The next few weeks went by quickly. Kakashi had gone out and found Gato and killed him. Tanzuna had completed the bridge, and named it 'The Great Bridge of Team 7' after the Team 7 that had come and saved the village.
As for the team's progress, well, Sasuke had managed to learn the tree walking exercise and had started to do some training to unlock his Sharingan. Naruto had made great process with the Rasengan, and with Naruko there to help him, he had managed to learn it while they were gone. Shion had mastered her jutsu and started another one. Sakura had been knocked out for the majority of it and had only been climbing trees. Naruko had made great progress on her scroll and jutsu. She could almost taste it. It was nearly finished, only a bit more and she would be doing dry-runs with Shadow Clones to see if it worked.
They had just arrived in Konoha. Naruko had given the Hokage Haku, releasing him from her slug. He had said he needed to work some things out, so the blondes on them team went for ramen. After their ramen, they went to the Senju Compound. When they walked inside, and excited Tsunade came out of a room and ran to her daughter. She smothered the girl in a hug.
"Naruko-chan! I missed you! Did you have a good time? Are you hurt? I swear if Kakashi let you get hurt, I will castrate him and then feed it to him!" Tsunade said, her fist clenching.
"Don't worry kaa-san! I didn't get hurt! I had a great time! We finally got some action in a fight and I got to do a lot of training!" Naruko said, returning her mom's hug.
"Don't I get a hug Auntie?" Shion said, pouting and extending her arms.
"Well of course Shion-chan!" Tsunade said, releasing her daughter and hugging Shion.
Naruko then went and hugged her father, him kissing the top of her head.
"Hey Gaki! I missed you over these weeks. Even missed that horrible ringing of your alarm clock in the morning." Jiraiya said.
Naruko laughed. "Really? I didn't think you would ever miss that." She said.
Jiraiya then hugged Shion as well, greeting her too, saying he missed her non-stop teasing of Shizune. He saw Naruto in the house too and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Hey Kid! So, how did your training go? Make any good leeway on the Rasengan?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yeah! I am already on the third stage, I just need to make it stronger." Naruto said.
"Good, because after, I already know what jutsu I'm gonna teach you." Jiraiya said.
"Really? YATTA!" Naruko exclaimed.
"I should probably check up on your training though. Come on, let's go practice in the back." Jiraiya said, leading the boy outside.
Tsunade sat the two girls at the table. "Okay, tell me about your first C-rank. How did it go?" Tsunade asked.
Naruko and Shion told Tsunade all about their trip to Wave, when they suddenly got a messenger hawk.
"Looks like Team 7 is wanted at the Hokage Tower." Tsunade said.
"Naruto-kun! We have to go to the tower! Come on!" Shion yelled.
Naruto and Jiraiya came back in the house. Jiraiya sat down with his wife while Naruto joined the girls.
"See ya guys later!" Naruko said, then the three blondes shunshined to the tower.
When they appeared in the Hokage's room, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Genma, and a extremely tired looking Haku were already there.
"What's going on Ji-ji?" Naruto asks the Hokage.
"Well, we had a previous problem with the teams due to Naruko and Shion joining the academy, and ended up having to create a 6-cell team. Kakashi has informed that there have been problems within you team along the lines of teamwork. Apparently, Sasuke will not work with anyone and Sakura will only work with Sasuke, and you three all seem to enjoy working together but don't enjoy working with the other two. Since this could cause major problems during missions, I have decided with the recent arrival of Haku, that you will be split into two teams, one serving under Kakashi, one serving under Genma." Sarutobi said.
"Hokage-sama, who will be on these teams and which one of us will receive which team?" Genma asked.
Sarutobi started. "Well, that's where I was getting. So what I have plan-"
"This is idiotic." Sasuke started. "I'm clearly the best, just give me Kakashi and stick the other losers on the other team. They're all so lame that they need 5 on the team to be good enough to complete a mission anyways. Besides, I'm the Last Uchiha, everyone from my clan is an elite, I get anything that I want."
Naruko's blood started to boil at that. "Oh really Sasuke? I'm the Last Senju as well as the Last Namikaze, and if your clan is so great than where are the faces of your ancestors? I see three of mine up there on that mountain, but I don't see any Uchihas!" She said.
"Well if that's so then why are you so lame?" Sasuke said.
"So lame? If I'm so lame then why was it me and Naruto who rescued Kakashi-sensei! And you for that matter! Why am I the one who has killed over a hundred ninja! You were probably sitting at home coloring while I was killing someone!" Naruko exclaimed.
"That's not true! I've killed people!" Sasuke said.
"Oh really? Than what was the first thing you ate after your first kill?" Naruko asked, smirking.
"What? Why would I remember that?" He asked.
"Because, no one forgets what they ate after their first kill. I ate some dango. What about you Kakashi-sensei?" Naruko said.
"Well, I ate some chicken noodle soup." He said. "Then again, I was 6, so."
"Naruko's telling the truth, I ate some salad after my first kill." Shion said.
"See? It's obvious you haven't killed someone, otherwise, you would have just said whatever kind of food." Naruko said.
"Alright, alright, enough fighting." Sarutobi quieted them down. "Sasuke, just because of your heritage doesn't mean you get the teacher you want or that you get that teacher to yourself."
"But she got her own teacher! And the teacher she wanted and that teacher was an amazing teacher!" Sasuke said, pointing at Naruko.
"Well, that's because that teacher happened to be her mom. You got your father as a teacher, while he wasn't as strong as any of the Sannin or the Hokages, but he was still strong." Sarutobi said.
"Hn." Sasuke said, folding his arms across his chest and looking away.
"Now, for the benefit of teamwork, Naruto, Naruko, and Shion, you will all be on the same team, while Sakura, Sasuke, and Haku will be on the other team. Now, Kakashi, since you were their teacher, I will allow you to pick which team you want." Sarutobi said.
'Great, He turns the wrath on to me. I really should teach Sasuke, since I'm the only other left who has the Sharingan. Then again, he might never unlock it, and it would be a waste. While the blonde crew over here all have great potential in different ways. The priestess to be, The last Senju and the child of my sensei, and the child of Kushina-san, who was a true threat when you got her mad and an amazing swordsman, not to mention the regeneration kekkei genkai of the Uzumaki clan. Not to mention that all of them work amazingly together. While on the other team, I get the bratty and stuck-up Uchiha, an at the moment, useless fan girl from a civilian family, and this other boy who I know nothing about. Alright, there is definitely a clear choice here.' Kakashi thought.
"Hokage-sama, I would like to take Naruto Uzumaki, Naruko Senju, and Shion Kazama on as my students to form Team 7." Kakashi said.
"Alright, Genma, you will have Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Haku Momochi on your team. Your team number will be 13." Sarutobi said. "You are all dismissed."
As they walked out, Kakashi suggested that his team should all go out for a team dinner. Naruko said they should just go to the Senju compound. Both her parents wanted to see her and Shion, Naruto was close with their family since he was Shion and Naruko's friend and Jiraiya's apprentice, and Kakashi was Shizune's girlfriend as well as their sensei.
They ended up going there and having a nice dinner. Kakashi and Naruto walked out of the compound around 7 o'clock and Kakashi pulled him to the side as they neared where the streets parted to go to their separate homes.
"Naruto, I want to tell you about your parents. Well, the one I knew at least." Kakashi said.
Naruto's eyes widened. "You knew one of my parents? Which one?!" He asked.
"I knew your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, your father is unknown, so I can't tell you about him though. Your mother actually dated my sensei, who also happened to be Naruko's birth father. They broke up after awhile though, but I still had became friends with her during that time. She had bright red hair and blue eyes, though not the shade of yours, her's were a mellower color. Kushina was very kind and sweet, unless you pissed her off, in which case she became a truly frightening woman. And though I wasn't there when she gave birth to you, for the months prior to that, I could tell she was nothing short of ecstatic that she was pregnant with you. She had told me and my teammate Rin, who was also close to her, that she couldn't tell us who's kid she was carrying, just that he was an important man and it would tarnish his name since they weren't married. Our first suspicion was actually the Yondaime, but if you took one look at him when he was around Tsunade, well, you would know that he couldn't ever even think about cheating on her. It was a shame she had to die, but apparently, she just couldn't handle childbirth. But know Naruto, that she loved you very much." Kakashi said.
Naruto just stood there, not knowing how to respond. His mom loved him. She hadn't abandoned him or hated him because he had the Kyuubi sealed in him, she died for him and still loved him. She sounded so nice as well.
"Thank you... Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said.
"No problem kid, though the Hokage does have some stuff of hers that you can pick up from him. Just go tell him that I told you, he'll understand." Kakashi said. Then he patted his student on the head. "Well, see you tomorrow, Naruto."
"Bye Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said. The two parted and when Naruto got home, he didn't sleep well, he stayed up to long, thinking about what it would be like if his mom hadn't died. And he also couldn't help but wonder...
Who was his father?