A/N:

We are back with the second part of the story. The main focus is everything around the genin days. We will see some new things and maybe more original things. I hope you can enjoy the new chapter. A shout out to PraetorXyn, who was insane enough to take over the Beta post. Further, I think the overall quality has improved for all of you thanks to his work.

Beta: PraetorXyn

Uzumaki Compound, one hour after the Mizuki Incident

Hiruzen was slowly getting back to his feet. He nearly passed out again as he saw that a weeping Kakashi was being held by a very much alive Kushina Uzumaki. Naruto was talking with his father, and Mito Uzumaki was talking with another person with red hair, who after getting a good look he identified as Hatsumi Uzumaki. Somebody had put his head onto a rolled up pillow. The Sandaime got back onto his feet, only to be noticed by all of the present Uzumaki, along with the lone Namikaze and Hatake. The latter quickly dried up his tears and put his ANBU mask back on to stand beside him.

"Finally back again, old monkey?" Mito's voice was still somewhat cold and lazed with killing intent. Her body language was clearly shouting disapproval, while Kushina seemed to be held back by Minato and Naruto's prescenes, while Hatsumi was whispering into her ears.

"You know I developed the Scroll of Seals for kinjutsu to be kept safe. I intended for each Hokage to add to the security and secrets. Now I find myself significantly disappointed with the reigning Hokage, because three hours ago, my honorary great grandson sent some of his clones to the compound carrying not one, but two Scrolls of Seals: the original and the copy he made for safety purposes. The next thing he did was to explain how he came to be in possession of it: knocking out the Third Hokage — student of my late husband and his brother — with only a simple henge, intended for seduction and infiltration."

Mito bore into him with her gaze, something the old Sarutobi hadn't missed from the old days when he was still a young student, but easily remembered. He straightened out his Hokage robes. He looked around again before saying anything in his defense, because he was a bit lost on that front. He asked his foremost question.

"How are you alive? I watched you all die, and I buried all three of you. Mito-sama, Kushina-chan, Minato-kun?"

Again, Mito was the person to speak — this time after giving Kushina and Naruto a short smile.

"Well, first of all, Kushina, Minato, and I are not really alive. We are imprints of chakra generated by one of my best accomplishments in fūinjutsu. What exactly we are is classified as an Uzumaki Clan secret. Let us just say Ashina's letter set off a chain of events leading to the preservation of the Uzumaki Clan, at least in a manner of speaking. The only Uzumaki currently living in Konoha are Uzumaki Hatsumi — a distant cousin of Kushina-chan and Naruto-kun, the reigning clan head. We three can't leave the compound, but we can teach both of them," Mito ended with a smile.

Hiruzen's mind was working overtime. That the Uzumaki Clan could work miracles with fūinjutsu was nothing new. Developing a method to teach the young long after their own deaths was something he hadn't thought possible. Mito had mentioned teaching both living Uzumaki, which was intriguing. Only thirty minutes before the incident, he had gotten Naruto's academy scores. He had placed last in nearly everything theoretical. Only his bukijutsu and taijutsu were worth mentioning, having placed second on the former and first on the latter.

Before he could say anything, Mito looked at Naruto and spoke again. "Mago, I — Mito Uzumaki — declare your apprenticeship in the arts of sealing under me as finished, and I grant you the title of Shodan Sealmaster of the Uzumaki Fūinjutsu Style. Combined with your new status as genin of an allied village, you are now declared as of age, and are therefore sitting head of the clan."

Minato looked at his son with a proud expression and Kushina hugged her son, while Naruto cried tears of joy. "Really Mito-sensei? Can I call you baa-chan now? I will be the best clan head ever, dattebayo!"

Mito just nodded in answer to Naruto's excited questions. "That you will be Naruto-kun. You have your elders to advise you on the next steps and should make use of that, but now I think Hiruzen is waiting on your mission report." Naruto nodded, and his demeanor changed from the excited child of twelve years he had been, to the genin he was now. Kushina let him go and nodded encouragingly. Naruto cleared his throat and looked at Hiruzen.

"Am I correct in assuming Kakashi-san is the person you intended to be my jōnin sensei, jiji-sama?" Naruto's mixture of etiquette and familiarity was refreshing to Hiruzen, and he nodded.

"That he is. Because of your late graduation and scores, you would be placed alongside the top of the graduating class."

Naruto crossed his arms behind his back and stood up straight.

"That's good. Then I won't have to enact the Uzushio-Konoha treaty clauses. Still, first things first. After joining the academy Fukasaku-sama of the Myoboku Toads was waiting in my apartment. He gave me my inheritance as advised and requested by my parents. After that I summoned Mito-baa-chan, who began to explain my heritage and took over my education. We reopened the compound and relocated to it. After some time I could establish a secret passage from the red light district warehouse sector to the compound." Naruto took a short break to look at Hiruzen to make sure if he had questions so far, but the old Hokage just signaled him to go along.

"How I was trained is an Uzumaki Clan secret I am afraid, but as my leader and my future jōnin sensei I will say this. I am currently mastering my second natural affinity for Suiton. After completing the mastery of my first — Fūton — one week before the final academy exam. A group of Shadow Clones are in the training process for Suiton and Doton. I used to send bunshin to the academy, and instead used my time for training and getting my hands dirty taking out the trash in the red-light district."

Here Hiruzen intervened shortly with a raised hand. "It is clearly astounding if all you said is to be believed. I think we will have to test you on that later, just to be safe. Still, you said something about taking out the trash in the red-light district. Are you the vigilante my ANBU could not catch all these years?"

Naruto nodded, still in his report mode.

"Yes, I am. Mito-sensei, kaa-chan and tou-san judged the crimes and ordered the acts I executed as part of my training. As of now, the red-light district is one of the places with the lowest crime rate in the village, and if you will give me the mission to do so, it will stay that way jiji."

Hiruzen slowly nodded.

"I think that can be arranged. You did Konoha a great service. After the Uchiha Police Force was wiped out, the ANBU could not keep up with all the workload. For the duration of the mission I will sign a B-Rank Mission and reassign it as long term B-Rank after you are first reporting in with your team."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen in approval and gave him a grateful short bow.

"That will do. My clones and I kinda love the work. It was dirty in the first place, but after some time, the residents liked it very much that somebody was looking after their interests."

Kakashi was still in ANBU mode, or the talk he seemed to have had with Kushina helped him to stay silent. The ANBU's body language spoke off curiosity and questions, but a short look to Hiruzen was all he gave at the moment. Hiruzen was soaking in the facts of his surrogate grandson's life. He was proud that his surrogate grandson was such a good shinobi, but at the same time he was a bit disappointed with his part in Naruto's life. He should have made more room in his timetable, but with Mito and the others picking up his slack, Naruto had more than he could ever have wished for.

"Well, let's get to the Mizuki Incident. I am a sensor and inherited the skill to sense emotions to an extent. During the academy tests, Mizuki gave off negative emotions toward my person. My written exam was under a genjutsu. After that, I decided to play Mizuki's game after I weighed my options. Mito-sensei's standing order was to stay under the radar."

Hiruzen intervened then to get some more details.

"That means your abysmal results in most of your classes were fabricated, Naruto-kun? And what about the failure of the exam? Didn't you want to be a genin and Hokage?"

Naruto chuckled a bit.

"You know jiji, with all due respect, why should I care about the genin test in the academy if I can beat seasoned chūnin and some jōnin at twelve? I have three of the most accomplished shinobi of Konoha as teachers at my beck and call to advise me. The gifts to the eagle and some investments my transformed clones made are providing a steady income. I am — besides Hatsumi and Jiraiya-san — the only living person who can do advanced fūinjutsu. Jiraiya-san might qualify as a Sealmaster, but he didn't study six years under the seal mistress of the Uzumaki. I think I could give him more than a run for his money for that title.

So, jiji, the only reason I wanted to become a shinobi and Hokage was to be acknowledged as a person by this village, but my goals have changed. I want to be a hunter-nin first to make a name for myself, and after that I want to try to use that name to establish more peace. But I digress. Yes, I faked my grades. The education of Konoha is something baa-chan would like to talk with you about, you know. How it could be so bad and missing major parts in the curriculum, such as our clan history or basic fūinjutsu classes to name two easy examples."

Hiruzen looked between Mito and Naruto. The former looked like she wanted to repeat her dressing down from the beginning again — something Hiruzen really wanted to avoid — so he did what all good conversationalists do: he changed the topic.

"Yes… Well, it's good you did that then. The council would surely ask some questions if you showed your true prowess. So after you failed your test and knocked me out, you did what exactly?" Naruto gave a short nod.

"Well, the council can do nothing now. I'm the Uzumaki clan head now., the leader of an allied clan to Konoha. The only jurisdictions I fall under now are that of the Hokage and commanding officer for the missions I am on, so long as the mission and orders are in agreement with the treaty.

After I got the scroll into my hands I used my Copy Tag to create an Uzumaki-encrypted copy and put them both at the compound for safekeeping. I analyzed the scroll and could detect Uzumaki Fūinjutsu. At the same time my clones studied the scroll to improve its security, I captured Mizuki, who only wanted a good excuse to kill me and most likely defect with the scroll. That concludes my mission report."

Hiruzen and Kakashi struggled to adjust to the new information. The ANBU looked at his leader for guidance, while the Hokage frowned, deeply in thought about what to do. Naruto's clones came back with the scroll.

"Hey boss, here it is. We encrypted the original with a security seal and a summoning seal. Here is the required seal for the summoning. We keyed jiji alone into the scroll. We have the copy to work on, and we are adding it to the Uzumaki archive as instructed by tou-san."

Naruto took both things from the clones and dispelled them, absorbing the information in seconds. Holding both out to Hiruzen. "As promised. With the summoning you can just summon the scroll back to you if anyone else tries something with it. To read it, you have to channel some of your chakra into the scroll."

Hiruzen took both scrolls.

"Well Naruto, thank you. I would say you earned yourself a A-Rank pay, or even S-Rank if Mizuki was poised to defect. The improvements to the scroll are ingenious. Now, let's get to testing you.

With all things you mentioned, you are only missing mission experience to qualify for chūnin — or even tokubetsu jōnin or higher. With the chūnin exams in six months being hosted by us I would like to hold back the promotion though."

Naruto nodded his understanding. He himself was the person to say how the ranking system was all the same to him. He took a leap back to make some room and looked expectantly in Kakashi's direction. Hiruzen looked at Kakashi.

"Don't hold back. We need to see where he really stands. Nothing permanent."

Kakashi was surprised, but took his ready position while the Hokage joined his successor on the sideline and shouted, "Begin!"

Naruto quickly unsealed a kunai with a fuda attached to it and threw it at Kakashi with a bit over genin speeds. The seasoned jōnin caught it out of the air with ease, but dropped it after the scribbles of the fuda moved toward his body. He tried to channel chakra into it to break the fūinjutsu, but Naruto moved forward and unsealed a shuriken, throwing it at him, holding a one-handed ram seal. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The single shuriken multiplied a hundredfold. Kakashi tried to quickly dodge, but was surprised as Naruto was still holding the one handed ram seal and the shuriken homed in on his location. The jōnin was forced to jump back again and take out a kunai, dispelling one shuriken after another, only to dodge a palm strike after Naruto used the seal inscribed on his feet to make a short Shunshin.

Jōnin and genin exchanged blows, and Kakashi was able to dodge or block some, but clearly underestimated his former sensei's son, as a palm strike hit his stomach. Naruto quickly jumped back, flying through hand seals. "Gravity Seals, activate."

Kakashi felt the pull on his body double. This time he used more chakra and was able to break both seals, jumping back a bit.

"Ma ma, Naruto-kun. You really are something." He lifted his Headband showing his Sharingan. Hiruzen was surprised Kakashi would have to resort to the Sharingan, but after watching as Naruto managed to use one of his jutsu with one-handed seals and made his projectiles home in on his enemy, and quickly thereafter applying a fūinjtusu by simple touch explained the proud looks on the faces of Kushina, Mito, and Minato.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and changed his stance a bit. He popped out two clones and waited for Kakashi to make the first move. The red eye spun shortly, only for one of the clones laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder and breaking the genjutsu.

Naruto Clone Two channels chakra into his stomach and unleashed the next jutsu at Kakashi. "Fūton: Daitoppa!" The stormwind unleashed by the clone was twice the size the jutsu would normally have. Kakashi rushed through hand seals himself. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Kakashi released a big fireball that rushed at Naruto who just smiled and gave his clone a nod. Clone One jumped into the air while Clone Two unsealed a scroll of water. Naruto himself rushed through hand seals. "Suiton: Daiteppōdama!" The resulting water bullet clashed with the fireball. With a big sound of rapidly heating water a cloud of smoke filled the battlefield.

"You know Kakashi-san, you seem a bit rusty," a voice from behind the white-haired jōnin led him to do a quick 180. They both engaged in a quick taijutsu battle.

Mito looked at Minato.

"Your late student was lazy. If Naruto had used lethal force and had not had to be precise enough to avoid endangering my garden, Hatake-san would have lost after Naruto-kun applied the fūinjutsu."

Minato nodded, watching his son and former student using some more jutsu. Kakashi used Doton against Naruto. The blonde genin used a blade made of wind to cut through most of the stones thrown at him. Hiruzen looked at Mito.

"Excuse me Mito-sama, but could you please explain?"

The redhead gave the Hokage a short look.

"The gravity seal he applied can be safely used to double gravity without endangering the opponent and environment. Anything else could be difficult. If you look closely, Naruto fights to defend while he waits." Hiruzen thought about what she could mean, as the match looked fairly even.

Kakashi landed more hits with taijutsu, but in the ninjutsu department, Naruto countered each jutsu with the counter element, or — if impossible — used Fūton to divert or cut through it. He looked more closely at Kakashi, and could see what Mito meant with Naruto's strategy. Kakashi tired more quickly than Naruto. With the use of his Sharingan and repeated ninjutsu — coupled with his training regimen having been reduced in the months since his retirement as an ANBU captain — he burned through his reserves at a rapid pace. It did not help that Kakashi was just back from a solo A-Rank mission. The fight had been going on for more than four minutes now. Naruto was sweating and had some bruises, but he was otherwise alright.

However, Kakashi panted and looked worse. What he saw next was a picture that the Sandaime would remember for a long time. In each cardinal direction around both fighters, a Naruto clone stood holding their hands in a full ram seal. All four shouting in full synchronicity. "Chain Style: Four Cardinal Chain Dance!" Out of each clone, four chains spread out of the back and rushed at Kakashi. Hiruzen could see that Kakashi's Sharingan tried to predict the movements, but even a jōnin of Kakashi's abilities would tire out eventually. He was simply not fast enough, and used a desperate Kawarimi to dodge most of the chains, but two caught his arms, holding him in place.

A fully developed Rasengan nearly hit him, only held back by Naruto. "I think that is enough," Minato called out, and Naruto instantly stood back. The clones retracted their chains. Naruto let the Rasengan vanish. Kakashi closed his headband over the Sharingan and panted a bit before popping a soldier pill. Hiruzen was a bit speechless again. Naruto had quickly shown his teacher's influence. The incorporation of fūinjutsu, his father's taijutsu style mixed with the traditional Uzumaki style. His ninjutsu was off the charts, and Hiruzen was not clear he could match him at the moment. He would have to train more. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he looked at Naruto who had a water bottle in one hand after giving one to Kakashi and sipping from his own.

"Well, that was educational to say the least, even if you were a bit exhausted from your mission Kakashi-kun. You will have to put more effort into your training. We can't have a genin surpassing his sensei before the sensei starts teaching, right?"Kakashi stopped drinking for a moment.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, but what should I teach him? He is more advanced than I was as a genin or chūnin."

The person to answer this question was Minato, not Hiruzen. "You can start with teamwork, then finish his Doton training and start with Raiton. He knows some Katon jutsu, but with his Fūton arsenal he just needs some jutsu for combination attacks. Naruto wants to be the next person to master all five elements."

Minato winked at Hiruzen who chuckled a bit. "He needs more experience in the field and to be outside of Konoha. The next time sensei is in the village, you, your ANBU friend, and he should supervise Naruto channeling some of his tenant's power."

Naruto looked at his father. "You know how I feel about that. My body is not ready for that training at the moment."

His father just nodded and looked at Hiruzen. "Ahh. Well, yes. I will try to reach out to my student. Well Naruto-kun, it is safe to say I am impressed. As I said, if the next chūnin exams wouldn't be in Konoha, I would promote you the same time you got the minimum required missions. I think Kakashi and I have some things to do, and we'll let you celebrate in peace." He took both scrolls and looked at Kakashi. Both vanished with a leaf Shunshin.

Kakashi came back later to talk with Minato and apologized again and again. Kushina bonked him on the head, and Minato explained to him that he would have to let go of his guilt. Naruto and Mito examined the collected jutsu from the fight. This was something the two kept secret from the others, because Naruto was trying to further develop the technique to convert the tags back to hand seals and knowledge to learn the jutsu.

The grandmother and grandson were ecstatic to find out how easy the translation would be. The time slot that had been reserved to develop the new jutsu collection scroll was used for something different now. Naruto's clones tried to come up with a way for Kakashi to deactivate the Sharingan instead of hiding it under his headband, and you could see the R&D clones pored over anatomy books paired with the chakra point map they used.

With Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage Tower

Hiruzen sat in his office, the files of the academy graduates laid before him. He looked over the team compositions recommended by the classroom teacher, Iruka. He had to smile at the composition of Team 10 in the now-classic Ino-Shika-Cho formation with Asuma as a sensei. Team 8 would be a good tracking team: An Aburame, an Inuzuka, and a Hyūga; overly specialized and a fresh jōnin sensei. The last team who would surely pass was Team 7, a team number with a large legacy. The Sannin and Hokage were often part of that team. This time the team would consist of an Uzumaki, an Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, a civilian with near perfect chakra control. After getting a wake up call from Naruto about the fallen standards in the academy, perhaps he should intervene more in the training of the new rookies. Konoha would have to give a good showing in the exams, and with all the heirs, that should be easy. He took out a scroll and scribbled down new orders. Every Friday, the rookies would do joint training sessions as long as they were available and not outside the village on missions.

"ANBU, I need four of you each morning for a training session with me; I have to get back into shape." The ANBU gulped a bit and were shocked at what their old leader wanted to do. Training with the professor promised to be hard, and they could feel the bruises forming before they even started.

Roof of the Academy, shortly after Kakashi picked up his team only 10 minutes late

Kakashi had only been ten minutes late, the many talks with Kushina and Minato really having helped him to deal with all his losses. After that, his bad habit of arriving late was mostly cured. Kakashi and Naruto waited for the rest of the team. In the few days between the graduation and the assignments they had talked. Kakashi had given Naruto his first Doton and Raiton exercises, which the blonde quickly began to try out. Naruto meditated while Kakashi read his Icha Icha. Some habits couldn't be cured, even after being smashed in the head with a frying pan by Kushina. Sasuke and Sakura joined them — slightly out of breath — both looking at Naruto with wide eyes.

Sakura was the one who asked the question. "Wait a minute, Naruto, you were behind us a second ago!"

The blonde looked at her, and he was grateful she wasn't screeching like a banshee anymore.

"That was a clone Sakura, I was waiting with sensei while he sent a clone to pick you up"

Sasuke looked like he wanted to burst.

"But why did you know what to do?" Sakura asked the next question.

Kakashi held one hand up. "Easy there Sakura. I will explain some things, but let's introduce ourselves first. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I am a former ANBU captain and student of the Yondaime. My favorite things are dogs, training, and jutsu. Naruto, you're up next."

Naruto nodded and stood up giving his foxy grin.

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki, current clan head of the Uzumaki Can from Uzushiogakure. I love training, fūinjutsu, and ramen. I hate people who judge others without getting their side of the story, traitors, and people who endanger their team by not training enough."

Kakashi nodded and pointed at Sakura, who was still struggling not to ask Naruto more questions. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I like…" She looked at Sasuke, only for Kakashi and Naruto to sigh at the same time. "What?" she asked, a bit embarrassed.

Kakashi had talked with his sensei about how he could train his genin, and as he was adamant about giving them the best preparation possible, he had to cure Sakura of her Sasuke Fangirl Syndrome as soon as possible. "I want to make one thing very clear Sakura: you are a genin under my watch. If you and Sasuke want to pursue a romantic relationship at some point, I really couldn't care less, but you will train and eat enough to ensure a high chance of survival. Have you looked at Kurenai-sensei? Would you say she isn't beautiful?" Kakashi looked at her with a stern expression.

Even with his mask and one visible eye, anyone could see he was serious. Sakura was dumbfounded. It was new to her that anyone would confront her as openly as Kakashi had, but she could only shake her head at his question. Kurenai-sensei was one of the few kunoichi every single male shinobi wanted to get a date with. If she had Kurenai's body, she was sure she could get on Sasuke's good side. Kakashi unsealed a scroll and threw it at Sakura for her to catch it.

"That is your new diet. You will follow it, you will eat enough, and with our training you will get strong, deadly, and pretty like you want. Is that understood?" Again the pinkette only nodded, and Kakashi pointed at Sasuke.

"You are up Sasuke." The Uchiha nodded, he was a bit starstruck. He had been afraid the team would hold him back, but his sensei had set Sakura straight right away, and Naruto was very good at taijutsu.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like to train to get stronger and avenge my clan, and I like tomatoes," he spoke with a slow voice; he wasn't the best with social interactions. Kakashi just nodded, seemingly satisfied with the introductions.

"Tomorrow we will meet at training ground 7 at 0900 hours for secondary testing: I want to see what I am working with. You will get a third test before your first C-Rank mission. Now get yourselves something to eat." With those words he vanished in a leaf Shunshin.

Naruto looked at his teammates. "Well guys, I would be open for a get-to-know-each-other dinner at Ichiraku's."

Sakura looked at Sasuke who shrugged his shoulders. Naruto dusted his pants off and made his way to them both. "Nice."

With those words he used two clones to Shunshin his teammates to Ichiraku's, joining them in a blink later. Sakura looked disheveled. The reactions were different: while Sasuke wanted Naruto to teach him that jutsu, Sakura demanded he pay for her meal as compensation for surprising her like that. The three genin ate their fill of ramen on Naruto's tab and made some smalltalk.

After that they all went to their respective homes to relax and rest, except for Sakura, who had to prepare some new food for herself. Kakashi-sensei really looked like he meant business, and she really wanted to be good looking and get her Sasuke-kun.

Training Ground 7, the next morning

Team 7 assembled and stood before Kakashi. Everyone was punctual to the minute, something Kakashi honored with his trademark Eye Smile.

"Welcome, my cute little genin. Today, I will assess your skills. After that we will do some conditioning exercises, team drills, pick up some D-Ranks, and maybe before the end of the day we will look at your chakra control and such. To start us off Sakura, you and Sasuke will fight against Naruto. You three need to know where your strengths and weaknesses are. And Naruto: no holding back."

The blonde was a bit shocked, but in the fight he did exactly that. Sakura was quickly wrapped in chains and choked out. A short while after, Sasuke was confronted with Naruto's homing shuriken. The Uchiha tried to dodge, but two hundred shuriken was one hundred and fifty too much for the Rookie of the Year. Many things happened at the same time. Naruto released the homing aspect of the jutsu by cutting off the chakra flow, Sasuke's eyes became a deep red color with one tomoe in each eye, and Kakshi saved the Uchiha by using the Mud Wall technique.

"What the hell dobe?!" Sasuke screamed and wanted to rush at Naruto, only to be held back by Kakashi. "Stand down genin, or I will make you. He did exactly what he was told and helped you with that. You felt it was life threatening, and the overwhelming pressure was enough for you to awaken your Sharingan. Be thankful for that." His clone woke up Sakura, and after that he stood before them.

"As you can see, you are no match for Naruto. The reason for that is that Naruto was holding back and covering up his true skills during the time at the academy. He may or may not explain to you why, that's up to him. I will make one thing clear: you won't pressure him on that topic. So, back to the results. Sakura, I hope you have eaten enough, because you didn't last long. You will be spending some sessions with my clone doing conditioning and reaction drills. Sasuke, your Katon is good for a fresh out of the academy genin, but against Naruto, that won't help. As you can see he can do Suiton just fine. Naruto, well done. How are your elemental exercises coming along?"

Sasuke was envious, and Sakura was embarrassed, while Naruto looked only slightly winded: besting his teammates had only been a quick warm up. His two teammates needed a break before the conditioning, so he and Kakashi had a light spar, and both of them worked up a sweat. Sakura and Sasuke were both surprised that their sensei not only had the Sharingan in one eye but also couldn't hold back against their teammate. After a short water break, they did the conditioning circle Kakashi adopted from his rival — albeit to a more reasonable degree. Sakura could only do one half, Sasuke was dead on his feet after the full one, and Naruto silently increased his training seal matrix by one level. After that the team drilled formations and some trust exercises. Finally, they did a simple D-Rank mission where Naruto was forbidden from using his clones.

Hokage office, later that day

The jōnin sensei had come together to discuss the results of the real genin test. Everyone was a bit shocked that Kakashi was actually on time. The Sandaime looked around and smiled at his jōnin sensei. It was always good for him to see the next generation picking up the Will of Fire. "Well, we all know why we are here. Let's get it done so we can enjoy the rest of the day."

The jōnin nodded, and the first six all said that their teams failed their exams. This was nothing new or unexpected for Hiruzen as he looked at Kakashi, who closed his Itach Itcha Book.

"Team 7 passed the first of two examinations, Sandaime-sama. As we agreed, the real test will be before the first C-Rank. The only things worth mentioning are that Sasuke has awakened his Sharingan, Sakura will need some work, and I really don't know how I can balance the team with Naruto on it."

That got the attention of the other shinobi. Asuma was smoking as usual, but was skilled enough to ask his question. "What do you mean by that Kakashi? You have the Dead Last and the Rookie of the Year. I would say that is a pretty good balance. Now that the Uchiha kid has his eyes, you should be good shouldn't you?"

Kakashi chuckled, but before he could defend his genin the Hokage spoke up. "I think the first joint training session will allow us to test whether or not there is a problem. Now, Kurenai?"

Asuma was intrigued about that diversion, but he and Kurenai gave the feedback that their teams had passed.

Uzumaki Compound, at the same time

Mito and Kushina sat over some notes. Minato was outside training Naruto in the Raiton element.

"Your son is improving quickly Kushina. Are we still in agreement?" Mito asked after making sure their privacy seals were active.

"We are Mito-obasan; even Minato is on this after Naruto told us about his plan to rebuild Uzushiogakure and the new extraction seal he is working on. I can understand where he is coming from. Without your guidance and the compound as a safe haven, I don't want to think about what the villagers could have done to him. All that hate against an innocent child..." Kushina shook her head.

"We have to finish our work here Mito. Naruto's clones are playing with his idea to create a pocket dimension with seals like the bijū seals for living people. With the drafts and base seals with the prisoner scrolls, he could be the one to make it happen. But let's get back to the new mentor scroll."

Both Uzumaki women wanted to make some improvements, like reducing the stress on the seals. Mito had to be summoned every fourteen days to avoid burning out the scroll with some delays for the seals to cool down. The new scroll would be more resilient and would only be required for the initial summoning. Like the summoning contracts, it should be something else entirely. For that they had a list of things to work on. Naruto trained with Minato most of the time he was in the compound. His clones had his projects, and Hatsumi was looking after her projects.

With Hatsumi, Outskirts of Konoha

"Report."

Hatsumi said while looking at the kneeling Sai before her.

"Danzō is meeting with Orochimaru of the Sannin. Orochimaru provided him with some sort of artificial arm. My investigation leads me to believe he scavenged some Uchiha corpses for their eyes after the massacre."

Hatsumi had to hold back her leaking killing intent; she didn't want to alert an ANBU patrol.

"Do you have proof of that?"

Sai shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, I could only overhear it, Hatsumi-sama."

"Pitty. How is the operation progressing?"

"Steady but slow mistress. Your override tags are working fine. Here is the scroll with all the copied scrolls of the Konoha tunnel network and operatives."

Hatsumi took the scroll and sealed it inside her personal storage tattoo on her left wrist. "Good. Commence as planned Sai."

Sai nodded and vanished in a leaf Shunshin. Hatsumi was seething. Danzō had made one big mistake: he didn't want her as an enemy. She would have to go over the data of the collected information and double check some of them. One could not be careful enough if one wanted to cross the war hawk of Konoha.

A/N:

Thanks to all the reviewers. I have tried to get back to you all with private messages and engage in some conversation. Out of all of them I got some nice inputs to develop the story further, so if you have questions or want to get something out, feel free.

I was asked about pairings. At the moment it's looking like Naruto will get three girls. Karin will be a part of it; the other two I am not really sure about. We will see after the Shippuden timeskip.