NEW DAWN

Demons Along the Way

For the Sake of A C-Rank Memory

~ Forenote ~

I know it's been a while. Excuses are in the ~note ~

There was only a few weeks left before the break in which Iruka would return to the Mission's office. Sometime between now and then, Naruto needed to get his team noticed by the drunken old man.

His clones had been advertising at each of the gates and in the village square every day since he first got the idea. Because of that, team seven had been given a steady increase in missions. The fact that the clones were specifically advertising D-ranks meant he didn't have to worry about someone requesting them to be out of the village.

However, with his unique skillset they had taken over two dozen C-rank missions that would have otherwise been D-ranks spread out among several teams. There was the clean up jobs for the village landscaping, training ground repairs, and the farming jobs for local villagers, as well as many various search and retrieve jobs that were time sensitive. Having Naruto look in hundreds of places at once saved everyone's time.

Outside of their missions, the members of team seven had grown. Namely Sakura. Her speed and strength had been enhanced dramatically as she increased her skills. When she finally returned to sparring, she came at Naruto with a vengeance. It seemed that her medical training allowed her to pinpoint critical locations on his body with deadly accuracy.

Naruto didn't even know what hit him.

The pinkette was much faster on her feet than before. And at the conclusion of that spar, Kakashi's previous regimen was reinstated. For all of them!

Days of running various distances with alternating speeds, climbing in an assortment of training grounds, and a day dodging just whatever the Jonin felt like throwing at them that day, were followed by a rest day and then a spar day. Overall their afternoons were busy to say the least.

In most of these training sessions Naruto had no use for clones. However on the dodging and sparing days, they were forbidden outright. On the climbing day he kept an abundance of clones out to catch them if need be, but they mostly sat around without being used.

Sasuke's use of his sharingan had been forbidden in their team training. However since Kakashi had began training him individually in the mornings, Naruto now needed to use his chakra in order to compete.

He wasn't going all out, but before he had broken Sakura's arm, the blond hadn't used any chakra. Even after Sasuke had finished the chakra training Naruto traded to him, the Uchiha wasn't as fast as Naruto, who had been trained to fight by getting his ass kicked by his own clones. Now he was using about a tenth what he used with Ebisu-sensei.

Sasuke's ninjutsu skills had grown as well. With his chakra control increased as much as it was he finally mastered the imperial dragon bullet and had began working on the imperial Fireball. He was also able to use the Grand fireball too. The massive orange and yellow ball of fire was at least three meters around.

Sasuke wasn't as surprised at the size of it as he was at the fact it had turned yellow. All of his previous ones had been a dark red.

Naruto also had great success with elemental training. His advanced wind manipulation had come a long way. After Ebisu had explained to him all the steps he was able to practice it on his down time. He even left a couple clones to work on it overnight. He had passed the point of cutting a branch early on and now he was trying to cut lengths of metal wire made with escalating thickness and density. Once he had cut through the last one of them, which was meant to be roughly harder than cutting through a kunai, Ebisu would have him begin manipulating wind from his feet. Starting at the beginning with a leaf attached to each foot.

This however would all be done on his own time.

With his taijutsu style completed, and all the practical lectures finished, Ebisu-sensei had began preparing him to learn the Kaiten. Increasing his chakra control was the absolute requirement.

They had done enough work on his control that Naruto could hold stones about a hand's length away from his skin over his entire body. They had only just finished getting him used to holding them all there at the same time and were ready to begin learning the spin.

However to do that they needed a large still body of water. Ebisu was considering installing a small dam with flow channels at the bottom so the surface of training ground seventeen's river would calm and the small pond would grow.

They discussed this idea over breakfast about two weeks ago. At that same time, the freaky tea lady managed to catch him alone when Ebisu was called away to deal with Konohamaru. The younger boy spent most mornings with Gemna. Sometimes Naruto would hang out with them too. He heard all sorts of funny details about Gemna and Ebisu's time as a team with Super-bushy-brows. The green beast had been the way he was now, for as long as they had known him. And his father was mostly the same.

The story of how the man had sacrificed himself using the eight gates to save them, struck very hard for Naruto. It was as if that act of love solidified the words that echoed through his memories completely.

To protect those precious to you. To die saving them.

But today Konohamaru had been with his grandpa, when an emergency came up. So there Naruto was, finishing his meal that Ebisu had already paid for, while the man's girlfriend flirted with him.

She acted just as creepy as he had finally remembered. She cut his face and licked it then too he recalled. But he didn't remember why. He got the impression that he was in a crowd outside but he didn't recognise very many of the faces. When he tried to get away from her, she only got more handsy. All the while she was whispering to him how wonderful her relationship with Ebisu was. Naruto really didn't need to know any of that about his Extra-sensei.

In the end, the next time they met up, they had settled for simply training at the hotsprings. Which suited Naruto just fine. This way he would be more likely to notice when that frog statue was built.

So far the bet was coming along greatly. Ebisu had done research into the first two requests. His taijutsu was virtually finished and they were making great progress with the Kaiten. With his wind affinity training as advanced as it was, he should have it mastered well before the Exam. Maybe even before the fogged over mission. He had even began adding it to his kunai once Ebisu explained the basics behind it. He could now get his kunai to peirce almost anything. And it dramatically increased his throwing speed.

However, Ebisu had been adamant that he be able to perform his three wind jutsu before learning the four other elemental jutsu he had selected. Each one would need him to learn the first leaf form of that element. But as long as he didn't need to refine it, converting the leaf was all he would need to learn.

For now however, Naruto had only began working on the wind jutsu.

0o0o0

It had been over two months since they had been made a team. In that time Sasuke and Sakura had yet to figure their teammate out. His speed and skills were easily accepted, but his increased maturity and focus on helping them get stronger wasn't as easy to accept. But the biggest change in him was his Intellect.

He was smarter. That was undeniable.

Many of his conversations with Sakura about human anatomy proved he knew far more than he had in the academy. The difference continued to increase when she told him things he didn't know already, and he not only remembered them, but had looked into them so they could pick up from there next time.

Alongside that, his conversations with Sasuke about chakra usage and elemental manipulation often had details she didn't know. During a couple of their more mindless missions Naruto had began asking them about tactical scenarios. She didn't even bother questioning the fact that he even knew what those were.

For a few days they would work over a situation and discuss the best possible method of handling it, then they would start a new scenario. Kakashi-sensei wasn't always silent when they discussed these. Naruto had kept most of his little conversations among the three of them, but for these he would actively ask their sensei for current or updated information and idea's.

And during their training he would begin spouting challenges. At first it was things like who ever came in last or got hit most would have to pay for one part or another of their group dinner, which Naruto had somehow set up as a team tradition on each of their rest days. For this week she had to pay for the appetizer and two sides. Sasuke had to pay for their entrees and Naruto had dessert and a side. He also gave out homework challenges, such as if Sasuke or her couldn't run their last lap blindfolded then they had to run three more laps.

The one time he had given himself a challenge during a mission, Kakashi's eye flew open in a flinch you could only see after spending as much time with him as they did, and he vanished in a burst of smoke and leaves.

Naruto had fallen from where he was climbing the side of a house and began laughing his head off. Something about eternal rivals.

But he also did more important challenges such as if she beat Sasuke at something really difficult he would have to take her on a date!

For as long as either of them could remember their teammate had been hopelessly in love with Sakura. However it seemed that overnight he had changed there as well. So far she had been on six dates with Sasuke!

Ino had already conceded defeat. After their first date Sakura finally got to tell Ino and the girl had been devastated. It was possible that the only reason she didn't attack the pinkette right there was because Sakura's arm and nose were both so obviously broken. It may have been the only thing that prevented her and her best friend from an all out brawl in the streets. One more thing added to the list of suspicious behaviours Naruto exhibited.

If... If he had done it on purpose.

She had looked into so many avenues to that end and Sasuke's theory seemed to hold up at every turn.

Instead the blonde sat in her angry defeat and listened to Sakura give a scene by scene description of their date. Sasuke hadn't taken her out, instead he prepared a full picnic which they ate by the Uchiha lake. As it turned out he was an okay cook. Not as good as her, but far better than most guys their age.

The best part was, that during the entire date, Sasuke catered to her. He poured her drinks and had already cut the food up into bite sized chunks so she wouldn't have to use her broken arm. After they ate, Sasuke walked her home. Not straight home but around the training grounds.

And that was only the first date. Each date had been different. Although most had either been home cooked or take out. Sakura did eventually ask why they didn't go on a date in public.

As Ino had guessed, it was the fact that once someone found out he was dating, then girls from all over the village would start making a big deal and following him relentlessly was an acceptable reason… The pinkette only hoped she could get Ino to keep quiet about it.

But for her luck the blond girl already knew the situation and had been doing intel control ever since their first date. After her fifth date with him, the blonde girl told her she had discovered something that almost broke her heart for Hinata.

They spoke about it for some time before deciding not to tell the poor Hyuuga. They hadn't told Naruto her feelings before, so they didn't have the right to tell her his now.

Sakura wasn't sure how to feel that Naruto already had a girlfriend. He had been asking her out for so long she had a hard time understanding what the loss of his affections meant to her. It was strange, thinking of Naruto treating someone else to his attention. However her innerself ruthlessly crushed any sadness she might have felt over it. The description of his breakfast date with the woman Ino had spied on, left no chance that it was anything else. Her outfit and behavior clearly implied they had been a thing for quite some time.

0o0o0

Naruto was some kind of freak!

This was the conclusion Sasuke had come to after he finally managed to find Naruto training. Most of the times he vanished somewhere around their own training ground, but the Uchiha could never find him. It was the odd chance that on their rest day, he managed to find the fake training in a hot spring of all places. But for the training he was doing, Sasuke could accept the rationale behind the location. Naruto had been spinning in place while holding more than a hundred different small rocks about two feet from his body.

When the avenger tried to float a leaf that far, he failed miserably. Thinking to himself that maybe it was why he was using rocks, the Uchiha tried to float a small pebble, the increase in chakra consumption was dramatic. There was no way he would be able to hold it so far away!

This small glimpse into the real gap between them left Uchiha Sasuke, humbled beyond any experience since that night.

They trained hard together in their team sessions. And their sensei worked him even harder during their morning sessions. Without his sharingan he couldn't see if Naruto needed to use his chakra for the team training, but he knew the boy hadn't been using it in their spars before his match with Sakura.

Sasuke's attempts to find out more about Naruto left him at dead ends most of the time. Even Sakura couldn't dig up much of his paperwork.

His enrollment into the Academy had been a forced issue by the Hokage! None of the instructors wanted him there. And many of the parents had protested too. Whatever the hell was going on there was only adding to his theory.

Sakura's luck with Ino because of her broken arm didn't make the cut as evidence. However if they could have proven Naruto had done it on purpose, it would have.

After learning about his trouble enrolling into the academy, they also found more hard evidence in his medical history. There wasn't one. Every student in the academy had to have a medical check up on file, but outside of behaviour reports, Naruto's file was almost empty.

So Sakura had checked the hospital and come out empty handed. She had even asked one of her superiors to find out if her teammates files could be accessed because she was on the Uchiha's team. They spared a little concern towards Sasuke's file but she eventually got to see a few pages about him. However a file on Naruto wasn't to be seen. It was classified!

While the pinkette looked at the hospital, Sasuke had looked into the apartment complex. It seemed the Hokage was the one who had signed the lease agreement. And if not for his clan name, Sasuke was certain he never would have convinced the owner to give him any information at all. In the end it was because the Uchiha wanted to know more about who he would be going on missions of life or death beside, that got him his answers.

Even Naruto's little advertising scheme was evidence! Sasuke and Sakura both looked into the marketing permits and found out that the Hokage had filled out the paperwork and allocated the designated spots Naruto's clones were using for "Village official use only."

After a little convincing he and Sakura managed to get a look at their mission reports in exchange for sorting and filing some of the D-ranks on their rest day. That was how they learned the Hokage had even added a small notation on the D- and C-rank mission request forms asking if this mission would require a large number of bodies. Sasuke recognised many of the mission's that had been checked in the D-rank missions as ones they had performed as C-ranks.

The evidence was stacking up higher and higher.

Then came their next big find. Ino and Sakura had been talking the night after their fifth date, when Ino told her that she had seen Naruto on what looked like a date with one of the Jonin women. It took Ino days to find out who she was.

A high status assassin named Anko Mitarashi. The way she was dressed was bad enough, but the way she draped herself over Naruto had Ino's entire face turning red just from describing it to Sakura.

Sasuke and Sakura's own sights of him spending time with the Hokage, Iruka and a couple other adults convinced them he was definitely at least a Chunin, and definitely hiding his real identity.

0o0o0

The day finally came. One of his clones at the main gate finally saw the old man. It was less than a week before Iruka would return to the Mission's Office. The man was at least in his late forties, probably older. His hair had began turning gray all over. He had a small crop of beard around his mouth and chin, while his cheeks and the rest of his face were cut to a stubble. He wore glasses and a wide brimmed sun hat. His clothes were worn and old. Clearly damaged and patched in many places.

However he wasn't drunk. That was one really big ticket item Naruto could remember of the man. So seeing him sober and professional was something new. For a few moments flashes of memory passed through each of the clones as they all recalled different times they had seen him sober.

The man had gone half way down the street before Naruto's clones realized he had passed them. So kicking their troupe up the road they began their pitch.

"Hey old man! You're looking for a C-rank aren't you!?" The clone henged as Sakura began, getting his attention from slightly behind him.

"I don't need a bunch of brats! This isn't a job cleaning up the coast or any—"

The man's response was cut off as the next clone spoke. The Kakashi clone having a longer stride had passed and flanked the target, coming up on him from his other side. "The team you need to be requesting is Team Seven."

The Sasuke clone landed from a high leap right in front of him. Stopping him from continuing on his way. His disclaimer sign bouncing on its rope that looped over his shoulders. "We can handle anything you need handled."

Pulling on the back of the old man's tattered shirt, the Naruto clone continued, "From manual labor to combat! We are the team you need! If you have rocks to move, bandits after ya, or even a massive flood that needs bailed out by the bucket, we got your help right here!"

The old man had actually began look at them seriously now. His attention was theirs.

"I am the representation of the team's medic, Haruno Sakura. My Abilities include a photographic memory, Mid-level Iryonin Certification, Meaning I can work on almost any non-life threatening wound, cure the majority of illnesses and I am prepared for any and all types of traumatic emergency medical care. I am known for having the Legendary Perfect chakra control not seen since Tsunade herself, I will do my absolute best to provide you with exceptional care."

She presented herself with a flourish and proper bow just as he had seen Sakura do in the academy.

"I am called the Uchiha Princess. My name is Sasuke. My fire style of jutsu is exceptional even among our village. I can handle almost any combat situation as I have been trained. I specialize in heavy frontline combat, meaning that I use a variety of powerful skills that can only be performed by shinobi. My clan's Dojutsu also allows me to fight at a level far higher than any average shinobi of our age. If someone is coming for you, I will bring them down with swift and effective certainty."

While Naruto was able to get Sasuke's looks, voice and most of his attitude down, the clear intimidation of his sharingan still eluded the clones.

The Naruto clone spoke next, and from him came a flood of information they hadn't even known they had remembered.

"I represent Uzumaki Naruto! Also known as the Autumn Leaf Army! I can be one or one hundred!" To emphasize this the Naruto clone created eight more duplicates all of them began picking things up and moving them as proof that they were solid.

"With me on the team we out number any job. You need stones or lumber moved, each of my clones can lift ten times as much as a civilian worker using our shinobi strength. Move them farther and way faster than any non-shinobi! And if there are a hundred of us doing it at the same time, the job is done before you know it!"

For the next part most of the newly created clones hopped onto the sides of stalls and buildings. One of them transformed into a bucket which another filled with water and step onto. "Got a river to cross we can walk on water and up the sides of cliffs! There's no need for boats or ferries, when you have shinobi like us working for you!"

"And if there is an enemy," began the Sasuke clone, "these clones are completely expendable!" As he said it, he stabbed one of them in the eye, resulting in its dismissal. "Whoever is attacking would have to kill off over a hundred of them before reaching you. And against a shinobi like him, it would take at least another shinobi to kill even one of them."

"Even if you have an army attacking!" The Sakura clone pitched in. "The Autumn Leaf Army is an army itself! And you can hire the entire army for the price of one Genin!"

Finally to finish it the Kakashi clone stepped in. "If there is anything these three Genin can't handle, I represent Hatake Kakashi. Trained by the Fourth Hokage himself, Wielder of a Sharingan, known as the Legendary Copy-ninja who has copied a thousand jutsu! I have at my command a pack of trained combat Ninja Dogs that can each defeat a Genin with their tails tied. As a pack they could match even a Jonin. While I myself am a Jonin of the highest caliber available. So if we are ever in a pinch, I will settle the problem with ease."

By this time they could tell Tazuna was quite thoroughly convinced.

The old man was wide eyed and looked as if he had been handed all the food he could eat. With a relieved voice he agreed that they would fit the job he had in mind and shoved his way through the clones.

The group of clones watched him until he was lost into the crowd. Not forgetting to send one of their number to tell the boss, they returned to their station and began advertising for D-ranks once more.

0o0o0

The rest of that week felt to Naruto as if it was the longest week of his life. He couldn't hold back the fear of missing their mission. It crept up on him every time he let himself think.

To take his mind off it he put the Kaiten training on hold and began focusing all his efforts on mastering the three wind jutsu.

He decided to begin with the one most like what he was already doing. The Cutting Breeze. He could already cut through a Kunai if he wanted, Surely a cutting type jutsu would be easy to figure out. However after only one try his extra-sensei stopped him.

"Naruto-kun, I think it would be better if I fudged a little on our bet and taught you a minor wind jutsu as part of your elemental training." The man spoke tentatively as he knelt to Naruto's level.

"Don't worry this will still fall under item five, but I think you should learn how molding your chakra in a hand seal will affect the elemental manipulation process first hand. We have discussed it, however I think you be able to grasp it better if you used a certain jutsu from the Traveling Ten."

Naruto agreed immediately. He even knew which one Ebisu-sensei had in mind. The Cutting Palm jutsu. Naruto had been half convinced that all it was was the raw manipulation of wind chakra to cut things the way he had been doing for the last month.

However what Ebisu showed him was a set of two hand seals. The first was the bird. It was often used in wind jutsu as his Extra-sensei had taught him, so Naruto kinda expected it. The bird seal was followed by a one handed ram seal.

The ram seal was usually used when pulsing your chakra, most often in fire, lightning, or water jutsu. But it usually went somewhere in genjutsu as well. Making a fist with his first and second fingers extended, Ebisu cut his hand across the ground sharply.

The result was a small parting of the packed soil.

As Ebisu explain the second seal, the ram, was only needed to focus the wind chakra into the shape of the blade while the bird seal before it compressed regular chakra into and behind the wind chakra to make it more powerful.

But if he was good enough with wind manipulation he could forgo the last seal and produce the cutting wind from any part of his body. Ebisu was particularly specific about being able to do that.

He spoke of a certain taijutsu style he had been told of in which the wind user used a blade of wind at each joint, knees, elbows, on each finger and on each foot. This created an extremely lethal offensive and left no openings in their defense.

While the Jonin didn't think Naruto would be able to recreate that specific style, he could certainly use the concept behind it.

It only took two tries for Naruto to cut a deep rent in the hard ground below him.

After that he tried the Cutting Breeze which also began with the bird seal, but that was followed by the snake seal before using the one handed ram. Apparently the Snake seal added range to it, drawing even more chakra into the jutsu so that the blade could expand outwards.

His attempts at the other two were less successful. While the cutting type jutsu only took a few tries, his Vacuum Palm almost always overpowered and backfired. The blast of air that was only supposed to project or deflect an object in the air in front of him, normally ended up leaving his hands numb and his shoulders sore, while not even effecting the object.

The air bullet however, actually knocked him out when it blew up inside his mouth. Ebisu was terrified thinking he had nearly killed himself. When he woke the man was furious! Screaming at him about how much trouble the Jonin would be in with the Hokage if he died.

The missions for that last week had all been even slower than the rest. He felt excited each time he walked into the mission's office and disappointed as he walked out.

He even mentioned to the team that he thought it was time for a more advanced mission. Hoping that Kakashi would take the hint and accept the mission they had surely been requested for.

With each passing day he grew more stressed. As he watched the days pass with dread that they would miss the mission.

It took almost the entire week before he could complete either of the two wind jutsu as they were supposed to be. He managed to figure out how to focus the direction of the Vacuum palm first. As it turns out he had been blasting air in all directions and only needed to pull it in and aim it.

It took a discussion with Sasuke to finally finish the Air bullet. Finally when the Academy let out for break, and Iruka took his position in the Mission's Office, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. If not for the training session in which Naruto had mastered the air bullet with Sasuke the morning of that same day, he would have caved and gone to the Hokage the next.

It seemed, what he was lacking with the air bullet was the ball of compression that Sasuke used in his Dragon bullet. After a couple hours of working with the Uchiha, Naruto was able to produce an acceptable Air Bullet.

So instead of caving and going to the Hokage for the mission, the day after training with Sasuke, he went to Ebisu to have him evaluate his now functioning Air bullet.

With those three jutsu finally down, Ebisu told him he would prepare to teach Naruto the first five forms for each of the elements. It would take a couple weeks to be prepared so Naruto should focus on his Kaiten for the time.

After agreeing to take a break from their morning sessions, Ebisu left Naruto in the Circle of Pillars.

0o0o0

Naruto had been tense for the last week or so. However ever since Iruka began working at the mission's office three days ago, it became noticeable even to his teammates.

It might have had something to do with Sasuke helping him complete his Air bullet that first day, but Kakashi couldn't place how. It was like the boy was waiting for something. Looking into the Hokage's eyes Kakashi wondered if the aged shinobi had slipped and revealed that mission.

Early this morning he received a message that they would be given an extended mission today. He had known for the last week or so that they had been requested for something bigger, however the Hokage seemed to have a reason that they needed to wait.

So today, he informed his team to meet at the mission's office at eight in the morning. Naruto seemed to have an internal meltdown from the instruction.

When they finally gathered, they were informed they would be receiving a mission outside the village. In fact they had been specifically requested. The man had asked for a C-rank discounted B-rank. Stating that his mission needed laborers, security and even minor combat against civilian thugs.

According to his request, his village had been building a bridge that the shipping magnate was opposed to and so the man had began sending thugs for hire to vandalize their supplies and rough up the workers.

It would have been at least three or four C-ranks to hire patrols and such, and several d-ranks to hire the labor to get the supplies from their secured storage to the work site. But with team seven, he could pay just a little more than a C-rank would cost for a discounted B-rank and Naruto could handle the numbers issue.

As Kakashi understood, it cleaned the man out. As such the village had put him up in a local hotel until team seven was ready for the mission. The Third had been quite insistent that they accept how little the bridge builder had to pay. The pay cut was directly from team seven's profits. All the taxes for a B-rank had to be covered.

After explaining it to his team, Kakashi passed on their unanimous desire to add a B-rank to their repertoire.

0o0o0

Sasuke and Sakura were a little stunned that Naruto had gotten the mission he had obviously been waiting for. The moment they were debriefed about the mission the boy seemed to melt compared to how tense he had been.

The fact that they were given a higher ranked mission right after he said they were ready for one, only made them more suspicious. As Sakura looked into the details she realized that the mission costs were barely covered. If the old man hadn't seen Naruto's advertising clones he never would have been able to afford the right mission!

They were all packed and Naruto was in his anbu-esque uniform. He looked and acted like a professional.

At the same time, a pair of his clones in the common Naruto orange walked behind him. Each of them were loaded with a backpack of supplies. He told them if they were getting the job based on that skill then they might as well use it from the start.

0o0o0

Naruto's clone finally dispersed, letting him know that the construct had told Ebisu about the mission, and the man's reaction. He had clearly known about it beforehand. His extra-sensei's only instructions were to use the opportunity to train. Wave was an island surrounded by a massive body of water. It would be the perfect place to perfect the kaiten.

Naruto had to agree. With a large enough body of water he would be able to put the full amount of chakra behind the jutsu and not worry about sending water all over the place or tearing up the ground beneath him.

As Naruto walked along the road he had to contain his excitement out of sheer force of will! Each step brought him closer to his newest jutsu. He knew for certain that he couldn't even manipulate wind last time. And now…

The thought of his last time on this mission brought Naruto down from his excited high. He still couldn't remember much about this mission. The mask, the mirrors, the cold, the girl and those words. The rest still seemed to be just out of reach. So Naruto tried once more to pull a detail from the memories of his last life.

Creating his calm center Naruto focused on what he knew. Last time they had been on a C-rank to simply get the old man home. He was building a bridge, according to the new mission orders and there were thugs after him. Naruto was certain the guy had been drunk last time. But this time all his money was spent on the mission… He didn't have any left so the Hokage had given him a hotel for a few nights.

The image of Tazuna begging them not to leave flashed through Naruto's mind. But that was it. No context.

Focusing deeper, Naruto understood Tazuna had lied last time. The mission was too high for them and so they had to choose to continue. Why?

This time he had explained the thugs. Maybe he hadn't last time, had they been attacked? Naruto tried to picture some rough looking thugs ambushing them on the road. But what came to the forefront of his mind was a pair of chains exploding from a puddle in the middle of the road, they coiled around Kakashi-sensei and parted him into several disgusting chunks.

The shock of what Naruto just witnessed shook him from his calm focus.

It couldn't have been right.

There was just no way that had happened! He had still had his sensei later on right? The man gave them their applications to take the Chunin exam didn't he? But as Naruto thought for the image of sensei, what he saw was Ebisu and the Hermit in the hot springs. Shaking his head Naruto tried to focus once more and pull the memory back, however before he could he noticed the road ahead.

The puddle was visible along the dry road, even from this distance. Naruto wasn't sure if what had happened even happened, But he still had to try to stop it! He couldn't just sit there and watch as his sensei was killed! What should he do? How could he explain it?

Looking at his clones walking behind him Naruto saw that they too had recalled the event about to happen. And they seemed to have a plan. With a nod from him, one of them slowed slightly and took off his back pack. Handing it to the other who loaded it on his front then turned so he could walk backwards.

0o0o0

Naruto's attitude had slowly been building in excitement as they got farther and farther from the village. Kakashi was surprised to see his other two students seemed more focused on the cloned Genin than the area around them.

Not that they weren't keeping a good watch, however they seemed to be switching off. One would watch the road while the other studied their teammate and his clones. Then they would switch after a few minutes.

When Naruto received the memories of a dismissed clone back at the village he and his clones nearly began skipping. Kakashi had to acknowledge the effort Naruto took in finding his calm again. The boy focused his center in only a minute or two before he took on an entirely different emotion.

Panic!

Looking around the Jonin tried to see what had set the boy off, but when his clones also began to panic, the copy ninja had little choice. He extended his senses outwards and even lifted the protector covering his eye under the guise of scratching. And that was when he saw them. Quite a ways up the road hidden in a puddle projecting genjutsu were two shinobi!

Making a mental note to test Naruto for sensory abilities, Kakashi focused in on them. They were at least Chunin level. And obviously waiting in ambush. It occurred to him to simply switch out and allow things to unfold. They weren't a threat to his Genin. Sasuke could probably take them both out on his own. Naruto wouldn't have any problem overpowering them…

But Naruto had panicked...

Naruto had noticed them long before he had, and had yet to say anything. Why? If Naruto bolted or worse… Attempted to engage the enemy, one of them might get hurt.

Suddenly Naruto calmed.

A brief exchange of looks between him and his clones and the anbu dressed child started walking slightly faster while his clones fell behind.

What was he planning?

One clone gave his pack to the other who turned and held the pack in front of the first. Said clone began digging through the bag looking for something.

They were just passing the puddle when the searching clone 'accidentally' dropped something from the pack, It jerked towards whatever the roll was and made to catch it.

It ignited. And the second clone shoved off the first clone, easily clearing the blast area. At the same time other clones appeared, quickly driving Sasuke and Sakura safely into the trees while Naruto himself grabbed the client and leapt with a massive burst of chakra. Kakashi was slightly surprised at the sheer volume of chakra the boy used in the leap.

As they picked themselves up, the group saw the results of the blast. Most of the road had been charred and a fresh crater dipped into the compacted ground.

The two attackers had been hit full force. The blast went off between them, sending them flying apart, They might have cleared it, however their chained arms kept them in range of the explosion. The links of their prized gauntlets were melted and deformed from the heat.

The brother's themselves had been caught fully and were writhing on the ground. The stink of their burned and melting flesh was horrible. With a swallow, Naruto created two clones. Stepping up to the wounded shinobi, newly created clones used the cutting breeze to take their heads off, ending their cries of pain.

The sight proved to gruesome for Sakura as the medic turned, retreating back off the road and heaved noisily into the ditch. Sasuke looked like he was in shock. But turned after Sakura and took hold of her long pink hair. Keeping it from mixing with the expelled breakfast.

The clone who had carried the two packs safely out of the area, walked forward holding a small book out. Handing it to the sickly original, he flipped a couple pages and pointed one out to the anbu-esque Genin. "The Demon Brothers of the Mist. B-rank Rogue Chunin! And we just blew them up like it was nothin!"

Even the cloned Naruto spoke with a cheer that was obviously and poorly forced. The true boy's slightly green paler told of the impending vomit. And his multiple swallows showed how much he was trying not to. Closing the book, he unrolled a body bounty scroll and gave it to the clone next to him. Kakashi recognized the make and size. He must of gotten it from the Anbu supply depot. It was one of the ten count scrolls they carried. Why did Naruto have one of those!?

And A bingo book. What was Naruto doing with a Bingo Book!

"What the hell were you thinking, Naruto?!" A very harsh scolding was the least he was allowed to do after a stunt like that. But for now it would suffice. He would have to figure out some cruel punishment for him when they completed the mission.

"Hey it fooled and beat them before they could attack, didn't it?" The indignant reply without any trace of respect bordered insubordination. Crap. This was getting more annoying by the minute.

"Your stunt was dangerous and could have gotten the client or your teammates hurt! You said nothing of your plan to the rest of us. We don't even know if those two were hostile or not! Much less who they were after!"

Kakashi was reasonably certain they had been after them, and Naruto's plan was actually well executed. Informing the others might have given it away. And the original Naruto covering the client displayed a good sense of priorities. The Jonin was moderately okay with the plan itself. The result was a little messy but...

The thunder and clouds genjutsu had taken hold. Releasing a significant amount of his killing intent, Kakashi continued the scolding onto the heart of his personal issue with the action taken.

"I don't recall clearing you to use explosive notes, and moreover where and how you acquired the bounty scroll is going to have to be brought to the Hokage. Genin aren't supposed to have access to such equipment unless their Jonin sensei distributes it personally."

His eye not leaving Naruto for a second, Kakashi took in the looks of shock and... triumph?... On his other two Genin's faces. They shared another one of the looks they had been giving each other. Obviously they had expected Naruto to pull something like this.

"As for the Bingo Book, I will be holding on to that. Genin aren't permitted to even own a copy of the current bounty listings much less compile their own Bingo. How you even knew how to is beyond my logic."

He held his hand out expectantly. But instead of handing it over or protesting that it was his hard work or even bragging about how he made it, Naruto simply scowled and holding eye contact, tucked it in his vest.

A deliberate act of insubordination.

Great…. Now he had no choice but to bring this to the Hokage. He had been hoping to simply sweep it under the figurative rug, and torment the brat instead, avoiding the bad mark being placed on the genin's record.

With a sigh Kakashi simply took the Bingo book. His hand snatching it far faster than the Genin could even see. The flinch Naruto gave when the book appeared to simply vanish into the Jonin's hand was nearly comical.

The book itself was made with a durable and well oiled skin. The ingrained details of various tea leaves were etched into the cover's design with painstaking care. Flipping through the book the Jonin was surprised at the level of information and analysis given for each entry. The pages cleanly laid out the names, known abilities, and weaknesses, along with suggested tactics such as flee on sight or use lightning elemental jutsu, or one hit kill method and flee.

"This is very well detailed. Some of the information here hasn't even been released to the public yet…" Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed. However much of the information in the book was need to know... "This has classified data in it, how you got it aside... if you were to lose it! —"

The Ex-anbu stopped mid-sentence as he found a hidden message in the lining of the page on the Snake Sannin. Clearly, Naruto hadn't made the Bingo Book. The message was written in anbu script. It read: INU RETURN ANKOS HARD WORK RIGHT NOW PG. 644

Anko had spoken of herself in the third person as a way to tell him who she was and claim her hard work at the same time. It explained why the bingo book was vastly more detailed and in depth, along with all of the notes meant for a Genin. She knew what she was doing.

Turning to page 644, he found himself and all his own data, much of it personal.

Here, Kakashi also saw another code, but this one had been seamlessly stitched into the bindings of the page, it was in the encrypted code of the Hokage's black missions. One that even Anko didn't know and only a few others after him even knew existed.

"By the promise of an old monkey return this to its owner or be demoted to Genin along side him."

That message basically exonerated Naruto for everything. After reading it again and double checking his translation with a key he kept in his flak jacket's inner pocket, the Jonin felt he had no choice but to accept the order. It would appear the Hokage had been behind it. Figures.

It would seem the Hokage had commissioned the book from Anko and had to have personally stitched the black ops coded message himself. He must have told her it would be on the Jonin's own page so she could include the page number in her anbu script message. Kakashi had been a little skeptical about Naruto hanging out in that teahouse so often. If Anko was one of the ones the Hokage had rigging Naruto's progress then it all lined up.

With a defeated sigh the Jonin closed the book and held it out to his student. "Okay Naruto, you can have it back. Enjoy your tea."

Naruto got the hint immediately, it was something to do with Anko! Had she been the one to make it!?

0o0o0

Watching as their sensei gave the Bingo book back to their teammate the other two Genin nearly got excited at the blatant evidence displayed right in front of them. Except for the events that had led up to it, this was exactly what they had been waiting for.

Naruto effortlessly dispatched two B-rank Chunin, killed them off as if he had done it before and then got caught using ninja supplies not available to Genin. Sasuke had to ask the pinkette what a bingo book even was. Her own knowledge of it stemmed from Ino's dad. To think Naruto had made a bingo book with classified details that hadn't even been listed yet!

That was exactly the kind of thing that confirmed their suspicions. And as it seemed he had gotten away with outright disobeying their sensei…

Then as the two execution clones finished their task of sealing the bodies and dispelled, the supposedly higher ranked infiltrator full on flinched and rushed to the side of the road. Watching the Anbu-esque Genin bend over and puke was enough to get Sakura vomiting again as well.

~ Note ~

So Naruto now has three wind jutsu and the makings of the kaiten. His taijutsu has been completed and he has even made his first kill. As they don't know who the demon brothers were after, they have no choice but to continue on with the mission.

0o0o0

Sasuke and Sakura have now confirmed in their minds that Naruto truly is an implanted agent. What awaits them in the mission ahead? How much more will Naruto remember by the time the mission ends?

Excuses...

I know it's been a while, I had planned to begin Updating all of my stories on the same day every month. But between school, work, and remodeling the house, I just haven't been able to work on them. More detailed excuses will be in this update of T8's chapter 12, as usual.

Most items in all my Naruto fan-fictions will be based off of T8: Retroversion's timeline. Many of these details will be universal across them all.

Meaning any mission or OC, or other major details will be included, based on their background and trigger events.

{This will not include Kurenai's conspiracy or Hinata's abuse}

While T8: Retroversion will be my main Fic, Five others are on my list to work on at the moment: LATE Naruto: Life After the Ends; Uzumaki: A Lone Fox; The Thousand Ninja; Village Hidden in Plain Sight; and Wisdom of Chance. Descriptions on profile.

Also: Take a Look at Schrodinger's Fox. Its pilot chapter is coming out this rotation.