Naruto smiled as he ducked under the flaps to the Dangoya, giving a friendly wave over to the owner who gave him a congenial smile back. The man had learned to be polite and friendly to the boyfriend of his best customer as Anko tended to be a rather unpredictable Kunoichi and didn't take insults to her or the things she cared about very well. There was one time the man had spilled red bean paste over him and Anko had refused to go there for almost a month. Of course that only meant she had Naruto running over to the next town every other day to pick some up, as the Dangoya was the only place in Konoha that made the stuff to her incredibly high 'standards'.
He spotted Kurenai and Asuma and waved at them too, quickly walking in and sliding into the booth next to the Hokage's son. He missed the slight look of disappointment crossing Kurenai's face as he settled in; he didn't have to order as he had been here enough times that they knew what he liked. He almost absently raised his hand as he saw Asuma light his fingers with a small fire Jutsu, blowing out the tiny flame before he could bring it to the cigarette he was holding.
"They don't allow smoking in here." After the older man had blinked away his surprise at the younger Jounin's reflexes he grunted, putting away the cigarette and grumbling under his breath in a gruff voice.
"Then why'd I even bother coming?" Kurenai, already seeing the situation deteriorate quickly interjected with a slightly forced smile.
"We're here, because I thought as new Jounin Sensei we should get to know one another, maybe coordinate a bit." She smiled brightly before realising her gaze had lingered just a little too long on Naruto, quickly coughing into her hand and stammering out. "For the Genin of course." Asuma cocked an eyebrow before shrugging congenially, sinking back into the booth to get more comfortable.
"Sure, I don't see why not; might actually get my guys a bit motivated." He paused before snorting into his hand, a grin alighting on his lips. "As if." Ignoring the small slight on the man's Genin considering Naruto didn't know them the redhead just chuckled before remembering something.
"Oh yeah, I told a friend they could come by; I hope that's okay." Kurenai and Asuma just shrugged, not really minding that much; it only meant potentially more ideas for how to handle their Genin. "In fact, I think Anko should be here any moment now." As Naruto looked behind him to see if his girlfriend had arrived Kurenai and Asuma both looked down, racking their minds to try and think of where they had heard that name, before simultaneously looking at one another with wide-eyes.
"Oh, if it isn't thorny and smokestack." An all too familiar voice cut in as Anko hoped over the back of the booth with a plate in one hand and a stick of Dango dangling from her mouth. Naruto looked back around with an amused grin while Kurenai subtly shuffled a bit away from the boisterous woman.
"You know them?" Both Kurenai and Asuma blinked in surprise; this was the person Naruto had invited? However Anko blissfully ignored their looks of incredulity, gulping down her snack before grinning and gesticulating at the two with the now barren skewer.
"Oh yeah, I've been on missions with them before, a while back I think. Thorny really comes in handy with those illusions of hers, made my job so much easier." She snickered as she sucked up another dumpling before muttering with her mouth half-full so her words came out muffled and almost unintelligible. "Only had to take my top off once." A slight tick appeared over Naruto's brow before he forced it back down; he had accepting Anko's specialty as an infiltration expert and he wasn't going to let that old argument pop up again... "I think anyway; I was pretty drunk." ...no matter how much she baited him. Forcing a calm expression on his face so his girlfriend wouldn't have the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him Naruto tried to divert the conversation.
"And Asuma?" The two other Jounin Sensei seemed a bit irked that Naruto was so causally accepting the irritating nicknames they had apparently been saddled with.
"Oh yeah; he's pretty good with those fire Jutsu of his…" A sly smirk appeared on the snake summoner's face as she let her elbows rest on the table "…when he isn't alerting squads of Kumo Shinobi to our presence with those death sticks." Asuma's eyes twitched violently at that as he muttered under his breath.
"It was one time." At that Kurenai and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle and with a start all three Jounin Sensei had realised the ice was completely broken, just with Anko's presence. The woman could get a leaf-nin and an Iwa Shinobi to have dinner together if she really wanted; she had her own form of persuasion that was hard to say no too. Taking advantage of the suddenly warm atmosphere Naruto decided to take the initiative.
"So Kurenai, you wanted to talk about the Genin teams?" Anko's eyes lit up at that as she quickly swallowed the dumpling in her mouth in a way that wouldn't have won her any points for grace.
"Ooh the kiddies? You know, I've been wanting a team for a while now but every time I ask, the Hokage tells me that it's 'not quite my time'." She blew out air between her lips in mock frustration. "Whatever that means." The three Sensei all just looked at her for a moment, before turning to each other and continuing on as if she hadn't spoken.
"Uuh yeah, I saw how effective that spar between our teams was…" The slight cry of indignation from Anko at getting ignored ironically went completely ignored "…and I was hoping we could organise something a little more permanent." She chuckled good-naturedly. "Shino's always been a hard worker but I've never seen him train so hard as he did after being beaten by Sasuke." At that Asuma let out a small whistle as he turned to Naruto.
"That's right huh, you got the Uchiha kid didn't you? Damn, getting the Rookie of the year is pretty lucky." Naruto just nodded with a shrug; he didn't really like to think of his Genin as so cut and dry and he saw potential in all of them. Seeing his mild discomfort, Kurenai quickly cut in.
"But you got this generation's Ino-Shika-Cho trio; that's nothing to scoff at; their father's were legendary after all, approaching the fame of the Sannin." At that Asuma backed off Naruto, slumping back in his seat and rubbing a hand down his face.
"Yeah they might have their fathers' potential, but all that means is right now I have a lazy genius who'd rather be looking at clouds than training, some shy muscle who I can only motivate with food and a bossy mind-walker who knows just a little too much about human psychology than is healthy for a girl her age." Kurenai, Anko and Naruto had to laugh at that; each had worked with at least one of the original Ino-Shika-Cho and the latest generation really sounded like their father's kids. Seeing them laugh Asuma felt like a bit of retribution, slumping back up and pointing lazily at the only female Sensei.
"Well you're one to talk about talent; getting three major clan kids, two of which are heirs, is just cheating in my opinion." Kurenai blushed at that, having to admit that her team was rather weighted compared to most others. "Plus you got that Hyuuga girl; I heard she would have been top Kunoichi if her grades had been more consistent and reflected her results towards the end." However with that small declaration any blush on Kurenai's cheeks vanished as she looked down at the cup she was holding, a frown creasing her brow. Feeling an awkward atmosphere descending over the table Anko quickly butted into the conversation.
"So what's it like having a Genin team; I bet its pretty fun to be able to boss them around." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the purple-haired Kunoichi in bemusement.
"You've lead missions as team captain before." Anko just huffed playfully, downing another piece of Dango before waving the skewer about dramatically.
"Yeah but that's with Chuunin; they're no fun because they do everything you say." She grinned sadistically, making Asuma feel just a little nervous. "I bet the Genin have a little fight left in 'em." At that each of the Sensei looked down at their drinks, Naruto thinking of Sasuke, Asuma thinking of Ino and Kurenai thinking of Kiba.
"Yeah, you could say that." All three looked up with slightly widened eyes as they realised they had all said that at the same time before the table broke out in laughter again, causing a few of the other shop's patrons to look over at them curiously.
"So, ehe, anyway…" Naruto tried to suppress the grin on his features and continue the conversation "…you wanted to organise some team events like spars?" Kurenaie nodded, trying to get her breath back from the laughing fit. Asuma too was affected, wiping once at his eye and sighing contentedly at the shared moment between the three Sensei.
"Sounds like fun to be honest; I can't motivate Shikamaru for anything so maybe this'll help. I guess I'm free most Thursdays; we could do it then." He looked about the table to see Naruto and Kurenai looking thoughtful before nodding; agreeing with the suggestion. "Well great, plus it'll be good practise for when we enter them in the ex-" suddenly the young Sarutobi was cut off as Naruto's eyes widened and he scrambled over the table, literally clambering over Anko before he could hop over the back of the booth.
"Wait, Kakashi-Taichou!" The redhead looked ready to flash right out of the Dangoya before realising what he had done and turning back to the stupefied Jounin sheepishly. "Ah sorry, I've been looking for him for a few days now; Thursdays right? I'll see you guys there, Training ground nineteen." And with that he just seemed to vanish in a blur of red leaving two shocked Sensei and a chuckling Anko.
"Yeah, he does that sometime." Her words quickly broke the other two Jounin out of their daze, eliciting Asuma to get up from the booth with a sigh.
"Well, this was fun, and definitely a good idea, but I think that's my cue to leave." He coughed into his hand nervously as he looked down at Kurenai. "Unless ah, of course, you'd like to, maybe, go to dinner with me tonight Kurenai?" The woman in question blinked before realising she had been asked a question; her eyes were still fixed on where Naruto had disappeared to.
"Oh um, no sorry I'm busy tonight." Asuma's posture slumped a little at that but he shrugged it off soon enough; it wasn't his first rejection after all. He ran a hand through his hair, nodded politely at the two women and quickly walked out of the Dango Shack, grabbing a cigarette out of his pocket as soon as he crossed the threshold. Anko turned to talk to Kurenai only to see the woman looking down at the table with a familiar expression. Anko just couldn't help herself as a mischeivious grin alighted on her lips.
"So that Naruto, one of a kind guy huh?" Kurenai nodded before she knew what she was doing, blushing almost immediately at her lapse. Anko just chuckled though pushing the other woman gently in the shoulder. "Come on, we're both girls here." Kurenai sighed at that before a small smile appeared on her lips.
"It's just, pretty rare to find such a young, powerful Shinobi with such confidence." Anko nodded, desperately trying to wipe the grin off her face by taking a sip of her sake. "I went through my Chuunin years hearing about what he did in the ANBU; at least the declassified missions anyway. Plus, it feels like when I look in his eyes he can just see right through me, almost like I'm staring into some kind of crystal, just reflecting everything right back at me in a thousand different ways." At this point Anko was practically stifling her snicker as Kurenai reached for her tea. "Naruto said you were friends; how do you know each other anyway?" Anko's grin became solar as she waited just for the moment when Kurenai was sipping her tea.
"I'm his girlfriend." She couldn't help it, as soon as Kurenai spat out her tea in a long, continuous spray right over the table and into the back of the person in the booth in front of them Anko's raucous laughter filled the Dangoya.
"Ah Kakashi-Taichou!" Naruto skirted around a few people in the street before finally catching up to the man, not that he had been walking at any real pace; in fact he was going quite slowly so as to enjoy to little orange book he was reading.
"Oh Naruto; how's my cute, not-so-little Kouhai today?" Ignoring the veiled joke at him always calling the man by his title despite them no longer working together, Naruto got right to the point.
"I was wondering if you would mind coming by a few of my training sessions and helping out one of my students." The man's one visible eye lit up in amusement as he carefully tucked the corner of his page and replaced his book in the pouch on his hip.
"That's right, you got yourself a little Genin squad; how's that going for you?" Naruto smiled sheepishly as ran his hand down the back of his hair, remembering his Genin's ire over their last few D-ranks.
"Uh, pretty well; they seem to be coming along fine." A thoughtful look briefly passed over the redhead's face as he looked up at the taller Jounin. "Now that I think about it though; didn't you leave ANBU so that you could pick up a Genin squad? I've never seen you with one before." At that it was Kakashi's turn to look a little bashful as his eye crinkled up into that trademarks smile of his.
"Ah well, none of the teams ever really met my expectations and it just didn't… feel right; you know?" Naruto blinked before his face became deadpan.
"You were too lazy to take one on when you realised how much work it would be, weren't you?" It wasn't asked as a question so Kakashi just chuckled and shrugged carelessly.
"Well, the Hokage told me that maybe this time I should step back and let some of the younger Jounin have a crack at it." If possible Naruto's face became even more deadpan, his voice matching the expression.
"He got tired of you sending perfectly good Genin back to the academy, didn't he?" Again, all he got was a sheepish chuckle as the man's eye managed to wander everywhere but at Naruto's face.
"So uh, you said you had a Genin you needed help with? Young Sasuke finally unlock those Sharingan of his?" Naruto quickly shook his head, internally sighing at his former captain's sheer laziness.
"No, this isn't about Sasuke, and when the time come's I'll be able to train him perfectly well in the Sharingan; you forget who my teammates were and how much I trained with them." Kakashi shrugged noncommittally. "No, this is actually about Sakura; I was wondering if you could give her a grounding in Genjutsu; you've picked up a little of everything in your time and to be honest, aside from a few basic ones, I'm pretty terrible at it." At that Kakashi could only raise an eyebrow, amusement twinkling in his black orb again.
"Really? The teammate of two Uchiha is terrible at Genjutsu? I would have thought you'd have picked up the basics through sheer proximity." Naruto shrugged lamely, remembering back to all those times Shisui and Itachi were trying to convince him of the validity of the Ninja art; he was a lot more interested in bringing his speed up back then.
"Eh, it's amazing what a young kid can tune out when they're really not interested." At that Kakashi chuckled; he supposed he had been the same when he was a young Chuunin; barely caring about anything other than learning how to be a Shinobi that would pull him out of his father's shadow. In that respect he supposed there were more similarities between him and Naruto than he would have first thought. "So will you help me with her?" Kakashi shifted his weight to his other foot as a speculative look appeared in his usually half-lidded eye.
"I don't know my little Kouhai; I am an elite Jounin of this village after all; my time is pretty valuable." He wiggled his lone eyebrow a few times for effect making Naruto sigh and reach into one of his pouches.
"Fine, I was hoping you'd be a bit more altruistic but I should have known better." When his hand emerged an enraptured gleam overcame the older Jounin's face. "This is-" He didn't need to say anymore as Kakashi suddenly plucked the object right out of Naruto's hands, looking it over in wonder.
"A first edition copy of Icha Icha Violence!" An uncharacteristic girlish squeal emerged from somewhere in Kakashi's throat before he coughed into his palm, righting himself and trying to regain a modicum of his masculinity. "Ah, I mean, this isn't supposed to be out until next month; where did you get it?" Naruto sighed, rubbing his cheek lightly in exasperation.
"It was supposed to be a gift for someone else; Jiraiya keeps sending me the damn things for some reason." For a moment Kakashi looked genuinely hurt at his favourite book series being referred to in such a way. "I suppose I can find them something else though." He didn't tell Kakashi that he had more than three identical copies of the same book sitting on his desk back home; partly so the man wouldn't realise how worthless it was to him and partly out of shame for having them. However now that Kakashi had managed to school himself he began to look over the book with an obvious mock-critical eye.
"Still, just one book for my services, I am-" Naruto sighed and simply reached over to flip open the cover.
"It's signed by Jiraiya." That was all it took, Kakashi immediately flipped the book closed and smiled.
"Done." He quickly shook hands with the redhead before scampering off to read what would probably be taking up the majority of his time for the next few days. Naruto just stood there, a little disgruntled at the sudden departure as he turned to go back home.
"Idiot, I didn't even tell him when or where to meet." Finally though he just shrugged, deciding to get some training in tonight.
"So ah, Naruto is your boyfriend then?" Kurenai gulped, desperately trying to rid her cheeks of their red flush even as Anko continued to snicker into her hand. The violette hadn't stopped laughing for a good minute and Kurenai felt incredibly self-conscious with half the Dango-bar staring at them. Anko seemed to have no such reservations as she finally sighed with contentment, leaning back and kicking her feet up on the table.
"Yup." Kurenai nodded placidly, wondering if the woman was going to say anything else; however I seemed Anko wasn't going to make this easy for her.
"So… what's that like?" Anko tilted her head lazily towards her with a single brow cocked up in bemusement.
"Eh." She shrugged noncommittally, casually reaching for another skewer of Dango before sliding the three dumplings into her mouth at once, seeming quite happy to just sit there and munch on them.
"That's um… nice?" Anko's lips quivered slightly as she fought down her smirk, just nodding with her mouth still full.
"Uh huh." Kurenai's eyebrow twitched as she began to drum her fingers on the table rhythmically; she could tell Anko was just messing with her now. Noticing this Anko chuckled, swallowing her mouthful before slinging her arms around the older woman's shoulders.
"Ah come on Thorn-Chan, you really need to lighten up a bit. I'm just playing with you; after all who wouldn't be attracted to my kick-ass boyfriend?" At that Kurenai's cheeks threatened to flame up again but she forcefully quelled it by taking a sip of her tea. She really felt like leaving this slightly crazy woman right about now but the grip she had around her shoulders was surprisingly strong.
"So how did you two meet?" Hoping to get the conversation moving so she didn't feel quite so awkward anymore Kurenai hoped to get Anko talking, and maybe stop calling her thorn-Chan.
"Oh, funny you should mention it; it's a pretty romantic story actually." Surprised at the hint of passion that had entered the eccentric girl's voice and being a sucker for a bit of romance Kurenai actually found herself leaning towards the violette. "You see, we first met at the academy a few weeks after the Kyuubi attack so at the time Naruto had just lost his family. Of course, I was a bit of a half-wit back then so when I walked in to that class and saw him sitting up at the back of the class, brooding like an Uchiha… which as weird because we had two Uchiha in out class and neither were all that broody... uh, what was I saying?" Kurenai sighed quietly, any intrigue in the story suddenly lost as she remembered just who was telling it.
"The academy." Anko's eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically.
"Right right! Well, I saw this flaky redhead with hair that just couldn't be natural sitting right up in the corner, barely paying attention to anything so I just had to rile him up." Kurenai blinked but didn't interrupt. "So I spend the rest of the day messing about and being the general nuisance that I am." Again Kurenai blinked; at least she admitted it… "I'm not really getting much of a reaction though so I follow him out to lunch only to see him walk up the side of the academy of all things." Another blink, that was a pretty advanced skill for a fresh academy entrant. "So again, I follow him up to see him sitting on the edge of the roof, just quietly eating his lunch." Kurenai was actually a little surprised; this all seemed rather strange for a kid to do for someone they knew nothing about.
"Naturally I try to sneak up on him to give him a shock, probably not the best idea on a roof but like I said I was a bit dense then, he spots me though without even looking up from his bento. We sat together, talked for a bit and then he offered me some of his Bento because I hadn't got one. Then of course Ita…" Anko looked ready to continue before a frown crossed her features and she trailed off, suddenly looking like she'd had the enthusiasm ripped right out of her. "Uh well, anyway to make a long story short five months later and I was living with him." She smiled brightly but Kurenai was too shocked by the sudden turn to the story that she missed how forced it appeared. However a moment later and the raven-haired woman was staring at Anko expectantly.
"And…?" Anko cocked an eyebrow.
"And what?" Kurenai shrugged the woman's off her shoulder so she could turn around and face her.
"And where's the romantic part?" Again Anko just looked at the woman strangely.
"He shared his bento with me… we were six woman, what do you want?" At that Kurenai's cheeks flared up again as she turned away however Anko just chuckled, lightly punching her in the arm. "Eh, you're okay Kurenai; I feel like this is the start of a wonderful friendship." Kurenai groaned internally at that; at least she had stopped calling her that irritating nickname.
"Oh, more Dango! Scoot over Thorn-Chan!" Seems she thought too soon.
"Um, I'm still not sure this is a good idea guys." Sakura whispered meekly to the others on her team as they all hopped over the fence into Naruto's backyard. Sasuke turned around to look at her with thinly veiled irritation while Ami just blew air out through her teeth.
"Come on Sakura, don't turn back into the baby you were during the Academy; it's just a bit of harmless fun." The pinkette's eyebrow twitched at that; Ami may have mellowed out in their later years at the academy, not bothering to pick on her with those friends of hers, but that didn't mean Sakura had completely forgiven her.
"Yeah, but it's Naruto-Sensei that we're trying to prank. It's never going to work." She tried again to convince them, nervous at the ramifications of if they got caught. "Come on Sasuke, he finally agreed to take us on a C-rank if we started showing some teamwork." Ami just turned and grinned at the girl as they finally got to the back door of the surprisingly modest home for a Kage's son.
"Exactly, so show a little team spirit and stop complaining so much." Sakura just glowered at the girl as Sasuke worked at the lock of the door, thankful it was a simple mechanism and not one of those seals their Sensei seemed so fond of.
"That's not what I meant; plus what is he going to say if-" At that moment though the girl's whispering was cut off by gentle click of the lock as Sasuke finally pushed the door open. Seeing Sakura's indecisiveness Sasuke decided to cut right in before they went any further.
"Sakura, don't you want just a little payback against Sensei?" Seeing her crush talk to her directly made Sakura look up for a moment and think. In her mind she saw every time Naruto had sparred with her, leaving her tired and sweaty while he barely got a hair out of place. Not to mention the fact that his insufferable, easy-going smile never seemed to leave his face, even as he watched them doing chore after menial chore from the comfort of some tree-branch or rooftop, doodling away in that scroll of his.
"Forget everything I said; let's prank him hard." Ami grinned and even Sasuke smirked a little at that and quickly the three Genin darted into the house, wary for any security measure their Sensei might have activated. What they weren't expecting to meet was a half-naked woman only wearing a long baggy shirt holding a bottle of Sake and a stick of Dango. The three kids and one woman stared at each other for a long few seconds before Anko decided to break the awkward tension.
"Uh hi?" She waved slowly, making the last dumpling on the skewer threaten to slide off. "You must be Naruto's Genin squad then." The three kids nodded slowly; Sasuke was already making plans to bolt and use his teammates as meat shields. He had seen angry Kunoichi before and he did not want to experience that one bit. "I'm guessing you're here to prank him or something?" Again the Genin nodded, but after a pause this time; no point lying to her considering it was pretty obvious what they were doing. After another uneasy pause Anko shrugged before walking on through to the kitchen where her voice floated back to them.
"Cool; bathroom's upstairs to the left, bedroom's opposite, touch my stuff I'll kill you and don't try and go in his study." The three Genin blinked in surprise before looking at one another incredulously.
"Who was that?" The other two just shrugged at Sakura's question.
"I'm Anko, his girlfriend." It seems the older Kunoichi had heard them though as her voice drifted through from the kitchen, even if it did sound a bit muffled by food. Eventually, after getting over their slight shock the three Genin shrugged and darted off, Sakura to the bedroom, Sasuke to the bathroom and Ami stayed downstairs by the stairs to keep watch. That was their original plan anyway; the purpose of keeping watch when they had already been discovered seemed redundant but Ami just decided to go with it; tonight was too strange as it was though.
For a while she just kind of stood around, vaguely hearing noises from the kitchen and upstairs. At one point she heard a small explosion from upstairs only to see Sasuke walk down a few moments later scorched and covered in soot. Anko had also popped her head around the kitchen door, a skewer hanging from her mouth, only to laugh at the boy.
"You tried to go in his study didn't you?" Sasuke's response was to huff out a small cloud of smoke and pinch the small flame that erupted at the tip of one of his hairs. "Don't worry kid, better men than you have tried." That didn't seem to quell Sasuke's annoyance though as the boy trudged towards the back of the house.
"Whatever, Ami keep watching until Sakura's done." With that the boy darted out the back door while Anko disappeared into the kitchen again. A few moments later and Sakura skipped down the stairs, looking a little smug for herself, and followed him out. Just as Ami was ready to leave though she froze, hearing the door begin to open. Acting on instinct alone she suddenly burst into a cloud of smoke.
When Naruto got home that night he had to admit that even for him he probably over-trained a bit. His eyes were half-lidded from how tired he was and the various aches over his body told him that tomorrow morning he would be feeling this. He was a little surprised to see Anko there in the front hall, looking vaguely like a deer caught in front of a fire Jutsu, but was more distracted by what she was wearing… or in other words how little she was wearing. It looked as though she had waited up for him which was uncharacteristically sweet for her; then again she could have been raiding the fridge again but he liked to give his girlfriend the benefit of the doubt more often than not.
"You didn't have to wait up for me." Anko's mouth worked uselessly for a few moments before she shrugged with a sheepish smile. Naruto simply smiled tiredly, leaning forward and capturing her lips for a moment, leaving the woman red-faced and breathless. She was more surprised though when Naruto suddenly ducked down and pulled her bodily onto his shoulder as he began to head for the stairs.
"Come on, I need some sleep; I'll make you some ramen in the morning if you're hungry." He never noticed the wide-eyes look of panic on his 'girlfriend's face.
Ami was freaking out; why had her first reaction been to henge into Anko? What kind of idiotic plan had that been? And now Naruto was carrying her upstairs to do who knows what; briefly her face turned red as it began to wander before she shook herself out of it… so not the time. She was still reeling from that kiss though; it had been so warm and tender and so filled with passion despite Naruto's obvious exhaustion; again her mind began to float away and-
No! Bad Ami! So not the time!
However just as she was ready to try and get away from Naruto she suddenly found herself back downstairs, watching in confusion as Naruto continued to carry his girlfriend upstairs. With a start he realised Anko must had seamlessly substituted with her when she noticed her plight and breathed a sigh of relief. However just as she turned to bolt out of the house as quietly as she could she caught Anko mouthing a single word at her with a cheeky grin, patting Naruto on the back possessively.
'Mine'
"So team seven; yet another successful capture of Tora; congratulations. I think it might be a new record for your team too!" Iruka smiled happily at the obviously tired and grouchy Genin in front of him, backed by their brightly smiling Sensei. All three were covered in tiny claw-marks, as attacks from that Bakaneko couldn't be called mere 'scratches', and a few dirty marks. "Now, what will be your next mission?" All three thirteen year-olds groaned at that, the two girls turning on their Sensei with the best pleading looks they could manage. Naruto only laughed in his head though; this was what they got for trying to fill his shower head with itching powder.
"Actually Iruka…" His Genin all looked down, knowing that their Sensei was likely going to continue torturing them with endless D-ranks like he had yesterday "… I think, after my cute little Genin have been showing such good teamwork and improving so much lately, I'll take a C-rank." Three sets of eyes widened about as far as they could go as the Hokage gained a small amused smile, flicking through the next box of mission folders over.
"A C-rank it is then."