Greetings, my beloved readers. I have make some changes to this chapter and the next one. I will not be touching the Sea Country Arc as of yet since it is too early (as my friend pointed out). Anyway, I will stick to canon with some AUs to spice things up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ruroni Kenshin, or Bleach.

Chapter 21: Genin

Naruto sighed as he exited the Academy the Team Placement announcement. Iruka informed every graduates of their teams and couldn't help but smile that his friends would be placed under Jounin-senseis he knew and trusted, though he was having second thoughts concerning Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi. The man was just too lazy to be a sensei, much less on a team with the Uchiha as part of the roster. Team 7 and Hatake Kakashi simply spelled disaster and would certainly add to the Hokage's growing pile of paperwork. Shadow Clones or no.

He couldn't help but assume that Hatake specifically chose Sasuke since the boy would eventually unlock the Sharingan and only the one-eyed Jounin could teach the boy its abilities since he himself had one implanted on him during his Genin days courtesy of his dying friend.

Thinking of the Sharingan, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle when the memory of his shinobi duel with Sasuke resurfaced in his thoughts. He already knew about the doujutsu since he studied the many bloodlines behind Konoha's rise to power, not to mention Kurama's input on the Uchiha's prized bloodline. His knowledge of the Sharingan was one of the reasons why he didn't put Sasuke through the ringer. He definitely didn't want the boy to spout nonsense that he was superior because he activated his bloodline during his battle with him. That just wouldn't do.

Unlike what most people knew, the Sharingan could only be unlocked if the person was under extreme mental and emotional duress, mostly in a life-and-death situation. It just doesn't activate on its own but relies on the mentality of the person who had the bloodline. This was why the housewives of the Uchiha household didn't have the Sharingan since they weren't exposed to such a threat to their life meriting the activation of their bloodline.

Besides, he didn't want for Sasuke to use the doujutsu on him since he wasn't sure if the eye could copy his unique techniques. It was better to be safe than sorry. Although he decided that he might 'show' a minor technique or two in front of the Uchiha if he could replicate it using his Sharingan. If he doesn't then good; if he does then at least he only got a small part of what made Naruto one of the feared man in the Elemental Nations – well, his counterpart anyway.

Naruto was both sad and happy at the same time when the teams were announced. He was sad because he wasn't placed in a team as everyone expected of him considering his prowess in the shinobi arts. Instead, he was placed under an apprenticeship under Gekko Hayate, a Tokubetsu Jounin he was acquainted with who helped him hone his sword skills to the level he was today. He was happy to have someone of caliber to teach him the shinobi arts, as well as someone who knew what he was truly capable of. He shuddered to think how much he needed to downplay his abilities if he was stuck with Kurenai or some other Jounin's who didn't know of his past.

Currently, Naruto was on his way to Kaito's shop to find a new outfit. He liked his current clothes but he couldn't deny the fact that he missed his kimono and hakama. He didn't know why but there was something about traditional clothing that appealed to him; that and the fact that he looked cool and mysterious under one.

After greeting Kaito, he immediately browsed through the many selections the man had in his shop. Unlike other shinobi stores in Konoha, Higurashis also offered civilian clothing used by many shinobis for undercover missions. Sure, they could use the Henge to act the part but it was better to have civilian clothing available since a Henge were easily dispelled if an enemy shinobi found out you're under one.

After half-an-hour of browsing, he finally found the perfect outfit for him as recommended by Kaito from one of his more…unique collections. Naruto wondered if the man was a fashion artist on top being a shop owner considering the type of clothes he had in his collection. Kaito even bragged that he designed and made them himself which Naruto didn't doubt. The guy was eccentric if nothing else.

He exited the dressing room wearing a white shitagi, a black kosode, a black hakama, a white hakama-himo, a pair of white tabi socks, and finally, a no-longer-used traditional pair of sandals called the waraji. He topped it all off with a white haori with a black Uzumaki swirl painted on the back inside a rhombus. He completed his new outfit by placing Kenshin on his hip. He couldn't help but smirk when he saw his outfit in the mirror.

He looked just like an old-fashioned samurai and he liked it. He liked it so much that he ordered a few more of the set from Kaito, much to the man's happiness considering how expensive the outfit was.

Considering that he still had an hour more before meeting his sensei in the Academy, he went to his hidden training ground and gave his new outfit a trial run through an obstacle course composed of taijutsu moves, sword katas, and high-speed movement. He was pleased that his new outfit didn't impede his movements. In fact, he felt freer in them that it improved his movements compared to his previous costume.

He happily used Shinsoku to disappear towards the Academy to meet his new sensei.

"What's with the new outfit, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata when Naruto sat himself beside her. On the same row were her new teammates, Shino and Kiba.

"Well, I kind of missed my old clothes so I decided to change. Besides, I somewhat liked the traditional look." Naruto replied cheekily.

"Man, you look like a samurai instead of a shinobi. If it wasn't for the forehead protector on your neck, I would have mistaken you as one." said Kiba in amusement. Naruto gave him an indignant look.

"Oi! Don't mock the outfit. You're just jealous that I look cooler than you." Naruto said with a haughty sniff which made Kiba snicker.

"I see that you took to wearing a sword, Naruto-san." said Shino in his usual monotone.

"Shino, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to add 'san' to my name? Naruto would do." Naruto said towards the Aburame who just raised an eyebrow.

"I believe that current count is 2,822, Naruto-san." Shino answered in monotone causing Kiba to snicker. "And the current one makes 2,823."

"I give up." Naruto said with a sigh causing Hinata to giggle. He gave her a mock-glare that turned the giggle into a laugh making him pout. "Fine. Be that way. Anyway, do you guys like the placement of the teams?"

"The placement rocks!" Kiba exclaimed enthusiastically followed by a happy bark from Akamaru on his master/partner's head. "I have Hinata and Shino as my teammates. I couldn't be happier."

"Well, I have no problems with this team. In fact, I like it since we are all friends and can work together well. However, Shika finds his team…troublesome." Hinata informed him.

"Oh?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ino." was all Shino said causing Naruto to realize why the team was troublesome. Shikamaru had no problems with Chouji but Ino was a whole new ballgame added to the mix. Naruto couldn't help but pity his friends.

"I see. Good luck to Shika and Chouji then. I just hope that Ino doesn't get them into trouble. Besides, I think Asuma-sensei would be able to help Ino with her fan-girl problem." declared Naruto while eyeing Team 10 seated a few rows in front of him. As always Shika was sleeping, Chouji was eating, and Ino was glaring at Sakura for being in Sasuke's team.

"Do you know Asuma-sensei?" asked Hinata, curious. Naruto nodded.

"I know all a lot of them though not all. I am familiar with Hatake Kakashi of Team 7, Sarutobi Asuma of Team 10, and Yuuhi Kurenai of your team." Naruto answered.

"Interesting. What can you tell us about Kurenai-sensei?" asked Shino, a curious tone in his voice, a definite change from his usual monotone.

"Yuuhi Kurenai is a Genjutsu Mistress and is known throughout the Elemental Countries as a master, or in this case, mistress of illusions. You guys are her first team if I remember correctly. Judging from the placement, I would say that your team would be a tracking and infiltration team with a few capture missions thrown into the mix." Naruto mused, eyeing the trip speculatively. "All of you are trackers due to your bloodlines and the three of you are flexible enough in their use that you could sneak up on your target and capture them with ease."

"Good." was all Shino said before going back to his silence.

Conversation varied from there while they waited for their respective senseis to come. It was a few minutes later that the Jounins entered the classroom to pick up their respective charges. One-by-one, the team followed their senseis, leaving only him and Team 7 inside the room.

It didn't take long for Hayate to come to save him from the brooding Uchiha, the loud Sakura, and the somewhat stoic Sai who Naruto didn't recognize.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate called out. Naruto stood up from his seat.

"Here." said Naruto as he strolled down the stairs towards his…master. He amended his thoughts; instead of considering Hayate his 'sensei', he decided to dub him as a master since he was technically apprenticed under sword-wielding shinobi.

"Good, meet me in our usual training ground in five minutes." said Hayate before disappearing in whirl of smoke and leaves. Naruto rolled his eyes and followed using Shunpo.

Naruto arrived in Training Ground 28. He noticed that he was alone since his Shunpo was way faster than the traditional Shunshin used by shinobi. He looked around and couldn't help but smile when he remembered the many spars he had with Hayate a few years back to hone his kenjutsu to perfection.

In fact, it was because of the Jounin that he improved so fast in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.

Considering that he was early, he decided to just relax. He walked over to a training post and jumped to the top and sat himself down, enjoying the cool breeze that wafted through the training ground from the surrounding forest. It didn't take long for his master to arrive.

"Damn. Your speed technique is way faster than Shunshin." exclaimed Hayate when he noticed Naruto relaxing on top of a training post. "Hello, Naruto."

"Hi, Hayate-san." Naruto greeted before jumping down, his foot touched the ground without a sound before walking towards his Jounin-sensei-slash-master.

"I guess we can forgo the formalities of introduction since we already know each other. By the way, like the new look. What sparked the change?" Hayate asked curiously as he eyed his…apprentice's clothes. It was definitely new and quite…fashionable if nothing else.

"Well, I kind of missed my kimono and hakama so I decided to find something similar since I want to avoid wearing that outfit. After all, my alter ego wears the same." Naruto said with a grin.

"True." Hayate agreed before sitting himself on the grassy floor followed by Naruto. "I heard from one of my ANBU friends that Oni made a comeback after two years of disappearance. Care to tell me something, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled before speaking, totally relaxed at being asked questions regarding his more famous persona. Hayate knew that he was Oni and didn't change his treatment of him which he was thankful for.

"Well, the old man wanted me to apprehend the thief who stole the Forbidden Scroll. Since he doesn't want me to be obvious of my skills, he suggested that I go as Oni. In fact, it worked quite well and my identity remained a secret though I was somewhat surprised at the amount of respect the ANBUs showed me when I called for them." answered Naruto with a sigh causing Hayate to give out a hearty chuckle.

"Oni has always been the center of admiration, especially in the ANBU corps. In fact, quite a lot of the recruits looked up to you since you were the perfect assassin, hidden in the shadows as you protected Konoha without mercy. To tell you the truth, the current ANBU Captain is going to give the Hokage a proposal for an Oni mask for the ANBU." explained Hayate with a grin causing Naruto to look at him in disbelief.

"An Oni mask? What for?" the blonde asked incredulously.

Hayate shrugged. "Dunno. Possibly to award it to the strongest ANBU in the business." he said with a smile. "Oh yeah, I would like to extend my thanks for healing me of that pesky disease a year ago."

"No problem. I was quite surprised that it worked. I know that my healing spell works on wounds but I didn't know that it could cure your inherited disease too. Any sign of the problem coming back?" Naruto asked curiously. It was a year ago that he offered to heal Hayate of his chronic lung problem and was quite surprised that it worked. Hayate was so happy that he treated Naruto to an eat-all-you-can party at Ichiraku that night.

"No recurrence. After you healed me, I immediately went to the hospital after Ichirakus to determine if the disease was gone. My doctor told me that he couldn't find a trace of it in my lungs. Whatever it is you did, it definitely worked." Hayate said with a happy smile on his face before turning serious. "Anyway, let's discuss the terms of your apprenticeship under me."

"Sure. I was curious about that as well." Naruto said with a nod. He was finally getting some answers.

"In truth, your apprenticeship under me is simply a formality concerning that wherever you are placed, you would simply cause an imbalance in the team. You're too powerful and stronger by far than any Jounins in the village. Considering your S-rank status, that is a given. Why you chose to be a Genin, I would never know." Hayate added the last part with an exaggerated sigh. "So instead of teaching you how to fight and coaching you what a Konoha Genin should know, I'll concentrate on your mastery of the shinobi arts. I would also like to hone your sword skills. Despite your proficiency with the sword, I want to make sure that your skills won't rust considering that you haven't used your sword for quite a while now."

"Agreed. All of my shinobi skills are mostly self-studied, except for the few I learned from the Jounin instructors who taught me the basics a few years back." Naruto said in total agreement to Hayate's assessment. "Regarding Kenjutsu, I haven't slacked off in my training. Even if I stopped being Oni, I still did the katas and continued to improve myself in my style. If nothing else, my shinobi skills rusted while my skill as a swordsman remained at peak condition."

"Perfect." Hayate exclaimed, beaming at the master swordsman in front of him. He couldn't wait for a spar. "Can you give me an assessment of your skills in the shinobi arts?"

"Let me see, my physical prowess is at its peak considering that I train my body every day, Kenjutsu aside. Chakra control is good, not perfect but good. I mastered Tree Walking and Water Walking completely though I try to mix the two up once in a while to increase my control though I wish there were better chakra control exercises available." Naruto added the last part with a dejected look on his face.

"Don't worry." Hayate assured him with a smile. "There is a Jounin-level chakra control exercise I will be introducing you to later. Continue please."

"Thanks. That would be much appreciated." Naruto said with a smile, a bit excited in learning a better way to increase his control over his abundant chakra reserves. "I know a few ninjutsus, though most of them are wind natured since that's my main affinity. I know Kage Bunshin, Shunshin, the Academy basics, and some odds and ends I picked up along the way though most of them are supplementary. I also hold the contract for summoning foxes."

"Fox summoning?" Hayate asked, surprised. "Don't tell me it came from…"

"Yeah, Kyuubi gave it to me. To answer your question, yes, the old man knows I have it and is perfectly alright with it." Naruto assured the man. He refrained from using Kurama's real name since the fox would never want his real name to be known without his express permission.

"Good." Hayate said with a sigh of relief. Anything concerning the bijuu was a sore subject to everyone in Konoha though he never hated Naruto for being its container.

"Anyway, I am proficient with the Goken as my main taijutsu style though I'm experimenting with it to add more flexibility and agility to my attacks. I find Goken to be straightforward so I'm coming up with a variation of it with Gai's blessing. I suck at Genjutsu due to my large chakra reserves and I'm at intermediate level when it came to Fuuinjutsu." Said Naruto, ticking off the skills he had in his disposal. This impressed Hayate if the surprise on his face was anything to go by.

"You have a solid foundation in the shinobi arts, Naruto. I'm glad that I won't have to drill you with the basics but put what you know in practice until you improve in them. I won't be teaching you many jutsus since I only know a few myself since I mostly rely on my sword skills. However, I can easily provide you with some techniques from the restricted section of the Konoha library which you don't have an access to until you become a Jounin but I want to restrict it to one scroll a month just to be safe." Hayate offered with a grin.

"No problem there. Any help is welcome." Naruto said, grinning like a loon until it became a giggle of excitement causing Hayate to look at him weirdly. Naruto definitely saw the look his friend was sporting. "I'm just excited in learning new techniques, Hayate-san. I may be a seasoned warrior but I'm still a 14-year old. So excuse me for being giddy and excited in learning new jutsus."

Hayate nodded in understanding. "Fine. Just don't giggle. It's weird coming from you." He explained causing Naruto to laugh.

"What about missions?" asked Naruto, wanting to know what type of mission he'll be taking since he mostly had experience with A to S-ranks ones while being under the Hokage's command as Kage's Hand though he had a few C and B rank missions just to satiate his boredom.

"Well, considering your proficiency, I would give you a C-Rank or B-Rank mission, heck, I know you won't have any problems with A and S-rank missions. However, since you want to work your way to the top then we would be starting with D-ranks." Hayate told him with a grin.

Naruto slumped in defeat.

"Great." The blonde said glumly. "I'm going to be stuck doing chores then."

"Well, if you want to do a higher ranked mission then you need to do fifteen D-ranks to be qualified for a C-rank. Fifteen C-ranks for a B-rank, and so on. Considering your still a Genin, I'll say you're going to be restricted to D and C-ranks for a while. " explained Hayate, clearly amused at the blonde's reaction at being subjected to 'chores', as he called it and he was right too; they were definitely chores considering what they were capable of.

"I guess there's no helping it." Naruto said with a sigh. "I don't think the old man will be giving me higher ranked missions anytime soon without questions cropping up. Before we go into that, I need to explain to you something."

"What's that?" Hayate asked curiously.

"When I quit being Oni, I swore that I would never take a life again if I could help it. I didn't swear to become a pacifist but I try to avoid killing as much as possible. So if it's possible, can we stick to missions that don't require me to take a life?" Naruto declared though the last part was whispered. However, Hayate heard it clearly, making him frown.

"You do know for a fact that killing is a shinobi lifestyle right?" he pointed out.

"Of course, I know. I didn't say that specifically. I would kill if I have to. But as much as possible, I would prefer to take down my opponents without taking a life." Naruto defended himself.

"Fine. I agree with your terms." Hayate said with a smile before an excited grin blossomed on his face. "Now since we don't have anything better to do, why don't we spend the rest of the afternoon with spar?"

Naruto didn't answer but Hayate could see the excited gleam in the blonde eyes while unsheathing the sword on his back.

Naruto had been a Genin for three months now and he enjoyed most of his time under the tutelage of Gekko Hayate.

The first month was mostly spent in between training and doing D-rank missions. In most cases, Naruto decided to take it slow, taking only two or three missions a week ranging from groceries to catching the demon-cat, Tora.

Naruto didn't know why many shinobi hated the cat. In fact, the feline was quite happy to be caught by him. He often went to the Hokage's office after the retrieval mission with the cat sleeping on top of his head, purring all the while. He noticed that many of the shinobi were giving the cat incredulous looks as it napped on his head. It was an amusing sight to say the least.

After meeting Madam Shijimi, he finally understood why Tora constantly runs away after being almost hugged to death by her owner. He pitied the cat immensely and vowed to help it since the first time he told Madam Shijimi how to treat Tora, she didn't listen and explained to him that she couldn't help herself since the cat was just too cute not to be hugged into her large bosom. Madam Shijimi didn't quite get the fact that she was practically killing the poor feline.

Naruto could practically see Tora looking at him, the cat's eyes begging for help, as she was hugged by her owner.

The blonde made it a special point to catch the cat every time the mission came up to at least give Tora a semblance of normalcy through petting and food. Because of this, he was the record holder of catching Tora the earliest and no one could break his 1 hour and 30 minute capture. He would meet Tora five minutes into the search and spend the rest of the time taking care of the cat much to her delight.

Training under Hayate was fun and interesting. Despite lacking many offensive jutsus, Hayate was well-versed in jutsu creation so he instructed Naruto on how to properly mold chakra and the reason why hand seals were necessary to perform ninjutsu. On the first month, instead of learning techniques, the sword-wielding shinobi guided him to master the techniques he had to the point that he could do it without hand seals. It was slow work but Naruto enjoyed it since it was a new skill to be learned from an experienced shinobi.

Also, included in his training was a new Chakra Control exercise designed specifically for Jounins with huge chakra reserves. It was called Senbon Balancing. The trick to this was to channel chakra to the tip of your finger and do a handstand – or in this case, a finger-stand – from the tip of a senbon. Unlike Tree Walking and Water Walking where you're required to channel chakra to your feet, the precision needed to channel chakra to a small appendage requires more control and practice. Naruto dove into this exercise with gusto and vowed to master it completely to gain more control over his abundant chakra supply. Besides, as a side-effect if he mastered this exercise, he would be fine-tuning his control over his Ki and Reiryoku, making his skills and spells deadlier and more refined.

Outside training and missions, Naruto would spend hours sparring with Hayate and fine tuning his sword skills. He couldn't deny the fact that lacking a sparring partner during his Academy years degraded his skills somewhat. However, it was easily corrected after the first month and Naruto couldn't be happier.

The blonde also introduced his spells to the Jounin who pointed out one main flaw to his unique technique. Firing it wasn't the problem but aiming it was a whole new ballgame for him. In fact, Hayate demonstrated this fact by challenging Naruto to hit him while on the move at top speed. After failing to capture the Jounin using Sai, Naruto admitted that he needed to be more accurate and gain the skill to predict his opponent's movement to hit them with his spells. Hayate was more than happy to let the blonde use him as a practice dummy for this. He couldn't capture the man but he was close.

The second month of being a Genin, Naruto created two more spells to add to his arsenal.

The first spell was called Danku, a Reiryoku-powered barrier he created by accident. He was under a ninjutsu-only spar with Hayate when the man fired an overpowered fireball at him. Not seeing any way out since he was trapped by one of the capture jutsus the man had in his disposal, he raised his hand in front of him and flared his Reiryoku causing a barrier-like construct to appear in front of him that totally protected him from the flaming projectile. After a few weeks of recreating it, he finally mastered its creation.

Danku was a defensive technique by forming a solid construct of solidified Reiryoku in front of him. It required him to practically let the Reiryoku flow out of his hand and required extreme focus to form. Hayate helped him master this technique by firing projectiles upon projectiles at him until bringing it out became second nature.

Upon mastery of Danku, Naruto wanted to come up with a way to create a variation of the one-sided barrier to form a defensive screen around him in all directions; so far, he didn't have any idea how it was done so he placed it on the backburner to be researched later on. He had a sneaky suspicion that he needed to up his control if he wanted to achieve this spell.

Another spell he created was Soukatsui, which was variation of his Byakurai and Shinsei Taihou. But instead of a small beam of pale lightning or an overly-destructive beam of pure soul energy, this spell had a large area of effect but at a less deadlier scale. It doesn't take that much energy to use unlike Shinsei Taihou and almost as quick to cast as Byakurai.

Naruto also tried to spend time with his friends though it was limited due to their shinobi duties. They were being trained by their respective senseis and barely had any breaks. It would seem that Team 8 and 10's senseis were brutal in their training, improving their individual skill, as well as learning new ones to add to their arsenal. In most cases, Naruto met them once a week at Ichirakus where they would enjoy some bonding time while sharing stories of missions (which wasn't much considering they were also subjected to D-Rank mission) and training.

Naruto was on his fourth month of being a Genin of Konoha when he was summoned by the Hokage to his office for a C-Rank mission. Despite that fact that he already had more than 40 D-Rank missions under his belt, he refrained from taking a C-rank since he was busy training himself in the shinobi arts. Since his master-slash-sensei was currently on an extended A-rank mission, he was mostly left to his own devices, not that he minded since he was fine working on his own and there wasn't much that Hayate could teach him considering who he was.

He also knew that he was considered as a reserve Genin, ready to be assigned to a full-team just in case they needed an extra hand. He resigned himself to such a task but it had its advantages. He would be able to work with his friends if every such mission came up.

Making a quick detour to his apartment in the entertainment district, he took a quick shower since he was sweaty from training. It was fifteen minutes later that he entered the Hokage's Tower and made his way to his surrogate grandfather's office. He went in after knocking on the door. He noticed that the old man wasn't alone; in fact, there were quite a few people there.

The first he noticed was Team 8 and their sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai. Of course, the Hokage was there behind his table, smoking his pipe as always. The last person in the room was a well-dressed man. He was wearing a robe that was mostly reserved for court officials or governors. Whatever the mission was, this was going to be big and complicated.

"You called for me, Hokage-sama?" asked Naruto, deciding to be respectful since they was a client in the room. This caused Sarutobi to raise a curious eyebrow but realized that his surrogate grandson forgone his usual form of address due to the client.

"Yes, Naruto-kun. I want you to be a part of a C-rank mission I assigned to Team 8 under Yuuhi Kurenai. I hope this is not a problem since Hayate is currently on an extended A-rank mission and you're stuck here in the village doing nothing but D-ranks."

Naruto grinned. "Finally. I hope Kurenai-sensei and Team 8 doesn't mind me joining them."

"No, you're definitely welcome, Naruto." said Kurenai with a smile. He heard nothing but good things about the blonde from her team. Heck, he was the reason why they were so strong in the first place. Having him with them in a mission was going to be interesting to say the least.

"Hell yeah! Naruto's coming." Kiba cheered. Akamaru didn't say anything but the wagging of his tail meant that he was quite happy with the arrangement.

"Glad to be working with you, Naruto-san." Shino said in his usual monotone. Naruto sighed.

"The time you drop '-san' from my name is the day the world is going to end." said the blonde before giving Hinata a smile. "Hi there, Hinata-chan."

"Hello, Naruto-kun." Hinata returned the greeting and the smile. "I'm happy that we are going to go on a mission together."

"Same here, Hinata-chan; same here." He said with a grin before turning to the Hokage. "So, what's the mission?"

"This is a C-rank mission with a possibility of being bumped to a B-rank. Your client, Hideki Musashi, requested a team to escort him and his goods to Tea Country since he received a death threat from some bandit group called the Crimson Rose. Your job is to protect Hideki Musashi to Tea Country and back. As a side mission, which will bump you to B-rank if accomplished, is to determine the existence of Crimson Rose and bring them down." the Hokage explained before handing the scroll to Kurenai who took it with a bow.

"We accept this mission, Hokage-sama." Kurenai said before turning to the man who was silent all throughout their conversation. "Hideki Musashi, I presume?"

"Yes." said the man with a smile on his face. "Thank you for accepting this mission, shinobi-san. I entrust my safety to your hands. I'm sure that the kids behind you are capable considering that the Hokage himself assigned them to me."

"Thank you for such trust, Hideki-san." Kurenai said with a smile, happy that they got a client who respected their skills and professionalism. She turned to her team. "Alright team, we will meet at the East Gate in 1 hour. Pack for a month-long missions since we will be staying with Hideki-san all throughout his business in Tea Country. Any questions? None? Good. Dismissed."

Kurenai and Hideki were shocked when four Genins merely disappeared from the room, leaving nothing but smoke and leaves in their wake. The shocked look on their faces caused the Hokage to chuckle.

This was going to be an eye-opening mission, if nothing else.

End of Chapter 21

Date Revised and Uploaded: November 8, 2012

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Character Profile:

Uzumaki Naruto

Rank: Genin (D-Rank), ex-Kage's Hand (S-Rank)

Main Weapon: Kenshin (Sakabatou)

Kenjutsu Style: Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu

Taijutsu Style: Goken (currently being modified)

Kenshin Shikai-release command: Cleave Heaven and Earth for Me, Himura Kenshin

Shikai Ability: Kenshin transforms into a nodachi, granting Naruto short-to-mid range combat ability. Naruto also sports a third eye in the middle of his forehead that would allow him to see 5 seconds into the future if he focuses on a target to predict their attacks.

Offensive Techniques:

Sho

Byakurai

Soukatsui

Shinsei Taihou

Fuuton: Grand Breakthrough (C-Rank)

Fuuton: Drilling Air Bullet (C-Rank)

Fuuton: Wind Palm (D-Rank)

Defensive Techniques:

Seki

Danku

Supplementary Techniques:

Shunpo (Reiryoku-enhanced speed, one direction)

Shinsoku (Physical speed, multi-direction)

Spiritual Platform (Air Use)

Iyasu (Healing spell)

Sai

Hainawa

Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker)

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone)