"I trust you, Kakashi. We have six months until Naruto makes chunin. By the way, get back to your old level in ANBU and if possible surpass it. At the moment you are my only real option as a successor. The only others would be Jiraiya and Tsunade and I can't imagine that Tsunade would come back to the village and I fear what Jiraiya would do as Hokage. And if neither of you take the hat it will probably go to Danzo."
"I understand, Hokage Sama." Kakashi said.
"Good, you are dismissed, Kakashi." The Hokage said.
Kakashi left the office.
The day of the team placements was there and Naruto for the first time wore his new outfit. He had long black pants that were taped with dark red bandages. He wore a dark red mesh-shirt under a dark grey shirt with three quarter sleeves and a hood. He wore a dark red belt with two pouches on his back. On both of his thighs were pouches for shuriken and senbon that were strapped over black bandages. Over the shirt he wore a dark red vest with pockets specially made to store scrolls and small containers for different things. Naruto kept his poisons there. He had dark red gloves with metal plates on the back, in which he had sealed his tanto and his bo staff. The hood of his shirt hung over his vest on his back. He would only put it on for missions where his bright hair would be a hindrance.
He looked in the mirror and was happy with how he looked now. He finally looked like a real shinobi. He turned off the lights of his home and walked up the stairs. He made sure that he was alone in the alley and then left through the hidden entrance. Once the wall was back in position, he jumped up on the roof and went to the academy. He reached the classroom and took a seat in the back. Only two others were there. Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame. Shino gave him a short nod and Hinata turned red again when he smiled at her. Naruto didn't really understand why she always turned red, but as she was never mean like the other students, he liked her.
Shino just shook his head, seeing the display of Naruto and Hinata. Naruto was really dense sometimes. He knew Naruto wasn't as bad and stupid as he supposedly was. His allies had told him that Naruto had excellent chakra control and intentionally messed up things. He had observed Naruto after finding out that and came to the conclusion that Naruto wanted to stay at the bottom of the class for some reason. He didn't know his reason, but he respected Naruto's privacy.
Hinata was really hard pressed to not faint when Naruto walked into the class. She had been really happy when he had passed his exams. Many had thought he would fail them. Now he wore some new clothes and he looked really good in them. He obviously had hidden his muscular body under the old, bulky, orange jumpsuit. His new clothes sat tighter on his upper body and didn't leave much to imagination. How could a twelve year old boy look that good? Now the other students began filling the room. Some were surprised to see Naruto in a new outfit, but most of them ignored him. Though some girls gave him appreciative looks.
Then the daily stampede occurred. Sakura and Ino raced each other to the classroom to decide who would be allowed to sit next to Sasuke. Stupid really. They were kunoichi now, they should act like it.
Once they had entered the room they fought who had won. Naruto had enough. He had watched that embarrassment of kunoichis too long. He quickly threw a senbon at each of them and hit both their thighs. They looked shocked, then they had problems moving.
"What the?" Ino asked, then she couldn't move her lips anymore.
"Finally they are quiet." Naruto mumbled.
Only Shino and Hinata had noticed that he had thrown the senbons at Ino and Sakura and were impressed with his accuracy and the obviously paralysing agent on the senbons. When Iruka came into the class, Ino and Sakura were still paralysed. Naruto mentally counted down for the poison he used to lose its effect. It should only hold for thirty more seconds. It was only meant to paralyse for five minutes. More than enough time in a one on one fight to take out your opponent.
"What happened here?" Iruka asked.
"Well, Ino and Sakura fought who would sit next to Sasuke, then they were hit with a senbon each and were paralysed." A girl informed Iruka.
"Who did this?" Iruka asked.
Naruto raised his hand.
"Don't worry, the effect only lasts for five minutes, Iruka sensei. They should be back to normal in three, two, one, now." Naruto said.
True to Naruto's words Ino and Sakura stumbled when their muscles reacted again.
"In two minutes they are back to normal." Naruto said disinterestedly.
"Why did you do that, Naruto?" Iruka asked sternly.
"They were too loud and an embarrassment for every kunoichi that takes her profession serious. I just wanted to show them what can happen if they don't keep an eye on their environment. They didn't even think to pull out the senbons as soon as they hit them. That would have shortened the time the poison worked." Naruto said without remorse.
The whole class looked shocked. Naruto had never behaved like this. He had always been a goofball. Not this serious. The most surprised was Iruka who started to have doubts about their assessment of Naruto's skills. Over the years he had lost his hatred for Naruto. He had understood that Naruto wasn't the fox and never treated him worse than his other students. He even admired how the boy persevered despite the hatred of the villagers.
"Nonetheless, it's wrong to attack your comrades." Iruka said.
"That wasn't an attack; that was a rescue mission for the ears of those that have sensitive hearing and easily get headaches. If I would have wanted to attack them, they would be dead now." Naruto countered. "I would just have had to use a deadly poison instead of a paralysing one or aimed at a vital point. With their reaction times they would be dead before help would have arrived."