Author Note : Hello dear reader! If you are reading this, you took the wrong turn after Albuquerque, or the right one on . If you're in the first case, follow the arrow over there.

Now, this is a challenge, issued to me by NYCDMan some time ago, I just took time to write a few chapters and plan things up a bit. Right now, I'm almost done with , chapter 7, but it will last waaay longer. I hope.

Anyway, here's the challenge text.

The Gold & Silver Sisters Challenge:

Summery: The Hyuuga kidnapping goes off without a hitch as both Hyuuga's are taken to Kumo (Hinata & Hanabi are twins in this story), then they get infused with the Kyuubi's chakura that was syphened off the original Gold & Silver brothers, after 10 years of intense training, they run into Team 7 on a mission to Frost Country, can Naruto convince them to come back to Konoha?

Paring: NarutoXHinataXHanabi

(Sakura and Sasuke bashing is welcome, but not nessisary)

Things to happen in the challenge:

Kushina is still alive, but in a coma, she still has a good amount of the Kyuubi's chakura inside her.

Since Hinata and Hanabi have the Kyuubi's chakura inside them, their reaction to him being the Main vessle is more...animalistic, they acknollege him as the "alpha" and are fiercly loyal to him

On Team 8, Hinata is replaced by Yakumo Kurama from the "Kurama Clan Filler Arc", however the event's leading to her parents death's never happened, her relationship with her sensei Kurenai is similar to Lee's relationship with Might Guy.

Neji's personality is very different in this story, since his father never died he never went under the belief that fate was inescapable and decided at birth, and is desperate to have his cousin's back, even if he has to fight all of Kumogakure to do it.

I'll tell you immediatly, I took some liberty with the challenge, and there will be a minor crossover with the paper RPG Legend of the 5 Rings, but nothing too prominent.

Now disclaimer, I don't own Naruto, yadda yadda, and onto the story!

The man ran, he ran like his life depended on it, which was very much the case. Once again, he cursed himself for accepting this stupid mission, and he cursed his leader even more for giving it to him. He was running like all hell was on his heels, and that could be true considering that the parents of the twins he had under his arms were chasing after him. Abducting Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga, the three year old twins of the clan head, was definitely NOT the best mission to pick. In fact, he was now seriously considering having his brain checked. He had been running like hell for almost a day now, with no occasion to stop, and he had almost made it to the border between hot water and frost, he was almost in his country, once he reached Lightning, he would be somewhat safe. Then, he saw and heard something that gave him a boost. A gigantic owl, hooting, came down from the sky, flying near the canopy. Charging chakra into his feet, he jumped always higher, finally shooting past the top of the trees, and the owl swept under him, allowing him to land on it. The summon quickly took to the air and, looking above his shoulder, the man could see Hiashi Hyuga's hateful glare, and his wife's tear stained eyes. Then, he collapsed, panting hard. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the grinning face of a fellow Kumo shinobi.

"Good job, Raikage-sama will be pleased."

The Hyuga abduction became a major sore point between Kumo and Konoha. While Konoha was ready to go to war, the Fire Daimyo felt that doing so for two mere children was too much, and as such forbade it. Konoha, and the Hyuga in particular, were not happy. But Konoha was not the only village to react. Fearing for their bloodlines, every village refused to accept Kumo dignitaries or guests in their walls, and while the chunin exams were an exception, Kumo teams were always heavily monitored by ANBU. Kumo may have been one of the most powerful villages, without allies, they were in a difficult position.

The most notable consequence was seen in Water Country. Seeing what might be done to them, the bloodline clans were quick to tighten their bond with Kiri and were soon considered Kiri's most devoted defenders. When the Kaguya attacked, the clans answered with a swift and brutal counter-attack, slaughtering the clan to the last. In this condition, when Yagura suddenly became more bloodthirsty and seemed to try to raise discontent towards bloodline users, he was met with heavy resistance, and it wasn't long before an all out assault against him was organized. It was then discovered that he was manipulated. Quickly freed, Yagura joined the coup to chase their enemy, taking him down with him. Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage, went down in History as the leader of Kiri with the shortest reign, but as a hero nonetheless. Kiri didn't suffer through the Bloodline Purge and kept its place as one of the strongest villages, never realising just how much Yagura's sacrifice changed the world.

Following the incident, Konoha decided that, since they couldn't settle this affair on the battlefield, they would find ways to make Kumo pay. And so, each batch of Chunin hopefuls sent to the exams was trained to the bone, only the most hardened and merciless teams were sent, with one mission: slaughter as many Kumo genin as possible. The Hyuga and the Hokage agreed to give a small bonus for each Kumo headband the Konoha fighters brought back. The number of Kumo representatives to survive the exams plummeted, and often reached absolute zero when a Hyuga was part of the exams. No matter what Kumo tried, Konoha always won. When they tried to send disguised jonin or chunin, the Konoha jonin would immediately point out their rank and records, making Cloud look like fools, when they trained their students more, they found out that Konoha was already three steps ahead.

A now seriously considered just sending the girls back, but it wasn't an option anymore. When they were four, in an effort to ensure maximum durability, they had infused the girls with the chakra from Kyubi that was extracted from the Gold and Silver brothers, but the transfer went awry. The girls had screamed in pain throughout the whole ordeal, and A was pretty much certain he saw them losing consciousness several times only to be woken up by the pain. But that wasn't the most worrying features. Hanabi and Hinata had developed fox ears and a bushy fox tail each. It was a relief that they never went berserk. But it didn't mean there weren't problems.

Hinata and Hanabi were distrustful of Kumo in general and the male population in particular. They only tolerated two persons, Yugito Nii and Killer Bee. But even then, they were incredibly cautious around them, never completely letting their guard down. They had tried to brainwash them into thinking they were born in the Yotsuki clan, but it was an utter failure. What little memory they had of Konoha, they refused to let go. Even more worrying, they were easily the most dangerous ninja of their generation, dispatching all of their peers with two strikes top. And when it came to humiliation, they didn't stop at the academy, no; they targeted every part of the hierarchy. Paint-bombs placed in the Jonin lodge, entire squads of chunin having their shampoo switched with hair-dye, Anbu ambushed on their patrol routes and tied up in compromising positions, knock-out gas placed in his own office. What frightened A was probably the fact that they always managed to show just how their prank could kill.

Danzo looked upon the arena with interest. After the Hyuga abduction, Hiruzen had pleasantly surprised him, placing a reward for each Kumo genin killed, and because of that, he had decided to help … in his own way. So, he had built the Gauntlet, an underground arena where promising students trained and fought, using standard ANBU gear, porcelain animal masks and bandana on their hair to conceal their identity. No killing move was allowed and a cadre of med-nin ensured that there wouldn't be casualties. At first, he thought it could help find some recruits for ROOT, but after seeing the records of the students leaving this arena … The first squad with one of his competitors to encounter opposition decimated their enemies in a matter of seconds. Those were genin from Iwa. Before the Rock jonin could understand what happened, his students were dead and the Leaf genin had distracted him enough to allow their teacher to land a killing blow. In the span of five minutes, a genin squad three months out of the academy had decimated a squad of Iwa genin with a year of experience.

From then on, Danzo had poured more and more resources into the Gauntlet. Even his ROOT were defeated in some instances. Of course, it was the youngest ROOT members that fought in the arena, but it was still impressive. And given the violent increase in quality seen in the Konoha genin, he realised the Gauntlet could prove more useful to Konoha than his ROOT could ever hope to be. From these facts, he drew the logical conclusion, sent his ROOT to rehabilitation, and dedicated himself fully to the Gauntlet. In the span of three years, it went from a miserable arena to a complete underground complex, with training grounds, armouries, a jutsu library, its own hospital, and a number of safe houses. Konoha's very own underground fortress. Of course, Hiruzen, no matter how soft he was, couldn't be blind to this enormous change. One day, while Danzo was going over the new students at the academy, Hiruzen had confronted him. It had taken some convincing, but in the end the aged Kage had agreed to let it run. He did not regret it. One student of the Gauntlet could turn a mediocre squad into a war machine, and now the gauntlet had been running for nine years. Konoha was stronger than ever, and this year's batch was one of the most promising and frighteningly powerful he had seen.

In the arena, smouldering craters covered the ground, two panting youth standing their ground. Taka and Kitsune, the two most powerful fighters to have ever entered the arena. Taka was powerful, precise, fast learning and ruthlessly efficient, his talent in ninjutsu was absolutely frightening and he used his chokuto with uncanny dexterity. Kitsune was tireless, determined, stubborn enough to deny death itself, had chakra reserves bordering on jonin, a talent in Fuinjutsu never seen since the Yondaime Hokage and used his bladed staff with practiced ease. His stamina allowed him to force his way through the most difficult trainings and while is chakra control wasn't the best he could reach exceptional level of control on a technique through muscle memory alone. These two had a heated rivalry and always tried to outdo each other.

"One of them will become Hokage. Don't you think, old friend?" Turning to the Sandaime Hokage, Danzo smirked. The aged kage took his time before answering.

"We both know that only one of them is interested in the hat."

"Yes, but it is the one with the biggest problem. Do you have an idea on how to solve that?"

"No, I don't really trust the Yamanaka with that, even Inoichi."

"Why?"

"Can you imagine the kind of trouble it would cause if it was to get out?"

Danzo nodded, then rose and announced the end of the match. A draw, once again to the displeasure of the public and the gamblers in particular. At first Danzo wanted these fights to be held discreetly, but he had soon found out that a small public would worm it's way into the darkness to witness the matches. What he couldn't stop, he decided to take advantage of, and soon the presence of public allowed him to have more funds for the Gauntlet, increasing the quality of the equipment given to the students. Moving down the stairs, Danzo intercepted the two fighters just before they reached their assigned locker area.

"You have been exceptional, even on your last match. Excellent job. Keep the masks, you earned them."

Both youth bowed. Keeping the masks given to them in the Gauntlet was an honour, a mark of respect from Danzo. He didn't give those easily, but they had earned it. For four years, they had fought in the arena, besting every opponent sent their way except for each other. Tomorrow, they would be assigned their jonin sensei, and Danzo was positive that they would pass; he had trained them well enough. As they left, they acknowledged each other with a nod before parting ways.

Danzo was a proud man, and the last nine years had done nothing to diminish that. The Gauntlet had increased drastically the success rate of the true genin test, going from 33% to an impressive 80%, reaching 100% when you only considered teams with a member of the Gauntlet. But he was no fool, he knew that these two's rivalry was fiercer than it should be, should they find each other's real identity, Taka would feel … insulted, to say the least. And now, they were bound to know so very soon, for they would be on the same team.

Kitsune stalked the dark corridors of the Gauntlet, peacefully making his way to the exit. For now, he still had control of their body, but soon Naruto would take over. He often felt dissatisfaction at their current predicament. Naruto was the main personality, and let's be honest, the poor guy didn't have a clue. He was loud, brash, obnoxious and wore orange. Orange, of all colours, he had to be enamoured with orange, the colour that only allows you to be camouflaged in the middle of lava! Not in a forest, not in an urban environment, no, lava only! It maddened him, but he had no way to change Naruto. If there was one thing he would give his brighter self, it was that he was stubborn.

With a sigh, Kitsune thought back to how he was given life. During his life, Naruto had locked away everything that he considered 'bad.' That included everything that increased the number or the intensity of the glares he received. As a result, he had locked away most of his anger, his ability to hold grudges, any murderous impulse, but also his smarts and talents in an effort to stop the teachers from hating him, and he had recently added anything remotely lust-related to the mix. In short, Kitsune was all that Naruto was not. When Naruto had entered the Gauntlet, he had let loose of all those limitations, protected by the anonymity of the mask. But as soon as the mask fell, he would deny it was him, he would refuse to admit that he and the person with the mask were one and the same. With time, the mask had gained a personality on it's own, giving birth to Kitsune, a darker version of himself. But for all his might, Kitsune felt incomplete, and strived to convince Naruto to merge and finally be whole, but he refused fiercely to acknowledge him as a part of his mind. Luckily, his fight against Mizuki had opened his eyes, and Naruto had taken steps towards the merging. Reaching the exit, Kitsune took one last breath, closed his red slitted eyes, and removed the mask.

Naruto exhaled slowly. He still wasn't used to the transition. Before, when he considered Kitsune another person, he just blacked out and found himself in some dreamlike state where he witnessed everything he did with dispassionate eyes, but since he admitted that Kitsune was a part of him, it was all clearer, and the transition felt more like moving back to the front. 'Moving back to the front' didn't even begin to describe how it felt, but it was the closest he could think of. Shaking his thought out of his head, he quickly returned to his flat and changed back into his orange jumpsuit. Now that Kitsune had more influence on him, he was seriously considering discarding it and using those clothes Kitsune had purchased while having control of his body for a day. They seemed practical enough and were definitely badass-looking. But he had other things to do tonight. Looking at the moon, he estimated the time to be around 10:30 at night. Good, the round in that part of the hospital had passed and wouldn't come back for a long time.

He ran along the rooftops, jumping effortlessly across large streets and avenues. Reaching the hospital, he stuck to the wall using chakra, something he still wouldn't be able to do if he still denied Kitsune his real importance. Looking through the window, he was pleased to see that he had reached exactly the intended window. Using chakra to stick his hand to the glass, he made it slid a bit; enough to place his hand inside and slid it completely open. He then slipped inside and closed the window. Taking his sit next to the head of the bed, he looked forlornly at the person in the bed. His mother, Kushina Uzumaki. From what the Old Man had told him, she had been in a coma for the last thirteen years. He would come to see her twice a week, always telling her how life was going, often crying in her shoulder. Even though she never answered, it was still comforting. He sometimes wondered if she really was his mother and not some stranger the Old Man had picked up to escape his questions. After all, she didn't look that much like him, with her long flowing red hair. But even if it was a lie, he had someone to talk to, and she didn't seem to have any visit other than himself.

"Hey mom. Sorry I didn't come last time, I kinda got tricked into stealing the Forbidden Scroll for a traitorous teacher. Of course, I kicked his ass, shadow clones and its wonders. Meh, anyway, I managed to graduate, so I'm a ninja. Gonna get my team tomorrow. I got my last fight in the Gauntlet, Taka again, that stuck up prick really is a pain. Yeah, I finally realized that Kitsune's just a part of me, so I realized that those were my fights all along. *sigh* I wonder what I team I'll get." Silence settled over the room. Naruto often wondered what his mother would think of him if she met him. Would she be proud? Ashamed? How would she feel knowing her son was a schizophrenic jinchuriki? With yet another sigh, he thought back on the night he had earned the right to be a ninja and began to tell the tale to his comatose mother.

"YOU ARE THE KYUBI!"

With a mighty heave, Mizuki threw the shuriken towards him, and Naruto could only watch in shock. Time seemed to slow down as the shuriken began to close the distance.

'I told you the Kyubi was sealed in our guts, I told you we were one and the same and I told you to NEVER trust this guy, but would you believe me? Nooo, of course not. I guess I'll have to clean up this mess!'

'Stay put, it's my fight. Just give me access to your moves, you should be able to since you say you're a part of me.'

'Better yet, let's fight together. As one.'

'Yeah, as one.'

His eyes turned purple and slitted as he dashed forward, passing by a shocked Iruka, and ducked under the shuriken. Shooting his arm up, he threw it through the hole of the shuriken and grabbed the weapon, stopping it in its track. Getting up, he looked calmly at Mizuki, assessing him like Kitsune had been taught to.

"Kitsune was right, you are a threat. I guess it's up to … us … to put you under control and deliver you to T&I."

"Kitsune? Y-you are … THE Kitsune? O-oh god …"

Fear made it's way upon his face and he threw the other Shuriken, far faster in hope of breaching the youth's guard, but it was for naught. Naruto simply jumped above the flying metal star and grabbed the circle in its middle, stopping it and taking control of it. Mizuki looked frightened, clearly searching an escape route, but that only caused Naruto to laugh harshly.

"I can outrun ANBU and feel their ambushes; do you really think that YOU can escape me?"

Mizuki tensed, and decided to try his chance up close. Taking a kunai in each hand, he charged him. As he closed in, he saw something that made him pause; Naruto was using chakra to spin the shuriken in his hands like two saw blades. This pause proved to be his undoing, as Naruto charged in and cut both his arms before he could react. Then, dropping the two spinning blades, he jumped and kicked him square in the chest, causing Mizuki to fly back and hit a tree, hard enough to loose consciousness. Naruto sighed wearily as he turned to look at Iruka.

The scarred chunin looked at him in awe, completely shocked at the performance of his worst student.

"N-Naruto … how did you do that? If you're so powerful, then why were you the dead last? And … are you really Kitsune? One of the best two fighters of the Gauntlet?"

"Alright, let's see. *sigh* First, I used chakra to levitate the blades in my hand and put them in movement. Second and third at the same time, let's say that … Kitsune is kind of a second personality. He told me 'bout that for a long time but I never listened. He's always pestering me 'bout merging, whatever that is. Anyway, while I still denied that he was part of me, I couldn't use his skills, but now I have some access to it."

ANBU suddenly fell from the trees, surrounding them. Naruto sighed tiredly.

"It was hell to explain everything to them, but in the end I managed to escape this mess scot-free. So here I am, with a headband, and wondering just who the hell my team mates will be. I just hope Sasuke won't be one of them, he's a real pain. And I'm beginning to wonder if Sakura's as awesome as I thought, after all I was basically a dunce before … or maybe I'm still one, I'll have to see." He said softly. "I'll see you soon mom, gotta go and grab some shut eye." With that, he went to the window, opened it and slipped outside before closing behind him and running to his apartment.

Naruto walked into the classroom in utter silence. He still had his orange jumpsuit but felt slightly less comfortable wearing it, so he tied the jacket around his waist. He didn't really felt like drawing attention today so he just walked up the stairs to take a seat in the back of the class; however life is a bitch, so someone noticed him, and that someone … happened to be Sasuke.

"Dobe, this is for those that graduated."

Sasuke didn't particularly disliked the blond dobe, it was just that, if he was mean to him he would get pointers from experienced ninja and some equipments from some stores, so it became a habit. Besides, the blond was so clueless that it actually was fun. But today, today it was different; Naruto simply looked at him dispassionately before resuming his journey up the stairs, as if he wasn't worth his time. This infuriated him of course, Sasuke hated being ignored, but he kept control of his anger, he wouldn't let the dobe have any form of superiority over him. However, his fangirls weren't about to let that pass and began yelling at Naruto for being disrespectful to Sasuke, and Sakura and Ino entered the class just at this very moment.

Of course, Sakura being the dedicated Sasuke-worshipper she was, immediately went to Naruto, demanding that he apologized and answered Sasuke's question, ready to deliver bodily harm should he refuse. The thing is … it didn't go as planned. Since Naruto still hadn't answered, she, quite gleefully, decided to hit him, but as she sloppily swung her arm at him, he simply sidestepped the attack before driving a fist into her belly. The whole class went silent, looking in shock at them. They all knew that Naruto had a crush on Sakura, yet here they were, with his fist buried in her midsection being the only thing keeping her standing.

"Sakura, first and last warning. You try to hit me, I hit you. You actually hit me, I tear you a new one. Clear?"

His voice was casual, like he was talking about the weather and not about beating up his supposed crush. He removed his fist from Sakura's guts, letting her fall on her knees. He looked around the class, seeing that all eyes were on him. Not wanting to bother with an explanation, he simply jabbed his thumb at his forehead, the nail lightly cliking against the metal of his headband. Then, he simply walked back to his seat and resumed his looking into space. Sakura, thoroughly shocked, stood up shakily and walked down the stairs of the classroom, looking weakly at the seat next to Sasuke, only to see it occupied by an uneasy Ino. Defeated, she settled for the closest seat at her disposal.

When Iruka entered the classroom, he was shocked at the eerie silence that reigned in it. Frowning slightly, he made his way to Shino and asked the boy about what happened. The Aburame heir whispered a quick explanation that just added to Iruka's shock before the teacher thanked him and made his way to the front of the class. Clearing his throat, he gained the attention of the class, stopping most of them from sending worried glances towards Naruto. He gave a little speech about the life they were about to enter, how he knew they would be splendid shinobi and how much faith he had in them. Meanwhile, Naruto was scanning the class, looking for other pupils of the Gauntlet.

'Toshi is probably Tora (tiger), Tenzo would be Tourou (mantis), Shizuka is probably Hato (dove) and I'd say Akito is Kuma (bear). And of course, there is Sasuke, the ever so arrogant Taka (hawk).'

He was still troubled by his reaction to Sakura's attempt at violence, he knew it couldn't be reflexes alone, he had managed suppress them before, when he was still in denial, but this time, he hadn't simply blocked or evaded the punch, he had retaliated. 'It was you, am I right?'

'For your own good. That girl's a complete and utter bitch, and you'll see it in time. And honestly, can you tell me it didn't feel good?'

'Heh, guess not. Admit it, your dislike for Sakura was one of the first things you pushed to the merging.'

'Best way to make sure you stop getting us cranial trauma by asking her out.'

'Cranial trauma? You serious?'

'And where do you think all those headaches were coming from? That bitch hits us like we're some concrete wall.'

Focusing back on Iruka's voice, Naruto heard that he had begun announcing the teams and was currently at team 6.

"… next, team seven will be composed of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura …" A loud cheer and equally loud whine of displeasure was heard as Ino and Sakura, last two girls without teams, expressed their opinion on the matter. "SILENCE! Good. Now, as I was saying, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto." Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but the sound of shattering concrete stopped her. Everyone turned to the back of the class to see that Naruto had punched the wall … And left a crater in it. Removing his hand, Naruto looked at the blood on his knuckles, visibly annoyed. With a sigh, he sat back down and motioned to Iruka to go on, completely ignoring the slightly quivering Sakura.

"All right, team eight will be Aburame Shino, Iuzuka Kiba and Kurama Yakumo." Naruto perked up a bit. He knew a bit about Yakumo, she was part of the Kurama clan, a clan of powerful Genjutsu users. From what he (Kitsune) knew, the Kurama were currently having trouble keeping their bloodline active with Yakumo being it's last bearer, and many hushed whispers talked about the disappearance of the clan. But the Kurama were a proud lot, they refused to be dismissed as simply a dieing clan, and many hopes were placed on Yakumo, the heiress of the clan.

"And finally, team ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino." Of course, the Golden Boar groaned while Sakura taunted her, but that didn't interest Naruto in the slightest. Iruka then announced a prolonged lunch break and advised them to get to know better their team-mates and think of ways to impress their teachers. Of course, Sasuke stalked out of the room to eat alone, and Naruto honestly didn't give a damn, he simply watched people leave the class room, and as soon as he was alone with Iruka, took out a scroll, unrolled it and unsealed a lunch. Iruka looked at him in surprise, not really expecting this to happen.

"Naruto … Since when do you seal your lunch? And since when do you eat something other than ramen?"

Indeed, it was a bowl of rice with slices of fish that was unsealed, along with a pair of chopsticks, so Naruto answered while unsealing the smaller bowl of sauce.

"Kitsune prepared that … a while back, it was just in stasis in the scroll. Anyway, I'm going to use those a lot more from now on. It will probably cause a shock to everyone, but I don't give a shit."

"You don't eat with your team?"

"If you can call it that. Sakura hates my guts for no apparent reason, and Sasuke is just Taka from the Gauntlet, so it'll be hell. I'll try to negotiate a truce, but I'm not sure he'll accept."

With that, Naruto began to dig into his bowl.

The lunch break was over and the genin had gathered in the classroom, organizing themselves by teams. Naruto was happy to let the seat next to Sasuke to Sakura and be done with it, as long as he didn't talk to her he had relative peace. Iruka came into the classroom accompanied by Danzo Shimura. Naruto thought back to the conversation they had during lunch.

Naruto was calmly eating his food, Iruka had left the room to go grab something to eat and had left him alone, something that was perfectly fine by him. The door slid open suddenly, causing Naruto to raise his gaze. In the door way stood Danzo Shimura. The old man slowly made his way to the seat next to him and gave him an amiable smile.

"Naruto-kun, I need to talk to Kitsune, could you please tell him to come?"

"He's listening."

Danzo narrowed his eyes at him. "So, the merging has begun."

"Yup. So, what's the stuff you wanna talk about Danzo-sama?"

"As you know, the Hyuga are the only clan to allow their member to fight in the Gauntlet. We need to change that. You class has a high proportion of clan heirs, so if we prove that fighters from the Gauntlet can surpass the best the clans have to offer, they will enrol their children into the Gauntlet and Konoha will be strengthened."

"Aye, it will be done. And don't worry, when you get a Hokage made in Gauntlet, you'll be sure to have an increase in frequentation." Said Naruto, absolutely serious. Danzo smirked slightly. "I have no doubt we will."

"Alright class, settle down! Danzo-sama here has some things to tell you all."

"Thank you Iruka-san. Good day children. I hope you are having a good day, it is, after all, the beginning of a new life for you. You are now ninja of the Leaf, and all have new responsibilities, some more than others. You are now adults and will be treated as such; you will have to become independent, both in your training and your life. This class will be especially watched, for the future leaders of no less than 5 of our clans are among you, and one of you may very well establish his own clan." At this point, Danzo's gaze fell on Naruto, and while it seemed casual, Naruto knew it was anything but that. Silently, he mouthed 're-establish,' causing Danzo to smile slightly. "Enormous responsibilities are on your shoulders, some of you will even have to manage your clan's whole possessions. The village has high expectations for all of you and will invest a lot of money and time into making you fine shinobi, you must repay it with your loyalty and sweat. Do this, and you will have a safe place where you will be able to raise your family." With a last sweeping gaze and a nod, Danzo stepped back.

"Thank you Danzo-sama!" Said Iruka. "Now, your Jonin sensei should arrive soon!"

And indeed, he had barely closed his mouth that the door opened to reveal a purple, long-haired jonin in standard outfit with a katana strapped to her back.

"Team five, we're going."

As the members of the team rose and left, Naruto looked at who was leaving. As they passed near him, he spoke.

"Good luck Kuma."

Everyone in the room stopped and looked at him in surprise, but not as much as the members of the Gauntlet. Akito then managed to get a hold of himself, and bowed. "Thank you Kitsune-sempai."

Of course, now every one in the room that didn't know of the Gauntlet was confused beyond reason. Sakura, who had been about to make a snarky remark about Naruto could only watch in surprise as team five left the room while Sasuke looked intently at Naruto. Three more teams left the room, and Naruto wished good luck to Hato and Tora. Then, the door opened and in walked one of Konoha's most powerful jonin, Hatake Kakashi. He was rumoured to have been in a deep depression for years, but it seemed being a teacher had done wonders for him.

"Team seven! Meet me on the roof in five!"

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves and Naruto simply stood up and made his way for the door. As he was about to exit, he heard Tourou's voice.

"Kitsune-sempai, good luck."

Naruto turned his head and smiled at him. "Thanks, you too Tourou." Then he exited the room and made is way to the roof, feeling Sakura and Sasuke following him, the latter fuming silently about being in the rear. When they reached the balcony on the roof, they took their seats, with both boys at an extremity again. Kakashi was practically beaming at them; he seemed to be in an extremely good mood today.

"Welcome my cute little genin!" He said, getting a grunt out of Sasuke, a protest out of Sakura … and a loud laugh out of Naruto.

"Ha, I like that one! Think you could use it all the time sensei? It sure would make the D-ranks a bit less dull!"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Maybe Naruto, maybe, it will depend on how good you do. Now, let's reassure you all, I know what I'm doing, I've had three teams already, they all made chunin within a year and my first team even reached jonin! One of them is even taking on students from your class, so don't worry, you're in good hands. Now, let's get to know each other shall we?" He said with his eternal eye-smile.

"I'll go first. I am Hatake Kakashi, jonin of Konoha. I like many things, but mostly having friends and my beloved Icha Icha, I dislike egoistical persons and I absolutely loath traitors." He said the last part completely seriously, looking at them dead in the eyes. Naruto noticed he spent a bit more time on him and felt compelled to answer.

"Kakashi-sensei, if you're wondering if I'll ever turn psycho, the answer is no, I'm far past the point of madness." That got all those around him to look at him curiously, wondering what he meant. Naruto then motioned to him to go on.

"All right, we'll talk about that later. As I as saying, I loath traitors. My dream is, currently, to make you three some wonderful ninja, just like my three other teams. My hobbies are mostly reading. Alright, your turn sunshine." He said eye-smiling to Sasuke and causing the only blond present to smile.

"Hn. I am Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like many things, and I dislike a lot. I don't have any hobby. I don't have a dream, more of an ambition … to kill a certain man."

Kakashi frowned slightly, this would certainly make things more complex. "Alright, now your turn bubblegum!"

Sakura twitched at the nickname but answered nonetheless. "I am Haruno Sakura. I like …" she blushed while looking at Sasuke, who pointedly ignored her. "My hobbies are …" Once again, she looked at Sasuke, giggling a bit this time. "My dream is …" Another gaze toward Sasuke, this time with a hopeful smile and a slightly larger blush. "And I hate Ino-pig and Naruto!"

"That was laaaaaame."

Sakura turned to Naruto, enraged, but the blonde kept talking. "You do realize you admitted you have absolutely no motivation? You're here just to get in Sasuke's pants and, sorry to be blunt, but I have better chances at this than you do, and he's STRAIGHT, that's saying something. In case you didn't realize, the Uchiha are a clan of warriors, if you wanna become a pampered housewife, you should have set your sights on a civilian."

"What the hell do you know you no-good orphan!?"

"Smooth Sakura, real smooth. In case you didn't notice, Sasuke's an orphan too."

Casting a brief glance to Sasuke's twitching eyebrow, Sakura wisely decided to shut up.

"Alright! My turn, yes?" Kakashi nodded. "Right! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, fuinjutsu, Old Man Hokage, and I guess I'll have to expend the list when I discover new things. I dislike people who judge others or blame them for things out of their control. My hobbies would be calligraphy, getting payback through pranks and a bit of meditation from time to time. I've got two big dreams, first: becoming Hokage." His boisterous, joyful tone suddenly subsided, a more thoughtful and almost melancholic tone taking its place. "My second dream is, one day, to go to Whirlpool and pay my respects to my ancestors."

"Alright, you're an interesting bunch. We'll meet tomorrow at 9:00 at training ground 3 to take a little test. What you passed was a 'pre-test' of sorts, now we're going to see if you really have what it takes to be a shinobi of Konoha. Don't worry, the success rate is good, you'll probably pass." He said with an eye smile.

"We'll see." Answered Naruto, suddenly serious again. "Taka, let's face it, we hate each other, but we're gonna be on the same team, so let's make a truce."

"Hn. What do you have in mind?"

"We work and train together, but we don't interact more than that. So?"

"I'm in."

Kakashi nodded appreciatively, satisfied to see that they would be willing to set their differences aside to work together. However, when he looked at Sakura's revolted face, he knew she would be a handful, even though right now she was keeping her mouth shut.

"Alright, Sasuke I don't need you anymore, you can go. Sakura, could you wait down the stairs please? I'll have a talk with Naruto and I'd like to talk to you afterwards."

"Um, alright sensei."

The Uchiha had already left with a burst of speed, leaving the pink-haired one to slowly walk down the stairs in silence, dejected that her crush didn't want to talk to her.

"Okay, Naruto, what was that comment about being 'far past madness'?"

"You know of Kitsune of the Gauntlet, right?"

"Yes, I know of your identity in the Gauntlet."

"More like second personality." Said Naruto causing Kakashi's eyes to widen in shock. "Wanna meet him? He's a bit on the snarky side, but he's an okay guy."

"Naruto … are you telling me that … you are talking to a Kitsune in your head?"

"Don't worry, he's not the fox. Let me show you."

Crossing his fingers, he summoned a shadow clone on the bench next to him. The clone opened his eyes to reveal that they were red and slitted, causing Kakashi to tense.

"Hmm, nice trick, good idea. So, here's our teach, huh? Well hi, I'm Kitsune, Naruto's darkest side so to say. And don't worry, I'm 100% human made, Fluffy can attest to that."

"Fluffy?"

"Yup, no end of fun calling that wet fox Fluffy." Kitsune then proceeded to explain his birth to a dumbfounded Kakashi. "And that's about it. Since we're on the way to merging, we can say we're past madness, don't you think?"

"Hmm, well, so it seems. Though I admit I feel a bit … queasy, about a schizophrenic jinchuriki."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes, do you really want me to keep using 'cute little genin'?"

Naruto and Kitsune looked at each other before grinning maniacally.

"Heck yes!" They said as one. "Have you seen the look on their faces? It was hilarious!" Continued Naruto.

"Okay, I'll see about that, you can go now. Tell Sakura to get up here on your way down."

"Sure thing."

Kitsune dispelled and Naruto left for his apartment, signalling to Sakura to climb back up as he passed her. The pinkette's lips drew a thin line, obviously not too very pleased about being ordered by the perceived dobe. As she reached the balcony once again, she sat in front of her teacher.

"Alright Sakura, I think we have a lot of things to talk about. First and foremost, you will have to dampen your dislike of Naruto if we are to work together."

"But why? He's a complete loser who will only pull Sasuke-kun and I down! He shouldn't even be a ninja! He has no talent whatsoever, he is loud and obnoxious, he wears orange, and he is just plain dumb! I'm not the only one to think that, everyone does!"

"Oh boy, it will be a pain. *sigh* Alright, here we go. Naruto isn't a 'loser' as you so kindly put it, and you will soon discover just how wrong you are. You will also see very soon that he isn't as weak as you think he is, a recent … traumatic … event caused his potential to unlock in full. You noticed he addressed Sasuke as Taka correct? That is because they fought in an underground complex that train willing academy students. Naruto is Kitsune, and Sasuke is Taka, they are both the strongest students to have come out of there, so don't worry about him pulling you down, more probably, he will pull you up." Kakashi ignored the disbelieving look his female student was giving him and went on.

"Now, Hokage-sama himself think Naruto should be a ninja, do you think you know better than him?" Kakashi left a pause, enjoying slightly seeing his student squirm. "I thought so. As for the loud part, you must admit you weren't exactly the most discreet with your voice. And lastly, think by yourself. Have you tried to get to know him before passing judgement?"

"I don't need to, I heard enough about him."

"So you blindly trust what others say and never try to see for yourself? And you want to be a ninja? If such is the case, go back to the academy, even better, drop out of the program completely. Ninja must think by themselves. People you consider trustworthy may be biased on a topic and try to pass that onto you."

"Hmph, then why is the ENTIRE village saying this?"

"Not the entire village. Besides, number isn't a guarantee. How many of these people know him? The answer is … none. Now, I will give you a chance, but if your behaviour jeopardizes the team, I will have to request a replacement."

Sakura nodded her head slowly, not really wanting to lose her spot on Sasuke's team. With that, Kakashi dismissed her and returned to his apartment. When he finally reached his apartment, and unceremoniously collapsed on the couch. "Oh man, that's probably going to be both my worst and my best team."

Author Note:

Aaand done. So, what do you think?

Ah, another thing. For the story advancement, I will need some clans, so don't hesitate to send me your OC clans, or any reasonably badass OC, just don't send me the description of a god or a Brotherhood of Epicness.

If you have a clan to submit, I'll need the name of the clan, their specialty or particularities, and eventual bloodline. If you have a crest, some notable members (especially the clan head), or the zone where they reside, it would be appreciated.

That's it! I hope to have plenty of answers, and see you next time!