Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer-i do not own naruto or anything related it belongs to kishimoto.**

Sarutobi Asuma stood in the council chambers of Konohagakure no sato holding his new born son in his hands,the yondaime hokage had died sealing the nine tailed fox in his child . The Yondaime's own child had died with his wife Kushina Uzumaki and having no other option the yondaime had asked Asuma if he would be willing to sacrifice his child for the sake of the village. Asuma had no other choice but to offer up his child as there was no other new born present which could be used for the sealing ritual and it was his duty to do anything to protect the village . Asuma had almost regretted his decision of marrying early in his life but then just a glance at his child's innocent face had washed it all away. Unfortunately his wife was one of many that died tonight. The only saving grace was that at least it was natural,she did not survive childbirth. For the few moments in which she had held their little son in her arms, the happiness he had seen in her eyes had taken all his momentary pain away.

The sound of shuffling of feets broke him from his thoughts,the council chamber had now been occupied by all the shinobi councilors and the three elders.

His father entered the last and gave a nod to him,the man's lips could not resist a small tug at the corners when his eyes fell upon his grandson. He was a grandfather now but his village came foremost all his happiness or pain was stuck aside for the time being. A flick of his wrist and everyone sat down at their respective seats. "Today has been a very bad day in the history of our village,the losses which we have suffered are very high, those ranging from our shinobi strength to economic losses and structural damage within the village."; he waited as he looked around and then continued "but the loss of our Yondaime hokage is the biggest, the fourth gave his life to protect this very village and we have to carry on his legacy and wishes further,I AM reinstating myself as the Hokage ,if anyone opposes then please come forth". As expected no one came forward and he sat down in his old chair. His succesor/predecessor was dead now and he had the reigns of the village back in his hands again but this time he had to rebuild it. "I don't think i need to remind anyone about their duties and i ask you to perform them to your best . Lets bring back Konohagakure back to its original glory". There was a conclusive nod of heads all around the chamber.

"I know all of you want to know what happened to the nine-tails; i'll tell you this that it has been sealed,but the knowledge of the container will be hidden from everyone due to security issues,i presently trust no one but once the village stabilises i'll think about disclosing the secret" .There was a rush of hushed whispers around the chambers but no one dared say anything, afterall the hokage's word was law.

Hiruzen had previously decided to disclose his grandson's status but while on his way to the council chambers he had seen the destruction and the widespread hatred for the kyubi and he could not just condemn his own grandson to such a life in which all this hatred would be directed solely at him.

As the meeting ended he had gotten up from his seat and spoken once more "although there is a widespread atmosphere of fear and mourning,i have a little good news to share with you,today i've become a grandfather ",he motioned Asuma to come forward and took the child form his arms "this is Naruto Sarutobi,my grandson".There was a chorus of congratulations for both the sarutobi clansmen,and soon everyone dispersed leaving the the three generations of sarutobi family alone in the room. "Dad i'm glad you did not tell them,i could not fathom a child bearing so much hatred on his shoulders, even if he was not my own child. Thank you". Asuma's statement was accompanied with a short bow of his head. He had never seen Asuma bow his head in front of anyone and to see Asuma bow,showed the elder Sarutobi how much he loved his son. "I'm sorry for the death of your wife,she had become like a daughter to me,what happened?". Asuma sighed and then spoke"She died of childbirth, she already had a tumour in her brain due to which she quit her shinobi career abd married me. Bit the strain of pregnancy and the sudden illness she justcould not survive it. But i know she died happy, I saw it in her eyes she when she held Naruto in her hand ." A tear dropped from his eyes thinking about her but it was not the time for showing weakness . He had to control his emotions now,his son and village needed him right now.

"Whatever happened was out of our control,but we will get time to mourn our loved ones but for now it is time to help our home. I will leave Naruto with his aunt Mikoto for the time being as we both do not know much about child care but as soon as we learn how to do it my son will come back home with us".

The elder Sarutobi nodded but there was a problem,the clan head Uchiha Fugaku had died in the kyubi attack and young Itachi was actually too young to become the clan head so Mikoto had taken up the role of the head for the time being."will Mikoto be able to handle Naruto and being the clan head at the same time?".The thought had come up in Asuma's mind but there was a solution."It'll be alright she is due to give birth in a few months and so most of her work will be through her home so she'd be able to manage it,and then again itachi is pretty mature for his age,i know he'll take care of his new cousin".Hiruzen just nodded in approval.

**Later at the Uchiha clan compound...**

Asuma landed in front of the gate of the compound with his little son wrapped up in a bundle of red cloth with just his face visible .he couldn't help but notice how the little guy had inherited his mother's balck eyes and hair but he could already see that strong jawline and cheek bones which he inherited form his handosme father. He couldn't help but let loose a little chuckle at the notion. The guards at the gate were a bit unnerved by the jounin's chuckle but they let him through without a question,afterall the man was not a stranger with being a elite jounin of the village and the member of the twelve guardian ninjas till five years ago when he returned to the village after his tenure at the service ended and then married the younger heiress of their clan. How could they stop him he was afterall directly related to the head family.

Asuma knocked at the door of the clan head's house and was surprised to see the door being opened swiftly by Itachi. the boy in question was seven years old and was already a genin and looking at the small smoke cloud disperse and how fast the door had opened he could guess the boy had used the shunshin to appear at the door. His use of shunshin was not very surprising as another kid Shishui the closest one to Itachi's age in the whole clan was of chunin rank and must've taught Itachi his favourite jutsu. And if he knew correct then the Shishui kid had also just joined the ANBU and was already making a name for himself with the formidable use of the **shunshin no jutsu.**The kid had already gained a moniker of 'Shunshin no Shishui'.

Asuma was a bit jealous ,he did not have any moniker with his name even though he was very strong on his own and here kids half his age had alreday started getting monikers, 'the copy ninja' and the 'green beast' were already quite famous. He sighed again his father had always told him the next generation would always surpass the older. His son as if getting the confused mood of his father let loose a giggle.

"ah Itachi-kun,how've you been?".the boy just shrugged "i'm fine i guess,i heard about kasumi-obasan,i'm sorry".

Well that was a sore topic the boy had struck so Asuma just ruffeled the boy's hair and went inside,where he met mikoto and explained her everything,even about naruto's container status. The woman could not decide wether to be haapy or sad. She had now a new important person in her life but on the other hand lost her husband and sister at the same time. In the the end though she agreed to take care of Naruto.

**13 months later...**

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office doing paperwork,beside him on the floor sat naruto painting some glibberish on a piece of paper and giggling along with it. The little child had grown. He could already understand everything said to him and had started speaking a little bit even if most of it could still not be understood. The village had stabilised a bit too,but this time he had kept everything on a tight leash. The civilian council had been set to always match his opinions on all matters ,the others who had always opposed him had been slowly killed in anonymus accidents performed by ROOT. Oh yeah,he had restarted ROOT alright. The village of konohagakure na sato needed all the help it could get and it always had its benefits to keep Danzo on his good side,because even if the man was crippled he could cause a lot of damage if left alone. After all it was better to keep a wild animal on a leash rather than leave it free.

He was also slowly getting ROOT under his control too. After restarting ROOT he had appointed Inoichi as the deputy head and the man was doing his work very well.

He had also made a small gamble by telling the three advisors about Naruto's status,thankfully it had played out well,his two team mates weren't effected much and Koharu had already taken a shine to the boy considering him her own grandson and would always come to meet the boy with gifts and all. Danzo had kept quiet for a while and had then just nodded,the man just wanted a strong container for the village and he knew that The god of shinobi would train the boy well so he left the boy as he was for the time being.

His thought process was broken when the door to his office creaked as it slowly opened and he could see his secretary peering inside looking at him,"Hokage-sama,elder Koharu is here to see you",a nod from his head was all that she needed for assent. Koharu entered his office with a small bag held in her hand."ah Koharu what can i do for you today?".The woman just ignored him and slowly walked towards his grandson while speaking to him"Nothing Hiruzen i just came in to take Naruto-chan here,i'm taking him to my home for tonight".This was not happening for the first time and now he could see what was in the bag,it must be candies just in case Naruto refused to go with her tonight. A chibi sarutobi thought in his mind that how devious the woman was,she had prepared a contingency plan. But the voice of Naruto singing "koharu-obaa"again and again was enough to make him sure that Koharu wouldn't need to use her backup plan.

As she started moving out of the office a shadow dropped from the ceiling following them. It was Shishui,naruto's ANBU guard. He sighed as the door to his office closed and then he was back to doing paperwork .With a handsign that most jounins would always recognise two clones popped behind his back and picked up a pile each from his desk. The solution to defeat his greatest enemy had come to his mind while taking care of Naruto once when he had to console the crying boy and complete his paperwork simultaneously. He grinned thinking about it,his grandson had already started helping him. He couldn'texplain how glad he was to have him.

A few shadows hidden through out the office sweatdropped on looking at the glee filled maniacal face their Hokage was making.

**4 years after the Kyubi attack...**

The backyard of the hokage mansion was littered with shinobi tools,kunai and shuriken stuck in trees and dummies alike.A small figure stood panting in the centre,short black hair,fair skin and sweat dripping from his boy looked at his handiwork,he had been practicing his aim from the last four hours,he still could not hit every target in the centre but 90% of his hits were accurate and he was slowly getting there. It had been a month since he had started training ,nothing intense just some physical exercises to increase his stamina and endurance. He had already unlocked his chakra last week and according to his dad it was quite potent and his chakra pool was also quite large for someone his age but not nearly to a level of a genin.

He started moving towards his home and on the way plucked a leaf from the tree and stuck it on his forehead and moved inside. Asuma lay on the sofa grinning at the sight of his four year old son dripping with sweat from his body. All the boy did was either train or read. He was too stuck up in proving his worth to the village and most importantly to his maternal clan. Some idiot Uchiha had called his mother a failure and the boy had heard him,he still could not understand how a four year old had such restarint as at the time the boy had just heard the comment and had not bothered replying. If it had been him who had heard anyone insulting his late wife, the person would surely be in the hospital. On the other hand the little guy had gone to his grandfather and asked him "Grandpa will you please train me?".The older man had looked at the boy's face and could see tear marks on his cheeks,he was about to ask the boy if anyone had hurt him but a shake form the boy's ANBU bodyguard stopped him. Sighing he just got up from his place and nodded in assent.

He could see a good future for the boy.


	2. Chapter 2

**5 years later...**

A young boy stood in front of a bearded man openly glaring at the man.

"You are many years too young to land a blow on your old man Naruto",though the boy in question just continued glaring at his father. They had been sparring from the last two hours and he had not been able to land a single blow on his father. It was not expected of him to land a blow otherwise the other man wouldn't hold the rank of an elite jounin.

The boy started in a slow run which blew into a full speed sprint towards Asuma and proceeded to throw punches and kicks at his father but the man just dodged all of them. Jumping Naruto tried another roundhouse while in the air aiming between his father's neck and shoulder region . Asuma caught the kick and then proceeded to throw the boy in the opposite direction,though he was impressed to see the boy improvise and backflip on his hands in order to come back on his legs. . Even after the backflip their was a lot of momentum from the throw so the boy skidded back a few feet on the ground. He was agile for sure,the taijutsu style of sarutobi clan included a lot of acrobatics,jumps ,flips that were inspired from their summoning partners, the apes.

The older man sighed,his son just did not give up. The boy was progressing well,he had already mastered the basic three jutsu,though he had to teach the boy the tree climbing exercise for him to perform and master the bunshin jutsu. His accuracy was also very good and the fact that he was also learning the intermediate katas for the clan's taijutsu style spoke much of the boy's skills.

He was a prodigy in the ninja arts,just like his grandfather was back in his days.

"it is enough for today Naruto,you need to go freshen up so that we can go to your aunt's house,she has invited us over dinner".

Naruto just nodded and went inside. The boy was very serious for his age . It was not like he did not like having fun,the problem was that the idea of fun for the boy was also training. Well he could not help it so he just shrugged ,also it would make his son stronger for the future.

He himself decided to go inside and freshen up.

Night time saw,the third hokage with his son and grandson walking towards the uchiha clan compound. On the streets people gave them a wide berth giving respectful bows to the hokage .

Naruto wanted to be like his grandfather,he was his idol after all. The boy wore even clothing similar to his grandfather. Balck pants tapered at the hems,black shinobi sandals,a mesh shirt over which a he wore a black hakama,Coupled with his black spiky hair and his black eyes it gave him a very mysterious appearance.

As they reached the clan compound the hokage motioned with his hand towards an abandoned rooftop. Silently a figure emerged from behind the railings and dropped down in a bow in front of the elder man. "rise and take of your mask shishui,let's go and have dinner".

Shishui had become a part of their small dysfunctional family,with him being Naruto's bodyguard very close to Itachi's family he was always around.

The teen obeyed and walked around to stand behind them and slowly ruffeled Naruto's hair.

"aargh Shishui-san how many times have i told you not to do that".

Shishui just laughed and spoke"you will have to stop me yourself,but that is only possible if you catch me",with a shunshin he was a few feet behind the boy dodging a wild swipe and then sticking his tounge out to the young Sarutobi.

"I think you should aim better Naruto-chan". The other two men just laughed it up,Shishui was the only funny person naruto knew and it had become the habit of the older boy to tease naruto every chance he got. At least it made the younger boy think of anything else besides training.

Inside the clan head's house at the uchiha clan compound the small family sat at the dinner table,one small boy couldn't help but glare at the person sitting opposite him. It was nothing serious just childish jealousy. Young Sasuke uchiha had always been jealous of his older cousin Naruto who was older than him maybe by around 3-4 months but the older boy had never forgot to remind it to him. Naruto had always got more attention from the villagers,so what if he was the hokage's grandson. He was not the hokage himself. Bah! he could care less of what the villagers thought,but the problem was that even his small family was fixated on the boy. Itachi and his mother often discusssed about how intelligent and strong Naruto already was and he would surely be very storng in the future.

It should've been him who got the attention of his family,he would be the one that would surpass the clan prodigy itachi. But the spar with Naruto last week had proven where he stood in terms of strength in front of his older cousin.

Well he had thought of a way,"I want to join the academy early".

The sentence form the youngest person on the dinner table had cut-off all the ongoing conversation as everyone was now looking at him. "Pray tell me otoutu why would you want to that?".

It was Itachi who had asked the question and was patiently waiting for an awnser though inside he very much knew the awnser,losing to Naruto in their first spar ha dhurt's Sasuke's typical Uchiha pride. He still could not understand where he got it from though,him and his mother were very modest about nearly everything,it must've come from living in the clan and the expectations placed upon him.

"I want to become strong like you people,like you,like father,like our other clansmen",proclaimed the young boy. Though this was not the real reason,he had to say something to convince the others.

Hiruzen chuckled a bit then asked,"what makes you think that you are ready for the academy a year before than the usual age?". But before Sasuke could reply he was interrupted by Itachi. "I've got a deal for you,if you manage to learn the jutsu for your passage as an adult of the clan before the start of the next academic year i think everyone here would consider you ready enough?"

Though the deal was good enough it would be stupid and nearly impossible for a five year old to learn s jutsu like the fireball at such a young age. It was Mikoto who voiced her concerns , "Itachi dear,don't you think it is a bit too much to ask a five year old to learn a jutsu like the **goukyaku no jutsu,** it would be to taxing on his reserves". "You do not need to worry mom i was the same age when i learnt it". Though any further arguments were halted by Sasuke,"I'll do it.". The boy had said that with such a determination that even Hiruzen was halted.

"Then i'll do it too",Naruto's voice cut in,"I'm an Uchiha too even if a half-blood of course,I've to pass the clan rites too and if Sasuke here who is younger than me wants to join the academy I'd like to join as well. What do you think Sasuke-san".

Sasuke cursed,he had not expected his cousin to take up the offer too,well he could not do anything about it now so he just nooded in ascent. Hiruzen was thinking now,if these two could really learn the **Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu **at this age then it would really prove that they were ready for the academy,but then they would be let in the shinobi world too soon,he didn't want that. "Fine if you do learn it,i'll see to it that you are admitted in the academy but you will not be allowed to graduate early,you both will have to attend the necessary 6 years required in the academy". All the two boys did was nod and the rest of the dinner went off without a hitch.

Three days later two boys stood facing another older teen. "Now watch the hand signs you need to perform the jutsu,watch them carefully or any mistake can lead to severe harm to your mouth or stomach",with that Itachi started demonstrating the handsigns for the jutsu,calling out the name of the jutsu **Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu he** procceded to blow out a fireball of gargatuan size towards the lake which travelled a considerable distance and the dispersed due to the lack of chakra powering it. Both the boys stood wide mouth at the display.

After repeating the hand signs for a few more times and carefully watching the two boys perform them right,it was time for them to attempt the real thing so he motioned them toward the river.

Sasuke and Naruto both stood at the river edge and started doing the handsigns in a sync and ended with the tiger sign commonly associated with Katon jutsu. Putting their right hands in front of their mouth both boys proceeded to suck in air and the fueling it with their chakra released it,the results were not very surprising for Itachi as both boys started coughing smoke and were already on their knees for breath. He had already expected this to happen so he procceded to throw two water canteens towards the two boys.

"Keep on practising now,you've got the handsigns and the concept down",saying that Itachi left the two boys to their own devises. Sunset found the two boys panting at the river shore,they had tried the technique many times after Itachi had left and now had their chakra reserves very low, even then Naruto had tried the technique a few more times after sasuke had given up with his chakra reserves reaching low. "Even here Naruto seems to be better than me he has larger reserves than mine"thought Sasuke.

Though he did not know the reason behind Naruto having larger reserves than him was due to the Kyubi being stuck in his belly and the seal slowly taking the chakra from the beast and then puryfing and releasing it in the boy's coils.** (AN: naruto's chakra reserves are lower than in canon because there he had already bigger resreves due to him being an Uzumaki,but here he has less chakra then in canon and thus a lot better control too)**

There was only one thing that the two boys now had in mind now,it was to learn the jutsu before the other.

**Please review...**


	3. Chapter 3

It had been two weeks since the boys had started to learn the Fireball jutsu,it had become a race to the end,the first victory had come to Naruto who had been able to release a fireball of the size of a football on their third day of practice. The boy had been very happy on that day,as the smile gracing his features had remained throughout the day. Both Hiruzen and Asuma were happy to see the always serious boy smiling. But alas, his mood had soured when after 10 days of practicing,it had been Sasuke who had proceeded to blow a fireball which could be at least considered as the real jutsu and the boy had rubbed the fact in Naruto's face. The older boy had not been sitting idle either and two days later he had performed an even bigger fireball than Sasuke's. This had started a rivalry between the two boys and they had started to spar on a daily basis,though sasuke had still not been able to win one.  
-**Scene break..Uchiha clan training grounds..  
**

A kunai came out of some bushes,the rustling of the bushes and the telltale sign of a kunai whizzing through the air alerted it's target. Sasuke immediately took out one of his own kunai and precisely knocked the projectile off it's aim,and started running through hand signs to perform his newly mastered jutsu. Bringing his hand in front of his mouth he proeeded to call out the jutsu, **Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu **and blew out a huge fireball towards the bush.

Naruto was startled,he had not expected Sasuke to throw another fireball at him, the other boy had already thrown two of those which he had countered with one's of his own. Having no more time to counter the jutsu he escaped using the **kawarimi no jutsu. **Appearing on the other side of the clearing he proceeded to charge at Sasuke and the two boys engaged in a taijutsu bout. Though it was clear who was winning,even with his greater speed sasuke could not counter naruto's taijutsu style. The Uchiha's interceptor fist was designed to counter the opponent's blow by percepting it with the small twitches and movements of the opponent's body,but the problem was that it was pretty much mediocre without a Sharingan,which Sasuke unfortunately did not have.

Seeing that he was getting in more hits than he could land he jumped backwards making distance between him and Naruto.

"It is the last chance I have",sasuke muttered.

He started making handsigns for the fireball again. Now Naruto was getting irritated with the constant fireballs thrown at him,but he wasn't one to back down and get defeated. he started making handsigns of his own and finished it even before Sasuke,pumping Chakra worth two fireballs in his jutsu he called,**Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu.**

Sasuke had seen Naruto relese the fireball before him and he could see it's size could easily match the one that Itachi could release. So he mustered up all the chakra he could and then released his own fireball, leaving him completely drained of chakra.

The two balls of fire met between the two opponent's and the imbalance in the chakra between them lead to a explosion of the balls of fire which expanded in a circle,the fire moving towards the two opponents. Both the boys looked up to see the fire storm reaching them but they could not do anything about it because they were now exhausted with their last jutsu and they could see their impending deaths.

The older of the two teens still had some chakra,and he could not let his brother die in front of his eyes even if he was only his cousin. Doing the handsigns necessary for the **kawarimi no jutsu **he substituted with a log which was outside the blast radius and then holding on to his slipping chakra he substituted again,replacing himself with Sasuke. He was now standing in front of the fire storm threatning to eat him alive.

**AN: Please review. The chapter was short because i wanted to see the story in 5000 words category. I know it is a bit selfish but wait and see what happens next,and let me know what you think of my work so far. Thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Earlier::: **__The older of the two teens still had some chakra,and he could not let his brother die in front of his eyes even if he was only his cousin. Doing the handsigns necessary for the __**kawarimi no jutsu **__he substituted with a log which was outside the blast radius and then holding on to his slipping chakra he substituted himself with Sasuke. He was now standing in front of the fire storm threatning to eat him alive._

Embracing his impending doom Naruto stood in front of the incoming fire storm,his eyes were tightly shut and hands placed in front of his face to minimise damage to his facial region. A loud hissing noise and hot steam touching his skin forced him to open his eyes to see a shadow standing protectively in front of him.

As usual Shishui had been following Naruto since he had left the Sarutobi compound,and had been witnessing the thrilling match between two pre-academy students though they were fighting more like Genins. He had seen the fireballs collide and Naruto replace himself with Sasuke in order to save him. The boy was ready to sacrifise his own life for someone else without thinking twice. He had truly inherited his grandfather's 'will of fire'.

Wasting no further time Shishui had shown why he was called 'Shunshin no Shishui' and appeared in front of Naruto in a high-powered shunshin.

**Suiton: Suijiheki ,**with the call of the jutsu ,Shishui proceeded to spit water from his mouth and a water wall formed in front of Naruto and Shishui. The collision of the two opposing elements created a warm steam which surrounded the two users.

On the opposite end of the clearing stood Sasuke, visibly shocked from the event. His eyes though were different,they were red with one black tomoe in each eye slowly turning like a wheel.

Shishui turned around to check wether sasuke was safe or not and was surprised to see the sharingan in place of the normal black eyes he was used to see on sasuke.

"So at least something good came out of this", The voice of shishui rang out in the clearing.

"what are you talking about Shishui-san ?",sasuke asked.

In response of his question a kunai was thrown at his feet,"Why don't you look at your eyes and tell me Sasuke-kun".

Carefully watching his reflection in the blade Sasuke was giddy with excitement,his Sharingan had awakened and that too at the age of 5,though he was bordering six in a few weeks but that was out of the point. "Congartulations Sasuke-san",Sasuke looked up to see Naruto offering up his hand for a handshake. The boy obliged and they shook hands.

With that Naruto turned around and started for his home.

"Thank you",Naruto halted at his position, he knew why Sasuke was thanking him.

He nodded to confirm that he had heard and then returned back to his way home. But any keen observer could see a small smile marring his face. It was already confirmed that they would be joining the next session at the academy,he and Sasuke had performed their part of the deal and he knew his grandfather would never go back on his words. Now all he had to do was to become strong and show the shinobi world who he was.

...

It was the first day of their academic career,both Sasuke and Naruto stood in front of the academy gates,their parents had already seen them off and now here they were ready to learn about the things that they would be doing for the rest of their lives. For Sasuke this was a opportunity to become strong and prove his worth to his clan and family. for Naruto,this was all for himself so that he could become strong and protect his village that his father,grandfather and all his clan members swore to protect.

As Naruto sat in the class he tried to recognise the other students. There were two Uchihas other than Sasuke and a Hyuga , judging with the cloth over his forehead he was a branch house member. There was also an Aburame as recognised by their trademark high collars and sunglasses.

So there would be at least some competition in the class. Their teacher soon entered, His name was Mususme Kotara, chunin rank. Naruto had seen the man in the Hokage office a few times. Their teacher soon started with his lecture and proceeded with the history of the village.

**At the end of the academy day..**

What was expected from the academy by the two boys was not what it delivered,they soon came to know that all they would be learning was history ,academy level taijutsu and the basic three techniques. If this was the case then they could already pass the academy exams right now. But they had already promised the hokage that they would complete the compulsory six years in the academy and won't go for an early garduation. So they were now back to square one,if they wanted to become strong they would have to do it on their own.

The end of the academy day found Naruto in the clan library looking for things he could learn. Browsing through the library Naruto came up on the weapons category and their were a few styles for different weapons developed by various users amongst the clan. Naruto had never thought of weilding a weapon but if anyone would ask him which weapon he wanted to weild,the awnser would definitely be a sword. Every kid liked cool sharp things,and however sharp and serious he may seem to be ,he was still a kid.

Looking through the few recorded styles in the section, he selected two,one for a ninjato and another for a chokuto. He started browsing through the two sword styles available and after reading and looking at the illustrations he had chosen the one for the chokuto. He would go for this one,it had no formal name but it had been developed over the years by two sarutobi clan members who had been capable swordsmen back in their time. If he wanted to learn the art of sword he would have to train and build up his body according to the style. His taijutsu style required agility and flexibility while the kenjutsu style he had chosen required speed and flexibility so now he knew what to work on.

Speed,he would have to work hard and make his body lean like an athlete for the speed,the katas of the kenjutsu style showed extreme bending movements and required high speed slashes and blocks.

The next 6 months were spent in practicing swings,slashes and blocks with a weighted wooden bokken,he did not have an actual teacher so he had to go through the scrolls but once every few days his father or grandfather helped him through the katas though they couldn't help much as they did not practice kenjutsu themselves. His speed training was also well on his way as he was now wearing a weighted half jacket over his clothes,it was not very heavy just a total of 5 kgs but if he increased it a lot it would effect his growth. He was already used to the weights now but he continued to wear them to increase his endurance over time. Every few days he would take off the jacket and got used to his actual speed.

He and Sasuke had sparred a few more times after the near accident and nowadays sasuke won some of the spars as he now had the Sharingan to accompany his taijutsu,but naruto's increased speed and skill with the wooden bokken lead him to winning most of their bouts. Ninjutsu-wise Itachi had taught them both another fire style jutsu , this one covered a wider area and multiple targets, it was the **katon:housenka no jutsu. **It did not take a very long time for the boys to learn and the jutsu was soon being in their regular spars. Naruto had also kept practising the fireball jutsu and after a lot of tries and experimentations he had been able to reduce a seal from the total hand seals required,though the process had taken him the better part of the 6 months.

In the academy both Sasuke and Naruto maintained the top position followed by the branch hyuga,his name was Neji. The third position was held by one of the other uchihas whose name Naruto did not bother to learn. There was nothing new that they were taught at the academy so they continued to train themselves with occasional help from their family members.

**9 years after the kyubi attack...**

Naruto now at the age of 9 stood tall for most boy his age and a lean physique. He did not wear weighted clothes now rather he used Resistance seals. His grandfather had painted the seal on his back a year ago when he had asked him for alternatives for weighted clothing in order to increase speed. According to his grandfather the seal had a total of fifteen levels,five each for the beginner,intermediate and advanced users. He had asked his grandfather where he stood and the elder man had replied,"maybe somewhere between the 14-15th level, in my prime i had already used up all the levels and moved onto gravity seals but now this old body can not handle the pressure of the extra gravity so i have reversed back to these".

Naruto himself had just moved to the second level a month before and when he had released the seal after the first level his speed had increased dramatically. He had been like that for a few hours and then when he increased the level two he had difficulty moving ahead. At least a month later he was able to move properly at an academy student's pace.

It was a break time for the academy presently and he was practicing his kenjutsu katas with his bokken,he had started to carry it around with him to get used to the weight and would keep it strapped at his back. In three years since he had started practicing the kenjutsu style he had moved onto the intermediate katas and could now land a few glancing blows on his father sometimes in their spars though he knew that the man was holding himself back.

**Scene change..sarutobi compound..**

Night time saw the three sarutobi men having dinner at the dinner table. "So naruto,how is your kenjutsu training going on",asked Hiruzen.

"Well it is progressing,I've recently started the intermediate Kata,but I think it is time to get a sword now. The bokken isn't doing it for me anymore."

"Well i have the perfect solution for that you know, in a week's time I'll be going for a political meeting to the land of iron,would you like to come with me?". The enthusiastic nod he received from his grandson was enough for him to let loose a chuckle.

**On the way to the Land of Iron-**

Hiruzen walked with Naruto at his side on the snowy path to their destination, his two ANBU bodyguards Inu and Tora walked behind them. They were walking at a slow pace as they were nearing the gates at the Land of Iron and soon the samurai would be meeting them.

As they neared the gates, Hiruzen could see Mifune standing at the gates,"Ah Mifune-dono,it is a pleausre to meet you".

"likewise hokage-dono,likewise",replied Mifune and then looking at naruto he continued,"and who is the child Hokage-dono?".

Motioning towards Naruto to come forward he introduced the boy,"This is my grandson Sarutobi Naruto, he has quite an interest in kenjutsu and wanted his first sword , so i brought him up here after all where would you get a finer blade than this place". Mifune nodded.

Naruto had his bokken strapped to his back and he could see Mifune eyeing it curiously.

"Can i see your weapon ,little ninja?". Though Naruto was a bit upset by the 'little' comment he did not let it show, he was after all only 9 years old and he was taller than most children at the academy.

Reaching for the weapon on his back he presented it to Mifune. The lord of samurais had seen the grip with which the child had held the bokken,he could see that the boy at least knew how to handle the weapon. Taking the weapon in his hand he was surprised to feel that the bokken was quite heavy,even heavier than the standard katana.

"What kind of sword do you want to use in the future Naruto-san?". Naruto did not have to think twice before awnsering "a chokuto,Mifune-sama".

"Good choice,it would suit you. I would say something though,Do not buy a sword from here, I have something that maybe you would like to have and anyways you won't get a chokuto here, we samurais like to use katanas instead of other bladed weapons and it would be very rare to find a blacksmith that would make you one. If you don't like my offering you can always take the metal from here and get it crafted somewhere else"

"Arigatou Mifune-sama",naruto said. Nodding at the young chilld Mifune turned towards the Hokage,"come hokage-sama ,let's proceed to my office". The party soon moved into the land of Iron.

The next day with the end of the political discussions Hiruzen, naruto and the two ANBU guards stood in Mifune's office. "Naruto-san as i told you earlier that maybe i have something for you.",saying that Mifune stood up and moved towards a closet, opening it he picked up a blade settled on a pedastel. The sheath was completely white ,there was no guard and the handle had spiral gold and black lines. The sword was quite simple but extremely elegant and beautiful. Moving towards Naruto with the sword resting on the palm of his two hands he offered it to Naruto. The young boy admired the beauty of the sword,and then he picked it form the middle with his left hand and proceeded to slide it out of its sheath halfway. The blade itself was a shiny silver colour and near the handle of the blade there was the kanji of 'Tonbogiri' carved out on the blade.

Naruto looked up,"Dragonfly cutter,isn't that a weird name for a blade?".

Mifune laughed and then awnsered,"it was made by a friend of mine and it has been here with me for the last 23 years, when this blade was made and cooled for the first time a dragonfly passed by the blade and it's wing were sliced by the sword,I was there at the time and I was the one that gave the sword it's name."

Nodding Naruto pulled the complete blade out of its sheath and was awestruck by the beauty of it. It was chokuto like he wanted and it was nearly the same weight as his bokken. "But why would you give it to me?",questioned Naruto.

Mifune replied,"As i have already told you it has been sitting with me for the last 23 years and has not been used till now,rarely any samurai uses a sword other than a katana,so it would be a waste to leave it with me now that it has got a worthy user. i know my friend would like his creation to be used on the battlefield rather than lay around in a closet". Naruto nodded.

Dropping to one knee and placing the chokuto in front of him Naruto said,"Thank you Mifune -sama". and then standing up once again he whispered to himself, "The world will soon know the name the Tonbogiri."

**Please review.I'm working hard to correct my mistakes,thank you for ignoring them and reading. Let me know if you have any good ideas for the plot. Thank you for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**AN: This chapter will show the last of the training during the academy arc in my story, with this chapter Naruto's Genin career starts.**_

**...**

**Day of graduation... **

Names were being called by the instructor one by one. Both Sasuke and Naruto sat at their respective seats awaiting their turn. The last 6 years had made them strong. It was enough time to prepare them for the future.

The Tonbogiri was strapped behind Naruto's back. He had extensively trained for the last six years every time he got.

It was not only physical training, he had read most of the material present about shinobi tactics present in the clan library.

He had not learnt any new fire techniques, as his kenjutsu training had taken most of his time, and the rest had gone in learning to control his main element that he had found out was raiton. He had found about it after watching Asuma practice with his trench knives and increasing their cutting power with futon Chakra.

Obviously He had asked his father if he would teach him how to do it and Asuma had agreed as expected. But they had soon found that his elemental affinity was not wind. His primary affinity had come out to be lightning after the Chakra paper test.

Now six years later, he had already mastered elemental manipulation at the first level which was to crumple a leaf into a ball with his Chakra. His sword skills were good enough for his age according to his grandfather and the man would never lie about his skills. His thoughts though were broken when his name was called.

"Sarutobi Naruto", he got up and moved towards the door leading outside the class room.

Outside stood three Academy instructors. "I will have one of us spar with you, all you have to do is land a hit or stay in the ring for at least 5 minutes",the instructor said. He nodded and moved to stand in the middle of the Ring. One of the the instructor came forward and stood opposing him while the other two moved to stand on the sides.

"Hajime", the first instructor called and the spar began.

Naruto's opponent ran in a sprint towards him and threw a right uppercut at him. Naruto dodged the blow by swaying back and then followed it with a punch to the solar plexus. The chunin swatted away his hand and threw another punch which Naruto blocked with his forearm. Retaliating with another punch the chunin instructed now aimed for Naruto's face. Naruto saw the fist coming and tilted his head side ways to avoid it. The taijutsu bout continued for about another two minutes during which Naruto had received two punches and a kick to his waist. Jumping back Naruto went in for a roundhouse, perceiving the threat the kick posed the chunin brought up his forearms to block the kick.

Naruto had seen that his kick would be blocked so at the last moment he dropped down and performed a strong sweep kick which connected and the startled Academy instructor who fell on his butt.

"alright stop. You've got in a hit Naruto-san, you can go to the next room for your ninjutsu portion of the exams'. Nodding Naruto moved to the next class room for the rest of his test to be conducted.

"For the ninjutsu test you will be performing the three Academy basics and any other jutsu you know to recieve extra points",the instructor in the room informed him.

Making handseals for the henge first he transformed into a perfect copy of the Sandaime hokage. Recieving a nod from the teacher he started the seals for the Bunshin no jutsu and with that seven illusionary clones stood beside him. Finally with a single hand seal he replaced himself with a chair across the room. His grandfather had always taught him the importance of the academy basics and especially the **Kawarimi no jutsu,**the jutsu was a life saver for sure,so he had continued to work on the technique and brought the number of seals required to just one. The academy instructors were impressed with the mastery of the technique.

"Do you have any other jutsu that you want to show us naruto-san".

Naruto replied with an affirmative,"But we'll have to go outside the class for me to show the technique." Nodding the teachers moved out in the academy grounds. The students in the class were surprised to see Naruto come back from the other room with the instructors in tow as the academy ground was visible from the class room window of course. A few of the students had already figured out the reason and were waiting for the grandson of their hokage to perform the technique for which he had to come out of the class room.

Outside in the academy field the instructors signalled for the youngest Sarutobi to perform his technique.

As he was doing this for the extra points Naruto decided to show the very first offensive ninjutsu he had learned which was also his best. He had practiced the same technique for 6 years continuously and had nearly mastered it. Forming a tora handseal and then bringing his hand in front of his mouth, Naruto released half the chakra in his reserves into the technique which was a substantial amount being nearly equal to an average genin's total reserves and called out the jutsu name **Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu.**

What proceeded was the biggest fireball the academy instructors and students had seen till date,It was the size of a two story building which proceeded to burn the academy grounds and then finally collided into a group of trees which immediately ignited and burned to ashes. The fireball he had produced was even bigger than the one that Itachi had shown them the first time.

The academy instructors were awe-struck,the level of mastery this child held over that jutsu was nothing they could compare. Being a resident of the fire country most of them had seen the fair share of fire techniques in their career. But the jutsu the boy had thrown in a single seal was amazing and the technique could be actually be categorized as a B-rank in place of the C-rank in which it was categorized.

"Very nice Naruto-san,you truly deserve the headband,now you are a shinobi of the village of Konohagakure. Have a good life ahead of this. Here is your forehead protector." With that the instructors proceeded to test out the rest of the students.

Evening time found the young Sarutobi sitting under a tree in the backyard of his home lazily spinning a tree leaf on the tip of his index finger with the help of his chakra. He had been thinking about his skill set. Taijutsu wise he was at the end of the intermediate katas in his clans taijutsu style and he was progressing well with the speed training. His resistance seals were on level 4 and he would soon upgrade them to the last of level of the beginner's section. His speed without the resistance seals was easily low chunin level.

His chakra reserves were now at high chunin level or maybe low jounin level,but that was obvious with a literal chakra battery stuck in his stomach. He had come to know of the beast residing in his tummy last year. it had been his birthday when Asuma had told him about the secret. He was a bit upset but after listening to the reason of why was he chosen for the sealing he had just taken up and thrown the news in the back of his mind. Sure he would think about it later but with the seal completely tightened there was very minute chakra of the beast that passed the seal and entered his chakra system. That was the reason of his more than average reserves. He had also learned the water-walking exercise in order to control his chakra better.

In the ninjutsu field he truly shined, he already knew two katon jutsus and had one raiton jutsu,the **Raiton:Jibashi **was a c-rank offensive lightning ninjutsu and it had been quite easy for him to learn it after mastering the first step of elemental manipulation for raiton chakra. His skill with the Tonbogiri had increased as much as it could without a proper kenjutsu trainer or partner. He could already channel his lightning chakra in the blade to increase it's piercing power.

The blade was already very sharp and if his grandfather was correct then the only blade that could rival the cutting power of the Tonbogiri without the aid of chakra then it was the blade of his traitorous student Orochimaru. The blade , Kusanagi no tsurugi or the grass cutter sword was the only rival of his Tonbogiri or the dragonfly cutter in terms of cutting power.

Standing up from his place and crumpling the leaf between his fingers with a small discharge of lightning chakra he moved inside his home. His father was out on a mission and would return tomorrow morning probably and his grandfather would be home in a few minutes from now.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at the dinner table in his home conversing with his grandson. "so tomorrow you will be placed in teams of three with a jounin instructor,are you ready to commence your shinobi career?".

Naruto replied,"as ready as i'll ever be,i've been waiting fo rthis from a long time".

Smiling at his grandson Hiruzen got up from his chair and motioned his grandson to follow him to the backyard. "I think it is time for you to join the Sarutobi legacy",he said and started going through the handsigns and after biting his thumb for a blood sacrifise. Pumping chakra into the jutsu and slamming his hands on the ground, a sealing script came to life. With a puff of smoke the Monkey king Enma stood in front of them,"_Ah Hiruzen,if you are here with the brat then it means it is time for him to sign the contract. Hmm let's do this then". _Performing the summoning jutsu himself Enma produced a large black colored scroll with golden bindings at the end in front of Naruto. Unfurling the scroll in front of the brat the monkey king continued,"_Now sign here with your blood brat, it is necessary for a blood sacrifice to perform the summoning and this will make a connection between you and the apes with the help of the scroll"._

Doing as asked Naruto signed his name in blood after biting his finger in his mouth. "Can i summon the apes anytime now?",the boy asked. "_of course brat,that was the whole reason for signing the contract you little shit,I still remember your stupid questions from when you were small,and i see that you still haven't left behind that infernal habit of yours". _With that the summon dispersed himself from this realm.

"Now naruto I don't think that i need to teach you the hand signs for the summoning ,i have been teaching you about the summoning since you started your training and you've met most of the summons through me by now,so i don't think you need any tips about it,do you?". Getting a yes form Naruto,Hiruzen started going back into the house but then halted and continued,"I think you could always practice the jutsu for a few hours before sleeping right?". He did not have to wait for long as the sound associated with summoning puff followed by the screeching of a young monkey reached his ears.

**The next day in the academy...**

"Quite down genins,I'm going to announce a few things, the rookie of the year title goes to Sarutobi Naruto",applauses from the boys and high pitched screams from his fan girls was the sound that reached Naruto's ears after the proclamation.

"I said quite down, now for team placement, team 1 will be...",Naruto zoned until he heard his name being called,"Sarutobi Naruto,Tenten higurashi and Sai will be team 7 headed by jounin Hatake kakashi",and with that Naruto zoned out the rest of the team placements too though he had heard Sasuke's team, it comprised of him,another civilian girl going by the name of Isao and Rock lee and their sensei was none other then Itachi Uchiha.

Naruto sat in patience waiting for his instructor to arrive...

**To be continued...**

**AN:Please review and give your opinions and ideas for the story.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**P.s. There was a problem with my last update it did not show up in the update section so please check it. **

**Here is the new update check it out.**

The door to the academy classroom opened and Kakashi peeked into to see all three of his genins looking at him expectantly at him.

"Team 7, meet me on the roof",with that Kakashi shunshined to the rooftop.

Kakashi Hatake stood in front of his three charges on the academy rooftop. The maybe genin team in front of him was a bit nervous,but that was expected as he had leaked a bit of killing intent in the air and was slowly saturating the air with his chakra making the surrounding air thick and heavy to breathe. He had read each of their files which the academy instructors had assimilated on their skill set and he was glad to know that they were at least a bit competent. He could not waste his time babysitting wannabe genins with nothing to back them but their ego. He was more important to the village than that. Obito's death had changed kakashi .

He had trained and trained and did his duties to the village and had tried his best never to lose another comrade but he was a shinobi not a god and he could not save everyone though this had not changed his resolve. Losing Rin had hurt even more but it had tightened hi resolve even further.

The tenten girl according to the instructors was very talented in the weapons department and had good chakra control, she could learn genjutsu and at least field medical ninjutsu. The boy Sai was a plant by Danzo,the hokage had told him the boy was one of the last students trained by the old war hawk. The boy did not show any special skill but he was above average in all the fields but Kakashi knew the boy must've been holding back. The last boy, the grandson of the hokage was talented with being the rookie of the year and all,but that was not all about him. The boy was part uchiha and there was a chance that he would awaken the sharingan. He had seen the boy train himself to the ground on more than one occasion. They could be a good team but only if they could pass the test.

" My name is Hatake Kakashi and I'm a jounin of this village. For now that's all you need to know about me. Now go on and introduce yourselves".

Tenten went first and introduced herself, "My name is Tenten Higurashi and I like training with weapons,my wish is to become a renowned weapons expert."

Beside Tenten sat Sai and taking his queue he spoke,"My name is Sai, I'm an orphan. I am skilled with the tanto and a special type of ninjutsu, for my dream I do not have one presently."

Lastly Naruto spoke "My name is Naruto Sarutobi, I love training with my sword and ninjutsu,my dream is to make a name for myself and get out of the shadow of my father and grandfather." When Naruto spoke of his sword kakashi noticed the gleam in tenten's eyes, he inwardly chuckled the girl really did love weapons.

"Now that the introductions are over, you should know that you are not yet a genin team. You will have to pass a test of my choosing to officially become a genin team." This surprised the three new shinobi. Up till now they had taken that they were now officially a team. "another thing that I want to ask you is that whether you want to proceed with your test today or would you like to have it tomorrow? "

"Today or tomorrow we will have to give the test so there's no need to set it for tomorrow and I think both tenten and sai would agree with me on this." Receiving nods of agreement from his other two students , kakashi turned around and said"meet me at training ground 7 in an hour,we'll conduct your test there". With that kakashi shunshined off the roof of the academy.

"The test would most likely be one to have an idea of our skill that whether we are ready to be a shinobi or not, so I'd say that we show all our skills so he would be forced to pass us on our skill alone , what do you two think?", tenten asked.

Naruto awnsered,"I think you are right none of us are skilled enough to defeat a jounin level shinobi on our own and he his not just any normal jounin of the village, he is high A-rank borderline S-rank so we obviously will have to work together so let's discuss strategy for the remaining time and then we move for the training ground." Sai just nodded in agreement.

**1 hour later at training ground 7...**

The three students stood waiting at training ground 7, it was nearly the end of the one hour their sensei had provided them. Hearing the rustling of falling leaves the team turned around to find their sensei walking toward them.

"let's not waste time and start the test,your objective is just to land a hit on me, how you do it does not matter ,if even one of you is able to land a hit on me the team passes, so the test starts now,and remember come with the intent to kill otherwise you won't be able to pass the test. "

The three new genins jumped back into the bushes surrounding the training ground. All three of them simultaneously looked at each other and nodded in a sync.

Kakashi stood still in the center of the clearing waiting for his students, they at least were intelligent enough to at least discuss their situation together with each other.

The sound of kunai whizzing towards him distracted him from his thoughts and he just tilted his head a bit to let the kunai pass by his head , and the next moment instead of one, three kunai came out of the bushes with all of them aimed at his vital spots and he could not avoid them without changing his location, so he jumped up in the air and back flipped, what he did not take into account was an ink bird with an explosive note to dive bomb to his location. These kids were at least taking the come with the intent to kill part seriously. without making any handsigns kakashi substituted with a log and the ink bird detonated at his previous location.

It was a good strategy and would have worked on genins or low level chunins but he was none of those. Focusing on his surroundings he found the chakra signatures of his students grouped together not very far from him.

Up till now only tenten and sai had attacked him and it was a good combo, his third student had yet to enter the battle. As if on queue Naruto emerged from behind a tree and started walking towards him and halted a few meters in front of him.

"So you are the bait now, well then come lets see what have you got",said kakashi. Naruto did not reply and brought his hands up in an ox seal and whispered,**Resistance seals:kai.**

Feeling his body lighten up, Naruto took up his taijutsu stance. He looked up at kakashi to see that the man was still in the same position , but he did not mind. It would give him a chance to surpsise his opponent. He ran at his sensei at his top speed going in for a high kick to the neck region which kakashi blocked with his forearm though the man was surprised with the kid's speed . It was at least low chunin level. Dodging another kick by bending backwards and then swatting a punch to his face kakashi threw one of his own punches at the boy,as expected the boy dodged it and for a few minutes a flurry of punches and kicks were thrown by the two opponents at each other. Kakashi was not much surprised with the the taijutsu,he had sparred with asuma a few times and most of the combos were asuma's own, it was obvious that the man would teach them to his child. Blocking another punch with his forearm he expected another punch or kick to come at him but when he looked at the child he was surprised, the kid had back flipped once and was now holding at tiger seal with his hands and then with one single seal he proceeded to blow a fireball at kakashi at point blank range. ** Katon:goukyaku no jutsu,**naruto's voice reverberated in the clearing and the resulting fireball burnt everything in its wake. The place where kakashi had been standing was completely destroyed but the man was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly naruto felt cold steel touching his jugular. "you know that you really surprised me with your jutsu,if you don't mind me asking how much time did it take you to bring the jutsu to just one handseal?"

Kakashi was actually flagbrestted at naruto's mastery of the jutsu,he knew only a handful of people who could do what naruto did and most of them were dead or too old. His father the fabled white fang,the third hokage and jiraya of the sanin were one of them. To see a kid do anything that could keep his name amongst them was astounding. Deep in his thoughts kakashi did not notice the two ink snakes climbing his legs through the ground. Though when naruto shifted his head in the opposite direction in which the kunai was pointed , he looked up to see a kunai coming straight at his face. The girl's marksmanship was truly unique. As he tried to jump back he found his legs constricted bi sai's ink snakes. Thinking on his feet kakashi moulded earth chakra into his feet and used the **Doton:underground fish projection jutsu **to go underground taking the snakes with him.

Coming out at the other end of the clearing kakashi rose his hand to halt his charging students,"it is enough, I've seen what you three can do and I am satusfied with your performance. From now on you are genin team 7. Meet me tomorrow morning."

**AN:please review and read the story. Kakashi's character is quite OOC in my story. I have a beta reader in my mind, if it all goes well then it would improve the chapter qualities. Please review. Thank you. **


	7. Chapter 7

**It has been quite a long time since I updated last. Sorry for that, on the other hand the beta reader thing did not go very well so if anyone's interested pm me. And the story continues...**

Kakashi smiled as he sat on a tree branch and watched as his team finished painting the academy fence for their mission. This was the first mission they had got as a team, their reaction at the time of receiving the mission was not what he was expecting, he had expected them to be surprised and shocked at what they were asked to do. Instead they had just nodded and bowed to the hokage and then moved out of the office. Naruto would have known about the d-rank missions as he was often in his grandfather's office so he must have seen genin teams getting d-rank missions while Sai was a root he knew everything about the rules and hierarchy of the konoha mission department. While he was expecting a reaction at least from Tenten, the boys must have told her beforehand.

The first week he had focused on getting them to work as a team and it went surprisingly well, each of them seemed to know where best to fit in during the exercises. It became obvious to Kakashi that all three genins in his team were brilliant strategists so they usually discussed amongst each other and chose the best strategy available. Another thing that was obvious to not only him but also Tenten and sai that Naruto was beyond their level, though they didn't get upset about it as they knew he was better than them from the academy.

Not wanting to stunt Naruto's growth and not leave his other genins behind he had started giving them personalized training, along with team training , so he could insure they were ready for everything and get to know them on a more personal level. . Between the missions in the morning and evening, Kakashi had kept them on a training schedule; most of it was physical training. Tenten and Sai had been given weights though they were not a lot as they were not used to weight training while Naruto had continued using his resistance seals. Another thing notable was that all the members of team Kakashi now carried swords. Naruto carried his chokuto; Tenten had a naginata strapped to her bag while Sai had his tanto. Even Kakashi had caved in and had brought out his father's fabled white chakra sabre and had been giving his genins tips on kenjutsu.

Tenten was the easiest to get along with though she seemed to rely heavily on her weaapons. some things she could do with her toys were things even he couldn't do. With the weights her speed and endurance would increase, and for now he helped her refine her skills with some weapons he could use and to work on the side he gave her a genjutsu the , **Demonic illusion: false surroundings jutsu. **He also had some kenjutsu spars and was helping her with katas for the kenjutsu style which she had been using with her naginata.

Sai on the other hand seemed to hold back during the training sessions. He seemed to know a lot of things but did not want to show them to Kakashi. The training included kenjutsu spars and helping him find him different ways to utilise his special sumijutsu.

Naruto was by far the easiest of the trio to train . Not only he was willing to train but had a drive to become the greatest. The difficult part about training Naruto was that he seemed to know most of the skills a genin needed to learn. So Kakashi had moved on and moved to chakra natures. Naruto had told him that he had a major affinity towards lightning and a minor affinity towards fire. Kakashi was happy to know it, now he could at least pass his techniques, his legacy to someone. And if Naruto managed to awaken the Sharingan he would give his best to mould him into something that would be worthy of the title of shinobi and not only Naruto all of his genin team would be at least be proud of the shinobi they would become.

Kakashi had started Naruto with the second exercise in training his ration affinity, it was to pass a lightning chakra in a wooden log and burn it up with lightning discharge and Naruto had been onto it immediately.

The next week passed the same with them doing missions and training for the team.

Team Kakashi stood in the hokage tower, awaiting their next D-rank mission. It had been two weeks since they had been doing the so called missions, and to all the three members of the team it was quite frustrating, though they never showed any reaction to the chores.

"Ah team-Kakashi, I assume you are here for another d-rank mission?"

"No,hokage-sama I would like a c-rank this time, something which involved a little bit of fighting ne?,i think it's time all of them have the right mindset",said Kakashi.

Sarutobi blew a smoke ring from his ever present pipe and started thinking. He understood what Kakashi was getting to; he wanted his genins to have their first kill. He wanted to stop Kakashi but it was his decision as a sensei to do this so he just nodded. Motioning to the chunin assistant, a scroll was kept on the table in front of him, picking it up he continued,"ok then, your mission is to exterminate a bandit camp in the district 12 of southern fire country, they have been looting and killing traders on the trade route, I do not expect any ninja but be careful out there".

Team Kakashi looked at their leader and nodded, bowing to him the team went out the main door going the way down outside the hokage tower.

Kakashi started,"i don't think I need to tell u people what to do, pack for a week though and get ready. In the coming days you are going to see the life of a ninja." With a two finger salute Kakashi sunshined out the area leaving his genins behind.

"I hope you both are ready because I am ready because I sure am to kick some ass", proclaimed the sole kunoichi of the team.

The response she got from her teammates wasn't one she was expecting. Sai as usual gave his creepy smile and said, "Yes Panda-san, we are". She hated that infernal name but Sai wouldn't stop calling her that. On the other hand Naruto just sighed and spoke, "you don't need to be so loud Tenten and I have got to ask shishui to teach me the shunshin, so I think I'll be going, ja-ne".

**The next chapter would be about the first c-rank mission of team Kakashi. So I'm out and please review with your opinions and ideas.**


	8. Chapter 8

Team Kakashi moved in a diamond formation at high speeds. The district 12 of fire country was not very far away from the village of Konohagakure.

Travelling at their current speed it would be about two hours before they reached their destination.

Leading the formation was Tenten, her accurate marksmanship and reflexes made her the most suitable for the front of the formation. Travelling to her sides were Naruto and Sai, their eyes and ears open for any danger they could encounter in their journey.

From behind the formation Kakashi observed his genins.

They were coming out nicely; all three were at least skilled enough that they could protect themselves from danger, thought the coming mission would be to test their mettle against real life dangerous situations and in more ways than one this would be the start of their life as a ninja and tell him how right he was in guessing their standards.

He knew it was still too early to let them kill but he wanted them to have their first kill in a controlled environment, where he could interfere if things got out of hands.

Around 90 minutes later Tenten gave the signal to stop, Kakashi had taught his team the basic hand signs used for communication in the field. The team stopped at once landing on various branches of a tree.

A few meters ahead them lay the bandit camp; it was big enough for at least 20 to 30 people to stay. The camp had randomly arranged tents with bandits huddled in groups of 2 or 3 near every tent chatting animatedly.

Team Kakashi turned to their leader to get further instructions; unfortunately he was nowhere to be found.

Naruto spoke, "I think he plans to let us handle this one on our own".

Tenten sighed, sometimes their sensei was just too much.

"Very well let's do this then, anyone got a plan?" ,Tenten said.

"A surprise attack would scatter them definitely after all they are bandits. I would like to go in first and leave the surprise attack to me, you two get ready to get some early kills while they are panicked." said Naruto. Both his teammates nodded giving their go for Naruto's plan.

A few feet away from them Kakashi hid behind a tree carefully listening to the plans his young genin discussed, it was good enough for bandits but if there was a rouge nin it could be bit difficult, but he had sensed the area there was no one apart from and his team whose chakra was above the civilian level, even though he was not a natural sensor but years of training had made him at least somewhat capable of chakra sensing. His team would have no problem he expected apart from the freezing part but he was there in case that was to happen with any of them. With a hand sign two clones poofed beside him, one Kakashi to look out for every genin in his team in case anything would happen.

The three young genin sat on a tree top on just the edge of the bandit camp, with Naruto in the middle and Tenten and Sai on each side of him. Naruto nodded to his teammates and jumped down into the middle of the camp; with his hands in a one-handed ram seal and the other one in a ring over his mouth he proceeded to blow out a fireball straight at the first tent that had come into his vision. The tent had four bandits sitting in front of it and they had no time as a giant fireball collided right in front of them, two of the four bandits were dead on the collision, burnt to crisp in the chakra enhanced fire, the other two began screaming as their bodies caught fire. Panic ran amongst the bandits and they started running everywhere, some of them moved in to save their friends, the others moved in to kill Naruto.

Naruto threw two kunai from his hands burying them deep in a bandits skull and throat simultaneously ending his life. On the sidelines Tenten and Sai had entered the fray and started decimating the bandit forces.

Kakashi observed the miniature battle between his students and the bandits. It seemed the bandits were trained a little bit on swordplay and were making things a little difficult. The battle continued with the larger force slowly dying away at his students 'hands.

Up until now the adrenaline had clouded Naruto's mind but a rather shrill scream alerted him of another presence at his side. He turned around to see a bandit running towards him but that was not all, his whole body was on fire, it seemed his fireball had not killed the first four.

Looking at a burning man running towards you, it would make anybody stop in his tracks. Naruto was nothing special in any case; his eyes stuck on the spectacle he did not even think of defending himself. The man was nearly upon him when he realised what danger was he in.

Slowly it seemed the man started slowing down more like moving in a slow motion. Naruto still could not gather his wits on what to do next and there was not much time left. Everything though abruptly halted the moment when the man unknowingly bum-rushing him while on fire received a kunai between his eyes. Naruto turned around to see where the kunai came from. Tenten stood behind him and giving him a reassuring smile. He gave her one of his own, and mouthed a thanks. And just like that the battle continued.

This time it was far much easier for Naruto to deal with his opponents movements, their already slow speed seemed like slow motion to him. The adrenaline and the near-death like situation had him only one thing getting repeated in his mind, "kill or get killed".

It did not take very long for the battle to get finished, bodies lay around in the camp, the stench of blood and remains piled upon the place. Team seven looked around at their work. Tenten and Naruto had already emptied the contents of their stomach in the area.

"You three did well, but this is all not over yet, you've got to clear out the remains. But looking at you three i think i would rather leave a clone behind to do it. Now do any of you want to talk about what happened or do you want to say anything else." Kakashi waited for an answer but never got one. He sighed and then looked at all three of his genins. All of them were quite.

"Ah well, I think we should leave for the village now if we travel fast we could be back by nightfall." A nod was all he received and thus they started back on their journey to home.

Kakashi and team 7 returned to the village near midnight. None of the genins had spoken a word to him until now. "Well why don't you three go home for now, have some rest and then tomorrow when we meet for training we can discuss what happened today", Said Kakashi.

With a shunshin Kakashi was out of their sights. His genins moved on to their homes, the events of the day imprinted on their young minds.

Naruto reached home to find both his father and grandfather missing. He looked down at his clothes and saw the blood splattered over it. The felling of dread came back to him again and all he wanted to do was take it off his mind. Even though the concept of killing someone was not very foreign for Naruto as he had several discussions about this with both his father and grandfather ,the actual thing was the most gruesome thing he had ever seen and done. He had seen the life slip away from the eyes of his victims, their slow but agonizing screams still echoed in his ears.

He moved towards his bathroom, taking his clothes off and dumping them in the washer, he proceeded to stand below the shower. The cold water sliding on his back as he slowly came to terms with what he had done. Unknowingly sending chakra to his eyes the distinguishing kekkai-genkai of the Uchiha clan came to life with one tomoe slowly swirling in a circular motion in his eyes. An hour below the shower and all the blood had now been washed away so he dried himself and moved towards his room to sleep and try to forget all about the day, but alas the sharingan had recorded everything to be permanently ingrained in it to his mind.

The next morning saw all three genins at their regular training grounds with sombre moods and silence around them. With sounds of footsteps approaching they looked up to find their sensei walking towards them.

"Well good morning you three, I know how you feel and it is right to feel like that, otherwise you are not a proper human because you don't care for life. Now I know all three of you come from some ninja background so I won't go again into the killing thing but I would say that sometimes it is the right thing to do, you never know what they could have done next or harmed anyone. So let's not waste precious daylight. Today we train individually again.

Clones popped beside Kakashi and took Sai and Tenten off his hands leaving him with the miniature prodigy of the Sarutobi clan.

"Well now it's just you and me Naruto, what do you think we should work on today, mm?"

"Sensei shouldn't you be the one to decide what I should be learning?" Naruto asked.

"That would be the case in you didn't already know most of the things required by a genin to know and then some more. Let's see you are good at your clan's taijutsu as well as you have an edge over most genins with that kenjutsu of yours and let's not forget the elemental jutsu you already know, your speed without the restriction seals would be low chunin as well."

"Wow you sure are doing your part in making me arrogant huh sensei?", though there was a mischievous smile on Naruto's face when he said that.

"Ah you are taking after your father a lot, anyway since you can't think of anything yourself I'll do it myself. Today we will be training your speed. Now what level are you with on the restriction seal?".

"4",replied Naruto.

"Good take it to 6 right now."

Naruto's face was a mixture of shock and fear,"Sensei that would put a lot more strain on me and what about level 5?"

"Do as I say Naruto,we are just going to push your body to its limits for the next three days until you are unable to move ,it would cause a lot of muscle damage but we both know you will heal overnight and we will be bringing the seal back to level 4 every night. Follow the regimen and I just might teach you a good ration jutsu after this is over."

When there was jutsu mentioned Naruto was ready to do anything for it and he did. Bringing his hands together he brought his hands in the rabbit seal and increase the level on his seal. Trying to move his body he felt as if he was moving through very hard mud.

A kunai whizzed past the young genin before he could think of doing anything else , looking up at his sensei he saw the man mouth the word "dodge" to him.

With the end of the training session that was at night Naruto 's body was covered in lots of scrapes and bruises. His left pant legs was nearly ripped off and he was limping on it.

"Go home Naruto and bring the level back to 4 before you sleep and remember tomorrow would be even harder, though I let you use your sharingan and chakra today, tomorrow they're off limits. Now go home and remember don't talk to any strangers on your way understood.", while speaking the last bit Kakashi gave a very evil chuckle which created shivers in Naruto's spine.

The next two days passed and on the third day we find Naruto with a Kakashi clone in a clearing.

"You have performed well in the training sessions Naruto, your speed has increased a lot and you are now on the level 5 of your restriction seal. You even managed do increase your reflexes. Now I'm going to teach you something of my own creation. It's very dangerous and I recommend you use this only in very threatening conditions. Now turn on your Sharingan and copy this, I'll only help with this once, you'll have to learn this on your own time and without any help."

With a nod from Naruto who now had his Sharingan in his eyes Kakashi made 5 rapid hand signs, and then brought one of his hands downwards holding it with his other hand. Soon a small buzzing sound started commonly associated with ration chakra which developed fast into a very loud chirping noise.

Naruto could see visible concentrated ration chakra in Kakashi's palm. He knew it from the rumours this was the famed 'chidori' the one thousand lightning birds. He was simply awestruck with it.

Kakashi soon started running towards a training dummy at very high speeds. Naruto could see Kakashi using chakra to enhance his already high speed. Soon there was a loud sound and he saw Kakashi standing in front of the dummy his hand buried deep into the position where the heart would have been.

"This is a part of my legacy Naruto and I give it to you, use it well and make me proud."

**This is the end. I'll be back soon with a new chapter.**


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