6 Chapter 06

Kurenai, Asuma and panther cub named Mageela were walking through the village. The two Jounin were trusting the nascent tracking ability of the young summons. They'd gone to Naruto's apartment to ask him to meet with the other rookie teams to congratulate him on his promotion and to better establish some camaraderie between him and the other teams. Very few of them knew anything of Naruto except he graduated early so were surprised by his performance in the exams. The Jounin grew suspicious when Mageela directed toward a shinobi bar. However they went in anyway as the cub was quite confident she found her, "Onii-chan". And to their shock, she had. Naruto, with half lidded eyes was sitting with Lady Tsunade and her long time apprentice.

"Naruto!" Kurenai called from the front of the bar and Naruto's head immediately shot up. He saw her and began a slow, clearly drunken approach.

"Hi sensei!" he said a bit loud.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I got confirmed as the clan heir of the Uzumaki clan and then Orochimaru got reinstated as a shinobi and she was all, "be my student Naruto no one gets you but me," and then there was going to be a fight but Tsunade-obachan was like peace out suckas and dragged me along so we could drink until we couldn't feel feelings anymore but I clearly haven't drank enough because I don't like him." Naruto said, pointing to Asuma. "He's too tall and he's probably got a bunch of short jokes just waiting. Because I'm short. Kure-sensei… am I going to be short forever?" Naruto continued to talk rapidly with his eyes watering at the end, getting as big as saucers.

"No, Naruto, you won't be short forever."

"Ah ha, dattebayo! Oh, why are you here with Mageela?"

"We came to find you, onii-chan!"

"But you're supposed to be guarding my apartment."

"But I wanted to find you and she said she was your sensei and she smelled nice."

"What if she was lying?"

"What if she wasn't?"

"Good point." drunken Naruto said, making Kurenai and Asuma form a sweatdrop.

"Naruto, all of the rookie teams are having dinner together and we want you to join us."

"But I can't just leave Tsunade-obachan and Shizune-neechan."

"I'm sure they'll understand besides you need to eat something so you sober up. I won't take no for an answer."

"Hai, hai." the new Chunin said before going back to his table. The watched as the two women gave him a brief hug and the three shinobi and one summon departed. Once they reached the restaurant Naruto made a clone to take Mageela back home. She wasn't really a guard, Bagheera just wanted the two to get used to each other and bond. He saw a seat free by his team and immediately took it, catching the eyes of the rookies, and the two able bodied members of Gai's team.

"Sup." He said, leaning back. He didn't know why but walking seemed to make him feel more intoxicated.

"Naruto-san, are you drunk?"

"Why, yes, teammate Shino I am quite drunk."

"Troublesome."

"I haven't even done anything yet, Shika. Let me do something first!"

"It's only a matter of time."

"You can't name one troublesome thing I've ever done."

"You had six of your summons chase me for three hours."

"You need to improve on your cardio, I gave you motivation."

"Fear for one's safety is quite motivating, Shikamaru-san." Shino added, getting a thumbs up from Naruto.

"See, Shino gets it."

"I'm glad everything is just one big joke to you." A bun haired girl cut in, glaring at Naruto. The outburst caught the attention of all at the table.

"I'm sorry, have we met?"

"No. You just tried to kill both my teammates."

"Nani?" said Naruto, confused.

"Lee and Neji." Shikamaru filled in the gaps.

"Oh. That's incorrect. I only tried to kill one of your teammates. I intended to maim the other. Very different."

"And that makes it better? We're supposed to be comrades."

"Then, they should have acknowledged their comrade had them beaten and given up."

"You didn't have to go that far. Neji may never be a ninja again, it is all he had."

"Then he should have taken better care of himself. Besides, he looked as if he was truly trying to kill Usagi-hime" he pointed to Hinata, causing her to blush faintly at the name and attention, "and I bet you didn't say one word about it. I'm sorry bad things don't confine themselves to just people you don't care about. If I'd realized that were the rules I'd have let Lee beat my brains in." he finished, causing the girl to leave, Lee following behind her.

The Jounin overheard the discussion and saw Tenten leave. They were surprised Gai hadn't followed her and looked at him expectantly, causing him to answer the unasked question.

"There's nothing I can say tonight to make her see the truth of Naruto's words. I think seeing her teammates easily bested by the same person has shaken her worldview. All she and my team have known, until the exams is success and I think they developed a certain amount of arrogance that nothing could touch them. That's my fault but it won't be fixed tonight."

"It's ok, Gai. That would be difficult to predict. I have trouble getting my team motivated. There's no natural leader among them. Ino's just bossy but she's also the weakest. Choji is too kind to take charge and Hinata, while strong doesn't appear to want to push them. By the time they all make Chunin, assuming they do, this team will not last beyond that." Asuma said and it was truly an unusual team. His father had expressed concerns about overspecialization and decided to take inspiration from Tsunade, without actually enacting her proposal. He moved to have every team have a tracker, a containment specialist and a heavy hitter with one member also able to fulfill a support role. Kakashi argued hard for Naruto to be his tracker, his summons ideal for it but Iruka and the Sandaime cited potential personality conflicts. Sasuke would do well with a rival around or at his level but being on a team with someone far and away better than him may have made him even more withdrawn. And if Sasuke ever stole one of Naruto's personal jutsu they wouldn't have a loyal Uchiha anymore.

The Uchiha went through rigorous ethics training, provided by the clan, as they neared graduation age. It was one of the only reasons other ninja could accept sharing a village with someone capable of taking their hard work. They weren't known for stealing the jutsu of allies, because they didn't. However, given Sasuke's drive to kill Itachi and the absence of the ethics training he may try to steal from Naruto, justifying the need. And Naruto wouldn't care why he did it, he'd demand blood. As the Sandaime explained, Naruto had started to see more and more of the villagers as an outgroup, not his people. If he considered you a friend, he was warm and inviting, even sometimes silly and immature. If you weren't, he could be cold and impersonal. He wouldn't automatically trust his teammates, which means Sasuke might have grossly offended Naruto before a bond could have been formed. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Kakashi accepted this and accepted he'd be the best person to instill the ethical use of a sharingan to Sasuke. He couldn't have Hinata, the top kunoichi for personality conflicts as well.

Apparently Sasuke was too much like Hiashi. This would either harm Hinata's growth as she became insecure or show further signs of emotional abuse or she'd snap and try to kill Sasuke since she can't kill her father. As such, he got Sakura. The Sandaime argued she was a blank slate and could be molded to fit near any role, outside of tracker. She did have a lot of potential if he ever found a way to channel it but being on a team with the object of her affections impedes her growth. Kiba was a good teammate. He was brash but constantly being beat by Sasuke curbed it, a bit. That was actually the problem, he didn't push Sasuke. He accepted Sasuke was better than him and deferred to him as the team leader. It improved team dynamics but not the underlying issues of his other team members. Sasuke doesn't have to bond with his team as they follow his lead with little pushback. Sakura still gets to think Sasuke is an unparalleled genius she can always rely on. It was a mess and while the team would last longer than Asuma's, they didn't bring the best out of each other.

The rest of the evening past without further incident, with the rookies chatting away. They all departed and Naruto, finally sober, decided to head to his apartment. It'd been a long day and he just wanted to unwind. That, however, was not to be as he sensed a presence in his apartment. Activating the emergency seals, should someone penetrate his initial security, Naruto walked in to see an amused Orochimaru on his couch, petting Mageela who was purring happily.

"Hi, onii-chan!" the panther cub said.

"This is a strong gravity seal, is it reinforced by my chakra? Kukuku, impressive." observed

"Uh, thanks. What are you doing here and how did you get in?"

"She let me in." Orochimaru said, causing Naruto to sweatdrop. He's really going to have to make her more suspicious of people. Sensing his silent recrimination Mageela spoke in her defense.

"She smells like your scrolls so I thought she was ok." He had to concede her point. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to keep training materials from an enemy but still he'd have to withhold some snacks even if she pouted. He wouldn't break this time.

"As for why I'm here; if you'd release me I'd be happy to tell you."

Naruto deactivated the secondary seals while reengaging his primary. If the Old Man let her back in the village, at the Daimyo's instruction, he reasoned she likely wasn't here to kill him.

He took a chair from his desk and sat across from her, awaiting her explanation.

"Why so far away? I don't bite."

"But you do stab."

"I do but it was a lesson you needed to learn."

"And what lesson was that? Getting impaled hurts?"

"Being overly noble will get you killed."

"You didn't leave me much choice."

"Sure I did. You could have attacked me as a team and as they distracted me you fled." she said and saw the disgust on Naruto's face. "Ah, you'd never do that, yes?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"Then accept that path leads to pain. You'll never abandon your comrades? Put their safety above your own? Then acknowledge you'll sometimes suffer for it. Did my little love tap make you reconsider anything you did?"

"No."

"Good. Wouldn't want you changing too much but also can't have you blind to what your beliefs may lead to."

"Well, arigato, Sensei-sama. I am most humbled by your wise words and wiser actions."

"I think I like that even more than Shishou. Yes, when you become my student I think I'll have you call me that."

"I haven't said yes. I haven't made a decision."

"Kukuku, whatever you decide just don't exclude the middle." she said and he quirked an eyebrow. She just smiled as if to say it'd make sense soon enough. "So, onto why I'm here; did you manage to solve my little puzzle?"

"Yes. How did you get the DNA of my mother and Mito Senju?"

"I'm a world class ninja, Naruto-kun. There isn't much I can't do."

"Right."

"So, how did you manage it?"

"I broke the jutsu down to its most basic elements, Yin and Yang. It summons the Yin energies of the dead, it needs a yang counterpart, the body and the DNA acts as a beacon to attract the Yin but also help merge the Yin to a foreign Yang."

Orochimaru listened closely to his words, her genius mind cycling through explanations until her eyes widened a fraction. "Yang release?"

"Yep. Pure yang release channeled into a shadow clone was how I was able to do."

"So, you can do yang release now? How far have you gotten with it?"

"Just the shadow clone, I was under a tight deadline and learning to focus the balance of my chakra to yang took a majority of the month."

"What happened? Where are they?"

"They both returned to the Pure World. For Mito, she felt her time had passed and outside of Tsunade, all of her family is with her there. My kaa-chan was conflicted but ultimately felt it unnatural. Apparently the control seal can distract them from it as they have orders to follow but when they retain their free will there's always this sense that a part of them is wrong and shouldn't be there."

"The foreign yang?"

"Yea. She didn't appear to have any moral qualms about it or concerns about balance or whatever, she just said she felt wrong."

"Fascinating. What will you do now?"

"I'm not sure. I know I want to develop Yang release more but as far as the Edo Tensei, eh." he said with a shrug

"Don't abandon it entirely. It'd be fitting, Minato perfected the Hiraishin and you can perfect the Edo Tensei."

"Uh, why do I have to get the zombie jutsu?"

"Luck of the draw. Well, that's all I wanted to ask you so I will take my leave for the night." she said, placing Mageela on the couch. "Oh, and Naruto?'

"Don't stare at my ass on my way out." Causing the boy to sputter, much to her amusement. When she left, Naruto glared at the lone panther cub.

"Mageela, we need to discuss you doing whatever is requested of you for a pretty face or pleasing scent."

"You think she's pretty?"

"Not the point! So, for dereliction of duty, no snacks and no belly rubs for a week."

"Onii-chan!"