Chapter 32 - The New Power: Team Seven's Growth!
A/N: Wow... this story has reached 700+ faves and follows (each). I'mreally grateful for your support; it puts a smile on my face (and not the Joker kind of smile). I'd give you guys cyber cookies but I ran out after I gave them all to those who fave and follow my other story, "The Maelstrom and Deathberry" (btw please check it out if you haven't).
So instead here's the longest Fanfiction chapter I've written to date (6,300+ words not counting these A/Ns). Enjoy! :D
Oh and please keep sending faves, follows, and reviews
Disclaimer: Still applies
[Just Outside of the Hokage's Office, The Academy, Konoha]
Current Time...
Naruto stood in the sky for a while, taking his teammate's measure, before letting his smirk grow a little bigger.
"It looks like he's grown quite a bit since the last time. What do you think, Kurama?" Naruto asked his Tailed Beast/Zanpakuto.
"I'd agree; it looks like that Kazuko brat did a good job training him... anyways I think it's time you went down there, wouldn't you agree?" Kurama said from within Naruto's mind.
"Indeed..." Naruto said before ending the conversation with Kurama.
Naruto then "jumped" from where he was standing in the sky and landed on the first story roof of the Academy next to the window leading into Tsunade's office and used said window to enter the room, Sasuke having backed up a bit to allow the young jonin to enter. After he quickly greeted Kazuko and welcomed her back Naruto turned his attention back to Sasuke.
"So you finally came back, huh? I'm surprised to see that you're still in one piece. I guess I won't have to get you a coffin just yet," Naruto teased. Sasuke felt both his left eye and the ends of his lips twitch in annoyance at Naruto's dark humor.
"Nice to see you as well, Naruto... now why don't you go ahead and skip the jokes?' Sasuke greeted/asked trying to suppress his annoyance.
"If you insist. (he turns to face everyone) I take it Kakashi-senpai explained everything?" Naruto asked.
"Senpai?" Sasuke thought to himself, slightly taken aback by how Naruto was now referring to the Team 7 squad leader.
Once Sasuke and the others nodded in response to his question, with Sasuke doing so after getting out of his train of thought, Naruto turned to face Kakashi.
"I'll take those bells now, senpai," Naruto said.
Kakashi nodded before tossing Naruto the two bells. After catching the bells with his left hand Naruto attached the bells to the white sash wrapped around his waist, which meant the bells now hung from the right side of his hips, before turning his attention to Sasuke and Sakura, who had obviously figured out that Naruto would be their opponent this time around.
"I'll give you guys three hours to plan and make preparations you may need to better your chances. I'll be waiting for you at the entrance to our old training grounds once of those three hours are up," Naruto explained as he went out the window from where he had entered the room; before the Uzumaki clansmen left the group to their own devices he turned to face his old teammates yet again.
"One more thing... don't expect me to just give the bells away like I did last time, ok?" Naruto joked before he used his flash step to leave the building... just as a now angered Sakura, did not take kindly to his mocking comment, began to yell at the now-absent Leaf jonin.
[Training Ground #7, Konoha]
Three Hours Later...
Naruto was standing in front the entrance to Team 7's old training grounds, have gone deep into his own thoughts, when he got out of train of thought and turned to face Sakura, who had thankfully calmed down, and Sasuke, both of whom had just arrived at the meeting area. Naruto soon raised an eyebrow when he saw that the when he saw that the weapon slung over Sasuke's back had changed. In place of the giant gunbai Sasuke was now carrying a Kama sickle which a noticeably longer (it was around 12 inches) and more curved blade than normal Kama sickles as well as a much longer handle than the average sickle weapon (it stood around 3 and a half feet) that was the same dark grey color as both his shirt and gunbai.
"I felt that this would be a better choice of a weapon," Sasuke explained when he noticed that Naruto was eyeing his Kama.
"Fair enough. Anyways, Tsunade and the others are already inside so let's go," Naruto said; in addition to the three Konoha-nins at the entrance Tsunade, along with Shizune, Kakashi, Kazuko, and Naruto's Fracciones (the latter three showing up after Nel and Jango had finally managed to get Tiraran to calm down).
The two chunin nodded in agreement before they followed Naruto as the trio entered the training grounds. After a minute of walking the three Konoha-nins finally arrived at the center of the training field... which happened to be the very same one where Kakashi had given them their first test.
"I can't believe it's been over three years since the last time we came here for that first test. This place... it sure brings back memories..." Sakura said, as she reminisced on all the things that she and her teammates went through before Sasuke's departure.
"Yeah..." Naruto said softly in agreement. Sasuke, while remaining silent, let out a small smile as he also reflected on all that had happened while briefly glancing at the Memorial Stone that stood at the heart of the training grounds.
After a few minutes Sakura and Sasuke's recollections of the past were cut short when they both heard a familiar chiming sound.
The two Konoha-nin turned to face Naruto, who had already finished his reflection on the past, as he unfastened the two bells from his sash and was now holding them with his left hand in full view of his old teammates.
"Alright, you guys... it's time to show me how much stronger you really are. The rules for this test are the same as that first day with Kakashi-senpai. It doesn't matter how you do it... just get these bells away from me; you'll have until noon tomorrow to do it. And remember: If you're not prepared to kill me..." Naruto explained.
Both Sakura and Sasuke slightly smirked upon hearing this.
"...We won't get the bells. We know," Sakura said, finishing Naruto's last sentence.
Naruto gave a smirk of his own.
"Alright, then; we'll start when you make the first move," Naruto said as he placed a small timer, set to go off at noon the following day, on the Memorial Stone.
Upon hearing this the young chunin reached for their weapons. Sakura unsheathed both her of daggers, which had a curved, single-edged bladed design which also a silver finish to them, while Sasuke gripped the handle of his Kama and held it to his side, the blade pointing towards the ground. Naruto's smirk merely grew a little bigger at this show of force and, once he refastened the bells to his sash in the same place as before, he took off for his black coat, revealing the tattoos on his forearms, before throwing it into the wind... which carried the coat into one of the wooded areas that surrounded the clearing.
The young Uzumaki then did something that neither Sakura or Sasuke had expected him to do; he gripped the handle of his sword.
"There's one last thing that you guys should know. I'm also going to come at you with the intent to kill. I hope you guys are ready because this time... I'm not going to hold back," Naruto warned them with a menacing tone in his voice.
This warning only seemed to further motivate Naruto's old teammates.
"Do you worst, Naruto," Sasuke said before both he and Sakura entered their respective fighting stances.
"Hehehe... I usually do; now, then..." Naruto began.
At this point Naruto fully unsheathed his zanpakuto, which the young jonin held with in front of him his right hand, the tip pointed at the area at his opponents, before he finished his sentence.
"...come," Naruto said, almost commanded, to which Sakura and Sasuke gladly obliged him.
Meanwhile...
As the younger members of Team 7 began the bell test Tsunade and her group, who had arrived before Sakura and Sasuke, were silently observing the fight from one of the thicker forests (the same one where Naruto's black coat ended up) their presence visible concealed by the large number of trees.
As the group watched the beginning of the fight Kazuko turned to face Naruto's fracciones who were standing to her left. She noted with curiosity that Tiraran was happily munching on servings of hanami dangos served on about four or five skewers.
"I take it that's how you two managed to calm her down?" Kazuko said to Jango and Nel, the former nodding in response while the latter sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"Apparently she really likes these sweets so much that her bad mood virtually disappears the moment she sees a stick of them," Nel replied back.
Despite the fact that Arrancars, Naruto's fracciones included, don't have to eat human food, as it of no nutritional value for them whatsoever, it doesn't mean that they can't eat human food and in Tiraran's case she developed a liking for Dango. How and why she developed a taste for the round sweets, however, was still a mystery to most of Tiraran's fellow Arrancars.
Kazuko simple nodded at the response from the two more level-headed of Naruto's followers.
"Makes sense. Anyways, as far as this test goes, what do you think of Sakura and Sasuke's chances?" the elder Uchiha asked.
Jango chuckled at hearing the question before he answered her.
"Truthfully... they have no chance. Sakura and Sasuke have grown, no doubt, but those two wouldn't have stood any real chance against Naruto even if they had been at their current levels three years ago," Jango said, confident of Naruto's victory and for good reason.
"Is that so?" Kazuko asked to which Jango nodded.
"That said, however, I do think it'll be interesting to see how this fight turns out..." Jango pointed just as Sakura and Sasuke charged at Naruto, beginning the fight.
With Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke...
"Hold still, dammit!" Sakura yelled in frustration as Naruto dodged the last of a series of slashes of slashes from the chunin with her daggers.
"Now why the hell would I do that when you're supposed to come at me with the intent to kill?" Naruto asked blankly.
As Naruto jumped away from his pink-haired teammate he sensed Sasuke, who had activated his Sharingan the moment he and Sakura first attacked the blonde jonin, rushing in from behind, trying slash at the bell strings with his Kama.
Naruto, not surprisingly, easily dodged the attack by flash stepping several yards away from both of his teammates.
"I see you're as fast as ever, Naruto," Sasuke complimented as he turned to face the young Uzumaki-Namikaze.
It has been more than four hours since the test had begun and, needless to say, Sakura and Sasuke had certainly proven how effective their training had been.
Sakura, in addition to having shown a great deal of mastery with wieldling her daggers, had increased her physical strength, with both her arms and legs, to a level that was comparable to Tsunade's and had also demonstrated that she also had the ability to use chakra-enhanced strength to make her attacks even more powerful. In addition she apparently learned to use various Water and Earth Style jutsus, which she was using to great effect. She even learned to use high-level genjutsu; this was countered, however, when Kurama managed to snap Naruto out of her illusions
Sasuke, meanwhile, had also learned to use his Kama very well, though he had yet to shown his skill with the gunbai fan he also carried around. His mastery of the Sharingan had improved, though he had yet to use his MS (Mangekyo Sharingan) in the fight (given the side effects, however, that was understandable). Sasuke had added several Fire, Lightning, and even Wind Style jutsus, with Sasuke using the latter two in conjunction with his Kama (though not simultaneously) to increase the weapons cutting ability; given that Kazuko was the one who trained Sasuke the addition of a third Nature Release was somewhat expected. Sasuke had also acquired a summoning contract with hawks, having used it a few times already.
Despite their growth, however, Sakura and Sasuke were still unable to even land a hit on Naruto, much less take the bells from him. Naruto, as he had warned his old teammates, showed no restraint in the battle, using his speed, Hakuda, Zanjutsu (swordsmanship), Kido, Cero (including the variants of it he had learned to use), and his Getsuga Tensho to beat the two chunin back with almost no effort. Even more problematic for Sakura and Sasuke was that was that all of Naruto's abilities had only grown in strength in the past three years.
Other than a few abilities he was saving for later the only thing Naruto had yet to use were his zanpaukto releases and the only reason for that was because Kurama asked for Naruto to not do so for this fight, the Tailed Beast wanting to only observe this time around. Despite this, however, the two chunin, as with everyone else in the ninja world, were still far outclassed by their blonde teammate, making their chances of success very slim at best.
Naruto turned to face Sasuke before he smirked at the Uchiha's comment.
"You're not the only one who has been training and honing his skills, Sasuke. I may be the head of the MPF now but I'm certainly no paper pusher. Why else would I... borrow... one of Tsunade's secretaries to do my paperwork for me?" Naruto pointed out, having already discussed a bit about his duties as head the new MPF with the Uchiha as they had arrived at the training grounds.
"Fair enough. Then it looks like I'll have to take this battle up a notch," Sasuke cryptically said before he set his Kama to the side.
Sakura, realizing what Sasuke was about to do, jumped several yards away while Naruto widened his eyes, though only slightly, when he saw the Uchiha made a single hand sign.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!" Sasuke yelled before he breathed a massive and very wide wall of flames that raced towards Naruto... who had already decided on a counter for the attack.
"Bakudo #81. Danku," Naruto said.
The translucent barrier formed just in time to block the massive fire wall; because of the width of Sasuke's jutsu, however, the flames wrapped themselves around the barrier a few seconds later and enveloped the area where Naruto was standing... but not before Naruto had flash stepped into the air.
"Nice try, Sasuke, but it's going to take more than that to get me. Then again..." Naruto thought as he looked at the skies in front of him... where Sakura and Sasuke, who once again wielded his Kama, where currently standing on the back of a giant hawk, which Naruto assumed was a summon made by the Uchiha.
"...trying to trick me into a false sense of security by forcing me into the skies was pretty clever, even if it didn't work," Naruto finished thinking to himself as Sasuke and Sakura closed in on the young jonin.
"Do it now, Sakura," Sasuke said; the young kunoichi nodded before she made a hand seal of her own.
"Yin Seal: Release!" she yelled out.
Upon saying that command a violet rhombus mark, which Naruto noted as being the same one that was on Tsunade's forehead, appeared on the chunin's own forehead. The mark then began to extend in the form of lines before those lines then spreaded across Sakura's face and body.
Once this "transformation" was complete Sakura turned to face Sasuke.
"Let's go," Sakura said.
The Uchiha nodded before he had his hawk summon charge right at Naruto, who simply sidestepped the attack. As the hawk flew past Naruto, however, Sakura jumped from off the giant bird despite being more than 70 or so feet up in the air, a move which actually managed to catch Naruto off guard.
"Those bells are mine!" Sakura yelled as she tried to reach for the bells fastened to Naruto's sash.
Unfortunately for the young Kunoichi, however, Naruto was still able to respond by move back several yards... and leaving Sakura standing in midair for a few seconds. At that point Sakura began falling to the ground; despite this, however, the pink-haired chunin appeared to be completely calm as she braced herself.
Sakura soon impacted the ground feet-first; to the surprise of the people watching the fight, minus a smirking Tsunade, the entire area where feel (a large clearing close to the one where the test had begun) began to rumble before it exploded from the force of Sakura's fall.
As Naruto descended to the ground the jonin watched the devastation with a bit of curiosity.
"As I thought; Sakura had a way to survive that fall and was going to use my shock to try and go for the bells. I'm glad to see that she and Sasuke are actually working well as a team, even if it wasn't enough," Naruto thought to himself just as Sakura emerged from the clouds of dust, completely unscathed despite having fallen 70 feet to the ground.
"I see... so you've already stored enough chakra to perform the Yin Seal. Not only that but your Yin Seal did more for your physical abilities than just increase your strength; it also increases your durability, which is why you were able to survive that fall. Not bad," Naruto said to himself just as Sasuke had his hawk land next to Sakura.
"Are you alright?" the Uchiha asked as he got off the hawk, which then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun; it was my idea to try that so I have to be, don't I?" Sakura pointed out.
Sasuke merely shrugged at Sakura's response before both of the chunin's senses suddenly went haywire. The two Konoha-nin, relying on sheer reflex, jumped back several yards, creating some distance between themselves, moments before four orange energy orbs sped right through the space where the two chunin had been standing the projectiles smacked into a couple of nearby boulders, which were obliterated by a massive amount of concussive force that was apparently stored within each orb. The attack took both chunin by surprise.
"That wasn't a cero... that was something else," Sasuke said, with Sakura nodding in agreement, before they turned to face Naruto.
Sakura and Sasuke were surprised when they saw that Naruto's hands were now enveloped the same orange orbs that nearly blindsided them while the young Uzumaki had sheathed his katana as if in order to use the energy orbs.
"What the hell are those things?" Sakura asked which caused Naruto to have another flashback of his time in Las Noches...
Flashback
[Somewhere Within Las Noches]
Three Years Before Naruto's Return...
Naruto was sitting behind a large column under the false daytime sky of the Las Noches canopy, panting heavily as he considered his options.
Naruto was fighting Yammy Llargo, the large and short-tempered 10th/0 Espada, who was training the young Uzumaki in the use of the Bala. Using his smaller size and greater agility Naruto, knowing full well that a straight up fight with Yammy was suicide, have given the intellectually-challenged Yammy the slip as the brutish Arrancar was blasting a wall where he thought Naruto was hiding with a massive barrage of the red orbs.
"Come on, Naruto! Come out and fight me!" Yammy yelled as he kept attacking the same spot.
Naruto sighed before emerging from the column, right where Yammy had his back turned.
"Alright, Yammy-sama... but only because you asked," Naruto said before launching a barrage of ten Balas, with all of the projectiles hitting their mark.
Yammy, despite his massive size, was sent flying by Naruto's sneak attack before he even realized that he had been hit from behind; after about 40 yards or so of the Yammy was finally able to get back on his feet.
"That was a really cheap shot, gaki," Yammy said in an irritated tone.
"With all due respect, Yammy-sama, you did leave yourself open to that one," Naruto sheepishly pointed out, to which Yammy responded by making a nasal grunt.
"Whatever, let's just get back to fighting; you still have a way's to go with your Balas, gaki," Yammy said before charging at Naruto, beginning another game of cat-and-mouse...
End Flashback
[Training Ground #7, Konoha]
Current Time...
"This attack is called a Bala; it's not as powerful as a Cero but it is much faster than any of my Cero variants, with the exception of my Cero Metralleta. Also while my teachers used it only as a long-range attack I've managed to find... another way to use it," Naruto explained before he entered his Hakuda stance, his hands still enveloped by the orange energy orbs.
As Sakura and Sasuke braced themselves for the worst Naruto went on the attack, flash stepping between the two chunin. With both Sakura and Sasuke unable to respond quickly enough to this sudden turn around Naruto took advantage of the opening his old teammates had provided him and began attacking his teammates.
As Sasuke finally registered what was happening in his mind he suddenly saw a fist closing in on his face; as he barely dodged the attack one thought raced through the Uchiha's mind.
"This is going to be tougher than I thought... "
The Following Morning...
"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" a very exhausted-Sakura asked as she healed her longtime love interest, who was currently sporting several cuts and bruises and was seated behind a tree; the two chunin were currently hiding in one of the forested areas within the training ground.
"I am now... though I'd feel a lot better if we had those bells," an equally drained-Sasuke said to which Sakura nodded in agreement.
A few hours since sunrise and, after fighting for almost 18 hours, the two chunin were exhausted. Naruto had proven to be more than capable of handling both of his old teammates. For the past 12 hours Naruto, in the process of fending off his teammates during their attempts to take the bells, had alternated between using his sword, along with his Cero and Kido, and his Hakuda and Bala attacks, the latter of which was an attack that both Sasuke and Sakura were coming to hate with a passion.
In addition to being a rapid fire projectile Naruto, by enveloping his hands with the orbs, was also using the attack as a form of chakra (or reiatsu to be more precise) enhanced strength, making an already physically strong Naruto even more so. In addition to the increase in the strength of his punches every blow Naruto made would create a massive explosion as the concussive force from the Bala was still retained by the orbs. Needless to say those enhanced punches were painful, to say the very least.
And now there was only half an hour left before the test ended and Sakura and Sasuke had yet to take the bells from Naruto who had yet to even break a sweat in this fight.
After a few minutes Sakura, who had briefly deactivated her Yin Seal in order to conserve her remaining strength, finished healing Sasuke's wounds before she began healing her own injuries.
"I can't believe that Naruto is still this much stronger than the both of us," Sakura said as she healed her left arm.
"Same here... though I guess we shouldn't be so surprised. With the level of strength he had three years ago he could've easily been made Hokage back then. I suppose it's only natural that he'd still be this much stronger than either of us. I'm more surprised that Naruto had an ability that he hasn't showed us before. (he sighs) At this rate we'll never get those bells from him; I guess I have no choice but to use IT if we're going to have any chance against him..." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes... which cause Sakura, who had finally finished healing her own injuries after several minutes had passed, to widen her own eyes at the realization.
"W-Wait a minute, Sasuke-kun! Isn't THAT going a bit too far? I mean, the side effects of using THAT are-" Sakura warned before Sasuke cut her off.
"I know the risks of using it, Sakura, but do you have any way of getting those damned bells? Besides..." Sasuke said before he opened his eyes, revealing that he had activated his MS.
"... there's a reason why I am only using these eyes for so long... in any case I have an idea..." Sasuke said as he stood up from the ground.
Several Minutes Later...
Naruto was walking through the clearing where the test had started, his senses on high alert as he waited for Sasuke and Sakura to make what would probably be their last real attempt to try and take the bells around his sash before the test ended.
As he got near the center of the clearing Naruto suddenly tensed up as he picked up two chakra signatures, closing fast on his position, with his Pesquisa.
"I guess it's finally time to close this fight out," Naruto thought to himself before unsheathing his zanpakuto.
At that point the young Uzumaki sensed the chakras of the two chunin beginning to diverge from each other, which meant that they were splitting up. As Naruto shifted his senses so to be able to keep tabs on both of his old teammates Sakura, who had reactivated her Yin Seal and had brought out both of her daggers, emerged from the woods that she and Sakura had been resting.
Without saying anything the young kunoichi closed the gap between herself and her opponent and swung the dagger in her left hand, aiming for Naruto's throat. Naruto had already read her movements, however, and was able to block the dagger with his own blade, which he held with his right hand. The pink-haired chunin then turned her body and, using the balls of her feet to build momentum, spun around to until she was faced with Naruto's backside. As Sakura then tried to slash at Naruto's expose back with both her daggers her attack was foiled when Naruto spun around until his right side was facing the Haruno girl and blocked both daggers with his zanpakuto.
"Nice try, Sakura-chan, but it's going to take more than that to get the better of me," the jonin said with an almost mocking tone in his voice as his blade scraped against Sakura's two knives.
Ignoring Naruto's taunts, or at the very least resisting the urge to lash out at the Uzumaki, Sakura continued attacking Naruto who easily evaded and countered. Even as he defended himself from Sakura's assault, however, Naruto kept part of his attention, via his Pesquisa, towards Sasuke who was within another forest... waiting... watching the skirmish between Naruto and Sakura.
"What is Sasuke up to? He's clearly waiting for something to happen between me and Sakura... but what?" Naruto thought to himself before he suddenly noticed that Sakura had now pushed him several yards closer to the hidden Uchiha, a fact that had escaped him until.
"Now Sasuke!" Sakura yelled before she stopped her attacks Naruto and fell back to the far side of the clearing.
Naruto was about to question this move before he sensed Sasuke's chakra spiking up; he then heard the Uchiha's voice from within the forest.
"Inferno Style: Yasaka Magatama!" Sasuke yelled out.
Naruto's eyes slightly widened in surprise before he flash stepped several feet away moment before a strange projectile attack raced past the young Uzumaki. The attack consisted of three orbs that appeared to made of Amaterasu flames; these orbs were shaped in the form of magatama beads and looked as if they were bound together by a single, circular thread that also appeared to be made of Amaterasu flames.
When the attack impacted the ground it created an intense shockwave that threw debris and Amaterasu flames all over the place. As Naruto, who was unscathed, backed away from the blast he suddenly saw that the Uchiha had now emerged from the woods. To the surprise of most of the people watching the test (Tsunade and the others had been watching the fight the entire time, though how they had remained awake was unknown), minus Kazuko, was what Sasuke had brought with him.
The young Uchiha was now encased in what appeared to be a large purple skeleton. The features of the ethereal skeleton were not much different from that of a normal human skeleton, with only exception being that it had two sets of arms, which were conjoined at the elbow.
As Sakura, who ran in a wide circle around Naruto, appeared by the side of Sasuke and the unearthly entity that enveloped the Uchiha as some sort of defense, Naruto flashed a smirk.
"So you've finally decided to use your Mangekyo Sharingan and looks as though you've managed to awaken the Susanoo during your training. Interesting... though I doubt that this is the extent of your Susanoo. Am I right?" the Leaf Jonin said as though he were talking about the weather.
"Naturally... though I won't be needing it for what Sakura and I have in store for you," Sasuke said confidently.
Naruto merely chuckled at this, not to Sakura or Sasuke's surprise; what the blonde Konoha-nin said, however, caught the two chunin off-guard.
"As much as I would love to prove how dead wrong you are I'm afraid I won't have to," Naruto vaguely explained, causing his teammates to narrow their eyebrows before Sakura tried to question him about it.
"You won't have to? What do you mean by tha-"
RING-DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!
The two chunin's widened in shock when they heard the timer go off.
"That's what I mean-And just when things were finally getting exciting; I should've set that damned thing go off an hour later then I did-. (he sighs) Hado #1. Sho," Naruto said before he pointed his left index finger at the timer... which was immediately rendered silent.
After a minute or so Sasuke finally registered that the test had ended... and that he and Sakura and had failed to get the bells in time. After he deactivated both his Susanoo and his MS, reverting to his normal eyes, Sasuke joined Sakura, who by then had also registered what had just happened, in heaving a sigh of defeat.
"And just before we could even begin our plan... talk about bad timing," Sasuke said dejectedly.
Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head at seeing his old teammates's reactions.
"I agree. Then again that wasn't the actual point of the test... isn't that right, Tsunade-san?" Naruto asked, his eyes gazing on something behind the two chunin.
At that point Sakura and Sasuke turned around and were greeted by the sight of Tsunade and the rest of the group who had observed the three Konoha-nin during the test; only Tiraran was missing, having fallen asleep hours earlier.
"Shisho? Kakashi-sensei? Was everyone still here the entire time?" Sakura asked, slightly taken aback by this, to which Tsunade nodded.
"Of course... why else would we be here? That question aside... the two of you did well even if you failed to get those bells. (she turns to Naruto) Woudn't you agree?" Tsunade asked to which Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Their training actually paid off; they actually surpassed my expectations by a WIDE margin. If it had been anyone other than me or my fracciones they would've taken the bells within the first hour or two of the start of the test," Naruto responded to which Tsunade nodded in acknowledgement, much to the confusion of Sakura and Sasuke.
"What are you guys getting at? I take it this conversation is about more than just complimenting the two of us... so stop beating around the bush and get to the point," Sasuke asked, the blank tone in his voice clearly meant to hide his annoyance.
To both Sasuke and Sakura's surprise it was Shizune who answered the question.
"Well during the test, both Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-san were busy discussing what your status in the village would be, as well as that of Sakura-san's," Shizune explained.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this, Shizune's explanation having only confused and annoyed both him even further, at which point Kakashi addressed his former students.
"It's actually very simple. (he flashes an eye smile) From this moment on... the three of you are a team again. From here on out you'll be known as Team Naruto," Kakashi explained.
Sakura's eyes widened slightly at this declaration for a brief moment before she smiled at this and nodded, more than happy that they would be working together again. Any feelings of crestfallenness that were weighing down on her apparently vanished. Sasuke had similar feelings about this news even if he refused to let it show.
Naruto, while also glad to hear that he would be joining his old team (and was thankful that the secretary he "borrowed" to do all of the paperwork he would have to sign as the head of the MPF), had realized that there was something else to what Kakashi had just said.
"Wait a minute... Team Naruto? Not that I don't like the sound of that, because I do, but does that mean that I'm the squad leader. (he briefly pauses until Kakashi nods) But then what about you, Kakashi-senpai?" Naruto questioned.
"Yeah... about that..." Kakashi began in a rather awkward tone.
[Akatsuki Hideout, Unspecified Location]
Meanwhile...
In a large cavernous chamber, which was what most of these hideout essentially were, the Akatsuki, who had gone underground after their previous defeat at the hands of Naruto, his teammates, and Kazuko three years, were currently holding a meeting. Obito (the rest of the Akatsuki still believed him to be Madara, minus Zetsu and Tobi who had already known otherwise as they were his main subordinates) now wore another mask with same design as the one Naruto destroyed and had swapped his hooded cloak for the high-collared, black-with-a-red-cloud-pattern cloak of the organization as Pein assigned Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, and Tobi (who was Itachi's new partner following Kisame's death and the failure to get Kazuko to join their ranks), the task of trying to capture Gaara. Though normally observant Obito was hardly paying any sort of attention to the meeting as he thought about how far behind his plans had fallen.
It had been a downhill ride for the corrupted Uchiha these past three years thanks to one Naruto Uzumaki, a name that was becoming more and more dangerous to say around the Uchiha as those who did were now endangering their own lives by the mention of the Leaf jonin.
Fu... Gaara... Yagura... the Jinchurikis of the Nibi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, and the Hachibi...
Naruto had managed to establish contact with all of them (in Yagura's case he even freed him from Obito's genjutsu, which also led to him stepping down as Mizukage), creating bonds with his fellow jinchuriki and teaching them how to control, and then make peace with, their Tailed Beasts (except for Yagura and Killer Bee, the Hachibi Jinchuriki who had already learned to control their respective Tailed Beasts). The biggest setback, aside from losing control of Yagura, was Naruto's decision to have Fu, the Jinchuriki of ChÅmei, the Nanabi, become a Konoha-nin, which made Konoha an even stonger threat to Obito's plans and made capturing Fu even harder.
And now Obito's patience had run so thin that he was now throwing caution into the wind and decided to start trying to capture the Tailed Beasts again... and he decided to start with Gaara, the Jinchuriki of Shukaku, the Ichibi.
Obito, after several minutes, finally got out of his thoughts just as Pein dismissed everyone, leaving Obito and Zetsu by themselves (everyone else had appeared in the form of their holograms). At this point Zetsu turned to face Obito.
"(White Zetsu) Are you sure about this? (Black Zetsu) You know the... Kyubi brat... will probably get involved, right?"
Obito sighed at this from behind his mask.
"I'm more than aware of that; with the way things are going, however, something has to be done or our final goal will forever be out of reach," Obito pointed out.
After Zetsu nodded in agreement both "they" and Obito sank into the... heading off to prepare for Gaara's capture...
Next Time - The First S-Rank Mission: Rescue The Kazekage!