Chapter 15: Return

The early morning sun was just shining over the towering walls of Konoha's eastern gate. It must've been no later than nine in the morning. Kakashi had made sure that the team set out before sunlight to get back to the village before noon.

"Remember that we have to make a general report to the Hokage about our mission since it became complicated," Kakashi reminded his students as the chūnin on guard duty waved them through the gate and into the village.

Kakashi strolled through the busy streets of the Leaf's commercial district with an aloof look and his hands in his pockets. Villagers strode all around for work, shopping, or even meals, their voices from their ongoing conversations melting together into a loud, unintelligible mass. The plop of horse hooves into the street was always followed by the creaks of wagon wheels that passed by.

He peered behind him, facing his team who formed a line as they followed him. "When we finish speaking with the Hokage, I want to talk to you all about what's to come for the next few weeks."

His genin offered no reply. Kakashi had to imagine that they were probably on edge about reporting to the Hokage. The mission was admittedly not exactly what was advertised, so it wasn't unwarranted to be anxious. It also resulted in the death of one of the most important figures in the Land of Water, which isn't really something that can be overlooked.

"We'll get to the Tower faster on the roofs," Kakashi said, as he leapt into the air and landed atop the roof of a high-end sushi restaurant. His genin quickly followed in tow.

It didn't take long to reach the Hokage Tower by the rooftops and soon enough Kakashi was holding the door open for his genin to enter ahead of him. Climbing up the stairs of the tower to the Hokage Office, the secretary immediately permitted them entry at a glance. Kakashi pulled the door open and Team Seven filed into the quarters one-by-one.

"Ah, Team Seven," Hiruzen welcomingly exclaimed as he set aside a stack of paperwork. "It's good to see you finally return. I didn't expect your mission to take as long as it did," he admitted.

Kakashi stood to the right of his team, his hands still in his pockets. "The mission did not proceed as planned, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen folded his arms over his chest and assumed a curious demeanor with a stern edge. "Elaborate," he ordered.

"Tazuna the bridge builder had lied about the severity of the situation in Wave in his mission request," Kakashi began. "The island was under no threat of bandits or thugs. Rather, it was under the occupation of the Kiri Rebellion."

The Hokage's eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly that no one but Kakashi could possibly notice it. "What business did the Free Islands have in Wave?"

"The maritime tycoon Gatō had taken an interest in Wave, and used the Rebels to subjugate it. In exchange, he was funding the war effort for the Rebels," Kakashi explained.

"I hope you have a good reason for not immediately returning to the Land of Fire after learning these things, Kakashi." Hiruzen stared him down with steely eyes.

"The Rebels had ships scouting around the island for Water vessels constantly. We were only able to get into Wave under special circumstances in the first place. I decided it was safer for my team to remain on the island and try to maintain our low profile," Kakashi said, choosing his words with great care.

Hiruzen's eyes closed and his aged face relaxed, as if he was making sure it was alright to be pleased with Kakashi's reasoning. "Tell me what happened on the island," he ordered, though the intensity in his gruff voice had been abandoned.

"The whole place is impoverished. Families are barely scraping by. It seems that any fighting force Wave had was quickly taken care of by the Rebels." Kakashi stiffened up a little, anticipating that the next set of details were going to require a lot of focus for the Hokage. "The Rebels had many formidable ninja on the island, including Zabuza himself."

Hiruzen slowly maneuvered his hands from their lax spots and interlocked them before him where he rested his chin. Just the focused glare in his eyes and the way the lines creased in his face was enough to sap the atmosphere out of his office. "Was Zabuza made aware of your presence? Did he provoke you?"

"He did discover our presence on the island, and I was forced to battle him," he explained.

Hiruzen's eyebrow raised. "And you aren't dead," he said curiously.

"Heh," Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Zabuza's heart wasn't really in the fight. He was strictly against starting trouble between his rebellion and Konoha despite Gatō trying to force him to kill us. He even tried to negotiate with me to avoid battle. I still had to escape from our first encounter. Point is, we were forced to fight again and I took his life," he revealed, ignoring the nervous looks from his students that flitted between him and the Hokage.

"I see," Hiruzen said blankly, and Kakashi was unable to discern how the Hokage felt about that information. "How did the Rebellion respond?"

"As far as I can tell the Rebels have no intention of retaliating against Konoha. It seems that they blame Gatō for Zabuza's end."

"Hmph." Hiruzen's face then gleamed into a proud smirk. "Well, I'm relieved to hear it, son. Last thing we need is to get involved in that Civil War mess. You did good," he praised. "So what became of the original objective?"

"Tazuna was able to complete the bridge from the Land of Waves to the Land of Fire with our protection, and we can begin trade with the island," Kakashi answered.

"And what about dead or wounded?" Hiruzen inquired, causing Naruto to instinctively glance down at the floor with guilt.

"To my knowledge there were only three deaths. Zabuza, and the Demon Brothers of the Mist."

"At least none of the citizens of Wave got killed in the middle of all this," Hiruzen reasoned. "And what of you three?" Hiruzen gestured to the genin. "Did you have to get involved in all this?"

Hinata and Naruto both opened their mouths to respond to the Hokage, but the words seemed to die on their tongues. "They all played a hand in defeating Zabuza and keeping Tazuna safe," Kakashi stepped in to speak for the team. "They assisted me against Zabuza directly, and the three of them were able to subjugate Zabuza's student – a kunoichi skilled with the ice kekkei genkai."

Hiruzen's eyebrows slowly rose, exaggerating the crows' feet around his eyes. He looked all of Team Seven over. "Kakashi saying this kunoichi was skilled is good praise. I can't remember the last time a genin squad was able to defeat someone proficient with a kekkei genkai. Great work, all of you," he commended with a smile. "But this certainly didn't turn out to be a C-rank mission," he added with a dissatisfied look. "No, this mission will have to be changed to A-rank."

The Hokage's declaration made all the genin gasp or go wide-eyed. "A-rank?! That's crazy, Old Man!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Be proud, you three. I don't think I've seen a genin squad successfully complete an A-rank mission since my own genin team," Hiruzen revealed.

"W-wow. Thank you, Lord Hokage," Hinata hastily said, expressing her gratitude in a firm and deep bow.

"Yeah! Thank you, Old Man!" Naruto exclaimed again with increased excitement and a giant toothy grin.

Kakashi even managed to catch a glimpse of Sasuke with his prideful smirk. "We appreciate the praise, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said.

"It's the least I can do. I'll have all of your pay ready shortly, as well as adding the mission to your records. Now, is there anything else that I need to know before you go?" Hiruzen poised.

"There is one more thing that you need to know about," Kakashi said, sharing a sidelong stare with Naruto.

Hiruzen seemed to pick up on the importance in Kakashi's voice, having lost any cheer that permeated his mood. "What is it?" he asked.

"During the battle with the ice-kunoichi, Naruto was able to tap into the power of the Nine-Tails," Kakashi revealed.

Hiruzen turned his focus to the blond genin. "How did you manage to do it, son?" he asked sincerely.

"In the fight, when Sasuke got hurt, I felt… so angry… so hateful," he recalled in a low voice. "And so powerless. I would've done anything to save Sasuke and kill Haku – the ice-kunoichi. I think the Nine-Tails knew I would've done anything in that moment," Naruto explained.

"Why?" Hiruzen asked.

"Because it spoke to me," he replied. "It's never spoken to me before. But it talked to me this time."

"You believe the Beast saw a chance to take advantage of you and it took it?" Hiruzen inquired with a soft tone.

"Y-Yeah," Naruto mumbled out, seemingly uncomfortable with the thought of being preyed upon in such a way.

"What did it say to you?"

"It told me that it could give me the power to heal Sasuke and to kill Haku. That all I needed to do was put a tear in the seal of its prison," Naruto explained, swallowing a lump down his throat as he finished.

"And when you tore the seal, the Fox was able to give you more of its chakra. Very fascinating," Hiruzen said.

"You mean you aren't mad?" Naruto asked, visibly surprised by the old man's response.

"Oh no, son. I would have done the same thing in your position. Don't go tearing apart the seal again though," he clarified.

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So, were you able to control its power?" Hiruzen asked, leaning up in his chair.

"Mostly, yeah. I think it made my anger worse at the time. But, I wasn't thinking straight before that anyways."

"I see," Hiruzen said as he stroked his chin in thought. "Can you draw out its power whenever you want?"

Naruto shrunk in on himself more and more with each subsequent question, as if he was being interrogated. "I haven't tried to use its power since. I doubt I can pull it off again though."

Hiruzen drew back in his seat slightly, only enough for Kakashi to really notice. The flat line that became of the Hokage's lips were the barely hidden signs of disappointment. It seemed that Hiruzen wanted to hear a more confident answer from Naruto.

"Is the Fox still withholding its power?" Hiruzen finally asked after a brief, but strenuous moment of silence.

"Yeah," the boy started before jumping to correct himself. "But, I can feel that more of its chakra is getting through the seal than before," he explained to the Hokage, who seemed to internalize every word. "It's not a crazy amount like before, but it's definitely not nothing."

Hiruzen smirked at the boy proudly. Perhaps, this development was good enough for the Hokage. "I thought that your chakra seemed heavier than normal, somewhat different too. Make sure to keep your chakra control sharp. I know Tsunade will stay on you about that though."

"Of course, Old Man," Naruto then took a step back, falling in line with his team.

"Well, if that's everything, you all can go on down and get your payments for the mission," Hiruzen said, already reaching for his tobacco pipe.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Kakashi leaned into a light bow.

"Right. You're dismissed," he waved them off as he lit the tobacco in the pipe, holding it between his lips while the team exited.

Below the Hokage Office, Team Seven was able to swiftly receive their checks for the mission, ready to be cashed in at the bank. After exiting the tower, Kakashi passed the checks on to each of his students; he couldn't help but feel confused at the lack of wonder in their expressions. An A-rank paycheck was a big deal to jōnin, much less genin rookies.

"It's yours to spend," Kakashi said as he passed the final check to Naruto, who studied it front-to-back with an incredulous eye. Kakashi was instantly able to gather that Naruto could not be held responsible for so much ryō. And from the looks of Sasuke's aloof air, Kakashi came to a similar conclusion. He didn't even regard Hinata's situation with the money, being quick to step in where he felt was necessary.

"That being said," he started. "This much ryō is not something for young genin like you lot to handle." His statement getting confused glares, and a skeptical look from the blond.

"What are you saying, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto beckoned, holding the money close to his chest with both hands.

"I'm saying that the money is still going to be yours, but I'm going to help you all manage it so you don't waste it all on junk." When his statement failed to win over any of his students, he spoke again. "This paycheck is a big deal. It can be the start of easy living for you all. I won't spend your money on myself. I am just going to make sure it's going to the right places for each of you." He finished off with a complementary eye-smile.

Hinata handed over her paycheck first, seeming relieved to leave that responsibility to someone else. Her check was followed reluctantly by Naruto, and then Sasuke forfeited his with palpable indifference.

"So are we free to go home now?" the Uchiha beckoned, tired strain in his voice.

"Not quite," Kakashi revealed. "There are a few more things we need to talk about before I can let you go. Follow me," Kakashi ordered, not disappearing quite fast enough to miss an indignant eye roll from Sasuke.

As Kakashi seated himself cross-legged on the tree stump in the middle of training ground seven, he felt the expectant glares of his students at his back as they arrived behind him.

"Now that the mission is over, I wanted to take this opportunity to check on you all, and to give you all a good idea of what the next month or so is going to be like," he explained to his genin, who fell into seated positions in the grass, looking up at him on his stump. "So, let's talk about you guys first. Naruto," he called, "you go first."

"What do you want me to talk about?" he asked, puzzled expression facing his sensei.

"The Fox," Kakashi instructed blankly.

"We already heard about all that from the Old Man though," Naruto pointed out, confusion on his face.

"I know, and he was right. Your chakra reserves have grown, and seem more potent too. Normally, this would be fine, but because the chakra is from the Fox, that can interfere more with your chakra control. We will continue to work together to keep that in check. Nevertheless, this is a good development to see, Naruto."

"Sounds good, Sensei," Naruto said with a nod.

"And you, Sasuke? Two Tomoe," he clarified. "How is it?"

"No trouble," Sasuke stated bluntly.

"Good. It should be easier to learn more jutsu for you now. We will double down on it." The Uchiha merely resigned himself to a content silence.

"And lastly," he nodded toward Hinata.

"Y-Yes. My pupils have developed," she nervously muttered out.

"They have. The 'Fiery Golden Eyes' as they are infamously known. I think you Hyūga just call them the Shinkyō, though. Very rare to see it develop this early," Kakashi rattled off to himself, an impressed tone oozing slightly from his voice.

"My cousin Neji awakened his Shinkyō long ago," Hinata said, as if to take away from her own achievement.

Kakashi wasn't comfortable with that. "Then the Hyūga will be proud to know they now have two talented youths among them," he commended, causing Hinata to reel back and tap her fingers nervously as she does when overwhelmed. "So, you see farther, and better now. Plus, your chakra control is getting more efficient. I'll have to get you a bow that can shoot farther eventually," Kakashi noted mostly to himself.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata managed to say clearly.

"Now that the easy stuff is out of the way. Time for what's next in the coming weeks." The genin leaned in closer to focus as Kakashi shifted the subject. "Firstly, no more strenuous missions. It's only going to be D-ranks for the time being. I need you all to recuperate and adjust to your abilities. Secondly, training is going to be tougher on each of you. More sparring, more running, more weights, and more jutsu. Speaking of," he reached into his pouch and pulled out three scrolls, tossing one to each of his students. "I already decided on some of the techniques I want you to learn."

Naruto had already unfurled his scroll before Kakashi had even completed his sentence. "Whirlwind Fist Jutsu," he read off the parchment. "That sounds awesome, Kakashi-sensei," he said with sparkles in his eyes.

"It's a technique specialized for hand-to-hand. You'll be able to very easily cut through enemies, and you can adjust the size of the jutsu to create more force and knock enemies around," Kakashi detailed the jutsu to his student who became more awestruck with each new attribute of what the technique can do.

"I've also noticed that nearly all of your Wind Style is drawn from the lungs and out the mouth, which makes sense for someone who hasn't gotten very skilled at the element yet. But that becomes very predictable to any ninja that gets to see you fight for more than five minutes," Kakashi pointed out to Naruto, which elicited a look of disappointment. "This new jutsu will help you to get more accustomed to drawing the wind chakra out of your hands, and will make learning other jutsu easier. Whirlwind Fist is also a close-ranged wind jutsu, unlike all of your others, which are mid to long-range."

By the time Kakashi had finished telling Naruto why he's going to learn the jutsu, he was already up in spirits again. Kakashi knew that the prospect of this jutsu helping him learn others would reel the blond right back in. "Understood, Kakashi-sensei." He rolled the scroll up and stuffed it in his weapons pouch with a smirk.

Kakashi heard an indignant grunt escape his Uchiha student. "Something wrong, Sasuke?" he asked.

"I can learn a better jutsu than this," he declared with annoyance emanating from his entire body.

"And you definitely will," Kakashi assured him. "But, as of right now, you're still new to Lightning Style. You only know one D-rank technique. The Lightning Fang is a good building block for you. Simple, effective, and fast. Besides, if you want to learn better jutsu, you just have to master the ones I show you first."

Sasuke glared at him, protest flaring in his onyx eyes, but he didn't fight against it. "Fine," he mumbled as he put the scroll away and crossed his arms.

"And that leaves you, Hinata." The name drop abruptly yanked her attention away from studying the contents of the scroll and placed it firmly on Kakashi. "You are fresh into archery, and need more techniques to complement it. That's why you're picking up the Lightning Blast Arrow. A technique that uses the arrow to deliver a powerful explosion of electricity. Great for increasing your ability to put the pressure on and adds lethality."

"Oh, yours sounds awesome, Hinata," Naruto exclaimed with amazement plastered on his face.

"Thank you," she said, but a conflicted look overtook her. "A-Are you sure that this will be okay for me to learn, Kakashi-sensei?" worry weighed on each word as she asked. "The Hyūga Clan prides itself on elegance and precision. This technique seems violent and destructive. I'm not sure my F-Father would like this." She tapped her fingers together hurriedly.

"You already have elegance and precision, otherwise you wouldn't be progressing with the bow as smoothly as you are. There's a time and place for those things, but violence and destruction rule the battlefield," he bluntly stated, causing Hinata's eyes to widen in surprise. "Remember, your goal was to change the Hyūga, not to be like the rest of them."

Hinata opened her mouth to challenge him but stopped herself. Her lips became a firm, thin line and her eyes hardened under her furrowed brows. "You're right. This is a good jutsu for me to learn," she agreed, and put the scroll away for later.

"Very good. Now that we got all of that out of the way, I'd say that about sums everything up for the next month, so you all are free to go, except you, Naruto," he said, gesturing to the blond to stay seated.

Naruto sat, barely remaining still out of nervous anticipation, and Kakashi waited in silence for his other two genin to disappear from view.

"So," Kakashi finally began, leaning forward, interlocking his fingers, and resting them in his lap. "How are you feeling, Naruto?" he asked the genin with an inquisitive eye.

Naruto's eyebrow rose. "Why are you asking?"

"I've noticed that you haven't quite been yourself since Gōzu," Kakashi admitted, making sure that concern was apparent in his tone.

"Oh… yeah." Naruto's face slouched into a frown.

"I can tell it's been getting to you. I want you to know that it's normal to feel the way you do, and I want to make sure you're okay," Kakashi said openly, but Naruto made no immediate response. "Tell me what's on your mind," Kakashi said.

Naruto went to speak, hesitance in his weak, quiet voice. "How did you feel after your first kill?"

"I was devastated," Kakashi started. "Taking someone's life is intense, and it's not something that any amount of training can prepare you for." Naruto's shoulders rose a bit hearing that from Kakashi. It must've been validating to him in some way. "That being said, you need to understand that sometimes killing is necessary. And in our line of work it's also inevitable. An enemy ninja won't hesitate to take your life, or the life of Sasuke, Hinata, even mine," Kakashi said to Naruto as clearly as he could.

"I don't want that to happen," Naruto said objectively.

"Of course not," Kakashi affirmed. "So that means you are going to have to hurt others, take their lives – that's what we train for. Not to kill others, but to protect and provide for our own," Kakashi distinguished. "Imagine what would've become of you, Tsunami, and Inari if you hadn't taken action? What would've happened to us?" Kakashi paused to let Naruto mull it over in his mind for a moment. "You did what you had to do in the moment and we are alive because of it," Kakashi finished.

"I understand what you mean, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto began, but Kakashi could see that he was still conflicted within. "How do I deal with the bad feeling that I have over it?"

Kakashi's mind stilled, realizing that Naruto's hurt was something that he related to. That the boy was afflicted with a pain and guilt beyond his capabilities, and that it was something too complex even for himself. "I don't think you can really rid yourself of that feeling. You just learn to live with it, and after a while you stop thinking about it. Then, one day, you'll wake up and realize that you haven't thought about it in a long time. Time is the only real remedy."

Naruto was listening intently to every word until Kakashi stopped, and then he took to staring longingly into the grass. "So I'm just stuck feeling like this until enough time passes?"

"Not entirely, no. You can ward off those feelings a bit. It helps a lot to remind yourself that they didn't give you much of a choice. It's usually you or them. It also helps to keep your kills justified, but I don't think you'll be the type to have it any other way. What's most important is reminding yourself of why you had to do it. What you were protecting, or who."

"Yeah, I guess when you put it like that it does help a little," Naruto mused.

"That's the goal. You have good potential, Naruto, and you shouldn't let this get in the way of that."

"Heh," Naruto looked away sheepishly, but the smirk on his face was shining. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

The training today was intense. One hundred laps around the training ground, non-stop taijutsu kata practice, followed by sparring with his teammates, and then another round of the bell test with Kakashi-sensei, all while bearing a fifty-pound weighted vest, thirty-five-pound ankle weights, and twenty-pound wrist weights.

Naruto retreated from the heat of the sun into the shade of a tree, where he was able to finally free himself of the weighted vest, which was soaked with sweat. Then went his wrist and ankle weights, which he left to the grass. He shook the tension out of his arms, rejuvenating them with their limber appeal, and exhaled sharply. The refreshing feeling of near-weightlessness washed over him. Taking off the weights after training always had a way of making him feel lighter than air.

Now it was time for ninjutsu training. This was week one of trying to get this new jutsu to work. With some help from Granny Tsunade, he was able to finally release a passive flow of wind chakra from his hands. The problem was that it didn't flow around his hands like a whirlwind, so much as just a constant gust of wind.

What made it worse was that Sasuke had already seen big progress with the Lightning Fang, and it seemed that Hinata was also closing in on her jutsu as well. Naruto refused to get stuck on this jutsu, and nothing motivated him further to learn it than the excitement around whatever jutsu Kakashi wanted him to learn next.

Naruto relaxed his shoulders. Granny Tsunade's advice echoed in his mind. 'The wind is still an extension of yourself, you just have to bend it to your will. Imagine the currents flowing over your fists like the breeze over a mountain.'

Naruto held his fists up from his sides and clenched them. He exhaled from his nose and the wind chakra began to flow out of his hands in every direction. It was a steady, but strong flow. This was the fourth day in a row he would be trying to perform this technique. Just as he readied himself to bend the currents to his will, Kakashi approached him.

"Naruto, hold this while you try to perform the jutsu." He held out his hand for Naruto to take two white dandelions from it. "It'll help you regulate the power of your wind chakra, and it'll help you visualize how strong the swirls of wind are around your fists," he said, and Naruto took it upon himself to hold a dandelion within each hand. "Whenever you can blow the seeds all the way around your hands consistently, you'll have mastered this part of the jutsu," Kakashi explained, and then he walked away.

"Breeze over the mountain," he whispered to himself as he glanced at the puffy dandelions. He pushed the gales out from his hands and the flowers stiffened in the wind, the force of the winds just light enough not to remove each white bud from them. He then braced himself to smoothly swirl the winds around his hands, intending to lightly lift the seeds off the dandelion and carry them. Those intentions were dashed to pieces when the slightest curves in the wind chakra scattered each and every seed to the natural breeze; an utter failure.

Naruto opened his palms, and the dandelions fell limply onto the ground. He was speechless, unable to even begin to figure out how he would approach this. "Naruto," Kakashi called and he looked to face him. "You have more dandelions over on that hillside before the trees," he directed.

And so began the long and tedious process of Naruto having to retrieve new dandelions to experiment with, making the slightest adjustments in wind manipulation with hundreds of flowers and finding little success. Sometimes he would manage to carry the seeds nearly halfway around his hands and be filled with exhilaration before they would fly about wildly, ejected from his control and leaving his heart crushed. Most times, he would sift through the patch of dandelions for a good, full one to use just for it to be instantly scattered to the wind, which he felt was frustrating enough without almost being successful sometimes.

But, a select few times on his last set of attempts, he would blow the white seeds gently around his hands to completion. It reminded him of the moon orbiting around the Earth. Of these rare instances of a full rotation, most of them only got around his fist once, and a couple times he managed to squeak out over five full laps. That progress brought fulfillment and pride that would overcome Naruto each time. It was these handful of attempts that kept Naruto trying again and again.

Finally, as the sun was starting to set and the evening temperature was dropping to a comfortable cool, Naruto saw that he had expended almost all of his flowers. He carefully tore out two of his remaining good dandelions and readied himself again. At this point, his hands had become tight and sore from being clenched for hours, but he ignored it. "Ten full laps," he established his goal aloud to himself. "I can do that."

He had gotten the initial steps of exuding the wind chakra from his hands down to a science. Changing the direction of the wind chakra was still foggy terrain. However, he had gotten to the point where he was consistently troubleshooting different ways to twist the wind around his hands as a means to figure out what works best to carry the seeds around. Between erratic swirls, looping the air currents around his hands horizontally, or from the wrist and vertically toward the knuckles and back. It was a lot more complex than he had originally cared to think.

What he had learned was that forming smaller swirls that each spun in the same direction seemed to be the most careful and effective way to transport the seeds around his hands. What made this discovery a pain was the intense focus and chakra control needed to consistently pull it off. But, Naruto was getting better at it.

He pushed stiff gales from his hands and the dandelions wavered in the breeze. Then, he tweaked the flow of the winds slightly, but increasingly until it appeared like tiny tornadoes were twisting along the surface of his skin, turning together like gears. The white seeds of the dandelions gently gave way to the torrents and they had quickly managed one full lap.

Maybe it was excitement welling up in the pit of his gut, but Naruto felt compelled to ignore his best instincts and he increased the speed of the torrents. When the seeds flew past the third lap, Naruto thought he had to strike while the iron was hot, and made the wind twist as fast as he could. He turned his face away and shut his eyes, instinctive preparation for a face full of dandelion bits, but they never came.

He squinted into the white gusts, amazement overcoming him at the sight of the dandelion seeds still whipping around his hands, trapped in the currents of his creation.

His mouth morphed into a giant smile. He wanted to break out into celebration, to jump around like a wild man, but he restrained himself. "Kakashi-sensei!" he yelled, elation streaming out of his voice.

Kakashi waltzed over, as Naruto held his hands up on display, carefully maintaining the seeds in the currents. Kakashi examined the view closely. "Looks like you've gotten this part down. Good work," he commended.

The winds abruptly dispelled after Kakashi's approval, launching the seeds every which way. "Yes! Hahahahaha! Alright!" He threw his fists up over his head in victory.

"Kakashi," a new voice called from behind Naruto.

Naruto jumped, startled by the stranger, his celebration ruined. It was two ANBU operatives, donning their infamous masks. What were they doing here?

"You have been summoned by the Hokage," one of the ANBU said.

Kakashi looked at them with a thoughtful glint in his eye for a moment. "Sasuke, Hinata, come here," he called them over.

Hinata slung her bow over her shoulder, and they each made their way to Kakashi, though their slower, more cagey approach suggested that they were apprehensive around the ANBU.

"That's all for today," Kakashi said once all of his genin were together. "Each of you did great. Go grab something to eat and rest," he suggested.

"Will it be the same thing tomorrow?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi said, before dashing out of sight with the ANBU in tow.

Sasuke let out an indignant "hmph" at their master's abrupt exit.

"Well, what do we do now?" Naruto asked. "Just go home? We could still train," he suggested. But the tired looks on his teammates' faces suggested they weren't comfortable with more training.

"I-I was actually th-thinking that we could get something to eat," Hinata nervously suggested, awkwardly avoiding eye contact from her teammates.

Naruto arched his eyebrows with surprise. This was out of character for Hinata. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Not at all." She quickly shook her head in defiance against the notion. "I-I mean, I just think it would be f-fun, and good for team bonding."

"Where do you want to eat?" Sasuke asked.

"Anywhere is fine with me," Hinata said.

"Don't worry guys, I know the perfect place," Naruto chimed. "Hurry, let's go. You guys are gonna love it."

"Here, guys, take a seat," Naruto insisted as he parted the white curtains around Ichiraku. "Old Man Teuchi, three bowls of miso ramen, please!" he begged, only realizing that it was probably rude to order for someone else without asking after he took his seat. Luckily, his teammates did not seem to contest the order.

"Is this your team, Naruto?" Teuchi asked him as he prepared the bowls.

"Oh, yes! This is Sasuke, and this is Hinata." He pointed them out as they were introduced, both of them offering a slight nod to Teuchi.

"Hinata Hyūga? You're Hiashi's girl! Is there anything else we could do for you?" Teuchi asked somewhat excitedly.

"Oh, n-no, thank you. The miso ramen will be fine," she clarified.

"Understood, miss," Teuchi nodded and went into the back to prepare the food.

"So, do you eat here often?" Sasuke asked, scanning the restaurant and taking in the quality of the place. He didn't seem unimpressed by the smells of broth and steam wafting around the air.

"All the time," Naruto smirked. "It's the best eats in the village," he claimed, fighting against the empty ache in his stomach that was made all the worse by the anticipation of his ramen.

"You know you're supposed to eat vegetables and stuff or else you won't grow, right?" Sasuke beckoned.

"Yeah, but none of that stuff tastes as great as ramen," Naruto argued.

Sasuke smirked. "You won't be thinking that when you're only five foot four."

Naruto paused, taking in the horror of being so short. "Maybe I'll find a way to work more veggies into my diet," he sheepishly conceded.

Teuchi entered the front of the establishment with three steaming bowls of ramen. "Here you go, everyone," he said as he laid each dish out before them with a set of chopsticks ready to go.

"But until then, I got ramen to keep me full," Naruto said as he readied his chopsticks. "Thank you for the food, Teuchi!"

By the time Naruto was through the first half of his meal, he was beginning to wonder if he ate way too fast or if his teammates didn't like ramen. They were taking so much time, and nobody was talking. It made things seem overwhelmingly awkward. Naruto had to do something, and he started with putting his food down. "So," he started. "We came here for team bonding. What are we supposed to bond about?" he asked, neither of his peers decided to speak up. "How are you guys doing with your new jutsu?" Naruto poised, trying to get the ball rolling, but it felt more like trying to start a fire in a rainstorm.

"I've pretty much mastered Lightning Fang," Sasuke said. "I'm working on a new fire jutsu on the side," he revealed.

Naruto nodded, trying not to reveal how bitter he was because Sasuke was already moving on to a new jutsu. "And what about you, Hinata?" He turned to the girl who was staring longingly into her barely touched ramen.

"Oh, uh, I am still working on Lightning Blast Arrow," she admitted. "I'm having a harder time putting a lot of chakra into the attack so that it explodes like it should," Hinata explained.

"Well I doubt that will be the case for long," Naruto said. "You're pretty strong."

"Th-Thank you. You're also really strong," she said, seemingly surprised by Naruto's compliment. "How are you progressing with your jutsu?"

"It's a lot harder to swirl wind chakra than I thought it would be. But I finally got the hang of it today," Naruto said.

"That's good," Hinata said, but it was sort of like she was talking past him. Something else was on her mind.

"Hinata, are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "You seem kinda… different."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't mean to bother anyone. I'm just worried," she admitted.

"What for?" Naruto asked.

Hinata froze for a moment. "I think my father found my bow and arrows," she revealed after a pensive sigh.

"He didn't know before?" Sasuke asked.

"N-No. I hid them from him. I didn't want him to find out because he would get very upset with me," she revealed.

"Why?" Naruto wondered.

"Because the Hyūga don't do archery. We are Gentle Fist users. He would think the worst of me if he knew I was becoming an archer."

"Shouldn't he be proud? You're good with the bow, he shouldn't be angry with you," Naruto protested.

"As the daughter of the clan head, it reflects poorly on him if I'm not acting the way I should be," Hinata explained.

"That sounds kinda stupid," Naruto said bluntly. "Parents should be proud when their kid is good at something. Your dad sounds stupid. You're trying to change the Hyūga anyway, why bother making them happy?"

"Well, I don't think you should try to make them angry either," Sasuke stepped in. "But, you are going to have to step on some toes," he clarified.

"You gotta show them how good you are with the bow," Naruto instructed.

"Maybe," Hinata admitted. "But how do I convince them all that it's okay?"

"We just completed an A-rank mission," Naruto pointed out like it was obvious. "How many Hyūga kids are doing that?"

"You also fought Zabuza," Sasuke told her. "You don't have to convince them, your accomplishments should."

"Yeah, maybe you're both right," Hinata said. "I'm just scared that my father isn't going to like it. I only wanted to go out to get food so that I could pass more time before going home," she admitted with a fearful pitch in her voice.

"Well, that's okay. Take as long as you want. But don't let your dad or anyone get to you. If they wanna throw a fit over a bow then they have too much time on their hands," Naruto said objectively.

"Thank you, guys," Hinata said. "Since we're bonding, I'm happy to see you back to normal after Wave, Naruto." She smiled at him.

"Heh," Naruto smiled, embarrassment evident from the red on his face. "Was I that bad?" he asked.

"N-No. You just seemed really hurt," Hinata clarified. "I would have been messed up if I had to do it in your place."

"Yeah, I get it. I'm glad that I'm over it for the most part."

"What was it like to do it?" Sasuke inquired with unbefitting curiosity.

Hinata looked at Sasuke with surprise, like he had asked an offensive question. But Naruto wasn't offended by it, and Sasuke didn't seem to ask out of malice or anything. "It all sorta happened in a single moment. I couldn't really think about it, I just did what I had to do, ya know?" Naruto explained. "After the moment passed is when it hit me. I took his life from him, and I know I had to, but it still felt wrong. People aren't meant to have their lives cut short like that."

"Yeah," Sasuke replied. "I was curious."

"I never got to say it but I appreciate you for shielding me from those senbon," Naruto added. He was thankful that it wasn't awkward or embarrassing. It was honest.

"Don't mention it. You healed me after it anyway. What matters is that we lived," Sasuke told him objectively.

"Yeah," Naruto said, appeased to finally express his thanks. "And Hinata, I am also sorry for the way I acted when I got the Nine-Tails' chakra. I know it must have been scary, but I wasn't worried about that at the time," he admitted.

"Oh, that's okay. I know you didn't mean anything by it. It was a scary situation, you know? I mean, without you we would've all lost. I know you're not a monster," Hinata said, which was reassuring for him to hear.

Naruto smiled, grabbing his ramen to start eating again before it got cold. "Thanks, Hinata. That won't happen again. It's a promise."

Kakashi opened the door to the Hokage Office.

It had been a while since Hiruzen enlisted the ANBU to find him. He expected that it must've been important. What he hadn't expected was to see Asuma and Kurenai waiting in the Hokage Office as well.

"Ah, Kakashi," Hiruzen greeted as Kakashi closed the door behind him and approached the desk. "Nice of you to join us."

"So, why are we all here?" Kurenai beckoned, similarly intrigued by the Hokage calling upon them all at the same time.

"You are all about to go on a mission. Top secret," Hiruzen said. "Each of you will be going to the Land of –" Knocks on the Office window interrupted the Hokage. "Ah, he's here." Hiruzen stood up and opened his window for Jiraiya to hop through.

"Did you tell 'em?" he asked.

"I was getting to it," Hiruzen said with a bit of irritance in his voice. "Anyways, you're going to the Land of Iron."

"Why's that? Wood Swords causing problems again?" Asuma postulated.

"Yes, but that's not really the focus of the mission," Hiruzen said.

"Mifune has been in talks with us about solving an issue for him," Jiraiya started.

"Well spit it out then," Kurenai barked, tired of Hiruzen and Jiraiya dancing around the details.

"Orochimaru is hauled up in Iron. He wants us to take care of him," Jiraiya said bluntly with his arms crossed. All the air was ripped from the jōnins' lungs at the Sannin's reveal.

"What?" Kakashi blurted out.

"H-How does he even know that Orochimaru is there?" Kurenai beckoned, her voice wobbly.

"My informants told him, of course," Jiraiya explained. "Orochimaru has dealings with the Wood Swords. We haven't pinpointed an exact location yet, but I'm convinced he's set up shop somewhere in the southeastern part of the country; closer to the Land of Fire."

"They're working together on something then. Wood Swords are finally thinking of making a move on overthrowing Mifune, perhaps," Asuma assumed.

"Sanjuro's rōnin's have become a considerable force in the southeast, I think he plans on using Orochimaru to help him close the gap in power between him and Mifune," Jiraiya poised.

"I have to agree," Hiruzen chimed.

"When are the other jōnin going to be showing up?" Kurenai beckoned.

"This is it," Jiraiya said, causing Kurenai's jaw to slacken and Asuma's face to tighten. Even Kakashi's eye widened slightly. He knew they were all capable jōnin but Orochimaru was a different beast. "Never fret. You all should know that I'm coming along too," Jiraiya revealed, which instantly calmed everyone's nerves a great deal, but nothing could totally take the tension out of knowing they had to face Orochimaru.

"We also aren't the only Hidden Village getting involved," Hiruzen said with a displeased look on his face from Jiraiya withholding information. "The Stone and the Cloud are also going to be providing who they're willing," he said.

"Why are they getting involved in this?" Asuma asked. "Isn't Orochimaru our problem?"

"He is," Hiruzen agreed. "But the situation in the Land of Iron is everyone's problem. Mifune losing power could be the end of the samurai's neutrality. The Wood Swords seem to hold very different ideas of the Iron's diplomatic approach."

"Are the Sand and Mist getting involved?" Kakashi asked.

"The Sand declined the mission. Seems they trust us to be able to take care of it. As for the Mist, well, they're caught up in other matters right now," Hiruzen said.

"I'll be leading the mission. Obviously, this one is S-rank. Top secret. You'll all need to prepare," Jiraiya instructed sternly, crossing his arms.

"When do we depart?" asked Kurenai.

"In about three weeks the Fire, Lightning, and Earth Daimyō are sending diplomats to the Land of Iron to hash out this mess. They're enlisting us to provide them safe passage and to protect them while they're in the country," Jiraiya explained.

Kurenai gave an indignant glare. "So we're supposed to protect diplomats and hunt down Orochimaru?"

"No, not quite," Hiruzen said, which elicited a confused look from the red-eyed woman.

"Then who is going to be handling the diplomats?" Asuma wondered.

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Jiraiya asked rhetorically. Silence overcame the room for a moment, and an uneasy feeling crawled up Kakashi's stomach and into his chest.

"Your genin squads will be overseeing the diplomats," Hiruzen finally revealed.

"What?!" Kurenai asked, disbelief present in her wide eyes.

END

Author's Note

Hey guys. Hope this chapter finds you all well.

So yea, as you can all probably tell, this chapter is much more development-focused, meant to help the kids bond more and whatnot.

This chapter is also set up for the upcoming arc. Which, if it isn't obvious, is not going to be the Chūnin Exams. This is going to be the Land of Iron Arc. Hope you're interested in samurai, political unrest, and Orochimaru shenanigans. It's going to be very interesting.

No real review replies for this chapter.

Anyway, chapter 16 drops on April 20th, around 12-1pm EST.

I appreciate all the support the fic has gotten so far. Review, favorite, and follow at your leisure.

Godspeed,

Salt.