Hello!

This is a new story for Naruto x ZZZ after I got like 6 positive comments for it. I don't know if someone is going to read this but oh well. Also, there may be some swearing involved (I mean we have to talk about that reporter) and a slight bit of Sakura bashing (I'm not a huge fan of her) along with some ooc sections, sot to mention OPAF Naruto. Anyhow, neither Naruto nor ZZZ belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Hoyoverse respectively. Now that that's out of the way, let's begin.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Tailed beasts"

The sound of an alarm rang out through the room in a large living quarter. A hand reached out for the clock on the nightstand and blindly fumbled around before jerking back when it felt pins poking holes in his hand. "Why did I even do that? Oh, right." The next second, the bed sheets were thrown off and the same hand reached out to hit the alarm clock, and succeeded this time. A blond boy with blue eyes and whiskers rolled off the bed and fell to the ground with a thud and groaned. After lying there for some time, he groaned again and pushed himself up before walking to the bathroom. Oh, how he hated mornings. Unfortunately, today happened to be quite the important day and his presence was very much required. After he was done with his routine, he walked out to the shared dining room and noticed that he was the only one there. A small thump made him turn around and see quite a large orange fox with 9 tails padding up to him. "Hey Kurama! How'd you sleep?" Kurama just yawned. "Just as I always do. So, isn't today like a big day?" Naruto smiled. "I just have to give a speech for the rookies. Quite annoying if you ask me. They could've just asked Sasuke or Kakashi sensei to give the speech. Why did it have to be me?" Kurama hummed. "Maybe it was because we took down that giant Ethereal?" Naruto also hummed. "Maybe, but that goes to the whole 1789 (seventeen eighty-nine) squad. Not just to me." The fox chuckled at the answer. "Still as modest as ever I see. Anyway, how about you get going. You're supposed to meet up with that 'Proxy' later on." Naruto nodded. "True. I think I'll wait for the others first. Maybe I can cook something?"

With that thought, Naruto moved to the kitchen while Kurama disappeared with a smoke cloud, and started whipping up a simple breakfast. As the familiar sound of eggs sizzling reverberated through the space, Naruto found himself lost in thought. The Konoha sector was often called the strongest branch of the Shinobi corps, as it had produced powerful warriors, the likes of whom could take down even the strongest of Ethereals on their own. Even today, there were only a few who could hold a candle to the likes of Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Madara Uchiha and Hiruzen Sarutobi in the battle field. As it just so happened, Naruto was one of these few, thanks to his Ether aptitude and knack for getting a grasp on this quite quickly, even without his shadow clones. He snapped out of his musings when he heard the sound of a door opening. He turned around and came face to face with a yawning girl. The girl had mint green hair and tanned skin and stood just around an inch below him. "Good morning Fuu. How was your sleep?"

The girl, Fuu, stretched and yawned again before giving him a smile. "Morning Naruto. I see you're up early. I slept quite well, thank you very much. Say, are we the only ones up?"

Naruto hummed. "Gaara should be up soon. As for Bee… are we sure we want him to wake up?"

Fuu shuddered. "Yeah, maybe he can stay for a bit longer." Just as both parties came to a mutual agreement, the sound of a door breaking drew their attention. "*sigh* Speak of the devil…"

A sudden blast of wind accompanied by smoke and what sounded like brakes screeching, threatened to blow them out of the house for a second before they used Chakra to hold their ground. "Yo yo yo! Did you call for me!? The rapping Killer B! Float like a butterfly sting like a bee! Partner of the 8th, Giyuki!"

Naruto blinked. "Huh… that wasn't too bad. Maybe keep your raps in moderation and you can get along with everyone." Fuu looked at him with wide eyes while a large grin spread on Bee's face.

"See that fool! Ya fool! The lead acknowledged me! The great Killer B!"

While Bee went back to rapping and dancing in glee, Fuu scooted up to a distraught Naruto. "So much for that plan." The mint haired girl gave him a pat on his back and got a tired smile in return. Just then, their attention was drawn to the sand coiling around their feet. "Good morning to you too Gaara."

"Good morning to you too Naruto." A red haired boy walked up behind the celebrating B and a fist of sand punched him in the face. "I can't even get a wink of sleep with this noise."

Naruto looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Is Shukaku acting up again, or are you staying up late? Your eye bags were just starting to fade and now they're back."

"It's Shukaku."

Gaara fast answer was met with an indignant "Hey!" Everyone turned to look at the table where a small racoon made of sand had appeared. "Quit lying! I haven't disturbed your sleep in years! If you weren't awake finding commissions on that Inter-Knot, maybe you'd have more sleep!"

Naruto sighed. "How about we just have breakfast and head to the Hokage tower? Granny Tsunade asked me to give that speech before we're transferred."

*Timeskip*

After simple but hearty breakfast, the 1789 squad were on their way to the Hokage tower. As typical of any shinobi, they took the rooftops, that gave them quite the view over the walls of Heiwagakure (hidden peace village). Green forests with small houses dotted between stretched out towards the horizon as far as the eye could see.

"New Eridu, the so called 'last bastion of humanity'." Naruto muttered with disdain. "What a joke. Here we are, living and thriving." A few years back, an explorer gotten lost in a hollow had found the shinobi city, and told them about New Eridu and how they had thought the city to be the last home of humanity. The shinobi back then, had offered to take him back, but under the condition that he kept quiet about the whereabouts and existence of Heiwagakure. He had agreed and they took him back. Unfortunately, news had gotten out and he had almost let it slip when an eccentric reporter had asked him how he returned. Since then a series of 'unfortunate accidents' had left the explorer's memory damaged and all the copies of the interview burned to the ground. Now, only rumours of the 'ghost' city existed and they had been keeping a close eye on New Eridu. Unfortunately, they had caught the eye of both the military and Public Security which posed a bit of a problem. So, they decided to establish themselves as a gang, diverting their attention and hiding the main body from the spotlight.

A little while later, the squad arrived at the Hokage tower quite quickly and the majority of the gang made their way up to the office while Naruto stayed back to take care of something. They walked up the stairs until they reached the door labelled 'Hokage's office' and looked at Gaara. Gaara stepped forward with a sigh and knocked three times before entering when a loud voice told them to enter and moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with his squadmates. Inside, the fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju was seated behind her table, going over some reports. "Squad 1789, at ease. Glad to see that you're finally here. And I'm also glad to see that- wait a minute. Where's Naruto?"

Gaara stepped forward. "He said he had some things to take care of, Lady Hokage."

Tsunade sighed. "That Brat. He probably wanted to skip on the speech."

"Coming through!" The sudden shout was accompanied with a blond blur crashing through one of the only windows in the office. Naruto laid face first on the ground and groaned in pain before he stood up and dusted his clothes. "That is painful." A sudden surge of killing intent from behind, made him freeze before he slowly turned around.

"Brat…" Tsunade cracked her knuckles with a sadistic smile and a twitching eye. "That was the third window this week. And! It's! Still! MONDAY! I swear, if you don't fix this, then you better pray to Kami that I have mercy because I will-

"Coming through!" Just like that, the only other window in the office was also shattered, revealing a white haired man with red markings on his face. This was Jiraiya, the Toad sage and Naruto's mentor. Fortunately, he read the room and gave Tsunade a guilty smile.

For her part, the Hokage looked furious. "You damn PERVERT! That was the last window I had in this office! Your student already broke another one and now I'll need more windows! You aren't out of this yet Naruto- huh?" Unfortuantely for her, Naruto had taken the opportunity to slip away unscathed. "Where'd he go?" The rest of his squad kept silent but they pointed at the broken window. With a sigh, Tsunade realised what had happened and turned her fury on Jiraiya. Taking a tip from his student, he had also dipped, leaving only Gaara, B and Fuu in the room with an angry Tsunade.

*Timeskip*

It was late in the afternoon when the squad arrived back at their dorm and started packing. While Naruto was throwing things in his bag, his mind went back to what just happened.

*Flashback*

The squad was standing in the Hokage's office, listening to the mission details. "Jinchuriki squad 1. Your mission is to return to New Eridu and take over for the Shinobi there. As for your covers, Gaara, Fuu and Naruto will be posing as transfer students while Killer Bee will be posing as their guardian. I have already arranged the paperwork and reived approval for this. Jiraiya will also be accompanying you on this mission but Naruto will be the leader, since he has more experience in the cities. I trust that you will be able to keep everything in line brat."

Naruto nodded with a serious expression. He maybe a prankster, but when it came to missions, there was no one better. Tsunade hid a small smile, proud of how far her pseudo grandson had come. "Good. Once you're there, you'll be taking over leadership from Team 7." The whiskered blond perked up at that. "All the Shinobi stationed there, and Jiraiya's spy network are at your disposal; but knowing you, you'll probably take over their duties for them. Now pack up. Meet me back here in 3 hours, so that I can oversee your transfer into New Eridu. You're dismissed."

*Flashback end*

Naruto sighed. Mentioning his old team used to bring back happy memories, but ever since then, those memories had been replaced by bad ones. He shook his head and took his now packed suitcase and sealed it inside a storage scroll before sealing the scroll away into one of the tattoos on his arm. He then went to the dining hall to meet up with the others before making their way to the Hokage tower.

Once they arrived, Tsunade led them to the underground area that housed the transport to New Eridu. Once they reached the entrance, they lined up in front of Tsunade for instructions. "Listen up everyone! This is your transport to New Eridu. As you can see, it will travel around two kilometers through the tunnel before entering a portal that will shoot you straight into 'Hollow Zero'. Once you get there, you must rendezvous with Team 7 and exchange tags. The tags will activate a modified Hiraishin marker that will return them here instantly. Is everything clear?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now then, hop in and wait for launch." Everyone walked towards the transport and took a look at the machine. It was shaped like a small aircraft and came equipped with some handheld weapons in case they'd need them. The pod was designed in collaboration by Tenten from Team 9 and Naruto, and it could equip shinobi with gear before releasing them quite high up in the air, away from prying eyes. Of course, that caused some problems but the pros far outweighed the cons, making it a viable option for transport between New Eridu and Heiwagakure.

They all sat down in the pods and waited for launch. Five seconds later, the pod launched and in another ten, they were flung into the sky. Seconds later, the pod burst open and poofed away, revealing the ruined landscape of Hollow Zero. With practiced ease, Naruto pumped chakra into his eyes and snapped them open, revealing a pair of sharp red irises with foxlike pupils. 'Ethereals.' He glanced at his teammates and saw them all going down in their own way. Fuu had her wings out, and Gaara used a platform of sand to control his fall. On the other hand, Bee just had a small notebook out and was writing rap lyrics midair. A proud smirk spread across Naruto's face as he let out a whoop and did a barrel roll. While diving to the ground.

As he approached the ground, Gaara dismissed his platform and plummeted to the ground. Just as he was about to make contact, sand rushed out of his clothes and hardened into an unbreakable shield. When he made contact, the force from the rough landing was redirected to the sides and used to send projectiles of sand flying in a circle, killing any Ethereals in the area.

On the other hand, Fuu made some handsigns and a swarm of bugs flew out of her sleeves as they ate up all the energy of any Ethereal in the area. With that, she made a graceful landing and looked up to see Naruto and Bee.

Bee put away have his book and tucked into a ball. Eight tentacles came out from behind him and coiled around him like a protective orb. The second he made contact, the tentacles uncoiled and whipped around,, leaving only rubble and dead Ethereal in their wake. When the tentacles retracted, Bee was standing in all his glory with his book back out.

As for Naruto, he cracked his neck and crossed his arms over his chest. A small movement of his wrist brought out some specially made Kunai and he threw them in very abstract directions. While they were midair, a seal triggered and sent out tens more in a 2 kilometre radius, startling every Ethereal when they landed. For the next second, the sound of gunfire was heard as all the Ethereals turned into dust. In the middle of the fray, Naruto was standing with a pair of Kriss vectors with black and orange accents that were smoking in his arms and an almost feral smirk on his face. With a sigh, he dropped the guns -which disappeared as soon as they touched the floor- cut the Chakra to his eyes and stared heading to the preplanned rendezvous location.

*Timeskip*

After the team all met up, they headed out of the hollow and made their way to the outpost where they were supposed to take over. In just a few minutes, they had arrived and were standing face to face with Team 7. "Squad 1789. Glad to see that you made it here safely. I take it you'll be taking over for us?" Kakashi's voice sounded as lazy and disinterested as ever.

Naruto nodded at Kakashi. "Good to see you to Sensei. As for your question, yes. We'll be taking over for you." He kept a poker face, but anyone could tell that he was happy to see his teacher. It was also clear that Kakashi shared the sentiment, but both the mask and the slanted headband that worked to make him look like a scarecrow or a cyclops made it difficult to see.

Said scarecrow also nodded. "That's good to hear. Anyhow, before we leave, can I talk to you in private?" Naruto nodded and Kakashi ordered his team to pack up before taking Naruto to a corner. "So, how's it going nowadays? Anything interesting?"

Naruto shook his head with a smile. "Not really, but I'm excited to be back here. I missed the friends I made here."

A devious grin hidden by Kakashi's mask spread across his face. "Mah~ Does Naruto have someone he likes?" Naruto furiously shook his head, but Kakashi just gave him an eye-smile. "Don't worry.~ I won't tell the Hokage. Not yet at least. ~"

"Kakashi Sensei!"

The copy ninja's laugh echoed through the outpost while all the ninjas simultaneously shuddered and prayed for his newest victim.

*The next day*

Naruto woke up in his room and checked his phone. It had been a gift from one of his friends in New Eridu when he visited last time. He and Jiraiya were the only people who could travel freely between the city and Heiwagakure and since getting stationed in the city was rare, Naruto put that to good use in meeting his friends. After checking the time, he stretched and walked to the living room, where everyone else was sulking on the couch. The sight made him smile. "I'm going to guess you guys went into orientation?" Everyone nodded tiredly and Naruto laughed. He went to the couch, lifted Fuu like a doll and placed her on his lap before turning on the TV.

The mint haired girl blushed. "N-Naruto! What are you going?" The blond had never done this before and Fuu's heart, much to her confusion, was threatening to burst out of her chest.

Naruto kept his eyes on the TV. "Making some space. If I tried to move Garra, his sand would strangle me and I'm not moving Bee. He's heavy."

"Hey! That's not very nice! Keep talking like that and you'll end up in ice!" Everyone looked at Bee weirdly, making him sweatdrop. 'Look at these people yo. Don't know what rap is, ho!'

With a sigh, Fuu crawled off Naruto's lap and everyone moved to accommodate four people on the couch. Once everyone was settled in, they focused on the TV where some news was being played.

"As of now, the Vision corporation has won against Belobog industries by cutting down costs for the new railway by more than half of what Belobog industries was asking. When asked how they did this, Mr Pearlman, the CEO of Vision corporation merely said company secrets…"

Gaara hummed in thought. "Costs cut by more than half. Maybe this is worth taking a look. Should we infiltrate?"

Fuu nodded excitedly and crawled up to Naruto. "Of course! I wanna see those explosives they just talked about. Can we go! Please please please!" She made a pouty face before realising that she looked like a child and backing off.

Naruto completely ignored Fuu rubbed his forehead. "You just want to stretch don't you?" Everyone sheepishly nodded. The blond smirked. "The what're we waiting for you? Go and suit up!"

Everyone excitedly went to their rooms while Naruto sighed and went to meet someone. In a few minutes, he arrived at his destination and knocked on the dorm room door. "Konohamaru! You in there!"

"Naruto nii-san! Come on in!" Naruto smiled and opened the door. Inside, Konohamaru ran up to him and wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Naruto reciprocated the gesture with a smile and the two caught up in the course of the next few minutes. "So what brings you here nii-san?"

"I came here to ask you to tell Asuma sensei that I'll be leaving him in charge while I take you squad out on a stroll. Also, pass him this letter if you will. You know he never takes whatever I say seriously." Naruto gave Konohamaru a letter and the boy tucked it into his pocket.

"Don't worry Nii-san! You can count on me!"

Naruto smiled again. "Thanks Kono! Tell Moegi and Udon I said Hi!" With that, he left the room and went back to his own dorm. He raced to his room and got ready in less than a minute. He did some quick checks and made his way downstairs. While he was waiting for the others, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. Seeing a particular group chat, he sweatdropped. 'Wow. How are there that many missed calls from Nicole? I was gone for a month! Did she lose her credit card or something?'

With a sigh, he decided to call Nicole to try and figure out why she called him two times a day last month. A few rings later, Nicole picked up. "Hello! Is that you Naruto? I haven't seen you in over a month! Listen, I'd love to talk right now, but the Cunning Hares are in a pickle. A big one." Naruto pressed her for the details and Nicole explained everything and hung up.

"Hey, everything ok?" Naruto turned around to face his team and sighed.

"Listen up. Some of my friends here are in a pickle and Vision corporation are to blame. What do you say we show them a fun time?"

And, that's a wrap! Hopefully, 3500 words is enough for a first chap.

Since this is completely fresh, I'm trying to do something new, hence the Jinchuriki. As for pairings, I want to make it Naruto/Fuu because of a certain fanfic I read a while back. Team 7 and everyone else will have involvement a bit later into the story and they will play a part in it. I will probably add a lore chapter somewhere so stay tuned for that. Please leave a review and,

Peace out!