Chapter 2: Surpass.

Naru stood across from Kakashi, their bodies tensed and their eyes locked on the other waiting for one to give the tiniest signal of their next move. At the same moment both shot forward, Naru threw her right fist towards Kakashi who blocked and repeated the same move. She closed her free hand over his fist and pushed against each other, the ground shifted from the force of their chakra.

A foxy grin spread over Naru's face, Kakashi flinched in confusion, she shifted her hands to his wrist and dropped back using his pressure and strength to flip him over her head to the ground. Naru sprung up landing above Kakashi, pinning him to the ground and placed her hand over his neck and her knees on his wrists, giving him another foxy grin.

Both shifted their focus to see their fathers walking up to them.

"Good job," Sakumo praised, Naru grinned, pulling up and holding her hand out to Kakashi, he took it and gave his own grin yanking her down and pinning her to the dirt.

"Cheater." She grumbled, Kakashi chuckled getting off his friend as she stood up dusting herself off.

"You both are improving."

"Good enough for an out of village mission?" She asked, giving a smile mixed with puppy eyes to her father who huffed.

"Naru." He warned. "You've been an official genin for two weeks."

"And you've been on three missions in that time!" She protested.
"My missions have been way too dangerous for you to come with me."
"You promised." She pouted, Minato sighed rubbing his head.

"Minato-san, Sakumo-san, the Hokage has requested your presence." An anbu said, appearing in a flash, both jounin nodded their heads.
"Head home, I'll be there in a bit." Minato said, Naru huffed stomping away making the young father sigh knowing his daughter was not happy with him at all.
"You're in trouble." Sakumo teased.
"Tsk... She's got her mother's hotheadedness, and attitude."
"And your looks and skills, I feel bad for the ninja that gets in her way."
"Same for your clone." Minato retorted, making Sakumo chuckle with a nod. "If they become partners in missions they'll be unstoppable."

"If they become partners? Hah, I doubt Naru would take it quietly if she and Kakashi wouldn't be partners."

o0o

"Wake up Naru!" She gasped sitting up in her bed greeted by her father grinning down at her.
"Tou-chan it's 6AM!!" She whined, flopping back down covering her head.
"It's time to start the day, you have a big day ahead of you."
"What kind of big day?" She grumbled glaring at him.
"You start training and missions with your new sensei." He said, yanking the covers back, she snarled. "The sooner you get up, the sooner you can start your new missions." He said in a sing sing voice walking out of the room listening to her grumbling whine as she dragged herself out of bed.

Within 30 minutes Naru stood at the door ready to begin and followed him through the village to the training grounds.

"Neh Tou-chan who is my sensei?" He smiled over his shoulder.

"Not sure just yet, I guess you'll have to wait and find out." He grinned, she looked at his back and swallowed heavily. 'I'll catch up! I swear Tou-chan!' She thought, balling her hands into fists. Ever since she witnessed him in action, she was obsessed with her father and swore she would be an amazing hero just like him.

"Alright, good luck. Joji." He turned, she looked to see they were in the training grounds.

"What are we doing here?"
"You're meeting your sensei, I received a note to bring you here, there are some jobs that need to be done before you meet."

"Oh... okay." She frowned before shaking her head and standing on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek and waved. "Bye Tou-chan!" She yelled walking into the gates, Minato sighed heavily as he watched her walk into the woods and chuckled knowing very well his daughter wasn't going to be happy at the end of this exercise.

Naru
I walked towards the three wooden posts that stood in the center of this training grounds, my mind running fast wondering who my sensei was, why we didn't just meet like a normal sensei would, instead there was a note pinned to the third post.

As a ninja you must be able to locate and disable threats and understand what's truly important.

I focused carefully before a small disturbance in the air, I looked quickly before focusing carefully. "Kai!" I called out and whirled around as I found myself staring down at kunai. I let out a quiet whimper and maneuvered out the way following the trail of the wire to the bushes to the right, a small was attached to the anchor in the ground, I pulled it up looking at the scribbled note before a low whistling sounded before a barrage of shuriken came flying towards me, I twisted, jumped and maneuvered around avoiding the weapons that lodged around me. I let out a loud huff falling back against the large oak tree huffing for air. This sensei was really getting on my nerves, why did I have to do all this just to meet him? Why not just meet me! Preferably over ramen....

My stomach growled as I thought of the ramen and quickly shook my head, I couldn't get distracted right now, I needed to keep going. I went to stand up and cried out as thick tree sap stuck me to the tree. I snarled struggling to break free, there was no way this was regular sap. It had to be another trick! I yelled, pulling away wincing as some of my hair was pulled out before I got free from the sticky binds and huffed loudly. I couldn't wait for this to be done!

An hour slowly passed by and I had a run in with every jutsu style that I knew, I was furious. A quiet shuffling sounded through the thick brush, maybe it was sensei, the jerk watching me. I let out a small growl and pounced like a cat through the bushes to tackle the watcher.

"OW!!!" I blinked as I realized I was sitting on Kakashi who was equally beaten up and obviously aggravated whether it was by the test or me sitting on his back.

"Geez Naru!!" He grumbled bucking me off.
"What are you doing here!?!" We both questioned at once "I'm here to meet my sensei. Stop that!" We continued at the same time, I huffed slapping my hand over his mask.

"Tou-chan said I was meeting my sensei." I supplied as he protested to be muted.
"Same," He grumbled.
"So, our Tou-chan's brought us here to go through tests without so much as a reason why except meeting our so-called sensei."
"Yep, which probably means we're gonna be taught by them."

"Ohhh..... Is Tou-chan gonna get it." I growled as I felt fire in my soul as I planned some revenge on him. "Pull it in Kakashi, we're gonna show our Tou-chan's why you don't prank the master!" He let out a hesitant groan before coming close as I laid out my plan.

3rd

"The traps weren't that hard were they?" Sakumo questioned looking at Minato who smiled.
"No, they can disarm them easily, and ones they get caught are more messy than dangerous."

"Don't be surprised when Naru pranks you back." He warned, causing Minato to chuckle.
"While she is quite mischievous with pranks I don't see a way for her to prank me through this."

"They should be meeting each other any minute now." A loud explosion sounded before screams and a loud cry sounded through the trees making both fathers rush towards the location in a panic.

"I thought you said there was nothing dangerous!"
"There wasn't! Unless they used a jutsu we didn't know about!" Minato protested as they followed the smoke to see Kakashi sitting in the middle of the exploded area with Naru laying in front of him a few kunai stuck in her back.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! She threw a paper bomb! I thought it was a test!" Kakashi blubbered heaving for air staring at his friend's body.

"Naru!!" Minato yelped, rushing to his daughter as Sakumo rushed to his son checking him for any damage. "Wait what the-" Minato started as he lifted the body to see a dummy with the word idiot painted on the face just before it exploded covering Minato in the sticky sap, he groaned with a disgusted look on his face.

"Sorry Tou-san." Kakashi said before he jumped back leaving a tag that exploded covering Sakumo in bright paint.

"No... let's surprise them and play a prank." Sakumo commented glaring at Minato who was struggling and failing to get the sap off of him. Naru's laughter erupted from the trees as she landed from the upper branch with Kakashi, both looking pleased at the outcome of their prank.

"Your prank wasn't funny Tou-chan!" Naru snarled, he huffed giving her a small glare but couldn't keep the smile off his lips.

"You got me."
"So, who will be our sensei?"
"We both will be, you'll be a part of a team with each other, if the need comes you may possibly get a temporary teammate." Sakumo answered.

"COOL!!!" Naru cheered. "I'll leave you in the dust Tou-chan!" She said, throwing her fist in the air to him, he stuttered before laughing.

"Oh really Joji?" Naru grinned at him dancing in place.

"So, when do we start missions?" Kakashi asked.
"You have a mission awaiting you in the Hokage's office."
"WHOOO-HOOO!" Naru cheered grabbing Kakashi's hand and raced towards the building.

-o0o-

"A D-RANK!?!?" Naru snarled at Hiruzen, making Minato facepalm.
"Yes Naru-chan, you are a fresh genin, and genin get D-rank. Until you become a chunin or prove you can handle a higher mission, you'll stick with these." Hiruzen replied with a smile, Naru huffed getting ready to retort before Minato yanked her back towards him and covered her mouth.
"She'll be happy to take a D-rank until she is ready. Thank you Hokage-sama." Minato replied, Sakumo chuckled while Minato hauled his protesting daughter out of the office.

"Are you insane?!" He questioned gripping Naru's shoulder. "You don't give an attitude to the Hokage. Be grateful you're getting a mission at all, be grateful you're not still in the academy!"

"I want something harder."
"Then you prove you can handle it! I told you I would take you on a mission with me, but you have to lose your attitude first. If it were any other circumstance the Hokage would make you only have D-rank missions." She scoffed, rolling her eyes." I mean it young lady, lose the attitude." He warned.
"Fine." She muttered watching as Kakashi came down with his father with their mission, Minato shook his head and smirked. 'Too much like her mother...' He mused to himself.

-o0o-

Two weeks passed for Kakashi and Naru, they had a D-rank mission nearly everyday, sometimes multiple missions in one day. And because of their skill they were growing a name for themselves around the village. Today was no different as they were hired to babysit for Ikkaku and Kohair Umino. Being jounin both parents were called out frequently, usually leaving one parent to take care of their young son, but in special cases they hired a sitter.

"Iruka... where are you?" Naru called in a sing-song voice walking around the woodland behind the Umino house, Kakashi was perched on the porch watching after claiming he didn't play with kids, which of course Naru pointed out he was a kid himself.

A small giggle erupted from the bush, Naru smiled making a clone to be in the open while she snuck around the back spotting the young boy laying on his stomach watching from the roots of the bush.

"GOTCHA!!" She yelled picking the boy up as he squealed and laughed thrashing from her hold. He slipped out and ran to the opening, Naru walked out falling to the ground before Iruka pounced on her and laughed.
"Iruka."
"KAA-CHAN!!!" He cheered forgetting his friend as his mother stood in the doorway, he plowed into her arms hugging her tight.
"Oh gosh! Have you grown since breakfast?" She teased, he smiled hugging her tight. "Have you had fun today?"
"Yeah! I had lots of fun! Can Naru come over again?" He asked.
"Maybe, we'll have to see." She smiled, Naru walked up with a smile. "Thank you both."
"It was fun, bye Iruka." She waved as they left the house and headed to the Hokage tower in hope for a new mission.

"So what number was that one?" Naru questioned.
"Number 15," Kakashi replied, indicating the amount of D-rank missions they had passed already.

"Maybe we'll get something soon." Naru huffed, Kakashi hummed. "It takes at least 25 missions to be eligible for C-rank right?"
"Yeah, or be recommended by our sensei." He said, Naru bobbed her head. "Now what?"
"Help me torture Tou-chan until he takes us on a C-rank."
"Or get ramen.." He said, she smiled nodding her head and ran with her partner to the ramen stand quickly devouring multiple bowls as Kakashi watched in a mix of disgust, humor and disbelief that the small girl could eat that much ramen in one sitting.

In the Hokage tower Minato waited patiently as the Hokage looked through the missions he had since the jounin requested something easy so he could take Naru and Kakashi with him before his daughter got any angrier with him.

"Do you think they're ready to handle a C-rank?"
"It's nothing like that, they still have much to learn and I'd like to find a special training for each of them before they tackle anything outside of the village." Minato replied. "But I made the mistake a while ago of promising to take Naru on a mission outside of the village with me, she won't let me forget." Hiruzen chuckled knowing very well that Naru was spunky and determined.
"Well, I might have one, a simple escort of the fire Daimyō and his wife, taking them to the Land of Tea, it should prove to be an easy challenge."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Minato bowed taking the scroll.
"Be careful and good luck."

Minato returned home finding Kushina holding a glass of water as Naru laid on the couch groaning as Kakashi watched chuckling. "What's going on?" He asked, hiding the scroll.
"Naru went overboard on her ramen." Kushina replied with a smile. "She's made herself sick." Naru moaned in response.
"I think I'm gonna sleep for two days." She whined.
"Oh really? You sure?"
"Yes!"
"Oh well then, Kakashi I guess it'll be us boys on this C-rank mission Hokage-sama gave us..." He said with a wink.

"WHAT?!?!" Naru snarled sitting up. "No way!! I'm going too!!"
"Then you're going to learn boundaries, you've been pushing your limit. Your attitude and mouth and you need to learn portions, stop spending it all on ramen." He said, Naru slunk a little as she was scolded. "Am I understood?"
"Yes sir." She mumbled, Kakashi chuckled until Naru delivered a punch to his arm.

"So what is the mission?" He questioned.
"An escort mission to the Land of Tea, we'll be bodyguards. We leave early in the morning to meet them. Go home and rest up." He said, Kakashi nodded walking out with a wave.

-o0o-

"ALRIGHT LET'S GO!!!" Naru cheered as they walked through the village gates, Kakashi gave a small nod walking in sync with her.
"We'll reach the Daimyō within an hour, I want to remind you that doing well on this mission will not only make the village look better but will make you both look better too." Minato said. "If they are pleased with your skills, you may get more C-rank missions."

"Yeah! Somewhere dangerous!"
"Hopefully it doesn't require you to be quiet, you'd fail... - OUCH!!" Kakashi taunted before Naru punched his arm again.

The three quickly arrived at the large housing traveling by chakra in the trees as Minato instructed them on chakra control.

"Lord Daimyō, your escort team has arrived." A worker called out, they waited as an older male who wore fancy clothes and a long robe that dragged the ground decorated with a few gaudy jewelry pieces slowly walked down the stairs.

"Namikaze Minato, it's nice to see you again, I'm surprised the Hokage sent you to guard, not that I'm complaining." He greeted the jounin who gave a bow of respect.

"Thank you sir, I'd like to introduce you to the others," He gestured, the man looked at the two and squinted.
"Children?" He asked, staring Minato down.
"I assure you Lord Daimyō these two are more than capable of protecting you and your wife. They are actually the youngest to ever graduate from the academy with perfect scores."

"Well.... Alright then, what's your name?"
"Namikaze Naru sir!" She grinned.
"Ah, your daughter then?" Minato nodded with a proud smile.
"Hatake Kakashi, nice to meet you." He bowed.
"I'm assuming the son of Hatake Sakumo? Maybe I'll be in good hands after all." He chuckled. "I am waiting on my wife and then we'll set out, we will camp at sundown." He said walking away.

"Honey! Do we have everything, I feel like we've forgotten something." A sickly sweet voice bounced off the walls before a younger woman came down stairs wearing equally gaudy jewelry and fancy clothes.

"Yes I'm sure. Shijimi, our escort for our trip." He gestured, she looked up at the team.

"Namikaze Minato!? Oh! I've heard so much! I've wanted to meet you for a long time!!" She said, grabbing the man's hand and shaking it rapidly.

"Thank you Lady Shijimi." He forced a polite smile.

"So, you're going to escort us on our long journey?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him, he swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Yes ma'am."
"Don't call me ma'am! It makes me feel old, just call me Shijimi." She nearly purred.

"Yes...." He hesitantly replied and she stared at him expectantly. "Shijimi .... -sama." She frowned before spotting Naru and Kakashi who were trying to hold in laughter.

"Aww! And who is this pretty little girl?" She asked, pinching Naru's cheek making her cry out in pain. "There is no way such a cute little girl can be a big bad ninja, no no no!" She said, Naru's eyes twitched and Kakashi snickered, she glared getting ready to put the woman in her place before she locked eyes with Minato who gave her a warning stare.

"Yes ma'am I am a ninja, Namikaze Naru." She said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, she's so cute and polite, she's had a good upbringing." She said smiling and turned her sights to Kakashi. "Oh my this team is just much too cute!" She squealed.

"Hello, I'm Hatake Kakashi - ouch!" He yelped as she pinched his cheek like Naru's.

"Hatake, wow we got the best team didn't we?" She asked, looking at her husband who was patiently waiting for his wife to get over her fawning.

"Yes dear, now let's get on the road." He said and gently pulled his wife outside to the carriage.

Kakashi and Naru both slumped with a huff, Minato gave a small groan rubbing his face.

"Well let's get on the road and go." He said listening as Naru muttered her complaints about the woman. As they set out on the road Minato took point at the front of the carriage, Kakashi on the other side and Naru trailing in the back.

"So Minato-kun." Shijimi purred leaning out the window, batting her eyes at the man. "How does a ninja so young become so famous?"

"I'm not famous...-"
"Yes you are! When hubby travels and I come with him your name is mentioned frequently all over the world.

"Well, I'm just loyal to my village and leader. I keep my family in mind and make it so nothing will happen to them." He shrugged.

"You're so noble!" She swooned, Naru looked at Kakashi both watching as Minato was nearly squirming from the woman's attention.

'Wait till Kaa-chan hears about this...' Naru thought with a giggle, as if on cue of hearing her thoughts Minato turned around giving Naru a look of 'Don't you dare'. She smiled at him before looking up trying to seem innocent.

They walked for hours until the sun was getting ready to set when the Daimyō and his wife called for a camp to be made for the night.

Once they made supper and a perimeter was set around the camp they set up a watch patrol with Minato using clones for both kids while getting rest himself.

Naru stretched as she prepared to get some rest first before Shijimi called Naru to her tent telling her she had something special for the girl.

Minato huffed watching his daughter get yanked away by the overbearing woman feeling a little guilty that he wasn't helping her.

"So now that you're a genin what's your goal?" Minato questioned suddenly.

"Uh.... I don't know, guess make a name for myself.." He shrugged. "Don't feel like being known only as The White Fang's son."
"Well, as your sensei I am supposed to help you with that. Maybe we can figure out something for you to excel in. Each ninja has a specialty, it's just a matter of finding it. Maybe once we return home we'll find something for you, huh?"

"Yeah." He replied full of excitement, Minato smiled ruffling his hair before a small shuffle sounded, they turned to see Naru stomping forward with her hair done up in a cute style and make up on her face and a pink shirt that was styled to look like a dress over her clothes

"Oh Joji you look so cute!" Minato laughed with Minato as Naru sneered at them and felt the heat on her cheeks grow.

"It's not funny!" She sneered, stomping into the tent quickly ripping the clothes off her and wiping her face clean, freeing her hair and curled up in her bed sniffling quietly.

Naru

I sniffled as I laid in the bed trying to fall asleep. It was humiliating, I didn't mind dressing up and trying on clothes, but with Kaa-chan only. To have a stupid lady that I didn't know make me do that, calling me cute and continually stating I shouldn't be a ninja with my looks. I hated it, I hated her!

"Joji?" I closed my eyes tight as Tou-chan walked in kneeling next to me. "Hey, I'm sorry for laughing, can you answer me?" He questioned. "I know you're awake." He teased.

"Leave me alone!" I snarled, he sighed heavily rubbing my head.
"Alright, goodnight."

Once the sun rose in the sky we set back out on the road estimating that we will arrive by late evening, and that made me move even faster, the sooner I got away from these two, the better.

Tou-chan was on guard as we travelled through the ravine that was just outside the village and it was well known to be an ambush lane but was the fastest route.

A band of bandits quickly launched out from the top causing us to spring into action. I cut two off from their descent and gripped a kunai in each hand.

"Well, well what a cute little girl we got here." He taunted, I sneered launching up with chakra in my feet and brought my leg down with full power on his head, he cursed as he hit the rocks.

"Who's next?"

Quickly I was grabbed from behind and began to struggle as the enemies burly arms locked around me squeezing tight. I whimpered struggling to get free as they mocked me with laughter.

"Naru!" Tou-chan's voice called out, I sneered at the idea of being rescued and quickly stopped my struggling and used my small size to slide from his grip and crawled away from him and threw 10 shuriken around them which missed causing them to laugh more.

"You need to go home and play with your dolls." I yanked my arms back revealing the wires connected to the weapons and threw loosened rocks back towards their heads.

"You're the one that needs to go play with dolls." I sneered, turning away from them ready to help Tou-chan and Kakashi full of pride.

"Naru!!" Kakashi yelled, I turned only to meet with a foot to my face before searing pain slammed into my head as the hit sent me to the ground smashing my head on the ground before everything went dark.

3rd

Minato snarled as anger filled his body as he watched Naru be kicked down and wounded. He ran around his enemies giving some deep wounds in their sides sending them scrambling away, as the thug walked up to Naru with a twisted grin on his face before Minato appeared behind him.

"Don't ever touch my daughter." He hissed before he jammed a kunai deep into the man's shoulder and kicked him from the edge watching as he tumbled down the hill to his waiting team.

Minato huffed as their enemies ran off, he found Naru scooping her up in his arms taking note of the bruises and swelling in her face but found no serious damage on her.

"Naru?" Kakashi questioned as Minato walked back up to the carriage.
"She's okay, no serious damage. Great job Kakashi." He praised the boy who smiled. "Let's go ahead and get you to town." He smiled at the clients eager to get his daughter home and safe.

As they left the Daimyō and his wife Naru remained asleep as they returned to the village. "So what can you teach me?" Kakashi asked as they neared the village.
"Anything you want, we need to do a proper evaluation of you both to see your strengths and weaknesses, then we can make you both the perfect pair. You're strengthening Naru's weakness and she'll do the same for you."

Kakashi nodded his head looking at Naru carefully. "She's really knocked out huh?"
"She's brash like her mother, but she kicks it up a couple notches, she chooses to dive head first then think. That will be your mission with her huh? Get her to think before she acts."

"Sure sensei, I'll look out for her."

Naru groaned, waking up slowly and pushed up, Minato smiled at her. "Morning sleeping beauty." He teased. "How are you feeling Joji?" She scrunched her face wincing in pain before struggling away until he let her down. "Are you okay? You got hit pretty hard."

"I'm fine!" She snarled, stomping forward before jumping to the trees quickly taking off.
"Should we chase after her?"
"Like I said, she's like her mother, and when Kushina is angry you just need to give her time to cool off then she'll talk again." Kakashi nodded.

Kushina jumped slightly as the front door suddenly slammed open revealing a sniffling Naru. She ran up looking at the bruises on her and ushered her to the bathroom as she began to put healing salve on her face.

"What happened?"
"This mission was a disaster!" Naru bawled sniffling and struggling to breathe as her emotions swelled in her chest. "This was my one chance to prove to Tou-chan that I could be like him!"
"Naru this isn't your only chance, and he knows you have the potential to be an amazing ninja. Not every mission will go smoothly."

"Not all my mission will deal with a stupid lady that wants to dress me up like a little girl." She sneered. "All I proved is I can't be a ninja."
"Naru, stop, you're an amazing ninja, you and Kakashi are the youngest genin ever, in that way you're better than Tou-chan." She winked. "You will experience missions both good and bad, you learn from them and grow. Prove yourself and get better missions."

"Yeah." She mumbled walking from the bathroom and laid on her bed with Nikko quickly curling up and pretending to be asleep when she heard Minato come home.

Kushina sighed as she sat next to Minato who stared at the stairs. "Give her time Minato, she's embarrassed and angry, she'll snap out of it and will be ready to train until she's about to collapse."

"I know, but this mission is also confirming my fear that she's not ready-"
"She's not or you're not?" Kushina interrupted, Minato sighed deeply.

"I'm not." He replied. "I don't want to see her being thrown into war when she hasn't gotten the chance to be a child, to have fun. What if she gets hurt... worse than this time? Something she can't heal from?"
"Then get busy and teach her new jutsu and make her prepared 'ttebane!" Kushina huffed, pinching his cheek with a chuckle, Minato gave a nod looking one last time at the stairs before heading to his study.