'I-I-I killed him…' Naruto's hands were trembling. Blood was splattered all over his clothes. In front of him laid the man he had just stabbed in the heart. He was breathing heavily and felt a great amount of guilt in his heart. He had just killed a man. It was his first kill.

Naruto and his team were currently in the Land of Iron for their first C-rank mission. It had been two days since they set out from the village. During a short break from their travels, the team was ambushed by bandits.

Flashback to several minutes before

Naruto and his team were sitting on some logs eating some food. Naruto was eating some Onigiri that he had learnt to make for Kakashi and himself. Yugao had advised him to learn how to cook basic meals. It would be better to eat home cooked food than eating shinobi rations which tasted disgusting.

Shikamaru was eating some sandwiches that his mother made for him and Sasuke was eating some biscuits he bought in Konoha. The team were happily discussing their opinions on their trip so far when Naruto sensed several chakra signatures heading their way.

"Guys, we have some company. From their chakra, likely bandits," Naruto whispered to his team. The team nodded and got ready to fight.

A few moments later, fifteen bandits attacked them from different directions. The team was forced to scatter from each other as some of the bandits shot arrows at them. They were cornered by multiple bandits at once. Seven bandits were attacking Kakashi while three attacked Naruto and Sasuke respectively and the remaining attacked Shikamaru. The bandits knew that Kakashi was easily the strongest of the group so more was focused on him.

Naruto unsealed his sword and engaged the bandits who had cornered him. He used his sword to block a machete aimed to cleave him. The man using the machete was muscular and very big. However, to the surprise of the man, Naruto was stronger than he looked and pushed him back.

Naruto had done a lot of strength training over the years and was not your run of the mill twelve years old boy. He pushed the man back and entered his guard where he gave the man a kick to the stomach. The kick sent him flying into a large rock.

Before he could think about the man any longer, another bandit engaged him. This bandit was not as muscular as the man before but he was definitely more agile. He had a bow and arrow so he engaged Naruto in taijutsu. 'Oh, taijutsu fight. Big mistake.' Naruto was easily outpacing his opponent and before the man knew it, he had cuts on his arms and legs. The man was screaming in pain before Naruto knocked him out with the handle of the sword to the back of his head.

He looked around to see Kakashi defeating the bandits effortlessly. He was knocking them out with chops to the neck or slashing them with a kunai. He was broken from his observations when he felt killing intent from behind him. The intent was nothing compared to that of Kurama's but it was strong enough for him to feel it.

His body acted on its own. He turned around and readied his sword and held it in front of him. He felt a warm liquid splash onto him. He wiped it with his free hand and saw the crimson liquid.

He looked up and saw a man wearing a similar outfit to the bandits holding a knife in his hand, ready to stab him with it. The man had a shocked look on his face. Naruto's sword had stabbed him through the chest. Naruto stared at the man's face. He watched as the man's eyes rolled back and he collapsed, pulling himself off the sword.

Naruto stood there staring at the now dead man in front of him. 'I-I-I killed him…' His hands could not stop trembling and his breathing became heavy. He felt so much guilt in his heart.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Kakashi with a worried look. "Naruto, are you ok?" He asked, anxiety clearly in his voice. "I-I just killed him. M-my body just moved on its own. It j-just happened," he said, stuttering.

Kakashi pulled Naruto into a hug. "The first kill is always the hardest. I know you feel guilty right now. But think of it this way. He would've killed you or he would've harmed so many others. Feeling guilty and sad shows that we still have one thing, our humanity. You did what you had to," He said, trying his best to comfort Naruto.

As Kakashi let go of Naruto, Naruto also noticed that his teammates were experiencing something similar to him.

Sasuke sat down heavily breathing with a Kakashi clone beside him. Images from the night of the massacre flashed through his mind. 'What if the man had a family? I could've killed a father or a husband.' "Sasuke, I know you feel guilty and like the dirtiest man on earth right now. But it's good to feel something. It shows that you still have your humanity left. If you felt joy or emotionless, you would be no different to Itachi. I know that you are different from him and feel the pain of killing a man." Kakashi assured him. Sasuke felt better from that but he was still down.

Shikamaru was throwing up in a bush with a Kakashi clone behind him with a hand on his back. He had just killed a man with a bunch of shuriken he threw. He could not help but feel sick. After he stopped throwing up, Kakashi gave him a similar talk.

The team made their way to a nearby river and cleaned themselves up. The river was stained red with the blood from their clothes. None of them said a word to each other. They were internally reflecting on their first kills.

Kakashi had collected the dead and placed them in a grave hole. Those who were unconscious were swiftly finished off and placed with their comrades and buried.

The rest of the trip was done mostly in silence. The team was clearly affected by what happened. 'The first kill is always the hardest. This is why I agreed to this mission, to get their kills now rather than later down the road.' It's always difficult for a genin to kill but they had no choice. Killing was one aspect of the job. Everyone remembers their first kill. Kakashi himself had visions of his first kill haunt him for a few years.


After one more day of travelling, they finally made it to the capital of the Land of Iron. The team's mood has improved since yesterday but it was still quite down. Minor conversations have occured and Kakashi could see that the boys were slowly coming to terms with their feelings.

"Mifune-sama, this is the scroll we were tasked to deliver," Kakashi said as he handed the scroll to the general of the Land of Iron. Team 7 were currently in the office of the general of the Land of Iron, Mifune. The office was as large as the Hokage's. It had pictures of people who Naruto assumed were the previous generals. Swords and samurai helmets were displayed on the walls of the office. There were also two samurai guards near the door of the office.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san," Mifune said politely as he took the scroll and began reading its contents. Mifune was a 50 to 60 year old man with long grey hair and beard. He wore samurai similar to the guards. However, instead of being grey, his armour was green in colour. Naruto saw that he had a sword sheathed on his left hip.

After reading for a few minutes, Mifune nodded and smiled. "The contents of the scroll seems agreeable. I will check with my advisors to confirm everything and a reply can be made by this afternoon," he said.

Kakashi was about to leave with the team but was stopped by Mifune. "Kakashi-san, I would advise you to stay in town for a few days. A blizzard is coming and they are extremely ruthless in the Land of Iron."

"Very well, Mifune-sama. Thank you for looking out for my team." Kakashi and the genins were escorted to a room where they could stay for a few days.

"Please enjoy our hospitality, Shinobi-san. There's food provided for dinner at the eating hall. Mifune-sama has insisted that you and your team eat there as well," said the lady who showed them to their room.


At the Dining Hall

The dining hall was a very large room with a long wooden table in the middle of it. The table could probably sit 25 people at once. It had multiple entrances to the room and had large windows where snow could be seen falling outside. There was a buffet set up to the right side of the room. As the team was admiring the architecture and overall large side of the room, they're attention was pulled when they saw a group walk in from another door.

The group that walked in were shinobi. 'Other shinobi…from the look of their headbands and uniform, they are from Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village).' In Konoha, everyone was taught in the academy to recognise the uniform and the crest of other villages.

The two shinobi groups immediately tensed up when they saw each other and engaged in some sort of standoff. Naruto deduced that the team was also genins and were with their jonin sensei. They were staring intently at each other, waiting for any movement. The tension could be felt in the air. Many in Iwa held grudges against Konoha due to the third shinobi war and vice versa for Konoha.

Naruto took the time to observe the team as best he can. The jonin was a tall and brawny man. He had black eyes and wore his forehead protector as a bandana. He had a beard and a bulbous nose and wore the standard red Iwagakure shinobi uniform and flak jacket with his right sleeve missing. Naruto knew that he was a jonin as only chunin and above wear their village flak jackets.

'From the looks of his body, he is a strong taijutsu user and is well trained in earth style jutsus.' Naruto concentrated and sensed his chakra to firm his observations. 'Yes, I can feel that he has a very strong earth affinity. Very standard from Iwa shinobi.' He could now know the affinity of a person if he concentrated on his sensory abilities.

Naruto turned his gaze to one of the genins. He was a large man and looked to be a few years older than him. He had blacked hair that stuck out from behind his bandana and had a plump nose. He wore a yellow scarf and red shinobi pants. He wore a long sleeved mesh shirt with a yellow turtle-neck jacket that was a shade lighter than his scarf. Naruto could also feel a strong earth affinity from his chakra. He probably has a similar fighting style to the jonin given his size.'

He moved his gaze over to another genin. He was about slightly bigger than him and was probably a year or two older than him. He had brown hair and wore his headband on his arm. He wore brown shinobi pants and sandals. He wore a short sleeved light green shirt and had bandages wrapped around his arms. 'Bro does Iwa only have earth style shinobi or what? The three of them all have Earth affinity. He looks more agile than the other two.'

Naruto looked over to the final member of the team and his eyes widened at what he saw. She wore the standard red shinobi uniform as a top with her right sleeve missing. She wore fishnet leggings and a skirt over them. She also wore a pair of black shinobi gloves and had shoulder-length black hair. Naruto also noticed that she had two chakra elemental affinities. She had an Earth and Fire affinity. 'Kekkei Genkai, maybe?'

However, the main thing that caught Naruto's attention were her eyes. He had never seen anything as pretty before. Her eyes were distinctly pink and Naruto couldn't stop staring at her. She was the most beautiful girl Naruto had seen in his life.


Kurotsuchi was surprised when she saw the Konoha team. They were currently in a standoff with one another and she had no plans to lose. She took the time to observe the team. She recognised the jonin from the bingo books. 'Kakashi of the Sharingan…One of the leaf's best.' She looked towards the genin and started from left to right.

On the left she saw a boy with black hair and eyes. He wore white shorts and a blue shirt with his collar pulled up. He also wore white arm warmers and the regular blue shinobi sandals. He had his hand in his pocket and was staring at her team with an expressionless face. 'Looks like an emo…'

She turned her gaze towards the boy in the middle. He wore a short sleeved grey jacket and had a mesh shirt underneath. He wore brown shinobi pants and regular shinobi sandals. He had pineapple shaped hair and wore a bored look on his face. 'Looks like he doesn't even want to be here.'

She turned to look at the last boy and noticed that he was staring directly at her. She couldn't help but blush a bit. He wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face like Kakashi. It caused him to have an aura of mystery to him. She could see that he was a few years younger than her and was about average height for a guy his age. She could also see that he was well built as she saw how his shirt hugged him around his biceps. His hair was a very golden shade of blonde and was basically yellow. His eyes were a beautiful azure blue and she felt a certain warmth radiating from them.

Their eyes caught each other and they couldn't help but blushed and turned away very quickly. 'His/Her eyes are so pretty.' They both thought at the same time.

The teams were broken from their standoff when Mifune appeared. "My fellow shinobi guests, I know that your villages do not have the best history with one another but I do remind you that you are a guest in the Land of Iron. We are a neutral country and do not tolerate shinobi fighting within our borders. Please tolerate one another for the time being," Mifune said, addressing both teams.

The jonins nodded in agreement and the teams relaxed. The tension in the atmosphere was still present but it had lightened. The day went on without further problems. The teams ate in silence and were seated far apart from one another. They never met again for the rest of the day.


Naruto laid in his futon awake and staring at the ceiling. He was awakened by the strong wind and snow thudding on the window. He tried to force himself back to sleep but he just couldn't. He looked towards the clock and saw that it was 4am, one hour before he usually woke up. He looked around and saw that his team was still sleeping.

Knowing that he won't get anymore sleep, he got out of his futon and got out of his sleeping attire. After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he headed out of the room. The hallways were decorated with various paintings and there were many samurai armour on display. After a few minutes of walking, he found himself in front of the indoor training area Mifune had allowed them to use.

Due to the cold and harsh weather of the Land of Iron, many training areas were constructed indoors. He started his warm up before doing the rest of his training. The training area had training dummies for kenjutsu training. The training area was very big and could easily fit a hundred people. 'Must be for mass lectures or training like at the academy' he thought.

Naruto unsealed and unsheathed his sword and started training. He practised the various katas Yugao had taught him. At the same time, he created 50 clones and they practised on a wind jutsu and water jutsu from a scroll Kakashi had given him.

Several days ago, Kakashi had given him a few scrolls on wind jutsu and water jutsu after he successfully cut and soak a leaf with his chakra. He was given the scrolls to Futon: Daitoppa (Wind style: Great Breakthrough) and Suiton: Mizurappa (Water style: Raging waves) . Naruto had managed to learn both jutsu in a week. However, he felt that a jutsu was only truly mastered if he could do it with the least amount of hand seals.

He spent 40 minutes slashing, stabbing and slicing the dummies. He felt a presence watching him from behind but Naruto did not give away that he knew they were watching.

Suddenly a figure rushed towards him at great speed. He sensed the figure rush him and quickly turned with his sword in hand. His sword struck against another sword. Naruto was surprised when he saw Mifune in front of him.

"Mifune-sama…" Naruto said in surprise before he disengaged and sheathed his sword. "Sorry for engaging you, Naruto-san. I was watching you train and it piqued my interest. From what I've known, Konoha does not have many kenjutsu users," he said as he sheathed his sword. "I must admit, that was a very fast reaction time. Very unexpected from someone your age."

Naruto bowed and thanked him. He was quite taken aback to hear one the world's greatest swordsman compliment him.

"Although, from your stance and the way you hold your sword, it seems you don't have a style for it. Do you not possess your clan's kenjutsu style? The Uzumaki were quite known for their kenjutsu," Mifune said.

"Unfortunately, I do not. I've been experimenting with various styles from Konoha but none of them feels right to me." He replied with a sigh.

Mifune nodded in understanding. "Come." He said as he took out his sheathed sword and pointed it at Naruto. "Have a spar with me. Come at me with the intent to kill or don't try at all."

He unsheathed his sword and gripped it tightly. He took a deep breath and rushed forward towards Mifune. He swung at Mifune but it was easily parried away. Every time Naruto tried to strike Mifune, it was blocked or parried with no difficulty. "You have to do better than that. Come at me with everything you got!" Mifune exclaimed as he felt the excitement of battle in his veins.

Naruto nodded and took a step back. He made the half ram seal and released all of his resistance seals with a "Kai!" He felt 4 times lighter and more agile.

He gripped his sword hard and disappeared in blur. Mifune was shocked when he saw Naruto disappear and appear beside him again. He managed to barely block it only due to his years worth of experience. 'His speed. It's beyond the speed of a genin, no, a chunin. He is so fast.'

Mifune got over his shock and managed to adapt to Naruto's new speed. He blocked and dodged Naruto's strikes. At one point, Naruto's sword was locked with Mifune's. He pushed against him as best he could. They were at a standstill. Mifune; however, relaxed his strength a bit causing Naruto to stumble forward into his guard. Mifune used this opportunity to hit Naruto in the back of his head with the back of his sword. This caused Naruto to stumble and fall to the ground and let go of his sword.

Naruto was heavily breathing from his position on the ground. 'I can't hit him. Everything I throw at him gets blocked or deflected away. Shit, I let go of my katana!'

Naruto looked up to see that Mifune was coming down with a strike with an unsheathed sword. He saw it coming down towards him. 'I need to time this right.'

As the sword was close to striking him, Naruto used all of his speed to roll towards his sword on his right. He picked it up, got up into a crouch and held his sword forward. His sword was now pointed at Mifune's abdomen where his kidney was. Mifune looked down at Naruto and smiled. Although he was holding back quite a bit, it was not everyday someone managed to beat him in a spar.

"Very good, Naruto-san." Mifune was very impressed with the skills Naruto had shown so far.

"Please just call me Naruto, Mifune-sama." Naruto said. He did not like being called with honorifics.

"With a style, you could really progress far in your life as a swordsman. How about going again?" Mifune asked. Naruto looked up at him and a smile crept onto his face. He took his stance and held his sword in front of him. This time, Mifune was the one who attacked and Naruto was on the defensive.

They continued sparring for a few hours until breakfast was ready. During his sparring, Naruto sensed another person watching him train. Naruto smiled when he recognised the person's chakra. 'So, she's watching me…'


After eating breakfast, Naruto decided to rest and relax in their room. Sasuke had gone to train in the training area while Kakashi had some matters to discuss with Mifune. That left Naruto and Shikamaru alone in the room playing shogi.

"So, Shika, how are you feeling nowadays? Still affected by what happened yesterday?" He asked as he moved one of his pieces. He was very concerned for his close friend. He looked even more down than usual.

"Eh, I'm okay. Check." He said in his usual lazy tone. However, Naruto had caught something. He knew Shikamaru for many years to recognise that he was lying.

"Don't lie to me, Shika. You can tell me anything. Don't bottle it up within yourself." he said as he moved a piece to block the check.

"You're not gonna stop pestering me if I don't answer you right?" Naruto shook his head and Shikamaru could only sigh before his face took on a solemn look. "Fine… It's just that I knew being a shinobi needed you to kill but it felt so wrong when I actually did it. Sometimes I could see the eyes of the man that I had killed yesterday…"

"I understand. When I slept last night, I had dreams or rather nightmares of the moment it happened. Although think of it this way: If we didn't stop them, they could've robbed, killed or done worse things to others who could not defend themselves. That's why we shinobi exist, to help protect those who can't protect themselves. It's only right to feel that killing is wrong, it shows that we still have our emotions and our heart." He said, recalling words the Hokage had said to him many years ago.

"You didn't just come up with that, did you?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope, Hokage's words. Although, it does make sense," Naruto replied nonchalantly.

"You're right…It does make sense. We could've saved many many lives just because we stopped that gang of bandits." He said with a small smile on his face. "Man, a shinobi's life is so troublesome…"

"Sure is. Yet, it's worth it." Naruto commented, before he frowned as he realised he lost the shogi game. "Good game." He said as he shook Shikamaru's hand.


The Next Morning

Naruto woke up early in the morning. He didn't wake up as early as the previous day but woke up at his usual 5 am, which was nonetheless early. He did his morning rituals and headed for the same training area. He created 50 clones, 25 to work on the water jutsu and 25 to work on the wind jutsu. The original started some taijutsu practise. He had yet to fully learn both of his parents taijutsu styles but he was slowly incorporating them into his own style. After an hour of taijutsu practice, he started to meditate. It allowed him to relax his muscle and focus on his chakra. It also allowed him to be more in control of his emotions through breathing exercises. He took off his shirt which was sweaty and sticky and sat in a meditative position.

'You seem to have taken quite a liking to her.'

'I didn't think you'd be awake at this time and I don't know what you're talking about.'

'You can't lie to me, kit. I can see your thoughts, she is constantly on your mind nowadays.'

'You can see my thoughts?' Naruto asked slightly worried.

'When I want to. I can block myself from receiving your thoughts when I want to.'

'Thank Kami, I would be kinda weird…'

'Weird if I saw that you would like to take girl and just-'

'KURAMA!' Naruto could not help but get flustered at the thought.

'Hahaha. This is the reason I block some thoughts, kit. I do not want a front row seat to some of your thoughts. Speaking of which…'

Naruto had sensed the same presence from yesterday watching him. "I don't think its very nice to watch people from the shadows like that, kunoichi-san." He said, clearly startling the person watching.