Yo, it's the next chapter. Most likely it will have been at least a month since I last updated, so sorry for the disappointment. If it hasn't been a month, then I'm just to lazy to delete this part.
Any way, a few of you have expressed concern over the whole Kyuubi thing. As I said at the end of last chapter, its just to get it out of the way. This is also, as I have said, my first fanfic, so I am probably not that good at planning, or romance, in the case of Naruto and Hinata's relationship. So please just bear with me and try to enjoy the story.
"oh god, oh no, that may have hit something important, is it supposed to pulse like that?" personal experience
Naruto awoke the next day, his body sore as hell, and with this feeling of excitement and a small bit of nervousness coursing through him. He had learned the shadow clone jutsu, and today was the day that he was being sorted into a team with Hinata. He just couldn't take it. Today he was finally a genin. Today he was an official soldier for the village of Konoha.
Oh, this poor doomed child (lol)
As Naruto went through his morning routine, he noticed the house was unusually quite. He didn't hear bacon sizzling on the stove, nor the fluent curses from Raigin as the grease splattered on him.
When Naruto arrived to the kitchen, he noticed that it was indeed empty. On the table was a cup of breakfast ramen, and on that cup was a note. Taking the cup and eating the ramen, he read the note.
"Naruto, went to work. See ya soon. Raigin"
Naruto chuckled. Raigin was always lacking when it came to anything written. But Naruto couldn't help but wonder, where did he go? He usually doesn't work until noon or so. Ah well, these things happened. So after finishing his ramen, he loaded and holstered his pistols (he carries two on Raigin's suggestion), slung his carbine over his shoulder, and left for the academy. Now that they were Genin, they were allowed to bring their main weapons out in public
When Naruto arrived at the academy, he met up with Hinata first, and after an affectionate hug, moved on to try and find ten-ten, as Shikamaru was probably still waking up at home.
They found Tenten sitting in the classroom by herself, feet on the desk, next to her rifle that she got from Raigin. It was pretty heavily modified. It had iron sights as well as a low power targeting scope, mounted so she could use either and still retain accuracy. It was a semi, easy to take apart and clean, and it had fairly decent stopping power.
At the moment, Tenten was sleeping. But Naruto soon fixed that.
"Watch this." said Naruto, grinning like an idiot. Hinata looked on, an amused look on her face as Naruto slowly crept towards Tenten. When he was close enough, he reached toward her rifle.
Big mistake.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM IT!" screamed Tenten. She took the rifle from Naruto, bashed it on his head, then immediately hugged it to her chest. She did all this while still asleep.
Naruto had a gob smacked expression on his face, and Hinata was giggling uncontrollably. How on earth can someone scream, take something, hug it, and still be asleep? Its madness I tell you!
Anyway, before I get off tangent…
Naruto and Hinata, still giggling, just sat down a couple seats over from Tenten. They didn't want a repeat of the earlier episode, she might actually shoot someone. They just sat there, enjoying each others company, when Shikamaru walked in.
Shikamaru had chosen an odd weapon. He had chosen a lever action shotgun. His was almost stock, the only change was the ammo holders on the side and a matte black paint job. When asked why he wanted a shotgun, he simply replied, "I don't have to waste time aiming as much." which was bull shit, as he mainly kept solid slugs. Naruto personally thought he used it because he could fire it with one hand if he wanted to. (think terminator 2 on this one.)
"morning." said Shikamaru lazily. Naruto nodded back in greeting.
"well, today's the day guys. Today we're official marksmen for the village. " said Naruto, oddly subdued. It was understandable to be nervous. I mean, its not everyday that you graduate from school, and are then expected to give your life for the village.
The most of the wait was spent in silence, with the occasional twitch from the still sleeping Tenten. Then Naruto felt the need to talk.
"So, Hinata, how are you doing on your guitar?" he asked.
Hinata blushed, and replied, "Its going pretty well, I've found a genre I like. I really like the Blues guitar. Have you found a genre?"
"Sure have." said Naruto. "Rock guitar is the only one for me. It's just so much fun."
They would have continued talking about music, but Mizuki came into the room.
"Hello soon to be ninja." he said brightly. "If you could all follow me for a moment, there is one last test that you need to go through to be official genin."
Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru responded with a sharp "Yes sir" and Naruto threw a shell casing at Ten-Ten, waking her up, and the group proceeded to a different classroom.
One there Mizuki began the briefing. "Okay guys," he said seriously. "while you are recognized as academy graduates in the eyes of Konoha, you are not official Genin until you pass a final mock-mission proctored by a licensed ninja. Upon completion of this mission, you will be sorted into teams." he explained. Seeing that he had their attention, he smirked on the inside.
"This is too easy," thought Mizuki, "at this rate I'll have the scroll and kill the kyuubi brat in no time at all, especially when his little group learns the truth."
"Your mission is a document retrieval mission. It requires that you infiltrate the Hokage's study and locate the scroll marked "Forbidden". don't mind the name, it's just called that to discourage student from reading the scroll, which is extremely important. You CAN NOT read the scroll. Any questions?" Mizuki finished.
Shikamaru raised his hand. "Will there be shinobi guarding the scroll?"
"Yes." said Mizuki "Any shinobi in the tower is fair game. You may neutralize them in any way you see fit. Just grab the scroll."
"what exactly do we do with it once we have it?" asked Naruto.
"you will bring it to an old shed, one klick into the northernmost part of the surrounding forest. Once you arrive you are to await my arrival, and give the scroll to me when I get there. From then on, you will be official genins. Any more questions? Good. Move out!" Mizuki barked, laughing maniacally on the inside.
"Yes Sir!" they barked. They immediately took off to Naruto's house, where they could stock up on ammo and supplies.
Once they reached Naruto's armory, Shikamaru began to work a plan.
"Okay guys, which one of us has the most experience in the Hokage tower?" asked Shikamaru. The two girls merely pointed to Naruto, who raised his hand.
"Right then. We re going in this order. Hinata on point, Naruto second, and Ten-Ten covering our six. We'll load up on tranquilizers and commence operations in an hour. No lethal force at all, these are our comrades."
"Wait, hold on, I have an idea." said Naruto.
bit his thumb and ran through some hand signs, and shouted "summoning jutsu!"
There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, four penguins were standing in the armory. They took a quick look around and noticed Naruto and his friends.
"Whiskers! Pale eyes! Its been awhile soldiers!" shouted Skipper. He was really excited at the moment. He noticed the amount of weapons and the atmosphere when he was summoned, and knew something exciting was going to happen.
"Hey penguin guys!" exclaimed Naruto. "Listen, do you think you could help us out with a covert retrieval mission? I'll give you some fish." said Naruto, holding up a tin of sardines.
"Sure, we'll help, just answer some of Kowalski's questions and we'll go from there." said Skipper, eyeing the tin hungrily. The mentioned penguin waddled up to Naruto, and began to ask him about the mission. After explaining the situation, Kowalski had one problem.
"We cant read. If you could give us a sample writing on what's on the scroll, we can compare it to the others and find the right one." he explained. So after giving Kowalski a piece of paper with the word "forbidden" written on it, the team was ready for action.
"okay whiskers, I need you to lead us to the site, and stand guard while we retrieve the scroll. If anything goes wrong, I'll throw it out the window. Okay soldiers, move, MOVE!"
And with that, the group was on their way. What no one noticed, was that Raigin was standing outside the door, and so the group promptly ran into him.
"Where were you guys?" he asked. "I was waiting at the academy for an hour. You didn't show up for the team meeting."
"what team meeting?" asked Tenten, "Mizuki told us we had to complete an exercise before we were sorted into teams."
Raigin's face took on a confused expression "well yes, there is supposed to be a test, but that's after you are put on a team. What did he tell you to do?"
"we were told to retrieve a scroll from the Hokage's office." answered Hinata.
Raigin adopted a shocked expression. If this was true…
"Which document?" he asked.
"A scroll marked "forbidden" said Tenten, a little anxious about the look Raigin was giving them.
"Ahhhh shit. Well guys, mission canceled. What you were about to do would land you all in jail. And on top of that, the scroll itself has several forbidden jutsu and the workings of Naruto's seal in it, and at this point, we don't want to mess with it." explained Raigin, who was steadily getting angrier.
The bastard Mizuki wanted to use his students to steal a scroll, did he? Well, he'd show him not to mess with Raigin Tomayoko.
"alright, here's the new plan. As of now this is the official genin test. Your mission is essentially the same, but with one key difference. You are to apprehend Mizuki when he comes for the scroll. I will have everything cleared by the Hokage in a few minutes. When I come back, you can begin." said Raigin, grinning evilly.
Raigin left the group alone, and sure enough three minutes later he came back.
"okay guys, I have this cleared by the Hokage and I did one better, I got the scroll for you. Its not a real one so don't worry about messing it up or something."
"thanks you Raigin." said Shikamaru. "Ok, we're going in like this, we will go to the shed, and set up a defensive perimeter. When Mizuki arrives, we will make as if to hand him the scroll. Naruto will be the one to make the exchange. As soon as Mizuki either attacks Naruto or tries to leave with the scroll, we will take him. Once again, no lethal force unless necessary." he explained.
"how do you know that Mizuki will attack Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.
"He hates Naruto. I think he will see it as an opportunity to get rid of him before he leaves."
"we also have to try to look like the victims here." continued Naruto. "if we are the ones to attack Mizuki, I wouldn't put it past the local police force to arrest us just because I'm there. Not to mention what the civilian council will do."
"alright then, now that you know the plan, you can begin. I will be watching you guys just incase so good luck, and move out"
One hour later, we find the team at the meeting spot. The group was hidden in the underbrush, and Naruto had Shadow Clones surrounding the shed, all henged as rocks and bushes. All they had to do was wait for Mizuki to arrive.
But something went wrong. Iruka jumped into the clearing, looking around frantically.
"Naruto! Hinata! Shikamaru! Tenten, GET OUT HERE!" he screamed.
"Iruka sensei! Quick get in here!" Hinata whispered. One of the Naruto clones un-henged, and threw Iruka into the underbrush.
"What are you doing here sensei?" asked Shikamaru. "we are in the middle of a sting here!"
"huh?" said Iruka. "but Mizuki told me you had stolen the forbidden scroll."
"we almost did." chimed in Tenten. "but Raigin sensei found out and told us Mizuki tricked us. So now, we are going to bring him in."
"He's here!" whispered Hinata. Everyone grew silent. And seconds later, Mizuki landed in the clearing.
"hello Mizuki-sensei." said Naruto, emerging from the bushes.
"Ahhh Naruto-kun! Where is the rest of the group?" asked Mizuki.
"the exercise isn't over yet is it sensei? The others are out keeping watch until the end."
"good thinking, now, do you have the scroll? As soon as I have it, the exercise is over."
Naruto took the fake scroll out of his pocket, and walked over too Mizuki. Suddenly, Shikamaru jumped out of the bushes.
"Naruto! Abandon the mission! The Hokage is on his way here! I don't think this is an exercise! Get away from Mizuki!"
Mizuki didn't give him the chance. He immediately slashed Naruto across the face with a kunai, and Naruto burst into smoke. Immediately, the rest of the group, plus Iruka emerged from their cover, and leveled their weapons at Mizuki.
"give up Mizuki, or we will have to use force!" shouted Tenten.
Mizuki just laughed. "I think you'll change your tune when you here a little secret about Naruto." he said.
"already know, and don't care Mizuki. Now give up." said Hinata.
"fools! You can't know about the fox-" and then Mizuki was suddenly covered in darts. His eye's rolled back into his head, and Mizuki fell to the ground. ANBU suddenly dropped from the trees and started to secure Mizuki after removing the darts.
Naruto, clearing his weapon looked to Iruka. "does this explain everything Iruka?"
And it is done! Sorry about the update time, but I was having trouble thinking of the plot. Anyway, I'm going to take a little break from this story. I have another idea I'm going to work on. So until next time, CIAO!