Approved

"Come in" Letting out a large amount of smoke as he answered, Hiruzen looked up at the door and watched Kakashi enter "Welcome Kakashi"

Nodding silently, Kakashi walked in front of the Hokage's desk and stood in silence.

Raising his eyebrows, Hiruzen asked with interest "How did it go with your team?"

"They are an interesting team" 

"Yeah?" With a strange look while observing the unusually silent Kakashi, Hiruzen continued "How did they do in your exam?"

"Just as thought. Sasuke has a great talent for combat and already has control of some attack jutsus like the fireball" Thinking for a moment, Kakashi continued "His personality showed that despite having a great hatred against Itachi, he can get along with the others without any problems, so he won't be a potential threat"

"That's good" With a deep puff on his pipe, Hiruzen continued to stare at Kakashi and continued "What about Naruto?"

"That kid... he managed to catch me off guard"

"He took a bell from you?" Raising his eyebrows, Hiruzen asked.

"Both of them."

"That's... interesting" With a pleasant surprise, Hiruzen was silent for a moment and asked "How far do you think he is from his father?"

"I wouldn't know" Shaking his head, Kakashi continued "The only thing I could discern, is that his battle cunning and planning ability is not far behind Minato-sensei at all, but I still think it's too early to draw any conclusions"

"That's good" With a satisfied smile, Hiruzen asked "And his personality?"

"Naruto..." Lowering his gaze while remaining silent for a moment, Kakashi shook his head and continued "He has a slightly irritable temperament, but he gets along very well with his teammates and I think he would have no problem fulfilling the role as team leader."

"Naruto was always a nice boy" Nodding with understanding, Hiruzen continued "What's up with that girl, Sakura?"

"Sakura... she's the one who contributes the least in the group" Thinking for a moment, Kakashi continued "She doesn't have great battle intelligence like Naruto, she doesn't have great combat talent like Sasuke, she lacks true combat techniques and even the guts that a Ninja needs"

"You ask to change it?"

"No" Instantly shaking his head, Kakashi continued "I think her personality is the perfect match to keep those two grounded. She's bossy and loud, just what those two need, someone to control them"

"So you're saying they passed the test?"

"They're not perfect and they have their shortcomings, but I'm confident that their strengths are much greater and worth nurturing" Nodding, Kakashi continued "I want to keep working with them"

"Then so be it" Without taking his gaze off Kakashi, Hiruzen continued "Anything else to report?"

"..." With his one eye exposed and riveted on Hiruzen's gaze, Kakashi instantly shook his head and replied calmly "That would be all"

"Good, good job" Nodding as he lowered his gaze and went back to reading his papers, Hiruzen continued "You can go on with your thing"

Leaning slightly towards Hiruzen, Kakashi left the office and sighed heavily while muttering inaudibly.

"I hope it's the right thing to do... fourth"

***

-Wake up kid, you have visitors-

"Mmmnh~" Moaning with satisfaction as he slowly opened his eyes lazily, Naruto stretched renewed body and looked sideways doubtfully.

-Out-

Knock Knock Knock Knock

"Who is it?" yawning while scratching his cheek, Naruto stood up and walked towards the door.

Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock

"You'll see if it's another prank..." Muttering as he opens the door, Naruto yawned again and watched with some difficulty thanks to his blurred vision the 3 silhouettes next to his door, then blinked a few times and tilted his head "What's wrong?"

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura.

Even Naruto, who just woke up, managed to easily understand what this encounter could mean and how weird it is after such a disaster the day before.

"Why aren't you ready yet? We have a mission to do" With his hands in his pockets, Kakashi casually commented.

"..." Looking at Kakashi and then at his two 'friends', Naruto sighed and formed a clone next to him, then turning and replying "In 10 minutes I'm ready"

Nodding as he enters the house next to Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi looked at the boy's back entering the bathroom and then turned his gaze to the clone who started to prepare the equipment.

"It's neater than I thought..." Looking sideways curiously, Sakura continued "It must be great to be able to live alone and not have who's checking up on you and bothering you"

"..."

"..."

Feeling the gaze of the two men and even the clone, Sakura blushed slightly in embarrassment and asked with genuine confusion "W-what?"

"Nothing" Shaking his head while smiling from the corner of his lips, the clone left all the equipment on the table and continued to tend to the bed.

Coming out of the bathroom after a few minutes being already dressed, Naruto toweled off his hair and nodded towards Kakashi as his clone disappeared. 

"Alright, we're leaving" Walking towards the door, Kakashi continued "It's going to be quite a long day today."

Equipping everything prepared by the clone, Naruto waited for them to leave the house and closed the door, following with his hands in his pockets to his new team.

Increasing his speed as he noticed Kakashi started to run, Naruto jumped onto the roof next to the group and arrived quickly towards the interior of the forest.

"Mmmm... yeah, this way it is" Stopping on a large branch, Kakashi rubbed his chin and muttered while reading a paper he took out among his clothes, then turning to the 3 kids at his back and commenting with a cheerful tone "D-rank mission, catch 'Fluffy', mistress Miyamoto's cat."

"Catch... a cat?" With a strange face, Sakura asked "That will be our first mission?"

"Every Genin has to complete this kind of mission until he gets promoted to Chunin" Nodding, Kakashi continued "The pay for this mission is 5000 ryo and we'll divide it by 4."

"..."

"Any questions?"

"What about yesterday's exam?" Staring at Kakashi, Sasuke asked.

"Isn't it obvious, everyone passed?" With the same carefree tone, Kakashi turned his gaze to Sakura and Naruto and asked "Are we ready?"

With a cheerful smile knowing that she won't have to repeat the academy, Sakura nodded with an energetic voice "I'm ready, sensei!"

"Mn"

"Good" Nodding with satisfaction, Kakashi handed a piece of paper to each of them and continued "This is the cat, and according to the patrol reports, he was seen hanging around this area."

"So... what do we do now?" looking at the image of the cat, Sakura asked after a slight hesitation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cocking his head to one side, Kakashi continued "Search for the cat or clues of it, if you find anything, alert the rest"

"But how will we do that without alerting the cat?"

"I can help with that" Yawning, Naruto continued "I can send one of my clones with you, and if you find something, I can undo it and thus give the warning to the others"

"That's a fantastic idea Naruto" Nodding, Kakashi continued "Anyone have another idea?"

"..."

"..."

"Good, then that'll be it" 

Nodding, Naruto formed 3 clones around him and they quickly positioned themselves next to each other on the team, then looked at Kakashi and waited in silence.

"Spread out" Nodding, Kakashi gave the order and watched silently as the 3 children disappeared along with the clones, then turning his gaze to his side and staring at Naruto's clone who was sitting on the branch and swinging his legs in boredom.

"What's wrong?" noticing that Kakashi was still looking at him after a few seconds, Naruto turned to him and asked.

"Why didn't you use more clones?"

Raising his eyebrows, Naruto was silent for a few seconds and answered "The original also believes that knowing how to work as a team is important... using hundreds of clones would make us find the cat in a few minutes, but other than completing the mission and making a little money, we wouldn't gain anything that really matters"

"And what would that be?"

"Experience" Lowering his gaze, Naruto continued "Catching a cat might sound kind of boring, but if you think about it, this mission includes a lot of important things for a ninja... stealth, tracking, containment and the obvious, teamwork"

Nodding while staring at him, Kakashi commented "Your qualifications don't seem to match what you say"

"It's just logic" Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto continued "Or maybe I'm just looking for some good in a job I'd rather not do"

"I understand..." Nodding Kakashi remained silent for a couple of minutes while his gaze never left Naruto's clone, then sitting down next to him and asking "Do you remember what you said yesterday?"

"Obviously"

"Well..." Nodding with a somewhat complicated look, Kakashi asked after a few seconds "About the Uchiha..."

Frowning slightly, Naruto stared at Kakashi for a few seconds and asked "Why don't you ask the original?"

"I'm not talking to him?"

Raising his eyebrows in astonishment, Naruto was silent for a few seconds and asked "How?"

"You're smart, but still too young to fool me."

"..."

"So... you plan to tell me what you know?"

-You have no bad intentions, kid-

Thinking for a few seconds, Naruto turned his gaze to the distance and asked "Everyone knows that they isolated the Uchiha clan because they thought they had something to do with the attack of the nine-tailed fox"

"That's right."

"They took away their police power and kept them under 24-hour surveillance in a compound outside the village."

"I know"

"Then what happened to those watchmen during the attack?" turning his gaze to Kakashi, Naruto continued "You'll tell me they had them removed for some stupid reason, won't you?"

"It was a sign of trust for the Uchihas"

"And when was it that they were taken away?"

"..."

"A week before?"

"A day before"

"And you don't find that curious?"

"Itachi took advantage of the fact that no one was protecting the place"

"No one was guarding the place?" With a mocking smile, Naruto continued "You're telling me that the most warlike clan in the ninja world had no one to protect it?"

"You don't understand Naruto, the day before-"

"There was a very important celebration for the Uchihas, I know" Nodding, Naruto continued "But the Uchiha clan has been celebrating the same event since before Konoha was founded, in times where wars were eternal and where they formed figures powerful enough to be called shinobi gods... are you telling me that this clan, who has hundreds of years of history full of wars, never left soldiers protecting the surroundings?"

"Naruto, Itachi it's not as simple as you think"

"I know" Nodding, Naruto continued "But are you telling me that he alone was able to wipe out all the vigilantes in such a large area without making any noise?"

"..." Frowning slightly, Kakashi remained silent.

"I'm sure neither you, nor the hokage are capable of that" Shaking his head, Naruto continued "And even if somehow he had... the Uchiha shine for their genjutsus and their precious Sharingan, not for their chakra... do you really think that a single person had enough chakra to occupy so many assassination techniques in a couple of hours?"

"..."

"I believe you if it had been an Uzumaki or some similar clan, but an Uchiha... he is simply not capable, at least not without not making noise" With a smirk, Naruto continued "If you see the past, everything points to what is known today... since the third hokage took his post, he always dedicated himself to repress the uchihas, repressing their achievements, their economy and their influences... what happened was simply the end of a long path"

"You... are you saying that the hokage sent them to kill?"

"Everyone knows that Itachi was an anbu since he was a child, the most malleable stage, and although I don't know very well how the command center works, I understand that only the Hokage or maybe the council of elders has the power to give him orders" Nodding without any hesitation, Naruto was silent for a few seconds and sighed while shaking his head "But these are just crazy theories I have just by thinking a little, not that I own the truth."

"..." Staring at Naruto for a long time, Kakashi finally shook his head and looked back towards the forest "About this... I recommend you don't tell anyone"

"I know."

"Just like I recommend you not to get so carried away by your rampant thoughts"