Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Hello" - Regular Speech

'Hello' - Thoughts

'Hello Jutsu' - Jutsus

Today on a nondescript and undamaged training field featuring grass terrain, plenty of trees a small lake, and the sign indicating this is the fourth training ground, the four members of Team 2 convened for a training session. After the Hyūga Affair, Team 2's participation had earned them an indefinite probation due to the whole killing an ambassador issue. No matter how justified a case one could make, D's death complicated matters internationally for the village and the team finds themselves spending their time training.

Shikaku gave out chakra paper to his students to begin with "Channel your chakra into this, it'll tell us your affinity and we'll go on from that".

Naruto spared the paper an apathetic look "Are we really doing this sensei?"

"It's a skill we can improve, why not?" Itachi jumped into the conversation to answer with a question.

"I already know mine, look its water." Naruto channeled his chakra into the piece of paper and the three waited in anticipation.

It split in half.

"See it's wet now." Naruto said smugly before noticing his hand being dry and looked down "Uh, what just happened?"

"You have a wind affinity, it's the rarest affinity in Konoha so this will be bothersome to find someone to help you out with it." Shikaku ignored the boy's ramblings and turned to his two other students.

Still dumbfounded, Naruto kept repeating "How can I not be water?"

The three sweatdropped at the blonde and turned to themselves as Shikaku prompted Itachi to go next.

Itachi's paper burst into flames as expected of the heir of the Uchiha clan.

"Fire, not unusual for the Uchiha Clan or for the whole of Konoha." Shikaku commented simply 'Something ordinary from this team for once.'

Izumi gulped anticipating her turn, she had intentionally ignored ninjutsu after the knowledge that she didn't even have enough chakra to maintain the Sharingan for a couple of minutes. The thought of practicing exhaustive ninjutsu was troubling but she kept the thoughts to herself and emulated her team.

"Izumi?" woken from her thinking stupor by her sensei, she forced chakra into the paper.

Izumi's paper wrinkled somewhat mildly.

"Lightning, not as uncommon as Wind, but still hard to find more than not…"

"Alright time, Naruto your turn to teach for this."

"Eh?"

"You did say you wanted your team to be able to water walk right during the fight with D." Shikaku reminded the blond.

Naruto scratched his head in confusion "Did I? Wasn't I a bit unconscious for that?"

"You said it, you're doing." Shikaku walks away from his team towards the village, giving them a backhanded wave as he disappears into the distance.

"Stupid sensei… who holds someone's word when they're drifting to unconsciousness." Naruto shook his head lamely. 'Why am I the one training others…' he discarded those thoughts as he turned to the two Uchiha's who were looking expectedly at their stand-in-sensei.

"Okay then" Naruto took a deep preparatory breath "Itachi. Izumi. You two already know how to climb trees like shinobi, right?"

The two Uchiha's nodded. Walking and running up trees is at the end of the day, a fundamental skill for any shinobi living in Konohagakure considering the environment.

Naruto began is lecture "Water walking is the same principle except its on a body of water."

"Alright then—" the two however already went ahead towards the lake.

"Oi, don't do that yet" the warning was too late as the two descended into the lake's depths almost immediately.

"Not chasing after you two this time…" Itachi and Izumi surfaced took quite a bit longer then their fall but the two were quick to get back to the shore. Naruto sighed at the two's antics, 'for being Uchiha the two acted quite oddly when next to each other.'

"I wanted to say, before you two idiots ran in, to take off your clothes." Itachi obediently started stripping "No good getting them wet pointlessly." whilst Izumi's face grew tomato red.

"Naruto you idiot, what are you saying to a girl!" Izumi's protest

"Huh? What girl?" a mocking yawn escaped from Naruto's mouth.

A kunai whizzed past the blond's face "Rude!"

"Don't care, get an academy swimsuit or something if you care that much about modesty. Just don't whine at me if you ruin your clothes." Naruto's grin indicated he was teasing but before Izumi could give a retort, Itachi opened his bag to reveal that he had said item Naruto was describing already.

"Here you go." Itachi held out the swimsuit to Izumi, his face not betraying any emotion.

"..." Neither Naruto nor Izumi had the will nor words to say anything to the prepared Uchiha boy. Their faces mixed together a look of terror and awe as they comically inched away from Itachi, albeit in different direction.

"Get changed, we're wasting Naruto-sensei's time." Itachi practically shooed Izumi away whilst simultaneously baiting the weakest part of Naruto's ego.

"Not falling for it." a bait that didn't sink in.

Izumi moved away from sight, as the two boys continued exchanging annoying barbs that sounded like pointless bickering more than anything else. Despite Team 2 being constructed less than three months ago, the three of them had known each other since the beginning of the academy 'The two of them barely changed and it's been over a year now…' Izumi's thoughts didn't linger long as she walked back after changing.

"I'm back!" Izumi announced her return to the two.

"Alright, as I was explaining before you two just jumped practically head first into the water, the key to the exercise is understanding that the water's surface is unstable." Naruto threw a pebble into the water as part of the impromptu lecture "If I threw that on a wall or a tree, nothing would happen, but the unstable water changed in response to the pebble." Naruto threw himself into the water this time and instead of splashing and sinking like the pebble, he landed and stood on the surface.

"But we're ninjas, not pebbles, so we want to stick on the surface instead. No shortcuts here, just adjust your chakra in accordance to the surface of the water until it becomes second nature." the blond invited the two onto the lake's surface.

Itachi and Izumi maintained their balance for close to a minute before the Uchiha boy fell into the water first where he was quickly followed by the distracted Izumi. The two Uchihas repeated the process two more times under Naruto's supervision before they had reached an acceptable state of stability over the water.

Time to ruin it.

"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave" a great wave formed on the surface of the lake destabilizing the still surface water into a raging ocean wave during a storm. Itachi and Izumi lost balance their balance the moment the water lost its calm and the two fell into the water for the fifth time during training.

"Naruto!" Izumi emerged from the wild waters first "What the hell was that!"

"It's still training." Naruto didn't spare a glance at his 'students' as he rode a small but wild wave on the surface again.

"You're going to have to be able to stand on waves as unstable as this if you're going to be on a team with the best most powerful Water Release user of this generation."

"Water Release?" Izumi inquired, attempting to get her footing back on the wilder waters.

Itachi washed up on the shore and walked back to the other two "Is that why you were so shocked to learn you had an affinity for wind instead?"

Naruto nodded mutely.

"Why Water Release though?" Izumi fell into the water again only for Itachi to catch her before she was fully submerged again.

"Well surpassing the Nidaime Hokage has been a benchmark for me for a quite a while." Naruto began personally reminiscing on his own.

"The Nidaime? Not the Yondaime?" the silent implication being why not his own father.

"Well…" Naruto decided to regale them of a bit of his history.

[Flashback: Approximately Two Year Ago]

In the Namikaze residence, Minato Namikaze donning his attire as Hokage was enjoying his lunch in peace. The house has been quiet since Kushina just recently put the toddlers to sleep for the third time today. Minato for his part was finishing his lunch on the familiar family table and was prepared to flash away.

Unfortunately for him his eldest had other plans.

"Tou-chan!" the young Naruto surprisingly tackled his father, inadvertently taking both blond through with his jutsu.

The two appeared in the Hokage's formerly empty office, now with two occupants, in a daze for completely different reasons between the two.

"Oh dear…" Minato's panic was broadcasted live for anyone to see 'Kushina's going to kill me… and resurrect me just to do it again.'

"That… was… awesome!" Naruto for his part was in awe by the jutsu his father had used.

The smaller blond wrapped his hand around his father's leg "Teach me it, Tou-chan!"

The Hokage quickly shook his head "Sorry Naruto, but I can't teach you the Hiraishin."

"Who can teach me it then?" The pout adorning his face his face was powerful, but Minato stood resolute.

"Well he could but—" Minato pointed at the portrait of the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, but before he could continue.

"But aren't the portrait people with your hat all gone?" Naruto remembered his father teaching him of the tales of the previous Hokage in the past.

"They are…" Minato nodded 'Naruto hasn't shown an interest in becoming Hokage before…'

Naruto's stare on the Nidaime's portrait was intense "Tobirama Senju?" and he thought hard about the Nidaime, longer than he did for anything else before.

Minato laid his hand on his still son's shoulder "Naruto?"

"He's the coolest Hokage then right, Tou-chan?" the words stunned and stung Minato simultaneously. His son gaining an interest in the Hokages but not at the one that lives in his house.

"Eh, but I'm right here." the living Hokage weakly rebutted.

Naruto shook his head rapidly "Yeah but he made that Hiraishin thing that you use right? Since he was Nidaime and you're the Yondaime."

"Well, he did but—" Minato attempted to defend himself again but his motormouth son stopped him one more time.

"Then I'll become a shinobi that'll surpass the Nidaime, then making the Hiraishin from nothing will be easy!" Naruto proclaimed, in front of his father, that he would learn the Hiraishin without anyone's help. Minato would normally be brimming with pride however the only thought running through his mind was:

'Did I just get shown up by the a dead Hokage?'

[Flashback End]

Over the course of his tale, the two Uchiha had fallen into the water twelve more times between them since he had destabilized the water with his jutsu earlier. His teammates had heard every word in his story and found it difficult to interrupt him mostly because of the water that would often get in their mouths.

"I learnt a lot more about the Nidaime since then, like about how he was the most powerful Water Release user ever." Not paying attention to Izumi trying to surface from underwater for the seventh time using Naruto's himself as a makeshift handle

"So, I'm starting with that"

"Why don't you just ask Yondaime-sama to teach you it again?" Izumi asked as she hoisted herself with both hands on his right foot.

"Nah, that would mean I'd be going back on my word." the declarative tone he employed can packaged with a certain confidence "...and admitting defeat! Can't let Tou-chan have that over me!"

Naruto finally paid attention to his teammates to notice that they had improved even more since the start of his story. 'They're fast learners, I wonder if they're using the Sharingan…'

No matter, another test on top of the other.

"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave" the advanced version of the previous jutsu created even more water than last time and now had the waves going over and above the shore. The water had gotten wild enough that smaller trees appeared to have been swept by its rapid currents.

'That may have been a bit too much…'

In an office seen previously in a flashback already, the Hokage's office once again featured Minato but this time joined by the jōnin sensei of Team 2. Shikaku had tried multiple times to appeal to the Hokage about Team 2's probation and each time he had be rebuffed as the merits presented by his team was always overshadowed by the Hyūga Affair and their part.

"Hokage-sama, is there an update to Team 2's probationary period duration." Shikaku had mouthed the same exact words five times since the incident.

Minato sighed and shook his head to utter the same response had given five times as well "Still indefinite."

"That will be unacceptable for this team." Shikaku dangled the unsaid words 'for your son' in front of the Hokage.

"Since you only come here when you want something to happen, you must have an idea to lift it then?" Minato anticipated this encounter would be different from the other given Shikaku's determined demeanour.

Shikaku took a deep breath before laying forth his plan "If I may suggest, send Team 2 to the Chūnin Examination scheduled to be held in Kirigakure in sixth months' time."

"..." Silent shock painted Minato's face 'Well I wasn't expecting this.'

Taking the silence as a prompt to continue "The team already suprasses most genin teams over their age and the opportunity would be an excellent display of Konohagakure's aptitude."

The Hokage rubbed in temple in contemplative frustration because this idea presents a significant merit to the village. The thought of displaying the best genin the village has to offer was not one that was easily dismissable. The one hurdle of a mountain to overcome would be the village that had openly declared its sights on Itachi already.

"Does the neighbouring Kumogakure factor into your plan? They are the only other village that consistently sends participants to Kirigakure's exams, while this will be Konoha's first since the international exam's introduction after the Third War." the Hokage recited with eyes closed in consideration of the potential levity of the situation.

"Will their participation be a complication?" Minato finished with an intense gaze levelled at Shikaku.

"That's why its sixth months from now, to give my team ample amount of time to prepare themselves for the examination."

"If it's the safety of the genin, sending the Inojin and Chōza with us would be more than enough." Minato considered the proposal; the fielding of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was a declaration that something important was occuring. Though the three together could and have handled every adversary they have faced.

Minato's took out a document and began writing "No, Team 2 will not be sent to a foreign exam without field experience together."

Shikaku bit his tongue in mock frustration as he had prepared for this scenario as well 'just a little more.'

"To support your request, the probation on Team 2 will be lifted and they are to take a mission that will allow them to operate outside the village." Minato finished signing the document indicating that Team 2 was to be lifted from their probation in a month's time "and by the looks of it outside the Land of Fire too…"

Shikaku bowed at the news "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Now then, Shikaku, do properly prepare your team for this opportunity. Oh and I'll leave it to you to inform Inojin and Chōza." Shikaku raised his head and nodded at the order. 'This is going to be our first mission since the end of the Third War together…'

"Team 2 will be the only team from Konohagakure at those exams. Underperformance is unacceptable, dismissed."

"Now this is training!" Naruto drenched by his own jutsu exclaimed in excitement. Team 2 has utterly wrecked and flooded the training field they used for the day. Itachi and Izumi were chasing after the troublesome blond on top of the stormy waves. All of this, according to Naruto, was still part of training but anyone could catch the signature vengeful Uchiha glare that the clan was known for.

Shikaku arrived at the site flabbergasted at what his genin had managed, the uprooted trees had managed to coalesce together into a makeshift dam that trapped the water inside. Climbing on top of the wall to see the tempestuous waters, he spotted his two genin giving chase to the blond he had left as the sensei for this session.

"Normally I'd be mad for you destroying another training field with your water jutsus but this is perfect." Shikaku mentally noted the three's water walking was superb for genin given the harsh conditions the water simulated

"Shikaku-sensei?" The three asked together in united confusion.

"Team 2 is formally registered to take part in the Chūnin Exams to take place in six months in Kirigakure." Shikaku announced to his team and awaited their joy, as most genin would at the sounds of their nomination.

Instead...

"Oh no…" the three shuddered.

Shikaku caught off guard by his genin's reactions asked, "What's that about?"

"The last time you registered us a mission this far in advance, we caused an international incident." Itachi recounted their now infamous escort mission with the Kumo ambassador.

"Almost caused an international incident, nothing came out of it." Naruto defended as he felt the attack directed at him, given his responsibility with landing the final jutsu and all.

Izumi with a joking and knowing smile gave a single comment "Yet."

Shikaku shook his head at his genin's antics "That was different."

"And also, aren't we supposed to be under probation? How'd you convince Tou-chan to let us off already?" Naruto stopped running suddenly to give a familiar thinking pose. Itachi and Izumi could only sweatdrop at the antics at their temporary water walking sensei.

"There's value in knowing your worth…" Shikaku cryptically answered resulting in three confused genin.

"Well, Chūnin Exams sounds awesome. We'll pass for sure!" Naruto, still on top of the lake he turned into a raging sea, draped his arms over the shoulders of both of his teammates. The three of them shared an excited grin among themselves.

"Since you three already look pretty proficient with water walking, your nature affinity training is next" before he moved forward, he looked down to his feet to see the water now calm instead of the tempestuous currents that were running before.

"Oh, and Naruto, don't get rid of this water field, we'll need it to prepare for the Chūnin Exams." Naruto nodded, excited that his playful joke during training was to merit to even his sensei.

"I'm not the best at using the elements given the Nara clan's specialty but I'm experienced enough. You three, with the Sharingan dōjutsu and Naruto's obsession with water jutsus will inevitably want to hone your skill with the elements."

"Training your affinity is a simple sounding task." Shikaku began his lecture in earnest and the three genin reciprocated by giving their full attention.

"The basic principle we use in Konohagakure is based on leaf manipulation." Shikaku took a leaf drifting on the water's surface and showed it to his students before forcing his fire natured chakra into it causing it to burst into flames. The three genin starred at the ashen remains of the leaf and nodded.

"It's the same principle as pumping your chakra into the paper I gave you three earlier though causing the same response will be much harder given the less chakra conductive properties of a leaf." The three picked up chakra leaves of their own and Itachi and Izumi began the exercise whilst Naruto prepared another question.

"Sensei, why don't we just practice jutsus of that elemental nature?"

Shikaku expected the question "That would be immediately useful, but we have at least a month left in probation and six till the exams"

The inquisitive look Naruto wore still hadn't disappeared and Shikaku realised he was answering the wrong question. "Oh, the principle behind this kind of training, the difference between jutsus and this type of training is that this will increase your control over the element."

"Whilst using a jutsu to burn this leaf might be easier, it doesn't improve your potency or control of the fire, just that specific jutsu." The three genin stared wide eyed at their sensei, appreciating him in a new light.

"To improve the essential part of your elemental nature, undergoing training like this is essential." Shikaku concluded his lecture to the sound of silence. He now noticed the incredulous faces his genin shared that they directed at his person.

"..."

The Nara awkwardly shuffled at their expression "Hm? What's wrong?"

"Shikaku-sensei—" Itachi began and let himself get cut off by his more expressive teammates.

"You're actually teaching us something!" Naruto excitement was uncontained as he jumped for joy at their observed development.

"And answering our questions!" Izumi added with a barely suppressed giggle directed at their sensei.

The three shared a hearty laugh at the expense of their sensei.

"Oi! I'm not that bad you brats!" Shikaku shared in their laughter afterwards as well 'What a troublesome genin team.'

"And Naruto, this is affinity training not water nature training, so get to cutting the leaf!"

A month had gone by and the probation had finally been lifted from Team 2 and inside the Hokage's office Shikaku was finished receiving the classified information for the mission as a jōnin sensei. There were sensitive details regarding the mission matters and Naruto might faint knowing who the mission involved so the genin were excluded for the preliminary briefing though the final briefing to happen tomorrow would include all four members of Team 2.

"So how has Team 2 developed over the month?" the Hokage inquired, mostly interested in Naruto, but his teammates piqued the Hokage's interest after his son had brought the two over to their house over the month.

Team 2's sensei began his report "Naruto is as… innovative as ever, the boy is quite uninterested in learning about his own affinity favouring water jutsus more over anything else."

Minato face faulted at the news 'Why do I feel like this is my fault?'

"He really only knows two wind release techniques at this point, though he does find pretty creative uses for it."

"Naruto's control of water is astounding though, though you already know from what he did to Fourth Training Ground" the now repurposed training ground became an exclusively watery environment that numerous ninjas took advantage of. The initial disaster in the wake of his eldest son turned into an asset for the village.

"The boy's chakra reserves are insane for his age to be able to manage to do that, and he still carries around those special shuriken too in case he needs more water." The boy truly was on his path to surpass the Nidaime Hokage with his water jutsus 'But if your goal is still Hiraishin, the wall of Space-Time Ninjutsu is waiting for you Naruto'

"Itachi is a prodigy in every sense of the word, he already completed the exercise for burning the leaf and boiling more than a litre of water purely with chakra" Minato's nodded expectantly, Itachi was already heralded as the next great ninja for the children's generation. There were even whispers among the high-ranking shinobi that the young Uchiha was being groomed into the next Hokage, and with the presence of the Hokage's own son on the team only bolstered the voracity of said rumour.

Shikaku continued and visibly shuddered recalling what he was about to report "What's truly terrifying about Itachi is how talented the boy is with genjutsu." The best way to practice genjutsu was on other people after all.

'Fugaku would like to hear this. Itachi apparently doesn't talk about his training at home.'

"Alright, and what about Izumi?" Minato prodded about the final member and one he personally intervened with thus being directly responsible for the girl's early graduation.

"At first, from what I read of her academy records, I was surprised this girl graduate early…" Minato nodded at the words, getting her out of the academy and into a genin team was rough.

"This month though showed otherwise, she has an aptitude for taijutsu that rivals Itachi's own for genjutsu." Shikaku rubbed his ribs, recalling a memory of a clean and particularly painful kick the girl landed.

"Her chakra reserves are holding her back immensely, with most academy students having more than her." Minato mentally filed to talk about Kushina about Uzumaki chakra reserves.

"She can't use ninjutsu without passing out but in turn she found another way to use her lightning affinity. She's managed to use the principles of Chakra Flow and instead of using a weapon, she uses her entire body."

"She can only maintain it for seven minutes, but when she does, she outclasses any chūnin we have in taijutsu and may even give trouble to some jōnin."

'That sounds like the Raikage's Lightning Release: Chakra Mode, if this girl truly unlocked even a rudimentary version of that jutsu… you won't get left behind by Naruto or Itachi then… no need to worry anymore Izumi-chan.' The blond Hokage smiled at the report of the team. It seemed like he was right to put the three of them together despite earlier protests by the academy staff and even some higher up doubting the girl's quality.

"Naruto said that Gai and Kakashi would be good mentors for her, will you allow it after the mission, Hokage-sama?" Shikaku sweatdropped at his own request. Naruto had been especially persistent in asking about the two jōnin during the month.

"Eh… I'll see what I can do." a nervous laugh came from the Hokage 'What was Naruto thinking letting Izumi get mixed up with the insanity that is Kakashi and Gai'

AN:

Woah there we go another chapter down. This was a training chapter as to detail; describe and somewhat justify the skills they're going to perform in the future. It also unveiled Naruto's recent obsession with water jutsus (poor Minato) and some tidbits and hints on how Izumi advanced to genin much quicker this time around. The team's specialties are laid out in the last part of the chapter but whether it stays that rigid is something that we'll have to see.

The next few chapters will be about the out of village mission assigned to them. The mission won't entirely be original and will be an adaptation of one of the movie missions, some hints dropped in this chapter as to which movie that might be. Of course, I'm aware that in terms of continuity none of the movies have their plot occur during this time of the story but it is an adaptation of it. Also, the Part 1 movies are self-contained enough to not be overly concerned about continuity.

What movie do you think it'll be?

Some older chapters were update too, Itachi now goes by codename Dango too.

To address some reviews about Hiashi and the Hyūga kidnapping in general. Yeah Minato would be livid if it were his children that were kidnapped however the position he has, Hokage, really doesn't afford him much sympathy to hand out when it comes to restarting hostilities with another village. Though there will be negative repercussions for antagonizing Hiashi like that. As for Hinata and her place in Kumogakure, I'm not dark enough to explore a plot centred around turning her into a breeding machine (and most of the genetic manipulation technology during this time seems to be tied with Orochimaru so no cloning or other DNA shenanigans or whatever) so at most she'll be exploration into a case for Stockholm Syndrome, at worst… we'll get there.

Personal note, I'm going on a field course for a week so expect no updated during that period. Probably longer too.