Naruto: The New Beginning

55. Matchmaking

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Speaking of those odd teammates, Kimimaro had a lot to say.

Having been with the team for three years, he had more or less grown accustomed to his teammates' quirks.

But when asked by someone close to him, he couldn't help but vent a bit.

"The most troublesome thing is that Lee, Tenten, and Neji keep urging me to change my hairstyle, change my clothes, and shout slogans. Yes, I admit that Gai-sensei is very powerful, but there's no need to imitate him completely! To keep the peace, I just told them that whoever can beat me can decide my look."

Naruto chuckled, intrigued. "And then what happened?"

"Then it got even worse," Kimimaro replied, his tone dry. "They started challenging me three times a day—morning, noon, and night. If I lost, they'd train even harder, so I had to keep up."

"Hahaha!" Naruto burst out laughing. "They're persistent, huh? Even forcing you, the usually stoic Kimimaro, into this situation!"

Naruto gave Kimimaro a playful pat on the shoulder. "Well, it's a good thing your teammates are so energetic. I think they're interesting."

Kimimaro remained expressionless. "If you like them so much, maybe I'll bring them over to help your team train sometime."

"Eh? That's not necessary!" Naruto exclaimed, a bit alarmed. When did Kimimaro pick up this sly side?

Naruto knew well that in pure taijutsu, he wouldn't stand a chance against Kimimaro—fighting him would just be asking for a beating.

As the brothers bantered, on the other side, Kushina suddenly thought of something important. "Kakashi, haven't you thought about finding a girlfriend yet?"

Kakashi, caught off guard, replied, "Well… I'm not in a hurry."

"You're not getting any younger. What do you think of Anko? Or maybe I could ask Mikoto to introduce you to some Uchiha girls—they're very pretty."

Kakashi tried to deflect the conversation.

Kushina sighed. "It's all Jiraiya-sensei's fault for writing those ridiculous books that corrupted you!"

"Hey, how is this my fault?" Jiraiya protested. "I'm just a writer! If your kid's picking up bad habits, that's on you. My books are clearly labelled for adults!"

"Speaking of which," Naruto jumped in, "Jiraiya-sensei, you're still single, huh? Waiting for Tsunade-sama?"

"Er… well…" Jiraiya stammered. For all his bravado and his famous novels, he was surprisingly shy about his feelings.

Naruto, enjoying the chaos, was already planning how he could help Jiraiya and maybe even find a partner for Kakashi. But then, the conversation took an unexpected turn.

"Listen up, Naruto, Kimimaro," Kushina said sternly. "You two better not pick up any bad habits from these guys. This is important."

Kimimaro remained silent, but Naruto quickly retorted, "Mom, I'm only twelve!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Your father was already…" Kushina blushed and trailed off, embarrassed.

Jiraiya and Kakashi, knowing the story, burst out laughing.

Naruto, imagining the scene, couldn't help but think, 'Yeah, my dad was amazing. He was already sneaking around under the moonlight with you when he was twelve.'

The next morning, Minato and Jiraiya headed to the Hokage's office, while Kimimaro went off to meet his enthusiastic teammates. Naruto and Kushina walked to the mission hall together.

Someone was already waiting at the entrance.

"Good morning, everyone," Kushina greeted with a smile.

"Morning, Akamaru, Hinata, and…" Naruto's eyes darted to where he instinctively felt was the most unlikely spot, and sure enough, "…Shino."

"Good morning, Kushina-sensei. Good morning, Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted shyly.

Kiba, noticing Naruto's focus on Akamaru, shouted, "Hey, Naruto! You haven't seen me in so long, and you only notice Akamaru?"

"Wow!" Akamaru barked happily, his tail wagging.

Naruto scooped Akamaru up, petting him with a grin. "How can I not notice Akamaru? He's adorable! You, Kiba, are just his sidekick."

Kiba, indignant, yelled, "You bastard! How can you betray me?"

"Oh, go ask Sasuke to fight you," Naruto responded dismissively. Why fight when petting the dog was more fun?

As they waited, Naruto struck up a conversation with Kurama in his mind. "Hey, big fox."

"Hmm?"

"Can I pet your head?"

Kurama smiled mischievously. Naruto's eyes widened as a giant tail appeared before him, and then… WHAM! He was sent flying.

"Ow! You just wait, Kurama. One day, I'm gonna—" Naruto winced, rubbing his head.

Kushina, watching her students interact with Naruto, couldn't help but smile.

Especially when she noticed Hinata sneaking glances at Naruto, she was even more pleased. 'Looks like yesterday's decision to train with Kakashi's squad was the right call! I'll keep an eye on both Kakashi and Naruto—two birds with one stone!'

"All right, let's pick up the mission first. You can do what you like in the afternoon."

"Yes!" Hinata, Kiba, and Shino responded in unison, with Akamaru barking in agreement.

Kushina's authority was unquestionable, and even the rambunctious Kiba wouldn't dare defy her.

Naruto reluctantly handed Akamaru back to Kiba and continued waiting for his teammates.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived on time. Kakashi must've crossed paths with a black cat or something. He was only ten minutes late today—not too bad.

"Let's go," Kakashi said lazily.

Today's mission was a dog-walking assignment. There wasn't much choice—most missions left to genin were mundane tasks like finding lost pets, babysitting, pulling weeds, or running errands.

Each of the three took a dog, leashed it, grabbed a plastic bag, and set off on their mission.

The walk was uneventful. These were just ordinary dogs, not as smart as Akamaru, nor as cute, so Naruto didn't feel the urge to play with them.

After submitting the mission, Kakashi reached for some snacks from his ninja pouch but decided against it. "All right, let's go train with Team 8 today."

Sasuke didn't care, but Sakura asked curiously, "Why are we suddenly training with another team?"

Kakashi sighed inwardly. 'Do you think I want to? Kushina-sensei gave me orders, and I'm not about to disobey her. But how can I explain that to you?'

Naruto stifled a laugh, giving Kakashi an out. "Maybe he wants us to see how we measure up against another team."

"Yeah, that's it," Kakashi agreed quickly, relieved.

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