Chapter 7: Team Bonding with the Rookies

After waking up and going through my daily rituals, which included cuddling with My Lady for a few minutes after praying at her shrine, I made some quick breakfast and went to pick up my teammates at each of their places. I went to Sakura's first and we picked up Sasuke along the way to the training ground. We made it there at around 8:25am and decided to just chill for the rest of the time until Kakashi showed up.

After about 30 minutes, Kakashi came up to us and said, "Hey guys. Good morning." We all stare at him before we sigh. This was going to get old fast. "Hi sensei. How are you today?", I decide to ask and just not acknowledge his tardiness just yet. "Good. You guys look like you're full of energy. Get a good night rest?", He asks us. Obviously probing for some info. I let Sakura have this one. "Yes, sensei. Naruto had us eat breakfast and sleep in until 8:00am before he came to pick us up to get here.", Sakura responds, unintentionally throwing me under the proverbial bus.

Kakashi looks at me with a calculating gaze, and smiles. "Excellent.", He says after a moment. "You guys pass." At this, even I'm confused. "Wait... What do you mean?" Sakura - sweet heart that she is, asked for all of us. "Well, today was supposed to be for me to decide whether or not you three actually became Genin.", He says and Sakura and Sasuke gape at him. "You see, the Academy test just tells us if you have what it takes to become a Genin. Whether or not you do, depends on you passing your Jonin sensei's test. A so-called 'Genin Test' if you will." He then elaborates. "My particular test is to see whether you three are willing to one, work as a team, and two, put your teammates before yourselves. Naruto, it seems, was unintentionally doing just that. And the fact that you two were willing to go along with his idea proves that you have what it takes to work as a team. So, you pass.", He finishes and gives us a big eye smile.

Sakura and Sasuke look at me with an expression of awe - though Sasuke's is admittedly more subdued. I chuckle nervously while scratching my cheek and ask, "So... Uh... Sensei. What do we do now?" "Hm... well, I did say I would give my introduction today. So, let's get that out of the way first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes and dislikes... You're all too young to hear them. My hobbies... I enjoy reading certain types of books. And as for my dreams... I haven't really thought of it." He says and I'm amazed at how similar this was even after everything that's changed so far.

I also notice Sakura's eyebrow twitch violently. "Hm, she seems to be reaching the end of her patience...", I muse to myself. "Sasuke seems no better, Ha!", I laugh internally seeing his eyebrow do the same. "These two are more similar than one would think", I finish my observations.

"Are we going to do any training today?", I decide to ask, shifting us from his admittedly terrible introduction. "Hm... well... no. But I would like to see where you are at in your skills exactly so that I know what to work on. I noticed you three already doing team drills yesterday, so I think I can start teaching you other skills to improve on." He responds with an eye smile. "So, come at me with the intent to kill and show me everything you've got." He says dropping his backpack and getting into a fighting stance.

We all look at each other and grin.

"Ouchy" I complain while Anko patches me up at home. She came to visit to congratulate me on making Genin after Kakashi told the Old Man we passed his test. Right after he had put me and my team through the gauntlet. "Stop being such a baby Naruto.", She chides. "But you love it when I am." I fire back at her only for her to chop me on the head, "This and that are two different things. I didn't think Kakashi would go so hard on you. You might be hot shit for Genin, but you're still just that. Genin." She mothers me and also somehow makes fun of me at the same time. "Damn you, you infuriatingly hot, sexy woman!", I yell internally.

"Yeah, yeah, keep laughing." I pout at her. She grins. "There, all done. Now, when do you start taking missions?", she asks. "You mean actual missions or D ranks?", I respond with my own question. She laughs at this. "So you know about D ranks already? Who told you?" She asks with a glint in her eye. "Tenten and Lee graduated before we did, so they've told us all about their so called 'missions' whenever we asked." I respond, her glint dying down at the revelation. "Aw, phooey, and I here I was excited to see your reaction to the wonders of menial tasks and hard labor" She says placing her hands beneath her breasts. I stare at them unashamed. "My eyes are up her kiddo." She says pulling my chin up to meet her gaze. "I know. But I wasn't trying to look at them." I replied. "Hmph. Cheeky. You'll have to wait a few years yet before you get to enjoy these, baby boy." She replies with a smirk, before kissing me on the forehead and getting up. "I'll see you later then, Naruto. Let me know if anything interesting happens with that little girlfriend of yours." She says as she walks out the door to my apartment.

"Is it me... or did she sound a little jealous?" I thought to myself. "I think we both know the answer to that kid." I heard Kurama respond. "Oh, hey! You're up. What's the occasion?" I ask him. "Hmph, I just thought it'd be nice to see what you were doing. Now that you aren't in that infernal classroom."

"Aw! I missed you too buddy. It's been such a long time since we last chatted ya' know?" I told him, genuinely happy to hear from him. "Hmph, don't get used to it." He says with a grumble.

After that, several days have passed and my team and I have been on a roll. We've done a total of 21 D ranks in the span of a week. We also got all of the Jonin sensei to start Joint Training Sessions to compare teams and get a more diverse pool of opponents. And from the looks of it. I was the one to beat, if the looks the other rookies were giving me was any indication.

"Alright everyone, gather around." Says mommy Kurenai in that sexy voice of hers. Hinata notices the look I'm giving mom and gives me an elbow to the gut. "Ah, the jealous type I see." I thought. I waved at Kurenai and she gave me a smile. Hinata still pouted at my interaction with our 'mother figure'.

We then gather and she starts. "Thanks to popular demand and solid arguments from many of you, we have decided to do a joint training session once every month to give you guys some experience with different teachers, opponents, and give you the chance to ask any questions you may have regarding any of our specialties." She says and everyone nods. "For those that don't already know me I am Yūhi Kurenai. I specialize in Genjutsu." Kakashi picks up here, "I am Hatake Kakashi, and I specialize in Ninjutsu." Then lastly, "I'm Sarutobi Asuma, and I specialize in Bukijutsu and Ninjutsu. Today we will start by having all of you do a 10-minute spar using only Taijutsu." Kakashi then continues. "Then, we will have each team fight a different sensei for about 30 minutes." Then Kurenai finishes, "Afterwards we will be doing team spars to see which teams can beat which. Following that we will take a lunch break and you may ask us questions about our specialties. Understood?" We nod at their explanation of the day's agenda.

"Good. Now, form into pairs and stretch for about 10 minutes. We will come get you once you're done." Kakashi states and he and the other sensei move over to the side to converse.

"Hey Naruto", Kiba calls out. "How did your team do in your Genin test?" He asks, curious. Causing the others to look at me and my team. "Well... uh... you see. We sort of didn't take it." I reply nervously. "Huh!?", he exclaims, outraged. "What do you mean you didn't take it?! How'd you manage that!?" Ino is the next to ask, rather peeved herself at this turn of events.

"Well... you see, it goes like this... " I then explain everything along with my team as we stretched.

"Well... I guess that makes sense. You're the one who was able to get us all to follow you into this mess... what a drag." States Shikamaru in his customary lazy drawl. I look at him confused. "What mess?" Shino is the one to respond. "He means getting us to train so hard in our clans' techniques and shinobi skills. Why? Because you decided that you liked us enough to not let us be weak shinobi." Oh, that. "Well sure! That's what friends are for, ya' know?" At this everyone sighs. Though I haven't the foggiest as to why.

"Alright kiddos, let's get this show on the road." I hear Anko's voice ring about the training ground. I look around and find her with the other sensei, all of them looking exasperated. "Anko-nee!" I yell out in joy and tackle her in a hug. With my face planted firmly in her tits. "Hey there Naru-kun. Happy to see me I see." She squeezes me tightly, before separating from the hug. "Now, let's leave the mushy stuff for later. We have some training to do." She says. And train we did.

It wasn't until the sensei broke us out for lunch that we were able to take a breather from the fighting. Hinata and I were still the best fighters, followed in short order by Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino. Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru were all solid, but not great. Finally, Sakura was by far the weakest when it came to physical confrontations, but that wouldn't remain the case for long. Teamwork wise, my team was comparatively weak to the others, - the reason for that being that my teammates and I had only just started working together, whereas all of the other teams already had a longstanding relationship when it came to team training and maneuvers, courtesy of yours truly - but we were in the process of changing that. After getting a breather and eating our own meals in silence while we thought about the training, I decided to ask.

"So, how many missions have you guys been doing?"

"Ugh! Don't even get me started on these. I know Tenten told us what we were in for. But I still can't accept it. These chores are boring!" Ino had started, but somehow Kiba had been the one to finish. "Huh... good synergy between these two." I think to myself.

"Tch, troublesome. We've done 18 missions so far." Shikamaru finally answers my question. "We have managed to do about 18 missions as well", continued Shino. "What about your team, Naruto-kun?" Asks my lovely little cinnamon bun. Sasuke is the one to answer. "21. But that's mostly because Naruto refuses to do any less than three missions a day if we can help it."

"What?!" Ino shrieks. "Naruto! Why would you do that to your own teammates?"

"Yeah man, have some mercy why don't 'cha?" Kiba then says, giving my team a pitying look that I have the sneaking suspicion they appreciate a little too much for my liking.

"Well, I kinda depend on those to pay for my expenses, ya' know? Sasuke too, since we're both orphans." I finish, and everyone just looks sad at this. "I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean-", Ino starts but I stop her. "You don't have to worry about it Ino-chan. It's a lot of work, and it's tiring. But in order for us to be able to take on higher level missions we need to prove that we can work together, and we also need to become stronger as a team. Then after that, we can make do with just the occasional C Rank and focus on training, ya' know?" I then walk up to her and give her a hug that she returns. She nods lightly, before sniffing my chest and kissing me on the cheek. "If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask us for help. Okay, Naruto?" She asks, half flirty, half serious. Hinata either doesn't notice or doesn't mind, and I don't know which surprises me more.

"I know, thanks guys." I respond with a small smile