Naruto's Kit

Chapter 1

Four shinobi of 18 years of age were heading towards Konoha from Ame. One wore an orange-with-black jumpsuit and had blonde hair and whisker marks on his face. Another wore a tan jacket, had brown hair with one red streak on each cheek under his eyes, and was riding a dog. Another wore a dark green jacket with a high collar and hood up to hide most distinguishing features, except for his sunglasses. The last was the only female in the group and she wore a lavender jacket and had long black hair with a blueish tint and pale eyes with a lavender tint. The only common feature between them all was the Konoha hitai-ate they all sported in their preferred ways.

They were Team Eight accompanied by Konoha's latest and greatest hero, Naruto Uzumaki. He had been the village's hero since day one, literally, although for the better part of his life he was an unsung hero regarded as a villain. He had warmed his way into several people's hearts by the time he was 13, and even more by the time he was 16. One of the things that had helped him the most was when he saved the people of Konoha from Pain of the Akatsuki. The entire town had cheered for him when he returned, almost everyone dropping their prejudices against him. The downside was that everyone had found out his dirty little secret involving the Kyuubi, but those that knew him still respected him. One person was quoted as saying that if he was the fox, then obviously the demon wasn't demonic in the first place. Even so, everyone said he wasn't really the fox, and now the older generation finally started to agree.

Sadly not everyone had a change of heart in that one instance, particularly the seniors on the council. But even they had their opinions changed on an occasion not too long ago. When Danzo made Hokage, he had no intention of having it be a filler position until Tsunade recovered. He gave most of the missions to his ROOT, had the other ninjas work on reconstruction, and tried to corrupt the other kages into giving him power over the other nations. He might have succeeded even, had the Akatsuki not shown up and one guard caught onto his sharingan usage. When he got back to Konoha after a battle with rogue nin Sasuke Uchiha, he feared he had to take a preemptive measure to keep his position, meaning he chose to kill Tsunade in her sleep. Too bad for him Naruto and Shizune caught him and fought him off, which was easy since the old warhawk was out of top shape and tired from the previous fight. They incapacitated him and he was put on trial. Luckily one of Shizune's toxins was an extra-strong truth serum so Danzo was forced to confess, thus losing all support from the other council members. He was executed and other ROOT members were reprogramed by Ibiki and Inoichi in time. Tsunade woke up and was regiven her position, after she reapplied her younger look. Her first act was to give Naruto a field promotion to chuunin.

By now even the old fossils once on the council decided to give Naruto a chance, albeit grudgingly. And with former ROOT members, Sai included, still under surveillance, all the other ninjas got back on duty. Sakura stayed in town most of the time to heal others until Tsunade was 100% again so Naruto teamed up with other teams like he did when Sasuke left. At the moment he was with Team Eight since Kurenai had yet to retake mission work even after having her son. That and everyone wanted to give him and Hinata more time together after her little confession. Including themselves.

-Flashback to shortly after Pain battle-

"Hi Hinata, can I talk with you for a bit?" Naruto greeted her at the remains of the Hyuuga compound the day after he came back from seeking the Raikage.

Hinata blushed, knowing exactly what he wanted to discuss. She looked to her father, who nodded his approval then went back to supervising the reconstruction of the estate. She turned back to the whiskered blond. "S-sure, Naruto-kun." The two walked away to one of the forests around the city outside what was left of the walls. They sat down on a log that was near a creek with lots of wildflowers. "So... wha-what's on y-your mind, Naruto-kun?"