Disclaimer, I do not own Naruto or any other Anime I may reference in this story. Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. Any reference to other Anime will have a disclaimer at the top of their respective chapter.

The third hokage stood in his office overlooking the village of Konoha, it was a beautiful spring morning, the sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon giving off a beautiful golden glow to the sky, the villagers had already awoke and had begun to go about their daily routines, shop owners were going through their wares and preparing for what they hoped would be a busy day of sales, and the leaf shinobi were preparing for a day of missions and training. Sarutobi himself was a little worried about what today would bring, because today was the day one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze would return from his 7 year training trip with his father's mercenaries. He didn't know what to expect, or when to expect them to get there, he had given word to the guards stationed at the gates to notify him as soon as they stepped foot behind the walls of Konoha. Mhm, today is also the day of the academy graduation, what a coincidence, I hope Naruto doesn't react to badly to what I'm going to ask him and his group to do, Sarutobi thought with a sigh as he sat down in his chair.

A lone figure could be seen making his way towards the gates of Konoha, he was about 5'6; he had golden blonde hair with blue cerulean eyes. He was wearing normal black cargo pants and a white muscle shirt overtop of a mesh armor t-shirt, he had black plated arm guards that had three slots for extendable blades that could be used as claws for close range combat (think of wolverine), and a tattered orange mask covering the lower half of his face. Across his back were two beautiful katanas, one was blood red with the Kanji for fox written along the scabbard, the hilt of the weapon was also blood red but was in the shape of a foxes head, with nine red tails used as the guard, the other was solid white, it had an intricate carving of a dragon that spiraled up the scabbard, stopping where it met the pommel of the blade and came out in the shape of a dragons head as the hilt. Naruto had few fond memories of this place he would soon be calling a home, he only had a few people he felt that he could trust, one being the third Hokage who was more of a grandfather figure to him, the people who owned Ichikaru's ramen stand, and a young girl with blue hair and white eyes who he considered his only friend. He sighed as the guards at the gate questioned him about what he wanted inside Konoha, after answering their questions he started walking towards the Hokages tower.

Sarutobi had just finished signing another stack of paperwork when a knock sounded at his door drawing and his secretary stepped in telling him he had a visitor. He motioned for the secretary to let them in and was quite surprised when the subject of his worries walked through the door.

"Hey old man, long times no see." Naruto said with a fox like grin.

"Naruto is that you? I wasn't expecting you till later, where is everyone else?" Sarutobi asked, a little worried because his plan required the entire group to be present.

"I came ahead of the rest, I was hoping to be able to watch the academy graduation and see where my skills are compared with the kids from the academy." Naruto explained, earning a nod from the old Hokage.

"You don't feel that you need to take the test Naruto? Such arrogance could lead to death in our line of work." Sarutobi said with a smirk, knowing full well the blonde was way above genin level.

"Not arrogance old man, just the truth, now if you would excuse me I would like to leave before I miss the graduation." Naruto said as he started to walk towards the door.

"Wait Naruto, take this to the instructor, his name is Iruka, it will explain to him that you are allowed to watch but are not required to take part, unless you feel like it." Sarutobi explained as he wrote something on a piece of paper before folding it and handing it to Naruto.

"Thanks old man, I'll come by later and we can catch up, the others should be here in a few more hours." Naruto said.

"Alright Naruto, I have something I would like to talk discuss with you and your group later anyways." Sarutobi said, earning a nod from Naruto before he disappeared through the door.

Naruto arrived at the academy just in time to catch the teachers making their way inside after talking amongst themselves, Naruto quickly ran to them and after finding out what room was Iruka's made his way there. Naruto knocked on the door and waited a few moments before entering the room, the room that was previously bustling with the sound of talking became deathly quiet, all of the students had their eyes on the newcomer. Naruto surveyed the classroom picking out a few people who he would watch, Mhm, the last Uchiha and Itachi-sensei's little brother, an Inzuka, Aburame, Nara, Akimichi, a Yamanaka, and a Hyuuga. Naruto smiled behind his mask instantly recognizing the Hyuuga girl as his friend from a long time ago, he would have to talk with her once he got the time. All of the girls except for a pink haired one had the same thought as they took the newcomer in, Hot!, a few even got slight nosebleeds, while a few of the males in the class scowled at the newcomer, one being the Inzuka who believed he should be getting the girls attention, and the Uchiha who was thinking about revenge.

"Hello, is this Iruka's room?" Naruto asked looking at the teacher.

"Yes my name is Iruka, I'm the chunnin teacher of this class, and who are you?" Iruka asked, looking the blonde over, obviously this kid was no mere genin.

Naruto walked over, a slight smirk under his mask as he watched Iruka tense up a little, and handed him the note from the Hokage. Iruka took the note and read through it, eyes widening with each sentence. He put the note down and bowed slightly, shocking everyone in the class,

"My apologies Namikaze-sama, I had no idea who you were, but yes I will allow you to stay and watch the tests, you may participate in the sparing session if you seem fit to do so." Iruka said as he straightened himself up.

"Please, just Naruto is fine, I do not want such respect just because of who my father was, where would you like me to sit?" Naruto asked, hoping he could take a seat among the students, mostly one though.

"Alright Naruto, sorry I didn't know there were any of your clan left, and well I could run and grab another chair and you could sit up here with me or take a seat at the back beside Hinata." Iruka said, pointing to the young Hyuuga heiress.

"I'll sit at the back, I wouldn't want you to go through the trouble of getting me a chair," Naruto said with a smirk as he disappeared in a gust of wind and reappeared right beside Hinata, shocking everyone in the room.

"Would you mind if I sat here Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, earning a slight blush from the girl. Hinata just nodded her head, not quite trusting herself to speak at the moment. Iruka sighed as he looked about the room, noticing the questioning looks from most of the students, sensing the impending question he looked at Naruto and asked,

"Would you mind telling us a little about yourself Naruto? Not a lot of students know about your lineage, hell even I don't know much about it."

"Yea sure, but some things will remain a secret, SS ranked punishable by death sorta stuff, know what I mean?" Naruto asked more as a joke then a legitimate question, earning a sweat drop from Iruka.

"Well Iruka-sensei, as you know my name is Naruto-Uzumaki-Namikaze, my mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki , she was a Jounin level shinobi said to have rivaled Tsunade the Sannin in strength. She was originally from whirlpool and was brought to Konoha by the First Hokage's wife for reasons that are supposed to remain a secret, I'm sure your aware of that." Naruto said, making Iruka nod in understanding.

"Not many people knew my father personally, he was respected greatly for his exploits during the last Shinobi war, he was a master in the art of sealing jutsu. He was trained by Jiryai the Toad Sannin, and trained the prodigy Kakashi Hatake. His name was Minato Namikaze, but you should all know him as the fourth Hokage, the youngest person to ever achieve that level." Naruto said, earning shocked looks from all in attendance, the fact that the fourth Hokage was seeing someone was kept a very close secret.

"But there are no records of the fourth Hokage having a soon, or at least having a wife." Someone asked, earning a few nods from around the room, a few even going so far as to call Naruto a liar.

"Well as you know the fourth Hokage had a lot of enemies in Iwa due to his actions during the war, if word was to get out that he had a wife and baby that would give the enemies an alternative way to get revenge. They were going to make their marriage public after my birth, but due to circumstances during the attack of the Kyuubi they both died." Naruto said solemnly.

"If that's true why have I never seen you in the village? If you're really the fourth Hokages son you should have been held in high prestige." Another student said.

"That's where the part of village secret comes into my story, certain… circumstances surrounding my birth made it a SS class secret. My father was a very influential man and had a mercenary group of high level Shinobi from around the world, they took me from the village 6 years ago and trained me until I was at a level that they desired from their leader; and while I am far from being the strongest among the group I have earned their respect and are loyal to me over anyone." Naruto said

"Well why are you here then? If you're at the level that you claim to be why would you need to take the academy test?" A girl with long blonde hair asked.

"I'm not here to take the test Ms. Yamanaka, I'm here to observe where my skills are compared to yours. Although I might want to spar the rookie of the year at the end of the day, see how well the academy curriculum is and all that." Naruto said lazily. "Now enough questions, I'll answer more when I get to know all of you better, I think it's time to begin the test." Naruto said, then turning to Hinata added, "Good luck Hinata-chan, we have to catch up later when all this is over." Earning a slight blush and smile from the girl before she nodded.

(Going to skip the tests, just use the ones from cannon for reference other than Naruto of course)
-Few hours later, training grounds

"Alright class separate into two groups, boys and girls, and we will get the sparring matches out of the way." Iruka said as he watched his students separate into two groups. Naruto went and stood next to Hinata, as he wasn't technically going to participate, and wished her good luck in her matches. Needless to say Naruto wasn't too impressed by anyone at the academy, he was proud of his friend Hinata when she won the Kunoichi side and offered to take her to lunch to celebrate. But the male side was a different story, most didn't seem to have good taijutsu training, and the few that did let their emotions control them too much and in turn made them sloppy. The Uchiha he had to admit was good compared to the rest assuming the level of training the academy put out, but was still far below him.

Naruto was making his way towards Hinata again so they could arrange their lunch when Sasuke stepped in his way.

"Fight me dobe, I'll put you and your clan in their place beneath the mighty Uchiha" Sasuke said with an arrogant smirk.

"I've seen enough of your skill to know that you are far below me, it seems that the academy has only taught the basics and while I admit that you are better than most at the academy, I do not wish to waste my time fighting you." Naruto said waving Sasuke off as he stepped around him.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that! He is far above your worthless self!" screamed a pink haired girl that Naruto recognized as Sakura Haruno from watching her fight with Hinata.

"A fangirl, how cute." Naruto said, "If you keep up with that attitude and don't step up your obvious lack of training you will die your first mission out of the village." Naruto finished sending her an icy glare.

"Humph, I wonder if your father was this much of a coward, no one can surpass the Uchiha." Sasuke said before he found himself flying across the training ground.

"You can talk about me all you want you fucking prick, I don't care who you are or what Itachi-sensei wants from you, but if you ever disrespect my parents again I'll kill you without hesitation." Naruto said as he slowly walked towards the downed Uchiha.

"How dare you speak of my brother! He is a traitor to Konoha and the Uchiha Clan!" Sasuke screamed as he picked himself up off the ground and charged back at Naruto.

"You're pathetic, I don't see whatever Itachi saw in you, but as a close friend I will not kill you, with that arrogance of yours I bet even that pink haired bitch could cut you down. As for Itachi-sensei I know more about him then you do, matter of fact he is one of the people under my command." Naruto said as he effortlessly dodged the wild punches Sasuke was throwing at him. By now the crowd was so involved with what was happening in front of them they didn't notice the group of people who had entered the training grounds.

"Itachi-san, don't you think you should step in and help your little brother? He is no match for Naruto and you know it." One of the figures said.

"After watching Sasuke I believe it would be best for him to be taught a lesson in humiliation, maybe it would help with that arrogant attitude of his, don't you agree Zabuza?" Itachi asked.

"Yea, it would be good, but the brat was right about his arrogance, the kid has some skill but that attitude is what is going to get him killed." Zabuza said.

"Only Naruto-kun would get into a fight after only being in a village for a few hours." A young feminine voice said with a bit of a giggle.

"Yea Haku, that brat has a reputation of starting a shit-show wherever he goes." Zabuza said, amusement evident in his voice.

-Back with Naruto

Mhm, it seems like a few of the others have arrived, it looks like it's time to stop playing around, Naruto though before getting into an offensive stance.

"Sorry teme, but its time I end this, I have more important things to do then waste my time here with you." Naruto said as he went on the offensive. The students had never seen such speed, one moment Naruto was across the training grounds from Sasuke and the next he had his fist buried in Sasuke's gut. Following the punch Naruto sent a side kick to Sasuke's face sending him into the air before jumping after him and sending an ax kick which sent the Uchiha into the ground creating a small crater from the impact, effectively knocking him out.

"That was boring, you guys can come out now." Naruto said, making everyone wonder who he was talking to before 3 figures appeared behind Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, did you really have to play with him that much? You could have easily knocked him out in one hit and humiliated him even more." Haku said giving him a playful hit on the arm.

"I wanted to humiliate him, not completely destroy his ego, give me some slack it's not like I wanted to fight him at all he pushed it on himself." Naruto replied, earning a nod from all three.

"N-Naruto, how do you know these p-people, two a-are in the bingo book, ones a r-rank and the other is s r-ranked." A fearful Iruka asked, shocking all the students as they slowly started to back away.

"Easy everyone, these three are Itachi-sensei, Zabuza-sensei, and Haku-chan, they are all part of my father's group and helped trained me." Naruto said as he pointed to each person respectfully. "And yes, while two are high ranked missing ninja's as long as I'm in Konoha you have nothing to fear."

"Well, unless you hurt Naruto-kun in anyway." Haku said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto from behind, earning a glare from Hinata and a few other girls.

"Hey brat, what do you think you're doing with Haku?" Zabuza asked as he slowly walked towards Naruto.

"Ahh.. uhmm.. n-n-nothing Z-zabuza-sensei, I think its t-t-time we go see the Old Man though." Naruto stammered before he took off towards the Hokage tower, leaving a chuckling Zabuza and Itachi and an upset Haku.

"Zabuza did you really have to do that to him? I can't believe after all this time you can still scare him like that." Haku said a little annoyed.

"It's fun to watch the brat squirm, and he has to know if he hurts you I'll kill him, regardless of who his father was." Zabuza said, earning a glare from Haku as she too starting walking towards the Hokage tower.

-Hokage's Tower-

Sarutobi was sitting behind his desk with a little orange book in his hand, giggling perversely, when a knock came at his door.

"Enter." The Sarutobi said as he put his book back in his desk and straightening himself in his chair. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed Naruto walking in looking a little roughed up, but chopped it up to arrogant academy students. He then noticed a second figure enter the room, a young girl probably around Naruto's age, brown hair that went just past her shoulders, wearing a blue and black battle kimono. She had standard ANBU leg and arm bracers and a beautiful blue Katana strapped diagonally across her back. The next two people who entered the Hokage recognized as Zabuza Momoichi, and Itachi Uchiha. The hokage turned a questioning gaze to Naruto when no one else entered the room, he had figured there would be more.

"The others got caught up in something else, they won't be here for a few more days, but you said that you had something you needed me to talk about that concerns them?" Naruto asked, getting a slight sigh and a nod from the old man.

"Indeed I do Naruto, it has come to my attention through one of my students spy networks that, quite recently, there has been a large number of smaller villages being destroyed with no traces of who is responsible. " Sarutobi said in a sombre tone.

"Mhmm, that is rather unusual, most of the time there are some traces when someone attacks a village, which would mean that we are not dealing with another shinobi village, most likely just a rouge group of powerful ninja, very powerful. But then again why would a group of Ninja be randomly destroying smaller villages leaving nothing behind?" Itachi asked.

"We are not sure what they are after, our spy network is still working on the finer details, with so little evidence it is hard. But… That is where you guys come in, I would like for your group to spread out among the elemental nations and keep an eye out for the group or any information there might be on them. I would recommend groups of two based on the fact little information is known about this group and their intentions." Sarutobi said as he handed Naruto a mission scroll. "This will obviously be ranked as a long term S ranked assignment, you will each be individually paid at the end of each month during the duration of the mission. To be completely honest with you Naruto, I believe that your group are the only ones capable of this mission at the moment, I don't have the spare Shinobi to send on a long term mission, and with your groups battle experience I would feel a lot safer sending you out." Sarutobi said.

Naruto noticed the graveness of the situation, and the almost pleading look in the old man's eyes, but he couldn't just send his group, no family, out on a mission that could be this dangerous without consulting with them first.

"What do you think about this Itachi, Zabuza?" Naruto asked as he turned to face his two companions.

"It's a dangerous mission for sure, I have no doubt that this is a powerful group, not just some group that is getting lucky by not leaving evidence. On the contrary I do agree with what Hokage-sama is saying, the village only has a few ninja of high enough level to deal with a mission like this, anyone else who gets sent probably would never be seen again. I will agree to this mission, not only to protect the village who your father and mother loved, but the village that I love as well." Itachi said, earning a smile from both Naruto and Sarutobi.

"I'm not from this village originally brat, but me and Haku have come to call this place home, and with Kiri (Mist village) being one of the smaller villages they could be targeted as well. I still have friends there and as an old member of the seven swordsmen I feel that on my Honor I need to protect my village, and my home." Zabuza said, "Besides, I'll need to take this group out before they get to you brat, Haku would kill me if anything happened to you." Zabuza added with a smirk, earning a glare from Haku and a nervous chuckle from Naruto. Haku could be very scary when Naruto if someone threatened Naruto.

"He..he..he… yea… well anyways I'll send word to the others in the group, see what they think, you will have your answer by the end of the week old man." Naruto said, then whistled. A few seconds later a hawk flew in through the open window and landed on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto took out a small scroll and wrote a few things on it before giving it to the hawk and sending it off.

"Hey you never asked my opinion!" Haku yelled glaring at Naruto, which earned a smirk from Zabuza and a nervous chuckle from Naruto.

"Well… uhm… technically you are not part of the mercenary aspect." Naruto said nervously.

"What's that supposed to mean Nar-u-to-kun." Haku said dangerously as she started to slowly walk towards Naruto, forming ice senbon in her hands.

"Uhm… it meant that… your too important to me for me to send you out on such a dangerous mission, so you will be staying here with me." Naruto said quickly hoping to stop the wrath of his female companion.

Haku stopped mid stride, trying to comprehend what the blonde just said, face earning a nice shade of red. She was brought out of her stupor when Zabuza made a whip sound and laughed at his leaders' explanation and Haku's blush. His laugh soon turned into a scream of pain as he was hit with senbon in various joints and nerve ends, earning a chuckle from everyone present.

"Awww… is the big brave Naruto finally saying that he likes me?" Haku asked teasingly.

"Do I die if I say no?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Yes, but if you say yes and lie to me… you will also die." Haku said with a small smile, making the rest of the men in the room nervous at how calm she was.

"Uhm, well… uhhh." Naruto started, but was silenced when Haku put a finger on his lips.

"I like a fancy dinner then a walk through the park under the stars, make sure to dress nice handsome." Haku said playfully as she walked back to her previous spot, adding a little extra sway to her hips.

"Riiight… uhm, seven sound good?" Naruto asked with a slight blush.

"Sure!" Haku said happily.

"Ahem, if you two are done flirting we have other issues to discuss. And seemingly as Naruto already offered you to stay with him it concerns both of you as you will both become Ninja of Konoha." Sarutobi said. "What rank do you believe they both are Itachi, Zabuza?" the old man asked.

"Well in terms of power I would say low to mid Jounin level, which could earn them ranks of Special Jounin, but they lack the experience to lead missions. I would suggest giving them chunnin ranks for now, than if they prove themselves to be capable leaders move them up to Jounin or special Jounin." Itachi said, earning an od of agreement from Zabuza. "If I may also add Hokage-sama, I would like Naruto paired with my little brother Sasuke, ever since Obito killed the rest of the clan he has been getting more and more hell bent on revenge, if some outside source was to offer him power I have no doubt he would leave to take it."

"Alright Itachi, I will accept your request, Naruto will be on team seven with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, be at the academy at nine tomorrow morning for team placement." Sarutobi said.

"Erm, Hokage-sama," Haku started, " I was wondering if you could place me on a team with Naruto, we have been training together for years and we work well together, I am also a capable medic-nin and could help when the other two get hurt… due to Naruto's… condition, he heals rather fast." Haku said.

"Well… there have never been any four man squads before, but I'll bring it up with the ninja council and we will have an answer for you later today or tomorrow morning. On the subject of your condition Naruto, how is it doing?" Sarutobi asked.

"Well… She is doing fine, we talked things out and came to an agreement, I can use her chakra when I need to and she has access to my sense of smell taste and sight. I'm working on a way to give her a physical body, even if it would only be for a limited amount of time." Naruto said.

"Good, goo-Whaaaaaat!" Sarutobi yelled, " The fox is a girl! And your' working on a way to give her a physical body! Are you crazy!"

"No need to yell old man, I'm right here, and yea I am, they had me tested." Naruto said with a smirk, causing the other three to sweat drop.

"I don't even want to know anymore… I just hope you know what your' doing Naruto." Sarutobi said with a sigh.

"I do, don't worry she isn't as bad as you think she is, she has her reasons for attacking Konoha 12 years ago, and she is sorry for what she did." Naruto explained. "Now if that's everything I think I'd like to leave, I have lunch planned and can't be late."

The old Hokage just nodded and the four left the room. I hope everything works out… things are sure going to get crazy around here soon, the council will be in an uproar over Naruto coming back not only because of him being the last Namikaze but also because of the Kyuubi. They will probably enable the CRA and try to force him into marriages. I'm getting too old for this shit. Sarutobi thought as he watched the four leave from his window. Returning to his desk he pulled out his little orange book and started to read, things were definitely going to get interesting.

This was my first fic, please be gentle. It will probably be a little rough for a few chapters, and it will be a while before I do any fight scenes, right now I'm not comfortable with writing them. I don't really care if you review, its appreciated along with constructive criticism. I'm also trying to decide if I should add more original Naruto characters to the group or think of some OC's if you do review please tell me what you think or give me some ideas of a good OC, all credit going to the creator of course. Also I don't know if a story like this has been done before, I have read a lot of fanfics and so far have not seen one but please let me know if there is one like this so I make sure not to copy anything by accident. Would also like to know if I should mix a few Akatsuki members with OCs for the rogue group, I'm currently thinking of a name for both groups.