New Yet So Old

by Lil Nezumi

New chapters added -See CH 1 for full summary. Yes it's a back in time re-write of events from the Naruto manga and animé, but not an OMG I'm in the past kind of tale. Probably with hints of slash pairings, so far nada.

6. Chapter 6

CH 6

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Naruto was in the Missions Office receiving his new official orders, after having to take a month's leave. It had to be taken in order to monitor his health and deem him fit for duty, despite the fact that nothing had happened to him in the Buried Palace like it had for his two teammates. The Hokage had wanted to speak to him specifically too and so the blond boy had to wait for several long minutes, until he was called into the office.

"Hello Naruto," the third Hokage said in greeting. "Your mission report from Suna was interesting. Tell me… did you manage to bring back treasure?"

"No sir," Naruto said in complete honesty. He hadn't taken the time to look into the storage scrolls that were used to remove the four pots or at the secreted device that even the girls of his old team didn't know about. So technically none of them knew if they'd removed treasure or not.

The old man chuckled and then said, "A council decision has been made and you to be placed with two Genin from the new batch coming out from the Academy, this spring. Your mission is to try and ensure that they pass the secondary stage of the exam. You're also to aid the Jounin-sensei with their instruction, but only when asked to do so."

"Hn," Naruto eyes narrowed. "So, who's the sensei and what team?"

The old man handed him a scroll that contained some insight to his new teammates, which included base information on his new sensei too. "Team Seven, reports to the Academy for their placement in five days," Sarutobi told him. "This will give enough time to what you need to do."

"Understood, sir," Naruto said and pocketed the scroll. The extra time was his to with as he pleased. It was then that their meeting was interrupted by a disturbance outside of the room and then suddenly a long scarf wearing kid with a missing front tooth appeared and screamed at the old man. The boy tripped and fell flat on his face in front of the old man's desk.

"Wah," the boy cried. He pointed at Naruto, who only lifted an eyebrow as the kid complained. "You, you did it, you attacked me."

"You tripped over your own scarf because it was impractically long," the blond said. "You have no personal awareness, so you're just an idiot child."

Ebisu, the boy's ninja tutor, had followed the kid in and said, "Honourable grandson, do not listen to this person. He's beneath your notice."

Naruto snorted. He watched as the kid actually tried to attack the old man in the presence of a stranger. He shook his head, grabbed the end of the scarf and pulled the kid away from the old man. The kid fell in a tumbled heap at his feet.

"Kid," the blond said. "You don't attack a Kage like that. You need more training, subtlety and you're totally exposed. The Shinobi arts aren't to be used that way."

"I don't know who are you, but you don't have any right to tell me what to do," the kid replied. He walked up to Naruto and tried to kick him. The blond moved too quickly for the kid to see and swept the boy's legs out from under him. It had made the boy fall onto his back, winding him.

"See this," Naruto pointed to the Hitai-ate around his neck. "I earned this. This also means that I'm a Ninja of this village. You are only citizen. Attacking the Hokage, no matter what his relationship is to you," he paused and glared at the ninja that stood gaping from the doorway. "Means that you're supposed to get subjected to intensive interrogation, torture and possibly jail-time. That is, if you've lived through the torture. Of course that might also depend on how far you got when you attacked the Kage. So what'll be kid?"

Ebisu's jaw dropped even further from its primary position. "How dare you address the Hokage's honourable grandson that way? He's being groomed to become a future Hokage and you're nothing of consequence, you're just…"

"Ebisu," the Hokage warned.

The kid scowled as he listened to the exchange. 'There it is,' he thought. 'Someone else who'll treat me special and only because I'm the Hokage's grandson.'

Naruto smirked and then smacked the boy hard on his noggin with a closed fist and digging in his point. "I don't care about that," the blond said. "The law states…"

"Ah, Naruto," Sarutobi said. "It's all right."

"I'd still recommend jail time for the brat," Naruto shrugged, crossed his arms and then he said. "Oh well, since I've five days until I meet the new team, permission to leave the village for supplemental training on the plateau then."

"Granted," the old man said. He filled out one of the many forms on his desk that he kept for such situations. "Here you go," Sarutobi handed him the signed and stamped paper. "Only for four days, I'm afraid. It's been booked by another team after that."

Naruto saw an added notation at the bottom, quirked an eyebrow and received a nodded permission from the old man. He bowed and left room. As he passed the ninja, Ebisu, who was supposedly the boy's primary instructor, he kicked the man in the ass. This sent the supposedly elite ninja flying into room with such speed that he crashed face first into the wall.

"Hmph," the blond boy muttered and shook his head, as he left. "You're not much of anything either, pretentious, snooty...," and the rest, of what Genin Uzumaki said, couldn't be heard by those in the room anymore.

Sarutobi, the third Hokage watched the elite tutor grumble from his position. His grandson's eyes sparkled and he ran away to catch up to the one ninja that had been able to take out his boring tutor. Not only that, but that blond boy was the first one to ever strike him and tell him about the dangers of attacking his grandfather.

Naruto casually walked down the street making a few mental notes of what he needed in order to conduct his private training. He knew that he'd need some extra equipment, if that notation were to come into effect. He shrugged and thought, 'I've just gotten written permission to corrupt the kid, if he follows me, heh, heh,…This never happened in the past, I wonder how the tutor will be occupied during the time frame, if the kid escapes the village…'

The blond hopped from rooftop to rooftop to quickly pack his camping gear. He ensured that he had enough food rations and just the base equipment. 'Four days should be enough time to remove some of the stars from the kid's eyes,' he thought. 'He needs to see the hard work first hand in order to learn to take his time and just be a kid. I know he's got friends to hang out with.'

Naruto secured his apartment with a few traps. He ensured that most his live weapons were safely stored at Akiko's place because he didn't trust most people in the village to leave his belongings alone. 'I know that I'm the Yondaime's son,' he thought. 'There has to be some clan property that I can access…I guess they still need me to remain ignorant though.'

He hopped out of his apartment window, after having packed most of his fresher foodstuffs into a scroll that had a built in section that kept cold things cold. He'd never told anyone about that in the past. It was one of those Fuuinjitsu Techniques with the element of snow mixed in. No one knew he had that elemental affinity, but then again that was one of the stolen Kages elements from his past battle with his last enemy.

He dropped to the street and kicked a completely square box configured to look like stone. The box exploded in a loud puff of coloured smoke. It was the same kid that had tried to attack the Hokage in the old man's office.

"Look kid," Naruto said. "That was a poor form to use to hide and too easily detected. You'll have to do better than that to fool me." He turned and walked away. The boy then chose to zip into a shadow, which the blond noticed. The technique was sort of okay, but that kid's scarf revealed his position every single time.

Naruto ignored the boy until he reached the gate guards and handed them the note. The Chunin looked at it wide-eyed. The blond glanced in the direction of his shadow and the guards just shrugged. They made a notation in their records and handed the permission slip back to the Genin.

Then Chunin then made an obvious show of being distracted when a garbage can exploded nearby, even though they knew who did it. The long scarf wearing shadow thought he'd succeeded in passing them by and tried to follow the blond Genin, who was on a path towards a plateau found on the mountain's cliff side behind the Hokage Monument.

Naruto ensured that the boy was exhausted from trying to keep up, before he stopped, turned back and looked down at the huffing kid. "Well, what should I do now," he said. "I could return you to the village and forget that I'd earned the right to train in peace. Take you with me and make you train hard to pay back for my loss of private time or I can call one the guards that followed you and get them to take you back?"

"Take me with you," the kid said. "I'll do whatever you say. Please treat me like a ninja. I am ninja or I'm gonna the best ninja, you'll see."

"Very well," Naruto said. "I hate wasting my time getting somewhere with someone not yet trained to keep up." He shifted his backpack to the front, picked up the kid and placed him at his back in a piggy-back position. "You hang on," the blond said. "Cause we're gonna fly."

The kid, who'd yet to introduce himself to the Genin, closed his eyes as he felt the body under him spring up and hop quickly from tree branch to tree branch with a speed he didn't know could be learnt while young. They reached the rock-face in record time and now it was just a matter of climbing it.

"By the way my name's Konohamaru," the kid told him, as he'd been let down from the back of the person that had carried him far from the entrance of Konoha village.

"Naruto," the blond replied. He pulled out a long length of coiled rope and placed it on the ground. "Follow my lead and stretch your limbs like I do. When we're done that, we need to take a piss in the woods to clear our bladders."

The boy watched and tried to follow some of the stretches, but didn't quite understand why. They returned from the toilette break and the kid asked, "Why'd we have to go?"

"So that we don't piss ourselves because it takes too long to climb the rock face. Normally I'd just whip it out and piss out in the open, but you're going to be traveling below me, so I don't think you'd like it if I pissed on your head, now would you?"

"Gross," Konohamaru stated and covered his head from the imagery he could see in his mind's eye. Then he watch as the Genin picked up the coil of rope and begin to approach him. "What are you going to do," he asked. "You're not a pervert or something."

"Nope," Naruto replied. "I need to make you a rope harness, so that you can climb the rock with me, now stand still." He wrapped the rope in such a way that the boy felt like he'd been placed into a real harness that went around both his legs, around his waist and over his shoulders. A large karabiner was clipped to the X formation of rope on the boy's back.

"You step where I step," the Genin told him, as he tied the other part of the rope to himself. He also handed him a pair of bear paw (…i…) gloves. These were modified for the spikes or claws to be in the palm of the gloves rather than the usually bear claws that ninja used. "These will help you to learn how to climb using your fingers, but will also help you catch the rock face when you can't find a finger hold. Let's go."

"What if I fall," Konohamaru asked, knowing it was way too late to back away from this adventure.

"The rope will hold," Naruto said. "I'm going to continue climbing, but you climb as much as you can until your limbs feel like noodles. I'm going to do an evaluation on your skills. Climb for as long as you can. When you can't, you let me know so that I can prepare myself the haul you up, understood." The boy developed a stubborn look in his eyes.

"You need to tell me as a warning for when I'm going to be carrying extra weight because my path going up will have to change," the Genin explained. The look didn't leave the boy's eyes, so he bopped him on the head with his fist. "It's not a matter of pride you little idiot, it's a matter of survival. You followed me and said you'll do anything. I'm telling you to let me know when you can no long hang on, understood."

"Yes, Boss," the kid rubbed his head and sniffed. He looked back longingly in the direction of the village, but it was way too late. He was out of familiar territory with someone who was practically a stranger to him.

Naruto just nodded and began his climb. The kid observed and then began the slow crawl up the cliff side of the mountain.

He'd done a bit of wall climbing with his tutor, but nothing of that had prepared him for this. He climbed as far as he could and still climbed some more from sheer stubbornness. He noted that the leader always paused to wait for him when the rope distance lengthened and started to tighten. His toes hurt, his fingers were sore and he'd nearly pissed himself a couple times when he'd slipped from what he'd believed to be a secure foothold.

He gave in when they'd passed the halfway mark about thirty minutes ago. "Boss," he called up. "Naruto, I don't think that I can hold onto anything anymore."

"Grab the rope," the Genin called down. "Shift your position so that your feet are flat on the cliff. When I pull on it, you walk up slowly hand over hand, letting the rope get slack until you're close to me, then you'll stop and rest, while I climb and we'll continue until we reach the top. Understood?"

"Yes Boss," the kid replied. 'Why didn't we begin with that,' he thought and then realized. 'He taught me! He actually taught me to…' His thoughts broke as he felt the tug on the rope to indicate that he was to walk up, almost like a reverse situation from repelling. He neared the blond and noted the sweat the Genin had from the climb.

The kid was ashamed that he butted into the ninja's independent training time. 'He'd have gotten up a lot faster, if I wasn't around.'

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said as the boy neared him again. "Having someone else around is training for me too." The kid looked up and noted the serious look on the prankster's face. "I have to join a new team of graduated Genin. They won't know even half the things that my old team knew, so I'll have to show them how to do things like this too. Remember I chose to let you come and you chose to follow me. Now let's continue the climb and get to our camping area before the sun sets. If we're lucky we can even take a dip in the pond before going to sleep."

"There's a pond up there," Konohamaru asked in excitement, eager to shed his sweaty clothing.

"A waterfall too," Naruto said as he began to climb again. "It's good for a quick shower, but you need to remember that the pond is shallow, so no diving, understood?"

"Yes Boss," the kid replied with a formal salute. He waited and watched the Genin climb. Just by watching he learned how the older youth did it, using a kunai as a piton anchor. Periodically the blond dusted his hands in the dirt and that's how the kid found a natural way to remove the sweat from his palms.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Naruto looked into the campfire and then to the boy that had curled up in one of the blond's larger old t-shirts and inside an old smaller sleeping bag that the Genin still had. He'd brought along a few of his old clothes and gear because that kid was totally unprepared to camp out in the open.

There was a large canvas tarp, strung between two trees with rope and pegged in a way that gave it the upside down V tent form. He'd had the kid gather twigs, dry grass and long branches, while he looked for a good sized downed tree to chop up for firewood, after he'd set up the base tent.

Konohamaru had been subjected to another piggy-back ride in order to get to the campsite. It was only after they'd reached the approximate camping area that the rope harness had been removed. They did stretches to remove any kinks that had developed during the course of their climb. The kid watched as the Genin pulled out a scroll that held some of the gear that was needed for camping.

That first night they ate dry and tin rations only. They bathed quickly in the pool and the kid was grateful that extra clothing had been brought along for him. They dug their toilette trench and found a piss stump before the kid slumped quickly into sleep in an old, but surprisingly comfy sleeping bag, as the Genin fixed to the fire burn smokeless and yet still provide the heat needed for the night. They were in an elevated location, which was naturally colder than the village.

Naruto snorted as he heard the kid mumble with a whiny tone, "Boss… don't piss on my head."

The Genin shook his head and then pulled out his mission scroll with the background information on his new teammates. He'd read a few lines about the sensei and noted that he'd been given far more information than he'd ever had the first time around about one Hatake Kakashi.

The scroll had an explanation related to the formation of the team and most of the reasons for teaming three dissimilar mindsets under a Jounin known to be lax regarding many issues.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Team Seven

Hatake Kakashi: - Known by several names, most common "Copy-cat Nin" or "Mirror Ninja of Konoha" - Retired rank of ANBU, Active rank Jounin - Son of the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo, who committed suicide when his son was young and newly promoted to Chunin (…ii…) - Received an implanted Sharingan eye (left) belonging to comrade Uchiha Obito during a mission to Rock Country, comrade KIA - Chronically tardy - Knows many valuable Jutsus

Uchiha Sasuke: Chakra levels mid to high, requires refinement - Potential future Sharingan wielder - Potential fire element affinity based on family history - Skilled in several forms of hand-to-hand arts, mixes a few together, strong in using leg Katas - Mid range and close range fighter - Weapon specialization, not known - Low book learned skills - Never took any optional courses - Personal belief that he's 'elite' among his peers, affects social interaction with said peers - Only survivor of clan massacre from the hands of older brother, Uchiha Itachi, who is currently a rogue ninja and in the Bingo Book lists

Haruno Sakura: Chakra levels low and requires refinement - High book learned skills - Low hand to hand skills - Weapon specialization, not known - Fighting range, unknown - Potentially Genjutsu specialist - Never took any optional courses - Entering puberty for females, easily distracted due emotional phase - Unknown potential for other ninja skills - Unknown interest for other ninja skills.

Naruto snorted, as some of his own stats were included in the mission scroll.

Uzumaki Naruto: Very high Chakra levels, refinement ongoing - High probability for Elemental affinity, use and jutsu creation - Low book learned skills - Skilled in several forms of Taijutsu and other hand-to-hand combat - Range of attacks, situational, mostly close combat fighter - Exhibits elements of unknown Jutsu type not yet recorded -

Naruto blinked at that line and then thought about the Chunin exam he'd taken in Suna. 'The girls must have mentioned the words I'd said when we were in that 'Treasure Room'. Damn, I'm going to have to be careful about that. No wonder the old fart asked about treasure from Suna.'

He paused and then looked up at the sloth monkey hanging from the tree above that had been watching over them ever since they'd arrived. There was a smaller more agile spider monkey curled on the belly of the hanging sloth.

'Old man's got his summons out.' He noted. He waved at them and then continued to read.

: ... Jutsu type not yet recorded - Weapon specialization in Wakizashi blade and Tanto blade, self-taught, recommend Kenjutsu training - Self-taught gymnastic forms - Skilled in watercolour and calligraphy, recommendation on file by Yuuhi Kurenai - Potential Fuuinjitsu skills, suspected, but not yet apparent.

"Well that's quite a bit about me," Naruto muttered out loud and then the next paragraph was the all about the council's reasons to form the team.

Team Seven created to pair Uchiha Sasuke for tutelage under only other known Sharingan user in Konoha. Genin Uzumaki is experienced in working with a Haruno family member, to assist in the training of Haruno Sakura when Jounin begins to instruct Sharingan student in more advanced skills. Instruction or training of Genin Haruno by Genin Uzumaki in only to be acted upon, when requested to do so by Jounin-sensei. Genin Uzumaki must try and ensure successful pass for Team Seven in hidden secondary Genin exam.

The Genin huffed, sighed and when assured that he'd read every mission parameter on the scroll, he tossed into the fire to get rid of it. It was evidence that he didn't need to keep it, just in case curious fingers found their way into his pack. Kakashi-sensei had been known to pull unprotected scrolls from unsuspecting packs as training against thieves. That's what he'd done in the past.

'I wonder what he'd think about my sticky fingers lifting his precious Icha, Icha books,' he chuckled. He made sure that no part of the mission scroll remained. He checked his traps and then crawled into the tent in the other sleeping bag next to the Hokage's grandson to sleep for a good portion of the night. He had a timed trap set to release a soft bang to wake him up early in the morning for his first set of morning exercises.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

BANG, BANG, BANG!

"Wah," Konohamaru woke up from a deep sleep startled by the sound of the time released explosion tag that was set close to the tent, to wake up the kid. "What's going on?"

"Morning," Naruto said cheerfully. "It's time to get up. We have a lot to do and only three days to do it."

"What are you talking about," the kid said with a scowl.

"Put your shoes on," the Genin said. "There's a path that we're going to run on and you have to finish at least one circuit before we eat breakfast. Stretches first." Naruto stretched and had the boy do the same. "Follow the red tags on the trees," the blond told the kid.

The Genin paused as he ran in place to make sure that the boy was going to follow him. He paced the kid until he said, "I plan to run the circuit several times, so I will be passing you and testing you to see how long it takes you to do one lap. Understood?"

"Yes Boss," the kid said loudly, as though the louder he was the clearer he sounded. He noticed the blond just jogging next to him, until the Genin picked up his pace and forced the kid to run at a slightly faster speed.

"You stay at this speed until I catch up to you," Naruto said and then took off quite fast.

Konohamaru watched at how quickly the older boy disappeared, but the path was well tagged, so he did his best. He was winded and exhausted by the time he was three quarters of the way along the path. By this time his 'Boss' had passed him nine times and was due to show up one more time.

"Hey kid," Naruto said jogging up to him and slowed down to match the boy's pace. "You've only a quarter of the path left to go."

"How...huh...how long," the kid asked curious about how long they'd been running. "We…huh…been…hah, huh…runnin?"

Naruto looked to the sky and said, "About an hour and fifteen minutes, why?"

"Curious," the kid said. "Never...ha...huh...ha...ran...that...huh...long before."

"That's expected," Naruto told him. "Save your breath for the last leg. We're going to slow it down a bit now." He paced the boy and soon nearing the end of the path they were walking normally back towards their camp. The Genin made the boy to more stretches and then they had to fish for their breakfast.

"WHAT," Konohamaru complained. "Why fish?"

"I didn't bring enough dried goods," Naruto said, as he handed the kid a pole with a line, hook with a wriggling worm attached. "Dried and tin goods are easy to store and should only be used in an emergency. When traveling, a Ninja must make use of the environment or of local stock and resources available. Since you want to be treated like a Ninja that's what we're doing."

"Oh man," the kid looked at the pole and pouted.

"You catch nothing, you eat nothing," Naruto said and left the boy to his thoughts. He sat down on a rock and proceeded to fish. He was aware of when the boy had made his decision because the kid had joined him. Soon they were both sitting cross-legged. They bopped the fishing line up and down to tease the fish into biting and eventually they had caught several kinds, two of which were thrown back.

"We can't eat those ones," the Genin explained. He moved away and handed the boy a kunai. The kid just stared at it and then realized that the blond was going to make him do everything. "Do what I do and watch your fingers," Naruto told him. He showed the boy how to clean the fish for eating. He showed him the thin green sticks that he'd already prepared. He explained where they came from and why they were called green sticks. They threaded the fish and cooked all of them after getting the fire going once more.

He explained a bit about camp cooking and then said, "We'll hunt for root vegetables, herbs and berries this afternoon. If we get enough to last us for a few days then we'll only need to fish for the rest of our time here."

The kid just followed him around. "What about water," the boy asked. "We'll need some to drink."

"See that barrel," Naruto pointed to a half barrel that he'd filled with clear waterfall water. It had a lid to prevent stuff from getting into it and there was a scoop for drinking, hanging from the side. "There's good water in there," he handed the boy an older canteen and said, "Use this while we're in the bushes."

The rest of their time there, Naruto, pushed the kid to the limits of the boy's small body. He made the kid run that path once in the morning and once before night, while he ran ten laps around the boy. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges were done in a repetitious format. The kid had to do twenty of each, while Naruto did hundreds.

Konohamaru was subjected to base Taijutsu training, climbing the trees and rocks to get to the top of the waterfall, the hard way and not with chakra. They did stretches that Naruto had invented based on Yoga and Tai-chi, base tumbling and cartwheels. The Genin made sure that the boy had time to ask his questions and get the answers about why to do things and how come, what for, how long, etc...

Packing up the camp on the last day was quick, efficient and the kid watched how Naruto used storage scrolls for most items. "Did it take a long time to buy your equipment," Konohamaru asked with curiosity. "Are missions cool?"

"It took a long time for me to buy most of my stuff," Naruto stated. "That's because I'm an orphan, so no one was going to pay for me. There's a base pay for Genin, which begins at two thousand Ryo. You get that on when you pass all of the Genin exams. Then there's mission pay that can be added to that, once your sensei feels that your team can start missions. As for missions being cool...well that depends on the mission."

"Oh," Konohamaru said, slightly deflated.

"To be a ninja of any village is to be the visible and hidden soldier of that village," Naruto continued, as he packed the last of the camp items away. They walked to the ledge where they needed to climb down. He pointed to a stump with holes in it and said, "Bathroom."

The kid nodded and once they were both done, the Genin once again made a climbing harness of rope for the boy. "D-Class missions are just as important as A-Class missions," the Genin continued their conversation. "The way we're going to go down will be easier. You'll repel down to the max length of the rope, jam this," he attached a kunai to a smaller length of rope at the boy's waist. "Into a crack in front of you and then I will climb down to meet you. Understood?"

"Yes, Boss," the kid said and gulped. He watched Naruto go over the edge and then brace himself before he guided the kid to begin his descent.

"D-Class missions are usually missions to help people in the village," the Genin continued his conversation. The boy was down and had wedged his anchor with a signal up to the blond. "The villagers know that Genin are mostly children, but most Ninjas are used for war, so the D-Class missions are to let the civilians know that the Genin are not only being used for war."

"What kinds of things are considered D-Class," Konohamaru eventually asked, after they'd traveled several hundred feet.

"Dog-walking, weeding, rock clearing, painting fences, painting houses, baby-sitting..." Naruto told him. "You know those kinds of things that usually take a long time to do, but you don't want to do it and you're willing to pay someone else to do it. The worst is finding that damn cat."

"What cat," Konohamaru asked.

"The Fire Lord's wife has a cat named Tora. It is about the most vicious thing you'd ever seen," Naruto told him. "But somehow I feel sorry for it because it's always running away from her."

"Why would it do that," the kid said with a sigh because he could see that they were getting close to the bottom.

"The Fire Lord's wife is too attentive to the cat," Naruto said. "Cats aren't like dogs. They don't like to be cuddled, petted or picked up all that often unless they tell you that they want you to do that."

They arrived at the bottom of the rock cliff safely. The rope harness was removed and since it was still morning, the Genin made them run and chose alternate longer path back to the village. He chose the longer route so that the boy would be exhausted by the time they returned in the afternoon. "Let's go, we're going to run at your pace."

Konohamaru started. He was slow in the beginning, but then picked up the pace until he was in his comfort zone from when ran the red-tagged route. He'd actually managed to run around the path once at a faster pace than normal and he'd almost been able to keep up with Naruto's second slowest pace. He'd been proud of that.

Hours later the Chunin guards chuckled as the blond Genin arrived at the gates carrying the Hokage's sleeping grandson on his back. They made their notations in their books and waved him on in. One of them had to be a smart ass and say, "You know that he's drooling don't you."

"Has been for the past fifteen minutes," Naruto commented. "You want him?"

The Chunin held up his hands and said, "No way. That Ebisu guy has been here everyday and nearly every hour since you left. Take that kid home yourself."

"Chicken," Naruto told them good-naturedly. He hopped to the rooftops, scaled the Hokage's building and knocked on the office belonging to the old man.

"Come in," Sarutobi said. He smiled when he saw who it was and held out his hands to lift the sleeping boy from the back of one of his favourite Genin. "Did it go well?"

"You already know how it went," Naruto said and pointed to the spider monkey that climbed in through the window. The old man shrugged. "I could write you a mission report," the blond continued grinning cheekily.

"Go on with you," the old cradled his sleeping grandson. "You have a meeting to keep the day after next."

"Hai, hai," the blond agreed and then with another grin he leapt for the window and hopped away from the tower.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

At an hour when most of the village was sleeping, a figure in a totally matte grey bodysuit and a strange cloak, climbed the Hokage's tower for one purpose. The future is a past story that had never been told, but some events were still predictable. He'd kept an eye on Mizuki-sensei ever since he'd graduated from that man's class. Therefore was never surprised when he detected movement throughout the tower from his sensei using one inch square tracking Fudas that he'd posted in obscure corners of the Hokage's building, the few times he'd been there.

The Fuda or Sutras only activated a 'Seeing Eye' when that white-blond haired man's Chakra passed it. It was, in a sense, a third eye that Naruto used. It linked two of the same mark or design together and opened to look at the person or object with the same Chakra. He had to have a copy of that mark somewhere on his body to in order to be able to see through the other papers posted.

That's how he tracked that man's progress through the tower. He'd been waiting for the spy to take action and it looked like the man was ready to steal the Scroll of Sealing.

Naruto had managed to get there before the ninja spy. He'd been able to set up a couple of traps and trip wires that were obvious and couple that were not. 'Now let's see how skilled he truly is,' the blond thought, from his concealed position behind the very effective camo-cloth cloak that he'd made with the help of his old teammate.

'Good thing that this was finally finished in time for this event,' he thought as he watched through goggled eyes how a supposedly Chunin level ninja came into the Hokage's office, disarmed the obvious traps and detected the not so obvious ones. The blond's eyes narrowed and he knew that he'd have to do something quick to capture that man in the act.

He had a camera in hand and with the highest flash level he quickly pulled it out. Luckily it was the type that the photos were produced immediately and that he just needed to pull them from the machine quickly. Several photos were taken. The man yelled his surprise and shock, which alerted the ANBU guards in the area. The pictures showed the area that the man had been aiming for and which files or scrolls he'd planned to get.

Naruto produced several Kage (shadow) Bushin (clones) and had them hold the man until he could be taken into custody. He'd even managed to slip in and hit the man a few times before leaving him a broken mass on the floor of the office.

The Hokage stepped into the room and noted the number photos that littered the floor and then looked at the ninja being picked up by the arms by his security ANBU. "Well," the old man said in a very serious tone. "It seems that this man needs to meet with our T&I Unit for a thorough debriefing."

"How," Mizuki said. "No one knew I was coming."

The old man looked in the corner of the room and nodded. "You can come out now," the old man said. "You're training has improved."

"Thank you Jiji," Naruto said and pulled the goggles off along with the hood and hair cover. "Thank you for giving me permission to test my Eye Fuda." The Genin clarified and had a disturbing looking eye in the middle of his forehead, but it was his actual presence that shocked his onetime sensei. He pulled the paper off his head and the eye on it closed. "They barely work, but I will improve them with time."

The old man held out his hand and looked at the paper. "I'll need a full report from you regarding tonight's activities, you may just get mission pay for this," he said. "About that cloak?"

"A gift from one of my old teammates," Naruto said. "Brilliant with textile materials, but unfortunately it takes quite a bit of chakra to keep the effect active." He stopped the chakra flow and the 'invisible camo' feature disappeared to reveal a plain patchwork cloak of multiple colours.

"Interesting," the old man said. "Genin Uzumaki you are dismissed." Naruto bowed and moved to leave the room by the door, as was proper.

"Do you know why the whole town hates you," Mizuki called out in panicked desperation to the boy. "Get me free and I'll tell you."

Naruto walked over to the man and looked down. The guards lifted him up in a way that hurt the man's arms. "Trying to buy a way out traitor...spy..." the Genin said and blinked slowly showing the slit eyes of the fox with purple eyes slowly bleeding to red. He gave a very toothy, fanged grin and said. "I already know about the Fox, now you go have fun with the Interrogation Unit."

"Naruto," the old man sighed.

The blond looked back at the Hokage; the fox impression completely cleared from his features and said, "It's all right. I figured it out a while ago."

"If you ever want to know more," the old man offered.

"Thank you," the blond said suddenly choked up by the idea that the Hokage would actually tell him something. "I'd like to know more about my mother and father if you please, maybe over tea sometime in the future?"

The old man smiled and nodded. "You have a meeting that you can't miss in the morning. I'll expect that report as soon as you can write it."

"Yes sir," Naruto said. He saluted and left the room with a final kick to Mizuki's groin area, causing the traitor to pass out.

The old man sighed and said, "Take him to Morino Ibiki and his team. Find out what he was here for and why."

The guards dragged the body of the fainted Chunin, as the Hokage picked up a couple of the pictures that had been scattered over the floor. 'How did Naruto know about this,' he thought. 'It's a good thing that he was here, though. But testing Fuda?'

He looked down at the drawing on the paper and wondered just what that little bit of paper could do to improve how teams infiltrated or learned information.

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

TBC…

(…i…) Bear Claws / Bear Paws – at this point it's made and not meant to reflect anything in relation to the actual ninja claws commonly seen in movies or other…

(…ii…) Name of Kakashi's father - http: / www dot leafninja dot com (you know what to do, remove the spaces and replace the dots). New sight found to Naruto data, which seems to be quite up to date, but could have errors, however it's inspiring to me.