❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 11: 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑼𝒑

Naruto grumbled as he walked towards the Hokage's office. He had received a letter from Tsunade to report immediately for an assignment of the "highest honor at your young age" as the letter said. He had this strange, foreboding, feeling with a sneaking suspicion about what it may be. He shot a quick glance towards Sakura and tried to calculate the odds of escaping her watchful eye and, as he recently found out the other day, her powerful fists. She had been healing him daily ever since he left the hospital 4 days ago and he felt almost normal again. He had the occasional pain but even that was disappearing as the Kyuubi's healing worked together with Sakura's to make him heal at an ungodly fast rate. Kakashi had also awoken today and the couple had been on their way to see him before the messenger bird damn near dive bombed Naruto's head.

He realized that his odds were low after thinking for a few minutes. She had gotten so much faster and more nimble under Tsunade's tutelage along with her monstrous strength. Yeah Naruto knew he was stuck on this trip, like it or not.

"Oh Naruto you had better not try to run. I would hate to be forced to break your legs and drag you there. Then I would just have to heal your legs and that's a big waste of time." Her way to innocent voice ended as the threat began. He gulped and nodded his head vigorously so she knew he understood. When her focus returned to her thoughts Naruto allowed himself to start grumbling again. He muttered and cursed under his breath until they finally reached Tsunade's office. The shout to enter came before they could even knock.

"Ah Naruto there you are. I trust the bird delivered the message in the best way possible." She smirked when Naruto childishly crossed his arms and pouted.

"What do you want Baa-chan? We were going to see Kakashi before your bird tried to assassinate me." Naruto unfolded his arms when he noticed Tsunade go into "Hokage Mode". She shifted through several stacks of paper before she pulled out one and held it triumphantly before she handed it to Naruto who quickly read over it. The paper confirmed his earlier suspicions.

"Is this for real?" Naruto glanced up at Tsunade and she nodded.

"Yes Naruto. You have now been officially promoted to the rank of Jounin for your aid in gathering several powerful new allies for Konoha in the form of the Akatsuki. For your first duty as a Jounin I am assigning you a Genin team with Sakura as your second in command. This will help you, Sakura, in building up leadership skills and Naruto this will help reinforce patience. Your team will meet you at the Academy tomorrow at 12. Try to be on time." Sakura bowed and Naruto just sported his silly grin.

"Hai!"

"Dismissed."

"Seriously where is our sensei?!" The voice belonged to a disgruntled genin with red hair and purple eyes. His hair was spiked and wild looking. Not quite like Naruto's but wilder than Kakashi's. His purple eyes were practically screaming boredom and traces of a growing anger could be found if you looked hard enough. The boy's attire was rather simple, a black short sleeved muscle shirt and a pair of black shorts. He always got picked on for his obsession with the color black but that was because no one understood. Plain and simple. The red head was surprisingly muscular and easily filled out the muscle shirt.

"Shut up Rykuga. He'll get here when he gets here." The girl leaned back in her chair allowing her shoulder blade length brown hair drap down behind the chair. Her unusual golden eyes conveyed extreme laziness along with her posture. Her dark blue tank top framed her surprisingly shapely body and announced the fact that she was more "advanced" than other girls her age. Her small and sleek frame must have only reached about the same height as Naruto when he was younger (and before he was given the abilities of the Rikudo Sennin). The white shorts finished the picture of laziness to the point where even Shikamaru would be impressed.