Chapter 57: Back in Konoha

Naruto sighed for the umpteenth time this day.

Sasuke growled at Naruto and glared at him "Ok you're starting to get on my nerves now, I can't concentrate on using shunshin if you keep sighing behind me, so either tell us what happened or shut up!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto.

Guy laughed at them while Shino merely shook his head, he himself was already missing Fu so he could tell why Naruto was sighing, his father had asked him the same question after all, albeit much more sedately.

Naruto sighed again "Don't worry Sasuke you wouldn't get it." Naruto said as he looked at Shino, now understanding Shino's pain much better.

Sasuke growled once more but decided to ignore the three idiots behind him and focused on sparing his stamina, they still had quite a bit to run after all.

Team 9 had spent a few more days in Suna but had to leave as this was the only time they were given off from missions, since they were Chunin now they had to do some training about how to deal with higher-level customers and how to properly act on missions, the ninja of a village represented the village, if they were rowdy and couldn't control their emotions on a mission it would reflect poorly on said village.

They traveled at high-Chunin speeds for a while before they had to slow down to normal Chunin speeds, the distance between Suna and Konoha was around 3 thousand kilometers and they could easily make the journey in 3 or 4 days depending on how much rest they had, with Naruto taking guard duty each night the rest of the team could get proper rest and made traveling easier.

Unfortunately, they didn't encounter any idiotic bandits on their way home so they had quite a boring journey back to Konoha.

The large wooden walls that surrounded Konoha appeared in their view, the Hokage Mountain visible even from kilometers away from the village, they rapidly approached and were only stopped by a Chunin guard to check in to the list of returned ninja, that was something that they kept so that it was easy to track if someone deserted, died on a mission or had gone missing.

Naruto sighed loudly as he looked at Konoha "Finally home sweet home!" he said to the rest of his team.

Sasuke nodded, while his family had been there for the tournament and for 1 day afterward he did quite miss them, Shino simply smiled under his high collar and nodded at them.

Guy grinned brightly illuminating the street they were standing in "Well my students, it seems our days as an official team are now over, at most we will be put together on a few missions but don't count on it, it all depends on what Hokage-sama decides, we may even be kept as an assault team but the chances are low."

This seemed to bring the mood between the three boys down a notch but they were already prepared to split up, it didn't really matter as they would still get to meet outside of missions.

Guy smiled at them once more "On a more positive note I am quite certain of your chances of being promoted, Hokage-sama instructed me to bring you guys to him as soon as we got back so let's get going!" Guy shouted and ran towards the Hokage's office.

The three boys all shook their heads and ran after their teacher, after a short run they quickly arrived in front of the Hokage.

Hiruzen looked at the team that stood in front of him, it was quite possibly the best team he had ever seen, most likely better than what his own had been, he had no doubts that the three young men standing in front of him would surpass him, the sannin and quite possibly the first Hokage as well, from what he had seen until now it was a very likely possibility.

Hiruzen then observed them one by one.

He started off with quite possibly his favorite of the three, Naruto, the boy stood at 175 centimeters tall, very tall for an average 12-year-old, Naruto was easily the strongest out of the three, there was no denying it, being a Jinchuriki and being the new owner of Samehada made him an extremely dangerous opponent for anyone, his outfit was fitting for a ninja, dark colors with a bit of red mixed in, his eyes held what Hiruzen was truly looking for though, the experience and judgment needed to become a Chunin was present within Naruto.

Hiruzen then looked at Sasuke, he would be lying if he said that he had mistrusted the Uchiha clan for quite a while but Naruto had helped him realize his wrongdoings, and this boy just cemented his current opinion of the Uchiha, the Uchiha was called the clan of hate but just as they could hold hate for others they could hold love as well, present in Itachi and Sasuke, Sasuke was a fair bit shorter than Naruto standing at 164 centimeters but still a bit taller than the average, he didn't hold any weapon specifically but he had heard from Fugaku that the boy had taken up learning Kenjutsu so he expected to see the boy walking around with a sword of his own soon, he was dressed in mostly black and purple, and similarly to Naruto, he held eyes that were experienced enough to become a Chunin.

Finally, Hiruzen looked at Shino, the boy was much harder to read than the other two but after years of dealing with the Aburame clan Hiruzen had learned how to read them effectively and he was very impressed with Shino, he was quite possibly the deadliest assassin that would walk the earth if he was trained properly, of course, Shino blended in with his surroundings seamlessly and with his Rinkaichu he was the deadliest close combat fighter, the only reason Naruto was deadlier was simply because he held more destructive power, but from what Hiruzen could see, admittedly not much as dark sunglasses and a high collar obstructed all view of Shino's face, Shino was more than prepared to take on the duties of a Chunin, Hiruzen looked at the three of them and noticed that Shino was the shortest being 163 centimeters tall, just a bit shorter than Sasuke.

Hiruzen adopted a grandfatherly smile "Well I shall not keep you boys waiting any longer, from this moment on all three of you are promoted to Chunin, a rulebook, bingo book, and the Chunin outfit will all be delivered to you later today, I congratulate all three of you for becoming Chunin, today is a day to be proud of."

Naruto could barely contain his happiness upon hearing that, but seeing the serious expression on the Hokage's face he held back from making a comment.

Hiruzen nodded at them "Good, your reactions will need to be controlled from now on, you will be required to always be level headed and calm when on a mission or in presence of any authorities, you all represent Konoha now so it would be bad if you brought us a bad reputation, now on a more positive note I have decided that the three of you will stay together as a team, without Guy sadly as he needs to stay as much as possible in the village, you three will be given missions that only the three of you will go on, of course, you can train at any moment with Guy, given he is available." The Hokage smiled at them a final time and told them that they were permitted to leave.

As soon as they left the Hokage's office Naruto's face erupted in a grin, they were going to party and he was going to make sure of it.

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