A little long but i managed to get everything I wanted in.


It had been a rough week for a lot of people in Konoha but the one that had taken the brunt of it was it's Hokage, the sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen. There was no news about the young bright boy that carried the heaviest of burdens and a lot of people wanted answers, himself so. He had ordered more teams than ever before to join the search and was running them ragged but the only thing he got to show for it was more meaningless papers to go through.

He had postponed the new genin teams assignment because of the jounins that had joined the search and also because the current class's teachers were preoccupied, the assistant was torn to shreds and the other was still in ICU and had yet to wake.

He had failed to give the boy the life he had deserved and the village he prided himself of being the most humane was the main cause of the boys suffering. Smoke surrounded him as he drew deep on this pipe, the smoke lazingly rising and dispersing. His advisors had been a constant thorn these past days and at times he felt as they weren't there to advise but to constantly work against him instead and if that wasn't enough he had confirmation that his last remaining student was heading back and that was one conversation he could do without.

"I hope I can still live to have chance to make things right." He sighed to himself and took another breath from his pipe. "I just hoped we haven't driven you to turn traitor as so many before.


Naruto had been given some precious time to himself. J which was training him had to report to who knows where and told Naruto that as long as he kept up his cardio he could explore the village and further familiarise himself with his new home. He had to report to the academy later but until then he was free and he was exalted. Brimming with energy he had been determined to explore the village in all directions.

It was so very different than Konoha. For starters there was much fewer civilians, they were still there but it was apparent that their main purpose was to provide services and facilitate the workings of the village. Everyone had a purpose and new people didn't come here unless specifically recruited or applied to be allowed entry.

As he ran in a northern direction he was contemplating this and evaluating the new knowledge he had crammed inside his head during his training. He wasn't much for reading and learning but everything he was thought he was expected to remember and the way for him to do that was to mull it over and repeat it to himself during physical exercises and try to find a way to fit it into his world view.

That was just the way he worked, and once he could relate to something and place it he actually was rather good at being knowledgeable. But the more theoretical it became the harder it was to understand and recall and he was more likely to unconsciously label it as mumbo.

He loved to explore the village since everything still was brand new and there were so much to see. One thing he was fascinated with was the way the inhabitants here engaged in group training. A few times a day ninja gathered at the more open spaces between the mountains and together went through different sword katas and it wasn't unusual to see civilians to. Everyone was expected to contribute in every way possible and keeping basic swordsmanship up was one way. It helped strengthen the village in so many ways as it build companionship and a bond between strangers that they were working together and helped kept their skills sharp. The less fieldwork a ninja took the more time they were expected to spend participating in these activities.

Even fifteen minutes every morning and afternoon would make sure the nerdiest of lab rats could pose an unexpected threat.

Almost every ninja participated every once in a while and afterwards there were always those that engaged in short matches and more senior ninja and skilled fighters helped correct correct errors as well as allow them to fight a wide variety of styles.

Naruto had understood that so much here was deliberately constructed to help strengthen the whole and the people of Kumo was very pragmatic but still there weren't a lack of hot heads.

J constantly asked him to analyse everything and went over his findings as it was a good way for him to train his mind in a way that wasn't too boring for him. He had said that this way of life worked well for them and helped compensate for when they got riled up to avoid trouble where it is personal, domestic or international affairs.

He had been running for a while and there were still more to see but he was getting a little winded so he decided to take a break and take in his surroundings. He kept jogging up a walkway snaking it ways upwards along a peek running by both houses and businesses. When he came to a corner with a great view he felt that it was the perfect place to sit down at a small cafe and have something cool to drink, maybe some orange juice?


The raikage was angry, it wasn't unusual and when it came to council meetings he was always angry. He was a man of action and not talk. He made a decision and was a firm believer that any decision was better than none at all and you could always refine it or hammer out the details later.

At the moment his council was discussing his decision to integrate a third jinchuuriki into their forces and this was one of the worst parts of this type of meeting. He wanted clear opinions and not discussion so you could get some work done, this wasn't an academy class after all.

"With this we risk shaking the current balance which could have disastrous consequences. It could make others perceive us as a threat and even move Konoha to war."

"Konoha wouldn't go to war over one soldier even such a strategic resource as a jinchuuriki but it could affect our missions as well as force them into armament but I don't believe the sandaime would move towards war.

"This is too big and too fast we need to inform the daimyo and hear what he has to say about this, if this affects the civilian agreements between us and our neighbours it could have an adverse effect on our economy."

"Our economy is strong and we are not dependant on the daimyo and should push our advantage!"

"If we close our ties with Iwa we should be in a safe position where the other countries wouldn't want to provoke us."

"No, if we do that it would be seen as an aggressive move and force the other nations to form a united front, it will mark us as war mongers and would force us towards inevitable war."

"But we are prepared and the world always moves towards war, we should take the actions which gives us predictable results."

"If events were to go down that road we could always unseal the biju on our enemies and have it decimate them. Any war would be over before it has even started and we could force a peace before we have to spill any blood."

"But then we would possibly give back a strategic resource to our enemies."

"Even if it can be resealed they would be too weakened to continue a fight and it would be almost an entire generation before they would have a combat ready jinchuuriki."

When he had deemed it to gone on for long enough to sate their need for talk A finally rose and took words.

"Enough, I've already made a decision and I will stick to the deal with the kid and it's time for you to do your job and come up with plans to deal with any situation. I've read the reports and he has sufficiently lived up to his side of the deal and he will be integrated in to our forces. For all intents and purposes he will become a Kumo citizen and ninja. He will be trained as an offensive resource and through him we will have a trained jinchuuriki that can command the might of the nine tails and settle here as the official home of the Uzumaki."

"You will make sure that we can capitalise on both the political and military gains this will give us and deal with any potential fallout because when war comes we will face it as the strongest village and we will come out from it victorious and as the strongest still."

"When he is filed as a genin you can take part of the evaluations and start to come up plans for any eventual events."

And with that he left, he had another meeting to go to.


Naruto rolled to his right to avoid a quickly descending foot, his black pants and grey shirt he had gotten was dusted with grit and dirt. He wore Kumo's standard training out, favoured by academy students and genin but also popular with higher ranking ninja for training which had a high risk of damaging the clothes. They were cheap, the fabric rough but it was durable and for Naruto it did help that he thought it looked awesome when saw a group of students all looking the same except a dash of color here or there from accessories or various extra articles of clothing. It gave an impression of strength and a promise of an impending asskicking and it was easier to stand out and look cool when everybody else looked the same he thought but it would be under threat of torture before he voiced that, his sensei had come down hard on that attitude on his and he wouldn't want to draw his ire again. Sparring was difficult enough as it was.

Instead of standing his ground he flipped backwards and raised an arm to deflect a blow, he tried a leg swipe retaliation but was thwarted by a somersault and kick to his back. He rolled to his side to avoid another smashing leg and managed to deflect and block a few punches, a faint allowed one to hit his arm with numbing force but he countered by going on the offensive. An extended arm was used for extra leverage as he spun around his opponent and tried to hit him in the side with a spinning kick but before he could come close to connecting he was met with a chop to his throat and went down wheezing for air and barely registered the kunai to his throat.

"Dead."

As the kunai was removed he slowly got to his feet as he massaged the his sore throat.

"You are still slow, you are quite unpredictable but you are sloppy and easy to read, any genin with a month or two under their belt can exploit that and take you down. Every punch you take could have been a Kunai and before you know it you have bled out. If it wasn't for your sheer toughness you would have been knocked out much easier, you are training to be a Ninja and we use finesse and deliberate attacks. Clean yourself up before your evening class."

"Hai J-sensei" Naruto gave a salute and bowed before he quickly sprinted towards his quarters. Behind him J wrapped some tape around his knuckles as there were several small cuts. He didn't show it but he was impressed. His pupil improved quickly and he rarely had to repeat himself once he had gotten the knack of how to word himself and that that stamina was nothing to scoff at. On top of the wide variety of things he thought Naruto and the physical training they had been at it for almost two hours straight. He was certain that as long as he avoided getting stabbed or fired by a jutsu the boy could outlast and wear down any genin hands down and in pure taijutsu most chunin as long as he avoided KO blows.

Naruto sprinted through a narrow gorge and as it left way to more gentle slope he had to slow down to zig zag his way between the houses. Once across he came to a mountainside were his residence was located. The building was constructed right in to the mountainside with the apartments facing outside, a few of the small apartments have balconies but his was one of those with just a window with a small marquise above it. It was one of the many almost barrack like building in the village serving mostly genin ranked ninja.

He went through a double door into the main hall, it wasn't very large but it held a few sofas and a small coffee table, there was a kunoichi lounging in an armchair with her brown hair hanging over the headrest and on the wall was painted in nuances of midnight blue with lightning streaking across it. Across the room was a staircase where he headed and after three flights of stairs and a corridor parallel to the cliff side he went inside his apartment.

It wasn't very large and sparsely furnished but it wasn't bad. The ceiling and floor was covered in wood and the walls plastered and painted in a soft gray/white to allow maximum light in the room. To the left he had a small bathroom with a shower and the stone that it was cut out from was polished. The small hallway had room to put shoes to the right and along the same room two closets and to the left after the bathroom there was a kitchenette before opening up to the main room. He had a desk with a chair, a large drawer,bed and a small couch. On the windowsill he had gotten a small plant, a low flower with leathery leaves which would bloom during the autumn in a matted red.

He threw his clothes in a bin at the end of his bed, the shirt hanging over the edge as it was getting full, laundry was getting urgent to get done but luckily every floor had a small laundry room. He took a quick shower and grabbed a wrapped sandwich from his fridge. As he ate he looked out the window. The view was quite nice facing the small residential district on the slope outside. It wasn't the busiest area when it came to commerce but a few small stores dotted the area. The slope faced southeast and didn't get quite the spectacular view as those areas that got the sunsets but atleast he woke up with the sun lightening his room in the morning which was a plus as he liked getting up early, it was just so hard to do.

The quick meal was soon finished and he prepared to leave. Normally he thrived on the attention that his personal instructors gave but no matter what you called it school was till school. He steeled himself for a few hours of intellectual gain and challenge and pulled a dark green shirt over his head. He had accepted the raikages offer and a few books wasn't going to dissuade from fulfilling his part of the deal and to find out who his parents were and there were always more training to compensate for those few dull hours later.


The search for Naruto's whereabouts hadn't gone well. In the deeper parts of northern Konoha towards the land of Rice and land of Hot Springs the trail had started going cold. The corrupting chakre the boy had used had destroyed a lot of his scent trail and he hadn't left much else to follow. In the few scattered villages there had been some people telling about a feeling of unease or dread but the workers, farmhands and few travelers that had felt it were to spread out and moved to much to give precise direction. It was like a wave spreading out, the further from the source the more possible directions there were. He had a few team still out searching but he didnät hold much hope they would find anything because the trail was too old and he couldn't risk increasing the activity in that area lest he provoke Kumogakure in to a border skirmish, bloodshed was something he didn't want for something with such a low chance of success.

He would have to hold his head high and hope that a lead might come up later and move to compensate for the loss of their jinchuuriki in other ways. It was sad that a boys life had to be reduced to a pawn in the game to keep the tender balance of power in the world but such was the life a human sacrifice.

The slight fluctuations of chakra signaled the arrival of one of his anbu.

"Hokage-sama I'm here to report that Iruka-san has awoken."

"Very well, return to your duties anbu san."

Just as quickly he had arrive the anbu operative vanished.

He notified his staff that he was leaving and then he was on his way to the hospital. Two guards formed up, visible for all to see, and another two was shadowing them to be able to provide support as well as take care of anything before it was a problem. Not that it was common but it was once you let your guard down you were greeted by trouble.

He traveled at a dignified pace seemingly with a purpose but not hurried and a few times took the opportunity to exchange a few words or just a polite nod to his people. It was always good for morale to walk around the village as it's leader. Kami knew that he could use it himself, not that he let it show.

Once at the hospital he didn't need to be told which room Iruka was located in but even so he took the time to acknowledge and greet the receptionist and the staff he met in the hallways.

It was in a well lit and airy room a seemingly healthy Iruka was propped up in his bed. Despite the injuries he had suffered the only visible signs that he wasn't in full health was the bleaker skin tone and his bones being a little more pronounced, a side effect of being unconscious and able to eat solid food for several weeks.

"Hokage-sama, what can I do for you?" the man greeted his leader.

"Rest Iruka-kun you have been through a lot, I just want to check up on how you are feeling and ask a few questions."

Iruka nodded and lay back his head.

"I'm well despite everything, a little queasy from trying to eat and a little worried about Naruto. How is he?"

The hokage sighed sadly.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that and it's concerning Naruto I wanted to see you."

Iruka's face grew heavy with concern. Despite his dislike for Naruto when he had become the boy's sensei he had grown fond of him and almost considered him as an adoptive little brother. He had been looking forward to the boys graduation so that he could interact more freely with him.

"What's wrong? He.. he is alive isn't he?" He hesitated when saying those last words, dreading the answer to his question.

"I don't have a definite answer to that question. We don't have a body. From what we can tell from where we found you he accessed kyuubi's chakra and then disappeared."

Feeling the full weight of his significant age Hiruzen continued.

"There wasn't much left from Mizuki, he was torn to pieces and there was a trail leaving the area. Unfortunately it went cold."

Iruka's face got white at hearing that, Naruto was missing. Possibly dead or hurt but also left alone to having to deal with his first kill and a rather brutal kill it seemed.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Hai" Iruka responded with a low sad voice.

"When I heard what had happened I joined the search. I know Naruto and was confident that I could find him. Hopefully before he got himself into more trouble. I remember thinking of how could he be so stupid as to steal such an important item from you. I did find him, he was there with Mizuki. He held the scroll protectively as they stared at each other. I told him to give me the scroll and come back to you so that we could clear this mess up."

He paused, his throat felt dry and he wasn't sure that his voice would hold. It wouldn't do to break down in front of his leader. He took a deep breath and steadied himself as he recalled what had happened.

"It was Mizuki that responded , he told Naruto to give the scroll to him and to me he said that now was our chance to take our revenge at the demon. I told him that it was against your law to speak about Naruto's burden but he just went on about why the poor boy was so hated. He told him that he was the Kyuubi and a gullible fool to be so easily tricked, both in to stealing the scroll and for believing that he was human."

Inside Iruka sincerely hoped that Naruto was alright and that he knew that he wasn't the creature he held at bay. He was human, once of the most kind and humane of all humans. The boys strength and spirit was proof that he was the right choice in vessel to protect the village.

"Naruto looked at me, straight in the eyes. He looked so sad, as if he truly believed Mizuki-teme." His voice was starting to crack and it was easy to hear Iruka's sadness and anger.

"I-i didn't have time to answer him. I raised my arms to block the incoming shurikens but missed the fuma one that struck me in the chest, the last thing I saw was another salvo heading straight for Naruto before I blacked out. I'm sorry I can't be of more help." He lowered his head in sadness and guilt.

"No need to apologise. It may not help in telling us where Naruto is but atleast it clears his name. I admit that it has weighed heavily on my mind the thought of Naruto being a traitor." Hiruzen smiled a sad smile.

"Get well Iruka, the academy needs you and once we find Naruto he will need you too, you serve your village with pride."

"Hai hokage-sama." He responded, determined to do his best for his home and see his brother once more safe where he belongs.


Elsewhere in the world Naruto was happily shoving food down his throat at a pace that even a garbage disposal would be envious of. Onigiri was munched down quickly and with swift movements he maneuvered the chopsticks with great skill to pluck out meats and even vegetables to dip and mix with different condiments. He burned through a lot of energy during the physical aspects of his training and especially draining were the academy stuff to deal with. He had to go over different protocols, tactics, history and a wide array of subject. On top of that he had extra "training" to learn to reel in his personality after a few clips of his tongue and maybe a choice prank, the worst part was when he had to spend time with Eiko no Kimi and learn proper behavior. It involved a lot of sitting still and boooring lectures, she had even handed him a dictionary because his vocabulary was impoverished and meager at best.

He totally disagreed that polite conversation skills and how to handle yourself at a court was skills needed by a ninja, the only thing you had to know was who was a friend and who was your foe and then beat them up, or maybe kill. It was a true testament to how far his training had come towards the path of a ninja as those last words snuck in with his thoughts.

As he was picking up and transporting food to his mouth he went deep in to his thoughts and rehearsed several standard procedures that all Kumo ninja had to know. He was glad he wasn't a genin yet because once you started rising in clearance there was even more things to memorize.

He was so far gone that he was unaware that another boy around the same age as him entered. As the newcomer sat down he accidentally shoved Naruto as he adjusted his blade to sit down causing Naruto to knock around his food making both making a complete mess of both the countertop and his shirt.

Naruto quickly spun around standing in one go and very angry. Normally he would have been annoyed and maybe just a little irritated but he was mad at himself for being so unaware as to not notice someone so clumsy. Situational awareness was something he was drilled heavily in and he was lucky his sensei wasn't there to catch him as he slipped up. But being disturbed as he was that anger instead got directed at the boy and he blurted out the first thing that came to him.

"Hey watch it assface!"

"Who are you calling assface punkass!? I was gonna apologize bastard!"

"A little too late for that!" He sized up the bastard that had ruined his meal. Brown hair, not too long and swept to the side under his hitai-ate. Dark almost black eyes and a sharp nose. He was a few centimeters taller than himself and a bit larger, he wasn't bulky but it was apparent that he favoured strength from his build.

"Lets take this outside if you are so hungry you can't even sit down I'll make you eat a face full of dirt!" Naruto was indeed quite angry and just a tid bit irritated from going over all of his more intellectual pursuits and assface had given him a totally legit excuse to blow off some steam.

"As if" The boy scoffed.

"Are you even a real ninja? You are too damn loud!"

"Yea well no, but I'm going to be one soon and a damn good one!" Naruto responded, not at all happy of being questioned.

"Pfft so you are just a civilian kid playing around, figures."

"So what assface, are you scare of getting your ass kicked? Or maybe your face since thats where your ass is!"

"Yea right, me? Scared of you? In your dream but I'd get in trouble for taking you down and fighting a civilian, civvy."

"You just wait and see, as soon as I get my hitai-ate I'm coming for you." He turned to his left to walk outside, fuming at both the food and being denied the satisfaction of a good fight.

"You do that, once you get out of kiddie school look for me. Masahiro Kodama, civvy."

"Naruto." Naruto growled out. "And you better remember it assface. My name will be in the books as an S rank quicker than you can become a chuunin dattebayo!" And with that he left the small establishment.

A few people who were outside watched him as he left, curiosity had drawn them to halt and listen in on the short altercation.

"What are you staring at!" He hissed and walked down the dirt road with his hand in his pant pockets.


Naruto was walking together with his sensei J they had finished training just earlier and were heading back. They had both grown accustomed to each other during the past months and along fairly well. J could be a real hardass but at the same time friendly. At first he had been merciless but he respected Naruto for never backing down or being afraid to rise to a challenge and as the boy had adapted and smoothed over his most glaring mistakes in the way he acted they both had started to get along fairly smoothly.

"You think I could get a pair of sunglasses too?"

"Nothing is stopping you. All you need to do is find a pair that suits you. But as with any accessory if you don't find the right one you risk looking like a fool."

"Do you speak of experience?"

"Where I do or not is of no concern to you, I'm not telling you."

"Hey who do you hang out with?" The blonde tried.

"Good angle but not very subtle. Atleast you are trying if poorly." J smiled, the squinting of the muscles around his eyes gave it away.

"I always try and I never give up dattebayo!"

They continued their banter not at all in a hurry. The weather was nice and Naruto had finished with his remedial studies two weeks earlier so he had more time to train by himself but also to relax and plan his day more freely. He actually missed it somewhat since at least he met the same people and being on a schedule kept his mind from thinking about what had happened and the things and people he missed.

His outlook on the more intellectual arts of a shinobi had also shifted slightly and he respected it a lot more. He still wasn't a big fan of studying or researching different subject but he understood the value of knowledge better, even his lectures with Eiko no kimi. He had actually grown fond of her and considered her a friend. She was always friendly and polite but a little brusque when it came to his failings. She treated him as a human and once he started to do as she said it wasn't as much lecturing as it was just discussing. They spent their time speaking about a multitude of subjects and she would explain things he didn't understand and correct him when he did something wrong.

He thought about the last conversation they had had during their official meetings as he and J walked in a comfortable silence.

"This marks your final tutoring session here with me as we are drawing to an end with your assigned time here with me. I can safely say that your conversational skills are at an satisfactory level and that you have learned how to behave." She had smiled a soft and genuine smile as she spoke.

"You are a good boy and your previously appalling way to behave was not of your own making. You should be proud of what you have achieved here. I hope you seek me out if you are in need of anything when it comes to how to interact with high class society but at least you will not shame me when you are away on missions."

"Arigato sensei." He bowed to her.

"Thank you for your kind words, I've also appreciated my time here and I have learned a lot from you." The formal phrasing still felt a bit wrong but it came easy enough to him but he failed horribly at keeping the pride and happiness from gracing his face.

"Don't be afraid to visit even for some tea and conversation boy, don't you dare to forget to drop by every now and then ne?." Even for someone so acquainted with dealing with nobles knew how to be more informal.

"I promise I won't dattebayo! See you later oba-san!" And with that he had sprinted out from her home.

He had learned his lesson from the incident with Kodama about a month ago and especially now that he was with J he was paying extra attention to his surrounding so he was well aware when a kunoichi appeared in front of them. She was wearing a fairly standard Kumogakure uniform with short sleeves, bandaged arm and her blonde hair back in a ponytail with her hitai-ite partly covered by the fringes.

"Good day Yugito-sama." J said politely.

The now identified kunoichi nodded in acknowledgement.

"And to you too J-san. I'm here for Naruto-san."

J smiled. "So I was informed of by raikage-sama, I leave him in your care." He turned his head to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun you are to go with Yugito-sama and follow her instruction, I won't tolerate any insubordination am I clear." His words were stern but he hadn't put extra emphasis by changing his tone from their earlier banter. He trusted that Naruto would comply with his superiors.

"Hai sensei don't worry you won't hear a word about me." Naruto smiled at both J and Yugito.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." And with that he disappeared in a shunshin.

"What are we doing Yugito…" He paused slightly consider the right honorific. "...-sama."

"No need to be so formal, san will suffice. We do share the same burden. We will head north to one of the more outlying plateaus, I trust that you can keep up?"

"Hai!"

"That's good. Just follow me." She bent her knees slightly and kicked off, Naruto following here shortly.

After a few minutes they had cleared the village and traveled for a short distance through the rugged terrain, they came to a halt at their destination. The area was several hundred meters in diameter and the rough surface carried many scars of battle, they had come down from a long rocky slope and on the opposing side was a steep cliff. To the right was a steep incline and the chasm to the left was blocked by an ominous crag. Nothing blocked the northern wind whipping at them and it didn't feeling like a very hospitable place to be.

"We are here to fight right?

"That's right, this place is used for training when there is a high certainty of large scale devastation." She pointed to the left side of the plateau where there was a large boulder cracked and split down the middle, it was the size of a house.

"That was done when A-sama and B-san was sparring."

He gulped, feeling just a bit nervous at that.

"Don't pull your punches or your will get hurt." She smirke. "But this will most likely hurt either way."

And then she was on top of him. She opened with a straight punch, relatively easy to deal with but powerful nonetheless. She was here to test him and push him not to assassinate him after all.

He crossed his arm and braced himself with no time to react any other way. He felt the force in his entire body but the with the help of some chakra in his arm he avoided having them broken.

His body responding to the call of battle and his chakra was agitated as his body was preparing for the fight, reinforcing his limbs and boosting strength, speed and reflexes.

He did his best to avoid the beating she was laying on him but she was fast, strong and fought with ferocity. She relied on a vicious in your face style to test him out and kick him in gear.

He didn't have time to retaliate as kicks, punches, elbows and knees rained on to him. He did his best to adapt and when he got the smallest of openings he used it to kick away from here and get some distance. She gave him that to observe his next move.

He drew a tanto that was strapped to his thigh, when his hand went to his thigh in that way told her what his intentions were she quickly threw a three shurikens. He rolled to his side to avoid them but before he got up two more in the air. He deflect them but she was moving in a circle around him and kept the metal in the air. By drawing a blade he declared his intentions of close range combat and so she wanted to see how he dealt with being denied that by keeping him at range. A kunai graced his shoulder and he hissed, fortunately she had stopped throwing weapons at him and was going through a chain of handsigns. He dashed forward but instead had to avoid a wall of fire. He changed direction to go around it but with his vision obscured he didn't see her circling around the other side.

He just felt the heat and heard the noise of an incoming fire attack from behind and substituted quickly with a rock that was several meters in front of him and then rolled to the side. It had taken the brunt of the flamethrower like attack which scattered and instead of going straight incinerated the area around the rock.

He was hard pressed, she had him beat at speed, strength, experience, taijutsu and ninjutsu. As it was there wasn't a single point where he held an advantage and he only had one ace which he had to bring out.

With the tanto in a reverse grip his hands flew up in a cross like fashion.

"Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!" He screamed in defiance. Suddenly there were hundreds upon hundreds of Narutos on the plateau. They all grinned together, taking a ready stance with their tanto thinking that the tables were turned.

As Naruto himself shot forward a wave of clones joined him, it wouldn't do if them all just threw themself in one big pile after all.

Yugito just smirked as this what was she was here to see and test the limits off. She pulled on the tainted chakra that was provided by the biju sealed inside her. Not enough for a full tail but enough for long thing claws to sprout from her fingers and boost her overall performance. She met the clones in a flurry, despite the fact that both they and Naruto managed to get in a few nicks and scratches on her for every mark they left she took out several dozens.

He jumped back and replenished the clones to even greater numbers. He jumped up on a boulder to observe but his vision was blocked by black and gray mingled with dashes of orange and of course yellowish blonde hair. The smoke from clones dispersing didn't help and he had just a vague understanding of how the battle was going from the influx of memories that came from the clones. He wasn't aware of it but the huge amount of information merged into a feeling of the flow of the fight.


Up in the slope they had first come from there was a small gathering of people. It was the raikage with his closest staff, B and J.

"He really can pump out a lot of clones." A said.

"Hai raikage-sama." J responded. "And they are solid and can work independent of the creator."

"Interesting." A mused.

"I've had him do some preliminary testing of what they can do, they each hold enough chakra to perform several jutsu. So far he hasn't got any with offensive or truly defensive capabilities except the Konoha standard but the last until they run out of chakra. If they don't engage in battle that's at least several hours."

"They seem to have some sort of bond with the creator as I've noticed that he reacts to when they are taken out even from a distance and out of site."

"They are at his own skill level but not at full speed and strength of the original. Once he is made genin I would like to test his clones one on one with a selection of genin and perhaps pit squads against either genin teams or chunins to get a better picture of their combat potential but it's at least in the category of an entire company."

"Once he adds some ninjutsu to that maybe even a small battalion."

"The boy doesn't disappoint." A grunted.

"He sure doesn't." Was what J responded as their full focus once again was on the fight.


When he was at his fourth wave of clones he was feeling the drain of the technique. He had never created so many clones in such a short amount of time, it hadn't been more than a few minutes since the first one and was not used to feeling such a strain on his chakra. A good deal of it was also mental fatigue but in the heat of the fight he wasn't able to differentiate between mental and physical, he just felt tired through and through. Way more than even the toughest training with J.

Suddenly there was a change as a blue tail formed behind Yugito and swifts of blue chakra, almost like small gatherings of mist, seemed to move around here. It wasn't a full cloak but her claws grew even longer and contact with the tail proved fatal with the clones. Their numbers was dwindling at an even more rapid pace and he was growing desperate.

He pulled on his chakra, tugging on it to conform to his will as if it was heavy and unwilling to cooperate. He formed the sign and screamed as he pushed the chakra through his coils and an even greater amount of clones easily numbering a thousand or more formed. He fell to a knee and panted heavily as the clones engaged in a ferocious battle.

The blue chakra formed into a cloak around Yugito and as a large amount of clones jumped in to engage her they were suddenly annihilated as a large blue flaming cat with two tails stood in her place. Naruto was staring in awe as she swatted away throngs of clones and burned even more with balls of blue fire.

He barely had any energy to react when a mouse shaped ball of fire was roaring towards him.

He felt pure raw fear as the ball was coming closer at an unfathomable speed. He thought he was going to die and as it almost was upon him he felt like he was burning. He tried to scream as he was cowered in a red aura. Several of his features quickly changed and in less than a second he was hunched over, his teeth sharp, whiskers deep and hands clawed. It was like looking up from underwater only with the surface on fire. Everything was red and blurry. Two tails swished behind him and as the blue fire connected it wasn't fear he felt but pain and rage. He flew backwards but quickly regained his bearing standing on all four. The giant blue cat the only thing standing out like a lighthouse and the focus of his anger.

As he jumped forward towards it he was slammed down hard to the ground and was pinned there by what seemed to be a huge log. He tried to struggle but as it held him down, even withstanding the corrosive chakra surrounding him he was starting to feel drained. Slowly the rage faded and pain started to overtake him. He saw a giant silhouette above him and as he was losing consciousness his last thoughts was how weird those moving logs were.

It took a while for him to recover but as he was waking up he just felt numb and exhausted. The first thing he saw was C with his hands hovering above him. As his mind sorted itself out and memories came back he assumed that he was healing him.

There was several other people there with them. He turned his head to his side and saw Yugito which had a look of concern on her face.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"Don't worry I'm a tougher than most people"

"That's good." She gave him an apologetic smile. "Atleast I did warn you that you might get hurt."

He tried to chuckle but his body protested, he didn't feel it only that his body tensed up.

"Try to be still I'm still patching you up. I'm numbing your body but you will be sore and in some pain once I'm done." C said.

"Yo that fight was intense kid!"

"Hey B." He said as B came up next to Yugito.

"That was your transformation that took me down wasn't it?"

"Yea, didn't mean to hurt you but I had to prevent you from trying to kill Ni-chan and hurting yourself even worse." He had his arm behind his head and looked a little awkward, the absence of rapping was a definite tell tale but was hit by a rough elbow from Yugito to his side making him grunt.

"Don't call me!" She hissed at him.

"Don't twist your tails little kitten, just lightening the mood and all."

She looked furious and almost ready to pop back into her bijuu mode when another voice spoke up and prevented a possible murder.

"Enough B!" It was the large leader of the village.

"You fought well for someone so small boy. When you are done here, get yourself cleaned and come to my office." He addressed Naruto and threw down a piece of cloth on Naruto's chest. Between the dark, almost black, grey metal glinted. He vanished in the crackling of lightning.

Naruto lay back his head and watched the sky as large clouds moved past at a steady pace.

"Yata! I'm finally a ninja!" He screamed with all the strength he could muster.

"Congratulations, I never doubted that you'd pass." J-said as the others around him also congratulated him.


I hope I've managed to use the japanese words and honorifics in a correct way. I don't intend to going too heavy with the japanese because what I do know is what I've picked up from reading fanfics and some slight previous knowledge. I try to be consequent in my usage of japanese.

Input is appreciated. :)