7 Problem & Council

"Team 7, your Jonin instructor wants to meet you at the training grounds at five in the morning," said Iruka. "Make sure you're on time."

"Five in the morning?" thought Naruto. "What's he planning? And Kakashi Hatake? That's dad's student."

As the students trickled away from the class, Naruto went to the front of the classroom and stood in front of Sasuke and Sakura.

"What do you want, dork?" asked Sasuke arrogantly.

"Don't forget this 'dork' scored higher than you in the exams," replied Naruto. "And if we were to fight it out, I can woop your Uchiha ass in one strike."

"Hey, don't talk like that to Sasuke-kun," said Sakura with an angry look.

"Shut it pinky, this arrogant Uchiha doesn't need you to stand up for him," said Naruto, glaring at Sakura. "But I'm not here to waste my time fighting with the two of you. There's something weird about our Jonin instructor asking us to meet him at five in the morning."

"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke seriously.

"Chances are, he's got something planned for us," said Naruto.

"Like what?" asked Sakura nervously.

"I don't know," replied Naruto honestly. "But I heard he failed the last team that was assigned to him and he banned them from becoming shinobis for life."

"He can't do that!" exclaimed Sakura.

"He can and he did," said Naruto. "So we need to put aside our petty differences when we're facing him tomorrow. I have a goal I want to achieve and I have no intention of him stopping me from achieving it. I'm sure you feel they same way, Sasuke."

"How much do you know about him?" asked Sasuke, narrowing his eyes.

"Not a lot," replied Naruto. "But enough that whatever he makes us do will require us to work as a team."

"What makes you so sure that's what he'll make us do?" asked Sasuke.

"Nothing, but we need to be ready for that possibility," said Naruto, shrugging his shoulders. "As we are right now, Sakura here is our weakest member. She might be the first one to be targetted."

"You have a point," muttered Sasuke. "So what do you have in mind?"

"Whatever he makes us do tomorrow, we have to overcome it as a team first," said Naruto confidently. "In his eyes, we're weak inexperienced Genins so I doubt he'll expect much from us. We can use that to our advantage."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Sakura with a puzzled look on her face.

"We won't know until we find out what he'll make us do tomorrow," replied Naruto. "But whatever it is, we need to work together as a team to overcome it. Whether we like it or not, we're a team now. As long as we work together, I'm sure we can win anything."

"Fine, I'm in," said Sasuke. "I also don't have any intention of not progressing."

"If Sasuke-kun is going to do this, then so will I," said Sakura with a hint of blush on her face.

"As long as you're both on board," said Naruto. "Make sure you both have your breakfasts before you arrive. Who knows, we might need the energy."

Naruto left the classroom and found Hinata waiting for him outside. They both went to have ramen at Ichiraku's before each of them retiring for the day.

Once Naruto said goodbye to Hinata, he made his way to the training grounds for his usual evening training. As he was casually walking, Naruto sensed a familiar heat signature running through the woods.

"Why is he running through the woods?" thought Naruto as he run after the figure.

Naruto quickly caught you with the runing figure of Mizuki who had a large scroll strapped on his back, completely oblivious to the fact he was being followed. Stopping near an old shack, Mizuki sat on the ground and started reading from the scroll.

Naruto was contemplating on the best way to jump on Mizuki when he noticed another very familiar heat signature rushing towards their location. Very quickly, Iruka jumped in front of Mizuki with a very angry look on his face.

"Mizuki, how could steal the Scroll of Seals?" asked Iruka angrily.

"I can't believe you of all people caught up with me first, Iruka," said Mizuki, quickly jumping to his feet.

"Shut up, Mizuki!" shouted Iruka, completely livid. "Tell me why you stole the scroll!"

"Isn't obvious, you idiot?" retorted Mizuki, quickly taking out out a couple of shurikens from his pouch. "I want power! Once I deliver this to Lord Orochimaro, he's sure to reward me big time!"

Mizuki was about to throw the multiple shurikens at Iruka when Naruto jumped at him shouting, "Dynamic Entry!"

"Naruto!" exclaimed Iruka in surprise as Naruto's kick connected with Mizuki's head, sendint him flying at a nearby tree.

"Looks like I've got great timing, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto chuckling.

"You damn demon brat!" roared Mizuki as he jumped back up.

"Wow, you're tough," said Naruto in surprise. "I was aiming to knock you out. But you're bleeding from your head, though."

"Shut up, you demon fox!" shouted Mizuki. "Have you never wondered why everyone in the village hates you?"

"NO Mizuki, it's forbidden!" shouted Iruka, panicking.

"It's because the Fourth Hokage never killed the Nine Tails Demon Fox that attacked the village 13 years ago!" said Mizuki, hysterically. "HE SEALED THAT MONSTER INSIDE YOU! YOU'RE THE KYUBI REBORN!"

"No shit, genius," said Naruto, looking bored. "News flash, pig brain. I already know."

"What!" exclaimed both Iruka and Mizuki in unison in surprise. "You knew?"

"Of course, I knew," said Naruto. "I've known since I was four years old. Now then, stupid Mizuki! It's time I crippled you!"

"Just you try, demon!" cried Mizuki. He was hoping to unsettle Naruto so that he could make his escape.

"Don't mind if I do!" said Naruto with an evil smirk.

A full five mimutes later of brutal beating, Miziki was lying on the ground with his limbs bent in unnatural directions with his bones sticking out, completely broken.

"If he lives through this, he's never going to walk again," said Iruka, a shiver running through his spine as Naruto picked up the scroll.

"System, scan this scroll and copy the Jutsus recorded inside," said Naruto in his mind.

[Okay, but you need to maintain physical contact with the scroll for five minutes.]

"That's fine," said Naruto.

Naruto found out about the system's function to scan and record th contents of a scroll a year ago. It was a very useful ability, however, it had a major drawback; it left Naruto with an intense headache and he avoided using it ever since.

"How are you feeling, Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto, looking at his academy teacher. "You look pale."

"I'm fine, thank you, Naruto," replied Iruka. "I'm just shocked that Mizuki turned into traitor."

"I wanted to pummel him some more, but he blacked out," said Naruto, regretfully.

Iruka was one of the very few people Naruto cared about as he had always treated Naruto kindly, despite the pranks he had pulled off during his academy days. He would never forgive anyone who had the intentions of harming those he cared about.

Moments later, two Anbus arrived and took Mizuki to the Konoha hospital and Naruto and Iruka to the the Hokage.

--- Hokage Tower ---

"Well done, Naruto," said the Hokage happily. "You managed to cripple the attempts of a traitor to steal the Scroll and even retrieved it. I will treat this as a B-Rank mission and will make sure you're adequately compensated for it."

"Thank you, gramps," said Naruto, suddenly clutching his heas. "Here's the scroll. If you don't mind, I've got this killer headache that I need to sleep off."

"That's alright, you're dismissed," said Hokage, smiling at Naruto. "Get well soon."

--- Council Room ---

After Naruto had left, the Hokage received a notification that the Shinobi and Civilian Council had requested for his presence in the Council Room. The Hokage groaned as he was already busy enough in dealing with all the paperwork that had stacked on his desk and did not want to deal with anything extra. He forced himself to make his way to the Council Room so he could quickly get over with the meeting.

As he entered the room, he saw to his right seated all the important civillians that had formed the Civillian Council. To his left were all the clan head in Konoha that had formed the Shinobi Council. Closer to where his seat was positioned at the head of the council table were seated his three advisors who were also the shinobi elders; Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane and Danzo Shimura. They were the Hokage's former teammates from his Genin days.

"Now, what's the reason behind this meeting?" asked the Hokage as he made his way through the room and took his seat at the head of the meeting table.

"It's in regards to Naruto Uzumaki who graduated from the Academy," said a fat merchant from the Civilian Council. "With all due respect Lord Hokage, he cannot be allowed to becom a shinobi. He's far too dangerous."

"Naruto-kun has already proven to be a loyal shinobi of Konoha," said the Hokage. "There's no danger for him growing stronger as a shinobi."

"Lord Hokage, he's clearly a demon and he -," said a blonde woman from the Civilian Council.

"I will have you know my LAW is still in effect, Ms Haruno," said the Hokage coldly as he raised his chakra that caused all the civilians to sweat. "The only mistake I made was to allow ignorant individuals like yourself to harass him during his childhood. He's a powerful asset to the village and I will not have anyone to impede his future."

"But -!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted the Hokage. "Naruto-kun's value to the village far surpasses anyone else's! I will not stand anyone to cause him harm! You all seem to have forgotten that I am in charge of this village! Make it known that should anyone cause any harm to him will be branded as a traitor and will face the harshest of penalties! This meeting is adjourned!"

The Hokage rubbed his temples as he watched the council members leave the room. He also got up and went to the Hokage mountain where the faces of all the Hokage were carved into it.

--- Hokage Mountain ---

The Hokage stood on top of the mountain as he looked over the bustling village that he loved so much. Before he had arrived at the Hokage Mountain, he had sent an Anbu to watch over Naruto's house in case any of the Council Members had any intentions to attack Naruto. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

The Hokage closed his eyes as he fell into a deep thought, his life as the Hokage flashing before his eyes. Regret welled up in his mind as his heart grew heavy.

When he finally opened his eyes and looked at the village he knew as his hoke, he finally realised the mistakes he had committed during his time as the Hokage. He regretted that he failed in his promise to both Minato and Itachi to effectively look after Naruto and Sasuke. He regretted that he had allowed Orochimaru to escape. He regretted the fact that he allowed the Konoha to become stagnant after the First and Second Shinobi wars. Worst of all, he regretted that due to his lack of character, he had allowed Danzo to grow his underground organisation to become as powerful as it was now.

However, despite this realisation, the Hokage knew there was no pills for regret. He would have to live and die with that regret. He honestly did not know what he could do to fix things.

However, one thing he did know to do to make things better, even if it had minimal effect. He did not want to allow things to become worse even if they could not become better.

He returned back to his office and summoned the one man he could trust completely; Shikaku Nara.