Beta: PraetorXyn
Somewhere remote in Konoha, noon
Hatsumi waited for her contact to appear. Sai didn't make her wait long as he appeared out of thin air and knelt down onto one knee.
"Hatsumi-sama, I'm ready to report." His voice was still emotionless, but it was slowly getting warmer. In her spare time, the former Uchiha and now Uzumaki worked on her 'borrowed' operative's emotions. Shinobi should be rational on missions, yes, but outside missions, they should be able to live as humans should. Therefore she had educated them on normal human emotions, and slowly but steadily it had worked.
"Proceed Sai-kun."
"Danzō didn't have any more meetings with Orochimaru in the last few weeks. Also, no hard evidence could be found which would lead me to believe that he is a traitor. His recruitment drive is still unbroken though. There are nearly a thousand operatives under his command at the moment. With your tags, our manpower reached one hundred this month. They are placed everywhere around the nations — as are our operatives — but it's getting harder to approach the Ne agents with the conversion seals. Most of the training is now outside of Konoha and split into different hideouts. In Konoha itself, Danzō and three hundred of his forces remain in the main ROOT bunkers."
Hatsumi listened closely and unsealed some scrolls she gave to Sai.
"Well, Sai-kun, that is some troublesome news. In the scrolls are more conversion tags. They are difficult to make, but we should be able to help more of your brothers and sisters. How is the scouting of Uzushio going?"
Sai nodded and sealed the scrolls inside his bracers in a personal storage seal Hatsumi gave him.
"We found out that the Daimyo of Wave Country is the official owner of the lands. Because of the Fūinjutsu Lockdown the Uzumaki invoked, nearly nobody can land on the island. Those who can evade the maelstroms can't stand a second of the chakra drainage if they step foot on the land. They call it the cursed islands now, and the Wave Daimyo wants to sell the island badly. The Wave economy is declining, and Gatō Global Trading seems to control all import and export businesses in and out of the Wave. Maybe we can get hold of the island with a discount after we free wave country from Gatō."
Hatsumi nodded, coming to the same conclusion as her head of operations.
"Very good, Sai. How about the Phoenix Protocol?"
"On every assassination or infiltration mission with a high enough risk classification, one or two operatives are 'killed in action'. If they are already converted, they retreat to one of our established safe houses. We have found some survivors in Kusagakure and Amegakure. Operations in the latter are difficult, because the survivor is the new leader of Amegakure and held in high regard because of the safeguards he applies to the village. We are trying to gather more information on both targets."
Hatsumi nodded this time. It was good to hear that her new clan wasn't as dead as she thought, and that the island was still safe for the time being.
"Thank you, Sai-kun. Commence as usual. I have to think about the situation in the Wave. Try to get the locations of the other jinchūriki. Naruto-sama has a great interest in his brothers and sisters. Maybe he will ask for them in the future."
"Hai, Hatsumi-sama."
After a short wave of one hand, Sai disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves. Hatsumi had returned to her day-to-day business, and was now smiling at Sasuke, who got hold of his lunch order with Naruto and Sakura. It felt good to see that her youngest made leaps of improvement after getting forced into a conversation with the Yamanaka clan head. The Hokage had made them mandatory after the report of his T&I division commander.
This had proved to be a good idea after the genin had been beaten very badly by Naruto. Sasuke had tried to train himself into the ground, only to have gotten some help from the same person he had been beaten by. Naruto had quickly intervened and given both his teammates some aid in their training. The chakra weights had made even the simplest D-Ranks something valuable.
Paired with his now two-tomoe Sharingan, Sasuke was improving at a very rapid pace. Team 7 was rushing through D-Ranks, and after they had caught Tora with a new record yesterday, Hatsumi had become very sure Kakashi would do the second test in the next few days so they could do a C-Rank. Sakura was learning some Iryō Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. She just couldn't hold a candle to her two teammates in terms of chakra capacity and stamina.
Hatsumi was still concerned though. Sakura still very much had fangirlish tendencies, and Sasuke thought his dōjutsu was the answer to everything.
She hoped the reality check they needed would not be too much for them.
Golden Leaves Restaurant, Afternoon
At a remote table, seven people sat in a semi-formal setting.
Hiruzen was in his ceremonial Hokage robes, while Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi all looked good in their kimonos — even Kakashi, who still wore a mask on his face and his hitai-ite over his implanted Sharingan. The two young kunoichi had dressed up, and while Hinata wore a light-blue Kimono, Ino had decided to go for her favorite purple one. All the female participants looked like they were glowing with beauty. Even those two young kunoichi had invested enough time in dressing up so they could be equal to the beautiful Genjutsu Mistress.
The second blonde at the table wore a high-quality silk kimono with the Uzumaki Spiral on his back, sitting pristine and properly, and not like the hyperactive knucklehead he was in his daily life.
"It fills this old heart with joy to see the Will of Fire in our young burning this brightly."
In the distance, some would swear they heard somebody yelling 'Yooouuuuth!' at the top of their lungs at that very moment as the Hokage offered his opening words.
"First you two Ino and Hinata-chan. Very good fighting and decision making." Both kunoichi blushed a bit at the praise and bowed their heads a bit.
"Thank you Sandaime-sama."
Hiruzen smiled and looked at Ino.
"I heard you will get a sibling soon, Ino-Chan?"
Ino nodded and told him that her brother would be born the following month. It was unusual that the Ino-Shika-Cho members would have more than one child, but this time her very own father had broken with tradition after he had gotten drunk celebrating some of her accomplishments in her academy days. To say that Ino was embarrassed would be an understatement, but she tried to cover it while explaining some of the details to the Hokage.
"And you, Naruto-kun. I heard you dominated the male division?"
The blonde looked just a little bit smug about that as he scratched the back of his head and gave his best foxy grin.
"Well, Jiji, I tried to hold back ya know. It's just… they were so sure of themselves and all that. I just had to try and beat some sense into them."
Hiruzen chuckled.
"You did well, but always remember that as fellow Konoha shinobi, they are your brothers and sisters."
Naruto smiled and gave his best imitation of Guy's 'nice guy' pose.
"I hear you Jiji. Don't beat them up too badly, dattebayo. Just enough that they can improve and all that, yada yada."
The adults smiled at the words. Even Kurenai was taken in by the blonde shinobi's cheerful nature.
"I heard you are already working on your elemental affinities, Naruto-kun?"The Hokage directed the conversation with ease while the group took some bites from their main dishes.
"Hai. Fūton and Suiton are finished. Watch!"
Naruto smiled while around him particles of water gathered in the air and a small breeze gathered in his hair.
"Impressive, Naruto-kun. Two elements mastered before your first C-Rank as a genin."
"Well Jiji, I want to be the second Konoha shinobi to master all five elements. I am working on Doton, Raiton, and Katon, but those are a bit more challenging, so I think I will get them down after the Chūnin Exams. Doton for sure, the two others maybe a bit later."
The others gaped a bit, even Kakashi who knew that Naruto had those ambitions and the clones to cheat all the training time normally needed was surprised at how far he had come.
Hinata and Ino looked at their fellow genin with different eyes now. First, he had beaten all the male rookie genin up, and now had advanced far enough in his skills to get direct praise from their leader. Hinata had known some of it because of their training, but she had to acknowledge that Naruto had been holding back on her — something she wanted to change.
The first thing she did the following morning was ask him for more training. Again Hinata was glad that she was out of her shell. Her old shy self would have fainted countless times by now. She had noticed the small glances Naruto had given her. Even with her young body, the kimono just improved her natural curves. If she wanted to reach her goal she would need Naruto as support — and hopefully more — but for that they had time.
After more small talk where even Ino got some recommendations from Asuma, the dinner was concluded and all got back to their homes.
Some days later Team 7
"The target is around the corner."
"Confirmed. Target in sight, well done gold."
"Does the target have the red ribbon?"
"Yes, scarecrow."
"Good. Team 7, engage."
After the short conversation over their communication devices, the three ninja of Team 7 closed in on their target. Naruto smirked to himself. That would be a new record. After the last time they had done that mission, he had marked Tora the Hellcat with a Hiraishin marker. He wasn't able to do the jutsu yet, but he could lock on to the markers just fine. So even the crafty cat Tora — who for some reason was able to suppress her signature — could not flee from him.
After he let Sasuke catch the cat while providing support by walling off the area with a small barrier seal formation, they reported to the Hokage. After all three arrived at the training ground — Naruto and Kakashi with a Shunshin while Sasuke and Sakura by foot — Kakashi looked at his team and gave them an Eye Smile.
"Okay my cute Genin, time for your second test. Pass, and we will get a C-Rank tomorrow. Fail, and we will try again next week."
Sasuke looked at his two teammates with the best don't fail or I'll kill you face he could muster. Sakura — despite her fangirlish tendencies — was pumped up after that, while Naruto just yawned.
"And what is the test, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi took two bells out of his pocket and held them up so they could see them.
"A Team 7 tradition, the bell test. But with an Uchiha and an Uzumaki, I will have to step up the difficulty. First, you can use whatever you wish, but no fūinjutsu or chains, Naruto. Second, you have until the sun sets. Last but not least, anyone without a bell will be kicked off the team. Questions?"
"Sensei, you only have two bells!" the pinkette exclaimed.
"Yes, yes that's the thing, Pinky. I can only take the best of the best on C-Rank Missions, so I have to say goodbye to the worst student."
Naruto frowned a bit, while Sasuke looked determined to get a bell. Sakura paled and looked to her knight in shining armor — Sasuke — to save her. She didn't want Naruto to fail, but at the same time she couldn't be left behind, not if it risked Ino Pig stealing her Sasuke-kun.
Kakashi revealed his Sharingan and threw a pebble into the air. As it hit the floor, the jōnin charged at Sasuke only to kick him into a tree. The genin could block the kick with the activated Sharingan, but not the force behind the kick. Naruto molded some Fūton chakra and let it out to create a small dust cloud. Taking both his comrades with a clone and Shunshined away.
"Anything broken, Sasuke?"
"Hnn," the Uchiha pressed through his teeth with a negative answer. Naruto looked at Sakura.
"And you Sakura? All okay?"
"Hai," she stuttered a bit. Her eyes weren't able to see their sensei's movements. She knew at this moment her chances to pass were diminishing to something very small.
"Okay, we are against one of the best jōnin in the village who doesn't want to play with us."
Naruto's senses picked up a small signature, and he dodged the kunai at the right moment as Kakashi engaged the three in a taijutsu battle. Naruto blocked a hit aimed at his face as Kakashi rushed through hand seals. In the blink of an eye, Sakura went from an academy fighting stance to a deep slumber as Kakashi's jutsu hit her. The one-eyed jōnin dodged a Fireball from Sasuke. Naruto looked at the nearing Fireball and Shunshined away.
"Sasuke, I need some fire."
The Uchiha again spat the Great Fireball out as Naruto supported it with a Daitoppa.
Kakashi dodged behind a Mudwall. The Mudwall could hold for a second against the enhanced Fireball. This provided enough time for the jōnin to get to his next target. He picked up the sleeping Sakura and vanished into the trees.
"Damn, he has Sakura."
Naruto internally berated himself for not thinking about getting a clone to get her more secure after he failed to break the genjutsu. Sasuke was about to follow Kakashi only to be held back by Naruto.
"Sasuke, we need a plan. Come on, he manhandled you before even with your precious eyes out."
"And what is your super plan, dobe?"
Naruto had to think for a moment.
"At the moment we have to target the hostage before we can go after the bells. I can distract him with clones, but you have to dispel the Sharingan genjutsu on her. I couldn't do a thing, so it must have been cast with his eye."
Sasuke looked at the blonde with a dumb expression. He couldn't agree more with his statement, but that rubbed him the wrong way. Why was his blonde teammate the leader now? Wasn't he the Uchiha and the one with the best genetics and all that? Even that one Uzumaki lady had told him countless times that there was always a bigger fish somewhere in the sea. Stupid riddles. The Uchiha nodded at Naruto and shortly after, both scouted for Kakashi's location.
The jōnin looked at Sakura. He used ninja wire to bind her arms and legs together. After that, he used his shibari skills to safely hang her up like a butterfly in its cocoon. He had used the simple Sharingan Hypnotize Genjutsu to get to sleep. He had seen Naruto try to break the jutsu, but he hadn't been able to. He smirked and took out his Icha Icha book.
His clone was keeping the two genin occupied for the moment. It was a good thing he had gotten back into training. He was now a bit better than he had been in his ANBU days. It was all thanks to the possibility of talking to his old sensei, and the encouragement from Kushina. All those things had given him what he had needed to get out of his downward spiral and engage harder in his training than ever before. He regularly sparred with Guy for the Log's sake. He had closed his Sharingan eye to conserve his strength, and because of that, he could see a bit as many smoke bombs exploded in his makeshift camp. He thought about how fast the two had to be only to dodge some thrown kunai.
With a short Fūton jutsu, he blew the smoke away to reveal a smirking blonde in the opening stance of the Rising Tide style.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei, let's dance."
With those words, Naruto released his training seals and moved toward Kakashi at more than chūnin speeds. Kakashi was not able to lift his headband and had to focus to dodge or block the attacks from his genin. High, low, the kicks and punches flew at him like a gatling gun. If Naruto could use his fūinjutsu and chains, he would have to dodge everything. Just a simple touch could be enough for the little blonde to attach a fūinjutsu nowadays. With the restrictions, he was fast enough to dodge the hard hits and block the smaller ones. For his twelve years, the body of the genin was at the biological maximum muscle-wise.
Kakashi was sure he could knock out some of the chūnin with one punch if he wanted to. It was scary sometimes. He substituted himself with a log to get the space to unveil his Sharingan.
"Time to step it up a bit, Naruto-kun," he said joyfully, only to dodge a volley of thirty kunai. Naruto only threw one, but as a master of the Kage Bunshin technique, it was as easy as breathing for him to multiply them.
He dodged another volley only to witness some small fireballs closing in on his current location.
His eye could make Sasuke out in the bushes, so a short-distance Shunshin later, he placed himself between the two genin looking for number three. Sakura was still unseen as Kakashi dodge another combination jutsu from Naruto and Sasuke.
A good thing those two can work together, but where is Sakura? He hadn't much time because of the three Naruto clones, who engaged him in another taijutsu battle.
"Hey Sasuke, where is Sakura?"
"I woke her up and told her to prepare some traps so she wasn't useless."
"Good thinking. Well. How about we get Kakashi into those traps? How are your reserves?"
"About half, I would say."
Naruto thought for a moment and unsealed a fūma shuriken.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do."
Kakashi was still fighting against Naruto's clones. He had to acknowledge his student's skills. How Naruto had done it he couldn't figure out at the moment, but to end a clone, he had to hit them in a critical spot, whether it be vital points or with something that would kill with pure destruction. He was now sweating a bit. The team of clones worked in perfect synchronization. When one hit, the other two covered or tried to hit from the blind side. All the clones were easily on par with the original. He didn't even want to know how much chakra Naruto had spent on them.
He recognized that the clones' pattern had changed a bit. At first, they had just wanted to keep him busy, but now they moved him in a direction. He could go all out — dispose of the clones and get free — but he was here to test them and not to see who was the better ninja. Still, one thing was clear: he would have to tell his leader that Naruto was on par with ANBU recruits without his deadly fūinjutsu arsenal and Uzumaki Chakra Chains.
"Now Sasuke!"
Kakashi could only hear the shout as all three clones tried to hold onto him somewhere. Out of the winds, shuriken and kunai flew at him. He was able to dodge the simple projectiles, but was again moved in another direction. A fūma shuriken with the hue of Fūton chakra was flying towards the silver-haired jōnin. All right, his students wanted to kill him: good. He unleashed Raiton chakra in his hands. The Raikiri was enough to cut the clones in half so he could dodge the shuriken, only for his Sharingan to recognize the second one in the shadow of the first transforming into Naruto throwing a Kunai at point-blank range. The dull point of the Kunai bounced off Kakashi's vest.
The veteran looked down and knew that if they had wanted him dead, he would be dead now. Naruto was able to enhance his weapons with Fūton, and at this range, he wouldn't have been able to dodge.
"Well, good enough. Here are your two bells, Naruto. Even if I did not give it my all, you did it."
Naruto watched the two bells only to throw them at Sakura and Sasuke.
"A team effort," was his commentary for the two dumbfounded genin.
Kakashi gave them an Eye Smile.
"Very good, you three passed the test."
"Hnn?!"
"Ehhhhhh?!"
Naruto thought Uchiha and Haruno looked very comical as he took a place while he only half-heartedly listened to Kakashi's explanation of the true nature of the test. Did the cyclops forget who trained him — or more accurately his clones — all day, the person who had given Kakashi his own bell test? Naruto smirked a bit. Just yesterday when his father had explained what the bell test could be, he had prepared his strategy. Show off his improved clones, don't be too flashy, and rate his teammates. He could work with Sasuke, but Sakura was still starstruck. She had stopped dieting, but didn't train much more than necessary.
His clones told him that she only did the team training. In her spare time, she did nothing. This was something Naruto couldn't get behind. Sakura was the person with the least fighting capabilities, and she didn't bring anything to the team like the Sharingan capabilities of Sasuke or his fūinjutsu. To be very frank, she was useless as of now. Some low genjutsu from Kurenai and her excellent chakra control would not hold up to more than a chūnin-like enemy. He could only hope that the C-Rank was something like a bandit camp so his teammates could grow into their shinobi lives. He hoped that the notorious C-Rank Curse would not apply to his team. Even if they got on his nerves most of the time, they were still his teammates. He wouldn't want to bury one of them anytime soon if he was the person to decide that.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage Office, later on, the same day
"You say his clones are so solid that only critical hits could dispel them?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
"Marvelous. Did you find out how Naruto was able to achieve that feat?"
"He said it needed around four times the amount of chakra a normal clone would take. He is very sure that only a Kage-level shinobi would be able to supply enough chakra for the technique. If they used ninjutsu they would destabilize themselves more and more. taijutsu, bukijutsu, and kenjutsu would be fine though. He tried to explain it to me, but unfortunately, I can't say I understood everything."
Kakashi and Hiruzen sat at a small coffee table with steaming tea before them.
Kakashi had just finished his report about the passed bell test of Team 7 and got his C-Rank escort mission to Wave Country. His clone was on his way to inform his team that they would meet tomorrow at the gate and what they had to pack.
The old Hokage took his time to continue the conversation.
"Say Kakashi, do you think it is a good thing to hold Naruto-kun back? Your team could be filled up with a pool of genin to get through the chūnin exams. After Itachi and all that mess, I don't know that I want him to get too independent too quickly."
Kakashi thought about the question for a few moments.
"Well Hokage-sama, I can understand where you are coming from, but I don't think Naruto is a flight risk or under much pressure at the moment."
The Hokage took out his pipe and began to smoke. His forehead was laden with wrinkles.
"You have a point there Kakashi, but I wanted him to have some kind of childhood. If I promote him to chūnin, he will have to take harder missions and deal with the Council."
"He didn't have much of a childhood to begin with. If you want to get my point of view and a recommendation, wait for the C-Rank to be completed. After that, maybe give him delayed promotion papers dated one day after the exams? He would get his promotion before the exams, but could help his team reach the third stage. A clear win-win if you ask me."
The seasoned jōnin took a sip of his tea looking at the Hokage.
"I will think about it, Kakashi. Good luck tomorrow on the C-Rank, and maybe try to test Naruto on a chūnin's skills if possible. Your idea may be a good one."
Kakashi finished his tea and nodded at his leader only to vanish in a Shunshin shortly later, leaving Hiruzen deeply in thought about his favorite blonde.
A/N:
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