Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Since I'm sick, and too fuzzy-brained to continue writing my next chapter, I decided to do a very half assed revision of this chapter. I've just corrected some mistakes, and added in some little details. For my current state of brain of the floor sickness I feel that I've done an okay'ish job. **

**Note to any new readers: The writing quality improves considerably after this chapter.**

**Naruto: The Destined Sage**

**Chapter one**

There it was again, a burning stinging sensation, different to the types of pain the blue-eyed blonde boy had received in the previous years of his life.

His eyes flickered open, and he glanced down his body again, struggling to see anything through the blood that was dribbling into his eyes from the jagged cut on his forehead.

Then he saw it, glistening a sickening crimson in the evening light, the kitchen knife drove forward again, driven by a large hand of one of the men standing above him kicking and punching the defenceless six year old boy.

He snapped his eyes shut quickly, trying to convince his young mind that if he couldn't see it happen then he wouldn't feel the pain of the cold steel once again piercing his skin and cutting into his body.

He bit back a whimper of pain as the knife drove under his ribcage and punctured his lung, he could practically envision the blade slicing through his precious organ and retreat.

This happened much to the amusement of the men around him as they laughed and kicked him a final few times before turning and walking away, shouting triumphantly about finally slaying the horrible demon that haunted their village.

Naruto felt hot tears mingle with the cooling blood on his cheeks as he cried his pain silently whilst his body began to cease it's ability to support his life, even his miracle like ability to heal from the severe beatings he received was not enough to patch up the severed tissue in his broken body.

"**You creatures are pathetically weak!" **

Naruto coughed up blood and in fear opened his eyes again, afraid that someone else had come back to finish him up then and there.

"**Why have you continued with this life? When you are alone and cannot defend yourself, when these pathetic people just keep coming back and causing you more harm?" **

"_I won't be anymore… This seems like the end," _Naruto mentally answered despondently to the voice that he assumed to be a part of his subconscious depression.

"**No, I respect you now. At least slightly." **

Naruto drew in a sharp and painful inhalation of air in part due to his failing lung and in part due to the realisation that the voice he could hear in his head was certainly not his.

"**Close your eyes, brat." **

Naruto followed the order. He didn't care if it was a delusion or not at this point.

The blonde felt a sudden rush of cold wetness, his eyes snapped open to find himself lying in ankle deep water, his pain seemingly washed away by the icy liquid.

A warm, damp breeze blew over him, enticing him to sit up and investigate its source. His eyes immediately registered the massive hall he was in, its floor submerged in icy cold water and the massive gate that seemed to be the centrepiece of the room.

Suddenly realising his wounds his eyes shot downwards to inspect his body, his gasp caught in his throat at his spotless attire and undamaged form.

"**The wounds on your body mean nothing in here, brat." **

Again his spiky blonde mane bounced, and his head snapped up, his cerulean blue orbs locking onto the towering gate, knowing the source of the voice was beyond.

Naruto drew in a deep breath, steeling his resolve, he took a quick and shaky step towards the gate only to be caught in another gentle gust of warm damp air which he immediately likened the smell to that of an animals breath.

His eyes widened in shock and fear as he reached the bars of the gate only to see a pair of massive red feral eyes opening beyond cold bars.

"W-What are you?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

"**I am what this village fears you may be!"**

Naruto shuddered at the anger in the creatures' tone, staying quiet until it continued.

"**I am the Kyuubi no kistune!" **

Naruto drew in a sharp breath again, before ushering the courage to his heart to speak. "But the fourth Hokage killed you!"

As though on cue the entire hall brightened, revealing the full body of the Kyuubi crouched behind the bars. It's chest rose and fell quickly as it let out a menacing chuckle, and its warm damp breath washed over him again. **"A Human, no matter how powerful, cannot kill a Biju." **

It's large red orbs registered the shock on the young boys face before continuing. **"I am the reason the whole village hates you."**

The boy cast his eyes downward at the depressing information, not knowing how to counter the creatures words.

"**At first, it was amusing to see you tortured so, and then after time you just kept coming back, shouting your dream at them that you'd become Hokage and stronger than any before." **

Naruto's eyes gingerly looked up, expecting an onslaught of negative words to push him away from his dream. Just as all the others in the village would do.

"**The first dozen times I just thought you were an idiot, but you never gave up, and as hard as I find it to say, I respect you greatly for your conviction." **

A childish prideful smile spread across his face at the praise from the immortal creature. A lone tear slid down his face and followed the curve of his smile, he recognised this as one of the few times in his short life where anyone had shown him any respect and care.

"**Truthfully you have made me curious; I have only felt the heart of one like you once before, long ago, so I wish to see your potential." **

"Thank you, kyuubi, I-" he hiccupped as he tried to force his small voice to overcome his dwindling fear and heightening joyful tears.

The beast shifted behind the cold bars, it's lips pulling back to reveal a tempting smile as it's feral eyes narrowed with its question.

"**Your father sealed me into you knowing you would one day need my power to overcome a greater threat, maybe one day you will have that power, you will have to prove to me you are worthy of it, you will have to fight me to use it." **

Naruto wasn't sure which part of that hit him more, the fact that the most powerful Biju was openly offering him power, despite the conditions of it, or the fact that it had eluded to his father being the fourth Hokage.

"You'll give me your power?" He managed to gasp in awe, and decided it would be best to ask about the fourth Hokage when he was in a more clear state of mind.

"**I might, but not yet, you cannot harness my power until you have power within yourself. I will guide you, boy. I will be the sensei to the child of my captor!" **

Naruto shivered at the sheer presence of the creature, then the sudden realisation hit him; this godly immortal creature was extending him an offer of potential friendship, or at least genuine respect.

Despite his history of behaviour of always going back to the places where people had repeatedly harmed him he was far from unintelligent. He was merely dedicated to his hopeful idea of being noticed, even if it were to be insulted.

He just never truly expected the villagers to go further than their usual beatings and aim to end his life with a weapon.

Naruto let a small content smile cross his lips. "But how can you be my sensei? You're in my head…"

Kyuubi grinned a confident grin, it's vicious teeth bared before him proudly, happy with the boys astute answer, almost confirming in the Biju's mind that this boy could very well be the child of prophecy that he had heard hopeful talk about whilst in Kushina's seal. **"You are correct that I cannot tutor you in anything physical, but I can train you extensively with chakra and anything intellectual. All my accumulated knowledge from my existence about ninjutsu will be yours, you remind me of a child I was told of by my creator, above all else I respect his wishes." **_**'**__Rikudo Sennin, I feel truly strong within this boy, I still struggle against my hate and often lose, but this boy, gives off a warmth I've not felt since you were with us, but the boy must be tested.'_

Naruto's bright blue eyes glanced up, his face contorted momentarily as he struggled to banish his fear, his voice faltered as he began. "I- I'm n-not j-j-just gonna be Hokage…"

The fox narrowed his eyes at the boy in curiosity, noting a sudden change in his strengthened resolve; he held his tongue awaiting the boy to continue his speech.

"I'm going to bring peace to the world!"

Kyuubi's natural reaction was to scoff at the juveniles words. Again he held back what would be his normal response in an attempt to place a little faith in the boy in front of him, **"You won't be able to harness my power without losing control until you can handle my hatred." **

Again Naruto spoke without the fear that was previously present. "Then I'll resolve your hate!"

'_That's exactly what you told me once Rikudo sennin, and it's what you told me our future guide would say… I'm placing my faith in you, Uzumaki Naruto.'_

"**You're not going to die today, brat, next time you want to talk, meditate and envision being here."**

Naruto gulped in nervousness, hearing the finality of the fox's words before he felt a sensation of being wrenched from his mind.

His eyes flickered open, and his mind registering the pain spread throughout his body. The smell of blood was thick in the air as it soaked through his clothing. The stinging searing sensation of pain from his various lacerations was quickly overridden by an intense burning feeling.

Vaguely he became aware of the red mist forming around him, his young mind deduced groggily that the red mist surrounding him must be the Kyuubi's chakra. As though mortality were under the command of the Kyuubi, Naruto's various knife wounds sealed shut as all the muscle fiber and organ tissue beneath the skin twined back together leaving the skin unmarred beneath to slick layer of still drying blood on his body.

**XXXXXXXX**

The weasel masked ANBU cursed uncharacteristically beneath his mask; today he had been assigned the mission of watching over the young and boisterous Uzumaki Naruto.

whilst many in ANBU hated being assigned to watch over the boy for both the fact that it was almost always a boring repetitive task, as well as the fact that the boy contained the most powerful of the Biju, and thus in their minds being the rightful object of their distaste and often hate.

Itachi held no such hate or ill thoughts of the boy. On many occasions Itachi had simply tagged along behind the ANBU assigned to attempt to stop the boy from running amuck and had been disgusted with the severity of how the ANBU treated him.

Prompting him to sign his name up to the roster of being one of the ANBU to watch over him, on many occasions he would simply sit back and watch as the blonde manned youngster creatively graffitied impossible places and would congratulate the boy on the precision he had used to do his work.

Today though his guardianship of the boy had not gone to plan. On one of the child's many random wanderings around the village to fill in his friend and family void life he had stopped in front of a clothing stand gawking at an orange and blue jumpsuit.

At the time Itachi couldn't hold back a small smile at the boys idea of glamour, though things had gone sour extremely quickly, the owner of the store had noticed the blondes identity and had promptly kicked him in the chest to propel him out of the store and harshly onto the dusty path outside.

Silent tears had slid from the boy's eyes as he yelled how he hated everyone in the village. Itachi's small smile quickly dropped into a frown, hate was the last word he had ever wanted to hear Naruto use.

Upon Naruto's outburst a short overweight black haired boy had emerged from the crowd and slammed a small fist into Naruto's jaw. As the boy cheered in assumed victory Naruto stumbled back, his small fist had curled around a rock which he proceeded to hurl.

True to his aim the rock had collided with the overweight child's forehead, producing a small scratch and a few drops of blood.

Pathetically the boy began to cry shamelessly, prompting the surrounding crowd to call for the blondes blood. The situation quickly spiralled out of control after that, and Itachi couldn't even spot the young Uzumaki between the bodies of the crowd, having to resort to simply following the crowd and attempt to spot the boy to extract him.

Thirty minutes later the mob seemed to split into different groups. Either chasing an imagined trail or attempting to mislead any pursuers. Itachi didn't know which, but acted accordingly and pursued the closest one and quickly proceeded to use a simple genjutsu to knock the civilians out to search for the blonde.

This had repeated five times until he had located the final remaining group. His blood chilled, fearing the worse as he approached the sound of gruff shouts and cheers.

He paused as he heard what seemed like a final chorus of laughter, and watched silently as a group of five men rounded the corner below him, three of them wiping their bloody knives on their jackets whilst complaining of having the demons blood on their clothing.

His mind scrolled through a quick series of options about the men, soon settling on letting them go so he could hasten to the no doubt severely wounded child.

He crouched low then pounced from his position to the opposing rooftop like a coiled spring, landing with hardly a sound before proceeding quickly along the edge of the roof, looking down the side of the building to the alley below.

His body froze suddenly, he tried to let out the breath he held as he identified the feeling being that of the Kyuubi's chakra. He'd found it impossible to forget how it felt all those years earlier.

'_Those fools!' _He cursed internally, fearing that the Kyuubi was in the process of breaking free. With a silent thud, he dropped from the roof to the alley below, already spotting the faint glow of the Kyuubi's chakra ahead.

The Uchiha ANBU slid to a halt as he ceased his sprint, seeing the blonde boy in question convulsing on the ground, his eyes flickering open briefly as the red chakra seeped from his skin and seared his wounds closed. The sheer quantity of blood that soaked the blonde and pooled on the ground around him informed Itachi of the extent of the injuries that the Kyuubi obviously felt it prompt to heal.

He let out a breath he hardly knew he was holding as he deduced that the Kyuubi wouldn't bother healing the boy if it was trying to escape.

Ten minutes of waiting later and the red chakra receded into the blondes still bloody body, Itachi quickly scrambled forward and propped his head on his lap and he retrieved a cloth from one of his many pockets and set about wiping the blood from Naruto's awakening features.

Naruto flashed open his vibrant blue eyes only to quickly shut them again; the waning light of the day still bright enough to overwhelm is visual senses.

He tentatively peeked through his eyelids in an attempt to adjust his eye sight to the level of light, revealing a figure above him, his first flight instinct kicked in upon merely identifying that the figure was human as he made an attempt to spring to his feet, only to feel a strong hand resting on his forehead and another holding his shoulder down, he winced in anticipation of the expected beating.

Upon no such thing happening he peeked his eyes open again and peered closer towards the persons face. Quickly he noted the person was ANBU as he registered the pattern on the mask. "Weasel-sama!" His features broke into a grin as he identified one of the two people in the village who showed him any kindness.

Naruto had never seen 'Weasels' face, but he could feel the small smile that the ANBU was giving him from behind his mask as he looked down on his bloody visage. "Hold still for a moment, I want to check you over."

Naruto did as told from the caring command and lay still as the ANBU shifted his head back to the cold path below and shifted his weight, his hands searching Naruto's body, stopping at every blood soaked gash in his clothing to wipe away the blood to confirm that he had in fact healed.

In total Itachi had counted what must have formerly been twenty-three fatal wounds that left nothing but the sliced up and blood soaked clothing as evidence due to the Kyuubi's involvement.

He glanced back up to Naruto's face to see him looking down at his actions expectantly. Itachi held back a sigh behind his mask, he truly felt sorry for the blonde, whenever they spoke he heard untapped genius within him, instincts that weren't being honed, and pain that he tried to desperately cover with a cheery and often fake demeanour.

Itachi briefly thought of what Naruto would be like now had his father and mother survived the Kyuubi attack to raise him.

A sudden idea struck him as he sent chakra to his hand to do a basic scan for injuries; Naruto had said earlier that he hated the villagers. Itachi wasn't sure if he really meant it, but the seeds of hate were planted none the less, as well as the boy having the dream of being Hokage on top of him being the Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi.

If he ended up on a negative path, then he would likely someday give the village hidden in the leaves a true reason to call him demon. _'Sensei,' _he mused to himself, suddenly wondering what it would be like to called that on a daily basis, the seeds of his positivity already laid as he ceased his scan of Naruto and stood, offering him a hand to pull him to his feet. Naruto gladly accepted the hand with a broad smile, clearly not fully aware of his state of appearance.

"Naruto-kun, I have an offer for you, but first we should get you home and cleaned up?"

Naruto's grin grew broader at Weasels offer, quickly asking the same question he always did to the ANBU, the same question that was always rejected in a genuinely apologetic manner, "Weasel-sama, can I ride on your back!?"

This time Itachi couldn't find it in his heart to reject the boys enthusiastic request, he answered by simply turning and kneeling in a position that'd make it easy for the young Uzumaki to climb into position, the boy in question wasted no time, scrambling onto his back as though his life depended on it, and wrapping his arms around his neck as Itachi looped his own arms under Naruto's legs to secure his position. The pair rose as Itachi set out for Naruto's apartment.

Itachi couldn't help but notice the myriad of eyes watching with disgust and disapproval and he strode confidently through the crowds with Naruto clinging to his back. Absently he felt Naruto's chin connect with his shoulder and felt his breathing slow, the boy obviously exhausted from the days events as he rested his eyes.

Itachi's resolve suddenly set in stone as he felt the need for both acknowledgment and affection from the boy clinging desperately to his back as he walked closer and closer to his home.

He could imagine that the boy was holding on so desperately under the impression that once they reached his home he'd never again be able to feel such positive closeness to another individual again.

As he walked Itachi couldn't help but compare how Naruto felt to how Sasuke felt. Just through the pressure of the boys grip on his back and the depth and speed of his breathing he could see such a difference between the two.

However much Itachi hated to admit it, he could see something dormant in Sasuke, that he hoped would never awaken, but above that Sasuke loved him as any younger brother would love an older brother who always cared for them.

Suddenly his depth of understanding for Naruto changed, he could feel that despite the boy having never even seen his face, and only seen his eyes through the shadowed holes of his mask, he loved him to the bottom of his heart more than anything else.

Though Naruto obviously held the verbal tendencies of his mother, and his facial features vaguely resembled hers, everything else about him screamed that he was the last of the Namikaze, the spikey blonde hair, vibrant blue eyes, broad smile, and genius that spoke without arrogance.

Itachi pondered the many times he had seen Naruto simply sitting somewhere and staring at the face of the fourth Hokage carved into the mountain face. He knew that there was no way that Naruto knew of his connection to the fourth Hokage.

He also knew of Naruto's infatuation with the deceased man, it seemed as though fate had spoken to him. _'yes, Naruto, you will surpass him, it will be my honour to help.' _

Itachi soon found himself at the door to Naruto's apartment, gently he slipped his hand into a pocket and withdrew a key, with a soft click he had unlocked the door and made his way in.

Naruto stirred from his soft slumber on the Uchiha's back at the familiar scents of his kitchen. He peeked up from Itachi's shoulder, seeing his small kitchen table below him, his eye brows rose at the sight of an unexpected item sitting on it, it took a moment to realise that it was the Weasel mask of the ANBU whose back he was currently occupying.

"Naruto-kun, I've got an offer for you."

Naruto followed the unspoken request of slipping off the ANBU's back and shuffling around in front of him to see his face. At the sight of Itachi's face he grinned, and quickly leapt forward, hugging the Uchiha heir.

Surprised by the gesture Itachi softly hugged the boy back before setting his hands on his shoulders and forcing some distance between them, "Naruto…" Itachi drew in a deep breath, he steeled himself, not just for the responsibility he was about to take, but the law the third Hokage had made that he was setting himself up to break.

"I owe it to your father to offer to become your sensei?"

Naruto froze, he'd so often watched children with their parents and longed for that sort of contact, contact that he'd never had, "My father?"

Itachi gave him a soft smile at his small voice. "Who in the entire world do you admire most? Do you see any resemblance between you and him?"

Naruto's previous state of stillness seemed to deepen to that of a rock, a silent tear rolled from his right eye down to his chin at the hopeful thought. "The fourth?"

Itachi's smile and gentle nod confirmed it; tears started rolling from Naruto's eyes as he felt both over joyed and confused. "Did he put the kyuubi in me? That's why everyone hates me?"

The smile Itachi wore quickly corroded to a small frown. "He had no choice but to seal it into you, but yes, that's why, but it's wrong of them, they just don't understand, someday they'll accept you."

Naruto nodded softly, his tears clearing at the revelation. "Why do you want to be my sensei? Won't everyone start to hate you?"

Itachi's usually impassive face once again displayed a small smile. "I'm one of the best ANBU, I'm sure I can train you secretly. Can it be our secret?"

Naruto's grin made all his fake ones pale in comparison as he again wrapped his arms around the Uchiha heir. "But why do you want to do this?" He mumbled into the ANBU's vest. Doubt again creeping into his mind that this would all be some twisted joke.

"Because," Itachi began as he decided he'd have to get used to Naruto's affectionate side and settled a hand in the blonde mop of hair. "Both of your parents saved the village with me in it, as well as a prophecy that I can see in you that the third has somehow not noticed."

There was a short silence as Naruto raised his head to look up into Itachi's eyes, his expression soft and accepting, realising that none of this was a cruel joke as he had feared.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, and from now on, Itachi-sensei."

**XXXXXX**

Naruto rubbed his bleary eyes halfheartedly as he sat up groggily from his bed. He turned his head slowly to his left, looked out his window to the sun lit hokage monument. _'Father.' _He thought with a gentle smile before fully remembering the previous evening.

He pounced from his bed and hastily stripped from his sleeping clothes and yanked on his daily wear of white shorts and a black t-shirt with the Uzumaki swirl adorning the front. As he began to dash from the small room to his equally small kitchen he paused. Itachi-sensei had said that they would see each other the next day. '_What if he comes into my room and disapproves of how I keep the place!?' _

With a total change of pace, Naruto spun on his heal and sprung towards his bed, gripping the sheets and tugging them into an orderly position over his bed. He stuck his tongue out between his lips in concentration as he carefully tucked the sheets in, leaving the bed in a crisp hospital looking state.

Again he spun towards the door and made a charge for the kitchen, on his way scooping up clothing off the floor and depositing it in his washing basket.

He skidded to a halt in front of his usual stopping spot and ripped open his top cupboard, "RAMEN!"

His breath caught in his throat at the sight before him, he stood higher on the tips of his toes and poked his head into the cupboard, scanning the now empty space. "Ramen?"

A previously unnoticed slip of paper hooked around the handle of the cupboard door caught his attention. He retrieved it and closed the previous home of his Ramen before sitting and unfolding it.

"Good morning Naruto, I took the liberty when you fell asleep to remove all the unhealthy food from your apartment, if you want to surpass the fourth then you need healthy food. I have left you a bowl of mixed oats, flax, dried fruit and nuts in the fridge, as well as a fresh bottle of milk, food like this will become the average breakfast for you, please enjoy it."

Naruto felt disappointed for a moment before he steeled his resolve, _'sensei is right! I will be acknowledged, and I will be strong!'_

He quickly proceeded to the fridge and retrieved the bowl of dried ingredients and bottle of milk which he placed on his tabletop before pulling his chair out and sitting. He hastily poured milk into the bowl to coax out the hidden flavors of the dried ingredients.

Naruto withdrew a spoon from a draw and tentatively filled it with the foreign breakfast. He sniffed it carefully before putting it in his mouth.

The blonde Uzumaki narrowed his eyes in thought as he tried to analyze what it was that he was eating, it certainly wasn't the same as cup Ramen, but on the other hand, he couldn't say it was bad, and he would definitely trust in his new sensei's advice that it was healthy.

Deciding that it was time to gain a new sort of life, he pushed away his immaturity and proceeded to devouring the bowl of porridge like mix.

As he finished he found himself feeling surprisingly full and content, something that he had to admit Ramen never really did for him. He jumped in his seat as an unexpected knock sounded on his door, quickly he figured it wasn't the old man, he didn't come until the end of the month.

In a rush of excitement he sprinted the short distance to his door and flung it open, rather than being met with the sight of his sensei, as he had hoped, he was met with thin air, his gaze dropped in disappointment, where his eyes widened in surprise at seeing a brown paper wrapped parcel with a note sitting atop.

In his usual manner he retrieved it, slammed his door and happily trotted back to his kitchen table where he set about going over the note.

"_Dear Naruto, I suspect you've barely read my previous note about your diet by now, however I have duties that I must attend to for the duration of the day, expect a visitor at lunch time, she will help you with some things. I will arrive in the afternoon and we will begin training."_

His natural instinct was to hang his head in annoyance that he'd have to wait an entire eight hours until he got to begin his training, though the curious distraction of the still wrapped parcel lead his mind onward as his fingers gripped along it's folded edges and tugged, unraveling the neatly folded paper.

Naruto was no stranger to Shinobi gear and clothing, practically no one in any ninja village was, but at the sight of the three sets of folded Shinobi intended clothing in front of him his grin grew exponentially and tears of joy rolled from his eyes, _'I love Itachi-Sensei!' _

He quickly stripped down to his underwear and unfolded the top item of clothing; black Shinobi pants. Stepping into them quickly he tugged them up his legs and struck a pose, imagining himself standing like that in a battlefield with himself being the only one standing.

A chilly breeze of air from under his door bought him back to his senses and as reached for a standard mesh undershirt, designed to blunt blows, though rarely effective enough to call it truly useful, then his black jacket which was adorned with a pattern of orange colored tomeo around the neck and flame like patterns at its hem.

He had seen a jacket of similar cut and shape before in a shop window and had instantly wanted it along with its matching pants, he had first noted that A: it was far too big for him, obviously intended for someone in their mid to late teens and B: despite his adoration of the color orange, it would stick out like a sore thumb and no doubt cause him trouble if he were to wear it in a Shinobi application.

But as his gaze flickered down his now mostly dressed body he much more suitably agreed with the garb that his new sensei had chosen for him.

Next he picked up the black Shinobi sandals and quickly tugged them over his feet, not wondering in the slightest how Itachi had gauged his foot size so exactly, and then atop his second set of the clothing that Itachi had the foresight to purchase was a collection of different pouches and straps. Naruto quickly recognized them at storage pouches along with the straps to keep them in place over his body. As he had done with his other items of clothing he quickly raised them into the air to examine how to best don them.

His eyebrow quirked curiously and he settled for placing the pouches back atop the second set of clothing and waiting for Itachi to show him how to correctly wear it, so as to avoid any unneeded humiliation.

At that note he quickly set about punching and kicking into the air with reckless abandon, imagining disguised foes jumping at him from the corner of the room as he lay into his imagined attackers with gusto to pass the time.

He then paused in his imaginings and bought his hands together thoughtfully, realizing that his tender six year old mind would likely struggle to at least remember all the hand signs for different jutsu. _'NO!' _He mentally berated himself for his glimpsing moment of self-doubt, _'I am Uzumaki Naruto! I will become the greatest Shinobi in the world and make the former Hokage proud of me!' _

With his short lived mental rant of confidence over he pumped his fists into the air after his minor victory over his doubts and opted to make his way to his ragged, messy couch that had definitely seen better days.

Anyone else used to a comfortable standard of living, as most people were in Konoha, would see the couch and compare it to something that must have been made in Konoha's earliest years and had been left to rot out in the weather. However Naruto didn't know the difference nor did he have the choice to be picky. He sat in it expectantly and glanced toward his door, then through a window, attempting to gauge the time of day.

He figured it was about ten thirty or eleven, which left not long to wait until his still unknown guest arrived.

**XXXXXXX**

Uchiha Mikoto sat back against the outdoor bench and let out a long winded sigh. Before her, her son was being taught very basic Taijutsu lessons by an Uchiha clan member whose name always seemed to escape her.

She allowed her previously lost soft smile to return to her lips as she watched her son practice the stances that he was directed to, she almost found it unnerving how similar Sasuke looked to the Uchiha's previous antagonist, Madara, as well as how she sometimes found it unnerving how Sasuke reminded her of his father, her husband.

She was sure that the only thing keeping Sasuke from developing along the paths that Fugaku surely wanted him to go in, although that led her to be again happy that Itachi was the prodigy of the Uchiha clan. His skills and battle foresight had earned him the attention of the entire clan, and the almost undivided attention of Fugaku.

At first it was apparent that Sasuke felt betrayed by his father, but after his older brother continually reigning love and recognition on him for even the smallest achievements, Sasuke had stopped fawning after his father's attention and merely trained for his brother's respect.

Again her small smile faded as she recalled the previous evening when Itachi had returned home and she had bid him into her private study to give him one of her routine motherly talks that confirmed for him that he could tell her anything that weighed on his shoulders.

She was at the time astounded as he began to speak more than a few sentences. Normally he would only list some minor issues he had with other ANBU or voice some slight annoyances at some orders that he had received, but this time he had begun by telling her that her former best friends son was alive and living in a rundown apartment in one of the most crime ridden areas of Konoha.

Not that Konoha ever really experienced crime; more just that bars tended to become over full and a vast majority of the patrons fell to the effects of their alcoholic beverages.

When he said his name she had felt horrible inside. She of course had heard it, virtually the entire village had, he was "the demon brat," but he went by many other offensive names. She had always felt sympathetic to his plight, but after the Kyuubi's attack all those years ago and the loss of Kushina, her best friend, and Minato, her best friends husband, lover, hokage and her secret love she had wanted basically nothing to do with the village and the memories it would bring and restricted herself to the Uchiha compound.

But then Itachi had gone on to explain that he had watched over Naruto for some time and had finally snapped at the various times the boy was beaten within an inch of his life, he told her that he was going to become the Uzumaki boys Sensei, and that he wanted her help.

Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes again; two beautiful things were happening at once. Her eldest son was finally asking her for help, and the help was to aid the child of her two most cherished people. She had unquestionably agreed to help and Itachi had outlined that it would be much appreciated if she were to meet the boy at lunch time.

She was just as curious towards her own reaction as to his as she awaited the time that she would have to depart to see him. The sound of a loud grunt bought her attention back to her son's session, it seemed in her phased out state the Uchiha responsible for his guidance had decided that his stance was acceptable enough for him to advance to a physical test of skills against himself.

Suffice to say, the young Uchiha had a long way to go, as was evident by his state of being face down on the ground; Mikoto couldn't help but let out a chortle of laughter at his predicament as his instructor pushed some pressure through his knee that was held firmly against the boys back.

"Kaasan!" Sasuke called pleading.

"Don't you try that tone with me, young man," Mikoto began as she stood up and stretched her arms above her head, deciding now was as good a time as any to go visit Naruto. "Teach him the clan katas for another hour, then take him back to the house and take him through the history of Fire country." she said to the Uchiha man holding her son to the ground.

"Of course, Mikoto-sama," he replied respectfully as he removed his weight from the child and pulled him back to his feet.

She sometimes wished that when she was spoken to with the suffix sama on her name that she had power to make some changes in her clan, but she knew it was given to her merely out of respect for her husband, the clan leader.

The very thought often disgusted her, her family had been the head family, but due to the Uchiha being a patriarchal clan she had been forced to marry Fugaku, and give clan leadership to him. She merely hoped that she could influence Itachi positively enough for the day when he took the mantle that the Uchiha arrogance would be replaced with a new sense of Uchiha kindness.

She banished the thoughts from her mind as she gave her son a short wave and turned on her heel, steadying into a fast paced walk, her satchel bag swinging lazily at her side. She had made sure to bring anything that the situation may possibly call for, namely money to take the boy shopping if he needed, as she suspected he would, as well as her intention to break the Third's law about the boy knowing his parentage in the form of a photo of them.

Her mind swirled with thoughts of the boy, Itachi hadn't given her any form of description of him, merely a cryptic _"you'll know him when you see him.' _She assumed that was in reference to him holding either a stunning resemblance to either Kushina or Minato.

Whichever it was she was sure her heart would melt at the sight of him; her mind came back to reality as a part of her registered that she had arrived at the gate of the Uchiha compound.

She squeezed her eyes shut and wrinkled up her face, steeling her resolve to step beyond and re-assume her position in the village, her bust rose as she sucked in a deep breath and stepped past the gates, letting out the exhalation and sighing in the process, completely resolving to never let down the child of her two most precious people.

She found herself immersed in the village as she walked, she couldn't truly be sure if it had changed so much since she had secluded herself or if she had merely forgotten what the village was like beyond the walls of the Uchiha compound.

She knew every street and path of the village and had herself walking on autopilot toward the blonde Jinchuuriki's home. Mikoto wasn't blind to the gasps of surprise around her as odd people recognized her as the Uchiha matriarch.

She feared that her absence from the village may have damaged the Uchiha's name, and she was well aware of the Uchiha's already arrogant reputation, and before her seclusion it had been declining, but her presence had often mellowed the negative views as her kindness would often influence those around her.

Her mind wandered briefly to the former wife of Hyuuga Hiashi, she had always been such a kind woman, and much like with the Uchiha clans reputation of arrogance, the Hyuga had one similar, and just as she had done the Hyuga matriarch had spread kindness and positivity from her clan throughout the village.

Her mind came back to her current walk as she caught vigorous movement to her right in the form of an arm waving erratically at her, she turned her head slightly and smiled in recognition of the man; Teuchi, of Ichiraku ramen.

She and her childhood friends had spent many afternoons seated at the stand enjoying the glorious food that the man produced under the tutelage of his own father. She could see now that he had inherited the store and had taken up the reigns, and even passed on his father's tradition as his young brunette daughter followed his movements, learning the trade secrets of how to make the perfect Ramen.

She complimented her smile with a wave back to the man, silently promising that she would return and bring back a hungry child to fill out for his current lack of customers before continuing on.

She noticed now that the boys apartment was conveniently close to the Ramen stand, she deduced simply that the third must have foreseen the old man's kind nature and knew Naruto would get a normal price for his food there.

Mikito sighed again in thought as she rounded the next set of buildings and laid her eyes upon the apartment block that she knew Naruto resided in. Suddenly she felt her heart seize up in fear and pain; this was the boy she had practically abandoned, she was best friends with Kushina and Minato, and yet she had so easily forgotten their child after their deaths.

She forced aside the ill thoughts of her previous failure as a friend and continued onward, finding herself cringing as she climbed the stairs to a terrace the led along the building to the various apartment doors. Mikoto couldn't help but notice the array of filth dumped along the pathway or the blatant graffiti, many referring to the building as the home of the demon scum.

The Uchiha woman strode past the disrespectful writing hatefully, the only things her eyes paid heed to were the numbers on the doors she passed before the abruptly stopped, reading the number that Itachi had told her to be Naruto's.

She paused for a moment, straightening her black kimono, knowing it was just her attempt at stalling herself due to her nervous heart. With a final resolve she raised her fist and wracked her knuckles against the door in two sharp knocks.

She jumped in fright and bought her hand to her chest quickly as the door opened just as she placed her hand back by her side, she had at least been expecting to hear the scuffling of movement to get the door first, or a call asking her to wait a moment.

Mikoto remembered her situation and looked down, her onyx eyes immediately locking onto the bright blue orbs of the boy, then over his facial structure and yellowy hair, _'so, so much like a little Minato!' _She couldn't help but notice him giving her a once over as she had done to him, although his stance was far more defensive than hers, she could only imagine the pain and horrors of his childhood so far, tears began welling up in her eyes and she followed her instincts. In a moment she was down at his level, her slender arms wrapped around his smaller frame in a tight embrace as she sobbed softly into his head of golden hair.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so, so, so sorry! Please forgive me!" she cried softly into his hair, now after finally seeing him she saw why he so badly needed the affection of a mother figure.

Finally Mikoto felt his smaller frame relax into the embrace as his short arms wrapped around her back and began rubbing up and down gently whilst making soothing sounds. "It's okay miss pretty lady, I forgive you for whatever you did."

The regretful Uchiha woman pulled out of the embrace and held the blond Uzumaki at arm's length, seeing him grin at her in a way that made him look like a near perfect copy of a young Minato. "Oh Kami," she said softly as another set of tears rolled from her eyes down over her reddened face. "You look just like your father!"

Naruto froze at her words, "Y-you knew my tousan? What was he like!?"

Mikoto couldn't suppress a smile from forming, now at closer inspection she could see the child's face more closely resembled the shape of Kushina's, and with such a perfect blend of both his parents looks she'd assumed that he'd have an equal blend of their personalities. "May I come in, Naruto-kun? I can tell you all about your tousan and kaasan."

At the temptation of learning about his parents Naruto quickly stepped aside and swung the door open, revealing his relatively sparse living space. Mikoto paid the lack of furniture no heed as she stepped through and proceeded to his kitchen table, taking note of the folded clothes that had no doubt been given by her eldest.

In her practiced elegant fashion she sat herself gently in one of his two seats, she had no doubt that the second was only there for the thirds visits and it would sit dormant until he entered once a month, a quick sound of metal on metal met her ears as Naruto proceeded to lock his door, as his fearful habit required, and scurried to the second chair at his table, perching on it and fixing his eyes on hers attentively. Another trait she immediately linked with his late father.

Seeing it as the question that the stare most likely was, Mikito cleared her throat, "Firstly, my name is Uchiha Mikoto, I'm Itachi-kun's kaasan."

Naruto nodded with a small smile, he'd obviously connected the dots between the similar appearance and her being a trusted individual to him. He simply sat silently waiting for her to go on.

"I was one of the closest people in the village to your parents. They were my two most precious people in the world…" Mikito began, steeling her resolve and keeping her tears back as she continued to gaze into his intense blue glare of curiosity. "I'm sure Itachi-kun must have told you some of this. But your tousan, Namikaze Minato, the absolute genius Shinobi of his time, was the Yondaime Hokage, the man who won the third ninja war single handedly and saved our village from the Kyubi no kitsune."

Mikoto paused, wondering what sort of details she should give to the child of her secret beloved, however her instinct spoke first. "Your tousan was a calm, smart and unwaveringly kind man, I loved him just as much as your mother ever did, he was brave and always prepared for any situation, the day he found out that his wife, and my best friend, Uzumaki Kushina was pregnant, he became happier than I had ever seen him, he wanted to leave his entire legacy to you."

This time as she paused tears had begun to gently roll down her cheeks, she paid them no heed as she wondered where to start on Kushina. "Then your kaasan, Kushina, above all else, she was loud and confident, never giving in whatever the odds. She was one of the last of her clan who were once one of the most powerful in the elemental nations, her dream was to become hokage until she married your tousan, she wanted him to live her dream so that she could pass everything on to you, she cried for hours in joy when she found out she had you growing inside her."

Mikoto's gaze grew steady as she focused back on the boy in front of her instead of her memories, seeing tears run down his face with his mouth set in a small content smile. She quickly stood and picked him up, wrapping her arms around him as he linked his hands behind her neck, in the same fashion that she used to hold Itachi and Sasuke in.

"Your parents loved you so much, and I'm sorry it took me so long to help you," her right hand soothingly began rubbing in circles on the small of his back.

"Do you know why tousan put Kyubi in me?" the boy asked in a small voice from her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I don't. But I know he wouldn't do it without a good reason, just don't fear the Kyuubi, that's probably what it wants."

The response was certainly not what she had expected as she felt his small head shake on her shoulder. "No, Kyuubi said he wants to help me, that I remind him of someone,"

Mikoto's brow furrowed in thought, not understanding who the Kyuubi could have known to be able to compare the blonde boy to, deciding to put the thought aside and focus on why she came she quickly unlatched Naruto from her neck and put him back on the floor, facing him with a smile.

"Now then, Naruto-kun, there's not much I can do about where you live, but we can make this place better for you, let's go shopping, on the way I can teach you a little about the art of fuinjutsu so you can store things more easily."

Naruto nodded his head at her request and instantly grabbed her hand with his, Mikoto couldn't help but smile again at the boys gesture, finding no wrong in it she led him back to the door and out his apartment, promising him as they went that no one would hurt him again.

**XXXXXX**

Itachi seemed to materialize outside of Naruto's familiar apartment door as a result of his sudden halt in his extreme speed. He paused his hands movement as it proceeded to the door to knock, now noticing the sound of clattering and yelling.

He cursed his lack of attention prior to moving to knock and quickly drew a kunai from a pouch on his hip, his hand found purchase on the door handle and tested it slightly finding it unlocked. In a burst of speed he sprung through the door poised to strike, and again found himself pausing at the scene.

A couch and two cushioned chairs he wasn't familiar with had been set as a boundary of sorts with a slightly bruised Naruto throwing punch after kick after punch in his kaasan's direction, as the woman in question either dodged each attack or simply slapped it aside and dealt back either a soft jab or slap to the boy.

Itachi let out a sigh of relief at the sight, he had feared that Naruto's previous attackers had returned to finish the job, in a fluid action he had his mask removed and was suddenly standing by the table, which he noted was also a new addition to the apartment that he had noted as being messy merely the night before.

The Uchiha ANBU cleared his throat to announce his presence as he directed his typical calm gaze to his mother, not entirely sure of the protocol of greeting her whilst in front of Naruto, however his mother saved him from his slight dilemma. "Itachi-kun! How was your day?"

Upon hearing the 'kun' honorific tagged at the end of his name Itachi knew it best to act familiar around his mother in front his blonde apprentice. "Kaasan," he began with the slight rise of the corners of his mouth and a small bow of his head. "It was merely a mission to remove some missing nin, however they escaped into Grass country."

Itachi paused again and couldn't deny a smile in return to the grin that Naruto was giving him, no doubt it had been the most affectionate day in his short life. "I hope Naruto-kun hasn't given you too much trouble today, Kaasan?"

Itachi had already predicted her answer, but it was a small affectionate social game that he knew Naruto was deprived of and would take a moment to catch on. "Oh, you have no idea! He practically dragged me out and forced me to shop with him, and then when we got back and unpacked he attacked me, all I could do was defend against his onslaught!"

True to Itachi's prediction Naruto's jaw dropped as he heard the jokingly inaccurate report of his day with Mikoto. "Itachi-sensei! She's lying! I swear I was polite to Mikoto-sama!"

Mikoto chortled musically at his response, continuing the teasing game. "Oh but Naru-chan, that's the first time you've called me sama all day? I thought I politely asked you to call me that this morning?"

Naruto pounced on her leg desperately, somehow fearing that this all may get him left alone again, his arms wrapped around her limb, coming desperately close to her privates unknowingly, his head shot up and his bright blue orbs locked onto her onyx ones fearfully. "Please, Mikoto-hime, please tell Itachi-sensei the truth?"

As soon as Mikoto's eyes met his she couldn't continue the teasing game, his endearingly pleading expression had once again snuck into her heart. Acting on her motherly impulse she bent forward and kissed his forehead softly. "It's okay, Naruto-kun, we were just teasing you."

"Naruto-kun, would you please follow me, we'll begin training right now, you can join us if you'd like, Kaasan? I intend to train him into the night," Itachi clarified as he stepped back toward the door and waited. However much he enjoyed bonding with his mother he had more of an affinity to training and discipline.

"Of course I would, Itachi-kun, however I'll have to head back before you finish, your tousan will likely grow uncomfortable without me being home."

Itachi nodded at his mother's words before leading them out there door and waiting for the familiar click of Naruto locking it. Without waiting for him to begin asking more questions Itachi began a quick pace toward one of his favorite training grounds that was often empty.

He was silently happy that the second Hokage had utilized the training ground constantly, it left the air to it that only elites above elites could use it, so therefore, no one ever used it, much to his pleasure as he often spent many lip sealed hours training.

The walk didn't take long, with Mikoto insisting on holding the blondes hand whilst the blonde in questioned attempted to mimic Itachi's every movement, action and expression in silence, he'd already placed Itachi on a pedestal in his mind, although not at the height of his inspiration, his father, the fourth hokage.

Itachi was now a prominent figure in his life. Mikoto herself was comfortable with the silence, it almost made her feel excited as she thought back on the days when she herself had been an active Konoha shinobi, the waning light did nothing to slow her quickening heart.

She briefly wondered what sort of training Itachi would be intending to begin in the darkening light, but she'd never question her sons prowess or ability to teach the skills that he himself had mastered beyond what she could ever hope to do.

"Since you seem so intent on helping him train as well, I think I will include you in his training plan."

Mikoto glanced at Itachi as he spoke, she'd known that Itachi had only wanted her help in keeping Naruto stable, but after seeing him herself she felt it was a personal obligation to help him grow.

The words spoken above Naruto's head didn't escape his hearing however. "Itachi-sensei, what will you be teaching me today?"

Itachi sunk his right hand into his pocket and retrieved a slip of paper before quickly handing it to his mother to check over. "At first we'll begin by teaching you how to mold chakra, depending on how good you are at that I will either begin your taijutsu or teach you a powerful forbidden technique that the first hokage himself had listed as being forbidden."

Naruto's eyes went wide at the thought of being able to learn a technique that was so awesome that it had to be marked as forbidden. Mikoto's only reaction was to narrow her eyes, whilst she trusted her son implicitly, she did have doubts about teaching such a young boy any form of forbidden technique.

"Also," Itachi began as he drew a scroll seemingly from out of nowhere. "this is a gift for you; these are your fathers notes on two of his most well-known techniques, but you're not ready to attempt them," Itachi spoke calmly as he guardedly handed the scroll in question to Naruto's eager hands.

"Naruto, so you know; I'm putting a lot of faith in you, giving you that, be aware that if you try them before you are ready, they could kill you, but I believe that you can surpass your father, so please be wise, and commit yourself to protecting your precious people to become strong!" Itachi cautioned. His other main reason for his cautioning was that he had gone to considerable lengths to time everything to the degree of perfection required to be able to sneak into the hokage's vault and steal the scroll.

He didn't much understand the point of a hokage placing any type of jutsu scroll into the vault, unless the hokage was the one who had created the jutsu. Somewhere in the village Itachi knew Hatake Kakashi would be training, or reading his porno. But he possessed an original technique whose written details and instructions had been stored in the scroll under the hokage's will, and yet he himself could teach it to anyone he liked.

Naruto's bright blue eyes practically shone at Itachi's words. "Of course sensei! I will make you proud! I will get strong to protect you and Mikoto-san and make the entire village acknowledge me, believe it!"

Mikoto herself hid a smile, _'the perfect blend of both his mothers and fathers personalities and skills,' _she thought happily as she heard his very Kushina'esque response.

Itachi's thoughts mirrored his mother's greatly as the three stepped onto the grassy field below the hokage monument with a gentle waterfall spilling from a crack in the rocks to their right, the peach light seemed to suit the tone in his mind, _'Yes, Naruto, there are great things ahead for you.' _


	2. Chapter two: Eyes from a legend

**Hello to readers, and thank you for your reviews and ideas on my previous chapter. To address issues raised; the spelling of Mikoto as Mikito was simply a typo and bad habit, for which I apologise, I have since acquired a beta who I would like to thank for his help in editing, especially since I normally don't take the time to do myself. (Another bad habit) I will at some point redo chapter 1 and fix the mistakes in it. **

**There are a bunch of events that will happen in this story that will stick to canon, and Naruto will lose when it seems he should win, I'll explain them when we get there though. If I recall there was a review asking for the pairings, they will be; Ino, Hinata, then Konan. **

**I've also changed my mind slightly on some of it and how much I'll stick to canon, so it's fair warning to anyone who wants things to be perfectly in line with canon to know that this won't be the story for you. **

**There will be some minor-medium Sasuke, Sakura bashing happening at some point, but nothing to extreme. **

**And about my updates for this story, I'm currently working a lot and finishing up a Uni course, so my time is a bit limited, but it should free up slightly in the next few weeks. As a creative writer my mind is always open to fresh ideas, and this is one of the areas that I see the reviews being so helpful, so please, if you've read this and see potential for anything you think might be good for the future chapters of this story, don't hesitate to review it, and I'll keep an open mind to all that I see. **

**Chapter Two: Eyes from a Legend**

"**Naruto…"**

What felt like a damp gust of wind swept over the boy in question, his vibrant blue eyes flickered open at the sound of a guttural growl.

"**Naruto? Wake up! My container must be strong to be worthy of fighting me!"**

Naruto groaned at the deep and commanding voice of the Kyuubi no kitsune as it stirred him from his slumber. It had been this way on many early mornings since he had started training with Itachi a year earlier, as Naruto was still as passionate as ever when it came to training to surpass his sensei, as well as his idol. But completely ignoring the strain that the intense training had on his young body was virtually impossible on some days, where it became necessary for Kyuubi to wake him up.

Which was yet another aspect of the young Uzumaki boy's life that he had not predicted. To say he was friends with the Kyuubi would be grossly inaccurate, however he did have some odd form of camaraderie with the bijuu, whenever the beast had thought that Naruto needed to try harder or gain more knowledge he had not hesitated in giving him the push he needed to continue onward.

There had been many occasions during training where Naruto's chakra had been low when Kyuubi had taken advantage to prod the gate and leak out his hateful chakra into Naruto. The reaction was always instantaneous: Naruto would lose control of his conscious thought and attack Itachi with a vengeance.

It was not a situation that escaped Naruto's notice, and he constantly fought to overcome the feeling of hate that came with Kyuubi's power. He had even come to the point where he thought he could almost ignore the Kyuubi's will whilst being cloaked in its chakra.

"**You know your sensei is harder on you when you're late! And I do not cherish healing you, brat!" **

"I love you too." Naruto muttered as he sat up from the watering flooring of the seal and looked up at the glowing eyes of the Kyuubi beyond the bars. "How do you feel this morning?"

Kyuubi slitted his eyes at the question. **"I hate this cage! All I care about is the day you think you're strong enough to challenge me so I can grind you to dust and get my freedom!"**

Naruto nodded despondently as he pushed himself to his feet before he looked down his body, taking note of his only article of clothing being his fox patterned boxers; he'd established that whenever he was in the seal he would appear in the same state of dress as he was out in the physical world. He chuckled as he patted some crinkles out of his boxers. "These have got to be my favourite piece of clothing ever!"

A vein bulged in Kyuubi's forehead at the sight of Naruto posing with his hips thrust forward accentuating the fox patterned boxers. **"I hate them. They show how pitiful you are to wear them."**

Naruto just laughed with his head thrown back. "I love it when we talk like this; you're slowly sounding less and less hateful." He looked down as the reality seemed to hit him that Kyuubi was in fact the most hateful presence he could imagine. "But you know," he began as he glanced back up with a steeled resolve shining in his eyes. "I'm gonna take on all your hate and get it out of you! Believe it!"

Kyuubi pulled his lips back into a large gleaming toothy grin; he couldn't help but wonder if this was how the Rikudo sennin was when he was but a boy. **"If you are, then you have a long way to go. Now leave!"**

Naruto knew that the conversation was over with that final line, though as he closed his eyes to focus on going back to the physical world he let a content smile claim his face. As far as he was concerned the conversation had been extremely positive despite being so short.

Again Naruto found his blue eyes opening, though this time to the soft hue of the waking sky through his window, he guessed it was about six in the morning. His body jerked into action as he practically flew out of bed, collecting his clothes on the way to the kitchen and stepping into them as he walked.

Itachi had kept up with buying him new shinobi clothes throughout the year to keep up with his rate of growth. The clothes themselves remained the same style as his original choices, something he certainly wasn't complaining about, although he had adapted his jacket to be loose-fitting with much more open and draping sleeves and folded back collar that opened in the front to reveal his young but sinewy chest.

He came to a halt in the kitchen and glanced around, knowing full well that if he wanted to make it in time he'd have to choose fast. Spinning on his heel he grabbed the two closest things before dashing to his door: an apple and an oat bar. He shoved them into his pocket just as he reached his door and in a flash of silver keys was beyond and locking it again.

As Naruto started his walk toward the same training ground that he'd used since his first night training he took out the oat bar and unwrapped it, taking a hungry bite before thinking that the slow-to-digest food would definitely hinder him if Itachi-sensei decided to take him through the rigorous physical training first thing as he often loved doing.

_It doesn't matter. _Naruto mentally concluded as his feet carried him onwards. Food was food, and he needed it. Before he knew it he found himself sitting at the edge of the small pool next to the waterfall that he'd become so familiar with in his water walking exercises.

A grin adorned his face as his blue eyes scanned the area; Itachi-sensei was nowhere to be seen. In a rush of movement he scrunched up the oat bar wrapper and put it back in his pocket before retrieving the apple and began munching on that as he stood and set about laying small traps with his rolls of ninja wire and small paint satchels he carried in case he ever got the whim to prank someone.

Finishing up his trap setting work, Naruto sat back down and wiped the grin from his face and replaced it with an orchestrated expression of impatience as Itachi's figure appeared at the edge of the field, the Uchiha approached in his usual calm yet confident stride, his footfalls hardly noticeable in the soft grassy plain, "Naruto-kun," he began as he drew nearer, only to be silenced by a balloon of paint impacting his open mouth.

Itachi stopped dead in his tracks in what seemed to be shock, his pause was enough for all the surrounding traps to react to the first one and launch similar balloons of paint at him; Naruto's reaction was instant as he fell off the rock he was on and rolled in the grass laughing to the point of tears as his sensei was bombarded by what was practically a wall of paint, it was evident that Naruto had made good use of the art of sealing by the volume of paint that covered Itachi.

As the last balloon splattered against Itachi's forehead Naruto pulled himself to his feet and wiped a stray joyful tear from his cheek, however his joy soon turned to suspicion as Itachi spat out a mouthful of blue paint and smiled before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

"Earth release: Swamp mud wave."

Naruto gathered himself at the declaration and spun to his right, seeing Itachi spurting out a stream of glistening greenish mud from his mouth. _'Damn it! Too late to dodge!' _was all Naruto had time to think before the putrid mud hit him and carried him a few meters before coming to a slippery and slimy halt.

A disgusted grimace crossed Naruto's face as he got a whiff of the mud that now coated him head to toe. "Itachi-sensei!? What is this!?"

Itachi threw his head back and laughed at the mess that Naruto found himself in. "I never thought I'd have to use that one…" he started as he drew near, only to halt as the smell assaulted his honed senses. "I came up with it just in case one of your pranks proved successful, but luckily for me, I tripped it with a shadow clone."

Suddenly Naruto froze, finding a funny side to this despite his messy situation, in a twirl of mud he was on his feet, arm outstretched and pointing at Itachi as he laughed at his Sensei, his lips split into a broad childish grin as he let out a short laugh. "Is that why you never laugh, Itachi-sensei?"

Itachi froze. _'Shit,' _he thought. He hadn't let himself laugh like that since his early academy years, the most Naruto had ever seen from him was a short chuckle at his mother's expense.

Naruto struck a pose and ignored the mud as he threw his head back similar to how Itachi had done a few minutes prior, a high pitched girlish squeal of laughter echoed from him before he mockingly smiled at his sensei. "That's just how you laugh, sensei!"

Itachi in turn changed his demeanour, shooting Naruto a cold glare. "You are to _never_ tell anyone about that!"

"And why shouldn't I?" Naruto shot back with his grin growing whilst he took a step into the pool of water, dirtying its previously pristine condition.

"I'll give you anything you want! I'll introduce you to my little brother if you want a new friend. I'll buy you ramen if you ever ask for it. I'll find you a girlfriend. Name it, anything!"

Naruto just grinned at his sensei's words before completely submerging himself in the water and bursting back out, the water somehow cleaning the entirety of the sickly mud from him in the process. "I want…" Naruto huffed, "to… LEARN SOME TECHNIQUES LIKE YOURS!" he screamed excitedly at Itachi who stood relieved. In truth Itachi had hardly taught the young Uzumaki any ninja techniques over the past year. Naruto's technique arsenal was the shadow clone technique, the substitution, and the transformation technique, however he had been teaching him to use everything to the best of his ability.

The moment that Naruto mastered the shadow clone technique, Itachi told him its secret use of being able to retain the clones' memories, and had since had close to a hundred Narutos a day practicing chakra control techniques, or reading and learning about the history of the ninja arts, whilst he in person would train the original Naruto taijutsu and the use of kunai and shuriken.

Itachi didn't want to admit it, but he was both surprised and astounded at the perfection of Naruto's chakra control, no matter what the task, not a single bit of chakra was wasted, he was even sure that when the two of them would fight on the waters surface that the water would not even register Naruto's presence with a ripple, the astounding part was that Naruto's chakra reserves were well above his own, and yet he had managed such perfection with chakra control.

Itachi cleared his throat to get his pupil's attention back. "I'd like to get back on track with some information I'd like to get."

Naruto nodded eagerly, awaiting the question.

"What have you found from your fathers research notes?" Itachi had long since uncovered Naruto's genius; he expected high-end results from the boys' analysis of the previous Hokage's notes on his privately-developed techniques.

Naruto shrugged as he dropped to the ground and sat in a lotus position, focusing chakra to permeate his clothing to push the water molecules from the fabric. "Even though I haven't tried to do either of them, reading about his methods and descriptions of them, they seem easy to reproduce." a foxy grin spread across the boy's face as he noticed Itachi's expression shift to one of shock.

'_Easy to reproduce!? When I got my hands on that scroll I studied it and studied it!' _"What do you mean easy to reproduce?" he asked in place of his thoughts.

Naruto shrugged again. "I'm not sure how to say it Itachi-sensei, they just seem easy, especially the Rasengan! The Hiraishin seems a bit trickier, but I think I have the theory down."

In truth Itachi had found very little trouble in understanding the process of the Rasengan, he was sure that he could do it himself, however he felt that the technique was a legacy to be passed to Naruto, but the Hiraishin on the other hand had utterly confused him, and keeping his mind as modest as possible, he knew full well that he was a prodigy, and yet the glory of the fourth Hokage towered above his ability to comprehend. But Naruto, a mere seven-year-old claimed he understood it without a doubt.

Itachi opened his mouth to ask in another way only to shut it promptly, knowing that however he worded the question, Naruto wouldn't be able to answer in an understandable fashion, as had occurred on other occasions. Naruto had easily surpassed expectations, and when asked how, despite his now expanded vocabulary, he couldn't explain in a way that he or Mikoto could understand. With a quick thought he restructured his question to be directed toward his thought paths of the day before when he had deemed his study complete enough to proceed.

"Naruto, for the past few months I have been deeply studying all the information I can find about the Uzumaki clan and their family line, as well as the origins of the Senju clan and my own." Itachi paused, seeing Naruto divesting his full attention. "The Senju and the Uchiha clans started with the two sons of the Sage of Six Paths. The sage gave the power of his eyes to the eldest, and the will and power of his body to the youngest, these two split and became two different warring clans. Somewhere down the track, a part of the Senju clan split and became the Uzumaki through a clan marriage with the original Uzumaki who were supposedly on the brink of being wiped out, so all Uzumaki alive today are direct Senju descendants."

Naruto shot his hand up into the cool morning air to pose his question, at a customary nod from Itachi he blurted excitedly, "Does that mean I'm related to the Sage of Six Paths!?"

Itachi gave a small smile, not surprised that Naruto had knowledge of the sage. "Yes it does, as am I. However, the true power of the sage has never been seen, and from what I can deduce, to awaken the power of the sage you must merge the Senju and Uchiha bloodlines. My offer is, that with the help of Mikoto-san, we can merge some of my DNA with yours."

Naruto squinted in thought and struck a thinking pose with his hand cupping his chin, "is it safe?"

Itachi certainly hadn't been expecting that from the boy who seemed to love the idea of diving into danger, "the worst that can happen is that there will be no results, but we think that this may give you the ability to use the wood element if it succeeds, or whatever other power the sage had."

In a rush of movement Naruto was on his feet, legs spread and one arm outstretched in the nice guy pose, Itachi couldn't hold back a grimace at the sight, all he could think was that Gai really had to stop striking his disturbing poses all over the village.

"I trust you and Mikoto-sensei!"

"It's a shame that you didn't get to meet my little brother… I think you could have been close friends," Itachi stated out of the blue.

"It's okay, Itachi-sensei, we'll probably be great friends when I join the academy, believe it!"

Itachi laughed softly at Naruto's response. Whilst Sasuke was still an excitable young boy, he and Naruto were fundamentally different. Sasuke had been doted upon for his whole life yet still a background twinge of darkness resided in him, and he was quick to throw an insult at a non-Uchiha. Naruto on the other hand was quick to forgive, always looked on the bright side and wanted everyone to be a precious friend. _'Perhaps I want them to be friends to see if Naruto will rub off on Sasuke…' _Itachi thought passively as he watched Naruto dive toward the pool, only to catch himself on his palms atop the water in a chakra-stabilised handstand.

"Naruto-kun, I'm having less and less time available to train you." Itachi said resolutely as Naruto gave him an upside-down frown from his position. _'Because my father insists upon the idea that the Uchiha should rule the village.' _he thought darkly. "So I'm going to increase the pace of your training, and I will be sending a letter to Jiraiya-sama of the sannin. He is your godfather and will pick up the slack of your training when he arrives."

At this declaration Naruto did fall into the water, only to burst back out like a crazed beast. "I have a godfather! Why didn't you tell me already? Why hasn't he been here for me?"

Itachi crossed his arms and shot Naruto a questioning glare. "He is a sannin. He leads a life of responsibility and duty so his time has been limited. He can explain it to you in person." Itachi decided to leave out his 'research', thinking Naruto would be better off discovering that for himself.

"Now come here."

Naruto did as he was bid and again went through the process of pushing the water from his clothing using chakra as he neared Itachi.

"Your taijutsu is perfect, Naruto-kun. I don't think I could really improve your style, which you have taken in a surprising direction. However with the current strength and speed you possess, you cannot land a single blow on me one-on-one."

Naruto looked down glumly at his sensei's words, awaiting him to continue.

"So," Itachi started as he took a quick step forward and slapped a seal onto Naruto's wrist, the boy instantly dropped to the ground as though pulled by a ton of bricks, "I have decided to give you weight seals to increase your strength and speed."

Naruto picked himself up slowly from the ground and lifted his right arm up to inspect the seal. He felt as though he was hefting a dumbbell in the process. His thoughts were immediately cut off as Itachi slapped another one on his opposing wrist. "These need to be placed symmetrically so that your body will develop correctly. There are only four more to go, Naruto-kun."

The pupil groaned at his teacher as Itachi became a blur of black fabric, slapping two seals on his shoulder and two on his ankles. "Now," he began as though it were a normal training day. "I'd like to see you do one hundred pushups, then one hundred squat jumps, then one hundred lunges, then fifty laps of the training field."

Naruto's jaw dropped at the prospect of doing that under the weight he currently felt pushing him into the ground. "But sensei! That is impossible with this!"

"Nothing's impossible for you, especially when I'm offering to teach you some fire techniques if you get that done."

Naruto's reaction was instantaneous; in a blur of speed he'd dropped to the ground and began pushing his body away from the ground repeatedly in the pushup position. Itachi ignored Naruto's grunted counting and opted for sitting down and unsealing a scroll and a brush as he continued to ponder over a formula that his mother had given him, it was a basic outline that she would help him go through to merge his DNA into Naruto's. His part in the process would be simple, in theory, he just needed to be there, it was his mother who had the medical ninjutsu training who would be doing the work.

He was fairly certain that it would succeed, or at least, certain that nothing bad would happen. The original idea had even been his mother's when she had clearly said that Kushina and Minato would want their son to be capable of as many things as possible.

In a rustle of paper he rolled the scroll back up carefully, not wanting to damage the valuable information.

Again Itachi felt himself ignoring his modesty to acknowledge his wisdom and intellect, he could easily see where the Uchiha's situation was heading. It would either be assassinate Fugaku and all who followed him, which was a majority of the clan, or assassinate the entire clan to ensure that such an issue never arose again. He could see the Hokage eventually ordering him to do it, as he was best suited to the task and it would be his duty as a leaf ANBU.

The very thought seemed ironic. Fugaku had practically forced Itachi into the ANBU to leak information back to him and the Uchiha council, though Itachi never felt such loyalty to the Uchiha clan. He held firm to the belief that his loyalty, as well as all Uchiha, should belong to Konoha rather than a single clan.

The last he had heard from the Hokage, negotiations had become more heated despite the information that he gave to the Hokage to help quell issues. Fugaku was insistent on his path that he believed the Uchiha should move on together.

"ONE HUNDRED!"

The loud voice of Naruto brought him back to reality as his onyx eyes locked onto Naruto standing up from his completed pushups to begin his squat jumps, Itachi could practically see a astral outline of the fourth Hokage standing next to Naruto as the boy stood tall before dropping down into his first squat. _'You're going to become a great man Naruto-kun, I can see it.' _

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Naruto groaned in fatigue as he collapsed to the floor of his apartment as soon as he shut the door behind him, not even noticing the other presence in the room.

Acting upon her motherly concern Mikoto rushed forward and dragged Naruto to the couch where she left him in a heap before quickly heading to his bathroom to retrieve a towel for him to soak up the water that drenched his form, no doubt from his usual quick dip in the pool after training.

"So, how was training today, Naruto-kun?" Mikoto enquired as she set about rubbing the towel over his shaggy hair.

"Ehhh," Naruto began tiredly. "Sensei is making me wear weighted seals, but at least I got to learn a cool fireball technique." he finished with a lopsided grin.

Mikoto gave him a soft smile as she wrapped the towel around him and went back to the chair she had been in earlier before Naruto's arrival. Over the past year she had been pleased with this new way to spend her time. She had been regretful to begin with that she couldn't spend her days guiding Sasuke in everything a shinobi may possibly need to know, but Fugaku made it clear that Sasuke would be tutored by a man, and not a woman.

"Now, did Itachi-kun tell you what we want to do?"

Naruto nodded sleepily as he rose from his relaxed position and stumbled into the kitchen. "Yes, Mikoto-sensei." he mumbled before grabbing a banana and a bottle of honey. He proceeded back to his seated position before peeling the banana and cut it into chunks, dropping them into a bowl already on the small table, then dribbled large dollops of honey over it; using the same kunai he had used to cut the banana, he began spearing the honey coated banana and munching it down.

"And? What's your opinion, Naruto-kun?" she asked whilst grimacing at the sight of the boy eating in such a lazy and messy way.

"I like the idea, Mikoto-sensei, when will we do it?" Naruto responded between messy mouthfuls of mashed up banana.

Mikoto gave him a confident smirk. "I know it will go well, I've been studying the history of the Uzumaki all the way back to their beginning, so we'll be doing it later tonight… After your studies for the day."

Naruto chuckled silently as he finished swallowing down the final bit of banana, feeling slightly revitalized. "I'd hoped you would have forgotten about studies… well what's first?"

Mikoto stuck her tongue out at him playfully before slipping into her teacher persona. "Well actually, I wanted to talk to you about everything we know about the eight tails jinchuuriki, Killer Bee. He has full mastery over the eight tails and its chakra, and I would like you to relay some of my questions through to Kyuubi."

Naruto perked up as though he hadn't been out of energy at the direction of the discussion, the very idea of working hand in hand with the Kyuubi was an exciting thought. He knew it would take some time to be able to work with the bijuu however. Over the past year since he had learned of the seal containing it within himself he had made progress in talking to it and learning from it, but as the chakra entity itself had said, Naruto would have to prove his worth to be able to harness its power.

In truth Naruto didn't entirely want to harness the Kyuubi's power, whilst he was excited by the prospect of the near endless amount of chakra it would give him he didn't entirely feel like it would be his own power, but he was also sure that to be able to harness the Kyuubi's power he would have to be powerful in his own right.

Mikoto's cough for attention brought him back to his current situation; he shot her an embarrassed smile as he fully awoke from his wonderings. "Of course, Mikoto-sensei."

"Good," she smiled pleasantly at his compliance. "I'll begin with all the intel that we've managed to gather on Killer Bee and the history of the Hachibi. From what we can tell he had a unique effect on the eight tails: its previous hosts were unable to contain it let alone use it. And as we look at the history of its containers we can see that they were all fairly serious and troubled people." As she spoke she pulled a hefty file from her bag beside the chair and began flicking through it before retrieving a series of profiles of people who had obviously been the Hachibi's hosts.

She spread them across the table and ushered Naruto to come closer and read over the details along with her. "Now when we look at Bee's profile, you can see that he always remained positive and happy despite the situation. Itachi-kun and I think that the link to controlling the Bijuu is somewhere in that behaviour. Can you please ask the Kyuubi how it would react to friendly treatment?"

Naruto gave her a resolute nod before sitting back into the lotus position and closing his eyes, Mikoto watched patiently, finding this turn of events certainly startling to her previous way of life.

Naruto spoke whilst keeping his eyes shut, "Kyuubi says that words of friendship are pathetic unless proven in pain, and that you should ask your questions quickly as he doesn't like Uchiha."

Mikoto nodded, understanding the Kyuubi's resentment of her clan for its enslavement by Madara. She glanced up and met Naruto's closed eyes and spoke in a smaller voice than before, somehow feeling as though she were standing before the bijuu directly. "Can you tell or feel what Naruto-kun is feeling?"

"He says he can always see what I feel and what I do."

"What about you, how do you feel?"

To say Naruto felt odd would be an understatement. Although Mikoto had started off asking him to relay questions to Kyuubi now she was asking them directly to him, as though he were some possessed medium. But he did find it conveniently easy to respond to, as Kyuubi could listen in whenever it wanted. "The boy makes me curious. But aside from that, I feel hate." Naruto responded in as close to the Kyuubi's dark tone as he could, finding no point in continuing to relay his responses from his perspective.

"Why does he make you curious?" was her immediate response.

"He has the same heart as someone I once knew."

Someone he once knew… Madara? "Naruto-kun has the same heart as Madara?"

Naruto's voice cut her off straight away as he responded in lip sync with the entity within him, "Madara enslaved me, in a worse way than being contained in a seal; I want to kill him a thousand times over!"

Mikoto's mind spun. _'Who would have thought that the Kyuubi actually knew anyone on a basis for him to actually care about them?' _"Then who?" she asked in a confused voice, realizing she knew far too little of the Kyuubi's past. She knew of its enslavement by Madara and subsequent capture into Uzumaki Mito, then it being passed onto Naruto's mother and now Naruto. But legends of the Kyuubi and other bijuu stretched back hundreds of years to a time of worldwide darkness.

"The brat has the same heart as my tou-san."

'_Father? Bijuu have parents?' _"What do you mean, 'tou-san'?"

Naruto twitched at the influx of information he was receiving through the seal, it was almost as if Kyuubi were sending him flickers of its own memories as he saw a pale skinned man with long spiky black hair, ringed purple grey eyes and wearing a long black cloak. He could see what looked to be the other bijuu standing in a circle around the man, all of them appeared to only be young in size and appearance. The man spoke, his lips seemed to be moving in slow motion in the memory as the young Kyuubi paid the utmost attention, his calm and confident voice permeated the air with his power alone. "I am near death now, my friends. I have merely years left, whilst you have hundreds if not thousands ahead of you. You know that whilst you are apart you will still be connected. But some day, someone will come and lead you all on the right path to peace."

Naruto spoke for Kyuubi again, still mentally reeling from the vision, "Rikudou sennin, the one who brought me into existence."

"Rikudou sennin," Mikoto echoed, she had always known that the man must have been real, who else would have left behind the tablet in the taka shrine, she had read it once with her tou-san, at least as much as her fully developed sharingan allowed, she vividly recalled her tou-san telling her all that the Uchiha understood of the tablet, about the legendary sage's struggle with the ten-tailed beast and his victory, and of the fact that only someone who carried eyes as his, the legendary Rinnegan could decipher all the information, and that the eyes themselves were unobtainable. She couldn't help but wonder about that, especially after he had grudgingly told her that both the Uchiha and Senju clans where descended from the sage.

Pulling her mind back to the topic at hand Mikoto continued her line of questioning. "What could make you work with Naruto-kun?"

"Faith. This must be earned."

Mikoto nodded to the response, understanding for the most part that it would a hard to earn trust.

Naruto blinked open his eyes and shuffled into a more relaxed position, "Kyuubi says he's had enough of talking to an Uchiha, sorry sensei."

Mikoto shook her head at him. "No, it's quite alright. I learned much more than I expected to, Naruto-kun. This has led me to a few thoughts, to which if he's listening, he may agree."

Naruto gave her a firm nod, the signal to continue with what she was saying.

"Well," Mikoto began, "as seems to be the case with Killer Bee, he has constantly defied the odds against him and earned the trust and love of his village, and in the process the trust of the eight tails. Kumo also has the two tails jinchuuriki, and she has full control as well. So we can guess they both have a secure support system." Mikoto spoke firmly in her analytical tone before glancing back to Naruto, switching to her motherly expression. "I think that the key is love, Naruto-kun."

The blonde shot her a grin, slapping a hand over his heart he declared happily, "You and Itachi-sensei are in my heart like two big suns!"

The unlikely pair of Uzumaki and Uchiha contented themselves to a gentle embrace that Mikoto thought to be the genuine feeling of love between a mother and son, thinking that bonds didn't have to be in blood for a sense of family. Reigning herself in from the motherly sensations wracking her heart, she pulled away and extracted the rest of the papers she had brought with her and spread them over the table, grouping them into sections. "First, we're going to cover the history of struggles over the Bijuu, then we're going to go over the history of the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki since they are all relatives, and then we're going to try to theorize what bringing the bloodlines back together might do."

Naruto pumped his small fist into the air. "Yosh!"

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Mikoto rubbed her eyes and scooped up the disorganized files, shoving them back into the folder that had housed them without the care with which she had originally packed them. The duo had spent the past eight hours combing over each and every little detail available to them to the point where their list of possible adaptations to the merged DNA went for several pages, the information on Rikudou sennin simply wasn't enough to base solid predictions on and as such their main focus of possibilities was that Naruto may develop a Sharingan, he may be able to master the wood style that some long-dead Senju were famous for, or the farfetched possibility that he may develop the same eyes as the sage. They simply didn't know enough about what his eyes were to make any real guesses on it.

They had however come to the agreement that the bijuu hadn't hated humans until the time when the shinobi world started emerging from the age of darkness. Back then each creature in the world perfectly fit in with its ecosystem, shinobi fought one another for clan grounds, summon creatures roamed where they liked, and bijuu did as they pleased without angering the surrounding creatures. Then as the shinobi nations and villages began to form the bijuu's power was recognised, and efforts began to capture them. And eventually, after innumerable failures, all the bijuu were captured except the Kyuubi, who managed to escape, but was left cut off from his fellow chakra constructs in thought.

Then with the arrival of Madara's greed the Kyuubi had been enslaved and harnessed by the man, pitted against the first Hokage, which led to being sealed in its first jinchuurik host, and the process of forging a deep hatred was set.

And then for generations the bijuu were entombed and used as weapons, something they certainly weren't pleased with, but somehow Kumo's jinchuuriki had learned how to befriend and truly harness the power of their bijuu tenants, a process Mikoto was now sure that she knew how to help replicate, at least to the extent that she would try her hardest to help Naruto gain the love he needed to conquer the hate that had become inherent in a bijuu's will and chakra.

With a tired sigh she rose from her seated position and strode into the kitchen, retrieving and filling two cups of water to refresh the pair.

"Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun will be here soon, are you sure you're ready for this?"

Naruto rubbed his hand over his face and his previous tired expression seemed to vanish in an instant. "It might make me stronger to protect my precious people, I'm ready!"

"Stronger, huh?" Mikoto questioned with a smirk. "You've still got a lot of growing to do anyway, but I think Itachi-kun sees the same thing in you as Kyuubi, but I just see your parents in you, which I think is just enough."

A foxy grin spread across Naruto's face. "I can be both then! Believe it!"

Mikoto unrolled a sealing scroll from her pouch with a flourish and promptly unsealed two portable hospital gurneys. "I believe it, Naruto-kun." she spoke softly without turning from the sheets she was neatening on the two gurneys as she placed them side by side.

As though fated with perfect timing, or from years of regimented training, a sharp knock sounded on the front door exactly as the clock ticked to five thirty. "Naruto-kun, go let Itachi-kun in, we'll get started straight away."

"Alright sensei." he grinned happily as he dashed to the door and swung it open dramatically, despite his huge leaps and bounds in growth of intellect and emotional maturity he still couldn't shake his displays of extravagant behaviour that he had no doubt received from his mother.

"Itachi-sensei! How was your day?"

Itachi took a step into the room, closing the door as he went whilst giving Naruto one of his rare small smiles. "It was just village patrols today, also I had a meeting with Hokage-sama."

"Jiji?" Naruto queried with a smile playing across his features.

"He was most pleased with your current progress in maturity Naruto-kun, he said that on his last visit he actually felt very pleasant and relaxed." Itachi began as his right hand found purchase in Naruto's scruffy blonde mane. "Not to mention how happy he is at the lack of pranks the village has received. I refrained from telling him that it was our doing, and that the pranks were directed at me now…"

Mikoto crossed her arms under her bust as the pair entered the room, Itachi wearing a fake scowl and Naruto a broad grin. "Think of it as more training, Itachi-kun."

"I'm starting to think that I really should, he almost got me this morning, the smarter he gets the closer he gets, lucky I stay a step ahead." the unmasked ANBU responded as he placed his weasel mask on the table top.

Naruto nodded under the pressure of Itachi's hand. "Yeah, and now I learned that lesson, so you better watch out sensei."

"Alright, alright, you two, we should get started. Itachi-kun, you know how suspicious your father has been getting recently of your late arrivals, let alone mine, and Sasuke-kun wanted to have a game of shogi with you." Mikoto announced as she gestured for the two of them to take a gurney each.

"When do I get to meet Sasuke, Itachi-sensei?" Naruto whined impatiently, as much as he loved Itachi and Mikoto he still desired to have a friend his own age.

Itachi gave Naruto a gentle shove toward his gurney and made a short leap, landing on his rear on the edge of the gurney closest to Mikoto. "Well I want to keep you training as much as I can, and Sasuke-kun has just started at the academy, but in my meeting today with Hokage-sama I made a deal with him that all the times I've guarded and spoken to you you've been learning the same things that they teach in the first year, so next year when you start he'll place you in Sasuke-kun's class."

"Alright!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air happily. "I'll have someone to compete with!"

Itachi couldn't hold back a scoff, in truth he knew that Naruto was already far ahead of Sasuke, as much as he loved his little brother he couldn't help but notice the hidden darkness deep within, compared to the brightness that Naruto radiated, he figured that having Sasuke's skills nurtured slowly over time through the Leaf's academy system where he would meet and make friends with other youths of Konoha would help in snuffing out the darkness he unwittingly harboured.

"Maybe, Naruto-kun." Mikoto responded, seeing the conflict in Itachi's face, knowing exactly what it was over. "Now you two, I need you to remove your shirts and lie down."

The pair did as they were bidden whilst Mikoto retrieved another scroll she'd been given by the Hokage from his vault. It had been written by Tsunade of the sannin, regarding DNA merging to help fix genetic diseases namely for the dying Kagura clan, she had acquired it under the guise that she wanted to expand her knowledge of medical techniques and that Tsunade's research was the pinnacle of it.

"Alright Itachi-kun." she sighed whilst placing her hands over his bare chest. "This might hurt or feel uncomfortable."

Itachi responded with a firm nod as he flexed his jaw in preparation for what he assumed would be pain.

Mikoto took in a deep breath as she flattened her hands against each other above Itachi's heart, her brow furrowed in concentration as her hands slowly separated from one another, a small bubble of chakra forming between her palms, once it reached the density that the scroll had described she lowered it.

For a moment she feared it would simply rebound or deform upon contact with Itachi, but her fears were quickly proved to be misplaced as the bubble gently sunk into his skin and disappeared into his chest; a bead of sweat formed on her forehead as her hands held firm above his heart, maintaining the bubble of chakra that was acting under her instruction around her son's heart.

Itachi bit his lip to stave off the heightening discomfort he felt swirly around his heart, then as quickly as it had come it began to recede as Mikoto once again raised her hands, the bubble following back up through Itachi's now reddened skin. Itachi glanced down his body to her hands above him, the chakra bubble still perfectly intact, "I don't see anything, kaa-san?"

"It's alright," she wheezed through her lacking breath, "I got it. Now Naruto-kun, this is probably going to hurt."

On autopilot Naruto nodded in the same fashion Itachi had as Mikoto moved above him and began pushing the bubble downwards through his chest cavity and toward his heart.

Sparks erupted in the blondes vision and pain rippled through his body, he clung to the visions of Itachi, Mikoto and the Kyuubi as he barely held onto consciousness.

Mikoto heaved a heavy breath, silently wishing that she had byakugan eyes rather than sharingan eyes to perform this operation. She could feel that the process was working as was described as her chakra bubble began branching off in different directions within Naruto's body, following his own chakra system and saturating his entire body with the extremely small strands of DNA that she had obtained from Itachi moments earlier. She withheld a sigh of relief, feeling that her still maintained field of chakra now coated Naruto's entire chakra system. With a final effort she gently dissipated her field of control, letting Naruto's chakra into the membrane of her bubble to push the DNA into his body. Finally she groaned at the effort her body was exerting and released the field, collapsing backwards, only to be caught by a still partially unclothed Itachi.

"Kaa-san?" he asked gently as he quickly moved to the couch and placed her down.

"Itachi-kun, it's alright, I'm fine. Check Naruto-kun..." Mikoto sighed breathlessly as her head lulled back onto the arm rest.

Itachi gave his usual firm nod and rushed back to Naruto's side, his fingers finding the pulse point in his neck to check his heart rate, Itachi paused for a minute, counting the steady rate of heart beats to ensure that Naruto was healthy despite his unconscious state.

"He's fine, kaa-san, what do I do now?"

Mikoto propped herself up on her elbows, "just tuck him into bed, you can carry me home, tell your father that you found me in the training ground after I'd trained for too long, or something like that."

Proceeding as directed, Itachi quickly set about collecting Naruto and depositing him into his bed, folding the blankets around him carefully before shutting the door on his way out.

"Don't worry about any of the stuff, I'll get it tomorrow." Mikoto called out to him.

Again acting as told, he quickly fixed his mask back in place and collected Mikoto into his arms and headed for the front door, ignoring the dull throbbing in his chest as he had for many other injuries in the past.

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A week had passed since the operation on Naruto's body and he had admittedly said that he'd never felt better, not much had actually changed. The day immediately after, Naruto had woken to deep throbbing pain all over his body with his skin bruised a sickly purple. With the help of his Senju-descended Uzumaki strength of body and life force as well as Kyuubi's regenerative capability the bruising and throbbing had only lasted a day, though for the entire day until late in the night Mikoto had fussed over him asking him to rate his pain constantly and trying general medical ninjutsu to ease the pain. The standard response had been, "I already told you Mikoto-sensei, everything hurts: my eyes, head, limbs, and body… Everything!"

For that day alone a deep guilt had settled in Mikoto's heart for causing her surrogate son such pain, though as expected it had dissipated by the next day and Naruto was back to training in full force. Itachi had tested him in everything they had done so far, it was apparent that Naruto's chakra control had become more than good and was now simply second nature, his ability to mould chakra was also exceptional judging by the hugely increased power of his recently learned great fireball technique, his speed and agility had also drastically increased, but Itachi couldn't be sure whether that was due to the weighted seals or the treatment and as far as Itachi could tell, Naruto's eyesight had improved by a huge increase in perceptive ability.

And all that had accumulated to the pair currently standing in front of the gate to the forest of death. Naruto couldn't stop himself from gulping in dread at the sight of the towering forest. Itachi had come to the conclusion from Naruto's slightly advanced abilities now that he had a dormant kekkei genkai that like many would require a life or death situation to awaken.

"Naruto-kun, you remember the objectives?" Itachi said softly in his usual business voice.

"Yes, Itachi-sensei."

"Show me," the Uchiha responded with a quick bark, dropping a map of the forest of death on the ground in front of his pupil.

Naruto produced a small pencil from a pouch and knelt over the map, with a cross he marked their current position. "First objective is to move to here for the first day's camp." Naruto spoke methodically as he drew a line from their position to deeper into the forest. "Then to here for day two." He continued the process of branching off another line to another location even deeper in, the process repeated six more times before he drew a quick line from his final position back to the front gate.

A muffled thud sounded behind them.

"Shisui-san, thank you for helping me with this." Itachi addressed the new arrival without turning.

The new arrival with his typical ANBU garb and black curly-yet-spikey hair stepped up beside Itachi. "It was only natural for me to say yes, Itachi-sempai. Plus it means I get to meet your presumably talented student at last."

Itachi held back a small smile. It wasn't surprising he had caught a glimpse of his closest friend watching him train Naruto from the trees on a few occasions. Itachi could easily get away with his role as a teacher with the Hokage or any other official presence, but there was no way that his best friend could not notice.

"Naruto-kun, this is Uchiha Shisui, my best friend."

Shisui presented his hand for a shake as Itachi introduced him. "So I hear you might have a kekkei genkai Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded as his much smaller hand gripped back as tightly as he could. "Itachi-sensei thinks I do, so I'll do anything to unlock it!"

Shisui frowned at his words, despite his being a ROOT Anbu he had rejected the concept that the perfect shinobi didn't show emotion, as was evident by his mangekyou sharingan that had formed the day of his ROOT initiation when he had been required to kill his best friend, "what if unlocking it causes you untold amounts pain?"

Naruto's gaze hardened into Shisui's. "I need to be as powerful as possible to protect my precious people, and I'll be acknowledged by the village!"

Shisui chuckled lightly as Itachi dropped a hand on his shoulder. "Remind you of someone?" Itachi asked his fellow Uchiha.

Shisui nodded. "Just a bit… Okay Naruto-kun, Itachi-sempai and I will give you a head start, I'm saving the big move for the last day if nothing else works, so be prepared for the worst thing you can imagine."

"Right!" Naruto nodded as a shiver spread through his body before leaping off over the fence that separated the forest of death from the safe zones of Konoha.

"He's just like you, isn't he, Shisui?"

The man in question nodded. "In the most important ways at least. So we're just going to lead the beasts in there to him for the first few days?"

Itachi nodded, back to his business attitude. "Yeah, we'll aggravate them and lead them to him to keep him on his toes, then day three onwards we'll start laying traps for him and hitting him with fire techniques and regular attacks."

Shisui nodded silently and pounced after Naruto. Itachi hot on his tail as they skipped between massive tree limbs, already noting Naruto's impressive stealth skills as hardly a footprint was visible in the moss-covered branches.

Shisui bit back a grunt as a Shuriken imbedded into his thigh causing him to fall from his current branch and onto the branch below. He jumped back up toward Itachi as he pulled the weapon out of his thigh and flicked it away with a thin trail of blood.

"Your student is more prepared than I thought he'd be." Shisui laughed as he activated his sharingan, only now really seeing that Itachi had his three tomoe already activated and searching the dimly lit area ahead of them. "He's had the past year practicing prank traps on me, so he is more skilled than you'd expect."

Suddenly the pair of them slipped on what they'd thought was more moss, only to see that is was a well-disguised puddle of green paint. "It seems that your student wants to go from hunted to hunter." Shisui laughed as he tried to flick the green paint from his sandals and rear on which he had landed in the same fashion as Itachi had. "He's marking us for tracking. We'll go to the forest floor and stick to the underbrush."

Comfortable with their teamwork they both ceased their efforts of cleaning themselves and drooped to the sodden ground bellow and quickly dashed into the luscious bushes the covered most the forest floor.

The pair continued on this way for the next two hours, tracking drips of paint that Itachi surmised were purposeful to make Shisui underestimate him, which Itachi found himself thinking that he was also guilty of the act, as on several occasions a random object on the forest floor would transform back into a clone of Naruto and lunge at them from behind, not once had any of the clones succeeded in landing a blow on either of them, but they had succeeded in alerting Naruto to their presence.

Then the darkened hours of the night arrived and Itachi and Shisui found baiting the large beasts of the forest to be more of a chore than anything as often the rampaging beasts set upon them as a Naruto clone would pop up out of nowhere and set off an exploding tag in its face.

Both Itachi and Shisui were suitably impressed with the youngster's ability to blend into the environment and use it to his advantage despite its considerable dangers.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X - Time skip: eight days later - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX**

It was midday on the final day of the intense training venture to awaken any form of bloodline in Naruto. After the first day of Naruto continually making fools out of the Uchiha duo Shisui had declared to Itachi that they should treat it like a real combat scenario rather than training a child, and had thusly hugely stepped up their game, moving to complete offense and hammering Naruto with attack after attack at every opportune moment. To say Naruto was running ragged would have been the understatement of the century as he jumped from branch to branch back toward the point from which he had started out from eight days ago, although by now it seemed like it had been far longer.

His normally guarded stance was gone with his exhaustion, his eyes no longer scanning each darkened space around him, only focusing on the next point of his landing. Tiredly he reached up to his shoulder and plucked out the six remaining senbon that had embedded in him earlier in the day when he had come under his first attack from the two Uchiha. It had been four whole hours since they had struck and he was beginning to grow suspicious. Being his final day, Naruto expected them to hit him harder than they had in any of the previous days despite his current inability to fight back, let alone defend.

Too late he became aware of the whistling of wind as a solid blow of what he imagined to be a foot connected mid-way up his back, before he could stop the momentum that came with it he was falling toward the light-dappled ground below. As Naruto fell he channelled chakra to his fingertips as they dragged along the trunk of a tree to slow his descent to a safe speed. That however did nothing to blunt the stab of pain as he landed face first on the ground, feeling a senbon he had missed earlier drive deeper into his leg.

"Fire release: Great fireball technique!"

'_Itachi-sensei,' _was all that went through Nrauto's mind as with his remaining energy her sprung to his feet and dove out of the path of the looming fireball. In a panicked rush Naruto rolled around frantically to douse the flames that had ignited his already ruined clothing.

Without paying attention to his surroundings Naruto doggedly pounced back to his feet as he drew a kunai. He froze mid swing as his blue eyes met the activated mangekyou sharingan of Uchiha Shisui. Naruto hardly registered the sound of an oddly pronounced word leaving Shisui's mouth as his senses lost contact with his current location and all went black.

As Naruto opened his cerulean eyes he immediately saw that he was no longer in the forest as he had been moments earlier. Then two figures shimmered to life before him and a voice whispered through the air, "Those are your parents Naruto-kun, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. They were great people, it's a shame that you killed them."

"You're lying!" Naruto screamed up into the air as tears spilled down his face as Minato and Kushina walked toward him with gentle smiles on their faces.

"Naruto-kun." Kushina called softly as she was the first one to wrap her arms around him. "I really wanted to live a life with your tou-san. Then I had to have you and your life killed me. You ruined everything."

Next Minato wrapped his arms around Naruto, "I was the most celebrated Hokage that Konoha has ever had, but you stopped all that by ending me on that night."

Naruto stood as still as a statue crying, afraid and shocked at the calmly spoken words that were assaulting his heart.

Shisui watched on sadly from his invisible vantage point in the subconscious construct he had created, he'd always hated causing pain to anyone, but even more so now that he saw the results of his imagined genjutsu only breaking the boy down instead of waking up what lay within his blood.

Opting for a new approach he tried his best to reset the image and show Naruto the closest thing to how imagined the night that Naruto's parents died truly unfolded. Like Itachi, he was under the impression that someone had released the Kyuubi from Kushina's seal, and he was well aware of the fact that both Minato and Kushina died right in front of Naruto with the gaping wounds of a Kyuubi claw through their bodies.

Naruto sniffled his sadness away as every around him swirled into something else, suddenly the Kyuubi loomed above him, far larger than he appeared when in his seal, shining golden chains holding the Kyuubi still. Naruto followed its gaze down to a young couple holding a blonde haired baby. "We both love you so, so much, Naruto-kun." Kushina started as she kissed the baby on its forehead. She was obviously trying her best to ignore the tugging on the chains that sprung from her back.

Minato followed Kushina's example and kissed the child's forehead as well. "I wanted to watch you grow up, and be there for you, you're my legacy, my precious Naruto-kun."

Suddenly Minato's hands went through a myriad of seals, in a last ditched effort to stay free the Kyuubi lurched forward, one claw outstretched as it penetrated both his kaa-san's and tou-san's bodies.

A burning, stinging sensation suddenly ignited behind Naruto's eyes, he felt the warm trickle of blood seeping from his tear ducts and running down over his cheeks.

On the outside world Shisui stood prone in front of Naruto, still staring intently into his fixated glare, Itachi had moved up and was standing to Shisui's left. Both Shisui's and Itachi's eyes went wide when blood trickled from Naruto's tear ducts and his blue irises expanded over the whites of his eyes, black ringed concentric circles forming around his pupils all the way around his eyes.

The peaceful silence of the forest was promptly destroyed by Naruto's throaty scream. "NOOOOOOO!"

A force like nothing the pair had ever felt slammed into them and threw them crunching through branches and bushes as a crater formed around Naruto. The massive trees closest to him crumpled under the force of the power and tumbled away. Itachi's momentum was promptly stopped as his back sickeningly impacted with a sturdy trunk. Itachi groaned as he rolled to his feet, locating Shisui a little deeper into the wrecked zone of the forest staggering to his feet in the same manner as himself.

In a rush of movement Itachi started a pained jog toward what had now become a shallow but barren crater twenty meters across. He looked to the centre, locating Naruto on his knees wiping tears from his face that diluted the blood. "Are you okay, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm sorry, sensei, did I hurt you?" Naruto asked in a small voice as he glanced upward, his blue ringed eyes showing the world in shocking clarity.

Itachi forced a gentle smile. "No, Shisui-san and I are fine."

Shisui just grunted in his response whilst rubbing his back. "They're _those_ eyes, aren't they Itachi-sempai?"

Itachi just nodded as he leaned in closer to Naruto's face, looking deeply into the blue ringed orbs. "You've just awakened your bloodline, Naruto-kun. You have something that the world has only seen once."

"The Rinnegan." Shisui concluded for him, neither of them aware of Jiraiya's former student, nor of the truth of how his eyes came to be.

"Didn't Jiraiya-sama once speak of the Rinnegan often?" Shisui asked uncertainly.

"He did. I'll send him a message requesting his presence regarding the eye; he'll likely come as soon as possible. Plus, he favours the Konoha hot springs."

Shisui couldn't hold back the laugh that erupted forth, he always enjoyed Jiraiya's visits to Konoha, and the commonplace occurrence of him being chased through the streets by towel-clad women obviously fresh from the hot springs always brought a laugh.

Shisui suddenly became aware of the pillar of dust rising into the air above the forest, "someone will have noticed that," he said whilst pointing.

"Right," Itachi concluded, scooping Naruto up into his arms and springing toward the exit, showing that Naruto had been far closer to escaping the forest than he initially assumed.

"We'll just tell Hokage-sama that we were attempting to seal some fire style techniques, after all, he did give us this training time off." Shisui said, more to himself than Itachi as they once again landed on the soft grassy field outside the forest.

"That should work." Itachi agreed. "I'll take Naruto-kun home, and I'll meet you at the Hokage tower shortly."

They both leapt off in different directions to their tasks, one with a boy bearing the most powerful and legendary doujutsu and the other with the excuse to cover their tracks.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX Time skip: six months XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX**

"Things are getting worse, Naruto-kun." Mikoto sighed to the seven-and-a-half-year-old boy in her arms as they both silently shed tears. Shisui's death had just been reported. Itachi was under suspicion for it, over the past three months both Itachi and Shisui had been growing considerably darker and more withdrawn as they tried various means to alleviate the rising tension within the Uchiha clan, Shisui even going as far as employing his impressive genjutsu skills subtly on clan members, but to no avail.

Mikoto and Naruto were completely confident that it wasn't Itachi who had murdered Shisui as the two were far too close for them to even consider Itachi to be suspect.

The front door to Naruto's apartment opened and closed in a slam as Itachi stepped in, an expression of pain and exhaustion spread over him. "Itachi-kun! What's going on?" Mikoto pleaded as she rushed to her eldest son.

Itachi relaxed into her hug momentarily before pulling back and looking at Naruto's gleaming blue ringed eyes, he obviously felt no need to keep the henge over his eyes actively whilst in his apartment, "Jiraiya-sama will be arriving in the village within a few months, either kaa-san or I will introduce you. I'm sorry I can't be there to train you from now on, Naruto-kun, issues have become far more serious."

Naruto gave him a sharp nod whilst wiping the silently-shed tears from his cheeks from the passing of his other Uchiha mentor.

Mikoto finally tore her gaze from the floor and looked into her son's face, easily seeing the faint red trials that leaked from the corners of his eyes, immediately knowing what it meant, "Itachi-kun… You didn't, did you?" a sob wracked her throat at the prospect of her son killing one of the most peace loving Uchiha and one of their closest friends.

"Kaa-san, he asked me to, Danzou took one of his eyes and he gave his other one to me to protect, he almost begged me to." Itachi forced out between clenched teeth, holding back tears from the traumatic event that had unlocked his own mangekyou sharingan.

"Fugaku suspects you." She paused at the thought. "You do know Shisui was meant to report on your actions?"

Itachi nodded slowly. "He told me everything. We were both trying to stop the coup from picking up speed."

Naruto listened on, understanding the importance of the words passing between the two older Uchiha.

"Does this mean you'll get hurt, sensei?"

Itachi looked down into Naruto's perplexing eyes. "I'll be fine Naruto-kun, but I won't be able to see you as much. I'll do whatever I have to do to keep the Leaf safe."

Suddenly the three froze as a sharp knock sounded on the door, it was already too late for the three to escape out the window to avoid someone knowing they were home, the light and shadows that shone from under the door suggested more than one person was in the room.

"Who is it?" Naruto called in a polite voice as he made a seal and his henge over his eyes reappeared.

"It's Hiruzen, I know you're not alone, may I please come in?" the aged mans' voice called from beyond the door.

Naruto quickly glanced to Itachi, who gave the boy a short nod, he knew well enough that it was too late for him and his mother to evade the Hokage's notice, and also knew that Hiruzen was a calm and collected man, the best solution was to simply talk it out.

Lacking his usual energetic demeanour Naruto approached and opened the door slowly, revealing the smiling face of Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Good evening Naruto-kun, Mikoto-chan, Itachi-kun, may I please come in?"

Naruto forced out a small smile as he stepped to the side, allowing the Hokage access to the house, quickly he shut it as he cleared the doorway to prevent the evening's chilled air from entering.

"I had assumed that you had been giving Naruto-kun some lessons, Itachi-kun. But I didn't expect to find you here Mikoto-chan."

Mikoto opened her mouth to speak but promptly shut it when Itachi spoke over her, "I know that you won't agree, Hokage-sama, but Naruto-kun deserved to know the truth, and kaa-san deserved to tell him."

Hiruzen's gaze hardened a moment before softening again as he turned it to Mikoto. In a friendly gesture he reached out his hand to the woman who softly clasped it with both her own. "I understand Mikoto-chan, I don't blame you. I miss them both as well, thank you for helping their son like this." In a gentle way that Hiruzen had obviously mastered over his extended years he released his grasp of Mikoto's hands and lowered himself down to Naruto's eye level. "Naruto-kun, your parents were the two bravest people I ever met, they loved you beyond what you can imagine, and it pains me, but you cannot tell anyone of them, you being their son and… Well there are people out there who might want you dead or captured."

"You mean being a jinchuuriki as well?" Naruto said in a small voice, still feeling slightly betrayed that the man he saw as a grandfather figure was still being dishonest to him.

Hiruzen pursed his lips and set his brow. "I'm sorry that so much has been kept from you, Naruto-kun. It seemed like the best way to protect you." Hiruzen glanced up to Itachi. "And I'm sorry that I'm going to have to take your sensei away from you Naruto-kun, but there is much he must do in the coming weeks, and I imagine that you too, Mikoto-chan, must have some very pressing family matters to attend to. Next year you will be enrolled into the academy with the others the same age as you. I'm sorry that I had to deliver the bad news, I'll make sure I visit more often from now on, Naruto-kun."

With that said Hiruzen stood and gave the three a sympathetic smile each and retreated back out the door and into the waning light.

With Hiruzen's presence now gone, Itachi knelt down in front of Naruto. "He is right, I will hardly have the time to train you from now on, but you are a hidden prodigy, you have the scrolls of techniques I've given you, you have your tou-sans scrolls, and you have the will of fire. I think it's time for you to start trying to learn from Minato's scrolls, and you have to keep increasing your weighted seals to get stronger. Like I said, you are a hidden prodigy, stay that way for as long as you can, do everything you can to stay discrete when you're in the academy, and if you're with my little brother, please help him be positive. I love you as my own family, Naruto-kun, I'm going to miss spending time with you." Itachi quickly pulled Naruto into a warm embrace that told Naruto that the problems within the Uchiha clan were truly spiralling out of control.

Next Mikoto took Itachi's place and spoke softly, ignoring the tears that slid down her face. "Naruto-kun, I'm going to miss you more than anything, and I love you so much. Please be strong while Itachi and I aren't with you, remember that we'll always be in your heart, when you get to meet Jiraiya-sama please try to make him stop peeping in the hot springs, and please be friends with Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto held back his own tears as Mikoto placed a soft kiss on his forehead and stood next to Itachi at the door.

"I love both of you… I'll make you both proud!"

With that the two Uchiha smiled and stepped out the door – and Naruto couldn't help the feeling that it was a final goodbye.

**Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Another note of thanks to my new beta who is switching me on more when I do this (I don't pay enough attention when I'm writing, I try working and writing at the same time…). **

**Please post reviews, it gives me ideas and keeps me motivated : - ) **

**I hope everyone looks forward to the next chapter. **


	3. Chapter three: The god father

**Pre-Chapter notes: **

**I'd like to give credit again to "Hanabi's biggest fan" for being a Beta for this chapter.**

**Sorry for the delay in updating, this has been finished for some time but I've been unable to upload it due to my busy life style. **

**Just to expand upon some of the reviews; the NarutoxIno relationship will last from before the wave arc to after the pein invasion arc, I've got a new second pairing in place of Hinata, but I'll keep that as a surprise.**

**And to those who enjoy Mikoto's character; I'm sorry to inform you, but I saw her death as too important an event to avoid so I went ahead and killed her off. This settles one of Naruto's virtues of; no matter how much pain there is he endures onwards with a positive outlook.**

**This story will time skip in and between chapters through the first Naruto series through what I see as the important events such as the genin test, to the bell test, to getting to know other characters some more in general events, to the wave arc, then the exams arc, retrieving Tsunade, then the Sasuke retrieval mission.**

**Then it will skip straight to his return and again it will time skip through important events, such as the Gaara retrieval, to finding Sasuke, and I'm sure you can piece the other notable events I have in mind together. **

**And I'd like to warn people who don't like stories where Naruto becomes extremely powerful beforehand that this will not be a story for you.**

**There will be sexual scenes in this story as well, and personally I don't like adding in "lemon below" warning that lots of stories seem to have, so keep that in mind whilst reading. (There won't be any lemons for a few chapters yet)**

**There will be slight romantic moments between Naruto and other female characters not involved in the relationship plot direction. That could be flirting to sexual tension to faint interest.**

**I'm keeping all of the characters except Naruto and Kyuubi as close to canon as possible. I'm tweaking Naruto's character in obvious ways but keeping as many of his mannerisms as I can. And I'm tweaking Kyuubi in less obvious ways (at least I think I am), he's staying prideful and hateful with his superiority complex, but he's also developing more like he does much later in the Naruto series. By which I mean the manga, I've not read much of it; I just flicked through to get a feel for things. **

**Just another thing I've noted from the series is that sometimes it says "release" instead of "style" after the nature type. So I'll probably stick using "release"**

**To "Chaos productions" - Naruto will expand his rinnegan powers over the entire thing, and he will become very adept at it, but it won't be an instant power release sort of thing. For now he is just testing the elemental waters that it has opened for him with the odd power here and there. I'm glad you like how I've set things in this. **

**To "Shootingcuz" - I'm still trying to make my mind up on the filler arcs… I wanted to include the sanbi arc because it involved a Biju, but I also wanted to use it to set some other things on a different path. I'll see how it pans out in time.**

**Chapter Three: The Godfather and the Rival**

Naruto exhaled slowly, controlling his temper as Jiraiya once again dashed past his training ground with a mob of barely dressed women chasing after him. For many men this would be a dream, but with the intent that these women had it was more like a nightmare for the sannin.

Naruto had only known Jiraiya for the past week, and he was pleased with how calm and relaxed the man was. And then there was his skill set that put Naruto in awe. But his opinion of the man quickly changed as he caught him peeking into the women's hot springs a few hours after their first training session, and then the previous two days Jiraiya had supplied the show of being chased by angry women freshly emerged from what was meant to be a relaxing zone.

However it was the only fault that Naruto could find in the man; that and his insistence on writing his smut. Naruto had even gotten hold of one of the Icha Icha books and skimmed through it. Admittedly he didn't fully understand the sexual scenes since he was hardly eight years old. He did have a full understanding of sexual function just not exactly of sexuality; his physical maturity simply hadn't fully progressed to that stage yet. Though Jiriaya was adamant that Naruto must read and learn from his book series for the day when he did develop and he needed to employ any sort of sexual knowledge. At first Naruto thought it was being pathetic but he later shifted his opinion when he had asked the sannin about his parents, and had received the answer that they were the happiest and most loving couple he'd ever seen, and Naruto had come to understand that sexual performance in a relationship played a part in that.

In a flash of silver he flicked out a kunai with a custom made tag wrapped around the handle, his arm lashing out gracefully casting the kunai straight up into the air above his head. In a moment of concentration he flashed from his position and reappeared gripping the kunai twenty metres above the ground. As he felt himself begin to descend again he threw the kunai back to the ground, again flashing to its location safely.

Naruto had acted on the last words he had heard from his first sensei and had started practicing the hiraishin as soon as possible. The first two months had proved fruitless until by luck he learned how to channel chakra into the hiraishin seal in the right sequence, and from then on he'd simply mastered it with very little effort. That of course wasn't until he had figured out how to create the seal properly in a way that would accept his chakra; had been a unique chakra application. It had since become second nature for him to apply it in the way he had.

He'd held off learning the rasengan until this week and had been most pleased after the first day. It had hurt more than learning any of the elemental techniques that he now knew, but getting tips from Jiriaya who he'd found out also knew it had sped it along and by the end of the second day he could form a perfect rasengan with the help of a clone, and now just thinking about it he could form one singlehanded.

A frown came to his face. In truth he didn't mind the fact that one of Jiraiya's vices was peeking on women and writing fantasies about them. What he did mind was that the man would tell him what to train, how to train, then leave him to it – a method that Naruto thought was extremely efficient in the cases of some techniques. But he wasn't so concerned about the progress of his techniques, more so about the progress of his emotional health. It had been three months since his final goodbye from Itachi and Mikoto, and then for two months he had received letters every two days from one or the other, all telling him that they wished they could be with him or that he should always remember them in his heart. Naruto was no fool. He knew from the tone of the letters that something serious was about to happen, and happen it did. Itachi had massacred his entire clan leaving only his brother Sasuke alive.

Naruto felt traumatized by the information. There were no tears, no cries of grief, no hopeless imaginings that it wasn't true. He just simply felt lost and alone – more alone than he had ever felt, having had such love cast upon him to only have it ripped away.

He had even received a late letter the day after it happened from Itachi, who had apparently fled the village. Naruto had gone over the letter again and again, memorizing the facts that Itachi laid out, that yes he had killed his clan and had suffered in doing so, but the act was an order from the hokage and pressured from Danzou, so that the Uchiha clan couldn't continue to harbour a distaste toward the village and never again threaten it.

Naruto could only begin to imagine how Itachi felt about doing what he had to do, and then he wondered briefly about what Sasuke felt. _'Now we're the same…' _

His mind withdrew from his glum thoughts as Jiraiya's tall figure crashed to the ground in front of him. Three women only wearing towels stood over him, each armed with a broken broomstick.

"Please don't harm the pervert ladies."

The women stopped their advance and looked up to Naruto, he was silently glad that from his intense training and his update in wardrobe that he looked very different. He no longer sported the chubbiness that had once been around his face so that the only markers that really remained the same were his henge'd blue eyes, whisker-marked cheeks, and bright blonde hair. Now he almost did look like a mini-Minato.

"I aim to be a shinobi of the leaf so that I can protect beautiful villagers such as yourself, this man is filling in as my sensei."

"Awww, he's so cute!" whispered one of the women to the leader of the group.

The woman at the front of the phalanx-like formation stepped toward Jiraiya and raised the make shift weapon and whipped it downwards, stopping a few millimetres from his nose. "You're lucky you have such an adorable pupil! Next time if he's not around, this pole is going up your ass!"

Jiraiya gulped at the threat and frowned, knowing that the women would definitely try if they got the chance.

The leader of the group looked back to Naruto, flicking her dark chestnut hair from her face and checked that the towel was wrapped tightly. "I'm sorry for the spectacle young man, I hope you don't end up anything like this one."

Naruto gave her another one of his foxy grins. "Don't worry, I'm going to become the hokage, hokage's can't be perverts!"

The three women laughed softly and waved their goodbyes as they turned and headed back in the direction of the hot springs.

"Sensei, what were you starting to say earlier about tou-san's technique?"

"I should keep you around all the time to protect me from them." Jiraiya grumbled as he stood up and brushed himself down. "Right… Well, Minato said when he created the rasengan that he wanted to add elemental chakra to it. However, you will NOT be attempting that for quite some time, not until I say you are ready, understand?"

Naruto nodded quickly. He simply saw it as another extension of what Itachi had told him about learning his tou-san's techniques: he couldn't do it until he said so. And now the same applied to his newest sensei. "What are we going to do today, sensei?"

Jiraiya stared into Naruto's henged eyes intently, reimagining the blue rinnegan that he had only seen once and on his first visit to Naruto when he had asked for them to be shown. Itachi had been careful in his letter to Jiraiya about describing that Naruto had the rinnegan, using references to stories he used to tell about the Rikudo sennin, to anyone who didn't know what the message was about they would have seemed to be gibberish.

Jiraiya had at first thought it strange that Naruto's rinnegan was the same hue of blue as his irises once were, and not greyish purple like Nagato's had been, but he theorized that like the mangekyou sharingan, the rinnegan could vary from person to person, not that many people had it. Jiraiya had guessed that now Naruto had it he became the third person in history to bear the legendary doujutsu.

"Although there is a lot of power in those eyes of yours, which you've already said that you don't know how to use, we also know that having that has given you a natural affinity to all nature elements, so I would rather start with what we know like my previous student, and teach you elemental techniques. And remember Naruto, I'm only around for a month or two, then you're going into the academy. You're already far ahead of most genin and you bear three things that will make people fear you, so you have to downplay your skills and fit in." Jiraiya lectured sternly.

Personally Naruto felt he didn't need a lecture. He understood why Jiraiya was telling him this, just as he understood when Itachi told him, although he also understood Jiraiya's concern and reasoning for lecturing him, so he settled for smiling and nodding. "It's alright, Jiraiya-sensei, I'll make sure I seem like the most average ninja in the academy! I'll even dress badly!"

Jiraiya paled at his last comment. "You will not touch that jumpsuit!"

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest as he grinned. "Do you mean that orange and blue one that you hate?"

"Yes, that one. It's an abomination and if you go near buying it, I'll burn that store down!"

Naruto just laughed at his sensei's dead seriousness about the clothing. In all honesty he agreed with his sensei, but the prankster inside him would agree to wearing it just to rub him the wrong way.

"Whatever perverted old man, are we gonna start training or what?" Naruto promptly dashed forward and flung a kunai at the man.

Jiraiya glanced at the kunai and dodged with ease, only to feel a foot impact the back of his knee, he turned to see Naruto still mid-air with the previously thrown kunai in hand, wearing a grin.

"Brat," Jiraiya grunted as he rolled from the incoming axe kick and flew through a series of seals, unleashing a torrent of wind into Naruto's midsection. A moment later Jiraiya was thrown tumbling back as Naruto exploded in a bang. _'Exploding shadow clone huh? Clever, didn't know he knew that one.'_

"That was a smart move, brat, so you've made your point. We'll start with wind release techniques."

"Yosh!" Naruto shouted and gave away his hidden position in the bushes, only for the bushes to quickly be reduced to ash as Jiraiya puffed out a stream of fire from his mouth.

"And that's just a warning!"

Naruto grinned sheepishly at the tall man. "Sorry sensei, but sometimes you need a push to get started."

Jiraiya quirked his eyebrow. "Well, here's an incentive then, if you can learn all five of the techniques that I teach you today, then I'll buy you as much ramen as you can eat. Deal?"

Naruto's jaw slackened and his eyes widened as he was still unable to shake his addiction to the food. "DEAL!"

'_Hahaha, stupid brat, even with the rinnegan, not even Nagato could learn five techniques in a day.'_

However Jiraiya would come to regret his deal later in the day when Naruto, under the incentive to A have free ramen, and B become stronger than his tou-san, learned the techniques and performed them to an acceptable level, arguing that Jiraiya didn't say he needed to master them perfectly, and that he could do that the next day for another bet.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX Time skip: 5 months XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX**

Naruto felt as though he was in a different world to the one he'd become attuned to for the past two years training under the guidance of three highly skilled Uchiha and one of the legendary sannin, and now here he was walking calmly toward the front door of the academy building. Only a few other children around whose parents obviously wanted their children to be there early to start perfectly on time.

He trailed his fingers along the rough grout of the wall that lead toward the door, seeing a tree with a swing hanging from it ahead of him. On the swing sat a nearly blue-black haired girl with her eyes cast down and what looked to be tears silently dripping from her obscured face to the dirt below. Three girls stood around her, none looked to be of any outstanding quality, but they each shouted insults at the girl.

Naruto zoned out the girls' voices and considered what to do. His natural instinct was to help the girl, but the words of both his previous sensei telling him to avoid being noticed for ability. His eyes darted around, taking in the fact that only one other boy was in sight down the road behind him.

Nodding his approval of the situation Naruto jogged forward and slipped between the antagonist girls and protectively in front of the victim. "get lost, all of you. Why are you trying to make her sad?"

"She's just a freak!" one of the girls shouted back mindlessly. "She doesn't even have pupils, it's weird as hell!" another backed up the first.

Naruto glared at the three and focused on releasing a light wave of killer intent in the same way that Jiraiya had taught him before he had needed to head back out into the elemental nations to continue his tasks.

The girls quickly froze, and then began shaking. A moment later they turned and ran as fast as they could toward the door to the academy not wanting to be around the unknown blonde.

Naruto sighed happily at having disbanded their small pack and turned to the still seated girl whose tears had stopped dripping from the tip of her nose. "Are you okay?" he asked softly as he knelt before her.

The dark haired girl ever so slowly lifted her head, her large pale eyes looking at her saviour carefully. "T-t-thank y-you for helping me with t-them..."

Naruto simply smiled and offered his hand to her as he stood back up. She took it carefully and was gently hoisted back to her feet. "It's alright, you look my age. I'm new this year and my name's Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"

The girl's eyes went wide at the boy's open friendliness, she'd already remembered his name from a warning her tou-san had given her regarding the boy if he ever showed up at the academy: a simple, _'he's trouble, stay away from him!"_

"I'm Hyuga Hinata." Hinata squeaked shyly.

"I knew you had to be a Hyuga with those beautiful eyes!" Naruto exclaimed happily, hoping to make a good first impression on her.

Little did Naruto know but his attempts at making a good impression were far too effective, as a dark blush crossed the girls face.

"T-t-t-thank y-o-ou." Hinata forced out. With just a glance at him she felt her heart rate increase, he was nearly the mirror image of a young Namikaze Minato, a man who she idolized and aspired to be like: skilled yet kind.

"I don't know where anything is; do you think you could show me to our class?" Naruto asked with a foxy grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

Hinata simply nodded as she tried to hide her dark blush, not trusting her voice at the moment.

She turned to walk toward the door and noticed that she was still grasping his hand and quickly her eyes darted from their connection to his face.

"I don't mind." Naruto grinned to her.

Hinata's reaction was instantaneous as she let go and brought her fingers together below her chin and started ahead, trying to pretend that it didn't happen.

As Naruto followed the gentle Hyuga girl he glanced around, seeing the other boy who'd been in the distance merely ten metres away. Naruto looked at him closely for a moment until he realized where he'd seen his likeness, _'so that's Sasuke… He looks a lot like those pictures of Madara…'_

He however quickly turned his gaze back ahead, not wanting to seem strange to the lone Uchiha, and followed Hinata silently down a hallway before they turned into what Naruto assumed was a standard classroom with the students' tables higher than the teaching platform up a series of steps toward the back of the room.

He continued following Hinata until she turned into a row of tables second from the back on the interior side of the room where he quietly took a seat next to her and clasped his hands together on his desk, ignoring the glares from the three girls from earlier who'd already taken their spots in the room.

Soon Sasuke entered the room and glanced around, obviously trying to decide where the best place to sit would be. His onyx eyes settled on Naruto for a moment before he started up the stairs toward him. "Can I please sit next to you?" he asked with a frown, obviously having a reason for choosing the last spot on the three person table.

"Uhh, I guess, but there's lots of other space in the room?" Naruto responded oddly. "Not that I have anything against you, I just don't know what the class is like…"

Sasuke merely nodded before pulling the seat out and sitting down. Naruto looked back to the three girls down the front and saw that their angry glares had shifted from him to being glares of adoration directed at Sasuke. Naruto gave Hinata a questioning look which she immediately understood.

"Sasuke-kun has a-a following, n-now the other girls c-can't sit next to him." Hinata clarified as her cheeks got their rosy blush back.

"Ahh, I get it! Thanks Hinata-chan." Naruto grinned at her then turned back to Sasuke. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto."

"I know your name already." Sasuke replied blandly.

"Umm, how?" Naruto knew he sounded dumb asking like that, but lack of other information sources meant he had no choice.

Sasuke huffed in annoyance at having to talk more, the first half of his first year at the academy he had generally gotten along with everyone, although with a firm belief that they were pathetic and he was superior, but after the destruction of his clan talking to anyone when it wasn't necessary greatly annoyed him, and anyone who wasn't focused on training was either a loser, scum, or pathetic, but he opted for replying to the blonde, not knowing any of his attributes.

"Last year's teacher warned the class about you, that you were just coming here to mess everyone up."

Naruto simply frowned at Sasuke's response. Both Itachi and Jiraiya had warned him that this might be the case, so he kept silent, deciding not to follow it up and turned to look back ahead, waiting patiently as the sounds of footfalls signified the arrival of more students, which earned a curious glance from Sasuke. Naruto's personality so far certainly wasn't something that he was expecting after the hour long lecture of a warning that their previous sensei had given them.

The classroom door opened sharply as what seemed to be the majority of the class strolled in lazily towards their seats, minus two bickering girls who crashed through into the room after everyone else. All the eyes of the freshly-seated students settled on the two girls at the front, one pink-haired, another pale blonde as they sprung forward then stopped dead upon seeing Sasuke already seated next to someone.

The pink-haired girl however only paused for a moment before walking confidently up the stairs before she moved into the small walkway behind the three chairs that carried Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata. She paused behind Naruto and stared at him as he turned slightly to regard her.

"You!" she hissed, hardly even taking in his appearance, only seeing an obstacle to Sasuke. "Get up new kid, that's MY spot!"

Naruto looked to Sasuke, an angry frown on his brow. The boy looked back and gave Naruto a pleading expression. That was all the request that Naruto needed as he glanced back to the loud pink-haired girl. "I'm sorry, Sasuke and Hinata-chan asked me to sit here with them." he lied in the sincerest voice he could manage.

The pink-haired girl grew even louder and raised a fist, "you're lying! Sasuke-kun would only ask for me to sit there!" in a clumsy fashion she threw her fist toward the top of Naruto's head. He almost wanted to laugh at what he perceived to be a slow moving attack. With a flick of his finger in the direction of her feet he created a small gravitational distortion, the girl slipped forward as her footing gave out under her. All three at the table ducked as she fell forward onto their desk and rolled off the other side into a heap on the floor causing everyone in the class to laugh, minus Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata.

The blonde who'd burst into the room with the pinkette merely called out between laughs from the seat she'd found next to a pineapple-haired boy. "That's what you get for trying to hit the cute new guy, Sakura!"

Naruto forced his blush down at the compliment from the blonde girl who he realised was rather pretty. He'd been called 'cute' plenty of times by older women, but the meaning was obviously different when the blonde girl used it.

The girl now identified as Sakura huffed to her feet with rage in her eyes and quickly scampered to the last free seat in the room where she sat down and hung her head.

"Thanks for not moving." Sasuke said as he gave Naruto a curious expression.

"No problem, I guess I just got lucky that she's clumsy." replied the blonde with a grin, he had followed Jiraiya's instructions to not try and master his unknown tinnegan powers and focused on training elemental techniques. But sometime after gaining the doujutsu and the extreme force he emitted when first awakened, he had once again accidentally used a touch of its power when he'd reached for a book with an open palm and the book had been pulled toward him. So in his spare time and rest hours he moved small items around his apartment using the gravitational power of the rinnegan. He felt far more than ecstatic about the revelation of such an ability and could only begin to imagine what else his eyes made him capable of.

A sudden hush settled over the room as a man wearing standard blue shinobi pants a green flak vest walked in. He settled a few books atop his desk and turned to the class with his head raised, his leaf hitai-ate glinting in the morning sun shining through the window. The scar the stretched across the bridge of the man's nose definitely placed him as someone who had endured some form of hardship.

"Good morning class." the man began as he cleared his throat to ensure that all attention was on him. "hokage-sama has assigned me as your new sensei, your previous one showed interest in increasing his rank so he is no longer available for this position. My name is Umino Iruka, and as I am to understand it, there is also a new student in the class. Uzumaki Naruto, can you please stand?"

Naruto did as told and rose from his seat so everyone in the class could see him. Whispers immediately broke out, on instinct he channelled chakra to his ears and listened as they were the typical whispers of _'it's that demon boy, the one we shouldn't get involved with.' _

Iruka seemed to pick this up and casually rolled with it. "I have been made aware of the fact that previous sensei's in the academy have said unsavoury things about Naruto-kun…"

"Our parents did too!" a young boy called out from the front of the class, followed by an array of nodding heads.

Iruka simply nodded. "I'm sure they did, Naruto-kun had a bad history of offensive pranks, however the past two years have been prank free and I for one would like to give him the chance to have a fresh start, wouldn't you?"

A few heads nodded to the man's words, but most stayed still. Naruto allowed a smile to play across his face – a few people willing to be nice to him was better than none.

"Alright then, to start the day we'll be covering the history of Konoha and the first two hokage, then after lunch we'll be going through taijutsu katas and kunai practice."

Naruto let out a long sigh, he could just imagine how tedious this entire process would prove to be. Sasuke noticed the sigh and shot him a distasteful glare, imagining that Naruto was simply a lazy slacker.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX Time skip: 2 years XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX (just so everyone is up to date with the timeline, Naruto and class are aged ten by this point)**

Naruto let out another long winded sigh as he sat in the back of the class, Iruka's voice floating over him as he felt his head nearing the desk as sleep seemed to begin to claim him. His unplanned rest was taken from his however when a small set of hands shook his shoulder, "Naruto-kun, please stay awake to help me with this work?"

Naruto scrunched his eyes shut before blinking them open again, once again hating that he wasted day after day in the academy system when he could be training, not that he wasn't training at the moment. A month after he'd begun at the academy he had realised he would get nothing out of it intellectually or physically, so every morning he'd make at least thirty clones to practice various techniques and sift through towers of books and learn new things. It was just the original that was left with the tedious task of easy work.

He slapped his face once to fully wake himself up and glanced to the blonde girl next to him. "Alright, Ino-chan, what do you need help with?"

She gave him a cute and sheepish smile. "Umm, all of it…"

Naruto chuckled softly to avoid the attention of his sensei and shuffled his seat closer to the Yamanaka girl and guided her pencil gripping hand back over the paper she was meant to be filling out. "Start with this." he directed softly and began speaking of the topic under his breath.

Ino worked on autopilot with nods and small smiles as she filled out the class work for the day while reminiscing of when she'd come to befriend Naruto. It had been about four months after he had joined their class. Most everyone assumed that he wasn't too bright, was lazy, and was indeed a huge distraction that put Kiba to shame. Naruto rarely did something to disrupt the class, but when he did it would be a large-scale prank. And then there were times when Kiba or even on occasion Sasuke would goad Naruto into an argument that would set the walls shaking with the volume of the raised voices.

And then one evening after class on her way back home, Ino found herself walking to the shy Hyuga girl of the class. Ino had always felt sorry for the girl being so shy, a shyness that had only doubled when Naruto showed up. And with Naruto on her mind Ino couldn't help but exclaim about how annoying his prank of the day had been when he had cast some sort of genjutsu on Kiba that no one seemed to understand, but Kiba had promptly stumbled forward and emptied the contents of his stomach on one of the girls who would always take the front-most seat in the classroom.

Naruto had quickly apologised to Kiba and explain that he chose him for the stunt because he'd seen the Inuzuka boy eat more lunch than anyone else that day. Kiba, whilst slightly disgusted, had quickly seen the funny side and agreed with Naruto's selection.

And thusly Hinata had retorted with surprising sharpness that the girl who Naruto had set Kiba's vomit onto was a girl who had tried bullying her earlier that day, and that Naruto was just being protective in an odd way.

Ino had thought about that for a moment before finding another fault in what seemed to be Naruto's constant lack of attention in class and saying that he must be a lazy idiot, even though she did think he was cute, perhaps even cuter than Sasuke.

Hinata had laughed softly at Ino's objective observation since to anyone but her and perhaps Sasuke it would seem like an accurate observation, but after sitting next to the Uzumaki boy every day for the past four months and watching him closely as her crush deepened she had seen rather clearly that his idiocy was merely an act, and every bit of work he was given he'd fill out correctly in an instant before going back over it and purposefully changing every second or third question to an incorrect answer.

Hinata boiled it down to Naruto simply not wanting attention for being smart; to which Ino had become very curious, and had made it her personal mission to work out the other blonde of the class. Ino's mission had revealed to her the fact that Naruto would always be as caring and positive as possible, and he quickly forgave her for the few times when she had joined in with the class teasing him and ignoring him, and the result had been a close friendship that had solidified over the past year and a half. Ino had even stopped her fawning over Sasuke and her arguments with Sakura over the Uchiha heir had come to a sudden halt and had instead shifted her attention to her fellow blonde, realising that not only did his appearance surpass Sasuke in attractiveness, but his mind and personality did as well. All of these shifts had led to Sakura thinking that she had won Sasuke which had made her double her efforts to get him to accept her. Each effort so far had failed miserably, and on many days Sasuke would arrive early at the same time as Naruto, Ino, and Hinata and attempt to get the seat against the wall next to Naruto. The outside seat would most often be taken by Ino though Hinata always wanted it but her shyness would almost always get the better of her.

Ino couldn't help but notice over the past two years how Sasuke appeared to be somewhat jealous of Naruto's soaring intellect, as every time a sheet of work was handed out Naruto would skim over it, fill it out in a few minutes while the rest of the class, Sasuke included, would sift through work books or listen to Iruka speak on the subject for a few hours to be able to complete the work. During this time Naruto would either be scribbling in a scroll that none in the class had yet to peek inside or helping Ino or Hinata. There had been a few occasions when Sasuke would grudgingly ask Naruto for help, to which Naruto would routinely smile and respond that it wouldn't be a problem. Then upon the time of them receiving their work back, Naruto would smile happily at the sight of his consistent mark of 'C'.

Ino glanced up into Naruto's blue eyes as she woke herself from her thoughts. For a brief moment she thought the air in front of his bright blue irises shimmered like a mirage but quickly played it off and blushed upon realising their closeness as Naruto crowded against her with his hand atop hers having guided it across the sheet filling out answers absent-mindedly.

"And you're done." Naruto said happily to her, seemingly oblivious to her reaction to his face being so close to her own.

A deep shade of pink crossed her face as she stuttered her response like the shy Hyuga princess. "T-thank y-you Naruto-kun."

Iruka's voice saved her from her runnin- wild imagination. "And we have now come to the point where the class is permitted to engage in one on one sparring, so I'd like to do some pair ups and see who memorised the kata the best."

Most of the class jumped up excitedly. Naruto merely wore a frown, trying to think up how to fight without winning or losing. His taijutsu had become so ingrained in him after training under both Itachi and Jiriaya, then fighting with his shadow clones on top of that, he doubted he could fake fighting.

As the mob of children rushed from their seats out the door Naruto and Ino joined the rear of the group with Sasuke only a few steps ahead of them with a determined expression and a glint in his eye.

As they entered the training yard that they would often utilize for kata Naruto couldn't supress a groan, it merely reminded him of all the memories he would absorb from his clone that did them with the rest of the class, he had gotten into the habit of making a clone secretly and sending that one, whilst he'd sleep under his desk in the class to fill in for hours that he'd train in.

"I have a list of pair ups, but I'd like to take your suggestions first for more ideas?"

Naruto immediately raised his hand. "Sensei? I don't want to fight."

All eyes immediately turned to him, which was the last thing they had expected to hear from a male student from the ninja academy. "Too bad Naruto-kun, I've just decided you're going to match up with Sasuke-kun."

A majority of the girls in the class grew hearts in their eyes at the thought of 'their prince' beating down the rebellious blonde of the group. Naruto merely frowned while Sasuke sported a smirk, confident in his ability to win.

A soft push on his back bought Naruto back to his senses as Ino pushed him forward slightly. "You'll do fine." she comforted.

He looked back into her soft eyes. "I know, that's why I don't want to fight…"

A confused expression crossed Ino's face as her fellow blonde saw no way out and walked forward, forcing a goofy grin to his face before stopping in front of Sasuke with Iruka standing beside them. Naruto gave a deep bow to the Uchiha bringing another confused look to Sasuke.

"Begin!" Iruka announced and jumped backwards.

Sasuke immediately shot a fist forward but only caught a shadow as Naruto back flipped away deftly landing on his feet before dashing around a tree, forming his familiar shadow clone seal as he did. He melted into the shadow of the tree as his doppelganger ran back towards Sasuke, merely blocking and dodging with apparent ease as the Uchiha heir threw everything he had into it. In a swift motion the clone's foot shot out and tripped the raven-haired boy forward into his arms.

"Explode!"

The clone suddenly erupted into a flash of orange paint rapidly expanding outwards, completely covering Sasuke and splattering over a majority of the class. Sasuke fell to the ground and slipped back to his feet wearing an expression of shock and confusion. An awkward silence settled in the air before Naruto stepped from his hiding place.

"That was a cool trick, huh?"

Iruka eyed him suspiciously. He had been selected as Naruto's sensei for the reason that their similar childhood would be good for him to empathise with the boy, and that he had tried to do but so far Naruto's skill set and apparent intellect was well above what he had been led to believe it would be.

This latest act was only proof of that. As a simple fact, you couldn't form exploding clones – especially ones that seemed to explode paint – which led him to understand that the clone had in fact been a shadow clone, an ability that the blonde Jinchuuriki shouldn't have been capable of at his tender age of ten.

He quickly glanced to Sasuke who was glaring daggers at Naruto through what looked to be a mask of orange gloop. _'Great, more damage control to run now.'_ Iruka thought dismally. For the past two years of Naruto being in the class he had often had to quell arguments between Naruto and Sasuke. In fact Naruto was the only person in the class to whom Sasuke would become remotely animated, and those arguments had simply been about a difference in opinion, whether it was something from a history lesson, or the power of some kind of jutsu.

The rest of the class was just as shocked as Sasuke had been at Naruto's odd victory. All of them wore shocked expressions as Sasuke wiped a hand over his face to clear all the paint.

"You idiot! Why did you do that? Why not fight me properly?"

Naruto simply shrugged and looked to Iruka. "I made it clear that I didn't want to fight. Plus, before my clone exploded it was beating you."

Sasuke's face contorted in anger before something seemed to click in his head and he brought it back under control. "Did you have to do it this way?" His voice was practically pleading. He approached slowly and stopped a meter in front of Naruto, his voice dropping low so no one could hear him. "What an embarrassing way to lose; now I'll have to go home to clean up."

Naruto simply looked shocked for a moment. Sasuke had practically admitted defeat, and not in an insulting way. Naruto further analysed Sasuke's previous statement and couldn't help but notice the sadness that seemed to seep from the Uchiha at the thought of having to go home, obviously it was a place of a broken heart.

Naruto slipped back into what he had dubbed his academy persona and grinned broadly. "I can help you clean off real quick! And after class we can hang out and train together!"

Sasuke merely opened his arms and shrugged. It seemed to be a go ahead to try, and try Naruto did as his hands flew through an insanely quick series of seals. "Water release: purified stream release." Upon the spoken command a steam of sparkling blue water shot from Naruto's mouth and blasted the paint from Sasuke's form, leaving no trace that it had been there.

A new level of silence reached the class and their sensei. Naruto had consecutively used three techniques that were meant to be well above academy level and both Ino and Hinata practically had little stars in their eyes at Naruto's display of talent.

Iruka was utterly shocked at Naruto's unfolding skill set as Sasuke set about shaking his body free of the icy water that had cleaned him. He simply couldn't understand how Naruto could know a technique that was used to supply clean water to field medics and thirsty shinobi. Though a month before the hokage had approached him and told him to be prepared to see an unexpected skill set from the Uzumaki boy, stating that Naruto had intercepted an educational scroll filled with elemental techniques and clarified that Naruto's pranks hadn't disappeared from the village, merely shifted to a new focus. Iruka had taken the news in his stride and had been sure that whatever information Naruto gleaned from the scrolls he probably wouldn't be capable of implementing it.

And yet here he was being proved wrong. Truly Naruto seemed to be a genius like his father, even down to his theory work which Iruka had realised was purposely wrong fairly quickly when he found Naruto had grown lazy in rubbing out his correct answers to replace them with incorrect ones.

A sudden idea crossed the chunin's mind that he acted impulsively on without thought as his hand whipped out a kunai and tossed it at Naruto.

Naruto acted quickly on the incoming projectile, his instinct telling him to do a simple dodge to avoid the kunai that Iruka obviously expected him to notice, though the crowding around students made that impossible as they pushed around him to throw excited questions at him. In a moment of panic he acted on one of the many instincts that his eyes had awakened in him. His left arm levelled toward the kunai and he grabbed a hold of it with his gravity manipulation and guided it safely into his palm in a way that made it appear that he was simply catching it.

However the idea of 'simply catching' a kunai was also something that should be beyond an academy student.

Again gasps of surprise sounded in the students. _'How is the most average student doing this!' _was the thought that many present were having.

"Naruto-kun, I'd like to test your taijutsu skills personally!" Iruka shouted happily as he shoved his way between the students and retrieved his kunai from Naruto's now opened palm.

Naruto simply frowned again, he could attempt to turn down the offer, but if he were forced into it his competitive nature would make it hard for him to allow himself to fail. "Do I have to sensei?" he asked meekly.

"Sure do, Naruto-kun! Ground rules, we're only allowed to use substitution technique and whatever taijutsu style we want, deal?"

Naruto gave a drawn out sigh, feeling all eyes upon him as he nodded the affirmative, knowing if he walked away at this point he'd never hear the end of it.

Iruka walked in a circle, dragging a foot behind him as he did, creating a rough circle.

"Also, if you step out of this circle, you lose."

Naruto merely sighed as he trailed behind the older man, as much as he'd come to love Iruka's kindness to him, he often couldn't stand how much the man tried to make him participate with his class. Even though he understood it, he simply didn't want to perform below his abilities, and he didn't want his abilities to be seen.

As Naruto walked he stooped down and collected a handful of pebbles, intending to use his perfected chakra control to win the fight with as little effort as possible. Stepping into the ring he stooped into a bow toward his most recent sensei, someone who was severely lacking in skill compared to the men who had spent years training him.

Iruka returned the bow with a smile. "It's good to see how you respect the art, Naruto-kun. Now… Begin!"

With that Iruka settled himself into a low taijutsu stance. Naruto easily identified it as a heavily-modified version of the academy taijutsu that many chunin of the village customised for themselves. Sure of the course of action that Iruka would take a smirk set upon Naruto's face and with a flick of his wrist four of the pebbles he had collected launched into the air around Iruka.

The man in question tracked the small projectiles momentarily, simply noting that they must have been a simple distraction. He glanced back to where Naruto had been and his eyes widened at both the surprise of his disappearance as well as the unexpected jab of pain in his left knee. He quickly looked toward the source of the pain to see Naruto mid-air, his leg extended and his foot outstretched behind his own leg. Then once again Naruto disappeared only for Iruka to feel a stab of pain in the back of his neck, identifying the source as Naruto's fist.

'_He's using the substitution with those pebbles!" _Iruka concluded as his eyes went wide from a blow that impacted his stomach and he instinctively bent forward to nurse his winded chest.

Naruto ceased his speedy substitutions and stopped in front of Iruka again, attempting to ignore the eyes of his classmates glued to him as he dominated their sensei in a fight. "I don't really want to fight anymore, Iruka-sensei." Naruto stated simply. He was sure that he'd already caused the man a certain amount of pain.

Iruka coughed as his mind fully caught up to the events. "I want to push your limits, Naruto-kun."

Naruto just frowned, he knew he was stuck in an odd situation here, and using the hiraishin would be far too bold to end this quickly. His eyes tracked back down to the pebbles still in his hand. _'Fine then, I'll just do that as quickly as I possibly can!'_

"I'm sorry about this, Iruka-sensei, but this will be over quickly with the rules you gave."

At Naruto's declaration Iruka couldn't hold back a small smirk. Although for the first minute of the fight Naruto had dominated him, he had severely underestimated the boy, which he concluded was what led to him being dominated. "Class, so far Naruto-kun has been winning. That has been due to me underestimating my opponent. Be sure to never make that mistake."

The students simply nodded in quick succession as Naruto once again prepared himself and threw a single pebble as high into the air above them as he could, then akin to the first time, scattered the remaining four on the air around Iruka. Iruka smirked at this, seeing the first one as the obvious move for the blonde as he glanced up and prepared for the downward blow, only to be met with thin air as a foot impacted the back of his head from behind, then a fist collided with his jaw, then a knee with his gut, and an elbow in his thigh, and then his lights went out.

Sasuke was completely silent as his eyes could barely keep up with Naruto vanishing from one spot to appear in another around the academy's most prominent sensei. It seemed to happen in a flash as suddenly Naruto appeared above the scarred chunin and his heel impacted with the top of Iruka's head, leading to the man dropping to the ground in a heap.

Silence reigned in the group of academy students. No one had expected that Naruto would beat their sensei seemingly so easily. The blonde boy in everyone's thoughts regained his footing properly and glanced around the group with a nervous grin. "He promised me ramen if I could beat him, so I had to try really, really, really hard!"

A majority of the students eyebrows gained a comedic quirk at the blondes declaration. Most of them thought it was a believable excuse for his victory since they had seen him practically break through walls at home time to reach the ramen stand on certain days of the week. The Nara and Uchiha of the class however were not so convinced by the statement. Shikamaru hardly cared whatever the reason, it was just an odd and interesting fact to him. But Sasuke grew immensely curious. He saw through Naruto's seamlessly told lie as he always did whenever Naruto lied about his knowledge or theory work.

Sasuke was now far more interested in Naruto's offer to train with him. His goal had subtly shifted from growing stronger to kill his brother to wanting to understand the source of Naruto's power.

"Get back a bit!"

The shout had come from their not always present co-sensei Mizuki as he skidded to a halt over the prone form of Iruka.

"Sorry Mizuki-sensei, I hit Iruka-sensei a little too hard." Naruto explained with a sheepish grin.

Mizuki absently nodded and bent over Iruka's head, his hand beginning to glow a light green before he pressed it firmly against Iruka's forehead. A second later the preferred sensei of the class awoke with a start. "Naruto!" he roared as he leapt up angrily. Iruka wasn't even totally sure why he was so angry. After all, he had challenged Naruto to a fight.

"Sensei! You owe me ramen for beating you like that!" Naruto quickly yelled, hoping to cover up his abilities to his class.

Iruka wobbled for a moment as he growled lightly under his breath. "Fine then." he sighed and brushed himself down of the dust that had collected from his fall. "Class, Mizuki-sensei will pair you up and you will fight just like Naruto-kun and I just did: only substitution and regular taijutsu is allowed."

The class' reaction was a mixture of excitement and apprehension as Mizuki stepped between them and began grabbing the students by their shoulders and pairing them up.

Naruto merely shrugged and stepped toward Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, can I please go and do my own study?"

"Uhh," Iruka began meekly. "If you want… Just stay in sight."

"Awesome! Thanks sensei!" Naruto cheered energetically to his sensei before bounding over to the shade of a nearby tree, away from the clearing that his classmates were utilizing in their one on one spars. A quick glance around informed Naruto of his closest friend's progress: Hinata was fighting against one of the girls who had previously been known to bully her, and it was obvious that the girl was taking this opportunity to make up for all the times Naruto had pranked her by throwing her full weight behind each punch. Hinata's soft nature however took a hold of her as she merely blocked and dodged each swing.

His eyes shifted to see Ino and Sakura fighting, each yelling vague insults at each other as they both seemed to attack in the same ways at the same times, resulting in equal damage.

Then his gaze shifted to Shikamaru fighting Kiba, with Kiba lunging aggressively in a lame attempt at his clans' style whilst his nin dog yapped happily from atop his head whilst the lazy Nara boy simply dodged or slapped Kiba's strikes away.

Deciding it was time to really do some training Naruto dropped to a lotus position on the ground against the trunk of a tree, a brief moment of concentration later and he began receiving the collective memories and experiences of thirty of his clones who'd been practicing wind manipulation techniques and wind release techniques for the day. Once he felt his mind was over the influx of information he repeated the process, receiving the same type of memories though this time regarding fire-natured training. Naruto promptly repeated this process three more times, receiving memories and experience that would take a normal person months, if not years to accumulate.

With a content sigh at his clones' progress he shifted his weight around until he was facing the tree, his back hiding his actions from any prying eyes, a cheeky grin crossed his face as he began twirling his right index finger above the sodden soil, forming a miniature tornado with pure wind manipulation. The tornado soon turned a blazing red as he melded in fire chakra before a blurring white light started to emanate from it as his lightning chakra cracked around its edges.

Naruto grinned as he stabilized the miniature three element tornado. He was smart enough to know that adding either water or earth to it would simply cause it to fall apart, so using his other hand he began to focus on his gravitational control and lifted the destructive little tornado from the ground in its own bubble of gravity.

"Hey, Naruto?"

With a crushing motion of his fist Naruto collapsed the bubble of gravity around the chakra creation resulting in a small plume of black smoke billowing into Naruto's face.

Naruto slipped his academy demeanour back on and turned to the intruder. "What's up Sasuke?"

"Hm, about your offer to train later…"

Despite having already admitted his defeat to the blonde earlier, Sasuke yet again found it hard to show any kind of vulnerability to someone. "Do you think we could? I didn't realise you were, ehh, so… well as good as you are."

"Sure thing Sasuke! It could be fun, after class I can show you to my normal training field."

Sasuke gave a quick and firm nod of appreciation before walking back toward Iruka, obviously to ply him with questions regarding the academy training system. It had become a routine thing. Sasuke had a driving urge to learn as much as he could, as fast as he could; something that the academy system didn't seem to care about.

The remainder of the day passed quickly and easily for Naruto as he sat and opted for pouring his attention into the scroll that he'd brought for the day about sub-elements. He'd briefly wondered if he could ever combine two of his elements and create his own sub-element. That musing had provided him with a few hours of study and contemplation whilst his classmates went from sparring with one another to shuriken and kunai training. But before he knew it his body had worked on auto-pilot and packed his scrolls away for the day into discrete seals and bustled out of the academy. Sasuke, Ino, and Hinata on his tail as he walked quickly.

Suddenly their presence became clear to him as his mind returned from its zoned-out state. "Sorry guys, I was out of it!" Naruto declared with a chuckle whilst turning.

Ino promptly rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you so much for your help with the work this morning, Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow." In an even swifter speed than she had ever achieved in any of her fights her head darted forward and planted a kiss on Naruto's left cheek and vanished in a burst of speed.

Hinata stepped forward next, bowing deeply in her formal manner as she forced words between her stutter. "I l-look f-forward to s-seeing you t-t-tomorrow, Naruto-kun." She too quickly turned and rushed away whilst wishing she had as much confidence as Ino to kiss his cheek, let alone hug him.

"See ya Hinata-chan!" Naruto called whilst waving above his head to the retreating Hyuga girl.

"Naruto, how did you beat Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto's gaze drifted to Sasuke. _'Ahh, to tell the truth, or to not… Itachi-sensei obviously didn't tell him, but why?' _"Someone taught me how to be fast on my feet before I came to the academy, and since we learned the substitution technique I just mixed that in."

'_That's not totally a lie…. _Naruto thought happily, since so far the substitution technique was the only thing that they had been taught in the academy, with the promise of learning the transformation and clone techniques soon. And since he'd figured that those three techniques would be the genin-tested three he figured that they would be stretched out over the final three years.

It was certainly going to be a long three years, even with his clones off doing their own training every day.

"Hn, do you think you can teach me how to do that?"

The question shocked the blonde. Sasuke had a lot of pride, and to have him openly asking for help with fighting was a massive stepping stone. "Sure thing Sasuke, just follow me."

With that Naruto sped off toward his usual training ground, Sasuke hot on his trail.

It took the usual ten minutes for him to arrive, this time with a panting Sasuke in tow. "Sasuke!" The Uchiha snapped his attention to Naruto as he yelled his name harshly.

"Do you know how to mould chakra?"

Sasuke merely nodded and stood a little more relaxed before glancing around at the flowing pool of water behind him. The next thing he knew was the feeling of a pair of hands shoving him backwards and the cold water drenching his body, the second time that Naruto had drenched him today, though this time was completely without meaning.

Sasuke came out of the water with a dark expression. "What the hell, dobe?"

Naruto merely gave him a smile. "It's a part of the training. Now sit down like this." he instructed as he himself sat down cross-legged with his hands clasped in his lap.

Sasuke tried to wipe the angry frown from his face as he followed Naruto's example and sat down in front of him, closing his eyes as the final stage.

"Now, focus on moulding your chakra in your stomach the same way as the fire techniques tell you to do."

'_Fire techniques, does he know that I'm learning them! How?' _However outwardly Sasuke followed his instruction, feeling the familiar warmth in his chest from the exercise.

"Now focus on spreading it all through your body and to the surface of your skin."

Again Sasuke did as instructed. _'I think I get what he's doing.' _Sasuke mused mentally as he became aware of the strain it was taking to maintain the field of chakra sitting on his skin.

"And once you have that stable, begin to push it outward through your clothes; if you do it right then you should be dry after."

Despite the warmth from the sun in the afternoon sky above Konoha, the slowly evaporating water still chilled the Uchiha as he focused intently on pushing the chakra through the fabric. _'I get it, a chakra control technique so that he could use the substitution technique like that…"_

Naruto released long sigh, he'd realised that the moment he agreed to help Sasuke that he wouldn't be able to keep the truth from the Uchiha, at least not all of it. "Sasuke?" he began softly, speaking in a tone that Mikoto had spoken to him in when telling him of things that would hurt. "You shouldn't hate Itachi."

Sasuke's skin prickled at hearing Naruto's words. _'WHAT?' _However he kept a portion of focus on the exercise, for all he knew Naruto was goading him to make it more challenging. "Why not? He killed my family!"

"My family too." Naruto sighed under his breath, far too softly for Sasuke to hear, instead choosing a different choice of words to speak aloud. "I met Itachi… And I'm sure that he had a really good reason for doing what he did. He told me how much he loved his family."

This time the prickling feeling in Sasuke's skin turned into anger bubbling in his stomach. "SHUT UP!" he yelled as a tear slid down his cheek at the thought of the loss of his family.

His eyes flashed open in an angry glare, fixated only on Naruto. "He's a traitor! He should die! You have no idea what it's like to have your family taken from you!"

Sasuke's anger made him oblivious to the tears that silently rolled from Naruto's eyes. _'I miss them too Sasuke, your brother and kaa-san were my family too.' _Naruto opted instead to hang his head sadly, not wanting to meet the angry gaze that was inspired by one of his most loved people. "I'm sorry Sasuke… I really am."

Naruto's apology was met with the rustle of damp clothing as Sasuke sprang to his feet and dashed off. Naruto wasn't so sure that even bringing it up was a good idea, but it was a topic that needed to be resolved if Sasuke was ever going to be saved.

'_What did you tell him, Itachi-sensei, because I don't think it's going to have the effect that you wanted.'_

With an annoyed groan Naruto fell backwards until he was lying flat on his back, a hand extended above him and a perfect rasengan formed at the mere thought of it. Further focusing, its size minimized and a screeching began to emanate from it as his wind-natured chakra merged seamlessly with it. The sound changed to that resembling a raging inferno and its colour shifted to a glowing red as he merged fire chakra into it as well.

Naruto merely laid there maintaining the small swirling ball of destruction. It was only possible due to his perfect chakra control, which he had his rinnegan to thank for. Without it he was sure that his training would have progressed considerably more slowly.

And he had followed Jiraiya-sensei's instructions about adding the elemental chakra to the rasengan to an extent, though he had never actually tested its destructive power, instead opting for simply mixing in a bit of elemental chakra and seeing how it would react with the formed spiralling ball. And he was sure that his tests had been invaluable. It hadn't taken him long to learn that adding water, earth or lightning chakra made it far too unstable, and for lack of a better word, the wrong 'weight' to maintain or use. Fire and wind chakra however were a different matter, they seemed to fit it like a glove. Except for what Naruto theorized might be destructive side effects to himself, which he figured in time he'd remedy by adding more wind chakra to it to make it throw-able. Thinking back to Jiraiya, the man he'd now dubbed as ero-sennin, he cancelled out the rasengan, deciding that he'd only proceed with his permission.

It was definitely going to be a long three years in the academy.

**Again, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. My next chapter is about half way done, but my life style makes getting a chance to upload often slim, so I'll have it on as soon as possible. Also on request, I'll be starting a collection of Naruto one-shot fics soon. None of them will be related to each other, and Naruto in that will be loosely based off the Naruto in this. **

**Please review; it gives me new and fresh ideas as well as positive reinforcement to keep writing for all you creative folk. **


	4. Chapter four: Only a Genin

**To "serielkeller": yes I could very easily convert this story into a harem. However I want it to be as realistic as possible concerning relationships, and I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone who themselves has a harem :P But having other partners over time is very common, and that's a writing challenge that I hope to depict well. And the Sasuke retrieval arc will be well explained when it gets to it, and the rest of the interactions will be explained when they get there.**

**To "Chaos productions": You'll have to forgive certain mistakes, I've got an annoyingly busy life style so I'm never able to fully commit my attention to my writing, and my beta has his own work to fit this between. And I'll be changing Sasuke and Sakura very minimally, but I'm glad that you've enjoyed everything else so far, I'm sorry to say but there won't be much change in any other characters for a few chapters now. And Naruto's emotional state is something of a work in progress, but I'm sure you'll still enjoy where I take things. Or at least I hope so.**

**To all readers; there won't be any real Sakura or Sasuke bashing that seems to be so popular on here. This chapter doesn't paint either of them in a wonderful light, but again, it's a work in progress. And there will be negative views on the both of them, but I'm considering them to be realistically structured. Especially since Sakura is such a horrible person to Naruto throughout most of cannon. Also my depiction of events from the first Naruto series probably won't be so accurate to canon just because it's been so long since I watched it and I really can't be bothered downloading it again.**

**And please review when you've read this chapter, it's very motivational and some of you offer me new ideas and inspirations. I for one review every story I read, it's not all that hard to do.**

**Credit to "hanabi's biggest fan" for his beta work.**

**Chapter Four: Only a Genin**

**Time skip – two years and seven months after the end of the previous chapter – **

"**Can we go and find that perverted man yet?"**

Naruto couldn't help but growl at the repeated line from the demon fox that resided within him. The kyuubi had enjoyed the first two years of Naruto's being a student at the academy, seeing as though all of the information that the blonde had available to learn from was still fresh from his previous sensei, so he was able to capitalize on it and continue to grow in strength and capability. And the amusement of Naruto's interactions with his fellow students also fuelled the kyuubi's enjoyment. He had loved seeing the blonde Uzumaki heir dumb himself down to fit in.

But since Naruto's first attempt to train with the Uchiha heir things had gone downhill in terms of amusement for the fox. Whilst Ino and Hinata had continued to grow closer to Naruto, and Naruto forged closer ties to the rest of his class, Sasuke became even more brooding than he had already been, shooting angry glances at Naruto throughout many days of class. Even Naruto's attempt at creating a friendly rivalry had failed to evoke a positive reaction from Sasuke, and any attempt to speak with him in isolation resulted in Sasuke proclaiming that he had no reason to talk to the class "dobe" and stalking off.

The term "dobe" even served to anger kyuubi now; whilst he definitely didn't see Naruto as a worthy opponent yet, he did see that he was head and shoulders above the others in his class, and from his perspective, the purposeful average to low marks in Naruto's education were obvious.

If the beast were to reflect in an objective manner on the previous six and a half years of his life then he would realise he had not only grown to support Naruto's strength, but had also come to admire the boy's tenacity, ambition, and golden-hearted nature. That however was not the nature of the beast, and instead he would simply talk down to Naruto, albeit in a more accepting and friendly manner than he once did.

"No, we can't. I have to finish at the academy at least."

Naruto too had grown accustomed to their deepening friendly dynamic. On many days at the academy he would simply collapse and sleep on his desk for a majority of the day while his clones were out training in various things. He had found that he couldn't exactly train his rinnegan powers productively, since he was still only capable of making small gravitational distortions and pull small objects toward him.

But during his sleeping periods in class kyuubi had made the habit of drawing Naruto's consciousness into the seal simply to talk. At first it had freaked Naruto out, but he had since acclimatized to it and had begun to enjoy the conversations with the chakra entity.

"**These people are pathetic! Until just a few months ago almost all of them hated you. Just kill them and leave!"**

Naruto couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh, the response was a typical kyuubi response; not that he was wrong exactly. Naruto knew that the other students in the class merely disliked him because of their parents, they themselves didn't know why, which was why over time Naruto had been able to slightly shift their views on him.

"You know that I want to earn their friendship, Kyu-chan."

"**I thought that I told you to never call me that again!" **kyuubi roared with narrowed eyes.

"And I thought we agreed that if you told me to kill the people of the village that I got to call you whatever I wanted to."

"**Fine then, don't kill them… Just how much longer is it going to take for you to grow more?"**

Naruto merely shrugged. "The genin exams are today you know and they don't give genin teams weak sensei, so it should be fine soon."

"**That better be true, the last time you tried to get more techniques I ended up spending a week healing you," **kyuubi growled lowly.

Naruto merely chuckled and shot the beast behind the bars a wide grin. Several months ago when Naruto decided that he had mastered all the techniques at his disposal he had formulated the plan to break into the hokage's vault and borrow a few scrolls. His attempt had proven successful, and he had dashed away with three different elemental technique scrolls thrown over his shoulder.

His escape however was not as successful as he realized. He had a shadow on his tail that was much faster than him despite his gravity seal training and chakra enforced muscles, and before long Naruto had found himself pinned to the ground beneath a grinning purple-haired woman who was boldly straddling his waist with a manic glint shining brightly in her eyes.

The encounter had certainly been an odd one, as Naruto had attempted to talk his way out of the situation, at which point the woman whose name he still didn't know had threatened to remove his manhood. So he had promptly resorted to physical rebellion and punched her in the face, which had resulted in her punching his groin and a stark white snake coming from the sleeve of her other arm and biting his neck.

When he had recovered from the pain in his groin and the burning sensation of the poison in his veins he had noticed that the scrolls were gone and he was once again alone in the street aside from a few dozen villagers walking back home from various bars and restaurants.

Kyuubi had found out soon after that the toxicity of the poison in his blood was rather lethal, and was forced to focus a steady release of chakra into Naruto's blood stream to purge it and heal the damage it had already caused.

"I'm sure that it's true, I even found out that tou-san was a jounin sensei before he became hokage, same with all the other hokage, and I think I've seen most of the jounin who will be this year's sensei," Naruto countered confidently since he had spent a considerable amount of time searching for and trailing the village jounin for the purpose of watching them train to learn more. The only man he hadn't been able to tail was a man named Kakashi Hatake, and upon further research Naruto had discovered that the man was a well-known and feared shinobi who himself had trained under the late Namikaze Minato. So whichever sensei Naruto got, he was confident that it would be a good one who he could flourish under.

Kyuubi gave a dark chuckle behind the bars. He often enjoyed watching Naruto's proportioned view of himself. The boy had trained under three of the most deadly and feared shinobi that Konoha had produced, even if it was only for two years, as well as having two secrets that gave him a distinct edge over a majority of shinobi, the rinnegan and the shadow clone technique along with the knowledge of how to use it to learn.

Naruto didn't realise it, but he wasn't all that far off having the same sort of strength as a jonin of the village, the only things that might put him below one would be his weaker physical strength and his lack of experience in the field. And those issues would simply solve themselves in time.

"**Idiot, you haven't even learned how to use your external senses while you're in the seal," **Kyuubi growled with a hint of amusement.

Naruto immediately caught on and understood that Kyuubi meant Naruto's attention was needed back in the outside world. "Haha, sorry," he apologized whilst rubbing the back of his head.

With that his visage promptly vanished from the surface of the water, leaving a sighing kyuubi to its thoughts on how with each passing day Naruto grew closer and closer to being the same sort of man as the Rikudo sennin.

"NARUTO ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

Naruto jumped from his seat at the sudden scream berating his right ear and glanced to his right from his fetal position on the floor to see Iruka towering over him.

"For the love of Kami, how deeply can you sleep?"

"Ehehe, sorry sensei, what's up?" Naruto queried uneasily, aware of all eyes in the class focused on him.

Iruka simply slapped his forehead. "Do you want to do your genin test or not?"

Suddenly Naruto was back on his feet, a grin decorating his face. "Sure thing sensei!"

An extremely audible sigh escaped from Iruka as Naruto bounded to the front of the class and struck a pose with his hands on his hips. "What do I do sensei?"

"Please perform a substitution."

Naruto glanced around the room cautiously as he searched for the right object to switch with before settling firmly on Iruka. Vertigo suddenly hit him and he looked up to see Naruto standing where he had been a moment ago. Personally Iruka didn't see the point in testing Naruto on that sort of technique, since he had used it so well to beat him in a fight.

Iruka shook his head at the blonde's attempt to play a prank. "Next is the transformation, you can do the hokage."

A poof of smoke later and before the class stood a tall, nude, lithe blonde woman whose privates were on full display. Instantly all the other students in the class turned beet red at the sight. Kiba passed out with a bang as his forehead impacted his table top. Most the other boys in the room looked away but stole discreet glances at the transformation, whilst the girls in the room sported angry glares.

"Will your dream girl do, Iruka-sensei?" the sweet soft voice from the nude woman called gently.

Iruka's eyes were comically wide and a trickle of blood ran from his nose. "NARUTO! Change that right now!"

The blonde woman bent forward slightly and blew a kiss to Iruka, her bust jiggled with the movement; then as soon as the woman had arrived, she was gone and replaced with a grinning Naruto.

"I. Said. The. Hokage!" Iruka screamed with his big head technique activated.

"Alrighty, geez calm down." Naruto said before again he shifted shape.

This time a tall blonde man with bright blue eyes stood looking at the class, his sharp facial features radiated a calm confidence and his steady stance spoke of power. A breeze seemed to blow through the room as his coat floated out behind him and silence settled in the room.

"You didn't say which Hokage', Iruka-sensei," the visage of the fourth Hokage said in a tone that even seemed to match the deceased man.

Many of the other students in the class whilst being impressed were also curious as they couldn't help but note the similarities in appearance between Naruto and his transformation into the fourth hokage.

"That's suitable, Naruto-kun," Iruka said softly, almost feeling daunted by the eyes that the transformed Naruto cast on him.

This time upon Naruto transforming back he wore a sombre expression. "The clone one now, right?"

Upon receiving a confirming nod Naruto merely made a cross hand sign and without any spoken words two clones materialized next to him.

Iruka gave him a soft smile whilst Mizuki from his spot at the door shot Naruto an angry glare and the rest of the class sported confused expressions, all of them wondering how the dead last of the class had done the test so seamlessly.

"You pass. You're now a genin, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's hand shot into the air and clasped the new Konoha forehead protector that Iruka flicked his way offhandedly, obviously not wanting to have to stand up to give one to each passing student. Naruto inspected the forehead protector stitched onto the blue sash closely, his mind ticking over the simple colour scheme and it not fitting into his current look. In a blur of motion he ripped the forehead protector from the fabric and rolled the fabric back up before passing it back to Iruka. "I don't like blue that much, sensei. I think I'll get a new colour for it tonight."

Iruka simply nodded dumbly. So far Naruto had made a habit of being exceedingly different from every other academy student he had ever taught. Not that he would complain, over the years of teaching the boy he had come to love and cherish him, and now felt only pride in his achievement.

Iruka had never been the most observant shinobi in Konoha, but he as well as two female members of his class had taken note of Naruto's purposeful lowering grades and his easily being beaten in taijutsu lessons. Despite his yearning curiosity he had refrained from asking Naruto why he continued to purposely seem lax.

The rest of the tests for other students seemed to fly by for Naruto. His head stayed firmly connected to the desk for the duration from a head ache brought on from dispelling too many clones at once, but he couldn't be unhappy from the amount of knowledge and experience he was gaining in the use of lightning manipulation. A third person memory flashed to the forefront of his mind of a set of hands maintaining a bolt of electricity that connected one hand to another.

'_The shadow clone is definitely a good technique.' _He concluded mentally, hardly aware of the poking sensation in the side of his head.

"Hey. Naruto-kun?"

Naruto groaned and rolled his head to the side, cracking open an eye to see a whisp of pale blonde hair hanging next to him. "What's up, Ino-chan?"

Ino couldn't stop herself from a slight giggle that escaped past her small smile. "Iruka-sensei is giving the class instructions about our teams, it's kinda important."

Naruto's head shot up from the desk in a jarring motion, almost hitting Ino as he rose upwards.

"Sheesh, now you're all excited. So much for feeling sick or something…"

Naruto merely shot her one of his trademark broad grins as his ears focused on what the class' sensei was saying.

"Congratulations, all of you on passing the genin exams! Just remember to be here this time next week for the sorting of your genin teams," Iruka announced with a fond smile set on his face.

"We're genin now Ino-chan!" Naruto whooped happily and sprung to his feet from his desk, dragging Ino up with him in a firm hug. The moment Ino realized that her body was so firmly held against Naruto's a bright blush rushed to her cheeks and a nervous smile settled on her lips.

From her position Ino could see Sakura shooting her a disdainful expression; it was no secret that every girl in the class minus herself and Hinata hated Naruto, no matter how nice he tried to be and how many times he offered to help with work. Sakura's disgusted glare triggered a defiant emotion in her heart and in a happy compulsion she wrapped her arms around Naruto's body in a show of enjoying the embrace.

The hug merely incited a scoff from Sakura as she turned away and rushed after Sasuke as he himself stepped out of the classroom. With her blush forgotten Ino frowned when Naruto released the hug and ushered her to go first down the isle of tables toward the entryway to the class room.

"I'll see you next week, Naruto-kun." Ino called with a wave over her shoulder as she bounded from the room in a rush, knowing that her mother and father would be waiting outside to give her their congratulations on passing.

Naruto just sighed and waited for the rest of the class to leave before he himself trundled to the door, patting the accumulated crinkles out of his black shinobi pants as he went.

"Hold up a moment, Naruto-kun. I'd like to go for a walk with you."

Naruto swung his gaze away from the door to Mizuki who stood beside Iruka at the front of the class with a content expression.

"Sure thing sensei, I was just gonna go relax for the afternoon. You can come… If you can keep up!" Naruto shouted the last bit as he sped forward in a burst of speed, Mizuki hot on his tail.

The group of parents and respective children shot curious glances at the two forms that sped past them in a blur down the road headed toward the residential district of Konoha.

The dash through Konoha didn't last long for the duo as they ran at ninja speeds and soon found themselves seated on the balcony outside Naruto's apartment, gazing at the softly setting sun above Konoha.

"I'm sorry that the villagers treat you so badly…" Mizuki broke the silence. "I know that you want to become hokage and be powerful so that everyone will recognise you," the older of the pair said softly whilst Naruto simply sat and listened with a curious expression.

"There's a scroll called the Scroll of Sealing in the hokage's vault. There's a lot you can learn from it, all of the greatest ninja in the village have used it to learn."

'_Scroll of Sealing… It could be useful.' _Naruto mused to himself, immediately becoming curious about how in time he'd unseal the kyuubi when the time to fight arrived.

"I'd be happy to help you learn from it," Mizuki continued with a deceptive smile.

"Great idea sensei!" Naruto called enthusiastically. _'I see, he just wants it, probably wants to go rogue… I'll just flick through it and find what I want.' _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXx Several hours later xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto found himself pouting in annoyance. He had gone through a considerable amount of trouble to sneak into the hokage's vault to steal the scroll of sealing, and now here he was on the final length of it with no sign of anything that seemed like it could help him in unsealing the kyuubi without damaging himself.

So deep was Naruto in his musings that he didn't notice the shadow that now loomed over him. "Naruto!"

Naruto glanced up with a happy gleam in his henged eyes. "Oh, hey Iruka-sensei. I guess you caught me," he finished with a chuckle under his breath.

"Mizuki-sensei? Why are you hiding up there?" Naruto called out in mock surprise as he flexed his still-developing sensing ability.

The man in question dropped to the forest floor, no longer clad in his usual teaching garb, now dressed in battle attire with two large shuriken strapped to his back. "Huh, demon brat ruining my surprise."

"Mizuki-sensei told me he could help me learn from this!" Naruto called enthusiastically to Iruka as he tried his best to fit into the unsuspecting victim role.

Iruka spun on his heel to face Mizuki, an ominous laughter erupting from the more heavily armed one.

"Naruto, you need to run, make sure Mizuki doesn't get that scroll and get it back to the hokage!"

"But sensei I wan—" Naruto started but Iruka promptly cut him off.

"No Naruto! You have to go!"

Naruto was conflicted for a moment between his original plan and Iruka's order. He was now a genin of Konoha, someone who was meant to follow orders from his superior.

With a firm nod Naruto spun on his heal and dashed back toward the village.

"Like I'll let you!"

The shout was just as clear to Naruto as the sound of Mizuki letting one of his oversized shuriken fly from his hand.

Naruto turned his head toward the oncoming projectile and tracked its path, not feeling threatened in the slightest by what he considered to be something easily dodged. His line of sight to the weapon was suddenly blocked out as Iruka shoved him to the ground and took the blade to his back, obviously having believed that Naruto would not have been able to dodge the weapon.

"Why are you protecting something that you hate, Iruka?" Mizuki shouted manically from his position on the forest floor. "He's just a damn demon fox who killed your family!"

"Shut up Mizuki! Don't listen to him Naruto I—"

"It's okay, sensei." Naruto smiled up at the man who sat protectively over him with the blade still lodged firmly in his back. "I know about the fox. I'm sorry that it killed your family."

"Naruto… I…" Iruka was floored. Naruto had just clearly pointed out that he already knew of the fox sealed within him, and he wasn't unhappy about it in the slightest.

"See! He's already plotting with the fox to take revenge on Konoha and destroy it!" Mizuki screeched behind them.

"I'll take care of it. I have to start to be a ninja somewhere, right?"

With Naruto's all-too-calm declaration Iruka watched, astounded as the boy calmly cleared himself from Iruka's hunched form and stood, facing Mizuki in a confident pose.

"I'm a shinobi now, sensei. I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Mizuki laughed with his head held back in mirth. "Sorry you couldn't have died sooner?"

Naruto simply sighed and drew a kunai from his sleeve. A look of concentration crossed his young face, then one of resolve as he confirmed his choice of action. Mizuki stood there with a bemused grin while Naruto formulated his strategy. The former sensei was obviously hugely underestimating the kyuubi container.

In a way that Naruto had learnt through the use of his clones practicing chakra manipulation during his class time he channelled lightening chakra through his muscle fibres and sprung forward in a blur of motion. A second later he was a few meters behind Mizuki, the kunai no longer in his hand.

By the time that Iruka had finally pulled the large shuriken from his back with an unsavoury squelching sound he was witness to Mizuki clasping frantically at what he assumed was Naruto's kunai planted to the hilt in Mizuki's neck. The boy in question stepped back around in front of Mizuki to look his opponent in the eye in his final moments. "Yours is the first life that I've taken. But I'm a shinobi now, and I vow to bring peace to this world."

Naruto's words had been quietly said, but even so, Iruka had managed to hear them. Iruka's breath was taken from him at the declaration. Naruto's obsession with becoming hokage was no secret to anyone, but such a solemn pledge to bring peace to everyone sounded so very familiar to something that the fourth hokage and his sensei had both said.

Iruka's eyes followed Naruto's example and locked onto Mizuki's dying gaze as blood trickled around the kunai embedded in his neck. Then the stressful moment was seemingly over and the man crumpled forward into the sodden ground with a dull thud.

"Come on Iruka-sensei, we should get you to the hospital!" Naruto declared with a happy grin as he turned toward his injured sensei and hurried to his side to help support his weight.

"Yeah…" Iruka muttered in a shocked tone as he subconsciously followed Naruto's example and put a part of his body weight onto the boy's surprisingly sturdy shoulder and started hobbling back in the direction of the village.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX ONE WEEK LATER XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto trundled into the classroom with a small happy smile on his face. He had been suitably pleased with the outcome of the Mizuki incident when a group of ANBU had found him and Iruka and taken them to see the hokage immediately, of course with the scroll of sealing still slung over Naruto's shoulder.

Upon having the chance to talk to the hokage both Naruto and Iruka had explained Mizuki's trickery and how Naruto had succeeded in killing the man. The hokage had been a mix of pleased, surprised, and impressed. He had no idea how or why, but over the past five or so years he hadn't been able to always observe Naruto in his viewing orb that was meant to be able to view anyone within the village.

But once the meeting had concluded Hiruzen was quite firm in the regard of paying both of them B-rank pay for what had turned out to be an important mission, albeit a short one, for the village.

The blonde had jumped around the office in joy after hearing that, the first time in his life he had been paid for doing something as a ninja, and as he had so promptly put it, "The first step toward Hokage!"

A platinum blonde-haired girl pulled Naruto out of his memories as she barrelled into him and threw her arms around his neck in an ecstatic hug. "I missed you Naruto-kun!" Ino declared from her perch on Naruto's shoulder.

"Heh heh," he chuckled as he returned the embrace, enjoying the closeness of their bodies. "Yeah it was weird not seeing you, Ino-chan. I hope we are put on a team together!"

"Ewww! You're touching the dobe!" The familiar ear-splitting screech came from the class pinkette who stood glaring at the pair from the open classroom door. Of course Naruto agreed on the "dobe" part, since he had tried so persistently to lower his grades to that point. Itachi-sensei had forced the idea into his head that if all of your competition underestimated you early on, then they would always be likely to have trouble fully seeing your potential. But the "ewww" part did strike a nerve, especially in Ino.

Ino spun her body from Naruto's gentle embrace and glared at Sakura. "I remember that time when we said how dreamy the fourth hokage looked! And Naru-kun looks just like him!" Ino quickly slapped her hand to her mouth. Despite her argument having a valid point she had blurted out her affectionate name of Naruto that she hadn't even said to him.

Sakura's face shifted from one of embarrassment to one of disgusted shock, her rebuttal then cut off before she could even make a sound as Iruka walked into the room without even seeing her and accidentally knocked her face first into the floor.

A bout of raucous laughter immediately burst forth from Kiba in his seat at the front of the room, his reaction soon inciting brief chuckles and smirks from a majority of the class. Even the ever-subdued Sasuke let out a low chuckle before glancing to see a smiling Naruto looking his way.

Just the sight of the blonde made Sasuke feel guilty. He knew that he had behaved in a very immature fashion after Naruto had attempted to show him kindness and understanding, but he also felt his behaviour was justified. It all melded together to form one big confusing rush of emotions that he found easier to deal with by just shutting everything out.

Everyone was pulled from their thoughts as Iruka picked Sakura up off the floor and chuckled out an apology before clearing his throat. "Alright, we're here to assign each of you to your genin squad and introduce you to your jounin sensei. Any questions?"

Sakura was of course the first one to raise her arm into the air as she shuffled her rear in the last seat left in the class. unfortunately for her it was next to Kiba who kept sending snickers her way.

"Yes Sakura?"

"Do we get any choice in our team?"

"Good question." Iruka nodded with a deceptive smile. "But of course… you don't."

Iruka couldn't resist the laughter that escaped his lips at the downcast look the girl gave her desk and he decided to expand on her feeling of inferiority by telling the rest of the class about Naruto's first mission. "In fact, the only one in here who I think has the right for that sort of request is none other than Uzumaki Naruto."

At this most faces in the class drew into curious expressions. In Sakura's case, and the other girls in the league of "Sasuke stalkery" their expressions where baffled and annoyed. "Why would he get that right?" asked one of the other girls before Sakura could take the attention again.

"Well," Iruka began as he walked to the chalk board, deciding that he could give his students one last important lesson. "There are six different rankings of missions that shinobi are given. The easiest of which are D-rank missions, which are normally given to genin." At this point he drew a big 'D' on the board. "D-rank missions normally never leave the village and are about teaching genin teams how to work together."

Then he went on to draw a big 'C' before clarifying, "Then there are C-ranked missions. These missions are given to experienced genin and chuunin. These ones are ranked as 'C' because of the chance of a bandit gang or other low level threats. I expect most of you to be doing C-rank missions by the end of the year."

Next he drew a large 'B' and couldn't resist a smirk at it. "Then there are B-ranked missions. These ones are where you are very likely to have a run-in with a chuunin or sometimes a jounin. These are rare for genin to get, and common for chuunin teams. Our Naruto here has already completed a B-ranked mission. That's why I think he has the most right to team selection, even though he won't get to do that."

Everyone in the class promptly swung their eyes onto the blonde boy up the back next to a blushing Ino and a cherry-red-faced Hinata. "Uhhh, Iruka-sensei, can you please continue the lesson?"

"Right," Iruka laughed at his student's unease at having so much attention on him at once. "Next are A–ranks. This is almost always just for jounin and it is practically guaranteed to have run-ins with A-ranked nin, but there are occasions when chuunin are on these missions. Then we have S-ranked ones that are basically the same as A-ranked ones. These are suited to jounin and they are likely up against S-ranked nin, who I must clarify aren't very common."

Reaching above the row that he had written the uppercase letters Iruka doubled over writing 'SS' to stress its importance. "And finally we have SS-ranked missions. The parameters for these ones are a bit different. Basically they are extremely dangerous, they are almost always kept secret, and the threats are mostly unknown. These are almost entirely for ANBU to do. But ANBU also do missions from C-rank upward. Also, all missions can be upgraded whilst in the field to a higher rank. That's how Naruto had his first B-ranked mission. It was entirely a coincidence."

Sasuke merely shot an approving glance Naruto's way. He was genuinely impressed by Naruto, but after distancing himself from the blond his pride wouldn't let Sasuke openly congratulate Naruto.

"Anyway," Iruka said, interrupted everyones' thoughts. "The team placements will be…"

Naruto promptly placed his forehead on the table and ignored the announcements. His hearing was searching the keyword that was his name.

"…And Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto quickly raised his head from the table to see Ino giving him a sad expression, Sasuke giving him a curious glance, and Sakura looking at him in anger. That made it clear enough to him that he was grouped with Sasuke and Sakura. _'Well this is going to be troublesome,' _he reasoned mentally.

After a brief hug from Ino when her sensei showed up, and a smile from Hinata when hers did as well, he found himself once again waiting on the verge of sleep as the hours dragged on. In his half-asleep state he formed what he though was a brilliant prank idea and in a rush he was down at the front of the classroom by the door. Both Sakura and Sasuke eyed him carefully as he pulled out a sheet of paper from a seal hidden on his wrist. Next came a slim brush which he proceeded to use to draw an intricate seal on the paper.

One of the things he had succeeded in stealing from the Konoha ninja library was a vast cachet of fuinjutsu scrolls. It seemed that no one in the village really cared about the lost art so when the crazy—and in Naruto's opinion, sexy—snake lady had pinned him to the ground to take back the stolen scrolls he had calmly asked to keep the fuinjutsu ones. She had shrugged and simply left him with them after a brief explanation that she loved her new task from the Hokage of "stopping Naruto from stealing jutsu scrolls."

Of course she never actually stopped him. She would always wait until he got them and was a good distance away so that she could use it for fun, or sport. And Naruto had given her such great chases that she really didn't mind at least letting him have the odd scroll.

"Water release: purified stream release," Naruto whispered from his hunched position by the door before he spat the stream of water at the seal he had written. Instead of it merely soaking the paper like Sasuke and Sakura expected it seemed to simply disappear into the paper.

As quickly as Naruto could he set the seal on the floor right under the sliding door and scurried back to a seat next to Sasuke.

"Idiot! Why are you playing a prank on our sensei?" Sakura screeched at him, despite approving of the action.

Sasuke merely smirked and stayed silent as Naruto explained as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"Well our sensei is very late, this is like punishment. It is also a test for him."

As though on cue footsteps where hear outside the room. The three glued their eyes to the door in preparation for the prank, all of Sakura's arguments forgotten.

As the door parted a figured stepped slightly into the room, and that was the trigger that the seal needed as a jet of water shot up from the floor and soaked all the way up the inside of the jounin's leg and his crotch. "COLD! COLD! COLD!" the masked man screamed and began rubbing his crotch to get rid of the offending water.

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, he'd forgotten that water elemental techniques you seal are normally intensified, and in the case of the purified water technique it became very cold.

Realising his situation a moment later the masked man ceased his actions and did his best to ignore the cool chill he now felt on his skin. "Which one of you did this?" he asked flatly as he bent and retrieved the used seal from the floor.

"That idiot!" Sakura screeched and jabbed a finger in Naruto's direction.

'_Sensei?' _the question rolled through Kakashi's mind before he could stop it, the huge resemblance between Naruto and a young Minato was outstanding.

"You know… This is a pretty clever seal. Who taught you this?"

Naruto simply shrugged to display what he thought of the seal. "I taught myself."

Kakashi stopped his visible eye from widening. After all, sealing elemental techniques was an ability that very few living souls could do, _'so his genius passed on.'_

"Now I bet you're even more shrivelled up than the women normally say you are!" Naruto barked in laughter, remembering the joke that Jiraiya had once sad to a man in a bar.

"…" Kakashi narrowed his eye at Naruto. In truth he wanted to laugh, it seemed like a good prank and joke combo, but it just so happened that the blondes joke cut off what was going to be Kakashi's compliment.

"Well my first impression of you… I hate you. Meet me on the roof." And with a swirl of wind and leaves he was gone.

Sakura shot daggers at Naruto through her eyes, conveying her belief that their sensei hated them because of him. Sasuke merely suppressed a smile and turned it into a smirk and started out the door. The moment that his teammates' backs were to Naruto he too vanished in a swirl of wind. _'I love the shunshin technique!' _

Kakashi was visibly surprised when Naruto seemed to materialise next to him. "You know the shunshin?"

"Uhuh," Naruto agreed with a nod and sat down.

Sure when Kakashi was Naruto's age he had known the shunshin, but that had been during a time of war and the academy had been directly teaching students combat-effective techniques. Since then things had changed substantially.

A few silent minutes later they were joined by a confused Sakura and Sasuke. They were clearly confused as to how Naruto had gotten there before them, but upon Naruto not expanding upon it Kakashi moved on to his greeting phase.

"Well since we're a team now, we should do some introductions. Start with likes, dislikes, and hobbies and dreams."

"Why don't you go first sensei?" Sakura pleaded in an attempt to look cute.

Kakashi released a sigh. "Fine. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like some things… I don't really dislike anything… My hobbies are reading."

"You mean these?" Naruto interrupted holding up an orange book. Kakashi nodded dumbly with a dreamy expression whilst Naruto grinned and tucked the book away again.

"And my dreams are none of your business," Kakashi concluded with an eye smile.

Naruto simply smiled, he liked this sensei. Yet again he had a new sensei with an odd personality.

"Your turn blondie."

Naruto nodded and began. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like my precious people, ramen, training, and learning. I dislike unfairness, and cruelty. My hobbies are training, spending time with my precious people, and getting chased by snake lady."

'_Snake lady?' _Kakashi thought with a slight smile, _'must mean Anko-san.'_

"My dream is to become a hokage that surpasses all of them and to bring peace to the world."

Naruto's finish was far from regular and Kakashi had to smile, whilst his two teammates gave him dubious looks. "Now you, pinky," Kakashi ordered to avoid either of them ruining the mood.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, I like…" She glanced at Sasuke with pink cheeks. "And I dislike Naruto the dobe! And my dreams are to be…" Again Sakura gave Sasuke a longing expression.

Kakashi refrained from pointing out that she had forgotten her hobbies; he hardly wanted to hear her continue. "You're up ducky."

Sasuke shot Kakashi a dirty glare before speaking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't really like much, but I hate a certain someone… My dream is more of an ambition to kill a certain man."

'_Oh great,' _Kakashi mentally deadpanned. _'I have a fan girl, a guy who wants to go looking for fights, and one who wants to stop all fights. What a bad mix.'_

"Well you all seem okay enough." Kakashi gave each of them a look. "So meet me at training ground seven tomorrow at eight in the morning. Oh and don't eat breakfast, you'll just chuck it up." At that point Kakashi smiled and disappeared in a similar manner to how he had in the classroom.

"I like him!" Naruto declared happily before running to the edge of the roof and diving off.

Despite Sakura's apparent dislike for the blonde she rushed to the edge to see if he was okay, only to see nothing but thin air. She turned toward Sasuke to start speaking only to see him disappearing into the door for the stairwell that had lead them to the roof.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX Time skip: The next day XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto hummed happily as he walked with a cheery gait toward training ground seven licking the sweetness off his fingers that remained from the dango he had consumed as a morning snack after his huge breakfast of fried rice, steamed veggies, and sashimi salmon and trout.

He hadn't yet summed up the courage to ask the snake lady if she'd ever like to have breakfast with him, but upon passing by one day and seeing her too joyously eating dango he had been sold on how good it must be, and had since made a habit to go there as well.

He lifted his right arm and checked the pocket on the inside of the black and orange flame-patterned overcoat he wore, making sure the extra bento he packed hadn't come apart. "Food: check. Kunai: check. hiraishin seals: check. Chakra paper: check," Naruto listed off to himself as he stepped onto the training ground to see his two teammates standing impatiently against three wooden poles in the ground.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed as he got closer.

"You're annoyingly loud." He retorted simply, earning a smirk from Sasuke. Naruto was well aware that he was an hour late to their meeting, but after seeking out the snake lady the evening before by stealing some unimportant scroll from the library he had asked her about Hatake Kakashi. She had been so kind as to inform him that Kakashi was late to almost everything. So Naruto had predicted their jounin sensei's strategy and started with an early breakfast, a training session of his own, and his dango snack.

Naruto mentally blocked out Sakura's whining and sat down beside Sasuke and focused on his rinnegan powers in the most subtle way possible. All across the training ground leaves and pebbles floated from the ground and sat a metre above the ground. His eyes closed he couldn't view what Sasuke and Sakura were seeing, nor was he paying attention to their nervous stances. Suddenly he imagined an orb, he wasn't sure why, but it just seemed right.

In the world outside of Naruto's mind all of the floating leaves and pebbles flew together and formed an orb that floated ominously a few metres in the air.

Feeling as though he had just understood a feeling connected to how to use his rinnegan's gravity manipulation he opened his eyes with a grin on his face, only to see the anxious expressions on his teammates faces. He looked to where they were staring with the immediate thought of, _'oops.'_

As simply as he had formed the orb he dispelled it, watching the leaves and pebbles fall back to the ground. Sasuke and Sakura however stayed on edge for the next half hour, before Sakura yet again began whining about their sensei being late. Naruto once again zoned it out and sat himself down in the lotus meditative position with his eyes closed.

He focused firmly on feeling the flow of nature around him. Some months ago when he had visited the forest of death out of curiosity he had become aware of how much life he could feel there, and so he had made it one of his top spots to go and meditate. Currently he was at the stage where he had become sure that every living thing had its own chakra, and that the world itself was living in its own way as chakra flowed through the air. On some occasions during his meditation he focused solely on the feeling of the calm chakra of life around him, as he had come to call it, and had attempted to soak it up. His attempt had quickly led to him feeling his own chakra network swirling violently to even out the foreign chakra and since then he had not attempted it again, resolving to ask Jiraiya about it at the next opportunity.

Naruto had no idea how long he had sat there calmly enjoying the feel of life around him, but he was sure that the sound that woke his mind from its relaxed state was the sound of a grumbling stomach. He looked at an obviously famished Sasuke next to him,

"Hey Sasuke, do you want something to eat?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a curious glance, not sure what sort of answer he should give to the possibly trick question. Naruto reached into his over coat and retrieved his spare bento and handed it to Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't hold back the smile at the sight. It was only a simple bento of rice, some beef and chunks of what looked like carrot. "Thank you, Naruto." Sasuke bowed his head to Naruto thankfully and proceeded to dig in with just his fingers.

Sakura's voice came through sounding almost pleading as she approached them. "But I thought Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat, Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto just shrugged. "I had a massive breakfast."

"Idiot!" Sakura yelled at him angrily before Sasuke spoke over her. "Naruto is right, we need our energy for whatever training sensei has for us. Would you like to share with me Sakura?"

The pinkette immediately blushed a solid pink. "Thank you Sasuke-kun," She cooed happily before sitting next to him and reaching out gently, only for Sasuke to pull it away from her.

"Don't thank me, thank him."

Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto and back. With a long sigh she swallowed her pride. "Thank you for letting us share your food, Naruto."

Naruto grinned at her. "Hey, what are teammates for?"

Sakura was already too busy chewing on a small handful of rice to have noticed what Naruto said. The moment it hit her tastebuds she moaned in what could easily been interpreted as a sexually-satisfied moan. _'Naruto sure knows how to flavour his rice! This is amazing!' _Sakura thought, the thought that included Naruto was oddly void of an insult of some kind.

The food vanished quickly and once again the three were waiting. The whole time Naruto subtly practiced his gravity manipulation and floated hardly a millimetre from the grassy ground below him.

"You're late!" Sakura yelled as she spotted Kakashi walking toward them. Naruto peeped open an eye and checked the suns position in the sky, _'this has actually been really relaxing,' _Naruto thought as he figured it must be about two in the afternoon.

"Well you see, on my way here this morning I came across an old lady who was lost. I had to help her find her home, but her memory wasn't exactly right. When we eventually found her home she and her daughter insisted on making tea for me."

Naruto openly laughed at the excuse. "I feel like I'm going to learn the best excuses ever from you, sensei!"

Neither Sasuke nor Sakura seemed to see the funny side and they glared at Kakashi angrily. The man seeing the humour wasn't going to spread quickly produced a timer and set it atop one of the poles and tapped the start button. "Alright, you have two hours to get these bells from my waist." At this Kakashi pointed to the two dangling bells. "The one who doesn't get a bell goes back to the academy. Begin!"

The three genin quickly dashed toward the forest, all thinking that it was an unfair ultimatum but knowing they'd have to deal with it. Naruto had already formulated that it was likely a teamwork-based exercise. After all, Konoha was famous for its three-man cells, and to only pass two would make no sense, but on the off chance that it was as straight up as it sounded he was sure he could use his hiraishin and clones to get the bells and secretly put them on Sasuke and Sakura.

Crouching down below a bush Naruto produced a set of kunai from his wrist seal. After picking one at random he set about unwrapping the string grip from the handle. Once the string was laid out in front of him Naruto wrapped one of his hiraishin seals around the metal hilt before he re-wrapped it with the string. Nodding at his work he formed a seal-less and wordless shadow clone. _'Man all that practice came in handy for the elemental training, now I can do these so easily!' _The clone looked at him curiously, asking for an answer with his eyes. Naruto had forgotten to push his thoughts into it at the time.

"Right, I made you with only a tiny bit of chakra, so you should be able to supress it enough to hide from him. I throw the kunai, you fly to it and supress your chakra, get the bells, come back. Got it?"

The clone nodded enthusiastically and waited for his creator's word.

Naruto popped his head out of the bush at the edge of the clearing and began throwing one kunai after another. He watched with mild interest as Kakashi dodged or blocked them in the centre of the field without looking up from his smut. Grinning at that Naruto charging his hiraishin marked kunai with wind chakra and hurled it. Kakashi dodged it as expected and it thudded into the ground hardly a few centimetres behind him, buried up to the hilt.

Naruto gave his clone a nod, and a moment later the clone was no longer next to him. Naruto swung his gaze back to Kakashi to see his doppelganger reaching out. The moment in time seemed to slow down with Naruto's anticipation until finally the clone gently removed the bells from Kakashi's waist and disappeared in a flash to reappear beside Naruto.

"Here ya go boss!" the clone grinned at him as he held out the bells. The original Naruto smiled in return and pocketed them before dispelling the successful clone.

He jumped to his feet and dashed off toward Sasuke and Sakura's chakra signatures. His ability in sensing peoples distinct feeling chakra had been becoming stronger and stronger the closer and friendlier he grew to the kyuubi within him. He wasn't sure how, but in the end he was simply glad that it was working out.

He didn't have to search for long before he had gathered both of them and outlined a plan of attack to play off their weaknesses. As they set out toward the open field Naruto slipped one bell each into their pockets.

Sakura wasted no time in charging out toward their sensei as they reached the edge of the foliage, she was eager to impress Sasuke and Naruto had used that to his advantage. And as expected when she engaged Kakashi in the middle of the field their sensei toyed with her, pointing out all her flaws. Next Sasuke charged out as per the plan and sent a fireball toward Kakashi, followed by a set of shuriken.

Sakura soon added her weapons to the mix. Kakashi practically dismissed Sakura's attempts as annoying distractions and set most of his focus on the determined Uchiha who threw with wondrous accuracy.

Sasuke jumped in front of Kakashi and set himself in his taijutsu stance, and as Naruto had said would probably happen, Kakashi too fell into his stance to challenge Sasuke. All the air in Kakashi's body quickly left him as a black and orange clad blur connected its shoulder with his gut hard enough to throw him forcefully into the air.

Naruto landed safely on the grass next to Sasuke as their sensei skidded to a halt on his back in a cloud of dust. "Nice move Naruto, you have to show me how to do that."

Naruto only grunted at Sasuke, although he knew that the Uchiha was just trying to patch things up from their strained friendship Naruto had absolutely no intention of teaching Sasuke anything if his attitude stayed the way it was.

Kakashi's coughing brought them back to their senses as the spikey hair man stood up and clapped a few times. "Wonderful strategy. I was completely convinced that Sasuke-kun was meant to be the real threat, but you just played your hand, now I'll play mine."

"Hold up a sec, sensei? I think we won?" Naruto questioned with a smirk.

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask and looked down. _'When!?' _he thought when he noticed the absence of the bells.

Seeing the question in Kakashi's eye Naruto grinned. "Sasuke, Sakura. Check your pockets."

They did as instructed and soon had a bell each in their hands, both of them sporting a look of disbelief and triumph.

"How?" Kakashi asked simply.

"At the start when you were distracted by my kunai I had a clone sneak up on you and take them. Worked well didn't it?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, no student had ever been able to take a single bell from him, and here he had Naruto who had not only taken them, but planted them on his teammates without them knowing and then surprised him in a fight. "You all pass!"

Naruto nodded, obviously having worked out how it all worked while both Sakura and Sasuke wore shocked and happy expressions.

"Meet again here tomorrow at eight again, we'll start some training and then later we'll go get some missions."

From then onwards time seemed to blur together for Naruto. He'd wake up at six every morning and send out hordes of clones to train a myriad of techniques and seals, while he himself would increase his gravity seals as often as possible and work his body obsessively and train each and every muscle that he had. Due to the kyuubi's healing factor he was growing far faster than any of the other students.

The missions stayed the same: boring. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke would weed gardens, look for and catch some demon cat, paint things, or even just help people with their shopping. The training that Kakashi gave them seemed slim and brief and hardly useful. On some occasions Naruto and Sasuke would train their taijutsu styles together. This seemed to only anger Sasuke though as neither would ever win or lose, Naruto would end the fight before that could happen.

Then on many days Naruto would catch up with Ino for as long as possible and they would spend it walking around the village together or sparring, which always lead to both of them feeling hot under their collars but too nervous about that fact to state it.

Naruto still hadn't been able to get the identity of the "sexy snake lady", but he had hardly given up trying, and he had even upped his game by stealing scrolls from the different jounin garrisons and using his hiraishin seals to get away just to make the "sexy snake lady" angrier and more likely to let something slip.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX AMEGAKURE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Amber eyes looked from the balcony across the city of towers that glistened with familiar wetness as the downpour of rain simply continued. Yet again the sky above Amegakure seemed to be crying for all the pain the country had endured. The eyes looked downwards from below their blue shaded lids to a set of hands clenched together for warmth and comfort.

In a stray moment of emotion she raised her hands to her chest and placed them above where her heart would be beneath the black, red cloud decorated cloak.

"Konan?"

She turned to the source of the voice, her hands dropping back by her sides as she did. Tendo Pein stood before her, all that remained of Yahiko, a man she had once loved. Now he was simply a husk and a tool for Nagato to use for his goals of world peace. At first she had her doubts about his way of going about getting peace, and then she had been introduced to Madara and her doubts had only deepened, but being a close and faithful friend to Nagato she had stayed silent.

Over time her views had not exactly shifted, she had simply stopped caring. Most of the time she just felt empty inside. She would go about doing Nagato and Madara's bidding when they asked and not care about who she was killing or why.

"Yes, Pein-sama?" she responded with a face of total neutrality. She had even stopped tongueing at the labret piecing she had over time as she grew colder and colder in her heart. She figured that the cold metallic piecing below her lip symbolised how cold and lifeless herself, Nagato, and Akatsuki had become.

"We are preparing for a meeting; we need to start scouting out the jinchuuriki soon," The puppet Yahiko said flatly.

Konan was glad that Nagato could not make his puppets sounds emotional and real, it would have only hurt more that way. "I understand." She responded simply as she fell into step behind her dead-yet-moving orange-haired ex-lover.

Her hand rose to her striking blue hair to make sure that her similarly blue origami flower was still in place firmly; to her it was the only link to her being alive. She felt pathetic even claiming inside her head that Yahiko had been her lover. They had teased each other for years, and then the night before he died they had made love. She wasn't sure if that qualified him as a lover, but she very much missed any kind of embrace. Not even Nagato would hug her as he once did when they were children.

'_Children… Things were simpler then.' _The thought of childhood felt unfair to her now, she was twenty one years of age and she had never really experienced what one would call a "childhood." She was slightly jealous of those who had.

That very thought made her feel sick inside. They were aiming to hunt down the containers of the tailed beasts, and as far as she was aware, a few of them were young themselves. And even though it was doubtful any of them had ever had a real childhood, her actions were going to see to it that they didn't.

'_Just keep lying to yourself, Konan. All of this is for "peace," remember?' _She wanted to cry at the thought, but she had long since discovered she wasn't capable of crying anymore. Crying required feeling far more than she currently felt, and she was fairly sure she would never feel anything again before death came for her.


	5. Chapter five: Creating waves

**Hi there readers. This took me far longer than expected. When I first finished it I decided I needed to flesh it out more, so that is the fault with my delay. **

**Review responses: **

**Will I give naruto a weapon? Hmm, perhaps, I myself am just learning the how to use the katana now to add to my own personal martial arts knowledge, so maybe I can give that to my depiction of Naruto as well **

**Will Naruto use a corpse for each of his paths? I will not being having Naruto use the six paths technique where he splits his powers into various bodies. All of his power will remain with the Naruto with no paths. **

**ScrimJaNinja: That sounds like a sweet kind of beginning… But also sounds far too easy, I'm making all of his relationships with other characters more of an earned relationship **** However please continue to review your ideas on how to depict some events, new ideas are always great. **

**DemonRedBeastBoy: Thankyou very much for your review **** It's very pleasing to know that my readers are getting so much enjoyment out of this. About the other jinchuuriki… I'm still thinking about that. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, we'll see **

**And to the other reviewers, my many thanks for your positive reviews! It's very motivational getting so many : ) **

**Just a word about Naruto's rinnegan powers, seeing as though I'm depicting Naruto as the "next great sage" he will be able to master the rinnegan to a much higher degree than Nagato was, though it will still be a long process of learning, there will be no instant godlike Naruto. It will take a lot of work an effort for him to become so powerful. **

**My choice for the second pairing is still up in the air for me right now… So if readers would kindly review their opinions on that matter? **

**I had a hard time writing this chapter, I've never much liked the wave arc so it was troublesome to get the feel for, and I was tempted to make Haku a fem version, just to make his effeminate nature seem more understandable, but I kept that part true to canon, I'm not really for the idea of fem versions of characters in general…**

**Also, credit to my beta for helping me present this story in a way that I feel it deserves to be presented **

Chapter 5: Creating waves

-Three months later -

Naruto hummed happily as he skipped down the road with his team and their client at his back. This was team 7's first out-of-the-village C-rank mission. Naruto honestly was actually expecting more from it than had been told to him and his team. He'd become rather adept at reading expressions, and the old man Tazuna had definitely been lying about some of the details, but Naruto didn't mind, it just meant that he had a chance to stretch his legs.

And then there had been his own personal send-off that had certainly put him in high spirits. While waiting for his team to show up at the gate Ino had run up to him saying that she had an extremely important thing to talk about before he left. She had spent about twenty minutes explaining in a nervous manner how he had helped her in so many ways before her surge of courage came from nowhere and she kissed him.

At first Naruto had been completely shocked, and then it faded to mild surprise, then to happiness. He'd wanted that to happen for at least the past year, so he'd become overtaken by his instincts to deepen it and slipped his tongue between the soft lips of his fellow blonde. Her reaction was instantaneous as she moaned into his mouth and pressed her body firmly against his. What Ino had originally wanted to achieve had been achieved and then some as their initial light kiss turned into twenty minutes of making out and light fondling of each other.

Kakashi, who had been sitting nearby the entire time, just smiled and wrote down a few notes on the two. He knew that the next time he saw Jiraya that the man would want to know how his godson was going, and telling him news like this would be like handing him a pot of gold.

Kakashi would have happily let the two do their thing for an hour more so he could sit around and read his smut, but as Sasuke arrived with Sakura unsurprisingly tailing after him like some kind of parasite that lived off desperate affection the two kissing teens had been knocked out of their passion by a flat scream from Sakura as if she'd seen something truly terrifying.

The only thing that had stopped Ino from destroying Sakura had been Naruto whispering in her ear that such a beautiful girl shouldn't worry herself with someone so immature. At those words she had pecked him lightly and bid him farewell, even passing Sasuke a friendly smile as she headed back into the village to find her team.

And now here they were, several hours into their walk to wave country with Kakashi seriously considering how to set Sakura on the straight and narrow. He was sure that no matter how much teamwork training they did that she would still be the same, her issue wasn't one based around skill or intellect. It was simply something based around her own immaturity.

When Kakashi turned his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke he knew he had nothing to worry about. The two certainly weren't fast friends, but they each understood the other, and they both gave each other the respect they needed. Kakashi was sure that was due to Naruto setting the parameters for their relationship, and he was certain that had something to do with Sasuke's ambition for revenge. But Naruto was often goading Sasuke into being happier and trying to lighten up, and for the most part he had been succeeding in his goals of lightening Sasuke's mood.

Not only was their relationship positive but they worked very well together. Kakashi had worked out that Naruto was the strategist between them and a majority of the plans that they employed on him were fuelled by Naruto's mind. Then his mind switched to the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto. The boy who seemed so upfront was in fact a mystery. He continued to surprise everyone in his team in training, including their experienced sensei and now Kakashi was sure that Naruto was still holding a lot back when they fought.

When he thought back to their original bell test it had been Naruto's original effort that had taken the bells, then Naruto's plan that had put him on edge, and then Naruto himself had been the one to actually land a solid blow. Then Kakashi compared that to all of the other training sessions where Naruto's plans revolved around Sasuke taking the brunt of it whilst Sakura would employ distraction techniques.

Not very long into their time together as a team Kakashi had become aware of the fact that Naruto had even been teaching Sakura low level genjutsu to use in her distraction techniques. This gave Kakashi two surprises, the first being that Naruto knew them well enough to teach despite none of the other jounin having ever associated with him, and the second being that despite the patience and acceptance Naruto had shown Sakura she was still completely indignant to him.

When it came down to simple facts Kakashi knew that he couldn't properly assess Naruto's skills and abilities without the boy simply stating what he was capable of, otherwise everything would just be too surprising to take proper stock of it, as was evident by the complexity of some of the seal traps Naruto planted for Kakashi.

No matter the strategy that Kakashi employed when it was his turn to hunt his students he always seemed to fall prey to one trap or another and he'd often finding himself dodging a random fireball, a powerful blast of wind, a torrent of water, an explosion of rocks or an explosive bolt of electricity. Some of the more complex ones would even bind him in that location until Naruto arrived to release the seal. Which lead him to yet another mystery, how did Naruto seal his elemental techniques into his traps? Sasuke had admitted that he was curious as well, and Sakura didn't know any elemental jutsu.

And unless Naruto was having outside help, which Kakashi doubted, it meant that Naruto could use each element, a fact that was not just surprising, but also amazing. Not to mention that Kakashi had seen Naruto creating hundreds of shadow clones on occasions and sent them off to do some unknown task somewhere else in the village, and if he had to hazard a guess then he'd say that Naruto's clones were staking their claim in the forest of death.

It really was a surprise that Naruto had yet to befriend Anko, for a lack of a better word their personalities were compatible. During many evenings in one of the leafs most popular jounin bars Anko had turned down every sexual advance sent her way in favour of going on and on about the blonde rascal who had been filling her days with exciting and seemingly never-ending chases around the village.

And that certainly was a new occurrence, virtually everyone in the village knew of Anko's reputation of accepting practically any sexual advance, especially if there was alcohol in her system. Kakashi himself had never made such an advance but he'd be near Anko all the same during her many drunken evenings to at least make sure that whatever man took advantage of her damaged emotional state would not take it too far. It was also no secret that the apparent joy she was always showing was mostly a false mask, and that the only times when she was truly happy was when she was torturing a victim for T&I or when she was with one of her true friends, Yuhi Kurenai.

Lately it seemed that Naruto had given her enough fun in the ever hardening chases around the village that she had shown much more interest in telling stories of all the tricks that Naruto played on her to her few friends than drowning her emotional hurt in alcohol and sex with men she hardly knew.

Just the thought of the complexity that was Naruto was greatly distracting. All the different paths thinking about Naruto could take, but what seemed most outstanding about him was the way that he affected the people he met. Even after their first dreaded Tora mission the cat had simply decided the walk up to Naruto and settled into his arms as they took it back to its scarily voluptuous owner.

Drawing himself back from his thoughts Kakashi looked up to see the blonde enigma staring intently at a puddle ahead of them. 'How on earth can he sense them from this distance, it's still at least fifty metres away. What are your secrets Naruto?'

Kakashi began to open his mouth to give his students a directive but he was already too late as Naruto took off at blinding speeds, his eyes straining to track the black blur.

"Earth release: Rock bullets!" A rain of solid rock balls fired from Naruto's outstretched hands toward the puddle. The hidden rogue mist ninja sensing their discovery rose from the water and flipped backwards away from the deadly projectiles. However they were already too slow as in a flash of speed Naruto had planted a kunai in the neck of one of the brothers in much the same fashion as he had done to Mizuki.

The remaining one slashed at Naruto in anger and desperation at the loss of his brother, but he too was far too slow as he felt a set of hands touch his back, "Earth release: Rock spears."

The final thought that went through the demon brother's mind was one of utter surprise as two spears of rock shattered through his spine and chest cavity and protruded from the front of his body. Kakashi and the rest of the team rushed up and skidded to a halt, the speed of which Naruto had taken the two mist shinobi down had been astounding. It had hardly taken him more than ten seconds to dispatch the two enemy shinobi.

Kakashi moved forward to check the corpses under Naruto's curious gaze. "Are they in the bingo book, sensei?"

After checking the first one that Naruto had downed Kakashi moved onto the second and bent down to inspect his features, "Looks like it, these are the Demon Brothers of the Mist. Nice work Naruto-kun, but I don't have any scrolls to use so bounty is off the table."

"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei! I brought mine!" Naruto called out all too cheerily as he flashed out a scroll and rolled it out next to the corpses. However Kakashi caught the flash of sorrow that crossed Naruto's face as he applied the seal he needed to store the bodies without them decomposing.

'Who taught you to suck it up like this so quickly Naruto?' Kakashi thought sadly. He had almost wanted Naruto to be traumatised by his first kill. However recalling the incident with Mizuki he corrected his thoughts to wanting to see more of a reaction on his second and third kills.

As Naruto finished up his task of sealing his bodies he glanced up to his teammates, both of whom were wearing shocked expressions. Sakura's was downright shocked and slightly frightened, while Sasuke's was shocked and curious, obviously he had not expected Naruto to be so lethal.

The sound of Kakashi asking Tazuna tuned the three genin in. "So I don't think you've been entirely honest with us, Tazuna-san?"

The man shifted nervously under the copy ninja's cool gaze. "Ehh, well y'see we don't have much money in Wave, and this was the best we could afford… But please! We need your help! Gato is killing our country and everyone is suffering!"

"Don't worry old man!" Naruto shouted and struck his arm out with his thumb up. "We wouldn't make very good Leaf ninja if we turned down helping one of our friends, and if you think I'm strong, you should see how good we are when Sasuke and I team up!"

Kakashi just sighed at the bright expressions on his students' faces. He could foresee this sort of thing happening a lot in the future. "Well it looks like that's that then," Kakashi sighed nonchalantly as he simply continued his onward stroll with a flabbergasted Tazuna beside him.

"That was a really great job, Naruto," Sasuke congratulated the blonde as he patted his shoulder, breaking Naruto's face from the frown it had worn. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded softly. "I guess I just have to get used to it, being a shinobi and all. Next time I'll leave all the hard work to you."

"Yo, Naruto?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto responded.

"The fourth Hokage is your hero, right?" Kakashi asked as he continued his pace with his students behind him.

"Yeah…?"

"Namikaze Minato, the fourth hokage. He was a kind and positive man, very humble and very powerful. He hated killing, but he knew he had to do it in this world of shinobi. So don't tell yourself that killing is nothing. Just tell yourself that it's something that you have to do to protect your precious people and your village." Kakashi said sadly, after all he followed the same belief as his sensei. Killing was horrid and monstrous, but one day people will understand each other and it will end. Or so he had hoped, and Kakashi extended Minato's hope for him.

A frown settled over Naruto's face at the very recent memory of having killed the two mist shinobi, and then his mind shifted to Ino, Hinata, and even Sasuke. He was sure that those two mist ninja would have taken their lives if they could, the lives of his friends. A new fresh resolve suddenly set in his young but mature mind. 'I'm never going to hate my enemy, and I'll try my best to forgive them, but I'll do whatever I have to do to protect my precious people.'

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sighed as he dispelled his frown and replaced it with a gentle upward twitch of his lips. "I agree. I'll do it to protect my friends."

"You two are my friends, right?" Naruto asked his two teammates by his side with a wide grin.

Sasuke immediately saw Naruto in a new light at having been called a friend. First he showed shock with a slightly slackened jaw, and then he shifted it to a small smirk to cover the smile. "Sure… Dobe." This time Sasuke couldn't deny the smile from his lips. Naruto was proving to have a rather infectious personality to him with his constant positivity and cheeriness.

Sakura's eyes were still wide and set on the blonde, so soon after having used lethal force to kill two men and he had looked at them and told them it was to protect his friends, and by extension them, even though doing so hurt him. Sakura hung her head in shame and slowed her pace. She certainly had a lot of bad treatment to make up for to her cheery teammate.

The trek continued on in silence for several hours, each person present mostly lost in their own thoughts. Kakashi was thinking about the state of his students and how to best guide them whilst keeping his eye on his surroundings as diligently as possible. It seemed fairly obvious to all of the other jonin why Kakashi had wanted Sasuke to be on his team: their shared Uchiha background. Kakashi was certainly not born an Uchiha, and had never much been impressed by the Uchiha's seemingly inherent superiority complex, but after receiving his sharingan eye from Obito and mastering its matured state he felt like he owed it to Sasuke to train him.

The son of his sensei and the book smarts girl was just an added bonus as far as he was concerned. Especially after the display of skill and intellect that Naruto had shown, Kakashi was feeling fairly relaxed as to how to train the boy. They'd just continue the group sparring session of "hunt for Kakashi." That way he could drill in some team practice, keep Naruto occupied, get a chance at training Sakura to some degree even though Naruto already seemed to be attempting that, and teach Sasuke the value of teamwork. That would leave him free to give Sasuke a little more focus.

Naruto paid little attention to his companions around him as they trudged onwards, the smell of the salty sea air getting thicker as they drew closer to wave. He was remotely conscious of Sasuke occasionally giving him a curious once over, of Tazuna looking at him from time to time with a raised eyebrow, and of Sakura slowly coming out of her miniature depression and putting Sasuke between herself and him.

However Naruto was only peripherally aware of those things as they walked. His current focus was sifting through the memories of a group of fifty clones that he had made early in the morning before leaving. The memories both impressed and depressed him, on the bright side they had finished with their daily seal research and study, but on the down side they had finished early because apparently there were no other seal archives available in Konoha.

Naruto made a mental note to ask the old man about more seal scrolls when he got back. A cheshire grin crossed his face as it hit him that he could technically be counted as a seal master now despite his young tender age. A conversation with Jiraiya came to the forefront of his mind, 'Brat, you're blessed with your huge chakra reserves! With your ability to use the shadow clone technique you can do in months what it takes others a lifetime to do.'

Naruto corrected his self-judgement of himself only being a young tender-aged boy. By normal standards he would be, but he was a ninja and ninja were expected to grow fast. Especially when he considered that all of his sensei had already become jounin by his age, even Kakashi was ahead of him in terms of achievement by age. Then again that was a questionable thing to think, after all, Naruto could already use techniques from each element as well as powers that no one else was capable of, as far as he knew at least.

Before Naruto knew it he had boarded a boat with the others on his own personal version of autopilot that he had perfected during his time in the academy. That was something that he wasn't sure if he was proud of or not, but he'd always make sure to enjoy it whenever he got the chance to let his mind wander.

"I'm sorry…"

The whispered words barely registered in Naruto's mind over the gentle lapping of the small waves against the side of the boat. He turned his head slowly, seeking out the source of the words until his hidden blue rippled eyes settled on Sakura's saddened expression.

"What for, Sakura-chan?" Naruto responded softly. Most of the time he would simply refer to her as Sakura, and the times that he was trying to teach her some sort of low level genjutsu he'd put 'san' on the end for a sense of professionalism.

Lines around the pink-haired girl's mouth formed as she frowned and her lower lip quivered. "I'm sorry for being so mean to you all this time when you were just trying to be nice to me…" She took a calming breath to steady herself as she fully removed her mind from imagining how life must be for Naruto. She and Sasuke never really knew why, but everyone in the village seemed to hate their blonde teammate with a deadly passion, and there had even been times on D-ranked missions where they would carry someone's bags to a store for them to help stock up and as Naruto's smiling face entered the store the fist of the store owner would come flying his way accompanied by a howl to get out and never come back.

Of course Naruto would laugh it off to his teammates and they would have grudgingly assumed that it was due to a particularly bad prank, but in his absence even Sasuke had stated to her that no prank could have been that bad and devastating for the entire village to hate him so much. After those events Sasuke had made a greater attempt to try and befriend Naruto and would behave in a much more "Naruto-ish" manner when it came to getting the blonde to spar with him.

Sakura realised now how wrong her reaction had been at the time. She had simply cooed about how compassionate and amazing Sasuke was and made a mental promise to herself to win his heart no matter what. Now she realised that Sasuke had in fact been sincere in his words and that he had begun to act on them. And Naruto's reaction of mostly rejecting Sasuke in small increments had been one of the controlling factors in Sakura continuing to reject any niceness from the blonde.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I know you didn't really mean it." Naruto said back quietly, smiling through his words to her.

Not knowing what she could possibly say in response to Naruto's yet again overly kind answer Sakura reached out to his hand and wrapped her palm around his, giving it a gentle appreciative squeeze. For a moment Sakura forgot her initial intentions by the gentle action and merely kept a soft grip of Naruto's hand, enjoying the sensation of warmth and safety that seemed to flow through their physical connection. However the connection of the boat grazing against the side of a pier in the soft mist bought her out of her thoughts and she quickly detached herself from Naruto and smiled happily as Kakashi and Tazuna thanked the boatman and made their way onto the pier, the younger generation of team 7 right behind them as they yet again set out along the road with hardly a whisper spoken between anyone.

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Konan let out a long exasperated sigh, whether it was reflecting any particular sort of emotion she couldn't tell. She had long since stopped trying to decide what she felt, and whether she really felt anything at all. She figured that her sigh was one of boredom after a few more moments of thought. She and Tendo Pein had just left the summoning chamber where they had their meetings with the rest of the Akutsuki members.

In general things seemed to be going well for the organization; they knew of the locations for all of the jinchuuriki except for the location of the Sanbi. Apparently that was without a host and had bunkered down somewhere in the elemental nations. As well as the fact that Akutsuki were becoming widely known and contacted for their mercenary services. She herself had only ever done one such mission for some powerful business man in which she had kidnapped a young princess from an opposing country and delivered her to him. Since then she had heard that the man in question had become an extremely powerful financial influential force in the home country of the princess due to a sudden case of the girl falling deeply in love and marrying into his family.

Konan felt sick at the thought. When she had infiltrated the ruling family's castle and killed the girls two guards and then carried her across the border she hadn't even flinched. The girl had spent hours pleading to her on their short journey to let her go, telling her how she would likely be raped, abused, and used for power, and whilst those thoughts always had and did disgust Konan, she simply tuned the girls words out and did the job that she was paid to do.

But the moment that she returned to Ame the immorality of her actions hit her full force. The tears and fear in the young princesses eyes haunted her sleep for weeks. So she bluntly told Nagato that she had no intention of ever doing any mercenary missions, that those missions were there for their "psychotic cannon fodder."

If Konan's life had been different then she was sure that she'd find both Hidan's and Diedera's personalities amusing, despite them also being extremely volatile. However as it was, she simply had a cold distaste and disinterest in all of them. Uchiha Itachi was the only one she didn't dislike.

There was always a glint in his eye that seemed to hint that he was privy to some sort of greater plan, and she couldn't forget the extremely small smirk he had when Nagato spoke through Yahiko's body and said that he would be able to bring peace to the world through his legendary doujutsu.

Though Konan had suppressed her immediate curiosity and simply tried to gain a small amount of insight into the man. Her efforts had been mostly futile, though she had learned the obvious facts that he was from Konoha and that he wielded the mangekyou sharingan, but the only slightly personal thing that he had said was that he previously had a student and was sure that in time his old student would be the one to bring peace to the world.

At the time Konan had just gave him a curt nod and went on her way to do her duties of watching over Ame, but his words stayed in her mind. The only answer she could truly find in linking his smirk at Tendo Pein and his words were that his previous student must also bear the rinnegan. It had been a personal revelation that had shocked her, scared her, and impressed her, but she had kept it to herself. After all she had no proof, and she didn't know how Nagato would react if it was true.

Nagato was certainly a different man than he was all those years ago whilst fighting against Hanzo's oppression. Konan had figured that the possible reactions from Nagato to another rinnegan wielder would be either that he would recruit the boy and turn him into a mindless follower, or that he would kill him and take his eyes to place into someone who he could control more easily. Konan didn't like the sound of either option, especially not after her own childhood being one of fighting oppression, but that brought her mind back to the fact that she was willing to emotionally turn a blind eye to all the oppression that Akutsuki was currently causing and all the pain that they would no doubt cause soon.

So as it was her life remained fairly simple. The most important task of every day was tending to Nagato and making sure that he was healthy. It was a task that she dreaded, every time she saw his eyes she felt as though her heart were being wrenched from her chest. Deep down she wished that he would go back to being the naïve, shy, and caring little boy that he had once been, but she knew her dream was far out of reach. So instead of making him happy as she wished she could, she simply served his wishes to the best of her abilities.

Then her next task of her days would be running Ame as its unofficial kage under the identity of the Angel of Amegakure. It was yet another task that brought her very little satisfaction. As a child Konan would put her eyes upon her country and wish that there was peace, but not peace as it was now. This was a forced peace and everyone in Ame knew that. As though to symbolise a result that was still saddening the sky continued to rain on their village every day without relent.

And then there was her final daily task, the one that she enjoyed least: tending to her own health and wellbeing. Of course Konan did it efficiently, she made sure that her diet was healthy and that she kept her skills honed to continue to be of service to Nagato but that took very little effort. It was the many occasions where she'd end up in her bed chamber alone and disrobed that she truly hated.

Every day she would follow a routine of stripping out of her attire and putting on a new identical one to clean and re-prepare her last one for usage again. The moments where she'd pause and look at her body in the mirror were the ones she hated most. She would ignore the fact that she was nude and put it down to the fact that without her clothes then there was nothing linking her appearance to Akutsuki. Her hands would settle over her heart and her eyes would close and she would fall into her imagination dreaming of being held lovingly, of a golden sun sending its beautiful life-giving rays down upon her and the man who she was never able to give a face to, but every time in her imaginings she would look up into the man's eyes and be met with Nagato's rinnegan.

It always looked like it was death that spread out from them and everything would shrivel and die and lose its golden lively hue to be replaced by off-lavender tinged with shades of grey.

Every time she would open her eyes a frown would be on her usually expressionless face. These occurrences had even prompted her into studying what little she could from books on human psychology, eventually Konan had narrowed it down to meaning that she deeply wished for joy, love, and peace, but she also believed that the path she was currently on would bring none of that for either her or Nagato.

Konan banished the thoughts that she'd labelled as meaningless from her mind and swung her gaze over the village below her. She would often use her paper manipulation technique to sprout angelic wings on her back and hover above the village as its guardian. For a brief moment she let her mind wander back to the meeting. It had been one of the few where all members where physically present rather than their often-utilised holographic method.

Itachi had briefly spoken about how he had noticed that Orochimaru was becoming more active around his recently formed village of Oto, but Pein had simply brushed the matter aside and directed any of the members to only bother with Orochimaru if he came directly into their path, and if that were the case then they should kill him.

Kakuzu and Hidan had just brought in a rather large bounty haul after a few months of no contact with the other members. Apparently they had used the entire time hunting for high bounty targets. It certainly suited the two, it seemed to be Kakuzu's strange hobby to hunt down bounties whilst for Hidan it was just the thrill of the hunt.

Deidara had begun to rant about some form of explosive art before Sasori had somehow shut him up. Truth be told Konan paid very little attention during the meetings. She would lock her gaze on the floor and listen for certain words before she'd really pay attention.

Yet another sigh escaped her soft lips, turning to steam before her face in the cold air. With a mild amount of mental effort she pushed the thoughts about Akutsuki from her mind and cast her amber gaze further than Ame. 'Somewhere out there is a man who will stop us and bring peace… I hope it's not much longer.'

Konan still held firmly to Jiraiya's teachings, she simply didn't express it, nor did she feel that she had the heart to.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Team 7 had been trekking calmly along the road in the land of waves for over three hours since their departure from the boat, and so far everything had gone well. At some points Naruto had asked quiet questions to Tazuna about the village he was from, and at others it would be Tazuna doing the asking, though he would ask about practically anything and direct most the questions to Kakashi.

Kakashi was promptly pulled from his musings about how to answer Tazuna's questions about shinobi lifestyle as his sharpened senses picked up on the familiar clink of a kunai being pulled from its holster followed by a low whistling sound as it was let loose. It whizzed by his ear and plunged into a nearby bush.

He glanced back sharply, expecting the kunai to have come from Naruto, but instead being greeted by the sight of Sasuke at the ready and Naruto stepping back to guard Sakura in case Sasuke had identified a target.

"I saw something move in the bush…" Sasuke explained without taking his eyes from the suspected area.

Kakashi took a tentative step forward and pulled out a kunai of his own. The bush rustled again and the group tensed in anticipation, only for it to go stale as a small white snow rabbit jumped from the undergrowth. Sasuke's shoulders drooped at the sight of the rabbit whilst in a similar way to Tora the cat it meandered over to Naruto and pawed at his black sandalled foot.

However Kakashi didn't miss the narrowing of Naruto's eyes as he looked closer at the rabbit. "Good job, Sasuke."

Sasuke's head snapped toward Naruto at what he expected to be a sarcastic joke.

"You made the enemy substitute with this." Naruto finished before Sasuke could reply.

Sasuke just looked to Kakashi to see if what the blonde said was true. Kakashi offered a nod in response and narrowed his eye into the misty air around them. "Down!" he yelled as a massive broadsword came soaring out of the woods to the left and lodged into a tree behind them.

The group followed Kakashi's order seamlessly in the face of death and had already sprung back to their feet to the sight of a tall man standing on the handle of the sword.

"Momochi Zabuza, demon of the bloody mist." Kakashi greeted in a cold voice, his hand already moving to lift his forehead protector from his eye.

"Kakashi of the sharingan." Zabuza greeted back with a grin through his facemask.

"You guys stay out of this," Kakashi directed back to his students. "Protect Tazuna, I'll deal with Zabuza."

Zabuza just laughed as Kakashi fully revealed his matured sharingan eye. Sasuke faltered at the sight of the eye but a hand landing on his shoulder stopped his internal debate dead in its tracks. "We're gonna surround Tazuna and keep him safe, right Sasuke?" Naruto half asked half ordered.

Sasuke nodded firmly with a neutral expression set on his face as he shuffled back to stand in front of Tazuna with Naruto to his left and Sakura to his right.

A single hand seal from Zabuza later and a thick mist began to form around them. Zabuza's chuckle issued from their foggy surroundings before the three genin lost sight of him. "Just remember to protect Tazuna you three."

The moment that the words left Kakashi's mouth Zabuza seemed to materialise in the groups midst with his sword swinging toward an extremely scared Tazuna. A clone of Naruto sprung forward from its wordless and seal-less creation and blocked the strick with a pair of kunai whilst the original drove his own kunai deep into the swordsman's lumbar spine. A moment later the man collapsed into a puddle of water.

Naruto jumped back into his previous position and created several more clones who crowded in close to Tazuna to add extra protection while Sasuke and Sakura stood as a first line of defence.

The sudden ring of steel on steel from the thick mist drew the genin's eyes to the blank whiteness before them. Soon bright sparks lit lines behind the thick dewy veil as kunai struck broadsword and broadsword struck kunai in aggressive and fast clashes. The occasional pained grunt echoed from the mist to the genin in the minutes that followed as either of the opponents obviously landed some form of blow to the other.

The three genin and the client soon found that they preferred the sound of fighting as silence ensued. Their unasked questions were quickly answered however when the mist began to clear to reveal Zabuza holding Kakashi prisoner in some sort of water sphere. Zabuza grinned at the three from beneath his facemask whilst Kakashi shouted for them to run and protect the client. Clearly Naruto had different ideas as he and several clones protectively stood in front of his teammates in preparation for the single handed seal that Zabuza was forming.

Two water clones identical to the masked terrorist rose from the lake next to him and grinned maliciously at the children. Naruto simply set his jaw and reached for Sasuke's collar, yanking the Uchiha boy close enough to whisper. "We're no match for this guy… I'm gonna distract him with clones and henge some into you, Sakura and Tazuna. You're going to sneak around with some of my clones as backup and break Kakashi-sensei out of that jutsu."

For a moment Sasuke's expression shifted into one of indignation at being so flippantly ordered around, but he quickly shifted it back a neutral expression and gave a curt nod in understanding. After all, it was the most ideal plan that they had available to them, as far as he knew at least.

Naruto and his clones shoved the rest of his team and their client down behind them out of view as three of them began a slow jog toward Zabuza's water clones, reaching into their kunai pouches as they went. The fight between Naruto's clones and Zabuza's was swift and decisive as Naruto's doppelgangers were reduced to puffs of smoke whilst one of Zabuza's clones stood strong, a puddle left where the other had been.

Naruto gave a short nod of understanding as the memories of his destroyed and self-dispelled clones rushed to him. Now down behind him and his remaining un-transformed clones where three who had shifted their looks to match their teammates and client.

Naruto simply smirked as the original Zabuza formed two more water clones and had them step forward next to their surviving clone. The memories of his previously destroyed clones gave the blonde a relatively accurate idea of the speed, strength and skill of the water clones before him. There was the slight chance that they were purposely underperforming, but that would make no sense in this situation, but he remained well aware of the fact that Zabuza's clones would perform well under the level at which Zabuza himself could perform.

When it came down to it, the equation was simple. Water was a hard element to form into a clone, therefore it required more chakra to do, as well as it being heavier, meaning it would be slower and weaker. A moment and six puffs of smoke later and a half dozen new Narutos stood around the original. The front three charged without a moment of hesitation and blossomed into explosive flames the moment that their kunai clashed with the swords belonging to Zabuza's clones. Not a second later the remaining three un-transformed clones ran forward to strike any necessary finishing blows.

None were needed however as the steam cleared from the explosion to yet again give Naruto a clear line of sight to Zabuza and Kakashi. "You're pretty good, for a brat." Zabuza called with a hint of mirth in his voice.

Naruto saw through the meaning in Zabuza's words. If he were to fight Zabuza at his full strength then he could perhaps shock and surprise the Kiri swordsman, and perhaps score a few wounds on him, but not much more, and he was fairly sure that Zabuza could see this as well. This pointed out a tactical disadvantage for Zabuza, with his right arm currently outstretched to maintain the orb of water that held Kakashi prisoner.

His initial plan had been to simply wait Kakashi out whilst swatting off his brats. Even a jounin like Kakashi could only last so long keeping up the process of converting carbon dioxide in the lungs back into oxygen using nothing but chakra, but this blonde upstart was about to destroy his plan. So this brief attempt at conversation with the boy was nothing more than an attempt to stall for time.

The moment of silence ended as Zabuza's gaze flew to his outstretched arm as a dull squelch and sensation of pain sprung from it. A Kunai was lodged firmly in his Zabuza's straining forearm. The Kiri man shot his gaze back up to first spot the smirk on the blonde brat's face, then the following smirks on his teammates behind him, not a moment later those behind him changed back into being copies of the blonde as a hail of kunai flew from a small cluster of densely foliaged trees to his left.

Zabuza cursed darkly and released his water prison technique to spring backwards away from the deadly projectiles. As expected Kakashi immediately sprung forward with a kunai drawn and held firmly in front of him.

The pair clashed in a strike of sparks as Zabuza blocked Kakashi's strike with his massive sword. As far as Kakashi was concerned the fight ended in that very moment when his sharingan eye met Zabuza's stubborn glare. The two backed off from one another and tentatively circled around.

Kakashi paid no attention to his normal thoughts and allowed his borrowed sharingan control his hands actions as he copied Zabuza seal for seal. Their identical water dragon attacks met in showers of water and an explosive decompression of air.

"Water release: great water vortex!" Kakashi called before Zabuza had the chance to form the seal himself. Zabuza's eyes widened in surprise and fear as the fast moving water slammed into him and sucked him into its swirling interior.

Not even Kakashi's spinning sharingan could track Zabuza's beaten form as he was swept into the trees with maddening force. The tidal wave of spinning water soon relented and Kakashi unleashed four kunai in a swift an accurate throw. True to Kakashi's aim the kunai lodged into Zabuza's shoulders and thighs as he slumped in his defeated position against the trunk of one of the few trees that had been strong enough to resist the wave of water.

In another elusive blur of motion Kakashi shunshined from his perch in the tree to the sodden ground before Zabuza's struggling to stand form.

"Can you see… The future?" Zabuza gasped haggardly.

"Yes." Kakashi begun blandly, "and your future… Is death!"

As Kakashi swung his kunai armed hand back in preparation of a kill strike to Zabuza's neck two sudden blurs of silver penetrated his field of vision. For a moment his eyes widened in shock at what he initially perceived as a completely unnoticed threat, but he quickly regained his cool attitude as he saw that the intended target had indeed been Momochi Zabuza with the two senbon buried half way into his neck.

"My thanks for weakening him. I have been tracking him for some time." Came the smooth and calm explanation from the now revealed masked Kiri hunter nin.

Kakashi's once again single revealed eye tracked between the hunter nin and Zabuza, noting the precise use of the senbon and the apparent age of the nin. This nin was far, far more advanced in skill than any of his students. "It's fine. He was a dangerous opponent."

The cloth masked man responded simply as the Kiri boy vanished from his perch in a swirl of leaves only to reappear stooping to lift Zabuza's arm over his shoulder. "This man's body contains many secrets from my home. I must destroy it as soon as possible."

Kakashi just gave a simple nod in response as the nin vanished in yet another swirl of leaves with his payload slung over his shoulder.

Both Naruto and Sasuke rushed forward stride by stride. "Kakashi-san! You just let him take Zabuza after killing him so easily!" Naruto screeched breathlessly. He was certainly no stranger to the idea of killing your enemy, but something about the whole situation just didn't seem to add up.

"It was obviously his mission, Naruto-kun. Let's get going, we must be close by now…"

Naruto shot a dejected look at the ground at the absolute rejection of his exclamations as Kakashi took a few teetering steps forward. Not a moment later both Naruto and Sasuke were rushing to their sensei's side as he collapsed face first into the still slick and wet ground. The jounins shocked expression quickly relaxing into an exhausted one as his consciousness slipped away into a chakra-exhausted sleep.

"We're not far away now." Tazuna pointed out worriedly, "if you can carry him then we should be fine."

"…Right." Naruto agreed absently as three clones formed silently behind him, one henging into a stretcher and the other two quickly manoeuvring Kakashi's prone form onto it before standing back up.

"Sasuke, you take the lead." Naruto barked out authoritively in a way that left no room to be questioned before glancing back to the surprisingly still silent Sakura and a concered Tazuna. "You two will stay right behind Sasuke, I'm gonna be right behind you."

Sakura merely shot him a worried expression before he switched his bright personality back into gear, "believe it!" Naruto yelled as one of his endearing grins took its rightful place on his face.

Naruto wasn't sure if that had truly been enough to sate Sakura's concern, but she followed his directive with a slight nod. "Alright!" Sasuke yelled from his place at the head of the group, "we'll be keeping a walking pace, don't break formation!"

Naruto silently nodded with a small content smile from the back of the group as they set out once again. This day had certainly not been what he had expected, and the threat that had currently claimed their sensei's immediate health and come and gone, but he couldn't be happier. During the fight Sasuke had worked in perfectly with him without needing any prompting, and even before then he seemed to have made a breakthrough with Sakura emotionally. So as far as Naruto was concerned this had been an extremely successful day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Three days later. Konoha Village. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anko, for the better part of the past three days had been bored, and it was clearly showing now. In recent months she had literally been on constant call for her duty of hunting Naruto down within the village walls and retrieving whatever scrolls he stole, or in many cases, clothing. However she knew of his predicament and had let him keep them and explained in her report that he had managed to get her into a compromising position to get away with them. A part of her hated making up a lie about being defeated, but all the rest of her knew Naruto's pain all too well, and even if it were only in little ways, she would help.

Her soft lips wrapped themselves around a fresh anko dango from the stick held between her fingers, a soft groan of contented enjoyment came from her throat at the flavour now flourishing over her tastebuds. For some reason now every time she enjoyed something she would associate it with Naruto and the fun chases he'd lead her on, not to mention all the traps she'd have to work her way out of. She had eventually worked out that his traps sole purpose was to try and humiliate her rather than actually injure her. Proof of which had been when one distinct elemental trap as sprayed a rather powerful jet of freezing cold water straight between her legs.

Her reaction at the time had been a piercing shriek of fright at the extremely unwelcome sensation. Then her shriek and following humiliation had evolved into a malicious chuckle as she once again set out after the blonde with renewed vigour. However when she found him it had been in an unexpected situation: he was simply standing in the middle of a shadowy alley waiting for her with a broad grin on his face.

At the time Anko hadn't even bothered to threaten him; he knew the deal by now. She merely laughed darkly before rushing toward the boy. A moment later and she was left facing nothing but thin air and the feeling of something sharp sticking into her rear.

With a yelp she yanked the unexpected dart from her rear and brought it close to her face to inspect it in the dim light of the alleyway. There was obviously some form of poison on the dart, but she hadn't been given a second longer to inspect it as a hail of warm mud bullets splattered into the front of her body.

Next was a wall of sensational feeling water, both had come so quickly that she hardly had a second to think of dodging. Though upon being hit by the water she realised the effects of the poison that had coated the dart; it had affected her nervous system, certain sensations were far more noticeable as she found herself enjoying the feeling of the warm mud on her skin and the soothing and calming sensation of the water wrapping around her.

With her defence practically forgotten Naruto had employed a single low powered fireball on her. A brief moment of concern had flashed through Anko's mind at the impending ball of flame before it impacted with her body and died a moment later. That was when Anko realized that she couldn't move.

Naruto had tricked her with a simple yet clever mix of elemental techniques. He had mixed a mud technique with a water technique to give her body a clay-like covering, and then used the fire technique to bake it solid, and her current state of muscles relaxing from the drug made it virtually impossible to break out.

Anko smiled fondly at the fairly recent memory as she chewed on the dango dumpling contentedly with a gleam in her eye, despite the memory continuing with Naruto further humiliating her by pulling out a brush with heavy black ink and writing 'Uzumaki Naruto is the most awesome ninja in the village!' all around her face. What had been even more humiliating about the event was that after her initial yell for him to not dare touch her with the brush, she had giggled like a little school girl at the sensation of the cool brush flicking against her sensitive skin.

And then to top it all off, Naruto had stood back with a massive grin on his face whilst admiring his handiwork and then proceeded to unseal a camera and take several photos.

'Blackmail material,' Anko thought with a genuine chuckle as she deposited the last dango dumpling into her mouth. The little blond brat was learning the life of shinobi very quickly. Despite the fact that Naruto was only a rather young genin, she felt some form of competitive nature with him. It was possible that it was due to the several times that he would out maneuverer, outsmart, and outfight her in their 'little' chases.

And so it was natural that after she initially rejected telling him her name that he would find new creative ways to ask, and she would find new insulting ways to respond.

Like the time when he had somehow managed to drain all of her chakra with some sort of seal and then cast a genjutsu on her of him burning down her ever so precious dango stall with his narrative voice over the top saying that if she didn't want that to happen she would have to tell him her name. And by the time that the genjutsu had worn off Anko had simply laughed at him and told him he needed to think of threats that he could actually carry out. So Naruto had responded with a frown and gone back to using his brush and ink to leave a message on her face of, "my name is 'UGLY'" written boldly on her forehead.

What was worse was that he performed some sort of time seal on it so it stayed there for the next week, much to the amusement of her only close friend Yuuhi Kurenai. Even Hatake Kakashi had stuck to calling her "Ugly-san" for the entire time that the ink was on her forehead. Every time that he did he would break out in a fit of laughter and dash off to avoid her rage. Anko certainly didn't list Kakashi as someone who was her friend, but he was a man who she greatly respected and appreciated.

She wouldn't dare admit it out loud, but she owed Kakashi a lot for all the possibly unsafe situations he had prevented from happening to her in her many drunken nights by filtering the sort of men who got close to her.

"Hey! Anko-san!"

Anko lazily looked to her left from the stool she was perched on as she flung the skewer that had held her dango. Saratobi Asuma's large hand quickly intercepted the projectile before it could hit one of his students. "I'm sorry…" He began as a smirk formed, "I should have referred to you as Ugly-san."

Anko narrowed her eyes dangerously at the man. "Call me that again. I dare you!"

Asuma just laughed nervously over the top of one of his students muttering "troublesome."

"Anko-chan! What's up?"

'Fucking great! I just wanted a nice quiet fucking snack…' Anko thought violently as she turned to the new voice, her memory immediately matching him up with the man who had bought her drinks two nights prior and had spent a night with having what she would best class as disappointing sex.

"What part of, 'get the fuck out of my apartment.' Made you think I'd want to talk to you?" Anko declared bluntly, hardly caring that Asuma and his students had taken stools to her left and ordered same Dango.

"Ahhh…" the chuunin man mumbled. Anko would be hard pressed to remember his name, just like all the other men who she'd sleep with in her spare time. There were only two men who she had slept with whose names she remembered; one because he had broken her young heart, and the other because he had been the only other one to actually make her feel close to good.

"Well… I thought maybe I could buy you lunch? Or maybe go out together later?" the man said as his confidence went up.

Anko saw right through it to the meaning of: 'I want to woo you and have sex again.'

For a moment she cocked her head to the side in thought. The man's reaction told her that he was hopeful to how she'd answer, whilst in truth she was just thinking of the best way to cripple his ego.

"Well you see…" Anko began as a smirk formed across her lips. "That night with you could have possibly been the worst sex I've ever had. Hell, I'd rather fuck Asuma!"

The man turned bright red in embarrassment and his face contorted in anger.

"Ahh, Anko-san? Sorry, but I'm taken." Asuma chuckled while his students sported pink blushes and the blonde girl held her hands tightly against her mouth. Come to think of it, when she had arrived she had also kept her fingers to her lips. Anko dropped the thought quickly as she turned her attention back to the man who was surprisingly still standing there.

"Well! How about you just go fuck yourself! You goddam snake whore! Kami knows you've already fucked most the village!"

Anko was rather used to being called 'snake whore,' but for whatever reason that particular insult hit a nerve in her. Over the years she had gained a bit of a reputation for sleeping around in the village, but she justified that as a way to cover her sadness and grief, and recently she had been feeling a hundred times better about her life, and she would not let some lowlife insult her.

In a blur of speed Anko dashed after the retreating man with a kunai in hand. He was obviously far too caught up in his anger to notice her as she did two quick loops around him, her arm flying to and fro as she did before she dashed back to her stool next to Asuma. As though she'd never left she sat back down next to the chain smoking jounin and set her eyes firmly on the man's back. Not a moment later all of his clothing fell to the ground in tatters.

"A little too far, don't you think?" Asuma questioned with a half smirk.

Anko just shook her head as the man froze at his predicament. "Hey! You should feel lucky that you got me once! Now that every can get a look at your tiny dick you'll never get laid in the village again!" Anko called with her right hand cupped around her mouth to amplify her voice.

The man was only still for a moment longer before he started out at a desperate sprint; a sight that brought Anko to tears of laughter and a concerned expression to cross Asuma's face.

Five minutes later and Anko was finally recovered from her mirth and turned to Asuma. "So what did you want?"

Caught off guard at her sudden question Asuma struggled to swallow down a mouthful of his dango, "Oh, ahh. Kurenai-chan wanted me to tell you to meet her at The Golden Leaf for dinner later."

Anko nodded absently before turning her gaze to the three genin to Asuma's left. Her eyes immediately settled on the dreamy eyed blonde girl who'd completely forgotten her food and still had her fingers on her lips. "Hey you, blondie!"

Ino didn't even shift a muscle at the name directed at her and continued to stare vacantly at the table top, "hey Ino-chan." Choji muttered as he gently shook her shoulder.

Ino lifted her gaze to Choji's face only to see him gesture to the woman next to their sensei who was eyeing her up critically.

"Blondie, you're the one who hangs out with the brat, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Ino responded dumbly to Anko's unusual question.

Anko sighed in annoyance at having to resort to using Naruto's name, it seemed like some sort of small victory for the boy from her perspective. "You know, the dead-last kid, Naruto."

Fire suddenly seemed to spark behind Ino's pale blue eyes as she rose from her seat violently, sending it tipping to the floor. "Naruto isn't the dead-last! He's the most skilled ninja of our year!"

"Ahuh." Anko answered sarcastically. "Then explain why his results are bellow everyone else's?" Anko sarcastically queried further. She knew that she was being hypocritical after having searched through Naruto's academy papers to find angles on his personality.

"Naruto was faking it!" Ino yelled defiantly. "I don't know why, but he wants everyone to underestimate him. He is the strongest ninja that the academy has ever had!" Ino defended vigorously. Saying that was a far stretch, and Anko knew that Ino probably hadn't thought through saying that, but in all truth it might not be that far from the truth. After all, how many academy students could steal the forbidden scroll of sealing without a trouble, and then for months toy with a special jounin whose job was to capture him. Anko almost hated thinking of it that way, but in all honesty his behaviour added up to that being the most logical case. He had been caught because he had allowed it, he had been lonely and had wanted to try and make a new friend.

Guilt suddenly washed over Anko at that realization. She would often hate herself for her behaviour and sleeping with so many of the shinobi of the village just to try to be accepted and to cover her pain, and here she was making life more difficult for someone who was far worse off than she had ever been.

"Plus, he's so hot!"

Anko's eyes sparkled at Ino's addition to her argument, "hot, huh?"

Ino nodded quickly with small stars in her eyes, "I even kissed him!"

Anko's eyes seemed to glaze over at this information; this was practically a treasure trove of torture material for her little blonde charge.

Asuma was close to face faulting at the ongoing conversation, Ino was walking straight into Anko's trap.

"Maybe I should try to kiss him as well?" Anko taunted as she let her coat slip from her shoulders slightly and pressed her mesh covered breasts together.

Ino's face flushed pink as her eyes betrayed her will and took a quick glance at Anko's well-developed cleavage before looking back into her brown orbs. "Naruto-kun isn't like that! He'd never cheat on me!"

Anko let out a bark of laughter. "Never cheat on you, huh? There is no one alive who wouldn't cheat on their partner if the right situation came up!"

The rest of Ino's team elected to stay quiet and just let the two argue it out, Asuma knew well enough how Anko was, and Shikamaru had already labelled Anko as a troublesome woman, and Choji would always just follow Shikamaru's lead.

"Whatever you want to believe though," Anko ended as she stood from her stool. "Where is he anyway? I need to speak to him."

Ino shot a downcast look at the table again, "he left on a mission three days ago with his team… It's meant to be a fairly long mission."

Anko furrowed her brow in annoyance. 'Well how fucking long will that take? What am I meant to do to keep myself occupied while he's gone?'

"Well I guess I'll see you guys around, later." Anko declared as she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX One day later: Land of waves. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Haku's breath left his lungs in a surprised gasp. Before him in the centre of a rubble strewn clearing lay the same blonde haired Konoha genin who had managed to create a strategy to employ against his master the week before which led to his injuries and Haku's current duties of finding medicinal herbs to aid in Zabuza's recovery.

Without thinking Haku's hand had slipped into his light pink kimono and clasped two senbon. Tentatively he stepped forward into the destroyed clearing. Chunks of the once flat forest floor were missing and jagged spikes from what had been the nearby trees jutted out of the ground in lethal looking positions, all with the blonde genin at the epicentre.

Haku put one and one together quickly and deduced that the boy had been practicing some form of technique; which as it seemed had knocked him out cold. Haku soon knelt down by the boy's side and extended one of his senbon towards the boys neck, pausing with its tip almost touching his soft looking skin. Haku contorted his face in concentration as he tried to force himself to go through with the murder, but no matter how hard he tried it just wasn't in his heart to kill.

He dropped his head in self defeat and pulled his hand away gently to replace the senbon before the blonde unexpectedly spoke, causing him to jump back in fright. "Why didn't you do it?"

Haku's head snapped back up and his gaze locked onto the blondes' from his now sitting position. Haku felt like a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar and responded by doing the first action that a child would resort to; he pushed himself up to his feet in preparation to run.

"No, please don't go!" Naruto called sadly as Haku managed a few short but quick steps away before Naruto's soft voice reached his ears. Haku had always been a gentle soul and it was as clear as day to him that there was nothing malicious in the Konoha nin's voice.

Haku turned back toward the boy and offered a small but heartfelt smile. "My name is Haku." He said quietly as he retraced his steps back to Naruto's side.

"Naruto." Naruto greeted back with his own smile spreading.

"Did you do all of this?" Haku questioned, breaking their locked gaze as he gestured at the destroyed clearing around them.

"Heh... Yeah, whoops." Naruto chuckled under his breath. In truth Naruto hardly remembered actually doing it, just the feeling of the technique he had employed. Over the past week he had deduced that the Hunter nin had been a fake and that Zabuza was recovering, thoughts that he had shared with Kakashi who had shown no outward concerns at the prospect but had immediately put team seven to training on tree climbing, or as it had turned out, putting Naruto in charge of teaching Sasuke tree climbing.

Naruto didn't really mind that much, he had wanted to try and forge a closer bond with Sasuke, and a few days spent training together was the perfect opportunity. In the end he had decided to take Sasuke further than just tree climbing and included water walking as well as dispelling genjutsu, the final two lessons being lessons that Sakura had joined in as well.

And as emotionally rewarding as all that had been for Naruto, he couldn't help but feel frustrated that during all his time teaching over the week that he hadn't had a chance to train himself. So early in the morning he had snuck off to do his own training and had settled for attempting to expand upon his rinnegan powers.

Flashes of memory of the time that he had gained the rinnegan spun through his mind and he attempted time and again to recreate the shockwave. And finally near the very of the day after straining his abilities by wrechning trees from the ground he had been struck by the sensation he needed.

So without a second thought he had combined both his pull and push gravitational abilities. As surrounding trees and chunks of earth flew toward him he had quickly reversed the action and slammed a gravitational barrier into the incoming projectiles. The result had been an explosion of debris and Naruto passing out from the strain of the combined ability after all day straining all of his known ones.

"I was trying to learn my bloodline…" Naruto clarified to the feminine person before him.

Haku's eyes widened ever so slightly at the new information, "bloodline?"

Naruto laughed quietly under his breath and smiled, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?" Naruto was certainly not sure why he was sharing any real information with his enemy, but something about Haku screamed 'peace' to Naruto.

Haku shifted nervously and glanced back to the his basket at the edge of the clearing before looking back to Naruto. "I know you probably won't want to… With being enemies with Zabuza-sama and I, but would you like to help me collect some herbs?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side in a moment of thought before crawling back to his feet. "Sure thing, Haku-chan!" He said cheerily with his smile back in place.

Haku quickly turned and led the way back to his basket, collecting it in a hand and heading deeper into the forest whilst keeping his eyes glued to the forest floor to avoid his curiosity that was practically demanding that he analyse Naruto.

"You're not a girl, are you?" Naruto asked suddenly, interrupting Haku's frantic thoughts.

"Uhh, no, I'm not." He replied softly with a nervous smile.

Naruto couldn't resist the chuckle that came from his chest as he tried to keep it in, "I'm sorry, this might sound weird now… But you're beautiful, Sakura-san would be jealous of your looks!"

Haku's cheeks tinged red at the compliment as he immediately linked the name Sakura to belonging to the girl on Naruto's team. Haku had never addressed his sexuality, or simply he hadn't ever had time to, but there had been many times when he would wash himself and think that he would have preferred to have been born a girl. Even his nature was far more feminine than even most women, and the idea of hurting someone repulsed him. 'I have far too much empathy to be a ninja…'

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Haku began as he located some of the delicate plants he was searching for. "You are very attractive as well."

"Haha, thanks. I guess that's why Ino-chan likes me." Naruto smiled as he knelt next to the effeminate boy and begun picking the same herbs as him.

"Is she the reason you were training so hard?"

Naruto looked into Haku's gentle brown eyes for a moment in thought before resuming the task of picking the stems of the plants. "Not exactly… I have something in me that people fear and hate, so I don't have many precious people, but I want to be strong so that I can protect them all, and to make everyone acknowledge my strength and become loved by my village."

Haku smiled up at him with surprising joy, "that's a beautiful reason to become strong. Mine is similar, I want to help make Zabuza-sama's dreams real and to-"

Haku's breath caught in his throat as he was unexpectedly lifted from the ground and held against Naruto's body in a firm hug. "I don't know why I've told you anything, Haku-kun. You're meant to be my enemy…" Naruto said sadly from his heads perch on Haku's shoulder.

"But we are similar… I really, really don't want to have to fight you. I know that you're probably going to attack tomorrow, but what if Zabuza just took the money from Gatou by force? Then you wouldn't need to fight?"

Haku felt touched, and sad, and horrible all at the same time, he felt exactly the same as Naruto did, they were two of the same kind of person, and they each had an understanding of the others pain. His reaction was to instantly hug Naruto back by wrapping his arms around the blondes' middle.

Haku wasn't entirely sure why it felt like such an easy thing to do, or why he even wanted to do it at all. Perhaps it had been his life lived without affection, but all he knew was that whilst hugging Naruto he felt as though he had family again. Tears slid from Haku's soft eyes as he enjoyed the friendly embrace, "I feel the same way, Naruto-kun. I will try to make things right with Zabuza-sama…"

Silence settled on the two as they simply stood there enjoying the heartfelt embrace, the two felt connected through their shared kindness and curse of being shinobi.

Haku almost hated himself for breaking their connection as he pushed away from Naruto, not caring to hide his tear streaked cheeks as he did so. "It's getting late, Naruto-kun, I have to leave… I hope if I see you again it will be under better circumstances. I know you will become very powerful."

Naruto just nodded with a grim expression. "I hope so too. Whatever happens tomorrow, I'm happy I got to meet you today." With that simple declaration Naruto gave Haku one last smile and turned on his heel and vanished back into Tsunami's house using one of his hidden hiraishin seals. When team seven had first arrived he had called it 'Tazuna's house,' but he had quickly learnt that if a woman lived in the house as well. Tthat, by default, meant it was her house.

Not that Naruto minded that, in fact it was something that he enjoyed. Over the past week he had bonded with Tsunami in a parental like manner. Her nature pretty much demanded that Naruto respond in kind, and the side effect had been Sasuke surprisingly lightening up towards Naruto. Added to the fact that Tsunami vaguely resembled Mikoto, it all just felt so right to Naruto to try and bond with her to fill in the gap in his heart that Mikoto had left.

The instant moment from which he had disappeared from the forest and reappeared at the front door to the house Naruto realized how completely exhausted he was. A quick glance down his body showed that his black jacket was ripped to shreds leaving patches of his mesh undershirt visible and his black shinobi pants had been cut free from the bindings that normally kept them securely tied against his ankles. He deduced that it was from not fully being able to control the release of his gravity techniques and that his clothes were being caught in the outward blast.

Not that it was overly important, Naruto simply wanted perfect control of it. Strangely it was something that he couldn't seem to train with his shadow clones. When it came to training all of his knowledge and experience in elemental jutsu and any other useful information his clones would send the information right on back to him in perfect understanding, but his rinnegan powers seemed to be a different matter entirely, similar to his actual physical training.

Naruto's thoughts of training quickly left his mind as the door slid open, revealing a surprised looking Tsunami. "Oh, there you are Naruto-kun…" she said awkwardly as her surprised face shifted into a warm smile. "I was going to come looking for you, dinner is almost ready."

Naruto gave her a thankful bow and tired-looking smile as he stepped into the house. "Would you like any help in the kitchen?" he offered thoughtlessly whilst surveying the room. Kakashi sat at one end of the table with Sasuke and Sakura side by side on the broad side closest to the wall whilst Inari and Tazuna sat on the opposite side. Kakashi turned slightly in his direction and gave one of what Naruto had begun calling an 'eye smile' as his visible eye crinkled shut into a happy looking upside down smile.

And despite the fact that Kakashi was heinously late most the time, and hadn't really taught the team that much, Naruto couldn't help but smile back to him. Underneath his tardiness was a good person, and that was what counted for Naruto.

"You've been far too helpful around here already, Naruto-kun." Tsunami said with a smile as she brushed past him and headed back toward the kitchen. "Just take a seat and food will be out soon!" She called back from the kitchen while Naruto tentatively sat next to Sasuke.

Naruto found himself loving being in the presence of everyone at the moment. Over the past week not only had he helped Sasuke and Sakura train, which had earned him a lot of good favour with both of them, but he had also had clones forming into existence every morning that were tasked with cleaning the house, washing the dishes, helping Tazuna or Tsunami with whatever tasks they were doing and patrolling the village and cheerfully greeting the locals. Then for the past three evenings Naruto had committed himself to helping Tsunami prepare their dinners with a sense of interest and awe that he'd never displayed before.

"What happened to your clothes, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi enquired as he gave Naruto another once over. His question attracted the attention of both Sasuke and Sakura who seemed to have both been lost in their thoughts. Naruto grinned sheepishly to stave off his exhaustion and rubbed the back of his head, "Ahh, I was practicing a new wind technique, it didn't work out how I expected it to…"

Sasuke laughed softly under his breath while Sakura gave him a critical once over. "Since when do you know wind techniques as well?" she asked with a soft pink blush across her cheeks. Sakura in no way liked Naruto romantically, but she was a person who was flustered easily, and since she had decided to start paying more attention; how impressive Naruto really was could not escape her notice.

"Ahhh…" Naruto began, only for Sakura to cut him off again as she directed her next hotly-voiced question to Kakashi.

"Why can Naruto-kun use wind, earth, and water techniques? And Sasuke-kun and I can only use one?"

Naruto slightly smiled to himself at her question, he had made it one of his priorities to help Sakura grow, and he had successfully guessed that her chakra nature was water. Though by no means was she 'capable' with water techniques, she at least knew how to perform the water bullet jutsu.

"Actually," Kakashi started with another eye smile at Naruto, "I was curious about this as well… I expected Sasuke to know fire jutsu from his clan, but you have no clan, or family for that matter, and yet you seem to be well-versed in your elemental jutsu." Kakashi cupped his chin and leaned forward onto the table, ignoring the fascinated stares of all the others around the table in his assumed thinking pose.

"And now that I think about it; I know of only one other wind user who you could have learned from, but he has his own team and I doubt you know him. So?"

"Hey! I have family!" Naruto blurted out hotly before mentally slapping himself. Naruto didn't know why, but Jiraiya had his reasons for asking to stay unspoken of when it came to training.

"No you don't." Kakashi responded flatly in much the same un-thought of haste that Naruto had just displayed before he too furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw at his mistake.

Naruto turned his gaze to the table-top and adopted an upset expression. In truth he wasn't all that upset by it, he had accepted it on the first day that Itachi had befriended him, but it was a convenient situation for him to avoid answering his team's questions. After that dinner proceeded happily as Tsunami laid out a large serving of seasoned rice and seared tofu. Short stories and laughs were shared with smiles amongst the group as Naruto did his best to stave off the sleep that his body so desperately wanted.

The happy air was soon shattered however as Inari suddenly lost his ability to stay silent. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?" the boy yelled whilst swinging his gaze over the four shinobi.

"Gatou will kill you just like he did this country! You can't beat him!" Tears began to stream from the boy's eyes as he burst up from his seat and slammed his small hands down onto the table.

An eerie silence settled over the group which only seemed to be broken by Inari's ragged breaths.

"Shut up, you're annoying." Naruto declared flatly as he looked straight into Inari's tear filled eyes. "You can give up if you want, but like your mother and grandfather, I'm never going to give up. Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to bed now." Naruto rose wordlessly from his seat and made his way to the doorway before turning and bowing. "Thank you very much for the dinner and company, Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san."

Tsunami stood and made to step after Naruto's soundless footfalls before Kakashi's hand landed on her forearm. "He'll be okay." he explained softly. "I'm sorry about that…"

"Really, there's no need to be sorry. It wasn't Naruto-kuns fault, was it Inari?" Tsunami glared at her son who she wanted to scold and comfort at once.

"Naruto has had a tough life… He grew up without family or friends to help him." The silver haired jounin said with a sad sigh. Upon some reflection he knew that he would blame himself for that, but it was one of the many things that he had conveniently not even put a single thought to.

"The villagers have always hated him for something that he can't change, but not once have I ever seen him cry or complain. You should at least be able to understand how he feels a little, Inari-kun?" Kakashi continued with the curious eyes of Sakura and Sasuke locked onto him.

Inari sniffled and rubbed at his eyes before dashing for the front door. No one had the heart to stop the boy, it was trying times for the land of his birth and it was obviously getting to him.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hmm, Sasuke?"

"Who were Naruto's parents?" Sasuke asked slowly, not wanting to phrase it in a potentially insulting way. "One day I heard… Kaa-san." His onyx eyes locked onto the table top at the mere mention of his deceased mother. "I heard her mention that Naruto looked like both his parents... She said it to… him."

'Well that's unexpected,' Kakashi thought with a quirk of his brow. "I can't tell you that." He sighed softly. It aggravated him beyond all belief that he couldn't even tell Naruto of either the Kyuubi in him or of his parents, let alone letting people close to him know.

Seeing the curious and slightly annoyed expressions on his students faces Kakashi expanded upon his answer as cryptically as possible. "There are some secrets about Naruto-kun that not even he knows. They're meant to keep him safe, but I doubt that they've been working."

"Secrets? Why?" Sakura asked quietly. She'd always given Naruto a little trouble during the academy, she was immature at the time and she was open to accepting that now, but atop all that she just felt horrified at how hard his life must have been.

"I can't tell you that, Sakura-chan."

Both Sakura and Sasuke dropped the heads at that and picked at the remnants of their food, hardly aware of the curious expressions on the faces of the hosts.

"But if you work it out, you have to keep it to yourselves… After all, his mother was one of the last of her clan, and his father was one of the greatest things the village ever knew." Kakashi's right eye crinkled back into his eye smile as he stood up from his seat, laws be damned, he was going to give at least a little information to his students, just like his late sensei would give for him.

"Anyway, it should be bedtime for you two. I get the feeling after his jutsu that Naruto might need a sleep in, so we can escort Tazuna to the bridge early in the morning."

With that said, Sakura and Sasuke said their thanks and goodnights and headed to their separate rooms. All the while Sakura's mind was churning over the information available to her, 'Sasuk-kun said that his kaa-san said that Naruto-kun looked like both his parents, and he's not a Yamanaka with his blonde hair, and there aren't many blondes in the village, nor many people with blue eyes like that. His father was one of the greatest things that the village knew… Blue eyes, blonde hair, Uzumaki, no parents, his birthday is October the tenth.' In the darkened room Sakura's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. "No… Really?" Silence greeted her words.

"The Yondaime couldn't be his father… Why would that be kept a secret?" she asked the darkness around her.

Sakura's mind soon began to fade to sleep with the mystery that was her blonde teammate floating around her mind.

X

A long drawn out yawn punctuated the awakening of Uzumaki Naruto as he gently opened his eye lids to the offending onslaught of light. His blankets were strewn across the floor and his pyjamas had ridden up his body uncomfortably. These two initial observations upon awakening annoyed Naruto simply for a pretence that when staying in a hosts home he should represent perfect order and neatness, or so Itachi-sensei had taught him.

With a tired groan he sat up and looked around, his brain slowly reengaging with reality as he did so. "What?" Naruto asked himself in a blank tone as a ray of sunshine hit his pupils. "What?" he howled as he remembered that today's task was to escort Tazuna to the bridge early in the morning. And the fact that neither Sasuke nor Kakashi were also sleeping in the room with him pointed out quite blatantly that they had left without him.

In a flash and a slight tear in fabric Naruto had his still damaged clothing fitted back to his body. "Tsunami-san?" Naruto called loudly as he loped from the guest room and into the kitchen.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Tsunami responded in a warm tone.

"How long ago did they leave?" He responded hastily.

"Hmmm," Tsunami began as she struck a thinking pose, her washing up duties forgotten as she did so. "It must have been half an hour ago." She mused in a thoughtful tone, "but Kakashi-san was clear in saying that he wanted you to have the day to yourself after last night."

Naruto just furrowed his brow at the motherly woman, though he wasn't sure if he was frowning at her being so fine with the situation or the fact that Kakashi had in fact told her that.

"Take a seat, Naruto-kun. I can make you some breakfast?"

Naruto vigorously shook his head in quick response before heading to the door in a rush, calling out his thanks as he bolted through the opening. 'Why didn't I put a hiraishin seal on Kakashi-san?' Naruto mentally screamed at himself as he blurred from tree to tree. 'Oh yeah… because it could be a complete invasion of privacy,' he mentally corrected himself ironically with a frown.

Naruto came to a sudden halt on a branch as a metallic smell assaulted his nose. Ever since he had learnt about chakra enhancing his senses he had made it a habit to always keep at least one of his senses more tuned than the others, and in this case it was his sense of smell as he identified to smell as blood.

His eyes darted to and fro searching for the source of the scent before settling on a mutilated corpse of a boar in a clearing opposing the tree he was in. Acting on instinct he shunshined to the dead creature and bent down to inspect it. Surely if it was killed by the villagers they would have taken it back with them to be butchered.

Suddenely his eyes picked up the slash marks that adorned the tree's around the boar and those heading back in the direction from which he had come. Naruto clenched his teeth in frustration, it was all too clear that this was from some thugs who were without a doubt on their way to Tazuna's house.

All of Naruto's nerves screamed at him to go and aid his team, but his heart couldn't let him abandon the woman who had almost been a substitute mother for the past week. As it almost always did, his body followed the orders of his heart and Naruto soon found himself flashing free tree limb to tree limb back towards Tazuna's home, his sense of anticipation rising with each step.

Soon the sounds of yelling met his ears as his eyes fell upon Inari charging at the two mismatched Samurai with Tsunami curled on the decking behind them. With just a thought Naruto charged lightening chakra through his muscles and flashed to in front of Inari with a kunai drawn, blocking the downward slash of the closest samurai that had been intended to cleave the small child in two.

Acting as though the whole event was passing in slow motion, Naruto shrugged off the blow and turned to Inari and shoved him backwards away from the fight. "The hero always arrives stylishly late!" Naruto yelled in his best attempt at a triumphant voice as he straightened his posture and settled himself into his taijutsu stance.

Naruto zoned out his opponents taunts and insults and simply stood his ground, waiting for them to make their mistakes. As he predicted he didn't have to wait long before the first one who he had intercepted charged forward with his katana raised above his head. 'The last mistake you make in this world.' Naruto thought apathetically as the man swung his blade down to meet Naruto's body.

To Naruto the strike seemed to be moving in slow motion as he thrust his right palm up, hitting the butt of the handle and stopping the downward swing. Milliseconds later his left hand slammed against the man's hands clasped around the blade in a bone crushing impact.

True to Naruto's predictions the blue haired man screamed and released his grip on the katana's ornate hilt. Raising his right hand slightly he snatched the blade from the air before twirling it back around and sheathing it in the blue-haired thugs chest.

Inari watched on with wide eyes as Naruto withdrew the now crimson blade from his defeated opponent in the same swift manner in which he had put it there. It all seemed like it had happened in a flash. The man had run forward, Naruto had disarmed him and ran him through. And now there he stood, in a new steady stand with the katana dipped low before him.

"Come," Naruto said flatly to his last opponent. This one obviously possessed the same arrogance as the first had and simply flashed a broad grin Naruto's way before dashing forward.

Unlike his comrade who had attacked with an overhead swing the thug instead swung his blade around to Naruto's right side. Seamlessly as though the blade were an extended part of his body Naruto adjusted his stance and folded his right arm back with the blade dipped below his shoulder.

The impact of blade on blade was a flash of sparks and a smirk from Naruto as he set his weight back and through all of his weight into a heel kick into his taller opponents chin. An expression of absolute shock crossed the taller man's face the moment that the force of the kick propelled him into the air. Naruto corrected his opinion of Gatou's thugs and decided that they must be closer to second rate criminals to not even expect a follow up attack from someone who had just killed their comrade.

In the same speedy manner in which Naruto dispatched the first opponent he flashed forward with his sword raised for a downward thrust, waiting for the man's body to impact the decking. The moment that the man thudded onto the surface of the decking Naruto thrust the sword downwards with all of his strength.

His thrust was met with a roar of pain at the sword effortlessly pierced through the man's shoulder and the decking below. He desperately reached for his dropped weapon with his right hand to guard against what he assumed would be a finishing blow. No finishing blow came as Naruto calmly stepped around the thugs struggling body before he stamped a foot down on the thugs reaching hand, the sound of cracking bones met his ears followed shortly by another scream of pain.

"Who is this man, Tsunami-san?" Naruto asked plainly as he bent and retrieved the discarded katana that the man had been reaching for.

Tsunami's breath caught in her throat at being acknowledged by Naruto. Adrenaline pumped powerfully throughout her body from the ordeal and she could hardly believe that Naruto had taken out both threats so effortlessly in less than five seconds. "Umm.. He i-isss." She stuttered nervously before again meeting Naruto's eyes.

With a deep breath Tsunami steeled her nerves and calmed her nerves. "He's one of Gatou's men, he has murdered and raped men and women from the village."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the explanation. He was a shinobi, so he completely saw the need for killing, but that was killing an armed and capable opponent, not townsfolk. And the very idea of rape disgusted him beyond all else.

"If I was you, I'd stay still." Naruto snapped out coldly as he lifted his defeated opponents discarded weapon.

Surprisingly the man did as directed with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It practically made Naruto scowl in disgust before he slammed the katana downwards, driving it through his right shoulder and deck below just as he had his left. It took the man a moment to register that his own sword was now nailing him to the deck boards along with his former comrades before he yet again screamed in pain and began thrashing his legs in a vain effort to gain freedom.

"This village will punish you," Naruto declared calmly before delivering a swift kick to the side of the man's head, effectively knocking him out and allowing an eerie silence to settle over the area.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," Tsunami said timidly. Despite the fact that she had known all along that Naruto and his companions were shinobi it was something else entirely to see him in such lethal action.

"Don't mention it," he said back with his grin resituated on his face. "You two stay safe, I've gotta go." With that declaration he was off again, this time running at his fastest possible speed as he channelled lightening-natured chakra through his muscles.

His fears were soon proven correct as he neared the incomplete bridge and saw it shrouded in a thick veil of mist. He cursed under his breath and dashed into the thick chakra-saturated environment, pushing chakra into his eyes as he did. Suddenly flares of chakra caught his attention. It took Naruto moments to deduce that Kakashi was fighting Zabuza whilst Sasuke was fighting Haku.

As expected Kakashi and Zabuza seemed to be tied in their battle, though Kakashi seemed to have more strength left in him, Sasuke on the other hand was losing badly. As Naruto drew closer to the ice mirror dome he spotted Sasuke on his knees with his head down, his body rising and falling with each ragged breath he forced in and out of his lungs. The visible parts of his body resembled that of a severely-abused pin cushion.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."

Naruto skidded to a halt in surprise as Haku's voice echoed eerily from the dome.

"It couldn't be any other way." Haku continued sadly.

Naruto was once again channelling chakra to his eyes to try and spot Haku from within the mirrors. "You've beaten Sasuke, I'm your next target, let him go." Naruto responded gruffly to stall for time as his eyes moved from one mirror to the next, trying to discern the chakra within Haku's body from the chakra that made up the mirrors.

'There!' Naruto mentally yelled to himself as his eyes locked onto what he was sure was Haku's visage stamped upon the top most mirror. In one smooth movement Naruto had withdrawn one of his marked kunai and flung it at the mirror. Time seemed to slow down for Naruto as he watched his kunai fly true whilst waiting for the ideal time to flash to it. "I'm not sure if I'll be strong enough to defeat you as well, but I have to serve Zabuza-sama." Haku announced bleakly.

Naruto's eyes widened briefly as he saw Haku's image prepare to throw a set of three senbon down onto Sasuke, and a moment later he was gone, only to reappear with his hand gripped on the previously thrown kunai. In the most powerful thrust he could manage he drove the kunai forward into the mirror.

Once again his eyes widened as instead of piecing the ice as he had expected the kunai to do it simply split down the centre as it impacted the severely-underestimated jutsu.

Naruto had no time to correct himself as a leg flashed out of the mirror and slammed into the side of his head. His vision blurred and his mind spun at the impact, barely aware of the fact that he was falling back to the surface of the bridge.

Instead of the hard impact that Naruto was vaguely expecting, he felt himself fall into a steady embrace as Sasuke's defiant form supported his body. Naruto gasped in surprise, Sasuke had not only made a considerable effort to shrug off his wounds to help him, but his eyes also shone a dull red with one tomeo in his left eye and two in his right. What Naruto did miss however was the incoming barrage of senbon that Haku had thrown a moment after kicking him.

Sasuke, however, did not miss the incoming projectiles that were quite clearly aimed at Naruto's exposed neck. Acting on instinct Sasuke dropped Naruto onto the damp concrete below and looked up just in time to see the senbon slip past his guard. The three sharp stabs of pain in his chest told Sasuke that his enemy's projectiles had in fact hit his vital points. Not a second later Sasuke crumpled to the ground, his breath even more ragged than before. Naruto rolled to Sasuke's side, shock written across his face as his eyes went wide.

As far as Naruto was concerned, Sasuke could not die. Even though it had never been said, or requested, Naruto felt like he was responsible for Sasuke, and as the last Uchiha left in the village he was an important part of the village's future. "Sasuke… Why did you do that?"

Naruto asked in a small voice as his eyes locked with Sasuke's once again onyx ones.

"I don't know," Sasuke wheezed as he forced a tired smile. "It was just... instinct. Couldn't let the last Uzumaki die," the Uchiha boy chuckled painfully.

Naruto's face shifted to an even more surprised expression. He certainly hadn't expected Sasuke to do any research into his clan. "What about the last Uchiha?" Naruto asked back with a small smile, hoping beyond hope that just a little positivity would be enough to keep Sasuke on the right side of the battle of life and death.

Sasuke coughed raggedly and his eyes widened in realisation of his dwindling life. "Naruto!" He exclaimed painfully, "That man I mentioned… My brother. Please, promise me you'll kill him for me?"

Naruto felt like he was looking at Sasuke's heart through his gaze, since for the first time his emotional guard was down. But Naruto couldn't bring himself to lie for Sasuke's peace, there was just too much about the events of the Uchiha massacre that Sasuke didn't understand. Not that he understood all that much more, but he trusted Itachi enough to be sure that whatever reason he had was a good one.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. One day you're going to talk to Itachi and get the answers you need." Naruto settled for sadly as Sasuke's eyes drooped shut.

Naruto's breath caught in his throat and his heart beat tripled, 'NO!'

Roughly he put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and shook. The Uchiha boy's face and body remained unmoving at the action.

"Was he a precious friend?" Haku asked despondently.

Naruto felt as though something in him snapped at Haku's words as a red flow of chakra rolled out of the Kyuubi's seal followed by the chakra entities booming laughter. Then as though the floodgates had truly opened the chakra exploded out from his body and swirled upwards into the air violently, the top of it forming into the Kyuubi's head as it went.

Naruto howled and roared in the pain as the chakra boiled through his system and changed his features, the henge over his eyes flashed into a reddened state of the rinnegan and his canines extended from his mouth, his lips peeled back into an aggressive snarl while his fingernails grew out into jagged claws.

Naruto was only vaguely aware of his surroundings as he once again howled in animalistic pain. Blood dripped from his eyes and mouth from the strain of the chakra through his system as he spun his head to look at Haku.

At the sight of the crazed Naruto shrouded in the bubbling red chakra with a tail forming from his tailbone in front of him, Haku almost wanted to take a step back and to run, but he held firm and kept his stance neutral. Immediately Haku began scanning Naruto for the easiest place to attack. The red chakra was a complete unknown to him, but what was clear was the expression of pain on Naruto's now blood smeared and savage face.

"Is this the pain that you will go through for the ones you love, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked tentatively in hope of calming Naruto enough for him to drop the chakra cloak.

'Ones I love?' Naruto echoed in his mind before swinging his hardly controlled gaze down to Sasuke's downed form. 'Kyuubi… I won't let your will hurt any more good people, save it for me. I refuse to be weak!' Naruto roared in effort into the sky as he focused on his positive emotions. As though flicking a switch the red chakra exploded away from his body, leaving behind a golden chakra cloak in place of the red one. Naruto features immediately shifted back to normal and his slight injuries from the Kyuubi's chakra healed over.

"This has to end, Haku-san." Naruto declared flatly as he raised his head and looked directly into the eyeholes of Haku's mask.

Haku hardly had time to jump from his mirror before Naruto became nothing more than a golden blur of light and smashed a fist through the mirror. As though he was stepping on nothing but air Naruto changed his path and wrapped an arm around Haku's neck. "Surrender, now." Naruto demanded flatly.

Haku responded by throwing his right elbow back into Naruto's stomach. Naruto showed no reaction to the blow and simply gripped Haku tighter before throwing him into the concrete below. Haku connected with the bridge face first with the sound of a hefty crunch.

Naruto landed softly next to Haku and rolled him over with a foot, ignoring the screeching sound in the background. The mask didn't come with Haku's face as he was rolled over, his large brown eyes looking up into Naruto's golden ringed ones. "So you have special eyes as well… No wonder I couldn't beat you." Haku coughed out, blood spilling onto his bottom lip as he formed a hand seal under his kimono in the guise of clutching a wound.

"I didn't use them." Naruto shook his head whilst keeping his eyes locked onto Haku's, completely unaware of the mirror forming above his head. "What happens now, Haku-san?"

Haku allowed a small content smile to cross his face. "I save my precious person," he declared resolutely as a chakra fuelled jump sent him from the ground and into the mirror above Naruto, then to the one he had formed near Zabuza.

Naruto merely turned in the direction of Zabuza and Kakashi's battle and began toward them at a slow pace, his golden chakra cloak fading as he did and his henge almost unconsciously forming back in place. He knew what the outcome would have been, Haku or Zabuza would be dead, most likely Haku.

He kept his head held high as he walked wearily forward, in no way was he physically tired, just emotionally drained. He had just allowed Sasuke to die in his hands. A sudden gust of wind carried through the heavy mist, carrying it out from the bridge and dispersing it into the air.

"You ninja are useless!" A shrill voice screamed from the incomplete end of the bridge.

Naruto's gaze hardened as he analysed the short fat man standing above Haku's lifeless body, both Kakashi and Zabuza not much further.

Gatou swung his stumpy leg into Haku's corpse in two swift and vicious kicks, yelling something angrily as he did. At the sight of the man desecrating Haku's defeated frame Naruto roared in anger and raised his right arm toward Gatou, an instinct from his eyes screaming at him to pull the disgusting little man into his hand to end his life.

"Kid, stop it."

Naruto looked to Zabuza, shocked at the simple command.

"Kakashi is right; this is over, Haku failed." Zabuza sighed as he hung his head.

Naruto flashed from his position to Zabuza side in an instant. "What the hell do you mean that Haku failed! How the hell can you be so calm about this?"

"We're shinobi. We are tools, Haku was mine."

Naruto's jaw dropped at the Mist nin's words, the same words he had already heard many times. "Haku wasn't a tool! He really loved you! He just wanted you to be proud of him, he want you to be his friend!"

Zabuza's head dropped further at Naruto's verbal assault.

"When I spoke to him all he wanted to do was to be strong for his precious person! I've had enough of hearing how shinobi are just tools, shinobi are people too, and Haku loved you!"

Tears splashed softly on the concrete below Zabuza as his shoulders heaved from the wave of pain the washed through him. "Kid, say no more… It pained Haku to have to fight you. He was always too kind."

The tall muscular mist nin looked back up and locked his gaze onto Gatou, his eyes narrowing as he did. With a shake of his head the bandages that had covered his lower face were ripped away. "But maybe you're right… Maybe we don't have to be tools. Can you spare a kunai?"

Naruto just nodded dumbly in shock before retrieving an unmarked kunai from one of his pouches and flicking it up into the air. Acting with lightningfast reflexes Zabuza snatched the kunai from the air by its handle with his sharpened teeth. Naruto turned his head to the ground as Zabuza sprinted toward the small army of Gatou's criminals.

The dull sound of blades striking flesh met his ears as he assumed Zabuza was muscling his way through the crowd spilling as much blood as he could on his way to Gatou.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and zoned out the sound of the dying men and tried to imagine what Ino was doing at the moment. He was sure that she would most likely be horribly annoyed alongside a content Choji and a carefree Shikamaru whilst doing some dull D-rank mission within the village. He almost wished that he was in that situation instead.

Without a doubt this mission had been the biggest learning experience he had been through since becoming a genin of Konoha, but he hated it for that same reason. Haku, a gentle and kind-natured young man had died by the hands of his team, just to protect the same ideal that he himself preached were the true ideals of any decent shinobi.

He looked back up upon the sound of clattering behind him. 'The villagers have come to fight back,' he reasoned simply before he effortlessly formed twenty shadow clones and started a slow march toward the remaining thugs that had escaped Zabuza's final rampage.

'If they get away they'll just do the same things somewhere else... Murder, rape, and torture.' All of the clones wore the same expression of disgust at the criminals.

They all glanced to the original for confirmation of their actions. A nod and a moment later they all zipped forward, hands flying through seals. Sending a complement of fire and wind attacks at the men desperately trying to escape. Not even their boat escaped the range of Naruto's self-made combination strike, as a wind-fuelled wall of fire exploded around them only to be followed by criss-crossing blades of air that tore limbs from bodies and left gaping gashes in the side of the boat.

As the black smoke from his attack cleared Naruto looked Kakashi in the eye. Kakashi only gave him a solemn nod before he made his way through the carnage left by Naruto's attack to the miraculously un-hit end portion of the bridge where Zabuza still lay struggling for breath. Taking a few emotionally pained steps forward Naruto found himself before the prone and lifeless form of Haku. Silent tears slid from his eyes at the sight of the dead boy who was so close to representing the same things as him.

His moment alone with Haku's remains was short lived as Kakashi bent low and deposited Zabuza next to his apprentice. The dark-skinned hardened man reached out softly and stroked Haku's unblemished right cheek. "If it's not too much to ask…" Zabuza muttered whilst shifting his gaze from Haku's relaxed face to the sky above him. "I'd like to go to the same place as you." With his piece said Zabuza's lips spread into a calm smile and his eyes eased shut.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto clenched his eyes to stave off the torrent of tears that wanted to escape as he felt the small cold pinpricks of icy snow falling against his skin.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" He forced out through a heave of his shoulders. Despite the fact that he had just ended dozens of lives, the bond, and meaning behind Haku's and Zabuza's far outweighed that of any of Gatou's criminals.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto went as stiff as a board. Ever so slowly he turned toward her smaller frame with Tazuna looming behind her. Once again Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. The sharp intake of air from Sakura told him she understood what that meant. Naruto just nodded his head in the direction he had come from and steadied his breathing and following slowly behind as Sakura escorted Tazuna to Sasuke's still form.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Konoha: Two weeks later XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun?" The two requested boys looked to Sakura as she spoke timidly. They had gotten back from Wave just a day ago and had each retreated to their respective homes and collapsed in exhaustion for the remainder of the day.

By chance they had all bumped into each other again early in the morning and had spent the day wandering around the village aimlessly. Of course that was before Naruto seemed to have aggravated some sadistic kunoichi who had blamed Sasuke for it and spent an hour chasing and throwing kunai at them. The whole ordeal had only made Naruto laugh whilst his two teammates sweated bullets in fear. They each had a few gashes to attest to the fact that the woman had meant business.

"Do you think that you two might want to come over for dinner tonight? Kaa-san will probably be okay with making dinner for my team…" Sakura trailed off as a content smile took its place on her lips.

Sasuke gave a nod and a grunt in response before he split off and went his own way. Naruto couldn't help but smile at that, Sasuke had lightened up exponentially, but for the sake of his pride he had refused to give up small habits such as his simple grunted responses.

Turning to the pink-haired girl Naruto reached out and pulled her into a warm embrace. "Thank you, Sakura-chan… No one has ever invited me into their home before, this means a lot to me."

Though at first shocked at the embrace Sakura quickly warmed up to it and hugged him back. Since the beginning of the Wave mission she had been beginning to understand why Ino was so infatuated with Naruto. Although the platinum blonde girl would never act that way while Naruto was around, there had been plenty of times when it had just been Sakura and Ino together and Ino would begin her ramblings on how many surprising things Naruto could do. At the time Sakura had thought Ino was just being an idiot and had just shifted her focus of obsession, but it was soon proven that obsession was the wrong word and that Ino did in fact know quite a lot about Naruto's behaviour.

Although she knew the hug had lasted a lot longer than any hug Sakura had shared with anyone besides her parents she didn't want to release the embrace. It felt as though Naruto was sharing all of his compassion with her through the connection of their bodies. An unbidden smile found its way to Sakura's face and she leaned her weight into Naruto's arms and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"When are you going to tell us anything about yourself, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked absent-mindedly off the top of her head. The moment she said it she realized that was exactly the issue that had always pestered her about Naruto; although he seemed upfront, he was a total enigma.

"When I feel like I can trust you all enough." Naruto mumbled his reply simply into her ear.

"But why don't you trust us enough now?" Sakura returned with a slightly hurt tone. "Sasuke-kun took a bad hit for you, and I know that neither of us were great to you before long ago… But I really trust you!"

Naruto sighed and gently pried her arms from around his body before stepping back to look into her emerald eyes. "Sakura-chan, there are things about me that might scare you, that might make you hate me, and you're one of my precious friends. I would never want either you or Sasuke to hate me."

Her eyes shot downwards and she shuffled her feet nervously. There was a sincerity in Naruto's words that told her that he absolutely believed what he had just said, but she owed him a lot of kindness and effort to make up for all the kindness he had given her. In an impulsive motion Sakura raised her face again and closed the short distance between their bodies, her lips crashing onto Naruto's roughly.

Naruto's eyes widened dramatically at the action and he quickly settled his hands on her shoulders to push her off. She didn't resist his push and was soon once again staring at the dirt path at their feet.

"You even got my first kiss, Naruto-kun… Please tell me at least something important about yourself?"

Naruto couldn't deny the chuckle that came from his throat at her words. Despite Sakura not being mature in the slightest yet, she could possibly one day make a wonderful spy. "How about at dinner time I tell you something?"

Sakura looked up into his blue-eyed gaze with a broad grin before spinning around, grabbing his hand as she went. "It's already four-thirty, you can wash up at my place!" With that declaration Naruto found himself being yanked along behind a rushing Sakura presumably in the direction of her home.

It didn't take long for Naruto to realise that the residential area that they were heading into was a rather wealthy one, if anything it was the polar opposite of where he lived.

"Here we are!" Sakura announced happily as she let go of Naruto's wrist at the doorstep to a very homely-looking house. Not a moment later the door opened inwards to reveal a tall green-eyed dark-blonde-haired woman. "Sakura-chan! How was your da-" the woman's grin broke upon spotting Naruto to Sakura's left.

"Kaa-san!" Sakura beamed at her mother.

"What is he doing here?" The womans tone shifted from her previous happy chant to a blunt and cold question.

"Ahhh," Sakura glanced to Naruto, smiled slightly and then looked back to her mother. "Well he's one of my teammates, and I thought everyone could have dinner here tonight?"

Sakura's smile faltered and faded swiftly as her mother gave Naruto a cold glare.

"Invite Sasuke-kun over if you want. But, but.. That thing is not stepping foot in our house!"

Sakura felt like her jaw would hit the doormat if it were possible. Despite previous dissagreements, Naruto was without a doubt one of the kindest, most charismatic and thoughtful people she had ever met.

"Bu-"

"No! That little demon is not dirtying my home with his filthy footsteps! Get lost demon!"

Naruto's expression didn't shift from his impassive and neutral face from the moment when Sakura's mother had first looked at him with those eyes till now. Gently he put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "It's okay Sakura-chan. I'll tell you next time."

By the time Sakura turned to where his voice had come from he was already gone, not even the swirl of air that trademarked a shunshin was present. Tears spilled from her eyes as she quickly pushed past her mother and ran for her room.

X

Naruto didn't really know where he was going; he was simply walking, wandering, and seeking anything to distract his mind, when suddenly he found himself in the darkened and wet expanse of his seal.

"Naruto-kun? What is this?"

Naruto froze at the voice, he knew it well, but it wasn't a voice he ever expected to be hearing in here. A deep laughter echoed from behind the bars before he had a chance to turn and block the sight of the Kyuubi in all of his caged glory from Ino.

"**It's the brat's little girlfriend, did you bring her here to tell her what a monster you are?**"

Naruto frowned at the Kyuubi before turning to a petrified Ino. She was literally shaking all over and her eyes glistened with tears.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, Naruto-kun… I- I – I just wanted to surprise you with the mind transfer jutsu and s-show you how much I mm-missed you…" she stammered as tears slid down her face from her sky blue eyes.

Naruto turned away from the Kyuubi's dark chuckle and wrapped Ino in an embrace. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Ino-chan."

The platinum blonde haired girl instantly buried her face into his mesh covered chest and let out a few rasping sobs. "Is this why everyone hates you?" she mumbled hotly against his chest.

"**Typical! Another little fearful rodent! You haven't even noticed that I'm not the only legend in here**."

"Kyuubi, please stop it. Ino-chan doesn't know what you and I know." Naruto called out calmly. He had stopped fearing the Kyuubi a long time ago, and now all he really felt for the beast was a strange sense of friendship.

"What do you know?" Ino asked as she looked up to Naruto's face.

As their eyes met Ino's mouth gaped open in shock. After all, Naruto had never thought of applying a henge over his eyes for inside his seal.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Ino-chan?"

"Have you always had a doujutsu?"

Naruto couldn't resist the small smirk that found its way onto his face. "Yeah… I've had it for a few years. I was told to keep it hidden, sorry about lying about it, and about the Kyuubi." At the mention of the Kyuubi, Naruto stood slightly to the side to allow Ino a direct line of sight to the giant nine-tailed fox.

"I would like to introduce you to my friend, and comrade, the Kyuubi no kitsune." Naruto said softly into her ear.

Ino's eyes grew comically wide as she shifted her gaze back and forward between Naruto's blue rippled eyes to the now grinning fox behind the sealed bars.

"I don't care about either one." She whispered as she jumped up slightly, wrapping her legs around Naruto's waist as she did and settling herself with her hands around his face. Naruto's hands naturally fell to her rear to protect her from falling, an action that they both enjoyed.

"You're still mine. I don't care about the eyes, or the Kyuubi." Ino smiled softly before pressing her lips against his. This time she led as her lips parted slightly to allow her tongue to ask for entrance to Naruto's mouth. She moaned as he followed her lead and their tongues met between them.

The kyuubi snarled behind his bars. "**I like you, Uzumaki Naruto, and I like the girl. But I don't like either one of you enough to enjoy watching this. Get out of here. Go train, I want you to be ready soon!**"

A sudden falling sensation hit the pair and then the next thing they knew was that they were slightly bobbing up and down. Naruto shuffled for a moment before looking to his left, realising that both Ino and himself were being carried over the shoulders of someone.

"Tou-san!" Ino called with a giggle.

"I found you two a few minutes ago, nice technique, Ino-chan," Inoichi mocked his daughter, but made no sign of wanting to let go of either of them.

"Excuse me, Mr Yamanaka?" Naruto asked in a slightly embarrassed tone. Ino did a poor job of stifling her giggle at Naruto's reddening face.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I know where you live, but I figured you could come share dinner with us and use the guest room for the night," Inoichi replied calmly as he continued to walk onwards.

For a few minutes Naruto just watched the ground pass below him before he looked up to his left to see Ino watching him with a small but happy smile. Silent tears dripped from Naruto's eyes at her expression. Beyond all belief he was being included into a family again.

Naruto silently vowed inside his head that he would surpass every shinobi who had ever lived and protect everyone in the world from pain.

**Hope all of you creative folk enjoyed! Please review.**

**Next arc will be the chuunin exams arc, it will be split into three chapters, coming soon!**


	6. Chapter Six: To Surpass

**I was a little faster with this chapter, although it's a shorter one. Again my thanks go to my beta for keeping me on the straight and narrow. **

**Thank you all very much for your positive reviews, they certainly make writing more enjoyable knowing that I'm bringing a bit of enjoyment to someone else's day through my creativity. **

**For some responses: **

**Haremlover4131: You're right about that in that chapter, I really struggled to write the wave arc and to get a feel for it, when it comes to repeating things that happen in canon I struggle to really get into the writing. Hopefully I'm improving on that point. **

**To the ones saying that the fights were short and that the chapter was mushy: I re-watched the wave arc, and if you take out all the pauses and talking then you'll notice that the fights are in fact very short, but aside from that the whole wave mission in my mind was meant to be an emotional one that sets new determination into Naruto, so that's what the "mushieness" was about. **

**Serialkeller: I didn't see it that way… I figured it was a simple case of Naruto under-estimating Haku's technique, which he'll take on board as a serious lesson as a Shinobi. And Kakashi being a dick about that was in my mind a good input to his character. Since the anime gives all the characters a fairly single faceted personality, I wanted to add in a bit extra. And instead of him unlocking a new rinnegan power, Naruto was able to achieve the partial biju cloak like how he did in the Chikara arc.**

**Digitize27: Many thanks. I'm sure when I get to the part where Naruto and Ino separate I will have many unhappy readers over the matter, but Naruto's character being what it is, it will be another hardship in his life that he comes back from, which will also lead him into his next major pairing, I'm thinking of adding in a sort of one-shot fling or two between them for Naruto's coping mechanism. But ultimately it will become a NarutoXKonan fic, I just want to add in a feeling of realism that comes from various partners in life.**

**Bankai777: Both are good characters, but they don't really have enough of a constant presence, or aren't close enough in general. **

**Key: **

**Kyuubi speech **

'_thoughts'_

_flashback_

**Chapter Six: To Surpass **

It was a regular day in Konoha; the sun was shining in the cloud-spotted blue sky, civilians and ninja alike went about their daily business with little to no hassle in their normally peaceful way, and three academy students were doing their utmost to stalk one Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was completely pleased with all aspects of this apparently-average day. The civilians and ninja of the village going about their day meant that they were still no longer attempting to harm him. In fact, ever since he had become an official ninja of Konoha the attempts to harm him in any way physically had completely stopped, not that they didn't still hinder him by raising prices and some barring him entrance to their shops. This problem was easily solved by a quick application of a henge and a conjured character's performance.

Naruto always preferred to henge into his female alter ego, or "Naruko" as she had been dubbed amusingly by Sasuke. It wasn't a true alter ego by any means, he simply created a character profile for the henge so that he could go about certain tasks without a hassle, and so far it had worked perfectly.

On the other hand of it being an average day, Naruto's little gang of recently obsessive followers were pathetically trailing him, employing all manner of ineffectual disguises as they went. The addition of Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi into his life had been completely unexpected; once during a self-requested briefing with the old man hokage, Naruto had been unable to resist pranking the old man with his Naruko transformation. Which had been performed by several clones simultaneously, and they had all performed the transformation to Naruko in all of "her" naked glory.

With Konohamaru as a witness, the third hokage had been rendered spectacularly unconscious. From that day onwards Naruto had been pestered by the young Saratobi and his friends as often as they could.

Although in all fairness and truth Naruto didn't really mind all that much at all, it only added to the sense of family that he was once again feeling creeping into his life.

It had been about a month since the return from Wave, and Naruto's life had taken a very positive turn. At least twice a week Ino, or her father Inoichi himself would invite him over to dinner and to stay the night, Naruto had never been able to say no, and after what would turn out to be a fun evening of conversation, games, and family debates, Ino would drag him off to her room at which point she would drag him into bed with her and fall asleep with his arms wrapped around her body and her head resting on his chest.

In those moments Naruto was very glad that he was taller than her, being shorter would certainly have made him feel more awkward. Many times he had sent out a mental thanks to wherever Mikoto was about her correcting his diet. With the right addition of nutrition, his healing factor, which was essentially also a growing factor, had been able to send his body through growth spurts that put him a few centimetres taller than all the other genin of his graduating class. He also had the diet and growth to thank for how quickly and positively his muscles were adapting to the weighted seals that he would load up every day.

Then for two other days of the week Sasuke would invite him to stay in his rather large clan head house in the mostly reconverted Uchiha district. Sasuke had even gone about adapting what he said was his old room into a permanent room for Naruto for whenever he wanted. Naruto certainly did not miss the kind gesture and thanked Sasuke profusely. The two then quickly found an odd but common friendship in the interest in cooking, both of them having lived by themselves for a long while but also having a woman's influence in their lives had learned to cook rather well, and they would enjoy attempting to create the most extensive and delicious meals possible together.

On some days they would include Sakura in their catch ups, but not long into their cementing friendship Sasuke had revealed that personally he didn't really like Sakura all that much, that she was an annoying little fan girl. Although Naruto had wanted to defend Sakura and be nice to her from the sense of camaraderie and the slowly growing friendship between the pair, he simply couldn't deny what Sasuke had said. Despite how much he had helped Sakura change; she still displayed many of the same behavioural traits, just not to the same extent.

Sasuke had even revealed that during the first dinner that he and Sakura had shared together at her parents' residence he had walked out mid-meal after they had insulted Naruto. That little bit of information had been the key in Naruto really deciding to befriend Sasuke and train with him.

And then to top it all off, the crazy snake lady had given him the instruction to know her as "sweetness" until he could find a way to force her to say her name, or a situation where she felt like telling him. And after their increasingly dangerous chases around the village the two would end up sitting side by side panting for breath at the dango stall enjoying laughs, jokes, and pranks together. Naruto would no longer acquire her attention through theft of scrolls however. He had begun to value keeping the scrolls much more than the chase itself after he had used his clones to absorb all of the available public information of jutsu.

So using all of his skills he had he would steal scrolls from the same targets as before and get away without being noticed, before returning them once he was done. So he had ended up just pranking "The Leaf's Den", a popular bar for Leaf nin, and a particularly loved and frequented place by Anko, or "sweetness" as he now knew her.

Add that to the recent event of Kakashi handing Team 7 the papers to sign up for the chuunin exams and one could say that Uzumaki Naruto was a very happy young man.

His current state of happiness however was beginning to erode to annoyance as his three mini stalkers dropped their disguise as fence posts and made a dash ahead of him to round the corner and find a new hiding spot.

Konohamaru's advance around the corner came to a sharp halt as he ran blindly headfirst into the leg of a black-suited boy with purple paint adorning his face. A slight smirk of disgust crossed his face before he sneered down at Konohamaru.

"That hurt, brat." He stated snidely as a blonde girl with four separate messy sandy blonde ponytails rounded the corner behind him.

In a swift motion the cat-like suit wearing boy reached down and hoisted Konohamaru up to his level by a grip on his collar. "You better beg for forgiveness, brat!" He spat angrily at the boy.

From his still slightly withdrawn position Naruto narrowed his eyes as he analysed the two in front of him. He quickly figured that they were both from Suna judging by their hitai-ate.

"If I were you, I'd put him down," Naruto announced as he confidently strode toward the Suna pair, aware now that they had a growing audience as Sakura skidded to a halt not far behind him and Sasuke watched on curiously with the red haired Suna boy from the same tree.

"Kankurou, stop it." The blonde girl stated simply as she eyed Naruto up with a slight smile across her face.

"You're Konoha genin, you seem weak." Kankurou said snidely as he tightened his grip around Konohamaru's collar.

"I'm going to put this simply," Naruto began with a smile twitching at his lips. "Either you put him down and go on your way, or I make you."

Kankurou's response was a sneer as he began to pull his unburdened arm back to swing his forming fist. Naruto acted quickly as he substituted with Konohamaru and formed several clones the moment he was in Kankurou's grip.

Faster than Kankurou could swing his now balled fist, Naruto thrust his palm directly into the Kankurou's nose at the same moment as two of his clones encircled the blonde suna girl, one holding a kunai to her throat from behind and the other poised to drive his own weapon into her heart. His third clone stood to the side of the small scuffle looking up at the red haired boy as a guard.

Naruto balanced back onto his feet safely as Kankuro dropped his weight after the palm strike that had most certainly broken his nose. The blonde girl had a deep blush across her cheeks from the close proximity of the clone against her back, and the red haired boy continued watching with the same impassive face.

"Besides, why would you want to punch the hokage's grandson anyway?" Naruto asked with a sly grin crossing his face toward Kankurou, who by now was now clutching at his nose to stem to blood flow.

"Kankurou, Temari, stop it. You're a disgrace to our village." The smallest boy of the Suna trio announced flatly from his spot in the tree.

Naruto suppressed a chuckle at the minute jump of surprise from Sasuke who stood on the other side of the trunk to the red haired boy.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Gaara!" The now standing Kankuro half stammered through his hands that still cupped his nose supportively whilst a slight narrowing of Temari's eyes were all that gave away her thoughts.

A tendril of sand spun around Gaara before he vanished from his upside down perch only to reappear in a similar sandy spiral next to his two teammates. "We're leaving, Temari, Kankurou." Gaara deadpanned.

"Wait!" Sasuke called as he pounced from the tree to land beside Naruto as the blonde Uzumaki dispelled his clones.

"You, the red head, what's your name?" Sasuke asked boldly with a serious glare.

Gaara turned to the Leaf pair with a flat gaze, his expression not changing as he spoke flatly. "Gaara of the desert. I would also like to know your names?"

A smirk crossed Sasuke's face at the request, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Next the boys' flat glare turned to Naruto. Naruto simply smiled impishly, "Nine."

Naruto was certainly glad that he had started listening to the kyuubi and employing the added instincts that their closer relationship gave him, one of such instincts gave him the slightly clouded ability to feel someone's intentions, and in some cases chakra. It was all too clear to Naruto that Gaara was the jinchuuriki of the ichibi.

Gaara's eyes widened for a moment before he regained his flat composure.

"One," he replied simply with the tiniest of smirks.

The idea of being in such close proximity to the carrier of the nine tails jinchuuriki was an exciting idea for Gaara. His love for blood and destruction had been growing the more he let the ichibi influence him, and the wide-spread destruction that the kyuubi had caused was something of legend.

From the shocked expressions that the other two Suna genin wore Naruto was sure that they understood the references, this only made him smile wider as he stepped closer to Kankurou.

"I must apologise for my strike against you, I was protecting a comrade. I'm sure you would do the same." Naruto said through an-all-too pleasant smile.

Kankurou just grunted and nodded slightly, not trusting the blonde jinchuuriki's approach.

"And since we will likely be competing with you in the exams, I don't want there to be any bad blood, if you'd allow me, I can heal your nose?" Naruto questioned with an overly pleasant smile.

Kankurou first shot Naruto a disbelieving glare before shooting Temari a questioning gaze. She smirked and shrugged, the closest thing to a '_yeah, why not.'_

"Fine," he grumbled out sourly as he released his grip on his nose.

Naruto quickly stepped into his guard with a broad grin that conveyed friendliness but hinted at something a little more sinister. His right hand rose to Kankuro's nose and began to glow a bright emerald. Surprisingly Kankuro sighed at the soothing feeling the healing chakra gave him. His soothed senses quickly shifted to senses of pain as Naruto's fingers grasped onto his nose and wrenched it back into a straight position painfully.

"Gahh!" Kankurou screeched in surprise and pain before sharp tingly glances of pain shot through his nose to replace the latest unexpected sensation.

"There you go!" Naruto called cheerily as he stepped back and surveyed his purposeful poor handiwork before Kankurou could shove him away.

When it came down to it, Kankurou should have been pleased. Despite the painful method that Naruto had used, his nose was once again straight, although a little bloody.

Kankurou shot Naruto a smirk, which triggered a grimace from the slightly incomplete job of his nose before turning and stalking away angrily. Naruto just grinned at the result, since a part of the healing jutsu was applying chakra to numb the nerves as the tissue healed, and he had decided against using that part of the jutsu in favour of only slightly finishing healing the damaged tissue, but a half done job was better than not done at all.

Gaara simply gave the two Leaf nin one last dead glare before turning and following in Kankurou's footsteps whilst Temari gave Naruto a small smile and blush before following suit.

"Are we going to be facing them in the exams?" Sakura asked as she neared the two.

"Not if I can help it," Naruto grimaced. "We want to avoid the red head."

"Why?" Sasuke queried with a raised eyebrow, as far as he was concerned Naruto had never turned down a challenge.

"Uhhh," Naruto mumbled under his breath. "Well remember when I told you that I have a secret that could make me really dangerous…"

The curious glances from the two told Naruto that they clearly did. "Well he has one like mine, just his is worse, and I really don't want to tempt it."

His explanation earned several confused and doubtful expressions from Sasuke, Sakura, and Konohamaru's little gang.

**X**

"That's a genjutsu," Sakura clarified as team seven walked into a corridor and past a gathering of people around a door labelled '301'.

"Well we don't need to tell them that," Naruto replied flatly as they continued on their way toward the end of the corridor where the next flight of stairs was that would lead them to the third floor.

"Hn," Sasuke conceded with his unique grunt.

Every time Naruto heard it he would have to bite his lower lip to prevent laughter from erupting forth, a habit that he was sure Sasuke was aware of. Even Sakura had developed a habit for openly laughing at Sasuke's prideful habits, which had even begun to make Sasuke flush in embarrassment. However in their current situation Sakura was far more reserved than Naruto and completely ignored it.

"Hurry up." Sasuke called from ahead flatly, having been the first one of the group to reach the top of the stairs. Naruto just sighed in response and quickened his pace. He still felt as though he had been dumbing himself down to fit in with the majority of his own age group, but it was especially obvious with Sasuke and Sakura. Each of them had their own issues that Naruto felt needed his attention, and to do that he needed to behave childishly and playfully from time to time. Sometimes he genuinely enjoyed indulging his inner child, and it was refreshing to see both Sasuke and Sakura lighten up in their own unique ways.

And despite the unsavoury way in which Ino had found out about both his rinnegan and the kyuubi he was glad that it had happened. The only things that he hadn't told Ino about himself were things relating to his life before the academy, but he had no reason to change himself for her, and that's exactly how she wanted it.

Lost in his own little world of thought Naruto hardly noticed Sakura grab a fist full of his open black jacket and wrench him through a doorway with her. His style hadn't really changed much, he'd just taken a leaf out of "sweetness's" book and now opted to wear his loose fitting jacket undone over his mesh clothed body, it was a style that he had quickly learned Ino loved, and Sakura hated. Though her reason had been that it would fluster her whenever she hadn't expected to see his chiselled body, at least he was sure that was her reason, she became especially tight lipped about that particular matter.

Naruto suddenly felt like he was on show as team seven came to an awkward halt right inside the doorway. Eyes belonging to hundreds of different genin from all over the elemental nations fixated on them upon their uncouth entry through the door.

Sasuke stared back impassively whilst Sakura shuffled nervously and lowered her gaze. Naruto however had different plans of addressing the assembly.

"What the hell are all you losers looking at!? Bow in fear of the mighty team seven!" Naruto declared before laughing loudly.

Both Sakura and Sasuke gave him disbelieving looks which quickly shifted to disapproving looks. Soon the rest of leaf genin from their class gathered around them on the event of Ino beaming brightly at Naruto and jogging to his side. The group was interrupted by another leaf hitai-ite wearing nin before they got settled enough to start bantering.

"It probably isn't wise to make such an entrance into the chuunin exams…" The new glasses wearing arrival said with a raised eyebrow at Naruto.

Naruto just shrugged in response, as far as he was concerned there wasn't really anyone in here who was a threat to him. Over the past month he had mastered more of his abilities gifted to him by his eyes, so he knew that at close range no one was really all that threatening to him.

The glasses wearing nin just quirked an eyebrow at Naruto nonchalantly before looking at the other leaf genin. "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, I'm something of a veteran of these exams," Kabuto spoke with a calm smile.

"How do you mean veteran?" Kiba asked with a snide tone to his voice that made Hinata blush in embarrassment. Obviously she was still unaccustomed to such uncouth manners.

Naruto couldn't resist shooting the shy Hyuuga girl a broad grin, furthering her blush to the point of bright red.

"Uhh, well I've done these exams about a dozen times," Kabuto explained with a dry chuckle.

Kiba's face went blank for a moment as he eyed Kabuto up disbelievingly. "A dozen times?" the Inuzuka boy roared before clutching at his chest as a bout of laughter rolled from his lungs, his fellow Konoha comrades just watching awkwardly. It was blatantly apparent to Naruto that Kiba honestly hadn't changed since the academy, if anything his sense of overconfidence had only grown.

"Well," Kabuto began with a dry chuckle of his own, "the chuunin exams are actually quiet challenging, it has also helped me build up a knowledge base on all of the competitors here," he explained as he withdrew a deck of cards from his sleeve.

"What are they?" Ino questioned innocently from Naruto's side. She could practically feel the unease emanating from Naruto at the sight of the cards and the man bearing them.

"These are my bingo cards, ask for information on anyone in here and I can show you what these cards have on them," Kabuto expounded with a smug smile.

"Gaara of the desert?" Sasuke questioned flatly before he turned his gaze from Kabuto to Naruto. "And Uzumaki Naruto," he finished with a smirk.

'_Ahhhh, and of course he still doesn't fully trust me… Guess it makes sense, it's not like he and Sakura really know anything about my abilities.' _

Kabuto shuffled through the cards for a moment before looking up and drawing two from the deck seemingly at random. Naruto channelled chakra to his eyes behind his henge and peered into the deck to see the flux of chakra coiling through the cards.

'_So there's no ink printed on them, he must have some sort of technique that allows him to transfer his gathered information to them with chakra.' _Naruto reasoned, hiding his frown as he did. Despite seeing the absolute need for spies in the shinobi world he absolutely had always hated the idea of coming across one.

"Gaara of the desert, hmm, interesting," Kabuto hummed before continuing. "He is the son of the kazekage and his two teammates are his brother and sister. His team has completed several C-rank missions, four B-rank, and three A-rank. Apparently he has never been injured in battle. His abilities aren't really recorded, just that he uses sand-based jutsu," the spy nin finished with an all-too-easy smile as he looked back up at the other genin.

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered tonelessly.

"Well what about Naruto?" Kiba demanded with a feral grin.

Naruto couldn't really blame Kiba for having a grudge against him, the Inuzuka were a competitive clan after all, and all throughout the academy Naruto would beat Kiba with as minimal effort as possible.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Kabuto smiled at the card he'd switched for. "One of the last of his clan… I have no record of his parents though, hmmm."

'_Geez, even I can figure that he looks like a mini-yondaime,' _Sakura huffed in her mind, although she was sure that Sasuke hadn't figured it out yet.

"Well besides that, he has performed one solo B-rank mission, a bunch of D-rank, a few C-rank, and an A-rank mission. He has only ever been reported to have minor injuries," Kabuto read out, his eyes widening upon the next line.

"Apparently he can perform the resangan," Kabuto recited as his eyes grew wider, "and apparently he has been seen to have used jutsu of every element."

The short shocked silence between the group was quickly shattered as a metal clad arm swung past Kabuto's face, his glasses cracking a moment later.

"It's not wise to talk so loudly in here…" the new arrival muttered.

Naruto placed his hands on Ino's hips and pulled her back before stepping in front of her, looking the new threat over as he did. Despite his familiarity with the Bingo book he couldn't match the boys' musical note marked hitai-ate with any he knew. But the symbol itself gave away the nature of his attack.

All of his instincts screamed at Naruto to hang back, but he couldn't resist the smirk that spread across his face before stepping forward. It was a habit that Itachi and Shisui had tried very hard to suppress in him, his enjoyment of showing off from time to time.

"You have a fearsome attack," Naruto grinned at the unidentified nin. "But will it work on me?"

Behind the boy's bandage mask Naruto could make out a slight smirk. Not a second later he dashed forward, his right metal-clad arm cocked back to swing. His fellow genin looked to be moving in slow motion to Naruto's much more finely-honed senses as he channelled both lightening and regular chakra through his own right arm.

The moment the sound genin's arm came within reach Naruto shot his own forward. Their fists met with a loud crack and a sharp intake of breath, however Naruto's eyes were locked onto the metal attachment on his opponent's arm. Despite having just broken the sound nin's knuckles, the waves of chakra-controlled air still rippled outwards from the device.

The attack only made Naruto smirk as he concentrated on one of his recently-mastered rinnegan abilities. As the changed air pressure hit him the chakra was simply drained out of the air and into his body. In an instant he channelled the absorbed chakra into his still-outstretched arm and flicked the sound nin's hand.

Another crunch met his ears as the chakra-enforced flick rocketed his opponents arm back in a sickening lurch.

A cold feeling silence settled around the group before Naruto gave a small smile to the sound nin who was nursing his arm with a grimace.

"So it seems that your fearsome attack doesn't work on me," he explained, his smile only growing as he did.

The sound nins eyes narrowed suspiciously at Naruto.

"And you'd be best to remember that for the duration of the exams," Naruto finished in a cheerful voice.

"No fighting in the assembly room, brats!" roared a demanding voice from the opposing end of the room.

All the genin in the room quickly snapped their heads to the source of the voice: a tall man clad in a jet black overcoat standing in an open doorway, a scar running down his face and a hitai-ate-adorned bandana wrapped around his head.

"I am Morono Ibiki, the proctor for the first part of the exams. Now file into the room and find the desk with your name marked on it," He ordered flatly before he himself turned on his heel and marched back into the room.

Naruto soon found himself separated from all of his fellow Leaf genin aside from Hinata as he took a seat next to her in a row of desks.

"This part of the exam is a written test," Ibiki explained monotonously, his eyes roaming the room plainly. "You will have exactly one hour to complete this test, and the final question will be asked in the last ten minutes. If you get caught cheating three times then you're out." Again his eyes scanned the room.

"Alright then brats, begin!"

A shuffle of paper resounded through the room as all the genin turned over their tests. Naruto scanned over all the questions briefly before he smiled lightly, all of the questions were things that Mikoto had drilled through him in many of her study sessions, sessions he was very glad that he had decided to try and enjoy.

In a snap the pen was in his hand and he had clearly written out the answer to the first question before he paused, something about the whole set of rules made him think.

'_Ahhhh, I get it… Information gathering test, I don't have any spy techniques, but I can take advantage of the three chances rule and do this test the way it was meant to be done.' _

Naruto couldn't suppress the grin that spread across his face as he moulded sufficient chakra to form a shadow clone. Not a moment later a clone formed behind him and walked from the row of desks, his head held high and his gaze directed away from all of the other genin and their tests.

Reaching the end of the row he turned right and marched quickly to the front of the room.

"Excuse me, proctor?" the Naruto clone asked in a hushed tone.

Ibiki eyed the clone up curiously before responding, "What do you want?"

"Do you have an answer book for the test?" The clone asked with an innocent smile.

Ibiki smirked in response and nodded to a small booklet in front of him.

"Thank you for your clarity, proctor." Naruto said politely with a happy smile as he reached out for it. The moment the book was in his hands he flipped open the cover and looked over the answers before dispelling.

All of the genin in the room looked at Naruto incredulously as he smiled happily and filled out all of the answers smoothly before sitting back and placing his weight back into his chair and eased his eyes shut and focused on identifying all of the unique chakra signatures around him.

With his attention so absorbed in trying to memorise the feeling of so many chakra signatures Naruto hardly noticed the flow of time around him as various genin were found out and rejected from the room. The eventual approach of an all-too-familiar-feeling chakra shook him out of his concentration as he zoned back into Ibiki speaking.

"And the final question is the most important one. If you get it wrong you can never take the chuunin exams again, but if you get it right then you move on, all of the other questions meant nothing compared to this one. So leave now if you don't want to take it!" Ibiki ground out as though he was speaking through a mouthful of broken glass.

Naruto couldn't resist his audible snort of amusement at Ibiki's psychological game as several chuunin hopefuls shouted their indignation at the situation. Ibiki's flat and monotonous response quickly sent the most doubtful ones amongst them scurrying from the room in defeat whilst Naruto simply sat in his seat sending a wide grin at the scarred proctor.

"What the hell are you grinning at, Naruto-kun?" Ino half whispered, half yelled nervously from the row in front of him after following the stare-off between him and Ibiki.

"It's just that it's such a stupid question!" Naruto declared cheerily. "Even if I get it wrong and fail, nothing he can do will stop me from being a ninja for my village. I will not ever back down or give up!"

Ibiki narrowed his eyes at Naruto before tracking them over the other genin in the room, letting out an annoyed sigh as he did. It seemed that Naruto's casual and determined admission had settled the nerves of all the other teams present. Even the formerly angry-looking Suna girl's expression had shifted to one of calm confidence.

'_Damn gaki's a natural born leader… If he gets chuunin he'd better stop taking Anko away from work though,' _Ibiki thought with an internal monotonous sigh.

**X**

A rare smile settled on Itachi's face from the sight of Konoha, though the smile was not in reflection of the village itself, but the fact that it held his two greatest loves: his younger brother and his precious student.

"Is the kyuubi where you expected it to be, Itachi-san?"

Itachi dispelled the smile from his face and turned back to his shark-like companion. "Yes, both kyuubi and ichibi are in Konoha, I believe that the ichibi ties into Orochimaru's plans," Itachi replied flatly to Kisame with his well-practiced cold expression.

"Next we're scouting out the Nanabi?" Kisame asked flatly as he shot a malicious grin toward Konoha.

"Yes," Itachi concurred mildly. "Leader-sama said that it was in Taki."

With Itachi's detached agreement Kisame turned and began a slow walk down the road that they had come from in their journey to Konoha. Itachi looked over Konoha one last brief time before following after his comrade at a comfortable walking pace. If anything he was glad that he was paired with Kisame, although the man had a distinct love of battle he was a rather collected individual, especially after his first partner had been Orochimaru, who had predictably tried to take his body, which made Kisame's mild and sometimes talkative company comparatively pleasant.

When Itachi put his thoughts to it he found very few individuals in Akatsuki who he purely disliked. The only ones who he did dislike were Hidan, Kakuzu, and Deidera, simply for their sadistic natures. The others, although spending considerable effort doing horrible acts against their former homes, did have some form of justification. Even though Itachi himself didn't agree with their acts he could easily empathise with them.

Deep down he himself harboured a slight dislike towards his home, but he knew better than to blame the innocents in his village of origin. The fault lay with its leaders, and he was being sure to invest in a stronger future for Konoha. Itachi's mind quickly switched to his beloved student, Uzumaki Naruto, the unexpected genius.

Despite the similarities between Naruto's and Pein's eyes, Itachi was sure that their behaviour and paths would be entirely different. It hadn't taken much working out to figure that Nagato and Konan had both been students of Jiraiya, and then linking them to the struggle in Rain with Hanzo and Danzo had been simple, so working out what Nagato's motivation had been was simple. And then behind the scenes was Tobi, his true identity still a mystery, pulling the strings, his own malicious desire for the world all too clear to Itachi, but his abilities were well below the mysterious Uchiha's, so he simply chose to place his faith in both his former student and little brother.

His thoughts shifted from his student and brother to Konan, the angel of Ame. She was an enigma to him, almost just as much as he was to her. By her choice of words and actions it was clear that she didn't desire for war, or for world peace, or for any real goal in particular. She was clearly detached from reality, which made it exceedingly hard to get a read on her, her behaviour was calm and cold, eerily similar to his own.

Only recently Itachi had decided to let some of his secrets slip to incite a reaction in the blue haired woman.

_Flashback _

"_You shouldn't think dreadfully of those who bear the rinnegan, perhaps there is one who wishes for joy and acceptance to rule the world." Itachi spoke with a flat expression as he took a step up next to the blue haired sentinel of Ame at her perch over her domain. _

_Konan gave him a shocked sideways glance before setting her brow in a frown. "And if you believe this so strongly then why are you amongst us?" _

"_The one that I know of is my legacy, his eyes are so full of love and joy. I hope that one day he can bring peace to Nagato." Itachi spoke flatly as he just stared on ahead, earning him another sharp intake of breath from Konan._

"_You mean that he can kill Nagato?" She questioned with a slight wrinkling of her nose._

_Itachi shook his head in a barely noticeable shake. "No, I don't think he would kill Nagato, especially since they share the same pain." _

"_Why are you telling me this?" Konan hissed as she turned her body to face his with a sway of her cloak._

_Itachi held his ground and kept his gaze fixated ahead. "You're not like the others in this organization, not even Nagato. I want you to know that there is hope in this world, that my legacy represents peace, and peace will find us," The Uchiha explained as he turned to face her and look into her amber eyes. _

_Konan stared into Itachi's onyx gaze defiantly, she had followed the same path for a long time, and she wasn't about to take a step back to Itachi's elusive words._

"_Let me show you his eyes?" Itachi whispered in a soft voice._

_Without knowing why Konan nodded in agreement as her eyes locked onto Itachi's activating sharingan. _

_It immediately became all too clear to her how Itachi saw the world as a pair of bright blue rippled eyes opened at her in thin air and warmth glowed from them and into her heart. The blue rinnegan eyes were so different from Nagato's, so alive and full of dreams. Even when Nagato had been young he hadn't had such brightness in his eyes. _

_As though the genjutsu had never been cast her mind was free of the image of the eyes, leaving a strangely empty feeling. 'I want that feeling back…' Konan thought idly with a frown on her face. _

"_I don't know you well," Itachi explained. "But please don't tell Nagato of this. There is far more going on than you realise." _

_Konan's response had been to school her face and nod simply. _

_Flashback end. _

Itachi wasn't sure if it had been the right thing to do or not, but thoughts of Naruto had been plaguing his mind for months, and he had simply wanted to share the hope that his former student gave him. Strangely he found himself trusting Konan with the information, and she had yet to betray that trust. He was sure that she would keep what she had been told to herself.

"It is just as you said, Itachi-san," Kisame stated calmly from his right side. "This work of tracking the jinchuuriki is surprisingly calming, even though Samahada wants to taste fresh chakra we are both enjoying the time of peace we're getting."

"Hmmm," Itachi agreed wordlessly. His mind already dropping all thoughts of recent events from his mind in favour of being as mindless as possible in his actions, something he was sure that Konan must have done to herself to a much greater degree.

**X**

The majority of the genin in the examination room either flinched or jumped in shock as what seemed to be a cannon ball crashed through one of the windows near the front of the room. A flag suddenly unfurled with a bold print on it, "Second chuunin exam test proctor, Mitarashi Anko, is here!"

The woman herself sprung through the window and landed in a pose in front of the banner not a moment later with a grin adorning her face and her right hand held out with the peace sign raised dramatically.

A gust of wind blew through the shattered window and picked her coat up in a dramatic flair of fabric to go with the awkward silence that had settled on the room.

"What the hell, Ibiki!?" Anko demanded as she dropped her pose and glared at the scarred proctor. "There are tons of them left!"

"You! Your name is Anko!?" Naruto roared as he burst into a standing position, his chair clattering to the floor behind him.

"Uhhh, yeah." Anko grinned lopsidedly at the blonde Uzumaki awkwardly.

"That still doesn't make sense for you to tell me to call you Sweetness!" Naruto yelled back fiercely.

Anko blushed a bright pink at Naruto's words and instantly shifted to the offensive. "My name basically means "sweet dango," so it makes plenty of sense! At least I didn't tell you to call me hunk like you told me!" she roared back, the gathered genin forgotten.

"That's totally different!" Naruto shrieked back, his own face beginning to turn pink in embarrassment. "You knew that was a joke. It's not my fault that you got all flustered when I knocked you on your ass that time!"

Anko opened her mouth wide to yell a retort, then closed it, then opened and closed it again wordlessly as she searched for a response, her face growing redder by the second.

"Shut up," Anko half whispered. "Or I'll kill you."

"Hahaha!" Naruto threw his head back in laughter as he clung to his chest. "Kill me? Riiiight, I like having fantasies too." He shot back with a grin, fully aware of the stunned audience around him.

Anko sprang into action faster than most genins eyes could follow as four kunai were sent Naruto's way.

Naruto's retaliation was even more unexpected as a black spear sprung from his sleeve in a way that told a logical mind wasn't possible and intercepted the projectiles in a ring of steel on steel. Not a moment later Naruto hurled the spear, followed quickly by another.

Anko took a quick step back in preparation of the unknown weapons approaching her, forgetting that her banner was still fluttering behind her. The moment she stepped back into it, it seemed to wrap around her and restrict her movements. With her mobility stalled Anko was unable to dodge the black spears as they skimmed the skin of her shoulders and picked her up by her coat, effectively nailing her to the wall.

Before she had a chance to attempt to gain her freedom Naruto was in front of her, a kunai extended and held against her cheek.

"It seems I win again, right, Anko-chan?" Naruto chortled at her through a grin.

Anko growled at him like a cornered animal with a malicious glint in her eyes. Using one of the only options she had left, she swung her right leg forward with all of the strength that she could muster. A grin immediately replaced her scowl that moment that she felt her foot impact Naruto's groin. However her moment of victory was short lived as instead of collapsing in pain and nursing his assaulted manhood like she expected him to do, he exploded in a blur of bright orange paint, splattering her entire body with it.

'_Kami fucking sake! Goddam exploding paint clones, I hate them!' _Anko seethed internally whilst on the outside she only wore a shocked expression.

Her shocked expression quickly gave way to an angry glare as she located the original Naruto sitting back in his seat laughing his head off, all the other genin and chuunin in the room equally as shocked as Ibiki.

"Need a clean off?" Naruto called between chuckles.

Anko just sighed as she wrenched the black spears from her coat and dropped back to the floor.

"Fine then," she sighed, she was aware that she'd lost this round.

Naruto lopped forward happily and flew through some handsigns, "Water release: Purified water vortex!"

'_Well just great!' _Anko mentally deadpanned as a gigantic version of the purified water fountain roared towards her. Already defeated she decided to just stand still and take it as the water picked her up and forced her back against the wall. It was over a moment later with a very clean and very soaked Anko, and a stunned room.

Anko shook her body much like a wet dog would and addressed the room in a cheery voice as though nothing had happened, "Alright brats, the location of the next part of the exams is to be held in training ground forty four, so follow me."

With a broad grin she leapt from the window, Naruto hot on her tail with a similar grin.

"Umm, what was that?" Ino asked the exasperated remaining members of team seven.

"Uhhh," Sasuke mumbled and shrugged.

"I think they're always like that…" Sakura tried to clarify with a confused-looking half smile.

Ahead of the two girls Sasuke jumped from the window behind a pair of rain nin. Sakura quickly moved to follow him with Ino by her side. "And who is that woman?" Ino asked with a frown over her brow.

"It's hard to explain…" Sakura responded as they practically bounced from one rooftop to the next. "But I think that she's sort of his… handler." Sakura shrugged.

"What does that mean?" Ino asked absently as she matched her steps to her pink-haired friend.

"Uhmm," Sakura hummed in thought, tilting her head in thought as she tried to recall the event. "Naruto-kun explained once that she was put in charge of stopping him from stealing jutsu scrolls, or something like that…"

Ino simply frowned at the new information, it was a side of Naruto that she hadn't expected. She would have found it more believable is it had been explained that Anko had been put in charge of preventing Naruto from pranking the village jounin, since she had seen him do that on several occasions using forms of seals that made her mind spin.

The rest of the run from rooftop to rooftop passed in silence for Ino as she focused chakra through her legs as Naruto had taught her to help increase her speed, and before long she arrived at the grassy plain that bordered training ground forty four with the bulk of the chuunin hopefuls in her wake. Only to bear witness to a huffing Anko grinding her knee into the back of Naruto's neck with the boy in question being face-down in a small crater.

All of the Konoha genin rose curious eyebrows at the sight of what was seemingly the end of a fitful battle. Chunks had been torn out of the ground, areas were burnt to a crisp, and some spots had even had ponds form from Naruto's over-zealous usage of water jutsu.

Somehow Anko had avoiding any real damage from all of Naruto's destructive techniques as she plopped her weight onto Naruto's upper back, using him as a seat as she leaned forward and pressed a kunai to Naruto's mostly unblemished cheek.

"I win, Whiskers." Anko sighed out in nine parts relief and one part joy. A part of her wanted to drag Naruto to the hokage at that instant and demand he be promoted to special jounin, since during their brief but hefty fight Anko had been fighting as seriously as she could whilst the blonde genin had been laughing his head off as his dangerous attacks were directed in ways that would miss her but throw copious amounts of mud, water, or in some cases paint on her.

And now there he lay, after having been knocked down whilst laughing from a kick.

Naruto shifted his weight slightly so that he could look up at Anko's light brown eyes, disregarding the kunai pressed to his cheek as he did.

"Does it count as winning if I decided to let you win, Sweet-Anko-chan?" he mocked with a grin splitting his face.

Anko growled her annoyance, it was made worse by the fact that it was true, and somehow during their fight he managed to keep disappearing from his position only to smack her in the back of the head from behind.

"Next time, when we aren't in a hurry because of the other brats," Anko paused for a moment as pressed the kunai against his cheek a little harder before flicking it backwards, opening a thin cut across his cheek. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

With her threat placed Anko pushed herself off Naruto's back in the most painful way that she could with her heels digging into his back.

As Naruto rolled back to his feet Anko made a show of licking his blood off her still drawn kunai as she shot a wink at him. He just shot back an unimpressed glare before pushing past her and shouldering his way through the crowded genin towards his friends' chakra signatures.

"What was with all that, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned away from his two team members who he'd been about to laugh the situation off to as Ino's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Ah, Ino-chan!" Naruto grinned sheepishly to his unimpressed looking girlfriend. "Anko-chan's a friend, we just like fighting all the time," Naruto explained happily.

"SHUT IT BRATS!" Anko's voice roared over the group of genin, prompting Ino to clamp her mouth shut and replace her curious expression with a scowl toward the boisterous proctor.

"Since Ibiki left so many of you behind, I need to cut this group in half, so…" Anko trailed off as she grinned and turned to face the towering forest seemingly held back only by the equally towering fences.

"This section of the exam is being held in training ground forty four, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. Half of you will be given a scroll of heaven and the other half a scroll of earth. Your objective is to get your opposing scroll and to get to the tower in the centre of the training ground before the end of the week," Anko declared, turning back to face the genin with her trademark sadistic grin spreading.

"So form into your teams, and be prepared, there are lots of things in there that can kill you. Everyone line up at the gates to collect your scrolls!" Anko finished loudly with a resolute grin.

**X**

A tangle of bright red hair bobbed up between two shoulders near the back of the group of genin assembled outside the Forest of Death. Her crimson eyes widened in awe behind her rectangular glasses at the sight of the mop of blonde hair belonging to a whisker-faced boy being held down by the newest proctor.

Karin couldn't confirm with certainty, but she was sure that the boy who had seemingly been beaten by the proctor, despite his grin and mostly untouched state, was the one whose chakra she'd been enamoured over ever since entering the exams.

All throughout the exams period she had been having trouble committing any focus on anything but the feeling his immense chakra gave her. His presence felt like a glowing star of joy to her, and the bold ways in which he passed the written test and showed up the second proctor only served to impress her further.

"Dear Kami! Why does that woman keep touching Naruto-kun?"

Karin turned to the source of the voice, a platinum blonde haired girl amongst a group of other Konoha genin. Her eyes widened further as she focused a little more attention on the girl. It was all too clear to Karin that the pale blonde haired genin had been in contact with Naruto, surprisingly his golden chakra seemed to be pasted over the top of her pale blue chakra as a kind of residue. Which was something that Karin was aware of only having had happened with Biju with their immense chakra.

Before she knew it the blonde boy that she could now identify as Naruto had pushed through the crowd of genin and re-joined his comrades, but before he could even begin any form of conversation with his teammates or friends in general that platinum blonde girl began asking him sceptical-sounding questions, her muted jealousy evident.

That spelt out quite clearly to Karin that the two were a couple, which in turn sent a pang of jealousy through her own heart. Karin seriously doubted that the blonde girl could even appreciate the immensity of the power that Naruto had, but it was even more than power, it was a feeling of warmth and peace that Karin couldn't properly identify.

She was soon shaken from her thoughts and infatuations by her two taller male teammates as the proctor began yelling instructions about the next phase of the exam. It didn't take long, and soon all of the genin were moving to follow her instructions.

Karin trailed behind her team as she veered toward Naruto who was walking idly behind a cobalt blue shirted boy who sported the Uchiha fan, the boy who she'd been sent to observe, and despite his own attractive-feeling chakra, it was nothing compared to Naruto's.

"Excuse me?" Karin squeaked fearfully, as she gently reached out and put a hand on Naruto's black shirted back.

Naruto turned smoothly and gave her a calm smile, his lips quickly forming words, "So you're the one with the beautiful chakra I've been feeling."

Karin flushed bright red at his words and managed a small nod, her words bubbling up her throat in a garble of sound. Her nervousness wasn't helped by that fact that Naruto was giving her a clear once over, his eyes stopping for the longest period on her face and hair.

"Thank you," she sighed out as though breaking the flood gates that had held her words in check. "I haven't been able to feel anything but your chakra all morning, and I-"

Naruto cut her off suddenly with a blurted question, "are you an Uzumaki?"

Karin's eyes widened at the question as she quickly nodded.

"What's your name?" Naruto followed up calmly with a gentle smile, opting to try and not fluster the easily-flustered girl.

"Uzumaki Karin," she practically yelled with a happy grin, garnering the attention of both her and Naruto's teammates who had already collected their scrolls.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto declared proudly. Before Karin knew what was really happening she found herself wrapped up in an affectionate hug. She reacted in the only way that she could to the all-encompassing chakra presence by wrapping her arms around his middle and burying her face into his chest. She was vaguely aware of hearing the platinum blonde girl's voice complaining about everyone but her getting hugged and the mild chuckles from Naruto's friends, but all she could manage to focus on was the peaceful feeling that Naruto put into her heart.

For a moment Orochimaru flashed through her mind and she wondered what he would think about this, but in the end her task was clear: perform in the chuunin exams and observe Uchiha Sasuke.

Karin pouted at the sudden lack of Naruto's warm body as he unwrapped his arms from her and stepped back with a gentle smile on his face.

"I couldn't live with myself if I let a fellow Uzumaki get hurt." Naruto declared as a clone formed into existence beside him.

Karin was shocked once again, she had always been able to tell the clone from the original, but this clone's chakra glow was almost just as bright as the original, and if the original wasn't there for her to compare it to she would be hard pressed to work out that it was just a clone.

"Please trust me, I would like for my clone to go with you?"

Karin nodded vigorously as she wailed her thanks to him, "Thank you so, so, so, so much. Thank you!"

With her abundantly clear thanks said, Karin blushed at Naruto a final time before she turned and marched back to her team, Naruto's clone right behind her.

**So I hope everyone enjoyed the first instalment of the Exams arc, it was a short chapter for me, next one will be longer. **

**Please review your thoughts, suggestions and ideas : ) **

**I'm still open to suggestions about Naruto's second major pairing. **


	7. Chapter 7: To Be Cursed

**Once again my thanks go to my beta for his help with this chapter and keeping my writing up to good standards. **

**I have made up my mind on the second pairing, so thanks for the suggestions. **

**I'm sure I will get complaints to some of the characters behaviours, but there are some characters (such as Sasuke) who I want to stick close to canon, and others (Sakura) who going to be mainly involved in causing dramatic issues. **

**I'm very open to story suggestions, so please don't hesitate in blurting your thoughts into a review : - ) **

**Review responses: **

**ZeldaFanDaen: Mostly king, for which you have my thanks :P Sometimes my roommate shifts into writing some of it, so she fills in the female portion :) I hope you continue to enjoy! **

**Guest: I wanted to portray Naruto as a humble character who wants to embody the idea of peace that both Itachi and Jiraiya have, hopefully I continue to portray him in a manner that you and other readers enjoy :- ) **

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Personally I don't understand how it's remotely "forcing" it, since it was planned from the very beginning. But I hope you enjoy how I portray events and characters. **

**To all the other positive review, my thanks and appreciation! **

**And to others who still don't seem to get the "it's not a harem message," well… It's not a harem… **

**Chapter 7: To Be Cursed**

Naruto couldn't resist the chuckle that crawled up his throat as he heard Sakura yelp yet again as another of the many thin branches that adorned the massive trees around them slapped back into her face with an audible thwack.

"Stop laughing at me!" Sakura screeched up at the blonde.

"I can't help it, sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto chortled back to her without breaking his gaze from the forest around them.

Sakura shot a glance at Sasuke and saw that even he had a collection of red lines adorning his unclad arms and legs from the impact of the dewy branches, then looked back to Naruto and saw that not even a droplet of water had stained his unmarred black shinobi garb.

"Naruto, how are you avoiding everything like that?" Sakura half-yelled, half-pleaded in a desperate tone. She felt pathetic for it, but they had only been in the forest of death for two hours, and she could already feel her morale giving way to a feeling of senseless hopelessness.

She was sure that Sasuke was partly in the same boat as herself, but his pride wouldn't let him complain whilst in the presence of his competitive brother figure.

"It's a really simple trick," Naruto explained cryptically, followed by another chuckle that only served to get on Sakura's nerves more. If it was such a simple trick, then why hadn't he told either of them about it when they entered the forest.

"Well!?" She demanded, realising that he wasn't about to answer after a short pause.

"You remember the water walking exercise?"

Sakura nodded dumbly to his question. Somehow Naruto noticed the nod and continued, "Well I just apply a thin layer of chakra over my body which repels any of the water or branches."

'_Right… Simple, of course he'd say that.' _Sakura mentally deadpanned in much the same manner as Sasuke was as well.

After one of team seven's training days both herself and Sasuke had toppled to the ground in exhaustion and Naruto had simply grinned and vanished in some form of shunshin that not even Kakashi could decipher. Sakura had jokingly asked their sensei about why Naruto seemed so fine after their sessions.

It was all too clear to tell that Kakashi got carried away with his answer and it was more akin to him thinking out loud as he explained that he was sure Naruto must have had previous training to a very high degree, and on top of that he had both astronomical reserves of chakra and the fine-tuned control to use it perfectly. This had answered just as many questions as it had raised, and so their blonde team member remained an ever-deepening enigma, despite the facts that he ever so slowly revealed about himself.

Such as him being an orphan, his almost family-like relationship with the hokage, his troubles with the villagers, which Sakura had demanded to know about after Naruto had been kicked out of a store to which she had taken him and Sasuke to purchase celebratory sweets. Although she had been exceedingly disappointed in his answer of, "I guess the Uzumaki clan just aren't very well-liked."

After that offhanded comment Sakura had researched the Uzumaki clan as thoroughly as she possibly could, and her resulting information had very much surprised her. Even more so was the fact that such an important clan wasn't mentioned in any academy classes.

Sakura had found that the Uzumaki clan, formerly of Uzushiagkure, was partly responsible for Konoha's current considerable strength with all of the seals that they had taught to their allies. And that their alliance was no doubt related to the fact that the Uzumaki and the Senju clans were distantly related by blood. But after the apparent height of their friendship it sharply declined as a vast majority of the nations of the elemental continent rallied against Uzu in fear of their considerable and still-growing power, and Konoha had flatly ignored their pleas for help.

She noted that it had been documented that very few Uzumaki clansman were recorded to have escaped the carnage. Her current train of thought was in response to having watched Naruto's unexpected interaction with a red-headed girl on the outskirts of the forest of death before the second phase exam had started. She was easily able to deduce that Naruto had somehow identified that the read-headed girl was an Uzumaki. Although Sakura was unable to fully understand how the two had sought each other out amongst such a crowd of individuals.

In her mind it only added credence to the fact that in many of the Uzumaki-related scrolls she had found there was considerable mention about the Uzumaki's special chakra.

Her mind was rudely pulled back to reality as another thin branch smacked into her forehead with a crack.

"Ehehe, that forehead is like a target…"

Sakura glared heatedly at Naruto's back, she wasn't sure why or how, but Naruto must have been the one responsible for both hers and Sasuke's torture by tree limbs of the forest.

Suddenly his choice of words hit her full force, her mouth gaped open for a moment before she screeched after him.

"Forehead? Did Ino-pig tell you about that?"

Sakura suddenly directed her heated glare toward Sasuke as she heard him chuckle as well. "Sakura, everyone's heard about that…"

She balled her fists and continued on jumping in silence, the only sounds around them were the distant clashes of metal from combating genin and the various pitches of animal calls.

"I know!" She declared all too loudly for both Naruto's and Sasuke's liking.

"Shut it, we're being followed." Naruto growled lowly.

Sakura however was already in her element as she grinned broadly. "From now on, you're both Naruto-baka and Sasuke-baka!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke called angrily, giving her a harsh glare. "Didn't you hear Naruto? We're being followed, shut the hell up!"

"Too late for that," Naruto hissed, coming to a halt on a sodden branch and motioning for them to do that same.

In a manner that showed that they had in fact practised following Naruto's command many times the two other members of team seven came to a halt in his wake. The two less-experienced genin glanced around the ominously darkened trunks around them, trying to spot the "someone" who Naruto had cautioned was following them.

Naruto glanced left and right before he pounced forward toward the next closest tree limb. Mid-air a powerful gust of wind struck him and swept him deeply into the darkened depths of the forest.

He tucked his arms and legs close to his body and called back to his teammates confidently despite being carried by the unnatural wind. "Defensive formation, I'll protect the scroll."

The winds died down around Naruto as he closed his eyes and focused on draining the chakra out of the attack. The moment that his focus succeeded the winds stopped their carriage of him away from his comrades and he plummeted toward the dark forest floor. Naruto threw his arms and legs out from his body in a vain effort at making contact with any of the nearby trees in his free-fall.

He knew that even with his kyuubi-enhanced healing, impact with the ground at this speed would without a doubt cause him serious injury.

Naruto's mind raced for a solution, the complete unexpectedness of the situation making him momentarily forget about the possible use of his hiraishin. The ground seemed to rise up to meet him for what he expected to be a violent and bone crushing impact.

'_Focus Naruto, cancel out the gravity… Focus on the gravity around my body…' _Naruto slowed his breathing as he focused on redirecting his rinnegan powers to work around his body in a way that he never had. He completely zoned out the dwindling hope of the situation and ignored all other sensations around him in favour of his experimental technique.

Suddenly Naruto felt his descent cease as a sense of weightlessness washed over him. A long breath of relief eased from his pursed lips and he cracked his eye lids open carefully. He was met with the sight of the damp mossy ground only a few centimetres from the tip of his nose. A sudden barrage of laughter at the turn of events tore from his chest and as suddenly as his power had activated it vanished, dropping him face first into the ground.

Naruto rolled over with a grin and let another few bouts of chuckles out as he sat up and dusted his black shirt off.

A sudden motion in the shadowed depths of the trees around him brought him to his feet quickly as he drew a kunai. A distinct hiss issued from the shadows and Naruto lowered his stance closer to the ground. Two doppelgangers materialized next to him in the same stance.

The shadowed creature suddenly blurred forward into the dim light of the clearing with ruthless intent to kill the young blond. Naruto ignored his instinct to be shocked at the sight of the gigantic snake and whipped his arm backward over his shoulder, releasing his kunai in a streak of silver.

He heard a distinct thud as the blade buried itself in a trunk not far behind him and he flashed to its position. Both his clones knew the drill and channelled lightning chakra through their muscles to increase their speed to that of a shunshin. One released his own kunai into the gaping maw of the attacking snake whilst the other rolled to his right to avoid the clamping jaws. They both shot each other a knowing glance before nodding and vanishing.

Naruto watched from his vantage point with a blank expression as suddenly the snake exploded in an outward expanding dome of blood and flesh. His tactic of using exploding clones seemed to be the most direct way of dealing with the unexpected threat of the overly perceptive snake. The convenience for the wind attack to have carried him in the snakes direction quite blatantly pointed out to him that the snake was most likely a summon of team seven's attacker.

Naruto swivelled his head to look back in the direction from which he had come and assessed the terrain. His eyes skimmed from the bushy undergrowth to the soaring trunks in search of the most ideal route to take. As he had done in all the training sessions that he'd had with his Uchiha mentors he sprung toward a tree trunk at lightening speeds. Upon impact with the trunk he dashed straight up, back to the height at which team seven had been travelling.

Not a moment later he was soaring from one trunk to another like a black and blond pinball, slowing his pace only to make small adjustments to his direction. He soon became distinctly aware of the presence of a cold dark chakra in the same vicinity of his teammates. This useful revelation however didn't bring him any joy as he scowled, the enemy was obviously not meant to be in the exams.

A brief thought later and another Naruto formed next to the first one mid-flight, he fell into step beside his creator and gave him a sideways glance for directions. It was a part of the shadow clone technique that still perplexed Naruto. He whittled it down to being that he'd have to focus completely on the orders before creating the clone for it to do them without any spoken words.

"I'm not sure if the seal will still be on her…" The original Naruto huffed out as he practically bounced off another trunk, his clone in perfect synch with him. "But I need you to find Anko-chan, tell her that there's an intruder in the exams, and that she has to assist immediately." Naruto finished breathlessly as he landed on a thankfully broad and long tree limb that ran in the same direction he was heading.

The clone just nodded its understanding and formed a single hand sign. A moment later and Naruto was running alone once again. It seemed that his previous fight with Anko when he had formed a hiraishin seal on her was a lucky quirk of fate.

A flash of warm red light illuminated the trees ahead and Naruto slowed his pace. Countless hours of practice and sparring had taught him that the familiar red glow of light belonged to the great fireball technique, a technique that he had learned was Sasuke's signature jutsu.

Naruto cursed under his breath as he edged his way around a tree that bordered the fight between his teammates and their opponent. A noise that started at as a hiss soon rose to a roar and a whoosh before the sounds of massive tree limbs being crushed echoed from the fight zone around the tree that Naruto was using as an observation post. The moment that Naruto's blue eyes rounded the tree he was met by the sight of a massive snake, much larger than the one that he had previously dispatched.

Atop the monstrous scaled creatures head stood a pale faced man with flowing black hair, an extremely smug smirk plastered across his face at the destruction around him. Naruto couldn't help but be impressed that both of his comrades were still alive and unharmed on a branch even further from than enemy than his. Practically all the trees between them and their foe had had massive limbs wrenched clean off and discarded on the forest floor in what was obviously the snake's best effort to catch Sasuke and Sakura.

"Quite an impressive display, Sasuke-kun," the snake man chortled with his smug smirk shifting into a malicious smile. "It's a shame that you still don't match up to Itachi, but you have those wonderful eyes like his…"

Naruto barred his teeth at the words directed at his teammate. He had no idea what the Snake man's ploy was, but his rapt attention being on Sasuke's gleaming red eyes was hint enough for Naruto.

Mentally Naruto was going through a long list of likely most effective jutsu to use against the powerful nin, but was only drawing blanks. He cursed as the snake shot toward his teammates at much faster than expected speeds. Reacting on instinct Naruto shot from his perch after him, one of his marked chakra kunai drawn and raised over his head in preparation for a slashing motion, his wind chakra already creating its own version of the blade.

The seconds slowed down for Naruto as he closed in on the snake and the snake closed in on his teammates who were quite obviously too winded to escape their predicament. Naruto was vaguely aware of the snake man turning his vicious grin on him as he began to drop his overhead slash onto the top of the snake's head.

The man's eyes shot wide in surprise at the blonde's unexpectedly hasty return and shunshined off his summons head just in time to avoid the downward slash from Naruto's easily three-meter-long wind chakra blade that was almost more akin to a whip.

Still mid-air the wind blade made contact with the snakes head, and just as Naruto had expected would happen it cut cleanly through from top to bottom like butter. Naruto released the wind blade technique and threw the kunai toward Sasuke. As soon as he heard the distinct thud of it implanting into the trees branch he flashed to it, narrowly avoiding the spray of deep crimson blood from the snakes halved head.

Both his teammates gave him distinctly shocked expressions as he stood from his kneeling position with his kunai once again in hand. The thrashing body of the snake ignored as it uncoiled itself from a branch and fell to the darkened forest floor.

"Naruto-kun…" Sakura began, her eyes wide and locked onto Naruto as he took a resolute step in front of her, blocking her line of sight to their attacker. "Are you okay?" she finished softly, not sure what else she could possibly say in the daunting situation.

A slight bob of Naruto's blonde hair told her that he was fine as he glanced to his right toward Sasuke.

"Sasuke, what's with this guy?"

Sasuke wrinkled his nose in slight disgust toward the man before speaking. "He was wearing someone else's face at the start… My fireball got it mostly, but he's definitely not meant to be here."

"Kukuku, Sasuke-kun, you make it sound so bad, at least you're living up to my expectations." The white-skinned man practically sighed in joy.

"And he keeps mentioning my eyes," Sasuke finished with a grimace.

Naruto nodded in an attempt at understanding the situation whilst he was desperately piecing the facts together. The man was a snake summoner, he could summon very large ones, he was wearing someone else's face as a disguise, and he was obviously powerful enough to treat the whole situation like a playful game.

"Orochimaru of the sannin," Naruto declared bluntly as he copied Sasuke's expression and crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Ahhhh, so you do know me, Naruto-kun. How would that be? Perhaps you've not been entirely honest with your friends?" Orochimaru leered.

"I haven't lied about anything, my past is my own," Naruto snarled back. All of his common sense was telling him to not let the power hungry man's words get to him, but everything about him spoke of malice to Naruto, Orochimaru's mere presence disgusted him.

"Ohhh, do I make you uncomfortable, Naruto-kun? Even when you have that technique you just used, just like your cursed father," Orochimaru exclaimed with a dramatic wave of his arm.

"If it weren't for some old friends of mine wanting what's in you then I would gladly put you in the grave with him, but if you'd please not bother me right now, my business here is with Sasuke-kun," the pale abomination of a man cooed in a manner which made Naruto's skin crawl.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked tentatively to his friend. He wouldn't admit it, but the current situation scared him and the fact that it scared Naruto was only making it worse. He had never seen Naruto scared, and over their time as teammates he had learned to truly value his blonde friend who had almost stepped into the role of a supportive older brother despite Sasuke being a few weeks older than him.

Then on top of that, Naruto had committed hours upon hours every week in helping him train, and Sasuke had quickly learned to place his pride on the sidelines in light of the fact that Naruto was in fact more powerful than him.

"I can escape from this man," Naruto stated without breaking his gaze from their threat. Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened at the announcement before he spoke again. "But I don't think I can use my new technique to get you two away safely as well… So Sasuke, I'm going to attack him with everything that I have, you're going to take any opening that you can get to take him down. Sakura, you can start placing genjutsu for us to use to try and escape if we run out of options, they might slow him down."

Sasuke gave an immediate nod of confirmation as Sakura straightened her posture in light of her two teammates' bravery.

"Right, let's do this!" Naruto shouted, only to vanish from sight the moment that the final syllable left his mouth.

Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise as a fist cracked into his cheek and sent him sprawling back onto the girth of branch. Naruto was still in his new position for only a second as two clones formed next to him, and again he was gone.

Under Orochimaru's amused visage he was jealous of Naruto's apparent ease of using some unique form of lightning-styled shunshin. It was a well-known fact throughout the elemental nations that if someone mastered the ability to channel lightning chakra they could reach speeds about which many could only dream.

The fact that very few in history had ever achieved such an ability was a testament to its difficulty. Only Namikaze Minato, the current Raikage, and his predecessor had been capable of it to varying degrees, and now here he was facing a boy who could do it.

Orochimaru sprung back to his feet just in time to catch the final hand signs of the two clones. The closest spat out a large ball of fire before the second one blew out a gust of wind. The attack roared in response to the added wind and rocketed toward the snake sannin.

Orochimaru sneered in the face of the attack as his hands flew through his own signs at speeds which the blonde genin could surprisingly match.

"Earth release: Mud wall!" Orochimaru shouted as a thick wall sprung into existence over the branch, blocking both the incoming attack and his opponent from view.

The putrid smell of the mud baking under the intense heat of the wall of fire was sign enough that Naruto's attack had contacted and successfully stopped. Yet again before Orochimaru could lead an attack he was surprised as one of the Narutos came crashing through the wall and charged with a kunai drawn.

Orochimaru took two quick steps forward to meet the blonde boy in a taijutsu fight that only served to surprise the man further. He had never been acquainted with Maito Gai, but his taijutsu prowess was legendary amongst Konoha nin, and this boy was fighting in a style that only someone of his calibre could have taught.

'_Or someone with the eyes to copy it…' _Orochimaru thought as a snide smile formed. "I understand now, Naruto-kun," he declared as he back-flipped away to gain some distance.

"Are you the legacy that Itachi-san spoke of?" The sannin asked simply with a sly grin in place.

Both Sasuke and Naruto widened their eyes at the question, but for different reasons.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Naruto spat out as he flung his arm forward and released his kunai.

Orochimaru simply side-stepped the projectile and smirked again. "Now, now, Naruto-kun, I think it's time for you to b—"

His words fell short as a sudden source of force and heat blossomed behind him, sending him crashing toward Naruto.

Naruto wasted no movements as he whipped out another kunai and drove it up and under the man's ribcage.

"Be more mindful of your surroundings," Naruto stated with a blank expression.

He expression quickly shifted to one of shock as Orochimaru's dying form melted away into a log of sloppy mud.

"And you should be more mindful of yours, Naruto-kun. Though it was clever using your hiraishin to get an exploding clone behind my mud clone," Orochimaru chuckled smoothly as he wrapped his arm around Naruto's neck from behind.

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise at the death grip being applied to his neck before forming a single hand seal and promptly exploding into a ball of fire.

Yet again Orochimaru was thrown sprawling along the branch. Although without any visible damage from the second exploding clones detonation.

"You have had many openings, Sasuke-kun. Are you too afraid to move again?"

Sasuke snarled at the man and let a kunai fly before flying through a set of hand signs, "Kunai shadow clone technique!" Sasuke shouted as his one projectile multiplied by ten.

Orochimaru dodged and swerved between the kunai with a form of inhuman flexibility that could only serve to unnerve the two members of team seven who were still present within the battle's range.

Yet again Sasuke's hands flew through a set of seals. "Fire release: Flame bullets!" Promptly he spat out three searing balls of fire that travelled at a much quicker pace than his great fireball did.

However this did nothing to threaten or even frighten the snake sannin, he simply let his smile spread wider as he himself went through a string of seals.

"Earth style: Mud bullets!" Orochimaru declared as he spat out the three balls with an accuracy that Sasuke was certainly not able to achieve yet. True to Orochimaru's aim, his offence impacted Sasuke's cancelling both out in a splash of hardened mud.

Suddenly an unexpected blue gleam shone off all the dampened surfaces around them and Orochimaru shot his head up with a sharp intake of breath. Falling straight and true from the upper canopy was Naruto, the original that had disappeared at the very beginning of the fight. However Naruto himself was hardly visible as a spinning mass of blue chakra revolved around his entire body, starting at his outstretched right hand and funnelling out around his body.

Orochimaru took a few quick steps back, expecting that Naruto would be unable to manoeuvre in his descent. His assumptions were proven incorrect as Naruto's path changed ever so slightly to hone in on the sannin.

The man in question sneered. It was obvious that the boy had not only learnt the rasengan, but he had mastered it to a level where he was able to change it into such an over-powered attack as it was now swirling around his body as though he had encased himself in the jutsu.

Orochimaru was mentally counting down the milliseconds that drew Naruto closer to impact. Then with a burst of power through his legs he dived forward along the branch. Even Orochimaru of the sannin knew his limits, and taking the full impact of a colossal rasengan was not within them.

Naruto had missed his target by a hairs breadth as his outstretched hand impacted the surface of the broad tree limb. As he expected it to the branch practically melted away upon contact with his hyper-charged rasengan. His pace was not slowed in the slightest by the branch as his form completely shattered through it.

Naruto's curse of frustration was lost in the whirling sound that his super rasengan produced before he promptly cancelled the jutsu and landed firmly on the branch below his previous target. Before Naruto had time to correct his failure at taking out his opponent a steely coil of sinewy muscle tightened around his body in a vice-like grip.

Naruto glanced at the extended body of the snake as it wrapped around his midsection before following its stretched tail with his eyes back to its summoner. Orochimaru sneered victoriously before Naruto pulled yet another surprising move.

In the blonde's restricted right hand, a black single-bladed weapon formed seemingly out of thin air. He cleaved the weapon upwards in the slightest range of motion that his captor still allowed and successfully sheared the snake's body in two.

Naruto wasted no time in jumping backwards and freeing himself of the remnants of the snake. His hand flew forward and released his freshly made weapon in a vicious spinning throw toward the sannin.

Orochimaru narrowed his previously widened eyes and moved to dodge the projectile. He had experienced the durability of Nagato's chakra receivers and knew that it was best to avoid it rather than trying to deflect it. The pale skinned sannin spun twice to his left as added assurance that he had in fact dodged the unpredictable rinnegan weapon.

"Now that I know you have those eyes, I really mustn't let you keep them," Orochimaru chuckled as his spin came to a halt.

Naruto voiced no retort, instead he merely raised his left arm toward Orochimaru. The man in question wasn't quite sure what to expect, he had only briefly witnessed some of Nagato's powers during his time in Akatsuki, so he couldn't place bets on its abilities.

Suddenly he was wrenched off his feet by an invisible and extremely powerful force. For a moment he just hung in the air, a shocked expression once again on his face.

"You made me go this far. You will not hurt my friends," Naruto shouted up at him. Even through the henge on his eyes a hint of red shone in reflection of his anger.

Before Naruto had the chance to motion his hand to come forward Orochimaru forced his hands to move against the gravitational hold on his body and formed a quick set of seals. "Wind release: Spear palm jutsu," he announced as he pointed his right hand at Naruto.

Naruto's mind being wrapped in concentration for the technique that he had been about to perform dulled his senses and saw the chakra laced in the attack just a moment before it would strike him. Using the minimal time he had Naruto stepped slightly to the right and ignored the sharp pain that glanced through his left bicep as Orochimaru's jutsu made impact.

'_Thank kami!' _Naruto mentally exclaimed as he picked up the feeling of Anko's distinctly angry-feeling chakra.

"Ahhh, such a shame," Orochimaru smirked as he once again found his footing after being dropped by Naruto's gravitational ability. "It seems like I'll have to take your eyes another time. But to the reason I came here…"

Orochimaru shot from his position toward the two other members of team seven. His neck extended sickeningly and two teeth noticeably protruded from his mouth as he neared Sasuke at a speed that his unactivated eyes could not follow.

A moment later a searing scream split the relative silence of the surrounding forest as Orochimaru's mouth closed in a bite onto Sasuke's shoulder.

Naruto moved to shunshin to his friends position, but Orochimaru had already released his victim and was readying to make leave. Sakura's previous shock at the entire situation finally wore off and she quickly stooped down to Sasuke's crumpled figure and nursed his head supportively.

"Naruto-kun! He did something to Sasuke-kun! There's a weird mark on his shoulder!" Sakura called hysterically, completely oblivious of the fact that Orochimaru was still standing a few meters away.

"Anko-chan, you attack him with everything you've got, I'll try to crush him!" Naruto called out the moment that Anko entered hearing range.

With her orders already given Anko had no need to slow her pace as she let her momentum carry her onwards toward the most hated figure of her life.

"Fire release: majestic fire wall!" Anko bellowed as a thick and steady stream of fire spurted from her pursed lips in Orochimaru's direction.

At the exact moment of the beginning of Anko's technique, Naruto stretched out his right hand and used his gravity manipulation to wrench the massive branch that he had weakened earlier from the tree it had grown from. He quickly raised his left hand to better channel his power as he pushed the massive tree limb toward his foe at a speed that not even Anko's fires could match.

With a sickening crunch the flying branch slammed into the sannin and pinned him flatly to a trunk to his rear. Then Anko's excessively large fire technique impacted in an explosion of engulfing flames. Against his better judgement Naruto tore his gaze from the fire to look over to Anko's hunched over and panting form on a tree limb opposing his own. It was obvious that she had put literally every last bit of her chakra into the ridiculously powerful fire jutsu.

With Naruto and Anko's gaze directed away from the almost merrily burning fire they both missed the dark streak of movement that flashed from the flames and vanished into the depths of the forest without so much as a whisper of noise.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Amegakure XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The smooth skin atop Konan's nose crinkled as she half sneered-half frowned in frustration. Ever since her short but rich conversation with Itachi several weeks ago she'd been unable to shake his words from her mind, let alone the image of the deep blue rinnegan eyes.

She had even spent hours obsessing over the hidden meanings behind his words, and she couldn't fathom why he would give her such potentially lethal information. Perhaps he truly did have altruistic intentions for the world.

She had determined that the one with the blue rinnegan must be in Konoha, and by default, must also be Itachi's former student. But it was also clear that no one else in the leaf village knew of this, so Itachi must have been directly involved in how his "legacy" had come into possession of the eyes.

After all, the rinnegan was considered to be a legend, a doujutsu that was the pinnacle of all doujutsu. Even the famed and deadly mangekyou sharingan was below it. So any village that had a member in possession of such eyes would no doubt make it known in a display of political power to steer away any possible threat.

But most of all, she wanted to understand the feeling of warmth that had radiated through her at the sight of the eyes of Itachi's legacy. And it was only compounded upon by the fact that she had only just arranged with Nagato that she would be going to Konoha soon to observe what Itachi had reported to be Orochimaru using the ichibi jinchuuriki as a chess piece in some scheme against the Leaf.

Konan almost felt ashamed at her inability to control her curiosity, but she reasoned that she absolutely needed to understand the source of Itachi's hopes and resolve. If at least only to make sure that she could keep Nagato from harm.

"For kami's sake! Why is it always raining here?" Konan hissed in annoyance as the heavy droplets splattered up off the balcony in front of her and onto her face.

Her dislike of the weather was another thing that had changed since hearing Itachi's words and seeing his projected genjutsu of the blue rinnegan. It had filled her with a sense of warmth that she could scarcely remember in her life, and now everything seemed cold and dreary in comparison.

Konan could now vividly recall how the Akatsuki had begun back with its humble roots of Nagato, Yahiko, and herself fighting Hanzo, the grand oppressor of Rain. Over time in their struggle hundreds of Rain shinobi joined their ranks in the dream of a free country, and would fight hoping that the myth of the sky always crying over rain would cease and shine sunlight down on them once the poison was cleared from the land.

Konan had never truly made her mind up if she had believed such a myth, but there had been times when they had small victories and the sun would peek from behind the clouds as though to gift them with its warmth for their efforts. In then end she had been unable to make up her mind on the matter. For when they had freed the land of its long time oppressor, a new one stepped into his mantle, but by that stage Konan had mostly disconnected herself from feeling, so any thoughts of pain were entirely blocked.

She realized now that even those times that the sun had shone on her face and brightened her heart that it was pale in comparison to the peaceful acceptance that those mysterious blue rinnegan shone.

In a sudden impulse she shunshined from her perch straight out into the air in front of her, her paper wings forming as her descent began. Using her downward momentum she swept back upwards and channelled chakra into the wings to keep driving herself toward the clouds.

She felt strange about her actions, never since she was a child had she just randomly gone with an impulse to feel a certain feeling, and now here she was soaring steadily to the angry looking source of the rain that she was beginning to disdain.

Konan blinked her blue shadowed eyelids closed and just focused on pumping chakra through her body and to her wings as she ascended into the sky. Her robes slapped damply against her skin as a bitter reminder that she was still beneath the cloud cover and that she was becoming more human again to even take note of the bitter chill in the air.

Previously she would have taken note of the undesired sensation, and then just gone on and ignored it in a mechanical sense as though it were unimportant data. Now she was having difficulty managing her thoughts in the mechanical way that had kept her true to the visage that she'd formed over the years.

A sudden crispness soon surrounded her as she broke through the thick cloud cover and came to a hovering halt. Her eyelids gently fluttered open and the first thing she had to do was quickly close them again as bright light reflected off the tops of the clouds and back into her eyes. Again she made to open her eyes, though slowly this time to allow her sensitive pupils to adjust.

Her breath caught in her throat as she was fully able to comprehend her surroundings. _'This is beautiful!' _She thought simply as her amber gaze traversed the part-white-part-grey tops of the clouds that reflected the suns warm rays back up to her. In the distance she could see sections of the clouds flashing in what must have been lightning strikes below.

Then her gaze wandered upwards, passing over the whispy clouds that sat yet higher again and settling on the sun for but a moment before its intensity made her avert her gaze. _'Beautiful.' _She repeated in her head before suddenly catching onto her use of the word.

'_Beautiful?' _She mused to herself in question. It was a word that she could hardly remember ever using once in her life. Thinking back, she could only recall one time when she had said the word aloud in question to Yahiko when he had called her beautiful.

Konan pushed the thoughts from her mind and surrendered herself to just enjoying what she could feel right now, as a luxury that she had bypassed since her teen years. Her paper wings spread wider as she mimicked the motion with her arms, her Akatsuki coat opening and draping off her shoulders as she did.

Finally without a question for what she felt Konan sighed in enjoyment as the suns warm glow eased her pale skin that her revealing black halter-neck top didn't cover. The chilled air brought the fine hair on her stomach to stand on end as it brushed against her exposed skin. In a slow and soft motion she tilted her head forward and looked down at her body.

The halter-neck shirt parted just below her breasts and split around to the sides and back of her body where it re-joined over her lower back. It left the sides of her breasts and from her shoulders down to her lower back exposed. She vaguely remember donning it one day after Yahiko's passing and deciding that it was an attractive garment that looked equal parts alluring and elegant. From the waist down her legs were clad in blue pants that fit like a second skin with attached high-heeled sandals.

Her four studs that surrounded her naval only added to her alluring appeal that she had ignored for the better part of her still-young life and now in her current unrestricted mood she let a very small gentle smile claim her lips as she couldn't help but repeat the words that Yahiko had directed at her, "Beautiful."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Konoha – Training ground 44 (Forest of Death) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Sakura stood on silent watch over her two passed out teammates. Both cases confused her. She had seen Orochimaru put some sort of seal on Sasuke, but she couldn't understand anything about it, especially after Naruto and Anko had deduced that the man had in fact gotten away.

Then Anko had asked if they would like to forfeit, to which Naruto heatedly replied that team seven would never give up.

Sakura had been especially thankful for Naruto's tenacity at that point. She had wanted to take Anko up on her offer, but Naruto steeled her resolve and then reminded her that Sasuke would never want to give up either.

And then as had become customary for team seven, Naruto took charge and declared that they absolutely needed to find a place to rest and recover, especially for Sasuke.

So with a small smile and nod Sakura fell into step behind Naruto as he slung Sasuke over his shoulder and pounced off into the trees. It had taken them at least four hours before Naruto had chosen their current camp site. By the time that they had settled in, set up a very small fire at the back of the tree root alcove, and unsealed more comfortable roll up beds the outside light had dimmed to the threatening onset of night-time. At least Sakura felt like it was threatening, but as he always somehow managed to, Naruto soothed her nerves and managed to bring a smile to her face.

And then as if to go completely against what he had just told her about being calm because everything being okay his eyes had rolled back and he became just as dead to the world as Sasuke was. This of course had set Sakura into a panic at first, but training Naruto and Kakashi had given her soon kicked in and she confirmed that all of Naruto's vitals were fine, set him up in a bed roll in the same manner as he had set Sasuke up in and set about keeping a constant watch over the pair.

Even now in the early morning light after an entire sleepless night without an issue Sakura kept her eyes glued to the only route into the small natural cave. The distant screams, yells, and rumbles of jutsu being unleashed made it considerably easier for her to stay awake.

She jumped slightly as a growl sounded from her left. Quickly her eyes tracked to its source and locked onto Naruto. His unique whisker marks that Sakura had always secretly found attractive had lost their refined look and shifted into thick grizzly lines and the skin over the bridge of his nose had wrinkled into a silent snarl.

She of course couldn't fathom what was happening in his mind, but after having added up Naruto's elusive answers, and Kakashi's teasingly informative ones, she had been able to figure out a basic rule that Naruto was full of secrets and the only other thing that he had in equal amounts was pain.

Doing the only thing that Sakura thought might possibly sooth Naruto's current condition she moved over to him and lifted his head from the bedroll. With his head clear from the ground she scooted forward and crossed her legs beneath her, placing his head back into her lap.

As gently as she could she placed her hands on his forehead and twined her fingers through his hair, rubbing softly along his scalp and temples, just as her mother had done for her when she had once had night terrors.

"Shhhh," Sakura cooed in time with her hands rubbing his scalp. She couldn't help but smile as his visage changed back to how it initially was and a gentle look of contentment sat across his lips.

"I wish Sasuke-kun was as nice as you are, Naruto-kun," She sighed above his face as she stopped focusing on rubbing his scalp and just allowed her hands to do it instinctively.

"And I've done everything that you've said… I'm trying to be a serious kunoichi now, and Sasuke-kun has definitely been nicer and more open to me," Sakura prattled out to her silent friend before taking a breath and continuing. "But he still doesn't seem to like me much, I almost wish that I didn't like him, and I don't know why I do, but I like him so much, almost love… I just wish that he'd like me back."

A saddened expression crossed her face as she recalled giving her first kiss to Naruto in an attempt to get him to tell her something about himself, anything would have done for her to be satisfied, but he had stayed relatively tight lipped and only given any of team seven tidbits of information from time to time.

Thinking of the kiss pushed her mind toward thinking of Ino, her best friend, and occasional rival. Her blonde friend looked so happy whenever she was with Naruto, and the complete adoration in her eyes when they were set on him was so endearing to Saukra.

Silently she wished that back in Naruto's first academy day that she had been as complimentary to Naruto as Ino had. Or if she had tried that at any point during their academy years, but she had kept true to her obsession for Sasuke and saw Naruto as someone who was simply an annoyance.

'_Dear Kami!? Am I jealous of Ino-pig?' _Sakura mentally screeched as she looked at Naruto's lips again, envisioning one of the times when she'd seen him and Ino kiss.

A sudden impulse went through her and the temptations to place her lips atop his settled in her mind and heart. This time she didn't want it to be the brief chaste kiss that she'd given him last time. She began leaning forward smoothly, her hands moving from his hair to his shoulders to brace herself better, but merely a centimetre away she stopped herself. _'What's wrong with me… Naruto-kun and Ino-chan are in a relationship! And I still like Sasuke-kun!' _

She swiftly moved back into her lotus position with her hands placed back into Naruto's hair to rub his scalp. Briefly she wondered why she was still doing it, but her mind instantly answered that it was how bright a person Naruto was, and he deserved her kindness.

**X**

**Naruto's Seal**

**X **

Naruto panted in effort as the kyuubi's malicious red chakra tried to climb up his legs from the water. He looked up from his predicament toward the grinning visage of his odd traveling companion.

"**You will do it again! Like you did on the bridge that time." **Kyuubi growled out in excited frustration. Ever since Naruto had overcome the rage in his chakra on the bridge that one time and harnessed it in a way that none ever had before the chakra entity had become obsessed with testing Naruto on it. And it was becoming all too clear that Naruto could supply no real answer to his question, if the past twelve hours of the kyuubi's chakra leaking out of the seal and into Naruto meant anything.

Of course Naruto had been unable to conquer his red chakra as he had the first time; his best effort resulted in him just pushing the chakra out of his own coils and back into the seal. This method was proving to be exhausting for Naruto and excruciatingly frustration for kyuubi.

"I told you! I don't know how I did it last time… Can't we just talk like we normally do? I'm not close to being strong enough to fight you yet." Naruto half pleaded half demanded as sweat trickled down his brow.

"**Gahh! You tire me with your stubbornness," **Kyuubi snickered with a strangely humoured grin. **"And you still don't know how to sense things externally whilst in here… Yet somehow I do. I guess I should tell you that you're under attack, but next time we talk, we're talking about Rikudo Sennin and what he told me." **

Naruto nodded vigorously in response and formed a single hand-sign to leave the seal. Kyuubi truly did have a sadistic sense of humour when it came to chakra training, so even if he was going to wake up in the middle of a war Naruto was all too happy to leave the completely unexpected training session.

**X **

**Team seven's campsite**

**X**

Ino's head was spinning at the strange set of events that had been taking place. First she and the rest of her team had come across Sakura being threatened by the sound team, then Rock Lee had interrupted them and subsequently been quite easily beaten. Then for the first time in her life, Ino watched as Sakura took a brave, if futile, stance to protect both of her unconscious teammates. Which was another fact that had Ino on edge, how were the two most skilled genin of their year both knocked out?

She had immediately wanted to go and join the fray to protect Naruto's currently defenceless form, but Shikamaru had of course stopped her and bid her to wait. It was at the point when Sakura was a hairsbreadth from being killed when she couldn't wait any longer, and both Shikamaru and Choji had been forced to take a defensive stance in front of Sakura's beaten form with her.

And then things shifted to an even stranger circumstance. Not only had Lee's team arrived and opted out of fighting, but Sasuke had walked out of the hollow that he'd been in, his body wrapped in strange black markings and some form of malicious purple chakra shrouding him. He had been brutal in his attack on the sound nin, the one who could control the air pressure had both of his arms broken in a sickening and hateful move from Sasuke.

Ino could understand the logic in breaking the arms of an enemy who solely relied on them to use his techniques, but Sasuke was grinning as he did it. "I was given this power, as a gift, so that I could remember my hate and what I exist to do." He had said, just before the black marks further tracked across him.

She had no idea what she should currently be doing. As soon as Sasuke had struck the sound nin she and her team had retreated to the bushes to watch instead. But her mind was still on Naruto, despite the fact that Sasuke was now approaching the other sound nin. She glanced to where Sasuke had deposited his body, only to see it no longer there.

"Sasuke! Stop it!"

Ino's heart stopped beating for a moment when she heard the order, quite clearly having been spoken by Naruto. She looked back to Sasuke and was met by the sight of Naruto standing between him and the bandaged sound nin, one arm pointed at Sasuke and the other at the opposing nin.

"Naruto… Are you trying to hold me back again?" Sasuke sneered, his eyes wide with some form of hateful glee. "Even with all of your "training" that you've helped me with, all it has done is teach me a few minor jutsu, Sakura is still useless as well!"

"I am not our teams' sensei, I just wanted to help. I know what it's like to hate, Sasuke. But hate won't help you; it will leave you dark, empty, and broken. There's so much more going on than you know!" Naruto shouted desperately.

The sound nin seemed to have recovered from his previously fear stricken state as he made a move to dash toward Naruto. Without even turning his head Naruto made a downward slapping motion with his hand that was directed at the sound nin. A sudden force crushed the boy down onto the ground and all the breath left his lungs in a very audible exhalation.

Sasuke sneered again at Naruto's actions, "And how do you explain that? What did Orochimaru mean earlier? Itachi's legacy? HUH?"

Naruto's eyes widened as the purple chakra previously seeping from Sasuke multiplied. Whatever Orochimaru had placed in the seal had tapped into Sasuke's inner hatred and reminded him of his original intentions.

"I can't tell you what I know of your brother, or your clan. But your kaa-san wouldn't want to see you being like this! I know that for sure!" Naruto yelled desperately. He felt as though Itachi had definitely failed in his intentions for Sasuke, so it was falling on his shoulders to keep him on the right path.

"You're so full of lies! Get the hell out of my way so I can kill this guy! Then once this exam is over I'm going to get strong in my own way, I don't need your help, Dobe!" Sasuke screamed, his sneer deepening to an animalistic expression.

Naruto just let out a long sigh in response, _'How am I meant to salvage this?' _It was clear to him that at some point he'd have to somehow bring both the Uchiha brothers together without Sasuke attacking Itachi for the hard truth to be revealed. His incomplete knowledge of it would in no way be enough to convince Sasuke.

"Shikamaru? I know you guys are still here. I need you to restrain this sound guy, please?" Naruto called, not taking his gaze off Sasuke's sharingan eyes.

Behind the bushes Ino gave Shikamaru a nod in confirmation of Naruto's request, and a hand sign later and his shadow extended from the bush and secured the sound nin. The moment that Naruto felt the nin's resistance against his gravity technique leave he dropped his arm and channelled lightning chakra through his muscles and shunshined to Sasuke. The moment that he was within reach he kicked Sasuke's legs out from under him.

The Uchiha boy fell forward with a yell of pain. Not a moment later Naruto was on his back and had ripped a tear in Sasuke's shirt to open his view of the curse seal. His hands flashed through fifty signs at a faster pace than most jounin could achieve before he slapped one over the curse mark. "Seal!" he bellowed.

Sasuke roared in pain as the marks covering his body receded back to its origin in his neck under Naruto's hand. Naruto groaned at the effort of restricting the curse seal and rolled off Sasuke's back, not needing to see it to know that a ring had formed around the curse mark as a form of chakra suppression.

He knew that it wouldn't hold it for long, but for now it was the best and only option he could use in the limited time.

"Sasuke-kun? Naruto-kun?" Sakura's small voice queried.

Naruto rolled back to his feet and stood on wobbly legs. Ino darted from the bushes and quickly wrapped her arm around his body in support. He smiled his thanks as she helped him toward Sakura. Behind them Shikamaru and Choji emerged from the bush and placed their weight on the sound nin's back, Choji searching his pockets in the process.

"This guy's got a heaven scroll!" Choji declared just as Naruto and Ino stopped in front of Sakura.

Naruto knelt down and pushed the pinkette onto her back with her shooting him a curious glance. "Hold still, I'm going to heal you." He explained blankly.

"But you guys should have it…" Choji drawled in what seemed to be an audible frown. "Since you beat them and all…"

Naruto's hands glowed green as he placed them on Sakura's temples, a sense of relief washed over her face as he did. "No, we already have a heaven scroll, you guys keep it." Naruto spoke without breaking his gaze from his work.

Sasuke groaned and rolled onto his feet, looking suspiciously at Naruto's back as he worked on Sakura. Naruto could practically feel the heat in his gaze and in response couldn't stop the sigh that escaped his lips. Months of work in getting Sasuke to open up was just destroyed.

As though it were on cue Naruto felt a minor electric shock from one of his kunai still in his pouch, which only meant one thing: his clone that was with Karin was in need of assistance, and he was not about to let the only other Uzumaki he had ever met come to harm.

In a rush of motion he abandoned his work on Sakura and stood to his feet, one hand on Sakura's wrist and dragging her up with him. "Karin is in trouble, we need to assist her." He declared flatly.

"Who's Karin?"

Naruto glanced sideways to Tenten as she cradled Lee's head, Neji behind her giving Naruto a suspicious glare. Naruto offered no explanation as he silently formed a shadow clone, it too wasted no time in collecting Sakura into his arms protectively to offer the easiest transport.

"Sasuke, I get that you have your issues with me now, but it can wait until this is over," Naruto explained with a pleading expression.

Sasuke just grunted in response and turned away from the blonde. "Which way is she?" he asked flatly.

"Directly north of us," Naruto answered as he looked back to Ino who was still at his side to make sure he didn't falter again. "Ino-chan," he began before looking at her two other teammates, "Shikamaru, Choji, you have both scrolls now, but you could stay with us for strength in numbers?"

"Of course we will, Naruto-kun!" Ino grinned happily as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm, it will be less troublesome this way," Shikamaru grumbled as Choji just answered with a smile.

The rustle of movement at the edge of the clearing announced Sasuke's departure as he dashed to the north.

"Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked gently from his clones arms.

"Hmm?"

"We'd better keep up with him…" she trailed off and blushed as the clone readjusted his grip under her legs.

"Right!" Naruto nodded with a smile before bursting into motion and shooting into the trees. He slowed his pace slightly as he sensed the movement of Team ten falling into formation behind him.

His clone fell into step beside him as though they were in perfect sync, the whole while Sakura was giving the original Naruto an appraising look.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked gently without breaking his gaze from where he could sense Sasuke to be in front of them.

"Naruto-kun," she began in a small voice. "Why is Sasuke the way he is? And what did Orochimaru mean about you and Itachi? Itachi was Sasuke-kun's brother wasn't he?"

Naruto let out a long drawn out sigh at the question, deciding for once that he would at least answer it partially. "Well, Sasuke was always a little bit like that. You remember how he was in the Academy for the year before I showed up, don't you?"

Her quick nod was all the answer that she could force, she might have slightly gotten over her fan-girl tendencies, but she still liked Sasuke in that manner.

"After the Uchiha massacre he got worse, retreated into himself and just brooded over everything, and eventually he just started to hate or dislike most things." Naruto explained with a frown. Truthfully he could understand Sasuke's reasoning, or lack thereof, he just didn't agree with it.

"And what about the thing with Itachi?" Sakura enquired with a frown reflecting his.

"Hmmm, that's sort of one of the secrets I mentioned," Naruto said vaguely as his brow knitted. By now Team ten had caught up and were flanking them, all of them listening in with curious expressions. Naruto scrunched up his brow further in thought on his first sensei. Itachi had gone to considerable effort to keep secrets, and from how things were now, they obviously hadn't gone to plan.

"When I was little I was kicked out of the orphanage, I was beaten, ostrasized, and assaulted in other ways," Naruto started with a disgusted wrinkling of his nose. "Itachi-san decided to protect me and teach me, and then his mother and another Uchiha ANBU decided to help me, and they sort of became my family."

This elicited surprised expressions on the face of each of the genin, but mostly Ino, whilst Naruto was open and honest with her, there were parts of his life that he simply didn't mention.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun? If you were so close to them do you know why Itachi did what he did?" the Yamanaka heir asked gently from beside him.

"They all taught me what to care about, and I miss them, but I'm okay with it. And I know partly why he did, but it definitely isn't my place to tell you, I'm sorry guys," the blonde Uzumaki replied in a pleading tone as he bounced off a branch and deftly landed on his hands in a flip before righting himself and landing back on his feet beside Ino and his Sakura-laden clone.

Ino's beginning of a question was cut off as a roar sounded up ahead, followed shortly by a loud crush and an explosion of dust into the air. Naruto increased his pace and burst through the tree line and into the clearing.

Huddled at the base of a massive tree was an extremely frightened looking Karin with Sasuke standing before her with his hand outstretched in an offer for help. Cautiously the girl accepted the hand and stood up timidly.

"Thank you for saving me." She squeaked out nervously to the stoic looking Uchiha boy who just grunted his answer.

The scene was fairly self-explanatory, especially for Naruto with the now received memories from his clone's destruction. First Karin's team had come under attack by tendrils of sand and one of them had been ruthlessly crushed, Naruto had no trouble working out the aggressor for that, and it was at that point that his clone sent the signal for help, and then was promptly crushed as well.

And then in their retreat Karin and her remaining teammate had come into unfortunate contact with the massive bear, which now lay unconscious in front of them, the discarded and bloodied arm on the far side of the clearing answered what had happened to Karin's other teammate.

"Here?" Karin offered to Sasuke as she pulled her Earth scroll from a pocket. "We won't need it anymore…"

Sasuke accepted the offered scroll before he deftly threw it to Naruto. Naruto quickly sealed it in the same storage seal on his wrist that he had stored their other scroll in before shooting Karin a broad grin. "I suppose it hasn't been your day. We're all going to the tower now, do you want to tag along?"

The redhead looked at the smiling faces of the all the Konoha genin, and then to the stoic one of the Uchiha boy. Something about his despondent behaviour after just saving her seemed extremely appealing to her. "Of course, but can Sasuke-kun stay beside me?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow in curiosity and shrugged. "Uhh, sure. Sasuke?"

Sasuke just nodded as teams ten and seven formed into a conjoined defensive formation before taking to the trees in the direction of the tower.

Surprisingly they made it to the tower completely uncontested with the only trouble coming from Sakura slapping and reprimanding Naruto's still-active clone after he accidentally gripped her rear after slipping on a mossy branch. This lead to laughs from most of the group, and to a curious Ino, her mind set onto the other possibilities of Naruto's shadow clones, which brought a perverted smirk and light blush to her face.

After working out the meaning behind the scrolls and summoning their respective sensei, they each went their separate ways to their designated quarters for rest. The rest of the week that followed involved a considerable amount of uncomfortable silences between Sasuke and Naruto whenever they would bump into each other whilst using the towers training space or heading to the common area for food.

Sakura attempted to mediate between the two, but she quickly learned that Sasuke had become cold to her as well, and after several searing insults Sakura retreated to the company of Naruto and Ino.

Shikamaru would watch on silently whilst Naruto would commit a large portion of each day to training Ino and Sakura together, as a side development the two girls once again grew as close as they had once been. Choji would likewise always stay within talking distance to Shikamaru and would only participate in training when Naruto requested his help as a challenge for Ino and Sakura.

On a few occasions the group would bump into other genin teams in the common rooms, but it seemed as though they wanted the teams to be mostly isolated from one another, and only two teams could use a training room at a time.

**X**

Naruto walked between Sakura and Sasuke as they headed from their rooms toward an assembly hall that had been announced over an intercom unit. The past week had been an odd mix of good and bad, all of the bad linked into Sasuke whilst the good was attributed to the rest of the Konoha genin bonding. Naruto had even attempted to get Sasuke to lighten up again, but it had been to no avail. And whatever Sasuke had said to Sakura had made her keep her distance from him.

The night that Sasuke had insulted her had turned out to be a rather odd one for Naruto and Ino, as during the early hours of the night the blonde couple were slowly falling asleep in Naruto's bed, sharing gentle kisses as their minds slipped into a realm of relaxation and dreams.

Both of them however were soon unexpectedly roused from their sleep as Sakura wandered in and gently shook Naruto's shoulder in the darkness.

"Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked softly as her hands settled on his unclothed shoulder and pushed softly.

First she heard Naruto groan, then a second much more feminine groan. Fearing that she had interrupted an intimate moment Sakura turned to leave, only to feel a warm hand holding her wrist.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his blue eyes strangely glowing in the darkness of the room. Next Ino popped her head up over Naruto's shoulder; Sakura could vaguely make out a concerned frown on her friends face in the darkness.

"Ahh," the pinkette started as tears threatened to spill. "I just wanted to ask if it would be okay if I could stay with you tonight… But… It's wrong of me now, sorry for waking both of you up."

Again she was stopped from leaving as Ino clumsily crawled over Naruto and collapsed off the side of the bed where she wrapped her arms around Sakura's legs to prevent her from retreating.

Realizing how ridiculous she looked Ino scrambled onto her feet whilst giggling, "No, it's okay Sakura-chan. Teammates are meant to look after each other, I can spend the night alone this time."

Upon her announcement Ino turned to Naruto and connected her lips to his, before quickly deepening it and turning it into a short but passionate battle of their tongues. This of course made Sakura blush a bright red in the thankfully dark room.

And a moment later Ino hurried off, wanting to scurry under the covers of her own bed before her body fully registered the coldness of the air.

The moment that Ino exited the room Naruto shuffled further back into his bed and raised his blanket in an inviting manner. Sakura didn't waste a moment in crawling into his bed and tucking her smaller body up against his warm and only dressed from the waist down one.

A few minutes of silence passed before Naruto voiced his concerns. "Is this about Sasuke?"

Sakura's head nodded against his chin in confirmation. Naruto ignored the feeling of the warm droplets that dripped from her eyes and onto his neck.

"I really do care about the whole situation, Sakura-chan. But I don't know what I can say to help out," Naruto spoke softly into the top of Sakura's head as he wrapped his arms around her small frame protectively. Finally he noticed that his teammate was definitely not wearing her standard red dress and shorts.

"Uhhh, Sakura-chan, what're you wearing?" he asked in the most innocent voice that he could manage, not wanting to send the wrong message.

"A nightgown," she replied simply and pushed herself more firmly against him.

"And?" Naruto asked, again in an innocent voice.

"And a nightgown."

At her response Naruto shuffled back a little bit, Sakura followed him across the bed until his back met the wall. "Sakura-chan, I'm with Ino-chan, it's wrong of me to be with you like this."

Sakura ignored Naruto's statement and once again tucked herself up against his body. "I still like Sasuke-kun, I don't even know why. But I'm so confused about how I feel about everything else," she admitted simply into the crook of Naruto's neck.

"Every time I see you and Ino I feel jealous of her, and you're always so nice and supportive to her, and me, and everyone else." She let out a warm exhalation over his neck and then pressed her forehead into his chest as tears trickled from her eyes. "Why can't Sasuke-kun be more like you, you had a way worse life and you turned out way better, why can't he be like that too?"

Realising that he was stuck with the current situation Naruto started to gently rub her back in slow circles in an attempt to sooth her whilst she took another intake of breath to continue.

"Sometimes I wish that on that first day you showed up I had complimented you like Ino did. But I should have been nicer to you in general anyway, especially since I was bullied when I was little, that should have taught me better," sakura whispered out softly into his chest.

Naruto frowned a moment later when he felt a soft set of lips gently kissing his collar bone. "Sakura-chan, you know that I can't do this." He explained.

She ignored his words again and moved upwards, this time kissing his neck.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed out with muted frustration as he gently grasped her shoulders and pushed her away slightly.

"Please, Naruto-kun?" Sakura whispered over his voice again, tears threatening to spill a second time. "Please, please pretend that I'm Ino-chan for the night? I swear I won't say anything about it to anyone!"

Naruto sighed again in immediate response. He knew that he had a limited range of things that he could do that would preserve their friendship as it was. "The most I can give you is one kiss."

Sakura nodded quickly in the darkness, not caring at all about his words, only the single word that she'd wanted to hear. In the darkness her hands found the sides of his face and she quickly pulled herself forward, her lips meeting his in a chaste kiss. Immediately she wanted to take it further and her body followed her whims as her tongue brushed against his lips, attempting to gain entrance. She was denied the open mouthed experience that she wanted and was only rewarded with the lingering after-taste of cherry lip-gloss that to her almost spelled that he belonged to Ino.

Despite his denial to open his lips to hers she was undeterred, and instead opened her own lips and closed them around his bottom one, and then moved on to doing the same to his top lip as she began to rub her body up against his in a more rhythmic manner.

The feeling of a set of hands on her waist immediately excited her, but her excitement was quickly quenched when instead of moving her hips toward his like she hoped she was pushed away.

"I'm sorry that I can't give you any more than that, Sakura-chan. But you can stay here tonight, I can still help comfort you, and I'll always defend you, but while I'm with Ino-chan I can't do that with you."

"Okay Naruto-kun, I understand," Sakura sighed between rosy lips. For a moment she considered leaving and going back to her own room in fear of Naruto secretly finding the whole situation too uncomfortable, but before she could move she remembered that was another reason why she liked him, his ability to forgive.

So instead of leaving she wrapped her arms around his body and set her face against his chest and focused on putting her mind to sleep.

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Entering the chamber quickly, team seven moved into formation in a column of genin. From the balcony above Kakashi gave Sasuke a concerned look before giving Naruto a questioning one. Obviously from his vantage point Kakashi could see Sasuke's curse seal with Naruto's temporary handiwork around it.

Naruto quickly went through some hand signs known only to ANBU of Konoha. "He was marked by the snake sannin. I sealed it the best I could at the time, but it needs close attention and he won't let me near him."

Kakashi nodded, strangely not surprised that Naruto knew the ANBU hand sign language before forming a short sentence of his own, "Good work, I'll check it as soon as his fight is over."

Naruto nodded back, before he noticed the slip in Kakashi's quick hand gestures. So the genin were all assembled here for some sort of pre-exam fight.

As though on cue the Hokage began to speak after giving both Naruto and Kakashi a pointed look, "congratulations all of you, but due to this year's delegates from across all the nations we are unable to perform the finals as fully as we normally would, so w-"

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," a sickly looking jounin coughed out to Hiruzen's right.

Hiruzen gave the man an expectant expression for him to elaborate.

"If you don't mind, I would like to introduce them to this part of the exam, as their current proctor," the man wheezed between coughs.

"Of course," Hiruzen agreed whilst taking a step back.

"I am Gekko Hayate, the proctor for this phase of the exam. Since the delegates are short on time for the finals in a months time, we can only allow half of you through to that point," he explained, his coughs interrupting his words at odd intervals.

"However, with each team here having both Hokage-sama and their own sensei in attendance, you can still advance to chuunin rank if you perform well enough in your preliminary fight, which will be displayed on the board momentarily. Each fight will be chosen at random. Are there any who wish to forfeit now?" he finished with a rough clearing of his throat.

A man stepped out of his line in the ranks of the genin. Naruto immediately identified him as Kabuto, the man who'd had the unexpected information cards back in the first phase of the exams.

"I don't feel confident about my ability to progress, so I'm forfeiting now."

"Very well," Hayate conceded as Kabuto turned on his heel and headed back in the direction from which they'd come.

"Anyone else?" the jounin asked breathlessly.

A short-lived silence reigned over the group before the screen above him started shifting from one name to the next. All eyes watched it with a building anticipation as the names slowed in the pace of shifting from one to the next.

Finally it settled.

"The first match will be between, Uchiha Sasuke, and Akado Yoroi. Everyone else please clear the floor and wait on the balconies," the sickly jounin stated.

Everyone moved to follow his orders as Naruto fell into step beside Kakashi.

"I put a simple chakra suppression seal on the curse seal. There wasn't much I could do at the time, but now he won't let me near him. You need to seal it properly as soon as you can," Naruto whispered swiftly before moving to walk next to Sakura.

Both Hiruzen and Kakashi flinched at this input of information. Hiruzen opted to stand near Kakashi in an effort to pull more information from Naruto. Such as how he was able to block the sight of his seeing orb, or how he seemed to be so excellently talented. Not that he was unhappy that Naruto was becoming a skilled shinobi, he just couldn't fathom the immensity of Naruto's growth over the years. Even the quality and state of his apartment had improved from the application of seals that Naruto had designed himself, though the surprising part was that he himself could not work out heads nor tails of them.

The moment that all the onlookers had taken a firm footing on the opposing balconies Hayate took a step forward between the two opponents. "The fight will continue until one contestant can no longer fight, or until forfeit."

He looked between them pointedly before throwing his arm in a downward arc. "Begin!" he called before vanishing in a shunshin to the onlookers' positions.

Naruto watched on with muted interest as Sasuke engaged the man with the strange chakra absorption ability, something that he had initially thought was restricted to rinnegan users. But his interest soon faltered and he opted for sitting back against the wall in a crossed legged position.

His eyes snapped shut and he tuned out all the noises around him whilst simultaneously keeping his hearing open to his own name.

Mentally he reached out to the feeling of what he had come to know as natural chakra flowing in the air around him. He wasn't sure how long he had been doing it, but as he always did in his exploration of the foreign chakra he lost all track of time.

He crinkled his nose in frustration as yet again his chakra coils grew fiery upon the introduction of the natural chakra into his system.

And as he had learned to do, he used his body as a grounding rod and directed the natural chakra into the flooring around him.

In the world outside his mind all of the other's present were far too enamoured with the ending of Sasuke's fight and his being escorted out by Kakashi to notice the green mossy growth forming around Naruto in his seated position.

Next to be called up was Shino and one of the sound nin, which was also lost to Naruto as he focused on the idea of instead of just taking the natural chakra into his system that he could direct it into his attacks for added power.

He quickly quenched that idea as he realised that he wouldn't be able to control its flow well enough to form a cohesive attack.

The following half hour passed in the same manner for Naruto with his focus solely on the feeling of the natural chakra and on thoughts of how to best control it. He knew it must be possible, especially after his discussions with kyuubi. The chakra entity had shared its history with Naruto in a very sagely manner.

Their discussion had lasted hours, during which kyuubi explained that all of the tailed beasts started out as the ten tails, a monstrous creature that formed into existence when natural chakra reached such a density that the creature simply formed out of nothingness.

And as a seemingly missing link in nature the creature began its rampage around the world as a living natural disaster. Then the Rikudo sennin had sought it out, and defeated it in single combat. Though his only option to quench its power was to seal it inside himself, at which point he became able to split it into nine different entities with their own unique personalities, and that was the birth of the tailed beasts.

What Naruto took most from the kyuubi's story was that essentially the tailed beasts were an immensely dense concentration of natural chakra that was bound together by their will. And that information was enough for him to deduce that it would be possible for him to control it himself.

In the world outside of Naruto's mind Hiruzen had shifted his gaze from ninth match of Choji against Dosu to the blonde boy that represented the question mark in his mind. After seeing his meditative state during the first match Hiruzen had been sending a slight influx of chakra to the matching system to hold off Naruto's fight until last, but now as he looked at the boy he felt the breath leave his body in surprise.

The floor and wall below and behind Naruto had a vibrant-looking covering of moss and fine grass, which only spelled one thing to him.

"Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen whispered as he made his way to Naruto and crouched in front of him in a very un-hokage-like fashion.

Naruto's eyes eased open gently at the call of his name and he instantly met the gaze of Hiruzen.

"Yes, jiji?"

Hiruzen smirked at the name before he wiped his face clean of emotion. "Naruto-kun, do you know what you're doing right now?"

Naruto just nodded his head with a blank expression, the same blank expression that he'd worn fifteen minutes earlier when both Sakura and Ino gave him hopeful looks before their fight, and then not much later Hinata had given him the same look. In truth that had actually been quite amusing to the aged hokage.

"And you know that it's dangerous, don't you?" he queried in the most concerned tone that he could muster.

Naruto smiled before answering, "Yeah, I figured that out pretty fast, so I direct the natural chakra out of my body while I learn to control it."

Hiruzen frowned at this. It was in fact rather smart, and simple, but Naruto was in the mid-stages of controlling natural chakra, a task that not even he had been able to accomplish, and only one in Konoha's history could do. With Jiraiya being back in the village he made a mental note to ask him to train the boy.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you, jiji," Naruto whispered before turning his gaze toward the floor.

This of course roused curiosity in Hiruzen, so in a comforting gesture he reached out and put a comforting hand on the boys shoulder.

Naruto looked up again and into his eyes before quickly glancing left then right. "Come closer?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

Noting the important way in which Naruto asked Hiruzen followed the request and slightly closed the gap between their faces. Then his breath caught in his throat as Naruto's eyes shimmered and changed, a ripple patterned blue eye replacing each of his regular eyes.

"How?" Hiruzen mouthed silently as he immediately identified the pattern as the legendary rinnegan.

"Itachi-sensei helped me get them, and he told me mostly everything else," Naruto said simply with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"I'll have my stu-" Hiruzen began before Naruto spoke over him.

"And then Jiraiya-sensei started teaching me when Itachi-sensei left. I know he's in the village at the moment, so I'll ask him about natural chakra after this."

Hiruzen just nodded while Naruto reapplied his henge to his eyes. He would have said more, but he simply didn't know what he could say, Naruto had covered all the bases in his short explanation, and had also managed to answer many of his own questions.

"And the final match up will be between Inuzuka Kiba, and Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate called across the room.

"Yes! I get the easiest fight here, the class dobe will be easy!" Kiba roared with a bout of laughter as he launched himself from the balcony on the opposing side of the room and onto the floor below.

Naruto showed no reaction, he simply stood and dusted himself down as he walked to the stairs. He knew that responding could only make things more troublesome, and after all, he did rather like Kiba. At least that was once he learned to look past the Inuzuka boy's arrogance.

It didn't take him long to arrive in front of Kiba in the centre of the room with a calm smile adorning his face while Kiba sported a confident grin. It almost made Naruto laugh, Kiba and his team hadn't been there in the confrontation in the forest of death.

"Alright, you two know the rules. Begin!" Once again Hayate jumped back to a safe distance to give the two contestants to fight without him as an obstacle.

"Kiba, you should forfeit. I don't want to hurt a friend," Naruto said simply without thinking that it could sound like a taunt.

In response Kiba laughed and jumped back to get some distance from the blonde.

"Man beast clone!" he called as Akamaru suddenly poofed into a second but much more feral looking Kiba. Upon closer inspection Naruto saw that the original Kiba had become more feral as well.

Naruto stood still and waited for Kiba to strike, he had already set his plan of attack into being that he would completely overpower Kiba with his rinnegan powers once he made his move.

"Fang over fang!" Kiba announced as both he and Akamaru both shot forward in a drill like attack.

As the attack neared Naruto decided that a simple impact with the ground would suffice in beating his opponent. He pushed both palms forward and raised them upwards, in reflection of the action both Kiba and his transformed Akamaru lifted out of their attack and floated upwards.

"What the hell!?" Kiba screeched in protest before he looked down to Naruto with both his arms outstretched.

"Do you forfeit?" Naruto asked calmly.

"Screw you!" Kiba bit back sourly.

Naruto just frowned in response. He honestly meant what he had said when he announced that he didn't want to hurt a friend. But seeing no other option Naruto slapped both his hands downward, and in the same reflective manner both Kibas smashed into the ground in a cloud of dust.

"Gahhh!"

Naruto stepped toward the clearing dust at the sound of the half cry, half shout. He came across a growling Akamaru that stood protectively in front of Kiba who was nursing an obviously broken arm.

"Do you give up yet?" Naruto asked in an all too cheery voice.

Kiba thrust his palm out and threw a red pill toward Akamaru. Naruto didn't intercept it as he could easily do, instead he opted for allowing the dog to swallow it down before taking two quick steps forward and slamming his right foot into the creature.

Akamaru was picked up into the air from the kick and carried into the wall with a thud before he sank to the ground and ceased all movements. Kiba howled at this and lashed out at Naruto with a kick from his still-prone position.

Naruto dodged it easily and reached out for Kiba's jacket with his left hand. In a quick motion he had closed his hand around the collar of Kiba's coat and had him hanging in the air. Before Kiba had a chance to launch any other form of attack Naruto thrust his right fist forward in a quick and vicious strike to Kiba's stomach.

As though Naruto had simply flicked a switch Kiba passed out.

An odd silence reigned around the room at the end of the fight. No one had honestly expected for any of the genin to be so completely dominated as Naruto had dispatched Kiba.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate called flatly as a pair of medic nin retrieved both Kiba and Akamaru before hurrying off.

Not knowing what to do Naruto just stood and gave a questioning look to Hayate. The proctor ignored Naruto's curious gaze and looked back up to the balconies. "Will the winning fighters please come down to the floor?"

Hardly a second later and all of the victorious contestants minus Sasuke gathered in an uneven group.

"You have a month's time before your match ups, please direct your attention to the board."

As expected all the genin looked at the board once again as it started shifting from one name to the next. As each pairing was decided he heard muffled grunts of annoyance or approval from the genin around him, until it finally finished on Naruto and Hyuuga Neji's names.

Naruto just smiled calmly. He was always training anyway, so he wouldn't need to alter anything for the chuunin exams final stage. Added to the fact that his plans now lay within learning how to master natural chakra under Jiraiya's tutelage.

The toad sage had never said it, but it wasn't hard to find the information that said that someone who was a sage was someone who could control natural chakra.

Naruto almost felt giddy with excitement at the prospect of learning it himself. It was certainly going to be an interesting month for him.

**Hope everyone enjoyed, please review opinions and ideas :- ) **

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner, we'll see how much time I can pull together to write. **


	8. Chapter 8: The Toad Sage Rises

**Just re-uploading this chapter; a guest reviewer pointed out in a vastly immature fashion that I had written the wrong month in one of my time skips, which was purely a typo. I'm guessing it was also the same reviewer who pointed out the "if I was you" thing in chapter 5. I am aware of the correct grammar, though people do not always speak using correct grammar, so I write it as though they are imperfect humans.**

**I prefer to put my Authors notes up the top, so here we go. Again I shall send my public thanks to my beta for his patience and ability to keep me on the straight and narrow. **

**I'll point out that I am in fact Australian, and so I write in Australian English, which can be tricky due to me extensive travels, and the fact that my laptop is American made, so it tries to correct me into American English, so from after this chapter all my works will be edited into American English to make it easier for everyone.**

**Now to the explanation of the long wait for this chapter. . . I hate writing canon events. Phew, that was easy :P But really, canon is annoying for me to write, and so I stumbled across a patch of writers block early in this chapter, and then when I cleared it I just got carried away with how much I was writing. **

**Review responses: I'll start by saying that from now onwards I'll only pm some reviewers as a response when they specifically ask me to, just to make it easier for everyone **

**Pain17ification: Thank you very much for your review, it's truly inspiring as a writer when I get such endearing reviews. I shall pm you shortly about your questions : - ) **

**Krill64: Short answer; no. He may develop some other special techniques, but no sharingan, mokuton, or any of that other jazz.**

**CoverTom: I do love to drop little hints in here and there in my work. I have dropped a whole bunch of hints already that will become apparent several chapters from now : - ) Now that I'm getting into the story more I can illustrate Ino's personal insecurities more, and your opinion may change. But when I get to their eventual break up, which should be three chapters from now, I hope to show it in a way that won't ruin your idea of her. Or it might… Either way, if it ruins your view on her in this story then that just means I've done a good job writing it, or so I hope :3 **

**Roshane: If by pic you mean fic, then many thanks :) But if by pic you mean pic, then the dude who drew that pic would likely also be very thankful. **

**AJGuardian: All I can really say is thank you : - ) I hope you continue to enjoy it. **

**Erdrick117: I'd love to answer this… however I want points like this to be a surprise.**

**Penguinrocks: I get the impression something went wrong there… Please attempt to ask again? **

**SSJ3 Kuuybi Gohan: Ahhh I totally understand what you mean now. I feel like, and I hope that I am, writing this in a natural feeling way. My beta confirms to me that I'm staying on track, so I shall trust in his presumably wise words, and yours as a valued and discerning reader :-) **

**Imugly: As I've said in the pm, many thanks for your support, I hope you continue to enjoy and add your feedback. **

**Battle neurosis: You have my gratitude for your compliment! I would love to update more regularly, but I tend to be heinously busy with my jobs, and at the end of the day I'm running on fumes, so to say. But I write what I can, when I can :) **

**Gunslinging2000: Have you planned out a means to kill me? I warn you… I am a martial arts instructor, it may become the battle of the century ;) **

**The Night Hunter: This will not be a harem story, but he will have multiple partners successively. And the robot path… I'm undecided, at least to what extent I'll include it. I love the Naruto series (in general) but I find myself thinking that Kishimoto has a very odd sense of creativity and that in a way the robot path just seems totally out of place in the narutoverse, however I will include it at least partly. **

**BigBossVince: I actually hadn't even put a single thought to that. Sasuke's eventual pairing is a long way away, so I'll address when I get to it.**

**And to the other reviews; many thanks! And now to the chapter! **

**As always, please review your thoughts, suggestions, opinions, and all that awesome stuff at the end :) **

**Chapter 8: The Toad Sage Rises **

**12****th**** of September**

Naruto let out a sigh of contentment as his mind slowly roused from its state of tranquil relaxation. He was remotely aware that the softness his face was pressed against was giving off its own source of heat, but being in the not fully aware state that he was in it fascinated him, and he gently rubbed his face against the fabric covered mound. 

In response to his actions, he heard a breath hitch, and suddenly all the memories leading to his current position rolled to the forefront of his mind.

Yesterday the teams who had survived the phase of the chuunin exams held in the Forest of Death had ended up with preliminary fights to narrow down the amount of contestants who would be going into the final stage. Naruto had only paid attention to the fights between his teammates, girlfriend, and Hinata. He didn't want to think about it in an arrogant way, but to put it simply, he was far above his fellow genin in terms of skill and raw power, so he felt that he had no imminent need to observe his potential match ups.

Though as luck would have it, his match up would be against Hyuuga Neji, the boy who had gone to an unnecessary length in defeating Hinata. At the time, he had needed to calm himself with steady breaths to resist going to the aid of his shy friend, but yet again as luck would have it, four jounin interrupted the end of the fight in order to prevent the apparent Hyuuga prodigy from killing his cousin.

The fight between his teammate and his girlfriend had been both amusing and riveting in equal measure. It seemed that they were completely and utterly matched. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little bit sheepish about that fact. After growing closer to Ino he had made it a part of his routine to help her train as well, and she had improved rather fluidly, much to his pleasure.

Then upon his induction to team seven, and witnessing Sakura's atrociously inadequate skills, Naruto had generally committed his time with the team to training her, and, as a result, both she and Ino ended up on a virtually identical level.

Immediately after the fights concluded Naruto had gone searching for Sasuke and Kakashi, though it quickly became apparent that Kakashi had taken Sasuke to a rather more secure location to perform the sealing of his recently acquired curse seal. So instead he had sought out Hinata, whom he found was being treated by a Hyuuga medic nin. After giving her a short confidence boosting chat and embrace, he had then moved on to find his pink-haired teammate.

In the end, Naruto had found both Sakura and Ino side by side taunting each other as two medic nin fussed over them, and oddly enough they had both began trying to get his approval for who had performed better in the fight. Being put on the spot and having to choose between congratulating either his teammate or his girlfriend had made Naruto freeze, and he knew that with their personalities he couldn't simply congratulate both of them on a good effort. Fortunately, he had been saved by one of the medic nin who upon seeing his state of unease had made up a convenient lie that the two girls needed rest for now.

And so Naruto had rushed off yet again, this time without a goal. He eventually just settled for exploring the tower and going from one unlocked door to another, something that none of the other contestants considered doing. Eventually, he had stumbled upon a rather large room that doubled as both a treatment and a serving area where a majority of the other contestants who had not succeeded in the phase were residing.

Naruto had mingled with the unsurprisingly large collection of genin with a curious expression. There were genin from all over the elemental nations in here. It almost made the smaller collection of winners seem boring since there were such a variety of individuals in here.

It hadn't taken him long to stumble upon a now-familiar red mop of hair. Of course upon noticing his presence Karin had greeted Naruto with a firm hug. It seemed that she had no inhibitions against closeness with him, as instead of fully disengaging from his body she opted for hanging off his neck and grinning at him.

Being in the position that she was in Naruto accidentally got a clear view of her chest through her now fairly open shirt but instead of blushing or muttering an apology at seeing her still-small breasts in her purple bra his eyes had locked onto the few bite scars. It was at that point she had noticed the direction of his gaze, blushed, and moved to cover her chest more fully.

Though acting on pure curiosity and concern Naruto had put his right palm on the smooth skin at the top of her chest to restrict her ability to hide herself. What had followed had been Karin explaining how her chakra worked, and her erupting into tears and sobbing into his chest as she recalled the times when her ability had been abused by her teammates and others around her.

During the period where Karin had been clutching onto his chest and crying Naruto retreated into the seal. First he had asked kyuubi about the property of his chakra and how he never scarred thanks to it, and then he had switched to begging the kyuubi to allow him to use some of it to heal the collection of scars that adorned Karin's chest and neck. Surprisingly the chakra being just nodded his response and allowed a flood of the familiar red chakra to flow between the bars of his cage toward Naruto.

Naruto hadn't been patient enough to explain to Karin what he was doing, he simply pushed her off him, pulled her shirt open in a way that made Karin blush deep red, and went about putting a hand over one of her scars. Not a moment later his hand glowed red, and the scar smoothed out until it resembled the unmarred skin around it. He had repeated this process multiple times until not a single bite mark was left.

At first when he finished Karin had sobbed silently and muttered her thanks. Then she had looked around to make sure that none of the other genin present could actually see or hear her in their secluded corner of the room before her gaze timidly met his.

Between tears, sobs, and curses, she had explained how previously she had been raped and abused. Being the heartfelt and caring individual that Naruto was, he consoled her with a hug and finished her request for her by agreeing that he'd do the best that he could do to remove whatever scarring there was.

What followed had Naruto flushed red, but determined to help as Karin gently grasped his right hand with her left and guided it below the waist band of her dark pants and settled it gently over her covered mound. Upon meeting her embarrassed and frightened gaze, Naruto had reassured her that he didn't think he needed absolute direct contact with her skin, and without wasting a second more he once again began the process of channelling the kyuubi's regenerative chakra through his hand and into her body.

Not being able to see the scarring directly made Naruto unable to be sure that he had, in fact, healed it, but Karin seemed to know otherwise when she smiled nervously at him and guided his hand from her mound to just below it, between her legs.

This time, being able to feel the scars, Naruto had no trouble in healing them and moving on to others around the area. Before long every scar had been healed, and Naruto was extremely worn out from the rather lengthy use of the kyuubi's raw and unrefined chakra.

Karin expressed her gratitude by pulling herself firmly against him and repeating her various forms of thank you into his chest. For the next half hour, Karin had spoken of her unique chakra's ability, and how she could feel chakra as though it were the owners' own intent, and as though on cue, Ino with her father in tow had come into the room calling his name just as Karin described how alluring Sasuke's chakra felt.

Naruto didn't much care for that information, especially since his growing friendship with kyuubi allowed him to feel a small amount of an individual's emotions and intent, and Sasuke's were anything but pleasant, despite the fact that he had been improving.

And so with a smile and a wave Naruto had departed from Karin's company and headed for the exit of the tower with Ino and her father. On their way out they had run across Sakura who joined them for a dash through the treetops of the forest of death.

This time in the journey through the forest without the threat of hostile nin they managed to make it back to their starting point in just thirty minutes. After Sakura had gone her own way, Inoichi once again invited Naruto over for dinner as he had done on many occasions since the first time.

This of course led to a beaming Ino and an appreciative Naruto who couldn't find a single reason to turn down the offer.

As it always did in the household of the head of the Yamanaka clan dinner went by deliciously and happily. Naruto's mind was far from its normal generally happy state, however. His meeting with Karin, a fellow Uzumaki, seemed to shine a new light into his heart, and at the conclusion of the meal after their over the table-top banter had come to an end, and everyone had gotten up to go about their business for the latter part of the evening Naruto had lowered himself to the floor onto his hands and knees and gave the deepest bow that he could give.

What followed was Naruto deepest and most sincere thank you that he had ever given. With his head bowed the entire time he expressed the depth of his thanks to both of Ino's parents for bringing him into their family in the accepting manner that they had.

Standing over and besides Naruto was a teary Ino who couldn't keep the adoration off her face at the heartfelt expression of her boyfriend. For a short time both Inoichi and his wife stood in shocked silence, and then as though a silent message passed between them they both rushed forward and pulled Naruto into a shared fierce embrace. With Inoichi stating that Naruto was virtually his own son, and his wife declaring that he was welcome in their home at any time.

What had followed had been more along the lines of the usual routine as Ino pulled him after her into her room and into her bed. Within the darkness of the room during the night they had both explored each other's bodies teasingly and breathlessly before the stresses of the day had finally caught up with them and they drifted off to sleep in each other's embrace.

Pulling himself from his recollections of the previous day Naruto peeked up over what he had now identified as Ino's purple-clad breast to her sky-blue eyes looking down at him with a distinct satisfaction that always made him happy.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun… Comfortable there?" she asked with a coy smile.

Naruto's first reaction was to gently blow his warm breath across the bare skin above her developing cleavage. She laughed softly as the breath tickled her sensitive skin in response.

"I guess I'm pretty comfortable…" Naruto started with an equally coy smile before it shifted to a concerned expression. "But I need to work out the next month…"

Ino's hands descended down the bed from their previously widely splayed position until they looped under Naruto's undressed arms. Knowing what she wanted Naruto complied and moved up to her level, once again enjoying the feeling of his bare torso brushing against hers, and giving her a peck on the lips when they could more easily look into each other's eyes.

"Won't you just ask Kakashi-sensei for help?" She enquired softly while searching his henged blue eyes. She hadn't said it to him yet, but she found his blue-ringed eyes to be the most alluring into which she had ever looked.

"Ehhh, Kakashi-sensei is a talented jounin, but his attention has been on Sasuke since the start. I'm the one who's been training Sakura-chan…" Naruto mumbled as he rolled his face into the pillow and began the effort of raising his body from the mattress whilst using his head as the lever.

Ino giggled gently at the display as she shuffled under the gap he'd made between his body and the mattress. "You didn't do a very good job of training her then, did you Naruto-kun?"

Naruto chuckled as he returned his weight onto his arms that now rested either side of Ino's head. "She knocked you out, didn't she?" Naruto teased back.

Ino poked her tongue out at him as a smile split her face. "That hurt, ya know!"

The platinum blonde haired girl promptly slapped a hand over her mouth at her exclamation and hid a blush.

"Ya know?" Naruto queried back with a smirk. "I knew that I was having a positive effect on you!"

With his declaration, Naruto snaked his arms under Ino's body and quickly jerked upright into a sitting position.

Ino squeaked at the sudden and unexpected motion and instinctively threw her weight forward. Not having expected the sudden impact of Ino's body so closely against his Naruto overbalanced from his position and instead of stopping as he had planned he continued his motion backwards until both of them rolled off the bed together and landed on the floor with a muffled thud.

Ino laughed as Naruto groaned beneath her. He had broken the short fall from the bed to the floor, and she now sat comfortably astride his chest. Naruto blinked his eyes quickly as he realised that his girlfriend was straddling his chest whilst only wearing her purple bra and panties. A pink tinge formed over his cheeks at the view. Ino caught onto the same details a moment later, and she too quickly developed the same nervous expression.

Even though during their shared nights they would spend a lot of time petting each other, it would always be done in the dark. Now in the morning light of the room with Ino on top of him in a rather revealing position the pair couldn't help but blush and shiver in a mix of trepidation and excitement.

Instincts guided Naruto's actions as he ran his hands up Ino's smooth thighs and to her waist. Neither of them could miss Ino's reaction as her excitement rose and her body flushed with colour and heat in contrast to her normally pale skin. She quickly bent forward at the waist and placed her delicate hands on either side of Naruto's face before bringing him into a passionate kiss.

Not feeling inclined to attempt to call the shots in his position Naruto just went along with Ino's actions and rubbed his hands along the sides of her body gently.

Ino broke the lip-lock with a smile, though stayed within inches of his face. "You always get me so excited, Naruto-kun," she breathed throatily along his jaw line.

Sitting back upright with her nervous smile being replaced by a confident smirk she rolled her hips back and forward, sending a jolt of excitement through both of them, "But as much as I want to go further with you, I want to save it for when we're both more ready." She sighed out in obvious annoyance at herself.

"It's okay Ino-chan, I understand, and I agree." Naruto smiled up at her with his blush still present.

Ino just smiled her own thanks before rolling off and throwing Naruto's discarded mesh shirt to him.

Naruto clumsily snatched it from the air and set about pulling it over his head. Soon he was crawling around the floor searching for his pants as Ino began the process of wrapping a majority of her body in the compression bandages that she had preferred since the beginning of her days as a genin.

Their shared process of dressing was a clumsy effort of half wakefulness that Naruto described as "laughable and pathetic" on their way out of the room and into the kitchen.

The next hour went by with the pair sharing the delight of making pancakes together, which had both of Ino's parents frowning at the mess that was forming around the two young shinobi.

But as the pancakes were served Inoichi quickly forgave the mess that Naruto had a considerable part in forming as he, Ino, and Naruto drooled over the unexpectedly delicious pancakes for a moment before gulping them down.

Ino's mother didn't share the trio's enthusiasm and opted for eating just one pancake in the most polite fashion possible as her eyes were almost glued to the mess around the kitchen. The fun morning for Ino ended when they all stood from the table and her mother pulled her into a one armed hug and explained that since she was domesticating so much with Naruto that she should also learn the virtues of cleaning up her messes.

All Naruto could do was chuckle apologetically as Inoichi dragged him from the house under the declaration that he needed to bond with his daughter's boyfriend.

"Where are we going Mr Yamanaka?" Naruto asked through a stifled yawn from a few paces to Inoichi's left.

The Yamanaka clan head sighed at Naruto's address to him. "Naruto-kun, what did I tell you about calling me that?"

"I swear that I tried to call you Inoichi-san, Mr Yamanaka, but it just comes out that way," Naruto explained with a lopsided smile and his familiar action of rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmmm," Inoichi sighed in thought.

"You're part of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation aren't you?" Naruto asked cheerily.

'_Uh-ohh.' _Inoichi thought in apprehension to the boy's train of thought. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

Naruto shot his peer a sly grin as he placed his hands on his hips and attempted to adopt a thoughtful expression. "Then why don't I just called you Ino-chan?"

Silence reigned between the pair for only a second before Inoichi barked in laughter. "At least my daughter chose a guy who's got guts, but I guess I can deal with 'Mr. Yamanaka'."

Naruto grinned again and refocused his attention on the direction in which he was being led. "So are we going to the hot springs?"

"Yeah," Inoichi started with a straight face. "It's a good place to talk and relax, and maybe I can help you plan out your next month. Plus, you still must be sore from the past week."

Naruto blatantly slapped his hand over his belly affectionately and grinned. "Nah, I have a friend who helps me heal super quick."

"Do you now?" Inoichi asked with a raised eyebrow and a half frown.

"Ahuh, I found out ages ago. He's not as bad as everything thinks, just a little misunderstood, really." Naruto smiled warmly as his second hand joined the first over his navel.

'_A little misunderstood? I guess I can't really judge on that.' _Inoichi mentally mused as they rounded the last corner to the hot springs.

The pair paused before entering the lobby area of the hot springs building as a distinct giggle reverberated through the narrow street. Naruto took several quick and awkward steps back into the street and gazed along the length of the picketed fence that held the women's side of the hot springs at bay from the public.

Inoichi followed Naruto's movements as he likewise moved to inspect the source of the giggle. Their reactions were entirely different as Inoichi immediately scowled and strode in the direction of the large hunched over man whose face was pressed up against the fence.

Naruto immediately noted that despite the reoccurring issue of perverts peeking on the women from the very same position that Jiraiya was currently in that the hot springs manager was most likely a pervert himself. After all, it would take extremely little effort to move the women's sign to the men's door and the men's to the women's door.

Deciding to just watch the coming confrontation Naruto trailed silently behind Inoichi as he neared Jiraiya's stooped form.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!? Do you have no respect for women?" Inoichi yelled gruffly at the man stooped over against the fence.

Upon registering the voice being directed at him Jiraiya's posture snapped straight and he fell into his usual stance of palms up facing his fun spoiler in a placating gesture.

"Oh, it's you Jiraiya-sama, apologies…" Inoichi immediately resigned his anger upon seeing the tall sannin turn to him. "But could you please not peek on the women's hot springs? My little girl could be in there." He smoothly lied with a perfect poker face.

"Ahhh, Inoichi-san! Sure, sorry, you know how it is. Having to gather more material for my new books and all," Jiraiya explained with a sly smirk.

Naruto couldn't withhold his laughter at his former sensei's rather blatant explanation. He figured that Jiraiya knew better than to lie to the village's top mind walker.

"Is that you, brat?" Jiraiya declared as he pushed past Inoichi as though he were already a forgotten thought.

"Naruto-kun, it is you!" the toad sage announced happily as he reached out for a hug.

Naruto replied to the gesture with an uneasy hug of his own as Jiraiya's much larger frame engulfed his own.

"What's up kid? I heard there was some trouble in the exams?"

"Ahh, yeah, Orochimaru attacked us." Naruto gasped out as Jiraiya tightened his embrace for a second before releasing him into a crumpled heap on the ground.

"Naruto-kun, I know it's Jiraiya-sama, but I don't think you should say such things out loud like this," Inoichi cautioned as he stepped up beside Jiraiya.

"Yeah, I guess, but peo-"

"Actually, now that I think about it, how do you know Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-kun?" Inoichi butted in over what would have been Naruto's poorly thought out response.

Jiraiya shot Naruto a pointed look for a moment before an unspoken message seemed to pass between them and Jiraiya spoke in Naruto's stead. "I helped raise him for a little while before he joined the academy."

"Oh, I see. So that's why Naruto-kun seems to be so talented? You trained him?" Inoichi asked back immediately.

Jiraiya quickly figured that Inoichi's initial entrance into the conversation had been to set up bait for it to lead where it was now. Deciding that he didn't need to lie or tell the whole truth Jiraiya continued cheerily.

"Well not exactly. Sure I helped him, but the little brat was already the most talented kid I've ever met, but that's something for another time, Inoichi-san."

Inoichi smile politely at Jiraiya as he interpreted the hidden message in the sannin's response as a prompt _'none of your damn business.' _Of course, it was meant to avoid an issue in a polite way, but it was clear enough that it was something that neither Naruto nor his sannin godfather wanted to say at the moment.

"Well then, I guess what I was going to speak to Naruto-kun about has been answered now, I'm sure you won't mind training him for the month, will you Jiraiya-sama?" Inoichi declared happily as he bowed to the sannin and started walking off before the white haired man could even begin to respond.

"Hmm, that was odd… Why were you with Inoichi-san?"

"Huh?" Naruto questioned dumbly as he swung his gaze from one alley way to the next, his nose twitching at the familiar scent of Dango.

"Inoichi-san, you, with and talking to?" Jiraiya questioned back with an annoyed twitch of his eyebrow.

"Oh, right. I'm dating his daughter, Yamanaka Ino…" Naruto's attention immediately shifted from the sage back to the closest alleyway.

The distinct sound that came with an item being unsealed whistled from Naruto's wrist as suddenly a purple ball appeared in his right hand.

Jiraiya took a quick step back at the strangely developing scene as two senbon like skewers flashed from out of one of the shadows toward Naruto. The blonde boy simply shifted his weight slightly and raised his left hand toward the shadow.

Jiraiya saw his henged eyes flicker for a moment as Naruto engaged his rinnegan powers and the all too familiar Mitarashi Anko sailed smoothly from the shadows whilst writhing and cursing.

"How the fuck do you keep doing this, brat?" Anko cursed mid-air as her brown eyes bored into Naruto's blue ones.

Naruto just smirked in response as he dropped the technique and shunshined around her and jumped onto her back before she could regain full movement. Naruto wrapped his legs around her midsection, securely locking her arms to her sides and set his grinning face on her shoulder.

A distinct splat followed a moment later, and Anko looked to its source. For a moment, she thought that she was seeing red in anger, but she quickly deduced that it was in-fact orange, and she was feeling happiness and annoyance instead of anger, and the orange was actually paint that had burst from some kind of balloon against the inner curves of her right breast.

"Hahaa! I threw that before I even moved!" Naruto announced victoriously without breaking his leg lock around the kunoichi's body.

Anko couldn't stop the malicious chuckle that rose from her chest as her head flopped onto her right shoulder so that she could look Naruto in the eye. "Heh heh heh, you're getting pretty good at getting paint on my tits, Naruto-kun."

Naruto just grinned in response whilst Jiraiya's eyes seemed to bug out of his head. The following sounds of pen scribbling on paper quickly announced that Jiraiya was being hit with inspiration.

Naruto didn't feel wrong at all for making Anko's privates the main targets in his attacks on her, especially since she found humiliating ways to capture or hurt him, as well.

"That's because they're such big targets." Naruto teased back coyly as he struggled to keep the tint of red from his cheeks. Despite being much more physically involved with Ino, sexual teasing was still something that managed to get to him quickly.

Anko did not have this problem as she rolled her shoulders forward and pressed her breasts together as much as she was able to within Naruto's tight leg-lock around her arms and body.

This time from his raised position over the special jounin's shoulder with his full view of her ample breasts being pressed together, Naruto could not stave off the bright blush that rushed across his face.

"Awwww, does little Naru-chan like this?" Anko cooed teasingly.

"Little Jiraiya-chan likes this!" Jiraiya squeaked dreamily from behind his note-pad absently.

A short silence settled between Naruto and Anko as Jiraiya kept scribbling, unaware that the two were now looking at him with matching grins. Acting on their unspoken understanding Naruto released his hold on Anko as she chuckled silently.

"So you like this, Jiraiya-chan?" Anko teased as she bent forward at the waist and flicked her coat outwards, revealing more of her toned curves.

Jiraiya peeked over the top of his note-pad and nodded feverishly, still obviously in his dream like state.

Anko gave him a sensual smile before forming a single hand seal and announcing, "Freak the fuck out jutsu!" Suddenly her alluring visage was replaced by the very unexpected and fear-inducing sight of a nude and arms raised behind his head posing Might Guy.

Naruto immediately slapped his hands over his eyes and turned away to wait it out whilst Jiraiya held up his stare for a moment longer before screaming a particularly childlike scream of fear. As his scream finished, his face froze for a moment before he toppled backward onto the ground in an unconscious heap.

The moment that he made contact with the ground Anko dropped the transformation and clutched her stomach as she released a roar of laughter. She had developed the "freak the fuck out jutsu" in response to Naruto's "sexy jutsu" as an opposing joke, and she had wished to put it to use on her blonde rival first, but Konoha's greatest pervert was an acceptable substitute.

"Well that was interesting!" Anko declared happily, and she gave Naruto a broad grin.

Naruto couldn't help but give one back to her, he had decided that they were practically kindred spirits with all of their similarities, even their grins matched, and every time one saw the other with the joyous expression they couldn't help but match it with their own.

"Anyway, I guess I have more reason to go to the springs now," Anko started whilst looking down at her still paint covered breast. "Make sure that your perverted sensei doesn't peek on me! Or else I'll castrate you…" She winked at him before striding in the direction of the bath house entrance.

Naruto yet again found himself smirking. Anko was unquestionably one of his most favourite people in the village to talk to. She always managed to bring a bit of fun and brightness to his day when she showed up, or when he showed up in hers.

"Hey Ero-sennin?" Naruto chortled as he crouched next to Jiraiya's strangely swirling gaze.

"Mmmm, what is it, brat? I feel like my mind was just raped," the sage mumbled out around an odd whimper.

"Can you teach me about natural chakra?" Naruto queried simply.

The toad sage sat bolt upright at the question and gave Naruto a broad grin, "You asked that three years earlier than I expected!"

**X**

**26****th**** September **

Konan felt as though she were walking down a road with 'Memory Lane' pasted all along it as she watched one of Konoha's many training fields from afar. The one that she was currently watching only had four inhabitants, the Suna genin team and their jounin sensei.

The boy whom she was technically there to observe was yet again sitting down on a pad of sand doing nothing but stare at the ground, the same as he had done consistently every-day since she had begun watching them a week earlier.

Of course, she had only shifted her focus to the Suna team when Jiraiya and his student had disappeared in a reverse summon at the beginning of the week despite the fact that officially the Suna team were meant to be her point of focus.

Two weeks earlier when she had arrived she had been halted in her task of finding the Suna team when the first Konoha ninja her gaze had fallen upon had been her previous sensei and his latest student. With her curiosity now focused on what sort of person Jiraiya's student could be, Konan soon found herself watching them religiously.

Her surprise had sky-rocketed when she saw the blonde boy not only sign the toad summoning contract, but summon the very same gargantuan toad that she, Nagato, and Yahiko had first witnessed Jiraiya summon while battling Hanzo.

For a majority of the following week she had watched the pair do what she would best describe as revision training; obviously Jiraiya was being brought back up to speed with his blonde students' skill set, a repertoire by which she was vastly impressed.

The blonde boy had practically danced around Jiraiya's attacks, and then proceeded to use every element in his return offensives. By the end of the week, it became clear that Jiraiya had approved of Naruto's abilities and after a drawn out emotional goodbye to a platinum blonde haired girl on the training ground that Konan felt obliged to describe as 'sappy and pathetic', both Jiraiya and his disciple disappeared in their reverse summon.

And so she had moved back to her original task of seeking out the Suna team. It really hadn't been terribly difficult to find them, since the only teams who had so much space to themselves in their training had been Jiraiya and his charge, Hatake Kakashi and the last Konoha Uchiha, and the Suna team.

She noted with muted interest that each member of the sand squad was extremely talented. The puppet-using boy was incredibly skilled in his chosen art for someone his age, she was sure that Sasori himself would be impressed. Then the dirty-blonde haired girl with the four odd pigtails had proceeded to slice the supplied training dummies to small pieces with her extensive wind attacks that would make even Kakuzu raise an eyebrow.

Then from time to time even their jounin sensei went about his own training, to keep his skills honed as he manipulated wind to a perfected degree, but what caught her attention the most was the red haired jinchuuriki, who despite his total lack of activity managed to make even the Suna jounin sensei tremble in fear with one mumbled threat.

But in Konan's entire time observing those coming and going around Konoha the one who was at the top of her priority list was the supposed genin, Yakushi Kabuto, a glasses wearing man who would always be wearing a small smile.

According to Itachi's intel Kabuto was one of Orochimaru's spies, and he was far more skilled than what met the eye. His mere presence told her that Itachi's suspicions about Orochimaru's plans were at least partly correct, and the contact that Kabuto had had with the Suna jounin was confirmation enough that their plan involved the ichibi jinchuuriki.

But what was becoming glaringly obvious to her was the fact that Orochimaru was planning to launch his attack during the chuunin exams, and she was sure that she needed to stay to watch over the exams and to ensure the survival of both the ichibi and kyuubi jinchuuriki, despite not yet knowing the identity of the kyuubi vessel. Itachi had simply told her that he was not going to be what she would have expected, but even then with her opened mind and he senses on high alert she had been unable to sense any powerful source of chakra that would signify the presence of the kyuubi within a person.

Which told her that the jinchuuriki was extremely skilled to suppress his chakra so much and so carefully. What she could be sure of was the fact that apparently the kyuubi jinchuuriki would be participating in the final stage of the exams, so without a doubt she'd be able to find him later on.

Akatsuki might not have been ready to move with the sealing of the bijuu, but they needed to watch over their assets, which was currently one of her duties. In truth, Konan was rather happy with this current duty. She wasn't stuck in Ame, she wasn't having to work as a mercenary, and she wasn't having to capture any innocents, she was simply watching the younger generation grow. It was something that strangely brought warmth to her being that she couldn't understand.

The previous week she had even caught herself laughing when she saw Jiraiya not only knocked onto his rear by an exploding clone, but swamped by a mountain of shadow clones that all simultaneously exploded into multi-coloured paints. Then upon stopping herself from laughing and smiling at the scene she had entered a state of concern and thoughtfulness.

She knew that she'd always had too much empathy to start a war, which was one of the many reasons that she'd suppressed all feelings for years, but now with her feelings catching up with her she couldn't see past the fog of her doubts.

**XXX With Naruto XXX**

Naruto heard his own breath coming out as though it was seeping out of a punctured balloon. At first he had been excited beyond all belief that he was going to be learning how to control natural chakra and become a sage, and he still was. He just wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of being whole-heartedly whacked with Fukasaku's chakra-blocking stick again.

The ragged sound of his breath was quickly followed by a set of two chuckles coming from his oh-so-loving sensei and the small toad himself. Sure they thought that the sight of Naruto being so battered was funny, but behind that they were immensely impressed.

Naruto had already mastered how to enter sage mode with the help of the toad oil with surprisingly little physical changes. His now unhenged blue rinnegan retained their shape and colour whilst a deep orange to red pigment formed around his eyes.

After Jiraiya had shown his surprise, he had moved on to being jealous that Naruto was mastering the art to a finer degree than he had been able to. Naruto narrowed his speedy training down to months of experimenting with the feel of natural chakra, but Jiraiya and Fukasaku pointed out that his rinnegan gave him the ability to feel and control the flow of chakra to a much finer degree.

"Hey, Naruto-boy? Try again. Try thinking of something that brings you personal peace," Fukasaku suggested with a content and knowing smile.

Naruto looked at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Jiraiya. The human sage nodded in agreement and Naruto forced a slight smile before closing his eyes and sifting through his memories.

Ino? No, she brought him happiness, joy, even love, but peace wasn't a feeling that she inspired.

Kyuubi? Another no, he brought him an unquenchable feeling of determination, acceptance, inspiration to overcome all odds.

Mikoto or Itachi? No. They both gave him so much love and help that he could feel his heart overwhelmed with joy at the thought of them, and that was far too much for a feeling of peace.

'_What I want most in this world is peace, I want fighting to stop. I want the pain to end. When I focus on my vision of the future I feel peace,' _Naruto mentally concluded as he wiped all the emotion off his face and took a deep breath.

Naruto felt his chakra coils grow warm with the addition of the natural chakra soaking in. A tingly sensation spread through him, and a sudden sense of fortification overwhelmed him. He was vaguely aware of the sharp intakes of breath of his two sensei's, and then suddenly he could feel them perfectly, their intentions, the smallest of their motions all the way down to their heartbeats.

He eased his eyes open slowly to the grinning face of his white haired sensei. "You little devil! I wish I could have done this at your age!"

Naruto just nodded his response in curiosity as he sent out a push through rinnegan powers that lifted him from the ground and into a standing position. A sudden urge to let loose in training overtook him as his new found power surged through his coils.

His eyes locked onto a particularly large mushroom that towered over them caught his focus and he experimentally made a dash for it. Half way to the base of the massive fungal growth his sage-powered momentum stopped and he tripped, skidding the rest of the way along the strangely slimy ground.

"Ouch…" he grumbled out with a childish pout as Jiraiya and Fukasaku caught up to him.

"Oh well, at least you can sorta enter sage mode," Jiraiya chortled amusedly.

The toad sannin's mocking was short lived as Fukasaku's chakra rod smacked into his nose sharply. "Don't go mocking him, Jiraiya-boy! Naruto-boy is far ahead of what you were at his age. To think that he's already come so far within a week, truly it's amazing to have the next great sage here with us!"

"Next great sage, huh?" Naruto questioned with a coy smile as he rose and brushed himself down.

"Well it appears so, the rinnegan, such enormous reserves, a jinchuuriki, such potential. We will do our utmost to help guide you," Fukasaku replied firmly with a proud expression and stance. The small toad sage had never thought that the humble realm of mount Myoboku would ever see another who would rival Minato, and yet here was, that very man's son who far outclassed his father.

"Hmmm," Naruto hummed in thought. "And yet… 'Jiraiya-boy' and I have to eat bugs everyday… What's with that?"

Jiraiya chuckled uncomfortably at Naruto's well-intended question, but he had found out first hand many years ago how strongly Shima and Fukasaku felt about their diet of choice. With a not so subtle slip of his hand, Jiraiya produced one of his Icha Icha volumes and began rereading his text to zone out of what was Fukasaku's oncoming rage and indignation about Naruto's smart-ass question.

**XXX 1****st**** October: With Anko XXX**

Anko had entered a state of depressed mindlessness in the past few weeks. Her ritual of spending time with Naruto, whether it be fighting, talking, or pranking people seemed to be dying in the wind. With a vigorous shake of her head, Anko managed to get her fringe to hang slightly to the side of her hitai-ate.

She almost couldn't believe how bored out of her mind she was. The first thing she'd done upon rising earlier that morning after donning her usual provocative attire had been to go for a few laps around Konoha in search of the boy who had been her charge, but yet again she was unable to find him. As she had been unable to do for the past few weeks of his absence.

Her importance being such a skilled interrogator usually had her cooped up in the village in case an enemy shinobi was captured and her specific skills were required. But things had been oddly quiet since the beginning of the chuunin exams.

She shuffled her rear uncomfortably in her seat and attempted to ignore the curious gaze being shot her way from the owner of the Dango stall. She couldn't blame him for his curiosity, especially not after having sat there for a solid three hours, eating a new record of Dango, and telling a large number of passers by who had apparently courted her to go fuck themselves.

Her brown gaze locked onto the familiar sight of a head of platinum blonde hair and another head of pink hair next to it. She rushed from her seat, and into the bustling crowd to seek out the two teenage genin girls.

"Yo, blondie!" Anko called over the crowd as she attempted to brush between two merchants.

Several blondes turned their heads at Anko's call. She just sighed in frustration and opted for using her shinobi skills to roughly shove the 'obstacles' from her path on her way to the two girls.

"Hey, pink billboard and future slut. Attention please!" Anko demanded gruffly as she shoved into Sakura's side.

"What the hell did you just call me?" Both girls shouted simultaneously.

"Truth!" Anko grinned at the girls.

The three held the others' stares for a moment before Ino sighed and quoted her dark-haired teammate, "Troublesome… You're the one who N- The second exam proctor, right?"

Anko raised her eyebrow at the blonde girls choice revising what she was going to say but decided to ignore it for the time being. "Yeah, that's me. You're the one who's always sucking up to Naru-chan, and Pinky-winky is his teammate, so one of you should know where he is?"

Both the genin girls were quickly deducing the simple fact that they certainly didn't like this woman whom Naruto had apparently befriended. But despite both of their efforts to try and understand how the two of them could be friends their behaviour was oddly matching. They were like the same product but a different brand.

"Well?" Anko demanded as she placed her hands on her hips and bent forward into Ino's face to scrutinise her.

Ino tried to take a step back at the invasion of her personal space, but was simply pushed back into the same position when she bumped into a passer-by.

A sudden surge of confidence rushed through Ino, and she forced an innocent smile over her face to combat the special jounin's accusing glare.

"Do we get anything if we tell you?" Ino chirped.

Sakura shot Ino a sideways glance of shock. She was by no means unfamiliar with Ino's confident side, but to be so teasing to a woman who had already proved that she was at least partly sadistic was something else to Sakura.

"Ohhhh, I see why Naru-chan likes you. You've got some guts to play with me like this! How about a quiz, whoever wins does what the other wants?" The purple-haired woman beamed, her previous angry demeanor forgotten in light of someone new with whom to have fun.

"Ehhh, Ino-chan, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sakura asked nervously as she caught the glint in the special jounin's eye that spelled some kind of trap.

"Of course I am! No one knows Naruto-kun better than me!" Ino blurted confidently with her grin spreading and her stance now mirroring Anko's in an odd form of standoff.

"Can either of you brats shunshin?" Anko asked flatly. "Like Naru-chan can?" She tacked onto the end before either of the girls could answer.

They both frowned at the obvious shot at their abilities as genin kunoichi but shook their heads in the negative nonetheless.

"Well then, we need a proctor, and I know the perfect one. Follow me!" With her declaration set, Anko spun on her heel with a flare of her coat and practically pranced off.

The two girls shared an incredulous look before quickly rushing after the woman.

"Why are we doing this, Ino-chan? Weren't we going to go find Kakashi-sensei to watch him train Sasuke-kun?" Sakura pleaded to her confident-looking friend.

"Please! I don't care about Sasuke. No one knows Naruto-kun better than me, I'll win this for sure, and then we can get her to do something embarrassing, or maybe we could get her to teach us to shunshin, wouldn't that be cool!" The Yamanaka heir beamed.

Sakura just frowned in response but held her silence, she was certain that this whole issue was just going to cause more issues. Despite herself being on a team with Naruto, she knew that there were many parts of his life that she didn't know about, and even though Ino obviously knew more than her she doubted that the blonde girl knew much more.

Anko, on the other hand, seemed as though she had more in common with the shared blonde of their lives, and seemingly out of concern had been out looking for him.

The two girls tagging behind Anko soon noticed that the bustling streets were clearing up and that the surrounding buildings were all too familiar: they were going to Ichiraku's Ramen stand.

"And here we are! Ayame-chan, you in?" Anko called past the unimpressed looking Teuchi into the back of the stall.

"Uhh, yeah, coming." A gentle voiced called back.

Both Ino's and Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion. They both knew Ayame to a small extent, and that she was acquainted with Naruto through his love for ramen, but they doubted her ability to "proctor" a quiz about him.

The girl in question rushed to the counter of the ramen stand with her almost constant gentle smile on her face. Her eyes lit up when they fell upon Anko, and her smile spread into a full beaming expression of joy.

"Anko-san! You're normally here with Naruto-kun, he's not about?"

"Nah," Anko shook her head and turned her gaze to the two girls standing off to the side slightly. "That's why we're here actually. I made a deal with the blonde brat here-"

"You mean Ino-chan?" Ayame asked in an attempt to wipe the scowl off Ino's face.

"Tsk, whatever you wanna call her. But we made a deal that whichever one of us can win a quiz about Naru-chan the loser has to do what they want. And you know the kid better than anyone, besides myself. So I chose you as the proctor for it!" Anko chortled out as quickly and excitably as possible.

Even though she did genuinely want to know where Naruto was, the prospect of a debate, or any unusual activity, was a rather enticing thing with which she could fill her time.

Ayame shifted her confused and curious gaze between Ino and Anko. Currently the two were in total contrast to one another; Anko looked excited and ready for action, whilst the blonde girl looked flustered and worried.

"Uhh, sure, I guess I can help out… What do you want me to do exactly?" Ayame asked in an awkwardly broken tone, immediately mouthing 'sorry' to Ino and Sakura after.

Anko either didn't notice or didn't care about Ayame feeling apologetic for her concession and clapped her hands happily.

"Alright, little minx, this is how it works, you ask me a question if I get it right then it's my turn if I get it wrong then you get another one, deal?" Anko questioned in an all too forceful tone.

"And Ayame-san just has to agree with the answer or not?" Ino asked in a dubious voice with her second eyebrow joining the first in climbing her brow.

"Uhuh. Now, shoot!"

Ino gave Sakura a concerned look for a moment before the pinkette shrugged and nodded in Anko's direction. Practically a message of 'just go with it.'

"Okay… What's his favourite food?"

Sakura almost wanted to slap Ino for her choice of question. Anyone who knew of Naruto would answer that without a problem.

"Ramen, or more specifically, Anko-made ramen!" The purple haired jounin grinned.

"Ehh, he likes mine more, Anko-san, so Ino-chan gets another question," Ayame stated uncomfortably and gave Ino a sympathetic smile as Anko turned an angry eye on her.

"Uhh, what's Naruto-kun's favourite colour?" Ino asked with a smirk. She wasn't exactly sure of the answer, but she figured that if she didn't know, then there would be no way in hell that Anko would know.

Anko paused for a moment and struck her hands on her hips, her eyes turned skyward in thought and she pursed her lips tightly. She stuck the tip of her tongue out her mouth and squinted her eyes in an expression that was obviously her own distinct deductive face. She snaked her hands from her hips to her thighs and patted them softly through her short orange mini-skirt and mesh stockings.

Anko pulled her tongue back into her mouth and began chewing on her bottom lip instead, much to the curiosity of her onlookers as she shifted her hands to rest on her rear over her hefty coat. Yet again she froze in her pose as though in thought.

What neither Ino nor Sakura knew that Ayame did, was that the places that Anko was resting her hands on were commonly targeted areas for Naruto's paintballs. And both Anko and the ramen chef knew that his most commonly targeted zones were Anko's all-too-easily sighted breasts.

Following that train of thought Anko moved her hands to cup her breasts through her mesh shirt. The action brought bright blushes to the two genin whilst Ayame simply sighed in exasperation. By now she knew Anko rather well, and her process of thinking involved a lot of movement.

Despite the fact that Ayame already knew that Naruto's favourite colour was orange, she could see why someone might think otherwise with his consistency in wearing black and red clothing, Such as one of his commonly-worn jackets with a jet black base with deep red flames licking up the hem.

"Orange, the brat likes orange!" Anko started slowly with her eyes squinting further.

Ayame couldn't help but smirk as she got a mental image of the last time Naruto and Anko slumping into the ramen stand with the latter's mesh covered chest splattered with orange paint from an abundant use of paintballs.

"Yup, hands down his favourite colour! Alright, you're turn, Anko-san."

Ino gulped nervously at Ayame's acceptance of Anko's answer and shuffled her feet in anticipation. She had already been wrong about her theory of Anko not knowing about Naruto's favourite colour just because she didn't know, and the special jounin's thought process had rather unnerved her.

"Alright… Let's see," Anko mused thoughtfully. "Where is Naruto's favourite place in the world to spend his time?"

Ino frowned at the question. She wanted to confidently declare that it was in her room, or even on one of the training grounds, but Anko obviously chose the question because of its deceptive nature. She looked to Sakura for her thoughts, but Sakura seemed to be a step ahead of her and began to open her mouth to speak.

The moment that the pinkette's lips began to move to form words an unbroken set of disposable chop sticks smacked into her forehead.

"Ouch! What the hell!?" Sakura shot a glare at the coyly smiling special jounin who was the source of the offending chopsticks.

"The quiz is between future slut and I, not you Pinky-winky."

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and clenched her jaw, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, and her eyelids dropped shut. _'Calm down Sakura. She's just trying to get to us, and it's not like we could do anything to her anyway.' _

When Sakura opened her eyes, and looked to Ino, she saw that her friend-turned-rival-turned-friend was wearing a similar angry expression as her own.

"Come on! Even pretty little Ayame-chan knows this one, and she doesn't even go further than the ramen stand with Naruto," Anko chortled, her previous mirth having returned full force in light of her opponent's enraged and confused expression.

Ino felt a sudden spike of doubt go through her. It seemed that both Anko and Ayame had a larger part in Naruto's life than she had previously suspected and that he did many things of which she was utterly unaware.

"Whatever, this game is stupid. Naruto-kun went to go training somewhere with Jiraiya-sama." Ino ground out before spinning on her heel and walking back towards her and Sakura's previously planned destination of Team 10's preferred training ground.

Sakura quickly fell into step beside her friend after shooting Anko a disapproving glare.

"What a sore loser!" Anko laughed after the retreating girls.

"Anko-san…" Ayme began sternly with a firm frown over her brow. Despite her inferior years to the special jounin, she always managed to behave in a parenting manner toward her. "I don't think Naruto-kun would appreciate how you're treating his girlfriend. You even called the poor girl a slut."

The provocatively dressed woman just shrugged and moved to sit on one of the stools at the counter. "She could have just told me at the start… Plus, she is a future slut, you can see it written all over her."

Ayame's frown deepened and she crossed her arms under her meager bust. "I honestly don't mean any offense by this, Anko-san. But you are aware that by reputation, and from many actions, you are often called a 'slut'?"

Anko paused at Ayame's words; her face quickly developed a saddened expression as she stared at the countertop. "I'm going to stop that now. I want to be better than that." She grumbled silently in the smallest voice that she could manage. The more time that she had been spending with Naruto the more that the word 'slut' or title 'snake whore' had been getting to her. She narrowed it down to being that she was finally feeling more value in her life and existence, and it both frustrated and pleased her.

On multiple occasions over the past few weeks when she'd gone out to one of her many familiar bars for the evening, she had turned down man after man who had previously made sexual advances on her that she'd accepted once before. The small and scared part of her that sought shelter from her issues had wanted for her to accept the offers so that she could stick to her usual coping mechanism to avoid thinking about her issues.

But the part that Naruto had awoken in her told her quite the opposite. It told her that she was worth more than that kind of treatment that she could be happy with her life and accept herself if she genuinely wanted to.

"Naruto-kun deals with his issues way better than I deal with mine, and I want to be more like him."

Ayame smiled pleasantly at Anko's change in pace. "That's wonderful to hear, Anko-san, how about a pork ramen, on the house?"

"Sure, good food and good company for lunch." Anko smiled back at Ayame as she turned to prepare the food.

**XXX With Naruto XXX**

"Ouch! Stop digging your heels in!" Naruto shouted in anger as he continued his swift run through the head-height fungal growths of mount Myoboku. His upper body was unclothed and damp as sweat and moisture in the air gathered against his sinewy form from his speedy pace. A pair of black clothed legs wrapped around Naruto's middle and locked together over his navel.

He glanced briefly over his shoulder to see the face of his latest doppelganger a mask of senselessness with his eyes closed and a vague orange pigment surrounding his eyes.

Over the past several weeks of his sage training, Naruto had rather easily mastered the art. But it hadn't taken long for a snag in his training to arise. Fukasaku and Shima had discovered that they wouldn't be able to merge with Naruto due to the presence of the kyuubi within him, and so he had shifted his focus to attempting to gather natural chakra on his own whilst on the move.

At first the process had been difficult with Fukasaku sitting on his shoulder and smacking him in the face with his chakra rod every time that he lost his grasp on controlling the flow of the natural chakra through him.

And then the idea of using shadow clones arose after Naruto had firmly stated that there would come a time when he would be able to gather natural chakra on his own whilst moving, just that it would take a long time and a lot of training.

And so he had explored the shadow clone option. It didn't take long to discover that if a shadow clone gathered the natural chakra and then dispelled that just as knowledge did, the gathered chakra would return to the original.

And despite the usefulness of that technique, Naruto couldn't help but see all of the flaws in trying to hide clones around a battlefield. And now here he was running through the uncomfortably humid air with one of his shadow clones clinging to his back in an attempt to gather natural chakra for him.

Suddenly his foot snagged unto a rock, and he was sprawling forward. Upon impact with the ground, his shadow clone lurched forward and impacted a large toadstool with an uncomfortable sounding squelch before dispelling itself in a familiar poof.

"I guess I should just be happy with what I can do now," Naruto mumbled as he rolled onto his back and looked up into the sky.

His mind suddenly shifted to his friends back in Konoha. He'd never been gone for this long without seeing any of them before, and it was ever so slowly starting to grate on his nerves.

But he had agreed with Jiraiya that he would return to Konoha on the day of the exams, all for dramatic effect. He couldn't help but chuckle openly at his sensei's antics. During his time on mount Myoboku he had even gone through several of his sensei's Icha Icha books out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity.

Naruto had been pleasantly surprised by the literature. They weren't the pure smut that he had been expecting, and they often had lots of little twists that had him excited to read more. But he had promised himself that he wouldn't become anything like Kakashi, or any of the other jounin he had seen who would carry around, and read from the books religiously.

"Only eleven days until I get to go home." Naruto sighed. Once again rolling back to his feet as he had done multiple times that day, he was suddenly acutely aware that his idea for gathering natural chakra with a clone on his back was purely idiotic.

But in light of having a limitation he would train and train and take every option available to him until he could succeed.

**XXX 11****th**** October XXX**

Naruto couldn't help but suppress another sigh of mixed annoyance and anticipation. He was crouched on the lip of the top of the arena where that the chuunin exams were being held. If Naruto truly wanted, he could easily drop into the crowds below and make his way into the room where all of the contestants were waiting for their match, but he knew that if he did that then his sensei would never let him hear the end of it, of not taking advantage of the amazing opportunity to have a "magnificent dramatic entrance".

"Who are you?"

Naruto hummed in thought at the presence that was suddenly behind him. He had sensed Anko's patrol route and subsequent approach far before she had finally caught on to his presence, so her sudden appearance was unsurprising to him. Of course, he also wasn't surprised that she didn't recognise him. He was still garbed in his usual black shinobi pants that taped in at his ankles, his black sandles, mesh undershirt and black jacket with maroon flames licking up the hem, the jacket as usual was unzipped to the bottom of his chest to reveal the sinewy outline of his developing muscles through the mesh. But over the top of his usual attire was a long black cloak that covered his entire form, and in a similar pattern to his jacket it had maroon flames flashing up from its bottom to half way up his back and sides.

"I'm insulted that you don't recognise me!" Naruto growled out gruffly in an attempt to disguise his normally recognisable voice.

Naruto felt Anko shift her weight slowly to a slightly more relaxed one, and at the sound of her intake of breath to talk again he spoke. "Although I won't tell you who I am, you'll have to guess, and for every incorrect answer I'll paint you a new colour!"

A short silence followed before he was quickly wrenched upwards and into the air as his back was pulled into her bust and her arms locked around his chest in a back-to-front embrace. "I missed you, brat!" Anko mused into his still-hooded head.

Although Naruto knew that her embrace and words were affectionate ones, he couldn't help but feel afraid as he locked down. In his new position of being held against her chest, she had moved forward and now his legs dangled over the lip of the arena.

Naruto opted to ignore the situation as he swiped an arm upwards and flicked the hood off his head. In the same action, he turned his face to hers slightly and gave her a sideways grin. "Hey there, crazy-snake-lady. Mind if we back it up a little bit?"

Anko laughed sheepishly as she noticed that she was, in fact, holding him over the edge of the building, and with a few quick steps backward she carried them into the safety of the rooftop. "Whoops, wouldn't want to drop you in early now would I? I bet you have a cool entrance planned, huh?"

Naruto gave her a goofy smile as he muscled out of her embrace and turned to face her. "Sure do! But there are still some bits that I'm trying make my mind up on: fire or lightning?"

Anko gripped her chin with her right hand and pouted in mock thought. "That's a stupid question, ya know? Of course I'm gonna say fire, you know me well enough."

"Thought so!" Naruto grinned and rummaged inside an internal pocket of his coat. He pulled out a long array of seals printed on a long strip of chakra paper, the kanji for fire sitting boldly at the top.

"When did you get back?" Anko posed to him as she struck her hands on her hips. "You never even told me that you were going, do you have any idea how bored I got?"

"Well you could have spent some time pranking Asuma-sensei. You told me how funny he gets when he's scared," the blonde shot back innocently.

"Heh, heh, true." She chuckled lightly with a thoughtful expression. "Him and Kurenai-chan are together, maybe you can help me get a double whammy prank?"

Naruto just shrugged and turned his gaze back to the arena with a smile lingering on his lips. "Anyway, I only got back an hour ago. When are the exams going to start?"

"I think Hokage-sama should be st-"

Anko's voice was drowned out as Hiruzen rose from his seat next to another kage in a booth below them and spoke, his voice being amplified by some form of jutsu that both Anko and Naruto mentally put on their 'to learn' list.

"Welcome everyone to this year's final phase of the chuunin exams. It's a pleasure to see yet another generation of fine shinobi rising through the ranks, and I hope that everyone here is able to both enjoy, and judge the contests. I'll pass it over to Genma now."

A round of applause followed the hokage's words before all heads turned toward a bandana-wearing man standing in the centre of the arena's field. "Thank you for the introduction, Hokage-sama. I'd like to call on Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto as the first two contestants."

A lone figure walked from a darkened door on the far side of the arena, his stride and outline painting him clearly as the Hyuuga boy. Naruto turned his gaze to Anko and spread his lips into an excited grin. "Get ready to start calling me a chuunin!"

Before Anko had a chance to reply with a condescending remark, Naruto had vanished into thin air.

His new location was clearly marked as mid-air in the space directly out from her, above the very centre of the arena, as an explosion of flame erupted outwards. The flame hovered in the air for barely a moment before it started spiralling downwards in an orange and red blur of speed.

Naruto impacted the ground next to the proctor in yet another small explosion of flame as he sent a burst of wind out from his body to clear the last of his sealed fire technique. Naruto's body was suddenly unveiled to all the onlookers in a kneeling position, his cloak still fluttering behind him from his swift descent.

Despite his generally disliked reputation around Konoha, all of the Konoha populace who were present couldn't help but roar in approval at the dramatic entrance that the village pariah had made. Genma and Neji wore contrasting expressions: Genma's was one of interest and amusement whilst Neji's was one of scorn and annoyance.

"Just on time, Naruto," Genma smiled at the blonde haired boy. "Are you both ready to begin?"

Both genin nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Alright then, the rules are simple: you fight until one of you is no longer able to continue, unless either of you forfeit the fight. Do you both understand?"

Again both genin nodded in sync, never breaking their gaze from the other.

"Good luck, to both of you. Begin!" With his piece said Genma flashed from his location, and into the stands.

Neither of the combatants shifted their positions for a moment before Naruto shifted into a slightly guarded but more casual stance. "Please forfeit, Neji-san? I don't want to have to harm a fellow Konoha shinobi."

"Tsk." Neji curled his upper lip in disgust and sneered at the Uzumaki boy. "I thought you'd say something like that. Weak people always resort to words. My destiny, my fate, is to defeat losers like you!"

Naruto gave the pale eyed boy a sympathetic smile at the same time as Neji activated his eyes, the veins around them bulging fiercely.

Neji wasted no time in moving to attack Naruto as he took three quick and well-practiced steps forward to close the space between them. Naruto didn't move to block, attack, or evade as Neji struck him several times in quick succession.

During the strikes, Naruto squinted his eyes and pursed his lips in thought as he analysed the direct contact with Neji's juken style. During the previous silence Naruto had drawn on the natural chakra around him and let it flood his system and flow into the ground below him, his body acting as a form of grounding rod. It was a method that he discovered that granted him all of the defensive capabilities of sage mode but none of the usable offensive abilities.

Neji jumped backwards as he noticed that Naruto had taken no noticeable damage from his attack. His eyes narrowed in anger as he set himself in a defensive stance.

"You've never prepared yourself for an opponent who can resist your style, have you?" Naruto asked flatly.

Neji made no reply other than to deepen his sneer. Naruto just sighed at the response before four clones formed around him. One stepped forward and unrolled another string of seals. He threw them up into the air and jumped, swiping his thumb along its length as he did.

A gust of wind shot downwards from the length of the sealed paper and impacted with the ground, raising a cloud of dust into the air. Neji cursed mentally as the wind jutsu's surprisingly dense chakra blocked off his view of his opponent. The wind quickly died down and the dust settled, revealing only one Naruto, standing stock still and smiling innocently.

Neji was vaguely aware of the riveted gazes of the crowd around him as he made an attempt to spot the other Narutos. Again he mentally cursed, the one who was standing before him was flooding the field with such a copious amount of chakra that it was beginning to become visible to the naked eye, and thus blocking Neji from spotting any other chakra networks.

A sudden blow to the back of his neck sent him tumbling into the dirt. He had no time to right himself as he felt a foot pressing weight onto his left calf, and then another onto the back of his neck. The one on the back of his neck was light enough pressure for him to arch his head upwards and look to the original Naruto, now walking toward him at a comfortable pace.

Naruto stopped directly in front of Neji, filling up his gaze as he crouched down into a squat. "Neji, my clones have you in two holds, one is a hold that can cripple your movement, another is a hold that can kill you. Personally I'd like to cripple your movement as payback for what you did to Hinata-chan, but if I hurt you whilst you're defenceless like this it would only make the situation worse. You'd want to hurt me then, and then someone who cares about me would want to hurt you, and it would go on." Naruto sighed and pulled out a kunai.

Neji glared in anger as Naruto tapped the tip of the kunai against his headband. "I know what you have underneath here. I have something similar, maybe worse. You know that your fate can be to be free from the cage?"

The Hyuuga boy struggled in his hold and hissed in anger. "Shut up! You have no idea what it's like! Fight me fairly, no tricks!"

"Can we make a deal?" Naruto asked in a curious tone.

"What kind?" Neji shot back in a hiss. He was obviously not pleased by the situation, but he knew that if he wanted to continue to fight then he would have to submit to whatever deal Naruto proposed.

"If we continue the fight and I win against all odds like you suspect, then you apologise to Hinata-chan, and maybe, just maybe, one day she'll be clan head and will have the caged bird seal removed. If you win… Well then you've defeated another loser. Deal?"

Neji huffed into the dirt in annoyance. Naruto had just pointed out the majority of his reasoning for his general dislike of the world and in a way that made it all seem too irrelevant.

"Deal," Neji heard himself say before he could think it through.

The weight on his neck and calves suddenly disappeared, and he quickly rolled onto his feet. On his way up he saw the hole in the ground where Naruto's clones had obviously tunnelled to get behind him without his noticing. That proved to annoy him further, his opponent had utilised such a simple technique to put him at his mercy.

Naruto flipped backward and dropped into a ready stance. Neji mirrored his motions and curled his hands into fists. Naruto nodded his approval of Neji's change in tactic and motioned for the older boy to make the first move.

Neji charged forward with an aggressive gusto, his previous juken style forgotten as he made his best attempt at copying his sensei's style.

The moment that Neji came within range Naruto dropped his body weight downward and shot his leg upwards in a heel kick. The sole of his foot connected with Neji's chin with a sickening thud. The kick's momentum transferred to the Hyuuga as he lifted off the ground and was sent sprawling backwards.

"I've had a hard life too, Neji-san," Naruto started as he repositioned his stance into a prepared defence. "And I have a seal on me that makes everyone hate me. I've struggled and fought my hardest to overcome everything that life has put in my way, and I'm going to become the future hokage. The only fate that exists is the one that I want to pursue. You can do the same you know." Naruto's voice had dropped down so only Neji could hear his words.

Neji frowned in confusion. The entire situation was unfolding in a way that he had never expected. He had heard of how Naruto was in the academy, of him being the lowest in the class, of being the scorn of the village, and yet here he was dominating the fight. _'What's my fate meant to be? What seal is he talking about?' _

With a grimace of mental effort, Neji pushed the thought to the back of his mind and charged forward again.

"I won't go easy on you anymore, Neji-san. I hope that what I've said can help you."

Neji's eyes widened in surprise as he saw a pulse of chakra shoot from Naruto's coils and into his muscles. The next moment he was gone. With Naruto's lightning chakra-enhanced speed, he flashed to beside the still charging Neji. Faster than the Hyuuga prodigy could track he'd already kicked out his legs from under him, and before Neji had a chance to turn his head to spot him Naruto slammed his elbow backwards into the back of Neji's head.

Naruto dropped into a crouch and caught Neji's unconscious body before it could impact the ground.

"Proctor, it's over now."

Genma flashed to Naruto's side and observed the unconscious Neji for a moment. "Winner of round one: Uzumaki Naruto!"

A stunned silence settled eerily over the arena at Naruto's easy victory. None of them had been able to hear the two contestants conversation, but they were all able to see how it had gotten to the Hyuuga contestant.

The silence was suddenly broken by a loud, "Whoop, whoop! Go Naruto-kun!"

Only three sets of eyes within the arena looked up to see Anko still standing at the top of the Arena waving enthusiastically to Naruto whilst the rest of the crowd broke into a roar of approval. Naruto smiled and waved back. Genma just smiled pleasantly before taking Neji from Naruto's arms and walking toward the waiting rooms. Ino narrowed her eyes at the loud woman, something about her familiarity with Naruto was certainly getting to her, and ever since their 'quiz encounter' she had been feeling dejected.

Her lowering mood was quickly lifted when she looked back toward the centre of the field only to see the space unoccupied.

"Hey there, Ino-chan."

Ino jumped in fright at the cheery voice to her side. She turned to it and couldn't suppress the smile that formed across her lips despite wanting to be angry about him scaring her again with one of his insanely fast techniques.

"Naruto-kun!" She exclaimed as she threw herself into his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips immediately planted a secure kiss on the soft skin of his neck.

On reflex, he settled his hands on her lower back and relaxed into the embrace. "I've missed you, Ino-chan." He sighed before kissing her forehead.

Sakura watched on with a deepening blush as her imagination ran around thinking of what it would be like to be in Ino's current position.

"Sakura-chan! How's training been going?" Naruto asked from over the top of Ino's platinum locks.

Naruto's voice mingled with the pinkette's fantasy for a moment as her skin grew a shade darker before her attention snapped to his eyes. "Ahh, Ino and I haven't really trained all that much. Ino did some stuff with her team, but Kakashi-sensei has been gone with Sasuke-kun for the entire month."

Naruto frowned at Sakura's report and was about to speak further when Genma's voice echoed from the field again. "Will Gaara of the desert and Uchiha Sasuke please come to the field?"

Gaara immediately appeared by the proctor's side in a swirl of sand and waited with his usual impassive face. Genma looked around the arena briefly with a raised eyebrow. Five minutes of suspenseful silence past before Genma began to raise his hand into the air. "Since Uchiha Sasuke is late, he will be dis-"

"Excuse me, Genma. We have decided to delay this match, continue to the next one." The crowds gaze turned from the odd situation in the centre of the field to the hokage as he spoke from his booth beside the kazekage.

Gaara instantly vanished in a sand shunshin, and Genma nodded awkwardly. "Then, if Aburame Shino and Kankuro of the desert would please come forward?"

"Proctor, I forfeit this fight!" A voice called from the stands.

"Ahh, alright then." Genma began with a quirked eyebrow. "Then if Temari of the desert and Nara Shikamaru would please join me?" Genma called with his hands on his hips in an expectant pose.

This time the crowd got the reaction it wanted as both the requested contestants made their way to the proctors side. Naruto watched closely for a minute, gaging both contestants' body language. He knew from experience that Shikamaru was an extremely intelligent individual, despite his lazy nature, but Naruto couldn't help but slightly doubt his fellow Konoha nin's ability to win this fight.

Temari seemed to be rather switched on herself as she scanned her eyes analytically up and down Shikamaru, searching out any hidden devices or tricks. And furthermore was the large fan across her back. It was blatantly clear that she was a wind user, and as it were, despite Shikamaru's talents, Naruto didn't think it was a matchup that favoured him.

Naruto shifted his gaze back to Shikamaru and caught the Nara boy's eyes briefly lock onto the hole that he had dug. His strategy became all to clear, and Naruto couldn't resist the smirk that crossed his face.

"What's with that face?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. She hadn't broken her gaze from his face since their conversation had been interrupted, having actually expected Sasuke and his wayward sensei would be late, and wasn't in the least bit surprised to hear that he would be granted a brief concession.

"Shikamaru's going to win." Naruto stated coolly as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"How do you-"

"No, he's not." Ino blurted over the top of Sakura's query with an equally confident stance as Naruto.

This time it was Naruto's turn to raise his eyebrow in question. "How do you know that?" he asked in a manner similar to how Sakura had been about to ask him.

"He's not strong enough to beat her. Plus, even if he was, he's too lazy to try," Ino answered with a simple shrug and attempted half smile.

"Huh?" Naruto eloquently questioned in return.

"Shikamaru is a tactician, not a fighter, even if he has figured out how to win, he won't bother because he doesn't see the point," Ino explained with a smug smile.

"Begin!" The proctor's announcement cut off their chatter.

Temari immediately went for her fan and swung it off her back with a dramatic flourish. From the stands, neither Naruto, Sakura, or Ino could hear any of the brief words that passed between the two, but they watched carefully as Temari began her attack. Shikamaru jumped back defensively several times before he seemed to shift his focus to a strategy.

Naruto immediately saw the plan within the plan as the Nara boy released a balloon into the air to emit a shadow to use. In Naruto's eyes, it was obviously a feint, as a very subtle shadow passed from the back of Shikamaru's foot and into the hole that he had conveniently stopped in front of.

Temari began a quick succession of jumps and dives to avoid the snaking shadow that lashed out from in front of Shikamaru, aided by the extra distance that his balloon gave him. Once again it was obvious to Naruto what Shikamaru was planning as Temari was forced to roll to her right to avoid another shadow. Whilst Shikamaru was using the hole behind him as a way to sneak up on Temari, he was using the shadows in front of him to herd her toward the hole's other end.

A few more minutes passed of the same tactic being played, but before long, just as Naruto had predicted, Temari paused all movement completely. The crowd watched on in fascinated silence as Shikamaru smirked and lifted his right arm in a robotic fashion. Temari instantly copied the action perfectly as the shadow that connected her to the hole a few centimeters behind her broadened to become visible to all.

Shikamaru reached into his kunai pouch and retrieved one of the weapons, Temari copying him as she had before. "Proctor, I forfeit this match!" Shikamaru called out loud enough for the crowd to hear.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the correctness of his girlfriend's prediction as a stunned silence settled on the crowd. This outcome had obviously been the least expected one for the onlookers.

At first confusion wafted across Temari's face, then shock, then anger. Even though she had wanted to win, she had wanted to win on her own terms. In her mind losing would have been just as good as winning from her own strength.

Without waiting for the crowd's reaction Shikamaru turned and strolled off the field as though the whole event had been a mere distraction from his previous train of thought.

"Told you so," Ino smiled coyly as she turned to face the two team seven members to her side. Ignoring the gentle shuffling sound as Shikamaru jumped to their position and dropped into a seat beside Sakura, his head already descending into the warm folded depths of his arms.

"He'll get chuunin for that though," Naruto nodded thoughtfully.

"Speak for yourself, Naruto-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, paying no mind to the lazy Nara who'd settled into the seat beside her. "You wiped the floor with Neji-san! And you didn't even go all out. They'd be crazy if they didn't promote you to chuunin!"

"Haha, thanks Sakura-chan. It means a lot to hear you say that," Naruto smiled as he turned his eyes expectantly to Ino.

"What? I'm not going to gush over how strong you are!" Ino huffed, crossing her arms under her bust as she did. "It's your fault that I didn't get a chance to be in this, so now I'm a genin till next time!"

Naruto laughed nervously at Ino's words. In part, they were true, but he couldn't very well abandon a teammate in need. His train of thought was quickly broken off as Sakura draped her arms over his shoulders from behind and popped her head onto his shoulder. Her green eyed gaze settled playfully on Ino, and her tongue poked out of her mouth. "Naruto-kun was just looking out for me, he knows that if I don't get to be a chuunin, then you don't either."

A surge of possessiveness powered through Ino's chest at the sight of her best friend wrapped around her boyfriend's neck from behind. She immediately likened it to the feeling of the 'quiz incident' with Anko when she had felt as though her claim to Naruto was being hijacked. _'Am I jealous of another girl being close to Naruto-kun? But Sakura's always going on about Sasuke, she wouldn't try to take Naruto-kun away from me… Would she?' _

Her actions spoke differently to her mental dialog as she took a quick skip forward and jumped at Naruto. Sakura moved quickly to avoid impact with her friend as Ino caught herself by wrapping her legs around Naruto's waist and setting her hands on his shoulders.

Instinctively Naruto placed his hands on Ino's rear to support her weight. The whole situation was quickly turning into a rather perplexing and odd thing, for him. He'd been getting vibes from Sakura for a while that she may like him, but he had played it off as her just opening up to him as a friend and comrade. So he had thought nothing of her moves to be more 'touchy-feely' with him. It was obvious however that Ino did.

His thoughts were suddenly put on hold as Ino captured his lips with hers. Naturally Naruto went with the action as he closed his eyes and parted his lips to follow her desire for a more passionate lip-lock. With his eyes closed he was unaware of Ino's open ones as she looked past the side of his face at Sakura with a clear message: _'He's mine!'_

It had been impossible for Sakura to miss the look and she immediately turned her gaze to the floor. As it always did when thoughts of Naruto entered her mind, her face darkened into a blush which was quickly intensified as she became aware of the many civilian and ninja onlookers in the stands around them. _'What a horrible place to make a scene,' _she thought in embarrassment.

Promptly Sakura sat herself down in one of the available inbuilt seats and snuck a sideways glance at her two friends. A pang of jealousy shot through her at the sight of Naruto's hands having slipped under the purple skirt that Ino wore and settling on the bandage wraps that she wore underneath.

Both her thoughts and Ino and Naruto's actions were interrupted as Genma once again took centre stage and called out, "Would Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the desert please come forward?"

All of the onlookers suddenly became as tense as they had been on the first mention of the Uchiha at the call of Genma. As though on perfect cue, two figures appeared in the field in a shunshin.

'_My entrance was awesome and exciting. That one is just tacky!' _Naruto thought heatedly as Ino dropped from his arms and settled herself into a seat beside Sakura, the former being totally unaware of the latter's annoyed glare.

Naruto decided to mirror the two girl's actions and sat next to Ino. It wasn't lost to him that Ino had seated herself next to Sakura to prevent him from sitting there. He just mentally shrugged and turned his eyes back toward the field. Gaara had once again shunshined into the field.

Kakashi directed Sasuke to Genma's side and muttered some parting words before he vanished from the field. Naruto didn't jump or flinch in the slightest as his official sensei appeared from thin air crouching down next to him.

"Yo, what did I miss?"

"Not much," Naruto mumbled as Gaara and Sasuke stared off at each other as Genma explained the ground rules to them.

"How'd your fight go?" Kakashi pressed his usually reserved student.

"Ehhh, I guess it went well."

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow at Naruto's elusive yet dismissive answer that effectively told him nothing. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off from his chance as Ino leaned across Naruto's chest in a rather uncomfortable-looking position and not-so-quietly whispered, "Naruto-kun's just being modest, he wiped the floor with Neji-san. Should have seen it! Naruto-kun didn't even break a sweat."

It was all too clear from Ino's expression that she was extremely impressed with Naruto, and Kakashi's own expression shifted to an impressed yet thoughtful one beneath his mask. On occasions, he had come across Guy training his team, and he knew that Neji was particularly talented. And despite the fact that he knew Naruto surpassed all of his expectations, he didn't expect the boy to defeat the Hyuuga prodigy without any real effort.

"Good job, Naruto-kun. I knew you'd do well," Kakashi eye-smiled. Much to his annoyance Naruto still didn't break his gaze from his other teammate in the middle of the field, so he opted for shifting from his crouching position and take up the chair next to Naruto.

Another call from Genma and the match began. Sand blurred forward from Gaara and Sasuke dashed to and fro to avoid being engulfed. It didn't take long for Sasuke to find enough free space to stand still in a moment of concentration. The moment ended almost instantly, and suddenly Sasuke blurred from his position in an unexpected turn of speed.

In a fashion reminiscent of Lee's fight against Gaara, the sand sibling was now being knocked around the field from one kick or punch to the next.

Naruto and Kakashi, both being aware of what it was like to be in the midst of such a fight knew that, for both participants it would seem as though they had already been fighting for ages. With their hearts hammering in their chests with the increase of adrenaline in their system time would seem to have slowed down considerably. But for all onlookers it had merely been ten minutes by the time that Sasuke skidded to a halt, and Gaara raised himself from the ground with his familiar sand armour flaking off him.

The sand sibling's eyes were wide in gleeful rage as the sand raged around him. As though the sand had a mind of its own it surged up around the boy and encased him in a perfect orb. With his rinnegan active beneath the henge, Naruto could see the chakra fluctuating through the same orb and in the much smaller one floating in the air above the sand orb.

This was obviously some form of an ultimate defence and the orb floating above it was likely some means of viewing beyond the defence. Sasuke charged again and struck out at the sand construct with punches and kicks, barely avoiding the spikes that formed off it as he did.

Once again he acquired the distance that he needed to strategise, though his pause lasted hardly a minute as he charged for the stadium wall. He didn't slow down as he reached it and dashed straight up the side with his chakra holding him on. Finally, he reached the height he deemed worthy and spun back to face the direction from which he'd come.

His hands flew through a series of seals before he gripped his left wrist securely with his right hand. Naruto's eyes widened in recognition of the jutsu as lightning chakra crackled around Sasuke's hand and a loud chirping sound resonated from it. He'd never seen the jutsu in person, but in one of his many plunders of various jutsu vaults he had come across descriptions of Kakashi's original chidori technique.

Sasuke decided the technique was ready and began his dash down the wall. His speed increased as he went and he left a trail of destruction in his wake from the uncaring position that he held the jutsu. His attack was over all too soon as he quickly crossed the space between the wall and Gaara's defence and plunged his arm straight through the sand, his body twisting and avoiding the protruding spikes as he did.

The smirk that formed on Sasuke's face quickly left as he attempted to retrieve his arm from the sand shell. Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he felt the spike of bijuu chakra now emanating from Gaara. On cue with the spike of chakra, Sasuke was hurled backward in his attempt to escape he as reactivated the chidori.

A long arm of sand flew from the hole he had left in an attempt to cleave the Uchiha in two. Acting on his honed skills Sasuke rolled to the side and flipped backwards onto his feet. Battling Gaara, he was oblivious to the genjutsu being cast on the rest of the stadium.

In the stands, all five of the Konoha shinobi seated side by side muttered "kai" in response to the sleeping sensation spread from the genjutsu. They weren't given any pause as two sand shinobi dropped to the seats in front of them. Naruto was the first to act as he collected a kunai from his pouch and charged it with wind chakra in one swift movement before loosing it at the closest sand shinobi.

The man had no time to avoid or defend against the projectile as it tore clean through his throat. The other sand nin moved to defend against the approaching Kakashi. Similarly, to Naruto the Konoha jounin had no trouble dealing with his opponent.

Naruto quickly looked to Ino, Sakura, and the rather annoyed Shikamaru, all of whom had wide eyes and frightened expressions. He offered them a thin-lipped smile before he looked back toward the field. Gaara was now being held between his two siblings as they launched over the rim of the stadium with Sasuke and Shino in immediate pursuit. Naruto moved to dash after them but was stopped by the sound of an explosion. He looked up to the hokage box in shock at the sight of the billowing smoke.

Out of the smoke two figures flashed with a gust of wind. They settled onto the rooftop above and were soon surrounded by four others. Kakashi followed Naruto's gaze just as the four surrounding figures settled into a more precise formation and a purple barrier materialised around them.

"Naruto, Hokage-sama can handle himself. You need to gather some forces and go after Gaara, you know what the cost would be if he released it," Kakashi directed as he shifted his attention from the barrier to a group of nin wearing musical note hitai-ate.

"Shikamaru, I know you're awake. You go with Naruto and Sakura after Gaara, Naruto can give you info as you go. Ino, you go find Asuma for their backup. Everyone clear?" Kakashi ordered fluidly, his previous lazy attitude replaced with the person who'd earned the rank of jounin.

A series of head nods followed, and Naruto was the first to spring away, missing the nervous smile that Ino had sent at his back. As though they were already a perfectly synchronised team Sakura and Shikamaru fell into motion in Naruto's wake, and were soon bounding over the lip of the stadium.

Having seen Naruto's all-business attitude set a determined thin-lipped expression on Ino's face. She quickly scanned around her in search of her sensei. The ring of steel on steel grabbed her attention as Kakashi leapt into action against the sound nin who were converging around them.

One of her many failed games of shogi with Shikamaru immediately came to mind, and she sent a surge of chakra through her legs and took off deeper into the stadium. If you are unable to strike against the enemy then you must evade or defend in the best position available, and currently the best position was wherever her sensei was.

Her search didn't take long between ducking past clashing nin and occasionally sending shuriken or kunai flying at the enemy as distractions. After one such throw she'd heard a throaty scream of pain, and she was sure that one of her projectiles must have struck an enemy in a vital point. However as much she disliked the enemy for invading her home she couldn't feel the sense of satisfaction that she wanted to upon bringing pain and possibly death to her foe.

"Asuma-sensei!?" Ino called frantically as her eyes fell on her sensei standing back to back with Yuhi Kurenai, their weapons held high defensively at a collection of sand nin.

The sand nin pounced forward a moment after Ino's call, but their advances were met with failure and a quick death at Asuma's chakra-charged trench knives. Ino quickly became aware of Kurenai kneeling down behind Asuma weaving signs with her hands repeatedly, laying a disorientating genjutsu around the immediate area. It was a strategy that allowed for perfect teamwork as Asuma was able to employ his deadly close range style to its full effect on his confused opponents.

Ino felt a brief sense of jealousy toward Kurenai for her perfectly in-synch relationship with Asuma, but another distant clang of metal brought her back to reality. She rushed toward her sensei and called for his attention.

"Asuma-sensei? Shikamaru and the others need your help!"

Ino jumped to her left in fright as someone suddenly occupied the space to her right.

"Sorry, Ino. Didn't mean to frighten you," Kakashi explained with an embarrassed looking eye-smile.

His joviality lasted hardly longer than a few seconds before he was once again scanning the area around him. "Asuma, Naruto and Shikamaru have gone after the sand genin with Sakura, you should go after them and protect them how ever you can, Naruto should be explaining the issues with the ichibi to Shikamaru right now. Kurenai and I can help evacuate everyone here," Kakashi explained bluntly.

Asuma directed a curt nod of understanding to him before he gave Kurenai a more tender one, and not a moment later he invigorated his muscles with chakra and flashed away.

"Ino, find any genin still in the stadium and get them all to help in evacuating the civilians to behind the hokage monument," Kakashi ordered flatly.

Ino gave a firm nod and in her best attempt at copying Naruto and her sensei she sent a wave of chakra through her body and dashed away.

**XXX With Naruto XXXX**

"Are you sure Shikamaru's going to be okay, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked Naruto in a small worried voice as tree limbs flashed past them.

"I'm not sure," Naruto grunted as he avoided a low hanging branch. "If any other Konoha nin see him fighting a group of sound nin they'll help as best they can, but stopping Gaara is too important to slow down."

Sakura frowned at Naruto's back. She couldn't argue his logic, nor could she avoid hearing Naruto's clear concern, but he'd hardly begun to explain the situation to Shikamaru before the group of sound shinobi intercepted them.

"Could you please explain that?" Sakura queried her voice still small and stressed.

"Gaara is like a storage seal, in a way at least… He has one of the bijuu sealed inside of him, the one tailed beast. It seems that the sand and sound planned to release it here to bring Konoha down. There is something I have in common with him so I can track him easily." Naruto explained thoughtlessly without breaking his gaze from their goal amongst the trees ahead.

"Then how are we meant t-"

Sakura's speech was cut short from a crash up ahead. The pair burst through the foliage to the sight of Kankuro facing off against Shino. Neither one shifted their aggressive stance at the added presence of the two Konoha genin.

"Naruto-san, Sakura-san, I am not in need of assistance, Sasuke is further ahead. My bugs have already scented his chakra, they are already fighting," Shino reported simply, his glasses never having anything but Kankuro reflected in them.

Naruto nodded at the back of Shino's head before yet again taking off into the trees. Sakura paused for a moment before following suit as Shino moved to block Kankuro from stopping their progress.

This time the pair ran in silence with their ears keen for any sounds of battle. Their auditory senses were soon rewarded with a roaring voice and a screeching electrical sound. Naruto put two and two together quickly and channelled lightning chakra through his body to increase his pace.

Sakura grunted from the effort as she tried to move faster to keep pace with Naruto as he suddenly bolted ahead at a speed that made her wonder why he'd even waited for anyone in the first place.

Naruto burst through the trees and into the clearing that had separated Sakura and himself from Sasuke and his battle against Gaara without slowing his pace. His leg swung back in preparation for a kick as he watched Gaara's partially-overtaken form swooping in for the kill against his downed friend.

His foot made contact with Gaara's face with a sickening crunch. Gaara hurtled back from the force of the kick whilst Naruto deftly landed beside Sasuke. Naruto paused for a moment and ignited his senses with nature chakra. Sakura was just about to land on the branch beside him to stand defensively over Sasuke's beaten body, Temari was several trees away, her body shivering in fear, and Gaara's chakra was swirling violently within him at Naruto's added presence.

Naruto ignored the roared laughter and words that Gaara was throwing at him as he worked over all the information available to him. All of his being wanted to label Temari as an ally that her actions against his fellow Konoha nin were forced in fear of her brother and their superiors. From the one time that he'd spoken to her, and the several times that he'd seen her, she had seemed friendly and warm to the idea of acceptance.

With his train of thought set on Temari being a forced pawn in the current set of events Naruto made up his mind. "Sakura, I need you to keep watch over Sasuke for a moment."

Naruto doubted his current ability to get any of his hiraishin kunai past Gaara, which left him with the final option of the long way around, or straight through with speed. He focused his mind on the familiar feeling of lightning chakra rushing through his coils and into his muscles.

Sasuke gasped in surprise as he watched from out of the corner of his eye as the blue cracking lightning chakra he'd slowly become familiar with from his chidori suddenly burst outward from Naruto's body. Though instead of discharging like he had immediately assumed it would, the lightning chakra formed a shroud around Naruto's body.

The next moment he was gone, barely a blur of chakra in his wake as he charged across the clearing.

"Here he comes! Finally, I can kill you too!" Gaara roared.

With a light tap of his right foot to a passing branch below, Naruto corrected his flight path and instead sheared right past Gaara's transforming body. Gaara's ichibi-like arm was not spared a safe passing as Naruto flew by he reached out to make contact with his blonde foe. As though Naruto was in a full body chidori the sand was immediately shredded off Gaara's arm and Naruto continued on to his goal at an unchanged pace.

Naruto snapped to an abrupt halt as he landed directly in front of Temari's frightened gaze. He released his lightning cloak and sucked in a deep breath to stave off the pain and exhaustion that wafted over him from the use of the experimental jutsu before scooping Temari into his arms and taking off again.

As he flashed from branch to branch he mentally cursed at his inability to call upon lightning chakra to his muscles. He quickly resorted to regularly invigorating his muscle fibres with raw chakra to gain as much speed as possible.

"I'm taking you someplace safe," Naruto spoke through gritted teeth as he fought off the searing pain brought on by his lightning technique. "You looked like you were afraid of your brother and if you were forced to do all of this then I'll take you someplace safe. If you are my enemy then I'm taking you someplace you can't get in the way," Naruto explained stoically.

A sudden jolt in Naruto's motion made Temari instinctively wrap her arms around his neck for support. A bright blush ignited across her cheeks at the proximity to a males body. The only men in her life who'd she'd ever actually touched had been her father and Kankuro.

"..Uhhh," Temari started awkwardly before being distracted by a crash from the direction that they'd come from. Naruto tensed up at the sound before coming to an abrupt halt. Once again at the change of motion Temari gripped tightly around his neck to prevent herself from falling.

"This isn't very far away from where your other brother is fighting Shino. I have to go help my teammates and stop Gaara. If you attack any leaf nin, I promise that I'll kill you," Naruto coldly announced as he knelt down onto the branch and set Temari's rear onto its surface.

"Okay…" Temari replied in a small voice. Her eyes tracked him as he stood back to his full height again and swung his arms in a stretch. The fact that his body was still in pain from his lightning technique wasn't lost to her. Oddly to her she didn't feel in the least bit threatened by his previous announcement. Unlike every other threat on her life he had spoken it calmly with no real intent to kill, as though he were simply stating a law of existence and he was a force of nature not to be trifled with.

Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and fished out a shining silver kunai; one of his chakra metal kunai intended specifically for his use of hiriashin. He focused on the weapon for a moment before it glowed a whitish-blue. His arm lashed out, and he released the kunai back in the direction of his comrades and Gaara.

Temari's eyes widened in surprise when instead of thudding to a halt in a tree in the weapons path as she had expected it to, it passed clean through, a ragged hole in its wake.

"You should have looked after your brother, then none of this would have happened."

By the time Temari had turned her eyes from the path of the kunai to where Naruto had been he was gone.

Naruto's right hand closed around the grip of his chakra charged kunai in time to see Sakura being pinned to the trunk of a tree by Gaara's stretched mutated hand.

"Naruto!"

Naruto tore his gaze from Sakura to Sasuke, his body still lying face-down in exactly the same position as he'd been in when Naruto had left.

"I can't fight anymore…" Sasuke wheezed out breathlessly. "You have to save Sakura."

Naruto just gave a firm nod and looked back to Gaara, his body now entirely cloaked in his sand transformation and his face more closely resembling the bijuu within him.

Naruto quickly retrieved two shuriken and placed each on the tips of his index fingers, raising them to his face he blew a whistled breath onto them. His wind chakra caught on the edges of the shuriken and then began to spin on the tips of fingers with a dangerous whirring sound.

Gaara made no move, he merely watched on with a gleeful smile across his bestial face while he slowly constricted his grip around Sakura that tied her to the tree trunk.

In a blur of motion Naruto whipped both arms forward, their momentum carried on to the two shuriken spinning on his fingertips. With their wind chakra-aided flight, the two shuriken flashed to and through their target.

Gaara roared in pain as his stretched arm of sand was cleanly sheared off from its extended hand. Naruto frowned at the result of the hand still binding Sakura. Silently two clones formed next to him and pounced toward Gaara. The sand jinchuuriki ceased his thrashing and roaring as the incoming clones closed on him.

The closest one hurled a kunai directly pasted Gaara's head, missing by barely a millimetre, before vanishing. Fire blossomed behind Gaara and sent him stumbling forward. His sand tail wrapped itself around the branch he was standing on to prevent falling, but he acted too slowly to prevent the second clone from wrapping himself around his transformed shoulders.

Unlike the first clone, this one stayed still for a moment as he sucked in the natural chakra soaking the air around him. A glow emanated from his body for but a moment before he too exploded in a flash of light. The original Naruto wasted no time as he finished his seals and shouted, "Fire release: great dragon fire technique!"

Naruto bent forward at the waist as he spat out the cloud of fire. Unlike a regular fireball jutsu this one quickly formed into the visage of a dragon's head before speeding toward its target. Just as the smoke around Gaara cleared to show his crumbling face, the fiery dragon head impacted in an explosion of flames.

Gaara's screeches and roars of pain stung at Naruto's ears as every instinct in him told go and attempt to ease his pain, but his current situation of standing before two downed comrades reminded him clearly that Gaara was an enemy who intended to destroy his home.

"Mooore!" Gaara's grating voice screeched from within the smoke. "More power! MORE!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and tried to pierce the smoke with his gaze. Suddenly the smoke swirled, and Naruto ducked on instinct. A sand bullet grazed his blonde locks as it flew overhead, his luck didn't last as two more quickly followed and slammed into his chest. Naruto flew back solidly into the trunk of a tree from the impact.

He sucked in a deep breath to relieve the forced exhalation and managed to roll onto his hands and knees and wretched for breath. His eyes widened as a rough hand closed around his neck and lifted him into the air. His henge fell, and his blue ringed eyes met the transformed eyes of the ichibi.

A flash of panic crossed Naruto's face at his predicament. His expression only caused a gleeful grin to spread across Gaara's morphed face. "What's wrong? Is that all? Is that all the strength you have?"

Naruto couldn't hold back the sneer that Gaara's words incited. After a brief moment of concentration, he sent a wave of chakra throughout his body and focused it toward his skin to enforce his body. Oxygen flooded back into his lungs as his neck strengthened against Gaara's grip, giving him the focus that he needed.

He reached up with his left hand and secured a grip onto Gaara's wrist and raised his right arm up, the familiar ball of blue chakra already forming. Gaara looked from Naruto's eyes and into the whirling blue ball of energy with a hungry expression. The expression only lasted a moment as Naruto focused on infusing fire chakra into the rasengan and slammed his hand down into Gaara's face.

A bright flash followed and their bodies separated from the force of the explosion. Naruto's back impacted the same trunk that he had previously, and he grunted in pain. The spot mere metres from him where Gaara had held him was charred black from the fire-powered rasengan. His foresight in enforcing his body with chakra had undoubtedly saved his life from the backlash of his technique.

A series of wretched breaths carried his attention further to where Gaara lay sprawled on his back, all the sand from his waist up lying around him in the form of glass. "More…"

Naruto was displaced from his position at the sudden expansion of mass within a cloud of smoke from where Gaara had been. He knew all too well what that meant.

Naruto pulled himself into the lotus sitting position and zoned out the imminent danger the lurked above the shadow being cast over him. The sudden intake of natural chakra pushed the pain in his body from his mind and strengthened his resolve on employing his rinnegan powers in the battle.

His eyes snapped open as the orange pigment formed around them at the completion of his sage mode. Two clones formed on either side of him, and they each shared an unspoken acknowledgement. The black rings in each of the three Naruto's eyes expanded and contracted at the focus on shifting the gravity immediately around his body and he and his clones sprung straight up into the air as though in flight.

He and his clones soared through the upper canopies and into the clear blue sky without slowing down. Soon they were looking down on the massive entirely-formed ichibi. "We're going to try _that j_utsu."

Both clones shot the original a worried expression. Being extensions of Naruto's intelligence they carried all the same memories as him, and they knew well enough that so far his efforts at combining wind chakra into the rasengan to be able to launch it had only resulted in him abandoning the jutsu not even half way in, and even then he would sustain minor injuries from it.

"You're going to hold it though." The original clarified to the clone floating to his left.

The clone smiled along with his sibling before frowning again. It just meant that he was a disposable weapon, but that wasn't an uncommon idea for any of Naruto's clones moments before they were dispelled, in the end each would resolve that they were extensions of Naruto, and would serve his purpose willingly.

"We're going to put everything into this, okay!" Naruto declared as the clone leading the technique formed a rasengan. Next Naruto put both his hands just above the spinning orb and focused on pressing fire chakra into it. Similarly to the fire release rasengan he had made earlier, it began to glow red. He pushed yet more power into it, and tendrils of flame wisped off the top. The last clone drew himself closer in the air and extended his hands. Naruto moved back to make room for him as a screeching sound began to emanate from the rasengan.

Naruto subconsciously moved back from his two clones forming the dual element technique as the screeching increased in volume and blades of wind sprouted from around it, intensifying the red fire chakra within. Mere moments passed before the clone who'd been applying the wind chakra poofed from existence, Naruto clutched his head at the feeling of exhaustion that'd been passed on to him.

"Don't miss!" Naruto muttered thoughtlessly. His last remaining clone wielding the spinning fiery rasengan released his rinnegan powers and dropped into a steep descent toward the fully formed ichibi below, the technique extended in front of him.

The ichibi below almost squealed in laughter at the sight of the falling clones' technique. His laughter was quickly followed up by spitting out two bullets of air toward his foe. The doppelganger made no attempt to dodge the air bullets as they merely dissipated upon contact with his fire release rasenshuriken.

The original Naruto began to descend back toward the treetops with his eyes locked onto the brightly lit descent of his clone. From his distant position, he could attest to how fearsome the technique looked as it cast a bright red light over the surrounding area. The relative calm over the land was soon broken by a bright flash and detonation.

A shock wave slammed into Naruto's body, and his grasp on his controlled descent faltered. He tumbled through the upper canopy of the forest, breaking branches on his way down to meet the forest floor, and meet it he did with a solid thud.

Naruto curled in on himself as a second shockwave passed through the trees, this one carrying a wave of fire within it. The heat carried within the shockwave was intense but brief, and Naruto soon rolled back to his feet, groaning in pain as he did. He jumped toward the nearest tree trunk and sprinted up toward the top. He quickly estimated that he'd cracked several ribs and his femur, with a hiss of pain he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and jumped the final meter through the thinner upper branches and landed precariously on the very top of the tree.

The first thing that Naruto noted was that there was an eerie silence over the forest, the second was that all the trees within at least a fifty meter radius of where his jutsu had impacted the ichibi was blackened and burnt. The ichibi itself was quickly spotted; now it resembled little more than a mountain of sand and blackened glass.

Its state didn't last as vast sheets of its fused surface cracked, and broke away from the sand beneath it before falling to the charred forest beneath it. Naruto mentally cursed as he watched the process of the sand bijuu reassembling itself. Acting on a lesson learnt from Itachi not to allow a dangerous enemy to recover, Naruto took off toward the creature. His footfalls soon met the blackened branches as he neared his foe.

Naruto stopped as he became fully engulfed in the ichibi's shadow. He raised his hands toward the mountain of sand and focused all his energy through his eyes. At first a mere ripple passed over the sand mass, and then as though a switch had been flicked, it began to rise into the air.

Naruto roared in exertion as he lifted the ichibi higher and higher. His eyes had closed as he focused on channelling the rinnegan powers. The action was both beneficial to the technique and foolhardy. Although now being fifty metres above the forest, the Gaara controlled ichibi had recovered and spotted his enemy below him, and with a bark of decompression he spat an air bullet. The bullet impacted the ground directly to Naruto left and picked him up in its decompressed wave, flinging him into a tree like a ragdoll.

With the technique dropped the ichibi hit the ground with a monstrous thud and an explosion of sand, followed shortly by a scream of excitement and pain.

**XX With Konan XXX**

Konan's eyes were wide at the scene unfolding. She had been following the sand genin from a distance once they left Konoha, and had witnessed each aspect of their fights with the Uchiha boy and the blonde genin whom she'd surmised must have the rinnegan.

She had been able to match his bright blonde hair from her current distance to belonging to Jiraiya's apprentice, which had made her scoff to herself at the million to one chance that Jiraiya would once again teach a rinnegan wielder. Though the fight had quickly stolen her attention from her thoughts, and her face had soon reflected shock at the unfolding fight.

The blonde rinnegan wielder had at first displayed an obvious desire not to fight at all, but with the ichibi jinchuuriki set on fighting things had quickly escalated to a mind-blowing level of power. Konan truly was amazed at the power of the rinnegan wielder as he and his clones had ascended into the sky in a similar way to what she'd seen Nagato and his paths do once before. Though instead of him following up with an almighty push techniques she had expected him to, he formed some sort of monstrous jutsu the shone a bright red light over the forest around her.

The screeching sound it made as it descended in the clones grip made her think of imminent death for whatever was on the receiving end. She had been forced to clutch at the tree top below her as her predictions proved true and an explosive blast rocked the area.

When she had managed to secure her footing and stand her jaw had practically dropped at the damage from the technique; everything caught within the jutsu was charred black, and even the almost fully exposed power of the ichibi had been put down by the attack. But then her surprise had only deepened as the ichibi was lifted into the air.

It was apparent to Konan that the Konoha genin was on the forest floor below and was utilising his rinnegan abilities to their fullest, but his attempts were quickly cut off by an air bullet attack from the ichibi.

Silence settled over the forest as both parties regained their senses from the others respective attacks. The ichibi was the first to recover, but unexpectedly, Gaara, its host, rose from the top of its head. From her distance she couldn't be entirely sure, but following all of the events she was sure that the Suna boy was knocking himself out to unleash the full power of the beast that was within him.

A split moment of silence followed before a wild scream split the air, its source most certainly not human in origin. Konan couldn't help but shiver in a mixture of fear and disgust. She and all the others in Akatsuki were following the orders of Nagato to collect the bijuu to seal into the gedo statue, but not even Nagato seemed to truly know its purpose as they followed the orders of Madara.

Her mind shifted back to the fight as long whip-like tendrils of sand began striking down onto the forest floor. It was all too obvious that the target was the blonde haired rinnegan bearer. A part of Konan wanted to reach out to and protect the boy, be it the fact that he was standing bravely against such an opponent to protect his friends without a second thought, or that he was another rinnegan wielder, who if she could help it, would not go down the same dark path as her life-long friend.

The whips of sand stopped their lashing movements and began to hone in on the same position. That spelt the Konoha genin's death as far as Konan was concerned. She moved to take a step forward to take advantage of the ichibi's momentary lapse of focus on the world around it, but a sudden explosion of smoke seized her attention.

Having trained under Jiraiya and worked with Nagato she knew that the smoke on that scale signified a large summon being called forth. Her unvoiced question as to what summon it was, was answered in the form of the massive toad leaping from the smoke and away from the sand demon to make room.

Obviously the toad was under orders from the genin as it leapt in the opposite direction from his teammates. But what surprised her the most was the toad itself. Neither she, Yahiko, nor Nagato had ever seen the toad boss, Gamabunta, again after witnessing the battle between the freshly anointed Sannin and Hanzou, but everything about him was unforgettable, and the fact that Jiraiya's current student was riding him without a single qualm on the toads part spoke an astronomical amount of good for the genin.

If even at his young age Gamabunta approved of him so much, then the boy was likely destined to grow into an exceptionally powerful shinobi.

The Akatsuki side of her brain kicked in spreading worry across her face. Currently Akatsuki had been avoiding causing any trouble at all inside the fire and cloud borders so that they could go about their tasks unhindered, but it was all too clear that once all the pieces were set in place that they would earn the attention of all the shinobi nations.

When that day came Konan knew that this boy would represent a considerable threat. The land changing battle between the toad boss and the ichibi was proof off that. Water was showering over the forest as Gamabunta's water bullets impacted the ichibi's air bullets.

The toad summons and his summoner ceased all motion upon landing on the ground again, but Konan could easily see the preparation of a jutsu. On cue with her thoughts, the toad boss spat out a stream of black liquid, followed quickly by a stream of flame intercepting it from atop his head.

Everything between the toad and the ichibi lit ablaze from the massive collaboration technique before the tailed beast itself was caught in the flames. The toad suddenly shot forward toward his foe. Konan knew that the opposing Konoha forces must have figured out that regular techniques would only slow the tailed beast as the toad leapt into the air and was once again shrouded in white smoke.

Yet again her breath caught in her throat in shock; out of the plume of white smoke leapt the bright orangey-red likeness of the kyuubi. Instantly Konan connected the dots between the blonde haired genin and the kyuubi, and now it only seemed all too obvious that he was the kyuubi jinchuuriki.

The fact that Jiraiya had taken a personal interest in him, though that could have equally been due to the rinnegan, and that he bore an incredible likeness, even from this great distance, to his father. The man whom Konan knew had sealed the kyuubi into his own son, thanks to information from Madara.

But of all creatures for the boy to choose from to collaborate on as a transformation the fact that he had chosen none other than the kyuubi was far too blatant to look past. In the land of fire, the kyuubi was widespread taboo, the mere mention of it would earn someone the silent treatment from anyone in earshot. And the younger generation were too lacking in knowledge about the bijuu for the boy's choice to be some odd coincidence.

The transformed kyuubi quickly closed in on the once again prone ichibi. Its lower limbs seemed to have hardened and glassed over from the heat of the collaboration fire jutsu. The ichibi's insane-sounding scream of frustration shook Konan to her core as the transformation dug its claws into the ichibi's sandy shoulders.

Another plume of smoke going up around the fox masked its shift back to the two's original form, but Konan's keen and focused eyesight caught the black streak that flashed from the smoke and onto the ichibi's head. Her body acted on its own will as she suddenly sprung forth. Another plume of white smoke notified her of the toad summons' prompt retreat from the battlefield back to his land of birth.

An instinct in her told her to trust that the rinnegan wielding boy would not kill the ichibi jinchuuriki, but the same couldn't be said the other way around, and Akatsuki's work was far too advanced for them to delay and wait for the revival of one of the bijuu.

She hissed in frustration when she got within range to be able to see the battle, yet not close enough to intervene. After a moment of thought, she was speeding over the treetops, paper wings sprouting from her back and driving her forward at her fastest pace.

Despite her previous wide range view of the fight, she suddenly felt insignificant as she became aware of exactly how large the ichibi's form was as it loomed over her. The black wearing genin took a steady step forward, shaking sand from his foot as he did. His pace soon increased as he approached his still sleeping foe.

Time felt as though it were slowing down for Konan. She simply couldn't afford to let either of the combatants die, and the battle was drawing to a close. The Konoha nin's fist lashed forward but stopped barely an inch from the Suna boys face. From the relatively close distance that Konan slowed down into a hover at she couldn't miss the conflicted expression that crossed the blonde's face.

He flexed his fingers out and slapped his hand sharply across the redheads face. The boy's eyes flashed open from the sharp slap in a moment of confusion, it quickly shifted into an insanely gleeful expression, one that Konan couldn't help but feel profoundly resembled what Nagato's expression had been when Yahiko had died.

She swooped lower yet as the blonde leaned forward and whispered quietly in the redheads ears. Obviously it wasn't enough to placate him as lashes of sand rose from the still formed ichibi head beneath them. The lashes quickly struck and wrapped around the blonde, but instead of struggling as she had expected him to he merely smiled at his enemy.

Instead of drawing the chakra out of the attack like Konan had expected him to, as he had done earlier while walking up the bijuu's head, he cracked his head forward sharply until his forehead impacted the Suna jinchuuriki's. She caught his lips moving in quiet speech yet again, but didn't have a chance to try and analyse what was being said as the sand form around them crumbled and began to fall.

As the blonde fell Konan's body acted of its own will as she dropped into a dive to match his velocity. Her arms extended out toward him as she neared his falling frame, and before she truly knew why, she had encircled them around his chest and held his back against her bust.

The sudden stiffening of his body told her of his shock at being fished out of his descent, but his eyes didn't leave his opponent as he crashed limply through the trees. It wasn't until the defeated jinchuuriki disappeared from view that the blonde boy turned his head to look over his shoulder.

"Can you please take me down to him?" His voice was small and tired but undoubtedly sincere.

Konan couldn't prevent the frown from spreading across her face as his so familiar yet so different blue rinnegan met her amber gaze. "I can't allow you to kill him," she spoke slowly.

"I just want to speak to him. You're not with Suna, are you?"

Konan frown turned into a sad look as her mind reeled over the vast differences between the boy in her arms and Nagato's current state and that she had just prevented further harm to a boy whom her friend intended to kill.

Her actions spoke first, as with a beat of her wings they began a slow descent through to the treetops. "No, I'm not with Suna, I'm just here to keep you and him safe."

His blue rinnegan eyes didn't leave her amber irises for a moment while she looked around for the most ideal clearing in the upper foliage to pass through.

"Did Itachi-se-" he paused abruptly as he caught his words. "Did someone called Itachi send you?"

Konan almost felt surprised at herself for not feeling surprised toward the blonde's slip up, though it already seemed to match up that he was, in fact, Itachi's student.

"No, he didn't, but I'm sure that he must wish for your safety. I'm here to protect our organisation's assets." Konan mentally slapped herself for her momentary loose tongue. She had just given a vital piece of intelligence away to someone who was undoubtedly a potent future enemy.

The blonde finally tore his gaze from her eyes as they passed through the middle canopy and descended to the ground. The Suna boy lay mere meters away with his wide and fearful eyes locked onto them. "Stay away!" he screeched fearfully the moment that both Konan's and her charge's feet padded softly onto the forest floor.

Without looking back at her the blonde gently pushed her arms from his body and stumbled forward. It was quite plainly obvious to Konan that he was on his last legs, and the techniques and power he had already displayed had put a sense of awe in her. The fact that he was still able to walk unassisted after having performed the way he had stood as a testament to his sheer willpower.

He stumbled forward, foot over foot, ragged breath after breath. The Suna jinchuuriki's screams to be left alone fell on deaf ears. Konan's attention was solely set on the kyuubi jinchuuriki, despite his obvious injuries and exhaustion she could feel the warmth radiating out from him and enveloping her. A moment later and she realised that the feeling was being spread by what remained on his chakra and that he was consciously pushing it out, and the redhead's fearful reaction showed just how unaccustomed to warmth he was.

Konan's own reaction was alien to her as she felt a defiant urge run through her, telling her to stand up for what she had once stood up for in the early life of Akatsuki, but her rational mind soon kicked in and she started analysing the boys chakra technique. It was wholly dissimilar to anything she had ever experienced before, and the only slightly relevant information that she could draw to the forefront of her mind was from a time long ago when Nagato had spoken of how the Uzumaki clan had been renowned for their special chakra techniques.

From around the blonde jinchuuriki's legs, Konan could see the unfathomably frightened expression on the redhead jinchuuriki's face. His breath was coming out in shallow pants, and his eyes were so wide that they reflected the entire clearing around them.

The blonde stooped down over him, and Konan couldn't resist moving within easy hearing range to understand what was going on.

The familiar green glow of the mystic palm technique washed over the blonde's hand as he pressed it to his foes forehead to close the gash that he had created with his head-butt.

"You've been stuck in that dark place, the world of loneliness, fear, and anger. And I'm so sorry that you've been stuck there, but I had to fight you and beat you to protect my precious people." The blondes words came out softly.

Confusion wafted over the defeated jinchuuriki's face at the way he was being treated, and a short silence settled on the clearing. "Is that how you're so strong?" his voice came out flat and low as he finally broke his opponents stare and looked straight up at the sky through the trees.

"No," the blonde sighed with a touch of a smile. "Not exactly at least, but they're why I'm so strong, so I can protect them from anything. Even if it's from someone who's like me," he explained, setting his hand on his midsection.

The Suna boys light green eyes slowly roamed back to the blondes, and Konan couldn't help but feel that she truly didn't deserve to hear such a conversation between fellow jinchuuriki. Her thoughts were quickly banished in favour of listening on, as the more wounded of the boys lips began to form words.

"I see… Uzumaki Naruto. You fight to protect your precious people."

Two faint thuds carried both Naruto's and Konan's attention upwards to the sight of the two other Suna genin. Naruto glanced back down at his defeated foe and smiled warmly before looking back to the new arrivals, entirely unaware of Konan's stance having shifted to a defensive posture.

"You should take him and escape across the border before more Konoha forces arrive."

Konan's eyes widened in surprise at the now identified Uzumaki Naruto's back. For him to show such unnecessary kindness was something practically unheard of in the world of the shinobi.

The other two Suna genin reacted the same as her, but the blonde girl recovered first and nodded timidly as a pink shade spread across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. The body suit-wearing boy quickly followed the girl's lead as they rushed forward and draped the redheads arms around their shoulders.

"Gaara."

The redhead looked back at Naruto from over his shoulder as his siblings retreated with him in tow.

"I hope that we can be friends someday."

Gaara's eyes seemed to glaze over, and he mouthed the word 'friend' silently as his teammates took off into the trees.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Konan whispered, her eyes glued to the back of his head.

Naruto turned at the whispering of his name. "So are you a friend of Itachi's?"

Konan froze in thought, _'Is he a friend? Do I even have any friends?' _"Not exactly. He's a comrade, but he has mentioned you a lot in small ways."

Naruto let a small smile claim his lips as his legs gave out beneath him and he settled onto the ground in a lopsided kneeling position. Konan began to start forward to help him with his ability to move, but his voice stopped her mid-stride.

"He must trust you if he told you anything about me. What's your name?"

Konan's previous stillness now seemed as though it had been frantic movement compared to how still she had just become. _'Itachi-san probably doesn't trust me… But he's always seemed like a good judge of character, which is why we put him with Orochimaru, and now Kisame. He's been dropping little hints about Naruto for years, why would he do such a thing?' _Konan's blue bangs swept across her face as a gust of wind passed through the area.

"Konan," she whispered out between pursed lips. She wasn't sure why she was telling this boy, this target, her name. She quickly schooled her expression and tilted her face into the wind to keep her hair off her now calm expression. She resolved that having told her name to Naruto was to sate her own personal curiosity and that she wanted to see why Itachi had seemingly invested so much in this boy.

"Itachi-san has an interesting insight into people, but I do not think he trusts me as he does you."

Naruto nodded slowly, his face a myriad of fleeting thoughts. "Do you know where he is now? I have so many things I want to ask him." Naruto spat out quickly.

Konan frowned momentarily before replacing it with her emotionless mask. Vastly similar to how she had been doing more and more recently from Itachi's hints and taunts.

"I don't know, even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell you."

Naruto nodded slowly in thought, his hands forming the familiar seal to perform the henge as he did. Konan quirked an eyebrow in curiosity as his blue rinnegan shimmered and warped until they resembled regular vibrant blue eyes. Seeing the unasked question on her face Naruto spoke, his voice wearing down steadily as the exhaustion crept up on him. "I was advised by Itachi to keep my eyes a secret, and Sasuke is coming."

'_Sasuke? Isn't he Itachi-san's brother? His planned redemption for the Uchiha clan. What a foolish plan. It seems so strange that he has two legacies in Konoha, and they are complete and total opposites.' _Konan's eyes narrowed in thought, and suddenly she realised that it certainly would not do for Sasuke to see her sporting the same robes that he was eventually bound to see his older brother in.

"Naruto-san," she started, bending forward at the waist gently in a stiff bow. "It was interesting to meet you. I hope that you do not come to hate me."

Naruto smiled softly in response, "I couldn't possibly hate you. It's my goal to cure the world of hate."

Konan stiffened immediately. His words were practically a copy of what her dearest friend had once said, of what her sensei had once said, and she could imagine that they were words that Itachi had probably said to him once.

"Thank you for looking out for me, even if you won't tell me why."

Konan broke herself from her turbulent thoughts and looked into his henged eyes, her expression softened from its cold mask as she met the bright expression that he was forcing through his exhaustion. The corners of her lips quirked upward in the smallest of smiles before she gave him a sharp nod and readied her stance. Her paper wings sprouted elegantly from her shoulder blades, and she shot upward from the ground with one powerful beat.

**XXX With Naruto XXX **

Naruto dropped all the expression from his face and flopped onto his back, a long sigh escaping from his lips as he did. Absently he felt for the natural chakra around him, and with a growl of frustration found that he was so exhausted that he could hardly even calm his chakra coils enough to collect any of it into his system.

Naruto decided to clear his mind and simply wait for Sasuke. He knew that his teammate would undoubtedly help him back to the village as he was sure that he must have already done for Sakura, but the idea of relying on him as a person was a tumultuous one for him.

That one encounter with Orochimaru had set Sasuke on a downward spiral, and Orochimaru had hardly even been the one to do anything. He had handed Sasuke a tool for power in the form of the cursed seal, but Sasuke's motivation and goals were his own. His inability to let go of the past and strive for a better future was destroying the dream that Itachi had wanted Sasuke to live.

Naruto couldn't fully comprehend just what Itachi's plans had been or were, but he knew that Itachi would never willingly do something immoral unless he had no choice. And that he only ever wanted positive things for the people he cherished most.

A soft thud signalled Sasuke's arrival as he scuffed from a tree onto the ground. It was obvious in the sound of his steady footfalls that he had at least mostly recovered from his earlier fight with Gaara.

"Naruto? Where's Gaara? What happened?"

Naruto mentally sighed. He knew that Sasuke must have been able to see a vast majority of the fight, all the way up to the point where he had finished Gaara's technique at least, so as far as Naruto was concerned, the answer should have been a simple deduction.

"His teammates took him and ran off. I don't think I can move anymore," Naruto forced out, slightly rolling from his position to look at his comrade.

Sasuke made no immediate motion to aid his comrade but after a moment of conflicted thought and uncontrolled facial expressions that spoke volumes to Naruto he quickly moved forward and hoisted Naruto over his shoulder.

"Sakura-chan?"

"She's safe, Kakashi-sensei's summon, Pakun, showed up, he's waiting with her for Kakashi." Sasuke answered before Naruto could finish the question. He flashed into the trees in the direction of Konoha. He ran in silence with Naruto secured uncomfortably over his shoulder.

"How did you beat him?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow up at the sudden and flat question. "You're one of my friends, Sakura-chan is a friend, I have other precious people in the village. If I couldn't beat him, then he would have killed everyone."

Sasuke grunted in response. Obviously it wasn't a comprehensive enough answer for him. Once again silence reigned around them as Sasuke continued jumping from branch to branch without pause.

Again Sasuke broke the silence with a flat question. "Why did you transform into the kyuubi with the toad?"

Naruto was silent for a moment as his mind conjured up the most believable lie. "We needed something with claws, and my hero is the fourth hokage who fought the kyuubi. It just came to mind."

This time the silence stretched on until Sasuke finally came to a halt in front of Konoha's gates. There was a gaping hole in the wall directly to the left of it, and bodies lay strewn around the pavement. But the distinct sound that came with battle was no longer in the air. Instead there were calls for assistance and wails of pain. Konoha had won the fight, but not without a cost.

"Thank you… For saving me," Sasuke mumbled quietly.


	9. Chapter 9: Genin No More

**Authors notes: Yo all! This one's a short chapter by my standards, and I've had it sitting around for a few days… Just being lazy and all… I'm about half way through the next chapter, but that is currently stalled. I have been infected by a friends illness, and am now suffering temporary fuzzy-brain state. So as soon as I'm better I'll get back to it.**

**Many thanks to all the reviewers; your support encourages me to keep going, and can often give me fresh ideas and inspirations. **

**I also want to give a warning of sorts about the next chapter. Many readers may think that the Naruto vs Sasuke fight is anti-climactic when I get to it. However there are paths in this story that I want certain characters to walk, and having Naruto beat down Sasuke and drag him back just wouldn't fit. But there will be other action, and developments, that will hopefully fill in that void in the chapter.**

**Review responses: **

**ALPHAQ69: Thank you very much for that. That particular compliment means a lot to me. It's always hard to display a character that's based from another one in a pre-existing story in a light that's favourable in many of the same ways. So hopefully I've opened up enough aspects on his character, and others, for them to be interesting and engaging. **

**Claymore78: Thank you, I hope you continue to enjoy it. No, this story is not a harem. **

**Newbiegod35: There is a meeting of sorts between them in this chapter. I wrote this part of canon in a slightly unconventional way, I wasn't inspired for this one so that's why. And the harem, no it's not. Naruto is just very endearing and skilled, and some female characters have slight attractions to that. **

**s0ssy: Well I hope you continue to enjoy, you question has been answered ^above^. First Naruto will be with Ino. Then he will have a fling or two after the breakup, and then he will have another "major" pairing, and then it will move on to Konan. **

**Naturokurosaki: I do try to add those odd little quirky bits in : -) **

**ZuttoAragi: To be honest I'm not totally set on what to do with Sasuke. But his abandoning of Konoha is an important part of the set up for the time skip. So he'll at least be following that part of Canon. **

**PSG1JOHN: Ahhh, someone noticed that little reference to her wings and saving him like an angel. I'm aiming to include Konan more and more from now onwards, so I hope I can maintain and build her character in a way that you enjoy : -) **

**Guest: Dude, or Dudette, whichever you be, for the quality of the reviews you give you should make a profile. But assuming you see this, many thanks. **

**The Night Hunter: I wish I did as well! But at the end of most my days I'm so run down that making food takes a lot of effort, and I fucking love cooking! Point being, I do try, and hopefully after Chapter 10 my updates will increase. Repeating canon, albeit in a different format, is very uninspiring. Thanks for the review : -) **

**Battle neurosis: Every story needs a little comedic relief. I'll aim to include more of that sort of stuff : -) Thanks a lot! **

**Kroz phantomville: yes the battle did follow the same basic format as in canon, but the key differences were the power levels. Gaara released much more of the Ichibi's power quicker, and Naruto was fighting at a much higher and more powerful intensity, and after his experimental use of the lightning armor he was rather fatigued. So Naruto was more fighting the Ichibi than Gaara. That battle and its outcome was too important to change too much. **

**Pain17ification: Many thanks, yet again. No spoilers, but I'm sure people will start to put two and two together. **

**Serialkeller: For the most part, the answer to your question is in my response to ^kroz phantomville^. And your opinion on Sasuke; I'm leaning more toward the latter of what you said. **

**TheWickedTruth89: This chapter is mostly lacking in fighting, but I hope that when I get more into the story and the fight scenes expand in scale you continue to enjoy them. Anko is one of my favourite characters to write. **

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: I always love your reviews. They're very eloquent. There's not much else I can say than that, other than thank you : -)**

**Imugly: Your positivity is most welcome. I hope you enjoy this shorter chapter as well.**

**To all the other reviewers: Thanks for your support, and I aim to deliver a quality of work that you all continue to enjoy. **

**And a thank you to my beta. **

**Story warning: Grammatical change; spelling has now been edited into American English, and all chapters following will be the same. **

**This chapter is written mostly in retrospective views, hope that's okay by everyone. And finally, I would like to point people in the direction of pain17ifications profile. He's in the process of rewriting one of his previous Naruto fics, and his other stories are a fun read as well. **

**Chapter 9: Genin No More**

Naruto couldn't help but smile proudly at his reflection as he stood in a wide legged stance before a body-length mirror. His new chuunin vest was securely strapped around his body. His smile quickly vanished, however, and he pulled the item of defensive clothing from his shoulders.

A bout of chuckles sounded behind him, and he turned to the laughing Yamanaka family head with a bashful smile.

"Don't like the vest?" Inoichi chuckled out.

Naruto shrugged in response and raised the vest to inspect it more closely. "Not really. I'm happy about the rank, but I don't need the vest."

Normally Ino would love to stick to the rules, and when she saw various chuunin and jounin going about their lives in the village she'd always think about how impressive they all looked whilst sporting their ranked affiliation with their village by way of their flak vest, but on this occasion she had to smile and nod in agreement that Naruto looked much better without it than most of them.

"I'm guessing that if it wasn't for your other part-time sensei Tsunade-sama would make you wear it all the time, like how Shikamaru-chan has been wearing his," Ino's regal mother added with her own proud smile.

Both her and Inoichi had been tempted to try to adopt Naruto, but both having known his parents, they wanted to make sure his name stayed Uzumaki, and instead just chose to keep an open door policy for him.

Naruto had on many occasions thanked the Yamanaka family extensively for their kindness, and it always managed to bring a joyful tear to both Ino and her mother's eye.

Inoichi was currently wearing the proud smile for which he'd mentally berated himself, saying that his smile was representative of how Minato would have felt, but no matter how hard the man tried to convince himself of his standings with the boy, he couldn't help but feel a little fatherly pride in Naruto.

He hadn't deluded himself to believe that he was in any way Naruto's father, but his ever-growing respect and care for Naruto was always present. The boy truly did have some endearing quality that over time seemed as though it could win anybody over.

"Or maybe it's the fact that Naruto-kun was the one who convinced her to come back?" Ino chimed in, her cheeks glowing pink in adoration and respect.

Inoichi nodded in agreement and gave Naruto a final smile before turning and walking back the way that he'd come out of Naruto's apartment. Truthfully all of the Yamanaka clan bore praise for Naruto. They were an extremely close-knit clan who held close ties to one another, and the fact that Naruto was so successfully sustaining a relationship with the head's daughter was one big winning vote. And then to top it off, he'd recently been one of the two who had convinced the legendary slug princess, Lady Tsunade, to return to the village as their hokage.

And it also seemed that his actions were bearing the same fruit with both the Akimichi and Nara clans. The Nara clan's respect for him was to be expected. They were a very intelligent collection of people and the recent showing of Naruto's determination to sustain all the lives of the leaf village's populace through his outstanding actions in suppressing the ichibi and in retrieving the now fifth hokage had all but confirmed their respect for him.

The Akimichi clan's own feelings and respects were similar, but they were more traditionally gentle-hearted people. All of the barriers that Naruto had overcome and how hard he had already fought for his village had won over their care for him.

Naruto beamed first at Inoichi's retreating back, and then to his wife as she turned to follow, and finally to Ino. Ino's blush darkened at his broad smile, and she quickly rushed forward and allowed his arms to collect her into a tight embrace. Instinctively she started placing gentle kisses along his neck, whispering her praise between each separation of her lips to his skin. "You're amazing, Naruto-kun."

"I've got an amazing girlfriend to make me try harder." Naruto smiled back as he placed his own kiss on Ino's forehead.

Ino backed her face away from his neck and connected her lips to his. She moaned into the lip lock as Naruto led the action with his tongue parting her lips and embracing her own in her mouth. The connection only lasted a minute before Ino broke away and dropped her forehead onto his chest.

"Kami, you've got no idea how much I love you. And I haven't even been able to think of a good way to tell you that," she sighed out breathlessly.

Naruto simply rubbed her back soothingly and smiled again. "I love you too, Ino-chan. I'm just glad your parents approve of me."

"Are you kidding?" Ino blurted, backing away and heading for the door as she did. "As soon as you're old enough to take that hat you want, the entire clan will support you! I bet even Tsunade-sama would!"

"Ha! As long as it's not her making the bet," Naruto laughed out as he followed her. He had a pretty decent idea of where they were going. It'd either be to a training ground to find Sakura, or to Ichiraku's. Ino never admitted it, but she had become rather fond of Naruto's dinner of choice, and the pleasant company of Ayame always added to the enjoyable ramen stand experience.

"You're going to be hokage one day, for sure!" Ino yelled enthusiastically, not unlike how he had to her once as she held her thumb up in a supportive gesture over her shoulder.

Naruto just smiled happily as she opened his front door and stepped out. He followed suit and swung the seal decorated door shut behind him.

_Flashback_

_Tsunade's soft pink lips touched Naruto's forehead in a delicate kiss, her words flowed out softly a moment later as she straightened her posture. "You'll make a fine hokage one day, so I guess I can fill in the job until you're ready." _

_Naruto grinned at her as he thumbed the crystal necklace that she'd gifted him with at the success of his bet, "You know most winners cheat in some way…" _

_Both Tsunade and Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh?" Tsunade hummed. _

_In response Naruto held his index finger up and not a moment later an extremely small rasengan spun to life on it. "I already knew the rasengan, the part you saw me practicing at first was just my attempt to make it purely out of elemental chakra. It's actually a really simple jutsu once you know the feel of doing it." _

_Tsunade huffed and set her hands on her hips, and despite not being able to see it, she was well aware of the amused smile on her assistants face behind her. "So how long did it take you to learn it originally?" _

_Naruto shrugged. "Three days. Lucky coincidence, I guess." _

"_This brat is my greatest student yet!" Jiraiya added in with a grin. _

"_You do know what you're saying, right?" the slug princess deadpanned. _

_Sensing their mounting conflict Naruto edged out from between the pair of ex-teammates and smiled proudly up at Shizune's more mature face. She smiled back at him in an unspoken message of thanks for his part in helping her master's path in life. _

"_I'm saying," Jiraiya paused for a dramatic build up before continuing, "that he is even stronger than his father!"_

_Jiraiya's exclamation had both Shizune and Tsunade sucking in a sharp intake of breath and focusing their collective gazes onto Naruto. _

"_He knows?" Tsunade mouthed silently. _

_Naruto just nodded in response with a small smile. He wanted to do things right with the current hokage, he wanted there to be total honesty between them. _

"_Brat, show her." _

_Naruto just nodded at Jiraiya's words, and a moment later the two women gasped again as his henge dropped and his eyes took on their natural visage. _

"_And I'm on good terms with the kyuubi, sort of." _

"_Jiraiya…" Tsunade turned from Naruto to the toad sage. "What on earth have you been doing with your time?" _

"_Hey!" Jiraiya backed up slightly with his hands raised defensively. "I didn't give him those; they evolved after his first sensei performed a little test."_

"_First sensei?" Tsunade mirrored._

_Naruto's beginning of an answer was cut off as Jiraiya decided to add in his own two cents worth to Tsunade's developing motherly nature. "Hey, you don't get to be judgemental! Minato and Kushina entrusted Naruto to both of us, you don't get to be like this now!" _

_Tsunade shot Jiraiya a poisonous glare before looking back to Naruto, a sweet smile quickly replacing her prior expression. "Now, who was your first sensei?" _

"_Uchiha Itachi. He was even better than Jiraiya-sensei is!" _

"_Geez, thanks kid," Jiraiya grumbled sourly. _

"_That psychopath taught you!? What the he-" _

"_No, no. Tsunade-hime, there's a lot that you don't know right now. Itachi was acting under orders to do what he did. He's even been leaving me bits and pieces of info about Akatsuki," Jiraiya cut in over her words. _

"_Akatsuki?" Both Naruto and Tsunade replied at once. _

"_So she's working with him as well," Naruto mumbled to himself. _

_Both Tsunade and Jiraiya raised eyebrows at his barely audible comment, but opted to leave him to his thoughts as they set about packing up their temporary rest area for their journey back to Konoha._

_Flashback end_

"So how have those exercises been treating you, Ayame-chan?"

Ayme blushed a bright pink at Naruto's casual question as she followed his exact motion and disengaged her previously flabbergasted expression from Ino who was wolfing down a bowl of ramen and adopted a nervous smile at Naruto's pleasant expression.

"My legs don't get so sore anymore. Neither do my shoulders, so I think I'm doing well," Ayame spat out as quickly as she was able to. In recent months, Naruto had become an individual who always made her feel butterflies in her stomach, and as though it were from a hand from Kami, Naruto out of the blue offered to teach her some basic Taijutsu.

Despite his inferior years, Ayame couldn't help but feel attracted to his generous and friendly persona, and his recently growing popularity had brought many Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka nin to the Ichirakus' ramen stand, bringing an unexpected rise in profits that both she and her father most certainly appreciated.

"Do you want to catch up for a session when you finish work today?"

Yet again Naruto's innocent question yielded results different to what he had wanted. Ayame's eyes went downward in shyness, and her blush seemed to extend down her neck. Ino, on the other hand, seemed to have caught this question between her hasty inhalations of her miso ramen. Her face snapped up and locked onto Naruto, and then to the blushing Ayame. If she was in a rational train of thought she would have seen it as the simple situation that it was, but as she had been discovering she got jealous easily, and Ayame's obviously flustered state spoke to the jealous part of Ino immediately.

"Fagn gi croome?" She blurted out.

Both Naruto and Ayame peered at her oddly for a moment before they burst out laughing. In Ino's less than thoughtful state of mind, she hadn't seemed to realise that she had stopped mid-mouthful of ramen to speak. A blush of embarrassment darkened her cheeks, and she quickly gulped down the remaining ramen in her mouth.

She coughed to clear her throat and gave the two an apologetic expression. "Sorry, can I come with you later?"

Naruto simply shrugged and gave Ayame a questioning look.

Two parts of Ayame instantly said no whilst her polite part screamed at her to say yes. She'd even admitted to Naruto how much she enjoyed spending personal time with him, and the idea of Ino spoiling that almost horrified her, added to the fact that Naruto was teaching her simple Taijutsu for self-defence, and she knew that in no way would she match up to a trained kunoichi. Ayame was sure that with Ino present, she would develop a feeling of helplessness or inferiority.

Ayame had no problem with Naruto guiding her through the motions that he had mastered in the early years of his childhood. Naruto was an even more understanding and accepting person than her father, and that spoke volumes to Ayame's pride when it came to him teaching her. But the idea of going through the same process in the presence of a clan-born kunoichi was sure to embarrass her.

"Ah, if you wouldn't mind Ino-san, I think I'd feel embarrassed if you were there as well," Ayame mumbled out with her eyes locked onto a suddenly intriguing part of the counter.

"Sheesh, I didn't realize I had to ask to spend time with my boyfriend."

Ayame frowned and her embarrassed blush darkened, she opened her mouth to retort and shut it quickly, and then repeated the process two more times.

"Ino-chan, you know it's not like that. Imagine if you wanted to learn to cook and someone younger than you who was way better wanted to come along as well?" Naruto questioned his Yamanaka girlfriend with an even tone.

Ino promptly set her lips in a thin line and made a sound of indignation as she made a visible show of crossing her arms under her petite bust and pressing upwards.

Having already spent some time with possibly the bustiest woman in the world hugely blunted Ino's action to Naruto, and he didn't break off his smirk directed at her face.

Ayame, on the other hand almost wanted to laugh. Ino was obviously feeling threatened, and most likely in a sexual way, but Ino's attempt at being more sexually appealing seemed pointless in light of the fact that beneath Ayame's loose-fitting kimono and apron her breasts were far more developed than the younger girl's, but as always, her shy and polite nature won out and she maintained her pink-cheeked silence.

"Fine then, I'll just go find Forehead and show her how much stronger I am now," Ino huffed out as she slipped her rear from her stool and made a quick departure.

"And I'll just pay for your meal," Naruto mumbled after her back.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. Since you're training me, it can be on the house," Ayame quickly announced, her blush now receding and her pleasant smile taking its place back on her face.

"You're the greatest, Ayame-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

And once again Ayame's blush returned, albeit very subdued this time around. "Thanks, Naruto-kun. Would you like to leave now?"

"Sure," Naruto agreed with a smile and nod as he slipped from his stool and to his feet.

It didn't take Ayame long to slide a shutter down over the front of the store and emerge from the back, her work apron stripped off, leaving her simple black kimono on display.

Naruto led the way at a comfortable, civilian pace. His eyes were squinted and directed at the path in thought, an expression that Ayame obviously didn't miss. "What's wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"Hmmm?" Naruto looked up absently to the civilian girl. "Oh, I was just thinking about someone I used to know."

_Flash back_

"_Uzumaki Naruto." _

_Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at the familiar voice of his first sensei, then as the door opened wide enough to reveal the Uchiha man's stoic face and bright sharingan Naruto grinned._

_His grin lasted hardly a moment longer as the door continued its motion on its hinges until it revealed a man who looked rather more vicious than Itachi._

"_I have waited a long time to have a chance for a one on one conversation with you." _

_The blue-skinned man snickered at Itachi's words, but Naruto heard the hidden message as clear as day. Instantly he raised his hand toward the much larger of the pair and sent a pulse of his rinnegan power out. The large man was instantly thrown back with such force that his body broke cleanly through the wall behind him and continued on to impact a building across the street. _

_Itachi smiled at Naruto after a brief moment of silence, "It's good to see you, Naruto-kun. There's a lot I need to explain." _

_Naruto just nodded with an expectant expression._

_Itachi followed the prompt and spoke in the flat and informative tone to which Naruto had long ago become accustomed. "I was ordered to destroy the Uchiha clan by a man named Danzou, he's a part of the village council. Sasuke was the only one I could spare, but I worked with a man who I suspect to be Uchiha Madara. He is the one pulling the strings in the organization I'm in now. Our goal is to collect all of the bijuu and seal them into a sealing statue. Our current leader has eyes similar to yours, but he hasn't made his plans clear. The logical outcome would be to reform the juubi and for him to become its jinchuuriki." _

_Naruto nodded slowly at the dense influx of information, "And what about your brother?" He questioned thoughtlessly. _

"_He's going to redeem the Uchiha clan." _

"_But Orochimaru gave him a curse seal, and he hates everything, and—ohh." _

_Itachi's eyebrows rose in question before he addressed Naruto, "Please don't interfere in this, Naruto-kun." _

"_Itachi!" _

_Naruto resisted poking his head from his room at the loud arrival of Sasuke. _

"_That was an interesting technique," the shark-skinned man chuckled as he jumped back into the hallway through the hole that his body had made in the wall. "I'll have to pa—oh? Who's this, Itachi-san?" _

"_Little brother, you are foolish for coming to me here," Itachi drawled out in a monotone. _

"_I've done what you said! I've lived, I've survived, and I've hated and used my hate to grow stronger!" the younger Uchiha roared. Not a moment later lightning chakra crackled around his right hand, and he struck it out to the side in a similar way to he had done in the chuunin exams._

"_I am an avenger!" The boy roared as he made a headlong charge forward. _

_Itachi's expression hardly shifted as his brother approached, his assassination jutsu crackling in hand. With a twirl of his body-length cloak Itachi spun his body around into a heel kick. True to his aim his foot connected with Sasuke's chest and sent him hurtling back into the wall at the far end of the corridor. _

_In a flash, Itachi was onto his sibling and pinning him up against the wall. Naruto channelled chakra to his ears to enhance his auditory senses and couldn't help the frown that formed at hearing Itachi's words to his junior. _

_When Naruto had been smaller and under the care of Mikoto, Itachi, and Shisui, he had been educated about the village's history, and particularly the Uchiha's history with the Senju. The parts that Mikoto had elaborated on that had seemed to make the two younger Uchiha men uncomfortable had been the Uchiha's history of being unable to control their emotions, and that the stronger the emotions, the more powerful the sharingan. _

_So Naruto could instantly connect the leap in Itachi's logic in his goading of Sasuke's hatred, the two brothers had been compared many times in their opposing younger years. In truth, both of them were extremely similar in a basic sense, but it was their experiences that defined them, experiences that Naruto could see Itachi overlooking. _

_The brothers were like the light and dark sides of the same coin, but Naruto could see that Itachi no doubt saw it in a more positive light, as was his nature for those he loved. _

"_It's not going to work!" Naruto blurted out past the large-robed man in front of him at the back of his former mentor down the corridor. _

_Naruto saw Itachi quiver for a moment, and his head turned ever so slightly to give him a look over his shoulder. His face was a mask of swirling emotions, and he couldn't help but be glad that Naruto was the only one who caught his expression of doubt. _

"_Itachi-san, should we collect the kyuubi now?" the large man queried around a wide grin._

"_Touch me, and I'll use you to make another hole in the building!" Naruto stated defiantly without a shift in his stance. _

"_Kisame-san, the jinchuuriki's skills are unknown, it might not be wise," Itachi advised as he stepped away from his brother's prone form. _

"_Let's see then." Kisame remarked casually as he swung his large bandaged weapon from his back. _

_Before he even had a chance bring it to bear, Naruto made a downward swatting motion and his body impacted the floorboards with a heavy thud. Two long black single edged blades dropped from Naruto's sleeves, and he shifted into a defensive stance, one held in a reverse grip and the other in a forward grip._

_Itachi couldn't hold back the small smirk at the sight of Naruto's outstanding progress, but he quickly wiped it from his face as Jiraiya's familiar presence drew nearer. "It's time to go, Kisame-san. Jiraiya of the sannin is coming."_

_Flashback end_

**X**

Naruto hummed happily as he banked right around a corner in the hokage's administrative section of the academy until he stood before the door to the hokage's office. He pulled his body into a sharp stop with his knuckles hardly an inch from the door as he heard two voices within.

He smiled cruelly as he recognised the voice speaking to Tsunade as Anko's. A hand sign later and Naruto was replaced with the perfect likeness of Kakashi. He cracked his knuckles against the door and stepped in before he could be given permission. Both women stopped mid breath to turn a displeased eye to the man.

"Ahh, Kakashi-san, what can I do for you?" Tsunade asked slowly.

Anko's expression was quickly shifting from its previously interested one to an annoyed one, as was her way when it came to her patience, but it was clear that Tsunade was still fitting herself in to the role of hokage.

"Mah, Tsunade-sama. I'm sure Anko-san's conversation can wait, she _is_ the village idiot after all. Now I—"

_Kakashi _ducked under a wide swinging slap from the purple haired kunoichi, but continued unfazed while Tsunade adopted a shocked expression. She'd never really associated with the legendary copy ninja in her past, but his reputation for tardiness and borderline insubordination was well known around the village.

"As I was saying before the idiot tried to attack me, I came here to report that the barbeque restaurant has had a shipment of pork that has gone foul, and they wanted to pay for one of your fine shinobi, or kunoichi, to clean it up, but it seems that you've already got the one you want," _Kakashi _drawled out. Behind the henge, Naruto was laughing his head off. As far as he was concerned he was doing a perfect impersonation, and if Tsunade's confused expression and Anko's angry one was anything to go by, his impromptu joke was going just fine.

"You better shut your damn mouth, Hatake! Or I'll send a snake down your throat," Anko seethed out between gritted teeth.

"My, my, Anko-san, I wasn't sure if all the rumours of you being so kinky were true, with ALL of the men who speak about you, it was hard to know if it was just a fantasy or was disgustingly true."

Both Anko's and Tsunade's jaw dropped a little at the harshness of the response, and Naruto immediately regretted his words. His mind had been in 'aggravate' mode, and he was sure that his choice in words would no doubt bring the desired effect, but even still, saying what he knew to be blatantly wrong struck a chord in him. He mentally promised to make up for it another time.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! Do you have any idea what my life has been like?" Anko roared, her face contorting in barely restrained rage as she did. She coiled her fist back in the beginning stages of a swing, but was quickly halted in her movements as a small but powerful hand closed around her wrist.

"As much as I'd love to see you beat him for that, Anko-san, it would be best if it wasn't in the hokage's office. Pay him back for it another time," Tsunade advised coolly.

Anko stared at _Kakashi _for a moment heatedly before giving a sharp nod and shouldering her way past the man roughly.

"Anko-san, I'll look into your request for you," Tsunade called after the retreating woman.

Anko didn't even acknowledge the words as she stepped out and slammed the door behind her. Tsunade's honey-brown eyes settled on _Kakashi _coldly. "And what do _you_ want. Do you know how cruel that was, Hatake?"

Beneath the henge Naruto mentally flinched. He knew that Tsunade would appreciate the joke once it all came to fruition. Probably. He performed a single hand sign and once again he was his usual black clothed, blonde-haired, whiskered self.

This time Tsunade's jaw dropped open much more owlishly. "What…? But didn't you say that you're friends with Anko-san?" She asked in an absent tone.

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yes, but I wasn't me when I insulted her just then. This is just sort of a joke-turned-disciplinarian act to encourage Kakashi-sensei to be a better sensei for Sakura-chan."

Tsunade simply raised a delicate eyebrow in question.

"Well," Naruto started with his stance spreading into one that he often adopted when in a teaching role. "I'll arrange to have Anko-chan come train with me on a team training day, and Kakashi-sensei hasn't done a very good job training Sakura-chan, so when Anko-chan shows up and sees Kakashi-sensei she'll beat all his life from him, and it will prove that he should train Sakura-chan to be that strong!"

"…" Tsunade stared blankly at the Uzumaki boy in front of her.

"Although, it could have the opposite effect, and Kakashi-sensei could become afraid of kunoichi," Naruto mused with his hand cupping his chin.

"Naruto-kun, I think that you're looking a little too deeply into this. What did you want?" Tsunade sighed out.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot. I wanted to ask if you could teach me some stuff?" Naruto explained simply.

"Some stuff?"

A black blade fell from Naruto's sleeve, and he caught it deftly. Without waiting for permission, he rounded her desk, gripped her slender hand and slashed the blade across the bare skin on her wrist. Before she even had a chance to exclaim in shock, he'd dropped the blade and his hand glowed green as he had stitched the small wound back together.

"I know some medical jutsu, but I want to get better at it, just in case I really need it one day," Naruto explained plainly.

Tsunade set her now healed hand on top of his head between his blonde locks and smiled at him, "You know you actually are incredible."

Naruto smiled back as an acceptance of her compliment.

"Okay, we'll see what I can teach you, but you'd better pay me back with something!"

Naruto adopted a thinking expression and softly rubbed the whisker marks on his right cheek, a habit that Tsunade had already seen him do, and had only just been able to resist calling out its cuteness, unlike her apprentice.

"Dango?" Naruto asked back thoughtfully.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Mr Uzumaki?" Tsunade teased with a sly smile.

Without thinking Naruto shook his head and reached into a concealed pocket inside his jacket and retrieved a scroll. He unrolled it quickly and placed a hand over one of the many seals on it.

"Why's the scroll titled 'Anko'?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Haha, I need some way to make her like me." Naruto laughed out as two sticks of dango unsealed from the seal beneath his fingers.

Tsunade's mouth instantly watered as their steamy fresh aroma hit her senses. Without wasting a moment on thought, she snatched both from his hand and plucked one of the sweet, doughy balls off the skewer with her rosy lips. Her expression turned to one of delight as she chewed it through an open mouth to stave off burning herself, the steam wafting from between her lips a testament to how hot the dango still was.

"No wonder they say that dango stand is good!" Tsunade cried dramatically as she prepared the next ball for consumption with a shallow breath to cool it.

"Well… It is good, but I made these. I figured I should learn to cook," Naruto explained cheerily. He was extremely proud of the reaction that the dango was getting from the fifth hokage.

"Dear Kami!" Tsunade cried around her mouthful. "You are phenomenal, Naruto-kun! You had better start carrying around a scroll with my name on it as well!"

Naruto laughed as he turned on his heel and waved over his shoulder. "I'll pester you about some techniques tomorrow, Tsunade-baachan."

**X**

"Tenten-san?"

The brunette bun-haired girl turned from her intended target hanging on a tree downwind from her at the call of her name. She pursed her lips in thought as she identified the approaching person as Naruto the unexpected powerhouse, and one of the only two genin this year to be promoted to chuunin.

"What can I do for you, Naruto-san?" she pushed out tersely. Tenten definitely didn't feel like she owed Naruto a friendly greeting. Despite the strained circumstances of their encounter in the Forest of Death Naruto had seemed to flatly ignored her presence.

As soon as Naruto came into a comfortable distance he bent forward at the waist in a bow, "I'm sorry for how I behaved when we met in the Forest of Death; it was immature of me to be that way."

Tenten stifled a gasp, it was as though Naruto had read her thoughts exactly, and now she was entirely unable to blame him for any awkwardness. And with his apology in the air she suddenly realized the reason why he had ignored her in the first place.

They were only small children when they had once known each other; they had both lived in the same wing of the orphanage. Even then people had seemed to gang up on the downcast blonde boy, but Naruto would never give up his positive outlook, and he'd just go on shouting his dreams.

It was his resolve as a young boy that had shown Tenten the values of confidence and pursuing one's dreams. And so in small ways she had started to change from a nervous and afraid little girl into a firm friend of Naruto's. They would spend lunch times together playing and talking, but it had been short lived.

One day the adults had joined in on yelling at Naruto and occasionally throwing a punch his way. Tenten had suspected that was what was happening behind the ring of people, so she had pushed her small body through the tightly knit crowd with the intention of coming to her friend's defence.

It was when she had gotten to the forefront of the group and seen Naruto's blood, dirt, and tear-streaked face that she lost her resolve. Naruto's eyes and hers had held each other's gaze until she looked at the ground nervously and a vicious kick impacted the side of his head. And that had been the last she had seen of Naruto until recent times.

Tenten suddenly felt guilty for her entire train of thought, for all she knew she was the entire reason for a lot of Naruto's pain. She rushed forward quickly, removing the space between them, and pulled him into a firm embrace.

"I've missed you, ya know," Tenten smiled over his shoulder.

Naruto couldn't resist the chuckle and hugged her back lightly. When they had been little, she would sometimes playfully tease him for his habit of calling "ya know" after his speech.

"Can we be friends again, Tenten-san?"

The girl looped her heel behind his ankle and tripped him backwards. He fell with her landing on his stomach. Without missing a beat, she gained her balance and slammed her open right palm across his face with a resounding slap.

"OUCH! What was that for?" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

"If we're friends," She began slowly, raising her hand threateningly. "Then it's 'Tenten-_chan,_ remember?"

Naruto's eyebrows ascended on his forehead in thought before he mouthed an "O" as he remembered a moment just like this from when they were smaller.

Tenten couldn't resist the grin that took its place on her face when his expression of realization appeared.

"So I heard you fought Orochimaru when you brought Tsunade-sama back?" Tenten said absently as she rolled off his body and dusted herself off.

"Actually, I fought him in the Forest of Death. I only fought his apprentice to protect Shizune-san," Naruto clarified.

"WHAT!" Tenten looked at him incredulously. "You fought him in the Forest of Death! When? How are you alive?"

Naruto shrugged simply in his lying-down position. "A lot changed for me after I left the orphanage, I'm strong now, just strong enough to escape one of the sannin."

"Well it's simple then!" Tenten stated as she stood over him, her legs split over his mid-section as she pointed at his face. "You're going to tell me everything!"

Naruto resisted a laugh at the girl's demand. There was no doubt that she had meant it, but she appeared too "cute" for it to truly carry merit. "Not even Ino-chan knows everything."

"Yamanaka Ino? So she is your girlfriend?" Tenten asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto nodded the affirmative in response.

"I don't like her!" The Chinese-styled genin declared. "She doesn't train enough! And she relies on her clan jutsu too much!"

Naruto burst out laughing at Tenten's reasoning for her dislike. He would love to hear her opinion on everyone else he knew. "No one's perfect," he wheezed through his laughter.

"Tsunade-sama's pretty perfect…" Tenten trailed off with stars in her eyes.

"Pssht!" Naruto snorted. "She just looks perfect. Just before I came here I paid her off with some homemade dango! You should have seen her, it was so easy to do, and she caved straight away."

"Hey! Be careful what you say, mister!" Tenten warned as she warmly rubbed her stomach. "Good dango can fill the stomach and warm the heart! And there's noth—wait, did you say homemade?"

Once again Naruto simply resorted to nodding in response.

"How could they be any good if you had to carry them all the way across town?"

"I use seals," Naruto said slowly to her strange train of thought.

"That's what I thought you'd say. Soooo? Do you have any left?" Tenten asked with a coy smile.

Naruto groaned and silently hoped that he didn't run into Anko before the day was out, she had a fierce appetite for his homemade dango. In the same way as he had done for Tsunade he pulled the scroll from his jacket, unrolled it, and unsealed two sticks of dango.

"Anko? As in the second proctor?" Tenten asked as she reached out to accept the two skewers with her eyes trailing the same detail that Tsunade had seen.

"Uhuh, she tries to hurt me if she hasn't had her daily dango," Naruto laughed out. His laughter froze as Tenten caught onto the aroma of the dango. She, like Tsunade, developed an expectant expression before plunging one into her mouth. Her expression quickly morphed into a dreamy one, and just as Tsunade had done she sighed in enjoyment around the sweet ball in her mouth. "Kami! Naruto-kun, start carrying these around for me as well!"

Naruto chuckled drying as he slipped the scroll back into his jacket. His day had been unfolding in a decidedly unexpected way.

**XXX With Konan XXX **

Her daily tasks seemed dull to her now. Before she had met the blonde jinchuuriki who was both Itachi's and Jiraiya's legacy she had lived her life day to day, performing repetitive tasks without pause or issue, but now she'd wake up with her mind in turmoil.

'_What's going to happen next? What will he become? Will Nagato survive? I don't want to be in the way of someone who has such a driving passion to bring peace.' _And those were but a few of the thoughts she'd have in her daily life.

Even earlier that day after one of Akatsuki's scheduled meetings, Deidara had reported that he and Sasori had taken over keeping a watch on the kyuubi jinchuuriki after they were chased out by Jiraiya and that it had been the jinchuuriki himself who had convinced the newest hokage to take the job and that he had been extremely active in the fight against Orochimaru and his apprentice.

During the meeting, Konan had schooled her outward features, but inwardly she was a swirling cloud of thoughts and doubts. Uzumaki Naruto would never be captured or defeated by Akatsuki, of that she was sure.

"Konan, you have been considerably quieter since returning from Konoha. Are you able to continue working today?" Tendo Pein asked in its blank voice. She suddenly realised how much she hated it, it disgusted her. If it wasn't Nagato on the other end, she would have destroyed the insult to Yahiko's memory.

"I'm fine," she bit out harshly. She pulled her seat in more closely to her desk and turned over another slip of papers that carried reports on Ame and countries around them.

A moment of silence passed, and she could all but tell that on the other end of Tendo, Nagato was mulling over her anger, "If this is about Madara—"

"Shut up. I've had enough of hearing you lie to yourself!" Konan snapped. Her delicate features twisted into an angry snarl. "You're even using Yahiko's body! You've forgotten what we stood for!"

"You need time alone. I will tend to other duties. I will inform you of our next meeting," Tendo stated flatly as he departed.

Konan gripped at her chest in frustration. She suddenly felt acutely alone, and she was sure that just then something had changed in their dynamic. She was no longer a friend serving her duty as a friend, she was a soldier serving her duty as a subordinate, a minion.

**XXX With Team Seven XXX **

It had been two weeks since Tsunade had become hokage, and the village was recovering quickly. Naruto had no idea where Sasuke was in his spare time, but it was certain that he wasn't spending it with his official team, and neither had he, Kakashi, or Sakura had the mind to go and seek him out.

Not that he hadn't tried. The only place that he hadn't looked, and refused to look, was the Uchiha compound. But his current focus was on a spot behind Kakashi. Just as Sakura's focus was on him, and Kakashi's was on the two of them with a questioning expression.

"Sakura-chan, you're about to learn what a strong kunoichi can do."

Sakura followed Naruto's gaze and turned to face Kakashi as well, and just in time to see a tan blur double heel kick their sensei's shoulders.

Kakashi sprawled forward and quickly rolled back to his feet, his face an expression of shock at the snake-summoning special jounin.

"Wha—"

His speech was cut off as a snake shot out from Anko's sleeve and wrapped around his body, securing his arms in place.

"How's it going, Anko-chan?" Naruto asked casually with a friendly smile.

"Oh, it's going pretty well. Just dishing out some justice," Anko smiled sweetly as she threw a punch at Kakashi's jaw. It landed with a thud and Kakashi yelled his indignation of his beating.

"What's this for?" Kakashi demanded between moving his jaw to test the damage.

"Well," Anko started, swinging her leg back as she did. Kakashi's eyes seemed to bug out of his head as she suddenly swung her leg forward with gusto and the upper arches of her foot impacted his groin. "I don't feel like repeating it."

The snake ensnaring Kakashi withdrew and dispelled. Anko turned on her heel and began to walk back the way she'd come. "Oh, and Naruto-kun? I'm coming around later for some fresh dango!" she called over her shoulder cheerily.

Naruto didn't bother replying. Instead he turned to the downed Kakashi who was rolling around cradling his privates. "Kakashi-sensei, don't you agree that was a good display of how strong a kunoichi can be?"

Kakashi nodded fervently as tears slid from his visible eye.

"And that'll happen again, and again, and again until you start to train Sakura-chan properly," Naruto warned lowly.

Kakashi stopped all action and looked at Naruto steadily, his one visible eye widening and then narrowing in suspicion. Naruto held his gaze firmly with a happy smile, and ever so slowly Kakashi gave him a nod of agreement.

"Good news, Sakura-chan!" Naruto declared as he spun on his heel. "You're going to become an awesome kunoichi now!"

Sakura smiled faintly at Naruto and couldn't resist the action of poking her tongue out at her sensei. She didn't know what had brought on Anko's feminine wrath, but whatever it was, it certainly must have been something inimical to deserve that harsh treatment.


	10. Chapter 10: Are Words Enough?

**Authors notes: Well thank you everyone for your great reception of my story so far, it means a lot to me :-) This is the last chapter that will stick so closely to canon, from the next chapter onward canon will only work as a loose framework. I am also sure that I will probably have some unsatisfied readers with the end of this chapter. However I have finally set my mind on the paths that each character shall walk, and there are no characters who will follow exactly the same path as in canon. **

**I also aim to increase the pace of my updates, since canon writing is so uninspiring it can be hard to write, so I have more drive for the chapter I'm working on now. Though it will also be another "monster" chapter, so it might take me a week or two. **

**Review responses: **

**IchiFell: What a soaring compliment! Many thanks! I hate giving out spoilers like that, but I doubt I need to answer that question ;) I hope that I continue to execute this story in a manner that you enjoy! **

**Erik quent: That wasn't really a mess up, I just didn't feel the need to write that part out, and after the flash back to resumed at a different point in time.**

**KHARAKI TAKAN: I LOVE it when I get readers like you who come into the story mid-way in, and yet you still review your opinion on each chapter, it's very encouraging to me! I try to give each character their own quirky moments, so the dango part fit that bill :-)**

**PAPAGOOSE: Thank you, and yes there is, sort of. The next chapter will cover important events that occur in the time skip through the use of flashback segments and the chapter will end with Naruto and company returning to Konoha, and more drama ensuing. **

**FinalGuardian: Thanks, I do try to include plenty of different aspects to keep everyone interested, but when it comes down to it, the focus of this story is the romance. But I aim to keep including all and more of what I already have! **

**S0ssy: I love your reviews, they really do cover all of your thoughts for the chapter. Which is great feedback! :-) With my major shift from canon coming I hope that I carry the story in a way that you enjoy. **

**Imugly: And that's exactly why I did it! :P To all others who may not have liked the Anko 'ballsing' Kakashi part then don't worry, that's just a set up for a couple of Omakes to come that are going to be funny. (Or so I hope)**

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Exacary :3 I like including the humorous bits like that just for some relief, it sure makes it easier to write as well at times.**

**HaywireEagle: Tenten being an orphan was a good option for me to write, it fit in nicely since she has no backstory. And the Sakura/Kakashi/Anko plot thing wasn't actually about that, it's just a set up for further developments, as are many small things I drop in here and there. But you don't question that he maintains a henge over his eyes that is good enough to fool everyone?**

**Ayame has interest in Naruto, Naruto showed none back. But with respect, this story is listed as a NarutoXKonan pairing, if that is so off-putting then why read it?**

**TheWickedTruth89: I shall include further swatting at inopportune moments for other characters! Maybe… If it fits in around the other pranks :-)**

**To all of the other generally positive reviews; thank you so much! To some of your questions I simply say that you must read and find out, some stuff I just couldn't bear to spoil for you :3**

**Chapter 10: Are Words Enough? **

Pittering and pattering and thunderous roaring, and then the horrible repetitive dripping. These were the incessantly annoying sounds that Konan had been attempting to zone out of her daily life. She almost missed the not so recent time when she had been despondent, and the sound hadn't meant anything to her at all.

But now a positive thought had manifested itself in her mind. An ideal, or the feelings inspired by that person. Konan hard barely even witnessed Naruto fight, let alone live his life. But it was clear from that short encounter that he would never give up on his dreams.

That he wouldn't swerve from his path of positivity. And like a sickness, an infection, a horrible, tenacious, and breathtaking disease, the idea of him and his beliefs had crawled into the forgotten depths of her heart and lit up a beacon of light.

In the absence of light that had previously been her heart she had never needed to question the dark or shrouded parts of herself, but now the light that was growing in her was casting shadows that she couldn't ignore, and she found herself questioning her actions, beliefs, and past, every hour of every day.

And it had only been one and a half months since her meeting with Uzumaki Naruto.

Pein had noticed her change in demeanour, and had increased the work load that he was putting on her in an attempt at keeping her at arm's length. She had even stopped referring to the man who had once been her dearest friend as Nagato. He truly had become nothing more than the name that embodied his actions.

At first his actions had hurt a part of her that she hadn't realised could still be hurt, but then she had set about trying to drag Nagato onto the same path that she once again found her feet on: the path of peace. But attempt after attempt of subtly shifting his views had failed over and over, and eventually only resulted in him giving her a searing insult of being the entire reason why Yahiko had died.

It was from that point onward that she stopped trying, and simply called him Pein or leader-sama, as the rest of the Akatsuki members did. What Konan hated the most was that empathetic and loving teenage girl who still lived deep down in her heart.

The night after Nagato's destruction of her resolve for his actions she'd thrown an emotional fit of anger in the silence of the empty planes that flanked Ame. She had summoned forth the full extent of her power in the form of fire techniques that she had almost forgotten. Her attempts at changing the saddening wet scenery around her had only resulted in a momentary dampness on the ground before fresh sheets of rain soaked it all over again.

And then with all of her energy drained she had collapsed into a wet ragged heap. She had played mindlessly of the buttons of her Akatsuki cloak before suddenly tearing it open, revealing her finely dressed body to the bitter cold air.

She had relished the feeling of the sharp and bitter drops of water hurled from the clouds above pattering uncomfortably against the exposed skin of her navel, the bare sides of her breasts, and her face; it masked the feeling of the warm liquid being exuded from her tear ducts.

As she had done on remarkably few occasions, she lifted her head up marginally and looked at her body. Her perfectly toned and proportioned upper body was perfectly accentuated with the halter styled top that left the sides of her breasts and from just above her navel downwards exposed, the four silver studs that surrounded her belly button glinted dully in the fading evening light.

Then below that she wore simple form fitting tights that strapped onto her heeled sandles in a seamless design. As with her upper body, her lower body was equally proportioned and toned to perfection, and a brief thought passed her mind that she could, in fact, infiltrate any village and fit into their ranks; anything to escape the hell in which she currently resided.

And she had smiled at the thought. It truly seemed like a wonderful plan, but Naruto had come unbidden to her mind. That small part of him that she had seen had been like looking at the sun. He was her ideal now, and she wanted to reignite what had once thrived inside her.

And she could imagine him shouting that he'd never give up, that he'd never run away, in a similar way as to how he had fought Gaara and spared him at the end of the fight in favor of passing a message of hope to him. And then she had remembered her younger self talking to Yahiko. Of the conversations about how she would never give up, and that she would always support him however she could, and how she would equally do the same for Nagato.

With her resolve once again in place she had stood proudly from the puddle she'd created and returned to her post in Ame, with her mind set of doing whatever good she could do in the world.

'_Maybe Nagato is not even alive at all anymore. Maybe his will has been passed onto the world around him. Whatever the case, I will protect what we had once vowed to protect,' _she thought resolutely as she pulled her mind from memories from recent months.

"I was told to report to you?"

Konan spun on her heel with a frightened expression glancing across her face. She had been so enamoured with her thoughts that she had both forgotten requesting Itachi's presence, and had been unable to sense his unmasked approach.

"Ahh, yes. Do you know the seals for privacy barriers?"

He nodded flatly, as was his standard response for a majority of questions directed to him during the Akatsuki meetings.

"Then please put up all the ones that a hokage would have ordered you to do," Konan asked simply. She knew of Itachi's basic history of having been an ANBU in Konoha, so she knew the probable outcome of his skillset in barriers and how to use them.

Five minutes passed with Itachi weaving seals, from one to the next fluidly with the added occasional whispering of the specific barrier type. Konan waited patiently with an empty expression while Itachi did his work.

"That's the last of them." The Uchiha man informed as he turned to face the bluenette.

"Good, now you can tell me everything that you know about Uzumaki Naruto, and I want your truth as well." Konan instructed bluntly without a shift in her demeanour.

Itachi, however, frowned. Perhaps the most extreme expression that Konan had ever seen him form. "Why do you want to know about him?"

Konan allowed a small smirk to play across her warm pink lips. Itachi had just made a simple mistake. "Because I know that he's your student, and you know that I don't admire what Akatsuki is becoming, and I want the same things as you."

"Konan, you don't know what I want." Itachi warned without breaking his smooth tone.

"I know a general view of what you want," Konan paused, wanting to make sure that she had the right impact on the withdrawn man. "You want peace, and you want for your student to carry that belief and goal."

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Itachi sighed out slowly, his normally impassive face dropping into a saddened frown. "He's the only thing that I'm sure I've done right. That's all you need to know."

Konan nodded slowly. She couldn't deny that his answer was at least clear in its meaning, however her curiosity was not sated. "He's the son of Namikaze Minato?"

Itachi nodded slowly. "And Uzumaki Kushina, you'd have heard of her as well."

Konan nodded in reflection of the name and smoothed out her cloak along her sides absently. She was well versed in the knowledge of the two deceased shinobi as they both had carried enormously powerful reputations.

Minato was renowned as Konoha's yellow flash, the fastest man alive, and the fourth hokage. What was not so often declared about him was his vast skill in fuuinjutsu, skills that had apparently been passed onto him from his Uzumaki wife, Kushina.

Kushina was equally fearsome, albeit in a less wide scale sense. She was renowned for her fuuinjutsu and her special Uzumaki attributes, especially one that granted her the ability of using her feared chakra chains. Rarely had they been defeated or avoided.

"How did he get those eyes?"

Itachi narrowed his gaze at the blue-haired woman. A moment later his sharingan spun to life and their eyes locked together. Konan's mind was suddenly filled with images and memories that were not her own. She hardly saw one memory for a moment before it was replaced with another, but she somehow understood and recalled everything as though it were her own memory.

Itachi's saving of Naruto, his offering to him, Naruto's inclusion into a part of his family, and eventually the transfusion of Itachi's own blood into Naruto's body as something that had been based solely from a suspicion. Then she caught another set of sharingan, and then a final image of Itachi and a shadow beside him flashing through his home and cutting down his comrades.

When Konan found herself back in her current reality, Itachi was kneeling on the floor in front of her, panting. "Itachi-san? Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly.

"That technique is taxing on me…" Itachi panted out before he hacked violently toward the floor.

Konan's eyes caught the subtle spray of blood that carried out with his breath onto the floor, but Itachi quickly wiped it up in his motion to stand. "Now you know what I know, that should be enough for you to know that your plans will fail."

"Itachi-san." Konan bit her bottom lip to keep her mounting emotions in check. "Nagato is a friend from when I was a child, we fought together. And now I understand Naruto just as well as you do. I'll do what I think he would do, what you'd do in my shoes."

Itachi lifted a brow in question, the rest of his face once again assuming his neutral expression.

"You'd try and help him see the good in things. Otherwise we're all going to die for nothing."

Itachi set his mouth in a firm line and furrowed his brow. He truly loved Naruto, and he believed in him, but Naruto's dream was a dream that had been passed from person to person to person, again and again since the beginning of the shinobi way of life, and it had never been anything more than a dream.

Despite the fact that Itachi had been the one to originally inspire that dream in Naruto, he couldn't help but doubt it. Even Madara himself had originally had a dream of peace, and the eventual outcome was far from it. "You're taking on a task that is far larger than you."

This time it was Konan's turn to frown. She knew that Itachi was a quiet man, but there was always that gleam of positivity and hope within him. For him to have just made that statement felt like a solid blow from the Raikage.

"But you expect a boy to do what an S-class shinobi can't?"

"Naruto is different. You met him, you should know," Itachi deadpanned back.

Konan opened her mouth to speak, then shut it, before finally settling on her words. "True, he is far more powerful than I would have expected. To be able to defeat the ichibi while its host was letting it use most of his power, but he's still ju-"

"No." Itachi interjected sharply.

"No?" Konan returned.

"The Uchiha have a tablet left by the Rikudou Sennin. There is no doubt that he was powerful, but that's not what made him so strong, he had a strong will to bring peace. Naruto is the same."

"I-" Konan paused. She didn't want to start an emotional debate that routed from her pride not wanting to admit that perhaps she didn't have as strong a will as Itachi's thirteen year old student. "I can understand your views. What are we to do now?"

Itachi's brow furrowed at the unexpected question. Konan was meant to be his superior, she was Pein's second in command. "We must follow Pein's orders. Madara's orders. If they see something change things will get worse, and help in whatever small ways that you can."

Konan couldn't stop the saddened downcast expression the immediately took its place on her face. Itachi's realistic response was far less hopeful than she had imagined it would be. She couldn't deny the truth in it despite her wishes. Her cracking emotional façade was becoming hard for her to control. After years of suppressing her emotions to a point on non-existence, it was like she was once again growing up and learning how to properly react to the sensations that played her heart strings.

"I do have one thing that I want you to do if you can, Itachi-san?" Konan inquired in a small voice. She never was one to give out orders.

"Yes?"

"Orochimaru has already discovered Naruto, the threat that he represents won't sit well with him. Orochimaru will only cause issues in the future. If you get any chance at all to take him out, then do it, and tell Kisame-san that this was an order from Pein," Konan hurriedly advised.

"I understand," Itachi acknowledged with a crinkling of the skin over his nose. He had all of his own reasons to share a distaste for the snake sannin. The man had once made an attempt to seize his body to use for one of his perverse techniques, and now he was pursuing his little brother for the same reason.

Itachi politely bowed at the waist and turned to leave. His hands flew through the counter signs to the privacy seals he had set up before he swiftly and quietly departed, leaving Konan to ponder the intensity of what had just taken place. Despite the fact that their conversation had been rather flat in terms of displayed emotion it had carried a lot of meaning and emotional weight.

Konan was sure that things were soon to start changing.

**XXX One and a half months later: With Naruto XXXX**

Naruto, for one of the few times in his life, was wearing an angry expression. He was with a quickly thrown together squad of one other chuunin and a group of genin in the form of Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, and Neji.

The team had just departed from Konoha in pursuit of a reported four who had left with Sasuke. Naruto was already sure that the four must be minions of Orochimaru. It was the only logical conclusion. But what Naruto was angry about was the fact that so many people had given up so much of their time and care in the hopes of helping Sasuke lead a happier and more productive life, and even Sakura, as petty as she could be at times, had invested a considerable amount of affection into the Uchiha boy.

But during Sasuke's retreat from the village of his birth he had even knocked Sakura out. Sakura had grown on Naruto over time, and he could imagine being impolite to her, but to physically harm a comrade was almost unforgivable. And all of it was to seek power from the most corrupt source available to him.

"We're about to catch up with them!"

Naruto just grunted in acknowledgement to Kiba's call, as did the other members of the makeshift team. Naruto peered ahead and channelled more chakra through his eyes, unlocking his ability to see chakra around objects and beings. "The other ones are already leaving, they've left one to cover their retreat! We can't stall!"

"Tsk." Shikamaru hissed out. "What does he look like?"

"Look for yourself!" Naruto called from further to his left as they broke through the foliage and into the same clearing that the large balding man was waiting in.

"I've got this one, you go after Sasuke." Chouji advised intently as he squared off his stance toward his noticeably superior opponent.

"Chouji? Catch!" Naruto flicked a kunai toward his friend.

Chouji, despite never having trained much in the way of agility deftly snatched the blade from the air and gave Naruto a questioning look.

"It's marked with a formula I use. If you need help send a bit of chakra into the handle and I'll be here in a flash." Naruto instructed.

The Akimichi boy studied the kunai for a moment before giving his comrades a firm nod. They each passed the boy a nod of their own in return before pouncing back into the upper canopy to continue their pursuit.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru queried mid-jump.

"Yeah?"

"What sort of formula did you mark that kunai with? What does it do?"

"Oh right, I guess I should tell my squad some of my skills." Naruto chuckled out coyly.

"Yes," both the Nara and Hyuuga boy simultaneously deadpanned.

"Are you both aware of the history of the Yondaime?" Naruto asked coolly. He did after all intend to keep the trust of his friends.

The two nodded as Kiba looked skyward in a thought before vigorously lurching his head up and down.

"Well he was renowned as Konoha's yellow flash because he used his hiraishin seal to jump from one location to another…"

All of Naruto's fellow Konoha nin being acclimatized to tree jumping reacted as any normal person would: Shikamaru's jaw slackened slightly as he pieced all of the facts together, Neji narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and Kiba once again looked skyward in thought.

"Well I kind of know the hiraishin. I did swear to surpass the yondaime after all," Naruto finished with a half smirk. Opening up to his friends was becoming something of a stress relief to him. He was becoming more and more aware of the weight on his shoulders that would be the cost of his dream.

"You didn't use that to beat me though?" Neji asked slowly, as though to understand an alien concept.

"It would have been out of pl-STOP!" Naruto yelled as he came to a sudden halt, grabbing the back of Shikamaru's collar as he did.

Neji, with his advanced eyes caught onto the detail that Naruto had spotted at the exact moment as him, and had come to a skidding halt, his own actions of preventing further movement from Kiba reflecting Naruto's and Shikamaru's.

At the exact moment of their stop, a long off-white arrow impacted the branch directly in front of Shikamaru. Naruto blew out a sigh of relief. If they hadn't halted where they had, Shikamaru would no doubt be wheezing his last breaths.

"Neji, he's that way somewhere, can you find him?" Naruto asked tersely as he pointed his finger in the general direction from which he could feel the enemy.

Neji's activated eyes quickly followed Naruto's hand to the upper canopy. He had no problem in seeking out the enemy and he swung himself into his familiar battle ready stance. "There are two more, and I'd bet that they're keeping the stronger ones with Sasuke to make sure they deliver him, I can handle this guy."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked sharply. His interactions with the Hyuuga branch member had been exceedingly few and short since their fight in the chuunin exams, but he already considered Neji to be a valuable person with his sudden change toward trying to live a more positive life.

Neji nodded without breaking his gaze from the enemy's known location, and the three remaining Konoha paused to watch Neji for a moment before they followed after their task and leapt back into the trail of their quarry.

"Something's different about one of the ones ahead…" Naruto trailed off absently as he channelled even more chakra to his eyes in an attempt at getting a clearer glimpse of the enemy ahead of them.

Neither Kiba nor Shikamaru verbally acknowledged Naruto's words, simply nodding as they kept up their pace. Naruto quickly withdrew, and threw two marked kunai to his comrades. "If you need me," He clarified.

The two quickly secured the kunai into their jackets for the easiest access in case they did find themselves in need of aid. Naruto didn't break off his attempt to gauge the difference he was sensing in one of the sound nin ahead as he kept a steady stream of chakra pooling around his eyes.

However his need to use his eyes to seek out the chakra he was after was quickly proven pointless as the group of three finally caught sight of their prey. Naruto wasted no time in tripling his pace and flashing forward with the aid of lightning chakra.

His arms reached forward as he closed the now small space between him and the chakra storage barrel that was being carried by the odd looking two-headed one.

His speed carried him right over the heads of the two sound nin, but not before his hands had closed around the rim of the barrel and plucked it from the grasp of the two headed nin. His momentum continued to carry him, and the barrel forward until he landed sturdily a few branches ahead of the two remaining foes.

Naruto planted the barrel onto the wide girth of the branch and took a quick jump to the final branch that had separated him from the sound pair before they could take advantage.

"You're surrounded." The blonde observed simply, directing a nod past the sneering redhead girl's shoulder to the two young Konoha nin landing on a branch behind them.

First the redhead followed Naruto's directional nod, and then her strangely built two headed comrade did the same. Both quickly looked back to Naruto; it was all too obvious to them that he was the commander in the small group.

"Go fuck yourself!" the redhead yelled angrily as her eyes tracked from Naruto to the barrel containing the object of Orochimaru's desire on the branch behind him.

"You're charming, aren't you?" Naruto muttered absently. His mind was already trying to formulate the best plan to subdue the two sound nin as he was sure Shikamaru was doing as well. "Why don't you go fuck yourself instead?" Naruto shot back after a moment. His style of fighting was to win with as little action as possible, and stalling would give him, Shikamaru, and Kiba an edge over their opponents.

The redhead's sneer immediately shifted to a smirk at Naruto's taunt. "Aww, I didn't know that they made Konoha brats like you. But I aim to, so get out of our way so I can go do that."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the girl's response. If anything it was similar to something that Anko might say. "How about this, you run away, and you can do whatever you want to yourself, and we take the spoiled brat back with us?"

"Tayuya, stop messing around. This guy's just getting a read on us. Let's kill them and go!" the forward facing head on the double-headed teen snapped.

"Kiba, you take the two-headed guy. Shikamaru, you restrain the girl, and I can immobilize her." Naruto promptly ordered, his professional shinobi persona back in the saddle to handle the oncoming fight.

"Haha! Bring it, assholes!" Tayuya roared raucously as she shifted her stance into a defensive one. A moment later Naruto froze in place as both she and her strange comrade flared their chakra in preparation to form techniques.

"Are you an Uzumaki?" Naruto quickly queried.

Tayuya was quick to mirror Naruto's previous body language as she froze all movement. "What?"

"Are. You. An. Uzumaki?" Naruto bit out flatly, his expression shifting from neutral to hopeful.

Tayuya shot a glance over her shoulder at Naruto's comrades to ensure that they were, in fact, still immobile. Two her left Sakon and Ukon were glaring hatefully at Naruto and Kiba. "So what if I am, you got some fetish for red-heads or something, ya freak?"

A slight smile made its way across Naruto's face. He immediately compared the girl to Karin, despite his only short acquaintance with her and his tense interaction with Tayuya he couldn't help but draw the comparison that they were complete opposites, but in a strange way similar. "Actually," he started while shifting his stance back to a more open and accepting one. "I'm an Uzumaki as well, I could tell something was different about your chakra as we tracked you."

"Fuck you! They're all dead, I'm the last." Tayuya screeched back, her face a mask of anger.

"I can help you, I met another Uzumaki, maybe there are more? You don't have to serve Orochimaru to survive," Naruto attempted to negotiate with a pleading expression.

"You're lying! You're just some weak little runt who's trying to talk me out of fighting so that I don't hand your pussy-ass to you!" Tayuya screamed with hostility.

Naruto sighed uncomfortably and raised his right hand toward the volatile Uzumaki girl. "Shika, Kiba, watch that guy. I'll be right back, with or without her."

"Big talk, what a pus-wahh!" Tayuya trailed off sharply as she was smoothly wrenched from her feet and flew toward Naruto's outstretched hand.

"Calm down," Naruto chastized lowly as she came within range of his now quiet voice.

Tayuya's eyes narrowed hatefully at the blonde moments before Naruto's arm pulled her close to his body and wrapped around her waist. She made to punch him but suddenly shifted her swing into a grab to secure herself as Naruto suddenly flew upward through the branches with her in tow.

"Just hold on, if you fall from this height you'll definitely suffer damage," Naruto absently warned as his gaze followed their flight path through the upper canopy of the trees and into the clear blue sky of fire country.

Tayuya angled her face upward slightly to analyse his face. Her expression of anger soon faded to a perplexed expression as she sent out chakra feelers, only to find that he was indeed perfectly calm. A strong gust of wind berated their bodies and Tayuya suddenly found herself wrapping both her arms tightly around Naruto's midsection.

"This is high enough," Naruto sighed as their ascent stopped. "If you decide to stay as my enemy then I'll just drop you."

Tayuya suddenly glanced down between their dangling legs at the seemingly small trees far below. She sucked in a quick breath and tightened her grip around her opponent-turned-captor. "You're a fucking asshole!"

"Sometimes, but the people on my side of the joke enjoy it," Naruto chuckled softly.

Tayuya turned her brown-eyed gaze onto Naruto's softened expression expectantly. "Well! What's going to happen now?" She broke her gaze from his and tried to find a spot to look at absently on his black jacket that she was pressed against. "This sucks, ya'know. I wasn't meant to get beaten so easily. I-"

"Shut up, and listen to me!" Naruto coughed out over her words.

Tayuya snapped her gaze to his abruptly. She hadn't expected to hear him be demanding with her after hearing him only talk in positive tones. "I-" She closed her mouth and opted for simply nodded as a frown manifested on her face.

"What I said down there was true, and there is at least one other Uzumaki. One day I'd like to see the Uzumaki clan come back, stronger than ever before, and I can be sure that you won't survive to see that day if you continue to serve Orochimaru," Naruto explained as his gaze bore into hers.

"What are you saying?"

"Abandon Orochimaru, find somewhere else to live, fight for good things instead."

Tayuya's soft frown deepened into a confused display of frustration. She absently unwrapped one arm from Naruto and held her hand to her forehead, slipping her fingers under her skull-cap and massaging her hairline. Naruto quickly tightened his grip on her hips to prevent her from falling against either of their wills.

"If," she started slowly, looking back into his eyes. "If I agree with you, you'll let me down, and I just need to run away?"

Naruto nodded the affirmative.

"And if I say no you'll just drop me and let me die like a fucking piece of trash?"

Again Naruto nodded to her words.

"What's to stop me from saying yes and as soon as you let me go I attack you and your pussy friends?" she bit out. She didn't like his assuredness over the situation one bit at all.

"Firstly, if you were sure that you could survive against me then you wouldn't have even asked that question. Plus, I figure you're a win at all costs or die trying type of person. You'd probably prefer to have me drop you than for me to hand your ass to you down there." Naruto again looked down at the ground far below.

Tayuya followed his gaze and huffed in annoyance. "Fucking fine then, when you put me down I'll haul ass away from here."

"Good," Naruto conceded as they immediately began a smooth descent. "I have a friend with one of those marks as well." He commented a moment later.

"You mean that fag in the tub," she asked back in a dejected tone while just staring blankly into his chest.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at her description of Sasuke. More recently with Sasuke's behavior he couldn't help but agree with the apt description. "No, actually. A woman called Anko. I promised that I'd find a way to take it off."

"What!" Tayuya screeched incredulously point blank into Naruto's face.

Naruto gave her a stern glare for a moment before again looking back down to watch their rate of descent.

"What?" She asked again, this time in a more subdued tone.

"I'm a sage now, so I figure that those seals act like a magnet to natural chakra, in a way at least. I know that I'll work out how to take it off, I just need to study one more."

By this point, Tayuya was staring wide-eyed at his bright blue eyes. "Could you take mine off as well?"

"I guess." Naruto shrugged the best he could in their locked position. "We're just about down now."

Tayuya broke her eyes from his face and looked around to be met with the top layer of foliage. Looking down further she could see Naruto's comrades and Sakon and Ukon. Shikamaru had his hands clasped in a seal and Kiba stood ready to pounce with Akamaru growling on his head.

Sakon and Ukon were in an equally guarded stance, but all eyes were locked on Naruto and Tayuya as the dropped smoothly back to where Naruto had previously collected the girl from. All sets of eyes widened in confusion at the sight of Tayuya now holding onto Naruto for support rather than struggling as she previously had.

"Tayuya? What's going on?" Sakon called gruffly.

Tayuya took a quick unsteady step back from Naruto as he planted them firmly onto the branch. She smirked at Naruto for a moment before directing it at her comrade. "I just got a good offer, you fucking birdbrain."

Sakon seemed to ask what it was with the expression on his face. Tayuya didn't waste a second in expanding on her opening. "Orochimaru can go fuck himself, so can you, you goddamn motherfu-Oof," Tayuya grunted as an unexpected kick connected with her back. She sprawled forward and bear hugged the branch to prevent herself from falling.

Naruto spun on his heel toward the new threat with a grimace. The new white-haired and pale-skinned arrival had completely avoided his considerably sharpened senses.

"Tayuya, be careful what you wish for," the man announced flatly as he pointed a finger at the still sprawled out girl.

Naruto had no idea what the technique was going to be, but it was easy to tell it was an offensive one as chakra flowed down the man's arm and into his finger. Naruto acted on impulse and threw his body between the pale skinned man and Tayuya. A sharp pain struck his shoulder as an arrow-tip shaped projectile sped from the man's finger.

"Kimimaro!" Tayuya gasped as she rolled back to her feet and tugged Naruto back onto his brutishly.

Naruto grumbled in annoyance and felt the wound on his shoulder, and then trailed his hand around to the back of his deltoid. He smiled in appreciation of the fact that it had passed clean through him without breaking any bones. "That was a dangerous technique, what was it?"

Kimimaro eyed Naruto suspiciously for a moment before Sakon's call distracted him. "Be careful of that guy, he's more dangerous than he looks, I don't know how, but he can fly!"

Kimimaro eyed Naruto up again, this time with a more analytical expression. With his inspection seemingly complete, he shunshined to the now steaming barrel. He swiftly wrapped a hand around one of the straps on the barrel and threw it over his shoulder and hurriedly departed the engagement.

"Where the hell are you going? I can't take these losers alone!" Both Sakon and Ukon chorused together.

"Shikamaru, Kiba, you take that freak!" Kiba nodded instantly and shot into action. His immediate assault was met with a downward slice of a kunai separating the flesh down the length of his right arm.

Tayuya only smirked at Naruto's choice of name as she turned a curious eye onto him. "And you just find somewhere safe to run to, I promise that I'll help you with your curse seal."

She opened her mouth to speak but quickly decided to shut it and smile warmly. One of the first truly content smiles she'd had in years. A moment later and a red and tan blur sped vaguely in the direction of Konoha. Naruto smiled at the turn of events before he also sprang into action and made chase of the Sasuke-laden Kimimaro.

**XXX With Tayuya XXX (Overlapping time frame between the Naruto and Lee fight with Kimimaro)**

Immediately after having dashed from the grove of trees away from the gathered nin, Tayuya had doubled back around and was following her fellow clansman from the closest distance that she could without sacrificing her position.

Upon Naruto having taken her hostage earlier, she had been forced to internally admit that he was indeed far more powerful than her, but even his speed was staggering as he quickly closed the distance between himself and the speedy Kimimaro. Even his comrade was struggling to match his pace.

She kept her mind blank as the three shinobi halted in a grassy plain and shouted their words beyond her range of hearing. She quickly banked left around the tree line to keep herself out of view. She had the full intention to follow Naruto's instructions, but she didn't need to do it right away. He had roused her curiosity, and it had to be quenched by seeing him fight.

And fight they soon did. Tayuya was instantly impressed by Naruto's display, and it was clear to her that he was holding back. The reasons were beyond her ability to comprehend, but even still, Kimimaro, the man who could easily beat any of the sound four, was fighting an entirely defensive fight.

For a moment, she turned her attention to the crouching flak vest wearing Konoha nin near the edge of the plain. It was all too clear to her that he was some sort of strategist, not a front line fighter like Naruto was.

She couldn't help but smile proudly as Naruto continued to force Kimimaro to work on the defence. The idea of belonging to a clan where if even only one person lived to bring it back was a thought that brought a sense of warmth back to her closed off heart.

Tayuya couldn't help but chuckle under her breath as the barrel containing Sasuke exploded open, and the Uchiha boy came out. _'Fag in the tub, the fag has now come out of the tub, what a metaphor,' _Tayuya mentally joked to herself.

Once again Naruto clashed with Kimimaro as Sasuke departed the clearing, and Tayuya couldn't help but feel a flush of excitement waft through her body. She was sure that if Naruto weren't so focused on going after Sasuke he would simply crush the bone using shinobi.

His blatant display of power was something that was quickly enamouring her.

Her enjoyment at watching the fight quickly turned to partially disgusted curiosity as a shinobi entirely clad in green burst through the forest and came to Naruto's side. The fight that followed next was one that she couldn't think of a decent description for. It was certainly another soaring display of power from yet another Konoha nin, but it was in an entirely different category, and not one that she particularly enjoyed watching as the boy twisted and turned with his tight green clothing hugging his body horribly.

By the time that she managed to tear her eyes from the horrifically dressed Konoha nin she realized that Naruto was already far from the clearing in her pursuit of the Uchiha fag.

**XXX Back with Naruto XXX**

It didn't take Naruto long to catch up to the pale sound nin as he burst through the trees and into a grassy pasture in his wake, though he equally noticed that Shikamaru was trailing him. "Shikamaru what are yo-"

"Kiba can handle that guy, this one is stronger."

Kimimaro skidded to a halt and planted the barrel firmly onto the ground before moving steadily back in Naruto's direction. Naruto too skidded to a halt in recognition of the challenge to fight, Shikamaru stopped further back to observe.

He reached into the pouch on his right thigh and brought out two marked kunai, each held between a clenched finger in his right hand. Naruto wasted no time in making his attack as he let the kunai fly, each directed to fly over the man's shoulders.

Kimimaro made little movement to make sure that they would, in fact, miss him, but Naruto had counted on that as he instantly flashed to the one on the left. He plucked it deftly from the air and swung his body around; still in mid-flight his swing of the kunai met flesh as it penetrated the muscle of Kimimaro's forearm.

Naruto instantly recognised the fact that Kimimaro had made sure that Naruto's only target could be his forearm. Naruto continued his assault non-the-less and drove the blade of the kunai cleanly through the man's limb.

Kimimaro merely grunted in pain from the attack as he finished his spin to meet Naruto's attack. He viciously swung his right fist forward, his bones extending from his fist into a sharp spearhead.

The attack was clear as day to Naruto, and with his body yet to make contact with the ground again he planted his feet firmly on his opponents chest and sprung backward, leaving his kunai lodged in Kimimaro's arm.

Naruto skidded along the ground on all fours to gain his balance again from his hasty disengagement from the sound shinobi's body. He snapped his head up, first to his opponent and then to where the barrel had been at the sound of a compressed explosion.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of Sasuke's silhouette, although it wasn't his body that drew his scrutiny, but the foul purple chakra that was wafting around him. "Sasuke? What the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruto called past Kimimaro. Shikamaru held his silence as he watched the turn of events.

The pale man merely wrenched the kunai from his wrist and shifted his weight so that he could look at Sasuke as well.

"Naruto? You're here," Sasuke replied in a disinterested tone as he held his right hand up before his face and inspected the markings that had stretched over his skin and begun exuding the purple chakra. "I'm finding power, Naruto. It's not the business of trash like you."

"Dammit Sasuke! Your comrades, your friends, are fighting with their lives to try and bring you back to the village!" Naruto shouted heatedly, taking a few steps forward in his quickly increasing anger.

"Friends? Comrades? Why would you call them that? They're just trash like you," Sasuke retorted, his tone still as monotone as it had been with his first response.

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as Naruto's face contorted in anger. He held no care for Konoha, but he would never simply forget the lives of those who fought for his safety. It seemed apparent to him now why Orochimaru wanted the boy as his future vessel. _'Ruthless, and driven at any cost.' _Kimimaro mentally explained Sasuke's behavior.

"I get that you want to kill Itachi for destroying your clan, but you don't need to forsake all of the people who care for you just to get strong, you can do that here in Konoha!"

This time Sasuke did react as a sneer crossed his face, and he turned to regard Naruto past Kimimaro more fully. "Like you did? Tell me Naruto, how were you so good from the very start? Even Kakashi said that you must have had prior training before joining team 7. And how did you always know how to read and counter my sharingan in our fights?" Sasuke's voice carried an edge of anger.

Naruto instantly grit his teeth and formed a thin line with his mouth. His options in what to say where certainly limited. But he needed to buy time to work out how to placate Sasuke, and if he answered with something that frustrated Sasuke too much then he would simply run off, but if he was too truthful then it may cause more issues.

"Both your mother and brother were very kind people-" Naruto began half-heartedly.

"What the hell does that even mean? You're talking about the man who killed my family!"

"It's not as simple as that Sasuke! He was forced to do that! Itachi and your mother saved me," Naruto implored. He wasn't at all sure if he should or shouldn't be saying anything, but he didn't want to repeat Itachi's mistake of keeping too many secrets.

"I see now." Sasuke stated flatly, his sneer deepening. "My brother was your first sensei; the traitor who hated everyone had a soft spot for the village trash. I'm going to get strong enough to kill Itachi, and then you!"

Sasuke spun on his heel and shot off into the trees in the opposite direction of Konoha. Naruto immediate moved to go after him, lightning chakra already pumping through his muscles to increase his speeds to make him nothing but a blur.

Kimimaro was obviously skilled enough to track and at least marginally keep up with Naruto's movements as he intercepted him, a bone staff connected with Naruto's chest and threw him from his chase.

Naruto tumbled along the ground to his left and instantly weaved his hands through a series of seal, "Earth release: Boulder barrage!" He quickly planted both palms flatly on the ground. On cue with his technique, the earth around him rumbled as chunks of it ripped upward and flew in Kimimaro's direction.

"Shikamaru, stay back, this is out of your league!" Naruto advised to his scheming friend.

Shikamaru just nodded in understanding back at the edge of the plain. He was by no means without a sense of pride, but he would always rely on his logical intellect in battle, and Naruto's words were simply the flat truth.

The man flipped into the air, twisting and turning with a jaw dropping display of flexibility as he dodged each projectile. By the time he'd landed firmly on the grassy ground again Naruto was already flying through another set of seals. "Wind release: slashing blades!"

Again Kimimaro flipped himself into the air, his eyes never leaving the direction from which that the attack came as he tracked the grooves that were being cut into the ground from the wind attack.

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto suppressed a smile and glanced over his shoulder to the horrifically green-clad genin. "About time you showed up, Lee."

Lee skidded to a halt next to Naruto and immediately turned a discerning gaze to their opponent. "Where is Sasuke?"

Naruto immediately heard the hidden disdain in Lee's words. Lee was never the sort of truly express his anger, but he would almost always give people a more affectionate honorific to show his positive intentions toward them, and the fact that he had removed such an honorific in reference to Sasuke spoke volumes.

"He's heading that way," Naruto nodded his head past Kimimaro. "But this guy is pretty tough."

"Leave it to me, Naruto-kun! My flames of youth shall enable you to pursue Sasuke!" Lee announced enthusiastically as he shifted into his ready stance.

"I'll move the moment that you do, Lee-san. It seems like this guy has a kekkei genkai, he can use his bones, I'm not sure to what extent."

Lee nodded in understanding to Naruto's words of warning without breaking his gaze from their foe. Naruto understood it to mean that Lee's mind had shifted entirely to focusing on the fight.

"Yosh! Here we go."

Naruto formed and channelled lightning chakra through his body at Lee's announcement and flashed across the grassy field at a pace that not even Lee could match. By the time that Lee had met Kimimaro with a flying heel kick Naruto was already past the first row of trees in the forest beyond.

Naruto had never been this way in fire country, but he instantly recognized the direction in which he was heading: toward the Valley of the End. Naruto scoffed at the irony of it. He knew that he was in no way immediately related to Senju Hashirama, but he was an Uzumaki, a clan whose roots traced back to the Senju, and if he were to fight Sasuke at the Valley of the End, the valley formed from the massive clash of power between two of Konoha's most famous ancestors, it would practically be a small scale recreation of the event.

Although not all was the same. Naruto, although being a Senju-related Uzumaki, also had Uchiha DNA infused throughout his body, and was equipped with the rinnegan, whilst his counterpart in the past was a full blooded Senju, with the gifts of wood release techniques.

And his would-be opponent, Uchiha Sasuke, was merely sporting a half-matured sharingan, compared to his counterpart from the past, Uchiha Madara, bearing the legendary eternal mangekyou sharingan. Naruto immediately banished those thoughts from his mind. His goal wasn't to go and fight Sasuke, it was to go and reason with him.

But again thoughts of what this location symbolised drifted to his mind as he recalled reading history scrolls of Konoha's roots. Apparently in each of the deadly clashes between Madara and Hashirama, Hashirama's only goal had been to attempt to reason with his old friend.

"**Kill him!"**

Naruto grunted in mental effort as he flashed from branch to branch. He could already see the trees beginning to part up ahead, and the feeling of Sasuke's now almost malicious chakra was getting stronger the nearer he drew.

"**They are cursed, kill him!" **

"It's not the right way!" Naruto ground out between clenched teeth. He had very rarely spoken with the kyuubi without being immersed in the seal, but he had recognised that if the kyuubi forced a mental link between them that the situation called for it. In fact, there had only been one other time when they had shared a link when they had seemed to be under drastic attack during a training period in the forest of death. Though it had turned out to be a false alarm as Anko revealed herself with her laughter at Naruto struggling to evade her extremely well placed traps.

"**All humans are horrible creatures, but the Uchiha are even worse. I hate them, they don't deserve a place in this world!" **

"I made you a promise, I'll let you out of your cage and I'll fight you, and one way or another you'll be free. Isn't that enough to at least prove that humans can do noble things?" Naruto debated out loud to the voice reverberating through his head.

"**That's different, you're different, you're more like those two. But the Uchiha are beyond hope. If you don't kill him, then I will!" **

'_Those two? That again? _Naruto mentally mused, his body on autopilot as he drew closer to the break in the trees. An immediate line up of memories cascaded through Naruto's mind. Kyuubi had said _'those two' _on multiple occasions now, and Naruto had deduced that he certainly wasn't referring to Mikoto and Itachi. Naruto decided to work with what he had and rebuked as calmly as he could.

"Your hate brings you more and more pain, let it go, let me settle your hate. If you can't let go of your hate then just direct it all at me instead."

"**Naruto! You- I could nev-"**

Naruto could imagine the massive chakra entity within his seal growling in frustration at his inability to fully answer the question.

"**You are like those two, I cannot hate you. But if you do not kill the Uchiha boy, then I will!" **

Abruptly as it had entered his mind, the kyuubi's presence left it. Naruto couldn't help but frown at the creature's absence. Even though he was far from alone in the village now, he still couldn't shake what that feeling of loneliness had been, and the kyuubi's presence in his mind, and even in his seal, was like having a friend who would never leave him.

Naruto was positive that the kyuubi knew of his desire to be friends, but his substantial pride stood in the way of opening that gate. Naruto knew that for someone, or something, with a personality like the kyuubi's it would take a truly grand gesture to receive their care and respect.

Naruto's mind snapped back to the task at hand as a fine spray of moisture splashed into his face the moment that he broke through the forest and sprung over the top of the waterfall framed by the two stone visages of Madara and Hashirama.

Sasuke was all too easy to see, and Naruto was more surprised than anything that Sasuke either hadn't sensed him, or didn't even see the point in turning to address him. As Naruto's foot made momentary contact the top of the stone Madara's head his hand whipped forward, snatching a kunai from his hip pouch and throwing it in one fluid movement.

The weapon flew straight and true and passed directly to Sasuke's right, Naruto immediately flashed to it and halted Sasuke's advance with a spinning kick to his face. Sasuke grunted as the kick connected and sent him sprawling backwards.

His battle instincts kicked in immediately and a thin layer of chakra coated each part of his body that was making contact with the water to prevent from sinking. Naruto merely stood straight and waited for Sasuke to start.

"We've already been over this, Naruto. I need power, so I'll g-"

"Let me help you then!" Naruto shouted over Sasuke, taking a threatening step forward. "I know how it feels to be alone, and how it feels to lose those dear to you, but if you do things this way you'll just fall into a cycle of hate, and things will never get better."

"Naruto, I meant what I said back there. I will kill you, even if you have become my best friend!" Sasuke growled out.

Naruto simply set himself into a defensive stance, his feet spread, and his body lower to the surface of the water with one palm facing Sasuke and the other hovering around his kunai pouch.

"Fire release: great fireball technique!" Sasuke bellowed as his hand seals finalized.

Naruto made no effort to dodge the attack as Sasuke spat out a stream of fire that quickly formed into a large roaring ball and shot his way.

Naruto opted for dropping the henge around his eyes and further extended his forward facing arm. The moment that the fireball made contact with his hand its shape warped and then funnelled to Naruto's arm. Naruto couldn't deny the almost giddy feeling that came with the absorption of so much chakra.

Apparently Sasuke had believed if he poured enough chakra into the attack he could kill Naruto with little effort. Naruto was left with little time to prepare for Sasuke as the last of the fireball disappeared and Sasuke launched through where it had been feet first.

His right leg swung back, and then quickly forward again in the attempt to catch the side of Naruto's head on the upper arches of his foot. Naruto quickly ducked under the attack and simultaneously drove both palms upward. Each of his palm thrusts connected soundlessly with Sasuke's upper hamstrings and once again Sasuke tumbled onto the waters surface, though this time his lower half dangled in the water while he tried to pull himself back to a standing position.

Naruto had hardly used a chakra infused technique like the Hyuuga's, but his in-depth knowledge of physiology had taught him some of the best points to strike to disable his foe, and hitting the heads of both hamstrings was usually enough to take away someone's ability to stand.

Sasuke seemed to be the exception to this as he finally hauled himself back onto the surface of the water, his face now a mask of total rage as the black flame pattern spread from his cursed seal. Their eyes locked, and Sasuke sneered more deeply. "You even have a doujutsu that you've been hiding from everyone. I'll show you whose is superior!"

"**Destroy his eyes! Take his head!" **Kyuubi roared through Naruto's mind.

Naruto frowned and pushed chakra into his seal to reinforce it. Not being able to see the kyuubi made it hard for him to tell, but if Naruto was to venture a guess, the kyuubi was currently pushing his shoulder firmly against the sealed gate to gain control.

Naruto's mind being so distracted by the internal battle almost made him miss Sasuke's attack as a chidori-clad hand flew toward him. Naruto hardly moved his body to dodge it as he bent at the knees slightly and leaned his head to the side. The lighting-coated hand jutted over his shoulder and Naruto looked up, his rippled blue eyes meeting Sasuke's angry looking red sharingan.

Naruto immediately washed all sentiment from his mind and rammed his knee upward, connecting it to Sasuke's abdomen and lifting him into the air. Before the Uchiha boy could even begin his short descent to the water Naruto threw a fist forward. It connected with the side of Sasuke's face with a thud and Sasuke was sent bouncing across the waters surface like a skipping stone.

For a moment, Naruto felt the pressure within the seal disappear. Obviously the kyuubi was pleased with his forceful strike to Sasuke. But Naruto had no intention to carry out the finishing moves that his powerful charge wanted him to.

Sasuke rolled back to his feet, and at the same moment the pressure within Naruto's seal returned in an even greater force as the kyuubi sensed that Naruto indeed had no intention to fight on the offensive. Sasuke collected a handful of shuriken from his pouch and hurled them forward, his hands flying through seals in their wake. "Shuriken shadow clone technique!"

The eight flying shuriken suddenly multiplied into well over thirty, but Naruto showed no outward concern as he crouched down and went through a string of his own seals. "Water release: water wall," with a tap of his hand on the surface of the water a six foot column of water rose into the air before Naruto.

All of the shuriken splashed into it harmlessly. Behind the wall, Naruto went through another quick succession of seals, his mind reeling in the effort as a sudden jolt of pain shot through him originating from his seal. "Water release: water shuriken," He slapped his hand gently against the still raised wall of water.

From the Sasuke-facing side of the water technique, two dozen wildly spinning water shuriken shot forward. Sasuke again strung a set of seals together in his most familiar pattern. "Fire release: great fireball technique!" He spewed the fireball from his mouth and immediately followed in its wake as it turned Naruto's offensive water shuriken to steam.

Sasuke forcibly broke through what remained of Naruto's C-ranked strength water wall with his body in an explosion of water. However, he was met with a vicious upward kick. The arches of Naruto's foot collected Sasuke's chin and sent him splashing back through the still-collapsing water wall.

Naruto didn't relent, however as he shot forward and drove a combination of six swift punches into Sasuke's ribs. Sasuke coughed and spluttered in response to the wind being knocked from him. Naruto didn't hesitate to lunge forward and wrap his right hand around Sasuke's neck.

He took a quick step back and wrenched Sasuke up, holding him over his own head height. "Sasuke-"

Naruto shot a look of concentration down at their reflection in the calming water's surface below them. Once again he could feel the kyuubi pummelling the gates of the seal, this time in a much more vigorous effort to break free than what he'd felt yet.

"**I'll forget all of our words together just to break out and kill him! There won't be any more cursed Uchiha left in the world!" **

Naruto gritted his teeth in response to the raging voice in his head. All he could do was continue to channel as much chakra as he could to the seal to reinforce it. An odd chirping noise soon met his ears and his eyes widened upon realization of what it was.

He swung his gaze back up to Sasuke's flaring sharingan, now a fully-matured set. Though he quickly corrected the direction of his gaze to the lightning chakra crackling around Sasuke's raised right hand. Naruto hardly caught the sneer that crossed Sasuke's face before he thrust his hand forward.

Naruto coughed up a mouthful of blood as Sasuke's hand plunged straight through his chest and exited through his shoulder.

"**Let me out! Let me kill him!" **

"Just killing the things you hate will just make more hate, it won't bring you anything but more pain. It's not the right way," Naruto coughed out, specks of blood flying from his lips and splatting droplets across Sasuke's face.

Both the fox inside his head, and the foe still grasped in his faltering hold sneered in response to Naruto's words. Sasuke assumed that they were directed at him, and the kyuubi growled at the knowledge that the words were most certainly directed at him.

Finally Naruto's hold collapsed and Sasuke splashed back to his feet on the water, his arm receding from Naruto's chest in a sickening squelch. Naruto, unlike Sasuke, didn't stay steady on the water's surface as his eyes rolled back into his head and he immediately began to sink.

A moment of total silence settled over the top of the valley as Sasuke stood atop the water and watched Naruto sink deeper and deeper, waiting to see the final twitch of his body. Red chakra spread outward from Naruto in an explosive burst. Its sudden rush outward disrupted the surface of the water as though it were an explosive going off, and Sasuke was sent flying backward again.

Sasuke coughed and wheezed for air as his back impacted the top of Hashirama's stone head. He secured his position with chakra and locked his eyes onto where Naruto had sunk. No longer was it calm, red whips of chakra burst wildly from the water and lashed about as though looking for something.

Sasuke turned a blind eye to the malicious chakra and quickly put his mind to climbing back to his feet and jumping away toward his goal.

Beneath the water, being held firmly against the bottom of the river against the flow of the current, Naruto was shrouded in a burning red chakra. It was entirely unlike the time when he had been able to purify the kyuubi's chakra in wave. Now all he could feel was searing pain as muscles in his body tore from the strain of the chakra and instantly healed again from its equally regenerative properties.

Six tails lashed around him violently, each reaching up to the surface of the water to the last known location of the Uchiha boy.

Within the seal, Naruto stood resolutely before the cage the kept the kyuubi at bay. Though the surrounding environment was considerably different as parts of the walls crumbled and the thin layer of water that covered the floor swirled angrily. The kyuubi roared in rage as he smashed the side of his head into the bars, then his fists, and then wrapped each tail around a bar and began pulling with all of his considerable might.

"Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted.

The creature focused both eyes on Naruto through the bars, but didn't relent in his attempt at caving the bars inward.

"I promise that I can end your hatred, please stop."

The chakra entity slackened his effort for a moment before once again reapplying tension through his tails and laughing dangerously. **"You don't know what you're getting into, brat. I don't know how such foul creatures could have grown from what the old man left behind, but they were a mistake, and it's my job as his creation to end them."**

A sharp crack followed his announcement as one of the bar closest to the seal in the centre of the gate snapped. In the outside world, two more tails surged forth in response to the breaking seal within.

Naruto raised both his arms toward the gate and sent a burst of power through his rinnegan. The kyuubi was sent flying back deeper into the cage as Naruto's gravity technique collided with him. He roared in response and charged forward again, this time throwing all of his weight into the bars. The gate creaked and moved marginally in response.

"Kyuubi! I want to bring peace to the world, so direct your hate at me, not anyone else!"

The massive fox turned his gaze onto Naruto once again and scoffed while continuing to push. **"You're like those two, however much I'd like to I can't hate you." **

"Those two? Who are those two?" Naruto asked back immediately, hoping to distract the bijuu from his rage.

The fox's efforts immediately ceased, and his whole body froze. Naruto took the opportunity and flashed through the bars, landing firmly on the bridge of the kyuubi's snout so that he could look directly into the kyuubi's eyes. "Please, kyuubi, you can be tranquil within me."

"**You are extraordinarily alike to the first Uzumaki woman I was sealed in, and the sage who created me. But even if it means your death I will get out to destroy that Uchiha brat!" **

Naruto was sent flying back through the bars as the fox rammed his head back against the gate. Naruto skidded along the water's surface until something firm against his back halted his movement. Instantly Naruto threw his head back in shock, his eyes only widened upon recognising the visage of his hero, his father.

"I certainly didn't expect to arrive here and see you with eyes like those, Naruto-kun." Minato spoke out softly, in keeping with his previous reputation of never being stressed under any sort of pressure.

He firmly offered his hand to Naruto, and Naruto quickly took it and rose to stand before his idol.

"**Yondaime!" **The nine tailed fox roared upon sighting the man, all of his actions to break for his freedom ceased.

"Tou-san…" Naruto mumbled, his eyes trailing from the man's feet all the way to his gleaming blue eyes.

"Naruto, I-"

His speech was cut off as Naruto hurled himself forward and wrapped his arms around his predecessor's middle. Naruto instantly buried his face into Minato's standard green flak jacket as a sob of joy shook his body. "I wish that you and kaa-san could have lived."

Minato smiled above his son and settled one hand atop his golden locks and wrapped the other around his neck. "I never looked forward to having to see the kyuubi again, but it meant seeing you, and what father wouldn't want to see their child grown?"

Naruto just nodded into his middle and tightened his grip. In the background the fox was strangely quiet, he had ceased all action and was simply watching Naruto in wonder. It was like no interaction he had ever directly witnessed.

"How old are you now, Naruto?" Minato questioned softly. He gently pried his son's arms from his body and knelt down to match Naruto's height.

"Twelve and a half. I wish I could have grown up just like you." Naruto answered hastily, his nerve slipping as his blue-ringed eyes met the regular blue irises of his father.

"Twelve and a half," Minato mirrored with a gentle smile. "And already so strong, even the mighty kyuubi is silent before you."

Minato's taunt ushered a guttural growl from the chakra entity, but it made no move to add any threats, instead choosing to continue just to watch.

"I worked my chakra into the seal for if you ever sprouted eight tails. But I'm glad that it wasn't your own pain that broke the seal," Minato directed his gaze over Naruto's shoulder to the glaring face of the fox. "You are truly amazing, kyuubi."

"Tou-san, what should I do? Tell me what to do?" Naruto pleaded into his fathers face.

Minato answered with a smile and gently tugged Naruto's black jacket up to reveal the inky remains of his seal. He set his right hand over it and twisted. The seeping ink suddenly washed away, and the violent red light and bubbling water of the room faded away, the bars reformed across the gate, and the entire room reassumed its previous visage.

"I cannot tell you what to do, Naruto. Why would I? You already follow your dreams."

Naruto's lower lip trembled at his father's words, but he quickly righted his expression with a smile. "There is no one better to carry my dreams, Jiraiya-sensei's dream, than you."

"But-"

"Naruto," Minato interjected, his hand settling firmly on the top of his head. "I know that you will find the answer to how to bring peace."

Naruto's eyes widened further yet at the sure words being spoken to him. "Tou-san, why can't you be alive and do it with me?"

Minato's eyes went downward. He knew fully that he wasn't the 'true' Minato that he was only a segment of his will, but he couldn't deny that he wished that he and Kushina could have lived to raise their son the way that they had planned and wanted to do.

"I know about all the legends of those wondrous eyes you have, Naruto-kun. The powers to control life and death, but the dead have had their time, even if I wish your mother and I could have lived and raised you the way that I had wanted, our time is over." Minato soothed.

Naruto's eyes widened immediately. "The power to control life and death?" He asked breathlessly. All Naruto knew of the Rikudo Sennin was what Mikoto, Itachi, and the Kyuubi had told him.

"Ahh, it seems that you didn't know that, but please remember that Naruto. Never use it unless you absolutely have to."

"If I ever figure out how to do that…" Naruto chuckled dryly.

"You seem to have a closer relationship to the kyuubi than what I had expected, and I'm sure he must have told you, but the night of the kyuubi attack it was the doing of a masked man, an Uchiha. He is far from a regular shinobi, and I suspect that he will be moving in the shadows to capture the kyuubi once again.

"**He can try!" **The caged fox roared darkly.

Minato openly scoffed at the chakra entity. Never in his life had he ever had a desire to fight off a bijuu, but the prospect of fighting one almost certainly meant that his only means of survival would be escape, and yet the Uchiha who had enslaved the creature had done so with no effort, let alone damage. "Kyuubi, you know as well as I do that without a host you will be captured by an Uchiha in moments, you NEED Naruto."

The chakra entity growled in annoyance, but offered no more words and finally turned away from the bars to settle into his regular sprawled out position, his previous rage forgotten in light of the appearance of Minato, the seal tightening again, and the entirely unexpected conversation.

"Tou-san" Naruto practically begged the title. He could already see the image of his father becoming translucent as his chakra ebbed from the seal. "I promise that I'll succeed, I'll bring peace, I'll make you and kaa-san proud of me!"

"Naruto-kun," Minato began, his hand reaching out and cupping the side of Naruto's face. "You have already made us proud. I'll miss you."

Naruto just smiled sadly in response as silent tears rolled from his eyes. Minato was more composed as he gently faded into the nothingness from which he'd come.

Naruto opened his eyes and the rest of his senses, being greeted with a concerned looking Kakashi standing over him, and the feeling of wetness all over him. He gently turned his head to his right to inspect his surroundings to find that he was on the bank of the river, the white spray of the turbulent waterfall was a mere twenty meters away. Naruto deduced that Kakashi had only just arrived and pulled him from the river.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun? I felt the Kyuubi's chakra. It wasn't like how it was in wave." Kakashi worried aloud.

Naruto groaned and pushed his elbows beneath him and levered himself from the ground. Once again he surveyed his surroundings, and was met with regular sounds and sights that the valley of the end would present him. Sasuke was long gone. "So he got away."

"Naruto! What happened?" Kakashi demanded.

Naruto turned his eyes tiredly to his jounin instructor. "The Kyuubi wanted to break out and kill him, I was fighting him off as well, and Sasuke managed to strike me with a chidori," Naruto explained, his right hand rubbing the hole in his clothing where the chidori had pierced his body. "And then the seal broke," Naruto smiled as he finished.

"Broke? But-"

"But my tou-san fixed it," Naruto finished for his sensei.

Kakashi's jaw dropped slightly, and he quickly turned a sad eye to the gravely riverbank. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei, jiji already told me why no one was meant to tell me," Naruto explained with an exhausted smile.

"So who told you?"

"Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Mikoto."

Once again Kakashi found his jaw slackened at the news, and he finally caught onto the fact that Naruto's eyes were different. "The rinnegan!"

Naruto nodded his agreement. Kakashi promptly stood back to his full height and hefted Naruto onto his back. "You call tell me on the way back."

"How is everyone else?" The blonde inquired gently.

Kakashi sighed sadly as he took the first steps before breaking into a run back in the direction of Konoha. "Kiba was killed, but the Suna genin team arrived and saved everyone else."

Naruto turned his gaze downward and frowned. He couldn't verbalize how it felt to have lost one of his fellow graduating genin, let alone one who had practically acted under his command on the mission.

**XXX With Konan XXX**

"Uchiha Sasuke has fled from Konoha to train with Orochimaru."

Itachi flinched slightly at Zetsu's words through the holographic technique. Konan herself kept her face a mask of blankness while Deidara typically laughed. "Which losers failed to kill him?"

"The kyuubi jinchuurki fought him," The black half of Zetsu ground out hoarsely.

At this Konan did commit slightly more attention as her heavy lidded gaze locked onto Zetsu. Tendo likewise committed his full attention at the mention of the jinchuuriki.

"Konan's intel made it clear that the jinchuurki was much more powerful than his Uchiha teammate, how did Sasuke escape?" Tendo asked back flatly.

"From the beginning it seemed as though he was fighting off the kyuubi inside the same, and he even grew eight tails at once point and was growing the ninth when he stopped the transformation. Sasuke escaped during this period," The white side of Zetsu explained more casually.

"He was able to suppress the kyuubi on his own like that?" Itachi butted in.

Tendo turned a discerning eye on Itachi, and Zetsu just nodded simply. "It seems so. Leader-sama, what are your instructions?" Zetsu directed back to Tendo.

The likeness of Yahiko first looked to Konan and then swung his gaze around all of the astral projections of the Akatsuki members. "If anyone gets the chance, kill Orochimaru. We'll deal with the kyuubi later, and we can start preparing to seal the other bijuu."

Konan felt her muscles tense up at Nagato's terse orders. All that she could think of was that Naruto represented the dreams that both she and Nagato had harboured when they were young, and she had to protect those dreams at any cost. She looked to her right to meet Itachi's activated sharingan, albeit the holographic version of them.

He nodded to her, and she quickly gave a subtle nod back. They were both in agreement about paths to take concerning Akatsuki. At least Konan thought that they were. Her driving goal was to turn Nagato back onto the right path and to resume their mission to bring peace to the world in the way that they had originally planned.

"Also, from intel supplied by Deidara and Sasori, I have come to the conclusion that some of the jinchuuriki may be able to be captured, and suppressed until the time when we can seal them. We will explore all means to do this, you will be helping in this endeavour, Konan," Tendo announced blandly as he turned purple ringed eyes onto the bluenette.

Konan schooled her features to the usual flat expression that she wore in his presence and nodded. Her goals certainly weren't going to be easy with Nagato being so set in his darkness. For a moment, she entertained the idea of simply abandoning Akatsuki, but in such a short period from having met Naruto and deciding to aspire to be more like him she realized that she couldn't simply give up in regards to that goal.

"Understood, leader-sama."

**XXX With Naruto: One week after Sasuke retrieval mission XXX **

"But, but, but," Anko whimpered out, her eyes widened into her equivalent of the puppy dog expression as she grabbed desperately at Naruto's jacket. "With you gone who're we going to prank?"

Naruto withheld his smile and looked back at her flatly, as did all of the other gathered Konoha shinobi. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune were watching the scene with mixed smirks and smiles from closer to Konoha's gate. While Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Lee, and Shikamaru were watching the situation from an easier to converse distance oddly.

"No one! That's who!" Anko wailed dramatically. "And what about the dango? Think of the dango, Whiskers?"

At this Naruto couldn't hide his smile. "The dango stall does make pretty good dango, ya know that, right Anko-chan?"

"While this is true, they could never match up to you, Whiskers!" Anko implored. She knew that she was being far too overdramatic, but she was genuinely going to miss Naruto for the entirety of his training trip. He had become a constant in her life that had set her onto a much happier path.

"I guess I could leave a clone behind to cook for you one final time," Naruto laughed out.

This brought a gleam to Anko's eye. "How about you make a clone with as much chakra as possible so that he and I can go on a massive pranking spree as soon as you leave, like a sort of going away gift?"

All of the gathered nin besides Anko and Naruto cringed at the thought of that. "You do know that going away gifts work the other way around? You're meant to give me one, not the other way around," Naruto asked flatly.

"Heh heh, so what? My way is more fun. But it's still a nifty idea!" she implored back. Finally she crawled from her knees to stand at her full height above Naruto. Her dramatic touch hadn't gone as smoothly as she would have liked.

"Fine then," Naruto huffed, a clone forming next to him a moment later. "He should last a while, just don't hit him."

Anko laughed and looked from the original to the clone.

"Yeah, don't hit me, crazy psycho bitch!" the clone chortled.

Anko immediately moved to strike the clone at his addressal of her, but paused mid swing of her fist as the clone waggled his index finger back and forward in warning. She earned an odd gleam in her eye as she figured out a suitable revenge.

"And so the jutsu makes its return, I hate goodbyes anyway. Freak the fuck out jutsu!" Anko loudly announced.

She was promptly replaced with a nude Guy. Naruto quickly looked away as _she _struck a pose. Everyone else present, aside from Lee and Tsunade, followed Naruto's lead and averted their gazes. Tsunade herself was wearing a disgusted frown while Lee was sporting a look of amazement.

Tenten had seemed to pre-empt his words and had slapped a hand over his mouth without looking out from behind her other hand.

_Anko _laughed at the collected reactions of everyone present and grabbed the clones hand and skipped back toward central Konoha, her henge still horribly active, earning disgusted looks from all who saw it.

"Hah hah," Naruto laughed awkwardly as everyone seemed to be shocked from Anko's exit from the scene.

Ino seemed to be the first to recover and she rushed forward and wrapped herself around Naruto, her lips sitting next to his ear. "I'm going to think about you every day, so hurry back. I love you."

Naruto squeezed her back appreciatively and turned his face to peck her lips with his own. "I love you too, Ino-chan."

As Ino disengaged herself from Naruto, Sakura stepped forward and replaced her. She sat her chin on Naruto's shoulder and placed all of her weight onto him. "Do you know that you're the thing I look forward to most every day, Naruto-kun?" Sakura sighed.

Naruto rubbed a gentle circle on her back. "It's okay Sakura-chan, I promised you that I'll bring Sasuke back, so I will."

Sakura didn't seem quite contented with Naruto's response, but she tightened her hug for a moment before stepping away and giving him a smile.

Tenten came next, her embrace was much more playful and affectionate as she wrapped her arms around his neck and dropped her weight. Naruto laughed and tensed the muscles down his neck and back to carry her weight hanging off his front. "You better get really strong so that when you come back you can keep up with me!"

"Believe it!"

Tenten stuck her tongue out at him and stepped back with a laugh. Naruto had no time to recover before he was wrapped up in a horrifically tight embrace. He quickly figured that it was Lee who was hugging him, and Naruto was subject to feeling everything in all of its unsavory glory.

"Lee!" Naruto wheezed desperately.

Lee seemed to take the call of his name as an invitation to go on, and he gripped her arms ever tighter, continuing to pin Naruto's arms to his sides.

"Even though we lost Kiba-kun, your valor and youthfulness saved Shikamaru. I shall train so that when we fight upon your return I can keep up with your display of youthfulness," Lee screamed point blank into Naruto's face.

Naruto was feeling all kinds of uncomfortable. First there was the fact that he could feel every aspect of what made Lee a boy pressed against him, and then there was the all too enthusiastically announced memory of Kiba's death against Sakon and Ukon.

Naruto dropped to his knees as Lee let go, he coughed violently to bring air back into his lungs. He was distinctly aware of the three girls present laughing at him, and of Lee once again screaming an apology.

When Naruto stood once again he was met with Shikamaru standing before him, a familiar white puppy held against his body with his left arm. "I'd thought that Akamaru might want to come say goodbye as well," Shikamaru bit out.

He was blaming himself for Kiba's death. He had insisted on following Naruto, and Naruto had certainly not needed his help, and he had even been useless in aiding both Lee and Gaara in the ensuing fight. Kiba, on the other hand, had needed it.

"Shikamaru," Naruto frowned as he placed a comforting hand on his comrade's shoulder. His henge over his eyes dropped away a moment later, and Shikamaru finally looked into Naruto's true eyes. "We all make mistakes. You just need to live in a way that those who have died would be proud of."

None present seemed at all phased by Naruto's rinnegan. Everyone was accepting the fact that Naruto was opening up to telling all of his comrades the secrets that he had been so fiercely guarding. So seeing him carrying a doujutsu was the least of what they expected.

"Brat, we ready to go?" Jiriaya called from next to Tsunade and Shizune.

Naruto smiled and nodded, and ran forward to share a quick embrace with each of the women. And with that, Naruto and his master turned and strode confidently from the village without a backward glance.

"So, brat, any idea on where we should go?" Jiraiya finally asked as they crested a small rise that would soon block off direct line of sight to the gates.

"I want to find all of the other jinchuurki, and I want to talk to the bijuu," Naruto answered resolutely without hesitation.

Jiraiya nodded, as though he had expected no less.


	11. Chapter 11: Friends and Meetings

**THIS IS NOT A HAREM! Please stop asking if it is!?**

**Author notes: ****So this chapter covers the time-skip period and the return to Konoha. From here onward canon is only going to be a very loose framework. I needed to follow canon to a degree in part 1 to get characters to go in the directions that I wanted them to. **

**I'm also including a shout out to another Author, and her writing for the "Darker than Black" anime series (People should check it out if they don't know it). Please search for the writer : Destinies Entwined **

**Her two Darker than Black stories are actually very well written and enjoyable : -)**

**ATTENTION READERS: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING: **

**One of the things that I am doing with this story to include my readers in the process of the making of it is taking on-board requested scenes. You can make a request for me to include a particular scene that you want, but I will only do so if it will fit into the rest of the story in general.**

**Review responses: **

**Almighty Ninja: That was actually a good idea of yours, but by the time you reviewed that I was already passed that. Keep the ideas coming though! **

**DemonOfThePlains: I don't mean to sound rude when saying this, but I had assumed from the way I had set things up with Naruto's emotional progress, and Konan's own emotional development and leaning from Itachi, that it was obvious that it is a long term romance development. It will tie into the greater plot in general, and will help determine the ending.**

**Claymore78: While Naruto was fighting Sasuke with all of his attention on Sasuke he completely dominated him. Naruto didn't so much as lose to Sasuke as he did to Kurama. But your thoughts are correct, I hope you enjoy the results of that plot development. **

**Senjuto: Another Beta and my Beta deliberated the points you made with capitalization during chapter 2. I am told that since it is the application of Japanese terms into text the same literary rules don't apply. But in the event that we are incorrect, and you are correct; it is a small error that I'm not going to re-edit whole chapters just to fix. Successively reviewing the same thing while reading already posted chapters is obviously not going to magically solve what you perceive as an issue. Or perhaps it is "**Please, fix those errors ASAP." **That rubbed me in the wrong way, that comes off seeming very conceited and arrogant in context with the rest of your reviews. **

**However, right or wrong on those points, I hope that you can continue to enjoy the story. **

**To the Guest who reviewed, "And why did he die when in canon he lived." Obviously this is not canon. If I wanted to write it exactly the same as canon then I would have absolutely no reason to write it. **

**KHARAKI TAKAN: In canon Shikamaru expected Kiba to be able to exactly the same thing, so I didn't see it as a mistake in writing, merely a different outcome to canon. But thank you for your other comments. And just to clear up your thoughts on the end there; Rikudou sennin was the forefather of the Senju and Uchiha, and also the Uzumaki in an extended sense. Not humanity, so Kurama holds a distaste for Uchiha above all else. **

**s0ssy: Thanks for following the story this far : ) I want to include more tragedy in general, and Kiba was the most convenient to pick off at this point. The relationships with characters like Anko and Tayuya will be developing much more from here onward. **

**Lazuli: Well I hope I can keep positively surprising you! : -)**

**AJGuardian: You'll just have to read an find out : - ) No spoilers like that! :P **

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Haha yeah… It kinda was. But… Well it needed to happen. **

**Imugly: The other parts with the jinchuuriki probably won't play out in the way people are expecting it to, but it's mostly in this chapter so please enjoy it : -)**

**Naruto rai: Grahhhh! No, not a harem, but please enjoy.**

**Theonedevin: That isn't all that far away now : -) I change my chapter layout plans all the time… but it's probably at least, or maybe less, or more, who knows :P To keep my chapters coming out faster now I might make them shorter with less content. **

**Battle neurosis: Naruto won't learn how to do that for a long time yet, it was actually more of a hint toward something way down the road in the story. **

**Fritter: While the general outcome was similar to canon all the paths taken there were different, and as such will yield different results in the story as a whole. I truly cannot understand why some people can only review their negative views. **

**Lightning king: I think that I have written it in a way that you would approve of, so please go ahead and tell me your thoughts on my execution of it : -)**

**Pain17ification: As usual, thank you. Keep reading and I hope I keep surprising you : -) **

**Serialkeller: Naruto is still pursuing his dream of bringing peace, and he was also fighting Kurama at the same time. In this Naruto will continue to try and "save" Sasuke, but it will be in a vastly different fashion to how it is in canon, and in other stories I've seen.**

**Kay Geez: You partially hit the nail on the head. Naruto is still developing and growing as a person, even though he is so well trained and talented, but those gaps in his personality will be filled out more in this and the next few chapters.**

**Digitize27: No pain, no gain! I couldn't think of anything else to say… Gotta love a bit of tragedy. **

**To all of the other generally positive reviews, I am very thankful of your support and ideas, I appreciate them all : -) **

**And to the "Guest" reviewer, who I am assuming is the same person commenting practically the same thing in different wording, and who saw it fit to copy and paste half a chapter into a review to point out one typo; I'm sorry to inform you, but you are a retard. **

**Chapter 11: Friends, Meetings, Understandings and Betrayals **

Naruto grumbled out his displeasure incoherently as once again his right leg and right arm were tugged backward. He was lying on his left side on an extremely well cushioned futon with another warm body pressed to his back. But the person whose warm body was pressed to his had a far different perception of sleeping comfortably than he did, as both her legs wrapped around Naruto's right leg, holding it in what was a comfortable position for her.

The same could be said for her upper body as she held Naruto's right arm against her bosom possessively, both her hands gently, yet firmly gripping his upper arm to prevent it from moving away. Naruto once again grumbled his discomfort at his far from ideal position.

"Shut up and just enjoy it, dipshit."

Naruto angled his head back against his pillow until his blue ringed eyes met the gentle brown irises of his red headed traveling companion. They held each other's gazes in a kind of standoff that they had long since gotten used to. It was broken as the girl averted her eyes and snickered.

Naruto's lips quirked upward in his own response, "How am I meant to enjoy it when it feels like you're breaking me, fuck face?"

Upon hearing her laugh softly a bead of sweat formed on Naruto's forehead. He knew that he was in far too compromising a position to taunt the former sound kunoichi. Without muttering a word, a clone formed behind him and forcibly pushed the easily angered girl back from his original.

Naruto took his opportunity and rolled from the warm covers of the futon and hastily pulled his black shinobi pants on and began taping the ankles in. By the time that he'd finished on both his ankles the screeching had begun. He glanced up to see Tayuya laying splayed out under his doppelganger.

The doppelganger in question was on his hands and knees, his knees were planted firmly on the girls inner thighs to prevent her from struggling with her legs, and his hands had firm grips on her wrists that were being held above her head. Tayuya herself was only wearing a pair of white panties, as was her sleeping habit, which Naruto had long since grown accustomed to and no longer cared about in the slightest.

But what was eliciting the screeches and grunts of displeasure that she was making was the fact that the clone was poising his mouth above her face and was dribbling strings of saliva all over her. "You motherfucking shit for brains dick jockey!"

The clone paused in his task to throw his head back and laugh manically before he once again resumed his task with a surprisingly intense expression of concentration.

"Keep fucking doing it! I dare you!" Tayuya shouted angrily.

By now Naruto was pulling his mesh shirt over his head. By no means were his clothes exactly the same as they were as when he and Jiraiya had departed Konoha, they were only the same pattern and design. But in the two years and four months since their departure from the village he had grown considerably, both in height and musculature.

Naruto's ears twitched at a familiar hocking sound. It was a habit Tayuya had when she would rather not blow her nose, and she would instead spit out whatever gunk had been in her sinuses instead of blowing it out through her nose like normal people. Naruto turned to watch the pathetic struggle and found himself surprised by the sight of his clone doing the hocking, which he finally spat straight onto her small left breast.

"FUCK! HAHAHA, Naruto, I'm going to ass rape you with a fucking kunai for this!" Tayuya laughed in what Naruto would describe as a totally insane voice.

"Come on you sexy blonde asshole, I dare you to spit on me again! Let's see how it go-" Tayuya halted her threat mid-word as the clone acted on her taunt and spat another hocked up amount of phlegm straight into her open maw.

Naruto hastened to pull his jacket over his shoulders and closed his fist around his hitai-ite before he lunged for the sliding door. He slid it open and sprinted out as quickly as he could. He knew that his clone had just gone too far, the angry Uzumaki girl would most certainly up her efforts to get free, and the clone was lucky in the fact that it didn't have to suffer at her hands for hours on end as he was going to be her target the moment that she got free.

Naruto practically flew past all of the other sliding doors in the same corridor wgere their rooms were located. He was just thankful that with all the bounty he and Tayuya had brought in that they could buy off the entire inn. Naruto wasn't greedy for space, but not all that long after Tayuya had entered his and Jiraiya's journey they had learned that for the sake of anyone around them they would need a lot of room.

Loud debates, fights, and petty bickering were common occurrences between Naruto and his charge. The very thought of her being his charge made him scoff, but Jiraiya had been adamant that Naruto must control her excessive whims, and so Naruto had become the girl's leash–a leash as it so happened that she figuratively liked to chew on.

A sudden echo of shrill laughter followed Naruto down the corridor as he finally reached the end and set his hand against the door that separated the accommodations wing of the inn from the lobby. Naruto felt a bead of sweat roll down his face as once again loud laughter was heard, though this time it sounded much more maniacal.

Naruto didn't need to link that to meaning that she'd destroyed his clone as its memories of being head butted until it dispelled flooded his mind. Naruto figured that he had ten seconds to make himself as scarce as possible while Tayuya pulled on her regular skin tight black shorts and tan crop top.

As Naruto dashed into the lobby he sighed in enjoyment at the feeling of the cool Taki breeze blowing through the open entryway at the far end of the room. It was his freedom from Tayuya's imminent wrath. _'And this is all just because she couldn't sleep without pulling me around like a damn toy.' _ Naruto mentally mused as he finally crossed the threshold to the outside world.

The man at the lobby desk paid no attention to either Naruto's sudden rush, the shouting that had preceded him, or now followed him. All of the staff around the inn had been forced to adapt to the boisterous Uzumaki duo in fear of losing their minds to some form of madness.

Naruto could never have predicted that this would be the outcome of the day that he had convinced Tayuya to flee from Orochimaru. He smiled fondly at the memory despite his predicament.

_**Flashback: **_

"_Hey brat?" _

_Naruto turned a sour eye to his sensei and travelling companion. "What do you want? We've been traveling for two weeks and you still haven't taught me anything!" _

"_Well you're the one who decided we should go to Suna first, it messed up my thought processes," Jiraiya complained back._

_Naruto turned his nose up into the air haughtily and huffed dramatically. Jiraiya laughed loudly at his reaction while clutching his stomach, "That only works for women! When guys do it they just look stupid." _

_Once again Naruto turned an unimpressed look at his sensei. "What the hell did you even want to begin with? Wrinkly OLD hermit." _

"_Ehhh," The hermit began as he turned his head left and right to inspect their surroundings. "Someone's been following us since we left Konoha, their chakra signature doesn't seem like they're much of a threat. But it's really getting on my nerves, I swear I felt like someone was peeking on me when I was washing in the stream this morning." _

_Naruto flat out laughed at his sensei's recollection of his morning wash. "Kinda ironic, don't you think?" _

_Jiraiya directed a childish pout at his charge without breaking their pace. "That's not the point. What if they were some kind of serial rapist and they got me when I bent over or something!" _

_Naruto grimaced at the instant mental image. "You're disgusting, ya'know." _

_Jiraiya chuckled lowly but came to a halt as Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned left to face the forest that was stretching along the road that they were travelling on. "Tayuya? You know you could have just come out the day we left Konoha?" Naruto called. _

_An eyebrow ascended Jiraiya's forehead as he turned from regarding his student to the forest that was being called into. A series of rustling sounds and faint mumbles of annoyance quickly reached the pair's ears, and a minute later a dishevelled red-headed girl tripped from behind a tree and fell onto her hands and knees at the edge of the road. _

_Naruto quickly rushed forward and made to grab her left arm. She lashed out with her right and lurched back to her feet. "I don't fucking need your help!" she yelped while swaying on her feet to steady herself. _

_She looked surprisingly different from when Naruto had clashed with her. The skull cap that she'd worn was no longer present, leaving her long vibrant red hair free to sway in the wind, and the purple rope that had acted as an obi was also gone. What had been her knee-length tunic had been cut down into just being a messy looking tan shirt, but what looked most different was her body itself. She had slimmed down considerably, and there were scuffs of dirt on all of her visible skin. _

_Naruto mumbled his apology and ignored the critical look that Jiraiya was giving his back. Tayuya made to speak but quickly shut her mouth and adopted an annoyed expression, it wasn't clear whether it was annoyance at herself or the two before her. _

"_Well? Who the hell are you? Why are you following us?" Jiraiya blurted impatiently. _

_Tayuya looked at the impossibly young-looking sannin for a moment before responding. "I'm—"_

_"Uzumaki," interrupted Naruto._

_"—Tayuya," she finished, before shooting Naruto an angry glare for his addition to her answer._

"_What about the rest of the question?" Jiraiya added. _

"_I-" She shut her mouth abruptly and turned her scowl onto Naruto. Her eyes softened and betrayed what she meant as she finished her sentence in a snide, "I have nowhere else to go." _

_Kid, where the hell did you find this chick?" the elder of the two sages asked the younger._

"_I'm not some fucking wandering mutt! And for your information I used to work for Oroch—" Tayuya froze mid-word as her honey brown eyes finally locked onto the detail of Naruto's eyes. "What the fuck happened to your eyes?" _

"_You just didn't see them like this last time. Jiraiya-sensei, may she please come with us?" Naruto asked of his mentor. _

"_Ehhh fine then, but if at any point you two decide to make babies you have to tell me, I need fresh scenes to write about." The sage of Mount Myoboku sighed dejectedly as he faced down the road and started walking. _

_Naruto turned his blank expression from Jiraiya's back to Tayuya. She was glaring at the sannin with one of the deepest sneers that Naruto had ever seen. Noticing his gaze on her she quickly changed the direction of her sneer. "What the fuck are you looking at?" _

"_A starving girl who's asking for my help," the young sage replied simply. _

_She took a couple of quick steps forward until her face was inches from his. "Listen here, I don—" _

"_How long has it been since you've eaten?" Naruto interrupted. _

"_I ate this morning!" She blurted out defensively, her sneer forgotten and replaced with a strangely innocent expression. _

"_What? A rabbit, or a root vegetable?" the blonde asked back flatly._

_Tayuya looked at the ground and absently rubbed her stomach. "It was a rat. But it was all I could find!" _

"_I'm going to hug you," Naruto announced simply and stepped forward, completely closing the space between them and wrapping his arms around her slim body. _

"_Wha— No, I— Sto—" The redhead mumbled out as she began a weak effort of pushing his chest away from her. _

"_Relax, I'm going to keep you safe from now on." _

_Apon hearing his sincere words Tayuya did as she was bidden and pressed her face against his shoulder, silent tears falling from her eyes and soaking into his jacket as all of the stresses of her life finally broke through the toughened shell into which she had made herself._

"_Now, are you hungry?" Naruto queried without disengaging his body from the embrace. _

_She nodded silently against the fabric of his clothing but kept her grip on the sides of his jacket firm to stay close to his protective presence. _

"_Here,"Naruto offered as his hand glided over a seal that hung limply from the waist-band of his pants. A ball of rice popped from the chakra paper and landed softly in his hand. He pushed her away from him slightly and offered the food-bearing hand to her. _

_Her eyes widened at the kind offer, and tentatively she reached out and took it. She looked into his smiling face, and then back to the rice ball in her cupped hands. _

"_It's okay, it's not a trick or anything," Naruto consoled her nerves softly. _

_Tayuya quickly turned aside her doubts and rammed as much of the rice ball as she could fit into her mouth and began munching it down. _

"_Woah, take it easy there, you'll make yourself choke," Naruto chided. _

_She seemed to answer between one mouthful and the next as a strangled groaning sound came out. She faintly blushed at her incoherent answer but didn't slow her dietary assault on the ball of slightly flavored rice that Naruto had handed her._

_Before long she'd eaten the main body of the ball and was licking the vinegary residue from her fingers. Naruto smiled gently at her innocently expectant expression that she was giving her hands, as though she were attempting to will another serving to appear from thin air. _

_The blonde faced back in the direction in which his sensei was walking and began after him. "Come on." _

_Tayuya rushed back to his side and fumbled at the flask that had been thrown at her over Naruto's shoulder. _

"_When you've had a drink I'll give you some dried meat." _

_Tayuya nodded vigorously at the direction and flicked off the cap and guzzled half the flask's contents down. She offered it back to Naruto with her innocent expression once again adorning her face._

_Naruto just answered her unasked question by holding out his hand. She shot an eye to it and her hand was quick to follow her eyes at the sight of the dried strip of meat. Just as she had done with the rice ball she rammed as much of the meat into her mouth as she could and began chewing again. _

"_So, do you think you'd like to travel with us until we return to Konoha?" _

"_Mmhmm," the starved redhead sighed around her mouthful. _

_**Flashback end**_

Naruto took a sharp right the moment that his second foot passed into the world outside the inn, and he came to a sudden and painful halt as his forehead impacted someone else's. "OUCH!" Naruto proclaimed hysterically upon his rear impacting the pavement.

"You're saying ouch! You're not the one who was run into!" The mint-haired girl cried back.

"I'm so sorry Fuu! I swear I'll make it up to yo-" Naruto halted his apology mid-word at the sound of rushed footsteps coming to a halt behind him.

Ever so slowly he tilted his head back until he was met with the sight of Tayuya looming above him with a devilish smile across her face. Both Naruto and Tayuya sprung into sudden action as Tayuya lunged for him while Naruto lunged for Fuu.

"Hey!" Fuu cried in indignation as Naruto hefted her off the ground by her narrow waist and spun around to face Tayuya with Fuu being held up as a shield.

"You like Fuu, so you should just give up!" Naruto implored over Fuu's shoulder at his fellow Uzumaki.

"Heh heh heh," Tayuya chuckled out darkly. "Sorry, minty bitch."

Fuu had no time to ask what Tayuya was apologizing for as suddenly both she and Naruto had their bodies pressed together from Tayuya's shoulder ramming into her collarbone and pinning her back against Naruto. Obviously Tayuya didn't mind catching Fuu in the attack in the slightest as her objective was attained in a loud crack of her forehead impacting Naruto's over Fuu's shoulder.

The three disengaged their bodies as quickly as they had all been connected with the outcome of Tayuya rolling around rubbing the top of her skull, Naruto chuckling, and Fuu looking between the two with an annoyed expression.

"You were too slow, little Tay-chan," Naruto laughed past Fuu at his traveling companion, the dim orange pigment around his eyes already fading.

"Fuck you! You cheated!" Tayuya wailed back. She rolled back to her knees and gave Naruto a baleful glare.

Naruto just shrugged back at her while standing back up and offering a helping hand to Fuu. The moment that he'd pulled Fuu back to her feet Tayuya seemed to get a second wind as she once again pounced at Naruto. This time without Fuu's body to protect him Tayuya knocked him down to the ground and straddled his chest.

A resounding slap followed as her open palm struck home across his left cheek. Fuu was sure that the strike would have sent him tumbling if Tayuya wasn't gripping the ground with her knees on either side of him. Obviously the Uzumaki girl wanted to make sure he stayed exactly where he was so she could strike again.

And again she did strike as a second slap impacted Naruto's right cheek moments after the first had landed. Naruto immediately opened his mouth to yell in pain or indignation, which was obviously the chance that Tayuya had been waiting for as she spat into his mouth and rolled off him.

With his ability to move unrestricted returned, Naruto rolled to his left and spat onto the pavement to clear Tayuya's phlegm from his mouth. "Yuk!"

Tayuya just shrugged and chuckled. "You did it to me, what did you expect?"

Fuu was looking between the two with a sneer of disgust. She wanted to be able to expect this kind of behavior between the two, but despite having already seen them act this way around one another for the past two weeks she still couldn't fully adapt to it.

She blamed it on the fact that whenever she and Naruto were alone all of his pranks were forgotten and he would become the most charming young man that she'd ever met. Though that wasn't saying all that much in terms of charming men that she'd met. She was Taki's jinchuurki, and by default the object of the village's collective scorn and distaste.

But aside from all of that, Naruto still went above and beyond in his efforts to bring a smile to her face, and even the bijuu inside her had seemed amazed and joyful at having spoken to him. She recalled the day of the travelling trio's arrival and meeting them most days upon awakening as one of the brightest days in her life.

_**Flashback: **_

_It was an unusually bright and charming day in Taki. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the temperature was mild with a calming breeze. It was one of the few days that Fuu got the chance to stay safe from the nightmarish solo missions that her superiors often gave her._

_She couldn't understand her predicament. She was the jinchuurki to the nanabi, the seven-tailed horned beetle, and she had been since she was three. She had never had a choice in becoming a jinchuuriki, but the event had given her village two advantages: safety from the bijuu possibly going on a rampage, and the power that it gave her that she could harness against their enemies._

_And yet despite all of that she was treated with scorn, and all of the mounting disdain directed at her made it harder and harder for her to even attempt to control the power of the beast within her. In fact, the times that she had used a substantial amount of the bijuu's power she would form a deep scarlet chakra cloak, manifest several tails, and lose complete control of all her actions._

"_Asshole! Give back my goddam mochi!" _

_Fuu frowned at the offensive language that was coming from down the road. She changed her posture against the trunk at her back and tilted her head up to try and get a view of whoever was approaching. _

_First a taller figure with shaggy white hair crested the rise in the path, and then a shaggy blonde haired teen with a red haired girl who was clawing at his raised hands. "Be quiet for once, Tayuya. Mochi makes you louder than usual, and she's around here somewhere, I can feel her." _

"_That damn brat is the single worst thing that Kami ever put in this world," the taller man said to the blonde at his side. _

"_Fuck you, pervert! You're the one who tries to look at my tits every night!" the redhead shot back fiercely._

"_I'm a man. It's kind of hard to not look when you curl up next to him without a shirt on!" the tall man argued. _

"_That's coz I don't give a shit about Naruto seeing them. If I wanted you to see my tits then I'd sleep next to you!" _

_The blonde between the two just sighed in annoyance and quickened his pace, leaving the two to argue behind him. Fuu focused more of her attention on him as he drew closer, it was obvious that neither him nor his companions were from Taki, in his case his Konoha hitai-ate was a dead giveaway. _

_She broadened the range of her chakra sensory abilities in an attempt to glean whatever she could from his approach, and suddenly she felt small, as though she were an insect standing in the shadow of a bijuu itself. Everything about his chakra felt different to any other person she'd ever encountered. _

_It was even immensely different to his red headed companion who she also realized had bright and potent-feeling chakra. The blonde's felt as though it could even rival a bijuu, but it carried the intent for warmth and peace. _

"_Fuu? Jinchuuriki of the nanabi?" _

_Fuu jumped from her rear at the base of the tree to her feet with an embarrassed expression. She had been so busy reading into the feel of his chakra that she had zoned out of the outside world and hadn't noticed his approach. _

"_What's it to you?" she asked back defensively. _

_He slapped a hand onto his stomach and smiled before bowing dramatically, "May I please introduce myself to you?" _

"_Ahh, yeah?" _

"_My name is Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of Kurama the nine-tailed fox, hailing from Konoha, and politely requesting to become acquainted with you and the bijuu within your seal," Naruto finished as he straightened his posture from his dramatic bow. "But you can just call me Naruto if you'd like." _

"_Ahh, what's with your eyes?" Fuu asked back after catching the ringed details in his gaze. _

"_It's a doujutsu called the rinnegan. What's with your eyes?" _

"_What do you mean, what's with my eyes? My eyes are pretty!" she shot back defensively, stepping into his personal space. _

"_Well then my eyes are dashing and handsome!" _

_Fuu couldn't push back the blush that darkened her already tan skin from his bold self-given compliment. "Okay," she settled for meekly. _

"_So," Naruto paused and looked into her eyes, his positive demeanour almost unnerving her after her lifetime of poor treatment. "Do you mind if I talk with Choumei?"_

"_Uhmm, who's Choumei?" she asked back awkwardly, fearing that the blonde chakra powerhouse had lost part of his mind to the power that surged through him. _

"_I probably shouldn't be the one to tell you this, but I'm being told that Choumei is the name of the nanabi." _

_Both of Fuu's eyebrows ascended her brow in wonderment of Naruto's words. Her moment to consider what she was being told was broken as a force knocked her onto her back. She immediately tried to shift into a defensive battle stance, but found herself held down by a weight. _

"_Fuck!" The mass above her screamed in an enraged voice. _

_As quickly as the weight had been there it was gone as the red headed girl surged back to her feet and charged back in the direction from which the tallest of the three companions had thrown her. _

_Naruto knelt down in front of her and pulled her up into a sitting position. "Sorry about that, Tayuya and Jiraiya-sensei never really get along." _

"_Ahh, right," Fuu answered bleakly. In the back of her mind, she faintly recalled hearing the name Jiraiya, and it being the name of one of the three legendary ninja. _

"_So about talking to Choumei? Is it a yes or no? Because we came a long way to talk to him." _

"_Okay, I guess. How does this work?" she asked back to him. _

_Naruto quickly sat down in front of her, his legs crossed underneath him in a reflection of her position. He levelled his fist out to her and nodded at it. "Just form a fist and put it on mine, Kurama and I can take over from there." _

_Fuu directed her orange gaze to Naruto's red-headed companion swinging her fists at the sannin, and the sannin dodging each swing with ease while flinging a paintball into her face for every swing that she missed. Fuu shook her head at the strange turn of events for her day and pushed her left fist to his extended right one. _

_Instantly her connection with the world washed away and she found herself floating through a golden expanse of space. The space around her changed slightly and the image of a massive red-furred nine-tailed fox formed. She could distantly make out the shape of Naruto leaning against the bijuu's massive left paw, and she found herself being drawn nearer. _

_In what seemed to be the distance of the golden world around her she could make out extremely faint massive forms whose outlines she assumed belonged to the other tailed beasts, but their distant whisperings where easy for her to hear if she focused on them. _

"_**So I'm meeting the reincarnation that Kurama has been speaking of." **_

_Fuu gasped at the sudden and unexpected deep voice behind her, and she quickly spun her head around to identify it. Again she gasped as in her wake floated the unbound nanabi. Its six winged tails splayed out behind It, and a bright orange glow peeking out from the helmet-like skull that hid its eyes. _

_The seven tailed beast paid her no heed as they finally halted in front of the massive fox and his human carrier. __**"Kurama," **__Choumei greeted tersely. _

"_**Choumei, it is interesting seeing you again. Circumstances have changed many things," **__The alleged strongest of the bijuu responded. _

"_**I am lucky number seven, but I don't see the luck in meeting this so-called reincarnation last out of all the others," **__Choumei bit back. _

"_It couldn't be helped. I apologize for you being the last one for me to meet," Naruto announced with a respectful bow. _

"_Why did you never tell me your name?" Fuu asked loudly as she spun to face the massive chakra entity behind her. _

"_**You never asked for it, little Fuu," **__Choumei answered with a rumble that seemed to be a chorus of laughter. _

"_Naruto, how come you knew that his name was Kurama, and how did you know he was called Choumei?" Fuu demanded, turning to face the strangely friendly due of man and bijuu. _

"_I asked__—__" _

"_**And we decided to answer. After all, he did swear to bring peace to the world, starting with the bijuu," **__Choumei answered in Kurama's stead. _

_Kurama nodded in agreement with Choumei and looked to Fuu. __**"We bijuu are always connected. The closer we are to one another the easier it is to talk. I have already told Choumei everything." **_

_**Flashback end**_

Fuu smiled fondly at the memory. Their discussion had lasted hours and had finished with Choumei forming a fist of sorts with one of his insect like legs and touching it to Naruto's. Naruto had explained that with the technique that each of the tailed beasts used on him he could always hear them, as though he was directly linked to each.

He had quickly become saddened and remorseful upon explaining that he had already lost touch with Son Goku, the four-tailed beast. Then he had further explained to her the threat that the organization known as Akatsuki represented directly to her and all of the other jinchuuriki and the beasts within them.

**XXX Time skip: One month later XXX**

"**Naruto! Faster!" **

Once again Naruto flashed past the side by side nine-, eight-, two-, and one-tailed beasts and their respective hosts, minus Gaara. It seemed that the unstable and generally distasteful personality that Shukaku was subject to prevented him from even showing the slightest amount of respect to his host.

Naruto growled in effort at the demanded words of Gyuuki as he focused more effort on purifying Kurama's chakra that he was harnessing to a point where it resembled his own rich chakra more than the bijuu's.

"Naruto-kun, you know what the key to all of this is," Yugito yelled down to him from her perch on Matatabi's snout.

Naruto skidded to a halt, and all eyes finally locked onto his stilled form. "Onee-san, you try running as fast as me then! You can't even see me!" He called up to Yugito.

"**Please excuse Yugito-san, Naruto-kun. She is just jealous," **Matatabi, the fiery cat called politely to Naruto.

Naruto had found it surprisingly easy to adapt to the differences between each of the tailed beasts. After his early years with Kurama, and then meeting Shukaku, he had been worried that all of the tailed beasts would simply be angry and spiteful creatures of immense power.

But he had soon learned that they were simply that way as a result of years upon years of mistreatment at the hands of his own kind. Even then, the tailed beasts had vibrant and entirely unexpected personalities. His first real interaction with a tailed beast in its person of a soothed state was when he had met Shukaku within Gaara's seal.

The single tailed beast was loud, incessant and almost like a spoiled child with too much power. He had absolutely refused to allow Gaara into the mental link that Kurama had dragged Naruto into to speak with the beast, and then it was soon revealed that it also despised Kurama.

Kurama had made a point of insulting Shukaku with a reference to his number of tails, but Naruto had managed to steal the attention back to himself, and Shukaku had listened intently as Naruto spoke of his dreams for the world, and how he wanted there to be peace and equal freedom between the tailed beasts and humanity.

Shukaku's instant reaction had been to scream that Naruto was the one whom the Rikudo sennin had spoken of, and had eventually extended a fist to Naruto. That had been the first time when another tailed beast aside from Kurama had forged a bond of sorts with Naruto.

Naruto had continued to promise Kurama that he would make sure that there was peace, and had even spent hours upon hours trying to get Kurama to reveal his name. Kurama had only yielded the information of the locations of the tailed beasts, and so they had moved on to seek out the three tails.

They had found the bijuu without any issues. Kurama had told Naruto that due to it being without a host its mind was easier to find. The conversation with the creature who gave its name as Isobu had been similar in nature to the one with Shukaku, though it had ended with the creature imparting its chakra to Naruto and rushing back into the mist from which they'd found it.

Apparently the massively powerful entity was shy, and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle about that. Kurama, on the other hand, had been disgusted and reasoned that it had always been like that because he knew all too well how weak he was with only three tails.

"Come on otouto, we all know that with the power of the, _oh so mighty nine tails _you can move even faster than that."

Kurama growled lowly from his end of the line of tailed beasts, he had even made an effort to make sure that he wasn't exactly as close to Gyuuki as the other tailed beasts were to each other.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction of his bijuu companion. Kurama was extremely prideful, and he was not blind to the fact that Yugito enjoyed trying to dig into his pride for a glimmer of humor.

"Yo, yo, yo Narutooo, with the power you wield your speed's yield is whatever you choose to field!"

A collection of sighs passed along all present, human and bijuu alike, at Bee's attempt at giving advice. **"Be quiet, Bee. You make no sense. Naruto, focus on that feeling that you had when you first harnessed Kurama's power," **Gyuuki chastised Bee and advised Naruto.

Naruto looked up into the slitted red eyes of Kurama. The fox huffed out a breath in exasperation and Naruto's golden chakra haori billowed around him. Kurama's lack of verbal response was a 'yes, he is correct,' in Naruto's mind, and Naruto quickly released his hold on the bijuu's chakra and lowered himself into a lotus position on the dappled yellow and gold floor of the mental construct.

The moment that Naruto eased his eyes shut and focused on the sense of joy and love he had felt when he had taken Kurama's chakra his mind instantly turned to his mother, and the fight that had led to him meeting her.

_**Flashback: **_

_Naruto had just lost sight of Kurama behind the wall of flame he spat in the chakra entity's direction. The name itself was astonishing to him. Just minutes earlier when Naruto had approached the cage and told the creature whom he housed that he was finally ready to fight, the fox had uncharacteristically smiled and declared his name. _

_Naruto clenched his fists tighter as a hole was punched through his wall of fire by a bullet of compressed air. Kurama's towering body soon pounced through the opening in the fire. His feral gaze locked onto Naruto, and he flashed forward at a speed that surprised the blonde teen._

'_**Here I come, Naruto. Be ready!" **__Kurama roared as his massive body closed the distance between them._

_Naruto hurriedly flew his hands through a collection of seals. "Earth release: rock creation." Upon the declaration of his technique he directed his open palms at the water-logged floor in front of him. He had learned that practically all earth release techniques relied on being in contact with the earth itself and there were a rare few that would use the user's physical energy to create earth, and these techniques were hugely taxing on the user._

_Naruto had discovered that if he performed such techniques while focusing on his rinnegan powers that he could almost effortlessly create any element. And true to his expectations of the technique, large slabs of rock seemed to grow out of specs of dust and filled the remaining space between him and Kurama. _

_The moment that Kurama's front hand-like paws landed on the surface of the rock Naruto lifted both hands upward. The slabs of rock reflected his motion and raised into the air, destabilizing Kurama's footing. The bijuu struggled forward through the onslaught of Naruto hurling one house sized slab of rock after another. _

_Once again Kurama barked, a mouthful of decompressed air hurtled toward Naruto. Instantly Naruto pushed at the ground below him, and he flew upward, he was forced to promptly drop his rinnegan powers as a building sized paw swiped at him. His ascent halted just in time as Kurama's little fingers razor sharp claw tore one of the tails from Naruto's hitai-ate._

_Acting on his honed instincts Naruto formed one of his black chakra blades and swung it around. It pierced and lodged into Kurama's massive hand, and using his moment of descent Naruto swung his body up and around. He flipped upward and landed on the back of Kurama's hand. _

_The fox swatted at Naruto with his other hand, but upon what would have been deadly contact his hand paused. Kurama growled in effort as he tried to force his hand down against the force that had halted its assault. Between the massive hands, Naruto was crouching with both palms connected to Kurama's topmost hand. He had utilized his gravitational manipulation at the last moment to stop what would have been his imminent death. _

_Naruto roared incoherently in effort as he attempted to drive the attacking hand with his rinnegan. Kurama roared back and poured his chakra down both arms in an attempt to crush Naruto between his hands like a bug. Naruto lowered one of hands, but kept his palm facing Kurama's topmost hand. _

_He focused on channeling one of his secondary rinnegan abilities through his lowered hand. A black arrowhead suddenly shot forward and pierced Kurama's hand, a black chain connecting from the back of it and into Naruto's palm. Kurama howled in pain as the rinnegan constructed weapon tore entirely through his hand and surged up his arm. _

_The fox instantly retracted his arm in an effort to halt the chains progress toward his shoulder and neck. Naruto was wrenched along with Kurama's movement as he kept his palm planted against Kurama's to allow the chain to continue growing. _

_Kurama hissed in frustration as the chain snaked from around his bicep to his neck. His other hand gripped onto the chain and tugged at it, but to no avail as the rinnegan chakra chain held firm and continued to wrap around his neck and constrict. _

_Dangling from his precarious position underneath Kurama's immobilized hand Naruto grinned, Kurama was an entirely offensive fighter, so the chains were the perfect tools to use against him. The chains themselves had taken the full two years of traveling to master. _

_Jiraiya had gone into detail in telling Naruto about all of the techniques that were unique to his parents, and Naruto had become deeply fascinated with Kushina's apparently golden chakra chains that could restrain the full might of the legendary nine-tailed bijuu. _

_So Naruto had committed hours every day to manipulating his chakra, but not once had he yielded any desired results. It was when Tayuya pointed out that he should try doing it with 'those fucking awesome black blades you make' that Naruto had realised how much more simple it would be, and he could probably recreate the technique perfectly. _

_Naruto's mind was abruptly broken from his brief memory when something slammed into his body and sent him flying into one of the walls within the seal. Right before impact with the wall the familiar orangey-red pigment of sage mode formed around his eyes as Naruto soaked up the nature chakra that surrounded his body in the outside world. _

_Naruto impacted the wall and fell toward the floor without a single grunt or groan of pain. With a small splash he landed back on the floor. "Pretty well matched, aren't we, Kurama?" _

"_**Hahaha! Don't get arrogant!" **__the bijuu rebutted, taking a menacing step forward. _

_Naruto was suddenly surrounded by an army of clones, half of which surged toward the bijuu. Three of Kurama's tails lashed around to assault the approaching wave of Narutos. A majority of them flipped, spun, or simply jumped over or around the tails, with a few being reduced to puffs of smoke. _

_The air between the front wave of clones and Kurama was quickly filled with kunai as the approaching one man army hurled their hiraishin-marked weapons. Kurama shifted into a defensive stance and curled his tails around and above him as the Narutos disappeared from their positions and reappeared in varying locations around the fox, each with a man-sized rasengan held in front of them. _

_All of the attacking clones synchronized their attacks perfectly and slammed their spiralling balls of chakra into Kurama at the same moment. The towering bijuu was sent flying away from Naruto's assault, but he was offered no reprieve as the clones simply followed in his wake. _

_As the clones once again formed their giant rasengans, Kurama rolled back to his hands and feet and splayed his tails around him. His massive body became a red blur as he flew into a spinning mass, his splayed out tails catching the clones and destroying them in billowing clouds of smoke._

_The other half of the army of Narutos that had been waiting for their turn burst through the smoke and clung to Kurama's body. A web of chains burst from each of them and interlocked all over him, entirely restricting his movement. _

_Kurama angled his head downward and looked at the clones he could see clinging to his arms with their chains, his fanged mouth forming a smirk before his maw split and globules of energy began converging into one massive ball. From a distance away the original Naruto watched on in fascination as the ball continued to expand until it almost rivalled the size of the bijuu itself. _

_Kurama seemed to reach a happy conclusion about the ball and snapped his maw shut and angled the top of his head at it in preparation. As the black ball of condensed chakra wobbled mid-air Naruto connected the dots of what the attack must be. He lowered himself onto a knee and prepared to stave off the blast that he was sure his clones wouldn't survive. _

_True to his prediction, the massive black ball cracked open, and an explosive detonation followed. Naruto raised an arm as the shockwave hit him, and he was faintly aware of seeing Kurama himself get thrown back from the explosion. He grunted in effort as he stood up against the still ongoing explosive wave. With a grunt of effort, he rushed forward into the mist created from the heat contacting the watery surface of the seal. _

_Naruto rushed after the towering chakra signature that belonged to Kurama. Naruto reached one of the bijuu's massive tails before finding the bulk of his body. He hurriedly reached out and grasped onto Kurama's chakra with his own before he started trudging backward, away from the beast. _

_As Naruto felt Kurama beginning to shift he formed three clones, each quickly set about the process of forming his screeching rasenshuriken. Kurama's exhalation cleared the mist around him as he sat upright. _

"_**Naruto!" **__He growled out angrily. A part of him couldn't believe that he was, in fact, being beaten by this human, but he couldn't deny the thrill it was giving him as Naruto affirmed his suspicions about being the person about whom Rikudo sennin had spoken. _

"_Above you," the Naruto dragging his chakra from his body out of the three before him called. _

_Instinct guided Kurama to look upward at Naruto's guidance, and he was met with the sight of another Naruto speeding toward him with a monstrously sized rasenshuriken held above his head. The clone whipped his body forward mid-air and hurled the technique. _

_Kurama growled in anger but simply raised his arms in front of his face to attempt to stave off damage. The spinning mass of chakra slammed into his arms and picked him up like a toy and tossed him aside, leaving a vast majority of his chakra in his wake for Naruto to pull into his body without the added resistance that Kurama's will provided. _

"_**You'll have to do better than that!" **__Kurama roared throatily as he once again rolled onto his front and began to take menacing steps back toward Naruto. _

"_We know!" One of his clones yelled back enthusiastically. _

_Kurama couldn't tell which clone had said it since the two that remained were so closely placed, with one shrouded in lightning chakra spinning around, and the other held in his grasp with a fiery rasengan held clutched close to his chest between both hands. _

_The rasengan-wielding one became a blur of red light as the lightning-cloaked clone increased the speed of his spin, and abruptly he released his brethren clone. The thrown clone shot forward like a missile with his expanding fire release rasengan extended before him. _

_Kurama didn't even have a moment to attempt to dodge as the clone impacted his mid-chest with the same force as the rasenshuriken. It was the fiery detonation of the rasengan that hurled Kurama further back into the cage within the seal, and completely out of the shroud of his chakra. _

_Naruto smiled at the result as Kurama's chakra held its original shape and likeness for a moment before it rushed forward and absorbed into his body. His smile quickly washed from his face, and his eyes grew wide at the sensation of despair that washed through him. _

"_**Haha! Beating me means beating my chakra as well, little human," **__Kurama taunted from his sprawled out position deeper in the cage. _

_Naruto felt as though he was standing within a cage of depthless pain, it swirled around him and hate crept through his heart. "What is this?" He asked blankly. _

"_**The rage of a bijuu! Do you think you can cure this hate?" **__Kurama replied with a firm smirk. A moment passed of Naruto not replying while the deep scarlet of a bijuu cloak began to slowly wash over him. Kurama couldn't help but frown at this, he wanted Naruto to succeed, but he certainly didn't want to make it easy for him. Naruto would have to earn everything in his life. _

"_Sochi? Don't be afraid, you have people who love you who will always try to protect you." _

_Naruto looked around with a dim expression for the source of the feminine voice. Kurama was the one to answer Naruto's unasked question. "__**Kushina!" **__He was entirely unable to forget the voice of his previous host. He had despised Kushina. Her seal was by far the worst, and her own usage of chakra chains within it had caused him anger every single day as he'd constantly be pinned to a massive rock. _

_Suddenly Naruto's mind wasn't within his own seal, and he found himself waking up in a glimmering golden space. He became aware of a set of hands cradling his face and the feeling of his head being in someone's lap. _

"_My little Naruto-kun," the sweet feminine voice cooed._

_Naruto moved to sit up, but one of the hands shifted to his forehead and firmly, yet softly, held him down. _

"_Shhh, sochi, you're safe in here, the kyuubi can't hurt you in here." _

_Finally Naruto fully opened his eyes and scanned the woman above him. She was wearing a remarkably regular looking dress, and had waist-length red hair that was pooling around his own face as she looked down at him. Their eyes met, and a smile came unbidden to Naruto's face. "Kaa-san." _

_She smiled in response, and Naruto surged up into her arms. Naruto wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her as firmly to his chest as he could manage. She wheezed for breath in response, but made an effort to hug him back just as fiercely._

"_So, what do you say about having some help to beat that fox?" she asked breathlessly as Naruto released her from the tight embrace._

"_Kurama? It's just his chakra that's the problem."_

"_Kurama? Kyuubi's name is Kurama?" Kushina asked back with a raised eyebrow. _

"_Uhuh," Naruto shot back with a smile. _

"_He never told me his name…" Kushina sighed despondently, her eyes turning downward in a depressed expression. _

"_To be fair, kaa-san, I think I'm the only one he's ever told." _

"_Oh, and what's so special about you?" she taunted back with a glimmer in her eye. _

_Naruto smiled softly and pointed a finger to his eyes. _

"_Please, they might be rare, but they don't make you special!" Kushina rebutted to his unspoken answer. _

_Naruto opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to answer, but settled for just giving his mother a questioning look. _

"_Who raised you, Naruto-kun?" _

"_Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Itachi, that was after I left the orphanage." _

_Kushina scowled immediately in response, neither she, nor Minato had time to leave instructions about Naruto, but having made Jiraiya his godfather she at least expected him to try and raise Naruto from the get go, and at the very least she expected Hiruzen to take the reins._

_But she had never considered the possibility of Mikoto taking care of her son. "Do you love them?" _

_Naruto looked at her questioningly, and then shot a saddened expression at her clenched hands. "I loved them, and I love you and tou-san."_

_A gentle smile claimed Kushina's face. "'Loved'? Did they do something?" _

"_Mikoto is dead, and Itachi is out in the world committing crimes to try and save everyone." Naruto frowned back immediately. "But I love them just as much as I love you and tou-san."_

_Kushina smiled and once again pulled Naruto in for a hug, "Then I don't see why you need any help with Kurama's chakra. I heard that they started out completely different that they only became hateful after we started sealing them." _

_Naruto gave her a questioning look while receiving the hug wholeheartedly. _

"_Just focus on what you love, focus on what you want to bring to the world. I didn't get to raise you, but I know that you dream of peace," Kushina quietly whispered into his ear through their comforting embrace. _

"_I want to know everything about you, kaa-san," Naruto hurriedly blurted. _

_She separated her body from his and smiled pleasantly at him, "Of course you do, I'm awesome, dattebane!" _

"_But we'll deal with Kurama first, then I'll tell you," Kushina interrupted Naruto beginning to open his mouth to talk. _

_He cleared the smile from his face and gave her a firm nod, and a moment later they were once again in the seal. Kurama was still sprawled out and staring at Naruto with an amazed expression across his face, and the water was still splashing violently from their clash. It seemed as though while being in Kushina's chakra, the flow of time within Naruto's seal froze, or at least slowed considerably. _

_Naruto smiled, despite the feeling of despair that rushed through his chest, as his mother's hands settled firmly on both his shoulders, and she affectionately sat her chin atop his messy locks. "Your tou-san and I have faith in you, and our love will always be with you, there will never be too much pain or hate for you to handle." _

_Naruto nodded firmly, and smiled at Kurama, "Now I understand how your hate feels, but..."_

_His gaze turned toward the water below him and his expression shifted to a focused one, before shifting back to a small smile. "But, there are so many things in this world to love, and to live for, and I'll purify your chakra so that you can see the same things!" _

_The last tendrils of Kurama's fiery golden chakra that flowed through the air suddenly rushed into Naruto's body, and he flashed into a bright golden form, similar to how he had managed to purify the potent chakra the first time that he had used it in Wave. Though Naruto immediately noted that it was much more advanced, evolved as a chakra haori floated around his and his mother's bodies and the seal designs stayed imprinted across him. _

"_**Naruto."**_

"_Naruto," Kushina and Kurama chorused together. _

_Kurama pulled himself back into a forward-sitting position on his front two arms and lowered his head to his host. His massive maw split into a smile and his clenched fist moved forward to meet Naruto's. _

"_**I wonder what the old man would think of this." **_

_Behind Naruto, Kushina changed her posture and instead chose to wrap her arms around her sons glowing body in a warm embrace. She set her chin on his shoulder and smiled as Naruto stretched out his own arm in response to Kurama's actions. The moment that Kurama's and Naruto's fists met all action halted, and Naruto and his unexpected friend shared a moment of understanding through their connected fists. _

"_**He'd probably think that it's about time you showed up. Now you can show the world what you can do with the power of the greatest of the bijuu."**_

_Naruto couldn't help but smirk at Kurama as he nodded. Not one of the other bijuu seemed to be fond of Kurama in the slightest, and they all came back to the common reasoning of it being how Kurama insisted that the number of tails was directly related to the strength possessed by a bijuu. _

_But following back legends of the tailed beasts had lead Naruto into silently agreeing with Kurama. It seemed that he was, in fact, the strongest amongst his kind. _

"_How about I tell you everything that you want to know now, Naruto-kun?" Kushina asked softly from his shoulder. She didn't know all that much about how Minato had inserted her chakra into Naruto at the moment of the sealing of Kurama, but she could bet that any information gleaned from her current state in her chakra form that her original soul would never get to access it. _

_The thought saddened her, but she took comfort in the fact that she would be bringing her son happiness._

_**X**_

_In the world outside of Naruto's seal, the gathered nin watched his stilled form with a variation of amazed expressions. Although none of them had had direct access to the fight between Naruto and Kurama, they could practically track the pace of the fight through signs that Naruto had been giving off. _

_All the way from the formation of the pigment around his eyes, to a black metallic chain falling loosely from his palm, finally to his body beginning its shift into the aggravated state of an uncontrolled bijuu transformation, which had been quickly stopped when the red cloak had exploded outward and had left him as a torch of golden chakra. _

"_I am amazed that he could overcome the kyuubi's chakra like that without the falls of truth," Yugito stated in amazement. _

_Bee slapped a large hand roughly onto her shoulder, making her growl in annoyance. "You all know the force that weeeee little Narutooo has inside is like the brightness of the sun, we should not be surprised that he overtook the power of the nine!" _

_Yugito, Tayuya and Jiraiya all grimaced at Bee's appalling rap, despite it being correct to a degree. Tayuya put mental effort into not replying with an insult. She had learned that if she tried to shut the rapping jinchuuriki up that he would simply retort with an equally bad, or worse, rap. Which would lead to her anger growing, and then upon attacking him she would be restrained easily by his usage of tentacles, which had freaked the redhead out to a considerable degree. _

"_Anyway, we'd better go. Raikage-sama has been getting suspicious of our disappearances over the past few weeks. Please make sure that Naruto-kun knows that we're proud of him," Yugito smiled to Jiraiya as she reached out and shook his hand with a firm grip._

_Weeks earlier, both she and Bee had been given urgent prompting from their partnered bijuu to go meet up with Naruto and his traveling companions at the border of Frost country and Lightning country, and had routinely been coming back and forward between Kumo since to train with their fellow jinchuuriki._

"_And you, angry little girl, keep the brat in line," Yugito continued on, this time facing a scowling Tayuya with a smirk of her own. _

"_If he does something wrong, I'll cut his balls off and make him eat them!" _

_Yugito chuckled, what made it funnier to her was that Tayuya was undoubtedly serious. "He said he has a girlfriend back in Konoha, I don't think that she'd appreciate that," Yugito chided. _

_Tayuya's scowl vanished as she laughed hysterically, once again giving way to showing that she was no doubt thinking of some form of crude humor to do with either Naruto or his girlfriend. Yugito just smiled and shook her head. She once again gave a polite smile and bow to Jiraiya before turning and dashing back toward her home village. _

_In contrast to Yugito's polite and pleasant exchange between Naruto's traveling companions, Bee simply extended his fist and bumped it against Jiraiya's. "Yo, old man, you look after nine, or eight will make you faint."_

_Jiraiya just smiled and nodded to the strange jinchuuriki. _

_Bee turned his attention to Tayuya as he shifted the direction of his fist to face hers. She slammed her much smaller fist into his forcefully. Bee beamed at her and boomed in laughter. "Nine sure chose fine to have this dime as his sis." _

_Before Tayuya had a chance to react, or pre-empt his movements, Bee withdrew his fist slightly and punched it back into hers. She was sent tumbling backward from the force Bee had sent through her body, and she cried out in indignation. Her cry was merely met with his fading laughter as he dashed after his fellow Kumo shinobi. _

_**Flashback end**_

Naruto flashed his eyes open with a grin and rose back to his feet. The tailed beasts, Yugito, and Bee each watched him carefully as once again his golden veil of chakra surrounded him, his haori floated up around his shoulders as he concentrated on focusing Kurama's-turned-his chakra.

And then he was gone. All eyes except for Kurama's narrowed at Naruto's disappearance as the blonde lowered himself back into the lotus position atop his head unbeknownst to all the others present due to his extreme speed. Naruto bit back laughter as he looked to his left and saw Bee and Yugito atop Matatabi and Gyouki scanning the golden mindscape around them to try and discern Naruto's golden form from the surroundings.

Naruto already caught the beginning of Matatabi and Gyuuki turning their large eyes toward him. Acting quickly, Naruto suppressed the feeling of his chakra as much as he could and once again vanished from his perch, this time coming to a halt atop Matatabi's head and wrapping his arms around Yugito's mid-section and hefting her into the air in a playful hug.

"Fast enough, onee-san?" Naruto whispered into Yugito's ear.

Yugito gasped in fright at Naruto's instantaneous presence, and Bee caught on a moment later with a bout of laughter.

"Damn you're an ass!" Yugito snapped aggressively as she swatted at his hands holding her to his chest.

Naruto released his hold of his recently-acquired sister figure and flashed back to Kurama's head, where he'd left a convenient hiraishin seal.

"**It seems that the container of the **_**mighty two tails **_**cannot fathom that Naruto could harness my power to actually do what you thought he couldn't," **Kurama rumbled out in mocking laughter.

"Yo nine, that power is mighty fine! Little two looks like she's havin' a poo."

Naruto and Kurama both sneered in disgust at the hachibi jinchuuriki, before Yugito herself caught onto his words, and her anger-fuelled blush deepened, and she pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Shut up, Bee! We're meant to be comrades, why aren't you backing me up?"

Bee set his hands on his head and looked from Naruto and Kurama quizzically to Matatabi and Yugito, "Yo two? What did you do to make Yugito so mentally blue?"

"**I apologize for Yugito-san, she still has too much pride, so it angers her that Naruto-san has been able to exceed expectations," **Matatabi explained matter-of-factly in her strangely polite manner.

Yugito took a deep calming breath and smiled sweetly at Naruto past Bee. This put both the males present on edge. Bee had a long-standing friendship with Yugito, and she was an extremely down-to-business person. The fact that she was as playful as she was with Naruto was something for him to gawk at, but he also knew that to see her smile so sweetly meant that pain was coming.

Yugito opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as another towering figure materialized out of the golden haze around them.

"**Naruto, Fuu is waiting for you attention, and her persistent patience and her strange thoughts are disrupting me. I would prefer if you would attend her," **Choumei drawled flatly in his resonating voice.

Naruto smiled at Bee, Yugito, and all of the tailed beasts. "Well that's my call, I guess I'll see you guys next time. Ja ne, Yugi-neechan."

"See ya bro and mighty nine," Bee called.

Both Naruto and Kurama instantly faded from the golden mental construct that the bijuu shared, and Naruto eased his eyes open slowly. He was met with the same sight that he'd lain down to in the field below the towering tree that dominated the centre of Taki as the evening sunlight dappled his body.

He slowly looked to his right, and saw Fuu sitting cross-legged hardly a meter away, with a pleasant smile on her face. It instantly brought a feeling of warmth to Naruto's heart. After he, Jiraiya, and Tayuya had arrived in Taki from having navigated the complicated caves and rivers they had immediately sought out Shibuki, the timid leader of Taki.

The man had immediately pointed them to the location that Fuu would likely be and then requested that they go about their business and that there would be no troubles for their stay in Taki. So while walking through the village, both Naruto and his sensei had made an effort to ask several store clerks and passers-by where they might find the jinchuuriki girl.

It became all too clear that she was generally hated but that had not stalled their efforts in finding her as Naruto first entered his Kurama-empowered state to find the host of the seven-tailed bijuu. And then while walking he had drawn upon the nature chakra around them to narrow their search to a precise location.

Of course they had found her, and their first meeting had been awkward and tense. But as everyone did, she warmed up to Naruto over time. So for Naruto seeing her smile so pleasantly at him, he couldn't help but return the happy expression. It truly made him happy to know that he had managed to bring some brightness to someone whose life was otherwise filled with scorn, distaste, and hate.

"Choumei does actually like to look out for you, at least a little. I have to wonder how long you would have waited for me to come back?"

Fuu's smile spread further across her face and her dark tan skin reddened in a blush. "I would have waited forever, for my special man."

Naruto smiled sadly at her in response. But refusing to give up, the girl pounced onto him and straddled his waist with a playful laugh. If Naruto wasn't already involved with Ino, then he would certainly have no qualms in taking Fuu up on her desire for a relationship.

He had mulled over the same thoughts about Tayuya for a while during the start of their second year together, but it hadn't taken him long to cast the thoughts aside and laugh them off mentally. Tayuya and he shared an extremely close friendship that bordered on a sibling relationship, and they both knew that they were at least distantly related through their clan.

Naruto's mind wandered back to reality as Fuu squeezed his sides with her legs and jabbed him in the ribs with a finger. "What are you thinking about?"

Naruto suddenly reached up and pulled Fuu against his body, "Fuu-chan, we have to leave soon, why can't you come with us?"

Fuu relaxed into the embrace that was slightly awkward for her from her position of straddling his waist. "I wouldn't be a very good kunoichi if I ran away from a threat, and I want to do what you did, and prove to Choumei that I'll do anything to be his friend."

"You can prove it to him in other ways, and think of it as a tactical retreat. There's no high ground for you here. Sensei and I already know that there were some Akatsuki members who came through here last year and left without an issue," Naruto rebuked and sharply pushed her up from his body so that he could look her in the eye.

Naruto's blue-ringed eyes met her orange irises as he waited for her to respond. When a few seconds passed, and she showed no sign of speaking Naruto started again passionately. "If Akatsuki comes and goes without issue then that means that they got what they wanted, and they want you!"

"I can fight them off when they come for me!" she argued back hotly. "I refuse to run away!"

"Fuu," Naruto sighed in a mixture of frustration and sadness. "I only know of four members of Akatsuki, two of whom I am sure do not want to fight, but if they ever do then I'm sad to say that you would lose."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"One of them was my first sensei, the other one helped me a while back, but she was so strong, I could feel it, and I can still remember her presence."

Fuu frowned at this but held her guard against the information and pressed on. "What about the other two?"

Naruto sighed in frustration. He had learned that Fuu was exceedingly stubborn, much like himself in that regard, but she was more disproportionate with her stubbornness. "One of them used to be one of Kiri's swordsmen. He uses a sword that can eat your chakra, and is an S-ranked shinobi. The other one we don't know much about. He might be Uchiha Madara, but he is an Uchiha, and he attacked Konoha the day that I was born. He is no ordinary shinobi."

Fuu reflected Naruto's earlier action and sighed in frustration before leaning forward again, this time propping her forehead on his.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Mmhmm?" He sighed back as he closed his eyes and focused on simply enjoying the proximity. A part of him knew that he shouldn't even remotely think about it, but another part of him was screaming that he should at least grant Fuu a measure of what she wanted.

"Every time I think of you my heart beats faster, and I blush, and, and_—_" she paused her speech and affectionately rubbed her nose against his as a tear slipped from between her closed eye lid and ran down Naruto's face. "_—_And I'm sure that I love you."

"Fuu, yo_—_"

Naruto's words were muffled as Fuu closed the small space that had parted their lips as she mashed her own against his. Her tongue immediately sought out his, and she instinctively rolled her hips over his groin. Naruto growled in the back of his throat in enjoyment and slid his hands up her arms before tracing the length of her body until they settled on her hips.

Fuu whimpered slightly as their lips parted for a moment and she once again rolled her hips, pushing her excited but still dressed core against Naruto's identical state. This time it was Naruto who closed the space between their mouths that were still connected by a string of saliva.

Fuu's choice in such sparse clothing quickly aroused Naruto further as he slipped his hands underneath the waist band of her small white skirt, short mesh shorts, and panties in one go. One hand continued around to her left buttock, which he gave a squeeze of appreciation while the other quickly went between her legs to the source of the heat that had been pressing against his hardening manhood.

The mint-haired girl whimpered in pleasure and broke off their passionate lip lock as Naruto gently rubbed her excited clitoris. "Mmm, yes Naruto-kun!"

Naruto hardly considered any of her words, or his own actions, just his and her equal states of excited and spontaneous arousal. He chose that moment to reach down a little lower and inserted his middle finger through her hot and wet folds. She gasped at the intrusion into her body and bit her lip to subdue her mounting moans while grasping at Naruto's jacket feebly.

Naruto pushed his finger in further and withdrew it before plunging it back in all while slightly shifting his hand left to right at his wrist to stimulate her clit at the same time with the ball of his palm. _'Kami, now I know why Jiraiya-sensei is such a pervert! I can't wait to do this with Ino-chan.' _

The moment that the thought rolled through his mind he froze. He ignored the distinctive booming laughter that Kurama sent through their shared link and gently pulled his finger from Fuu's folds, and then his hand from her underwear.

Fuu immediately caught the uneasy expression on her fellow jinchuuriki's face and once again rolled her hips against his to try and get him back on track with his previous excitement.

"Fuu, I can't do this, I have a girlfriend."

She once again rolled her hips against his and looked imploringly into his eyes. "Please, Naruto? I'll do anything that you want me to do!" At this, she grabbed his hand that had been toying with her folds and wrapped her lips around his middle finger that had been beginning to explore her depths.

Naruto just reached up and wrapped both his arms around her body and pulled her close once again, before rolling to his right so they could lay comfortably on their sides in the thick grass beneath Taki's renowned main tree. The new position unhinged Fuu's leg lock on Naruto's body and left her simply lying side by side with him.

"You're so beautiful, Fuu-chan," Naruto sighed softly as his eyes searched hers. Silent tears began rolling from her eyes as he continued, "And if I was single I would be with you in a moment. You're talented, smart, and strong. But I'm still in a relationship, and I could never cheat on someone."

The two simply stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Fuu sighed as well and eased her eyes shut, before pulling her face into the crook of his neck. "I understand, Naruto-kun. I know that you'll be leaving soon, can you just hold me? Maybe add a few more happy memories to my life."

Naruto just nodded and more comfortably positioned himself with his arms around her smaller frame, his own eyes easing shut to block off the dappled light that the late afternoon sun was casting through the tree. He blocked off all the sounds around him, and erected a mental barrier of sorts to ignore the distant yelling that he was sure belonged to his sensei and Tayuya.

The two truly didn't get along well, but when it came down to it, Naruto knew Jiraiya cared for Tayuya as a student and a friend. And Tayuya cared for him back out of appreciation for all he'd done for her. Their fights wouldn't ever escalate to a point of actual destructive force.

With that thought in mind, Naruto attempted to put himself to sleep. Neither he nor Fuu had to worry about such simple matters as the cold, both of them being jinchuuriki gave them resounding resilience to such things, and it took truly frightening weather of any extreme to put them off.

'_I wonder what Ino-chan is doing at the moment,' _Naruto thought absently.

**XXX With Ino XXX**

"Sakura, what's the big deal?" Ino asked of her pink-haired friend as she sat gracefully on the edge of her bed while Sakura sifted through Ino's closet. Ino had physically changed the most out of the two. Whilst Sakura had no doubt physically matured, she still wore generally the same style of clothing.

As had Ino, though on her it almost seemed entirely different due to the robust growth in her curves. It had made her the picture of luscious and exotic beauty that many associated with kunoichi. Sakura had seemingly missed out on such development, at least at this stage, and wore clothes that attempted to hide this fact.

"Tenten-san and Temari-san invited us out to get some drinks with them, so we're going," Sakura explained without turning from Ino's dresser. With a clank of a wooden latch Sakura abandoned the part of Ino's dresser that housed her various casual clothing choices and invaded one of her drawers.

"What the?" Sakura declared abruptly as the first thing she drew out of the draw was a nimble purple thong. She held it up with a blush on her face and turned slightly to Ino.

Ino blushed a bright red in response and called on all of her kunoichi skills as she flashed from her seated position and snatched her provocative underwear from Sakura's annoyingly prying hands.

"Umm, Ino-san," Sakura started carefully. She, Ino, and Tenten often discussed boys, or more accurately she and Ino did while Tenten laughed at them. But Sakura had never gone further than the discussing and dreamy phase. "Why do you have, ahhh... Such... Uhmm... Ahh... Well, slutty panties?"

Sakura's choice in words only worsened the blushes that the two wore, and she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Ino just sighed and shoved Sakura away from her dresser, before returning her underwear to its drawer and closing it swiftly.

"Every time I think of Naruto-kun I get a little, well, you know…" Ino whispered, and both girls blushed slightly at the implied meaning. "So I really wanted to get something that would turn him on when he came back."

Sakura's eyes glazed over at the thought, and a flush of heat shot through her body. _'No, bad Sakura! Don't think of Naruto-kun that way. He'd never dump Ino unless she did something majorly wrong.' _

Sakura dropped her train of thought, and did her best to wipe the last five minutes of memory from her mind as she grabbed Ino's wrist and started for the door. "Whatever, you're just coming out like this then!"

Ino stopped attempting to protest and just followed after her childhood friend through her family home. It almost unnerved her how comfortable Sakura was in barging through people's homes, but neither one of her parents seemed to mind as they rushed passed her mother arranging a bouquet of flowers in the kitchen, and almost knocked over her father as he held open the front door for them.

"Stay safe, Ino-chan."

Ino turned her head slightly and sent a weak smile back to her father who was on the verge of laughter at the entrance to their home. It wasn't one hundred percent home to Ino anymore, not since her father had decided to forego the development on the Yamanaka flower shop that would have extended its floor space to upstairs as well, and instead converted the space into an apartment for Ino.

The Yamanaka clan was a generally outgoing one, and whilst many of them did live in their clan's sector it wasn't uncommon for any of them to spread out through Konoha general.

"Where are we going?" Ino asked her friend's back. She looked to where Sakura still had a firm grip on her wrist, and sighed under her breath.

"Hashi's Dreams."

Ino raised an eyebrow at Sakura's cheerful answer. Hashi's Dreams was a fairly new bar. In fact, it had only opened a few weeks after Naruto's departure. It had shot up through the ranks of bars and clubs in popularity as its vibrant setting seemed to capture the feeling of a powerful clan compound with a party inside.

Though what surprised Ino most about the choice in the bar was that its quickly developing secondary reputation was of it being practically a brothel. Not in regular terms of it being a place where people went to hire out sexual services. It was just her take on how people would so easily give away their bodies to other people they met there.

"Sakura, are you trying to hook up with someone or something?" Ino asked softly.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders without slowing, "Ehh, I guess whatever happens, happens. I think it was more Tenten and Temari who are looking for that."

"Oh?" Ino questioned while following in her friend's wake.

"Tenten said that Lee-san was never and option and that Neji-san is way too uptight to ever even try, and that the only guy she knew she would go for would be Naruto-kun_—_"

"What?" Ino objected.

"You didn't let me finish," Sakura continued. "Buuut, she said that she loves Naruto-kun like a brother, so that was off the table for her, so she wanted to try going out and meeting someone."

"Oh," Ino blushed in response to her jump in logic. "What about Temari-san? Doesn't she have any kind of boyfriend back in Suna?"

"Ahh, I think she said that guys there are afraid of her," Sakura laughed out nervously.

"Doesn't Shikamaru like her?"

"Apparently them always hanging out is all business with the whole 'ambassador to the villages' thing, so Temari wanted to try something on the side here," Sakura stated.

"And? What's your story?" Ino laughed back as they swiftly approached the entertainment center of Konoha. Everyone knew how Sakura's borderline obsession with Sasuke had been back in the academy, and during their early genin days when Naruto had still been in the village the teams hadn't intermingled all that much. So everyone was still of the opinion that Sakura was obsessed with Sasuke. That opinion had only been reinforced the day that the retrieval team had been sent out, and she had made Naruto promise to bring him back.

"You've got Naruto-kun to scratch your itch, eventually at least," the pinkette bluntly answered.

Ino blushed again, but kept her mouth shut as Sakura continued.

"But I don't…"

Ino wasn't entirely sure exactly how to think of Sakura's finishing words as they continued on in silence. She quickly figured that she was looking too deeply into it, and opted for trying to liven her mood for the night that she was no doubt going to be forced to enjoy.

**X**

Ino's initial thought on the club that she had assumed would be more like a bar was that it was disgusting. The large room was dimly lit and tightly packed, the floor was slick with some kind of liquid that she hadn't wanted to investigate, and people were hardly even half-drunk but were acting as though they had been drinking non-stop all day.

And for reasons that were not entirely known to her, perhaps her desire to fit in, she too had started behaving in the same way shortly after Sakura had goaded her into having a few drinks and attempting to chat up a few guys with her. But 'chat up a few guys' had turned into them coming onto the four girls extremely quickly, and Ino wasn't at all sure whom they were in the dim room.

All she recalled was Temari calling one a pig, kneeing him in the gut and walking out, and Tenten slapping another for good measure and following after the Suna kunoichi. Tenten's attitude for the entire night had hinted that she had only really come in hopes of seeing a massive fight break out, something along the lines of her wanting to test out a pinpoint weapons scroll technique that neither Lee, Neji, nor Guy could help her with.

But the only rational thoughts that were currently running through Ino's mind was that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn't fathom why she had done nothing to stop the random guy's sexual advances, or why she had returned them. She grunted uncomfortably again as he pressed her back up against the wall harder and readjusted her legs around his waist as he thrust into her again.

Ino didn't quite understand. Despite being a virgin, she had expected sex to be more pleasurable. The man who entered her previously untouched womanhood minutes earlier certainly seemed as though he was getting a lot of pleasure out of it, but Ino only felt him moving inside of her as though it was nothing, and her thoughts were locked onto the feeling of pleasure that she wanted.

Yet again his hips collided with her body with a soft slap, which along with Ino's following grunt of discomfort, were both drowned out in the noise of the club around them. Another part of her code of ethics swished through her mind, and pointed out how wrong of her it was to be having sex in a public space, even if it was poorly lit, and it was so crowded that no one actually had any idea what anyone else was doing.

"Uhh, fuck you're tight," The man growled into her neck before latching his lips on.

Ino didn't respond verbally as her eyes closed, instead choosing to roll her hips in an attempt to give herself as much pleasure as he was seemingly getting. She opened her eyes again as he nibbled on the soft skin around her neck, and a sudden rush of excitement went through her when she saw his hair.

Her excitement came crashing down when she realised that it wasn't blonde, but some dark shade hard to distinguish in the dark. One of the passing bright lights had merely made it appear blonde for a moment. The thought of the blonde haired teen whom she was in love with only fuelled her thinking that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself even to attempt to disengage her body from his.

"Fuck, I'm cumming!"

At this Ino did manage to make herself speak as she pushed her arms between their bodies and warned, "Not inside!"

He seemed to at least respect her integrity to that extent as he withdrew himself from her, dropped her onto the floor and pushed her down to her knees. The rush of movement had Ino following his lead without thought, and before she knew it she felt several successive hot splashes impact her left cheek, nose, and lips.

"INO-PIG?"

Ino leaned to her left to look past the mans legs, and saw Sakura with her hands cupped around her mouth calling her name loudly over the music. Ino hurriedly moved back behind the man's legs to hide herself while she reached below her skirt and straightened her panties.

She stood up in a rush, and found the man turning and walking away. "Thanks for that," he stated flatly.

In that moment, Ino felt more horrible than she had ever felt in her life. She had done something so wrong, and to this man it was seemingly just a seemingly simple and meaningless act.

"There you are!"

For the second time that night Sakura grabbed Ino's wrist and dragged her along after her. Ino quickly identified that the direction Sakura was dragging her in was the exit, and she vaguely realized that there was something she was forgetting in her haste to escape the club with Sakura.

Before she knew it both her and Sakura were surrounded by the chilly night time air of Konoha, and the loud music of the club was reduced to a dull thrumming from within the clubs almost soundproof walls.

"Well that place was a dump," Sakura started distastefully as she turned to her friend. "There were so many sleazebag_—_" Sakura halted as she saw Ino's face, and the aftereffects of her actions, in the dim evening light.

Sakura's expression froze, and then she frowned, and then sneered. Ino took a moment to realize the detail that she had forgotten to hide from her friend, and she quickly pulled up her short purple crop top to wipe the man's release from her skin.

"Ino! What the hell is wrong with you?" Sakura demanded.

"I... It... Well_—_"

"Did you fuck someone?" the angry pink haired girl followed up. "It was that man at the end, wasn't it? What the hell!"

Ino quickly shifted to the defensive. "Well you're the one who dragged me out here! It's not like I wanted to come out here just to fuck some random guy, you made me do it!"

"Pig! Do you even know what the hell you just said? As much as I realize Naruto-kun deserves someone better than you, I'd never make you cheat on him so he'd realize it!" Sakura screamed into her friends face.

Ino followed up with a hefty slap that sent Sakura into the dirt. Sakura rubbed her offended left cheek and rose back to her feet, glaring at Ino with a venomous expression. "I can't believe how that Anko woman pegged you perfectly back then."

After a moment of holding each other's heated glares, Sakura turned and began walking away into the night. "When Naruto-kun gets back if you don't tell him, I will," the pinkette called before quickening her pace and vanishing from sight.

Ino slowly began to walk back in the direction of her apartment; she knew that if she returned to her parents' home that they would see the guilt written all over her. Not to mention her state of mess.

**XXX With Konan XXX**

Konan's blue hair settled softly back into its former position as she came to a deft landing on a rooftop. During her trip to Taki she had been forced to use her wings more than she expected she would be, or at least that's what she convinced herself to be the truth.

It would have taken her far longer to reach Taki by way of navigating their rivers and caves. Flying had undoubtedly been the most direct route, and if she had come here of her own volition she was sure she would be enjoying it. The Land of Waterfalls and their hidden village were extremely beautiful and scenic.

But she was here with the task, the duty, of collecting Fuu, the jinchuuriki of the seven-tailed beast. Over the past two and a half years she had put a lot of effort into performing at least small tasks for Nagato that could be seen to be affectionate on a personal level, but months earlier she had given up on her efforts to reignite the flame that had once burnt so strongly within him.

He had given her the compliment of being a powerful shinobi, and then had proceeded to say that she was his weapon as all shinobi were merely weapons. Upon the request of the Tsuchikage, Konan had been selected to embody Akatsuki's mercenary services.

It had been a slaughter, in her favor as she wiped out a platoon of Suna shinobi who had been running the borders of the Land of Earth and killing any Iwa people that they could find. The only reason that Konan had proceeded to kill them was because they were doing the wrong thing themselves.

But she had come across both of Iwa's jinchuuriki by pure chance, and the opportunity to talk to other jinchuuriki was too great for her to ignore. Roshi and Han, the two Iwa tailed beast hosts, had explained that they had also been sent to make sure the Suna nin were dealt with.

Konan had noticed their apprehension and asked them of their reasons for making an effort to stall their journey back to Iwa. They predictably replied that due to their status they were not welcome as human beings. But Roshi had been the first to brighten up as he spoke of knowing someone who would change everything across the land.

Konan's curiosity and interest had spiked, and she had tried to explore the subject with the man, but his comrade had butted in and told her that it was not their place to speak of someone else's dreams so openly.

So now Konan was in Taki, her curiosity still piqued, and her hopes rising at the thought of perhaps gleaning anything new from Fuu. In the back of her mind she felt guilty for the thought, since Roshi and Han had already been captured and their tailed beasts sealed.

Apparently after Kisame and Itachi had entered Iwa and requested the two Jinchuuriki be handed over to them Oonoki had done just that. And here she was in Taki with the intent of taking Fuu back with her.

But Konan reasoned that there was nothing she could do. If she bided her time then an opportunity may arise where she could stop the destruction that Akatsuki was causing, but for now she had to follow her orders, no matter how much she despised them.

She turned her head left and right, looking for the place where Zetsu had explained the Taki jinchuuriki was likely to be. As she looked to her right, she saw the towering tree for which Taki was well known. Konan skipped off the edge of the rooftop and landed softly on the pavement of the street below.

Several heads turned her way, but upon seeing the pattern of her cloak they went back to their own business without a care for her purpose there. Konan couldn't help but shake her head at that as she set about walking toward the tree and its sheltered fields at a brisk pace.

She briefly felt jealous of the people she was passing as they went about their daily lives, eating lunch, playing cards with friends, arguing and laughing in the streets as they went about their business. But a part of her couldn't help but label it as a false peace. The people of Taki were cowering in the shadow of their massive tree in hopes that it would stop the wind that would eventually blow them over.

With another sigh of frustration, Konan cleared her mind, and just set about walking along.

It didn't take her long at all the step into the fields, and the bright green head of hair in the distance was easily spotted. Surprisingly, the girl turned to look at Konan, and instead of shifting into a defensive posture like Konan expected her to, she raised her left arm and waved.

Konan frowned in response and continued until only a few meters separated them. "You must be her, did my village sell me out?"

Konan nodded slowly to Fuu's words. This certainly wasn't the type of encounter that she was expecting.

"So are you going to try and capture me?"

A frown spread across Konan's face and she focused her amber gaze on the ground. She wasn't a cold hearted woman anymore, she could fight back, and she could kill those who did wrong things, but she couldn't bring herself to attack a girl who was perfectly calm whilst talking to her.

"I wanted to speak to you."

Fuu raised one eyebrow and lowered the other in confusion. She was currently in the same situation as Konan, and this meeting was not going as she expected it to. "Okay?"

"I know someone who wants to bring peace to the world, and all we need to do is use all of the bijuu. Jinchuuriki must sacrifice themselves for this, but couldn't you die happy, knowing that there would be peace?" Konan felt horrified at herself for her words, but she kept her expression neutral.

"I have an idea of your goals, and all of the things that Akatsuki have done. But you ARE going to fail," Fuu stated simply with a small smile and her hands set on her hips.

"What makes you say that?" The blue haired woman asked back.

"I know the man who is going to save the world, and he has already united all of the bijuu."

Konan's eyes immediately widened. This discussion was immensely different from the short one that she'd had with Roshi and Han, but it had the same base that theirs had. Someone was uniting the jinchuuriki somehow, and she had formulated an idea of whom it may be.

It was less an idea and more of a hope. Since meeting Naruto, she had restructured all of her ideals to be how they were when she was younger, and had done her best to be an example of a good person that reflected him.

"That is impossible though," Konan retorted. She wanted to believe that somehow there was a powerful force for peace brewing in the shadows, but to unite the bijuu was a step over her limit to believe.

"I thought so as well, but even the bijuu trust this person. So even if you take me, or someone else comes and does it, he'll stop you," Fuu answered calmly, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry, I have to ask you to come with me. I'm stronger than you, and can beat you, but I would prefer if you came peacefully," Konan explained in a downtrodden tone. "I wish that I didn't have to but if I don't then I won't be able to work out how to bring an end to th_—_"

Konan stopped mid-word and swung her body around at the sudden massive presence behind her. Paper whirled around her hand and formed into a short sabre which she aimed for the center of the person's mass without stopping to consider whom it could be.

Years of fighting had taught Konan that if someone sneaks up on you, they are either an enemy, or someone you are extremely close to, and this person was certainly not close to her. _'But who is?' _she mused to herself as she continued in her action.

Before she had time to even consider moving onto the defence a golden hand enclosed the one that was holding the sabre, and then another gripped her other hand before finally his own original hand closed around her neck and lifted her into the air effortlessly.

"Konan!" Naruto gasped in surprise as he got a full view of her. As quickly as he had disabled her with his chakra arms he dropped her. She coughed and spluttered as she landed on her hands and knees in the grass, her Akatsuki cloak billowing around her in the wind.

"You know me?" Konan coughed out as she refilled her lungs with oxygen.

"Of course, you tried to protect Gaara and I, in an odd way."

Naruto's chakra cloak flickered away as though carried on the wind, and Konan's eyes widened in surprise. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto smiled and jabbed his chest with his thumb. "The one and only. I know what that cloak means now."

Konan immediately tensed up and lowered her head to face the ground. She connected the dots the moment that she completely recognized him. He had harnessed the kyuubi's power, and on top of that was also a sage. He was out of her league. The situation was like a big bright and welcoming exit sign to Konan.

All she needed to do was merely state her intentions of capturing Fuu to Naruto, and he would end her life, and put her out of the suffering that her life has become. "I came here to ca_—_"

"—Talk to Fuu and try and find an excuse to give your leader for why you couldn't bring her back," Naruto interrupted.

She looked back up to see him thoughtfully stroking his chin. "Please, just kill me. I've had enough of being forced into doing these horrible things."

A scuffling sound followed, and Konan raised her eyes again, to see Naruto squatting in front of her. His left hand gently gripped her chin and lifted her head higher, and his right hand planted itself on her forehead. She couldn't hold back the faint blush that spread across her porcelain skin at the unexpected and gentle contact.

"You're not sick, are you? The first time I met you, you seemed much stronger than this."

In any other situation, or with any other person, Konan would have swatted their hands away from her and threatened their lives for presuming to know anything about her, but in Naruto's calming presence, she could hardly tear her eyes from his.

"I know that Itachi-sensei is in Akatsuki as well, and bits of information he has left for us hinted that you were friends with the man in charge," Naruto started.

Konan was catching onto one word at a time. She already knew that Naruto was Itachi's student, but to hear him announce it so confidently affirmed in her mind that he was indeed becoming powerful. "Us? Who is us?"

"Our master," Naruto smiled at her. "He'll be here soon with my other friend."

Finally Naruto removed his hands from her face, but Konan didn't shift her posture or gaze as she continued to search his eyes. She was afraid that deep in them she might find the same spark of pain and hate that Nagato carried.

"I'm not really friends with him anymore though," Konan whispered out as she finally cast of face down again.

Naruto caught the saddened expression that she was trying to hide. He stood back to his feet, but on his way up he hooked his forearms under hers and pulled her up with him. "Can you please tell me about him?"

"Konan!"

Konan didn't bother trying to get out of Naruto's grasp, she felt emotionally drained from the troubles welling up in her chest. Though the voice of her former sensei did bring another sad smile to her face as from over Naruto's shoulder she saw him rushing toward them, a red-headed girl in his shadow.

"Hello, sensei," she stated meekly as Jiraiya skidded to a stop next to Naruto.

"You didn't hurt her, did you?" Jiraiya scowled at Naruto.

Naruto flopped his head to the side and gave Jiraiya an expression that seemed to say, 'you're an idiot.' "Does she look hurt, or dead?"

"He didn't harm me, sensei. I am just not myself right now."

Jiraiya redirected his scowl to his former student, "Not yourself right now? I hear that you haven't been yourself for years! You are going to tell us everything that happened after I left!"

Konan looked blankly from one determined face to the next. Fuu had stepped up next to Naruto again, and was giving her a curious expression that said she didn't entirely understand the situation. The redhead was giving her a frustrated look that seemed to imply she understood exactly what Akatsuki was doing.

Jiraiya and Naruto were both giving her understanding smiles, even if Jiraiya's was more on the stern side. "I guess I don't have a choice."

**X**

"To think that Nagato would become such a monster. It is my duty as his teacher to put him out of his pain," Jiraiya murmured lowly.

Both Naruto and Konan gave him a concerned look. "Sensei, Nagat- Pein, has become extremely powerful, not even you could beat him."

"What are you going to do?" Naruto cut in before anyone else could speak.

"What do you mean?" The bluenette asked back.

"You don't have to go back to Akatsuki…"

Konan immediately frowned at the blonde-haired jinchuuriki.

"You could come back to Konoha with us. You probably saved my life back at the chuunin exams, I owe you after all," Naruto explained with a warm smile.

Konan's jaw dropped at the extremely kind offer. _'What would life be like in Konoha? Would Nagato or Madara come after me? Could I even learn to be a normal person again?' _But before she could speak what would have been her polite rejection of it Jiraiya's voice cut in again. "Whoa there kid, you can't just go offering to make people a part of Konoha, you're not hokage yet. No offence Konan, but you've been working for a terrorist organization for years, and not even I can forgive you for that."

Konan couldn't find the words to speak back against her sensei's claim. She hadn't expected to be let into Konoha, but to hear her sensei say that he couldn't forgive her was what had struck her.

"Jiraiya-sensei!"

Konan glanced to her right. Naruto was no longer sitting cross-legged as the rest of the group were, but standing closer to Konan as though defensively and casting a shadow across her face. "Sensei, a while back you asked me how I would bring peace to the world_—_"

"—Kid, this is different, Konan is a single person! And she's been killing for hire for years!" Jiraiya interrupted.

"And you haven't? We haven't? We're shinobi, our villages are hired to kill shinobi from other villages. Every single person counts!" Naruto shouted defiantly, now standing closer to Konan as though to protect her from any ill intent.

A strike of warmth shot through her chest at his words and actions. Not since the passing of Yahiko had anyone ever tried to defend her.

"Kid_—_Naruto…" Jiraiya sighed while frowning toward the ground.

"No! She's just as much of a victim of this curse of hatred as we are, and I might not have an answer to bringing peace to the world yet, but how is hate meant to end if we can't forgive?"

By now Naruto was standing directly in front of Konan with his back to her, and the warmth in her chest grew until her entire body tingled. She pressed her hands over her chest to confirm that it wasn't her mind playing tricks on her and that her heart was indeed beating at a pace that it hadn't in years.

Suddenly she found herself looking up into his blue ringed eyes with the sun framing his body, making it seem as though his eyes were glowing. "Please, Konan, let me help you, and Pe_—_Nagato?"

His heartfelt expression made Konan desperately want to say yes, but her years serving Nagato had changed her perspective on people somewhat. She was sure that there would be no coming back for Nagato. He had trodden on his path of pain and hate for far too long for him to ever be able to return.

"Naruto-san, I truly do believe in everything that you've said, and I am so thankful that I ever got to hear you speak those words, but..." Konan whispered softly, her eyes glued to his, and her face conveying her plead in the most expressive look that she'd made in years. "But there is no coming back for Nagato."

"I know that even with my beliefs I will have to take lives, but I'll only ever do that if it's to release someone from their pain if there is no other way. No matter what, I will bring peace to my two sibling disciples," Naruto stated firmly.

"He's a fucking retard sometimes… But you can trust him when he says that."

Konan finally pulled her eyes from Naruto's and looked to the redhead who had spoken for the first time since being there. Tayuya was sitting with her legs folded under her in a surprisingly dainty fashion facing Naruto while caressing the junction of her neck and shoulder.

Tayuya's soft brown eyes caught Konan's unasked question. "I was one of Orochimaru's subordinates, I was sent to kill Naruto-kun and the other Konoha losers, but he stopped me, and then saved me. He even took my curse seal off," Tayuya announced firmly with a pleasant smile across her lips. Her expression quickly darkened into a scowl as she looked at Jiraiya. "And that fucktard couldn't figure out shit about the seal after going on and on about being some seal master."

Konan couldn't prevent the soft note of laughter that escaped her lips at the blunt girls' reflection of her former master. Just as quickly as the laughter had escaped her lips she clamped her mouth shut and frowned. _'I don't deserve to be happy for what I've done.' _

"I have to go, I have taken too long, Nagato will suspect me," Konan abruptly announced as she moved to stand back up.

Before she had a chance to accept or reject the hand suddenly offered to her Naruto clasped her right hand with his own and pulled her up. She came to a standing halt just centimetres from Naruto's face, a nervous smile and faint blush spread across her cheeks at the unexpected proximity.

Naruto seemed to miss her reactions as his eyes once again bore into hers. Konan felt as though she was being pumped full of warmth through their handhold, and she made no moves to let go as she would have done with anyone else. "When you get back, just tell him that you couldn't beat me and that I told you to tell him that I would come to ease his pain."

Her nervous smile decreased in size as she attempted to reengage her flat persona. "And what about Madara?"

Naruto shot a sideways glance to Jiraiya for a moment before looking back into her amber gaze with a half frown across his lips. "We'll deal with him, whatever it takes. I don't think he's the real Madara though."

Naruto finally released his comforting hold on Konan's as a small smile spread across his lips. Konan couldn't help but frown slightly at the sudden lack of contact, but Jiraiya's words pulled her from her sudden musings on why.

"Now that you say that, it makes sense for it to be someone else."

"Why do you say that?" Konan reflected back to the two Konoha nin.

Naruto gave Jiraiya a look that seemed to be a go ahead to spout all of his speculations. "Well back in Madara's day he had control of the kyuubi, so it doesn't make sense that he'd stay so far away from Naruto. You'd think that the kyuubi would be the first on his list to take and that he'd do it himself."

Konan raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya's thoughts. "That is a very vague speculation."

"There is also what we do know about him," Jiraiya expanded with a frown. "Madara was extremely powerful, his only equal in the world was Senju Hashirama. It just doesn't fit with him sneaking around like this, Madara was said to be an extremely bold and confident man. And the teleportation technique that you said he possessed, that doesn't fit either. You said that it seems like he enters it through his eye. So it is no doubt a sharingan technique, but Konoha kept detailed records of Madara's known techniques just in case any shinobi other than Hashirama happened to come across him. Madara possessed no such technique."

"I know it's not much to go on, but it's all we have, and it kind of makes sense," Naruto finished for his teacher.

Konan nodded slowly. Their speculations made sense, and she felt inclined to believe them, but in the end the name didn't matter to her, it was the fact that the masked man was still extremely powerful. "Whoever he is, he is still far from a weak man. I must go."

The blue haired woman took a step back from Naruto, and paper flurried around her until it formed into wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. She looked from Naruto and Jiraiya to Fuu. The girl's previous confident persona had slipped, and now she looked nervous more than anything. "You must be prepared, upon my failure they will send someone else, likely two."

Fuu's eyes steeled at the information, and she smirked confidently. "I'll make them regret sending anyone!"

Everyone present frowned at the mint-haired girl. Her stubbornness was uniquely admirable, but equally stupid. Even Tayuya was frowning disapprovingly at the Taki jinchuuriki.

"If you do not go to Konoha with Jiraiya-sensei and Naruto-san, you will die," Konan announced flatly without her expression shifting from its once again neutral look.

Before Fuu had a chance to defy Konan's claim, the bluenette shot up into the air with a beat of her wings and a gust of wind. Naruto immediately crouched low to the ground before he to shot off into the air after the Akatsuki woman, leaving his comrades watching after him with a mixture of confused expressions.

Naruto gained on the woman quickly, and before long she slowed to a hover and turned to face him in the air as he came to a halt before her. "You have mastered more of the rinnegan's abilities than I expected."

Naruto nodded firmly and smiled at her. "I promise that I'll save you as well. If you ever need me, I swear that I'll help you."

Konan's neutral expression broke as she gasped in surprise at Naruto's statement. After a moment of tumultuous thoughts, she smiled softly at him.

Once again surprise welled up in her as he closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her body, and with their equal body height sat his chin on her shoulder. Konan froze in the embrace and all of her muscles flexed in apprehension.

Naruto didn't seem to mind her tension as his hands overlapped each other below her wings. Konan identified a feeling of warmth flowing through her as a similar one that Naruto had imposed on his surrounding area when she had allowed him to speak to Gaara.

She suddenly realised that it wasn't a technique at all, simply that his chakra was so massive, and his intent so bright, that it affected those around him.

"You're not alone in the world, I promise that I'll do everything I can to bring peace."

Konan felt an unbidden rush of joy flow through her body at his statement, and she relaxed into his embrace and wrapped her own arms around his body. "I believe you. Thank you," Konan sighed softly.

She gently brushed her cheek against his and couldn't deny the smile that came to her lips. Everything about Naruto felt as though it was warming her to her heart, and she hadn't been able to experience any sort of embrace for longer than she cared to think about. So she resigned herself to trying to enjoy being held for as long as possible.

Finally, Naruto broke his hold on her and floated back slightly. Konan blushed from her uninvited thoughts of wanting the hold to last longer, but she quickly assumed a curious expression when Naruto held out an offering hand, a kunai held loosely between his fingertips.

"Will you take this?"

Konan frowned at the kunai from her lack of understanding and gave Naruto a confused expression.

"It's marked with my hiraishin seal, if you ever need me, you can just send a little chakra to it, and I'll be there in an instant," Naruto explained.

"Oh, no, I couldn't take it. I wouldn't want to burden you with worrying about me like that."

"I'd worry anyway," the blonde smiled back to her as a gust of wind ruffled their hair.

"You promised that you'd save me," Konan smiled gently to him. "I promise that if I need saving that I'll come find you."

Neither Naruto or Konan could stop their respective smirks at her words, and Naruto opted for just nodding in agreement. "Good luck, Konan."

Konan gave him a final smile before turning her body to face upward into the sky again, with a beat of her wings she soared upward to new heights where an updraft seemed to pluck her from the air and carry her off into the distance.

Naruto sighed and began his descent to the ground with thoughts of Konan and Fuu swirling around his mind. He couldn't fathom why he was already so worried about Konan. Perhaps it had been from the time that she saved him, or that he truly cared for her plight, and that she was the sort of person who truly deserved better.

Then his thoughts shifted to focus on Fuu, the girl whom he could see waving up happily at him as he became more than just a speck to the three below. In many ways, they were extraordinarily similar, but Naruto couldn't help but be unhappy about how some of the similarities for her were more ingrained than what they had been in him.

No matter what he, Jiraiya, or Tayuya said, Fuu would never abandon her home. And Naruto equally couldn't stay much longer. He knew that her death was inevitable. He and Jiraiya had warned all of the other jinchuuriki, and as far as they were concerned, no amount of preparation would be enough.

Han and Roshi having disappeared with their respective bijuu were testament to that.

Naruto sighed again and forced the thoughts out of his mind. He wanted to at least enjoy what time he had left with Fuu while he and his companions stayed in Taki.

**XXX With Anko: One month later XXX **

"Hey Kakashi?"

The jounin sensei in question turned to face the approaching special jounin whilst cupping his privates protectively. "I swear I didn't do anything!"

"Huh?" Anko questioned dumbly. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she recalled his reason for protecting his manhood. "Ohhhh, you mean from that time, don't worry, I got you back for that. I just wanted to ask ab_—_"

"Got me back for what?" Kakashi interrupted her.

Anko scowled at him for cutting her off and bringing up the event that had put her into a mini depression. "You dick! For the time that you embarrassed me in front of Tsunade-sama!"

"Anko-san, I've never embarrassed you in front of anyone," Kakashi deadpanned back, his visible eye narrowing in suspicion. Everything was finally adding up two and a half years after the event.

"You basically called me a slut and the village idiot!" Anko bit back sharply, taking a threatening step toward him.

Kakashi took a defensive step back and raised both his palms to her, "Whoa there, I swear I don't remember ever doing anything like that, Anko-san. I have an idea of someone who's good enough at henge to do that and trick you, after all, he could cover up his eyes for years without anyone noticing."

Anko narrowed her eyes at Kakashi. Immediately after Naruto's departure from the village, and her shared rampage around Konoha with his clone, she had learned of Naruto's doujutsu when the clone had dropped his own henge in front of her, and the news had spread around the shinobi of the village like wildfire that they had a shinobi in their midst who was blessed with the legendary rinnegan.

A public order was soon issued by Tsunade that no one was allowed to talk about Naruto's rinnegan openly and that it was being classed as a secret that had to be defended from the rest of the shinobi villages at all costs. But suffice to say, Anko had figured out the missing link in the situation that Kakashi had just pointed out.

"That little evil shit! Why did he even do that?"

"He wanted to use you as an example of 'a strong kunoichi,'" Kakashi responded instantly. He had a fantastic memory in general, but that particular memory was exceptionally easy for him to recall. And Naruto's scheme had actually been successful. After he and Jiraiya had left, Sakura had mostly committed her time to being trained by Tsunade, but in all of her free time, she would seek him out and he would impart as much knowledge as he could to her.

Anko herself felt both touched and enraged. Naruto had obviously chosen her for the fact that he both knew her well enough to predict her reactions, and that she was strong. Both were solid facts, but on the downside, he had insulted her in the process.

"Well that just fits in nicely, because I was going to ask you when he's due back?"

"Ehhh, I think it was meant to be sometime soon," Kakashi mused with his clenched fist held to his covered mouth in a thoughtful pose. "Ask Tsunade-sama, she and Jiraiya-sama set a return date."

"Ehehe, want to help me plan out a punishment game for him?" Anko asked with a sparkle in her eye.

Kakashi's only visible eye soon turned into his equivalent of a cheery grin. "Of course, I couldn't think of a better way to pass the time!"

Anko released a chortle of laughter at Kakashi's response. It was extremely unlike the legendary copy nin, but he had likely figured that he would need to adapt in his acts of discipline to his evil-humoured prodigal student.

"I know that you were never really into pranks, or things like that, but would you like to help me with a prank or two?" Anko mused to Kakashi.

"I guess it depends on whom it's on?" Kakashi replied immediately. In his mind's eye, he was picturing Guy announcing that he must prank his eternal rival back with all of his youthful might.

"Ino-baita!" The purple haired kunoichi yelled back immediately.

Kakashi frowned in response and set his hands on his hips, giving Anko a stern look as though reprimanding a child. "Mah, Anko-san, that's a little bit offensive."

"Well she is!"

"What do you mean?" Kakashi returned with a glance around the training ground to ensure that no one was around to hear what was likely going to be an offensive debate.

"Come on, Kakashi-san? Don't you listen to things around the village?"

Kakashi just blankly shook his head, so Anko continued with an angry expression. "About a month back that little slut went out to a club and ended up fucking Kotetsu right there on the floor, I always pegged that little floozy to be a slut."

Kakashi immediately frowned, despite wanting to get Naruto back for his prank on him and Anko, he wanted to do that in a playful manner. When it came to issues that would genuinely harm his student, whether it be emotional or physical, he saw a gargantuan problem.

Before Kakashi had a chance to voice his opinion Anko continued heatedly, "And then, two weeks ago, pinky winky_—_"

'_Must mean Sakura," _Kakashi mused mentally while Anko continued.

"—Went into the Yamanaka flower shop and she and Ino-baita had a screaming match, I swear I heard it from two blocks away! Anyway, I was told by a few people that later that day she stormed off to the same club, and that she did practically the same thing again, but with Izumo."

Kakashi's frown only deepened at the closing of Anko's mini rant. He certainly held no disdain toward Kotetsu or Izumo for what they had apparently done since lots of shinobi who were single went out to clubs for the sole purpose of a hook up just for pleasure. But for someone who was meant to be in a committed relationship, it was one of the worst things he could think of doing.

"Anko-san, I understand that you care for my student, but it's not your place to do something about this. Wait until he gets back, then everything can be sorted out."

Anko pouted childishly at Kakashi's stern words and crossed her arms over her bust. "Fine then. Anyway, I got what I wanted from you, so it feels like dango time. Ja ne."

**XXX One week later: With Naruto XXX**

Naruto felt giddy with excitement. Not just because he was back in Konoha or, _'returning to Konoha,' _the thought made him put effort into quenching his laughter, but because he would be getting to see friends that he hadn't seen in over two years and playing minor pranks on them in the process.

Two weeks after he, Jiraiya, and Tayuya had left Taki, Kurama had informed Naruto that he could no longer hear Choumei through the bijuu's distant connection, and by extension, Naruto realised that Fuu was similarly gone from the world. The suspicion had saddened him for a week, but it had only hardened his resolve to bear the brunt of the pain in the world in order to usher in a new time of peace.

So he pushed the image of Fuu's smiling face to the back of his mind, where he promised himself he would always keep it, and fight in her name. Though for the week that his suspicion of Fuu's death had plagued him Tayuya had practically lived off him as though he was an extension of her own body.

It had been her own unique and endearing way of saying that she cared, and wanted him to be happy. She could never bring herself to verbalize such things, but she was perfectly capable of toning down her usually volatile reactions and instead being more affectionate and considerate.

Naruto couldn't deny that her presence was something that always managed to make him happy, even if it was when she was in a foul mood that would lead to hours upon hours of bickering. The bickering itself never led to any actual arguments as neither of them ever took the bickering seriously.

It was simply a strange form of comfort that the two would share with each other, and Naruto would admit that it had sharpened his wits considerably. And later they were able to laugh over the arguments, all the while ignoring Jiraiya grumbling about their incessant noise.

Naruto pulled his mind back to the present as the purple haired woman next to him shifted her stance uncomfortably and gave him a suspicious once over. Naruto wanted to laugh, but he held true to the character that he was portraying through his henge, and gave her his best 'nice but retarded' smile.

Anko just gave _Naruto _an even more suspicious look, before finally making a move toward him. Naruto certainly couldn't blame her for not seeing through his henge, he was practically an expert in it, and he had made himself look like a remarkably regular and ordinary man.

His dark brown bangs wafted around his face in the gentle breeze, and his equally brown eyes tore from the path the led into Konoha's gate and to the approaching kunoichi. Even his clothing looked regular; baggy brown pants, a grey scruffy tunic, and a loose green overcoat to finish off the average look.

He had arrived at Konoha early that day, just as the sun had been starting to peek over the tree tops. Izumo and Kotetsu had been nervous in his presence when they had accepted his papers, but they had quickly agreed to promise not to tell anyone of him being back.

He thought nothing of the odd interaction, and set about forming his henge and waiting for anyone who was aiming to greet Jiraiya and himself at the gate upon their return. Anko had been the one and only person to show up, and she had been waiting in the dead centre of the road to ensure that she would be the first thing that the returning Uzumaki would see.

Naruto had simply stood by the edge of the gate and kept a cheery image up. Under the mask of his face, he had been surprised that neither Ino nor Sakura had come to greet him back. Once again, he pulled himself out of his internal musings as Anko stopped a few meters away from him with her hands on her hips.

"You've been here looking at me on and off for like two hours now, are you a pervert or something?"

Naruto's brow drooped at the entirely Anko confrontation and turned his body to face her. "I might not be a shinobi, but my keen senses caught you looking at me as well, are you a pervert? I am offended that a Konoha kunoichi would say such a thing about me while I wait to greet my hero!"

"Hey! I'm not a perve_—_Wait…" Anko backtracked through her speech and narrowed her eyes at him. Naruto felt a sense of panic, fearing that she had somehow seen through his disguise. "Who's this hero of yours?"

"Ahhh!" _Naruto _chortled aloud with his arms raised into the air, as though he was a prophet enlightening a new subject. "He is someone who decides to shine his greatness on all of those around him, truly he is a gift from above!"

"Riiiiight," Anko droned out with a dubious expression. "Are you okay?" She bit out after a moment of thought.

"Am I okay? Lord Naruto has shone his light upon me, I will be alright for the rest of my blessed life! Truly, he is a saint amongst men!" _Naruto _preached enthusiastically.

By now Anko was looking at the unknown man with an utterly flabbergasted expression. This was a step up in weirdness as far as her life was concerned. "Ahh, are you okay? Are you sure that he didn't just hit you in the head really hard?" Anko deadpanned flatly.

"Oh, if I were so blessed for him to have touched me. Alas, he only touched my daughter when he valiantly arrived and saved my humble and now worshipping family from a horde of missing nin," _Naruto _wailed dramatically. His face had long since assumed a look that seemed to convey, 'hungry obsession,' which had definitely put Anko into an uneasy mood.

"Umm, Mr.?_—_"

"—Fujiwara," _Naruto _cut in for her.

"You are obviously not from Konoha, but Konoha is renowned for its excellent medical services. I am sure that a health check might do you some good," the special jounin explained in a placating tone with a concerned expression.

"Perhaps there is truth in your words, Lord Naruto shall be arriving soon. Maybe he can escort me there, and we can gather new followers from this finely trained hospital staff," _Naruto _mused with his right hand gripping his chin in a thoughtful pose.

Anko stared at him in disbelief for a moment before she slapped both her palms onto her face, as though to shield her eyes from the strange man.

"Ahhh, here he comes now! Look, kunoichi-san!" _Naruto _called out excitedly as he struck a pose that he'd seen on the cover of a book of a sailor standing at the prow of a ship pointing at land in the distance.

Anko gave him another concerned look for a moment, before equally turning her attention through the broad gates of Konoha to the sight of the approaching three.

Immediately Anko focused her attention onto the redhead girl standing by Naruto's side. Her curiosity peaked as the three travellers grew closer. The redhead was most certainly not from Konoha, and she appeared to be rather comfortable in Naruto's and Jiraiya's presence.

She took her focus off the unknown girl as Naruto quickened his pace and stepped out ahead of his little group. Anko couldn't deny the warm smile that claimed her face as she too took a few tentative steps toward him. Despite wanting revenge for his prank all those years ago, she couldn't deny the warmth that Naruto always managed to bring to her heart.

"Anko-chan!"

Anko's smile spread into a happy grin as Naruto started to run toward her.

She couldn't help but automatically size him up as he drew nearer. They were now of virtually equal height with him seemingly standing slightly taller than herself, and he certainly filled out his clothing in a much more masculine fashion. His face was much leaner, and she could instantly connect his bloodline belonging to that of the Yondaime hokage.

But he possessed a more masculine quality than what his father had, and she instantly connected that side to his mother. Anko pushed her appraisal of his growth from her mind and opted for spreading her arms into what would become a hug as he drew closer.

"Naruto-kun, you've grown a lot! You don't look like such a little runt anymore," Anko laughed out.

Naruto closed the final two steps between them and wrapped his arms securely around her body, lifting her slightly from the ground until just her toes connected her to the earth. Anko laughed in response and just sat her chin on his shoulder and wrapped her own arms around him in return.

After a moment in the embrace, and Jiraiya and the redhead drawing to a halt at a suspicious distance, Anko pulled away slightly and looked at him more closely. "Don't you dare!" Anko demanded heatedly as he brown eyes met what were meant to be his blue ringed ones.

Instead, they were shifting between colors as though he were decided what color they should be. Anko had seen it before, years ago, when some of his exploding paint clones hadn't seemed to be able to make their mind up on what color they should explode into.

"Pink it is!"

"No, don't you fucking da_—_"

Anko's speech was abruptly cut off as the Naruto clone that was still holding her at arms length exploded into a shower of bright pink rain. Anko stood stunned for a moment as the entire front side of her body dripped pink paint.

The man from earlier waddled up next to her and gave her an appraising once over. "Lord Naruto has turned you into a vibrant woman. He really is a saint amongst men."

Anko spat out a mouthful that had splattered into her mouth while she had been attempting to talk the clone out of his explosion. She turned a cold eye onto the man, and then turned it in the direction of the chuckling redhead and sannin.

"Geez, still such a troublesome guy."

Everyone heard the late to arrive Shikamaru, but none broke their stares from _Naruto _or Anko. The pink-covered woman laughed lowly, and gave her best attempt at a sweet smile to _Naruto, _"Maybe if I beat the shit out of you for the next few hours you'll turn a shade of purple that _Lord Naruto _will be pleased with, eh?"

_Naruto's _thin-lipped mouth smirked at her. "Lord Naruto would surely come to my aid and prevent me from coming to any harm at the hands of such a barbaric, hairy, and smelly woman. In fact, he wou_—_"

Suddenly the henge poofed out of existence as Anko's fist made a crunching impact with Naruto's jaw. "You've got no idea how much I've missed punching you!"

"Ouch, wasn't that a bit cruel, Anko-chan?" Naruto implored from his position on the ground.

Anko just opened her stance up and directed her gaze down her pink covered body. Naruto followed her action and chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Honestly, this seemed like the best greeting that I could think of."

Anko looked at him blankly, and jiggled her shoulders around childishly, as though throwing a silent tantrum. She looked him in the eyes and did it again. Naruto raised an eyebrow in question, and once again she did it. "Ahhhh," Naruto hummed as he bounced back to his feet. "Water release: purified water stream."

Naruto bent forward at the waist and spat a torrent of water at the woman. She leant forward into it to prevent from losing her footing, and a moment later she was perfectly clean. She glared at him balefully for a moment, and he returned the glare.

Tension around the group grew as the two spiked their chakra as though preparing to form techniques, but the tension was eased as they both grinned at each other and once again embraced.

"I've missed you, Naruto-kun," Anko sighed over his shoulder.

"I'm missed you as well, Anko-chan."

"We've got a game set up for you, Naruto-kun. You're going to be forced to do it," the kunoichi sighed in a happy tone.

"Ahh?" Naruto questioned lamely.

"Or should I be calling you Kakashi?"

Naruto stiffened in her arms and drew himself back to look into her face. She wore a sweet smile that arched both of her eyes into a happy innocent expression that spelled danger for Naruto.

"Naruto? Hokage-sama sent me to make sure that you guys made it to her office quickly," Shikamaru called impatiently.

Naruto scurried out of Anko's grasp and turned to his two travelling companions. Jiraiya re-joined the group after handling their papers to Kotetsu and Izumo. "Well, follow the Nara kid, and explain Tayuya's situation to Tsunade for me, I'll be along shortly," Jiraiya ordered flatly. He then gave Anko a concerned expression and motioned her toward him.

Naruto fell into step beside Shikamaru with Tayuya standing slightly behind him to keep Shikamaru further at bay.

"So has much happened since I've been gone?"

"Not really, everyone else has made chuunin, Neji is a jounin now. I heard that there was some drama between Sakura and Ino, but I don't listen to gossip," Shikamaru explained disinterestedly.

Naruto weaved out of the path of a passing merchant before re-joining his friend's side, Tayuya holding the sleeve of his jacket to stay connected to him in a nervous manner. Naruto shook her hand off his sleeve and gripped it with his own, giving her a comforting squeeze.

He could imagine that she was feeling like she was being led into the wolf's den. "Listening to gossip would be too troublesome, wouldn't it?" Naruto laughed.

"True, and girls are way too much drama. Take her for example, she used to be the enemy."

Tayuya stiffened slightly but eyed Shikamaru suspiciously. "You're not worried about me?"

The Nara boy shrugged lazily. "If Naruto trusts you, then I trust you."

They continued on in contemplative silence. A block behind them, walking at a much slower pace, Jiraiya was drilling Anko for details about Ino's apparent cheating on Naruto. He didn't much care for the girl, and equally didn't know anything about her.

But Kotetsu and Izumo had told him of Ino's actions apologetically, and asked if he could break it to Naruto softly, and Anko had become his hub for village information that he'd missed out on in their absence. Jiraiya simply wanted to make sure that Naruto stayed in high spirits. He knew that Naruto's emotional stability had been what allowed his victory over Kurama's chakra.

**X**

"Tsunade-sama," Naruto greeted the busty hokage as he bowed at the waist. By his side, Tayuya similarly bowed. Shikamaru simply leaned himself against the doorframe to keep an open ear to what Naruto would be doing.

"Naruto-kun, it's so good to see you again," Shizune smiled warmly at the blonde Uzumaki.

"Brat," Tsunade greeted with a smirk. "You're not as ugly as you used to be."

"And you're not as wrinkly as you used to be," Naruto shot back immediately, with a smirk of his own reflecting hers.

"Age jokes, eh? Well we can go there. How ab_—_"

"Tsunade-sama! Please don't get side tracked. Let's just help Naruto-kun get settled again, please?" Shizune chastised her superior.

True to their established relationship, Tsunade's face contorted in mental effort to push down her desire to toy with Naruto. "Fine then. I guess I should ask if you think you're ready for a promotion. And who is that?" Tsunade asked while jabbing a finger at Tayuya.

"This," Naruto gestured to the redhead. "Is Uzumaki Tayuya. She would like to join our ranks, and sure I'm ready for a promotion. One step closer to hokage."

"We can sort her out later. For now… Kakashi! Get in here!" Tsunade's voice seemed to make the room tremble. And a moment later an unhappy looking Kakashi crawled through the window and sized Naruto up.

"Yo."

Both Naruto and Tayuya gave the man a disinterested look before turning back to Tsunade.

"Naruto, you will be fighting Kakashi," She explained.

"Not Sakura as well?" Kakashi chimed in.

"That'll just make the fight cruel," The senior toad sage laughed as he entered the room. He settled his eyes on Naruto and then looked to his old teammate and Naruto's previous jounin sensei before instructing, "Naruto, I'm setting some ground rules, to make this all fair."

Tsunade, Shizune, and Kakashi all narrowed their eyes at the two sages. It was clear from Jiraiya's tone that he had considerable faith in his students' abilities.

"First rule: no using sage mode," Jiraiya turned away from his student to look at Kakashi. "No offense, Kakashi-san, but Naruto is very skilled now. If he goes into sage mode, he'll be totally out of your league."

Kakashi nodded dubiously while Tsunade instantly nodded firmly in acceptance of Jiraiya's first rule. Tsunade was the only shinobi in the village who'd ever seen another shinobi in sage mode, and by extension, knew of the considerable power boost it gave the user.

"Second rule: no using Kurama's chakra, that makes sage mode look weak."

Naruto nodded at his sensei and looked expectantly at his three other present superiors, each of them wore their own uniquely confused expressions. Naruto answered their unasked question as he flashed into his golden bijuu mode.

"Amazing!" Tsunade instantly cooed. She pushed out from her chair and shoved past Kakashi to get closer to inspect Naruto in his golden form.

"I didn't quite believe Jiraiya when his message said you have mastered the kyu_—_"

"Kurama's," Naruto corrected.

"—Kurama's, chakra," Tsunade said carefully while squatting down in front of Naruto with her hands tracing the bold black lines of his seal array.

Naruto was glad that his bijuu mode hid his blush. From his standing position, he had a clear view into the hokage's blouse, and her squatting position itself wasn't an overly flattering position for a hokage to be in. "Simply incredible. Your parents would be proud," Tsunade finished her inspection with a smile and once again shoved Kakashi out of her way to get back to her seat.

The tardy jounin grumbled his displeasure at being treated like an obstacle lowly but kept his patient stance. Naruto smiled at his jounin sensei apologetically as he released his hold on Kurama's chakra.

"Tayuya, was it?" Kakashi asked.

"You got a problem with me scarecrow?" Tayuya shot back hostilely.

Shizune stifled a laugh and Kakashi held up his hands defensively. "Whoa there, I just wanted to ask if you wanted me to test you out first, to get you chuunin rank?"

Kakashi gave Naruto and Jiraiya a curious expression, and both shrugged in a manner that seemed to say that she was indeed talented enough. But the Uzumaki girl angrily answered in a fashion that Naruto had wholly expected. "I'm not a pussy! And a pussy would take the easy way out. Make me a genin, I'll rank up in the proper way."

Tsunade nodded her approval and wrote something on a sheet of paper. She finished with a smile before reaching into her desk and producing a black sashed hitai-ate. She flicked it offhandedly at the red head and refocused back onto Naruto.

"Tsunade-sama? I heard that Nar_—_" Sakura froze mid-word as her head cleared the door way and she got a full view of her teammate. "Naruto-kun, you're back!"

"No shit," Tayuya mumbled under her breath.

The collection of sighs that passed around the room went unnoticed to Sakura as her eyes honed in on Naruto's lopsided smile, and a moment later she threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I've missed you so much, Naruto-kun."

"Heh heh," Naruto laughed out awkwardly as he rubbed small circles in her back. "I missed you as well, Sakura-chan. How've you been?"

"Sakura! Save it for later, we've got plans to watch Kakashi hand Naruto's ass to him," Tsunade announced joyously. Once again she shoved her way past Kakashi and continued to muscle her way between Tayuya and Jiraiya until she left the room.

Naruto pried Sakura from his neck and smiled at her, before heading after Konoha's fire shadow. "Naruto, rule three: absolutely no large scale techniques. No killing Kakashi," Jiraiya called after his student.

Kakashi paled as he followed the procession out of the room. He had initially been confident in his ability to at least fight Naruto to a standstill, but Jiraiya's towering confidence in his student and his rules had put a substantial damper on Kakashi's confidence.

Before Naruto had left, Kakashi had mused about his student's true abilities and potential. Then during his absence from the village various truths about him had been revealed by one of his own clones that he'd left behind with Anko_—_which she had treated with such surprising reverence that it had lasted a full two weeks_—_and Tsunade herself.

There was some information about him that had been kept strictly to the people that needed to know, and Kakashi being one of those people now knew that someone the Uchiha's Itachi, Mikoto, and Shisui had committed a considerable amount of time training must truly have a distinctive spark in them.

And Kakashi knew of only four situations where Naruto would have needed to let his abilities shine, each of those times he hadn't been immediately present. The first had been in their wave mission, and Naruto had overcome Zabuza's apprentice in a situation that had almost killed Sasuke.

Then there had been Team 7's engagement with Orochimaru, and apparently Naruto had held off the snake sannin until help arrived, and then he had worked in tandem with Anko in putting Orochimaru under enough pressure that he had to flee. The third time had been his fight with Gaara while he was in his Ichibi state.

Kakashi wished that he'd seen that fight, simply for the wide scale power that a bijuu represented. It truly amazed him that Naruto had been able to quench the power of a bijuu practically on his own. And then his final fight with Sasuke, which he had surprisingly lost.

Kakashi couldn't fathom how or why Naruto had lost. He suspected complication with the kyuubi was to blame, and he had felt an extremely large fluctuation of the kyuubi's chakra when he was in pursuit of his students. Kakashi was pulled from his thoughts as a hand slapped the back of his head.

"Hey, Kakashi, what world are you in?"

"Eh?" Kakashi asked unintelligently as he looked to the toad sannin.

"We're here," Jiraiya deadpanned.

Kakashi looked around, and was met with the sight of Shizune, Tsunade, Naruto, Tayuya, and Anko looking at him oddly while Ino was giving Naruto's back a nervous smile, and Sakura was glaring at Ino angrily. That practically confirmed the rumour he'd heard running around the village.

It seemed that in his internal musings, he had missed Naruto's reunion with his girlfriend, but their current behaviour told him that it had at least not amounted to anything.

"Ah, sorry Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, I was lost in my thoughts," Kakashi laughed out awkwardly.

"Kakashi, get to it!" Tsunade barked in her impatient voice.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya paled at her tone. Naruto could only imagine what she would have been like as a teen, and Jiraiya was reminiscing on what a moody pain she had been.

"Right, I was expecting to be against you and Sakura, but I guess since apparently you're so good now we'll keep the rules basically the same," Kakashi said in a humored tone while raising two small shiny bells hanging from their own independent strings.

"So I just have to get the bells, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto reiterated. He couldn't forget the man's constant message of looking underneath the underneath.

"Haha, yeah, Naruto, no tricks this time."

Naruto took Kakashi's words as the prompting to begin, and shunshined into the middle of the field, by the all too familiar training posts. Kakashi gave and received a nod from Tsunade and Jiraiya before he too shunshined to his students' position.

"Just to make it a little trickier," Kakashi began, lifting the bells into view. "One of these is going to be hanging from my collar instead."

True to his word he tucked the string and attached bell into the top of his collar until it hung on its own weight. He then positioned the remaining bell in its familiar position at his waist.

Naruto eyed him up, waiting for Kakashi to begin the fight. He was vaguely aware of the onlookers watching with baited breaths while tenseness practically emanated between Naruto and his senior.

Kakashi blurred into motion first as his stance dropped into a more prepared one and he instantly unleashed a flurry of shuriken. "Shuriken shadow clone jutsu," Kakashi muttered in the wake of his attack.

Naruto similarly flashed through his own hand signs before slamming his open palms into the ground, "Earth release: earth style wall!"

As soon as the rock barrier rose up and blocked the shuriken and Naruto himself from Kakashi's view the blonde flipped back to make room between himself and the wall. On the far side of the wall, the sound of Kakashi's familiar lightning technique signified his activation of the chidori.

Naruto reasoned that his jounin sensei must have uncovered his sharingan if he was using the chidori. Naruto was aware of Kakashi's style of using the technique, and he knew that Kakashi would likely be planning simply to break through his earth wall.

The chirping noise grew louder as Kakashi drew nearer to his wall, and Naruto weaved his hands through another set of seals, "Fire release: big flame bullet!"

Naruto blew out a storm of flames that quickly formed into the shape of a roaring ball that hurtled at his side of the earth wall. Naruto could see the string of electricity spiking from Kakashi's technique as he approached the wall, but before the jounin could cut through the wall himself, Naruto's flame bullet impacted it in an explosion of rock and smoke.

The earth wall exploded toward Kakashi with flaming rocks hurtling into him. Kakashi skidded to a halt and threw his arm in an arc, his chidori cutting through the projectiles that would have hit him. Before he even had a chance to try and locate Naruto something knocked him forward into the dirt.

Kakashi instantly grabbed for his collar, and realized that the bell he'd secured there had already been taken.

"One bell down, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi cursed under his breath at his students somehow booming voice as he flipped back to his feet and spun around. Naruto was nowhere in sight. Yet again Kakashi was sent sprawling into the dirt as what he was sure was an elbow slammed into his mid-back.

But again by the time he'd rolled to face the direction from which the strike had come he was met with thin air. _'That's right, he knows the hiraishin! He must have marked me that first time he hit me. Shit!' _Kakashi internally mused.

He was an offensive fighter, never had he been extremely capable when put on defense, and very rarely had he met an opponent that was skilled enough to put him on defense. He was sure that Naruto was indeed skilled enough to do so, but skilled or not, anyone who had half a brain and was able to use the hiraishin was a foe whom no regular shinobi could keep up with.

**X**

"Naruto-kun really has gotten good," Anko commented with an awed expression.

"Shithead never loses!"

Anko gave Tayuya a sideways look, but her interest immediately shifted back to Kakashi in the center of the field as a second version of him formed and they pushed their backs together.

"I can't believe that Naruto-kun has put Kakashi-san into an entirely defensive fight," Shizune called excitedly.

"Where is he anyway?" Ino added curiously.

Sakura smirked, proud that she was aware of her teammate's position, but opted for keeping her mouth shut.

"Up there," Jiraiya stated flatly while pointing a finger directly into the mid-day sun.

The group of watchers looked up and peeled their eyes to attempt to block out the bright light that the flaming ball of gas gave off. They all quickly gave up in their endeavour to spot him against the bright light, and chose to set their collective gazes on Kakashi and his clone, both of them still utterly unaware of Naruto's position far above them.

"Jiraiya, what's the play?" Tsunade asked of her teammate lowly.

Jiraiya glanced back up to Naruto, and then back to Kakashi and his clone; both were flying through their own set of seals. A moment later and each of the Kakashi's had an earth wall in front of them. Naruto held his ironically perfect hiding spot in favour of simply watching his jounin sensei and contemplating the perfect plan.

"Naruto doesn't just want to get the other bell, he could have already done that by now. He wants to beat Kakashi in a fight," Jiraiya theorized with his hand to his chin.

Tsunade, Shizune, and Anko all looked to Jiraiya with questioning expressions, while the younger generation of kunoichi present glued their eyes to the tense environment in the field.

Anko's attention soon shifted from the fight entirely as her nose twitched in anticipation to a familiar scent. She spun on her heel and spotted the bearer of the heavenly dumplings on a stick. "Give me one of them!" she demanded flatly to the late arrival.

Shikamaru halted in his tracks and slowly looked from Anko to the two sticks of Dango in his hand. He hadn't felt the need to witness the fight in its entirety, so had chosen to get a mid-day snack on his way there, and he truly intended to enjoy his snack. So in a moment of exceptionally un-Shikamaru like behaviour he poked out his tongue and slathered both sticks of dango with his saliva.

Anko narrowed her eyes at him and hissed lowly, "You disgusting little pig!"

Shikamaru chuckled nervously and made a very short shunshin to keep Tsunade between him and Konoha's notorious dango lover. Before Anko had a chance to act on her mounting distaste toward the Nara shinobi, her attention was stolen back to the fight.

**X**

Kakashi was cursing his luck for going up against his previous student without any real information on his techniques. While he knew that Naruto didn't know all that many of his own, he did know of his fighting styles and strategies.

Kakashi cursed again, and began going through seals again, his clone acting out the same motions in recognition of his creators plan's. "Hiding in mist technique."

Mist rolled out around the two Kakashi clones, and the air suspiciously stilled. Both he and his clone instantly shoved their backs more firmly against the other's as explosions starting flashing through the mist. A ball of swirling wind came hurtling through the mist, and Kakashi dove out of the way.

His clone lacked the warning to avoid the attack, and was sent crashing into the earth wall that he'd formed, only to burst into smoke a second later. Kakashi made to stand back up, but weight suddenly pressed into his back, and a blade nicked his jaw.

"Looks like I win, sensei," Naruto mused coolly as he plucked the final bell from his sensei's waist.

Kakashi shuffled uncomfortably for a moment to assess Naruto's verdict. He sighed and turned his head to the side and gave Naruto a sideways smile, "Looks like you do."

Naruto just grinned down at Kakashi before springing back to his feet, all the while twirling the bells around his fingers on their strings.

The mist cleared as Kakashi released his technique, and Naruto strode calmly back to his peers and stopped in front of Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, I have completed your challenge. Will there be anything else?"

"Ahhh, Shizune?" Tsunade asked of her apprentice dumbly.

Shizune stepped up for her hokage and took over as she was sure that all kage's aides must do. "That was an astonishing display, Naruto-kun. We'll take your performance into consideration and sort out if you should be promoted, and we'll work out when your companion can participate in a chuunin exam."

Naruto grinned at the dark haired woman and bowed to her thankfully. "Thanks, Shizune-san."

Shizune smiled proudly at Naruto, and turned to address her master. Naruto was distracted from their words as a slim pair of arms snaked around his middle from behind him, "Hey Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, Ino-chan?" He questioned back to the girl who briefly pressed her lips to the back of his neck.

"Can I stay with you tonight?"

"Ahhh. Who wants to help me clean up my apartment?" Naruto called.

Sakura, Tayuya, Anko, and Shikamaru stepped forward, the latter more slowly than the three former. Jiraiya had already disappeared, Kakashi was in the process of walking away while sending a wave over his shoulder, and Shizune was waiting patiently as Tsunade stared intently at the ground in thought.

Ino herself just tightened her grip around Naruto's middle, and once again pressed her lips to the back of his neck.

**XXX Several hours later XXX **

Ino laughed joyously as the air swirled around her, lifting her crop top and skirt up dangerously close to revealing too much skin. Naruto was quick to laugh as well as he finished his wind technique. He looked around with a with a happy smile at his practically shining apartment.

His final wind technique had picked up all the dust that the cleaning shinobi had missed and carried it straight through the open window that Ino was standing by. The cleaning venture hadn't gone as smoothly as Naruto had hoped it would.

Shikamaru had perched himself on the kitchen counter and acted like a general, pointing out missed places, giving instruction on how to best clean them. None of the other Konoha nin had even pretended to listen to the Nara heir and had opted for doing their own thing.

Sakura had been the first to leave after a silent but heated discussion with Ino. The pinkette had stormed off angrily after bowing to Naruto and giving him her well wishes. Shikamaru claimed boredom next, and meandered out to find his sensei. And Tayuya had started running her mouth about how apparently amazing she was.

Anko had been quick to start grilling the redhead, and the discussion had changed track almost straight away when Tayuya had said how much more she was capable of after Naruto removed her curse seal. Anko had shifted her attention to Naruto to grill him with questions instead.

Naruto promised to help her at a later date, and Anko had decided that it was indeed best to talk to Tayuya. The two had left not long later in heated but friendly discussion. Then Naruto had been left alone with his girlfriend.

It had been slightly awkward between them at first, but Ino soon warmed back up to him, and instead of cleaning practically hung from Naruto's body, placing kisses along his neck and jaw all the while.

Naruto had ignored his desire to go with his girlfriend's apparent desires as he worked to get his cleaning done sooner rather than later.

All of that had finally led to the finishing touches of his wind technique, and Ino making no effort to hold her clothing down against the breeze it generated. Naruto blushed as Ino crossed her arms under her breasts, holding her purple crop top crumpled over their upper slopes.

"Like something you see?"

Naruto blushed as his answer, and Ino stalked over after a moment of pressing her breasts closer together. As Ino reached him, she raised herself on her toes and captured Naruto's bottom lip between both of hers and bit on it softly. She quickly let go and trailed a line of gentle kisses down his neck between breathless words. "You've got no idea how long I've wanted to do this, Naruto-kun."

Naruto frowned as guilt drilled through his heart. He grabbed Ino's shoulders and moved her to stand at arms length. "Ino, I did something bad, I almost cheated on you. I_—_I_—_We only kissed and touched each other a little though. I swear that I stopped before it went too far. I'd never want to risk hurting you."

Ino was silent for a moment as she chewed on her bottom lip in thought. Ino placed a pale hand on the side of his face and once again raised herself on her toes. Their lips connected, and this time Naruto returned it passionately. Soon enough Ino had wrapped her legs around his waist and had looped her arms around his neck, her hands writhing through his hair in a passionate massage.

Their lips separated and Ino tightened her leg hold, pulling her pelvis firmly against his. "Feels like someone wants to get a little more active," She cooed in her best attempt at a seductive tone.

Naruto answered her by squeezing her rear appreciatively and walking in the direction of his bedroom.

"Lucky for you, Mr. Uzumaki, I'd like to get a little more active myself," the platinum blonde girl added with a smirk.

**Thanks for reading, please blurt your thoughts and ideas in the review box bellow : -)**


	12. Chapter 12: The Veil of Pain Falls

**Author's notes: Sorry for the delay with this chapter. I wanted to have it up last week, but finding a new beta was slightly troublesome. I'll also include again that I may accept to include requested scenes, so long as they don't clash with any other things. **

**Onto the Ino issue; in a way, all of the hate for her is a compliment for me. It's sort of like saying that I've written it well enough for you to really get into it that much and feel that view for her. Or maybe I'm just self-ego-boosting :P **

**And as something of a heads up; Naruto and Konan forming a romantic relationship is still at least 4-6 chapters away. He will have another pairing first, which might sound like too much, but the way I have it planned will make that relationship key in Konan and him being together. So no dissing of it when I get there. **

**Review responses: **

**Kyo No Kitsune: Not to worry, she's out this chapter. Some things to do with her will pop up in the next chapter, but she won't make a direct appearance in the story for a while now. **

**Naturokurosaki: As in the club that Ino and the others went to? By that do you mean the name I made for it? If so, I just thought that sort of worked as a name for a club/bar in Konoha… Or if you mean by what it was like inside… There are actually clubs like that. **

**Newbiegod35: In some ways you're absolutely right. This relationships failure isn't what brings Naruto and Konan together, but it's a learning experience for him. And the Ino not bleeding thing is to do with kunoichi (or any athletic sort of woman) being very active, which can often break the hymen. Anywho… Please enjoy this chapter as well, I love getting such long and comprehensive reviews like yours. **

**Exalted Demi-soul: One of your final predictions in your review was close. You shall see. I was going to have Naruto and Ino break up in the last chapter… But I kind of ran out of energy while writing, so I did it that way.**

**Claymore78: Everyone trusted Ino to at least do the right thing. And you'll see how it plays out : -) **

**JoeMusashi: He will continually be growing as a person, and you are correct. But it was like an exposure to things in the world for him. **

**Tenbatsu Saigetsu: What a compliment! You have my many thanks : -) Initially I had a think about how I felt about the characters who are usually bashed, such as Sakura and Sasuke. I admit that I don't like the Sakura of canon at all, but I found ways to shift her around to being more progressive. And I figured that I never disliked Sasuke, more just that that Naruto series was meant to be about Naruto, and it was always following Sasuke and all of the gifts he was given, so it was that fact I didn't like about him. So in that case I could change some perspectives, and results to bring him into the character that he's becoming. He's in this chapter as well, I hope you like how I've kept him in the story. **

**Pain4ever: One of the quirks to my writing style is that I drop tons of tiny little hints as I go for future things. And I hinted at Ino cheating on him for a few chapters. But keep your eyes open for more of my little hints to certain outcomes : -) **

**To the Guest reviewers who do review such positive reviews, just from my perspective, I'd love for you to create accounts so I could thank you more personally with a review response on her. But thanks all the same. **

**Erdrick117: Full nine tails power. Some details, like that, just don't flow to write. But I did include mentions of his chakra haori, which is in his full powered state. **

**David: Many thanks. That is unfortunately the way it happens, but hopefully you like the follow up. **

**Serialkeller: It was more that they expected her to at least do the right thing, but she is Naruto's first, it was the best way to write that for a good emotionally painful and teaching event. And you've pointed out something that I forgot to add in… Naruto tried to give Fuu a kunai, just like he did to Konan, but she was too stubborn to take one, and Naruto always respects the wishes of people who he cares for. He honed his known skills with the rinnegan, but didn't actually expand on those ones specifically. That will be a slow journey in terms of his rinnegan powers. **

**MightoGai: Scroll up through my review responses… I answered your question somewhere up there. **

**NeoWolfX: I was conflicted about the position of Tayuya, but the way her character plays out, especially in this chapter, is very important to Naruto's development. Unfortunately Ino and him do go through with it, but I didn't directly write that in, so I hope you can continue to enjoy my story : -)**

**Tracker-02: I didn't really write it very blatantly, but Fuu died. But take a glance through some of my review responses and your questions will be answered : -) **

**The Scrap: Thanks for that, I try to keep my ideas fresh and progressive. I hope to see your name in my reviews in the future : -) **

**D-Gragoon1212: It was the most efficient way to write the chapter without breaking it up into several chapters, so I'm glad that you could stick with it. **

**Buen (Guest): Thank you so much, now I understand why I'm a good writer. **

**Digitize27: In a way that's like your saying I did a good job on writing her this way. But I hope you like the aftermath and developments. **

**The Night Hunter: I hope it was disgusting, and amusing. I wanted to write them as being extremely close to one another, and there are no barriers with disgusting things like that. But Naruto doesn't go straight on to Konan yet, I hope you like how I play things out. **

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: Your guesses there are amazingly close, good job! I won't ruin your speculation with spoilers ;) **

**Rasengan89: He will be far stronger than that, but still not for a while, and he will also have adversaries just as strong (uhoh… that was a big spoiler!) **

**Imugly: You already know my thoughts and thanks for your review : -) and I really appreciate your input. **

**And I just ran out of energy to keep replying to all of the reviews, I basically covered all of the bases in the previous ones to the guys I didn't answer, so just have a glance up through the others : -) Please blurt your thoughts, all manner of opinions, suggestions and requests in a review at the end, and I'll do my best to reply to everyone who reviews something substantial in my next chapter. **

**Chapter 12: The Veil of Pain Falls **

"Stop that," Naruto stated dryly, his expression not shifting from his barely hidden anger.

"Stop what?" Tayuya asked back coyly. Once again she threw a small red ball at the back of Naruto's head. Naruto stiffened as the ball bounced harmlessly off the back of his head. Ushering a sigh of sadness from Tayuya that Naruto hadn't reacted more aggressively.

Tayuya was purposely going out of her way to annoy her fellow Uzumaki. The night before, after getting back from being asked question after question from Anko about her curse mark and its removal she had immediately heard the sounds of Naruto and Ino vigorously having sex.

And for all of her teasing, Tayuya didn't have any experience in sexual matters. So her usually 'all confidence' persona had chosen not to interrupt Naruto and his girlfriend, and she had resorted to finding Jiraiya and spending a night with him in a hotel. So she was sure that her annoying Naruto was perfectly justified.

Sakura watched on, perplexed by the odd interaction between the two Uzumaki clansmen. Their day had started several hours earlier when the sun first rays had only begun kissing the rooftops of Konoha. And all three of them, as per a delivered message instructed, roused themselves from their slumber to gather in front of the academy building.

The first half hour of waiting for their new team leader had gone by silently. Sakura herself felt uneasy and inwardly uncomfortable. It was obvious from Naruto's behaviour and mood that Ino hadn't told him the truth, that simple fact was grating on her nerves.

Both Naruto and Tayuya seemed to crack at the same time as impatience got to them. Luckily for them, and unluckily for the fresh Academy students, it was the time of the day that their classes were set to begin. So Naruto and Tayuya had had a short pranking spree on the passing students, using fundamental shinobi skills that should be taught in the academy to justify it.

Sakura had spared a brief giggle at the two friends' antics, but had otherwise held her silence, aside from chastising Naruto for lobbing a paintball at Iruka. Then Naruto had unsealed a shogi set from one of many seals he revealed to be in his hip pouch. Sakura had declined playing.

Despite her considerable intellect, shogi was a game that escaped her ability to rationalize. As seemed to be the case with Tayuya as well, but the redhead girl was far too stubborn and proud to reject Naruto's request to play, and to lose gracefully. Instead, she had finalized her defeat by shouting out in a fit of anger, and stabbing the shogi board with a kunai repeatedly.

After that there had been another twenty minutes of silence, followed by Tayuya apologizing to Naruto for breaking the shogi board and losing her temper. Aside from Tayuya's fierce and strong personality, she was quite clearly an emotionally tumultuous person.

And Sakura was learning that Tayuya had remarkably little emotional self-control, which mostly worked to her detriment. But it did gladden Sakura to see that Tayuya obviously appreciated Naruto's patience and acceptance with and of her.

"Hey, cherry-bitch, are you sure that you didn't get told anything about what time this guy would be turning up?" Tayuya asked offhandedly, only looking at Sakura dismissively from the corner of her eye.

Sakura clenched her jaw in anger and prepared to raise a fist. As she moved to take a step toward Tayuya she caught a look from Naruto that seemed to say, '_please forgive her.' _So she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "No, I didn't get anything. Please DO NOT talk to me that way."

Tayuya smirked while Naruto raised an eyebrow. It seemed as though over the previous two, and a half years the once soft hearted Sakura had discovered her inner strength.

"Should I call you pink slut instead?" Tayuya rebutted snidely. Now her full attention was on the angry-red-faced Sakura, Tayuya suppressed a grin as she watched anger flicker across Sakura's face from subtle twitches of her nose and brow.

"At least I don't cheat on people!" Sakura blurted out angrily.

Tayuya stood her ground and leaned forward at the waist with her hands on her hips. The black crop top that she was wearing, which had once been one of Naruto's black t-shirts, dangled freely from her shoulders in her forward poised position, leaving none of her athletic physique to the imagination. She kept her now curious gaze locked onto Sakura as she was aware that Naruto was also doing- albeit with much more subtly.

"What?" Tayuya finally settled for flatly.

Sakura slapped a hand to her mouth and spun on her heel to make her escape. One of Tsunade's driving lessons had been to control her emotions in heated situations, and here in such a simple argument she had blurted something that she absolutely shouldn't have, despite her having wanted to.

Before Sakura could even begin to step away, a hand closed around her right wrist. Sakura immediately spun her head around, only to be met with Naruto's kind smile, and his endearing and warm blue rippled set of eyes. Sakura bit back a frustrated sob, and swung the rest of her body around until she embraced Naruto warmly.

She couldn't bear to think that someone who was so kind and respectful was being lied to by the person whom he was meant to care most about in the world. Sakura closed her eyes to block out the image of Tayuya dramatically waving her arms around in the air above her head.

Instead, she focused on the feeling of Naruto's arms encircling her, and the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath he took. "The kind fucking hearted pussy shinobi is once again to the rescue!" Tayuya's melodramatic cry broke Sakura from her mental comfort, and she became aware that Naruto was speaking softly into her ear.

"Sakura-chan, Tayuya-chan can be a bit rough, but what was that before? Are you okay?"

"I shouldn't be the one who has to tell you this, Naruto-kun…" Sakura sighed out over his shoulder. She kept her eyes shut to maintain her mental vision of all of this going well while Naruto continued gently embrace her. "Ino should have told you yesterday."

"Told me what, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked softly.

Sakura took a quick deep breath to steel her nerves. "Ino cheated on you, Naruto-kun." The blonde in her arms tensed up immediately, and Sakura tightened her grip and continued before nerves, or Naruto, could stop her. "Twice, the first time with Kotetsu, and the second time was with Izumo."

"This isn't a joke, is it?" Naruto bit out harshly. He could see that this made sense, he didn't want to believe it, but there had been little tells. Upon arriving back in Konoha, Jiraiya had spoken quietly with the two gate guards, and then with Anko, all while looking at him with concerned expressions.

Then there was Ino's nervousness, and then later how she had hesitated when he admitted to almost cheating on her. _'That would have been the perfect time for her to tell the truth! I might have forgiven her then. Now I know why she kept saying, so much better,' _Naruto thought angrily.

Sakura forced her body closer to Naruto's and interlocked her hands behind his back. She didn't want him to shunshin off and cause damage to anything that he'd regret damaging. Suddenly she was grasping thin air, her eyes widened in surprise, and she immediately looked to the redhead who was standing a meter away with her hands on her hips and an angry expression of her own on her face.

"He knows the hiraishin, genius," Tayuya sarcastically explained before shoving Sakura out of her path as she too began to leave.

"Are you going to find Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked desperately with a hint of fear in her voice.

Tayuya paused and turned an angry eyeon Sakura. "Look, cherry-bitch, none of this is your fault, but Naruto-kun is the most valuable thing in the world to me, and that mind-walking whore lied to him and hurt him. I'm going to make her pay for his pain."

Tayuya once again resumed her irate stride. Sakura quickly dashed after her and settled into the same pace beside the redhead. "Why do you care about Naruto-kun so much?" Sakura implored.

"He saved me from Orochimaru, he saved me from the curse mark, and he gave me a family. So I'll protect him, even his soft fucking heart if I have to."

Sakura looked at the side of Tayuya's face for a brief moment while they walked, and then looked to the ground sadly. She could already envision Naruto in the midst of his dream of being hokage. He already seemed to be saving people and bringing them together under one banner. She couldn't fathom how someone so young was already carrying so much on his shoulders.

"Do you know that retard almost cheated on the mind whore when we were in Taki?" Tayuya's angry voice distracted Sakura from her musings.

Sakura looked to Tayuya at the rhetorical question before she continued. "The jinchuuriki for the nanabi was head over heels for him. That little bitch practically died for him in the end."

"What?" Sakura asked in awe. She could never imagine Naruto letting anyone die for him.

"You don't know a thing about the Akatsuki, do you? They're a group of S-ranked shinobi hunting the bijuu. Naruto offered to bring Fuu with us; her village didn't give a shit about her. But that dumb fucker inspired her so much that she refused to leave, she wanted to stand up for his beliefs, and now Naruto says that he can no longer feel Choumei, which means she's dead." Tayuya ranted heatedly.

Sakura was lost on the names, but she put the general picture together easily enough while staring at Tayuya in awe. "Naruto-kun deserves someone who will never give up on him." Tayuya finished resolutely.

Sakura once again just nodded and followed the redheads lead as they traversed the streets of Konoha seemingly at random in search of Ino.

**X**

"I see. Thank you for being so clear," Naruto muttered darkly with his eyes downcast.

"Again, we're so sorry Naruto-san! If we had known that I-"

"-No, it's not your fault at all. Don't apologize, I just wanted answers." Naruto interrupted Izumo's apology once again. To his right Kotetsu just wore a sombre expression. "Don't feel bad about this, guys, neither of you did anything wrong, she did."

By the time that Izumo opened his mouth to attempt another apology Naruto had vanished into thin air. Naruto looked to his left the moment that he materialized out the front of the Yamanaka flower shop. He closed his hand around the grip of his marked kunai that was embedded in the door frame and yanked it out.

He had no intention of needing the place marked anymore. Naruto reached for the door handle, and held the door open politely for a middle-aged woman as she exited the store. She smiled warmly at him, and muttered her thanks before turning down the street.

Naruto wasted no time in stepping into the store and heading toward the counter. "Naruto-kun!" Ino called happily from behind the counter.

Naruto schooled his features, and kept a straight face while holding his silence. He strode calmly toward Ino and explored the depths of her eyes. Her happy expression shifted into a worried one as Naruto held his straight faced silence.

"What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" She asked in a small voice.

"Your ability to tell the truth," Naruto replied blandly.

Ino shied away from his gaze and looked at the countertop as she replied. "What are you talking about?"

"You cheated on me. I just wanted to tell you that I know before I told you that we're over. I thought I knew you," The blonde Uzumaki stated coldly.

Ino looked up sharply as tears began spilling from her eyes. She reached out to grasp at him, but Naruto took a quick step back. "Naruto-kun! Don't accuse me of such things! I gave you my virginity last night!"

Naruto shook his head and gave her a sad expression. "Stop lying, Ino. Kotetsu and Izumo told me the truth, unlike you they were extremely regretful," He spoke in a remorseful tone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please let me try again. I swear I'll never do anything wrong again!" Ino sobbed out as tears freely flowed from her eyes down over her cheeks and to her chin.

Naruto crossed his arms and finally broke his blank expression to frown at her. "Last night before you manipulated me into fucking you as well, I opened up about how I had almost cheated on you. I could have kept that a secret, but I trusted you, so I didn't. You could have done the same, and I might have forgiven you if you could at least be honest."

"I swear I'll do anything to make you forgive me!" Ino wailed as she clumsily jumped over the counter and made a grab to embrace him.

Naruto just flicked his marked kunai back toward the door, and the moment that Ino was about to impact his body he teleported to it. Ino, having expected to meet resistance, was unable to slow her momentum and she fell face first onto the wooden floor.

"Goodbye, Yamanaka Ino." Naruto said in a distant voice. He spun on his heel and grabbed the door handle. He ignored the sound of Ino sobbing on the floor behind him as he gently pulled it open and stepped out as though he were any other customer of the store.

Naruto started a brisk pace back toward his apartment. His mind focused on the sole task of cleaning it to such a degree that no single petals worth of Ino's presence was left behind. He didn't entirely care about his team's new assignment in light of current events.

"**Are you alright?" **

Naruto almost tripped at the deep resonating voice in his head. He'd almost forgotten of Kurama's presence. _'Yeah, I'm angry, and upset, but I swear I'll stick to my promise.' _

"**Naruto, I know you'll stick to your promise. Are you alright?" **

Naruto halted his walk for a moment as he thought about his tenant. _'No, I'm not, but thanks for asking.' _

Within the seal, Kurama sighed in frustration, but took the hint to shut up. With his and Naruto's forged bond, he felt a great deal of what Naruto felt, and he was woe to admit it, but he did care for his hosts' wellbeing.

"Boss!"

Naruto halted his fast walk and looked around for the origin of the voice. He could never forget the unique way in which Konohamaru and his little gang addressed him. His eyes quickly settled on the familiar trio, with Hinata, and her younger sister Hanabi right behind them.

The three leading genin rushed up to Naruto and looked upon him with expressions of awe. "So you do have those eyes. Boss, they're awesome!"

Naruto smiled kindly at Konohamaru and offered a hand to high five to Moegi and Udon. Each of them slapped a palm onto his and grinned at him. Just as Konohamaru moved to slap his palm across Naruto's, Naruto shifted his hand and slapped the side of the Sarutobi boys head.

"You've got to be just as gracious as your friends," Naruto chastised playfully.

Konohamaru pouted boyishly for a moment before his emotional control failed, and he gave Naruto a broad grin. Naruto just smiled back and instead offered his fist to him. Just as their fists connected Hinata and Hanabi arrived at their more regal pace.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted softly.

"Naruto-san," Hanabi addressed him respectfully as she bowed at her waist.

"Did you know, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked softly toward the pale eyed Hyuuga princess.

She opened her mouth and closed it quickly as she realized what Naruto was referring to. Once again she tried to speak, but her nerves overcame her and she settled on nodding her head once in the affirmative while a scarlet blush took its familiar place on her cheeks.

Naruto offered a hand to Hinata. She and the others present just looked at him oddly for a moment before Hinata gently placed her hand in his, her blush only darkening with the action. The moment that their skin made contact Naruto tugged her toward him.

Hinata gasped at the unexpected action, but soon found her body supported with Naruto's hands on her waist. Her eyes widened as she realized that their lips were connected, upon seeing that Naruto's eyes were closed and realizing that the kiss was purposeful she momentarily panicked and attempted to push away.

She felt Naruto's shoulders and posture slump slightly at her actions, and conflicting desires and thoughts rampaged through her mind. Hinata fought the fear that drove her blush and squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to continue what Naruto had started.

She peeked her eyes open slightly to see that just like her own face, Naruto's was going through a range of feelings.

Her eyes eased shut, and her lips followed Naruto's as his parted and captured her bottom lip softly. A moment later and he once again parted his lips, this time his tongue ran along her lips. She groaned in the back of her throat at the action, and she quickly parted her lips to let his tongue into her mouth.

Hinata moaned in the back of her throat in appreciation of the passionate embrace as Naruto's tongue seemed to embrace hers within their connected mouths. She felt her knees weaken slightly, and she quickly put both of her hands atop his shoulders to ensure she didn't crumple in on herself.

The kiss ended far too soon for her liking as Naruto drew away. She opened her eyes to his gentle smile, and before she understood why he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata gently pushed Naruto away so she could look into his unfamiliar doujutsu, oblivious to the curious and awed expressions on the faces of the genin. "N-N-Naruto-kun?" She whispered out in her usual stutter. Her moment of resolve had faded, and her face was once again cherry red.

"I know that you love me, Hinata-chan. I just wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed by someone who loves you," Naruto explained with a saddened expression. "It was wrong of me to do that, and I'm so sorry that I don't feel the same way back. You deserve to be with someone who loves you back."

Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but Naruto silenced her with a sad smile before vanishing.

**X**

"Are you okay?" Tsunade asked softly to the young man sitting on her desk.

Naruto nodded absently and kept his eyes locked on the door. Behind him, in her chair, Tsunade sighed and leaned back over a collection of papers that she needed to fill out. She would see to Naruto's emotional state later, her hokage duties had to come first.

The door creaked open, and Sakura's familiar pink hair bobbed into view. "There you are! We've been looking for you everywhere," She called in a relieved tone as she fully let herself into the office, Tayuya on her heels.

"Are you okay, my godly sexy friend?" Tayuya asked with a sly grin in an attempt to stroke Naruto's ego.

Sakura's originally concerned expression quickly shifted in a bemused one as Tayuya shoved her body between Naruto's parted legs that were hanging off the edge of Tsunade's desk and turned her back to Naruto. She reached over her shoulders and pulled each of Naruto's hands around her neck, and then gripped under his thighs and pulled his legs around her waist.

Her face went bright red as she attempted to heave him up and onto her back. "Piggyback rides make everyone happy!" She wheezed out.

Naruto simply hung from her grip like a sack of potatoes, his own playful smirk slowly forming as she took a step toward Sakura. "Cherry-bitch, help me out. This fucker is heavy."

Sakura laughed softly and went around behind the pair. Her face tinged pink as she placed both her hands under Naruto's rear and pushed him up higher onto (up) Tayuya's back. Tsunade had lost all interest in her work and was watching the three with a confused expression of amusement.

And true to Yamato's reputation of awkward timing, he let himself into the office and froze upon the sight of the three who were going to be assigned as his team trying to balance Naruto on Tayuya's back, and Sakura trying to lift his rear higher to make it easier on the other girl.

"Ahem?" Yamato coughed in an effort to draw attention to himself.

Tsunade merely 'hmphed' while folding her arms beneath her breasts, obviously dissatisfied with Yamato's lateness. Sakura looked up at the man in the doorway, and immediately took her hands from Naruto's rear in an attempt at looking professional.

The sudden lack of support from Sakura led to all of Naruto's weight falling forward onto the unprepared redhead. Her knees buckled under her companions weight, and they crashed onto the floor with Naruto laughing and Tayuya cursing.

"You're late." Tsunade spoke accusingly over the recovering younger generation to Yamato.

"Apologies Hokage-sama, we only just arrived back in the village from our scouting mission," He explained while assuming a respectful bow.

Tsunade eyed him up for a moment, bringing a bead of sweat to the now former ANBU's forehead. He had already received a mission briefing. He would be disbanded from ANBU, to instead serve as a simple jounin and lead the former team seven, so he had come to Tsunade's office without his mask or ANBU clothing, something the he was regretting as he felt particularly nude in front of his leader.

"Fine then, you'll do. Naruto!" Tsunade yelled over her desk.

Naruto's and Tayuya's bodies tangled for a moment as Naruto tried to find his feet. A forced helping hand from Yamato had Naruto standing by Yamato's side under Tsunade's suddenly all business stare. "You four will make up the new team seven. Kakashi and I agreed that after your display yesterday, both in skill and tactics, that you are to be promoted to jounin. But you are NOT in charge of this team, captain Yamato is the boss. Got me, brat?"

Naruto nodded firmly at Tsunade's hokage voice. By now, both Sakura and Tayuya had corrected themselves and were standing slightly behind the two men in equally respectful postures.

"As to your first mission…" Tsunade sighed sadly. She had wanted to send teams of ANBU to capture and or kill Sasuke and Orochimaru, but she owed it to the memory of whom Orochimaru once was to send Naruto in an attempt to placate the Uchiha. "You will be going to apprehend Uchiha Sasuke, and if possible, eliminate Orochimaru. An ANBU patrol located one of their bases, and we suspect that they are hiding there."

Tsunade scanned each face in the room, and was surprised that not even Sakura flinched at the information. "Are there any questions?"

"I assume that you will provide us with a map marked with the location?" Yamato asked flatly.

"Of course," The Senju woman nodded. She fished about around the stack of papers on her desk until she flicked a folded sheet to Yamato. He didn't question that it must in fact be the map, and hastened to pocket it. "Naruto, I know that I can't really bar you from using the kyuubi's power, but on this occasion, I give you my full blessing to use however much power you need to get the job done."

Naruto nodded calmly as a smirk twitched on his lips. In the back of his mind, he could hear Kurama chuckling a low excited chuckle.

Tayuya was looking at Naruto's back with a smug smile. The idea of seeing him unleash the full extent of his shared power with Kurama on anything excited her, since she knew that in regular mode Naruto was miles above her, and she could hardly fathom what his Kurama aided power must be.

Sakura just looked at Naruto bewildered. She understood that he was powerful and that the kyuubi must also be extremely powerful, but to hear her master giving her blessing to Naruto as though she was opening the gates of heaven or hell made her realize just how extensive Naruto's abilities must be.

Yamato simply nodded and turned to leave. He paused at the door and looked back over his shoulder at his three new teammates. "We'll meet at the gates tomorrow at six AM. Naruto, would you like to join me for lunch?" Yamato spoke politely.

Naruto gave his new superior a small smile and fell into step behind him as he proceeded into the hallway beyond.

Before Sakura could voice her own plan, Tayuya grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the room. Sakura decided to keep her annoyance to herself, knowing that it would only fuel the redhead's amusement. "Where are we going?" She settled for meekly.

"I want barbeque food, you're going to show me where to get it," Tayuya announced happily as though it should have been the first thought on Sakura's mind.

Sakura just mouthed "Oh," and resigned herself to being Tayuya's new forced friend.

**XXX With Konan XXX**

"I've had enough of these games, Itachi! Just be upfront for once and tell me what your intentions are?" The blue haired guardian of Amegakure demanded hotly the moment that the Uchiha man stepped through the threshold of the room that doubled as her office to serve the needs of Ame.

She no longer cared for the usage of privacy seals. Her patience was waning, and her views had already been shifted into a much more positive light for far too long to stomach the ill deeds of the organization that she had played a role in founding.

"Konan-san, my plans are already in action. I have told you this once before," Itachi deadpanned back.

Konan tried to suppress the angry and frustrated growl the crawled up her throat. "By your plans, you mean your unstable little brother, and Naruto, and you've left him completely in the dark, just expecting him to carry all of the weight of yours and your village's failures."

A barely noticeable frown crossed Itachi's face at Konan's harsh truth. "Konan-san, you are not obligated to work with me. My goals are clear to me, they are not for your gain."

"Is it an Uchiha trait that makes all of you into selfish pricks?" Konan snapped harshly back.

A ripple of anger seemed to flow across Itachi's face for a moment before he cooled his outward demeanour. "Konan-san, I feel for your plight. But from the moment that I became a shinobi my goals have been to redeem the Uchiha name. I invested my energy into Naruto-kun so that he can be what Konoha needs while I can bring about the redemption of the Uchiha."

Konan clenched and unclenched her hands several times in frustration. In part, she blamed Itachi for her current position. He had been the one to initially shine a glimmer of hope into her life in the form of hints about Naruto, and had prompted her into changing her cause.

And now, it felt like she was being left high and dry without any aid. She couldn't change the direction, or blunt the blows, of Akatsuki by herself, and had initially planned on plotting and fighting by Itachi's side to aid the goals of the Uchiha's previous student.

With a quiet growl of annoyance, she realized that Itachi had willingly held back that information from the very beginning. She opened her mouth to speak, but the Uchiha loyalist spoke first. "Konan-san, as you said about your meeting with Naruto-kun; he has become very powerful, powerful enough to apprehend you in a matter of seconds-" he held up a placating palm to quiet Konan before she could try to speak again.

"Naruto's dream is to bring peace to the world, and he will fight and kill when he must, just like his father. My dreams are much smaller, and you have nothing to gain by fighting with me. I am sure that Pein knows of my goals, but not yours. Fight with Naruto-kun instead of me."

Konan tensed up at his words. She had never even considered the possibility of standing side by side with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Even though in recent years she had come to see the horror of what Nagato had become the idea of abandoning him still frightened her.

They had fought side by side to defend each other since their shared childhoods; even though he was the one who had uprooted their bonds Konan still felt a glimmer of responsibility for him. "Naruto-kun doesn't deserve someone like me by his side," Konan mumbled out lowly and hung her head.

"Shut up, stop the self-pity. Naruto deserves anyone who wants to bring about a positive change," Itachi stated harshly in complete contrast to his usual behaviour. "And don't put Naruto on such a pedestal, even if he is strong now, the situation was hugely in his advantage, and that's why he was able to disable you so quickly. And it might only take one person to change the world with their goals and actions, but Naruto's dream needs people to stand by his side, not people who will revere him like a god. He knows this just like I do. He did try and befriend you, didn't he? Not subjugate you?"

Konan twined her fingers together and momentarily reminisced of the time when Naruto had held her in an embrace, and when his hand had seemed to warm her soul through their brief connection. She nodded to Itachi's parental sounding words, her expression a mixture of innocent understanding and fear.

She opened her mouth to speak, but a hefty knock on the door silenced her beginnings of speech. "Itachi-san, we have our latest target. This one sounds like fun," Kisame called cheerily through the door.

Konan crinkled her nose and knitted her brow in disgust. Itachi shot her cold glare and spoke silently. "For now, you must be Konan of Akatsuki, do not waste your life."

Before she could form any sort of reply, Itachi had spun on his heel and slipped through the doorway. The faint sound of Kisame talking happily about hunting a man called Utakata carried back to her, and Konan balled her fists while squeezing her eyes shut.

All that she could think of was the feeling that had washed through her just being in Naruto's presence. The darkness that Akatsuki consisted of was eating away at her resolve, and she desperately wanted to escape the pain that it was causing her.

'_Uzumaki Naruto, I'll help you succeed, I promise. I don't care about Itachi's backward goal of goading hate in his brother, you're my goal, my dream.'_

**XXX With Naruto/Team 7 XXX **

The team of Konoha shinobi were dashing through dark earthen corridors with Yamato in the lead. Occasionally they would come to a sudden halt as either Yamato or Naruto would kick in a door and inspect whatever lay beyond, but so far their hasty search had proved no results other than signs that there had indeed been recent habitation.

But both Naruto and Tayuya, with their own unique sensory abilities could tell that their targets were here somewhere, or at least close by. Tayuya's sensory ability seemed to be a part of the package of being an Uzumaki with special chakra, and she, like Naruto, could feel someone's intent to an extent.

Tayuya increased her pace slightly and nudged into Naruto's side. "That Kabuto rat is here somewhere, so is the fag from the tub."

If the situation had been less tense, Naruto would have chuckled at Tayuya's words, even though he knew she didn't really intend for her naming of people to be a joke. But it seemed from their journey to Orochimaru's lair that she had chosen to name Sasuke as 'the fag from the tub,' in reference to the sound four's previous attempt at smuggling him away from Konoha in the chakra conducting tub.

Naruto didn't need to reply as the corridor rumbled and light suddenly berated their pupils from the end of the corridor. Naruto wordlessly increased his pace as he channelled lightning chakra through his muscles and flashed ahead of the group and out into the light.

Yamato instantly reached out toward him in a vain attempt to keep him in the group, but soon lowered his arm back to his side to concentrate on simply keeping up with the recently promoted jounin. As the group grew closer to the source of natural light their eyes adjusted, and they could see Naruto standing calmly in the middle of what had once been a room, and was now simply a crater in the earth.

They all squeezed through the opening at the same time and halted immediately. Up on the lip of the crater was the familiar, yet different Uchiha man. Sasuke stood facing away from them, but regarded them with a cold expression over his shoulder.

"Have you come to kill Orochimaru?" He asked flatly. "He's already dead. He had nothing more to teach me," Sasuke answered for them with a smirk forming across his lips.

"Uchiha Sasuke, under orders of the hokage, we are here to apprehend you and take you back to Konoha to answer for your crimes," Yamato scripted out.

"Oh?" Sasuke sounded back. He turned to face the four fully and locked his gaze onto Naruto. "You weren't ordered to kill me? Like you are meant to do to missing nin? Have you been making Konoha as weak as you can, Naruto?"

"I am here with a different purpose, Sasuke," Naruto announced sadly.

"Really? More lies?" The young Uchiha man snickered.

"My first sensei has made a lot of mistakes with keeping the truth from people, so I swear that I'm not lying."

"Your first sensei? My brother, the liar, traitor, and murderer. You're just an extension of him, and my dream is to kill him!" Sasuke roared in mounting rage.

Naruto gave Sasuke a saddened expression. He could easily imagine himself being in such an emotionally dark place from all of the accumulated pain in his life. He turned to his team, all of them looking up at Sasuke with differing expressions. Tayuya looked as though she was sizing up prey; Yamato wore a similar expression, though his was more of a business like gaze.

Sakura looked both pained and angry with both of her fists clenched and her arms shaking. "Guys?" Naruto gained their attention.

Three sets of eyes looked to him questioningly. "All of you have to stay out of this. In part, it's my fault he's like this, and I have to make sure that Itachi-sensei's mistakes stop hurting the world."

Naruto turned back to Sasuke, to see that the young Uchiha was already flying through a set of hand seals. "Fire release: great dragon fire technique!"

Naruto wordlessly formed a shadow clone and flashed from the ground straight toward the approaching fiery dragon head. His clone rushed to his comrades and flashed into his Kurama empowered state. His haori billowed around him as three golden arms burst from his chest and collected the Konoha nin into firm grasps before he pounced up and over the rim of the crater, the three Konoha shinobi being carried with the clone despite their cries of protest.

The original Naruto clasped his palms together as he flew toward the raging fiery dragon head. He focused power through his rinnegan and envisioned swirling water. As he drew his palms apart a sphere of water expanded from the empty space. It quickly expanded in mass and Naruto hurled it at Sasuke's offensive jutsu.

The two attacks collided with an explosion of steam as they negated each other. Naruto's body carried through the visually affronting screen of steam as he continued on his path to where Sasuke had previously been. A glint of light reflected through the shroud in front of him, and Naruto instinctively raised his right hand with a black Tanto-sized blade clasped firmly.

True to his prediction, Sasuke crashed into him. Their blades clashed with a clank of metal on metal. Sasuke immediately went on the offensive as he followed up his sword strike with a swinging kick. With their bodies still mid-air Naruto dropped all of his upper body downward with his left elbow ramming into Sasuke's mid-thigh as he attempted to kick Naruto in the close quarters fight.

Sasuke grunted in pain, and their bodies dropped back toward the ground. A gust of wind carried through the area as they both landed in opposing defensive stances, the misty steam was carried away with the breeze, and Naruto lowered his guard slightly.

"I feel sorry for the Uchiha clan," Naruto stated remorsefully. "your founder was greedy, and he sparked your curse of hate, and then Madara came along and made it all worse. You feel so much hate because your brother seems to think that you will use it to redeem the Uchiha clan."

"Shut up! I will remove the stain of Konoha from the Uchiha's great name!" Sasuke roared in rage. His sharingan spun menacingly, and Naruto met his gaze without flinching.

Sasuke cried out in pain after their short stare off. He pawed at his eyes furiously for a moment, and Naruto couldn't resist the smirk that formed at the sound of Kurama's amused voice. **"Hah, it's strangely satisfying having a host with visual prowess. Now kill him!" **

Naruto resisted the smile that wanted to form from Kurama's instant change in tone from nostalgic to aggressive. They had discussed the matter of Sasuke and had come to an agreement of Kurama trusting Naruto's judgement.

"Sasuke, attack me with everything you have. I represent Konoha, and I aim to be the hokage. So if you can't kill me then maybe you'll have to be forced to listen to me."

Sasuke ceased his furious rubbing of his eyes, and once again roared a short battle cry before throwing himself toward Naruto. Yet again their blades clashed with a ring of steel, though instead of a follow up blow- as Naruto had expected- Sasuke's katana flashed with electricity and sheared through his chakra blade.

Naruto frowned slightly while Sasuke smirked in his assumed victory. Sasuke's smirk quickly vanished as a black arrowhead, followed by a chain, burst from Naruto's chest and twined around his katana. Despite the blade being cloaked by lightning chakra, it couldn't cut through the rinnegan chain from the angle of attack.

The chain wrapped its way up the blade and to the handle. Sasuke cursed under his breath and released his hold on his preferred weapon. He jumped away, and his previously manipulated lightning chakra clung to his hand in a familiar chidori.

Naruto released his rinnegan chain from his chest, and deftly snatched Sasuke's katana as it dropped toward the ground. He stomped his right foot down onto the broken earth as he yet again manipulated his rinnegan abilities. Sasuke levelled his chidori wielding hand at Naruto, and on instinct Naruto raised his left hand and focused on maintaining his chakra chain while preparing to absorb whatever Sasuke was about to throw at him.

Sasuke's chidori shot forward in a beam of light, and the Uchiha man once again smirked as he assumed it would be his victory. Naruto activated his chakra absorbing ability the moment that the lightning spear was about to penetrate his hand and follow through to his chest.

The tip of the spear warped and flowed into Naruto's hand in the form of usable chakra. Before Sasuke had the chance to defend from any form of attack, the chain that Naruto had directed underground burst forth and wrapped around Sasuke's ankle.

Naruto retracted the chain sharply, wrenching Sasuke from his feet and onto his back. The blonde rinnegan wielder flashed forward the moment that Sasuke's back impacted the destroyed floor of the room. Naruto twisted Sasuke's katana around in a wide arc.

The arc of the katana ended as the body of the blade followed the tip in piercing through Sasuke's left bicep and ramming into the ground. Sasuke screamed in pain, and he instantly tried to swing his right arm up to crush Naruto's esophagus.

The attack was clear and obvious to Naruto, and he counted simply by deflecting the punch with his forearm. His right hand released its hold on the katana, and another black blade formed. Sasuke stared at the blade in horror, and he screamed again a moment later as Naruto thrust the weapon cleaning through his right arm and into the ground.

Sasuke ceased his writhing when Naruto pressed a kunai to his throat. "I told you that your hate wouldn't help you, Sasuke."

Sasuke stared wide-eyed into Naruto's blue rinnegan with the same expression of fear that he had worn the day his brother had annihilated his clan. "No! Don't! I need to kill Itachi!" Sasuke pleaded.

Naruto sighed and moved to kneel next to Sasuke's head. "Sasuke, I don't know if Itachi hates anything, but I know more than anything he wants there to be peace in the world, and for the Uchiha to be redeemed. He thought that making you hate him would be able to fix all of that, but the sharingan comes from hate and pain."

Sasuke didn't respond verbally; instead he stared into Naruto's eyes and once again attempted to cast a genjutsu on his rival. Naruto shook his head sadly, and Sasuke's expression became even more panicked.

"I'm going to take away the thing that makes you think that the world should bend to your will. Confront Itachi as a human who wants the truth and peace, not as an angry Uchiha bent on destruction."

Sasuke blinked at Naruto's words, and then his jaw dropped slightly when he saw Naruto retrieve a kunai from his pouch. "No! Please don't!"

Naruto paid no attention to Sasuke's plea, and he placed a steadying hand around the left side of Sasuke's face while he poised the kunai above his left eye.

"I'll fucking kill you! I'll kill everyone! I'll leave you alive, so you know that it's all your fault that everyone you cared about is dead! I swear I- Ahhhh!" Sasuke screamed out in pain over his enraged rant as Naruto suddenly pulled his eyelids open and slid the kunai into his eye socket.

Naruto's movement was precise, he smoothly slid the kunai around Sasuke's eyeball and severed the tissue that held the ocular organ in place. Sasuke screamed even louder in response, bringing a cringe of horror across Naruto's face. He knew that what he was doing was horrific, and was no doubt causing vast amounts of pain.

But he knew all too well of the history of the sharingan, of what it made its user capable of, and the suffering it brought to everyone. With a final push, Naruto levered the kunai upward and carried Sasuke's intact eyeball up and out of his eye socket.

Naruto dropped the kunai on Sasuke's chest, ignoring the fact that Sasuke's entire body was writhing and thrashing in an effort to get free of the blades that pinned him to the ground and escape with at least one of his eyes. Naruto grimaced and sighed sadly at the turn of events. In the back of his mind, he wondered what Itachi would think of his actions.

In his right hand, he cradled Sasuke's eye carefully while with his left, he searched his hip pouch for a seal he always carried in case he needed to preserve something. He withdrew the seal without his usual smile of approval and laid it out next to Sasuke's head.

He applied a small amount of chakra to the sealed paper and then carefully placed the sharingan eye in the middle. The eye vanished the moment that it settled on the paper, and Naruto looked up to Sasuke's face once again.

Sasuke was staring at Naruto with his right eye wide in terror and his left eye predictably squinted shut. Blood leaked from behind his closed eyelid and dripped down across his cheek. "Naruto, please don't! I need my sharingan to stop Itachi. You know how strong he is, please? Please? Please stop this?" Sasuke pleaded as clear tears spilled from his remaining eye.

Naruto frowned, and silently moved to kneel by Sasuke's right side. "I found out the truth, all of it," Naruto mumbled quietly as both his blue rinnegan eyes met Sasuke's still active sharingan. "The Uchiha clan was going to try and overthrow the hokage, which would have destroyed Konoha. So the old man tried to negotiate peaceful solutions for the village and the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke's remaining eye narrowed at Naruto as he continued to speak.

"Itachi and Shisui were acting as agents for Danzo and Root, eventually Itachi was ordered by Danzo to wipe out the entire clan, and he managed to keep you alive. But he knew that all of the mounting issues over time had disgraced the clan, and that if he did what he did that he could become the figure of how bad an Uchiha could be, and that if he goaded you into getting strong and killing him that the Uchiha clan would seem like it had all been redeemed."

"But why do this?" Sasuke pleaded.

"It is said that the sharingan runs off negative emotions and that it amplifies them. Nothing good comes from the sharingan. If I take your eyes, you can become Uchiha Sasuke, someone who is strong and proud without hate guiding him. I'm sorry."

They held each other's steady gaze for a moment before Sasuke simply flopped his head back and looked toward the sky. "Fine then," he resigned glumly. He knew that there was absolutely no way for him to escape his current predicament, and Naruto had seemingly put substantial thought to his actions.

"I'm sorry," the blonde muttered again as he widened Sasuke's eyelid with one hand, and similarly to how he had the first time, slipped the kunai around Sasuke's eyeball to cut it from his head. The process was over in second, and Naruto sealed the eyeball into his preservation seal.

Sasuke sighed and looked directed his head to where his katana was penetrating his arm and pinning him to the ground. "Could you please take my sword out of my arm?"

Naruto nodded, despite Sasuke not being able to see his affirmative motion, and gripped the weapons handle and pulled it up and out of Sasuke's limb. The Uchiha man grunted in pain, and Naruto proceeded to apply his mystical palm technique to the wound.

Naruto quickly shifted his position and did the same with Sasuke's other arm and wound. Sasuke sported a pained yet confused expression as he tried to track Naruto's movements with the direction of his face. "So are you taking me back to Konoha?" He asked coldly.

"No."

"You're just going to leave me here, blind and beaten?"

"Not exactly," Naruto muttered.

Once again Sasuke heard Naruto moving around his head. He resigned himself to simply moving with Naruto's action as the Konoha loyalist lifted his head from the dirt and set it into his lap. Sasuke wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that he was so utterly defeated that he would be better off going along with Naruto.

The young Uchiha man hissed in pain as two of Naruto's fingers gently ran over one of his closed eyelids. It felt disgusting and equally terrifying to Sasuke that from Naruto's tentative touch, he could feel his eyelid sink into the space that his eyeball had once inhabited.

He was about to snarl an insult at Naruto, when suddenly his offended eyelid was pulled wide open, and something was pushed into the empty socket. Sasuke screeched throatily in pain and once again began thrashing his body to escape whatever torture Naruto was applying to him.

Naruto merely leaned his weight forward and held Sasuke's head steady with his forearm while he pushed the replacement eyeball into Sasuke's empty socket. His hand glowed green a moment later and he half smiled half grimaced in approval of successfully implanting the eye of a former Konoha shinobi into Sasuke's head.

Sasuke was clearly still feeling too much pain to distinguish the fact that he had a new eye in his head, and he wasn't given the chance to analyse any new feelings as Naruto moved on to doing the same to his other empty socket.

It had been quite easy for Naruto to acquire the eyes that he was implanting into Sasuke's skull. Immediately after the mission briefing with Tsunade, and the new version of team seven had gone to prepare, Naruto had told the Senju princess of his intentions of taking away Sasuke's eyes, and if she would allow it, place a new set of regular eyes into him.

She had been shocked by Naruto's cold calculation of his actions, but after a short time of silent thinking had agreed with his judgement. She had previously sat and listened to Naruto speak for hours as he recounted everything he knew about Itachi and his goals, so she could easily understand Naruto's intentions to maintain Sasuke's path, albeit to a different extent than the younger Uchiha's original plan.

Acquiring the eyes had also been simple; lots of Konoha shinobi would sign wavers upon going into service that allowed for organs to be harvested from them in the event of their deaths so that even if they met their untimely demise they could still serve a purpose to their village.

On the surface, Tsunade's orders for team seven had been to kill Orochimaru if possible, and to capture Sasuke if possible to be returned to Konoha to face punishment of her choosing, and upon them being unable to capture him, attempt to kill him instead. Tsunade's under the table orders to Naruto had been more along the lines of being words of trust about her believing in his intentions and that he could take matters into his own hands if he saw it fit.

Naruto grunted in pain, and he looked to his thigh to see the handle of a kunai sticking out. It seemed as though Sasuke truly did think that Naruto was attempting to torture him, and in his struggles to escape he had fished a kunai from his hip pouch and slammed it into Naruto's leg.

The blonde pressed more weight onto the arm that was pressed against Sasuke's head, and held his hand over both of the Uchiha's eyes with his healing jutsu still glowing. His other hand raised up quickly and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, preventing another kunai from being planted into his leg.

"Sasuke! You don't even know what the hell I'm doing, so stop attacking me."

"That's the point, idiot!" The more helpless of the duo yelled back between gritted teeth.

"Sorry-" Naruto muttered quietly. "I'm giving you new eyes."

"What?" Sasuke ceased all movement, and slightly angled his face to show his attention being fully on Naruto.

"The Uchiha have a bad history, and I'm not sure of the details of what the sharingan does to people if it does anything at all, but I know that if you kept it you would do something to get yourself killed. I'm not sure what I want to see in the future with the Uchiha clan, but I want to bring peace to the world, it wouldn't make sense to exclude any clans from that," the blonde shinobi explained slowly as he set his attention on the finishing touches of healing Sasuke's new teal eyes into his head.

Sasuke grumbled in thought while Naruto worked over his face. "I don't understand you at all. You know that I'm still going to find Itachi?"

Naruto nodded absently while sending out chakra feelers into Sasuke's eyes to ensure that they had correctly healed over. "Yes," he added as an afterthought. "I can't be sure how things will go for you now, but it can't possibly be as bad as you having the sharingan. We're enemies, but I don't want to have any enemies. Maybe now without those eyes you'll be able to see that."

"How do you know that I won't just hate you for this? My inheritance meant everything to me."

Naruto frowned at Sasuke's words. It was the plain and simple truth, and it was something that he had largely expected. Taking Sasuke's eyes served two purposes and possibilities; it would either help him be rid of his hate and make him more manageable in terms of possibly coming back under the wing of reason.

Or it could enhance his hate and make him seek out power with an even more rigorous attitude but at the cost of him having lost the gift of power from his sharingan. Naruto had seen the trade off as a safe one. And either way, he couldn't imagine taking Sasuke's eyes as remotely turning into a bad thing when it came down to how Sasuke could develop in the future.

"What sort of doujutsu do you have anyway? How did you get it?"

Sasuke's query bought Naruto back to reality. He pulled a strip of bandage cloth from his pouch and proceeded to wrap it around Sasuke's eyes and head. "It's called the rinnegan, I'm surprised that you don't know of it. But I am a merging of the bloodlines that come from Rikudo Sennin, it evolved on its own after Itachi infused his DNA into mine."

"Does that mean that an Uchiha can get it as well?"

Naruto cast his eyes downward in frustration. Sasuke had worded his question innocently enough, but his intentions in finding out how to evolve it himself were as clear as day. "Probably, but I'd imagine that their eyes would either have to be their own original ones or from a family member."

Sasuke grimaced at how easily Naruto had seen through his casually worded question. "Then I'll just take Itachi's eyes, or I'll hunt you down and take yours," Sasuke snarled threateningly. It was clear to him that playing around niceties for the sake of information wasn't going to get him anywhere when Naruto could see through his innocent sounding questions.

"Even with your sharingan you couldn't see through my attacks quickly enough to counter them, how do you expect to get my eyes, Sasuke?" Naruto inquired back nonchalantly.

Sasuke snarled again, and Naruto took that as his cue to leave as he rose back to his full height and dropped the wounded Uchiha's head back onto the hard ground. Sasuke hissed in pain and Naruto sprang from the crater and landed on the rim in the direction that his clone had carried his teammates in.

Naruto smirked at his timing as his clones memories streamed back into his mind like a warm and familiar memory; Yamato and Sakura had tried to negotiate with the Kurama mode Naruto clone while the clone held Tayuya in his own arms, with his other two teammates pinned in comfortable positions by Naruto's chakra arms.

Team sevens temporary detainment had ended when Tayuya managed to wiggle a kunai from her pouch, which she caught deftly between her thumb and forefinger and typically thrust it into the clones groin. Naruto chuckled nervously at the clones memory before coughing to clear the thought from his mind.

He glanced back over his shoulder to Sasuke, who was still laying on his back amidst the rubble. Both of his hands were tentatively poking and prodding around his cheeks and eyes beneath the bandage.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke paused his inspection of his eyes and angled his face toward the source of Naruto's voice.

"Don't open your eyes for at least a day."

Naruto dashed away before he had a chance to hear if Sasuke would respond, but he was sure he heard a faint threatening call in his wake. He had already figured out a basic lie to describe that Sasuke had tricked him with his sharingan and escaped. His story for his clone was rather more simple, and hopefully very believable; that he was undoubtedly sure that the two most powerful doujutsu in the world clashing would undoubtedly cause collateral damage, and he didn't want to risk his team mates being injured.

He was just glad that Sasuke didn't truly have the most powerful doujutsu in his families bloodline, otherwise even with his current skillset he could have proven a truly formidable opponent to Naruto. The mangekyou sharingan was not something to trifle with.

"Naruto!"

Naruto heard the source of the voice long before he saw Tayuya's red framed face burst through some foliage ahead of him. Just as their recent history had taught him to, Naruto came to a halt and began absorbing the natural chakra around him.

True to his predictions Tayuya's small but strong fist cracked into his jaw. And also true to recent history, Tayuya draw back with a shriek of pain and anger as she suffered the worst of the blow. "Fucking dammit! That hurt, ya'know!"

Yamato and Sakura crashed through the trail of destruction that Tayuya had left in her wake. It had seemed that in Tayuya's anger and possible concern with and in finding Naruto, she had been anything but what a shinobi was meant to be, and had opted to move branches out of her path with chakra enforced punches rather than simply skipping around or over them as any rational thinking shinobi would.

"-I'm sorry captain Yamato," Naruto interrupted what would have been his stern chastising. "Both Sasuke and I have the two most powerful known doujutsu, I was concerned that my team would get caught up in it."

Yamato seemed conflicted for a moment, but he gave Naruto a sharp nod of affirmation after a few minutes of thought. Sakura in turn gave him a nod and a nervous smile.

Naruto looked down to Tayuya, who was still standing within his personal space nursing her fist. She, unlike the other members of the team, was wearing an angry scowl. Ino's recent expression during their encounter in the Yamanaka flower shop entered his mind, and he realised that he wasn't sure if her sadness and concern had been about herself or him.

Tayuya's quiet grumble of indignation and discomfort brought his attention back to her; he knew that her anger with just an extension of her concern for him. With a gentle touch, he placed his hands atop her shoulders and looked into her chestnut orbs. "Tayuya-chan, I love you, you know that I could never let you get hurt."

The girls scowl slipped at his words, and she flexed her hurt hand before straightening it and smacking her palm into his cheek. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the action, he hadn't lied; he did love Tayuya as an extremely close friend bordering on family like relationship, and it warmed his heart knowing that she would be there for him even in the event of something like his recent breakup.

Her non-violent slap was her equivalent of a, _'thanks for caring,' _and Naruto knew that all too well. So before she had a chance to escape he collected her small, lithe frame between his arms in a warm embrace. She struggled and tried to worm her way out of it for a moment, under her usual pretence of not wanting it, but her effort was weaker than it typically was, so Naruto just smiled over her shoulder to his other two teammates.

"So what happened?" Yamato cut in with his all business voice.

Naruto pushed Tayuya off his body and straightened his posture to his superior. "Sasuke cast some sort of genjutsu on me when I had almost made him submit, he escaped."

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm," Naruto hummed in acknowledgement to his pink-haired comrade.

"Did he seem like there would be any hope for bringing him back?" Sakura cast her eyes down having asked the question, and her lower lip quivered.

"Not alive. Sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto answered in his version of Yamato's all business voice. He didn't want to fancy up the facts.

"Naruto, you take the head of the formation. We have to notify Tsunade-sama about the death of Orochimaru and Sasuke's escape as quickly as possible for future action." Yamato barked out in a tone that spoke of his experience in ANBU.

Naruto looked from Sakura to Tayuya and gave each a nod before taking to the trees in a blur of speed. The three other well trained shinobi hardly making a rustle of sound as they followed in his wake.

**X**

"So how did it really go?" Tsunade asked tersely for clarification.

Naruto relaxed his posture and once again checked the door to ensure that the rest of his team had undoubtedly left. Seeing the faintly glowing seal in the middle of the door that indicated Tsunade had reactivated the privacy affirmed his nerves, and he reached into his jacket and withdrew a roll of paper.

He walked up to the hokage's desk and unrolled the paper across her desk. "The sharingan," the blonde shinobi explained.

Tsunade pressed her palms to her temples and rubbed a stressed circle. It truly seemed that there had been no hokage who hadn't had to deal with the issues presented by the Uchiha clan. "How did the rest of it go?" She asked in concern.

"Well, he seemed pretty interested in my eyes, and Itachi's. That was after I started the transplant."

Tsuande hunched her hefty breasts forward over the desk and dropped her weight slightly. Naruto grimaced at the sight; he actually sympathised with her, he had no doubt that her breasts must cause her back constant soreness and strain. A mental image of Jiraiya leering at the sight of Tsunade's breasts pressed against the oaken tabletop ruined his natural empathy, and he smirked.

"Stop being a pervert!" Tsunade demanded flatly.

Naruto held his hands up placatingly and took a defensive step back. "Whoa, I didn't even look at your breasts, which is actually really hard not to do. I was just thinking of ero-sennin."

"I heard about what happened with Ino," Tsunade stated randomly, bringing a frown to Naruto's face. "She's not worth it getting to you, I want you to stay as the Naruto who we all love and cherish. Got me?"

Naruto forced his frown into a small smile and nodded numbly.

"Also, Anko-san has made a request to do missions with you, so you'll be paired with her on your next mission. And I also asked that Kakashi and Anko let me control your 'punishment', so when it happens you can be happy knowing that they won't do anything that I won't approve of."

Naruto's shoulders rose, and drooped a moment later as he processed everything Tsuande said. "That's not saying much about my safety," Naruto mumbled glumly. "Am I dismissed?"

"Yeah, I need my lonely sake time."

Naruto made to leave, but once again Tsunade's voice held him up. "Naruto-kun, keep yourself safe. We don't know when Akatsuki will make their move, and now it sounds like Sasuke wants your eyes. Don't let your guard down."

Naruto smiled over his shoulder to his hokage for a moment, before turning and proceeding out of her office and into the hallway. He was intent on going to Ichiraku's and attempting to eat them out of their stock. He glanced left and right up and down the passageway, and upon confirming that there was no one present he vanished.

The next moment that Naruto blinked it was in the evening sunlight by Ichiraku's ramen stand, underneath one of his kunai that was embedded firmly in the external slats. Once again Naruto looked around to confirm that no one had seen his use of the hiraishin.

Naruto felt no need to make a scene, and he knew that everyone seeing him use the famed technique would do just that. A familiar voice berated his ears, and his body followed it to the source as he pushed urgently through the flaps of the stand.

Tayuya looked back to her half empty bowl of ramen from having called her desperate need for another and resumed shovelling the food into her mouth. Naruto absently noted that there was a stack of what must have been over twenty bowls piled in front of her.

Ayame was giving Tayuya a flabbergasted expression while her father bustled around over and around the stoves to move ingredients from chopping boards to pans to pots.

"Naruto-kun, I heard you were back. How's the best Uzumaki in the village going this evening?" Ayame called cheerily.

Tayuya spluttered around her mouthful and coughed her food back into the bowl, earning a disgusted expression from Ayame. "Fuck that! I'm the best Uzumaki in the village."

"You're an Uzumaki?" Ayame asked with a raised eyebrow and her arms folded under her bust.

"No shit, princess," Tayuya pointed a finger to her red hair. "Shit head brought me here."

Ayame looked from the easily angered redhead to Naruto, who just shrugged with a forced smile. Ayame allowed one of her natural glowing smiles to spread across her lips. She, like every other ear to the ground person involved in Naruto's life knew about Ino's betrayal of him, and she could hardly imagine the emotional trauma that he must be going through.

"How about, the most handsome Uzumaki in the village?" Ayame asked warmly.

Once again Tayuya spoke over Naruto's ability to respond. "Dear kami, are you a regal bitch or what! He's fucking sexy, just call him that."

Ayame blushed faintly at Tayuya's boldness, and settled for placing a set of chopsticks down next to Tayuya for Naruto to use. Naruto took the hint and eased himself onto the stool beside Tayuya. The redheaded girl seemed to be trying to decide if she should continue on her train of thought, or to once again bury her attention her ramen.

She seemed to decide on the former, and gave Ayame a serious gaze. "Really, have you seen that bastard without a shirt on? He's even hot with one on."

Ayame blushed a bit darker, and bit her lower lip as she shook her head in the negative. She had suffered from a minor crush on Naruto ever since they had become familiar with one another. He would always put some time out of his day to at least just talk to her in a friendly fashion.

It was compounded by the fact that while growing up she had never actually had friends her own age. Her father was always supportive, and when she had initially shown interest in attending the shinobi academy he had encouraged her to be the best that she could be.

But even at her tender age, she had seen that her father needed her aid. So she had quenched her original dreams and opted to work with him instead. She was fairly certain that Naruto had been aware of that fact, so his offer of friendship and occasional training had meant the world to her.

Teuchi turned around with another full bowl of ramen, he smiled briefly to Naruto before handing the bowl off the Ayame and turning back to work on the next one. Ayame carefully set the hot bowl down in front of Naruto, and glared at Tayuya as she scowled.

"You've had enough anyway, Naruto-kun just got here. Plus, he needs some cheering up." Ayame immediately bit her lip as she realized what she said.

Naruto was simply slowly chewing through his ramen, and Tayuya was giving her an angry frown.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so so-"

"-No, Ayame-chan, it's okay. I know what you meant. Thank you for the ramen," the blonde shinobi muttered without looking up from his food.

Ayame gave the top of Naruto's head a sad smile. Tayuya mirrored the civilian girls' expression before turning back to her own bowl to eat in silence with her comrade.

Naruto chose to ignore his usual appetite, and he left with a bow of thanks to Ayame and her generous father with Tayuya on his heels after his first bowl.

"Hey, Naruto-kun-" Tayuya paused her words and her motion. She very rarely ever actually used Naruto's name, when she did it was an important issue, or showing significant concern; Naruto knew that. It unnerved her that he didn't even change his pace or turn to look at her.

"Naruto-kun, I get that you feel like shit right now," the redheaded girl pleaded as she skipped to catch up with the blonde. "But seriously, you shouldn't let someone like that get you down. You're way better than that."

"Thanks, Tayuya-chan. I agree, but it's not that simple to just feel better," Naruto grumbled lowly to her.

"Sure it can be! You make me feel better about everything, you can be the same!" Tayuya stated firmly. In a fashion acutely unlike her usual behaviour she threw herself into Naruto's back in the form of a consoling hug.

Naruto halted his walk as Tayuya's slender arms wrapped around his body and held his back to her front. "Why do you have to have such a fucking soft heart?"

Naruto turned his head left and right; it was early evening, one of the busiest times of the day in Konoha, and although he had gone up the ranking in the villagers' eyes he was still widely disliked. True to his dislike, passing by civilians whispered, and in some cases called out their disdain for Naruto and whoever would associate with him.

Naruto was suddenly aware of that when he had been with Ino it was always with their close friends around, and never actually in public. With his latest insights into her personality, he was sure that she wouldn't be able to handle being so close to him in public if they were still together.

His loosely hanging hands rose up his body and settled softly over Tayuya's hands around his stomach. "Thank you," he muttered silently. In his unexpected moment of clarity, he realised just how much Tayuya meant to him, and how much he meant to her. Anko was the only other woman he could think of whom would have no problem with this sort of proximity to him in public with the knowledge of how civilians and some shinobi around them would regard them.

Naruto gently loosened Tayuya's hold around him until he was able to turn around in her grasp. She looked up into his face from her shorter height with conflict and confusion brimming in her eyes. "I'm not like you with words, or how I feel, I'm not good at speaking about how I actually feel, but I know that you can always see what's in my heart-"

She paused to spare a glance around them at the surrounding locals whom Naruto had already noticed. "-Fuck… This makes me feel weird saying this shit. More than anything in the world, I want you to be happy. I'll do anything," Tayuya announced quickly.

Naruto's brow furrowed in slight confusion; he knew that under Tayuya's violent and toughened exterior personality, there was a caring person, but he knew various aspects of her, and the most common theme in her thoughts was some form of violence. And despite him wanting Ino to feel bad, he didn't want her to come to physical harm.

"Tayuya-chan, it wouldn't be right for you to do anything to her."

"Dumbass," the redhead interjected as she released one of her hands from his body and reached it up to his jawline. "I meant-" her tongue froze in her mouth as Naruto suddenly reflected her growing blush as he understood what she was saying.

Behind the blush Tayuya could see the shadow of lust that she knew that she was also showing. Ever since she had heard Naruto and Ino having sex she had felt a pang of lust strike through her whenever she looked at Naruto. It both excited and unnerved her; she and Naruto had established an almost family like bond, and on the other side of that coin it made him like forbidden fruit to her.

Tayuya lifted her other hand up to cup the other side of his jaw, and slightly raised herself onto her toes to put their faces at equal height. As she grew closer to him, their bodies pressed firmly together, and Naruto became distinctly aware of her breasts pressed against his chest.

Despite already being familiar with her body, the setting behind their proximity ushered a darker blush to his face. "I will do anything to make you feel better," Tayuya whispered softly, her breath brushing across Naruto's lips.

With his mounting lust and fondness of the situation Naruto reached down and found a purchase on where her hamstrings met her rear, and lifted her up so that she could naturally wrap her legs around his waist. Naruto didn't spare a glance at the passers by, and kept his hands situated under Tayuya's rear to both continue the feelings of desire and to support her weight.

Tayuya bit her lower lip in excitement at his intimate touch, and she pushed her weight forward slightly with her hands on his shoulders for support. "Naruto-kun, can we do this somewhere else?"

His ringed blue eyes blinked up into her brown ones, and suddenly the air pressure around them changed. Tayuya looked around Naruto's head, and wasn't the least bit surprised to find that they were in the entryway to Naruto's apartment.

Tayuya forgot her initial doubts in pursuing this with Naruto as her excitement overtook her. She pressed her lips against his roughly, and his hands tightened around her athletic rear in response. A more wild surge of desire struck through her core as Naruto simultaneously eased his tongue into her mouth and eased his hands closer to her concealed womanhood.

Naruto broke the kiss with a gentle nip to Tayuya's bottom lip. She moaned in response, and his fingers rubbed over where her most private place was being hidden. Tayuya moaned louder and more throatily in response, urging Naruto to tempt her more. Naruto met the challenge with a smirk and he pressed his fingers more firmly against her hidden flesh.

She groaned as he massaged her core slowly, her breaths came out in shallow pants as he ended his teasing massage by gripping what he could of her still covered folds and pulling them open. "Ahh, Naruto. Fuck, what's with the teasing?"

Naruto repositioned his hands back onto her rear as he carried her toward his bedroom, his sly smirk answered her question. Tayuya couldn't resist biting her lip from the excitement that his attitude was sending through her, and despite the part of her that was still thinking that this was wrong, she couldn't help but be happy how Ino had messed up her relationship with Naruto.

The Uzumaki girl rolled her hips and thrust her sensitive core against Naruto's straining manhood. They both groaned in unison at the contact, and Naruto wasted no time in raising his right hand to the waistband of her tight fitting black shorts and slipping his hand underneath the combined layers of fabric of her panties and shorts.

A shiver shook Tayuya's body as her excitement continued to mount as Naruto's hand smoothly traversed her skin directly until his fingers kissed her moist folds. "Ahh, ffffuuuu-"

Naruto chose that moment to rub her protruding clit with his forefinger and thrust his middle finger into her excited and clenching hole. "-Aackk," Tayuya continued her attempt at forming words and sounds of pleasure, and she felt her body practically melt in Naruto's grasp.

Tayuya's back gently impacted the sheets atop Naruto's bed before she realized that her posture had remotely shifted, but her position remained the same as Naruto eased her shorts and panties half way from her legs with his left hand while his right continued to simultaneously rub her clit and thrust into her seeping core.

"Do you like the feeling of my finger in you?" Naruto breathed huskily into her ear.

"Mmmhmm," Tayuya hummed out with a quick and sharp nod.

Naruto ceased his small thrusting motions with his middle finger and changed to rotating it around within her. The change in sensation sent Tayuya's body crashing through a new level of pleasure, and her pussy clenched tightly around Naruto's fingers in appreciation of his ministrations.

Her legs squeezed tightly around Naruto's body as he continued his actions to urge her uncontrolled clenching muscles to continue.

"I want you to answer me properly."

Tayuya opened her eyes and looked into Naruto's questioningly as his right hand stopped it's pleasurable actions. It dawned on her what he was speaking of, and she immediately opened her mouth to answer with exactly what he wanted to hear.

Naruto watched her lips beginning to move, and took that moment to add a second finger to his middle one in suddenly thrusting into her now squelching pussy. "Gahh, Kami, Fuck! Ahhh," Tayuya cried out in pleasure.

"That wasn't a very clear answer, Tayuya-chan?" Naruto teased.

As she looked up to him again upon his cessation of his fingers movements, his face travelled down her body. His lips split into a coy smirk at her, a moment later his teeth closed around the hem of her shirt and he moved back toward her face, carrying the fabric up with him, and uncovering her small breasts and hardened nipples.

"Mmm," she moaned out when Naruto's lips closed around one of her sensitive darkened buds.

"That's not the answer," Naruto mumbled around her nipple as his fingers resumed their churning and thrusting inside her clenching pussy.

"Fuck!" She screamed in ecstasy. "I fucking love your fingers fucking me! Ahhhh!" Tayuya wailed as she hit her peak and her legs gripped tightly around Naruto's body while all of her muscles contracted and released at the pleasure overload.

Her mouth hung open as she revelled in the lingering pleasure that Naruto had inflicted upon her. Naruto retracted his hands from her and tried to make a show of licking his fingers clean. Tayuya was sure that had she been able to focus on anything other than her own tingling body that she would have been turned on to new heights at seeing Naruto licking her essence from his fingers.

But as she was, she merely managed to loop her fingers around the waistbands of her panties and shorts and push the articles of clothing entirely off her legs. "Why are you still dressed?" Tayuya sighed out, flopping her head back into Naruto's bed sheets.

Naruto shrugged lamely with a smirk, and began to move back between her splayed legs.

"Uh uh," she hummed in negative with a raised eyebrow. She propped herself up onto her elbows and retrieved a conveniently placed kunai from the small nightstand by his bed.

Naruto rose an eyebrow in question. Tayuya just gave her best attempt at a seductive smile while placing the blade under her crumpled up shirt. With an upward flick, the ruined clothing fell from her breasts and dangled from her shoulders, and with a following shrug it fell to pool around her forearms.

Once again she held the kunai forward threateningly. "Take those clothes off, or I'll cut them off," the redhead threatened coyly.

Naruto smirked it her for a moment. In a show of speed he invigorated his muscles with chakra and stripped his clothing off in a blur of motion. Tayuya laughed lightly at the impatient display while Naruto shed his briefs and repositioned himself between her legs with his face looming over her entirely on display glistening clit and labia.

Tayuya watched him with lustful eyes without complaint as his tongue slipped from between his lips and rubbed a circle around her clit.

"Mmmm, so good," she sighed out contentedly.

Naruto subdued his smile and parted her petal like labia with his tongue as he moved closer to her dilated pussy. He once again poised his right hand over her clit and rubbed it in a circular motion before pressing his tongue into her and stroking to top of her passage with a flick of his tongue.

"Ahh, Naruto-kun-" Tayuya moaned out. Her left hand brushed through her own hair and squeezed her scalp while her right did the same to Naruto's head. "I can't take this Naruto, fuck me. I need you in me. You look so hard…"

Naruto pulled his tongue from his partners pussy and ran it back up the length of her labia to flick at her clit one final time. She groaned at the action, and then groaned again in excitement as he rose to his knees and shuffled forward, his hardened member swinging slightly with the motion.

"Hurry up and stick that monster in me," Tayuya advised with her now more practiced seductive smile.

"As long as you can handle me," Naruto teased back, placing the engorged head of his penis at her moist entrance. He looked into her eyes, and she gave him a half nervous smile of confirmation.

Naruto leaned his weight forward and watched with excited arousal as Tayuya's glistening pink pussy swallowed the head of his cock. She groaned, and then hissed in response. "Take it slow for a bit."

"Mmm," Naruto agreed with pursed lips as he started tiny thrusts. Each was successively deeper as he drove more of his wide girthed member into her.

Tayuya's face was a mask of pleasure as her eyelids squeezed shut and she chewed on her bottom lip with small moans and sighs. Her fists collected handfuls of the sheets beneath as she erratically grabbed at whatever she was holding.

Naruto forced calm breaths in and out as he finally hilted himself into her. He held still for a moment to enjoy her own pleasured reactions. He grunted in approval as at the cessation of his thrusts her vaginal sheath rippled and contracted enticingly around his member as though to milk him.

"You feel, so fucking good, Naruto-kun." Tayuya groaned out erotically. She relaxed her legs more and allowed them to splay further apart. Her body heaved upward as she used her considerable core strength to raise her torso toward Naruto's.

Naruto captured her slender body with his hands and helped her steady herself; she smiled seductively at him and cupped his jaw before planting her lips atop his in a surprisingly tender kiss. "This is all so fucking messed up," Tayuya sighed out as their lips disconnected.

She rolled her hips, sending a jolt of pleasure through both of them. "but so fucking good!" She groaned whilst beginning to roll her hips onto Naruto's, sending his cock sliding smoothly in and out of her slick folds.

She ceased her movements to look down and inspect where they were joined, and gave a self-satisfied smirk at how erotic Naruto's wide cock being squeezed by her pussy looked. Her excreted juices made all of the skin around her bald pussy, and his pelvis glisten in the dim light of Naruto's bedroom, and the occasional flutter of excitement passed across her sensitive skin.

"Even I feel dirty at how much I like your cock in me," Tayuya grinned at him. "What makes it worse, it that I want you to cum in me, I know the pregnancy jutsu thing, just to make sure nothing happens."

Naruto smirked at her and leaned forward, planting his lips on her neck and sucking lightly until he succeeded in leaving a pink-red mark. "Whatever you say," he agreed.

Tayuya levered their bodies around until Naruto fell back in the position that she'd been in, with her now sitting atop him. "Can you do that thing with your cock that you do with your hands in sage mode?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her for a moment in barely contained laughter. Suddenly she groaned in pleasure, as in the dim lighting the orange pigment of sage mode formed around his eyes, and he manipulated natural chakra around his body in an attempt at bringing his partner more pleasure.

"Mmm, just keep doing that, Naruto-kun. And let me do the rest," Tayuya advised as she began bouncing up and down on him.

Naruto reflected her groan of pleasure and resigned himself to watching her pleasure herself atop of him. Her petite breasts bounced with each impact of her body, and all of the muscles around her abdomen and legs contracted and released periodically in her mounting ecstasy.

"Naruto-kun, how much longer can you go? I'm almost done, this is too much for me," Tayuya heaved out through heavy pants and moans.

Naruto smiled happily at the pleasure he was granting to his friend, and couldn't help but compare the situation to the one he had with Ino. Ino had gone into their sexual encounter expecting far more than what she'd previously had, and she'd obviously gotten it.

But in her own shallow views she had restricted much of the enjoyment from Naruto as she sought her own pleasure. Even though Tayuya was essentially still just a friend, she was trying to keep her pleasure and ultimate release in time with his without even a second thought.

"Soon," he settled for answering with whilst firmly gripping her hips and ramming his pelvis up, bringing a loud slap as their wet skin met. Tayuya screamed in response, and a squelch followed as Naruto quickly retracted himself from her before ramming upwards and into her again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Tayuya chanted out as Naruto set a rigorous pace below her.

Naruto's strong grasp on her hips prevented her from falling forward onto his chest to grab at him as her incoming orgasm demanded, so she opted for writhing her fingers throughout her hair and clenching at her scalp in excitement as a new peak neared.

The blonde Uzumaki responded to Tayuya's incoming orgasm with his own as she tightened further around him. "Tayuya-chan, I can't go any longer."

"Thank fuck! Finally," she shouted excitedly and increased her gyrations atop his thrusts. Suddenly she completely stopped all her movement, and her mouth assumed a silent 'O' of pleasure before a scream of enjoyment passed her lips.

Naruto grunted and moaned along with her as his own orgasm impacted, and he released his seed deep into his partner. Both stayed particularly still, with Naruto making small thrusts to aid his release into her.

Tayuya recovered from her pleasure after a few minutes of low moaning and sighing, and her eyes tracked down across Naruto to where they were still connected. Her hands followed her eyes soon after, and she cupped both sides of her pussy and squeezed and rubbed the sensitive flesh.

Naruto bit his lip in response as her actions sent more pleasure through him, but he stayed still and just watched her bask in her pleasure.

"Mmm, that felt so fucking awesome. I can feel it in me." She fell forward onto his chest and kissed his neck softly. "I'm pretty much ready for sleep," she concluded with a happy sigh.

"Mmhmm," Naruto agreed. He reached around her body and tugged the sheets from out beneath them before draping it over their frames.

"But I want you to fuck me really slowly for a bit more," the redhead sighed happily.

Naruto chuckled lowly, but complied by holding her hips and rocking her on him.

"Do you feel a bit better now?"

Naruto paused and looked into her chestnut eyes with a curious gaze. "I do feel a bit better. Thank you for caring."

"Fuck face," Tayuya laughed back softly with a slap to his chest. "I will always want you to feel happy, this method worked for both of us."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with another gentle thrust.

"Don't you go falling asleep, I want one last load in me." she smiled back at him before licking a line along his jaw.

"I feel a bit dirty with all of this," Naruto laughed while picking up his pace.

"So do I, but just fuck me and get it over with. I really love this feeling, but I actually want to sleep as well."

"Whatever you say." he conceded before silencing any further speech with a kiss to Tayuya's lips.

**Please add you thoughts, opinions and appreciation of my writing in a review bellow : -)**


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