Naruto has at this point left the Hokages office and had dinner with his friends, and is now walking Ino home. (In casual clothes)
They walked in silence, just enjoying each other's presence under the starlight sky. Ino wore a short skirt and a crop top, whereas Naruto had a pear of shorts on with a plain white t-shirt.
Naruto broke the silence, "Hey, before we get to your house, I know a place nearby if you want to hang out a bit more?" asked Naruto with a small blush on his face.
"Sure why not" responded Ino
Naruto and Ino had gotten really close, and Naruto had a thing for her, but wasn't sure that she liked him back.
Naruto took a turn and another and another before they ended up at Training Ground 3.
"Are you sure we are allowed to be here?" asked Ino
"Yes, I am sure." replied Naruto with confidence.
He approached the small lifted part of the ground that Tenzo had made to create the waterfall to test Naruto's Chakra control.
"Do you know how to walk up walls, Ino?" asked Naruto
"No?" responded Ino.
"Alright then" said Naruto
He picked her up holding he by the back and the knees with his two hands in front of him and jumped high in the air before attaching himself to the wall and slowly walking up.
When he reached the top, he let Ino down.
Naruto then kept walking towards the center, where a small pond was located. When he reached the pond, he laid down by the edge and looked up at the stars.
Shortly after Ino joined him and inched close to him, with barely centimeters separating the two.
"Do you like me Naruto?" questioned Ino out of the blue with a twinge of nervousness in her voice.
"Of course I like you Ino." responded Naruto innocently, but she didn't realize Naruto's heartbeat rise.
"Not as a friend as something more" asked Ino again but this time her nervousness was not hidden and when Naruto looked over at her face she was blushing and looking at him expectantly.
"Like I said of course I do, who wouldn't" responded Naruto with a smirk.
With that, Ino smiled as well and got really close to Naruto, burying her head in his chest and embracing him. Naruto returned the favor by embracing the back and pulling her in closer and put his head into her hair. She smelled great, like a fresh field of flowers, and being so close made him realize how warm she was how beautiful her hair was. Naruto never wanted to let go. They stayed like that for 10 minutes before Ino broke the embrace, making Naruto panic, thinking he did something wrong.
But Ino had a mischievous look on her face and jumped on top of Naruto and leaned down onto him, bringing her chest on to Naruto chest before kissing him.
Naruto was taken aback but didn't resist it, he felt her warmth and her heart beating out of her chest and felt as her tongue looked for his and his found it and interlocked, never to let go again.
After about 5 minutes, Naruto let go of her tongue's embrace and worked his way down to her neck, kissing it and giving Ino a hickey. As Naruto was about to give her another one, Ino backed away.
Naruto's mind started racing, what had he done, did he do something wrong, did he ruin his first relationship in a matter of seconds?
Ino saw Naruto's face and started panicking, she didn't mean to hurt Naruto she really liked him, but they were moving too fast, how could she tell Naruto that.
"Naruto, look I like you, I would even say I like you a lot, but we need to take this at a pace that both of us are comfortable at." explained Ino
Naruto nodded, he still looked a little disheartened, but the panic and sadness was gone.
"I'll bring you home" said Naruto.
He picked Ino up and jumped down the elevated platform and jumped over the streets of Konoha until they were in front of Ino's house.
Naruto dropped Ino onto her feet and as he was about to say goodbye, Ino gave him a little kiss on the lips.
"For the road" stated Ino and smiled at him before walking into her house.
Naruto started walking home with a smile on his face, although the moment was much shorter than he was hoping for, he still enjoyed it.
But as he looked at his feet, he bumped into someone
Before even seeing who it was, he said "Sorry"
When he looked up he saw Inoichi looking at him
"What are you doing up so late, Naruto?" questioned Inoichi
"Um, I was just relaxing by the river and fell asleep." said Naruto trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"Then why are you grinning so much" said Inoichi with a look that sent shivers down Narutos spine.
"Just thinking about graduating the Academy" said Naruto hastily.
"hm, alright then have a good night" said Inoichi
Inoichi moved past Naruto but as he passed Naruto he said "Take care of her" with such a calm voice.
It sent shivers down Narutos spine, the fact that he had not threatened him or had no emotion in his voice scared Naruto the most. As if he didn't need to threaten Naruto for Naruto to know what he would do to him.
Naruto sighed and continued walking, make sure to look around him for any more surprises.
The next day
Naruto was walking towards the academy and on the way there met up with Ino who gave him a small peck on the cheek before they also met up with Shikamaru and Choji.
They talked together thinking about what teams they would be put in and hoped that they would all end up together, however it was impossible as each team only had 3 members. But they could still hope and imagine.
A couple of minutes later in the assembly hall of the Academy.
"Congratulations to all of you" said Iruka
"We are here to celebrate you guys passing the Academy and becoming Genin and assign you your sensei's and your teams." explained Iruka.
"But who better to do that than the Hokage himself" said Iruka
Hiruzen walked out onto the stage
"I would first like to congratulate you on this achievement, and I would like to impart you with one key takeaway, let the will of fire burn bright in you and let you pass it on to the next generation."
This lead to all the graduates clapping and cheering.
"When your name is stated, please step up and you will be assigned into your teams." explained Hiruzen.
"Kagube Tamushisai
Imaza Sokuni
and
Hoba Michihana
You will be assigned to Team 11 under the guidance of Kurenai Yuhi may you become strong and pass on the will of fire" said Hiruzen
"Next up
Kiba Inuzuka
Shino Aburame
and
Hinata Hyuga
You will be assigned to Team 10 under the supervision of Asuma Sarutobi" stated Hiruzen
This shocked Ino, Shikamaru and Choji as their family lines had always been trained by a Sarutobi, and it made sense for Asuma Sensei to teach them.
"Continuing on, we have team 9 with
Rock Lee
Neju Hyuga
and
Tenten
lead by Might Guy, let the will of fire burn bright in you" stated Hiruzen
"We then have
Sasuke Uchiha
Sakura Haruno
and
Sai
lead by Kakashi Hatake, who will lead this Team 7 to greatness." stated Hiruzen
Some confusion stirred around the room as they wondered who this Sai guy was they had never seen him, when they looked aroudn they saw a guy wearing a black tank top and had skin the color of snow and he walked up to the stage and shook the hand of the Hokage.
But before anyone could say anything or ask any questions Hiruzen continued.
"And finally
Naruto Hatake
Ino Yamanaka
Shikamaru Nara
and
Choji Akimichi
lead by hm, talk to me after the ceremony" explained Hiruzen.
This sent a shockwave of whispers between the newly named Genin and even the instructors.
After a few more seconds, Hiruzen shouted "Silence!" which made everyone focus on him again.
"Go meet your new Jonin Sensei and teammates" commanded Hiruzen
The Genin listened to his order and proceeded to gather and left one by one, until the 4 Genin without a sensei were the only ones left besides the ANBU guards and the Hokage.
"Hey gramps, what is this all about?" questioned Naruto
"You 4 will be creating a special team under the designation of Team 8 you will be trained and evaluated as prospective ANBU operatives. You will be led by Yamato who is a ANBU captain acting as a Jonin for the rest of your training." explained Hiruzen.
This made the 4 Genin look at each other in shock, not only had they gotten their wish, they were prospective ANBU members, which was a great honor.
"You will be completing 5 D-Rank missions before moving on to more extreme missions as long as Captain Yamato agrees." explained Hiruzen
"What about the Sarutobi handing us our earrings?" questioned Shikamaru
"I will be doing that so long as Yamato deems that you deserve it." explained Hiruzen
Which made the 3 Genin beam with excitement, receiving an earring from the Hokage was a great honor.
"Where is this Yamato guy?" asked Naruto
"Was Always here" said a voice behind the 4 Genin.
Even without the mask, Naruto could recognize the person's physique and voice anywhere, it was Tenzo. Naruto flashed him a knowing grin and got a small nod of approval from Yamato.
"As the Hokage stated, you will be trained hard and be put into difficult missions from a young age, so make sure you are ready for anything, I will not tolerate any failure, and you will be immediately removed from the team and lose any chance of joining the ANBU. Do you understand and accept these conditions?" explained and asked Yamato.
The three Genin nodded.
"Very well, meet me in 20 minutes at Training Ground 3 with all your equipment and gear." said Yamato before Shunshin-ing away.
At training ground 3 20 minutes later
When Naruto arrived in his full armor and his blade on his back, Yamato was already waiting there.
Ino arrived shortly after
Followed by Choji a minute later
And Shikamaru a couple of seconds after Choji.
"Let's begin that everyone is no here" said Yamato
"Wait Captain Ten-Yamato" said Naruto
"What is it?" asked Yamato with a look that told Naruto to not slip up again.
"I have something to reveal to the team" said Naruto
"Are you sure about this Naruto?" asked Yamato
"Positive" answered Naruto
"So spill the secret" said and impatient Ino
"I am technically and Uchiha and Senju" said Naruto.
"What?" said Naruto's friends simultaneously
"Or, in other words, I have access to the Sharingan and Wood Style Release" explained Naruto.
"I have also been training with both Captain Yamato and Kakshi in training my taijutusu, ninjutsu and genjutsu." explained Naruto further.
"He is probably at low to mid jonin level at this point in time" stated Yamato.
This was the final nail in the coffin, Choji just stood there suprised at what his friend truly was, Shikamaru just stood there and nodded almost as if he knew and Ino was visibly pissed.
"You bastard, Naruto" keeping such a secret from us.
She ran in to punch Naruto, but naruto just interlocked his arms and blocked the punch but the force still made him slide back a bit.
"Look Ino it had to be done, I trained for my own safety and kept it a secret under the Hokage's orders." explained Naruto.
"Well if the Hokage ordered it, but still you could have told us we would have kept a secret" said Ino
"I had no choice" said Naruto.
"Ino you need to understand he was ordered by the Hokage he had no choice but to follow, I mean if you had looked closley you could seem some clues as well, for example he easily passed everything he did without listening in class, he eaily beat Sasuke and was the highest ranked Shinobi for the final exam." said Shikamaru
"You know we don't all analyse everyone we meet at such a deep level right?" asked Choji
"Now that that has been setteled I will explain some stuff to you and tell you what you should focus your training on." said Yamato
"Naruto I need you to keep using your special learning technique to hone your skills but I want a majority of your trainign to focus on your Kenjutsu with your new sword" said Yamato
"Ino, you need to work on your interogation, mind swap jutsu and learnign healing jutsu" stated Yamato
"Choji, I want you to work on your taijutsu as a main focus but also learn some ninjutsu" explained Yamato
"Lastly, Shikamaru I want you to develop your shadow paralysis jutsu and also increase your tactical prowess." stated Yamato
"These are the things I want you to focus on for now, you will spend any time you have when you are not on a mission here and train. From at least 8 in the morning to 7 in the evening." explained Yamato.
"I will be here and guide you guys in this, once you master the things I just stated to you guys we will work on balancing you out so that you at least have some proficiency everywhere" continued Yamato.
"Alright to add onto that each Anbu is equiped with a weapon, as you can see Naruto already has his Katana, you may pick what you want but here are my reccomendations:
Choji I reccomend a two-handed greatsword for you, although bulky and less stealthy due to your strength and able to perform partial expansion jutsu you could become very powerful
Shikamaru I reccomend a bow, due to your mid range proficiency a bow will allow you to engage the enemy at long range as well.
And Ino for you I reccomend a short blade as it is powerful, light and can be used effectively in combat
But lets not get ahead of ourselves for now you can think about the weapon and we will have it created eventually and you will be trained in becoming proficient with it" explained Yamato.
"One last thing we will be given a priority in terms of D-Rank missions to get our 5 out the way quickly, that means we will head into the battelfield soon meaning you will have to kill, if the thought of killing someone even raises a small doubt in your mind then come to me and we will solve that issue first" stated Yamato.
"That is all from me for now, go train and I will asses your inital prowess" explained Yamato
He created 5 wood clones one for each student and one extra for Naruto.
Naruto created 30 clones and assigned 15 of them to work on Ninjutsu and Genjutsu while the other 15 would learn Kenjutsu.
This sight of 30 Narutos shocked the others as they knew it to be a forbidden jutsu but decided to ignore it as they knew he had been training and it would explain his rapid growth in strength.
2 weeks later
The entire team had definetly improved significantly, the rigorous training that Yamato put them through was worth it, he taught them the basics of ninjutsu and chakra control and they mastered it quickly. And they had made several improvments in the areas that Yamato ordered them to improve in. Naruto had become a strong Kenjutsu user, not yet quite perfect but he was at a good level. But the biggest improvements came from the other 3 memebrs of the team who had made extermly quick progress considering they didn't have access to shadow clones. Ino with the help of her father had become much better at interogation and could probably do it on the fly and her mind transfer jutsu became more powerful. She also learnt basic healing jutsu but it wasn't great yet. To add onto that her relationship with Naruto had improved and they where steadily growing closer and closer. Shimaru had made the most improvments, his tactical genius was immediatly evident to Yamato and his shadow paralysis jutsu had already evolved learning the shadow strangle jutsu. Choji had greatly improved his taijutsu and had become quite proficient with partial expansion jutsu. Not only that they had completed their 5 D-Rank missions so they could embark on their first C-Rank mission.
In the mission center
"Hokage-sama we have completed the 5 D-Rank missions assigned to us and we believe we can move onto C-Rank missions. Very well you will carry out an escort mission for a bridge builder from the Wave Village."
"Yes, Hokage-sama" said Yamato.
"Very well, you will depart as soon as possible meet at the main gate in 10 minutes the builder who goes by the name Tazuna will be waiting for you there" stated Hiruzen.
"See you around, gramps" said Naruto as he left the room.
At the main gate
20 minutes later
All members of Team 8 arrived on time at the main gate and met the man Tazuna.
"I was promised Ninja not some kids" protested Tazuna
"You would be suprised at what they can do, after all its just a c-rank mission we are not expecting to run into any trouble along the way" said Yamato.
"Hmph, and what if we do these little brats can't do anything about it you are supposed to protect me afterall building this bridge is extermly important" complained Tazuna but it fell on deaf ears.
"Lets get moving, I don't want to have to travel in the dark" commanded Yamato and team 8 set out on its first mission.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter as we start our first full Arc in this fanfiction. I decided to incorporate the ANBU into the story while still keeping a tight team bond and friendship alive between the friends I established early on in this story. This was also the first time I have ever writen anything with romance and kissing etc so I hope I did ok with that.
Next chapter we will be continuing the wave arc and see how that differs from the actual story.
Thank you for all the reviews and if you have any feedback I would appreciate it if you left a review so I can improve the story. I would also like to hear you opinion on chainging this to M maturity rating if you guys want more detailed romance parts between Naruto and Ino (I don't really mind either way, just keep in mind im not great at that stuff).