Chapter 4: A New Foe Emerges

Word travels exceedingly fast within the village of Konoha, and it was an amazing thing too when you think about it. Within the hour of Naruto returning to the Sanctum Sanctorum to rest his tired body from restraining the Kyubi long enough to seal it away in a grimoire, the villagers had heard about what he had done. This caused many a person to self-reflect on just how they treated him over the years since for as long as they remembered they had honestly thought that he had in fact been the very demon that they hated. But now that they heard about the fact that he had sealed the real demon into a book of all things, and by himself without the aid of others only made it hit their emotions even harder.

The following events took place within the span of one day alone, yet while a single day went by in the real world, a whole month went by within the Sanctum itself…

Naruto entered the Sanctum via the portal he had made, and as he closed it he heard the gasps of the people on the other side since they had no idea that he had such an ability at his disposal. Well most of them didn't, since Yakumo, Hiruzen, and Sasuke did because he had used it around them. Once he was within it and the portal was closed fully, he collapsed onto the floor in sheer exhaustion. While it was true he was indeed powerful enough to restrain the most powerful of the Biju, if just barely, he had a lot of growing to do still since he was not at his peak and had essentially been forced to push past a limit he was not quite ready to face and paid for it in the end with the amount of strain his body had to go through.

He laid there for quite some time, and once he finally mustered up the proper amount of energy, he conjured up a bed to sleep on to recover his lost strength. He planned on going to his own room, but he had a feeling that he would need a few days rest to recover from what he had done and his room went by the time of his world so he could not do that. He fell asleep the moment he fell upon it, and to be honest he was unsure as to how long he slept off his fatigue. But eventually his body recovered from what it had gone through and he awoke fully rested and ready to tackle the rest of the time he had before he had to return to his own time frame.

The first thing he did after he woke up was bathed himself and then ate since his stomach was growling loudly from the lack of food in his stomach. Once the food he prepared was eaten and the dishes washed and put away along with the ones he used for the picnic earlier, he headed to his inner sanctum and began to meditate heavily as he floated in the air since this helped him train in his control over magical energies as well as pass the time when he was not heavily training in other things. While in such a state his body sustained itself in a sense that he didn't need food or drink or even to use the bathroom as he did so.

Two weeks went by as he meditated until anything happened, and as to what it was, it was the Ancient One who made her presence known.

"Hello master," said Naruto as he opened his eyes. As he did he softly landed onto his feet since he was no longer meditating.

"Hello Naruto," said the Ancient one in a voice that was laced with the tone of someone with great wisdom, "I come bearing news that you will find unsettling my student."

"What news do you bring," asked Naruto who was actually worried a bit now since if the Ancient One was the one bringing the news to him it was dire news indeed.

"This form is at its limit," said The Ancient One sadly. Out of all the many prodigies she had taught throughout many universes, Naruto had been one of her favorites since while the others were picking up the art of magic faster than any other student that would learn in their universe, Naruto was the one out of all of them to excel in a way none of the other ones were capable of. "And this is the last time we shall meet or converse like this."

"I'm sorry," said Naruto sadly. While the Ancient One was not what he would consider family since she only taught him magic, she was at least there for him while others only scorned his existence. He knew that this day would come from the beginning, but he was still sad about it nonetheless.

"There is no need to apologize my apprentice," said the Ancient One with a wave of her hand to calm him down. "But my power is running thin in this realm. There is no need to fret though since I have taught you all that you were meant to be taught."

"What do you meant by meant to be?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Magic is not something that can be taught fully," said the Ancient One, "for the main source that drives it is your mind alone. A mind is its own realm, one that even I cannot fully understand when it comes to another person. So I taught you all that I was able to, but it is up to you to find your own true power since it is not something that can be taught by another."

"Then I shall work hard to find that power for myself," said Naruto with a bow.

"I know you will," said the Ancient One, "and it will be then that you earn the title of Sorcerer Supreme."

"I will be honored to acquire that title in the future," said Naruto with a sad tone to his voice. As he said that he saw as the Ancient One began to fade away as the last of her power waned. "But before I leave, I have two things to say. Once I leave it will be up to you to recruit others in the art of magic, and for that I have gifted you with the power of Sight which will allow you to see those who can master the art."

Naruto saw a flash of light that blinded him. He couldn't see anything at all other than the bright white of light in his eyes, yet he was still able to hear perfectly clear.

"And my final words to you are simply sound advice. For all the time that I had known and taught you, I have seen you struggle with an emptiness that has plagued your heart for years. You have begun to heal it with your actions of acquiring friends, but that is not what your heart truly aches for. It is time for you to heal what ails you, and you know what it is that I speak of. Goodbye my student, may you keep this world safe from the dark entities that will seek to destroy it..." and with those final words, she was gone.

Once she was gone, Naruto's sight finally returned to him, and he looked around to see that his master was truly gone. He wiped the tears that had flowed from his face as the power of Sight channeled into his eyes. He said a silent prayer in hopes that her journey to train others went well like it had for him…

(Normal Time Zone)

While Naruto had rested himself in the Sanctum Sanctorum before receiving the news that his master was finally leaving him, Sasuke and Yakumo were busy doing their own things in the real world…

Sasuke was busy training with Orochimaru, who at this moment had gifted Sasuke with the signing of the Snake Contract. He signed it and summoned one of Manda's sons, which impressed Orochimaru since it was fairly hard to summon up any of them even for him. It was harder to summon Manda himself, and using him was only as a last resort since when summoned he demanded human flesh as payment. So Orochimaru only ever summoned him when the need for his strength was needed since it was no problem when an enemy was being eaten. Orochimaru warned him about that, and Sasuke simply nodded as he took his warning to heart since it was very important.

Yakumo was having a surprisingly harder time than Sasuke was with his training. She had to deal with two separate groups of people who were harassing her over the course of the day, and she was getting upset about it. The first person she had to deal with was Minato himself, who once he had his daughters in the hospital to have Tsunade and Shizune give them an extensive checkup to make sure they were ok he had his ANBU find her and bring her to him. Once there he began to question her about Naruto, since it was clear that Naruto loved her if him kissing her was a clear indication on the matter.

Yakumo only gave him vague answers since she would not divulge information about her boyfriend that he didn't speak about himself. She saw as Minato grew more irritated the more she kept to herself, and to be honest it slightly amused her that she could piss off such an infamous man as the Fourth Hokage. It was then that Minato asked for her to hand over her grimoire that Naruto had sealed the Kyubi into. Yakumo refused at first to hand it over, since it was hers to do as she pleased with. Plus her boyfriend had risked his very life to make the thing for her to use as protection, so there was no way in hell that she would willingly give it up.

In the end she conceded to his orders when he ordered as her Hokage, but things did not go as he thought they would. She placed the book on the table and simply gestured for Minato to take it for himself. Minato did just that, but he immediately regretted it since the second he put his hand on it, he was blasted backwards right into the wall. The table the book was on was decimated into splinters from the force of the pulse alone. It then floated in the air for a bit before it returned to Yakumo's hand.

She explained that Naruto had made it for her and as so no one but herself could use it. Minato tried to counter that it was too much powerful of an item to be wielded by a Genin of all things since his own daughter were barely capable of using the Kyubi's energy when it was split between the two of them. So how would someone who was not an Uzumaki manage to control it fully? She simply said that the book was made for her alone, so it was the reason that she was able to use it. Before he could call her back, she simply snapped her fingers, which caused her body to break like glass and disappear as she used an illusion to leave. While Minato saw this with his own eyes, Yakumo had in fact simply walked out the door normally.

The second problem came in the form of various young women who resided in the village, mainly those who wanted Naruto for themselves as a boyfriend. The moment they had seen Naruto kiss her in front of all of them they had all come to an arranged agreement to eliminate this girl from the equation so that they had a chance at Naruto once more. So for the full day after the meeting was over, they secretly followed her as she went around the village and kept to herself. It was when she stopped to eat that Ino made her move. While she knew that Naruto was immune to her family's signature jutsu, but she was sure that Yakumo was not. So she tried to implant false feelings of hatred towards Naruto in an effort to counteract the love she had for him. But she never got the chance to even begin since she was stopped by Yakumo herself, who was using her Ido form to frighten Ino out of her mind. Ino fled her mindscape, and never tried to do it again since her Ido form was horrifying to see with one's own eyes when in Yakumo's mind.

(The Next Day)

The three youngest members who made up Squad 7 arrived at the Hokage Tower at the assigned time that was given to them by their sensei, with Naruto arriving via portal while the others arrived simply walked there. He had brought breakfast once again, since he had felt like cooking again for his friends since he had the time to do so and his friends enjoyed his cooking. Now here they were just waiting for Kakashi to arrive so as to get whatever mission they would receive for the day.

"So Naruto," said Sasuke as he took a bite out of a donut that Naruto had made. He brought a whole box full of them that he made himself such as glazed, apple fritters, cinnamon twists, jelly filled; bear claws, as well as donut holes since he had to do something with them so he thought to bake them as well. Sasuke was a fan of the apple fritters, while Yakumo loved the bear claws. Naruto smiled as he saw his friends enjoy his baking. "What are the plans for today?"

"Well," said Naruto as he ate a glazed donut himself and sipped coffee that he freshly brewed from the beans that were grown within the massive greenhouse that the Sanctum had. "To be honest, I have no clue. It depends on what mission Kakashi gives us whenever he finally arrives. Apparently he has already forgotten our deal so that he wouldn't be tardy."

"No I have not," said Kakashi as he appeared in a swirl of leaves the second that Naruto had said that. "I was just held up like all the other jonin instructors in a meeting with the Hokage."

"Oh well," said Naruto with a slight nod of his head since it was perfectly understandable to be late like he was if he was stuck in a meeting. "We can't fault you for that since you had to follow orders. Would you like some breakfast?"

"Depends on what is being offered," Responded Kakashi with an eye smile, "because I am honestly hoping that it is another muffin like the one from yesterday."

"Sorry to say it, but no muffins today," said Naruto as he held up the box of donuts so that Kakashi could reach in and pick out the one he wanted. He picked out a jelly filled one and ate it with gusto as Naruto conjured up a cup and poured some coffee for him. He summoned up some sugar as well as some crème to make the perfect cup before he handed it to Kakashi. He took a sip while covering his face with a copy of Icha Icha, and he had to admit that it was perfect.

"That has got to be the best cup of coffee that I have ever had in my life," said Kakashi before he downed it all in a few gulps and handed the cup back to Naruto, who then used magic to send it away. "What type of coffee is that?"

"A type that is unavailable anywhere else," said Naruto. He didn't want to go into details about the fact that the coffee was from a country known as Peru. Since if he did that he would have to explain the geography of another world in another dimension, and he had neither the drive nor the time to explain all that to Kakashi of all people. "So if you want more of it you will have to get it through me. So feel free to ask for it if you wish for more since I grow my own coffee beans in my garden."

"Duly noted," Said Kakashi, "but now we must discuss what we are to do for today. For the time being, our squad is going to complete D ranked missions to help establish a sense of teamwork within this group."

"Does it look like we need to work on our teamwork?" Asked Sasuke with a raised eyebrow, "Because we really don't need it."

"I honestly believe it when you say that," said Kakashi, "but this is how all squads start out when they are formed. They complete D ranked missions until the Hokage deems them ready to accomplish higher ranked ones. So for the next week, I want you to complete at least one mission a day, but feel free to complete more if you are capable of doing so and are up to it. Can you handle that at least?"

"Can we handle…" asked Naruto sarcastically, "do you have so little faith in us?"

"No," said Kakashi with a bit of a nervous chuckle since he did not want to piss off Naruto or his squad since that did not end well the first time he did so. "But I will leave you to choose you own mission. We shall meet here again in one week's time." With that, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves, just as he had appeared not too long ago.

"Well then," said Naruto as he used his arm to gesture towards the door that separated them from the mission hall where they would choose and begin the first mission they took up as a squad. "Shall we choose our mission to undertake for the day?"

"Yes," said Yakumo as she walked by him, but as she did she made sure to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Naruto walked behind her as Sasuke could only chuckle to himself. Once inside, they met the man on duty at the time who showed them the various missions that they could take on, and as they saw what was available they were a bit dishearten. When they heard the term 'mission' they had thought that the job offered would be something that was actually shinobi related in some way, but it turned out that D ranked missions were nothing more than chores that civilians either didn't want to do themselves or couldn't do themselves since they either were too old or physically incapable of doing it.

In the end, they decided to take the one they deemed the easiest, which was catching a cat that belonged to the wife of the Fire Daimyo. Its name was Tora. And they were wrong to think that since the cat was far trickier to capture than they initially thought. She was an evasive cat, this Naruto had to admit, but in the end Naruto simply put the creature to sleep with a simple spell and then took her back to her owner. The Fire Daimyo's wife was there to collect her prized pet, and roughly snuggled her to the point that it appeared that she would squeeze the life out of the poor thing. Naruto put two and two together here and saw clearly why the poor thing ran away so much since he would most likely do the same exact thing if he was in the poor animal's situation.

Once the mission scroll was signed off by the Hokage, they all went back to the mission hall to deliver it and collect payment for the mission. As they left Naruto told his squad that he would see them tomorrow and then separated from the group but not before he got a kiss from Yakumo on the lips. He walked for a bit before he ran into Shikamaru along with an older man who was essentially an older version of him. He took a quick once over and came to the realization that the man was his father.

"Hello Shikamaru," said Naruto with a smile as he saw his rival in the game of Shogi, "how goes it with your squad's so called 'team building' missions?"

"Simply troublesome," said Shikamaru with a sigh since just like Naruto he had expected to do something more shinobi related instead of common chores, "we had to help pull weeds in a field for the last few hours. We were lucky that it was a small field since it would have taken forever otherwise."

"I understand where you are coming from," said Naruto, "we just had to help a woman whose cat had run away."

"Wow," said Shikamaru as he rubbed his head a bit, "and here I thought our mission was bad. I heard plenty of stories about that cat since it constantly keeps running away and then someone, mainly newly made squads such as us are tasked to find it."

"So this is the same Naruto who you said that keeps beating you in Shogi," asked Shikimaru's father.

"That I am," said Naruto with a simple smile. "I take it that you are his father?"

"Yes," said the man as he held up his hand to shake his, "Shikaku Nara."

"Nice to meet you good sir. So do you play Shogi as well?"

"I do in fact play," said the man with a smirk on his face, "since I am the one who taught my son how to play so well. Why do you ask, are you challenging me to a game?"

"I will admit that the idea has peaked my interest," said Naruto with a smile, "so shall we?"

"But how can we play the game if there is no board to play on?" asked Shikaku with a raised eyebrow. Shikamaru only sighed and mumbled 'troublesome' since he knew that Naruto could conjure a board if and when he needed one. And just like he expected, Naruto conjured up a table with a couple of chairs to sit on. On the table was a Shogi board with all the pieces set up to play.

"Allow me to make this game more interesting," said Naruto with a smile, "since in my life I have come to the realization that when you incentivize people with something they truly desire they do their best at the task at hand."

"I'm curious as to what this idea of yours is," said Shikaku.

"Simple. I have heard from Shikimaru's complaining over the years that you as well as he have to deal with your wife, who is rather abusive when it comes to hitting either of you with a frying pan. So my deal is simply this, if either of you, now or anytime in the future, can beat me in a game of Shogi then I will teach you the mystical art of Invisibility so that you may laze about at your own leisure without fear of being found out."

The look of shock on their faces was utterly priceless to observe. Naruto saw that they had the ability to learn minor spells since their magical aura that surrounded them was minor to say the lease. And invisibility was not that complicated to learn, since it was the act of maintaining it that was a challenge. The two of them could not believe that Naruto would offer up the one thing that they had always dreamed of over the years. They didn't even think that invisibility was even possible like he was claiming, and Naruto caught on to their disbelief. So with a small twirl of his finger that formed a rune his body simply vanished from their sight. He then reappeared since he just wanted them to see that it was possible.

"As you can see," said Naruto with a smile, "it is possible to become invisible. Now all you have to do is simply beat me at this game and the ability to hide from your wife shall be yours to use at your own leisure. So shall we begin?"

Shikaku smiled as he nodded his head, making the first move to what he hoped was victory…

(Several hours later)

Naruto had begun to head back home to the Sanctum as Shikaku and his son cried anime tears. They had both challenged Naruto multiple times, with each loss only aggravating them more but they would not stop until they acquired invisibility for themselves. But in the end they were unsuccessful like the time before. Naruto left them with the Shogi board, which he explained he put an experience rune onto. The rune made a spiritual copy of himself to play them at any time, and if and/or when they beat it the rune would disappear and they will have won and he would teach them what he promised.

So Naruto left them to do as they wanted as he opened a portal to head back and then closed it up behind him…

(One week later)

The past week had been a major turning point in the lives of squad 7. Naruto had seen the potential in the mystical arts and told them so. So the offer to train them was given, and just as he expected they accepted it without a moment's hesitation since they were fairly interested in the subject. So he opened a portal for them to the Sanctum and they entered it.

Naruto had laughed as Yakumo had run off with eyes full of wonder at the mystical school. The thing about the place though was that without an understanding of magic even the basics of the art itself it was impossible to go anywhere in the place. Hell, he laughed hard along with Sasuke as they saw her leave through one door and appeared in another that led back towards the entrance area.

Naruto explained that the place was protected by so many magical enchantments that unless she had a guide who could use magic like he could she would not be able to navigate the premises. So with that in mind he took the time to show them all the various different rooms which took quite a while to do since it was massive to say the least. But he had seven months to teach them the basics of magic, which they did very well. For Yakumo, her specialty was illusions, which was no surprise to either Sasuke or Naruto. Yet Sasuke had the unique ability to summon spirit animals as well as control flesh and blood ones, both mythical as well as realistic ones which actually surprised Naruto since he didn't expect him to have that ability. Naruto could do it as well but the Ancient One had told him that the ability was exceedingly rare.

So with the skills they possessed in mind, he took them to the massive library and sat them down as he piled large stacks of books on the tables and told them to begin reading them. They didn't want to, but Naruto explained that this was how every new recruit would start since the various books went into details about the different types of magic. Only when one understood the fundamentals could they begin the practice of the art itself.

While they read up on all that they would need to know to understand magic at its basic level, Naruto had been in the Observatory. It was a place where he was able to peer into near infinite multiverses. He had not been allowed within this room while the Ancient One was still around since she stated the time was not right for him to peer elsewhere in the universe. It was only now that he was within this room looking through the Infinity Sphere, a magical artifact capable of seeing beyond his dimension, that he understood her words since seeing into the other dimensions took a lot out of him to do since so much magic was needed to maintain a connection so as to see.

He did this to find others who could train his friends in various things that he could not teach. Just like when the Ancient One had brought Iron Fist to the Sanctum so as to train him in hand to hand combat since she herself lacked such a thing. He searched for quite some time before he found the perfect teacher for each of them, one who specialized in illusions for Yakumo and one who could teach Sasuke how to master the ways of what he assumed were mix of druids and shaman since as far as he knew there was not a name for people who magically used animals exclusively. Sure they were used for a variety of different things such as familiars as well as transformation, but there was no name for it. Or at least he was able to find one for Yakumo, but he was not able to find one for Sasuke when it came to his type of magic. So he found him a teacher to master the blade, which if he was honest with himself he should train in himself but he never really got around to mastering the art since he had so many other things to master that took up most of his time.

For Yakumo, he found a woman who went by the name Enchantress. Sure the woman was a villain in her home dimension, but her illusionary skills were exceptional and she would make the perfect teacher for Yakumo if she could be convinced to do so. What Naruto did was establish a mental link of a magical nature that put her as well as himself in an empty white room so that they could speak on equal terms. Here their magic meant nothing since it was a neutral zone, which was good in Naruto's case since he was still fairly young in the broad scheme of things since this woman had been alive longer than he had.

She had been utterly furious about the whole thing since she did not like either the fact that she was pulled into this place without her consent no did her powers work so that she could smite the brat before her that had managed to do so. He had simply waited for her to calm down so as to talk to her in a civil manner, which took quite a while since she was a prideful woman with a hot temper. When she finally calmed down, he explained who he was, a potential Sorcerer Supreme of another dimension from her own. He went on to explain that he had called upon her via magical link so as to ask for her help in training someone in her illusionary abilities. She had begun to laugh hysterically in a haughty nature for what seemed like forever before she finally calmed down from it. She had then simply demanded to know why he possibly thought she would teach anyone anything.

Naruto had simply played on her pride and stated that she was one of the best illusionists he had seen in various dimensions. This caused her to smile in pride since she loved to be praised like he was doing. He went on to state that by helping train another person to wield even a fraction of her power in a dimension not her own that her name would be known to any and all who learned from the student afterwards. This realization made her think heavily about it for a while as this information played in her mind. In the end she agreed to do as was asked of her, but she warned that her training would be cruel as hers had been. Naruto had agreed to it and stated that the dimension he was native to was no stranger to harsh training, and with that the link was shattered and the two of them went their separate ways for now.

In time Naruto had used his magical power to open a portal to the dimension that Enchantress was from so that she herself would be able to pass through which she did. Once there he went on to explain that she was only allowed in certain rooms, while the others were protected via his native dimensions seals and once she was done that she would be able to leave via the same portal she came through. To prove a point, he sealed her in a transparent box made from the seals and asked her to break through it. She tried, but to her fury she was unable to break through it since the power source behind it was not magical as well as unknown to her so she had no way to break the seal. Once the point had been made he unsealed her temporary prison and then introduced her to Yakumo. Yakumo had been intimidated by her at first, but in time that fear dwindled away. Yakumo did this to get stronger so that she would never be a hindrance to Naruto, which Enchantress picked up on quite easily and smirked to herself since she would aid the young lady in the pursuit of the man she was infatuated with.

For Sasuke, who he could not find a proper teacher to train him in his magical expertise like he wanted to find, he found someone who was vastly skilled in the use of the blade. His name was Logan yet he was known to the world as Wolverine. Unlike Enchantress, Logan was easily convinced to train someone since the man was at one point a teacher himself at a school full of mutants like himself. Sasuke was trained in a brutal way, with the instructions to come at him with true killing intent. Logan could heal from any and all damage done to his person so he was the perfect person to teach what it truly felt like to kill via piercing through vital organs. While Sasuke had been trained in the art of the sword, he lacked the realistic aspect of it since he had no real world training to go with it.

While they did that, Naruto completed the missions that the squad needed to do once a day. They were fairly easy with the help of magic with the biggest mission he took being helping to clear out an entire field to help grow crops. The elderly farmer had explained that he usually hired a large group of people to help do it but he hurt himself and the medical bills drained a bit too much of his money so that he could not afford the large group. Naruto had simply nodded and called upon the might of the Gaia, the Greek deity of earth, to essentially till the fields as well as absorb the weeds. The elderly man nearly had a heart attack as he saw a young man do the work of so many within the span of a few minutes by himself.

There were various other jobs such as painting things, babysitting children, and walking animals. The one mission that got to him was having to hunt down Tora yet again this week, but this time the outcome had gone far differently. Naruto had seen what Tora's owner had done to her the last time she was brought back to her literally abusive form of 'loving embrace', and so this time he offered the poor feline a new home within the Sanctum instead. The cat had jumped into his arms willingly and purred loudly as she rubbed against him with all the happiness she could muster. One of the many things he had learned over the years in his training was that some animals had a natural gift of seeing through magic and getting around it in some way. Cats were one of the most well- known types to be able to do so, and Tora made herself at home as she went in search of a comfy place to nap the day away moments upon Naruto walking through the portal into the Sanctum and dream of a new life away from the woman who nearly constantly crushed her to death. She was a curious feline, and she made Naruto laugh from time to time since she would randomly appear in the strangest of places at the most random of times.

Naruto had gone back and lied to the woman and told her that Tora had been killed and eaten by a wild animal in the Forest of Death. She had cried as was expected, but Naruto was there to consul her since it was the least he could do after lying to her face about Tora. He had a feeling that she would get another pet in the future, and could only hope she didn't smother it like she did with Tora since then thee would once again be the mission of finding the runaway animal in the future.

As Naruto and his squad trained in the art of magic, Narumi and Natsumi were being trained into the ground to recover their lost strength since the main source of it had been literally ripped from them. For years they had trained to use the Kyubi's energy as their own but now that they no longer had access to it anymore they had to train to use and rely on their own strength which was quite impressive being Uzumaki as well as the children of two powerful infamous shinobi. They were strong kunoichi, just like their mother, but they had been weakened as a result of the demonic extraction. So after a nonstop week long cram session of training and exorcises with the aid of Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune along with their mother Kushina, they were very nearly back to their peak strength.

Naruto had to deal with multiple girls while his squad trained within the Sanctum. They all continuously asked him out on a date uncaring that he was already in a relationship, stating that they were a better choice for him, claiming that their clan was a better known one, or simply that they were either prettier or stronger than Yakumo. By the end of the week Naruto had enough of them constantly insulting Yakumo like they were so he proposed a simple challenge to them to prove that she was indeed stronger than they all claimed they knew she was. He told them to pick one person out of their group to face Yakumo in a one on one match. If she won then they would stop pestering him for a date, but if she lost then he would break up with her.

The girls were all giddy at hearing this since they felt like they could easily beat Yakumo, and so they chose Tenten, the oldest in the group with the most experience, to be the challenger. Naruto simply nodded and told them that he will tell them the date of the fight later once he told Yakumo about it, and once that was said they all left with smiles on their faces as they dreamed of having him as their boyfriend.

Now Naruto was no cheater, nor did he make this bet out of some sort of hatred towards Yakumo in any sense. He simply understood the minds of young girls with crushes since he had researched the subject in a few books when he had the chance the moment that he acquired so many fan girls in school. The more the person of their affection rejected them the more they would attempt to woe said person, and he had Sakura as the perfect proof that that was exactly how it went. So he made this bet as a way to stop all this and nip it in the bud. They thought Yakumo was weak and because of that bias view they thought that she would be easily beaten, but she was strong even before he began her magical training. Plus even in the one in a million chance that she lost, he would simply dump her as he said he would, wait five seconds and then ask her out again to 'renew' their relationship. He only stated he would dump her, he never said anything about staying separated from her…

By the end of the week, the two members of the squad who were still training had at least mastered the art of creating a portal to and from the Sanctum so they could resume their training at their own pace like he himself had done. Once they did that, they each picked their own room, with Yakumo picking one that was right next to Naruto's which once again was no surprise to him or Sasuke, to move their stuff into. The both of them wanted to move into the Sanctum since it was a chance at a fresh start for themselves. Sasuke didn't wish to stay in a room that was surrounded by the empty homes of his slain clan members since all it did was bring back bad memories of the past. Yakumo never felt welcome in her own clan home so the move was great for her since a change of scenery did wonders. Once their things were moved in and their rooms were renovated into the way they wanted them to be, Naruto then used his magical power to link up each of their rooms to the time of their natural dimension like his own was.

Now they stood before Minato with their sensei Kakashi as Naruto handed over the seven mission scrolls that he had completed over the past week. They all had notes from the client who sang high praise of Naruto's abilities, and stated they would recommend using him again in the future if they need his assistance.

"Well I am happy to say," started Minato after he had read all the reports which sang so much praise towards his son, "that due to the overwhelming positive feedback from various clients as well as the fact that you, or at least one of you, have the combat knowledge to challenge as well as beat a Kage level shinobi I have decided that your squad is ready to take on a C class mission."

"Thank you sir," said Kakashi with an eye smile. He was happy to know that his squad was doing so well while the others were not doing as well as his own. For the longest of times he had failed multiple groups that he had been assigned since they could not pass his bell test. So to see one not only break the cycle but excel beyond the other squads as well was a welcome change in his book.

"So what is the mission," asked Naruto, who was glad to see that they had graduated from doing simple chores to hopefully something that could actually be considered a legitimate mission. He wanted the genuine experience of life that could not be taught in books or by a teacher.

"This will be a joint mission with another squad," said Minato, who as soon as he said that Naruto knew exactly who they would be partnered up with and understood the very reason that they were being partnered up with them, "to escort our client back to his home in Wave Country."

"If this is such a low class escort mission," asked Sasuke who was looking at the bigger picture here as he was one to do, "why do we need two squads to do it if at most all we will be fighting against is some bandits or the like?"

"It never hurts to be prepared for the unknown," said Minato in a sage like tone of voice, "plus Squad 11 needs some experience on missions away from home as well."

The look on Sasuke's face was priceless once he heard who they were going with. Since it was Squad 11 they were traveling with that meant that Sakura was coming, and since it was a mission he could not simply run away from her obsessive proclamations of love as he always did. His face turned white for a split second before the color returned to his face.

"So who is it that we are protecting," asked Naruto since he was listening to every detail since he was trained to do so.

"A man by the name of Tazuna," said Minato as he handed Kakashi the official mission scroll, "be warned though since our scouts have stated an increase of bandit activity on the roads towards wave. You will meet the man at the front gates at eight in the morning so don't be late for the mission."

As Minato said that, the three members of Squad seven looked at Kakashi directly. Kakashi sweat dropped as they looked at him like that since the man was infamously known for his tardiness. He simply chuckled nervously and told them that he would be there on time before he and the rest of the squad left the room to do their own thing to pass the time until the assigned time.

Minato sighed as he saw them leave since his main plan had not gone as planned. The initial plan he had in mind was to keep Naruto and his squad doing D ranked missions to the point that they got sick of it and all but demanded one of a higher rank than they were allowed to do since their squad had just been formed. It would be then that he would subtly mention that he would consider it if Naruto transferred to Squad 11 to join his sisters and mother. So in the end either Naruto, who cared for his squad from what he could see, would accept of his own volition or his squad would turn on him in a fashion that would break him down and still do it. But that was not the case since Naruto flawlessly did his job in a manner that everyone who he helped gave him praise for his work. So he knew that this plan would not work because of that fact alone and just decided to have the two squads work together. He could only hope that they were able to make a connection on the mission…

(The next day)

The two squads met with the client by the gate the next day at the assigned time. He made muffins for the group, including Squad 11 which they enjoyed thoroughly. Sure he had no love for them as family, but they were still allies to the village who he was working with at the moment so he would share food that he prepared without any sort of fuss.

Their client was an elderly man who reeked so much of the alcohol he consumed. He had literally taken one look at the group he had hired to protect him for this mission and complained that he didn't believe that he was getting his money's worth for his protection detail. Naruto and his squad simply let that insult pass by them since they didn't care what the man thought since they didn't need validation to know they were strong, yet Natsumi and Narumi were very vocal about it since they had their pride as Uzumaki.

But Kushina was able to calm them down easily being their mother and all that, and once they were calmed down they finally set out towards their first mission out of the village. There had been a slight hiccup with Sakura pestering Sasuke for a date consistently again and again, but luckily for him he had studied up on a silencing spell to negate this kind of thing which was easy to cast. It was also easy to dispel as well but Sakura had not been taught magic in any way so she could not break it. Naruto saw her glare at him since she knew that Naruto had taught him to do this to her and she was quite pissed about it.

As the groups walked towards their destination, both Kakashi as well as Kushina conversed with Tazuna. Naruto was reading a tome he had begun studying, all the while ignoring his sister's attempts at conversing with him. He saw through peripheral vision that they were getting far more pissed with every attempt of them starting a conversation being ignored like that, yet it did not bother him since he did not care in the slightest. Nothing really happened for the next hour and a half, but then Naruto, who was in front of the group, held up his hand to stop them. While he was reading the tome he was still fully aware of what was around him like the two puddles that were on the ground in front of them.

"Does anyone else find this situation odd," asked Naruto to the rest of the group.

"I do," said Sasuke as he looked at Tazuna, "hey old man. Did it rain when you came this way heading towards our village?"

"No," said Tazuna in confusion since he was not sure of what was happening.

"Well then that makes this whole scene far stranger than one would first suspect," said Naruto with a sigh as he closed the tome with one hand and then held it under his arm as he held out his other towards the puddles. A magical seal appeared in front of his hand that changed colors from the orange it usually was to a purplish blue that the shot out two individual arcs of lightning that hit their targets. The voltage that he used was not lethal, but it did hurt like hell for the two men who appeared since their illusion was shattered now. "And a word of advice to the two of you for the future, if you wish to use that illusion to trick people you should do it near water or where it rains."

The two men looked at each other for a brief second before they charged forward. They each had a gauntlet on their hands that had a chain connecting them. Naruto stood his ground as they neared him, and powered up his hands with Chi before he chopped the chain in half. The men had tried to wrap him in it since the chain was barbed and would rip him apart if their plan had succeeded. But now their main plan had failed, and Yakumo and Sasuke had capitalized on their surprise to deliver their own blows towards the men to send them back a bit. While the one Sasuke punched went back further than Yakumo's that was to be expected given the fact that Sasuke was physically stronger than her.

Sasuke then moved swiftly and charged forward with a kunai in hand which he used to try and slash the man's throat. The man was quick enough to dodge the kunai strike, but Sasuke was planning on this since he conjured up a spirit snake that extended his reach further than what the man had planned on and was bitten by it. The power infused within it caused the man to stiffen since it was a paralyzing form of magic that had been imbued with.

Yakumo did not have such magic to utilize as her own, but she did still have the weapon that Naruto had gifted her when she was gifted the Grimoire. She pulled it out, and as she did a seal appeared on it that she stuck her hand through and grabbed ahold of the object inside. What she pulled out was a large paintbrush with a thick dark wooden handle that was engraved with ruins to make sure that the ink on the tip never dried out nor did it run out. Naruto had made this since he knew that she was an artist and with the tool he gave her she could once again make her paintings come to life like she could in her illusionary world that the Ido took her to. She smirked as she swiped the air in front of her, with ink floating there. Out of the ink came two large sharks made of the ink that flew through the air and each took a chunk out of her opponent before they disappeared. The damage was too extensive for him and he would bleed out within minutes.

"Good work team," said Naruto with a smile, "it would seem that you are retaining your lessons well."

"How did you do that," asked Natsumi with stars in her eyes as she and her sister crowded Yakumo. They had never seen something like that and they wanted to know how in the hopes that they might learn it themselves if they asked kindly enough. Yakumo didn't answer them as she picked up her tool with her hand. The thing was about half her size and yet she was easily able to lift it up. What she was unaware of was that this was by design so that only she may wield the brush herself. She then channeled magic through it and watched it turn into a crimson orb that flew back into the grimoire that it had come from.

"Man I am glad I hired you guys," said Tazuna with a laugh as he saw three youngsters, who he had honestly thought were weak defeat fully grown men.

"Oh don't thank us yet," said Naruto with a sigh. This caught the others off guard since it was an odd thing to say but they saw what he meant by that when out of the blue the air got misty around them which was far unusual given the area as well as the time of year. Both squads surrounded Tazuna as they heard someone laughing in the mist.

"So it would seem that Leaf shinobi live up to the hype," said the voice of their attacker, "and what is this? An Uzumaki? I have heard so much about your clan and I feel so happy that I get to kill one of the last ones alive. It will be a nice notch on my killing streak."

"I won't be killed that easily," said Kushina as she growled in anger at the fact that this person saw her as an easy target. She would not shame her family and die like this person wanted her to nor would she be used as a bragging tool for a sadistic asshole who wanted to tell others that they managed to kill her. She then sensed that something was being swung towards her, which she pulled out her own blade to block it. It was a massive blade wielded by a man with a bandaged face. The man smirked at her as he jumped back before he threw his blade towards Tazuna. He had been hired to kill the bridge builder and he wanted to get it over with so that he could take his time and kill of the rest of them at his own leisure.

Yet to his surprise, Naruto stopped the blade in midair which was apparent by his glowing hand which he then used two fingers to flick the blade with. The vibrations he sent through it shattered the blade down to the hilt, which Naruto then tossed underhand back towards the man since it was of no use to him now.

"Did you truly believe that that would work," asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow as he conjured up his own blade, "or someone known as the Demon of the Mist you have just hindered yourself by sacrificing your blade."

"Is that what you think," said the man as he grabbed the handle of his broken blade, "that I would just through my blade away for no reason? Foolish boy, but I will admit that your ability to destroy it was fairly impressive. What is your name?"

"My Name is Naruto," said Naruto as he kept his blade sheathed. "And I know who you are Zabuza so there is no need to introduce yourself." Naruto had read a recent Bingo Book within the last week since his teacher had always told him to be prepared and to know thy enemy so he had done his research on the various threats his world had to throw at him.

"You know who I am and yet you still foolishly plan to attack me like some sort of hero?" asked Zabuza. "Because allow me to break it to you, there are no heroes in this world kid only those with the strength to survive."

"Well I agree with your statement of there being no heroes," said Naruto seriously, "But I do not see my actions as foolish. More like fulfilling my obligations since I as well as the others here were paid to protect our client. While there are no true heroes, there will always be those to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"Well I have a feeling that you will entertain me for a bit," said Zabuza as he dipped his blade's handle into the blood of the man who had been killed by the ink sharks which had pooled onto the ground. Naruto's eyebrow rose as he saw the blood suck up into it and reform the blade back into its original form.

"I will admit that you have a unique blade there," said Naruto in genuine interest since while he had practiced and learned so many various forms of magic this was something new to him. Naruto would most likely have said more if he didn't sense the dome of water that Zabuza had summoned up to surround the two of them. While he would kill the rest, he was not a fool to try and take them out all at once. No he would eliminate the major threats first and then take his time to slaughter the kids playing shinobi to teach them a lesson that they would take with them into the depths of hell itself.

"Well then," said Zabuza as his eyes glinted with murderous glee, "entertain me boy." He then performed several hand signs that made the immediate area thick with mist, but since the area was condensed in a dome it was far thicker than normal.

"Interesting technique you have there," said Naruto calmly as he heard Zabuza chuckle in the mist, "but it will not aid you against me."

"And just how do you expect to defeat me if you can't even see me?"

"And what gave you the impression that I couldn't see you," said Naruto with a smirk. He channeled power into his blade so that it floated by his person as he used his fingers to form a triangle before the pendent he had on him. The gears within it began to turn as it became active, and once Naruto felt its power unleashed he called upon its power. "Eye of Agamotto cast out this illusion!"

With a pulse of power the mist surrounding him disappeared, leaving Zabuza exposed. Zabuza smirked as he saw Naruto was not holding his blade and used another hand sign that condensed the water in the dome into a Water Sphere Prison with Naruto inside. Now while the man expected Naruto to struggle and try in vain to break free, he was strangely calm and not even holding his breath. He held up his hand with a blue glyph appearing within it. This caused the water to freeze, which shocked Zabuza that this boy had such an ability at his disposal. The ice cracked, which caused Zabuza to jump out of the way in fear that it would explode out in a way that could hurt him. Yet this did not happen since to even more of his shock Naruto was not even in it anymore.

Zabuza felt as his body seized up as Naruto placed a magical glyph on his back that paralyzed him. He fell forward and hit the ground face first with a growl. Those in Squad 11 as well as Kakashi had a look of surprise on their faces to see Naruto single handedly defeat a man with such a notorious reputation as Zabuza.

"So is there more to this mission than what was first discussed," asked Naruto towards Tazuna as he levitated Zabuza closer to the rest of the group, "since if a A ranked Missing Nin was trying to kill you then there has to be more to it."

Tazuna sighed since Naruto had been right in his assumption. So he explained the situation that had befallen his village that had been taken over by a greedy businessman named Gato. The man had taken over all the ports via purchasing them all and taxing the country to its knees. Tazuna and his friends were building a bridge to break the hold that Gato had on the place, and it was because of that that Gato wanted Tazuna dead since a bridge would break his hold on the island country. He had not been honest with them since they did not have the proper funds to hire shinobi to aid them and had played it off as an escort mission in hopes that they would aid them once there when shown the problems they were faced with.

With this news being told to them, Kushina and Kakashi looked at each other for a second before they nodded and asked the rest of them if they still wanted to continue with all the risks they would most likely be faced with. The Genin had all been in agreement since they wanted to help the poor man, and decided to do so. Naruto had planned on sending Zabuza to Konoha to be dealt with Interrogation since they were good at their job, but before he could do it they were bombarded with multiple smoke bombs that blocked their vision. What made it worse was multiple needles were thrown into their bodies, even Naruto which paralyzed them enough for whoever had blind sighted them to extract Zabuza and as well as the man who had attacked them with the chain that was still alive.

"Well that was surprising," said Naruto with a sigh since that was unexpected. He saw as the others were trying to move, but the needles in their bodies made it all but impossible to do so. Naruto had to use magic to extract the needles from his own body so that he could move before he did the same for the rest of the group. "Something else to prepare for in the future since I doubt that is the last time we will hear from whoever has taken Zabuza." The group decided to relax for a bit to get the stiffness out of their bodies from being paralyzed like they were before they headed onwards to their destination, and as they rest not one of them knew of the enemy they were going to face…

Zabuza had been extracted via his hidden partner and put into a cave where he could rest up while the partner tried to find a means to break him of his paralysis. The problem was that the partner had not no idea what type of means that had been used to do it so he had no idea how to break him of it. The Seal used by Naruto was not on a timer of any sort since he had planned to take the man in alive without resistance.

So while the partner was out trying to find herbs of some sort to try and heal the sole remaining Demon Brother since his wounds could be tended to, and this Left Zabuza all alone while enraged that he had been beaten in such a humiliating fashion by a brat! He swore that he would find some means to counter the boy's abilities and once he did he would skin the little fuck alive in a way that would only prolong his pain tenfold.

"So the so called 'Demon of the Mist' is having problems with a sorcerer," said a voice in his head.

"Who the hell is there," asked Zabuza as he looked around the cave. He was pissed that he would not be able to defend himself if this person attacked him right now.

"Do you seek the power to kill the boy who bested you?" asked the voice.

"I do," growled Zabuza in anger.

"Then allow me to grant it to you," said the voice. Zabuza cried out in pain as his entire body felt like it was on fire as a foreign power entered his body. The pain soon ended though and instead he felt far more powerful than he had ever felt before as he was now able to move his body once more. "Now kneel to your master."

"I will do as ordered," said Zabuza as he knelt down to one knee, "Lord Dormammu…"

Dormammu smirked to himself as he felt his newest pawn submit, and was looking forward to seeing just how powerful this sorcerer truly was before he eliminated him…