Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

WARNING: This chapter contains a hopefully not too-explicit scene of a certain nature. It won't go beyond (heavy) petting/groping without actual intercourse, but I thought it prudent to give advance warning. Watch for the appearance of lemons if you don't want to read it. It is a fairly important point of character development, though. No further warnings about content of that nature will be given from this point on.

Chapter 14: Graduation

"… and if you manage to land a hit on these spots the f-fight is pretty much over. Unfortunately, against a competent and aware enemy with not too much of a skill d-difference that is almost impossible. Therefore you should aim for crippling h-hits that hamper the enemy's ability to defend himself from more damaging attacks. Even mere flesh wounds can help due to the b-blood loss; every little advantage can help you win the f-fight. Depending on if you need the enemy for something else or if he is expendable, striking these areas," the girl pointed at several specific areas of the diagram she had drawn on the blackboard, "offers the highest chance of success, but it will leave them in need of t-timely attention by a medic-nin if they aren't to stay permanently crippled. Thank you for your attention." Hinata concluded her lecture.

After congratulating Hinata for her well-done effort Ino retired into a corner of the class room they had appropriated to go through some of the notes she had taken during the lecture. The winter break was nearing its end, and soon the academy would start again. The circle was using the free time to do a bit of cross-lecturing about the different areas they had specialized in. Today's lecture by Hinata had been about the application of medical knowledge in combat. It went far beyond the basic information they learned in the academy, even if some of Hinata's suggestions had been somewhat disturbing. On the one hand Hinata was the gentlest and friendliest girl Ino knew… while on the other hand her lecture had once again shown that she could be the most vicious at the same time. To even contemplate such tactics… Ino shuddered a bit. Sure, it was effective, but normally you needed the mindset of a professional with several years of experience to get to that point.

Soon it was time for them to depart to their respective homes, and through careful timing Ino managed to intercept Naruto when he was about to leave.

"Would you like to walk home with me, Naruto-kun? We have largely the same way."

For a moment it seemed as if he was about to say yes, but his expression went rapidly through some changes she couldn't identify before he shook his head. "Sorry Ino-chan, but I have to check some projects I'm currently working on. Perhaps another time."

"Okay." Ino said a bit dejectedly. She stayed behind for a moment to exchange some words with Shino before she left the academy. Outside she met up with Yakumo.

"I guess you didn't have any more success than I did?" Ino asked.

"No, as usual Naruto-kun declined. Sometimes I wonder if he is interested at all."

Ino shook her head. "No, it isn't that. We clearly get some reactions from him. Sasuke just ignores everyone. Naruto often appears as if he wants to say yes but holds himself back forcefully."

"You're right. As often as we notice him watching us he is clearly interested in girls in general and us in particular. Still, his behavior doesn't make much sense. He tries to keep us at arm's length, but sometimes he makes a move only to backpedal immediately. Whenever the topic of relationships comes up he steers the conversation away from it." Yakumo sighed. "Want to come with me to my house? We can talk more over some tea."

"Sure, I have still some time left before my parents expect me back."

It had come as no small surprise for Ino when she noticed Yakumo displaying a romantic interest in Naruto as well. At first she had feared a repeat of her experience with Sakura; their rivalry in their pursuit of Sasuke had completely destroyed a once wonderful friendship. This time it had been different. Neither she nor Yakumo wanted their friendship to suffer, and they had come to an accord. They would compete for Naruto's affection in a friendly manner without trying to sabotage the other. The final decision would be Naruto's alone, and the defeated party would accept that without fuss. Ino hoped she would be able to abide by that plan, but her resolve hadn't been called into question yet. So far none of them had made any headway with Naruto despite a little over half a year of trying, and they were slowly growing frustrated. On the positive side, they had always each other to talk about their lack of progress. Their intense training schedule didn't leave them much time for the pursuit of Naruto, which was the main factor why they hadn't lost their patience until now.

Talking about their different ideas to finally get him to either take one of them out on a date or declare that he wasn't interested they made their way through the village. It didn't take long for them to arrive at Yakumo's house.

"What sort of tea do you want? I have several flavors stocked." Yakumo asked.

Before Ino could come to a decision a knock on the door interrupted them. When Ino went to open it she found Hinata standing before her.

"Hello Hinata. I thought you wanted to return home. What brings you here?" she asked while ushering her into the living room.

"I heard you talking about trying to get Naruto to notice you, and I think I should be part of this conversation." Hinata answered.

"Why, do you fancy him, too?" Yakumo asked half in jest.

"I do. Without his h-help I would still be completely alone and devastated by the demands of my clan. Only Naruto's determination and f-friendship kept me from falling into depression. He taught me so many things I can't even b-begin to count them and showed me a world I would have never found on my own. Naruto is everything t-to me and I would do almost whatever he asked of me. I love him with all my heart." Hinata declared in a serious tone.

Ino got a sinking feeling while listening to Hinata continue talking about Naruto. She knew Hinata well enough to recognize that the girl was speaking the complete truth. When she tried to place Hinata's expression the closest things she came up with were how Choji's mom looked at his dad, or how her own mother looked at daddy. That meant… oh. It really seemed as if the girl was deeply in love with their crush. Ino was honest enough with herself to say that while she had a fairly substantial crush on Naruto she couldn't match the depths of Hinata's feelings. A sidelong glance to Yakumo showed her that the brunette was coming to the same realization. Regretfully she was about to announce that she was about to give up on him in favor of Hinata when the girl continued speaking.

"… but I will never be able to be with him."

"Wait, what?"

Hinata wore a very pained expression. "Did you f-forget what I told you about my clan? Hyuuga aren't allowed to marry anyone other than a Hyuuga. I will never be allowed to have a boyfriend. Someday the elders will choose a h-husband for me, and I will have no choice but to obey. If I'm ever even suspected of endangering the purity of the bloodline I will face either imprisonment for life in the clan c-compound or an 'accident' will be arranged." Tears became visible in Hinata's eyes. "Naruto deserves all the happiness he can get. Happiness I can't give him. You are both my friends. If either of you can capture his heart and make him happy you have my blessings."

This confession provoked a tearful embrace and several minutes of declarations of friendship. Finally the conversation returned to the topic on hand.

"I think Naruto-kun is conflicted because he can't decide which of you he likes b-better and doesn't want to hurt anyone. Maybe he even recognizes that I like him and doesn't want to cause me pain. Give me some t-time; I will talk to him and convince him to make a decision." Hinata promised.

"Are you sure? Whenever a conversation enters a topic remotely related to relationships Naruto steers the conversation away from it or leaves." Yakumo remarked.

A very peculiar glint entered Hinata's eyes. "Oh, trust me. I hope I can avoid extreme m-measures, but I will get him to deal with the problem. You have my w-word on it. In the meantime, work on him together. I can't promise that he will actually agree to take one of you as his girlfriend, but I should be able to get him to stop with his inconsistent b-behavior."

It was a very warm day in the world at the edge of dreams, with the temperature just short of being unpleasantly hot. In the copse of lemon trees surrounding a small waterfall it was a bit cooler; which was one of the reasons Naruto had chosen it as his resting place. Strangely, some of the trees were in full bloom while others were littered with fruit. Naruto had reached it after about a day of swift travel from the house of his parents. Currently he was lying under a tree only clad in his pants after he had cooled down in the small lake at the base of the waterfall. He hoped the distance would give him some time to find a solution to his problems.

Naruto had four problems. Three of them bore the names Ino, Yakumo and Hinata. The last one hung between his legs. Or rather, and that was a very big part of the problem, stood with increasing frequency and duration. In short, his sex drive was slowly getting out of control.

Now, normally children don't really know what these urges are about and need a few years to figure everything out. Naruto's specific problem was not only that his body developed very early; thereby subjecting him to these urges far earlier than his peers; but that he was already very mature mentally when it happened. That meant he knew exactly what was happening and why, and he had only to determine what he liked. It hadn't him taken long to determine that he was absolutely straight. That still left him subject to these urges, and they became stronger with time.

At first it hadn't really been a problem. He had some interesting dreams from time to time after which he had to clean his bedding and he paid more attention to attractive specimens of the female gender. Naturally that interest focused largely on older woman; the girls of his age hadn't reached the point for his body and subconsciousness to recognize them as valid options. Occasionally he had to relieve himself when the pressure became too much (his memorized image of a nude Anko helped enormously here), but all in all it was manageable.

That came to an end when the three girls of his acquaintance reached a point where they became interested in boys, more specifically in him. Hinata was developing early like him, but at first she had been too repressed to register in that manner with him. Later on she had been as discreet as possible with her own needs. All that had changed around a year ago. It wasn't the flirting and light teasing that was the problem. Neither were the slowly developing curves of the three girls. He could have weathered all that. The problem was their scent.

'I wonder how Kiba deals with it.' Naruto thought.

For years his heightened sense of smell had been a boon, but now he was beginning to curse it. Each person had their own unique scent, and Naruto was able to determine some things about the person in question. It wasn't some secret knowledge, no; it was roughly the olfactory equivalent of seeing someone's facial expression and general complexion, but it included some areas that people normally didn't expect to become known and therefore didn't guard against. For example, Naruto was very aware of the physical attraction and occasional arousal the girls felt. In other people he could simply ignore it, but he was close enough emotionally to all three girls that something in his brain decided 'potential mates, woo them now!' and elicited physical responses on his part. Very big and hard responses.

While he could shut down his nose in order to ignore their scents a moment of inattention was enough for his subconsciousness to ramp the sensitivity of his nose back to the max. Their scents were just so enticing, tempting, alluring, beguiling, seduc-… GAH! Not to mention distracting. It had become a delightful torture for him not to do anything inappropriate and use all his considerable self-control to keep anyone from noticing. Upon questioning his parents he had learned that part of it was a build-up of mental effects caused by him visiting them. The time-compression and interaction with his sleeping body played merry hell with his mental development, and indirectly with his hormonal responses. His parents did everything they could to keep him sane, and he had to admit that an age-inappropriate sex-drive was better than all the alternatives they had listed, like manic depression or a massive amount of his old friend paranoia.

It had become infinitely worse when all three of the girls decided they wanted him as their boyfriend around half a year ago. In general he had nothing against that, but he simply couldn't trust himself not to go too far if he allowed one of the girls to get close. That meant he had to keep his distance until they all were a few years older, as hard as it was for him. Unfortunately, he simply couldn't bring himself to completely block their advances, leaving him in a quite uncomfortable spot. He had hoped to find some peace in the world of his parents, but while he was safe from Yakumo and Ino a far more dangerous and determined predator had unrestricted access to him. Hinata acted normal in the waking world, but here it was different. She flirted and teased mercilessly and wore more and more daring clothing. While nothing so far could be considered really inappropriate, she had enough curves by this point to pull it off. Combined with an awful lot of deliberate physical contact she initiated it was driving him spare. It was made worse by the fact that he could smell exactly how much she was attracted to him… and how strong her own sex-drive was.

In an effort to escape all this Naruto had let his parents turn him into a fox, and it had helped for a short while. That lasted until he met a vixen with bluish-black pelt the next day in the woods. A vixen who was very, very attractive if seen through the eyes of a male fox. The instincts of his fox form had nearly led to an accident before he regained control, which incidentally seemed to disappoint the vixen a great deal. Apparently Hinata had not only learned magic in her alone time with his parents, she had learned to cope with a different shape and was now equally comfortable as fox and human. Anyway, this encounter had shown that there was no escape and Hinata was extremely determined in her pursuit of him.

The worst part was that he was horny as hell and wanted it badly.

'We are too young, dammit.' he thought once again.

Suddenly he felt something magical colliding with him and he lost control of his body. A few seconds later Hinata entered his field of vision. She wore skintight buckskin breeches and a sleeveless doublet made from the same material. It was cut in a way that emphasized her developing breasts quite nicely without really giving much away. To Naruto's surprise Hinata seated herself directly on his belly. Her purpose became clear when he felt the magic holding him fade away. With Hinata sitting on top of him he wouldn't be able to get away.

"Sorry about that, Naruto-kun, but we have to talk. I won't let you evade the conversation this time."

Naruto gulped. "What conversation?"

Hinata giggled. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you know what this is about."

After this comment Hinata began to caress his upper body, and combined with the feeling of her legs it elicited an immediate physical response. Luckily he had shut down his nose the moment he caught a glimpse of the girl; Naruto doubted he would be rational at this point if it were otherwise. Hinata wasn't sitting exactly on his groin, but her position was close enough that one rapidly hardening part of his anatomy was touching her backside.

"I yield, I yield! I promise I won't try to avoid our talk; please stop."

Immediately Hinata stopped her caresses. "Good, but I will stay on top of you until we are finished." She smirked. "I rather like the feeling of you under me."

He ignored that in favor of asking a question. "What exactly about our relationship do you want to talk about?"

Hinata took a deep breath. "You have noticed that I as well as Ino and Yakumo are interested in you, and your reactions show that you reciprocate that interest even if you try to hide it. Your evading of the matter simply can't continue. As I am the first to be able to speak to you without you fleeing, I will say my piece. I love you, Naruto-kun. I have admired you all the time since you stood up to that academy teacher in my second year. But the most important part is that you helped me become who I am today. Without you I would have never met your parents and still be the pathetic, friendless little girl who stalked you without ever approaching you. In the nearly five years we have spent alone together in this world I have come to know you better than anyone else, and I dare say that you likewise know the true me better than anyone. I know and share your dreams and hopes. You are everything I could ever want in the man to share my life with. I love you with all my heart." Then she kissed him on the lips.

Naruto didn't really know how to respond to this and let panic determine his answer. "I like you, too. You are like a sister to me."

It was a feeble lie as well as a low blow, and Hinata obviously recognized it as such judging from the hint of anger in her expression. The playful and somewhat evil smirk that appeared on her face not even a second later made Naruto quite nervous.

"A sister you say? I wonder what kind of sister would do this."

Before he could react Hinata kissed him again directly on the lips. When her tongue unexpectedly entered his mouth his conscious mind went blank for however long the kiss lasted. He couldn't help but respond in kind with his tongue; it just felt too good. Naruto moaned when the kiss ended, but he quickly regained his bearings.

"You are right; I don't see you as a sister. I like you very much. But please stop, we are too young for such things."

After looking at him blankly for a few moments Hinata suddenly began to laugh. In fact, she was laughing so hard her entire body was shaking and tears were spilling from her eyes. Naruto could only watch in confusion. What was so funny? Finally she calmed down.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she began speaking. "You silly man; these eyes see everything. I know exactly how often you get a hard-on, the look of longing you wear when you think nobody watches, the cold showers you take as often as you can and how many times you jack off. Likewise, I'm sure your nose tells you how often I masturbate. Don't you dare tell me we are too young for this."

Naruto stared open-mouthed at her, but Hinata wasn't finished yet.

"I have seen people naked and having sex since I fully activated my bloodline when I was seven. When I was nine I already used my eyes to peep on people. I wasn't in good mental shape at that point in time, but thanks to you and your parents I developed nicely, I think. Have you any idea how often I had to relieve the pressure from simply looking at you?"

"But you always act so proper in the outside world!"

Hinata harrumphed. "Please, you should know better than anyone that my shy and meek public persona is only a mask; just like your behavior as a dumb and happy kid. Heck, even our friends know that to a degree. Who do you think Ino and Yakumo talk to if they have questions regarding the development of their bodies and relationships? I'm the farthest from innocent a girl can get without actually having sex." She wriggled her butt, causing it to rub against a sensitive region and eliciting another moan from him. "A status I intend to correct in the foreseeable future."

"That doesn't change the fact that twelve is too young!" Naruto ground out.

"How old are we really, Naruto-kun? Our bodies may be twelve, but our minds are older. I was nine when I first entered this world, but I have spent nearly five additional years here by my count. That would make me around seventeen. You would probably be in your late twenties if you had aged normally." She held up her hand to forestall Naruto's protests. "I know, I know; time spent here isn't equivalent to actually being that old because of the way the memories integrate. Still, we have a maturity far in advance of our physical age, and a quite active sex drive. What you are doing by denying it is self-destructive; you need to let it out. Can you honestly say you don't desire me?"

Naruto looked into her eyes for a long time until he deflated. "No, I can't. If I were to release my self-control I would be having sex with you in a few seconds at the latest. But I fear I will go too far and do things neither of us really wants."

Hinata's hands began to caress his face. "And that is the root of the matter. You fear change. After spending so many years as a child you are loath to let it go and tell yourself you are too young. You aren't. The urges show that your body is ready, and your mind is mature enough to know the means and consequences. You only have to stop lying to yourself. I assure you, I am quite capable of stopping you should you go too far." She giggled. "Not that I believe you ever would; you are fiercely protective of your few friends and would never hurt them. Just let nature take its course."

He simply stared at her and tried to bring order into his chaotically whirling thoughts. Apparently he was taking too long for Hinata's liking, and she reached back with one arm and began to stroke the bulge in his trousers.

"I give! I give! You are right, I want you badly."

Hinata's smile was brilliant. "I want you, too. Let's see what we can do about our mutual desires."

It took mere seconds after that confession for Hinata to discard her clothing and remove Naruto's trousers. Now she was standing before him in all her naked glory, and Naruto couldn't stop looking at her. Her body was already showing some clear signs of what she would look like in a few years, and he couldn't get the image of her he had seen in the visions of the future out of his head.

"You are beautiful."

"Thank you. I like how you look, too." A few quick steps later she was in his arms and kissing him hungrily. Their bodies rubbed against each other, causing them to moan in concert. "I think I'm not quite ready for actual intercourse, but we can always do other things." She stepped back before her hand closed around his member. The next few seconds were a bit unclear for Naruto, but after that he found himself on the ground entwined with Hinata. One of his hands was between her legs while the other one caressed her breasts. Hinata meanwhile let her free hand wander over his body while the other one worked his nether regions.

It became steadily more intense until he could hardly think anymore and the pressure and feelings of pleasure simply became unbearable. With a gasp he came, and he felt Hinata's body buckling in ecstasy at the same time. It was only the first of many events of the same sort, occasionally interrupted by a short trip to the lake to cool down and clean up.

Several hours of love-making later Naruto was lying on a soft bed of moss, with Hinata snuggled as close to him as she could get. With each breath Naruto inhaled her scent deeply. For the first time in many months he felt completely relaxed. It had grown dark, but the night was still warm enough to eschew clothing. Besides, the direct contact between Hinata's skin and his own felt simply wonderful. Suddenly Hinata began to giggle.

"What is it?"

"It's just I always wondered if your extreme endurance translates well into sexual staying power." She began to rub her body against his again. Almost immediately a certain part of his anatomy reacted accordingly. "I think we can answer that question with a resounding yes." She giggled again. "We will have so much fun in the future."

Another bout of pleasure later they continued talking.

"I guess I can gently let Yakumo and Ino down now that we are together." Naruto remarked.

"You will do no such thing. In fact, I want you to choose one of them for your girlfriend and never even hint at any sort of attraction between us in the outside world." Hinata commanded with steel in her voice.

That confused Naruto a great deal. "But why?"

Hinata sighed deeply. "Naruto, I will never be able to give you children. As long as my clan holds power we can never be together in the waking world. You know what will happen to me if they even suspect that I am in any danger of sullying our precious bloodline with the blood of an outsider. I want you to be happy, and I know that you yearn for a big family. Yakumo and Ino are my friends, and either of them would be good for you. Or perhaps another girl we haven't met yet if things don't work out between you."

"You want to effectively share me with another girl?" Naruto asked in astonishment.

"Do I want to? No. If there was any other way I could have you for myself without compromising our goals or your happiness I would take it. But the one thing I will never accept is you staying alone for my sake." she answered.

Naruto shook his head in an effort to think more clearly. "Do you honestly expect me to have sex with them?"

"Don't be silly. Neither Yakumo nor Ino are anywhere near ready for what we have just done. I expect there will be some months of simply spending time exclusively with your chosen girlfriend and holding hands before you advance to cuddling and some kissing. Anything more won't happen until well after our graduation."

He was hesitant to voice the next question. "What… what if I don't want to do this?"

Hinata's voice was pained, and Naruto could feel tears falling on his upper body. "If you feel you can't do that I will give up my claim to you. Your happiness is more important to me than my own. I would rather forsake what comfort I could gain from our relationship here than see you alone in the waking world, without the family you hope to gain." Hinata looked up to him, her eyes still brimming with tears. "Whatever you decide to do I will support and remain your friend. The choice is yours, my love." And then she kissed him with incredible gentleness. It was quite different from their earlier kisses that had been full of unrestrained lust. This one spoke of longing and love so deep it made his heart ache.

The sensation lingered with him long after Hinata had fallen asleep on top of him. Sleep fled him this night as he laid thinking. It was clear to him that Hinata felt far more strongly about him than he felt about her… at this point in time. He certainly desired her and even had feelings for her to a meaningful degree, but he couldn't match her devotion. If he allowed the relationship to continue and grow he was certain that he would love her dearly in a short time… but that would mean adding another secret to the pile he had to keep from whoever he chose to court, now and in the future.

'Can I love someone else and found a family while I live with Hinata as my lover here? Or can I forsake her and be happy outside while I watch her heart break slowly week after week?' The silent trees held no answer for Naruto.

'What should I do?'

Ino was a very angry girl. The main reason for that was her father's refusal to train her further in their clan's techniques despite her having mastered the shintenshin jutsu almost to perfection. By now she could use it on a moment's notice and had even improved the speed at which her mind traveled.

Her friends had been good test subjects; Choji, Shino and Yakumo could force her out almost immediately by now. She shuddered for a moment when she recalled her impressions of Yakumo's mind. Ino hadn't looked around, that would have been a breach of trust, but she had gotten some inkling about how their minds worked. Choji was kind and loyal, but he wouldn't hesitate to stomp all threats to his friends and family into the ground. Shino had a very orderly mind, with everyone neatly sorted into friends, enemies and pawns. Yakumo was simply scary; a fact that she had proven with some of her genjutsu. She wouldn't do anything permanent to her friends, in fact she would protect them at all costs, but Ino never wanted to give Yakumo a reason to be angry at her. Her mind was an incredibly complex and always shifting web of schemes and machinations of all varieties, with a very creative imagination. The first time she had taken possession of her had caused her nightmares for days. On the positive side it had given her the opportunity to learn how she could possess someone and not let things she didn't want to see affect her while still making the possession work. That skill would come in very handy if she had ever to take possession of an insane mind. Naruto and Hinata were an enigma to her. No matter how hard she tried, if she used her jutsu on them she simply bounced off. Ino couldn't really fathom how much mental strength was necessary to achieve that feat. Not even her father had a strong enough mind to prevent a possession in the first place.

In spite of all her advances her father obviously still saw her as too young to be able to learn the more advanced techniques. Ino had asked nicely and let her charm play, but her father simply didn't budge. It had culminated in a shouting match several days ago after she lost her temper. In hindsight that confrontation had been a very stupid idea. Not only had her father refused to train her, he had given orders that no other clan member was allowed to do so. If Ino had simply kept silent she might have been able to wheedle some instruction out of some relative, but that door was now closed. It was a lesson she was determined to heed in the future. If some obstacle presented itself, it was better to find a way around it instead of trying to break through with brute force.

Unfortunately, she had already been angry before that confrontation, and it had impaired her judgment. Part of the reason for that was Naruto's decision to start dating Yakumo. While it had hurt her that she wasn't chosen it simply wasn't possible to be angry about that. Who was she to begrudge them their beginning relationship when Hinata, the girl who genuinely loved Naruto, was giving them her blessing? It was really quite humbling; Ino didn't think she could have done the same if she were in Hinata's place. And that had been the source of her anger: The impression that her character had shortcomings.

The other reason for being angry was a failed reconciliation attempt with Sakura. Ino was sure she would never again fall for Sasuke, making it seem a good idea to at least return to speaking terms with her erstwhile friend. Unfortunately Sakura simply didn't believe her and blew her off.

'I have to learn to control my temper. It might give me no end of trouble in the future otherwise.'

Now she was in search of a teacher who might be willing to ignore the orders of her father. The Yamanaka lived spread all over the village instead of concentrating in one clan compound, although they still maintained the original compound. Less than a fifth of the clan still lived there, and Ino had only visited with her father for the clan rituals necessary to utilize their clan jutsu. Despite widespread opinion saying otherwise the Yamanaka didn't really possess a bloodline. Sure, most members were born with an affinity for their chosen specialization in the mind arts, but in theory everyone could learn to use their jutsu. That was if one was schooled in mental discipline and other related preparatory techniques and underwent the necessary and very secret rituals at an early age. The rituals mainly involved meditation and the use of exotic psychotropic drugs to loosen the bonds between mind and body. If someone tried to use the Yamanaka jutsu without that preparation he would get an unwelcome and very short surprise when his mind shredded itself into very tiny pieces.

Currently she was wandering through the almost deserted clan compound while avoiding most of the people who lived here. Her family and especially her father weren't well liked in these quarters. Ino had originally been oblivious to the fact, but her clan was deeply divided. The majority followed her father, but a sizable minority didn't really accept his leadership and only grudgingly went along with his orders. Ino still hadn't discovered all the details, but apparently the rift became visible when her great-grandfather had been clan head. The larger faction accepted the Sandaime's vision of a unified Konoha without the divisions the clans imposed and integrated more and more with the normal population. The smaller faction wanted to stick to the time-honored traditions of the Yamanaka and resented the reforms the progressive clan heads had enforced. Ino was undecided on the matter. On the one hand it was certainly much more pleasant to live intermixed with the normal population. On the other hand many of the traditions that fell out of use because of the reforms might have been justified or brought some benefits. It should have been possible to find a balance between useful traditions and modern life. The example of the Akimichi, Aburame and Nara showed that it was possible.

She had only scratched on the surface, but Ino knew that a lot of powerful Yamanaka techniques weren't in use anymore. For whatever reason she didn't know, but it was one of the causes why she was wandering around in the clan compound today. Only one person was guaranteed to have answers and give them to her despite orders to the contrary, and she lived a withdrawn life here. In fact, Ino hadn't known of her existence until a short time ago. When she talked with Naruto about her problems he had pointed her in the right direction. It was quite the enigma from where the blond boy pulled all these interesting bits of knowledge.

Finally she arrived at her destination; a mansion surrounded by a park in a secluded area of the compound. Gathering her courage, Ino knocked on the door. At first nothing happened, but then the door opened. Before Ino stood one of the most massive men she had ever encountered with a somewhat empty expression on his face.

"E-Excuse me, my name is Ino and I wish to speak with Izumi Yamanaka."

For a few seconds the man showed no reaction. Ino feared at first he didn't understand her, but suddenly he took a few steps back and made inviting motions with his hands.

'Perhaps he can't speak?'

After closing the door behind her the man started walking through a corridor, leaving Ino no time to truly examine her surroundings. Ino followed him quickly until they entered a waiting room. The man motioned for her to wait before he left through another door. Ino used the opportunity to look around. The waiting room was tastefully decorated with various items of art, most of them very expensive. On the wall to the side hung an incredibly life-like painting that caught her attention. It showed an extremely beautiful and elegant platinum blonde woman of perhaps eighteen or nineteen years in an ancient kimono that could be mistaken for an older version of herself. Sure, there were some differences like the exact shade of the hair and eyes, but the resemblance of the facial structure was uncanny. Ino only hoped that the rest of her body would develop similar to the woman.

A very old sounding female voice interrupted her musings. "You may enter; the door is open."

Ino entered through the door and stopped for a moment at the sight. At the other end of the room the oldest looking woman Ino had ever seen was sitting on a pile of cushions. Incredibly wrinkled and shrunken, with hair as white as snow done in an artful style she was the very image of an ancient elder. To the side stood motionless the same man that had greeted her at the door with a completely vacant expression.

"Come closer, child. My eyesight is not what it once was."

Ino blushed and resumed moving. She hadn't realized that she had stopped. When she stood before the woman she could see that her small body seemed to consist only of wrinkled, spotted skin and bones; almost no flesh was left on the woman's limbs. One of her eyes had obviously gone blind behind a white mist, but the remaining one was a deep blue not unlike her own eye color. Up close she noticed a slight shaking of all of the elder's limbs.

When Izumi began speaking it caught Ino by surprise. "Am I what you expected to find here, an decrepit old woman? The ravages of old age aren't pretty, I fear. It gets us all in the end, no matter our beauty. I know I don't look anything like my portrait anymore. I noticed your interest."

"That was you?" Ino couldn't help but blurt out.

The old woman chuckled. "Oh yes, that was me around ninety years ago. The painter was one of my friends and lovers; one of the greatest artists of that time. We had to interrupt the painting session quite often because he wanted to… study me up close and in detail. Unfortunately, only a few of his works have survived over the decades. Enough of this talk, why have you come to me?"

"I want knowledge. I think there is something wrong with our clan and Konoha, and I want to learn more jutsu and more of our clan's history." Ino answered.

Izumi hummed thoughtfully. "What is your ninja status, and which of our clan's jutsu do you know?"

"I will become a genin in about half a year, and the only Yamanaka jutsu I know is the shintenshin. I perfected it as good as I could, but my father still refuses to train me further and has given orders to that regard."

Ino stopped speaking when she noticed that Izumi's slight shaking had intensified. A closer look revealed that she now wore an expression of anger. "You are telling me that you only know a beginner's jutsu that no sane shinobi would use in combat when you are about to venture out in the world in half a year?" Upon seeing Ino's nod, the old woman seemed to deflate. "What has become of our clan? When I was young nobody would even have considered for a child to fight without the mastery of at least five combat-capable mind jutsu. I never thought a grandchild of mine would be sent into combat so unprepared."

"I'm your granddaughter?" Ino asked surprised.

Izumi chuckled. "Oh yes, if we only consider the direct female line I'm your five times great-grandmother. I had five children, four of which had children of their own. After a few generations everyone is related to everybody in a clan. Back to the topic; are you willing to do what you need to if you want to learn the forgotten secrets of our clan?" Izumi asked while gesturing to the big servant.

Ino looked up to the big man with the vacant expression. "What about him?"

"He is but one of my servants. I believe his name was Fujin. In exchange for a favor I did the Sandaime a few years ago he allowed me my pick of the prisons. After I raped his mind into nothingness he made an acceptable servant. I only need a portion of my attention to control his body. Unfortunately, I must have made some mistakes. That one lost the ability to speak, and his brother didn't survive the procedure. It seems my skills aren't what they once were."

Ino couldn't quite keep the horror from her face while the nice old lady talked about the particulars of completely destroying the mind of a human as if it was nothing. Quickly she schooled her features into polite interest. She needed that knowledge, and she never harbored the illusion that the secret skills of a clan would be nice.

It seemed that Izumi had watched her attentively, for the old woman interrupted her explanation. "Good, you are horrified but are willing to set it to the side in favor of learning. It is good to know horror and overcome it, many of our higher techniques are considered quite despicable. Let me look into your mind. Only then will I decide if you are worthy."

This was a quandary for Ino. She knew she needed Izumi's help, but what if she didn't approve of her actions? Pondering this for a few moments, Ino came to a decision. She had come too far to back out and needed the elder's aid too urgently. With a nod to Izumi she signaled her willingness. Upon seeing this, the old woman's emaciated hands made one of the Yamanaka's special hand seals. The sensation that followed was nothing like Ino had ever felt before. It was like a soft breeze moving through her mind, touching upon memories and thought processes here and there.

Suddenly the presence of Izumi retreated from her mind, and tears began falling from the elder's eyes. "Oh child, where have you been? I have waited and waited for a worthy successor, shrunken and forgotten by the world. And now that you are finally here I no longer have the strength to continue. I cannot train you."

Ino was taken aback by the outburst. "What do you mean you can't train me? You and I are here now, aren't we?"

Izumi shook her head sadly. "I am dying, child. One or two months are all that I have left. Not enough time by far, and my mind is already unraveling. I had planned to end it on my own terms in a few weeks. Death by a painless and fast acting poison is far preferable to dying in senility. Even now it takes much effort for me to stay coherent enough to talk with you."

Ino gulped. Even at her young age she knew that the greatest fear of every practitioner of the mind arts was the loss of one's own mental faculties.

"I saw your plans, and I approve. You have quite the group, you know." Izumi sighed deeply. "I always thought the idea of the villages wasn't a good one, but what you have discovered goes beyond anything I ever suspected. Although there are still things you do not know about our own clan. I can't even walk anymore, but my mind can still use vehicles to see and listen. We are in decline as a ninja clan. Our numbers grow, yes, but each year fewer of our children become shinobi. We have currently fewer Yamanaka shinobi than at any point of the history I am familiar with. The policy of integration begun under the first Hokage has led to a slow dissolution of the clan. Once upon a time we were feared, almost on a level with the Uchiha. No secret was safe from us when we jumped from mind to mind and only the strongest could withstand our powers. Alas, after we joined the village the majority of the clan didn't want to be seen as something to be feared, and our prowess suffered."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"What should I have done? The majority of the clan as well as the elders and the clan head were convinced by Hashirama of the idea of Konoha. I was in my twenties and already famous, yes, but I didn't have enough support to take over leadership. If I had resisted it would only have split the clan, and that would have been the ruin of the Yamanaka. You couldn't really show that much weakness in the time of the clan wars, some enemy would have made use of it. Then it was a gradual process that was mostly internal to the Yamanaka. More and more techniques were declared forbidden because they were considered 'too extreme'. Without anyone teaching them they were forgotten after the old guard died. The Yamanaka were never big on writing such things down, we mentally transferred the knowledge from master to pupil. In fact, it would be very difficult to explain the inner workings of many Yamanaka jutsu using words. By the time I was considered an elder myself when I was nearing fifty and most of my more influential opponents were dead I already lacked the vitality to turn the clan around." Izumi stopped for a moment. The long conversation was obviously taking a great deal of effort from her.

Ino was shocked. She had known something was wrong with her own clan, but she hadn't expected it to be such a long-term problem.

Meanwhile Izumi had recovered enough to continue speaking. "I never made a secret of my opinion that Konoha's policies were weakening our clan, and it led to me being slowly sidelined. When young Hiruzen assumed the mantle of Hokage things became worse. He was even more extreme than the Shodaime and Nidaime in his foolish, soft-hearted ways. I offered what opposition I could, but to no avail. The Nara and Akimichi were always good allies, but I doubt the wisdom of the Sarutobi. Hiruzen's father Sasuke was a great shinobi as well as a good lay, but their dedication to peace was excessive. My health was declining, and I retired completely after the second shinobi war. I just didn't have the strength to make a stand. For years I hoped some promising child would become my pupil, but everyone who sought me out proved to be a fool lusting after power for power's sake."

"What about the people still living in the clan compound?"

Izumi scoffed. "They are largely fools who cling to the traditions without recognizing what they do and why they were established. Should they gain power I believe our clan would go the way of the Hyuuga. At the moment the Yamanaka seem to follow the path of the Senju into oblivion. If you want to lead our clan back to greatness you will have to pick sensible allies from both groups." The old woman took a deep breath before continuing. "There is one thing I can do. If you agree I will dump my memories into your head. You will still be you, but you will have access to my experiences. Unfortunately, it will be largely a jumbled mess you will have to sort out on your own. There isn't enough time left for me to organize it in a fashion that is easily understandable, not to mention that my mind isn't in good enough shape for that anymore."

Ino thought about it for a while. It was dangerous, but it would be the only way left to her if she wanted to gain the knowledge she desired. Straightening, she looked directly into Izumi's one good eye. "I agree; to save our clan I will take the risk."

A toothless smile was her answer. "Good. Now clear your mind, this will take a while."

Hours later, Ino stealthily left the Yamanaka clan compound. She doubted she would ever see Izumi again in this world, but her memories would be forever with her. They were a jumbled mess indeed. Each mind organized itself differently, and Izumi's already very complex mind had been muddled by the beginnings of senility. Izumi had paid special attention to make her memories of preparatory clan rituals and secret training techniques especially clear because she would need to do them as soon as possible, but when she ventured into other sections there was no telling what sort of memories she would encounter. Her first tries had shown her a very boring meeting of the clan elders from around sixty years ago, a relatively unspectacular mission with a fight against bandits and lastly Izumi's wedding night. The last one had her still blushing. It had been very obvious that Izumi had already been very experienced at that point. Still, it would take her years to sort everything out.

"Bunshin!"

Two perfect copies of Yakumo appeared behind her, earning nods from Iruka and Mizuki. "Congratulations, Yakumo. You are hereby promoted to a genin of the Leaf." Iruka said while handing her a hitai-ate. After a moment of thought Yakumo fastened it around her waist like a girdle.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei." she answered before returning to the classroom.

There she made immediately a beeline to her friends, some of which had already passed the last tests. In fact, only Naruto and Ino were still missing their forehead protectors because of the position of their last names in the alphabet. After receiving their congratulations and a hug from Naruto she sat down and let her mind wander.

The genin exam had been pathetically easy, just as they had predicted. If all went as expected there wouldn't be a single member of the elite class that would fail the tests. It had been far more difficult to keep their scores to the level of their peers than to actually pass the exam. Yakumo was really glad that they would soon be able to openly show more of their skills. Concealing their abilities was quite wearing, but it had been worth it. She really didn't want to deal with a crowd of hangers-on. Or with the scrutiny of the teachers and perhaps other authorities, for that matter.

She watched impassively as the last Uchiha entered the testing area. He would most likely be the rookie of the year, and he was quite welcome to the meaningless title. Her clan had always harbored a dislike for the Uchiha due to some long-standing enmity involving the stealing of jutsu, and Sasuke was in her opinion a prime example what was wrong with the clan. When he wasn't brooding the boy displayed an unhealthy combination of arrogance and a combined superiority- and inferiority complex. Sasuke thought of himself as the best, and he wouldn't deal well with the fact that someone was better than him. They had contemplated for a while to include him in the circle; he was a clan heir and possessed an enormous drive to succeed, after all; but in the end they had come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. With the last Uchiha they would never be able to keep things under wraps, either from his desire to show off or because some members of his fan club witnessed something they shouldn't. Not to mention his grating personality; there was none of them who liked the boy on a personal level, even his previous fan girl Ino had developed something of a dislike for him after a while. The decision to let him have the best scores had been unanimous. If one of them had displayed superior skills Sasuke would have hounded them to no end, either to constantly provoke fights to prove his superiority or to badger them to teach him their skills.

Loud cheering caused her to look up. Sasuke was proudly displaying his hitai-ate to the class, and his fan girls were going wild. Sakura Haruno was the loudest of them. Barring unforeseen complications, the pink-haired girl would have a reason to cheer even louder in one week's time when the teams would be announced. Thanks to her impressive academic talents she would be the best kunoichi, even if Ino, Hinata and herself were better in the practical subjects. That should cause her to be grouped with Sasuke; an honor each of the girls of the circle was only too happy to eschew.

Finally it was Naruto's turn to display his prowess in the three academy jutsu. With a nod to them he left for the next room, only to return a few minutes later with a shiny new hitai-ate around his head and a wide grin on his face.

As soon as he came near her she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. None of their class mates noticed; they were still focused on the Uchiha. "Congratulations, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks, Yakumo-chan."

Ino was the last one to be tested, and it went off without a hitch. When the group finally left the academy they encountered a gaggle of proudly chatting parents. They stopped for a moment for some last words between them.

"That's it, then." Choji said.

"I can't believe that our five years are already over and in a week we'll be real ninja." Ino added.

Hinata nodded. "It s-seems shorter, especially the l-last two years."

"Our skills are well within our predictions. Everything is going according to plan." Shino remarked.

Yakumo surveyed the crowd. "You shouldn't keep your parents waiting any longer. Remember, we meet again tomorrow evening at my house for our private graduation party and the last regular planning session."

"Have fun with your families; you don't graduate every day." Naruto saw them off.

She and Naruto watched from under a tree with a swing as those of their circle with parents were welcomed by them. Well, in the case of Hinata it was a branch house member named Ko who did the duty. From what the girl had told them he was often assigned as her guardian and one of the few Hyuuga who showed something akin to care about her well-being. Unfortunately, he seemed to despise Naruto, a fact which had prevented Hinata from considering him a friend. Some of the other people sent occasional glares in the direction of Naruto, and she was sure that there were some venomous comments going around, but that was nothing unexpected. Naruto didn't care about them, and neither did she.

She felt Naruto's hand enfolding her own. "I think it's time for us to go. We need to freshen up a bit before we go to the Akimichi restaurant I reserved a table in."

Yakumo favored him with a smile. "That sounds lovely."

It had been a stroke of good luck that Naruto had chosen her as his girlfriend. They had only recently advanced from holding hands to occasional kisses on the cheeks and some cuddling, but she could hardly be happier. Their intense training and other projects didn't leave them much free time for the pursuit of their relationship, but what quality time they had was very nice. Considering that they had been close friends for more than five years there wasn't much they didn't know about the other. Naruto was pretty much what she considered an ideal boyfriend. It was therefore a quite happy couple that walked hand in hand away from the academy.

On the next evening, Yakumo's hand seemed to blur when she drew sketch after sketch with a piece of charcoal. Before her, her friends sat on a couch, with Naruto in the center framed by Ino and a bunshin of Yakumo, followed by Choji and Shino, respectively. Hinata sat by Choji's side and Mizuki stood behind them. Some furious sketching later, Yakumo put down the charcoal and dispelled the bunshin.

"Okay guys, I'm finished for now. I don't know how long it will take for me to complete the paintings, but in some months each of you should receive one."

Painting had become her means of relaxation, and she enjoyed it a great deal. Yakumo knew a few techniques that helped with creating multiple paintings of the same scene at once, which she had used to create a small side-business for creating portraits. She knew that there had been some Kurama main house techniques for using paintings as a focus point for genjutsu, but this knowledge had been lost in the fire. After she had removed her stuff they prepared to listen to Naruto's speech.

"The first thing I want to do is thank you all. You have been great friends for however long I have known you. With that out of the way, our greatest task begins in a few days. Ever since our great investigation two years ago we have prepared as good as we could. We all have some basic knowledge in almost all subjects aside from our individual specializations, but the academy has severely restricted our available time. I'm proud to announce that Mizuki-sensei has reviewed our progress and considers us already better than some chunin. Evaluate your senseis, and depending on their trustworthiness you can begin to reveal your skills at a slower or higher pace. Aside from the missions we will never again have that much time to train. Use it well." Naruto raised the glass in his hand. "To us, the Circle of Six, and Konoha's future."

After repeating the toast they all took a sip from their glasses. The contents weren't alcoholic, even if they were now technically allowed to drink alcohol. It wasn't deliberately spelled out for the new genin, but they were now considered adults with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities. Naruto's speech was followed by reports of the various projects. Their elemental training wasn't quite finished, but they had made very good progress. Naruto had created several utility jutsus, but he couldn't advance to combat jutsu for want of a decent testing area. Creating a new jutsu was a somewhat volatile process, and they wouldn't be able to explain the amount of property damage it would cause. Hinata could probably pass the test for becoming a professional medic-nin while Shino had become interested in barrier jutsu and was developing the kikaichu of his newly acquired second hive to act as chakra conductors in order to create the necessary focal points. Choji had by now enough strength to shatter softer wood with his bare hands and was their best taijutsu fighter, not that any of them were slouches. Ino had made some progress in her clan's mind jutsu while Yakumo herself had mastered several genjutsu and taught the other some low-ranking, easy-to-use ones. Their chakra reserves and control were their greatest strength; they all were more or less at jonin level. Hinata could probably already be considered kage-level in that regard while Naruto was literally off the charts somewhere between kage and bijuu. Mizuki was probably a jonin in skill by this point.

"Who will b-be our senseis?" Hinata asked.

"We are relatively sure that Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi and Hayate Gekko will be the ones with passing teams this term." Choji answered.

Hinata nodded in acknowledgement. With the exception of Kakashi they all seemed to be capable teachers, and hopefully they had been successful with foisting off Sasuke and Sakura onto him. If they grouped the lowest scoring genin with them the third member of team Kakashi would be Shikamaru. Confirmation would have to wait until after the decision by the Hokage the day after tomorrow, though. After they had concluded their planning session the party began in earnest.

It was already very late when Yakumo spied Naruto talking to Mizuki in the hallway. Yakumo still didn't know what Hinata and her boyfriend had originally done to acquire their teacher's cooperation and silence, but by now the point was moot. It seemed that by now Mizuki was genuinely loyal to Naruto and considered him his master. Ever after the tragic death of his lover Tsubaki he had grown closer to him. All members of the study group had done their best to help Mizuki dealing with her death, and by now he seemed to have recovered completely. His assistance over the years had been invaluable, and he had profited enormously as well.

"…disable… Iruka… team composition… Sasuke… can't take…chance… Kakashi…Hokage…"

After catching these few words Yakumo decided she didn't want to know what the conversation was about and returned to her place on the couch. Plausible deniability was a good thing, after all.

Mizuki felt a slight twinge of regret as he sprinkled the powder into Iruka's meal. It was not actually dangerous, but would cause Iruka to feel quite sick for a few days. The effects could be easily mistaken for a stomach disorder caused by slightly spoiled food. He had taken care to be the one who got their meals for their dinner discussion.

The reason for that little maneuver was the upcoming team assignments, and Naruto-sama had been quite clear in his instructions to make sure the suggestions from the academy were reasonable. Nobody could be allowed to interfere with them, and Iruka was a major element of uncertainty. He had displayed an appalling lack in judgment when it came to evaluating the individual skills of his class.

He had a lot of leeway in the fulfillment of his task; he only needed to make sure that none of Naruto's circle were grouped with the Uchiha or assigned to Kakashi Hatake. Mizuki wasn't sure why Naruto wanted that, after all Sasuke was a promising shinobi and Kakashi was widely hailed as one of the top shinobi of Konoha, but he trusted his master to have his reasons. Naruto had helped him enormously and was quite reasonable in his demands, so Mizuki was content to obey.

The next morning Mizuki visited Iruka's house after the senior instructor didn't show up for a meeting. As expected Iruka was violently ill and wasn't able to leave the house.

"Sorry Mizuki, could you please take over for me? The Hokage expects me this evening for my evaluation of our prospective genin and team assignments. The papers are all in my office, and-"

"Just rest, Iruka, I take care of everything." Mizuki interrupted.

"Thanks, Mizuki. You're a true friend."

'If only you knew.'

Several hours later Mizuki was cursing while he was looking through the senior instructor's documents. What the hell had Iruka been thinking? Reinstating the Ino-Shika-Cho trio only because their fathers had worked together? It was completely self-evident for any casual observer that Choji and Ino were hardworking, motivated and wanted to make their own name, which couldn't be said for Shikamaru. Not to speak of the fact that the powers and tactics of that team combination were widely known. Sure, it might happen anyway because of political pressure, but there was simply no reason to recommend it from the start.

Mizuki thought it very likely that the Hokage and Iruka had spoken about these things beforehand and already planned the teams. Once upon a time Mizuki had hoped to become close to the Hokage, but no longer. His master had helped him more than the Hokage had ever supported Iruka. He would have to destroy these documents, but that was nothing an 'accidentally' knocked over cup of coffee couldn't solve.

The evaluations of the abilities of the individual genin were all over the place. For example, there was no special mention of Naruto's skills in traps and evading pursuit, even if the whole village saw some of his ingenious pranks and the following wild chases. Mizuki knew his master had been holding back a large amount of his skills, but this was ridiculous. It was as if Iruka recorded only their academic performance without considering their personalities and other traits they actually displayed in- and outside of class.

'This crap is completely useless. I'll have to scrap everything and simply go to the meeting with the individual evaluations of the genin and think of team recommendations for myself. At least these notes say which jonin are expected to pass their teams.'

Later that day, Mizuki was sitting in one of the conference rooms in the Hokage tower together with two secretaries, the two village advisors and the Hokage himself. One of the secretaries was currently announcing the jonin that had been picked to lead the teams. Or fail them in the rigged tests, depending on who got which team.

"….Team 7 will be led by Kakashi Hatake, Team 8 by Kurenai Yuhi, Team 10 by Asuma Sarutobi and finally Team 11 by Hayate Gekko. The last four we expect to pass their teams."

"I fear there has to be a change in plans, Hokage-sama. Gekko-san was hospitalized yesterday for an indefinite time. On his last mission he encountered an enemy using poison gas, which damaged his already worn out lungs further. He is no longer fit for duty until he completes a lengthy therapy of several months." the Hokage's other secretary interjected.

The aged leader furrowed his brow. "This complicates matters. We don't have another jonin available that I feel comfortable to withdraw from high rank missions. Anyone we assign a team that we expect to pass will be completely unavailable for at least half a year teaching his genin the basics. After that we can expect up to two years of limited availability."

Mizuki noticed the councilor Homura visibly perking up during the Hokage's speech. "I think I have a solution to that problem, Hiruzen. One of the jonin that seek my council has expressed a desire to take some time off after more than five years of an uninterrupted string of high ranking missions. She might be persuaded to take a team instead."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Anko Mitarashi."

"Orochimaru's apprentice? Are you sure?" Koharu asked sceptically.

"Former apprentice; and she has never given us any reason to doubt her loyalties. As you remember, she was promoted to jonin two years ago and is now entitled to take pupils." Homura shot back.

Koharu gave him a sharp look before her expression grew thoughtful. "That is correct, and I know of no one else we could spare to teach a new team." Her head swiveled to the Hokage. "If you don't have another candidate she seems our best option."

After the Hokage gave his consent they went to the next item on the agenda, the assignment of the genin. Now it was time for Mizuki to give his input.

"Kakashi-san should get Sasuke Uchiha because he is the only one left who can teach the boy to properly use his sharingan once it awakens. If we stick to the tradition to group the rookie of the year with the best kunoichi and the one with the lowest score his teammates would be Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara."

The Hokage leafed through some of his notes. "Hm, Kakashi has requested to teach Naruto. It goes against tradition, but we could replace Shikamaru with Naruto."

'Shit, I can't allow that to happen. What can I do? Right, simply make something up.'

"With all necessary respect, I don't think that a good idea, Hokage-sama. The personalities of Sasuke and Naruto don't mesh well, they detest each other. It would be detrimental to both their training if they were to be assigned to the same team. After they have learned the basics we could consider putting them on the same team to teach them to work together, but not earlier."

That was a bare-faced lie, of course. Sasuke and Naruto were perfectly content to ignore each other, but considering that Naruto had ties to all other clan heirs aside from Sasuke, it was a believable statement. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he was able to convince the Hokage judging from his expression. Luckily, help arrived from an unexpected source.

"There's another problem, Hiruzen. Kakashi will have his hands full with Sasuke and won't have time to deal with problems that could arise from the boy's… special condition. Better to assign him another sensei." Koharu said.

"I concur." Homura added.

Confronted with three dissenting opinions, the Hokage relented. "Very well, your suggestion is approved. Now to Team 8."

"I propose assigning Yakumo Kurama and Ino Yamanaka to Team 8. Both have expressed an interest in genjutsu, and Kurenai-san is the most qualified to teach them. They would make a good capture and interrogation team. Yakumo can trap the victims in a genjutsu, after which Ino would have an easy time taking them over. The last spot can be filled by one of the candidates with a more general skill set."

Koharu nodded. "A good idea, replacing a Nara with a Kurama. They should even be able to extract single targets surrounded by guards undetected."

"I agree; we can leave the third position for later. Please continue, Mizuki-san."

"Team 10 should be composed of Kiba Inuzaka and Shino Aburame. Between the two of them they have quite the tracking capability as well as enough combat potential to discourage most enemies, leaving the third position open to a candidate of your choosing."

"Lastly, Team 11 would serve as a balanced team. Choji Akimichi is predestined for heavy close-ranged combat, while Naruto's chakra capacity makes him ideal as ninjutsu-user. Additionally, the boy possesses good skills in tracking, traps and evading pursuit, as his frequent pranks have shown. Hinata Hyuuga completes the team with her ability to detect hidden enemies due to the byakugan and disable targets with the Gentle Fist."

The two elders nodded thoughtfully while the Hokage favored him with a fake smile.

"Thank you for your input, Mizuki-san. You may leave."

Mizuki breathed a sigh of relief after the doors had closed behind them. Iruka would have been invited to stay for further discussion as he was quite close to the Sandaime, but the old man neither liked nor trusted Mizuki. No matter, he had done all he could, and it looked like he had been successful. He had left them with his files about the remainder of the class, but they were all more or less equal. Mizuki wondered who the two lucky genin would be that would be assigned to the four teams that had any chance of passing. Probably those whose parents had a lot of money and influence.

Like Sakura, for example. The girl had the best results in written subjects, even if he knew that Hinata, Yakumo and Ino had been holding back. That was balanced by her utter uselessness in any physical subject. In fact, had he been allowed to Mizuki would have failed her; preferably kicking her out of the academy completely. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Not only were the standards so low that practically everybody passed, Sakura's mother sat on the civilian council and held the reigns of one of the major trading companies firmly in her hands.

Sure, the girl had potential, but she lacked the appropriate mindset to make use of that potential. The one thing Mizuki hated above all was the corruption that allowed people without real skill to advance because of money and connections while their more capable peers without these advantages were held back. Like him.

'Oh well, it's not my problem anymore. At least I managed to make good progress on the development of my personal skills. The study group helped me as much as the children.'

Homura was quite pleased with himself when he returned to his home later that evening. He could count two victories in his favor. For one, he was finally able to give Anko the second thing she had asked of him, namely a team of fresh genin to teach. That development had been quite unexpected; he had to tell her that she had toyed with the thought of taking a vacation when nothing of the sort had actually happened. It had just been a made-up justification for his proposal.

The second victory had been the placement of the Uzumaki boy. He had fully expected the boy to be assigned to Kakashi who was Hiruzen's man through and through. There was no doubt that the normally responsible academy instructor Iruka would have proposed just that because he was close to the Hokage as well. Luckily the man had been ill, and his replacement had obviously different ideas.

'Was it just luck or did that Mizuki act on orders, perhaps from Danzo? His team composition made sense logically, but him standing up to the Hokage was certainly atypical for a chunin assistant academy instructor.'

In any case, his resistance gave Koharu and him the opening they needed to wrest control of the boy from the Hokage. He now owed Koharu a favor for supporting the boy's placement on Anko's team, but Homura thought it was worth it. After all, a competent jinchuuriki that he had some hold over would be a powerful piece in village politics and further his long-term goals.

Naruto tried to keep his urge to yawn under control while Iruka prattled on about ninja life and their new duties as genin. There was nothing new, and he would have preferred taking a nap. In the last days the circle had collected as much information as possible about their respective jonin after Mizuki brought them the news about the assignments. It was a pity that Shino would have no partner from their ranks, but Kiba was shaping up nicely. With a bit of pressure Shino should be able to transform his team into something useful. His attention returned to Iruka when the man began announcing the team assignments. The first six announced teams were of no interest to him; they were sure to be send back to the academy. Still, appearances had to be maintained, and they would be tested by a jonin.

"Next, team seven: Sasuke Uchiha,.." The class was dead silent, every female besides his three friends and some boys held their breaths. "…, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara." Everything descended into cacophony as fan girls shrieked out their frustration and disappointment, but the loudest of all belonged to Sakura.

"HA! Take that, Ami-cow! True love conquers all."

Naruto ignored the girls; his attention was focused on Shikamaru. He seemed to be really awake for the first time in years. His expression was one of terror and dread as he realized with whom he would spend the next months and years, but by now it was too late to do anything about it. Naruto and his friends had tried again and again, but Shikamaru never managed to overcome his sloth. He brought it on himself, but that didn't prevent Naruto and some other people from sending him looks of pity.

After Iruka had restored order he continued announcing the teams. "Team eight: Yakumo Kurama, Ino Yamanaka, Shinji Ikari." He paused for a moment to allow for exclamations, but nothing happened. Shinji was an average student, quiet and withdrawn. He was the son of the chief of the secret imperial police who wanted to have a shinobi in the family. It was very likely that he would only spend two or three years as a Konoha shinobi before he transferred to the imperial police. Naruto saw no problems with that team, between Yakumo and Ino they should do well.

"The designation of Team nine is still in use from last term, we have to skip that. Team ten: Kiba Inuzaka, Shino Aburame, Asuka Soryu." Asuka was the daughter of a noble who wanted to get rid of her after she had repeatedly caused scandals by objecting to the grooms her father had chosen for her… violently. How the man thought an education as kunoichi would help with that Naruto had no idea. Shino would have few problems with her, but how she and Kiba would get along was an open question. Still, as soon as she lost her fascination with Sasuke she should develop into a capable kunoichi. Shino would have his hands full to get his team to shape up, though, especially because their prospective (and at this point unannounced) sensei Asuma Sarutobi was said to be very laid back.

Now it was finally time for the announcement of Naruto's team. "Team eleven: Choji Akimichi, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga." No surprises there. "This afternoon we'll introduce the jonin senseis. Take a break until then." Iruka dismissed them.

The members of the circle gave each other nods when they separated into their assigned teams. Shino as well as Yakumo and Ino would have to get to know their teammates, which left Choji, Hinata and him free to search for a nice spot to spend their time. They settled on one of the roof gardens that gave a good view of the streets below.

After they ate their lunch and made idle chit-chat for a while they got around to witnessing how Sakura tried to get Sasuke to eat with her only to be blown off. She in turn refused to go along with Shikamaru who tried to create at least a semblance of camaraderie. In the end each of the members of team seven disappeared into a different direction.

"You know, as m-much as I dislike Sakura for being a disgrace to proper kunoichi anywhere I have to say: Sasuke is an unfeeling prick." Hinata voiced her opinion.

"You won't hear me denying it. Sakura can be very annoying, but he could be at least somewhat nicer to her now that she is on his team." Naruto said.

"I only hope for their sake that they get their act together. Poor Shikamaru; saddled with the worst team and sensei." Choji added.

Naruto shrugged. "He brought it onto himself; we warned him often enough."

Soon enough it was time to return to the academy. When they entered the classroom Naruto saw that both the other teams from their circle were already there. It seemed they all had hit it off well. Yakumo and Ino were talking with Shinji about different forms of art. Apparently the boy liked music and was even playing himself in his free time, much like how Yakumo painted. Ino wasn't an artist in a strict sense, but she was very knowledgeable about fashion and appreciated other art forms. Asuka had appropriated Kiba's canine companion Akamaru and petted him constantly, a fact which the small dog seemed to enjoy greatly. In the meantime the three were engrossed in a conversation comparing taijutsu styles and other fighting methods. All in all their teams seemed to be very promising.

The first jonin to arrive was their prospective sensei, not that anyone had told them that yet. Anko's face and visible body looked pretty much unchanged from when he had talked with her three years ago, but she had traded her trench coat for a specially tailored open jonin vest that showed off her assets even more and somehow looked more respectable at the same time. Additionally, she now wore standard ninja trousers instead of her skirt. She had kept at least the upper part of her mesh suit but ditched the shin guards. Currently she was examining their class with a smirk on her face.

"Team eleven, meet me outside!" she shouted without preamble and jumped out of the window to the ground two stories below. At the same time Naruto noticed the edges of an area-genjutsu. After a quick glance to his friends Naruto ran out of the door past a surprised Iruka, followed by Hinata and Choji. There was no way he would simply jump after their sensei, and he didn't want to reveal their wall-walking ability where everyone would see it.

Their sensei seemed to be a bit disappointed when they arrived on the outside via the normal door. "Aw, you saw through it. Hey Genma, you can release your technique. Thanks for the help."

Suddenly the ground where they would have landed had they jumped out of the window rippled and transformed into a field of mud. A brown-haired man in jonin uniform stood up from a kneeling position and dusted his hands off while the mud seemed to harden back to normal ground. "Told you it wouldn't work; no one is that rash to simply jump after you. You owe me two meals."

Anko waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, as agreed." She turned back towards them. "I give you a point for circumspectness. My name is Anko Mitarashi, and you can call me sensei or Anko-sensei. Until you either make chunin or our team is dissolved your asses are mine. As of now team eleven is formally activated. Your first official mission is to find the training ground I reserved for today. The mission begins now."

With these words Anko took off at high speed. Naruto and the others followed immediately. Their pursuit ended in a back alley with no obvious signs of their sensei's presence. Only a chest that was very obviously secured by various traps sat innocently before the wall at the end of the street. A note reading 'First clue – Anko Mitarashi's mission' stuck to it. At first glance Naruto could already see that it would be complicated and time-consuming to disarm all the traps on the chest. None of them seemed lethal or even especially dangerous, but whoever triggered them would be coated in what he identified as itching powder. It really had a typical smell, and from his pranks he was very familiar with it.

Hinata broke the silence. "Sensei is about a hundred meters away from us under a henge and increasing the distance fast. She used a shunshin to clear the area beyond what my file says about the range of my byakugan, with a healthy safety margin thrown in."

Suddenly the three genin began to smirk simultaneously.

"Everything is going according to plan."

Author's notes: Sorry for the long delay; I simply didn't have the free time to write. Until things normalize the update schedule for this story will be random.

14 reviews for the last chaper, a new record. Yay! Over 100 review in total. Double yay! My thanks to all people who reviewed and put my story on their favorites list. To the rest of my readers, I hope you enjoyed the story so far.

If you think Hinata has manipulated the entire situation in the first two scenes... you would be right. Naruto's decision will lead to problems later on even if at first everything seems fine.

Remember Izumi Yamanaka from my chapter 2 (chapter 3 in the count of )? Well, here she is again. While the Anko-as-sensei is relatively common, I don't think I have seen many Naruto-Hinata-Choji teams. The poor guy seems always to get the short stick in favor of Shino.

So long, and a merry christmas.