Naruto: Next Chance

Homecoming.

Minato then reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a Hitae with long black cloth. Minami and Kushina widened her eyes in surprise at that. It was Minami's forehead protector before she was stripped of her position, something that the oldest among the Namikaze sibling thought she would never be able to wear again and long since accepted her fate at a normal civilian, because this was the punishment she deserved.

She even found herself a job at the local shop.

Naruto was also surprised at this and already figured it out what his father about to do next, but he hid it well behind confusion.

"I talked to the Council and they all agreed to let you become a Kunoichi once again Minami" Of course, stripping Minami of her position was his decision and both Shinobi and Civilian Council were highly against it. Minami was a talent Kunoichi, Itachi Uchiha's second coming; losing someone like her was a huge loss to Konoha's rank of Kunoichi. But considered what she had done to her brother, though she might regret it now; Minami was no longer worthy to become a Shinobi of Konoha who wields the will of fire "But you will have to start again at a Gennin."

"That mean..." Minami snapped her head at Naruto and looked at him in shock.

"Yes Minami, you will become Naruto's teammate in the Chunnin Exam this year." The girls of Namikaze family gasped in shock "But because you have to gain experience as a team with naruto along with your New team Member"

"I...I...I..." She spluttered.

"This is your second chance Minami." Minato said seriously, kneeling down to look at his daughter in the eyes "Don't mess it up this time and make me regret my decision." Minami nodded her head and let her father tied the Hitae for her.

"I promise, dad." She said.

"Yosh!" Naruto cried out throwing his hands into the air "This is so cool! I will call us team......? Well who is going to be our sensei and teammate!" He asked his father with a puzzled look on his face.

Minato understanding his questioning look replied" I am planning to add additional teammate from the current academy batch and your Sensei will be Uchiha Shisui. I am going to appoint you guys as Team 15".And Naruto remember what I had warned you about.Be careful and don't be reckless during your team exercise specially in Chunin Exams. You know what I am trying to say.

Naruto understanding the meaning of those words nodded his head.

Oh, let's me remind you Naruto, you have to act..."

"I know, Kurahime" Naruto cut the vixen off with a nod, with a pleasant smile. The golden Kyuubi could only look in appreciation.

"So Kushina, what do you think?" Minato asked with a smile. Putting his hand on his wife's shoulder he pulled her to a corner of the room and said with a low tone "With Minami on Naruto's team, I'm sure that she can protect him from the dangers of the second stage. Naruto is able to defeat Hinata Hyuuga with some very simple moves, which is a good sign of his growth. I'm sure that he can perform better in these exams."

"But Minato..."

"Plus, this is an opportunity to bond Naruto and Minami back together." he pointed out with a smile. Kushina bit her bottom lips, hearing that part of her really wanted to let Naruto and Minami participate in the Chunin exam and get closer to each other through the dangers and obstacles they would have to overcome. But this was also the reason she didn't want Naruto to take part in this, Minami was more than capable of protecting herself from dangers of Training ground forty four, but would she is about to protect her brother as well?

Coming to the final decision, Kushina took a deep breath before saying.

"Oh right! You win this time Minato!" First argument he had even won to tell the truth "But if something wrong happen, you will feel sorry for marrying me, you got that?" She asked, glaring into his eyes.

"Geez, why so serious..." Kushina then flicked his arm away from her shoulder and turned around to look at Naruto and Minami. The younger blonde was telling Naruko about his fight with Hinata, showing her the forehead protector with a grin on his face

"Naruto, Minami" She said, earning her their attention "You two along with your new teammate will have to be careful alright?" The two blondes nodded their head.

"Sure, believe in me mom" Naruto gave his mother his trademark grin and a thumbs up.

So, how about we celebrate Onii-sama become a Gennin?" Naruko asked with a smile and Kushina could only sigh in defeat while the rest of her family grinned happily.

It was late at night and after the celebration ended, Naruto, while carrying a few bags of potato chips and candies looked around the hallway to make sure none of his sisters or any servants were wandering around the place. After making sure that there were no one around him and his parent returned to their room, Naruto knocked on the door

"Coming" He heard an excited voice.

A second later, the door was opened and Kunou was the one who opened it. She was wearing a yellow pajama and holding a pillow in her hand, though with the bright smile she was wearing it was clear that she didn't intent to go to sleep anytime soon.

"Onii-cha..." she cried out put Naruto instantly put a finger to his lip to silently tell her to keep her voice down, or else someone would hear her. After all, Kunou and her mother were illegally residing in his house without his parents, the owners' permission "onii-chan" she said with a much lower tone and let him come in.

"Good evening Naruto." Yasaka, who was standing at the corner of the room with a book in her hand, greeted him with a warm smile "Had fun down there?"

"Yeah, it was quite fun to say the least." He looked at Kunou who was standing right next to him trying to grab a bag of potato chips from his hand "I didn't know that Kunou can stay up this late." he smiled and ruffed her hair.

"When she heard your family was partying below, she couldn't sleep." Yasaka giggled "and since you came here with all those sweets, I doubt she will be able to sleep tonight."

"Well, I think that we should celebrate too, you know" Naruto said softly and sat down in front of Yasaka, putting the candies and potato bags down to the floor. This was all he could bring with him, since his mother and sisters already cleaned up all the leftovers and his family didn't leave much leftovers behind to begin with "Sorry, I can't bring much with me." he said

"Not to worry, Naruto." Yasaka smiled, tearing a bag of potato chips and give it to her daughter, Yasaka then picked uo a chocolate stick for herself before saying "You really went overboard knowing the condition of your body. Why is it so necessary for you to win. You know you can became ninja next year.?"

"Well, yeah, what you said is true but it is necessary for me. There are things I have to do. ?" Naruto said seriously while scratching the back of his head "I could have died but it was necessary. Not for me but for her as well."

"She meant something to you, didn't she?" Yasaka asked teasingly, leaning forward but with mixed up feelings. Kunou only watched on while eating the potato chips with a confused expression on her face "Hyuuga Hinata."

To be continued.........