Early in the morning in the Namikaze house an alarm was heard ringing through every room. It didn't last long before there was the sound of metal flying through the air and the inevitable crash, halting the screeching alarm from further annoying a certain purple-haired Kunoichi. Naruto cracked open an eye just as Anko resettled herself into the bed, placing her head on his chest as she normally did. With a small chuckle the redhead shifted out from under her, replacing his body with a pillow quickly, much to the woman's disappointment.
"Anko, what have I told you about destroying the alarm clocks? That's the fifth one this month." His response was a weary middle finger before the disgruntled woman flipped over, snuggling into the soft pillow once again.
"Stop setting them for five a.m and I might consider it." Naruto simply sighed, they had this conversation a lot; it was inevitable when they slept together.
"We've been over this before; I need to get up early to do my morning patrol." Once again his response was non-verbal as Anko heatedly threw her pillow at him, knocking him slightly off balance as he attempted to pull on some pants.
"Then get a quieter alarm!" Naruto smirked as he walked over to her side; she petulantly flipped over again but Naruto simply pulled her back over, quickly plating a loving kiss on her cheek.
"Please, anything less than that and I would never be able to get out of bed with you." Caught off guard by the smooth answer Anko could only stutter, giving Naruto an opportunity to plant another kiss, this time on her lips, and quickly jog into the bathroom. After a few minutes she regained her wits, blushing from the affectionate moment before flipping back over and attempting to return to sleep. As an ANBU captain early starts were expected from her boyfriend but that didn't mean she had to sacrifice her mornings.
Emerging from the shower with damp hair Naruto smiled as he saw his sleeping girlfriend cutely drooling onto her pillow. Even under the covers he could make out her curvy yet lithe form, at nineteen she had grown into an incredibly beautiful woman. Although he would never admit it himself, the same was true for Naruto; finally reaching what would probably be his permanent height he now stood at a decent six foot three inches with a trained and toned body and wild spiky hair falling about his face.
Quickly pulling on his ANBU gear he gave Anko another kiss on the cheek making her mumble his name in her sleep before darting out of the window onto an adjacent roof without a single whisper. He loved Konoha in the mornings, while dark it was peaceful and if he timed it right he could sometimes catch a glimpse of the sunrise before he made it to the Hokage's office. Unfortunately today he was a little too early but was content with hopping across the rooftops of the slowly waking village.
Darting through a window of the Hokage tower he patiently waited for the secretary to alert the village's leader of his presence. After a few moments he pushed open the door to see Sarutobi already wrestling with the paperwork that had accumulated since the other night. He gave the older man a few moments to finish what it was he was writing at which point he looked up with a kindly smile.
"Tora, it's good to see you bright and early as usual." His voice was calm and friendly but there was an underlying annoyance there; it was no small secret with anybody working close to the Hokage that he was not exactly a morning person.
"Hokage-sama." Naruto's reply was curt and polite with a small inclination of his head, the epitome of a professional attitude. "Do you have any specific orders today?" Sarutobi nodded, rustling about with the various papers and documents on his desk with no real purpose, a clear sign he was about to breach a sensitive topic.
"I think we need to discuss it again Tora." At that the experienced ANBU captain visibly tensed, as did the four ANBU operatives hidden in the various shadows of the room.
"Hokage-sama, with all due respect..." Hiruzen quickly levelled a gaze at Naruto that brokered no argument.
"No Tora, I have been very patient with you but you must understand that I only wish the best for all my Shinobi, yourself included. Nine years in the ANBU while certainly impressive, is highly unorthodox, not to mention unheard of." The masked redhead was growing more and more uncomfortable as the Hokage continued.
"But Hokage-sama..." Once again he was cut off by a single gaze that held all the age and power Hiruzen still had within him.
"Tora remove your mask." At that the entire room froze, the implications of the request known to everybody present." With a slightly shaking hand Naruto complied, showing his face to the Hokage for the first time in over three years. Sarutobi's gaze softened as he saw Naruto's uncovered face after so long. His soft purple eyes had gained some steel in them after so long within his profession but they were still full of compassion, so like his mothers had been. The whisker marks that were once such a prominent part of his appearance had faded and thinned to the point you could miss them at a fleeting glance, only strengthening the resemblance to his father.
"As of this moment I am hereby relieving you of your command in the ANBU black ops, you have the rest of the day to find a suitable replacement." Seeing Naruto raise a hand to interject Hiruzen quickly cut him off. "This is non-negotiable... Naruto." And just like that any basis for arguments Naruto may have had died on the end of his tongue; the Hokage had addressed him by his name, as such his identity was compromised. He was no longer an ANBU.
For a moment he stood there, masking his indecision with an emotionless mask of indifference. His hands nervously fumbled over his tiger mask, knowing that he would never be able to wear it again in an official manner. Finally he curtly nodded once, leaning forward and gently placing the porcelain mask on the desk.
"As you wish Hokage-sama." Hiruzen sighed at the blatant resignation in the young adult's voice; it truly hurt him to do this but such tenure in the ANBU black ops was almost asking for mental issues to develop.
"As of now you are a Jounin of the village, you will be expected to join the other prospective Jounin sensei at the end of this week to take a team, until then you are off missions." Any further objections or questions Naruto may have had were silenced as Hiruzen returned to his paperwork, essentially dismissing the former ANBU captain. Dazed and slightly disbelieving that this wasn't all just a dream Naruto exited the room, his feet naturally taking him in the direction of the ANBU offices. By the time he reached it his head had cleared enough that he could at least think straight. He knew there was nothing he could do at this point, the Hokage's word was law and as a faithful and loyal ANBU, or at least ex-ANBU he was expected to follow without question.
Even so he still couldn't help the lost feeling that overcame him; his life was just right at the moment. He had his career, he was good at it, he had subordinates that trusted him and would gladly fight alongside him. He had the love of his life and long time best friend by his side night and day. Right now though, he wasn't sure; he didn't know what to do with himself at this point; Hiruzen certainly had thrown a wrench in the works.
However the thing that shocked him most was the fact he was now going to have to take a team. He wasn't sure if he was ready for such a responsibility. Sure he had to watch out for his fellow operatives on missions as their captain but this was different. The people on his team wouldn't be trained and powerful Shinobi that understood him and were ready for most situations. They would be rookie Genin, barely out of the academy; he would actually have to teach them things, protect them. It was daunting.
He was knocked out of his thoughts as he nearly walked into somebody in his distracted state, only his honed reflexes allowing him to quickly skirt around. He looked around, realising he had walked into the headquarters without even realising and made a move to walk towards his offi- what used to be his office. On the way he grabbed a random operative that was walking in the opposite direction.
"Tenzo, I need you to go get Komachi, she'll probably be training with Towa, have her come to my office as soon as possible." The brown haired, Lion-masked ANBU nodded absently before double-taking, only now looking up at his captain.
"T-Taichou, you took your mask off!" Naruto smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed manner.
"Yeah, I can't explain right now but don't worry; Komachi will explain it to everybody later." Tenzo nodded quickly, walking off to the training halls to do as he had been asked. Sighing, Naruto walked to his old office, hoping he wouldn't come across anybody else to avoid awkward explanations. He reached his room and collapsed into his comfortable rotating chair, holding a hand to his temple. He had to admit the Hokage had at least been patient with him up until now; it had been two years since he first brought up Naruto leaving the ANBU service.
At the time Naruto had fended him off with statements about how he wanted to surpass his mother's mission record; he did that last year. Then he wanted to have the longest and most accomplished mission record of any ANBU member to date; he did that three months ago. After that it had been flimsy excuse after excuse, each growing weaker and less substantial than the last. In honesty it was simply because being in the ANBU gave Naruto's life stability; although it also gave him an excuse for minimising his interactions with the villagers.
All his friends were in the ANBU corp, he would still get to see them but not nearly as much; he didn't even know half of their names. He knew at least one person who definitely would not be happy with all this. He was pulled out for his introspective thoughts by a timid knock at the door; he knew it must be Komachi and couldn't blame her. Usually being called into a captain's office was for admonishment for a mistake so no doubt she was out in the hall, going over what she could have possibly done wrong.
"Come it Komachi." Slowly the door opened, admitting a tall young woman with sandy blonde hair tied up with six large needles. She was dressed in the traditional ANBU uniform with a stylised cat-like mask with a few crescents descending down the forehead. She seemed slightly nervous but other than that she held herself with the same bearing all ANBU were trained to adopt, professional and alert.
"You called for me Taichou?" There was hesitance in her question but definitely an underlying curiosity; it was a trait she'd had as long as Naruto had known her.
"Just ask Komachi, it's okay." He saw her visibly lose the tension in her shoulders at seeing she wasn't about to be reprimanded for something.
"Why aren't you wearing your mask Taichou?" Naruto sighed before leaning forward onto his desk, chuckling slightly as he realised he wouldn't have to do the paperwork already stacked up to one side; at least there was one good thing to come out of this.
"Because I am no longer a part of the ANBU black ops." To her credit Komachi didn't even flinch. "As of today the Hokage has seen fit to relieve me of my command." He leant forward even more, a slightly saddened smile on his features. "Which means that you are now the captain." He couldn't see it due to the mask but Naruto was sure Komachi had just blinked in abject surprise. He stood as she started spluttering, trying to deny what he had just said. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he began walking out of the room.
"Congratulation, if you need any help just come and see me alright; I remember how daunting it was when I first started out. Good luck with the paperwork." With that he briskly walked out of the office leaving a remarkable shell-shocked Komachi in his wake. With that out of the way he hopefully wouldn't have to deal with the inevitable questions from his subordinates for a while, or at least he hoped so. Now he just had to go home and tell Anko, he was sure that was going to be a lot of fun.
"YES! It's about damn time!" Naruto stared at Anko with his mouth agape, a large drop of sweat on the side of his forehead as he took in her excited little dance. He had just told her about being dropped from the corp. and she had a slightly... unexpected reaction.
"Hey, what do you mean by that!?" Anko stopped her excited jig for a moment, that huge smile still plastered across her features. Naruto had to admit he loved it when Anko smiled, genuinely; not that fake 'I will kill you' smile she used on people who got on her nerves; it made her look radiant.
"I've been waiting ages for you to get out of ANBU." She looked down quietly, her happy grin morphing into more of a sad smile. "I know you loved working in the black ops but..." She looked away, red colouring her cheeks with embarrassment; even after all this time she wasn't particularly good at expressing her feelings. "...I feel like you never have time for me, sometimes your missions take you away for weeks at a time and... I miss you." Naruto's face softened at that, his lips pulling up into a small smile as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend in a comforting hug.
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Anko shrugged meekly in his grip but snuggled further into his body anyway, enjoying the warmth his arms provided.
"Like I said, I could see you enjoyed it, it wasn't my place to take that away from you for something so selfish." Her out of character shy look was quickly replaced by a more usual expression of irritation as Naruto began chuckling, the vibrations from his chest travelling through her via their warm contact. "What's so funny? I'm trying to be all emotional here!" Naruto quietened down, wiping a non-existant tear from his eye.
"Anko, it isn't selfish for you to want us to spend more time together." He briefly pulled back from their embrace, a thoughtful look across his features. "Well okay I guess it is, but in a good way." Sighing Anko just lent back into his chest, once again shrugging non-commitally.
"Doesn't matter now anyway, at least now I get to see more of you." She pulled back this time, a mischievous gleam in her eye and a playful smirk on her face. "Mmmm, I think I like the sound of that actually." Naruto sighed but the smile on his face was unmistakable; Anko let out a small gasp as he swept her off her feet and into a bridal position before purring in delight as he carried her towards the bedroom.
"Good to see you have some initiative Naruto-kun."
A few days past as Naruto adjusted to being out of the ANBU; it was strange to say the least, especially getting used to not wearing his armour. He still wore the same black pants and vest over a simple mesh shirt but he stopped wearing the shin and arm guards, instead opting to wear black boot-like sandals and dark grey fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back with the Konoha leaf etched on. Over all that he wore the traditional olive flak jacket, its pockets filled with various materials for sealing such as blank scrolls and ink. Finally he had his personalised Tanto strapped to his back, going horizontal just above his waist.
Right now he was stood outside of a classroom with the other prospective Jounin Sensei, waiting for Iruka to finish up with a speech to the fresh Genin. He looked around, noting that he didn't recognise many of his fellow Jounin and by their curious looks towards him they didn't know him either. In fact the only one he did recognise was Asuma Sarutobi, and that was more by reputation than from actually meeting the man.
"Hey, is this your first time as a sensei too?" He turned to see a tall, raven-haired woman with startling red eyes wearing an unusual but accentuating dress. The redhead just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, inwardly annoyed at being caught off guard; he put it up to nerves.
"Uhh yeah, In fact I've only been a Jounin for a few days." The woman nodded absently and Naruto noticed that despite her cool demeanour she also seemed nervous about all this.
"Yeah, I passed the Jounin exams a few months ago and my friend Hana told me it was better to get a team early." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, a smirk appearing on his face.
"You know Hana Inuzuka? She's a good friend of mine." The woman nodded, eyeing the redhead curiously but allowing the smallest of smiles to appear on her face; any friend of Hana was alright in her book.
"I'm Kurenai Yuhi." Naruto smiled warmly, accepting the offered hand and shaking it firmly.
"Naruto Namikaze" Kurenai's jaw nearly dropped off her face but before she could react the Jounin were suddenly called into the room, Iruka having finished up with his speech. She couldn't believe she had been talking to Naruto Namikaze, youngest ANBU captain in Konoha's history with the most accomplished mission record out of any active Shinobi. She could only follow the rest of the Jounin into the room dumbly, before straightening up; she didn't want to make a bad first impression on her team.
"Alright and team seven, your sensei will be... um..." Iruka stared down at the clipboard, unknowingly reflecting the same shocked expression Kurenai had been wearing only a few seconds ago. "..N-Naruto Namikaze." A few murmurs travelled around the room, the last name was well known after all to the younger generation, the owner of the name... less so. Taking the initiative and deciding to treat this like any normal operation between Shinobi Naruto stepped forward with a placid smile, motioning for the three students who had stood up to follow him.
"Alright team seven; I will be your Jounin sensei for the foreseeable future so follow me up to the roof." With that he vanished in a flash of red that had not only the students in the room surprised but the Jounin as well. After a few stunned moments the three called students hurried out of the room, much to the envy of some of their peers. Naruto himself reappeared a moment after he vanished, a thoughtful look on his face as he stared down at the three folders in his hands. He had gone over them last night when he had been called over to the Hokage's office but he quickly removed the three attached photos, checking them over again.
"Hmm, Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's little brother." The cold and unwelcoming gaze of the stoic Uchiha stared back at him blankly; reminding him so much of how Itachi was when they first met. "Sakura Haruno..." On the other hand her photo seemed much livelier with a kind smile, although to the redheads concern she didn't quite have the body he was expecting from a young Kunoichi in training. "...and Ami Uzuki, Yugao's little sister if I'm not mistaken." The final of the trio was another girl with long purple hair that was almost a mirror of her elder sibling. "Interesting matchup."
After a few minutes of lounging against the railing the three fresh Genin finally joined him on the roof; disappointing him slightly with how long they took to get there. They didn't even seem to have run; if he was still in the ANBU... no, he had to stop thoughts like that; this wasn't the ANBU corp. and he wasn't dealing with trained, disciplined Shinobi.
"Alright, as much as I'd like to say it's good to meet you all, that remains to be seen." At the confused looks of the three children in front of him he continued quickly. "You may think you are Genin right now, that is not true." Quickly silencing the outburst from the pink-haired girl before she could even begin Naruto levelled a calculating gaze on the trio. "You are not Genin until I say you are, the test you took in the academy was only to see if you had the skills to become Shinobi, I need to test to see if you can actually put those skills to use." Thankful that the kids were actually listening right now instead of arguing he gave a small smile that t least seemed to put Ami at ease.
"Don't worry too much about it, just use everything you've been taught at the academy and I'm sure you'll do fine." He conveniently left out the part where the tests only had a one in three chance of passing. "With that said, meet me at training ground eighteen in five minutes or you all fail." With a final grin that would have made Anko proud he once again vanished in a flash of red. A split second later he watched from a nearby roof as the three fresh Genin scrambled from their seats and rushed off in a particular direction.
Four minutes and fifty two seconds later and Naruto was leaning against a tree, watching with amusement as his new team stood panting in front of him. Sasuke didn't seem too bad but the two girls were visibly strained with sweat percolating on their foreheads. That alone worried Naruto; at their age he would have made it to the training ground not only faster but neither he, nor either of his teammates, would have broken a sweat; then again he was an ANBU captain at their age as well.
"Alright, well you guys made it, you passed step one." His was only met by two heated glares from the two girls and one look of irritation from the Uchiha making him chuckle at the weak killer intent. "Now then..." He placed his hands in a well-practiced sign before a puff of smoke appeared next to him, quickly replaced by an exact duplicate of the smiling redhead "...this is a Shadow clone, not your normal clone for one important reason." He placed a hand on the clone and pushed, knocking his other-self off balance much to the Genin's amazement; even Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.
"These are solid clones, able to interact and even use chakra to a certain extent; they have other uses but that isn't important right now. What is important..." He quickly slammed a fist into the clones gut making it wince in pain before dispersing in another cloud of smoke. "...is that it only takes one good blow to destroy it." He smiled at the group again, intentionally taking it slow so that three could regain their breath slightly.
"Your job is to destroy one before twelve O'clock which gives you one hour." To illustrate that point he pulled a random stop watch out of nowhere, quickly set the timer for an hour and dropped it on a nearby tree stump. "You can use anything in your arsenal to accomplish this but if you can't make that clone disappear in an hour you all go back to the academy; good luck." With that he formed another clone before disappearing in a flash of red, leaving three shocked Genin and a grinning clone behind.
There was a moment of pause as the Genin stared at the clone who only idly looked back at them before everybody sprung into action. In flashes of movement that were almost painfully slow for the ex ANBU captain the three Genin vanished into the surrounding bushes. 'Well their hiding is okay, I'm sure any Genin level opponent would have some difficulty finding them; although those two's chakra signatures are fairly weak anyway.' Feigning complete indifference to the Genin's actions Naruto casually walked over to a nearby tree, plopping down at its base before pulling out a scroll.
The Genin looked on in confusion from their hiding spots, wondering what their sensei, or at least the clone of him, was doing. Internally Sasuke was seething; he hated that the man obviously didn't even think of him as a threat. Something else was bothering him as well; he couldn't place it but his new sensei seemed awfully familiar. Tearing the thought from his mind he stealthily began to make his way through the undergrowth, trying his best not to make a sound which was an incredibly good effort.
When he drew his kunai he held his breath in tension, only to see that Naruto still wasn't the slightest bit concerned. His ego swelled slightly that his hiding skills were good enough to fool a Jounin before dropping down from his position, kunai poised to strike. He thrust down with as much power and speed as he could, feeling the cold steel meet resistance as he drove on anyway. However he stood there, shocked to see that Naruto had defended against his surprise attack with nothing more than the end of his brush, the wooden handle apparently holding off the edge of his blade effortlessly.
Taken off guard he couldn't defend as his legs were suddenly swept out from under him in a flash of movement. Catching himself at the last moment he pivoted on his hand and lashed out with his other foot, only for it too to be redirected with the end of the brush. Pushing back he landed back on his feet, taking in the obviously amused expression of his sensei who remained standing.
"Hmm, I hope you aren't taking it easy on me just because I'm a clone." Sasuke saw the redheads eyes drift about lazily, as if unconcerned by the Genin's presence before his eyebrow raised. "Just you? Interesting." Sasuke quickly disregarded the strange comment before rushing back forward, intent on landing that one blow he need to pass and become a real Genin. Naruto only sighed as he watched the moderately fast Uchiha approach him, brushing aside the kunai aimed for his throat with as little effort as he would need to swat a fly.
"Don't underestimate me!" Just like that Sasuke's attacks doubled in intensity, his feet and hands becoming blurs to his two female teammates as they watched, both amazed and enamoured. Naruto merely chuckled, taking his eye off of Sasuke to glance around casually, the ease with which he defended not decreasing in the slightest.
"Oh don't worry, I'm not; but this is good, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill you'll never land that blow, now if only-" He smirked as he suddenly ducked low, allowing a surprised Ami to fly over his head, right into the path of the lone Uchiha, catching both completely by surprise. They landed back on the ground in a tangle of limbs and by the time they both stood up and were ready to attack again their sensei was gone.
"Watch where you're going dobe." Ami looked back at Sasuke with wide eyes; she had only tried to help him by launching that sneak attack.
"But Sasuke-" She was ignored as Sasuke turned from her, looking into the tree line of the training ground, trying to see where their sensei had gone.
"Hn." With that he took off into the trees, intent on getting that blow so that he could finally start learning some techniques. His teacher was obviously very powerful, that much was obvious, he needed that power and nothing was going to stop him getting it. However when he finally entered a clearing he only saw Sakura lying unconscious in the middle of the ground. He didn't particularly care what happened to her but she had obviously come into contact with Naruto. He jumped down and quickly shook her shoulders, trying to wake her up. She opened her eyes groggily before a mischievous glint alighted in her eyes.
"Oops, you fell for my trap Sasuke." The raven-haired Uchiha followed the Pinkette's gaze down to the ground where his foot was inside a small loop of ninja wire. The moment his eyes widened in surprise though the trap activated and he was violently wrenched into the air, dangling upside down by one foot. He looked around, noticing as 'Sakura' burst into smoke to reveal a henged Naruto.
"What did the original tell you? I can use chakra remember?" With that he mock-saluted and dashed off into the trees, leaving a disgruntled Uchiha hanging from a tree. A few moments later he found what he was looking for, Ami carefully making her way through the trees, her eyes scanning the path ahead as she held a kunai out on front of her. 'Well she at least seems prepared but she hasn't spotted -"
He jumped backwards in surprise as a small barrage of shuriken suddenly sailed past the spot he had been in. However as he landed back on another branch it instantly collapsed under his weight, forcing him to tuck into a roll to prevent being dispelled. A few moments later and he was aptly dodging a few clumsy swings of a kunai as Ami tried desperately to attack him. However her combat skills were sorely lacking in comparison to the Uchiha. Finally, else it took up to much of the time he had, Naruto quickly side-stepped a weak lunge before grabbing the kunai out of her hand, spinning her around and pinning her to a nearby tree by her sleeve.
"Nice try, almost got me there." With a cheeky wink Naruto vanished again, leaving Ami to struggle against the weapon keeping her pinned to the trunk of the tree.
'Okay, just one left, according to her file she was Kunoichi of the year, she should put up a good fight.' Finding her a few minutes later running through the forest floor he smirked as a plan came to mind. 'Best grades in the year huh? Let's see how she handles Genjutsu then.' It wasn't his strongest subject by any stretch of the imagination but it was at least passable. You didn't grow up with two Sharingan-users and not pick up at least a few tricks.
Sakura quickly made her way through the trees, making her way in the direction she had last seen Sasuke heading in. She had already realised there was no chance of her ever landing that blow that would win them this test so she was going to go and offer any help she could to Sasuke. She nearly shrieked though as she placed her foot down, only for it to suddenly melt into the ground. Her eyes widening in surprise she tugged on the offending limb only for the ground to pull even harder. Soon her other leg began to descend and the bubblegum-haired girl began to panic.
A few moments later and Naruto was standing over her unconscious body, her mind having shut down from the shock of being 'suffocated' underground. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, a frown marring his features as he looked down at the girl.
"Well that was unexpected; I thought for sure I toned down the Genjutsu." Even as the words escaped his lips a bell rang out through the forest, signalling the end of the test.