Quietly into the Night

by JackOfBladesX

Weeks before his second attempt at the Graduation Exam, Naruto Uzumaki manages to convince the Hokage into giving him an assassination mission. The target? The Kyuubi no Kitsune. The Demon Hunt is on. Abandoned/Oneshot/Complete...wutever.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: I originally started this story at the beginning of the year…but honestly got bored with the plot. Decided to post this to see if I give anyone else a little inspiration to write something else. These are the first (and only) six chapters of "Quietly into the Night". I hope you people who choose to waste your time enjoy this. For those of you interested...it probably would have ended up either NarutoxShizune pairing (original plan), though by the end of it I was starting to lean towards NarutoxYugao. Also the original idea of this fic was to introduce about 50 different ways that Naruto could grow strong (essentially on his own)...but only implement less than half of those.

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Story: Quietly into the Night

Chapter 1: Last days alive

Naruto was never meant to learn of the Kyuubi at a young age. Hiruzen had wanted to protect the boy from the awful truth…he understood now that that had been a mistake. Hiruzen wanted to be the one to tell the boy about the Kyuubi. One night, about a week ago, two drunken shinobi decided that they would do the honors. The result was, a young boy thinking that he was the reincarnation of the Kyuubi. Hiruzen was able to stamped out that thought quickly enough. But it hadn't helped the eleven-year-old at all. He still had nightmares. Judging by the bags under his eyes, Naruto had not gotten any rest during the last week. Every night, the old man would talk to the boy, just to make sure he wasn't have any regressions back to the near catatonic state he found him in a week ago. Tonight was no different.

"I was dreaming last night."

Hiruzen frowned. He didn't like the way the boy had said that. The boy had dreamt of the Kyuubi far to often. It couldn't be healthy for him..

Naruto frowned and buried his face into his knees. "I was all alone, in the middle of the village. And then I saw the Kyuubi."

Of course. He was afraid of the demon.

"It saw me and started to run to me. I started to scream for help, but no one came."

Hiruzen actually had to turn away from the boy when he had said that. In truth, Naruto had been alone all of his life. Sure, he tried to help and be around the boy all he could, but being the Hokage was nine parts work and one part free time…if he was lucky.

"I tried to run, but I was tied up."

The old man frowned. Was the dream showing Naruto that he was sacrificed? This was not something Hiruzen wanted the boy to picture, however much truth there was in the dream. He had wanted the boy, as well as everyone else, to consider himself a hero of the village, not a sacrificial lamb.

"I was chained up."

'Chains?' Hiruzen thought.

"The Kyuubi would then stop right in front of me. He would look at me for a while and try to attack me, but he would always stop."

Understanding dawned on the old man. Naruto may not understand it on a conscious level, but somewhere, deep in his mind, certainly did.

"I tried to call for help, but no one came." The young boy was still hiding his face in his knees. "I tried to escape, but the chains held me there." At that point, the blond started shaking. "During all of that, the damn fox just kept circling me."

Seeing the boy shake in such fear broke Sarutobi's heart. He never wanted Naruto find out about the fox this way. He wanted to be the one to explain everything to the boy. To make sure he didn't believe that he was the demon, like he had earlier. And, of course, to tell him that he was perfectly safe from the demon and prevent something like this from happening. In the end, all he could say was, "Maybe the chains were protecting you."

Naruto looked at the old man, like he was crazy.

Hiruzen never wanted Naruto to find out about his parents while he was that young. There were less than a dozen people who knew the truth and frankly, he felt that was too many. Their were various reason why he wanted to wait until the boy was a lot older before revealing the truth…and they all revolved around him wanting to protect the young boy. Now, he just wanted the boy to be able to sleep at night without years of intensive therapy. Therapy that Hiruzen wasn't sure he would be able to provide. So he told the boy a little bit about his mother, the second Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Unfortunately, calling her the second forced Sarutobi to also tell Naruto about Mito Uzumaki, the first container of the Kyuubi. He also told the boy about his father. He told the boy the story of his day of birth, the attack by the masked figure. Finally, he told the boy why it was important that he (Naruto) NEVER tell a soul about what he learned; Sarutobi would be the one to deem when it was safe for the boy to reveal his heritage. It was a lot to take in, but Naruto hung on every single word.

Twenty-five minutes later, he had a very pissed off boy that looked about ready to tear the room apart. For a full thirty minutes, Hiruzen listened to the boy rant and curse, things that no eleven year old should even KNOW, let alone say. After that, Naruto was back on the couch, and depressed once again. By the end, all he could say was, "I'm so tired of everyone knowing more about me, than I know about myself."

Hiruzen frowned. "The fault lies on my shoulders, Naruto-kun. I tried to protect you…but all I did was cause you more pain. For that, I truly am sorry, Naruto."

That's when the blond said something that would forever alter his fate, "I want it out."

Hiruzen frowned, "I can't just take it out, Naruto."

"Can't we kill it?" Naruto gave the old man a hard stare. His blue eyes burned, not in anger, but a strange passion that he hadn't seen since Kushina's death. He may have inherited his father's eye color, but he definitely had his mother's eyes. "Let's kill it!"

Hiruzen looked uneasy for a while before finally saying, "It's not that simple."

"But not impossible?"

Naruto was much more intuitive than his grades suggested. He was really going to need to take a closer look at some of his instructors…it's obvious that they were being blinding by their hatred. Hiruzen sighed as he got up from his chair. "No, not impossible." He walked around his desk and moved to the wall that had the pictures of the Hokages on them. He stopped in front of a picture of the Fourth Hokage, a picture that Naruto had been shooting glances at for quite some time. Hiruzen knew how this conversation was going to turn out even before those words had left his mouth. He could justify them by saying that he wanted to scare the blond into forgetting about such plans, but he knew Naruto would not back down. The fact that he continued would be a decision that would haunt Sarutobi till the day he died. "If you, as you are right now, were to die-" Naruto flinched at that and began to subconsciously shrink away from the old man. It was an action that broke Hiruzen's heart. "-the demon would die too, but it would be resurrect itself in a few months, maybe a year if we're lucky."

"It can't die?"

"Not by just killing the host…or killing the demon outside of a host. This isn't the first time there has been a discussion about killing the Kyuubi. I had this discussion a few times with your mother and father-" at the mention of his father, Hiruzen gestured towards the picture of the Fourth, "-and a couple of my students. After many long talks, we managed to find a way."

"What?"

Last chance to back out. Hiruzen followed through, "We created a seal that we could place on the host that had the power to kill the demon." The seal in question would essentially take the soul of the Kyuubi, the one part that could never be touched by conventional methods, and literally put it through the equivalent of a turbine. The idea was to split it up "molecule" by "molecule" and let the bits spread throughout the world with a time-and-space technique. The seal was designed to take effect if the fox tried to possess the host, if they attempted to escape the seal/host, or even if the original seal, containing the demon, was broken. This was the eight-trigrams-sealing-style: die-Fox-die Seal, as named by Kushina.

Naruto frowned, "Wait, if they made this seal already, then why didn't they ever use it?"

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, "It was originally designed to be used on your mother, placed over her own seal. However, she became pregnant with you during that time, so the plan was put on hold for…well, actually she claimed she wouldn't use the seal until she was sure her baby didn't need her anymore", when he said the last word, he shot Naruto a grin.

Naruto, ignoring the last words, quickly got up to his feet stared at the old man. "Use the seal on me! I'll kill the fox."

And then Hiruzen frowned. "As I said earlier Naruto-kun, it's not that simple. The seal when combined with the one that contains Kyuubi actually causes the body to degenerate." Five years. That's how long Tsunade had estimated Kushina had to live if and when the seal was applied. As long as both seals were active on Kushina's body that is. The original plan was for Kushina to eventually open the containment seal, confront and overcome the Kyuubi, and force the out of her body…and through the activated die-fox-die seal. Without the two seals on her body, Kushina could then be put on medical rest and be easily healed with medical-jutsu. Kushina would become human again. In the event that Kushina lost the battle, which, considering her special chakra type, most everyone thought was unlikely, the Kyuubi would either escape or possess Kushina's body, which would end up killing the Kyuubi anyway. Either way, the Kyuubi would die.

"How long would I have?"

Hiruzen looked away from the blond. "I can't say for sure. Your mother's physician estimated that she would have about five years before the symptoms of the degeneration would kick in. You're mom was eighteen though at the time though. Her body was much stronger than yours." Kushina had also been trained for the majority of her life, where Naruto had not. He wondered what were the chances of bringing Tsunade back to diagnose the kid? Hiruzen immediately frowned at the though. She would probably ignore the question and hospitalize him (Hiruzen) for even considering putting a kid through that. 'What the hell am I thinking?' the old man scowled. "Forget about it Naruto. It's not something you can do."

"Even if I don't win, the Kyuubi will still die right?"

The old man shuddered. An eleven year old was NOT supposed to be that calm when speaking of his possible, and most probable, death. "When you're older, we'll talk about this again. Until then-"

The blond stomped his feet on the ground, "My mom wanted to wait to. Then she got attacked by some masked freak and the Kyuubi got free and attacked the village!" Whatever fire died out in Naruto, after hearing about the demon, had just come back with a vengeance. This truly was the son of Kushina Uzumaki. "Come on gramps, don't you want to get rid of the fox?"

Hiruzen frowned at the thought. He had wanted to get rid of that damn fox for decades…and throw in the other eight Bijuu while he was at it. There were many people in the village council who would disagree though. They considered the Kyuubi to be Konoha's Ultimate weapon. Ironically, these individuals were also the first to label these containers as less than human. Regardless, what these people failed to realize was that the Kyuubi was NEVER a weapon that Konoha ever wielded. At least not while it was inside of a host.

Mito Uzumaki became the first Host of the Kyuubi; not a Jinchuuriki, a Host. Jinchuuriki would imply that she was sacrificing something. She didn't. She, without anyone's consent, decided to lock the Kyuubi inside of her body to prevent it from being used against Konoha again. Not that the action was actually a bad idea per say, but it did annoy her husband, the First Hokage, that he wasn't even consulted. Later, from what the Nidaime had told him, Mito supposedly overcame the beast and was able to use it's full power without any problem…yet never used it again. He also went on to say that, when asked why, she would just giggle, pat the person on the head as if he/she were a child (regardless of the age of the person in question), and just walk away. No one had the nerve to actually demand an answer out of her.

Kushina Uzumaki was the second Host of the Kyuubi…she was a Jinchuuriki. Regardless, Kushina made little use of the Kyuubi. Sure, she would unconsciously use the power occasionally when she was just starting out as a ninja, normally when she was facing an adversary greater than herself. However, soon she became renowned for her fuuinjutsu, as well as her talents in various other ninja arts, though most of all ninjutsu. Not because she wielded the power of the Kyuubi. Though, one could argue that her ability to use ninjutsu after ninjutsu was due in some part to the Kyuubi's chakra bleeding into her own, thereby increasing her reserves. Regardless, Kushina didn't use the Kyuubi's chakra directly. She, like Mito, had no need to.

The Kyuubi wasn't needed. If they had gotten rid of it years ago, then the village would still have both Minato and Kushina, as well as many other ninja that had died that day, and Naruto may have had a chance at a normal life. Both Minato and Kushina could take on a Jinchuuriki in one on one combat and come out on top, no problem. The temptation to follow through on the twelve-year-old plan was intoxicating. But they'd be losing Naruto in the process; he may as well spit on the Fourth's grave…and Kushina's.

"You're too young to be making this decision." Hiruzen frowned the moment those words left his mouth. Was he? During the last War, the village had sent children younger than Naruto into the world to make life and death decisions. Things truly had changed so much in the village.

Naruto visibly bristled at being called too young to do something. "I can't fail." And that was a true enough statement. Naruto couldn't fail…the worse that could happen is that he'd die completing the mission. The seal would also prevent the fox from ever being extracted, and would even take effect if Naruto died prematurely. That seal truly was Kushina's masterpiece…with a little help from Minato and Jiraiya of course.

"Damn it…" Hiruzen cursed under his breath. He then went to go sit back down on his chair and stared directly at Naruto. "You wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this. If certain people find out, they could try to mess with the seal, and that could cause problems." Not that they would succeed. Trying to extract the fox or mess with either seal wouldn't have any chance of affect…unfortunately it could also take away Naruto's once chance to survive this ordeal.

The blond shrugged at the idea, "I'm already keeping secrets. One more won't hurt."

"It'll be painful." Naruto slightly stiffened at the words. "When I first place the seal…and when your time is running out." He couldn't do anything about the first part, however he could give the boy medicine to cover up the symptoms of his body degenerating. It wouldn't extend his time, but it would allow him to cope with it.

Naruto smirked. "I'm not afraid of a little pain, gramps."

Hiruzen nodded, though he clearly wasn't satisfied with the answer. The seals degenerating Naruto's body, while the fox's chakra was regenerating it…he couldn't imagine the experience would be pleasant. "I also won't be able to give you any special training." He was far too busy to take the boy on as an apprentice and it wasn't like he could just pull certain ninja from active duty and have them be Naruto's personal trainer. Well he could, and he probably should, but the idea of training Naruto young had been scrapped long ago for a variety of reasons. It would definitely raise too many questions if Hiruzen suddenly changed his mind and gave the boy a private tutor. "You'll have to become a ninja, just like everyone else. You'll have to rely on whatever you come up with and whatever your sensei is able to teach you."

"I'll train on my own."

Hiruzen stared long and hard at Naruto. It wouldn't be able to the first time he sent a young ninja out on their last mission. Though it would be the first time he knowingly sent an under-trained boy on a mission that would most certainly end in his death. Was this truly the best thing for Konoha?

Images of the Kyuubi's assault filled his mind. His shinobi dying in battle. Villagers scrambling to get away and some ending up trampled. Newborns coming out stillborn….

It really was in Konoha's best interest, even if certain fools would disagree with him.

But still…

"I'm gonna give you a day to think about this."

"But-"

"No buts" Hiruzen snapped. Naruto looked down at the comment. "Twenty-four hours. Come back here after twenty-four hours and give me your answer."

Naruto nodded and showed himself out.

Watching him leave, Hiruzen scowled and rested his head in his hands. He could think of close to a dozen people who wouldn't be happy with him if he followed through with this plan. He knew that he'd never forgive himself if he followed through with this plan. Still…it was the best thing for Konoha…even if some would try to deny it. And Naruto was more than willing go along with the plan. Yet…

Naruto has been in danger before; some fools were far too aggressive for their own good. Yet this was the first time that Hiruzen actually felt he'd outlive the young boy.

-x-

Naruto came back the next day. His only response was a simple, "Let's do it!" Hiruzen nodded and gestured for Naruto to follow him.

Naruto frowned as he looked around the place that the old man had brought him to. Seeing his look, the old man said, "I've always hated this place. It was a laboratory created by an old student of mine…" Hiruzen glared at the walls, as if they were the sole source of some horrible memory. "I was originally going to have it destroyed, but I thought I may have need of a private area in the near future…now I'm glad I kept it." The two walked into a room that reminded Naruto of a hospital. "There are a number of seals along the walls that prevent most detectors from sensing chakra in here. It'll be the perfect place to apply the seal", he whispered the last part.

Naruto was still looking around the room, looking slightly disgusted. The walls dingy and cheaply made. Though he supposed they suited the purposes of whoever was using it. It smelled like a mixture of antiseptic and blood…two smells that Naruto was quite familiar with.

Hiruzen frowned and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come along Naruto."

The duo went to the far side of the room where there was a single, clean, operating table. Hiruzen ordered the blond to take on his shirt and lie down on the table, which the blond did. While Naruto did that, Hiruzen pulled out a number of materials from a bag he possessed, including: a brush, some paint, and a scroll. Naruto assumed that Hiruzen would be drawing the seal with a paintbrush, like he saw his instructor at the academy do so…and he did for the most part. The old man began painting symbols into the table and ground around him. After about thirty minutes of him just lying there, and Hiruzen seemingly copying the symbols from the papers he was holding, the old man came to Naruto. The boy was shocked when Hiruzen pulled out an operating scalpel. "Why do you have a knife?"

Hiruzen looked down at the boy, giving him a sullen look. "Last chance to back out Naruto", he ignored the boy's look of fear, "This particular seal requires me to carve a portion of it into your body."

Naruto visibly blanched at this.

Hiruzen bent down to whisper in Naruto's ear, "This is such a dangerous task for you to go through Naruto, which is why I'm leaving it directly up to you. I won't think any less of you if you want to quit now. And no one else will ever know we were even down here."

Naruto swallowed some saliva that had been building up in his mouth and glared at the old man. "Do it!"

"I can't stop half way through. If it's too painful, you'll just have to bare it."

"Do it!"

This was also the last chance for Hiruzen to change his mind. The old man frowned and placed the blade against Naruto's bare skin.

Naruto's screams would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Chapter 2: Becoming a shinobi

In hindsight, it was a stupid move to place that seal on Naruto at that time. A few weeks ago…or even a few weeks later would have been preferable.

Exactly six days after the sealing, Naruto was scheduled to take the Academy Graduation exam. Naruto was bedridden for about five days. On the sixth day, when he returned from the academy, Naruto attempted to take the exam, his second attempt, and failed miserably.

The students were taken into the exam room and told to use the Transformation Jutsu; their subject being the photo of a person. The subject was a man for the girls, or a woman for the boys. The subject was standing in the very same room that the students were taking their exam in. The idea was for them to be able to re-create the subject using the objects and furniture in the picture (and the room) as guides. From what he had heard, Naruto recreated a half decent subject…but immediately vomited up the contents of his breakfast afterwards.

He'd been failed for that. It really was a pity that he couldn't bend the rules for the boy either. His Transformation Jutsu had really come a long way.

It would be another month before Naruto regained full strength.

Hiruzen was able to check up on the boy at the start of his third year at the academy, but had to stop when tensions with Iwagakure had risen up. They had managed to avoid a full-scale war but that hadn't stopped numerous skirmishes from occurring. The month had been a political shit-storm that had left him so very close to retiring.

It wasn't until then that Hiruzen was able to find the time to adequately check up on Naruto's progress. What he found disappointed him.

He summoned the boy's teacher, a woman named Suzume, and questioned her on young Naruto's progress. He talked to her for three minutes before realizing that she was one of the few people who hated the poor boy. Most of what came out of her mouth was complete garbage, in Hiruzen's opinion. Hiruzen frowned. At the start of the Academy year, Naruto seemed to be doing great. A month later, he had seemingly given up, as his grades were showing…and he even started skipping classes. Naruto had another ten months before the next graduation exam, and he had to be up to par with whatever exam. Unfortunately, that meant he'd have to find Naruto a new instructor. And seeing as Suzume kept had kept dropping hints that she didn't want to be the one teaching the Kyuubi-brat, he'd have to find a decent instructor.

Looking through the list, he was highly disappointed by what he saw. He could only think of one teacher that may treat Naruto with some sort of compassion…and even that was a long shot.

-x-

The young Chunin smiled as he walked into his classroom. He heard his class chatting away, seemingly oblivious to his presence. He gave himself a moment so that he could put his papers and notes down on the desk before looking at towards his students. "Alright kids, settle down."

They either didn't hear him, which was quite possible since their collective volume was quite loud, or were just ignoring him. He decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and ask again, this time a bit louder, "Alright kids, pay attention."

He noticed that a few of his more cooperative students gave him their undivided attention, but the majority was still chatting away. He clenched his eyes shut and sighed in annoyance. And then his head swelled to five times it's normal size before screaming, "HEY, SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS!" That got the desired reaction quickly enough, so the teacher's head went back to normal size. "Alright then, so today we'll be learning-" A knock on the door interrupted the young Chunin. "Come in."

The door slid open, and in walked one of his colleagues, with a familiar blond shinobi just behind him.

The instructor frowned in the boy's direction, something the boy clearly picked up on. "New student?"

His colleague nodded, before handing him a manila folder. "Got it in one." She was about the leave the room, but quickly turned back to Iruka and whispered, "Good luck." With that, she exited.

Iruka Umino frowned at the woman's back, before turning his gaze back towards the boy. "State your name to the class."

The blond boy seemed to brighten at that, and turned towards the entire class. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage someday!"

That, unfortunately, was met with ridicule and teasing from the rest of the class. Naruto was either oblivious or good at ignoring people. Iruka presumed it was the latter. "Very well Naruto, please find yourself a seat."

-x-

Putting Naruto with Iruka had been a partial success. Though Iruka had some reservations about Naruto, he was empathetic enough to treat the boy fairly.

Naruto had seemingly given up, Hiruzen noted sadly. It had taken him a whole month before he started participating and actually stopped cutting classes. Which was good, because Hiruzen was close to having a talk with the blond…he was just glad that it hadn't been necessary.

Iruka had actually managed to get into the boy's head, since the Chunin had a similar attitude and hobbies when he was Naruto's age.

Unfortunately, it hadn't been enough. When asked to create a basic clone, Naruto had failed in his third attempt.

At that point, Hiruzen had been about ready to bend the rules and place Naruto on a team. Another year at the Academy and another year closer to facing the Kyuubi…Naruto might as well have rolled over and died.

Then the incident with the forbidden scroll happened. Naruto learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, defeated the rogue chunin Mizuki, and Iruka decided to pass him.

Hiruzen didn't give the decision a second glance.

-x-

"Naruto-kun."

The blond snapped his head towards the voice and was only mildly surprised to see the Hokage standing there, with a bag in his hand. He glanced back at the door to his apartment and snorted, "Hmph…thought I locked that."

"You did, but I am a shinobi, Naruto-kun."

Naruto snorted again before walking into his kitchen. "Would you like some-", he opened his fridge and frowned, "-water?"

Hiruzen frowned and made a mental note to have someone take care of that. There weren't many storeowners that allowed the boy to shop freely, so he normally had a Genin team take care of it. The wonders of D-ranked missions…Naruto would not like those one bit.

The boy looked at the old man and his face scrunched up in annoyance. "So, what do you want?"

The Sandaime silently wondered if the boy was regretting making this arrangement. It wouldn't be the first time he got that look from the blond. "I hear you had some night."

Naruto offered him a chair, which the old man gratefully accepted. "Yea…I guess I screwed up again. I thought Mizuki-sen…Mizuki was really trying to help me." The boy sighed.

"Mizuki tried to betray the village to one of its greatest enemies…he had us all fooled." That wasn't exactly true. There were a few people that suspected things of Mizuki, but without evidence, not much could be done aside from watching the chunin. Those weren't things Naruto needed to be made of aware of though. "He also told you about the Kyuubi." Naruto already knew. Most people didn't know that Naruto already knew though, which is why Mizuki thought he could shock the boy.

The blond frowned, "The demon killed Iruka's parents." That had been the biggest shock of the night. Over the last year, Naruto had truly grown fond of the chunin. So, the idea that he may hate the boy for what the demon did was…horrible. He didn't though. The thought actually sent some warmth over the blond.

"He doesn't hate you though."

"No, he doesn't." Naruto agreed.

Silence filled the room for a few moments, before Hiruzen decided to add, "And you passed."

"I did."

Hiruzen smiled hesitantly, "You'll be placed on a team with a jounin in a few days. He'll begin your training." That's what he said. In his head he was asking himself, 'Will it be enough?' It had been a mistake to follow through with this plan, Hiruzen decided.

"Yea…"

Hiruzen frowned when he saw Naruto giving him that same look. Naruto obviously thought it had been a mistake as well, Hiruzen decided. "Anyway, I wanted to give you something, Naruto-kun", he said before placing the bag down on top of the table and pushing it towards the boy. "I remember something you said-"

"I'm so tired of everyone knowing more about me, than I know about myself."

"-and I thought that you would like some things that belonged to your parents." Naruto perked up at that and practically tackled the bag. Hiruzen smiled at the sight before adding, "I should have given that to you sooner…" he trailed off when he noticed that Naruto wasn't even listening to him. He'd apologize for it later.

The majority of the stuff in the bag were just photos. Pictures of his parents…some individually, some with them together. It put a smile on the boy's face. He did find one that was sealed in a cardboard folder. Opening it, he found what must have been their wedding picture.

His father, who wore a black kimono, was carrying his mother, who wore a white dress, bridal style. To the left of the couple was a large white haired man, wearing a similar outfit as his father. Next to the man, there was a silver-haired teenager, maybe a few years older than himself. Strangely enough, he was wearing a mask that covered about three-quarters of his face, which looked really silly with his formal attire. To the married couple's right, there was a blond woman wearing a dress. Next to that woman was a purple-haired girl, who was probably about his age, also wearing a formal dress.

All in all, they looked…happy. The thought filled Naruto with a pang of jealousy. His parents surrounded by a bunch of people, when he had never even known either of them. Frowning, he closed the folder and placed it down. He reached into the bag again and pulled a small purple book.

"That belonged to Mito Uzumaki. It was her diary, actually. I was hoping you would be able to decipher how she overcame the Kyuubi." He paused for a moment before adding. "And if nothing else, it could provide you a little insight about your clan."

The 'last' of the Uzumaki frowned at that. "Did mom or dad have one?"

Hiruzen frowned. "On the night of the Kyuubi attack, your parent's home was destroyed by a fire. These-" he said, gesturing towards the bag, "-are the only items were able to save. Though, neither of your parents struck me as the types who would write a diary."

Naruto nodded and placed the book down. He then looked through the bag again and pulled out a large binder.

"That's your parent's 'library' of seals", Hiruzen frowned at that thought. "There were more books, like that one, but, as I said, most of the items in your parents' home were damaged in the fire. Such a waste…" he sighed.

"Were they good at making seals and stuff?" the boy asked as he opened the binder and immediately started flipping through the pages.

"Yes, both were very gifted. Actually, fuuinjutsu is one of the things that made the Uzumaki clan famous."

The blond closed the binder, a deep frown on his features. "Too hard."

Hiruzen chuckled at that. "Seals are essentially another language."

"I'll never figure it out in time."

Hiruzen frowned when he saw Naruto place the book down and begin looking through the bag. Once again, he couldn't stop himself from thinking, 'This was a mistake.'

"Awesome!"

Naruto's yell instantly broke his train of thought. Looking over, he immediately smiled at the sight. "It was your mother's."

The boy grinned and held the sword close to his chest. "I always wanted a katana." Red hilt. Red sheath. The blade itself was pure black and didn't seem to reflect any light.

"Actually, it is a wakizashi, not a katana."

"Huh?"

"A wa-ki-za-shi. It's similar to a katana, just shorter."

"Was mom any good with it?"

Hiruzen nodded, memories flashing through his mind's eye. "She was. It was by no means her specialty, but she could easily hold her own against a master, if she pushed herself."

Naruto gazed at the blade adoringly. That look, like so many others, saddened the old man. "I'll beat it with mom's sword."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll beat the fox with mom's sword."

Hiruzen frowned at the comment. "I'm sorry Naruto…but that's not possible."

Naruto snapped his eyes towards Sarutobi and just flashed the old man a grin. "You don't think the bastard fox can die with a sword." Naruto actually snorted at that. "I'll do it, even if I have to cut him all the way through."

"No, you misunderstood me", Hiruzen replied, shaking his head. "The battle with the Kyuubi is something that is going to happen at the center of your mind. There is only you and your chakra. You can't take your weapons or equipment in there."

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment before his face fell. Once again, Hiruzen felt a pang of sadness for the boy. "Damn…" He muttered, carefully placing the blade back into the bag, as if afraid it would shatter. A moment of silence passed between the two before Naruto cursed a second time, clutching his head at the same time. "Damn it…there goes my original plan."

Hiruzen frowned. "What was your plan?"

"About a thousand explosive notes, going off at the same time."

Hiruzen snorted. "That may have been adequate twelve years ago…if we weren't afraid of blowing up the village."

"Yea well, it's the best I got at the moment."

The old man's mood dropped again. Glancing at the old man, Naruto glared at him before turning away. "I should probably go train."

Hiruzen nodded, feeling slightly hurt. "Yes, I should probably go back to work as well."

Naruto took a moment to lead Sarutobi to the door. Opening it, he said, "Thanks for giving me this stuff, gramps."

Hiruzen froze for just a moment before replying. "Of course Naruto-kun." Another pause and he decided to add. "Naruto-kun, now that you are an official genin I've been thinking, perhaps I could find some time to give you some training."

Naruto perked up a bit. "Really? What kind of training."

"Perhaps a ninjutsu?"

That quickly brought a smile to the boy's face. "When?"

"Hmmm…let's say next week. Sometime after you meet your team? I should be able to find time next week." Hiruzen smiled at the boy's excitement and left.

Naruto shut the door and went back to his new momentos…from his parents. He spent close to an hour just looking through the pictures alone. Once he was satisfied that he had their every feature memorized, he carefully placed the pictures away and reached for the book. He sighed as he flipped through the book. 'This is going to be just like studying, isn't it."

Chapter 3: Realign

A week went by quickly enough and Naruto found himself back at the Academy waiting for his team assignments. He was pleasantly surprised when he got Sakura-chan on his team…but kinda annoyed that he also got Sasuke. He just sighed in annoyance and waited for his sensei to arrive. One by one the other jounin-senseis arrived to pick up their team, but it would be three hours before Naruto's showed up.

The door opened, a silver-haired head poked through it…and the chalkboard eraser he set up on the door fell on top of the jounin's head.

Naruto, however, couldn't cheer over the fact that his own joke had actually worked…on a JOUNIN no less. He was to busy staring at the man in front of him. He recognized him instantly as the teenager in his parents' wedding portrait. And why wouldn't he…he spent, probably, half of the last week looking at that damn thing. And though he could only see about a quarter of the man's face, in both real life and the picture, it was easy enough to see the resemblance. Besides, how many people had silver hair like that and wore a mask and forehead protector in the EXACT same manner.

"My first impression of you"-, the jounin began, catching Naruto's attention, "-I hate you all." The three genin could only glare at the man in front of them. "Meet my on the roof." With that last statement, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

So Naruto, as well as the rest of his team, made his way up to the roof. They found the jounin sitting down near the edge and they each took a spot in front of him.

"So…how about we start off with introductions. Tell me your name, your likes, your dislikes, hobbies, and dreams of the future."

Sakura immediately raised her hand. "Sensei, why don't you go first, and show us how it's done."

The man smiled…or at least Naruto thought he was smiling. It was hard to tell with the mask and all. "Alright then. My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are…well my dislikes are…hmmm. Well I have lots of hobbies." Kakashi grinned at the sight of the three genin scowling at him. "So pinky, how about you start us off."

Sakura nodded, "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…" she immediately shot a glance towards Sasuke, who just rolled his eyes, and immediately began giggling. It took a few seconds for her to regain her composure so that she could continue, "My hobbies are…" once again, she shot a look towards Sasuke and began giggling again. "My dreams of the future…" again, her eyes were on Sasuke and she was giggling like mad, this time adding a small squeal of delight. After a moment of thinking she had ice in her eyes, "I hate Ino-pig and Naruto!"

All three of them frowned at her introduction, though all for very different reasons. "Alright", Kakashi said, a little hesitantly. "Blondie, how about you go next?"

Naruto scowled at him. Kakashi presumed it was from the nickname. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like…" different things began flashing through is mind, but he couldn't decide what he wanted to say. "…ramen. I dislike the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to cook", he responded, after having no luck in deciding what to say then as well. "My dreams of the future-" '-to have a future?' he thought bitterly to himself. That sounded to morbid and would raise too many questions that Naruto really didn't want to answer though. So he followed up with, "-is to become Hokage!"

"That's good", Kakashi replied, seemingly pleased. "Alright now you, the brooding one."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't many dislikes, and I have even less likes. My dream of the future is really more of an ambition…I want to kill someone, and revive my clans."

'Figures…'

'What the fu-'

'So cool!'

"Alright then", Kakashi said, when he confirmed that Sasuke was in fact done. "Tomorrow meet me at training ground seven, at eight o'clock for survival training."

Sakura's hand shot up again. "But sensei, we already had survival training in the academy."

Kakashi chuckled at that. "This is slightly different. This is also your genin exam."

"What? But we already passed the Academy exam!"

Kakashi just smiled at the pink haired girl. "That? That was just an exam to see if you had what it takes to become a genin. In truth, the jounin is the one who decides if you become on or not. If you fail this, you get sent back to the Academy. By the way, you should know that this exam has a sixty-six percent failure rate." All three of the 'genin' looked shocked at this. "Oh, and don't eat anything before the exam, or you'll all throw up."

And with that, Kakashi disappeared.

-x-

Naruto arrived at his home a few hours later, and saw the Sandaime sitting at his table. "I was expecting you home earlier."

The blond shrugged, "I wasn't expecting a guest."

"Fair enough", the old man relented, taking a sip of his tea. He gestured towards a metal thermos, letting the boy know that he was more than welcome to some.

Naruto smiled and accepted.

"So, about your team meeting and your new sensei." He watched as Naruto stilled at the mention of his sensei. "I thought you'd have questions regarding your sensei."

The blond dropped his shoulders. "Nothing really to talk about now is there." Hiruzen frowned at the comment. His immediate conclusion was that Naruto was going to try and avoid the subject like he normally does. He was wrong. "He was my parents' friend, not mine", the blond said bitterly.

Hiruzen nodded, "I just noticed you looked a bit shocked when you saw him." Naruto, of course, knew about the Hokage's crystal ball, which allowed the old man to view any area of the village…or at least the more public ones, like the Ninja Academy. "I was actually shocked that you didn't say anything to him."

Naruto shrugged. He then took a second to gesture towards the bag in the corner, which surely still house the pictures he had given Naruto. It seemed the boy was taking his comment about keeping his newfound knowledge a secret. Though, he probably should have kept that bag somewhere more secure. He ended up mentally berating himself at the thought. Did Naruto even have somewhere he could secure such items. "I-" Naruto's first word immediately snapped Hiruzen back to attention. "-guess I just thought they would be dead to, you know."

Silence reigned over the room for some time after that. Naruto, surprisingly, was taking everything much better than he had expected him too. It seemed that it had been a mistake to withhold that information from the boy. A mistake…he's made plenty of those when it came to the blond.

Naruto flashed him another annoyed look before turning away. "So, who is he? He was standing on the groom's side, right? So I guess that means he's a friend of my dad?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened, "Yes, actually." He was shocked that the blond would actually know something like that. "He was your father's genin student."

Naruto chuckled at, what Hiruzen presumed, to be the irony. "What about the purple haired girl? Was she one of my mother's students?"

The old man nodded. "Yes and no. Officially, your mother never actually took on a genin team. However, she did have a hand in training quite a few children that were younger than herself. Some of them simply followed her around like my grandson has started to do towards you." Hiruzen chuckled at that comment.

The blond snorted at the comment. The kid was…a lot like himself really. It was freaking annoying. "What about the other two?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at that thought. "I'm not related to the other two, am I?"

"No, I'm afraid." Hiruzen quickly thought about Tsunade, and her grandmother. Her grandmother had to have had some relation to Kushina. It probably wasn't much of one though. "The man was your father's teacher. The woman was your mother's guardian for some time."

"Hmmm…"

Mito herself had asked her granddaughter to look after a young Kushina, when the girl first arrived in Konoha. Though Tsunade wasn't quite pleased with the task at first, she and Kushina quickly grew fond of each other. Kushina's death had been the last straw for the woman, and she fled the village, with her young apprentice following close by.

Naruto brightened after a moment, putting aside other unpleasant thoughts, looking at the old man carefully. "So…since you're here, I assume you're going to teach me that jutsu?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "I'm afraid not." Naruto's face fell at that. "Tomorrow, or perhaps the next day, you have my word. I just don't want you to be too tired for your exam tomorrow."

"Yea…what's the deal with that, anyway?"

The old kage stood from his chair and made his way to the door. "It's leaf tradition", was the only thing the old man said. "Now, would you please follow me?"

Naruto looked at the old man, looking every bit like a curious child, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see…"

-x-

Naruto looked around the room, a deep frown on his face. "This place sure has changed."

"I happen to know a splendid carpenter. He works cheap and knows how to keep secrets."

"Hmm, that's cool." They were back in the laboratory where Sarutobi had first given Naruto the die-Fox-die seal. Except everything looked…cleaner, really. The damp dark walls were replaced by hard wood. It no longer smelled like a dirty hospital, but instead some spice that Naruto couldn't quite place. It just needed some lighting. The two came upon a door that led to the main part of the laboratory. A large metal door with intricate symbols on it.

"Give me your hand", Hiruzen commanded, extending his own.

Naruto frowned and lifted his hand up, "What for-OWWW!" As quick as lightning, Hiruzen had poked Naruto with a needle, hard enough to draw blood. "What'd you do that for?" the blond growled out.

Hiruzen just went to the door and spread some of Naruto's blood on one of the seals. "Just making sure that the two of us will be the only people that can go into this room." He then made a quick series of hand seals, which actually made the symbols on the door glow. Hiruzen then turned towards the blond and gestured towards a small black seal near the door handle. He brought his hand towards his mouth and bit down on his thumb. "A little blood on this seal", he spread his own blood on the seal in question, and Naruto heard something click. "And you're free to go inside."

Hiruzen opened the large doors and gestured for the blond to follow him. Once again, Naruto noted that the large room was covered in wood, instead of the dingy walls. It also had a more pleasant aroma. None of the operating tables, which were there just over a year ago, were present. Instead, he saw a large chest in the corner, and a large seal array in the center of the room. The seal was carved into the floor. "This room was designed with seals in the walls to prevent people from sensing chakra through he walls. It's what made this place so very difficult to find", Hiruzen said with a scowl. "While those seals should still be active and sufficient enough to hide you, the array in the center is to serve as a backup."

Naruto nodded solemnly and went to the middle of the room. The center of the array was an octagon, large enough for Naruto to sit in…so he did. He sat there in silence.

The old man frowned as he watched the boy. He could only shake his head and think, 'This was a mistake.' He was about to call out to the boy; obviously this place was having an ill effect on his psyche. But Naruto ended up speaking first.

"You never told me, how long do I got?"

The Sandaime frowned at the comment. "I'm not quite sure, I'm afraid." He sighed and went to go stand next to the boy. "Your mother's doctor estimated that she would have five years, but I don't think you'll have nearly that long." Hiruzen frowned.

"I remember you saying something about other symptoms, what did you mean?"

"In the beginning, the degeneration would happen slowly, and you probably won't feel any of the symptoms at all…this was the five years your mother would have had. After those five years, her doctor said she would start experiencing the symptoms…that would eventually lead to her death if she didn't break the seal. She said she could probably last about another year in this state…but once again, I don't think you'll survive that long when you reach that point." Hiruzen began going over the symptoms in his head. He may not be a doctor, but he has seen similar symptoms hit other boys Naruto's age. "You'll probably have three months…four if you're lucky."

The boy frowned. "At least I get a countdown." He figured it was better than just keeling over one day in a 'Whoops, you ran out of time, too bad' type of moment. "So what should I be looking out for?"

"Pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, exhaustion, hunger…And maybe a few minor ones."

Naruto shot the old man a questioning look, to which Sarutobi just held out a hand, defensively.

"Half of this is conjecture, Naruto-kun. Nothing like this has ever been done before, so we can only really make hypotheses based upon what we know of the human body."

The boy groaned in annoyance. "So what, when I start feeling tired, hungry, or in pain I'm running out of time?" That would be annoying to distinguish from the regular, everyday crap a normal person went through every day.

"Coughing up blood would probably be the first symptom…or at least the most easy to recognize." The old man quickly said. He didn't want he boy to freak out anytime he grew hungry or started getting tired. "I'll give you medication to cover up the symptoms, but like I told you before, it'll only help ease them, it won't take them away completely."

The blond nodded.

Hiruzen frowned as he looked at the boy. "Maybe if-"

"What's in the box?" Naruto interrupted/asked.

Hiruzen glanced at the box that sat in the corner of the room, "That chest just has a few provisions. A few energy bars. Some water", those two items would only be needed if the boy hesitated for a while, and suddenly found himself parched or hungry. "However, there are two very important items in that chest though. The first is a poison that you will be using to destroy the seal."

The blond raised an eyebrow, "Poison."

"It's actually more of an acid." Naruto blanched at that. "It won't cause more than an irritating burn, however it will eat away at the seal containing the Kyuubi." Hiruzen pointed towards Naruto's stomach. "One of the reasons I carved the seal onto your skin was to prevent the acid from working on that particular seal. The one that holds the Kyuubi, however, is just made of ink and blood. The acid will burn through it easily." The acid itself was made of a fungus that had gone extinct decades ago. It was used often by Konoha in the past, until more advanced methods of releasing/destroying seals were created. Unfortunately…"It wouldn't be necessary if I had some sort of key to your seal, unfortunately, if your father thought to create one, he never told me about it. So the acid will be necessary in this case." Hiruzen frowned, and quickly added. "It's also one of the only bottles we have, so please don't drop it."

"Yea…" the blond replied, nervously.

Hiruzen sighed, "The last thing in the chest is some paperwork. For your protection, the papers basically state that you were under orders to destroy the Kyuubi and are not, in any way, to be held responsible for your actions. This is just in case someone, like my advisors or council, decide that they disagree with this arrangement of ours."

Naruto frowned at the comment. "Why do I need the papers, you can just tell them yourself?"

"It's just a precaution, Naruto-kun…just in case." The blond immediately paled at that comment. Hiruzen frowned at Naruto's look and repeated his answer, "It's just a precaution, Naruto-kun. I don't plan on kicking the bucket anytime soon."

Naruto calmed down a little after hearing that. "You better not."

Hiruzen frowned, "Speaking of precautions, there is one that I have yet to find a suitable solution for."

"What?"

"If you lose - and I'm no longer around - then no one will know that you are down here."

Naruto paled at that. If he died, and Sarutobi wasn't around…that meant that he would just lie here, in this room for who knows how long. The boy clenched his eyes shut.

Hiruzen frowned, "The seals prevent your chakra from being sensed down here, and they will also prevent you from being tracked via your scent." Someone who had knowledge of this laboratory may think to look down here for the missing boy. But they both silently wondered what the chances were of that actually happening. "You could probably leave a note in your apartment. That would probably leave you with plenty of time to complete your task…"

Naruto chuckled. The very act was enough to make Hiruzen snap his head towards the blond. "Easy…I just won't lose. That's all."

Hiruzen smiled, "I suppose that's one way of dealing with that problem."

Looking at Hiruzen caused Naruto to scowl at the old man. "Was there anything else?"

Hiruzen frowned at the boy's attitude, but let it go. He shook his head, "We'll speak again, next time I can get away from work."

Naruto nodded, and led the way back out of the underground laboratory. He would put those morbid thoughts out of his head and deal with things he could deal with.

Chapter 4: Naruto of the Barrier

Naruto, and his teammates, had difficult time with Kakashi's test, but managed to pass in the end. Afterwards, he immediately rushed home, hoping that the old man might be their waiting for him. He was disappointed. He stayed at home for the rest of the day and got an early nights rest.

The next day the boy went through is normal routine. He brushed his teeth, taking the time to look at himself carefully in the mirror, before he went off to have a quick, and rather unhealthy, breakfast. He then turned to take a shower. Ten minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom, wearing his normal attire…and found the old man waiting for him in the living room.

Naruto smiled at the old man.

The boy gave a shrug before walking towards the bathroom again, "Hey, how do you think I'd look with red hair?"

"What?"

"The Uzumaki clan was pretty famous for having red hair, or at least that's what it says in Mito's book. I was thinking about changing it."

Hiruzen frowned at the comment. "I wish you wouldn't…at least, not for a while."

The boy frowned at the comment. "What? Why not?"

The old man sighed, "Remember that we are trying to keep things quiet. Dyeing your hair red would tip off quite a few people that you are no longer ignorant of your clan…or even your mother.

The boy looked down for a moment before coming back with a foxy grin. The same grin that usually meant he was about to prank someone. "What if I tell them I'm trying to imitate the Kyuubi?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened at the comment. "Naruto. Do. Not. Do. That."

Naruto immediately burst into laughter at that. The old man scowled at the boy before tossing him a small bag. Naruto opened it to find a piece of paper and a small bottle full of pills.

"Medication?"

Hiruzen nodded, "And extra prescriptions. I've given you enough for a full five months, but…"

The blond immediately nodded, understanding without the old man having to spell it out for him. He got enough for five months, just in case, but he probably wouldn't need more than the three.

"By the way Gramps, how are you getting out of work so often? You usually have a lot more to do."

"I have a guy covering me."

-x-

Two ANBU looked at the small monkey that was screeching on top of the Hokage's desk. The one wearing a bird mask turned towards his partner, "Why didn't he just leave a shadow clone?"

The other ANBU, this one wearing a tiger mask, just shrugged.

-x-

Normally, sneaking around a shinobi village was a difficult thing to accomplish…but Hiruzen wasn't known as the God of Shinobi for nothing. Neither was seen traveling to the remote training field.

"Tell me Naruto-kun, have you come up with a new plan?"

Naruto immediately brightened at the question. "Actually, yea. Mito's journal mentioned that my mother was chosen as the next container because she had a special chakra that could actually suppress the fox." Hiruzen frowned at the comment, immediately knowing where it was heading. "I was wondering if I had the same chakra type that mom had? If I do, then maybe I could just learn to use that…then beating the fox wouldn't be that difficult."

The old man sighed. "Unfortunately, Naruto-kun, no one in Konoha actually knows how to test you to see if you even have this special chakra." The ones who tested and taught Kushina how to use the demon-suppressing-chakra were her clan mates in Uzshiogakure…and they are long since gone." He also didn't know how Kushina used this particular chakra, even if Naruto happened to have inherited it from his mother.

Naruto frowned in, what Hiruzen assumed to be, annoyance. "What about a barrier then? Is it possible for me to learn a barrier technique?"

Hiruzen thought the idea over for a few moments. Keeping the demon trapped in a barrier was possible, though it would require some intense training to actually achieve. "It is possible for a ninja to learn how to erect a barrier, but tell me your plan. How will it fit into your plans? Know that whatever barrier you can create will not be able to permanently bind the demon." Not without Kushina's special chakra.

Naruto grinned. "I'm gonna put up a barrier and keep it trapped for a few seconds, and then I'm gonna surround it with shadow clones and use the attack jutsu, you promised to teach me, with all the shadow clones at once." The blond finished with a grin. "What do you think?"

Hiruzen frowned. "Your plan needs work", he replied. Seeing the boy frown, he quickly added, "But at least you're thinking." A barrier was probably a good idea, but his plan would definitely need a lot more than a barrier and the simple C-ranked technique he planned to teach the boy today.

"I just need to stun it for a bit while I suck up all of its chakra."

Hiruzen nodded. He understood how Mito fought the demon. She literally took all of it's energy and supposedly left the demon emancipated and locked up in her own seal. Naruto would need to do the same if he had any chance in forcing the demon out of his body. "Perhaps you can add explosive seals to your idea."

Naruto blinked at the idea. "I thought you said I couldn't bring them in with me."

"No, but you should be able to make your own. The seal array in an explosive note is about three hundred characters long-" Naruto's eyes widened at that "-however you don't see this because it's been condensed to the size of a sutra. Don't bother learning the technique on how to reduce the size of the seals, that takes years of practice-" Hiruzen frowned at the boy's sad look. "-but learning how to recreate the seal shouldn't actually be a problem for you. You can have hundreds of your clones create them around the Kyuubi and wait for it to step on them."

Naruto actually smirked at the idea. "Alright, so I gotta learn the attack jutsu, a barrier jutsu, and how to draw explosive seals on the ground", he finished, counting off the things on his fingers.

"We'll start with the attack jutsu, I think that should be easiest for you to learn for now. Later, I'll look up an appropriate barrier technique for you to learn and teach it to you next time we meet." The old man frowned before adding, "Look through your parents binder for the formula of the explosive seal. If you can't find one, tell me and I'll look for that next time as well." Hiruzen held out a small piece of paper, offering it to Naruto. "Now take this and channel chakra into it."

Frowning, Naruto did as he was told. The paper immediately split down the middle. The action actually startled Naruto, "What the heck?"

"It's a special paper that we use to test nature affinities", Hiruzen replied. "Do you remember learning about nature affinities in the Academy?" Naruto frowned and shook his head. That didn't surprise Hiruzen too much. That was a subject they taught earlier in the Academy, before he placed the boy under Iruka's care. "Every person is born with an inate affinity for a certain element; some can even develop others. Although you are not restricted to only using your nature affinity - yours is wind by the way - you'll find yourself able to learn and master that element much easier."

"So you're gonna teach me a wind jutsu?"

Hiruzen nodded at the boy's questions. He then went to go stand in the center of the field. "You'll start with this one here. The hand seals are Snake, Dragon, Dog, Horse, Dog. Wind Style: Air bullet jutsu!" Naruto could barely see the distorted air that move at blinding speeds…though he did see the impact it made against the tree It left a scar against it. "It's not a very powerful technique, just a D-ranked technique, but it is a good stepping stone."

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off of his face, "Alright, how do I do it?"

Hiruzen turned back and placed his hands in the Snake seal, "Concentrate chakra towards your lungs." He switched to the Dragon seal, "Try and condense that chakra as best as you can." Dog seal, "The Dog seal is important for a wind user, don't ever forget that. At this point, you take a deep breath." Horse, "Try to shape the chakra into a sphere." Dog, "Exhale, Wind Style: Air bullet jutsu!"

Naruto's eyes widened again. "Awesome!" Naruto attempted to do the same technique. He had less than stellar results.

"You're using too much chakra Naruto-kun, you'll never be able to push all of that into your lungs…well, at least not at your current level."

Naruto nodded and tried again. And again. And again. Thirty minutes later and the Hokage was saying that he had to go.

"You seem to be getting the hang of the technique, so you should be well enough to try and use the shadow clone training", the old man said.

Naruto grinned at the idea. "Hey, can't you just leave a clone with me and keep helping me out."

Hiruzen frowned at the boy. "That's…difficult for me Naruto. It is not something I can do as well as you can. I am far too old to try something like that."

The boy immediately frowned. The look caused Hiruzen to look at the boy sadly. After a moment, Naruto just glared at the old man. "Thanks anyway, I'll be fine by myself."

Hiruzen sighed and looked away, staring off into the trees. Naruto took a few steps away from him and preformed the Shadow Clone Jutsu, immediately creating about thirty clones, with greater ease than some would have making just one. The old man looked at the boy(s) train for a moment before speaking. "You know Naruto-kun…" that caught the attention of all of the Narutos, but the clones quickly went back to work. "I may have been wrong."

The boy raised an eyebrow at the comment, "About what?" For as long as he'd known the old man, which was basically all of his life, he'd always believed he was right on everything. Except perhaps on the issue about telling the boy about his parents…and on what he contained.

"I am beginning to think it would be best to tell a few people of your…condition." Naruto's eyes widened at the statement. "Though I am sure you of all people would find it hard to believe, there are quite a few people in this world who care about you. People like Kakashi and others who were close to your parents. I am positive that if we were to tell them, then they would help you train and plan your strategy." Jiraiya and Tsunade would definitely be a big help, if he could get them both to stay in Konoha long enough to tell them the whole story. Tell them what he had done. Jiraiya had always discussed taking the boy on as an apprentice, after he had a few months of experience under his belts. A few months ahead of schedule wouldn't be that big of a deal.

"No", Naruto simply said.

"What?"

Naruto turned away, "I don't want anyone else to know."

Hiruzen frowned. "Naruto-kun-"

"No!" the boy snapped/interrupted.

"But why not?"

Naruto glared at the aged Kage in more than a little annoyance. He pointed straight at the old man's face, "Because I won't be able to stand anyone else giving me that damn look!" Old Sarutobi looked at the boy in shock. "That look that says I'm sorry that you're going to die. It's worse than the glares that everyone else gives me!"

Hiruzen frowned.

"I get it. I'm just outta the Academy, and I gotta find some way to beat the freaking Kyuubi in a fight. I also get that I probably won't win-" Hiruzen flinched at the comment "-but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna give up! I'm NOT just gonna go quietly into the night!"

Those eyes…his father's color, but they definitely belonged to Kushina.

"But I can't do that if I got everyone around me looking at me like I'm gonna drop dead at any moment! I already get enough of that from YOU!" The boy glared at the old man.

Once again, the man was met with two choices, neither of which he liked. In one case he could go ahead with his plan, which would get Naruto better training. Which would also cause the boy to hate him. There was also the simple fact that, the more he spread the news of Naruto's condition, the more likely it was that someone else would catch wind of it. Someone who may try to extract and save the beast…killing Naruto.

On the other hand, he could keep the boy's secret, and perhaps give him some sort of peace during his last days. Besides, even with help, what was the likelihood that the boy would succeed in such a short time?

"I'm so tired of everyone knowing more about me, than I know about myself."

Hiruzen frowned and turned away from the boy. In the end, all that Naruto wanted was privacy. He'd be the one to help the boy. He'd do what he could to help him survive the ordeal. But he'd do it on Naruto's terms…after twelve years of failures, he owed the boy that much. Still… "You'll have to bare with it from me. When someone you care about is dying, you can't help but feel sad for them. It's a pain that I hope you never have to go through it." The blond crossed his arms and looked away from the old man.

"Just from you then."

The old man nodded. "Just from me. I'll keep your secret, Naruto-kun, if that is what you truly desire", the old man sighed. The boy had earned that…more than that, really. "It's just that I know there are people who care about your well-being. I know those people will be angry with me for what I did…and even more so for excluding them from all of this."

Naruto glared at the old man. "It was my decision! You gave me a choice and I made the call!" the boy seethed out. "And who do you mean anyway? People who knew my parents? I don't really care what they think!"

Hiruzen flinched at the boy's comment.

After a moment, Naruto seemed to calm down a bit and, once again, looked away from the old man. "I already told you that I didn't hate Kakashi, or anyone else, for not being around. They were my parents' friends, not mine." He frowned at that last part. "But that goes both ways. They don't get to not be apart of my life, and still get a say in it!"

"I suppose you're right", the old man agreed. Nodding, the boy turned and went back to his clones and started trying to do the jutsu again. "Practice your technique, keep building your strategy, and I'll come to you again when I can." With that, the old man left the young sacrifice to his training.

-x-

Naruto followed the old man's advice and looked through his parents' binder for an explosion seal. He still found all the seals to be quite confusing, but luckily his parents always gave their seals a name, and always jotted a short explanation regarding their uses.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find an explosion seal or a seal that would have similar effects. He'd probably have to wait and get one from the Hokage. He did find two items that he thought would be useful. The first was a Chakra Absorption seal. Essentially, it would steal the chakra of whoever made contact with it and store it into the seal. He briefly thought about learning the array, all four hundred and fifty two characters. However, he quickly discarded the idea. According to Mito's journal, he should be able to absorb the chakra through is link with the Kyuubi. He shouldn't actually need the seal to accomplish that.

The second seal he found was a Chakra Storage seal. A seal that would allow him to store his own chakra and use it for a later time. That had merit.

As he was trying to steal the Kyuubi's chakra, the beast would be trying to take his own chakra. Obviously, the fox had quite the advantage, since it's reserves were much larger than his own. With that particular seal, he could store some of his chakra until the day he fought the Kyuubi. It might level the playing field a bit. However, he would need the Hokage to place the seal on him…and it would be best to deal with it as soon as possible…preferably the next time the old man had some time off. Which would mean he, probably, would have to push back learning to create a barrier until the old man had some more time off.

The blond frowned at the thought. He could always expedite learning to create a barrier by using shadow clones…he would prefer to get the seal on asap though. He decided that he would have to do just that…unless he could find someone else to teach him how to create one.

His first thoughts went to Kakashi. He might as well wait for the old man, than ask Kakashi. All three of them (Sasuke, Sakura, and himself) had already asked Kakashi to teach them some cool techniques. Unfortunately, he wouldn't show them anything except some team drills. He always told Sasuke to refine his fire techniques, Sakura to work out more, and himself to…well, a little of everything really.

Naruto sighed, knowing that the Jounin would be of no help. He grinned as another thought came to him. He did know someone who might be able to help him.

-x-

"What's up Naruto?"

Finding Iruka proved to be quite a challenge for the boy. He wasn't at home, the Academy was still out of session, and he wasn't at the Ichiraku ramen bar. Unfortunately, he really didn't know where else Iruka liked to hang out.

He eventually found the man after about two hours of looking. He had just been walking around town "Well…I was just wondering if I could buy you some ramen?"

Iruka's eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion. "What's going on Naruto?"

"Nothing", Naruto responded, a little to quickly.

Iruka wasn't convinced, "You want to buy me ramen? You either want something…or you broke something. This better not be a trick to get me to buy for you."

Naruto flinched at the last comment. "Well…" the boy immediately looked down.

"Come on, out with it."

"…I was just hoping you could show me something…that's all."

The chunin's gaze softened at the boy's crestfallen look. After a moment the man sighed and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Let's go, if you're going to try and bribe me, I may as well get a meal out of it", Iruka replied, cheekily.

Naruto playfully glared at the man, "It's just one bowl, right?"

"Depends on what you want."

Together, the duo made their way to the Ichiraku ramen stand.

"I'll have a shrimp…on him", the chunin said with a smile. The old man actually looked shocked at the comment, before turning his gaze to Naruto. The boy nodded, giving old Teuchi a mock pout.

"A bowl of miso!"

Teuchi nodded and turned to get their orders ready. Naruto was silently glad that Ayame wasn't around…she'd probably be just as bad as old man Teuchi.

"So, what is it that you wanted?"

"Well, I was wondering if you knew anything about barriers?"

Iruka scoffed that the question. "Actually I do. I actually gave a whole lesson on the use and application of barriers during your last semester at school. I'm guessing you slept through that lesson."

Naruto nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Yea…" After a moment, Naruto's eyes widened, "Wait, we didn't learn how to create a barrier that day, did we?"

"Of course not, I just taught the application and theory behind them", Iruka scoffed at the idea. "We wouldn't actually put something like that in the curriculum, most kids your age don't have the chakra required to form a barrier."

Teuchi placed two bowls of steaming hot noodles in front of them. Iruka grinned, broke apart his chopsticks, and quickly dug in. He was three bites into his meal when Naruto continued.

"I have enough chakra!"

Iruka glanced over at the boy. Naruto hadn't even broken apart his chopsticks yet. "You want me to teach you how to make a barrier?"

"Yea, can you?"

The chunin stared at the boy for few moments. "I'm honestly a little surprised. I never would have guessed something like that would interest you."

"Yea, well…I've changed since I left the Academy."

"It hasn't even been two weeks yet", the chunin replied.

Naruto frowned.

"Why do you wanna know how to create a barrier so badly?"

The boy looked away. At that point, Naruto didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell him the truth…that he wanted to know so he could fight the Kyuubi. Maybe he could say that his mother knew how to make one, and he wanted to follow in her footsteps. That was actually true…

Naruto frowned at the thought. He really wished he could learn techniques from his mother, or his father. "It's so unfair that almost everyone in my class learned techniques from their family members", the boy muttered.

Though he said it softly, Iruka obviously heard him. If the blush on the man's cheeks was any indication, he also misunderstood him. Naruto was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice it though. "Alright, since you seem so interested in it - for reasons I still can't fathom – I'll help you out just this once."

Naruto brightened up instantly. "You will!"

Iruka grinned down at the boy, "Yea, but don't get used to it. It's your jounin-sensei's job to teach you techniques."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!"

"Finish your bowl and we'll find a training ground."

-x-

Iruka and Naruto stood in a training ground, about three feet away from each other. "There are eight handseals to this jutsu. They are, in this order: Dragon, Monkey, Dog, Dragon, Rabbit, Snake, Dragon, Rabbit. Now watch." Iruka did the eight seals in rapid succession and called out, "Great Barrier jutsu!"

The first thing Naruto noticed were the dark blue symbols that appeared on the ground. The second was that he couldn't move. "Hey, what the heck!"

Iruka grinned at the boy. "The barrier keeps things from getting in or out of the field. If you can make the barrier small enough, you can even prevent your target from moving."

"That's awesome."

The man nodded, "Do you see the barrier."

The boy frowned and looked around. The blond shook his head, "It's invisible?"

"Nope, just keep watching that same area", he said, gesturing off to the side. "Release."

When the barrier fell, it was easy enough to notice the difference in the scenery from when he was looking through the barrier, now. "Awesome!"

Iruka nodded. It truly was an impressive technique. "Now, while you practice making the jutsu…we'll review the applications, theories, and different uses of a technique like this." Iruka began, going into teacher-mode. Naruto stared at the man in shock. "Make sure to pay attention this time, because I'm gonna ask you questions at the end."

Naruto groaned. This was going to be a long day.

Regardless, it was this decision that would eventually give Naruto his new nickname…Naruto of the Barrier.

-x-

It would be another two weeks before Hiruzen was able to break away form his duties long enough to see Naruto. The old man led Naruto back to the training field, the same one that he showed him the wind jutsu. "Okay, Naruto-kun. I believe we agreed that I would show you how to erect a barrier."

"No need", the boy said, before starting a chain of hand seals. "Great Barrier jutsu!"

Unlike Iruka's, Naruto's dome-shaped barrier was much more noticeable. It was also about fifty feet in diameter…compared to the five foot one that Iruka created a couple weeks ago.

Needless to say, the Hokage was impressed. However… "You'll need to make it bigger if you want to trap the Kyuubi."

Naruto frowned. "Making it bigger isn't the problem."

The old man nodded in understanding. "As you improve your chakra control, you'll be able to do more." Hiruzen took another look at the barrier that the boy had "trapped" him in. There seemed to be a few imperfections here or there…but that would go away with practice. Overall, Naruto made good progress, especially considering that this was such an advanced technique. However… "Not bad, though I do see one weakness to trapping your enemy in here with you", he said before reaching out a flicking the boy hard on the nose.

The boy flinched and immediately lost control, dropping the barrier. The blond scowled at the old man, "It's a work in progress."

Hiruzen nodded. "I suppose I'll have to teach you something else."

The boy started rummaging through is pockets, pulled out a folded piece of paper and began unfolding it. "Actually, I have something that I need your help with." He held it up towards the Hokage.

He immediately recognized it as Kushina's handwriting…though some of Minato's notes were written on it. It was obviously one of the papers that were in the binder. "Naruto-kun, do treat these more gently", the man slightly scolded the young boy. The blond just gave his leader a sheepish grin, while nervously rubbing the back of his neck. Hiruzen's eyes widened when he read the name of the seal Naruto had given him. "This is…genius."

"Can you do it?"

The old man nodded, looking over everything thing carefully. "The hard part is already done", he just needed to copy Minato and Kushina's work. It was like Tsunade's Yin Seal, but there were some noted differences…things that Hiruzen couldn't quite understand. 'Did those two improve upon Tsunade's seal?' the old man thought curiously. That would make sense. Tsunade's seal was a gift from Mito, so it was likely that it was an Uzumaki seal. It truly was a pity that neither of them shared the knowledge of this seal, it would have easily doubled their ninja's endurance during a battle…maybe more. "It will be a bit dangerous though…you already have two seals on your body. You'll probably become ill again." The old man frowned at the paper in his hands, 'If only I was a decade younger', he thought, bitterly. He probably wouldn't survive getting this applied to his own forehead…pity.

The blond grinned, "Great…I'll get out of doing those stupid D-ranked missions for a while."

The old man snorted at the boy's comment. Eyes still on the paper, he quickly said, "I'll have to put it on your head, Naruto-kun. I'll have to shave of a section of your hair to hide the seal…preferably a part that's covered with your forehead protector."

Naruto's hands subconsciously went to the back of his head, the part that was covered by the blue headband. "Why? It says the seal goes on the forehead."

"It says the seal can go on the forehead", the old man quickly corrected him. "However, it needs to be somewhere on the head, and I can't just put it on your forehead, unless you promise to never have your forehead protector off in public. The last thing you need is people knowing that you have another seal on your body. It would be bad news."

Naruto frowned, but nodded.

"It'll just be a patch…and your hair will grow back, I promise."

The boy nodded again, this time a bit less solemn.

"Good, now let's get to work."

Chapter 5: Life…sucks (Rookie Genin)

Naruto spent the next two weeks and three days in bed. It annoyed Naruto, because he couldn't really train. It annoyed Sasuke and Sakura, since they were basically forced to do his share of the work, during each D-ranked missions. Kakashi seemed stoic about the whole situation, though he did visit Naruto a few times after his illness dragged on to the second week. Neither of his teammates learned that his illness was'self-inflicted' though.

Regardless, Naruto was back after two plus weeks…and immediately went back to team drills and D-ranked missions…

-x three weeks after Naruto's healed x-

The blond woke up the next morning at six on the dot. He quickly went to brush his teeth and had a small breakfast afterwards. He got dressed, in his normal outfit, and left his home at exactly six twenty. He walked about six blocks and entered a public restroom.

He came out in a tan hoodie, which covered his hair, blue jeans, and ordinary sandals. He used the Transformation jutsu to hide his whisker marks. The blond then made for Konoha's cemetery, which was another three blocks away. The boy found her grave quickly enough. He just had to look for his grave, which was one of the three largest ones in the area. The Hokage's family members were always buried close to them, and they were, luckily, right next to each other. Reading the tombstone, he traced the name with his hand…

Kushina Uzumaki

The old man would probably have an aneurysm if he found out the he had come here – third time since he first heard his parents' names - but the young boy couldn't help himself. When things became overwhelming, this place always managed to calm him. He noted, with quite a bit of satisfaction, that someone had apparently visited her as well. There were two white flowers, whose species he didn't recognize, on her grave. They were both fresh, so the visitor(s) had been here recently, within a few days at least. He smiled and vowed to return in the near future with his own flower to add to the pile.

He gave a silent bow to the headstone and turned towards the much larger one. This one, unlike the other smaller ones around it, seemed much better kept. He slightly bowed his head, silently vowing to bring two flowers, and turned away. He returned to the restroom exactly ten minutes after he left and changed back to his normal clothes. He needed to start training.

Unfortunately, while getting D-ranked missions from the Hokage's tower the past week, Naruto learned that Konoha was having some kind of issue or another with Kusa…so he didn't expect the old man to be able to break away anytime soon. Which was bad, since he still needed to figure out how to draw an explosion seal.

He wouldn't let that stop him though…

He'd continued the same routine he had been following for the last two weeks; he had to make up for the time he spent in bed afterall.

The first thing he did, was set up his clones with their own assignments. That part was easy, since his memories of what he wanted done were quickly passed to his clones.

Afterwards, he began training his body physically, since that wasn't something he could just assign to his clones to deal with. That basically involved him picking a 'course', normally one of the many trails in the surrounding forest, and doing a lot of running, and just aiming to beat his best times. He knew his Taijutsu style was bad, so he didn't want to continue practicing that until he could come up with something to replace it. He blamed Mizuki, his former Taijutsu instructor, for that issue. The most important thing he wanted was to improve his speed, he knew he would never be strong enough to physically overpower the fox, but he thought he might be able to evade it easily enough. So, the real Naruto spent time increasing his running speed.

At about eight in the morning, he went to his team's meeting spot and plopped down a few feet away from Sasuke, who seemed to have been working out as well. Sakura appeared five minutes later, appearing fresh as a daisy.

The blond sighed, figuring he'd give himself a break before continuing his exercises. Kakashi wouldn't appear for another three hours, so he'd need to keep himself busy. He just hoped his clones were making progress…

-x-

He had a group of clones practicing his two techniques: the Wind Style: Air Bullet jutsu and the Great Barrier jutsu. The former basically involved having five clones perform the technique over and over again. For the latter, he had one clone create the barrier, and another five trying to fight there way into the technique. He found the barrier held perfectly against his weakest attacks, like punches and kicks, but actually took damage when they used the Air Bullet jutsu. Iruka had taught him how to send chakra to the attacked area to strengthen it or even fix any damages, which needed to be done as quickly as possible before the barrier became unbalanced, from the damage, and fell apart.

The last group he left was just five clones he left by themselves to brainstorm ways he could improve on all three of his techniques.

The technique that he thought the most of was the Shadow Clone jutsu. It was easily his most useful technique, but he hoped to improve upon it. For example, he hated the fact that he basically had to ante up half of his chakra if he created one clone. This needed to be changed…especially since he expected to be using the majority of his clones as nothing more than distractions and the like. He did find one way around that though. If he created one clone, he gave up half of his chakra to that clone. If the clone then created the rest of the clones he needed, then the real Naruto still had half of his chakra. It was a nice trick for now, but he still planned to experiment with the actual technique and see if he could improve upon it. Sure, he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the shed, but he could hae a hundred minds brainstorming things at a time if he so chose.

He also wondered if he could change that whole, one hit kill weakness that clones had. He'd probably have to switch to a different clone technique to acquire that affect. He knew elemental clones existed; maybe something along the lines of an earth clone would be make for a more efficient meat shield.

His five clones also had the interesting idea of adding his Transformation jutsu to the technique. They came up with that idea when they happened to spy a bird flying overhead. They wondered if it was possible to use it to transform into animals. He remembered Iruka lecturing against transforming into animals, especially the smaller ones, saying something along the lines of small animals being difficult to hide in. He never really understood Iruka's point because he never found it that difficult. He once transformed into a dog, Akamaru from his Academy days. The transformed clone moved around like a real dog, but he did notice a problem. Dogs were supposed to have senses, with the exception of sight, beyond that of normal humans. The senses of his dog clone were completely normal. They figured they must have been missing something in that regards. One of them tried to transform into a bird, a robin, and began trying to fly. What they received was flapping, hopping snake food…at best. Maybe he needed to know more about birds? One of the clones was sent to the public library, disguised as a civilian to anyone who treated him unfairly, to see if they could find anything on birds. The clone found lots of books, but found three that went into great details on particular species: pigeons, falcons, and swans. The clone ended up picking falcons, if only because they were cooler and less girly. He also picked up several other books while he was at it, because…well why not? Not like reading books took up a lot of chakra. The clone that had been sent to the library was the one that ended up reading the one about falcons, while others were created to deal with the other tomes. Before he attempted the transformation, he wanted to be able to say that he was an export on falcons. If this worked…well he really wasn't sure how he would be able to use a foot-long bird/clone to fight a demon the size of a mountain. Maybe he could have them peck the demon's eyes out…if that's even possible. All else fails; he could have them distract the demon while he set up the barrier and the other traps. And until he could think of something better to do, he figured that it wouldn't be a bad idea to experiment on different concepts.

Pity that they didn't have ninjutsu at the library. Nothing but theories and, in some cases, information on taijutsu styles of Konoha. Though, one of the books the clone got did have some interesting information. Mentioned that, with a lot of practice and familiarity with a technique, which it was actually possible to drop seals from a sequence because your chakra would actually remember what it was supposed to do for that particular seal. He'd make sure to explore that option in the future.

The next technique that needed work was his barrier, considering that this was basically the foundation of his whole strategy. Unfortunately, he still had no idea what he could do to fix it. He needed to make it more impenetrable; to make sure no one outside of the barrier would be able to get in. Then, he had to find some way to deal with a target that was inside of the barrier with him, for one good punch would immediately free them. Unfortunately, any and all ideas to fix the barrier normally ended with a casual, "You guys wanna go get some ramen?" For now they just created an extra clone and figured they'd just it experiment with the handseals, seeing if adding one or subtracting one during the technique would do something. All efforts currently proved useless.

The Air Bullet was the easiest to think about. That revolved around finding ways to make it bigger, to making it smaller and more concentrated. After remembering one of Sasuke's fire jutsu, they thought about trying to find a way to fire multiple bullets at the same time. The training schedule revolved mostly around creating an extra five clones and having them practice the technique while, once again, adding or subtracting the hand seals. Remembering what the Hokage said about the Dog seal, he tried adding a couple of extra ones of those. Just yesterday, Naruto came up with a bullet that was twice as large and strong, but required twice as many hand seals as the ordinary one and about three times as much chakra. Still, he had the chakra to use it liberally, and he did enjoy the impact and cracks it made against the trees he'd been practicing on. Naruto didn't know if he created a brand new jutsu, or if he just recreated one that already existed, but he really didn't care. He called the ninjutsu: Wind Style: Gale Bullet jutsu. He couldn't wait to introduce the Kyuubi's face to it.

Aside from jutsu development, the clones were trying to consider what other arts he should attempt to learn. The answer was, unsurprisingly, all of them. However, he didn't know how much time he had, and he really needed to be practical about things. Taijutsu wasn't very important at the moment…it wasn't like he was going to jump up to the fox and punch the damn thing in the face. No matter how satisfying that would feel. Genjutsu was also going to be put on hold. He never had much talent in it. After discussing it with Kakashi, the two concluded that it probably stemmed from his poor chakra control, than lack of effort on his part. So before he thought about working on Genjutsu, he needed to increase his chakra control. Unfortunately, the man hadn't given him any ways to train his control, instead telling him to practice the methods taught at the Academy. He would need to ask Iruka about those, because he couldn't remember a thing about chakra control exercises that were taught at the Academy. He figured that must have been one of the lessons he had to sit out on, because he was being punished for one reason or another. The final art, that he knew of, was Fuuinjutsu. Though one of the books he grabbed from the library was about the basics of Fuuinjutsu he, once again, decided against going too deep into that particular art. It was far too complicated to learn it, inside and out, in the amount of time he had, but that shouldn't stop him from learning how to draw different seals that he found useful. And, if he had a basic concept on the art, perhaps he could do some experimentation with the seal arrays, like he was doing with his ninjutsu. After all, discovering how to do the Gale Bullet was more blind luck than anything else; so maybe he'd get lucky again discover a way to make the explosion seal create a much bigger blast.

One of the blonds frowned as a thought grazed his mind. "We still need to get that damn explosion seal."

The other four scowled at the comment.

-x-

Back on the real Naruto's side, Kakashi had finally showed up. He gathered his genin up and, together, they went to take on a mission.

Two hours later, the blond returned to his home, muttering about demonic three-year-olds. He sighed as his hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. He then looked towards the kitchen counter, finding a stack of bills. Being a ninja of Konoha wasn't for the ambitious that was for damn sure…at least, not when you're a genin.

He stopped getting the orphan's stipend when Kakashi officially named him a genin, and his team only did a mission on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays were training and team exercises. Saturdays and Sundays he was free. Needless to say, he needed to find a way to make up for the lack of the stipend he would no longer be getting. Unfortunately, he doubted anyone would be willing to give him a part time job, not that he could personally spare the time.

But what if it wasn't him who needed to spare the time. And what if it wasn't him in the first place.

The first issue, not having enough spare time (a weekend job probably wouldn't be enough for him), was easily solved by using a shadow clone. Or several…

Then there was the next issue…no one would hire him. He could wear a disguise. That was a simple enough fix with the Transformation jutsu…except for the simple fact that using that technique would eat away at his clone's chakra. Then another idea hit him…when he used the Shadow Clone jutsu, the clones created all wore his exact outfit. So all he needed to do was wear some outfit that would cover his features completely, and then create the clones. The clones would then be wearing his new outfit…and not the here I am-orange that he normally wore.

Third issue, how to prevent people from hitting, by accident or by joking, his clones. Perhaps fake an injury or a disease. Naruto quickly looked towards his bookshelf and picked out a large red encyclopedia. The Academy gave all the students a large book on a variety of different diseases; partially to prepare them for things that they might see in less medically advanced parts of the country and partially to get those who may later wish to be medic-nin desensitized to some of the more horrible diseases out there. He just needed to find one that would keep people from touching him. He called also use this disease to explain why his whole body was covered up. His stomach turned when he saw one picture in particular; he glanced at the name and shut the book. Problem solved…so he believed.

Last problem was a name. He would need a new name…

…

…

…

Goku. Simple enough.

The following morning, Naruto covered his face with bandages and put on a pair of sunglasses. He then put on a pair a blue jeans and gray hoodie (something he would never wear under normal circumstances).

He then created six shadow clones and sent them out. He himself went out towards Ichiraku. He knew they that old man Teuchi was looking for another person to help out around the shack…so maybe that could be the first place he gets a job in. It took Naruto five minutes to reach his destination.

-x-

In the meantime, one of Naruto's clones arrived at his first destination, a small shop named, Takeru's Antiques. The clone walked through the door and smiled at the old woman at the register.

"Hello dear, how may I help you?"

Naruto's clone smiled, "I saw the sign outside…are you still hiring."

The woman grinned at him. "Of course, my name is Minmei…come here." She waved him over. The hooded boy walked towards her, noting that the shop itself was currently empty, save for one young man, who was obviously another worker…related to the old woman if he had to guess. "What's your name, sweetie?"

Sweetie…that was new. No one had ever called him sweetie. Since the majority of the people who liked him were men…that was probably a good thing. Ayame simply called him Naru-kun. "Goku."

The old woman nodded as she took out a piece of paper, "How much do you know about antiques?"

The boy frowned, "Not much I'm afraid. But I know how to clean-" he'd been picking up after himself all his life. "-and I know how to work a register." He may not be book smart, but he sure as hell knew math. And, while he didn't exactly know how to use a register, he figured it couldn't be that hard.

The woman nodded. "Fill out that paper." She handed the paper to Naruto who looked it over. Name…address…birth date…all simple enough. "I'll also need to get your measurements, so we can make you a uniform.

'Goku' frowned. "Actually, I was hoping this would be alright." He gestured towards the bandages covering all but his eyes (which was covered by sunglasses) and mouth, and the hoodie. "I got an illness that is kinda embarrassing."

Minmei frowned, "Oh? What illness?"

'Goku' opened his mouth.

Minmei's eyes widened.

-x-

"So that's it huh?" Teuchi frowned.

Naruto, still clothed in the same outfit his clones had, nodded. "So what do you think?"

Teuchi nodded in understanding. "I suppose so. Having you around will make up for Ayame being at school for half the day." The old man frowned. "You going to be wearing that outfit the whole time?"

Naruto nodded. "It's part of my character…and the only way I'll keep people from touching me. I'm passing it off as an illness."

"Oh, what illness?"

"Small pox."

Teuchi's eyes widened.

-x-

"GET OUT!" Minmei screeched.

'Goku' frowned. Had he been found out? "Huh?"

"I SAID GET OUT! GET OUT NOW! YOU'LL INFECT ALL OF US! GET OUT!" She grabbed a nearby broom and swung it at the hooded boy. 'Goku', using his ninja skills, dodged easily enough. "GET OUT!"

'Goku' hightailed it out of there and ducked into a nearby alleyway. He then dispelled himself.

-x-

Naruto's eyes widened at the information he just received. He then received five other ones. Naruto turned towards Teuchi, "I'll be right back.

He dashed straight towards his apartment and opened the encyclopedia again, going back to the page where he saw Small Pox and began reading a description of the illness. He blinked at what he read and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Umm…whoops."

Exactly twenty-three minutes later, Naruto heard a knock on his door. He opened it to see a grim-faced Hokage in front of him. "Hello Naruto-kun. Out of curiosity, would you happen to know why half the village thinks there is a Small Pox outbreak?"

The blond laughed nervously, "Why's it automatically my fault." The old man's stare proved that he wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Well…" It took five minutes to explain the situation to the old man. Sarutobi then gave him that damn pitying look.

"You need money?"

The blond turned away with a huff. "I'll take care of it."

The third glared at the blond. "Like you took care of it earlier when you scared my village into thinking there was a Small Pox outbreak?"

"I screwed up. I'll do better next time."

"You have more important things to worry about than money, Naruto."

"I can't rely on you forever. I'll deal with it."

Hiruzen opened his mouth to argue further but stopped when another thought crossed his mind. The old man turned to leave. "Next time, trying saying you have a nasty burn or are severely scarred up. People are naturally scared of diseases, so it'll be problematic if you try to use one." With that, Hiruzen left the apartment. He'd make sure Kakashi started taking his team on more D-ranked assignments…and make sure the team got shorter ones so they could take more during the day.

-x-

Naruto waited a week, so that things in Konoha calmed down a bit. Funny how the thought of one easily contagious and highly fatal disease in one's village could liven things up.

He decided to take the Sandaime's advice and go with some burns all over his body. He wore a blue hoodie, instead of the gray one. Aside from that the outfit he used was essentially the same. He made sure to hit places that he hadn't gone to last time and that his clones were spread out throughout the village.

One of his clones walked into a flower shop and smiled at the old blond woman at the counter. The hooded boy waved at the woman. "Hi, I'm Gohan."

Unfortunately, Naruto failed to take into account one simple fact: that having six identical people within one village is a bad idea.

But that's a story for another day.

Chapter 6: Trial under Fire…err…Water

Tora the cat was the bane of many a ninjas existence. Many a ninja hated the little monster with a passion and the only reason there weren't any assassination attempts on the little monster, free of charge mind you, was because it belonged to the Daiymo's wife. The Sandaime laughed off any and all complaints while failing the mention that the woman paid well for finding her poor lost kitty cat, far more than the village charged for a D-ranked mission. Still, with greater speed and agility than even most Chunin found difficult to match, plus it's small size, it was no wonder that Tora the cat was loathed by most ninjas in the village's employment. It also proved to be a good training exercise for new genin.

Naruto was different though. Most teachers would say that they couldn't possibly teach the boy anything, claiming that he's too stupid or too lazy or that he had the attention span of a hummingbird on speed. The latter probably had some credibility. However, nothing but the Naruto's own will ever stop him from learning. For, despite what the agitators may say, he liked learning. The blond quickly noticed, after searching and starting some chases with the irritating feline, that the cat only started running after it sensed someone, which it always did (damn animal instincts), within about twenty feet of it. Getting within a twenty-five feet radius of it, but still safely outside of twenty feet, the boy called out his attack, "Great Barrier jutsu!"

Sasuke and Sakura, both scratched up and exhausted, turned to the blond questioningly. The boy gave them both a foxy grin before saying, "I created a barrier that it can't get out of."

Both of his teammates looked impressed at that proclamation.

The blond chuckled and added, "I can't move like this though, so you guys are gonna have to catch it."

And, just like that, they both immediately glared at him.

Kakashi, from his vantage point, chuckled at the situation.

-x-

One hour later, yes it still took that long to capture the "devil cat", team seven was watching in quiet satisfaction as the cat was being suffocated by his owner's bone crushing hug. Another five minutes and the woman was out the door…she'd be back in less than a week.

"Another D-ranked mission, you guys are doing quite well. Let's see what else we can get for you…" the Hokage began, as he picked up a piece of paper. "Grocery shopping, dog walking, baby sitting triplets…"

"No way!" Naruto began, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Come on old man, can't you give us something more interesting?"

Kakashi sighed in irritation, 'It was only a matter of time.' He noted that both Sasuke and Sakura seemed to be thinking the same thing though.

Iruka was more annoyed, "Quiet Naruto! You're just a genin, you're not qualified to take on any higher ranked missions!"

Hiruzen mentally groaned at the boy's attitude. 'You shouldn't be asking for higher ranked missions! You should be asking for the easiest ones possible', the old man thought. Get a mission over with as soon as possible and get back to training. "Alright, perhaps I should take a moment to review the mission ranking systems our village goes by."

As the old man began lecturing, Kakashi let his curiosity get the better of him and whispered/asked, "Hey, where did you learn that barrier technique anyway?"

Naruto nodded towards Iruka's direction, "Iruka-sensei taught me…as a graduation present."

Kakashi nodded, obviously accepting the answer. Sakura looked a bit jealous at the answer. Sasuke was uninterested, truly believing that a skill like that wouldn't help him in catching Itachi.

"Hey!" Naruto flinched when he felt the eraser end of a pencil hit him in the head. "Are you even listening to me?"

"I know all of that old man. How the heck am I suppose to become stronger if I can't actually go out and test my skills!"

Most people in the room chuckled when he said that. Not Sarutobi though. Naruto's desire had some merit to it; experience was an important thing after all. "Very well, I suppose a C-rank mission would do you some good", Hiruzen said with a small smile. Though Naruto was the only one who cheered, he could tell the other two were just as pleased with this. He gestured for the chunin at the door to come forward and handed him a piece of paper. "This man should be waiting in our lobby, please send him in."

A few minutes later, the chunin came back with the "Super" Bridge Builder Tazuna.

-x-

The members of team 7, plus Tazuna, left Konoha exactly an hour later. On There mission was to protect Tazuna on his way back home and to defend him and his men from bandits while they finished building a bridge from their island nation, Wave Country, to the mainland.

The mission turned out to be much more than Tazuna suggested when they were attacked by two missing-nins from Kiri. The two missing-nins, nicknamed the demon brothers, dispatched the Kakashi with a spike chain. They then turned towards the genin and bridge builder. Sasuke managed to catch the two, by stabbing their chain into a nearby tree. Releasing themselves from the chain, the duo immediately rushed the bridge builder, who was being protected by Sakura. Sasuke moved to intercept them, but stopped when he realized the Demon brothers' critical mistake. They took their eyes off one of their enemies, and this one had a new ninjutsu to test out: the Wind Style: Gale Bullet jutsu. Being hit by the massive ball of compressed air sent the duo flying and into a nearby tree.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna stared in shock at the orange-clad genin. When Kakashi appeared a moment later, without a scratch on him, everyone stared at him in shock. "Nice job Naruto", he said, walking over towards the two missing-nins, a good thirty feet away so no one could see any of the damage.

The boy just laughed at the praise.

Kakashi whistled in astonishment as he poked one of the two, "Concussion, broken femur, I'm pretty sure you broke at least five of his ribs. He won't be getting up for a while…"

Sasuke just glared at the boy, a tinge of jealousy in his feature. Sakura was a bit shocked at his teacher's assessments of the damages. Tazuna was a bit shocked that the runt managed to pull something like that out of thin air…no pun intended.

"What about the other one, did I get him good to?"

Kakashi nodded, "You did. Lot's of injuries…but the most important one was the cracked cranium from hitting the tree so hard. Probably got sandwich between the tree and his partner's body."

Naruto looked at the man in confusion, "What?"

"His head Naruto. It was smashed open…he's dead."

You could hear a pin drop in that forest. Sasuke kept his emotions in check for the most part. Both Sakura and Tazuna looked on in horror, alternating between looking at the blond and looking at the corpse. Naruto was the worse off though…his skin immediately paled, his face was frozen in shock, and he looked like he was about to vomit. A moment later he bent over near a tree and did just that.

Kakashi stared at his student with a bit of understanding, before turning a furious gaze towards Tazuna. "Tazuna…we need to talk."

-x-

Tazuna had lied about the mission. He had said he needed protection from bandits. In truth, he needed protection from a business tycoon turned despot that was currently bleeding his country dry. With this new information, Kakashi explained that, at best, they could expect to deal with mercenaries specifically hired to deal with the bridge builder, and his crew. At worse, more ninjas, like the demon brothers. The mission immediately went up from a C-ranked mission to at least an A.

Kakashi gave the genin a choice on whether or not to continue with the mission or not. Sasuke immediately wanted to continue with the mission. Sakura was hesitant for a moment, but went along with the mission, mostly to not disappoint her crush. Naruto agreed last, not too enthused, but not willing to turn back either.

It was agreed and the group would continue on with the mission, much to Tazuna's gratitude.

Once they were moving they got into a formation with Sakura and Sasuke in front with Tazuna, while Naruto and Kakashi took the rear.

"Try to relax Naruto", Kakashi stated, not taking his eyes off of his little orange book. The young boy looked up at his teacher, still looking more than a bit pale. "Those two were ready to kill our target, and anyone that got in their way. You probably saved your teammates." That was a lie, of course. If things had gone too far, he would have stepped in before either one of the genin got hurt…but he wasn't going to tell the boy that. Better that he believe he protected his teammates, than think about how he killed someone.

The boy just sighed at the thought. "I know that, it's just…harder than I thought it'd be."

Kakashi nodded. "You got to do what you got to do to protect your teammates. Remember that", 'And you can avoid fifteen years of regret that'll eat you up from the inside out', the man mentally added.

Naruto grew silent after Kakashi's latest statement. He gave the boy one last glance before turning back to his book. In the end, the kid would just need time to get over it.

The group eventually made it to the coast where Tazuna had a boat waiting for them to take them across to Wave Country. Once across the water, the group began the journey towards Tazuna's village, when they were attacked.

Their attacker was Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure. While the genins protected Tazuna, Kakashi fought Zabuza. Everything seemed to go well for a while, until Zabuza managed to trap Kakashi in a spherical prison made out of water.

-xx-

"All of you take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled. "His water clone can't go too far away from the real him!"

Naruto frowned as he sized up his opponent. The guy was a monster.

"Little kiddies trying to play ninja. What a laugh." The water clone smirked. "At your age, I was already in the bingo book. That's how you tell the difference between the twerps playing games and the real ninja."

The blond growled at the comment and immediately rushed Zabuza. "Wind Style: Gale Bullet jutsu!"

Unlike the Demon Brother's, Zabuza was keeping an eye on the blond, already labeling him the most dangerous out of the Konoha genin…despite the idiotic attire. Then again, most of the best ninjas had their quirks…so maybe the kid had some potential. Regardless, the blond broadcasted his move, which enabled Zabuza's clone to dodge the attack and quickly close the distance between the two. With a quick punch, Naruto was knocked back a few feet, without his hitai-ate.

"That little trick won't work on me brat. You're playing with the grown ups now."

Naruto frowned and unconsciously touched the back of his head, where the Yin Seal was. His hair had grown out a lot recently, so it managed to cover the seal without the help of his hitai-ate…that didn't stop the blond from being subconscious of it though. Glaring at the Kiri-nin, Naruto quickly rushed the man again, this time putting his hands in the cross seal.

"NARUTO STOP!"

"RUN AWAY!"

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Fifty clones immediately materialized around the boy and most of them dog piled on top of the water clone. Within a few moments, the water clone broke free of the pile and sent all of the Narutos flying. The clones immediately dispelled, while the real Naruto managed to land on his feet. Glaring at the man in front of him, Naruto reached up and wrapped his retrieved hitai-ate around his forehead. "Don't touch my forehead protector, you eyebrow-less freak!"

Zabuza smirked under the bandages that covered his face. "Good show brat, but that won't save you from me. You can't beat me."

The blond smiled back, "I just realized that I don't have to." Naruto quickly jumped backwards, reaching his teammates in a few bounds.

"Great-" The water clone glanced to the right to see another Naruto holding his hands in the rabbit seal, "-Barrier jutsu!" The water clone looked around, noting the blond's barrier. The Naruto grinned, "Gotcha."

The water clone raised it's cloned sword, "Nice trick brat." The clone quickly smashed the barrier with the massive cleaver. Cracks appeared in the damaged spot.

Naruto's clone grunted at the exertion, but sent chakra to repair the damaged area.

The water clone snorted when he saw the barrier almost immediately repair itself from the damage. The barrier would repair itself before the water clone would be able to make a hole big enough to escape. "Not bad at all, but just one problem…" Zabuza's clone quickly lunged at the blond and chopped it in two. The shadow clone dispelled in a puff of smoke and the barrier fell soon after. "Can't expect to trapped your target if he can still attack you-"

"Great Barrier jutsu!" a snort of laughed drew the clones attention to another Naruto, "Gotcha!"

Zabuza's clone turned around to see the other shadow clone, holding his hands in the rabbit seal. The water clone quickly dashed towards the shadow clone, close-lined it, and made a beeline to genins and Tazuna.

"Great Barrier jutsu!"

The water clone stopped in time to prevent itself form smashing into the barrier. It's right eye twitching, the cloned around to see another Naruto grinning at him.

"Gotcha!"

"Rrraaaarrggh!" the water clone roared, rushing the shadow clone.

-x-

Outside of the chain of barriers, the genins were hatching their own plan. Not yet trusting his aiming with his ninjutsu, Naruto decided to stay behind to make sure the water clone didn't get a chance to interfere. In the mean time Sasuke was preparing his own technique. "Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!"

The real Zabuza glance at the large fireball heading right towards him. He had no choice but to move away, releasing his hold on Kakashi at the same time.

-x-

Kakashi dominated the battle with Zabuza after that. The leaf jounin was about to kill Zabuza, when two senbon needles hit the missing-nin in the neck. A mist hunter-nin appeared to take away Zabuza's body.

After the hunter-nin left, Kakashi passed out from chakra exhaustion, forcing the genins (Naruto) to have to carry the man all the way to Tazuna's house. Kakashi woke up after a day and almost immediately knew that the "hunter-nin" had tricked them. Believing that the faux-hunter-nin was actually allied with Zabuza, led the Copy Cat to the conclusion that Zabuza would return after his injuries had healed. Which led Kakashi to decide to teach the group a new training exercise: the tree-walking exercise.

Simply put, it involved sticking to a tree by concentrating chakra to the soles of ones feet. All three of the genin tried it. Only one succeeded.

Sakura waved at her two teammates from the top of the tree, sticking her tongue out at them.

"Will you look at that…" Kakashi began with a hint of amusement in his normally bored tone of voice "If I had to guess, it looks like Sakura is actually closer to becoming Hokage than you, Naruto." The blond seethed at the comment. "And as for the great Uchiha Clan…maybe they're not so great after all."

"Be quiet, sensei!" Sakura yelled.

That was the last straw for Sasuke though. It was bad enough that Naruto kept getting stronger than him. The guy had learned four freaking jutsu since they had left the academy. Sure, the Great Barrier jutsu was essentially useless as anything except a shield. And heck, either of his fire techniques could easily trump anything that Air Bullet jutsu. But then the blond pulls our things like the Shadow Clone and Gale Bullet jutsu. 'How is he getting so strong so quickly?' the boy seethed. It was a good question, at least in his mind. Naruto was the dobe at the Academy after all.

And now Sakura was better than him, at least in chakra control. One of the most useless girls at the Academy! He knew from the start that it was a bad idea, and that he should probably have kept his mouth shut…but at that moment he didn't really care. Sasuke pointed at Sakura. "THE ONLY REASON SHE'S GOOD AT A CHAKRA-CONTROL EXERCISE IS BECAUSE SHE HAS SO LITTLE CHAKRA TO BEGIN WITH!"

Sakura paled and nearly fell off of the branch that she was sitting on. Kakashi…was furious and, injury and all, was within a foot of Sasuke in just a second. Sasuke looked at the man in fear for a moment, remembering the feeling of Zabuza's killing intent and thinking how it paled in comparison of Kakashi's. He remembered that This. Was. A. Jounin. Pure and simple.

Kakashi raised a hand up, and Sasuke quickly flinched, expecting to be cuffed for the remark. The sharp pain he expected never came. In it's place, a two-fingered jab to his forehead that brought a horrible feeling of nostalgia. Lesser known fact...Kakashi was one of Itachi's instructors when the young man (then boy) first joined ANBU.

Sasuke stepped back, looking at the man as if he had just sprouted a second head.

Kakashi just eye-smiled, no remnants of the earlier KI anywhere in his demeanor. "Don't be mean to your teammates, especially when they can give you advice on the exercises you are expected to master." With that, he turned away from the Uchiha, to the other boy the team. Kakashi thought it strange that Naruto hadn't jumped in to defend his crush. He thought it even stranger that, instead of righteous fury, Naruto had the same look he always had when he was in deep thought. Shrugging, the Copy Cat waved to the girl, "I leave these two in your capable hands, Sakura." The girl made no reaction that she had heard the man.

Sasuke watched Kakashi for another moment. By the time the man was at edge of the clearing, Sasuke's brain had rebooted. His face immediately turned red in anger. The boy then turned and began trying to run up another one of the trees, relieving a bit of anger each time he slashed the tree with a kunai.

Kakashi was now walking through the forest and away from his genin team…or so he thought. He was immediately stopped by the blond. "Shouldn't you be training?"

"I got a guy working on it", the boy replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Kakashi sighed in annoyance. He had really hoped the boy hadn't started training with Shadow Clones, despite the evidence to the contrary.

"So I was hoping to ask you something-Damn it!" the blond suddenly cursed. Kakashi had to shoot the boy a questioning look before he would reply. "Idiot fell on his forehead…I'm gonna need a new guy."

The jounin chuckled as he watched the blond create a new shadow clone and sent it back into the clearing. He then gave the blond a serious look, "Naruto, do be careful. That's a really dangerous way to train yourself…and it can also make you lazy."

The blond nodded, "Yea I know all that already. Don't use too many, don't have them all dispel at the same time, and shadow clones can't be used to train physically", the blond quoted; counting off on his fingers every time he made a point.

Kakashi nodded, though he would be keeping a closer eye on the boy. There were, after all, other dangers to using the shadow clone training methods.

"So, I was wondering, is what the bastard said right? Sakura-chan has really good control because she has very little chakra?"

"That's part of the reason", Kakashi reluctantly agreed. "But I'm sure you know that she worked hard during her Academy days. Unlike some people, she actually knows what the Academy chakra control exercises are", the man said, with a slight mocking tone.

The boy scowled at the comment, "But it's easier to control your chakra if you have less of it?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes Naruto."

"So, theoretically speaking, if I were to waste nearly all of my chakra and just have a little bit left, would I have a lot better control?"

The man shook his head, "It has a lot more to do with your capacity than it does your current amount."

The boy's face scrunched for a moment, a classic sign that he was in deep thought. "What if I make a shadow clone that had a little bit of chakra?"

"You mean like splitting yourself up until you and your clones have a miniscule amount of chakra?" the man asked, but didn't bother waiting for an answer, "No that doesn't work…and it's also an incredibly stupid thing to do."

The blond just shook his head, "No, what if I specifically made one shadow clone with a really small bit of chakra?"

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Naruto put his hand seals in the hand sign required to use the Shadow Clone jutsu, "What if I make a clone, just one clone right now, with as much chakra as Sakura-chan has…or less? Would it have better control?"

The man frowned, "That's impossible. The jutsu divides the chakra of the user up equally. You can't just make a clone and decide how much chakra it gets."

"Well, not yet. I'm trying to work that part out", the boy replied with a grin. "But would it work? Would those clones have better control?"

Kakashi shut his visible eye, adopting his own thinking pose. Would it? "Hmmm…in theory it might work. I'm not really sure though, no one has ever really done something like that." If he were able to alter that technique in such a fashion, then the capacity of the clone created would probably be small, so theoretically it was possible that it would have better control than the user. Kakashi frowned as another thought came to him. "I wouldn't do that though."

Naruto smile immediately dropped, "Why not?"

"You use the Shadow Clone jutsu far too liberally. Imagine that you created a thousand clones with very little chakra and a high level of control. When they dispel, you're gonna have a thousand 'voices' in your head telling you that you have chakra control greater than what you should have", Kakashi lectured. Naruto frowned, but then got back in his thinking pose. "And the next time you try a jutsu you may overshoot yourself and draw on too much or too little, which could wreck your technique. If something like that happened during a battle…" Kakashi left the threat in the air, but Naruto understood where the man was going. In most shinobi battles, it only takes a single mistake from either combatant to decide a battle. Screwing up a technique, that your life may rely on, because you overestimated your chakra control would be a major fuck-up in the best-case scenario…and a potentially lethal one in the worst case.

The blond frowned at the thought. "But, what if I only used those clones for certain things…like Genjutsu or stuff that require really good chakra control."

"Or…" Kakashi drawled out, "…you could just train yourself to be able to control your chakra better, and forget about these little short cuts."

The blond laughed at the annoyed look that Kakashi was sending him.

"Genjutsu requires good chakra control, sure, but not to the point that you need to come up with a fancy clone just to use it", the man scoffed. Even if Naruto was a Jinchuuriki, and had the reserves that came with it, that still didn't mean the art of Genjutsu would be beyond him. He just needed to practice some more. "In fact, the only type of jutsu that should be completely out of your ability to perform is medical-jutsu", the man added as an afterthought. He nearly groaned when he saw Naruto's eyes widened at the thought. "Now, enough of these ideas. Go. Train."

Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head in the process. "Yea, I'll go do that."

"And don't use too many shadow clones", Kakashi called out before the blond was completely out of hearing range. The man just sighed before turning away from the scene, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't become too jealous in seeing Naruto's quick training method.

-x-

By the end of the week, Naruto had the tree climbing exercise completely mastered. Immediately the boy discovered the benefits of training his chakra control and swore to read up upon (Read: Bug Iruka until the man gave up) more exercises the moment he returned to Konoha. Originally, the blond was never able to create a barrier smaller than fifty feet in diameter, because he was adding too much chakra to it. Something that he could NOT control. Now though, he was able to lower the barriers diameter to about forty.

He was also able to notice how he was able to do his techniques, with the exception of the Shadow Clone jutsu, with less chakra, which in his mind meant that he could now use even more Gale Bullets.

At the end of the last day of their training week, Naruto overworked himself and ended up sleeping in when their team was supposed to go to guard Tazuna. After finally waking up, he decided to go to quickly meet up with his team…but not before taking a quick detour back to Tazuna's house to save his daughter, Tsunami, and grandson, Inari.

He then made a beeline towards the bridge to find his teammates under attack by Zabuza and masked-nin. Zabuza was fighting Kakashi. Sakura was guarding Tazuna. And Sasuke was currently trapped in, what looked like, a prison of ice mirrors.

After declaring his presence to EVERYONE on the bridge, Naruto tactically snuck into ice prison to assist Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke…I snuck in here to help you out."

Sasuke, who comically looked like a pincushion, just glared at the blond. "You idiot, why did you come in here?"

The blond just grinned. "Don't worry, I got a plan." Naruto quickly made a quick series of handseals. "Great Barrier jutsu!"

Almost immediately the symbols appeared on the ground and both Naruto and Sasuke were incased in a dome of chakra. Naruto, Sasuke AND Haku's mirrors were in cased in the barrier.

The blond's eyes widened before he dropped the barrier. That's when it hit him. Haku's mirrors had a diameter of about thirty feet…and he couldn't make a barrier that was smaller than forty feet. The blond blinked, "Ummm…whoops."

Haku, who was still in one of the mirrors, produced a few senbon needles. "Looks like you made a tactical error."

Naruto vowed right then and there, that the moment he returned to Konoha, he would start some tactical training.

-End-

---

A/N: I hope all of you enjoyed that.