Ino walked down the street grumbling. "How am I supposed to get stronger if no one will help me? Asuma-sensei is always playing those old man games with Shikamaru and both Shikamaru and Choji don't take training seriously. Sakura's training under the Hokage, whose one of the Densetsu no Sannin no less, Neji and Tenten train together, Lee trains by himself or with Gai, and Hinata's team train together. I need some better techniques, but what I really need is someone to help me learn them." She sighs. "At this point, I'd even settle for Lee or Gai."

As she continued to a secluded training ground near by, she saw that everybody was really tense for some reason. 'I wonder what's going on.' She put it out of her mind when her destination came into view.

The training grounds surrounded by trees with a set of three posts were erected at two opposite ends.

"Well, at least I can do target practice." She walks over to the last post on one side and retraces the target she had craved into it using a kunai. She moves back about thirty yards and launches every weapon she was carrying at the target.

When she was done, she went to gather her weapons and check her accuracy. She wasn't surprised to find that they were all close to the middle, because this was basically all she could do on her own.

She had just pulled the last of her shuriken from the log when a rustling in the forest startled her and it was getting closer to her. She threw that very shuriken towards the noise instinctively, but didn't hear it hit anything, not even a tree and it was still coming closer.

Moving into a fighting stance she kept staring in the direction the noise was coming from. "What the hell do you want?"

"At least your aims improved, even if your personality hasn't changed at all. Not that it bothers me, I kind of glad it didn't." A blonde young man wearing orange pants that looked a bit tight and a ragged blue shirt stepped out from the tree line. "I believe that this belongs to you and you should watch where you're throw these, it almost hit me in the head. Then again, in times like these you always have to stay alert and me walking through the forest probably startled you at least a little."

Ino stared stunned at the sight before her. "Naruto? When did you get back?"

"Just a little while ago, with Sasuke in tow."

"Alive or dead?"

"Alive of course."

Her temper was getting out of control. "Why didn't you kill that damn traitor?!"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sakura asked me to bring him back. Besides, I thought that you were one of his fangirls?"

"I was until he deserted us for the promise of power, which must have been an empty promise if you brought him back."

"So the ANBU are weaker than me, huh?"

"No, they're just lazy bastards."

"So, in a two year absence, you stopped liking the asshole?"

"Yes I did, and I don't regret it."

Naruto spoke softly, almost to the point that she couldn't hear him. "If only Sakura felt the same way as you Ino."

Her anger turned to surprise. 'After all that time away, he remembered my name? I've only talked to him a few times and it was pretty much always yelling at him for something but still he remembered my name.'

He handed her the shuriken and headed for the other set of posts. He left her standing there, lost in thought. The sounds of what he was doing snapped her out of it and she looked over at him. He was attacking the post only using his bare hands. 'Idiot.'

She tried to concentrate on her training, but couldn't help but look over at him from time to time. He wasn't slowing his pace at all and was leaving considerable impacts in the wood.

She was just about to throw a kunai when she heard a sickening cracking sound. Her eyes widen with horror. 'He must have broken his hand!' A large thud soon followed and made her turn faster.

The sight before her turned the horror she was feeling into astonishment. The post was broken if half and Naruto, who sat at the base, was rubbing his hand. Even for this distance, she could see the blood on his hands. She picked up her bag and ran over to him.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of water. "Honestly, what were you thinking only using your fist against that post?" She pulled his hands toward her.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm cleaning the wound so it doesn't get infected." As the water hits his skin, the blood washes away and she sees the cuts healing themselves before her eyes.

He saw her staring at his hand and quickly pulls it away. "Not that I'm not grateful, but it's just a few minor cuts. It'll be fine."

She wasn't really paying attention; she was trying to process what she had just seen. 'It impossible, I must have imagined it.' "Hey Naruto, would you mind helping me train?"

"Why would you want my help?"

"No one else will…"

Angry by what he heard, Naruto cut her off. "So I'm a last resort is that it?!"

"That's not it at all! I asked Kakashi for some advice and he said that if I wanted to learn ninjutsu that you and Sasuke were the ones to go to. Since Sasuke turned traitor, and you were gone I went to everyone else so I could train until you got back."

"He said Sasuke or me?" His voice was full of disbelief.

"He said that the two of you were basically even in that field."

He had calmed down considerably by now. "So I wasn't your last choice but your first?"

"Well yeah, but if it hadn't been for Sasuke becoming a traitor, I probably would have asked him first. The only reason being that I wouldn't have seen him for the asshole he is."

Her last comment made Naruto grin. "At last, some else who gets it! Alright, I help you, but it's going to have to wait till tomorrow, I need to get something to eat and some long overdue sleep." His smile got bigger. "Ino, do you like ramen?"

"More or less. Why?"

"I was rewarded handsomely for bring him back and was wondering if you like to join me at Ichiraku's. Of all the places I've been, they make the best ramen."

Ino smiled. "Sounds great. Sakura always said you were nuts about ramen."

When they arrived, they found Teuchi outside, staring at the dark building. "What's going on, why aren't you open?"

"Our biggest source of income has been gone for over two years, and with the new restaurants opening up down town, we won't be able to stay open. The only way would be if he came back."

Teuchi sighs and Naruto smiled. "Then don't worry Old Man, I'm right here."

Teuchi finally turns around and rubs his eyes as if he didn't believe what he saw. "It really is you! Oh thank you, I could bare the thought of closing down!" He then realized that Naruto wasn't alone and smiled. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend kid."

"It's not like that Old Man!"

Teuchi laughs. "Whatever you say, so did you just stop to chat or to get some ramen?"

"You know me."

"Right this way, I'll make you as much as you can eat."

"You won't have anything left Teuchi."

"Iruka-sensei, you want to join us? Naruto's buying."

"Oh, hello Ino." 'I don't ever remember those two hanging out before he left, I wonder why they are now.' "If Naruto's buying, I can't pass it up, because it's usually me buying for him."

They went inside, and no sooner had they sat down than had Ayame rushed past them, heading straight for Teuchi. "Dad, you said that you were going to close early tonight!"

"That was before I found out that he was back."

He nodded toward Naruto and Ayame turned to look. "Oh!" She smiled. "It's nice to see you again Naruto."

"Hi Ayame. Sorry about making you worry about your dad, but when he said that you guys were thinking about closing, I decided to buy as much ramen as the three of us could eat."

"You're very generous, but how much can you buy on a genin's salary?"

"Not much, but for bring back Sasuke, I got paid the month's salary of an ANBU." The other four people's jaws hit the floor and he just laughed at the look on their faces.

Iruka had been right, by the time Naruto had finished eating the restaurant had no more food and on top of that, Naruto hadn't even spent a fourth of his payment.

Ino looked like she was going to be sick. 'Where does he put it all?' Her attention turned to the other occupants. 'Why don't they look surprised by this? Duh, it's because they're use to this. He probably ate here at least once everyday before he left.'

"Hey Ino," Iruka's voice had broken her train of thought. "I was just wondering, why did the two of you come here together?"

Teuchi turned his head so he could hear the answer. Naruto glared at Iruka. "What are you trying to imply?"

Iruka put his hands up. "Nothing, it just that I never seen the two of you ever hang out before, and I was curious."

Ino blushed out of embarrassment and spoke quietly. "I asked Naruto to help me train in ninjutsu."

"Ninjutsu huh. Well Ino, you couldn't have picked a better person to learn from. As far as I'm concerned, he's at the top of the list."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks Iruka-sensei."

"It's getting late, we should all head home."

"I suppose you're right Iruka-sensei. Naruto, same place at noon?"

"I'll be there." They all headed in different directions, and the two genin couldn't wait for the next day.

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Naruto was walking around the village at eight in the morning, which is odd for him. 'I still have four hours to kill before meeting up with Ino, what can I do? Now that I have some money again, I can buy some new clothes, these are getting to be a bit too tight. And I should probably thank Kakashi for what he told Ino, I can't remember the last time I was this excited. I think I'll go see Kakashi first.' He head off towards the hospital.

Once he was inside, he walked up to the front desk. "Excuse me ma'am, but could you tell me where I can find Kakashi Hatake?"

Not even looking up at him she replied. "On the fifth floor at the end of the hall."

"Thank you." He ran up the stairs, but walked through the halls.

When he reached the place that the receptionist had spoken of, he didn't see Kakashi, but did see a masked ANBU standing guard outside a door. As he approached, the ANUB guard stepped in front of the door.

"Halt! State your business!"

"I'm here to see Kakashi Hatake, is he inside?"

"Yes, but I have orders that no one is allowed inside."

Naruto was really starting to get annoyed. "Could you go get him?"

"No!"

Anger had overruled his common sense. "WHY THE HELL NOT?!"

"I said no, now leave demon!"

Naruto clenched his hands into fist and was about to charge the damn ANBU when the door opened. He relaxed almost immediately when the silver haired jonin stepped out.

"What the problem out here?"

"This bastard here," he pointed at the guard. "Just broke the Sandaime's law."

Kakashi's eye came to rest on the blonde genin. "I see, then I will report him to the Hokage and he will be punished accordingly." Naruto smirked as the masked man flinched. "As for you Naruto, please follow me." He followed Kakashi through the door quietly.

After the door closed Kakashi turned to face him again. "It's not a good idea to pick fights with an ANBU member Naruto. They're in an entirely league."

"I just asked him to come get you! Besides, there no way he could beat me after the hell Ero-sennin put through during training."

"What do you want to speak with me about?" He completely ignored Naruto's last comment.

"I wanted to thank you for all the things you told Ino about me. At first though, I wasn't sure if I should take it as a compliment or an insult."

"Oh that, I meant every word. As for a thank you, you could tell me what you did to him." He nodded toward the bed in which Sasuke laid. "We couldn't find anything wrong with him medically, so we asked Neji to take a look. He said that Sasuke's inner coils were messed up far beyond what a Hyuga could do."

"It seems that you've already figured it out, so why ask me?"

"I want to know how you did it."

"Alright." Naruto sighed. "I did what the Hyuga clan does, I push chakra into his body. The only differences are that I waited until he was using the second form of the curse seal before doing so and I used the fox's chakra." Kakashi's eye widens and Naruto laughed.

"Don't worry so much Kakashi. I'm not completely stupid, I used about half of what Neji used on me because demonic chakra is stronger. Even after that though, Sasuke still managed to pull off that Habataka Chidori thing and the explosion caused by it hitting my Rasengan knocked him out. He should be fine."

"Why are you speaking so openly about the Kyuubi?"

"I noticed that no one was here when we walked in. So why isn't Sakura here, I thought that nothing shy of a major explosion would get her away from Sasuke and even then."

"Since there was nothing medically wrong, the Godaime put her back on her normal post in the hospital, but she still visits on her breaks. We have Neji or a different Hyuga check on his progress once a day."

"Well, thanks again. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about training."

Naruto turned to leave. "Be careful Naruto, she's got a worse temper than Sakura and she hits almost as hard, after her training. She yells as much as you use to, but the way she yells and what she says send shivers down my spine like when I'm getting yelled at by the Hokage."

Naruto shuddered at he thought. "Thanks for the warning." He walks out the door and leaves the hospital.

After eating lunch, he decided that he should go get his new clothes now because there was no way of knowing how long his training with Ino was going to last.

Although the shop owner glared at him, he didn't say anything to Naruto. 'Must be a slow day, normally he's yelling at me to get the hell out.' Naruto walked around for fifteen minutes picking up a few things that caught his eye and went to try them on.

In the end, he chose a pair of orange pants, and a black zip-up jacket with orange wrapped around the back under the arms, but left a strip of black around the bottom and next to the zipper. He also decided to get a pair of black sandals, seeing has now he had outgrown his old ones like he had everything else.

He paid and quickly left the store with his new clothes in a bag he was using to carry a few things that he thought he might need for training.

When he arrived at the training ground, it was only quarter after eleven. Realizing that he was early, he did what Shikamaru did when he had some free time, lay back and watch the clouds. There was a gentle breeze blowing through the clearing and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

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Habataka Chidori- Flapping One Thousand Birds