Naruto of the Shinsougan

by Dragolight

Naruto befriends Kyuubi at five years old. He gets a chakra mutation that gives control over light and other cool things like an ocular jutsu that puts the Byakugan to shame. He is taken in by Hyuuga Hiashi and his wife and raised by them. Very strong Naruto but not God-like (at first). Will contain non-explicit suggestive adult themes, violence and coarse language. NaruHina.

8. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything about and from the original Naruto story or any story, character, scenery or anything that the lawyers could and might sue my ass for.

Author notes

Senkaipo is a technique that instantly switches two fixed portions of space between themselves. The user must be in the vicinity of the 'moved' space so he can use his chakra to weave the technique and must also have at least basic real-time information about the two target spaces or the jutsu can have disastrous consequences (for example mass has gravity and gravity bends space in significant quantities – not talking about a few gulps of air but a glass of water can affect the process).

The user can move only one portion to a target position with two consequences. Where the two spaces meet the space-time continuum distorts and anything transported or in the target position can be trapped inside an expansion bubble where a whole range of occurrences can take place dependent on the initial conditions like trapped mass or energy, special perturbations etc. In the starting location remains a sort of 'void' or negative space (a gap if you will) that quickly collapses in on itself dragging anything in range into a universal sink hole to be destroyed by a state on non-existence (normal creation can only exist in space, not negative space) and creating a massive explosion as the collapsed 'gap' crushes atoms into energy and creates antimatter that reacts with the surrounding matter.

It is said that a pinhead of antimatter induced contains enough power as a twenty kiloton nuclear explosion (Hiroshima level - at least that's what I read) but the quantity produced by the collapse is much, much smaller depending on the size of the 'gap' but (in my fanfic) as an example, a gap the size of a mosquito creates enough for a blast radius of thirty feet (approx. ten meters).

Because of chakra interference, Naruto can't transport living beings or parts of them. (Truthfully I added this to keep it from becoming a Certain Kill technique like teleporting an enemy's heart out of their bodies)

Naruto will know quite a bit on Fuuinjutsu but he will be a seal master similar to Jiraya (How many seals have you seen him use?)

Previously on NotS:

"I-I see!" the old Kage sweat-dropped. Naruto had just upgraded the Hiraishin and the blond was talking about it like he had just finished a math problem and was moving on to the next. "Well I guess you two have earned some rest. Take care!"

And with that they all headed home.

Main story:

Because of the Mizuki incident, the Hokage extended the team announcement day to a week after the exam. This worked fine with Naruto who now got the time to train after telling his friends how it all went with the traitor, earning a playful jealous glare from Sasuke seeing that the blond already had a B-rank in his book.

The day after the event the Hokage called his future Jounin senseis for team formations.

"Alright these are the graduates for this year." Hiruzen said giving each of them a dossier containing information on the rookie Gennin. "Now I would like to hear, who you would like on your teams."

"I would like to train this generation's Ino-Shika-Cho!" Sarutobi Asuma came forward earning a nod from the old man.

"I am going to train Sasuke Uchiha considering my … unique asset. I would also like a combat formation." continued Kakashi Hatake not bothering to check the files and gaining another nod and a small sigh from the Kage. It seems that the council played the Obito guilt card.

"I am going to form a tracking team and would like to train Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and… Hyuuga Hinata." the genjutsu mistress Yuhi Kurenai commented but no approval came from the Hokage.

"I am afraid that there are … complications with that formation." Hiruzen answered starting a small conversation of whispers in the back. "I am sure you are aware of Hiashi and Mikoto's intentions of having their heirs on the same team."

"Even so this will be the team I train!" the stubborn woman didn't back down making the aged man sigh in exasperation.

"Come back tomorrow and you will receive your teams and Kurenai … I will give you my answer then." the Hokage pointed out. "Dismissed!" he ordered and they bowed and scattered.

Later that day Naruto was enjoying a quiet time in the Hyuuga dojo while a couple of his clones were working on his chakra control and Fuuinjutsu. Although he had read tens of books on the ninja art, he still had to practice it, especially explosive tags judging by the constant influx of memories he got as each one of his clones got dispelled one by one when they made a mistake at the quantity of chakra needed to imprint an explosive formula on a surface. Naruto decided to use his chakra to write the formulas as it was a battle ready form of the art, instead of carrying ink and scrolls all the time, for even the most complex seals. And boy was it hard.

His clones were training in training ground 44 where nobody ever bothered him so he could hide his techniques.

'Okay, do NOT add an amplification array on top of an activation formula!' he thought as he was doing his training which meant standing in a space just high enough to fit his height together with a vertically raised arm. He was upside down in a handstand and doing a one handed pushup then attaching himself with chakra to the ceiling and pulling himself in a 'sitting' position using his legs, repeating this sequence 300 times with each arm, then would switch position now standing normally but still doing something similar but instead the push-ups now became pull-ups and vice-versa.

Hinata was near him and was working on some medical techniques Naruto showed her earlier but sometime she would steal a glance at Naruto and would blush seeing his muscular bare chest as he would usually train his physique with only his pants and bands on.

Naruto picked up on these and would sigh. 'Okay, while I do love the fact that my body makes my girlfriend blush, I got to stop this before she turns into a fangirl!' he shivered at that last thought causing him to almost lose his concentration and slip, almost.

Just then Isamu entered and bowed to the two "Naruto-sama, Hokage-sama has requested your presence."

"Thank you Isamu-san!" the blond answered while wiping off his sweaty brow with Hinata looking at him with worry. "Probably wants to talk about 'Operation Gardner'! Got to give the old man credit, he remembered." he told Hinata while smiling.

'Operation Gardner' was the name given to their plans to bring Danzo to justice.

Naruto then got to his room. Miki wasn't there as Anko needed her today for interrogation. The blond would sometimes go there to learn more about information gathering. While the woman's more 'hands on' approach was not to his liking, he soaked everything like a sponge. He liked Ibiki-oji-san's psychological method of scarring and breaking his vict… prisoners better but he loved Inoichi Yamanaka's (Ino's dad) techniques the most. While he could invade the opponent's mind and find out information, but that also sometimes left his own mind open and some strong willed individuals could even resist him, he used an even better way of getting secrets by offering pacts, deals, understandings, essentially becoming 'friends' with the prisoners and making them spill their guts. The blond eventually got a pass inside the place to keep him from sneaking in and putting them into a bad position.

*Flashback*

"Alright gaki. Since you are one of us now I'm going to give you the tour." Anko smirked.

"Okay, though I already know the whole layout by myself now so can we please skip to the action?" he said in the most 'polite' form he knew would work on the woman.

"Impatient aint'cha? Guys like that usually die first!" she 'scolded' him.

"Not impatient, excited!" he copied her smirk.

"Bwhahaha! I like ya even more Naruto-kun!" she liked her lips. "Okay! Let's go to cell 225, I have a hard nut to crack today."

"Hard nut?" Naruto quizzed.

"Yup! This guy took Ibiki's week-long treatment plan and still held it together." she said making Naruto awe in respect for the prisoner. Usually most guys wouldn't last to the second day but this one took a week and still held it together.

"Here we are! Wait here kid, I need to get some stuff." she ordered and then left for her office. Five minutes later she turned the corner with a basic torture kit in her hands. The cell was on the other side of the seventy foot long corridor but noticed that Naruto was nowhere to be found. She took a couple of steps until she heard a heart-shattering scream followed by "I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! JUST… KEEP AWAY FROM ME!" coming from the cell.

She ran all the way there reaching the door in three seconds and opened the peeking slide to see that the room was completely dark except for two glowing slit orbs hovering and moving towards the door. The cell then opened to find Naruto in his Fire Capital clothes with his feral features accentuated and his eyes slit and red. He then inhaled and breathed out returning to normal. He closed the door and then turned to Anko.

"This guy took on Ibiki for a week? Not impressed! Oh well, he's all yours onee-san." Naruto finished with a smirk.

"Naruto-kun, what did you do?" she asked blinking fast in surprise.

"Well I first entered the room and he started the tough guy 'Not telling anything' attitude! I then pulled a little bit of nii-san's chakra and well you could see the change in my eyes. I can see in the dark as well so I could tell he totally soiled himself. The smell was a 'clue' too. I then whispered in his ear that I would do to him what the villager mobs did to me, the 'nicer' part of them! Then I think you heard the result. Freakin' coward!" Naruto whispered the last part.

Anko blinked a couple of times more before "BWHAHAHA! Wait 'till Ibiki hears that what he couldn't do in a week a kid could in less than five minutes!"

Naruto just grinned and blushed a little.

*End Flashback*

A quick shower, a change of clothes and he was on his way to the Hokage. Even though he was a full shinobi now, he still hid part of his abilities (at least for now) but decided it was time to bring out some of the big guns. So after climbing the tallest building that had a clear view to the Hokage tower, he activated his Shinsougan and zoomed in on the old man. Hiruzen was waiting a little impatiently while his clones did the paperwork. Ever since Naruto pointed out this method he was very happy that he could have some time for himself but sometimes he would get bored since his job was 85% paperwork.

He was quickly snapped out of his daze when Naruto appeared in his office out of thin air. (A/N The Senkaipo doesn't produce a flash of light like the Hiraishin.)

"Good morning Hokage-jijii! You wanted to see me?" the boy chirped.

The old man took a second to get his heart under control after he barely avoided a stroke. "Naruto please don't do that! I had enough trouble with your dad when I was younger!" the old man shouted making the boy smirk. "Other than that… Good morning! Yes I did call for you. There are two problems I wish to discuss with you."

Naruto's cheerful demeanor quickly dropped but he stayed silent and nodded.

"Because of a … situation yesterday I remembered out talk when your grades started dropping. So…" the man wanted to ask but was stopped by the boy who raised a hand. Naruto then quickly turned his gaze towards the shadows in the room.

Hiruzen understood this and motioned to his ANBU to leave who disappeared in a poof. The boy then double checked the room to see that there were no connections to the outside before activating 'Keeper of Secrets' signifying that this was serious. The man knew from his interactions with the blond that if he just wanted privacy, only 'Tomb of Secrets' would be in place.

"Okay we are in the clear now." Naruto said gravely "As I promised I will tell you everything about 'Operation Gardner' as we have named it." he continued before telling the man the whole event. How he found out about the coup and how he saved Mikoto. He also told the man that he was planning to get rid of Danzo.

"NARUTO! Those are village affairs! I can't believe that you would stick your nose into them!" The Hokage scolded Naruto but the boy looked unfazed.

"And I can't believe you would allow Danzo to order Itachi-nii-san to kill the whole clan, children included!" Naruto responded giving Hiruzen a reason to be shocked.

"What do you mean? Danzo suggested it at the council but Itachi was the one who took that decision!" Sarutobi tried to explain.

"Is that what the mummy-man told you?" Naruto returned to a more respectful tone and earned a nod making the boy sigh. "He really took you for a ride, didn't he?"

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen was getting worried.

"What I mean is that Itachi never had a choice, well not a decent one at least. Danzo gave him the options of either murdering his clan to save his little brother Sasuke or to stand with them and be executed and let his clan go extinct! I don't think that this is much of a decision, is it?" Naruto explained.

The Hokage was now in his thinking mode. It all made sense. How could Itachi murder everyone, except his younger brother. 'Naruto is right, he did take me for a ride.' the man concluded.

"Indeed, but that does not explain your need for involvement Naruto! That man is dangerous and this is no matter a Gennin should handle, no matter how strong you are!" the man was in scolding mode again.

"I agree Hokage-jijii!" the blond confessed surprising the man "But I still can't stand to be on the sidelines! I know it is dangerous! But I also took the choice of not getting involved because of nii-san's advice and let the Uchiha children die! I still don't know if I could've done anything but that is no excuse. There is not a week that goes by without me having nightmares of it and I don't think it will stop until that guy is brought to justice! So please, let me do it! I give you my word I will not take any stupid risks but just…" Naruto stopped rambling. The pain in his eyes could be seen by anyone much more the Kage. "But if you do not I will listen. Danzo is a loyal shinobi of Konoha but nothing more. He is not loyal to you or its people. To him the end does justify the means, no matter what they are! I know about Root! Did you think that he listened to you after you told him to disband it? I can still see his ANBU, although they aren't wearing the 'Ne' on them, their eyes are the same as always, even their tactics. Your agents' are not as subtle or as calculating and cold."

Hiruzen was now sunk in his chair thinking it over. If he agreed with the boy's plan he would be putting him into huge danger. He could take matters into his own hands but history showed that he could not be as effective. However Danzo may not expect a Gennin team and that could be the advantage they would be looking for. Besides Naruto and his friends were not your average Gennin. The only thing they were lacking was experience and the boy did claim that this was a long term project.

The Hokage kept weighing the pros and cons, finally submitting himself to the fact that Naruto was very stubborn and even though he said that he would not get involved at his order, he wasn't so sure that the mummy wouldn't approach the boy at a later time. Having him under his supervision would be better as he could use his experience to coordinate the plan.

Hiruzen sighed "I hope I'm not going to regret this but… alright Naruto, you have my approval, but I expect periodical oral reports on your progress as well as any significant findings. I also expect you to follow my orders without question regarding… 'Operation Gardner'!" He had to admit that it had a nice sound to it.

"HAI!" Naruto answered standing in attention.

The aged Kage smirked before continuing "Good, now that brings us to the second part of the problem. I may not be able to secure Hinata in your team."

Naruto was shocked but stayed silent.

"It appears that Kurenai Yuhi wants to create a tracking squad and wants Hinata to be a part of it. She is adamant and apparently will not take no for an answer."

The blond face-palmed. 'Kurenai-san, I know that you care for Hinata like an older sister but you know that we want to be placed together.' he thought before asking "Who would be our teammates then?"

"Her team would be composed of Aburame Shino and… Kiba Inuzuka. "Hiruzen answered and Naruto face-planted.

"And my team?" he said in a weak voice.

"Sasuke Uchiha…" This made him smile a little "and Sakura Haruno, under the tutelage of Kakashi Hatake!" he continued and the boy was now a mass of jelly before recovering and planting his hands on the Kage's desk who was slightly amused by his reactions.

"NO WAY! I AM NOT HAVING THAT FANGIRL ON MY TEAM! THERE IS TOO MUCH AT STAKE HERE TO LET THAT GOSSIP QUEEN IN ON THE PLAN! ALSO THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I AM LETTING THAT HORN-DOG NEAR HINATA-CHAN UNTIL HE GETS OVER PUBERTY OR IS NEUTERED!" Naruto protested.

"I am sorry Naruto but what can I do? The civilian council supports Haruno's addition to Sasuke's team." the Hokage felt a little sorry for the boy and answered with his eyes closed.

There was a little silence in the room before Naruto answered.

"You're right Hokage-jijii, I shouldn't have put you in that spot!"

Hiruzen smiled at the boy for understanding so quickly and wanted to ease the boy's worry but before he could answer he heard 'Cluck, cluck' and opened his eyes.

To Naruto's right there was now a white feathered chicken dressed in miniature Hokage clothing.

The boy continued "I mean I thought that this was a military village run by the Niwatorikage-sama! (Chicken-shadow)"

Sarutobi was not impressed by the display and, although slightly amused, he did feel his blood boiling. "Naruto stop that! I will not have you disrespect me in my office!" he shouted.

Naruto just picked his ear with his pinky finger and continued talking to the chicken "I mean you are old and weary so I guess you can't even handle one civilian council and one Jounin."

"Naruto!" the Kage shouted in a much graver tone but Naruto gave him no attention.

"I guess you're only a step away from handing Danzo the hat, seeing how scared you are of the previous and the fact that he always walks over you and takes innocent children to turn them in mindless killing machines!" Naruto smirked while teleporting the Kage's hat into his hand and dangling it in front of the chicken.

That was the last straw as loads of KI poured out of Hiruzen who now had a huge tick mark on his forehead and his eyes were glowing red. He jumped from his seat and slammed his palms on his desk.

"GENNIN UZUMAKI, I WILL NOT SAY IT AGAIN! I AM STILL THE UNCONTESTED RULER OF THIS VILLAGE AND ITS SHINOBI, INCLUDING YOU, AND WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO MOCK THE HOKAGE POSITION!" the man breathed fire as he shouted.

"THEN ACT LIKE ONE!" Naruto responded as no matter how much KI the man could produce he was still human and the boy trained with Kurama until he couldn't even feel the Bijuu's full force.

Hiruzen was taken aback by this reaction but after a few seconds smiled. "You're right Naruto! I have been letting them walk all over me, but no more! I am still the Hokage and my words will be respected! Thank you!"

"HAI!" Naruto answered before returning the old man's hat. "Besides I think that Sakura would be much better under Kurenai-san's tutelage. From what I saw in class she has superb chakra control but very little stamina so that would make her an excellent genjutsu user. Also having a woman as a sensei could snap her out of her fangirl tendencies. Having Sasuke on her team would be a distraction for the most part and could even put the team in danger!"

"Indeed." Hiruzen answered taking another sip from his pipe. "Very well. Dismissed!"

Naruto nodded and Hiraishined back to the compound but not before placing a secret target-seal in the office.

The next day all Jounin except Asuma gathered to find their teams. The Hokage finished with teams cannon fodder… I mean teams 1-6 quickly before turning to Kakashi who was reading his orange book and Kurenai who was glaring at him.

"Kakashi, you will lead team 7 composed of …" the Kage wanted to specify the team members but the Jounin raised a hand.

"Forgive me Hokage-sama but I am only interested if Sasuke is on my team." he said.

"He is." Hiruzen answered with a sigh.

"Thank you!" Kakashi bowed and retreated but did not leave.

"Kurenai, you are the leader of team 8 composed of Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and… Sakura Haruno!"

"What? Excuse me Hokage-sama but I asked for Hinata Hyuuga. Her Byakugan would be important for a tracking team! Besides I do not want her anywhere near that pervert!" she protested pointing at Kakashi.

"Kurenai, Hinata will be placed on Kakashi's team! She is a better close-quarters fighter than she is at her Byakugan proficiency. Also, having a team that is too specialized can be a detriment to the team's other skills such as combat. Besides Sakura shows the necessary skills and aptitude to be a superb genjutsu user or medic nin, however she suffers from a 'condition' the younger generations refer to as 'fangirl'…" Sarutobi answered making every Jounin in the room cringe, including Kurenai. "The only team that would fit her skills is Kakashi's but the object of her worship is none other than Uchiha Sasuke-kun so she could put them in jeopardy!" the old man tried to reason.

"Even so Hokage-sama, I stand by my choice!" Kurenai said not backing down.

Hiruzen sigh 'Don't say I never tried reason!' but then switched to Hokage-mode "Jounin! I must remind you that all decisions I make are for the good of the village and its inhabitants! Besides that, I will also remind you that I am the Hokage and will not have my decisions be questioned by my subordinates like so! Do I make myself clear?" he continued releasing a good amount of KI.

All shinobi took a step back and started sweating. "Well?"

"H-Hai!" Kurenai answered swallowing her protests.

"Very well, you will pick up your teams at the academy next Monday around noon. That is all, dismissed!"

Later that day there was an Administration Council meeting.

Sarutobi began "Very well, we need to discuss the tax plan for the following season as well as…"

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but there is an urgent matter to rectify!" Councilor Haruno arose.

'Oh boy, here goes!' "Yes councilor Haruno?" Hiruzen answered.

"It has come to our attention that the blond brat has attacked my daughter! I demand justice!" she shouted making the whole room cringe in pain.

"Before you demand anything councilor I must ask if you have proof of the crime." the Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I do! It was in the middle of the academy hours! He was seen by nearly every student in my daughter's class!" she continued yelling.

"Is that so? Hmm, well…" Hiruzen was interrupted from answering the woman by Shibi Aburame, the Aburame clan head and Shino's dad.

The man started in his stoic and emotionless voice "Forgive me for interrupting Hokage-sama but I must state that I have heard of this incident and …"

"You see!" Haruno yelled.

"Councilor Haruno! Please refrain from interrupting in such manner or you will be removed from the board! If you have something to add please raise your hand or wait to be spoken to!" Hiruzen growled. "Please continue Shibi!"

"As I was saying I have knowledge of the incident from my son who is in the same year as councilor Haruno's daughter. His version states that it was the girl who first attacked Naruto-kun after he refused to vacate the seat near Uchiha Sasuke!" the man said

"I told…!" Haruno started screaming again but two swords appeared on her neck. "What?" she continued but in a much softer tone.

"I warned you Haruno-san! I have been recently … reminded that Konoha is a military village run by the Hokage not the council! This is only a tradition that I am indulging at the moment. A tradition that I can interrupt if I would so choose! You will not be warned again! That goes for all of you!" he responded to the woman before turning to the council. "Shibi?"

"I have only one more thing to add. It appears that Naruto-kun even refused the girl in a polite fashion and she was the one who reacted hostile. Logic would conclude that the accused acted in self-defense."

"I see!" Hiruzen answered before turning to see Mikoto raising her hand. "Yes Mikoto?"

"I would like to second Shibi's claim and to state the fact that my son constantly refused Haruno-san's daughter's advances, finding them and I quote 'extremely annoying' so this would also mean that Naruto-kun helped my son as well!"

"Hmm… anything else?"

"I also second Shibi's claim but it's too troublesome to state why except that it is similar to what my son told me." Shikaku Nara answered the call.

"Anyone else second Shibi's words?" Hiruzen asked and every other clan head raised their hands including Tsume Inuzuka, Kiba's mother.

"Seeing this, I declare Uzumaki Naruto innocent on all charges!"

"BUT HOKAGE-SAMA!" Haruno protested until she saw the look on the Hokage's face that promised pain if she said another word.

"ANBU, remove her from the meeting and silently! Permission to kill granted!" Hiruzen ordered and the woman was thrown out of the meeting, too shocked to protest. "I warned her! Now to settle the tax matter as well as…"

The meeting was later adjourned and the councilors displaced.

Meanwhile another meeting was taking place inside an apartment near the Konoha slums.

"So, it looks like the 'gardener' is on his way just as planned." said Naruto.

"It seems so but who will be the boss?" Hinata continued.

"A Jounin named Kakashi Hatake. I snuck inside the old man's office last night and read this guy's file." Naruto answered gaining interested nods from Hinata and Sasuke.

"Well?" the duck-ass intervened.

"Kakashi Hatake, also known as Copy-Ninja Kakashi or Sharingan no Kakashi." continued Naruto.

"Sharingan? Is he a hidden Uchiha that escaped the massacre?" a surprised Sasuke asked.

"No but let me finish first. As I was saying, Copy-Ninja Kakashi. A gifted shinobi who graduated the academy at the age of 5, got promoted to Chuunin at 6 and to Jounin at 13 years old. He was in the Gennin squad under the tutelage of Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha before his sensei became Hokage, with his teammates being Uchiha Obito and Rin…"

"Your dad was his sensei?" Hinata interrupted.

"So it would seem." Naruto answered before continuing. "He is said to have copied over a thousand jutsu and invented only one 'Chidori' (One thousand birds) and a more powerful variation 'Raikiri' (Lightning Blade), both being Raiton (Lightning style) assassination jabs for one hit kills. He is even said to have cut a lightning bolt in half using the second version." Naruto paused a minute looking at his teammates' surprised faces. "His father was Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang (Konoha no Shiroi Kiba) who was said to have surpassed the Sannin in his prime. His father committed honorary suicide after he was vilified by the Land of Fire and its people for abandoning his important mission to save his teammates." Naruto took a deep breath as he surveyed his friends' looks once again. Sasuke was boiling a little. It was something similar to what had happened to Itachi who chose to kill his clan for the good of Konoha only to be labeled a murderer and a missing-nin. Hinata on the other hand looked very sad and wondered if this was a result of the war hardening people's hearts. Naruto himself was somewhere in between. "This event made Kakashi think that rules are to be followed and respected no matter what the cost. During the Third Shinobi World War, he and his team was sent out to destroy the Kannabi Bridge near Kusagakure. Having just been promoted to Jounin he was appointed leader of his Chuunin teammates by their sensei who had another battle to fight. On their way to the target, they were ambushed by Iwagakure (Hidden in the Rock) shinobi who managed to capture their female teammate Rin. Obito apparently demanded that they go and save her but Kakashi, who was still traumatized by his father's death said that they had a mission and that 'Those who don't follow rules are trash!'. Obito then left on his own but not before praising Sakumo for his decisions and stating that 'Those who abandon their teammates are even worse than trash!'. Obito's attempt nearly failed but then Kakashi appeared and a battle took place during which your clansman…" he said turning to Sasuke "… awakened his Sharingan. They defeated the Iwa shinobi and nearly rescued Rin but the Iwas used a last technique that was supposed to collapse the cave they were in around them and bury them alive. Kakashi had injured his left eye in the previous battle and a rock hit him in his blind spot knocking him out. Obito then jumped in to help him and pushed him out of the way of another boulder coming in from above but did not have enough time to evade himself. When Kakashi came to he was shocked to find Obito on the ground with the right half of his body crushed under the boulder. After a conversation between them Rin, who was a medic-nin, transplanted Obito's Sharingan into Kakashi's left eye socket after your uncle had gifted him with it saying that 'With it I will see the future through you!". They were later saved by their sensei but Obito was buried further after the cave completely collapsed. That is how he acquired the Sharingan."

Naruto let out a sigh. When he read the report he was a well of emotion and was now worried about his teammates.

Hinata had tears in the corner of her eyes and was on the verge of crying so Naruto pulled her into an embrace. Sasuke on the other hand was sad but had a proud look on his face.

"Obito-san sacrificed his life for his teammates…" he said barely above a whisper.

"He was a hero Sasuke and I am proud to be a shinobi of the leaf with him as my sempai (senior)!" Naruto said, putting a hand on the Uchiha boy's shoulder.

"Hn!" Sasuke smiled and nodded.

"Back to Kakashi, I don't have anything useful except that he easily ranks into the top ten most powerful people in Konoha, maybe even five. Also his tracking skills are based on his chakra enhanced smell and that he signed the dog summon contract. A picture right now would be useless since we are going to meet the man in a couple of days. His favorite foods are salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant, while his least favorites are anything fried or sweet, his hobby is reading and that he greatly dislikes being photographed without his mask, whatever that means." Naruto continued until he finally reached the end of the information he had.

"Hmm… that was interesting to say the least. I think that we should head back now and we will meet tomorrow as usual for training until the team placement meeting." argued Sasuke earning two nods.

"Oh and another thing that I forgot about Kakashi-san is that he is always chronically late at least two to three hours for everything but the most important things. There is even a joke running around that he will be three hours late for his own funeral!"

Naruto lifted the privacy seal and they went their separate ways with Sasuke heading for the Uchiha compound while Naruto and Hinata headed for the Hyuuga's.

Next Monday we find them sitting in their desk waiting to 'find out' who they were placed with on their teams.

After a boring introduction of what it means to be a shinobi from Iruka, finally came the team placements. Teams 'cannon fodder' were finished and now came our heroes' turn.

"Team seven will be formed of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and … Ino Yamanaka (A/N: Just kidding!) Hinata Hyuuga!" the scarred Chuunin read out with Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata high-five-ing each other and having the Sasuke fan club scream for blood but quickly silenced by a rush of KI coming from team 7. "Your Jounin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake!"

"Team eight will be formed by Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Sakura Haruno! Your Jounin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi!"

"WHAT?" two voices called out, one noticeably louder than the other. "Sensei why do I get to be stuck with bug-boy and dog-breath? I want to be with Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out.

"Shut it washboard! It's not like me and Akamaru want a flat-chested air-horn in our team! 'Arf'! Oh man I wanted to be with Hinata!" Kiba complained.

"What did you say fleabag?" Sakura threatened.

Kiba jumped in his seat but not because of the threat. He felt something far more menacing directed towards him. He looked down and saw Naruto who was sitting a few rows in front of him dangling two plums and waving a kunai around them slowly. He had the same face as the one on the day that Hanabi first 'asked' Naruto to train her. (A/N: Remember?) Kiba turned blue and sunk quietly into his seat.

"That is enough, both of you! Hokage-sama arranged the teams. If you have a problem then you can complain to him directly." Iruka scolded the two.

"Team nine is still in circulation. Team ten will be composed of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi! Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

"Oh great, I have lazy-bum and the human food vacuum-cleaner! At least Sakura isn't any better." Ino mumbled with Shikamaru whispering 'troublesome' as usual.

Iruka then continued "You have one hour for lunch then you should come back here and wait for your senseis to pick you up! Class is dismissed!"

All teams got together and left. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata shunshined to Ichiraku's place. When they got there they were immediately greeted by Ayame.

"Hey guys! Haven't seen you in a while!" she chirped.

"Hey Ayame-nee-chan! Sorry we've been busy with the exams." Naruto responded while rubbing the back of his head

"Naruto? What happened to you?" she asked blinking faster.

Naruto took a few seconds to register before it all sank in "Oh you mean the clothes? Well you know that I was fooling around in my academy years so now I'm back to normal." He answered smiling at the girl.

"Well, I have to say you look much better in this than that jumpsuit!" she commented.

"Yeah I know! Found that thing in the garbage of one of the shops. I have to say I agree with the owner throwing it away. Liked the orange though!" Naruto chirped the last part making everybody present roll their eyes.

"O-okay, the usual?" she answered.

"No, not today! We have to meet our sensei in about three hours or so. That means today we will take the light menu." the blond responded waiving his arm in a dismissal fashion.

Hinata turned to him "Naruto-kun, Iruka-sensei told us that lunch break is only an hour."

"Yeah, but remember the info. Sensei is notoriously late, remember? I hardly think that the meeting is as important to us as it is to him. Besides I left a clone there to let us know if he arrives there early and you know I can get us there in a 'flash'." he answered making Hinata smile and Sasuke smirk.

"Okay, so that will be one large fish ramen with tomatoes for Sasuke-kun , one medium azuki (red bean) ramen for Hinata-chan and six extra-large miso ramen for Naruto-kun." Ayame answered smiling and then shouted "Daad, one team light please!"

An adult man answered from behind the curtains "Is Naruto-kun here?"

"Yup!" his daughter answered.

"Okay, the first serving will be ready in five!"

Five minutes later the father-daughter duo exited bringing the first four bowls. Sasuke and Hinata started seasoning their food and then took the first spoon-full of the broth before turning to Naruto who was slowly savoring his… second bowl. They sweat-dropped as they could never get used to the blond's eating pace.

They exchanged small talk about how they expected their sensei to be based on the information as well as what training they should do after they made their team official and what missions they would undertake.

Two and a half hours later Naruto still didn't receive any memories from the clone meaning that Kakashi-sensei hadn't arrived yet. Even so they left the ramen booth and walked slowly to the academy and into the class where he dispelled the clone.

Inside, Naruto took out a scroll and unsealed a dual neck guitar that had quite an array of seals on it for power generation and sound amplification. Being able to make over a thousand clones for training purposes left Naruto with quite some time on his hands so he delved into the finer arts but after failing painting and sculpting he found out that he had quite a musical ear and a little bit of talent in two instruments, one of which was the guitar.

He sat in a comfortable position and began playing starting out with tapping and choosing to play Fading Away by Matthew McGhee (A/N Love the song!), switching through many other songs from his repertoire as time flew by. Besides killing boredom it had a relaxing effect on his teammates who didn't even noticed as an hour flew by.

Outside a certain Jounin was listening to the performance and, besides mentally applauding, he wondered if the Gennin could do sound based genjutsu (A/N Similar to Tayuya). After a while he decided to end the show and entered the room.

Naruto stopped performing and looked at the man, as did his teammates.

"Too bad, couldn't you have been one more minute late sensei? That was a good song!" Hinata smiled at the man as she spoke in a kind tone.

Kakashi eye-smiled and then answered "My first impression of you is that… your interesting. Meet me on the roof in five minutes!" he said and then shunshined away arriving on the roof and to one of the biggest surprises in his life. The Gennin were already there before him. Naruto was tuning his guitar, Sasuke was 'brooding' and Hinata was in the middle swinging her legs and smiling at the blond.

"W-when did you get here?" the Jounin asked pointing at them, his one eye visibly wide.

"Just before you sensei." Hinata answered.

"Oookay, so… let's introduce ourselves. You first blondie!" he said pointing at Naruto after regaining his composure.

"But sensei, we already know each other and besides didn't you read our files?" Naruto acted out loud still keeping half-a-mask on his intelligence.

Kakashi was taken by surprise a little bit "Y-yes I did but I would still like to hear it from you!" he eye-smiled halfheartedly.

'Liar! He lied now but was it about reading our files or about wanting to hear us? One more push!' Naruto mentally analyzed. "Why don't you go first sensei? We know about each other but we don't know a thing about you!"

"Okay! My name is Kakashi Hatake. You may call me Kakashi-sensei. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…" he answered making the trio sweat-drop.

'Need to know basis huh? Also that means he is not that interested in us and thus means that he hasn't read our files, well two can play that game!' Naruto mentally smirked.

"Now you!" Kakashi continued looking at Naruto.

"Yosh! I am Uzumaki Naruto! My likes are ramen and people who are dear to me 'like my girlfriend Hinata-chan'! I hate the three minutes it takes to cook ramen 'and salad', people who judge others without knowing anything about them and especially people who try to hurt those that I find dear to me like my friends and family! My hobbies are training and music 'and Jikuukan (space-time) Ninjutsu'! My dream is to be the greatest of all Hokage!" he shouted out loud returning fully to his 'dobe' mask but keeping any information that could be used against him secret.

Kakashi slowly nodded keeping his eye-smile 'So he is the ramen-loving dead-last that I heard about. Except his grades, he is just like you and Kushina, sensei.' the man thought.

His teammates had a different opinion 'I thought that we were supposed to drop our masks after graduating. What are you planning Naruto?' thought Sasuke. Hinata on the other hand was a little sad that he didn't mention her in his likes but decided to play along.

The scarecrow (Kakashi) then continued "I see! How about you?" he asked pointing to Hinata.

"M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata! I-I like c-cinnamon rolls, r-red bean soup and the ones that I l-love 'especially Naruto-kun and my family'. I d-don't like c-crabs and sh-shrimp and arrogant p-people. My h-hobbies are, f-flower pressing, t-teaching J-Juken to my little s-sister and m-making medicinal g-goods. M-my dream is to b-become a g-great clan head 'and maybe a certain future Hokage's wife'." She answered with her all too practiced stutter.

Kakashi nearly deadpanned 'Looks like she has confidence problems, but she seemed fine a little while ago, hmm… oh well." He then turned to Sasuke "You next emo!" he said making Naruto blue from keeping his laughter contained and making the duck-ass boy's eyebrow twitch.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." he answered with practiced ease.

'An avenger… well this was expected.' thought his sensei. "Okay, now that that's settled… meet me tomorrow at training ground three at seven o'clock for the Gennin test." 'Here goes 3…2…1… … …. nothing?' All of them looked at him before Naruto began.

"Umm Kaka-sensei, can I ask what kind of test will it be?"

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow 'I was expecting them to protest with the traditional we already took the test but, meh…'. "Well… a survival test! Out of the 27 or so Gennin that made it this year, only around nine will actually pass so it has a fail rate of 66 percent. Also I would recommend that you skip lunch, that is, if you don't want to puke. Gia-ne! (Bye)" and with that he shunshined away.

The Gennin sighed in unison.

Sasuke then turned towards the blond "Naruto wh…" He stopped when Naruto raised his hand, palm facing the brunette. He then flashed a few words in hand sign language that said 'Not here! Apartment." Sasuke nodded and they left on foot towards Naruto's apartment.

When they got there, Naruto closed the door and the curtains and as usual, activated Keeper of Secrets.

"Phew! Okay guys, I think that we're safe for now!" the blond smirked.

"What was that all about?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, Naruto! What gives with the masks and all?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"First of all, thanks for the assist!" Naruto smiled earning one smile (Hinata) and a smirk.

"No problem, now what was it about?" Sasuke commented.

"Well, remember that I asked him if he read our files? Well he was lying, at least that's what I deduced."

Both Sasuke and Hinata nodded. They knew Naruto's ability to spot through all but the best lies.

"So then I remembered the true Gennin test that Mikoto-san told us about, even though she would not tell us anything more about it. I thought that the element of surprise would come in handy so I decided to play the 'dobe' again for a tactical advantage but it thanks to you guys backing me up, now we got three!" Naruto smiled.

"Sneaky!" answered a giggling Hinata with Sasuke backing her up with his traditional "Hn" which had become more of a habit because of three years of wearing a power-hungry maniac mask.

"He-he! Now what do we do about tomorrow! Thanks to our little trick here, each of us could now probably kill him on our own but that isn't the problem…" Naruto began.

"The problem is that we don't know anything about tomorrow's test." Sasuke continued.

"Agreed! We should focus on what we know and speculate the others based on logic." Hinata added her own two cents.

"Okay, so what we do know is that Kaka-sensei is expecting three regular Gennin tomorrow but we have trained ourselves much harder and by observation we are now somewhere on the level of Tokubetsu (special) Jounin level. So, starting from that point we should have a clear advantage tomorrow." Naruto added.

"What about the food rule that Kakashi-sensei imposed?" asked Hinata.

"If I remember correctly, he 'recommended' not 'imposed' so we should at least eat a light breakfast and I will bring a seal scroll full of snacks and water or we will be down on power and, in my case, a 'little cranky'." Naruto answered crossing his arms and closing his eyes when he started hearing laughter. "What's so funny?" he asked a little dumbfounded.

"A little? I remember last time when you had to go through those medical examinations for the academy and you couldn't eat all day before them. The doctors were terrified of you!" Sasuke laughed.

"Oh come on! I'm not that bad!" Naruto tried to defend himself

"Even Hokage-sama was afraid of you!" giggled Hinata.

"Okay, maybe I am!" he laughed half-heartedly while rubbing the back of his head. He was immediately pulled into a kiss by Hinata.

"Yup, but I still love you!" she smiled.

He kindly smiled back at her "Love you too!"

"Ahem… are we finished or should I go for some air and leave you two love-birds alone?" Sasuke smirked.

"Jealous?" Naruto smirked back.

Sasuke broadened his smirk and whispered "Maybe…" but it was loud enough for them to hear and feel bad.

"Don't worry Sasuke, I'm sure that you will find the one soon! I mean you are the great and nearly last of the mighty Uchiha!" Naruto patted him on the shoulder inflating his pride. "Hn" was all the blond got for an answer.

They finished making their plans for the next day and convened that they would meet at the training ground at 8:30 with Naruto sending a clone in advance just in case since he never slept until more than six o'clock in the morning.

So they did and when they got to training ground three there was no surprise that their sensei did not show up yet. So, after some light stretching, Naruto unsealed his second musical instrument which was a beautiful electric violin with a similar seal array as his guitar and started playing the violin version of Kiss the Rain by Yiruma but like in the classroom there was still plenty of time and so Naruto kept switching songs to keep busy. Eventually another half an hour later and Kakashi shunshined in and found himself listening to one of the blond's improvisations that reminded him of a beautiful flower field that he passed once in the Land of Grass (Kusa no Kuni – A/N: Fan-name!). Once again Naruto stopped his performance when he felt his sensei near.

"Kind of late, aren't you sensei?" Naruto shrugged.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life." he answered without a shred of shame.

"You really couldn't come up with a better excuse than that sensei?" ask Sasuke in a monotonous fashion.

"Meh... Aren't you more interested in today's test?" he asked while setting down an alarm clock on a stump and taking out two bells. "Okay here's the deal. You have until noon to get one bell from me. Who doesn't have a bell by the end of the allowed time will be tied to one of the stumps over there." he continued pointing to the three close logs that were embedded in the ground "and I will eat lunch in front of you!" he said flashing his eye-smile and pausing to hear stomach growls but heard none. He looked at them in wonder.

"So that's why you said not to eat breakfast. Sorry sensei but we didn't follow that 'recommendation'." Sasuke answered with his patented 'bad-boy' smirk.

Kakashi was indeed surprised by this but then grinned under his mask 'Hmm… I'm sure Sasuke saw through my deception and told the others. Well he is the rookie of the year after all. But this sure is a first!' the man thought.

"Oh well, but breakfast won't save you from being sent back to the academy. Whoever doesn't have a bell by noon will be sent back another year!"

"B-but sensei, t-there are only t-two bells." Hinata said keeping her shy-girl appearance.

"Indeed. That means that one of you will be sent back so come at me with the will to kill." the scarecrow answered emotionlessly. "Are you ready?" he asked and they got into a stance "BEGIN!" he ordered but they just stood there.

"Well aren't you and interesting bunch but you will not get a bell like this." he eye-smiled.

"Do you mean these bells sensei?" Naruto innocently asked while dangling the bells in front of him.

The scarecrow's visible eye bulged as he looked at the bells and then at his waist where he formerly attached them to find nothing there. He quickly used his Jounin speed and recovered them from the blond who intentionally put up no resistance.

"Yes, these bells." Kakashi eye-smiled to them while attaching the bells again. "I never said I wouldn't do something to get them back."

"G-get what b-back sensei?" (you guessed who)

Kakashi sighed "The bells of course."

"You mean these bells?" Naruto smirked in an evil fashion and dangled them in the same way.

Kakashi gulped and looked at his waist again to find them missing… again "WHA? How do you do that?" 'I didn't even sense him move when he got them! Hell, I didn't sense any movement at all!' He shunshined and recovered the two musical balls and this time tied them to his belt more securely with ninja wire and added a little bit of chakra to make them stick.

"Well? What are you going to do now?" he looked at them menacingly.

They all jumped for cover.

'Hmm… good, they know how to hide, but what was with Naruto-kun earlier? I guess I should have just read his file.' He admonished himself for underestimating them. Not that he would find anything interesting about Naruto's abilities in the dossier since the Hokage kept Naruto's Jikuukan abilities top secret.

When he was safely high up in a tree Naruto started to formulate a plan. He then summoned two small four-winged dragons the size of chickens, one red and one blue, who quickly jumped on his shoulders after he motioned them to stay silent.

"You summoned us Naruto-sama?" the red one whispered.

"Yes Ikki. I need you and Niki to find Sasuke and Hinata. When you find them, tell them I have sent you and touch them on the back of their necks, and quietly tell them…!" the blond whispered his orders and, after a few hand-signs, seal patterns rose from his sleeves and up the dragon's bodies.

"Hai!" they answered and then swooped off in the directions of their targets. They found them relatively quickly since they knew their scents. Ikki was the first to find Hinata.

"Hinata-sama!" the red dragon whispered to the girl who saw him coming with his Byakugan.

"Ikki-kun!"

"Naruto-sama sent you something and said that when you feel the buzzing, relax." the young dragon answered and then flew to Hinata's back and then her neck. The seal patterns that were on him transferred to her and a seal similar to the Kyuubi seal appeared on her cervical vertebrae. Something similar happened with Sasuke. A few moments later and the seals buzzed into life and they heard Naruto's voice in their heads.

'Guys, can you hear me? Don't speak, just think of the seal and think!' Naruto transmitted.

'Naruto-kun!' answered Hinata.

'Naruto, how is it that we can hear each other's thoughts?' Sasuke curiously asked.

'It's a telepathy-seal project that I'm working on but it only lasts fifteen minutes now. I'll tell you about it later but now we have to discuss our plan of action!' the boy answered.

'You're right but what can we do? He will not let us keep the bells!' Hinata notified.

'Then we have to keep him from stopping us from keeping them.' Sasuke commented.

'I think that there is more to this test.' Naruto commented barely above a whisper.

'What?' both teammates asked.

'Think about what we talked about yesterday! He is expecting average Gennin and they can't take on a Jounin, the power difference is just too big, especially since it's one of the strongest Jounin in the village. And the bell test, I see you saw through that as well since we are not fighting amongst ourselves.'

'Yeah, who does he think we are? There has never been such a thing as a three-man cell, and rookies are never sent to the reserves unless there is an uneven number in the graduate class.' answered Sasuke.

'Indeed! So the test isn't about getting the bells, it's about teamwork! He's trying to split us up!' Hinata continued.

'Good, so let's think of a good plan! I propose we…' Naruto began and they continued planning until the seals faded.

Meanwhile Kakashi was getting a little restless. He could follow them by scent and knew, that except the earlier two blurs that he couldn't identify, nothing moved between them. In fact they stayed in the same place almost fifteen minutes. Not that Kakashi complained mind you. As soon as they got into their respective hiding places he took out an orange book (A/N You know what!) and started giggling like an idiot but as soon as insects or leaves even approached the novel, he would either set them on fire or kill them using a kunai with Jounin precision. This fact didn't escape the sights of three pairs of eyes. The man was starting to wonder if he should go after them or keep reading.

A couple of minutes after the conversation there was a rustling in some bushes near Kakashi. The man barely lifted his gaze at the girl who was gently walking his way with her fingers poking together and looking at the ground.

"K-Kakashi-sensei, I h-have a question." She slowly approached the man while turning her head and looking away.

"Hmm? Well I will answer if I can but do you think that this is time well spent?" the man sighed.

"Well, K-Kakashi-sensei I w-was just wondering w-what would h-happen if somebody say b-burned that book?" she asked pointing to his Icha Icha novel.

The skies darkened and Kakashi's visible eye took on a very scary silvery shine as lightning bolts came raining down and KI flooded the area making birds fly and insects die. Just as fast as it all began the scenery changed to one of pure paradise and Kakashi eye-smiled as he answered "That wouldn't be … pleasant for the one who did it." he explained.

"I-I see. One more q-question sensei." Hinata began while turning her side to the man while her face was outside his view. "H-Have you e-ever h-heard of a t-technique called … 'Hakke Rokujūyon Shō' (eight trigrams sixty-four palms)"

She shouted out the last part and then turned to her sensei who got hit by the first four strikes before he got out of her range.

'What the hell? I thought that she was a shy girl with confidence problem but she didn't have a problem attacking me with a lethal technique! I got to … OH SHIT, HERE SHE COMES AGAIN!' he thought as he ducked under a palm strike and then jumped back for distance but Hinata saw this and after saying "You're not getting away so easily sensei!" she deactivated her bands which were a good 375 equivalent pounds and blurred out of sight only to land a devastating strike to Kakashi's hand who was still holding his book, not having enough time to put it away. The arm went numb and dropped the precious reading material.

"BOOKIE!" Kakashi dramatized but Hinata retreated. Kakashi was too worried about his precious porn to notice this and even barely registered hearing "'Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!'"

He looked to his right and saw Sasuke getting ready to breath-out the technique.

'No way! A Gennin shouldn't have the chakra to perform such a technique!' the thought but it was soon washed away as Sasuke breathed out a fireball three times the Jounin's size (A/N Think the first Grand Fireball used against Naruto at the Valley of the End.). The man performed a quick Kawarimi with a log outside the range of the flames but then remembered something important.

"BOOOOKIIEEE! NOOOOO!" he screamed while grabbing the sides of his face in horror.

"You mean this Kakashi-sensei?" he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He turned his head and found Naruto holding his 'bookie' but it was covered in explosive tags. "Hand over the bells and promise that you will not try to get them back or else!" the blond demanded moving his hand into an activation seal but not completely.

Now Kakashi was a serious Jounin with years of experience so he reacted accordingly.

"Okay! Okay! Just don't do anything rash!" he tried to negotiate.

"Bells, now!" Naruto ordered moving his hand even higher.

"Sure, here! Just give me back my baby!" he screamed while throwing the bells to Naruto who, after checking them for tricks, removed the tags from the book and threw it to Kakashi who nearly stumbled catching it. "Oh baby! Don't ever frighten me like that ever again!" he said while hugging the poor thing. "Now, I think that this calls for a little punishment!" she chuckled menacingly. He grabbed the book tight and then shunshined behind Naruto holding a tiger-seal.

"Kakashi-sensei, stop! You promised!" Hinata yelled.

"Ninja rule no.1, a shinobi's best weapon is deception 'and lies'!" he answered fast before shouting 'Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi;' (One thousand years of death) before performing a chakra enhanced … ass-poke on the blond sending him flying into the forest while recovering the bells.

He smiled an evil eye-smile before turning to his book. When he wanted to open it, it 'poofed' into smoke. "WHA?"

"How right you are sensei!" Naruto shouted from the other side of where Kakashi 'sent' him. "But you forgot that ninja have a lot of rule no.1 like don't forget to sharpen your kunai or don't sit in a chair with explosive notes in your pants' back-pockets… and don't forget to expect your opponent to see through your lies and …" Naruto became quiet as another copy of him came from behind the original holding the true book and saying "…always check for Shadow Clones and Henged Shadow Clones!"

Kakashi was now really worried "Umm… Naruto, look, I'm sorry, okay? Just don't hurt 'Bookie', I beg you!" the porn addict was trembling.

"Well… okay!" clone Naruto answered and threw the book at the man but before he caught it the original made the activation hand-sign and the book exploded into a thousand burning pieces thanks to a hidden low power exploding tag.

Kakashi was devastated and fell to his knees crying tears of blood as paper pieces flew through his open arms.

"Shinobi rule no. 1 sensei! Always expect payback!" Naruto smirked at the man.

Suddenly birds began to die and grass began to wither as KI that rivaled a Bijuu poured out of Kakashi who now had a black flame-like aura around him and his eyes were that of a deranged murderer.

The man charged forward in a straight direction towards the blond, screaming "YOU WILL PAY FOR…" but before he could finish, thanks to his speed and state of mind landed him into the same seal that was used to trap Mikoto on the night of the Uchiha massacre.

"Well this thing takes a hellu'va lot of time to set up, but it's worth it!" the blond smiled.

"Do you think this will hold me for long?" Kakashi raged.

"Not really but look around you!" Naruto smirked.

Kakashi calmed down enough to do as the boy asked and found Hinata and Sasuke on each side, the girl in a Hakke stance and the boy holding the tiger seal.

"We will ask only once! Give up!" continued the blond.

The scarecrow growled a bit before he was overwhelmed by the KI released by the three Gennin and found it difficult to breathe.

"I-I give up! You all pass!" he answered, fear washing away his anger.

The trio took back their KI and Naruto released the seal with Kakashi dropping on his knees panting a little before asking "Gennin shouldn't possess such killing intent that could overwhelm a war veteran! How?"

"Well Kurama-nii-san taught us how to resist his and from there we realized how to project it ourselves." Naruto answered smiling.

"Kurama?" the man raised an eyebrow. He knew that the boy was adopted a long time ago into the Hyuugas, though he never wondered why. But now he was wondering if there was someone in the compound who possesses such monstrous KI.

"You know him as the Kyuubi. And before you ask, yes the Hokage knows. Ask him for the story because I don't want to tell it again." Naruto sighed.

"O-Okay." the Jounin answered while slowly getting off the ground. As soon as he was standing up a piece of paper flew by his face. He then slumped into sadness as he was sobbing "*Sniff* Bookie * Sniff" closing his eye while aiming his face to the ground.

"Kaka-sensei!"

"Leave me alone Naruto! You passed now leave me to mourn my loss!" he ordered earning an eye roll.

"Umm Kaka-sensei!"

"Naruto I thought I told you to …" Kakashi shot up his face to chase away the boy but found something he wasn't expecting.

Naruto was smiling in front of him while presenting the man a nicer, thicker version of his book but with golden rims. The cover was the same except that it now read 'Icha Icha Paradise: Extended Limited Edition!'.

"A peace offering Kaka-sensei!" Naruto chuckled.

The man slowly picked up the book and when he opened it light shot forth from the pages as Kakashi stared in awe.

"Naruto, where did you get this? I offered my right arm for one but it's so rare! Only fifty have ever been published and … IT'S SIGNED?"

"First print of its edition too!" Naruto smiled toothily.

"HOW?" Kakashi nearly cried.

"I have my sources. You can keep this one, I have another. Are we square? (even)" the blond shot his hand to his sensei to shake his hand but the sensei grabbed it and pulled the boy in a hug.

"Of course we are! Thank you! Thank you!" he let go of the blond when the alarm clock rang. "Ahem… congratulations for passing the test! Just a couple of questions before you are dismissed. First, when did you figure out that it was a test for teamwork?"

"From the start of course! You didn't actually expect anyone to fall into that sort of trap did you? I mean it is academy knowledge that rookie Gennin are either accepted into four man cells or none at all. There have never been rookie reserves. You are either in or out!" answered Sasuke.

Kakashi just eye-smiled but then continued "Why did you act like that when we first met and how strong do you guys think you are?"

"We can't tell you why we hid ourselves, not here. As for strength, Naruto-kun says that the three of us are Tokubetsu Jounin level missing only the experience required. Although…" Hinata answered before Sasuke interrupted her

"He is stronger than us, probably elite Jounin level. Strength wise only, to my displeasure, he could probably wipe the floor with us and go toe to toe with the Hokage, though considering everything else like experience and knowledge, he could probably go toe to toe with both of us." Sasuke answered while smirking.

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head a little embarrassed by the attention "Come on guys! I'm not that much stronger than you!"

"And modest too…" Hinata giggled.

Kakashi was dumbstruck but recovered his composure "O-okay… Third question. Naruto, how did you steal the bells from me at first?"

Naruto then turned serious and said "Again it is something that can't be answered here. Just one clue Jikuukan Ninjutsu." Naruto said while whispering the last part.

Kakashi now had his only eye as big as a quarter of his face 'Jikuukan Ninjutsu, like sensei's Hiraishin, but he's too youn… ah forget it! You know what? Nothing they told me would surprise me anymore!' he thought and boy will he be wrong.

"Alright, were done here. Report tomorrow at training ground seven at seven for your first D-rank missions and some training." Kakashi eye-smiled expecting excitement but found gloominess. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"D-ranks! We heard about them. Neji-nii-san has a teammate one year older than us and he can't hold his liquor down so we got the brief. Babysitting, painting, cleaning? Those are chores!" Hinata cried.

"Oh come on Hinata-chan, they can't be that bad!" Naruto said half-heartedly "Right sensei?" he asked but the man just whistled away.

'OH BOY!' all three Gennin thought.

Naruto then jumped into action "A-Anyway, I have another question sensei! How many teams did you catch with this test? I mean there couldn't be more than one or two morons who just wouldn't understand teamwork, right?" Naruto smirked.

Kakashi eye-smiled but sighed "You are my first team." the man answered.

… … …

"WHAT?" the trio yelled in unison.

"Yeah that's how it is. Oh well… do you have anything more questions or can I go report to the Hokage?" the man continued.

"Only one: Is it true that you're planning on being three hours late for your own funereal?" Sasuke asked but everyone got the hidden meaning that he was actually asking if Kakashi will be late tomorrow.

Kakashi looked at the brunet with surprised but then cheered and answered "Yup!" before shunshining away.

Later that day inside the Hokage tower.

"All Jounin sensei report the status of your teams!" Hiruzen ordered.

Teams cannon fodder 1-6 failed so we will skip them.

"Team eight passed but just barely." Kurenai sighed "Sakura Haruno nearly jeopardized the entire team. I had them track and capture me and I have to say I am disappointed in her performance. She has inherited her mother's mouth and so I could tell she is coming a mile away from hearing her complaints about not being in the team with 'her Sasuke-kun'" Kurenai argued and the Jounin cringed "Also, while it is true that she is very talented in chakra control, she has done nothing to improve on those talents. Her only trait is that she is book smart but she has been dieting and has nearly no physical strength or stamina, wears so much perfume that she could attract a hive of bees from a hundred yards away and has been caught in a D-rank genjutsu that showed Uchiha-kun dying and she fainted. I hope I can bring her out of it or she will die very young. She shows promise in the fact that she acted as bait while her teammates acted in subduing me after Aburame Shino convinced her with his logic but she is in constant friction with Kiba Inuzuka who, because of his clan's genes and puberty is now searching for a 'receptor' to 'discharge' his 'hormones' and thought that I would be one…" all people in the room cringed even more "… and approached me during lunch break but for some reason backed off when I used my kunai to eat some pickled plums. End of report."

"Very well, next?" Sarutobi Sr. asked.

"Team ten passed! Shikamaru provided the tactical mind while Ino proved her leadership abilities and coordinated the plan while Choji provided the muscle to overcome the challenge I gave them. End of report!"

"Good that just leaves …" the old Kage was interrupted by a poof, out of which Kakashi appeared.

"Sorry I'm late! I got stuck playing twenty questions with my Gennin team!" the scarecrow eye-smiled but started sweating when he noticed everyone's glares on him "What?"

"Who are you?" asked Asuma "That excuse actually sounded believable!"

Kakashi sweat-dropped "That's because it is the truth!"

"Enough! Kakashi, what is your team's status?"

"Team seven … passed with flying colors!" the masked ninja chirped.

At the end of his sentence he opened his one eye and found everybody except the Hokage standing in guard, some even had kunai at the ready.

"Whaat?" Kakashi began to sweat again.

"That's it! You are not Kakashi! Come quietly or things will get nasty! Ibiki will figure who you are!" Kurenai answered.

"I said ENOUGH! Kakashi report!" Hiruzen ordered.

"Right! Yesterday when I… eventually met them at the academy I thought that they were the biggest bunch of misfits the system ever produced. One seemed to be a cheerful talented musician loudmouth dobe, one a dark brooding avenger emo and one a sheltered shy princess." Kakashi began, slouching a little and gaining sympathetic looks from the crowd. "But boy did they take me for a ride! I gave them the bell test and I have to say that the dead-last was the one who got the bells from me twice without me even feeling it." the Jounin continued making everyone there raise their eyebrows. "After I recovered and secured them even more they took cover and stayed in their place and nothing seemed to circulate between them except two small blurs that I couldn't identify the smell of. I was pondering if I should go after them myself but then they showed up, revealing their true colors." These words raised another set of eyebrows. "The first one to approach me was the so called 'shy princess' who in fact was a confident young woman that had no problem going for my vitals and made me drop 'bookie'. Next came the 'emo' that turned out to be a strong team-player and backed her up with a strong C-rank Katon jutsu. Finally the 'loudmouth dobe' appeared and he was the biggest surprise of them all!" Kakashi paused.

"Please continue Kakashi-san!" Asuma requested.

"As I was saying the 'dobe' was in fact the de-facto leader of the group and actually had the guts to hold 'bookie' as hostage in exchange for the bells." Kakashi cringed and inhaled.

Hiruzen was smirking as wide as he could "And?"

"I of course lied about that and taught them shinobi rule no. 1 deception is the greatest weapon of a ninja and when I got my precious back…" he began earning deadly glares from the women Jounin, "I used 'Sennen Goroshi' as punishment but … as the rumors said, it turned out that both the 'kidnaper' and the 'hostage' were Shadow Clones. They pulled a fast one on me! Anyway the real one appeared together with another clone and the negotiations began again and when I thought I had won, he killed bookie with an explosive tag in front of me!" Kakashi growled making the men in the room feel sympathetic towards the Gennin and the women to giggle. "I lost my temper and charged at the 'dobe' but he caught me in a high-level … Fūin that disrupted my chakra and froze my body!"

"Did you say Fūin? A high-level one?" Asuma questioned.

"Yes I did. It was at least B-rank or higher. Anyway, I could have eventually escaped but his two teammates surrounded me and, besides holding me at jutsu point, they even overpowered me with KI." The man admitted, feeling a little ashamed.

"You mean to say three wet-behind-the-ears Gennin overpowered a Jounin war veteran with Killer Intent?" Kurenai jumped.

"Yes. As shameful as it may have been, I underestimated them severely and they could have killed me in that moment, so I had no choice but to pass them. Not that it would happen again I might add. End of report" Kakashi responded, trying to save a little of his pride.

"Very well Kakashi! I am happy that you finally got a team, and I'm … sorry for your loss!" fellow porn lover Hiruzen grieved earning hateful glares and smirks from the women.

"That's alright Hokage-sama! Naruto… he… hooked me up with a better one!" drama queen Kakashi strikes again this time holding his new book.

The Hokage looked at it like it was a sacred object in awe and the women were fuming.

"Kakashi, where did you get that? Jiraya told me that he mailed one to me three days ago and judging the postal service record, I still have to wait!" Hiruzen wondered.

"Like I said Hokage-sama, from Naruto, though he wouldn't tell me how." Kakashi eye-smiled.

'Naruto! I'm going to have to pay him a visit tonight!' Kurenai thought.

"Alright that is all! Dismissed!" the Hokage ordered. "Except you Kakashi! I have something to discuss with you in my office."

"Hai!"

Back at the Hyuuga compound, Naruto and Hinata returned after their team celebrations.

They told Haruko that they passed and that they were going to go train. She told them that tonight there will be a small party to congratulate them and they smiled and nodded before leaving.

Ten minutes later Kurenai appeared.

"Hello Hiashi-sama, Haruko!" Kurenai smiled but her eye visibly twitched.

"Greetings Kurenai!" Hiashi nodded.

"Hello, what brings you here?" Haruko answered.

"I was looking for Naruto. I have something to… discuss with him." Kurenai continued.

"Well he just returned from his Gennin exam and he is training with Hinata in his room. You know he passed by the way right?" Haruko chirped.

"Really now? I must congratulate them as well." Hiashi claimed, rising up from his desk.

They made their way to Naruto's room and when they got there they knocked.

"Yes?" Naruto answered.

"Naruto-kun, may we come in?" Haruko chirped.

"Yes! It's open!" the cheerful blond answered.

They slid the door open and found something that brought their jaws to sea-level. Naruto, who was sitting on his two seat sofa in his training kimono, was holding Hinata under one arm and an orange book with golden edges in the other. There was a strange smell in the air and on the small coffee table in front of them there was a clear bottle with a pink rose colored liquid in it. Hinata was holding a small glass of that liquid. She was dressed in a long t-shirt and had beige shorts but other than that nothing.

Hiashi recognized the smell and the book and exploded.

"Tell me Naruto-kun, why are you holding my daughter while reading porn she is drinking alcohol?" he trembled with anger.

"Training of course!" the blond smiled back not really aware of the situation or not caring about it. Hinata on the other hand had the decency to blush… more, as the book and the substance already did a number on her.

Hiashi snapped "Training? I'm going to show you tr…" but before he could finish Haruko tapped one of his neck' pressure points and he instantly became a white frozen mass.

"Be quiet dear! Now, Naruto-kun, would you explain what this training is about because to us it looks more like you are trying to corrupt Hinata." Haruko asked kindly but she was barely restraining herself as well. Kurenai was too shocked to react.

"What? I thought I promised you I won't go over the line with Hinata until we are sixteen, plus we have been going through this since we had our hitai-ate! I asked your permission last Tuesday!" Naruto defended.

*Flashback*

"Haruko-san?" Naruto was standing at the door of the main house.

Haruko was deep into practicing some katas and was very focused on them since her body was rusty. "Yes dear?"

"Since Hinata and I are now shinobi, we will be going on infiltration missions in the future so I wanted your permission to train Hinata in bar information extraction!" Naruto asked.

Haruko did a couple more strikes and then returned to the basic defense form. "Of course you can Naruto-kun."

"Thank you!"

*Flashback end*

"Oh dear, I guess I did!" Haruko brought her hand to her mouth.

"You didn't remember something like that?" Kurenai turned to her.

"I guess I was so into my training that I didn't hear the word bar." the woman said sticking out her tongue in a playful fashion. As shinobi they knew that bar information extraction was usually about two thing, alcohol and sex. So a good shinobi, especially a kunoichi was supposed to know how to keep her liquor down while pushing all the right buttons on her target, to a limit.

Haruko then turned to Naruto "Alright, I guess I can't punish you for this since you got permission but, where did you get these… training materials?

"Well, the book I got from you-know-who. He still owes me big time by the way. The sweet sake I bought from the store." Naruto explained.

"You bought sake? How?" Haruko asked but Kurenai already knew the answer so she began.

"Shinobi special laws. When a person receives his hitai-ate he is officially recognized by his village as an adult." the red eyed woman sighed.

"Article 223 to be more precise!" Naruto chirped "I won't bore you with the fine print but it basically says that 'if you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink'!"

"Oookay!" Haruko answered "But what is this 'training' that you are doing?"

"Well, you might have already guessed that I'm immune to alcohol thanks to my Ranpu chakra so now I'm building Hinata's resistance to the stuff while loosening her mind so she doesn't faint from reading this book to gain some information on how to flirt for infiltration and reconnaissance missions. It won't be good if she can't use her 'womanly charms' to get some drunkard to talk." (A/N: Hey, she may be stronger but she is still Hinata!) Naruto explained. "I'm also keeping the stuff from overwhelming and hurting her. I flash my Ranpu chakra into her system every now and then, so she won't pass out and she definitely won't have a hangover tomorrow. Medic-nin's honor!" he said making a salute with the hand he was holding Hinata but not really disturbing the girl.

"Well, what you say is true about the bar part but you know I could have taught both of you on the subject without the … gears." Kurenai said pointing at the bottle and the book.

"And how long would that take? Imagine Hinata without alcohol trying to learn a simple pickup line!" Naruto smirked.

They all put their imagination to use and saw the same thing, which was Hinata glowing red and passing out. Haruko giggled and Kurenai felt like a headache was rising.

"You have a point!" Kurenai sighed. "Okay you win, but if you need any help you can come find me and I'll do my best to assist you." and she left the room together with Haruko who was dragging Hiashi who was barely mumbling "B-but honey!"

"Oh, boy!" Naruto sighed but was surprised by a kiss coming from Hinata who giggled. The blond smiled and returned to the 'lectures'.

Many days later…

"Team leader here, report!" a voice buzzed.

"Sasuke here, approaching point A."

"Hinata here, in position – point C."

"Naruto here, passed point B, requesting permission to engage the target."

"Team leader again. Naruto you have a go!"

Just then Naruto jumped from the trees and a figure lifted its head from the shadows.

"Tora! Here girl!" Naruto shouted.

The figure then blurred out of sight and shot towards the blond's open arms. A few moments later Naruto caught the target as his teammates and sensei swarmed around him.

"Bowtie on its ear, its Tora." Sasuke commented as he watched the cat purring away in Naruto's arms.

"Mission accomplished team! Time, just over fifteen minutes. Let's return and collect our pay." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Hai!" they answered and shunshined to the Hokage Tower.

Inside the building we find Hiruzen together with Iruka and some other Chuunin managing the mission office.

"Kakashi, that was quick." the old man smiled but couldn't help be surprised. "You've beaten the previous record by three hours and 47 minutes."

"I have a great team Hokage-sama, besides it took us more to find her than to catch her. She doesn't seem to be hostile towards Naruto-kun, quite the opposite I might add." the Cyclops commented and the blond's two teammates patted the boy's back.

"Long story sensei." Hinata smiled.

Just then the doors opened and a plump (to say the least) woman entered the room.

"Oh my precious Tora-chan, why did you run away from mommy again?" she commented while petting the cat who purred in her arms.

"Hello Shijimi-san! Nice to see you again! How is Daimio-sama?" Naruto chirped towards the woman.

"Naruto-kun! Is that you? My you've grown so much! I haven't seen you since you were this big! My husband missed you too!" she said while hugging the boy who returned the favor "I see you became a ninja like you wanted to! That's why Tora-chan came back so quickly. I think that this deserves a bonus. Thank you Hokage-san!" she said while placing a lot of ryo on the man's desk before turning back to the boy "I followed your advice Naruto-kun and thanks to it, Tora isn't running away as often but I just can't break her out of it." the woman slumped.

"Well Shijimi-san, cats like a little bit of freedom, it's in their ancestry. House cats come from solitary wild felines that occupy large territories so you can't really expect them to be like dogs. I think you should give her more space at a time little by little, perhaps I can help you with that. Do you have a piece of paper?" He asked and the woman looked through her purse and brought out a notebook.

"Will this do?" she asked.

"Perfect." Naruto claimed. He ripped out a piece of paper from it and then did five hand-seals and then placed one hand on Tora and the other on the paper. Two seal formulas appeared, one on Tora's tail forming a thin ring, just above the beginning of the tail, and another one on the piece of paper that looked like a circle made of seal-symbols and an arrow in the middle pointing towards the cat.

"This is a basic locator seal that shinobi use to find hidden object that they stashed away. It will last around two to three months but you can use it to find her if you are really worried but I would recommend that you just wait a day before she gets hungry and she will be on her own. The seal also becomes red if somebody else touches Tora so you will know if she's safe or not!" Naruto smiled while explaining.

"I will try to do it like that though I don't know if I can't stop worrying about her. Thank you Naruto-kun!" Shijimi smiled and took the seal engraved paper. Naruto bowed in return.

The blond then turned to the others to find them all except Hinata gawking at him.

"What?" he puzzled.

"How do you know the Daimio and his wife?" Kakashi asked.

"Like Hinata-chan said, long story."

Hiruzen was the first to snap out of it and cleared his throat catching everyone's attention.

"Well team seven I have to congratulate you again! That was your hundredth mission and I have to say that is one more record down. Taking around seven D-ranks per day, the village never looked better." Hiruzen smiled.

It has been a little over three weeks since team seven began taking D-ranks and thanks to a certain blond and his army of shadow clones they would finish each mission in record time and still have time to train. It also helped that the said boy had experience dealing with chores from working at the hospital or helping the Hyuuga staff.

The Kage continued "Now then I guess you want another mission let's see… babysitting a councilor's son while he is away, painting the academy fence, helping an old woman with her garden."

Kakashi looked at his team. Naruto looked fine but not excited though the other two were a little down since they had their fill of D-ranks but stayed silent. The scarecrow mentally sighed 'I hope I won't get scolded for this but here goes!'

"Hokage-sama, as leader of team seven I declare that my team is ready for a higher level mission!" the man said and noticed how his Gennin visibly perked up.

"But Kakashi, isn't it too early? I mean traditionally, every team spends at least two months on D-ranks!" Iruka snapped.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto spoke up "I understand your concerns but you personally should know what I am capable of and I can personally vouch for Sasuke and Hinata-chan! Besides, traditions are customs not rules."

Iruka thought for a moment but then surrendered to the boy's words and sad down with a sigh "You're right." said the man.

Hiruzen chuckled a bit "Well team seven, do you think you are capable of handling a C-rank mission?"

"Hai!" they all answered.

"Good, now let's see… we have an escort and protection mission to Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)."

"Who are we to guard?" Sasuke asked.

Hiruzen tapped his intercom "Send in Tazuna-san!"

At that moment the door opened and a half-drunk man entered (A/N You all know Tazuna!) carrying a huge bottle of booze.

"What's this? You're handing me over to a bunch of gaki? They all look like they just stopped wetting their beds…" the team still kept their professional appearance while he took another swig of sake "Especially the frail looking blind girl! I…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence when he noticed that he was only holding the neck of the bottle, the rest of it appeared to be sliced off. In front of him was Naruto who was smiling sweetly like Haruko but in his hand he was holding Meian who was covered in a greenish-blue energy (wind chakra).

"I would be careful when insulting shinobi Tazuna-san! Deception is key in our line of work and so looks can be deceiving. Other than that I would also recommend not to insult my girlfriend …" Naruto continued lifting Meian dangerously close to the man's 'jewels' "Ever again!"

Tazuna nodded furiously and the blade and it faded out of existence while the rest were chuckling silently and Hinata was blushing a little too.

"Sorry for your booze!" Naruto continued "Was that Kiri Sake?"

"Yeah. My last bottle too!" the man slumped.

"Oh man I think I did you a favor! How could you drink that horse-piss?" Naruto pretended to spit to the side before unsealing a huge-ass 15 litre bottle from a scroll "Here! Try some of this!".

Tazuna took a sip for good measure and he felt electrocuted in a good way. "WOW! What is this?"

"Ten year old sake from Oto no Kuni (Sound), formerly named Ta no Kuni (Land of rice – sake is rice wine). Second best sake in the world, only passed by the 'Densetsu no Sake' (Legendary Sake- A/N It appeared in ch 11 of Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden!) also called 'Hokage Sake'"

"How come you have it?" Tazuna asked.

"I bought it of course! Took a lot of money too. Shinobi laws 'old enough to kill, old enough to drink'." He added the last part since that was what Tazuna was actually wondering "You can keep that one, I have a full crate sealed away! Sake doesn't affect me because I have a 'condition' so I never get drunk or have a hangover but I like the buzz!" Naruto smirked.

"Heh I like you kid. Okay I'll take you! You are to protect me and my super bridge while I travel to do my super work!" Tazuna shouted.

"So you are an engineer?" Hinata asked.

"No, I'm a super carpenter but I manage the bridge construction!"

"Can I ask why do you need protection if you are only building a bridge?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna visibly tensed but answered "Well because my country is full of bandits and they will think that we are super rich if they see us building the bridge!"

'Liar!' thought Naruto and his teammates picked up on this. They knew Naruto all too well so they could even guess what he was thinking sometimes by how he acted. This was one of those times.

"Oh! So there will be no shinobi to handle only thugs?" Naruto slouched on purpose.

"Y-yes that's right!" Tazuna smiled.

'Another lie! This looks troublesome… did I just think like Shikamaru?'

Kakashi intervened "Okay, okay, that's enough talk for now! We are to meet tomorrow morning at seven o'clock at the gates and we will head out! And team, this time no funeral." he told them and they snickered.

"Okay, you guys go on ahead. I want to talk a bit with Jijii!" Naruto continued. Hiruzen regained the boy's trust a while ago so they were back on friendly terms. Kakashi and the rest nodded and left.

"Naruto, you know better than to call Hokage-sama like that!" teacher-mode Iruka in action.

"That's quite alright Iruka. I actually prefer it that way!" Hiruzen smiled "Now… what is it that you want to talk about?"

"To be frank, Tazuna-san is lying through his teeth. There is more going on than what meets the eye. I'm not sure what is going on but I don't like it!" Naruto growled a bit. He hated liars with a passion though he understood why a person lies.

"Hmm… it's troubling indeed. Should I call off the mission and investigate the matter further?" the old man continued.

"That would be the best course of action but it would be very troublesome for me as this is the first C-rank that we get so if it's canceled, Sasuke will Katon my behind and Hinata would most likely Juken spank me." the blond smiled non-convincingly. "I think that we could use another team as backup. If it turns out it was only a feeling then I will pay for their mission myself!"

"The only available team right now would be Kurenai's. Would they be fine?"

Naruto pondered the pros and cons a bit. Kurenai-sensei's Genjutsu would provide good backup for Kakashi's Ninjutsu but that would also mean that he would have to put up with horn-dog and fangirl. He just hoped that they learned their lessons by now.

"Yes, they'll be fine!" the blond admitted. "But please mention the fact that I and my teammates are the Gennins' commanding officers in this mission! I don't need an incident in this mission!"

Hiruzen nodded and so Naruto shunshined out of the office.

Later that day Naruto and Hinata finished storing their travel gear into a couple of scrolls that they secured in their armbands. Naruto for a reason beyond his control decided to pack enough food to last a year, or to feed the entire Konoha for three weeks. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was definitely wrong.

'Nii-san, what do you think of this?'

'Not sure kit but if your gut tells you something, then you should make sure you are prepared for it.'

'But don't you think this is overkill?'

'A little, but those scrolls are easy to carry and keep things fresh for a long time so you can always bring them back if you don't need them. So better safe than sorry!'

'True! Thanks nii-san!'

'Good luck tomorrow kit!'

After finishing the preparations they decided to see what Sasuke was doing so Naruto Hiraishined them to the Uchiha compound. They walked a little to the main house where they could see Mikoto playing with a three year old girl that looked like a female chibi version of Sasuke.

"Hello Mikoto-san!" both of them greeted.

They then entered the front gate only to be met by a cheery voice.

"Nawto-nii-chan! Hina-nee-chan!" the little girl ran towards them at full speed.

"Hi-chan!" Hinata cheered and picked her up as she got close.

"Hey there Hikari-chan! Where's your brother?" Naruto asked as he ruffled her hair as the toddler giggled.

Hikari is Sasuke and Itachi's little sister and a small bundle of energy. She is also Naruto's goddaughter as he got the honor of naming her because as Mikoto said, it was because of him that she had the chance to live.

"Hey guys!" Sasuke shouted from inside the house "I was just finishing packing my stuff! I have to admit that those scrolls are awesome! Just three of them and I could fit enough things for a month!"

"Keeps them fresh too!" Naruto answered.

"Boys I want you to be careful and listen to your sensei! Hinata I need you to make sure that they listen." Mikoto giggled.

"Haaai!" they answered back.

"Sasuke, we need to talk." Naruto switched to serious mode that the brunet instantly picked up on.

"Come in my room." The boy answered.

They did so.

"Okay, now I'll be frank. Tazuna was lying big time there." Naruto told them and they both nodded. "He was lying about the forces we will be facing and about his importance in the bigger picture! Because of that I requested another team to act as backup."

This surprised them both but then got curious as to who will be with them.

"Who?" Sasuke was the first to ask.

Naruto looked at them a bit before shrugging.

"Please don't kill me but it was …Kurenai-sensei's team! That includes her, Shino, Kiba and Sakura."

They looked at him like he grew another head.

"Sorry guys, it was the only team available!" he slumped even more but his teammates took on thinking poses. "I did specify the fact that the Gennin will be under our command to the Hokage!"

The last sentence brought a breath of relief from the blond's teammates.

"I suppose it will work out." Hinata smiled and Sasuke nodded.

"Thanks! You guys are the best!" Naruto smirked and rubbed the back of his head.

The next day they all left for the gate. First ones there were the Gennin of team seven as Naruto and Hinata after they picked up Sasuke Hiraishined to the seal nearest to the gate. The blond once again started playing his violin beginning with the song 'Sad Romance' by 'Thao Ngyuen Xanh'. His teammates just stood close and listened with their eyes closed. Even some villagers couldn't help be captured by the beautiful music and stopped in their tracks to listen.

The song was nearing its end when Kurenai and her team reported in. She knew that Naruto played music but it still took her by surprise. Sakura couldn't even breathe for fear of disturbing the performance. Even Shino's bugs relaxed more as they sensed the vibrations in the air.

Kiba and his partner were also taken aback by the song and loved it but as soon as he saw who was playing his hormones got the best of him and opened his big barker.

"So now you want to impress…" but never got to say much as he was punched into the ground by Sakura and Kurenai who whispered to him to be quiet.

Finally after ten more seconds the song ended and nearly everyone near applauded. Naruto was a little taken aback by this so he blushed.

"That was beautiful Naruto-kun!" Kurenai smiled.

"T-Thank you!" he answered shyly but then he also noticed Sakura applauding.

"Sakura, there's something I've been wanting to tell you!" Naruto approached the girl who took a small step back still a little scared of him.

"B-But Naruto, d-don't you have Hinata? I mean I love Sasuke kun!" She said with her arms raised in surrender.

Naruto blinked a few times before it registered.

"WHAT? No! That's not what I wanted to say!" he jumped "Look I wanted to apologize for that time in class! I shouldn't have come at you like that so, for all that it matters, I'm sorry!" Naruto said while bowing down deeply in front of her.

Now it was her turn to blink and take time to sink it all in. "I-It's alright Naruto! You were right that time and I have been very obnoxious in class! It took Kurenai-sensei three B-rank Genjutsu until she finally made me realize my mistakes so, I'm sorry too!" she blushed, giggling a bit at the genjutsu part.

"So, friends?" Naruto asked while stretching out his arm.

"Friends!" she took the blond's arm and wanted to shake it but he kissed it hers.

"Ww-What? H… no…!" she stuttered pointing a finger at a retreating Naruto while Hinata giggled.

"Don't worry! He does that to every girl or woman who he cares about. He read it in a book on manners he got from a traveling merchant. In it, this gesture is a greeting or an act of respect towards a woman's kindness or charms." Hinata smiled.

Sakura froze in place with a blush but then shook her head "Oh! Well thank you!" she smiled at Naruto who playfully nodded.

"Very polite of him." Shino commented in his usual monotonous voice and Kurenai nodded.

"Showoff!" Kiba whispered but soon found himself the target of his sensei and female teammate's glares.

Thankfully he was saved by Kakashi who appeared with Tazuna next to him.

"Hey everyone! What are you doing here Kurenai?" Kakashi asked.

"I requested for backup sensei and her team was the only one available." Naruto explained while shooting his sensei a glance not to ask why.

"Well the more the merrier!" shouted Tazuna who was happy that his guard got bigger.

"HA! Scared of what you might face outside and need us to rock you to sleep?" Kiba shouted.

Naruto however seemed as cool as ice "I don't need you, I needed another Jounin but since the only one available had to babysit you I felt a little pity so I decided that you could tag along. Oh and I'm sure that Hokage-sama informed you that in this mission you are to act as backup and are to listen to our orders. That means that in the hierarchy you are the lowest with the Jounin senseis the highest and us the second in command and that means that if I say jump you don't ask how high, you just do it, got it?" the boy replied.

Kiba growled and launched himself with a fist ready at Naruto. The blond had his back turned to the dog-boy but just as he got close Naruto side-stepped and tripped Kiba who summersaulted through the air landing on his back with his feet facing Naruto. He groaned and opened his eyes to get up but found the blond, in one hand holding two plums and in the other Meian who glowing with wind chakra once again and was pointed menacingly towards the junction of Kiba's legs and was smirking like a maniac.

"Got IT?" Naruto asked making his point, or should I say Meian's point dangerously close to the boy's 'plums'.

'So that's why he trembles when he sees me eating pickled plums. Good job Naruto!' Kurenai smirked.

"Yes!" Kiba's teeth chattered.

"Yes what?" Meian inched closer.

"YES SIR! (HAI!)" Kiba shouted and Meian vanished. Naruto then bent down to Kiba and stretched his arm.

Kiba squinted a little bit and frowned but still took the hand and the blond lifted him off the ground. "See! That wasn't so hard!" Naruto chirped and Kiba shrugged.

They got ready and took off towards Nami no Kuni.

*End chapter*

A/N Sorry guys! I said I would do Tazuna mission but I got tired of writing this chapter. Oh well, I think that the next chapter will be posted quicker since it will only be about it so expect the follow up soon.

Also I said that I would do Kakashi and Sakura bashing and there you have it for the scarecrow and for the bubblegum-head it was the previous chapter ^_^. That's all folks. Also, the battles have begun. Expect some serious ass-kicking from now on.

Now a little bit on character profile.

Haruko Hyuuga

Height: 168 cm tall

Birthday: Secret

Weight and Age: She'd kill me if I told you!

Blood type: Heck if I know.

Occupation: De-facto leader of the Hyuuga Clan

Hobby: Looking out for her children and long walks.

Abilities: Juken and Byakugan Master

Personality

Very kind and a little shy. At least that's how people outside her entourage see her. To the people who are close to her she is a confident and kind person who always goes out of her way to help others. She seems as delicate as a flower but if you even threaten one of her children (including Naruto) well … it was nice knowing you! She seems to have a bit of a sadistic side too as she always seems to use corporal means to keep her husband under control and never lets anyone who deserves to be punished off with a warning unless it was a misunderstanding.