The Greek Kunoichi

Chapter 3: From eleven and beyond; Shinobi finally.

Author's Notes: I have to admit it's a bit hard to make changes into the Naruto timeline but not screw everything in it. I had to fight my conscience for about fifteen minutes before I allowed myself to write the Uchiha Clan Massacre as canon. I debated with myself if Sasuke could still have someone, but no. Kushina already survived and The Hyuuga affair was resolved without the unfortunate consequences for Konoha and the Hyuuga Clan. I'm still working out in my mind what will happen with Sasuke after the Chuunin exams. He still wants to bring Itachi to justice for his crimes, but Kushina literally beat the Emo and the Avenger out of him. There still one or two other chapters uniquely into the Elemental Nations before Kushina, Naruto and Sasuke heads out for New York and Camp Half Blood. Well, on with the chapter.

After her eleventh birthday, Naruto redoubled her training with Nejibana. Ares was still appearing into her demigod dreams at least three nights a week to instruct her to a level he would feel adequate. Those lessons soon grew to encompass Sasuke, whose prowess with the Chokutō was now growing by leaps and bounds, after a prayer and a sacrifice to his divine father. Sasuke could now swim like a professional and navigate his skiff with dexterity. To gain brownies points with his divine sire, he went fishing for sharks. How an eleven years old shinobi in training managed to do in a great white shark and sacrificed it to his father's name, he wouldn't tell, no matter how nagging Naruto could become. Back on the training, of course, Sasuke couldn't use the Kage Bunshin training method as Naruto could do, he didn't have enough chakra capacity for that but his reserves were more than average on regular standards and his chakra control was more refined than her. Something he was pleased to put it under her nose when her head would become too big.

Loving the islander life, both children would go sail in the archipelago on their time off to explore the others islands by themselves, sating their thirst for adventure. Of course they couldn't leave the archipelago and go in the open sea, first of all, their skiffs were not big enough and well equipped enough to last days at sea and nobody could enter or leave without permission from Poseidon, Amphitrite or Triton. The Gods had erected a natural coral barrier all around the archipelago and the only way to pass through was at high tide when the whirlpools weren't active or through divine help. Not even the more hardcore shinobis of Kirigakure No Sato, well used to the dangers of the ocean, could bypass the new measures of defence of Uzu No Kuni. For the big boats transporting people and/or merchandise approved and sworn to silence by the Gods from and to the mainland, they were escorted at high tide through the "doors" by soldiers of Poseidon specially trained to handle the Mist. After the stunt of having a Roman demigod and a Roman Goddess appear into this sanctuary, Poseidon had left no stones unturned to find how it could have happened. He first though that it was a joke from Neptune, but the Roman Sea God was not the kind to play games like that. Something had broken through the Mist hiding Delos from the rest of the world and created a portal to send a son of Vulcan through and let also through a Roman deity. Poseidon was happy to allow his Roman self's Court to enjoy Uzu No Kuni, but this interloper had not went through the proper channels to secure a vacation there. After a thorough investigation, Triton came forward and confessed that he had opened a portal to go see a flame of his in New Rome. In hurry to get to his booty call, he had not closed properly the portal; it explained thus why the son of Vulcan stumbled through it and why Lupa had enough power to restore it when he was almost sealed shut when she tracked down the missing legionnaire. Poseidon could not really fault his son to be in hurry to go meet his paramour; he was not always the most cautious either when creating a shortcut when Amphitrite was in the mood for some bedroom fun.

Said Queen of the Sea though, was not so forgiving. Triton was forced into human form, and humiliated in front of his chibi squad. (The kids loved Triton; he was like a cool older cousin who had showed them how to build their own skiffs and how to sail them.) He was then shoved on his mother's knees, his pants down to the knees and spanked hard with a celestial bronze paddle! On the beach! The kids were roped into counting the numbers of swats he was to receive! Poseidon tried to intervene in his oldest son's favour, but the look he received from his wife told him he would sleep on the couch for quite a while if he tried it. Hating the couch like any husbands and clearly henpecked, he kept his mouth shut and went to the local pub in the village for a pint. He would help his eldest forget the punishment by buying him a round or two. He was not in the mood to be cut off, no way, no sir! Heck, Amphitrite even told him she was in the mood for another baby! He had to agree with her, seeing his granddaughter grow up did rekindle the feelings he had when he was helping his wife in taking care of the children when they were little.

Soon, the kids' twelfth birthday came and went. It was time to go back to Konoha as promised. They were ready to be shinobis. Once they had all their belongings they were taking with them and put in storage what they couldn't take with them, like Sasuke and Naruto's skiffs, they went to the port, ready to embark on a vessel bound for the mainland. The trio were going to really miss living in Uzu No Kuni, but it's not like they would never come back. They just couldn't choose another profession. Kushina and Naruto were jinchūriki, thus military assets. They only managed to have such a life because of Hiruzen Sarutobi's grace. Sasuke was the last loyal Uchiha and now heir apparent since Itachi was now a Nukenin (Rogue or Deserter Ninja). Even if the Hokage wanted to let them have a life as civilians, it wouldn't be possible. Too many people knew that Naruto contained the Kyuubi and if she's not under Konoha's banner, other villages would be free to acquireher. You don't want to know what war hawks would be ready to do to a little girl with such promise as Naruto. Trust me on that, you don't want to know what the villages not as ethical as Konoha could do with a little girl. Once aboard the ship, they were escorted out of the country at high tide by a contingent of merman soldiers. Once they were cleared the corral barrier, they could hear Triton blowing in his conch. It was a simple good bye; see you soon, not a farewell. Once they were firmly into the open sea, the Mist, both the regular and magical rose to cover one of the few entrances of Uzu No Kuni. It would take the ship four days of sailing in open sea waters before docking into Nami No Kuni (Land of Waves). Nami was a little island, about half the size of Uzu's main island who still housed the ruins of Uzushiogakure No Sato. The Land of Waves has many rivers running through it and is famous for its mangroves, which are filled with all kinds of life forms. Though an isolated island, relying on shipping for commerce and trade, it was prosperous. The trio would spend the night there at one of the Inns and would set out for Konoha tomorrow morning.

They could have taken the ninja road, aka tree hopping, but after 4 days at large, the girls needed a good bath. Of course, Sasuke knew better than saying anything about that. The one and only time he followed Triton's advice on what to say to women, he almost got the Jiraiya treatment! A hormonal and pissed Kushina was really terrifying, like run for the hills terrifying. A hormonal and pissed Amphitrite was making you wish to be Ares' new punching bag to escape her wrath. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned indeed. It was that day that Sasuke learned that Triton's advices on women were to never be followed. How that guy managed to score and having demigod children, even Jiraiya has no idea. After a good night of sleep and a filling breakfast, Kushina decided against chartering a fisherman to make them cross the inlet separating Nami no Kuni to Hi No Kuni. She decided it was time for her to use her innate gifts as a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite by diving under the sea with the children. Naruto was a legacy two generations away, a granddaughter; it translated to a very powerful water chakra affinity, innate ability to swim and propels herself into the water, she could also breathe underwater for a few hours and she had an easy time to learn how to sail. She couldn't command the water like the Sea Gods or her mother and sea animals were not bond to obey her, but were very friendly and tended to help her when she asked. She was also immune to sharks attacks. Contrary to Kushina, she could not extend her gifts to those close to her. Thus Kushina created a bubble of air around Sasuke's head to let him breathe; she was holding his hand to not let him swim by his own means.

Don't get him wrong, having lived a few years the life of an islander, he could swim pretty well, but a swimmer couldn't beat a fish in a swimming competition. That was the difference between Kushina and Naruto's abilities and his own. He wasn't vexed or anything, heck he was better at fighting with weapons than both of them combined. Perks of being a son of War. After a good hour, they finally put foot on Hi No Kuni's soil. Kushina did will them all dry and after ten minutes of rest, they charged their bodies with chakra, and then jumped to the gigantic trees that marked the forests of this land. If they maintained a good pace, they would arrive at the village at sunset, bathroom and lunch breaks included. Naruto was watching everything, from the evergreen to the birds. She did come every year to Konoha in summer for a visit with her mother for about a week, but they had never taken the ninja road before. While Kushina wasn't skilled with the Hiraishin as much as her defunct husband, she could teleport just fine from one location to another. Naruto did try to have her mother teach her the trick. Teleportation! The ultimate prank tool! But the answer was no. Not before she managed to be promoted to Chuunin or when she would be deemed mature enough. That one did make her pout. Eventually they did arrive to destination. Konoha resides deep within a forest at the base of a mountain known as the Hokage Monument, which has the faces of all those who have taken the office of Hokage engraved on it. While generally seen as the most powerful of the ninja villages, Konoha has enjoyed many years of relative peace and stability.

From there, many things happened. The trio move into a modest house with three bedrooms near the Hyuuga district. Naruto and Sasuke and a pink haired girl named Sakura Haruno were assigned as Team 7 to Kakashi Hatake, Jonin -the last remaining student of Minato- once they passed the graduation exam in the Ninja Academy. Naruto and Sasuke were already a good team, able to backing the other and compensate for each other's weaknesses. They were already adept in weapons training, with Sasuke's twelfth birthday gift from his father being a Chokutō forged with the same alloy as Nejibana, a savant mix of Celestial bronze and chakra conductive metal, able to slay mortals and monsters alike. His lethal swordsmanship is very versatile, using impressive speed and precision behind his attacks to leave little time for enemies to react. He can effectively wield it in either hand using a normal or reverse grip, giving him various attack and defence styles to use. He can use his blade as a mid-range projectile with great precision. But the weak link was Sakura. The girl had delusions of being a damsel in distress and be saved by her prince charming. (*cough* Sasuke *cough*) Sakura has bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. Sakura was often bullied due to her rather large forehead hence her nickname of "Billboard Brow", due to this she wore her bangs over her forehead in an attempt to cover it, though Ino encouraged her to wear her hair back. Sakura wore a red qipao dress with white circular designs, with or without short sleeves, with a zipper, tight dark green shorts, standard ninja sandals, and a forehead protector which she used to accentuate her face.

While Naruto's outfit consisted of an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red Uzumaki swirl crest on the back, a large white collar, orange pants with a shuriken holster attached to her right knee (due to being right-handed), blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector that was given to her after graduating with ease. Naruto would usually wear a black T-shirt inside her tracksuit, but sometimes wore armour underneath her clothing. She also had bandages to bind her budding breasts under her mesh shirt. Yes, it was gaudy, but she was the prankster Queen from Hell and dressed like that, the week before graduation, she had managed to paint the entire Hokage Monument in broad daylight and was only caught doing it after she was done! She also managed to outrun and outwit several jonins and chuunins sent to her pursuit, only to be eventually caught by her mother and made to clean her mess. Yeah, pranks are great, but not when mom ruined her fun. Back to the subject at hand, Sakura didn't take her training seriously and never went further than the basics that were taught at the Academy. They did managed to pass the real test, but Kakashi-sensei flat out told them that they were going to make Sakura a real shinobi out of her or make her resign from the Corps and them a real unit able of teamwork before going anywhere outside the village. Thus it was a long three months to first break Sakura out of her little girl mindset, then put her on a specialized diet for gaining muscle mass, because frankly, she was a twig. After that they had to build her up from the ground. It was a long process, but results were showing. You got to give the Devil his due, The Haruno wasn't giving up. Something good did came out of that, an inspection in detail by the Hokage and Ibiki Morino of the academy curriculum showed that it had been illegally tempered with to let more civilian born children pass more easily and if more clan children got killed in the process, well, for the culpable, it wasn't a big loss in their opinion.

It had been a very gradual process, slow to move, one careful step at the time. One false move would have them found out before their plan could have been enacted. Who is "their"? Well, a sort of syndicate of rich merchants and businessmen of all sorts mixed in with some retired shinobis who had some grudges against the ninja clans. Needless to say, the Academy curriculum was in for some massive reforms. Seriously, it's almost a miracle that no big tragedies occurred with the cold peace going on. The headmaster of the Academy was fired and all the teachers were to be interviewed heavily to determine how much they were involved in this. Needless to say that those who were saying that Sarutobi was too old and too soft to still be the Hokage saw that behind the grandfatherly facade, he was still the fierce Shinobi who fought and survived 2 of the 3 Shinobi World Wars. The guilty were quickly and quietly disposed of. Anybody who messes with the future generations of the village would earn themselves a swift one way trip, all expenses paid, to the Underworld. The message was loud and clear. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor, the third Hokage, was still very much dangerous and very much deadly. On Kushina's side, her return into the forces was very smooth; it felt like she never took a maternity leave at all. She didn't lose any of her skills or her sharpness. She took missions after missions, eager to refill her dwindling bank account. Raising two children after rebuilding a country would do that. She had been offered a chance to take a Genin team, but she had already build from the ground her daughter and rebuilt her friend's son after beating the Emo out of him. Maybe in a few years she would take a chibi squad, but for now she preferred working with her fellow adults again.

On training grounds 7, waiting for their ever tardy sensei (teacher, master), Naruto and Sasuke had decided to spar using their weapons. With a twist under the tassel, Nejibana was now in weapon form. Naruto took the staff part in hand, made it twirl in different directions and different speeds to warm up. It wouldn't do to hurt herself for nothing. Sasuke did take his chokutō out too and started his warm ups exercises. He had named his sword in honour of his mother, Mikoto. As the two friends/rivals were doing their warm ups exercises, Sakura dragged her aching and protesting body to the training grounds. She sat under the shade of a nearby tree, watching her teammates spar with their respective weapons with attention. It was like a dance. Naruto's strikes were powerful because she was building them with the G force, but she was naturally fast. Sasuke seemed to be stronger, which make sense because he's a boy and seemed more...competent was the word, with his chokutō. His strikes were just strong enough to deviate the trident(It get tiring to always say hybrid weapon, so let's go for trident.) but when Naruto would accumulate enough force to make a harder strike, he would dodge.

Naruto wasn't motionless either; she was moving all her upper body, recalling the dream lessons Ares-Sensei gave her on staff weapons. Sometimes she went for simple stabs or simple side hits. She almost couldn't wait to start her elemental affinity training. Using the winds created by the movements of Nejibana would go a long way to make her deadlier. Or with water, the full force of the agitated waves would crash on her foes! It was after one more deadlock that their sensei appeared. Kakashi is a fit and relatively tall shinobi, with spiky silver hair and dark grey eyes. Since his first jonin mission, he obtained a small vertical scar running over his left eye (which was soon replaced by a Sharingan). While unknown why, since early childhood, Kakashi has worn a mask over the nose and lower-half of his face. Kakashi's personality is further emphasised by his generally lazy expression, aloof mannerisms, relaxed voice, and minimalist attitude. In serious situations, however, he is shown to have a very stern and intense look. He would also come out with the most stupid reasons for being late. Seriously, after hearing it for two weeks straight, Naruto stopped listening all together. Sasuke, after being annoyed, did the same. But it's not like they could do anything about that, so they would occupy themselves.

"Sorry I'm late! I got lost on the road of life."

Naruto would just lift a golden eyebrow, but said nothing. Sasuke would answer with his now common "Hnn" and Sakura, well after a painful lesson, she took it to heart to not yell like a banshee anymore. She would still scolded him in saying in a normal tone

"You're late!"

Then after hearing the program for the day, they would go to the mission assignment office to get a D rank mission. It was chores but it was easy money. Hey, they had to start somewhere. And usually we start at the bottom before climbing our way to the top. Naruto and Sasuke were clearly high Genin level, but they still had much to learn. And Jonin Kakashi Hatake would be the one to teach them.