"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto


The second chapter! Now that this chapter has been posted. It took some time to work out this one out, but I think this one turned out well.

AZ44: It looks ok.

K: Just ok? Look at the structure! The grammar! The-

AZ44: Yeah, yeah, we heard that bit last time.

K: You really love to piss me off, huh?

AZ44: (smiles) You know it!

K: (sighs) Well, I'll have Naruto and Iruka join us at the end of the chapter.

AZ44: Wait, why aren't they here now?

K: They're emailing a bunch of complaints about the story progress on your Doctor Who/Naruto fanfic, Naruto: Lord of Time.

AZ44: Dammit! Is that why I've had so many damn emails?

K: Please, Azeroth, I wrote half of them! Hahahaha!

AZ44: Screw you, man!

K: (cracks a pop and reaches for some popcorn) Heh! Let's have some fun! On to the newest chapter!


Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling

Batman characters mentioned belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros


Chapter 2: Foreign Visitors Arrive


{{Chicken Casanova by Murray Gold & BBC National Orchestra of Wales}}

Two weeks later, the sun rose and the shinobi of Konoha were awakened to fulfill their activities. The sun soon shined into Naruto Uzumaki's apartment window and shined onto his face until he stretched out his arms and let out a long yawn. Once he stretched out all his limbs and was awake as he could be until he had his shower, he looked over at his bedside counter and smiled at the framed picture of his beloved mother, Kushina Uzumaki. His vibrant mother smiled back at him and even waved at her son as she noticed the condition of his ruffled blonde hair. It would seem that Naruto had enchanted the picture to move, ever since he had obtained his wand and practiced the charm that made pictures move.

Naruto sauntered over to the bedside counter and sat down in front of the frame and stared as he marveled at her uncommon and vibrant red hair while the wind blew it back and she continued to smile. Her son smiled back at her still and then he said with a warm and calm voice, "Good morning, mum…"

The blonde preteen then removed his sheets and retreated into his small kitchen for some breakfast. He prepared a simple meal consisting of two Poptarts, an orange, and a glass of fresh milk. Naruto consumed his breakfast food and stared at the tarts with a dismal expression. The blonde shinobi tasted the cinnamon and brown sugar filling and the taste made him think about treacle tart. Sighing at the thought, he wished that he could eat treacle tart instead and reminisced back to the time where he lived in the Sarutobi estate. Ever since Naruto could eat solid food, Hiruzen Sarutobi would present him with an entire treacle tart to eat for his birthday and it became one of his favorite foods aside from ramen. It was another of the countless traits he inherited from his invisible older brother, the love for treacle tart, which was another reason the two argued since Naruto was the only one that could eat or taste it out of the two of them. As soon as his mind swam with thoughts about their favorite dessert, the blonde shinobi shook his head and tried his best to not start another round with his older brother. He then stuffed the remaining snacks into his mouth and swallowed it down with the cold milk.

As soon as he was fueled, Naruto retreated into the bathroom where he stepped into the shower and cleaned himself and even brushed his teeth while he rinsed the suds out of his hair. Once he was cleaned, he marched back into his bedroom with a warm towel around his slim waist and searched his closet for some fresh clothes. He stared and then he frowned as he counted the collection of orange and blue tracksuits while he hesitated to reach for one. Naruto soon snatched the first one closest to him and threw it on the bed while the picture of his mother covered her eyes with her hands while he changed. All the while, the blonde shinobi tensed as he slipped on a white shirt and then zipped his tracksuit. Even though it was his signature outfit ever since the middle of his final term at school, he hated the tracksuit. Orange was the last color that a shinobi could ever wear on a mission, as it would turn them into a moving target. But soon he relaxed as he felt the weight of his clothes weigh him down a little and remembered that this tracksuit was designed to make him stronger and more toned out as he wore it over a stretched period of time. Until he found suitable replacements or until his muscles started to show more, he would continue to wear the horrendous tracksuit.

Once Naruto was dressed, he attached his weapons pouch to his belt, folded the white collar of his tracksuit down, strapped his kunai holster to his right thigh, and reached for his headband on the dresser close to him. But it was not there where he assumed it was. He soon looked a little panicked as he searched for his beloved headband in his closet, then his desk, inside his dresser, and underneath his bed. It wasn't soon after that did Naruto start to freak out while he searched his bed and threw his sheet over his head while he checked all the crevices around him out of sheer desperation. The blonde shinobi was soon threw his arms in the air and shouted as he searched for the headband that he treasured.

"I'm never gonna find it!" he shouted, "What am I gonna do?"

The other wizard hidden inside his mindscape took a look at his little brother and watched as he searched through his mattress and sheets like a complete fool when he could have used his wand like he would.

'Are you a wizard or not, Naruto? Use the Accio Charm. You mastered it a while ago.'

Soon Naruto stood on his feet and cut the theatrics as he reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand in an embarrassed manner. His face filled with color as he twirled his wand, flicked it, and then cried out, "Accio headband!"

Less than one second later, the blankets on Naruto's bed shot into the air and this rectangular silver and blue blur turned its direction in midair, towards the child. The blonde shinobi outstretched his hand and caught his treasured headband with the same hand as his wand. Naruto smiled at the successful result of the simple charm. Ever since he had obtained his wand, all his spells were much more successful and effective. Back then, he used to use wandless magic, but since it was difficult for him most of his spells were not as strong as and was forced to use his older brother to help him focus and strengthen his magic when he needed to use it. His wand was at least fourteen and a half inches, made of the wood of an ivy tree, and contained a phoenix feather. He had obtained the feather on the beaches of the Land of Waves when a mysterious phoenix had appeared when he was downtrodden and offered him one of its tail feathers. After that it disappeared into the sunset and never returned.

Still, Naruto and Harry both decided to make use of the gift and created the wand with the assistance of their third brother, Iruka Umino. Now that Naruto had one at last, he practiced with it whenever he was alone and had developed astonishing skills as a duelist. The blonde shinobi was so excellent in a duel; he even disarmed his older brother in a flash, moments after the duel had started. Harry was beyond impressed as Naruto was able to master combative spells and curses that would place him on a Fifth-Year level and he was not even in his teens. Some of Naruto's favorite dueling spells included Stunning, Expelliarmus, the Shield Charm, Incarcerous Curse, Confundus Charm, and even a Blasting Curse when the situation called for extremes.

Soon, Naruto placed his wand down on his desk, tied his headband around his forehead and examined his reflection as he checked his clothes and polished the headband once or twice. Once he was done, he slipped his wand into his sleeve and waltzed out of the apartment and locked the door with his wand so that thieves would break in. He then stretched out and struck a pose that made it look like he was about to race someone beside him. He then used his chakra to soar down the hall and leap across the street below him with ease as he stared out at the wondrous and forested metropolis he called his home.

{{The Mail by Patrick Doyle}}

He took a deep breath and then he shouted out, "Good morning, Konoha!"

Naruto landed on a telephone pole and slid down a thick black wire as he descended towards the streets, switching from one wire to the next and sliding down them all the while. Once he was close to the streets, the blonde shinobi landed on the road and continued to run towards the reservoir where his teammate and sensei would meet for their missions. Naruto ran down the market district as fast as he could so that he could beat his rival Sasuke and be able to be alone with his crush Sakura. He avoided several crashes and was able to evade each collision that seemed unavoidable had he not used his increased chakra control to control his movements better and move around the endless swarm of civilians and adults. Naruto shrugged off the endless insults and shouts from the civilians as he continued his trek through the district and save time. But it didn't take much time until he did crash into someone that knocked him off his feet.

The blonde shinobi stood and apologized to the man he ran into but then he froze and stared at the fat face of his former instructor from the Ninja Academy, Daikoku Funeno. He was the worst teacher Naruto ever had the misfortune to learn from in his first terms at school. The man used to humiliate the child in front of the other students, but Naruto rebelled against him and terrorized him with endless tricks and mean-spirited pranks. It wasn't difficult for little Naruto to terrorize him, because Daikoku was obese and had little expertise in the art of the shinobi, but was still able to teach some of the schools most remarkable students and clan heirs. Iruka also hated the man because he had stolen his chance to become the new head instructor. Daikoku had taken his résumé and claimed it as his own, which led to his undeserved promotion. Iruka had hated him to no end ever since and waited until he could throw him out and show the world the fraud that he was.

Naruto want to kick him in the testicles while he had the chance, but had to be mature and be the better man as he dusted his own clothes.

"Pardon me. You alright, mate?"

Daikoku looked down at the blonde in an unjustified rage as he stared at him and recognized his face with his miniscule eyes, "I'm not that far from dragging you out into the street and beating you into dust, demon."

Naruto frowned at the man and said, "You should work up to that, Funeno. Sort of leaves you nowhere to go."

"I can go to your momma's and start a small fire in her panties, loser," the teacher threatened as the blonde child stared at him at the mention of his mother and cracked his knuckles, "You're not in school now, brat. So are you ready for me to kick your teeth in?"

Daikoku held Naruto's white collar and was seconds from one mean strike to his face, but the blonde retaliated with an unanticipated strength and unhooked his hand and pushed him back with even more strength as his chakra surfaced to his hands and enhanced his strength. Naruto decided to remain calm for the moment as he led the man into a short sense of calmness.

"You know what, Funeno?" he asked as he reached into his pocket, "You're right. It was an accident that I ran into you. And I'm really sorry about that. Here, I got a present for you, it's kind of a souvenir…"

Daikoku looked at him with a confused expression as he waited and anticipated that the blonde would present him with cash so that he would be harmed. But the blonde shinobi had another idea in mind as his invisible older brother snickered and waited.

Naruto then shouted out, "Oh! Here it is!"

It was so sudden but it all happened and the civilians around them served as witnesses. Naruto withdrew his hand from his pocket and used his chakra to force his foot right to strike Daikoku in the most vulnerable location as a loud crunch was heard. Daikoku screamed out into the heavens as Naruto smiled as the obese man fell and held his crotch while he howled. The teacher was livid but in too much pain to stand and peruse the blonde as he chuckled and then fled the scene. Naruto and his invisible older brother laughed while the older sorcerer smacked his brother on the back and thanked him for that. The civilians that had witnessed the scene shouted at the blonde but none of them were able to follow him as he vanished around the corner and continued on to the reservoir.

"CATCH YOU LATER, LARDARSE!"


Naruto soon scaled several other streets until he made it to the reservoir. He continued on the final road until he noticed his teammate out in the distance. The blonde shinobi smiled at the kunoichi with the vibrant hair and waved to her as he did each time the trio would meet here for missions.

"Morning, Sakura-chan!"

The kunoichi named Sakura Haruno looked over to her teammate and waved back to him a little bit and even smiled a little. Ever since their mission to the Land of Waves, she had been a little friendlier towards Naruto, to the point where she would acknowledge him in the morning whenever he waved to her. Their conversations with each other did not last even for a while and she still never used honorifics with his name, but it was an improvement compared to their earlier encounters with each other on missions and school.

She still waved back to him and greeted, "Good morning, Naruto."

Naruto smiled at his teammate some more, but soon frowned in irritation as he noticed his other teammate that stood close to her.

It was his rival, Sasuke Uchiha. He was considered as the highest-ranked rookie student to graduate in their class at the Ninja Academy and was considered to be Naruto most formidable rival to date. He had the same black hair that was parted in the middle with sizable thorns of his hair out the back of his head. His eyes were sharp and matched the color of his obsidian-hair, his skin was still more pale than normal and he was still considered to be handsome for his age, like he was one of those tween-heartthrobs. All he ever wore was a blue Uchiha clan genin shirt, with white shorts and leg/arm warmers. Sasuke came from the esteemed Uchiha clan, one of the various clans that founded Konohagakure no Sato.

The Uchiha were said to be one of the most fearsome shinobi families in the entire world, because it was said that the clan possessed a rare doujutsu called the Sharingan. It allowed the user to learn and reflect an opponents techniques and movements in less than an instant. But it was limited and relied on the reflexes and physical capabilities of the user that wielded them. But it almost came to an end when Sasuke's older brother and the former clan heir, Itachi Uchiha, had gone insane and annihilated almost the entire clan. Sasuke was all that remained of the infamous clan and dedicated his life to kill his older brother.

Sasuke did not like to talk about himself and he didn't like it when someone bothered him. He was selfish, had an insane superiority complex, and was often rude to his superiors as he refused to use honorifics or even be civil with them. It was rather unpleasant for most people to be around him, unless someone wanted something out of him or sought his approval or favoritism. Most of the people in Konoha that liked Sasuke were the members of his various fan clubs or random kunoichi or the civilians that had a crush on him for his looks, reputation, and his vast wealth.

Sasuke never cared for friends, or rather; he didn't want to be bothered or distracted with them. The closest he ever had to a friend was no one other than Naruto Uzumaki. About two months ago, while Team 7 was on their memorable mission to the Land of Waves, Sasuke was almost killed in a battle and admitted that he had fun with him male teammate when the two of them competed with each other during their chakra-control exercises. When the incident was over and both of them turned out alive and well in the end, the incident left them both embarrassed and bitter towards each other. This caused their previous teamwork and friendless with one another to deteriorate. So, now their rival-attitudes were back and looked even worse than ever.

Sasuke stared back at Naruto with a flat look on his face, while Naruto stared back at him and looked irritated. Soon both of them turned the opposite direction while their third teammate sighed and looked miserable.

Sakura Haruno, the third member of the team, was an average preteen kunoichi with less-than-average skills and abilities. She wore a red dress and dark-green shorts underneath. She had jade-green eyes and long bubblegum-pink hair that fell down to her waist. She never modified the color of her hair, which was unusual since it was an unnatural color that was unable to fade. Sakura was one of the sharpest-minded girls in Naruto's graduating class. She could memorize almost anything that she needed to know about the shinobi world. Which didn't come as a shock when she was in school, because both her mother and father were librarians. But while she was smart, she had a lot of flaws that made her a most unfavorable character. She was almost as selfish as Sasuke, she meddled into matters she has no business in, she was violent, loud, and obnoxious towards her other teammate and sensei, and she was biased to an unreasonable level.

She was in love with Sasuke and took his side on almost all matters and occasions. She was supportive at times with both her teammates, but she favored Sasuke more than Naruto and had a bad habit of hitting her blonde teammate on the head whenever he said or did something she considered was idiotic. She also had extreme limits on how much she claimed to know about the shinobi world, since she lacked Intel on Sasuke's infamous past as well as some details of the shinobi world, such as kekkei genkai, chakra control exercises, and other shinobi civilizations and traditions. All around, she was deemed one of the worst kunoichi of all time, unless she takes some control and shows her teammates and her fellow shinobi that she can do more than scream and watch while her teammates and sensei did all the hard work while on a mission.

Sakura moaned as she let her inner-persona have a word in, 'Great…the two of them have been like this ever since we got back from the Land of Waves… This is ridiculous…CHA! GET OVER HERE, KAKASHI-SENSEI!'


It wasn't until two hours later and all three students were tired, irritated, and miserable did Kakashi arrive when he appeared over one of the numerous red arches that hovered over his students. The masked shinobi arrived and smiled down at all his students as he saw their darkened faces and their arms crossed in irritation towards their mentor and his tardiness.

He then waved to them, "Good morning, students!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all turned around stared at their instructor as he hovered over them and it almost looked like he smiled at them underneath his cloth mask.

Sakura shrieked at their teacher, "YOU'RE LATE!"

Her teammate on the other hand, was not as cross with his teacher as he found his antics to be a humorous amusement that he looked forward to. He couldn't wait to hear what ridiculous excuse he had this time.

"Good morning?" he asked back at him, "It's almost noon! Where on earth have you been?"

Kakashi then told the three of them, "Sorry I'm late. I'm afraid I was lost on the road of life…"

"That's not the best excuse I've heard," the blonde shinobi said back with that unusual charm in his voice.

His teacher then smiled at his blonde student, "Well, at least I didn't fall into a lobster tank at the fish market, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto wasn't sure what his teacher meant when he mentioned lobsters or tanks. While Sakura chuckled at her teammate for whatever reason she did, he soon realized the excuse he and his older brother made when Kakashi had smelled seawater on him. Naruto soon looked a little bit nervous as he rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

"Oh… I-uh… That was a close call…" he told him back, "I shouldn't have leaned on those rails. Iruka-aniki warned me not to…"

Sasuke and Sakura looked over at their teammate as the two of them wondered a little bit more about the incident. But soon, Naruto tried had to distract his teammates and his sensei from the false account and tried to focus more on their missions, as he looked fired with excitement and the idea of another adventure. He did a little bit much as he clenched his hands into fists and shook with excitement and inner-fire, but he was a little bit more excited now and wanted an adventure.

"But forget about that! I'm ready for the next mission, sensei! C'mon! No more chores and D-Ranked missions! Let's see some action this time around, Kaka-sensei!"

Kakashi was a little bit overwhelmed with Naruto's sudden enthusiasm. It was almost like the child had turned into hot fire. The masked man had to hold his hands and let his student cool down a little bit but didn't want to kill his drive or be rude to him while he sweatdropped a little bit.

"Uh… All right. That's great, Naruto. But let's take it nice and slow, ok?" his sensei asked him in a nice manner.

Naruto continued to smile as turned over to his teammate. But then he noticed as Sasuke stared him down, which caused Naruto stare back at him in a similar manner. Sakura then stared down at her blonde-haired teammate with another irritated look as she believed he refueled the tension felt between her other two teammates. Naruto then went into a short dream-mode where he imagined a mission where he didn't have to be an idiot. He wanted a mission where Sakura would smile at him for once and Sasuke was the one that looked foolish. He couldn't wait for the time to come where he would save both his teammates and both of them were forced to admit that he had done it and looked so cool and so slick. It was there that Naruto decided he would shine a little bit, even though it was certain that there would be no incredible adventures this time around.

The blonde child continued to shake while his sensei watched him and his teammates continued to fume or stare at him. But soon, Kakashi's voice echoed in Naruto's ears and brought him back to earth.

"Naruto, when you're done dreaming," the sensei asked him, "let us know so we can start the mission, ok?"

The excited child returned to the real world and followed one of his favorite teachers as he led his students on to their first mission, "Yes, sir!"

"Naruto-baka," his teammate Sakura shouted, "Could you not be so annoying? Just for once?"

'Oh, couldn't she shut that damn hole in her face?' the sorcerer fumed as he imitated her voice, 'Just for once?'


{{Doomsday is Family Time by Hans Zimmer}}

The team's first mission was to tend to a civilian woman's garden. Their client was middle-aged, irritable, a little bit overweight, and a little bit racist, which meant their duties had to be done fast and well. She needed the weeds to be removed, so her herbs and flowers could flourish. Naruto was not enthused that he and his teammates didn't have a more adventurous mission, but this was what shinobi did at their level. It wasn't all about assassins and unbelievable battles.

But, Naruto Uzumaki was in luck with this mission, because Herbology was one of his best subjects to date, next to Charms, Potions, and DADA. His older brother had lectured him countless times about the uses and hazardous facts about magical plants such as Venomous Tentacula. He could remember all the times he had to maintain them in spell challenges inside the mindscape and he would never forget the time he watched over Mandrakes in his lessons. It was one of the first times Naruto ever had to cover his ears from too much noise. In fact, he could remember that he had once fainted when his ears were not covered and he heard the creature scream.

The blonde shinobi used what he had learned from his lessons to real life when he watered his lilies and now when he and his teammates had to remove these weeds.

So Naruto and his teammates walked over to the client with their sensei. All of the students nodded to the woman while she thanked them for their assistance. But then she noticed Naruto and stared at him like a venomous insect and refused to address him as he did with the others. The blonde preteen remained still as a statue while Kakashi sensed the sudden distress in the air and moved to distract their client before she had a chance to make a remark or continue to stare at Naruto with blind hatred.

"Uh, miss," he distracted her, "What sort of herbs or flowers do we have to attend to?"

While the client was distracted, the three students headed to different corners of the herb-littered lawn and started their mission with the weeds. Sasuke made fast work and removed all the weeds he could see with ease, thanks to his masterful vision. Sakura took her time so that she would cut her hands or remove the weeds that looked a little like the herbs. Naruto took his own time as well, but looked over at Sasuke and notice how fast he moved. He felt tense as his male teammate dominated his section of the garden and outshined his teammates. So Naruto decided to look like the better student and teammate and make short work with his share of the weeds. The blonde wizard looked over both his shoulders to make sure both his teammate were distracted. He looked at Kakashi and watched him as he continued to distract the client and make her laugh. Once he was certain the humans around him didn't notice; Naruto used his wand, hidden in his sleeve, and waved over the lawn.

He then muttered under his breath while he concentrated, "Accio weeds!"

In one instant, all the weeds that he had waved over with his wand shot out from the earth with all their roots and the dirt that was carried with them. Naruto caught the weeds in his hands and tossed them to the side to throw out later.

Naruto looked over his shoulders one more time and checked to make sure no one had seen what he did. To his luck and sweet relief, no one had even noticed that he had used magic. The blonde shinobi felt a little bit bad that he still had to be so secretive about his abilities, but now was the time to tell this sensei or his teammates. So he knuckled under as he was used to now and continued to use more magic in secret to make his mission a little bit easier and make Sasuke look slower than him once he had doubled the amount of removed weeds.

He muttered over and over again while he waved his wand, "Accio weeds! Accio weeds!"

Several minutes later, Sasuke took a breather and looked over at his teammates. He then noticed at once that Naruto was almost finished and his mound of weeds was three times the size of his own sizable bundle. The Uchiha wasn't even close to finished while his teammate was hunched over and still at work as far as he could see. Sasuke furrowed his brow in subtle frustration towards his teammate and turned back to the weeds. He started to rip and tear through weeds and ruined innocent herbs and flowers as he did so. Sasuke felt one of the weeds cut his hand, but he didn't mind it as he was now dedicated to finish his section first and dominate Naruto as he felt he should.

'No, he won't be ahead of me in this… An Uchiha doesn't lose to someone as low as he is…'


About seventeen minutes later, Naruto stood beside his tall mountain of weeds and smiled as he hid his wand back into his sleeve. Sasuke stood next to his own mound, which was mixed with herbs and ruined flowers, but he had hidden them well. Sakura had done the least amount of work since she was much slower than her teammates, so her mound was no taller than one or two feet. While she had done the least amount of hard work, she still felt pleased when she looked at all the weeds she had removed and killed.

Soon, Kakashi summoned all his students to the front lawn of the house while the client went to the back lawn and checked their work. It was soon after she had entered the lawn, did all four team members hear a loud shriek and then a roar raw with madness. The woman client stormed out of the lawn and stormed towards Naruto as she rolled her sleeves.

"YOU," she roared like a mad dinosaur, "YOU LITTLE BLONDE BRAT!"

Naruto raised his brow and asked, "Excuse me?"

"You were the one that ruined all the sweetened herbs," she shouted as she hit him in the face, "You miserable monster!"

"OUCH!" Naruto shouted out as he covered his nose, there wasn't blood, but a red and blue bruise soon formed over his nose, "You mad old hag! I didn't even do that!"

The woman looked breathed and then shouted as Kakashi storm in front of her, "What did that-"

"Apologies, madam," he stated to calm the woman down and stand between her and his student, "There must have been a mistake while we were at work! It won't ever happen again, I promise!"

The woman fumed at the handsome masked shinobi and shoved their teams earned credits into Kakashi's hands and told him as she hissed back at the innocent blonde shinobi, "Just take the cash and get that filth out of here! He should be locked in a cell somewhere dark and cold!"

"Thanks, madam," he nodded as he lead his team back to the town, "We'll make sure to do much better next time…"

As the team marched on to the next mission on their list, Kakashi asked if Naruto needed medical ointment for his nose, but he shook his head and tended to his face while Sakura hissed at him for five minutes.

"You idiot, Naruto-baka," she shouted, "You had to remove the herbs? You had to make her mad! You had to ruin all that hard work! You idiot!"

The blonde shinobi said back to her, "It wasn't me! I was careful the entire time! I know the difference between herbs and weeds, Sakura-chan!"

"I doubt that, dobe," the Uchiha remarked in a conceited manner, "Your pile was a mess, unlike mine."

Naruto was about to shout and accuse that Sasuke had lied, but then his sensei held him back and said, "Let's just forget about it and move on to our next mission. Alright?"

The blonde shinobi stared back at his rival in suspicion and then listened to his mentor and continued to march down the road with the rest of the team, but followed behind Kakashi. The dark-haired Uchiha then breathed and smirked, as it was believed that he had beaten his blonde rival for the millionth time.


Kakashi's team's next assignment took them across to the other side of the village to one of the rivers located in the western boarder. Naruto remembered this river, as it was the same one Hiruzen Sarutobi took him to sometimes for lunch outdoors, back when he still lived with the Sarutobi clan. It was the two of them and the ANBU escorts in the shadows. The blonde preteen remembered back when he used to wear overalls, and he would reach his hand out to touch the water and tried to catch a fish that swam in the river. He could still hear Sarutobi chuckle and then call him a little lion cub, since he acted like a curious cat when he tried to catch the fish. The old man must have likened him to a lion to make him feel more big and brave. While Naruto remembered his time with the old man, he smiled and chuckled a little bit.

Kakashi looked over at his blonde-haired student and asked, "What are you laughing at, Naruto?"

Naruto ceased his reminiscence and returned to real world as he answered, "It's nothing, sensei."

"Well, come on over here and grab a basket and tongs," he then called over to his other two students, "You two! Come over here as well! Grab some tongs and a basket!"

Kakashi handed each of his students a basket to throw over their backs and a set of grasping tongs. Their mission this time was to clean the river of the trash and liter left from the civilians that must have vacationed here over the summer. Naruto went to work as he reached into the cold water and tossed all the liter he could find into his bin. He frowned as he discovered countless trash and wasted hidden under the water and noticed there almost no fish in the water. It was a shock that the civilians and the shinobi would make such a mess and not care about it.

Naruto went right to work and tried picking up a lot of cans when he walked just a few steps in the shallow waters of the river. It was very surprising for him to see so much garbage recklessly thrown into such a pretty looking place. It was actually really upsetting for Naruto to see all of this trash spread out everywhere. People these days could be real jerks for not picking up their trash. The blonde shinobi was frustrated as he found used soda cans wedged between smooth rocks beside his feet when he noticed there was a bin beside the river for used cans and bottled waste.

'It's not that hard! You pick it up and throw it into a damn bin! Jeez! Once I'm Hokage, someone will have to take care of this, or I'll be like Ra's Al Ghul on this village. Environmental domination, man.'

'Well, humans can be like this, Naruto. We treat the world like it's a massive bin. It's a shame, but sometimes a lot of people just don't care.'

'Right. But it's not a bad idea, is it? That whole Ra's Al Ghul idea back there, Nii-san?'

'Naruto. For the last time; I don't read comic books.'

'I dunno… You would like him…'

'Who? Raz Al Ghul?'

'His name was pronounced Ra's, not Raz. A common mistake.'

'Oh, forget it then, fanboy.'

Naruto reached down for another used soda can and threw it into his bin once it was cleared of river water. The blonde shinobi reached for another soda can but then he was shocked to see that it was unreleased. Naruto reached out for the can and examined it. It was a cola that must have been in the water less than a week. There wasn't a bit of algae or mud on it, and the expiration date was marked for another two months. Naruto felt the smooth aluminum metal of the container was cold and realized his thirst, so he cracked it and started to drink it.

Sakura looked over at her teammate and screamed, "Naruto-baka! YOU ARE SO GROSS!"

She and Sasuke both looked at him with disgust. Both of them had assumed their teammate was a little bit low in standards, but neither of them imagined he would drink out of a river or trash that was thrown into a river. Naruto looked back at his teammates and looked back at them as if both of them were maniacs. But he was still nice to them and offered some of his drink.

"You two want some? I can share! It's still fresh for another two months," he called over to his teammates, "Plus I don't have backwash! Honest!"

Sakura hissed back at her blonde-haired teammate and went back to work, "YOU'RE CRAZY! It has to have mold and diseases in it!"

"You are such a loser," Sasuke ridiculed his teammate, "You're that broke?"

Naruto dismissed both his teammate and continued to finish his treasured soda and went back to his mission with a wide smile on his face.

"Awwww… I wanted some…." Kakashi whined as he went back to read his book.


As soon as Team 7 finished with the river and tossed out the trash, their next mission was something Kakashi would have been delighted to do as well, if he had not reached the latest twist in his Icha-Icha Paradise. Their mission was to walk a civilian man's canines around the forests and clean after them in case one of them had to do their business. All Kakashi did was follow his students in the trees above them while he read his book and blushed while his students did all the hard work.

The three students were each tasked with one dog to walk around and clean after. Sakura chose the smallest one, a terrier. Sasuke had chosen a German Sheppard, while Naruto was tasked with the most massive and darkest-furred bulldog he had ever seen in his life. The blonde shinobi moaned on the inside and took the leash in hand as he followed his teammates into the woods.

The trio and their sensei traveled in and around the woods as their male client told them to in order to tire out the animals. Both Sasuke and Sakura's canines had done their business once or twice, which was evident when Sakura screamed while she cleaned the mess. But Naruto was nervous about his massive animal. Based on the size of the creature, it was certain that the mess would be unbearable to clean. He tried to control the massive animal and tried to distract the creature from nice areas where it could do its business, but was almost pulled into a minefield. Naruto had to pinch its neck and hull it back towards the road. When the team had walked over the woods a number of times, the massive canine looked over at Naruto and started to move towards a warm area in the woods that was almost like a natural toilet to the beast. The creature tried to walk towards it, but Naruto noticed and then shouted at the canine.

He shouted at the beast, "OI! You hold it in or it'll be bath time a whole lot sooner! I MEAN IT!"

The massive dark creature stared back at the blonde shinobi like it understood him and hid its tail between its legs and whined as it continued on with the rest of the walk.


Once all of their missions were done, Naruto was so tired from all his efforts that he almost fell down and fainted. Sasuke and Sakura were forced to hoister him on their shoulders. Neither of them had done as much hard work as their teammate, so it wasn't a shock that either of them was as tired. But the two of them were unaware of this fact and assumed their teammate was so much weaker than them both.

"You idiot," said Sakura in a rude manner, "You're absolutely hopeless, Naruto-baka."

Sasuke smirked and told him, "You really are just one big problem."

Naruto was soon infuriated at his teammate when he made that last statement and threw both his teammates arms off and snarled at the black-haired clan heir.

"THAT DOES IT!" he shouted

He was about to tackle him down and shake him senseless until his neck broke, but then his female teammate stood in between them while she threatened him.

"You so much as touch a hair on his head," she shouted utter malice, "You're dead meat!"

Naruto tried to dismiss his frustrations towards his male teammate, so he shook and balled his hands into fists of iron. Kakashi tucked his book to the side and sighed at all his students for their behavior.

"I suppose we're not making a lot of progress with the teamwork?" he asked them.

"You're telling me," the blondes shinobi shouted out loud, "Sasuke-teme didn't do half the work but he acts like he took the extra mile! If he weren't so concerned about looking better than the rest of us then our team could function like normal!"

Sasuke held his head high and told his teammate, "I believe he was talking about you, dobe. You're nothing but a waste of space," he turned his back to his teammate and then said, "For the record, I know that I am better, dobe. Face it. I'm better and stronger than you are. It's a fact," he then turned around and stared at his teammate, "Unless you have what it takes to prove me wrong."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi expected to see Naruto snarl at him and stare him down, but instead, the blonde shinobi crossed his arms and asked his rival, "You ever heard of the term, delusions of grandeur, Sasuke Uchiha?"

The Uchiha heir was taken aback when Naruto slammed him with the smart remark, but soon looked insulted as he should be and stared back at him with obsidian irises filled with utter disdain and resentment. He tried to throw an insult back at him but failed to think of one in time and instead chose to stare back at his teammate while Sakura looked nervous and Kakashi continued to read his little book, and smirked a little bit when Naruto slammed Sasuke with that comment.

Sakura stood on the sidelines, and watched as her crush and her teammate acted like sworn enemies and thought, 'Great, those two are getting along even worse than before, if that were possible…'

Sasuke's obsessed behavior around his dominance over Naruto was stemmed from frustrations towards his defeat at the hand of the kunoichi Haku from the Land of Waves. It reminded him that there were still a lot of shinobi out in the world that could beat him. All he waned to do now was to maintain his dominance and dedicate his time to train and obtain more dominance over more shinobi around him. But he couldn't do that while he was stuck with these missions and a clever little Naruto in the mix. He had to train and obtain more strength in order to achieve his ultimate mission and kill his older brother.

While the two children stared each other down, Kakashi noticed a hawk soar around him and his team. It was a silent message from Hiruzen Sarutobi to come to his office at once. The masked shinobi looked back at his book and finished the sentence he was on and made a bookmark.

"Alright, kids. That's where we'll end it for now," he sighed with a tired voice, "You can beat each other to a pulp some other time. Besides, I have to file the report on our missions…"

Sasuke looked uninterested and turned to leave, "Whatever, I'm out of here."

Sakura held her breath and ran towards as fast as she could while her blonde teammate frowned in disenchantment as he heard her scream for the Uchiha brat.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun," she called over to him, "Let's talk for a minute!"

Naruto crossed his arms and he communicated to his older brother with a sarcastic tone in his voice, 'Well, isn't that sweet. Why won't someone treat me like she does to him?'

'It'll happen. Just don't expect someone like her in the future to come around.'

'You really don't like her, huh, Nii-san?'

'You don't know the half of it, kiddo.'

Sakura soon stood close to Sasuke and blushed while she asked him, "Why don't we… Um…I mean… You know… Let's do something more personal together," she held her hands and blushed some more while she tried to be more seductive like her mother, "To improve our teamwork and all that!"

Sasuke looked at her with a blank face and said, "I swear it. You're just as bad as Naruto…"

The kunoichi froze and felt like the weight of the world had fallen on her shoulders as her handsome crush ranted about her.

"Instead of all the flirting, why don't you practice ninjutsu and make the team stronger? Let's face it. You're worse than Naruto. It's hard to believe it, but that's another solid fact."

Sasuke's words hurt Sakura even more as she felt like the entire universe had fallen on his shoulders in addition to the world several seconds ago. She could have moaned out loud when she heard Sasuke tell her that she was worse than the student that had one of the worst scores of their final term. To be told that she was below Naruto Uzumaki was almost too much for her to handle while the invisible sorcerer that watched smiled at the miserable kunoichi as he noticed her shoulders fall.

Sasuke turned his back to her and started to walk back home to train while Sakura felt like she was alone or cold in a winter storm as she came to term with the facts, 'He's right… I haven't done anything to make a difference on any of our missions… I've done nothing…'

Naruto had chosen to heave his teammate out of her miserable moment when he called out to Sakura and offered her to train with him.

"Don't listen to him, Sakura-chan," he called out and waved, "Your choice, we could train in the fields and improve out teamwork! How about it?"

Sakura did not look amused to hear him talk and developed a massive headache as a small red vein pulsed on her large forehead. At the same time, Kakashi turned into white smoke and vanished to another location to turn in his reports on the missions. Naruto looked behind him to see his sensei had left and when he turned around to talk to Sakura once more, he noticed a cardboard box with air holes slither towards him. The blonde shinobi faced the box as it froze when he looked at it and looked a lot more amused than his teammate.

The blonde shinobi smiled, "Hi, Konohamaru! Are there others inside there? Your friends are in there too this time, huh?"

He heard some trouble come from inside the box as three different voice echoed inside the obvious disguise. Soon, the box almost flew into the air when a smoke bomb was released inside and out crawled three small children that tried to breath act more like real shinobi.

"Udon-kun! You used too much smoke, again!" cried out a little girl's voice.

Another small voiced sniffed and said, "Sorry about that, Moegi-chan…"

"Get into character, fellas," shouted a small but loud voice, "The boss is here!"

The smoke soon cleared and revealed the three small children. Naruto noted that none of them even looked older than about ten. One of them was a girl with blushed cheeks, orange, doll-like hair that was tied up into two cute pigtails and she wore pink clothes with brown shorts. The child that had sniffled wore glasses and had normal flat brown hair. He also had a distinguished trail of snot that hung down from his left nostril, and wore a long sleeved, blue t-shirt with tan pants. The third child that had arrived in the box and smoke was someone Naruto was more than familiar with, his cousin and admirer Konohamaru Sarutobi. The loudmouthed child of the Sarutobi clan lived with his mother and father but also lived with his grandfather Hiruzen Sarutobi. The two of them knew each other for a while now and had come to care for each other like rival cousins, even while neither of them was blood-related or otherwise. Konohamaru and his new friends were now enrolled in school and the small Sarutobi member declared Naruto as both his mentor and his rival. Ever since his enrollment, he had tried to catch his older cousin off guard but all of hi efforts to this one were unsuccessful, as it showed here with the smoke and the box.

The three children now looked over at Naruto and twitched as Konohamaru told them to be in character and start their little show. The little kunoichi started the show as she twirled and faced the blonde shinobi that was at least double her size.

"I'm Moegi," she cheered with a wide smile, "The prettiest kunoichi from the Konoha preschool! Check me out!"

The child with the snot announced, "I love math class! Call me Udon!"

"And I'm the number one shinobi in all the village! Konohamaru!" the small shinobi wannabe shouted out loud, "And when we are all together we are-"

The three small children struck into individualized poses that all of them believed made them look cool as all of them announced in unison, "THE KONOHAMARU NINJA SQUAD!"

"So three kids come out of a box and the one with the glasses is named after a meal of noodles?" the blonde shinobi asked to throw them off.

His humorous comment caused all three children to fall down in a comical fashion and then laugh, as Udon and the others were aware that he meant no insult to it. The three children soon stumbled to stand and admire the blonde shinobi and saw the headband he had on his forehead. Soon, Naruto smiled as he walked over to his little cousin and ruffled his hair a little bit.

"So these are your friends, Konohamaru? It's a little bit strange," he mentioned as he noticed that the children were similar, "You three look alike in somehow. How is that?"

Konohamaru soon showed his older cousin that he and his friends all wore the same brand goggles that he used to have back before he became a shinobi and earned his headband, "You noticed! We started wearing the goggles you used to wear, remember?"

Naruto looked them over and then smiled once more and commented on them, "Oh! There it is! Not bad at all, Konohamaru! You look cute with them on, Moegi-chan."

Moegi started to blush and tried to avoid direct eye-contact with his brilliant-blue irises while her friend Udon scratched the back of his head and laughed a little bit when he noticed the blush on her face increased. Soon, the blonde shinobi looked towards the woods out in the distance and looked determined to leave the children as he felt his wand hidden inside his sleeve.

"Well, I'd love to stick around and chat," he told the small children, "but I have to train!"

The three kids all looked a little bit heartbroken and then Konohamaru told him with a loud shout, "You said you were gonna play Ninja with us, boss!"

"Oh, that was supposed to be this afternoon?" the blonde shinobi scratched the back of his head as he hesitated, 'Darn it! If I stay with these kids, they'll want me around until sunset! And I won't have time to practice spell casting in the woods this time.'

But when the blonde shinobi was about to make a decision, his teammate Sakura sauntered over to him like a zombie and stared him down when she had overheard their entire conversation. She was still frustrated with him over what Sasuke had told her and then she heard that her idiotic teammate was about to run around and throw fake kunai and shuriken with a bunch of little kids, like he was one of them.

She then told him with a dark look on her face, "You. Are. An. Idiot…"

Sakura continued to stare him down like Sasuke would, which caused Naruto to blush a little bit and smile, albeit, it was more of an awkward smile while the older kunoichi scared the three children a little bit and tried to itch closer to the blonde shinobi as if his teammate would attack them. She almost snarled at her teammate as she was reminded that her crush had told her that he was better than she was as far as shinobi skills were concerned. She could have hit him in the face, she was so frustrated and it showed.

Konohamaru looked curious and asked, "Boss? Whose that?"

"Who is she?" asked an excited Udon, "You're girlfriend?"

Naruto rubbed his own hair and was about to tell the two of them that he hadn't done much, "Uh… To be honest-"

"THAT DOES IT!"

Sakura had screamed when she assumed Naruto would tell them he was about to be married to her. She then stormed at her teammate and slammed him in the face with her fist and sent him off his feet and into wooden fence close to them. The wood almost broke from under him when he slammed into the wall as his three admirers screamed in terror when the wild kunoichi attacked him.

"Boss!" cried Konohamaru.

Udon and Moegi rushed over to their role model and cheeked to see if he was still alive.

"Check his pulse," worried Udon, "Quick!"

Naruto tried to sit while he checked his face and felt blood ooze from his mouth from the blow he had received for no reason. The three children worried over him and tried to move him while he waited where he was and healed. Konohamaru took the attack as an act of war and shouted at the kunoichi that had harmed his older cousin, unaware of how irrational she could be.

"WITCH! That's a she-devil! UGLY KUNOICHI!" Konohamaru yelled.

Sakura took the insult as an act of war as well and cracked her knuckles as she marched towards him to teach him a lesson.


Several moments later, Sakura Haruno marched back to her home to sulk about all the missions and the two idiots she had to deal with. She had slammed both Konohamaru and Naruto a little bit more and left them to tend to their bruises and swollen faces while their friends worried over them and asked if medical assistance was needed. The two cousins soon stood and continued to rub and tend to their bruises. But Konohamaru was vocal about it as he started to rant about Sakura while she was still close enough to hear him.

"That witch isn't even human," he ranted with a loud voice he couldn't control, "You see the size of that billboard forehead?"

Sakura had heard him and then turned her head back at them with a face that was so livid it made her look like she was the devil. Naruto and the three small children froze at the look on her face and then ran as fast as all of them could run while Sakura screamed like a wild banshee and stormed after them all.

Konohamaru ran out ahead of the others but then ran into someone much taller and wider than him. The Sarutobi child fell back and landed on his butt. He then looked into the face of the person he had run into and felt intimidate when he saw his face and his clothes, which were unlike anything he had ever seen in his short life so far.

It was a teenager that appeared to be a little bit older than Naruto or Sakura. He wore a voluminous black full-bodied suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He wore a black hood with cat-like ears with a forehead protector headband stitched into the hood, which covered his hair from the sun. The male also had this strange triangular purple warrior face-paint, which was what made Konohamaru feel so scared. He wore black gloves and carried what appeared to look like mummified corpse, which was recognized as a chakra-controlled marionette.

The male teen seemed to be accompanied with a girl that was a little bit older than him. She had dark green eyes and dark blonde hair, which was gathered into four pigtails arranged around her head. She wore a single light purple garment that extended from below her shoulders down to her thighs, with a scarlet sash that wrapped around her slim waist. She also wore fishnet over her shoulders and down her right leg, and wore her headband around her neck. She looked rather beautiful but also looked like a force not to be cross with as she stared down at the fallen child and frowned.

The male of the two looked down at Konohamaru and asked him, "What? You want something?"


Kakashi Hatake made to the Mission Assignment Desk in a flash to turn in his mission reports. He was then welcomed with Iruka Umino, who was at the desk at the time without the familiar old man beside him for once as he sorted out documents. It was common to see instructors from the school, work here over the summer, which was a little bit of a bore, but this enabled Iruka to earn some extra cash and see Naruto more often.

At this, Kakashi was now aware of the relationship between his blonde student and the chunin. But that's not to say that it was something he encouraged or approved. He felt that Iruka was smothered Naruto like a small child or a toddler that shielded him from the real shinobi world and held him back. He hid his honest opinion on the matter and decided he would not voice his concerns until it was time. So for now, he was civil with the tan-skinned chunin while he handed him over the documents he filed out.

The masked shinobi said, "There we are, Iruka-sensei."

"Alright, thanks for the report Kakashi-sensei," the warm-hearted chunin nodded as he sorted the documents to the side and then addressed the masked man with subtle amount of concern in his voice, "Listen, I've wanted to ask; how is Naruto doing with the other students? Is he getting along with them well?"

Kakashi stared at the chunin for a moment and looked to the side as he sweat a little bit, "Uh… He's getting there…"

Iruka tossed aside some more documents and answered back, "It's been such a wild mess these two weeks with this season's Chunin Exams almost here… I won't be able to see Naruto as much… I know it's a little bit foolish, but I worry about him sometimes…"

Kakashi sighed and said, "You know how it is, Iruka-sensei… Sasuke Uchiha is on the team as well. Naruto sees him as a rival and that sort of puts some strain on the group. But it's pushed Naruto to excel in his missions, and he's made some incredible progress. He's always trying to improve himself and hone his skills so he can catch up to his hero. You."

Iruka felt a bit of little color rush to his face as he chuckled as the masked shinobi smiled at him, "You don't say?"

"But still, Naruto is showing some amazing improvement compared to his last test scores from school," the masked shinobi commented, "It's a little bit strange. It's almost like he's learning this stuff like magic or something," Kakashi speculated out loud.

Iruka couldn't help it when he snorted at that last sentence and continued to chuckle. Kakashi was a little bit uncomfortable as the chunin laughed and tried to contain whatever it was that he found was so hilarious and started to itch towards the door behind him.

The tan-skinned chunin contained himself soon and thought, 'Yeah! It must be magic!'


{{Sirius' Letter by Patrick Doyle}}

At the same time, an adult kunoichi with long raven hair and scarlet vampire-like eyes watched over three students that were exhausted from exercises and lessons. She wore mesh armor, a red blouse, and had one visible red sleeve. Her outfit looked almost like it was made out of bandages or cover with them. She wore her forehead protector headband like a normal shinobi, but she lacked a standard flak jacket. Her name was Kurenai Yuhi, a jounin-level shinobi and leader of Team 8.

She looked up towards the skies when she heard a hawk shriek above her and her team and came to the same conclusion as Kakashi did moments earlier.

She wondered out loud, "What is it this time?"

In another location in Konoha, a large jounin sat outside of a food store with his own rookie team. It looked like the team was in the middle of a break or a late lunch when the muscular instructor looked above his students. The instructor was tall and muscular as mentioned, had brown irises, short black spiked hair and a thick beard that matched. His clothes consisted of a standard Konoha shinobi uniform complete with the flak jacket and headband. But he wore a white sash around his waist with the kanji for "fire" marked on it, and a bracelet on both of his thick wrists.

He also noticed the same hawk as Kurenai and Kakashi saw and continued to smoke his cigarette while his students ate and drank in bliss. The man's name was Asuma Sarutobi, he was Konohamaru's uncle, one of the Hiruzen's sons, and the current leader to Team 10.

He wondered as he stared at the hawk, 'I wonder what dad wants now?'


Back with Naruto and his three little friends, the shinobi that Konohamaru ran into lifted the small child from his collar and rose him to his level while he choked the innocent child.

"Konohamaru!" cried out all his friends.

The painted person smirked at the small child and asked him, "So, does this hurt, kid?"

The shinobi choked Konohamaru some more until his face started to turn a little bit red. He smiled and raised the kid a little bit more as he stared him down like an animal would. But soon the shinobi's female companion ordered him to release the child.

"Put him down, Kankuro," she told him, "If Gaara sees this, he'll be-"

Sakura tried to dissuade the actions of the intruders while she looked insecure with her hands close to her chest, "Listen, I was the one that chased him down so leave him alone… or… I… um…"

The timid kunoichi shot a mean look from the one named Kankuro, which caused her to shut her mouth, while Naruto stared at him and the other kunoichi and observed their headbands.

'Who are these clowns?'

'See the mark on their headbands?'

'I know that one… That's the mark of Suna…'

'Sunagakure no Sato.'

'The Village Hidden in the Sand… But what are these two out here for?'

Konohamaru started to choke some more and his face turned redder, as Naruto noticed. He stared Kankuro down and ordered him in a low and stern voice that should have sent shivers down his spine if the shinobi cared to look at blonde preteen's livid face.

He ordered the shinobi, "Put him down. Right now."

The teen named Kankuro noticed Naruto's headband and recognized him and his teammate as the local rookie shinobi. He smirked at the blonde and continued to raise Konohamaru above the earth. Kankuro mocked the shinobi and decided to continue torment the child in his hands.

'Those two are rookie soldiers?' he smiled and then said out loud to his teammate, "We have a few minutes before our little brother arrives. So let me make a mess out of this one, huh?"

Konohamaru was timorous and wanted to go to back home and forget this even happened. But he insisted on being brave and didn't want to look scared or weak in front of his idol or his best friends, so he tried to kick at Kankuro's chest and shouted, "Put me down! NOW! Put me down!"

Konohamaru tried to kick at Kankuro's chest and it didn't even make him move a bit.

Kankuro smirked as the child had some luck and kicked his chest once so he cut off his breath, "You're energetic. But let's fix that."

He tightened his grip and caused Konohamaru to start gurgling and cough as his face turned blue. Naruto's eyes turned livid and deadly, so he focused his chakra to his feet, much more chakra than he knew as his feet almost burned from the excess. Udon and Moegi started to blubber a little bit while the blonde kunoichi named Temari looked irritated or bored with the situation.

She told his idiotic teammate, "Fine. But I'm not involved with this. Is that understood?"

"Loud and clear," the shinobi answered as he smiled.

Kankuro reeled back his arm and was about to punch Konohamaru in the face. But, then two things happened at the same time that caused him to freeze. Sasuke had returned to the scene inside the tree that hovered over the entire scene. He wanted to look like the better man and look cool when he threw a small rock that hit Kankuro's hand and was one of the reasons he froze in mid-action. But Kankuro was oblivious to that stone thrown at him when he felt a cold blade kiss the skin on his throat. Naruto had vanished out of thin air and then appeared behind Kankuro without a noise as he threatened to cut his throat with the blade in his hand. The shinobi that wore the cowl remained still as he continued to hold Konohamaru around the neck. He tried to look over at the shinobi behind him and saw blonde hair and blue irises. The blood in his head rushed down to his feet as he felt sweat roll down his forehead and he continued to stare at the livid Naruto Uzumaki.

All those that had witnessed the scene were left breathless and dumbfounded. Sakura did not even know that her teammate had even moved. Udon and Moegi both held their breath and then their tears vanished as the two of them smiled and cheered their idols name. Sasuke on the other hand, looked furious or frustrated when no one had even noticed him. He then looked envious of his teammate when he had noticed how fast he had moved when he threatened the still-frozen Kankuro.

'How is that even possible?' he asked to no one, 'Only a jounin at Kakashi's level are skilled enough to move that fast… How did Naruto move like that?'

The Uchiha crumbled a small stone in his hand out of frustration, which somehow earned his female teammate's attention when she heard his voice mumble in frustration as she forgot about Naruto's remarkable moment as she screamed at her obvious crush, "Sasuke-kun! You came back! YAY!"

The blonde-haired kunoichi named Temari stared at Naruto as she dismissed his other two teammate and admired how fast he moved while she feared for her own teammate when she saw the blade against his throat, 'How in the world did he move so fast?'

Naruto stared down at Kankuro with his livid face frozen. He then heard as Konohamaru continued to choke as he tried to breath. The blonde shinobi pressed the blade against his throat even more as his blue irises shined with deadliness. Kankuro felt some of his blood ooze out from a small cut and run down his neck, all the while, Naruto continued to stare down at him.

The blonde shinobi then forced out a command, "Put. Him. Down. Now."

Kankuro would have told him to leave him well alone, but he had a blade against his throat. Not to mention Naruto intimidated him with his fierce face and the voice that reminded him of the devil. He listened to his demand and released Konohamaru and let him breathe again. The small child scrambled to his feet and retreated back to his two best friends.

"Konohamaru!" Udon and Moegi both cried as their friend was released and returned to them.

In one smooth movement, the blonde shinobi hid his blade and clenched the back of Kankuro's clothes. He then used his chakra and threw the black-clad shinobi into the wooden wall furthest from the blonde kunoichi that stared and watched as her teammate crashed into the wall and broke several thick wooden boards from the force of Naruto's thrust. The blonde shinobi then stomped his foot into Kankuro's chest and scolded him with malice in his voice.

"You foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach! You come here to our village and tried to beat some kid that's less than half your size? You should think next time. You could have started an international crisis if one hair on his head was even harmed, scum," the blonde shinobi stomped him in the chest hard and turned to Temari for answers, "Now… You two aren't locals… So, what are two shinobi from Suna doing here in Konoha? On a mission?"

The kunoichi looked a bit flustered or intimidated at the intense blonde shinobi, so she stuttered a little bit as he stared at her. But then she was silenced as another voice echoed out of the shadows of a tree where Sasuke had rested. The voice caused all the shinobi and children in the area to freeze.

"Kankuro. Temari. What are you two doing?"

Sasuke and the other turned towards the voice in the tree and saw a male shinobi about the same age and height as Naruto. He had pale skin and short, disheveled hair that was dark-red in color. The preteen's irises were this unusual sea-foam emerald while his pupils were almost invisible. He had no eyebrows but had raccoon-like black marks or bruises around his eyes. On his forehead, there was a red tattoo that looked very similar to the scar on Naruto's forehead. But the tattoo was shaped into the kanji that meant the word "love" in the same area as the blonde shinobi's famous scar. He wore a black full-bodied suit with t-shirt like sleeves with an open neck and pants. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band system over the left shoulder and the right side of his hips. With this leather band, he carried around a huge gourd that was as massive as he was. He tied his headband, which bore the sign of Sunagakure no Sato, over this leather band, which finished his ensemble.

All the shinobi, kunoichi, and small children that saw him felt a little bit fearful when the redhead used that tone in his voice, like he was slothful, irritated, and murderous. Temari and Kankuro both started to sweat when the small child addressed them both and crossed his arms.

Kankuro twitched and then stuttered, "Oh! H-hello, Gaara! You're here!"

"You are a disgrace to our entire village," said the small shinobi named Gaara with a miserable voice, "You've forgotten the reason that we are even here?"

Kankuro stood on his feet and dusted his clothes while he stuttered, "Uh, I know! I-I-I mean, that blonde kid over there challenged us! He started it! Honest! He hit me! Here's what-"

"Shut up…" the small shinobi said as the older one twitched, "… Or else I'll kill you…"

Kankuro twitched once more and his skin lost a lot of color while Naruto and his friends watched as he was transformed into a submissive student, "Oh! Right! I was out of line! Gomenasai, Gaara! Please, I was out of line!"

The shinobi named Gaara looked down at Naruto and saw the small children that he seemed to command as the small trio hid behind him and he said, "I apologize for all the trouble he caused…"

The redhead stared at Naruto and thought, 'Impressive… The blonde one somehow managed to reach Kankuro in a flash. It seems that I was the only one that could follow his movements. And that black-haired human over there had a nice aim at Kankuro as well… I should keep an eye on them both…'

In a sudden movement, Gaara had vanished in a swirl of dust and he reappeared in between his two companions and stood as he continued to face the blonde shinobi that caused his older teammate to bruise and bleed.

"Let's go," he demanded from his two companions, "We didn't come here to act like children. Much less be surrounded with them."

Kankuro nodded and said at once, "Sure. Alright."

But as the three shinobi turned to leave, Sakura stormed out ahead of her blonde teammate and frowned at the trio that had accosted them. She threw Naruto behind her while her other teammate watched as she shouted out at the trio.

"WAIT! HOLD IT!" her voice cried out, "GET BACK HERE, YOU MORONS!"

Naruto tried to hold her back but the trio had turned around once more, "Sakura-chan, wait a minute-"

"What?" asked the kunoichi named Temari.

Sakura ranted with an obnoxious voice and a know-it-all tone to boot, "I can tell from those headbands that you three come from Sunagakure no Sato! Of course the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So state your purpose and it better be excellent!"

"You're kidding," laughed Temari, "What? Has this village made it a secret for rookies to know? It's almost the autumn season, what else could we be here for?"

Temari reached into her pocket and withdrew her identification card and certification that made it obvious that she had permission to enter the village along with her teammates. Her picture was so similar to how she looked now, which meant the card was fresh as she shined the card in Sakura's face.

"Here," she mocked Sakura's stuck-up attitude, "We have our permission slips, school-girl. We're here to enter in the Chunin Exams."

Naruto looked a little bit shocked and he wondered out loud, "The Chunin Exams? I didn't know it was held in the fall. It's kind of a short notice for us here."

"Boss? Boss!" Konohamaru and his friends surrounded their blonde leader and asked him, "You're gonna take the exams, boss? Huh? Huh?"

Naruto looked to all three of his small friends and smiled, "Sure. It sounds like it could be fun."

With the blonde shinobi and his friends distracted with a discussion on the Chunin Exams, Gaara and his two mates turned to leave and find a nice hotel in town. But then Sasuke, fueled with frustration that he was not even noticed, decided to come down from the tree and address the warriors from Suna as if he were a police officer hell-bent on an arrest.

"Get back here!" he shouted, "Identify yourself! Right this second!"

Temari looked around and asked, "Who? All of us?"

"No. You can shut up. I want to know who he is," he pointed at the one in the middle in a rather rude manner, "The one with the red hair. Who is he? I want an answer now, ginger."

Naruto frowned and told off his teammate, "The two of them said he was Gaara, teme. You didn't hear them? Twice?"

Sasuke dismissed his teammate and stared at Gaara, as he looked at him and addressed his full name to the discourteous Uchiha, "I am Sabaku no Gaara from Suna… And I'm curious to know your names as well. You the rude one and the fast blonde one."

Sasuke smirked just so that he could upstage Naruto, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, heir and leader of the Uchiha Clan."

Sakura felt the cold shivers as he listened to her crush address his full name and status, but it would seem that she was alone in admiration towards Sasuke this time. Gaara didn't seem to care and none of the school kids that followed Naruto around did either, but instead watched as Sasuke made an ass of himself in front of them with his uncouth behavior.

Naruto turned his head at his teammate and stated, "Oh, kill me. Please."

Sasuke shot his teammate a fierce look and hissed for him to shut his face. Sakura also hissed at her blonde teammate as he ruined the moment for both of them. Back with the Suna trio, Temari couldn't help but snort a little at Naruto's small comment on the introduction while her brother Kankuro crossed his arms and also shot a fierce look at the blonde shinobi as he rubbed his neck. The smallest of the trio looked over at Naruto and observed his unusual clothes and the aura he radiated.

Gaara looked him over and then asked for his name, "You are?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he answered, "a shinobi of Konoha."

Gaara let the wind blow his hair for a few moments and allowed a moments silence to commence as he continued to observe Naruto and his dark-haired teammate. Once he was done with his observation, he turned to leave with his two teammates. Kankuro shot Naruto another look but soon followed his sister and brother while Temari started to discuss their hotel situation. Back with Naruto and the others, Sasuke smirked at the trio from Suna and acted like he had shown them who was boss while Sakura continued to admire him. Meanwhile, Naruto checked over Konohamaru when he started to bounce on his feet and admire his older cousin.

Konohamaru and his friends surrounded Naruto for his cool-moment back with Kankuro, "Boss! Boss! That was so cool! You were super duper cool! You disappeared and then that big idiot was so scared! You kicked his butt! Tell us how to do that! C'mon! Please!"


To Be Continued…


There we have it! The newest chapter, folks! I hope it was good!

Naruto: It's close to the original.

Iruka: Except it's written a whole lot better.

Naruto: I loved the part where I kicked Kankuro's ass and showed up Sasuke-teme!

K: We all love those those kind of bits!

AZ44: I can agree with that.

K: (smirks) That reminds me; what sort of awesome moments do you have written for your fanfic?

AZ44: SHUT UP!

K: Heheheh! Gets me every time!

Naruto: It's never gonna get old!

Iruka: I know, right?

AZ44: It's not gonna be funny once I transform into a dragon and go Deathwing on your asses!


Heh! Please make sure to leave behind a review if you guys can and let me know what you think of the new and improved fanfic chapters so far! The next chapter should be up soon! See you guys then!