Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.

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Memories Of Others

Chapter 7

Patrol Of A New Genin

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"Uzumaki Naruto?" A voice asked and Naruto turned to look at the old man who had spoken. "I'm your patrol partner for the morning, Genin Maruboshi Kosuke, although many call me the Mannen Genin."

Naruto stared at him in shock. "You're as old as Jiji!"

"Jiji?" Kosuke asked and Naruto blushed slightly, remembering several lessons in manners that Kurenai and Hinata had given him via clone teaching.

"Gomen, I apologise for my comment, although I was surprised by your appearance, my behaviour was inexcusible."

"You're forgiven, Naruto." Kosuke said, patting the (significantly) younger genin on the shoulder. "Now, who is this Jiji of yours?"

"Hiruzen, the Hokage." Naruto explained, falling into step with Kosuke and glancing down to see that one of the old shinobi's legs ended in a prosthetic foot.

"I remember Hiruzen when he was younger." Kosuke reminisced, then his gaze sharpened. "He had the same determination I see in you, young Naruto. I'm sure I'll see great things from you in the future."

Naruto blinked. Somehow, Kosuke had, for a bare instant, radiated the same aura of strength and power that Hiruzen had occasionally displayed.

"I've never patrolled the wall before." Naruto said, changing the subject. "I can create dozens of Kage Bunshin if you think we may need them."

"For patrolling, we walk along the top of the wall, watching for anything unusual." Kosuke explained. "Multiple flocks of birds, gaps that weren't there the previous day, motion where there shouldn't be or stillness where there should be motion. If we see anything odd, we sound the alarm by striking the alert sequence on the pipe."

Naruto followed Kosuke's glance and saw a long metal pipe half-buried in the wall.

"The sound of the strikes go to the guard posts under the wall and the direction of the alert tells them where they are needed." Kosuke continued.

"Cool." Naruto admitted. "I thought it would be some sort of super-jutsu or something…"

"Why go for complicated when simplicity works so much better? Plus, if you're injured, you can still hit the pipe, even if you can't channel chakra." Kosuke shrugged, then he paused. "There. You see that?"

"A flock of birds?" Naruto asked and Kosuke nodded. "Yeah, but… wait, another just appeared and are some more birds circling behind the first lot you pointed out?"

"Something startled them." Kosuke said, pulling out a kunai and walking to the edge of the wall. "Something moving in the trees parallel to the wall, heading east. Now, pay attention to these codes, you'll need to memorize them at some point if you ever want to do this alone. Movement. South. Heading East. Distance, one kilometer. Speed, fast."

Naruto nodded as he tried to memorize the rhythms that Kosuke had tapped on the pipe. "I think I got some of the signals, but…"

"I have a book you can borrow." Kosuke offered. "Copy it and return it, the copying will help you memorize it."

"Thanks… Sempai." Naruto said and Kosuke started to chuckle.

"Sempai, am I? I'm old enough to be your grandpa, you know. Okay, it's been almost a minute and no alarms have sounded, so whatever or whoever that was is known and we can continue our patrol."

Naruto gave the forest another look, then scurried to catch up with the older genin.

"Sempai, what's with the wok?"

Kosuke reached back to tap the edge of the large wok that he was wearing on his back. "I have several reasons. First, it's a shield. The shape helps to deflect anything thrown at me from behind which I can't dodge. Second, when I'm in the field, I can use it to cook food in. Akamichi Chouza himself said my cooking was as good as anything he'd ever tasted in the field. Third, it's a weapon. As long as you can grip it, anything can be a club. Most ninja don't think of cooking utensils as being weapons, at least not before they wake up with bumps on their foreheads…"

Naruto stared at Kosuke in amazed admiration as the older man continued to share his accumulated wisdom.

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"Good afternoon, Naruto." Kurenai called in greeting as Naruto leapt out of the branches of the trees and landed barely twenty meters away.

"Kurenai-san." Naruto replied with a big grin. "Hey, I had wall patrol today."

"I remember that." Kurenai sighed. "It was one of the missions I had to take as a chunin to help pay my bills. So… anything interesting happened?"

"I was teamed up with another genin, a really old one…"

"Maruboshi Kosuke." Kurenai stated and Naruto stared at her.

"You know him?"

"He's a Jonin in everything but his actual rank." Kurenai said, then she frowned. "He's also in high demand… odd that he was walking the wall… unless…"

"Unless? Unless what?" Naruto asked after Kurenai trailed off.

"Never mind." Kurenai said. "But he's very skilled, so you should take the opportunity to really listen to everything he chooses to tell you. And his food is amazing. If he ever offers you the chance to join him on a mission, I'd advise you to accept. He helped me when I was still a genin, gave me some good advice that I've never regretted."

"Cool."

"Very." Kurenai agreed. "Now, we have a little while before my team return from their mission, so I think I should tell you about a conversation I had with Maito Gai yesterday..."

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"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called in greeting as she and her team-mates entered the training field.

"Hinata-chan! Kiba! Shino!" Naruto waved back. "How'd your mission go?"

"Tora tracked, caught and returned." Kiba gloated, then he frowned. "And an oddly-familiar pink-haired girl stopped us for a few minutes to speak to Hinata."

"She wanted to apologize for what she said before the second genin test." Hinata said quietly. "Apparently she and Ino had just finished another of their arguments over Sasuke and she was in a bad mood."

"Excellent work on Tora and I'm glad that Sakura apologized." Kurenai said, causing both Hinata and Kiba to smile. Even Shino seemed to radiate a sense of satisfaction briefly. "Hinata… if you would?"

Hinata hugged Naruto and he made his most-used hand-sign.

"You managed to do that silently." Kurenai said approvingly as clones of Naruto and Hinata appeared. "Very good. Any enemy who doesn't know what that seal is would be taken by surprise."

"Kosuke-sempai lent me a book on combat signals to study." Naruto said as his clone fished his own copy out of his storage pouch.

"Ah, that book." Kurenai said with a nod of recognition. "I'll get copies for the rest of you tomorrow, it'll help with tracking if you can communicate silently."

"The tactical advantages inherent in learning silent communication are obvious." Shino droned. "I must inquire as to why such skills were not taught in the Academy, however."

"It's an old bargain, one unique to Konoha." Kurenai sighed. "As you all know, Konoha is unique amongst the Great Five in that we rely extensively on civilian support in order to free more shinobi for field work, so as a means of persuading the civilian clans that the-then newly-formed Konoha could be trusted, overall control of the Academy curriculum was placed in the hands of the civilians. Since so many of them wanted access to the advantages that having a shinobi in the family brings, better contacts, access to the shinobi information exchange and so on, the standards were slowly lowered to give the civilian-born a better chance of graduating. Silent communication was one of the things jettisoned to make it easier to pass the test."

The four genin stared at Kurenai for a long moment.

"And what else was removed?" Natuto finally asked.

"Several parts of the history course, the Camping Jutsus known as the Travelling Ten, physical conditioning lessons… fortunately the teamwork aspect generally allows new genin to survive in the field long enough to find out their own weaknesses and find ways around them, or find people who have different weaknesses so that they can protect each other."

"I… have no idea if that sucks or not." Kiba admitted. "I'm not good with classwork, so if the Academy has been made easier, would I have made genin in the old times? And where did your clones go?"

"To study the book." Naruto supplied. "As an independent genin, I really need to learn those things."

"Indeed." Kurenai nodded. "Now, it is time for training. While we do basic warm-ups, I want you, Naruto, to use some clones to set up a trap course for my genin to work through. Nothing lethal, but be tricky."

Naruto grinned, causing Kiba to shiver.

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"Ooooh! Yeee! Ooooh! Aaah! Aaah!"

Inuzuka Tsume stared as her son lurched through the main gate of the Inuzuka Compound, groaning and complaining with each step.

"Erk! Aaargh! Owowowow! Eek! Aargh!"

"Kiba?"

Kiba paused as Akamaru caught up with him, twitching and trying to scratch all over.

"Hey mom. Don't let Naruto set up a trap course for you. Gotta wash! Aaah! Itch! Itchitchitchitch!"

Tsume stared blankly as her son and his ninken bolted for the bathhouse.

"…what?"

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Hinata tried not to squirm as she walked through the main gate of the Hyuuga Compound, but the small twitches she couldn't restrain gave away that some of the itching powder in the trap that Kiba had triggered had caught her.

"Daughter."

"F… father." Hinata managed. Hiashi raised an eyebrow.

"You seem… distracted."

"Kiba-san set off a trap in training. Itching powder. I almost dodged it."

Hiashi's eyebrow rose higher. "I was unaware that Kurenai was adept at traps."

"It was Naruto… Father, may I be excused?"

Hiashi nodded. "Once you have washed, report to me. I would like an evaluation of Naruto's trap skills."

"Yes, father."

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"Shino."

"Father." Shino replied calmly.

"Your Hive seems… more active than normal."

"I was caught in a trap triggered by my team-mate, Kiba, a trap that covered us in itching powder. My Kikkaichu found it very tasty."

"Ah."

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"Naruto?"

"One moment!" Naruto called over his shoulder as he re-sealed the salvaged ninja-wire in the storage scroll. Rolling the scroll up and storing it in his shoulder-holster, he stepped out of the woods as the clone who had been helping him dispelled.

"Sorry, just tidying up. I didn't go too overboard did I?"

"No, but several of those traps were ones I've never seen before." Kurenai admitted.

"Well, now I can actually read, thanks to Hinata-chan, I send some clones to the libraries every day." Naruto admitted. "I came across a copy of a book on traps written by Uchiha Madara, the man was a genius! The things he could do with a kunai and a piece of wire… I adapted a few of his traps for this exercise."

"And you did very well." Kurenai agreed, handing Naruto a small envelope. Naruto opened it, then froze.

"…what?"

"All Genin Team Leaders have access to special funds for training purposes, such as hiring other genin or chunin to help." Kurenai explained. "Since you set up the traps for their training and have been helping by providing an op-force for them to train against, you get money to compensate you for your time. I know it's less than a D-rank mission, but every ryo helps, right?"

Naruto tucked the coupon into his pouch. "Thanks, Kurenai-san."

"No, thank you." Kurenai replied. "Ever since you let Hinata start helping you, she's become far more self-confident."

"Meh, Hinata-chan's totally awesome in her own right, believe it!" Naruto grinned. "I still have no clue how Sakura beat her to the Kunoichi of the year position. How is she and the teme getting on anyway?"

"The teme?" Kurenai asked and Naruto slapped his forehead.

"Sorry! I meant Sasuke. With that Kakashi-dude only teaching two of them, he must be teaching them loads, right?"

"He was given a third genin to make a full team." Kurenai supplied, causing Naruto to stare at her in confusion. "Each Jonin-Sensei can ask for a specific pupil…"

"And he asked for the Uchiha." Naruto said with a nod of understanding.

"No, he asked for you." Kurenai corrected, earning a stare of disbelief.

"That doesn't make any sense." Naruto groused. "Why would he ask for me? Was I supposed to be Sasuke's Eternal Rival in order to boost his progress or something? Sakura's punching bag to help her with her taijutsu?"

"Actually, it's because I knew your parents and thought I could repay the debt I owed them by taking you on. I apologize for not making that clear when we met." Kakashi said from behind Naruto, causing the Genin to leap into the air in shock.

"Aaaaargh! Don't DO that! Wait. You knew my parents? Who were they? Why hasn't anyone told me about them? Were they traitors?"

Kakashi almost sputtered at the last question. "What? Traitors? No! Why would you even think that?"

"'cause no-one talks about them and people tell me I never had parents." Naruto shrugged. "It made sense."

"They're wrong." Kakashi stated. "Due to security concerns, I can't tell you their names, but your parents were both great ninja who loved each other greatly…"

Naruto listened eagerly, not noticing that Kurenai had left silently.

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Author's Afternote - So Sakura has apologized and Kakashi is trying to mend the bridge he hadn't realized until too late was burned.
Bashing? What bashing? People screw up, people try to fix. That is not bashing.