The next day Naruto is already in Training Ground 13 and at the top of one of the branches of a tree, reading a book while taking a bite of an apple on his right arm.
Fugaku informed them that they need to be in the training ground before 7:00 AM, and right now it was 6:30 AM, which was 30 minutes earlier than the meetup time.
Usually Naruto wouldn't arrive this early, but thanks to the last-minute mission he had to take after taking care of the cursed spirit in the Land of Water.
The said mission is about the spotted 1st Grade Cursed Spirit in the Land of Wind, and searching for the said Cursed Spirit while maintaining secrecy takes more time than Naruto previously anticipated, so he returns back to the leaf much later than he initially planned.
In fact, he arrives at the leaf at 6:15 in the morning. He didn't have the mood to cook his own food, so after taking a quick shower, Naruto buys a sandwich and an apple as he makes his way to the training ground.
Just as Naruto is enjoying himself in the book he is currently reading, he senses a familiar presence, which immediately attracts his attention.
Naruto closes the book and turns his head downwards, where there is a person standing and staring at him.
This person had light golden hair tied in a ponytail style and was wearing a light yellow battle kimono with black trimming and a thick black sash at the waist with black tights and brown sandals.
This person is none other than Keimei Uzumaki.
Naruto stared at her with confusion since he didn't expect Keimei to be in here and was somewhat interested in the reason for her arrival here in the training ground 13.
Naruto quickly finishes eating the apple while the book is suddenly absorbed into his shadow as Naruto jumps down onto the ground.
"What's bringing you here, Keimei?" Naruto asks, voice tinted with curiosity.
"Nothing much actually," Keimei casually said. "I'm just on my way to Training Ground 12 to meet up with my squad, but I just happened to see you sitting up there. I figured I'd stop by and chat for a bit since I still had time to kill."
"Perfect since I am starting to get bored of reading the book," Naruto responds with a small smile on his face.
The two then started to talk about random topics they could think of. They didn't discuss the True Genin Test they participated in yesterday since they had trust that each one of them passed the test.
But as they continued to talk to each other, Keimei suddenly paused for a moment, which was something that didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.
Keimei felt a familiar presence slowly closing to their location, and upon turning her head towards the familiar presence, she was greeted by a familiar person, and a small smile appeared on her beautiful face.
"Looks like someone's here," she said, her voice a bit warmer than usual.
Naruto followed her gaze and spotted Hinata Hyuga walking towards them. Naruto also senses Hinata's presence, but he didn't expect Keimei to do so as well.
Hinata's presence was so faint, as if she deliberately suppressed it. Naruto didn't know if she suppressed it or not, but whatever the case, it was an incredible one.
Naruto knows that Keimei had sharp senses, but he didn't expect them to be so sharp that she could easily sense Hinata's presence despite it being incredibly faint.
"Good morning, Hinata," Keimei said with a small smile on her face.
"Good morning, Keimei," Hinata responds before her lavender eyes glance at Naruto for a moment. "I didn't expect to see you here, especially this time of day."
"It was just on a whim that I decided to be here since I had some time to waste before I made my way towards Training Ground 12," Keimei responded with a shrug.
"What time is your team supposed to meet up?" Hinata asks with curiosity in her voice.
"Around 8:00 AM, as our sensei mentioned, we are going to take training first before we take our first mission as a ninja."
Keimei and Hinata decide to talk to each other, ignoring Naruto altogether, who just shrugs and brings out his book as he lies his back on the tree trunk.
After talking for a few minutes, Keimei decides it's time for her to go and slowly walks away, leaving a silence between Naruto and Hinata. Hinata didn't know how to act around Naruto while Naruto was completely engrossed in the book.
Just as he was busy reading the book, he felt a presence slowly making its way towards Training Ground 13, and Naruto already guessed who this person was, so he ignored its arrival and focused on the book.
Hinata notices someone approaching several moments later. The person who arrives is none other than Satsuki Uchiha, the third member of Team 13.
Hinata and Satsuki greet each other and have some small talk before silence once again covers the whole training ground.
At precisely 7:00 AM, as if on cue, the faint sound of footsteps echoed throughout the deep, silent training ground, and everyone's attention focused on the source of the footsteps.
They saw Fugaku slowly making his way towards the three of them. Hinata's and Satsuki's eyes widen for a moment since they didn't sense his arrival.
They also thought about the test yesterday and realized that if Fugaku had gotten serious at that time, he would have definitely been able to get close to them without them noticing.
Naruto just closed his book and stared at Fugaku in a calm manner.
"Good morning," Fugaku calmly stated. "It seems like everyone arrived here before the appointed time, which is good."
Naruto raised his eyebrow for a moment, which caught Fugaku's attention, but he didn't comment about it.
"Today we are going to take your first mission as the official ninja of the Hidden Leaf," Fugaku added with a small smile on his face.
Satsuki is shocked and confused at the same time since she rarely ever sees her father smile, but she started to have a bad feeling about such a smile.
Hinata shared the same feeling seeing Fugaku's small smile on his face. It reminds her of the smile of some of the elders in the clan while looking at the branch family.
Naruto, on the other hand, didn't change his expression since he already knows Fugaku's plan. He saw it with his own eyes when he was younger and trying to investigate the ninja of the Hidden Leaf in secret.
Team 13 slowly makes their way to the Hokage Mansion to take their very first mission. Both Satsuki and Hinata were excited and slightly nervous for their first mission.
The squad arrives at the Hokage Mansion and makes their way to the specific room on the first floor where they are going to take a mission.
Team 13 enter the room and they immediately saw Chunin ninjas currently busy working for today missions which the ninjas in the village take to complete.
Their eyes immediately landed on Minato sitting on the large table with various scrolls on the table with different letters on them.
Minato's eyes locked on Naruto, and a feeling of relief started to wash over him. Both he and his wife, Kushina, started to get worried as Naruto didn't return back home even after waiting throughout the entire night.
The two even check Naruto's room if the latter sneakily returns back, but the room remains empty like what they saw earlier.
The two waited until the sun rose from the horizon, but throughout the entire time they waited, Naruto didn't make his appearance, which worried the two.
Kushina wanted the ANBU to search for Naruto's whereabouts, but Minato stopped Kushina immediately. Not because he didn't care about his son's well-being but because of a specific thing.
Minato knows that Fugaku, without a doubt, will take the mission for his squad to complete, so he can patiently wait in the Mission Assignment Office for Fugaku's squad's arrival to confirm Naruto's status.
Kushina wasn't convinced, but after Minato reassured her that if Naruto wasn't found, he would immediately inform all the ANBU for his search.
Fortunately he didn't have to do that and confirm the well-being of Naruto.
But there are still questions that linger on his mind. Why didn't Naruto return back to their home all this time? Is this the same reason as the incredible abilities Naruto possesses?
"Good morning, Lord Hokage," Hinata and Satsuki said in unison, snapping Minato from his thought.
"I am here with my newly formed squad to take their first D-rank mission," Fugaku calmly said.
"Which D-rank do you wish to take, Fugaku-sama?" a Chunin said with respect in his voice.
Fugaku smiled a little, which caught Minato's attention, and realization started to hit Minato about the plan Fugaku currently had with his squad.