A/N- Sorry for the delay guys. Been in basic training. Hope you enjoy! I will have another chapter in a couple weeks.

Our resident blonde hero had fallen asleep shortly after talking to Kurama. The fox explained how to allow him access to his senses, and the boy had given him complete access. This made the fox happy. the last thirteen years had been hell, with only a glimpse of the outside world here and there.

The next morning came quickly for Naruto. Kurama had also told him that from now on he could visit the fox whenever he wanted, and also while he slept the boy would take lessons with the fox. He would be learning about the fox's past and about his parents.

"Kit after your morning routine, go to the Hokage tower so that we can talk to old Hiruzen. He won't be surprised that we've come to our little agreement. Before you do anything though, get your ass in here and change my cage dammit! I'm tired of this sewer." Kurama's voice boomed in the boy's head as he woke up. He could change his mind? How did that even work?

Naruto entered his mind and the fox explained that he could make his mind look like whatever he wanted. Naruto wondered aloud what the Kyuubi wanted his mind to be like. The huge Kitsune told the blonde to make it look like an endless forest, complete with forest animals that the fox could hunt. He wanted the center to be a large clearing, so that he and the boy could study and train together. Naruto did as his tenant asked and made his mind into a forest with a little help from the fox.

Finally, after what seemed like hours it was finally finished. The fox now had a collar with the kanji for seal on it instead of being in the gigantic cage.

After Kurama was happy with the finish product Naruto left his mind and began his morning routine. The fox had told him that it might be a good idea to add five pounds on his seal. Naruto did, and found that it wasn't a horrible change. It would still take a while to get used to. The boy finished his physical exercises around an hour after he had begun. Naruto had a hundred clones working on chakra control while he exercised so once he was done he dispelled them a few at a time.

He finished dispelling them and was about to head to the Hokage tower.

"Kit send ten clones down to the library, tell them to pick a book and read it in its entirety. Each day you'll do this, but each day I want you to add five clones. I want you to do this until what happened to you in the Land of Wave happens. That'll be your limit for this little exercise of ours. By the way, there are tens of thousands of books down in that library. It'll probably take you your whole life to read them all, even with this boon of yours called clones." Naruto grinned at the thought of his little trick. He did as Kurama told him and set off for the Hokage tower.

On his way to the tower he saw Ino coming out of her flower shop. "Hey Ino! How you been?" he greeted her smiling.

Ino was surprised to see her fellow blonde. 'his hair's grown longer, and he looks more mature. It's only been a few months! What happened to them on that last mission? Have to admit he looks good.' Her thoughts about Naruto surprised the girl. Why was she thinking about him looking good, and more mature?

"Hey Naruto! I've been good, we got to go on a C rank just like you guys. Ours was kind of boring though. We just escorted a guy back to his village and came home. How was your mission?" she asked as they walked.

"Well ours actually got upgraded to an A rank. We fought Zabuza and Haku of the mist. We brought them back with us though. They actually weren't fighting to kill, although it sure as hell seemed like it. It was tough! After that we fought a bunch of thugs, Kakashi, Zabuza and I." Naruto looked at Ino with a sadness in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand. "We killed them Ino. All of them, without mercy."

"Wow Naruto. I can't imagine what you must be going through. You're the first of our age group with a kill under his belt. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here you know." Ino couldn't believe it. That's what was different. He had killed someone.

Naruto stopped now. "Actually Ino… I could use someone to talk to. How about later on today after all of our team training. You could, umm… come over?" his cheeks were redder than they had ever been. Even around Hinata he had never been this embarrassed. Why was he being this way, he had never been embarrassed around Ino before.

Ino was floored! This was Naruto, the most confident guy in their class. The strongest of all of them, except maybe for Sasuke. She knew that Sasuke and Naruto were rivals that were neck and neck when it came to strength. He was pausing, and saying words like umm. What was up with that? Why in the world was his face red? Did he… did he like her?

"Sure Naruto, just come by the flower shop and get me. I'm your friend, of course I'll always be here for you if you need to talk." She said this as confidently as she could and in actuality she did wonderful! She was nervous as hell! What would she wear? Oh no… would he.. try to.. kiss her? Now her face was beat red.

"Thanks Ino! Anyways I have to go and see the Hokage. Later Ino!" Naruto ran off waving his goodbye to the girl. He had no idea why he was so nervous about this. She was just a friend. Right?

Ino was left with just as confusing thoughts. What was going with her? Why was she so nervous about hanging out with Naruto later that day? It didn't make sense.

-APL-

At the Hokage's office Zabuza was talking with Hiruzen about his plans as a ninja of the leaf.

"I want to be classified as an assassination specialist mostly. You know of my past with the Hidden Mist Village. I would also like you to send me to wave to teach a team of students. My thought is that we can have four jounin rotate between being here and there. They could have four teams of genin, each with a different leader. While a team's leader is there they would teach their team mostly, but would also teach all of the students. We would need four jounin that do not as of yet have teams. I am not willing to take a team just yet and I don't think you'll want me to. I'm sure that you want me to prove my worth as a ninja and gain your trust as this villages leader before you entrust a team to me. The only other thing I could think of would be that you find four jounin to move permanently to wave, and have each of your jounin with teams take their teams to wave for a month at a time. They would teach the students what it's like to be genin. I'm sure that you can find a solution, but I think that overlooking this opportunity would be a complete waste. That Inari boy, who is Tazuna's son was learning really well!" Zabuza's long winded speech was met with approval from the Hokage. They both felt the same about the situation.

"I've actually been thinking about a solution to the Wave situation and I believe that I have four jounin that would be perfect to send there permanently. They would have to accept of course, but I think they will. Also I believe that forming these teams and working out a system with Tazuna to let the teams start immediately doing D ranked missions from within the village will help them learn and grow faster than our academy students, who have the time to learn." The old man paused. Kakashi and Zabuza nodded in approval at this. They had no idea who the jounin would be, though, and were wondering.

"I feel as if we can accelerate the learning process over there so that they will be ready to become official genin of the leaf in one year. They will not need to learn the histories just yet; it can be an ongoing process. They will have all of the practical knowledge that they need in a year. Age requirements will have to be set, until such a time that an academy can be built. I feel that that is a way off however. I believe that Inari is eleven, correct?" Hiruzen had thought long and hard late into the night about this. He wanted the Wave ninja to be ready for missions as soon as possible and he believed that they could do it. Most of the academy was filled with theory and history. Cut all of that out and the old man knew that it would only take a year. They would only learn practical knowledge and chakra theory, for now.

"I can agree with this Hokage-sama. I think that your theory on this will work out perfectly. Inari was like a sponge when we were training with him, these new students will learn extremely quickly." Kakashi explained to the Hokage.

"Alright I believe that were in agreement about this?" Zabuza and Kakashi nodded. The Hokage summoned two ANBU. The Hokage gave them a scroll and told them to take it two wave as quickly as possible and bring back the reply. The scroll told of the deal that they had just talked about, and it also told Tazuna that Hiruzen would be backing them financially. they wouldn't be able to give him a lot, but it would be enough. The ANBU left the room and made their way to complete the mission.

"We should receive a reply within the week" the old man said, "Zabuza your test for jounin will be held later today. Be at training ground eleven at 4 o'clock. Make sure that Haku knows to be at the same training ground at 2."

"Yes Hokage-sama" the masked ex mist ninja replied. He was excited already at the prospect of becoming a leaf jounin. He knew that he had made the right choice bringing Haku here.

"It seems that Naruto is here, Zabuza you are dismissed." Zabuza left the office in a shun shin of the mist, which was swirling water. A knock sounded from outside the door.

"Enter Naruto." The Hokage told the boy.

Naruto walked into the office and looked at the two veterans in front of him. "hey old man, Kakashi sensei. I have some big news. I talked with Kurama- err the Kyuubi last night."

"I see, and what did Kurama have to say, my boy?" Kakashi was surprised at the nonchalant way that the Hokage was handling this news. He had always heard that the Kyuubi was malevolent and evil. If Naruto was talking to it, wasn't that a bad thing?

"Well he wanted me to tell you that he would oversee my training with his power. I've made the same deal with him that my mom did. He also wanted me to tell you that the attack on Konoha wasn't his choice. He was under the control of some masked Uchiha. He also told me about my sister." Naruto explained to them, he was sure that the Hokage would be surprised about the revelation that it wasn't the Kyuubi attacking on his own. He was also sure they would both be surprised about his sister.

"Hmmm, so he took little Karin that night? I've been wondering what happened to her ever since the Kyuubi attacked, we searched everywhere, but we never found her body. I never told you about her because I thought she had died. I'm sorry I never told you Naruto-kun. This man though, did Kurama tell you anything else about him?"

"Kit tell him that I don't know anything about the man, other than the fact that he's an Uchiha. He wears a black cloak with red clouds, and an orange mask with only one eye hole." Kurama explained.

Naruto explained what the Kyuubi had told him. "I want to search for my sister. Now that I know she's out there, I have to find her. To tell her that she has a brother!" Naruto exclaimed, but the Hokage quickly put that thinking down.

"Naruto-kun you aren't ready for something like that. You are a new genin, I can't let you go out on a mission that could be double S rank for all we know. What if she's joined the man's organization and wants to kill you? Do you really think you could kill your only sister?" Kakashi was completely surprised by all of this. He knew as well that Naruto had a sister, but had no idea that she'd been taken all those years ago.

The man had no idea that the Kyuubi was good. Minato sensei had never told him about Kushina-chan's bijuu. They never really talked about it much. Kakashi hadn't thought about it.

"Naruto I've called Jiraiya back to the village to help you with training to use Kurama's chakra. He needs to know that this is non-negotiable. Jiraiya was your father's teacher, he will become your teacher when he gets here in a week." Hiruzen told the blonde.

"I understand kit; I wouldn't have it any other way. Jiraiya and I are actually good friends. He's going to teach you a jutsu that's going to help us with training, it's called the blood clone." Kurama was excited to see the old pervert again, it had been a long time since they had conversed. He knew that the blood clone would be one of the first things that his host would need to learn. He had taught it to Kushina so that the fox could be corporeal and physically teach her.

"Kurama is actually happy that Jiraiya-sama is going to be teaching me." Naruto said.

"Good! Well if that's all then I suggest that you go and enjoy this time that you have off. Spend it with your friends Naruto." Kakashi and Hiruzen smiled at the boy, he seemed much better than he had the day before. The old man told him when Zabuza and Haku's tests would be and the blonde left. He headed back home.

-APL-

Hinata had been talking with her father most of the morning. He wished to know how her mission went. It pleased him that she had completed it successfully even though it had been harder than originally thought. He told her that she would need to keep up to good work if she was to impress the elders.

Since Naruto had cast off his mask of ignorance and started helping his classmate Hinata had been getting better and better. Every day she had grown more confident. The day before the final exam at the academy she had finally been able to show her father. She completely destroyed her younger sister Hinabi in a jyuken bout. Her father had been very impressed with how much she had improved because of her blonde classmates help. At first he hadn't wanted to let her associate with the boy.

He knew what he contained and it worried the main branch head that the two of them were becoming so close. He didn't want her to become corrupted by the boy. He was under the impression that the fox was just as evil as the stories suggested. When Hinata had beaten her sister, his view on the boy did a flip, a 180 turn if you will.

He had started to encourage his eldest daughter to learn more from the Kyuubi boy. He felt that the blonde could help her grow into a strong kunoichi.

You can imagine the look of shock on his face when the boy showed up at the door of his office right after Hiashi had sent Hinata to her room after talking to her about her first c ranked mission.

Hiashi heard a knock at the door of his office, "who is it? What business do you have here?" he asked the visitor.

"Hiashi-sama, its Naruto Uzumaki, may I come in?" Naruto replied curtly.

What was he doing here? The clan head wondered as he told the boy to enter his office. It was very odd, he hadn't met the boy yet and he had chosen today of all days to pay him a visit.

"Good morning Hiashi-sama." Naruto greeted.

"Good morning Uzumaki-san. May I ask why you are here today?" Hinata father replied. He wanted to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.

"W-well… I've been wondering the best way to do this..." he paused wondering what to say.

"Out with it boy. Whatever it is just say it!" Hiashi said, just a little impatiently.

"Umm… can I take Hinata-chan on a date Hiashi-sama? I've never asked a girl to go on a date before. I didn't know the best way to go about it so I decided to make sure that it was alright with you first. You are her father after all." Naruto had basically said all of this in a matter of a few seconds.

The Hyuuga clan head looked at him for a moment. Then he burst out laughing! "Hehe, whew you are something else boy. Why didn't you just ask my daughter herself? Why come to me. If I had disapproved of the two of you becoming closer, I would have stopped it long ago."

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with it, Hiashi-sama. If Hinata-chan and I are going to start umm… dating, I didn't want anything to stand in the way of that. Least of all her own family." Naruto was sweating bullets in embarrassment by now. He had thought that this was the right way to do this, but apparently it would have been better to just skip all of this and just ask her! Damn, why did he have to be so dense when it came to girls.

"Naruto-san, I approve of the two of you. Go and ask her. I must say this as her father though. If you hurt my little girl, you had better pray to Kami that I don't find you. When I do words don't even express the pain that you will feel. Do you understand?" Hiashi let loose enough of his killing intent to scare the living crap out of the boy in front of him. The clan head smiled sweetly.

"Yes sir, I understand. I'll just…" he gulped, swallowing nervously. "I'll just go and ask her myself." The boy finished. The man in front of him chuckled as the blonde got up to leave.

"Oh Naruto-san. Hinata's room is down the hall on the right." Hiashi said as the boy nodded and left to go ask Hinata. 'Hmmm he is a very interesting boy. I would have never expected him to do that.' Hiashi thought as he pondered the relationship between the two of them.

Naruto walked down the hallway. He was nervous as hell! What would he even say to the girl that he had been crushing on for months. During the two weeks that they had been guarding Tazuna after the battle on the bridge he had come to the realization that he liked Hinata as more than a friend. He was confused by it at first, because he'd never had these feelings before. But now, he was just nervous. He had no idea how to ask her, not to even mention the fact that now he was confused by the earlier interaction with his previous classmate Ino. What was he going to do later when she came to his house… he had sure gotten himself into a pickle when it came to girls.

The boy arrived at the door that belonged to Hinata. Oh no, what in the world could he even say to her? 'I need to grow some balls and knock on the damned door at least.' Naruto thought as he brought his knuckle up to the door. He knocked twice.

"Who is it?" Hinata called from the other side.

"It's Naruto, Hinata-chan, can I come in?" Naruto asked.

Hinata was surprised, she hadn't expected Naruto to be there. How in the world had he gotten in to the compound? She had no idea why he was there, and she started to get nervous almost instantly. "Yes Naruto-kun, you can come in."

Naruto opened the door slowly not sure as to what he was going to say to his crush just yet. He had been thinking about it since the wave mission, but still couldn't come up with anything. Well, might as well just come out and ask her, right? He walked into her room and noticed that she was blushing. Her cheeks were a faint shade of pink. Was she just as nervous as he was? That made things a little easier.

"Hinata-chan, I was wondering if you… umm would you?" Naruto paused still nervous as hell.

"Yes Naruto-kun? What is it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well, would you like to go to dinner with me? I was thinking we could go on a date together, this Saturday." Naruto just came out and said it. He wasn't going to get anywhere by pussyfooting around.

Hinata on her part didn't expect this in the slightest. Saturday wasn't for another three days, since it was Thursday. She wanted to say yes. She had been hoping for this since they started on their team together. She wanted him to notice her and apparently he had. "s-sure, Naruto-kun. I'd like that." She replied with a slight stutter.

Naruto was elated! She said yes! He was inwardly freaking out, but outwardly he just said, "Alright Hinata-chan, see you Saturday at seven!" he had said it enthusiastically and then just ran out of the compound.

Hinata had no clue what to think. Her crush had just asked her on their first date! Oh no, what was she going to wear?!

-APL-

Naruto practically hopped and skipped through the village in happiness. He was doing on a date!

It was around 1:30 in the afternoon, and Naruto didn't want to miss Haku and Zabuza's tests so he made his way to training ground eleven.

"Kit, what are you going to do about the blonde vixen later on this evening? You do realize that she wants to be your mate, right?" Kurama interrupted his thoughts as he arrived at the training ground.

'No she doesn't! what are you even talking about Kurama, and why in the world would you say it like that?' Naruto responded in his mind red faced at the thought of "mating". He was only a thirteen-year-old boy after all.

"I'll let you see for yourself, but mark my words boy. You need to figure something out. You can't be going behind your mates back with this blonde. While it's not uncommon to have multiple mates, they need to know about each other or its going to blow up in your face, in the worst way possible." Kurama was inwardly laughing his ass off at what his container had gotten himself into. He knew how the boy felt about Hinata, but he also knew that the blonde vixen, Ino, was it? She had shown all the signs of a woman that wanted to mate with the boy. The red cheeks, the scent of her, and the nervousness were all clear signs to the fox that his container was in a situation that could possibly turn out very badly.

'Alright Kurama, I'll see what happens tonight when she comes over. I don't think you're right about this but if you are ill figure something out. I really like Hinata-chan, I don't want to hurt her.' Naruto didn't think that the fox could have been right in a million years, but on the off chance that he was. 'Will you help me with this? About what to do I mean, if you are right?' Naruto asked the fox.

"I shall think about it kit; I may just let you suffer their wrath. I haven't quite decided yet!" Naruto didn't like the way that sounded at all!

'Damned fox.' He thought back. It was almost time for Haku's test so he told Kurama that he would talk to him a little bit about it later. The fox chuckled, knowing that he would be guaranteed entertainment with this.

Pretty soon he heard people walking into the vicinity. It was Zabuza and Haku, so Naruto decided to greet them.

"Hey guys, how are you liking the village?" he asked as they walked up to him.

"I oughta thank you kid. You didn't have to offer this to us. We both feel like this could be a new beginning for us." Zabuza thanked him, which was slightly out of character, but Naruto understood. The leave village was their new home, and they were just realizing what that meant to them.

"No problem, I would do it again in a heartbeat." Naruto explained. They sat with him talking and waiting for the Hokage to arrive with their opponents.

Around fifteen minutes later a group of jounin and chunin showed up with the Hokage leading them. Asuma Sarutobi, the Hokage's son greeted the three ninja waiting.

"Hello Zabuza-san, Haku-san, I am Asuma Sarutobi, the Hokage's son. I'll be Zabuza's opponent today." He looked over to Naruto. "Naruto, how have you been? It's been a while since our teams have been on a mission together."

"We just got back from our first C rank. It was awesome!" Naruto laughed.

"Heh, so you'll be the one I fight? Where is Haku's opponent?" Zabuza asked cheekily. He figured that this guy would be easy to take down. It'd be over in a few minutes.

"My name is Iwashi Tatami, I'm a Chunin. I'll be your opponent Haku-san." A man that looked to be around 17 years old, walked up to them. He wore the standard chunin flak jacket, blue ninja pants, and had short spiky brown hair. He had a short, but noticeable dark goatee. His eyes were a cerulean blue, with a little green in them. Other than that he was average in almost every way.

Haku nodded, and stood up. The Hokage smiled at her eagerness, as did everyone else.

"Looks like she's ready to go. This should be good." One Anko Mitarashi was saying. Anko had light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair was a violet color and was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. Over this she wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards. In addition to the typical forehead protector, she also wore a small pendant that looked like a snake fang and a wrist watch.

Anko grinned maniacally as the Hokage walked up to Haku and Iwashi. The other jounin and chunin watching were as excited as ever. They hadn't seen anything like this in ages. The village had been pretty boring recently.

Kakashi laughed "I'll put five hundred ryo on Haku beating the boy in less than three minutes. Any takers?"

Chouza, and Inoichi, the clan heads of the Akimichi and Yamanaka clan stepped up to Kakashi. "Is she that good? I'll take that bet." Chouza grinned handing the money to Inoichi. Kakashi did the same, and then a few other jounin stepped up.

In the end Shikaku, the head of the Nara clan, Anko, and Asuma put money on her winning early. Six other jounin and chunin including Gai, who was the leader of team ten, and Chouza had put money for her to either lose, or last more than three minutes.

Kakashi chuckled to himself at the outcome. He and the other four would be just a little richer after this. 'Iwashi has no chance.'

"Alright you two, these are the rules. No killing, but anything else is allowed. If I deem it necessary, I will stop the match." The Hokage stated to the two ninja that were about to fight.

Now normally Haku would have taken the time to gauge her opponent. She would have started off slow and shown her skills a bit, but she had heard the betting taking place with the jounin off to the side. 'Better make this quick' she thought grinning evilly across the field.

"You two ready?" the old man asked and at the nod he received he jumped back and told them to begin.

Iwashi began the match by throwing four kunai at Haku, which she dodged easily. She sped through a few hand signs. "Ice Style: Crystallized Ice Dome!" she muttered and put hand hands onto the ground.

In seconds Iwashi was completely encased in a dome of ice. Haku quickly began her next jutsu. "Demonic Ice Mirrors!" she yelled and the dome split into sixteen sheets of ice that surrounded the leaf chunin. She leapt into one of them.

The chunin Iwashi had no idea what to do. He tried a fire style jutsu, which was completely ineffective.

"It's over Hokage-sama, I will finish him with this move!" Haku explained. The onlookers were surprised by her ruthlessness on the battlefield. None of them wanted to be Iwashi right now. She was in complete control. she started in on the immense number of hand signs she would need for the jutsu.

"Ice Style: Demonic Murder." Haku said confidently and stood on top of the top most sheet of ice. The sheets below slowly transformed into thousands of senbon. Iwashi was scared for his life. He was going to die here today. He just knew it. He screamed out in pain as the jutsu completed and he was impaled all over his body. He fell to the ground looking like a pincushion.

"Winner of the match, Haku Momochi. Congratulations you are now a chunin of Konoha." He looked at her, glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of the jutsu. She wasn't even breathing heavily. "is he going to be alright?"

"I didn't hit any of his vital spots Hokage-sama. In around two weeks he will be well enough to go back to missions." This floored everyone there. She had been so ruthless in her attacking and yet she hadn't hit any of his vital spots? She had just done what was necessary to take the boy down in the least amount of time possible. The wasn't chunin skill, it was jounin.

"Gai take him to the hospital. Haku-chan, you have perfect control over your ice. If what you say is true and you didn't hit even one of that boy's vital spots, that isn't the work of a chunin. I want a full medical report. If that report comes back supporting your claim, I will promote you to tokubetsu jounin in six months. I need to know that you can lead as well as fight, but your skills are more than enough for the rank." The Hokage praised her making her blush slightly. Zabuza walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.

"I knew you could do it Haku." He told her making her blush even brighter. Naruto on the other hand was sweating bullets.

"Kit, you had better be glad you lost control, or you'd be dead. The girl is scary!" Kurama laughed as the boy paled.

'Shut up Kurama, I could have taken her!' Naruto retorted to the fox even though he knew he couldn't have. The fox only laughed that much harder.

The gamblers amongst the crowd groaned as the losers paid the winners. "Anyone want to bet on Zabuza's match?" Kakashi grinned evilly. They all shook their heads as he laughed.

"Alright Asuma-san, guess it's our turn. What's say we make this interesting. If I win, you have to come with me to Wave when the time comes." Zabuza looked at the man, who nodded. The terms weren't all that serious, and Asuma hadn't been to Wave yet, surprisingly.

Yugao Uzuki, Naruto's kenjutsu teacher, who was watching, looked at Zabuza's sword with interest. 'That's Kubikirihocho! So he was one of the seven ninja swordsman of the mist? Hmm, he's kind of handsome, but with a rugged aspect to him. I like it.' She blushed at her thoughts. She would have to talk to Zabuza-san about his sword.

"Alright you two, same rules as before. Are you ready?" Hiruzen asked the two of them. They nodded and walked to opposite sides of the field.

"Begin!" the Hokage gave them the signal to start and Zabuza launched into his first attack. He swung the large cleaver-like sword downward onto Asuma, who blocked with two trench knives that glowed with a green hue.

'Wind chakra huh? This will be interesting.' Zabuza thought as he made a one handed seal for the water clone jutsu. Two clones split from his body and swiped at either side of Asuma. The Hokage's son jumped back and created a shadow clone. He started forming hand signs. The clone threw two kunai at each water clone. The clones both blocked, but they both still dispelled.

"Quite the range on your wind chakra Asuma-san, that was at least two feet. I'm impressed." Zabuza complimented the man who had just finished his jutsu.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he sent the blast of wind as Zabuza, who blocked with the flat of his blade. He skidded back a few feet, and started his own jutsu.

"Water Style: Water Bullet!" he held the last sign as he sent seven water bullets at Asuma. He quickly started in on another jutsu. Asuma dodged and blocked the small compressed balls of water. He formed hand signs quickly as he did.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"

The huge dragon of water went after Asuma as he unleashed his blade of wind cutting the dragon in half down the middle.

"Alright I think it's time to end this Asuma. Let's see how you deal with this! Water style: Hidden Mist jutsu!" Zabuza exclaimed, and soon the entire battlefield was enshrouded in a thick white mist.

"Eight points." The voice came from behind.

"Larynx, spine, lungs." This voice came from the left.

"Jugular, subclavian artery." This one from the right.

"Kidneys, and heart. Which shall I puncture Asuma?" this voice however came from the front.

In a matter of seconds Asuma was surrounded. Zabuza came from behind first. Asuma had no idea. Soon the man was trapped.

"Water Prison Jutsu. Hokage-sama this match is over." The mist cleared revealing Asuma trapped in a ball of water. Kakashi winced as he remembered the last time he had seen this jutsu.

"You've proven your point Zabuza. You can let him go." Zabuza released the jutsu, glad that he had won. The man knew that he had to end it quickly. They were both running out of chakra from all of the extensive jutsu. The only way that he could do it without killing him was to trap the wind user.

"Good one Zabuza-san, that was an interesting way to end it." Asuma shook Zabuza's hand being the good sport. In truth, he could have continued. However, he knew that they had proved Zabuza's skill enough that he would be given the rank that he deserved.

"Zabuza Momochi. You are hereby awarded the rank of jounin. You will now be able to accept any rank of mission. Given time, you will also receive a team of genin to train as your own. Do you accept this rank?" Hiruzen asked the man.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I accept the rank and responsibilities I have been given as a jounin of Konoha." Zabuza replied.

The Hokage smiled. He told them that the testing was finished. It was time to get back to their daily activities. The jounin that were there made their way back to their homes, and the Hokage walked back to his office with Zabuza and Haku following him.

"Haku, you will be taking the rookie genin teams on several C ranked missions in the next six months. You will also be required to go on at least three A ranked missions with your fellow chunin, and a jounin as leader. If you can prove yourself, I see no problems with giving you tokubetsu jounin. Is this acceptable?" Hiruzen and the two newest ninja of the leaf had come to his office.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I wasn't expecting to be given such a high rank." Haku replied. She was ready to accept any challenge that was given to her.

"Zabuza, Monday morning I will have a meeting with all of the jounin. We will discuss the issue with the young people in Wave Country, and their training. I believe that I have four jounin that will be able to join you and Asuma, when you go." The Hokage told him. Zabuza nodded, knowing that it would take some time to achieve these goals.

-APL-

Naruto walked down the road, he was on a mission to find Ino's flower shop. He had no idea where it was, the only ones that went with her there while they were in the academy were the girls like Sakura and Hinata. He walked by the weapons shop known as Higarashi's, where he had gotten his teams weights. He paused, before continuing on. He would have to check something later.

He rounded a corner, he wasn't sure why, but the walk through the village was more peaceful than normal. Finally, he saw it. It was a little shop on the corner of two small streets. Yamanaka's flowers, it was called. He walked up to the door, all of a sudden he was nervous as hell. He didn't have any idea what he would say to the girl.

He was still haunted by his first kill. That hadn't changed in the slightest. The problem was that he had been thinking about the possibility of Ino liking him all day long. What if she did? What was he going to do if both Hinata and Ino liked him? he didn't know how he felt about either of them for real. He thought that Ino was cute, but he knew Hinata better. They had been friends for a long time after all.

'Ohh, I'll just have to see how things go before I decide anything.' He thought to himself as he opened the door. The fur ball in his mind chuckled at his predicament. Why didn't the boy see that if he played his cards right he wouldn't have to choose.

"Yamanaka flower's! welcome how may I h-help y-you?" Ino realized who was at the door and stuttered the last two words out of surprise and nervousness. You see, she had been thinking all day as well.

"Hey Ino!" Naruto smiled at the girl. "I was wondering if you still wanted to come over and talk."

That smile. His smile made her heart flutter in her chest. "S-sure Naruto. Let me just tell my dad that I'm going out." She went into the back room, not coming out for a little while. When she did finally emerge she was dressed differently. She wore a light purple tank top, with a black pair of form fitting shorts that cut off right above the knee. Maybe she was getting comfortable, for their talk. Naruto didn't know. All he could do was stare at the girl. The simplest things made all the difference, Ino wasn't showing nearly as much skin now, but Naruto thought she looked cuter than ever.

She took his hand and led him out onto the street. "Lead the way blondie!" she said seemingly gaining all of her confidence back.

Naruto laughed "Hey, you're blonde too you know!" he said and they took off toward his house.

-APL-

The house was just as Ino remembered it. Naruto had already put away all of his parent's memorabilia, not ready for the aftermath of anyone knowing who they were. They walked inside and Naruto put a kettle of tea on the stove.

Ino sat on the couch wondering what to say. The sun was starting to set outside, as it was around 6:30. Naruto sat beside her and as they waited for the tea to boil, he decided to start talking.

"So do you like being a genin so far Ino-chan?" Naruto asked. Ino was stunned for a second. He had called her chan! Her cheeks burned a bright red as she replied.

"Well, I really like it. I've been training a lot with my team and were all getting stronger. Going out of the village was a lot of fun, I've never been more than a mile out before so it was all new to me. I can't wait to be able to explore even more of the world out there. I've always dreamed of traveling you know." She told him, as he watched her talking. He noticed that at the end she started getting really passionate.

"Tell me, Ino-chan. What is your dream?" he asked.

"I want to travel around the world and learn how to grow all kinds of flowers and plants that have uses in the ninja field. I want to learn to grow medicinal plants as well as poisonous ones. I want to bring them home and help my dad's shop prosper, and then I want to take it over as my own. Making it well known that plants and flowers can be used in all aspects of the world. That they don't just look pretty." She had a fiery passion in her eyes when she spoke of taking over her father's shop and revolutionizing the use of plants in many different ways.

This surprised Naruto he had no idea that she wanted to do something like that. It made him happy that she had a dream just like he did. She was very driven. "So Naruto, what was it like? I know it's gotta hurt to think about, but I need to know… what was it like to kill someone..." She shuddered at the thought of it. She knew she needed to know. It was an important part of their careers.

"Uhh, honestly Ino, it was just… we were fighting Zabuza and Haku on the bridge and then they joined us. They were our allies. Then Gato and his thugs showed up. Kakashi and Zabuza were going to take them all on, but I wanted to help. I had to get myself involved. So we split them up, we each killed a third of them. There were 30 of them. Ten people Ino. Each one was as easy to take down as the last had been, I buried my kunai into each of their hearts. I watched as the life left their eyes. I see them. When I go to sleep I see them in my dreams, looking at me lifeless. Asking me why." Naruto looked away from Ino with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Ino silently turned his face towards hers and brought her to him. She hugged him tightly like she never wanted to let him go. She was crying now too. She saw how much of an impact this had on him. she wondered if it would be this hard for her. She didn't want to think about it anymore as she just sat there holding the blonde boy, who if she was quite honest with herself, she had feelings for since the academy. They were superficial then, and she didn't know the depth of them now, but they were there.

"It's going to be ok Naruto-kun, I promise. I'll help you get through this. No matter what." She said softly into his ear as she ran her fingers through his hair. He calmed down over a few minutes. She continued to hold him, she didn't know what else she could do for the boy. She hoped that she was comforting him.

"Thank you Ino-chan, it means a lot to me that you want to help me through this." Naruto said into her ear, mostly because he couldn't really move. Ino shivered at the sensation. Her cheeks warmed, and turned a bright red.

"N-Naruto, can I ask you something?" the platinum blonde gently broke the hug and looked into her fellow blonde's eyes with a rosy blush warming her face.

"Sure Ino, what is it?" Naruto asked. He was really glad that he had brought her here, already the weight on his mind felt lighter. He knew that he would at least sleep a little better tonight.

She looked at him for a moment as if contemplating whether or not she should ask. 'aww fuck it, I'll just do this. Asking him outright is just too embarrassing.' She thought before slowly moving in and giving him a soft kiss on his lips. It took him a moment before he realized just what was happening. Gingerly, he returned her kiss, wrapping his arms back around her.

The tea kettle started to let out an extreme hissing noise, breaking them from their sweet embrace. "Aww dammit, I was enjoying that!" Ino groaned as she watched Naruto get up and make them both tea.

He laughed at her antics, but inwardly he was wondering just why his heart seemed like it was going to explode out of chest. It was beating so fast and hard, and why was he so hot all of a sudden? What was he going to do? When she had kissed him, it was like his whole body lit up in a white hot fire. He shook the thoughts from his mind for the moment. 'I'm just going to enjoy this. I'll think about it later.'

He brought the tea to her and they drank a little silently. Both were freaking out about what had just happened.

Ino for one, was completely awestruck. The girl didn't know what to think. It was only one short kiss, and yet she felt like her whole life was going to change. Sparks lit up her entire body as soon as their lips had touched. When he had started to kiss her back, she had fought the urge to moan into his kiss. She hadn't thought that would have been a good idea, considering what they had just talked about.

Naruto looked over to Ino, wondering what he could say. Her face was a bright pink, and he knew that she was embarrassed. "Ino-chan, that was…" he paused before looking right into her eyes.

"Amazing" she finished for him.