Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.

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Memories Of Others

Chapter 46

A Chunin And His Team

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Hinata paused in the doorway, staring incredulously at the sight before her. Naruto smirked in amusement as his fiancee rubbed her eyes, stared again and then activated her byakugan in order to ensure that she wasn't caught up in a genjutsu.

"Naruto." She said after a long moment. "Why is a giant fox playing Shogi with Shikamaru?"

"Because this damned ape keeps beating me and I am going to win if it's the last thing I do." Kurama snarled, reaching out to move a piece. "Check!"

Shikamaru lazily moved one of his pieces and Kurama started growling what sounded almost like a stream of swear-words.

"…naruto?"

"The Sage of Six Paths used to play Shogi and taught all of the Biju how to play as well." Naruto said as his clone placed a cup and an odd container of fruit squash on the table. Kurama picked up the container and used the spout-like side to take several gulps before putting it down and moving one of his own pieces. Shikamaru frowned, his hands moving so that the fingers formed a rectangle.

"Oh." Hinata said in a too-calm voice. "And… why is Shikamaru playing Shogi with a giant fox?"

"He's one of the best opponents I've met who isn't from my clan." Shikamaru said, reaching out to place a piece on the board. "Remind me to take you to meet my father, I think he'll be interested in your playing style as well."

Kurama smirked as he moved a piece, then snarled as Shikamaru instantly countered his tactic.

"They've been playing for over an hour." Naruto commented, placing a cup of fruit squash into Hinata's hand. "Oh, Shikamaru told me about the problem with the rearrangement of teams, but he refused to give me any details as he said that you had an idea that you wanted to run past me."

Hinata nodded, her eyes not leaving the now-fast-moving Shogi game.

"I don't know if you heard, but Sakura captured an Oto-nin…"

"Tsuchi Kin. The genjutsu expert who took out Lee with a single senbon." Naruto supplied.

"Kurenai-sensei and Yamanaka-sama used a special collaboration technique on her, with her permission, to permanently change her allegiance from Oto to Konoha." Hinata continued. "Although they believe that it was successful, she will need to be placed under a Jonin-Sensei for observation in case anything went wrong."

"And that's where I come in." Kakashi stated from the doorway. "Odd, I don't remember seeing a fox of that size before."

"He's complicated." Naruto sighed over Kurama's triumphant growl as Shikamaru redeployed to counter the unexpected flanking attack. "I'll explain later."

"Anyway." Kakashi said, staring at the odd scene. "We came up with an interesting concept, but it needs your okay for it to work. With three genin being promoted to chunin and six of the nine… excluding team ten, now being part of incomplete teams since Sasuke has joined ANBU, we decided a switch around was a good idea."

"Team ten is remaining as we are." Shikamaru supplied as Kurama's ears flattened in horror at the way his defenses had just been shattered by a single move.

"The idea was mine…" Hinata said quietly and Kakashi nodded.

"Kurenai will be taking Tsuchi Kin into her team, which will consist of Kin, Kiba and Tobio. Sakura is moving to Gai's team to replace Tenten where he will aid her in improving her physical abilities while her Iryonin training will prove invaluable for helping Lee and Gai whenever they over-train… which is quite often. Hinata asked for a special assignment, since she can now perform the Kage Bunshin version of the Hiraishin…"

Naruto grinned as he caught Hinata in a big hug. As Kakashi caught the dropped cup without spilling a drop, Naruto spun Hinata round.

"You wanted to join me?"

"I've been getting lessons in the Hokage Guard Hiraishin technique as well." Kakashi supplied. "With me along, you can now do B-ranked missions, or even A-ranked with the proper preparation. If you'll accept me, of course."

Naruto nodded slowly. "It would be an honor to have the only surviving student of my father as leader."

"Check-mate."

"Damn it! How did a hairless ape like you… again!"

"Sorry." Shikamaru sighed as he started putting the pieces away. "I have a meeting to get to, but if you want to challenge my father to a game…"

Kurama spun to face Naruto.

"Can I have a chakra boost? If I'm going to try and beat the one who taught him how to play, I need to last long enough to get through the match."

"What?" Kakashi asked again and Naruto replied as he placed his hand on Kurama's shoulder.

"It's a summoning-inspired variant of Kage Bunshin using Kurama's chakra, a technique created by the Great Toad Sage himself. It also connects Kurama's consciousness to the clone for as long as it lasts, so he experiences everything in real-time rather than just getting the memories later. As the conduit for the technique, I am aware, generally speaking, of what Kurama is experiencing and can cancel the technique if I feel I need to."

"Hang on…" Kakashi gasped. "You've cloned the Kyuubi?"

"Okay, I'm full." Kurama announced, then he glanced at Shikamaru. "Let's go."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he followed Kurama out of the door.

"That… was surreal." Kakashi finally stated.

"So, why exactly is Kurenai taking this Kin into her team?" Naruto asked after a long moment.

"Kuranai was intrigued by Kin's use of audio genjutsu." Kakashi supplied, his visible eye still fixed on the point where the path vanished into the trees. "Although it would be possible to effectively reverse-engineer it just from her observations, having access to the source means that it'll take weeks rather than years to create an entirely new library of techniques."

Naruto nodded in understanding, then he grinned. "By the way, did my other idea pan out?"

"All Jonin on a mission outside the city have been ordered to carry a tagged kunai so they can call for reinforcements if needed." Kakashi nodded. "That's part of the reason that I learned the Guard version of Sensei's technique."

"You provide the high-accuracy heavy hitting, I provide the distraction and general mayhem with clones and Hinata tells us both where we need to be." Naruto grinned.

"That's… disturbingly close to how I envisioned the roles." Kakashi admitted. "You really did deserve that vest."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said and Kakashi blinked as his vision seemed to blur.

"So." Naruto said after a long moment, "Do we have any missions lined up? And am I still an independent chunin or am I now… is there such a thing as an elite chunin?"

"The next mission will be tomorrow." Kakashi said. "I don't know if you noticed, but Jiraiya left yesterday, taking a Hiraishin Kunai with him. He said he'd probably use it the day after tomorrow to summon us to where he is in order to help him on his mission."

"What is his mission?" Hinata asked curiously and Kakashi gave them an eye-smile even as he handed Hinata her drink back.

"Why, we're going to be bringing back the last of the Sannin…"

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"Hey, old man!" Naruto called out in greeting as he and Hinata sat down on adjacent stools. "Two bowls of ramen, one miso and one beef! Oh, and two fruit squashes please."

"Hey, Naruto! Been a few days." Teuchi chuckled from the kitchen. "I was starting to think you'd found another ramen supplier or something."

"Never!" Naruto gasped while Hinata smiled in amusement. "Ichiraku's Ramen is food worthy of the gods!"

"And those ingredients you're bringing in really help." Ayame noted as she moved to place the two cups of diluted fruit juice on the counter in front of the pair. "You can't really get fresher than almost straight from the sea."

Hinata gave Naruto a questioning look and he chuckled self-consciously.

"You know the agreement I have with Kiba?" He asked and Hinata nodded. "I realized that it was a good way of earning money, so I made several deals with some merchants in Wave. I pop over there twice a week and bring back several large boxes of stuff to sell on…"

"Naruto's good at finding unexpected ways to use his skills." Teuchi noted as he stirred the steaming pot carefully. "He's studying under several of us shopkeepers and when things get really busy, I can hire him to provide some clones to help with the food preparation and serving."

Hinata nodded. "I see. Naruto, that's very clever."

"Thanks, Hime." Naruto smiled. "But since I have a house to run and lessons to pay for, I needed to find ways of getting more money so I could become better. Considering my starting point…"

Naruto trailed off with a shrug.

"Here we are." Ayame said, sliding the two bowls onto the counter and handing over two pairs of chopsticks. "Enjoy."

"Itadakimasu!"

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"Ah, hello there." Kakashi smiled as Naruto and Hinata appeared in a flash of light. "Hmmm, am I mistaken, or have you managed to learn your father's version of Hiraishin?"

"I have." Naruto smiled, then his face fell. "But my clones dispel when they do it, which means that I can't simply give Hinata the memories of how to do it like I did with the Guard Hiraishin. Add to that the fact that I'm still not certain exactly how I made the final step and even if I did, I'm not sure how I'd describe it so others can use it…"

"Well, at least I know how to perform the Guard version." Kakashi shrugged. "But the fact that you managed to make the final… heh, jump means that the technique isn't lost and can be taught… or at least learn…"

Kakashi stopped, his head tilted slightly. "Did… anyone else feel that?"

"Jiraiya." Naruto nodded, holding out his hands. Hinata took his left hand with the unconscious ease of long familiarity while Kakashi moved to complete the circle.

"Okay." Naruto said. "Let's take this slow, we need to harmonize for this…"

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A flash of light heralded the arrival of the trio and on one side of the clearing where he was lounging oalong a low-hanging branch, Jiraiya grunted.

"Took you long enough. What kept you?"

Naruto picked up the kunai from where it had been thrown into the ground and reversed his grip on it, holding it up for Jiraiya to take.

"My fault." Kakashi said with a slight shrug. "Harmonizing my chakra took several attempts… it's not something I can use my sharingan to help with…"

"Speaking of, how's whatsisname doing in ANBU?" Jiraiya asked as he tucked the tri-blade kunai away.

"Sasuke?"Kakashi asked. "Um, pretty good, I think. He's getting regular therapy sessions with Inoichi though. Apparently something is off with his memory of what happened to his clan…"

"Even I know that whatever happened was screwy." Jiraiya agreed as he rolled off the branch and landed on his feet. "Sensei didn't order the massacre, he was actually hoping to train Itachi up as the Godaime. The Massacre happened barely two days before he planned to spring the apprenticeship on Itachi… he was furious with Danzo and the two fossils, but with the loss of virtually the entire Uchiha clan, he couldn't afford to show any sign of disunity where the other villages could see. If he had…"

"The Fourth Great Shinobi War." Naruto half-whispered. "Damn."

"Did you wonder why Danzo is rarely seen in public?" Jiraiya asked as he started to walk out of the clearing. "Sensei told him back then that he didn't want to see him for at least three years. He only re-emerged from whatever hole he had crawled into after your graduation. Good thing you did, by the way. If you'd remained a civilian, there was a petition gaining ground to have you exiled with the threat of the major trading clans withdrawing from Konoha if you weren't. That would have crippled Konoha's economy."

"Then… why didn't they do that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Civilians aren't allowed to interfere with Shinobi matters." Kakashi supplied as they made their way through the woods. "The reverse isn't true, though, for obvious reasons."

"Apparently someone was behind the petition." Jiraiya added. "A Shinobi, but I've been unable to find out who. I'm still searching, but the trail seemed to lead to the Land of Rice Paddies and Orochimaru… Kamis only know what they wanted with you…"

"Father or burden, most likely." Naruto mused as they exited the forest and paused at the top of a hill overlooking a small city. "Where are we?"

"Tanzuka Quarters." Jiraiya smirked. "And somewhere in there is Tsunade."

"So… how will we find her?" Hinata asked.