He was the first one to arrive at the training grounds. He scanned his surroundings trying to find the eyes he felt on him. Nothing in the trees. He felt them as he arrived. He didn't feel like he was in danger, but he wasn't completely sure. He pretended to stretch as well as other small innocent actions while taking peaks in all directions. He hated not being sure of something.

Well, at least he wasn't alone anymore.

Both boys were walking slowly toward Naruto, annoyingly slow, in Naruto's opinion. Suteru's eyes avoided Naruto's. They both stopped with an abnormal space between them.

"Hello," Naruto said politely, giving his best smile. Today was a new day, maybe a fresh start.

"Fuck off."

His smile lessened. It would be smart to shut his mouth, but he couldn't help himself. If Suteru didn't want to talk to him, maybe his other teammate would.

"Hello, Ito, we didn't get a chance to talk yesterday," he said, with a less enthusiastic smile.

"Yeah." Ito was looking at everything but Naruto.

Ito didn't know what to think of Naruto. He was weird, and nobody talked to him, but that didn't make him a bad person. But yesterday didn't give Ito a good impression of Naruto. First, he insults the closest person he can call a friend and would have humiliated him If their sensei didn't intervene. Yet he did try to apologize, so maybe he wasn't a bad guy.

Naruto decided to keep his mouth shut. Deciding to take his eyes off them.

He was inclined to feel that there was something ahead, that there was one thing that had to be done. The Genin test wasn't laughably easy, but it felt like the wall to reach their Ninja career needed to be higher. A challenge would appear soon, and he hated that he didn't know what it would be.

A moment later their sensei appeared, seemingly from thin air. They all turn to face her, except Naruto, who was already facing in her direction.

"Good, you're all here in time", Kushina said. Two of the boys seemed tense, while the violet-eyed one had a smile.

"Sensei, can I ask you a question, were you hiding somewhere,?" Naruto asked inquisitively.

'I don't know what you're talking about," Kushina replied, unfazed.

'Oh, my mistake, must have been my imagination," he said, not even trying to hide the fact he didn't believe her.

A sensor maybe? She wasn't using her stealth to its full capability. But for a fresh genin to even have a hint of her watching them was impressive.

With all eyes on her, it was time for the first step of the plan. "Well, it's time for introductions," she said with a clap of her hand, and a grin on her face.

Suteru and Ito looked at each other for a moment, while Naruto stood with a smile. Naruto was excited to introduce himself. He liked meeting new people, even if they didn't like meeting him.

"Suteru, you can go first."

A surprised Suteru straightened up and walked forward a bit.

"I'm Suteru. I like fire Jutsu, umm, I want to be strong so I can protect our village, and so, yeah," Suteru finished and stepped back.

The kid was obviously nervous, Ito wasn't much better.

'Well, I didn't really know what I expected.' Kushina thought to herself. It seemed this would be more challenging than she thought. It was Naruto's turn. Naruto stepped forward.

"My name is Naruto, I'm really happy to be here. I guess I should list some things about myself. Kenjutsu is the skill I'm most comfortable with. Using a sword really pumps dopamine into me. It's like having an extra limb, or a longer one. It's really hard to practice by yourself, so hopefully I can get better." Naruto eyed his Sensei sword. "Sensei, is that one of those swords that you can use Ninjutsu with? I've never seen one of those before.."

Kushina looked at the hilt of her sword and took it out, its shine reflecting the sunlight.

"This old thing." She swung the sword gracefully, making sure it wasn't near the Genin.

Good memories came with this sword, it was old, but still very deadly. It had been a collective gift from her friends before she retired. Maybe she should shop for a new one, she wouldn't want it to break.

A connection was forming in Naruto's mind about their sensei. Red hair, Kenjutsu, and a woman. His eyes widened, there weren't many that fit this description. This was Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of the Fourth and a hero from the 3rd Shinobi War. He felt butterflies in his stomach, a genuine smile appeared on his face.

"Sensei, we all introduced ourselves. It would only be fair for you to do the same," he asked. His team seemed not to take a liking to this. What was he thinking? He was basically demanding their her sensei to introduce herself, they were in thin ice with them being assigned to her last minute. They wouldn't want it to be ruined because of this idiot.

"Hmm, you know you're right. Okay, my name is Kushina Uzumaki. I'm a mother, my favorite food is ramen and I hate bitter things, like coffee." She paused, putting her finger on her chin, trying to think of anything else worthwhile.

" Well, that's all I could really think of at the moment, maybe I'll share more later. If you pass the Genin Test," she smiled. She thought the faces of the Genin were kinda funny. Well, at least Naruto hid it well.

"What do you mean? We passed the other day, wasn't that enough?" Suteru asked, Ito nodding in agreement.

"Wait, you didn't know about the real final test. We wouldn't just give one test." She thought for a moment about her own genin test, did they even tell her about the real test beforehand? Oh well, it doesn't matter.

"For your final test, all you need to do is to impress me," she said slyly. Before any of them could even react a huge burst of smoke blasted in front of them.

Naruto almost felt prideful about being right, but now was not the time. They couldn't win, but that wasn't the point. He was going to give it his all. There wasn't a day he didn't.

Both Suteru and Ito were still shocked and coughing amidst the smoke. He grabbed both of their shoulders.

"Follow me, into the trees!" He told him. In the rush of the moment, they both followed him into the forest

/

She hid in the shadows. In all honesty, she made that challenge on the spot. Impress her? It was the best she could come up with. She knew Kakashi does the bell test.

Her thoughts briefly went to her son. She wondered how he was fairing or that if he liked his teammates. She focused on the trees.

/

"She knows where we are, so we have to keep moving. We have to come up with a plan." Naruto said, looking behind his shoulders. She could be right above them right now. No, it was safer to think she was already here, listening to them.

"Let's move over ther-'' Naruto was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. It was Suteru, with an agitated face.

"Don't be bossing us around, who made you the leader, huh?" Suteru gripping harder on Naruto's shoulder.

"Suteru, there isn't time for this," Naruto calmly said, almost robotic. This could get bad really quick. He had to choose his words carefully

"Tell me who made the freak the hero."

"Come on Suteru, let's listen to him," Ito finally spoke for the first time since his introduction. " I mean he got us out of the smoke."

Suteru looked at Ito, hand still gripping Naruto's shoulder. Ito was a friend or at least the closest he had. He rarely lost his cool, at least not out of anger, fear, probably.

It didn't look like it, but Naruto's mind was racing a marathon. All approaches, all the things he could say to Suteru. All from insulting him to begging for his forgiveness. He really messed up yesterday. All he wanted was to know what his teammate's abilities were, just in case of a situation like this.

"Prove me wrong."

"What?" A moment of confusion sparked into Suteru's anger. This felt like the final straw for him, one more thing that pissed him off, and he would tackle Naruto off this tree.

"Your fire Jutsu, prove me wrong. I said it was small, and I'm sorry. But if we can make a plan, if we work together. You can impress her."

Impress her? Suteru liked that idea, having a Ninja like her compliment him sounded nice. He loosened his hand on Naruto's shoulder, he still hated his guts. But he'll work with him, for now.

"Here Ito, take these." Naruto gave Ito a pack of explosive tags.

Both of his teammates were looking at him, in the eyes. Maybe he had learned something from those books