Alright chapter 7 here we go! There will be no flashbacks in this one, mostly it will be ACTION! Okay maybe not that intense but you get the point

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sakura woke up at seven and got out of bed before her eyes were even open. She stumbled to the bathroom for her usual morning shower. Turning the knobs in the shower to just the right temperature she stepped in and sighed as the hot water hit her body. She fumbled around the shower trying to find her soap hitting everything off the shelves except for her soap. She growled and opened her eyes, bending down to retrieve her soap and replace all of the things she knocked down. Lathering the soap in her hands she made sure to wash every part of her, just because she was, most likely, going to get dirty doesn't mean she couldn't be nice and clean first. After the soap she picked up the bottle of cherry scented shampoo and went to work on her hair. In ten minutes flat she stepped out of the shower and got to work drying herself.

"Where's that brush?" she mumbled.

She dried and brushed her hair before stepping back into her room. Going to her closet she picked out her ninja clothes and picked up her gloves and kunai pouch from her dresser. She got dressed and looked in the mirror she had purchased. Tightening the forehead protector turned hairband once she gave herself one good look. The full impact of the situation she was in crashed down on her and she backed up to sit on her bed.

"Oh shit." she cursed. "I'm going back to active duty after nine years!... Nine years of NOTHING!"

She held her head in her hands and took deep breaths.

"... With Naruto as my commander!... I think I'm gonna be sick."

She looked over at her clock, good she still had an hour before she had to meet them. With shaky legs she stood up and walked to the kitchen to fix herself a small breakfast.

"Naruto-sensei?" Keiko asked.

"Yes?" he asked back.

"Why did you tell Sakura-san to meet us here at nine?" she asked. "We usually meet here at eight."

"Well, if I know Sakura... which I guess I don't anymore." he chuckled. "She's at home right now freaking out."

"Oh... So we're giving her time to acclimate?" Hitomi asked.

"Exactly." he smiled.

A comfortable silence fell over the three ninja. Naruto sat under a tree and read his book while Hitomi and Keiko went over some new jutsu scrolls they had found.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Keiko asked.

"I'm not gonna ruin the surprise. You can wait." Naruto said, never taking his eyes off his book.

"But-

"No." he said.

"... Fine!" Keiko huffed.

Keiko and Hitomi kept to themselves as they reviewed the handsigns and chakra placement for the jutsus, leaving Naruto in peace to read his book. At what Naruto assumed to be ten to nine he looked up from his book to see a woman walking towards them. He smirked and snapped his book shut, he stood up and his two students followed his lead. Naruto raised his hand in a wave towards Sakura, which she returned.

"Good morning!" he smiled.

"Morning!" she smiled back.

All four of them met in the middle of the field, Sakura took this time to take in all the small details about Naruto she had missed the other day. His hair had grown much longer since she had seen him two months ago, it still held its usual feral spiky look. It arced and angled so that it didn't cover the leaf symbol on his forehead protector, two long strips fell down the sides of his face and stopped at his jaw. It reminded her of the Yondaime, that wasn't surprising seeing as how they were father and son and all. He had finally grown into his face, gone were the faint traces of baby fat he had when they were younger, in its place was the strong, confident jaw of a man. She noticed that his eyes weren't the same bright shade of blue she remembered as children, they had grown darker but still held that mischievous spark that was all Naruto.

"So, you ready for your first day on Team 3?" he asked.

"Yes... Yes! I am Naruto!" she smiled.

"Sensei." he said.

"What?" she asked.

"You forgot to add the sensei to my name Sakura." he explained. "If you're going to be part of Team 3 you will address me with the proper respect."

Thinking it to be a light joke from the blonde man, Sakura snorted. "Yeah, okay, we'll see about that."

Naruto's eyes darkened and he prepped himself with his sensei voice. "What you really mean to say is "Yes of course! Sorry Naruto-sensei!" isn't that right?!"

Sakura had her hands up at her chest, open wide with her palms facing Naruto. A look of hilariously confused fear was on her face. Just when she thought Naruto was serious she heard him try to choke back a laugh.

"You should see your face!" he laughed.

"Why you..." Sakura pouted.

"Don't worry about it Sakura." he grinned at her. "I wouldn't be caught dead calling anyone in our generation sensei."

Keiko and Hitomi frowned, he never laughed after using that voice on them. Sakura stopped pouting and smiled with Naruto.

"Alright you three, instead of the usual training we do. Today we'll be using... these." Naruto explained and pulled out two bells.

The three Chunin's eyes widened at the sight of the bells.

"Naruto-sensei...!" the two Date's whined. "We've already done the bell test!"

"I know. Since all three of you know the rules and the point of the test I won't explain." he began. "There will be no time limit, just before dinner if you wouldn't mind."

"I don't understand." Sakura said. "Why do this if we already know the reason for it?"

"Well, I want to see how well you three work together without any prior training with eachother." he explained. "To see if you three can come up with a strategy without being used to the reaction time of your new partner."

The three nodded, that made sense. Naruto made the bells jingle twice before attaching them to his waistband. He looked towards the three Kunoichi and smiled before giving the signal to go. They jumped off into the trees and away from him.

'This should prove interesting.' Naruto thought.

Keiko and Hitomi were zipping through the trees while Sakura was trailing behind them having obvious difficulties. The sisters looked at eachother before nodding in a silent agreement, slowing their movements they matched Sakura's pace.

"Sakura-san." Keiko said.

Sakura looked over at the girl. "Do you need us to slow down for you?"

She blushed. "N-no! It's fine I'll just have to push myself harder."

"That won't do us any good if you exhaust your reserves doing that." Hitomi said.

Sakura looked at the other girl before looking down. "You're right... I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Keiko smiled. "Naruto-sensei told us about you not doing any real ninja work for nine years."

"H-he told you about that?!" she nearly shouted.

"Just that you got a boyfriend." Hitomi said. "He wouldn't say anything after that."

'That bastard! He could've explained a little! Now I just sound pathetic!' Sakura whined in her mind.

Keiko and Hitomi stopped, Sakura went to two more branches before jumping back to them. They crouched on the cluster of branches to make it harder to see them, just in case Naruto was nearby.

"Okay, Sakura-san." Keiko began, Sakura gave the girl her full attention. "What are your strengths?"

"It's been so long since I've used Nin or Genjutsu so those are out." Sakura explained. "I'm still on top of my game with chakra augmentation, I can easily punch a crater into the earth."

"Oooh! That's good!" Hitomi said clearly excited.

Sakura smiled at the girl, thankful for the compliment. Keiko cleared her throat so they would pay attention to her again.

"Someone's bossy today." Hitomi complained.

"Excuse me, but I am squad leader in Naruto-sensei's absence!" Keiko growled.

'No wonder she seemed so calm earlier.' Sakura thought.

"Okay, seeing as how you don't have experience in fighting Naruto-sensei. We'll lure him out and when we give the signal you come in high to finish him off." Keiko ordered.

"Right." Sakura nodded.

Keiko and Hitomi nodded before rushing out of the trees leaving Sakura to jump closer to the open field, she played it safe and remained crouched in the cover of the trees.

Naruto yawned and popped a few of his joints while waiting for his students to attack. He was tempted to pull out his book but with Hitomi and Keiko's recent growth in power that would be a bad idea.

'Hmmm, where are they?' Naruto wondered.

A fireball suddenly exploded from the trees forcing him to jump away. As he landed the sound of rushing water made him turn around and narrowly dodge a large pillar of water. He smirked as he jumped into the air to avoid the water only to have another fireball, a much larger fireball, coming from under him. He started to go through handsigns to counter the jutsu with his own, when suddenly a strong force of water crashed into his back.

'Not bad you two, not bad at all.' Naruto thought as he crashed into the ground.

The water jutsu caused a small crater in the ground with him floating in the excess water. He sighed with a smile and opened his eyes, he scrunched up his face when he spotted a dot in the air.

"The heck is that?" he asked aloud.

When Sakura saw the water jutsu bring Naruto down she looked to where Keiko was and saw the girl nod. Sakura nodded back and jumped high into the air, focusing a great amount of chakra into her right fist as she started to descend. She was sure, or at least she hoped, Naruto would only be knocked out by this. After all this was the man who had taken chakra infused punches from both her and Tsunade and lived to tell the tale.

Naruto squinted his eyes to get a better look at the approaching dot.

"Wait is that Saku- oh hey it is." he smiled.

It took a few seconds for the information to properly click in his mind.

"Ahhh!" he yelled as Sakura got closer.

He quickly reached down to his shuriken holster where he kept one of his special kunai. Grasping the kunai in a tight grip he threw it as far into the trees as he could and activated the seal. He vanished just in time as Sakura's fist crashed into the ground.

"Phew." Naruto sighed. "Any longer and I would've been a goner."

He retrieved his triple bladed kunai from the branch it hit. A serious look came over his face when he looked back towards the destruction he narrowly escaped.

'Good to see that she still has that much power.' Naruto thought.

He put the tri bladed kunai back into his holster and popped his neck.

'I should get out of here before they find me.' Naruto thought.

He jumped down from the branch and took off into the cover of the trees.

As the dust cleared Sakura was able to see that Naruto was nowhere to be found.

"Huh?" she questioned. "Where'd he go?!"

Keiko and Hitomi jumped down next to Sakura and surveyed the area.

"Damn." Keiko cursed. "He used his Hiraishin."

"Hiraiawhat now?" Sakura asked.

"It's a jutsu Naruto-sensei learned, it allows him to teleport instantly with the use of a special seal." Hitomi explained. "He's got a bunch of kunai with the seal on them."

Sakura nodded, that explained how there wasn't a single trace of him.

"Is there anyway of countering it?" Sakura asked.

"In short of destroying every kunai on his person? No." Keiko explained.

"Then how are we supposed to get the bells?" Sakura asked again.

"Well, Naruto-sensei only uses the jutsu to evade attacks that would kill or incapacitate him." Hitomi began.

"Or if he's trying to get some distance between him and the enemy." Keiko finished. "... But if one of us could catch the kunai without him knowing-

"He would teleport to us!" Sakura cut her off. "... Oh sorry Keiko."

"It's fine Sakura-san." she smiled. "And you're right, he would come to us."

The three stood there all trying to come up with a plan that would cause Naruto to throw his kunai again. Sakura slammed her fist into her open palm when she thought of it.

"I got it!" she said, the other two looked at her. "I know I'm not fast enough, not anymore anyway. I don't know which one of you is faster, but I'll leave that to you. What if myself and whichever one of you is the slower one attacked Naruto head on? My chakra strength and your obvious skill we could probably distract him. Then the other could use an attack that would force him to throw that kunai again."

Keiko and Hitomi nodded their heads in agreement. "We have to be careful though, Naruto-sensei could be expecting that."

"I can't think of anything else, if you've a better plan lets hear it Hitomi." Keiko said.

"No no, I agree with Sakura-san's plan. I'm just saying we need to be careful." Hitomi cautioned.

After a quick discussion it was decided that Keiko would be in charge of catching the kunai while Sakura and Hitomi attacked him. They nodded at their plan and took off to find him.

Naruto had his kunai drawn with the blades facing down out of his fist. He had to keep on guard now, those three had quickly come up with a plan that worked very well. Who knows what they were planning now.

'I'm impressed, such a powerful strategy. Even if I am holding back.' Naruto thought.

The sound of shuriken flying through the air had him turn to the right and deflect the deadly stars. He quickly did a backflip to dodge Hitomi's kick, he had to crouch down quickly before Sakura's kick took his head off. Now Hitomi came at him with her own kunai drawn, he blocked her strike and pushed her away before evading another one of Sakura's punches. He jumped back to get some distance from the two attacking Kunoichi.

'Strange... Keiko never misses a chance to fight me head on.' Naruto thought. 'What are you planning?'

His eyes widened and he jumped out of the way to avoid the projectiles behind him. All at once the shuriken and kunai hit a tree near him making the kanji for sunrise, he quickly looked down, and as he expected, he was standing in the middle of a series of explosive tags set into the kanji for fire. He threw his kunai into the forest.

'Now!' Keiko thought.

She jumped from her hiding spot and caught the kunai mid flight. Naruto didn't even wait for the kunai to land before he activated the seal. Sakura and Hitomi took off towards the area that they saw the kunai fly. Naruto appeared next to Keiko, who had a cocky smirk on her face, she threw a punch which he blocked. He was unable to get his kunai back from the fire using Kunoichi and was soon surrounded by all three of them.

"Gotcha Naruto-sensei!" Hitomi said.

"Heh, not bad you three." he said. "It'll take more than that to get these bells though."

He dropped into his usual Taijutsu stance and waited for them. Keiko, as usual, was the first to attack with a roundhouse kicked aimed at his head. Naruto caught her shin before catching Hitomi's punch in an elbow lock, he heard Sakura coming from behind him. He turned and caught the woman's arm in the bend of his knee before throwing them all away. The Kunoichi landed in a heap at the base of a tree, they untangled themselves and crouched low. They looked at eachother and nodded, if this last plan didn't work then they were out of ideas. Keiko and Hitomi ran to either side of him and went through the handsigns for their combination jutsus, Sakura held back waiting for her time.

'I see, their usual steam cover tactic.' Naruto observed.

He jumped back as the two jutsus collided coating the area in a thick steam and waited to catch the girls. What he failed to factor in after countering this tactic so many times in the past, was that they, unlike with Hisoka, actively included Sakura into the mix. The two girls came rushing from the steam as usual only to completely miss Naruto.

'Wait a minute what are they... Oh no...' Naruto thought.

He looked straight ahead and saw Sakura appear out of the steam with her fist coming straight at him. In fear of running into another ambush like this he didn't activate the seal on his kunai that was still in Keiko's possesion. Instead he threw his arms up in an "X" across his face as Sakura's fist connected. He frowned in pain when he felt bones crack underneath the force of Sakura's punch. He was sent back several meters before being blind sided by the Date's, each kicking at his exposed mid section. He doubled over and noticed Sakura rushing him once more with her fist flaring with chakra.

"Not this time!" he growled.

He quickly stood back up and focused chakra into his right hand while bracing it with his left. When Sakura threw her punch it was caught with Naruto's waiting palm, the frown of pain still evident on his face. His arms shook with the pressure of her punch coupled with the cracked bones inside. He tightened his grip on her fist intent on throwing her to the side, when all of a sudden he felt long hair tickle his nose. He looked down just in time to see Hitomi and Keiko snatch the bells off his waist. Sakura smirked and jumped back to stand next to her fellow Kunoichi.

"Hah! Take that Naruto-sensei!" Hitomi cheered. "You fell for our new combination technique! Sakura scented steam!"

Sakura blushed while Keiko shook her head at the irony of the phrase.

"What?" Hitomi asked after noticing their reactions.

"Sakura blossoms don't have any scent!" Keiko sighed.

"They do to!" Hitomi whined. "You just gotta stick your nose all the way in them."

Sakura's face burned with a deeper blush and she covered her eyes with one hand. Naruto smirked and sat down with a grunt, all three Kunoichi looked towards him as he sat there in obvious pain. Sakura was the first to respond with Keiko and Hitomi following closely behind.

"Naruto! Are you okay?!" she asked.

"You punched me with that chakra strength of yours! No I'm not okay!" he growled.

She blushed and looked down. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm just being a baby." he smirked. "But if you'd be so kind?"

He held out his arms to her, getting the hint she nodded and started healing him. Keiko and Hitomi looked on with amazement, their new teammate was a medic!

"That is so cool!" Hitomi gushed.

"Thank you." Sakura blushed. "Um... There you go Naruto all fixed."

He stood up and grinned at her. "Thanks Sakura."

"No problem." she smiled back and stood up too.

"Good job you three." he said. "I wasn't expecting such team work from the very first try."

The three Kunoichi grinned at him.

"It's getting pretty late, we'll call it a day." Naruto observed. "Meet back here at eight a.m. tomorrow. The real training begins."

He turned around and walked back towards the village while Keiko and Hitomi followed him. Sakura stayed where she was and watched them walk away.

'The real training?' She wondered.

I don't know if those action bits were any good or not. I tried to keep it calm to not show the true epicness that is Keiko and Hitomi. Later in the story they will get much stronger, Sakura too.

And be prepared to get some full chapters exploring the past of this story, I mean chapters dedicated to the past not just a chapter with a few paragraphs or two about it.

-Raidori