Title: Recalled To Service

Summary: Final Fantasy VII characters reincarnate in the Naruto world, but is there a deeper meaning behind their re-awakening?

A/N: Plot idea borrowed with permission from Youko Rayah, which appeared as the story Help Thyself. This work is a collaboration between Honor and Zero-metallix.

/italics/ indicates thoughts. Final Fantasy names are in the Western format, Naruto names in the Japanese format. If you read Naruto fic and do not recognise the few basic pieces of Japanese sprinkled through the text, their meaning should become evident. This is a re-written chapter following a shift in plot.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 3

355 Years Before

As the woman formerly known as Hyuuga Hitomi died in childbirth, her husband Venat approached the child. He smiled a thin cold smile that didn't reach his dark eyes. Enough of the clan was his at the most basic level that, without even touching the woman, this would have been his son. His key to this world. His infection was in almost all of them now and still spreading; all children born to the clan would be his children, sired directly or not, and his control ensured none would question him. He laid a hand on the child's head, flexing his power, and watched as milky white was flooded with inky black. He smirked.

The untapped potential of these people was now exposed, and through it, his dominion would rise.

The only thing he lacked was a name, names had a power and it would be important for his clan to have a strong name that would one day be feared. As he thought he moved towards the cooling body of that had once claimed to be his wife. There was blood on the sheets and floor; in truth, it had only been Venats influence that had kept the child alive through the birth.

Amongst the various implements they had used was a small paper fan that another woman had used in an effort to keep Hitomi's temperature down, she too would soon give birth to another of his children. The fan had been discarded when it was clear Hitomi would not survive and was now stained in her blood.

Picking up the fan, Venat turned it over in his hands, searching through his second-hand memories, taken from all those he had infected. It was a small uchiwa fan, often used to fan flames. Venat smirked. Yes, that would be a good name, a name that would one day shake the world.

"Kakashi?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his paper work as the silver haired jounin walked into the office. "You're late, the other jounin have already reported back."

"Sorry, I took my students to lunch to celebrate."

"Very well, that almost sounds plausible." Ironically Kakashi had been telling the truth, it would also never happen again. /Who knew three little kids could eat so much!/ While both Sasuke and Sakura had eaten large, expensive meals just to spite him, it had been Naruto who had gone back for five extra courses because he was genuinely hungry. Kakashi had been suffering from a mix of shock, awe and horror at the time which had prevented him from stopping the boy till his seventh serving.

"So, I must assume that means they passed?" Sarutobi smiled knowingly, as he lent back in his chair, lighting his pipe.
Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck "Well, yes, they did pass." Sarutobi knew there was a 'but' coming. "But," and there it was "I'm not sure I can lead this team." Sarutobi motioned to the chair in front of his desk. Taking this as a sign to continue Kakashi sat down, sighed, and told the older man about the test, including the inaccuracies in the student files.

By the time he had finished Sarutobi was puffing his pipe harshly, his brow furrowed, as he thought about everything he heard.

After a long and, in Kakashi's case, uncomfortable silence he came to a decision "I will deal with the people responsible for evaluating the academy students in the morning; I expect them to give clear and unbiased information. For them to have falsified records to this degree is unforgivable." Kakashi wondered how many of them would be meeting Ibiki, the head of the village's interrogation division, and one of the most sadistic men he had ever met. "As for your team, if you feel they are not ready then I will have them reassigned to the academy."

Kakashi thought about this for a moment, he really did believe the three would be better off going back but he had already told them that they passed, they were his team and it wouldn't be right to discard them without trying. "No, let me train them, it would be unfair on them to send them back now. I'll give it a month, if I can't see any improvement then...Well, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Yes I believe that would be the best for now."
"If that is all Hokage-sama, I need to get some things sorted out for tomorrow." With that the jounin left the elderly man to his thoughts /Should I send Ibiki or Anko to see the academy examiners?/

Two weeks later

Sarutobi sat in the missions office, located in the Hokage tower but on the floor below his office.

Hundreds of mission requests arrived at the tower daily; these requests were sorted and then assigned a rank depending on difficulty, duration, prestige or amount of man power it required.

The most common of these were D and C rank missions and the missions office was responsible for assigning them, for B-rank or over then the Hokage would be the one to assign the mission and brief the team personally.
Today however he was just trying to escape the piles of paperwork awaiting him in his office and so was helping to hand out the C and D rank missions.

Only three teams in total had qualified this year and were now undertaking missions, It had been almost two weeks since the new teams had begun active duty, In that time they had each gotten into a routine of a number of D-ranked missions a day and training.

Team 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma, the Hokage's son, who had been assigned; Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino.
They completed 1 or maybe 2 missions per-day depending on difficulty and spent the remaining time training and worked well as a team. Overall they were a skilled team lacking only dedication, or as Maito Gai would say, the Flames of Youth. This lack of motivation meant their training was progressing slowly though Asuma liked to say "We are doing things at our own pace."

Team 8 led by Yuhi Kurenai was, so far, the most effective of the teams, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba were motivated and worked together effectively, they completed 3 missions a day with days off to focus on training. As a team focused on tracking and reconnaissance they showed great promise.

"Ah, team 7." The elderly Hokage began as Kakashi and his students entered the office and took their position in front of the mission desk. As the Hokage understood it, the majority of the training was team building exercises, something team 7 desperately needed. Things had apparently 'improved' for team 7, Naruto and Sakura would work together, with a little prompting from Kakashi but Sasuke had to be ordered to do so, and even then he would alternate between doing as little as possible and trying to do everything. In Kakashi's opinion, the boy's "...I'll go with you...But I'll go with you alone." attitude was the biggest problem.

"The available missions for today are: painting a fence, collecting the shopping for a number of people, helping a local farmer for the day, I believe a number of his live-stock have gotten lose again, or catch Tora the cat, again." He had to repress a chuckle at the reactions the three genin and one jounin showed.

Team 7 left with their chosen mission for the day, find and catch Tora the cat. Just outside the Hokage tower, Naruto came up with an idea that, surprisingly, his teammates agreed with. "You know if that cat just 'happened' to run into the Inuzuka kennels no one could hold us responsible."

/Yes but you would then be seen as unreliable, which would result in even less interesting missions, or none at all./ Aerith said playfully, she had watched the last few attempts to catch Tora and she had to agree, that cat required special treatment, starting with an exorcism.

Kakashi, meanwhile, explained yet again, why they could not simply kill the cat.

Graduation had been an unpleasant wake up call for the new genin who like most students had fallen into the routine of doing "just enough" to get buy. This applied to training, study and, much to Cissnei's annoyance, dieting.

The new teams were expected to meet early in the mornings and tended to stay late into the evenings, though thanks to Kakashi's poor time keeping team 7 had a bit more of a lay-in in the mornings.

D-rank missions, which could also be called chores or "Things people are too lazy to do themselves." as Naruto put it, mostly involved manual or heavy labor such as walking dogs, gardening, shopping or finding lost animals to name a few.

On these missions the work would, typically, be divided up evenly between Naruto and his shadow clones while Sasuke did whatever Kakashi could force him to do. Sakura would try to help out only to become tired quickly and have to rest, while Cissnei had managed to make Sakura train while in the academy nothing short of drastic surgery would make her train after classes were finished.

For example:

"All units report in!" Kakashi's voice cut across the radios all three students wore, this was only a simple retrieval mission, catch Tora, but it was a good training mission. Finding and catching Tora took coordination and simulated search/capture and or kill missions that were more common among higher ranks.

"This is Shurinken, I'm in position." Sakura pressed herself against the tree so the target wouldn't see her. The use of call signs to confuse an enemy weren't really necessary, but it was good to get into the habit now while the missions were "non-critical", as Cissnei had put it, and would make things easier later.

"Spiky here, Target is in striking distance." Naruto was hidden in a bush, which was an impressive trick given the orange eye-sore he called a jump suit. He wasn't sure about his call sign, or why Cloud seamed to find it so amusing.

All three counted to 10 before Kakashi spoke up. "Raven, report!" Kakashi sighed before changing tactics "Sasuke, if you do not answer, I will class you as K.I.A, and make you do the next two missions solo as punishment."

"Tch, I'm ready" was the petulant response. "OK, GO!"

All three students charging the cat in a magnificent display of team work, cutting of the target's escape routes and bringing it down quickly and cleanly... is exactly what didn't happen.

Sakura was the closest of the three with Naruto and Sasuke just behind her, despite this she was the last to reach Tora. Naruto was the first to arrive, closely followed by Sasuke, and managed to capture Tora before she could escape.

The normal reaction for a cat that has just been grabbed by a larger creature is to go limp and hope the bigger animal loses interest, or more normally among cats, tense up and hiss demonically, Tora however proceeded to claw each and every part of Naruto it could reach while Sasuke and Sakura looked on in fascination at the aggression and sheer determination to escape shown by the cat.

Arriving on the scene, Kakashi had to force himself not to sigh. Naruto was once again doing the majority of the work and, while that reflected well on him, it was not what Kakashi wanted to see.

Kakashi knew his students had talent, he had seen some of it during their Genin test but he just couldn't figure out how to bring it out of them.
He was, he thought to himself, used to leading a team of Anbu and had tried treating his Genin in the same way, letting them handle there own individual training but after the last 2 weeks it was clear that while Naruto and Sasuke would set and keep there own training schedule around missions and team time, Sakura wouldn't, which meant she was steadily falling behind her team mates.

That was another sore point, during the Genin exam Sakura had shown that she did have the skills to back up her academy scores, but almost immediately after had switched back to her current fan-girl mind-set and spent the majority of her time fawning over Sasuke.

He was half tempted to hit her with that genjutsu again but was sure that subjecting her to it a second time would count as abuse. He didn't know what she had seen when he used it on her weeks ago, as the illusion used the victim's subconscious to generate an image of whatever frightens them, as such, the caster isn't able to see it.

Sasuke really was skilled for a genin, but made the mistake of overestimating himself and assuming his family name, and blood-line if he activated it, would ensure his victory.

It was getting embarrassing. Kakashi had been avoiding the weekly Jounin meetings at the bar simply because he couldn't face listening to them praise, or brag about, their students progress while his were at a standstill. He had plenty he could teach them, but they all had to improve on the basics first, and before he could work on the basics such as chakra control, something Naruto desperately needed and would help Sasuke and Sakura, he needed to get his 'students' to actively train and work together. Sasuke wanted off the team so he could go it alone, Naruto was too eager to please and tried to do all the work himself (while he had Cloud, a voice in your head doesn't truly count as attention or acceptance, which would probably have explained his outfit and tendency to try and do everything) and Sakura was willing to stand back and let him run himself into the ground while praising Sasuke.

Maybe he should just swallow his pride and ask the others for help, maybe Kurenai knew how to cure a bad case of fangirl-itis.

"I HATE CATS!" Naruto's loud declaration broke Kakashi from his musings.

"Ok, let's go back to the Hokage."

That night Kakashi went to the other jounin. Asking Kurenai for help with Sakura had been painless, and he managed to get through it with dignity intact, but then the subject of the rest of his team had come up. It was just bad luck that Asuma had been there as well. Oh, sure, the man hadn't said anything against him and looked sympathetic the whole time, even offering advice, but Kakashi knew he was going to be the laughing stock of the Jounin Lounge for a long time to come.

Kurenai had suggested changing tactics, focusing on them as a team wasn't working, so maybe he should try one on one instruction as a way to get Sakura up to speed with her team mates, and learn more about his students at the same time, which in turn would let him learn how to motivate them best.

Asuma had used his team as an example. Shikamaru wanted to spend his time cloud watching but put a puzzle in front of him and nothing would stop him from solving it. Choji could simply be bribed with the use of food and simply pointing out to Ino that both her teammates worked harder than her and it was making her look bad or lazy would instantly motivate the girl. None of those facts were covered in the academy profiles and had to be learnt. Genin were not ANBU and required an entirely different way of working.

Kakashi had left the bar that night thinking carefully about each of this students, what they needed to improve and how he would go about it and how to motivate them, ANBU could be expected to motivate themselves and that was mostly where he seemed to go wrong the past 2 weeks, his approach had been hands-off with a few minor exceptions.

Naruto would be easy enough, the boy wanted attention that was obvious, Sasuke wanted power in a way that frankly worried the jounin and Sakura, actually now that he thought about it he really didn't know much about her so he decided to use the few bits of her academy report he could trust.

He wasn't expecting them to suddenly become incredible shinobi, a month wasn't enough time to drastically improve their physical skills, he was just hoping for an improvement in their attitudes.

It was for this reason that when team 7 arrived at the usual training they found him standing there with a number of bags at his feet and seeming to be deep in thought.

Naruto was the first to speak "Kakashi-sensei, you're early!"

"Oh? Sorry, I had some things I needed to pick up and lost track of time."

The Genin shared a look, this couldn't end well.

"OK, as your instructor, I feel that your progress has been rather poor since you were assigned to me, a thought the Hokage shares and has given me less than two weeks to correct before he steps in." This was an old trick, when in doubt, blame the management. "So, in an effort to correct that, I will be taking the time to work with each of you one on one. Now for this to work we will need to lessen the number of missions we undertake at first, but once you get used to the extra effort things should soon return to normal."

The Genin almost sighed, things could have been worse. A little extra training in exchange for a few less chores (none of them would call D-ranks 'missions') was almost a win-win situation in their eyes

"But, since I'm not able to trust the three of you to schedule your own physical training around our team meetings, I will be taking a hand in that as well." the sadistic gleam in Kakashi's eye was only visible for a moment but all three Genin noticed it.

"So, to start off with, the three of you will do laps around the village till I tell you otherwise and we'll see where we go from there."

Grumbling the three genin took off setting what ever pace they felt they could maintain for long distances and Sakura tried desperately to ignore the smug voice of inner Sakura who was, again, berating her for not maintaining her physical conditioning.

Kakashi had them run laps till noon, watching his genin limp back from their final lap had been enlightening. Naruto was winded but looked ok to go longer. Sasuke was clearly tired, not having Naruto's stamina. Sakura had collapsed some time ago and was currently resting to one side.

Kakashi took a moment to explain to all three what he had thought, good, not bad and poor before handing all three lunch. While they ate he explained the rest of the new schedule.

"As of now, you will all repeat this exercise once a week, each week I expect you all to have improved." Kakashi ignored the panicked choking noises coming from Sakura. "Every morning you will arrive here at seven and perform these exercises." He handed the three sheets containing a timetable and a number of different exercises. Naruto's and Sasuke's were similar though Naruto had a full hour of meditation as apposed to Sasuke's thirty minutes, this would hopefully help when it came to chakra and emotion control while Sakura's focused less on muscle building and more on flexibility and stamina, this regime had been recommended by Kurenai, she didn't mention it but she had used it as a Genin and she knew Hinata used a similar one.

"You will do this even if I am not here, and trust me, I will know if you have not. I will then have the three of you spar, full contact, no jutsu." Once again as the physically weakest member of the team, Sakura looked about ready to pass out. "Though you will be under my supervision the whole time and you WILL NOT do anything more than light sparing without out me or another jounin present. After lunch we will continue to accept missions."

Maybe he was being a bit hard on them, maybe, but if he didn't get some kind of improvement out of them soon then he would have to send them back to the academy.

Kakashi handed each of the boys a bag, Naruto's containing weights, a weighted training blade and theory scrolls, while Sasuke's contained weights, more scrolls and a black and yellow book titled "TEAMWORK for Dummies".

"Ok, Naruto, Sasuke, why don't you two call it a day, I want to speak to Sakura." He had meant to spend the rest of the day working with all three individualy but while watching them Sakura had moved up to the top of his "Things that need fixing" list.

Once the boys had left Kakashi turned his attention to Sakura. He had spent the better part of this morning thinking about what to say to her. Kurenai had told him to be firm if he wanted any chance of getting though to her so he had decided on being honest with the girl.

"Sakura, why did you become a ninja?" Considering her past behavour Kakashi didn't wait for her to answer. "If it was simply to impress some boy then you should drop out now." OK, maybe he was being harsh, too harsh if Sakura's expression was any indicator, but this needed to be said. "Right now you are the weakest member of the team, your stamina, endurance and physical strength are all well below where they should be for a kunoichi of your age. You would struggle to defeat a civilian in your current state and in the real world you put this whole team at risk."

Kakashi took a moment to let that sink in before he began again this time softer "Sakura, you really need to think about if this is really what you want to do. Once we move on to real misisons we will be expected to risk our lives for this village. As a kunoichi you risk a lot more than a shinobi, if enemy ninja catch you death is the best that will happen, torture and rape are very real possibilities; not all villages are as gentle as Konoha." Looking again at the pale, shaken girl Kakashi decided she'd had enough. "If you still think you are up to this, then I will see you here tomorrow." Kakashi left the training area, leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts, though in truth he only went as far as the nearest vantage point so he could keep an eye on her.

TBC

Omake: Whatever happened to?

Looking through the bushes, he watched his target. Soon Cloud would pay. The appearance, the very world, had changed but he would always know it was him.

Moving soundlessly from shadow to shadow he closed in on his target, careful with each step that he didn't betray his position. Cloud wasn't the green, failed SOLDIER he once was, nor the broken man he faced in Midgar; he was alert and battle ready.

Finally he was within striking distance, fate it seemed had a twisted sense of humour, his form now was much smaller so he had to get closer than he liked. His whole body tensed, muscles coiled and claws flexed.

NOW!

He jumped, claws out, teeth bared, ears back and fur on end, Cloud would not escape him!

Sakura and Sasuke watched in horror as the small feline attacked Naruto with an almost palpable hatred for the blonde. Looking at each other, Sakura was the first to speak "Black, Ribbon on ear, unusual hatred for naruto, target confirmed. Kakashi-sensei, Tora is trying to kill Naruto again."

A/N: Honor here. Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out, and thanks to those of you who still added this to your alerts and nagged us via PM and review. Unfortunately, I personally had writers block, which occured shortly after my laptop self-destructed. I am only now getting over this, but the majority of this chapter was written solely by Zero, with me acting as beta. For the record, he is a Transformers fan, and this chapter does contain a reference. Expect more. For lack of a better name for a villain we took Venat from FFXII. Also, for those who asked us, the above omake is just one of the reasons Sephiroth will not be appearing in this fic as a human, as any omakes will be classed as canon unless otherwise stated. Basically, this is karma getting back at Sephiroth.

A/N 2: Zero. While Honor can claim writers block i simply dont have enough confidence in my writing skill to continue without Honor checking over what i do, our writing styles are quite diffrent so you can prolly tell who wrote what parts but what you can't tell is i am more or less unable to spell half the words i know (i read alot but suffer mild dyslexia, yes i was tested and classed as a kid, which affects my spelling) so i didnt want to create to much work for honor when she came back. oh one last thing, while we are using the Name Venat from FFXII the apperance obviously is diffrent. For the record the TF ref is to a big dinosuar. Lets see how many get who it is. And anyway honor, its not like im gonna have them burst out into song singing "you got the touch"