The Hope of the Senju Clan

Chapter 14: Teams.

-Training Ground Seven-

Upon leaving his previous team and becoming the apprentice of both Yamato and Kushina, the past two weeks had become fairly interesting for Naruto.

For the first few days both Kushina and Naruto had been stuck doing E rank missions, as punishment for their pranking contest, (which Naruto won by redesigning the entire ANBU division masks with ridiculous faces, where several of the member had to wear them as they chased after Naruto). Not to mention for all the damage they did during the contest (and for ruining the Hokage's private reading time with his Icha Icha book).

Yamato of course refused to help either of them, as he was still a bit peeved at how they left him holding the bill at the Ramen stand.

Eventually though things calm down and Naruto got onto some hard training with his two Sensei's, Kushina of course decided that she would help train Naruto to further improve his Kenjutsu, by teaching him her Arasuijin no Mai (Dance of the Raging Water Goddess) sword style, which she created. The style itself involved using not only a sword but also water as a weapon as well, which was why the style was best used around a large nearby water source. But since Naruto could draw a large amount of water from the plants and air around him, he did not have this handicap.

Yamato on the other hand started training Naruto to better use his Mokuton bloodline, during the course of the past few weeks Naruto's skill in his bloodline improved, where instead of needing seeds to grow trees, he was able to create a fully grown one out of the ground by himself. Yamato also taught Naruto how to create wood binds, where Naruto could create wooden binds that would come from his body and rap themselves around an opponent's body and subdue the person.

But what amazed Yamato, when he was training Naruto, was that Naruto could not only grow trees and wooden objects, but also grow plants and manipulate them to a certain degree, something that he (Yamato) himself couldn't do. Hence when Yamato informed the Sandaime, the old Hokage could not help but wonder if this was another mutation of Mokuton bloodline, or the next evolution to the bloodline, much like how the Sharingan can evolve to the Mangekyō Sharingan. But regardless of this, Yamato continued to help Naruto with his Mokuton abilities and in his plant abilities as well.

"Nicely done there Naruto!" spoke Kushina as she avoided another one of Naruto's slashes, "But try this!" she cried as she then stabbed forwards with her Katana.

Seeing this, Naruto did a backwards flip and landed on the small pond that was near them, where he channelled Chakra to his feet so that he could walk on the surface.

After Naruto avoided her attack, Kushina quickly jumped forward and on to the pond and attempted to slash at him again.

Seeing Kushina coming towards him, Naruto quickly dipped his Katana into the water underneath him and cried out "Mizu no Jōshō (Rising Water)! (A)"swinging his Kanata upward, creating several waves of water around him and acting like a wall of water, blocking Kushina's attack and making her jump backwards, away from the wall of water.

As soon as Kushina jumped away from the wall of water, it quickly collapsed and Naruto then charged forward towards Kushina swinging his Katana in a horizontal slash.

When Kushina saw this, she quickly raised her sword to block Naruto's slash with her Katana, but when she did, she quickly realised that Naruto's slash was a feint, as Naruto had dropped his Katana into his other hand in mid-swing, making Kushina think that Naruto's first slash was real. When the actual attack was the second slash, which Kushina could not avoid or block in time, where when Naruto swung his Katana, he cried out "Mizu no Atsuen (Rolling Water)! (B)" and slashed at Kushina's stomach.

Thinking he had got Kushina Naruto smiled, but it quickly faded when he saw Kushina revert into water, revealing that she had replaced herself with a Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone).

"Pretty good Naruto, you learned to use Mizu no Atsuen better than I expected you to, but still, you're lagging a bit when you're switching your Katana from one hand to the other" spoke Kushina a bit away from behind Naruto, who quickly spun around to face his sensei.

As soon as Naruto spun around to face her, Kushina quickly threw several Kunai's, with exploding notes tied to them at Naruto.

Seeing them, Naruto then quickly spun his Katana and held it backwards and quickly started to spin around at high speed and drawing the water around him to create a swirling vortex of water around himself. As Naruto spun around, he quickly cried out the name of the technique "Senkai no Mizu (Swirling Water)! (C)" where when the Kunai's hit the swirling water barrier, they exploded. But thankfully, the swirling water shield did its job and protected Naruto from the blast.

"Nicely done Naruto, now let's see how much you have improved these past two weeks" said Kushina before she then drew some water from the pond underneath her and coated her Katana with it. After which she then charged forward with her Katana thrusted forward at Naruto at high speed, where she cried out "Tachioyogi (Treading Water)! (D)".

When Naruto saw Kushina coming at him with her water covered Katana thrusted forward, he quickly prepared to counter, where just when Kushina was only a few feet away from him, Naruto quickly swung his Katana down onto the water and created a large wave of water that acted like a wall that separated himself and Kushina.

The wall of Water of course did little to stop Kushina's attack, but when Kushina struck through the wall of water and stabbed Naruto, the wall of water collapsed and "Naruto" collapsed with it, revealing that the "Naruto" behind the wall was just a reflection created by the wall of water.

"Mizu no Kagayaku (Glittering Water)! (E)...when did he fully master that? I only showed him that move a few days ago!" thought Kushina in surprise, as she had only shown Naruto that move once.

But as Kushina was recovering from her surprise at Naruto mastering Mizu no Kagayaku so quickly and at how she had be tricked by Naruto. The real Naruto appeared from behind her, with his Katana covered in water, charging at Kushina at his top speed with his Katana thrust forward, showing that he was using Tachioyogi.

Sensing danger from behind, thanks to her many years in the ANBU division, Kushina quickly flipped backwards, just as Naruto was about to stab her, where as she flipped over Naruto she kicked him in the back on the head slightly. This caused Naruto to fall forward and into the water, due to losing his balance as he was charging forward at high speed.

Naruto of course quickly regained himself, after falling into the water and immediately swam to the surface, unfortunately though once he got back onto his feet and onto the surface of the pond. Naruto quickly saw Kushina charging at him with astonishing speed, with her Katana ready to slash at him, knowing that he didn't have time to try and block his sensei's attack, Naruto tried to jump away and avoid the attack.

Sadly though it was too late for him to try, as the next second Kushina disappeared right before his eyes and reappeared behind him with her back to him and holding her Katana downward, where she simply said in a calm but serious voice "It's over".

The next thing Naruto knew, dozens of small cuts appeared all over his body and he collapsed onto the water unable to move.

-Fifteen Minutes Later-

"Ow! Sensei that hurts!" cried Naruto in pain as Kushina spread some healing cream over his cuts that her attack made.

"Oh come brat, don't be such a baby" teased Kushina as she continued to spread the cream over Naruto's cuts.

"I'm not, you just suck at being a medic, I still don't know why you won't let me treat myself an...ow!" said Naruto before he cried out in pain from the stinging of the healing cream being rubbed too hard onto his cuts.

"You did that on purpose" cried Naruto as he glared slightly at his red haired sensei, who just smirked.

After Kushina had covered all of Naruto's cuts with the healing cream, Naruto turned to his female sensei, "Kushina-sensei, what was that last move, you used on me?"

"The move was called Jinsoku Mizu (Swift Water) (F), it's one of my stronger moves, where I use my water affinity to gather tiny small blades water from the moisture in the air and around my Blade, allowing me to cut my opponents multiple times when I swing it, in a way I use the very air itself as my weapon".

"Wow" stated an impressed Naruto, "Can you teach me that?"

"Maybe later, since that move is a little bit too advance for you yet" replied Kushina, where Naruto got a disappointed look on his face upon hearing this.

"Do not look so disappointed Naruto-san, you've already shown impressive skills by mastering most of the basic moves in Kushina's Arasuijin no Mai style", spoke Yamato, as he had been watching the sparing match between Kushina and Naruto.

"He's right Naruto, you've already progressed faster than I expected you to, you should be proud of what you have accomplished so far, but you should take your time to fully master the rest of the basic moves and then improve on them, before wanting to learn my more advance moves. Since if you advance too quickly, you won't gain the experience needed to use the techniques to their full potential or the knowledge to later improve on them", spoke Kushina.

Naruto of course nodded in understanding, as back when he was younger, Jiraiya had told him something similar, back when he was training him, stating that a man who has mastered using a wooden stick in a fight, will always defeat a novice who is using a steel sword.

"Although your spar battle was very impressive, I've to say it seemed to have gone a bit too far for my taste", spoke Yamato, where he stared a Kushina.

"Hmph! don't look at me, I told the kid that if he wanted to learn my fighting style, it would be harsh and I wouldn't go easy on him. Beside I held back, when I used my Jinsoku Mizu, where all he got was a few cuts, for if I hadn't he would be in pieces right now", replied Kushina.

Naruto of course reluctantly agreed with Kushina's comment, as he knew that Kushina could have beaten him easily at any time during their fight, since she was a former ANBU captain and had far more experience and skill than he had right now.

Yamato also nodded, since he knew how strong Kushina was from several missions he had done with her over the years and knew she had held back a great deal during her spar with Naruto. But still, he had found that she might have went a little bit overboard during the fight, as regardless of how talented Naruto was, he was still only and a young boy and a newly made Genin, where he could of easily gotten seriously hurt.

"Very well then, but we'll finish training today, as it's time for your joint training with the other teams, as Asuma-san, Kakashi-san and Kurenai-san have sent their time schedules to me indicting when it would be best for them for you to train or work with their teams", spoke Yamato.

"So who will I be joining today Yamato-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Today you'll be working with Kurenai-san and her team, then tomorrow you'll be working with Asuma-san and team ten and the next day you be with your former team, team seven", answered Yamato.

Naruto of course was happy he would be working with Hinata and her team first, as he hadn't seen her since the team sorting's, although he wasn't too thrilled with being Kiba and could only hope he matured a bit, (although it was unlikely). He didn't mind working with team ten much, as he didn't really know them all that well other than that girl Ino, who he crashed into a while back and who had been following him not too long ago. Although what got Naruto slightly worried about her was that, he had the sneaking suspicion that she was becoming or had already become another one of his fan girls, given how she was following him a while back. This of course was the last thing Naruto wanted or needed given how he had enough trouble with the ones he already had and didn't need anymore.

But as annoyed as Naruto was about having the possibility of another fan girl and having to work with her, the thing that bothered him most was that he would be working with Sasuke, Sakura and Sai. Sure he was happy he would get to train a bit with the famed Copy-Cat Ninja Hatake Kakashi, but even he still, he wasn't too thrilled with having to work with Sasuke, Sai and Sakura.

Sasuke of course annoyed him the least of the three as he was strong and a serious Shinobi at least, but he refused to work with others, believing that they just hold him back. Not to mention the fact that he was too busy brooding in his own personal little world to even talk to someone like an equally, always believing that they were just a waste of time and space.

Next there was Sai, who although Naruto had only met once, still disliked, since Naruto found him to be a jerk, despite his friendly like appearance. There was also the fact that there was something that was off about him, which made Naruto not thrust him, despite the obvious clues. Since to Naruto he seemed like some kind of human doll doing the bidding of another.

Then finally there was Sakura, who Naruto found the most annoying, as it was obvious that she was infatuated with Sasuke, and wouldn't agree with anything with anyone unless Sasuke said it. What annoyed Naruto even more was that she wasn't even a serious Shinobi, as she obviously only became a Ninja in the hopes of getting close to Sasuke. This was of course unacceptable to Naruto as people like Sakura get herself and her team killed on a serious mission, given how her physical and other skills were minimum at best and the only thing she had going for her were her book smarts, which would only get her so far in the real world. The only thing Naruto could do was hope that at some point she would get a serious wakeup call before it was too late.

After Naruto had rested a bit and ate a bit of lunch with his two Sensei's, he headed off to meet Kurenai and the other members of team eight.

-With Kurenai-

Currently waiting at Training ground two was the Jonin Sensei of team eight Yuhi Kurenai, who was currently waiting for her three students and her new part-time student Senju Naruto.

As she quietly waited for her student's arrival she soon saw Naruto walking towards her, as he came closer, Kurenai noticed that Naruto had several cuts on his clothes and on his arms (which were nearly healed).

"Greetings Naruto-san" spoke Kurenai friendly, as she remembered that Naruto did not like being referred to as sama, plus since he was her student now she would treat him like any of her other students.

"Ohayou Kurenai-sensei" greeted Naruto with a friendly smile.

"I hope nothing serious happened?" asked Kurenai, as she indicated at the cuts on Naruto clothes and the slight healed cuts on his arms.

"No not really, just training with Kushina-sensei" answered Naruto, where Kurenai just nodded as she heard how during spars or training Kushina could be a bit rough.

"Well Naruto, since we've a few minutes before the others arrive, I believe I should tell you how exactly I be training you, now as you know the Hokage has asked me to help in you training in Genjutsu. But I can only train you part time, as I have my own team to train, but during the time that you're with my team you'll also work on missions with us".

"Sure that fine by me Kurenai-sensei"

"Good, now I would like to know what kind of Genjutsu's you know, so that I will know where to start with your training".

"Well I know only a couple of Genjutsu's like Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique), Magen: Nijū Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Double False Surroundings Technique), Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique), Kori Shinchū no Jutsu (Sly Mind Affect Technique), Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death) and I also know how to detect and release myself Genjutsu's".

At hearing this Kurenai raised her eyebrow, as she was impressed with Naruto's skill level in Genjutsu and only wish he had been as skilled when she was his age.

Naruto and Kurenai continued to talk for the next few minutes, until Kureani's team arrived.

"Senju what the hell are you doing here?" asked annoyed Kiba, when he came up to Naruto and Kurenai.

"Kiba be respectful, as Naruto here will be working with our team from time to time, where he will be training with us and doing missions with us as well", spoke Kurenai.

"WHAT?" cried Kiba in surprise.

At the same time upon hearing this Shino raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Naruto, while Hinata smiled at having the chance of working with her friend and training with him.

"Why the hell is he working with our team? He has his own team!" spoke an angry Kiba.

"Due to special circumstances that involved Naruto, he was taken from his team and made an apprentice to two other Jonin-sensei's and will work part time with us and his original team, team seven and with team ten" replied Kurenai.

"And what are these circumstances?" asked Kiba.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you Kiba as it's on a need to know" answered Kurenai.

At hearing this Kiba just frowned since as far as he was concerned, Naruto was just getting more special treatment for being the heir of the Senju Clan, which proved to him that he was a sliver spoon Shinobi.

"So what are we doing first Kurenai-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Well we'll be doing a mission first at the Inuzuka dog pound" answered Kurenai, making Kiba groan as he had being doing that kind of work ever since he had been tricked by Mizuki, hence he was hoping he get to do something else.

Naruto of course couldn't help but smile in amusement, since he knew why Kiba was groaning and was sort of sympatric to his plight. He was also sort of looking forward to going to the dog pound, since he hadn't seen Kurimaru since he brought him back to the Inuzuka dog pound when he saved him; hence this mission was a good opportunity to visit him.

As Naruto and team eight headed towards the Inuzuka Clan compound, Naruto walked next to Hinata and started to talk to her, where the two of them caught up with one another about what had happen to both of them from when they last met.

-Inuzuka Dog Pound-

Currently standing at the main entrance of the Inuzuka Dog Pound was the Inuzuka Clan head Tsume along with her parent Kuromaru who were both waiting for their ordered help with the dogs today.

Fortunately Tsume and Kuromaru did not have to wait for very long as she soon saw Naruto Kurenai and her team coming towards them.

"Ah, good you all right on time, although it seems you came with an extra person", spoke Tsume as she looked at Naruto and smiled.

"Yes, Naruto here is on a joint mission with us, I hope that won't be a probable Tsume-san?" asked Kurenai.

"Nonsense the more the merrier, as many hands make light work" spoke the Inuzuka Clan head before she turned to Naruto again, "It's good to see you again pup".

"Same here, Tsume-san is Kurimaru here?"

"Yep he's here and I'm sure he'll be happy you see you" answered Tsume, before she then turned to Kurenai and the rest of the team.

"Now then, I'm sure you all want to get started so I won't hold you off any longer", spoke Tsume where she then looked at her son. "Kiba since you still have your punishment chores you can do them now".

When Kiba heard this he of course groaned, as he was sick of cleaning up the kennels, as whenever he was finish he always ended up smelling like dog poop.

Ignoring her son's groans Tsume turned to her son's Sensei "Kurenai-san you'll be helping my daughter Hana with the medical check-up on the dogs", upon hearing this the female Jonin-sensei nodded her head, understanding what she was to do.

"You Aburame-san will be doing an inventory of our supplies in the storage room and add in the supplies that we received yesterdays", spoke Tsume when she turned to Shino, who just nodded when Tsume told him what to do.

"A-a-and what would y-you like m-m-me t-to do Tsume-sama" asked the still shy Hinata, who was a bit nervous around Tsume.

At this Tsume just smiled, "Well you'll be working with the young Senju pup here, where the two of you'll be washing the pups, as they already had their check-up with Hana earlier this morning".

"Sounds like fun, doesn't it Hinata-chan?" said Naruto with smile as he turned to the Hyuga heiress.

"H-Hai" stuttered Hinata.

Once they were all given their orders Tsume then led everyone (with the exception of Kiba, since he knew where to go) to where they be doing their appointed jobs.

When Naruto and Hinata entered the room where they be washing the pups, they saw several large litters of puppies of many different kinds running around the room and barking loudly, playing with one another.

Within seconds of entering the room, Naruto suddenly saw a brown blur appear in front of him, where he was knocked down by the blur and soon felt a wet tongue licking his face and tickling him.

When the brown blur knocked Naruto down onto the ground, Hinata quickly became concern about Naruto's safety, but her concerns almost just as quickly left when she heard Naruto laughing and saw a brown wolf like pup on top of Naruto licking his face.

"Hahahaha...stop it Kurimaru ...hahahaha...it tickles...hahaha...I'm happy to see you too boy...hahahaha" laughed Naruto, as the small half wolf pup was on top of him licking his face.

After a few minutes the young pup finally settled down and stopped licking Naruto's face and got off him, and barked a few time, as if greeting him, where Naruto then patted the young pup on the head lightly.

"Eh, Excuse me Naruto-san, but do you know this puppy?" asked Hinata shyly.

"Ah yea this is Kurimaru, a few weeks back he got lost from the dog pound and was attacked by a group of kids, where I saved him and brought him back here. The two of us then became quite friendly each other...Isn't that right Kurimaru?" spoke Naruto, as he panted Kurimaru on the head again, and the little pup barked in agreement with Naruto.

At hearing this Hinata smiled, as it proved without a shadow of a doubt that Naruto was indeed a very kind person.

"Kurimaru, I like to introduce you to my friend Hinata", spoke Naruto as he introduced Hinata to the young pup.

Kurimaru was of course unsure about Hinata, as the young pup was natural hesitate of getting close to people, either due to his wolf like nature or because of what happened with the children that chased after him. But Naruto continued to encourage Kurimaru to go over to Hinata stating that she was a friend, eventually though the pup went over to Hinata, where when he was close enough Hinata then knelt down to him. After which she then panted the puppy gentle on the head and the scratched him behind the ear (much like she would do with Akamaru).

"Hello Kurimaru" said Hinata as she scratched behind Kurimaru's ear, making the little puppy wag its tail indicating that he liked what Hinata was doing.

After introducing Hinata and Kurimaru, Naruto and Hinata then started to work and started to wash Kurimaru and the other puppies, which was difficult enough for Hinata and Naruto, as the puppies would often struggle a bit when they were in the water while Hinata and Naruto were washing them. The puppies would also even try and jump out of the large tub they were in, where some would succeed and run around the room a bit before Hinata or Naruto caught them.

Throughout the entire event, both Hinata and Naruto were fairly wet, but they eventually got the puppies to calm down, where they could then finish washing them. But despite the fact that both Hinata and Naruto were fairly drenched from the event, both Hinata and Naruto enjoyed it and had fun washing the puppies.

After a while, when they'd finish washing and drying over half the puppies, Kurenai entered the room, where she asked Naruto if he could go help Shino in the storage room with the inventory and the loading of the new supplies. While she (Kurenai), helped Hinata with washing and drying the rest of the puppies.

Naruto of course agreed, where he then headed to the storage room to help Shino.

When Naruto entered the storage room he saw that Shino was having difficulty with carrying a large box filled with dog food. Upon seeing this, Naruto quickly went over to Shino and grabbed the other end of the box, "Here let me help you".

Seeing Naruto, Shino nodded his head "Thank you Senju-san, your help is appreciated".

"No prob", replied Naruto as he and Shino carried the large box to one of the lower selves of the storage room.

Once they'd put the box in its place, Shino then turned to Naruto "If it's not too much trouble Senju-san, would you be able to handle sorting the rest of the box's and crates, while I finish the inventory".

"Not a problem, and please call me Naruto".

"Very well then Naruto-san", replied Shino with a nodded and then walked to the other end of the storage room to finish the inventory.

For the next few minutes Naruto and Shino worked in silence with one another as they worked together, but after a while Naruto couldn't stand the continued silence between him and Shino.

After which Naruto tried to start a conversation between him and young Aburame heir, unfortunately making a conversation between him and Shino, proved more difficult than he thought. Not that Shino ignored his attempts to make conversation and did reply to Naruto when he spoke to him.

The problem was that after answering a question or a comment from Naruto, Shino wouldn't try to continue on with the conversation, he simply continue to work in silence.

Eventually though, Naruto was able to start a real conversation with Shino, by using his knowledge on nature, where although Naruto's knowledge of nature was more into plants and animals, and Shino's was into insects. It was still enough to start a healthy conversation, where Shino found Naruto to be an interesting person.

It didn't take long for Naruto and Shino to finish sorting out the boxes and crates into their proper location, but just as Shino was placing a small box of medicine for the dogs on the top shelf, while Naruto was holding the bottom of the ladder for him, a wet Kurimaru suddenly came running in with Hinata right behind him crying out to him to stop.

As Kurimaru ran into the storage room, he slipped on the floor due to his fur still being wet, where he then crashed into the shelf that Naruto and Shino were working on, causing it to shake. Thereby causing one of the large crates that was on the top shelf right above Kurimaru, to fall down towards not only him, but also Hinata, who had just caught Kurimaru.

When Naruto saw the crate falling down towards both Kurimaru and Hinata, he yell out to both of them to move, but knew that they would not be able to in time.

Reacting immediately, Naruto quickly channelled his chakra to his feet to increase his speed, where he then sped off towards Hinata and Kurimaru with speed that shocked Shino (who saw what was happening from the top of the ladder).

Within seconds Naruto crossed the distance between him, Hinata and Kurimaru, where right before the crate crashed on top of them, Naruto pushed both Kurimaru and Hinata out of the way and narrowly avoided being hit himself.

After the crate crashed onto the floor, Naruto found himself on top of Hinata hugging her tightly, with Kurimaru squeezed between them. Due to Hinata holding onto Kurimaru when the crate fell and Naruto grabbing hold of her when he pushed her and Kurimaru away from the falling crate.

When Naruto looked at Hinata he found that the young Hyūga heiress was blushing bright red, due to the fact that she had never been in such close contact with a boy the same age as herself. This was made even worse for her, since not only was Naruto pressed tightly against her chest, but Kurimaru was also caught between the "developing" parts of her chest. Upon which he began wiggling in between them, hoping to squeeze out between Naruto and Hinata, making the situation all the more worse and embarrassing for the young Hyuga girl.

And if Hinata thought things couldn't get even more embarrassing, they did when Kurenai, Kiba, Akamaru, Tsume, Kuromaru, Hana and the Three Haimaru Brothers came running in after hearing the loud crash of the crate.

When they entered the room they were of course surprised, to see Naruto on top Hinata hugging her tightly.

"Well, Well, Well I've to say...you certainly move fast don't cha pup? Since I've heard rumours that you were becoming quite popular with the young girls in the village." commented Tsume with amused smirk, but as amused as Tsume was before, the sight of Kurimaru popping his head out between Hinata and Naruto at that moment and wriggling even more, trying to get out between the two Genin, caused the female Clan head to burst out laughing at the sight.

Even Hana and Kurenai chuckled slightly at the sight, at how funny it was, the only one who wasn't laughing was Kiba, as from the look of things (Kiba's point of view that is) it looked like Naruto was trying to force himself on his team-mate.

"Senju! What the hell are you doing to Hinata?" cried Kiba angrily.

When Naruto heard Tsume comment he natural became embarrassed and turned red much like Hinata (although no-where as near as red as she was), but after Kiba angry accusation Naruto quickly let go of Hinata and jumped onto his feet, waving his hands in denial.

"Wait! It's not what it looks like I swear!" said Naruto worried at what Kurenai and the others were thinking.

"Well then why don't you tell use exactly what happened?" asked Kurenai with an amused smirk, as she was certain there was a reasonable explanation, as she highly doubt Naruto would do anything inappropriate.

Once Naruto had helped Hinata back onto her feet (who were still very red) and he had finished explaining what happened. Kiba was as always, sceptical of Naruto's explanation, but thankfully Shino backed Naruto up as he had seen what had happened, hence Kiba had no choice but to believe Naruto.

Once Naruto finished his explanation as to what happened, he turned to Hinata and asked if she was ok, Hinata of course stuttered out how she was fine and thanked Naruto saving her. Kurimaru also thanked Naruto for saving him by jumping onto Naruto again and licking him.

Once Naruto got Kurimaru to settle down again, Naruto then apologies to Tsume as to what happened to the crate and for the stuff that was broken in it, but Tsume told him that it was alright and that she rather have what just happened now, than have somebody getting hurt.

Once the matter was then settled, Shino and Naruto cleaned up the mess, after which Naruto and the rest of the team finished off the rest of their duties, where Tsume thanked them and that they could leave.

"Well good work all of you, since the mission is now done you all have the rest of the day off" spoke Kurenai.

Upon hearing this, the four Genin all nodded their heads in understanding and went their own separate ways, but before Naruto could walk very far away, he suddenly heard his name being called out by someone, when he turned up he saw a blushing Hinata slowly walk up to him.

"What's up Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto, where he heard her mumble something, while at the same time pressing her index fingers in and out (Author's Note: You know that thing Hinata does). But since she was mumbling Naruto couldn't quite hear what she was saying.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, but I can't hear you what did you say?" asked Naruto.

"I w-w-want t-to thank y-you a-again, as y-you c-c-could've been h-hurt when y-y-you saved m-m-me" stuttered the still blushing, shy young girl.

At this Naruto smiled "No problem Hinata-chan, since that what friends are for and I'm sure you would've done the same for me".

At hearing this Hinata couldn't help but blush a deeper shade of red, as few people ever really complimented her in any way, where she thanked Naruto again, after which Naruto told her it was not a problem and then Shunshin'd (Body Flickered) away.

Currently standing not far away from where Naruto and Hinata were just talking, was the team sensei Kurenai who could not help but overhear Hinata thanking Naruto again. As she listen to the two Genin talk. Kurenai also noticed how Hinata was blushing an even darker shade of red when Naruto complimented her and was mumbling a lot more, not to mention that every time Hinata looked at Naruto she blushed a little more.

When she saw this Kurenai couldn't help but smile, as it didn't take a genius to figure out that the young girl was developing a crush on Naruto, especially considering how Naruto put himself in harms why when he saved her and the young puppy.

"You certainly live up to your reputation Naruto-san" thought Kurenai, as she remembered hearing from Kushina several days ago that Naruto had develop a little habit of saving Princesses and gaining their attraction. Since she had heard from Kushina that Naruto helped protect and save the Daughter of the former High Priestess of Oni no Kuni (Demon Country), from a group of enemy Shinobi's. She also heard from Kushina that Naruto even saved the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter from a wild bear.

Hence Naruto lived up to his reputation by saving Hinata, as she was the heiress of the Hyūga Clan and was basically a Princess of the Clan, due to being the Daughter of the Clan head Hyūga Hiashi.

When Naruto left, Kurenai then walked up to Hinata and smiled to her, pretending to know nothing Kurenai asked Hinata if she would like her to walk her (Hinata) home, which Hinata to agreed.

As they walked to the Hyūga Compound, Kurenai started a conversation with Hinata, "Naruto is quite an interesting young man?"

"H-Hai Naruto-kun is a very kind person" replied Hinata with a slight blush, which was the final confirmation Kurenai needed, when she heard Hinata's suffix and saw the blush at the mention of him, which of course made Kurenai smile again. After which the two silently walked together to the Hyūga Compound.

-Next Day at Training Ground Five-

Currently standing in the middle of training ground five, smoking a cigarette was the leader of team ten, Sarurobi Asuma, son of the Sandaime Hokage.

Asuma was currently waiting for the arrival of his team, along with a new addition Senju Naruto, who was doing joint training with them today.

As Asuma waited for the four Genin to arrive, he soon sensed a presence coming up from behind him from the treeline, Asuma could tell that the person had some skill, as the person hid their presence well and made sure not to make any sound and keep hidden. But even still Asuma wasn't a Jonin of Konohagakure for nothing and could sense the person coming, thanks to many years of being a Shinobi.

"You might as well stop hiding, I know your there" spoke Asuma as he waited for the person to show himself.

At hearing this the person knew the jig was up and jumped out of the tree he was hiding in and appeared in front of Asuma, revealing the person to be none other than Naruto.

"I guess I should have figured you would've sensed me coming" stated Naruto, as he had wanted to see how good his stealth skills were and who better to test them against than a Jonin, who also happened to be a former member of the Shugonin Jūnishi (Twelve Guardian Ninja's).

"I admit your pretty good, but you're still a long way off before you're able to sneak up on a Jonin level Shinobi without them sensing you" replied Asuma, where Naruto just nodded.

"So where are the others?" asked Naruto.

"They should be here soon, but before they arrive I thought I should tell you what I have planned to do today" said Asuma. "Today I'm basically going to have a mock battle, where you will face against my team by yourself".

"Why? Would you want that Asuma-sensei? Wouldn't it be better that I face off against them one at a time or have us split up in pairs?" asked Naruto.

"Normally that would be true, but you see I've been having a little trouble with getting my team to work together, as Shikamaru lacks any real motivation to do much, despite the fact that he has the ability to be an excellent Shinobi. Choji also doesn't have any real motivation either and easily loses confidence in himself, where he would much prefer gorging himself than train or fight", said Asuma, where Naruto nodded in understanding, after which Asuma continued on.

"Ino is also another problem, as she has yet to come to realise what the life of a Shinobi really is, as she focus more on how she looks than she does when it comes to training. She avoids eating much and is constantly on some kind of diet, and frets over her clothes and hair, worrying that they get dirty, which of course is linked to Ino's biggest problem..." stated Asuma.

"She a Fan girl" stated Naruto bluntly before Asuma could finish, who just nodded.

"Yea, hence why I'm hoping that if I've you fight against them you can get them to work together or at least see the value of working together as a team", spoke Asuma. "Plus I'm hoping that if Ino is force to fight you, she might become a little more serious in her training instead of fretting over her looks, after fighting her new crush" continued Asuma with a smirk. Since when he mentioned this, the young blonde groaned loudly and slapped his forehead with annoyance, as Asuma had confirmed what he had already suspected...Ino had become his newest fan girl.

After a minute or two Naruto soon got over the annoyance of having another fan girl and then spoke to Asuma "Well I've no problem in that, but I'll have to hold back on them a lot, as I can't use most of my abilities".

Asuma of course nodded at this, as he knew that his father had ordered Naruto keep his abilities hidden for as long as possible, or at least until the Chunin exam. This was because the Hokage feared that if people knew what Naruto could to. Then word might leak out to the other Shinobi villages, who would then most likely send assassins after Naruto, to prevent him becoming a threat to them in the future.

"That's not a problem, as I wouldn't want you to go all out on them to begin with...all I want you to do is basically get them to work together" answered Asuma, where Naruto just nodded.

"Now before they arrive, there something else I would like to ask you?"

"Sure what is it Asuma-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Well I heard from Kakashi about a Wind technique that you created and I was wondering if you could show it to me?" asked Asuma, as he was interested in seeing the technique with his own eyes.

"Sure!" said Naruto, as he liked to show off a little every now and again, since for most of his life he had to keep hidden due to fear of his parents enemies coming after him. Plus he sort of liked getting attention for something he did and not because of whose son or descendant he was.

Naruto then drew out his Katana from his back and then started to channel his Wind Chakra to the tip of his blade and swung it in a horizontal slash while crying out "Surasshu-fū (Wind Slash)!" where a crescent shaped blade of Wind erupted from the Katana blade tip.

The blade of Wind flew at a nearby tree with frightening speed, where the Blade of Wind sliced through the tree and continued onto another tree behind the first, cutting right through it as well. After which the crescent Blade of Wind dissipated and the top halves of the two trees fell to the ground at roughly the same time together.

When Asuma saw the technique he could not help but gap at it, sure he knew all about it, as Kakashi and told him about it. But seeing it with his own eyes, instead of hearing about it second hand was another story.

After getting over his surprise Asuma then turned to Naruto "Pretty impressive kid, how did you come up with it?"

"Ah well, I created it by accident, when I was training in using Hien no Jutsu (Flying Swallow Technique). Back when I was practicing in using it, after Ero-sennin taught me how to do it, I accidently added too much Chakra and lost focus of the Wind Chakra around my Katana when I was swinging it. I then lost control of it, where I created a rough Wind like blade and did some damage to a nearby boulder. When I saw what I did, I came up with the idea of Surasshu-fū, whereby channelling a concentrated amount of Wind Chakra into the tip of my blade, and firing it with exact timing in the shape of a crescent moon as I swing my sword", spoke Naruto.

After hearing this, Asuma couldn't help but shake his head in amusement and puff out a puff of smoke from his mouth, as he took his cigarette out. Even after hearing about this and seeing the technique with his own eyes he still found it little hard to believe that Naruto could create something so simple, yet so brilliant and deadly. But then reminded himself that Naruto was the son of Tsunade the Slug Princess of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja's) and The Yondaime Hokage better known as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō (Yellow Flash of the Leaf). The two strongest Shinobi's of their time, hence the kid had the potential to be great with his pedigree alone.

"I'm also guessing it's a lot harder to do than it sounds?" asked Asuma, where Naruto nodded.

"Yea it is, as it took me a while to master the technique before I finally got the hang of it and even then I had to master the Hien no Jutsu first" stated Naruto, where Asuma nodded in understanding.

"Do you think it be possible for you to teach me it?" asked Asuma, as he could see a lot possibilities for that technique, as would a highly useful one to know.

"Sure I be happy to!" said Naruto with a smile and with some pride as it wasn't every day that a famed and highly skilled and veteran Jonin Shinobi would ask a Genin to teach him something.

At hearing this Asuma nodded and thank Naruto, but before they could continue their conversation they notice that Shikamaru and the other members of team ten were heading towards them.

When Shikamaru and the others reached Asuma, they quickly noticed Naruto, which of course surprised the three Genin.

"Hey Asuma-sensei, why is Senju Naruto here?" asked Shikamaru in a board like tone, not caring all that much.

"Well due to special circumstances, Naruto here was removed from team seven and made an apprentice of two other Shinobi's. The Hokage also decided that since Naruto is not on any Genin team now, he will work together with other teams like ours and do missions and training with us from time to time, so that he can learn to work with a team", answered Asuma.

At hearing this, the members of team ten had different reactions to this new development.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but then just shrugged his shoulders and sighed "What a drag, Knowing Asuma-sensei he probably work us twice as hard as normal now. Hopefully though, Senju here would be a troublesome person" thought Shikamaru.

Choji of course didn't mind much and just kept eating the crisps that he was munching on.

Ino on the other hand was ecstatic at hearing that Naruto was going to be on her team "Yes! Naruto-kun is going to be on my team now! Take that Sakura; you're not the only one that has her man on her team now", thought Ino.

"I guess that's ok", said Shikamaru, "but what happened over there?" indicating at the two falling trees.

"Ah well I was just doing a bit training, while I was waiting for all of you, and I got a bit carried away", lied Asuma, not wanting to put Naruto in the spot light.

Shikamaru of course narrowed his eyes is with suspicion at this, as he found it difficult accept his Sensei excuse, but before he could ask further on the matter Asuma spoke again.

"Now then, since that matter is settled I think we should have a little introduction with each other".

"What exactly would you like us to say to one another sensei?" asked Ino.

"How about we tell each other our names, what we like, what we dislike, our dreams for the future and our hobbies" spoke Naruto taking a page out of Kakashi's book.

At this Asuma nodded, seeing as the best way for Naruto to get to know the rest of the team.

"That's fine, I start things off, my name is Sarutobi Asuma, my likes are soda, sausages, tororo and smoking my cigarettes, my dislikes are people who make a fuss over my smoking, people who are always in a hurry and those who betray their oaths. My hobbies are playing shōgi and my dream for the future is that I can one day have a family of my own".

Once Asuma finished Naruto decided to go next and help break the ice "My name is Senju Naruto my likes include Raman, my Kaa-chan, Shizune onee-chan, our pet pig TonTon, Ero-sennin, playing pranks, my friends, training and reading. I dislike bullies, traitors, the three minutes that take to cook my Ramen and Perverts. My hobbies are training, reading and gardening and making perverts suffer, and my dreams for the future are to be a Great Medic-nin like my Kaa-chan, to restore my Clan and to be the greatest Hokage! That way, people will stop always comparing me to the rest of my family and acknowledge me as myself and not someone related to great ninja's", said Naruto.

At hearing this Asuma nodded, Shikamaru just shrugged, Choji just kept munching on his crisps, while Ino had a dreamy look on her face.

"He's Perfect!" cried Ino happily inside her mind "He's not some pervert like some guys, he's strong, polite, considerate, kind, likes gardening and he makes perverts suffer". As Ino was thinking this, she was also dreaming of what it would be like to be the wife of the next future Hokage.

Once Naruto had finished his introduction, Asuma then motioned Shikamaru go next, who muttered "Troublesome" before he spoke.

"My name is Nara Shikamaru, my likes are watching the clouds drift by, mackerel and kelp, my dislikes are boiled eggs, troublesome people, especially loud troublesome women...ow!" stated Shikamaru, before he cried out in pain as annoyed Ino smacked him on the back of the head for his comment.

"Troublesome" muttered Shikamaru as he rumbed his head, before he continued, "My hobbies are playing Shoji and taking long naps and my dream...it too troublesome to talk about".

Upon hearing Shikamaru's response, Naruto didn't know what to think, as from the way Shikamaru looked and acted, it seemed that he didn't really belong in the Shinobi world. But he quickly put those thoughts aside, as his mother had told him that in the Shinobi world, appearance counts for very little. Also he had heard of Shikamaru's Clan form his mother, where she had told him that despite their lazy like appearance or laid back attitude, they were skilled Shinobi's and expert and skilled tacticians, making them dangers people to have as enemies.

After Shikamaru had finished his introduction, Asuma then had Choji go next.

"My name is Akimichi Chōji, my like are my friends, eating at Korean barbecue and eating junk food, the things I dislike are stuff I can't eat and people who hurt my friends and who call me fat or any stuff like that. As for my hobbies, well I like buying and eating food and hanging out with Shikamaru, as for dreams, well I like to one day run and own, my own all you can eat restaurant".

With Choji introduction done Asuma turned to Ino, who was the only one left to do their introduction.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino, my likes are stylish clothes, cherry tomatoes and pudding and ... (looks at Naruto and giggles, making Naruto silently groan in annoyance). My dislikes are sashimi and disgusting stuff that smells. My hobbies are shopping and my dream... (Looks at Naruto again and giggles, making Naruto silently groan again in annoyance, as he had a guess what Ino dream was)".

Once all the introductions were done, Asuma then spoke up "Now that everyone gotten to know each other better we are going to have a little sparing match".

"Ah man, but I just ate", said Choji, after he finished eating his crisps.

"You always just ate, you moron" said annoyed Ino, before she turned to her Sensei.

"What kind of sparing match are we going to have Sensei?" asked Ino, where she silently fantasied, her and Naruto fighting side by side, and him protecting her from harm, like in the romance novels she read sometimes.

"The match will be between you three against Naruto" replied Asuma.

"But Asuma-sensei that's unfair to Naruto-kun!" stated Ino, "Wouldn't it be better if one of us was paired with him?" where Ino was ready to volunteer herself to join Naruto.

"No, you three against Naruto will do fine, as Naruto can more than handle himself in a fight" replied Asuma, where the three other Genin looked unsure, but did what their Sensei told them.

Still unsure about the way the match was laid out, team ten quickly went to into their designated position at the other end of the training field, as they walked over to their position Shikamaru suddenly spoke up.

"Hey guys listen; I think I known why Asuma-sensei is having us all go against Naruto"

"Why's that Shika?" asked Choji.

"Asuma-sensei wants us to work together against Naruto, in the hope of improving our teamwork skills", spoke Shikamaru.

"Are you sure about that Shika? Because I don't think it would be much of a match with three of us against him" said Choji.

"No way! Naruto-kun is way stronger than you think Choji" said Ino.

"As troublesome as it is, I agree with Ino on this one, since other than what he did in the Genin exams, what do we really know of Naruto's skill?"

At this Choji had no real answer to Shikamaru's question, as to be perfectly honest, with the expection of his introduction and what he did in the graduation exam, they didn't really know all that much about Naruto, as he was a total mystery to them.

"Ino, you and Sakura are back to being friends again, right?" asked Shikamaru, where Ino just nodded stating that they were.

"Then did Sakura tell you anything about what he could do? Since they were both on the same team together during their team test, before Naruto was transferred from the team" asked Shikamaru.

"No she didn't, as she was forbidden from telling anyone what Naruto-kun could do until it official declared, by order of the Hokage. If she or Sasuke told anyone they would've their Ninja licence's revoked, their Chakra sealed and charged with endangering village security and spend twenty years in a Maximum security cell. I know that was true since my Dad told me there was a Council meeting about Naruto-kun, but he wouldn't tell me what it was about" stated Ino, where Shikamaru and Choji nodded as they had heard similar things from their own fathers.

"The only thing she could tell me was that Naruto-kun was amazingly strong, stronger than Sasuke", finished Ino, where caused Shikamaru to frown further and cause Choji to worry. As they both knew that out of all the members in their old class, Sasuke was the strongest, and if Naruto was stronger than Sasuke, then that meant that they were in serious trouble.

"The only chance we now have in beating Naruto is if we work together...ok!" stated the young Nara heir, where both Ino and Choji nodded.

Once the four Genins were in opposite ends of one another and Asuma was standing in between them, he raised his arm up into the air and shouted out "Begin!"

As soon as Asuma did this Choji quickly did his Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank) and charged straight at Naruto at full speed.

Normally when faced with a situation like this Naruto would have used his superhuman strength or use one of his Doton Jutsu's or his Surasshu-fū to stop his opponent. But since this was basically a mock battle he couldn't go all out, especially since he was ordered by his Grandfather the Hokage (1) to not reveal his true abilities, unless he absolutely needed to. Hence Naruto knew he had to make due by using limited abilities.

Reacting quickly Naruto quickly jumped out of the way of the oncoming Choji, but when he jumped out of Choji's path he came under assault by a small hail of Kunai and Shurikens from Ino.

Seeing them, Naruto immediately took out his Katana and skilfully deflected the Kunai's and Shurikens, but as he did, he suddenly realised that the Kunai's and Shurikens from Ino were just a distraction. For out of the corner of his eyes Naruto saw a long stretching shadow moving towards from his left.

Upon seeing the stretching shadow, Naruto knew it was Shikamaru's, where he quickly jumped backwards, high into the air. When Shikamaru saw this, he quickly stretched his shadow forward, hoping to get Naruto when he landed. But when Naruto landed back onto the ground, he realised that Naruto was too far away to his shadow to reach him, upon which he called his shadow back.

When Naruto saw this, he began to wonder why Shikamaru did not have his shadow go after him, but after thinking it over for a minute, he quickly realised that there was a limit to how far Shikamaru could stretch his Shadow. This was of course something Naruto knew he could use in this fight, but he would have to figure out how far exactly Shikamaru could stretch his Shadow.

Knowing that Shikamaru was the most dangerous of the three, Naruto knew he would have to take him out quickly, where with Shikamaru down, Ino and Choji would then quickly follow.

Taking out several Shurikens, Naruto then threw them at Shikamaru, who quickly moved out of the way to dodge them. But what he didn't know was that Naruto used Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Technique) and threw twice as many Shurikens than he appeared to, where they hid within the shadow of the first wave of Shurikens.

So when Shikamaru moved out of the way of the first wave of Shurikens, he was hit by the hidden wave.

Fortunately though despite being caught unguarded with Naruto's little trick, Shikamaru was still able to guard himself, where the most he got was a few scratches on his arms.

With Shikamaru temporarily distracted, Naruto quickly charged straight at Shikamaru with his Katana, but as he headed for Shikamaru he had to deflect several Shurikens thrown by Ino with his Katana, who tried to stop him, but failed in doing so.

Seeing that her attack failed to stop, Ino quickly jumped in front of Shikamaru with a Kunai out forward to try and block Naruto's attack.

When Naruto saw Ino jump in front of Shikamaru, he could tell that she wouldn't be able to stop him, as he could clearly see the nervousness and hesitation in her, by the way she took her defensive stance.

Not wanting to really hurt the young Yamanaka heiress, nor wanting to have to deal with her and give Shikamaru a chance to capture him in his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Techinque). Naruto quickly disappeared in a blur right before Shikamaru's and Ino's eyes and reappeared right behind Shikamaru with his sword raised, where all Ino and Shikamaru could think was "Fast!"

When Naruto reappeared behind Shikamaru, he quickly spun his Katana around so that the back of the blade was forward, where when he hit the young Nara, he would be just knocked out.

But before Naruto could swing his Katana fully and knock Shikamaru out, he suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound, where when he turned around he saw Choji in his human meat tank form rolling towards him and shouting out "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Seeing this, Naruto quickly jumped away from Shikamaru and into the air to avoid Choji's attack. After which he then quickly threw several Kunai's at the ground around Choji, imbedding them deeply into the ground.

Thinking Naruto was trying to hit him with Kunai, Choji tried to move out of the way, but when he tried, he found he couldn't move.

"What's wrong with Choji, why doesn't he move?" asked Ino.

"He can't look more closely" stated Shikamru, as he saw with his keen eyes, what had happened to his best friend.

When Ino narrowed her eyes to look more closely she notice the thin steel wire wrapped around Choji, keeping him from moving.

"Shinobi Wire!" stated Ino with surprise, where Shikamaru just nodded.

"Yea, Naruto purposely missed Choji with his Kunai's so that he could trap Choji in the Shinobi wire, which was wrapped around the Kunai's. Where when Choji saw the Kunai's thrown at him, he would try and move away, thereby fully tangling himself in the Shinobi wire. Also the more Choji moves the tighter the wire will get, keeping him from moving altogether", stated Shikamaru, where he had to silently complemented Naruto, as it was good move.

When Naruto landed back on the ground, he was quickly put on the defensive by Shikamaru, who had used his Kagemane no Jutsu to stretch his shadow towards Naruto. Seeing this, Naruto began to jump backwards to keep ahead of Shikamaru's shadow, while at the same time. He was also trying to see how far Shikamaru could stretch his shadow, so that he could have an estimate of his safe and danger zone with Shikamaru.

After jumping back a couple of metres away from Shikamaru, Naruto then found the limit to the stretching of Shikamaru's shadow. But after finding out the limits of Shikamaru's technique, Naruto then saw Choji free himself from the Shinobi wire by deactivating his Nikudan Sensha and returning to his original form.

After seeing this, Naruto then decided it would be best to make a tactical retreat, so that he could plan out his next move against Shikamaru and the others, where he quickly jumped into the treeline to hid.

After Naruto went into the treeline, Shikamaru and the others decided not to go after Naruto, for fear of being ambushed by him. They then quickly took up a defensive stance formation, where they had their backs to one another and could see any kind of attack that Naruto would make from any given angle. As they waited, Shikamaru began to plan out what to do and figure out want Naruto would do next.

After a few minutes of waiting, they soon came under attack from Naruto who appeared in the air above them and dropped down several Kunai and Shurikens down on them, forcing them to break apart.

"Shit! He's trying to break us apart and take us out one at a time" thought Shikamaru as he avoided the Kunai and Shurikens from above.

After avoiding the failing projections, Shikamaru started to look around for Naruto and where he would appear next.

As he looked around he saw Naruto suddenly appear behind Ino and was about to knock her out.

"Ino watch out!" cried Shikamaru to his female team members.

After hearing Shikamaru cry, Ino quickly tried to spin around to face Naruto with her Kunai, but when she tried Naruto caught her arm, (which held her Kunai), as she was in mid spin, stopping her from fully facing Naruto.

"Sorry Ino-chan, but this is where it ends for you", spoke Naruto, as he was about to deliver a chop to the back of her neck to knock her out.

But before he could do this, Shikamaru threw a Kunai at Naruto, forcing him to jump away from Ino, where Choji then steam rolled his way towards Naruto from his left hand side in his Nikudan Sensha form.

Knowing he didn't have much time, Naruto quickly took out a Kunai with an low medium level exploding note tied to it and threw it at the ground a few feet from him.

When Choji rolled across the Kunai it exploded and blasted him up into the air and sent him crashing into several trees. Fortunately though due to being in his human bullet form and the fact that the exploding note was a medium level one, no real harm was done to Choji.

After dealing with Choji, Naruto suddenly saw a shadow tendril heading for him, upon seeing them, Naruto immediately started jumping backwards to avoid Shikamaru's shadow, knowing there was a limit to how far he could go.

When he got to the point where he knew Shikamaru's shadow could no longer reach him he stopped, knowing he was safe and as he suspected, Shikamaru's shadow stopped a foot away from him.

"Nice try Shikamaru, but I know you can't reach me from here with your shadow, as this is a far as it can go", said Naruto with a smile, which quickly faded when he saw Shikamaru smirk.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Naruto" replied Shikamaru, where the next thing Naruto knew he found himself frozen.

"W-What?" cried Naruto in surprise as he found that he couldn't move.

Deciding to let Naruto in at what happened Shikamaru turned his head around, making Naruto do the same and allowing him to see how Shikamaru caught him.

When Naruto turned around he saw a Shadow tendril come up from the shadow of a nearby tree and merging with his shadow. After which when Naruto turned back to face Shikamaru, where he saw a second Shadow tendril coming from Shikamaru's, merging with another tree's Shadow.

After seeing this Naruto the realised how Shikamaru caught him, he had realised that Shikamaru had tricked him by using the first Shadow tendril to keep him (Naruto) distracted and make him go where Shikamaru wanted him to go. While at the same time, Shikamaru sent a second Shadow tendril into the shadow of one of the nearby trees. Thereby using it as a sort or rely with the other shadows of the trees, allowing him to extend the reach of his shadow farther than it normally could. As well as use it to sneak up on Naruto from behind, when he least expected it.

When he realised this Naruto had to hand it to Shikamaru, as he had played him (Naruto) perfectly and caught him.

"I'm afraid this is checkmate, Naruto" stated Shikamaru, believing he had it won, after which he turned to his female team-mate. "Ino, I need you to take control of Naruto's body, so that I can realise him from my Kagemane no Jutsu and we can tie him up".

"Right!" replied Ino with a nod, where she then a few quick hand-seals, "Sorry Naruto-kun... Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)!"

After doing the technique, Ino's body slumped over and Ino voice suddenly spoke from Naruto's.

"Ok Shikamaru I'm in control, you ca..." spoke Ino but before she could finish speaking "Naruto" puffed away in a puff of smoke, after which Ino was sent flying back into her body, where she fell onto her back.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" cried a surprised Ino, which quickly turn to panic when she no longer saw Naruto, "Did Naruto-kun suddenly commit suicide and blow himself up!"

"Calm down Ino, your being troublesome again... Naruto didn't blow himself up, as that wasn't the real Naruto it was some short of clone", replied Shikamaru with a frown.

"But how? He felt real" asked Ino, as she knew that the Naruto, whose body she entered was real and no illusion.

"Tch! I don't known" replied the annoyed Shikamaru, as things were just getting more complicated. "What a drag... I knew this Senju guy would troublesome, but I didn't think he be this troublesome. If I knew what he could do, I could make up a proper plan to get him, but since I don't our chances of beating him are very low...Man, I don't even known why I even have to put up with stuff like this? I much prefer taking a quiet nap and watching the clouds go by" thought annoyed Shikamaru.

As Shikamaru was thinking over what to do next, he suddenly heard Ino shout out to him, where when he turned he saw three Kunai flying towards him at high speed from some bushes from the tree line.

After seeing them, Shikamaru, quickly tried to move out of the way, but couldn't avoid them fully, where he was cut by them in both arms and his right leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

When he hit the ground, Shikamaru then saw the real Naruto appear out of the bush from where the Kunai's came from. Upon seeing Naruto, Shikamaru immediately realised that Naruto had sent his clone into attack them, so distract them and keep them busy so that he could wait for an opening to appear and attack them.

"Shit! I walked right into this one" thought Shikamaru angrily.

"Man that was close, if I had gone myself, instead of sending a clone, there's no doubt that Shikamaru would have caught me. But still, I better end this now and not give him any more chances, as he too dangerous to ignore" thought Naruto. Where he redrew his Katana from his back and prepared to take care of Shikamaru and Ino.

Unfortunately before Naruto could finish of Ino and Shikamaru, he suddenly heard a familiar rumbling sound, where the next thing he knew, Choji came brusting from the tree line in his Nikudan Sensha form. After which he made a sharp turn and sped straight for Naruto, forcing Naruto to move away from Shikamaru and Ino, where Choji then followed after him.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity that Choji gave him, the young Nara quickly formed the necessary seals needed to do his Kagemane no Jutsu, where he the formed a Shadow tendril and connected with the shadows of the trees, (Just as he did when he faced against the Naruto clone).

He then used the shadows of the trees as rely points for his own shadow to extend its lengths, where he then created several small tendrils and had them come up from behind Naruto and surround him from multiple angles, where they all converged on him.

At the same time, as he was avoiding Choji, Naruto saw out of the corner of his eyes the different Shadow tendrils surrounding him and converging in on him on multipliable sides, with Choji coming at him head on.

"Shit!" muttered Naruto, when he saw this, as he knew he was trapped.

The next thing Ino and Shikamaru saw, was Naruto being caught in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu, freezing him in place and Choji crushing him under his attack.

"NARUTO-KUN!" cried Ino as she saw her new crush being steam rolled by her team-mate.

But as Ino was about to break into tears over the loss of her new "love", Shikamaru suddenly spoke up.

"Calm down Ino and stop being so loud" spoke Shikamaru with a slight annoyed tone, where he muttered "Troublesome woman".

"But Naruto-kun is..." cried Ino, but was interrupted by Shikamaru before he could finish

"...Isn't dead look" spoke Shikamaru, as he indicated towards the believed to be crushed Naruto, where when Ino looked she saw a crushed wooden log, showing that Naruto had used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) at the last second. Allowing him to avoid being captured in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu and before Choji could flatten him, with his Nikudan Sensha.

At seeing this Ino sighed with relief, at Naruto not being dead, while Shikamaru just frowned, as he knew that the longer this battle went on, the worse things would get from him. Since he knew that they needed to capture Naruto now and take him out, as they knew too little about his abilities to beat him in a drawn out battle.

Soon enough Choji joined up with the rest of his team, where Shikamaru began to plan out their next move. But just as soon as they regrouped, eight Naruto's appeared out of the tree line and charged straight at them, half of them carrying Kunai's and the other half holding Katana's.

"Crap! How did he make so many clones?" cried Choji in surprise, where Shikamaru just narrowed his eyes.

Once once Naruto and his clones made their appearance, they quickly charged at the members of team ten and attacked them, where they forced them to break apart from one another.

Despite the fact they were forced away from one another the members of team ten were able to hold their own against the clones, where Choji used his Nikudan Sensha to flatten three separate clones, causing them to puff away. Shikamaru also had some success with them where he caught four more of them with his Kagemane no Jutsu and got them to destroy each other.

This of course left the last Naruto, who was fighting Ino, meaning he had to be the real Naruto, where Choji and Shikamaru were about to go over to help their female team-mate and surround Naruto. But just when things seemed to be going well for the members of team ten, Naruto took out a handful of smoke bombs and threw them onto the ground creating a large cloud of smoke that covered the training area.

"Cough, Cough...damnit...cough...I need to get outta here fast...cough, cough" said Shikamaru, as he made his way out of the smoke filled area.

At the same time standing outside the smoke filled area, on a thick tree branch of a tree, was the sensei of team ten Sarutobi Asuma, who had been watching the battle.

"Not bad Naruto, using the clones to separate Shikamaru and the others and then using the smoke as a screen to keep them apart and take them out one at a time. But still it'll take more than this to defeat Shikamaru, as he won't fall for such obvious tactics" thought the son of the Hokage.

Once Shikamaru made his way out of the smoke filled area, he immediately started to look for the members of the rest of his team, since it was obvious to him that the smoke screen was to help further separate them from one another. Hence he had to hurry and find the rest of his team-mates, fortunately it didn't take him long for him to find Ino, who had emerged from the smoke coughing heavily.

"Ino are you ok" asked Shikamaru as he went up to the blonde haired girl.

"Cough, Cough...Yea I'm fine, but's where Choji?" asked Ino.

"I don't know but he can't be far, we have to hurry, as Naruto's plan is to separate us and break us apart, so that it would be easier for him to beat us", replied Shikamaru, where Ino just nodded in understanding.

Luckily though, Shikamaru and Ino didn't have to look far, as Choji quickly came running towards them, panting slightly.

"Choji you ok?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yea I'm fine, just a little tired" replied Choji.

"Do you want something to eat? As I've some chocolate in my pouch"

"Nah, I'm not hungry, thanks though"

At this Shikamaru just nodded, where he turned and looked at Ino's dress where he saw something.

"Hey Ino, you've some dirt on your dress!"

"Huh?" said Ino as she looked at the spot Shikamaru indicated, "Oh yea! It must have happened when I was stumbling through the smoke, it's nothing, I'll clean it later".

At Shikamaru just nodded again, where he then said that they should go and find Naruto.

But after only walking a few feet, Shikamaru suddenly took out a Kunai with his left hand and spun around, where he pointed it at Choji's neck.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" cried Choji in surprise and confusion.

"Can the act...I know your not Choji" stated Shikamaru with usual seriousness.

"What are you talking about of course I'm..." stated Choji, but was interrupted by Shikamaru.

"I know you're not the real Choji, because I know Choji better than anyone and I know that Choji would never pass up on free food" spoke Shikamaru. But as he said this, he found a Kunai pointed at his head by Ino.

"Very impressive Shikamaru, but even still you lost" replied Ino, who suddenly revealed to be Naruto.

"Tsk, I don't think so", replied the Nara heir where Naruto suddenly found that he couldn't move, where when Naruto looked down, he saw that Shikamaru had caught him in his Kagemane no Jutsu.

"Kagemane no Jutsu! But when?" said Naruto with clear surprise.

"Since when I met you, back when you were disguised as Ino and came out of the smoke, before you saw me".

"But how did you know that I wasn't the real Ino?"

"I didn't, at least not until I asked you about the dirt on your dress, where you said it was nothing, Ino would never say that if she saw dirt on here dress, as she would yell and complain about something like for the rest of the day".

At hearing that Naruto could only shake his head, and would have smacked himself forgetting that, as Asuma had mention Ino being like that earlier.

"Pretty good, but still how did you known that I disguise myself as your team-mates?"

"Your plan was good but fairly obvious, where you had your clones attack us and then separate us from one another, where you then created that smoke screen cover the entire field. If your goal had been really to separate us from one another and take us out one by one, you could have done so without the large smoke screen. While Choji and I were dealing with your clones, you could've taken out Ino and fled. But instead you waited till we had destroyed your Clones and before we could gang up on you. You then used the smoke screen to quickly take out Choji and Ino, where you used a henge to turn into Ino and you created a clone to turn into Choji, which would increase your chances in taking me out. Since you calculated that even if I was suspicious of your plan, I wouldn't suspect that you had taken out both my team-mate, allowing you to take me by surprise".

Upon hearing this Naruto could only smirk, as his mother was indeed right about the Nara's, being dangerous enemies to have and being skilled tacticians, given how Shikamaru had figured out his plan.

"Well you sure left me feeling like a dope, but even still Shikamaru, this doesn't change the fact that I've won, as you can't stab my clone, without having me stabbing you at the same time, thanks to your Kagemane no Jutsu making me follow your moves. Hence my Clone can move out of the way and attack you" stated a confident Naruto, but immediately frowned when he saw Shikamaru smirk again.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" answered Shikamaru, where Naruto suddenly found his right hand lowering.

"B-But how?"

"You forget the Kunai that's pointing at your clones neck is in my left hand, while your kunai that's pointed at my head is in your right. During our battle I noticed that you mainly hold your Katana, Kunai's in your right hand and mainly throw your Shurikens and Kunai's with your right hand as well. Meaning that you're right handed, which was why I held my Kunai in my left, as I knew I could most likely end up in a situation like this and you would most like hold your Kunai or Katana in your right hand like the other times. That's why this time I have you for certain and this is indeed checkmate" stated Shikamaru.

After hearing this Naruto could only smile, as he really was impressed with how brilliant Shikamaru really was. "Hmph, Pretty observant of you, your definitely a sharp one... Asuma-sensei was right about you Shikamaru, as you really do have the ability to be a great Shinobi".

At this Shikamaru just nodded, "So do you surrender, or do yo..." spoke Shikamaru, but stopped in mid-sentence as he sudden felt weak, where he could no longer focus his Chakra to hold Naruto and he could no longer keep holding his Kunai in his hand.

As Shikamaru, was wondering what was going on with him, he suddenly realised what happened.

"Poison" he muttered out loud.

"Like I said you're a sharp one Shikamaru, as you're correct" said Naruto as he stood over Shikamaru who was now on his knees, due to being so weak.

With Shikamaru now disabled, Naruto then deactivated his clone, where when he did, Shikamaru suddenly spoke again.

"But when did you poison me? It couldn't be from the smoke, as you would've been poisoned as well and even if you were immune to it, you wouldn't have had to use that ruse with disguising yourself and your clone as Ino and Choji. As you could've waited till we all collapsed from the poison, so when did you poison me?" asked Shikamaru.

"Back when I had cut you with my Kunai's, after you and Ino took out my first clone, as I coated my Kunai's with the poison, where it entered your bloodstream when the Kunai's cut you and spread throughout your body. The poison that I used was a slow acting one, where it doesn't take effect until it spreads through your entire body, through your bloodstream, where it messes up your Chakra control and weakens your body. Normally it takes a few hours to stream through your body, since its slow to spread, but since we've been fighting for so long, the adrenalin from fighting speeds up the process greatly", explained Naruto.

"You may have figured out my plan Shikamaru and caught me, but it's always best to have a hidden ace in the hole, which is why I won this fight. As I knew it would most likely come down between the two of us" stated Naruto with a smirk.

At this Shikamaru could only sigh and mutter "Troublesome", but even still he smiled a little, as he held no hard feelings to Naruto, as he had outwitted him fair a square.

With Shikamaru now disabled Naruto knew the fight was over, as he had already dealt with Choji and Ino. But before Naruto could go looking for Asuma and tell him the battle was over, he and Shikamaru suddenly heard someone clapping nearby.

When they looked around they saw Asuma standing on a thick branch of a tree clapping, "Nice going you two, that was close battle".

"Asuma-sensei, how long have you been there?" asked Naruto

"Long enough, I've been moving from place to place as the battle went on, so that I could get a better view of your battle, and I've to say your fight could have gone either way".

At this Naruto only nodded, as he knew that the battle was close, as the main reason he only won was because Shikamaru didn't known what he could do. If he had known what Naruto could do, the battle might have turned out differently, especially if he had to keep holding back like the way he was.

With the battle now over, Naruto took out a small bottle full of pills and took out a single pill and gave it to Shikamaru and told him to take it, telling him it was antidote to the poison.

When Shikamaru took the pill, Asuma decided to get rid of the remaining cloud of smoke that covered the training area, by using a Wind technique to blow the smoke away.

When the smoke was blown away, Shikamaru saw the rest of his team lying on the ground unconscious, but relatively unharmed.

Once Shimakaru had recovered from the poison, he and Naruto along with Asuma went over to Choji and Ino, where Naruto used some smelling salts to wake them up.

Once Choji and Ino were awake, Asuma went on to explain what happened after Naruto knocked them out.

When the two heard what happened, Choji was of course naturally impressed with what happened and how Naruto was actually able to outwit Shikamaru and be one step ahead of him, which was something Choji had never seen or heard before.

Ino of course cheered loudly, at how "her" Naruto-kun won, (despite the fact that it was her team that lost), where she then jumped forward and hugged Naruto tightly. This then caused Naruto to fall backwards onto the ground on his back with Ino on top of him, who was still hugging him tightly, saying how she knew he would win.

At this Choji and Shikamaru could only sigh at the antics of their team-mate, where Shikamaru just muttered "Troublesome women".

Asuma of course just smirked, as he found the whole situation rather funny, especially at seeing Naruto trying to get Ino off him, but failing it doing so, since Ino was latched on tightly around Naruto. He was also pleased at how his plan worked, for even though his team had lost, they had all show good cooperation and teamwork with one another, where they saw how well they could do by working together.

After eventually getting Ino off of Naruto, Asuma declared that they would call it a day and that they would go and have barbecue to celebrate how well they all fought today, where he would treat the team.

At this Choji cheered at having barbecue, Shikamaru just sighed, as he didn't mind all that much, while Ino squealed a little. Since as far she was concerned this was like a miniature date with her and Naruto, (minus the fact that her team would be with them), where she latched onto his arm tightly as they headed for the barbecue.

When Ino latched onto his arm Naruto of course just sighed, as Ino fan girl antics were getting a bit annoying. But even still, they were at least not as bad as Sakura's was, and despite this little annoyance, he was starting to like working with team ten and being a part of it.

-Next Day with Team Seven-

Following the events after his mock battle with the members of team ten, Naruto joined up with team seven the next day, where they were doing a mission together.

As expected he did not receive too much of a warm welcome from his former team, (with the exception of Kakashi, who greeted him with a wave and his tradition eye smile).

Sasuke pretty much ignored him, as he brooded by himself, Sakura was too busy with trying to talk to Sasuke and asking him out on a date, while Sai just looked at Naruto with his friendly fake smile, which creep Naruto out and made him all the more suspicious of Sai.

After joining up with one another the team then set out on their first joint mission together.

"This is cherry blossom, I'm in position"

"This is artist, I' am also in position"

"This is hard fist, no sign of the target"

"This is raven have sighted the target moving in to capture"

"Roger raven move in...cherry blossom you move in from the north to support raven"

"Received Copy-cat and will do"

"Hard fist, artist, you'll move to the south and stay in position there, should raven and cherry blossom fail and the target escape, where you can then intercept it and capture it"

"Will do Copy-cat"

"Confirmed and will do"

As Sasuke neared his target, he thought how worthless this mission was, where he would much prefer doing a mission of more worth or at the very least do some serious training, than doing kiddy mission like this.

After thinking this he finally sighted his target, which was a brown cat with red ribbon on its right ear. This cat was of course no ordinary cat, as it was the pet cat of the wife of the Fire Daimyo Madam Shijimi. The cat in question was named Tora, meaning tiger, which was fitting consider the cat was as wild and as dangerous a tiger was, or at least that was according to the other Genin teams that were set after him before.

"Finally found you, you mangy fur-ball, now maybe I can finish this dumb mission and do something more worthwhile" thought Sasuke as he closed in on his target.

Sasuke then silently sunk up on and grabbed the cat from behind, where it began to hiss widely and struggle as he tried to free himself from Sasuke grip.

"Quiet down you fur ball, as there no point in struggling" spoke Sasuke, he tried to get the cat to settle, but as he did, Tora bit down hard on his right hand, with his sharp teeth. This caused Sasuke to yell out in pain and drop Tora as he held his bleeding hand in pain.

After seeing that he lost sight of his target Sasuke quickly made contact with the others on his short band radio.

"I lost the target, it's heading your way Sakura".

"Right! I get him" replied Sakura, where she got ready to catch the target.

Sakura of course didn't have to wait long, as she soon saw her target running straight towards her.

But when Sakura appeared in front of Tora ready to catch him, Tora quickly jumped up into the air and onto Sakura's face, where he preceded to claw at Sakura's face, causing the pink hair girl to scream in pain. After the cat scratched Sakura's face up, it then quickly jumped off Sakura's face and ran in a different direction.

After getting over the pain of her face being scratched up by the ribbon wearing cat, Sakura quickly made contact with the rest of her team.

"I lost the target and I have no clue as to where he's gone" spoke Sakura over the radio.

"Received Cherry Blossom, Artist, Hard fist try and locate the target and capture him" spoke Kakashi over the radio.

"Roger Copy-cat" replied Naruto, where he then turned to Sai.

"So any ideas on how to get our target?"

"I believe I have one" answered Sai.

After separating with Sai, Naruto stayed hidden in the bushes, where he waited for Sai to lure out Tora, fortunately Naruto didn't have to wait long as Tora soon appeared chasing after several mice made out of ink.

When Naruto saw Tora he had to admit that the plan was pretty smart, and couldn't help but wonder why they did do this in the first place.

As Tora chased after the ink mice, Naruto quickly did three sets of hand-seals and slammed his hands into the ground, where, several pieces of wood sprung up from the ground and formed around Tora and into a small wooden cage.

When Tora found himself trap inside the small wooden cage, the feline naturally tried to claw itself out, but found that the chakra enhance wood was too strong and its claws did little to nothing to the cage.

Once Naruto saw that Tora was caught he could not help but smile at his work, as his Mokuton skills had improved a lot thanks to his training with Yamato.

"Sorry Tora, but you're going back home, now" said Naruto as he walked over to the wooden cage and picked it up, with the hissing and angry cat inside it.

"Ah good so you did catch, it seems my plan work" spoke Sai, after he jumped down from one of the trees to Naruto's right.

"Yea you plan worked like a charm" replied Naruto.

"Only thanks to you Naruto-san", replied Sai with a smile, where Naruto just narrowed his eyes slightly, since he knew Sai's smile was fake. But as he narrowed his eyes, Naruto couldn't help but wonder why Sai was trying to be so nice to him.

But before Naruto could think any more on Sai, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke quickly appeared in front of them.

"Nice work you two", spoke Kakashi when he saw Naruto holding the cage Tora, where they then headed back to the mission office and hand in Tora.

"TORA-CHAN!" cried the Fire Daimyo's wife when she was handed the struggling cat, where she precede to squeeze the life out of the cat.

When Naruto saw this he finally understood why Tora was always running away, as given the circumstances, he would probably do the exact same thing as Tora. As Naruto watch, what could be considered animal cruelty, Naruto of course could not help but feel sympathetic for the poor thing.

Although not everyone was feeling sorry for Tora plight, in fact two people were gain sadistic pleasure from the cats suffering. These two were none other than Sasuke and Sakura, who enjoy every minute of seeing the cat that caused them so much pain and trouble, being slowly squeezed to death by the Fire Daimyo's wife.

"Hah serves you right, you miserable hairball" thought Sakura.

"Cha! That'll teach you from scratching up our face!" cried inner Sakura inside Sakura's mind.

Once The Fire Daimyo wife and paid the Hokage (who was sitting at the mission desk, handing out different mission and receiving the money for the missions completion). Madam Shijimi began to walk out the room with the squirming Tora held rightly against her bosom. But as she was walking by Naruto and team seven she notice a silver ring with a phoenix on Naruto's right middle finger.

Upon noticing the ring, she looked more careful at Naruto, "Excuse me young man, put would you happen to be Senju Naruto son of Tsunade?"

"Eh yes I' am, it's nice to meet you Madam Shijimi" said Naruto respectfully, since he didn't know what Madam Shijimi was like and didn't want to get in trouble with her if he sounded disrespectful to her.

But as soon as Naruto answered the Madam Shijimi, she let out a large cry and much to the surprise of everyone in the room, (including the Sarutobi) she grabbed Naruo in a one-armed hugged, with her right arm. Where she then precede to nearly squeeze the life out of Naruto, as she smothered him in her chest, (all the while still holding Tora in her left arm, who was still struggle to try and get free).

"Oh how wonderfully...I've been dying to meet you for years, as my Granddaughter Rurichiyo speaks of you all the time and how you saved her from that horrid bear. But she never said how handsome you were, I could just eat you up" cooed the large woman, where she continued to squeeze Naruto tighter and tighter much like she did with Tora.

Eventually after a few more minutes of this, Sarutobi finally decide to intervene on his surrogate Grandson's behalf, before the women smothered poor Naruto to death, where he was able to get her to let Naruto go. Who after being let go fell to the ground breathing for dear life.

Once Naruto regained himself, Sakura suddenly spoke up.

"Eh Naruto is what Madam Shijimi? Did you really save the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter?"

"Yea, it's true, a while back while I was traveling with my mom, the Fire Daimyo's son became ill and the Fire Daimyo asked for my mom's help. That's when I met I Rurichiyo-chan, where she was staying at the Fire Daimyo's estate outside the capital", said Naruto.

"While I was staying there, Rurichiyo-chan left the estate on her own, where she was attacked by a wild bear that she accidently ran into. Fortunately before the bear could hurt her, I arrived, as I went looking for her, when her personal guards told me she was missing. When I found her, she was being attacked by the bear, where I knocked it out and brought her back to the estate, after which we became friends".

After hearing Sakura, Sauke and even Sai were surprised, as they had no idea that Naruto was on such friendly terms with the royal family of their country and that he saved the life of the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter.

"So how is Rurichiyo-chan doing Madam Shijimi?"

"Oh she is fine, and I sure she will be overjoyed when she hears that you are here" replied Madam Shijimi. "Also tell me Naruto-kun are you in a relationship with anyone?"

"Eh, No why?"

"Oh good, as several good friends of my in the royal court, who have several daughters, who would be just perfect for you".

"Huh?" stated the dumbstruck Naruto when he heard this, but before he could respond to this the Madam Shijimi spoke again.

"Or better yet, how about you and Rurichiyo, as the two of you together would make the cutest couple, yes that would be perfect", spoke Madam Shijimi.

For the next few minutes the Fire Daimyo's wife continued on with her rabbling's on how Naruto and Rurichiyo would be perfect for one another, since playing match maker was a hobby of hers. All the while ignoring the stun look on Naruto's face, who just stood still with his mouth open, at hearing what Madam Shijimi was suggesting.

Naruto was the only one that was surprised at Madam Shijimi suggestion, as when Sakura heard this, her jaw dropped, as she couldn't believe that the Fire Daimyo's wife was actually trying to arrange a marriage between her Granddaughter and Naruto right in front of them.

Sasuke, Kakashi and even Sai were also surprised Madam Shijimi idea, although they were able to mask their surprise much better than Sakura, where the only sign of their surprise was that the three of them had raised eyebrows.

"So tell me Naruto-kun, what do you think of my idea about you and my Granddaughter Rurichiyo?"

"I...eh...well that is...eh...I think that...eh" stuttered a tongue-tied Naruto, as he didn't know what to say to Madam Shijimi's idea.

Deciding to intervene again on the youth's behalf and save Naruto from the awkward situation that the Daimyo's wife had put Naruto in, the Sandaime cough loudly gaining everyone's attention.

"Ahem, Pardon me Madam Shijimi, but if I may interject, I'm afraid I have important briefing that I need to discuss with young Naruto now".

"Oh, but of course I understand" spoke Madam Shijimi, where she then turned back to Naruto, "Well it was a pleasure talking to you Naruto-kun and I hope we met again soon".

"It was nice talking to you to, Madam Shijimi", replied Naruto respectfully, where he then gave his surrogate Grandfather and grateful glance, for getting him out that situation with Madam Shijimi.

At this the Daimyo's wife smile kindly to the young blonde and the preceded to walk out of the room, although before she fully left she quickly stopped and turned around slight, "Also Naruto-kun please consider my suggestion on you and my Granddaughter, as I certain that they two would match up handsomely with one another".

"Eh, I will Madam Shijimi", replied an uncomfortable Naruto, where Madam Shijimi just nodded and then left the room. Upon which Naruto let lose a large sigh of exhaustion, as he hoped his mother never hears about this, as he knew she have a major fit over it. Sarutobi on the other hand smile in amusement and some pity of Naruto's previous situation.

"Thanks Jiji, I owe you one"

"Anytime Naruto-kun" replied the Sandaime with a smile.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want to take up Madam Shijimi up on her offer Naruto? as being the Grandson-in law to the Fire Daimyo would have it's advantages, plus I hear that Rurichiyo-hime is quite the looker" spoke Kakashi with a sight chuckle as he saw the annoyed Naruto glare at him.

Once the excitement from the conversation with the Fire Daimyo's Wife died down, the Hokage dismissed team seven, stating that they were done for the day.

But instead of leaving the mission office with the others, Naruto remained in the room with the Sandaime, stating he wanted to talk to the old Hokage about something.

Seeing the serious look on Naruto's face, the Hokage dismissed the other Shinobi's that were working in the missions office with him, leaving Naruto and the Sandaime alone together.

"So Naruto, what is it that you wish to speak to me about?"

"What can you tell about Sai? The one who replaced me on team seven when I left it?" asked Naruto.

Upon hearing this, a slight frown appeared on the Sandaime face.

"Why do you ask this Naruto?"

"There just something off about that guy that puts me at odds with him, plus he seems too skilled to be just another ordinary Genin, not to mention I can tell there's more to him than he's letting, on as if he's working for someone"

Upon hearing this the Sandaime frown further before he let a tired sigh.

"Sigh, Very well then... tell me Naruto, has either your mother or Jiraiya told you anything about an organisation called the foundation otherwise known as ROOT?" asked Sarutobi.

"No, I never even heard of it"

"Very few people have, as it was a branch of ANBU that use work outside normal operations and was led by a man name Shimura Danzō, who is one of the three Shinobi Elders of the Council and one of my leading advisors".

"Danzō?" said Naruto in surprise.

"You've heard of him?"

"Yea, Kaa-chan told me he is a very dangerous guy and that I was to keep as far away from him as possible".

"And she is correct, as Danzō isn't someone you can take lightly"

"So how does Sai fit in with Danzō and his ROOT organisation?"

"Sai is one of the last members to be trained in ROOT, before I had the organisation disbanded due to their training methods and how it would recruit orphans for the organisation and conducted several illegal operations".

"What kind of training methods did they use that would cause you to have the group disbanded?" asked Naruto

"Naruto has your mother ever told you about the History of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) or to be more precise, why it was once called the Bloody Mist?"

"Eh, yea Shizune-nee-chan told me about it during a History lesson of the different Shinobi villages. She told me that Kiri use to have a special graduation exam, where they would have the class members fight each other to the death so to..." said Naruto until he suddenly realised what the Sandaime was telling him.

"Wait! Are you telling me that this Danzō character, used the same kind of graduation test as Kiri use to do?" asked an appalled Naruto. As he found the very idea of forcing classmates and friends to fight a kill each other, just to try and have a better quality of Shinobi's ludicrous.

"Correct, that was one of the main reasons why I had the group disband, as well as because it seemed that Danzō was brainwashing the young oprhans along with the other members into becoming his loyal followers" replied Sarutobi.

As Naruto heard this, as he starting to like Danzō less and less and was beginning to see why his mother detested him so much.

"But why is Sai in team seven, if he was trained to be an elite Shinobi under Danzō command?"

"I believe that Sai was place on team seven, so that he would've the chance to observe you Naruto"

"Me? But why exactly, it's not like I ever met Danzō before or done anything to him?"

"You forget Naruto that you've a great deal of influence in Konoha, whether want to admit it or not, as you are the sole heir to the Senju Clan, the main founders of this village. You're also your mother's son and as well the descendant of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage, which can hold a great deal of sway over many people in Konoha. Not to mention you possess the Mokuton bloodline of the Shodai, where you could possibly pass it onto any children you may have in the future, and at the same time restore the Senju Clan in Konoha. Those reasons by themselves are enough for Danzō to want to keep an eye on you, and one day find a way to gain control of you. So to use you to either help him take my place as Hokage or at the very least, influence you to turn Konoha into the type of place he wants it to be, by having you becoming Hokage, where I'm sure you can guess what it would be like".

At hearing this Naruto just nodded, but then spoke again, "But if you know that Sai is working for Danzō, why did you allow him on team seven?"

"I'm afraid I had little choice, since Sai was originally supposed to be on team seven along with Sasuke and Sakura, but I had him removed when you arrived, although that changed back when I had you move to be trained with Yamato and Kushina. As Danzō was able to arrange for Sai to take his place back on team seven" answered the Sandaime.

"But I thought he only wanted Sai to be on team seven because he wanted to observe me, so why did he arrange to have Sai place on team seven before people knew I even existed?" asked Naruto as that part didn't make sense to him.

"It's because, originally you weren't the target...Sasuke was"

"Sasuke?...was it because of the same reasons he wants me?" asked Naruto, for although he didn't like to admit it, Sasuke and him were a lot alike in many ways. Both were the last heirs of their individual clans, both called prodigies by people, due to their great skills, both were from the two Clans that lead to Konoha being formed and both possessed powerful bloodlines, along with that, they also had several other things in common.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it is possible, although I willing to bet that Sai's orders are to monitor both you and Sasuke now" answered Sarutobi. Although what he wasn't telling Naruto was that he believed the main reason that Sai was ordered to monitor Sasuke was in case he tried to leave or betray the village, in the hopes of gaining a chance to kill his brother Itachi, as Danzō had brought it to the Sandaime's attention on more than one occasion, that Sasuke could one day become a threat to Konoha.

"But still? Why didn't you deny him to be part of the team to begin with?" asked Naruto.

"Sadly Naruto, things aren't that easy, as Danzō is quite powerful and has a great deal of influence in Konoha. Not to mention, even if I did deny Sai to be a member of team seven, Danzō will just find another way to monitor you both, this way allows me to monitor Sai and his actions, while he monitors you and Sasuke", replied Sarutobi.

"Meaning you're having Kakashi-sensei watch Sai, when he's training or doing missions with Sasuke and Sakura, as well as have Kakashi-sensei along with Kushina-sensei and Yamato-sensei do the same whenever I'm training with team seven. Thereby letting you limit or control what Danzō may learn from Sai, as he monitors me and Sasuke, as well as give you a chance to try and find out what Danzō is doing, since he's obviously up to something" said Naruto.

Sarutobi of course could not help but smirk when Naruto figured out what his plan was so quickly, as it showed that Naruto was quite astute for his age.

"Very good Naruto, I'm very impressed", spoke Sarutobi, before he became serious, "but still I want you to be careful around Sai and not let on that you're on to him. Let him monitor you, without revealing anything important about yourself, as Danzō is a dangerous man and I've reason to believe that ROOT is not truly disbanded, as Danzō may let on".

Naruto of course just nodded, understanding, after which he then left the room and headed home, but as he did, he planned that he would also keep a close eye on Sai, as you can never have too many eyes on a person.