BURN

It was actually rather impressive. Sure even after a week of training at this level they still all passed out before the day was over, but the fact that they were now able to make it almost three quarters of the day through before finally giving out where as when they had first started they had been lucky to of made it to lunch was a huge improvement. Even sakura was now able to keep up better with her two teammates. Of course this whole exercise routine was focused solely on improving the physical conditioning, but it was a start and with their improvement with their endurance he would be able to start teaching them proper Tijutsu instead of the pathetic excuse of a fighting style they taught in the academy. However that was neither here nor there and right now he had to make sure his students made it back to their respective homes safely and seeing as how none of them were even awake at, it seemed that it was up to him to get them there. So making a single hand seal he created three shadow clones and set them about getting his students home. After the three copies of himself were out of view he turned his long silver hair flowing in the afternoon breeze he walked back into the training area up to the three posts that were firmly planted in the ground, which was also where he had planted his sword at the beginning of the day. Grabbing the foot long handle in one hand he swiftly pulled it out and got into a one handed fighting stance. Jumping up he preformed wide sweeping slash mid air before landing gracefully on one of the stumps back in his starting stance. Again he jumps into the air this time doing a number of stabbing moves before landing on the far left stump. Turning to his right he looks out over the training grounds before closing his eyes, bringing his sword up so that he has it in a two handed stance and that the blade was parallel with his eye. Taking in a deep breath his stood there feeling the world around him for almost a minute. Then in less than a second his eyes snapped open and he ran along the stumps, still keeping his sword level with his eyes, jumped off the last one, preformed a flip while moving his sword above his head and bringing it down in a two handed over head slash that would of bisected kakashi in half if not for the amount of control Naruto had over his blade.

"You know, most people just say hi when greeting someone." Kakashi deadpanned not even a little ruffled by the fact that he had been nearly cut in two.

"And when have I ever been most people?" asked Naruto with a small smile on his face.

"Touché" said kakashi with his patented eye smile.

"So?" asked Naruto as he sealed his sword away on a seal on his forearm.

"'So' what?" asked kakashi in return.

Naruto just groaned. "I know you've been watching our little training sessions; I assumed you have some comment to make about it or else you would of waited till I was relaxing to bother me, like usual."

"Ah, yes I am getting rather predictable in my old age aren't I? But seeing as how you've figured out my dastardly plan I suppose that I might as well." He said, eye smile never leaving his face.

"Well then? Was I being too hard on them? I'll admit I'm not entirely sure how to teach, let alone teach genin. But they're not dead so no harm no foul; besides I have a relatively good idea of where their limits are now so I can tone it down a bit now." Explained the long silver haired jounin.

"Maa, maa you did fine, besides most jounin sensei usually take it too easy on their pupils in my opinion anyway." He said waving his hand beside his face in a dismissive manner. "But actually I just came by to invite you out again, same place as last time, same people too. And you know if you really want to get some advice about teaching they would be the people to ask."

All he could do was sighing, he knew agreeing to get out more was a bad idea, but kakashi did make a good point, and he really did want to get some pointers about reaching from people who had some experience. "Fine, but I'm not going for the company, this is merely an educational experience for me."

Kakashi just laughed a little. "Sure, sure whatever you say. I'll drop by latter to pick you up ..."

"If you're going to be late than I'll just leave without you." said Naruto.

"Right, right I'll make it a point to be on time than."

"Fine, I'll see you then. Now If you'll excuse me I still have my own training to do." And with that Naruto turned his back walked a few steps back into the training grounds and got back into his starting stance.

"Right I'll see you later." And with that kakashi shushine'd off, he had seen the boy train and had no desire to join the terrain in being chopped into small little pieces.

XXXXXX

Thankfully kakashi had kept his word and been only five minutes late to meet up with his fellow silver headed shinobi. They had exchanged greeting and set off for the local ninja bar. Just like last time there were already three other people sitting around one of the larger tables in the room and just as before there were two seats empty. One next to the man in green the other beside the only kononichi. Before kakashi was even able to blink Naruto was seated in the seat beside the red eyed woman leaving him to sit beside guy (oh joy). A quick exchange of pleasantry's was exchanged and soon the conversation follow the same form as the last one, Naruto sitting quietly sipping his sake, kakashi tying to get him to participate and the others fluctuating between trying to include their younger peer and being unnerved by some of the things he says. Deciding that this little cycle had gone on long enough kakashi decided that it was time to bring up a topic he was sure would at least get a few sentences out of his younger friend.

"Anyway, as amusing as it is to talk about the springtime of youth guy, I'm actually more interested in hearing about your genin teams. I was just talking with Naruto here about it earlier isn't that right Naruto?" kakashi grinned under his mask, let's see him get out of this with just a sentence or two.

Naruto just sighed, before looking back to the other jounin sensei's, kakashi being the only one present who was not one. "Yes, kakashi-sempi here had been watching my team's latest training regime. Unfortunately I don't know much about being a genin so I'm not entirely sure how hard I should be pushing them. When I asked sempi here if he thought if I was pushing them to hard he told be no, but I would much prefer the opinions of people who have experience in this field as I know sempi has never trained a genin team."

Most everyone at the table just gave him a slack jawed look. For the three other genin sensei's that had easily been the most any of them had ever heard from the young silver haired boy. Kakashi was surprised because he knew for a fact that that had been the most Naruto had ever said to a group of what were essentially strangers.

Guy was the first to recover. "Ah, such important this as fanning the flames of youth in our students, truly is a topic worthy of discussion. As for your question of being too hard on your genin, I'll tell you that that is imposable. How are we to know where our limits are if we're not pushed hard enough to find them, and it only through sweet, tears and blood that we can improve ourselves, and it's our jobs to show our youthful genin how to fan their own flames so that they may enjoy their springtime of youth." Gut finished with his good guy pose which nearly blinded Naruto.

After getting over the shock of guys blinding teeth Naruto just nodded his head. "Although I'm not sure what you said exactly I did catch the bit about pushing them to their limits and am slightly relieved that at least one person is pushing their students hard as well." Said Naruto well nodding his head.

"Well pushing your students is all well and good; you don't want to push them to hard, their still young, there's no reason to push them to grow up too fast. Besides it takes time to find where each of your student's skills lay and even longer for them to decide where they want to specialize. Until they know what they want to study there's only so much you can do for them." Said Kurani with a slight scowl on her face.

Naruto wasn't sure how to respond to that. Well he knew how he would of normally responded, something about a childhood being unnecessary and having gotten along just fine without one. But he knew that this was one of the things that would make the others uncomfortable around him, ending the conversation and he wouldn't be able to learn anything more about something he was woefully uninformed about.

"You're just being naive kurani, having a childhood is all well and good but were teaching them how to be solders and there's no room for kid on the battlefield." Thankfully kakashi apparently had the same ideas as him and was able to express his opinion much more tactfully than himself.

"I'm going to have to agree with the others on this. Although I do think that they should be eased into this kind of a life style this really is the time that they should start growing up, especially if they plan on going on anything higher than a D-rank mission." Added asuma.

Kurani just huffed and took a long sip of her drink before settling into her chair and glaring at the large hairy ape sitting beside her.

Thankfully the rest of the night went by smoothly and soon Naruto was helping his inebriated friend back to his apartment, silently cursing the kyuubi for making him immune to alcohol and there for have to help everyone home.

XXXXXX

It was six the next morning when three very sore genin stumbled into what they had come to dub the privet corner of hell. Just as before their sense was already waiting there for them.

"Well congratulations, you made it through a week of training that would have given most jounin a tough time, and although you never finished a full day's workout you did make noticeable progress. Today will start taking missions but first a light warm up of ten laps around the clearing followed by 50 push-ups and sit-ups."

All three genin had a look of sock on their faces. After a week of training from hell they were getting off so light.

"Well get to it, unless you want to go back to our previous schedule." Said the silver haired boy from his spot in the center of the training grounds.

That got them moving, and before he could even blink the three genin were already starting on their laps.

Compared to their earlier training this was almost too easy, even sakura easily the weakest member of their team physically finished the training without any problem.

"well now that we have that out of the way we should get a move on, from what I hear all the good missions usually get picked-up rather quickly." And with that he started walking back toward the center of the village.

XXXXXX

"Ah Naruto-kun, I was wondering when I was going to see. I assume you're here for a mission then?" greeted the third Hokage.

"Hai I think my team is ready to start taking missions now." Responded Naruto.

"Well then let's just see what we have." said the third as he rummaged through a pile of scrolls. "Ah yes, I almost forgot about this one, though I'm not sure, this isn't usually something I would send genin on, especially for their first mission. But then again he has been asking that I send you down to see him, and I imagine you'll be able to keep you genin out of trouble." Said the Hokage almost to himself.

Naruto had a sinking feeling in his gut. There was only a few people who would petition the Hokage to come see him, and if it was who he thought it was than this was going to be a very unpleasant day.

Both Sasuke and Kiba's thoughts were on the fact that they were being asked to complete a mission that none of the other genin teams would be able to do, maybe even a C-rank one. Sakuras was more along the line of trying to figure out just what their mission would entail.

"I would really rather prefer never having to see the waste of genetic material again if it was at all possible, but if you order it I will accept whatever mission you ask." Said the blond in annoyance.

"I understand, I too find him to by rather ... disturbing at times. But he has the ear of the council and he's not going anywhere anytime soon." After that he sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "Jounin Naruto Uzumaki, you and your team are to deliver a number of important documents to the research and development laboratories, and specifically to the head of the science department Hojo." Said the Hokage his authoritative voice.

"Yes sir." And with that he grabbed the scroll that contained the files that they were to deliver. He then turned to his team "come on its a bit of a walk to the entrance, I'll fill you in on the way." And with that he walked out the door down the stairs and out the front door into the morning light, his genin not far behind.

"Uh sensei? Who's this Hojo person? I've never heard of him before. Actually I've never even heard of the research and development department before either." Asked sakura. And although neither Sasuke nor kiba voiced it they too were both curios about their first mission.

"Not surprising. Both Hojo and his department are not exactly something one would want to make public knowledge. That being said I would not recommend repeating what you may hear or see down there to your friends, well it's not illegal per say, it's something most people would simply be happier off not knowing about."

"What do you mean, what so bad about the place?" Asked Kiba.

"You'll see when we get there. That being said there are a few ground rules you would be wise to follow. One, don't touch anything, and I do mean anything." He gave a glance at kiba when he said that. "Two don't talk to anyone." Here he looked at sakura. "Lastly if anyone down there asks you to either sign something or agree to something run." Here he looked to Sasuke knowing how much Hojo would enjoy being able to work with the sharingan. "Other than that just try to keep your head down and save your questions until later. Now form up were there."

Sakura looked up and noticed they had stopped in front of what appeared to be an old apartment complex. However before she was able to voice her scepticism her sensei opened up the door and walked through forcing the others to follow or be left behind. When she entered it looked exactly like what she thought it would, old dusty and obviously in disuse. However their sensei paid this no mind as he walked up to the elevator and pushed the call button. Soon the elevator arrived and all four people steeped inside. Naruto waited for the doors to close before he pushed a number of buttons. By now sakura figured out that the base was hidden and this was just a facade to hide the entrance.

They had been riding the elevator for a few minutes hitting each floor in the order of the buttons that were pressed. Finally they reached the last floor and after the door shut the elevator began to descend past the main floor, past the basement until, after almost two minutes of descending, the elevator stopped and the doors opened to a sterile whit reception room.

"Welcome Uzumaki-san. Professor Hojo is expecting you, he's currently in exam room 7, I assume you don't need a guide?" asked the receptionist.

"No, I'll be fine." and without further adue he lead his genin through the only other door in the room into a long corridor. He lead them down, past a number of offices, some empty some not, until they reached the end of the corridor. Here he stopped in front of two large swinging doors and turned to his genin.

"Remember, don't touch anything." And with that last warning he pushed open the doors and led his team into what appeared to be a giant warehouse. However as they passed one of the glass containers sakura let out a scream. This of course caught the two boy's attention causing them to look in to the glass case and jump back in fright. There inside was ... well none of the genin were entirely sure what it was though it did look slightly humanoid. Only the skill looked like it was rotting, it had an extra arm sticking out of its back and its legs seemed to be put on backwards. "Wh..Wha.. What the hell is that thing?" stuttered Sasuke.

"That is the reason for rule number three, actually that is the reason for all of the rules I told you about earlier. It's also what I was talking about when i told you that most people were happier simple not knowing about this place, now come on, the exam rooms are at the other end of the storehouse, and there are much more depraved things in here than that, like the good professor for example.

The closest thing kiba could link what he was seeing to was a zoo from hell. There were some things that were obviously human at one point, though he could hardly call them that now. Then there were what appeared to be wiled animals mutated in the same way as the humans they had passed, them there were things he couldn't even cartelize. By the time they had exited the main storehouse and entered the hallway that lead to the exam rooms all three genin had become very quiet and had their eyes planted firmly on the floor. Unfortunately now that they were making their way past the exam rooms it was now the sound that assaulted their ears. Sometimes it was just a low moan and the quiet muttering of people coming from one room, other times it was a loud agonizing scream that chilled the blood of the genin. In one of the room what could only be described as a pitiful crying sound followed by the occasional cries for help coming from what sounded like a woman were heard. When sakura went to open the door she found her sensei standing in front of it blocking her path.

"When I said don't touch anything I meant don't touch ANYTHING."

"But sensei, someone might be hurt. Shouldn't we at least see if there's something we can do to help?" asked sakura.

"I have no doubt that whoever is behind that door would very much appreciate our help. But that's not our job, and down here shinobi are not the top of the food chain and the curious ones have a way of disappearing if you catch my meaning." He said lifting one of his eyebrows to try and punctuate his point. "Now let's go, were almost there."

The rest of the walk was mercifully silent and soon they were standing in front of a large double door with a large number 7 printed on it. "Come on let's get this over with."

With one strong push of the doors swung open and offered the young genin their first look at the mad scientist. He was a rather short man, something not helped by his slight hunch. He had black greasy hair tied back in a ponytail with long strand hanging down over his face and a pair of small round glasses over his dark beady eyes. "Ah, Uzumaki-san so wonderful to see you again. And what's this? Did you bring me a present? Why it's not even my birthday." Greeted the obviously insane man as he sent a glare at the three genin now half hiding behind their sensei.

"Hardly. I was told to deliver these to you." he said as he held out the scroll congaing whatever files Hojo had requested from the Hokage. "And I can assure you that the only reason I'm here at all was because the third said you've 'requested' my presence. Now I'm in no mood for your games, so say what you need to say and let's not drag out this little meeting any longer than it has to be."

"Yes, yes. Always strait to the point aren't we? Why I remember when you were just a little boy always running around trying to get people's attention. And then when you finally got their attention you would always demand they stop treating you like a kid. Oh those were the days and you hardly came here to here to listen to me ramble on. Now where did I put that thing?" he asked himself. "Ah, yes now I remember. You know sometimes I'm actually frightened by my own intelligence. Now let's see that sword of yours, come now we haven't got all day."

Rather hesitantly Naruto brought his thumb up to his mouth, bit down just hard enough to draw some blood and swiped it across a seal on his forearm. In a puff of smoke Masamune in all its seven foot glory was in Naruto's hand, the tip of the blade only inches away from Hojo's neck.

"Ah, Masamune, Truly one of the most magnificent swords ever to be forged. Just seeing it again takes me back. I can still remember the first day you saw it. It sticks out in my mind because it was the only time I've ever seen you with a look of true wonder on your face. Now if I remember correctly, not too long ago you were complaining about the time it took you to unseal it right? Well I've had my men down in our seal division working on this for some time now, and if I do say so they really have outdone themselves this time." And with that he turned around and walked over to one of the many workbenches that dotted the room. Once there he rummaged around until finding what he was looking for and returned with what looked like the slandered ANBU katana sheath. "Yes, yes. I know what you're thinking, but just trust me on this and try it out."

All Naruto could do was raise a thin silver eyebrow in suspicion, but not detecting anything other than thinly veiled excitement from the mad doctor strapped the sheath to his hip and slide Masamune into it. Surprisingly it fit perfectly even though the sheath was easily more than three feet to short to house Masamune.

"hehehehe, I know, amazing isn't it. A completely new type of storage seal, I myself am not even entirely sure how it works, something about keeping the door to a pocket dimension permanently open."

All Naruto could do was look down at his now sheathed sword. "Well, at least this wasn't a complete waste of time. Now if there's nothing more we should be going, I'm sure that there's some experiment that requires your attention and I would hate to deprive you of your fun." He said with barley held contempt.

"Fine, fine, off you go then, though you're more than welcome to drop by anytime you want, you know how I do enjoy our little ... verbal debates." Said Hojo already turning his back to the group.

XXXXXX

"Sensei, earlier you said we should save our questions until later, well what the hell were those things down there? Who exactly is that Hojo guy? And what the hell was he talking about?" blurted out Kiba as they were exactly the warehouse the hid the hidden facility they had just exited, and none to soon in the genin's opinion.

"Those were some of Hojo's experiments, he specialises in genetics. As for who he is exactly, that's easy. He's a state sponsored madman, and the only reason he's not killed on the spot for what he does down there is because he has over the years provided Konaha with a number of innovations that have given out shinobi an edge over the compensation. But make no mistake the man is completely insane, lacking even the most basic sense of morality and not someone you want to notice you." here he gave his genin a stern glare in an attempt to drive home his point.

"All right, all right I get it. Hojo bad, distance good. But what about what he was talking about, it sounded like he's known you for a very long time. So what's the story?" asked Kiba with both Sasuke and sakura listening very closely

"The story is very simple; up until I was seven I spent most of my time down there."

"Wait, you're telling me that you actually grew up down there?" asked kiba in shock. He had only been down there for less than an hour and he could unequivocally say if he never went down there again it would be too soon. Hell he was sure that he would be having nightmares about that place for weeks to come.

"Yes. I suppose you could say that."

"But what about your parents, I mean what kind of people would actually let their son grow up in a place like that?" said sakura still in shock about the things she had seen and heard in that place. Then she realised what she had said and she clasped her hands over her mouth wishing she could take back what she had said.

"Again a simple answer, both my parents died when I was born so I can't really say what kind of people they were or if they would of objected to my living arrangements."

Now sakura really felt like an ass. "I'm sorry sensei, I didn't know." She said with her head hung down in shame and embarrassment.

"It's ok. I really don't care one way or another."

"You mean you don't care that your parents are dead?" asked a shocked Kiba. To him family was the most important thing in the world, and he simply couldn't imagine not caring if any of them died.

"As I said they died when I was born, it's rather hard to miss something that was never there, and pointless. Now come on we still have a good few hours of sun left, and you all still have a long way to go in your training."

XXXXXX

"Interesting day?" asked kakashi.

"You could say that sempi." answered Naruto not taking his eyes of the starry night sky. He may not have shown it on the outside but he always felt uneasy after visiting Hojo and the labs.

"Yha, I heard. Got to say you sure know how to show your genin a good time. I still remember my first time down there, still have nightmares about what I saw." He said, a shiver running down his spine. "I also heard you told your cute little genin about some of your past?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Nothing much, but they asked and after what Hojo said down there I doubted that they would of excepted silence as answer, it was just easer to answer their questions than deal with them trying to find answers on their own."

"Well I have to agree with you there, especially seeing as how the only place they would find those answers is with Hojo and I think the less contact they have with that madman the better." Said kakashi as he took a seat near Naruto and turned his gave up at the stars. "in any case I imagine that after that last mission they might be more appreciative of having to do normal D-rank missions."

"Perhaps, though I wonder who will be the first to break under the boredom and ask for a higher level mission."

"my moneys on the Inuzuka, he doesn't have the temper to except pulling weeds as actual ninja work."

"Perhaps, though the same could be said for Sasuke. In the end it's not really important though, there already almost ready for simple C-ranks, just a few week of polishing their skills and they'll be ready."

"Well you know them best so if you say so, besides I doubt that there's much out there that you wouldn't be able to handle anyway." Said kakashi flippantly.

"True enough, though I would rather not have to worry about having to protect three green genin at the same time."

"Maa, maa you worry too much, besides that still weeks away, just make sure to train them up a bit before taking them outside of the village and they'll do fine."

"Perhaps."

XXXXXX

True to kakashi's prediction it was Kiba who broke down first; though it was obvious Sasuke was in complete agreement with him.

"no no no and no again. I refuse to chase down that dam cat again. I'm not training twelve hours a day, every day a week just to chase dome some stupid cat, or pull some old prunes weeds. I can speak for the rest of my team when I say we all want a better mission." Kiba blurted out when the Hokage offered them the mission to chase down tora the cat again.

"Oh, is that so?" asked the Hokage in amusement. "Well, is it true, do you all think the same way?" he asked the other genin standing in front of him.

Sasuke was the first to agree with his short-tempered teammate. "Hai Hokage-sama, although I think the dobe could have phrased his request more eloquently, I agree we are ready for more difficult missions."

"See I told you they ... hey what did you just call me?" shouted Kiba only just realizing he had been insulted.

The Hokage just laughed at their antics before setting his gaze on the kononichi of the team. "And you, do you think you're ready for a harder mission?"

"Ah, well. I think ... that is we still have a long way to go but I think we're ready." She answered somewhat nervously having never been addressed by the Hokage directly before.

"Well it's good that you're all so confident in your skills. Now Naruto what do you think, are they ready for a C-rank mission?" he asked moving his eyes to the last member of team seven.

"Hai Hokage-sama I think they're ready for a low level C-class mission, if you have on available that is." He answered honestly. They were hardly perfect and their team work still needed some work but the chances of running into anything more threatening than a few drunken bandits on a low level C-class mission were almost nonexistent.

"Well then you're in luck. We just so happen to have a simple escort mission to the land of waves that I think you all just might be able to handle. Iruka would you send in the client?" asked the kage.

"Yes sir, right away." Quickly he rose from his chair and hurried out the door. Unfortunately the person to enter was not the pleasant chunin.

"What's the meaning of this? I come here and pay good money for protection and what do I get a bunch of snot nosed brats? Hell there not even old enough to drink, how are they suppose to protect me?" yelled out the obviously drunk man indignantly.

it was only because Naruto had a firm hand on each of his male students shoulders that the drunk got away with saying those things unharmed. "I assure you that my three students will be more than enough protection against any bandits we may encounter on our way to wave. And despite my age I assure you I am one of the village's elite jounin and if anything unexpected does come up I'll be more than enough to take care of it." reassured Naruto.

"You, an elite? Come on kid who do you think you're kidding here you can't be older than thirteen, so stop pretending to be ..." he was cut off from his rant when he found himself face to face with the tip of a seven foot sword levelled at his eye. "uh never mind."

"That's what I thought, now will meet you at the west gate tomorrow at 0700." He then turned to his genin. "Remember to pack for at least three weeks, dismissed."

"Hai sensei." They all said in unison before hurrying off to pack for their first real ninja mission.

XXXXXX

A/N: I had actually intended to do the entire wave arc in this chapter but the thing with Hojo just kept getting longer and longer and well what are you going to do. Any ways, wave arc will be the next chapter and you know what that means ... that's right it's the fight of the ridiculously oversized swords; I can't wait to write it's going to be so much fun its actually one of the scenes that made me want to write this in the first place. Anyways that's all for now an please review its like fucking catnip for authors (they also make me write faster (wink wink nudge nudge))