Disclaimer: I still do not own any of the verses, stop asking.

Sorry about the overlong wait, some parts of this chapter just did not want to be written. With luck it will prove worthy of your patience.


Chapter 1:
An old world and a new team

Naruto Uzumaki, codenamed Kitsune, avatar of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, woke to the annoying sound of an alarm. Reflexively he reached out to disable the infernal contraption before levering himself up. For a moment or two he looked around in confusion, wondering where he was. Then the memories of last night, both of them, came back to him. A cry of exaltation split the morning air.

'We made it! I told you Jericho and Fey knew what they were doing.'

'…'

'Kyu? You there?'

Silence.

Why couldn't Kyuubi talk to him? His ally had always been there for him ever since…

"The seal."

Getting comfortable on the bed Naruto relaxed and entered his mindscape. Where once there was a decrepit sewer, now stood the vibrant grounds of Whateley Academy. Naruto found himself standing in front of Twain cottage looking towards the central campus. After taking a moment to admire his former home he considering were a great and terrible power would be contained at Whateley, chuckling he made his way to Hawthorn.

Naruto found what he was looking for on the first floor basement. Inside a sealed cage lay Kyuubi. The nine tails was fox shaped and about twelve feet long. He was also bound and muzzled. Growling slightly Naruto walked up and ripped the seal from the cage before entering and untying Kyuubi.

"You ok?"

"Fine, damned overkill seal. Did it work?"

Naruto's face broke into a wide grin as he said, "Yep, we landed a few hours after we were supposed to but from the memories I got things turned pretty well." A frown crossed his face before he continued, "I think my body is back to the way it was before though."

Kyuubi groaned, "You mean I have to recondition your body again!"

"Look on the bright side, we aren't surrounded by people who break the laws of physics for a living anymore so this should be the last time. Anyway I apparently have team assignments today so if you don't need anything else…"

At Kyuubi's dismissive wave Naruto returned to the waking world and began to get ready for the day. 'I can't believe I have nothing to eat other than ramen. Its amazing I didn't die of scurvy.' Once he was fed and dressed, making a note to visit a clothing store while he has getting groceries, he concentrated for a moment before summoning a pair of type two clones to clean the place. That taken care of he set out for the ninja academy.

XXXXXX

Sakura woke silently, remaining still while her senses expanded. Bed, small room, small house with two humans on a lower floor, city… Only then did she open her eyes and look around. It was a moment before the significance of where she was sunk in. Then her jaded expression broke into an exclamation of sheer joy, "Yeeaaaahhhhhhh!" 'I'm back, I'm really back.'

For long minuets she just sat there, revelling in her surroundings. Her old room, so innocently decked out. The steady feel of her parent's life force and the buzz of abundant life all around.
Safe, vibrant, home.

Eventually she got up. Only to be disgusted both with her body and her wardrobe. 'I planned to be a ninja with this?!' She supposed there was no way she could have kept her developed body so she wasn't expecting much but this was ridiculous. She had barely any muscle to speak of, her chakra reserves were hardly above that of a civilian and if memory served she hadn't eaten a decent meal in months! Most of her cloths were dresses. Brightly coloured dresses at that. Mercifully she seemed to have a fairly large selection so she could probably find something functional. At least her hair was as it should be, even if it was slightly longer than she liked relative to her smaller body.

After spending far longer than normal in the shower Sakura used a kunai to trim her hair back a few inches. After sorting through her wardrobe for a bit she settled on a dark red top and earth brown shorts. Added to this were three weapon pouches, standard ninja sandals and her headband. She would get some gloves and armour latter.

A voice from below called her from her musings, "Sakura, breakfast is ready."

Even with her pitiful physical condition it took Sakura less than three seconds to be downstairs and hugging her mother.

"Sakura! My you are excited to be starting as a ninja." Her only answer was a smile of radiant joy.

'That's right! Its team assignments today. I can change things, treat Naruto better, not be useless in wave. Kill that suicidal maniac in the forest for making me go through hell.'

Releasing her mother Sakura set about demolishing breakfast. When her father came in to see her asking for seconds he almost fainted. Soon enough she was on her way to the academy for a date with destiny.

XXXXXX

Sasuke also woke without fanfare, although not with the same paranoid caution as his soon-to-be team mate. Looking around his old room in the compound he smirked, 'Seems the dragon was up to his boasting.'

Being in the compound again brought back memories. He had never forgotten the scenes Itachi had shown him, they were imbedded in his mind as surely as if his own Sharingan had recorded the event. But after years of being dominated by that one event and then being banished from this world he had forgotten what life his home once held. His mother tucking him into bed, watching Itachi practice outside, eating with uncles and cousins. Five generations of his family had lived here, will a bit of luck so would the next fifty.
But that was for the future.

His first task was to test his more unusual abilities.

Reaching out with his chakra he pulled just the faintest touch of shadow around him. It took more chakra than it should but that was probably just due to his diminished reserves. At least his main arsenal of abilities were still usable.

Next he began feeding chakra to his eyes. After a few seconds he felt something give and the world came into impossibly sharp focus. After a few seconds spent confirming it was fully advanced he deactivated the bloodline.

With some trepidation he began to channel chakra around his left shoulder. Nothing happened. He increased the flow, then spread it wider. Still nothing.

The curse mark was gone. Sasuke… was not quite sure how to feel about that. His curse had been an ace like no other. Often saving him and allowing him to stand toe-to-toe with things even the greatest paladin would fear to confront. On the other hand the dangers of using it, or worse overusing it, were worse that what even many warlocks would accept. Probably for the best it was gone, especially given no one had ever figured out what some of its inactive elements did.

With regret Sasuke realised he would not have time to test his capabilities before he was due for team assignments. Dressed in his usual, if now unfamiliar, clothes and armed with what passed for high quality weapons Sasuke headed for the academy.

Rather than walk he slipped into what back on Azeroth had been known as stealth. It was part shadow manipulation, part traditional stealth techniques and part state of being. Not invisibility, not usually anyway, just convincing the universe to not notice you. Annoyingly nether his body nor chakra were used to it anymore so it actually took a fair bit of concentration to maintain.

He would need to work on that.

XXXXXX

At the academy the graduating genin were slowly filtering into the classroom for what many hoped would be the final time. Most of the clan members were there.

Shikamaru was snoozing away as always. It confused many why the laziest person in the class so often turned up early. When asked Shikamaru had just shrugged and said, "It's too troublesome to rush." Choji was snacking while watching Kiba boast about being forth in taijutsu even without Akamaru helping. A downcast Hinata and a stoic Shino occupied the back bench. Ino hovered near the door with most of the other girls waiting for Sasuke to turn up.

Sasuke himself was actually sitting quietly in his chair, very slowly lowering his stealth. 'Stephan, you will never know how grateful I am for your teachings.'

The general chatter was broken when one of the girls said, "What are you doing here Naruto baka? This is for people who graduated."

Everyone turned to face the orange clad idiot who answered with a foxy grin. "You didn't think the avatar of the Kyuubi could actually fail did you?"

While most adults in Konoha had an almost pathological fear of the Kyuubi to the new genin it was just another tale old people used to scare them. "What's a dead fox got to do with you failing the exam?"

Naruto laughed before jumping on Iruka's desk. 'Hey Kyu, you mind if I tell them why you were in Konoha?' 'Feel free, we could use the good PR.'

Taking a deep breath Naruto began, "Twelve years ago Madara Uchiha summoned Kyuubi, the mighty nine-tailed fox and greatest of the bijuu, to the outskirts of Konoha and attacked him before fleeing towards the village. Kyuubi followed and…"

XXXXXX

Iruka looked over the team assignments again as he walked to his classroom. Once again the clan members were being put on the same teams. And once again they were arranged boy - boy - girl. Worst of all Naruto was on a team with Sakura and Sasuke, both of whom hated the boys guts. Damned politics.

Then he felt it. A chakra signature, one he would never forget. Powerful and inhuman the chakra of the Kyuubi was unmistakable. 'What's happening? O Naruto please don't tell me you messed with the seal!'

Running he arrived at the classroom door in time to hear Naruto saying, "… so that's why most of the village hates my guts, they blame me for Madara trying to get Kyuubi to kill them all." The boy was sitting calmly on his desk, glowing a faint red. The class was staring at him with a mixture of shock, fear and awe. Shikamaru, Sasuke and Sakura however had thoughtful expressions.

"Naruto! What are you doing?! You cant give away S-rank secrets like that!"

"C-calm down Iruka. The Hokage said only me and him could tell people and as he doesn't look like he is going to say anything anytime soon so it's up to me to spread the word. Its not like it will stay secret long now Kyuubi is letting me use his chakra." As he spoke Naruto stopped glowing but Iruka could still feel a slight amount of inhuman energy flowing threw the boy.

"How did you get Kyuubi to give you his chakra?"

"I talked to Kyuubi last night, not a bad guy when he isn't trying to eat you."

Iruka sighed. "Ok. If you want people to know about you holding the Kyuubi then that's your decision but remember that knowledge is power and ninja are supposed to keep secrets. Now if you would all take your seats…"

XXXXXX

As Iruka went through his graduating speech and began listing the teams he observed how the class was handling Naruto's revelation. A mercifully small number, mostly form civilian families, kept glancing at Naruto with fear. Most however seemed to be taking it fairly well, shock giving way to analysis.

Satisfied that he wouldn't be dealing with a mob for the moment Iruka relaxed. It was then that he noticed something. Underneath Naruto's demonic signature there were two other chakra spikes. Coming from… Sasuke and Sakura? Both seemed to be simply molding chakra as you would in a basic exercise. It seemed Sakura was finally taking being a ninja seriously. Well making changes upon graduating wasn't that uncommon.

When he reached team seven he was expecting some drama. It never came. Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have been expecting it and Naruto just sighed in resignation.

After he finished reading off teams and told them to meet back here after lunch to meet there senseis he got another surprise.

"Sensei, will my teams jonin be Sharingan Kakashi?"

"Yes Sakura, how did you guess?"

She just looked pointedly at Sasuke.

Iruka defiantly needed to see the Hokage. Something was up and if it concerned his students it concerned him!

XXXXXX

Team seven stayed put while the others filed out. All were confused about how the others were acting. Naruto was the first to break the silence.

"Why did you ask about who are jonin is? We'll find out in an hour anyway."

As Sakura was buried in her lunch already it was Sasuke how answered, "She asked because Kakashi is always a couple of hours late. The other teams have one hour, we probably have four."

"They expect us to sit here for four hours! Forget that, if we have that long I'm going shopping."

"Shopping?"

"You think I'm going to be a ninja in kill-me-orange? Kyuubi would disown me."

Concentrating Naruto created a single clone before using transformation to change his hair and eye colour and cover his whisker marks. The clone gave him a look over and nodded. Naruto-as-anonymous-ninja walked out while the clone settled in to stare at the door.

Sakura finished her third ration bar and looked wistfully out the window. It had been so long since she went on a shopping spree. But it would have to wait a bit longer. Tomorrow she had to fight one of the leaf's strongest jonin and she would need very second to prepare.

Sasuke watched with something akin to amusement as his female team mate walked up to the nearest wall, up the wall, onto the ceiling and started going through a kata upside down.

Having experienced a lot of very weird stuff on Azeroth, including fighting himself on three different occasions, Sasuke was fairly experienced with figuring out things like people acting utterly against what they should. According to the memories he received on arrival everything should be as it was the first time so that ruled out the dragon dumping him in some alternate universe. Impostors should be making at least a token effort to act like the people they replaced. Maybe…? Well he had spent time in another world and comeback before he left so what would stop the others? Naruto had even been in the same event he was. Worth considering anyway. Probably best to be subtly while he investigated.

Naruto's clone was still staring blankly at the door, seemingly oblivious to the world.

"How can the door be more interesting than watching your crush workout?"

"I'm trying not to get too many memories."

"Why."

Seeing Sasuke wasn't going to drop it without an explanation, which was way out of character for the brooding bastard, the clone sighed and began to explain.

"When a type one clone like me is dispersed all the memories we have gained are sent to our creator. If there is too much information for his brain to process it can knock Naruto unconscious. If all I do is stare at the door it doesn't matter if I have hours of memories because its all the same information."

"Still good for learning things quickly if you're not in danger though."

"That's what I thought. Sent five clones to read in the library, each one lasted between two and three hours. Naruto didn't wakeup for over a week and I still cant remember most of what the clones learned."

His suspicions confirmed, some of them anyway, Sasuke nodded and got up to leave. Four hours was too long to waste and even a tiny amount of extra chakra tomorrow would be a huge help.

XXXXXX

When Kakashi finally arrived he was met by a surprising, although not unpleasant, scene. He had actually read the academy files on the team he would be heading, neither politics nor his honour debts would allow him to fail them, so he was expecting an arrogant loner a near-useless fangirl and an orange clad moron. This wasn't quite what he found.

The pink one was soaked with sweat and showing signs of very mild chakra exhaustion. Unlike the colourful dresses far too many new kunoichi wore she was dressed functionally, including an unusually large number of weapons. More interesting however was that even worn out in the heart of Konoha she held herself in readiness, like she was expecting to be attacked at any moment. Even most ANBU weren't that paranoid in the very heart of Konoha.

Upon seeing him her face broke into a welcoming smile, almost as if greeting an old friend.

The blonde, despite all precedent, was not in orange. Instead he had a red and black body suit. He was currently walking carefully along the wall, horizontally. Several impact craters implied he had suffered the normal problem of chakra tanks and overloaded his first few attempts.

He was also humming a disturbingly catchy tune considering he was radiating demonic chakra.

The Uchiha, there was no mistaking that raven hair and onyx eyes, was watching his team mates with relaxed amusement. Like the girl he was clearly low on chakra but seemed to have forgone any physical training today. Seeing Kakashi he turned and raised a single eyebrow.

'So much for academy reports.'

"My first impression of you is… you're weird. Meet me on the roof."

XXXXXX

Once they were all on the roof Kakashi began, "Now that we're all here why don't you introduce yourselves, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, thing like that. You first Blondie."

"My name Naruto Uzumaki, avatar of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Around here my likes are a very short list of people, my dislikes are people who judge others based on labels and anything that threatens my precious people. My goal is to earn the respect of Konoha and prove myself worthy of the duty the fourth gave me."

Sasuke gave him a puzzled look, "Aren't you always going on about becoming Hokage?"

"Being Hokage was always a means to an end, people respect the Hokage and I wanted that respect. I learned that respect is something you have to earn by what you do." The boy chuckled, "Anyway, I barely qualify as a ninja."

'Not a bad attitude and he seems stable enough… maybe finding out about the Kyuubi was better for him than we could hope.' "Ok pinky, you next."

Far from being insulted by the nickname she just smiled wider. Until her face became a hard, determined mask.

"I am Sakura Haruno, I like… I like knowing my people are safe, knowing where my next meal is coming from and that I can trust the people I'm working with. I dislike…" at this a haunted look came to her eyes, "…many things. My dream is to protect my people and be the best ninja I can be, my hope is to never see Konoha in all out war."

'Ok… ex-ANBU is better than fangirl but I'd hoped never to see those eyes on anyone that young again.' "And lastly bird boy."

Irritation momentarily flashed across the boys face before his smirk returned. "Sasuke Uchiha, I have many likes and dislikes. My goal is to rebuild my clan. And if the opportunity should arise kill my clans murderer."

Before Kakashi could speak he continued, "You are Kakashi Hatake aka Sharingan Kakashi the copycat ninja. You like reading porn, at all times, and being late for everything. You dislike people who abandon their team mates. Your dream for the future is to never lose another team mate."

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, "You certainly did your research."

"You're one of three surviving Sharingan users including myself, of course I researched you."

'Well he's closer to what I was expecting than the others, maybe he was just frustrated with the academy? Either way I need to see the Hokage about this team and soon.'

"Now we've gotten to know each other a little. Tomorrow you'll be doing a survival exercise to determine whether you are worthy of being ninja elite or not so meet me in training ground 3 at 8 o'clock. Oh - and don't eat any breakfast or you'll throw up."

With that he made the ram seal and body-flickered away.

XXXXXX

Later that evening the Hokage sat in his office, for once hoping some extra paperwork would come in to take his mind off the latest enigma he had been presented with. The myth that kages were swamped with paperwork was just that, a myth. In reality he delegated most of the routine work to others, only dealing with high priority stuff himself.

Team 7. Yesterday all three of them had been as predictable as clockwork. Now Naruto was trumpeting his dark secret to the heavens, Sasuke's obsession had vanished and Sakura seemed happy just to be alive.

All could be explained… just. Naruto's personality had been nothing but a mask for years so having his world view changed that much could cause him to discard his old self in favour of a new one. Sasuke could have simply been bored and frustrated with the academy and Sasuke could have just come to realise what being a ninja meant. All possible but ninja didn't last long by taking things at face value.

After both Iruka and Kakashi had come to see him, and observing team seven's first meeting, he decided to check up on Naruto. The boy had been delighted to be treated to Ichiraku Ramen, delighted but not ecstatic as he usually would be. Naruto was still cheerful, almost jumping into Sarutobi's arms on first seeing him, but he was also a bit more respectful and thoughtful. He could still put away more food than most full teams but this time he mixed ramen with various other dishes.

It was almost creepy, like he didn't quite fit. But like with his team mates there seemed to be no quick explanation. For now he would have to watch and wait.

XXXXXX

At 10:30 the next day Kakashi strolled into training ground 3 for the 8 o'clock meeting. He found team 7 near the memorial stone. Sakura was sleeping under a tree on the edge of the clearing while Naruto and Sasuke lounged in the branches, awake but relaxed. Naruto had altered his bodysuit, sewing the symbol of the nine tailed fox on the back in crimson thread.

"Morning team."

"Yo."

"You're late" yawn "sensei."

"Hey sensei what kept you?"

"I got lost on the road of life." All three seemed amused at that.

Walking over to the stone he took out an alarm clock, two bells and two pack lunches. "Ok kids today we will see if you have any potential as ninja. You will have until noon to get one of these bells. If you don't get a bell you don't get lunch."

Turning around he saw Sakura wolfing down a ration bar. Sasuke took out two apples, handing one to Naruto. 'So much for that plan, guess Sasuke knew about the bell test too. Well I can still evaluate their skill level'

Once all were on the ground and ready he said, "You can use any style or jutsu you want, if you don't come at me with intent to kill you wont get the bells."

Naruto looked worried hearing that, "Um sensei I don't think it would be a good idea for me to try and kill you." To illustrate his point the level of demonic chakra flowing through him doubled. 'I don't have any control problems but this power is not a toy! If he underestimates me or I overestimate him things could get very ugly.'

"I'm an elite jonin, none of you are any real threat."

"You asked for it."

Crimson energy began poring off him as he charged, rapidly accelerating towards Kakashi. Sakura sprang to one side a kunai in each hand. Sasuke vanished.

'Seems I wont get to read this time.' A kunai thrown by Sakura was deflected just before Naruto reached him. The first punch was reasonably fast but horribly telegraphed and childs play to block. The follow up attack was a magnitude faster. Caught off guard Kakashi was pushed almost to his limits defending himself from the fusillade of punches. 'I don't know that style!' Naruto's technique was rather crude, direct and straightforward without any subterfuge. But with the amount of power Naruto had he didn't need finesse.

Sensing movement to his left Kakashi turned just enough to see Sakura snatch the deflected kunai and charge. Naruto broke off just as she got within arms reach. This time Kakashi was ready. Even so the girls attack was impressive. It was the academy basic… but refined to an astonishing degree. Even still her movements weren't quite right, it was like her mind knew what it was doing but her body just couldn't keep up. Ninja who got out of condition after an injury or extended leave were like that but rarely to this extent. 'Damn it! How can I be this weak!'

After a few moments Kakashi noticed something else. She never left herself open. Even experienced combatants would begin to lower their guard against an enemy that did nothing but defend. Sakura didn't. 'She has fought people above her level before, and survived.'

'Almost got him, almost got hi- What!' Suddenly Kakashi whirled, a roundhouse kick shooting forwards while his opposite hand swung back. Panicked Sasuke dropped stealth and made a hasty block. The kick smashed into a dead log. The backhand glanced off Sasuke's forearm. His ambush ruined, the boy unleashed a furious assault.

'How did he get that close? Even the best ANBU cant get that close fight or no fight.' Sasuke was having the same problem as Sakura, his body just couldn't keep up with what he wanted it to do. His style was a seemingly random mix of innumerable different styles with tricks thrown in every few seconds. It was something that only a dedicated and imaginative Sharingan wielder could develop and use. Just as Kakashi was about to counter attack Sasuke leapt away, launching a spread of kunai as cover.

Dodging the weapons was easy but before the jonin could get his bearings Naruto was on him again. Faster this time. Rather than attack head on the genin circled Kakashi, constantly moving round his larger opponent while throwing punches.

Now over his initial shock Kakashi began to counter attack. For a few seconds they traded blows. Kakashi took a few glancing hits in exchange for several solid ones. Naruto still got the best of the exchange. 'Hehehe never fight a slugging match with a regenerator.' 'Hip spent months pounding that lesson into your head. And chest. And limbs. And spleen.' 'Oh shut up.'

Once again Naruto disengaged. Turning Kakashi saw a quartet of pink haired ninja rushing him. Preceded by a flight of eight kunai. Listening carefully he managed to avoid the two real weapons. Then he attacked. The clones lasted a few vital moments while she got within reach. She wasn't at his skill level, but her defences proved far more formidable that her assault had been. As he broke through her guard three more clones popped into existence, giving her just enough breathing space to recover.

'Well if I can't get close directly' smirk 'I'll cheat.'

'I think its time I broke this deadlock, now which jutsu should I use?' Before he could decide he felt a chakra spike just behind him. It was strange yet almost familiar. Almost reminded him of… 'The Hiraishin!' Sasuke's hand brushed against a bell as Kakashi threw himself to the right.

Exchanging a glance the two ninja nodded and launched themselves at their sensei. Their synchronicity was almost beautiful to watch, each managing not to impede the other without restricting their own movements. Once more Kakashi was pushed to his limits weathering the assault.

Jumping away he made a hand sign, replacing himself with a man sized pile of dirt. Recognising this as his head hunter jutsu both Sasuke and Sakura immediately relocated to tree branches. Naruto did not. Standing at the edge of the clearing waiting another opening he was unprepared when hands shot up from the dirt and dragged him down. "Aaaaaaaa!" Just as he sank to his neck there was a burst of smoke as a clone substituted with its creator.

'Ok if that's the way he wants to play. Kyu, take us to warp one.' 'Aye captain.' Crimson powers covered him, slowly forming a sleek second skin. Soon fox ears and a single tail emerged. Scanning the surrounding forest Naruto quickly located the beacon of life force that was Kakashi. The avatar of the Kyuubi no Kitsune charged.

Unwilling to relinquish his hard won initiative Kakashi made two hand signs and raised a wall of earth. Three feet from Naruto's face. The wall shattered as Naruto ploughed through it, leaving him tumbling across the ground. Immediately Kakashi was on him, blows raining down only to be stopped by the chakra cloak. Mostly.

'Sensei is getting serious and both Naruto and Sasuke are using trump cards. I should be able to use it for a few seconds.'

Flexing his tail Naruto threw himself skywards to escape. A tagged kunai followed. Rather than substitute with a clone Naruto took the explosion head on. It barely fazed him. On the ground Kakashi felt an unmistakable chakra spike. Someone had just opened a celestial gate. Even as he turned to find the source he brought his hand up to uncover his Sharingan. And was just fast enough.

This time Sakura was almost as fast as she was expecting. Even with the Sharingan her sensei was put back on the defensive. For three long seconds she stood toe-to-toe with one of the top jonin in Konoha. Then she faltered. Two blows slamming into her before a clone substituted to take the third.

Sasuke had activated his own Sharingan to watch Sakura and Kakashi's duel. If only to get a good lock on the jonin's movements. 'I guess its my turn for the direct approach. Stealth is useless against our eyes.' Launching another salvo of kunai as cover he closed.

Surprise, or as likely suspicion, and the storm of metal got Sasuke within reach. Then he and Kakashi met face to face. Each showing a fully matured Sharingan. For a split second they stood frozen. Pain lanced through both skulls as the two dojutsu warred, each desperately trying to out predict the other. The deadlock broke… with age and experience proving the stronger.

Out of his element and overmatched Sasuke folded under Kakashi's furious assault. Punches and kicks smashing through the boy's crumbling defences. Feeling a pulse of chakra Sasuke opened himself up to the replacement jutsu. He landed next to the exhausted Sakura. Hearing a roar they turned to see Naruto once more charge.

Just before Naruto came within reach he jerked to one side, clawed hand extended to rip across the older mans face. That was easily blocked. The tail of solid energy slamming into Kakashi's stomach was not. Then Naruto was past. As he circled around a bolt of electrified chakra slammed into him. It did little to slow or deter him.

'Clearly I'm not getting through that shield with anything that wont kill him. Lets see how long he can keep it up.' Recovering his implanted eye Kakashi began evading. Leaping, substituting, constantly moving.

After a few minutes Naruto paused in his pursuit. His energy was draining, his cloak unravelling. 'Kit we've got to stop. This fight isn't worth ripping yourself apart over.' 'I hate losing, but you're right. Not like we're getting anywhere anyway.' Using the last of his demon born power Naruto moved over to where Sasuke and Sakura were slowly recovering. He all but collapsed at their feet as the feedback from using Kyuubi chakra hit him.

"Well I'm out of it. Either of you got anything left?"

Sakura just shook her head tiredly while Sasuke shrugged, "Nothing with any chance of working." None of them were in any condition to be fighting anytime soon.

Rousing herself Sakura said, "when this is over, I think we need to reintroduce ourselves."

The boys shared a glance, then nodded.

XXXXXX

As his cute students seemed to have run out of steam Kakashi relaxed. 'By kami I must be getting soft. Run ragged by fresh genin in…' he glanced at the clock 'Twenty Minutes! I'll have to get back in training now I have a team to look after, not that they need much looking after.'

As stealthily as he could he began making his way towards where the three were resting, hoping to catch them off guard now they were tired. He was disappointed, Sakura was already looking at him as he eased his way past the foliage. He was about to make some derogatory remarks about their skill, as is the duty of a sensei, but decided against it when he noticed their expressions. All three looked disappointed but determined. 'And given how much Sasuke knows about me giving them the teamwork speech would be a waste.'

"Well I'm slightly impressed, your teamwork could use some improvement but you have potential. I officially declare that… you pass."

XXXXXX

Latter, in the Hokage's office Sarutobi looked up from the team registration form and chuckled.

"They passed your test then?"

"Not really, I never got around to the proper test."

"Then… why? You never care about anything but team loyalty in your students."

"Because all of them are easily c-rank. Naruto says he could beat anything short of s-rank and I don't think he's that far wrong. Its troubling how they could be so powerful." Kakashi noticed the old mans sly smile. "You found something?"

"Possibly, but I'm not sure what to make of it yet."

As he said it his mind replayed the discussion he had heard earlier.

"I'll go first. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, graduate of Whateley academy 2010. My official power ranking is…

End of chapter one.


Reviews and constructive criticism are most welcome.