Chapter 34

A few miles outside of Konoha, on a day trip if you will, Naruto stood next to Jiraiya staring up at a very large cliff with a blank look on his face. Every so often he would blink, but other than that he did not move and he did not speak, seemingly stunned into silence by what Jiraiya was more or less telling him.

Eventually he turned his head to the side and Jiraiya stopped looking up the cliff as well to meet the diminutive chunin's gaze, "So you were joking about that new training exercise, right? You don't really expect me to do that."

"Not yet." Jiraiya admitted, "But eventually, and by eventually I mean within a year or so give or take a month or two, you will be pulling this off the way it was intended to be done. Ask me how I know." He knew, because he was going to make Naruto train his ass off to ensure that he could finish this exercise. He needed to get the brat ready to defend himself against tougher foes, even if he hadn't told Naruto what was to be coming yet, "It'll improve your strength and discipline. You have a good amount of one but you're sorely lacking in the other. Guess which."

Naruto gestured brazenly to the large cliff face, "You want me to climb this thing with one arm? What the hell do you think I'm made of Ero-sensei?"

"A lot of complaining bitch apparently…" Jiraiya muttered to himself before speaking up so that Naruto could clearly hear him, "I'm not saying that you have to do it now, but you're going to have to eventually, once per arm, so I'd find some way to practice safely until you get all of the scaredy-cat out of your system because I will be making you do this on this cliff eventually."

"Who can climb this thing with one arm?" Naruto asked in a skeptical manner, wanting to see the person that could do such a thing.

At that moment, Kakashi dropped down from the cliff into Jiraiya and Naruto's view nearby from where he had been climbing, dusting his pants off with a relieved sigh before freeing the arm that had been tied behind his back. He saw Naruto and Jiraiya and waved at them as he walked over, "Oh hello Naruto, Jiraiya-sama. What are you two doing this far out of Konoha? I thought I was the only one that trained here like this… except for when Gai catches me on the way out of the village of course."

Training with Gai on the cliff was a total pain in the ass for Kakashi. Talk about going above and beyond what's required…

Naruto pointed lamely at the masked jounin, "Uh, did you just climb that cliff?" Kakashi nodded in confirmation, "One handed?" Another nod from Kakashi, "Huh…" He turned to Jiraiya who had a victorious look on his face and sighed, "Fine… give me some time to train for it." How long did he have to practice to learn how to climb a huge cliff with one hand? How did he even prepare for something like that?

"No." Jiraiya said sarcastically with a dry look on his face, "I wasn't going to let you actually train for this to get ready. I was just going to tie a hand behind your back, shove you up the cliff as far as you could go and wish you the best of luck before you fell hundreds of feet to your death." He began walking back towards Konoha, only taking Naruto out there in the first place to show him the site of his next big challenge from his teacher, "Stupid brat… acting like I don't know what I'm doing." He turned back to make sure Naruto heard his next words, "I've trained a Hokage brat! A Hokage!"

Taking offense to that, Naruto balled his fists at Jiraiya before turning to glare at the cliff. Kakashi kneeled down closer to Naruto's level getting the attention of the blonde young man, "What's up Kakashi-sensei?" He asked, as Kakashi had always been very cool to him.

"How's life as a chunin?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile, "Sasuke's just chomping at the bit to get a tougher mission these days, he's going a little stir crazy, but he's almost done healing so I've thought about getting another mission soon. How are you doing?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he and Kakashi began walking back to Konoha since Jiraiya had seen fit to let Naruto head back with the sensei of Team 7, "Well Ino and Shikamaru have been training with their parents… a lot. We haven't really gone on any missions together since we got promoted." Naruto just kept busy with his own training and picking up solo D-ranks to stash some cash away for his rent, he wasn't going to get caught with his pants down on that front again.

"You don't have to wait for Shikamaru and Ino's schedules to clear up." Kakashi said matter-of-factly.

"I know." Naruto admitted as he fell into step comfortably with Kakashi. While he wasn't the man's student he felt comfortable around him for some reason. He had felt just that in Nami no Kuni, and at that moment he felt the same way, "But it's kind of personal you know? I want to try another C-rank mission but we started together, it would be weird if I took my first mission as a chunin without them. I bet that sounds pretty stupid doesn't it?"

"Not really." Kakashi said in a comforting manner, "It's actually kind of admirable. But you know that for all that's well and good with your team and your friends you each have to grow in your own way. It's insulting to yourselves and to each other to hang on too tightly, it's like you believe none of you can succeed without the other."

Looking up at Kakashi as he heard the man's words he frowned. It seemed like he was doing that more than smiling these days after receiving his promotion and it had only been a week going on two at that point, "That's not true. I know we're all strong."

"You're all responsible enough to be chunin apparently." Kakashi said with a shrug, "But going on at least your first few missions with your normal team would probably help you adjust so it's good foresight if nothing else. Don't worry too much about it." Even though he was not Naruto's assigned sensei he felt a sense of responsibility for him, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't give the boy some advice at least to nudge him along.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Konoha Cemetary)

Naruto had walked through the rows of simple graves with the names of those buried there and a smile came to his face as he located the single grave he had come to notice at heart whenever visiting. After the exams ended and things calmed down he decided to try and locate whatever he could of his clan. If he was in the village that meant that someone else had to be as well. He found an Uzumaki Mito in the section set aside for those of great importance in the past but after much painstaking searching he found the one he had originally intended to search for after finally hounding the name of his mother out of the Hokage.

He sat down cross-legged in front of the grave marked Uzumaki Kushina, his smile still pasted on his face. It wasn't exactly how he had always wished he'd meet her, but it was way better than his previous alternative of not knowing anything period, "Hi mom." He said, trying to speak to her as if she were there, "Sorry I didn't come here right after I found out your name and everything… I was kind of busy with the chunin exams and all of that. Heh, and I kicked some ass too. You'd have thought it was great, dattebayo!" He got a little excited before calming himself back down.

He had a name to put with a silhouette that he saw in his mind every so often when trying to think of his parents. If only he had a picture though, that would have been outstanding. Was his mom pretty? Was she a nice person? He bet she was probably a cool ninja. He had to get it from somewhere right? And their clan used to be famous so there was that too.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but he felt someone's presence walk up behind him, getting him to turn his head to see Tsunade standing there with a set of fresh flowers in hand, "Tsunade-baachan? What are you doing here?"

'Again with the grandma thing…' Tsunade thought to herself, fighting down some ire. The first time he said it, it was understandable due to the fact that she had been antagonizing him but now they were at the very least cordial. She had healed him, they had been peaceful all the way back to Konoha… what was with the nasty nickname? Stupid brat, "I can go anywhere I want brat. You're not the only person with people here to visit." Her eyes panned down to the name on the grave in front of him, "Your mother?"

Naruto nodded and stood up, not that it really hampered the fact that she still stood over him considerably. Was he really going to get an eyeful of cleavage every time he tried to look straight ahead at her up close? Meh, he needed to stop thinking about that crap. He wasn't Jiraiya after all so it was time to get back on topic, "Yeah. I never got to meet her or anything but I thought it wouldn't hurt to come out here, you know?"

A frown came over Tsunade's face, "Sorry brat. I don't think I ever met her before I left the village with Shizune. You could ask her about it but I think she was too young to remember someone older than her like your mother."

Oh well, eventually he'd find out something more about her, and his dad too. There was more hope of that now than ever before as far as Naruto was concerned. He looked at the flowers in Tsunade's hands and made an observation, "Are you here to visit a grave too?"

Tsunade nodded and looked over in the direction she had been heading in before she ran into Naruto, "Yes. I already visited two other graves before this, but I still have one more to see before I can leave." She let out a sigh and shook her head, "It's been a really long time."

"Well who'd you come to see?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Why was she about to tell this to some kid like Naruto? No, he wasn't just some kid. He was an Uzumaki so they were technically connected even if the lineage was murky. That was something… maybe, "I came to see the grave of my little brother Nawaki and a man named Dan. He was Shizune's uncle, and she's still with Tonton at his grave right now if you want to know where she is to say hello." She didn't really want to give Naruto exact specifics on what her relationship was with Dan, no way a kid needed to know anything like that.

Naruto nodded in understanding before turning his attention back to the flowers that Tsunade had, "But you still have one bouquet. Are you looking for someone else? Do you need some help?"

Tsunade blinked before smirking at Naruto and putting a hand on his head to ruffle his hair, "Nope, I know where I'm going kid. As a matter of fact I'm almost there too. You want to see?" Naruto looked around unsurely before nodding, "Well then come with me." She said, leading Naruto off a little bit further into section set aside for great village heroes and the like, "Uzumaki. You know your clan used to be the driving force of a whole village? They had half the ninja world shaking in their boots for a while."

"What happened exactly?" Naruto asked, not only trying to make small talk, but because he also had no idea what had happened.

Instead of a straight answer though, Tsunade shook her head, "Beats me. It went down during the Second Shinobi World War. They were helping us in our battles, opening a new front and sending ninja to prevent Kumo from sneaking in the back door while we were fighting all out against Suna and Iwa. It worked, but they were weakened and a sneak attack from the east by Kiri took them down."

Great, more cloak and dagger crap from twenty plus years ago. Maybe his mother had records in the library that he could look up? It couldn't hurt to try at some point since he wanted to know more about her anyway.

Naruto let out a grunt, acknowledging that he heard and understood before he realized that they hadn't travelled too terribly far from where his mother had been buried, but the grave of who Tsunade had come to see gave him some pause, "Senju Hashirama, The Shodai Hokage?"

"Yeah." Tsunade said nonchalantly as she lay the flowers she had down in front of the large and very beautiful grave, "What, you're saying I can't visit my grandfather's grave? Next you're going to tell me I can't visit Tobi-oojisan's grave because he was the Nidaime Hokage." She seemed to ignore Naruto's follow-up slack-jawed stare but wasn't above picking with him, "You should probably shut that unless you're practicing some kind of new beginner toad sage training… and you don't even summon Jiraiya's toads."

Naruto's mouth shut with a snap before he started pummeling himself in the head to clear his thoughts, 'Gah, this is just too weird? Why do I know so many important people? Ero-sensei's Sarutobi-jiji's student, Asuma-sensei is Sarutobi-jiji's son, Tsunade-baachan is Sarutobi-jiji's other student and she's related to two of the other three Hokage we've had?'

An amused look came over Tsunade's face as she literally watched Naruto beat himself up before stopping him from bruising his poor face any longer, "I can't in good conscience let you beat yourself up like that, I'm a medic-nin after all." She said, grabbing one of his hands to prevent him from doing just that. Tsunade then looked at the grave of the Shodai Hokage again, "Hashi-Ojiisan and Tobi-oojisan both died in battle… my little brother did too… and so did Dan. All of them either wanted to be or actually were Hokage. That was why I said what I did to you. A kid like you doesn't need to go out on their shield like that."

Well at least she wasn't flat out cutting him down. Was she trying to advise him? In the hospital in Tetsu no Kuni after the exams she seemed way snippier about trying to get him to realize that being Hokage was a bum job. Maybe it was because it was just the two of them?

XxX

(A While Later – Village Streets)

After they had all finished up with their time at the graveyard, Naruto, Tsunade, and Shizune with Tonton in tow walked back through the village together since they were going the same way for the time being.

Naruto had to admit that Tsunade really wasn't that bad though, first impressions aside. She was just a little bitter and it seemed that being in the village again after so long was making her nicer and keeping her calm. She'd have never admitted it though… and even Shizune seemed happier to be back because she couldn't help but look absolutely radiant just to be walking around.

Speaking of which though…

"Hey Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto asked as he held his hands up behind his neck lazily, eyes squinting for no particular reason. He heard Tsunade grunt in response but was unable to see her steadily shaking fists at her sides as they continued to walk, "You said you were only coming back to get your money for healing us all after the exams, so why are you still here? It's been two weeks."

Tsunade, having long since fought down her urge to pick Naruto up by the collar of his flak jacket and chuck him through the front window display of a nearby store, merely sighed and wondered if he would ever stop calling her 'Tsunade-baachan'. It was going to wear on her last nerve sooner rather than later, "Sarutobi-sensei is sandbagging his shit with the pay… doing it in installments. He probably thinks that the longer I wait here the more I'll want to stay once he finishes paying me."

"Is it working?" Naruto asked with a grin. Shizune listened intently as well, interested in the answer for her own reasons.

"Hell no." Was the effortlessly uttered answer from Tsunade, "Sensei can play the little waiting game all he wants. When that last ryo drops into my hand I'll be out of here within two days. Mark my words."

Though she made certain not to let Tsunade see it, Shizune had a deadpan look on her face, 'Hokage-sama knows what he's doing more than he thinks. He's paying you in installments so that you can wear the money down before he gives you more. There's a good chance you'll splurge too much before he finishes paying you and we won't be able to leave… especially if you remember where the gambling places in town are.' Tsunade wasn't giving Hiruzen enough credit. For as nice as the old man usually was he could be downright devious if he felt the need, 'There's a reason I try to handle most of the money we come across Tsunade-sama.' She thought to herself.

She wasn't about to voice it out loud though. Shizune wanted to stay in Konoha for as long as possible. She had really been homesick and she hadn't realized it until they had returned and started staying in Tsunade's old clan home for the time being. The more time there the better as far as she was concerned, and as far as Tsunade went it was doing her good as well.

The group kept walking in silence until an ear-piercing scream broke through the tranquility, not only stopping them but alarming everyone else on the street at the high-pitched noise, "Oh my gosh I can't be that lucky! It's Tsunade-sama!"

Hearing the young feminine voice put Tsunade on guard as she started looking around rapidly, almost in fear, "No, no, no. Come on brat, Shizune, we need to get out of here now."

"Why?" Naruto said before releasing a pulse of his location jutsu and smiling at the person he sensed coming their way, "It's just Tenten." He then turned in the appropriate direction on the street and began waving, "Oi, over here Tenten! What's up?" Due to turning his back he missed Tsunade rapidly waving her arms as if to beg off from seeing Tenten.

The crowds in the street split as the bun-haired chunin kunoichi blazed right through them and stopped right in front of the pair of medics and her fellow chunin, "Naruto, hey. What are you doing with Tsunade-sama?"

A shrug was his answer, "Just walking back from somewhere. We just ran into each other. Where were you?"

"With Lee, Neji, and Gai-sensei." Tenten said, looking over her shoulder and wondering how far back she left them, "Oh, but I still have some things to talk to Tsunade-sama about. I'm glad I was able to find her again."

Tsunade on the other hand was not that pleased. On the way back from the chunin exam finals when Tenten had learned that Tsunade would be travelling with them to Konoha she didn't shut up for hours at a time, day after day, 'What could she possibly have to ask me now? For fuck's sake girl!' She took an involuntary step back when Tenten's eyes turned from Naruto to her. That shine simply could not be natural, "I just remembered… I had to meet with Sarutobi-sensei about something… secret sannin stuff. No kids allowed." She said, pointing towards the direction of the Hokage Tower, "So… sorry, maybe next time!" She said before running off and not turning back.

Shizune just stared at the place Tsunade had just been standing in and then at the direction she ran off towards, "…The tower isn't even in that direction." She muttered while Naruto and Tenten looked on in confusion, "Well kids, I have to go too. Places to go and people to see while I still can." Shizune finished with a smile before heading off to see if she could find anymore of her old friends. This return to Konoha was just great.

Tenten just turned towards Naruto who merely shrugged in response as to what had just happened.

XxX

(Konoha Hospital)

Training without Kakashi overseeing Team 7's every move went well… for a while. Then it went south rather quickly and all hell broke loose, leading to the obligatory visit to the hospital. And two of them had just been in the hospital not too long ago.

Sakura sat in a chair, waiting in a room set aside for her and her two teammates Chouji and Sasuke, "You two really should stop training the way you do." She chided at the two sitting and waiting with burns covering their bodies also with some covering her own, "You had the one jutsu that worked, and I swear I have no idea how you two managed to pull it off without roasting Chouji alive, but trying another one is really pushing it isn't it?"

"There's no such thing as pushing too far when it comes to training Sakura." Sasuke said in his own defense, "We're going to be going on harder and harder missions now because I got promoted." He'd be damned if he ever took another D-rank mission again. There was no way he'd get strong enough for his ambition if he was stuck doing odd jobs and chores, and damn it he was going to make sure that Sakura and Chouji wouldn't fall along the wayside on his way up. When Kakashi was gone he was in charge, and on those days when he was in charge of training it would be a hell day.

He would make sure they worked to the bone to improve, and Chouji had already made mammoth strides since they had become a team. He wasn't as lazy and as passive as he had first appeared. Chouji was still kind of soft but at the beginning he had been comparable to a wad of cookie dough, now he wasn't necessarily as hard as a diamond, but he had more than a little substance to him. He didn't even complain about or shirk away from the rough training Sasuke did anymore.

Sakura was still Sakura, but by now Sasuke had gotten used to her. Now, especially after the chunin exam she was more of a nag instead of a hanger-on, and in his opinion both were equally annoying. Still, she trained, she was effective now, and that was all he had asked for out of a team in the first place; people that wouldn't get in his way. It took nearly six months but it happened eventually.

Instead of just accepting Sasuke's previous explanation as to why the two young men were currently in the hospital, Sakura puffed her cheeks out and stood up with her hands on her hips, "You tried to use your fire jutsu with the wires to make a fire trap with Chouji as a boulder of death on the inside." It was either put Chouji and the wires out immediately or burn down their whole training ground and none of the three got away unscathed.

Chouji gingerly touched at one of the burns from said attempt at a new dual strategy before speaking up, "Hey, that could actually work Sakura… it went fine until I bounced off of the wires and set myself on fire."

Sakura palmed her face hard and sat back down in her chair, "Just be more careful. I'm not really a fan of hospital visits if you haven't noticed." On the inside she was thinking of something else entirely, 'I wonder if Ino-pig has to deal with this kind of crap on her team? Boys are such raging idiots! The dumbasses!'

The door to the room opened up and in walked the medic-nin that was assigned to take care of their minor wounds, "Okay, it seems like you guys have a simple case of first degree burns. We can handle that quickly and you can be on your way."

"Kabuto-san." Sakura said, happy to see a familiar face in a place like the hospital, "What are you doing here? Are you our doctor?"

Kabuto looked up and smiled at seeing Team 7 as his patients, "Oh, hi there guys. Funny seeing you here. You all sure like playing with fire don't you?" He tried to joke before setting his clipboard aside and moving towards Chouji to inspect his injuries, "Yeah. I haven't really been assigned to a proper team. I guess I'll just be drifting around until further notice. In the meantime I decided I should try and take up some work in probably the only thing that I seemed to be good at."

'Being a medic-nin.' Sasuke thought to himself with a nod, and he had to admit that it was probably for the best that Kabuto was not a part of an active genin squad. He may have had his uses, but he showed that in a fight against a strong opponent he didn't have much to offer. He saw Kabuto fumble through the hand-seals for Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Jutsu) and watched the jutsu activate, letting out a nearly silent grunt as he had neglected to turn his Sharingan on. It was just as well, he probably would have messed up the control aspect needed for the jutsu anyway. He wasn't a healer.

"Well it's good to be useful somehow." Sakura said, trying to be supportive even if she felt along the same lines as Sasuke, "Being a medic-nin is a good career to have."

Finishing his touch-up of Chouji's burns and letting the boy wrap his hands and arms back up, Kabuto turned to Sakura and began healing her with a smile, "That's the idea. If I can't fight then I might as well fix the ones that do. I don't think I'll go very far in this either though. My control is kind of good, but it's not that good. I practiced my ass off just to get good enough to heal these kind of injuries. If I had better control I'd have tried to learn a genjutsu or two."

A soothing feeling spread over Sakura as Kabuto's healing jutsu took the sting out of her burns and made them almost nonexistent. She then remembered just how incredible it looked to see Tsunade and Shizune heal Sasuke and Chouji after the end of the exams, "Well medical ninjutsu is an amazing art in my opinion. Hey, have you ever thought of asking Tsunade-sama for lessons or something?"

"She's kind of hard to approach." Kabuto said sheepishly, ending his session with Sakura, "On the way back from Tetsu no Kuni I tried, but I couldn't get a word in edgewise because that Tenten girl was taking all of her time. Then when I did get a moment to talk to her she was so edgy I wussed out."

A bad excuse in Sasuke's opinion and he frowned at hearing that. Being arbitrarily unnerved by the mere presence of strong people was no way to improve. How else did anyone get stronger or better? By seeking out those perceived as being better than them and overcoming them or learning from them. If Sasuke had been in Kabuto's shoes he would have marched right up to Tsunade and asked what he needed of her, consequences be damned. He would do what he had to do.

But he wasn't about to spout off advice to a genin that was older than him. If he didn't get it by then and needed a rookie to point things like that out to him then Sasuke saying anything would change absolutely nothing about him.

Kabuto made sure Sakura was all set before nodding at his own handiwork and turning to Sasuke, "Okay Sasuke-kun, your turn." Sasuke let out a grunt and held out his arms for Kabuto to begin healing, "So when are you going to try and take your first mission as a chunin?" He asked, trying to make small talk.

'As soon as I'm sure Sakura and Chouji can totally handle it.' Sasuke thought to himself with a scowl before taking back his own thought, 'No, screw that, we're good as we are. We can take a mission now. All I need is Kakashi's permission.' With that in mind he spoke up to answer Kabuto's question, "The end of the week… if you guys are ready for it."

"It couldn't possibly go any worse than the mission with Tazuna…" Chouji mused before smiling, "I guess I'm in." Sakura nodded out her consent as well after hearing Chouji express his own.

"Good." Sasuke said, content with the reactions of his teammates. They'd finally be getting some activity and he was actually excited about it, "Let's talk to Kakashi about it after we see him tomorrow."

Kabuto only looked at the team as he finished up his work on Sasuke, "Well good luck to you guys when you set out. I'll be rooting for you."

XxX

(Five Days Later – Mission Assignment Desk)

"I'm glad you guys could finally had time to go get a mission with me. I was sick of doing solo D-ranks and I was this close to… ugh… looking for Sasuke to take a mission with." Naruto said, rather excited about the forthcoming work guaranteed for him as he was intentionally picking with Shikamaru and Ino. There was a grin on his face as they walked through the halls on the way to the assignment room to get some work, "This isn't messing up what you guys were working on is it?"

Shikamaru shook his head as he had his hands shoved into his pants pockets, "Actually when you sent your clone to look for me my mom was just looking for an excuse to kick me out of the house for a while." His training for the jutsu his father had given him wasn't exactly movement intensive, something that irked his mother to no end since the training had begun, "Troublesome woman…"

"She seemed nice enough to me." Naruto commented in response to the lazy chunin. Nara Yoshino was pretty nice to his clone that morning for having never personally met the woman himself. She even offered to feed the clone some breakfast, and if it hadn't been under strict orders to do its job and dispel it would have taken her up on that offer.

"Because you're not her kid." Shikamaru said, "That's another story though."

Ino chimed in at that point, bumping Shikamaru with her elbow, "Oh please. If you showed some initiative instead of being a lazy-ass all the time Yoshino would be sweet to you all the time. You'd think that by now you'd see how your dad gets by acting like you and you'd get your crap together."

"Too much work…" Was the immediate response from Shikamaru. Underachieving was his calling in life. It may have been easy work, but someone had to do it, and he was just the man for the job.

"You're hopeless…" Ino remarked with a shake of her head and ponytail, "Slacking your tail off isn't any way to get ahead… but you were promoted so I guess this will have to do for now." With that being said and the doorway to the assignment room being open, she pumped her fist excitedly, "Alright, let's get this show on the road! I'm so ready for the mission! No more crappy D-ranks-!"

"-Unless one of us is short on rent money for the month!" Naruto finished in her stead, stealing her thunder with a fist pump of his own before realizing that he had taken all of the air out of the moment, "…I'm just saying. But yeah, mission time. Let's roll, dattebayo!"

As they reached the desk, one of the attendants there to hand out missions had an amused smile on his face, "I heard you. So since you guys are 'above' D-ranks now which one do you want? C-rank or B-rank missions are your choices and we're pretty up on those missions for the time being."

"Ooh, ooh! B-rank!" Naruto said, and he would have raised his hand like he was in school had Ino grabbed his arm to keep him from doing so, "I want to try one of those!"

"Well it's a good thing I feel like going with you then isn't it?"

The trio of kids turned around to see Asuma standing there looking down at them, "Asuma-sensei?" Naruto and Ino said while Shikamaru just looked on in interest of their genin squad commander showing up before their mission.

"Yes, it is me. It is I." Asuma said, placing a cigarette into his mouth casually, "The honorable and superb standout Konoha jounin Sarutobi Asuma. But then again we've already met haven't we kids?" He finished with a grin, "Yo. Long time no see."

While Ino and Naruto just grinned at the turn of events, Shikamaru decided that he would have to be the one to speak for his excited blonde teammates, "So what's going on Asuma, what are you doing here? We thought that after we all got promoted that freed you back up from running our squad again."

"It did." Asuma admitted before lighting his cigarette, "And since I'm free, I'm free to take this mission… if you'll have me as your commander at least one more time."

"Hell yes we'll have you as our commander one last time." Naruto blurted out abruptly as Asuma walked forward to the assignment table and plucked up a B-rank scroll from what was shown to be available to Team 10. Having Asuma command the team also took out the awkward moment of deciding which of the three chunin would wind up running the show so to speak, so that was one bit of possible unpleasantness that could be put off until later in Shikamaru-like fashion.

Opening the scroll, Asuma read through the specifics of the mission they had just accepted before committing it to memory and passing it between Ino, Shikamaru, and Naruto, "Well it looks like we're heading to Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea) to meet up with our client. Do you have all of that down?" He asked after giving them time to read through the scroll themselves.

All three of the young chunin nodded in response.

"Which one of you doesn't know where we're going?"

Eyes turned to Naruto, getting him to glare at his teammates and team captain, "And just what does that mean? Of course I know where we're going. We're going west toward the sea." He wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but by now he would have figured that if they knew something they could have bet on him knowing it too. Having it crammed into his head for a week straight did wonders for basic knowledge. Belatedly though because he then realized that the sea was east from Konoha, not west, "…Oh you guys suck."

Asuma held his hands up defensively before grinning and turning to leave the room, getting the team to follow him out on the way to their next mission.

XxX

(Two Days Later – Ta no Kuni/Hi no Kuni Border Area)

"Come on you guys." Kakashi said in an almost chipper mood as he led the way through the forests of the area, Team 7 at his back, "A quick strafe of the border and we can start heading back to Konoha by tomorrow. In and out in a week. An easy observation mission."

While Sasuke remained silent, diligently keeping his eyes peeled in case of (in hope of) an enemy attack of some sort he voiced his thoughts on the mission, "Why are we even here Kakashi?" He asked the masked Sharingan-user, "Scouting out the border of a country I've never even tried to hear about?" The place was called Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Fields)… that didn't really sound like any kind of place where all the action would be in Sasuke's opinion.

Apparently that was what they would get when Kakashi was allowed to select the mission; a trip to the ass end of nowhere to do a whole lot of nothing. If this was what Sasuke wanted to do then he would have thrown his name into the rotation for border patrol duty, as boring as that job was. Sakura and Chouji didn't seem to have any issues with the mission, but then again their blood didn't routinely cry out for battle the way Sasuke's did.

"I kind of want to know why this is a mission for us too Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said as Team 7 continued to make their ways through the branches of the woods, "I've never heard of, well… anything ever happening in this country."

"That's why it's only C-ranked Sakura." Kakashi attempted to explain, "There's a few rumblings of trouble going on from this country, rumors anyway, and there's also word that the entire country is going to change its name from Ta no Kuni to Oto no Kuni (Land of Sound).

Something about that piqued Chouji's attention, "You mean 'Oto', like that weird village Otogakure. We fought that one team from that village in the exams. Are we going to look for that village or something?"

Kakashi shook his head, "We don't know where it is, not even a general idea. No one does. No one even knows any ninja of note from the village, nor does anyone know who runs it… if it even has anyone running it at all. For all we know it could be anarchy ruling supreme above all else with them. But that's not the mission. We're just here to observe any possible trouble since the sudden changes this place seems to be taking are strange."

Searching for a hidden village was more than a rookie chunin and two rookie genin were meant to handle. Maybe if he was alone Kakashi could say that it was the mission, but he was with the kids, therefore this mission had parameters and looking around for a mystery village was not it. That was A-rank at least due to the total lack of any kind of information to go off of. Way too dangerous for any greenhorns, talented though they may be.

They were just meant to survey the countryside and that was it. A once-around of the border area and back, a trip that would take a day, and then they would head back home which would take another day. With the two days they had already been out the mission would wrap up within the week. Simple.

But he had seen Sasuke scowling every now and then, obviously bored and having expected more action for a mission that was intended to be C-rank. He needed to take a note from Chouji, perhaps the most chill person on the team aside from Kakashi himself. There wasn't always going to be a fight and there wasn't a need to be so bloodthirsty and wish to battle all the time. There was plenty of time for that and once it started it wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon. And here he thought he would have been the perfect teacher to show Sasuke how to take things easy.

Oh well. He couldn't afford to think about how to get Sasuke to mellow out more, there was still work to do. Even though things were quiet, borders were hotspots. They probably weren't the only ones scouting the other side. After the exams tons of villages probably figured that it would be worthwhile to check out the new village on the map, figuratively speaking of course. There was a chance of a run-in with any number of shinobi from other neighboring countries.

Not to mention the possibility of Otogakure having a few ninja of their own dispatched. There was always a chance of something hitting the fan at some point.

XxX

(Nightfall – With Team 10 – Cha no Kuni – Degarashi Port)

The contingent of Konoha ninja entered the bustling port town and immediately began seeking out their contact for the mission. Fortunately for them it was easy enough because upon getting a certain way into town the groups of toughs that populated the streets at the moment and had their eyes on them the entire time began to encircle them. The normal citizens moved right out of the way as this occurred, leaving Team 10 surrounded by dozens.

"So we got called here just to get trapped by some thugs?" Shikamaru said, already feeling annoyed by the mission.

Naruto on the other hand cracked his knuckles deviously, "Maybe this is the trouble that we're supposed to be handling? So… let's handle it." Before Naruto could make his Kage Bunshin hand-seal, Asuma kept him from jumping the gun and setting something off.

"No… These men work for our clients." Asuma said, letting Naruto go now that he had prevented him from beginning to lay down a clone-induced beating, "I guess in theory we could beat them up and we could move along, but that wouldn't send the best first impression would it?"

Ino looked around at the glaring thugs and felt her own need to clear them out rise, "Maybe it would. If we beat them all senseless then that would show that we're the real deal. I vote for kicking the crap out of them if they don't get out of the way."

"What are ninja doing around these parts?" One of the thugs said, angry at Team 10's presence, "We don't need any around here so why don't you leave? We don't need any more of your destructive bullshit. You won't touch Boss Jirouchou's town!"

"It's Boss Kyuuroku's town, but I agree with ya otherwise you Wasabi bastard!"

A cheer went up among the men as they were determined to be good underlings to their respective superiors and stanch the ninja threat to the town until Asuma calmly spoke up again, "If you're talking about Wasabi Jirouchou and Wagarashi Kyuuroku then you should know that they're the ones that hired Konoha ninja for this mission."

The thugs seemed to calm down at that revelation as another one of them spoke up, "Uh, you guys are from Konoha?"

Naruto and Asuma flicked their headband's metal plates while Ino did the same with hers tied around her waist and Shikamaru did the same with his wrapped around his arm, making a 'pinging' noise.

And that got the masses to clear away from them with great haste. Asuma rolled his eyes and decided that enough was enough, "Listen! We're here and we're ready to get down to work! So if you want us to try and go out to solve whatever your problem is you need to take us to our clients!" The authority and aura coming from Asuma got many of them to pause and freeze in place until he barked loudly again, "Any time now would be great!"

With that they scattered and ran towards the direction that was figured to be where they would have to go to find the clients for their mission.

Ino stared at the panicked men running away and turned up to Asuma, "Wow sensei… I didn't think you had that in you. Who knew? Did they really make you that mad?"

"It wasn't really them that did it." Asuma admitted grumpily as he walked ahead, "I didn't restock my pockets with cigarettes before we left and I'm out… and Naruto's being stingy and not sharing his." Naruto stuck his tongue out at the back of Asuma's head but almost bit it when he felt the killing intent from his squad leader, "Being a chunin doesn't put you above an asskicking kid." He warned testily without turning back around.

"…Screw that, I only have the one pack… and it's not even full." Naruto said lowly as he and the others followed behind Asuma. He felt probably shouldn't try to smoke in Asuma's presence again until the man got his nicotine fix either way though.

XxX

The team wound up at a restaurant that had men from both the Wasabi and Wagarashi families outside just staring at each other in the form of a standoff of sorts, as if there was some kind of uneasy truce between enemies.

Once getting inside however, it was very much the same. Two long tables on two sides of the room with the men from one family sitting and the other family doing the same on the other side. It was silent as they all ate and glared at the other table, not taking their eyes off of the other side.

Asuma cleared his throat to get attention and all eyes turned towards Team 10. Ino backed up a step, moving behind both Naruto and Shikamaru as her human shields for the time being, "What's with this place? It looks like everyone's one step away from trying to kill each other."

"Welcome to Degarashi Port." The presumed leader of one side said as he stood up from his table. He seemed to be the leader because of the jacket he wore over his kimono attire. He had grey hair and a rather strong but kind appearance as compared to the man that looked to be the leader on the other side; a man with a spindly mustache, a wart above his left eye, a dark swindler-looking hairstyle, and a weasely look about him, "I am Wasabi Jirouchou of the Wasabi Family."

"And I am Wagarashi Kyuuroku of the Wagarashi Family." The weasely looking boss said, "The one who hired you." He finished with a grin that made the skin of the kids crawl.

Jirouchou shook his head at Kyuuroku's version of the introduction, "We both hired them together, because we realized that the problems going around the area were the concerns of both families."

Kyuuroku sat back on the cushion that was his seat with a sneer, "Yeah whatever. You simply know that your men weren't up to the task of actually handling the protection of Degarashi Port. I don't know why you still think you're in control of this town." He jabbed, getting his underlings to chuckle at the shot taken at their rivals.

"Yes…" Jirouchou said calmly with not a hint of anger in his voice, "Because your men were protecting your business interests so well, you didn't feel the need to hire a team from Konoha did you?" A wry grin then made its way to his face, "Oh wait, you did. As a matter of fact you were on the hook for half of the bill it took to hire this team."

In response to the dryly delivered comeback, Kyuuroku decided to take his attention off of the community leader and put it on the team that had come to accomplish the mission, "What is this? I paid good money and all that village could send me were a trio of screaming brats and their babysitter."

Ino, Naruto, and even Shikamaru took immediate offense to that before Asuma stepped in, "The vests that two of them are wearing indicate that they are chunin, advanced ninja. The girl isn't wearing hers but she's a chunin as well. They're actually qualified to take this mission on their own in all honesty. I'm just tagging along. I can assure you that we can get to the bottom of your issue."

"That's all I need to hear quite frankly." Jirouchou said amicably with a smile, "Since your other employer has not expressed any interest or confidence in your skill-set I believe that I will give you lodgings for the duration of your stay in our lands."

"Oh no you don't Wasabi!" Kyuuroku snapped suddenly, slamming his hands down on his table sharply, "Do you honestly think you can pull the wool over my eyes and get one over on me? You'll take the shinobi all for yourself and leave me defenseless to be killed the way you almost were the other night! I will not have it!"

Asuma could feel the tensions in the room rising as both sides seemed gearing up to fight for their family heads. It wouldn't do to have their clients kill each other on the first night, "It's fine. How about this? I'm a jounin so I myself will stay with Wagarashi-san. Anything that happens, I can handle it on my own. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino are chunin and a well oiled unit as a team, so they will stick to Wasabi-san. Is this agreeable?"

Letting out a snort, Kyuuroku had to admit he felt like he had the better side of the deal. He would have a jounin to ensure that he was safe at all times while he could insist on Jirouchou letting one or two of the brats under his roof go search for the source of the region's trouble. And with one of the in his opinion lesser ninja guarding Jirouchou there was a better chance that in the case of an assassination attempt the attacker would succeed and thus wipe out his rival over control of Degarashi Port.

Yes, that arrangement would work out splendidly.

"It's fine with me." Kyuuroku said full of confidence.

Jirouchou nodded his consent and made a motion to one of the people at his table, "Yes, it works out just wonderfully. Jounin-san you can remain here with us and you may leave with Kyuuroku because he is so security conscious. Our young friends here will be seen to my home by Idate here."

Idate turned out to be a young man around Team 10's age with brown hair in a spiky ponytail and brown eyes. He wore a navy blue top with a high collar that had light blue long sleeves, navy blue shorts that were bandaged around his thighs, a yellow pack around his waist, and light blue leg warmers over his sandals.

Walking up to Team 10 with a displeased look on his face as he looked the lot of them over, he simply jerked his head and walked out with a click of his teeth, indicating that they were to follow him, "Blonde hottie and her two tagalongs…" He said, loosely addressing Ino, "Let's go."

Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes as they followed Idate out, 'Well isn't this mission starting out just swimmingly.'

XxX

Idate led Team 10 through the streets of Degarashi Port while they followed behind him, "Stupid Konoha ninja…" They heard him mutter to himself quietly, though it was obviously done loud enough to intentionally get their attention.

"Excuse me?" Ino said, stopping in her tracks and putting her hands on her hips with a glare on her face, "What the hell did we do to you to deserve that? We're here to try and help you? Hasn't your boss been getting attacked?"

"Yeah!" Idate said suddenly, rounding on the young chunin heatedly, "By ninja like you! I know how you operate, and those ambushes and all of the stuff that's been happening to the Wasabi Family at Degarashi Port is a ninja's work!"

Shikamaru didn't know what this guy's problem was, but it was killing the mellow vibe the rather calm night was giving him, "Listen up, I don't really care what your beef is, we're here to work and get out of your face. So why don't we all just let whatever issue this is drop?" Having Ino kill this kid in the street was not going to do anyone any favors.

"Wow…" Idate said snarkily, "What a chunin thing to say. It looks like those vests aren't just something you two picked up at a novelty store. And what about you Sweetness?" He said to Ino with venom in his tone, "There a reason you don't prance around in your vest like the other two?"

Taking offense for Ino's sake, Naruto was about to knock Idate's block off. He really didn't like his damn attitude one bit and the way he was talking down an achievement that Naruto was extremely proud of wasn't helping matters either, "Well if you've got a problem with us then you can skulk around looking for someone else to kick the shit out of you… or you can keep running your mouth and I'll do it myself. Nobody talks about Ino-chan like that!"

Ino couldn't help but feel a smile come to her face at hearing Naruto defend her in his own blunt manner, 'Aw, Goldie-kun…'

"-Except for me, Sakura, and maybe Shikamaru if he feels like it!"

'Damn it Goldie-kun!' Ino thought to herself in a rather sour mood, pumping her fists heatedly out of sight of anyone else, 'It's always one step forward and another step back with you! And you were looking so cool for a minute there…'

Idate smirked at Naruto and opened his mouth again, but Shikamaru had been having a very long two day of travel, dealing with his two loudmouthed blonde friends, his nicotine-withdrawal enduring sensei, and a pace that he wasn't comfortable with because it involved him moving in a pace that was faster than a brisk walk. Some smart-mouthed attendant boy for some local town boss with a grudge against ninja and whose mouth wasn't as smart as he thought it was would wind up being the last straw for him.

"If you open your mouth and say one more stupid comment that we didn't ask to hear from you I'll make you run headfirst into a brick wall until you forget your own name." Shikamaru said with an edge to his voice, "Now shut the hell up, take us to the house, and we'll never have to talk to each other again."

So now Idate had both Naruto and Shikamaru in the mood to stomp him out, and there was no one around on the street to help him if he kept spouting off. Feeling that discretion was the better part of valor, not that there was any to be had in this instance, he scoffed and turned to continue walking towards the Wasabi Family living area.

Shikamaru and Naruto simply stood in place, keeping glares trained on Idate's back until they were sure he wasn't going to spout off again. After both locking eyes for a moment and nodding to each other, they continued on and followed him.

That left Ino standing there blinking in a somewhat confused manner, "Wow… those two really got defensive over me." She'd probably clock them over their heads later and say that she didn't need them to defend her and she could have put Idate in check by herself, but for now it felt nice.

Continuing their walk through the night, Team 10 got a good look at the town that would be the center of their activities for the foreseeable future. A vacant lot with a rather large warehouse about to be constructed caught their eye for a moment but they turned away after observing the sight for a few seconds to take in the sight.

If there had been more light or if the moon had even been out that night then they would have been able to read the sign that was marking the site. And there were more than a few other signs like it in other areas of Degarashi Port where property was being bought out or being constructed.

"Coming Soon: A Future Site of Gato Company."

Omake: Training Day

"For the love of…" Kiba said, sitting on the forest floor with Akamaru in his lap as they both looked up at Naruto hanging from a tree branch, "Come on! You've been doing pull-ups for the last twenty minutes! Get your ass down here and spar with me and Akamaru already!"

Naruto didn't drop from the branch though, "I've got to climb a mountain one-handed! I'm not even able to do one-armed pull-ups yet!" He didn't even know how long he'd have to work to get that to happen.

"A mountain?" Kiba repeated incredulously while Akamaru whimpered accordingly, "Why the fuck are you going to climb a mountain? With one arm?"

"I don't know!" Naruto replied, struggling to pull himself up again, "But it's happening!"

"When?"

"I have no idea!"

"Dude, what?"

"That's the problem!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, finally losing his grip on the tree branch and dropping to the ground, "It could happen anytime. It could happen right now." He said, finishing his statement with a grave and serious tone.

"So why don't you just practice?"

That gave Naruto some pause for a moment as he stood and blinked at the dog-taming genin, "What? How? Anything high enough to practice on would kill me when I mess up."

Kiba just grinned in a confident manner and walked over to Naruto to give him a firm pat on the shoulder, "You just let me worry about that chum. Trust me, your old pal Kiba's got your back. I've got the perfect practice spot."

XxX

(A While Later – Hokage Monument)

"Fuck no I'm not climbing this!"

Kiba stared up from the bottom of the Hokage Monument as Naruto stood next to him glaring and growling at him angrily, "Hmm, maybe you're right. We'll hold off on this for now." They'd call this the intermediate course for right now. Definitely not for beginners.

"Damn right we'll hold off on it." Naruto seethed lowly. What was Kiba trying to do? This was still climbing a mountain for all intents and purposes and if he fell from high enough he'd still go splat on the ground below, "Can we work up to this somehow if we're going to be stupid?"

"You mean train doing something less stupid?" Naruto nodded at Kiba's query to his point, "Yeah, okay. Give me a minute, I think I've got another idea. Come on."

XxX

(A While Later – Inuzuka Clan Compound)

"I hate you so much Kiba!" Naruto yelled as he hung off of the side of a rooftop with one arm tied behind his back. Below him there were dozens of Inuzuka dogs (Akamaru among them) barking and jumping up trying to reach him, "Oh man, why did this seem like a good idea when you were explaining it? Call them off already!"

Kiba stood off to the side holding a stopwatch, "It's only been five minutes! I think I could even do that! Tough it out for ten and tell me how you feel then!" He yelled out over the sound of the barking, "If it doesn't hurt then it's not good training!"

At Kiba's side stood a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail, Inuzuka Clan markings on her cheeks, a pair of tight shorts that reached her knees, a flower tattoo on her right arm, a Konoha flak jacket that had no front pockets and was unzipped to expose her bust. Much like her brother she was watching Naruto 'train' with a bemused look on her face as she shook her head, "I really don't know what to do. I'm kind of torn on stopping this."

She wondered what all of the ruckus was when she was sitting in the vet's office that sat on the clan grounds, and she didn't know if she was glad she came outside to see or not. It was a way to kill some time though, watching Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto be stupid had to be a pastime for someone somewhere.

Hearing the girl speak, Kiba gave her a confused look, "What? Hana why would you stop this? It's good training."

"It's dumb training." Hana said with a stern look to her little brother before turning back to Naruto hanging for dear life, "And I'm torn because part of me wants to see him fall for the shock and awe value, and the medic-nin part of me wants to pull his dumbass up before he hurts himself… I think it's in my code to make sure others don't get hurt or something."

"But sis, you're mostly a vet aren't you."

"Hmm…that's a good point Kiba."

Kiba grinned and showed off his sharp canines, "See, I'm not only a genius with training techniques, I'm good with other stuff too. Right Naruto?"

"When I get down from here I'm gonna kick you to sleep!" Naruto yelled out over the barking dogs beneath him before looking down at them, "Shut up already!"

Hana shook her head, wondering exactly why Naruto was a chunin like her. That quick wit he showed on the battlefield during the exams was not front and center here today on the Inuzuka grounds. With that in mind she turned to Kiba with one last thing to say, "You know that when he falls and the dogs turn him into a rawhide mom's going to kick your ass right?"

As a matter of fact, Kiba did not know that. He didn't even think of that. And his mom wasn't even out on a mission today which meant she'd be there any minute, "You're no fun sis." He said as he ambled off to climb the roof and pull Naruto up, "Alright Naruto, I'm getting you out of there…"

"Hurry up damn it!"

"Hey! Even if you did fall, sis is a medic-nin, she'd patch you right up!"

"I'm a vet though!" Hana yelled, cupping her hands to her mouth and grinning in a casual Inuzuka manner as she watched her little brother hoist Naruto up to safety. She let out a sigh when she saw an angry and shell-shocked Naruto start more or less wrestling with Kiba on the rooftop. Eventually they both rolled off of the roof and into the Inuzuka hounds waiting below that did not discriminate between Naruto and Kiba… even Akamaru, "…Looks like I'm patching them right up…" She said as she walked over, whistling sharply to get the dogs off of the two boys.