Time quickly passed for Team 10 under Fuka's supervision. Kiba, Sakura, and Naruto were worked hard with one of the more grueling training regimes of the newer genin teams. The trio had less free time than most of their former classmates even though the laziest of genin teams didn't have that much free time. Free time for anyone in any sort of military was a luxury item that was carefully rationed out in small doses. Fuka apparently just forgot to fill in the requisition forms for some free time. However, Team 10 really couldn't complain about their relative lack of free time as Fuka was insuring that they grew stronger at a very rapid rate.

Soon enough, a month had passed since the Academy graduation and three black wagons with steel reinforced walls were lead into Konoha early one morning under the guard of several Ashigaru. Naruto noticed the wagons from the widow of his new apartment and frowned knowing what those wagons meant. He sighed and said, "It was coming up soon. I guess we might as well get it over with."

Naruto turned away from the window and returned his attention to his desk were over a dozen kunai and a water stone were set out. Eight of the kunai were in a pile to his right already sharpened. The remaining four kunai were to Naruto's left on the table waiting to be sharpened. Naruto took one of the unsharpened kunai's into his hands and proceeded to sharpen the kunai as he had many times in the past. Once the kunai in his hand was sharp, he gently placed it in the pile of sharpened kunai and got another dull kunai.

After all of the kunai were sharpened, Naruto pulled out a kunai holster from a drawer of the desk and then put the kunai in the holster. He then packaged up his water stone and put it away in the desk. After that, Naruto got up with the kunai holster in hand and took three steps to a large reinforced safe. A small key was unsealed from Naruto's belt and put into the safe's keyhole. Naruto turned the number dial on the safe to the correct code and then turned his key to unlock the safe. When the safe opened it revealed Naruto's modest, but still respectable for a genin, collection of weapons. The ready kunai holster was placed on a shelf with three other kunai holsters and then Naruto secured the safe. He then resealed his safe key to make it secured.

Naruto then left his study/arsenal and entered the kitchen/dining/family room combo. Currently, he was in the family room portion of the room. Several generous steps took Naruto past the door to his small bedroom and a few more steps got him out of the family room area and into the kitchen/dining area. He then made his way to the refrigerator which he opened and looked for a quick breakfast. As they always did when some was in the refrigerator, Naruto's eyes immediately went to the extra ramen he had bought at Ichiraku to take home for later. With a quick shake of his head Naruto reminded himself that the ramen was for dinner tonight.

He grabbed one of the breakfast bentos he had set up on his free day and proceeded to warm it up. The Shinobi Orphan's Care Complex had taught Naruto to plan his menu out several days in advance to insure that he had a proper diet and to plan for grocery shopping so as to reduce impulse purchases saving him money. When Naruto joined the Ninja Academy, he had also been taught to prepare his meals ahead of time. This was something most ninjas did as it allowed them to eat faster which could make all the difference if someone needed to grab a quick bite before a mission.

Once the bento was warm, Naruto sat down at his rather small table and began to eat. As he ate he looked around making a mental note of what house chores he'd need to do after his genin duties today. The apartment was small, but it was within his budget on a genin salary. There was a sizable fortune tied up in the Uzumaki Clan's bank accounts thanks to his parents' successes as ninjas and the various Namikaze Clan and clan member accounts defaulting to the Uzumaki Clan account. However, that was the Clan account and Naruto would not be able to access those funds until he was twenty or became a Jonin. This was due to an old clan tradition that had been written into the account when it had first been set up. It wasn't uncommon for the Uzumakis to hit the triple digits in age if they didn't fall in battle which gave them a more long term view on matters. Naruto's ancestors didn't want the clan's hard work to be lost due to a headstrong an foolish youth and so they set things up to insure that the clan heir would have some maturity before handling the finances.

Naruto finished the last bite of his bento and picked up the box to put it on the counter next to several other dirty dishes. A quick glance confirmed that nothing needed to be soaked for when he did the dishes tonight. Naruto then walked a few steps to the small family shrine he had set up. There were no names or pictures of Naruto's ancestors in order to insure his heritage stayed secret. Instead, Naruto had set up several small toad statues to represent his ancestors. Each statues was in the ancestor's favorite color. The young ninja gave a prayer to his parents for guidance and then lit a small stick of incense for the shrine.

There were a few more chores that needed to be taken care of before Naruto left for the day. He quickly went about them while occasionally glancing at the clock to make sure that time didn't get away from him. Once Naruto took care of those chores he snuffed out the half burnt incense stick just before he left the apartment. Naruto was four apartments away from the nearest stairwell and then had to walk down three flights of stairs to get to the exit of his apartment complex.

After Naruto left his apartment complex he had a semi-relaxed walk towards Team 10's meeting place. While walking down the streets Naruto was able to observe several shop owners getting ready for the day's business and a few ninjas walking around probably going to fulfill their own duties. The early morning was the quietest time to travel through the markets of Konoha. It was a peaceful quiet like the village a person slowly waking up from a good dream on a day they could be lazy. Naruto knew from his inherited memories that there were many types of quiet that could descend on a settlement and that this was the best kind that could be found. This peaceful quiet was one of several things about Konoha that Naruto grimly noted were worth fighting and even killing for.

Later that day, Team 10 was led a grimly resolved Fuka to a non-descript building that none of the genins had ever personally been in or seen. There was a guard standing next to the door who spoke up, "Who are you and why are you here?"

Fuka pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to the guard. "I am Jonin Asakawa with my genin students. Team 10 is here for the testing."

The guard looked at the paper Fuka handed him and then pulled out a clipboard to verify what was on the paper with his own notes. He then handed the paper back to Fuka and gave a brief, resigned look at the three genin standing before him. Once Fuka had received her paper, the guard took out a key and unlocked the door. He then gruffly said, "Take the stairway down the hall on your left to level 4 and you'll get to where you need to go."

Team 10 entered the building and heard the door locked behind them by the guard. Fuka then lead a confused Kiba and a worried Sakura down the hall with a resigned Naruto holding the rear of the team. Kiba wanted to know why the team's usual routine had been put on hold today as Fuka only had them do some light cardio even though today was supposed to be a full training day. Sakura was confused too, but her worry was overriding that confusion. She had noticed that both Naruto and Fuka were not happy to be here which couldn't be a good sign. Her inner self summoned the image of a choking canary in a coal mine for a proper comparison of what kind of sign both Naruto and Fuka being resigned to be here was for her.

Level 4 was four flights of stairs down from the entry hall and there was a second guard at the door for level 4 that needed to double check Fuka's papers before Team 10 was allowed entry into the main area of the level. Once past the door, Team 10 quickly noticed the Spartan conditions of this level. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made brick while the only lighting came from regularly spaced lights overhead. All rooms on this level were set up to minimize locations for someone to possibly hide in.

Kiba frowned as he looked at the hallway the team was traveling through and said, "Hey Fuka and Naruto, could you two please fill in why we're here to members of the team who don't have a clue about what is going on?"

Fuka took a few steps in front of her students and then turned around to face them. There was a serious look on her face with the faintest touch of sadness hiding in her eyes. Fuka then said, "You three are here to complete your Final Initiation. The simple truth of the matter is that most ninja kills are caused by a ninja striking quickly with surprise on their side. We also typically operate in small teams which is why large ninja battles are relatively scarce in ninja engagements. However, these facts also mean that a ninja, their team, and their entire mission are at risk if a ninja cannot handle killing someone. This is especially true if someone has to kill another in cold blood."

"The three of you have had a conditioning course previously in the Academy to help you cope with the mental difficulties in taking life. As you should recall, many of your fellow students dropped out of the Ninja Academy because of that course. You all passed the basic conditioning course and that is a good thing for your careers. However, nothing can truly prepare you for taking another human life."

Fuka paused for a second before she continued. "To insure that neither you nor your teammates die from you dealing with the effects of killing someone for the first time your first kills will be happening shortly. A condemned prisoner has been brought from the capital gallows so that you all can experience your first kill while seeing that the Fire Daimyo's justice is carried out. There isn't much advice I can offer you all for dealing with what you are about to do. Your instructors at the Academy covered the array of emotions you will feel when you take a life and how to deal with those emotions. Once you complete the execution your duties will be done for the day and the rest of the week has been cleared to help you deal with this. I will say this, do not feel guilty about carrying out the sentence. Each and every prisoner brought here has been condemned for their actions. If you do not carry out the sentence then I will do so in your place."

With that said, Fuka led her students to a door and opened it to reveal a guard station in front of a cell block. The guard at the station asked Fuka for her papers and quickly read them. He then said, "There is a special order regarding Team 10. Genin Inuzuka and Genin Haruno are to draw their duties as usual. However, Genin Uzumaki's duty has been preselected for him."

Fuka frowned and inquired, "What is the reason for this derivation?" In the Final Initiation, genin usually grabbed a ball with a cell number written on it to determine which criminal they'd have to execute. Executing a criminal was never easy for a genin mentally or emotionally unless they were a budding psychopath which had its own special training issues for said psychopath's sensei. However, the ninjas of Konoha found that the trauma was less to a regular genin in question if the criminal involved was of a more unsavory sort. It's simply easier, but still difficult, for someone to justify emotionally the need to put down a serial killer verses someone who killed someone in a drunken bar fight. Sadly for the genin, most of the criminals brought in for execution in the Final Initiation tended to favor the doing something in a fit of passion or drunken stupidity rather than the cold blooded harden criminal side of the scale. The later generally would not let themselves be captured alive or tended to have accidents on the way to prison.

Back in the Shodai's time when shinobi started using the daimyo's criminals instead of a captured bandit, a kidnapped member of a rival clan, or even the bought child of a poor family the selection of who got what criminal became a big point of contention. Most parents wanted the most unsavory criminals for this children to reduce their mental anguish. Harashirama chose to make the selection via lottery in order to be fair to all the genin. Even those with an active dojutsu wouldn't be able to check since they wouldn't know which criminal was in which cell so grabbing a particular ball for its number was pointless.

The guard grimaced and answered Fuka. "One of our selected duties was sentenced by a gallows court." Sentencing by a gallows court was a common phrase to mean that a prisoner's fellow cell mates had deemed his or her crimes to be too heinous and executed that prisoner themselves. After a second's pause, the guard continued explaining things. "A substitute was selected and sent with the other duties. Given the substitute's circumstances, it was deemed that Naruto was the best genin to handle this duty."

After saying this, the guard pulled out a clipboard with a piece of paper containing the info on the convict Naruto was supposed to execute. The condemned Tuptim was a 17 year old concubine that had belonged to one of the more influential nobles in the Daimyo's court. Tuptim had been caught in a flagrantly compromising position with a young monk that worked at a temple. The paper didn't have any information on the monk in question, and why should it have that information since the paper was Tuptim's, but Naruto knew it wouldn't be pleasant. If the monk was lucky he would just be executed. If the noble in question was feeling really vindictive, the monk would be thrown out of his temple, whipped, castrated, and then killed in a particularly sadistic manner.

It was immediately apparent to Naruto why he had been earmarked to handle Tuptim's execution. She was the worst possible choice for a genin undergoing the Final Initiation to have to deal with. He was the best choice for such a duties because he had experienced the Final Initiation several times through is kekkei genkai. Naruto could see the Hokage's reasoning and even agreed with it. However, that didn't change the fact that this sucked for him.

All three genin of Team 10 were emotionally drained and walking wearily as they left Konoha's prison complex. Sakura's face was pale as porcelain and she was leaning on Naruto as she walked. Kiba's hands were shaking slightly while Akamaru was nuzzling the boy's leg to comfort his partner. Naruto's posture was normal, but his eyes revealed the boy's pain and the age of his combined inherited memories.

Fuka walked in front of the genin trio and quietly said, "All three of you have done your duty like you are supposed to do as shinobi. As I stated earlier, you have completed your duties for the day and have authorized paid leave for the rest of the week. You leave is just for this week so I expect every one of you to report to our training ground at the usual time on Monday."

The Jonin's eyes and posture relaxed and allowed her concern to be seen by the genin. Fuka continued on saying. "If you need to talk to someone about what you did today you can talk to me. I won't lie to you, it's going to take some time for the three of you to cope with what you had to do today and that is a good thing. Killing another human being should never be an easy thing for anyone. It's a necessary evil in this world. However, you should get no pleasure from doing this and your only solace should be in knowing that you were competent enough to end the enemy's life as painlessly as you could in the given circumstances."

With that said, Fuka waited a few minutes to see if any of her students would want to talk to her. After a minute it became obvious that none of her students were going to approach her at the moment. She then sighed and said, "Have a quiet and peaceful day from this point on you three. Once again, let me repeat that you can talk to me at any time, good day you three." Fuka bowed her head and then left her students.

The three genins stood around in the same spot where their sensei had said her goodbyes long after she had disappeared from their sight. Kiba got his shaking under control and started to walk away. He took a few steps and then turned to look at his teammates. "Guys," Kiba called out to get Naruto and Sakura's attention. He continued when the duo turned their heads to look at him. "I'm going to head home. Hopefully mom knows a way to help me wrap my head around what we had to do. I mean, I knew that we'd have to kill someone eventually. However, I never really thought that it would happen so soon."

Both Sakura and Naruto nodded their heads and then watched as Kiba left with Akamaru. Naruto thought about leaving as well to head to one of the temples and pray for some peace of mind. However, he didn't leave because Sakura was using him to keep standing. Naruto decided to keep silent and let Sakura lean on him as long as she needed someone to lean on given the circumstances. Silence reigned over the duo for a minute before the sound of a sniffle overthrew the silence. Naruto looked to his left and saw Sakura starting to cry into his arm.

After taking a second to mind his genetic memories for advice, Naruto pulled Sakura into a hug and let her cry into his chest. Sakura's cries didn't attract more than a passing glance from some older shinobi as they walked down the relatively empty street. No one could fault a genin who had most likely just gone through their Final Initiation from crying. Most of the older shinobi either had broken down in tears themselves or knew someone close who broke down in tears when they had undergone their Final Initiation. In the end, it didn't really matter to the older shinobi so they decided to just give Sakura her space in order to lessen her embarrassment.

Naruto's shirt was drenched in tears when Sakura finally regained her control. A rosy blush covered Sakura's cheeks as she looked up at Naruto. "Sorry for getting your shirt wet Naruto." As she said this she pulled back a bit so that the two of them were within arm's length of each other.

This comment earned Sakura a light chuckle from Naruto. "It's no problem Sakura. My shirts have had far worse done to them in training. Besides," he paused for a second to tug on the damp cloth, "is why someone invented dryers."

It was not Sakura's turn to chuckle from Naruto's comment. She looked at Naruto with a ghost of a smile on her lips for a second and her eyes puffy from the tears. The aged and sad look in Naruto's eyes caused Sakura to ask, "It doesn't get easier does it?"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "The feelings your feeling don't get less the more you have to kill in the line of duty. However, with time and practice you will gain a better ability to cope with what you're feeling."

Sakura nodded her head and then said, "I need to go Naruto. Thank you for helping me on this issue, but I'm going to need some time by myself." She then bowed her head and left for her home.

Monday came and Team 10 assembled again in their usual location. Fuka looked at her students and was pleased to see that their moods and temperaments had vastly improved over where they had been last week after the Final Initiation. They weren't in perfect shape, but they were good enough that they could handle basic duties for the time being. Fuka had kept her eyes on all three of her students during their week off to make sure that they were coping with their first kill in a healthy manner.

Naruto had handled everything in a reasonable manner just like Fuka expected him to do. The jonin didn't write the boy off as easily being able to cope. However, his Aima Sophia did give him a massive advantage in coping with the stresses of the ninja life. Kiba had some difficulties at first fully coping with fact that he had killed someone. As part of Kiba's difficulties he had started to fall into a bit of funk over what he had done. Tsume had used an old family remedy to help knock Kiba out of that funk of dropping Kiba off at a bordello for a few hours and picked him up later deliberately not asking him what he had done.

Sakura had come to Fuka for some help in coping with the after effects of the Final Initiation. The girl's friendly nature made it hard for her to cope with her actions and her mother couldn't offer any advice. Kizashi Hurano might have been able to help given his background as a shinobi. However, he was out of the village on securing a new supply route for his store. Fuka had taken Sakura to an orphanage and had her help out with the young children there to bring everything into perspective for the young genin. There was death in the world, but there was also life.

Fuka gave her students a once over and then said, "It's good to see you all are here on time. I was honestly expecting you all to be here on time. However, genin have been known to be a little late after dealing with the Final Initiation. None of you will have that late mark on your record so that puts you ahead of many in your graduating cohort."

"Now that any issues regarding your possible tardiness have been laid to rest it is time to return to regular duties. Today is one of our training days and I intend for all of us to get a full workout. Hopefully, none of you slacked off in your training while on break last week." Fuka then unsealed the practice weights and grabbed her set of weights. The genins grabbed their sets as well so that practice could start.

During the morning part of practice, Fuka kept a firm eye on her students as she always did. Kiba and Naruto were in great shape not showing any signs of being out of practice. They had stay on top of their independent training which made Fuka proud. Sakura was in good physical condition, but it was obvious to the Jonin's trained eyes that the junior kunoichi on the team hadn't practiced as much as she should have over the break. Fuka could see that Sakura had done some training which was more than Fuka could say about herself when she had dealt with her Final Initiation.

Some tolerance was needed as Jonins expected the Final Initiation to make it hard for their genins to keep up their conditioning during their mandatory cool down break. The mandatory cool down break after the Final Initiation also tended to be the first long break that genin teams would get so most genins were not used to handling themselves on break. Kiba's and Naruto's handling of their break more the result of their family background as shinobi clans than anything better in their training over Sakura. From what Fuka knew of Tsume, the woman would never let Kiba get out of the needed training to stay fit on break. No kunoichi mother would risk losing their children to preventable stupidity. As for Naruto, Fuka counted on his kekkei genkei to give him the knowledge that he parents would have imparted to him for this time.

Fuka's after lunch lecture was on training during breaks and recovery periods. During this lecture she explained why the training was necessary and ways that one could train. This lecture also branched into ways one could train while they were undercover. That part of the lecture was only in general concepts to show how the skills they were developing now could be refined in the future. Fuka also included her own past experiences as examples to show why they should make sure to do their training over any breaks.

Naruto and Kiba were surprised after Fuka's lecture when their sensei didn't move on to teaching them a ninjutsu. Instead, Fuka showed them how to hide kunai and shuriken on their persons along with how to rapidly draw those hidden projectiles. It made sense to Sakura since this training was an outgrowth of part of Fuka's lecture earlier. Being able to hide and use weapons would be a valuable skill if they ever needed to go undercover. Sakura was the best at hiding her weapons being able to use the folds of her outfit to great effect. However, it was Kiba who proved to be the best at rapidly drawing a concealed weapon. Kiba attributed this to his practice at sneaking Akamaru table scrapes.

After the training was over, Fuka asked Naruto to stay behind so she could talk to him. Once she was sure they were alone she said, "Naruto, do you recall the Suzaku Directive thanks to your kekkei genkai?"

Naruto was puzzled for a second and closed his eyes to search his genetic memories. He opened his eyes a few seconds later and sighed. The young genin looked up at his teacher with a somewhat resigned look in his eyes. "I've been placed under the Directive haven't I?"

Fuka nodded her head and said, "That's correct Naruto. I will be bearing your child if you fall in combat. When she is capable, Sakura has been ordered to be my second in this endeavor over my personal objections." Fuka went through a rapid series of handseals and Naruto felt a light brush of chakra coming from Fuka. Her face hardened as she looked around. "Now we are not likely to be disturbed we can go to the next part of why I asked you stay behind. Genin Uzumaki, as your senior officer I'm ordering you to unbuckle your belt and drop your pants along with any undergarments you are wearing to your ankles."

Naruto stared at Fuka in shock at the order unable to believe what he had just heard. Fuka's face hardened as she spoke in a harsh tone. "Did you not hear my orders genin? Drop your clothes so that your genitals are exposed or you will be written up for disciplinary measures. I need to examine you to insure you're capable of fulfilling the Suzaku Directive."

Knowing that Fuka was not joking about being written up, Naruto reluctantly unbuckled his belt and exposed himself to his sensei. Fuka hid her personal disgust and proceeded to examine Naruto's reproductive system. Examining a barely teenage boy's genitals made Fuka feel dirty and brought back dark memories even if there was no legal or social issues with her conducting the examination as Naruto was considered an adult by law. The final test caused Naruto to wince from pain as Fuka used a jutsu on his testes to cause his mature sperm to faintly glow for a few seconds.

Fuka stood up with the tests completed and turned around to give Naruto some privacy. She said in a neutral tone, "The examination is over genin. You may put your clothes back on." Naruto put his pants back on far faster than he had taken them off. The kunoichi used her ears and waited for Naruto to finish getting dressed. She then turned around and saw that Naruto's face was covered in a blush while his eyes had a look of pain and shame in them.

The look in Naruto's eyes caused Fuka's stomach to churn in self-loathing. It reminded Fuka of some terrible undercover missions she had taken in the past. In particular she was reminded of the one where she had to infiltrate and take down a child sex slave ring. That mission was without a doubt the worst one Fuka had done in her career since to maintain her cover as a buyer she had needed to 'test' the merchandise. It took months of psychological therapy for Fuka to get back onto active status after that mission was over. She looked down at Naruto and sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto, but you failed the examination. Your reproductive system is still too immature for even the strongest and restricted kunoichi only jutsu to insure fertilization."

Tears of shame were starting to form in Naruto's eyes as he looked at Fuka. "And just what does my failure in this examination mean?" Memories from some of Naruto's kunoichi ancestors came to his mind as he thought about what Fuka meant by kunoichi only jutsus. The restricted jutsus involving fertility were so labeled because they were meant to only be used to insure that a dying man or even a recently dead corpse's reproductive system worked. Using such jutsus on a healthy man would quickly render him sterile and most likely cause him to die because he could not relieve himself.

Fuka sighed and answered her student. "The result of this examination means that Team 10 will be barred from doing all but the least risky C-Rank missions. This isn't my injunction; this order comes straight from the top. The Aima Sophia may be a potential security risk, but losing it could be catastrophic for Konoha's future. I am also required to examine you once every two weeks from now see when you'll have the ability to participate in the Suzaku Directive."

Naruto's head dropped as he sullenly replied, "I understand." Intellectually Naruto did understand. The Hokage was acting to protect Konoha's interests by making sure that the Aima Sophia kekkei genkai and the Uzumaki bloodline would be around for future generations. The Suzaku Directive was a failsafe if he fell before having children to take his place. However, the failsafe was pointless if he was too young physically to father children. It was also stupid of the Hokage to risk Naruto's life on a mission if Fuka couldn't preserve his bloodline.

While Naruto could intellectually understand, he couldn't accept it emotionally. Fuka's examination, while done in a professional manner, made Naruto feel like cheap goods. It was as if his only value as a ninja was his ability to knock up a brood mare. All of the genetic knowledge granted by Aima Sophia and the logical rationalizations couldn't change what he was feeling at this very moment.

Suddenly, Naruto was surprised to find himself enveloped in a hug from Fuka. The jonin allowed her emotions to slip in her voice as she said, "I'm sorry this has to happen Naruto. Especially, since this happened so soon after your Final Initiation. With Team 10's fundamental genin training nearing completion and you all passing the initiation it's to be expected that we'll start taking higher ranked missions. The Hokage and I needed to know which kinds of C rank missions our team could safely go on."

Author's note: Sorry for this chapter taking longer than the others to come out. Part of that was simply real life interfering. A large part was that many scenes in this chapter were difficult for me to write. In all honesty, I initially planned to summarize this chapter in just a couple of paragraphs before moving on to Team 10's first C Rank mission. As I wrote those paragraphs out I realized that Team 10's first kills were too important to just summarize leading to this chapter as it is.

I'm fairly confident that I stayed on the teen side of the Teen/Mature divide, but you the viewers feel that this is too close or over that line I will change the story rating. Ninjas deal with some dark stuff, even the manga Naruto doesn't hide the darkness of the ninja world completely with mentions of kids killing friends to graduate, child soldiers in invasions, and even teens being ordered to kill their families. This dark stuff even happens to the heroes and is done by the heroes. For example, the Sound Four are killed by Naruto's friends in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Another example is Shikamaru seeking vengeance for the death of Asuma. There are many good reasons why many characters talk about trying to create a better world than the one under the Shinobi System.