Kumogakure no Sato was one of the five great hidden ninja villages, and probably the best to live in too.
Its economy was doing well enough as they, unlike the still weakened Iwa, had already recovered from the losses in the last war. In addition, their daimyo had enough sense to not turn his requests to other villages like Suna's own was.
The Raikage wasn't a bloodthirsty, racist, paranoid who promoted civil war like the Mizukage basically did with the bloodlines' purge, and finally, Kumo wasn't considered the strongest of the hidden villages like Konoha.
As much as the last point could have seemed strange for a civilian, a ninja instinctively knew that being seen and recognized as the best in something was never good news; because the higher you stand the harder the impact with the ground is when you fall. And that was inevitable since against such a power, the reaction of the other villages has always been the same: ally together to bring it down before it gained any more strength.
In the eyes of the Raikage, all of this was very clear. A hidden village was much like its ninja, it needed to be known for completing the assigned missions, but at the same time keep a low enough profile as to not attract unwanted attention from enemies. The exception to this rule was one and only one:
When a ninja, or a village, was so powerful as to have the absolute certainty that they could kill any and all opposition. Only then they could rise to the top without fear of the rest of the world.
The damned Yondaime Hokage of Konoha was a good example of that; everyone considered him to be one of, if not the most powerful ninja alive. Before he became one of the Kage, with all the political implications of the title, such fame would have meant that shinobi of other nations, who sought glory and recognition, would try to beat or kill him in any way. But after his show of strength in the war against Iwa, those cowards from Stone put a "flee on sight" order in their bingo book for his entry.
His overwhelming power guaranteed that no one in their right mind would challenge him one on one.
But what the young Hokage probably didn't realize was that the same couldn't be said about his village as a whole.
Sure, the Leaf produced some of the strongest ninja alive, and even when fighters like Itachi Uchiha and Orochimaru of the Sannin defected, their remaining firepower was nothing to sneeze at, but the world was vast, and if more villages allied together they could be brought down.
All that was needed was a chance to undermine their strength a little, and the upcoming chunin exams would be the perfect occasion. After all it wouldn't be the first time some genin disappeared during the tests, so it was just a matter of making it looking like a normal 'exam causality'.
It's not like the Hokage could accuse him without proof, and the Raikage really wanted to get his hands on a little Hyuuga. He was sure at least one, if not more, would participate; showing off was the whole point of the exam in any case, so it was very likely.
Then with Konoha's fall Kumo would become the greatest of the five great Hidden Villages, and he won't have anything to fear because Cloud had the power of not one, but two tailed beasts under their control which was something no other village could claim. Soon his village would rise to the top of the world.
Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai had just finished their report on the mission after sending their teams to the hospital for the routine post-mission check-up. The Yondaime was glad to know that everything went well and that they had gained a strategic ally in the Wave Country. There was, however, one thing that left him perplexed.
"I still can't understand why you took an extra day to travel back to the village. What did you do, get lost on the road of life?" the blond Hokage asked looking at his one-time student.
Kakashi eye smiled at him before glancing at Asuma along with Kurenai. The bearded jounin actually blushed slightly when all the other occupants of the room stared at him.
Clearing his throat, he took out an envelope and gave it to the Hokage who raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's this?"
"I'm sorry to say that the lateness was caused by one of my students," Asuma answered, "and since I wanted him to understand how grave his actions were, I've made him write an official report on his reasons."
Minato frowned at that. He remembered very well who was on his predecessor's son's team and somehow he doubted that the lazy Nara or the Yamanaka princess were the student the man was talking about.
He also doubted Asuma's reason too; something told him he made his student write it just to torment him.
Sighing, he began to read the report.
"On our way back from Wave, a nice place with a great views of the ocean and nice weather, the kinda place that it's the best for a pic-nic. I'll have to come back here sometime, and I'll have to say hi to Tsunami-san, her cookies are holy, no other word can describe them..."
Minato jumped to the second page ignoring Naruto's rants on Wave, Tsunami, cookies, icicles, and a weird theory to dry the ocean with sponges filled with graphics and calculations. Really, that obsession he had with sponges... it just wasn't normal.
"Anyway, as I was saying, or should I write 'as I was writing'? After all this is a written report..." Here there were some messy signs, completely unreadable, only to continue a couple of lines below.
"Right, on the way back from our mission I spotted a white rabbit. Since last time I spotted one it was used by ninja for a kawarimi, I decided to investigate and followed it. Soon after that, the white rabbit met a grey one who asked him, and I quote 'what's the matter, doc?', and it looked at a clock and answered "It's late, it's late" and kept running away. After following him for a good while, I saw him enter what I thought was his den and I went in after him, but then I started to fall, and..."
The fourth Hokage groaned and put the papers he was reading aside after giving a fast glance to the other pages.
They were filled with every kind of visions and hallucinations he usually associated with the most powerful of all hangovers, from mushrooms that make one change sizes, to talking playing cards.
"Kakashi, please remind me that I have to introduce the 'how to make a report' lessons in the academy program next year."
Asuma had a satisfied expression at having made Naruto write his babbling about chasing rabbits on the way home. After all why should he be the only one subjected to the boy's insanity?
Kakashi, however, adopted a sour expression and fixed his gaze on the Hokage, who raised an eyebrow at his unusual seriousness.
"What is it, Kakashi? Do you want to talk about Sasuke's Sharingan awakening?"
"Yes, but that can wait till later. What I wanted to talk about now has to do with what happened on the bridge..."
Minato's blue eyes stared him with an intensity unique to them. It gave Kakashi a deep feeling of pride knowing that, despite his rank as Hokage, Minato would listen to him as he had always done when he still was his sensei. Squaring his shoulders, he continued to talk.
"When one of Gato's men... disrespected Tsunami-san and threw that insult at Naruto, and the boy released his killing intent... Well I know it's not really uncommon for a genin to snap like that every now and then, thus unleashing it with a greater force than what they can call out at will, but what we felt there wasn't just extremely powerful... I also got the impression he was trying to hold it back."
Kurenai looked at him skeptically, while Asuma narrowed his eyes.
They were talking about his student after all, and it was his responsibility.
Even Minato didn't seem totally convinced, although he'd never dismiss something like that, especially when it came from a skilled and trustworthy ninja like his own one time student.
"Are you sure, Kakashi? I know you have very sharp senses for this kind of things, but how could he be able to produce such a strong killing intent? I mean, we're talking about a boy who just gave me an official report in which he states that..." here he paused for a moment to read exactly what it was that the boy had written "the 'Queen of Hearts' was yelling to the others cards to bring her his head."
He looked at that paper with a mix of disgust, dread, and exasperation, and then went back to his argument.
"And we can be fairly sure it's not an act since he's been like this since even before he actually began attending the academy. Besides, Naruto shouldn't have any reason to hold back, just as he shouldn't have the experience nor the power to generate a feeling of the magnitude you're implying he could."
"I know," Kakashi sighed, "and that's what worried me. I can't think of a good explanation, but the most plausible one I came up with is if he has some sort of innate ability, and since his claim that he doesn't have one is the only thing that's keeping the council from trying to hook him up with the girls they want, it would give him a reason to hold back. Although I can't understand why he wouldn't want to practice polygamy, the things I would do..."
While even the secretary outside the office could feel that someone was getting extremely pissed right now, the copy-cat ninja seemed blissfully unaware of Kurenai's plans to put him six hundred feet under. After all, the Genjutsu Mistress was of the philosophy: the deeper the better; something Anko was proud to have publicized in many distorted ways.
Minato however had no intention of seeing his student getting mauled, and just closing his eyes wouldn't save his office from blood stains, so he opted to ask them to leave.
"Hatake, get out of my office and go to the hospital for your damn check up. Asuma I trust you to do the right thing with your student, you and Kurenai are dismissed too."
The three jonin left the office, the only kunoichi of their group glaring at Kakashi while muttering some choice words the other two couldn't hear.
Meanwhile their three rookie teams were in a waiting room at the hospital, every one of them using the time before their visits in their own way.
The girls were reading some magazines left there for those who, like them, were waiting their turn, Sakura and Ino having dragged Hinata into their conversation about an article they found. Never once did they notice that the Hyuuga wasn't really listening to them, but was looking at one of the boys and getting a bit depressed in the process.
Speaking of the boys, Shino and Sasuke were sitting calmly doing apparently nothing, and Chouji was eating a bag of chips while Shikamaru was sleeping beside him.
Kiba, however, seemed to be in a bad mood and was pacing back and forth irritably. The feral boy had always had a rather limited amount of patience, and to make matter worse he, much like Hinata was doing, was watching Naruto shamelessly flirt with any and all of the pretty nurses that went past the room they were waiting in.
'It's just not fair; he's playing at home here with the whole 'my mother is a legend in the medical field' thing.
Why the hell do the pretty girls choose to become nurses and not veterinarians? I'd be the one hooking up with all of them then!'
Just then a couple of nurses, two pretty girls in their twenties, one with brown hair and eyes and the other with long black hair and dark blue eyes, giggled almost hysterically at something Naruto told them while he was grinning with his head tilted to the side in his usual gesture.
Kiba crossed his arms with a huff and looked out of the window. Now he had a reason to hate hospitals even more. Suddenly his ears twitched as he heard a piece of their conversation.
"It seems one of your friends is getting impatient, have you been waiting here long, Naruto-kun?"
"Naaa, it's just that he can't stay calm for long. Personally, I'd rather this wait last forever so that I could stay with you two."
The nurses giggled again at his answer, while Kiba fumed. That was so damn lame, but somehow it seemed those two thought the way Naruto said it was 'cute'. Stupid pretty girls, stupid orange lucky idiot, stupid hospital, stupid unjust world.
The young Inuzuka was absolutely certain by now that things couldn't get worse.
That was when Murphy's Law came into the picture bringing Kiba's sister, Hana, with it.
The kunoichi, who was also a vet, had come to the hospital to sort out a problem with some soldier pills as well as to get some morphine she needed for her animals, when she noticed her little brother with, she presumed, his teammates and old classmates, and decided to stop to say hi.
"Hey Kiba, You're back! How was your mission? Ah, hello everyone, I'm Inuzuka Hana, Kiba's elder sister."
Chouji could have sworn he heard Shikamaru mumble 'troublesome' in his sleep, but he waved at his teammate's sibling nonetheless, while Hinata stood up to bow at her, Sakura and Ino doing the same soon after.
The Akimichi had a felling that they did that more to not seem rude compared to his Hyuuga teammate rather than out of pure politeness.
Shino probably nodded, he wasn't really sure, Chouji was used to more open reactions and had never been able to completely understand the Aburame's subtle body language.
Sasuke's expressionless nod just before he went back to staring at the wall was strangely much more clear and easy to detect.
Out of all, however, Naruto had always been the more... open? Expressive? Loud? Well, the point was that the orange clad boy, as soon as the nurses he was talking to left to take care of some work, literally jumped in front of the kunoichi, took her hand in his own, kissed it, and then looked her straight in the eyes.
"Hana-chan, it's been sooo long since we met. I tried to send you messages but I didn't know how to, I was afraid I'd never see you again."
'Liar' Chouji thought. He had a good idea of what Naruto was trying to do, and judging by the murderous look Kiba was giving him (or more specifically his hands that were still holding Hana's), his actions were having the desired effect.
Even in his sleep Shikamaru was right, troublesome.
Meanwhile Hana herself was at a loss for words. Who the hell was this boy? Sure, the whiskers were tickling at the back of her mind, but when could she have encountered him?
Those thoughts must have been shown on her face, because the orange haired boy sighed before smiling with a little mirth.
"Maaa, did you really forget about me? We met at my first day at the academy, you were with Kiba and your mother, and you had three dogs with you. Come on, don't you remember me even a little?"
"Er..." Hana was having problems finding an answer. Now that he mentioned it she did remember a boy with whiskers just like him, but she couldn't for the life of her remind his name. That trail of thoughts however was interrupted by an angry yell.
"Hey, would you let go of her hand, right about fucking now?"
Naruto craned his neck to look back at Kiba, "What, you jealous or something? You know incest is wrong, right?" here he turned and leaned toward Kiba, and with a low voice so that Hana wouldn't hear him, added "Unless you have another hot sister, that is. They could be 'incesting' all they wanted as long as they make a tape or let me join-"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Kiba's face was beet red and the scream sounded almost hysterical as he tried to throw a punch at Naruto, who just dodged and hid behind Hana. It was just to make sure that she was between him and her enraged brother that his hands rested on her hips, yeah, just for that.
Of course they were still in a hospital, so it didn't take long for a doctor to show up and hiss out that they couldn't shout while they were there. Sometime between all of that, Naruto slipped out of the waiting room and went in search of a specific someone.
It didn't take long for him to silently reach the door of his mother's office and open it without a sound.
Tsunade was reading something and had her back to the door, so she hadn't seen him yet.
In one of his childish displays, Naruto grinned widely and ran at her at top speed yelling, "YATTA!"
Tsunade, hearing the scream along with barely noticing someone jumping at her, acted purely on reflex.
She bent down to dodge the unknown threat.
This action, however, not only caused Naruto to miss his intended target, but, without anything to stop him, allowed him to fly straight out of the open window that was behind Tsunade.
Tsunade's eyes widened as they followed the form of her son falling out the window, while Shizune, who had just entered with a stack of papers, swore loudly "Holy shit! Naruto!"
An orange haired head appeared outside the window. Holding himself with an arm on the windowsill, Naruto used his free hand to point at the dark haired medic.
"Shizu-nee-chan swore! Shizu-nee-chan swore! She said the 's' word! Shizu-nee-chan swore!"
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose at her son's antics and promptly proceeded to ignore both his singing and Shizune's outraged protests.
Since working was out of the question with those two arguing like children, the blond Sannin grabbed a clipboard and left her office to do some medical rounds.
Naturally, as soon as she was out of the room, Naruto came out following her while his 'nee-chan' stayed behind, probably to file away some documents.
"So, how was your mission? Anything interesting happened?" Tsunade asked.
"Went well, a bunch of things have happened. How is your new job here?"
She gave him a suspicious glance at that question, "How do you know I'm working here? Better yet, how did you know where my office is?"
"The nurses love me, mom. Do you think we could go over the whole dating talk again, after this? I'm not sure I've understood all that gubberish stuff."
"Gubberish isn't a word, Naru-chan."
"Aww..."
Soon they were back to the waiting room Naruto had left not long ago, but there were a couple of changes as to who was there. In fact both Hana and Kiba were no longer in sight, but at the same time Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai had rejoined their teams.
Tsunade made a quick counting of the genin heads and noticed that, if the four-man team was still the ongoing policy of the village, then there was one missing. Without looking, she grabbed her son by the scruff of his neck the second he made to run around and lifted him just enough for his feet to not touch the ground.
"Kiba is being checked right now, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said standing up, as if he read her mind, "So, can I get this over with?"
Less then ten seconds after Kakashi left with Tsunade, Rin cleared Kiba and came to call in her next patient only to see that her ex-teammate has successfully found a perfect excuse to avoid her attempts at seeing him without his mask... again.
How the hell he managed to avoid her for about ten years during medical check-ups was something the Forth Hokage's female student couldn't understand nor stand. She knew that silver haired pervert was laughing at her every time, and it irked her like nothing else ever could.
Well, except for what Kurenai was going to tell her about Kakashi's latest comments about her corrupting children and his desire to practice polygamy, but she'd still had a good three minutes before hearing that.
In a nearby examination room the female Sannin was visiting the one eyed jounin while her left foot was firmly stamping on the hem of Naruto's shirt, effectively preventing him from going to wreck havoc. Kakashi had to admit that it was kind of funny to see the young genin squirming on the ground trying to lift his mother's foot. Squish. Naruto froze on the spot.
"So, you said you had to use the Sharingan for an extensive amount of time, right? Did you suffer from chakra exhaustion?"
"Ah... no, not really."
Squish.
Kakashi was fascinated by the total control Tsunade had over Naruto. All she had to do was take out a small blue round sponge and squeeze it a couple of times, and now the boy's eyes were following its every movement with a focus he had never seen the kid display even once during the entirety of the mission in Wave.
'Now I understand what sensei meant: it's unbelievable that a kid like him could have a great power like I was saying... I just hope Asuma will be able to find out more and that the brat will never misuse it if he indeed has an innate ability.'
It was later that evening, when a slightly concerned Tsunade looked at her adopted son as he was rolling on the ground, playing happily with his new blue sponge, after he told her everything that happened during his first C ranked mission.
Stupid jabs comparing her cooking to this Tsunami's aside, she was a tiny bit worried about what his teammates and the jounins might think after his display of being able to kill without blinking, even if he did a good job covering up his assault on Sasuke.
That was another troubling point; his momentary lack of self-control could have cost the Uchiha his life.
Even if Naruto gave her an explanation - although admittedly vague - of his dislike for the Sharingan eyes, that wasn't a good enough reason.
On the other hand, however, she was relieved that none of the kids were seriously hurt.
After all, if she considered everything, their mission had gone well enough, and even Naruto's lapse wasn't really anything important compared to what she'd expect knowing he...
"Kaaaaaaaaaaa-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan"
"What is it, now?" Tsunade asked.
He didn't answer right away, making his sponge roll on the ground from one hand to the other.
His mother couldn't help the image of a cat playing with a ball of wool that came to her mind.
"I'm sorry for making you worry."
Tsunade smiled softly at him, he probably didn't even quite understand why he was apologizing, but still he was trying.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"He stripped naked right in front of you and little Hinata before diving in the ocean, just like that?"
"Yes, and keep your voice down, I'd rather not be telling this to the whole bar."
Kurenai's voice sounded like a mix between tired, embarrassed, and irritated. She and Rin had decided to go out to plan their revenge against Kakashi, well more like Rin dragging her here, but after ten or so different scenarios her friend asked her about their mission and the new rookies.
Rin had been a bit shocked when she realized she'd never really seen Naruto's eyes, she never really noticed he was always wearing those goggles, though that was probably because she'd rather not think how she knew another boy who used to wear a similar pair...
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure. So, it seems your little genin kunoichi is going to have a hard time, ne? Our little mascot seems to have a thing for older woman as far as I can tell, so maybe you should ditch his sensei and go for him."
Kurenai glared at her supposed best friend, "You're drunk, aren't you? Besides exactly whose mascot is he?"
"The hospital's, naturally. He already hung around it before, but now that Tsunade-sama has become the boss, he'll be there even more. Although she already told us that she wants to know when he's there. You should have seen it, just before going back home Tsunade-sama found he had stolen enough pills and flacons you had to wonder where he kept it all."
"Well, at least he's also kind of forcing Asuma to stop smoking." Kurenai said with a grin, "But I've told you what I could about the mission, now why don't you tell me how is it to work under one of your idols? And..." here she hesitated a bit before realizing that the med-nin was already tipsy enough to let some gossip slip, "...is it true that Hokage-sama is dating Shizune-san? And that Tsunade-sama threatened him for it?"
Rin smirked before answering, "Why Kure-chan, since when are you interested in mundane rumors?" She waited until the red eyed Genjutsu Mistress scoffed at her and began to drink, then she leaned forward and whispered "Well, I don't know who started that rumor, but I don't think that, in order to review the hospital's files, the Hokage needs to make out with a medic on her desk, does he?"
Kurenai choked and shot a glare at her friend, who patted her back while she coughed trying not to drown in her drink. That's why she hated going out to the bars with Rin, the young medic needed just a drink to become so annoying...
Well, she'd just have to endure this night out with her, after all, even if she'd never admit it, it was kind of fun, and in the next month or so she wasn't going to have this much free time.
Between other things, the Yondaime had informed her about his concern for the situation with Kumo.
It was painfully obvious from the reports of their spies that something was going on, and that the Raikage was dying to put his hand on one of Konoha's bloodlines, most likely the Byakugan.
And Hinata, being the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, was high on the list of people to look out for, since the probability that she'd be targeted was high. That translation meant she'd have to speed up the training for her team.
Kurenai understood the situation and thanked the Hokage for telling her seeing as she didn't want to have Hiashi telling her this. It wasn't that she had anything against the man, but she was still embarrassed for having mistaken his brother Hizashi for him when she was assigned Hinata as a student. Stupid Mitarashi and her fucking pranks.
Shaking her head, the jounin sensei was hit by a random thought: she already had to train her team harder for the chuunin exams during which Kumo and foreign countries would send their ninja to Konoha, and going out of the village for the exams in the future would be even more dangerous... Was the Hokage suggesting she enter her team?
Maybe Rin wasn't the only one who was getting tipsy. Well, she had roughly a month to train them, so she'll decide when the time comes.