22. Konoha and Iwa

Fifteen days since the preliminary exam. Sixteen days until the third exam.

Naruto had arrived at training ground twenty-nine around an hour earlier than the scheduled time for training. Ibiki was already there, reading a book. Upon his student's arrival, he looked up from his book and gave him a curious stare.

"You are punctual, but you usually do not show up early. Not even Kurenai-san is not here yet." Ibiki noted aloud.

"Yeah, I know. I just kinda wanted to see if I could talk to you beforehand." Naruto responded awkwardly. "I wanted to talk to you about Dosu…"

"…" Ibiki put his book down before giving Naruto his full attention. "What about him?"

"What happened at the hospital yesterday? Is everything okay?" The blonde questioned, his tone of voice growing louder and contained traces of fear.

"…he's fine. We had a situation to handle." The T&I head grumbled.

"A situation? What the hell does that mean?" Naruto shouted in response.

Ibiki shook his head, a scowl on his face. The man was honestly not in the mood to discuss the incident from the previous day. The traitor, Yakushi Kabuto, managed to escape his pursuit and disappear. Ibiki and all other Konoha shinobi that were sent after him were unable to find the traitor. It bothered the scarred tokubetsu jōnin that he missed the opportunity to capture Kabuto and find out any information about Orochimaru. To Ibiki, information was everything for shinobi. Therefore, losing the opportunity to gain new, important information was one of the biggest mistakes a shinobi could make. In his mind, he committed this error.

Naruto sighed, realizing his sensei was not going to elaborate. He then returned to his original question. "…well then, what's Dosu's condition like? Is he going to be okay?"

"Kinuta Dosu received a severe amount of shock and trauma yesterday. He was moved to a separate location where he can rest and receive proper treatment." Ibiki answered.

"Shock and trauma? Separate location? Proper treatment?" Naruto repeated the phrases before giving a concerned, slightly-angry look. "What happened yesterday?"

"That information is classified until further notice." The first exam proctor responded dismissively.

"Classified my ass! That's my friend dattebayo!" The Uzumaki snapped.

"And your friend will be alright!" Ibiki replied, raising his voice. Naruto's eyes widened as he let the man continue. "It is classified for a reason. I'm not refusing to tell you because I feel like it. You will find out more information when you are allowed to. The Hokage is trying to handle the situation to the best of his abilities and until then, we want to make sure as few people know about what happened yesterday in the hospital."

Naruto nodded in response but looked even more troubled. 'What happened is classified…what could have possibly gone wrong?' He shook his head. 'Dosu…you better be okay.'

Ibiki noticed the troubled look of the Uzumaki. He sighed before he started to speak up.

"Physically speaking, Dosu is fine. He will wake up eventually and will be in perfect health. Do not worry about him, Naruto. He will be fine." The proctor informed him.

Naruto's troubled look disappeared. The blonde released a sigh in relief.

Seeing that Naruto was okay, Ibiki picked up his book and handed it to Naruto. "Anyway, since you are here, you might as well kill some time while we wait for Kurenai. The book is on an interesting theory about chakra control. You can read it if you want and kill some time."

Naruto nodded wordlessly and took the book. He sat down next to his sensei and started to read. Slowly, he became less worried about Dosu and simply started to focus on the book and his training session for the day.

'He'll be okay…I have to believe he will be.' Naruto told himself as he flipped pages in the book.

"Father…" Hinata said quietly as she approached her father, who had been meditating in his room.

Hiashi opened his eyes and gave his daughter a curious look. Their scheduled training session wasn't set to occur for another hour and he couldn't think of any reason why she would try and talk to her.

"Yes?" He asked. "Do you have something you want to talk about Hinata?"

"Uh…y-yeah…" His daughter nodded.

Hiashi sighed as he shook his head. His daughter's stuttering only resurfaced when she was nervous. She was clearly nervous to discuss what she was going to talk to him about.

"What is it?" He asked expectantly.

"Um…I was wondering if I c-could get your opinion on something…" Hinata started, her eyes facing the ground.

"…and that would be?" Her father questioned, an impatient edge to his tone of voice.

Hinata reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. Hiashi gave her a curious look before taking the paper and studying it. As he looked at the paper, his eyes wandered.

"These are notes for an original jutsu…" He mumbled before turning to his daughter. "These belong to you?"

"Uh huh…" Hinata nodded, a small blush on her face. "I…the idea came to me and I w-wanted to ask you about it. I th-thought the jutsu, if we can make it, w-would suit me better than the Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation."

Hiashi nodded in understanding. He continued to study the jutsu in great detail on the paper before he nodded in agreement.

"We can try and work with this today. If it seems as if it is plausible to create, then I will help you create it." Hiashi said.

Hinata's blush went away as a large, excited smile graced her lips. "Thank you father! Thank you so much!"

'It's been a while since I've seen her this happy…she reminds me so much of her mother.' Hiashi noted to himself as he shook his head to avoid any nostalgic thought.

"So, have you experimented at all with your ideas for the jutsu?" The Hyūga clan head asked out of curiosity.

Hinata nodded. "A little. I did once at a waterfall near the outskirts of the village." Hinata then rubbed the top of her head in relief as a slight blush colored her cheeks again. 'Thank God no one was there to see me practice!'

The Hyūga clan head nodded as he continued to study his daughter's notes.

"I also developed a name for the jutsu!" His daughter added.

"Oh?" Hiashi almost chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Mhmm." Hinata nodded her head again. "It's kind of a loose name for now, but I'm thinking of calling it 'Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms'."

Hiashi actually laughed out loud at the name, getting a surprised look from his daughter.

'Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms…heh, that sounds like a technique perfect for the clan. I hope we can design it Hinata.' The Hyūga clan head thought to himself.

At the Nara clan compound, Yoshino was tossing multiple kunai knives at Shikamaru. The clan heir quickly ran through hand signs before calling out the name of his jutsu.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Protection Jutsu!"

The shadows surrounding Shikamaru formed a barrier around him. The kunai knives hit the shadow barrier and fell to the ground after impact. Yoshino continued to toss kunai at the barrier. Each kunai knife was subsequently knocked away from the boy. After she finished tossing weapons at him, Shikamaru's shadow barrier was dropped and the boy fell to his knees, breathing hard.

Yoshino immediately ran up to her son and hugged him tight. "Oh my boy, you are amazing! You've got the jutsu down almost perfectly and didn't take a single scratch from my knives! You are going to be the best chūnin ever dammit!"

"Erk…" Shikamaru coughed loudly in his mother's tight hug. "Mom…breathing…can't…"

Yoshino ignored her son's protests and almost seemingly tightened her hug, causing him to gasp in pain. A few seconds passed before she let go of him. Shikamaru immediately fell to the ground head first, breathing even harder.

"Mom…please…when…I'm…exhausted…don't…hug me…that tight…" Shikamaru said slowly between breaths.

"Oh come on, you weren't that tired. You weren't even hurt!" Yoshino rolled her eyes.

"Chakra…exhaustion…do…you even…understand?" Her son responded with a groan.

"Well obviously you aren't too exhausted if you got enough energy to be snarky." His mother retorted.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he remained motionless on the ground for a few more seconds. After recovering from the period of chakra exhaustion, he pulled himself off the ground and faced his mother.

"No, but in all seriousness, I can feel my barrier growing stronger and it's lasting longer. I'm definitely improving on it since I started." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

"Yup! You really have and I'm proud of you!" Yoshino gave her a son a smile. "And it'll only get stronger and better the more chakra you have. If we keep working on your chakra pool, the jutsu will become a reliable, impenetrable defense for you and your teammates!"

Shikamaru whistled in approval. "I like the sound of that."

"Of course you do." Shikaku commented. The Nara clan head walked towards the training ground with a sake bottle in his right hand.

Shikamaru and Yoshino turned their attention to Shikaku. Yoshino sighed at the sight of his alcohol.

"Shikaku, can you go a day without a bottle of that shit?" She asked.

"Yoshino, we've talked about this. Honestly, I can't." He said with a loud laugh as he took a sip.

"Have anything for me to work on Dad?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

"Well for now, I want to play you in a game of shogi." Shikaku said.

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose in response. "Now?"

"Yup." His father nodded. "Your mother agreed that after you were able to use the Shadow Protection Jutsu adequately, I could borrow you away from physical training and try my hand against you in shogi And I want to make sure we play at least once a day until the exam." He took a sip of his sake bottle before continuing. "You can get back to working on increasing your chakra pool in a little bit, but I want to see how your strategic mind has developed since you became a genin. I hope you haven't been slacking in that aspect."

"Understood." Shikamaru nodded before getting his father a taunting smirk. "And believe me, I haven't."

"Heh, good. I could really use a challenge." Shikaku said with a similar smirk.

'I swear, what is it with Nara men and shogi?' Yoshino wondered as she rolled her eyes. 'Men are strange.'

The father and son walked over inside the clan compound and headed to a shogi board that Shikaku's father had already set. They proceeded to sit down and start playing.

"Kurenai-san, you take Naruto's clone for today. I'd like to talk to the actual Naruto." Ibiki requested.

Kurenai nodded. "Sure, I can work with his clone more. We're just going to keep reviewing more practical uses for the wind jutsu I'm working with him on."

With that proclamation, Kurenai walked off. Naruto's shadow clone followed behind, leaving Naruto alone with Ibiki. The blonde faced the first exam proctor with an excited grin on his face.

"So, what's for today Ibiki-sensei? Am I going to learn the shunshin like you promised?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I'll teach it to you, Naruto, but have patience. I have something I feel might me more applicable to discuss with you." Ibiki answered.

Naruto frowned at the realization that his learning of the shunshin was pushed further back, but he still seemed excited. "So…what are we going over instead then?"

"We're going to talk about Iwagakure shinobi for a bit." His sensei answered.

The blonde blinked in response before a scowl developed over his face.

"How is that more applicable to me?" He questioned indignantly.

Ibiki sighed at the blonde's tone of voice. "You do realize who you are facing in the third exam, correct?"

"Yeah, Risho. What of it?" Naruto asked.

"And if you win against him, who is your opponent?" Ibiki asked again.

"Well, when I take him out, I'll be going against Kurotsuchi." Naruto answered.

"Both of them are your first guaranteed opponents, and they are both Iwa shinobi. And they aren't random Iwa shinobi. They have a bit of a history. Kurotsuchi is the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage and Risho is a member of the Kurogane clan." The T&I head lectured. "If there's any point I've tried to make clear to you, it's that information is vital in the shinobi world. Having information on their background and some of the techniques that are associated with their backgrounds will help you when you have to fight them."

"…I understand." The blonde answered. "But I do know a bit about Kurotsuchi! She's talked a lot to me about her grandpa and his Dust Release and a lot of his story. I've also seen a lot of what she can do, including her Lava Release!"

"Okay, but you may not even face her. You have to beat your first opponent first. What do you have on Risho?" Ibiki questioned.

Naruto scowled at the idea of him losing to Risho. "He's an arrogant ass that has some iron kekkei genkai, his clan is apparently hot shit in Iwa, and he uses a sword. What about him?"

"…and with that little of an understanding of him, you'll certainly lose in a fight against him." Ibiki sighed, massaging his temples.

"…" Naruto's scowl turned into a frown. He knew Ibiki had a point. "…so what do I not know about him?"

"From what I observed during the preliminaries, the boy fights like a stereotypical Kurogane, so information on his clan will definitely help you." Ibiki noted before he started his lecture. "The Kurogane clan was one of the three founding clans of Iwa. They are as influential to Iwa as the Uchiha and the Senju were to Konoha. And they are famous for the Iron Release bloodline. Their blood is filled with black iron fragments. With their kekkei genkai, they are able to manipulate all variants of iron, including the iron inside their body."

"So he is able to bring that iron out of his body and surround himself in it, right? That's how he creates that armor of his?" Naruto realized.

Ibiki nodded. "Yes. Most people usually associate that as the only aspect of the Kurogane's Iron Release. However, they tend to forget that their manipulation of iron also affects iron outside of their body. Meaning, if you toss any iron weapons at them, they can redirect them at you."

"…" Naruto gulped in response. "So I take it I shouldn't use any of my kunai or shuriken in my fight against him?"

"Definitely not." The tokubetsu jōnin agreed before continuing with his lecture. "In addition to their Iron Release, the Kurogane clan is also famous for another aspect: their kenjutsu. Each shinobi of the Kurogane clan is a master of the sword. Jōnin level shinobi from the clan could probably rival the kenjutsu of the Seven Swordsman from Kiri."

"…but Risho isn't a jōnin level shinobi." Naruto commented.

"He isn't, but if he's even slightly competent in his clan's teachings, he's a lot better in kenjutsu than any regular genin. And that makes him a dangerous adversary in the battlefield at close-range combat." Ibiki explained with a slight glare at Naruto for interrupting him.

"…point taken." The blonde sighed. "Do you know anything about their kenjutsu style?"

Ibiki shook his head with a frown. "The Kurogane is secretive about their kenjutsu for a reason. It is the pride of their clan and sometimes is looked at even more favorably than their Iron Release bloodline."

"Great…" Naruto sighed.

"So, knowing this general background of the Kurogane, what does that tell you about how you need to approach your fight with Risho in the third exam?" Ibiki asked.

The Uzumaki remained quiet for a few seconds as he recalled the information Ibiki explained. He opened his eyes as he started to explain.

"Well, based on what you said, I probably will just leave my weapons like my kunai and shuriken out of the arena. They are useless to me and extra weapons for him if he can just manipulate them!" Naruto explained. "And if he's really good at kenjutsu, then I need to fight him from a distance. He'll excel at close-range, so I need to keep him away from me."

"And his armor?" Ibiki asked.

"Well, it's related to his kekkei genkai. It's gotta take chakra to maintain that armor, so he can't keep it up every second. I need to make sure I try and hit him when his armor starts to fall. Maybe use some secondary attacks that will force him to activate his armor and then him with my real strong attacks when he drops the armor." Naruto noted.

"…your strategy so far is rather rudimentary. But the basics of that will help you." Ibiki said with a nod. "We can go over more information in a little bit on him and help improve your general strategy."

"I'll tweak it and stuff when it gets closer to the fight!" Naruto exclaimed.

"We'll have this discussion again later then." Ibiki nodded in agreement. "Now, should we discuss the other Iwa shinobi? Kurotsuchi?"

Naruto nodded, an excited grin on his face. "Yeah! Let's talk about her!"

The two continued to talk about Naruto's opponents, preparing the blonde for his opponents in the third exam.

Sixteen days since the preliminary exam. Thirteen days until the third exam.

"Training is canceled for today Shikamaru." Yoshino told Shikamaru as he walked into the kitchen of his clan compound.

"…really?" Shikamaru gave his mother a strange look. "You sick or something?"

"No…" She gave him a strange look.

"Just wondering. You don't strike me as the person to cancel training for no reason." Her son commented with a shrug.

"She isn't." Shikaku said with a sigh. "The Hokage has called for a meeting with all Konoha shinobi. The meeting's in an hour and he demands attendance from everyone."

"…seriously?" The Nara blinked in surprise.

"It's annoying! And a major inconvenience!" Yoshino exclaimed loudly with a glare. "We're making a lot of progress in your training! This is such a waste of time!"

"…we don't know yet what it's about Yoshino. Calm down." Shikaku stated calmly to appease his wife.

Yoshino's response was to toss a kitchen knife at her husband. Shikaku managed to catch it in time before it could make contact with his shoulder. He sighed in response to his wife's aggression.

"Wait, Dad, if there's a meeting, how do you now t know what it's about?" Shikamaru asked in surprise. "Aren't you on the shinobi council? And aren't you the jōnin commander of the village?"

"Yes to both of those questions, but the Hokage doesn't have to tell me or anyone else anything he doesn't feel we should know. Remember, he's the leader of the village Shikamaru: not me." Shikaku said. "And thank God for that. I would not be able to handle the stress of the job."

"You'd make a pretty shitty Hokage Shikaku!" Yoshino said with a giggle, her frustration over the meeting fading as she imagined her husband as the Hokage.

Shikaku grumbled at his wife's comment while Shikamaru chuckled to himself. Still, the Nara heir couldn't help but be curious about what the meeting was about…

Sarutobi Hiruzen had sent word of his meeting to his Anbu to inform all active shinobi present in the village. He called for the shinobi to be outside the Hokage's Mansion by 10:00 A.M. At the appointed time, the Hokage appeared at the balcony of his mansion and stood at the edge for all of his shinobi to see. All of the shinobi were staring at him, wondering what the Hokage wanted to say to everyone.

"Shinobi of Konoha, as you all know, the third exam of the Chūnin Exams is on the way. I'm sure the candidates still in the exam have been training hard in preparation." Hiruzen noted with a slight smile on his face. "At the time of the third exam, the village receives many visitors from neighboring countries and villages. They come to place bets and watch the exams. Among these visitors are the other leaders of foreign shinobi nations who have shinobi who made it to this portion of the exam."

Many of the shinobi in attendance nodded in response. This was common knowledge to them, and they were confused at what the Hokage was trying to explain to them.

"To those who were unaware, Iwagakure sent two genin teams to this exam. Amongst these teams, two genin qualified for the third exam. Therefore, the Tsuchikage along with his bodyguards from Iwa will be attending the final exam." Hiruzen announced.

The reaction was instantaneous. The shinobi audience started to scream and shout in protest.

"Hokage-sama, surely you are kidding? You would never allow anymore filthy Iwa shinobi into the village?"

"Don't let those murderers in!"

"The Tsuchikage is a mad man! Hokage-sama, don't let a person like that into the village!"

Hiruzen sighed, having expected the reaction. He knew why his shinobi would be angry at the idea of the Tsuchikage coming to Konoha and, in his opinion, the anger was justified. That didn't change anything in his mind, however.

"I realize that many of you have problems and resentment towards Iwa due to our history with them." The Sandaime said in a loud voice, silencing the complaints from his audience. "However, it has been years since the last shinobi world war. Our villages want what is best for our villages, and having an environment of tension between our villages is not in any of our best interests. I'm trying to break this tension and the chūnin exams this year seem to be an opportunity to do so!"

"The Tsuchikage and his company will be arriving in the village in the next two days. When they arrive, I expect you all to treat them with the respect you would treat any other visitor to Konoha. This is an order: do not ostracize or antagonize the visiting Iwa shinobi." He stated firmly.

"Hokage-sama, you ask too much!" One of the shinobi in the audience, Inuzuka Tsume, barked in response. "Iwagakure killed many of my clan's shinobi in cold blood. They killed my brother dammit! You can't honestly expect me or any of us to be civil with them!"

"Yes, I do expect you!" Hiruzen responded, glaring at the Inuzuka clan head. "Tsume, you and the Inuzuka clan are not the only ones who lost lives in the war. I personally lost many members of my clan. Members of my immediate family, including my younger sister and brother, died in the war. But Iwa also lost shinobi too. For all the lives we lost, we took just as many! The Tsuchikage had to bury two of his three children after the war. And there were plenty of other Iwagakure casualties, and therefore, many Iwa families who lost people they loved."

Hiruzen looked upward towards the sky, as if looking for a god. "I've seen too many of my shinobi die and I'm certain Ōnoki feels the same way. This visit from the Tsuchikage is an opportunity to improve the relations between our villages and try and prevent any possible future deaths." The Hokage turned his eyes back towards his shinobi audience. They were narrowed and filled with determination. "I don't care if you can't forgive the Iwagakure shinobi for our history with them. I'm honestly not expecting that! But you will not act on your anger and your hate. It is time Konoha moves forward. I will repeat my order one more time: do not antagonize the Tsuchikage or any of his shinobi during this time. I hope that I do not have to enforce this order."

The complaining in the shinobi audience died down. Many of those shouting in protest looked downward in embarrassment after hearing Hiruzen's reasons for allowing entrance for the Tsuchikage. A few of the other shinobi who were still angry, such as Tsume, said nothing. They simply clenched their fists and kept their complaints to themselves.

"I wanted to get this point across to you all. The meeting is over." The Sandaime declared as he walked back into his mansion.

With the Hokage's speech over, the shinobi of Konoha slowly started to leave the area and return to their usual routine. Many of them were now anxious for the arrival for the Tsuchikage and the effect it would have on the village…

Due to the meeting with the Hokage, training had been canceled for the individual members of Team Three. Therefore, after the meeting, Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru decided to meet up at Ichiraku's with each other for the first time since the end of the preliminaries to catch up.

"The Hokage looked angry today when he was giving that speech." Shikamaru said after he and his teammates placed their ramen orders.

"It probably didn't help that most of the other shinobi were yelling at him." Hinata added with a frown. She remembered that all of the shinobi around where she was in the crowd, including even a few Hyūga clan shinobi, were all screaming at the news that the Tsuchikage was going to be in Konoha.

"He's probably just frustrated and anxious. You heard the old man: he wants to make sure relations improve with Iwa and that isn't going to happen if everyone is going to get pissed that the Tsuchikage's coming to visit." Naruto commented nonchalantly.

"Y'know, I remember a time when you probably would've snapped with the other villagers at the idea of the leader of Iwa coming to Konoha." The Nara noted.

Naruto shrugged in response. "What can I say? I've just grown up a little. I can't get mad at Iwa for the war when they didn't even start the damn thing. Besides, like the old man said, we killed their people too." The blonde sighed. His eyes then narrowed in determination. "This whole thing makes me want to become Hokage more than ever. I want to do my part to make sure Konoha never gets involved in a war like that again. Too many people lost their lives in the war for no reason…"

"…heh, it's like you said: you've grown up Naruto." Shikamaru responded with a smile.

Hinata nodded in agreement, a wide smile on her face. "I believe in you Naruto-kun. I know you can help Konoha find the peace we need."

"Heh…" Naruto actually blushed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Good to know I have you two to believe in me."

"Well, we're probably gonna be right by your side during your time as Hokage to make sure you don't fuck up things. You work on the peace and we will do everything else for you." Shikamaru noted with a teasing smirk.

"Ah, shut up lazy ass!" The blonde rolled his eyes.

"Just calling it as it is." The Nara retorted with a snicker.

"Would that make us your advisers?" Hinata asked with a giggle.

"I don't know. You guys may have been my advisers, but after that last remark from Shikamaru, I don't know anymore." Naruto responded with a glare towards the Nara. "I don't want people that are just going to try and do my job for me!"

"Don't punish me for Shikamaru-kun's comments!" Hinata exclaimed in a mock-pouting manner.

"Ah, don't worry Hinata-chan. Your position as my adviser is still certain!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile to the Hyūga girl. He then turned his head back to Shikamaru and glared at him again. "Shikamaru's position however is in jeopardy dattebayo!"

"Meh, it'd probably be too much work anyway."

"Lazy ass!"

"You all keep calling me that like it's some new information: as if I didn't know I was lazy."

"Then do something about it!"

"I don't feel like I should."

"Dammit Shikamaru!"

Hinata giggled as she watched her two teammates banter back-and-forth about Shikamaru's work effort. The bantering continued for a good ten minutes. It only ended when their ramen was delivered. The boys were forced to stop as they started to eat.

Upon finishing his first bowl of ramen, Naruto tried to strike up conversation again.

"So, switching topics to something more fun, how's your guys' training going?" He asked. "Cause I know I've been working my ass off!"

"It's a giant pain, but I can tell it is helping." Shikamaru answered with a sigh. "Mom and Dad are actually taking my training pretty seriously. I know a lot more of my clan's techniques and strategies."

"So are you ready for your fight with Shino-san?" Hinata asked.

"That I do not know. Shino's smart. Fighting him is just going to be annoying…" The Nara noted with a groan. "What about you Hinata? Ready for you cousin?"

"Um…" A frown crept over Hinata's face. "…honestly, I don't know. I feel better about my taijutsu than I ever have before, but I'm still worried. Neji-nii-san is a prodigy and he's going to be even tougher by the time of the match…"

"Don't worry about him Hinata-chan! Just keep focusing on yourself and your training. You'll definitely kick ass in the exam dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed positively.

"I hope so…" The Hyūga heiress mumbled in response.

"Trust me, I know so." The blonde replied.

Hinata responded with a smile at her crush's belief in her.

"And you Naruto? You ready for Risho?" Shikamaru asked.

"You have no idea. I'm more than ready. I'm frickin excited for our match!" Naruto exclaimed confidently. "I'm gonna pull the stick out of his ass and whack him with it a good few times!"

"…that's a beautiful mental image." The Nara rolled his eyes.

"You know it!" Naruto responded by sticking out his tongue.

Hinata giggled again at the dynamic between Naruto and Shikamaru. "I missed seeing both of you every day."

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "Yeah, things are never really boring with you two. Sometimes things can be annoying with you two, but they are never boring."

"Was that a 'Shikamaru' way of saying 'I missed you guys too'?" Naruto asked with a teasing grin on his face.

"What do you think?" The Nara asked with a scoff. Despite his tone of voice, he did have the same grin that Naruto had.

"Ah, I missed you too Shikamaru! You too Hinata!" Naruto said as he reached over and pulled Shikamaru and Hinata into a hug.

"Not so tight…please…my Mom just gave me a similar hug and I couldn't breathe…" Shikamaru commented with lighter breath.

Naruto responded, just as Yoshino did, by tightening the hug. Even Hinata tightened her hug, much to Shikamaru's chagrin.

"Can't…breathe…hate…you…both…" The Nara cursed.

Despite constant hours of training and time away, Team Three managed to have an afternoon where they were able to interact. This proved a point to them: no matter what happens and whether or not they were able to spend time with each every day, they would always be friends with things to do and talk about whenever they managed to see each other.

Eighteen days since the preliminary exam. Eleven days until the third exam.

Two days had passed since the Hokage delivered his order to the shinobi of Konoha. Early in the afternoon, the doors to Konoha opened up and the people standing nearby couldn't help but stare.

Ten Iwagakure shinobi walked through the gates of Konoha at the same tonight. Standing in front of this group of shinobi was Ōnoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage.

Both Konoha civilian and shinobi couldn't help but stare as the group of Iwa shinobi walked into Konoha. Many were staring in fear at the sight of Ōnoki, a shinobi who was seen as equally strong as their Sandaime Hokage. A few of the other passersby glared at the Iwa shinobi. No one said a thing, however. They merely stared as the Iwa shinobi walked by.

Two of the Iwagakure shinobi seemed to notice the staring. One of them was a black haired young man around the age of twenty wearing brown armor that covered his entire body. He had two scabbards to his side, with swords sticking out of them. The other shinobi was an older man in his fifties with a red ponytail, moustache, and beard. He wore red clothes with a brown sash over them and had his forehead protector styled in the shape of a crown on his head.

"Look at all of them. They're staring at us like rabbits staring at a predator or something. They're scared at the sight of us." The black-haired man with the swords said with a scowl. "I forgot just how generally pathetic the people of Konoha were."

"In their defense, Kusari, it's not every day you see the Tsuchikage walk casually down the streets of the village. I'm pretty sure they're more focused on him and scared of him. They could probably give a rat's ass about us." The red-haired man commented.

"But they shouldn't fear him Rōshi!" The man, Kusari, retorted. "No one in Iwa would be afraid of the Hokage! I'll look directly into the face of that monkey bastard and, hell, I may have a few words for him!"

"…monkey bastard?" Rōshi repeated the phrase with a frown on his face.

"No offense." Kusari responded with an uncaring tone of voice.

"…yeah, whatever." The man sighed.

Conversation stopped between the two men as they focused on where they were going. The Iwa shinobi followed their kage, who was prepared to go meet with the Hokage.

'Ugh…'

Kinuta Dosu woke up with a throbbing pain in his head. The pain was great enough that he wasn't able to hear or see properly. It took him a full minute before the pain died down and he was able to register where he was.

"Hmm?" He mumbled looking around.

The bandaged genin had thought he was still in the Konoha hospital. Instead, he was in a dark room with no windows that resembled a prison cell. Dosu looked around in panic and confusion.

'Where am I? What happened?' He said, trying to remember what had last happened to him. He recalled his confrontation with Kabuto and knew that the Oto spy was planning to kill him. '…is this hell?'

"Ah, you are awake. Bout time." A voice spoke up.

Dosu turned his head and saw another individual standing in the room by a door. The bandaged genin immediately recognized the man and his visible eye widened in surprise. He then grew fearful, inching away from the man.

"Jiraiya…" He mumbled out the name. "…one of the Sannin…"

"Ah, so you recognize me. Go figure. Makes since you would, considering you were on Orochimaru's side. Bet the snake had a couple of things to say about me." Jiraiya noted with a sigh.

"…where are we?" Dosu asked.

"Well, we are in a secret room in the Hokage's Mansion. It was designed a few years ago by the Sandaime Hokage as a place for conversations without fear of spies. Believe me, no one other than me and him know how to get into this place." Jiraiya commented.

"…and why am I here then?" Dosu continued to question.

"Well, you were almost killed. Sarutobi-sensei thought it would be for the best to hide you somewhere that none of Orochimaru's shinobi could ever find you. And he chose here." Jiraiya answered with a shrug.

Dosu said nothing. His visible eye turned downward. Now that his immediate questions about where he was answered, he was forced to come to reality about what had happened earlier: Orochimaru had deemed him a failure and had sent Kabuto to kill him.

"…so if you know I worked for Orochimaru, then why am I here?" He asked, his voice filled with zero emotion. "Are you attempting to gain information about him?"

"You are here so that Orochimaru doesn't kill you!" Jiraiya explained. His eyes then narrowed on the boy in front of him. "But yes, I am here because the village needs information. Your former master is plotting something against Konoha and I need to know what in order to stop his plans."

"…I figured you had more tact than to outright admit that you want information." Dosu deadpanned.

The Sannin shrugged in response. "Konoha is desperate and you are our only lead. Your teammates have disappeared and Kabuto has gone missing since the incident in the hospital. That might explain my 'bluntness' if you will."

The former Oto genin gave no response. He continued to look downward in a dejected fashion. Jiraiya, seeing the boy in his silent state, sighed in frustration.

"Look, I'm just trying to be diplomatic. You do know I, or Ibiki, can force the information out of you through any means necessary." Jiraiya noted with a frown. It was evident he didn't want to perform 'anything necessary', but he also seemed as if he was willing to. "I'm trying to make this easier for you."

"…Jiraiya, let me inform you of some general information about the kinds of people Orochimaru picks to be his pawns." Dosu started to speak up, his tone of voice still having no emotion. "We were all desperate and in need of help prior to meeting him. We were all close to dying on our own, but then Orochimaru came and gave us all a second chance to live. He gave us a life. No matter what he does, we all owe him that debt." The former Oto genin looked up, his visible eye focused on Jiraiya intently. "…what makes you think you will be able to get any information out of me?"

"Orochimaru did not give you 'a life' out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted you alive to do his bidding. What he has put you and many of the other people under him through is not a life!" Jiraiya responded, returning Dosu's gaze with his own. "No matter how much loyalty or dedication you felt towards him, Orochimaru felt nothing towards you. Do you honestly feel you owe a debt to a man who threw you away when he saw fit?"

Dosu gave no response again. His visible eye looked downward once more. Jiraiya sighed. A few seconds passed and Jiraiya was about to change tactics, to tactics of a more violent nature, when Dosu spoke up again.

"…what alerted you that I was in danger? How did you know Kabuto was coming to kill me?" He asked quietly.

"…from what I heard, Ibiki came to your rescue after talking to a student that he is training. The boy apparently had a shadow clone with you and when Kabuto destroyed it when he entered the room, the boy demanded his sensei come to the hospital to make sure you were okay." Jiraiya explained the story he had been told.

"Naruto…" Dosu mumbled.

Jiraiya was surprised for a moment after hearing the name of Ibiki's student, but then he continued his speech. "The boy cared about you. He was afraid that something happened to you and wanted to make sure that whatever attacked his shadow clone wasn't going to attack you."

After Jiraiya explained what had happened, tears started to roll down Dosu's visible eye. The boy looked up at Jiraiya for about five seconds before starting to speak again.

"…you tell me what you know about Orochimaru's plans. Whatever you don't know, I will tell you." Dosu said quietly.

Upon arriving at the Konoha Ninja Academy, Ōnoki dismissed his shinobi. The ten Iwa shinobi that were following him left the area to commence in business of their own accord.

The aged Tsuchikage walked into the mansion and was escorted to the Sandaime's office. Sarutobi Hiruzen was already inside. Once the Tsuchikage had entered, the Hokage gave a smile at the foreign shinobi.

"Ōnoki-san, it has been a while. I hope your travel went well." Hiruzen said cordially.

"It was well for the most part. Until my back cracked about half way." Ōnoki responded with a groan.

"We are old, Ōnoki-san. These things happen at our age." The Hokage chuckled.

"Bah, speak for yourself. I'm not that old. I've got another thirty years left at least!" The Tsuchikage declared, striking a pose to show-off his 'youth'. A cracking sound could be heard and the man dropped his pose, his hand now firmly gripped to his hip. "Erk!"

"Are you alright?" Hiruzen asked as he started to walk forward.

Ōnoki held up his hand, ushering Hiruzen away. "I'm fine…"

A few seconds passed as Ōnoki relieved himself of the hip pain. The Tsuchikage and Hokage sat down in their chairs, facing each other. The two men remained in a tense silence until Hiruzen decided to break it.

"Are you looking forward to the chūnin exams this year, Ōnoki-san?" Hiruzen asked. "I was honestly surprised that you sent even one genin team to the exams this year. It's been a long time since an Iwa genin team has been to a Konoha exam."

"Honestly, I'm surprised as well." Ōnoki admitted. "But I sent two team and I got genin still in the finals, one of them being my granddaughter. I'm more than looking forward to it."

"I saw your granddaughter in the preliminary third exam. She is indeed impressive!" The Hokage complimented.

"Damn right she is. She's my granddaughter after all! She's honestly one of the best shinobi in her whole generation!" The Tsuchikage praised before he shook his head. "…not that I'm ever going to tell her that. Stubborn little brat already has enough pride as it is. I'm not going to have any part in letting her already oversized head grow any larger."

The Hokage chuckled in response. A few seconds passed before he returned the topic back to a previous point the Tsuchikage had mentioned.

"Ōnoki-san, you mentioned that you were surprised you sent a genin team to Konoha." Hiruzen noted. "Do you care if I ask why?"

"…don't care that much." Ōnoki shrugged. He then sighed in response. "…you know about the joint-mission between our villages. The one involving a merchant and two high-ranked missing ninja?"

"Yes." Hiruzen nodded in response. He remembered reading that mission report multiple times to make sure he understood all of the details of that mission clearly.

"I'm still stunned that your genin team helped my team out when they were attacked. Legitimately stunned." Ōnoki admitted. "…the team that your team helped included my granddaughter and one of my most infamous shinobi, Yuge no Han."

Hiruzen nodded again. He remembered vividly the surprise he felt on learning that the Gobi jinchūriki was involved in that mission. 'C-rank missions never go according to plan…honestly, they may be the most dangerous missions out there.'

"Han hates humanity. He completely hates everyone other than the Yonbi jinchūriki, due to the fact that they are jinchūriki. He barely tolerates me and any other shinobi. I've done my part to try and help his hate. Hell, I thought giving him a genin team with my granddaughter would have helped him get used to people again and warm-up to humanity, but it didn't work." Ōnoki said with a sigh. "…then that mission happens, and somehow, the team you assigned to the mission got through to him. Han comes back and he's distinctly more happy. He can actually tolerate the presence of other people now. Something I had been trying to accomplish for years, your team managed to accomplish in just a few days."

'Don't think too much of it Ōnoki-san. Naruto has that effect on people.' Hiruzen resisted the urge to chuckle at that thought. He had a feeling that his blonde surrogate grandson played a role in returning Han's faith in humanity.

"Han also suggested mending relations with your village and forming an alliance. One of the most hateful shinobi I've ever had work under me, who could care less about any pathetic 'human' he had to kill…was asking me to improve our relationship with your village." Ōnoki stated, finishing his story.

"…are you proposing an alliance?" Hiruzen asked carefully, trying to hide any trace of hope.

"…honestly, Sarutobi, I'm not for certain. Maybe." Ōnoki admitted with a sigh. "I just want to see what Han found so damn compelling about Konoha that changed his mind. If he of all people can get over his hate, than I feel I can and so can the rest of Iwa." The Tsuchikage sighed again before speaking. "I guess that's probably the real reason I sent genin teams here. Just to see what Han saw in Konoha."

"…I hope you find what you are looking for in my village." The Hokage stated with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see." Ōnoki grumbled. "…the exam this year was also convenient for me personally as well. Kurotsuchi had been begging to become chūnin recently, so I finally decided to end her bitching and just send her team to the exams."

"I understood. I have a certain shinobi that I consider a grandson that has a similar mentality." Hiruzen noted, thinking back to his surrogate grandson.

"Bah, this younger generation all act the same, no matter what village. They feel as if they just 'deserve' to become chūnin. No you fucking don't! You earn the title dammit!" Ōnoki declared passionately. "Do you have any idea the hell I went through to earn my promotions?"

Hiruzen continued to laugh. He and Ōnoki got into a heated discussion about the differences between their generation of shinobi and the younger generations.

In Sarutobi's mind, it did seem Konoha and Iwa were on the right path to improving relations…

Today was an off-day from training for both Kurotsuchi and Risho. The two Iwa genin were resting in their hotel room. Kurotsuchi was reading a book on Konoha history while Risho was reading a manga. They were reading in peaceful silence until they heard a loud knock on their door.

"Kurotsuchi, Risho, I need to talk to you both." Han spoke from the other side.

Kurotsuchi and Risho glanced at one another. A moment passed before Kurotsuchi sighed. She put down her book and walked over to the door. The kunoichi opened the door and expected to see her sensei only. Instead, she was greeted to him along with two other Iwa shinobi. One of these other shinobi was very familiar to the kunoichi.

"Old man Rōshi, is that you?" Kurotsuchi asked with a grin.

"In the fresh kiddo! How's it been going?" Rōshi stated with a similar grin.

Kurotsuchi gave the Yonbi jinchūriki a high five as she welcomed him into the hotel room. Risho looked over to the door from his spot on his bed and he gasped when he saw the other shinobi.

"Ku-Kusari…" He mumbled out the name, dropping the manga in his hand.

"Hmph. Risho, get out of bed." Kusari ordered.

"Y-Yes sir!" The boy exclaimed as he got out bed and rushed over to front of the room to greet the Iwa shinobi. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"This was my idea." Han stated, speaking up. "Risho, Kurotsuchi, as you know, I have been training you both for the third exam. However, this is rather unfair, considering I'm dividing up your training time to be able to teach you both. It's also unfair considering that, assuming you win your first match Risho, the two of you will be fighting." The Iwa jōnin then gestured to the two new Iwa shinobi in the room. "Therefore, I called for assistance in your training. For the remaining few days, the two of you will be training separately with your own teachers in preparation for the exam."

"So does that mean I get some one-on-one training with you Rōshi?" Kurotsuchi asked, her grin growing larger somehow.

Rōshi nodded. "Yup. And believe me, I have a lot to teach you. We got a lot to go over with the Lava Release!"

"HELL YEAH!" Kurotsuchi nearly squealed in excitement.

"…moving along…" Han shook his head, ignoring his kunoichi student having a 'spazz moment' as she would call it with his fellow jinchūriki. "Yes, Kurotsuchi will be training with Rōshi. And you, Risho, will be training with Kusari. I know the two of you are cousins and that Kusari is one of the finest shinobi in your clan. He most certainly can help you out with the intricacies of your bloodline and your kenjutsu better than I can."

"We'll have lots of fun training, won't we Risho?" Kusari noted, a malicious grin on his face. "It'll be just like old times back when we were younger. You remember back then, don't you?"

"Y-Yeah, sure do. Good times…" Risho nodded hesitantly.

Han's eyebrow raised in response. He had assumed his student would have been thrilled to train with Kusari. Considering all the praise he had given his clan and his cousin, he felt that he would have more of a positive training. The jōnin was now confused and concerned at his student's reaction…

"…anyway, I felt this was the best way to ensure that the two of you were able to receive proper training and attention to prepare for the third exam. That is all I had to discuss with you two. Training will begin again tomorrow at 7:00 A.M. sharp." Han declared.

With his instruction passed, Han bowed before leaving the room of his students. Rōshi and Kusari followed behind. The Yonbi jinchūriki waved goodbye to the two genin while Kusari left without a word or any gesture.

"Guess training is going to be on our own now." Kurotsuchi noted to her teammate, a grin still on her face. "Best of luck Risho then. Learn all you can from your cousin, cause I'm going to beat the shit out of you when it's time for our match!"

"Y-Yeah…whatever…" Risho mumbled as he laid on his back.

Kurotsuchi's grin faded. She had expected some banter from her teammate in response to the idea of him losing his fight with her. Instead, he remained mostly quiet. Such quiet behavior was rare for him.

Risho had nothing to say and neither did Kurotsuchi. The two returned to their respective books and remained in silence in their hotel room.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was in good spirits as he watched Ōnoki leave his office. The two kage had a spirited conversation and it seemed in his opinion that they were beginning on improving the relationship between their villages. It looked as if Konoha's number one aggressor in the shinobi world, Iwa, was going to not be hostile in the future. That thought alone brought great peace and relief to the aged Hokage.

Hiruzen's peace was not long, however, as he soon felt the presence of another shinobi. He turned his head to his window and saw his student, Jiraiya, sitting down right by the open window.

"Seems like things are going well between Iwa. That's something good." Jiraiya noted in a neutral tone.

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes." The Hokage gave his student a serious look. "Jiraiya, did you find anything out?"

The Sannin nodded in response. "Yup. That Dosu guy ended up sharing a lot of info."

His sensei nodded in response. He then gave Jiraiya an expectant look. "What did he tell you?"

"We were right about all of our theories. Orochimaru is actually the leader of Otogakure. He is indeed planning an invasion during the chūnin exams." Jiraiya stated in response. "…there's a lot of things we are going to have to talk about, but the biggest new thing I learned was this: Sunagakure is aiding Orochimaru. They are also participating in the invasion."

Hiruzen's good mood immediately disappeared. He now felt he was going to need a drink and a smoke in order to calm down after this conversation with Jiraiya.