Naruto sat at his favorite Ramen stand enjoying the food that he considered Kami's gift to ninja everywhere. What would surprise most about this situation was that Uzumaki Naruto was not alone and he was still on his first bowl.
"Shiho-chan, can I ask you something and can you promise to be honest with me?"
"Of course Uzumaki-san, on my pride as a scientist I will be honest and answer to the very best of my ability," replied Shiho immediately.
"Am I stupid?" he asked her. Ever since that day Kakashi had explained his learning to his teammates he'd been doubting himself.
"What do you mean Uzumaki-san?" asked Shiho curiously.
"It's just that the other day Kakashi-sensei had to explain how I learn to Sakura and Sasuke. He said I'm so dumb it takes me 100 days what it takes them to learn in 1 day."
"He should not have said that, it was not a very good explanation into how you learn and not even remotely accurate," said Shiho indignant on his behalf.
"So why did he say it?"
"Hmm," mumbled Shiho thoughtfully, "I can only guess that he said it so as to keep Uchiha-san calm."
"Why would that matter?"
"You've said you sensed darkness in him before yes?"
Naruto nodded.
"Uchiha-san is very sensitive to certain issues. He does not manage failure well and he tends to view anything in which he is not the best as a failure," explained Shiho.
"That's just stupid," said Naruto looking miffed, "I fail all the time. It pisses me off sure but it pushes to me to improve all the time."
"It is one of your strong suits Uzumaki-san," said Shiho.
"So why do I learn so slow? I mean, I learned Kage Bunshin in a couple of hours and that crude chakra barrier control exercise with less than 40 clones and they all died really fast at first," said Naruto curiously.
"Focus Uzumaki-san," said Shiho, "When you focus, and I mean really focus on something you could be the fastest learner in the village."
"Why is that? What do you mean?"
"Uzumaki-san, when you learned Kage Bunshin in a few hours what were you thinking about while practicing?"
"I was only thinking about learning the technique so I could pass," said Naruto.
"No stray thoughts about Sakura-chan, or beating up someone in your class, or eating tons of Ramen?" asked Shiho.
Naruto thought for a minute, "I may have thought about being made Hokage for learning it but only a few times. I didn't really think about that other stuff at all."
"Exactly," said Shiho, "We've told you that you will usually have 100 thoughts go through your head in the time it takes most people to have one thought yes?"
Naruto nodded.
"The problem is that usually 80 of those thoughts are about something other than what you're working on. When you learned the Kage Bunshin I would estimate 95 of those 100 thoughts were on learning the technique which is why you learned it as fast as you did," explained Shiho.
"So if I could learn to focus my thoughts better I wouldn't need so long to learn stuff?"
"Correct, now there are several things we've noticed when it comes to you focusing. You have become very focused in the past when you have the promise of a reward you value at the end. This is good and bad, we don't want you to become reward oriented such that if the reward is not something you value you refuse, fail, or take too long to learn something we deem necessary for your development. Ideally we want you to be able to focus in an instant without the need of reward."
"So I learned that crude chakra barrier because I focused on it because Kakashi-sensei promised to teach me a Jutsu?" asked Naruto making sure he understood correctly.
"That is correct," said Shiho, "but like I said. We would like for you to be able to focus on learning something without the promise of reward for doing so. What you learn should be the reward in and of itself."
"Hmm," Naruto hummed thoughtfully.
"With time and practice you will get better and better Uzumaki-san. Hatake-sensei's reports on your progress have been very good thus far. Just keep at it."
Naruto smiled brightly at Shiho pulling her into a one armed hug, "You're the best Shiho-chan!"
Naturally he failed to notice the slight red coloration dusting her cheeks as he began to eat with a renewed gusto having released the girl.
BREAK
It was a few days later after training with his team that Kakashi asked him to stay after for a few minutes.
"What's up Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.
"So I talked with Shiho-chan and Atsui-san yesterday," said Kakashi, "I guess I owe you an apology."
"For what?" asked Naruto.
"I gave a poor and insensitive explanation of how you learn to your teammates. I did so with purpose and intentionally but failed to consider your feelings in the matter. I should have talked to you about it much soon than now. I did not do so to hurt or insult you but to keep Uchiha-san calm, you've been advised to how he would react and while I agree with you that it is stupid it is something the village has just begun to help him work through."
"It is stupid but I get it," said Naruto with a grin for his sensei, "I do appreciate the apology too. But if you were really sorry you'd teach me something new."
"Emotional blackmail now?" asked Kakashi unable to stop himself from grinning.
"Yes," said Naruto simply and with finality.
"I suppose we can start the next chakra control exercise," said Kakashi, "Though this one is going to be time consuming so don't expect to get it in a day."
"Sweet what is it," asked Naruto curiously.
"It's a sensing technique in which you pulse your chakra out from your body and feel the resulting shapes as your chakra moves through and around objects," explained Kakashi.
"How does that help my control? Sound like I could dump as much chakra as I want into it," said Naruto.
"True, you can but the danger in the technique is just that. If you make your pulse too big you're going to stand out like a beacon to every ninja in range of it. The trick is in the subtlety of the pulse and controlling the range of the pulse. Ideally you want to use it when fighting in a dark environment and indoors," explained Kakashi, "hence, you want to keep the pulse size to that of the room you're in and to be as subtle as you can make it to prevent it being noticed from outside the room."
"This is going to take a while isn't it?"
Kakashi nodded, "But I'll tell you what, you learn it in a week and I'll teach you another Shoheki Jutsu."
Naruto was super excited but caught himself. Sighing loudly, "No, I'm not supposed to do that. As much as I want to learn a new technique this exercise should be the reward itself."
Kakashi looked at Naruto thoughtfully, "you're growing up. I'll teach you the new Shoheki Jutsu regardless of when you complete this exercise. Now let's get to work."
"Yatta!"
BREAK
"Hello my cute little Genin," greeted Kakashi jovially.
"Sup Kakashi-sensei."
"Hello Hatake-sensei."
"Hi Kakashi-sensei," were the three varied responses.
"I'm so proud of you guys. You're already making me famous and haven't even had your first mission yet," said Kakashi, "Hokage-sama is very pleased with the progress reports he's received already and has been bragging to some of the other Jounin and Chuunin on my behalf. Isn't that wonderful?"
Naruto instantly smelled a trap grabbed a kunai from his pouch, and snapped back and down into a ready stance.
"Jumpy Naruto?" asked Kakashi with his typical eye smile towards Naruto.
Naruto sniffed the air, "We're not alone."
Sasuke and Sakura instantly joined him creating a triangle with each of them facing a different direction.
"Shit, kid does have good instincts," said a man walking out from cover off the edge of the training ground, "I was down wind too."
"I told you Asuma," said Kakashi almost gleeful.
"Who's he? What's he want?" asked Naruto rapidly still not calming.
Kakashi chuckled, "At ease."
The three Genin put away their weapons and relaxed at their sensei's order.
"This is Sarutobi Asuma," said Kakashi introducing the man, "Asuma, meet my team, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto."
"Nice to meet you kids," said Asuma as he lit a cigarette.
"You Jiji's pain in the ass?" asked Naruto with his own devious grin causing Asuma to almost drop his cigarette.
Kakashi laughed full out at that as Asuma continued to sputter before finally settling for a glare.
"Anyway, Asuma doesn't have to meet his team until later but he volunteered to help us run a combat simulation today," said Kakashi, "We're just waiting on one person and then we can get started.
"Who else is coming?" asked Naruto.
"A Chuunin I believe you all know, Umino Iruka," said Kakashi.
"Iruka-sensei, sweet," cheered Naruto boisterously, "I have seen him in forever."
"Still loud as ever eh Naruto?" called out the familiar voice of one Umino Iruka as he entered the clearing.
"I'm quiet when I need to be," pouted Naruto earning a laugh for his efforts.
"Anyway," interrupted Kakashi, "These two are going to be attacking us today. This means I'll be on your team for a change. We'll be doing an escort mission simulation. I don't want any verbal communication once combat begins unless absolutely necessary. You all know your formations and we've drilled this enough by now that you should have your combinations and defensive maneuvers set by now."
"Are we allowed to give verbal analysis?" asked Sasuke.
"Negative," said Kakashi, "I want each of you to form your own analysis once the exercise is completed we can discuss them."
Asuma whistled appreciatively, "You've got them pretty well trained there Kakashi."
"This will be their 17th combat exercise involving target protection. They should be ready."
"You've had them less than a month, is that all you worked on with them?" asked Iruka put out.
"Of course not," said Kakashi, "We've run at least 5 other simulations that differ."
"That's not much better," argued Iruka.
"I think it's exceptional," said Kakashi, "I have a plan Umino-san. They will be starting C-rank missions next week, primary in protection and escort details. This is the type of mission they need the most practice in for now. Today is their final exam so to speak. If they make it through this with a pass then I will begin to expose them to more variety."
Iruka frowned but couldn't help nodding. It was a sound plan and fully justifiable. Didn't mean he had to like it though.
"Right then, let's get to it," said Kakashi.
Asuma and Iruka both vanished from sight.
The team instantly took up a Manji formation around the target dummy. Sasuke took the forward directional point and Kakashi took up the trail position with Naruto and Sakura on either side.
Shuriken flew from the brush instantly starting the action. Sasuke knocked aside the Shuriken easily enough with a single kunai.
Naruto spawned 4 clones and sent them into the brush to flush the opposition. He then spawned 6 more, two of them forming a clear chakra barrier around the target and two of them creating a dome shaped one way wind barrier "Kaze Shoheki no Jutsu." He and Sakura could get out but no one could get in. It also limited visibility but Naruto only need to dispel a clone outside the barrier to get a clearer picture.
Sakura put her hands onto Naruto's back and began to channel her chakra to ensure he didn't get ensnared in a Genjutsu. It was minimally chakra intensive but it was the support required for this situation until she was required to address an injury of a more serious nature.
Meanwhile Naruto's clones had flush out Asuma though being destroyed with relative easy. Naruto was proud to say that his clones left the man with at least a shiner under his right eye.
Naruto noticed the wind and was about to warn Sasuke but the previous instruction prevented him from acting.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," shouted Sasuke launching a fireball.
"Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu," retaliated Asuma hitting the fireball dead on reversing its direction and magnifying it immensely.
A Naruto clone instantly used Kawarimi to swap with Sasuke and take the hit.
"Ouch," mumbled Naruto inside the barrier, "If I ever have to choose a way to die, don't put me down for wind enhanced fireball."
Sakura cringed as well, "Everyone okay?"
"Yeah, I had a clone substitute with Sasuke. It took the hit," explained Naruto as he spawned a few more clones sending them out of the barrier to provide assistance.
"Get ready to drop the barrier, we need to get Kakashi in, he took a kunai to his knee," said Naruto.
"Ready in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 go," said Sakura.
The barrier dropped and few Naruto's ran inside the barrier zone carrying Kakashi.
"Sasuke, try to push him back, I need to get the barrier back up," called Naruto as his clones engaged Iruka who took the opportunity to try and run in.
Sasuke nodded signaling Naruto to give him a swap.
One Kawarimi with a clone later and Iruka was suddenly face to face with Sasuke. The poor clone that went on to face Asuma barely lasted a second but the time it bought was more than enough for Sasuke to push Iruka out of the barrier range for Naruto to put it back up.
Sakura all the while focused on healing the wound to Kakashi, "You'll be back up in 30 seconds. It is deeper than I would have hoped. Naruto, send out more clones, we've got to buy time for me to heal Kakashi-sensei."
"Osu," said Naruto bringing his hands together. Very rapidly clones emerged and charge out onto the field engaging Asuma and Iruka to the best of their ability. Mostly they were just getting killed off quickly but it was a sufficient distraction until one clone got inside Iruka's guard, giving him an elbow thrust knocking the wind out of him followed up by a back fist breaking the man's nose and allowing the clones to bind and secure the guy.
"Iuka-sensei is down and bound," report Naruto inside the barrier, "Sasuke and my clones are getting man handled by Asuma-san."
"Kakashi-sensei, you're clear," said Sakura letting the green glow fade from her hands.
Kakashi stood and shook his leg out a couple times checking his range of motion, "Good as new, nice work Sakura-chan." He then trudged out once more to help Sasuke and Naruto's clones fight Asuma.
"This is brutal," said Naruto as the memories of his clones fed back to him as the fight progressed, "Seems like we've finally got him on the ropes though."
"That's good," said Sakura resuming coverage on Naruto to ensure he didn't get ensnared in a Genjutsu.
"Asuma-san just signaled the retread," said Naruto.
"Exercise complete," called out Kakashi allowing Naruto to release his barriers.
"Your kids are good Kakashi," said Asuma.
"They did alright," said Kakashi, "It would have been a different story if you and Umino-san had taken it a bit more seriously."
"It is a simulation Kakashi-san," said Iruka, "It is very doubtful they will face a Jounin or Chuunin for a long time."
"Maybe," said Kakashi, "Maybe not. Only time will tell."
"Anyway, we've got to go talk with my old man and let him know how it went," said Asuma starting up a new cigarette."
"Thanks for the practice," said Naruto with a wave.
"Thank you both for taking the time to help our team develop," said Sasuke.
"Thank you Asuma-san and Iruka-sensei," said Sakura giving them both a peace sign.
Once the two men were out of sight, the three turned to Kakashi to await the results and an evaluation of their performance.
"I'll start with the good news, you all pass and we'll start C-Rank missions next week as promised," said Kakashi.
"Yatta," shouted Naruto and Sakura excitedly while Sasuke smirked.
"Your coordination was good but we'll have to work more on integrating me into your strategies. Naruto, you're barriers were well timed and executed and your use of Kawarimi with your clones was stellar and perfectly timed. Sakura, your support work was superb. The job healing my knee was quick and efficient. Sasuke your attacks were smooth and efficient and you assisted your teammates flawlessly on request. "
"Negatives, Naruto you could have brought the wind barrier back up immediately as Umino-san could have still been pushed out through the barrier after it had come up. Sakura, it would have been wise to wait for a Genjutsu to have been used before you started providing defense against is as given your smaller chakra reserves conservation is important but still well done. Sasuke, using fire against a wind user is usually smart but in this instance his wind use easily overpowered your fire and turned it back against you, I would recommend opening up with smaller fire techniques before moving to your more powerful moves in the future."
The three nodded considerately, it was a fair and balanced review.
The next hour was spent breaking down each phase of the fight, mistakes, areas of improve, and good decisions. They discussed various strategies and adjustments as well as more ways to integrate Kakashi into their strategies. At the end of that hour they all split off to their own training.
BREAK
"You know," said Naruto between slurping noodled, "Kakashi-sensei might be super lazy and a major pervert but he really knows what he's doing."
"I'm kind of surprised too," commented Sakura eating her own Ramen at a more sedate pace, "I get the feeling if we hadn't gone to SIPA first he would have been even lazier and more perverted than he is now."
"Hatake-sensei is very good. He has a very well established reputation," commented Sasuke eating his own noodle dish. He truly hated every moment of this outing but the promised training reward made it worth the time and effort.
"I'm surprised you suggested this Uchiha-san," said Sakura. Sasuke could hear the slight quiver in her voice which pleased him immensely but not nearly so much as the complete lack of fangirlism that had immediately followed their time spent in SIPA.
"It was recently suggested to me that attempting to be seen more in social situations with my team would prove advantageous to my reputation in the village and to help promote the Uchiha name once more," explained Sasuke almost verbatim to what he'd logically analyzed earlier with Danzo's direction.
"Why is that important?" asked Naruto pausing in his devouring of Ramen.
"I am the last of my clan. It is important to the village that my clan be given a strong and positive image to its citizens and visitors. As such it is also important to me," explained Sasuke not really caring much to be honest. He'd much prefer the village fear the name Uchiha and have an absolute respect. Not a false one created by false image.
"Huh," said Naruto mumbling, "Why doesn't that work for me? I'm the last of the Uzumaki after all."
"Unfortunately you've already created a negative image for yourself through your pranks. There also seems to be an underlying dislike of you by adults," said Sasuke starting to feel irritated with the conversation.
Naruto got real quiet as he thought about it for all of about a minute before responding in his typical manner, "Bah, I'll show them all when I become Hokage anyway."
Sasuke really wanted to insult and belittle his dreams just then but bit his tongue.
"Why do you want to be Hokage anyway?" asked Sakura before Sasuke could lose whatever temper he had left.
"Have you seen that hat?" asked Naruto with a laugh that Sakura joined him. Sasuke forced a chuckle but there was no feeling in it. "But really it's because he's the strongest in the village and everyone respects him. He told me once he sees the whole village as his family and I thought that was really cool."
Sakura considered his words for moment, "It's a not a bad reason but it's not really a good reason either. You should probably think about it some more."
"You think?" asked Naruto rubbing his chin, "I guess I can think about it some more."
"While we are here there is something I need to bring up with the both of you," said Sasuke calmly, "Seeing as we'll be getting our first C-Rank in a few days and will most likely be required to leave the village, I want to be very clear with you both. Once we leave this village on a mission I expect professionalism from the both of you. As Hatake-sensei has said when we're on the mission we need to put aside any personal feelings towards each other and get the job done right. Do not expect me to be as cordial as I am now or as friendly. Am I clear?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke thoughtfully before giving him a serious nod of agreement, "I can agree to that. It won't be as easy for me I think but I can respect your decision."
"I understand," said Sakura really understanding exactly what he meant.
"Good," Sasuke said finally reaching his limit and accomplishing his overall task. As such he excused himself, "I have to meet with Danzo-sensei shortly and need to pick up something on my way."
"Later Teme," said Naruto with a wave.
"Bye Uchiha-san," said Sakura politely.
Once Sasuke was out of sight of the pair he had begun the trained evasion pattern as he made his way toward that day's entrance to Danzo's underground training facility. Letting lose a sigh of relief once he was underground he went straight to the holding cells.
"Cell 4 or 8," said the guard to Sasuke as he entered.
"Any fight left in either of them?" asked Sasuke coldly.
"Eight still has a little fight left in him but don't expect much," said the guard equally cold.
Sasuke nodded going straight to cell 8 and his relief from the darkness already overwhelming him. His Sharingan blazed brightly as he walked down the darkened hallway. Arriving as cell 8 he turned and peered into the darkness, the only thing visible of himself were his glowing red eyes.
The prisoner upon seeing evil red eyes staring at him through the darkness as if a predator was eying his prey could not hold back his screams of terror. Soon after, his screams changed from those of fear to those of absolute pain.
BREAK
"I hate these meetings," complained on Inuzuka Tsume taking her seat in the council chambers.
"They are troublesome," also complained on Nara Shikaku, "At least we don't have to deal with that even more troublesome civilian council today."
"Too true," barked Tsume with a laugh.
"What's today's agenda anyway?" asked a tired Yamanaka Inoichi.
"Long night Inoichi?" asked the Akimichi clan head.
"I have been even busier in retirement than I was when I was the actual head of the department," complained Inoichi.
"It's troublesome but even I don't know today's agenda though I have my suspicions," said Shikaku in his standard Nara sighing manner.
"And what are your suspicions?" asked Chouza of his longtime friend.
"Afternoon everyone," greeted the Hokage as he entered the room signaling for everyone to take their seats. There was a general murmur of greetings around the room towards the Hokage.
"Let this meeting officially convene, minutes will be taken by Asamiya Haruka, secretary to the Hokage. Special witnesses Sanzo Saiga-sensei, Sashin Hoko-sensei, Hatake Kakashi and Kato Atsui will provide testimony as required. Contents of this meeting are deemed classified, certain portions will be unclassified for the civilian council which will be determined post testimony," instructed the Hokage as he called the meeting to order.
"As was discussed two months ago just prior to this recent academy graduation class, a pilot program was approved for the Shinobi Institute of Performance Analysis. We're here today to discuss the preliminary results one month post phase one testing of the pilot group of Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Director Atsui if you would please begin."
Atsui stood and opened a note book, "Thank you Hokage-sama. Just to remind all of you, SIPA has a mandate to evaluate potential development paths for shinobi to pursue. It in no way guarantees the subjects will follow the recommendations provided or excellence in their chosen fields."
"That said the evaluation of Team 7 is very promising and thus far under the direction of Hatake Kakashi the team has shown great promise."
"Are the details of the evaluations available to us that we may determine their value for ourselves?" asked Hyuuga Hiashi.
"Two of the results have been classified by the Hokage as his eyes only, however we have agreed to make Haruno-san's full evaluation available to you," said Atsui as he handed a stack of booklets around to the people in the room.
"Based on the provided evaluations we've provide several recommendations. The most important of those was advice encouraging her to pursue the path of an Iryonin and a push to improve her physical conditioning. Hatake-sensei will report further on her accomplishment towards that end. I would recommend perusal of the full evaluation for a better understanding of all that was encompassed within that evaluation."
"Thank you Atsui-san," said the Hokage motioning for him to retake his seat. "Now before we hear from Hatake Kakashi we'll hear from Saiga-sensei on a graver matter. I must remind all of you that this information is strictly classified and will not be uttered outside this room."
"Thank you Hokage-sama," said Saiga standing to speak her piece. "Part of this evaluation included a psychological profile and brain scans. I am the head of the neurology department of Konoha's Hospital. I am also a board certified psychologist. It has been deemed necessary that I provide backgrounds on all of the evaluations for Team 7."
"I'll begin with Haruno-san's as you all hold her results in hand. First, she is for the most part psychologically sound. There were hints that she has an 'inner' voice that expresses some of her more personal and baser instincts which her young mind finds embarrassing. It is my opinion that this 'inner' voice will merge into her psyche as she ages and feels less embarrassment of some of her own opinions. I do not believe this poses any threat at this time. I would of course recommend a follow up evaluation in a few years to ensure it does not change into something that would be considered a threat."
"Uzumaki-san is slightly more concerning," began Saiga, "He is shockingly of sound mind which is good. The problem is that no one could be as sound of mind as Uzumaki-san is with all the hatred, isolation, and anger directed at him. It is very likely he has developed an 'Id', what you call a darker persona in which all this has been dumped upon. At this time his 'Id' is buried deep and if we're fortunate will remain so for rest of his days. It would be better if he were face down his 'Id' and integrate that into his personality. However, given his youth he would not have the skills to do so. If we do take this approach, I would highly recommend waiting until he is a bit older to force this reconciliation. There are many methods available to us when the time comes."
"Uchiha-san is the ultimate concern. It has been confirmed he is a Homicidal Sociopath. Brain scans confirm Uchiha Itachi left considerable damage to his brain and the psychological evaluation confirmed this. It has also been confirmed the five previous psychologists purposefully gave passing evaluations in spite of this. I'll turn this over to Hoko-sensei as he is this is area of specialty."
"Thank you Saiga-sensei," said Hoko standing, he was an older man with thick glasses, "Now that we have confirmed his psychology we have begun to train him appropriately for his condition to make him valuable to the village. In part thanks to the evaluation done we've been able to encourage a more logical deduction based line of thought within Uchiha-san that has worked quite well thus far. "
"Is he a danger to those around him?" asked Inoichi, himself being more familiar with the issue than most.
"It is precarious at this time. Reports from his sensei have stated he has done extremely well maintaining the façade we expect from those employed Sociopaths within the village. There have been a few times where he has had to be brought to an immediate and abrupt control by his sensei but it has been very rare he's needed to address this issue. With a few more months, I believe we'll be able to trust him to follow his training. I expect the first real test will come this week, he and his team will be taking their first C-rank mission. We've specifically targeted missions in which it is more likely they will encounter opposition based on area reconnaissance. This will help keep his desire to kill at bay."
"I have been taking a hand in his training in this regard as well," spoke up Danzo, "I would concur with his evaluation. We have been in discussion regularly regarding his development. We believe that by the time the Chuunin exam comes he should be promoted and pushed into ANBU black ops for permanent stationing and training."
"As much I personally dislike the Uchiha-clan," interrupted Hiashi, "How will this affect his image within the village?"
"He is being trained in socializing and public persona in conjunction with more appearances in public. We intend to continue with this approach but only enough ensure the village benefits from his presence. Meanwhile we can bury him deep in assassination missions," explained Hoko clinically.
"And what of the Uchiha clan? How do you intend to repopulate the clan with his issues?" asked Tsume, "I'd personally be fine if you just let them all die out."
"We will make arrangements for anonymous carriers. Our plan is to continue until four male heirs have been born to his line. Any females will of course be raised with the Uchiha name but care will have to be taken to ensure their history of inbreeding will come to an immediate end. This means marrying non-clan males into the clan as needed to suit the clan laws. Uchiha-san will have no interaction with any of his offspring to ensure he cannot cause them harm, either physical or mental. Sharingan training can be provided by Hatake-sensei as he is doing now," explained Danzo.
"Troublesome," said Shikaku starting his own input into the situation, "I take it we're not here to decide anything but merely to be informed of the situation."
"For the most part that is correct," said the Hokage motioning for Hoko and Danzo to both sit once more. "We're also going to decide how much to tell the civilian council. More importantly, we need to hear Kakashi-kun's report and decide if we want to push SIPA evaluations through to the civilian council and at what level of reimbursement we want to seek from the village coffers."
Several of the shinobi present scoffed at having to go to the civilian council with any financial matters.
"I know most of you dislike the civilian council having any input into shinobi matters but they do have value. We made a deal with them following the Kyubi's attack to allow them a vote on financial matters in exchange for them assisting to provide the emergency funding we needed to recover. Only 2 more years and the contract expires and they will have been repaid in full. Provided we can avoid any unnecessary disasters we'll be free of their influence once more," chided Sarutobi just as annoyed. The fact that he had to keep reminding them of this at least once a month did not make things any better.
"I'm still in favor of using Danzo-sama's bounty program suggestion to raise the funds sooner," said Homura.
"It puts our shinobi in unnecessary danger crossing borders like that," said the Hokage with an air of finality, "We make plenty of income from missions and the bounties we collect within our own borders."
"Yes, and 80% percent of those bounties values goes directly to the team responsible for the capture or kill of the target instead of the village," argued Homura calmly but coldly.
"We are getting off topic," said the Hokage, "let us get back to the matter at hand. Kakashi-kun, your report please."
Kakashi stood putting his book away. "The SIPA evaluations have been instrumental thus far in training my team. Having Danzo-sama working directly with Uchiha-san alone to work through his mental issues has been of tremendous value which in turn has made learning teamwork considerably easier. As a result, I've had much better training results as the number of petty arguments has been negligible. As such we've been able to focus more on strategies and combat simulations then I would have thought possible. Haruno-san's budding skill in Iryojutsu has been a boon to training as any injury has generally been healed with minimal interruption to training, this in turn has also made the training that much more fruitful as I don't have stop my students before they break limbs or stab each other in non-vital areas."
"You let your students stab each other?" interrupted Chouza.
"Only in non-vital areas, I usually step in and stop them if they aim for a vital. Haruno-san is really exceptional. Just the other day I took a kunai to the knee during a combat simulation and Haruno-san was able to heal the wound in minutes allowing me to rejoin the simulation that much faster."
"Like Uchiha-san's training with Danzo, Haruno-san's training at the hospital has been of huge benefit. It has allowed me to teach them some abilities as a group as opposed to having to train them each in individual skills in addition. Once Haruno-san and Uchiha-san go to their own training it allows me to work with Uzumaki-san one on one as he does not have a specialized training area."
"Has he developed any skills of value or note?" asked Koharu. It was clear on her face she didn't expect much.
"Most of our time has been spent working on his chakra control, Taijutsu combinations, and focusing exercises as recommended by SIPA. He has shown an uncanny ability for learning Shoheki Jutsu" reported Kakashi getting a nod from the Hokage letting him know to end his report there.
"Not bad," said Koharu clearly not pleased, "However, if that is the extent of what our Jinchuriki has learned then perhaps SIPA was not sufficient or you are not sufficient as a sensei."
"There is a reason I classified Uzumaki-san's SIPA report and why this is all that I'm allowing Kakashi to report," said Sarutobi irritably. He knew that he's basically told them that Naruto was capable of more but was not going to inform them.
"I see," said Koharu unhappily.
"Thank you for your report Kakashi," said the Hokage allowing the man to sit and resume reading his little orange book.
"Now, how much do we want the civilian council to know?" asked the Hokage to the room in general.
"They are going to want the Uchiha's file," said Shikaku thoughtfully, "We'll have to redact his entire psychological profile and eliminate any information that would point to him being a serial killer. It'll be troublesome either way."
"If we do that then we'll have to do it for all three of them," said Inoichi, "We'll also have to give them something for the Uzumaki boy. Something not classified, perhaps a false report?"
"A sound plan Inoichi-san, Shikaku-san," said the Hokage, "Atsui-san, can you prepare something?"
"I can but I'll tell you upfront I don't like having my hard work slandered like this," said Atsui letting his irritation show.
"I understand," said Sarutobi, "I don't care for it much myself but it is a necessary evil."
"How much value do we see in this process?" asked Shikaku.
"I would recommend making this is a requirement of all teams following their passing of their sensei's personal examination. I would also suggest this first evaluation be at the village's expense," was Danzo's immediate response.
"I am inclined to agree with Danzo, however, these evaluations are very costly, nearly 100,000 ryo per day per person," said Sarutobi earning several grumbles from the assembled councilmen.
"The civilian council's purse strings will be very difficult to pry open at that rate of expense," said Chouza, "however, what if we were to deduct a portion of the expense from the Genin's mission pay. It may take a few years of missions to pay it off but if these evaluations help them make Chuunin that much faster, then they are that much more valuable to the village long term."
"A sound proposal," said Hiashi "I would imagine many of our families would also be willing to foot a portion of the bill though I understand not all could afford such."
"Also sound," said the Hokage, "We could probably do a combination of both suggestions. I would also recommend we make the villages coverage a bit higher for orphans to alleviate some of their expenses as once they make Genin their village orphan stipend ends."
The clan heads considered it as that would make the cost to them that much harder to bear.
"I would approve of this plan," Shikaku finally spoke up, "once we get some form of approval through the civilian council, how would we go about having the current Genin evaluated?"
"Let's focus first on the approval," said Sarutobi, "then we can look at getting those Genin most likely to compete in the Chuunin exams evaluated within the next two months."
"How many Genin teams do we expect to compete?" asked Inoichi.
"Best estimate would be around 7 teams," said Homura, "I would expect less than half of those would make it beyond the first round."
"So do we limit it to those most likely to succeed?" asked Koharu.
"It will have to be considered carefully," said Sarutobi, "We'll know more once we know who intends to nominate their teams. I know my son Asuma intends to nominate his team and I also know he's already pestering me about getting his Genin into SIPA."
"So we'll have to meet with the Jounin sensei as soon as this measure passes to find out who intends to nominate their team. Anyone unsure of putting their team up will be last to put their Genin into SIPA if they even have enough time remaining before the start of the exams. We have to consider also there is only so much time to make use of the SIPA evaluations before the exams begin," said Homura.
"We'll have to meet the civilian council immediately then," said Shikaku with a groan of annoyance.
"I'll put it on the books for tomorrow morning," said the Hokage, "Atsui, please have the doctored reports ready by then. For now, dismissed."