Chapter 6

Team 13 form

" Thinking "

"So I would like everyone to say congratulations to your class mates Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and Anko Mitsarashi for passing the academy in just one year. Wish them all the best as they take their first major step as shinobi of the leaf."

Naruto, Itachi and Anko stood at the front of their class with smiles on their face as their fellow students called and told them well done. After a year at the academy, the teachers there along with the council knew that despite only being nine, that the three were more than ready to become genin. All three easily outclassed the others in the class and that keeping them in the academy would be a waste of their talents.

Yugao, Hayate and Hana clapped the loudest to their friends and had sworn that they would do their best to catch up with the trio by next year.

"Now the real path of being a shinobi begins," Naruto said as Itachi nodded like he normally did while Anko grinned a big smile.

"It's about time too. I was beginning to get so bored here that I thought my head was going to roll of my shoulders from the boredom."

"I am honoured to have the three of you in my class for the little time that you were here. Good luck in your shinobi careers. I know that all three of you are going to go far," their sensei said as he bowed back.

"Thank you sensei," they said at the same time.

"Your new Jonin sensei has told me that you will meet them on the roof and that they will be there in ten minutes time."

The three nodded, gave a wave to their three friends who did the same before they exited the class room.

As they got out of the room they nodded to each other before maing the ram seal with their hand and shunshined to the roof.

They had learnt that move from Hiruzen after Naruto had asked him to teach him a jutsu during one of their breaks from fuinjutsu. He had thought about it for a few minutes before settling that Naruto was ready to learn the Body Flicker technique.

Once he taught it to Naruto, the blonde boy then taught it to the others. Hana, Hayate and Yugao struggled with it and was still trying to learn it while Itachi and Anko had it down within a few days.

Arriving on the roof the three sat together on the floor. Naruto read a book on fuinjutsu; Itachi stared at the clouds while Anko twirled a kunai around her index finger.

"So any idea who we have as our sensei?" Anko asked the two boys.

Both shook their heads. "No idea but I hope they are strong whoever they are. I can't wait to get some more training done," Naruto said showing just how much of a training nut he was. Thankfully it was not on the level of a certain spandex wearing Jonin.

"Whoever they are, I am sure they are capable. Hokage-sama would not have put us with someone who could not handle the task."

As they nodded Naruto gripped his hand a little tightly on the sword that he was carrying in his right hand before he placed it in his lap.

After two months of the order going out from Torino at the shinobi store, the katana that he was waiting for finally arrived. And when he first saw it, he could not help but admire how beautiful and different it was. Torino even said it must have been one of Masamune's finest work.

The blade was 27 inches long and the metal was much to his surprise black with a distinct red edge and its hand-guard had flower-like edges. The handle was a dark purple colour while the sheath was plain black but had two Uzumaki spirals in red going up the side. One of the first things Naruto noticed was that it was a little bit heavier then other swords but he was told that was due to the metal of the blade being harder and denser then other blades which would give it more physical strength.

He knew it would take a bit of time to get use to it but since his weight seal were now up to thirty pounds on each limb he knew the weight of the blade would not be a problem.

When he had received it, he, Hiruzen, Mana, Shizune and Tsunade had marveled at how elegant yet powerful the blade looked with all three claiming they had never seen a blade quite like it. After receiving it he had given it a name that he knew would one day make this blade famous.

The Shusui

Everyone else agreed that the name just fit the blade. He made a storage seal on his wrist similar to his where his mother kept hers since he wanted to keep the Shusui on him at all times.

He tried to show Kushina the blade but she only looked at it while it was in its sheath much to his annoyance. He debated in his head whether to ask her to teach him Kenjutsu but due to past experiences of wanting to ask either Kushina and Minato to train him, he decided against it and figured he would eventually come across a style that worked for him. Until then he could practice with it none the less.

When it was not sealed up, it was strung to his side. He didn't want to strap it since it just felt right staying in his hands.

"If I ever meet Muramasa, then I must give him my eternal thanks for this," he thought.

As he thought about his sword, an energy signature he recognized appeared to be heading towards them at a great speed.

Itachi and Anko saw him tense up a little and were now on alert since they recognized when Naruto could sense someone. While they readied to defend themselves they saw Naruto quickly relax indicating whoever it was they were not hostile towards them.

Just as they three settled a swirl of leaves appeared in front of them. When the leafs all disappeared, they all looked in surprise, especially Itachi when the person standing in front of them was none other than a Jonin uniform clad Mikoto holding little Ria in her arms who was giggling madly.

"Mikoto obasan?"

"Kaa-san? What are you doing here?" Itachi asked since he was surprised to see his mother wearing her Jonin uniform. He could not remember the last time had seen her in her old shinobi uniform which looked like most of the other uniforms except she had an only one sleeve leaving the other arm bare and wrapped around her left thigh was a gray sash with the kanji for fire on it while on her back was a strapped tanto.

"Well is that not obvious Itachi-kun. You are waiting for your Jonin sensei and here I am," she said getting three gobsmacked looks before Naruto fist pumped the air.

"Awesome. Mikoto obasan is our sensei," he cheered as little Ria looked a little confused but cheered as well.

Anko looked happy since she knew that Mikoto Uchiha aka Konoha no Hi Misutoresu (was one of the best kunoichi's in the village. She was up there with Tsunade and Kushina.

"Are you sure Kaa-san? But what about Sasuke and Ria? And does Tou-san know about this?"

"Do not worry Itachi-kun. Sasuke will stay with one of our sitters while Ria will be with me during our d rank missions. Then when we eventually get to higher missions I will arrange for some of the other clan members to watch over them while I am with you all."

"And do not worry about your father. Even if he does not like it, I am a shinobi of this village and I felt it was time to get back into this life. Plus I have always wanted to take a genin team and who better then the team my son is in she said kissing his forehead making him blush a little while Ria sat in her big brothers lap.

"Well now that I am here we can introduce ourselves to one another since it is a must do for a new team," she said as she sat in front of her new team. "Say your name, your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams for the future. I will start."

"My name is Mikoto Uchiha, I like my family, fire jutsu's, my friends and the village. My dislikes are traitors, rapists, those who hurt children and those that dare to hurt my family. My hobbies are learning something new every day and cooking. My dreams for the future has already come true," she said as she looked at her oldest and youngest and smiled.

"Anko why don't you start."

"My name is Anko Mitsarashi. I like my few friends, dango, fighting and blood," she said making them sweat drop a little at the last part. My dislikes are perverts, men who think women can't be as strong as them, arrogance and more. My hobbies are making people who I don't like miserable. My dreams for the future...to kill a certain white snake," she said as she got serious at the last part.

Her two team mates looked at her curiosity since she had never mentioned that last part before whilst Mikoto narrowed her eyes. She like the other higher-ups in the village were aware of Anko's past and understood why she wanted that as her dream.

Itachi was up next. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. My likes are my friends, family, ninjutsu and genjutsu and visiting cafes. My dislikes are those who try to hurt my precious people, steak, and those who think they are better than everyone else and who only crave power for selfish reasons. My hobbies are meditating and training to be a great shinobi. My dream is to protect my home and surpass the Uchiha's of old."

"And now our last member," she said nodding to Naruto who nodded.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. My likes are my precious people, ramen, fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. My dislikes are people who try to hurt my precious people, rapists, perverts and those that gain power for selfish reasons. My hobbies are training, spending time with my jiji and my friends. And my dream for the future is to surpass my parents and to become a great protector of the village."

"That is a wonderful dream Naruto. It sounds like you want to be Hokage one day?"

Naruto shrugged. "If my path as a shinobi leads me there then I guess so."

"Me, me," Ria said as she put her hand up wanting to have a go making the others laugh at the cute little girl.

"Another time Ria-chan," Mikoto said taking her daughter from her eldest and making the girl pout a little.

"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked.

"Well now we will break up for the rest of the day we don't need to get familiar with one another since we all know each other. Tomorrow I want all of you to go to training ground 13 since I want to test how strong the three of you are. I have an idea on Itachi and a little on Naruto but none on you Anko. I want you all there at 9:00 am. Understood?"

"Hai Sensei," the three spoke making Mikoto smile.

"This is going to be an interesting experience. I can't wait to rub in Kushina's face," she thought chuckling evilly in her mind.

"Since you are the only team who have currently graduated from the academy, the three of you are automatically made genin. I hereby announce us as Team 13," she declared getting big smiles from Naruto and Anko and a small smile from Itachi.

Nodding and smiling at them and saying goodbye, Mikoto shunshined away with Ria in her arms leaving the new genin team alone.

Minato sat behind his desk putting a hand through his hair as he sat across from one of the few men in the Elemental Nations that could fight him one on one. On his right was Kakashi and on his left was Jiraiya whilst Kushina was sat next to him. Over on one of the sofa's was Sarutobi with his pipe in his mouth as remained passive but on alert with their guests.

The man in front of them was A, the Fourth Raikage of Kumo and the man who Minato had many battle with in the past.

A was a big man with dark skin and whitish blonde hair that was slicked back with a goatee on his chin. He wore his Raikage cloak and hat whilst around his wrists were golden weights and around his waist was a large gold belt.

Beside A there were two men. One had white spiky hair that covered part of his left eye and also wore a standard white Kumo flack jacket. On his back was a cleaver like sword and on his right arm was the symbol for black lightning.

To his right was a Caucasian man wearing the standard Kumo shinobi uniform but had bandages wrapped around the top of his head and his forehead protector covered his right eye.

"Welcome to the leaf village Raikage-sama, I am happy that you made it here safe and sound," Minato spoke as A snorted a little but thanked him none the less.

"Yes well since we are here, we may as well get right down to it. No sense it postponing this," he said as Minato nodded while Kushina kept her guard up.

Since the attempted kidnap on her life by Kumo shinobi's when she was younger, she had always been very weary around Kumo shinobi. To be frank, she did not trust them one little bit.

"I agree. I see no reason why are two villages should have to be at each other's throats nay more and I am more than willing to put the past behind us if it mean the leaf and the cloud can finally see each other as allies other then enemies."s

"I agree as well. As Raikage the safety of my village is my top priority and it will always come first. If it means keeping any ridiculous wars from breaking out again then I will do it."

Minato nodded to that as well. Though he and A never exactly saw eye to eye, he was glad that as the kage of his village he understood that alliances would truly benefit one another.

Kumo had always been more militarized then Konoha but then again Kumo had always been a very tightly kit and army like village where as Konoha was a bit more relaxed in that sense but always kept their guard up.

"I am surprised that your brother B is not here. Normally the two of you are inseparable," Minato asked as A narrowed his eyes a little at the comment.

"Bee is a jinchurikii therefore he knows that his place is to stay at the village and be a protector Kumo. As a jinchurikii he is a tool to be used to keep Kumo safe."

The leaf ninja frowned at that but knew that was mostly how other jinchurikii were treated like. "You know I have always been curious to who the jinchurikii of the Kyuubi was. Since you know who Kumo's jinchurikii's are do you not think we should know who yours is?"

That made everyone tense while Kushina and Minato looked at the man dangerously. Something that made the white haired man tense and prepare himself. Kakashi did the same.

"That information is classified Raikage-sama," Minato spoke in a clam and even tone.

"Oh so do you believe that my village does not deserve to know of your weapon while you know ours?" A said with his voice getting a little louder.

Kushina slammed her fist on the table. "Jinchurikii's are not tools that you can control simply because of what they contain. They are human beings who carry a great burden on their shoulders."

A didn't look affected by the comment but instead just raised an eyebrow at her outburst while Minato smoothed her by rubbing small circles on her hand.

"You are oddly protective towards them, which leads me to guess that your jinchurikii is someone close to you.

All the leaf shinobi tensed again and were mentally preparing themselves for some kind of confrontation since Kushina face contorted to a looked that showed she was ready to kill.

"Well if you won't tell us then perhaps it was a mistake coming here since you cannot be honest with us when we are being honest with you."

"Honest," Kushina said snorting. "Like how you tried to kidnap me when I was a girl and yet tried to deny it. Yes very honest."

"What my father did when he was Raikage does not fall to me. To be honest I never really understood the big fuss about you Uzumaki. All you were ever good at was fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. The rest you were just mediocre at."

Kushina looked like she was about to bow up at the comment A was making at her while the white haired man just shook his head and face palmed. Minato did the same thing knowing this meeting was not going well at all.

A and Kushina had never liked each other and he knew it was a mistake bringing her to this meeting.

"Perhaps coming here was a mistake," A said standing up from his chair making everyone else stand up s well.

"Perhaps we can speech more of this tomorrow. Let's keep a cool head, think on it tonight and then resume tomorrow the details of the alliance," Minato offered since he really wanted some kind of treaty to be formed between their two villages which could stop any confrontations from happening in the future.

Minato did not wish for another war to break out. He wanted to keep the children of the village to have to succumb to that path.

A scoffed but nodded none the less. "Tomorrow we will continue this. Until then we shall take up residence in the Golden Leaf Hotel," he said as Minato nodded.

A then jumped through the window, making his departure from the meeting. The white haired man sighed before giving Minato a small smile.

"Sorry about the window."

"It's okay. We know of a few people who tend to not use doors," Minato said motioning to Jiraiya who scratched the back of his. The white haired man nodded and walked out through the door with the other man following behind him.

When the door closes everyone breathed easily despite how badly the meeting went.

"Well that could have gone better," Kushina said as she checked her nails as everyone playfully glared at her while she whistled innocently.

Night began to fall as Naruto, Anko and Itachi sat at Ichiraku's ramen while Shizune sat to the side of them with Mito and Naruko by her side. She was looking after the children since after the meeting with the Raikage, many of the clan heads were having a get together.

Mito and Naruko sat on their seats playfully swinging their legs with noodle hanging from their lips while Naruto had little Mina seated on his lap who was now almost a year old and was clapping her hands as Naruto fed her a little bit of ramen.

"Those of Uzumaki blood just naturally like ramen, no matter how young," Shizune commented as Itachi and Anko nodded in agreement.