Death is the only way to freedom

Chapter 24: Meeting team five:

“You´ll be my teacher for learning wind jutsu, Temari-chan?” Naruto asked.

“Yup. Gaara says hi by the way. He´ll stop by to spar with you at the end of next month.” The blonde fan wielder chuckled. “Dog breath and his lover are the ones who´ll take team two and four.”

“Who´ll take the other teams then?” the whisker-marked man asked.

“We´ll take care of those.” Hayate and Kurenai said as they materialized next to Naruto.

“Oi Kurenai, how´s the kid?” Kiba grinned. “Is uncle Shikamaru living up to his job as godfather?”

“He´s doing a fine job and Hikari is doing fine.” The former wife of Asuma said with a warm smile.

“Good to hear… so shall we enter and see what´s awaiting us?” Kiba grinned as he opened the door to the classroom.

~ # ~

“So Naruto was the captain of the ANBU team who found you?” Sasuke asked the boy.

“Hai. My Aniki had hid me in a cellar as the evil men attacked our village… he promised me that he would come back for me… but he never did. Something blocked the hidden entrance to the cellar and I would have died if Naruto-sama hadn´t picked up on my scent. He freed me and held me the entire trip back here.” Takahiro said.

“… What happened to your brother?”

“Naruto-sama told me that they had found Kuno a few meters away. He died as he tried to lead the enemy away from my hiding place. He sacrificed himself… for me.” The boy whimpered.

“… I´m sorry.” The Uchiha said as he instantly thought about the way that Itachi had saved his life by stepping between Sasuke and the Kyuubi; sacrificing his life to save both Sasuke and Naruto.

“Do you know who attacked your village, Takahiro?”

“Yeah. It was a scary puppet and a blonde man on a flying bird made of clay.”

“Akatsuki! Don´t worry Takahiro-kun. All the members of the Akatsuki are dead. You´re village has been avenged.”

~ # ~

Naruto entered the classroom with the other sensei. He felt rather nervous to meet the young genin team which had been appointed to him.

“Hi brats,” Kiba announced as he entered the classroom as the first one of the team leaders. Fifteen children stared at the Inuzuka as if he had grown an extra head or something. Naruto and Kurenai couldn´t help but to chuckle at Kiba´s failed attempt to make a good impression.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered while Shino and Hayate just shook their heads with a soft smile on their lips.

“At least they´ll remember you,” Naruto grinned.

“Alright.” The brunette said with a smile as he looked at the list of names he had been given. “Team one will…” Iruka called the names of the young shinobi and introduced them to their new sensei.

Naruto cursed inwardly that Baa-chan had assigned him to team five which meant his team was the last one to leave the classroom. Naruto wanted to get to know his team and he wasn´t one who liked to wait.

“Team five: Isamu and Minoru Suigorai and Kaori Chou… you will be assigned to Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto-sensei… meet your team,” Iruka told his favorite blonde.

“Thank you Iruka-sensei… I´ll see you later.” The blonde grinned at his surrogate father. Iruka had asked Naruto to stop by if it was possible before the blonde would pick up the Uchiha from work.

“I´ll look forward to your visit then… have fun,” Iruka said with a smile as he left the blonde with the three young teens.

~ # ~

“Takahiro… Do you want to become a shinobi?” the Uchiha asked the ten year old boy. Both were still sitting on a branch hidden in the leaf of the old oak. Sasuke knew that Emi was aware of their position as the woman had peeked up at the Uchiha more than once in the last hour.

The Uchiha wasn´t sure if the woman had figured out that he had made Takahiro talk or not… but she had smiled happily up at them just now.

“I-I don´t know.” The boy said. “I have no training… maybe I´m already to old to become a shinobi.”

“Hn.”

“… Do you think I could become strong like you if I was to train hard?”

“Maybe. Naruto and I didn´t become genin before we were twelve. If you train hard and attend to the classes at the academy… you could probably make it.” Sasuke told the boy as he wrapped his hands behind his head.

“W-Would you… Would you help me?” Takahiro asked hesitantly.

“Help you with what kid?” the Uchiha asked with a smirk. He had already guessed what the boy wanted and Sasuke liked the idea to take the boy beneath his wings.

~ # ~

“Hi” The blonde smiled at his team.

“Hi,” the three teens greeted back.

“Say… the weather is really nice today… why don´t I treat you to an ice-cream and you tell a bit about yourself?”

“Yatta,” the twins cheered while the girl just nodded shyly while staring at her feet.

“I´ll race you there,” Naruto grinned as he ran towards the great stone wall.

At an ice-cream stand near the Hokage wall a few seconds later:

The twins were panting but still their faces were lit up in a bright smile. The girl was panting too, she had a smile on her face too though she made an effort to hide it.

“Alright, what can I get you?” Naruto asked. He had reached the stand long before the children had even started to move… but he was a jounin, an ANBU and the future Hokage after all.

“Double chocolate chip,” the redheaded boy grinned up at his sensei.

“Cherry for me,” the other twin whose hair was more brownish than red said.

“… Peach for me sensei-sama,” the girl with the blue hair stuttered.

“You heard my team,” the blonde grinned at the girl who worked at the stand. “And make me an orange sorbet please.”

The female seemed to drool at the hot blonde in front of her. She had heard the rumor that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime and that he was going to become the Rokudaime… and the young man in front of her looked really hot when he smiled at her like that.

She snapped out of it and served the ice-cream. The eyes of the twins seemed to sparkle as their sensei handed them each a bowl of delicious ice-cream.

Ice-cream was a rare treat when you lived in an orphanage which meant that Naruto had earned a good spot in the heart of the twins.

The blonde led his team to a bench near by and asked them to sit while he sat down on the warm grass in front of them.

“Tell me a bit about yourself… why don´t we begin with you Kaori?” Naruto asked the girl who instantly blushed as she was talked too. “What do you like, dislike and what are your dreams? And things like that.”

“… Um… My name is Kaori Chou and I´m thirteen years old. I like… um… butterflies… and I dislike… those two,” she said while pointing at the twins who seemed to enjoy their ice-cream.

“My dream is to become a strong konoichi like Haruno-sama.” The girl told him with sudden pride in her voice.

´She seems like a mix of Sakura and Hinata,` Naruto thought with amusement. Shy and yet with a heated temper… she will surely make it far if I train her the right way.

´She seems to love the color blue too,` Naruto thought as almost all the girl wore was blue… just like her hair.

The girl wore light blue shorts, a white turtleneck shirt and a darker baby-blue Chinese style gi which was tied with a navy blue obi. He skin was graced by a light tan and her eyes were nearly as dark as Sasuke´s.

“Do you know Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked the girl.

“… Not in person… but I have watched her work as my father is a medic on Haruno-sama´s team.” The girl told him.

“Alright… what about you two.” Naruto addressed the twins who where dressed in similar clothing; grey cargos, brown tees and teal west’s with a brown belt crossing their chest. The only thing that made the blonde keep them apart was the difference in their hair color.

“I´m Isamu,” the redhead pronounced proudly. He was a bundle of energy as far as Naruto could tell as the boy didn´t seem to be able to shut up or sit still. “I love sweets and my brother Minoru here. We are twelve years old and I think that Kaori is cute. I don´t like veggies and I want to become stronger than the Hokage.” The redhead told his blonde sensei.

“Minoru is the smart one of us… and he rarely speaks,” Isamu told his sensei while the boy with the brownish hair just nodded. “Together we will become invincible.”

“… Well then you better start training, because the current Hokage… we´ll she pretty strong, believe me… she has a mean left… and a worse right.” Naruto grinned at the redhead.

“… Really?” Isamu asked with wide eyes. They had all heard stories about their sensei… about how he had fought of the Akatsuki.... and won.

“Yeah, so try to be polite to her when we meet her if you pass the second part of the genin exam.” Naruto told them.

“… The second part of the genin exam? I thought we were ready to do missions from today,” Kaori asked.

“Fifteen students… five teams passed the initial test…that’s a lot of teams which means that we have to make sure that you are strong and smart enough to make it in the real world. Don´t get me wrong I love being a shinobi… but there are certain things about this way of life that isn´t desirable at all.” Naruto told them.

“Life as a shinobi is tough… and you need to find you own personal nindo and look out for each other or you won´t make it. I will do my best to prepare you to face the world… and to do that I want to put you through a test tomorrow morning to see if you are able to work together as a team or not. I want you to meet me at eight at the memorial stone near training field C… don´t eat anything for breakfast… or you´ll just be sick.” The blonde smirked at them.

“…” team five just looked at each other before the turned their attention back on their sensei.

“Alright that was it for today. It was nice to meet you… I´m sure we´ll have a lot of fun together… see you tomorrow then.”

“Uzumaki-sensei!” Kaori ran towards the leaving blonde and tugged at his orange jacket.

“Yes, Kaori-chan?”

“Thank you for treating us to ice-cream… and… I´m looking forward to learn a lot from you sensei.” She said; her cheeks rosy as she blushed like only a teen is able too.

“Thank you Kaori-chan. I´ll see you and the twins tomorrow… bye.” He flashed one of his trade-ark smiles at her before he jumped onto the roof of the nearest building and towards Iruka´s place.

~ # ~

“Oi Iruka tousan,” the blonde greeted his favorite brunette with a hug.

“Well hello Naruto… how was your first meeting with your team?” Iruka asked as he hugged his foster son back before they parted to sit down at the kitchen table.

“It was fine. All of them have what it takes to become great shinobi… if they can work together as a team.” The blonde grinned. “So what did you wanna see me about?”

“´Kashi and I have a request for you Naruto-kun.” Iruka said with a growing smile. “I know that we asked you to be my best man… but I would rather have you to do something else for us.”

“Oh… what?” Naruto asked.

“I know we would have to wait with the wedding… but both Kakashi and I would love if you would be the one to wed us as soon as you become the Rokudaime.” Iruka told him.

“… Really? I would love to wed you… but I won´t become the Hokage for at least six months… do you really want to wait that long?” the blonde asked.

“We are aware of that Naruto-kun… but that´ll give us enough time to plan it and to find a bigger place to stay. Both out apartments are to small for us to live in… we have been thinking about buying a house together.”

“Cool… say Iruka tou-san… have you noticed anything strange about Baa-chan´s behavior lately?”

“… She seems tired… and a bit… confused.” Iruka said as if he wasn´t to happy to admit what he had noticed about their Hokage. “Maybe she has a lot to do because she going to retire soon. There is always a lot of paperwork involved when you quit a job as important as that.”

“… Yeah I guess that´s the explanation for it… I was just worried about her… Maybe I should ask Sakura and Shizune to teach me some of the stuff that Baa-chan wanted to teach me… that way she can relax a bit ne.” The blonde said as he rose from his chair.

“Are you going to pick up Sasuke-kun from work?” Iruka asked.

“Yeah… I wanna make sure that he survived his first day,” the blonde chuckled as he left Iruka´s flat to go directly to the orphanage.

~ # ~

Emi greeted Naruto with a hug as the whiskered man entered the garden behind the orphanage.

“Naruto-kun, long time no see… where have you been? The kids have been asking about you,” the woman said as she smiled warmly at her friend. Naruto used to stop by and play with the children and to check up on little Sora (Takahiro) regularly… but a lot had happen the past six months and he hadn´t felt like playing with the children.

“I´ve had a lot to do lately,” he grinned back at her.

“Yeah I heard everything from Sakura-san as she examined the children yesterday… I hear that we´re gonna have a new leader soon… you made it kid, congratulations,” Emi said with sheer happiness. Naruto had lived here… just like Emi before Sarutobi-sama had let the boy live alone after he turned ten and entered the academy… and Iruka´s class.

She remembered how alone Naruto used to be… just like Sora-kun(Takahiro) always sticking to himself as the older kids used to beat him up all the time because of the evil things the adults had said about him.

The former leader; an kind hearted woman had been nice to Naruto as she knew that Naruto wasn´t a demon… but just a boy who felt alone and who just wanted someone to notice him. Emi had soon realized that the old woman had been right… Naruto was a kind hearted boy with a great potential… and she was truly happy that he had finally reached his goal.

“Thanks Emi-chan… Say where is your new staff member?” he asked with a smirk.

“Oh you mean Uchiha-san.”

“Yup… Did he make it through the day in one piece?

“He´s actually doing really good… He is a talented teacher…Are you and Uchiha-san friends?” she asked.

“Yeah… We share a flat so to speak. I wanted to pick him up after the first day of work and say hi to you and the kids. How´s the little one?”

“… Come, I think you´ll like this.” Emi chuckled as she led him towards the trees.

Sound of a spar became audible as they walked into the shadows of the old oaks. Naruto raised a golden eyebrow and looked at Emi who was smiling at him.

“… Sasuke?” Naruto mumbled as he watched the Uchiha teach the ten year old boy how to attack and defend himself with Taijutsu only. Their sparing stopped as soon as they noticed the purple-haired woman and the blonde.

Naruto stared at the Uchiha who had just trained the boy the blonde had saved from a slow and painful death a few years ago.

It suited the Uchiha to teach and he looked happy as he had tried to explain the importance of a good defense and a fast yet planned attack.

“Naruto?” Sasuke stood up straight… so did the child at his side. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to pick you up…”

“H-Hello Naruto-sama,” Takahiro said. Naruto and Emi both stared at the boy with wide eyes.

“You can talk,” Naruto cheered as he embraced the ten year old.

“Sure he can… and his name isn´t Sora… but Takahiro.” Sasuke told them proudly.

“Takahiro… it suits you.” Naruto smiled warmly at the boy. “Thank you Sasuke… I owe you another one.”

“I know the perfect way to make it up to me Dobe.”

TBC