"So I would like everyone to say congratulations to your class mates Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and Anko Mitsarashi for passing the academy in just one year. Wish them all the best as they take their first major step as shinobi of the leaf."
Naruto, Itachi and Anko stood at the front of their class with smiles on their face as their fellow students called and told them well done. After a year at the academy, the teachers there along with the council knew that despite only being nine, that the three were more than ready to become genin. All three easily outclassed the others in the class and that keeping them in the academy would be a waste of their talents.
Yugao, Hayate and Hana clapped the loudest to their friends and had sworn that they would do their best to catch up with the trio by next year.
"Now the real path of being a shinobi begins," Naruto said as Itachi nodded like he normally did while Anko grinned a big smile.
"It's about time too. I was beginning to get so bored here that I thought my head was going to roll of my shoulders from the boredom."
"I am honoured to have the three of you in my class for the little time that you were here. Good luck in your shinobi careers. I know that all three of you are going to go far," their sensei said as he bowed back.
"Thank you sensei," they said at the same time.
"Your new Jonin sensei has told me that you will meet them on the roof and that they will be there in ten minutes time."
The three nodded, gave a wave to their three friends who did the same before they exited the class room.
As they got out of the room they nodded to each other before maing the ram seal with their hand and shunshined to the roof.
They had learnt that move from Hiruzen after Naruto had asked him to teach him a jutsu during one of their breaks from fuinjutsu. He had thought about it for a few minutes before settling that Naruto was ready to learn the Body Flicker technique.
Once he taught it to Naruto, the blonde boy then taught it to the others. Hana, Hayate and Yugao struggled with it and was still trying to learn it while Itachi and Anko had it down within a few days.
Arriving on the roof the three sat together on the floor. Naruto read a book on fuinjutsu; Itachi stared at the clouds while Anko twirled a kunai around her index finger.
"So any idea who we have as our sensei?" Anko asked the two boys.
Both shook their heads. "No idea but I hope they are strong whoever they are. I can't wait to get some more training done," Naruto said showing just how much of a training nut he was. Thankfully it was not on the level of a certain spandex wearing Jonin.
"Whoever they are, I am sure they are capable. Hokage-sama would not have put us with someone who could not handle the task."
As they nodded Naruto gripped his hand a little tightly on the sword that he was carrying in his right hand before he placed it in his lap.
After two months of the order going out from Torino at the shinobi store, the katana that he was waiting for finally arrived. And when he first saw it, he could not help but admire how beautiful and different it was. Torino even said it must have been one of Masamune's finest work.
The blade was 27 inches long and the metal was much to his surprise black with a distinct red edge and its hand-guard had flower-like edges. The handle was a dark purple colour while the sheath was plain black but had two Uzumaki spirals in red going up the side. One of the first things Naruto noticed was that it was a little bit heavier then other swords but he was told that was due to the metal of the blade being harder and denser then other blades which would give it more physical strength.
He knew it would take a bit of time to get use to it but since his weight seal were now up to thirty pounds on each limb he knew the weight of the blade would not be a problem.
When he had received it, he, Hiruzen, Shizune and Tsunade had marveled at how elegant yet powerful the blade looked with all three claiming they had never seen a blade quite like it. After receiving it he had given it a name that he knew would one day make this blade famous.
The Shusui
Everyone else agreed that the name just fit the blade. He made a storage seal on his wrist similar to his where his mother kept hers since he wanted to keep the Shusui on him at all times.
He tried to show Kushina the blade but she only looked at it while it was in its sheath much to his annoyance. He debated in his head whether to ask her to teach him Kenjutsu but due to past experiences of wanting to ask either Kushina and Minato to train him, he decided against it and figured he would eventually come across a style that worked for him. Until then he could practice with it none the less.
When it was not sealed up, it was strung to his side. He didn't want to strap it since it just felt right staying in his hands.
"If I ever meet Muramasa, then I must give him my eternal thanks for this," he thought.
As he thought about his sword, an energy signature he recognized appeared to be heading towards them at a great speed.
Itachi and Anko saw him tense up a little and were now on alert since they recognized when Naruto could sense someone. While they readied to defend themselves they saw Naruto quickly relax indicating whoever it was they were not hostile towards them.
Just as they three settled a swirl of leaves appeared in front of them. When the leafs all disappeared, they all looked in surprise, especially Itachi when the person standing in front of them was none other than a Jonin uniform clad Mikoto holding little Ria in her arms who was giggling madly.
"Mikoto obasan?"
"Kaa-san? What are you doing here?" Itachi asked since he was surprised to see his mother wearing her Jonin uniform. He could not remember the last time had seen her in her old shinobi uniform which looked like most of the other uniforms except she had an only one sleeve leaving the other arm bare and wrapped around her left thigh was a gray sash with the kanji for fire on it while on her back was a strapped tanto.
"Well is that not obvious Itachi-kun. You are waiting for your Jonin sensei and here I am," she said getting three gobsmacked looks before Naruto fist pumped the air.
"Awesome. Mikoto obasan is our sensei," he cheered as little Ria looked a little confused but cheered as well.
Anko looked happy since she knew that Mikoto Uchiha aka Konoha no Hi Misutoresu (Fire Mistress of Konoha) was one of the best kunoichi's in the village. She was up there with Tsunade and Kushina.
"Are you sure Kaa-san? But what about Sasuke and Ria? And does Tou-san know about this?"
"Do not worry Itachi-kun. Sasuke will stay with one of our sitters while Ria will be with me during our d rank missions. Then when we eventually get to higher missions I will arrange for some of the other clan members to watch over them while I am with you all."
"And do not worry about your father. Even if he does not like it, I am a shinobi of this village and I felt it was time to get back into this life. Plus I have always wanted to take a genin team and who better then the team my son is in she said kissing his forehead making him blush a little while Ria sat in her big brothers lap.
"Well now that I am here we can introduce ourselves to one another since it is a must do for a new team," she said as she sat in front of her new team. "Say your name, your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams for the future. I will start."
"My name is Mikoto Uchiha, I like my family, fire jutsu's, my friends and the village. My dislikes are traitors, rapists, those who hurt children and those that dare to hurt my family. My hobbies are learning something new every day and cooking. My dreams for the future has already come true," she said as she looked at her oldest and youngest and smiled.
"Anko why don't you start."
"My name is Anko Mitsarashi. I like my few friends, dango, fighting and blood," she said making them sweat drop a little at the last part. My dislikes are perverts, men who think women can't be as strong as them, arrogance and more. My hobbies are making people who I don't like miserable. My dreams for the future...to kill a certain white snake," she said as she got serious at the last part.
Her two team mates looked at her curiosity since she had never mentioned that last part before whilst Mikoto narrowed her eyes. She like the other higher-ups in the village were aware of Anko's past and understood why she wanted that as her dream.
Itachi was up next. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. My likes are my friends, family, ninjutsu and genjutsu and visiting cafes. My dislikes are those who try to hurt my precious people, steak, and those who think they are better than everyone else and who only crave power for selfish reasons. My hobbies are meditating and training to be a great shinobi. My dream is to protect my home and surpass the Uchiha's of old."
"And now our last member," she said nodding to Naruto who nodded.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. My likes are my precious people, ramen, fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. My dislikes are people who try to hurt my precious people, rapists, perverts and those that gain power for selfish reasons. My hobbies are training, spending time with my jiji and my friends. And my dream for the future is to surpass my parents and to become a great protector of the village."
"That is a wonderful dream Naruto. It sounds like you want to be Hokage one day?"
Naruto shrugged. "If my path as a shinobi leads me there then I guess so."
"Me, me," Ria said as she put her hand up wanting to have a go making the others laugh at the cute little girl.
"Another time Ria-chan," Mikoto said taking her daughter from her eldest and making the girl pout a little.
"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked.
"Well now we will break up for the rest of the day we don't need to get familiar with one another since we all know each other. Tomorrow I want all of you to go to training ground 13 since I want to test how strong the three of you are. I have an idea on Itachi and a little on Naruto but none on you Anko. I want you all there at 9:00 am. Understood?"
"Hai Sensei," the three spoke making Mikoto smile.
"This is going to be an interesting experience. I can't wait to rub in Kushina's face," she thought chuckling evilly in her mind.
"Since you are the only team who have currently graduated from the academy, the three of you are automatically made genin. I hereby announce us as Team 13," she declared getting big smiles from Naruto and Anko and a small smile from Itachi.
Nodding and smiling at them and saying goodbye, Mikoto shunshined away with Ria in her arms leaving the new genin team alone.
In Hokage Office
Minato sat behind his desk putting a hand through his hair as he sat across from one of the few men in the Elemental Nations that could fight him one on one. On his right was Kakashi and on his left was Jiraiya whilst Kushina was sat next to him. Over on one of the sofa's was Sarutobi with his pipe in his mouth as remained passive but on alert with their guests.
The man in front of them was A, the Fourth Raikage of Kumo and the man who Minato had many battle with in the past.
A was a big man with dark skin and whitish blonde hair that was slicked back with a goatee on his chin. He wore his Raikage cloak and hat whilst around his wrists were golden weights and around his waist was a large gold belt.
Beside A there were two men. One had white spiky hair that covered part of his left eye and also wore a standard white Kumo flack jacket. On his back was a cleaver like sword and on his right arm was the symbol for black lightning.
To his right was a Caucasian man wearing the standard Kumo shinobi uniform but had bandages wrapped around the top of his head and his forehead protector covered his right eye.
"Welcome to the leaf village Raikage-sama, I am happy that you made it here safe and sound," Minato spoke as A snorted a little but thanked him none the less.
"Yes well since we are here, we may as well get right down to it. No sense it postponing this," he said as Minato nodded while Kushina kept her guard up.
Since the attempted kidnap on her life by Kumo shinobi's when she was younger, she had always been very weary around Kumo shinobi. To be frank, she did not trust them one little bit.
"I agree. I see no reason why are two villages should have to be at each other's throats nay more and I am more than willing to put the past behind us if it mean the leaf and the cloud can finally see each other as allies other then enemies."s
"I agree as well. As Raikage the safety of my village is my top priority and it will always come first. If it means keeping any ridiculous wars from breaking out again then I will do it."
Minato nodded to that as well. Though he and A never exactly saw eye to eye, he was glad that as the kage of his village he understood that alliances would truly benefit one another.
Kumo had always been more militarized then Konoha but then again Kumo had always been a very tightly kit and army like village where as Konoha was a bit more relaxed in that sense but always kept their guard up.
"I am surprised that your brother B is not here. Normally the two of you are inseparable," Minato asked as A narrowed his eyes a little at the comment.
"Bee is a jinchurikii therefore he knows that his place is to stay at the village and be a protector Kumo. As a jinchurikii he is a tool to be used to keep Kumo safe."
The leaf ninja frowned at that but knew that was mostly how other jinchurikii were treated like. "You know I have always been curious to who the jinchurikii of the Kyuubi was. Since you know who Kumo's jinchurikii's are do you not think we should know who yours is?"
That made everyone tense while Kushina and Minato looked at the man dangerously. Something that made the white haired man tense and prepare himself. Kakashi did the same.
"That information is classified Raikage-sama," Minato spoke in a clam and even tone.
"Oh so do you believe that my village does not deserve to know of your weapon while you know ours?" A said with his voice getting a little louder.
Kushina slammed her fist on the table. "Jinchurikii's are not tools that you can control simply because of what they contain. They are human beings who carry a great burden on their shoulders."
A didn't look affected by the comment but instead just raised an eyebrow at her outburst while Minato smoothed her by rubbing small circles on her hand.
"You are oddly protective towards them, which leads me to guess that your jinchurikii is someone close to you.
All the leaf shinobi tensed again and were mentally preparing themselves for some kind of confrontation since Kushina face contorted to a looked that showed she was ready to kill.
"Well if you won't tell us then perhaps it was a mistake coming here since you cannot be honest with us when we are being honest with you."
"Honest," Kushina said snorting. "Like how you tried to kidnap me when I was a girl and yet tried to deny it. Yes very honest."
"What my father did when he was Raikage does not fall to me. To be honest I never really understood the big fuss about you Uzumaki. All you were ever good at was fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. The rest you were just mediocre at."
Kushina looked like she was about to bow up at the comment A was making at her while the white haired man just shook his head and face palmed. Minato did the same thing knowing this meeting was not going well at all.
A and Kushina had never liked each other and he knew it was a mistake bringing her to this meeting.
"Perhaps coming here was a mistake," A said standing up from his chair making everyone else stand up s well.
"Perhaps we can speech more of this tomorrow. Let's keep a cool head, think on it tonight and then resume tomorrow the details of the alliance," Minato offered since he really wanted some kind of treaty to be formed between their two villages which could stop any confrontations from happening in the future.
Minato did not wish for another war to break out. He wanted to keep the children of the village to have to succumb to that path.
A scoffed but nodded none the less. "Tomorrow we will continue this. Until then we shall take up residence in the Golden Leaf Hotel," he said as Minato nodded.
A then jumped through the window, making his departure from the meeting. The white haired man sighed before giving Minato a small smile.
"Sorry about the window."
"It's okay. We know of a few people who tend to not use doors," Minato said motioning to Jiraiya who scratched the back of his. The white haired man nodded and walked out through the door with the other man following behind him.
When the door closes everyone breathed easily despite how badly the meeting went.
"Well that could have gone better," Kushina said as she checked her nails as everyone playfully glared at her while she whistled innocently.
With Team 13
Night began to fall as Naruto, Anko and Itachi sat at Ichiraku's ramen while Shizune sat to the side of them with Mito and Eiji by her side. She was looking after the children since after the meeting with the Raikage, many of the clan heads were having a get together.
Mito and Eiji sat on their seats playfully swinging their legs with noodle hanging from their lips while Naruto had little Mina seated on his lap who was now almost a year old and was clapping her hands as Naruto fed her a little bit of ramen.
"Those of Uzumaki blood just naturally like ramen, no matter how young," Shizune commented as Itachi and Anko nodded in agreement.
"You love ramen don't you Mina-chan," Naruto said to his baby sister who just nodded her head and gave him a smile showing the few teeth she had.
"Aww she is so sweet aren't you munchkin," Anko said. Despite being a very tough and tomboyish girl, even she had to admit that little Mina was adorable.
Naruto smiled at the interaction between Mina and Anko while Itachi smiled at the scene. Naruto then felt a pull on his sleeve only to see Mito and Eiji looking at him with big eyes and holding their arms out.
Naruto had a strange look on his face as he stared down at his two siblings. Despite loving them both, the whole thing with his parents and their attention was due to the twins and in all honesty he had been a little distant from Mito and Eiji, especially Mito since she was very clingy towards him and just wanted to follow him everywhere. Mina despite nearly being one was showing the same signs.
The two little girls just loved being with their big brother. Eiji was the same but not as clingy.
Shizune saw his slight dilemma and picked up the two twins.
"No, I want Naru," Mito complained as Eiji nodded in agreement but Shizune gave them a warm smile.
"No sweeties it time to go home. You both need your baths," she said getting a disagreeable look on the twins faces.
"Mito-chan, Eiji-chan," Naruto said getting the twin attention. "When I come home, I will try to read you a bedtime story, Okay?" He said getting smiles from the two making a small smile appear on Naruto's face in return.
Shizune then put the two down and placed Mina into the stroller who began to cry a little, not wanting to be out of her big brothers warm embrace.
"Naruto are you coming?" Shizune asked.
"Not just yet Nee-chan. I going to have one more bowl."
"Alright but be home soon .You might be a shinobi now but your still nine and you need your sleep," she said. "That goes for all of you too."
Anko and Itachi nodded as well and then watched as Shizune gave Naruto a kiss on the forehead before leaving with Mito, Eiji and Mina back to their home. As they left Naruto sensed the anbu's that were watching over them move to follow Shizune and his three siblings.
They watched them go before Itachi turned to Naruto.
"Still trying to put space between them aren't you?" he asked as Naruto sighed a little and nodded.
Anko looked at him weirdly. "Why are you trying to put space between them? They are adorable, I just want to eat them up," she said while Naruto just didn't say anything.
"Its just some personal business Anko-san," Itachi said making Anko look at them both weirdly before she nodded.
The trio sat there as they talked to one another, sometime also speaking to the ramen stand owner Teuchi who the three saw as a nice middle aged man who was happy to help any who needed help. He had a daughter their age Ayame who they had seen a few times.
As Anko and Itachi spoke with Itachi, Naruto sensor abilities picked up on something that he felt was irregular. He could feel the Kumo shinobi along with the Raikage enter the moment they entered the village. The Raikage stood out among the other two since his power was enormous, the same as his father and his jiji.
Naruto hoped of the stool and stood in the middle of the empty street as he looked in the direction of where the signature was coming from.
"Naruto-kun, what is it?" Anko asked as she and Itachi followed him.
"One of the Kumo shinobi," he said already putting the two on alert. "He not at the hotel with the others. He over by the Hyuuga compound. Why is he there?" Naruto said allowed making Itachi and Anko widen their eyes.
"You don't think he is going to kidnap a Hyuuga do you?" Anko asked since they were both aware that Kumo for some reason desired the Hyuuga clan dojutsu, the Byakugan.
"Let's go check it out," he said as the two nodded and headed towards the Hyuuga compound.
It only took a few minutes before they arrived on one of the buildings opposite the Hyuuga compound and Naruto immediately began scanning the area for the Kumo shinobi he could sense.
After a moment of search he saw a black clad figure against one of the outer walls showing it to be the Kumo shinobi with the forehead protector covering his right eye. In his right arm their eyes widened when they saw the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata Hyuuga unconscious in his left arm.
"Anko go warn my father. NOW," he said as Anko did not need to be told twice before taking off as fast as she could.
"All the clan heads are at that gathering. He knew the head of the Hyuuga clan would not be here," Itachi said as Naruto nodded.
"We have to buy sometime. We can't let him get away."
Naruto and Itachi took a deep breath knowing this could go very badly but they were shinobi of the lead now and it was their duty to protect the people who live there.
As the Kumo shinobi was about to move both boys threw shuriken towards him.
The Kumo shinobi sensed them coming and dodged out the way and landed a little to his left. He looked to his left and his eyes widened a little when Naruto appeared a little in front of him with the Shusui unsheathed and descending towards his head.
He expressed interest in the black sword for a moment before he grabbed a kunai from his right pocket and blocked the strike though buckled a little from the strength of the blade and saw his kunai crack in a few places. However when he blocked and focused on Naruto Itachi appeared to the side and grabbed Hinata form the man's grasp.
They both heard the man curse loudly as Itachi jumped away as fast as he could with Naruto doing the same. They regrouped with each other while protecting Hinata.
"Give me the girl brats. You don't want to piss me off," he said taunting them.
"We are shinobi of the leaf. We will not let you kidnap one of our own," Naruto said back.
The man laughed before making a few hand seals. "Let's see if the you brats can live up to what you claim," he said.
"Raiton: Dendou Underi."
A thin wire of lightning erupted from his midsection and shot all around him and toward Naruto and Itachi aiming for their stomach as if wanting to bisect them.
Naruto jumped in the air while Itachi managed to jump just before the man performed the jutsu. When Naruto looked at Itachi he saw red and three tomoe's in each eye.
"Sharingan," he thought believed Itachi used it to predict the man's movement.
As they jumped the Kumo appeared in front of Naruto and kicked the small blonde and knocked him to the ground.
He did the same to Itachi but with the Sharingan activated, Itachi managed to dodge the swipes and kicked them and was giving him but could not attack due to having Hinata still in his arms.
Itachi gritted his teeth a little since he could not fight back but then heard Naruto voice. Water Style: Water Bullet he said as balls of water made their way towards the Kumo ninja.
The Kumo nin jumped out of the way, enabling Itachi to appear in the gardens of the Hyuuga compound and lay her on the ground before going back to the battle.
Returning he saw Naruto with his blade redrawn blocking quick and powerful strikes from the Kumo nin. Though Naruto was managing to block, the man superior strength forced him to get pushed back and against a wall.
The Kumo nin grinned before finding kunai being thrown towards him. Cursing again he humped back and away from the kunai.
Naruto and Itachi then stood next to one another and charged towards the enemy.
Naruto threw punches and palm strike towards the Kumo nin, specifically trying to hit a few of the weak and pressure points that Tsunade and Shizune had told him about. Itachi meanwhile was trying to sweep his legs with his Uchiha style.
They tried pushing him back but the man was an adult and his physical strength was superior, so they used their smaller bodies to dodge his strike which were quite slow and were able to dodge them.
Though he did managed to lad a few hits on the two, he was surprised that they just kept getting back up and throwing strikes toward him. He swore he even felt a low level genjutsu get put on him before he managed to quickly get rd of it with a pulse of chakra.
"The Uchiha," he thought since he knew with the Sharingan, Itachi would try and put him in a genjutsu and trap him.
The Kumo ninja started getting annoyed when the two genin did not let up before they both jumped back.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu," Itachi called as a fire ball erupted from his mouth and toward the ninja. The ninja saw it coming and jumped in the air to dodge it but his eyes widened when he saw Naruto was now in front of him and had Shusui drawn out again.
Naruto swung his blade just as the Kumo nin tried to push himself back. Despite the dodge, the tip of the Shusui sunk into the man and slashed him across the chest.
Naruto landed next to Itachi both who got in their stances again as the Kumo nin fell back a little and gripped his chest.
"You little shit," he said as he check his wound and saw it was shallow but went across most of his chest.
"What are these kids. They are no ordinary children?" he said and looked into their eyes. Itachi with his Sharingan and Naruto with his violet eyes gazed intensely towards him.
"Raiton: Sa-ji Furasshuh," he said as his two hands surged with lightning and put them together. He did not realize that Itachi had just coped his jutsu when he saw the hand signs.
Just as the attack was about to be sent off, another strong chakra signature appeared around them and a blur shot out from the Hyuuga compound and truck the Kumo ninja in the chest.
"Hakke Sanjūni Shō"," the Hyuuga cried out as he struck the Kumo nin thirty two times in the chest.
When it was over, Naruto and Itachi watched as the man stumbled back a little before blood spurted out of his mouth, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and dropped to the ground dead.
They looked at the Hyuuga and saw he looked just like the clan head Hiashi making them realize he was Hizashi Hyuuga the younger twin brother of Hiashi Hyuuga.
Hizashi glared at the fallen man before he made his way over to the two boys and gave them a bow. "Thank you for protecting Hinata."
They were about to respond before Naruto felt a large mass of multiple chakra's appeared. Form their right they looked over and watched as Naruto's parents, Jiraiya, Tsunade and the clan heads appeared along with a few Anbu.
"NARU-CHAN."
"ITACHI-KUN."
Naruto and Itachi winced a little when they heard their mother's voices and quickly found themselves glomped by Kushina and Mikoto who began to threat and check them over. Both saw the bruises that were beginning to form on their faces and glared towards the fallen shinobi.
When the two mothers were told by the two boys they were okay, Kushina nodded and joined Minato who was speaking to Hizashi with the others while Mikoto hung back with the boys.
Naruto watched as Itachi went a little red with Mikoto still checking him over and was planting kisses on him. From where he could stand he could hear his mother saying they should check on the twins and Mina.
"Even now, they are all she can think about," Naruto thought a little bitterly as he looked down at the ground as he shook slightly.
Shaking his head a little Naruto began to walk away and just made his way home while Itachi gave him a sad glance while Mikoto just wondered what had him so down.
Meanwhile Tsunade and Hiruzen, who had heard what Kushina said looked at Naruto with sadness in their eyes.
"We need to talk to them about this Sarutobi-sensei; look at Naru-chan, even if he doesn't necessarily show it the way they treat him is effecting him. I heard from Shizune that he is distancing himself from the twins, it's like he doesn't want them to get to close to him." said Tsunade, worry clear in her voice.
"While I agree with you, Tsunade-chan, the question still remains; how would we get them to see what they are doing to young Naruto? I doubt they even realize that their actions, or rather, inaction is causing him any sort of grief." He replied, also worried about the young boy that he saw as a grandson. "At moment the only thing we can do is wait and see if they will realize their mistake before it is too late.