Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Cursed Eyes.

Last chapter, I focused more on developing team 10's teamwork, more precisely regarding Ino and Chouji's preconceptions of their teammate. It's not to say that they overcame it all the way, but at least they gave Naruto the benefit of the doubt. Also, last chapter, I've introduced a new character, which will play a more central role in the upcoming chapters later on. For those who don't know who I'm talking about, here is the hint, she wears a mask. Anyway, read last chapter once more and you'll figure it out.

Now, this chapter will be the bridge towards the beginning of the Wave Arc.

Here it goes.

Chapter 8 – Team 10

Beta: Kyuubi123

It'd been a couple months since Team 10's first D-ranked missions and Sarutobi Asuma couldn't be more proud of his little genins. Akimichi Chouji managed to increase his speed because of the bracelets. The boy even learned new jutsus from his clan that, if used accordingly, would give a lot of trouble to his opponents. Chouji went as far as to follow Naruto's speed for a couple of minutes and even managed to dodge a few hits from the non-Uchiha Sharingan user. Granted that Naruto never used his eyes against his teammates, but it was an improvement nonetheless. Chouji's weights increased more, but Asuma was confident that he would get accustomed to it in no time.

Yamanaka Ino evolved as well, regarding her taijutsu. After constant pressure from Asuma and her father, she focused more on increasing her strength and speed. What generated her interest the most was the fact that Naruto managed to dodge all her attempts with a bored expression on his face. It was infuriating and she used this energy to increase her stamina and speed. Still, she couldn't land a hit on him, but at least she was faster than before. Like Chouji, she also got training from her father regarding the clan's jutsus. She practiced the Shintenshin further, learning to adapt the technique in stress situations. Now, she was learning the next one called shinraishin no jutsu. It consisted of disrupting the opponent's control over his or her body, forcing him or her to do things like attack the opponent's partner.

Naruto's growth wasn't so surprising, considering that according to Kakashi, the genin already had mastery over two elements, which would only be vital once he became a jounin.

Kakashi didn't focus much on the Sharingan or the fact that Naruto's were already evolved to three toms. He managed that after one heated spar against Kakashi two weeks ago.

His taijutsu was more refined due to his constant spars against Asuma. Also, as the boy's sensei later found out, Naruto had been practicing the hidden art of kenjutsu with an Anbu member codenamed 'Tori' every day before the team practices. It somewhat surprised him that his stamina made up for both practices. One time, he decided to wake up early and see Naruto's skills with the sword and what he saw, just wasn't right. He rephrased it, it couldn't be right. Tori, he knew, was an accomplished swordsman inside the Anbu. However, upon seeing him sparring with Asuma's student, he was surprised to see that Naruto was keeping up with the man. Of course, Naruto's Sharingan was activated, but that alone didn't diminished his skills.

As far as teamwork was concerned, Asuma deemed acceptable, for the time, the strategy created by the team. Even if Naruto was by far the strongest, he would always be the support of the team, leaving Ino and Chouji to the front lines. At first, it wasn't as effective, because well Ino wasn't focused on attacking others, leaving Chouji alone to face the enemy, with Naruto backing him up just in case. With time, the strategy bore fruit , as Ino saw the opportunity given by her teammate and improved her skills with projectiles and her taijutsu. Also, Naruto managed to anticipate the enemy's movements quite well. He would step in once he realized that either Chouji or Ino wouldn't be able to avoid the attack. Still, Asuma gave his insight from time to time, placing Naruto and Chouji on the offensive with Ino as support with her projectiles. Chouji was the only one of the team with no knowledge, or even familiarity, of fighting in long range, hence why he was always placed up front as far as teamwork was concerned.

It was his clan's specialty after all, so he never complained.

The last thing that changed between the team was their interaction. Two months served to dim Ino and Chouji's misconceptions of their teammate and now the only thing they didn't approve of was Naruto's distant attitude towards them. He always asked them questions, he never took action alone, even though he could very well cover for the entire team. However, he didn't hang out with either of them, after team training or missions. Both Asuma and Kakashi tried talking to him, but the genin always gave them the same answer. Naruto's theory was that both Ino and Chouji didn't know about the other truth about him. It was quite frustrating how Naruto used the Kyuubi as an excuse, but neither could ascertain whether or not Naruto's hypothesis would come true. The Kyuubi was responsible for many deaths and that included both Akimichi and Yamanaka shinobi. So, as the jounin responsible, Asuma decided to increase the amount of missions of the team, so that they could participate in tougher missions and possibly develop a much deeper bond.

His attempt wasn't unheard of as ninjas, with similar sufferings, could better relate with one another.

Right now, after returning from their fourth D-ranked mission of the day, Asuma saw it fit to see if there was another mission for his team. Since their formation, Team 10 performed close to three missions a day, finishing the impressive amount of forty by the end of the last month. They would break the village's record if the Hokage's warm heart wasn't in the way. The old man, seeing team 10's impressive records, gave them all a ten day vacation. Right now, they were finishing their 55th mission, which actually was for the Hyuuga Clan. An important member of the main branch required a team to deliver a scroll to a weapon smith, whose office was located a few miles outside of the village gates. It wasn't considered C-ranked, because it was still within the village's perimeter. Once they delivered the scroll, the man handed a black case to Asuma, containing a gift to said member of the Hyuuga Clan. Despite having increased her stamina, Ino was against the idea of yet another mission.

"Sensei, we are already at the end of the forth mission today. Can't we go home for the day, I'm exhausted?"

Naruto and Chouji remained quiet while Ino and Asuma were talking. The first, though, didn't mind another mission much, considering that he didn't have anything to do besides that. Chouji, on the other hand, wished that Asuma gave in and sent them home. Despite improving a lot, the Akimichi still maintained his old habit. Their sensei sighed in dismay, seeing that his plan backfired. According to his experience, the Hokage would consider his team ready for C-ranked missions after two maybe three more missions. But Ino was right; he was already pushing them harder than usual.

"Alright Ino, after we deliver this to the Hyuuga Clan, the team is dismissed."

A sudden smile appeared on her face at the possibility of a great bed to rest in after today's training and missions. It wasn't long until the mission was finished, before the members said goodbye to one another. Naruto shrugged it off and, with hands inside his pocket, roamed towards his apartment at a slow pace. Despite not being late, the street he was in was rather empty, considering the number of restaurants and pubs. The scene alone was strange to him as he activated his Sharingan briefly and realized the reason. He just resumed walking, though, like he was not aware of the danger that was looking at the genin from the roofs. The lone chunnin loathed Naruto, since the Kyuubi attack. The beast devoured his little sister, at the time. He didn't even had time to get her out of the way and since then, he trained hard every day, so that one day, he would avenge her death. Almost everyone was inside the restaurants right now, leaving the street empty for a clean execution.

The man casted an altering perception genjutsu, so that once his attack hits, Naruto wouldn't be able to dodge. The kunai was sent flying straight at Naruto's back, before piercing it all the way to his chest.

The chunnin, then, vanished from his position, before appearing right in front of his target. He cursed at a tree log that was in Naruto's place. The chunnin was clueless when Naruto, from below the ground, grabbed both his ankles and dragged his entire body below ground. The chunnin was surprised once the blond appeared in front of him, looking at this face with appearent boredom like always. The chunnin's name was Ishizaki, no clan related, and he was 28 years old. He, suddenly, saw Naruto's Sharingan eyes spinning like a vortex, until the man's eyes were closed. Naruto had seen the genjutsu with his Sharingan and immediately dispelled it.

Upon opening his eyes, the chunnin was surprised to see a bunch of kids pointing at him while laughing hysterically. He didn't know how he ended up there, in the first place.

Naruto watched this from the top of the roof and turned to leave, however he was stopped once Kakashi appeared and placed a hand on his shoulder. His only visible eye showed concern, whereas Naruto's eyes showed disinterest.

"It wasn't so surprising right, Kakashi-sensei? At least, I didn't cause him much damage besides being humiliated like that." Kakashi nodded.

"Do you wish to press charges against him? Attacking a low-ranking officer is a serious charge and he could be placed in prison." Naruto, though, didn't want this.

"No, it won't be necessary, Kakashi-sensei. I'm already used to this treatment. I'm sure it will fade with time. Until then, I can handle it." It wasn't the best answer he could give as it further increased Kakashi's concern for Naruto.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should Naruto. You know that…" The boy only shrugged and turned his back towards his sensei.

"As witness of what happened, you could take action Kakashi-sensei. I won't, though." After that, he vanished using a shunshin. The jounin sighed in dismay and vanished as well. Naruto was right; he could tell the Hokage that one of his chunnins attacked a genin. Not just as witness, but because he was a jounin as well. However, he supposed that Naruto did the right thing, by erasing the man's memory of what really happened. This way, he wouldn't remember what happened. He supposed it was best to have to talk to Asuma about it, though. He is Naruto's sensei after all.

===Next day===

It became routine between Naruto and Tori to meet early in the morning and practice kenjutsu together. To the man, it was considered good practice, considering that he was up against a Sharingan user. Despite his superior skill, Naruto's eyes could follow his movements, due to the fact that he managed to reach the final stage of the Sharingan. It didn't mean that Naruto was useless without the eye, as he could see that Naruto's strikes were increasing fast. The spar was progressing nicely, almost developing into a showdown between swordsmen. However, it was time for Tori to end the training, as he sensed one member of his team approaching. With brute strength, he forced Naruto to lose his footing, leaving him open for a front kick that sent the boy flying. Naruto managed to flip his body using the momentum, despite the pain on his chest.

As soon as he looked at his sparring partner, Naruto was surprised that another Anbu had joined the party. And it was the same Anbu from two months ago. He recognized the long blue hair.

"Naruto, it appears that we must end the spar for today. Same time tomorrow?" The blond just nodded, before hiding his sword once more. The eagle masked Anbu remembered the brat from two months prior and decided to have some fun.

"Finally learn to respect your superiors, kid?" The eagle Anbu asked, earning a questioned look from Tori as Naruto turned to look at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Anbu-san. Tori-sensei, see you tomorrow…" Naruto, then, turned and walked away, leaving an infuriated Anbu who didn't enjoy being ignored. Despite this, if she ever showed that the brat got to her, she would no doubt be the laughing stock inside the corporation. She heard a small snicker coming from her superior Tori. Probably, she was already too late in avoiding her fear, she reasoned. Eagle, then, vanished and went to look for the kid, seeing as, being a junior Anbu, her mission was to scout around the village. It took a while, before she saw him purchasing a few sticks of dango, possibly, for breakfast and took a seat below a Sakura tree. Being privy to confidential documents, she had access to Naruto's file and was interested. Because of the Kyuubi and the rumor behind the Uchiha clan's massacre, Naruto received several attacks by chunnins. Despite this, he managed to defeat them with the use of the Sharingan eyes.

Eagle sort of admired the kid's will to fight despite the odds.

"Are you stalking my student Anbu-san?" Eagle was already on edge, but relaxed once she saw Asuma standing behind her.

"I'm not obliged to explain myself, Asuma-sempai. I'll take my leave now…" Eagle said, before she vanished, earning a snicker from the jounin. He, then, analyzed Naruto for a bit. It was strange to see the boy so at peace with himself, despite its cold exterior towards others. Perhaps after years of being ignored by others, he ended up getting accustomed to it. Asuma feared that Naruto enjoyed being left alone. He left before Naruto could turn and see him, despite knowing that Naruto saw the entire thing. The jounin was correct, though, since Naruto's Sharingan was activated the entire time and he was able to feel the trace of chakra from both the Anbu and his jounin-sensei nearby. He didn't say anything at the time, but he really wished to be left alone.

===At Training Ground 10===

Once everyone was gathered, Asuma decided to change their routine for today.

Today it was time for chakra control exercises, instead of just taijutsu and stamina training. However, when Naruto said that he already had tree climbing, as well as water walking mastered, Asuma frowned and cursed Kakashi once more for not telling him that. He knew that Ino and Chouji had been training in chakra control with their families a bit, but not the tree climbing exercise. He decided that Naruto would practice a much advanced form of chakra control, consisted of suspending a kunai on top of his hand, using just his chakra. While he was doing this, he taught Ino and Chouji the tree climbing exercise. The team spent the majority of the morning, practicing chakra control. Ino's chakra capacity was much higher than before, hence why it took quite a while for her to run out of chakra. Still, Ino managed to master the exercise after five attempts.

Chouji took longer, but by the end of the exercise, he managed to cover a large distance. Naruto managed to keep the kunai suspended for about ten minutes, before he couldn't any longer. This exercise involved continuous bursts of chakra and strong ones at that, to carry the heavy metal over his hand. As such, the strain on the chakra coils was too much for a genin, even one of Naruto's skill. Asuma knew that, though. He wanted to test how far Naruto's skills progressed and to see that he managed up to ten minutes, before tiring, was impressive. After a small break, the team went to the Hokage's office and picked up a mission. Unfortunately, for Asuma, most of the D-ranked missions were already taken, meaning that his team would finish their day early. He figured that after the mission, they could focus on some teamwork exercises. After his team left from the Hokage's office, his father asked him to stay for a while.

"Asuma, starting tomorrow, team 10 will be assigned to C-ranked missions. It still baffles me why neither of them contested much from doing them, but they've earned it." Asuma smiled at his father, before leaving the office.

He met his team outside the Hokage's office building and quickly relayed the mission to them. It was quite surprising the contents of the mission, because it was considered D-ranked. They were supposed to hunt a group of low-level thugs that were causing havoc on the village's poorest neighborhood. This job was normally meant for Anbus, but the Hokage figured that sending high level shinobi to beat low level thugs were a bit of overkill. They could very well be dealt with by genin level shinobi. It was the first mission that involved actual fighting and all three members were quite eager about it, especially Naruto for some reason. Little did everyone know that the blond was on the verge of exploding in front of the Hokage because of these so called D-ranked missions. He smiled upon hearing from his sensei that starting tomorrow, his team would receive C-ranked missions.

That meant that his hard work paid off in the end.

Travelling towards the neighborhood took little time as the team settled to observe the area a bit. Normally, this place was reserved for bandits and rapists. It represented the dark side of Konoha and the aura around the vicinity was rather cold for comfort. It was like the team had entered a cold cave and Ino was already shivering. Asuma knew this much, because he passed by here on occasions, once he was a chunnin. This area hadn't changed much since then and he doubted that it would change any time soon. The population roamed freely throughout the crowded and littered street. Their mission was to capture a gang of bandits that were accused of starting a new drug point in Fire Country.

The mission, although relatively easy from the ninja stand point, had a lot of variables. This area was forsaken by the shinobi population, so if anyone showed up, people would be suspicious and the gang would flee, or worse, take hostages.

It was imperative that the team didn't appear as shinobis, hence why Asuma instructed them to take off the headbands for later use. With that done, they split up in twos, Naruto with Chouji and Ino with Asuma. Obviously, the jounin used a minor henge to change his clothes, since he was the only one with the standard Konoha ninja uniform. They were only supposed to look around and observe the population for a couple of hours. The drug dealers weren't that good in hiding their activity, probably because they believed the area to be of no interest to the Hokage. Despite that being the case, the Hokage realized his omission and called in team 10 to clean up the location so to speak. Although it was considered a forsaken zone, there was no heavy crime being committed, like murder, because if that were the case, Anbu would come and sweep the entire area. The boys appeared to be chatting amongst themselves, while looking around for clues as to the gang's activities or, if they're lucky, their hideout.

The condition of the villagers was below poverty, if the street's condition was any indication. The houses were almost on the verge of collapsing due to lack of maintenance and the only attempt at commerce was a local magazine shop that happened to be closed. Apparently, no self-respected business man would want to invest in this place, at least not before Team 10 dealt with the drug dealers. After walking for about an hour, the boys met their sensei and their teammate at the same place where they separated. Naruto reported to Asuma that they had little luck in finding anything. However, the triumphant look on Ino's face showed a different story on their part.

"We saw a man selling ten grams of opium as soon as we separated and we followed him to a dark alley. Ino, then, used her clan's jutsu and gathered enough information about the gang's activity here. She also hit the jack pot. We know their hideout's location."

The boys nodded and even congratulated Ino for a job well done, which she appreciated. Chouji's complement wasn't such news as Naruto was and it still surprised her how he could be this nice while on missions and completely distant afterwards. Asuma decided to just lay low for a while, until night time. According to the Intel, the gang would have a big meeting tonight regarding their operation and how much money will be split between the dealers. It was the perfect opportunity to swoop in and beat the crap out of them, until no one was left standing. Both Naruto and Chouji would handle this part as he had a different plan for Ino. Their unwillingly source gave them the identity of the gang leader. With the Shintenshin, she will command his body and walk straight at the authorities, confessing every one of his crimes. Takeshi's rule of terror would meet his end tonight. There wasn't any need for the team to remain there the entire time, though, so Asuma took his team for a quick meal located on Konoha's merchant district.

Asuma turned to Naruto and decided to ask to the boy, hence leader of the team, what would be his strategy to beat everyone along with Chouji.

"I'll sneak inside the house and cut the lights off. When the lights go off, it will be Chouji's signal to barge inside the house with his Human Bullet Tank Technique. With that alone, he would be able to deal with quite a few of the criminals. I'll, then, enter the fight and knock the rest down with taijutsu. I'll leave the leader untouched for Ino to take possession of his body. At least, that's what I was thinking about doing Asuma-sensei. Is that ok?" The bearded jounin just smirked as he flipped his cigarette from the left side to the right side of his mouth. He was sure that Naruto would use either fire or earth jutsus, hence why he would have to bring in another strategy. He smiled at the blond.

"I think that's ok Naruto. Just don't take any chances. We don't know if any of these goons had ninja training or if they'll carry weapons inside. If that's the case, use one of your ninjutsu." Everyone nodded, before Asuma paid the meal.

It was already getting dark outside, so the team rushed back to the poor side of the village, which right now, happened to be empty. No one was stupid enough to roam throughout these streets at night. To the ninjas, it was perfect. Naruto and Chouji saw the house where the meeting was being held and they could hear lots of noises inside. Probably, they were busy getting wasted with opium and sake. It worked for the best in Naruto's opinion. He signaled for Chouji to hide until the lights were cut off. Naruto, then, jumped to the roof and entered through a small crack on the roof. He slowly increased the hole with his kunai, before jumping inside. Once inside, he activated his Sharingan and started looking for activity near him. The room wasn't much spacious, and Naruto only saw one guard, who, instead of doing his job, was drooling on top of a naked geisha. The room reeked of alcohol, but his young mind couldn't understand what happened here. He didn't feel the need to understand though as he located his target. Dropping slowly, he reached the electric box located on the far wall of the room and opened, before cutting every wire he could see with a kunai.

When the lights were out, every member of the gang started screaming, asking what the hell was going on. They were all surprised upon hearing someone screaming outside.

"Nikudan Sensha" (Human Bullet Tank Technique)

All of a sudden, a giant ball invaded the house and smashed quite a few enemies, before Chouji smashed himself in the wall. He immediately let go of the technique, as he looked at the rest of the gang. Their eyes screamed blood murder at the Akimichi, but Chouji wasn't threatened by them. Mostly because it didn't take one second for Naruto to appear and engage everyone from behind, in a clean taijutsu match. With the group's attention divided, Chouji got in the fight as well and used his superior strength to deal with the bandits. Asuma and Ino were outside the house, just watching the spectacle. Ino even flinched once she saw Chouji landing a kick on a man's sensitive member.

Asuma saw one man picking a sword from behind his back and worried for his students. However, Naruto was using the sharingan right now, so he was able to escape the attack before the man even moved and landed a fierce punch on his abdomen. He was out the next second, while the genins dealt with the rest. A shadow was seen trying to escape, before Ino appeared in front of him with two shurikens on her hand. When the moon light illuminated the man's face, Ino smirked upon seeing the leader of the gang in front of her. She placed both hands in front of her and used her clan technique, the Shintenshin.

Asuma caught her body while she was in possession of the leader's body.

Chouji and Naruto came out of the house, before joining their team. The mission was complete now and their last part was to walk towards the authorities where the leader, well Ino, would confess the man's crimes and request his arrest. With the gang dealt with, the area would be cleaned of crimes and, quite possibly, resurrect once more. The Hokage had a business plan for the neighborhood. With the gang gone, the next day, contractors would come, with security of course, and build some shops and even a neighborhood hospital. The best part of the contract, in the Hokage's possession, was a new bank agency there. Possibly, in about three to four months, the area would grow, financially, and even attract future residences. The good thing about Konoha being a ninja village was that ninjas tend to protect the area where they live in. So, if anything happened, a shinobi would deal with the situation or at least report it to the Hokage.

With the mission accomplished, Asuma relieved his team for the day.

Ino and Chouji nodded to each other and approached Naruto, inviting him for dinner. The blond looked at them for one instant and everyone already expected a 'no' for an answer. Surprisingly so, Naruto nodded his head and asked them where they wanted to go. He was surprised, though, when they asked him where he wanted to go. Asuma smiled at the change in interaction, before leaving the area. The team bid him goodbye, before Chouji and Ino turned to Naruto once more. He was still due to give them his answer.

"Well, Naruto, where do you want to go?" Ino questioned him.

"I do enjoy some ramen, if you're both ok with it…" Both Ino and Chouji wondered why the sudden reluctance in his tone, but none of them said anything. It was the first time, Naruto said yes to anything and they would seize the opportunity. They followed the blond towards the ramen stand, both with a smile on their faces. The talk with Ino and Chouji's parents were still fresh in their minds, as after that, they saw Naruto in a new light, so to speak. They still didn't see the bigger picture, but at least concerning the Uchiha incident, Naruto's reputation was cleared. At the time, both Ino and Chouji heard from their parents what really happened at the time of the Uchiha massacre and Ino even remembered how she flinched upon hearing that Naruto was there that night, because he was searching for food. Until then, neither Ino nor Chouji knew that Naruto was an orphan.

It was Ino's father, Inoichi, who told that Naruto received a direct katon jutsu to his face and his eyes were scorched because of it. And seeing that Sasuke was declared deceased due to a strong genjutsu on his mind, the Sandaime decided to implant his eyes into Naruto, hence why he was the first non-Uchiha with the Sharingan. Upon arriving at the ramen stand, Naruto greeted old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, before introducing them to Chouji and Ino. The team talked about a lot of things and the majority of them concerned Naruto. He ended up revealing what happened after the massacre. He said to them that he received training from a jounin called Hatake Kakashi, in how to use the Sharingan. He ended up saying that his eyes was fully matured and even showed them to his teammates.

"Wow, it's so cool…" Chouji spoke, earning a nod from Ino.

"So, that means that you can predict the enemy's movements before they even occur as well as copy any ninjutsu and genjutsu?" The Yamanaka asked, earning a nod from Naruto, before he deactivated his eyes. His teammate's enthusiasm wasn't so much shared by the blond, seeing as, despite getting his sight back, he considered the eyes to be cursed. On occasions, he would look at the mirror and see Sasuke instead of him and two times a week, he dreamed of memories from Sasuke's life inside the Uchiha compound. He chose not to tell them that and decided to ask some questions this time. One thing he was curious about was their clan's ability to work together so fluently. Ino and Chouji nodded, but it was Ino who explained.

"Our fathers formed a team about twenty years ago and became insanely famous. They were called the Ino-Shika-Cho team. Since their creation, the three of them devised teamwork attacks that were unbeatable. The three of them passed their knowledge to me, Chouji and Shikamaru. Only problem was that, for some reason, Hokage-sama placed you in Shikamaru's place, but our fathers still train us three on occasion." Naruto, suddenly, found himself questioning the same thing. Why he was placed in this team for? He knew about their parents' reputation and wondered if would have been more prudent to form a second generation of the team.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I could ask the Hokage to switch places with Shikamaru."

Naruto's idea surprised them and suddenly Ino felt ashamed at explaining about the three clans' bond. Naruto was stronger than Shikamaru and while he wasn't as intelligent, he came up with good strategies for them.

"No, you don't have to…I mean, Shikamaru is nice and he's been with us since we were born, but he is far too lazy at times, right Chouji?" Ino asked, calling for help.

"Shikamaru is my best friend, but even I know that his laziness gets in the way. Both Ino and I got stronger because of you, Naruto." Upon seeing Naruto's questioned look, Chouji elaborated. "You are way better than the both of us combined and, besides that, not once did you belittle us for it. Every time we sparred, I felt the need to improve and I think Ino feels the same. Even our parents commented on our increase in drive. Shikamaru may be our destined teammate, but looking at it today, his methods of work would piss both me and Ino. Shikamaru maybe our friend, but he's not our teammate and our leader, you are." Ino nodded at each word as she felt the same, strangely enough. What was even stranger was that after Choji finished talking, they all saw Naruto's mouth bending lightly towards a smile. The strange part wasn't the smile itself, but the fact that it somehow showed them a different Naruto than he portrayed. It didn't suit him, she concluded, to be bitter all the time.

"Thank you Chouji, Ino…"

Both smiled, before the meal was served. The three of them ate in silence, but the aura around them was softened, indicating that the team just overcame an important obstacle. This earned a smile from Asuma, Kakashi and Kasumi who happened to be passing by the ramen house and listened to the whole thing. Their topic of conversation was precisely the team's lack of interaction and ways to solve it. They heard Naruto's idea regarding his replacement with Shikamaru and frowned in worry. It was, indeed, a questionable call from the Hokage at the time, but now they were teammates. In the end, though, Chouji and Ino managed to break Naruto's invisible barrier created around himself in order to avoid outside interaction.

"It seems we worried over nothing, Asuma." Kakashi said, earning a nod from the bearded jounin.

===Next day===

Asuma could see the difference in interaction between the three as they practiced more chakra control exercises. Because of Ino's smaller chakra capacity, compared to Chouji and Naruto's, she managed to finish the tree walking and was now attempting the water walking. Chouji wasn't much further behind and he even managed to reach the top of the tree he was in. However, instead of going to the water, Asuma told him to stick with the tree climbing for now, until he could fully master the exercise. Naruto's time with the kunai increased only a couple minutes, but at least it was an improvement. He wanted another thing from the blond student, instead of chakra control, so he ushered Naruto to stop for a moment.

"Naruto, I understand you're learning the arts of kenjutsu, correct?" The blond nodded, not even interested in keeping that a secret. "I wanted to practice my skills with these little babies against you, if that's ok?"

Asuma took out of his kunai holster, two trench knives, before falling into attack position. The blond smiled and unsealed his tiger sword, a kodashi. Activating the sharingan, Naruto charged Asuma, who for his part, smiled at the speed of his student. He used to use his weapon laced with wind chakra, but by doing so, he would damage Naruto's sword. The blond was on to him in an instant, however Asuma was quick enough to parry it with one of his trench knives, before he used his free hand to strike at Naruto. The genin evaded quickly to the right and flipped his sword, so that the cutting side was aimed at Asuma. He, then, performed a vertical strike, as if he wanted to slice Asuma in two. The jounin placed both trench knives in front of the sword, stopping its path. The stalemate was momentary, seeing as Asuma had much more strength than Naruto. The blond let loose of the sword for an instant and Asuma lost his balance, because he was holding his weapon still and without a force to stop him, he stumbled. Naruto took advantage and jumped high into the air, already flipping his body to land a strong kick at Asuma's head.

The jounin just resumed his momentum and avoided the kick. He let go of the trench knife on his right hand and closed his fist for a punch. Despite the fact that Naruto's body couldn't react as fast as his eyes could, he managed to dodge. He aimed his kodashi at Asuma's torso, but Asuma defended it with one of the knives. He used the other to attack, but Naruto parried with his sword as quickly as expected from the sharingan. Naruto focused some chakra to his legs and increased his speed. He appeared behind Asuma and aimed a powerful strike at the jounin. Asuma managed to dodge, though, by creating some distance between the two. He took some shurikens from his holster and threw at Naruto, before doing some hand seals.

Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)

Naruto smirked at yet another technique acquired, before he started a quick series of hand seals. He gathered a great load of mud inside his mouth, while molding th necessary chakra.

Doton Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall Technique)

Naruto took the cover supplied by the wall of mud and took some projectiles of his own. After throwing at Asuma, he used the same technique that the jounin used on him. Asuma was surprised upon seeing the shurikens multiplying and realized that Naruto must have copied the technique. Still, the man used a simple substitution jutsu and vanished from sight, just as Naruto appeared to deliver a powerful strike. His sharingan showed him the source of chakra coming from behind him, but he couldn't follow the speed of a seasoned jounin. He used both arms in front of his exposed face in a weak attempt to block Asuma's punch, but to his surprise the punch never came. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Asuma's hand in front of him. The jounin was smiling the entire time.

"Naruto, nice spar...but you shouldn't focus on copying every technique you see before you. Perhaps, focus on those who would be useful to your fighting style and nothing more. Be ready for future spars like this as I expect you to improve constantly. Now, gather around everyone, we're about to start the real missions." Quite possibly, Asuma was the most enthused of the four, regarding the initiation of C-ranked missions. Ino was actually dreading the possible outcomes as she knew what C-ranked mission represented. It was their first and quite probably it would be outside the village's perimeter. Once out of the protection provided by the village's walls, who knows what could happen. Chouji, being Chouji, only thought about the amount of food that he would have to pack once he went home. Naruto, on the other hand, was more interested in meeting new enemies to face in battle.

===The Hokage's Office===

And so the team marched towards the Hokage's office, where the Sandaime Hokage was busy smoking his pipe. He was expecting his son's team to show up any time now. Meanwhile, he was busy analyzing the team's charts with a smile on his face. His decision to prevent the Ino-Shika-Cho team's second generation allowed for a much more balanced team and the same time, he formed a team with plain condition for tougher missions in the future. Asuma was considered an elite jounin and Naruto, with his sharingan, had the potential to surpass his sensei. Chouji and Ino were well on their way to surpass their fathers. Shikamaru, for his part, was mostly brains and very little effort, hence why the Hokage believed that he would be better in another team where he could be tested. Plus, there wasn't one situation that Kakashi couldn't fix if needed.

All in all, his team decision ended up being the correct one in his decision. A knock on the door was heard and his son entered followed by his genins.

"Team 10 presenting for duty, Hokage-sama."

The old man Hokage looked at the team with pride as he threw a scroll to Asuma with the letter C engraved on it. "As I said yesterday, this will be Team 10's first C-ranked mission. It will be a simple escort mission towards Wave Country. Please come in Tazuna-san." The door opened to reveal the client. He was pretty old, as they could see from the gray hair and gray beard. His outfit didn't show much as they later knew his profession to be a contractor. He wore reading glasses and he was holding a bottle of empty sake on his right hand. The rotten smell that exuded from the man was quite evident and Ino was forced to cover her nose.

"Tazuna-san, here is the team that will protect you until you reach your home."

The client snorted at the Hokage, before attempting a zip of his sake, not even aware that the bottle was already empty.

"I paid a lot of money to be protected by ninjas, but not by a team of brats, especially the blond midget and the fatso over there." At this, both Chouji and Naruto saw red, however neither of them could hit the client and in front of the Hokage no less.

It didn't mean that they couldn't respond in kind.

"Yeah...well, I'm not too thrilled to be protecting a drunken old fart either, so I guess we're even…" Naruto replied, earning a silent snicker from Chouji. Ino and Asuma enjoyed it as well, but none of them said anything for a while.

Tazuna just snorted once more and complained about lack of respect from youngsters.

"Do not worry Tazuna-san. These three represents one of the best teams Konoha has to offer. And besides, if something happens that they can't handle it, I'll be there as well. You don't have anything to worry about." Tazuna snorted, before leaving the office. Probably, he would go to a bar of something.

Asuma, then, turned to his students and gave their orders. "The mission will officially start tomorrow morning at 0800 hours. Take the rest of the afternoon to train if you so wish but I'd advise a good rest. Wave Country is a good walk away from here and we won't be able to use chakra while travelling." The team nodded, before leaving and going their separate ways. Ino and Chouji went to their respective homes, but Naruto wanted to train some more. It was only two in the afternoon after all and he wanted to practice some fire techniques. The chakra control exercises aided him in how much he needed for the technique, so he wanted to practice a bit more. Asuma was alone with his father for a bit, as he reported the events from yesterday and the bond formed by his team. The Hokage nodded in appreciation that Naruto found, at least, acceptance from his teammates. With the Uchiha incident out of the way, the only obstacle left to overcome was the Kyuubi. However, the Hokage had faith that his teammates wouldn't resent the blond.

Only time would tell, though.

===With Naruto===

Once on his own, Naruto went to a nearby training ground, in order to practice a new technique that Kakashi taught him. It was extremely difficult to perform, since it involved a lot of pure fire manipulation. It was a B-ranked jutsu named Katon Kaen no Arashi (Fire Release: Fire Storm Technique) and it consisted of releasing a powerful and thick fire stream, before manipulating it to form a fire hurricane in front of him. It was consisted a mid-range jutsu, but Naruto could adapt it to becoming a short-ranked one, by manipulating the fire a bit earlier than normal. He already managed to perform it once or twice, but it was mandatory to practice the technique more, in order to master it.

First, though, he looked up the sky with a smile on his face, at his growth in skill. His fight against Asuma showed him that, but at the same time, showed him what he had to improve in, his speed.

The sharingan could very well anticipate the enemy's movements. But what good would that do if his body couldn't react in time to prevent it. He would take today and practice the fire technique, the new one he copied from Asuma and finish with a couple of physical exercises meant to increase your stamina and speed. He would overcome every obstacle in front of him as he grew up. This mission could very well bring forth new challenges that will help him improve, çpossibly, new enemies to face, who knows. Maybe, Naruto may run into some missing-nin from another village or something.

If only he knew...

Author Note

Okay, what you think?

Tell me everything and please don't hide anything. I want to hear it, being good or bad (but helpful criticism, not meaningless insult).

Next chapter will begin the Wave Arc.

See ya.