Discimer: I don't own Naruto or the Gamer. Please support the official release.

  Kakashi returo his position and saw Daichi with a bored nont look on his face? "Were there any problems with the other one?"

  "He used a water e to try and sneak away but didn't get that far…"

  Kakashi turned his attention towards the building and his eyes slightly narrowed. 'They're trying to test our limits… With all that's happened in the vilge these st several years it's no surprise.'

  The team kept a vigint watch over their targets and it didn't look like they were going tain. Daichi and his teacher took shifts and soon it was m.

  "Time to greet uests…" Kakashi said as he knocked on the door.

  A few seds ter the guard Oboru opehe door. He walked out followed by the Mist vilge diplomat and then the 2nd guard.

  The group made it to their location without any problems. But during the journey Daichi sehat the two ninjas were vigint towards him. 'Do they know I'm the ohat took the e down? Highly unlikely… But still even if they do, it won't matter…'

  The meetiween the parties started and it sted two days. Aside from the first i Daichi and Kakashi didn't enter any problems. Before long everything was settled and the fn ninjas left the vilge.

  —-

  "Well done you two. The mission was pleted without any is." Hiruzen gratuted the team.

  The quest pletion boxes appeared in front of Daichi as he said those words.

  [Quest 'Observe the Diplomats' pleted.]

  [Rewards:]

  10000 Exp.

  1500 Exp.

  [Reputation increases with the people of the vilge.]

  [Reputation increases with Kakashi Hatake and Hiruzen Sarutobi.]

  Daichi dismissed the box and asked a question that's been on his mind. "Lord Hokage, if you don't mind me asking, why did you select us for this mission?"

  Hiruzen slightly tilted his head and looked at Daichi as if puzzled by the question.

  "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't want the k mission. It's just, this was an important mission. If they were able to escape my senses somehow it would have been a headache for the vilge. I get why Kakashi sensei was on the job, but my question is, why did you select me, a Genin for this mission? And why was this mission a k? If there ossibility of frontation with the Mist shinobi, then shouldn't this have been a B or an A Rank mission?" Daichi quickly expined himself and then asked the kage.

  Hiruzen nodded and hummed at that. "To answer your first question. It's true, this was an important mission. And yes, you are a Genin…" He let out a small breath and looked at the young boy. "But then, that title is only in name isn't it. You and I both know your strength far exceeds that rank."

  Daichi was silent as he heard that assessment. The Hokage tinued.

  "Truth is, letting you plete D Rank and low risk k missions is a waste of resources for the vilge. I wao see how you would perform when on a mission to observe and track other ninjas. I created your team with the ihat you and Kakashi would act as back-up for enin or in teams. I was going to wait before I tested your skills but when an opportunity preseself, well I took it."

  Daichi silently he Hokage tinued.

  "You're right. They had two Jonin ninjas with them. Usually a mission like this would be marked as an A Rank mission. But I made certain exceptions here. This mission was taking pce within the walls of our vilge. The Mist ninjas came here on a diplomatic mission. If they caused an i it would have serious sequences for them and their vilge. So the possibility of a frontation was very small. But on the remote ce that they would try something, I added another Jonio observe and patrol the area. It was one of their members you saw after you destroyed that water e."

  Hiruzen expined his decision to lower the rank of the mission. 'There are also several parties in and out of this vilge who have their eyes on you. Having you a 'Genin' participate in a Rank A mission would certainly raise a few eyebrows and question my judgment as well. But this way, all that headache is avoided and I got to see your skills. A win-win sario.'

  "Thank you for telling me, Lord Hokage." Daiodded his head at that. "Does that mean you'll be sending me on higher ranking missions?" He was slightly excited at the prospect of going on tougher missions.

  Hiruzen chuckled seeing Daichi's eager expression. "Not yet. You are still a fresh Genin. At least on paper. But in a couple months we'll see…"

  Daiodded. "Thank you Lord Hokage."

  "Well, I guess we'll take our leave then." Kakashi said.

  "Oh wait, before I fet." The Hokage called out to them. He took two scrolls from his desk and tossed them to Daichi and his teacher.

  "Each of those scroll has 30 million Ryo. That's your reward for finding the treasure. The vilge took a small portion as tax from the 68 million. The remaining is rightfully yours." Hiruzen said.

  Daichi was surprised at the amount. 'I thought he would take a rger cut out of the reward and use it for the vilge and give us a small amount. I expected somewhere below 5 million. So this is certainly a wele surprise.'

  "You're really giving us this much?"

  Hiruzen expected the surprised tone in Daichi's voice.

  "Are you sure about this lord Hokage?" Kakashi was also mildly surprised. He had no problem if the money was used to boost the vilge's ey.

  "Yes. You two are the ones who found the treasure. So the reward belongs to you." The kage said with a smile.

  Daichi didn't argue any further and just bowed his head. Kakashi looked at the scroll and then pocketed it. The two ninjas bowed ahe tower.

  "Well this is a nice k of ge." Daichi said.

  "Be careful not to spend it on frivolous things. Don't waste that money." Kakashi advised Daichi even though he k wasn't necessary.

  "Don't worry. I won't… Will there be a mission or training tomorrow?" The boy asked his sensei.

  "No. Take a week off. It's the beginning of Jurain your chakra nature, rex, whatever it is you do. Well, meet up after a week." The silver haired Jonin said and vanished in a pile of leaves the moment.

  Daichi shrugged at the exit. "Alright…" The young Genin sighed and looked around the bustling street. 'Okay, where to ?'

  Daichi thought about his move and had an idea. 'Well, I guess I'll head to the academy . Why don't I see how Shikamaru and the rest are doing?'

  With a deade the gamer ninja headed to the academy.

  —-

  "Oh man I know csses started three months ago but still, it's only the beginning of the year and Iruka sensei is already going hard on us…" Kiba said in a whining tone as he fed Akamaru some dog treats.

  "Indeed he would. Why? Because it's the final year and he wants us to be prepared." Shino spoke in a low voice from behind Kiba.

  The young Inuzuka had a shudder gh him as he heard the voibsp;'Gha… Still not used to that.'

  "Hey Shikamaru, are you pnning on just sg the passing marks again? You know yrades are almost as bad as Narutht?" Ino said looking at the rexing Nara.

  "Hey! My scores aren't that bad." Naruto tried to defend his academic marks but it was futile.

  "Who are you kidding? You only got by thanks to Sakura cramming all that info into that thick head at the st moment." Ino had a smirk as she looked at Naruto.

  The blond Uzumaki gritted his teeth as he looked at the girl's challenging face.

  "Um.. I think you did well… Naruto." Hinata's meek but encing voice brought a smile to Naruto's face.

  "Thanks Hinata. I knew you'd get how awesome I am."

  The Hyuga girl got red and just dreamily sighed.

  "Hinata's just being nice. You really o study more if you ass with us Naruto." Even though Ino said it in a smug tohere was a hint of worry hidden underh it. She didn't want to see Naruto or any of her friends fail the Genin exam.

  "Yeah yeah… Well, I did learhing in the scroll Daichi gave me." Naruto said with a wide grin.

  "Really? You learhe tree walking chakra trol exercises?" Choji asked in surprise.

  "Yep. Took me a couple weeks. But I did it." The blond boy said with a peace sign.

  "And all Daieeded to do was tell you that Sasuke could do tree walking to get you to train." Sakura said with a small ugh.

  "Hey, I did it for me." Naruto crossed his arms as sat down, turning his head away in moger. "Hmph!"

  "Calm down you knucklehead. I was joking."

  "That teique isn't that difficult. I asked my sis to show me and I got it down in a week too." Kiba spoke. "Arf."

  Naruto id down on the ground under a nearby tree and looked at the clouds. "I o see if Daichi has any more special teiques like that. I'm gonna be an awesome ninja by the time I graduate."

  "I do know some teiques." The voice came from up iree. Daichi jumped down and greeted his friends with a smile.

  "I know how to do the tree walking teique now. Wanna see?" Naruto was excited to show his friend how far he'd e.

  Daiodded with a smile and Naruto took a few steps back. The others were also paying attention to the boy.

  Taking a deep breath, Naruto ran straight at the tree and jumped. His foot nded orunk and his chakra kept him glued to the tree. Naruto kept running as high as he could and quickly reached the top.

  "See, I told you. I'm oep closer to being Hokage." The blond said with a wide smile.

  "Not bad Naruto, that's impressive. Looks like you got the first chakra trol exercise down."

  Daichi's praise made the boy happy and he jumped down and nded on his feet.

  As Daichi was gratuting Naruto he sensed a malicious i. He subtly looked around and saw Mizuki spying on them. 'This guy is going to be a problem.'

  —-

  The csses for the day had ended and the academy instruizuki was walking down the halls. His mind was o time he met the Sannin Orochimaru and the words the snake Sannin told him. Mizuki thought about his future in the Leaf vilge and it didn't make him happy.

  'This vilge won't help me. And the fact that they won't promote me is proof of that. Even though I did what was best for the mission they… I will only be crippling myself if I stay here. He's the future… But I 't just go to him empty handed. I need something that will prove my loyalty. The Forbidden Scroll. It would be of great use to him. And I'm sure he'll reward me for something as valuable as that.'

  Mizuki frowned as he thought about how to aplish the task of getting the precious scroll. 'Taking the forbidden scroll won't be easy. I o make sure I have enough time to get away once I have it. And for that I'll need a diversion…'

  At that moment he walked by a window and saw Naruto and pany at their usual spot. A small grin formed on his face as he looked at the blond Uzumaki.

  'Yes. I'll use him. He'll do nicely as a bait. I get the scroll ao kill the demon brat as a bonus.'

  As Mizuki was making pns he saw Daichi jump down from the tree and join the gang. The teacher was further surprised when he saw Naruto's demonstration of the tree walking teique and he almost couldn't tain the anger.

  'That brat. He shouldn't have known that teique… It must have been Daichi… He must have taught Naruto that teique…'

  Mizuki's fists ched shut and were slightly shaking. 'Damn it. That brat is getting good. And his grades are also improving. The progress is slow but it's a steady growth… If he keeps improving at this rate, he'll surely pass the final exams…'

  The instructor looked at the kids surrounding the smiling Naruto.

  'I thought they would get tired of him and leave and then he wouldn't have ao help him. But it seems I'm wrong…'

  At that moment Mizuki noticed Daichi looking in his dire. Quickly schooling his features he pced a gentle smile on his fad waved.

  'Did he see anything?' The man was nervous inside. He didn't know if Daichi saw his anger. But he soon sighed in relief when Daichi smiled and waved back as if he didn't notiything wrong. 'That was close. I o be more careful.'

  Mizuki then walked away with a gentle smile but inside he was fuming. 'It seems just using the demon brat won't be enough. I thought framing him would be all I o do but now I know that that alone is not going to work. With all those other brats in the way, I'll have to adjust my strategy a bit.'

  —-

  While almost everyone in the group was excited about Naruto's achievement, only two people saw the iioween Mizuki and Daichi. Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuga.