Naruto 1. B1 C1: The Beginning

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. I do own any and all OCs.

**Note:** Updates for this story will be sporadic.

**Note 2:** The cover image will follow Naruto's appearance as the story goes along. I did not draw any of the pictures I will be using; I found them on the internet.

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**Still Waters Run Deep**

The shinobi world is different ...darker. Naruto's mischievous side is hidden under a calm exterior, and he's worked hard to graduate a year early.

He's placed on team four; a team that will become infamous for being more than meets the eye.

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**Book One**

Genin Days

**Chapter One**

The Beginning

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. . . . .

Uzumaki Naruto didn't make a sound as he slowly walked over to the fresh mound of earth. Kneeling down he placed a single white lily on the new gravestone and offered a silent prayer for the shinobi that had died. Checking the dates on the grave marker, the boy let out a heavy sigh. The man had only been in his mid-twenties. Still, many field shinobi never lived to see their mid-thirties. The ones that did were highly respected for their skill.

Often times, Naruto would sit nearby a veteran shinobi and just listen, hoping that they might impart some wisdom if he was patient enough. The other kids his age found this to be weird and often made fun of him for it when they weren't completely shunning him. Ironically, the same adults that would whisper about him behind his back and pull their children away would occasionally stop and give him a considering stare whenever they noticed him doing this. Some would even give an almost imperceptible nod of their heads as if they approved of his actions.

Brushing his fingers reverently along the edge of the gravestone, Naruto got to his feet and slowly proceeded through the rest of the cemetery being careful to not accidentally step on top of any of the graves. He'd learned to respect the dead a long time ago. Eventually, he stopped in front of a grave that was seven years old. After staring at the name for several long moments, Naruto closed his eyes an offered a quick thanks to the shinobi.

The particular grave he was standing in front of belonged to the first person he had ever seen die. He'd been sitting near the village gates when the shinobi's team had returned from a mission gone wrong, shouting at the gate guards to alert the medics about their comrade. Watching the situation, Naruto had met eyes with the bloodied shinobi and had watched as the life fled from them even as his companions begged him not to go.

Unable to get rid of the haunting image of the man's eyes, Naruto convinced the gate guards to give him the name of the shinobi he'd watched die. A few days later he went to the cemetery with a handful of roughly picked flowers in hand to place on the grave. Ever since then he'd formed a habit of visiting the cemetery every week to pay his respects to the fallen. If he knew there was a fresh grave he always made sure to bring a flower to adorn it.

Today wasn't his normal visiting day, but he'd deemed an extra trip necessary because of the hitai-ate that now adorned his forehead. It felt right to come to where so many of his now literal fellow shinobi lay to show them that he too was walking the path they had chosen, and hoping that he wouldn't be joining them in their rest for many years to come. When he knew he couldn't stay any later without being late for team assignments at the academy, Naruto left the cemetery, turning and giving a respectful bow at its entrance before heading down the path.

The ANBU assigned to follow Naruto also paid their respects briefly before shunshining after the boy. Many of the masked shinobi would openly admit that they had gained a greater appreciation for the deceased because of the boy. Older operatives were often assigned to watch him on the days they knew he'd be at the cemetery in order to allow them to pay their own respects. Besides, it was good training for the new ANBU recruits to try and follow the boy around on a normal day since the boy had the uncanny ability to disappear and only reappear when he wanted to be found.

At first his ability to disappear so easily had sent the ANBU into a panic that something had happened. It worked out though as the boy somehow knew he was being tailed and after realizing the trouble it caused when he simply vanished, now gave his invisible escort a warning before it happened as well as telling them where to expect him to reappear. That didn't stop them from trying to find him anyway since it was a shame that the supposed best of the best could be outwitted by an elven year old. The older, more experienced ANBU would occasionally find him, but there was yet to be a rookie ANBU that could track the boy down.

Arriving at the academy, Naruto slipped into the classroom the graduating students were assigned and found himself a seat at the back as the instructor began calling out team assignments. After the first three teams were called, Naruto's ears pricked up at his name. The instructor assigned him to team four along with Kimura Nana and Tachibana Shou. Their sensei was a jonin named Honda Kaido. The only other team Naruto really bothered to take note of was team nine which consisted of Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten.

The instructor barely had time to wish the fresh genin good luck before the classroom door burst open to reveal a man in a green spandex suit with black hair styled in a bowl cut. He took no time introducing himself as Maito Guy, sensei to team nine. Naruto smirked as he watched the team leave. He'd seen Guy-sensei around the village and knew he was a strong shinobi. He and Lee would probably get along really well, but the other two…well, it may take them a while to warm up to their youthful sensei.

Feeling a presence to his left, Naruto glanced up at the girl standing there who was staring down at him with deep purple eyes. She also had dark purple hair that hung to her waist with a few bangs framing her face being held out of the way by bobby pins; her hitai-ate hanging around her neck. Purple actually seemed to be the girl's theme as she wore a pale purple sleeveless hoodie over a short sleeve fishnet shirt. Her apron skirt was also a dark purple in color over her black athletic shorts. The only non-purple things she seemed to be wearing were the fingerless black shinobi gloves over her hands and her black shinobi sandals.

"Hey there," she greeted cheerily as she plopped down on the desk in front of Naruto. "Since you're from the class below, you don't know who I am, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Nana-chan, your new teammate, and that," she said pointing to a boy a few rows in front of them, "is Shou-kun." Hearing his name, the boy turned around and waved giving Naruto a chance to observe him.

Shou had light brown hair that just tickled the base of his neck and pale gray eyes. His shirt was a rich deep green color with the left sleeve missing. His hitai-ate, like Nana's, was worn loosely around his neck and an earring with a short gold chain and blue orb at the end hung from his left ear. Both of his forearms were wrapped in bandages.

"What's up Nana-chan, Whiskers?" Naruto blinked. Whiskers? Shou had to be referring to him because of the birthmarks on his cheeks, but still, nobody had ever called him Whiskers before.

"You'll have to forgive Shou-kun. He's pretty familiar with people if you catch my drift," Nana explained with an exasperated smile on her face. "He'll probably be a real ladies' man once we get a bit older."

"And Nana-chan there is going to be the ultimate fear of males everywhere," Shou joked back in a relaxed manner. "Honestly, I don't know how she does it, but she can charm your tongue into saying things you never meant to say." Nana stuck out her tongue good naturedly making Shou chuckle and shake his head. "So, what about you Whiskers? Besides the fact that you're the only shinobi I've ever seen wearing orange and you graduated a year early, what can you tell us about yourself?"

Glancing down at his orange jacket, Naruto let out a soft chuckle. It was true orange wasn't really a shinobi color, but it was still his favorite for some reason. At least he balanced it out by wearing black pants and sandals, and he could always take the jacket off to reveal the opaque mesh shirt he was wearing underneath it.

"Well, if you want it to be along the lines of what you've told me about each other, I'm an expert on pulling pranks on people without getting caught," Naruto informed them after a moment to decide what would be something interesting to share with them. Nana's face lit up with a grin, and Shou reclined back in his chair, a wily smirk on his face.

"Now this I've gotta hear," he drawled, inviting Naruto to go into a rendition of some of his favorite pranks while they waited for their sensei to show up. It was while he was telling them about a particular prank involving Iruka-sensei, paint balloons, a cat, two pieces of string, and a can of tuna which had his new teammates clutching their sides in laughter that Honda Kaido showed up to collect his team.

Dressed in standard jonin attire, Kaido had his sleeves pushed up past his elbows and fingerless gloves with a metal plate over the knuckles on his hands. On the right glove was an extra piece of metal over the back of his hand with the leaf symbol on it. The jonin was a tall man with a lean frame covered in muscle. His black hair had a light wave to it giving it a slightly unkempt look. On the outside of his right eye a small vertical scar could be seen that gave a harsher look to his blues eyes that roved the classroom.

It only took him a second to identify his genin; two of which were laughing so hard they had taken to supporting themselves on the desks while the third was grinning and talking. Most likely he was the cause of the other two's laughter. Inwardly, Kaido gave a relieved sigh. With an early graduate on his team that also happened to be the village pariah, he wasn't sure how well the three would get along, but it seemed his worries were unfounded as he cleared his throat.

"Team four," he called out, catching their attention. The two laughing did their best to stifle their laughter as their faces lit up realizing their sensei was here. Nodding at them each individually as they made their way down the steps and over to him, Kaido turned and walked back out the door. "Follow me. We're going to a favorite spot of mine where we can get to know each other a bit better."

On the short walk to Kaido's favorite place, he quickly found out why his students had been laughing so hard as Naruto finished telling the story of his prank. Kaido was glad to be walking in front of his students as he wasn't sure he was wearing a respectable look on his face as he choked back his own laughter. Occasionally at the jonin station he'd catch bits and pieces of a prank the kid had pulled, but usually the ones pranked were too embarrassed to share their stories. Now, he could see why.

"Alright, we're here," Kaido said, clearing his throat and schooling his expression before turning to face his genin. "You can share more of your exploits later Naruto-kun, but for now let's all take a seat." Not seeing anywhere to really sit, the trio made themselves comfortable in the middle of the clearing they were in. Nana sat indian style while Shou reclined back on his hands and Naruto sat with his arms around his knees.

"So, now that we're going to be a team, we need to get to know a bit about each other," Kaido explained sitting down with one knee raised that he propped his arm on. "I'll go first so you have an idea of what I'm looking for. I'm Honda Kaido, you'll call me Kaido-sensei. I like to read and take care of my bonsai tree. Outside of training you could also consider those my hobbies. I dislike any kind of sweet food, and my goal is personal so I won't be sharing it. Any questions?" Kaido asked looking at the trio in front of him.

"What kind of books do you like to read?" Nana asked, her fingers playing with the grass beneath them.

"Mainly classics, biographies, history, and poetry for fun, but I also read a lot of shinobi tactical books," Kaido replied easily enough. He was glad that his team actually seemed to be showing interest rather than just breezing through the introductions like most new teams tended to do. Nana nodded in satisfaction, her question asked.

"What made you start taking care of a bonsai tree?" Naruto ventured after a brief pause. Kaido paused a moment to think. It had been so many years it was kind of hard to remember why he'd started in the first place.

"If I remember right, a friend told me it was a good way to relieve stress and add a bit of cheer to my apartment," he responded after several seconds. "Whatever the case, it's a great way to pass the time, and it's nice to nurture something with my hands for a change instead of killing with them." Noticing a bit of tension rising in the air, Kaido wanted to frown. That probably wasn't the best thing to say in front of a bunch of genin who'd never taken a human life before, but they'd have to get used to the thought of it eventually.

"It is good," Naruto whispered quietly, the ghost of a haunting smile on his face. Realizing everyone was now staring at him, he plucked a strand of grass and twirled it between his fingers. "I once overheard an older shinobi say that life is fragile like a blade of grass. In this line of work, we'll have to end lives far more than we save them, so it's good to use your hands for something besides killing to remember that it's not the only thing they can do."

"Those are wise words," Kaido agreed with a nod of his head. Thinking back, he could remember somebody mentioning that the kid had a habit of quietly sitting out of the way by older shinobi and listening to them while the rest of the kids ran around playing. Apparently, there was some use to the strange habit. "On that note, who wants to go next?" Kaido asked, figuring it would be best to move the conversation along.

"I'll go Sensei," Nana piped up. At a nod from Kaido she launched into her introduction. "I'm Kimura Nana. I'm the youngest of seven children, and I love to spend time with my siblings; especially Koji-niisan and Naomi-neesan because they're both shinobi. My hobby would probably have to be cooking which I do with my mom. I don't like giving up, and my goal is to become strong so that I can support my teammates and fight alongside them without being a burden."

At the end of her short monologue, Shou and Naruto were both smiling and Kaido nodded approvingly. Her goal was a worthy goal, but it was also an attainable one as long as she was willing to put in the effort to achieve it. She might have to work a bit harder than her teammates as female shinobi had the natural tendency to be the weak link in a team, but he was sure she could do it.

"You just had to pick a goal that's going to make whatever I say sound pathetic, didn't you," Shou joked. "I guess I'll just go next. I'm Tachibana Shou. My hobbies are people watching," Nana let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'stalker' making Shou shoot her a playful glare, "and caring for the messenger hawks my family raises. I like to play cards, and I don't really care for shallow people. My goal would have to be…beating Hyuga Neji in a fair fight since I've never been able to."

"So he's your rival?" Naruto asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Nah, I wouldn't call him my rival exactly, but the guy is hailed as a genius so I'd really like to be able to say that I beat him in a fight. He's really strong too, so I guess you could say that beating him would be a good way to measure my own strength." Naruto nodded thoughtfully. It was kind of similar to how he'd looked at Sasuke in the beginning. That had changed over the years though as they'd developed a rough kind of friendship, but he could understand where Shou was coming from.

"So, what about you Naruto-kun?" Nana prompted. Realizing he was the only one left that needed to do an introduction, Naruto nodded.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like to go eat ramen at Ichiraku's. I guess you could say my hobbies are…well, I guess pulling pranks could fall under that category." Naruto didn't really feel like mentioning his weekly cemetery visits or his habit of hanging around shinobi to hear their stories. "I don't really like…a lot of things I suppose. My goal…" Naruto turned his head slowly in the direction of the Hokage monument where the heads of the first four Hokage were carved. "My goal is to be as strong as the Hokage, or even stronger so that I'll always be able to protect the people around me. It may be an impossible wish, but I'd like to never see any of my comrades die in battle."

A silence fell over the group, but after a few seconds, Shou broke it with a sigh. "Man, you make my goal seem too easy Whiskers. Maybe I should change mine to becoming an ANBU member or something."

"You'd probably still have to beat Neji first anyways," Nana teased. "Beat him and then you can aim for ANBU."

"Ha, and what about you? If you don't want to be a burden to an ANBU and the strongest shinobi in the village you're going to have to work your butt off and then some," Shou shot back with a smirk.

"Then I will," Nana declared without hesitation, "even if I have to surpass Tsunade of the three sannin! I'm not getting left in the dust by either of you. Besides, you'll be working your butts off too."

"She has a point Shou-san," Naruto admitted, glad that neither of them had scoffed at his goal. He already knew that in order to achieve his goal before it was too late he'd have to work his butt off all day every day. He'd rather do that though than spend days mourning in front of the grave of a fallen comrade like he'd seen so many shinobi do.

"That she does Whiskers, and just call me Shou or at least Shou-kun. We're teammates now after all." Smiling when Naruto nodded Shou continued, "Well, if we're all going to become as strong as we say, we'd better stop sitting around and get to training. Right, Kaido-sensei?" The entire trio turned to look at their sensei who'd been watching the exchange between them with some interest.

"Ah, I suppose so," Kaido said, surprised by the apparent work ethic his team would have, "but first, I need to tell you all something."

"What's that Kaido-sensei?" Nana asked.

"It's about your real genin test," Kaido admitted bluntly. Naruto and Shou's eyes narrowed while Nana looked like she was trying hard to remember something.

"What do you mean by _real_ test?" Shou asked in a cautionary voice. Their instructor at the academy had never told them anything about a second test once they were placed in their teams.

"Well, the test you took to graduate the academy proves you have the potential to be genin, but I'm going to test you to see if you'd actually be able to make it out in the field. There's a catch though," Kaido said, making sure he had the trio's complete attention. "Out of all the teams that were made today, only a third of them at the most will actually avoid being sent back to the academy by their senseis. Also, depending on how you do with my test, it's my discretion as your sensei to send any one of you or all three of you back to the academy or have you dropped from the program if I don't think you are ready to be genin."

The trio exchanged looks for a long moment before Naruto nodded, becoming their unofficial spokesman.

"What's the test?"

Kaido's face grew cold as he stood up and brushed himself off. He'd thought for quite a while on how he should go about testing them, and after actually meeting them in person he knew just how he'd do it.

"Meet me at training ground thirteen in two hours and you'll find out. Bring any shinobi tools that you think you'll need, and don't be late." Naruto, Shou, and Nana watched as he jumped up into a nearby tree and disappeared; probably to get ready for their test just like they should.

"How fast can you guys get your stuff ready?" Nana asked as got up.

"Less than half an hour. Why?" Shou asked as he and Naruto also stood up and brushed some stray grass off their pants.

"Something seems off here, but I can't place my finger on it. I think we should get together again before the test and try to come up with a plan of some sort so that we can all pass it."

"I'm cool with that. What about you Whiskers?"

"Sure, but where should we meet?" Nana tapped her chin thoughtfully. If they met at the training ground Kaido-sensei might already be there hiding somewhere so he'd be able to overhear them. It didn't help that something was tugging at the back of her mind about this entire situation. Maybe her dad could help her figure it out.

Suddenly, Nana snapped her fingers, startling her companions. "I got it! Do you two know where the shinobi research archive building is?" When both boys nodded, Nana grinned. "Perfect! Let's meet in front of it in half an hour. My dad works there, so I can take you guys up to his office, and even if he won't help us, we can plan without any risk of Kaido-sensei being around to somehow overhear us."

"Heh, not bad Nana-chan," Shou smirked.

"Alright, we shouldn't waste time since we don't have a lot of it," Naruto said as he sifted through his mental map of Konoha for the fastest way to his apartment. "I'll see you guys in half an hour." Giving his teammates a quick nod, Naruto took off for his apartment, sticking to the alleys and side streets to avoid the heavy traffic of the main roads at this time of day.

His apartment was located in the older part of town where rent was cheaper. Even though he was still on a stipend from the Hokage and would be until he earned enough to cover his own expenses, Naruto hadn't wanted to live in the newer area of town. It was more crowded there, so he came under the intense glare that the villagers seemed to reserve just for him much more frequently than he liked.

Of course, ever since a year ago when Mizuki tricked him with a cleverly planned out pseudo early graduation test, Naruto knew the reasons for the stares and while it didn't make him feel much better, at least he could somewhat understand them now. It had also become easier to ignore the stares in the past year as Iruka-sensei had taken him under his wing to help him properly prepare for the real early graduation test.

Arriving at his apartment, Naruto unlocked his door and let himself in. The inside of his apartment was fairly empty. The only separate room was the bathroom as the kitchen connected to the main room which was decorated with a single table and chair, a bookcase, and his bed. The floors were wood, and the walls that had been painted a pale blue color years ago were beginning to fade and chip in some places.

What caught his eye was a package wrapped in brown paper and tied shut with some string that was sitting on top of his bed. That hadn't been there when he'd left that morning. Walking over, Naruto visually inspected the package before carefully picking it up. Untying the string, he carefully opened the paper, making sure not to tear it. Inside the paper was a brand new kuani and shuriken holder. Surprised, Naruto opened them to find them fully stocked with new, sharp weapons.

"Who…" he trailed off noticing that the inside of the paper had something written on it. Curious, he picked up the paper again. As he read the message, a smile grew on his face. The present was from Iruka-sensei who'd noticed that Naruto's equipment was very hammered and used with most of the weapons having nicks in them. At the end he mentioned that a new shinobi deserved new tools; especially since Naruto had worked so hard to graduate early, and wished him the best of luck.

Grinning, Naruto put on the new holder and pouch. He'd have to stop by the academy after school was out someday soon and thank Iruka-sensei. Folding the paper up and slipping it under the edge of his pillow, Naruto bent down to pull the rest of his equipment out from underneath his bed.

He nearly set his old shuriken and kunai aside, but paused mid-motion, staring at them with some consideration, an idea forming in his head. Years ago, an old shinobi whom Naruto had learned was referred to as the thousand year genin, had let slip an interesting bit of advice. He'd said that shinobi often got in a bind if they found their dominant hand or arm injured in a battle because it kept them from using their weapons. He'd then gone on to lament that if shinobi took time to train two good arms they wouldn't have that problem, but that too many shinobi focused almost solely on jutsu and found such ideas to be a waste of time.

Naruto had thought long and hard about what the man had said though, and had even discussed it with the Hokage on one of his monthly visits to drop off Naruto's stipend. The old man had been surprised at how much Naruto had been thinking about the idea and admitted that it was a good idea, but that few shinobi ever wanted to put in the effort it took to accomplish it. That had been all the motivation Naruto had needed to start training both of his arms and legs, not just his dominant one.

Now, with two sets of shuriken and kunai he could always have one for each hand instead of switching off from day to day. Not wanting to waste precious time by thinking about it too much, Naruto simply strapped them on. He was used to having his equipment set up for either side, but to have two kunai holders and two shuriken pouches on at once felt a bit strange.

Next, Naruto began sifting through the few other shinobi tools he had which were mainly wire and explosive notes. Sorting through them, he decided to take four reels of wire and a healthy dose of tags with him. Looking under his bed one more time he also found a pair of flash bombs which he figured couldn't hurt to bring along.

Satisfied that he was fully equipped for the test, Naruto retied his hitai-ate around his forehead and left for the shinobi research archive building which was about a block from the Hokage tower and the academy.

When he got there Nana was waiting, and a minute later Shou arrived. Not wasting anytime, Nana led them through the front door, down the halls, and up several sets of stairs until they reached her father's office. The door was open, so Nana knocked on the doorframe.

"Hi Dad!" Surprised, Kimura Takeo looked up from his work. He was in his late thirties with dark brown hair and eyes. His face was somewhat drawn, but there were also hints of laugh lines in his face as he smiled widely at his daughter."

"Well, this is a nice surprise Nana. Are those your new teammates behind you?" Nodding, Nana waved Naruto and Shou into the room.

"Dad, this is Uzumaki Naruto and Tachibana Shou. We were wondering if you could help us with something for the next hour if you're not too busy." Meeting each of the boys' eyes with his, Takeo gave them a nod of greeting. He was surprised to see Naruto on his daughter's team as he'd thought the boy was a year younger than her, but it didn't really bother him. Like many people, he'd kept a loose eye on the boy as he'd grown up, and honestly, he couldn't really find reason to hate him like a lot of people could. Turning to his daughter, his gaze became pensive.

"I might be able to help, but it depends on what I'd be helping you with."

"Well, the thing is," Nana began as the boys moved some scrolls out of the way so they could sit down, "our sensei is giving us a test in an hour and a half, and we could use some help coming up with a general plan so that we can all pass it."

"Is that so?" Takeo mused, working hard to keep the smirk off his face and maintain a neutral expression. He knew exactly what the trio was going to be tested on, but if he told them it would destroy the purpose of the test. Still, the fact that the three of them had gotten together to get help beforehand was a good indicator that they'd probably do just fine. "I'm not sure I can be of much help."

"Oh," Nana said, a slight look of disappointment in her eyes. "Could we at least stay here for the next hour to try and figure out a plan ourselves then? We figured if we made a plan here there wouldn't be any chance of Kaido-sensei hearing it."

Takeo smirked. "Sure thing. Just don't get too loud."

"Thanks Dad," Nana beamed as she waved Naruto and Shou over to a corner of the room where a table covered in scrolls stood. The three ended up sitting in a rough semi-circle on the floor after moving a few things out of the way.

"Okay, so what do we know about this test?" Nana asked, looking to her teammates.

"It's the _real_ genin test," Shou proffered with a hint of annoyance.

"And only a third of the teams will pass," Naruto tagged on. "Also, Kaido-sensei mentioned that the academy test proved we had potential, but that the test he's going to give us will test whether we can actually survive as shinobi."

"Hm…" Nana intoned, tapping her chin with her finger. "So…we have potential, but that doesn't mean we can survive?" she asked slowly, confusion dripping off her words.

"I guess, but that doesn't really make sense," Shou said with a frown. "Cause the way I see it, that means we have the potential to survive. I don't really see the difference between the two," he huffed. "You got any ideas Whiskers?"

Backwards lacing his fingers, Naruto rested his hands in his lap and stared at the floor like he often did when trying to think through something. "Give me a few minutes." Shuffling through his memories, Naruto tried to find anything that he'd overheard or seen that might help them. He ignored the memories involving civilians as this was a shinobi matter so he didn't think those memories would help. The problem was, most of his memories dealing with shinobi were either memories of his academy teachers, the ANBU that followed him around, or the shinobi he saw at the cemetery.

This just made Naruto frown. He didn't see how memories of silent black shadows or shinobi weeping over their lost comrades could help them now. Maybe he was going about this all wrong. Iruka-sensei always said it was a shinobi's job to look underneath the underneath.

Watching Naruto sigh, Nana and Shou decided to leave him to his thoughts for a minute or two to see if he could come up with something while they bounced the few terrible ideas they could come up with off each other.

"Maybe he'll tie us up and thrown us in a jonin level training field and say 'see ya later, if you're still alive when I get back you pass'. That would be dealing with survival after all," Shou muttered under his breath after nearly fifteen minutes had passed.

"I highly doubt that," Nana sighed. They weren't getting anywhere with this, and time was slipping away. "Unless Naruto-kun is forming a brilliant idea over there I think we're in trouble."

"Maybe, but I hate to admit defeat before we've even started. Oi, Whiskers! Is your brain coming up with anything?"

Letting out a slow, deep breath Naruto opened his eyes which he'd closed at some point. "Not really, but I think we might be overthinking this. After all, it's a test meant for genin, not jonin. The answer has to be simpler than what we're trying to make it."

"Alright, since we're not getting anywhere, let's try that approach," Nana agreed.

"Okay, so anybody bring a 'how to be a shinobi for dummies' book with them?" Shou joked making Nana smirk while Naruto let out a quiet huff of air, but his eyes were light with laughter.

"No, but how about we try listing off things you need or need to be able to do in order to survive as a shinobi," Naruto suggested. The other two nodded. It wasn't much, but at least it was a starting point. "I'd say kunai and shuriken are important."

"So are skills in nin, gen, and tai jutsu," Nana added.

"Basic survival skills like how to make a fire and hide the fact that you ever camped somewhere," Shou suggested with a shrug. It was a survival test after all. The list continued to grow longer as they listed off stealth, chakra, emergency rations, first aid kits, knowledge of what plants you can and can't eat, and more. Nearly twenty minutes later they'd pretty much exhausted all the answers they could think of, and with less than half an hour until they had to leave for the test, things weren't looking too good.

"Hey Dad," Nana called across the room. She knew her father had been listening in on them even though he appeared to be busy with his work. "Can you think of anything we forgot to list that you need to survive?" Setting down the scroll he was looking over, Takeo peered at the children with mild interest. He had, as his daughter guessed, been listening to their entire meeting, and he had to admit he was rather impressed with the list they'd come up with. Still, they hadn't come up with an answer and so, had no idea how to prepare for the test. Chewing the inside of his lip, he finally decided to give them a rather vague hint that might be able to lead them in the right direction.

"How about the will to survive?" he said, purposely making it sound like a question. Shou looked confused, and Nana sighed obviously not finding his answer very helpful, but Naruto looked thoughtful. Picking the scroll back up, Takeo watched over the top of it as the blond seemed to mull the words over in his head while the other two had easily dismissed them. There was more to Naruto than he'd originally thought if the boy could actually work out his hint.

Rolling Nana's dad's words around in his head, Naruto frowned pensively. He'd heard of the will of fire from the Hokage. That was the belief and trust that each generation of the leaf put in the generation that followed it, but the will to survive? It's not like anybody wanted to die, right? He'd seen the results of when a shinobi failed to survive; it left behind their teammates who were often angry and sad. He could even remember one particular shinobi who yelled at his teammate's grave asking why he'd had to take the hit that had killed him in order to protect the shinobi that had survived.

Thinking about it, Naruto would probably have told the shinobi that it was because his teammate didn't want to be the one standing over his grave instead. Maybe that could be seen as selfish because the shinobi would rather be dead than mourn the dead, but that didn't seem right. It was more like no matter what the outcome was for him, the shinobi that had died had wanted his friend to live, to survive…

Eyes widening, Naruto slowed his thoughts down a bit to make sure he didn't miss something. If… if that shinobi hadn't gotten in the way…his friend would have died. He probably knew he'd died if he took the hit instead, so that meant…that meant he chose his teammate's life over his own. That would mean…Naruto bit the inside of his lip. He knew he was close to figuring something out. It was right there, like he could reach out and touch it.

"Oi, Whiskers," Shou said as he shook Naruto's shoulder. "Come on, we gotta go or we're gonna be late for the test." Groaning as the idea that was forming fled to the back of his mind, Naruto gently knocked Shou's hand away and got up.

"Your timing couldn't be worse Shou-kun. I was this close to figuring something out," Naruto said, holding his thumb and pointer finger millimeters apart.

"Sorry Whiskers. You'll have to see if you can figure it out on the run."

"Yeah, let's go," Nana said ushering them towards the door. "Thanks for letting us use your office Dad."

"You're welcome. I'll see you later tonight," Takeo said, disappointed to see them go. He could tell Naruto had been close to figuring out his clue. If he'd had just a few more minutes… ah well, the test would prove more interesting this way he thought with a chuckle.

The entire jog to the training area, Naruto tried to figure out where his train of thought had been going without success. He knew Nana's dad hadn't said what he said for no reason. He knew what their test was going to be, Naruto had been able to tell that much from his body language; which meant the man had finally tried to give them a clue, vague as it was.

Upon reaching the training ground, Nana stopped the trio gaining curious looks from the two boys.

"Look, I know the planning meeting didn't go very well, but whatever Kaido-sensei's test is, let's kick it in the butt!" Glancing at her teammates, Nana held her hand out, palm down, in the middle of them. "…Together?"

Shou smirked and placed his hand on top of hers. "Together." The two of them turned their heads to look at Naruto.

"Un!" he declared with a sharp bob of his head and a grin as he placed his hand on top of theirs. "Kaido-sensei won't know what hit him, dattebayo!" Shou and Nana both tilted their heads to the side in confusion.

"Dattebayo?" they asked in unison. Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, Naruto explained it was something he ended up adding to his sentences when he was excited or passionate about something. Nana giggled and said something like "that's funny" while Shou grinned and threw his arm around Naruto's shoulder.

"You sure are an interesting one, Whiskers," he said as the three of them walked into the training ground where Kaido was waiting for them. He nodded at the genin in approval.

"You're right on time. Good job, but that was the only easy part. Now, pay attention because I hate repeating myself, so I'm only going to tell you how this test works once." Three nods met this statement as the genins' faces grew more focused.

"The test will end in three hours when the sun has finished setting," Kaido began, observing his students as they listened. "During those three hours each of you will be avoiding capture by me. Anyone who's caught when the time is up will be sent back to the academy. If I catch all three of you before the test is finished, the test will end early and all of you will be sent back. Basically, it's a game of hide and seek. Any questions?"

"Are there any restrictions as to what we're allowed to do?" Nana asked. Kaido shook his head; it was a good question and he was glad she'd asked.

"No. That's why I said bring any shinobi tools you thought you'd need. Tai, gen, and ninjutsu are also allowed. The same goes for me, and I'm warning you now, if you don't take this seriously you're going to get hurt. Also, you have to stay within this training ground."

Making sure there were no further questions, Kaido shoved his hands into his pockets. "Alright, I'm giving each of you two minutes to get away from here before I start coming after you. Starting… Now!"

In one motion, the three genin disappeared from the clearing leaving Kaido by himself. "Heh, not too shabby," he muttered to himself. He could still tell where they were, but each of them was making tracks to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible. Of course, they'd have to do more than just run away if they wanted to pass this test, but by calling it a game of hide and seek, he'd made them instinctively split up. Focusing in a bit closer on their chakra to trace the direction they were headed in, Kaido blanched when he realized that one of the signatures had seemingly disappeared like it was never there in the first place.

"What the…" he muttered, eyes narrowing. None of them should have the ability to mask their chakra to that degree. Chakra masking wasn't even taught at the academy, not even as part of the advanced early graduation curriculum. Frowning, Kaido let out a sigh. Already one of his genin was proving to be more than what meets the eye. He'd just have to chase down the other two first to learn who the disappearer was. A sadistic smirk slowly lit up Kaido's face; only seventy seconds left before the game of cat and mouse could begin.

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. . . .

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***

Reviews are appreciated.


	2. B1 C2: Hide and Seek

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but I do own any and all OCs as well as the plot.

* * *

**Still Waters Run Deep**

The shinobi world is different; darker. Naruto's mischievous side is hidden under a calm exterior, and he's worked hard to graduate a year early.

He's placed on team four; a team that will become infamous for being more than meets the eye.

* * *

**Book One**

Genin Days

**Chapter Two**

Hide and Seek

* * *

. . . .

Running through the trees and bushes, Naruto created a cross sign with his hands and muttered, "Kage bushin no jutsu". Twenty perfect copies of himself appeared and quickly gathered around him to hear the plan.

"Okay, I need you and you," he said, pointing to two of the clones, "to go find Shou-kun and Nana-chan. Sensei will probably go after them first since I've disappeared off his radar, and I'll need you to provide a distraction to help them get away. Tell them we need to meet back up as fast as possible." The two clones nodded seriously and took off. "Next, five of you spread out and if sensei does decide to come this way, try to draw him towards you since he'll probably think you're me." Five more clones nodded and ran back the way Naruto had come from, splitting up as they went.

Looking at his remaining thirteen clones, Naruto's face broke into a grin that would have made the devil sweat. Iruka-sensei was personally terrified of that grin as it meant Naruto's mischievous side was coming out which never ended well for the person on the receiving end. "The rest of you spread out through the forest and set up as many pranks and traps as you can." Thirteen grins mirroring his own appeared as the clones nodded in unison. "Be careful not to set off each other's traps, and when you run out of supplies dispel yourselves so I can know where the traps are." Waiting for the clones to nod and disperse, Naruto chuckled devilishly. "The best way to avoid being caught is to catch the person trying to catch you first. Ne, Kaido-sensei?"

If things went well, he could meet back up with Shou and Nana before too long and together they could lead Kaido-sensei into the area his clones would by that time have completely rigged with traps. Alone, he could easily avoid Kaido-sensei for three hours. Heck, he avoided the ANBU sent to watch him on a daily basis, but that would mean leaving Shou and Nana to Kaido-sensei's mercy. They'd promised to get through this test together, so that wasn't an option. Plus, Takeo-san's hint was still nagging at him in the back of his mind…

In another part of the forest, Nana was silently berating herself as her mind tried to figure out what her best course of action would be. The three of them should have stuck together from the beginning! They were just genin, there was no way any of them could take on a jonin by themselves, but when Kaido-sensei had called it a game of hide and seek, they all just ran, wanting to get away as fast as possible.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she quietly cursed. She could try and hide, but she had nowhere near the skill set necessary to successfully hide from a jonin, and if Kaido-sensei found her and she tried to fight her way out of it, she'd lose no questions asked. Frowning, Nana bit her lip. She needed to find the boys before they got too far apart. Maybe together they could do something to hold off sensei and avoid being caught for three hours, but alone they were each a sitting duck.

Hearing a rustling in the bushes to her left, Nana swiftly pulled out a shuriken and threw it. She let out a nervous sigh of relief when a squirrel darted out of the bush. The two minutes were obviously up, but she wasn't ready to face Kaido-sensei just yet. The thought of being forced to go back to the academy because she got caught before she could come up with a plan made her shudder. She'd had enough of sitting in a desk listening to lectures, and if she failed this test, she'd probably be forced to become a civilian like Suzume-neesan.

"You know," called a deep voice making Nana whirl around and look up to where Kaido was standing on a tree branch, "that squirrel never did anything to you. Being jittery isn't good if you want to be a shinobi." Tensing, Nana's hand inched towards her kunai holder as she glared warily at her sensei. This wasn't good. Pulling out three kunai, she backed up so that a tree was behind her. At least that way her sensei couldn't sneak up on her.

"Not a bad idea, but it's not going to work against me," Kaido said as he swiftly drew out several shuirken which he threw at Nana in the same motion. The girl blocked the first volley, but had to jump out of the way of the second volley that came right behind that, exposing her back again. Not using anywhere near his full strength, Kaido began luring Nana backwards with his projectiles towards a root that protruded out of the ground and would trip her.

He had to admit, the girl wasn't half bad at blocking and dodging thrown weapons, but she was now too focused on him to focus on her environment, a deadly mistake in the shinobi world. As he went to throw another set of kunai, Kaido spotted a dull glint out of the corner of his eye and jumped backwards. He hardly had a chance to notice the explosive tag tied to the kunai making his eyes widen before the explosion went off in front of his face.

Nana was also shocked by the explosion and the three that followed after it as Naruto appeared in front of her. Before she could make a sound, he held a finger to his lips and grabbed her hand, dragging her away from the scene as fast as he could, throwing a flash bomb behind them before the explosions could fade away. Regaining her wits, Nana yanked her hand out of Naruto's and ran full speed next to him.

"Thanks!" she gasped.

"Don't talk, run!" Naruto ordered. "I need you to listen to me. I'm not the real Naruto, I'm a clone. The real me will explain later," the clone said quickly before Nana could interrupt. "Anyways, the three of you need to get back together if you want to pass this test. Boss has a plan up his sleeve. It's my job to try and get you back to him. If Kaido-sensei comes again I'll distract him while you run, got it?" Nana just nodded, too shocked to really speak. Naruto could create a solid clone? The blond was just a bundle of surprises and she'd known him less than a full day.

Back where they'd left him, Kaido was groaning and holding a hand over his eyes. He'd managed to avoid all of the explosions, but as he'd tried to see which of the boys had rescued Nana, a flash bomb had gone off under the cover of the dying off explosions, temporarily blinding him. He had to admit, although ruefully, that whichever boy it had been, he'd done a great job. He hadn't expected any of his students to show up with flash bombs in tow. He'd have to watch out for those in case they'd brought more.

Trying to open his eyes, he groaned again and quickly shut them. The timing of that flash bomb and the fact that he hadn't expected it because of the explosions had made it catch him pretty bad. Judging by the ache behind his eyes it would be several minutes before he'd be able to open his eyes again. When this test was over he'd had to find out whether Shou or Naturo was responsible. Not only had they saved Nana, but he hadn't detected their approach, and they'd bought the pair several minutes to get away and regroup. Smirking, Kaido let out a chuckle. It looked like this test was going to be more entertaining than he'd originally thought it would be.

Farther out in the forest of the training ground, Shou had paused momentarily at the sound of the explosion Naruto's clone had set off. "Well, sensei found one of us," he mused, surveying the area around him. He could run in the direction of the explosion, but that was more likely to land him in trouble than keep him away from it. "I wonder if it was sensei or one of the others who set off those explosions…" Frowning, Shou sighed. The test had barely started and his nerves were already feeling the stress of running. "Maybe I should try and set up a trap of my own around here," he muttered, tired of running without direction through the trees.

Not having a much better idea, Shou began to set up a trip wire trap that would fling kunai towards the unfortunate person who set if off. When it was finished he concealed himself beneath some low shrubbery that required him to suck in his stomach to fit under it. As soon as he was in place, he opened his mouth slightly to silence his breathing, and forced himself to breathe shallowly so the brush wouldn't move and give him away.

Shou lost count of the seconds and minutes that slipped away as he laid there watching the area he'd set his trap up in. Shifting slightly to a more comfortable position, Shou felt a hand latch onto his ankle and yank him backwards out of the brush. Letting out a shout of surprise, Shou attempted to twist around and kick his attacker, but his foot was easily blocked by Kaido's gloved hand.

"A good stealth shinobi should be able to maintain the same position for hours on end even if it's uncomfortable," Kaido stated, an unimpressed look on his face. Internally, his mind was whirling. If Shou was the second person he could track down, then that meant Naruto was the one whose chakra signature disappeared earlier. Also, unless they'd split up again, Shou was most likely _not_ the one who'd rescued Nana.

Blinking as Shou pulled out a kunai, Kaido used chakra to reinforce the muscles in his arms to toss the boy upwards into the air, catching him by surprise. As Shou came back down, he twisted his body to land a roundhouse kick, but Kaido latched onto his leg and used Shou's own momentum against him to toss him through the trees until he smacked into one.

Groaning as he got to his feet, Shou hardly had time to catch his breath as Kaido moved in close and engaged him in a taijutsu match. Ducking and weaving, Shou tried to land a few hits of his own, but Kaido blocked them like he would swat away a fly. Panting, Shou knew he needed to create distance, but his sensei wasn't keen to let him do that as he constantly pushed into the space he created.

"You can't always have the battle in your preferred range. In battle you have to adapt or die," Kaido taunted as he threw an easy punch towards Shou, missing the boy by inches as he twisted and flipped out of the way. "I have to say that I'm getting tired of this though, so see ya later."

"What?" Shou asked in confusion taking a step backwards. As he did, his foot triggered a wire. Almost instantly he was hanging high off the ground away from any nearby branches in a tight rope net that had tangled up his limbs so he could hardly move.

"If you're going to set a trap for somebody, you need to make it a lot less obvious than that mess you left back there," Kaido said, nodding his head in the direction of where Shou's trap lay, unactivated. "As it is, it looks like you'll be failing the test. I'll be back for you in a bit." A shunshin later and Shou was left alone, dangling in the air.

"Well, this sucks," he lamented to the open air as he tried unsuccessfully to untangle an arm. "I wonder if shouting for help is allowed?" he mused once he'd given up trying to untangle himself. Even if he managed it, it was at least a thirty foot drop to the floor, and none of the tree branches were close enough for him to grab onto. There was always climbing up the rope to the branch it was attached to, but that still left the issue of trying to get untangled in the first place.

"Nah, calling for help is too uncool," he chuckled weakly, shaking his head lightly before slowly frowning. "I wonder how Nana-chan and Whiskers are doing…"Glaring at the rope surrounding him as best he could, Shou let out a soft growl of annoyance. "What the heck am I doing? We promised to kick this test's butt together. That doesn't exactly work if I'm stuck up here." Refocusing, Shou slowly began testing each of his limbs to see which would be the easiest to untangle first. "Rope, prepare to meet your match," Shou taunted, more to motivate himself than anything as he began the slow and careful process of escaping.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***

Jumping through the trees, Kaido headed in the direction where he could sense what had to be Nana. For what had started out as an interesting test, things were beginning to get boring. For a fresh graduate, Shou's taijutsu had been good, but Kaido wasn't in the mood to go easy, so he'd ended things faster than he probably should have. Still, if he could catch Nana he might also run into Naruto, the unknown factor of the team. It would be fun to see if the blond had fighting skills on par with his disappearing ones.

Slowing down as he came closer to his goal, Kaido quietly snuck towards where he could sense Nana and another, hardly noticeable presence which he could only guess was Naruto. Softly landing in a tree above them, Kaido smirked as he looked down at his students. They were sitting ducks, or at least he thought so until Naruto, who had his back to him, said something that made Nana stiffen momentarily. A second later, Naruto whirled and threw a handful of shuriken towards his hiding spot. Knocking the projectiles away, Kaido moved out on the branch so he was visible.

"Not bad. I didn't expect you to be able to sense I was there. Care to share your secret?" he inquired as he toyed around with the kunai in his hand. The two genin pulled out their own kunai and took up guarded stances.

"Sorry Sensei," Naruto quipped, "but a good shinobi never reveals their secrets to the enemy." Kaido nodded in approval before dodging several more projectiles sent his way by Nana. Jumping down off the branch, he landed between the two genin who proceeded to attack him simultaneously. Nana struck high for his face while Naruto went low for his knees. Stopping Nana's kick with his forearm, Kaido jumped upwards to avoid Naruto's swift kick before tossing Nana backwards.

"Get out of here Nana!" Naruto called out as he came between his teammate and sensei. "I'll handle things here for as long as I can." Nana didn't even hesitate, but nodded sharply as she picked herself up and took off in the opposite direction of where Naruto was facing.

"Do you really think I'll just let her run off like that?" Kaido asked as he went to slip past Naruto to catch Nana; annoyed that she would abandon her teammate so easily. To his surprise, he was stopped with a clang of metal as Naruto's kunai met with his.

"Of course not," the shadow clone of Naruto smirked as he dropped his remaining flash bomb between them forcing Kaido to jump back and close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the clearing was empty except for him and Naruto.

"So, you didn't use that as a chance to escape this time." Kaido's words were a statement, not a question. "Is this a ploy to buy Nana time to get away? Hopefully you can provide me with more entertainment than Shou did. He's already failed this test." Narrowing his eyes, Naruto threw his kunai towards Kaido who easily blocked it. "Oh, don't tell me you're the type to get easily provoked. How boring," Kaido drawled as he easily side stepped to avoid the kunai.

What happened next caught him by surprise as the sound of several kunai whistling through the air reached his ears. Whipping around, Kaido's eyes widened as he blocked two of them before jumping out of the path of the others. As he did so, Naruto's clone threw a handful of shuriken at him, several of them missing him narrowly on purpose in order to fly past him and set off more trip wires. Realizing he was in a bit of trouble, Kaido quickly used a kawarimi no jutsu to substitute himself with a log that was impaled by sharp objects a moment later.

"Heh, not bad," Kaido commented, sparring a glance at the log as it fell to the ground. "I hope that's not all you've got though."

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Naruto replied, a wily smirk creeping onto his face. It had been about five minutes since Nana had taken off. Hopefully, she'd used the distraction of the flash bomb to head off in the direction of the real Naruto like the clone had instructed her to before Kadio-sensei arrived. Still, the more time the clone could buy, the better.

Not caring for the smirk on Naruto's face as it gave him a weird chill running down his spine, Kaido secretly started to search the surrounding area for the telltale signs of tripwires; glinting, branches being pulled on, and other mistakes often made by not just academy graduates, but lots of experienced shinobi. Not seeing any, he began to relax the tiniest bit. Naruto had to be trying to bluff his way out of the situation since all of his traps were gone.

"Nice try, but I'm not falling for your bluff," Kaido called across the clearing to Naruto. He had to admit, the kid had guts to try and bluff a jonin. Not bothering to respond, Naruto's clone threw a handful of shuriken at Kaido again who blocked all of them just to be on the safe side. Knowing he wouldn't be able to keep Kaido entertained much longer with simple shuriken and kunai, Naruto's clone charged in. Surprised at the sudden range change, but taking it in stride, Kaido blocked several nice hits from the kid before landing a hard one to Naruto's gut. The last thing he saw was a dangerous looking grin before the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Kaido standing there alone, flabbergasted.

"…Dang." He'd heard rumors that after the incident a year ago with the sacred sealing scroll, Naruto had learned the shadow clone jutsu, but he hadn't really put any stock into those rumors. Staring at the spot where the clone had dispersed, it looked like he should have. "I've been played for a fool," Kaido muttered, shaking his head. That was why 'Naruto' had stuck to mid-range fighting. It had allowed the clone to play for time without him realizing he was facing a clone since there was only one in front of him.

The thought made Kaido want to laugh until he realized a rather sobering fact… If he'd been facing a shadow clone this entire time, that meant he still hadn't found the real Naruto, and with the test half over, who knew what kind of trouble the kid was preparing for him if the traps his clone had set up were any indication. Not wanting to know just yet, Kaido decided to continue chasing after Nana who was now alone again. He'd track down the blond last so he could get some answers.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***

Naruto was caught slightly off guard from where he was standing on a branch looking down at the mess Shou was in as the memories of his popped clone rushed into his head. It had only been a few months since he'd learned about the clones' ability to send their memories back to original, so the experience still threw him for a bit of a loop every time it happened. Shaking his head to clear it, Naruto looked back down at Shou who had managed to mostly untangle himself. He'd found him a few minutes ago, but Shou had said that even though it was probably stupid not to accept Naruto's help, he wanted to get out by himself, so Naruto was letting him do just that.

A handful of minutes later, Shou finished untangling himself and cut the rope sack open with his kunai. He then proceeded to slowly climb up the rope to the branch it was attached to which Naruto was standing on.

"Heh, sorry for making you wait Whiskers. Now, how's about we go find Nana and head for that place you were telling me about that you filled with traps?" Shou asked casually as if he'd just taken a quick shower, not escaped from a trap.

"Nana should actually be here in another minute," Naruto said, looking in the direction of where his popped clone had been.

"Eh, really?" Shou asked before shrugging and accepting it. "That's great, but how about we find a way to get down out of this tree before she gets here. My dad has started teaching me tree walking, but I haven't gotten it all the way down yet." Smirking, Naruto formed a cross seal with his hands, and a clone appeared on the ground beneath them.

"Think you can pull a kawarimi no jutsu with my clone?" he asked as Shou narrowed his eyes at the second Naruto. He was used to seeing the bushin no jutsu from the academy, but this clone looked different. Frowning, it took Shou a minute to realize the difference as the clone walked around and waved up at them.

"Oi, Whiskers. How come your clone has a shadow and can actually affect the environment?" Shou asked, noticing the rustling of the grass and dirt as the clone shuffled about.

"It's a kagebushin, I'll explain better later," Naruto said, knowing time was running out before Nana and then Kaido-sensei would arrive. "Now, can you switch with my clone or not?" Nodding, Shou focused in on the clone as he made the signs; ram, boar, ox, dog, and finally snake. A moment later in a puff of smoke, he traded places with the clone.

Instead of dispersing the clone, Naruto grinned as an idea came into his mind. Turning to the clone, he instructed it to henge into Shou. Once it had, Naruto instructed the clone to climb down the rope and tangle itself up in the net like Shou had been earlier. The clone gave an identical grin to Naruto's which looked out of place on Shou's face before doing as it was told.

"Haha, that's brilliant Whiskers!" Shou called up to him. Naruto gave him a thumbs up before channeling the chakra into his feet like Iruka-sensei had taught him to a little over a month ago and walked down the tree. "Show off," Shou chuckled, giving Naruto a punch to the shoulder.

"Not really. I still fall off the tree quite a bit. I'm just lucky I didn't that time," Naruto admitted as a rustling in the brush alerted them to the arrival of Nana as she burst into the clearing, gasping for air.

"You're late Nana-chan," Shou admonished cheekily. Still trying to regain her breath, Nana simply glared daggers at him in return.

"Shut up Shou. Kaido-sensei isn't too far behind me." Straightening up a bit, Nana nodded at Naruto in thanks before her gaze drifted upward to the clone henged as Shou in the trap.

"Is that one of your clones?" she asked, directing the question at Naruto. Due to his earlier cheek, she already knew the Shou on the ground with them was the real one.

"Yeah." Forming a cross sign with the hands again, Naruto softly muttered the jutsu's name as two more clones appeared. Pointing to the clone of the left, Naruto had it transform into a perfect clone of Nana.

"Wow, you haven't even known me a full day, but that henge is practically perfect!" Nana exclaimed as she walked around the clone observing it.

"Nevermind Whiskers skills Nana-chan. Just what are you up to Whiskers? Shouldn't we be getting out of here before Kaido-sensei shows up?" Shou asked, glancing over his shoulder apprehensively as if expecting Kaido-sensei to suddenly appear behind him.

"You two will be getting out of here with the clone that still looks like me," Naruto replied seriously, giving the pair a shove in the right direction.

"Wait, what about you?" Nana asked, whirling around to face the blond. It was one thing to leave a clone behind to face Kaido-sensei, but Naruto would be in trouble.

"I'll be a distraction along with my clones disguised as the two of you. As soon as the gig is up, I'll lead Kaido-sensei to you guys. Make sure you find a good place to hide so you can ambush him. If we can catch him before he can catch us there's no way we'll fail this test."

"I don't get it Whiskers," Shou said as he scratched his head. "Why don't you come with us and leave just clones behind?"

"If I do that and they'll pop and there won't be anyone left to lead Kaido-sensei into the trap. Now, get going before it's too late!" Nana looked like she wanted to still argue about the plan, but Shou nodded at Naruto, a glint of respect in his eyes.

"Just don't get caught Whiskers. We'll be waiting for you." Grabbing Nana's hand, Shou dragged her off into the forest while the clone that still resembled Naruto followed after them. As soon as they were out of sight and hearing, Naruto let out a sigh. He had to admit the plan he'd come up with was risky, but if it worked the results couldn't be more perfect.

"Alright you two," he said, addressing his clones. "We can't let Kaido-sensei figure out what's going on too fast, so make sure to put on a good act or our cover will be blown before the show can even start. The clone of Nana nodded while the clone of Shou flashed a quick thumbs up.

"What the heck Shou!" the clone of Nana griped while throwing the real Naruto a wink. "How'd you manage to get stuck like that?"

"Well, you see Nana-chan," the other clone responded, easily copying Shou's laid back manner despite his apparent situation. "I figured this test was going to be so easy that I'd set up a hammock and take a nap until it was over, but I guess I wasn't paying enough attention when I set it up, so things turned out like this."

"Oh, is that all?" Nana asked, disbelief filling her voice with a special brand of sarcasm. "Then I suppose you won't mind us leaving you up there then?"

"Haha, well, I don't know about that Nana-chan. You see, this isn't exactly as comfy as it looks," Shou replied nervously. "It'd be a shame to leave a fine specimen like myself just hanging around."

"I don't know," Nana replied with deliberate slowness. "What do you think Naruto-kun? Should we help him out or not?" Naruto, who was fighting to keep from chuckling at the show his clones were putting on, was hard put to keep a straight face.

"Maybe we could," he said, watching Shou's face light up. "But, on the other hand, maybe we shouldn't. We wouldn't want to interrupt your nap taking more than we already have." Watching Shou's face suddenly fall was too much, and Naruto couldn't help but to start chuckling.

"Come on Whiskers! Help a guy out here!" Shou complained as he struggled in the ropes.

"Alright, alright," Naruto chuckled. "Give us a minute to figure out how to get you down and we'll have you out of there."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening," a deep voice called from behind Naruto. Whirling around, Naruto simultaneously drew out a kunai and fell into a defensive stance while Nana took up protecting his right flank. He could see Kaido-sensei raise an eyebrow at them, but didn't move as his gaze settled on him.

"So, tell me Naruto," Kaido said as he walked into the edge of the clearing, "are you the real one or just another clone?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Naruto smirked knowing that he had a slight upper hand at the moment, but also knowing that one wrong move could completely reverse the tables. Kaido frowned as he reached back into his shuriken holder and withdrew several which he launched at his students. Shou shouted for them to watch out as Naruto and Nana jumped out of the way and sent their own volley of shuriken and kunai at him in retaliation.

Pulling out a kunai, Kaido easily blocked the incoming projectiles. He was starting to figure out his genins' preferred attack patterns. Nana and Naruto, or at least Naruto's clones, liked to fight with shinobi tools at mid-range while Shou was a mid-range tai-jutsu user. None of them had tried to place a genjutsu on him, but he hadn't expected them to as genjutsu wasn't taught in the academy, and other than Naruto's kagebushin, none of them had tried using jutsu either. The one other thing they seemed to use was traps. Although, the traps Naruto's clone had set up were much better in quality than the one Shou had tried to use.

"What a weird bunch," Kaido muttered under his breath. Usually genin teams were out of balance because they were still developing their skills, but whoever had put this team together must not have been thinking straight. All of them were mid-range fighters leaving them vulnerable at close and long range which was highly disadvantageous. Unless of course, the real Naruto fought differently than his clones; that could have made a difference in how the team was put together.

"Nana-chan, take care of Shou-kun. I'll handle Kaido-sensei." Drawing a kunai for each hand, Naruto smirked as he rushed towards Kaido.

"If you're coming in close before the others are gone, you must be the real one," Kaido said as he drew a kunai of his own to block Naruto's with. The sound of clashing metal rang through the clearing followed by a loud thud as the net and Shou crashed into the ground. Glancing out of the corner of his eye for a split second, Naruto was glad to see that his clone had survived the fall and was still henged as Shou before he hand to back flip out of the way of a punch sent his way by Kaido.

"You okay?" Naruto called.

"Yeah, I'm good Whiskers though Nana-chan needs to be more gentle," Shou joked as he crawled out of the net, stood up, and brushed himself off. "I hope you don't mind me joining in on your little fight. I need to get some payback for earlier."

"We both do," Nana said as she and Shou took to either side of Naruto.

"So, it's going to be three on one now is it?" Kaido said as he fell into a defensive stance. Without any kind of a sign the trio charged at him. Taking a step back, Kaido caught Naruto's fist in his hand and gave him a hard punch to the gut before turning on his heel to throw Naruto into Shou, but before the boys could collide, Shou dropped down for a sweeping leg kick that Kaido barely managed to avoid by jumping to the left which put him right in the path of Nana's roundhouse kick.

Grabbing onto Nana's leg, Kaido was surprised as she twisted her body around to aim a punch for his face which he stopped by knocking her arm to the side. "Heh, not bad, but not good enough either," he taunted, finding it strange that his entire team had suddenly moved into close range, as he threw her into Shou who was trying to land a kick combo from the side. Not sparing them a second glance, he quickly turned around, his eyes searching for Naruto when he heard a popping noise.

"Man, they didn't last as long as I'd hoped they would," Naruto lamented as Kaido glanced over his shoulder. Where Nana and Shou should have been tangled up on the ground there was only a swiftly fading cloud of chakra smoke.

"Clones henged into your teammates," Kaido commented as he turned to the blond who was getting up from where he'd fallen after being thrown. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting something like that. You're real though. Otherwise you would have disappeared when I punched you earlier."

"Yeah, you punch pretty hard Kaido-sensei," Naruto grimaced slightly as he held a hand over his stomach. "It's a good thing lunch was a while ago or I might have thrown it back up." Taking a few breaths to make sure everything was okay, Naruto grinned devilishly. "Lucky for me though, you didn't punch hard enough to put me out of commission." Without letting Kaido-sensei respond, Naruto jumped backwards into the bushes and took off running.

"Oh no you don't!" he heard Kaido call after him followed by his sensei's footsteps as he gave chase. Grinning even more, Naruto had to hold back from laughing. Things were going just like he'd hoped. Now, as long as he could outrun Kaido-sensei for a few minutes, they'd have this test in the bag.

Leaping over an exposed tree root, Naruto reached into his pouch for a handful of shuriken and some ninja wire. Thanks to his clones' memories, he knew just what was lying in wait up ahead, but he also wanted to add his own little trick to it. Tying the ninja wire around the shuriken with deft fingers, Naruto spared a glance over his shoulder. Seeing Kaido-sensei not far behind, he grinned.

Hefting his shuriken, Naruto turned around so he was completely facing his oncoming sensei, and threw them with a quick flick of his wrist. Wires crisscrossed through the air as the shuriken thudded into tree trunks. Satisfied that the wires would slow Kaido-sensei down just enough, Naruto ran behind a large tree and channeled chakra into the soles of his feet. Walking up the tree as fast as he dared, Naruto found a high up branch to perch on. Looking around, he could spot Shou and Nana although they had hidden themselves well. Shou was hiding in a tree on the opposite side while Nana was flattened underneath a thorny bush.

The clone he'd sent with them was nowhere to be seen, but Naruto had a good guess as to where it had gone since none of his clones' memories contained anything about a large rock off to the edge of the clearing. The sight made Naruto smirk. It had been a while since he'd used a ninja cloth to hide. Most ninja gave up on ninja cloths as childish and ineffective, but if you really took the time to learn how to use them correctly, they were a handy tool to have on hand. Glancing around at where he knew his clones had set their traps, Naruto grinned. Now they just needed Kaido-sensei to show up and the fun could begin.

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Cutting through the last of the ninja wire Naruto had strung across his path, Kaido frowned. The wire had been too obvious to be anything more than a ploy for time, but time for what? Knowing that the test was almost over, Kaido could only guess that Naruto had some sort of surprise still waiting for him. Following the direction the blond had gone in, Kaido was surprised as he picked up both Shou and Nana's chakra signatures. Or, at least he assumed it was them as the chakra signatures didn't have a muted, weaker pulse like the one he had begun to notice Naruto and his clones give off.

Glancing around the darkening forest of the training ground, Kaido sighed. The chances of the genin, or most likely, Naruto, having set up a trap just ahead as time was quickly running out was highly likely. "Let's see what you've got up your sleeves midgets," Kaido muttered to himself as he jumped into a clearing where he could sense his students' chakra signatures surrounding him.

Even as his foot touched the ground, a kunai was flung towards him from a tree. Pulling out a kunai of his own to block, Kadio's eyes widened in surprised shock as the single kunai suddenly multiplied itself nearly twenty times over. Swiftly running his hands through the seals, he pulled a kawarimi jutsu not a second too soon. It wasn't over though as he felt a wire give under his foot from the spot on a tree branch that he'd substituted to.

Hearing the quiet noise of shuriken as they spun through the air, Kaido narrowly dodged the projectiles that had been launched straight down at him from above; which was quite a feat as there were several branches in the space between him and where the shuriken had been launched from, yet not a single one stuck itself into any branch other than the one he'd been standing on.

Letting out a quiet 'tch', Kaido darted towards the bush he could see Nana hiding under. As he pulled out a kunai with the intent to flush her out of hiding with it, he felt a prickling on the back of his neck making him dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding a drop kick from Shou who had jumped from his branch to protect Nana who had dislodged herself from beneath the bush.

Blocking several good kicks and punches from Shou, Kaido jumped back to give himself some space when multiple Nanas rushed him. Figuring it was Naruto using his shadow clones again, Kaido was surprised when his fist went through the Nana he'd attacked causing it to waver and vanish before his eyes as it was only a regular academy bushin. Eyes wide, Kaido spun rapidly, barely catching Nana's fist mere inches from his face.

Grabbing onto Nana's arm with the intent to send her flying, Kaido quickly let go and jumped back as an exploding tag attached to a kunai whistled through the air between them. He could hear Shou shouting Nana's name as he landed beside the large rock at the edge of the clearing. The next thing he knew, there was a heavy weight on his back and his legs were tangled up.

"Checkmate Sensei," the quickly becoming familiar voice of the blond genin whispered in his ear as Kaido felt the pressure of the edge of a kunai against his throat. Surprised, Kaido allowed the blond a moment to enjoy his apparent victory before smirking.

"Not bad Naruto, but not good enough." Pulling a quick substitution with a log, Kaido appeared behind the two Naruto's and used his headhunter jutsu to bury both of them up to their necks in the ground. The clones shared a thoughtful look with each other, light frowns tugging at the edges of their lips before they both simultaneously disappeared in a cloud of chakra smoke.

Turning to face his genin, Kaido was surprised that the three of them were simply standing across the clearing, waiting for him.

"What's this, no more tricks?" Kaido asked as he walked towards the trio. Each of them reach into their pouches to pull out a kunai or shuiken.

"When it's obvious tricks aren't working, it's stupid to keep using them," Naruto stated calmly as he placed a kunai in each hand and fell into an attack stance.

"The test is almost over too, but if we run you'll be able to catch us easily," Nana added. Nodding at their words, Kaido had to admit he was pleased that they'd thought things out that far. Turning his gaze to the last of the trio, he raised an eyebrow.

"What about you, Shou, nothing to say?"

"Heh, words are pointless at this point Kaido-sensei," Shou drawled lazily. "I'll just have to let my fighting skills do my talking for me." Taking up a fighting stance, Shou smirked. "Don't tell me you're too scared to fight a bunch of genin so you're trying to buy time by brandying words back and forth."

Pulling out a kunai of his own, Kaido chuckled. "I show you three just how scared I am to take on a bunch of genin. I hope you're ready!" Without any warning, Kaido rushed towards his genin who had all started shifting to receive his attack.

It was when he was halfway to them that it happened. One second he was staring down his genin, and the next he was feeling a dull ache throughout his body while his mouth was full of dirt. Hearing laughter, Kaido turned onto his back, spitting dirt out of his mouth as he looked up towards the sound. His three genin were lining the rim of the pit he'd fallen into with grins on their faces. In the last fading rays of the sun he could see an amused gleam in Naruto's eyes, and he instantly knew who the culprit was.

"Heh, a pitfall huh? Classic but uncommon," Kaido commented loud enough for his genin to hear as he checked himself quickly for injuries before standing up. Looking up at his genin, he smirked. "I have to say, you three passed with flying colors." Grinning and shouting in excitement, the three exchanged high fives as Kaido jumped out of the pit.

"Heh, not so fast you three. Before I let you go, I want to know if you figured out the reason behind this test," Kaido said, looking at his three troublemakers for the answer. He was pretty sure they'd figured it out. If not, then they had some of the best instincts he'd seen.

"Well, to tell the truth, we tried to figure that out before the test even started, but we didn't have much luck," Nana admitted sheepishly.

"Whiskers seemed to be onto something though after Nana's dad gave us a weird hint. Something about the will to survive. Did ya ever get that riddle figured out?" Shou asked, turning to look at Naruto who nodded before addressing Kaido-sensei and his teammates.

"The will to survive is something lots of people might call instinct. It's a basic survival skill any animal has; to put their own interests before others so they can continue to live. But, as shinobi, from the moment we graduate the academy we're placed into teams. Our will to survive no longer applies to just us, but also to our teammates because they are now necessary to our survival since we're sent on missions that we can't accomplish or survive alone." Rubbing his nose awkwardly, Naruto glanced around at his teammates who seemed to be realizing just what he was saying.

"Hold on," Shou muttered in annoyance. "You mean to tell me the entire purpose of this test was teamwork?" Naruto nodded while Nana sighed.

"Leave it to my dad to disguise an easy answer in an indirect question." Placing a hand on her hip, Nana smiled at the youngest member of the team. "Way to figure it out, Naruto. You'd think I'd be able to get it since he's my own dad, but I guess you think more like him than I do." Chuckling in embarrassment, Naruto ran a hand through his hair as Shou punched him lightly in the shoulder.

Staring at the genin in front of him, Kaido couldn't help but be bewildered. He was amazed that Naruto had figured out such an obscure hint, but not only that, apparently his genin had banded together before the test even started and had helped each other throughout the test with only Naruto actually knowing what the test was even about.

"So how come you two helped each other and Naruto out even though you didn't know the test was about teamwork," Kaido asked, feeling the need to satisfy his curiosity. What he wasn't expecting was for both Nana and Shou to shoot him looks of disbelief.

"Really Sensei?" Nana asked, an eyebrow raised. "We might be fresh out of the academy, but we aren't stupid enough to think we could beat you by ourselves."

"Besides," Shou added, throwing his hands behind his head, "who the heck abandons their teammates to the sharks? That's just messed up. Right, Whiskers?" The blond nodded, and Kaido felt like his jaw should have dropped to the floor. It was unusual for genin to have any sense of teamwork, yet these three just seemed to naturally gravitate towards it. Letting out a sigh as an amused smirk settled on his lips, Kaido couldn't help but think he'd been assigned a rather odd bunch.

"Tell you three what," he said, placing his hands in his pockets, "how about I treat you all to dinner in celebration of you officially becoming genin?"

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Reviews are appreciated.

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**Thank you:** dalulzing, Xazozame, jona, and ivyhunter10 for your reviews on chapter one. Also, thanks to those that favorited and alerted this story.


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