Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first real fanfiction so yay!**

**Summary: Naruto disappeared at the age of 8 but now he has returned to the Leaf village 5 years later and is stronger than anyone thought possible. Watch as he struggles with his past memories and friends as he is place on Team 7.**

**CHAPTER ONE of RETURN OF THE DEMON (from PiEcHiCk 98)**

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Dark blue eyes slid over the tall, red walls that had protected the city within since it was built, only to be breached once or twice by a few lucky souls. The eyes glanced to the left where a tall white-haired man stood proudly as he too looked out at their former home.

"You still haven't told me why we're back at this Kami awful place." A surprisingly young voice stated. The eldest one tilted his head and pursed his lips, "No I haven't, but the truth is I like watching you squirm." His young companion glared up at his innocent expression.

"Oh come on Ero-sennin, you know better than anyone why I hate this place so much and why I left." The white-haired one nodded gravely.

"Of course I know Naruto, I know."

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_The young blonde leaned against the brick wall that, along with the one parallel to it, made the ally he was currently hiding in. Despite everything that had happened that afternoon he still allowed a small smile to grace his whiskered face._

_He did it, he got away. However the smile fell when he heard a dark chuckle come from behind him. His cerulean eyes widened 'You didn't think we'd let you get away that easily did you, demon?" The little boy, no more than 6 or 7 spun around to face three very angry, advancing men. One look at the green vests and the leaf hitai-ate told him that they were ninja. Ninja that were going to give him the worst beating he would probably receive all year._

_As the men continued to approach Naruto stumbled back. He wasn't about to let these guys hurt him. One of the men laughed "Isn't it cute! He's scared of us!" he burst out into another round of laughter before calming down. "You should be scared you murderer!" he hissed._

_Naruto's eyes widened "I-I'm n-not….. a murderer" he whispered out but they still heard him. The man on the right clenched his fists "The hell you aren't! You took away my wife and sister!" Naruto staggered back from the sudden outburst only to have two very strong arms wrap around him. He let out a panicked shout that was quickly muffled by a hand._

_The seven year old thrashed in his kidnappers arms, hoping that he would at least inflict some damage._

_The man who grabbed him chuckled in his ear "This is for my son you monster" Naruto tried to turned his head away from the foul stench of alcohol that filled the man's breath but couldn't. He let out a small whimper when the first blow landed on his chest. Naruto closed his eyes and tried to ignore the burning pain that erupted throughout his body._

_Punches and kicks. That's all he could think of, each hit that landed was precise and hard and only when his attackers thought that _they _had had enough did they drop the young bloodied boy on the cold ground and leave him. When he could no longer hear their heavy footsteps he let the tears flow down his face, and even though he made no noise as they fell the only thought that roamed through the thick blanket of pain that covered his head was._

'_Happy Birthday to me…'_

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"Hey brat! Are you ready, the gates are coming up!" Jiraiya's shout broke Naruto out of his memories and back to reality. True to his words the large green gates with the familiar red writing on it where growing larger.

The young blonde unconsciously slowed his pace. After five years of travelling he found himself suddenly nervous to return to Konoha. The last time he was here he was eight and had recently started at the ninja academy. Now at 12 he found himself worrying. Will someone remember him? How are Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji? They'll probably be genin by now…

It wasn't that he really cared about them, quite the opposite. The only reason he showed any interest was because they were the first friends he ever made. But he had cut all ties with this pathetic village five years ago after what they did to him.

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Jiraiya eyed his apprentice wearily. He was sending off enough killer waves to scare off Orochimaru for Kami's sake! He turned his attention back to the gates again, already he could make out the two Chunin guards that sat talking quietly to each other.

"Naruto! You better rein in your feelings otherwise you'll scare everyone off!" Naruto blinked and seemed to snap out of his gloomy state.

"Yeah, yeah Ero-sennin. Sorry, I'll control myself once we get there." The blonde placed his hands behind his head and brushed off his sensei's warning. However Jiraiya felt the air surrounding both him and his student lighten.

'_I'm sorry for bringing you back here Naruto… but you're father wanted you to be a Konoha shinobi. And I plan on keeping my promise…'_

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"Hokage-sama"

Sarutobi looked up from his endless pile of paperwork and nodded to his assistant to continue. She smiled softly and a small blush appeared on her pale cheeks. "Ah, Jiraiya-sama is here and he says it's very important that he sees you…" she trailed off as her blush spread fully over her face turning it a deep red.

The old Hokage sighed and dismissed the young girl. Why, whenever Jiraiya came did he have to flirt with his personnel? A small frown marred his wrinkled face, his former student hadn't visited once in the last five years. Why would he suddenly pop up after so long without a signal scrap of news.

He didn't have to wait long for his answer for Jiraiya walked through the door followed by a shorter figure whose head couldn't be seen through the thick black hood that sat there. Jiraiya stood of to one side and allowed his former sensei to study his student in peace.

Sarutobi barely registered the Toad Sages presence. Instead focussing entirely on the unknown ninja. Everything on him was black, he wore a shirt that loosely hung down to his waist just above his baggy pants. Around his ankles was black tape that secured the ends of his pants before descending below his standard ninja shoes. Over his shirt was a black jacket with a hood. Of course all his weapons were sitting on his assistants desk, as was customary. His slightly tanned hand slipped from his pocket and reached up to touch the hood, after receiving a nod from Jiraiya it was pulled away.

Sarutobi stared in utter shock as his pen hit the desk.

There were only two he knew that had those spiky blonde locks and crystal blue eyes. They were Minato and-

-"Naruto?"

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"Naruto?" said person gave a very, very small smile. "Good morning Hokage-sama" was the boys polite response.

The Hokage studied his face after a few moments of stunned silence. He had lost a lot of his baby fat and his chin was pointier. His hair was longer and messier, he was sure that without the three whisker marks that adorned each cheek he could easily pass for his father.

Gone was the bubbly, young boy that would always go on about how he'd become Hokage. In his place was a ninja that looked sure of himself and most importantly-powerful.

He then turned to Jiraiya who was watching Naruto's face closely as if he was about to attack any moment. "Jiraiya! What is the meaning of this?" he shouted while glaring at the hermit. Jiraiya appeared behind his student and placed a hand on his shoulder to relax him because even though they couldn't see it, he was sure the blonde already had one of the weapons he didn't hand in at the ready.

"Naruto, why don't you go for a walk and take a look around town." The boy glanced at him and flipped his hood up to hide his hair. "See ya later Ero-sennin, Hokage-sama." The blonde disappeared after giving a nod to the other two occupants of the office.

Jiraiya waited a few more moments before he was positive the kid was no longer in the area. He sighed heavily and looked back at his old teacher who was still waiting for an explanation.

This was going to take a while.

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Naruto appeared on top of the Hokage tower and took a deep breath as he scanned across the large village. He took in the colours, scents and noises with a neutral expression. "So ignorant" he muttered as he watched a young boy run after his parents who were patiently waiting for him. These people had no idea of the pain that surrounded the world they lived in, so innocent, _a young girl sitting on a bench next to her older sister, _so oblivious, _men haggling over some useless item, _so utterly pathetic.

He glared up at the stone faces of the past heroes of Konoha. He stopped on the fourth and last face, the face of a great man, an amazing leader and a horrible father.

His fists clenched, he didn't hate his father…much. Sometimes it was just sort of good to have someone to blame when things got a little too tough on him. A bittersweet smile found its way onto his face "Funny, I hate you, yet want to be like you… you know sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if you hadn't died, maybe we'd be a happy family like those idiots down there." He gestured behind him to the crowded streets.

Naruto hummed quietly as he turned his back on the old Hokages, "See ya later old man."

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"I found him in an alley when he was eight, he had multiple broken bones and one punctured lung. The poor kid would have died without Kyuubi." Jiraiya stared out the window silently as he contemplated how to explain what had actually gone through his head when he saw Naruto.

"Even with the foxes healing chakra I could tell he was going to die, so doing the only thing I could think of I took him to the hospital. I wasn't counting on how much the village really hated him, they actually turned _me _away. Told me they refused to treat that _demon!_ If I wasn't holding Naruto I would have….." he left the unsaid threat hang.

Calming down Jiraiya continued "I just sprinted out right then and there, took him outside the city. We both just needed to get out of there, I healed him up as best I could but compared to Tsunade, I'm no healer. When he woke up do you know the first thing he ask him was?"

Sarutobi frowned not liking the waves coming off his student as he retold the story. "He asked 'Are you going to kill me?' that shouldn't have even been in his head or any kids head. It made me so mad, I completely destroyed the tree I was leaning against, probably scared the living daylights out of him." He chuckled as he recalled Naruto's face.

"I told him who I was and how I found him, the next thing I knew I had an eight year old blonde crying his eyes out telling me how horrible his life was, daily beatings, threats, near death experiences that seemed to continuous to be accidents." His voice grew even bitterer.

"After three days the little squirt had told me how much he wanted to be a ninja and then Hokage, he reminded me so much of Minato I just couldn't stop myself. Next day we were headed out of Fire to begin his training, still think he conned me into it though."

After a minute silence Jiraiya turned to face the Hokage, every muscle below his wrinkled skin was still. But his eyes were drowned with different emotions. Hurt, sadness, pain, betrayal and disappointment were the main ones he could pick out.

"Jiraiya" Sarutobi's voice was shaky and barely audible but still managed to capture the attention of the white haired man. "What's he like?"

Jiraiya smirked softly to himself "Stubborn, rude, impatient, annoying, smart, devious and strong." He closed his eyes and continued "When the brat's fighting he's so similar to Minato, focused and accurate but most of the time, he definitely reminds me of Kushina. So headstrong and reckless…" he trailed off shaking his head.

"He's a good kid Sarutobi, never complained about what I was teaching or where we were going. Minato and Kushina would be proud" he glanced away from the window to look at the Hokage. "Sarutobi. You should know that it will take some time for Naruto to warm up to Konoha and you again. He's still believes you betrayed him-"

"I betrayed him! You're the one who took him from Konoha without my knowledge! I thought he was dead, someone I thought of as my own grandson, dead!" the old man slowly sat down after he regained some sense.

Jiraiya nodded silently and held his hands up in a peace gesture "Of course, of course. I know you would never hurt the boy willingly, but that's Naruto's thoughts. He believes Konoha is full of violent people who are responsible for his father's death-"

"He _knows_?" the aged ninja's voice was strained and outraged. Jiraiya swiftly turned to the other man, his face too was livid "Yes. Minato said to tell him when he was ready, he was ready at 9 and that's when I told him." Seeing his sensei wasn't going to say anything the Toad Sage walked to the door and without turning back he muttered.

"Naruto isn't the same as he once was; he's learnt that the life of a ninja is hard. Don't treat him like a kid, trust me he's more mature than most his age and if you apologise…..he might open up again."

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**Well, how was it? Could you please REVIEW and tell me if there is anything you don't like or understand because I'm interested to read what you think.**

**Hope you liked it! **

**b(~_^)d  
>Ninjalover-02<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok Chapter two of RETURN OF THE DEMON. Hope you guys like it!**

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"One room, two beds please" Naruto asked slapping enough money for the hotel room. The young girl who looked around 13 or 14 blushed lightly as she took in his muscles which easily could be seen under his shirt as he leaned against the counter.

Her light brown hair hung around her shoulders, she wore an average white kimono white with pale pink flowers running along each sleeve. Her brown eyes sparkled with interest.

"Of course, your name please?" she swiftly picked up a pen and waited patiently. "You can just put down Naruto, is that ok?" he smiled lightly at her which probably made her heart speed up a little because her face flushed to a whole new colour.

"Of course Naruto, please follow me and I'll take you to your room. How long will you be staying may I ask" she kept her tone polite but Naruto could hear the curiosity behind the innocent words.

"Ah you know, a few weeks until I have to move again." He noticed how gracefully the girl moved up the stairs and the faded scar that run along the back of her calf. _'A former ninja' _he thought _'Poor girl, probably had to quit from that wound.'_

The girl opened the door and stayed by the door as he inspected the room, the beds were clean and a large window was directly in front of the door were you could clearly see both ways down the street. He turned back to the girl and bowed "Thank you…" he looked back up at her expecting her to fill in her name.

"Yuki, my name is Yuki" she smiled lightly at him. "Yuki" the name rolled off his tongue naturally "Thank you."

"I must get back to the desk now. It was a pleasure meeting you Naruto, I hope I see you later" with a bow she left back to her post. The young blonde smirked and walked over to the closest bed before collapsing on it, the trip from the Land of Iron had taken much longer than expected because Jiraiya had refused to go through Rain for some unexplained reason.

Naruto closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, now all he had to do was wait for Jiraiya to explain himself and answer why they were back _here_.

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Iruka blinked several times as he stared at the legendary figure in front of him. "I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama. Did you say N-Naruto _Namikaze_, as in Minato Namikaze?" he paused before laughing.

Jiraiya just raised an eyebrow and waited for the Chunin to regain his composure. "Forgive me Jiraiya-sama" he breathed out "But are you expecting me to believe our fourth Hokage, the greatest hero our village has seen since the first had a child without anyone suspecting anything?"

Another round of laughter erupted from the young ninja. Jiraiya didn't wait for him to finish, instead he handed a light brown folder into his shaking hands and said "Look at their photos and tell me you don't notice the similarities."

The Toad Sage turned on his heels and marched off in the direction he felt Naruto's chakra coming from. "Naruto will be in your classroom on time but I advise you read his profile before you meet him. If you don't want to be too surprised"

Iruka frowned when he could no longer see the older ninja, his eyes drifted down to the folder in his hand. He opened it casually and scanned over the information and picture of a very familiar blonde student who disappeared five years ago.

"N-n-Naru-to?"

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**(I'm not sure when Iruka started to like Naruto but I'm making it that Iruka befriended Naruto in his first year of the Academy when he was seven.)**

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Naruto's eyes snapped open when he felt his sensei's chakra coming towards him. He groaned softly as he sat up, feeling his muscles scream in protest Naruto swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

The blonde blinked rapidly to get rid of the blur before moving to the little bathroom at the side of the room. After splashing his face a few times with cold water he moved back into the main room to await Jiraiya's return.

The door slid open softly just as Naruto reached his bed, he didn't have to turn to know who it was. "You going to tell me why we're here or what Ero-sennin." He demanded sitting down, his sensei nodded and slowly made his way to the bed opposite his apprentice.

The blonde sat patiently with his right ankle on his left knee and his arms crossed. They stared at each other for about a minute and as each second passed Naruto felt his stomach drop a little more.

"I've registered you as a Konoha shinobi, you've been accepted into the Academy and you _are _going tomorrow at 8:30 sharp." The elder ninja closed his eyes briefly before looking at his student again.

"WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY JIRAIYA?" he screamed "You know I hate, no _loathe _this place and you want _me_, the nine tail fox DEMON to be one of their shinobi!" his eyes narrowed dangerously and Jiraiya swore he saw them flash red for a moment "This place is nothing but a speck of dirt in my opinion, it's done nothing but hurt me and my family and you actually had the nerve to do this without telling me first!"

Naruto moved to the window and opened it "Naruto, please be reasonable. Your father wanted you to be in Konoha, don't do something you'll regret, Sarutobi-sensei has probably got Anbu following you. Watch what you say." He warned.

"I don't care what they hear or see! Konoha is a worthless village and if they so much as try to touch me I will retaliate. I don't care who they are or what rank." Without another word he jumped out the window and sprinted across the roof tops only barely paying attention to the three masked chakras stalking him.

Jiraiya sighed heavily and leaned back on his bed. "He's grown" a slightly muffled voice commented lightly, "Nice to see you to Kakashi" Jiraiya looked at the window to see the copy-ninja himself squatting there with the ever present orange book.

The silver-haired man jumped into the room and leaned against the wall, "He took it better than I predicted. When you told me Minato-sensei's son was alive and with you I didn't know what to think and after you said he hated everyone here I expected him to actually attack you. But I can see he's no longer that snot-nosed little goofball." He eye smiled before turning serious again "So you told him about his heritage. How did he take that?"

Jiraiya shook his head "I think that's what really straightened him out, finding out who they were. And to answer your question, he just said 'Thank you for telling me Jiraiya-sensei' and left for the rest of the week." The Toad Sage chuckled "That was actually the first time he called me Jiraiya-sensei."

He sighed again and looked out in the direction Naruto had disappeared into "I want him on your squad Kakashi, the boy needs something that will make him willingly fight for Konoha. Even with my guidance he's still messed up, Naruto is strong, but there are other ways to get strength. He needs friends and family, that's why I brought him back here, travelling isn't the best way to bring up a kid and even though he's made some friends in different countries…. Naruto needs this, and I want him to be like his parents."

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Naruto kept his eyes glued to the ground as he travelled up the crowded main street of Konoha. _'How could he do it? I can't believe that he'd betray me like that'_ he thought as his eyes narrowed.

The blonde blinked when he heard something,a light gasp. His head turned and automatically his body moved the few meters as his hand shot out to catch the falling bag.

Naruto stood up and locked eyes with one of the prettiest girls he'd ever laid eyes on. Her eye instantly told him she was a Hyuga but they had the slightest tint of lavender in them, her hair was somewhere between dark purple and dark blue and was cut in a bob short of style with two bangs framing her face.

The girls arms were full of different bags so he couldn't really she what she was wearing. A blush erupted on her cheeks when she realised their faces where only a few inches apart, he smirked and stepped back to give her space. Once her face had sort of returned to its natural pale complexion he held the bag out to her.

"Ah!" she gasped and attempted to grab it however failed and managed to lose another bag. Without taking his eyes off the girl his free hand whipped out and claimed it before it even came close to the ground.

Another gasp came from the girl when her brain processed what happened. She stared at him in confusion and a little bit of awe as he slung one bag over his shoulder and motioned for her to begin moving again.

"After you Hyuga-sama" he said after she didn't move, when she figured out what he was doing she said "T-that's al-right, you d-don't ne-ed to help. I'm f-ine" her protests didn't make the blonde move, he continued to wait for her to lead.

His smirk grew a little wider at the girl's silent refusal "Please Hyuga-sama, it wouldn't be very kind to leave you without any help. So please…..Lead the way" he nodded to himself when she moved in front of him, a little slowly at first but eventually she was walking at a normal pace.

Luckily the crowds were beginning to disperse so they had no problem finding their way. Naruto supressed a smirk every time the girl took a timid peek in his direction, he wouldn't admit it out loud but she looked pretty cute with that light stain of pink on her cheeks.

The blonde silently followed the girl, trusting on his instincts to guide him safely as he took in all the changes to his old home, and before he could stop himself the blonde froze.

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'_Who is he? Why is he so nice? Will he talk to me if I ask him his name? why does he look so familiar?' _The thoughts were flying through Hinata's head leaving her trying to remember what they were asking.

Suddenly she couldn't hear his quiet footsteps behind her, the Hyuga heiress stoped and looked back at that mysterious blonde that was helping her.

His whole body was still, it didn't even look like he was breathing. She studied his face in panic, was something wrong? His eyes were glazed over but she could see the anger that was hidden behind the calm surface.

Carefully, she was still wary of him Hinata approached his side and followed his gaze. She frowned, all she could see was an alley but then… she turned to her companion, maybe he was sick or something?

"Um e-excuse m-me. Are y-y-ou ok?" her soft yet concerned voice seemed enough to break whatever reverie the blonde had fallen into. "Yeah" he muttered turning away from the dark street and to the shorter girl "Sorry!" he exclaimed "I haven't been here for years, just reminiscing."

She nodded and continued walking, already she could see the plain white walls of the Hyuga estate. Her eyes widened when she remembered something he said "W-wait, y-you live-d h-ere?"

By now they were walking side by side with Hinata leading slightly, however she still saw the hesitant look that came to his eyes as he contemplated something. "Ah yeah, but I left you know to train and study. But my sensei dragged me back here to be a ninja like my old man." He finished with a snort.

Hinata nodded and slowed her pace as the gates drew closer, luckily there were no guards at the moment. "W-ho was y-y-our fat-her?" as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them, her companions face darkened "You wouldn't believe if I told you. But I'll give you a hint I look just like him."

She pouted lightly as she took in his features and filed them away for later, not that she'd forget them.

"Um, w-we're here" she murmured quietly as they stopped outside the large gate. Naruto scanned the large front building, it was a traditional house but he liked it anyway.

Hinata shuffled awkwardly as he studied her home with an unreadable expression. The blonde turned to her and smiled. Her breath caught in her throat, he was _very _handsome she realised.

"Hinata" a cold voice snapped her out of her dreamy state, she turned to see her father staring hard at her. Beside him was none other than her sister, Hanabi who looked just as angry as their father.

She felt the boy shift next to her and looked back at him to see him holding out the two bags she dropped. Hinata blushed even though his sparkling blue eyes were focused on her father, who was already walking away.

Naruto helped her rearrange the bags so she could carry them all. Once her father had disappeared around the corner he turned to her and smirked "You know Hinata is a really pretty name."

The blonde gracefully turned and began walking back the way they had come. "W-wait! I didn't l-learn your n-ame" she called as loud as she could.

He looked over his shoulder at her and raised a delicate blonde eyebrow "I'm Naruto. Naruto Namikaze"

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**A/N: How was it? Like it? Hate it?  
><strong> 

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: OK from a review I got, someone pleaded with me to not do a Hinata/Naruto story. Since the only other pairing I can sort of stand is Sakura/Naruto I'll leave it up to you guys.**

**Should the pairing be:**

**Naruto/Hinata**

**Naruto/Sakura**

**Focus mainly on the friendship between Naruto and the Konoha 11-no romance?**

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**(Next morning after meeting Hinata)**

Naruto slid into the next alley he saw and jumped up onto the roof in less than three seconds. Apparently word had spread faster than he expected that Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki had had a child and that he had returned to Konoha.

Now walking through the streets was almost impossible because, since nobody had really seen him, people were looking for someone that either looked like the fourth or Kushina.

"This is ridiculous" he muttered when the three man crowd that had been following him turned away to probably make more rumours. Another reason to hate this place was added to the long list in his head.

_Gossipers._

Being called to a council meeting before the sun had even risen was one of the many factors that had put him in a bad mood. Like he cared what a bunch of old geezers thought or wanted to say to him, all he cared about was getting out of here.

The blonde pinched the bridge between his eyes "It's too early for this kind of stuff" he mumbled before jumping silently to the next roof and the next, his feet barely touching the cooled surfaces.

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It wasn't a secret that Hiashi Hyuga was an arrogant man. So being called to _two _council meetings in one day did nothing to cool his foul temper.

Then there was that absurd rumour that one of the villages greatest Hokages and his friend had a child secretly who was now back in Konoha. He _refused _to believe it!

However, even though he would have preferred to wait later in the morning to have this meeting he was a loyal ninja, therefore he entered the room on time and sat in his assigned place. Already the Hokage sat at the front of their group, his eyes were closed and his pipe was poking out of his mouth as usual.

Finally when the last member had taken their place his grey eyes snapped open "Thank you all for coming here so early but we have something important to discuss." His old tired voice carried easily over to ever corner in the room.

"What is this _important _subject that couldn't wait?" Danzo asked with narrowed eyes at Sarutobi who sighed deeply. "As you have most likely heard lately, Naruto Uzumaki or Namikaze is back in the village and has been recruited as a shinobi of Konoha." He waited.

"What is the meaning of-"  
>"You let that <em>demon<em>-"  
>"Why were we not-"<p>

"Enough!" slowly the noise stopped until everyone turned to who had spoken. The person's face was hidden in shadow but they could see most of him, his clothing were black and a dangerous looking kanta was strapped across his back.

Sarutobi motioned the person forward and as the light spread across his face a few actually gasped quietly. The bright blonde hair and clear blue eyes drew most attention, there was a moment silence until one spoke "You really are Minato's son."

Naruto tilted his head and studied the pale eyes and dark brown hair-that hung like a curtain behind- of the person who had spoken. A scornful smile appeared on his face as he bowed far too deeply for it to be meaningful "I certainly hope so, otherwise Ero-sennin is going to get it once I'm allowed to leave."

The blonde leaned casually against the wall as he looked over the council members, all looking like he had predicted except for the occasional younger ninja. "Wow, you guys can stare for a long time without blinking" he commented stupidly before turning to the Hokage. "Can we just hurry up and get this over with so I can leave Old Man?"

His disrespecting tone snapped many out of there daze, one of the newest members stood up and growled at Naruto "You have no right to say such things to the Hokage you little _demon._" He obviously took pleasure in seeing the blondes body go rigid at the word, a sneering smile curled onto his lips as he opened his mouth to say something else-

-and was pinned to the wall at the back of the room.

There was stunned silence again as everyone eyed the kunai used to catch the poor soul's shirt. Three prongs and seals on the handle, suddenly Naruto was in front of the captured man and ripped the kunai from his shirt and allowed him to slid to the floor. They all knew that at that moment this kid was Minato's.

"I _really really _hate that word" he hissed out as his hand grabbed the guy's shoulder and led him to his chair and roughly pushed him back into it.

"Down to business. Yes I am Minato's kid, yes I hold the Kyuubi and yes, I'm becoming a Leaf Shinobi." _'Against my own will' _he added sourly in his mind before turning to Sarutobi again "Now that I covered that up for them can we get on with it?"

**Time Skip-After Council Meeting**

Naruto flew across the buildings with his new Konoha headband clutched tightly in his hand. At first he'd refused to wear anything with _that _symbol on it but it was 'procedure' as they had said so he had to have one, they didn't say he had to wear it but knowing Jiraiya he would force him to put it on.

The blonde looked at the risen sun and let out a soft whistle, he must have been in that room for a few good hours judging by the amount of people in the streets.

He uttered a curse and sprinted off to what he suspected was the direction of the Academy.

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Naruto was nothing more than a streak of yellow as he ran to the proper room, sliding in front of the door and opening it just as he heard "He should be here any minute…."

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Everyone stared at the blonde who stood lightly panting in the doorway. His clothes were ruffled most likely from his mad dash over here. They took in the whisker marks, blonde hair and blue eyes before moving to the weapon on his back that was twisted slightly.

When he straightened and fixed his clothes/weapon and he turned to Iruka, completely disregarding the room full of kids staring at him "You Iruka?" his voice was emotionless yet at the same time held that aura of confidence.

The Chunin had a surprised look at the sudden entrance but after realising he was spoken to, he smiled kindly. Naruto felt a sharp twist in his heart when he saw it, the smile that usual meant safety.

It came in flashes.

Long afternoons talking, cleaning up his messes, arguments, laughter, _friendship._

He realised Iruka was once again addressing him and the class "This is, as many may know Naruto N-namikaze" he stumbled slightly on the last name as if he still couldn't believe the words were coming out of his mouth.

"Some of you may remember him from a few years ago but Naruto left the village for some special training" here the blondes lips twitched up at the cover story "and he's back now to be a genin." Once the older ninja had finished he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder "Naruto, why don't you sit next to Sakura?"

Blue eyes landed on a small pink-haired girl with, in his opinion an overly large forehead. However, knowing more about a females temper from his experiences with Jiraiya he wisely kept his mouth shut.

His eyebrow quirked when she blushed deeply and turned to a blonde girl and poked out her tongue. _'Weird' _he commented silently as his legs moved and he sat down next to the _still _blushing girl.

"H-hi" she stuttered and gave him a small wave, he turned to look at her and nodded politely then turned away and stared out the window daydreaming about how he could escape from here and how long it would take for them to send people after him.

In a few minutes he would be a couple of miles away without his weights, maybe seven hours tops if he really pushed himself over the limit he'd been free of the Land of Fire.

"First of all, congratulations! You are now all genin of Konoha" the cheer that went up was almost deafening. After a few moments he raised his hand for silence "Yes, and as genin you will be asked to do missions around the village and sometimes outside." The word 'missions' caught Naruto's attention, he always loved doing high ranking ones, they were the best.

A small smile slid onto his face as he thought of the way his muscled moved when avoiding an attack, running for days on end with no breaks, infiltrating a rogue ninja's fort.

He sighed quietly and began to listen to Iruka again "Now, since you all know what's expected of you, let's get on to the teams." None noticed the blonde cringe, the only person he could stand to work with was Jiraiya and that was only because he had known him for so long. He had always had trust issues since he was a child and working with people who hadn't had the experience he had.

"Team 7: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha" Naruto winced from the ear piercing squeak that came from the pink haired girl currently jumping up and down next to him. "and Naruto Namikaze."

Naruto grunted and leaned back, from the sounds of it at least he had an Uchiha he could work with, one of the last in the world actually. "You Jounin Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake" the blonde hummed with his eyes still closed. If what Jiraiya had told him was correct Kakashi was one of the best ninja Konoha had seen.

Well at least his team wasn't completely worthless.

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Naruto waited until it only two others remained in the classroom. Their sensei was already late by about an hour but waiting wouldn't kill him, the pink-haired one on the other hand… His lips quirked up as he watched her stalk back and forth at the front of the room. She had no patience.

"Why is he so late!" she complained and stopped pacing long enough to stare at the third member of their so called team who was having a staring contest with the wall. Naruto met her gaze before she resumed her fidgeting, _'Ok, she's getting on my nerves. If she can't shut her trap for a few minutes I think I'll lose it.' _he groaned quietly as Sakura once again walked in front of him grumbling about some nonsense.

Naruto closed his eyes trying to shut out her high pitch voice but to no avail, how long would he have to go through this? "Ah Sasuke, why do you think he's late?" at the mention of the Uchiha Naruto opened his eyes and turned his head towards them.

Sakura was practically undressing the guy with her eyes that thought alone caused him to snicker. "Ero-sennin's rubbing off on me" he muttered and glanced back at his 'teammates' only to find them both staring at him intently.

"Do you need something or are you looking at me for the sake of looking?" he asked twisting in his seat to look at them fully with raised eyebrows. Sakura blushed and looked away quickly while the Uchiha continued to look at him blankly.

The two locked eyes and stayed like that until Naruto smirked and turned to look at the door. Sasuke followed his gaze to see it sliding open and a puff of silver hair sticking up.

"Ah, are you guys Team 7?" a sheepish voice asked, the hair was followed by a tall man wearing a mask that covered everything on his face apart from his eye and the standard Jounin outfit.

"YOUR LATE!" Naruto cringed, covered his ears at the sudden outburst and growled angrily. "How about a little warning next time you decide to break my eardrums hmm?" he said sarcastically to the pink haired banshee who's head snapped in his direction however he was now looking at Kakashi expectantly.

"Ah, anyway" the Jounin began uncertainly as he rubbed the back of his head "Meet me on the roof." After that he 'poofed' away.

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"Now I'd like all of you to take turns and tell everyone about yourself" Kakashi explained as he sat on the railings. "Like what?" Naruto mumbled angrily from the tree he was leaning on. Kakashi looked at him than the other two who were sitting in front of him. "Oh you know, you're name, what you like, hate, dreams, hobbies. Stuff like that."

Sakura stuck her hand up "Um Kakashi-sensei. Why don't you go first because we don't know anything about you." Kakashi shrugged and glanced at Naruto one more time before beginning. "Oh well, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I don't feel like talking about my like and dislikes, my dreams are none of your concern and I have heaps of hobbies." He finished off with another shrug. _'Gezz, we learned a lot' _Naruto thought sarcastically. "Now, how about you go first" he pointed at Sasuke who just grunted.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, there are plenty of things I hate and almost nothing I like. It's pointless to talk about 'dreams' but I what to restore my clan and kill a certain someone…"

'_Well I'd feel the same in his place'  
>'Sasuke is SO cool!'<br>'What an emo'_

"Ah next, the young lady" Kakashi said and all eyes slid to Sakura. "I'm Sakura Haruno and what I like, well the person I like is" she glanced at Sasuke and giggled "Ah my dream is-" she cut off again and this time blushed madly. "Um I hate Ino-pig! Now my hobbies…." She looked at the Uchiha again and squealed "Ah ok, and last you" Kakashi pointed to Naruto who looked like he wasn't paying attention.

"Naruto Namikaze. I like the rain and quiet places, training and Ero-sennin. My hobbies are training, travelling and fighting. My dream is to prove everyone wrong and become a greater shinobi than my father." He finished barely sparing them a glance.

"Wait- you didn't say what you hated" Sakura pointed out hesitantly. There was something about the blonde that made her almost fear him, his cerulean eyes flashed with something as he turned to face them all with his hands in his pockets. "Oh didn't I, silly me" he chuckled darkly then narrowed his eyes and looked out over the village.

"I hate Konoha."

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**A/N: Ok how was it? Did you not like anything or did I rush it?**

**Please review for the poll and tell me what you think!**HH


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ok I'll leave the poll up for a few more chapters but yeah. Thanks for all the reviews!**

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**Sakura's POV**

"I hate Konoha"

I gasped quietly though it still sounded loud in the silence. How could he hate Konoha? His village, what was wrong with him?

"_**Damn straight! He has no right to insult our village, let me at him!" **_ Inner Sakura screamed while punching the air repeatedly. I shook my head to get rid of her lingering voice before looking at Kakashi-sensei. He was just nodding slightly with his one eye closed "Ok guys, I believe that we all understand each other." He said in his cheery voice though something in it sounded hurt and strained.

I turned back around, though not without sneaking a glance at Sasuke, he was shooting glances at Naruto every now and then until Kakashi-sensei spoke again. "Our formal training begins tomorrow and only involves the members of this cell."

"Um excuse me Kakashi-sensei but what are we doing?" I ask with my hand raised once again. His eye seemed to gleam with a sick sort of pleasure "Survival exercises."

"We've done survival exercises all through the Academy" Sasuke said with only a little irritation in his words. Kakashi nodded and that glimmer in his eye seemed to intensify "Yes you have, however this time you will have to survive against me."

**Kakashi's POV**

Oh how I loved the look that spread across her face, I barely held in a laugh as I looked at Sasuke. His eyes were widened and his lips pushed hard together, _'Well it's better than nothing I guess.' _My eyes than landed on Naruto who met my gaze evenly and smirked.

His eyes that reminded me so much of Minato-sensei seemed to reflect what I was feeling at this very moment. He wanted to fight me, I could feel the confidence radiating off him.

I shook my head and continued to scare them. "And this won't be your typical type of practice." I started chuckling quietly though still loud enough for them to hear me.

"What's so funny _sensei_?" Naruto asked narrowing his eyes, "Oh it's nothing, if I told you you'd chicken out" I waved my hand dismissively hoping they'd take the bait. "Why would we chicken out?" the blonde tilted his head just a fraction to the left.

"Of the twenty-seven members of your graduating class only nine of you will be accepted as actually Genin-the rest will be sent back to the Academy for more training." I paused to let the words sink in "This test you're about to take has about a 66% rate of failure."

Ok now I was pleased, each of them were staring at me like I had a second head though Naruto was the first to regain his composer. I laughed "See you're already chickening out."

"B-but Kakashi-sensei! That's ridiculous! We went through so much just to get here, and you're telling us that tomorrow we might be failed!" Sakura stood up and pointed a finger to continue however I interrupted her.

"Well in this test we want to eliminate the hopeless cases from our ranks. The ones who are left are the ones with potential. Anyway tomorrow we'll meet up at the training fields so I can learn what your weaknesses and strengths are. Bring all your ninja weapons and don't eat breakfast unless you like throwing up."

I handed each of them the details before disappearing- I had to tell Obito about my new soon to be gone team.

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**Normal POV**

Naruto skimmed over the words before placing it carefully in his pocket, he pushed off the tree and walked past Sakura and Sasuke and stopped when he reached the railings, his hand reached into his opposite sleeve and pulled out his headband.

'_I may hate it, but I'll wear it for my dad. He would want this.' _He tied it around his neck and prepared to leap to the next building. "I'll see you guys tomorrow" was all he said before he disappeared.

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**Next Morning. Training Ground 7**

Kakashi landed silently in the tree that was currently providing shade for his soon-to-not-be students.

It was unusual for him to arrive so early but he wanted to see how they interacted-mainly the two boys. Especially after the conversation the blonde boy had with Jiraiya, encouraging him to reach out and make friends.

'_Kakashi, you need to understand that Naruto will take time to open up. He's uncertain on what he should do, so please, give him some nudges in the right direction. Make him willingly reach out to them.'_

The silver haired Jounin got comfortable and looked down at the three genin underneath him. Jiraiya was right, the kid seemed nice enough though after everything he'd been through Kakashi wasn't surprised if he didn't trust people right away.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Sakura started talking.

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The three genin sat in an uncomfortable silence which mainly consisted of Naruto and Sasuke sitting across from each other, both had a blank expression though their eyes were calculating and sharp. Sakura's gaze swung uncertainly between them, _'What do I do, what do I do?' _she thought.

The pinkette looked to the right and blinked, Naruto hadn't moved since she had got here (she was last to arrive out of them). Finally, not being able to take the silence she turned to the blonde.

"So Naruto" she began nervously, said boy turned his head to show he was paying attention. Sakura blinked a few time realising she hadn't thought of a topic, her face grew red while her inner berated her for looking stupid in front of two 'smoking hot guys'.

Naruto watched her with amusement, the girl's face rivalled her hair. "Yes Sakura. Do you need something?" his voice didn't even hint at the amount of enjoyment he was getting from the kunoichi.

"Ah" she looked down at her hands and blurted out the first thing she thought of. "Why do you hate Konoha?" Naruto's face remained neutral but his eyes darkened till they looked a blackish-blue colour. Sasuke, who hadn't spoken the entire time looked at the blonde as well.

Naruto turned his face away and Kakashi, who was sitting above them, winced. How could she ask something so personal? A rational part of his mind told him she was curious and didn't know much about Naruto's past while another was asking if she didn't know what the word 'privacy' meant.

Kakashi decided to spare the blonde the pain of telling them so soon, he teleported at the edge of the clearing and walk in calmly raising his hand and greeting them with a "Yo".

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Naruto almost hugged the tarty Jounin right there, had he not come Naruto would have lied or not spoken, both courses had problems and both ended with his teammates getting suspicious and asking questions.

Sasuke saw the relief on Naruto's face and frowned slightly, why did he so clearly want to avoid the subject. He filed the information away for later and turned his attention to Kakashi who was de-briefing them on the test.

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The Jounin sensei held up two bells and smiled happily at them "Your task is to get a bell from me before the timer goes off ok. You can use any weapons or tool etc." Sakura stepped forward "But sensei! If we use weapons we could hurt you!" she protested.

"Calm down Sakura, he's a Jounin after all. He must have _some _skill to be that high up." Naruto replied smirking at Kakashi. Said man just chuckled and shook his head "My my, you are a cocky one aren't you. Doesn't matter though, they're always the first ones to crack."

The blonde's smirked widened into a full blown grin, this was going to be fun.

Kakashi raised his hand to signal but was stopped by Naruto "Wait, there a catch, why are there only two bells?" Kakashi stared at him for a while, of course he probably already knew the reason.

"Oh well, it's because the person that doesn't get a bell will be tied to this lovely pole right here" he patted said pole and smiled at them "And-they will be sent back to the Academy for more training." He added cheerfully.

The silver-haired man tied the bells to his belt and shouted "GO!" two of his 'students' disappeared, Naruto however remained standing where he was, hands in pockets and relaxed position.

"Well either you're extremely dumb or foolish" he stated, Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Oh come on, we both know you know exactly where they are. I just thought that maybe you wanted to chat for a bit?"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to raise an eyebrow, "Chat? You do realise that you only have around three hours to retrieve a bell before I fail you, don't you?" his lazy voice gave nothing away. Actually he was pretty eager to see what the squirt could do, he must be strong from training with a sannin for _5 years_.

Naruto shrugged casually, mentally smirking. If his plan worked and he kept the Jounin distracted long enough for his clone to get into position he would get a bell. Hopefully.

"And what exactly do you want to talk about?" his sensei reached into his back pocket and pulled out a worn familiar orange book. He noted the interested gleam in Naruto's eyes when he spotted it. "Oh you like those two? I help Ero-sennin write the last one, it was one of his best sellers to."

Kakashi blinked a few times. This ninja-no-this _boy _helped write one of the most graphic novels known through the Five Great Nations! What would Minato-sensei and Kushina say!

The blonde smirked, a few more seconds and…

…NOW!

The ground underneath Kakashi exploded as a flash of yellow leaped up and latched itself onto his waist, effectively tackling the poor guy to the ground. Another blonde boy appeared next to the original and sprinted toward the fallen ninja, however when he reached them there were three popping sounds.

"Well thought out" Naruto spun around with his right leg while his left smashed into Kakashi's arm in a block. The blonde felt some satisfaction when he felt the Jounin slide backwards a few centimetres. They both stayed locked there for a moment, each trying to get the advantage and Kakashi had to admit, the kid had a lot of power behind that move.

As if some unspoken agreement had formed they jumped away, leaving a good few metres away from each other. Naruto frowned as he studied his situation, at his best he was high Chunin low Jounin level and knew he was no match for Kakashi alone.

His blue eyes narrowed when two shadow clones of his sensei appeared and ran in the directions of his teammates. _'Great, just great' _he thought.

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Sakura watched Naruto and Kakashi separate before running in some random direction; she had to find Sasuke and help him get a bells. Then he might agree to go on a date with her. She blushed at the thought of them kissing, she would not lose to Ino!

"Sasuke!" she called out when she stopped for a moments rest. She didn't get an answer and her shoulders slumped, who was she kidding? Sasuke wouldn't need her help, he was strong on his own, why would he need her-someone with ugly hair and a big forehead.

"Sakura~" her eyes widened and she turned to see Kakashi smiling behind her, his hands moved to quickly for her to follow and he disappeared. The pinkette shook her head and moved off again, Sasuke was more important than wondering why Kakashi hadn't attacked her.

"S-s-akur-a" she immediately stopped moving and she followed the familiar voice. She rounded a tree and beamed "Sasuke! I'm so glad I-" she stopped and stared at the figure in front of her.

Sasuke-her _beloved _Sasuke was leaning against a tree breathing heavily, his body resembled a pin cushion he had so many kunai and shuriken sticking out of him, his left leg was twisted in completely the opposite direction and his right arm was severed just above where his elbow should have been. He was covered in blood and dirt, his eyes were pleading her to do something….

…she threw her head back and let out an ear-piercing shriek of absolute terror and fainted.

Kakashi's clone smiled and disappeared in a poof.

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Sasuke disappeared after Naruto disengaged with Kakashi, the blonde boy failed to retrieve a bell; that was all he needed to know. Though from the looks of that kick Naruto wasn't going to give up.

The Uchiha sprinted through the trees setting up numerous trees that he could use to distract Kakashi so he could get a bell and leave this pathetic team behind, maybe even get private tutoring.

Anything to get him away from the other two. He had one chance to impress the jounin, he had to make it count.

Sasuke had just finished setting up his final trap when Kakashi lazily walked into the clearing he was currently standing in. The little orange book pulled out and his eyes focussed on the page in front of him, "Hm, so you're Sasuke Uchiha? I'm guessing you want to fight one-on-one like Naruto?"

Sasuke grunted and got into a fighting position "I'm much more powerful than that loser" his eyes narrowed dangerously when Kakashi laughed at him gleefully.

"You think you're past Naruto? Please, trust me, you're nowhere near his level." His constant smile and words seemed to affect the boy just like he wanted, Sasuke charged at him and aimed a kick at his head which was dodged. He swung his other foot only to have it blocked but it was quickly followed his fist which was grabbed, while Kakashi was busy keeping that fist from bruising his face Sasuke swiped with his unoccupied hand and just missed one of the bells.

Kakashi threw the Uchiha away from him and smiled "Well, you're not up with him but you are pretty strong." He admitted with that smug smile still in place, Sasuke growled and threw a kunai at the annoying man. The weapon disappeared through the tree tops and cut the rope holding a barrage of kunai and other dangerous things.

Kakashi disappeared before any could make contact, Sasuke looked to the left, right behind and above him. The jounin wasn't there, his black-blue eyes widened when two hands grabbed his ankles and tugged him into the ground leaving only his head visible.

"Well think of it this way, at least you're stronger than Sakura" at that same moment they both heard a loud scream. Kakashi chuckled and 'poofed' away leaving the poor boy thinking the girl was being tortured. He loved his job.

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Naruto dodged another punch and swept his leg out hoping to catch Kakashi's legs. The silver-haired man leaped up and back-flipped some there was some distance "You are good Kakashi-sensei" the blonde complimented tiredly.

They had been fighting for a good half an hour, maybe more and it was already wearing him down. Of course he wasn't fighting at his best, mainly using clones and Taijutsu, though maybe this fight needed a little extra.

He smiled and held out his hand, Kakashi eyed him wearily. If there was one thing he'd learned while fighting the brat it was that he did the most unexpected things. He felt the chakra gather in the blonde's hand and his uncovered eye widened when the familiar blue ball appeared.

"T-that's" he cut himself off as Naruto nodded slowly "That's right, my father's creation and personally my favourite move-the Rasengan" he smirked as the shock turned to respect. "Jiraiya was right, you are just as talented as _him_" Naruto gave a weak chuckle before sprinting forward again.

He ducked under the punch and raised his hand to deliver the blow while his other hand reached to grab a bell however at that moment a heart wrenching scream echoed around the field.

'_Naruto, as much as you hate it they _are _your teammates. You have to look out for them and help them when they need it. Promise me you will reach out and help them Naruto. Promise.'_

'_I promise Jiraiya-sensei'_

The rasengan disappeared and Naruto used his momentum to slide under the jounin's legs and rolled to his feet. His hands made the signal hand sign and a thick layer of clouds appeared around Kakashi. Once it cleared he was surrounded by more than two hundred blonde ninja.

His eye locked with the original before the boy sprinted in the direction the scream had come from.

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Naruto landed gracefully next to the unconscious girl and sighed, she was trapped in a low level genjutsu. Why couldn't she brake out of it? He sighed again and channelled chakra into his fingertips before tapping her on her shoulder. The pinkette groaned and her eyes fluttered open, Naruto leaned over to make sure she was alright.

Sakura sat up and ended up smashing the blonde in the nose, he fell back and started muttering curses that would put even the foulest-mouthed person to shame. The pink-haired girl blinked and looked around for a moment before staring at the grumbling boy rolling on the floor holding his probably bleeding nose.

"Ah Naruto!" she stood up and offered him her hand to him, after he was on his feet again she gently pried his hand from his face and tried to put on a convincing smile. "I-it's not that bad" however the slight tumble on her words resulted in him raising an eyebrow, "Really? Well it doesn't really matter I'll fix it easily enough."

Before she could ask what he meant Naruto placed his fingers on his nose and pushed forcefully until there was another snap "Naruto!" he twitched his face experimentally and smiled.

He ignored the girls protests and grabbed her arm "Come on, we need to find the Uchiha. As much as I hate to admit it we'll need his help to even get close to the bells again, I'm almost out of chakra."

She nodded and allowed him to lead her trusting the blonde's sense of direction. Pretty soon they were standing over Sasuke's buried body trying not to laugh, well Naruto was. Sakura was already digging frantically.

"You look shorter than I remember Sasuke. Did something happen?" his innocent tone got him a death glare from the arrogant boy.

"Shut up _dobe_. At least I got near a bell" he sneered, Naruto's eye twitched at the name but otherwise he threw it to the side. Since Sasuke was trapped and not going anywhere at the moment he might as well tell him his plan.

"Alright listen, Sakura and I have decided to team up against Kakashi. It's obvious that not one of us would be able to defeat him in our current state." He gestured to all of them showing that each had cuts and bruises covering them-Naruto more than the others- "And as much as I hate to admit it we'll need your help to get the bells."

By now he was freed from the earthy prison and standing in front of Naruto glaring. "I don't need help from you. I can get one of those bells myself." He turned and walked passed Sakura who reached out to touch him on the shoulder only to have it slapped away.

"Don't touch me" he hissed before running out of the little clearing they were in. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair when he saw the tears threatening to spill over Sakura's cheeks. He hated when girls cried.

They walked out of the clearing a few minutes after only to hear the timer sound loudly. Naruto cursed under his breathe and began walking towards the meeting spot, Sakura trailed behind him quietly still thinking about what Sasuke had said.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't see the slight bump in the ground and tripped, a surprised gasp left her lips and she closed her eyes expecting to hit the hard ground any second.

Instead she found herself leaning into a very muscular and warm thing.

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**A/N: OMG! I am soooooooooooo sorry for the long wait but my family went away on a short holiday and it took forever for us to get back!**

**Anywho, hoped you liked it and btw Hinata/Naruto is winning though I won't develop it more until later. I felt bad about all the ones who wanted Sakura and Naruto so I'll slip in a few scenes with them together-nothing to major but yer.**

**ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY'S!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: OK thanks for the reviews and to answer one of the questions-Naruto doesn't want to be a Konoha shinobi but there will be a part in hopefully this chapter, where Naruto will talk with Jiraiya about how he feels and what he thinks.**

**And to Pyr00tje I agree, I don't like doing POV's but I tried to make them small so yeah.**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO! Only the story idea.**

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Sakura blinked a couple of time as she got over the shock of nearly becoming best friends with the ground. When her eyes focused all she could see was black, frowning she tried to move only to find two strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Hey Sakura, you alright?" she blushed when she heard the voice. Naruto pulled her back a little so she was standing by herself, the pinkette blushed even more when she realised she had planted her face directly onto his muscular chest.

She nodded, seeing as he was still waiting for an answer. "Well come on, Kakashi-sensei isn't gonna wait for us." He continued walking with his hands firmly placed behind his head.

Once they arrived at the clearing Kakashi took Sakura and tied her firmly to the post, ignoring her complaints. When she was on place he stepped back and looked at each of them in the eyes.

"Well none of you need to worry about going back to the Academy" Sakura's head snapped up and she smiled, Sasuke grunted as if he expected that and Naruto raised an eyebrow-they had all failed, hadn't they?

Kakashi smiled "Yep, you should all quit right now and stop being shinobi." his words seemed to echo around the small clearing and rung in all their ears.

"WHAT! You can't just make us quit, what happened to going to the Academy?" Sakura shouted while Naruto glared dangerously at the cheerful man. He ignored both of them.

"You guys don't act like ninja, face it, you're just little brats that are in over your head."

Sasuke ran at the man only to be pinned to the ground with Kakashi holding both his arms behind him and his foot pushing him into the ground.

The trapped Uchiha grunted and wriggled only to have more pressure added to his back. "You think it's all about you" he stated calmly completely ignoring Sakura who was telling him to get off.

"You guys don't understand what it means to be a ninja, you think it's a game. Why do you think we put you on squads hmm? Did you even consider that for one moment?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked switching her gaze between Sasuke and Kakashi. "I mean you never got the real point of this test, not even close. That is what determines whether you pass or fail. You need to use your head, three man squads. Why do you think we would do something like that?"

He was about to start again when someone answered his question with one word.

"Teamwork."

Kakashi looked at Naruto and nodded gravely "At least one of you figured it out, the only problem was he did it too late."

Sakura blinked, "But if we were supposed to all work together why are there only two bells? That means one of us would be without a bell." She looked at Naruto who was pulling out some grass.

"It was to make us bicker amongst ourselves and create conflict." Kakashi once again nodded, he was glad at least one of them was thinking this stuff through. "It was to see if you could overcome it and become the squad you're meant to be, by putting your teammates before yourselves." He looked at Sasuke when he spoke the last few words.

"But it never even crossed your minds. Sakura, you were obsessed about Sasuke who was gone while your other teammate was right in front of you." The pinkette hung her head in shame.

"Sasuke, thought the others were so far below yourself that they were worthless" he added slightly more pressure causing the boy to grunt.

"And Naruto" the blonde looked up to show he was listening "You did the best out of all three." Sakura's head snapped up again and she frowned, Kakashi nodded at her expression.

"Naruto is the one out of all of you that I expected to not help" the blonde looked away from Sasuke and Sakura's confused looks. "But he could have hit me with a jutsu that would have seriously hurt me, though when he heard Sakura was in trouble he left, without pressing his advantages and without a bell."

"He actually began to see that teamwork was necessary to complete this activity." He got back to the point of this whole speech.

"Teamwork is the most important thing to have in a squad, of course it's also important to have individual skills as well but if you don't work together it can lead to failure or even death. For example" he pulled out two kunai and threw one to Naruto who caught it and held the other to Sasuke's neck.

"Naruto, kill Sakura or Sasuke dies."

The blonde's eyes widened _'What! He wants me to kill her' _he looked at the tied up girl beside him who was staring at the weapon clutched loosely in his hand. When he made no move to do as asked the silver haired man removed the kunai from Sasuke's neck "In a mission you may be asked to do that. The enemy take a hostage and gives you that choice. Either way someone dies."

"Every mission you are putting your life on the line" he got off Sasuke and moved towards a large stone shaped sort of like a kunai at the edge of field. "This stone, and the names engraved on it. They were all ninja who are honoured as heroes in our village."

Sasuke moved to sit on the other side of Sakura and listened to what the Jounin was talking about. "They are all K.I.A." Naruto saw the Uchiha flinch out of the corner of his eye, "You mean they're all…dead?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Yes, this is the memorial stone. The names of some of my closest friends are on here." He turned around and stared at the son of his sensei, it hurt him how much they looked alike, he felt like he was seeing a ghost sometimes.

"Alright, I'm going to give you one more chance to pass this test, but it's going to be _much _harder. You'll have three hours to get a bell, eat your lunch now but do **not **feed Sakura. If anyone does feed her they will fail automatically" He instructed.

Without saying anything more he disappeared leaving the three Genin by themselves.

"It's ok guys, I'm not even that hungry. Go on and eat" Naruto stared at her, she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Why on earth would she starve herself than say she wasn't hungry?

He opened the lunchbox and stared at the mix of food, he could hear Sasuke already eating. He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed some rice, he was about to pop it into his mouth when Sakura's stomach grumbled loudly.

Both he and Sasuke stared at her ashamed figure, she laughed nervously and, if her hands weren't tied, she probably would have rubbed the back of her head.

"Not hungry huh?" he stated bluntly causing her to blush in embarrassment, Naruto stood up swiftly cut the bonds that kept her in place. "Naruto! What are you doing?" she shouted as the rope fell around her.

"Kakashi-sensei is gone" he said as if it explained everything. Sakura frowned and looked at Sasuke who was offering her his food, "S-Sasuke?" she smiled slightly at him and took some food.

"He could be back any second, and you'll need to be at your best if we're going to beat him." The Uchiha said without looking at either of them.

Just as Sakura popped the food into her mouth a large cloud of smoke appeared in front of them. Naruto and Sasuke were on their feet in a flash, both holding a kunai, ignoring the strong winds.

"YOU!" Kakashi shouted stepping forward and glaring at them "Pass."

"W-hat? What do you mean we 'pass'?" Sakura asked slowly standing up next to her teammates. Kakashi sighed while the two boys put their weapons away.

"You guys passed the test, every other team I've had they followed my orders like idiots. You are the first group to do the right thing." He smiled at them. _'Maybe they aren't as bad as I thought.'_

"Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades, they are worse than scum."

Naruto looked at the ground and bit the inside of his mouth hard enough to taste the blood that flowed out of the wound.

"Team 7 is now officially a team, report here tomorrow for our first mission. Dismissed" with that Kakashi walked off shortly followed by Naruto.

He really needed to talk to Jiraiya.

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Naruto landed gracefully on the fourth's head.

He couldn't find Jiraiya anywhere, not at the bathhouse, hotel room or any bars. Who knew the old man could be so hard to find.

The blonde closed his eyes and bit his lip, something was wrong with him, he was starting to _like Konoha_. Well more accurately Team 7. Sure they were strange but they didn't judge him like others.

He gripped his hair and let out a soft growl, why couldn't he think properly?

"Hey there brat" Naruto looked up and saw Jiraiya, the person he had spent hours searching for, in front of him. "Hey Jiraiya-sensei" he murmured looking down again.

The white-haired man cocked an eyebrow, he had been watching the kid since he left the training ground and he was half surprised he hadn't sensed him.

The blonde didn't move when he sat down next to him, Jiraiya frowned. He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, silently asking him to get 'it' off his chest.

"I'm so confused Jiraiya, I don't understand what's happening" he began not taking his eyes off the ground. "Today in the test I could have hit Kakashi with my Rasengan but when Sakura screamed I….I left the fight to help her, someone I didn't even know."

The toad sage gestured for him to continue though he needed no urging. "You know why I don't like it here but at the same time I feel like I belong here in Konoha, with Team 7. I….it's" he sighed and clutched his head again.

Jiraiya removed his hand from his shoulder, it hurt him to see the kid like this but this was something he needed to think through. He was only here to lay out his options and let the boy decide.

"Why is this happening Jiraiya-sensei?" his voice was so lost and small it would have shattered anyone's heart.

"Naruto, no matter what the villagers called you or did you were always a kind person. It's in your nature to forgive, that's what you're doing because you're strong. You're moving on."

Naruto looked at him with troubled eyes before looking out at Konoha again, it was around noon but the city seemed so still.

"Maybe you're right, but it still feels weird" he muttered quietly. Jiraiya smiled and ruffled the boys hair affectionately, "Don't worry kid, you'll figure this thing out. Now time for training."

The blonde groaned and leaned back "Training? Seriously? I just fought against _the _'Copy-cat ninja' can't I have a few hours to rest?" The smirk on the older man's face clearly said 'No'.

"Fine, fine. Just don't blame me if I pass out from chakra exhaustion."

Jiraiya chuckled at the young blonde and gestured for him to follow, without saying anything both jumped from the head and landed with cat-like grace on the nearest roof. They grinned at each other before Jiraiya clapped his hands together "Alright, let's take a look at that seal." His cheerful tone drew a loud groan from the demon container.

"Don't be that way brat" the old pervert said as they moved over the roof tops until they headed into the forest. Naruto scowled into the green surrounding him. "I told you, the seal is working. I haven't heard from _him _since you put it on and I can't access his chakra unless I unlock it. there's nothing to worry about!"

The white haired man clicked his tongue and glanced at the slightly pouting boy. He knew Naruto was probably telling the truth but this was the _Kyuubi _he was subduing. He looked forward again. Even since the boy's fight with Kimaru **(this person will be introduced later)** where the blonde had been forced to rely on the Kyuubi for almost 15 minutes before Jiraiya had been able to jump in. Minato's seal had weakened dramatically, making Jiraiya have to place a 'back-up' just to hold the fox down.

However, the seal did something neither expected. With the Kyuubi being so strong Jiraiya had to place something very powerful on the kid, accidently suppressing some of Naruto's own chakra. Before the incident the blonde was in the Jounin level, now he was stuck mid-Chunin.

They arrived at a small river bank that had obviously been used for a training area recently, Naruto got down on his back and pulled up his shirt revealing the seal his father had placed on him as a baby. Around the old seal was a black circle that, if you looked close enough, was made of small symbols. Four black lines then ran outwards away from his belly-button.

Jiraiya ran his fingers over his and Minato's work, checking for any faults or weaknesses. Naruto waited patiently as his mentor and father figure studied his stomach. They had only checked it two times so he knew what was coming.

It still hurt like hell though.

His entire body felt like it was on fire while being stabbed everywhere. His mouth and throat dried and his eyes closed when it became to much for him to bare, a gasp erupted from his mouth when the chakra reached the center of the seal, which was where the Kyuubi's chakra was most likely going to break out of. The toad sage watched the young boy's face scrunch up and his body tense in pain as he sent his chakra into the seal, he felt terrible whenever they did this. Though to the kid's credit he was handily the pain much better than the first time.

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_"Naruto!" _

_Jiraiya sprinted over to the fallen blonde. it had been three days since he had placed the seal over Minato's and they had both thought he would be fine now. Naruto groaned and gripped his stomach from his place on the ground while his other hand dug into the ground in a feeble attempt to conquer the pain._

_"Hang on squirt, this is gonna hurt" he flipped the boy onto his back and placed his large hands over the black writing. Jiraiya took one last look at the boy he considered his own son before channeling his chakra into Naruto's own._

_Naruto reared up as the sudden and unwelcome thing forced it's way through his body. He tossed his head back and let out a pain-filled scream that would forever be imprinted on his memory._

_The blonde began writhing on the floor in a feeble attempt to get away from his mentor._

_Then, just as quickly as the pain came it vanished._

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Naruto sighed in relief when it was over, the _one _good thing about these sessions were that they were short. the blonde turned his head towards Jiraiya who looked like he was in as much pain as he was himself a few seconds ago. Naruto let loose a shaky smile and sat up with the white haired man's help.

"Hey Ero-sennin"

"Yeah squirt"

"Thanks for everything"

"No problem Naruto."

OoOoOoOoO

**Ok sorry it took soooooooooooooooooooo long to update but with Christmas and my cousin's birthday on I barely had any time to write the chapter so…**

**PLEASE FORGIVE ME! (And review XD Hehe)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

OoOoOoOoO

**(One Week Later)**

Naruto glared at the little green weed sticking out of the ground in front of him.

He could handle anything. Running for days on end with a group of high ranking missing-nin's on his tail, killing whole troops of enemy ninja, protecting an important scroll filled with secret jutsu.

But not this hot, back bending, slave-work called gardening.

His legs were covered in dirt and grime that clung to him from the sweat that coated his body. He looked over his shoulder where Sakura and Sasuke where working, Naruto snorted when the pink-haired girl attempted to talk to the overly grouchy Uchiha.

Something he'd learned in the past hours was that the girl had an unhealthy obsession with the guy. She would try talking to him, complementing him, heck she even went as far as to 'accidently' brush up against him.

Just like when they were kids, the blonde sighed and ripped another annoying weed from the ground and added it to his pile that had steadily grown since they started a few hours ago.

It wasn't like he was tired or anything, just hot and annoyed. Mainly because that Uchiha refused to admit that Naruto was doing a better job than him "Stubborn teme" he grumbled under his breath.

A part of him-it was pretty small-was glad that the duck-butt haired boy hadn't changed. He was happy that they had both grown up and no longer fought like little girls. His old self and the Uchiha never got along, constantly trying to out-do each other. A small chuckle came from his lips, they were nothing like that now.

"What are you laughing at loser?"

"Nothing that's your business you arrogant teme" he responded without missing a beat.

'_Maybe we are still like that a little' _he mused while pulling out another damned plant and throwing it over his shoulder into the pile.

Naruto sighed and walked over to where he placed his own kunai pouch and water bottle a few metres away from his teammates.

This was taking too long, if he created about 30 clones they might be able to do this quicker. But he still wanted to have a lot of his chakra for training. The blonde bit his lip and looked at how much of the field they had left to do.

"So it's stay here another half an hour pulling out a bunch of weeds or I speed this up and get it done in about seven minutes." Standing up he made his decision. There was no way in hell he'd stay here for another _half an hour _pulling out WEEDS!

Naruto quickly packed up his things and nodded when everything was secure. Then without a hand sign 30 puffs of smoke appeared.

Sakura let out a surprised squeak and turned around (because she had been facing Sasuke the whole time) only to see a large group of Naruto's sprinting into the field and pulling out weeds.

"What the-?" she exclaimed as a pair of them ran past her with slight smirks on their faces, in between them was a large wheel barrow.

"They're clones" Naruto stated walking up to them while taking another swig from his drink. Sasuke frowned and looked at all the blonde's, "How can you make so many without passing out?"

Naruto blinked, than shrugged "I've always had a larger-than-normal chakra supply. As a kid my mentor said it was around an average chunin's amount. Though I was hopeless at the start-couldn't even make one clone-he quickly decided that all those little chakra manipulation tricks didn't suit the amount I possessed. So he began teaching me higher levels from the basics like clones and henge. Those things you see there are shadow clones, a Jounin level technique."

Naruto couldn't help it, when he saw the look on Sasuke's face he had to rub it in. And what better way to do that than clearly showing off a jutsu he won't be able to do for years.

"Hey boss!" they all turned to see a clone running up to them. "We're done, anything else you want us to do before we go?" the real Naruto thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, Kakashi-sensei will be here in a minute so you can go."

The clone gave him a two-fingered salute before disappearing with a small 'puff' he was shortly followed by the others, leaving a small cloud of smoke floating around them.

The demon container sighed and sat down, not a moment sooner Kakashi appeared standing over him. "Come on my lazy little team, there's no time to be sitting around." He was answered by a glare as the blonde stood up.

"Whatever, let's just go" he grumbled moving past the smiling man, Sakura and Sasuke soon followed with Kakashi at the rear.

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Naruto's foot tapped repeatedly on the carpeted floor of the room they were currently standing in. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as Iruka and Sarutobi shuffled through the mission they could be assigned. He swore to Kami if it was catching that cat again he was going to scream.

The blonde was sick and tired of these baby missions. Where were all the B and A ones!

"Well we have one from a local shop owner who claims that a group of-"  
>"-NO!"<p>

Everyone stared at the fuming blonde who was glaring at the folder clutched in the chunin's hands. The Hokage fixed him with a curious look, though he was sure he knew the reason for the sudden outburst.

"I refuse to do these childish missions anymore. No more cats or farms or babysitting! I'm over it! Can we _please _have something that actually tests us physically." He crossed his arms over his chest to show that he wasn't going to budge no matter what they said.

Sakura gasped loudly at his disrespect in front of the flippin' _Hokage_ "Naruto!" she scolded angrily before turning to the aged Hokage and bowing deeply "I'm so sorry Hokage-sama! Please forgive him" she exclaimed while glaring at the blonde who returned the look at her interruption.

"Come on Sakura, even you have to admit that you want something better than _weeding_" he practically hissed the word out. When the stubborn pinkette didn't show any signs of backing out Naruto pulled out his back-up plan.

"Plus I bet Sasuke feels the same way."His innocent comment got a narrowed eyed look for said grouching Uchiha, but even he had to agree with the annoying blonde. How was he supposed to beat his brother if he was doing missions like this, Itachi had been doing A ranked missions at this age!

Kakashi smiled slightly over the rim of his perverted book at his team. They were so much like his own genin team it wasn't funny.

Iruka sighed and fixed the annoyed boy with a stern look, though inside he couldn't help but smile. _'Same old Naruto' _he thought happily.

"Naruto. As genin, your team cannot get missions above D rank until we all believe you ready for the next level." Naruto threw his hands up in the air, why couldn't they understand?

"But Iruka-sensei! We are ready! And plus this work is so below what I'm used to." He turned a slightly pleading gaze on the man he once thought of as a grandfather.

Sarutobi sighed deeply before shaking his head and pulling a small scroll. "Very well, I'll give you a simple C rank mission. Your job is to escort a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna to his home in the Land of Waves. It shouldn't be too difficult but he says there may be some bandits along the way so be careful. Be at the Eastern gate tomorrow morning at 8."

They all nodded and Sarutobi looked behind them "Tazuna! You may come in."

Team 7 turned around just as the door opened and a grey haired man with glasses and a moustache walked in. He wore a sleeveless v-neck shirt with a white towel hanging loosely around his neck. His wore plain grey pants and shoes.

Naruto's nose twitched when he caught whiff of the amount of alcohol on the man's breath. He winced when he remembered one of the many beatings of his childhood, they smelt like this. The blonde blinked and looked over the man again this time seeing the small bottle that held his sake in it.

After taking another long drink from his alcohol the old man glared at the three genin in disbelief. "These are my escorts? They look like nothing but snot-nosed brats. Can they even fight?"

Naruto felt a tick appear on his forehead but bit down on his tongue to stop himself from tossing a few insults back. Jiraiya always told him he had a hot temper and that if he couldn't get control over it, it would be the end of him.

"Especially that squirt in the middle. He so short, how is he even a ninja?" Naruto's eyes narrowed, he wasn't that small! He was only a cm shorter than Sasuke who was the tallest in their squad.

"Take that back you drunken old bat!" he shouted stepping forward and glaring angrily while their client returned the gesture with a little sway in his stance. "Why should I?" he asked with a slur on his 's'.

"I'm one of the strongest people in this room, my name is Naruto Namikaze and I demand that you treat me with _some _respect." The blonde's fist was slowly rising while the others in the room could literally see the lightening that shot in between the two.

"All I see is a stupid like brat that doesn't know his place." Naruto growled and, for a second looked like he was going to take a swing at the man before he was yanked backwards by Kakashi and held in the air. Naruto thrashed in his sensei's grip, trying to escape however much to his annoyance, the silver haired man didn't even look up from his book.

"Don't worry Tazuna, my team is more capable than you think. Plus I'm a jounin. I promise you'll be safe in our care." Seeing the blonde had calmed down some-what he released him.

Naruto glared at the ground because he was sure if he looked at their client again he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to hit him across the face.

Tazuna watched the angry child warily, there was something about him that screamed 'DON'T ANNOY!' and he had a feeling that if no one had stepped in he would have attacked him. He made a mental note not to tick him off.

Sarutobi cleared his throat when an awkward silence fell over the room "Very well, you are dismissed." Team 7 nodded and exited through the door without saying anything, Naruto brushed past Tazuna with a cold glare still on his face.

Kakashi led his team out of the tower with his nose still stuck in his little orange book. "OK, you guys can have the rest of the day off. Remember, bright and early tomorrow morning." He waved cheerily at them before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto grumbled something under his breath before nodding to his teammates and walking off in where he assumed his favourite ramen stand was. Sasuke grunted in response before turning and walking towards his family compound, leaving Sakura staring after both of them.

Her past experiences told her asking Sasuke to go out with her was pretty pointless. And Naruto seemed in a sourer mood then yesterday. With a heavy sigh the pinkette headed home to her over-bearing mother would be waiting to ask-interrogate-her about her day.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto sighed happily as his nose caught the whiff of ramen, how he had missed that smell on his travels. Ichiraku Ramen was in his opinion the best thing about this place.

The blonde slipped under the flaps and sat down silently waiting to place his order. He was currently the only one at the stand so he sat near the wall and closed his eyes in thought.

Jiraiya was supposed to be leaving tonight on one of his many sudden journeys; he most likely wouldn't be back for a few weeks-three at most.

"Hello young man" a smooth and calming voice said, Naruto looked up and smiled when he saw Ayame leaning over the counter with a bright and friendly smile on her face. She stilled looked the same as he remembered (obviously a little older) from his earlier days in Konoha.

"Uh, just a miso ramen please" she bobbed her head happily and relayed the message to her father.

When he waved in response and set out on making his order she turned back to him and frowned slightly. "I haven't seem you around before, what's your name?" Naruto smirked and tilted his head a fraction to the right.

"Don't you remember me Ayame? You were like an older sister to my all those years ago." He could almost see the gears shifting inside her head as she tried to recall any blonde boys she might have known.

Naruto could see that she almost connected the pieces though still seemed unsure. To help her along he threw her his trademark fox-grin that he would have when he was younger.

"N-naruto?" she asked quietly, and when he nodded tears started to prick in her eyes. The brunette reached over the counter and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug while said "You're back" over and over again.

Her father turned around and smiled brightly when he saw this. He had heard rumours that a young blonde boy was in Konoha and could only hope it was his very best customer. His daughter didn't release him until he cleared his throat rather loudly and placed a bowl full of different types of food in front of Naruto.

The boy looked at him in a confused way "It's on the house, think of it as a 'welcome home present'." Teuchi smiled down at him before turning back to his stove.

"So Naruto" he said "What have you been up to since you...left?" he asked with only the slightest stumble on the last word. Naruto broke his chopsticks "Itadakimasu" he said before he scooped up some ramen and began to eat. Stopping ever once in a while to tell them about his training and missions. He didn't mention anything about how he felt when first arriving or the newest seal he had gotten (this included not talking about Kyuubi and his father as well.)

The blonde finished his third bowl and smiled gratefully at the two behind the counter who returned it "Naruto Namikaze." Said blonde swivelled in his seat to see a chunin standing outside the store, he nodded for the man to continue "Hokage-sama wishes to speak to you immediately." With that he left.

Naruto sighed and stood up, he threw Ayame and Teuchi another smiled before walking off. They waved when he left. Ayame picked up his dirty bowl and began to wipe down the table when she noticed the money he had left, more than enough to pay for his meal.

She smiled slightly and placed the money in the small pocket until she had time to place it in their safe. _'He's even more generous than before'_ she thought while turning to the man who just entered.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto opened the office door and walked in with his hands casually thrown into his pockets. He nodded to Jiraiya who was leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed. The Sannin smiled in return and swiftly moved to his protégé's side.

The blonde bowed to the Hokage before sitting in the seat available. His eyes moved between them, waiting for them to speak.

"Naruto, Jiraiya has some important information for you." The blonde turned to his mentor, giving him his full attention. The white haired man smirked slightly before becoming serious again.

"We've received information from Sound that something big is going on. Sensei has given me permission to travel down there and check it out." Naruto frowned and looked down at his kunai pouch tied securely to his right leg.

"Sound means Orochimaru. You think he's planning another invasion?" he let out a growl when Jiraiya nodded.

"What do you mean another? How many has he planned?" Sarutobi asked, jumping back into the conversation. Naruto looked back at him and blinked.

"Oh, Ero-sennin and me have been following his movements for the past five years. Every year he comes up with some crazy idea of destroying Konoha and every time we've stopped him. Mainly we've just blown up his headquarter or taken out a key structure in them to stop them from happening."

The Hokage frowned deeply. He didn't like the fact that the young blonde had faced such dangerous tasks even with Jiraiya at his side. He especially didn't like that Naruto had seen the inside of one of _Orochimaru's _sick, twisted, underground lairs. He remembered all too well the first time he had seen what his favourite student had been doing in his spare time.

Jiraiya seemed to notice his discomfort because he quickly brought everyone back to the previous subject. "Anyway, since I'm going there and I won't be here to supervise your training I've made a list of what I want you to do while on your mission."

The white haired sannin pulled out a small bright blue scroll and tossed it to the blonde who caught it effortlessly. "I'll be back within three weeks" Jiraiya told them before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto turned to his grandfather figure and bowed "Seeya around Old Man." He said and, giving a half-hearted wave, walked through the door without waiting for a reply. Sarutobi sighed deeply and leaned back, where had all the respect gone? First his student disappears to only-Kami-knows-where then Naruto leaves in much the same manor, no respect!

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Naruto nibbled on the tip of his thumb as he walked through the Hokage Tower.

Sound on the move, the mission to Wave, his _stupid _seal! Why did all of this have to happen at the same time? The demon container growled quietly, he should be speeding towards Sound at the moment with Jiraiya.

Naruto closed his eyes and continued walking, this was a long day.

The blonde 'hm'ed to himself as he rounded a corner only to have something barrel into him-causing him and whatever hit him to fall to the ground.

"Ack! Watch where you're going!" a surprisingly young voice shouted in his ear. Naruto frowned angrily and looked at the person-or child- responsible for him losing his train of thought.

The boy was small and probably around 9 or 10. His brown hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and he was wearing a yellow shirt and grey pants along with a long blue scarf and a weird looking helmet thing on his head.

The boy scrambled off his chest and glared down at Naruto. The blonde placed his hands behind his head and flipped up onto his feet. "Watch where you're going!" the boy shouted. Naruto returned the boys glare and snapped before he could stop himself, "Watch where I'm going? Why don't you watch where you're going brat!"

A barely noticeable smirk crawled onto his face when he saw the shocked expression of the boy. "What's wrong kid? Cat got your tongue?" he taunted while the brunette's face turned red and he pointed his blunt practise kunai at Naruto.

"You can't talk to me like that!" he shouted, stomping one foot down loudly on the ground. The older boy's lips quirked up a little at the pitiful challenge the ten year old had initiated. "Or what? You'll poke me to death with your blunt kunai, face it squirt. I'm bigger, stronger and more skilled than you so don't think for a second you can tell me what to do." With that said the blonde flicked him on the forehead and chuckled as he stumbled back from the unexpected force.

Naruto's amusement grew into annoyance when the boy who called himself 'Konohamaru' told him in a rather stern voice for a child that he should be treated with respect.

"You may be bigger and stronger than me but you can't hurt me! I'm the Hokage's grandson!"

Naruto blinked and stared at the very small boy in front of him dumbly. Before laughing.

"You may be the Hokage's grandson, kid but that won't stop me from hurting you." To prove his point the blonde bonked the boy on the head and chuckled delightedly when he tumbled to the floor.

The blonde stiffened when a hand firmly grasped his shoulder, he turned around and frowned at the blue clad man that had caught him. _'How the hell did this guy sneak up on me? I must be losing my touch.' _He thought angrily while his hands clenched.

Only Jiraiya and a few highly ranked ninja (mainly from other villages) could get the drop on him. Which spoke volumes of his heightened senses which had developed incredibly since Jiraiya had taken him under his wing.

"Just what do you think you are doing to the Third Hokage's Honourable Grandson?"

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** forgive me for not updating in like, forever! I had MAJOR writers block for this chapter-constantly re-writing scenes and lines because I didn't really like them. Not to mention I have a lot going on at home these past few months so please forgive me.**

**I am still writing this story but the updates will be slow because of school and assignments so yeah.**

**Once again-Sorry~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

OoOoOoOoO

Konohamaru rubbed one finger over the goggles he had received yesterday from Naruto.

He smiled lightly when he remembered his advice for reaching his dream.

_Flashback_

"_Just what do you think you are doing to the Third Hokage's honourable grandson?" the voice repeated. Naruto frowned and stepped away from the blue man, he hated having people invade his personal space without permission._

"_Oh, you mean the annoying little brat I hit? Nothing much, why?" Naruto looked off to the side as if in complete boredom, though any ninja could see he was still paying attention from the slight tilting of his lips when the man's shoulders slumped._

_Naruto sighed quietly before walking off, avoiding the newest member of the conversation by about a meter. Just as he turned the corner he threw a smile at them "By the way, you might want to buy a leash for the little guy. It's hard to control snotty brats."_

_Konohamaru opened his mouth to say something but the blonde was already long gone._

_Naruto frowned again as he saw the odd pattern on the wooden wall. He couldn't understand why this kid didn't just go away. Was he not making it obvious that he had seen him from the first moment he had starting following him?_

_The blonde turned around and glared at the mixed matched pattern on the wall with annoyance. "You can come out now kid, I know you're there." _

_He heard a muffled groan before the sheet was peeled away to reveal Konohamaru grinning like a mad-man at him. "Wow!" he said before running up to Naruto and standing in front of him expectantly. The older boy frowned and walked away after giving the brunette a warning glance, practically telling him to stop it._

"_H-hey wait!" Naruto let out a small, barely audible sigh and stopped his fast pace so the boy could catch up to him. "What?" he asked through gritted teeth while glaring down at Konohamaru who happily smiled back._

_The blonde watched as he walked in front of him and pointed his thumb to his chest "I want you to train me!"_

"_No, now leave me alone. I've got to get ready for tomorrow." He stepped around the deflated boy and continued to travel to the same apartment Jiraiya had brought for him three days ago. "Please!" Konohamaru was back in front of him again with his little arms thrown out to the sides, baring his way._

"_I'm a good student and my current sensei isn't teaching me anything useful! Everyone says you're the son of the Fourth Hokage so that means you're really strong! Please, you've got to teach me something, even just one thing that I can use!"_

_He heard a sigh and Naruto shuffle his feet, "If I teach you something will you leave me along?" he asked in a tired voice. The boy's head shot up and his eyes sparkled with awe, happiness and gratitude. He jumped in the air and let out a loud shout._

"_Cool! What are you gonna teach me? How to spit fire from my mouth? Oh, how about flying! Wait can ninjas fly? Do I need any kunai or anything? Or how 'bout-" his rant was cut short by the blonde's hand over his mouth and his amused smirk that danced across his lips._

"_How about we learn how to keep quiet? Silence is a ninjas best friend." He suggested while taking his hand from Konohamaru's mouth. The boy clapped his hands together and nodded seriously "Sounds good to me boss."_

"_Boss?" one of Naruto's eyebrows cocked up at the title before letting out a chuckle and shaking his head._

"_Come on, let's go. The faster I teach you something the faster you'll leave me the hell alone."_

"_Legs further apart" Naruto's stern voice ordered from a few feet away. Konohamaru growled angrily and adjusted his stance once again to fit his 'mentors' description of how to perform the jutsu._

"_Ok, good. Now copy my hands exactly otherwise you might end up sucking up all your chakra and dying." His matter-of-fact tone caused a shiver to run up his spine. "Ok, what now boss?" another smile flashed on Naruto's lips before disappearing again._

"_Now, you think about the curviest body you've ever seen with long brown hair and eyes." He ordered. Konohamaru closed his eyes and nodded, signally that he was ready._

"_And, transform." The blonde ordered again._

_He waited patiently until the smoke cleared, revealing a young, pretty girl around the age of 20 surrounded in smoke and smiling brightly at him. Konohamaru changed back when Naruto nodded in approval. "Nice work kid, it was good, but not as good as my version."_

_He chuckled at the boy's downtrodden expression and waved him over to a fallen log lying near the edge of trees. Naruto clapped him on the shoulder and pulled something out of his kunai pouch. He waited until Konohamaru was seated before holding the green goggles up for him to see._

"_What are they?" the brunette asked taking them in his small hands and looking through the blue lenses. "They were mine. A friend gave them to me as a gift when I was young. Now I'm giving them to you." He sat next to his student and pulled out a small box and handed it to him._

_Konohamaru plucked some rice from the tray and beamed up at the blonde. "Hey I never got the chance to ask you before. Why were you running in the tower anyway?" Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned "Well, it has to do with my dream" he looked forward again and a delighted look fluttered across his face "To be the Hokage, that's my dream."_

_He obviously didn't see the tightness in Naruto's shoulders or the pain that flashed through his eyes. However the blonde pushed the thought away when his young friend began talking again. "My grandfather named my Konohamaru after Konoha, but even though everyone knows my name….no one uses it. No one ever sees me for me, all they see is the Third's grandson." He said in a depressed tone._

"_I'm sick of it. That's why I have to be Hokage, so I can make my own name." Naruto looked at his companion and chuckled to himself._

"_You think you can become Hokage just by saying you will?" he asked rolling his head to look at the fuming boy beside him. "It's not that easy brat. If you really want to be Hokage then you'll have to do something no one else can do."_

_Konohamaru blinked then frowned "What?" he asked angrily while standing and glaring at the smiling blonde. _

"_You'll have to beat everyone, including me."_

_He saw the look of fear and uncertainty appear on Konohamaru's face and let out another chuckle. "I may not want to be Hokage anymore, or like this place very much. But I guess it only makes sense for the Grandson of the Third to battle the Fourth's kid for the title of 'Best Ninja in the Leaf'. Don't you?"_

"_Found you" they both spun around and locked onto the figure standing in the tree above them. Konohamaru groaned quietly as the blue man from before landed gracefully on the ground._

"_Now my young ward, we must get back to your strict training schedule. Hanging around a former delinquent like this" he gestured to the blonde who scoffed softly in reply. "Will not help you. If you want to became the next Hokage you must stay under my wing until you are ready." He explained calmly while approaching the two boys._

_Konohamaru stepped forward and glared at his Ebisu "You haven't been teaching me anything! Only the boss has taught me something useful!" he pointed at Naruto who coughed to cover up his laughter at the statement. _'There's nothing useful about that justu other than to distract perverts' _he thought while snickering quietly behind his hand._

_Ebisu pushed his black glasses back up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. "Young master, I can assure you that only a qualified shinobi like me would be able to teach you the way to become the Hokage one day. This…..boy…. does not have the amount of patience or knowledge to train you the proper way." Naruto clicked his tongue in irritation, this guy wasn't really nice. He was much more experienced than most three times his age!_

"_I said no! Naruto is going to teach me from now on and there's nothing you can do about it!" he brought his hands together and focused his chakra. Naruto sighed and looked away, Konohamaru was really pushing it with his chakra, if he continued to use that jutsu he was pass out._

_Ebisu stopped his approach when he felt the build up a chakra flare around his student and did a double-take. Where did he learn something that required so much chakra? His eyes landed on the blonde a few feet away from his ward and narrowed. He knew of the Kyuubi trapped inside the Fourth's son, most of the adults still remembered that bloody night, he really shouldn't be surprised Konohamaru would pick up something that would waste precious chakra from this brat._

_He looked back at the youngest of the three and saw a cloud of smoke surrounding the area he was a few seconds ago. He felt an uneasy feeling settle in his stomach when the blonde smirked at something he couldn't see. As the white cloud began to disperse Ebisu swore he just had a small heart attack._

_Standing in front of him was one of the most beautiful and curvy women he had ever seen. Her long, soft brown hair covered her chest and lower back and her eyes seemed to hold a sense of mischief in their chocolate depths. However the illusion only lasted a few moments before transforming back into Konohamaru._

_The small brunette fell back on the ground and let out a whine "It didn't work!" he shouted angrily while glaring at Naruto who still had his smirk in place. "Because for someone as talented at hiding his inner-pervert like this" he jerked his thumb at the disgusted Ebisu "you have to use something _extra special._"_

_The blonde turned around and smiled at the confused jounin. He watched as the man slipped into a battle position, waiting to see what he would do. Naruto's smile seemed to grow larger, if that was possible._

_He brought his fingers together in a familiar sign and felt a very, very, very small dip in his chakra as his fifty odd clones 'popped' into existence around them. Ebisu faltered for a moment at the shear amount of the grinning blondes. It was obvious that the boy had grown dramatically from when he used to pull pranks all across Konoha as a hobby._

"_Transform" they all said calmly._

_Ebisu's mouth hit the ground and he felt his nose begin to bleed at the sight of all the beautiful, blonde, NAKED girls giggling and winking at him. The Naruto's giggled again when he fell to the ground before disappearing. Naruto sighed and turned back around to face Konohamaru who had a look of pure awe written across his face._

_The blonde glanced at Konohamaru how was clenching his fists "Damn, I just want to be able to beat that old geezer so I can become Hokag-" He was cut off by Naruto hitting him on the head. "It's not as easy as that idiot." He said in a stern tone._

"_The Hokage is the _greatest _and most _powerful _shinobi in his village. You have to be prepared to go through a lot of difficult challenges. If you want that title" the blonde turned away and began to walk off "If you _really _want everyone to acknowledge you for yourself."_

_He placed his hands behind his head and smiled at the confused brunette. _

"_You can't take any short-cuts." Konohamaru smirked and turned his back on the blonde. "Argh, you can't lecture me like you know everything in the world. You sound just like my grandfather" he muttered "I've decided I don't want you to teach me anymore."_

_Naruto blinked in expectation, he knew the boy wasn't finished. "From now on, we're rivals."_

_Naruto smiled and nodded, when he was a few metres away he shouted back "I'm looking forward to it Konohamaru!"_

_End Flashback_

The boy smiled happily, Naruto was the first to say his name. It was too bad the blonde had left for his mission earlier this morning, he would have liked to say good bye.

"Hey Konohamaru! Are you coming or what?" he swivelled in his chair and blushed, realising he had been out of it for a while. Moegi waved him over so they could leave for playtime. He tied the goggles securely around his forehead and ran over to his friends.

Udon gestured to the newest addition to his outfit "Nice goggles, where'd you get them?" he asked while closing the door behind them.

They both noticed the ear-splitting grin that spread over the boy's face. "Oh, just some guy."

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi smiled at Naruto who was leading the team through the forest. Seeing as he had yet to teach them how to travel over the trees they had to make due with walking, though none seemed to mind.

The blonde seemed in an unusually happy mood this morning, he had yet to frown or insult Sasuke once. In fact he actually teased his teammates for being so slow or about Sakura's crush on the dark haired boy. Maybe Jiraiya was right and Naruto was becoming used to the village again. Either that or he was just happy to be out of Konoha. Kakashi couldn't really tell.

"So Kakashi-sensei, how long until we get to Wave?" Sakura asked, trying to distract herself from laughing at Naruto who had revealed his rather playful and funny side. Their team leader smiled over the rim of his perverted book and turned to Naruto who was in the middle of studying the horizon with his goofy grin on his face.

"What do you think Naruto?" he asked cheerily, said boy stiffened at the sound of his name then frowned and looked at the position of the sun. "Well, we've been traveling for a good three hours so far, we have about a day to go until we reached the border." He quickly sent a glance in Tazuna's direction "then we have to get to the town, if it's where the map indicted then that would take about another hour, and we have to consider the sleeping and rest stops we'll make there. A little over 26 hours I'd say."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him in surprise, they didn't realise someone could switch from such a relaxed and unconcerned personality to serious and all business then back again so quickly.

Kakashi smiled and nodded to himself, the boy was a born shinobi. Not that he was surprised with his heritage but it was slightly hard to believe he had been keeping track of their movements so precisely while he was talking no-stop since they left the village.

They continued walking until dark with Sakura asking Naruto questions about where he had been in his travels and what the different countries and villages where like. Everyone was quite shocked that he answered so freely and carelessly about his past considering how hostile he had been towards everyone the past week.

Sakura found a small smile slip on her face as she took in his bright blue eyes, ablaze with excitement and amusement; his blonde hair was dishevelled and messy though it complimented well with his attitude-rough and wild. His well-toned arms were thrown casually behind his head which appeared to be his most comfortable position. And his smile; she swore she blushed lightly whenever it was directed at her, his canine teeth seemed a little sharper than the average person but it just added to his overall appeal.

She couldn't help but be drawn into his stories of the adventures that he and his sensei had been through. Some were funny and she couldn't help laughing every now and then, one time she saw Sasuke smirk at the hyperactive blonde as he told them once in his first battle without his sensei he managed to fall over in the mud several times and still survive the deadly blows that flew at him.

Naruto could easily turn what was meant to be a horrible and depressing story into an entertaining and thrilling tale of his many blunders.

"So yeah" he finished off yet another one of his hilarious account of Jiraiya, his mentor getting caught peeking in the women's bathhouse and being beaten to a 'bloody pulp' as the blonde so gently put it while he was laughing in the background. "Ero-sennin was out for a day before I woke him up by throwing a bucket of cold water on him and leaving him in his soaked clothes, the ladies seemed to enjoy the sight."

Naruto beamed at the memory, Jiraiya hadn't spoken to him for a week after the cold bucket; though he had learned that his protégé wasn't going to bail him out if he was caught doing most would called 'perving on young innocent women' but what the Sannin had deemed 'inspiration'.

The blonde looked over his shoulder at the sun and sighed, it was almost dark and they would have to stop soon if Kakashi didn't want only them standing by the end of the next hour. He could already see the fog clouding Sakura's eyes and Sasuke's slowed pace. Tazuna seemed to be faring well but he would be doing better if he wasn't pumping himself full of liquor.

The silver haired jounin stepped up until they were side-by-side and Naruto casually asked "Don't you think we should stop before they-" he jerked his thumb at the three following at a slow pace "-fall while their walking." Kakashi nodded and ruffled his blonde locks much to his annoyance. Kakashi glanced along the sides of the path before turning to Naruto who was trying to put his hair back into place with a small frown of irritation as it continued to defy him.

"You think you could find a place a little way away from the road for tonight?" he mentally smiled when he saw the flicker of anticipation in the clear blue eyes. "Give me four minutes" he said just before he suddenly disappeared into the trees surrounding them.

The jounin pulled his book back up into his line of sight and turned the page, he knew Naruto wouldn't take long to find a good camping spot big enough for them all to fit.

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi was beginning to doubt Naruto's sense of direction, the trees above them blocked out the any light that might flitter down to them other than the occasional patch of soft light that allowed them to see until they once again became surrounded in darkness. He could hear Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna grumbling behind him as they trekked farther away from the road.

Naruto smirked again when he hear Sakura muttered a very un-ladylike curse under her breathe, probably too low for anyone else to hear but the shadows were his domain, he had grown up trusting them to hide him and they gave him comfort since he was a small, defenceless child and now; his senses were at their peak. His eyes scanned the trees for his kunai slash that marked the direction, his nose twitched every now and then to check the air for any sign of disturbances.

"Naruto" Kakashi muttered from behind him and gentle touched his shoulder. "Yeah" he replied, tilting his head to catch any noises that didn't belong in the woods. "I don't think you understood the meaning of 'close to the road' we've been travelling for a while now."

Naruto flashed him a smile over his shoulder, though he was sure the man couldn't see it. "Wrong, we've only been moving for about three minutes and I've been sensing something _off _near us for the last part of the day. I don't want to take any chances if it's an enemy ninja, and trust me Kakashi-sensei. Surely Ero-sennin told you of my abilities, he must have mentioned something about my excellent night-vision, sense of smell, hearing and chakra sensing skills; I have everything under control." He sent another smile when he felt the man's unease, this time a small patch of light allowed the silver haired jounin to see the confident and at-easy posture.

"Up ahead" Naruto's quiet voice seemed to carry easily over the tired group, the thought that they could rest in peace gave them the extra strength to push through the last of the trees and collapse on the ground in relief. Sasuke looked around them and even in his current shape he could still admire the clearing.

It was very large. Perhaps thirty by twenty metres with a clear but quiet stream running directly to his right and the ground was clear of everything but a few twigs and fallen leaves.

There were preplaced logs surrounding an ash pile with stones around the outside. Naruto walked over to and slide his sword off his back, he walked over to the nearest tree and began hacking away at it. Another Naruto appeared beside that one and walked to the pond with kunai in his hands, he stood patiently on the bank before his hand flicked out and a fish was pinned to the river floor.

Sakura unhooked her canteen on took a deep drink from it, she immediately started trying to take out her tent however her hands fumbled on the rope securing it to her pack. Two steady hands easily finished the job for her and quickly assembled the makeshift shelter. She looked around and realised everyone's tent had already been set up and they were now making their way to sit around the fire where two Naruto's were currently placing their dinner around the flame to cook.

She shuffled over and sat down next to Sasuke, too tired to even blush at being so close to her long time crush. They sat in silence while their food slowly turned a nice brown colour and ate without much conversation.

Naruto disposed of their left overs without complaint, he understood that they were tired and needed to regain their energy back. The blonde stayed in his seat next opposite Sasuke for about a minute before standing up and walking to the river. "We should all turn in" Kakashi stated and opened his mouth to add something but Naruto beat him to it "Can I take first watch?" he asked without turning around. They all took one look at the boy to know there wasn't much pointed arguing with him.

Kakashi sighed and moved off to his tent, slowly the others followed his lead and drifted off to their bed. Sakura paused at the entrance of her tent and turned to the blonde who had moved to sit below a tree near the fire "Good night Naruto" she whispered just as she slipped through the flap.

Naruto glanced at the girl's tent and blinked slowly "Night."

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi watched as Naruto shot up out of his place on the ground a few metres away from his position. Kakashi had offered to share his tent with the boy but he had refused profoundly saying he preferred sleeping under the stars.

The jounin watched as Naruto calmed his erratic breathing and wiped the sweat off his brow. His shoulder slumped under relief and he gently hit his forehead with the palm of his hand while muttering darkly.

"You ok?" he asked while turning back to his book, Jiraiya said that the boy suffered from terrible nightmares, he had been smart enough not to ask what they were about. _"Don't push him Kakashi. Naruto may not show it but he trusts really easily, if you lose it it's nearly impossible to regain again. Try not to pressure him into answering, he'll talk but only if you are calm and don't make him feel like he's been back into a corner."_

He could see the distrust in Naruto's eyes, but there was also something else. Better hidden beneath the mask of laughter and jokes; it was fear.

Naruto slowly nodded to answer his question "Yeah" he muttered lying back down and turning so he was facing his new teacher. Kakashi took a deep breath through his nose and quietly let it out, he opened his mouth to say something but stopped when the blonde rolled onto his back and stared up at the stars that twinkled brightly above them.

"You know I sometimes I wondered what they were like." He said putting his hands behind his head and sighing "I've asked Jiraiya a couple of time and he answered them as best he could but it's not the same as _knowing _them, if you get what I'm saying. He said my dad was a joker, always laughing or goofing around with his friends. But when he needed to be, he was the deadliest man on a battlefield, I've heard heaps of stories about him and mum, how they met, what they did on missions together." Kakashi cast a sympathetic look at the boy, he knew how hard it was to lose a parent and be cast into a world of cruel people without any guidance.

Naruto closed his eyes and frowned "It's all my fault" he whispered as he cursed angrily in his head. "If mum wasn't pregnant with me at the time then the seal wouldn't have weakened and Kyuubi wouldn't have broken out. Dad wouldn't have died sealing it inside me and the village would still have it fourth Hokage. This entire world would be better off if I was never brought into existence." Naruto slammed his fist onto the ground and let out an unhuman growl, he didn't care if he barely knew this man or if Jiraiya had already told him everything about him. He needed to get this off his chest before he burst.

Naruto stood up and glared at the ground as if it was the reason all this had happened. "Why did it have to be me huh? Why did _my _dad have to sacrifice himself for that selfish village? It's full of nothing but liars and monsters, they stole my family from me and Jiraiya just expects me to skip in there and befriend every person I see! He may or may not know this but it's like a stab to the heart every time I see someone who beat me or hurt me some other way and not kill them. And seeing how many people have beaten me throughout my life that's a lot of stabs."

Kakashi winced when the blonde punched a tree and left a large imprint in the dark bark. He could practically see the guilt and pain eating him alive, and the worst part of this was he didn't know what to do. He wasn't experienced with children, he didn't give out hugs or fatherly advice. He didn't even want this team!

Naruto sighed heavily and grabbed his hair in frustration "Why did he have to be so damn heroic? Why couldn't he find some other way to get rid of it, I'm sure somewhere in his genius brain he had another way; a way that still involved us together as a family. Maybe then my life wouldn't be so screwed up."

Naruto must have finally noticed the extremely uncomfortable look on Kakashi face because he flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, you shouldn't have had to hear that. I'm just a little worked-up over returning, I've been running from that village since I was 8; now being dragged back is…weird." He finished before sitting next to the jounin on the ground and leaned up against the tree truck that had been the assigned 'watch post'.

"Thanks Kakashi" he said after a few minutes of silence. The silver haired man blinked in surprise and sent his companion a strange look. "I didn't do anything but listen" he argued without much bite behind the comment. A grateful smile weaved its way onto Naruto's mouth.

"But you listened." He said while closing his eyes and relaxing for what seemed like the first time in his life. Pretty soon he had drifted off to sleep again, not moving when Kakashi placed him back where he was sleeping before.

Neither of them seemed to notice Sasuke frowning as he tried to piece together what he had heard.

OoOoOoOoO

Sasuke hadn't looked at Naruto all morning, he was still confused about what had transpired between their sensei and the strange blonde. Naruto was angry, that much was clear, and it had something to do with his past; namely his father. And he swore on his parent's graves that he had heard something about the Kyuubi and a seal.

But none of this made any sense, the Kyuubi was dead. Naruto's own father had sacrificed himself to stop it. He frowned when he heard the blonde crack another one of his cheesy jokes and the third member of their genin squad laugh.

It was kind of creepy how he could fool anyone behind that smile. Before last night Sasuke was sure that this kid was just a normal teenage boy with a bad past. But he was wrong, Naruto was more like him than he first thought. They both had an uncontrolled rage that was hidden from others; his behind the cool and better-than-you attitude and Naruto's behind the wise-guy comments and innocence smile and eyes.

He snuck a quick glance at the central point of his thoughts, he had only seen the blonde in action for less than a minute before he ran off to step up his traps. If he could last against Kakashi who was a jounin for more than half an hour who knew how strong this guy was. He wasn't just hiding his real personality under his mask, but also his true strength.

There were too many thoughts swirling around in his head, he needed a break from all this uncertainty of the blonde who was now walking next to him.

'_Wait' _Sasuke thought; he looked up ahead of them seeing Kakashi, Tazuna and Sakura a few metres in front. His onyx eyes slid slowly over to Naruto who still had his grin in place. "You ok teme? You've been lagging behind and moping more than usual. I was being to think you had lost your touch; maybe all this physical exercise doesn't agree with you?"

Once again the Uchiha felt a weird knot in his stomach at how easily the blonde could pretend he wasn't angry or upset. It was just unnatural.

"What no 'I'm better at everything than you' response. And here I was looking forward to proving you wrong. Ah well, hurry up so we can finish this mission already." Without even giving the black haired boy a chance to say anything Naruto was already walking next to Sakura.

"Something's really off about him" Sasuke muttered but sped up until he was slightly behind Kakashi.

OoOoOoOoO

The first sign that something was wrong was the puddle lying in the middle of the road. Naruto didn't openly show that he had noticed the faint chakra intertwined in the water, but he glanced at Kakashi who also looked tenser, silently telling him that he knew as well.

He turned back to Sakura and continued laughing and talking, if this was the guy that had been following them since yesterday they would notice something was up if he stopped talking. _'If someone knows you're tactics play along until you have a chance to be unpredictable.' _Jiraiya's rules never really made sense until he put them into practise.

'_Pretend to be oblivious and that's just what the enemy will think you are, they won't suspect that you are ready for anything.'_

So he did just that, he didn't react when they walked past the water, he didn't react when he sensed a figure emerge from the puddle and he didn't react when he heard the soft clicking of metal.

Kakashi spun around just as two thick chains wrapped tightly around his body-stopping him from moving. The two men that had thrown the chains quickly jumped forward and stabbed the man "KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura screamed just as the two enemy ninja teleported behind her and prepared to strike.

Naruto let two kunai fly; momentarily distracting them long enough for Sasuke to get her out of the way. "Sakura protect Tazuna, Sasuke get ready" Naruto ordered, his voice betrayed the excitement he felt as one of the men rushed at him, the other heading for Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna.

The blonde didn't seemed concerned with the spiked hand that was heading for his head. He could feel the guys smugness rolling of him in waves, at the last possible second Naruto's hand whipped up grabbed the weapon, not caring that he got cut.

Using the momentum already built up Naruto reached out with his other hand and flung the man in a semicircle before letting him go and watching him fly into Kakashi's right arm. The second enemy was held securely around the neck by his other arm.

He heard a couple of gasps and looked at Sakura who had probably never felt more relieved in her life that he was alive. Kakashi smiled at them and after making sure both assassins were knocked out he dropped them on the ground in front of him.

Naruto sighed in relief that everyone was ok and not hurt. _'Well' _he thought wincing down at his hand and the deep cut in it _'Almost everyone.'_ He quickly moved over to where everyone was waiting and Kakashi was praising his team for their good job. Naruto tried not to snort _'Yeah, they did great jumping out of the way like that. Never seen better.' _

There was another throb in his hand and he quickly pulled it up so he could see it better. The edges of his cut were already turning a sick green colour. "Urgh" he moaned, he could already it slowly spreading through his hand. _'Stay calm, if you freak out your heart will beat faster and spread it quicker. Just stay calm.'_

"Kakashi-sensei, I think these guys have poison on their weapons." He stated holding up his hand so they could all see the slowly spreading green. Sakura covered her mouth with one hand when she saw the state of his hand.

"Open the wound and get it out of you" Kakashi ordered sternly. He was actually surprised the blonde was standing at the moment; assassins usually carried very strong poisons to ensure their target would die one way or another.

"Yeah, yeah" he replied taking a kunai out and stabbing it into his flesh with only a barely supressed groan of pain. Once he was done they all watched in a small amount of disgust and amazement as the wound slowly began to close, once he was sure he wasn't going to bleed to death Naruto looked up and glared at Tazuna who was trying to make himself as small as possible under the furious blue eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" He shouted angrily at the man, Kakashi also fixed him with an angry look once he had finished tying the men to a tree. "You asked for a C ranked mission! Please than explain why two chunin level assassins who were obviously paid specially to take out you because they've been following us since yesterday almost killed Sakura!"

"How did you know we were there?" a muffled voice asked angrily. The blonde's head snapped in the prisoner's direction and rolled his eyes as if the answer was as clear as sunlight. "A puddle in the middle of a road on a clear where it hadn't rained in weeks." Kakashi said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well then why did you leave your students to take care of them when you could have the moment you realised they were there?" Tazuna asked, obviously still slightly shaken-up from Naruto's outburst. Kakashi sent him an irritated look but answered it anyway. "They need experience, they have to learn to react without a spilt second if there was an ambush; what would happen if I was to die? They'd either have to work together almost instinctively or die with me."

"Plus, if I did take them out straight away I wouldn't know who they were targeting. As Naruto pointed out, they were going after you." Tazuna gulped and took a step back; he quickly began trying to deny that he was any part of it. "Now I know that they weren't just attacking for the fun of it. They were after you, the _Master _bridge builder."

Naruto stepped forward and crossed his arms in annoyance "You asked for protection from robbers and common thieves, you seemed to have forgotten to mention you had hunter-nin after you. This mission is at least a B or A, Sasuke and Sakura haven't had enough experience with these kind of things." He said, ignoring the glares his teammates shot at him, but they couldn't deny the truth, they weren't ready for this type of mission.

Kakashi once again took over "If we had known this was a higher mission we would have given you a different team and charged more; you obviously have your reasons for not telling us but lying to a Hidden Village is not the smartest thing to do."

Sakura stepped forward and sighed "Naruto's and Kakashi-sensei are right, we're not strong enough to take on something this large yet. We should return to the village. Plus we don't know if Naruto got all the poison out of his hand, we need to get him to a hospital just in case."

Naruto made a small noise of annoyance at her. "I got the majority of it. And are you really suggesting we just run back to Konoha without at least hearing Tazuna's side? I'm sure he had a good, honourable reason for lying."

The old man let his shoulders drop and nodded. "The man who wants me dead is a very powerful and rich businessman called Gato." Kakashi blinked in confusion "Gato? The guy from Gato's Transport?" Tazuna nodded grimly.

"Many just think he is a powerful capitalist, but his is a ruthless and evil man who has taken control of my village. He sells drugs and contraband to whoever wants it. His crew consists from thugs to missing-nin who are just looking for a free excuse to kill people. One year ago he came here, to the Land of Waves and managed to take over. Anyone who stood in his way was cut down or just disappeared. Gato has a lot of wealth and power but he can't let this bridge be built, it's completion would mean and easier access to the mainland and that would break his control."

"So because you're the main guy standing in his way and he thinks if he gets rid of you the bridge won't be finished." Sakura said and after he nodded Sasuke looked around the trees. "So these guys are working for him" he said glaring at the two assassin's.

"You still haven't explained one thing" Naruto said stepping forward and crossing his arm "Why did you hide all this from us? If you had asked for a higher rank the Hokage would have sent more prepared ninja to guard you."

"Because my village is small and poor. We don't have enough money to pay for a mission that big, even our nobles are poor. If you ended the mission now the bridge will never be finished and Gato will remain in control of everything. Of course there's my family as well; my grandson will cry and whine about it for a while and my daughter will be distraught and denounce the Leaf village. But it's not your fault so don't worry."

Naruto sighed but brightened up almost immediately "Well I guess we have no choice, shall we continue to the Land of Waves?" he asked than turned and began walking down the path they were taking. Sakura frowned but began moving after him, it just wouldn't be right to leave Tazuna and his village like that.

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Naruto almost kissed the ground when the boat beached, he hated going on boats. The only fun part of the trip was seeing the bridge up close, it was pretty amazing.

The village he noted looked very colourful and lively, though he knew well that looks are often deceiving. They walked quietly through the maze of houses before finally getting into trees again. Naruto and Kakashi shared a look and nodded, they both knew that the next shinobi Gato decided to send wouldn't be Chunin, he would be a jounin for sure.

Naruto walked ahead of them by a few metres and constantly scanned the area around them. This time he wouldn't give the guy a chance to attack first, this time he would do what he did best. Fight.

He spread his chakra out, searching for any irregular chakra patterns.

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'_This kid is good' _he thought as he watched the blonde casually look around. He could feel the kids chakra touch his own and instantly masked it.

He could see the small frown etch onto his face and his steps slow down; his chakra was prodding more around his hiding place now and he realised this kid was something different from a normal genin, he was trained by someone very good.

His dark eyes travelled to the tallest member of the group and he smiled crazily. _'Kakashi the Copy-cat ninja. This will be fun.'_

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Naruto's hand had a kunai in it the moment the bush twitched without any wind. It left his hand a millisecond later; aimed at where a man's head would normally rest while crouched down. He could feel his group tense up and stare at the bush where his kunai disappeared.

When the little white rabbit hopped out a looked around Naruto sighed in relief. "Sorry bunny" he said sheepishly though he didn't let his guard down, some instinct was screaming at him to get into a defensive position and get ready. Maybe he was just jumpy after that last attack.

Kakashi frowned as the blonde picked up the white puff of fur and patted it quietly. He looked at the tree top behind him "LOOK OUT!" he shouted as a flash of light flew towards Tazuna. They all dropped to the ground as whatever attacked them slammed into a tree.

Naruto looked up just in time to see the large broadsword burry itself into the soft bark of the tree, and to see the wielder of the weapon to appear standing calmly on it. The guy was around Kakashi's age; he wasn't wearing a shirt, only long grey pants with weird patterned arm and leg warmers on. The whole bottom part of his face was covered bandages and his Mist headband was tied securely around his head.

He recognised him instantly from the bingo book Jiraiya had made him memories. Zabuza Momochi-Demon of the Bloody Mist.

"Well well, if it isn't Zabuza. I should have known only someone as twisted and sick as you would except a mission like this." Kakashi said stepping forward and acting as if they hadn't just been attack, more like if he was talking to and old friend.

"Yes, well it will be an honour fighting someone as well-known as you Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan eye." Zabuza replied just as evenly. Naruto frowned and looked at Kakashi seeing as how he was team leader he might not appreciate Naruto attacking right now.

Kakashi simply reached up and pulled up the left side of his headband, when his eyes opened Naruto couldn't help but stare. He had never seen the Sharingan in person before and he couldn't help but watch in awe as the three black totems twinkled with something deadly.

"Let's get this over with" Kakashi said while Zabuza ripped his sword from the tree and leapt away from them chuckling.

"This will be fun."

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**Ok, tell me how it was. I personally kind of liked the little Naruto tantrum a little but I didn't want people to think he was already settling down in Konoha and happy again. Anywho, review please.**

**~Ninjalover-02~**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Only my OC's [if I have any] and the plots of my stories; ok!**

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Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood in a tight circle around Tazuna and watched the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza escalate in furiousness on the river. Only Naruto could really keep up with the speed at which they performed hand signs and moved, though at some points even he would lose sight of them.

The blonde could feel Sakura trembling beside him as the two figures standing only a few metres away from her disappeared again. Sasuke was handling the situation a lot better than the pinkette but it was obvious from the way he held his kunai to tightly that he was anxious about facing this guy.

Kakashi kicked out and caught Zabuza on his side, propelling them away from each other. Kakashi landed a few feet in front of Naruto and looked around for the enemy who had disappeared into the trees again.

"He'll come after me first. Naruto!" the jounin barely glanced over his shoulder at the calm blonde "See if you can find him, he shouldn't be too far away." He ordered; Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, letting his other senses take control of him. "I can't smell or hear him breathing, probably because of that stupid mask but there's something els-" he stopped and opened his eyes just as the thick, unnatural fog spread over the small battlefield.

Sakura let out a small whimper as the white cloud caressed her face and shoulders. "Kakashi-sensei, who is this guy? What is this stuff?" she asked quietly, as if afraid that raising her voice would alert him to their position.

"He's the ex-leader of the Hidden Mist assassination squad; an expert on silent killing. He doesn't give away any warning. It's said that he's so fast he can kill you before you even realise you've been killed. My sharingan can't pierce through it, so don't lower you're weapons or guard." Naruto let out a shaky chuckle, "At least the only thing we can lose is our lives" he said, Sakura shot him a disapproving look.

The fog began to thicken and soon they lost sight of Kakashi, even though he was only a metre away. Sakura stiffened when she heard Zabuza's gruff voice "Eight points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidney's, heart. Now, which one will I chose."

Kakashi quickly performed a series of hand signs and the mist blew away. Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who was barely holding onto his kunai. Kakashi's voice broke him out of his trance "Don't worry, I'll protect all of you with my life. I won't let my comrades die; trust me." He smiled over his shoulder at them before turning forward again.

"I wouldn't be so sure" Zabuza said calmly. He teleported directly in the middle of their circle, cutting Tazuna and Naruto off from the others; the blonde could feel his smug smirk through the bandages as he twisted his wrist around, almost cutting Tazuna in two. Naruto grabbed the client by his forearm and they both disappeared in a flurry of yellow while Kakashi managed to slip next to Zabuza and jam a kunai into his chest.

Naruto dug his three-pronged kunai out of the tree he had thrown it in and slumped against the base of the tree. His eyes slid closed for a second to once again gain control over his senses, teleporting two people took a lot more out of him then he realised. He could hear the splashes of water but it barely registered through the dizziness that clouded his mind.

Tazuna groaned and grabbed his head, he had no idea what just happened. One moment he had seen Zabuza coming at him with unhuman speed; and the next he was more than ten metres away on the ground. He looked to his left where Naruto stood hunched against the tree with his eyes closed tightly.

The blonde took a deep breath and opened his eyes slowly. He looked over at Kakashi who now held a kunai dangerously close to Zabuza's neck. He smiled and began to walk back towards them with Tazuna right behind him. "Your finished Zabuza" the silver-haired jounin proclaimed with a mixed of anger and slight relief.

The mist ninja looked at the ground and chuckled quietly, before growing louder. The sound instantly put them all on edge. "Nice try Hatake, but your imitation of the technique's are just that; imitations. You could never beat me with second rate stuff like this." Another Zabuza appeared behind the men and swiped his sword directly across where Kakashi had been standing before.

Their sensei had ducked but was sent flying by a kick to his back and landed in the water. As he resurfaced the mist ninja appeared behind him while finishing off a series of hand signs, "Fool" he muttered before his hands stretched out and a bubble of water surrounded the copy ninja. "Water Prison Jutsu complete."

"So much for the great Kakashi Hatake; you can't protect your team when you're trapped in a bubble harder than steel." Zabuza's cold grey eyes landed on the small group to his left. "You, Kakashi; I'll deal with later. Right now your little friends are who have to go. Water Clone Jutsu."

Another figure emerged from the water's clear surface and stood before them, they both let out a deathly cold chuckle as it advanced on team 7. "You think that just because you have a headband that makes you a ninja. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you; then you may be called a ninja. When you've become so deadly your profile had entered _my _bingo book; then you may have earned the title of a ninja."

"NARUTO! Don't be stupid! You're the leader now. Get Tazuna and leave; that's an order!" Kakashi yelled, his voice being distorted by the water.

"But we don't call _children _like you ninja." The clone once again created a dense cloud of fog to hover over the area and everything fell into a dead silence. Naruto frowned and shoved Tazuna towards his teammates just as Zabuza's sword came out of the mist and slashed him across the chest.

"NARUTO!" Sakura covered her mouth with her hands as the injured blonde hit the ground with a sickening thud. He let out a groan and rolled to the right and onto his feet to avoid a downward swing from the older ninja; his broadsword slammed into the ground and he let out a growl.

Naruto placed his hand over the cut and grunted, it wasn't that deep but if it didn't heal quickly he could bleed to death. _'Come on Kyuubi! Do your healing thing already!' _he heard a faint sizzle and lifted up his hand; the blood flow stopped and his skin knitted itself back together until there wasn't any sign that he was hurt other than the red that now stained the front of his shirt and jacket.

He looked back at Zabuza and scowled "This was my favourite jacket" he muttered quietly while ripping off the ruined piece of clothing. The blonde threw his jacket at Zabuza and sprinted forward while his vision was blocked, he pulled his fist back and slammed it into what would have been the man's chest.

Zabuza jumped away and threw the black clothing on the ground behind him; he hadn't expected the kid to literally jump at him. They weren't supposed to be trained this well, _'Or this powerful' _the real Zabuza thought as he saw Naruto pull his fist free from tree where it had been lodged; there was now a three inch deep hole in its trunk.

Naruto jumped back to where Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna waited; all their eyes were widened with fear, disbelief and relief. "Alright guys listen; Kakashi-sensei is our only hope of getting out of this alive. I could probably beat this guy if you weren't in the area seeing as most of my jutsu are made to kill but I can't afford to hit one of you by accident."

"Sasuke, time to put your genius brain to work and figure out a way to break Kakashi out of that bubble; Sakura protect Tazuna at all costs, this isn't going to be pretty." They all saw a dark look come over the blonde's face as Zabuza's clone began to advance. "If I go down you guys need to leave, believe me, I'm probably not strong enough to take this guy down while half my strength is locked up."

He bit his tongue as soon as that comment left his lips, he wasn't supposed to mention that yet-not until he was sure he could trust them. Naruto let out a sigh and shook his head to clear it, he'd worry about that later, now he needed to concentrate or he'd wind up killing his team.

"I'll keep this clone busy while you work on freeing Kakashi ok." He didn't wait for their reply before he pulled his sword free of its pure black covering. He dipped it in anticipation and smiled softly from feeling the familiar texture of the rubber grip under his hands.

His cerulean eyes locked onto the clone and he stepped forward, clearly stating that he was the one that would be fighting. Naruto's hand dipped into his kunai pouch and he pulled out three of his three-pronged kunai, with a flick of his wrist they flew in different directions, lodging each of them in a separate tree.

The blonde saw his enemies eyes follow the pure black blades until they disappeared into the shrubs surrounding the little battlefield. He inwardly smirked at the older ninja's confusion; _'Back-up plan one-o-one. Always have an escape route.' _Now he could teleport to wherever his kunai had struck in the blink of an eye if he needed.

The two ninja both spent a second studying the other, Naruto knew he had a slight advantage seeing as he had seen a little of Zabuza's fighting style while the older man had seen nothing of what he could do. Plus he had read the man's profile quite a few times since it had a habit of popping up everywhere; he knew what his most used jutsu where and a bit of his background.

Naruto swallowed the little lump in his throat, it wasn't like this was the first time he had faced someone stronger than him, it was just after his fight with Kimaru some of his usual confidence had disappeared. The guy had picked apart his carefully constructed fortress of lies and shown what he truly was, what he really feared and how he could not escape his past no matter how hard or far he ran.

He felt a new spark of angry surge through him at the memories of the dreadful fight when he had come closer to losing his life than he ever had before. _'I won't let Kyuubi take hold of me this time-Jiraiya promised the seal would hold him down.' _

The blonde eased into his fighting stance-sword pointed slightly at the ground and legs spread apart. He had never failed a mission before and he didn't plan to start now.

Zabuza's clone watched the boy across from him carefully. He knew this kid was stronger than he looked, probably smarter too, and it was obvious he had been trained by someone _very _skilled in the ninja arts judging on the way he had responded so quickly and efficiently to Kakashi's capture as he took over his team; this kid was a born weapon.

He felt a little surprised when a look of pure and unguarded hatred spilled over the once calm and slightly cocky face. However the emotion disappeared so quickly he found himself wondering if it had been there at all.

When the blonde faced him with that blank face again as he too prepared for what he hoped would be an impressive fight.

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Naruto darted forward again and clashed swords with the water clone, he had to keep this fight going as long as possible so Sasuke had time to figure something to break Kakashi out of that annoying bubble. His eyes darted over to the dark haired boy who nodded gravely at him, signally he was ready.

Naruto disengaged with the water clone and leaped back a few feet he quickly created a shadow clone and it sprinted over to the Uchiha. He only had to distract it for a few more moments before he could kill it; the clone slashed out at him again and growled when the blonde twisted out of the way-if there was one thing annoying about this kid it was the fact that he didn't stand still long enough for him to kill him.

Naruto risked a look over his shoulder at his team, his clone was no longer there and Sasuke was now wielding a dangerous looking windmill shuriken. Sakura stared wide-eyed at something near him and pointed. The blonde cursed in his head and stepped back, getting a long cut on his upper arm but avoiding the main brute force of the broadsword.

Sasuke shouted his name; once again signally he was ready. Naruto scowled at the clone of Zabuza; he had had enough of skipping around this thing without properly fighting, he hated when he was just the distraction. But he knew no one in his team could keep up with Zabuza-even if it was just a clone-by themselves.

The blonde's stance changed smoothly; he now stood side on from the moving pile of water with his sword hanging loosely in his right hand with the point facing the ground, his shoulders were relaxed and his legs were tense-ready to spring into the fight at any moment.

"I've had enough of this little dance, I'm sick of this." He stepped forward and before the blob of water could react he sliced it across the chest and jumped away as it splashed to the ground as water.

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Kakashi felt a small amount of teacher's-pride swell in his chest at the sight of his team working together. He was pleased that Naruto had taken control and had clearly set out a task for each to complete; though he wished they had listened when he told them to run.

His eyes darted over to his captor who was also watching Naruto with a growing interest. The blonde had taken a long time to fight Zabuza's clone and he could tell the man was suspicious of their plan.

He couldn't really see Sasuke from his angle, but he had heard Naruto's orders and most likely Zabuza had as well; to get him out of this annoying bubble they would have to pull off something extraordinary- but even with Naruto's ability to do the unexpected he doubted they would be able to defeat Zabuza by themselves.

He had to get out of here to protect his teammates, his blazing red eye scanned the water prison for any weaknesses, all he could do right now was point to where they needed to hit and hope for the best; that being Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura somehow managed to free him, and the worse being they all died.

He followed the flow of chakra through the water and located its central point; Zabuza's hand. _'He can only maintain the jutsu as long as his hand is connected to it. If they could just separate him from the water the jutsu would break.'_ He thought in frustration; how where his students supposed to get to the real enemy when the strongest of them was only high Chunin at best?

"NARUTO! SASUKE! He can only keep the jutsu up if he's touching the water! Get him away from the bubble and it will drop!" he shouted, Zabuza growled deeply at him and cursed under his breath. Though he shouldn't have expected anything different from Kakashi, and the blonde was also very infuriating.

It was obvious the blonde could have easily overcome that water clone anytime he wished, yet he had continued to play with the usually deadly jutsu. It was very annoying.

"NOW SASUKE!" both of the men looked up at the yell. They saw the Uchiha leap into the air and flick his wrist, causing the large windmill shuriken he was holding to unfold so that the four spikes were out. Sasuke pulled back his arm and threw the weapon at full speed towards them; Zabuza frowned and grabbed it with his free hand before it could hurt him. However before he could even open his mouth another shuriken cut through the air straight for him.

Zabuza ducked and glanced over his shoulder for barely a second as he watched the dark streak continue across the water.

He chuckled and turned back to the dark haired boy "Nice try brat, but your _brilliant_ plan failed." His mad smile slowly fell away when the boy smirked and pointed behind him; Zabuza's eyes widened and he turned his body so he was still connected to the water jutsu but could also see what Sasuke had pointed at.

He glared at the windmill shuriken as it slowed down metres away from him and transformed into the blue eyed boy. Naruto smiled at their opponent and threw a normal kunai towards his hand; the weapon moved at an incredible speed and cut through the spot where Zabuza'a hand had been seconds before.

The missing-nin jumped away and disconnected the water prison that had held Kakashi. He growled in anger and spun around to face the blonde that was about to fall into the water's surface. "I'll kill you, you little brat!" he yelled and, still holding to first windmill shuriken he lunged forward.

Kakashi appeared in front of Zabuza and blocked the large weapon with his kunai, the Naruto fell into the water and disappeared; leaving only Kakashi and Zabuza on the small lake.

"Good job guys, you came up with an excellent plan." Their sensei told them while keeping his eyes locked with the dark haired man across from him. Naruto chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest, he knew that now that Kakashi was free they would have no problem taking this guy down.

He looked over his shoulder at the rest of his team and quickly walked over to them. He sent them a quick grin before turning his attention back on the two figures now separated by a few metres.

He squinted his eyes slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of what they were doing. He could see both their arms moving almost too quickly for most normal ninja to miss, and when he looked closer the blonde could see they were exactly the same sequence of hand signs. He sucked some air and his eyes widened; he had no doubt this would be one of the most interesting fights he would see for a while.

Both men ended at the same time and two huge water dragons emerged in front of their creators, they twisted around the other before diving towards their enemy making them both slam into each other and cause a wave big enough to hit the four observers.

The two creatures once again started to twist and weave their way around the other, snapping their powerful jaws at their enemy while Kakashi and Zabuza stood underneath the spectacle glaring at the man across from them.

Eventually the dragons reached their limit and fell over the jounin who now stood with Zabuza's sword barely being held back by Kakashi's kunai. Naruto let out a soft sigh of relief; he couldn't believe how well Kakashi had pulled off that jutsu, if he didn't know the basics of how the sharingan worked he would have been standing there babbling like an idiot on how utterly amazed he was.

Suddenly the blonde frowned, he felt something nearby; only a very, very faint 'bleep' on his chakra sensor but it was still there. He started expanding his own chakra to try and find the source but was interrupted when Sakura grabbed his upper arm "Can you believe how incredible Kakashi-sensei is? Zabuza won't stand a chance up against him now."

Naruto was about to reply when the two ninja jumped away from each other, he instantly forgot the girl's comment and what he had been trying to do before she disturbed him; he was more interested in the fight than anything else at the moment.

Naruto frowned when the two jounin ran in a circle and mirrored each other's movement perfectly. _'What the-?'_ he thought in confusion. He continued to watch as Kakashi once again followed Zabuza's movements. From his place he couldn't really hear anything other than the lapping of the water on the shore but whatever his sensei decided to say clearly unnerved the mist ninja.

Suddenly the water around Kakashi's feet churned to life; a spiral of water formed in front of him and shot forward, crashing into Zabuza. The vortex of water carried the unfortunate man back down the road they had been travelling down until finally stopping near the bend in the road.

Team 7 braced themselves as a wall of water slammed into them. Naruto quickly channelled chakra into his feet to keep himself in place; he couldn't tell if Sasuke, Sakura or Tazuna had managed to stay in position.

Once the brutal assault was finished Naruto let out a gasp of relief. That was one of the best jutsu had had ever witnessed! Though Jiraiya had much cooler and more dangerous jutsu in his arsenal, Kakashi came close to second when it came to raw power.

The blonde waited until the silver haired man was next to him before moving off toward Zabuza, who was struggling to rise. They stopped a couple of metres away and got ready to attack. Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna slowly made their way over to the teacher and teammate.

Zabuza stood up shakily and glared murderously at the group of Konoha ninjas. "You think you've beaten me?" he let out an insane chuckle and reached up to grabbed his sword; however his hand never closed around the leather grip. Two small senbons pierced the ex-mist ninja in neck and his body dropped dead in front of them.

Sakura blinked in disbelief as a figure appeared next to the fallen enemy ninja. It was hard to tell whether the person was male or female for they were wearing a white mask with red lines running along in. They wore a moss green, striped turtle-neck sweater and a spilt skirt in matching colour that reached down to their knees. On the outside of that they wore a green blue short kimono with white edges, and around the waist was a green brown obi in the same fabric as his sweater.

The thing that drew Naruto's attention next was the Kirigakure symbol on the mask's forehead. "Thank you" the figure stated; the voice was soft but he could tell it belonged to a male. Kakashi slowly eased out of his fighting stance.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously; after his fight with Zabuza he had lost a large amount of chakra by not only using his sharingan but by copying the mist ninja's jutsu. "I am a Hunter-nin from the Mist. I was sent to capture Zabuza and take him back to my village dead or alive. I tracked him to this area and was waiting for the moment to strike."

Sasuke frowned and stepped forward, away from team 7 to approach the body on the ground. He felt the hunter-nin watching him as he came closer; without much care he flipped Zabuza so that his back was on the ground. He pressed two fingers to the man's throat and held it there for a few seconds with his eyes narrowed in concentration. Finally he turned to Kakashi and nodded "No pulse." He said simply before re-joining his team, never taking his eyes off the mysterious man.

The hunter-nin didn't speak as he picked up the body and wrapped Zabuza's arm around his neck and put his own hand around the dead ninja's waist. A slight wind ruffled the man's long black bangs that framed his hidden face.

"I will leave now." Without giving them a chance to speak the hunter-nin disappeared. Kakashi sighed in exhaustion and fell forward, Sakura quickly grabbed him and gently placed him on the ground to stop him from getting any more injures. She looked at Sasuke in concern seeing as how Naruto was standing were the two mist ninja had a few seconds ago.

Sasuke sighed inaudible and reached down; he picked up their unconscious sensei and with the help of Tazuna managed to keep him slightly upright. Once the silver-haired man was securely placed between Sasuke and their client the dark haired boy passed his pack to Sakura with a nod.

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek as he replayed what happened in the fight again in his head. It was obvious the hunter-nin was who he had sensed before; but there was something odd about the situation. Why didn't he help them when Kakashi was captured? Surely with his assistance they could have easily finished the ex-mist ninja.

"Naruto, let's go. Tazuna's house should be up ahead." The blonde blinked in surprise and turned around to see his team already walking away from where the battle had taken place. "Yeah, yeah; keep your pants on teme!" he shouted while catching up to the group.

The exhausted group walked quickly through the almost empty street; they had decided to let Tazuna lead them since this was his home and he knew the streets like the back of his hand. Naruto kept a close eye on their surroundings; he doubted Gato would send another assassin so soon after Zabuza's failure but it wouldn't hurt anyone to be cautious.

He also took this opportunity to study the village, he wasn't surprised to find just how bad the living conditions were. After Tazuna had explained the situation of his home Naruto had actually expected things to be far worse than they were. It was true that this town was slowly dying if the state of the buildings and their inhabitants were anything to go by; but it was nothing compared to that small fishing village Jiraiya and he had come across during his first year under the sannin's guidance. The people living there had been overtaken by a group of ruthless mercenaries who killed anyone who looked at them the wrong way.

It was the first time he had seen a dead body, and he would never forget the bloody, mangled corpse of that girl who couldn't have been more than 10. He had nearly lost control of the Kyuubi when he saw an elderly woman attacked by one of the members.

"My house is just up ahead." Tazuna grumbled, they continued to shuffle forward and stopped in front of a small two storey house. It was in better shape than most of the other homes they had seen through their walk but Naruto could see cracks in the wooden walls and the rotten beams around the roof and floor.

"Tsunami! Are you there?" Tazuna pushed shouted, he waited for a few moments. The door opened and a young dark haired women walked out; she just wore a light pink shirt that was a darker shade around the collar and sleeves and a plain skirt. Tsunami's face broke into a smile and she ran forward to hug her father.

"You're home" she muttered, after they broke away she noticed the four ninja standing/leaning behind them. Her onyx eyes widened and she glanced at her father before ushering them inside "Come in, we must tend to his wounds." Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke voiced their thanks and walked into the house, intent on healing their unconscious sensei.

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Kakashi groaned and slowly opened his eyes, there was a single ray of sunshine coming through the curtained window that ran straight across his face. The man sat up and let out a muffled curse as he tried to remember what happened; the last thing that he recalled was that hunter-nin taking Zabuza away. After that everything was a blacked out blur, he didn't even know were he was!

He just hoped his team and Tazuna were safe. A soft creak brought his attention back to the door that was in front of him, it opened slowly to reveal a small but very pretty young woman. She blinked in surprise at seeing him sitting up and staring at her suspiciously "Oh" she muttered "We didn't expect you to be up so soon. Though Naruto did mention that you wouldn't stay down for long."

At the sound of the familiar name Kakashi finally decided that she was not a threat to him; if she spoke so casually about the blonde boy it was clear they were acquaintances or even friends. "I'm sorry; but I don't know you're name?" his throat felt dry and rough but he managed to force the words out without much difficulty. The woman's face flushed in embarrassment "Oh forgive me. My name is Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter; your team arrived here around noon yesterday and you have been out ever since." she quickly explained.

Kakashi nodded in appreciation and accepted the glass of water she handed him "I'll prepare something for you to eat but, we do not have much. I'm sorry" she murmured. Kakashi smiled and shook his head "It's perfectly find Tsunami, you have already done more than enough." She sent him a small smile and bowed.

The black haired woman went to open the door but stopped when he spoke again "Ah sorry, but could you please tell me were my team is? I need to speak with them and Tazuna as soon as possible please." she paused at the door and turned back to him. "Everyone is downstairs at the moment with my son. Now that you are awake I'm sure they would like to see you." the silver haired man nodded gratefully and stood up with the support of the wall. Tsunami handed him a crutch which he accepted happily.

She helped Kakashi down the stairs before leaving his side and passing through an opening at the side of the living room which is were he assumed the kitchen was. He turned his attention back to the table and the five people that sat there; as soon as he had left the bottom step they had all turned to him. Naruto and Sakura jumped up immediately and ran over to him with Sasuke staying where he was and only nodding to his sensei when he joined them at the table.

Naruto return to his place which was opposite Sasuke while Sakura sat next to said Uchiha. Tazuna was sitting at the head of the table with a spare place next to him on the left a and little boy on his right. Kakashi sat across from Sakura and gently placed his crutch behind him and out of the way so no one would trip on it. Naruto shot him his usual fox like as Tsunami re-entered the room and placed a small bowl of rice in front of the leader of the team, he sent her a grateful smile and began eating.

After he had finished he turned to his team and cleared his throat "Tazuna, I was wondering if you planned on going to the bridge today?" he asked calmly and when the older man shook his head he hummed to himself "I think it would be better if I went to work straight away, the sooner the bridge is finished the sooner Gato will leave."

Naruto nodded in agreement "Also after Tsunami told us that more workers have quit from threats to them and their family I think it would be best for everyone if it was finished quickly. The last thing you need is Gato sending his cronies here to cause some trouble." Kakashi nodded once he finished. "That's right, when he finds out that Zabuza failed he'll defiantly send more men after you. My team will need to train more if they want to have a chance against whoever he decides to throw at us."

"What makes you think you can help us huh? You'll just get us all killed." They all turned and looked at the young boy sitting next to Tazuna, glaring at the table in front of him in anger. Naruto narrowed his eyes, _'Who does this brat think he is? Does he even _know _what we can do?' _Tsunami gasped and fixed her son with a disapproving stare.

"Inari! Apologise to our guests. They have come here to help us and our village." Inari slammed his hands on the table and glared at the leaf ninja who were looking back at him in shock and annoyance; he pointed a small finger at them "They aren't going to help us! No one can!" he shouted. Naruto stood up and scowled at the boy "Who are you to tell us we can't help? You think we're not good enough? Well I don't see anyone else doing anything about Gato, we're here because your grandfather asked and we will do our job of protecting you." He said firmly while Inari's hands clenched at his sides.

"Just shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" Without giving the blonde a chance to say something he sprinted from the room and up the stairs to where Naruto suspected his room was. _'Great' _he thought _'Barely day 1 and I've already made enemies with the kid. Lucky me.' _Naruto glared where Inari had disappeared and sat down with a huff.

He didn't care that everyone was now looking at him as if he had some sort of mental disease; that little brat deserved what he said. Kakashi coughed and eventually manged to grab everyone's attention again.

"Yes well I think it would be best if I spent a few days training my team while you work on the bridge. Since I am in no condition to fight until I've healed Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto will take turns training and guarding you. I think that's fair enough." When they had all either nodded or voiced their approval he stood shakily to his feet and motioned for team 7 to follow him.

OoOoOoOoO

**Ok I know some of this doesn't follow how the show goes, but bare-with me… and I do have a plot!**

**Also sorry for not updating in so long; but just a forewarning the next chapter will take a while to be put up because my family and I are going away for Easter but I'll try and pop it up as soon as possible.**

**Thanks for your patience with my horrible updating abilities and review please! -^o^-**


	9. Chapter 9

Kakashi silently led them through the forest and away from their client's cosy home. Naruto rubbed his hands together in a half-hearted attempt to warm them; he sighed quietly and watched as the small cloud from his mouth dissipated quickly. He remembered when he used to find that amusing as a child, breathing heavily in the cold just to see the mist.

He almost chuckled but refrained, not really in the mood for the rest of team 7 to look at him oddly. Sasuke would most likely insult him or Sakura would roll her eyes and call him weird.

Naruto let his eyes slid to survey their surroundings; he was bored; so bored he actually found the patterns in the bark interesting. He internally groaned in misery, silence had never troubled him. The blonde could sit in the same position for hours on end without a sound if he needed to; but when travelling he was used to some kind of noise. Whether it was Jiraiya's stupid and out of tune whistling or the tweeting of birds in the trees.

It felt like someone had come through here and killed everything with a heartbeat, he hated places like this. Of course he knew that they were surrounded by animals, he could either smell or sense them as they did their daily business, but it wasn't the same.

And there was something else; a faint chakra signal that was so well hidden he wasn't sure if he was imagining it. It was close by-

"Naruto? Are you even paying attention?"

Naruto was so busy with his mental observations to notice that they had entered a clearing his teammates were looking at him with puzzled or annoyed expressions. Kakashi had asked the question, sliding his perverted novel down a few inches to send the boy a slightly concerned look. The blonde did look as if something was bothering him.

Naruto snapped back to reality and rubbed the back of his head "Uh, what was that Kakashi-sensei? Did you say something?" he asked while tilting his head to the left. Sakura sighed exasperatedly next to him and put her hands on her hips.

"Why weren't you listening? Kakashi-sensei just said he would show us a technique that is very useful for ninjas. You should learn to pay attention Naruto." She frowned disapprovingly at him, not even noticing the dull colour of his usually bright eyes.

Naruto couldn't care less what she had said; he was too busy trying to find that chakra signal from before. If it was an enemy or another assassin he would need to know and tip off Kakashi that there may be another attempt on Tazuna.

"Huh" he muttered when he realised the pinkette was still waiting for an answer. He said the first thing that came to his head, not concerned that it probably had nothing to do with what she had said; "yeah, sure Sakura, I'll think about it and let you know." He turned back to Kakashi and caught his eye, mentally signally that they had something to discuss later. The silver haired man nodded and quickly drew everyone back to the topic they had been talking about.

Sakura growled and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance, she didn't like it that Naruto hadn't even been listening to her! However she tried to focus on her sensei and not the strange blonde to her right.

"Now that I have everyone listening to me I'll continue." Kakashi cleared his throat "Today you'll be learning how to tree climb." He explained. Sakura frowned and half raised her hand "But sensei; we already know how to climb trees. It's easy."

Before Kakashi could respond Naruto answered her with a distracted wave of his hand as his eyes scanned the trees around them in boredom. "He means doing it with chakra and no hands." He said as if he was just talking about the weather.

Kakashi sighed and nodded; he turned towards the nearest tree and calmly placed his left foot on the bark. He effortlessly brought his other foot up and placed it in front of his left. He winced slightly before continuing up the tree until he was standing upside-down on a branch; looking at the somewhat shocked faces of Sasuke and Sakura. He wasn't very surprised that Naruto wasn't paying attention; the boy had probably done the technique more times than anyone could count.

Kakashi slowly made his way back down and stopped when he was standing in front of the three children again. "The trick is to channel chakra into the soles of your feet and maintain it. If you have too much you'll break the bark and fall, but on the other hand, if you have to little you'll slip."

He pulled out two kunai and tossed them to Sasuke and Sakura "You're job is to reach the top of the tree and get back down. Use the kunai to mark your progress; Naruto, a word please." He brushed past the blonde and stopped well away from the other two members of their squad.

Kakashi waited until the blonde was in front of him and Sasuke and Sakura had begun their task before speaking. "Is there something on your mind?" He asked calmly as he studied the boy. Naruto sent him a small smile and nodded "Yeah" he muttered and glanced away from his sensei's piercing eyes.

"There's something not quite right about the place, it's to quite." He shuffled his feet and kept his gaze firmly on the leaf covered ground. "I've also felt a chakra signature, pretty faint so it could be a civilian but I don't think so. It was too dark, and it was definitely being masked; if I wasn't paying attention I probably would have missed it. I wasn't sure if I imagined it or not but maybe Gato has already sent another ninja out." He suggested.

Kakashi slowly nodded as he took everything the blonde had said in; he truly was as skilled as Jiraiya had described, to sense something that even he had missed. It was incredible. "I agree, it does feel different here. I haven't picked up on any chakra signatures, but."

Naruto frowned and looked at his sensei, silently telling him to speak. The older man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ok Kakashi-sensei; what's on _your _mind?" the blonde asked suspiciously, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, continuing to stare up at him.

"I feel like I've missed something." Seeing the boy raise an eyebrow he elaborated "Our fight with Zabuza, there's something strange about it, do you know about the Mist Anbu?" Naruto pursed his lips and nodded hesitantly "Yeah, Jiraiya told me a bit about them; their job is to track down missing-nins from their village, kill them and then destroy the body completely."

The silver haired man nodded and frowned "Do you remember what weapons the Anbu used to kill Zabuza?"

Again Naruto nodded "Yeah, they were senbons, and he hit him in the-oh" his mouth formed an 'O' shape as he realised what his sensei what hinting at. "You think he's still alive, and that the hunter-nin was a fake? I guess it would make sense considering the guy didn't destroy Zabuza right then and there even with us a few feet away; not to mention Zabuza would have been too well trained to be caught by a bunch of needles."

It was Kakashi turn to nod "Right, and a hunter is trained to know every detail of the human body; it would be easy for him to hit a pressure point to knock someone into a sort of coma."

Naruto nodded "In that case he could try for another go at Tazuna, we should make sure he has someone to stay with him at all times." Kakashi agreed and sent a quick glance at the other two genin in the clearing "Let's just keep this between us for the moment; I don't want Sasuke and Sakura to get too worked up."

Naruto frowned and followed his previous action which accidently caused him to lock eyes with Sasuke who had been staring at them. He lowered his voice slightly so there was no chance the dark haired boy would be able to hear them. "You want to keep something this big from the rest of the team? Are you sure that's a good idea? What if he attacks and we're not ready for it huh? If they don't know about this than that makes them a liability to us and the mission; they have a right to know all the details."

"I know Naruto. But we're going off a hunch at the moment and there's no point to get them worried over something that might not be true." The blonde glared and Kakashi nearly choked when his eyes flashed to a reddish colour. Naruto drew in a sharp breath to make another comment but he was cut off when Sakura gave a squeal of delight.

They both turned and looked at the tree the pinkette had been climbing; their eyes ran up the trunk until they reached the top branch that Sakura was currently sitting on. They shared a look again; Kakashi was relieved that the boy's eyes had returned to their normal colour. Naruto growled deep in his throat before meaningfully looking in the opposite direction of his team leader "Fine." He whispered "But if someone dies because you were too selfish to make them a little more cautious than normal" his glare turned even more aggressive "I will _never _let you forget that it was _your fault_."

The boy dismissed his sensei from his presence by walking towards his teammates; he marched directly past Sasuke and Sakura without sparing either a glance. He was too frustrated to deal with them at the moment.

"Where a you going loser?" the Uchiha asked in his usual monotone and although he hide it well Naruto could tell he was intrigued at what had transpired between the two. Instantly Naruto's shoulders tensed noticeably and he clenched his jaw "None of your business Sasuke" he hissed out and continued walking until he was at the end of the clearing.

Before disappearing into the dark trees the blonde did turn around to stare straight at Kakashi; "Oh and by the way _sensei_. Now that I'm in a foul mood I suggest you don't let anyone come looking for me for the next couple of days. I don't want to be responsible for accidently killing someone."

"N-naruto?" Sakura muttered as she jumped down from the tree and took a step towards the furious blonde. Naruto ignored her and continued his verbal assault on his sensei; though something was wrong with his voice, it was slightly deeper than normal and sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"It's liars like you that made me hate the Leaf in the first place. There're so many lies in that one village it's ridiculous, I mean how many secrets can one place hold?" he scoffed and one hand reached up to massage his head and he frowned.

There was a deathly silence in the surrounding area, suddenly Naruto turned around, still holding his head. Then without warning he disappeared.

Leaving his confused and frightened team behind to process his words and actions; Kakashi sighed angrily with himself and pinched the bridge of his nose in anger. Why couldn't Naruto just follow his lead? And why did he have to call him a liar in front of Sasuke and Sakura? Now they were bound to ask question about what led the blonde to his sudden anger burst.

But to make matters worse it was his eyes and voice. They weren't his own; sure he was still Naruto physically, but it was like some alternate being had hacked into his brain and taken control for those brief minutes. And he had a terrible feeling that he knew who that 'alternate being' was.

'_The Nine Tail Fox'_

OoOoOoOoO

'_Interesting.'_

He had been watching the team since they left the pitiful village known as Konoha. It was slightly amusing to see how they interacted with each other, especially the two boys.

His curiosity towards the blonde only grew when he heard his confession about how his life in Konoha had scarred him deeply. He knew most demon containers lived a hard life, seeing as how he had been keeping tabs on most of them, but this one was different from the others.

He hid his feelings almost as well as an Uchiha, his smile and laughter could fool anyone. It was quite remarkable how long he had managed to hold the pain and loneliness back, but like every other person in the world he could only do it for so long.

Now he sat perched on a tree branch not five metres from where the remaining team was standing. He had found the conversation between the blonde and Kakashi very intriguing; it was impressive that the boy had such a grasp on the workings of a different village. But what was even more entertaining was the boy's strong reaction towards Hatake's decision on lying to their teammates.

Not to mention the fact that he had seen the way his eyes changed and his voice grew deeper. It was obvious to him; and Kakashi it seemed, that the blonde was being influence by his darker emotions, ones that he knew certain demons absolutely _loved _to manipulate.

'_So, it appears his seal has been tampered with like the reports stated, very interesting.'_ If the boy losses control of his emotions so easily than it might be fun to upset the balance of his mind and send him on a killing spree; that would definitely be a sight to see.

The figure in the tree smirked and slowly placed his mask securely on his face; he cracked his neck and disappeared. He still had a job to do after all; but he definitely found the container of the nine-tails fox to be a very amusing and fascinating character.

'_Yes, this will be very interesting.'_

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Naruto slammed his fist into the unfortunate tree he had decided would be his target. The blonde felt the wood collapse under the amount of force he put behind his hand and he stepped away as it fell with a loud groan. Clenching his fists at his side he swung at another tree, this one too broke into splitters.

'_Why am I so angry? It's not like I haven't had to lie to anyone before, why am I getting so worked up about this?' _that thought was followed by a soft growl "Mediation, that's what I need, just to relax and stop being angry."

Naruto dropped into a sitting position and slowed his breathing. His red eyes closed as he took another deep breathe and with another he felt the familiar intoxicating sensation of the Kyuubi's chakra begin to drain from his system.

'_In and out, in and out. Just stay calm and don't think about Kakashi-'_ the blonde felt his anger spike again and almost instantly more demonic chakra ran through his now hunched figure. _'In and out, calm down, in and out, in and out.'_

He had almost completely cleaned out his chakra coils when he heard a deep, overpowering and yet alluring voice in the back of his mind **"Do you really think that these pitiful seals can contain me boy?"**

'_Ignore him.' _**  
>"You know the truth, one day I will be freed and there will be nothing you will be able to do to stop it."<strong>

"Shut up." Naruto murmured while clenching his fists angrily "I thought the seal stopped you from communicating from me unless I was the one to initiate it." His bit the inside of his mouth and mentally berated himself for engaging the demon in conversation.

"**The substitution seal your incompetent guardian placed on you couldn't possibly hope to complete the task he believed it would. He is not skilled enough to completely suppress **_**my**_** power."**

"For your information my father, the very man the _sealed you_ was trained by my so called 'incompetent guardian'." When his statement was meet by silence Naruto smirked, knowing that he had won.

Now he could concentrate on calming down again, the area helped a lot as well. It was so quiet and tranquil that he could just stay here forever.

Naruto's eyes snapped open when he sensed the genjutsu; it felt as if a light and very thin blanket had been thrown over him. He sighed and dispelled it, genjutsu wasn't his strongest area but Jiraiya had made sure he could at least escape from them.

He stood up and scanned for any chakra, pretty soon he heard someone clapping; enthusiastically. "Wow, you are very good to be able to dispel Tobi's genjutsu!" Naruto instantly pinpointed the position of his unknown attacker; turning to face them he pulled out a kunai ready to fight if he needed to.

A man stepped out of the shadows that had previously been hiding him. Naruto blinked in surprise as he took in the mystery person in front of him; orange swirled mask with one eye hole, black body suit, green shoulder guards and a crop of short black hair sitting on the top of his head.

All in all Naruto's only thought was _'What a freak'_.

Shaking his head in annoyance for getting side tracked on this stranger's choice of clothing Naruto frowned at the man. "Who the hell are you and why are you here?" he demanded, there was a funny vibe coming of this guy.

The man tilted his head to the side in a picture of innocence the blonde wasn't willing to buy "Tobi is Tobi. And Tobi is here because he saw little blonde boy hitting the trees." Naruto glared at 'Tobi' but slowly straightened so he was no longer in a fighting position.

"Is blonde boy-"  
>"Get lost" Naruto cut him off with a wave of his hand "Not in the mood to talk so bye." He turned around and started walking away, unfortunately for him Tobi followed hot on his heels.<p>

Naruto paused and looked over his shoulder at the orange masked man "Ok look, you obviously don't understand this; but I do not want you to be near me ok. So go back to wherever you were before." He ordered pointing in some random direction that wouldn't take him near his team or the village.

Tobi shook his head childishly "Nope, Tobi won't leave until little blonde boy is ok." Naruto groaned quietly and frowned, why was this idiot following him? The frown darkened and he felt his muscles tighten; his chakra felt familiar…..

"You were the one that was watching my team before" he jumped away from the man and pulled his sword out of its sheath "Tell me the truth, who the _hell _are you?"

Suddenly the air around them grew heavy and Naruto felt a sliver of fear imbed itself in his stomach; the aura was so dark it could rival Kyuubi's. Tobi's posture changed, it was no longer innocent and naïve but confident, self-assured and overpowering.

An ominous chuckle came from somewhere beneath his mask and a shiver ran along Naruto's spine. Usually when someone chuckled it was a light sound; this one, although it was no doubt done out of enjoyment had a twisted undertone to it.

"I'm surprised you managed to figure that little fact out Naruto, impressive for someone so young when other's much stronger have yet to notice." The blonde swallowed and blinked in surprise at the deep voice that seemed so weird to come out of what he thought was a kid in an adult's body.

But then again it fitted his new personality perfectly; "OK, since you know my name isn't it only fair I know yours?" he spoke cautiously and quietly, he knew this guy was powerful; an idiot would be able to tell just by the way he held himself.

Again that menacing chuckle filled the air and it was followed by another shiver; 'Tobi' took a step toward him and almost laughed when the blonde tensed up like a scared bunny.

'_Who the hell is this guy? And why do I feel like my oxygen supply is running out just by looking at him?'_

"**Naruto" **said blonde flinched in surprise but quickly covered it up and gave the fox a chance to talk to him. **"This man is dangerous, get as far away from him as possible unless you want to die."** _'That's comforting'_ he thought but decided to obey the demon anyway; they may not get along very well but they both had a mutual agreement that the fox would help Naruto if needed; and if the red chakra just happened to take over the blonde the Kyuubi wouldn't complain?

They both thought Naruto's safety was extremely important. Naruto because he liked to live and the Kyuubi because by protecting the blonde it ensured its own safety until the day it broke free. Without giving any warning Naruto flung a barrage of kunai and shuriken at the man, some with paper bombs attached to them and didn't wait around to see if they had any affect.

He had learned long ago that if the Kyuubi said something was dangerous than you had better avoid it like your life depended on it (which in most cases was the truth). And the fact that the demon actually sounded, not scared or fearful but it close enough to them to make Naruto freak out.

'_Who was that guy Kyuubi?'_ he asked but was only met with silence, a tick appeared on Naruto's head _'Oh so now you go quiet! You're so annoying sometimes!'_ he thought while leaping through the tree tops.

He felt the man's chakra flicker near him and cursed under his breathe; Naruto was fast, very fast but this guy had him beat when it came to speed. The demon container frowned as he thought through his problem.

He was being chased by someone dangerous that was most definitely faster and most likely stronger than him, he didn't know anything about him and was being forced further and further away from where he could faintly feel Kakashi's chakra. Not to mention the sun had started its downward path and was close to touching the hills on the horizon.

'_Absolutely fantastic; getting chased through the dark by someone even the Kyuubi is wary about. Can my life get any better?'_

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Sakura bit her lip and looked out the window again; after Naruto had stormed off they had confronted their sensei and demanded answers on why the blonde had acted the way he did. Though Kakashi didn't answer their question for almost a day, when he eventually did reveal what had transpired between the two she had felt slight betrayed.

However when the silver haired man had explained why he was reluctant to tell them she understood and forgave him; Sasuke was a different matter though. He demanded to know why he didn't trust them enough to tell them the information but had no trouble discussing it with Naruto.

That had led to an argument between them, one that ended with Kakashi pulling rank on her crush and sending him off to train by himself.

All these events happened over three days, and none of them had seen Naruto since he had disappeared one the first day. She could tell that each day that passed without any sign from their fourth member made them even more nervous and uncertain.

She had even caught Sasuke doing what she herself had been doing for the last few moments, trying to see if the blonde would come running to the house any second. Sighing, the pinkette turned away but froze when she saw a flicker of movement of to the side of her vision, pausing she turned back and this time managed to spot a blob of yellow heading towards her.

Not wasting a second she opened the door and ran outside to meet her strange teammate. "Naruto!" she shouted and waved while still running to the blonde. He nodded in return when they got closer and was surprised when she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely; when he was younger he probably would have been blushing and stuttering like some idiot at have his former crush actually touching him in a non-threatening way.

"Hey" he muttered quietly and shuffled his feet as he waited for her to release him, he felt uncomfortable with her being so close in his personal space without invitation and so soon after his anger attack. He didn't want to snap and hurt her physically or emotionally; he hated it when girls cried.

"Where have you been you idiot!" Naruto flinched at the sudden change in Sakura's behaviour, what was it, her time of the month or something? "You had us all worried sick! Especially after Kakashi told us what you two were talking about. What if you got attacked while you were alone!"

Naruto glanced at the ground and tune the rest of her rants out _'So now he tells them, and what was so wrong with that when we first spoke about it?' _his thoughts stopped when he felt something touching his face. Naruto looked up to see Sakura holding her hand to the side of his face and was gazing at him in concern.

"Are you ok Naruto? I mean you gave us a scare from before" her voice grew softer and weaker as if she was afraid he would suddenly become angry with her. He hated that she thought that about him now and was sorry she and Sasuke had seen him in that state. "Huh, oh yeah I'm fine and sorry about yelling before, you shouldn't have seen that."

She smiled softly at him but there was still a look of doubt in her eyes about if he was truly ok, "Come on, you can help me at the bridge today with Tazuna." Naruto rose an eyebrow but didn't comment on her random change in attitude again _'Definitely her time of the month'_.

However he wisely kept his mouth closed on the matter seeing as how that would no doubt cause her to turn on him. _'Now I not only have to speak to Kakashi but I have to be extra careful of her feelings too, great.'_

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Madara watched silently as Naruto was led back to his team's temporary shelter for the remainder of their mission. So far everything had gone according to his plan.

Engaging the demon container had been risky but essential; he knew that when angered a jinchuuriki was easily influenced by their demon. They gave into the addictive chakra too quickly and without thought.

It brought them to their strongest and weakest moment. They are given an extreme amount of power but are blinded by that and can be manipulated with ease into a trap; with the right bait of course.

By confronting the blonde he had managed to get a glimpse of the boy's limits in speed, reaction time and stealth. And to say he was impressed would be a massive understatement.

The way the boy had navigated through the forests with barely any light was remarkable as well as fun; it made the chase much more of a challenge. The speed at which he moved and reacted to Madara's attacks truly showed the primal instincts all jinchuuriki possessed. And this allowed the blonde to move like a shadow.

And to accomplish such a feat while angry made this even more incredible. For such a young ninja he was practically dripping with potential and had fate have been kinder Madara would have most likely considered recruiting him; or at least use his skills to his own advantages, he would make an excellent tool in this particular game.

There was one problem though with the Nine Tails Fox container that had been collected in the years of spying on him.

Even though the boy had a good head on his shoulders, he held onto his 'precious people' [namely Jiraiya] too tightly and would most likely rush into a fight if one were to be placed in danger. Taking the blonde back to Konoha and giving him a team to grow attached to was probably the worst idea they could have come up with. All they managed to do was provide Madara with more weapons to the boy's heart. He had no doubt the demon container would surrender himself willingly if it meant even one of his friends would be left alone. He knew that in most team situations they were made up of two boys and a girl and that would be the key to unravelling the blonde. The pink haired girl-who barely had enough chakra to pass as a genin-would be the most logical and simplest way to hurt Naruto. He was well aware that more often than not the male teammates would instantly take on a protective role when it came to their fairer teammate. Plus it seemed she has already begun building a relationship with Naruto which was obvious by the way she had spoken to him earlier. But there was also little Sasuke; he too seemed to enjoy the blonde's company despite his obvious attempt to appear bored and annoyed whenever his fellow male teammate was around him. The dark haired boy would also be an effective weapon to use against his prize, but for it to have the full effect on Naruto their relationship would need more time to grow and blossom. Kakashi and Jiraiya would be more difficult to work with considering their reputation; but they were nothing compared to Madara himself, who was both a master of the Sharingan and had more abilities in his hand than the best ninjas in the Elemental countries could ever dream of attaining. It also wasn't a secret that Naruto adored the Toad Sage; if they could trick the blonde into seeing or hearing something that wasn't necessarily said by his mentor then that would damage him more emotionally than he had even been before. But he would need to sort through these thoughts later. Right now his goal had been completed; he now knew just how far along the blonde's abilities were and when the right time to strike before he grew too powerful. And after carefully wiping the boy's memory of the entire event he had ensured that his agency could continue to gather more knowledge about him in secret. All he had to figure out was who he would attack through, his teammates and friends; or the man who had raised him that Naruto would most likely give his life for. '_Who indeed?'_

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto winced when he picked up the plank of wood and placed it onto his shoulder; the wound in his side [which he had no idea how it got there] was making his task of helping the limited number of builders more of a hassle.

So far he had successfully avoided Kakashi by following his pink haired teammate straight to the bridge without entering the house; however the fated meeting was bound to happen sooner or later and the blonde was still trying to sort through what had happened while he was away from his team.

He remembered getting angry and running off, then destroying some of the wildlife but after that; there was nothing, just an empty blur of images and sounds that were too confusing to pay attention to for even a short amount of time.

When he had tried to piece to together what had happened a massive headache exploded in his head and had caused him to almost hit Sakura when he dropped the tool box he had been carrying at the time. After she had scolded and insulted him for a couple of minutes he had decided that remembering the previous days was too much of a distraction and allowed him to stay out of the pinkette's wrath.

He had smirked though when he recalled one of his old friend's most favourite word _'Troublesome'_. Shaking his head the blonde focussed on the plank that rested against his shoulder and quickly began moving to where it was needed.

He had been shocked at first by the small amount of workers but after Tazuna had explained the situation and how many of the families had been threatened if they continued to work he had instantly created what could be considered a small army of clones to assist as much as they could.

He gently placed the wood on the cold ground and nodded to the man standing a few metres away from him currently mixing more grey cement that would eventually become another section of the gigantic bridge.

Apparently he was a sense of wonder to these people with how he had created almost a hundred living replicas of himself without even tiring. Though he did understand why some had recoiled in fear from him at first, most of these people had never seen a ninja in their life; to suddenly face a large group of identical boys running around would scare them.

Turning back the way he had come, Naruto headed over to Tazuna who was talking to a small boy. As he drew closer the blonde narrowed his eyes when he recognised the kid as Inari from a couple of days ago; the one that had insulted his abilities.

When he saw Naruto approaching Tazuna gently pushed his grandson in the direction of their house before turning to the blonde. "Ah, I wanted to, you know thank you for that, what's it called? Jutsu! Yeah with all your clones, you've put us back on schedule with all your help."

Naruto blushed slightly at the praise and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "No problem old man, it's my job after all." He chuckled again but stopped when someone shouted a warning. They both turned in time to see men sprinting away from a section of the incomplete bridge in fear.

Naruto dashed forward before his mind had even processed what the full situation was. All he needed to know was that the cables holding a stack of metal pipes had snapped and they were now falling directly onto someone.

The blonde reached whoever it was and wrapped his arms tightly around his surprisingly small body and used his already built up momentum to propel them both forward and away from the falling death trap.

Naruto landed on the ground and rolled so he was positioned on top of who he had rescued and cried out in pain when he felt one if the pipes smash into his shoulder blades and making him almost crush the boy beneath him.

He could distantly hear people shouting and felt two sets of strong hands clamp around his upper arms and drag him from the wreak. His shoulder blades screamed in protest of being moved to roughly and Naruto ripped his arms away from the two men who were trying to help and were unaware of his injury.

The blonde fell onto his knees and groaned loudly while his right hand went up hold his left shoulder; he but his lip to prevent another groan of pain. When it was obvious he wasn't planning to move anytime soon without assistance the men once again grabbed onto him, this time however being mindful of his back and helped him to stand.

"Naruto!" said boy blinked with blurry eyes as bright pink entered his line of sight and proceeded to blind him. He let out a small sound that was between a growl and a grunt when she carefully wrapped her slim arms around his middle in a gentle hug.

"What happened? Are you alright?" her voice was quiet but he could tell she was in near hysterics, which he probably would have found amusing had he not been in his current state. "Mm fine" he mumbled as he started to lean more into her touch until he had fully collapsed in her arms unconscious.

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"Well that little brat has some guts I'll give him that" Zabuza glared at the blonde who was being taken back to the house. Jumping in front of those falling pipes wasn't a smart thing to do unless you knew you were going to survive. So why would this boy do it for some kid?

Thinking back to their fight before, the ex-Mist ninja tried to remember what had happened exactly; he knew his clone had managed to slash the blonde across his chest; that wound wasn't very deep because he had moved at the last second, but it shouldn't have healed when it was less the five days ago he had been hurt.

Yet he moved around as if that injury had never happened; how was that possible?

"You shouldn't be out here yet, you're wounds have yet to heal." He ignored the small figure next to him and continued to watch the Konoha genin. _'That brat must have some sort of healing ability, that's the only explanation I can come up with. No wondered he wasn't very afraid to risk his life; he would heal much quicker than any normal person. Advanced healing is definitely a handy trick for any ninja to have.'_

"When will we be attacking?" this time Zabuza turned to his young companion and narrowed his dark eyes "Will attack in three days, my wounds should be healed by then." The nameless figure nodded as he too watched the intriguing blonde.

"I want you, Haku, to find out as much as you can about those brats, especially the blonde. When we fight I'll leave you to deal with him and any of the other ones that try to help him; but Kakashi is mine got it."

"Of course Zabuza."

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The two flickering candles were the only light source in the large room. The soft sound of the double doors closing alerted the auburn haired man that another had entered his office; and there was only one person he knew that had the ability to sneak up on him.

"Madara" he greeted without opening his eyes, there was an answering grunt and he sensed rather than heard the man walk closer to him until he stood in front of his desk.

"You were due back yesterday. Do you have the required information on the jinchuuriki?" he knew it was risky, talking to this man like he was his better, but after dealing with the members of his organisation he had naturally acquired the tone.

"Yes Pein and you'll be quite surprised with it." Pein opened his eyes to reveal the light purple/grey ringed pattern of the Rinnegan. He hummed to let the madman in front of him know he was listening.

"The boy is further along than we originally planned for; he's strong enough to most likely go toe to toe with Deidara for quite a long time without assistance. But he is just a twelve year old so his muscles and chakra coils are not to their full strength yet."

That was quite surprising; Deidara was recently inducted into the organisation but he _was _an _S-class missing ninja_. To hear this _child _to most likely hold his own against one of his handpicked weapons wasn't a nice thought.

Madara continued without waiting for Pein's response; knowing it annoyed his young tool to no end when he did it. "I've also confirmed the rumour of his seal; it has been tampered with. The boy can easily be overcome by his emotions, but that in itself is a hard task. I only saw this because he had a very heated argument with Hatake, his sensei."

Pein narrowed his eyes slightly "Interesting, what other information did you gather?" he watched as the Uchiha reached up and slid his mask to the side of his face so that his sharingan seemed to pierce his very soul.

Madara's lips quirked up at the edges as he pulled out a small scroll and tossed it to the younger man "My findings are in there, read through it and then we'll discuss our next move." The dark haired man turned and swiftly began to move to the door; with his mask once again over his face Madara paused with his hand on the handle and glance over his shoulder.

"He's rather fascinating, to have such strength yet be so young and fragile. I almost feel bad about eventually destroying someone with so much potential, but, oh well. Send another group to watch him soon, I'd like to keep close tabs on the boy; he is after all a very important piece in my game."

The lethal man than slid through the crack in the door and left Pein in silence; the orange haired man fingered the black scroll in his hand and blinked slowly. With care he unrolled it across his desk and quickly scanned over the information inside while determining which of his tools to send out next.

Pein raised his hand and concentrated some chakra into his ring and watched it glow briefly; he waited patiently for a few moments before the double doors slammed open and cracked against the walls.

Two figures walked in; one with silver hair that was slicked back and purple eyes. His distinctive cloak was open and he wore no shirt, only pants. His slashed forehead protector was tied around his neck along with a small amulet and a stupid grin was plastered on his tanned face. His triple-bladed scythe was currently on his back.

His partner; who was behind him moved forward with much more care and a slower pace into the room. He was a tall, tanned and muscular man that wore a white hood with a black mask, leaving only his pupil less green eyes with red sclera showing. His own cloak was buttoned up from top till bottom and the slashed forehead protector of his former village was located on his head.

"Whadda want _Leader-sama_?" the first figure sneered as he stood uncaringly in front of Pein, his partner slapped him on the back of the head without turning his strange eyes from the young man behind the oak desk.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, I have another mission for you." He paused while the white haired one; Hidan, started hooting like an idiot. When he had finished Pein pulled a small rectangular photo from his sleeve and slid it away from him so they could both clearly see the smiling figure in the small frame.

Bright blonde hair, cerulean eyes that seemed to sparkle with intelligence, a cheeky but sly smile on his whiskered face and a Konoha forehead protector tied tightly around his forehead. Kakuzu placed the face almost instantly "The container of the Kyuubi."

Hidan stared at the blonde for a few more seconds before snorting "Doesn't look very tough" he muttered before looking back at Pein and crossing his arms over his chest. "So what? This brat isn't ours, we've already got the fucking two tails to capture. That bitchy Uchiha and overgrown fish have this kid."

Pein leaned back slightly and stared at Kakuzu, not at all deterred by the foul words that poured out of the silver haired man's mouth. "His name is Naruto Namikaze, age 12" he watched as the masked man's eyes widened slightly at the name and he stared even harder at the photo of Naruto.

"So he's the son of the Fourth Hokage? The rumours were true, he did have a lover." Kakuzu glanced back up and raised an eyebrow "What do you want us to do with him? I thought we still had a few years before our plan started moving along."

Pein hummed and placed his elbows on his desk and held the basically immortal man's eyes "Yes that was the plan, but he is progressing much quicker than we had anticipated so now I want a close eye kept on him. I want you two to find him and report back any massive improvements or powerful jutsu he can use; this way when I send Itachi and Kisame they can capture him with ease."

There was a small pause as they both nodded-though Hidan muttered something under his breath- and turned to leave. "Report at the end of each week until you're called back."

With that Pein was once again alone with his thoughts, in his office with only the flickering candle lights that gleamed ominously to provide a small amount of warmth to the cold room. His eyes travelled down to the happy boy in the photo and he sighed quietly.

'_To be so young, yet to have already endured so much pain in his life.'_ Pein knew the backgrounds of most of his targets, and the blonde had indeed suffered much throughout his childhood-if it could be called that. Seeing the life that was shining in his clear, innocent blue eyes he instantly reminded of his own challenges while growing up and how he had overcome them, of the friends he had made.

It was too easy to replace the blonde with Yahiko. Pein slowly turned it over so he would no longer be haunted by _that_ night, the night that had changed his life for the worst.

But of course the horrid images played at the edges his mind and taunted him with the fact that he was already in too deep; that he could no longer turn back.

He had after all, sold his soul to the devil.

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**Forgot to do this at the top.  
>Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

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Sasuke blinked tiredly as he watched Sakura run back upstairs with more bandages in her hands. Her bright red dress-something that he believed would end up killing her one day-was covered in small speckles of blood.

Having been in the house when Tazuna and his teammate had burst inside with an unconscious and bleeding Naruto, Sasuke had been told a very brief version of how the blonde had almost killed himself.

Now Sakura and Tsunami where hovering over him, Sakura because she felt slightly responsible for the boy's injuries and Tsunami because Naruto had apparently saved her son's life and she felt obliged to take care of him; there was either one of them or Kakashi in his room at all times.

The quick squeak of the floorboards alerted the genin to Inari's arrival, the young boy had been very quiet since returning from the bridge but Sasuke believed it was just from his near death experience-those types of situations tended to do that to civilians.

"Is he ok?" the boy's small question somewhat startled the Uchiha however he hid it and shrugged in an unconcerned matter. He knew he was more than likely coming off as heartless, not caring about the welfare of his teammate.

But why should he care about someone who he had only met two weeks ago and that had more secrets than Sasuke himself held? Sure he had learned some things about the blonde, but Sasuke knew that no matter how much he discovered about Naruto there would always be another layer underneath. It was obvious the blonde had purposely built up these indestructible walls around his true thoughts and feelings to more than likely protect himself from any emotional pain; and he was beginning to wonder if the Naruto he knew was the _real _one, or just some fake personality he created for his team.

The Uchiha shook his head in mild annoyance, why on earth was he thinking about Naruto like he was a giant puzzle? He could care less if Naruto lived or died; they didn't even know each other so therefore as long as he didn't get in Sasuke's way anything he did was unimportant.

"Your friend is an idiot; he was stupid to risk his life like that." Sasuke found himself silently agreeing with the kid, Naruto was and idiot.

"Oh surely you're a little bit grateful; after all he did save your life." Kakashi smiled at both of them as he entered the room while holding the now familiar little orange book loosely in his hand. Inari huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to meet the jounin's eyes.

"Naruto should be fine, his back was cut pretty badly from the pipes but the bleedings stopped for now. He'll be out of commission for a little while though, even after he wakes up." The Uchiha grunted and Inari seemingly satisfied with the news-though trying not to look relieved-exited the room without saying anything.

Kakashi hummed in thought before glancing at his dark haired student and spoke.

"You know you and Naruto are actually quite similar if you ask me, you both have amazing potential for one" Kakashi stated as he flipped to the next page, if he noticed the sudden clenching of Sasuke's fists he didn't say anything.

"And you both lost your families at a young age." Sasuke glared murderously at the floor boards below him and Kakashi took the hint to drop the subject of family when near the Uchiha.

"We're nothing alike." He muttered quietly but did allow his thoughts to stray as he reconsidered the statement. Both he and Naruto were orphans, and they were both considered abnormal to the general populace of their village though for completely different reasons. He frowned as he remembered the blonde he had known back even before they had enrolled into the same class; he recalled all of the times they had walked past each other only glancing each other's way half the time.

They knew of each other of course; the last Uchiha whose family had been murdered by his older brother and the blonde troublemaker/outcast who everyone avoided. They were both stared at, whispers followed them wherever they went and people tended to move out of the way whenever they walked by. But Sasuke didn't know anything about the blonde's family at the time, he had just assumed the blonde ignored the instructions of his parents and went wild whenever he wanted.

He remembered when he had discovered that Naruto Uzumaki was in fact an orphan just like him, he knew it was wrong at the time but he was glad that there was someone like him out there. And though he would rather eat a dozen kunai then admit this, he enjoyed every fight Naruto initiated whether it was verbal or physical.

Kakashi nodded to himself. Seeing the look of his student's face clearly said he was starting to rethink his earlier claim about the difference in their lives; which was a good thing. If the two boys could overcome their stubbornness and accept the other then not only would their teamwork improve but it might just help them out of their dark pasts if they had a friend who understood the type of pain each of them suffered from.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" he looked up when Sakura literally came catapulting down the stairs, slightly stumbling as she ran to him and latched onto his arm. The girl began pulling him towards where she had just come from "It's Naruto! Something's wrong! He's writhing and groaning and there's a strange mark on his chest! I don't know what's wrong with him!"

Kakashi quickly sprinted up the stairs with both Sakura and Sasuke, surprisingly, at his heels. When he reached the room that they had placed Naruto in; he barely paused in the doorway before marching across the room and pulling the frightened Tsunami away from the squirming blonde on the ground.

After making sure the woman was safely away he quickly turned back to Naruto and caught a glimpse of the seal Minato had placed on him seeming to quiver with power. It was then he became aware of the flaring of Naruto's chakra; the amount he had just by himself was enormous for someone of his size but that wasn't what alarmed the skilled jounin.

It was the strong emotions he was picking up; it was normally somewhat difficult for anyone to tell the exact emotions you were feeling from just feeling your chakra; but the ones Naruto was radiating were literally beginning to heat the room. Fear and anger were the main ones.

Wasting no time he pulled up his headband and activated his sharingan to get a better look at what was happening. He latched onto one of Naruto's forearms and pinned it next to him so it wouldn't move and almost let it go when the blonde twisted, oblivious to the damage he was causing to his already injured back.

"Naruto!" he shouted, trying to wake the boy up "Naruto calm down!" he ordered as he grabbed the other arm and pinned it down as well. With his sharingan now activated he finally became aware of the blonde's chakra that was moving towards every single wound on his body.

However the normal blue colour had flicks of red throughout it. Kakashi looked over his shoulder at the other three in the room and jerked his head at the door "Out, now." He ordered before turning back to Naruto.

When the door slid shut Kakashi wasted no time, he placed his hand on Naruto's head and sent a jolt of his own chakra into the boy. It was dangerous just practically shove it into Naruto considering the amount he was already generating but Kakashi hoped it would shock him awake.

Naruto's eyes shot open and acting on reflex he sat up and began looking around wildly. When his eyes landed on Kakashi he relaxed and let out a sigh of relief "It was just a dream" he murmured to himself as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. Kakashi took note of the tears that were threatening to spill out of Naruto's eyes.

Carefully the jounin placed a hand gently on his student's shoulder, his hand could still feel the heat his chakra had been producing through the bloody bandages. "Are you ok Naruto?" his voice was soft but concerned as he watched the boy tremble with silent sobs.

"No" it was barely audible but with his enhanced hearing Kakashi managed to pick it up. "What happened?" he asked and the blonde's breath hitched as the tears now ran freely down his face.

The boy was silent for about two minutes before his weak voice filled the room; "I remembered" he said simply, his teary eyes stared unseeingly at the door. Kakashi frowned at the answer and tightened his grip on his students shoulder only to loosen when Naruto grimaced. "What did you remember Naruto?" He didn't mean for the slight amount of irritation creep into his voice but his patience was wearing thin.

Naruto blinked and sniffled before turning to look at his new sensei, when he caught the man's eye another wave of tears came though he refrained from making any noise. Over the weeks Kakashi had known Naruto he had become used to the blonde's brightly coloured eyes. However now they weren't the cerulean blue they usually were, they were a much darker cobalt colour now. And they displayed great torture and self-hate.

Kakashi felt a small amount of sympathy swell up inside of him at the look, he knew better than both Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto was far from the average loud-mouthed idiot; he knew that unlike his two teammates Naruto had already taken his first life, that he had already seen some things that even a grown man should never witness.

"The blood; there was so much blood Kakashi-sensei. I was covered in it." The temperature in the room seemed to drop at the broken voice of his strongest student. "And that's not even the worst part" he choked out; catching his sensei's eye again and let out a shuddering breathe.

"I killed them all. It was my fault; if I hadn't gotten frustrated and scared the Kyuubi wouldn't have had the chance. Do you know what's it's like to have that on your shoulders; knowing that if you hadn't lost control for _one second_ that hundreds of people would still be -" he stopped when three sharp raps on the door interrupted the heavy mood in the room.

Kakashi let go of Naruto and looked at the closed door, however when he glanced back he was surprised to find Naruto's face was devoid of tears or any signs that he had been crying only a second ago other than the slight redness around his eyes, and even that was fading fast.

Shaking his head the jounin stood from his crouched position and opened the door, ready for the worried women on the other side. Almost as soon as he had it opened his hand slammed into the wall to stop both Sakura and Tsunami from entering; he smiled pleasantly at them when they set him annoyed and confused looks, easily covering up his own unease at what the blonde had just shared with him.

"Naruto's fine, he just had a nightmare and is a little tired and stressed so only one at a time. And try not to make a lot of noise ok" he patted Sakura on the head and swiftly moved past both Tsunami and Sasuke and made his way to the stairs. He had a lot to think about after all.

As soon as the silver-haired man was gone Sakura all but launched herself into the room. She moved more slowly over to her silence teammate and knelt next to his hunched form. Her hand reached out and brushed against his cheek, "Are you ok Naruto?" she whispered, well aware of the tightness of his jaw.

The blonde raised his head and locked eyes with her, his usual smile splashed across his tanned skin "Of course Sakura, that pole didn't pack enough punch to hurt me that much." His voice seemed too cheery and the pinkette refrained from informing the boy that he had been out for almost two days and the wound on his back had been bleeding quite a lot when she had first looked at it.

Her feelings must have shown on her face because Naruto reached out and gently touched her shoulder, his smile seemed to turn to one of slight amusement "Really Sakura, other than my back I'm fine. It was just a silly dream" he chuckled.

"What was it about then?" she asked, not looking up when she heard the door open, more concerned about the blonde's strange actions. She noticed his eyes flicker from her face to the door and scowled when he stalled answering her question.

"Oh you know, just something that happened on my training trip, it was nothing reall-"  
>"Answer the question loser." Sakura turned to see Sasuke leaning against the glaring at Naruto who returned the look whole-heartedly. "I don't believe you were invited into this conversation <em>Sasuke<em>; surely someone from such a high-classed family as you would know what manners were." The defensiveness and hostility in Naruto's voice obviously caught them both off-guard.

Instantly backing up her crush's side of the argument Sakura stood up and placed her hands on her hips in what was supposed to be an intimidating pose, however it only seemed to tick the blonde off more. "Answer Naruto" she ordered like a strict teacher.

Naruto glared at both of them and practically growled out "It's none of your business, now. Let. It. Go."

Sasuke pushed off the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, never moving his gaze from the agitated blonde "It's a simple question Naruto. But if you don't want to answer can you at least tell me what the hell you and Kakashi-sensei were talking about that night?"

If possible Naruto seemed even angrier; his eyes were nothing more than blue slits and Sakura saw flickers of red surrounding the pupil. The blonde's upper lip curled up in a snarl and his teeth were bared, making his usually kind and joyful face became more dangerous and animalistic; it actually unnerved the other two genin.

"_That_ is definitely _none_ of your business Uchiha. What I talk to Kakashi about is between me and him, not you so you should drop it if you know what's good for you." Sasuke clenched his fists and took a step forward only for Naruto to ripped his blankets off him and stand.

"Back off Sasuke, this is something you don't want to do, trust me." The blonde growled; Sasuke took another step forward. "Why should I trust you dobe if you won't even tell us anything about you? What the hell is so bad that you can't even tell your teammates?"

For a second a look of alarm flashed across Naruto's face but it disappeared leaving Sasuke wondering if it was even there in the first place. But the blonde seemed to back off and his anger looked like it vanished; now without the furious expression he really did look like twelve year olds.

"Just forget Sasuke, there are something's about me that no one should ever know; my past being one." The tired and defeated tone seemed to finally break the tense air in the room, leaving all three of them standing awkwardly and trying to not look in the other's general direction.

"Oh there you all are" the three leaf shinobi turned to see Tsunami standing at the door; the bright smile on her face clearly showed that she wasn't aware of the almost-fight between the children. "Dinner is ready but if you want I can bring you some Naruto?"

Said blonde shot both of Sakura and Sasuke a look before smile happily and stepping forward "That's fine; I think a little time out of this room would be best, it gets quite stuffy in here after a while." He sent her another actor-worthy smile and moved to the door "We'll be down in a minute ok" the gently woman nodded happily and patted him on the head before leaving to go back to the dining area.

One she was gone Naruto turned back to his teammates, his happy-go-lucky smile was now non-existent as he stared hard at them both for a long period of time. Finally he turned and exited the room, quickly throwing on a shirt to cover the bloody bandages wrapped tightly around his upper chest.

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Naruto sighed in relief when he slipped out of the house and leaned heavily against the wall. "I'm a complete _idiot_!" he whispered angrily as he tugged at his bright blonde locks. "Why on earth did I tell them those things? Now that stupid bastard is going to be even more annoying; I wouldn't be surprised if he started his own investigation to find out everything about me!"

Hitting himself on the head for good measure Naruto quickly checked that his shoes were strapped properly to his feet before stepping away from the house. His footsteps fell heavily and echoed across off the walls of the empty street; the sun was still setting and bathed the town in a soft pinkish glow.

There was plenty of wind but Naruto was well aware of his higher body temperature compared to normal people – thanks to the Kyuubi –and was glad he barely felt the cold air.

"Stupid Wave Country, why couldn't we get something more challenging from the Old Man? Sure Zabuza was an unexpected surprise but if he was still alive wouldn't he have attacked by now? Maybe Kakashi and I were wrong?" He paused for a moment and shook his head before resuming walking "Nah our theories make sense; so maybe that jutsu from Kakashi took more out of him then I thought."

Naruto pursed his lips, not really caring that he was talking to himself and probably looked crazy if anyone was watching. His head lowered so that he could only see about three metres in front of him as he continued to talk to himself. "Why was that masked guy hiding the whole time if he was working with Zabuza? Kakashi was having some trouble holding off against him; if they both attacked us simultaneously then one of us probably would have died."

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, frowning when he came across some knots, then moving to scratch his neck. He winced when his back reminded him that it was injured and carefully pulled his hand back down to his side.

"Come on Fox, heal the damn wound already; it's been what? Two day? And I still have it; you must really have it out for me this time." He muttered and turned left, knowing he was heading in the general direction of the bridge. The Kyuubi and he had a rough relationship, depending on how serious the injury the wound, where it was and how the fox felt depended on how the demon healed it. Usually it healed the injuries so that not even a scar was left behind or, like now, it was being sour and refused to help – only making sure that it wasn't life-threatening and leaving it to heal on its own.

Naruto bit the inside of his bottom lip and walked quietly along the unfinished bridge; there was no one there and the only source of light where the small lanterns hanging randomly around. The only sound he could properly make out other than the crashing of the waves hitting the supports underneath and the occasional creak of the wooden beams from the wind.

"It's too quiet here" he whispered in annoyance and confusion; he had spent a lot of his time in villages like this and he knew that even in the early evening he should still be able to see and hear seagulls and other birds.

A flicker of chakra alerted him to another's presence near him and in instinct his whole body tensed; his chakra spread out and located whoever was spying on him, trying to determine if it was friend or foe. He huffed when he recognised it as Inari's very underdeveloped chakra signature and moved to find the young boy before he managed to hurt himself.

Spotting the kid a few metres away looking around in confusion Naruto rolled his eyes but smiled to himself. He silently jumped onto one of the higher levels were tool were stored and moved along until he was directly in line with the brunette. Making sure Inari wasn't looking in his direction the blonde leapt from his spot and landed behind the boy who still hadn't noticed him and his smile grew.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked and chuckled when Inari yelped and jumped away from him in fright. The younger boy turned and glared angrily at the smirking blonde before sobering up and crossing his arms over his chest. "I could ask you the same thing" he snapped back "My mum says you shouldn't have left the house because…of…your...wound."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his fractured sentence but didn't comment instead he nodded "Well normally I would but I needed to get out of there for a while; you know, gets a little boring for a ninja to be confined to a room all day long. That's one of the reasons we don't like hospitals." He said in a nonchalant manner accompanied with a shrug.

Inari let his arms drop to his side and stared up at Naruto in a suspicious and perplexed expression "I heard you talking with your friends" he muttered, as if he felt guilty for eavesdropping on their conversation. Naruto bit back a groan but did let his head swing back so he was looking up at the sky; _'Great, now I've got the little kid to deal with as well as Sasuke and Sakura. What is with people and _not_ minding their own business?'_

He sighed minutely and looked back at Inari in a serious way "Then you know how I'll react if you bring it up ok." He really didn't want to get angry at a kid, they were always his weakness and he always felt the need to be their friend; being mad at one for being curious was something he _really _didn't want to do.

Instead he changed the subject.

"You still haven't told me why you're here, at night, all alone"  
>"I'm not alone, you're with me." Naruto felt his lips twitch at the fast comment and lost the battle against his smile. "Well yeah, but I wasn't with you when you first came here; so what were you doing here at the bridge if someone – other than me – wasn't here?"<p>

The brunette's mouth tweaked up at the corners at the playful tone from the blonde but wiped it from his face before Naruto noticed; or at least he hoped he didn't notice, you could never be too careful with ninja.

"I sometimes come here to think; but not very often since my grandpa doesn't like me going out alone, especially at night." Naruto nodded in understanding and looked around for anything that would break the awkward silence between them. His eyes fell on a small photo frame on the ground just in front of him and realised Inari must have dropped it; he swiftly bent down and swiped it into his hands, careful not to damage it too much.

He turned it over and stared at the man in the photo with curiosity, he recognised the house in the background as Tazuna's but that wasn't what drew his attention; it was the large and happy grin on the man's face. Naruto pursed his lips and held the object out to Inari who gingerly took it and cradled it to his chest, the boy turned side on to Naruto and gazed down at the man in sorrow.

"Is he your dad?" Naruto asked quietly, not moving from his spot in case he did something unwelcomed by the little boy.

Inari nodded mutely and whispered "Was. He was my step-dad." The saddened look on his face tugged at Naruto's heart and he viciously fought the urge to go and hug the brunette. "He was killed by some of Gato's men because he stood up to him. Kaiza was an idiot for doing that; he promised that he would help to protect our village, but he didn't and my mum's hurt because of it. Now that the bridge is almost finished Gato's been even crueller, he's doesn't want it to be finished so that's why Grandpa's in trouble."

Naruto watched as the young boy began crying, his eyes held sympathy and understanding and his hands were unconsciously clenched at his sides. Slowly he moved forward and wrapped Inari in a gentle hug; patting his head in an attempt to calm him down.

His right hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his own small photo; breaking the hug Naruto held it up in the light so Inari could see the two smiling figures. The woman was beautiful in his opinion with her blood red, waist length hair and her warm grey eyes. She had a small amused smile on her lips and wore a simple black pants and shirt with a green vest thrown over the top, her pale hands were being held by the young man next to her.

His hair was bright blonde and his eyes were cerulean blue, his tanned face was lit up with a smile of unspoken happiness obviously at something the woman just said. He wore a dark blue shirt and pants with a funny red circle on the upper left arm. Inari reached out and touched the woman in awe "She's really pretty" he murmured.

Naruto nodded, just as lost in the woman's looks as he was "Yeah, she was my mum; Kushina Uzumaki." Slowly he tapped the man next to her and his gentle smile grew "And that idiot there was my father, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of my village. This was taken by one of my dad's friends after he just asked my mum out on their first real date."

Inari sent a side glance to the blonde and frowned "Are they-?" he stopped when Naruto nodded and stood from his crouched "Yeah, they died the day I was born. My village was attacked exactly around the time my mum gave birth, she died just after. Dad, since he was the village leader went out and fought against the bad guy; he died stopping him from destroying the village. I was only a couple of hours old so I never got to meet them." He obviously left out the bit about the Kyuubi and that he was partly responsible for the seal becoming so weak, also how the demon fox was now sealed inside his own body.

Inari looked back at the photo in wonder, they both seemed extremely happy to just be near each other and they both looked like very nice people. He felt bad for the ninja for never getting to meet his parents; he wondered if this had something to do with what he had said to his teammates earlier? Did they even know this? Why was Naruto telling him of all people?

The blonde shinobi didn't seem to notice the look on the brunette's face because he continued talking. "Yeah, I didn't even know they were my parents until I was about nine. My other sensei told me, he's my godfather so it was good that I got to spend time with him. It was kind of hard at first, knowing that it was kind of my fault that they died but Jiraiya-sensei snapped me back to sense; he told me that I shouldn't blame myself, instead I should enjoy the life my parents gave me. He said to not be angry or sad or any of those other crappy emotions, he hit me on the head and said that I'm now living for three; my dad, my mum and me and that I should make them proud by becoming stronger and taking care of myself."

Inari stared at Naruto in confusion and also awe, the dreamy look on the blonde's face clearly showed that he was too lost in memories to care about his surroundings anymore. "We're kind of alike you know; Kaiza might have died but I don't think he would want someone he clearly cared deeply for him wallowing away in sadness and anger. You've got to move past you're negative emotions and think about what he left behind for you. You should make him proud by doing what he believed in, you're just like me; we've got to live for our dead precious people."

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto waved as Inari ran off towards the house, he had no doubt that the boy could get there without getting hurt but with the recent attempt on his life by Gato Naruto wasn't willing to take the chance. So quietly he followed the brunette until he was safely inside his house and greeting his mother. A smile slipped onto his face when he remembered the boy's reaction to what he had told him; Jiraiya had always told him that he had the ability to change the people around him for the better.

Maybe the old pervert wasn't as wrong as he had first believed about that.

Naruto turned and leaned against the wall he had been using to hide from Inari and ran a hand through his hair, scratching his scalp and closing his eyes. He knew that if Jiraiya was here he would be dragging him kicking and screaming back to his bed to rest; they always disagreed to what amount of sleep Naruto needed or when he was healed. It was like the guy was trying too hard to make up for the years when he had had no one to watch over him or care for him. And Naruto loved that, he really did but sometimes Jiraiya went a little overboard with his doting.

He sighed again and realised that he seemed to be doing a lot of that since he joined Team 7. Naruto pushed off the cold wall and heading back the way he had come, this time passing the turn that would take him to the bridge and straight to the forest where Kakashi had first taken them to train.

His chakra spread out as he walked calmly through the dark trees; he could hear the satisfying crunch under his feet with every step and couldn't help but smile slightly at the sense of peacefulness he was getting from just being there.

His walk was undisturbed for about twenty minutes before he finally felt something abnormal in his surroundings. Outwardly he appeared to still be the same but on the inside his mind was racing on who he had sensed and what they were doing out here. He instantly felt like hitting himself for not masking his chakra; he knew that his was very strong – even with half of it blocked off – and that it probably stood out like a beacon in this uninhabited area.

'_Great going genius'_ he thought bitterly as he came to a nicely sized clearing and nodded; he walked to the centre and stopped. His posture was relaxed and his hands were in his pockets but his eyes were calculating and shifting from one spot to another; never lingering in one place for long.

"You can come out you know" he called, knowing full well that whoever was following would make themselves known soon. As if on cue a familiar figure appeared in front of him, everything down to the mask was the same except that the person's form was relaxed as well.

Naruto raise his eyebrows in surprise because out of all the people that had flashed through his head, he did not even come close to thinking about this guy.

"You."

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi was beginning to think taking on three students was a terrible idea.

One had the social skills of a rock and thought everyone was below him; another was absolutely infatuated with the first and could care less about developing her skills as a ninja. The third was by far the most difficult person he had ever encountered – apart from Obito.

First he refuses to acknowledge his teammates, then when he finally starts opening up to them, he gets into a fight and disappears off the face of the earth for three days, reappears not talking to anyone about where he was, gets himself seriously injured, is out for another day, wakes up in tears, apparently gets into a fight with his teammates and runs off _again_.

Yep, he was seriously considering pawning them off onto another Jounin just to get rid of the extra stress.

He remember after dinner watching Naruto take off without so much as a goodbye; then Sakura and Sasuke practically ambushing him, asking what Naruto was hiding and why he didn't trust them enough to tell them anything. Well, it was mainly Sakura doing the asking with Sasuke standing just behind her.

His headache got worse when Tsunami came and said her young son had disappeared and she didn't know where he was; causing them to have to go out into the cold night and look for him, returning to find the once angry and anti-social boy now happily telling them how he had spoken with Naruto and the small amount of wisdom the blonde had passed on.

This only caused his two other students to get more upset, seeing as how Naruto trusted a small kid that he didn't know well more than his own team which he known him for almost a month. To top it all off Naruto had yet to return from his little field trip.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you ready to go to the bridge now?" he looked up from his book and smiled happily at the young pink-haired girl. "Yep, if everyone's ready let's go" he stood from the chair he had been sitting on and moved to the door, opening it and letting Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna out before closing it.

"What about the dobe Kakashi?" Sasuke asked in his usual monotone/annoyed voice. The jounin paused for a second before turning to the small group "Yeah, I haven't seen that little brat in a while; you sure he's even still alive?"

Even though he seemed unaffected Kakashi's thoughts immediately went to five days ago when Naruto had told him that he sensed someone nearby. He hoped that the blonde hadn't been attacked by Zabuza or another one of Gato's men because even though Jiraiya had told him the blonde was able to take care of himself and had been doing it for years, he knew that with a wound as serious as his – even with the Kyuubi healing it – Naruto was still very weak.

"I'm sure Naruto's fine; his other sensei told me that he liked to go off by himself a lot so there's nothing to worry about." That was a lie; even though he had spoken with Jiraiya and the Sannin had given him some information he mentioned nothing about Naruto's 'random disappearing act'. The jounin pulled out his small orange book and took the lead, constantly searching for the blonde's very recognisable chakra signature.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the bridge and began working; Sakura was paired with Tazuna while Sasuke and Kakashi helped oversee some of the younger and more inexperienced workers near the edge.

"Kakashi" said man looked at the dark haired genin in curiosity "Yes Sasuke?" he answered with his usual drawl. The calculating expression immediately sent warning bells off in Kakashi's head but he refrained from acting on his instinct to divert the conversation; he decided to just let Sasuke talk and pray that he didn't bring up anything to do with his blonde teammate.

"Why was there a seal on Naruto's stomach?"

_Damn_, these kids could never let him have a break could they? "Well many ninjas have had seals placed on them to do all kinds of things like store chakra, increase strength, stamina or speed, to heal so it's not that unusual to see them." He hoped that would be enough for the boy but in the short time he had had this squad he knew Sasuke would only accept it for a small amount of time before something else caused him to get interested again.

Kakashi watched as the Uchiha's eyes narrowed minutely and his lips pressed into a thin line. It was obvious he knew that Kakashi hadn't directly answered his question; instead giving him information that would lead him away from his original query on why _Naruto_ had a seal.

With a grunt the dark haired boy turned away, letting his sensei off the hook for now. Sasuke knew that Kakashi knew something but was refusing to tell them, he knew why Naruto didn't trust them and why the blonde got so worked up when he mentioned the talk between the jounin and blonde about a week ago.

Though what Naruto had said did linger in his mind, and although Sasuke hated to admit it, there was some truth behind his words. Why should he trust them with his secrets? He didn't know them well enough to do something like that, and Naruto clearly had issues with people invading his business and asking about subjects he didn't want to talk about. Sasuke certainly didn't want to tell the others about what had happened in his life, the massacre was a touchy topic for him and he had snapped more than once when someone had stupidly mentioned his family.

His forehead creased in irritation as he went to help lift a metal bar with one of the workers; it annoyed him how he was still thinking about Naruto. He didn't think of the blonde as a friend, because they hadn't spent any time together other than missions, training and the odd time Naruto would invite everyone to come to his favourite ramen stand.

He inwardly sighed and shook his head to clear it of any thoughts on his ridiculous teammate; choosing to focus more on what he was currently doing.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, but stopped when the blaring sunlight was all he could see; leaving his eyes for the moment to do a mental check of himself and excluding the fact that he couldn't move his body and had a major headache he happily noted that everything seemed to be fine.

Carefully the blonde tried opening his eyes again, this time more prepared for the intense light and successfully managed to turn his head to the side to lessen the damage. He felt like he was made out of metal when he attempted to move again and groaned loudly in annoyance and pain.

"Ok Naruto, what the hell happened? You certainly didn't get drunk or eat anything other than Tsunami's cooking; must have inhaled some fume or something" he concluded as he flexed his fingers and smiled when they obeyed his command. "Looks like whatever I had is wearing off now that I'm awake; that's good." His throat hurt from speaking – no doubt because he hadn't drunk anything in hours – but it made him feel better being able to hear something familiar, especially in his current state.

After a few more seconds of deliberation he decided to just wait whatever was affecting him out; he could already feel his advanced immune system filtering it out of him and thanked his father for sealing the demon inside of him just because of his unnatural healing abilities. It had definitely come in handy over the years he had been travelling with Jiraiya.

Staying in his laying down position until he could move Naruto sighed and thought back to last night to remember what he had been doing. He clearly remembered his talk with Inari and making sure the kid got home safely and he knew that he had walked off after that and into the woods. He blinked and wished he could slap himself for his stupidity.

"How the hell could I have let that dude do that to me? Kami we were enemies and I let my guard down like that! Jiraiya would be spewing right now if he was here." Naruto bit his lip and continued his mental brattle before a thought hit him like a rock "Today's the day" he whispered "They're going to attack today. I have to get to Kakashi and tell him."

Naruto pulled himself into a sitting position and proceeded to stand on his wobbly legs; he waited until his balance came and took off through the trees in the direction of Tazuna's house, hoping his team was still there.

It was barely two minutes before Naruto had landed, crouched in front of the half opened door. His eyes narrowed and as he stood he swayed dangerously and grimaced when he realised that he still wasn't back to normal.

Quietly and as gracefully as he could he nudged open the door so he had enough room to enter and froze at the sight of the chaotic jumble that met him. Nearly everything was turned over or broken and his breathe caught when he saw a tanto wedged in the wall adjacent to him. With a trembling hand he gripped its handle and yanked it out of the wood to get a better look at it.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" the scream was so unexpected that Naruto dropped the short blade, his head whipped back from the direction of the shout and back to the knife and he made a grab for it. Naruto – once the tanto was safely back in his hands – sprinted towards the back of the house and hide behind an overturned table as he watched silently as Tsunami was slapped across the cheek by some scrawny looking mercenary whose face was twisted in some sick amused smile.

His partner, who was much more muscular and scary looking held a crying Inari in his beefy arms while he too looked on in the same disgusting form of amusement. Naruto narrowed his eyes in fury as Tsunami copped another blow across her cheek; his hands clenched around the hilt of the blade in his hand and he wished he had his sword with him at that moment.

His anger only grew when the smaller assailant spoke "Now are ya gonna be a good girl and come with us? Or is my friend here gonna have ta break ya son's neck?" the gentle woman had tears running freely down her bruised face and when she didn't answer the man raised his hand again to give her another hit.

Inari shouted in protest, only to be silence when his captor tighten his hold on him and Naruto let out a growl; just loud enough to break through the sobbing and muffled shouts. Everything in the room paused as he stood from his spot and in plain view of the two men who were looking at him in surprise.

Naruto didn't give them a chance to even speak, his foot lashed out and sent the table slamming into the rogue nearest to Tsunami. It pinned him to the wall just long enough for Naruto to turn to face the guy holding Inari with a kunai at the wide-eyed boy's throat. "D-don't come any closer; or the k-kid gets it."

The blonde inwardly rolled his eyes at the terror so clearly splashed across the man's, he was about half his size and now in a tricky position with a hostage involved and the guy was afraid of him; what was wrong with this picture?

Without a word Naruto held up the tanto so his enemy could see it, he flipped it in the air so he now gripped the tip of the sharp blade in his forefinger and thumb. Closing one eye and lining it up he watched as the man froze; pulling his arm back Naruto let the blade fly and waited until it lodged itself in the man's shoulder to cross the three metres separating them and swiping the shaking Inari from his arms and placing him next to his crying mother who latched onto him.

Now that they no longer had hostages the two mercenaries looked at each other before making a break for the back door. Naruto watched as they went with a glare, he turned back to Tsunami and her son "You guys stay here, I'll leave a clone in case Gato sends someone else but I doubt he will after his goons go back with my message."

A small puff of smoke appeared next to him and dispersed to reveal another Naruto, the two twins nodded to each other and the original quickly raced up the stairs and grabbed his gear; when he walked past the clone he tossed it his sword since it had no weapons and headed out the back door in pursuit of Gato's men.

It didn't take long to catch up to them since they obviously couldn't use their chakra very well to escape. He landed in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed; they both let out a yelp and turned to run only to find the blonde blocking their way.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the look of utter horror on their faces, it wasn't like it was a big thing to jump over them. He took a step toward them and stared at the sword that was pointed at him in boredom "Stay back brat!" the smaller rogue shouted. Naruto scoffed and grabbed the blade of the sword, not caring that it bit into his hand and tugged it out of its owner's hands, then throwing it aside.

"Relax idiots I'm not going to kill you" he snorted and took another step forward "I just want you to go back to your boss and tell him exactly what I say; can you do that?" not giving them a chance to answer he carried on "You tell Gato that if he _ever_ messes with this town again I'll hunt him and every single person who works for him down. And if you two ever even _look_ at that family again I'll pound you ok."

He pointed in the opposite direction of the house "Now get the hell away from me and pray that you don't ever see me again."

OoOoOoOoO

The mist was the first thing that warned him, it was too thick and chakra infused to be natural. So naturally he called his students and client to him to wait for Zabuza to show himself; his eye shifted left and right until he could barely see two feet in front of him and he gave up the fight.

His hands flashed through familiar signs and a large gust of wind easily blew the dense cloud away; as the bridge cleared he started to make out two faint silhouettes not ten metres from them. He placed them both almost immediately and spared a glance to Sasuke and Sakura to see that they too recognised the two.

"Zabuza" he called, his voice taking on a steely and unwelcoming tone that caused the other man to laugh hauntingly. "Yes Kakashi, surprised I still alive?" he asked with an unseen sneer.

"Not exactly; my other student and I figured out what really happened. How your little friend hit you in the pressure points in your neck to imitate death; we knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up again."

Zabuza glared at the team from Konoha before smirking madly, he began chuckling "Yeah your little blonde brat isn't here though? What happened? Did he get lost? Or maybe something more serious could have happened to your student, you never know what kinds of thing you could find in the woods at night; isn't that right Haku?"

The figure next to him nodded but remained silent, Zabuza didn't seem to care as he continued, enjoying the look of horror that bloomed on Kakashi's face, as well as the three behind him. "It was a shame Haku didn't let him live long enough for a rematch but I thought it was better to get him out of the way sooner rather than later."

Kakashi bowed his head and let his shoulders slump as Zabuza's words rang in his ears; he knew that there was a high possibility that the missing-nin was lying but he hadn't seen Naruto since last night or been able to sense his rather noticeable chakra source. But surely Naruto wouldn't have been taken out so easily; even with the wound on his back the blonde would have definitely put up a fight.

"You seem upset Hatake; is it because you couldn't even keep one of your students alive? Or maybe it's because the kid died alone in the cold by himself? How does it feel to know that the brat was killed under your watch hmm?"

Haku stood rigidly next to his master but couldn't stop the slight guilt build up inside him for allowing Zabuza to continue talking about a boy that isn't even dead.

oO_ Flashback _Oo

"_You."_

_He didn't say anything as the boy turned to face him fully; the look of surprise on his face was the only sign that he hadn't anticipated this encounter. Other than that his entire body was relaxed which was quite a feat when in the presence of an enemy._

"_How did you know I was following you?" he asked and the blonde tilted his head to the side with an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips; his blue eyes shined in a friendly way and Haku had to hand it to the twelve year old, he really pulled off the innocent kid act very well. It was obviously a mask though because he had seen Naruto in action and had been watching him for a while; the blonde was much more than the dumb idiot he pretended to be._

"_You can mask your chakra excellently, but the problem is you do it too well. Everything has chakra flowing through it so when you masked yours there was a strange empty blob following me; sort of like a pin-sized hole in a piece of paper, not very noticeable unless you're looking for it."_

"_You knew you were being watched?" he asked and the blonde shifted so he now had his arms crossed in front of him and his eyebrows raised. "Well I knew it was only a matter of time before you and Zabuza popped up again. I've been on guard since before the incident at the bridge; which I assume you guys are responsible for."_

_Haku didn't deny or agree to the statement so Naruto nodded to himself. His eyes quickly scanned the area and Haku felt his chakra flare slightly, he threw a senbon and watched as it connected with the blonde's upper arm. Naruto winced at the sudden pain but didn't show any other signs of discomfort; he slowly reached up and yanked the small needle out of his arm with a grunt._

"_Are you not going to fight?" Naruto shrugged and rolled his shoulders while looking away; he didn't seem to care that he was just injured. "Not much point, I probably wouldn't last long against you in my current state unless I used something dangerous to heal myself faster."_

_Haku changed his footing so he now mirrored the boy's pose, neither spoke for a long time, only occasionally would Naruto glance his way to make sure he was still there. "Are you here to kill me?" he asked nonchalantly, as if this sort of situation happened to him quite often, he didn't seem to care what his answer was so either he was extremely confident in his abilities to fight even though injured – despite what he said – or he really doesn't value his life in any way, shape or form._

"_Yes."_

_Naruto nodded in understanding but didn't move, Haku stayed where he was too, making no move to engage the interesting blonde. "You aren't scared? I would think someone who was being threatened would show some signs of fear."_

_Naruto's lips twisted into an aloof, crooked smile "Of course I'm scared, maybe not as much as my teammates would be; I just hide it very well. My sensei taught me to control my emotions, which is hard for someone as emotional as me but I'm getting quite good at it if I do say so myself."_

"_You mean Hatake?" he asked, there was something about Naruto that made this conversation much easier than it should have been. The blonde snorted in supressed laughter "Nah not Kakashi-sensei; I mean Ero-sennin, he's been my legal guardian since I was eight. He saved me from my old life so I'm repaying him by keeping him alive throughout the years."_

_Haku blinked in surprise and his head tilted slightly to the side "You mean he's your precious person?" he asked, his monotone voice becoming softer, but Naruto still heard it. His forehead creased and he looked up at the dark sky in thought "Well I guess you could call the old pervert that; I'd do anything for him, even die if the need called for it." The casual way they were speaking, someone might have mistaken them for old friends rather than enemies._

_Haku nodded and looked to the side "I to have a precious person" he said as he studied the pattern of the bark on the trees surrounding them. "Zabuza" Naruto supplied, neither needed to confirm the simple statement for both already knew it was true._

"_He also saved me from an unwelcome life, now I serve him in payment." Naruto looked down at the dirt ground, he felt very relaxed around this guy and that was bad; they shouldn't forget where they both stood._

_The silence in the small clearing was deafening and suffocating as well as awkward. Haku looked closely at the boy in front of him, Zabuza had ordered him to kill the blonde but now that he had actually spoken to the boy the task was even harder. He never really did like killing, even after all the years he had worked with Zabuza; there was still a foul taste in the back of his mouth whenever he was forced to take someone's life and he tried to avoid it as much as possible._

_But maybe he didn't have to kill Naruto, he knew the human body like the back of his hand, it would be a simple task to knock the boy out; even easier to just give him a dose of a drug that would keep him out for days. He didn't like the idea of lying to his master, but he didn't like the thought of murdering Naruto any better._

_Slowly so as not to draw the sharp blonde's attention from whatever on the ground he found so interesting, Haku reached into one of his hidden weapon poaches and pulled out two senbon laced with a strong knock-out drug, he knew of Naruto's advanced healing ability and knew that too keep him down for as long as he needed that the dosage had to be much larger than standard._

_Quicker than lightning his hand released the small needles and watched as they embedded themselves in the blonde's left shoulder, close enough to his heart so that the drug would quickly spread to the rest of his body but not close enough to cause any damage to any vital arteries or tissue._

_A startled gasp escaped Naruto's lips and his hand reached up and yanked the senbon out of him, his body started shaking violently and his breath quickened to as his heart rate increased. Not two seconds later did he collapse to all fours, his breath was now laboured and strained as if each one brought him pain. Haku knew however that the drug he had given the blonde didn't cause any pain; it was more like a soothing calm._

"_You need to take deep breaths otherwise your heart will give out." He informed as he watched the boy follow his instructions; slowly the shaking stopped and his body began drooping towards the ground as a wave of tiredness swept over him._

"_You drugged me" the words were slurred and Naruto slid lower to the dirty ground, now unable to properly support his body. "It will keep you out for more than two days with the dosage I gave you."_

_Naruto weakly smirked as he fully collapsed "It won't work" he whispered as his eyes began to close. Haku waited until he was sure Naruto was asleep before moving his body to a more comfortable position, _'At least I saved one of them'_ he thought._

_He wiped away any trace of him ever being there, as well as the footprints left by Naruto so that no one would find him. The blonde's chakra was much lower now that he was sleeping and he knew that you would have to be within twenty yards to properly sense it._

_He took off into the trees to inform Zabuza that he had indeed 'taken care of' Naruto and that the blonde shouldn't be a problem anymore._

oO End Flashback Oo

Sasuke clenched his fists and stepped forward, only to be stopped by Kakashi's arm. He looked up at the older man in anger "You need to keep a level-head Sasuke. Even if Naruto is really…gone…you can't let your emotions get the better of you."

"But Sensei, they killed Naruto! How can you just be so calm!" Sakura was on the verge of crying. It was true that she didn't know Naruto very well, but she had become somewhat attached to the blonde in the month or so that she had known him. Plus it was the first time someone she actually knew and talked to nearly every day had died.

"You two need to think. Zabuza's trying to get you worked up, it's a classic trick many people use. If your enemy is blinded by the emotions – mainly anger – then it make it easier for you. They could mess up one of their attacks or leave themselves open so calm down. I don't want to lose another member of my squad."

He watched out of the corner of his eye as both Sasuke and Sakura slowly willed themselves to move passed their anger and sadness and nodded when they both looked at him again. There were still tears in Sakura's eyes and Sasuke still looked ready to kill but they both seemed more aware or their surroundings.

"Good, Sakura you stay with Tazuna, you'll be the last line of defence so don't let your guard down for a second." The pinkette bobbed her head in understanding. "Sasuke, you'll take the one with the mask; be careful since you don't know what type of jutsu he uses. I'll take Zabuza."

The group nodded and Sakura grabbed the bridge builder's wrist and began tugging him away from where the battle was going to take place. She positioned him between two crates and stood in front of him with a kunai at the ready.

Seeing that she was good to go Kakashi stepped forward with Sasuke right behind him. Both faced their opponent and shifted into their fighting styles; Zabuza laughed madly and stepped forward, he pulled his sword from his back and pointed the tip at Kakashi. "I'm going to enjoy slicing you to pieces Copy-cat Ninja Kakashi."

OoOoOoOoO

**Terribly sorry for the long wait, but I've been a little busy with school and family stuff lately. Still writing though so that's good! **

**By the way: Random Note! Some of you might be wondering why Naruto thinking Kushina died right after giving birth to him but remember that he doesn't know the whole story of what happened that day. He believes that the Kyuubi broke free on his own.**

**Hope you enjoyed the longest chapter I've ever written and please review so I can read what you think!**

**~Ninjalover-02~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape or form own Naruto. This story is my own creation as is the plot and any OC's I may or may not come up with.**

**Enjoy Chapter 11!**

OoOoOoOoO

Sasuke watched in surprise as the puddles of water around him began to rise and solidify into ice panels. His fight with the mystery ninja had been going well until this had happened; he had managed to get a few hits in but was still much slower than his opponent.

The loud clashing of metal drew his attention to back out of the strange dome he was in for a second, he could just make out Kakashi and Zabuza fighting through the gaps in the panels before the two high-classed ninja were at it again, moving at speeds he couldn't follow.

Something moved in front of him and he looked back to the ice in front of him, an image of his enemy was inside, staring at him hard. "You are friends with the blonde?" it was the first time Sasuke had heard him speak and the softness caught him off guard for a moment. When the words registered in his mind he glared at him, he couldn't forget that this was the guy who had killed Naruto.

It was true that Naruto and Sasuke had never been particularly close, even as children in the academy. But the thought of the blonde begin dead just ticked him off; Naruto was too stubborn to die, he wasn't weak and he would have definitely put up a fight.

"We weren't friends" he said firmly, there was no way in hell he considered Naruto as a friend, an ally yes, but not friend. No yet anyway.

The masked figure 'hmmed' but made didn't comment any further. Instead he pulled out a senbon and held it close to his face "I am sorry it has come to this" he said, his soft voice now taking on more stony tone.

"Is that what you said to the dobe before you killed him?" Sasuke bit out before he could stop himself. His opponent paused for a moment as if in thought, but in truth Sasuke's comment startled him.

"You claim to not care for you teammate yet you care when he is no longer here to bother you." Sasuke froze, there was no way he should have known that Naruto always annoyed him. "I have been watching your group since our last fight" he clarified.

"Your teammate was only killed because he left the house; his thoughts were too preoccupied with your argument to pay attention to what was going on around him. I made it painless." The last few words were obviously there to make him feel better, but it only made the guilt sharper for Sasuke.

Naruto had left the house to clear his head, because he and Sakura had been pushing him into answering something he didn't want to. They made him leave the house, leaving him too engrossed in his thoughts to pay attention to his surroundings, they gave the enemy the perfect chance to kill Naruto, they're the reason he was dead.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto swayed as he landed at the start of the bridge, the drug just wasn't going away! His legs were already tired from the amount of strain he had put them through and his chest hurt from his fast breathing. It was ridiculous really; this was clearly an aftereffect from whatever Zabuza's assistant hit him with.

His senses were all working normally so he could hear the echoes of the fight happening further down the unfinished bridge but his mind was foggy and cluttered. Images kept flashing behind his eyelids which were closed tightly. The most common one was some weird yet cool swirly orange mask, he was positive he had never seen anything like it before but he couldn't get the picture or the annoy voice out of his head.

'…_you can run faster…..?...make the chase more fun…..!'  
>'I…thought….Kyuubi Jinchuuriki…better than this.'<br>'…you've got…reflexes, but…won't be enough to….me!'_

His ears were ringing from the snippets of the voice and a huge headache was coming on. In this condition he wouldn't be much help to his team, he had to get a grip on himself. A pained yelp made him snap his eyes open and without thinking he began running forward again.

He watched Kakashi fly into the railing at the edge of the bridge, the man probably broke a rib from the impact but that wasn't what was grabbed his attention; it was Zabuza stalking towards the downed man like a lion on its injured prey.

He left the fight when he saw Kakashi get back up and continue, he didn't need any help for now. His eyes scanned the bridge and stopped on a large glass igloo shape, he could make out blue and black and assumed Sasuke was inside. A flash of pink caught his attention and he turned to find Sakura a few metres from him, staring at Sasuke as well.

"Sakura!" he shouted and ran over to her, stumbling slightly to avoid all the scattered tools left by the scared workers who had fled the scene. The pinkette stared at him in disbelief and shock, her already pale faced turned a snowy white and her eyes filled with tears. "N-n-naruto?" she whispered.

He nodded hurriedly, barely even noticing that she was about to cry "Yeah of course; you know any other blonde's in this town. Now what the hell happene-" he let out a startled grunt when the pinkette wrapped her arms his neck and cried into his chest.

His eyes flashed up to Tazuna for answers, only to see the elderly man in shock as well. _'What the hell? You'd think I died or something?'_ he thought and placed his hands on Sakura's shoulders, gently pulling her off him so he could speak to her face-to-face.

"What happened Sakura, and why are you crying?" his bewildered expression grew tenfold when she told him that they all thought he was dead. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a shout to his left; his eyes landed on Sasuke who was pulling a sharp senbon from his thigh.

"Sasuke's not going to last long by himself" he muttered, forgetting that Sakura was right next to him and could hear every word he was saying. "I have to help him, but with half my chakra sealed off, the drug and my wounds I'd get us both killed."

He bit his lip and considered the options; Sasuke and Kakashi didn't know he was alive yet and no matter how much Sasuke pretended to not like him he knew from experience that the death of someone you have known for even a short amount of time can affect you in battle.

Making up his mind that he could at least try and keep the stubborn Uchiha alive long enough for Kakashi to finish off Zabuza and come to help, Naruto moved off. He ignored Sakura's questions and stood a few metres from one of the ice panels, the air had already dropped quite a few degrees already and his breath was forming little white puffs.

'_If I attack one of the panels it should break right? Maybe Rasengan could crack a few, but I don't think I'll have enough control over my chakra to make more than one to cause enough damage. And I don't want to use too much in case I have to end up fighting this guy; plus I don't even know what will happen to Sasuke if I start smashing.'_

He was brought out of his thoughts when Sasuke once again hit the ground, senbons sticking out all along his right arm. He saw the masked ninja appear in the sheet of ice and his eyes widened when more needles were thrown at his downed teammate. His body moved before his mind could keep up and he found himself taking the attack instead of Sasuke; the needles pierced his chest and he stumbled back, almost tripping over Sasuke.

Naruto hit the ground with a pained groan and brought a hand to his chest, there were five senbon in total and luckily none of them hit any of his vital organs; it still hurt like hell though. "Crap that hurt" he said pushed himself back into a half crouched-half standing position; his legs wobbled and he fell to his knees.

"You ok Show-off?" he asked, turning his head to the side to see both Sasuke and their enemy staring at him in silence. The Uchiha nodded slowly but soon frowned "I thought you were dead dobe?" he asked, his voice probably coming out harsher than he meant. "You sound disappointed Sasuke, don't tell me I'm _that_ annoying." The blonde chirped back, despite the seriousness of their situation.

Sasuke's frown darkened and he stood up, brushing off his wounds and looking down at Naruto; his eyes momentarily drifting to the needles in his chest. He held out a hand and hauled him to his feet beside him, the blonde nodded in thanks and turned to the figure in the mirror who still hadn't moved.

"How are you awake? That drug should have kept you out for almost two days." He said, Sasuke glanced at Naruto in confusion but the blonde wasn't looking at him. "Well even though you gave me a larger dose than normal you underestimated my healing capabilities; I woke up less than an hour ago."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, stepping closer to his teammate so he could hear him better. Naruto gave him a side-long glance and smirked, he nodded at their opponent "This guy ambushed me last night when I left the house, we talked for a bit and he drugged me to keep me out of the way." He explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him.

Sasuke shook his head in annoyance, "Only something as ridiculous as that could happen to you dobe" he muttered, trying to not let the blonde see the relief in his eyes. Naruto snorted and shrugged, without looking he reached up and yanked the needles out of him and tossed them to the floor.

He grimaced and slouched forward for a moment while his breathing levelled out again; once he straightened his usual smile was on his face. "Ready to take this guy out teme, or are you already tired?"

Sasuke grunted and slid into his fighting position next to his teammate; both had identical smirks on their lips as they waited for their opponent to make the first move.

OoOoOoOoO

"Well well well, their fighting Zabuza Momochi huh. He goes for quite a lot." The first man said.

"Wasn't he in the same group thing as the Fish?" his partner asked as they both watched from the top of one of the cranes. Nobody noticed them, being too preoccupied with their fights to sense anyone other than their opponents.

"'The Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist' you moron. Now, there's our target." The second figure sneered and followed his partners gaze until he to spotted the bright blonde hair that stuck out like a beacon in the dreary landscape. His eye narrowed as he watched the boy avoid a spray of senbon by rolling to the side, the dark haired boy with him seemed to be faring a little worse judging by the amount of blood that was already covering him.

"Psh, I've said it before and I'll say it again. That little brat's too scrawny to be a jinchuuriki." His companion didn't respond; he didn't take his eyes off the blonde. Watching as the boy flipped and twisted out of the way, only rarely getting hit.

'_He can dodge, and he is obviously very light on his feet; but his eyes, he is distracted? Yes he is, he's worried about his teammate. The other boy, who is he?'_ to answer his own questions he pulled out a folder from inside his cloak; not bothering to explain what he was thinking to his stupid partner.

He flipped through the pages until he came across what he wanted _'An Uchiha, interesting. Must be Itachi's younger brother, the only one he left alive.' _"Woah! Looks like the blondie has more guts than I thought."

His companion's excited comment drew his attention from the small booklet and back to the fight happening inside the ice dome.

His eyes were drawn to the downed Uchiha and their target standing protectively over him. Slowly the blonde's legs gave out and he fell to the ground, not moving.

OoOoOoOoO

Things were not going in their favour.

That became clear when more and more needles found their way into their bodies; the fact that whatever drug Naruto had been hit with still wasn't out of his system only made things worse for them.

The blonde was moving perfectly fine considering the wounds he had, but he was slower, much slower than he normally would be; and this meant his reaction time was border-line pathetic compared to when he was at full strength.

Sasuke stumbled back as yet another several senbon pierced his legs, they were both tired and wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer.

Naruto hit the ground and slid until he was laying on his back next to Sasuke. His half-lidded blue eyes gazed up at him "You doing alright Show-off? Not about to die on me are you?" his voice lacked its cheerful and teasing tone, making the Uchiha realise it was probably worse for his blonde teammate than him.

From what Naruto had told him briefly about the drug it made him slower and felt like his body was ten times heavier than it should be, he also said how it blurred his vision and made him drowsier.

The strain he was putting on his body must be enormous and Sasuke could see that the only thing that was literally keeping him up and fighting was that he wanted to protect him. If it was a different time and situation he would have felt as if the blonde was looking down on him and didn't trust in his abilities, but for some reason he was glad that Naruto was here fighting beside him. He knew that the chances of them getting out of here were slim, and Naruto was trained by a Sannin for most of his life, the odds that were stacked against them must be glaringly obvious to him as well.

Naruto stood, his legs wobbled but he stayed upright "Come on Sasuke, we still got to beat him; where's all your prodigy material? Don't tell you're burned out already." The weak joke was also missing the enthusiasm Naruto's voice usually had but it was enough for Sasuke to force himself to his feet as well.

"Hn, shut up loser; I'm doing better than you are" he muttered, they were both too tired to bother with their normal banter.

Sasuke caught sight of Naruto's smile and felt his own lips twitch in response. There was an unspoken comment that passed between the two teens; if they were going go down they would do it fighting.

Naruto rolled out of the way as a barrage of senbon hit where he was a few seconds ago; Haku was impossible to keep track of, he was moving way too fast for even Naruto to follow. The only thing that was giving him warning was the rush of air just before the attack; it was the only thing that was keeping him alive. Sasuke had seemed to pick up on some sort of pattern between the attacks but all their enemy had to do was change one move and the Uchiha would be screwed.

Haku threw another volley of needles and took off again, Naruto glanced at Sasuke again for the hundredth time in the few short minutes and watched as his dark eyes flickered to the panel to his left, he saw them widen when their enemy wasn't where he had predicted he would be and the shout caught in Naruto's throat when he saw Haku appear directly behind the unsuspecting boy.

'_No no no no no no no no, not again, I don't want to lose another teammate, never again.'_ His surroundings blurred as the blonde pushed his body to move.

Naruto reached Sasuke's side and shoved the boy out of the way, he hit the floor and stared up in shock at Naruto. Sasuke's eyes widened to the size of saucers when he felt something wet and thick hit his face; he reached up and touched whatever it was, pulling away to see the bright red smeared on his fingers.

Looking up again he noticed more red drops falling from Naruto who stood hunched in front of him with his arms outstretched. After a tense moment on no one moving, speaking or even breathing Naruto turned his head and looked over his shoulder at his teammate. A pitiful smile was twisted on his face and one of his eyes was closed in pain; like Sasuke he had numerous scratches on his face but along with them there were also many spots of his own blood.

"How many times am I gonna…have to do this until you learn…to watch your back teme? It's starting to…..get…old." Naruto fell to his knees and hit the ground face-first, Sasuke stared in shock before the events registered in his brain and he moved forward. Carefully he rolled his teammate over and winced when he saw the damage.

His entire chest was covered in crimson as well as senbon, Sasuke swallowed glanced at Naruto's face. His fringe had fallen over his eyes without his headband and hid them from view; the lower part of his face only had his whisker marks, scattered drops of blood and a few scratches. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked back at the wounds on his chest, he noted with relief that Naruto was still breathing.

"It's his own fault, he cared too much about what happened to you; he let his emotions get the better of him and allowed them to rule over his head." Sasuke closed his eyes and bowed his head, he had no idea why on _Earth_ Naruto would jump in front of him again. He was sure the blonde didn't like him, and that was why he was constantly annoying him; they didn't get along, they weren't friends, yet Naruto threw himself between Sasuke and the enemy without caring about what could happen to him.

'_He's such a reckless idiot. Doesn't he care about himself at all?'_

OoOoOoOoO

"Hidan shut up; you're annoying me."

"Oh come on you uptight money hoarder; even you have to find this freaking hilarious." Hidan smiled madly as he watched the young Uchiha engage the opponent, leaving the injured blonde safely out of the way.

"No, now be quiet before I kill you and pay attention." His partner muttered, opening his folder back up and continued reading while mentally taking notes on what he had witnessed so far.

'_This one is different from the others; most are isolated and hostile towards those around them. He actually seems to rely on the company of his teammates, this could be a possible side effect of a lonely childhood. He also feels the need to protect the Uchiha even though he sustained injuries in the process; this one is definitely different from other Jinchuuriki.'_

Hidan snorted in disdain "Please Kakuzu, there's nothing interesting even going on; the Kyuubi brat isn't even awake." To prove his point the silver haired immortal gestured to said blonde, who's only sign of life was the slight raising and falling of his bleeding chest.

Kakuzu glanced angrily at his partner, "We've been given a job you so shut the hell up and do it." His voice taking on a deadlier tone even though he knew his idiotic partner would be unaffected by it. Hidan crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side while simultaneously narrowing his eyes.

"I don't even get why _we_ have to do this. This is Fish-face's and that bitchy Uchiha's target; I could be doing something much better than following a pathetic group of freaking _kids_ around for Jashin-knows-how-long." Kakuzu proceeded to ignore his complaints, the silver haired ninja rarely said anything of importance anyway, so why should he subject himself to useless blabber.

"HEY! Are you even listening to me!? You aren't you little bastard are you!"

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi brought his kunai up to block the deadly blow from Zabuza and grunted when the enormous amount of pressure was added. So far they were both fairly evenly matched, except for the fact that the ex-mist ninja was constantly summoning his mist and making it virtually impossible for him to use his Sharingan effectively.

"What's the matter Kakashi? Feeling the pressure now that you can't use your precious Sharingan? Or maybe it's your little Uchiha student that's got you distracted? He won't last very long against Haku that's for sure" Zabuza laughed manically at the scowl that slipped onto Kakashi's face.

It was true, he was worried about Sasuke. The amount of chakra that Haku had been giving off was jounin level, possibly even a little higher; he knew that although Sasuke was skilled for someone of his age he wasn't ready for an opponent of Haku's degree. If the boy had unlocked his bloodline then he wouldn't be as concerned over his welfare but he knew that Sasuke had yet to do that.

With a pained groan the silver haired jounin threw his enemy away from him, things were dragging out to long and he needed to end them soon. If he wanted to get Sasuke out of whatever situation he found himself in then Zabuza had to be dealt with now.

Quickly his mind planned out several ideas and worked out the flaws while he once again engaged Zabuza in a short hand-to-hand match. He panted as they once again separated an allowed a grim smile to weave its way onto his covered face; he knew what he had to do to win this thing.

OoOoOoOoO

Sasuke grunted as one senbon out of a volley caught him in the upper arm. He knew that at this rate he was going, this fight would soon be over, with both he and Naruto dead; thinking about the blonde cause Sasuke to glance back to the yellow and black bundle barely a metre behind him.

It wasn't like he was concerned about Naruto or anything – because he refused to admit that! –; it was more like he was annoyed that he was out already. You'd expect someone who had trained with a sannin for almost half their life would be able to take more than a couple of hits.

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes.

Even though he hated to admit it, Naruto provided a much needed comfort throughout the battle. His weak and sad jokes, while not doing much, did keep them going; taking their minds off the fact that they both would probably die today.

With Naruto now unconscious – and possibly dead, but he didn't want to think like that just yet – he felt angry; and it was directed at the blonde. Sasuke knew it wasn't fair considering that Naruto had sustained more injuries than him, but he refused to let the fact that Naruto was drugged, terribly injured and severely depleted of chakra nullify his rage even for a moment. Because that raw anger was currently the only thing that was keeping him up and moving, and if it was directed at his teammate that was just too bad for Naruto.

The cat and mouse game that he had been playing with Haku was obviously becoming old, and the next words out of the masked man's mouth clearly enforced Sasuke's thoughts. "I'm afraid that this cannot go on any longer; my master will need me."

Sasuke swallowed down the uneasy feeling that had been growing inside of him. His body was really starting to feel the pressure of the constant strain he was putting on it and aching legs felt like they were on fire.

Against his better judgement his onyx eyes slid quickly to Naruto to check on how he was holding up; unfortunately the small movement also caught the attention of Haku and he too tilted his head to see the downed blonde.

There was a small gust of wind that caused Sasuke's bangs to whip around his face and obstruct his vision for less than a second. It was in the second, when he couldn't see that Haku made his move; quick as lightning he released three senbon however he hadn't targeted Sasuke.

He knew that Naruto was only going to be unconscious for a short while longer, and the blonde was clearly the more dangerous of the genin. So logically, Naruto had to be taken out now if he wanted to finish off Sasuke quickly and join Zabuza in finishing off their job.

Sasuke blinked to clear his eyes of his hair and caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped in that direction and he stopped breathing when he saw the small needles slicing through the air towards Naruto who had yet to wake up.

'_Crap! I'm not going to make it'_ he thought angrily but still pushed his body to move towards his teammate.

OoOoOoOoO

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

Naruto slowly cracked his eyes open and slowly pulled himself up out of the knee high water with little effort. He didn't need to look around to know where he was, the consistent dripping, the fact that everything – even him – had a disgusting yellow tint to it and that he didn't feel like a pincushion right now was all he needed to figure it out.

He was in his mind; or as he and few others knew it: the domain of the Kyuubi.

As soon as he was in a standing position Naruto brushed off the imaginary dust that he knew didn't cling to his black shirt and pants; he did however manage to dispose of a few stray water droplets so it wasn't a complete waste of effort on his part.

Slowly the blonde raised his eyes to the long hallway in front of him, ignoring the pipes that were above and to the sides of him, as well as the occasional puff of steam that escaped.

He felt the familiar tug of the Nine Tail's chakra and rolled his shoulders. The one good thing about being called here by the demon was that all of his physical injuries didn't bother him, so he was going to enjoy the freedom of not hurting everywhere for as long as he could.

As his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the passageway he began to notice wisps of red fluttering around him. A frown marred his usually smiling face _'It's probably something to do with the seal weakening. Kyuubi must be pushing some of it into my system to speed up my healing process; with the seal no longer as powerful – even with Jiraiya-sensei's back-up – it must have found a small crack big enough to pump more chakra than normal into me.'_

'**Damn right you are brat'** Naruto jumped from the sudden voice that seemed to echo around him; he forgot that the fox could read his thoughts. His reaction caused loud and contemptuous laughter to follow the comment.

Scowling darkly he crossed his arms, trying desperately to resist the pull of the demon's chakra. He hated the way the red wisps twirled around him and brushed against his arms and legs, as if coaxing him to move.

Slowly, almost sluggishly Naruto stepped forward. He always ended up in front of the massive cage whether he wanted to or not.

With his eyes firmly glued to the watery ground the blonde began walking; he didn't need to watch to know the way. He had spent quite a lot of time learning his way around, or more specifically, he knew the way that would take him to his prisoner. For a moment he glanced up and to the left just out of boredom and caught sight of something that made his legs freeze.

His mouth fell open in shock and he rotated his body and walked forward a few paces so that he was now less than a foot away from the wall. With a shaking hand Naruto touched gently touched what had attracted his attention.

The crack was huge in his opinion, running from the very top of the hallway to down below the knee high water. It was no more than an inch wide but the very sight of it caused the blonde jinchuuriki to feel sick; he was used to the occasional scratch or chip because he knew that his mind was far from stable. But never in all the times that he had journeyed here, had he come across something as serious as this.

Even though Jiraiya had never outright told him, Naruto knew he was more than likely one step away from totally losing his mind and the very thought of that happening filled him with dread, and it was probably the reason why he was always smiling and joking and helping people. He craved human contact more than most and it wasn't just to make up for all the time he had spent alone throughout his childhood.

It was because he believed that the more people he was friends with, the more people who were close to him and the more that cared about him; that those people would actually give him another reason to fight his battle against his own depression. That the fact that giving up and just letting go wouldn't just affect him, that it would hurt the people he cared about as well.

When his fingers brushed against the crack a small chip fell away and hit the water's surface, creating tiny ripples and a light _'plonk'_ that seemed too loud in the silent passageway. He blinked and let out a gasp at how fragile that crack was, it was like a slap to the face at how delicate his mental stability really was.

Naruto swallowed and slowly stepped away from the wall, his legs wobbled but he ignored the urge to sit down and stare at the break in the metal. The urgent tug from the Kyuubi's chakra drew his attention once again and the blonde shook his head to clear it of his thoughts.

He turned and ran towards his original destination, trying to not think about what he had just seen.

After what seemed like minutes of trudging through the murky water Naruto finally arrived, a little out of breath and still shaken from what had just happened. His eyes studied the gigantic room in curiosity since it was the first time he had actually been here after the back-up seal had been activated.

His eyebrows rose in surprise as he took in the sight in front of him. Everything was the way it usually was, except for the door of the Kyuubi's prison.

On the two walls adjacent to the doors were thick, black and heavy chains criss-crossing the barred opening. Each chain was buried deeply into the cement walls; and in the very middle, covering the proper seal created by his father was a huge lock that went through more than three separate chains that crossed by that certain area.

Slowly Naruto's breathing returned to normal and he stepped forward, causing ripples that entered into the Kyuubi's cage. Suddenly two large glowing red eyes snapped open and easily locked onto his small figure even though the bars and chains in the way. Naruto supressed a shudder at the colour of them, he was instantly reminded of blood and the same sick feeling washed over him again.

With much experience he shoved his uneasy and disgust aside, not really caring if the large fox could sense how he felt towards it. They both shared a mutual hatred for each other anyway, as well as a begrudging respect for the others power and skills.

Without pausing the blonde continued to stride forward until he was less than ten metres away from the demon. Both were silent for minutes, just staring at each other, as they had done many times in the past when they had the 'pleasure' of being in each other's company.

Finally Naruto's curiosity and small amount of fear forced him to speak.

The twelve year old swallowed and closed his eyes, as if trying to find the courage to actually open his mouth. "That crack in the hallway" he began, not opening his eyes because he knew he had the demon's full attention. "Why is it there? Why is it that big?"

He kept his gaze firmly on ground as he awaited the answer from the Kyuubi. He knew that it would tell him soon and thankfully didn't have to wait long.

The giant fox shuffled in its place and continued to stare passively at its host before the usual creepy and sinister grin weaved its way onto the demon's face.

"**You already know the answer to that question Naruto. But if you so desperately wish to know…."** It trailed off and Naruto reluctantly looked up at his prisoner with strange emotion in the boy's eyes, as if he was wondering why the Kyuubi was answering his question so freely and casually.

"**Someone who has suffered as greatly as you – emotionally, physically and mentally – can never fully be healed. Everything that has ever hurt you; every insult, wound or negative emotion leaves their mark on your psyche. In your case this is shown through the scratches along the walls; the particular one you are inquiring about was caused by your fight with that pathetic weakling Kimaru."**

The fox stopped when its host flinched at the name, Naruto slowly nodded to so that he understood. "So that explains why it's so big; I was messed up during that fight. But I had no idea that something that serious could actually mark the walls." Another thought occurred to the blonde and his troubled blue eyes snapped to meet those of the Nine-tails "What would happen if…more cracks like that one damaged the walls? What would happen to me?"

The amusement that danced in the blood red eyes did nothing to easy the blonde's concern; he knew the demon probably found the thought of a mental host funny.

"**If you sustained more damage to your psyche, the most likely outcome would you lose your mind. That would of course only make you even easier to manipulate and make my escape from this disgusting place come even swifter."**

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi flung a kunai and ran forward, his hands flashing through seals that were burned into his memory. He had his plan sorted out and was ready to put it into play, the only thing he needed was to wait for Zabuza to actually do what he wanted him to.

So far neither man had been wounded seriously; barely scratches or bruises from the punches and kicks they had exchanged in their brief but plentiful taijutsu matches. The silver haired jounin let lose a small volley of fire bullets and watched as Zabuza jumped away to avoid some rather nasty burns.

For his plan to come together he needed to get wounded, something that was deep enough to lose a decent amount of blood. But he couldn't just get cut, if he sustained an injury so serious so quickly it might appear that he purposefully allowed himself to get hurt. Zabuza wasn't an idiot, he would be watching for anything Kakashi tried to pull, and if he suspected anything the man would ruin Kakashi's perfectly laid out plan.

So he had to somehow let Zabuza catch him off-guard and get close enough to hit him with his broad sword without seeming to want that exact thing to occur. Kakashi brought up another kunai to parry another full powered swipe from the ex-mist ninja as he waited for the precise moment.

'_Urgh, if I don't finish this soon Sasuke isn't going to last much longer. In fact, I haven't heard much noise coming from his fight in a while; could it be possible that that Haku has already beaten him? No, I can still sense Sasuke's and Haku's chakra signatures and….there's another one.'_

Kakashi's eyes widened when he registered the very familiar yet disturbingly faint chakra of Naruto. _'Naruto's alive!? But how is that possible? Zabuza said they had killed him…..unless Naruto somehow managed to escape them during their fight and Zabuza thought he would die from his injuries. No, he wouldn't accept that; he'd make sure Naruto was out of the way, not just assume, he's too good to make a rookie mistake like that. So what really happened?'_

While his thoughts were preoccupied his right hand – the one holding the kunai – tilted a fraction to the right and provided the opening; one that both Kakashi and his opponent had been waiting for. If it weren't for his sharingan he wouldn't have been able to jump in time so that the blow – which had originally been aimed at his chest – cut into his thigh. Blood squirted out of the wound and ran down his leg and Zabuza's sword, both men separated and Kakashi prepared the final stage of his plan when suddenly the air on the bridge suddenly became heavy and made it difficult to breathe.

Zabuza faltered for a moment when he felt the bloodlust and killer intent surround him; his eyes locked onto Kakashi's figure but found that the man was staring off to the side. _'If Hatake isn't creating that intense malice then where the hell is it coming from? I've never felt anything so deadly in my entire life!'_

Kakashi stopped breathing when he remembered where he had felt the exact same evil chakra; it was twelve years ago on the day that he lost his sensei. "No" he whispered as the slits between the ice panels of the dome began to glow red.

Metres away and safely hidden from the raging fights Sakura choked slightly on the pressure around her. She was well aware that Tazuna wasn't faring any better than she was; in fact he was probably having a harder time considering he was a civilian.

Her mind was literally blank and her body was frozen in pure terror; she had never felt anything so terrible before. It was like the air itself was tainted, and by being in the area she herself was being tainted by whatever was causing this.

'_What is this? Is it…..chakra? There's no way anything this horrible can exist, it's impossible! My entire body is practically paralysed, the bloodlust and hatred in suffocating!'_

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto looked down at Sasuke's still face in shock.

He was well aware of the tears streaming down his face but didn't even bother to wipe them away. Slowly, he reached out and touched the dark haired boy's neck and waited for a sign that he was still alive.

Waited

Waited

Waited

_Waited…_

…_Nothing_

The blonde sucked in deeply and bit his lip, still refusing to take his now shaking fingers away from his teammate. The last few minutes of the fight had been some of the worst and longest minutes of his life.

'_I didn't ask this idiot to protect me. He didn't have to defend me. He shouldn't have died for me. He shouldn't have taken those hits. He shouldn't be dead.'_

Naruto closed his eyes and bowed his head, briefly recalling what had led to this.

OoFlashbackoO

_Naruto glared at the caged beast in front of him and pointed angrily at him "Like hell I'm gonna let you out! I'll never release you you bastard!" the Kyuubi growled and narrowed his own eyes in contempt. Suddenly however he had a blank expression on his usually rage-filled face._

_Instantly sensing the change in the demon Naruto dropped his arm and stared in curiosity "What is it Kyuubi? What's going on?" he demanded. The Nine-tails slowly looked down at his annoying host and smiled exactly the same smile he had whenever he knew something the blonde didn't._

_Fearing the worst Naruto took matters into his own hands when it became clear his demon wasn't going to spill what it knew. Willing himself back to his body and cutting the connection between them; the last thing he heard was the disturbing and downright scary laughter of the Kyuubi ringing in his ears._

_The pain hit him like a barrage of kunai and he hissed from the sudden and unwelcome feeling. Pushing against it he opened his eyes, waiting until the swirling lights and dots faded and he found himself staring directly at something that almost made him have a heart attack._

_If the situation had been different he would have almost found it ironic at their sudden switched positions; but he barely even payed attention to the thoughts running through his head._

_Sasuke was standing over him, his entire body was shaking from the stress and wounds he had received in the past hour and a half, he was covered in senbons and scratches and shallow cuts; as well as a fair amount of blood._

"_S-S-Sasuke?" he muttered, his soft and concerned voice cutting through the silence that had fallen over the three ninja. The Uchiha panted heavily for more than ten seconds before turning his head so he caught Naruto's wide and surprisingly tearful eyes. Sasuke attempted to smile but it came out more as a grimace "About time you woke up loser." His voice was gravelly from the lack of saliva in his mouth "Worrying about you was getting…..annoying. And I was…..getting sick of it."_

_The dark haired boy wobbled dangerously and he stumbled backwards towards Naruto who had rolled onto his side, when his teammate collapsed Naruto was up – ignoring his injuries – and grabbed Sasuke, gently lowering him to the ground._

_The Uchiha groaned and his pale face twisted in pain; it was then that Naruto noticed his red eyes with odd black totems surrounding his pupils. "You got your sharingan" he muttered so quietly that Sasuke didn't even hear him._

_The dark haired boy coughed and placed a trembling hand on his chest as if it would help relieve that pain. Naruto's eyes widened and he shifted his position so that he had his right arm wrapped around his teammate's shoulders with the boy's head resting on his knee and his left hand hovering over Sasuke's chest, not knowing what to do._

"_N-Naruto" the blonde tensed at his name but snapped his eyes back to meet Sasuke's which were now back to their normal onyx black. "Yeah teme, I'm here." He said while swallowing the lump in his throat._

_A small and weak smirk twisted onto Sasuke's face and the boy let out a deep breath "I didn't….think it would end this way…..for me." He muttered and Naruto tightened his grip on his shoulders. "Well that's good because you aren't dying today Sasuke." The Uchiha either didn't hear him or ignored his comment, most likely the latter knowing Sasuke._

"_I-I still have something I have to do." He whispered and Naruto bit his lip and nodded his head while letting his eyes flicker between his teammate's face and the wounds on his chest, trying to pinpoint which one was the deadliest._

"_My brother – he's….still out there." Sasuke coughed and a small trickle of blood slipped out of his mouth. Naruto narrowed his eyes "Your brother?"_

_Sasuke nodded "I promised m-myself that I wouldn't die….until I-" he took a deep breath "-killed him. But now…" Sasuke's eyes drooped and the blonde felt another level of panic rise inside him; he shook the boy in his arms in an attempt to keep him awake._

"_No no, don't close your eyes teme. Stay with me grumpy, don't be selfish. Think of Sakura and Kakashi and your brother; whose gonna kill him if you croak here huh?" he asked, ignoring how his breath hitched when Sasuke's eyes finally slid shut with a small smile lighting up his face._

OoEnd FlashbackoO

More tears streamed down his whiskered face.

"You stupid idiot Sasuke. We hate each other remember, we're not supposed to be risking our lives for each other; we're not even friends."

"Is this the first time you have witnessed a comrade die?" the cold yet somewhat sympathetic voice broke through the cloud of misery that had surrounded the blonde. Naruto glared and the cement floor and the small damp spots; his jaw clenched and his fists tightened.

"No." He said, his voice firm and rang across the small distance between him and Haku who had not attacked once in the time that Naruto and Sasuke had been talking.

Was it because he respected them enough to allow them time to say goodbye? Or was it because he wasn't a cold-hearted person and took pity on them?

'_I don't care!' _He shouted in his head _'I don't care why he did anything! This bastard killed Sasuke, that's enough of a reason for me to kill him.'_

Naruto took one last look at Sasuke and felt his anger escalate to an unimaginable level; Sasuke didn't deserve to die! The blonde's shoulders shook and his breathing grew shallow; he felt the familiar drug like feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra filling his system. He knew the demon was using his emotions against him, he knew that the more of the red chakra that he used the angrier he became but he didn't care. Right now there was only one thing on his mind.

Naruto slowly stood, red chakra now whipping around him as if it was somehow expressing his fury and sadness. He hunched his back and closed his eyes, allowing the addicting chakra to pour from his body and out into the surrounding space.

Strong gusts of wind began caused his clothing to slap against his skin with enough force to leave marks. Naruto turned around so that he was facing the panel that Haku was currently in, the blonde straightened out his posture and let out of a deep, relaxed breath.

Haku raised his hands help block out the wind and stared at Naruto in horror; _'Where did this insane chakra come from? It's so powerful it's visible! What on earth is he?'_

Naruto's eyes ripped open and the red chakra that twirled around him paused, Haku briefly noted that his cerulean blue eyes were the colour of blood and were filled with utter hatred and promises of death. Naruto raised his hands and brought them into the Tiger hand sign and, not once breaking eye contact with his enemy, the red chakra started to form an orb around the blonde. The feral smile on Naruto's lips from inside the bubble sent a tremor down Haku's spine.

'_I have to stop him before he uses that chakra!'_ he thought and in a desperate last attempt to stop the situation from getting out of hand he threw another round of senbon even though he knew it was too late.

The needles melted before they had even travelled halfway to the bubble Naruto had around him and Haku noticed with awe and fear that ever single senbon that had been in Naruto were now falling to the ground as if some force was pushing them out of his body. He watched as the numerous scratches and cuts that littered his small body sealed shut, all the while the grin on the boy's face had not wavered.

Without any warning Naruto's hands shot out to his sides, it was barely half a second later when the orb that had surrounded him exploded outwards and hit every ice panel. It was another three seconds later when they shattered and fell to the ground leaving Haku without the protective covering of his dome and completely in the open for attack from Naruto.

The blonde was now in a normal standing position and with one last glance back at Sasuke he stepped toward Haku who was still recovering from the suffocating chakra that he was radiating.

OoOoOoOoO

"Holy fuck that's some serious chakra that brat's got." Kakuzu hummed in reply to his partner's rather crude statement. In fact the amount that the jinchuuriki was giving off was enough to raise the temperature by at least ten degrees which was quite surprising; neither of them had suspected the sudden outburst of killer intent to appear.

'_What sent the boy off? It could be the pressure from the fight and he felt like he couldn't win without the aid of his demon but that is unlikely.'_ His oddly coloured eyes scanned the area around Naruto and fell on the still form the boy's teammate. _'Hmm, it could be that the death of the other boy set off some sort of emotional trigger that allowed the demon to release some of its chakra.'_

"Woah look at him go!" Hidan's excited shout drew his attention back to their target. He watched with interest as the blonde sent punch after punch at his weakened opponent; the slaughter continued for almost another minute until the blonde reared back and let out a small shout as he drove his fist forward and smashed it into his enemy's face with enough force to send his mask flying.

The follow up punch clipped the now unmasked boy in the chin and sent him sprawling to the floor. The blonde didn't press him advantage though, instead he slipped out of his fighting stance and just stared down at the figure before him. Kakuzu could sense the tainted chakra of the Kyuubi dissipating and his eyebrows shot up minutely in shock.

'_He has enough control over himself to not let the Kyuubi command his actions. To be so young and already have such resistance to his demon's chakra, Leader-sama was correct in sending us to watch him. The boy is very talented.'_

OoOoOoOoO

Sakura watched in horror as Naruto, her sweet, funny, caring yet secretive blonde fluff-ball, stalked forward while throwing punches at his enemy. The shock of seeing him alive and kicking had worn off a while ago, but the demonic chakra that had somewhat lessened still made her feel sick.

Her lips trembled, but it wasn't from the fight she was witnessing; it was the look on Naruto's face. She had seen the blonde angry but the almost feral and animalistic expression spoke volumes of his rage, the primal intent to kill sent violent shivers down her spine.

"Is that really Naruto?" she whispered and winced when the blonde knocked the older ninja off his feet from one hit. She frowned in concern and fear "Is that terrible chakra _coming_ from him? How? Where does he store it? His normal chakra is so light and carefree; this is dark and evil, there's no way Naruto's producing it."

Slowly her wide eyes dropped to the bundle behind her blonde teammate and tears trickled down her cheeks when she recognised the blue shirt and white pants. "Sasuke? Sasuke!" she shouted, grabbing Tazuna by his wrist and yanking him forward as she sprinted towards the boy in a panic.

Dropping to her knees beside her crush the pinkette gently shook him. When he didn't stir she reached up and brushed his hair away from his face and cupped his cheek, new tears spilled out of her emerald eyes and fell onto his pale face.

"Please be ok. Please Sasuke, you have to be alright."

OoOoOoOoO

"You let your emotion rule your head" Haku muttered as he picked himself up off the cold ground, somewhat surprised that the enraged blonde actually allowed him to do so.

Naruto snarled and clenched his fists "Shut up!" he hissed out, now doubling his efforts to once again gain control over the Kyuubi's chakra; but the demon was stubborn and it was putting up a fight.

Closing his eyes tightly the blonde took in a deep breath and unclenched his teeth and hands, his shoulders loosened and he sighed when the demonic chakra began to recede. "You feel guilty for your friend's death?"

'_Yes.'_

"Is he one of your precious people?"

'_Yes.'_

"No, Sasuke and I hate each other; ever since we first saw each other." Naruto opened his eyes and stared at Haku in anger – though the dark haired boy was happy to note that they were still blue.

They were both silent for a moment, both well aware of their surroundings especially Sakura sobbing in the background and the sound of metal-on-metal clashing from the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Naruto tensed at the question, he knew that minutes ago he wanted nothing more than to put Haku six feet under; but now that he had cleared his thoughts he hesitated in actually carrying out the deed. He never did like killing, it went against his mission to be nothing like the 'demon child' the villagers had pegged him for and even though he pretended to not care what they thought about him there was still a part of him that craved the village's respect and acknowledgement.

It was more than likely the reason he was still in Konoha and not burning it to the ground; why he was wearing the headband and going on missions. He bit the inside of his cheek as his mind ploughed on and got off his original train of thought.

He had told Konohamaru that he no longer wished to be Hokage, because the only reason he had aimed for the position was because the villagers and ninja would have to respect him. But if he was unsure about his motives for staying in Konoha, how could he be sure he doesn't want to be Hokage anymore? It had plagued his mind since he left the Fire Country years ago, and doubled when his parent's identities were revealed to him.

When Jiraiya had told him that his father had been the Hokage, _the strongest ninja in the Leaf Village and its leader_, he had been shocked and guilty. How could he have ditched the place his parent's loved so much? How could he hate the village they died protecting? But then he remembered his life there, and how he was treated and he would brush those thoughts aside and focus on his training.

Naruto gulped and frowned, he may be an excellent ninja with good skills and an arsenal of deadly jutsu but he wasn't a killer. He always tried to find a way to help someone rather than off them like some heartless monster; he was a peacemaker right down to his core. That didn't mean he wouldn't kill if someone he cared about was in trouble – hell he'd probably take on a whole army by himself if it meant Jiraiya or even Team 7 now, would not get hurt.

But this guy killed Sasuke…

"No" he glanced up just in time to see the surprise on Haku's bruised face "I won't kill you because I'm not some murderer. I just don't do that, and I can tell you're not one either. You only do these things for Zabuza don't you" the dark haired boy didn't meet his piercing eyes.

"He's the person you'd give your life for. He's _your_ precious person."

"I told you earlier, Zabuza saved me from my past and gave me a purpose. I am a tool at his disposal; however now….." Haku caught Naruto's eyes "I am no longer of any use to him if I have been beaten by you; so I ask that you please kill me since I have failed in my purpose."

Naruto stepped back and his mouth fell open in disbelief. He had had many people request many things from him in his short life, but he was pretty sure this was the first time someone had asked him to end their life.

"W-what?" he stuttered, involuntarily shaking his head vehemently. Seeing the confusion and uncertainty flitter onto the young boy's face made Haku almost want to smile, it was hard to believe that only moments ago he was radiating enough chakra to be on par with a Kage. The boy before him seemed so innocent and incapable of the deed that was just asked of him and it made Haku wonder if the blonde before him was the _real_ Naruto or was just caused by a lapse in his attention.

He need got a chance to repeat his request – even though he knew without a doubt that Naruto had heard him – because an angered shout and a loud clanking noise drew their focus from their current conversation to the fight happening around fifteen metres from them.

Naruto's eyes widened when the mist began to shift and he saw Zabuza with roughly ten dogs of all sizes clamping down on his limbs and pinning him. A sharp and high-pitched crackling accompanied by bluish flashes began; Naruto quickly scanned the bridge and he gasped when he found the cause of the ear-aching sound.

Kakashi stood, covered in blood, cuts and bruises with his Sharingan blazing brightly even over the distance between them and his chest was heaving with every breath. Naruto watched in astonishment and admiration as Kakashi continued to power up his strange jutsu; it was obviously a type of lightning based move judging by the small wisps of electricity that was flying wildly around him.

With no warning Kakashi charged forward with his arm ready to thrust the jutsu into his imprisoned enemy. The soft rustling of clothing alerted him to the movement near him and without looking Naruto knew Haku was moving. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and he started towards Zabuza, trying to stop what he knew was coming. But it was too late.

Kakashi was barely a metre from his target when Haku blurred in front of him, a look of utter calm on his young face.

'_Damn it, I can't stop!'_

"HAKU!" Naruto screamed in horror, not caring that they were supposed to hate each other. Right now all he saw was Kakashi's flashing hand disappear into Haku's chest with a sickening squelching noise.

The dogs surrounding Zabuza disappeared and Kakashi wrapped his spare arm around Haku's upper body as he jumped away, taking the boy with him but not before Zabuza made one last attempt to kill Kakashi by slashing through Haku. He landed safely away and gently the Konoha jounin laid Haku on the ground and removed his bloody arm from him.

Naruto sprinted forward, glancing up once to Zabuza who was looking at Haku's body with a blank expression. The blonde skidded to a halt next to his sensei and knelt next to the body while Kakashi stood and turned to face Zabuza only to almost reel back in surprise at the sight behind the other jounin.

Following his gaze Zabuza looked over his shoulder and growled when he saw the crowd behind him who were approaching with confidence. Naruto softly put a hand on Haku's chest, as if needing to touch him to believe he was dead "It happened so fast" he murmured and let his eyes travel up to the scene unravelling in front of him.

"Well Zabuza, I knew it was a mistake to hire you and your little weak friend. That's why I came here with my back-up plan." Gato, who was a short man with a sleek black suit and spectacles as well as dirty blonde hair, gestured behind him at the hundred or so mercenaries who all sported dangerous looking weapons.

Naruto pushed himself into a standing position, the action causing the greedy little business man to look at him and consequently Haku as well. A feral grin lit up the man's wrinkled face as he spotted the blood on both young ninja – Haku from the hole in his chest and Naruto from kneeling in the boy's blood.

"Ha, looks like the little runt got what was coming to him then. Did you do that blondie? I should thank you for getting rid of that annoying pest for me then huh." The smugness in his gruff voice caused Naruto to bar his teeth and step forward threateningly "I see your pathetic goons can't even pass on a little message Gato; though I wouldn't be surprised if the left the village though after the scare I gave them." He growled back.

The short man's demeanour changed almost instantly at the mention of the threat Naruto had sent him though his men. "So you're the little arrogant brat that thinks you can boss around someone as important and powerful as me? Funny, I imagined someone taller" Naruto bit his bottom lip in an effort to refrain from retorting to the man.

"Naruto, what is he talking about?" Kakashi asked, turning his head to see his student. Naruto made a gurgling sound and narrowed his eyes "He sent a couple of idiots to finish off Tsunami and Inari, I got there in time and told them to tell Gato that if he messed with the town or Tazuna's family I'd hunt him down. Unfortunately the guy didn't get the message."

Kakashi placed a calming hand on the blonde's shoulder, he sighed quietly and rolled his neck to release some of the tension that had built up since the beginning of the mission. "Well Kakashi, it appears that since I'm fired I'm no longer your enemy."

The two Konoha ninja looked at Zabuza who stood holding his middle and staring at Gato's crowd of men. Kakashi nodded in agreement, though somewhat hesitantly, at the wounded man's statement.

"I guess so" he said, his tone clearly saying how strange he found the turn of events and Naruto resisted the urge to smirk at his sensei's predicament. "Well Zabuza, since you are no longer in my employment and your annoying pet is dead–"

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto snapped and ran forward until he stood in line with Zabuza who sent him a sidelong glance but Naruto wasn't paying attention to the ex-mist ninja; they were no longer enemies so why would he attack him?

"You have no right to talk about Haku like you're better than him!" before Gato could reply Zabuza sighed and looked at the blonde. "Be quiet boy" he ordered and narrowed his eyes when Naruto spun to him and growled.

"You! What the hell is wrong with you anyway!" surprised by the sudden outburst Zabuza didn't say anything as the short blonde stepped closer to him and pointed at Haku's body to emphasize the point he was about to make.

"He just gave his life to save you, the least you can do is stick up for him! He told me you saved him from his childhood, he cared for you but all you do is stand here and act like he was nothing but dirt to you! Did you care about him at all? Or was he just some tool to you?!"

Naruto panted slightly at the end of his small speech and glared furiously at Zabuza who was staring at him strangely. He opened his mouth to continue but stopped when Zabuza held out a hand to him, not understanding Naruto just stared at the outstretched appendage in confusion.

"Give me a kunai brat." He ordered roughly and, dumbfounded Naruto complied by slipping a regular kunai into the dark skinned hand. "What are you gonna do?" he asked, his voice quiet yet understanding, Zabuza smirked and looked at Naruto; taking in everything from his bright blonde locks and worried yet mature blue eyes to his black ninja sandals.

'_I must be pitiful to be listening to this brat. Though who would have thought someone with such a ridiculous attitude for a shinobi could actually make a heartless and wretched bastard like me show emotions?'_

Without answering Zabuza turned his back on Naruto, the man didn't turn around as he rushed towards the group of mercenaries "I'll show you disgusting excusing for human beings why I'm known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist" he growled.

Naruto watched silently as the man plunged straight into the mass of armed men, he made no move to help Zabuza or stop the slaughter that was about to occur. Swallowing thickly he winced as the first man was struck down, a spray of red liquid splashed across the bridge along with the gurgled scream of the unfortunate man.

With a shudder the blonde forced himself to not turn away, since he had technically been the thing that made Zabuza carry out the murderous act. Kakashi placed a hand on his student's shoulder as he too watched Zabuza slowly make his way towards Gato. The horrified shouting and thudding of bodies echoed across the bridge and Naruto narrowed his eyes when Zabuza got hit with multiple swords and spears.

The dark haired shinobi staggered for a moment before continuing his slaughter. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek when he completed his goal and gave Gato one good slash across the chest, sending the small man flying back metres and almost rolling over the unfinished edge of the bridge.

Shaking Kakashi's hand off him the blonde moved forward, watching as Zabuza hit the ground and the left over mercenaries turned back to them. He could literally see the 'Now what do we do?' written on all of their faces.

One particularly stupid-or brave depending on how you looked at it-man stepped forward and grinned darkly at the beaten up forms of the Konoha shinobi. He turned to the group and shouted aggressively "Come on men! If Gato can't pay us then we'll just take what we want from the village!"

Naruto glared at the bunch of cheering men and resisted the urge to snort, if they thought he was just going to let them waltz passed him and attack the village then they weren't giving him enough credit. Glancing over his shoulder at Kakashi he gestured to the mercenaries steadily moving towards them.

"You mind if I take these guys down sensei? Or do you want the honours?" the silver haired man smirked and waved the blonde on "You sure?" the blonde asked again.

Facing forward again the blonde brought his hands together and focussed his chakra, normally he didn't even have to use the hand sign but with his depleted source of chakra and the fact that he had almost been overcome by the Kyuubi's chakra not minutes before made him a little more cautious.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" he muttered and looked on in satisfaction as more than a hundred clones appeared around him. The mercenaries faltered when they saw the sheer mass of the force they now faced and many cast uncertain glances at the man who had rallied them.

"If you think we're just gonna let you plunder that village think again!" the Naruto's called, only the original stayed silent. He turned his head when he felt numerous chakra signatures coming their way and blinked in surprise and amusement when he spotted Inari leading the villagers their way.

'_Looks like the little brat gathered the whole town.'_

OoOoOoOoO

Sakura watched through teary eyes as the villagers chased off the enemy along with the numerous Naruto's. Her throat was sore from crying and her chest hurt painfully, she looked down at Sauske's cold and pale face again and leaned down until her forehead was pressing against his chest, new tears trickling down her cheeks and onto the dark blue fabric of his shirt.

A low groan made her freeze and instantly spring up to stare in amazement as her crush stirred and coughed raggedly. His coal black eyes opened just a crack and he frowned in pain "What happened?" he asked, his voice was quieter than normal and wavered slightly as he tried to sit up with jerky movements.

"Here, let me help" Sakura said as she grabbed his forearm and pulled the boy to his feet where he swayed momentarily before glancing around and catching sight of Kakashi and Naruto standing a little ways away. Curiously he glanced at the girl supporting her weight "Where's Haku? And Zabuza? How long was I out?" he asked.

Sakura blinked owlishly up at him "Oh, Naruto broke that ice jutsu and started beating up Haku, but…..Kakashi was going to hit Zabuza with this weird jutsu and Haku jumped in the way and took the hit. He died. Gato showed up and I don't know how but I think Naruto was yelling at Zabuza and convinced him to fight against Gato and his men. I'm not sure if he's still alive."

The Uchiha took a moment to process the information and nodded slightly in thanks, he turned back to find both Naruto and their sensei walking towards a dark shape near the end of the bridge. His eyes strained to see exactly what it was and his mouth parted in surprise when the two Konoha shinobi brought it closer.

He watched as they lay Zabuza down next to another bundle that Sasuke recognised as Haku and step away from the two partners. Naruto glanced over at them and Sasuke saw the blonde stumble in surprise, his entire body froze and his mouth dropped open.

"Naruto! Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke's ok!" Sakura shouted happily and waved the two over. Kakashi smiled and began moving towards them, slightly limping from his wounds while Naruto shuffled after him, his face strangely passive.

"I'm glad to see you're already up Sasuke, you had us scared for a moment." The jounin's smooth voice called as they reached the second half of their team. Naruto blinked and averted his gaze when Sasuke glanced at him, causing Sakura and Sasuke to frown slightly at him.

Kakashi glanced down at the uncharacteristically quiet blonde and seemed to understand the reason for his withdrawal. A light smile found its way onto his masked face and he placed a hand of Sakura's shoulder, instantly claiming the young pinkette's attention from her teammates.

"Sakura, why don't we leave these two for the moment and start organising the clean-up?" he could see the uncertain look that flittered across her face and began steering her away from Naruto and Sasuke who barely acknowledged their departure.

Naruto shifted his weight and pursed his lips while trying to ignoring the Uchiha's gaze; they both remembered the fight that had only happened less than twenty minutes ago and the moment when they both thought they were going to die.

Sighing deeply he decided to suck it up and looked up, catching Sasuke's questioning look right away. He scanned the pale skinned boy's face for almost thirty seconds before a small yet uncertain smile formed on his lips. "It's good to have you back Sasuke, I'm….." he trailed off and bit his lip "I'm glad you're not dead."

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto hummed softly to himself as he knelt down and picked up a handful of dirt from the freshly dug grave in front of him. He felt his teammates watching him but didn't pay them any mind, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, and enjoyed the slightly salty taste it left in his mouth.

"You know" he said softly, his team looked at him expectantly "Even though they were hired to kill us and one of them ambushed me and drugged me; I liked them" he said as calmly as if he was discussing the weather.

Sasuke rolled his eyes but a small smile twisted its way onto his face at the blonde's words. Only he would say something like that.

Naruto dropped the small pile of dirt and took one last look at the two graves, one with a giant broadsword stabbed into the ground and the other with a sash draped over the cross before turning and putting his hands behind his head and walking away.

"Come on, let's go. All this standing around is boring me" he was given slightly strained smiles from his teammates as they all began the long journey home.

Naruto hummed quietly to himself but with no one else talking the gently sound he was creating floated through their group, and unknowingly, drew the attention of the other three to him. The blonde closed his eyes as he let his legs carry him forward and remembered the friend who had taught the song to him.

He smiled at the memory but was almost immediately drawn out of his thoughts by Sasuke whose shoulder brushed against his. Naruto didn't stop humming but did turn his head to stare expectantly at the dark haired Uchiha. Sasuke glanced at him and sent a small, barely noticeable smirk his way, which Naruto returned with his own bright smile.

Kakashi watched the silent interaction between the two boys and nodded in satisfaction at their budding friendship. Jiraiya had been right when he had placed Naruto on a genin team with people closer to his own age; it was obviously doing the boy good to communicate with other children.

"I'm gonna miss this little town" Naruto said softly and they all nodded. Since Gato had been killed and the mercenaries chased away the town no longer feared for their lives and the small fishing village had begun to flourish once again.

"Please, you'll just miss the bridge" Sasuke stated bluntly and rolled his eyes when the blonde smiled slyly at him. "You're just jealous because I got something awesome named after me, teme" he added at the end and in a much lower tone so that only Sasuke could hear him.

Naruto watched out of the corner of his eye as the Uchiha's hand twitched slightly at the insult and a pleased smirk lit up his face. In the short time he had joined this squad Naruto had been finding out different ways to get under the 'emotionless' boy's skin; and he absolutely loved getting a reaction out of him.

Sakura looked up at Naruto once she was sure he wasn't watching but her confused emerald eyes slid away almost as soon as she had locked onto his figure. Her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth as she gnawed at it in worry and a small amount of fear.

The events from the fight on the bridge were still fresh in her mind and the pinkette was growing more and more uneasy of the blonde walking just in front of her.

Every time she closed her eyes she could see the evil red chakra that had surrounded her blonde teammate and the look on his face. She only remembered one other time when the boy's eyes had been red and that was shortly before Kakashi had come clean and voiced his thoughts about the possibility of Zabuza still being alive.

But even though Naruto had been angry in that situation, when fighting with Haku he looked like he almost _enjoyed_ beating the living daylights out of the long haired boy.

Hearing the clear sound of Naruto laughter she glanced up again and saw the blonde holding Sasuke in a headlock for some reason, only to let him go a few seconds later after ruffling his hair to the point where it looked nothing like his normal style.

The pinkette looked at her sandals and swallowed lightly as she returned to her previous train of thought. She pursed her lips as she reviewed the information she had collected.

Naruto was the son of the fourth Hokage, one of the greatest ninja in their village's history; he was extremely strong himself and was trained by the Sannin Jiraiya for most of his life on a training trip. He was funny, caring, supportive, friendly, helpful….and yet there was something else, something much darker that she could sense lurking just below the blonde's cheerful attitude.

'_Could that chakra have come from Naruto? I knew he was distraught when he thought Sasuke died but that still doesn't explain _where_ the chakra came from. From the first day of the Academy we were taught that chakra is usually blue, with the exception of certain jutsu like healing techniques; but they never said anything about the existence of such tainted chakra before.'_

Frowning in concentration Sakura continued to examine what she had discovered. She was truly scared for and _of_ her blonde teammate, because she didn't understand anything about him. He was like an enigma to her, constantly doing something that changed her opinion of him before going back to the way he was before and acting like he had never done anything in the first place.

"Hey Sakura, put the pedal-to-the-metal!" she looked up to find all three of her male comrades waiting more than thirty metres in front of her. She flushed in embarrassment when she realised that she had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she had actually stopped moving. Naruto had been the one to shout and as she drew closer and avoided looking him in the eyes a small worried frown appeared on his face.

'_One thing is for sure. I can't just start _not_ trusting Naruto, I don't have all the answers and it wouldn't be fair to judge him based on my silly suspicions. I won't tell Sasuke either, just until I'm sure.'_ Nodding in agreement to her thoughts the pink haired genin smiled slightly, now determined to discover what secrets Naruto Namikaze held.

OoOoOoOoO

**Well, Chapter 11 is officially done.**

**Sorry if the last battle between Zabuza and Haku seemed rushed, I was just really sick and tired of the major choice of killing them or letting them live. As you can see, I decided to just kill them and save myself the trouble.**

**Forgot to put this at the top:**

**I don't own any of the original Naruto characters, other than my OC's and the plot everything else isn't mine.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, just want to clear some things up before the chapter begins.**

**First things first, I am actually jumping ahead days at a time and skipping out certain events like training sessions and all of the bonding they are going through so if the team seem closer than they were a chapter ago or whatever please take this into consideration.**

**Another thing is that even though my Naruto is a little dark and more distant than he appears in the show and manga and has some major trust issues; [how he ended up like this will be revealed in the Chunin Exams arc], he's still Naruto.  
>And as we all know Naruto is a people person by nature, so it does make sense that he is beginning to like Team 7 since he's spending almost every day with them.<strong>

**Also, yes this will be following the main story line **_**mostly**_** [i.e. only up to a certain point before it will become more AU]. I will however be making some changes that will hopefully make my fanfiction better.**

**Thanks to those who took the time to read this, I appreciate it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi smiled at his genin team as he watched them over the rim of his glorious novel. It never ceased to amaze him how alike they were to when he was their age on his own squad. His dark eye watched as the three twelve year olds chatted quietly to each other as they approached the main entrance to Konoha.

He was both pleased and shocked at how quickly the group had become closer, especially Naruto and Sasuke. He suspected it had something to do with the mission to the Wave country and what happened in the ice dome but when asked both clammed up, unwillingly to relive those still fresh and painful memories.

While there was still some tension among the children, mainly due to the fact that Naruto still guarded himself from them and Sasuke's cold frontier, the three worked excellently together like a well-oiled machine.

Naruto had been unofficially voted the second in command considering his experience and skill by far outweighed the others and in the moments when Kakashi left them to deal with something important he was happy when he discovered that the blonde easily slipped into the role and accepted criticism and advice from those around him.

"Hey sensei?" the silver haired jounin blinked from his thoughts and turned his attention to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura who were all glancing back at him. Sakura, being the one who had spoken continued, "Are you alright?"

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled the girl's pink locks, to which she gasped in horror and immediately set to fixing them, much to the amusement of the two boys walking next to her. Kakashi did not miss Naruto lightly jabbing his elbow into the Uchiha's side and whispering something to him while gesturing to the fussing girl, the comment making the dark haired boy roll his eyes with a small smirk dancing on his pale face.

Shaking his head at their antics the jounin pointed to the two guards sitting in the small booth by the gate "I'll go sign us in, why don't you three head off to the Hokage's Tower. I'll catch up when I'm done." Nodding obediently Team 7 continued towards their destination while picking up their previous topic of conversation.

Naruto's eyes darted around the busy street in boredom, only half listening to Sakura as she informed both he and Sasuke about how she hadn't liked their latest mission. It was when they were halfway to the Tower when he noticed the strange looks their little group was getting, namely him and Sasuke.

The whispering soon started up and only Sasuke seemed to be aware of it, though he was pointedly ignoring the comments he could hear, being surrounded by this all of his life. The blonde however narrowed his eyes microscopically when a group of middle aged men glared at him in resentment.

He knew it was asking too much for the entire village to accept him straight away (hell they should be the ones asking for _his_ acceptance!), and many of them still couldn't get over the fact that he was the son of Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, both very well-known and respected shinobi.

Naruto knew that a small population still bore a dark hatred towards him because of him holding the Kyuubi, and he had heard the types of things those few people said about him. Claiming that he was a demon that was disgracing the Fourth's name by masquerading as his son, that he was a liar that deserved to die for the sins the Kyuubi had committing against the village twelve years ago.

The blonde had known this would happen when he returned, he had told Jiraiya so but the Sannin had told him that over time everyone would see him for what he was: 'a caring, sweet, innocent young man with a heart of gold'.

As they drew further and further from the group of men Naruto felt himself relaxing slowly. He was in the clear and knew that the main reason for that was probably because he was walking directly next to the last Uchiha in Konoha who everyone loved and worshipped the ground he walked on.

Over the last month or so it was clear to whoever looked that the two boys were friends – or as friendly as you could be with two secretive, mysterious boys who were constantly bickering like five year olds. So attacking someone who was close to Sasuke Uchiha, especially when the mentioned boy was in full view was not the smartest move in the book.

"You ok Naruto?" Sakura asked, tilting her head inquisitively to the side; her question also bringing the attention of Sasuke who glanced at him out of the corner of his eye with a frown.

"Huh? Oh yeah, fine Sakura. I'm just a little tired from the mission is all, nothing life-threatening I promise you." He smiled warmly at her and turned down the street that led them to the gates of the Tower where they would report.

Placing his hands behind his head and whistling happily the blonde quickly began making his way up the stairs, his two silent teammates picking up the pace. They both shared a look of confusion at how Naruto was practically jogging to get to the Hokage's Office.

Pushing open the door and entering the hallway where their destination was. They all blinked in surprise when they spotted Kakashi leaning against the wall next to them. He smiled smugly at the genin and waved at them, enjoying the bewildered expressions on Sakura and Sasuke's faces and the annoyed one on Naruto's when he realised how he had gotten in front of them.

As the blonde moved passed the jounin he swore he heard the words 'cheater' grumbled out of his mouth. Chuckling quietly to himself he pushed off the wall and followed his students as they marched to the door at the end of the hallway.

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi waved goodbye before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving his three genin standing in the busy main street of Konoha.

Sakura bit her lip and cast a shy glance at Sasuke who was to her left and staring at the place where their sensei had been moments before. "Um….Sasuke" she began and shuffled so she was facing him more. The Uchiha looked at her blankly, no doubt knowing what she was about to ask having gone through this situation many times before.

"I was wondering…" the pinkette couldn't hold his gaze and dropped her eyes to the dirt ground, wondering if her face matched her hair yet. The question seemed to get caught in her throat when she picked up on his irritation.

"Hey why don't we all go get something to eat?" Naruto suggested suddenly and slightly louder than necessary. He did however successfully break the awkward silence growing between Sasuke and Sakura. She didn't miss the almost grateful glance her crush sent to the blonde and her head and shoulders slumped when she realised that Sasuke would never see her the way she saw him.

"Lead the way teme" Naruto chirped happily and practically shoved the dark haired boy in front of them so he began walking. The blonde waited a moment, and then fell into step with his female teammate. With his hands behind his head he watched her downtrodden expression with a small amount of sympathy.

He had long since gotten over his crush on Sakura, but a tiny part of him still cared deeply for her – this had also grown into over the time he had been on the team – and it hurt him to see her in this state. Sighing he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer so her arm was brushing against his side.

She blinked in confusion and looked up at him to see a small smile. "You still after the ice-cube's heart huh?" Sakura sighed lightly and nodded, knowing that Naruto obviously already knew the answer.

"He just doesn't…" she muttered and tilted her head to the side "see me, you know?" Naruto frowned in concern and the smile fell from his face. He tightened his grip around her, offering a sort of silent comfort which the upset girl accepted without complaint. He silently vowed to help Sakura, even if she didn't know it.

Soon they slowed and stopped in front of small café.

Clearing his throat the blonde stepped into the shop, and left his two friends outside while he ordered for them. Sakura made sure to keep her eyes locked onto her dirty sandals even though the temptation to gaze at Sasuke was enormous. His silent rejection stung, and it hurt even more so that Naruto had been forced to interrupt before things got too _weird_.

Her mind sifted through every interaction she had even had with the Uchiha and her heartache grew when she recalled how the only times he really payed attention to her was in training, and that was only when he _needed_ to. If he wasn't focussing on the mission or training he was sparring with Naruto, talking with Naruto or just standing there listening to Naruto.

She knew that something had happened between the two of them in that ice dome; something tragic and life-changing that made them a lot closer than they ever were. She also knew that judging from the death-like state Sasuke had been in and the absolute merciless side of Naruto that had been revealed that the happy-go-lucky blonde though Sasuke had truly died.

But it had to be more than just that surely?

Sakura had read in the academy that ninja often bonded over life-threatening situations, because whether they liked it or not a strong connection was forged. She understood that this would happen between her two teammates, but what confused even her brilliant mind was how the two boys now communicated with each other. Naruto could say more than a thousand words to Sasuke in a single nod, and vice versa, it was like they could read each other's minds. Sakura often felt like she was on the outside looking in on some secret club that she so desperately wished to be a part of yet didn't know how to join. She hoped, _prayed_, that one day, she too would be able to tell her teammates very thoughts just by looking at them but right now, she very much doubted that would happen.

Something had changed the relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, and it was more than just one of them being seriously injured. But it was a mystery, a secret Sakura vowed to one day be privy to.

After a few minutes the blonde exited the café with a bag and handed out the different meals he had purchased for his teammates. He smiled, nodded, said goodbye and that he'd see them tomorrow, and then disappeared onto the rooftops before either of them could respond.

Sakura clutched the boxed meal to her chest, her eyes flickered to Sasuke but he was already turning as if to walk away. Without saying goodbye she spun on her heels and slowly trudged back to her home, it wasn't like Sasuke would even notice she was gone.

OoOoOoOoO

**Next morning, 9 o'clock**

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto sat talking quietly under what had officially been claimed as 'their tree' while waiting for Kakashi to show up and tell them either what their training would be or what their mission is.

There was undeniable tension in the air, and Naruto had an inkling it had to do with something that had happened after his departure yesterday afternoon but didn't have the guts to broach the topic while both of his teammates where here.

'_I'll just corner one of them and weed the answers out, then try and fix this damned quiet.' _he planned quietly in his mind while trying his best to ignore the way neither Sasuke nor Sakura looked at each other. It was painfully obvious what they were doing and the thick silence – which was unusual recently to have between them – was starting to make him feel claustrophobic.

"Hey Naruto" Sakura called softly and waited until the blonde gave her his undivided attention; Naruto barely managed not to jump at her voice. "Ah, yeah. What is it Sakura?" his voice wavered but he was glad that someone was finally talking.

"You know your other sensei, Master Jiraiya" he nodded, curious as to the strange topic she had chosen, Sakura continued. "Well I was wondering if we'd be able to meet him one day. It's just that you've told us a lot about him and he sounds like an interesting person."

Naruto sat back and thought it over in his head. He didn't know when Jiraiya would return from his mission to spy on Orochimaru, but he guessed that he could introduce his team to the man at some point.

"Sure, he'd like that. But I don't know when he'll get back from his mission so it might not be for a while, ok."

"He's on a mission?" Sasuke asked and turned his head to stare at Naruto who absentmindedly waved his hand, his thoughts were starting to whirr with the possible information his guardian could have gleaned in his time behind enemy lines. "Uh, yeah, long term but he should be back pretty soon."

The Uchiha cocked an eyebrow at the airy answer but didn't bother pushing the blonde for more information this time. He had quickly learned that if he didn't stop pestering Naruto about a certain subject that he didn't feel like talking about, the blonde would clam up and ignore anything he said for an hour or so.

He waited another moment to see if either of his teammates would speak but they both had fallen silent. Usually Sasuke would be thankful for this but considering how close they had grown over the time as a squad it felt…weird for them to be so quiet.

He opened his mouth, deciding to begin their ritual of placing a bet on how much longer their sensei would be.

"Twenty minutes" he muttered and leaned back against the tree behind him and closing his eyes. Sakura blinked but then pursed her lips in thought, doing mental calculation on when Kakashi told them to meet and from passed experiences before shrugging.

"Thirty minutes"

Naruto was silent and closed his eyes as if in deep thought before he smirked to himself and shifted in his place beside Sasuke; bring on leg up near his chest and resting his elbow on it. With his opposite hand he simply held up four of his fingers.

The pinkette frowned "Forty minutes?" she asked and the blonde shook his head, the smirk widening ever so slightly. "Nope, four minutes."

Seeing the surprise on their faces just served to increase his amusement tenfold. "But it's only around half passed nine Naruto, Kakashi-sensei wouldn't get here that early" she pointed out.

Naruto pretended to consider her statement, then shrugged "What can I say, I feel lucky today." Of course neither of them knew that he had a clone following their sensei and it reported how quickly he was moving towards them. So either they had a mission or something important had come up. Either way he was going to win without a doubt.

While the others snorted at his comment Naruto pulled from his pocket a small clock and placed it in front of all three of them so everyone could see it properly. In silence they watched as the second's hand began to tick smoothly around the small circle.

The rules of the game were simple.

Whoever bet the lowest time – Naruto in this case – would go first. They had from when they started the clock to when their selected time came around for Kakashi to appear. If he didn't in that timeframe, then that person was out. The second highest bet – Sasuke – had until the first's number passed to when theirs came for Kakashi to appear. The same went for the last team member. If Kakashi appeared in one of their time slots then that person was the winner and the other two had to each buy them one serving of a food of their choosing. If their sensei didn't appear until all of their guesses were extinguished then nobody won.

It was in the last thirty seconds of Naruto's final minute when the silver haired jounin appeared in front of them. Smiling smugly at his teammates Naruto plucked the clock from the ground and turned to Sakura "One miso ramen" he turned to Sasuke "One miso ramen."

Grumbling quietly at their loss Sasuke and Sakura turned to their sensei, glaring at the man.

Standing Naruto brushed off his pants and looked expectantly at his sensei for instructions. Frowning at the troubled look on the older man's face the blonde asked "What's wrong sensei?"

His question brought the attention of Sasuke and Sakura, and they too frowned.

Sighing in annoyance Kakashi's shoulders slumped. "I've been called away on a mission, A-rank so I cannot take any of you with me. I'll be gone for a week, two at most." He informed, and before his genin could interrupt he hurried on. "I've managed to make an arrangement with another jounin; they've agreed to train you while I'm away."

Team 7 was silent for almost a full minute before Sakura spoke up, her tone clearly showing how annoyed she was "Couldn't they send someone else? I thought a jounin sensei only went on missions with his team?" The man shrugged and tapped his covered eye "I'm afraid they need me _specially_ for this mission Sakura, and the orders came from Hokage-sama so unless you want to personally demand I stay in the village…" he trailed off but his suggestion left the young girl shuffling and avoiding his amused gaze.

Naruto sighed loudly and placed his hands behind his head "Do we know them?" he asked, exasperation leaking into his voice and showing how much he didn't want to do this.

Smiling at him Kakashi quickly ruffled his hair "Of course not Naruto, but I made sure to get the best I could for my team. She'll be here in a few minutes so just sit and wait."

He turned and was about to walk away but Sasuke stopped him "Can you at least tell us her name?"

Kakashi stopped and turned back to them, his sole grey eye glinted in humour but that look did nothing to calm the uneasiness rising in them.

"Hmm, I guess it would be unfair to throw you three into the lion's den without a little warning. Anko Mitarashi is her full name but make sure you call her sensei otherwise you'll be in trouble." The ominous chuckling from the disappearing figure of their tall sensei sent shivers running up and down their spines.

"Anko Mitarashi?" Sakura asked quietly, her arms wrapping around her body and her eyes widened with uncertainty. Naruto had his lips pursed and he hummed thoughtfully to himself "I think I've heard of her. She's supposed to be beyond creepy, really loud and obnoxious and annoying, maybe even a bit insane according to Ero-sennin but otherwise an incredibly skilled kunoichi."

"Why is she 'insane'?" Sasuke asked his teammate who seemed to be lost in thought.

"Uh, I think it's because she's a part of the T&I Unit, you know, stands for Torture and Interrogation. Jiraiya-sensei said she's like a complete sadist, enjoys watching others squirm and what-not. Chances of us surviving the next two weeks are slim at best" he concluded.

"Right you are you blonde haired midget!"

OoOoOoOoO

'_I'm going to kill Kakashi-sensei. _Ruthlessly_. And when I'm done not even his best friend would be able to tell it's him.'_

Naruto's dark thoughts continued to swirl inside his aching head.

"Haha, another five laps maggot!" Anko shouted gleefully from her place to the left of Sasuke and Sakura who were making their way painstakingly through a maze of wires.

After her boisterous introduction Anko had declared that they were starting off with a game. And when she asked who had the strongest stamina in their squad Naruto had confidently stepped forward, knowing that with the Kyuubi's chakra flowing through him he was naturally faster and stronger than most his age, having a large pool of chakra and incredible stamina that could keep him going for days.

"_Let's see just how _good_ you are brat"_

He should have backed out, he shouldn't have volunteered, he should have kept a low profile.

But he didn't. And now he was severely regretting it.

Naruto knew Anko knew about the Kyuubi – most Jounin and ANBU did after all – and he knew she knew about his parentage because who the hell wouldn't be able to put two-and-two together when it was so obvious. So she clearly wanted to assess him and his teammates for herself.

And like the idiot he was with an ego too large for his own good he had blindly accepted her challenge.

The psycho woman had sent up the wire maze and ordered Sasuke and Sakura to navigate themselves through it; and every time they came into contact with any of the wires Naruto had to run another five laps of their huge training area.

He had just finished his seventy-third, but now had to keep going for another seven. By now he was feeling a little wilted around the edges and his legs were beginning to burn along with his lungs but he still managed to keep his steady pace because he knew that if he faltered even slightly another _ten laps_ would be added.

Kakashi better watch out when he returned, because Naruto was seriously considering playing target practice when his aloof sensei came back to Konoha.

The only satisfaction he got out of this was the impressed gleam in Anko's eyes whenever he jogged by. He knew that he could probably run another forty maximum before he would have to stop because he was already pumping a good chunk of his chakra into his legs to keep them moving.

"I'm through!" Sakura shouted and turned to watch Naruto as he pressed on. Sasuke wiggled his way out a few moments later and they both caught their breath as the blonde completed his final lap and jogged up to them.

"Well I certainly expected more from you three considering how much Kakashi yaps on about you. But I guess for a bunch of newbies you're average."

Sasuke scowled and was about to speak but Naruto nudged his arm and shook his head, the last thing either of the wanted was another intense 'game'.

"Right now that you babies have had a little snooze how about we get straight into sparring?" it may have come off as a suggestion but the three genin knew that even a hint of disobedience wouldn't end well for them.

In truth Anko _was_ more impressed then she let on. The group's teamwork was pretty good even if they had only been together for a month and a bit. Not once in that entire exercise did they complain or get upset with one another; no they kept their mouths shut and kept going. But she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy tormenting the blonde kid.

He was supposed to be the most skilled out of all of the genin, having had five years of actual experience under his belt as well as being trained by a Sannin. Anko almost felt bad for his teammates with having to put up with being in the same team as someone far above their level. The fact that the kid had a tailed demon inside of him was just like rubbing salt in the wound.

But what really got her interested in Naruto was the rumour that he had faced her old sensei a few times and now had an unfathomable hatred for the snake-like scientist. She could always respect someone who shared her desire to kill that monster.

"Ok, you two" she said and pointed to Sasuke and Sakura, then jabbed her thumb at two of the three wooden post behind her "Start punching and kicking those posts. I want to get a look at your skill level."

Her chocolate eyes turned to Naruto who instantly narrowed his own in suspicion. How she loved the way he reacted. There was no fear in his cerulean eyes but the faint glimmer of challenge and determination to prove himself made her want to push the blonde to his limits and then some. She wanted to see what made him tick but since Kakashi had _politely asked_ her to tone it down for them she was restricted to being a lot less ruthless.

"Midget, on the other hand, will be by that tree and every time one of you makes a mistake or displeases me with your performance he has to do _twenty_ chin-ups."

'_Kami I _hate_ this woman.'_

However the three of them moved to their assigned places without a word, once again amazing the ANBU at how well they took her orders without a peep. It felt good to have so much power, she thought, maybe she should grab a genin squad herself next year?

Sasuke and Sakura weren't even three punches in before Sakura made a mistake. Naruto sighed tiredly and latched his arms onto the lowest branch and began his new torture.

Before the next ten minutes he already had eighty chin-ups to do, and all of the mistakes had come from Sakura so far. Naruto was trying not to be annoyed at her because he knew that she was trying her best and was extremely tired, but as Anko called for another twenty his eye twitched.

Naruto's arms already felt like they were on fire but he stubbornly ignored it.

Anko was openly scowling at the girl now. The pink haired brat didn't even seem to be awake and was making so many mistakes the ANBU almost felt guilty for making it twenty chin-ups for the blonde. Finally she had had it.

"Enough!" she snapped and strode up to the younger girl, her face and posture radiating annoyance.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you even trying Princess?" she shouted and felt a rush a pleasure at how the girl flinched and avoided her gaze. "You're taijutsu is terrible, no, absolutely _pathetic_! If you were fighting an enemy ninja you would have been killed before you could even make your first move! It's little girls like you that give the rest of us proper kunoichi a bad name, you don't understand what it means to be a ninja and if you keep up your crap performance then you never will!"

Naruto frowned and started walking towards them before his brain could catch up with his body. All he saw were the tears in Sakura's eyes and her shaking shoulders. Anko was being too hard on her; and while she did have good points shouting in Sakura's face was not the way to show them to her.

He didn't care that he was being insubordinate. _No one_ made his friend cry and got away with it.

"Cut it out!" he shouted and planted his body between the two females. Anko's eyes flashed dangerously but Naruto refused to stand down "Screaming at Sakura isn't going to do anything. Yes she wasn't doing a very good job but that's no excuse to chew her out like we're in one of your damned interrogation sessions!"

He took a deep breath and continued in a much calmer tone.

"She's just a genin, fresh out of the academy, Anko-sensei, a student and you're a teacher. Instead of screaming at her you should be showing Sakura how to do it correctly so that in the future she doesn't get killed."

Somewhere along his rant Sasuke had slid up next to Sakura and also put himself slightly in front of her to act as another barrier between this unstable woman and his innocent teammate.

The heated glares between Naruto and Anko were so intense you could literally see the electricity shooting between them.

'_Well what do you know…?'_ Anko thought as a begrudging yet impressed smirk curled at the edges of her lips. These kids had more guts than she gave them credit for, especially the two boys. Throwing themselves between their weaker friend and the threat was admirable but it was the way Naruto had defended the girl even though it would only add to his punishment that had her liking this bunch of brats even more.

"Training's over for the day. Be here the same time tomorrow for your next session in hell."

Naruto blinked and relaxed his tense shoulders while tilting his head to the side curiously and disbelievingly. After a minute of closely studying he nodded hesitantly and slowly started walking away with the Uchiha and the pink haired girl trailing behind him.

But before they could get too far Anko's hand clamped down on Sakura's shoulder and kept her in place. The ANBU was amused that she had to assure the two boys nearly four times that she wasn't going to utterly destroy the girl's spirit before they finally disappeared, leaving the two kunoichi alone.

"You've got a good team Princess, with a lot of potential but you'll all fail if _you_ don't start taking your training seriously. You'll drag them down and keep them from becoming spectacular shinobi because they'll spend too much time worrying about _you_ and _your health_."

Contrary to popular belief Anko did have a soft side. But since she had been betrayed by her sensei – someone she had adored – and branded like some animal she had locked it away from the world so as not to be hurt again by anyone. But Naruto's words did have some effect on her.

He was right when he said shouting wouldn't work with this one, so she was trying a different tactic. By telling Sakura the blunt truth, by laying everything at her feet she would hopefully begin to see that everything about her and her choices would come back to her team. If she didn't straighten her priorities right now then she would never succeed in the harsh world outside of Konoha's protective walls.

"B-but…what do I…?"

Anko sighed wearily and rubbed her forehead, it was really hard not to just grab the girl by her shoulders and shake her roughly to get the message through her head.

"Well Princess you have two options from where I'm standing. You can continue being this weak and lousy little girl that screams her head off every time you're attacked or you can grow a pair, man-up and start being a kami-damned kunoichi of the Leaf Village. If you are ready to take life seriously from now on meet me here at four tomorrow morning and I'll give you a one-on-one lesson. No boys, no one else, just you and me. If you don't show up then I'll assume you're content to continue living in your teammates shadows. Your choice Pinkie."

Then with a puff of smoke Sakura found herself alone.

OoOoOoOoO

Sasuke almost stumbled when he caught sight of Sakura the next morning.

Her usual pristine red dress was covered in scratches and dirt, her pale skin was bruised lightly and she had a swallow cut on her cheek that seemed to glow red. But the most astonishing thing was the way her eyes sparkled in happiness and satisfaction.

"Good morning Sasuke!" she chirped at him and sent him the first _real_ smile since her terrible attempt to ask him on a date two days ago. It felt nice to see her smiling again.

"What happened to you?" he asked, letting his eyes once again scan her entire form. Sakura to her credit didn't stutter but her cheeks flushed a little bit at his close scrutiny.

"I've been training with Anko-sensei since four. She's…incredible" the pinkette breathed out in awe at the glow in her emerald orbs increased tenfold. "Did you know she has her own summon Sasuke? It's true, she showed me earlier. It was a snake! And it was _purple_, how strange is that?"

He didn't know why but his lips twitched upwards as he continued to listen to her talk so adamantly about their temporary teacher. He had never seen the pinkette so…so…ninja-like. All of his memories of her had only consisted of an obnoxious girl that blushed and spluttered unintelligibly whenever he glanced at her. He couldn't really remember a time when she had been truly enthusiastic to train, and seeing this side of her made him feel somewhat proud that she was now taking her duty as a kunoichi properly.

"Where is Naruto? I thought you two usually came together" her sudden change of topic snapped him from his thoughts and he shrugged. "He wasn't at his apartment when I stopped by so I assumed he had already left. I didn't see him on the way here though."

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest "Anko-sensei's going to be back soon, she said she had to get something from her home before coming back. If he doesn't get here soon then he'll miss out" Sasuke nodded in agreement as well as acknowledgement of what she said, at least now he knew where Anko had gone to.

"Um Sasuke?" Sakura inquired softly. He tensed out of instinct, this was the exact same tone she – and every other girl – used when she was about to ask him out, and he felt disappointed at how she was already becoming a pest again.

"Anko-sensei told me to practice my new taijutsu style and I was wondering…would you like to spar with me?"

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto groaned into his pillow when he heard someone knocking on the door. He hadn't had a good sleep last night and being woken up at five in the morning was not the best way to start off the day.

He had once again been attacked by his nightmares, well more like memories. The fight with Kimaru had scarred him terribly, even after the physical wounds were gone the lingering horror of what he had inflicted on Naruto's mind had shattered his strong will and left him scared and worried about what would happen in the future.

The gigantic crack in the wall of his mind certainly didn't help ease his concern, and at night when he lay awake he could still see it, proclaiming his damaged psyche to the world. The taunting words of the Kyuubi rung in his ears, keeping him tossing and turning until exhaustion came and left him to the mercy of his dreams.

So naturally after having such a terrible night he had a right to be snappy at whoever was stupid enough to wake him at this unholy hour.

The ANBU agent standing before him simply bowed politely before shooting off his message, disappeared and left the muddled boy to piece together what the man had told him.

"_You are to report to the Hokage's office immediately. He has urgent business with you."_

With a tortured groan he closed the door and quickly had a shower. He wouldn't have any missions today with Kakashi out of the village and it was only the Hokage, a man he had known as long as he could remember; the chance the Old Man would care what he was wearing was slim.

So the blonde settled for pulling on a simple white shirt and his ordinary black pants. He didn't both with the headband but took his weapon pouch and slipped his black jacket over the top, the red swirl on the back in honour of his mother's family.

Naruto locked the door behind him and leapt to the rooftop. His body was slowly becoming more energised from the shower and now that he was using his chakra and moving about over the slowly waking hidden village.

He gracefully landed on the roof of the Tower and entered the building. His steps didn't even make a noise as he descended the wooden stairs; he found it amusing that even when he wasn't trying to be sneaky his body refused to let him be detected.

The receptionist's desk was empty so Naruto simply knocked on the door then opened it and let himself in.

His blinked to adjust to the dim lighting of the office and raised an eyebrow at the fact that the Hokage and an ANBU agent were the only others in the room. The two men looked up at his arrival and the Hokage smiled warmly "Good morning Naruto, we've been waiting for you."

"Yeah sorry about that, I didn't have a good night last night and was a little out of it when your messenger popped by. What did you call me here for?" Naruto walked a little closer to the desk and peered at the unfurled scroll between the two men with interest.

His attention was drawn from the intriguing parchment when the Hokage's face lost all humour and he sat up straight, the ANBU next to Naruto turned to face the blonde with a similar stiff posture.

"I'm afraid something has happened to Jiraiya" the wrinkled man said slowly, as if trying to soften the blow, but it did no good. As soon as the words fell from his lips Naruto's eyes widened and fear and panic invaded them like a swarming army, his entire body started shaking and Sarutobi detected how out of control his chakra was right now.

"S-something? What?" the boy breathed out.

"While investigating one of Orochimaru's minor hideouts he was attacked by one of… the 'Sound Four' and was seriously injured. He sent this update along with one of his summons to inform us of what he has managed to discover so far. Jiraiya will not be able to return to the village for a short while longer until he is sufficiently healed."

Both older ninja watched the relief that flooded through Naruto and the way he carefully reined in his fluctuating chakra. "Kami Old Man" the blonde muttered and sat down on the closest chair, hands running over his face "Don't scare me like that. Do you know how worried I get whenever Jiraiya does something like this? Being told 'something's happened to him' like that isn't the best way to break the news to me."

Sarutobi momentarily felt guilty but still pressed on the current topic. The information on this scroll had been specifically asked to be shown to Naruto as he would be able to not only decode parts but because he also had the most updated knowledge on Orochimaru and his workings.

Once they were positive he had calmed down the ANBU pushed the scroll towards him "The summoning asked for you to translate the message, as well as be present while it was being read."

The blonde sighed wearily and nodded as he leaned over the scroll running his finger lightly over the text. The anxiety of the two men grew as the frown on Naruto's face darkened and his lips pressed harder together. What had Jiraiya reported that had caused such a violent reaction?

Less than three minutes later Naruto had full decoded the scroll and was beginning to recount the information to the others.

"Jiraiya says that whatever Orochimaru's planning its big, no _huge_, better than any of his previous plans to destroy the Leaf. He says that the guys not making any mistakes on this one, no loose ends, no slipped info, no inside sources Jiraiya can get to."

They could see why the blonde was now irritated.

"But even Orochimaru can't hide everything, like the bimonthly trips some of his men make to Suna."

"Suna?" the ANBU asked in surprise. He had not expected a country they had neutral relationships with to be plotting against them. Naruto nodded and pointed to a symbol on the page "This means 'wind', Jiraiya and I use simple terms like these from places. 'Forest', 'Falls', 'Wind', 'Flower' etcetera, we just order the sentence differently so only someone who knows the code could pick up on it."

Sarutobi nodded and gestured for the boy to continue. Naruto's finger then shot over to another section that didn't even appear to be connected to what he had just been reading. "This here is a timeframe; he's giving us when he believes the attack will take place probably based on how advanced their movements are and other factors like that." The blonde stopped and looked at both of them curiously "What's happening in three weeks?"

The ANBU and Hokage shared a troubled look before the younger of the two faced Naruto again.

"The Chunin Exams."

OoOoOoOoO

The auburn haired man stared at the folder in front of him quietly, he was waiting for his mutual partner to come.

"What is it Pein? I was in the middle of something" his ringed eyes flickered up and studied the swirly orange mask of Tobi.

"Kakuzu and Hidan have sent in another report. I'm growing concerned about the strength the Kyuubi jinchuuriki holds-" Tobi cut him off with a wave of his gloved hand.

"Naruto is twelve Pein, not even a teenager, Itachi and Kisame should be more than enough to handle a child."

"A child with the strongest bijuu sealed within him? Who already has been shown preforming his father's infamous Thunder God technique? The boy is too powerful, and our plans will not be able to begin for another two years at most. If he continues this amount of progress during that time he could become a problem for our organisation, and will force us to waste extra time trying to subdue him."

Tobi was silent for a minute "I'm positive you and Konan could take him on if things came to that, and even if you should fail to capture Naruto I would be more then able to do so."

"But not without significant injury" Pein said dangerously, he did not understand why Tobi was not taking this seriously, that he was acting like this _child_ was a chew toy instead of a target.

The man chuckled humourlessly "Have you so little faith in my abilities Nagato? Do you really think I would allow myself to be defeated by a _boy_? Naruto will grow into a fine ninja it is true, and he will become very powerful, but that's what makes him so interesting. If all else fails and I have to engage him myself I will gladly do so, because he is a challenge much like his father before him; one that I will enjoy breaking."

The man spun on his heels and headed for the door "If you're so worried about Naruto's development by all means bring those two idiots back and send out Kisame and Itachi to collect him."

OoOoOoOoO

"The Chunin Exams, you're joking right?"

The Hokage sighed deeply and lit his pipe, but he made no move to refute what the ANBU had said. "Who's attending this year? Which villages have responded?" the twelve year old asked.

"Sand, Rock, Grass, Waterfall, Sound and more from many of the minor ninja villages" Sarutobi said with his eyes closed tightly, he could already feel a headache coming on.

"Well I hate to admit it but he's planned this thing out excellently. Making a deal with Suna for their support in the invasion is pretty smart, and the fact that he'll probably have some Sound shinobi waiting outside of the walls for the signal to attack just adds to it." Naruto looked around and plucked a piece of paper from the desk and grabbed a pen so he could draw a diagram.

He made a fairly large circle in the middle of the page and roughly drew the main roads of Konoha as well as the Hokage's Tower, hospital and other large structures; one being the arena where the third and final test would be held. Once done he marked several places on the outside of Konoha with small crosses.

"I've only been here for a couple of months and I've already figured out the weaknesses in our defence system, the best places to attack with the least security and whatnot. The exams will take a while to be completed, so these men will need to stay out of sight of patrols and keep all evidence of their existence hidden so they'll most likely be just a couple of miles from the wall. When the day of the attack comes they'll move in to these areas most likely and work their way into the village and take up key positions."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath. His eyes were scanning over the piece of paper so he missed the impressed and awed looks he was getting.

"How will the exams be ordered, like what type of tests will there be, or how many?"

"There will be three official tests, with preliminary matches between two and three. The Finals will be held in the arena here" the ANBU pointed to the spot Naruto had hastily drawn it. The blonde nodded absentmindedly "You'll be having some sort of break after the preliminaries right? I don't think you'd allow anyone but the competitors and their sensei in before the finals, so you'd need time to invite the other Kage as well as their elders and council and noblemen. Right?"

The ANBU felt his lips twitch upwards in amusement. The way this kid had pulled apart the strategy and analysed the different aspects was admirable as well as unexpected. You wouldn't think to see a kid who was twelve being at the centre of a discussion of this magnitude. Then again considering who his parents were it shouldn't be surprising at all.

He remembered Minato Namikaze well, having served under the man as a jounin all those years ago. The blonde had been absolutely brilliant in all ways of a shinobi; and it was a tragic day when he had died, he personally knew many fellow ANBU agents who still bore a grudge against the Kyuubi for stealing such a talented man.

But now he felt as if the Fourth Hokage was standing right there with him once again, planning and strategizing about a mission or swapping old war stories. It appeared that Naruto Namikaze had adopted more than just his father's features; he had gotten his brain as well.

'_This kid will make a good ANBU one day'_ and he personally hoped that he would still be active when Naruto did get accepted into the elite; if only to relive the past a little.

Naruto continued because he already knew this to be true.

"So the most logical time to launch the attack would be in the finals right? You'd have half the village's population in one place and many of the ANBU will be there as guards so Orochimaru will attack sometime during the finals. Now we have the when and where, we just need how he'll do it, who exactly he'll be mascaraing as, and what he'll be doing during the time he's in the village and not attacking."

Sarutobi nodded in agreement, but otherwise didn't respond. He was truthfully interested in the exchanges between Naruto and the ANBU Captain, and so far he was extremely pleased with how well the two were working together. The captain had not made any snide comments about Naruto's age and Naruto had yet to try and start a fight. What was even more impressive was that the young blonde seemed to have gained the ANBU's respect for his abilities.

"Hokage-sama" he looked up to find the porcelain hawk mask facing him "I believe it's time to find out more about Orochimaru himself; this would be much easier if I had more knowledge on his personality and thinking patterns."

"Yes, and this is once again where Naruto comes in." The blonde frowned in confusion and tilted his head to the side, for a moment both older men remembered that he _was_ just a young kid. It was just the way he spoke with authority and the confidence he seemed to radiate that had made them – not forget, but simply overlook his true age.

"I don't understand, I mean he was your student for many years Old Man, and I've only encountered him eight-nine times tops. You'd have a much better grasp on what he's like."

"That may be true, but Orochimaru defected a long time ago and has been underground for much of his banishment; you have more recent information about him. Time has a way of changing people, and it has been a while since we have fought; there is a big difference between twenty years and less than half a year Naruto."

The boy blinked as he processed the information then nodded, swallowing thickly. "Uh ok, I guess I'll start with his taijutsu."

Naruto sat down once again and closed his eyes; he mentally pictured his most recent encounter with the Sannin – more than five months ago – and replayed his movements.

"He's very…fluent in the way he moves, like a stream or water yet none of his attacks lack power. One of his punches could jar your arm; he's broken plenty of ribs as well." The ANBU captain and Hokage shared another more concerned look. Naruto's voice was mostly flat and emotionless, but his hand had come to rest on his left side as if he was reliving the fight and could feel the pain.

"He's got a very broad range of moves because he's obsessed with learning _everything_, but you can see that most of it has steamed from his Konoha origin by the way he places his feet and arms before striking. Orochimaru's pretty light on his feet and I can match him in speed if I really push myself but he's slippery to hit; like a snake."

Naruto's eyes fluttered open and he sighed and dropped his hand away from his body. Sarutobi was silent for a moment before pushing him for more information.

"What about ninjutsu and genjutsu Naruto?"

"Ninjutsu: powerful and painful. He can use a wide range of most elements but mainly sticks to fire and earth. He only uses water and wind when he's desperate which isn't often. He's also got his snake summons to help him, Manda is the one you need to worry about and he's hard to miss. Giant, purple and has a pretty foul attitude. Luckily, even if Jiraiya isn't back in time for this I can summon Gamabunta to fight."

The ANBU raised an eyebrow but since the Hokage seemed to understand what the boy was talking about he let it slide; he would be informed about this 'Gamabunta' later.

"Genjutsu he doesn't use very often, but I'd say from experience he's roughly ANBU level with it. He mainly uses various torture ones, physical pain is his forte though. He has made me watch him kill Jiraiya before, but that wasn't the worst he's done."

The air was heavy and tense and Naruto leaned further into his seat with a troubled expression on his face. He knew his past encounters with Orochimaru were anything but fun, and he was often uncomfortable talking about them with anyone other than Jiraiya who always nursed him back to health when he was beaten, because he knew without a doubt that the man would _never_ pity him; merely reprimand him for being stupid and running off to fight someone like Orochimaru by himself.

But it was like the black haired man had a direct line to his anger. Just the sight of him made Naruto's blood boil, and all of their battles ended with Naruto succumbing to his rage and using the Kyuubi's chakra.

The thought of the deadly demon sealed in his navel brought a new train of thought to his head, one that sent tremors of fear and excitement through his body.

'_Naruto, I have very important news for you especially. I have a strong suspicion that another jinchuuriki, the one-tails, will be a main part of Orochimaru's plan. I need you to find out who they are and stop them from completing their task no matter how meaningless it may seem. Find them and watch their every move, take notes of everything about them. You must protect Konoha from them, even if it means ending them.'_

Naruto had never actually met another person like him, he knew there were others (nine in fact) but this would be the first time he would interact with another jinchuuriki. The thought of meeting someone _just like him_ was daunting but he was curious to see them face-to-face; to meet someone who could properly understand his pain and suffering would be amazing. Don't get him wrong, Jiraiya is great and easy to talk to, but he could never _truly_ understand what it's like to be branded a freak from an early age; he could never really connect with Naruto on that level, but maybe this one-tail jinchuuriki could?

"Naruto" he blinked and realised he had spaced out for quite a long time, and now he was being addressed once again.

"We thank you for your help, and will keep you updated on our choices and inform you if anything more surfaces. For now go home and rest, I had told Anko that you would miss training today so she will not come hunting for you."

The ANBU made a weird noise in the back of his throat; it was exactly the same one he had made when he found out Kakashi Hatake had left his first genin squad in the hands of someone like Anko. He felt sorry for Team 7 now more than ever.

Naruto nodded and let himself out after bowing politely to both older shinobi.

OoOoOoOoO

"What I want to know is where the hell Naruto is? He missed three hours of training! What on earth could he be doing that took that much time? I swear if he starts pulling a Kakashi-sensei on us I'll slug him."

Sasuke looked at Sakura's clenching fists warily and shifted a little further away from her. While the chances of the pinkette using her monstrous strength on him where small he wasn't willing to risk serious injury without Naruto here to take the bone-shattering punches the petite girl could let loose.

Since it was only the two of them plus Anko at training the crazy woman had them sparring all three hours without a break. In that time Sasuke had grown to somewhat respect the fuming girl beside him for the amount of progress she had shown after only one private session with Anko. It was truly remarkable how dangerous she could be when she put her mind to it.

Of course she was nowhere close to Sasuke's level, and certainly had a long, long, long way to go before she could catch Naruto, but he could see the determined shine in her eyes and it made him look at her in a new light. He could see her making chunin if she continued on the path Anko seemed to have dumped her on.

"I mean, what kind of idiot ditches his teammates all morning without an excuse, then continues to avoid them!? It's just plain rude!"

Sasuke grunted in agreement, he too was curious as to why Naruto had skipped out on their training. Anko had mentioned something had come up and that he wouldn't be joining them (for a moment he actually believed the creepy kunoichi had killed Naruto, or at least left him injured in an alley as payback for yesterday – he certainly wouldn't put it passed her) and had assured them he would be there tomorrow instead.

"Well he's not going to show, how about we just get something to eat Sakura?" he suggested and mentally sighed in relief when the anger vanished from her large doe eyes and she smiled shyly at him. He'd prefer anything over a furious Sakura right now.

"Oh, ok Sasuke. How about we-" she stopped and the murderous rage came spewing forth again as she saw something over his shoulder. Startled by the sudden change in her demeanour he glanced over his shoulder to see what had caught her gaze.

"Oh great, when we came here for lunch I thought we wouldn't have to deal with anything dramatic." A familiar voice drawled in annoyance and Sasuke stared at the boy who had spoken.

Shikamaru Nara slouched under the Uchiha's eyes but didn't back down, he met them without flinching and still managed to keep his dry expression in place. Sasuke was about to dismiss the other genin team from his mind and turned back to Sakura to ask what she wanted to eat when someone latch themselves onto his back.

"Well well well _forehead_, it's been a while" Ino Yamanaka sneered from her place on Sasuke back and tightened her arms around his neck, pressing her chin onto his shoulder and tilting her head mockingly at the enraged pink haired girl before her.

Ino's eyes quickly scanned over her former-friend's figure and her nose wrinkled in what seemed to be disgust. "I see you still don't care about your appearance at all, what did you do, roll around in some mud?"

"Hello Ino, and no, that would be your job _pig_" Sakura stated coldly, her eyes narrowed in on the beautiful blonde's face and then how close she and Sasuke were pressed against each other. She also saw the irritated look on _her_ future-husband's face, if it wasn't for his slight squirming of discomfort she would have thought he _enjoyed_ Ino throwing herself onto him like a leech.

"Sasuke and I were just about to grab lunch…_together_" she smirked when Ino tensed and glared at her; she quickly latched onto Sasuke's right arm and tugged slightly. "We should get going Sasuke, I know the perfect place to get some food for us" Ino hopped off her crush's back but grabbed onto his free arm. The two girls sent scorching looks at each other over Sasuke's chest.

"I have a brilliant idea, how about our teams have lunch together. It's been _ages_ since we've all spoken and this would be the best time to catch up, swap stories and whatnot. You want to right Sasuke?" The blonde pulled his arm closer to her chest and looked up at him with half-lidded eyes.

Sasuke ignored her and quickly rushed to think of a way that he could just pay and leave without becoming a rope in the impending tug-of-war that was bound to happen soon…_very soon_.

"Oh I agree Ino, it would be nice to all have lunch together and talk" Sasuke froze at the sugary sweet tone of Sakura's voice and shuddered at how dangerous it sounded. He swore these two were like a pair of feral alley cats fighting over a pile of scraps.

'_This is the perfect chance to let Sasuke see just how revolting Ino is, and then he'll want nothing to do with her at all, and he'll gladly return my feelings!'_

Sasuke's eyes swivelled across the sea of faces to find any sort of salvation that could allow him to escape. He disregarded Shikamaru and Choji; he knew no help would come from them judging by the smirks on the faces.

The Uchiha almost cried in relief when he caught sight of a mop of blonde hair heading their way. He flared his chakra twice and the head snapped up; twin blue eyes caught his and sparkled in amusement when he took stock of the situation. But that look immediately changed to hesitance when Naruto spotted Shikamaru and Choji.

Despite this he still moved in their direction with confidence until he was a couple of feet away. "You certainly have a knack for getting into these sorts of situations don't you Uchiha? Just can't keep the ladies off you" the blonde sighed dramatically "Maybe you should start carrying a stick to beat them off from now on huh?"

Sakura spun to face him and swung her fist at his head. The blonde stepped back and caught her wrist in a loose grip, he raised an eyebrow at her then let his eyes rack up her form and frowned. "You look like you got mauled by a tiger."

Her eye twitched and Ino threw her head back and laughed at Naruto's tactless comment. "See forehead, both your teammates think you're U.G.L.Y!" Naruto looked at the other girl curiously.

"I never said Sakura was ugly, in fact she's quite beautiful with her rare pink hair and emerald eyes. Not to mentions she's got perfect chakra control and isn't afraid to get dirty like _some_ females. She's quite a catch if you think about it, right Sasuke?" that sly ending made him stiffen.

Naruto was offering him a way out, but to do so he would have to admit that he thought Sakura was attractive, which was just a terrible idea. Who knew how Sakura would take that, and what it would mean for him in the end.

But if he didn't he would upset his teammate and leave her open for more teasing, which would lead to her being more violent which would lead to trouble. He settled with a half-hearted shrug, it being the only appropriate response that would leave him without a crying teammate.

Naruto smirked at him, obviously understanding his thoughts, and then turned back to Ino who looked like she had been frozen. He purposefully avoided eye contact with Shikamaru and Choji, not wanting to deal with a reunion just yet.

Sakura looked at Naruto for a second before her anger returned "Where the hell have you been you numb-skull!? We missed you at training!"

The blonde boy flinched at her tone and cautiously watched her for any signs of an impending assault. "Something came up in the morning, I had to have a meeting with the Hokage and things took a little longer than I expected. I have to meet him again pretty soon to discuss some things."

"What?" Sasuke asked, seeming to forget about the two girls strapped to his arms and pushing against his body. Naruto's eyes flashed to the left for a brief second before finding his again, and the Uchiha knew that his teammate always did that before he lied.

"Nothing important Sasuke, just a little update on my mentor is all" his forced casualness drew suspicious glances from the three other boys. "And this 'little update' took most of the morning?" Sasuke probed, disbelief mingled in with his usual monotone.

Naruto smiled at him, but there was still a troubled aura around him that he couldn't hide "Well as I said, lost track of time. The Old Man and I started talking about how I was settling into Konoha and if I needed any help."

Sasuke didn't buy that sorry excuse for a minute but he could tell Naruto didn't really want to talk right now, so he didn't push it. "Anyway, what are all of you doing out here?"

"We were all going to have lunch together" Ino said quickly and sent a daring look at the other girl across from her. Sakura narrowed her eyes in response and without breaking eye contact with her rival she spoke to her blonde teammate "Would you like to join us Naruto?"

The boy shuffled uncertainly and cleared his throat "Um I'm not really-"

"You should come; we have _loads_ to talk about."

Naruto blinked and he looked at Choji who was staring at him with the most serious expression he had ever seen on his face. Naruto's eyes automatically shifted to Shikamaru and grimaced when he saw that both of them were watching him intently.

He didn't know where he now stood with them; was he considered a friend? Was he an acquaintance? Or was he just some jerk to them, who left without a trace one night only to return five years later?

While what he said when he first came back here was true – he didn't really care about Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru anymore – they had been the first friends he had ever made. He just guessed that after five years of not seeing them the affection he had once felt had dimmed and withered, but a small part of him was curious to see if they could rekindle their old friendship.

"Um…" he gulped and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, despite what his previous thoughts were he suddenly wished to be anywhere but here in front of them. "You should come Naruto" Sakura smiled up at him, oblivious to the strangeness between the others or just not understanding why they were acting this way. "It'll be fun and you can make up for ditching us earlier."

Naruto stumbled for something to say that wouldn't end in him tagging along to no doubt be ambushed by his old buddies when they got the chance.

"Um, well, uh" he made the critical mistake of looking in her large pleading eyes and felt most of his resistance crumble away into dust. A small part of him wondered how the hell she had managed to do this to him after only a month of interacting but he figured it was one of those weird female powers Jiraiya had told him to watch out for.

"Fine" he sighed in defeat.

OoOoOoOoO

'_This is beyond awkward'_ Naruto sunk lower into the plush booth chair and tried to will the ground to swallow him so that he could escape the blank stares of Shikamaru and Choji who were seated across from him. _'They haven't blinked in over a minute, when will they look away!?'_

It hadn't been more than ten minutes since Sakura had somehow managed to trick him into coming to eat with Team 10 and Naruto was regretting every painful second of it. Shikamaru and Choji were just waiting for the time to strike when Naruto had no chance to escape and these was a feeling of impending doom that let him know that that moment was approaching.

So when Sasuke announced he was going to order, and Sakura and Ino practically pounced to join him the blonde felt his heart sink in despair at being left behind.

Shikamaru leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, his dark brown eyes scanning over the blonde in what looked like boredom. Now that they were alone he had no problem striking up a topic. "You were gone a while" the boy said casually. Naruto tensed and carefully lifted his head to gaze at both boys suspiciously.

"I was" he agreed in the same tone yet with a more guarded ring to it. He had expected yelling, annoyance, frustration, but this neutral approach threw him off-guard.

"Five years to be exact" he continued.

Shikamaru hummed and placed his chin in his palm lazily, but the calculating glint in his eyes made Naruto almost want to smirk in amusement. Shikamaru may be good at dissecting others and analysing them, but Naruto had been trained by the best and knew how to not give away information.

The three were quiet for another moment, all thinking through what their next step should be. Naruto was staring longingly at the door behind Shikamaru and by the somewhat humoured twitch of the boy's lips was anything to go by he knew exactly what Naruto desperately wanted to do.

"Why did you leave?" Choji asked quietly and the blonde resisted the urge the flinch at how betrayed the bigger boy sounded. He sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat in discomfort; he opened his mouth to answer but Choji carried on.

"We were messed up during the first couple of months you were gone, like our little unit fell apart until we weren't happy. We really missed you…"

Naruto's eyes widened and he looked to the side in guilt. Choji always did let his emotions rule his head but he guessed he hadn't been ant better as a kid either; and he still allowed his feelings to control his actions sometimes, it was just after all of the terrible things he had seen and done he had learned to partial shut them off or he would have gone insane by now.

"I didn't really have a chance to say goodbye Choji" he began and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes skilfully avoided their probing ones. He could tell they were close to outright demanding answers from him, ones that he wasn't sure he wanted to dish out.

"I…got into some heavy trouble" he mumbled, and didn't have to elaborate. They both knew exactly what he meant by that, they weren't as easy to fool as everyone else had been growing up, and had eventually found out that Naruto was occasionally hit. "I definitely would have died if my godfather didn't waltz by when he did" he continued softly, keeping his eyes focussed out the window to his left.

Shikamaru and Choji shared a disturbed glance, as kids the worst Naruto usually got were bruises on his arm or a cut on his face. The way he had just admitted to almost being beaten to death in that creepily calm tone was sending shivers down their spines. Either oblivious to their growing discomfort or purposefully ignoring it Naruto carried on.

"He healed me up as best he could and gave me an option; continue to stay here in a place where I had been looked down on and scorned for reasons I didn't understand, where life _might_ get better and the pain would go away. Or I could come with him and be trained, he told me to think about it and in all honesty I didn't really. The thought of an escape for my current lifestyle was like finding a goldmine, so I agreed and we took off. In the span of a few hours I had gone from Naruto Uzumaki, a lowly orphan who nobody really cared about, to being the apprentice of a Sannin."

Naruto chuckled and shook his head "Can you really blame me for not coming to say goodbye, things had kind of blurred together and before I even realised we were over the Fire border…Those first few months were hard for me too, I was completely out of my element but with the hard training I went through I didn't really have time to remember anything other than new jutsu and techniques; and then I learned who my parents were."

He took a shaky breath and it was only then that he realised he was close to crying, he stubbornly blinked them back and briefly glanced up to see that both boys were staring at him with sympathy. He forcefully ripped his eyes from their faces and locked onto a young couple who were walking by, their clothing suggesting they were civilians.

"For an orphan to learn he's actually the _son_ of his idol, an incredible man that died for his beliefs, was the greatest gift I could have received. My mentor taught me excellently and I've become an exceptional young shinobi; and I don't, for even a _second_ regret my choice all those years ago."

The air was thick with emotions and Naruto swallowed the growing lump in his throat successfully, he was starting to get teary and that just wouldn't do. He was a damned ninja for the love of Kami, and had thought he had come to terms with his difficult life.

'_Guess not'_ he thought bitterly, and his lips twisted downward in annoyance.

"So you didn't miss us at all?" the Akimichi heir asked softly, his small eyes drilling into the blonde with sympathy. Naruto tried not to let his irritation at that expression show and almost achieved this.

"Yes. I did miss you guys but in all honesty I began to forget our friendship after a while", his finger came up and traced over some of the swirls on the table surface absentmindedly. "Like I said, getting so much crammed into my brain in such a sort time was overwhelming and constantly travelling made it kind of hard for me to really make friends. I guess I got so used to it just being Jiraiya and me that I forgot my old friendships almost entirely…"

The three were silent as Naruto's words seemed to echo around them, they all had pained and upset expressions but none wished to speak. The three of them just wished that someone would break the silence, or that the block between them would be moved so that they could interact normally. Naruto shifted in his seat once again then stood up, this was all a little too weird for him and he could tell he wasn't exactly welcome right now.

"I gotta go and…train and…stuff" he mumbled and scratched the back of his head. His old habit brought a wistful gleam to the other two boys' eyes as they watched Naruto begin to move away.

Shikamaru's hand gripped his upper arm in a firm grip and Naruto froze. Slowly he glanced over his shoulder at them, his eyes wide with shock and a little sprinkle of uncertainty. "We don't hate you" he muttered softly and watched carefully as his words registered in the blonde's brain "You're our friend, and even if you did run off into the night suddenly we're glad you're back."

Naruto simply stood frozen for a moment before he faced forward again, but not quick enough and they caught sight of the somewhat normal smile that was engraved into their memories, that same cheeky yet friendly twist of his lips that they hadn't seen in years.

"Tell Sasuke and Sakura that I'm training, they'll know where to find me if they want to" he walked off but hesitated, he turned back to them and smiled genuinely; no sarcasm or amusement present, just his average 'nice-guy' grin.

"Thanks" he said then left without glancing back again. He knew that now that the olive branch had been offered and accepted that things would begin to turn for the better.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto ducked under Sasuke's punch and sent his fist towards the other boy's stomach in retaliation. The Uchiha leapt out of range and Naruto flipped to the side when Sakura came charging at him, letting her newly learned taijutsu loose at him with vigour.

Anko had said this was an all for one spar but so far he sensed that his teammates had decided to gang-up on him – but whenever he tried to bring it up to Anko that they were cheating she told him to 'suck it up and stop being a pansy.'

Sasuke was going after him again, but this time with a kunai. The blonde pulled out his own weapon and deflected the attack to his left and spun in the opposite direction so that they were back-to-back. He barely had time to breath before Sakura's kick clipped him on the side and knocked it back out again. Naruto narrowed his eyes and grabbed her leg tightly but not enough to cause her any serious damage. He twisted and sent her flying away from him with a grunt, then retreated to gain his breath properly.

He licked his lips and watched as Sasuke and Sakura regrouped, while they weren't technically following the rules this was getting interesting. He enjoyed the challenge they were posing and while it wasn't the hardest battle he had ever been in it was enjoyable to test his friends and see how they responded to certain threats.

Without a word he disappeared from their view by upping his speed and appearing behind them with a kunai next to their throats and grinned when they both tensed. "I win" he said and removed the weapons away from them.

Sakura turned around and lightly punched his arm with a pout "You cheated, you went to fast. Not all of us have been trained by a Sannin Naruto." He laughed and shot her a disbelieving look as they moved to Anko for their next exercise.

"And you and teme ganging-up on me _isn't _considered cheating? Now how is that fair?" He pulled Sasuke into a head-lock and ruffled his already messy black hair; the Uchiha smirked playfully and shoved him off. Ever since Naruto had spoken to Choji and Shikamaru they both noted how happy he was, almost nothing could wipe his smile away and he joked a lot more.

"Alright you little brats enough with the love-fest; I want ten laps around this training ground then I'll meet you lot by the river that way" she pointed to the south and disappeared. Naruto looked at his teammates with a goofy grin "Race ya!" he shouted and took off, Sakura giggled at his attitude and started after him but at a much sedate pace with Sasuke right on her heels.

They found Anko leaning against the railing of a small red bridge, her hand was rubbing her neck and she had an irritated scowl on it, making her entire face seem fiercer. "Anko-sensei?" Sakura asked and stepped closer, the purple haired woman blinked and then grinned when she caught sight of them.

Naruto's eyes squinted when she moved her hand away to reveal a dark bruise before it disappeared under her mesh shirt. He could have sworn…

"'Bout time, you three are already picking up Kakashi's talent of being late and you haven't even been under his perverted wing for more than two months!" Sasuke rolled his eyes but didn't speak up; he didn't exactly think the woman would appreciate what he was about to say – only Naruto got away with back-chatting her and that was only because she thought he was amusing to argue with.

"So I heard Kakashi taught you guys to Tree Climb right?" Sakura nodded and she continued "Well today I figured I'd teach you how to walk on water-"

"Please, I can do that in my sleep" Naruto muttered and put his hands on his hips. Anko glared at him for interrupting and he barely dodged the kunai she chucked his way.

"As I was saying, you'll be learning how to walk on water. Just follow the basic steps for tree climbing except make sure you remember the shifting of the water's surface otherwise you'll end up taking a nice dip in this perfectly chilled water."

Sasuke studied the water critically but then glanced at Anko. He didn't think that this exercise would be as easy as she said; because over the two days they had had her as a sensei he had become accustom to her brutal way of hiding half of the information from them and leaving them to work it out themselves; while her cruel side usually only focussed on Naruto in particular there had been occasions when she had targeted Sakura and himself.

His gaze shifted to the blonde who was handing the kunai back to Anko, the older woman smirked at him and slapped him over the back of the head but they could all see her actions weren't meant to cause any harm even though Naruto tumbled to the ground and was gripping his injured head.

"What are you two still doing here?" she snapped and jerked her thumb at the water "Get started brats, I don't have all day."

She grabbed Naruto by his arm and hauled him to his feet uncaringly, but she didn't let go until he had stopped wobbling. "You, since you're so confident about your abilities are going spar with me, on the water, anything goes."

He blinked up at her and for a second she really saw just how his innocent looks could give him the upper hand, especially his bright eyes that seemed to radiate their own warmth. How was it possible for someone as cocky as this kid who appeared to have a rather large ego to accompany it, to look like such a little kid?

"Spar? Against you? Are you crazy sensei, you'll try and maim me!" he said and crossed his arms over his chest but she could see how he was considering it. She shot him a predatory grin and shrugged off her trench coat, which also held quite a large amount of her hidden weapons and lightly hopped onto the surface of the water.

She was looking forward to testing this kid, because she had read that Kakashi was thinking of signing them up for the Chunin Exams that were fast approaching. While Anko believe it was suicidal to send such a new group into such a dangerous and deadly game she was interested to see what made someone as sensible and intelligent as Kakashi flipping Hatake even entertain the thought of doing that to his first bunch of genin.

The man might have had an infamous record of not liking taking on a squad, but even he wouldn't go so far as to purposefully sign Team 7 up to kill them just to get out of being a jounin sensei.

Anko was brought from her thoughts when Naruto followed her lead and shrugged off his black jacket and landed gracefully on the clear water's surface, small ripples appeared from his disturbance.

She grinned again and licked her lips, enjoying the uncertain expression that appeared on his tanned face at her action. It was too much fun to creep the blonde and his little friends out.

"Alrighty then, let's get started" she cooed and Naruto gulped, beginning to regret his choice to take her up on the offer of a fight.

That regret only exploded when he was forced to cartwheel out of the path of an oncoming snake -

- wait, snake?

Naruto's body went on autopilot as his mind descended into a mass of confusion, because as far as he knew the only person who had ever used snake-based attacks was Orochimaru. So how the _hell_ could this insane chick use them?

He misjudged the distance and ended up slammed against the railing of the bridge, dazed. The blonde groaned and shook his head in annoyance at himself for allowing himself to get distracted.

Who cares where Anko learned these attacks? Right now she was completely owning him and that just wouldn't do at all. He might respect quite a lot of kunoichi but he was a teenage boy and losing to a chick would be a major blow to his ego, especially if he didn't fight back.

Standing he created five clones and wordlessly moved into formation before charging at the purple haired woman as one.

OoOoOoOoO

Sakura watched with a disgruntled expression as Naruto finished his sixth bowl of ramen, no matter how many times she witnessed this she was always end up feeling sick. How could he eat so much of this unhealthy food and still keep his incredible figure was a mystery to the pinkette, he must have some sort of freakish workout routine if he could stuff his face like this and still be so muscular and fit and gorgeou-

She stopped herself right there with a violent shake of her head, sending her long pink locks whipping back and forth.

While she had to admit Naruto was somewhat attractive, and with his sweet and good-guy attitude he just oozed appeal. But he wasn't her type of guy; he seemed more like a best friend then someone Sakura would think of dating…

What the hell? Why was she even thinking about dating Naruto? Where had that thought even came from? Her heart belonged to Sasuke and that was that. Besides, Naruto had horrible table manners.

He previous point was only emboldened when he slammed his bowl down and ordered yet another bowl of fatty noodles with a grin.

Honestly, she had no idea why they always came to this little ramen shop, the owners were nice but it seemed like a very quiet place as they were the only ones she ever saw eating here. It was obvious that Naruto had some sort of close knitted relationship with the cook and his daughter, and whenever he was in the little restaurant he was smiling quite a lot.

But Sasuke seemed to enjoy going here so she didn't complain. If he liked this place then she'd eat here every day for the rest of her life, but not too much since it would ruin her figure if she gorged too much on this food.

After his seventh bowl Naruto quickly left on a short errand for Ayame to pick up some supplies from down the street. And it was only after he left that the young brunette woman turned to them with a kind smile that made her seem extremely pretty; she folded her hands together and placed her chin daintily on it while studying them intently.

"It's been a while since he's come around with friends" she said casually, and that drew confused looks from the two genin. Did they not spend almost _every_ afternoon eating here?

Seeing their confusion she elaborated "Before. When he used to live here when he was younger" Sasuke and Sakura leaned forward in interest, because other than their memories of academy they didn't really know much about Naruto before Team 7.

"Naruto had a hard time growing up" she said sadly, looking in the direction he had gone in. "He wasn't treated very kindly by most villagers and had to grow up with being insulted and ignored and scorned. He was excellent at covering it up, but I could see the toll it was taking on him."

Her father turned away from the stove and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly "The first time he came in here was with the Hokage, and they stayed for over an hour just chatting. From then on I always gave the kid a discount and he was our most frequent customer. We knew about how difficult his life was and whenever he was here we did everything we could to make him happy. But there were days he came in with bruises or blood on his clothes."

The man's knuckles tightened on his ladle and he sighed angrily "He didn't talk about it so we always avoided bring it up but as he got older things got a little worse. The only time he usually smiled was when he was here with the Hokage or his old sensei…Iruka I think."

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look, they were both wide-eyed at the information they were being given. Was Naruto's childhood really as horrible as this? What had he done that was so bad that warranted being…_beaten_?

"But considering how busy they were it was rare to see them here. When Naruto didn't come in for over a week we got worried, and then after a month we believed…well we thought the worse to be honest."

Ayame had tears in her eyes but she carried on "And then one day he just showed up again, smiling and laughing as if five years hadn't gone by. I was so happy to see him again. Then two months ago he came by with you two, and it was really the first time I'd seen him so excited and joyful, even before he left. You two really mean a lot to him you know, the way he acts around you shows it all; he really cares about you. It may be surprising but you're probably his closest friends."

"I'm back Ayame!" Naruto called loudly as he slipped back into the ramen shop with a grin and a bag in his right hand. He blinked at her and tilted his head worriedly "Are you ok? Why are you crying?" he asked and leaned over the counter to deposit the groceries on the kitchen side and stare at the brunette who chuckled and lightly shoved him back down, wiping her eyes.

"Nothing handsome and you know the rules, no one behind the counter!" she scolded jokingly "Five years is no excuse young man, I would have thought father told you enough times before."

Naruto returned to smile and leaned onto the bench, half-in half-out of his stool "Well what's the saying Ayame? 'Rules are made to be broken'" he chuckled and looked at his teammates curiously.

"What's up with you two?" he asked and frowned at them in amusement "You look like you were struck by lightning" his words broke the two out of their stupor and Sakura nervously laughed before stuffing her mouth with ramen to have an excuse to not talk, but almost gagged when she realised they were cold and the amount of calories she had just digested.

Sasuke just cleared his throat and dropped his gazes and swivelled his ramen with his chopsticks. Naruto tilted his head but didn't ask again least one of them get annoyed.

He happily ordered a final bowl of ramen while his two teammates reviewed everything that the two cooks had divulged.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto led his them from Ichiraku's, his hands were thrown behind his head and he was staring at the sky with a blank expression. Sasuke and Sakura trailed behind with thoughtful frowns, the things Ayame had spoken about were still swirling around their heads.

Eventually Sakura broke off from their little group saying she had head home. She waved goodbye and gave Naruto a brief hug that lasted a little longer than necessary and a shy but bright smile at Sasuke before she took off jogging to her home.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, who blankly met his stare. "Now teme, I can finally talk to you in peace" the smile he sent was innocent enough but for some reasons it made warning signals off. "I've noticed certain…_moments_ you seem to share with our lovely friend Sakura, and even though I may seem dense I'm actually rather astute when it comes to…romantic feelings."

Sasuke blinked slowly and shook his head at the sheer _stupidity_ of his friend. It honestly amazed him so times how someone so accomplished as Naruto who had clearly seen and done things none should ever witness and do – Sasuke didn't care how well the blonde hid it, it was obvious in the way his eyes held shadows too dark to be covered by a happy façade – could be so childish and act so moronic.

"You're an idiot" he muttered and began the trek back to his compound by taking one of the back streets they frequently travelled by which would open up to the main street that held most of Konoha's shopping district.

Naruto was by his side within a second; his hands thrown behind his head and a peaceful expression which made his rounded face appear even more childlike than normal. Sasuke should have known by now that Naruto being silent for too long wasn't a good sign.

"So you like her right?"

He sighed and shot the blonde an irritated look "Who?" he grounded out. Naruto raised a mocking eyebrow and dropped his one arm to his side and wrapped the other around Sasuke's shoulders so that he couldn't escape the oncoming teasing. "_Sakura_ you dolt, do you like her?"

"She's annoying"

"Ah you don't mean that show-off, come on and tell me the truth. You _like her_ like her don't you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes "She's loud, brash, annoying and doesn't take her training as a ninja seriously."

Naruto smiled almost pityingly at him "That's a little harsh Sasuke. Sakura's not that bad, you're just in denial. I can picture you two together" he sighed dreamily and clasped his hands together while fluttering his eyelashes "I bet there's never been a pink haired Uchiha before."

Sasuke tensed for a split second and that was all Naruto needed to know he had successfully gotten under his friend's skin. He was determined to push as many buttons as possible.

"I expect to be best-man, and I can give you plenty of tips to…you know…keep things _interesting_. My mentor's quite famous for his informative novels, I could easily supply you with one, but maybe we should wait until you're a bit older hmm, wouldn't want you reading something too _graphic_."

By now Sasuke's ears were tinted red and the blush was quickly making its way to his neck and cheeks. Naruto's lips were stretched into a wide grin as he leaned closer "Admit it Sasuke, you're thinking about Sa-ku-ra _right now_."

The Uchiha elbowed him roughly in the gut and he staggered away but barely registered the pain because he was laughing so loudly.

"Aw man your face is so red!" he chuckled and wiped away stray tears from his eyes. He nudged Sasuke with his shoulder "So wadda going to do once you get home?" he asked, it was his way of apologising for the last few minutes. He was giving Sasuke a way out of the conversation and the Uchiha gladly took it.

"I'm not sure, probably train" he said, trying his best to sound detached and bored but was struggling. Naruto's mouth twitched upwards in amusement but he didn't comment; he had embarrassed his friend enough for one day.

The blonde pouted and gave the dark haired boy a disappointed look, as if he couldn't believe those words had just came from him. They turned a corner.

"You're such a kill-joy Uchiha, sometimes I think you actually like skulking around in the shadows. Why don't you hang out with me instead of pushing yourself to far" Sasuke shook his head and the blonde put a hand on his chest "Rejection's a cruel thing Sasuke."

Sasuke chuckled briefly before his attention was drawn away from his dramatic teammate. His dark eyes lost their previous humour when he locked onto the three figures staring at them with a guarded aura around them. Naruto clicked in front of his face "Hello, earth to Sasuke?" he called, than followed his gaze until they were both watching the other group.

All three of them were around the same age, maybe a few years older but the eldest couldn't have been over fifteen. There were two boys and one girl; a blonde, a brunette, a redhead and they all carried something on their backs; a bandaged lump, a gourd, a fan.

The three Suna headbands on their bodies was the next thing that drew his attention.

Naruto and Sasuke slowed to a stop no more than five metres away from the second group. There was a pause before Sasuke spoke "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Naruto put a hand on his arm "Calm down teme, they're here for the Chunin Exams, they have permission to be in Konoha so no need to get all worked-up." He lessened his grip and swung his eyes back to the Suna genin and smiled politely.

"Welcome to the Leaf Village, how do you like it here?" he asked pleasantly. The girl tilted her head at him but spoke either way, her voice was a lot huskier than most her age but it made her seem more dangerous; and accompanied with that intelligent light in her eyes she was tough inside and out.

"It's alright, a little cooler than home" she shrugged disinterestedly, but she was studying them intently, especially Sasuke. Naruto narrowed his eyes minutely at that and stepped between his friend and these foreign ninja unconsciously. He was already distrusting of them from the report from Jiraiya, but now that he had found them he could check them out for any demonic chakra.

'_All I have to do is scan their chakra systems for any sign of that chakra, then once I find them tag them with a clone and have it report their movements back to me. Simple enough.'_

"I imagine it would be compared to the desert, your village is quite hot on a normal day."

The girl looked at him again with a little more curiosity "You've been to Suna before?" She sounded neutral but he could tell there was something like suspicion underlying her question. He expertly kept his carefree smile in place.

"Oh yeah, only once a couple of years ago though. Can't really remember much but I was washing sand out of my hair for days after we left" he chuckled and felt Sasuke's gaze on him.

"We?" she probed, and Naruto had to admit she sucked at fishing for information but if it kept her more focussed on the conversation instead of what his chakra was doing then he was happy to oblige. "My godfather and I, he took me on a training trip around the countries to learn how to be a shinobi."

He finished scanning the girl and moved onto the boy in the middle, the redhead who hadn't even flinched since they had appeared. While he was doing this the last Suna genin snorted and looked down at Naruto mockingly.

"You sure you're tall enough to be a ninja kid? Only grown-ups can handle this job" he goaded. Naruto's eyes twitched but he refrained from leaping at the brunette lest he risk chasing them away. "I may be smaller than you but I bet without a doubt I have a hell of a lot more experience than you do in our field of work." He crossed his arms confidently over his chest and smiled smugly, it was the way he held himself with such assurance that had the boy looking at him strangely and Naruto could see that he was reconsidering poking fun at him.

"You certainly don't act like you've been on many high-ranking missions. You shouldn't tell lies to your superiors, kid, it's unbecoming."

Sasuke grabbed his arm before he could retort and gave him an annoyed glare, clearly the Uchiha was getting bored and wanted to leave, he certainly didn't want to watch Naruto pick a fight with some punk from Suna.

"Get over it, they're not worth it so hurry up so we can go" he ordered, loud enough for them all to hear. The girl frowned at him and scoffed, her hand went to her hip and she jutted it out, her own irritation matching Sasuke's.

"Just who do you think you are you little brat? Insulting us will only end in your funeral" she sounded so sure of herself and this time Naruto had to stop Sasuke from starting something. The dark haired boy narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin subtly "Sasuke Uchiha, and this is Naruto Namikaze, my teammate. Who are you?"

Naruto watched carefully as the two eldest shared a side glance, there was a lot of meaning behind that look and he didn't like it one bit. Why should their names warrant such a look? If they were in league with Orochimaru then did he tell them about him? Did they know he too was a jinchuuriki? Was it his last name that got that reaction? Or was it something to do with his teammate?

Naruto knew Orochimaru had some creepy fascination with the Sharingan, he had said something about it being an incredible gift that even he was envious of. So they were either reacting to his last name in shock because his lineage had yet to spread to other villages yet, or they were planning to do something.

"My name is Temari, and this is Kankuro and Gaara my younger brothers." The girl introduced, but there was a flicker of emotion in her eyes as she glanced at the redhead – Gaara his mind supplied – in worry.

Sasuke nodded and turned to go, his hand leaving Naruto's arm and being stuffed into his pockets "Let's get out of here Naruto" he called without turning around. The blonde hesitated, not having finished scanning the other two boys, but still followed his friend.

'_Damn it! If I had only a few more seconds then-'_

He stopped.

He could _feel_ it. The sense of foreboding that suddenly washed over him was all too familiar, yet sickeningly different at the same time. Sasuke who realised his friend was no longer beside him turned to snap at him but stopped when he saw Naruto's semi-pale face. He stepped closer and frowned in concern "Are you-?"

There was a whooshing sound and Naruto tackled Sasuke to the ground; by doing so they successfully dodged the wave of sand that almost stabbed them.

The two boys sprang to their feet, separated by the golden particles that originated from the redhead. Naruto faced Gaara silently, but on the inside he was quivering with excitement and caution because he had finally found someone just like him, but didn't know how to approach the guy.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke hissed out angrily, his glare intensifying and hands clenching into tight fists. Naruto eyed him briefly before turning his gaze back to Gaara, whose eyes were trained on Naruto as if his life depended on it.

"What was that?" he muttered darkly, his teal eyes searching the blonde's face intently for answers Naruto wasn't about to give. "What was that I felt?" he demanded "Like mine."

Against his wishes Naruto's eyes widened for a split second. _'How the hell did he sense Kyuubi?! This isn't good…I made sure to keep the fox hidden…was he scanning my chakra just like I was to him? Is that how…oh CRAP. Jiraiya's going to kill me for letting this guy figure this out.'_

"I don't know what you're talking about" he said calmly, running through ways of defusing the rising hostility in the redhead's gaze. If he didn't high-tail it out of here soon Sasuke might hear something he doesn't need to and then that would lead to a whole new level of trouble.

"You" the boy said, his intrigued tone was barely heard underneath his rage; but what he had to be angry about was beyond Naruto. "You're like me" he continued softly, but in the quiet his words carried easily over to Sasuke and Naruto.

The Uchiha looked at him in confusion and Naruto cursed inwardly, praying to whatever god was listening to get him out of here before things got worse for him. "I don't know what you're talking about" he repeated quickly and more firmly; he immediately wished he hadn't because now it definitely sounded like he was uncomfortable and was lying – which he was, but that wasn't exactly the point.

In response the sand – which had been floating in the air up until then – was on the move again. Naruto brought his arms up in a standard block even though he knew it would do no good. He hissed in pain when he collided with the wooden wall behind him but didn't let the sudden stinging pain in his arms and back to stop him from rolling along the wall to his right just in time to avoid the second attack of sand.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke sprinting towards Gaara, a kunai in his hand and an extremely pissed off face.

Naruto saw the sand divide, with one continuing to attack him and the other flying off to stop Sasuke. He scowled in anger and his hand dipped into his kunai pouch, hooking one finger through the small hole he swiftly tugged on of his special kunai out and flung it at the sand genin.

The kunai landed in the ground a few feet passed their team and Temari and Kankuro backed away from their younger brother, fear clear in their eyes. Naruto didn't have any time to worry about them and gathered his chakra around him, locked onto the kunai's position and moved.

The thunder-like whip-crack that sounded behind the three, as well as the bright yellow flash announced the arrival of the blonde. Who now stood behind Gaara with a kunai at his neck and a dangerous glare, Naruto tapped the sharp tip of his kunai against the skin of his neck.

"Call off the sand or you're going to be short a head buddy" he growled.

The redhead titled his head back so that he met Naruto's burning gaze, but the sand inches from Sasuke's body had frozen and was obviously waiting for the next command.

Neither of them moved for almost a minute and Naruto added a little more pressure, almost cutting the skin on Gaara's neck. Finally after what felt like an eternity the wave of sand slithered away from Sasuke and disappeared back into the gourd on the boy's back.

"You're different" Gaara muttered, his voice was quiet so that only the blonde could hear him. Naruto lifted his chin and slowly moved the deadly weapon away from the other jinchuuriki's throat and when it became apparent that he wouldn't attack and slipped it back into his pouch along with the three-pronged one.

Naruto walked swiftly to Sasuke side and gripped his arm "You ok Show-off?" he asked worriedly. The Uchiha nodded, and his eyes fell to the blood on his friend's arms courtesy of Gaara's sand. Naruto followed his gaze and studied the wound with disinterest as the skin had mostly healed already, now just being a bright pink colour.

"Don't worry" he assured the other boy quietly "It's nothing, my arms will be fine in another minute or so." Sasuke hesitated for a moment than nodded, he had already seen Naruto's incredible and utterly unfair healing abilities – seriously, how was it even possible for even scratches to be gone within half a minute?

"What the hell is that guy's problem?" he asked instead, shooting a dirty look at the redhead, who was staring at Naruto with creepy intensity. The blonde sighed wearily "Me I guess, I was checking out their chakra earlier and he obviously didn't like it. I'd be careful around this kid Sasuke, he's not…normal, so-to-speak."

Sasuke looked at Naruto's conflicted face with hidden curiosity because it was clear his friend wished to elaborate but wouldn't…_'Or couldn't'_ he thought suspiciously. Just what was up with Naruto lately?

Ever since returning from that meeting with the Hokage he had been zoning out during training sessions, conversations and spars. And now there was this weirdo trying to harm them – well _Naruto_ to be specific – and Naruto was clamming up again. He would get to the bottom of this, even if it meant relentlessly interrogating the boy until he cracked.

"G-g-aara, we should, you know…leave. Baki will be looking for us" Temari whispered fearfully as she watched the two Konoha boys turn back to them. This would not go unpunished she knew. Engaging in a fight with another countries ninja before the exams had even started would likely get them kicked out and then all of their father's careful planning would crumble. She had no idea what had caused Gaara to attack, but she was sure that because they were in a different land and if this got out the Hokage would definitely take Naruto and Sasuke's side.

"What's going on here?" a new voice asked sternly.

All of them turned to see a tall man dressed in the traditional Suna jounin uniform with a cloth covering half of his face; the side that could be seen was twisted into an ugly scowl. Naruto guessed that this was Gaara, Temari and Kankuro's team leader and sensei.

He noted how the two eldest siblings flinched and glanced at him, before their gazes bounced back to the man.

Naruto cleared his throat noisily and smiled tersely at the Suna jounin "Nothing sir, we were just having a nice conversation."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and gave Naruto a look as if asking _'Why are you lying?'_ but the blonde pretended he didn't see. The man narrowed his own eyes further and openly stared at Naruto's arms, anger and annoyance, as well as concern, flared in his eyes. The blonde's smile turned more natural and he answered the unspoken question.

"I tripped."

Sasuke almost slapped his hand against his face at the lame excuse that had come from Naruto's mouth. He didn't know why Naruto was lying but if he believed it important enough to do so Sasuke wouldn't question him until later. But couldn't he think of a better line?

"Must have been a nasty accident to get those wounds" the jounin replied, they could all see his disbelief written on his face. Naruto shrugged uncaringly "I guess you could say that sir, but anyway, my friend and I have to get going. It's getting late and I'd hate to keep you and your team from reaching your hotel before nightfall." He turned to the other three genin and inclined his head, meeting Gaara's gazes unflinchingly.

"It's been a pleasure. Come on Sasuke, let's get out of here."

OoOoOoOoO

Gaara stared out the window with hooded eyes, not seeing anything other than the setting sun between the tall buildings.

He didn't like Konoha. It was too bright and cheerful and friendly, things were completely different to the windswept desert that he had grown up in. The people here were too happy as well, they smiled and laughed and joked with each other every day, content with their pathetic lives confined by the large walls.

The sun drew closer to the horizon, soon it would be gone and the cold darkness of night would overrun this place with only the pale moonlight providing little light.

He could hear his brother and sister speaking quietly with Baki in the next room but did not let their conversation disrupt the voice of his mother as she spoke to him.

'_**Kill the blonde boy'**_

That was all mother had been saying ever since he had laid eyes on Naruto. It scared him how much mother wished this boy to be dead, almost like she was afraid of him.

'_**Destroy his body and bathe in his blood'**_

His hand tightened into a fist at the thought of Naruto dying at his feet, his bright, warm and wonderful blood pooling beneath him, dripping from his mouth onto the floor.

Mother had said that the blonde boy's blood was rich like wine from his attack, she wanted more of it, and he could feel the impatience growing, not as great as the need for his blood but still strong.

He was intrigued by the boy with bright yellow locks, endless blue eyes and whiskered cheeks. There was something about him that seemed to connect with Gaara, pull him towards him like a magnet. He almost felt safe in his company, which was impossible because mother was the only thing he needed to survive, the voice in his head had told him that many times before.

He would kill the interesting blonde, both as a gift to mother and for himself. But he could be patient, he wanted to savour the moment and if it meant he must wait then so be it. Gaara sensed Naruto's chakra earlier, and it was _powerful_. He could sense how Naruto was the perfect present to mother.

And the fact that he had managed to bypass Gaara's sand defence with a teleportation jutsu; those types of techniques were dangerous, and the speed at which he had moved was astounding. If you didn't have precise control over the amount of chakra you used then it would ultimately fail, and could easily backlash on the user and cause injury. So not only had Naruto mastered a high level teleportation jutsu, he was different, he was like Gaara yet not at all like him at the same time.

Both of those boys had the same look in their eyes, the want to obtain power and the longing for company. But this was where Naruto stood out from the Uchiha; those taunting blue eyes seemed to shine with warmth, and Gaara could see clearly that while the blonde wished to become the strongest he wasn't doing it for his own benefit. He had a different kind of motivation to succeed, and that was what would make his death at Gaara's hand all the sweeter.

Gaara's lips twitched up in the beginning of a grin. Naruto was a worthy offering indeed.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon, and the village descended into darkness.

'_**Kill him'**_

'_Soon mother.'_

OoOoOoOoO

**Ok, I'm not really sure what happened when I was writing the Gaara bit but I think something might be wrong with me…just saying.**

**On a lighter note, I hope you like it and would like to hear your thoughts.**

**If you don't answer something just PM me or something and I'll get back to you.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok, I know the last chapter was a little strange but I felt the need to expand a little on the friendship between Team 7, especially Sasuke and Naruto since it is going to be their friendship that I work on the most. I felt the need to add in the first scene with Gaara to show that the story is in fact progressing, and also to show how different the exams are going to be this time with Gaara now focused on Naruto as well as Sasuke to an extent.**

**I'd like to thank you all for the kind reviews and for all of those who favourite, or are now following me or this story! :) Please feel free to ask me questions if I start to not make any sense (it's been known to happen) and I'll hopefully be able to clear this out for you.**

OoOoOoOoO

To say that he was sad when Kakashi came back and Anko had to leave would be a complete and utter lie. While he respected the woman for her abilities and knowledge he was glad that they were now back in the steady hands of Kakashi who was saner then the purple haired kunoichi.

"Well Anko said you four had fun together" the man said cheerily, and Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. Unconsciously his fingers began stroking his kunai pouch, contemplating if he could manage to throw several at their sensei and cause harm, or if the man would dodge.

As if sensing his student's thoughts Kakashi quickly changed the subject.

"I'm rather proud of your performance and teamwork, and judging from her report Anko was very impressed with the progress you three made in such a short period of time." Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto blinked in surprise because not once did the psychopathic woman say anything about liking them.

"In fact, it was her detailed report on your ability to work as a team, as well as individuals that solidified my decision" he watched as the confusion spread over their faces, even Sasuke who usually covered his emotions well for someone his age, appeared puzzled.

The jounin pulled out three forms and held them out with a smile; his three students stared at them before snatching them away as their childish curiosity overwhelmed any caution.

"I've officially signed up Team 7 to participate in the Chunin Exams in one week's time."

Kakashi watched their reaction carefully, and was interested at the worried glance Sasuke threw at Naruto, as if he was concerned for the blonde. Frowning he decided to ask about it later when they were alone.

Naruto chewed his bottom lip, but his thoughts had nothing to do with a certain redhead that would most likely try to kill him. No the person on his mind was far more dangerous than a rogue jinchuuriki with mental problems. He was the epitome of evil and darkness, with enough killer intent to freeze even a seasoned ninja in his tracks. A poisonous snake that bit anyone he came across.

The blonde swallowed thickly and unconsciously rubbed his neck. While he had never had to experience the incredible amount of pain that came with the Curse Mark he had personally witnessed what damage it could inflict on a person. He had fought against plenty of Orochimaru's 'failed' experiments and had a very good grasp on the workings of the seal. He had seen proud, strong shinobi fall to greed and accept the offer believing the sannin would grant them ultimate power in exchange for nothing. He had seen too many of them become warped tools, used for the simple task of being lab rats.

Everything about Orochimaru sickened Naruto, and now he and his teammates were being sent into an exam where the sannin could be lurking in every corner, where every shadow held a deadly threat; and Naruto had no doubt that after he signed this sheet he would paint a gigantic flashing target on his back. He had no problem engaging Orochimaru in a fight – was looking forward to their encounter actually – but he knew of his record whenever he saw the man. His blood boiled and chakra churned at the thought of killing him, he knew that being near Orochimaru made his chances of using the Kyuubi's power high and he _did not_ want Sasuke or Sakura caught in the middle of a vengeful jinchuuriki and power-mad psychopath.

'_Just being associated with me during the exams would put them in danger. With Orochimaru, Gaara, and no-doubt the Iwa genin participating this year I'll be public-enemy number one. And when my identity is outed then I know I'll have even more people gunning for a battle with the famed Yellow Flash's only son. Crap. Oh course something like this would happen.'_

He didn't even blinked when Sakura grabbed his arm and shook it gently to gain his attention. And certainly didn't note how the three of his teammates stared at him oddly.

'_I swear there's a god somewhere out there that takes joy in ruining my life. _Just_ when I start to grow comfortable here; just when I begin to care for Konoha again; just when I get friends, everything falls to pieces in front of me. It's going to be impossible to keep the Nine-tails hidden from Sasuke and Sakura if I'm fighting Orochimaru and if they find out…'_

He stopped at that and blinked, a small frown appearing on his face.

'_If they find out…how will they react?'_

Naruto tightened his grip on the form and swallowed thickly, because now that he had grown to like the two genin, he couldn't help but assume they'd turn away from him when they found out about his…condition…almost everyone did after all. Everyone but Jiraiya, and Sarutobi that is; they were the only two who treated him normally.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked and gripped his shoulder; he frowned in concern when he saw the boy flinch. "Are you okay?"

The blonde blinked twice more before looking up at him and nodding "Huh? Oh yeah, everything's good, I've just got…a lot on my mind lately. Nothing to worry about sensei" they all frowned at how the blonde twisted his body to get out of Kakashi's grip and stepped out of his reach. "So can we get to the training or not? After a week and a half with Anko I doubt anything you throw at us could stun us sensei."

OoOoOoOoO

**Five days later – 8 hours before Chunin Exams Begin**

Naruto breathed deeply and concentrated on the steady flow of his chakra around the little green leaf placed on the centre of his forehead. Even after developing a very good level of chakra control, after _that_ incident, he could feel his control slipping and that was extremely dangerous for someone like him. Over the years he had learned to regulate the amount of demonic chakra that flowed through his body, but if too much poured into him at one time then the Kyuubi overpowered his mind.

Jiraiya had long ago told him the repercussions of allowing this to happen, how he lost years of his life depending on how long he used the chakra and how much; and even though being of Uzumaki blood he possessed a very large life-force, he didn't want to waste years he could put to good use.

'_In and out'_

He focussed on the leaf and continued to keep his breathing steady. As long as he didn't allow his thoughts to stray he could work to regain his chakra control enough that Jiraiya could remove the back-up seal and he could get his chakra back.

'_In and out'_

He thought about his teammates, and all of the happy moments he'd shared with them so far while in Konoha. The jokes they told and bonding they had gone through. The-

"_What people would want _you_ for a son? Do you really think that if your parents survived they would even be able to _look_ at you? Why should they suffer the burden of having a _freak-of-nature_ as a kid?"_

The calm state he had been in shattered like glass under a hammer and he winced.

"Damn it" he hissed angrily and the leaf fell from its place, the wind catching it and carrying it somewhere else. Naruto leaned forward and rubbed his forehead irritably with a scowl. "It's been more than five months already. Get out of my head" he gently tapped his head with his eyes closed.

"_You're a disgrace to their name kid, and no matter what you do, or how much you try to reason with yourself the fact still remains that if _you_ weren't born then your dear mummy and daddy would still be breathing, the Kyuubi wouldn't have attacked and _thousands_ of _innocent_ people wouldn't have had to sacrifice their lives to stop it. Face it Naruto. This is_ all. your. fault!_"_

"Shut up and leave me alone" he whispered and gently hit his forehead on his fist.

"_You're WEAK! You think having a demon sealed in your gut makes you _special_? Ha, what a joke! You think like that just to avoid admitting the truth. You're a monster. A murderer. A freak. People like you will never be accepted by normal citizens Naruto, you might as well get used to the hatred they'll show you. _No one _will ever be able to understand. They fear power, and you hold _so much_; how could someone ever treat you normally when they know just _what_ you are?"_

"Just SHUT UP!" he snapped, gripping his hair tightly and tugging at it.

"Having trouble?"

He whipped around to see Kakashi leaning against one of the support posts of a water tank, hands tucked into his pocket and concern shining in his sole eye. Naruto flushed with embarrassment at being caught in such an emotional state, was he so immersed in his dark thoughts that he couldn't even sense the man who hadn't even bothered to mask his chakra?

"Hey Kakashi-sensei" he mumbled and faced the sleeping village again. The lithe shinobi walked over to the boy and sat down next to him and allowed his gazes to flicker between the dark buildings of Konoha and the young man next to him.

The last time he checked it was close to one in the morning, which was a time when people should be in bed sleeping. But here Naruto was, being tormented by something on his mind instead of getting rest for the first exam tomorrow.

"Night terrors?" he inquired gently and was quite surprised when Naruto nodded sullenly, "Do you want to talk?" he asked next. All of this bonding rubbish was new to him but he was experienced enough to know what dark secrets like what Naruto kept bottled up could do to someone. He'd rather not see such a promising shinobi be torn apart by his own past.

"Have you ever…"

Once again Kakashi did a double take. He had not expected Naruto to actually take him up on his offer to talk, but it seemed his time with Team 7 had changed him more than Kakashi realised. If he was willingly to open up more to him now then Kakashi was ready to support the boy.

"Have you ever faced someone…who's more powerful than you in every single way…an-and you know that but continue to fight anyway?"

"Yes" Kakashi muttered, pushing his own unwanted memories aside and focussing on Naruto.

"And has anyone ever...completely destroy your self-confidence, or taken every one of your insecurities and chuck them back in your face?" the boy glanced up at him and pursed his lips. He pressed on before his sensei could answer.

"Do you know what it's like to have the blood of hundreds of people on your hands because you lost control of yourself for one second? Do you know what it's like to have your fears used against you, do you know what it's like to have your protective walls striped away from you and left confused and lost? Not knowing who you really are anymore or what you really want?"

Naruto dropped his head down and his hands clenched into fists.

"I do" he murmured "I had my entire world ripped away from me by one man, he exposed me to truths I had refused to face and made me feel more like a kid then I have since I was five. He drove me almost to insanity and back with nothing but a few words; he completely destroyed my image of myself and left me broken. And you know what the worst part of that entire encounter with him was?" Naruto asked, bitterness creeping into his voice and Kakashi felt goose bumps erupt all over his body and a chill run up his spine, this was a completely different side of Naruto he was seeing and to be honest what he was sharing sounded like it came from a scary story told to child at night to get them to behave.

What Naruto was describing sounded…utterly horrendous. He never knew the details of Naruto's training trip with Jiraiya, only brief points like Orochimaru. But this…something on this magnitude hadn't even been breathed of.

"The worst part of it all was that not once, _not once_, did I do anything to stop him. I just sat there crying as that bastard mentally tortured me, I didn't fight, didn't move. Just _sat_ and took it like a pathetic genin on their first mission. And that's not all, oh no, it gets worse. Nothing he said was a lie, not one word he said to me was something that hadn't already crossed my mind. _Everything_ he said were my worst fears and insecurities, and they were revealed and examined before me. _Everything_ he said I had already thought of…"

The silence was suffocating and Kakashi felt like the boy's depression was choking him. He felt like his blood was now ice and the chill was spreading through his body until he was having trouble breathing. As an ANBU and growing up during a war he had witnessed some inhumane things that would break any normal person, but he was grateful to have never lived through what Naruto was describing. No one deserved what had happened to the blonde, no should have to endure through that torture.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair; he didn't seem to care how uncomfortable he had made Kakashi by sharing this with him. "After joining Team 7, the nightmares have lessened but there are still some times when I'm stressed or whatever when I can hear his voice in my head and feel the pain. I guess with everything that's happened lately I've been a little…out of it so to speak."

"You mean Gaara?"

Naruto tensed and stared at him questioningly. Kakashi, more than happy to focus on something other than their previous topic continued. "Sasuke told me a few days ago, he told me how he believed Gaara's going to come after you in the exams. Do I need to be worried?"

Naruto chuckled bitterly and shook his head "Nah, I'm more than capable of handling him. Besides, he's my responsibility" he watched the jounin frowned and smiled bitterly. "You didn't think I was the only one out there did you?" he asked, and hurriedly continued before the man could even open his mouth. "You know one of the reasons I'm glad I left Konoha was because I was afraid of being made into some emotionless weapon used to kill and break things. Gaara has been warped by Suna into a mindless killing machine. I could see it in his eyes, he's got no remorse and I intend to change that. No one deserves to go through something like that, being forced to hate the world like he does...makes me curious as to what they did to turn him like that. Must have been pretty bad to shape him like he is. I know I can reach him somehow, I just need to show him that a crappy childhood doesn't need to make him turn his back on life; I mean look at me, I've been through some rough patches and can still see the light at the end of the tunnel. He just needs a helping hand to get him on the right path again, and even if he doesn't want to admit it, he wants someone to be his friend, to be close to him and help get rid of some of the burden he carries. I'm the only one for hundreds of miles that can hope to understand him and I intend to show him what good can come from life. After all, we're practically family given our situation."

Kakashi shifted and stared at the young blonde in something akin to awe; he knew Naruto was an exceptionally kind kid once you get passed his ego and smug little grins and teasing, but this was the first time he'd really seen such a devoted and golden side to him. Naruto looked up at him and his smile became smaller, and more peaceful, successfully managing to make Kakashi forget briefly about the horror of the kid's own past. "Yep, me and him have quite a lot in common. Both cursed and branded to be pariahs because of our demons. The only difference is he's all alone, he hasn't had the chance be touched by happiness and friendship and I plan on showing it to him. Even if I have to beat it through his thick skull" Naruto laughed softly and grinned at his sensei – the man was relieved to see the previous heaviness and hurt gone and his eyes now twinkling like normal.

"Good thing I'm so stubborn huh Kakashi-sensei? Only I could try and befriend someone that wants to kill me!"

Kakashi smiled in return and ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. Then, uncharacteristically, pulled him in for a brief hug then stood, as he said before emotional moments weren't really his strong point. Naruto leaped to his feet and looked at Kakashi.

"Get some sleep Naruto, you're going to need it" Naruto smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Have you so little faith in me Kakashi? I'm hurt you think so little of me" the silver haired man returned the smirk and shoved the genin in the direction of his apartment. "I'm going I'm going" he huffed, then stared at the ground for a moment in contemplation.

"Hey sensei" he began uncertainly, and rubbed his arm sub-consciously as the older ninja looked at him, Naruto smiled gratefully "thanks again for, you know, listening. I appreciate it, a lot." The jounin nodded and then watched as Naruto gave him a farewell two-finger saluted and disappeared.

Kakashi watched him leap across the rooftops and sighed deeply when the boy was out of view. When he found Jiraiya the two of them were going to have an extremely long talk about their mutual student.

OoOoOoOoO

**7 hours later – First Stage of Chunin Exams**

Naruto looked around at the building in interest. The conversation he had had with Kakashi last night – though brief – was good for him. To get that off of his chest was relieving and allowed him to sleep fitfully for the rest of the night, with no taunting whispers or dark memories keeping him tossing and turning.

He looked up as Sasuke approached and smiled encouragingly at the other boy. "You think Sakura's gonna show Sasuke?" the Uchiha shrugged and leaned against the fence that Naruto himself was. "She handed in the form right, 'cause I was sure she had" he continued, knowing that Sasuke probably wouldn't respond anyway; he had come to know Sasuke so well he could probably speak for the Uchiha by now just be looking at him.

Naruto sighed and looked over at the lawn in front of the building which was crowded with different ninja, all clumped in different groups depending on their country judging by the headbands. He let out a low whistle "That's a lot of people huh Uchiha?" he asked, scanning over their competitors for any signs of who Orochimaru was posing as. It certainly didn't help that everyone was naturally jumpy and skittish today, so it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"What's with you?"

The blonde stopped his searching and returned his gaze to Sasuke who was looking at him weirdly. Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion, only managing an unintelligible 'huh?' as an answer. The Uchiha rolled his eyes and stared pointedly at Naruto's right hand, which had been up until this moment twirling a kunai at a fast speed between his fingers, before occasionally flipping it in the air and catching it...all without taking his eyes from the other competitors.

Suddenly an amusement flickered in Sasuke's eyes and as soon as he saw that the blonde narrowed his eyes "You're not...scared are you?" he asked tauntingly and Naruto flinched at the accusation. "W-what?" he spluttered and gawked at his teammate, who still had that entertained gleam in his eyes. "Me? Scared? Are you an idiot or something?" he asked and geld up the kunai and repeated the same twirling pattern he had before but still kept his eyes on Sasuke who was now watching the blade with interest. "It's a habit I picked up on over the years, I sometimes do it when I'm thinking but am trying to get out of it because Jiraiya cracks it when he sees me 'playing with dangerous equipment'."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the other boy's impersonation of his guardian and his lip twitched upwards before he catch a flash of pink over the blonde's shoulder. Naruto followed his line of sight and smiled brightly at the young kunoichi who was tugging on the ends of her long pink hair with a nervous smile.

"Glad you could make it Sakura" he said, trying to ignore the uncertainty in her eyes that seemed to escalate when she caught sight of the amount of dangerous looking ninja littered in front of the building. To stop her from thinking too much Naruto threw his arm around her shoulders and smiled again "Well now that you're here we can get moving, let's go Sasuke" he called as he pulled Sakura along with him, keeping her close so as not to let her fear build at being surrounded by all of these menacing foreign ninja.

Most of them were shooting dirty or untrustworthy looks at anyone not from their country. However everyone was polite and stuck to their own groups, not picking any fights at the moment, which was a good thing considering how many villages had wronged each other in the past.

Sasuke led the way, weaving through the ninja without bumping any or drawing too much attention to their team. Sakura was a ball of nerves as she stumbled next to Naruto, who purposefully chuckled lightly to make her more embarrassed then afraid.

The pinkette looked at Naruto in surprise, her cheeks still pink from his teasing. She didn't understand how he could act so natural and at ease, the friendly smile on his face and the way his eyes seemed to be glowing made her feel not only safer but believe that they actually stood a chance of advancing.

They pushed their way through the door and quickly walked to the staircase to the left. Naruto stopped when he felt Sakura dig her heels in and forced him to stop with her. Sasuke practically jogged to the next level but paused when he realised his team members had yet to touch the first stair. Naruto waved him on and turned his attention to Sakura, knowing she was having second thoughts.

"Come on Sakura" he urged and tugged her arm gently. The pinkette shook her head, sending her hair whipping around "I don't think this was a good idea Naruto, I'm not…" she trailed off and looked at the ground. Naruto frowned and tilted her chin up "Not what?" he asked softly.

Sakura blushed when she realised how close their faces where but didn't pull away. It wasn't like Naruto still had a silly little crush on her; he was just doing this because he was her friend. She suddenly felt a little stupid for thinking he was going to kiss her; she didn't even like him like that! Yes she thought he was handsome in a different way to Sasuke, and he was certainly friendlier than the Uchiha, and smiled a lot more; but he was a _friend_ type of person.

Why was she even thinking like this? Naruto was waiting for an answer and she'd just been standing there like an idiot!

"I'm not…not like you or Sasuke" she stuttered out as she tried to ignore her childish thoughts. Naruto cocked an eyebrow at how weak her voice sounded but brushed it off as nerves. "Well duh, I could have told you that" he snorted in amusement and stepped back a little to see her better.

"Sakura" he began with a boyish grin "Of course you're not like Sasuke and I, and you should be damn glad about it too." Seeing her confusion he continued "Sasuke had his whole family killed in one night, he has _no-one_ other than Team 7 to call a family. He's cold, emotionless and completely inconsiderate towards those he doesn't care about, he is bitter and holds a lot of resentment. Now me, I'm an orphan that's been looked down on for as long as I can remember, I've been travelling across the Elemental Countries for five years so I've never had a chance to really have friends, I've seen and done things people my age should _never_ have to experience, I've got more enemies running around outside the walls than Kakashi-sensei and have a lot of crap in my past."

He gripped her shoulders tightly and smiled tenderly at her "Trust me when I tell you this: You should be _very glad_ you aren't like Sasuke or me. You come from a loving family that supports you, you are beautiful and kind, and you can keep Kakashi, Sasuke and me in line and are extremely important to us and your family."

She blinked at him, and only just realised now that she had tears in her eyes. "But I'm not strong-"

Naruto leaned back and laughed in amusement, Sakura flushed at his mockery, momentarily forgetting the comforting words he had just told her. "Not strong? You really believe that?" the endearing smile he sent her startled her and he patted her forearm. "Sure you weren't trained by a sannin, or come from a ninja clan with a powerful bloodline, but Sakura you are _far_ from weak in my eyes. You're smart and level-headed – most of the time at least – and responsible. So you don't have the experience I do, or have the natural born skill Sasuke has, but you've got determination Sakura and you just need an opportunity to shine. I think now's the perfect chance to let the real you steal the spotlight for once, don't you?"

Sakura opened and closed her mouth in shock. Did he really think all of that about her? Could he be telling the truth? "But what if we don't pass to the next stage?" she asked quietly. Naruto shrugged indifferently "Don't know, try again next time I guess. But that doesn't matter Sakura, if we fail then we fail, but at least you had the guts to participate the first time."

He smiled at her again and took a full step back so that he was no longer crowding her personal space. "But you should have more faith in our teamwork Sakura. We're a lot more capable then we appear, and we'll be watching each other's backs the whole way through no matter what, won't we?"

She sent him a grateful smile and nodded enthusiastically at him "Right!"

Naruto and Sakura headed to the stairs and he bowed at her, gesturing for her to head up first. She laughed lightly at him and grabbed the railing in her petite hand, stepping onto the first stair with a confident smile.

Naruto was right, as long as she kept her head high and believed in her teammates then nothing could stop them.

Sasuke was waiting for them a little way up and shot them a curious look, but didn't openly question what had occurred. He had a feeling Sakura would back out, but it seemed Naruto had persuaded her to stay. He smirked, he was glad the three of them would be taking this as a team, it wouldn't have been the same if one of them opted out at the last second.

Halfway to the second floor Naruto felt a tingling sensation run up his spine and he stopped, forcing Sasuke and Sakura to as well "What now?" the Uchiha demanded, but Naruto didn't hear him. "Does something feel….off…to you guys? I could have sworn I felt something just before."

"You're right, I do feel kind of funny" Sakura said and looked around as if the source of her strange feeling would reveal itself. "This feels familiar, like when Kakashi-sensei snuck up behind me in the bell test" she hummed out.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as he took a step closer to her. Sakura blinked and tapped her finger under her chin "Well when sensei found me I had the same feeling before I saw Sasuke dying by a tree, then I woke up and accidently broke your nose Naruto." She finished sheepishly, still a little ashamed of her behaviour towards Naruto during the test.

Understanding dawned on Sasuke's face "We're in a genjutsu" he said, sounding bored and tired all of a sudden. Shouting from above them caused the three genin to race up the last couple of steps and turn to find a cluster of other genin outside of a door, yelling at the two who were blocking the way.

Naruto watched from the back as a girl was shoved roughly to the ground. He looked at his teammates and let out a sharp, piercing whistle that successfully gained the attention of everyone in the group. The sound cut through the commotion like a knife. He found it funny that the genin parted to allow his team to walk forward until they were directly across from two boys and the girl sitting on the ground holding her bruised cheek.

Offering his hand to her Naruto helped pull her to her feet and sent her a small kind smile which she recuperated with a small twitch of her lips. "Well well well, what do we have here? Another bunch of loser genin want to try and get passed us huh?"

Naruto turned to the smug voice and tilted his head to the side. He gave no indication at how annoyed he was, but his teammates seemed to read him well enough to know he was about to do something that would no doubt effect the group negatively. They were too late to stop him though.

"A bunch of losers huh? That's rich coming from one of the two bullies picking on girl. At least my team fights fair and don't shove people around like we're kings of the world."

The brunette narrowed his eyes at the blonde "You shouldn't get up us blondie, we're just trying to stop this rag-tag group from getting killed. None of you have any idea what's behind these doors, or what will happen once things _really_ start to heat up."

Cocking an eyebrow at his aggressive tone Naruto stepped in once again so that he was directly in front of both troublemakers. "And what a fine job you're doing of it" he complemented sarcastically "Honestly you expect me to be scared of the two of you? I think I'd prefer to find out what's so tough about the exams myself if you don't mind. But before you say anything more" he pointed at Sakura "I believe my beautiful friend here has something she'd like to say about this floor. Sakura, if you'd please tell everyone what you discovered in the stairway."

Blinking at the abrupt request the pinkette cleared her throat nervously, the words Naruto spoke to her earlier came flying back and her confidence grew, especially when she saw the expectant look on the blonde's face. She couldn't let Naruto down, not after what he just did for her. "A genjutsu has been placed over this level, we're not on the third floor but the second."

Naruto nodded and turned back to the two boys "So you see there's really no reason to keep up the half-assed acting job since my friend has figured you out" he informed and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting and listening to the awed gasped as the sign above the door melted away to show that it really was a trick.

Smirking at the blonde one of the boys clapped mockingly "Well done, you were smart enough to figure it out, but brains is only half of what you need." The boy swung his leg at impressive speed towards the blonde's head. Naruto brought his left arm up and blocked the blow, his right balling into a fist and shooting forward even faster. Naruto frowned when he bandaged hand clamped onto his wrist and another onto the attacker's shoulder and pushed them away from each other.

Rubbing where he was grabbed the blonde cocked his head to the side and stared at the…oddly dressed kid that had stopped him from retaliating.

His black hair was in a bowl cut and his large round black eyes had prominent lower lashes and very thick eyebrows. His outfit consisted of a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers and his red Konoha forehead protector was wore as a belt.

He half listened as the boy spoke the two troublemakers and they disappeared, causing many of the genin to continue onwards to the proper test room.

Naruto approached the black haired boy at the same time two others did, he placed the girl as the one he had helped up and the boy as a Hyuuga from the eyes. "Hey, you're pretty quick you know. While that wasn't my best, not many people could have pulled that off" he complemented with a grin.

The boy rubbed the back of his head, a slight blush coming onto his cheeks "Uh, thank you" he said, and Naruto didn't miss the glance he sent to his teammates before returning his attention back to Naruto.

"My name is Rock Lee, these are my teammates, Neji Hyuuga and Tenten" he said, smiling at the blonde. "Oh, yeah that is Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, my name's Naruto Namikaze" he introduced, pointing at his two friends who stood a little way away, waiting for him to come over so that they could continue.

"Oh, I have heard about you!" Lee exclaimed, drawing the attention of some of the still lingering genin who now looked at Naruto in suspicion. "Lee, keep it down, there's no need to go shouting like that" Tenten said and lightly slapped his forearm.

He mumbled an apology but went right back to talking to the blonde. "You're the one who has been trained by Master Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin" he said excitedly, but much to Naruto's relief kept his voice lowered.

Awkwardly rubbing the back of his head at the look of awe on Lee's face and the creepy blank one he was getting from the Hyuuga he chuckled weakly "Yeah, that's me. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around telling everyone, I'm trying not to get a target on my forehead."

'_Having Gaara no doubt after me is bad enough, but if everyone knew who I was who knows what they'll do.'_

"Of course, I am sorry, but you must be exceptionally strong after your time learning from Master Jiraiya" Lee continued, his eyes wide and filled with wonder.

"Um…I guess" Naruto said, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Naruto, hurry up" Sasuke called from his place leaning on the wall and glaring tiredly at the group. Naruto returned the look with a rude hand sign and called back "Shut up Sasuke, I'm being social. You know, that's where you actually _interact_ with people and get to know them."

"Naruto!" Sakura abolished and put her hand on her hips, giving him a disapproving look. The blonde turned back to Lee and his team and rolled his eyes dramatically "And now I'm in trouble" he muttered, making Tenten giggle into her hand. "It was nice meeting you but I better go before Sasuke throws a tantrum, trust me that is not something you want to see" he whispered conspiratorially behind his hand as if his teammates could read lips. Tenten chuckled, but covered it up with her hand again.

Naruto sent her a wink, making her blush lightly before nodding to Lee and Neji – who had yet to say a word to him – "I'll see you guys in the exams, good luck."

"Good luck as well Naruto" Lee said and waved to the blonde who was already walking to his friends with his hands behind his head and a smile on his face.

"Did you have a nice chat dobe?" Sasuke asked irritably and Naruto playfully punched his arm, making the other boy stumble from the force of it. "Be social Sasuke, talk to someone, who knows, you might make more friends than Sakura and I."

Rolling her eyes Sakura pulled on her crush's arm "Come on you two, we've got an exam to pass."

OoOoOoOoO

Gaara watched the door impatiently, his fingers clenched into his arms and his eyes narrowed. He had expected Naruto to have come in by now, it had been almost a week and a bit since their meeting and mother was getting tired of waiting, she wanted the blonde dead _now_. He had no doubt the blonde and his team would be in the Chunin Exams, he was too skilled not to be.

He noted that both Temari and Kankuro seemed more uneasy around him than usual; they both knew what, or rather who was on his mind and clearly remembered the talk Baki had had with him last week.

The jounin had been idiotic enough to approach him about the subject and was lucky Gaara hadn't attacked him for even trying to get him to change his mind.

"_I don't care who this Naruto kid is or what he's done but you need to forget him and think about our mission. Everything we've been planning for months could be ruined if you let this brat get to your head. If you're not _100 percent_ focussed on what you need to do then everything you're father has done will be for nothing and this entire invasion will crumble. Forget about the kid and get your head in the game Gaara."_

He didn't care for Baki's advice, nor did he care about what his 'father' wanted. He refused to let the blonde continue to prance around after he had made himself interesting, flaunting his abilities in front of Gaara was his biggest mistake and now that he wanted to end the blonde's life he wouldn't stop until he had succeeded.

"_Shut up unless you want to die old man. I don't care what his plans are, his interests are of no benefit to me and when I say I will kill him I will. Make the mistake of getting in my way and I won't hesitate to kill you as well, along with anyone else who tries."_

"_Damn it Gaara we could lose everything because of your obsession! Get your act together or I'll report you to your father for insubordination."_

"_Do you think I care? Nothing will stop me from killing the blonde, my _father_ doesn't concern me Baki so don't make the mistake of thinking I care about him or his idiotic invasion."_

They had probably never seen him so fixated on someone who was not their target before, but he didn't care what they thought. Naruto would die by his hands before the end of the exams and his blood would feed mother and make her happy.

All he had to do was wait for the perfect time to strike. But Gaara didn't want to just kill Naruto, he wanted a fight, he wanted the blonde to show him his skills and his true power he wanted to go up against that dark and unnatural force he had sensed lurking inside of the boy and win. He wanted the fight of his life and had no doubt Naruto would give him that.

His lips tugged into a smile at the thought.

OoOoOoOoO

"Stop!"

Team 7 turned and watched in surprise when Lee jumped down from the balcony and landed a few metres away from them.

"Lee? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side as Lee stood and stood in a battle ready position. Raising and eyebrow Naruto glanced behind him and saw Sakura and Sasuke staring at him, waiting for him to take the lead since he was the 'leader' of their squad when Kakashi wasn't around.

"I wish to fight you and the Uchiha" he said confidently, standing perfectly still. Naruto paused for a second before scratching his head "Why?" he asked in confusion.

"I am the strongest genin in my year level, and you and Sasuke are both excellent opponents to face, I want to prove myself by beating you both." He said, then a blush came onto his cheeks when he looked at Sakura. "And I wish to show Sakura I am worthy of being her boyfriend!"

"WHAT!?" Sakura shouted in shock and Naruto bit his lip to keep from laughing as Lee continued to promise to protect her is she did agree.

His shoulders shook in mirth and he brought a hand up to hide his chuckles as best he could. After a minute or so he cleared his throat and turned back to Lee, an amused smirk dancing on his lips. "Um, I appreciate the offer Lee, and would really like to fight you, but maybe after the exams?" he suggested.

Lee looked a little deflated at the half-rejection but did perk up when Sasuke stepped forward and got into a fighting stance.

Naruto frowned and moved in front of Sasuke, who scowled at his interruption. "Are you sure Sasuke?" he asked, dead serious and gripped the boy's arm when he nodded. "Don't do anything stupid, this guy is _fast_ so don't let his appearance trick you, and _don't get hurt_."

Scoffing in minor annoyance the Uchiha pushed the blonde behind him, brushing his warning off and staring down his opponent hard. Even though he acted like Naruto's advice was useless he did feel like he should listen and follow it; unfortunately his pride wouldn't let him accept the words.

Naruto scowled and moved back until he was standing next to Sakura, she was gazing at Sasuke in concern and prayed that he wouldn't get too hurt from this fight; because who knew what the Chunin Exams would hold in store for them?

"Here I come!" Lee shouted and sprinted forward to Sasuke, he dropped low and made to sweep Sasuke's feet out from under him, only to have him jump up and over Lee to avoid it. When he landed Sasuke spun and sent a punch at Lee, who blocked it easily and whipped his fist into the Uchiha's chin, making him stumbled back, dazed from the blow.

"Snap out of it" Naruto muttered to himself and nodded in approval when Sasuke recovered swiftly and went on defence from Lee's brutal attacks. Shaking his head as Lee got more and more shots in the blonde cursed Sasuke's stubbornness inwardly "Use your sharingan you idiot" he said under his breath.

Sasuke, seeing an opening kicked the older boy away from him and charged forward, sending vicious kicks and punches after one another, he could see Naruto mouthing to himself at the sidelines and frowned, his eyes fully flickering to the blonde and giving Lee a chance to recover.

Lee was a taijutsu expert.

Naruto had figured that from his movements and the way he held himself against Sasuke's attacks. You'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not see that fact, so why the _hell_ wasn't Sasuke using his sharingan against such an opponent? He was asking for a quick defeat thinking that he could take Lee as he was.

"Blast it Sasuke use your sharingan!" he shouted and uncrossed his and stepped forward, his outburst startling all of them. Lee and Sasuke momentarily stalled, then he leapt away to regain his bearings.

"He's too skilled Sasuke, use your sharingan otherwise you won't be able to keep up!" Naruto sounded beyond annoyed as he scowled at his friend. Sasuke pressed his lips into a thin line but allowed his eyes to bleed into a familiar red, he raced forward and aimed a kick to Lee's stomach but the boy slipped away to the left and grabbed his outstretched leg, pivoted and flung the Uchiha across the room.

Sasuke skidded to a halt and was on his feet in less than a second, he panted heavily and rubbed his shoulder which had taken the fall. Deciding that charging wasn't the best option anymore he waited for Lee to attack.

The bowl-cut haired ninja jogged forward, his body fluidly moved with natural ease as he approached Sasuke. The older boy tensed his muscles and struck out with his arm, catching Sasuke on his already injured shoulder, this attack was quickly followed by his legs being taken out from under him.

Naruto winced when his friend hit the ground with a thunk and groaned. He pinched the bridge of his nose when Sasuke forced himself to stand again and face Lee, his glare now angrier than it has even been before.

"Just stay down Sasuke, yield you idiot" he muttered and Sakura nibbled on her lower lip. She too just wanted Sasuke to admit defeat and stop hurting himself unnecessarily but she wasn't as vocal about it as Naruto.

When Lee landed another punch on Sasuke she stepped forward to stop the fight but Naruto clamped his hand down on her shoulder and pulled her back to his side. "Don't interfere yet, if Sasuke wants our help he'll ask for it. Stepping in will make him feel weak, plus he needs to understand when to back down and give up, he needs to learn that there will be some fights he can't win."

"But he's hurt Naruto" she protested but didn't move from her place, she just frowned up at him.

"I'll stop the match before things get too serious Sakura, I won't let Lee injure Sasuke, I wouldn't do that to a friend."

Her body slumped and she nodded in consent, her eyes trailing back to the fight between Sasuke and Lee, she could see it was getting more violent as Sasuke continued to push himself harder.

She frowned in confusion when Lee pranced gracefully away from Sasuke, before charging back towards him, his leg came up and clocked Sasuke beneath the chin, sending him flying into the air with a grunt. Appearing behind him Lee's leg came around he hit Sasuke in the middle of his back, sending him straight to the ground.

Sakura blinked when she felt a gust of wind and found that Naruto was no longer by her side. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream when Sasuke crashed to the ground, his arm was curled into his chest and he was blinking back tears. Naruto was standing protectively above his downed friend, his legs spread apart, head lowered and arms high above him in a cross to block Lee's leg from finishing its downward path into Sasuke.

"ENOUGH" the blonde snapped and shoved the older boy away from him, bending down to Sasuke he turned him onto his back and flinched when he saw the dark bruising that had already begun to bloom on Sasuke's shoulder and down his arm. "Sakura, get over here" he said, his voice making it clear how angry he really was.

She gasped and reached out to her crush, tenderly moving his shirt to get a better look at his wound. "Strap it" Naruto ordered as he stood and looked down at Sasuke with a murderous glare.

Sighing and running a hand through his hair Naruto turned to Lee, whose face was contorted concern and guilt. Walking up to the boy Naruto placed a hand on his arm "You better get back to your team Lee, the first exam will be starting soon."

Lee nodded but still hesitated "What about you?" he asked quietly as his eyes slid over to Sasuke who Sakura was tending to.

"We'll have to see if Sasuke's fit enough to continue, if he is we'll see you there, if not then I guess we'll have to pull out" his blunt comment drew another terribly guilty look from the taijutsu master. Naruto shooed him and walked back over to his team "Go Lee" he ordered.

Waiting until he was gone, Naruto then turned to Sasuke and glared down at him disapprovingly "What the hell is wrong with you, you imbecile?" he asked angrily as he stared down at Sasuke.

"Why didn't you pull out? Where you so stubborn that you had to risk such a serious injury just to win a petty fight?" the viciousness in his voice made Sakura and Sasuke flinch before the Uchiha struggled to stand with Sakura's help.

"I wasn't the one who started the fight" Sasuke growled back, shooting a dirty look at the blonde who glowered at him.

"No, you're the idiot who kept going back for more! Now we probably have to pull out because you were to prideful to yield! Did winning really mean that much to you that you had to put all our chances at getting to chunin in jeopardy?"

"I'm _fine_" Sasuke hissed, his eyes bleeding into his sharingan again since it was deactivated earlier; his pitiful attempt to intimidate the blonde didn't work. "Why are you so worked up anyway? It's not like you actually care."

Naruto stepped back like he'd been struck, his mouth was hanging open and he was staring at Sasuke like he had escaped from a mental institution. "You think I don't care about you?" he asked quietly and avoided looking at his teammates, "The only reason I'm angry is _because_ I consider you my friend Sasuke, and I'm worried because you got injured unnecessarily and that it could impair our chances of participating."

Sasuke winced at how upset Naruto looked, he could see how he'd overstepped and opened his mouth to apologise. "Naruto, I-I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence, before Naruto nodded slowly in acceptance of his words but still did not look directly at the other boy.

"Yeah. Well if you say you're alright enough to keep going then let's go. The exams will start soon" Naruto brushed passed the two of them and headed towards the testing room, his shoulders were noticeably droopier then before.

Sakura, for the first time she could remember felt a wave of anger directed at the boy next to her. Naruto had only been concerned and didn't deserve to have it thrown back in his face so cruelly. She swung her head to Sasuke and glared at him in disproval before taking off after Naruto to try and comfort him like he had her not even ten minutes before.

Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, directed all at himself. He had been around Naruto enough to know how he would respond to certain things, and he knew that their friendship was one of the first either of them had really had in a long time, so he was not too proud to know when he was at fault. If he had forfeited then he wouldn't be hurt and he wouldn't have snapped at the blonde.

Sasuke sighed again and ran his uninjured hand through his hair. He trudged after his teammates.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto opened the door wide and stepped into the room with a small frown on his young face. His sudden entrance gained the attention of everyone in the room, but the blonde ignored their stares in favour for stepping to the side and allowing Sakura and Sasuke to enter as well.

"I'm not surprised you're here"

Naruto felt his previous annoyance evaporate like it was never there and smiled at Shikamaru and Choji. "Your sensei signed _you _up, the world must be ending if _Shikamaru Nara_ is prepared to work to advance to the next level" he chuckled and gave the infamously lazy boy and light punch on the arm. Shikamaru smirked and rubbed his neck "Yeah I know, my dad almost choked on air when I told him but it was either enter and get our butts kicked or listen to Ino whine and nag for months."

The gorgeous blonde next the Shikamaru slapped him hard for insulting her but she quickly brushed passed the three boys in to focus on Sasuke, who was in her mind _way_ more interesting.

"Damn woman" he muttered and scowled at the back of her head, Naruto sniggered quietly and Choji offered him his packet of chips. The jinchuuriki felt his lips twitch when he remembered how territorial the Akimichi usually was with his food. Choji had only _ever_ shared food with people he thought of as family, like Shikamaru and Naruto. The fact that he was still doing so with him made Naruto's smile grow wider.

"So you guys ready for a bloodbath?" he asked as he popped the tasty chip into his mouth and ate. Shikamaru cocked his eyebrow and Naruto smirked "Oh come on, you should be able to see how twitchy these guys look. Once the fighting starts I can tell you that a lot of people aren't going to come out alive" Choji froze and paused in his eating to stare at Naruto queasily, suddenly wishing he wasn't close enough to hear what the boy was saying.

"And you can guess who they'll target right: the ones who look weak, the youngest, the rookies; a.k.a. _us_. You guys got any plans to beat off these thugs, because if you're going into this thing without a plan I don't think you'll survive."

Choji continued to look a little put-out that he would be a target, his skin was paler and eyes narrowed but his friends didn't pay him any mind. Shikamaru shrugged and his lips twisted upwards "We have one or two. I'm guessing your team will go to the next round" Naruto smiled at him.

"Why Shika, it's nice to know you have so much confidence in me and my teammates" he said "But we are just a rookie team like yours that don't have much experience as a whole. But who knows, maybe by some incredible circumstance we both make it and pass to Chunin together."

The two chuckled at their conversation but Shikamaru's attention was claimed by something over Naruto's shoulder. He jerked his head in that direction "Any reason why he's staring at us?" he asked, dropping his voice lower. Naruto, completely ignoring his friend's subtle ways fully turned around and spotted who the Nara heir was talking about.

Naruto smiled and waved at Gaara before spinning back to the dark haired boy who was watching him questioningly. He shrugged "His name's Gaara, he's from Suna and apparently wants to kill me judging from the fact he attacked me during our first meeting. I intent to not only live through whatever he plans to do, but befriend him as well."

The other genin frowned, studying the redhead again "Why does he want to kill you? Aren't you worried about being in the exams with him?"

Naruto once again shrugged indifferently "Nah not really, I can tell he's strong but I'm no weakling myself. I can handle him easily; just have to avoid him for as long as possible."

Shikamaru shot him a disapproving look, and didn't fail to notice how Naruto hadn't answered his first question, but didn't get a chance to comment.

"Hey Goldilocks!"

Naruto flinched and cursed under his breathe, Kiba had successfully redirected attention back onto him and now was likely going to make a big scene in front of everything. He sucked in deeply and faced the brunette, trying not to look uncertain but confident and cocky because with the competition watching he had to look tough so his team wouldn't be targeted more than they needed to be.

"Ah dog-breathe, long-time-no-see. I see your sensei let you in, what did you have to do to convince them? Beg?" Naruto teased lightly and Kiba twitched at the insult.

"Hell no, Kurenai-sensei believes that we're strong enough to handle ourselves and signed us up. How did _you_ get here?" he sneered and Naruto glanced at Shikamaru when he felt the boy shift uncomfortably beside him.

"The door of course numbnuts, I would have thought that was obvious since ya know" he pointed at the door, "it's right there and all." Shikamaru coughed to cover up a chuckle and Kiba's face flushed red in embarrassment. Naruto winked at Choji and Shikamaru, and they shook their heads at him.

"I meant why are you participating in the exams? Last time I saw you you couldn't even make a good clone." Naruto's gaze drifted over to the many ninja watching them and narrowed when he saw a few chuckle at what the brunette had said; he felt his cheeks flush red and faced Kiba again.

"Yeah well times change and people improve, and trust me when I tell you mutt-boy, I am now quite capable of defending myself." Kiba snorted and it was then he saw the Inuzuka's teammates standing just a little behind him.

Naruto tilted his head and frowned thoughtfully, he recognised the girl well enough seeing as he had walked her home one his first week or so in Konoha and smiled in greeting at her. Hinata ducked her head and blushed, shuffling behind Kiba's more bulky form as if he was some form of shield. The third one of them was a tall, stoic looking young man with small black glasses and a grey coat with a turtle neck that covered half of his face.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Hmm?" he asked and refocussed on Kiba, who looked a little miffed at being disregarded _'Just like when we were kids'_ Naruto thought in amusement _'Like me, Kiba never did like being ignored.'_

"Were you even listening?" the boy huffed angrily and the blonde smirked the same irritatingly arrogant one he usually did as a child "In all honesty no, I have a habit of tuning out things I find annoying, sorry."

The dog owner growled and was about to speak but stopped and stared in bewilderment as Akamaru – his ever loyal best friend for years – turned traitor and leapt from his spot on Kiba's head where he had been having his nap and into Naruto's arms, yapping happily.

His retort died on his lips when he saw the little white puppy snuggle up to the blonde – who was looking entirely too smug for Kiba's liking – that was gently patting his fur. He narrowed his eyes at Akamaru before deflating, he couldn't stay mad at Naruto even after what he had done, and especially since Akamaru was so excited to see him again.

"Ah forget it you brat, it's good to have you back" he mumbled and Naruto placed the puppy on his own head like Kiba had him only seconds earlier, he felt his eye twitch but his irritation vanished when he saw how happy his buddy was.

"Good to be back Kiba, tell me, did you miss me?" he teased "I'm just too loveable not too after all" he said and wrapped his arms around Kiba in a friendly hug, before stepping back and dropping Akamaru into Kiba's arms carefully. "So have you gotten any stronger since you left? Or are you still a dead-last like in the Academy? Please tell me you can at least make a henge."

Naruto laughed and threw an arm around the brunette's shoulders, secretly glad beyond belief that this reunion seemed much smoother and definitely easier than the one with Choji and Shikamaru. "Kiba, Kiba, Kiba, Kiba, Kiba" he said and shook his head "I can assure you, I am _definitely_ one of the _strongest_ people here right now."

As soon as the words left his lips he almost hit himself over the head. There was silence in the room as most stared at him in either disbelief or insult.

'_Oh crap, that probably wasn't the best thing to say here…'_

"Naruto" Sakura scolded when she saw the looks their little group was now receiving. She yanked on his arm and dragged him away from Kiba and over to her and Sasuke, then slapped the back of his head hard. He yelped and pouted at her "That's uncalled for Sakura, I was simply speaking the truth. Everyone's going to know by the end of the exams, so why should I lie?"

"You don't go around saying stuff like that you IDIOT" she hissed at him "Now we'll have everyone after us to get back at you for being too cocky." She sighed and stepped back "You just made this entire thing harder than it needs to be."

'_Too late for that Sakura. Orochimaru will be after me as soon as he gets the chance, out of everyone he's who you need to pray we don't encounter.'_

Someone chuckled and stepped forward; the young man was around nineteen and wore a pair of circular glasses over his onyx eyes. His ash coloured hair was pulled into a ponytail and his bangs were framing both sides of his forehead. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, and fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of his hands. A white cloth waistband was worn at an angle; he had pants the same colour as his shirt and had a standard shuriken holster at his right leg.

The headband had the Konoha symbol etched into it, and he had a friendly smile on his soft looking face. "You're certainly arrogant for a rookie" he commented, that smile never wavering. "A little advice though, you might want to keep it down. After all, you are all just out of the Academy right? I wouldn't just go around making claims like that unless you can back it up."

This guy had grabbed the attention of all nine of them; "This isn't some form of fieldtrip." Ino stepped forward and looked at him like he was some form of alien. "Who asked you? Who are you anyway?"

The guy never lost his charming smile as he pushed his glasses back up onto his face, "I'm Kabuto Yakushi, and you guys should listen to what I'm telling you" he said and gestured to all of the other competitors who were watching their group calculatingly or out-right glaring at the twelve year olds – mainly Naruto though.

Kabuto pointed to a group of genin a few metres away from them, "Those guys there are from the Rain village, very touchy, everyone here is. This exams makes everyone tense and you wouldn't want to rub them the wrong way right now."

Naruto's eyes narrowed thoughtfully as Kabuto continued, his voice taking on a slightly patronizing tone which irked the younger blonde. "It's not like you could help it though, you are all new to this after all you remind me of myself when I was your age actually."

"Kabuto right?" Sasuke asked and when the older boy fixed his eyes on the Uchiha he spoke again "I take it this isn't your first time taking the Chunin Exams?"

The smile was back, but it didn't seem right to Naruto, there was something about this guy that set him on edge and he had learned to trust his gut throughout his life….and the way he was staring at Sasuke made warning sounds blare in his head. "No it's…..my seventh" Kabuto admitted, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed way.

Sakura gasped and stared at him in increased interest, silently asking the silver haired young man to go on. "The exams are held twice a year so this will be my fourth year trying to advance."

"So if you've done this before you must know a lot about it right?" Kiba asked, his hand absently reaching up to pat Akamaru.

"Yeah, sort of" he replied confidently. Naruto hummed to himself and tilted his head to the side, as if seeing Kabuto from a different angle would somehow explain to him why his instincts were giving off a warning.

"Well that's convenient" Naruto snorted and walked closer to Kabuto who acknowledged him with a curious look "If you're _sooo_ experienced maybe you can explain to us _rookies_ all about the exams so we don't end up like you, repeating over and over again, you know, being failures and all." It was a pretty loud challenge but Kabuto merely smiled politely and chuckled as if the blonde had told a joke.

"Some expert if this is his seventh go" Sasuke muttered, somewhat supporting his friends barb at the older ninja. "I guess you weren't kidding Naruto, when you said this was a tough competition" Naruto glanced over his shoulder at his teammate before snapping his head back to stare at Kabuto. Their little spat a few minutes ago still fresh in his mind, and along with the remembrance his previous annoyance came too. Nearly everyone in the room saw the exchange between the two boys and didn't miss the way Sasuke glared at Naruto's back after he turned around.

Clearly there was some trouble brewing between the genin, a fact that most computed to memory in case that knowledge could be used against the younger ninja later in the exams.

"Hold on a second, maybe I _could_ help you kids out a little" Kabuto said as he pulled out a pack of cards, appearing to be one of the only people not affected by the brief interaction between the younger boys. "With my Ninja Info Card" he said as if it was a secret topic.

"What the heck are those?" Ino asked, staring at them with wide-eyed, child-like wonder.

"Well, it's hard explain but these cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past four years" he said and bent down so he was kneeling in front of them and putting the cards in front of him. "I've got over two hundred of them so, you see, I haven't been completely wasting my time. They may not look like much to the naked eye, in fact, they appear blank."

As he said this, the silver haired shinobi flipped over the top card, true to his words it was just a white background. "I wouldn't want just anyone seeing this stuff" he told them and placed a finger on the card and channelling his chakra into it, after a moment a small map of the countries appeared.

Naruto barely glanced at the card, he had spent a lot of time going through nearly every country so there was no need for his to look at it. His eyes scanned the room without moving his head while all of his friends scrambled closer to look at what Kabuto would do next.

'_If Orochimaru is going to be participating like I suspect then the chances he'd be in here are high, I just have to look and study each of them and cross reference they actions with what I know of Orochimaru. It shouldn't be too hard since he isn't really expecting anyone to be looking for him. Of course he would have seen me by now so would automatically be on guard and watching my ever move. Man I hate this; I can't see him but he's got a perfect vantage of me from anywhere in the room, he could hit me at anytime and I'd be non-the-wiser and react too slow to stop him.'_

"So what does this one show exactly?" Shikamaru asked when he noticed it wasn't just a map.

"This one shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who have come to take the Chunin Exams. What villages they come from and how many from each village" he explained patiently.

Sakura nudged Naruto when she realised he wasn't paying attention, breaking his staring contest with a genin from Grass the blonde sent her an annoyed look before tuning back into what Kabuto was saying.

"Why do you guys think they all come here to take the exam together at the same time? It's the foster friendship between nations of course; international brotherhood and all that. And it's true enough as far as it goes."

"But there's another reason" Shino stated, this being the first time he spoke up, everyone looked at him as Kabuto nodded.

"Of course, you see this way they can carefully regulate the number of shinobi that end up in each village, thereby maintaining the balance of power."

'_That is until one nation gets jealous and plots an invasion against the other'_ Naruto thought bitterly, once again turning his attention from the conversation to his surroundings. He half listened as Kabuto continued to drone on about the balance of shinobi in each village, he only allowed his attention to return when Kiba stepped forward "Do those cards of yours hold any info on other candidates?"

"They might" Kabuto replied cryptically "Do any of you have anyone special in mind? My information might not be perfect or complete but I've got something on just about everyone….even you guys."

Naruto's eyes narrowed even further and his jaw clenched. So this guy was a little spy, who watched his opponents like a hawk and collected any interesting facts about them whenever he could. People like this always had an ulterior motive, but the blonde was wondering why exactly Kabuto was willing to share his advantages with them. This knowledge, accompanied with all the subtle glances in his direction, that calculating aura about him and just the guy's overall attitude led Naruto to the fact that no matter what, Kabuto couldn't be trusted.

He had seen the way his dark eyes had slid to him when he finished his sentence, and the sinister gleam in them made a uncomfortable feeling stir in the blonde's gut. _'If this dude thinks I'll fall into his act then he's dead wrong. I'm not stupid enough to be tricked by his fake little smile and friendly ways. It's too coincidental, too lucky, he's trying to gain our trust and will most likely pull a fast one on us the first chance he gets.'_ Naruto outright glared at the older shinobi and felt a sliver of satisfaction at the somewhat shocked look he got in return. He made sure to display his thoughts on his face, the words 'You don't fool me' were in big, bold, capital letters and even though Naruto knew Kabuto understood the guy recovered his mask flawlessly and broke eye contact before anyone seemed to notice their exchange and continued swiftly.

Before Kiba could say anything more, Sasuke stepped forward as Kabuto told them that even with a description he could find out who they were looking for. "Gaara from Suna and Rock Lee from the Leaf village."

Naruto nudged Sasuke and shook his head, the look on his face was clearly irritated that Sasuke was bringing up the Gaara topic again. He knew that Sasuke had told Sakura and Kakashi about their little fight with Gaara, and was annoyed that he wouldn't leave it alone; didn't they have any faith in his abilities?

Kabuto's lips quirked up as if he found the Uchiha's request amusing and he pulled two cards from his deck, he activated Lee's card and read the information.

"He's a year older than you guys, mission experience: 11 C-ranks and 20 D-ranks. His squad leader is Gai and in the last year or so his taijutsu skills have improved greatly but his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year he chose not to participate in the exams for unknown reasons, so that means he's a first timer just like you guys. His teammates are Neji Hyuuga and Tenten."

"Ok, now for Gaara" Kabuto said and activated that card as well.

Sasuke and Sakura leaned forward with interest, they wanted to know as much as they could about the guy that had attacked Naruto.

"Ok, mission experience, 8 C-ranks and, whoa one B-rank mission. There's not a lot more info on this guy but there is this….he's never gotten a scratch on him, even on his missions."

They gasped and Naruto felt his eyes involuntarily jump over to Gaara, who was standing near the back of the room still staring at him as he had been since Naruto had entered. He looked as if he was waiting to see his reaction to that information. The blonde didn't betray anything but inside he was a little curious as to how that was possible; Gaara obviously had an incredible defence if it was true.

Naruto suddenly felt uncomfortable when his teammates turned to stare at him in concern, they too realised what this information meant.

Kabuto looked up at the group "All of the villages have sent exceptionally high levelled shinobi to this year's exams" his eyes danced over the crowds "Of course the Hidden Sound village is small and has only just sprung up recently, no one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery."

'_Yeah mainly because Orochimaru lives there. I'll have to watch out for those guys, they'll be trouble later on.'_

Reshuffling his deck the older ninja looked at them, a small smile aimed at them "Is there anyone else you guys want to know about?" he asked and was about to stand up when a cold, chilling voice called over from the back of the room.

"Him"

Everyone turned to see Gaara pointing directly at Naruto, the same eerie grin on his face from last week.

Blinking in surprise Kabuto tilted his head and something close to annoyance fluttered over his face but brought out Naruto's information card without question. He didn't miss the way a hush had fallen over the room as he read out the fidgeting blonde's card, a little louder than before so that anyone listening would be able to hear it.

"Naruto Namikaze, son of the Fourth Hokage" he began and already he held the attention of the entire room. Naruto knew his heritage wasn't common knowledge in other villages, and knew it was only a matter of time before word spread, but he didn't want it revealed at the very beginning of the competition."Teammates are Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and are led by Kakashi Hatake, recently re-joined Konoha after a….a five year training trip under Master Jiraiya, one of the sannin."

Kabuto paused and peered over the rim of his card at Naruto who was glaring at the floor, with an intense gleam in his eyes. All eyes were fixated on Naruto but he refused to even twitch as Kabuto continued once again.

"Has completed 13 D-rank mission, 1 A-rank mission and apparently 5 S-rank while on his training trip" the awed tone in Kabuto's voice seemed to ripple through the crowd as everyone stared in shock. Training under a sannin was one thing but completing _five S-rank missions_ when he was barely a teenager was impossible!

"Taijutsu and ninjutsu are all low jounin, genjutsu a little less developed; you even have some mid-level training in fūinjutsu."

A blush was starting to creep up from his neck the more information Kabuto read, he didn't like the looks he was getting from everyone, including Sasuke and Sakura.

He could tell Kabuto was going to continue and cleared his throat noisily while putting on a strained smile "I think that's enough for now, don't you Kabuto?" even though it came off as a suggestion Kabuto could hear the threat just underneath and nodded, placing the card back into his deck.

There was a heavy silence as the genin all processed what they just said, and the blonde didn't need to glance over his shoulder to know that the intensity of Gaara's eyes boring into the back of his head had grown after his abilities were outed.

Kiba walked up to him and opened his big mouth to say something but stopped when a cloud of smoke erupted from the front of the room. "Alright you baby-faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up!" a voice shouted at them, immediately taking focus away from the intriguing blonde and to whoever was shouting at them; something which Naruto was extremely grateful for.

The smoke slowly cleared and a group of intimidating men and women stood in front of them. Directly in the middle was a very tall man, wearing a simple grey uniform and a black trench-coat over the top, the top of his head was covered in a bandana with his headband on it and he had nasty looking scars running down his face.

A sadistic smirk was on his face "It's time to begin, I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from this moment, your worst enemy."

OoOoOoOoO

_Written test…._

Those words were ringing around in his head and he swallowed nervously at the thought of it. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing and calm down his fast beating heart.

'_It's just a simple paper exam Naruto, you can do it, you _need_ to pass this and find Orochimaru before he can do any damage. Plus Sasuke and Sakura are counting on you.'_

Ibiki – after promptly scaring the living crap out of most candidates – had explained the rules of this test, and had given all of them a small tile with a number on it. Naruto currently found himself seated between the girl from Gaara's team – Temari? – and that creepy guy from Grass that kept glancing at him every few minutes or so.

'_So to pass this I just have to get one question right, if I get two great. I've got one hour with fifteen minutes at the end for the tenth question, and I can't do anything 'suspicious' otherwise I'll be losing two points at a time.'_

The scratching of pen on paper was obnoxiously loud to the blonde but he managed to read through the first question, his brow furrowed in concentration as he took it in. With rising panic he quickly scanned through the other nine questions.

'_What….why are these such advanced questions? There's no way your average genin would really be able to understand one of them, Sakura probably can, but she's got three brains, Sasuke might as well. So why would they put questions like these in unless….'_

A smirk curled onto his lips and his eyes met those of one of the chunin along the side, seeing his understanding look the chunin's lips also twitched but otherwise he gave nothing away.

'_Interesting, so the only one who hasn't picked up his pencil has already figured out the real game; I'll have to watch him closely and see what he comes up with, whatever it is I bet it'll be original.'_

The chunin briefly allowed his eyes to scan the other genin before they drifted back to the blonde who was now staring blankly at his test, his eyes weren't moving like he was reading, in fact, he looked like he wasn't even aware of his surroundings anymore. He remembered him being the one who had confronted him in front of the fake exam room and was not really surprised that Naruto had figured it out so quickly.

Naruto closed himself off to the world and ran through every idea that popped into his head, he slumped forward and breathed deeply, trying to trick a handful of chunin and possibly jounin ranked shinobi would not be easy, even for someone as skilled as him.

Pursing his lips in thought his eyes brightened as an idea come to him; it wasn't perfect and would require impossible luck that he knew he possessed since birth – how the hell would he have survived as long as he had otherwise? –, but it was also a way of secretly telling Sasuke and Sakura that he was ok, and that they would pass.

Once his plan was ready he reached for his pencil and pretended to begin writing, he felt the penetrating gaze of that one chunin watching him, obviously expecting something from him since it was the first time he had moved to do something in all the last ten minutes.

Leaning back and still pretending to go over his work he placed his pencil down, it rolled under his desk and he sighed as if it was an annoying problem; as carefully as he could he bent under the desk and picked it up, in that same instance placing a smoke bomb next to his foot. Once his pencil was back in his hand he purposefully wasted another ten minutes before subtly kicking the bomb and making it head to the middle of the room.

The rattle it made was covered by the sound of writing and he pushed down the urge to smirk. Waiting another minute to be safe he then detonated it, causing thick purple smoke to explode into the room. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that many let out screams of fright or curses, in the extra noise Naruto expertly made a clone and felt it transform while he too acted shocked and surprised.

"Alright you maggot calm down, it's just a simple smoke bomb!" Ibiki exclaimed from the board and executed a small wind jutsu to clear the air. Nearly everyone was standing and looking around in confusion, Naruto among them. The exam proctors were staring at everyone suspiciously; having not been able to see if anyone had used the distraction to do anything. Naruto caught Sakura and Sasuke's eyes and gave them a barely noticeable smile and dipped his head in silence acknowledgement of their questions.

He could literally feel their amusement and satisfaction. Ibiki ordered them to shut up and continue with the test, which everyone did but it was obvious they were tenser then before.

When Naruto sat down he started reading the next question on the exam and gripped his hair as if frustrated at it. He was frowning and quietly fuming in his seat, just adding to his act and drawing more of the chunins' attention, he could even hear a few of them chuckling at his predicament as they jotted down others mistakes while eliminating more and more cheaters, forcing them and their teams to leave.

No one seemed to connect the smoke bomb with him and he watched subtly as a small fly buzzed around the room so as not to alert the chunin to its presence. The small creature seemed to be buzzing around normally and that's exactly what he wanted it to be doing. He turned away from it when it began hovering around Sakura's head, even landing on her shoulder – not that she noticed it from how intently she was writing.

Izumo Kamizuki hummed to himself as he watched the Namikaze boy slowly become more frustrated at the test. He would have found it amusing if not for the strange gleam that was in those azure eyes when he made contact with them once again. _'He's up to something'_ he thought and leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the blonde.

His companions had all seemed to lose interest in Naruto Namikaze, but he suspected there was more to the boy then meets the eye. He had put up a good act, good enough to fool all of the other chunin, and even Ibiki it seemed. But he just couldn't buy it.

From what Kakashi, and even Anko had said this kid was supposed to be ingenious in a completely different way than normal, Kakashi had said numerous times that Naruto displayed high intelligence and was able to pull off very strange yet effective ways of using his abilities to his advantage.

What else did they say? Something about clones? Yes that was right, Naruto could apparently create hundreds of shadow clones on command without breaking a sweat; he was said to be very skilled at deceiving those around him as well.

Something small and fast caught his eye and he switched his gaze to a small fly that was quietly hovering above some of the other competitors. Izumo widened his eyes and looked back at Naruto, the boy hadn't really moved or used his chakra in any way since the start of the exams, so if he's theory was correct then when had he-?

'_Of course, when the smoke bomb went off! He created a distraction and used the confusion to make a clone and transformed it into a fly.'_ Narrowing his eyes at it he reached for a kunai to kill it but froze. If this was a shadow clone then killing it would just send all of the information gathered straight to Naruto, and since the blonde could disperse his clone at any time it wasn't like he could stop the stolen information from being transmitted directly to Naruto.

'_He really is as good as Kakashi said; better even. He has effectively cheated but since no one had actually seen him do any of this then we can't penalise him for it. Especially if all of this is just guess work from me.'_ Almost chuckling at the incredible plan formulated by Naruto he met the blue eyes and he shook his head at him, silently telling him that he knew what was going on and knew he had been beaten by the blonde.

Naruto titled his head curiously at him and his eyes only held minor confusion and something else, a small flicker excitement.

He watched as the fly exited through on of the windows and flew around the corner, no doubt releasing itself and sending the stolen information to the original, and judging by the way Naruto waited for a few minutes before he uncertainly began writing he suspicion was correct.

The blonde had fooled an entire room of shinobi with his excellent plan and had succeeded in getting away with it, because since there was no proof that that fly really was a transformed clone any penalties given the Naruto could be easily countered.

'_This kid is good, I'll give him that'_

He'd be sure to bring this up to Ibiki, and inform ever one of his companions how thoroughly they had been beaten by a twelve year old with abnormal yellow hair and whisker marks on his cheeks.

But then again, the object of this test wasn't just how good you could gather information, he wondered how well the kid would do when Ibiki put them through the final, real challenge.

OoOoOoOoO

As soon as Naruto had given them the nod Sasuke felt a small wave of relief wash over him, Naruto wouldn't have caused such a loud and obvious problem unless he had another, much more secretive plan. Whatever his brash blonde friend had planned Sasuke found himself more at ease with this knowledge that he wasn't giving up without at least trying something underhand.

He had long since figured out the objective was to cheat, it was to see who was the most skilful at getting information from your enemies, and Sasuke, after using his sharingan to copy the shinobi in front of him hand movements as he wrote, was now confident that his team at least would advance to the next level. He knew that with Sakura's brains and Naruto's skill both would get enough points.

He just hoped Naruto didn't get caught…

But now that he had more than half an hour to sit quietly his mind began to drift back to what had happened at the beginning of the exams. He no longer worried about having to apologise to Naruto, because he knew he was forgiven just by the extra look the blonde had sent him. They had more important things to be concerned about then a petty fight that was caused by nerves.

But now the Uchiha had something else to think about, something he knew would be on many minds throughout this test even though they had to focus.

'_Is Naruto really that strong?'_

That question was now the most insistent and annoying one out of the many that surrounded Naruto. He had known his friend was incredible accomplished for their age, but that was to be expected from training under a sannin for five years. He had just never really _known_ the details of the blonde's abilities. As long as he didn't get them all killed Sasuke was fine.

But _five S-rank missions_ was simply amazing, those were the type of missions reserved for ANBU and higher – not that there really was a level higher. To think that Naruto, who acted like an idiot well enough to make people believe that he truly was one, had done no doubt deadly missions when he was between eight and twelve was mind boggling, and truthfully a bit unsettling.

If Sasuke hadn't seen Naruto's fighting first hand heaps of times he would have been sceptical as well because at face value Naruto just seemed like a smart mouthed teenage boy who would pick fights he couldn't hope to win. No one would really expect him to be a walking powerhouse.

And then there was the moment after the fight with Lee.

"_You think I don't care about you?"_

Sasuke's hand curled into a fist and he frowned thoughtfully at the wall.

"_The only reason I'm angry is because I consider you my friend Sasuke"_

He had known for quite some time that Naruto considered him a friend, but this was the first time Sasuke had really given their relationship any deep contemplation. He guessed it was just one of those things when they didn't need to clarify if they were friends or not, someone could just tell by looking at them and the way they spoke to each other.

But this was a new experience for Sasuke. He'd never actually had a proper friend before that wasn't family, he'd always kept himself separate from his classmates and that wall he had built up had only strengthened since _that_ night. He never told himself the reason he never let anyone in was because he was afraid that if anyone got to close they'd leave…or be taken from him.

Spending so much time with Team 7 though had changed him, he'd have to be a complete moron not to see this. He was definitely happier than he had been in years since their squad was formed, and no longer found his teammates utterly insufferable. Hell he didn't even mind Sakura that much anymore, someone he'd always disliked since she started crushing on him. She was a lot nicer than Sasuke had originally thought and even though she still blushed and stuttered around him – clear signs she was still very much infatuated with him – he now knew she was not two-dimensional and was quite smart. There were days when after Naruto had vanished from lunch or dinner and they spent an hour or two just talking or debating random topics; and Sasuke had to admit, he enjoyed spending time with her and Naruto.

Sasuke's jaw clenched as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

'_Ok, so I don't resent my team anymore, and trust them to watch my back, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying to figure Naruto out. He's hiding something-something _big_ and I intend to find out what.'_

Sasuke looked at the clock and sighed, only a few more minutes until the tenth question was revealed, and after that, who knows what they would be faced with?

OoOoOoOoO

Sakura blinked in confusion at what seemed like a time skip, she could have sworn that she still had thirty minutes until the end of the test, so why did she only now have seventeen? Where had it all gone?

Shaking her head she sighed and began tapping her fingers on the desk lightly, the two people on either side of her had been eliminated near the start. The chunin were being ruthless in their method of removing candidates. They had had to carry more than twelve people from the room already, and she knew that now that there were much less of them the chances of being caught cheating had risen astronomically.

She only hoped that Naruto and Sasuke had managed to answer one or two questions. Her emerald eyes watched the second hand on the clock as it finished another round.

She was confident that Naruto had successfully cheated since he'd yet to be called out on it, and she smiled at the thought of them passing. If they got through this part of the exams than they might have a decent shot at progressing to the last section as a team. The smile quickly turned into a frown.

'_What if something goes wrong though? Thanks to that Kabuto guy reading out Naruto's strengths we've now lost a huge advantage; he was like our secret weapon and now everyone's going to want a shot at him to see just how 'big and macho' they are. If something happened to Naruto I'd never forgive myself; he's my teammate and we're supposed to look after one another…but he's _Naruto_…he can't be beaten so easily, he's too stupid and stubborn to go down. He'd probably fight with a punctured lung he's such a knucklehead.'_

Sakura froze at that and stared down at her paper blankly. She didn't like to image her happy blonde friend in any form of pain, but she knew he was the type to rather take the hit then let someone he cared about get hurt. The image in her head was so vivid, and she felt like crying at the fact that in the picture Naruto was bleeding on the ground, with her in the background doing _nothing_ to help him.

Since joining Team 7 she had taken to learning basic first-aid in case one of _her_ _boys_ got injured – a likely scenario now that she properly knew them and their reckless behaviour, as well as habit to break things – but what if that wasn't enough one day? What if, like in her image, that wound was so serious that bandages and ointment weren't enough? What if Sasuke, Kakashi, or even Naruto died because she couldn't nurse them back to health? She couldn't bear the thought of one of her teammates dying because she was too _weak_ to do anything.

'_I refuse to let one of them die for me, after this I'm going to study, I'll learn how to treat more serious wounds then just cuts and bumps. It's time I helped protect them, I need to show them I'm not some weak little girl, but a damned _kunoichi of Konoha_.'_

The pinkette brushed some of her hair out of her face and glanced up at the clock once again and wiggled in surprise.

'_One more minute until they give us the tenth question.'_

OoOoOoOoO

"Alright!" Ibiki called harshly and everyone focussed on him, knowing that the time for the tenth question to be revealed had come. Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw many of the chunin smirked and straighten in their seats, they seemed to think something was hilarious.

"Listen up, here's the tenth and final question. But, before I give you the question there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

Naruto watched the slow and predatory grin that was weaving its way onto Ibiki's face, he was obviously enjoying the panicked expressions on many of their faces. When his cold eyes made contact with Naruto the blonde steeled himself and met it without fear.

The smile grew.

"These rules are unique to question ten, so I suggest you pay attention and try not to let them get to you." When there were no interruptions he continued, wiping his face clean.

"Rule number one, each of you are free to choose not to be given the final question, it's your decision."

Naruto sat up straighter and leaned forward; his knew that whatever this guy would say next would no doubt get to each and every one of them.

Temari stood from her place next to Naruto, she clearly didn't trust this guy "So what happens if we choose not to take the final test? What's the catch?" she demanded.

Ibiki smirked at her "If you do choose not to take it, regardless of your answers to the nine other questions…you'll get a zero, and you fail, of course both of your teammates will go down with you." Genin froze up in shock, Naruto huffed out quietly and swallowed, this wasn't looking good for him, if he couldn't answer it then Sasuke and Sakura, not to mention Jiraiya would be so mad at him.

Ibiki cleared his throat "Not so fast kids, you didn't let me finish" the ominous tone of his voice accompanied by the menacing aura of his chakra made Naruto feel weird. While it was nowhere near as creepy as Kyuubi – hell this guy barely made a bleep on Kyuubi's radar for 'scary chakra' – it was still pretty formidable for a human.

Ibiki could see the horror in their eyes and refrained from smirking at them, his eyes landed on Naruto again, and watched with minor respect as the boy still managed to keep up his blank and uninterested front, but his eyes were dancing with suspicion and he could see the gears whirling in his head. It was obvious the blonde was worried about what his other condition was.

"If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail…you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exam ever again!"

He got the desired reaction this time out of the Namikaze as his back stiffened and his eyes widened, before narrowed and his jaw clenched. He could see why Anko liked this kid so much now; while he was quite skilled at hiding his emotions for someone so young, his eyes were still expressive and showed his train of thought. But it would take someone equally skilled in detecting the slight variations in the pupils, as well as the movement of the eyes to properly follow. He smirked at the blonde who simply narrowed his eyes more, though Ibiki was pleased to see that his mind was racing and picking apart the situation.

'_Even the ANBU captain likes this runt. He must be something indeed if he can get the respect of Anko _and_ the captain in such a short time.'_

A girl from Iwa stood up and glared at him "That's a ridiculous rule! There are lots of people who taken the exams before in this room!" Ibiki stared at her before chuckling, slowly at first before it evolved into laughter; the sound sent shivers down Naruto's spin.

"I guess you lot are lucky then, being in this year's group, but if you don't want to take the tenth question, you don't have to."

The challenge went unanswered as the girl sat and her face was stony. "You can always try again next time if you don't feel up to it."

He relished in seeing the frustrated and fearful looks on their faces, this was almost too easy for him. "Now then, if you're ready for the tenth and final question. Those who don't think they can handle this, raise your hand and step out of the room with your team and you're free to go."

The tension in the air was thick, and Naruto watched with a numb mind as competitors began dropping out like flies, apologising to their teammates and exiting the room.

His thoughts were bordering on chaotic, if he stayed and answered the question correctly they might pass, but if he got it wrong both Sakura and Sasuke would never get to advance, he couldn't do that to them, it wouldn't be fair.

But what if this was an easy question? What if he could answer it? Biting his lip the blonde closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

'_Whatever I choose it'll affect Sasuke and Sakura no matter what'_

Another team dropped out.

'_Why would they do something like this? It's completely unbelievable and ridiculous to have such hard repercussions…so why are they doing this? What am I missing? There's got to be something here I'm not seeing, some hidden fact, some trick that I'm overlooking…'_

He opened his eyes and continued to nibble on his lip, he could feel his teammates eyes on him, and knew they could both see how stressed he was. He sighed again and looked around the room once more, he could understand now why the chunin found this part of the exams amusing, they probably enjoyed seeing the weak ones crumble away.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught and held his attention and it took him a moment to remember the girl's name.

It was Hinata.

Her body was shaking but her hand was slowly inching upwards, he could see the ashamed tears in her eyes and his heart went out to her. While he hadn't known her well in the Academy and thought she was extremely weird, he knew that she lacked confidence and became discouraged easily. The Hyuuga heir had barely made any impression on the blonde as a child, but he was not stupid enough not to see how innocent she was, and still is. It was unfair to put such a kind hearted and pure girl through something like this. Naruto scowled at Ibiki who simply raising a curious eyebrow at his aggressive look.

Everyone could now see Hinata slowly rising but before she could Naruto shot out of his seat and slammed his hands on the desk, the sudden noise echoed brutally in the silent room.

Glaring murderously at the surprised proctor Naruto stood to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest, the air that surrounded him was stubborn and powerful. He didn't know why he had stood up, but seeing Hinata – someone he somewhat knew – put in such a position when she had to do something like this made him so _mad_.

He didn't have a plan, so he did the one thing he had been excellent at since birth.

Running his big fat mouth.

"Is that really the best you can do?" he asked. Naruto had no idea how he managed to get his voice so patronising and disappointed, on the outside he may have seemed cool and confident and self-assured but on the inside he was _freaking out_.

'_Oh my Kami, what the hell is wrong with me!? I am such an idiot!'_ while he was mentally screaming at himself Ibiki continued to stare him down, trying to get him to crack.

"Excuse you?" he asked gruffly, but his intrigue was still there. In all honesty he really wanted to see what this little pipsqueak would do; he knew Naruto was different from the average genin – and it wasn't because he held a demon inside of him – there was just something in the way he moved and held himself.

"Your intimidation technique won't work anymore, hell I wouldn't be surprised if you could even scare a baby declawed kitten with the way you're acting. You've already weeded out the wimps so why don't you just get on with it before we all die of old age and lose our chance of advancing because you've taken too long." Shikamaru should be proud of how easily the blonde had adopted his bored drawl and uninterested posture.

Ibiki chuckled at him "Well aren't you a spunky little brat? I've always found your kind are the easiest to break, so quick to cave if you add the right pressure" he stepped closer to an empty desk and evidently closer to Naruto.

"Yet here I am, waiting for your old butt to get a move on" Naruto had calmed down somewhat from his adrenaline rush of confronting the trained interrogator and had regained his sense…mostly. "If there's one thing I've practiced in my life it's never quitting, especially when it's over something like this. I want to become a greater shinobi then my father and I won't let a silly little guy like you to stop me."

Both shinobi stared evenly at each other and the blonde swore he saw a flicker of begrudging approval in the man's coal black eyes.

After a moment of silence Ibiki turned back to the group "Is there anyone else you doesn't want to continue?"

His question was met with reinforced eagerness and sureness. _'Looks like the little brat broke my hold over them, that's a first'_ he thought with a smirk. _'Twenty teams, sixty candidates. I don't think we've ever passed this many.'_

"Well, I admire your determination and since nobody seems to want to leave there's only one thing left to do and that's for me to tell you that you've passed the first exam. Congratulations."

Naruto listened mutely as Ibiki explained to them the purpose of what they had just gone through. All of the words just flew through one ear and out the other, and he was only able to grab snippets of what he was saying. He didn't even register when the two disguised chunin revealed themselves.

And he certainly missed the sidelong glance the Grass ninja was sending him at the moment, studying him like he was some sort of creature to dissect. But Sakura, who sat behind her teammate, could see it and frowned when she saw the satisfied smirk on the guy's lips. If it was normal circumstances she would have brushed it off, but after the revelation of the blonde's true power she didn't feel comfortable with the twisted amusement and interest that swirled in those creepy eyes.

Before she could ponder anymore on that look the window closest to their proctor smashed and two blurs sped through. Team 7 were the only three in the room who didn't even twitch, having already recognised the familiar chakra – much to Naruto's dismay.

"Heads up boys and girls this is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi! Are you ready for the second test? Good, follow me then!"

There was an awkward silence as Ibiki pushed his way out from behind the gigantic sheet Anko had thrown up during her arrival. "You're early…again" he droned and sent her a disapproving look.

While the genin were recovering from their shock and fear the purple haired woman counted them and frowned "You let all these losers pass? You're test was way too easy then, are you getting soft?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"Maybe the group this year is just stronger?" he suggested and Anko didn't miss the way his eyes flicked to a blonde sitting in the middle of the room. She faced Naruto and the sadistic smile on her face made him groan and hit his head on the desk "Aww don't be like that brat, didn't you miss me?" she cooed at him and he looked up again with his chin still on the desk, a bright blush on his cheeks from both embarrassment and anger at being singled out in front of everyone.

"Miss you sensei? Don't make me gag" he muttered under his breathe but she still seemed to hear him because a kunai lodged itself in the desk just centimetres from his face. The blonde scowled at the weapon but didn't even blink at the attack unlike Temari who flinched and leaned away.

Anko caught the kunai when he chucked it back at her, then moved to scan the rest of the sixty that passed who still looked a little unnerved at what had just transpired between the two. She snorted disdainfully "They don't look tough. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."

Sakura winced and stared at the woman that would be running the next stage of the exams. _'More than half? That's crazy, what could she put us through that could get rid of so many…..then again, the first test did cut a lot of people down…and this _is_ Anko-sensei we're talking about.'_

"You maggots have had it easy so far, but starting from tomorrow morning the real work begins. You're squad leaders will be informed on where to meet me, you're dismissed."

Naruto met Sasuke and Sakura and they made a beeline for the exit but all froze when they heard Anko call to them. "Oh and blondie! I expect you and your team to wipe the floor with the rest of these jokers!" Naruto sighed in irritation and closed his eyes, knowing that the woman had done that _just_ to make things harder for him. Since the room was still half-full everyone turned to glare at them, as if daring any of them to say something.

Naruto simply raised his hand in acknowledgement and practically shoved his friends out of the room, Anko's throaty laughter following them out into the hallway.

"Let's get out of here and get food before she gets us killed" he said and leaped out of the nearest window, his teammates right behind him.

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi entered the almost empty room and casually walked over to Ibiki, who nodded a greeting at the copy-nin.

"So sixty passed, that's quite a lot, considering your reputation" he commented and also began collecting the left over tests. The famed interrogator shot him an amused look, "You can thank that Namikaze kid for that, he's one of yours if memory serves."

Kakashi smiled at him "Yes, I heard about his….speech from some of the chunin, quite inspiring apparently." Ibiki snorted and rolled his eyes, his mind went back to just after all the candidates had left, one of his helpers had told him a rather interesting story about the blonde and how he got his answers.

"You know halfway through the exams a smoke bomb went off" he said calmly, Kakashi turned to him and leaned against one of the desk, his eyebrow was raised "Really, that's interesting; do you know who sent it off?"

The look the proctor gave him told him everything "Did anyone tell you that your blonde brat fooled an entire room filled with chunin when he cheated on his exam?" he asked and when Kakashi shook his head he elaborated "According to Izumo who was watching him the whole time when the smoke bomb detonated the kid made a shadow clone during the chaos he created, then had it transform into a fly and float around the room."

Kakashi felt pride bubble up in his chest at that, Naruto really could think outside of the box sometimes.

"After he got everything he needed the fly left the room and dispersed a little bit away, then he wrote down the answers he got. I have to say I was surprised, for the first couple of minutes he hadn't even touched his pencil, and while all this was going on he put on quite a show of being frustrated. You've got a little actor in your hands Kakashi" he said and the younger man handed over his pile of sheets.

"Yes well what do you expect from the son of Minato and Kushina? Being raised by Jiraiya certainly didn't help his prankster streak" Kakashi smiled and moved to the door "How do you think your kids will go in the forest? It has a reputation for breaking even the best" Ibiki inquired just before the man disappeared.

The man had never seen the younger ninja so happy for years "I believe they can do anything when they work together" he said and closed the door behind him, leaving Ibiki alone.

'_Maybe this year's exams will be more interesting with the blonde weasel running around? I might just pay a visit when the preliminaries are on to see how his team does.'_

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes in satisfaction. Sasuke and Sakura had left hours ago, but he had chosen to remain in their training field to brush up on some of his moves because he was sure that he would need them tomorrow.

He sat down wearily on the damp grass and felt his muscles relax in the cool air of the night. He smiled and leaned back with his hands behind his head and shuddered when his bare back hit the ground. This was what he missed: just relaxing after a long session of training by pitting clone after clone against himself. It reminded him of the times before he came here, where it was just Jiraiya and him cruising along the countries, gathering Intel on Orochimaru and generally being a family.

He sighed again and allowed himself another moment of peace, soaking up the quiet and stillness of the area and looking up at the thousands of stars in the sky. His smile grew a little and Naruto started locating the different star signs, just like he used to ever night before going to bed.

"I hope you're alright Jiraiya, you always somehow manage to do this to me. Run off then get injured and leave me worrying like a mother hen when you don't show up. Honestly old man, you think you could give my nerves a break."

He closed his eyes and rolled onto his side, shuffling to get comfortable; something that wasn't hard since he had spent many nights for the last five years around a camp fire and sleeping on the ground without a tent or bed.

"Tomorrow's gonna be hell. I don't know what we're doing but knowing Anko as well as I do it'll be dangerous, reckless and deadly" he smirked to himself "Perfect."

OoOoOoOoO

"Well isn't this…quaint" Sasuke muttered when he saw the ginormous trees and vines and the steel gate that stretched in both directions around this place. The danger signs were small and worn, almost like they didn't care if anyone wandered into this place.

Sakura gripped his arm tightly and he felt her shiver "I don't like the looks of this" she muttered.

Anko, either oblivious to the fear or enjoying it started to speak. "As you might have guessed this is the location for the second part of the exam, the 44th battle training zone, but it's more local name and the one I personally prefer is the Forest of Death."

'_Why is this woman always so….creepy?'_ Naruto thought.

"The Forest of D-death" Hinata squeaked out and Kiba patted her arm in a comforting manner, it didn't do much since his legs were shaking at the sight of this place. Even Akamaru seemed subdued.

"Yep! Now before we begin this test I've got something to give you all" she pulled a bunch of papers from her trench coat held them out with a smile. "Just a consent form, because before I can let you enter you all have to read this over and sign it."

"Why?" Sakura asked, her eyes trained in on the papers.

Anko chuckled at her "Well since some of you won't be coming back from this test we need to get your consent for that risk, otherwise it would be my responsibility."

She threw the forms at the closest person and ordered them to be handed out as she went over what they would have to do. She explained how it was testing their survival skills and the basic layout of the grounds before delving into more detailed matters.

Showing them the scrolls they needed to collect Anko continued.

"You be fighting to get both a heaven and an earth scroll, half of the teams will be given one type of scroll and the other half will be given the other type of scroll. You'll have to bring both scrolls – undamaged to the Tower with your entire squad present, oh and you have five days" she finished with a smile.

"You can be disqualified if firstly, you don't make it to the Tower after five days, secondly, you don't have both scrolls and all your teammates, and lastly if you open the scrolls. This exams will test your survival instincts, you teamwork, trust in one another and your ability to follow ordered to the letter."

She waved them off to sign their forms and get their scrolls, before they got led to the gate they picked.

Naruto scanned over the form, briefly raising an eyebrow over some of the conditions – being eaten alive, drowning, bitten by poisonous animals – and scrawled his signature at the bottom. He looked over the crowd and headed towards Shikamaru who seemed to be having a staring contest with his form.

"Hey Shika" he greeted and the other boy grunted, letting his eyes shoot from the page to the blonde then back again. Naruto, taking that as a sign his presence wasn't unwelcome, knelt down next to the Nara and held something out to him.

Shikamaru took the object and held it in his hand, testing its weight and studying the seals wrapped securely around the hilt. Finally he looked up at Naruto and cocked a questioning eyebrow. The blonde briefly looked around to make sure they were alone before leaning forward and muttering in his friend's ear.

"It's a special kunai my father originally developed. If you come across something too…difficult or…someone you don't think you're team are capable of handling I want you to just channel some chakra into it and I'll be able to help." He leaned back and watched as the dark haired boy absorbed the information.

"And by _someone_ you mean Gaara. You think because we're friends he might target us to draw you out so he can kill you, in which case summoning you there would just be giving him what he wanted and putting you in danger" he said and held the kunai back out to Naruto who glared. "I'm not giving that guy a chance to kill you, he might not even attack us so there's no reason for us to even have it."

Naruto shoved the kunai back at him and leaned closer again "It's not just Gaara I'm worried about Shikamaru. There are a lot more dangerous guys in this than him and I'd prefer not having one of my friends targeted because they're associated with me. Take the kunai and call me if anything comes up that you can't handle yourself."

They stared at each other before something flickered in Shikamaru's eyes and he narrowed his eyes "There's something you're not telling me, something else you're afraid of. You're not concerned about Gaara, but some _one_ has forced you to make this move. What's going on?" he demanded and his suspicions were confirmed when Naruto stepped back and ran a hand through his hair – a clear sign he was agitated and abnormally skittish.

"It's nothing you need to be worried about" he muttered and his friend scoffed, but lowered his voice when some random leaf ninja waltzed passed them with barely a glance in their direction. "Obviously it is if you're giving me this" he said holding up the kunai "Now what's going on Naruto, why are you doing this?"

The blonde growled under his breathe "It's insurance Shika, nothing more, a failsafe if you will" he paused but slumped when Shikamaru continued to stare at him. "There's someone here that I'm wary about, and I have a feeling he's going to attack me in there" he said nodding to the forest "I don't want Sasuke and Sakura getting in between us if it comes to a fight, so if he does show up I'll be teleporting them to you to protect them."

"Have you fought this guy before?" the Nara probed and narrowed his eyes when Naruto nodded, there was a glazed look in his eyes. "And it's safe to assume that he's tough enough to force you to remove your teammates from danger so you can fight him yourself." Another nod "And if he hurts you?"

Naruto looked up at him, and this was the single most serious expression Shikamaru had ever remembered seeing on Naruto's face. "You don't have to worry about him hurting me Shika" he murmured and looked over at Sasuke and Sakura who were walking towards them "If we fight then it'll be to the death. Me and him have a lot to sort out and to fight him I'll need to show a side of myself I'd rather not let anyone see to get him and Sasuke and Sakura will only get in the way."

There was a beat of silence before he continued "Relax man, I won't go down without a fight but I can't win if I'm worrying about them. I need you to look after them for me, and if I do send them to you, if I don't show up within the day…well…" he didn't need to continue, they both knew how he meant to end that statement.

Naruto sighed tiredly and stood "Just trust me Shika, I'll be alright as long as you keep that kunai on you." He paused as if contemplating something before muttering "Goodbye." Before the other boy could even open his mouth Naruto jogged over to his teammates and greeted them.

Shikamaru gripped the kunai tightly and watched as Naruto wrapped an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and began dragging his friend to the small stand where they'd be given a scroll then transported to their selected gate.

He couldn't help the sudden heavy feeling in his heart as his stomach started twisting itself into knots, the way Naruto had said goodbye sounded like he really felt like this was the last time they'd see each other. That made Shikamaru's breath catch in panic.

Just before following his teammates into the tent Naruto turned around one last time and met Shikamaru's eyes. Then, even after admitting to his friend he was basically preparing himself for death, Naruto did something that would stay with Shikamaru forever.

He smiled.

OoOoOoOoO

Team 7 entered behind the curtain and handed in their forms, in return an earth scroll was tossed at Sakura who gave it Naruto without question. The blonde looked at Sasuke who shrugged, signally he didn't mind. "Ok then" Naruto muttered and placed the scroll in his pocket.

They exited casually, Naruto on the left, Sakura in the middle and Sasuke on the right, giving no indication on who had their scroll as they followed the chunin to their gate.

Naruto could still feel Shikamaru's gaze on him and resisted the urge to turn around. He was certain Shikamaru would keep the kunai, and knew that his friend was concerned for him since he practically told him he might die and this could be the last time they saw each other.

This wasn't the first time Naruto had spoken like that; he readied himself for death every time he knew he would face Orochimaru, that acceptance becoming a sort of ritual for him and one of his final stages in preparation. He wasn't stupid enough to fancy the thought that he would always survive and somehow win these encounters with the sannin through his willpower and strength; he'd been in too many fights to have that childish dream. But he always went in thinking that _if_ he did die then he had had a hell of a good run.

When they reached their gate Naruto sighed deeply and closed his eyes, he heard Sakura gulp and Sasuke's excited breathing. "_Attention competitors" _Anko's voice rang over the speaker above them _"The second stage of the Chunin Exams begins…NOW!"_

The gates creaked open and the chunin with them nodded encouragingly.

Naruto opened his eyes and smiled, channelling chakra into his feet and shooting off the ground and onto the first bough of a tree.

OoOoOoOoO

Staring at the large red 6 on their gate Temari and Kankuro cast wary glances at their brother, who remained impassive.

'_Great, now Gaara's gonna hunt down that Naruto guy and kill him. He doesn't care about the test; as long as he gets a shot at goldilocks he's fine. We just need to stay out of his way and let him end this fixation with him.'_ Kankuro thought uneasily.

Over the past week Gaara's interest had grown into an obsession, he had never seen his little brother so devoted to killing someone before. This survival test gave him the best shot he could get at taking out Naruto, but it was up to Temari and himself to keep Gaara focussed on their task, just get the scrolls and get to the tower, if they just happen to cross paths with Naruto Namikaze and his teammates then they'd just let Gaara go.

The gate creaked open and the chunin with them gave them the thumbs-up, without a sound the three family members hopped into the trees and where on their way to find their other scroll.

OoOoOoOoO

**Ok, this one was a little shorter but that's ok, because the next chapter will hopefully not only be longer but also more exciting.**

**Thanks for the reviews!**


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