Chapter Fourteen: Teams Part Two

Shinobi Wire!" stated Ino with surprise, where Shikamaru just nodded.

"Yea, Naruto purposely missed Choji with his Kunai's so that he could trap Choji in the Shinobi wire, which was wrapped around the Kunai's. Where when Choji saw the Kunai's thrown at him, he would try and move away, thereby fully tangling himself in the Shinobi wire. Also the more Choji moves the tighter the wire will get, keeping him from moving altogether", stated Shikamaru, where he had to silently complemented Naruto, as it was good move.

When Naruto landed back on the ground, he was quickly put on the defensive by Shikamaru, who had used his Kagemane no Jutsu to stretch his shadow towards Naruto. Seeing this, Naruto began to jump backwards to keep ahead of Shikamaru's shadow, while at the same time. He was also trying to see how far Shikamaru could stretch his shadow, so that he could have an estimate of his safe and danger zone with Shikamaru.

After jumping back a couple of metres away from Shikamaru, Naruto then found the limit to the stretching of Shikamaru's shadow. But after finding out the limits of Shikamaru's technique, Naruto then saw Choji free himself from the Shinobi wire by deactivating his Nikudan Sensha and returning to his original form.

After seeing this, Naruto then decided it would be best to make a tactical retreat, so that he could plan out his next move against Shikamaru and the others, where he quickly jumped into the treeline to hid.

After Naruto went into the treeline, Shikamaru and the others decided not to go after Naruto, for fear of being ambushed by him. They then quickly took up a defensive stance formation, where they had their backs to one another and could see any kind of attack that Naruto would make from any given angle. As they waited, Shikamaru began to plan out what to do and figure out want Naruto would do next.

After a few minutes of waiting, they soon came under attack from Naruto who appeared in the air above them and dropped down several Kunai and Shurikens down on them, forcing them to break apart.

"Shit! He's trying to break us apart and take us out one at a time" thought Shikamaru as he avoided the Kunai and Shurikens from above.

After avoiding the failing projections, Shikamaru started to look around for Naruto and where he would appear next.

As he looked around he saw Naruto suddenly appear behind Ino and was about to knock her out.

"Ino watch out!" cried Shikamaru to his female team members.

After hearing Shikamaru cry, Ino quickly tried to spin around to face Naruto with her Kunai, but when she tried Naruto caught her arm, (which held her Kunai), as she was in mid spin, stopping her from fully facing Naruto.

"Sorry Ino-chan, but this is where it ends for you", spoke Naruto, as he was about to deliver a chop to the back of her neck to knock her out.

But before he could do this, Shikamaru threw a Kunai at Naruto, forcing him to jump away from Ino, where Choji then steam rolled his way towards Naruto from his left hand side in his Nikudan Sensha form.

Knowing he didn't have much time, Naruto quickly took out a Kunai with an low medium level exploding note tied to it and threw it at the ground a few feet from him.

When Choji rolled across the Kunai it exploded and blasted him up into the air and sent him crashing into several trees. Fortunately though due to being in his human bullet form and the fact that the exploding note was a medium level one, no real harm was done to Choji.

After dealing with Choji, Naruto suddenly saw a shadow tendril heading for him, upon seeing them, Naruto immediately started jumping backwards to avoid Shikamaru's shadow, knowing there was a limit to how far he could go.

When he got to the point where he knew Shikamaru's shadow could no longer reach him he stopped, knowing he was safe and as he suspected, Shikamaru's shadow stopped a foot away from him.

"Nice try Shikamaru, but I know you can't reach me from here with your shadow, as this is a far as it can go", said Naruto with a smile, which quickly faded when he saw Shikamaru smirk.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Naruto" replied Shikamaru, where the next thing Naruto knew he found himself frozen.

"W-What?" cried Naruto in surprise as he found that he couldn't move.

Deciding to let Naruto in at what happened Shikamaru turned his head around, making Naruto do the same and allowing him to see how Shikamaru caught him.

When Naruto turned around he saw a Shadow tendril come up from the shadow of a nearby tree and merging with his shadow. After which when Naruto turned back to face Shikamaru, where he saw a second Shadow tendril coming from Shikamaru's, merging with another tree's Shadow.

After seeing this Naruto the realised how Shikamaru caught him, he had realised that Shikamaru had tricked him by using the first Shadow tendril to keep him (Naruto) distracted and make him go where Shikamaru wanted him to go. While at the same time, Shikamaru sent a second Shadow tendril into the shadow of one of the nearby trees. Thereby using it as a sort or rely with the other shadows of the trees, allowing him to extend the reach of his shadow farther than it normally could. As well as use it to sneak up on Naruto from behind, when he least expected it.

When he realised this Naruto had to hand it to Shikamaru, as he had played him (Naruto) perfectly and caught him.

"I'm afraid this is checkmate, Naruto" stated Shikamaru, believing he had it won, after which he turned to his female team-mate. "Ino, I need you to take control of Naruto's body, so that I can realise him from my Kagemane no Jutsu and we can tie him up".

"Right!" replied Ino with a nod, where she then a few quick hand-seals, "Sorry Naruto-kun… Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)!"

After doing the technique, Ino's body slumped over and Ino voice suddenly spoke from Naruto's.

"Ok Shikamaru I'm in control, you ca…" spoke Ino but before she could finish speaking "Naruto" puffed away in a puff of smoke, after which Ino was sent flying back into her body, where she fell onto her back.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" cried a surprised Ino, which quickly turn to panic when she no longer saw Naruto, "Did Naruto-kun suddenly commit suicide and blow himself up!"

"Calm down Ino, your being troublesome again… Naruto didn't blow himself up, as that wasn't the real Naruto it was some short of clone", replied Shikamaru with a frown.

"But how? He felt real" asked Ino, as she knew that the Naruto, whose body she entered was real and no illusion.

"Tch! I don't known" replied the annoyed Shikamaru, as things were just getting more complicated. "What a drag… I knew this Senju guy would troublesome, but I didn't think he be this troublesome. If I knew what he could do, I could make up a proper plan to get him, but since I don't our chances of beating him are very low…Man, I don't even known why I even have to put up with stuff like this? I much prefer taking a quiet nap and watching the clouds go by" thought annoyed Shikamaru.

As Shikamaru was thinking over what to do next, he suddenly heard Ino shout out to him, where when he turned he saw three Kunai flying towards him at high speed from some bushes from the tree line.

After seeing them, Shikamaru, quickly tried to move out of the way, but couldn't avoid them fully, where he was cut by them in both arms and his right leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

When he hit the ground, Shikamaru then saw the real Naruto appear out of the bush from where the Kunai's came from. Upon seeing Naruto, Shikamaru immediately realised that Naruto had sent his clone into attack them, so distract them and keep them busy so that he could wait for an opening to appear and attack them.

"Shit! I walked right into this one" thought Shikamaru angrily.

"Man that was close, if I had gone myself, instead of sending a clone, there's no doubt that Shikamaru would have caught me. But still, I better end this now and not give him any more chances, as he too dangerous to ignore" thought Naruto. Where he redrew his Katana from his back and prepared to take care of Shikamaru and Ino.

Unfortunately before Naruto could finish of Ino and Shikamaru, he suddenly heard a familiar rumbling sound, where the next thing he knew, Choji came brusting from the tree line in his Nikudan Sensha form. After which he made a sharp turn and sped straight for Naruto, forcing Naruto to move away from Shikamaru and Ino, where Choji then followed after him.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity that Choji gave him, the young Nara quickly formed the necessary seals needed to do his Kagemane no Jutsu, where he the formed a Shadow tendril and connected with the shadows of the trees, (Just as he did when he faced against the Naruto clone).

He then used the shadows of the trees as rely points for his own shadow to extend its lengths, where he then created several small tendrils and had them come up from behind Naruto and surround him from multiple angles, where they all converged on him.

At the same time, as he was avoiding Choji, Naruto saw out of the corner of his eyes the different Shadow tendrils surrounding him and converging in on him on multipliable sides, with Choji coming at him head on.

"Shit!" muttered Naruto, when he saw this, as he knew he was trapped.

The next thing Ino and Shikamaru saw, was Naruto being caught in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu, freezing him in place and Choji crushing him under his attack.

"NARUTO-KUN!" cried Ino as she saw her new crush being steam rolled by her team-mate.

But as Ino was about to break into tears over the loss of her new "love", Shikamaru suddenly spoke up.

"Calm down Ino and stop being so loud" spoke Shikamaru with a slight annoyed tone, where he muttered "Troublesome woman".

"But Naruto-kun is…" cried Ino, but was interrupted by Shikamaru before he could finish

"…Isn't dead look" spoke Shikamaru, as he indicated towards the believed to be crushed Naruto, where when Ino looked she saw a crushed wooden log, showing that Naruto had used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) at the last second. Allowing him to avoid being captured in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu and before Choji could flatten him, with his Nikudan Sensha.

At seeing this Ino sighed with relief, at Naruto not being dead, while Shikamaru just frowned, as he knew that the longer this battle went on, the worse things would get from him. Since he knew that they needed to capture Naruto now and take him out, as they knew too little about his abilities to beat him in a drawn out battle.

Soon enough Choji joined up with the rest of his team, where Shikamaru began to plan out their next move. But just as soon as they regrouped, eight Naruto's appeared out of the tree line and charged straight at them, half of them carrying Kunai's and the other half holding Katana's.

"Crap! How did he make so many clones?" cried Choji in surprise, where Shikamaru just narrowed his eyes.

Once once Naruto and his clones made their appearance, they quickly charged at the members of team ten and attacked them, where they forced them to break apart from one another.

Despite the fact they were forced away from one another the members of team ten were able to hold their own against the clones, where Choji used his Nikudan Sensha to flatten three separate clones, causing them to puff away. Shikamaru also had some success with them where he caught four more of them with his Kagemane no Jutsu and got them to destroy each other.

This of course left the last Naruto, who was fighting Ino, meaning he had to be the real Naruto, where Choji and Shikamaru were about to go over to help their female team-mate and surround Naruto. But just when things seemed to be going well for the members of team ten, Naruto took out a handful of smoke bombs and threw them onto the ground creating a large cloud of smoke that covered the training area.

"Cough, Cough…damnit…cough…I need to get outta here fast…cough, cough" said Shikamaru, as he made his way out of the smoke filled area.

At the same time standing outside the smoke filled area, on a thick tree branch of a tree, was the sensei of team ten Sarutobi Asuma, who had been watching the battle.

"Not bad Naruto, using the clones to separate Shikamaru and the others and then using the smoke as a screen to keep them apart and take them out one at a time. But still it'll take more than this to defeat Shikamaru, as he won't fall for such obvious tactics" thought the son of the Hokage.

Once Shikamaru made his way out of the smoke filled area, he immediately started to look for the members of the rest of his team, since it was obvious to him that the smoke screen was to help further separate them from one another. Hence he had to hurry and find the rest of his team-mates, fortunately it didn't take him long for him to find Ino, who had emerged from the smoke coughing heavily.

"Ino are you ok" asked Shikamaru as he went up to the blonde haired girl.

"Cough, Cough…Yea I'm fine, but's where Choji?" asked Ino.

"I don't know but he can't be far, we have to hurry, as Naruto's plan is to separate us and break us apart, so that it would be easier for him to beat us", replied Shikamaru, where Ino just nodded in understanding.

Luckily though, Shikamaru and Ino didn't have to look far, as Choji quickly came running towards them, panting slightly.

"Choji you ok?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yea I'm fine, just a little tired" replied Choji.

"Do you want something to eat? As I've some chocolate in my pouch"

"Nah, I'm not hungry, thanks though"

At this Shikamaru just nodded, where he turned and looked at Ino's dress where he saw something.

"Hey Ino, you've some dirt on your dress!"

"Huh?" said Ino as she looked at the spot Shikamaru indicated, "Oh yea! It must have happened when I was stumbling through the smoke, it's nothing, I'll clean it later".

At Shikamaru just nodded again, where he then said that they should go and find Naruto.

But after only walking a few feet, Shikamaru suddenly took out a Kunai with his left hand and spun around, where he pointed it at Choji's neck.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" cried Choji in surprise and confusion.

"Can the act...I know your not Choji" stated Shikamaru with usual seriousness.

"What are you talking about of course I'm…" stated Choji, but was interrupted by Shikamaru.

"I know you're not the real Choji, because I know Choji better than anyone and I know that Choji would never pass up on free food" spoke Shikamaru. But as he said this, he found a Kunai pointed at his head by Ino.

"Very impressive Shikamaru, but even still you lost" replied Ino, who suddenly revealed to be Naruto.

"Tsk, I don't think so", replied the Nara heir where Naruto suddenly found that he couldn't move, where when Naruto looked down, he saw that Shikamaru had caught him in his Kagemane no Jutsu.

"Kagemane no Jutsu! But when?" said Naruto with clear surprise.

"Since when I met you, back when you were disguised as Ino and came out of the smoke, before you saw me".

"But how did you know that I wasn't the real Ino?"

"I didn't, at least not until I asked you about the dirt on your dress, where you said it was nothing, Ino would never say that if she saw dirt on here dress, as she would yell and complain about something like for the rest of the day".

At hearing that Naruto could only shake his head, and would have smacked himself forgetting that, as Asuma had mention Ino being like that earlier.

"Pretty good, but still how did you known that I disguise myself as your team-mates?"

"Your plan was good but fairly obvious, where you had your clones attack us and then separate us from one another, where you then created that smoke screen cover the entire field. If your goal had been really to separate us from one another and take us out one by one, you could have done so without the large smoke screen. While Choji and I were dealing with your clones, you could've taken out Ino and fled. But instead you waited till we had destroyed your Clones and before we could gang up on you. You then used the smoke screen to quickly take out Choji and Ino, where you used a henge to turn into Ino and you created a clone to turn into Choji, which would increase your chances in taking me out. Since you calculated that even if I was suspicious of your plan, I wouldn't suspect that you had taken out both my team-mate, allowing you to take me by surprise".

Upon hearing this Naruto could only smirk, as his mother was indeed right about the Nara's, being dangerous enemies to have and being skilled tacticians, given how Shikamaru had figured out his plan.

"Well you sure left me feeling like a dope, but even still Shikamaru, this doesn't change the fact that I've won, as you can't stab my clone, without having me stabbing you at the same time, thanks to your Kagemane no Jutsu making me follow your moves. Hence my Clone can move out of the way and attack you" stated a confident Naruto, but immediately frowned when he saw Shikamaru smirk again.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" answered Shikamaru, where Naruto suddenly found his right hand lowering.

"B-But how?"

"You forget the Kunai that's pointing at your clones neck is in my left hand, while your kunai that's pointed at my head is in your right. During our battle I noticed that you mainly hold your Katana, Kunai's in your right hand and mainly throw your Shurikens and Kunai's with your right hand as well. Meaning that you're right handed, which was why I held my Kunai in my left, as I knew I could most likely end up in a situation like this and you would most like hold your Kunai or Katana in your right hand like the other times. That's why this time I have you for certain and this is indeed checkmate" stated Shikamaru.

After hearing this Naruto could only smile, as he really was impressed with how brilliant Shikamaru really was. "Hmph, Pretty observant of you, your definitely a sharp one… Asuma-sensei was right about you Shikamaru, as you really do have the ability to be a great Shinobi".

At this Shikamaru just nodded, "So do you surrender, or do yo…" spoke Shikamaru, but stopped in mid-sentence as he sudden felt weak, where he could no longer focus his Chakra to hold Naruto and he could no longer keep holding his Kunai in his hand.

As Shikamaru, was wondering what was going on with him, he suddenly realised what happened.

"Poison" he muttered out loud.

"Like I said you're a sharp one Shikamaru, as you're correct" said Naruto as he stood over Shikamaru who was now on his knees, due to being so weak.

With Shikamaru now disabled, Naruto then deactivated his clone, where when he did, Shikamaru suddenly spoke again.

"But when did you poison me? It couldn't be from the smoke, as you would've been poisoned as well and even if you were immune to it, you wouldn't have had to use that ruse with disguising yourself and your clone as Ino and Choji. As you could've waited till we all collapsed from the poison, so when did you poison me?" asked Shikamaru.

"Back when I had cut you with my Kunai's, after you and Ino took out my first clone, as I coated my Kunai's with the poison, where it entered your bloodstream when the Kunai's cut you and spread throughout your body. The poison that I used was a slow acting one, where it doesn't take effect until it spreads through your entire body, through your bloodstream, where it messes up your Chakra control and weakens your body. Normally it takes a few hours to stream through your body, since its slow to spread, but since we've been fighting for so long, the adrenalin from fighting speeds up the process greatly", explained Naruto.

"You may have figured out my plan Shikamaru and caught me, but it's always best to have a hidden ace in the hole, which is why I won this fight. As I knew it would most likely come down between the two of us" stated Naruto with a smirk.

At this Shikamaru could only sigh and mutter "Troublesome", but even still he smiled a little, as he held no hard feelings to Naruto, as he had outwitted him fair a square.

With Shikamaru now disabled Naruto knew the fight was over, as he had already dealt with Choji and Ino. But before Naruto could go looking for Asuma and tell him the battle was over, he and Shikamaru suddenly heard someone clapping nearby.

When they looked around they saw Asuma standing on a thick branch of a tree clapping, "Nice going you two, that was close battle".

"Asuma-sensei, how long have you been there?" asked Naruto

"Long enough, I've been moving from place to place as the battle went on, so that I could get a better view of your battle, and I've to say your fight could have gone either way".

At this Naruto only nodded, as he knew that the battle was close, as the main reason he only won was because Shikamaru didn't known what he could do. If he had known what Naruto could do, the battle might have turned out differently, especially if he had to keep holding back like the way he was.

With the battle now over, Naruto took out a small bottle full of pills and took out a single pill and gave it to Shikamaru and told him to take it, telling him it was antidote to the poison.

When Shikamaru took the pill, Asuma decided to get rid of the remaining cloud of smoke that covered the training area, by using a Wind technique to blow the smoke away.

When the smoke was blown away, Shikamaru saw the rest of his team lying on the ground unconscious, but relatively unharmed.

Once Shimakaru had recovered from the poison, he and Naruto along with Asuma went over to Choji and Ino, where Naruto used some smelling salts to wake them up.

Once Choji and Ino were awake, Asuma went on to explain what happened after Naruto knocked them out.

When the two heard what happened, Choji was of course naturally impressed with what happened and how Naruto was actually able to outwit Shikamaru and be one step ahead of him, which was something Choji had never seen or heard before.

Ino of course cheered loudly, at how "her" Naruto-kun won, (despite the fact that it was her team that lost), where she then jumped forward and hugged Naruto tightly. This then caused Naruto to fall backwards onto the ground on his back with Ino on top of him, who was still hugging him tightly, saying how she knew he would win.

At this Choji and Shikamaru could only sigh at the antics of their team-mate, where Shikamaru just muttered "Troublesome women".

Asuma of course just smirked, as he found the whole situation rather funny, especially at seeing Naruto trying to get Ino off him, but failing it doing so, since Ino was latched on tightly around Naruto. He was also pleased at how his plan worked, for even though his team had lost, they had all show good cooperation and teamwork with one another, where they saw how well they could do by working together.

After eventually getting Ino off of Naruto, Asuma declared that they would call it a day and that they would go and have barbecue to celebrate how well they all fought today, where he would treat the team.

At this Choji cheered at having barbecue, Shikamaru just sighed, as he didn't mind all that much, while Ino squealed a little. Since as far she was concerned this was like a miniature date with her and Naruto, (minus the fact that her team would be with them), where she latched onto his arm tightly as they headed for the barbecue.

When Ino latched onto his arm Naruto of course just sighed, as Ino fan girl antics were getting a bit annoying. But even still, they were at least not as bad as Sakura's was, and despite this little annoyance, he was starting to like working with team ten and being a part of it.

-Next Day with Team Seven-

Following the events after his mock battle with the members of team ten, Naruto joined up with team seven the next day, where they were doing a mission together.

As expected he did not receive too much of a warm welcome from his former team, (with the exception of Kakashi, who greeted him with a wave and his tradition eye smile).

Sasuke pretty much ignored him, as he brooded by himself, Sakura was too busy with trying to talk to Sasuke and asking him out on a date, while Sai just looked at Naruto with his friendly fake smile, which creep Naruto out and made him all the more suspicious of Sai.

After joining up with one another the team then set out on their first joint mission together.

"This is cherry blossom, I'm in position"

"This is artist, I' am also in position"

"This is hard fist, no sign of the target"

"This is raven have sighted the target moving in to capture"

"Roger raven move in…cherry blossom you move in from the north to support raven"

"Received Copy-cat and will do"

"Hard fist, artist, you'll move to the south and stay in position there, should raven and cherry blossom fail and the target escape, where you can then intercept it and capture it"

"Will do Copy-cat"

"Confirmed and will do"

As Sasuke neared his target, he thought how worthless this mission was, where he would much prefer doing a mission of more worth or at the very least do some serious training, than doing kiddy mission like this.

After thinking this he finally sighted his target, which was a brown cat with red ribbon on its right ear. This cat was of course no ordinary cat, as it was the pet cat of the wife of the Fire Daimyo Madam Shijimi. The cat in question was named Tora, meaning tiger, which was fitting consider the cat was as wild and as dangerous a tiger was, or at least that was according to the other Genin teams that were set after him before.

"Finally found you, you mangy fur-ball, now maybe I can finish this dumb mission and do something more worthwhile" thought Sasuke as he closed in on his target.

Sasuke then silently sunk up on and grabbed the cat from behind, where it began to hiss widely and struggle as he tried to free himself from Sasuke grip.

"Quiet down you fur ball, as there no point in struggling" spoke Sasuke, he tried to get the cat to settle, but as he did, Tora bit down hard on his right hand, with his sharp teeth. This caused Sasuke to yell out in pain and drop Tora as he held his bleeding hand in pain.

After seeing that he lost sight of his target Sasuke quickly made contact with the others on his short band radio.

"I lost the target, it's heading your way Sakura".

"Right! I get him" replied Sakura, where she got ready to catch the target.

Sakura of course didn't have to wait long, as she soon saw her target running straight towards her.

But when Sakura appeared in front of Tora ready to catch him, Tora quickly jumped up into the air and onto Sakura's face, where he preceded to claw at Sakura's face, causing the pink hair girl to scream in pain. After the cat scratched Sakura's face up, it then quickly jumped off Sakura's face and ran in a different direction.

After getting over the pain of her face being scratched up by the ribbon wearing cat, Sakura quickly made contact with the rest of her team.

"I lost the target and I have no clue as to where he's gone" spoke Sakura over the radio.

"Received Cherry Blossom, Artist, Hard fist try and locate the target and capture him" spoke Kakashi over the radio.

"Roger Copy-cat" replied Naruto, where he then turned to Sai.

"So any ideas on how to get our target?"

"I believe I have one" answered Sai.

After separating with Sai, Naruto stayed hidden in the bushes, where he waited for Sai to lure out Tora, fortunately Naruto didn't have to wait long as Tora soon appeared chasing after several mice made out of ink.

When Naruto saw Tora he had to admit that the plan was pretty smart, and couldn't help but wonder why they did do this in the first place.

As Tora chased after the ink mice, Naruto quickly did three sets of hand-seals and slammed his hands into the ground, where, several pieces of wood sprung up from the ground and formed around Tora and into a small wooden cage.

When Tora found himself trap inside the small wooden cage, the feline naturally tried to claw itself out, but found that the chakra enhance wood was too strong and its claws did little to nothing to the cage.

Once Naruto saw that Tora was caught he could not help but smile at his work, as his Mokuton skills had improved a lot thanks to his training with Yamato.

"Sorry Tora, but you're going back home, now" said Naruto as he walked over to the wooden cage and picked it up, with the hissing and angry cat inside it.

"Ah good so you did catch, it seems my plan work" spoke Sai, after he jumped down from one of the trees to Naruto's right.

"Yea you plan worked like a charm" replied Naruto.

"Only thanks to you Naruto-san", replied Sai with a smile, where Naruto just narrowed his eyes slightly, since he knew Sai's smile was fake. But as he narrowed his eyes, Naruto couldn't help but wonder why Sai was trying to be so nice to him.

But before Naruto could think any more on Sai, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke quickly appeared in front of them.

"Nice work you two", spoke Kakashi when he saw Naruto holding the cage Tora, where they then headed back to the mission office and hand in Tora.

"TORA-CHAN!" cried the Fire Daimyo's wife when she was handed the struggling cat, where she precede to squeeze the life out of the cat.

When Naruto saw this he finally understood why Tora was always running away, as given the circumstances, he would probably do the exact same thing as Tora. As Naruto watch, what could be considered animal cruelty, Naruto of course could not help but feel sympathetic for the poor thing.

Although not everyone was feeling sorry for Tora plight, in fact two people were gain sadistic pleasure from the cats suffering. These two were none other than Sasuke and Sakura, who enjoy every minute of seeing the cat that caused them so much pain and trouble, being slowly squeezed to death by the Fire Daimyo's wife.

"Hah serves you right, you miserable hairball" thought Sakura.

"Cha! That'll teach you from scratching up our face!" cried inner Sakura inside Sakura's mind.

Once The Fire Daimyo wife and paid the Hokage (who was sitting at the mission desk, handing out different mission and receiving the money for the missions completion). Madam Shijimi began to walk out the room with the squirming Tora held rightly against her bosom. But as she was walking by Naruto and team seven she notice a silver ring with a phoenix on Naruto's right middle finger.

Upon noticing the ring, she looked more careful at Naruto, "Excuse me young man, put would you happen to be Senju Naruto son of Tsunade?"

"Eh yes I' am, it's nice to meet you Madam Shijimi" said Naruto respectfully, since he didn't know what Madam Shijimi was like and didn't want to get in trouble with her if he sounded disrespectful to her.

But as soon as Naruto answered the Madam Shijimi, she let out a large cry and much to the surprise of everyone in the room, (including the Sarutobi) she grabbed Naruo in a one-armed hugged, with her right arm. Where she then precede to nearly squeeze the life out of Naruto, as she smothered him in her chest, (all the while still holding Tora in her left arm, who was still struggle to try and get free).

"Oh how wonderfully…I've been dying to meet you for years, as my Granddaughter Rurichiyo speaks of you all the time and how you saved her from that horrid bear. But she never said how handsome you were, I could just eat you up" cooed the large woman, where she continued to squeeze Naruto tighter and tighter much like she did with Tora.

Eventually after a few more minutes of this, Sarutobi finally decide to intervene on his surrogate Grandson's behalf, before the women smothered poor Naruto to death, where he was able to get her to let Naruto go. Who after being let go fell to the ground breathing for dear life.

Once Naruto regained himself, Sakura suddenly spoke up.

"Eh Naruto is what Madam Shijimi? Did you really save the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter?"

"Yea, it's true, a while back while I was traveling with my mom, the Fire Daimyo's son became ill and the Fire Daimyo asked for my mom's help. That's when I met I Rurichiyo-chan, where she was staying at the Fire Daimyo's estate outside the capital", said Naruto.

"While I was staying there, Rurichiyo-chan left the estate on her own, where she was attacked by a wild bear that she accidently ran into. Fortunately before the bear could hurt her, I arrived, as I went looking for her, when her personal guards told me she was missing. When I found her, she was being attacked by the bear, where I knocked it out and brought her back to the estate, after which we became friends".

After hearing Sakura, Sauke and even Sai were surprised, as they had no idea that Naruto was on such friendly terms with the royal family of their country and that he saved the life of the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter.

"So how is Rurichiyo-chan doing Madam Shijimi?"

"Oh she is fine, and I sure she will be overjoyed when she hears that you are here" replied Madam Shijimi. "Also tell me Naruto-kun are you in a relationship with anyone?"

"Eh, No why?"

"Oh good, as several good friends of my in the royal court, who have several daughters, who would be just perfect for you".

"Huh?" stated the dumbstruck Naruto when he heard this, but before he could respond to this the Madam Shijimi spoke again.

"Or better yet, how about you and Rurichiyo, as the two of you together would make the cutest couple, yes that would be perfect", spoke Madam Shijimi.

For the next few minutes the Fire Daimyo's wife continued on with her rabbling's on how Naruto and Rurichiyo would be perfect for one another, since playing match maker was a hobby of hers. All the while ignoring the stun look on Naruto's face, who just stood still with his mouth open, at hearing what Madam Shijimi was suggesting.

Naruto was the only one that was surprised at Madam Shijimi suggestion, as when Sakura heard this, her jaw dropped, as she couldn't believe that the Fire Daimyo's wife was actually trying to arrange a marriage between her Granddaughter and Naruto right in front of them.

Sasuke, Kakashi and even Sai were also surprised Madam Shijimi idea, although they were able to mask their surprise much better than Sakura, where the only sign of their surprise was that the three of them had raised eyebrows.

"So tell me Naruto-kun, what do you think of my idea about you and my Granddaughter Rurichiyo?"

"I…eh…well that is…eh…I think that…eh" stuttered a tongue-tied Naruto, as he didn't know what to say to Madam Shijimi's idea.

Deciding to intervene again on the youth's behalf and save Naruto from the awkward situation that the Daimyo's wife had put Naruto in, the Sandaime cough loudly gaining everyone's attention.

"Ahem, Pardon me Madam Shijimi, but if I may interject, I'm afraid I have important briefing that I need to discuss with young Naruto now".

"Oh, but of course I understand" spoke Madam Shijimi, where she then turned back to Naruto, "Well it was a pleasure talking to you Naruto-kun and I hope we met again soon".

"It was nice talking to you to, Madam Shijimi", replied Naruto respectfully, where he then gave his surrogate Grandfather and grateful glance, for getting him out that situation with Madam Shijimi.

At this the Daimyo's wife smile kindly to the young blonde and the preceded to walk out of the room, although before she fully left she quickly stopped and turned around slight, "Also Naruto-kun please consider my suggestion on you and my Granddaughter, as I certain that they two would match up handsomely with one another".

"Eh, I will Madam Shijimi", replied an uncomfortable Naruto, where Madam Shijimi just nodded and then left the room. Upon which Naruto let lose a large sigh of exhaustion, as he hoped his mother never hears about this, as he knew she have a major fit over it. Sarutobi on the other hand smile in amusement and some pity of Naruto's previous situation.

"Thanks Jiji, I owe you one"

"Anytime Naruto-kun" replied the Sandaime with a smile.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want to take up Madam Shijimi up on her offer Naruto? as being the Grandson-in law to the Fire Daimyo would have it's advantages, plus I hear that Rurichiyo-hime is quite the looker" spoke Kakashi with a sight chuckle as he saw the annoyed Naruto glare at him.

Once the excitement from the conversation with the Fire Daimyo's Wife died down, the Hokage dismissed team seven, stating that they were done for the day.

But instead of leaving the mission office with the others, Naruto remained in the room with the Sandaime, stating he wanted to talk to the old Hokage about something.

Seeing the serious look on Naruto's face, the Hokage dismissed the other Shinobi's that were working in the missions office with him, leaving Naruto and the Sandaime alone together.

"So Naruto, what is it that you wish to speak to me about?"

"What can you tell about Sai? The one who replaced me on team seven when I left it?" asked Naruto.

Upon hearing this, a slight frown appeared on the Sandaime face.

"Why do you ask this Naruto?"

"There just something off about that guy that puts me at odds with him, plus he seems too skilled to be just another ordinary Genin, not to mention I can tell there's more to him than he's letting, on as if he's working for someone"

Upon hearing this the Sandaime frown further before he let a tired sigh.

"Sigh, Very well then… tell me Naruto, has either your mother or Jiraiya told you anything about an organisation called the foundation otherwise known as ROOT?" asked Sarutobi.

"No, I never even heard of it"

"Very few people have, as it was a branch of ANBU that use work outside normal operations and was led by a man name Shimura Danzō, who is one of the three Shinobi Elders of the Council and one of my leading advisors".

"Danzō?" said Naruto in surprise.

"You've heard of him?"

"Yea, Kaa-chan told me he is a very dangerous guy and that I was to keep as far away from him as possible".

"And she is correct, as Danzō isn't someone you can take lightly"

"So how does Sai fit in with Danzō and his ROOT organisation?"

"Sai is one of the last members to be trained in ROOT, before I had the organisation disbanded due to their training methods and how it would recruit orphans for the organisation and conducted several illegal operations".

"What kind of training methods did they use that would cause you to have the group disbanded?" asked Naruto

"Naruto has your mother ever told you about the History of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) or to be more precise, why it was once called the Bloody Mist?"

"Eh, yea Shizune-nee-chan told me about it during a History lesson of the different Shinobi villages. She told me that Kiri use to have a special graduation exam, where they would have the class members fight each other to the death so to…" said Naruto until he suddenly realised what the Sandaime was telling him.

"Wait! Are you telling me that this Danzō character, used the same kind of graduation test as Kiri use to do?" asked an appalled Naruto. As he found the very idea of forcing classmates and friends to fight a kill each other, just to try and have a better quality of Shinobi's ludicrous.

"Correct, that was one of the main reasons why I had the group disband, as well as because it seemed that Danzō was brainwashing the young oprhans along with the other members into becoming his loyal followers" replied Sarutobi.

As Naruto heard this, as he starting to like Danzō less and less and was beginning to see why his mother detested him so much.

"But why is Sai in team seven, if he was trained to be an elite Shinobi under Danzō command?"

"I believe that Sai was place on team seven, so that he would've the chance to observe you Naruto"

"Me? But why exactly, it's not like I ever met Danzō before or done anything to him?"

"You forget Naruto that you've a great deal of influence in Konoha, whether want to admit it or not, as you are the sole heir to the Senju Clan, the main founders of this village. You're also your mother's son and as well the descendant of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage, which can hold a great deal of sway over many people in Konoha. Not to mention you possess the Mokuton bloodline of the Shodai, where you could possibly pass it onto any children you may have in the future, and at the same time restore the Senju Clan in Konoha. Those reasons by themselves are enough for Danzō to want to keep an eye on you, and one day find a way to gain control of you. So to use you to either help him take my place as Hokage or at the very least, influence you to turn Konoha into the type of place he wants it to be, by having you becoming Hokage, where I'm sure you can guess what it would be like".

At hearing this Naruto just nodded, but then spoke again, "But if you know that Sai is working for Danzō, why did you allow him on team seven?"

"I'm afraid I had little choice, since Sai was originally supposed to be on team seven along with Sasuke and Sakura, but I had him removed when you arrived, although that changed back when I had you move to be trained with Yamato and Kushina. As Danzō was able to arrange for Sai to take his place back on team seven" answered the Sandaime.

"But I thought he only wanted Sai to be on team seven because he wanted to observe me, so why did he arrange to have Sai place on team seven before people knew I even existed?" asked Naruto as that part didn't make sense to him.

"It's because, originally you weren't the target…Sasuke was"

"Sasuke?...was it because of the same reasons he wants me?" asked Naruto, for although he didn't like to admit it, Sasuke and him were a lot alike in many ways. Both were the last heirs of their individual clans, both called prodigies by people, due to their great skills, both were from the two Clans that lead to Konoha being formed and both possessed powerful bloodlines, along with that, they also had several other things in common.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it is possible, although I willing to bet that Sai's orders are to monitor both you and Sasuke now" answered Sarutobi. Although what he wasn't telling Naruto was that he believed the main reason that Sai was ordered to monitor Sasuke was in case he tried to leave or betray the village, in the hopes of gaining a chance to kill his brother Itachi, as Danzō had brought it to the Sandaime's attention on more than one occasion, that Sasuke could one day become a threat to Konoha.

"But still? Why didn't you deny him to be part of the team to begin with?" asked Naruto.

"Sadly Naruto, things aren't that easy, as Danzō is quite powerful and has a great deal of influence in Konoha. Not to mention, even if I did deny Sai to be a member of team seven, Danzō will just find another way to monitor you both, this way allows me to monitor Sai and his actions, while he monitors you and Sasuke", replied Sarutobi.

"Meaning you're having Kakashi-sensei watch Sai, when he's training or doing missions with Sasuke and Sakura, as well as have Kakashi-sensei along with Kushina-sensei and Yamato-sensei do the same whenever I'm training with team seven. Thereby letting you limit or control what Danzō may learn from Sai, as he monitors me and Sasuke, as well as give you a chance to try and find out what Danzō is doing, since he's obviously up to something" said Naruto.

Sarutobi of course could not help but smirk when Naruto figured out what his plan was so quickly, as it showed that Naruto was quite astute for his age.

"Very good Naruto, I'm very impressed", spoke Sarutobi, before he became serious, "but still I want you to be careful around Sai and not let on that you're on to him. Let him monitor you, without revealing anything important about yourself, as Danzō is a dangerous man and I've reason to believe that ROOT is not truly disbanded, as Danzō may let on".

Naruto of course just nodded, understanding, after which he then left the room and headed home, but as he did, he planned that he would also keep a close eye on Sai, as you can never have too many eyes on a person.