Naruto - Neglected Sage

At the start of the exam, Mito had already deducted the concept of the test. It was plain and simple, Teamwork.

She moved to Naoko's side and told her what she found out. Naoko immediately trusted her judgement and waited for instructions.

Mito told her to create some Shadow clones to confuse their sensei's, while they hide and regroup with their brother, Hinata, and Duck-butt.

They constantly observed their sensei's while moving to the nearest friendly. Which in this case was the arrogant Uchiha.

They arrived at Sasuke's side but before they could call out to him, they saw something that greatly shocked them.

Their Cyclops of a sensei was sent flying to the forest with Hinata's punch. She said "Pervert" then paused for a while, moved her gaze towards their position and body flickered between them and Sasuke.

"Ara Ara, it looks like Mito-chan and Naoko-chan had already figured it out" Hinata said as she covered her mouth giggling.

Sasuke who was surprised, but then demanded "What do you mean? Explain yourself, woman" as he glared at her.

"Don't be rude, Teme!" defended Naoko.

"Shut up dobe!" said Sasuke as he moved his glare to Naoko, who glared back at him.

"Well let's not fight and observe the show" said Hinata mysteriously.

"What show?" asked Mito as Hinata pointed at her Mom.

Then Naruto came into view, her Mom proceeded to take a stance. But a few seconds later she faltered when she came face to face with Naruto.

Confused all of them, moved their gaze's to the blonde. Then they understood, or at least Mito and Naoko did. Their brother was making a very hurt expression, like he was on the verge of crying. It reminded them of the day he had left and asked themselves 'Was this the face he made when we hurt him?'

"N-na-naruto-nn-nii" said Naoko as she was about to rush towards him. Mito was the same, she wanted to comfort her brother. However a hand stopped them. They both looked behind and saw Hinata shaking her head.

They were confused at her, but listened in the end. They heard their Mother cried out their brother's name and saw her move to hug him. Only to be shocked, when they heard him speak "Fool" Followed by a hit that sent their mother flying and hitting a tree. They were dumfounded. 'Why did he do that!?' they thought.

A second later their brother was gone, and like any Kage level ninja. Kushina recovered immediately. She made an indescribable sad expression, but it was only for a moment. Then she flickered away towards Kakashi's direction. Most likely to regroup.

Then Naruto appeared behind them in a swirl of leaves. He then tossed a few silencing seals around the area so that they could plan their next move quietly.

"Nii-chan, why did you do that to Mom?" Mito suddenly asked.

"Did what?" the blonde asked.

"You were really mean, Naruto-nii" said a pouting Naoko.

"Look a ninjas greatest tool is deception. What I did was a tactic so that a 'Gennin' could survive a confrontation with a Kage level Kunoichi" said Naruto "But if you guys can't see past that just because it's 'mean' then you guys should probably quit as ninjas" They hung their heads when they heard what he said. He was right but due to their upbringing, they felt that it was wrong.

Sasuke who had been quiet all this time finally spoke. "Enough with the drama" he said then looked at Hinata "Tell me what Mito and Naoko figured out now!" he demanded.

Naoko and Mito glared at him for a second, but didn't voice anything out. Since they were still feeling a bit down because of Naruto's lecture.

Hinata ignored him and asked Naruto "So what's the plan Naru-kun?"

"Simple, we work together" he said getting all of their attention.

"Don't ignore me!!! Now, what idiotic thing are you mumbling about, the sensei's specifically told us that 2 people are going back to the academy" said Sasuke mockingly.

"Your dumber than I thought" he said

"What did you say!?" asked Sasuke while glaring at the blonde boy.

"Think about it carefully, how can a bunch of Gennin go up against 2 experienced Jounins. Especially if the other one is an S rank Kage level Kunoichi?" asked Naruto.

"Hmmp, that didn't seem to stop you and Hinata" said Sasuke as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Well, that's because we're awesome" said Naruto with a grin plastered on his face, while Hinata giggled at her boyfriend's antics. Which Duck-butt just rolled his eyes at and asked once more "Tell me what she meant then" pointing at Hinata.

Mito and Naoko's mood finally lightened up and giggled at Sasuke and Naruto's exchange.

"What she meant Sasuke, is that this exercise is just away of showing us what we would do in situations were we are pinned against each other" started Mito "That, and if we can separate are own selfish d.e.s.i.r.es and interest in favour of working together, in simple terms it's about teamwork"

"Yeah, it's kinda like the exercise Dad and Mom always taught us about" said Naoko "Since Mom is here and since Kakashi-jiisan is the Old man's student maybe they wanted to test us the same"

"I see" said Sasuke finally realizing the meaning of the test "What do we do now then?"

"Oh, is the mighty Uchiha finally willing to work together?" mocked Naoko.

"As long as you don't get in the way" said Sasuke with a smirk.

"What did you say, Teme!!?" shouted Naoko.

"You heard me, dobe!" replied Sasuke.

"Stop it you two" said Mito, then she looked at her brother and asked "What's the plan Nii-chan?"

"Well let's just get to know each other's specialty first. To show you I'm serious I'll go first, I'm good at using the sword, I have a wide range of ninjutsu, though I prefer using wind and fire elements, and I have some knowledge in Fuinjutsu" said Naruto not revealing to much of his skills. He then gestured to Hinata.

"I am very good at using Taijutsu" everyone assumed it was Gentle Fist "I can properly utilize my byakugan to find enemies within 1300 meters, I am a master of water Ninjutsu and have a great understanding about Genjutsu" said Hinata

Then Naoko not wanting to be out done went up next "I am great in using the Humming-bird style pops taught us, I can make as many Shadow clones as I like, and I know how to perform the rasengan." she said smugly. She hid the fact that she could use at least two tails worth of chakra without loosing control from her tenant since her Mom and Dad warned her not to tell anyone.

"My turn I suppose" said Duck-butt "I am chuunin level in my clans Taijutsu the interceptor fist, I have a C rank Katon technique that can be used 4-5 times without getting exhausted. Basic knowledge on every other jutsu branch and chuunin level aim in shurikens and kunais" then everyone turned to Mito.

She sighed first before saying "I specialize in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, I can somewhat manage a rasengan and I have an array of water jutsus" She could also use at least 2 tails worth of her tenants chakra, but she didn't tell them since she was also warned by their parents.

"Good now that we know everyone's specialty here's what we're going to do- said Naruto as for the past 20 minutes they planned their next move.

"That's all, any questions?" asked Naruto as they all shook their heads "Good, then get in position" Then he turned to Hinata and Mito and said "Let's go"

*******

Kakashi and Kushina were both recovering from the initial surprise attacks

of Naruto and Hinata.

Kushina was currently healing her own injuries after finishing up with Kakashi's first aid.

"Shouldn't have underestimated them" said Kakashi "That girl packed a punch"

"Yeah, both her and Naruto" replied Kushina holding on to her side "Let's take them a little seriously from now on, since we can't embarrass ourselves any more than this"

Then they heard a few rustling sound from the bushes.

"It looks like their finally going on the offensive" said Kakashi as he lifted his eye protector revealing the Sharinggan.

This greatly surprised Sasuke, but he didn't lash out at him immediately. They had a plan, even if it's with his loser's of a team. It was good enough and was carefully thought out, so that everyone could utilize their strengths. Plus he could just interrogate Kakashi later.

"Just stay on guard for Naruto and Hinata" warned Kushina as Kakashi nodded.

Sasuke made the first move revealing himself and attacking with a Great Fireball jutsu in-between them. Both Jounin dodged easily, though they got separated in the process.

Kakashi was engaged by Naoko's unrelenting Shadow clones, while from time to time Sasuke and the original would attack from a distance using shurikens, Kunais and jutsus.

Naturally this tactic was only for distraction since the real target was Kushina who was currently engaged in a sword dance with Mito and Naruto. Though Naruto had yet to unsheathe his sword(no pun intended). He would block some of her attacks and sometimes swing the scabbard once or twice to counter, but that was it. He let Mito showcase her style as she attacked with precision and finesse.

Kushina didn't like where the fight was going, she wasn't serious but it was obvious Naruto wasn't either. She kept her guard up for him while blocking every attack from Mito.

Which was a mistake she still didn't realize, as a lavender haired beauty suddenly charged at her from behind with a chakra enhanced fist that looked quite similar to Tsunade, though this one was glowing white. She noticed at the last second, but that was all she needed to enhance her sword with chakra and blocked Hinata's punch with the flat side of her sword. *Boom* A small scale explosion was created by their clash as a crater 5 meter wide was created. Kushina's sword arm felt numb.

'D*mn I forgot about her' she thought. Then she felt a concentration of chakra coming from Mito. Her sword was sheathed and in her hands was an unstable rasengan.

She charged at her mother who was still locking fist with sword with Hinata. They were sure her attack would hit, but then Adamantine chains erupted from the red haired beauty's back pinning Mito down cancelling her rasengan.

'That's some good teamwork, they almost got me there' she thought.

"What are you getting distracted for?" the young blonde asked. He was currently in a sword drawing pose, then she heard a *Clink* sound and was shocked, her adamantine chains that is capable in stopping the strongest Bijuu was cut to pieces, freeing Mito in the process. Hinata did a rotation when her attention was on the chains. But Kushina was still able to dodge without breaking a sweat. Though she lost something she forgot to protect.

'What did he do?' she thought shocked 'I didn't even see him move and my chains got cut to pieces. I can't let my guard down anymore, time to get serious' However, it was already too late.

The blonde turned to Hinata and asked "Did you get the bells, Hina-hime?"

Hinata didn't respond and just dangled the bells towards both of his teammates, to say Kushina was dumfounded was an understatement since her jaws was currently dropped on the floor. When Naruto cut the chains he also included the strings on the bell, then when Hinata rotated she caught the bell without Kushina finding out, since she assumed it was an attack.

"How did you?" she asked.

Naruto's eyes focused on Kushina, but didn't respond instead he instructed Hinata "Hina-hime, go and assist Sasuke and Naoko while me and Mito hold her here. Mito get ready"

Hinata and Mito nodded at his words, then Hinata turned to leave. But Kushina wouldn't just take that lying down. So she fired a "Water style: Water Dragon jutsu" towards Hinata's retreating figure.

Naruto immediately moved to the front of the water dragon and countered it with "Wind style: Air bullet" compressing wind at the tip of his fingers, Naruto fired a 'ray gun' like air bullet towards the water dragon. It went through the water dragon's head and effectively cancelled the technique.

Mito took this opportunity to fire a Water Dragon jutsu of her own towards her Mother, only to be blocked by a raging water wall.

Naruto was impressed at their level of water manipulation since they could use such advanced techniques even without a water source. But then again Hinata could do the same.

They continued their bout with a few more ninjutsu. Then got close and personal with Kenjutsu.

********

Kakashi was currently in a tight spot, his chakra is mostly depleted from using multiple Jutsus against Naoko's clones. Though Naoko wasn't doing that much better either. She was currently down to only 1/4 of her reserves. Anymore than that and she would have to rely on her tenants chakra.

Kakashi tried many times in getting close to the original. At first he thought it was the one near Sasuke since they were both spamming shurikens and Kunais. But then when he did get close enough, said original puffed in a cloud of smoke. Irritated he turned to Sasuke only for him to do the same. It was actually a henged clone.

Naruto taught them this precautions. They would mix with the army of clones, while Sasuke was transformed into a copy of Naoko and Naoko on the other hand will transform a random clone to look like Sasuke. And just to make sure, Naruto added a smell inhibitor seal on them so that they wouldn't be found by Kakashi's nose. The tactic was going well, but Kakashi had started to get serious.

"Tsk'd, where's the back up? I'm running low on shurikens and Kunais" said Sasuke.

"Just wait a few more minutes, Kaa-chan isn't really a walk in the park to handle. But I believe with Naruto-nii's plan they'll be able to pull it off" assured Naoko.

"They'd better, now let's move I think Kakashi is onto us now" said Sasuke as he dodged a Lightning release: Lightning hounds, which puffed a lot of clones.

Then Kakashi finally noticed him, every clone panicked to dodge that attack, but that one clone(Sasuke) dodge it calmly. He flickered behind said clone and delivered a devastating punch to the stomach. Sasuke was sent flying and puffed returned to his original appearance.

Naoko panicked and immediately went towards him. He stood in front of Sasuke as if protecting him.

"Hurry and leave me dobe or the plan might fail" said Sasuke while clutching his stomach.

"As tempting as that sounds. I can't, since your my teammate. We either win or lose together, so just shut up and let me protect you" said Naoko.

Sasuke was actually surprised, he actually thought for the first time. Having them as his teammates might not be that bad.

"Whatever, dobe" he responded. (or not)

Kakashi of course noticed this and made his way to them. Slaughtering Naoko's clones along the way.

He was only a few meters away, but then something unexpected happened, a clone dodge one of Kakashi's kicks and rammed a chakra restraint seal on his back.

Sasuke and Naoko who saw this shouted in their minds 'Yes/Yeah it worked!'

Weakened Kakashi immediately jumped back and glared at the clone. With a puff of white smoke, Hinata appeared surprising him.

Using a commanding tone that made them straighten their backs absentmindedly, she instructed "Naoko-chan use your remaining chakra to create more clones. His chakra is currently restrained and it'll take him a few minutes to remove it, he only has Taijutsu to defend himself. Use this chance to finish him off, I will heal Sasuke, but if he's still not down by the time Sasuke is healed, then we'll flank him together"

Naoko nodded and did what she instructed. Knowing that he couldn't remove the seal immediately Kakashi tried to escape, but was blocked by at least 50 clones. Sighing he stood his ground and fought with all he got. A few minutes later and with a dozen clones left, Hinata and Sasuke joined the fight.

True to his reputation, the white haired Cyclops didn't go down easily and even finished off all the clones.

"What a monster" said Sasuke, while Naoko nodded in return.

"Don't let him intimidate you and focus, Naoko you stay back since you no longer have chakra to spare and just use shurikens and Kunais at a distance to back us up. Sasuke give her your remaining stash. Find some opportunity to use your Firestyle jutsu, while I fight him head on"

They both nodded and Sasuke gave Naoko his remaining shurikens and Kunais, then they got into position, while Hinata charged Kakashi directly.

Kakashi was tired, but he didn't show it on his face. He knew that if he showed any signs of weakness, this guys would capitalize on it and use it to their advantage. So he got into his stance, the one he was most comfortable with, the one he uses to fight Gai head on, and intercepted the Hyuuga girl.

They fought on Jounin level speeds, Sasuke and Naoko could only see blur and couldn't support her. Kakashi was impressed by the girls prowess, and had a hard time defending her attacks.

She wasn't using the Hyuuga's gentle fist style. Instead she was using something akin to ballet dancing, but with fierce kicks and sharp jabs every now and then. He could feel the pressure of those attacks and knew that if he was hit even once in a vital spot he was going down.

Kakashi's thinking was cut off when Hinata jumped back and a hail of shurikens came towards him. He tried to deflect some, but then a perfectly timed Great fireball shot at his side. With no other choice he jumped upwards to dodge, only to be met by fist from Hinata. He blocked it with his crossed arm guard, and landed on the ground with his back creating a crater.

He tried to stand back up but was a beat to slow as Sasuke, Hinata, and Naoko stood in front of him with Kunais drawn pointing at his eye, neck, and heart.

Sighing, he held up his hands in defeat and Naoko took the bell from his side.

After celebrating for a bit. They heard an explosion from Naruto's side, so they all went to check it out.

Kushina wanted to assist Kakashi, but trying to loose her children was proving to be quite the challenge.

Naruto and Mito were engaged in a fierce sword dance against Kushina who had her chains out.

Mito had a bit of change in her features, she looked more feral and had red eyes with a slit in the middle. This was a cloak-less transformation that she had developed herself. It gave her a bit more strength, a bit more speed, and huge boost in her senses. Making her capable in following Jounin class speeds.

Naruto thought it was a good technique, and since she had full control he knew it'd be a great trump card.

The battle was reaching it's climax, Kushina had fired a "Great Water Wave" and used it to surf towards Naruto.

Naruto sliced it a part but missed Kushina who was now in a sword drop stance falling towards Naruto. He was ready to counter her but Mito came out of nowhere and blocked the older red head's sword, she kneeled down due to the strength of the blow. Using the opportunity Naruto sent another scabbard blow towards Kushina's ribs, only to be blocked by the adamantine chains.

They had locked sheathe and chain together, when they finally noticed the group heading towards them. Naruto and Mito jumped back they saw the smiling faces of their teammates.

They returned a smile or in Naruto's case a smirk since they knew everything went according to plan. Kushina on the other hand stood there dumfounded, seeing how haggard looking Kakashi was.

"You lost?" asked Kushina in disbelief, but Kakashi didn't answer. Instead Naoko pulled out her bell and showed it to her while smirking like a child. She smiled wryly at her child's behavior, but still sheathed her sword, admitting defeat and indicating the test was over.