Full Moon

by Narutoenthusiast

What if Kyuubi never attacked Konoha? What if Minato and Kushina were still alive? How different would Naruto's life be living with a caring family and under the tutelage of the strongest shinobi in the village? Watch as he grows into a powerful ninja, rising through the shinobi rank earning himself a feared reputation just like his father.

3. Scary times

Full Moon(Aventure/Romance)

Characters: Naruto Uzumaki x Uzuki Yuugao

Umino Iruka x Mitarashi Anko

Summary: What if Kyuubi never attacked Konoha? What if Naruto actually had a family since the Yondaime and Kushina were still alive? Just how Naruto's world would be affected by such events. Watch as Naruto grow into a powerful and experienced shinobi, protecting his precious people as well as the village as a whole. Naruto x Yuugao pairing.

Chapter 3 – Scary times

Two years pass time skip

It has been two years and Yuugao was finishing her breakfast at her home along with her parents. Now, Yuugao is already a genin, since she graduated the previous year and on her team was Yuhi Kurenai and Genma, a brunette guy with a bandana covering his head as well as a senbon between his teeth. Yuugao was one of the top genins of her graduation class and her team already performed close to 20 C ranked missions, a number not common in a year career. The team's sensei Aoba pretty much lets his students carry on the mission and only intervene when needed. Instead, he focus on making the genins practice very hard, making them one of the top teams in pretty much everything.

Yuugao is a close combat fighter, since learning her dad's kenjutsu style as well as learned only close to mid-range style jutsus. Genma is the strongest of the team in terms of ninjutsu, with the two element chakra (katon/raiton) he is the mid-range fighter of the team and backup for Yuugao since his taijutsu is average. And last but not least, Kurenai is the long-range fighter, using her genjutsu to assist the other two, rendering the enemy useless in battle. Yes, team 2 is one of Konoha's proudest teams and certainly will bright in the future.

Today, Team 2 would have a C ranked mission. Well, it would be a D ranked, but due to the importance to the one being protected. But, Yuugao still didn't know what would be the mission, since her sensei told them to arrive at the hokage tower for instructions and she was excited as hell, since she loved to test her skills against the enemies. After Yuugao left her house, she decided to sprint to the Hokage's tower by jumping through rooftops, until she arrived in front of the Hokage tower, only to find Kurenai already there, much to her dismay.

"Ohayo, Kurenai-chan, you're hear early, I thought I would be the first to arrive." – Said Yuugao.

"Ohayo, Yuugao-chan, since I live near here, I arrived early, so how are you?"

"Fine, so any guess about our mission? Do we have to take out some bandits, maybe some low-level chunnins that are harassing a village." – Said Yuugao, already picturing she slicing her sword on the enemy winning the battle.

"I hope not, I would rather a calm mission today, it seemed like every mission we were in, involved fights and stuff, I would be glad if this one would be a calm one."

"You're no fun, Kure-chan, oh well I guess we have to wait until Aoba-sensei and Genma-san to arrive won't we?" – Said Yuugao, sitting on a bench nearby.

After 10 minutes, the rest of team 2 arrived and they went up to the Hokage's office in order to receive their next mission.

---

--Inside the Hokage's office--

"Team 2 presenting for mission, Hokage-sama" – Saluted Aoba to Minato.

"Oh, hello there, how are you all guys doing?" – Said Minato proud of looking at one of the best genin teams in Konoha.

"Fine, sir, I understand Hokage-sama has a mission for Team 2?"

"Yes, it will be a C ranked mission. Normally would be a D ranked one, but due to the importance of this mission I'm trusting upon your team, Aoba-san, it will be a C." – Said Minato, while Yuugao was fuming inside, she thought that the D ranked ones would be over by now and be only C and low level B ones, but she thought better than to charge at her once crush of a man, for judging his judgement.

"Well, the mission will be to protect my son Namikase Naruto, during the duration of a trip me and my wife would be doing along with the hyuuga delegates to Kumo, in order to improve our diplomatic relations with them, as well as maybe celebrate a deal for commerce between the villages, so Team 2 will be with my son at least during one week, that the travel would entail." – Said Minato, already seeing the wide eyes of the genins, specially the purple genin with the katana, since she was with her jaws down to her chest in utter surprise.

"Ok, Hogake-sama, don't worry, your son will be safe from enemies. Team 2, we are to arrive at the Namikase compound in two hours, dismissed." – Said Aoba to his team.

"Hai, Aoba-sensei" – Said everyone of the team and then left the office.

"Aoba-san, I'm sure you understand the importance of this mission, don't you? I'm asking this because my son had already suffered his first kidnapping attempt two weeks ago." – Said Minato, much to Aoba's shock, since he didn't know that Naruto was kidnapped.

"Hokage-sama, if you don't mind, I wish to hear about what happened so that my team can be better prepared for what to come."

"Very well…"

Flashback on

The nightfall was already appearing and Minato was doing the last paperwork of the day, and went home. During the way back, Minato could sense three figures watching him close and stiffed. Who would be stupid to try to kill a kage, unless they wanted to go to war. Minato thought about it and decided to pay no mind as he was approaching the compound. Inside, the house was empty. Immediately, the Yondaime became the Yellow Flash and began to inspect the house for what could happen and his instincts were fuming like crazy. Upon approaching a couch, he saw that Kushina was on the ground, near a few glass pieces from a broken window that where the enemy broke in and attacked his wife.

Minato was passing through all the possibilities inside his mind as to what happened here, when the thought of Naruto being the enemy's objective practically punched him in the face for not realizing this. Suddenly, Minato called for his student and confident who happened to be inside the village doing some patrol around the streets via intercom.

"Sensei, what happened here?" – Said the Dog masked Anbu.

"Kakashi, my son was kidnapped, quickly summon Pakku and let's find him, we have to reach the enemies, hurry." – Said Minato, already panicking for his son's life.

"Right away, Kuchiyose no Jutsu (summoning jutsu)" – Said Kakashi, summoning a little puppy with a leaf headband.

"Kakashi, what do you want?"

"Pakku, Naruto-kun was kidnapped, we need to find the kidnappers, they must be close."

After some sniffing around, Pakku managed to get the scent from Naruto, since Minato gave Naruto's shirt for Pakku. Suddenly, two blurs went outside the compound and they started to jump around the trees, in the direction that Pakku was going. After travelling for 30 minutes, Kakashi and Minato managed to catch up with the intruders that were wearing Iwa headbands and a chunnin uniform. Seeing that the iwa ninjas couldn't escape, they tried to fight the two konoha ninjas, only after one second, did they realized their mistake, seeing that they would fight Konoha's Yellow Flash and Sharingan no Kakashi. With the use of the Hiraishin and a kunai, Minato disposed of the enemies and saved his son.

"Damn Iwa, how could they do this to my son?" – Said Minato, letting his emotions take over and send his characteristic killing intent that Kakashi thought his sensei would kill everyone in Iwa for trying to kidnap his son.

"Kakashi, I'm worried about my son's welfare now that Iwa knows about him, I know I promised Kushina to go slow with his training, but I'll have to train him harder so that he can at least protect himself the next time and be able to call for help. Also I'm going to give him one of my hiraishin kunais, so that he can call me when needed."

"Are you sure, sensei? Naruto is just six years old, he may call you to every little trouble he is, are you sure he's only calling you in dangerous situations?" – Asked Kakashi, knowing what a regular six-year old boy could do.

"My son knows better than that, Kakashi, besides he pretty much trains by himself with his books and stuff. I think I'll start teaching him D level jutsus, so that he can better protect himself."

"Let's head back, sensei, Kushina must be worried sick for Naruto." – Said Kakashi, awaking Minato from thinking about Naruto's new training.

"Let's go."

Flashback off

After Minato finished telling the story, Aoba sighed and concluded why the mission is a C ranked, if Iwa chunnin or higher came to try again, his team would be there protecting the little blond gaki. But Minato was also asking a favor to Aoba, in order to train his son while he was gone, having some spars with the genin teams and see where he stands on chakra control and jutsu. Needless to say Aoba agreed to it. He figured the mission would be plane boring in case Iwa didn't try anything, so he could take the time to train his team as well as see what Naruto could do.

"Don't worry, Hokage-sama, Team 2 will protect your son and we'll train him as well, don't you worry"

"I'm counting on your team, Aoba-san, thank you. Dismissed"

---

--Inside the Namikaze Compound--

Inside his house, Naruto was just reading a book on advanced chakra control. In fact, Naruto already had a little library inside his bedroom, he was lucky his parents bought him lots of books on shinobi and shinobi arts. He even bought one about Strategy and Tactics and he was fascinated with what the book said about the many strategic victories Konoha had won during the Two Great Shinobi Wars. As regarding to his training, his morning training was enhanced by his father. Now he had two wooden dummies and all the exercised doubled in length, as well as a gravity seal on him, courtesy of his father's knowledge of fuuinjutsu. He already learned the Henge no Jutsu and the Kawarimi no Jutsu and would be just a matter of time before he learned the Bunshin no Jutsu, because of his excess amount of chakra which was growing since his chakra coils were in expansion. For last, his chakra control increased as well. Because of his father saying that he needed to concentrate more on chakra control first, Naruto started doing the first chakra control exercises and he already was able to spin the leaf on his forehead.

Suddenly, he heard the door bell and stiffed a little bit, remembering that he was kidnapped once and he didn't want to just open the door to the enemy, seeing that would be very stupid thing to do. Upon arriving in front of the door, he asked who was it and was relieved when he heard the voice of a jounin that would be watching for him until his parents arrived from their trip to Kumo. Upon opening the door, he saw a man with sunglasses and a jounin vest as well as a girl with purple hair and a katana strapped on the back, a boy with a bandana covering his hair and a senbon in between his teeth and a red-eyed girl that he somehow remember already seeing her somewhere. But he was caught off his wonderings, when the jounin addressed to him.

"Hello Naruto-kun, my name is Aoba and I'm the sensei of Team 2 here. Here let me introduce you to the genins, Uzuki Yuugao, Genma and Yuhii Kurenai" – Said Aoba to the little boy, but Naruto remembered about the henge no jutsu and was a little worried about his enemies be disguised as Konoha shinobi.

"Uh, I'm sorry about not trusting you guys, but I can't help but think you could be Iwa shinobis henged into konoha shinobis, how can I be sure of that?" – Asked Naruto, earning the glares of surprise of Team 2.

Needless to say that everyone of Team 2 was looking at blonde with astonishment, since he was only six years old and already trying to see the underneath of the underneath, a lesson only taught at the age of 11, at the academy when the students would be close to graduate and become genins. Seeing that the boy actually needed reassurance, Kurenai spoke to him about the time they met at the library about two years ago and Naruto was relieved once again.

"Oh, yeah I knew I already saw you somewhere before, I'm sorry about the suspicion, is that because what happened to me and the book I was reading about tactics and strategy got me thinking about what may appear it's not what it is in the end, so I became a little suspicious, but please come in, I'll introduce everyone to the rooms and the house, so you can get comfortable and I can guarantee to all of you that I won't be bothering you guys, come in." – Said Naruto with a wide smile on his face and entering the house.

When they entered the house, Yuugao was caught talking to Kurenai, since she was somewhat interested in what the blonde could do. She was surprised that he was suspicious by only looking at her team, showing a shinobi ability that many chunnin still didn't have and she was impressed with him. Kurenai on the other side, was impressed as well, but with the book he said he was reading, she became interested about it on the spot and figured that he could have a lot of books for her to read throughout the week. But most of all, both of them was thinking about his age and the fact that he is growing faster than them combined.

Meanwhile, Genma was impressed with Naruto. Genma was smiling a lot, figuring that he would try to fight him in a fight to see if the rumors of him being able to break the wooden dummy at the age of four, was in fact true or not. When they got outside, Naruto showed his little training ground and team 2 was once again impressed to say the least. In the middle of the garden, there was two wooden dummies and they could see one with a hole between the chest area. Upon seeing further, they saw some leaves on the grass and asked Naruto why they were piled like that and Naruto said that he was doing multiple chakra control exercise by spinning more than one leaf at the same time, much to Aoba's surprise.

Needless to say team 2 was very lucky to get picked to this mission. Not only Naruto was a good host, but he wasn't a pain in the ass in comparison to the other times they had to babysit. On top of that, Naruto displayed a sense of humbleness, much to the surprise of the genins, who figured Naruto would be acting like…like the son of the Hokage bossing around and saying that they should do what he said. Quite on the contrary, seeing that the genin team would be training he humbly asked if he could watch them train as well as participate if possible. Aoba already said that he would be training him as well and Naruto was literally jumping with happiness, showing that he was eager to practice and train with team 2. To say all of them was surprised, it was an understatement, neither of them thought that this mission would be so cool, as well as the fact that they could train a lot.

After a little tour from Naruto, he told them to feel at home and that he would be reading one of his books for a while. Kurenai already seeing an opportunity to spend the week, asked if she could go with him to see his library and pick one to read, while Genma and Aoba would spar a little bit on the garden. Yuugao, for her instance, chose to practice some Kenjutsu Katas by herself for a little bit, since it was already getting dark, so they should all be inside the compound in case something happened.

Meanwhile, inside Naruto's room, he and Kurenai was looking at Naruto's library with big smiles. Then, Naruto picked one on chakra control, while Kurenai picked the one of strategy and tactics. She learned from Naruto that his parents bought him lots of books for him to learn and he was very thankful. Kurenai, for her instance, said Naruto was a very interested kid, seeing that his level of literature was very advanced for his age and she didn't think twice about say to him about it, resulting in a blushed Naruto and an amused Kurenai, thinking how cute the little blond was, when he was embarrassed like that.

A few hours later, everyone was having dinner together, eating what Naruto's mother left for them inside the freezer. They talked about all sorts of things. Well, actually Naruto was letting his curiosity all out and started asking about the many missions that team 2 accomplished together, as well as each of the team's abilities. Needless to say Naruto's eyes would wide every time Yuugao and Genma described their fights, while Kurenai was misleading the enemy. Naruto wasn't too happy to know about the first missions as genins called the 'infamous D' by the new appointed genins, seeing that they didn't involved any ninja skills or knowledge whatsoever. Seeing that the Team would show Naruto the wrong idea about the D ranked missions, Aoba decided to intervene, saying that these missions existed in order to improve team work among the genins and that Konoha was well known throughout the shinobi land, because of the three man cell like the Legendary Sannin and the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. Later, everyone went to sleep and Aoba decided to take the room closer to Naruto's, since he would hear better and see if the enemy would try to appear.

On the next day, Naruto was the first to wake up and start doing his routine exercises. He learned from his father, the theory behind the gravity seal and now he knows that in order for the seal to activate, one have to channel chakra through it and the contrary for deactivating. Upon activated, Naruto felt his weight increase and felt his knees bend a little bit in order to get used to the extra weight. He only used it to train alone but when he was sparing with Neji, he needed all the strength and speed he could get, because the Hyuuga prodigy was always all out when they practiced. Once completed 30 laps around the compound with the seal on, he started practicing some advanced taijutsu moves on the dummy still with the gravity seal on. According to Naruto, this exercise was invigorating and even though at the end of the training, he was sweating like a pig, he felt like he had no care in the world, just exhaust himself to the fullest.

Upon entering the compound, so to have some breakfast, he saw that Aoba, Yuugao, Kurenai and Genma were getting up and all of them looked at the sweating blonde, wondering just how stamina this boy has. Out of them, Aoba was generally the first to wake up and all of them thought that their sensei didn't sleep at all, but seeing Naruto, team 2 believed that the boy was actually a 'stamina freak', just like his mother called Naruto once to Minato, upon seeing a four year old training himself to exhaustion and then continue after a 30 minute break. Now, another thing that only Kurenai and Yuugao saw was that Naruto was pretty buff for a six year old kid, they had to focus very hard in order to see a little baby fat around the kid's body.

"Oh man, that's good workout, I can tell you, it's invigorating." – Said Naruto, panting a little bit and showing a big smile letting them know that training to him is like playing with toys or doing stuff kids 'should' be doing at that age.

"Wow, Naruto, your father told me you worked pretty hard, but I never thought you would be this hard as to wear a gravity seal on you, while training. Tell me what do you do for as you say 'morning routine'?" – Asked Aoba, seeing the fiery spirit and determination on the Hokage's son.

"I start with 30 laps around the compound, following with 100 pushups, 100 situps, then 2 hours practicing taijutsu on the two training dummies as a way of fighting against two opponents, oh and all this with the gravity seal which by the way increase my body weight up to 20" – Explained Naruto, only beginning his day.

"After that, I take breakfast and I read a book on chakra control, introduction to jutsus and strategy and tactics. I also play shougi with my Kaa-san and I practice jutsu and chakra control all afternoon."

While Naruto was explaining his training, team 2's eyes were wide and their jaws were down to their chest. Needless to say they were impressed on the blonde's determination to be as strong as his father. Genma was more than eager to fight Naruto and see how well he fare in a fight, while Aoba was having daydreams of the perfect student in front of them. Kurenai decided to enhance her learning on genjutsus as well as creating new genjutsus that her creative mind was coming with, much to Naruto's joy. Naruto once thought about the concept of jutsus and was curious as to how they were created to begin with, so he wanted to be able to create jutsus, just like his father did with the rasengan and the hiraishin.

After Naruto's break, Aoba decided to train Genma, Yuugao and his new apprentice for the week, Naruto. But first, he needed to see what Naruto's level was, so he called Genma for a spar match to see their level in taijustu and in ninjutsu. To say that Naruto was happy it would be an understatement, he was smiling from ear to ear, from the thought of sparring against a genin.

First Genma thought he could go light with the blonde, seeing that he was eight years younger than him, so he wouldn't go all out on this fight. Little did he know that Naruto already turned the gravity seal off and his speed had doubled since the first time he activate the gravity seal. When Aoba showed the authorization to start the fight, Genma charged Naruto to test his defenses. Genma started with some mid-level punches straight to Naruto's areas that would affect the opponent the most like the spling, the lungs, the face and side stomach. Since Naruto could see the speed of the attacks, he managed to defend himself, while attacking as well with his knees and feet on Genma's stomach and side stomach. Meanwhile Yuugao and Aoba was seeing the spar with a smile, the boy had good moves and was faring well against Genma, even though he wasn't going all out.

But Naruto, somehow, was faster now than before the last time he thought Neji and he assumed that was because of the gravity seal, so he asked Genma to put up a notch a little bit, demonstrating guts towards a much older opponent. Hearing this, Genma decided to add ninjutsu to the fight, making some handseals and exhaling a fireball with less power so to scare the boy a little. Naruto, seeing this, did one of the only jutsus he knew, and exchanged himself with a log that was stationed near them, vanishing from sight. Genma saw the kawarimi and congratulated Naruto on the fast thinking.

"Okay, Naruto, that's enough, good job on the kawarimi. I can see that you're going to be a great shinobi once you grow up." – Said Aoba with pride, seeing the nod of Yuugao and Genma at the blonde.

"So, Naruto, we're going to train on your chakra control during this week as well as teach you some jutsus. Now I understand that you already mastered the Kawarimi no Jutsu, as well as the henge no jutsu, am I right?" – After a nod from Naruto, Aoba continued. "Okay, then, the bunshin no jutsu would be logical sequence, then I'm going to teach you a D ranked jutsu which is very common amongst jounin and Anbus, it's called Shunshin no Jutsu, with it you can instantly vanish from where you were and appear on a different place within seconds, the farther you go the more chakra you need to do it. But it will be a very handy technique in case it happens again, won't it?"

"Would I have enough skills for this jutsu? I mean from what I read, this jutsu is pretty hard to do." – Said Naruto, not having enough confidence in his abilities.

"The jutsu is easy to perform it's just that the jutsu demands more chakra, so normally genins and low level chunnins could not do it since it takes a good load of chakra. But since your chakra amount is very high, I believe you can do it without much effort on your body, but first, I'm going to teach you a very advanced chakra control exercise, now remember Naruto, I don't want you to complete this exercise during this week, okay, this exercise is very hard to learn and will increase your chakra control exponentially, it's called tree climbing."

"How is it that climbing trees would improve my chakra control?" – Said Naruto, remembering reading something about it on his book.

"By channeling chakra through your feet, you can stick your feet and just go up the tree, like you're just walking. Look I'll show you." – Said Aoba, as he was going up and down a tree nearby, while explaining how to channel the chakra properly.

"Man, that's so cool, ah, Aoba-sensei how long did Genma-san and Yuugao-san took to learn this exercise?" – Said Naruto pointing to the ones he mentioned that were having some light spar.

"Out of the three genins in Team 2, Kurenai was the first with the exercise, completing in two days, since her chakra control was better than the rest. Yuugao was second, finishing the exercise in three day and a half and Genma was last, finishing in four days, but not only they are eight years ahead of you but they are also genins and their chakra control is way better than you, even if yours is already amazing for a person your age. But then again I don't want you to complete this week, instead I'll give you a deadline of one month to learn. The reason for so long is for you to focus on the E ranked jutsus as well as the Shunshin, and another reason is for you to fully grasp the concept of a better chakra control, by constantly and steadily improving yourself and I assure you that by the end of the month, you will be able to finish without even thinking about it. Now let's see how you fair on your first try".

Upon hearing the authorization, Naruto tried focusing chakra on his feet and ran towards the tree, being able to stick to it and making two steps before he was blown off from high usage of chakra. When he looked at his sensei, Aoba was scratching his head asking for apologies, since he forgot to explain that if the ninja use too much chakra, well that happened and if it was too little chakra, his feet wouldn't stick, making him fall in the process. Needless to say Naruto was slightly annoyed about being blown up, because of his sensei's lack of information about the exercise.

"Man, that hurt. Oy Aoba-sensei a little more advice would be nice, over here? – Shouted Naruto at his teacher.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. But even though you know how to do it, does not mean that you will stop falling on your butt like that, once you'll be able to stick your feet and go up a few times, then you'll stop falling like that. If you don't want to fall again like that, try training evasion techniques. When you feel that you are about to fall, just use the tree for impulse and balance to land on your feet". – Explained Aoba, earning a little grin from Naruto's face.

Well, at least Naruto was sure he could not fall on her butt anymore, since evasion techniques was very used as a defense from Naruto's taijutsu. The day went by and Naruto had only improved up to four steps before he had to do the evasion technique and landed tired from trying.

Aoba, upon seeing this, told Naruto to stop for the day and focus on mastering the Bunshin no Jutsu. Because of Naruto's abnormal chakra capacity and difficulty to use the little chakra needed for the jutsu. When he performed the jutsu, the clone appeared lying on the floor all dead and without consistency.

When Aoba asked him to do it again, the same result happened. Upon seeing this, Aoba sighed and crossed his head, he has never seen anything like this. He actually tried to think of something to help the young prodigy, but he couldn't think of anything. He was already admitting defeat and therefore saying that Naruto's chakra control need to improve first, when all of a sudden Yuugao decided to help.

"Aoba-sensei, what about the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (shadow clone jutsu)" – Said Yuugao, smiling to the blond and seeing that Aoba was dumbfounded for the fact that one of his genins just mentioned a B-ranked kinjutsu that happened to be sealed inside the Forbidden scroll".

"Yuugao, how do you know the kage bunshin, it's supposed to be a forbidden technique?" – Turned Aoba, actually thinking about his genin's idea for Naruto.

"My dad mentioned once to me, but he said that it consumes lots of chakra, but Naruto-kun may be able to do it. And this technique was sealed inside the Forbidden scroll just because of the chakra consumption, not because it's dangerous". – Yuugao explained and smiled upon seeing the big smile and eagerness that Naruto was displaying once he heard it from the purple head genin.

"Wow, thank you Yuugao-san. Aoba-sensei, please let me try once, if it really consumes my chakra like you say it does, then I'll never do it again, until I complete the tree training exercise." – Negotiated Naruto.

"Huh…okay Naruto, I'll teach you but you'll have to focus on your chakra control even though you can make the kage bunshin, got it? Chakra control it's a good allied in battles, but it's also the worst enemy, if you don't learn how to control it and waste a lot of chakra in the process. Okay, now the Kage Bunshin is the same principle as the Bunshin, but there are two differences. First is that you have to use much more chakra and second is that you don't have to focus on an image of yourself, but rather focus on your entire body, since a kage bunshin has everything you has, from organs to chakra coils. The technique only needs this seal that I'm showing you with my hands. Now try it.

Naruto then focused the way he focused on the bunshin, but now without feeling the need to contain a little bit. He did the necessary seal and screamed Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (shadow clone jutsu). What appeared after the cloud of smoke, much to the utter surprised of everyone counting Aoba, Kurenai, Genma and Yuugao, four kage bunshins appeared and started a little chorus, singing "I did it" multiple times.

Not only Naruto managed a B-ranked jutsu, but he also was jumping in a crazy way, as if he still had tons of energy to stand, jump and do stuff. Needless to say that Naruto managed to do the technique, without suffering strain on his body. Aoba was the first one who managed to speak.

"Okay, Naruto, keep it down please, my ears are killing me. Now, since you managed to do this technique, you already have a clone technique at your arsenal, let's rest for today. Genma let's see first if you manage the Katon Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu) and the Katon Gouyakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu).

"Hai Aoba-sensei" – Screamed Genma as he was doing the hand seals needed for the goukakyuu no jutsu and spilled ahuge fireball of his mouth up to the air.

"Good job, now the next one." – Instructed Aoba.

"Katon Housenka no Jutsu" – Screamed Genma again, as he did the necessary hand seals, spilling fire small fireballs in different directions.

"Good work, Genma-san. Now let's head inside the compound for dinner.

Just as Aoba was about to touch the door, something was amiss. For instance, the door was in front of him, but his hands passed straight by, giving the impression of an illusion. Seeing that, Aoba remembered about the snicker member of his team who was falling in love with genjutsus.

"kai" – Said Aoba, dispelling the genjutsu Kurenai casted on the door, as well as looking at the face of the female illusionist in front of him, smirking as she mastered yet a new genjutsu technique.

"See, sensei, I mastered the Kokohi no Jutsu (Illusion Technique: False Surroundings)." – Said Kurenai, smiling like crazy.

"So, I saw. Good job, Kurenai. Now let's head inside, I guess everyone is hungry, especially Naruto." – Said Aoba, hearing Naruto's stomach manifesting and Naruto putting his hand behind his head in embarrassment, making Team 2 take a little rise out of the blonde.

"Hehehe. Sorry about that, I guess the kage bunshin just quadruplicated my hunger. Now, my mom will be worried. She usually sigh seeing what I eat by myself, imagine four times, I bet she would crumble to the floor." – Said Naruto scratching hid head.

"Hehehe, don't worry about that, Naruto-kun. I bet your Kaa-san would be worried at first, but seeing that you are the Yondaime's son and a stamina freak, she will just add two and two together." – Said Aoba, grinning a bit.

After some time, they all went to sleep. Two hours later, a blonde was seen on the compound's main living room, just staring outside at his preferred sight of his live. The full moon. No matter what trouble Naruto was in, the full moon always managed to calm him enough as to clear his mind off of things. Since the day of the kidnapping occurred until his dad came to the rescue along with his surrogate brother, Naruto was through a lot of thoughts.

'Why they wanted me? My father explained that because he was the key in Konoha's victory at the last Shinobi Great War against Iwa, but still why are they after me?' – All these thoughts were passing by Naruto every day.

The moon's light was so beautiful and he couldn't help but stare at it with wide eyes. Since the first time, he turned to watch it, he became hypnotized at the sight, it was spectacular. The light managed to bright a good portion of Konoha and bring peace as much as the sun did.

To Naruto this was a sight to be behold, actually everyday that the moon is like this, Naruto just couldn't sleep and get past such beautiful sight. He remembered his father comparing him to wolves, since like them Naruto became hypnotized by it.

Meanwhile, Yuugao was struggling on her bead. She just couldn't sleep at all. Seeing Naruto so advanced at such an early age, triggered a sense of competition with the boy. Funny, a 14 year old kunoichi competing with a six year old genin wannabe. But she did. It was the second day of the mission, slowly turning the third day and she could see Naruto managing a technique that she tried at first when her father taught her, only to fail miserably, because of the fact that her chakra reserve weren't as big as Naruto or any chuunin/jounin for that manner.

After some struggle, she sighed and went out of bed. As she put some clothes, she went downstairs to see if she could grab a glass of water or some milk to help her sleep. Upon reaching the kitchen, she noticed the moonlight bright the living room and was surprised to see her competition just staring at the full moon.

'Who the hell is this kid? Why can't he act like he supposed to act? Like a child? Play toys or something? He trains himself to exhaustion all the time, he looks at the full moon instead of sleeping. Who are you Namikaze Naruto?'

While she was caught in wonders, Naruto heart a noise coming from the kitchen and turned to see Yuugao looking at him lost in thoughts. Seeing this, he couldn't help but sigh remembering she had the same look as his mother had when she first saw him staring at it.

"You know Yuugao-san, you have the same look as my Kaa-san had when she first saw me staring at the full moon like I was doing before you came in." – Said Naruto as he watched Yuugao come back for her wonderings and he gave a genuine smile at her.

"Uh, sorry Naruto-kun, I was just caught in wonderings about something. Why aren't you sleeping? You'll need to restore your energy for tomorrow's training" – Asked Yuugao, right now looking at his eyes and once again flabbergasted.

His eyes were different than the one she was familiarized with. This set was different from the ones she saw on the Yondaime's eyes and Naruto's eyes before. This one were brighter than the old ones. It was even more beautiful than before. Brighter than ever.

"Sorry for waking you Yuugao-san, but every full moon I come here to watch it. It's the best sight ever and I can't stop looking at it. My father once compared me to wolves, since out of the animals, wolves are the ones who enjoy the full moon. Every time I look at it, I forget everything that's bad in my life and I can't help but feel secure when looking at it". – Said Naruto, not once taking his eyes off the full moon.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun, I was the one that couldn't sleep anyway. Naruto-kun, I can't help but feel threatened about you." – Said Yuugao, thinking of the right words to describe the reason of her being out of bed.

"Threatened, Did I do something to you, Yuugao-san? I don't recall hurting you, and if I somehow did, I'm very sorry about it." – Said Naruto now worried, taking his eyes off the moon and looking at the purple haired genin with worry.

"What!? No, it's not that Naruto-kun, it's just that you're just six years old and you're so much ahead for your age, that I couldn't help but want to compete with you." – 'Idiot' 'Stupid' – Yuugao was hitting her head inside, she didn't want to put it this way to a six year old infant, she didn't want it for him to think she was insane.

"A rivalry with me Yuugao-san? But you're much stronger than I am, I watched your kenjutsu and believe me I don't want to get hit by such strikes". – Said Naruto.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, but if you with six year old, were able to do a technique that I couldn't do with fourteen, that means you are pretty strong yourself. I'm sorry but I can't help but want to compete with you. You're the first one that I thought about measuring my ninja abilities with"

"Rivalry is very good for ninjas to grow stronger and better, Yuugao-san, but what about Genma-san, he is pretty capable." – Said Naruto trying to calm Yuugao, but to no avail, since he saw her nod her head in a negative manner.

"Genma is very strong and a capable ninja as well, but he is my age. The katon jutsus that you saw him doing, was his first high level ninjutsus. You managed a B-ranked ninjutsu with just six years old. Please don't take me the wrong way, Naruto-kun, but I want to be considered your rival, if it's okay with you?" – Said Yuugao.

"Do you really want this, Yuugao-san? I mean I would be glad to be your rival, but are you really sure you want to?" – Asked Naruto.

"Yes, I do. In fact, we can train together, why do you say, Naruto-kun, with my kenjutsu/ninjutsu against your taijutsu/ninutsu, it would be beneficial for both of us. I would get stronger and you would get faster. Let's try at least for this week, why do you say?" – Yuugao said almost sounding like begging for training from a six year old boy.

"Okay, Yuugao-san." – Said Naruto giving up trying to understand why the hell does she want to train with a six year old boy.

On the third day, Naruto went out of bed and dressed up his training gear, he thought about Yuugao's moves and he was dead frightened. But on the other side, he was eager to start, the only rival he had was Neji and even though Neji is very strong, Naruto didn't want to be proficient against the Byakugan.

So, he increased his routine as well as pumped a little more chakra through the gravity seal, increasing his body weight as well. After some running around and some exercises, Naruto was more tired than before. When he started his taijutsu exercises, he felt the weight get in the way a little bit, but because of Yuugao's challenge, he began hurting the wooden dolls like never before for a good 30 minutes, until it was time for breakfast.

Upon arrival, surprisingly, a purple haired genin was the first one to wake up, well second since Naruto was the first. When the rival saw each other, a little spark could be felt in the air, showing that their little spar would be happening soon.

After a quick breakfast from Naruto and Yuugao, they went to the training area and got into their respective fight positions. Instantly, Naruto make three Kage Bunshins and started attacking Yuugao who took off her katana and managed to dodge the joint attack of one of the clones and strike the second one, taking him out and vanish in a puff of smoke. Seeing Yuugao's speed, Naruto had to took his weights off. Doing that, he started feeling weird, he was lighter than ever and he could very well see her movements as she was taking care of the last clone.

But what happened next, pretty much scared him the most. Right after the clone vanished, images of Yuugao and clone's fight appeared in his mind like he was fighting Yuugao.

Naruto never was able to wonder about what happened, as he saw his opponent closing on him, placing her sword in a way as to slash through him with a diagonal movement. He was caught off his thoughts and got out of the way of the slash just as it was coming, surprising Yuugao. Since they were close, Naruto started attacking Yuugao with the same mercy as he had with the wooden dolls. Yuugao, as she was trying to block Naruto's punches with the sword's holder, was excited as hell. Naruto was fighting well against her.

'Yes, I knew he would be strong, I knew it, Come on Naruto-kun, let's continue this fight.'

Aoba was the first to arrive to the scene and was surprised to see Naruto and Yuugao equally trading blows. Naruto was punching hard and Yuugao defended with her holster. Yuugao was slicing her sword and Naruto was dodging and evading. It was beautiful to watch those two. Then he was able to see Naruto doing seals faster than before, just as Yuugao was about to hurt him, cutting a log instead.

Yuugao saw the log cut in half and smiled frantically. Naruto was the first fight she ever had and he would be even better with time, as will she. When she turned to see Naruto a few meters behind, she grinned and bowed to him.

"I was right about you Naruto-kun, you are strong, better than I took you to be. We have to do this again, I was able to train close range kenjutsu with you and your speed increased as well. Just like I told you." – Yuugao said, feeling better about herself by the minute.

"You're right, Yuugao-san, this was much fun, I really enjoyed it. This fight showed me just how much I need to train harder. Even though something tells me you're much stronger than that." – Said Naruto.

"Just a little bit more, actually. But with the pace that you are growing, you'll surpass me in no time, my rival". – Said Yuugao, feeling proud of herself, since she discovered what her dad said to her a while ago.

Flashback on

Yuugao and her father were training in kenjutsu and evasion techniques, well more like Mamoto was beating the shit out of Yuugao, but it was with a wooden sword, still hurt as hell.

"Shit, why can't I hit you Tou-san? You're too fast."

"Yuugao-chan, don't be silly, I have ten times more experience than you, plus I know all there is to know about our style, while you only learned a few katas. Trust your father on this Yuugao-chan, it'll be a while before you can hit me. But I don't expect you to beat your old man, at least not right now." – Said Mamoto with a smile.

"I know that, Tou-san, but you're the only one I can test my abilities with. The academy didn't bring me a challenge and the fellow genins do not have the skills necessary. I have only you to measure my level." – Said Yuugao looking down in shame.

"Yuugao-chan, if you really want to test your skills, you have to find someone who can measure up to your abilities. You find yourself a rival." – Said Mamoto, remembering of a certain Anbu captain.

"In fact, Yuugao-chan, you don't have to be the same age. Let me tell you a story of a child prodigy that I had the privilege to know back in Anbu duty. His name is Hatake Kakashi, a genius. He was your age when he became a jounin and a year after that, he joined Anbu. Back then, I was best fighter in Anbu and I was just as you are now, in search of someone to whom I could test my skills with. Since Kakashi's record was practically common knowledge, everyone was talking about him, so I challenged him to a spar. I tell you Yuugao-chan, that spar entered in the Anbu Headquarters history as one of the most beautiful fights they've ever witnessed. But something happened since that day with me and Kakashi, we didn't stop growing as ninjas, both of us got stronger, both of us became faster. But since I was older than him, the time was the winning factor and I just didn't have the strength to continue with the rivalry. Three years after I retired from ninja duty, Kakashi was released and become a full time jounin, since today, doing missions for the village. Do you know Yuugao-chan, that the Yondaime was Kakashi's jounin sensei. Yes he was. So, all you need to do in order to grow stronger is to find yourself a rival" – Finished Mamoto.

"I will try Tou-san and then when I'm strong enough, I'll challenge you again".

Flashback off

'Tou-san, I did it. I found my rival just like you found Kakashi-san' – Thought Yuugao, looking at the sky.

Suddenly, Aoba arrived clapping his hands at the magnificent display of ninja skills between Yuugao and Naruto.

"Congratulations, you two. Naruto, how did you get so fast all of a sudden?

"Well, since Yuugao defeated my clones with much ease, I had to take the gravity seal off, so I could fight her with all my speed and agility." – Said Naruto, pointing to the seal place at his chest.

"Oh, I see. So, Yuugao, tell me what about Naruto's skills and did I heard correctly? Did you consider Naruto to be your rival?" – Said Aoba, flabbergasted that out of all strong genins that graduated, Naruto, a six year old boy, could be Yuugao's only rival.

"As to your first question, Aoba-sensei, Naruto's skills with Taijutsu and Agility was very good for his age, as is his ninjutsu skills. Now as to the rival thing, you heard right, Aoba-sensei, Naruto was the first one that I was able to test my abilities with. And I'm really looking forward to having another fight with you again Naruto-kun someday. So you better train harder, because I'll be training harder as well." – Said Yuugao.

"Next time, I'll win, Yuugao-san." – Challenged Naruto with a wide grin pointing his fist with all might to the purple haired rival.

"We'll see about that, Naruto-kun." – Smiled Yuugao.

After Yuugao settled for another position to update her training program, she reached two scrolls one from her father and the other from Aoba. The one from her father included some Kenjutsu katas, of course. But the one from Aoba included ninjutsus. So far, Yuugao's elemental ninjutsu is none, so Aoba made a scroll of C ranked non elemental jutsu, such as the Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (shadow shuriken jutsu) and the Kunai Shuriken no Jutsu (shadow kunai jutsu).

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying the tree walking exercise but with the gravity seal back on, this time, he managed up to ten feet and like Aoba said, Naruto was improving in a steady manner, fully grasping the concept of the exercise.

"Naruto, come here, it's time for you to learn the shunshin no jutsu. Actually, the concept is pretty easy, but the real key to this exercise is chakra amount. In other to do this technique, the ninja must focus on a specific place to be, for instance, if you are to go to your room, you'll have to imagine yourself inside that room. Once that's done, focus a considerable amount of chakra and…Voilá." – Said Aoba, vanishing in a swirl of leaves and appearing behind Naruto in less than a second.

"Wow, it's very cool."

"Yes it is, now you try. For the first time, try imagining yourself in front of the same tree you practice tree walking, imagine yourself staring at it. For the jutsu to work, all of the place's surroundings and your sight position must be put into consideration. For instance, if you want to go in front of the tree, you have to imagine yourself looking at the tree as well, now try." – Explained Aoba.

In order to do the technique, Naruto closed his eyes so he can imagine what it would be like standing in front of the tree, as his sensei told. At first, it was difficult since he never thought of looking at the tree before, so he would play a creative game and just figure that out. Once done, he started to focus almost the same amount of chakra needed for four shadow clones and suddenly a swirl of leaves appeared below him and he vanished, only to appear with his face smashed through the tree with great intensity, almost breaking his nose because of the impact.

"Uh…Very good, Naruto, but tell me you didn't imagine yourself smashing your face at the tree, now did you?" – Said Aoba, trying his best not to laugh at the picture.

"What!? Do you think I take pleasure in hurting myself? Have you gone mental?" – Exploded Naruto.

"Sorry, hehehe. Now try to stare at the tree from a certain distance, then try it again, you almost nailed it, if it wasn't for the fact that you almost broke your nose." – Laughed Aoba.

'I'll show him what to laugh about, just you wait, Aoba-sensei' – Mumbled Naruto, before staring the tree and trying again.

On the second try, Naruto appeared only centimeters from the tree, almost hitting his nose again, but he already showed improvement, nonetheless. At his fifth try, he managed to do the technique and appear a good distance from the tree, staring at her, just like he pictured in his head.

"Good work, Naruto-kun. Now, from today until the last day of this week, we'll be practicing the shunshin no jutsu until you master it. You'll be appearing in almost every place of the house. Now, apart from that, we are focusing on increasing your stamina and your chakra control. Now I know your stamina is very high for a person your age, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't train stamina.

"But Aoba-sensei, what about my morning routine? Don't they count as stamina training?"

"Yes they do. But we'll practice other exercises that can improve that area as well. Like, for example, expand your chakra amount by the constant usage of it and when you restore it the other day, your chakra level would increase." – Explained Aoba.

"Now, let's do the shunshin again."

With that, Naruto practiced the shunshin until the end of the third day, until Naruto had to be carried to his room by Genma because of a little chakra exhaustion and a little dizziness from doing the shunshin some many times. So, team 2 was alone for the first time and they had dinner without Naruto this time.

"Aoba-sensei, aren't you pushing Naruto too hard? He is just 6 and he had his first chakra exhaustion too early in his life" – Asked Kurenai, a little worried about the little boy.

"I know I am, Kurenai-san. But I am under orders from the Yondaime to better prepare him so he can take care of himself when another kidnapping attempt is to be made. I sometimes wonder if Naruto ever intended to have a normal life. All I see of him is either studying or training. Of course is good to do all that, it's more important for a boy to be just a boy. But I'm not his father." – Sighed Aoba since he didn't want to see a six year old training to death, even before the academy.

"No, Aoba-sensei, he likes to play too. When I go to his room and pick a book to read, sometimes I see him playing with his toys. Now I wonder is Naruto doing this for him or to live up to his father's expectations". – Asked Kurenai, while Genma nodded, wanting to ask the same question.

"From what the Yondaime told me, Naruto does all that for him. Naruto said to him that training to be a ninja is one of the most enjoyable things he does. His father only taught him how to use chakra and the rest he learned from books and all." – Explained Aoba.

Yuugao who was eating quietly, since she didn't have questions about that anymore. Naruto was like her. They wanted to be strong, they wanted to be good as shinobi, the only problem Yuugao had was that Naruto had an early start and was advancing far greater than she imagined. While listening to the other, talking about Naruto's apparent loss of childhood, she was trying to come up with a new training, perhaps even start on elemental training.

Meanwhile, all the other three was staring at Yuugao since they wanted to know her perspective, but they found her lost in wonderings, probably about what they said about Naruto.

"Ah Yuugao-chan, how about you? What do you think about Naruto?" – Asked Kurenai to her friend, waking her up from her trance.

"Oh, you said something, Kurenai-chan?"

"I asked what do you think about Naruto's death training at an early age?" – Asked Kurenai again, a little enraged.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't worry about it so much Kurenai-chan. The boy likes to train, big deal. There are lots of shinobi that started their careers sooner. Hatake Kakashi, a friend of my father became genin when he was Naruto's age. Itachi Uchiha as well." – Said Yuugao, getting back to her dinner.

The conversation went on and ended with Yuugao showing her defeat and going to her bedroom so everybody followed suit and went to their rooms.

On the next day, Naruto woke up and looked at the clock a little surprised. It was already 12 pm. He remembered Aoba-sensei saying to him about chakra exhaustion and how the person had o rest to reinstate his chakra level, but Naruto never sensed that before.

After he did the last out of ten shunshins, he literally collapsed on the ground, not even remembering how he ended up sleeping on his bed. When he looked outside, he saw team 2 already training so he activated the gravity seal, grabbed his training clothes and went down stairs.

Upon reaching the garden, he was greeted by team 2 who were training. Genma and Yuugao were sparing while Aoba and Kurenai were as well. As Naruto turned his eyes on his rival's fight, he noticed that she was somehow holding back more than with him and so he knew why she thought of him as her rival instead of Genma.

As he was running to meet his sensei, Aoba ended the fight and asked Naruto to relax today, in order to completely restore the chakra capacity up to the standard level. With that, Naruto's chakra and stamina would grow as his body was healing from all the training he made so far. But Naruto wasn't entirely happy about that, well actually, he wasn't happy at all. He wanted to train, but then he remembered not ever having a day off from his training and relaxed a little bit.

"Ok, then, Aoba-sensei, it has been some time since I stopped to meditate some time, by doing this, I rest while I practice a little bit of chakra control, if you need me, I'll be near that tree." – Said Naruto, pointing to a tall tree on the other side of the training ground.

"Okay, Naruto." – Said Aoba.

With that, Naruto reached the designated tree and just seated in meditative position as well as closing his eyes, so as to clear his mind first. Meanwhile, Yuugao and Genma was taking a break and catching their breath. But Yuugao was watching Naruto close his eyes in that weird position and became confused beyond level.

'Now that's a first. A person like Naruto meditating. I wonder how can he possess such stamina and just sit there doing nothing at all. I would be with cramps by just sitting there for 10 minutes and he was already going up to 30 minutes. As usual, full of surprises.' – Thought Yuugao, while grinning towards her rival.

Aoba, even while sparing with Kurenai, managed to see that Yuugao was looking at Naruto with a confused look on her face and he laughed a bit. Motioning for Kurenai to stop the attack for a while, turned to Yuugao.

"What's the matter, Yuugao? Wonder what Naruto is doing?"

"Actually, yes. I was wondering how the hell a stamina freak such as Naruto could stand being on that weird position for such a time." – Said Yuugao, never taking her eyes off Naruto.

"You see, Yuugao, the Yondaime told me that Naruto, at the beginning of his training exercise, did meditation a lot. Actually, he quite like it. By doing that, Naruto manage to focus chakra through any part of his body. But according for what I was told, Naruto for the most part, focus chakra through his ears."

"Why the ears, Aoba-sensei?" – Asked Kurenai, demonstrating quite interest on Naruto's meditation exercise.

Suddenly when Aoba was about to answer Kurenai's question, Naruto beat him to it, screaming the answer, because even though he was far from team 2, with this exercise, he could actually hear a needle fall.

"The reason why I focus the chakra through my ear is to train my hearing senses as well as listen to little noises that nature make that normally no one would identify." – Said Naruto, still with his eyes closed, smirking since he heard the entire conversation.

"Huh, that's one good way to make excuses for eavesdrop, Naruto-kun." – Laughed Yuugao.

"Heehehe, sorry about that Yuugao-san. I can assure you that hearing your conversation about me wasn't my intention, but since you're talking about me, I guess that wouldn't be a problem, now wouldn't it?" – Asked Naruto mischievously, much to Yuugao's contempt, knowing a new feature from her rival, he was a smart ass.

"Okay, Naruto-kun, let's head inside. But first, I want to talk to you about something. It's regarding your future as a ninja." – Said Aoba, earning everyone's attention including Naruto since he was in fact with his enhanced hearing.

"My future as a ninja? What does that mean, Aoba-sensei?" – Asked Naruto, now lifting from his sitting position and started walking towards the sun glassed jounin.

"I figured it was nice to share with you some of the experience you'll be acquiring as your life progresses. So let's head inside for lunch and all of us can have a little insight conversation.

"Okay, oh that reminded me Kurenai-san, I was thinking about buying a new book for my collection. The ones I have, I already read, well at least the ones I'm able to learn, anyway. Maybe after lunch, we can go to a library that opened near here." – Asked Naruto with a goofy smile, showing just how much his father rubbed on him.

Now this caught everyone's attention. Did Naruto ask me on a date? (Kurenai) / Naruto, you dog you (Genma) /Now, that I didn't see it coming, Naruto-kun, you never cease to amaze me (Yuugao) / Quite direct, don't you think, Naruto-kun (Aoba).

Now, after noticing everybody staring at him with questioning looks, Naruto pounded his head, thinking he said something really stupid, but then he thought against it, remembering his words and wondering why the hell they were staring at him for.

"Uh, is there something on my face, for you all to look at me like that?" – Naruto asked, blushing a little bit because of the attention.

"Oh, it's nothing, Naruto-kun, but tell me why you invited me in the first place?" – Asked Kurenai, still not believing that a little kid just sort of asked her out.

"Well, since you seem to like reading so much, I figured that if I asked Yuugao-san, she wouldn't like to go and Genma wouldn't either." – Said Naruto in defense.

"Oh, and wouldn't I enjoy it, Naruto-kun?" – Said Yuugao trying to tease Naruto a little bit, since she wanted to see him blush again.

"Oh i..it's nothing, Yuugao-san, I just figured that since you didn't bother to take a look at any of the books, I figured that you were more for practical stuff instead of theoretical stuff, I…" – Said Naruto, blushing again, much to Yuugao's amusement, finding a new hobby for her, making Naruto blush.

"That's enough, Yuugao. Stop teasing Naruto. Kurenai if you don't want to go with Naruto, I'll go with him, while you guys can rest a little bit." – Said Aoba, in defense of Naruto.

'Spoilsport' – Mumbled Yuugao, much to Kurenai's amusement. She never said that she wouldn't go, is was just that the invitation was a bit sudden and completed unexpected.

"It's okay, Aoba-sense. I'll go with him. Don't worry, I may find some new books on genjutsu as well. Ok, Naruto-kun, I'll go.

After a nod with a smile from Naruto, they started lunch as well as Aoba's little conversation idea. Well, more like a monologue of his experience as a ninja. Aoba was telling them that since he was raised a little before the last war ended, so the circumstances were different from today, but he told them anyway. He started telling about his genin days, than the chunnin exams when his first kill occurred and the Yondaime gave him a couple of days off in order to be able to cope with the idea of continue on being a shinobi. Aoba was focusing more on this part, since being a ninja for a village meant doing missions for the village and certain missions involved killing certain individuals that normally you didn't have to. Then, he told them about his once dream to become a part of Anbu, but he discharged the idea when one of his closest friends was killed on his first mission as Anbu. Aoba told them that he was instated as a jounin soon after and then was assigned to teach team 2.

"Wow, Aoba-sensei, how did you cope with your first kill?" – Asked Naruto, clearly being the most interested of the audience that was listening to Aoba's little biography as a ninja.

"It was my sensei at the time. His name is Hyuuga Hizachi. He was the one that told me that killing the first time was hard and that the second one was obviously the hardest." – Said Aoba, getting a nod from all present. Naruto, even though was only six year old, and normally wouldn't be able to grasp the reason why the second kill was any different than the first one. But the fact is that some of Naruto's books were written by retired shinobi, who described their life as well.

"Anyway, Hizachi-sensei made me realize that I only killed, because the enemy attacked me. You see, back then, I thought I was a killer, a murderer. But sensei literally slapped me with the jyuuken, so to beat some sense into me and tell me that if that was true than every ninja in this village would be a homicidal maniac." – Said Aoba, laughing, since he remembered how his face was hurting because of the jyuuken hit that time.

"Hizashi-sama slapped you with the jyuuken, why?" – Asked Naruto, mentally imagining the scene.

"It was his way to beat some sense into people, I guess. But that hurt a lot. Well, that was my story. The reason why I talked about it, it's because children usually dream of the chance of being ninjas and perform what they would say 'kick ass' missions. But being a ninja is no game, Naruto-kun. I've seen many young genins losing their lives, thinking they were the strongest man alive and now they're dead because they underestimated just what it means to be a ninja. Now I'm not telling you that a ninja has to be emotionless in battle. It's actually one of the shinobi rules. Always control your emotions when in a mission. I just wanted to let you know this before going through with it."

"Aoba-sensei, I know about all of this, well I don't know actually. But some of the books I read were histories from retired shinobis and their lives as ninjas. The one I enjoyed the most was from a man named Jiraya. Yeah, according to the book, he was the dead-last of his genin class and ended up being on the legendary sannin along with a woman named Tsunade and a snake-like man named Orochimaru." – Said Naruto, much to Aoba's smirk, learning that Naruto was telling about his father's sensei.

"Is this the same Jiraya that wrote those orange books that've been circulating around practically all men around Konoha, Aoba-sensei?" – Asked Kurenai, already fuming at the mention of the perverted writer, who poisoned the mind of practically every male individual in Konoha.

"Unfortunately, yes Kurenai-san, he is." – Sighed Aoba, remembering one of his friends Raidon that was pretty much blabbering about scenes of the book named Icha Icha.

"Well, Naruto-kun, shall we go to the library? I want to see if a new book on genjutsus arrived." – Asked Kurenai eager to go to the library.

"Do you think that they have books on kenjutsu, Naruto-kun? I was thinking on developing my own style" – Said Yuugao, earning some wide eyes from Kurenai.

"I think they have. Do you want to come as well, Yuugao-san?"

"How about I race you there? Oh and no shunshin allowed." – Challenged Yuugao, smiling from seeing Naruto smiling and then mumbling soon after.

"Ok, then, the library is a few blocks to the right. Kurenai-san, want to race too, it will be fun." – Said Naruto smiling.

After receiving a nod, Naruto released his gravity seal and the three of them rushed out of the house and jumped to the first rooftop available. Since Yuugao and Kurenai had more experience jumping from rooftops, Naruto at first was getting behind. Seeing that he was losing the race, since the library was coming into view faster, he channeled the most chakra he could at the moment through his feet and got a big impulse, getting only inches distant from the two girls, who smiled upon seeing him landing one second later than them in front of the academy. Inside, Naruto was mumbling a little bit, after losing the race, but the sight before him managed to put a smile on Naruto. He was in front of the biggest ninjutsu scrolls section of his life and he was drooling. Naruto once remembered his father telling him not to buy srong jutsu scrolls since he was very young and inexperienced with such a thing. But he chose to defy his father, taking a book that was saying 'kaze elemental ninjutsu'. Upon grabbing the book, something strange happened and a little gust of wind flew to Naruto's face. Upon asking the vendor, the man said that the author put a little seal on the cover to identify people that had wind affinity. At first, Naruto didn't understand, but bought the book, excited about having a wind affinity, whatever that meant.

Kurenai couldn't find her book but Yuugao bought two books written by a Konoha's kenjutsu master back at the time of the Shodaime and the Nidaime's era. For someone who didn't like to read books, she was giggling like a little school girl, running though all the possibilities of her creating a new kenjutsu style, that was based on her father's kenjutsu. Even though she had to learn all her dad's katas, she was sure that she wanted to create her own, just like her dad did with his.

As soon as they arrived the compound, Naruto rushed to his room to some quiet reading as well as satisfy his never ending curiosity to grasp the entire book, but since his father warned him about ninjutsu at such an early age, he considered taking it slow, just like the tree walking exercise. The book gave a little introduction on the author as well as some knowledge about kaze ninjutsu.

Meanwhile, Yuugao was beginning to grasp the reason why Naruto and Kurenai were so eager to read new books. This one had some images of well-known kenjutsu styles as well as a wide description of the moves and katas. Kurenai, on the other hand, was fuming in anger. She didn't find any books she liked and she didn't have what to do, so she went up to Naruto's room to see if he had a book she could read that didn't involve things she already mastered.

"Excuse me Naruto-kun, may I come in?" – Asked Kurenai, after knocking on the door to let Naruto know she was there.

"Of course, Kurenai-san, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could borrow a book for me to read, I really need something to keep my mind on and mine I already finished." – Said Kurenai, with a bit of sadness running through her voice as well as her face.

"Well, what I have you pretty much already nailed at the academy. But since I will be so caught up with the book I bought today, you can read the one I was reading about tactics and strategy. Here take it. It's a very good book. He traps you and once you begin to read it, you will be eager to read more, the stories are written so to catch the reader's interest from the beginning." – Said Naruto smiling a bit from his own memories, never letting go of such book for a while.

"Gee, thanks. I'll read right away". – Said Kurenai, sitting close to a table inside Naruto's bedroom, much to Naruto's surprise, since she was setting in his room to read the book instead of going to the living room like other times.

The fourth day went by pretty quick and everyone went to sleep. On the next day, since Naruto was with his chakra and energy restored, he woke up early and proceeded to his exercises on the training ground. After that, he started his new taijutsu training. This time, Naruto summoned two shadow clones to work as sparing partners, instead of relying on the wooden dummies. Upon asking from the two to fight him, each of them went to identical stances, since they were all the same person and the two clones went to attack Naruto at the same time. Seeing this, Naruto shunshined out of the way and appeared on the clone's back to strike forward with a swift kick but was blocked by the first clone when the second clone came charging Naruto, aiming a punch at his face, only for Naruto to perform a kawarimi and appear a log instead. On this time, Naruto with a roundhouse kick managed to hit the first clone, making him vanish in a puff of smoke, leaving only one clone to handle. Suddenly, the clone channeled chakra through his feet and appeared in front of Naruto really fast, shortening Naruto's time of response by quickly blocking his face from a very strong punch that would seriously hurt him. After some blows exchanged between the Narutos, the real one was able to feel the adrenaline inside his body and he was feeling better than before. When the clone tried to kick the real one, Naruto ducked and did a low lick hitting the clone's legs, winning the battle. Wow, that was awesome, but maybe tomorrow I could try to take on three clones.

Meanwhile, Aoba was seeing the whole thing proudly of little gaki's progress. As he was lost in wonderings, he never saw Naruto managing to go up to half the tree before having to evade and land on his feet in safety. Being on time with his routine, Naruto shunshined inside the living room and appeared inside out of the blue, scaring Kurenai, who was holding a side dish.

"Naruto-kun, don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack." – Said Kurenai, catching her breath a little bit.

"Sorry there Kurenai-san, I was just practicing the shunshin." – Said Naruto scratching his hair grinning a little bit.

"Oh I see you're almost mastering the shunshin Naruto, good for you. That training of yours with the kage bunshin was a very good idea. With that, you can see your movements being performed in front of you and learn how to counterattack your own style, very ingenious" – Said Aoba, overestimating Naruto, since the little blonde didn't think about that at all.

"Well, actually, Aoba-sensei I never thought it like that. The reason why I did was to put some movements on my taijutsu partner, because the training dummies just don't do it for me anymore. But I'll think about what you said, Aoba-sensei." – Said Naruto, earning laugh from the other genins and a apologetic look by Aoba.

Their afternoon went on with Yuugao and Genma sparing against Aoba and Kurenai in order for them to improve team work and learn how to work effectively with the partner. Meanwhile, Naruto was training in speed, by focusing chakra through his feet, he was running laps around the compound a couple of times, as well as doing a couple of dashes to left and to the right. After 20 laps, he was getting tired and a little dizzy, so he stopped to meditate some time.

At night, Naruto started to read his book on kaze (wind) ninjutsu. While going through the pages, he was literally imagining the words that he was reading in his mind and imagining him performing such techniques. He mumbled something about having to grasp at least water walking level chakra control in order to start doing chakra elemental manipulation, but he could learn what to do in theory so he only had to practice what he learned when his control was to be good enough. Since Naruto discovered about his natural wind affinity, he decided that when he finished the tree walking exercise, he would jump right on the water walking exercise. Upon looking at the clock, he realized it was getting late, so he went to bed, not knowing that his worst fears would come barging on his door one more time.

---

--Close to Konoha's border--

Close to one of Konoha's border, four iwa chunnins and a iwa jounin were setting up camp. They were on a mission. The mission was to kidnap the Yellow Flash al all costs. Since the first mission went in disaster and the Hokage didn't want to start another war because of this, Iwa were putting all their efforts into this mission. They couldn't afford to go to another war against Konoha's yellow flash, since nowadays Konoha got themselves new legends like Sharingan no Kakashi as well as an Anbu captain by the name of Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi, even though supposed to be an Anbu, his name spread wide across the ninja nations and got himself a considerable reputation. His team is famous since they were successful in every mission they encountered so far. Back with the Iwa team, each of them were resting, pretty confident that Konoha wouldn't suspect of their mission to kidnap the Hokage's son. Little did they know that not only Team 2 were protecting Naruto but also a seal that was secretly placed inside the compound that would alert an Anbu team that was taking place near the house.

---

--Near the Namikase Compound--

A couple miles away from the Namikase compound, a team of Anbu officials were guiding the house. Their captain, no other than Uchiha Itachi was chosen by the Hokage himself in order to assist Team 2 in case the enemy would be too strong for them to take. Itachi, on his part, ordered his team to be close and that he would scout the compound to see if everything was in order. From time to time, he did just that and now he landed near a tree and surpassed his presence in a way that not even Aoba could detect. Right now, Itachi was observing a little blond running around the compound, as well as training his agility. From some time, Itachi was taking a big interest in Naruto. He is proud member of one of the first clans in Konoha, the Uchiha clan. But for some time, the Uchiha clan began too proud of their bloodline, the sharingan, and they were beginning to become sloppy. Once they developed the sharingan, all they did was copy other's abilities and get stronger by doing just that. This fact enraged Itachi to no end, he was perhaps the only one who got stronger by not relying on his doujutsu and actually train his body like no other did before. And Naruto he could choose to use his father's name and become just like those lazy bastards on the Uchiha clan, but he choose to train in order to get stronger. That why Itachi got interest in Naruto and he would wait to fight him in a battle to see who is the strongest.

---

--Inside the compound--

Team 2 had already wake up and saw Naruto just finishing his tree walking exercise. This time, Naruto managed up to ¾ of tree and he was damn proud of his accomplishment. He vowed to quick the steps a little bit and surpassed his sensei's advice on the exercise, but the real motive of grasping the exercise step by step was to feel the chakra on each step on the tree and Naruto was doing just that. Right now, Naruto summoned three kage bunshins and started a taijutsu match with them. This time, Naruto got bruised considerably so Kurenai did a little curative on him.

"Slow down Naruto. This way, you may get hurt." – Said Kurenai, worrying about the little blond

"I'm sorry Kurenai-san, I didn't see the last one behind me. Fight three at the same time, it's sure heavy stuff, but I almost got it. Next time,…" – Said Naruto, but got interrupted by Kurenai.

"Wait, you are not considering doing that again, are you? What would happen if the bruise was to be worse, huh?" – Lectured Kurenai at the blond, earning looks of surprise by the blond.

"I have to become stronger, Kurenai-san. I know that you're worried about me, but I don't have the luxury to slack on my training. Hell I don't even want to take it easy, I want to be strong, so everyone would stop to protect me eventually and I would start to protect them". – Explained Naruto kindly, leaving Kurenai flabbergasted as to what a six year old boy was saying.

"I'm sorry Naruto. But try not to get hurt next time okay." – Said Kurenai in defeat.

"Got it, thanks for taking care of me, Kurenai-san, I really appreciated it". – Said Naruto showing a wide and warm smile.

"No problem." – Said Kurenai while smiling at Naruto's wild determination in getting strong.

To tell the truth, Naruto was actually sad about having to be protected all the time, sure he was young. But normal young ones didn't have that kind of protection, so Naruto sighed while seeing that his future while not predictable, would have to be similar to his father's, at least until this whole Iwa/Konoha problem. But on the other hand, he was happy because he met four new friends and a new rival in Yuugao.

Returning to the task in hand, Naruto continued to train and perfect his taijutsu sytle, now summoning only two kage bunshins so that Kurenai wouldn't worry about him. While keeping a steady and beautiful fight, Naruto and his clones was performing graceful moves, literally giving team 2 the Yondaime's taijutsu style. Since it was based on speed attacks and moderate force, Naruto was able to train both of them on equal levels, most of it, with speed being first and strength a little after.

Meanwhile, Genma was learning a new katon jutsu from Aoba called Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu). Yuugao for her part, was medidating like Naruto and Aoba suggested but being who she is, she just couldn't just sit still for five minutes, before jumping like a mad person and start slicing the air with her katana, much to the dismay of everyone around. Seeing this, Naruto turned to her and started asking:

"Yuugao-san, tell me something? Do you have one thing in particular that calms or relax you?" – Asked Naruto earning some thought from Yuugao.

"Well, something that relaxes me….Oh, the hot springs, yeah. That relax me, but why are you asking Naruto?" – Said Yuugao sending mischevious grins at him.

"If that's the case, try closing your eyes and imagining you are taking one of the best baths you ever took." – Started Naruto, motioning for Yuugao to follow his lead and try again.

"Now, as you are taking the bath, now channel chakra through your ears and hear the wind blowing through the air like it wanted to pass by you and cool you head to toe. Now, casually sit in mantra position and keep imagining that you are taking a bath as well as listening the almost silent noise of the water evaporating from the heat temperature." – Said Naruto in a most calming voice that managed to calm Maito Gai, when he is screaming about fire of youth, calming Yuugao up to the point where she sit down and displayed a smile that could only be seen when she was in fact taking a bath.

As Naruto managed to calm Yuugao down, he resumed to his tree walking exercise a little bit and got up steady ¾ of the tree, just like before but easier. After that, all of them went inside to have some lunch.

Three hours later, the sun was almost setting down and Naruto was just training some of his agility to end the day. Seeing the blonde outside, Team 2 could only sigh inside, since they pretty much were exhausted just by seeing Naruto practice. But none of them was prepared to hear the sound of a giant boulder coming down and almost smashed Naruto pretty good. Upon seeing the shadow of the boulder, the blonde jumped away of the course, saving himself from it, but from out of the blue, a team of iwa shinobis appeared and smiled towards their objective. Since Naruto was alone on the garden, the iwa shinobi had a big advantage by blocking the all the entrances of the house, so that Team 2 couldn't stop them.

"Why are you after me? What did I do to all to you?" – Screamed Naruto, showing a little bit of fear, since the iwa shinobis were laughing at his face while approaching to him in a threatening manner.

"It's not you kid, it's because of your father and what he did to us." – Said on the chunnins.

"It was war, my father wouldn't do that if it wasn't. And it's not like each of you would kill him if an opportunity appeared." – Asked Naruto, remembering about a book that he read on the last shinobi war and the legend of his father in Iwa.

"Nevertheless, he killed many shinobis and such thing will get punishment and since he's too strong, we'll get his son instead." – Said another chunnin while trying to strike Naruto with a kick at the stomach that he slightly dodged thanks to his evasive training.

But since the chunnin surely wouldn't stop attacking, he turned and punched Naruto on the face, sending him flying and landing on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth. Naruto stood up and wiped the blood of his face proudly and determined. He had to thank the guy who punched him and awoke him of his fright. After that, he grinned and made the handseal, while screaming kage bunshin no jutsu. After that, five Narutos appeared and surprised all of the iwa shinobis for good. But Naruto knew that even though the numbers were on his side, the skill just wasn't so he did the only thing he could do and managed to save his ass. Seeing that the kage bunshins were vanishing like nothing, Naruto did the other technique he learned and vanished from sight.

"Where is that brat? Where did he go?" – Screamed in anger, one of the chunnin.

"I don't know, he just disappeared. Is this a genjutsu?"

"No, it can't be. He is only six. That's just not possible."

---

--Inside the compound--

Team 2 were scared of what could've happened to the blond. They just couldn't let Naruto alone with those foes, but they locked all the access points to the garden and they couldn't go help him. Instantly, they felt useless. The blond kid rubbed them a lot and they were beginning to get desperate when they heard Naruto scream the kage bunshin and they were frightened.

"Aoba-sensei, we have to save him, he can't fight four chunnins alone, even one chunnin would be almost impossible for him." – Said Genma to Aoba.

"I know that Genma, believe me if it were anything we could do, we would have done in an instant, but they blocked all the entrances. We are trapped." – Sighed Aoba.

Suddenly, they felt a little gust of wind on their backs and turned to see a miracle just appearing. Naruto was there with them with his usual grin. But he didn't know that he just used fuuton chakra while doing the shunshin. Actually, Aoba was the first to notice that and were literally flabbergasted, but lost the thoughts when Yuugao and Kurenai went to see if he was ok.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay? Are you hurt?" – Said both ladies in unison, causing Naruto to blush a little bit even though they were in a hell of a situation.

"I'm okay, you guys. Don't worry, I used kage bunshin to get them occupied so I could do the shunshin and got out of the way, appearing here." – Said Naruto.

"Very clever of you, Naruto. Now, how many kage bunshins you made?" – Aoba asked, since he still heard fight on the backyard.

"Only 5, but I believe that they were already out when I shunshined out of there, why?"

"Cause I can hear sounds of people fighting outside." – Said Aoba, earning the surprise look from everyone, including Naruto even though he was the one that created the clones.

Suddenly, the wall of mud vanished opening the passageways to the garden, revealing three Anbus standing and four chunnins on the ground unconscious. Seeing that everyone was looking at them, the Anbu captain came inside and assured Team 2 that the ninjas were taken care of.

"How are you, Naruto-kun? You were very smart, using shunshin to get out of the way; it actually made our job easier by dispatching those fools." – Said the Anbu captain, also known as Uchiha Itachi.

"It was nothing, Nii-san, if Aoba-sensei didn't teach me the technique; it would be hard as hell to escape. Thank you very much, Aoba-sensei." – Said Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, do you know him? And why did you call him nii-san." – Asked Kurenai

"I know him. He came and taught me how to improve my taijutsu once, he is very nice and strong too. I want to be just like him and Kakashi-nii-san when I grow up. And the reason I call him my nii-san, is that I consider him and Kakashi like they were my big brothers." – Said Naruto smiling at the Anbu captain.

"I expect big things from you Naruto-kun, keep up the good work. Now, my team will be taking the enemies up to Ibiki for questioning, See ya Naruto-kun." – Said Itachi before vanishing out of sight.

Once everyone was relieved of the situation, but Aoba still looked at Naruto with not believing eyes. If he respected the boy before, he now admired him. 'How the hell that he learned elemental manipulation?'.

---

--On the next day at the Hokage's office--

On the next day, Minato arrived back from Kumo and they were pleased because of a little agreement he arranged with the now allied country, but Minato was worried as hell for his son and as it seemed by the report handed by Aoba and Itachi, Iwa did tried to kidnap Naruto again. Luckily, Naruto managed to escape doing two jutsus that only he was able to do at such an age. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Shunshin no Jutsu were not difficult jutsus to make but what they lack in performing, these jutsus compensate with the amount of chakra needed for them.

But what startled Minato was what Aoba's report said at the end. When Naruto shunshined inside the compound, Aoba could sense fuuton chakra imbedded in the technique and he swore that Naruto made a fuuton shunshin no jutsu (Wind Style: Body Flicker Jutsu), a technique used by ninjas in Suna. But when he asked Aoba of any evidence of how Naruto even heard of elemental maniputation, he shrugged and said that he didn't see any material that could teach him that. 'How Naruto? Just tell me how can you manage to surpass my expectation all the time? I guess now he's more than ready for my new system at the academy, huh'.