WHY I'M SO STUPID?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Warnings from the last few chapters still apply.

Knowing that he was put on the spot, "Anyway, since we're all jounin here, this should take no more then a few minutes, right?" Kakashi asked, while bringing out the bells that helped form the team, "And remember, come at me with the intent to kill."

Naruto put a hand into his pouch, only to bring out a small green book with the words "Icha Icha Tactics" on the cover. "How about I trade you for a bell." He said.

While resisting the urge to take up on that deal, "And why would I want to do that?" Kakashi asked, trying to keep his composure.

"Because if you don't then this book is going to somehow wind up in the path of one of Sasuke's fire jutsus." Naruto said, egging his former sensei on, and from all the sweating pouring down the man's face, he was succeeding, "And it would be a real shame too since this is the first copy ever made and signed by the author."

That did it, "You win." Kakashi said, as they threw each other the desired items.

Sakura smacked herself in the head, "I can't believe he is actually willing to go that far for a bunch of porn." She said.

"I could, that's how Shizune is able to get him to show up on time for their little dates." Sasuke said, "I caught a few, mainly with her threatening what she would do to his books if he was even a minute late."

Naruto gave a slight chuckle at this, "I'm not surprised considering who her teacher was." He said, before tossing a bell at Sasuke, "Anyway, I better get going to that council meeting. There is still a lot of bullshit that needs to be cleaned up."

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Naruto said, before disappearing in a swirl of flames.

Sakura gave off a small sigh, "Even though he said that the Naruto we met was a fake, I miss that one." She said, "He was always open to all of us back then."

"You mean the one that was always in your crosshairs?" Sasuke asked, causing her to flinch, "You know what they say, you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

"Which would be the Team 7 curse." Kakashi said, while breaking in his new book.

"What curse?" Sakura asked.

"That's something you might want to ask the hokage about." Sasuke said, "Anyway, I better get to that meeting as well. According to Itachi, our clan well be one of the things Naruto will try to clear up, and I want to be there to help set the record straight." Taking a little something out of Kakashi's book, he gave the two a little wave before poofing away in a cloud of smoke.

Before Kakashi could follow suit, "Wait, Kakashi-sensei, what is this curse you spoke of?" Sakura said.

Kakashi gave a small sigh, "To put it simply, what might have been started when the Third Hokage was the sensei to it ending with you three, the people who were in it had a bad start and an even worse ending." He said, before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura looked like she wanted to slug somebody, but instead, went off to do a little research on the history of Team 7.

Over at the council chambers, the clan heads and the civilian council are in their respected seats, waiting patiently for the Hokage, Naruto and Itachi to show up. Most of the clan heads were having a discussion amongst each other, while the civilian side was busy trying to think of ways to save their own hides due to the fact that the main council is now under the capable and dangerous hands of Ibiki and his interrogation department, with Kisame as a special courtesy of Ibiki himself.

When the doors opened to reveal the three, plus Sasuke, one of the civilians felt a brief burst of courage. "Hasn't that thing done enough damage already?" That person blurted out.

Naruto looked at the individual, "Somebody could ask the same thing about you." He said, causing the rest of the council to glare at him, "And whatever power you've might have had before I returned here has now been greatly reduced."

Tsunade decided to step in as she takes her seat, "Which means that you can no longer go over my head or any future hokage without some form of punishment." She said, "Now let's get down to business."

Prison

Meanwhile, a very ticked off Danzo is sitting in his cell, moping like a big baby. Not only was he humiliated by one Naruto Namikaze and his skill with the Rinnegan, but now he was totally useless since Tsunade had personally saw to it that his Sharigan eye and his right arm be completely removed and destroy, courteously of Itachi and the flames of Amaterasu.

He looked up just as the door opened to reveal a smirking Kisame. "Well, since I'm not needed at the moment for anything, Ibiki and Anko agreed to let me handle your interrogation personally." He said, while cracking his knuckles.

"You will do no such thing." Danzo said, trying to maintain some control.

"Your two pals already tried that with Ibiki and that creepy snake girl and judging by the screams, I don't think they are going to last much longer, especially that old man." Kisame said, before snapping his fingers, giving the two guards the go ahead, "And if you were expecting any of your little soldiers to break you out, then you are going to be in for a long wait because they already picked Naruto as their new leader."

'Those traitors,' Ran through Danzo's mind, 'oh well, even if they do take him to my office, they still won't be able to find everything.'

As if reading his mind, "If you have anything sealed away and hidden, then you're in real trouble since the boy has manage to gain a few things from his demon," Kisame said, "Plus you need to be reminded who he was traveling with for the past five years, and he is known for other things besides being a pervert."

Now Danzo was really afraid, because he just remembered reports from his spies that the blonde was starting to become as good a seal master as his father and Jiraiya. "Well, enough chitchat, it's time to get to work." Kisame said, just as the guards started to drag the man out, "And I won't even need to use my sword for this."

Council Chambers

After barely an hour and a half of talking, all hell broke lose from the civilian council because after discussing Naruto's findings about what has been going on ever since the Third was the hokage, first it was a mixture of sweating and denying everything, now it was a shout fest because the Hokage decided to bring in some long needed changes. One of them, of course, had to do with money, or more specifically, an audit was ordered to look into all of the businesses that have been giving Naruto the cold shoulder.

"Why should we allow anybody to look at our finance records just because we refused to allow service to that brat?" One of the council members said.

"You mean besides the fact that the stuff you're wearing seems to cost more then a Hokage's pay?" Naruto asked.

This caused the council to really be nervous, while Sasuke continued, "Or the fact that your business have been selling more exotic merchandise then usual, especially since you were all born here?" He asked, "Even working hard to get me to spend some of my clan's fortune on your stuff."

"And how you always try to get high end client to sustain your lifestyle," Itachi said, "From my clan to the Hyugas and now that it has been proven that Naruto is the son of Minato Namikaze."

"And besides, if nobody from this tower will submit, then I'll just send word to the Fire Daimyo himself and have him send his own accountants." Naruto said.

"This in turn will help determine the future of this entire village." Tsunade said, "Naruto already gave me a message when he returned here that clearly stated that if nobody in this village hurry up and clean up their act, he is going to personally lead a thorough investigation into this village and if he finds nothing good, then I'm pretty sure even you idiots can figure out the rest."

And figure it out they did because everybody knew that if the Daimyo wasn't happy, then everybody within this entire village will be screwed. "You win." The head of the civilian council said.

"Nice to here," Tsunade said. "Because to put it simply, the only people the Daimyo would spare is Naruto and anybody he would deem worthy enough to be saved."

"How were you able to pull that off, Naruto?" Tsume asked.

"I fought the Twelve Guardians and won." Naruto said, "And let me tell you, those guys would make a good portion of ANBU seem as weak as you clowns."

While the civilians were fuming at that comment, "What else are you hiding?" Shikaku asked, "Because my wife would have a field day with me if I don't tell her everything I know."

"Let's just say it's something that is not meant for everyone's ears yet." Naruto said when he received a nod indicating that they understand completely, "Anyway, on to the next topic at hand."

"Agreed." Tsunade said, before turning towards the Uchiha brothers, "Itachi, Sasuke, have you decided on how you want to handle your clan's current status."

The brothers looked at each other before looking back at the Hokage, "Lady Hokage, right now if it's okay with you, I believe we would rather that you keep our seat in the council empty until when there is a dire need for it to be filled." Itachi said, "I'll gladly take it when the time comes, but I would like to go back to working for the ANBU for a while, kind of get back to my roots in a way."

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement with this, "I would also like to maintain my status as a ninja," He said, "After having a nice long talk last night, and I believe I would rather try to bring back the police force that our clan used to run."

Tsunade nodded at this, "What about you, Naruto, how would you like to handle your clan?" She asked the youngest blonde in the room.

"I would like to keep my clan's status inactive since as far as any of us knows, I'm the only living member." Naruto said, "Plus I would like to take over the empty Sannin slot that is currently available."

Tsunade thought carefully on this, while one of the civilians decided to raise a big stink, "Why should we let an orphan brat like you have an honor that belongs to somebody better then you."

"Name one." Naruto said, "And if it's Sasuke, then you're going to have to explain to all of us on how he deserves it."

"Especially to me since I was nowhere near the Sound Village, ever." Sasuke said, "And I hope it's not the same line that helped form that damn fan club."

"What are you complaining about?" Naruto shot out, "I'm the one who is now stuck in their crosshairs, or at the ones that are just more determined to improve their image."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sasuke said, "While I did see most of them move on by finding somebody else while taking their ninja careers more seriously or decided to give civilian life a better chance."

"Okay, I'll agree to your terms, but I need to get the councils backing on this first." Tsunade said, "Those for . . ." Tsunade and all of the clan heads raised their hands, "Those against . . ." The Civilian Council raised theirs, "Then majority rules, all three of you will have your requests granted."

Inochi couldn't help but to add some salt to the wound, "Well what do you know," He said, "What they say about what goes around comes around really is true."

"Anyway, before I dismiss you three, what would you like to be called Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"The New Sage of Six Paths." Naruto answered, before leaving.

After the doors closed, "Man talk about taking a big risk." Was heard through out the room, "I hope the kid knows what he's doing taking that name."

Tsunade couldn't help but feel mad at this, "Excuse me for a few minutes everyone." She said, while she started to crack her knuckles. The entire tower started to shake as a cry of excruciating pain was heard through out the room.

Outside of the Tower

The trio stepped out, "Hey Naruto, how about a trip to Ichiraku's," Itachi said, "It's been a long time since I've been there."

"Sure, I've been too busy from yesterday that I haven't got a chance to pay them a visit." Naruto said.

They barely made it halfway there before they were greeted by one of the last people they wanted to see, "Hello Naruto, how are you doing?"

"I was doing fine until you showed up Ami." Narutos said, "What do you want?"

Sakura was just heading towards the Hokage Tower to see her sensei after a failed attempt to find out the history of Team 7. When she asked the librarian if she knew anything about the curse of her team, only to find out that the lady was clueless as she was about it.

She was stopped in her tracks when she spotted the one thing that she would never expect in her wildest dreams. There stood Ami, the girl who always made her life a living hell, is trying to put on the same moves she tried with Sasuke.

"I'm giving you the honor of being allowed to take me out on a date and become my boyfriend." Ami said.

Sakura couldn't help but smack herself in the head. 'This girl is a bigger airhead then me and Ino combined.' She thought.

'No kidding.' Inner Sakura added, 'She either didn't get the memo about Naruto no longer taking crap from anybody or she thought that would make him another Sasuke.'

"And that would be considered an honor how?" Naruto asked, while crossing his arms.

"Because my family is on the council," Ami said, "And they'll be more then glad to help improve your image, even help you accomplish your goal of becoming hokage."

That was more then enough to help Naruto with his answer. "I don't date gold diggers." He said, before the three boys continued on their journey.

Here it is the latest chapter. I'm sorry if it isn't much. I have a birthday coming up and I've been busy reevaluating my life, trying to figure out what I have accomplished and what I didn't, and it ain't pretty. Next chapter will be where Team 7 has dinner with Sakura's parents. Read and Review.