree with me as soon as I tell you the name of that particular Jounin."

Smiling up at the irritated teacher she continued: "You see, their Jounin instructor will be one Uzumaki Naruto."

"Naruto is back?" The sudden hope and eager tone in Iruka's voice was painfully obvious.

"Yes, he's back and I'll make him stay for a while." Tsunade said gently.

Naruto looked critically at his reflection in the mirror. He wore his customary grey ninja trousers, a white sleeveless shirt with dark blue lining and a blue mask that only left his eyes and forehead visible.

He wore a chakra infused bangle on each upper arm, successfully hiding the ANBU tattoo on his left arm, and white armguards that were very similar to the standard ANBU issued armguards.

It felt strange to wear his headband openly again, but in an attempt to hide his revealing golden hair, he wore it in the same fashion his lover did. The black cloth was hiding most of his hair and the Leaf sign was situated at the back of his head.

He didn't look anything like the boisterous member of team seven anymore, exactly as he had planned.

Despite his change of clothes he looked just as dangerous as before. Looking down at the armguards he smiled. He was pretty sure that he would be ravished as soon as Genma came back. His lover had a liking for leather and armguards.

TBC