The journey back to Konoha was lengthy to say the least. While without Tsugashi the group was able to make better time back to the village Naruto had instead elected the time to be spent in training just as much as traveling.
Witch was greeted with mixed results from his Genin team;
Azuko who thought they could always do such training at the village as well as take on additional missions complained about it silently.
Taki, who was eager to get back to the village in order to be there when your younger sibling was born wasn't exactly joyous bout having to spend extra time away from the village.
Akari didn't seem fazed either way and greeted the decision to take their time in order to train more with her usual neutral grunt and shrug.
On top of this there were further road blocks when Naruto learned of the occasional bandit party harrying isolated villages and farmers.
Yet the time eventually passed and the four Shinobi once again found themselves walking through the gates of Konohagakure once more.
"God, finally," Taki moaned as they walked through the village gates. "I thought we'd never get back here."
Naruto offered the girl a wiry grin. As the month had drawn on she had been becoming more and more impatient, wanting to get back to the village more and more to the point of out and out complaining about how long it was taking them.
"Yea we're back," Naruto said taking in a deep breath. He sighed happily to himself and stretched his arms. "We'll let's go give our report to Lade Hokage and then the weeks is yours." He said as they passed the gate guards.
"Really?" The three Genin coursed.
Naruto nodded. "Yea, you've worked hard this last two months so you've earned your rest, you've got a week to unwind and recoup then it's back to training and mission work." He told them.
As they walked through the streets of the village a few people waved to them in greeting, they were about half way to the Hokage's tower when they ran into someone.
"Yo, Naruto!" A familiar voice called out behind them.
The team stopped and turned to see one of the other Genin teams approaching them.
"Hey Kiba," Naruto waved as the Inuzuka approached with his team in toe, Akamaru barked a greeting at them as well.
"So I heard you had an interesting mission." Kiba said as the two got closer.
Naruto nodded. "Yea," Naruto confirmed. "Definitely not a mission you would give to a Genin team but they did amazingly well." Naruto said. "How 'bout you? Any interesting missions of late?" He asked.
Kiba shrugged. "Eh define interesting?" The two Jonin quickly got caught up in their own little world as the two friends reminisced about their days as Genin and the missions they went on, though Kiba's list was a bit more exaggerated than Naruto remembered it being.
As they talked the remaining Genin were left standing there as their Sensei's talked.
"Man those two can talk," Taki said absently – and more than a little annoyed.
"Yea, Inuzuka Sensei's rather fond of running his mouth," One of Kiba's team joked. "So what have you three been up too?" He asked them.
"Eh, this and that," Akari replied blandly, "Just got back from the Land of Planes."
"So I heard." The boy replied.
"So how was your mission?" Azuko asked as he looked over the team.
"Oh you know taking out some bandits, nothing big." He replied in a gloating tone.
"Yea, sounds pretty boring," Akari commented, not trying to provoke the boy.
"Oh shut up you dunce." He snapped at her. "Like you'd be able to do anything other than stand there, hell I'm surprised you even graduated."
"Oh shut up Tetsuno," She shot back, "Like taking out bandits is anything to gloat about, even for a Genin tam its nothing big unless you've got a trained Shinobi leading them."
The atmosphere between the two teams tensed rapidly as the two Genin stared each other down.
"Come on guys don't fight," Taki said, quickly taking the role of mediator between the two of them like she was known for.
"Stay out of it." Tetsuno said hotly directing his gaze at the girl.
"Don't talk to her like that." Akari said stepping between the two, glaring daggers at the boy.
"Come on Tetsuno," The other boy of Kiba's team said. "Don't get angry."
"Shut it Ko," Tetsuno shot back, "She started it."
"What are you five?" She asked him.
Tetsuno growled at her as his hand strayed just a little too close to his kunai pouch. Akari noticed the action and her hand came to rest lightly on the handle of her wakizashi, one eyebrow raise.
Your move. She prompted silently.
The two Jonin Sensei, while deeply engrossed in a lovely wave of nostalgia never let their gaze stray too far from their teams, constantly keeping an ever watchful eye on their Genin.
The two shared a glance as the situation went from bad to worse to terrible in the space of a few seconds.
A silent conversation passed between the two before Naruto seemed to step back a bit, inviting Kiba to intervene in the situation.
"Oi, First one to cause a seen gets a Gatsuga." He growled at them.
Tetsuno gave a quick glance at his Sensei before backing down with a grumble. To Akari the threat didn't mean as much, but seeing Tetsuno's reaction she guessed it would be best to back down as well.
The two Jonin Sensei exchanged glances and grinned at each other. "Anyway, we've got to give a report to Lady Hokage." Kiba said.
"Okay catch ya next time." Naruto said as the two teams began to part ways.
"Oh I almost forgot." Kiba said to himself. "Oi Naruto!" He shouted back to the blond.
"Yea?" He shouted back turning to look at the Inuzuka.
"Hinata, Choji and I are having BBQ tonight as a sort of Sensei get together thing if you can make it?" He told him.
Naruto smiled broadly. "Sounds like a plan, what time."
"Eight at the usual place." Kiba replied.
"Okay see you there."
The two groups when their separate ways and Naruto spoke up. "So who feels like some Ramen, on me of course?" Naruto asked the group.
The three Genin looked about each other for a moment before nodding they were all starving.
After a quick stop and a few bowls – or a few dozen as far as Naruto and Akari were concerned – the group left Ichiraku's Ramen and headed for the Hokage's tower.
"Ah, welcome back to Konoha." Tsunade said as the team walked into her office.
"Good to be back Lady Hokage." Taki said with a bow.
Tsunade smiled and opened the mission report scroll Naruto had given her. After a few minutes of silence she closed the scroll again. "Well I must say I'm impressed." She said as she looked at the team. "You have performed above and beyond what was expected of you given the position you found yourselves in."
The three Genin stood a little taller, a sense of pride falling over them as the Hokage personally commented on their actions.
"Considering what was undertaken as a C-rank mission became undoubtedly an A-rank mission to say the least I've recorded it all as such and will reward you the adequate pay for an A-rank assignment." She told them.
The team nodded before Tsunade handed Naruto an envelope. "Take this to Nonoki and he'll give you the new pay." She said gesturing for the team to leave.
"Thank you Lady Hokage." The team said, bowing to her before leaving.
"They certainly performed well." Shizune said as the team left. "Especially Akari,"
Tsunade nodded. "Well what did you expect?" She asked light-heartedly as she leaned back in her chair. "They are Naruto's students after all."
As Naruto and the others left the Hokage's tower he waved to the three of them. "Well I've got some errands I need to run so I'll see you guys next week at the bridge as usual." He said with a smile before walking off.
"Bye Sensei," Taki waved as the blond walked off.
The three Genin stood there for a moment in silence before Azuko turned to go. "See you guys next week." He said before turning to leave.
"Azuko wait," Taki called out. "Did you want to have dinner at my place tonight, as a post mission celebration?" She asked.
Azuko turned to look at her for a little while, a strange expression in his green eyes. "Sorry but I have training to do," He said in his usual tone. "See you guys next week." He said.
He waved as he walked away leaving the two girls standing there. After a short pause Taki turned to Akari with an expectant look in her eyes. "So what about you?" She prompted, grinning ear to ear as she spoke.
Akari instinctively took a step back from the girl as she asked but smiled. "Sure, why not," She said.
Taki's grin somehow seemed to get bigger as she grabbed Akari by her wrist. "Come on then, we'll got to your place first to you can drop off your stuff." She said.
Akari nodded and the two girls headed off.
Naruto watched the group from a tree not too far from them, smiling to himself. The mission in the Land of Planes had strengthened them more than they had realised.
Even Azuko who for so long had separated himself from his class mates because he viewed himself above them was beginning to see the necessity of teamwork and working with others, though he still had his own hurdles to overcome before he was truly there, but he had time. He was still only thirteen.
Akari opened the door to her apartment and went straight to her room, dropping her bag on her bed.
"Nice place." Taki commented from the doorway. To say Akari's apartment was 'bare' would have been an understatement.
It was a simple one bedroom apartment; her bedroom was the most furnished with a bed, side table and two book shelves and cupboard.
The kitchen had the bare essentials; fridge, microwave, pantry and a small table with two chairs.
The main room witch took up most of the apartment was completely empty.
"It does the job," Akari commented absently from her bedroom. Taki walked through the door was just as Akari was putting away her clothes. Inevitably her eyes were draw to the sky blue dress that Tsugashi had given her during their stay; needless to say it stuck out like a sore thumb when everything else in her wardrobe was jet black.
"You have a very bland taste in clothing," Taki commented unknowingly as Akari put away the rest of her belongings.
She turned to look at her team mate who continued to stare blankly at Akari's wardrobe until she realised what she had said. With a start Taki jumped from the bed waving her hands in front of her saying something that Akari assumed was English.
After a few seconds of incoherent blather Taki realised that Akari wasn't actually listening to her and was instead staring at her wardrobe.
"I never really thought about it," She said after Taki finally stopped.
"Why," She asked stepping closer to her friend.
Akari simply shrugged. "Well I guess there was no point." She said. "When my parents were around they bought all my clothes for me and after they died I just wore what would fit really. After a while I started liking black and I knew a tailer that had a lot of the same for cheap so I just bought in bulk really."
Taki nodded, "I see, but don't you get bored just wearing black?" She asked.
"Eh, not really," Akari shrugged, "When I joined the academy it seemed the most practical colour seeing as most of the Shinobi I saw walking around the village wore dark clothes, and it helped with hiding."
Taki gave a small snort at that.
"What?" Akari asked at length as she turned an eye to her guest.
"Like colour has anything to do with one's ability to hide." She said dismissively as she looked at Akari, who for her part raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, uh, yea it kind of does," She replied somewhat shakily. "It's not like you're going to be able to hide in a forest with bright colours on, hell even in a city you need faded colours to blend in."
Taki only laughed, "Oh, please," She said over exaggeratedly. "Have you seen our Sensei? I mean for crying out loud the man walks around in a friking bright orange jump suite! What part of that help with stealth? And yet we still manage to lose track of him."
Akari went to make a reply before she stopped herself and thought about it. He did walk around in a bright orange jump suit and was still able to hide himself almost anywhere.
"Shit," She muttered.
Taki nodded emphatically. "See? What did I tell you?" She asked, leaning in just a little too close.
"Yea okay," Akari muttered leaning back from the other girl. "You're right." She said. Silence fell over the two girls for a moment before they both burst out laughing. Eventually the need to breathe over powered the humour of the situation – though it fought the good fight – and the two girls calmed down.
"Come on." Taki said suddenly, dragging Akari to her feet and towards her door.
"Hey wait, where are we going." Akari blurted out as she was dragged to her feet.
"Shopping," Taki said delightedly. "We just got a big pay and your wardrobe needs a makeover."
"Buuh-," Akari stammered as she tried to resist, "Don't I get a say in this?" She all but shouted as Taki dragged out her front door.
"Nope," Her friend said dubiously.
The sun was well below the horizon and dozens of paper lanterns brought light to the shadowy streets. It was probably Naruto's second favourite visual aesthetic of Konoha, even though it was night the village was as alive as ever with the brilliant lights of the lanterns lighting the streets and hundreds of people doing this and that.
He walked through the streets towards the usual BBQ hangout with a delighted smile on his face. Everything was looking up for him right now.
He turned the corner and saw the restaurant; Akamaru gave him a greeting 'bark' as he approached.
He waved to Choji through the window and scratched Akamaru's ears as he walked into the restaurant.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted as he came to the table. He wave at her and smiled. "Hey guys,"
As he sat down the group fell into general discussion about all the little tid-bits any observant shinobi heard as they went about their day.
"So how come you became a Sensei Choji?" Naruto asked as the conversation died down.
The Akamichi shrugged. "Well several reasons really." He began. "My dad said it would be a good learning curve for when I'm raising my own kids, and it seemed like it would be a worthwhile experience."
Naruto nodded as he looked over the menu. He knew full well while Kiba and Hinata hand become Jonin Sensei.
Kiba because of his pseudo rivalry with Naruto and Hinata because she felt it was where her strengths could best be utilised.
It was Choji's last minute decision to become a Jonin Sensei that had him slightly confused and something that had been eating away at his curiosity for some time now.
Their order came and soon their groups little booth was filled with the soft sizzle of cooking meet and the lovely aroma of BBQ.
As the meet cooked Kiba spoke up. "So how are your teams progressing?" He asked as a general question to the assembled Sensei.
"As good as can be," Hinata said as she took a drink. "They're progressing nicely so I've started to ramp up their training schedule and have been requesting more difficult missions."
Her peers nodded as their gaze fell on Choji next, surprised by the sudden attention the Akamichi tried to shrink back. "Well their doing good, lately I've being focusing on their jutsu, they've got ways to go yet before they're Chunin level but they're driven at least."
"So how about you, Naruto?" Kiba prompted leaning against the window. "Heard you had quite the adventure in the Land of Plaines,"
Naruto paused momentarily to think about it. "Well kind off," He said, "Originally this was supposed to be a simple covert escort mission while Shino and his team moved about with the decoy." He said.
"Did go that smoothly ay?" Choji asked.
Naruto chuckled. "Of course not, a group of missing-nin got wind of Tsugashi's real location and tried to kidnap him, even stage a coup, considering how rapidly the situation deteriorated I'm really pleased with their work, they performed above and beyond what I thought they could."
A brief silence fell over the group as their food was finished and they began eating.
"So how 'bout you kiba?" Hinata asked between mouthfuls.
"How 'bout me what?" Kiba asked, reaching through the window to give Akamaru some BBQ.
"How's your team doing?" She clarified.
"Oh that," Kiba said with a sudden glint of recognition in his eyes. "I tell ya, they're doing great." He said. "They've really got the attitude for being Shinobi, took to working together like a duck to water. Tetsuno's a natural born leader, really good at taking charge of the situation and making strategies up right quick. Ko's a bit of a lackey type though, doesn't have the initiative that Tetsuno does but he's skilled and takes direction well. Ten theirs Yumika, She's a bit on the quiet side, kind of like Hinata used to be, but she's a feisty one, never willing to just give up."
"Sounds like you got the good team." Naruto commented.
Kiba shrugged it off. "Or they got an awesome teacher." Kiba said with a grin.
Naruto leant back against the booth as he became engrossed in thought, "I'll have to disagree with you," He said. Not realising exactly what he said, or how the Inuzuka would take it.
Of course, Kiba being Kiba it was bad, as Naruto was still lapsed in thought the man nearly leapt over the table to strangle him were it not for Choji and Hinata holding him back.
"Calm down Kiba-kun," Hinata said as she tried to push him back.
"Yea, man, you know how Naruto's mouth gets ahead of his brain." Choji pitched in as he hauled the angry Inuzuka back to his seat.
It was at this point that Naruto's brain finally ticed over that hurdle and he realised what he said.
"Oh, no, Sorry, I didn't mean," Naruto began, flustered, as he tried to apologies to his friend. "I didn't mean it like that."
"Then how did you mean it?" Kiba grunted as he sat back down, silently accepting Naruto's apology.
"Well," Naruto began, trailing off momentarily to regain his thoughts, "Most of a Genin team's success rides on the Genin and not their teacher," Naruto said.
The group greeted him with befuddled looks.
"What do you mean?" Choji asked between mouthfuls.
Naruto paused for another moment of thought before he began. "Well look at it this way. Even the best Sensei in the world will prove useless without a willing student." He said. "A lot of a Genin's success and their graduation to Chunin is more up to the Genin and their willingness than it is their Sensei's tutelage."
Kiba opened his mouth to interject but Naruto continued hoping to answer his question before it was asked.
"I mean yea a Sensei is necessary to be a guiding figure and help the Genin understand the role of Shinobi and help them discover their own Nindo in the process, but if at the end it all of the day it all comes down to the Genin's willingness to improve themselves. Sometimes I think we take, I too much credit for your students achievements. I mean yea sure we helped them and they might very well be a different Shinobi if we had let someone else teach them, but at the end of the day they're the ones putting in the hard yards, we're just along for the ride." He said rather philosophically.
The other three Sensei contemplated on what Naruto had said for a moment; after all he was the most experienced Sensei among them, teaching his third team while they were on their first.
Conversation abated briefly before Kiba inevitably spoke up again. "So I take it none of you are putting your teams forward for the Chunin exams next month?" He asked as he finished his drink.
"No," Hinata and Choji replied in unison.
Naruto however stayed quiet.
"Well are you?" Kiba asked him.
In truth Naruto hadn't really thought about putting his team forward for the Chunin selection examinations before, they hadn't even crossed his mind until Kiba had mentioned them, but now that he thought about it the more he thought it would be a good idea.
"Hello-o, Naruto-o," Kiba said in a sing song voice as he tried to gain the blonds attention.
"Yea I am." He decided as he returned to the conversation.
"You're what?" Kiba asked.
"I'm gonna put them forward for the selection examinations." Naruto replied.
"What seriously?' Kiba asked.
"Yea, I think it would be good for them." Naruto said. "The Mission to the Land of Planes should have been handled by a Jonin squad if we knew what kind of mission it would be, and yet they managed to pull through, so they're defiantly strong enough. However it will test what their worst at." He said.
"And that it?" Hinata asked.
"Teamwork," Naruto said. "I mean they've made amazing leaps and bound from the team I nearly failed over three months ago, but they still aren't their yet, especially Azuko."
"How so?" Choji asked.
"I don't know why but he seems to think that anything and everything he does has to be done by his strength, that he has to do everything, that only he can do it." Naruto said.
"Sounds a lot like you used to be." Kiba commented.
Naruto nodded. "Yea, and I had people help me understand that one person can't do everything, that's why we have friends, but I took on everything because it meant something important to me, going after Sasuke, fighting Pain, I had something deep connecting me to those events which made me want to do it, not only to prove myself, but also because I wanted to protect everyone. Azuko just thinks he has to do it alone. That it's a bad thing to have other people help you achieve your goals. The Land of Planes showed him that Shinobi need to work together, but he's not there yet. Seeing as the Chunin exams need team work to pass the first two rounds it will, at the very least, show him what he needs to do in order to advance." Naruto said.
The others nodded. It made sense.
After they had eaten their fill the group began to divvy up the bill.
"Well I did just get quite a nice lump sum recently." Naruto said as they walked out of the restaurant, "Who's up for some drinks?" He asked.
The group thought about the proposition for a moment.
"You're buying?" Hinata asked him.
"You bet I am," Naruto said with a grin.
"Yea I'm in." She said. "You guys?" She asked Choji and Kiba. The two exchanged glances before shrugging.
"Sure why not, tomorrows Sunday." Kiba said with a grin.
"Yosh, let's go then." Naruto said as he made for the nearest bar.
Sup Friendlies.
So sorry for how long this took, and for that whole re-post fiasco the other week, but here's a new chapter to make up for it. Full of all that boring - and totally needed - interpersonal Character development I'm so fond of.
I estimate two more this and that chapters before the Chunin exams, cause you know, I've got to make the development of the story coherent and have to elude to future McGuffin buttons I throw in the mix.
Thanks for your patients, hope you enjoyed the Chapter and I'll have part 13 up ASAP.
Until nest time I wish you all the best.
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.