Chapter 4

"Good job everyone! You three already managed it to walk through the half of the tallest tree in Konoha. And i think Sakura maybe would make it once she had enough stamina and body strength to do it!" Oh, i'm so proud of them.

Yup, today was a good day. Before i met the three of my genin, i had a little trip in road of life. Said road happened to brought me to the Onsen for woman. Even though it was still a little early in the morning, i could hear several woman giggled behind the wall. Ah, must be a fate when i managed to met Jiraiya out of all people...

"So, Jiraiya-sama..."

"Hmm? What is it, my fellow pervert?"

"I don't mean to be rude here, but...why didn't you try to visit Naruto even once? I know you're the one behind the idea to ban any Jinchuuriki talk regarding Naruto after someone leaked his status, and you did talk to some who are on the fence but...why do you avoid to take responsibility for him?"

The man took a deep breath. For the first time from what i've seen around him, the gallant Jiraiya looked dour. "I'll be honest, Kakashi...i always really discouraged by his look alone. He looked so much like Minato and Kushina. But i still hope that in one day that i could meet him like a Grandfather that i'm supposed to be. But then...i met the Raikage and his brother."

"Raikage's brother? What's his importance in your decision?" Hmm. Interesting. B actually made Jiraiya neglected his grandfather duty?

"He's their Jinchuuriki. Eight tail to be exact. B, unlike Naruto, had a family. A brother that he could depend on. Not to mention that he became Jinchuuriki after he already made some friends. But... none of that matter to the villager. They still see him as the monster that locked away inside him, not the boy who became a hero by become its jailer. In fact, he got it even worse than Naruto could ever be. I heard that there were so many assassination attempts against him, including his own former friends." He looked away for a while from his telescope, "If a Kage and the brother of Jinchuuriki couldn't make the hatred go away despite their relation being known, then what a man who only relation is the naming of that child can do?"

"So you feel that even if you're there for him, he'll still be the pariah."

"Yeah. And you know what happened to my previous people. All of them. Not to mention what would happened if someone knew that i took an interest in someone besides a girl, someone that happened to look like Minato... the least i can do, for both of us, is to avoid further harm to him by stay away until he's strong enough. 'Side, Sarutobi never told me any grievous harm done to the gaki. Had it been otherwise, i might already take him to some other small, unimportant village where he can live peacefully with one of my spy."

"Well," I shifted myself to leaned better so i could take off my leg pouch that had bothered me for a while. "I can understand why you avoid him. I myself need to sort myself out after every important people to me die except Tenzo, but...in case you want Naruto to know that he's your non-biological Grandson, i'll let you know that the boy won't hold any grudge. I already told him that i used to be one of the ANBU that protected him, and he immediately called me nii-san whenever we are alone."

Jiraiya smiled. For the first time, it was a sincere one instead of a leer. "Then in case he still wants to kick my ass, is my regular payment to his apartment can convince him otherwise?"

"I think the case's the same with mine...oh, here comes Anko."

"THAT HOT SNAKE LADY? OOOH DADY LIKE IT!"

What the heck. Her boobs were actually even bigger than it looks like? Shit, she's definitely size E! And where did you get invisible bandage wraps anyway? And yet, instead of lust, she made me...

Oh, god. She's an angel.

"Ooh, baby..."

And for some reason, i had the urge to protect her stunning body from anyone else, even if it would make me sound like a...hypocrite.

"Jiraiya-san...enjoy her beauty today, 'cause Anko will be mine..."

Ah, so that's how it felt when the alpha managed to show another alpha that the woman's his only. Sooo proud of myself.

"It's just like you said, sensei! Rest time's really important!"

"That's right, which is why working yourself so hard to the point of exhaustion can be detrimental instead." I dropped the bomb on them.

"Hey, then what's the point of working and training hard that everyone always talking about?!"

"I'm not saying that working hard hardly work. I'm saying that doing hard work in the wrong way can be bad for you. So for example, doing hard training in just one body part everyday won't do any good, maybe you'll atrophied its muscles instead, but doing hard training by changing your focus in body part in every next training will be. In fact, it may helped you to improve stuffs that you're not good enough to be your greatest asset, but can help to make area where you're talented even better."

"Example please, Sensei?"

"For example, is my reserves. I'm very average in chakra reserves, and my sharingan used so much chakra because i'm not an Uchiha, so i getting around it with making myself more resilient in pain with taijutsu training, nullified some of my flaws that could make my ninjutsu's vast repertoire almost worthless. Instead of a merely innovative but weak Chuunin or low Jonin, i became an elite Jounin who's known for knowing one thousands jutsu."

"Hn. So to become better than your potential, you shouldn't train just the part where you're obviously talented, but also parts where you're not as talented but at least can help area where you're talented. I get it."

"So that's why you want me to get much stronger, sensei! What good my control if my physical body's not strong enough, shannaro!"

"Exactly. And who knows, maybe your talents can help you to train your not so talented too! Naruto for example, is obviously untalented now in everything but stamina. But using his insane stamina, he could train much longer than you two, which means that he could become much better sooner than what his current talent expected."

"Eh, i actually get it, but i don't know what to do in my case?" Yeah, obviously the blonde Uzumaki wouldn't get it. He still didn't get it when he came back from training with Jiraiya, and he already matured so much too!

"Should i explain it, or anyone else want to..." No one raised their hand. Okay, pinky and ducky traitors. Explain shit to Naruto's harder potty train toddlers. That guy's really a book idiot. "Okay, Naruto. For you, obviously you have a great amount of chakra and stamina, but to put it lightly, you're more street smart than book smart, and much of what you do are improvisations. So obviously, genjutsu is not going to be your field of expertise. Instead, you need to use it for anything else, like Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, where they're for job that are less subtle. Of course, that means you're not going to be a traditional ninja in sense of stealth. That's the job for your teammates, which's why i teach so many teamwork stuffs to you three. And finally, you have an atrocious control, which would make you an average ninja at best if you couldn't make it at least good enough since some jutsu requires very just amount of chakra in the first place."

"Oh...so, i need to work hard on my control so i can become a great ninjutsu user?" Yeah, we've been forcing to make Naruto trying to think more.

"That's right, and i use this tree exercise because it's the best training for the three of you. It's good for Sakura to make her stronger physically as well as her chakra reserves, for Sasuke it's to expand his stamina and chakra reserves, and for Naruto it's obviously for his control."

"That...sounds more like it's the training where everyone can get improvement from it." Sakura pointed out

"Ah, that reminds me, you promised that you have gifts for us in case that we can make it to the top!"

"Well i think you three have done better than expected, which means that at least i can show you what i'll teach to you three once i consider that you three are good enough to learn the jutsu."

I unleashed a kage bunshin, for my next demonstration.

"First of all, Naruto, you're going to learn this jutsu first." My shadow clone released a rasengan in his hand.

"Whoa, cool."

"It's one of signature jutsu from Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and my teacher."

"WHAT? HE'S YOUR TEACHER? NO WONDER YOU'RE SO AWESOME!"

And your father too, Naruto. If you didn't tell Ebisu about your clan i might already tell you, but seems like i had to wait until at least you're smart enough to capable of lying with straight face. Better this than Orochimaru attempted to capture you so he could squeeze the dominant DNA from you imo. "I believe that Naruto's the most suited for this jutsu thanks to his immense chakra and kagebunshin skill. Myself couldn't get it right until three years of training or so, but kagebunshin can help the perfect spiraling chakra to not going off rail. Alas, only Naruto that could pull a Kagebunshin without tiring themselves."

"How about me? It looks like a jutsu that someone with naturally good control like me can do as well." Sakura objected, which...actually make sense.

"Maybe later once your chakra's as big as mine, but Naruto's already almost as big, and his Uzumaki lineage made his chakra recovers much faster than us, which make his kagebunshin much more useful than just spying device. Not to mention that you two might as well will be on another intense training to the point that you two couldn't learn anything else. Like i said, learning rasengan need years of training for even talented people like me, and unless you're able to spare your time for rasengan training, then don't bother to pursue it." Actually, his chakra recovery's caused by the fox, lol. And how did Naruto couldn't get any information from the bunshin until i point it to him? "And once you're strong enough Naruto, i'll have another training for you, so you can make your own original jutsu from the rasengan."

"I'll make you keep that word, sensei!"

"And now, Sasuke."This time, i did the demonstration by myself. The sound of thousands flying bird came out from my hand as "This's my signature jutsu, raikiri. Almost guaranteed to going through anything but the finest defense or something thicker than a thousand years old tree. Once you gained your sharingan, you'll learn this jutsu's first state, chidori. Without sharingan, you may end up fried your body since you couldn't see where you need to put more control on the chakra that just about to going out of your control. From chidori you can go to this, or another shape that possible. As for Naruto and Sakura, i might develop a similar jutsu like this with much more concentrated and lower chakra usage."

"Ah, it's not fair! Sharingan's so useful for many things!"

"Hn. And i can copy every jutsu with it too. Even if rasengan and taijutsu couldn't be copied by hand signs, i still can see how they're done and make my own version from it."

"Not to mention that it came with a really strong genjutsu too! Sasuke-kun's going to be reaaaaaly awesome!" Ah, i see that Sakura already read part about Doujutsu.

Naruto went to the corner of shame, depressed from thinking about how his quest to become the most awesome shit from Konoha's going to be derailed by the sharinghax. "Hey, hey, Naruto. If you learn and make some super duper really awesome jutsu, even the most awesome Uchiha couldn't copy it right away. They need to learn it like everyone else."

"Okay! I'll make some really cool ninjutsu that no one can copy but myself!"

"Like you can do it in the first place."

"Shut up, teme! I'll make you eat those words!"

"Guys, please. We still need to do mission today." Reluctantly, the two rivals backed off. "And finally, Sakura, this's the signature taijutsu skill from Senju Tsunade. Most of people with naturally refined chakra controls learn jutsu that have function in support than direct fighting, such as medic jutsu and genjutsu, but this's an exception. I copied it when she went to train with Jiraiya, and i'll tell you that Jiraiya the Sannin himself's scared by this jutsu."

"What? You know the sannin?" Sakura asked to me.

"Actually, i...met him when i wanted to get a signature for my Icha-Icha book, but i met Jiraiya when he dodging an angry Tsunade-sama instead. This's what she did to one of the boulder." Before Naruto and Sakura's pervert sense make them screaming in my ears for being such a pervert, i already did a quick demonstration for my pupils. My bunshin punched a human-sized rock, which went flying for at least 20 yards before shattered into rubble. Said bunshin immediately dispelled.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Naruto after the twenty seconds of silence.

"Sannin happened."I deadpanned. "So basically, i enhanced my power with such a finely concentrated chakra that the stone went flying like a football. Unfortunately for me, that taijutsuninjutsu skill really only work for ninja with very refined control. Without it, i will destroy my own body with just some few usage. You see that bunshin? It still had some chakra, but the impact from its punch also put it in enough self-harm to dispel it, so i can't use it for my own usual repertoire. Sakura, on the other hand, is a natural in chakra control, so she can use it without any real harm to her body, but you needs to become strong enough to do it in the first place, Sakura. So promise me to become truly stronger"

"Hai, Sensei."

"Now...let's get to the next mission." Everybody groaned at the thought of doing the lamest chores out there. "Guys, we have been doing good. Keep it up and we'll be guarding royalty in no time."

They still grumbled.

-naruto-

Well the mission didn't end well.

Even though it was just a grocery mission for an old woman.

It went smooth initially, good in fact. Naruto's anxiety about the fact that our mission was to guard someone from the village turned out to be just an alarm since the old lady happened to be one of the villagers that never saw anything bad from Naruto. The woman seemed to hold Naruto in high pedestal too, which surprised Naruto who claimed he never saw her before. Maybe perhaps she's scared by the prosecution for people who cared for him.

Unfortunately, we also met a very unpleasant man who obviously hate Naruto a bit more than the rest of the villagers.

Since i always felt that overplayed drama felt like car crashes: shitty events that i couldn't take my eyes off them, and Naruto gets called as demon counted as one to me, i'll tell you the only unique thing about the threats from this person. He threatened Naruto, to make his Ninja career never proceed. He'll make sure that he'll never get promoted, respected, or even got any friends at all. Hell, he would make sure that he would get booted out of the Ninja program with any single slight he made. And worst of all? This man was smart enough to avoid the use of the monster, fox and everything else that would get him reprimanded by ANBU, so his brain's at least half-decent enough to deliver his threats.

But overall, he's nothing but a smug snake that should've know his place under the gaze of the copy-cat nin. Ha, cha!

And just when i'm about to make him needs to apply cold water to the burnt area (in more way than just the slang), surprisingly my other cute little genins came to the defense of Naruto first.

"I don't know about Naruto that much to the point i know why you hate him this much, but i can tell you that my parents used to hate him as well." The smirk that he gained gone in a swift after Sakura's next line. "But now, he gained their respect, enough to the point they said i can invite him to my house. So why can't you give him another chance, like my parents did? Why do you have to be so...hateful?"

"Hn. Can't believe i'll say this too, but Naruto's used to be a deadlast in the class. And yet, he kept managing to get behind me in training. I don't see anything resemble a monstrous, trash human being that you see from him. I'm seeing a fellow ninja, a hardworker who deserve his status as a shinobi of Konoha. And you want to make him suffer for no reason but your unreasonable hatred? Over my dead body. Now get out of here before i tell Hokage about your plan to defame my teammate."

Knowing he had nothing to fall on, the asshole decided to move out of the way. But his pride still firm, as he threatened everybody here that he's not over by a long shot.

Glad that was over.

"Th...thank you, guys." Naruto thanked his teammates, unusually solemn in his tone.

"Don't mention it, Naruto. I'm just very...upset with that man. Never i see someone with so much hatred before. Goodness, it's like every words from him feel like poison."

"Ah, it's so good to see you grow up so much, Naruto-kun." The old lady that had been in sideline now spoke up. "You know, there are people who don't hate you, but still think that you're nothing but a fool that's no good. Even my stance is less of you're going to be awesome and more let's give the kid a chance. To see the top student like Sasuke here praised you show how hard you have worked to improve yourself, and as everybody know, Uchiha is one of the prestigious clan that say so few words, and even fewer praises. I'm proud of you, kiddo. It's a pity that prick didn't see it the same way like anyone else do."

"Ehehe, thanks, granny."

"In honestly, ma'am, he's still a fool. He's just a hardworking, honest fool." The Uchiha, of course, had to still act like a jerk beneath his compassion.

"Hey!"

"Yes, i can see how Naruto-kun here still lacking tacts, hohoho!"

"Granny, not you too..."

"Ah, i'm so glad that you three finally manifested the teamwork of fire!" I took this chance to hug Sakura and Sasuke in one grab and cuddled to them. I ignored Sasuke's growls and Sakura's weak squeal from incidentally feeling up her idol's soft cheeks and hair. "You two already came to the defense of our village's pariah, and i don't even need to step in to wreck that guy's smug smile!"

"...You really waited for the opportunity to do this, weren't you?"

"Maa, Sasuke-chan, you have so little trust in your teacher." I ignored the grumbled from the Last Uchiha, or the Haruno that fell into the ground from the feeling of her Sasuke-kun rubbed against her, and instead used it to announce something else. "I guess soon after we finished this we're going to celebrate and-"

"T...team 7, wait!"

Huh? Hinata-chan? With scars around her coat?

"Eh, what's wrong, Hinata-chan?"

"I, um, uh...i need your help!"

"Those scars..." They were all small and unthreatening, without any sign of poison or metal substance, so there's no way they came from an enemy claw. I winced at the idea of finally facing That thing. "Tora?"

"Y...yes?"

"You already know Tora, sensei?"

"It's the Daimyo's Wife cat." I wiped some cold sweats that appeared from the prospect of finally facing the cat. "It often run away from its cage whenever she went to some village, including here. And it's one of the most disliked D-Rank mission, only surpassed by any missions where we went to collect manure."

"I can agree with that." Sakura mumbled her agreement about the hatred for any missions involving literal shit. She then continued to ask Hinata, "Does Madam Shijimi needs to get out the village in a hurry for you to approach us for help, Hinata-chan?"

"T...that's not the reason. The cat ha-has been acting e-era-erratically. We...we are the best choice due-due, due to our tracking abilities, a-and we already ca-caught him twice before, but-but..."

"Hn. I think with Kiba off the line, actually catching him instead of tracking him just gotten far more difficult."

"It's not just that." Ah, here comes the Aburame. Who knew that the Batman of Naruto would became a butt of humiliations when he became a teacher? Imagine Bruce Wayne went crazy from handling Jonathan and Damian? "Akamaru's really essential for catching him, but we still can use my bugs to trap her. But for some reasons, Tora knows where to avoid the traps and bugs. It's almost like her senses had been increased dramatically to the point that it can detect even the presence of familiar chakra." Dear lord. Tora the SuperCat? Kami, what did i do to deserve this...

Now that you mentioned it, how on earth Tora became super cat in the first place?

Somewhere else in Konoha...

"Uuuh...that's the last time i'll check about the true value of thicc woman. Around my age at least. Damn Shijimi-sama..."

Jiraiya rubbed his very, very sore...head (get your mind out of the gutter, it's the literal head, not the other one). Never he was so horrified before by woman body. Here he thought that Madam Shijimi, Daimyo's Wife was just an overweight woman who happened to wore one of the worst make-up, but it actually did a good job in hiding her wrinkles everywhere. And her body...well, she happened to be one of the fat people who had scars from the widening of their skin, and let's just say that Jiraiya never saw so many of them before.

"Man, i knew she used to be even fatter before, but i never realized she really was that fat to make so much...argh, nevermind! Think about Tsunade and Anko boobies, yeah...that's more like it..."

After 10 minutes of calming the calamity inside his mind that resulted in an enjoyable loss of blood from his nostrils, Jiraiya finally get up and began to collect his stuffs together. He had to go to check his spy connection after all. The onsen in Konoha was just a little detour. A supposedly good detour that turned out to be a disaster in the end.

"Huh...where's that super sense seal? Darn it, i need it for spy work at that super dark cave! I worked so hard to perfected it!"

Meanwhile with our heroes...

Somehow, i felt this was all Jiraiya's fault...

"S...so our best chance would be to g-get help from unfa-familiar pe-pe-people..."

"Maa. We'll help..." Of course, my action didn't back me up as i walked back to somewhere else. Super Tora, really? Screw you, D-Rank Missions! And stop staring, everyone else! I have the perfect explanation for why i had to let my genin work without my guidance! "I'll tell Madam Shijimi first about what happened to Tora and..."

"I already told her there's a seal on Tora, so you don't need to do it."

Damn. The rookie Jonin here actually knew a bit about sealing. "Kurenai, do you have any idea on how you just cut down my preparation time to get ready for the inevitable?"

"It's just a cat, Kakashi." Kurenai retorted. Bah, even Shino the Stoic here looks scared! Kurenai, i questioned your ability to look on the underneath if you couldn't even see how evil that cat is.

"The most aggressive cat in history of feline that happened to get its senses accelerated. Yeah, it's just a cat. And besides, we still need to take Mrs. Shizuka home."

"Ah, actually we're already almost at my home."

Damn. Not you too, old woman. The one time i wanted to bank on my irresponsible attitude... "Surely, ma'am? If i recall correctly, we're still two blocks away..."

"No. The cat's more important." Said the usually warm old lady with a firm conviction. Was the cat really that important? "The least thing i wanted, is to have that wife of our Daimyo whining in our monthly woman meeting. So just between me and you, if you couldn't get the cat without harming it, then make sure that it needs to be hospitalized for so long she'll do nothing but grieving, and grieving in her palace. Now excuse me, boys and girls..."

We could only look at her as she went away after she grabbed the groceries from Naruto and Sakura.

"This part'll be off-record in our monthly mission review."

"Agree, sensei." Everyone said in unison.

-naruto-

"AH, I WAS SO WORRIED, TORA-CHAN!"

"MEEEEOOOOOOW!"

"You deserve that, evil kitty."

"No wonder it run away so often."

"Now, Kurenai and Kakashi, i'm glad that the mission ended successfully, but may i ask you for why you smell like an unwashed cat litter box?"

I sighed as the memory of keep losing that cat popped out. Thanks, Iruka. "Well, it turned out that Tora stepped on a seal not too long ago that also heightened its senses." Hokage and Iruka just blinked at me, while Kurenai motioned to Hinata to explain everything as a way to increase her bravery.

"W-well we p-picked help from Ka-ka-kakashi-sensei b-because they n-never picked this m-mission before, but it tu-turned out that Tora a-already p-paranoid to a-anything s-smelled like human, and when Na-Na-Naru-kun-UPS!" Hinata devolved into a stuttering mess after she accidentally gave Naruto a pet name. Wonderful, his little love life just grew weirder.

And somehow, my blonde idiot still didn't caught her attention, despite Hinata looked like the cutest thing in planet Earth at this moment.

"So what happened here's that Naruto fell into Tora's shit, and Kakashi found that Tora caught up Naruto's smell a little worse than before, so we got the idea to disguise our smell with cat odors." Kurenai had the decency to take over from her student before she passed out from overheated by the shame.

"And i already neutralized the seal, so it's all good for now."

"You have the seal memorized, Kakashi?" I nodded. "Very well. I guess i have to say congratulation for all of you genin for finishing your first C-Rank Mission!"

Surprisingly (or not), none of them looked excited at the fact that they just finished a C-Rank mission.

"Eh? That bullshit was C-Rank?"

"Now, now, Naruto. Not everyday you get to catch a cat that became supercat due to some seals." He raised his hand at Naruto while taking some papers from the mission box. "The next missions, hmm...asking post office about the whereabouts of package for Kotetsu, babysitting Homura's grandson that want to go fishing, reviewing letters for Danzo..."

"No, no! Anything but doing chores for village elders! Especially anything involved Danzo The Grouch! Give us something good for once old man!"

"Idiot! Show respect to your elders, Naruto! And everyone else, stop snickering!"

Can't help it, you baka Iruka. Danzo's never liked that well around here. We knew he never blamed anyone for their failures, but he would place his failures on other instead, like blaming Sarutobi and other elders for weakening Shinobi council when he was the one who suggested that shinobi couldn't do economy in the first place. And that's not even counting the catastrophic failures he made around Konoha...

After a little review on the rules they set for missions, and another whining from Naruto, Sarutobi and Iruka had change of heart.

"Haha. Very well then. I think all of you, including Team Kurenai, deserve a real C-Rank mission."

"Yay!"

"Woohoo!"

"Hn."

"Good enough for me."

"A-are we really, Hokage-sama?"

"Now, for Team 8, you're going to deliver ration package to the Wave country for some covert Mist Ninja. It's a C-Rank because you need to be really covert here since there are rebels around the area of delivery. As for Kakashi, you guys are going to protect someone."

"Who is it? A princess, or Madam Shijimi herself?"

"Maybe it's an actress that need to get out from bad contract?" Everybody looked at Shino like he just grew a tail. "What? I like to speculate."

"Oh, how about a couple that needs to elope from their hostile family! How romantic, like a story i read a year ago!"

"I thought the couple died in the story because they're poor kids that got caught in crossfire between their stupid family because they made naive and stupid decisions, Sakura-chan? I don't think that's, eh, good romance story for one?" That's it, i'm pretty much convinced that this was an alternate continuity. There's no way Naruto's really that pop-culturally savvy.

"Calm down everyone, let me introduce the man." Said Hokage while Naruto squirmed from Sakura's stare.

Here comes the drunkard, ladies and gentlemen.

"What is this? This's the guards i'll get? Bunches of brats, with the most stupid looking shrimp i ever see! Are all of you really ninja, huh?"

"Eh, who's the shrimp here, hehehe?"

Needless to say, Naruto was not amused when he found out that he's the stupid shrimp.

"I'm gonna KILL YOU!"

"No, no, Naruto. We can't kill the man who give us the mission. And sir, did you not see me here? How rude." I asked the bridge master as i held Naruto back with his collar.

"Oh, sorry about that! Yeah, thought you were for other kind of mission, hehehe."

"Everyone, this's Tazuna the...Great Bridge Builder. Really, you put that as your full name?"

"Well my employer need to know that they're protecting an important man here!"

"For a C-Rank."

Tazuna sweated heavily at the statement from Hokage. "Well yeah, it's a regional slang, hehe."

"Yeah, you put that as your real name, despite the fact it's obviously nickname."

Okay, i'll put end to this steamed nonsense while the bridge builder's still stammering for a decent answer. "Okay Tazuna-san, don't worry. We're going to make sure that your ninja attack-less journey, is going to be as safe as possible!"

Well, i knew one thing: Tazuna was a bad liar. Look at all those sweats. I just hoped that one of my genin will picked it up so i'd have someone else to keep eye on the road so the poison thing won't happened again.

"Yeah, hehe. Glad that i could get guards after some dealing with my suppliers, hehe."

"Okay guys, we have to prepare for tomorrow. While i'm talking with Madam Shijimi, go talk with Kurenai-sensei, Hinata and Shino since we might be walking together with them on the mission for a while. Also, we're going to have some spar with them soon after we finished the mission, so...get friendly with them!"

Oh, yeah. I'll end this nightmare for every genin and their teachers once and for all.

"So madam, i think i have solution for Tora so it won't run away as often."

"Ah, finally someone know how to handle my poor little kitty. As expected from the son of White Fang!" Good thing that i managed to restore my father's name with all recognition from my achievements. Helped by the fact that his teammates turned out to be hypocritical crooks as well. They were the reason for why his name got muddied almost universally in the first place.

"Well, you can start by showing affection that's more than hugging it to death."

"But Tora-chan likes it!" She said as she hugged it to oblivion, making the cat howling for mercy once again.

"Madam, cats are solitary creatures. As much as it likes being hugged, there are times that it wished to have some adventure by herself." I tried to sugarcoat the fact that Tora didn't like being squashed like a bug everytime. Hell, everyone were creeped by the super hug.

"Oh. So, i need to leave Tora alone sometimes, wandering alone in the wild?" I nodded. "But what about her safety?"

"If you want to keep her safe, you can get someone to keep their eyes on her somewhere from the distance, let it loose on your garden instead, or put some papers with unique seal tracking. Also, if you want to pet it, you can do more than smooching and hugging her so she won't get as bored from the repetitiveness. You can, playing with her fur, or head and neck..." Actually, that was to make her overall affection less...creepy so Tora won't run away as often.

"I'll try it now." The Wife of Daimyo now playing with Tora's fine fur. For a while, the cat purred as if she was in heaven, forgotten her dislike toward the madam for a little moment. "Hmm. She looked more relaxed than she has been for months. Thanks, Kakashi. I'll take your advice."

"No problem, madam."

"Now Tora, we'll have so much fun time in the palace..." Said Madam Shijimi as she snuggled into her pet even worse than before. The cat now tried her best to bore a hole into my head, promised grievous harm upon me and the death for my soul after it left my body. Dear, what have i done. I have failed you, oh the royal kitty.

"Request to be blacklisted from Tora missions, sir?"

"Denied."

"Damn it."

"Anyway Kakashi, i have some stuffs to tell you." Said Hokage as he mentioned me to go to his office. Huh. Interesting.

We shunshined to the Hokage desk, alone without any eyes and ears seeking and hearing us. "We already know that Konoha, especially me ruled with kindness. I have been giving people chances to prove that they're not the monster other see them as, even when their problems already appear long before they got labelled as society freaks. Some like Ibiki, succeed. Some like Orochimaru...did not."

"Sir, i do not follow..."

"Let me just say that you really impressed me with what you did to Naruto and his team." Sarutobi-san put even more seals of suppression in his office. Now it's all definitely nothing but me and him. "You have did everything to him to make sure that Naruto'll become happier without jeopardizing his safety to other village. You told him about your former ANBU job, you spoke to some of the more intelligent civilians to ensure them he's not a threat, you show him places that accepted him. My only concern was when you told him he's an Uzumaki, which could bring disaster if people know about it, but it actually taught him about secrecy as well, not to mention that most thought Uzumakis are red-haired so he'll be safe. And that's not taking the bonds you make with Sakura and Sasuke. You make a very good teacher, and not just as Jounin that's primarily teaching about how to do teamwork to make the best of their genin's abilities, even with people from other teams. You are a teacher who want to be there for them."

"Thank you sir. And that part about teaching Naruto is correct, although i thought he'd not tell about it since he had been very quiet about the fox. And in all honesty, ninja always expected to learn from many, not just one teacher. In the current Jounin batch, it's almost definitely that they will learn from their clans. Had Kurenai and Asuma got civilian genins, they'll do the same with me. We know what Gai did to his two other genins from non-Hyuuga. He trained them more than Neji."

"Kyuubi has been too much of a shock for him, and even the most stupid person know that talking about it is to anyone a big no. And just like i said, you did a very good job, and i don't want to hear your reasoning for why you haven't. You show some great insight and initiative, and that's all that matter. And, all these surprising wisdom moments from you make me believe that you're my best confidant in this matter."

That was...quiet of a shock for me. "What would you tell, and want from me Hokage-sama?"

"I...have relegated some of...shadier dealing from the village to other man. I can't help it, Kakashi. Even some of our supposed saints like Sakumo and Minato had killed many without second thought just to survive. I'm glad we don't have to do that again with no more war, but there are so many deals happened behind our back that i only know faintly at best." Hokage blew a smoke from his pipe, looked more solemn that ever. I did not say anything to him. "And frankly, few of them were done for selfless gain, most of them were to prove something at least. I'll tell you this, Kakashi, there are two people here that are truly enigmatic. I trust them to do everything for the village, and yet, i can't help but to think that they have done terrible mistakes in making sure of our safety, and sooner or later one of their schemes will backfire on us. One of it was my old friend, Shimura Danzo. And the other...is our certain traitor who have killed nearly his own clan whole to save the village."

I did my best to looked shocked. "I...Itachi killed his clan because it was a necessary thing to do?"

"And frankly, it might be. There were... distrusts everywhere between Uchiha and the village. For some reasons, high-rank people thought they had hands with the Kyuubi incident. There were plans for the coup from them that would weaken us at best and made people from Iwa, Suna and Kiri going to take advantage of it at worst. The elders decided that the only possible way to prevent the worst outcome...is to kill everyone in the clan. I refused at first, believed there were still other choices. I may have been able to defuse it for a while and rebuild their trust, or at least got some of the neutral or non-sharingan Uchiha away before Itachi assassinated everyone. But the deed was done, and the village stayed safe at the cost of one of our founding clan. But then, i found this from one of the burial site yesterday."

I looked into the document, and gasped, this time very genuine. "D...Danzo planned Itachi to died in the mission and picked the rest of Uchiha?" Indeed, the letter was a telling about how he did not expect Itachi to survive at all.

"Yes. The Mangekyo supposed to corrode your physical body, turned you blind. And there were simply too many Uchiha, so Danzo thought he sent Itachi to his own death sentence as well. It just happened that Itachi's gain of strength after he awakened his Mangekyo was simply unprecedented to the point that he survived without a scratch." He slightly chuckled at the...gross miscalculation from his friend. "And two years later, Itachi contacted me for the first time after his final report about the coup plans. Danzo did not say anything, but i could tell that he decided to let Itachi off the hook...for now. This matter put his hawkish behavior on the worse term than ever, for it showed that Danzo just couldn't trust anyone no matter how faithful they are. Such a man, in my experience, would make many enemies, create troubles, and put people in harm since he decided that many things that should be harmless as loose ends that need to be burned. No matter how loyal he is to the village, he definitely created troubles that just don't worth it."

Damn. So this universe Danzo's even more vicious. "Well i can see for why you can't trust your old friend anymore sir, but what about Itachi? He seemed to put his loyalty in the right place."

"Indeed, but he often keep many of his thoughts to himself. And based from what he did to Sasuke...i think he definitely had something in his mind. Something that he thought only he could pull off, or ward off. And frankly, as powerful as he is now, there's no way that he could succeed without a hitch in his plan. We already know what happened with Minato's plan to make Naruto hailed as our hero, and whatever this hidden matter is can be even worse than that. That matter put him as much of asset as he is a liability for us."

Indeed, the Shisui's genjutsu ended up made him took it instead of Sasuke. He never accounted other crazy shit happened, like Kabuto became chimera sort of shenanigans. "With all this talk, i think it's time to tell you about my recent findings in the compound."

"Oh?" Hokage-sama looks intrigued now. Good, there were no suspicions. "Why did you tell me this only now?"

"I thought i needed something more to convince you more, sir, but with this talk...well, you honored me with your trust. And it also make me realize that it's time to tell everything, with you have faith in me."

"So tell me what's this interesting stuff then." Hokage ordered me to.

"Several weeks ago, i cleaned up Uchiha's compound with Sasuke to honored it. One of my clone found something that we consider as unusual. It was peeled off skins, splattered with dry blood. Those skins have textures like plants, and yet humanoid enough to pass as us."

"Fascinating. Could it be the power from his Mangekyo?"

"Or it could be from his help outside."

Sarutobi-sama had a horrified look as he realized what i suggested here. "Kakashi, if you really insinuated that..."

"That means there's someone that want Uchihas to be dead, so they decided to help Itachi in his quest, and they could be still alive somewhere."

Hokage sat on his seat, did not even able to look me in the eyes. But i knew that he was petrified, his mind possibly went to overdrive now. "If there's really a stranger outside that took advantage of the Uchiha situation, then this massacre's not only unconstitutional, but it also could doomed us in the later time."

"Of course, maybe Itachi has taken care of them all too." Just try to be a little speculative here, even if i already knew he still hasn't.

"Either way, it's far worse than i could think of. That mean someone strong enough out there exist and already compromised our defense to... Kakashi, i will give you my intelligence regarding some of the most suspicious people in this village that may have relation with other villages, and you're going to investigate them after your mission to the Wave. They may not related to Danzo or Itachi right now, but we still can't allow us to be trapped inside dangerous situation again."

"ANBU style, or just a curious shinobi sniffing around?"

"I'd prefer for you to find ways to have business with them, but that's all up to you." Said Hokage as he gave me the list.

Oh, sweet. One of it was Kabuto. For doing Jounin-level medical jutsu. Low concern, but still. "I'll do my best sir."

"So, uh...is Naruto really just as stupid as his performance in academy said, or he's actually smart and just got derailed by any...mistreatments from the teachers.

"Well, he sometimes surprisingly smart in ambushes, his chakra control's probably shot due to Kyuubi, and he definitely likes to think out of the box, but he has very short temper and attention span, loud, brash, and i'm afraid that he's barely literate with Kanji."

Hiruzen sighed out loudly as the implication that even with proper care, he would still be as stupid as average young Uzumaki. "Naruto, if only you're half as wise and smart as your father, i would've told you about your heritage 4 years ago..."

"Well he also blurted out about his Uzumaki clan in front of Ichiraku. I think we'll need to wait until he's a little bit...mature before we say anything else to him."

"Fine. Just tell me when you think he's ready to receive everything."

"Yes sir."

-naruto-

"Well, anything interesting to talk about from your conversation with Team 8, guys?"

"Kurenai-san wants to join us in the trip to Wave since we're going on similar path until certain point."

"And for some reasons, eh, Shino asked Naruto if he could still recognize him if he's gone for a long time. Now he looked sour as hell since the idiot here said no."

"Hey, he's even more quieter than you, teme! Why would anyone recognize him if he act like that, with the coat and all?"

"...Isn't the hood would make him more outstanding even more if anything?"

"Agree, Sasuke-kun! Shino's very quiet, but he's actually rather easy to be recognized with the hood. The only way for us to not even get reminded by him, is to either have a memory lapse, or by being a moron!"

Naruto sulked in the corner over being implicated as an idiot by his crush. Well, had to break the ice before he sulked for the rest of the day.

"Now everyone, we need to prepare for our first C-Rank mission. While there will be no hostile ninja encounter, there might be a random chance for us to meet some ninja in our journey, so i'd suggest to you to prepare for the worst."

"Sensei, pardon me but wasn't there's no Ninja from Wave?"

"Ah, i see that you've read some geography books. Yes, Sakura, there are no Ninjas from the Wave, but Wave's located on the border between Fire and Water, so there might be some random hunter from some hidden village from Water country on our way." As Sakura shivered, i put my hand on her shoulder to ease her up. "Don't worry. I'll do my best to make sure that at least you guys don't need to fight the big fish."

"Hai."

"Okay, now everything settled down. Go to your house, make sure you have everything on the list that i make, and rest for the night. If you need something, go to Ichiraku at 8 PM."

"So it's more like 9 PM, sensei?"

"Har, har. You know my routine so well, Sakura-chan."

Everyone were dismissed...except for my little bro, who had been scheming for a little while.

"Now where did i put that super instant ramen that will grow with just a splash, hehehe..."

"Ototou, don't prank our client."

"Kakashi-niichan, don't you see it? That guy called me a shrimp. A stupid shrimp!"

"I know. You're an Uzumaki. Most of them look stupid in their youth."

"And how dare he called me that just because i'm happened to be little shorter than even Hinata!"

"Now, now, Naruto. I don't think he has the best attitude myself, but frankly we still need to do our job regardless of how much our client act like an ass. You can do many things to prove him wrong, pranks included but it's not necessarily the best path. One of it is to show that you're an awesome ninja by doing a very fine job for him." Before that loud disagreement came out from his mouth, i added to him. "Also if he's proven to do illegal things like lied to us, you have my go to make his life a hell as much as you can."

The foxy grin showed me that he agreed with my plan.

-naruto-

third person point of view that night...

Sakura and Naruto looked at the three bunshins in front of them, and blinked.

"Sasuke's not coming here?"

"Eh, i don't know. But i have a better question: why's Kakashi using his bunshin to meet us?" Naruto asked to one of the three bunshin.

"Oh, the boss has a date at Ichiraku." The bunshin pointed to the stool where the real Kakashi sat, next to a fair looking woman with purple hair.

"Really? We're going to a mission and sensei used his time for a date with a pretty lady instead?"

"Was his girlfriend the reason for why he's late so often?" Sakura added her thought, before squealed. "That's so romantic! I can forgive him if he's late for that reason."

"Eh, the lateness is more because of other errands, but i think we should be going."

"Yeah, but who's going to wait for Sasuke in case he would come?"

"Me? No way, man. This night's cold."

"Neither do i. I don't want to be blamed for ruining boss's date because the Uchiha decided to be bossy to me."

"I want to spend time with Naruto, so nay. And you, sir" He pointed to the first clone that raised his concern "Have no real reason, so you should stay."

"What? Oh, come on man! You're the one to talk, have selfish purpose and all!"

As the three began to argue regarding who's going to wait for the avenger, Naruto could only stand around like an idiot while Sakura facepalmed. Seemed like everything would went even longer than they thought.

-naruto-

"Hmm...have i said that you smell good today, Anko-chan?" I asked her after i finished my ramen. Well it was delicious and cheap. No wonder Naruto got addicted to it.

"Nope." She said as she snuggled onto me. Ah, this is life. "You're not a bad date yourself, mister."

"Everything went better than expected tonight."

"Who would've know that Gai would turn out to be the best wingman for us?"

Well that part was more unintentional from him. We were getting pestered by our friends; Kurenai, Asuma, Tenzo, even Ibiki. They were, to put it lightly, too interested in our love life and keep asking questions and in general being louder than Naruto, turned our date into an uncomfortable one. Perhaps the shock of having me, the distant scarecrow, dating a crazy snake lady's too much for them.

And then, the Green Beast manifested itself from below 100 yards, shouted that he just sensed the biggest source of youth in the last ten years of his life, even more than when he found Lee. Our pesky friends realized that no one deserved to have their date ruined by the appearance of that sunset genjutsu, and all four of them bolted off to meet Gai. Well, more like holding Gai off. For the next hour, everything went better than expected.

Yeah, still couldn't believe that Gai saved our date.

"You know...you never told me why you want to date me out of sudden."

"Well you're gorgeous and sexy. You always call yourself that in every Chuunin exams, and i very much agreed."

"So does many kunoichi here. And yet you prefer to read that smut instead of dating any of us before." Ah, so she took interest in me before. Hohoho.

"Well this adult literature contain good plots. Real good plots. And you may don't know this, but i once saved a princess from a trio missing-nin and make a one-night stand with her, all while reading the Icha-Icha. Surprisingly, most of the scenes translate well to real practice, including the moans, the sweats, and the climaxes"

Anko stared at me harshly, all the while flabbergasted at hearing that lewd phrases. "I do not need to hear that."

"I call the shot here, my lady. And you're going to hear something like that more often so you'll approve the smut."

"You ass." Said Anko who tried to get up, but i held her down while patted her hair affectionately. The girl hesitated to break my hold before i breathed on her ear, caused her to purr before finally snuggled back again. "I know you'll like it."

"Mister, if you took that from a page from Icha-Icha..."

"Nope. It's my original move, my lady." I said as i firmed my hug. Ah, why didn't i thought of this sooner?

And yes, Teuchi-san and Ayame. Go away, don't look at our dating so your face won't explode from embarrassment. Go make some more ramen, shoo shoo.

"I can't believe i would say that it's a nice date to a pervert."

"Well this pervert always try to be a gentleman for his dates, especially one that he took great interest to." I said as i could feel her blush from my cheek as i was the one who rested on her shoulder this time.

"AH, THERE YOU ARE!"

Oh, god.

Why's Jiraiya here?

"Me?"

"Yes, Kakashi! Give me that super sense seal back! I need that for...hey, Anko-chan!" Oh, boy. Here comes that lecherous man.

"Hmph." Good, ignore that pervert, Anko.

"I must say that even bounded and shielded with illusion, your mounds are still quiet of a sight to see, hehehe."

"What? How did you know that i used genjutsu to make my boobs smaller?" Oh, boy. Out of all thing, that took her interest?

"Well first of all i'm a Sannin. Second, one of my fellow sannin, Tsunade-hime used genjutsu to make it bigger than ever-not that i'm complaining- and third, my recent research showed me the differences! Come on, Kakashi. Back me up on this one!"

Jiraiya, i'm gonna kill you sooner or later.

I slowly looked at her furious face, tried to be as calm as possible. I finally said, "Um, part of the reason for why i took you on a date was because i did not have lecherous thoughts on you despite a direct sight on your lovely breasts, and i took that as possible love. Also, i threatened Jiraiya here to never peep on you ever again because i'll make you mine. I think that was a win for us both."

She still growled. Oh man. I hope at least once she calmed down she'll appreciate what i said and did.

Damn it woman, you're going to make me late again.