Chapter 5: Genin Test and Bonding with the Rookies

"So, what techniques do you guys' favor?", I decided to start the conversation while we walked to the Academy training grounds.

"What do you mean?", asks Sakura.

"He means do we prefer Nin, Gen, or Tai-jutsu", Sasuke clarifies. "I'm more partial to Tai and Shurikenjutsu. Ninjutsu for finishing moves", Sasuke informs.

"Oh. I get it.", Sakura says. "Well... I'm good at Genjutsu, I can make some good traps, and my Taijutsu has gotten a lot better recently.", she finishes after some thought.

"That's good. That means we're a pretty diverse team, skillset wise. I'm more partial to Ninjutsu and Bukijutsu, though I have some skill in Genjutsu. I'm no slouch with Taijutsu either", I tell them.

"Naruto", Sakura begins, "You're the most well rounded out of anyone in the Academy. I'd be surprised if you didn't excel at something relating to the Shinobi Arts.", she finishes with some genuine awe.

"Ah... well... I kinda suck at Medical Jutsu now that you mention it...", I inform them. And this is true. I can use basic Healing Techniques, but anything further is just way beyond me. I'm still struggling with learning the Chakra Scalpels, and I've been at it for some time now.

They look at me, disbelieving. "No way... but how?", Sakura was the first to speak up. And here is where I get her to learn Medical Jutsu early on. I got Hinata and Ino to get her using low level Genjutsu when they started to train her, so this was the next step into getting her to reach her full potential earlier on.

"Well, you see... Medical Jutsu requires near perfect Chakra Control, and incredible concentration.", I begin my sales pitch. "But, while I have pretty damn good concentration, and my Chakra Control is very good for my amount of chakra, I'm still not good enough in my control to be able to utilize those techniques effectively. I'm pretty certain that out of all of us, you would be the best at it. Since you have the best natural Chakra Control out of all of us." I tell her with a thoughtful look.

"Maybe you should add that to your skillset, ya'know? I can teach you the basics and you can see if you like it.", I finish my pitch and look at her sparkling eyes. "Heh. Hook, line, and sinker.", I thought to myself.

"I'll do it.", She says finally, with more enthusiasm than I was expecting. "Good. Here you go, read this first and tell me if you don't understand something.", I handed her my medical studies scroll. "Sure thing, Naruto.", She responds.

After a moment of silence I ask, "Hey Sasuke, do you still know the Fireball Jutsu?" He looks at me for a moment, then scoffs. "Of course, I do. Why?", He asks curiously.

"I think we should work on combining our techniques while we have Sakura confuse our targets with Genjutsu. My best techniques are all wind based.", I explain. He nods, liking the idea. I then continue, "I also think we should get you to master your Sharingan, sooner rather than later preferably." He nods and we stop at the training ground.

"Well… uh… how about some team drills to start us off?", I asked them lamely and they nodded.


Three Hours Later

"Naruto...", Sakura wheezes out. "Is this how you always train?", She asks me, mortified that I might say yes.

"Hm? Oh, no not at all.", she looks relieved. "This is just my usual warm up pace. Hinata and I usually do this at a much higher intensity, I'm just getting you guys used to the small-time stuff before I put you through your paces."

She crumples like paper at this, then whimpers. "I can... *huff* understand... *huff* why you guys always beat me in class...", Sasuke huffs, taking deep breaths. "I had no idea; you could train this hard... I guess I should have accepted your offers sooner than I did, Naruto", he finishes with a near whisper at the end.

"Eh? That's alright Sasuke. We'll get plenty of time to train together, and I guarantee that you'll be stronger in no time. You too Sakura", I tell them. Happy that we're actually getting along, and that we're actually behaving like a team. We were already friends, but I felt like I needed constant reassurance with this team.

"Ah, so here is where you guys went.", we hear a voice call out behind us.

"Oh, hey Iruka-nii. what are you doing here?", I asked him after we walked up to him.

"I should be the one asking you that, Naruto. Why weren't you all in the classroom waiting for your sensei?", he asks, more curious than mad.

"Well, I know who Kakashi is, and I know he is always late to stuff", I tell him. "I thought that since he wouldn't be showing up for some time, that maybe it would be best for my team and I to get together and train while we waited, ya'know?", I explain.

He sighs at this. "I see... well, he should be here any moment now, so please make sure to explain yourselves, alright?", He then ruffles my hair and walks off.

"I didn't know you and sensei were so close, Naruto.", Sakura comments.

"Hm? Really? I thought it was obvious, ya'know?", I grinned at her before turning to look at the ceiling.

"Hey Kakashi sensei. Do you plan to make us wait all day?", I asked at seemingly no one, before he jumped in front of us.

"Well... My first impression of you is... you're alright.", He says trying to sound cool.

We just stared at him, expectant. "Well, ahem, since we're already out of the classroom. How about we go ahead and introduce ourselves?" He pushes forward trying to change the awkward atmosphere. I nod at his approach.

"Alright then, I'll start. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like my friends, ramen, and sweet red bean buns. I dislike traitors, and those who put themselves before others. My hobbies include performing tea ceremonies, walking around the village with the Old Man, and training. My dream is to return the Uzumaki Clan to prominence.", I give my intro hoping the others can follow suit.

"Um, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like learning new things and... - she looks at Sasuke and giggles. I dislike people who are mean. My hobbies include reading books and spending time with my friends. My dream is... - again she looks at Sasuke and squeals fan girlishly."

"Well...there's progress at least...", I think with a visible sweatdrop. Sasuke doesn't even flinch and goes next.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like few things, but tomatoes are among them. I dislike being weak. My hobbies include training and talking with my friends. My dream... no… my ambition... is to restore my clan and bring a certain someone to justice." "Yes! Fuck Yes! This is what I was hoping for! All of my hard work and subtle manipulation has paid off!", I celebrate internally at hearing his intro.

"Hm... good. You're all different and interesting in your own unique ways. Now, meet me tomorrow at training ground 7, for a survival exercise at 5am. I'll save my introduction for then. You are dismissed.", he says before turning around to leave. "Oh, and I suggest that you don't eat breakfast, lest you want to puke." Ah, and there's the bullshit I was expecting. He vanishes in a swirl of leaves.

"You know he's messing with us, right?", I ask my team.

"Uh... ", they responded, I sighed.

"Clueless, these two are", I think to myself.

"Well for starters, if you don't eat you won't have any energy for the survival exercise.", They nod, it makes sense. "Second, he told us to be there at 5am. Which means he'll get there at around eight or nine. I suggest we strike a happy medium and get there at 8:30am just in case.", I explain and we all nod.

We then head out to our own apartments and get ready for the next day. "Let's see how well we do..." are my last thoughts before I drift off to sleep. That is, until My Lady materialized in bed with me in her true form and I was made to worship her, as a good lover and devout follower should, for most of the night.

"Well… at least I don't have to wake up until seven…" I thought after My Lady was satisfied and stayed in my embrace.


After waking up and going through my daily rituals, which included cuddling with My Lady for a few more minutes and praying at her shrine, I made myself a 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 all 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 trust each other and 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.

He calls out, "Start!" and all of us get into position.

Sakura activates her genjutsu, Demonic Illusion: Exploding Sakura Petals to distract Kakashi into moving farther away from us. The technique works by throwing many small paper shavings made to look like exploding tags and layering the illusion on top of it. It's a simple technique, but Sakura pulled it off perfectly.

Sasuke, working with Sakura's Illusion, sends a Fire Style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu towards Kakashi, making it seem like he's going to detonate the petals. I get behind Kakashi and use my Wind Style: Breakthrough to feed the flames of Sasuke's jutsu. Kakashi quickly replaces himself with a log and goes to engage Sakura in taijutsu.

I use my own illusion, Yin Release: Shadow Clone and have my clones look just like Sakura, intercepting Kakashi and confusing him. Sakura steps back and throws a volley of kunai and shuriken at Kakashi.

I created a Shadow Clone and we each use the corresponding multiplication technique for each projectile. Sasuke hangs back waiting for his chance. Kakashi replaces himself once more, and Sasuke engages him in a fierce taijutsu match. Sasuke keeps Kakashi at bay while Sakura and I use our genjutsu to create obstacles for Kakashi. I use the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique in an area about five square meters wide and Sakura uses her Demonic Illusion: Sakura Storm in another five square meter area just two meters away from mine.

The Sakura Storm illusion is basically just a bunch of Sakura petals that obstruct the targets vision with the named petals and changes direction to mess with the targets own sense of where they are in a battlefield. An ingenious technique I gave her the idea for when she started to create her own illusions this past year.

By combining our techniques and spacing them in the manner that we did, Kakashi was constantly trying to figure out if he was in an illusion or if he was being led somewhere for a trap. Sakura and I did this in several random spots throughout the battlefield in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Sasuke remained unaffected because he had his Sharingan at full blast. He hadn't mastered his three tomoe just yet, but he was well on his way.

Eventually, Sasuke tags out my Yang Clones so that I can keep up the pressure on Kakashi. Kakashi, not knowing of my Shadow Clone Variations was at a loss for why every time he punched one, they just smirked and continued to attack him. I had told Sasuke to switch as soon as he started to feel winded whenever we fought Kakashi during our test, so I guess he just thought this would apply for now as well.

Sasuke and I then went to Kakashi's opposite sides and used our first original combination technique. Ninja Art: Falling Meteor. A wonderful technique where I used the Earth Style: Mud Dragon Bomb aimed upwards, and he used his Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet to intercept my technique and make them fall off the sky like a raining meteor shower.

Kakashi was almost caught in our technique and threw projectiles at all three of us to distract our concentration after evading.

He then stood in between the three of us since we were spaced equally from him and each other, forming a triangle.

"Well, well, well. Looks like you three are more than just standard academy graduates. Let's see how you deal with… This!" He finishes, showing us his Sharingan.

"Damn, we might have done a little too well…" I thought to myself as I got ready to defend against the Copy-Cat Ninja.


"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 putting me and my team through the gauntlet.

"Stop being such a baby Naruto.", She chides.

"But you love it when I am." I fired 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 pouted 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 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.

"Humph. Cheeky. You'll have to wait until I say so 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, Naru-chan-" I interrupted her, pulling her down and kissing her. I took out my frustrations at being so handily defeated on her before I finally let her go. "Let… let me know if anything… interesting happens, okay?" She says panting and trying to regain her composure as she walks out the door to my apartment with a visible limp and disheveled clothing.

"Is it me... or did she sound a little happier than usual?" 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 asked him.

"Humph, 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.

"Humph, 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 mom in that warm motherly voice of hers. Hinata notices the happy look I'm giving mom and gives me an elbow to the gut.

"Ah, her jealousy strikes again, I see." I thought. I waved at Kurenai, and she gave me a smile. Hinata still pouted at my interaction with my mom.

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, and assassination techniques."

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 Clan's 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 Naruto. 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 told me. I pouted at her.

And train we did.

Ten minutes of sparring, eight opponents each is tiring. Then the thirty minutes against three different opponents. Two team-battles each at about twenty minutes on average. And finally, a three-hour battle royale between all of us together with no rests in between was going to be murder on most anyone. Even I was a bit winded after that. Everyone else wasn't faring anywhere near as well as me, though.

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 with all of the training and practice she was getting via me and Sasuke.

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, of course, 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 continue to keep the fact I'm filthy fucking rich from everyone because then they'd never become shinobi. 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. I also whispered in her ear about coming to my place later. May as well treat them all equally.

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 gives me a look and I nod.

"Sigh… Guess it's going to be two on one this time…" I thought to myself, as Ino remained oblivious of her precarious status.

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


Things went about the same for the next three weeks after that. My team and I finally got to work out all the kinks in our teamwork and we had some pretty good strategies that I hope we can pull off when the time comes. I had also gotten Sasuke and Sakura up to snuff on their Chakra Control exercises and had both of them start to train their own affinities.

Sasuke was, of course, lightning and fire. While Sakura was earth and water. I was surprised that they both had dual affinities while I just had the one wind. I did train to get the other four throughout the years, but that took a lot of time and effort to do. These two had two natural affinities from the start which was a huge advantage.

I also got to teach them both the Body Flicker and the Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu, with permission from the Old Man.

We were also able to finally get Sasuke to master his Sharingan. Which took no small amount of effort on my and Sakura's part. We focused on having him use it exclusively and spent most of our spars trying to overwhelm him with numbers, speed, and jutsu. Courtesy of Sakura's traps, my clones, and Kakashi's taunts, believe it or not.

It took until the last day before the Wave Mission, but we got him to completely master the use of his Ocular Jutsu and he was happy enough to actually hug Sakura and kiss her after we were done with training… in public.

I was flabbergasted at the way he'd expressed his happiness, and not at all surprised. He had, not so subtly, alluded to the fact that he enjoyed having Sakura around, since she often tried helping him instead of asking for dates in every other sentence like in the original.

She had also apparently beat him up the week after we'd patched up at the academy because he was too hardheaded to let others in and support him in any way and she wanted to be the one to bring him back to his senses; he said she'd expressed her disappointment in a rather volatile way. My man Sasuke seems to be a masochist, because he said it had been the first time that he'd felt hot under the collar. That also explained why Sakura seemed a lot less fan girlish and Sasuke seemed more receptive to her rare few bouts of girlish adoration. They weren't dating per se, but if you asked me, they were well on their way.

I also hinted at Kakashi to maybe teach us the Chidori sometime soon, and he gave me a look that expressed none of his thoughts on the matter. I was disappointed I couldn't even read him with my sensing technique. This guy has excellent mastery over his emotions it seems. I told him to teach us that, too. He sweatdropped at that.

My relationship with my team also grew by leaps and bounds.

Flashback Start:

"Hey, Naruto…" Sakura calls out to me as we begin to leave the training field for the day.

"Yes, Sakura?" I responded, surprised she came to me first.

"Well… I was wondering, are you and Hinata going out?" She asked. I grew curious.

"Well, yes. We are. We have been for some time now. What makes you ask?" I really hope this doesn't go a certain way…

"Have you two… like… done it… yet?" She asked, with a blush the color of her hair.

"Ah, so that's where this is going." I thought, not ready to sigh in relief just yet.

"Um… well… that's uh… private, ya'know?" I reply with my own blush at remembering the last few times with my fiancé.

"But… um… yeah… a few times. Why? Is there someone you're getting ready to deflower?" I asked, with a bit of a pun at the end.

She looks at me with a deadpan at my joke. "Really, Naruto? That joke was so lame." She says and I feel offended that she thought so. I give her an overdramatic response.

"Gasp! No way! I thought it was genius! Oh, the pain!" I said, doing exaggerated gestures with my hands and body.

She giggles at me and gives me a small tap on the shoulder. "Alright, alright, it wasn't that bad. But… I… I just wanted to know if you could help me and Sasuke… you know…" She says with an even bigger blush this time.

"Well… uh… sure. But I think the other girls would be best suited to help you out with this. Hinata and I had a… peculiar circumstance when we… um… you know… Ino and Tenten also didn't give me much of a choice in the matter, either…" I tell her, mumbling the last two portions of my statement.

She apparently still heard it.

"Gasp! You've been with them too!? Why didn't anyone tell me you broke up!?" she asked, aghast at being left out of the gossip.

"Uh… we never broke up… in fact… we kind of just started…" I started to explain before I realized the hole, I'd dug for myself.

"Just ask them about it, okay? I gotta go meet mom!" I disappeared with a Body Flicker.

Flashback End

Sasuke later told me how funny the face she had was when I left, since he'd been waiting for our conversation to finish. He also said that the face she made when he told her that Kurenai was my mom and that he knew of my relationships with the other girls was just as scandalized and priceless. Then, on the next training session the day afterward I had another… questioning by my pink-haired teammate.

Flashback Start:

As I walked up to the regular training ground, I noticed Sakura was looking straight at me, and she was tapping her foot with her hands in her waist.

"Oh boy…" I thought to myself.

"Ahahahaha!" Kurama decided to make his presence known via obnoxious laughter.

"Uh… hey… Sakura… chan?" I asked and greeted her after I gave Sasuke a look, asking for support. I was ignored.

"Don't '-chan' me mister." She put special emphasis on the 'chan' by making it sound cute.

"When were you going to tell me you were going after the girls in our class? More to the point, why did you never try going after me?" She said, a bit more incensed than I thought she'd be at this.

"Uh… well… you… you already liked Sasuke… so I wasn't going to compete with him about it… and… I only really went after Hina-chan… and that was only recently, too." I explained as best I could in as little words as possible.

She raised an eyebrow at this. "You mean to tell me, that Ino and Tenten just so happened to fall for you at the same time as Hinata without you doing anything for it to happen?" She asked with so much incredulity that even I thought I was lying.

"Uh well… when you put it like that it sounds false… but it's true! The only girl I wanted to marry and be with was Hina-chan! I just can't be with her yet and she wants me to…" I shut my mouth before I reveal any more of my business.

"She wants you to what?" She continues, her eyebrow raised and her foot tapping on the ground even faster.

I resolve to keep quiet and have a sparring match with Sakura at any moment now. Sasuke, however, decided to blab about my business.

"Hinata wants to watch him be intimate with other girls that either he or she likes." I looked at my best friend, scandalized. I'd never felt so betrayed in my life.

Sakura's face just becomes stoic at this revelation. "I… see…" She then gives me a hard look. "Am I not good enough for you? Is that it?!" She asks, angry for Sage knows what reason.

"What?!" Sasuke and I both ask at the same time. "But! Don't you like Sasuke!?" I asked, pointing to the person in question exaggeratedly.

"That's not the question!" She screams at me, veins popping all over her forehead and face.

"Damn… she might actually pop a blood vessel at this rate." Kurama, ever the voice of wisdom decided to comment while I faced impending doom.

I came up with an idea at the last minute and gave Sasuke a look. He saw my intention and just sighed, nodding his ascent.

"Well… I mean… I do like you… ya'know? You're like, super sexy and have really nice legs and hips and a nice jiggly butt…" I describe things that I in fact look at whenever I get the chance. She really is pretty hot.

"But… Sasuke called dibs and we're friends… so…" I threw Sasuke under the bus, hoping this'll work in my favor. He gives me a look of betrayal at this.

Sakura, however, does a one-eighty and teleports to Sasuke's side. "Is… is that true… Sasuke-kun?" I see the gallon sized bead of sweat roll down his neck, and he just nods, afraid of the impending loss of his chastity.

I swear I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that Sakura was sparkling. She. Was. Sparkling! I felt bad for my friend, but I was not going to be under scrutiny by an unreasonable woman if I could avoid it.

"Hm. Hm. Good." Sakura says, nodding her head at each word. She then turns around.

"I forgive you, Naruto. But I'll keep you on backup just in case Sasuke doesn't appreciate what a wonderful woman I am. I really like you, too." She finishes with a flirtatious wink and a kiss blown in my direction.

"What are you talking about, you crazy broad! There's nothing to forgive in the first place!" I raged internally once more; I seem to be doing that quite often nowadays.

Sasuke and I both look at each other with awkward smiles.

Flashback End

After that, Sakura met up with Hinata and the other girls to actually learn of our relationship and how it got started. Sakura told me she pitied me for my troubles when she got the full picture. I cried anime tears and hugged her, grateful for her understanding and compassion. She also became a lot more… affectionate with me and Sasuke, too. Lee was saved of this for some time, but he was building up meter, and with Sakura, that was never good.

I did finally get a meter for my and Kurama's chakra in my HUD, though. I forgot to mention it when I got it, which was when I passed Kakashi's test. I also had a nice little indicator for my mission objectives and a map of my explored areas within any specific place I'd been to. But all of that ever manifested when I was using my Mind's Eye of the Kagura, since I was concentrating on sensing, otherwise just the maturity, health, and chakra bars.

I had 8500 CP, 100000 HP, and my maturity meter was at 90%. Progress slowed down when I hit twelve for some reason, but I didn't mind. I was functioning mostly the same now anyways. Kurama's Chakra Meter was in percentages though, and his was at 99%. Still missing that last bit from the Death God's Stomach.

The last notable thing to happen before having to catch Tora, was that mom caught me with Hinata at my place… while Anko, Ino, and Tenten were talking about taking turns… If I told you, that Madara had nothing on a scandalized and pissed off Kurenai, I'd be understating just how mad she'd been. I was given the spanking of a lifetime, and Anko and the others suffered the same fate. Kakashi gave my team the next two days off because I was hospitalized with severe bruising in my rear.

Who knew Kurenai was Hispanic?

When Kakashi and the Old Man asked me what happened, mom responded with, "He forgot his mother taught him better, that's what happened." She was ruthless.

She didn't even feed me because she refused to feed a degenerate. I was crying out of shame and hurt at her words, and the truth of them. She also refused to let me hug her for days after that. I was heartbroken. I loved my mom, and I was a momma's boy, through and through. She knew this and punished me in the cruelest manner possible.

I didn't get a hug from her until after the Wave Mission.

Anyway, even with that setback, our Mission record as a team so far was at 84 D ranks. More than enough to show that we're ready for higher missions on paper, and for us to have worked everything out in practice. Now it was time to meet the bridge builder Tazuna.