Naruto: Shadows of the Mind

by Vaanarash

Sarutobi had always had the best of intentions when he made his decisions concerning Naruto. But you know what they say about the road to Hell and intentions. Now, with unseen enemies and shadowy secrets all around him, Naruto must choose his path and live his life his way. No matter the cost. Gray Naruto, Sort of Naru/FemHaku, Naru/? no harem, no yaoi.

20. Chapter 19

Words-147231, Chapters-20, Reviews-703, Hits-375063, C2s-128, Favs-1239, Alerts-1272

---

AN: Well, I'm still alive. I apologise for the far too long of a wait, and that this chapter is still unbeta'd. I was going to wait until I'd had a chance to get everything proof read by someone other than myself, but I decided that I'd made everyone wait long enough on this. Please note, this chapter was put together on computer, my phone, and paper, then combined later on, then left untouched for months before I finally got back to working on it again. So there may be places where it doesn't flow properly, though I tried to catch them all. If you find one, please let me know.

Anyway, don't forget to check out my other stories and challenges. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I should have responded to everyone, but if I missed you, I apologize. All reviews/criticism is welcomed. So, without further ado, I give you chapter 19 of Naruto: Shadows of the Mind.

---

Summary: Sarutobi had always had the best of intentions when he made his decisions concerning Naruto. But, you know what they say about intentions and the road to Hell.

---

'THOUGHTS'

LINEBREAKS=CHANGE OF SCENE/POV

---

Chapter 19

Naruto growled angrily as he delivered punch after punch to the training post in front of him. He didn't know why he was so surprised by Yoshino's actions. If anything, he should be surprised that she didn't do something like this sooner. Not that she was right of course. Naruto might not know the entire truth behind the matter, but that didn't mean he had any doubts about what had happened all those years ago. Right?

Shaking his head, Naruto -with great effort- pushed the matter to the back of his mind and after a deep breath, tied a blindfold around his eyes. He had just about gotten to the point where he could cast the Kokuangyou, so now he just needed to focus on being able to actually use it in battle. Something which, as far as he could tell, required him to learn to fight without the use of his eyes.

A more than slightly difficult task without any experienced teacher to help him. He couldn't just ask Kakashi –if he could even trust the man- without running the risk of someone discovering that he was in possession of a Kinjutsu. Which meant he was stuck trying to figure it out on his own. He had made some degree of progress, as he was steadily learning how to utilize his sense of smell and hearing to make up for the lack of sight, but without an actual opponent, he couldn't do much. And the only way he could get to the point where his body could actually react to what he heard and smelt, required a lot more practice moving around without his eyes.

Easier said than done.

As he was stumbling through the motions of various katas, he was interrupted by an oh so familiar laughter.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hana asked between her laughing. "You look like a complete idiot right now, stumbling around blindfolded like that."

Feeling the blood start to rush to his face, he ripped the blindfold off and glared at the laughing Inuzuka. "What do you want?" he growled, feeling like a complete moron for being seen like that.

Still snickering slightly, Hana and her companions walked up to him. "I want some questions answered of course." Hana said simply. "You did say you'd give me some answers…for a price." She attempted to mimic his voice at the end, and she must have found it difficult to keep from laughing judging from slight redness that came to her cheeks.

"Come back later." He said with a frown. "I'm busy." It was taking far more effort than he would like to resist scratching Sanae's ears as she gazed up at him from her haunches.

"Aww, c'mon, don't be like that!" Hana whined. "Tell you what, you answer some of my questions now, and I'll help you out with…whatever it is you're trying to do."

Naruto started to refuse, but then paused in thought. The Inuzuka were supposed to be pretty good at tracking by scent, so she might be able to help him out a little. After all, his own ability with using his sense of smell was more or less self-taught, so the help of someone whose clan specialized in it could be invaluable. "How good are you at using your sense of smell and hearing? Do you know anything about blind fighting?"

"Are you kidding?" Hana asked with a satisfied smile. "You're looking at the head of Konoha's Tracking unit!"

Naruto blinked. "I wasn't aware we had a special tracking team." He took a little satisfaction in seeing the way her eye twitched at that.

"Well, we do!" Hana growled. "Anyway, my ears are no different than most people, and I don't know anything about blind fighting. Sorry."

Naruto shrugged resignedly. "Don't worry about it. It would have been too easy if you did, and God has declared that nothing can ever be easy for me." 'I guess I'll still have to figure it out on my own…oh well, the smelling will help at least.' "All right, I'll answer a question or two, and you help me learn how to best utilize my sense of smell.

"Deal." Hana agreed instantly. "Okay, first question, why didn't you join the Academy when you were six, and why were you allowed to join two years late?"

"Well…" Naruto began slowly. "I didn't want to be a ninja for Konoha when I was six. And I don't know what you mean about that second one?"

Hana frowned slightly, "Don't you know? You can't just join the Academy late, or at least, not two years late. I've heard of people graduating late, but never joining late. So why was an exception made for you?"

Naruto blinked, and then frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know…" and as he thought about it, he couldn't think of any reason why the Old Man would have made such an exception for him. The only possible explanation was so he could send him on a suicide mission or something of the like. But even that didn't hold water, as the Old Man shouldn't need to do something like that to see Naruto dead. So why?

Shaking his head, he reminded himself that he could get all the answers once he cornered the Old Man. He just wished he didn't feel so uncertain about that now. "Anyway, that's two questions, so now you have to help me."

Hana looked decidedly unsatisfied, but consented after a moment. She spent the next hour revealing numerous insights to tracking by scent, surprising Naruto with how much he didn't know about his own nose.

After that, she had him put the blindfold back on -after making him take off his weapons to avoid any accidents- and put what she'd told him into practice. Once blindfolded, Hana and her companions began circling him, and Naruto would have to try to pinpoint their location by scent alone. To his surprise, he did much better than he expected, especially now that he wasn't fumbling in the dark–no pun intended- when it came to his nose, quickly getting the hang of sorting out the individual scents and being able to mark their location on a sort of mental map.

It wasn't perfect by any means, and he couldn't use it in a fight yet, but it was progress. Something that he'd been having little of lately.

Their training session came to an abrupt end when Hana decided she was bored. Had Naruto seen her sudden grin, and the doggy grins of the Haimaru, he might have reacted in time.

Instead, his only warning was the sudden weight as Hana leaped onto his back. Stumbling forward, Naruto reached up to remove his blindfold, and glared over his shoulder at a grinning Hana.

Before he could ask what she was doing, Hana playfully yelled, "Dog pile!"

Naruto barely had time to blink before Sanae and Kanae jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. A few moments of scrambling and struggling later, Naruto found himself lying on his back, Hana nearly nose to nose on top of him, one hand on his chest between them, with Kanae and Sanae draped across them both. The three of them together were actually enough to hold him down, much to his chagrin.

Scowling up at the laughing Hana, he missed the slight hint of red in her cheeks as she leaned a tad closer and declared, "Looks like I win this time, Naruto."

Feeling petulant, Naruto grumbled, "You cheated. If I hadn't been blindfolded you never would have touched me."

"Perhaps." Hana agreed with a laugh. "But that doesn't change the fact that I win."

Grumbling, he turned to the only one who hadn't joined in and said, "I feel so sorry for you, Mikoto. It must be hard looking after these three puppies." Mikoto sighed, and Naruto could swear she shrugged her shoulders in resignation.

"Who are you calling a puppy?" Hana growled playfully in his ear. "Last time I checked you're younger than me!"

"So?" Naruto drawled with a challenging smirk. "My age doesn't change your childishness."

Hana scowled at him as the red in her cheeks deepened, before softening considerably as her eyes settled on his face. "Naruto?" she asked quietly as she traced one of his scars with a feather light touch. "How did you get these scars?"

Naruto tensed uncontrollably at her question and grit his teeth as the memories returned. "From a knife, how else?" he spat with a hint of venom as he turned to the left, blocking her view of the scars.

Rather than answer or return to the banter he had expected, Hana slowly sat up, her companions seeming to detect the sudden mood change between them.

Naruto stared up at her as she seemed to struggle with her words for a moment. When she couldn't seem to find what she wanted to say, he stood up and began gathering his gear. "I think that's enough training for the day. Thanks for the help."

"…Yeah. I probably should get going too." Hana agreed finally as her companions gathered around her. As they made to leave, Hana paused next to him and hesitantly reached out to lay a hand on his forearm.

Curious, Naruto glanced over at her to see an uncharacteristically torn expression on her face. Hana's mouth opened and closed several times before she finally said, "Take care, Naruto."

Nodding, Naruto turned and went in the opposite direction, pondering Hana's oddly hesitant behavior. He couldn't shake the feeling that she meant to say something else when they parted.

---

'I wonder if Tora has ever considered suicide? Or maybe murder? Can a cat contemplate suicide?' Naruto couldn't help but morbidly wonder as he watched the cat being smothered by Lady Shijimi, aka the Hi Daimyo's wife.

Well, he watched when he wasn't busy staring suspiciously at the Old Man or trying to pinpoint the room's hidden watchers. They were good, but not good enough to fool him. Unless of course, they wanted him to know they were there, in which case, they were just playing with him.

"Oh, my poor baby!" Madame Shijimi all but wailed as she squeezed the frantic cat. "You must have been so scared out there by yourself! Don't worry, mommy's got you, and she's not going to let you go ever again!"

If anything, Naruto thought the cat just struggled even harder at her words. And it might have been his imagination, but it seemed like the cat was looking at him with desperate, begging eyes.

Naruto would have almost sympathized with the poor creature, if it weren't for the fact that his team was regularly assigned the mission to retrieve it. That, and how whatever hostility the Haimaru mysteriously lacked when it came to him, Tora seemed to possess enough for all four and more.

Looking back over the last month, Naruto had been pleasantly surprised by the "missions" Teams Seven and Eight had been receiving. He knew that D ranks were the easiest and lowest ranked missions for a reason, but even he had been unprepared for the things asked of them.

Things like walking dogs, grocery shopping, babysitting, gardening, and of course retrieving Tora. All completely safe, if boring missions. And with the exception of Tora, all their missions were completed without a problem. Though to be fair, Naruto was as much to blame as the cat for that last one.

---

Flashback

"Alright team, same plan as last time. First one to find the target radios it in to the rest of us. No one should attempt to apprehend it alone. Understand?" Kakashi ordered in a lazy voice.

Naruto couldn't help but snort even as Sasuke and Sakura gave their assent in their own ways. 'Like you ever do anything anyway, Sensei.' Naruto mentally sneered angrily.

As the team split up, Naruto jumped away in a random direction, not even attempting to look for the damn cat as he cursed his so called sensei.

Kakashi was...disappointing. He didn't train them very often, and even when he did, it was usually something small and simple like teamwork exercises and the like. He almost never gave them any pointers, and didn't even have them spar very often. They all showed up at the designated time -only to sit around pointlessly for hours- did a mission, then dispersed. And that's it. What made it even more absurd was that Naruto knew that Kurenai worked her team into the ground. He'd watched over her during her team's training often enough to feel a pang of jealousy for the members of Team eight.

As far as Naruto could tell, Kakashi seemed to be the worst possible sensei he could have gotten. He knew the man had to be a talented Jounin, especially when he managed to stay alive with only one eye. But he had to be the laziest, most unmotivated bastard to ever receive the title of Jounin-sensei! The man never showed up on time, never taught them anything, and rather than help his "students" complete a mission, he just stood around reading porn all day! Enough was enough!

Shaking his head to clear away the aggravating and less than useful thoughts, Naruto glanced around and began to focus. First he allowed his "sixth sense" to feel for any hidden presences. When he found nothing, he concentrated on his hearing and Listened. As all ambient sounds faded away, Naruto concentrated on any noise that could even possibly be man made. Once again finding nothing, Naruto surreptitiously sniffed his surroundings. The lessons with Hana were clearly paying off, as he near instantly confirmed what his ears and "sixth sense" had been telling him. He was alone.

'Now if only I could Listen without losing my other senses, or even combine it with my nose.' Naruto absently thought as he pulled a single piece of paper from one of his shoulder pouches. It was a square, two by two inch paper, with a number of markings on it that would be indecipherable to most eyes.

Naruto grinned smugly as he considered this particular seal. After he had captured Tora last week -for the second time no less- Naruto had decided to save himself some trouble if they ever received this mission again. Finding the cat alone had been a trial, but once he had, Naruto was able to capture it quite easily without giving himself away. Rendering the vicious creature paralyzed by a well-timed Kanashibari –which he was sworn to secrecy under penalty of a massive beating from Anko if he ever told Kurenai she'd taught him- Naruto had been quick to inscribe a tracking seal onto Tora's neck. Naruto's hunch had proven right, as they had received the Retrieve Tora mission yet again, and he suspected they would be seeing quite a bit of that wretched cat.

A brief pulse of chakra later, and the ink on the paper swirled together before forming into a small arrow in the paper's center, and a number beneath it.

Orienting himself, Naruto quickly followed the tracking seal to a small clearing, where he was forced to pinch himself. Surely he was seeing things.

After all, there was no way that Tora; vicious, cruel, ill-tempered and downright evil Tora, would ever spend it's time playfully chasing after butterflies. Naruto couldn't shake how...happy and content Tora looked. It was like looking at a different cat altogether. How could a cat as downright evil as Tora be so...normal? Granted, most of the time he saw the thing it was either being chased by his team, or being smothered by its owner. But still, it just seemed so... different.

A part of Naruto actually felt bad for the creature now. It obviously just wanted to be left alone, and given the "loving" treatment it received from its owner, Naruto couldn't really blame the creature. In fact, he was surprised to find that he actually sympathized with Tora.

At the same time, the client was the Daimyo's wife. Deliberately failing the mission was beyond foolish, and as much as he felt for the cat, Naruto had to put his own ambitions ahead of anyone that he wasn't close to.

That being said...

Naruto took a long look at Tora before turning and walking away. It wasn't like Kakashi would actually train them after the mission, so there was no real rush to catch the cat. What's a few more hours? And besides, he could always use the time to try to piece together Kurenai's Magen: Jubaku Satsu. She was still refusing to teach it to him after all these years. 'Stubborn, overprotective woman.' He thought to himself with a sigh of exasperation.

An hour or so later, Naruto had to admit that the damn cat had had enough freedom for one day, quickly pouncing on the little devil before he had a chance to run off again. A quick radio call to Kakashi and the others, and they were heading back to hand the little bastard over to his owner.

"Good job team." Kakashi said absently as he turned a page in his book. "Well, I suppose that's enough for today. We'll meet up again tomorrow at 0700 for some training. Dismissed."

Naruto stewed angrily as he watched Kakashi lazily saunter away, not even paying attention to Sasuke and Sakura as they departed as well. This really was getting out of hand. It wasn't even noon yet for God's sake. 'No more.' Naruto growled angrily as he whirled around and stomped away. 'By God, I'm not going to put up with this shit anymore!'

---

The next day, Naruto woke with the sun streaming across his face like always. Unlike usual, rather than begrudgingly getting up, Naruto rolled over and wrapped himself tighter before dropping off again. 'Fuck Kakashi.' He thought with a sneer, having deliberately shut off his alarm the night before. 'Let's see how he likes a taste of his own medicine...'

The next time he woke, it was due to the large displacement of air that signaled a Shunshin, which caused every fiber of his being to tense uncontrollably. Discreetly sniffing, Naruto resisted the urge to leap up and attack the intruder, even as he contemplated the quickest ways to kill or escape as necessary. Dogs, metal, oil, and old blood. Definitely Kakashi.

"You know, trespassing is a crime, Kakashi." Naruto drawled conversationally with his eyes still tightly shut.

"So is dereliction of duty, Naruto." Kakashi responded in his usual bored tone. "And that's Kakashi-sensei by the way."

"Whatever do you mean, Kakashi?" Naruto asked blandly as he opened one eye.

"You're four hours late for the team meeting, as I'm sure you know." His so-called sensei answered dryly. "You left your teammates hanging and wasted our time."

"Annoying, isn't it?" Naruto asked sarcastically as he finally sat up in bed, subtly palming a kunai beneath the sheets.

"Hmm, touché my cute little Genin." Kakashi said cheerily. "Now if only you'd grow your hair out and read Icha Icha, I could one up Gai again."

"Why did you even bother passing us if you didn't intend to teach us anything?" Naruto asked bluntly. "Unlike some people, I actually have important things to do with my time, other than babysit a couple of children."

"Maa, maa, Naruto. You shouldn't say that about your teammates." When Naruto just glared at him, he continued with a shrug. "And while I may have been a little lazy about it, I have been putting together a training regimen for all of you. That takes time. Especially since I have to actually observe you first to see what I should teach you."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

Kakashi just gave him that creepy eye smile of his. "Go to the team meeting tomorrow, and I'm sure you'll be pleased."

Studying the man for any signs of falsehood, Naruto slowly nodded. "Alright. Now get out of my home."

Kakashi just did that smile of his again as he disappeared in a Leaf Shunshin. 'Asshole did that on purpose.' Naruto growled to himself as he glared at the pile of leaves left behind.

---

Flashback ends

No, Naruto had not been pleased with his sensei, or his training for the first few weeks. Although Naruto had to admit that things had livened up with Team Seven immediately after that encounter. Just as Naruto was about to give up any hope of receiving any real training, Kakashi had finally decided –with a little prodding- that they were ready for some more…interesting training. First there was a repeat of their Genin test, which ended the same despite Team Seven more or less working together. Immediately following that, Kakashi had pitted them against each other to further test their endurance and abilities. Then he sparred them one on one.

Needless to say, by the time they were dismissed for the day, Team Seven had been left trembling in pain and shaking in exhaustion. And then they did it again the next day.

And surprising enough, Naruto found himself enjoying every minute of it, if still somewhat wary of the man. Sure, he'd basically traded Anko for Kakashi- minus the constant barrage of pointy metal objects- in that Kakashi near effortlessly crushed him time and again no matter what tricks he tried, but he could feel himself improving. The only downside that he saw was that pulling Ninjutsu out of Kakashi was just as difficult as getting Genjutsu from Kurenai. But overall, Naruto was very pleased, and while he hadn't been able to beat Kakashi yet, he had come up with a few tricks to try out on Anko. Some of them had even worked.

As for his teammates...well, Naruto had to admit that he'd misjudged Sasuke. Oh, the Uchiha was completely single-minded, and everything he did was somehow related to his obsession with Itachi. In fact, Naruto was often tempted to taunt the younger boy about Itachi just to make him reckless in their spars. The only real reason why he refrained was because he didn't want to use up his advantage before he really needed it. That, and Yoshino had sat him down after he'd done something similar in an Academy spar with Chouji, and made him listen to a long lecture about how some subjects shouldn't be brought up lightly. He'd be lying if he said he agreed with, or even really understood everything Yoshino had said, but he tried to take the advice to heart, if for no other reason than that it was Yoshino giving it.

Although, Naruto found it both odd and if he was honest, unfair that no one had tried to saddle Sasuke with his own therapist. After all, Naruto was a perfectly well-adjusted individual, yet he and Yoshino had to sit down and talk once a week!

But Sasuke had an obsession with hunting down and killing his psychotic, legendary S rank Nin of a brother and no one said shit to him! Hell, Naruto couldn't remember a time when the kid did anything in his spare time but train, yet Naruto was the one who always had someone telling him to relax, or to do something fun, etc.

That being said, as narrow-minded as he was, Naruto had to admit the Uchiha took to Ninjutsu the way he himself took to Genjutsu. And while Sasuke was decent with Taijutsu, he was great with traps. Something Naruto was slightly miffed at.

Still, Naruto had to admit that he had misjudged the younger boy. Short of Shikamaru, Sasuke was probably the best teammate he could have gotten.

Sakura on the other hand... Well, the less said about the useless girl the better in his opinion. She'd actually had the nerve to complain that Kakashi was pushing them too hard! Naruto wanted to strangle her after he heard that, especially after how long it took to get the man to actually start training them in the first place.

Honestly, Naruto didn't have a clue as to how Sakura became the top kunoichi of their class. In his opinion, Hinata was better than Sakura in almost every way, and she was supposedly only the third ranked kunoichi!

Sakura's Taijutsu was embarrassing, she couldn't hit anything with a kunai that wasn't standing still, and her chakra reserves were barely any higher than a civilian's! Not to mention she didn't seem to have any Nin or Genjutsu outside what the Academy taught. Hell, the only thing she had going for her was her chakra control. Not that that meant much considering her tiny reserves.

Despite these shortcomings, all Sakura ever did was follow Sasuke around and gush about "how cool" he was. She never really tried to put her all into their training, literally doing the least amount of work Kakashi would let her get away with, and she constantly dismissed anyone who called her on it –aka Naruto- stating that "I'm the top kunoichi of our year! Besides, if anything ever happens, Sasuke-kun will protect me!" And for some reason, Kakashi didn't do anything about it.

It made Naruto sick. Not because the girl didn't realize the dangers of being a weak kunoichi. No, if Sakura's refusal to really try got her killed, or turned into some enemy ninja's plaything, then that's on her as far as Naruto was concerned. But the problem was that her little fantasy world was just as likely to result in other people's deaths as well. Like say, Naruto's.

And people actually expected him to respect and fight beside her?

"So Kakashi," the Old Man's voice suddenly shook Naruto from his contemplations. "Do you feel that Team Seven is ready for a C ranked mission?"

Naruto started as his eyes widened ever so slightly at that. A C rank? Them? Naruto didn't know whether to jump for joy, or narrow his eyes in suspicion. On the one hand, a part of Naruto would love to do something more...ninja-ish than the chores they've been getting. And maybe he could start working on getting his name into circulation that way. But considering that the Old Man was the source of the mission, it was only natural that he question the legitimacy of it.

Could this be a trap? Would Naruto step outside the village only to be set upon by Anbu or "missing-nin"? Would Kakashi receive orders to see to it that Naruto didn't make it back? After all, how much could he really trust the Jounin? Or maybe the Old Man had something planned for when he was gone? Something involving Kurenai?

There were so many possibilities of plots and conspiracies that Naruto wasn't sure what to think, so he settled for staring at the Old Man, trying to keep his face calm as he awaited Kakashi's answer.

---

Kakashi hummed and lazily cupped his chin, looking for all the world like a bored child. Inside however, his mind was racing over the possibilities. Did he think his team was ready?

'Well let's see...' Kakashi mused to himself. 'There's Naruto, who has good Taijutsu, perfect chakra control, is at least a Seal Adept, not to mention has unbelievable skill at Genjutsu, even creating his own B rank Genjutsu years before he started the Academy. He's constantly surveying the terrain and always trying to gather information, has situational awareness that's almost frightening at times, and is surprisingly good at tracking if the Tora missions are any indication.'

Kakashi mentally frowned. 'Of course, he's also a little…' Paranoid -even now his eyes were continuously darting from the Sandaime, to him, around the room, pausing on his teammates before visibly dismissing them, then repeating the process, muscles tensed to the point of snapping at the slightest noise- withdrawn, closed off, untrusting, unstable, and a sociopath. 'That's not true.' Kakashi reprimanded himself. 'He cares about some people. Just not anyone on Team Seven.' As much as Kakashi might not want to admit it, Naruto wasn't a shining example of what a fifteen year old Genin of Konohagakure should be. 'He's more like Orochimaru than either of his parents.'

Then there was Sasuke, who was even more withdrawn and anti-social than Naruto, if such a thing was possible. He was also unwilling to cooperate with anyone except Naruto to a degree. That said, the Uchiha definitely had the potential to be a combat genius. He was gifted at Taijutsu, very accurate with thrown weapons, and already had a C rank Katon to use. Hell, Sasuke seemed to be the very epitome of the Uchiha clan, seemingly naturally skilled at anything combat related.

The problem was that Sasuke didn't want to learn anything except what he believed to be combat skills. He considered things like Genjutsu, tracking, information gathering, stealth and survival training etc. to be "useless to his ambition". And if he thought it was useless, Sasuke just plain refused to "waste time on it". This left Kakashi a little stumped, finding his student going from demanding training to refusing it was…surreal.

Sasuke's driving force was to fight and kill his brother to avenge their family. But it seemed the boy couldn't contemplate any way to do this except in a straight up fight. Something that Itachi, the epitome of a shinobi –with the slight exception of the whole genocidal rampage thing- was unlikely to give him.

Finally, there was Sakura. Honestly, Kakashi wasn't sure what to do with her. The girl's infatuation with Sasuke was practically pathological. Even worse, she seemed to live in some kind of fantasy world for the most part, ignoring anything or anyone that didn't fit her "perfect world". Despite that, Sakura had perfect chakra control, and she could be surprisingly clever when Sasuke wasn't around. She'd probably be great at Genjutsu, if only for her control and her bright mind. The problem was, Sakura cared more about Sasuke's opinions than Kakashi's. And since Sasuke never gave the girl his opinion, she seemed to think everything was fine. So again, he was at a loss. How exactly does one go about convincing a girl that her fantasies were just that? Perhaps he was just struggling to interact with the child? After all, neither Sasuke nor Naruto could really be considered children at this point...

Overall, Kakashi had to admit, despite all their individual talents and potential, 'They're a disaster.' Kakashi sighed mentally. Sure, they did pass the bell test more or less. Though he had to admit, his decision wasn't exactly unbiased. Naruto was his sensei's son after all, and the village as a whole had spat on the man with the way Naruto was treated in those crucial years of child development. Not to mention that Sasuke was Obito's only remaining relative, and Kakashi liked to think that he could try to repay his best friend for all he did by looking out for Sasuke. And Sakura reminded him so much of Rin when he was looking over the pinkette's file, he couldn't help but see some similarities to his own team.

But the truth of the matter was, they weren't the second coming of Minato, Obito, or Rin. No matter how much Kakashi wished it was so.

So really, the answer seemed pretty simple. No, they weren't ready. Naruto didn't trust his team, Sasuke thought he needed to test himself at every opportunity, and Sakura was just...childish. It didn't help that he had dawdled when it came to their training either. Though, in his defense, he was rather new at this. And things had only been made harder by the fact that everyone and their mother had an opinion on how and what he should teach Naruto and Sasuke. If he had a gold coin for every time someone subtly or not so subtly tried to tell him not to teach Naruto anything or to teach Sasuke everything, then he could probably retire and do nothing but read for the rest of his life. Even the training he had given them thus far didn't seem to have made any headway with his students' respective attitudes.

No, a higher ranked mission was probably the last thing he should give them.

But then again, if they left the village, maybe Naruto would unwind a little. Even better, if they ran into some bandits, maybe Naruto would see that he could trust them to watch his back, maybe Sasuke could learn to cooperate, and maybe some bloodshed would shock Sakura out of her fantasy. 'An awful lot of maybes there.' Kakashi thought worriedly. 'Maybe I should have read those books on teaching after all.'

"I suppose they're ready for something more challenging, Hokage-sama." Kakashi finally drawled. He studied his students' reactions to his words, hoping he'd made the right decision. Sasuke smiled eagerly, Sakura looked slightly uneasy, despite trying to look confident, and Naruto stayed rather calm and blank faced. And while Kakashi could tell the blond's mind was racing, he made sure to show no signs of interest in the boy's thoughts. No need to set the boy's paranoia off by seeming too interested in his reactions after all.

---

Naruto covertly glanced from the Old Man to Kakashi. Were the two plotting together? Kakashi had been surprisingly helpful in improving Naruto's Taijutsu and had even supplied some low level Nin and Genjutsu. Surely that meant he wasn't on the Old Man's side, right?

…

...Well, that didn't necessarily mean that Kakashi was on his side either. But it did seem unlikely that he'd teach Naruto as much as he had if he intended to kill him. Especially since Kakashi had to know that people would come looking for answers if something happened.

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts a second time as the Old Man called out, "Your mission is to escort a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna to his home in Nami no Kuni. Tazuna says he's worried about potential thieves and bandits, so it should be a relatively easy mission for you. Please come in, Tazuna."

Naruto waited curiously to see just what kind of client he'd been given. Once the man walked in, Naruto was not impressed.

The man was at least in his fifties, and had the look of a man who had worked all his life. From the deeply tanned skin, to the muscled arms, as well as the simple clothes he wore, everything about the man spoke of a lifetime of manual labor. Not to mention the appraising eyes he ran over Team Seven, the epitome of a man looking over his workers and tools to judge which would work out best for what he wanted.

The only thing that completely ruined his opinion of the man was the sake bottle in his hand and the flushed cheeks, completed by the unsteady way he leaned on the wall. 'A drunk'. Naruto grimaced as he finished his inspection.

"This is it?" Tazuna asked disgruntledly. "Two of these guys are just little kids. They don't look like they could protect a fly! The pink one looks like she could be blown over by a strong breeze! I paid good money for a team of ninja, not half a team and two pipsqueeks!"

Naruto had to stifle a chuckle at Sakura's affronted expression, even as Kakashi placed a subtly restraining hand on her shoulder. Sasuke's expression was pretty funny too.

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san." Kakashi said cheerfully. "My team is perfectly capable of protecting you from bandits. And if we run into something my students can't handle, I'm a Jounin. Rest assured we'll get you back to Nami no Kuni safe and sound."

Naruto noticed that Tazuna still looked doubtful, and so helpfully added, "If you don't want our services, the Old Man will give you a refund." He had to admit, it was entertaining to study the various reactions to his words. Iruka practically looked apoplectic at his manner of addressing the aged Kage, while Sakura looked torn between outright attacking him and fainting. Disappointingly, Sasuke's and Kakashi's reactions were unnoticable but for a slight widening of Sasuke's eyes and Kakashi giving off that air of laughter even as his patented lazy expression remained unfazed. The strangest reactions of all belonged to the Old Man and Tazuna.

The Old Man looked slightly vexed and oddly hurt at Naruto's form of addressing him. Naruto frowned slightly, wondering what the Old Man was up to.

Tazuna on the other hand, actually turned pale, before rapidly assuring them that it wouldn't be necessary. "Alright, fine! I guess you'll do." Tazuna grumbled before regaining his gruff attitude. "Listen up brats! My name is Tazuna, the Super Awesome Bridge Builder! You all better give your lives to protect me and my bridge!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the man's boisterous demand. 'Not a chance you old drunk...' He thought to himself, confident that the old civilian was just that.

"Well, you heard the man." Kakashi drawled lazily. "Meet at the Main Gate at 0900 tomorrow morning with enough gear for a week long mission. Dismissed."

Grateful and anxious to be away from the Old Man, Naruto nonetheless made sure to calmly walk away, unwilling to show any weakness to his enemies. Despite that, Naruto was afraid his tension would be noticeable to an Academy student, let alone the Old Man and his Anbu.

Once he had walked several blocks away from the tower, Naruto glanced around and discreetly darted into an alleyway. As soon as he was out of sight, he used Shunshin to travel to the Hokage Monument, then again to the Academy, followed by a final one to his room.

Once there, Naruto Listened for anything signaling that he'd been followed. When he heard nothing, he shakily collapsed onto his bed, desperately trying to calm his racing heart.

He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. Naruto had thought he could face the Old Man as often as necessary. After all, he wasn't the same frightened little boy from all those years ago. He had grown stronger, smarter, more cunning and determined, and had thrown himself into his various training. There was no reason why Naruto couldn't stand in the Old Man's presence for the short time that receiving or reporting missions took, even if it was the most nervewracking time of his life.

But Naruto had severely overestimated himself. Standing in the Old Man's heart of power, his sixth sense going haywire at the hidden Anbu that Naruto knew were all around them. If he was crazy enough to leave himself exposed, Naruto was sure he could Listen and hear the heartbeats of the Old Man's hidden killers. The mission's room was practically saturated by the smell of old blood.

And perhaps worst of all, was the way the Old Man smiled at him, taking pleasure in watching him squirm as his eyes desperately darted from the Old Man to around the room as he instinctively tried to pinpoint the Anbu while keeping an eye on the aged Hokage. 'Why does he keep toying with me? Why doesn't he just-' Naruto forcefully drove that thought from his mind, not liking the way Yoshino's voice seemed to overlap his thoughts.

Firmly placing his attention back onto the problem at hand, Naruto had to sigh at the simple realization. It was getting worse. In a way, Naruto supposed he should be glad to get a mission outside the village. Perhaps he'd be able to relax and get over this by the time he returned. If he didn't...Naruto didn't think he could last much longer without lashing out at the Old Man and his Anbu. And once he crossed that line, there would be no going back. Worse, even if he managed to kill the Old Man and his Anbu, the chances of him making it out of the village were slim at best.

Still shaking slightly, Naruto got up from the bed and made his way back outside in search of some much needed ramen. And while he was at it, he should probably track down Kurenai and let her known about his C rank. Probably Yoshino as well...and Shikamaru...and Hinata...and Hanabi...and now that he thought about it, Naruto really seemed to have a lot more people he needed to be considerate of than he thought.

'How did that happen?' Naruto asked himself with a frown. For the longest time, Naruto's only connections were with Yoshino and after a time, Shikamaru and Genma. Then he found Kurenai, though their relationship had been rather rocky at first. Of course, with Kurenai came Anko, like a nasty rash you just couldn't get rid of.

Then when he started the Academy, he found himself looking out for the tiny Hinata, acting as her shield from the world. As the years passed, he somehow volunteered himself for looking after little Hanabi as well. Not to mention somehow acquiring a fanatical little follower in the Old Man's grandson, Konohamaru. And while he found the boy's constant gushing about heroes to be unbelievably annoying, a part of him could admit he enjoyed being looked up to and idolized like that.

Honestly though, how did someone like him end up with eight...whatever they were to him? They all annoyed him to a degree, yet he couldn't help but feel a little more alive in their presence. Even Anko-

Naruto stopped dead and stared in absolute horror. In front of him was the glorious Ichiraku ramen stand. Attached to its entry way was a single, heart crushing sign that simply read "condemned".

'This-this can't be!' Naruto mentally wailed as the blood drained from his face. 'They can't condemn Ichiraku's! Teuchi is the most obsessive-compulsive cleaner I know!'

His hands were half-raised for a Kai when there was a bright flash followed by an annoyingly familiar cackle.

"Oh that was perfect! The look on your face!" Anko crowed as her Genjutsu collapsed, before dissolving into laughter once again. "And I even got a picture! Oh, I'm gonna post copies all over town!"

Lowering his hands, Naruto sent her a hate filled glare that she answered by collapsing onto her back and kicking her feet in hysterical glee. Which coincidentally, gave anyone who cared to look quite a show.

Scowling and averting his eyes quickly, Naruto moved his glare from Anko to her "accomplice" whom he recognized as the old man who took the picture for his Genin Registration. The old bastard visibly wilted under his glare, and looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

The man's gravelly voice sounded quite odd as he nervously asked, "Please kunoichi-sama, I've done what you asked, and I swear I'll make the copies just like you wanted. So will you let me go now, please?" The man was practically pleading by the end as he wrung his hands nervously, his eyes darting from Anko to Naruto often.

Anko's legs stopped in mid kick, and she ever so slowly turned her head to face the man. The pose would have looked ridiculous with her legs frozen in the air -once again giving quite the show to anyone who happened to look- and her arms wrapped around her stomach, if it weren't for the strange, frighteningly blank expression on her face. "What's the matter, Genzou? You're acting like I kidnapped you or something. Don't you want to be around the Great, Sexy, and Single Anko-sama?"

"But you did!" Genzou sputtered frantically. "You grabbed me off the street when I was heading home! And then you made me stand here with my camera all day, on the off chance that kid would come by!"

"Now you're just making things up." Anko said dryly. "It wasn't an "off chance" that the Brat would be coming here. He always comes here sooner or later."

Naruto twitched angrily as Anko scolded the old photographer about the evils of lying. His hand oh so slowly started drifting towards his shuriken holsters, the only thing keeping him from hurling a fistful of deadly metal at the irritating woman was the knowledge that Ayame and Teuchi would not be pleased if their stand was damaged. They might even cut him off for good if he went that far, and that was something he wasn't willing to risk no matter how tempting a target Anko was.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto forcefully calmed himself and, careful to avoid another eyeful of Anko's flesh, stomped his way inside the stand.

His anger was further dulled by the bowl of ramen waiting for him, courtesy of an amused looking Teuchi. "What are you smirking at, you old bastard?" Naruto groused as he took his seat and dug into the bowl of ambrosia.

"Just a victim of an unusual prank." Teuchi chuckled. "Though I've got to admit Naruto; it was rather flattering to see you so heartbroken when you thought you couldn't have any of my ramen."

"I was not heartbroken!" Naruto hissed around a mouthful of noodles. "I don't even like your ramen that much! In fact, I could give it up anytime I want to. I just don't want to." He muttered that last part before tossing back the remaining broth in the bowl and slammed it back down. "Keep 'em coming, Teuchi! I won't be able to have any for awhile, so today I want all I can eat!"

"Sorry kid, you're still only allowed two bowls." Teuchi said with a wistful sigh. "It's a shame too; I could use the increased revenue..."

"Oh come on!" Naruto protested. "I'm leaving the village for weeks tomorrow! Are you really going to cut me off just like that?"

Teuchi just shrugged. "You told Ayame that the boy she's chasing is a brainless sack of meat, which is too stupid to realize that if a mustache hasn't grown in after ten months, it's not going to."

"You agreed with me." Naruto deadpanned. "And you called him a worthless little bastard who should have been drowned at birth."

"I'm her father. I'm allowed to hate the boys she hangs out with." The old chef replied with a shrug. "You're not."

Before Naruto could retort, an unfortunately familiar wail split the air. "Naru-chaaaan!" Anko whined as she draped her arms around his shoulders. "How could you leave a helpless and delicate flower like me just lying out in the street like that? What if someone came along and tried to take advantage of me?"

Naruto just snorted and pushed her face away so she was no longer rubbing her cheek against his. "You're about as delicate as a rock, Anko. I pity the poor, deluded bastard that gets it into his head to try to "take advantage" of you." Naruto scorned with exaggerated quotation marks.

Anko gasped loudly and clasped her hands over her heart as she sat next to him. When Naruto ignored her, Anko's eyes became wide and watery as her bottom lip trembled. "How could you say that, Naru-chan? You never had any complaints about my breasts being too small when you had me tied to your bed while you-"

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Naruto sputtered as his face grew hot. It didn't help that a part of his anatomy found the mental image quite enjoyable. Seeing Teuchi's scandalized expression, he quickly defended himself. "That never happened! She's making it up, I swear!"

Teuchi just shook his head and went back to work with a muttered, "Kids these days."

Once the chef had gone back to work, Naruto fixed the smugly grinning Anko with his best glare. "Why do you always do that!?" He hissed angrily.

Anko actually had the nerve to blink in confusion. "Because I think it's fun. I'd think that even someone as dumb as you could figure that out after all this time."

Anko nonchalantly dodged his attempt stab her with a chopstick before grinning again. "So you've got yourself a C rank, huh? Congrats I suppose."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and stared suspiciously at her over his second bowl. "What's that supposed to mean, you "suppose"?"

Anko shrugged. "Eh, C ranks aren't much more than babysitting gigs for most Jounin. All they are is a way to break Genin in on something easy. You'll never find any Special Jounin or higher on a C rank. Let me guess, you're babysitting some civilian while he goes from point A to point B, right?"

Naruto blinked in surprise and nodded slowly. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Like I said, almost all C ranks involve escorting someone or something. It's pretty standard." Anko explained before tilting her head in thought. "I suppose I should give you some words of wisdom for your first mission outside the village..."

Naruto didn't even try to hold in a disdainful snort. "Wisdom? From you?"

Anko nodded seriously as she fixed a firm look on him. "Rule number one: if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's probably an enemy ninja trying to kill you." She said it in such a serious manner; it took Naruto a second to really register it. "Rule number two: in the shinobi world, there's no such thing as overkill or redundancy. Rule number three: nothing is impossible."

Naruto stared at her in disbelief, before his eye slowly started twitching. "What kind of wisdom is that? What is that even supposed to mean?" He growled angrily.

"You tell me." Anko retorted as she leaned back against the counter. "Put that thing between your ears to use."

Naruto frowned, and opened his mouth to tell her off, only to pause at the judging look in her eyes. Technically, rule number three was fairly straightforward. And now that he thought about it, no such thing as overkill pretty much boiled down to you can never be too sure. So if those two meant something, then the first one had to as well, right? After giving it some thought, Naruto was fairly certain he knew the answer. "Appearances can be deceiving, so don't make assumptions and discard things out of hand. Feel free to use more force than might be necessary. Keep an open mind."

"Eh, close enough." Anko grunted as she dug in one of her pockets and produced a skewer of dango which she promptly dipped in the miso soup Teuchi placed in front of her. "As long as you got the general gist of it, I'm sure you'll do fine."

"If that was so important, why didn't you just say it straight out?" Naruto asked irritably as he reluctantly relinquished his empty second bowl to Teuchi and paid for the meal.

"Because this way was more fun." She replied with a shrug. "And as long as you understand, how I explain it doesn't really matter. And before you ask, I'm helping you out because I want to. Now c'mon." She beckoned as she stood and started out of the stand.

Curious, Naruto paid for his food and followed her out. "Where are we going?"

Anko glanced back at him with a smirk. "It's something of a custom to give Genin some advice and show them a good time before their first "real" missions. And since every other one of your admittedly few friends are busy, I'll take you bathing with me."

"Huh?" Naruto asked eloquently as he stopped dead.

"You and me, we're going bathing." said Anko. "There is nothing like a nice bath to calm a guy's nerves before his first mission."

"Very funny, Anko." Naruto growled. "I'm not going to a public bath, and I'm certainly not going with you!"

"Who's joking?" asked Anko. "You're going with me to the bathhouse and that's that."

"Like hell I am!" Naruto snarled. "If I wanted to take a bath, I'd go home."

"Naru-chan is so mean." Anko whined loudly before looking at him quizzically. "What are you so afraid of? That you'll get hard at seeing the Great, Sexy, Single Anko naked?"

"Yeah right!" said Naruto, blood flowing to his face and feeling himself stir at the mental image and desperately trying shake away the disturbing thoughts. This was made harder by the seemingly innocent, yet erotic poses Anko was doing. Poses that seemed to be focused on trying to get him to look at her breasts. "I just don't do public baths."

Anko snorted, grabbing Naruto's arm before he could escape and dragging him with her.

"Anko, stop dragging me, I'm not going to- I mean, seriously, it's not like we can even bathe together even if you want to. I'm sure it's against the rules or something!" Naruto argued vehemently as he struggled against her pull.

"Nope," chirped Anko happily. "They have private baths for couples."

"Couples!" Naruto sputtered. "We're not a couple!"

"They don't need to know that." Anko stated simply before sighing. "Look Brat, today might be your last day on this earth. The dumbest mistake on your part or your team's part can get you killed. So just humor me, ok?"

Naruto's attempts to escape lessened at that, though he didn't give up completely. This more serious side of Anko was a rare thing, and Naruto was still a little unsure as how to read her when she was like this.

In the end though, Anko would not be denied her bath with him, and Naruto eventually decided it was safer to indulge her, lest she do something drastic to get her way.

Besides, it wasn't like she could really try anything, right? They were going to be in a public bath house, so any ruckus wouldn't be ignored…right?

It was...different, bathing with someone else, though it wasn't as bad as Naruto had feared. They both had towels for one thing, and unlike the way Naruto had imagined it, Anko's towel was by no means a tiny, skimpy thing. It actually did a credible job concealing her body, and if the area around her chest was a bit tighter than necessary, it was still better than her regular outfit.

Anko even became eerily calm and serene once she hit the water. Occasionally they engaged in meaningless banter, threats, and hurled insults, but mostly they just relaxed.

Well, as much as Naruto could relax when being in a bath with Anko. That part was every bit as difficult as he feared, as even with the towel, Naruto was acutely aware that he was alone in a bath with a mostly naked woman. One that Naruto had to admit -even if it made him a little nauseous- was very beautiful.

"Hey Naruto," Anko suddenly spoke up. "Turn around and I'll wash your back for you.

Much to his chargrin, Naruto couldn't prevent the blush, nor the way his mouth dropped open in shock.

Seeing his look, Anko let out a hearty laugh. "Oh my, are we having naughty thoughts, Naru-chaaaan?"

Naruto sputtered incoherently for a second, before spinning around to hide his...condition. His face burned even hotter when Anko's laughter died down to a few chuckles. "Get your mind out of the gutter, you little perv." She ordered with a snicker as she moved in behind him and started scrubbing at his back with a washcloth.

For Naruto, the situation had already spiraled wildly outside his expectations and experience. Before today, he'd never had someone bathe with him before, and he hadn't been given a bath since he was four. He quite literally didn't know how to act. The fact that it was Anko who he was with, someone who made even the long suffering Kurenai shake her head and Yoshino pointblank refused to try and get inside her head, with a sadistic sense of humor made it even worse. So he just sat there, stiff as a log while Anko methodically washed his back, relaxing only when she finally finished.

Sighing in relief, he turned around and was promptly slapped in the face by a wet washcloth. Growling, he ripped the cloth off with a snarl that died in his throat as he set his eyes on Anko.

She was sitting in the water facing away from him, one hand holding the towel to cover her front, leaving her back completely exposed to him above the water.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" He choked out as the blood rushed to his face and...elsewhere.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm letting you return the favor. Get to it."

Naruto gulped as he slowly closed the distance between them, hesitantly reaching for her back. He froze in his tracks when Anko looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh, Naru-chaaaan." She said with a smile. The same smile she wore right before trying to skewer him with whatever she had on hand, be it dango stick or kunai. "If your hands -or any other part of your body for that matter- touches me anywhere they shouldn't..." Anko's smile grew even more pleasent, serving to set Naruto even more on edge. "I'll cut said body part off. Understand?"

Nodding with a grimace, Naruto carefully went about washing the woman's back. The silence stretched out between the two until Naruto noticed something that seized his attention in a vicelike grip. "Anko," Naruto abruptly broke the silence. "What's that thing on your neck?"

Anko flinched as if he'd stabbed her, and covered the black mark with her hand. "It's nothing."

"It's some kind of seal, right?" Naruto asked curiously. "What does it do?"

"Can't you take a hint? Back off." Anko hissed dangerously.

For a moment, Naruto's fascination warred with his sense of self-preservation. Normally, there would be no contest, but Naruto blamed that on the hot water and all around unnerving day. "Oh come on, I have an interest in seals, you know? Just let me look at it for a bit."

Anko grinned at him. "Why Naru-chaaaan, are you trying to get an excuse to feel me up? You should know what a bad idea that is."

The danger laced in her tone should have warned him off, but Naruto's stubborn streak proved to be his undoing. "Look, it will only take a minute." He said absentmindedly as he reached out to touch the mysterious seal...and was promply pushed back by Anko's fist connecting with his chin in a fierce uppercut. She hit him hard enough that he flew out of the water and landed hard on his back. "Hands off." She growled with murder in her eyes. "If Kurenai weren't so attached to you, I'd peel the skin from your body with a jagged piece of glass!"

Grimacing from the pain in his jaw, not to mention the level of killing intent she was directing at him, Naruto carefully raised his hands in surrender, ready to run for his life if it looked like Anko might try to carry out her threat.

When Anko stopped looking like she intended to murder him, Naruto carefully returned to the water, trying to remain out of her reach lest she decide he needed further punishment.

'Well, I guess now I know why she was so upset about my seal.' Naruto thought as he remembered that particular day.

---

Flashback

Naruto panted tiredly as he glared at the grinning Special Jounin. Today was a rare day off from the Academy, and Naruto was determined to get in some real training. Unfortunately, Kurenai had another "meeting" that she needed to go to. Even worse, Anko had been nearby and graciously "volunteered" to spar with him. That is, she grabbed him and Shunshined them to the nearest training ground, where she promptly started throwing kunai and shuriken at him. That was an hour and many close calls ago.

Anko had once again reduced his clothes to tattered ribbons, despite his best efforts. In fact, a few threads on his right shoulder were all that was keeping the remains of his shirt from falling right off. 'There's no way I can fix this one.' Naruto absently thought as he plotted his next move. No sooner did Naruto think that then the last few threads snapped, dropping the tattered shirt to the ground. "Damn it!" He snarled as he kicked the rags angrily. This was far from the first shirt Anko had destroyed, and Naruto had long since grown tired of it.

Turning back to yell at Anko, his eyes widened in panic when he couldn't find her. Knowing what a bad idea it was to stand still while Anko was missing, Naruto attempted to throw himself forward. He took all of a step before an iron grip dug into his shoulder and yanked him back.

Grimacing at the painful hold, Naruto was surpised to see a mixture of furious rage and utter terror in Anko's eyes. Eyes that he noticed were fixed on his control seal.

"What is this?" Anko practically hissed in a low voice.

"It's a seal." Naruto answered evasively as he tried to pry himself from the young woman's grasp.

"Don't fuck with me!" Anko roared as she shook him angrily. "I know it's a seal! Did someone put it on you!? Who was it? I'll make them scream for days before they die!"

Now he was officially freaked out. Anko did not get protective, and she most certainly didn't get scared. Ever. So what was it about his seal that was setting her off?

"Don't worry, Naruto." Anko quickly assured him as she glanced around frantically. "I won't let anyone find out about it, but you have to talk to me! Who did this to you?"

Finally getting over his shock Naruto once again tried to pry himself free. "What the hell is wrong with you? Get off me!"

Naruto didn't think it was possible, but Anko looked even more distraught than before. "Oh God...don't tell me you don't remember who did this to you? Damn it, Naruto! How long have you been hiding this from us?!"

"Of course I remember!" Naruto growled in irritation. "How could I forget about my own seal?"

"You…you made this?" Anko asked in little more than a whisper. "What does it do?"

"None of your business!" Naruto snapped, only to flinch when Anko's grip intensified.

"You stupid little shit!" she snarled as she shook him like a rag doll. "You don't go around experimenting with seals on your own body! What if something went wrong!?"

"But it works fine!" Naruto shouted defensively. "Sure it has some flaws, but nothing that I can't work around!" Naruto watched as what little fear had been in Anko's eyes was replaced by pure anger, right before she tried to punch his nose out the back of his skull. Instead, all that happened besides the obvious crunch of cartilage was Naruto flying through the air and crashing to the ground.

Hacking up blood, Naruto pushed himself up to see a snarling Anko stalking closer to him. "What the hell is your problem, you crazy bitch!?" he yelled through his broken nose.

The slight narrowing of her eyes was his only warning, and was barely enough for him to scramble to his feet and dodge the handful of kunai that Anko hurled at him. He didn't even bother protesting, just ran away as fast as he could with a raging Anko peppering him with every weapon she had on hand…which was quite a lot.

---

Flashback end

Whether Anko had forgotten about asking after his seal, or just plain didn't care what it did, she never brought up his seal again after that. Eying her warily to make sure she wasn't planning a repeat of that day, Naruto cautiously shifted a little closer to her. If he could just get one more look at her seal maybe he could-

"I'm done." Anko stated as she suddenly stood and exited the tub. "Remind me to break some of your bones for ruining my bath." She called over her shoulder as she left him alone.

Fuming, Naruto tried to call up what he had seen of her seal from memory. No easy task considering how briefly he was able to examine it, and even if he could remember, it was hard to figure out the function of an unknown seal once it had been compressed. Particularly a seal as complex as this one seemed to be. Even worse, Naruto was sure that he'd seen not just one seal but two – the unknown seal and some kind of a blocking one around it.

"Damn it." Naruto muttered as he reluctantly gave up on figuring out the mystery seal. There just wasn't enough for him to work with.

Tugging his jacket on over his shoulder harness, Naruto absently wandered away from the bathhouse, his mind still occupied trying to puzzle out Anko's seal. Considering her reaction to it, she probably had some bad experiences with it, or associated with it. Which meant getting any info out of her would be like pulling teeth from a tiger. Both difficult, and likely life-threatening.

Sighing, Naruto paused for a moment to sniff at the air, and then abruptly turned down a slightly crowded street that he knew would take him towards a small park. Sure enough, his little stalker followed him doggedly, though with slightly better stealth than he was used to experiencing with Konohamaru.

Smirking to himself as he reached his destination, Naruto swiftly darted off the street into the deserted park, forcing his pursuer to keep up or lose him in the trees.

Coming around a large tree, Naruto abruptly stopped and turned, just in time for his impatient pursuer to come running around the tree and crash into his legs. "What's up, Hanabi?" he asked amusedly as the girl looked up at him through her hair in surprise, before those pale lavender eyes narrowed angrily, the tell-tale veins bulging as she lashed out at him. Stepping back out of range of her first strike, Naruto couldn't keep the smirk from his face as Hanabi attacked with a fairly standard Jyuuken attack combo. Left palm, right palm, left palm, followed by a leaping spin kick.

Naruto's reaction was equally standard after years of sparring with the Hyuuga sisters. Step back, step back, move to the side, and catch Hanabi's foot. Keeping a firm grip, Naruto lazily spun Hanabi in a circle, his speed usually enough to have her squealing in glee. So he was quite surprised when instead she twisted her body enough to jab his hand, forcing him to release her as his hand suddenly became numb and useless.

Flying through the air, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when Hanabi hit the ground in a clumsy shoulder roll, but more or less broke her fall.

Shaking his hand out, Naruto watched with a raised eyebrow as Hanabi stared at him with her usual determined glare. Seeing something different than usual, Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought at the anger and a strange sort of sad disappointment in her glare. Pondering what he might have done to earn her ire; Naruto didn't even bother dodging her next palm strike. She didn't even put any chakra into it, so the palm hitting his lower side had all the effect of…well, a seven year old girl striking him with her palm.

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto frowned at the girl. He couldn't see her downturned face due to her hair blocking it, but the way her body shook from her shuddering breaths, it was obvious that Hanabi was distraught. Now he just had to figure out why she was so upset.

Smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring way; Naruto playfully ruffled her hair as he stepped around her, taking a seat against a tree and patting the ground next to him as he did so. He knew she could see him, since she still had trouble controlling her Byakugan whenever she was emotional. Oddly enough, it wasn't that concerning since her problem stemmed from the fact that her bloodline would activate on its own and stay activated until she could calm herself down. Naruto actually thought Hanabi's little problem was cute in its own way.

And after a moment, Hanabi proved him right by stomping over and plopping down next to him with a huff, stubbornly folding her arms and facing away from him. He might have been more worried if she didn't lean back against his shoulder without a second thought.

When the silence stretched on, Naruto wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and pulled her into himself. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or are you going to make me guess?" He asked playfully.

His only answer was Hanabi struggling to throw his arm off her, along with a couple jabs from her elbow.

Frowning, Naruto allowed her to tire herself out before asking, "Did something happen at the Academy? Are you still having trouble making friends?"

The glare she sent him quickly ruled that out, as the look in her eyes seemed to say that she found him asking that to be almost as bad as whatever he had done to make her angry in the first place. The vehement hiss of, "Of course not, you idiot!" just served to drive the point home.

He waited for her to elaborate, but Hanabi just returned to her scowling and silent treatment, punctuated by the occasional elbow, scratch, and at one point, biting his hand. Somewhat at a loss that the usually exuberant and talkative girl wasn't reacting to his attempt to goad an explanation from her, Naruto glanced around for a clue as to what to do next. Spying a small duck pond nearby, he was suddenly struck by inspiration. A plan forming in his mind, Naruto rose to his feet, easily lifting the seven-year-old off the ground as he did so. Holding her under his arm much like a sack of potatoes, Naruto made his way out into the middle of the pond.

It didn't escape his notice that Hanabi's struggles ceased almost from the moment they left the shore. In fact, she was now clinging to him while she stared at his feet in awe. Feeling almost ridiculously pleased that he could awe the young child so easily, Naruto asked with a nonchalant smirk, "Want to give it a try?"

He chuckled at the way Hanabi's head snapped up to stare at him; her anger seemingly quenched judging by the lack of telltale bulges. Of course, the way her mouth was opening and closing as she tried to form the words to express herself were just further proof that he'd succeeded. After a moment, she seemed to just settle on, "How?!"

Getting the gist of what she was trying to say, Naruto shifted them so that while he maintained a firm grip on her hand, Hanabi practically wrapped herself around his leg mere inches above the water. Chuckling at her actions, Naruto said, "This is called Suimen Hokou no Waza. It's basically a variation of the Kinobori no Waza. You remember what I taught you about that before you started the Academy?" When Hanabi nodded unsurely, he continued. "The Suimen Hokou no Waza allows you to walk on the water as if it was a solid surface. All you have to do is focus an even amount of chakra out of the soles of your feet, and you can balance yourself on the very surface of the water. It also allows you to improve your chakra control." Naruto paused to give her a moment to absorb the information, before asking, "Do you understand, Hanabi?"

The little girl cautiously probed the water with her toe as she answered. "I think so, but…" Looking up at him uncertainly, Hanabi asked, "Isn't this a really advanced technique for someone my age, Niichan?"

Naruto just shrugged uncaringly. "Technically, it's an advanced Genin skill, just like tree climbing. But that didn't stop you from learning that either."

Of course, Naruto had been rather insistent that both Hanabi and Hinata learn tree climbing as soon as he thought they were capable of it. After all, if Kurenai thought he needed to know it before joining the Academy, then it must be important. Although, it had hurt his pride at how quickly first Hinata, and then just under a year ago, Hanabi had gotten it down.

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Naruto tried to lower Hanabi the last few inches to the water, only to be thwarted by the way she clung to him. "What's wrong?" he asked with a raised brow.

Hanabi blushed in embarrassment before whispering, "Promise you won't let go?"

Naruto blinked in surprise at the request, before admitting –at least to himself- that the thought had crossed his mind. 'Maybe Anko's been rubbing off on me more than I thought…' Naruto pondered with a shiver. Smiling slightly, Naruto simply nodded his head and once again lowered Hanabi toward the water.

This time she didn't resist him, and although her grip on his hand and pant leg remained firm, she still quickly sank up to her shins before jerking herself back out of the water and onto him.

Chuckling at the fierce look of concentration on her face, Naruto remained silent as Hanabi planted one foot on his own and slowly nudged at the water with her other. A short time passed before her left foot was resting shakily on the water's surface, and then she began to repeat the process with her other foot.

When she succeeded about ten minutes later, Hanabi beamed up at Naruto excitedly, right before her lapse in concentration caused her to sink almost to her knees before Naruto hauled her back up.

"Not as easy as it looks, is it?" Naruto teased with a smirk, only to grin at the red-faced scowl Hanabi sent him in response.

And so they passed the next few hours, the silence broken by the occasional piece of advice from Naruto and the small splashes from Hanabi. Naruto had to admit, Hanabi took to the exercise far quicker than he himself did. While she couldn't quite get to the point where she could do it subconsciously, Hanabi was capable of taking small steps around hand in hand with him, and by the end, she finally released his hand with only minimal coaxing from Naruto.

Hanabi's footing was a little shaky at first, but she seemed to slowly get the hang of walking by herself, more or less. "Good job, Hanabi." Naruto congratulated her with a feeling of pride at her accomplishment. Granted, she obviously couldn't use it in combat yet, and she still had quite a ways to go before truly mastering the exercise, but that didn't change the fact that she had accomplished something at seven years old that he hadn't even attempted until he was ten. Even then, he'd already begun experimenting with his control seal at the time, giving his control a moderate boost.

Hanabi beamed at his praise, and excitedly ran towards him with her arms wide. "Niichan, look-" at which point her concentration failed and she plunged into the pond with a splash. Coughing and spluttering as she came back to the surface, Hanabi flailed around as she tried to climb back on top of the water while instinctively attempting to tread water at the same time.

Laughing more than he had in what seemed like a long time, Naruto walked forward and scooped the struggling girl up in his arms, settling her against his hip without a second thought. "Looks like you need more practice, Hanabi." He teased through his laughter, feeling better than he had in a long time.

Shrugging off Hanabi's pouting glare, he said, "Come on; let's go get you dried off before you catch a cold. Hold tight." He warned just before heading home via Shunshin.

Arriving in the darkened apartment, Naruto set Hanabi down and sent her off to the bathroom to change out of her wet clothes. Shaking his head at the hopping way Hanabi kicked off her sandals, Naruto went to his room and took off his own wet jacket and most of his weapons and pouches. Grabbing one of his shirts, he walked back to the bathroom just in time to hear a thump.

Poking his head in, Naruto snorted at the sight of Hanabi sitting on the floor in her underwear, struggling to tug her soaked shirt over her head. Shaking his head ruefully, Naruto tossed the shirt on the sink, before kneeling down to help the Hyuuga heiress get her shirt off. Once that was done, he picked her up and set her back on her feet, before tossing her training clothes in a hamper and grabbing a towel.

By this point, Hanabi was standing with her arms crossed in attempt to ward off the chill. Raising an eyebrow at her nonchalant attitude, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if it was simply her age, or the fact that she was a part of a clan that could see through clothes, that was responsible. After all, he had been far more uncomfortable taking his clothes off around Yoshino or Kurenai when he was that age. Then again, it wasn't like he was an expert on children in general. Shrugging, Naruto tossed the towel over her head and proceeded to rub her hair dry.

"Ow! Niichan, you're doing it too hard!" Hanabi protested as she flailed around beneath the large towel.

"Well, quit thrashing around so much and it won't hurt. You're just making things worse." Naruto grumbled as he let up on the pressure a little. Of course, as with most young children, Hanabi couldn't make it easy, squirming, and complaining, and on several occasions, attempting to escape out the door.

Snatching her back from her latest attempt with an annoyed sigh, Naruto was finally able to finish drying her off and reach for his shirt, only for his eye to start twitching when she took the momentary distraction to run off yet again.

Feeling his good mood slowly start to evaporate, Naruto took a deep breath and reminded himself that Hanabi was just a child and probably wasn't deliberately trying to annoy him, before taking Hanabi's soaked clothes to the dryer and following after her. Finding her leafing through scrolls in Kurenai's room, Naruto came up behind her and practically shoved the shirt onto her, not even bothering to get her arms in the right places before throwing her over his shoulder and carting her back to the living room. Settling on the couch with a grumble, Naruto set the squirming Hyuuga between his legs, pinning her there with a slight amount of pressure as he began the arduous process of combing out her hair. Luckily, he was bound to pick up some things about girls and their hair after spending years around the two Hyuuga sisters.

'Amazing…' Naruto mused to himself. 'That out of Team Seven, I'm the best with children… then again, it's not hard to be better than those two…kids.' Naruto allowed himself to snort wryly at the memory of Team Seven's first babysitting mission. The first attempt ended with Sakura screaming at a toddler for throwing mud and "ruining her best dress", thus reducing the frightened girl to tears, and then Sasuke setting the baby brother of said toddler in the tub and telling them to "hurry and get washed up, I'll be back in ten minutes." before walking off to work at cooking the brats' supper.

Naruto supposed it made sense that Kakashi had decided he was the only option left at that point. The Jounin had even shown some personal responsibility for once by forcefully disarming Naruto before shoving him into the bathroom with the two children and strict orders to get them bathed, dressed, and in the little girl's case, groomed. Without resorting to violence. The man even left a clone around to direct Naruto's actions, and when necessary, made sure to smack Naruto on the back of the head whenever he contemplated drowning the annoying little bastards.

After that disastrous mission, it was more or less unanimously decided that Naruto would handle the children on any babysitting missions they happened to get. Kakashi wanted the missions to go more or less according to plan, Sasuke just plain didn't want to waste his time and energy dealing with the little devils, and Naruto didn't want to have to deal with the kids after Sakura had riled them up. So other than Sakura's hurt pride, no one really had a problem with this setup.

Still lost in thought, Naruto almost missed it when Hanabi asked in a tremulous voice, "Niichan? Do you hate me?"

Blinking in surprise, Naruto glanced down at the little girl sitting between his legs and answered in almost as quiet a voice, "Of course not, Hanabi. Why would you think that?"

Hanabi fidgeted for a few moments, refusing to meet his gaze when she finally answered. "You haven't come to visit since you and Neechan became Genin. Even after you promised."

Naruto flinched slightly at the accusatory tone she used for that last point, before sighing and trying to explain himself to the upset girl. "Look, I know I haven't been around as much as I used to, Hanabi. But you have to understand things are really hectic for me right now. I have a lot more responsibilities now that I'm a Genin. I have missions and team training every day, on top of my own training and studies." He said as gently as possible for him.

When Hanabi just huddled inside of the too large shirt she was wearing, Naruto was forced to remind himself that the last time he saw her; Hanabi quite literally had no one outside of himself and Hinata. No friends, no one that Naruto would call family, and no one but Yoshino to give the little girl praise the few times they met. And unlike Hinata, Hanabi didn't get to see him at the end of the day.

Holding in a guilty sigh, Naruto tried again. "Tell you what, Hanabi. I leave for a mission tomorrow, and I'll probably be gone for a week or two." He felt her body tense up against him before continuing. "But when I get back, I'll take you out for a day. We'll do whatever you want, okay?"

Hanabi didn't answer at first, instead tilting her head up to peer up at him through her bangs with a judging look. "Anything I want?" she asked doubtfully, which caused Naruto's gut to clench painfully. He never thought he'd see the day that Hanabi –who at times acted like she thought Naruto was the source of all knowledge in the world- wouldn't trust his word.

Naruto nodded with a flimsy smile, suddenly feeling like a complete ass for tarnishing Hanabi's view of him.

"There's a fireworks festival in a few weeks. Will you go with me?" she asked with that same assessing look.

Naruto grimaced the moment the word festival came out of her mouth. To say he hated festivals wouldn't be very accurate. After all, the word hate was such an inadequate word to describe Naruto's feelings. He detested festivals. Naruto loathed the crowds, despised the noise, and the veritable mobs of obnoxious children shrieking and screaming and running back and forth. He couldn't stand the way full grown adults acted like complete buffoons, all for the slightest reason.

No, attending a festival was one of the last things he'd ever want to do. And it must have shown on his face judging by the way Hanabi's own face fell as she looked away from him again.

Wishing he could kick himself for upsetting Hanabi again as well as for what he was about to do, Naruto ruffled her hair with a little less force than usual as he gave the young girl a one armed hug. "You know…" he drawled irritably. "I've never liked going to festivals." Naruto could practically feel Hanabi's spirit being crushed before he continued. "But if you really want to go when I get back, I'll take you. I promise."

As if a switch had been flipped, Hanabi was suddenly all excitement and smiles, followed by an enthusiastic recap of her day.

Smiling slightly, Naruto listened intently for anything out of the ordinary, as he nodded his head at the right parts, occasionally adding some input of his own. All the while he made plans, like how he would have to look into Hanabi's new sensei. The way she described the Chuunin made Naruto feel that the man had been a little too friendly to Hanabi.

He was eventually pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the dryer buzzing. Suddenly aware of the fact that Hanabi had been silent for some time, he glanced down to find the young girl leaning back against his chest in a deep slumber. Confused, he looked out the window and confirmed that it was still early evening, before coming to a conclusion. Hanabi must have been running all over the village for who knows how long, trying to find him and that was before he had her spend a few hours working on an advanced Genin chakra control exercise. In that case, he should probably be surprised she hadn't fallen asleep earlier.

Smirking slightly in fond amusement at Hanabi's antics, Naruto carefully picked her up and proceeded to change her into her now dry clothes before collecting his equipment and jacket. Once he was ready, Naruto scooped up the sleeping Hyuuga and settled her on his right hip, before leaving the apartment.

Despite his usually reclusive nature, Naruto made sure to take well lit and well-populated streets on his way to the Hyuuga compound. Absently wishing he could use his Konohagakure no jutsu on other people as well, Naruto did his best to keep an eye on his surroundings without disturbing Hanabi's sleep.

He made it about halfway before he tensed at the sound of unfamiliar footsteps impacting behind him. Instinctively jumping forward with a chakra powered leap, Naruto awkwardly drew his chakra knife left handed as he twisted to keep Hanabi shielded by his body. When he landed, he held the blade before him defensively, fixing an enraged glare at whoever dared to attack him while he was carrying Hanabi.

He was greeted by a surprised looking Yuugao with her hand raised as if to tap him on the shoulder.

"…Good evening, Naruto-san." Yuugao said cautiously as she raised her hands in a calming gesture. "I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not trying to harm you."

"Oh, of course not." Naruto spat sarcastically. "I'm sure you had a perfectly benign reason to try to sneak up on me while I was distracted and exposed."

"…Exposed?" Yuugao asked with a raised eyebrow. "Exposed to what?"

Wincing at his slip up, Naruto inhaled deeply, trying to pick up on any other enemies in the area. Unable to determine that by smell alone, he snarled. "Never mind that! Who sent you? What's your objective?"

The young Chuunin gazed at him in surprise before glancing worriedly at Hanabi. When Naruto took another step back, she carefully explained herself. "Hiashi-sama sent me." Naruto jerked in surprise at that before woman continued. "Hanabi-chan apparently left the compound without supervision. Her father wanted me to help find her and bring her back."

Naruto blinked, before realizing that Hanabi had indeed been alone when they ran into each other. And Hanabi wasn't even allowed to walk to the Academy and back unattended.

"Niichan?" Hanabi asked sleepily as she pulled her face away from his shoulder and glanced around drowsily. Her eyes snapped open as she saw Naruto pointing his knife at Yuugao. "Niichan!" She yelled indignantly, causing Naruto to wince due to his sensitive ears. "Don't be mean to Yuugao-chan!"

"Yuugao-chan?" Naruto blinked. "Since when did you call her that?" Even Naruto was surprised by how jealous he sounded.

"Uh-huh!" Hanabi chirped happily, seemingly unaware. "Yuugao-chan's really nice, and a lot of fun too! She buys me snacks sometimes, and she's teaching me how to use a sword! Isn't that cool, Niichan?!"

"A kodachi, actually." Yuugao pointed out helpfully. "And I'm glad I found you, Hanabi-chan. Your father is worried about you."

Hanabi winced, before laughing sheepishly and squirming free of his grip and then running over to Yuugao. She paused halfway, then turned and ran back to Naruto and held her arms open expectantly.

Still somewhat disgruntled at Hanabi's apparently close relationship with the Chuunin, Naruto nonetheless sheathed his knife and knelt down to give the young Hyuuga a hug.

"Don't worry, Niichan." Hanabi whispered in his ear. "I still like you best." Then she kissed him on the cheek and ran back to Yuugao, shouting over her shoulder, "Don't forget your promise!"

Naruto stood there with a tiny smile as Hanabi dragged Yuugao off in the direction of the Hyuuga compound, before he frowned suspiciously and took to the rooftops, using his Konohagakure no jutsu to follow them. 'Better safe than sorry.' He thought to himself as he studied Yuugao along the way. His recent nightmares only drove home the fact that the people he cared about were in danger because of him, and there was no way in hell he'd let any harm come to Hanabi and Hinata. Regardless of the outcome, he was determined that he would keep the Hyuuga sisters from getting caught up in his private war with the Old Man.

---

Translations:

Niichan=Big brother

Kanashibari=Temporary Paralysis

Suimen Hokou no Waza=Water Walking Exercise

Did I miss any?

---

AN:

And that is chapter nineteen. Sorry it took so long, but between deployment, coming home, struggling to readjust and reconnect with family, going back to college way too soon, when I was not prepared to be around a bunch of normal college students, graduating, work, and job hunting...Well, it took me awhile to get the time or the motivation to work on fanfiction again. Anyway, couple of things about this chapter. One, the bath scene was influenced/inspired by a similar scene in Scorpion's Disciple by Nobody102. It's a great story that I read while in Afghanistan, at the same time that I was first working on this chapter. Second, I had originally intended to spend more time on Naruto's reactions to D ranks, but really, I pretty much summed it up when I wrote about Naruto not minding them. Third, I suppose this could be considered a filler chapter, but it wasn't intended to be so much as an intro to the Wave arc.

Finally, I've been considering changing the name of this story to something...else. So far, the only idea that I've liked has been Naruto: Shadows of the Mind, but I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that with every review I get asking what Naruto is a Specialist in, I feel like I should just change it to something...else. So, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Also, if anyone cares, I've had a few things pointed out to me in the first few chapters that were either inconsistent, or came across vastly different than I had intended. And since I've got the next 80,000 words already sent out for betaing, I'm taking this opportunity to do some revising in between trying to get the next chapters of Reckoning and even Vaccum out. Anyway, let me know what you think. Remember, all reviews, criticisms, etc. are welcome.

Peace, Vaan.