19

The week after the invasion was as Naruto expected. Everyone became busy in clean up duty. The damage to Konoha was considerable, so all the genin teams were under their sensei's supervision and working alongside civilians to rebuild and restore certain areas that were hit harder than the most. One thing that Naruto noticed was that the rookies and their senseis mostly stayed together in a close radius- most probably the senseis' way of giving them all some sort of comfort.

Now that Naruto stood at the gates of Konoha, he reflected on the past week and all that happened as he about to embark on his first S-rank mission. Each day, something new and strange happened. Either way, boredom was avoided and excitement was maintained.

Flashback

Tuesday

All the genin teams along with their senseis were standing in the Hokage's office, waiting for their orders. Naruto found it strange that Kakashi had himself come to wake him up at six o' clock in the morning. He had told him to get ready and meet him at the entrance to the Hokage tower in fifteen minutes. He had disappeared after that.

Since it was morning, and Naruto had figured that everyone would be resting considering what had happened yesterday, it took a few seconds for him to register Kakashi's message, and he found several disturbances.

First, he had never, ever seen Kakashi this early in the morning. The man had a knack for being late to almost everything. He would always tell them to report at the training grounds around five or six in the morning, but he would keep them waiting for a grand total of three hours, every time.

Second, Kakashi never told them to hurry anything up. In fact, the longer they took to complete a mission, the better. Mostly because he wanted to read his porn, but it also might be because of the man's lazy attitude in general. Naruto had almost believed that the man was someone who was impersonating Kakashi, until Kurama pointed out that it was impossible for a shinobi to impersonate the chakra signature of another shinobi.

Naruto had reluctantly conceded to the point and had gotten dressed as usual. He proceeded to the destination via rooftops, noting grimly the amount of destruction the invading armies had caused, even though Konoha had won in the end.

As the tower came into view, he was surprised to note that all the rookie teams were standing there as well, along with their senseis. As he landed before them, all the attention was turned to him. Naruto had shifted self-consciously at how all of them were looking at him, as if he was someone else entirely. Deciding to save himself the awkwardness, he greeted them.

" Yo! What's up?"

That was all that came out of his mouth. He really didn't have much to say, honestly. The first one to react was Shikamaru. "What a drag. He is way too chirpy for the morning," he muttered, slumped as usual.

Naruto shrugged the comment aside and looked for any sign of his teammates. There was none. Approaching Asuma, he asked, "Asuma-sensei, have you seen Kakashi-sensei around? He came over to wake me up, which is kind of strange for him."

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette and blew it out, saying, "I did see Kakashi a while ago. Don't worry, Naruto. We are assembled due to the Hokage's orders. He has to show up; Hokage personally threatened him with his book collection if he did not."

Naruto whistled in appreciation. Not every day the copy ninja with his porn book collection. He went to stand beside Chouji, who was looking more cheerful than his friend. Leaning against the wall, he waited for his team. Chouji pushed the bag of potato chips towards Naruto. "Yo Naruto! Want some?"

Naruto smiled, "Don't mind if I do." His friend had an unusually big heart. To Naruto's irritation, it took Kakashi fifteen more minutes to arrive. And he wasn't the only one who was looking annoyed; the man had the nerve to walk towards them without a care in the world.

Kurenai flashed a look of annoyance to him, "Really, Kakashi? Keeping the Hokage waiting, again?"

Kakashi did not look ruffled in the slightest, "Relax, Kurenai. We still have a full two minutes to report to him."

Naruto looked over to his teammates. Sakura looked as if she had literally been dragged out of bed, while Sasuke looked a bit more composed. The small twitches of his eyebrow gave away his irritation, though. He looked at Naruto with an expression he couldn't fully describe, but a sense of foreboding filled his being. He did not like that.

The rookie teams then entered the Hokage tower together, scaling the stairs in awkward silence. They really just made it in time for the meeting.

Jiji was sitting in his chair, looking not one bit sleepy and cranky. In fact, he looked just like when he did on regular duty days. He was, as usual, working on some paperwork. All the genin filed into one line, with their senseis standing behind them, waiting for the aged leader to speak.

Hiruzen looked over to them from beneath his hat with serious eyes. He seemed to be evaluating them as his eyes passed from each genin to another. Everyone, except Sasuke, shifted uncomfortably at his stare. When his eyes landed on Naruto, Naruto just gave him a look of curiosity, silently asking the question, 'What's going on?'

" Team 7, team 8, team 9 and team 10," he addressed in his old but powerful voice, "I have called you here to address the issue at hand. As you have already see on the way to here, Konoha has suffered many damages in various parts of the village. Therefore, we need all the Shinobi available, here and out in the field, to protect and rebuild Konoha in its delicate position. Therefore, from today on, you won't be doing any missions at all. All of you will be joining the construction duty, resuming missions only when I see it fit. I have already told your senseis on what to do. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads, so the Hokage dismissed them. As they exited the towers to go to their workplaces, the genin began chattering among themselves, now that the oppressive aura of the Hokage had been lifted. It came no surprise to Naruto that Ino was the first one to start talking.

" Why is Hokage-sama giving us construction work? We don't know the first thing about it!" She put her arms up.

Naruto sighed and answered, if only to shut her up, "That's why we have D-rank missions, Ino. Also, we won't be working by ourselves. Our senseis will be giving us orders in a way that we can follow without getting confused. Lastly, the village needs to be rebuilt, as you can clearly see."

Ino frowned and was about to say something when Shikamaru spoke with a raised eyebrow, "Oi, Naruto. You were fighting Gaara in the forest yesterday, right?"

And just like that, all of the attention was shifted onto their talk. Ino asked in confusion, "Did you hit your head or something, Shikamaru? Naruto was fighting Gaara in the stadium, not in the forest."

Naruto spoke on behalf of Shikamaru, "You may not believe it because you were caught in the genjutsu, Ino, but Gaara was a part of the invasion force. For some reason, he was about to retreat with his siblings but Sasuke managed to catch up to him. I was fighting somewhere else."

He deliberately avoided mentioning that he was the one who fought and defeated Gaara because frankly, he did not want to be subjected to her endless questioning. Her reputation as the gossip queen of Konoha made him wary of her. Plus, by mentioning that Sasuke was the one who fought Gaara, she would likely turn her attention onto him.

As he predicted, Ino turned to a scowling Sasuke with stars in her eyes, "So you really did defeat Gaara, Sasuke-kun? I didn't have a single doubt!"

Naruto refrained from smirking as Ino began to pester the details out of Sasuke. Sakura jumped into the conversation as well, not liking how close Ino was being to 'her' Sasuke-kun. "Back off, Ino-pig! Stop laying onto Sasuke-kun! And besides, what do you mean that Sasuke-kun defeated Gaara?"

Now this question attracted everyone's attention. The jonin senseis were watching carefully, ready to intervene in case dangerous information were to be leaked out. They all knew who really defeated Gaara, as they were informed by the Hokage last night when he had called them to discuss what to do today. All the jonin had questions as to how the jinchuriki of the sand was stopped. Jinchuriki were, after all, beings that contained immense power, and there were very few who could claim the feat of defeating one that was fully in sync with his or her bijuu.

The Hokage had given them a full report of what had told him when he had summoned the boy into his office yesterday at a separate time than the jonin. After the report, heavy shock had settled upon all of the jonin. To think that Uzumaki Naruto defeated the one-tailed jinchuriki without resorting to his own tailed-beast's power was staggering. And not only that, but he had been instrumental in stopping the snake Sannin, who was here to kill the Hokage?

The quality of the information was staggering. Shocked mutters and even a few protests and denials had broken out, saying that it would be impossible to achieve two feats such as those on the same day. However, everyone had shut up when the Hokage's killing intent rose up. Hiruzen had thundered that they dare question the word of their kage. Safe to say, everyone had accepted the information with varying amounts of shock.

The boy had done feats that would be impossible for almost every jonin there was. The Hokage had then given them orders on what was to be done the next day and warned them that the information was to be strictly kept amongst themselves. Not even a whisper was to be let out, or they would be severely punished.

Back to the conversation, Sakura was frowning at Ino's statement. She knew her teammates, and while she still had a huge crush on Sasuke, she did not allow that to cloud her judgement. She had seen Gaara fight, and she had seen Naruto fight. She had also seen a bit of how Sasuke fought Gaara before she was knocked unconscious by the giant claw of sand. His speed seemed to have increased very much, and he had a deadly new jutsu; his hand seemed to cackle in lightning. But she could say very confidently that Sasuke could not defeat Gaara or Naruto. When she had woken up, Sasuke had told her that he had managed to escape with her only when Naruto had arrived. So the logical conclusion should be that Naruto defeated Gaara.

Ino glared at Sakura, "I mean exactly what I said, forehead. Do mean to imply the Sasuke-kun did not defeat Gaara?"

Just as Sakura was about to reply in affirmative, Kakashi butted in, much to Naruto's relief. "Alright, we're here. I'm assigning you your places now so that we don't waste time when the workers get here. We'll start by ourselves until then so Sakura? You will help over….."

And like that, the conversation was avoided for the day. All the teams had dispersed to different places in the the square and as the day progressed, the entire discussion had been forgotten.

Wednesday

The day before was spent quite fruitfully with all the work they had done. Today, they were to continue where they had left off. As Naruto lifted another of the wooden planks, he was approached by Sasuke, who had his hands in his pockets, trying to look as cool as he could while being covered in in dirt and grime.

" What's up, Sasuke?"

Sasuke frowned at him and simply said, "We need to talk."

Naruto looked confused for a moment, but when Sasuke raised an eyebrow, he immediately understood. Sasuke wanted to talk to him about why he let Gaara go.

Nodding, he placed the plank in its place and turned to him. "You want to have that talk now?"

Sasuke nodded. He had been thinking on that question for a while now. He knew that Naruto loved his village, but for him to show such sympathy to his enemy was rare, to the point that Sasuke had never seen before.

Naruto turned and walked to where Kakashi was doing his own work. Seeing his student approach him, Kakashi paused, raising an eyebrow in silent question. Naruto said, "Me and Sasuke are taking a break. There's something we need to talk about."

Kakashi shook his head, "You can't just leave in the middle of work like this Naruto. The village needs to be rebuilt as soon as possible, so it's for the best if you and Sasuke save your talk aside for later."

Naruto just gave him a deadpan and created two shadow clones. Pointing towards them, he said, "These two will substitute for us. I hope that's not a problem now. Please excuse us."

He didn't give Kakashi any time to reply, nor did he give Sasuke any time to brace himself. he just grabbed Sasuke and flashed away, leaving Kakashi blinking stupidly at their abrupt departure. The two clones took Naruto and Sasuke's place and resumed the physical labor. Kakashi just had one thought.

' It must be pretty serious if they had to go like that.'

Naruto and Sasuke appeared right on top of the Yondaime's head. Sasuke almost staggered and fell right over the spike if Naruto hadn't caught him in time. He turned around to tear into the blonde but surprisingly, no one was there. He turned further to see that see was standing on the edge of the spike, looking over the bustling village.

" It's kind of beautiful, isn't it?"

Naruto's tone was soft, and Sasuke could not help but detect that there was a hint of longingness. Before he could think about it further, Naruto continued. "The village is like a whole family, taking care of each other. The hokage is like the head of the family, ensuring that there are no disputes. It must be nice…..being a part of that family."

Sasuke only looked at his teammate in confusion. Naruto's tone indicated that he was detached from the village, something that Sasuke never sensed from the blonde. Sure, he acted quite aloof and indifferent if only to piss people off, but from the day they had introduced themselves to Kakashi, Sasuke had only seen a strong determination in his eyes. Determination to make his dreams come true. Naruto had made it his ultimate mission to become the Hokage of Konoha, but there was something that Sasuke was missing over here. 'He said something else besides wanting to become Hokage… to make others acknowledge him?'

That was something that triggered another memory for Sasuke. The word 'acknowledge' made him remember his fight with Gaara. Gaara had repeatedly proclaimed that by killing others, he would prove his existence. Wasn't proving your existence the same thing as making others acknowledge you?

Sasuke was getting pieces of something, but still lacked the material to make out what that 'something' was. "Where are you going with this?"

Naruto turned to him with a smile, "You still don't see it?"

Sasuke frowned, trying to see where Naruto was leading him but came up with nothing. Naruto chuckled, "This is part of the answer to your question, Sasuke. Gaara and I… you could say we are almost like brothers."

Sasuke's head whipped up at that. He then suddenly remembered his thoughts during Naruto's fight with Gaara. Gaara's chakra was crushingly malicious, and Sasuke remembered remembering that he had felt a similar chakra of Naruto during their fight with Haku. "Is it your chakra?"

Naruto's eyes showed confusion, "My chakra?"

Sasuke elaborated, "When I was fighting Gaara, his chakra was full of malice, killing….I had sensed a similar chakra from you back in wave. Is that why you say you are like brothers?"

Naruto chewed on his lips as he thought of an answer, "That is part of why I said that. The reason why I let them go….is because Gaara reminded me of myself."

Sasuke's eyes went wide at that. He had a hard time imagining the usually cheerful but aloof blonde acting like Gaara. There was no way Naruto could be anything like Gaara!

Unknowing of Sasuke's thoughts, Naruto continued, "He and I share a great burden, and because of that burden, we both have lived our lives as if we were separate from our villages, not a part of them. I've felt the same loneliness and sadness in my life. Gaara thought that you can only become truly strong if you fight for yourself, but that's not true."

Sasuke had a hard time on what to think. Naruto spared Gaara because he was able to identify the burden he had. But what burden could he be talking about?

" What burden are you talking about? And how can you not become strong if you are fighting for yourself?"

Naruto debated on whether to tell Sasuke or not, but decided to tell him in the end. He might not trust the guy completely, but it was better to tell him now instead of him accidentally discovering it in the future.

' Are you sure it is wise to tell him, Naruto?'

Naruto mentally nodded, 'I'm sure.'

Verbally, he said, "I'll answer your question in reverse, Sasuke. The only way you can truly become strong is if you wish to protect someone you treasure."

Sasuke frowned and asked, "And what about the first question?"

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. He never thought that the first person he would be telling about Kurama would be Sasuke. "What I'm about to tell you is still an S-rank secret, with only the Hokage allowed to speak about it, never mind that almost every adult knows it anyway. Don't tell this to anyone. This is my secret, understand?"

Naruto pinned him with his cold, arctic stare. Sasuke was a bit surprised at how serious the blonde was being, but understood. S-rank secrets were no joke at all.

" As you may recall, thirteen years, the Yondaime supposedly killed," here he made air quotes as to mock the point, "the Kyuubi at the cost of his life."

" What about it?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

Naruto folded his arms, "Bijuu are masses of chakra. And chakra is essentially, energy. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but only transformed from one form to another."

Sasuke's sharp mind linked the facts together. "Which means that…..bijuu can't be killed?"

Naruto nodded.

" So if the Kyuubi wasn't killed, where is it?"

Naruto pursed his lips and replied, "Inside me, sealed away."

Sasuke's eyes widened at the revelation. No wonder Naruto was so strong, he thought with bitter jealousy coursing through him again. Why was he chosen to be entrusted such power and not him?!

" It would be foolish of me to assume that you're Kyuubi, since a sealing scroll doesn't become a kunai when a kunai is sealed inside it," Sasuke said slowly, after getting his thoughts in order, and reigning in his jealousy.

Naruto nodded with a smile, happy that Sasuke hadn't immediately jumped to a conclusion.

" Then is it the Kyuubi that makes you so strong?"

Naruto frowned, not liking the insult at all, however unintentional that was. "As a matter of fact, no. I worked hard to reach where I am now, Sasuke. Also, you remember the feel of Gaara's chakra when you fought him, right? Then you should have no problem in imagining the reactions of villagers if Gaara would have been in the village."

Sasuke slowly nodded, thinking it over. Naruto had access to such power, but aside from Wave, he never once used it. He then remembered the reactions of villagers when they looked at Naruto when he was small. The task of carrying such burden had made him hated by the villagers.

" Is that….why you said that Gaara was like you?"

" The Yondaime was arguably the greatest seal master of his time, so there was no doubt that the seal he created to hold the Kyuubi would be strong. Gaara on the other hand, his seal was shoddy work, and wasn't able to completely take away the influence of his bijuu. Admirably though, he was able to hold onto himself, but not without some damage. After I beat him…..I told him that there wasn't any reason to not have friends. I had some people that were close to me, but not Gaara. By letting him go, I gave him another chance at making a better life for himself. I do hope he is better off now though….."

As Naruto gazed off into the distance, Sasuke found that there was much more to Naruto than what met the eye. He had a lot to think about when he got home, namely if he was choosing the right way in becoming strong to kill Itachi.

" Oh, and I would like my kunai back, if you please. I found out yesterday that I had one kunai missing. I still have to give the next order for them."

His voice snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts, and he had the decency to look a bit sheepish at the slightly amused look Naruto was sending. "It's really not that hard to guess why you want it, you know?"

Sasuke mumbled with a bit of red in his cheeks, "I was just a bit curious. Is it because of those kunai that you are so fast?"

Naruto smirked, "That's not to say that I neglected my raw speed. But you really should give it back. You can, in no way, decipher its secrets."

Sasuke recovered and gave a challenging look, "Really?"

Naruto just deadpanned, "Yes, really. You really think you can decipher its function by studying just looking at five kanji? You need to be a seal master to even begin to understand the formula. Even I had to put three months' worth of fuinjutsu into creating the formula on the kunai."

Sasuke mentally raged, but that just lasted for a second. He sighed and said, "I'll get it back to you by tomorrow."

Naruto smiled and stepped closer, "Excellent! Now that we have finished our talk, let's get back! Kakashi must be fuming in jealousy at how long we are taking a break."

Sasuke noticed Naruto's hand going for his shoulder. He only had a moment to prepare when they were suddenly standing back at their working place, facing a surprised Kakashi. He snapped his book shut and asked, "So, you done wasting time?"

Naruto just shook his head and said, "I made sure we had replacements. And don't you take the high road! You were reading that book all the while we were gone!"

So that day was interesting as well. Sasuke returned his kunai the first thing in the next morning. The next day was probably the best day of the week.

On the same evening, Council Chamber

Hiruzen eyed the shinobi council with a sharp and critical eye, as if assessing them. The shinobi council consisted of all the shinobi clan heads in Konoha, both major and minor. Some notable heads were Inuzuka Tsume, Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Chouza, Yamanaka Inoichi, Hyuga Hiashi and Aburame Shibi. There were some empty seats as well such as the Hatake, the Uzumaki and the Namikaze. It was understandable why the Hatake seat was empty, as Kakashi chose to remain a physically active shinobi rather than becoming a politician. The reason why the Uzumaki and the Namikaze seats were empty was too sad and depressing to delve in.

But enough of that. He hadn't called this meeting to reminisce about the past. No, this meeting was called so he could discuss a report of who should be promoted. Now, this may seem a bit of an inappropriate time for such a matter, but he felt that he should address this matter as soon as possible. It was time for him to choose a successor for him, but the problem was that the successor was absent from the village and as such, won't be able to make a logical decision as to who should be promoted. He fingered the notepad before him absently. It contained what he wrote down about everyone he saw fight, and in the event that he was killed, it was his last and final decision as Hokage. He had written down his choices of promotion on the notepad, along with the reasons.

He eyed the elders standing on the side. Homura, Koharu and Danzo were his old comrades, but after years of playing politics, they had become too jaded, too much stuck to the old ways. Homura and Koharu he could handle, but it was Danzo he was concerned very much about. His old friend might seem like an old man, along with the other two, but Hiruzen was no fool. Even if he had no proof, he knew without a doubt that Danzo had been involved in multiple activities that he had no knowledge of. And there was no doubt that his old friends would protest against what he was about to do, but he would do it no matter what.

Chouza was the first to open the meeting. "Hokage-sama, may I enquire as to why this meeting has been called?"

Hiruzen nodded and said, "This meeting has been called by me to discuss possible promotions for chunin."

That indeed grabbed the attention of the whole council. Even Shikaku sat up a bit straighter, and the elders looked at Hiruzen in interest.

Shibi's face could not be seen because of his high collar, but he spoke just like his son. "Excuse me for speaking this Hokage-sama, but shouldn't we be concentrating more on our rebuilding efforts rather than promotions?"

Hiruzen nodded at him, "I concede your point, Shibi-san. But there is another matter I need to address. One that is in conjunction with the promotions. You see, I am now long past my prime, so I have to choose another successor, again. But the problem is that the choice I have in mind is not present in the village for the moment. I fear that when they are chosen, they may not be able to make the logical choice for the promotions, as I am the one who took note of the fights."

That seemed to satisfy Shibi, as he nodded and leant back a little in his chair. Koharu spoke next, her voice laced with curiosity. "Who do you have in mind, Hiruzen?"

Hiruzen flipped open his notepad, "My first choice for promotion is Nara Shikamaru."

This caused mutters to rise amongst the council. Shikaku was now fully awake upon hearing that the Hokage was considering promoting his son to chunin. His teammates gave him pats on the back with a smile, as a sign of congratulations, but Shikaku waved a hand for them to stop. He had a feeling that the Hokage had more to say.

Hiruzen folded his hands under his chin, "First of all, I have to say that your son demonstrated excellent strategy against his opponent, Shikaku. He was very methodical and tactical in his approach, and he was able to keep a cool head in front of a seemingly superior opponent. Also, reports of the missions he has done with his team prior to the exams state his capability in leading a team."

Shikaku narrowed his eyes. "I sense a 'but' coming, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded, "But even with intellect of such caliber, he lacks some of the necessary qualities to become a chunin. The foremost that I would like to address is that he seems to lack motivation. The fact that he only fought because Naruto sent him into the arena shows his unwillingness to fight. If he lacks the will to be a chunin, then I feel he shouldn't receive the rank until he is ready."

Homura added his own point, "While what you are saying is true, Hokage-sama, sometimes unwilling, but potential candidates such as Shikamaru just need a push. Perhaps the responsibility that comes from being a chunin might improve his work ethics."

Hiruzen thought about it a bit and said, "That is true. I also point out that he needs to pull his physical skills up to par in case he finds himself against an opponent he cannot outthink. Only having intellect without having the necessary means to use it is meaningless. However, I put my faith in him that he will strive to improve in order to match the responsibilities that come with the position. Now, I would like to hear the council's opinion. Those who feel that Nara Shikamaru should be promoted, raise their hands."

Almost all of the clan heads raised their hands. Both the elders also raised their hands, but Hiruzen was not surprised to see Danzo not in favor of the Nara's promotion.

Hiruzen nodded and noted it down. "Then it is decided that Nara Shikamaru would be promoted to chunin. Moving onto the next choice…..Uzumaki Naruto."

He carefully gauged the faces of everyone in the room. The shinobi clan heads' eyes had widened in surprise, but he was pleased to note that there wasn't any hate or negative feeling he was used to see whenever Naruto's name was mentioned. The elders on the other hand, were simply gaping at him, with the exception of Danzo, who had not reacted at all. Before they could speak, Hiruzen continued.

" My next choice for promotion is Uzumaki Naruto, but that is not all. I have, after careful thought, considered this. I am nominating Uzumaki Naruto for the position of Jonin."

Hiruzen was not surprised at all when gasps of shock and disbelief sounded in the room. In fact, he was willing to bet that if the civilian council had remained, they would have been shouting already. He raised his hand to stop the mutters, lowering it only when the silence had returned. Koharu was the first to speak.

" Hokage-sama, you surely can't be serious?" It was as if she didn't want to believe that the demon container was even being considered for such a position.

Hiruzen glared at her, "I am not in the mood for jokes, Koharu." Turning to the council, he spoke, "Before you all start to speak, let me enlighten you as to what happened on the day of the invasion.

He first started by telling them how he fought Neji. He highlighted Naruto's use of taijutsu against the prodigy of the Hyuga, but he pointed it out that Naruto had successfully kept Neji on his toes, even landing damaging hits. Hiashi didn't react for he had already seen this, but the miniscule twitch under his left eye betrayed his irritation of being reminded of the Hyuga clan's defeat against the Namikaze heir.

He carefully, orally replayed the fight, saying that Naruto capitalized on Neji's weakness of not being able to see his chakra network, of lack of it. His in-battle intellect was made profoundly clear when Naruto managed to penetrate the supposedly ultimate defense of the Hyuga. Hiruzen also pointed out Naruto's clever use of misdirection as he deceived Neji into attacking a clone, then getting attacked and ultimately, incapacitated.

He then spoke on Naruto's fight with Gaara. By the day of the finals, everyone knew of Gaara's control over his sand. Hiruzen spoke about how Naruto manipulated Gaara into a position that favored him. His choice of engaging in long distance combat was sound, managing to eliminate Gaara's strengths, and he had nearly defeated Gaara, if the invasion had not taken place.

Shikaku used a question with a raised eyebrow, "I understand that it is quite a feat for Naruto to defeat a jinchuriki without resorting to his own bijuu chakra, Hokage-sama. It certainly does speak of Naruto's natural power and talent on the field. He certainly is more powerful than any chunin that we have, even most of the jonin, but I still don't see how he can qualify for jonin."

Hiruzen smirked and then proceeded to tell them what exactly had happened during Naruto's fight with Gaara and Orochimaru. After a very lengthy account of Naruto's victories, Hiruzen just sat back with a barely noticeable smirk and watched the conversation unfold.

Inoichi was the first one to break the silence, "To think that he beat Neji, and nearly beat Gaara two times before finally defeating him, that too with Gaara at full strength and with the help of a boss summon of foxes of all beings that is the size of Gamabunta, then he helped out Hokage-sama by successfully turning the tables against Orochimaru?"

There was a long silence before Chouza broke it, "I don't know anyone who can accomplish even half of those things."

Danzo, unsurprisingly, asked a question that put Naruto in a suspicious light, "Where did he get the summoning contract for foxes? He should have informed us of such a development!"

Hiruzen didn't even need to intervene as Homura spoke next, as if in a frenzy, "Perhaps the Kyuubi was responsible for this. However, it raises a glaring concern as to how did he become so powerful to achieve such feats? Could that be the work of the Kyuubi as well?"

Shibi was the one who countered the argument, "I don't see why you are so worried, elder Homura. I distinctly remember a meeting long ago in which you had agreed to the suggestion of Danzo-san training Uzumaki-san. Being a formidable shinobi of his time, Uzumaki-san would have become powerful either way. Is there something that we aren't aware of?"

Though his tone was as polite as ever, everyone managed to grasp the meaning behind it. Shikaku, being the most intelligent of all of them, already knew why Homura was panicking as such. They were only acting like this because the greatest weapon of the village was not under their control.

Koharu asked the next question, "Hokage-sama, how were you made aware of all this information?"

Hiruzen just answered, already knowing what she was going to say in reply, "Uzumaki Naruto himself told me."

In unison, both the elders frowned heavily. "Then it is possible that he could have lied about this, hokage-sama-"

That was as far as she got before Hiruzen's icy glare stopped her cold. "Remember who you are talking to, Koharu. In spite of your bias against Naruto, don't forget that you haven't spoken a word to him all these years, let alone get to know him. You have no right to judge him like that.

I have looked after that boy for all his years until now, and I know what kind of person he is. He never had any reason to lie to me at all."

Homura asked hurriedly, "Then you are aware how he became as strong as he is now?"

Hiruzen glared at Homura, "Yes, I was aware and that is all you need to know about it. But we are straying from the point. Shikaku, I would like to hear what you have to say about this."

Shikaku clasped his hands together and said, "Well, Hokage-sama, from what you have said, I can conclude this: Naruto is an extremely powerful shinobi for his age. His chakra capacity even surpasses yours, his skills in the shinobi arts are formidable as well. His taijutsu is strong enough to best a Hyuga prodigy in combat, his ninjutsu repertoire covers over four elemental transformations with high level techniques, which is more than anything what our best jonin can say. And from what you have said Hokage-sama, his fuinjutsu is easily very advanced, if he was able to master the Hiraishin no jutsu and think up of a counter to the Edo Tensei no jutsu by the use of a contract seal. It shows how high his battle intellect is if he was able to come up with a way to beat Orochimaru. Improvisation during battle is one of the most crucial things that a jonin should have. And, he has a summons that can possibly rival Jiraiya-sama's."

He sat in silence for a while, obviously thinking over the facts. After a few minutes, he turned over to Inoichi, "Inoichi, how well do you think he can handle pressure?"

His friend folded his arms, "From what I have heard, very impressively. Not only he defeated Gaara without panicking or losing his head, but he was able to come up with a strategy to end the Edo Tensei in the middle of fighting Orochimaru. Plus, your question really is quite irrelevant, Shikaku. Naruto has been under tremendous stress from the villagers for years, but he hasn't broken even once. In fact, he was able to shape himself into such a shinobi under such stress is proof of his mental strength."

Shikaku closed his eyes and sighed. But before he could further think upon this, Koharu exclaimed hysterically, "B-But the jinchuriki is still too young!"

She then immediately shut up when a dose of potent killing intent hit her. "He has a name, Koharu. And you would do well to remember it. Or have you forgotten just whose progeny he is?"

Koharu shrank under her teammate's gaze until she reluctantly conceded, "H-Hai, Hokage-sama."

Homura took up where she left off, "Hokage-sama, Naruto is still too young, and we don't know if he can be fully trusted or not!"

Hiashi bluntly crushed his argument, "Uchiha Itachi was an ANBU captain at his age. Hatake Kakashi also became a jonin at Naruto's age, becoming a chunin at six years old. The Yondaime was a year older than Naruto when he became a jonin. Your argument has no strength, elder." Turning to the hokage, he said, "I am in favor of your motion, Hokage-sama. I have faith that Naruto will be able to deliver quite well as a jonin."

That started off a chain of reactions that resulted in every clan head agreeing. The elders were mollified and they vehemently protested against this, but in the end, they were just that. Advisors to the Hokage. Danzo did not show outward reaction but in the inside, he was calculating. 'The jinchuriki of a village should be powerful. Even though ours is, I am doubtful of his loyalties. With such power, he would be difficult to control.'

Hiruzen looked over to Shikaku, "What about you Shikaku? What is your decision in your capacity as the Jonin commander?"

Shikaku placed his hands on the table. "Well…"

Thursday

The day had begun quite interestingly. For one, Naruto had a very good night's sleep. He had dreams of Temari and him bathing in the hot springs, and this time, they really did kiss. The kiss turned out to be so hot that when Naruto had woken up, his sheets were wet.

" Oh man, this feels so messy and weird," he groaned as he got up from the bed. Kurama was full out laughing in his mind.

' HAHAHAHA! You had a wet dream about the sand vixen! Oh, I wonder what you saw?'

Naruto groaned. 'Kurama, I don't understand how you can be a pervert. That is Jiraiya's job. And why do you keep calling her vixen?'

' Who are you kidding? You have strong feelings for her. Feelings you know you won't have for any other female.'

Naruto sighed, 'Am I to assume that vixen is your way of calling her my lifelong partner, which won't be happening like, ever?'

' That is exactly what I'm saying. And I don't know about ever.'

Naruto sighed, and when he was about to take his sheet off to clean, his eyes went wide. "What the hell?! Almost the entire sheet is wet!"

Safe to say, it was an eventful morning.

After he got dressed and met up with his team, he found out that he was cleaning out a whole building today. As usual, he went to work without any complaints. However, he only did it himself for two hours before he said, "Fuck it" and produced over eighty shadow clones. He turned to his team and said it with a straight face, "You're way too slow."

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke, along with the other shinobi and civilian workers in the area, only watched dumbfounded as the horde of blonde shinobi went to work. Naruto looked proudly at his clones for a moment before turning to his team with a quizzed look, "What are you looking at?"

Sakura came up to him with disbelief and a bit of rage, "You couldn't have done that earlier?!"

Naruto pretended to think about it for a moment and then said, "No, I needed to do my two hours of physical training before that. Plus, you really shouldn't rely on my shadow clones, Sakura. You could do with a bit of physical conditioning."

Sakura could only gape as Naruto joined his clones in the building. Kakashi blinked before turning to Sasuke, "He's a bit different today, isn't he? Kind of on the chirpy side."

Sasuke just gave the customary Uchiha grunt and returned to working. Yesterday's talk really made him think about what he was doing. Naruto said that true strength comes only when you have something precious to protect. Gaara had claimed during his fight that pain of loneliness ad hatred led to more power. And it was hard to prove him wrong, for Sasuke shared the pain with him. But the day before, Naruto had told him that protecting people or anyone you held close gave you a kind of strength like no other.

He never had doubted that Naruto was incredibly strong, but fighting a tailed beast not only at full power but also beating it into the ground? That was totally crazy. When Gaara lay defeated, so did his philosophy. Sasuke had clearly seen the defeat in the redhead's eyes.

In the end, both Naruto and Gaara were insanely powerful. The difference was, Naruto was happy with his life, while Gaara's was filled with nothing but hatred and insanity.

Up until now, Sasuke had been following Itachi's path. He had shunned away everyone. He resented any kind of bond that formed, but now that he thought about it, was he really growing stronger, or had he been stunting his growth?

The answers had deluded Sasuke all night, resulting in a restless sleep. There was so much weighing on his mind, that he was at a loss as to if the answer he would arrive at be really right or wrong?

Naruto- well, more like his clones- had cleared almost half the rubble by noon, after which they decided to take a rest. "Whoo, man! That was some good workout!" One of them said while grinning.

Another one said on the floor, lying in spread eagle position. He groaned, "You're unbearable."

Another watched the interaction with a slightly amused look, "You realize that you are essentially talking to yourself, right?"

Before the conversation could continue, they all vanished in puffs of smoke. Naruto dropped the half ram with a sigh, "I'm starting to think I am mentally unstable. I'm calling myself unbearable."

" NARUTO!"

Naruto turned to see Kakashi waving at him. "We have to go to the Hokage's office!"

Naruto frowned, "Why? The clean up isn't done yet, so why would he be calling the teams over now?"

Kakashi shook his head and gave an eye smile, "No, not the teams. Just you and me."

Naruto slapped his hands to get rid of the dust. He shrugged, "Let's go, then."

He grabbed a hold of Kakashi and flashed right outside the Hokage's office. The secretary jumped and shrieked in surprise, while Naruto and Kakashi gave her bored glances. Kakashi had revived his habit of getting used to random flashes of light. He said in a bored tone, "The hokage called for us."

The receptionist nodded shakily and went in to alert the leader. The sound of footsteps saw them turning around to face Asuma and Shikamaru coming towards them. As usual, the shadow user was slouched, muttering something under his breath.

Naruto smirked and leaned against the receptionist table. "What's the matter Shika? You seem quite grouchy today."

Shikamaru glared at him like the devil, "Don't play dumb, jackass. You know exactly what this is for."

Naruto walked over to him and slung his arm around his shoulder, "What's up with you? How can you not be happy with a promotion? I'm surprised you are getting promoted in the first place, considering that you forfeited your match!"

While the genin were chatting, Asuma walked up to Kakashi, who had pulled his book out. "Yo, Kakashi. So Naruto is getting promoted as well?"

" Looks like it, Asuma," came the bored reply.

Asuma frowned at him and said, "You know, you should be proud that your genin is getting promoted on the first try, Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed and closed his book, "I would be, Asuma, but I can only be proud when I have trained him in the first place."

Asuma's frown changed to confusion and was about to say something when the secretary came back out. "Kakashi-san, Asuma-san?"

When both the jonin nodded, she said, "Hokage-sama will see you now."

Hiruzen stared impassively as the summoned shinobi walked into his office. Kakashi and Asuma went to stand aside while Naruto and Shikamaru stood right in front of the Hokage's desk.

Naruto smirked as he gazed at his jiji. The man looked positively tired, not of the invasion, but of the pile of paperwork that was high enough that it was about to topple off his desk.

Hiruzen looked at both of the genin, doing a mental assessment of them as was his habit before beginning any meeting. If both of them were excited, they were doing a very good job of hiding their anticipation. Shikamaru was, as usual, looking the epitome of the Nara clan. Shoulders slumped, hands in the pockets and an expression that said, 'Please don't bother me or I might just die.'

Naruto on the other hand, he looked a bit different than what he usually looked. Naruto always maintained a cool and aloof expression, an indifferent and bored air around him that was reflected in his way of speaking. However, today he looked slightly upbeat than usual. His posture was a bit straighter and he looked ready for any sort of action that might come his way. Also, he did not like the way he was smirking at his losing battle with paperwork.

" Nara Shikamaru!" he barked in a sharp voice, and was pleased to see him stand a bit straighter. He cracked a small smile and said, "Congratulations- your exemplary performance in the chunin exams, as well as the commendable actions on your part with your other genin colleagues and senseis during the invasion, have earned you the promotion to chunin. Here is your standard chunin vest, wear it with pride."

He got up from his chair and took the vest from beneath his desk, walking around the table. He handed the light green vest to Shikamaru, who looked at it speculatively and muttered, "Troublesome." But Hiruzen could see the small smile on his face and the smallest amount of smugness in his eyes. The boy was proud to be a chunin.

" I have faith that you will be able to handle your responsibilities efficiently, and strive to become better for the sake of your subordinates."

Shikamaru finished zipping up the front and bowed a little, "Hai, Hokage-sama."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the aged Hokage. 'What is he playing at?'

Kakashi and Asuma were perplexed a bit as well. It was the procedure that when more than one chunin qualifies from their village, they are promoted at the same time, not individually. If both Naruto and Shikamaru were going to be promoted, they would have been promoted at the same time. As such, only Shikamaru got promoted to chunin. If Naruto wasn't getting the promotion, then why was he here?

Their question was answered a moment later.

" Uzumaki Naruto," Hiruzen intoned, causing Naruto to raise his head a bit, "For your outstanding performance in the chunin exams, having a major hand in failing the invasion by defeating the Sand's jinchuriki and foiling Orochimaru's plans by countering his technique and thus, saving your village, I hereby grant you the promotion to Jonin."

There was a pin drop silence in the office. Asuma's jaw had dropped open, and his cigarette had fallen on the ground. Shikamaru was also looking at the Hokage in shock. Kakashi's single visible eye had widened so much it looked as if it were about to fall out. Granted, Naruto played a major role in stopping not only the sand's invasion, but Orochimaru as well. Hell, Kakashi would be hard pressed to beat just the sand jinchuriki, and Orochimaru was totally out of his league, even with his sharingan. He was certain that there was no way Naruto won't be promoted to chunin, but skipping it and directly becoming a jonin? That was a lot of responsibilities for someone of his age.

" Hokage-sama, are you sure that Naruto is ready for the burden that comes with the position?"

Asuma's voice snapped Kakashi out of his thoughts. He looked over to Naruto, who had raised in eyebrows in surprise. Poor kid must have been caught totally unawares, he mused. But as he thought about it, Naruto was more than qualified for the position. All the time he spent with Naruto as a team, Naruto had shown all the qualities of a formidable ninja, both in mind and body. Not to mention, he was a leader in the making. 'He is better than I was at his age,' he thought. During his time with Minato-sensei, he had thought that he was more than ready to be a jonin and a leader. Oh, how wrong he had been.

He had been a total douchebag in those days.

Hiruzen gave a nod and turned to Naruto, "Naruto, do you think you are ready?"

Naruto snapped out of his shock and looked down in thought, carefully thinking over his answer. "I always believed that I would become a Jonin one day, Hokage-sama. I never expected the day to arrive this early, though. However, if there's one thing that I have learned about life, is that it has a knack of catching you off guard. All you can do is be prepared at all times. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Hiruzen gave a nod in agreement. "So what is your answer?"

Naruto took a deep breath and relaxed. "I'll do my best, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen smiled proudly when he saw the rock-hard determination in Naruto's eyes. There was no doubt that Naruto would let him down. "I'll hold you to your word, Jonin Uzumaki Naruto."

He went around his table and took out a storage scroll from his drawer. He put it on the table and opened it, pushing some chakra into it. In a puff of smoke, the unsealed object was revealed to the room. A vest with much darker shade of green, like Asuma and Kakashi. Hiruzen picked it up and walked back around the table, handing it to Naruto with both hands. "Congratulations."

As Naruto took the vest, he was surprised to note that it was exactly his size, if not a bit bigger. He turned questioning eyes to Hiruzen, who just winked and whispered as if it was a secret. "They always fit," was the cryptic comment.

Naruto snorted softly and took off his half sleeves jacket, revealing the full sleeves, high collar black t-shirt. As he sealed it into a scroll and put it in his hip pouch, Shikamaru muttered from beside him, "How in the hell are you not sweating in all that black?"

Naruto shrugged, in a way that looked oddly graceful. "There's so much you can do when you are a master of seals, Shika. My clothes have temperature seals scribed inside of them, to keep my body cool and at optimum temperature at all times. Pretty 'cool', won't you say?"

Shikamaru groaned while the Hokage chuckled, "That was terrible."

Asuma murmured to Kakashi, "I'd kill for something like that."

Kakashi replied back, "Me too."

Naruto finished zipping up the vest, and Hiruzen, Kakashi and Asuma barely kept their jaws from falling. If not for his height and hairstyle, no one would have been able to tell the difference between him and the Yondaime. Even the clothes looked identical.

Naruto seemed to read their minds as he spoke up, pointing towards the photo frame of his father, "Let me guess, I look exactly like him, don't I?"

" Y-Yes," Hiruzen stuttered as Naruto walked up to the frame. The occupants of the room watched curiously, wanting to see what Naruto would do.

Naruto gazed into the stone cold eyes of his father. The same eyes that sent enemies running in the opposite direction, and the same ones that he was sure that were full of love when he was brought into this world. "I'll make you proud," he whispered so softly that even a dog present in the room would have been hard pressed to hear it.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he turned back grinning. "So, now that I'm a jonin, I have a question for you, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled, "You know, you don't really have to call me sensei anymore, we're equals now, as you said."

Asuma grinned and gave him a thumbs up, "Same here, Naruto!"

Naruto bit the inside of his mouth, "Alright, Kakashi it is. What burden of the jonin position was Asuma talking about?"

Kakashi raised a stunned eyebrow in response, "Well uh….you see…..Asuma can tell you!"

Asuma sputtered, being suddenly shoved into spotlight, "What! I mean…..uh, well the burden is quite large….."

Naruto smirked and folded his hands, while Shikamaru looked on curiously. Hiruzen just put his hands behind his back and enjoyed the show. He knew that Kakashi just lazed around all day and read Icha Icha, while Asuma just played shogi with Shikamaru majority of the time while the rest of his team trained. The time that was left was spent with Kurenai.

Naruto waved a hand, "Never mind, I'll see it for myself." Putting a hand around Shikamaru's shoulders, he guided the shadow user to the door. "Come on, Shikamaru. We've got to rub this in everyone's faces! The two dead lasts were the first to become chunin and Jonin!"

Shikamaru tried to get Naruto's arm off his shoulder, "Let go of me, you blonde, troublesome bastard! This is all your fault!"

" Really?! How come you're not happy at your promotion!"

" Promotion means there is only more work that I would have to do!"

As the two bickered and walked away, Asuma took a deep breath of his stick and exhaled, "Wow, that was a close one."

Kakashi shook his head, "He really gets you with his comments sometimes."

" Actually, he may just have hit the nail on the head," Hiruzen piped in. "You two really don't look like you have a 'burden'."

Both of them turned at him, annoyed. "You really can't say anything, Hokage-sama. Your burden increases each second," Kakashi said, pointing to the growing paperwork.

Hiruzen grinded his teeth in frustration, "Where in the seven levels of hell is this COMING FROM?!"

Construction site

It was break time, and the rookies were all sitting together, eating their lunches. Ino and chatting with each other, for once not obsessing over Sasuke. Hinata was shyly eating her lunch as well, making small conversation with Tenten beside her. Lee wasn't sitting with the rookies, opting to sit with Gai-sensei. Kiba was animatedly chatting with Chouji, with Shino quietly sitting beside them and speaking in between sometimes. Sasuke sat a bit further from the group, eating slowly while in deep thought, but not completely unaware of the group's conversation.

" -and then he unleashed a huge tornado of water out of thin air! Can you believe that?!"

Chouji vigorously nodded as he finished off the last item of his lunch. "I never knew Naruto had such a high affinity for water."

" We don't know many things about Naruto. Why? Because Naruto hid his true strength from us all this time. However, from his performance in the chunin exams, it is likely that Naruto is jonin level at least," Shino pitched in.

Kiba scratched his chin, "For once, I agree with you. Speaking of Naruto, he has been gone for a while. Where is he?"

Chouji spoke up in agreement, "Now that I think about it, even Shikamaru has been gone for a while."

Their conversation attracted others' attention. Hinata, Tenten and Sakura looked at them curiously, while Ino was more vocal in her curiosity. "Yeah, where is that deadweight? He must be slacking off, leaving all the work to us!"

Shino pushed up his glasses, "Not likely. That's because Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are absent from here as well."

Ino huffed and crossed her arms, "Asuma-sensei is no better sometimes! And I haven't heard any better about Kakashi-sensei from Sakura."

Sakura nodded, "True, Kakashi-sensei is perhaps the laziest person I have seen. But Naruto never slacks off, like ever!"

" A-Ano, N-Naruto-kun is very hardworking," Hinata meekly said, poking her fingers and blushing at merely the thought of the blonde.

" Wow, people are talking about me even though I just got promoted!"

The eyes of all the rookies widened when the familiar voice caught them off guard. It came from above them, so they turned to look and promptly dropped their jaws.

There stood Naruto and Shikamaru, in flak jackets. Naruto had his arm around a grumbling Shikamaru. That was the first thing that everyone noticed.

" Y-You went to get promoted?"

Naruto chuckled at Ino's stutter and they both dropped down in front of them, allowing the rookies to get a better look at the two of them.

Shikamaru now wore a light green vest over his clothes, a mark of his new rank as a chunin. However, what perplexed them was that Naruto was wearing a similar vest, but instead of light green, it was a darker shade. Sakura smiled at them.

" So you are now a chunin, huh Naruto?"

Naruto looked like he was barely keeping from grinning full out. "Not exactly. Hokage-sama saw fit to promote me straight to Jonin."

" HUH?!"

That was the exclamation that came from Ino, Sakura and Kiba. Shikamaru scowled and shrugged Naruto's arm off, walking to join a gaping Chouji. As always, Shino was unperturbed. Hinata blushed a darker shade of red upon seeing how good Naruto looked in the jacket.

" You got promoted straight to jonin?!"

" Is that even possible?!"

" No fair!"

Of course, Naruto patiently answered the questions, and accepted the congratulations. Apparently, Shikamaru's promotion was not that interesting as Naruto's. He looked over to Sasuke, who was carefully looking at him.

Sasuke felt a twinge of jealousy course through him when he saw that Naruto had been promoted straight to jonin, but nothing more than that. Rational thought took over and he realized that Naruto only got what he deserved. Naruto deserved more than chunin, and Sasuke didn't know whether to feel happy for his friend, or disgusted with himself for being so weak.

" Congratulations," he reluctantly said, not meeting Naruto's smirking face. 'You may be strong now Naruto, but don't think you'll remain the strongest. I'll be dammed if I let you get ahead of me anymore!'

" I heard you beat Gaara, Naruto. Neji didn't stand a chance in the first place, did he?" Tenten asked with a sad smile.

Naruto mirrored her expression, "No, he didn't."

Naruto turned to Sakura, who just smiled and gave him a warm hug. Because Naruto was five inches taller than her, his chin rested on her head. "I'm happy for you, Naruto," she said softly. She knew Naruto would go far. All she could do for him is support him.

Naruto returned the hug with a smile, "I'm so glad that you do."

Naruto released the hug and looked towards Hinata, who froze at the gentle smile on his face. Naruto mentally chuckled. He wasn't stupid; he knew Hinata had a huge crush on him since the beginning of academy. He only made the connection from their interactions that Hinata liked him recently, after he first kissed Temari. 'Sorry Hinata, that I could not return your feelings. My heart belongs to Temari now. You deserve someone who will understand and return your feelings. Someone better than me.'

He walked over to Hinata, stopping in right in front of her. He knew that if he grabbed her in a hug as well, she might very well faint. "Hinata," he smiled, "You look a bit under the heat. Are you well?"

Hinata only turned redder, "Y-Yes, N-Naruto-kun. C-Congratulations on your p-promotion."

Naruto chuckled. She was just to easy to embarrass, something he might have to break her out of. He then noticed Ino sauntering up to him, squeezing his arm, "So, Naruto. Now that you have become a jonin, what will you do?"

Naruto rose an eyebrow. This wasn't how Ino usually behaved with him, invading his personal space. He rather preferred Temari's touch rather than Ino's. "It's better that you stick to Sasuke, Ino," he gently removed her arm.

Ino pouted, "You're no fun at all." Then suddenly, she narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him.

" What's wrong?"

His words were met with silence as she continued studying his face intensely. Several seconds later, she finally spoke in a murmur, "You really do look like him."

He was not expecting that. "What?"

" The Yondaime Hokage," she emphasized. Shikamaru yawned from behind her, "Of course he would, you troublesome blonde. They are father and son."

Ino's eyebrow twitched as she slowly turned around, "What the hell, Shikamaru!"

" Alright everyone, break's over! Get back to work!" Naruto announced. He was perplexed when he saw everyone looking at him oddly. "What?"

Kiba pointed a finger at him, "Don't go ordering us, teme!"

Naruto tsked and shook his finger side to side, as if addressing a child, "Be careful how you speak, Kiba. As your superior, you have no choice but to follow my orders."

Kiba sputtered angrily, but reluctantly got up from his spot along with everyone. Shikamaru walked up to Naruto with a smirk. "Should you really be doing that, right after you've been promoted?"

Naruto gave him a puzzled look as he walked over to a pile of rubble himself, "What are you talking about? I'm simply doing my duty as a Jonin of this village. You get to work as well, Shika."

Shikamaru scoffed, but turned around and headed to work as well. "Good thing he's working as well, or I would have socked him in the jaw," he muttered.

Flashback end

The next four days passed interestingly. News of his promotion to Jonin seemed to have spread overnight and the next morning when he reported for work, every person that he met was congratulating him. The most annoying thing about it was that they addressed him as "Namikaze-sama", or "Uzumaki-sama" once he corrected them.

His natural smile had become totally forced after he was congratulated by the twentieth person in the same manner. Eventually, he just used shunshin to reach his destination, but even there people were present just to congratulate him. It eventually became so annoying that he had to excuse himself to the Hokage's office.

"Man, if this is what celebrities have to deal with, I feel sorry for them," Naruto muttered as he sat in front of Hiruzen. The old man simply chuckled as he continued doing the paperwork in front of him. For once, he enjoyed doing the verbose bullshit. Naruto being the source of amusement might have been a factor.

"Better get used to it, for in the future, things will only grow," Hiruzen countered while signing another form.

Naruto gave a sigh of frustration, "Right now, I want to put all my efforts into rebuilding the village. It's not helping if the people start talking to my shadow clones as well!"

Hiruzen lifted his face to look at the blonde. Intense frustration was radiating from him. His muscles were all tight, shoulders tensed up; the boy looked like if someone congratulated him right now, he would probably coil up like a spring with tension.

"Then perhaps you would like a diversion?"

Naruto rose an eyebrow, "I could use a diversion."

Hiruzen got up from his chair and walked towards Minato's photo frame. Naruto watched curiously as Hiruzen sped through hand signs and pressed his hand on the frame. A click sounded and the frame opened up into some sort of safe. After pressing some keys, the safe opened up and Hiruzen pulled out a scroll. He closed the frame and blew air on the scroll to get rid of the dust.

"This is something that the Yondaime entrusted me with. I believe it belongs to you," he said as he passed it onto Naruto. Naruto recognized the blood seal right away. Cutting his thumb, he swiped it across the seal. He expected it to be a storage seal, but instead of an object, writing became visible.

' Those look like instructions to reach certain places.'

Naruto hummed in agreement as he studied the co-ordinates. As he studied them some more, making numerous calculations in his head, pieces of a puzzle started to come together. They were written in a way that no ordinary shinobi could crack. Only someone armed with the knowledge of the sealing arts could solve the puzzle to these. 'Nine co-ordinates in total. Each in a specific location and direction in relation to the village.'

He abruptly stood up, "I'll take my leave, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen watched Naruto leave with a pensive look. Even he did not know what was on that scroll. He resumed his paperwork. Perhaps Naruto may see it fit to tell him.

Naruto sat down just outside the village gates, shaking his head at how late the man was. He looked over to the gate guards, who were animatedly whispering to each other, not-so-subtly pointing at him. He scoffed; he had become the talk of the village in such a short time. Nothing new, but it was better than the glares and frowns of the village.

He sighed; he never knew Jiraiya had it in him to be late. Considering he was the one who approached him for this mission.

Flashback, yesterday

He had just returned from his investigation of the co-ordinates on the scroll. He flashed directly back into his apartment, and damn near killed the intruder standing before me.

" OI, OI, IT'S ME!"

Naruto stopped slashing the kunai, "Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya groaned, "What will it take you to call me by my proper name?"

Naruto shrugged and put his kunai away, "Serious situations, I guess. Besides, I don't see what's wrong with having an affectionate term to call my godfather."

Jiraiya snorted as he sat back down on the couch, "Affectionate, my ass."

Naruto removed his shoes and went for some water, "Anyways, would you care to explain why you broke the security seals to my apartment?"

" You really ought to improve up on that amateur job. I know you are capable of doing better."

Naruto huffed, "Those seals are meant to stop normal shinobi and civilians, not a seal master like you. And you haven't answered my question."

Jiraiya suddenly grinned, "Brat, you made Jonin on your first try into the chunin exams! I'm damn proud of you! I heard the tale from Sarutobi-sensei. Defeating a jinchuriki all by yourself and then sending my old teammate running with his tail between his legs right after defeating the said jinchuriki… I'm so proud of you, and your parents would be too!"

Naruto smiled at the enthusiastic man, "I'm sure they are. Now why are you here?"

At once, Jiraiya's expression turned serious, "I've got a mission of utmost importance, and I want you to come with me."

Naruto sat down across from his godfather, "What's the mission?"

" To find the future hokage of the village and bring her back."

Naruto did not say anything immediately. He thought over it for a few seconds. A female hokage? Out of the village? There was only one female who came to Naruto's mind as he thought of the circumstances. "Are we, by any chance, going to retrieve Senju Tsunade?"

Jiraiya seemed taken aback, "Y-Yeah, but how did you know who we were to retrieve?"

Naruto shrugged, "Come on, it's really not that hard to figure out. A female candidate, absent from the village and strong enough to be considered for the position of the Hokage? There is only one Konoha kunoichi that fits that description, and it's Senju Tsunade."

Jiraiya shook his head, "You really know your facts, don't you? Most of your generation doesn't even know about us."

Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly and chuckled, "I like reading is all." Then he turned serious and asked, "Even if I agree to come with you, what's in it for me?"

" I'll teach you a new jutsu- A-rank, some really good stuff."

Naruto wasn't impressed, "Is that all? Just one?"

" Brat, this jutsu is really not your average jutsu. But just because I'm such a generous man, I'll throw in one or two more for you. You good with that?"

" Well, I guess I can't say no to a Sannin. When do we leave?"

" Tomorrow, one in the afternoon. Oh, and before I forget, we have to talk about one more thing on this mission," Jiraiya grinned.

" What's that?"

But the man was already gone. Naruto shook his head. He had better get some rest for tomorrow's mission.

Flashback end

"Wake up, brat!"

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see Jiraiya standing in front of him, an impatient look on his face. "This is no time for sleeping!"

Naruto snorted loudly and got up, "You're the one to talk. I've been here since one! It's two now- you're late!"

Jiraiya folded his hands defensively, "I was collecting some very important, last minute information."

"For your book," Naruto mumbled as he began walking.

"Hey, watch it!"

"And it's a wonder how you managed to stretch your last minute into an hour," Naruto continued, neatly dodging the blow to his head.