Age Twelve

Nothing ever went the way he wished that it would lately. Naruto had run to school in a panic, he had slept through most of his alarm and barely made it to his class in time. In his defense, he was up late into the night practicing the clone technique, the one he failed to perform his last two attempts, and would likely give him hell again this time. The Kyuubi had been strangely silent as the test date approached, and he wasn't quite sure why. It had mentioned something about him passing on his own merits and something else about being worthy, but as to what the Kyuubi was referring to, Naruto didn't understand. As was typical, further inquiry was met with silence.

In the past he had griped to Kyuubi about not waking him up when it was important via mental prodding like it used to when he was younger, but Kyuubi simply stated that if Naruto always relied on it then he wouldn't amount to much as a shinobi. It was only after a long period of Naruto frowning as he thought about it did he realize that Kyuubi was, in fact, correct.

Almost not making it to class in time was only a minor setback, however - it had happened plenty of times before and he had only gotten what he felt were gentle reprimands from Iruka, his homeroom teacher for the last two years, and an occasional detention. The worst part about his morning, so far, was that he managed to make a fool of himself in front of his beloved Sakura-chan yet again. Someone had tripped him as he was running up the large steps towards where she was standing at the end of Sasuke's row.

As his luck would have it, she turned to look at him warily as he jogged up towards her. He was so focused on her, however, that he didn't notice when the foot was stuck out from one of the class benches, and he tripped over it. He would never forget the look of shock on her face as his own crashed directly into her chest, and the force of his movement knocking them both to the ground, with him on top.

He had immediately panicked and jumped off of her, reaching down to offer her his hand. It was to no avail, however, as she continued to lie there on the ground, arms covering her chest, an expression of rage on her face that he had never seen before. The next several seconds were a blur as she started yelling at him with words strung together so quickly that he could only pick up bits and pieces, mostly revolving around 'idiot', 'insulting', and 'Sasuke-kun'.

She got in a few good hits too, some of which he was unable to protect against completely, one of them that still ached on the side of his head. He had managed to back away far enough from her to where she wouldn't follow - if one thing was predictable about Sasuke's fangirls, it's that none of them would wander too far, lest another one find an opening. Huffing angrily, she twirled back around and began apologizing to Sasuke, claiming that Naruto hadn't 'stained' her, or something like that, going so far as to state that she was still 'pure' for him.

Naruto had tuned out her ramblings, as well as the laughter that still circulated the classroom. Finding a still empty row, he sat down in the first chair at the end near the aisle, and rubbed at his sore head. It wasn't until Iruka-sensei entered the classroom that he decided to smile again.

"I fail to understand why you continue to fawn over that pink haired harpy in your class. She has nothing of value to offer you as a potential mate that I can discern."

Naruto looked up at the glowing red eyes that were peering at him from behind the bars of the prison. He let his hands fall to his sides from the position that they were in previously; he had been channeling his chakra through a handsign in his mind as Iruka reviewed some boring stuff in class, testing the limits of his chakra control, as Kyuubi had suggested he do a long time ago whenever he was bored or had free time. It wasn't as efficient as real-world practice, but it helped him concentrate, if nothing else.

"Huh? Sakura-chan? What about her? I just think she's pretty, that's all."

There was a large exhalation of breath, followed by a low rumbling. "Listening to her shrieking voice is a nuisance, and she only pays attention to that Uchiha scum regardless of whatever... childish antics you perform to gain her fleeting attentions."

Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion for a moment, thinking about what the Kyuubi said. Sometimes it used words that he didn't know, but since they had been talking so often now, he was able to understand what Kyuubi was saying if he thought about it long enough. Sometimes Kyuubi would explain the meaning of a word, but then moments like those would only last so long before it got irritated and went silent.

After he finally grasped what Kyuubi was getting at, Naruto began to stutter something about Sakura, until it clicked that it had insulted Sasuke. Naruto pointed up at the Kyuubi's cage.

"Hey! Sasuke may be annoying at times, but he's not scum! Take that back!"

A deep chuckle filled the room. "I refuse. He is still young, much like yourself. I will be watching closely to see if he succumbs to the same curse of darkness that has befallen many of his ancestors, those with the damned eyes."

"Damned eyes? What are you talking about?"

Silence met him, which was not unusual in the least. While Kyuubi had become much more talkative over the past years since they first met, there was still a multitude of things that it refused to comment on further or explain.

"Hey hey, you've been around for a long time like you said, right? Do you have any ideas that might help me get Sakura-chan to go on a date?"

Kyuubi simply stared down at Naruto for several long moments. Naruto turned away, pouting after a little while, figuring that Kyuubi wouldn't answer this one either.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

Naruto whirled back around, surprised. The Kyuubi's voice was filled with incredulity, though Naruto simply believed that the Kyuubi was surprisied at the question. Or at least it seemed to be... Naruto didn't believe that Kyuubi didn't have 'human' emotions, and he didn't understand what that emulation thing that Kyuubi kept talking about either.

"Of course!"

It was silent for another few seconds, as if contemplating whether or not to continue with the conversation. "I will give you advice, if you agree to make a bet with me."

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. This was new. Kyuubi never offered to make bets, and he always had to beg and plead for any kind of information that it didn't want to give out. Even then, the begging and pleading rarely worked, and he just had to wait for whenever Kyuubi felt like parting with the information he desired.

"Are you going to try to trick me?"

"No. You wanted information, I will give it. However, it will come at a price, namely making this bet with me."

Thinking about it for a second, Naruto slowly nodded. "Okay, what's the bet?"

"You actually thought about it for a moment without jumping in regardless of the consequences. Good, you're making progress."

Naruto preened slightly as Kyuubi continued, "The bet is as follows. After I give you advice, if she accepts this date of yours; you win, and I will teach you something new that you didn't learn in school."

The blond's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to say something, but the Kyuubi continued talking over him, "If she turns you down however; you lose, and you will have to stop playing pranks and acting like an idiot around everyone to gain attention until I say otherwise."

Naruto's mood instantly settled. So that was the catch. "But if I don't, I'll just keep being ignored."

"Why do you insist on needing attention? You have the attention of your Hokage, as well as the attention of the greatest of the tailed beasts. Do you really need more?"

Naruto's mouth opened as he immediately went to reply, but then quickly snapped shut as he had thought about it. Another thing that Kyuubi had somehow instilled in him - think things through. If he didn't, he wouldn't get the information that he was looking for, as the Kyuubi had proven to him on many occasions before now.

"It... it hurts to be ignored... to be alone. I don't like it."

One of Kyuubi's eyes opened fractionally from where it was behind the cage, examining him. That meant that his answer was acceptable, or that it did something like surprise the Kyuubi. It only ever opened it's eyes or showed teeth when it had a point to make, or Naruto had somehow surprised it.

"Did you forget? You are never alone. I am here with you."

It was Naruto's turn to open his eyes, the difference was that his flew wide open. While the statement was very simple, and strangely comforting considering the source, he had never really thought about it like that. Even if the Kyuubi didn't talk to him whenever he came to visit the prison in his mind, it was still there, always inside of him. It didn't have to talk - Naruto could easily feel the presence behind the cage. While Naruto felt that Kyuubi was a friend, even if a rather strange one, Kyuubi itself had never given Naruto any impression that it felt a connection with him. This was the closest Naruto had ever gotten to an admission of their solidarity.

He was going to inquire further about how exactly Kyuubi felt, but it chose that moment instead to continue talking. "Running away from pain is not something a true shinobi would do. As for the information you want regarding the... female... listen carefully, for I shall not repeat it..."

"H-Hey... Sakura-chan?"

Iruka had left the classroom, taking the first student with him to be tested for graduation. It was the clone technique again, his worst, but he was pretty sure that he could nail it this time. Using that confidence, he bolstered himself as he went to confront his crush. Kyuubi's advice was something that he had never really considered before, but everything else had worked so far, so he figured it was worth a shot.

He was prepared for the scathing look that Sakura sent him, but not so much the one from Ino, who was sitting next to her in their row.

"What do you want now, stupid? I'm trying to have a conversation with Ino."

If he didn't have people in the classroom paying attention to him when he got out of his seat, he certainly did now. Sakura didn't make any attempt to keep her voice down.

Naruto had to fight the urge to say nevermind and bolt back to his seat, and managed to keep his face somewhat serious.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. I... I wanted to say sorry for falling into you before. I didn't mean to, but I didn't know I was going to be tripped."

Surprise blossomed on Sakura's face, and he vaguely noticed Ino's expression looking similar. The way he was staring at her must have been slightly unnerving, because Sakura quickly jerked her head away.

"W-Well, since you actually seem to mean it... fine, I forgive you. This time."

Naruto had to fight the urge to place his hands behind his head and give her a big grin. As much as he wanted to, Kyuubi's voice still rang about in his head. All of his progress would come undone if he looked like an idiot now.

"Is there something else you want, or are you going to keep standing there?"

This time it was Ino who spoke up, Naruto glanced at her, nodding briefly, before turning his attention back to Sakura, who was once again giving him the same wary look from when he first entered the classroom.

"One more thing. Would... would you go on a date with me, Sakura-chan?"

At first, Sakura bristled in her usual manner and looked ready to call him an idiot and hit him over the head, as was their usual scene. This time though, any words she was going to say to him appeared to die on her lips - her mouth opened, but no sounds came out.

Her mouth clicked shut, and Naruto wasn't certain but it looked like a light blush formed across her cheeks just before she spun away in her seat, closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. Naruto stood there, waiting patiently for her to answer, as she was obviously turning the question every which way in her head. Once again he found himself resisting the urge to place his hands behind his head and grin.

Sakura opened one eye to see if he was still there, and he heard her sigh lightly before she opened both of them and turned back towards him. There was a slight frown on her lips, so before she could say anything, Naruto decided to fall back on some more of Kyuubi's so far helpful advice.

Holding up a hand, open palmed and facing outward toward her, she frowned yet again, but this time one of her eyebrows rose sharply. Now she was looking like she was going to beat him upside the head, so he tried to speak quickly and get it all out.

"L-Look, Sakura-chan. I know you say you like Sasuke all the time, that's fine, but he turns down everyone who asks him on dates. I'm just asking for one, that's all. I'm hoping you'll like it, but if you don't..." Naruto let out a little sigh, shaking his head as he thought back on his conversation with Kyuubi, "If you don't like it, then I promise I'll never ask you again."

He dropped his hand, and watched as Sakura's face went through a quick series of emotions. It started out as shock and surprise as an intense blush worked across her face, followed by a quick glance at where Naruto briefly remembered Sasuke was sitting. The brooding teen must have been looking at them, because she visibly panicked and quickly whirled around in her seat, her back almost completely to Naruto now as she pleaded with Ino.

"Ino! What should I do? I don't know!"

Ino was only partially paying attention to Sakura, as she was still looking at Naruto, surprise etched on every corner of her face. It wasn't until Sakura grabbed the girl's shoulder that she completely focused on what her rival was asking.

"What do I... I think... you should, um, probably do it."

Ino sounded as if she didn't really believe herself when she was talking, which just seemed to aggravate Sakura. Naruto simply stood there, waiting, his fists clenching and releasing rapidly. It was getting to the point where he was about to shrug the whole situation off. He had no idea his heart could beat this fast, and he couldn't really ever remember being this nervous over a simple yes or no his entire life so far.

He focused on Sakura once again when he could no longer hear her talking, only for him to notice that she was looking at him over her shoulder with her eyes half closed as if she was sizing him up. Naruto tried to give her a small sincere smile, but as soon as he did Sakura's eyes opened and her eyebrows shot sky-high, followed by her head jerking around to face Ino once again.

"A-ha! I'm on to you now, Ino-pig!"

Ino simply stared at Sakura, blinking owlishly. "What?"

Sakura faced forward in her seat, arms crossed over her chest again, eyes closed, and a smug grin on her face as she spoke, "I bet you talked to Naruto some time before class and asked him to do this, and then told me to say yes to him so I'd no longer be competing for Sasuke-kun! It seems that your plan has backfired!"

Still blinking, Ino began to slowly shake her head. "Uh... no. I don't talk to Naruto. I'm just as surprised as you."

"Hah! Of course you're going to deny it. It all makes sense now."

"What are you talking about Forehead? I will win Sasuke-kun on my own, there is no reason for me to resort to such dirty tricks!"

Naruto let out the breath he didn't remember holding as the two constantly competing rivals fell into another one of their arguments. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Naruto realized that he didn't even get a yes or no, he was simply ignored, which is exactly what he was afraid of. It would have been easier if she had simply said no. Sakura had seemed to consider his offer for a while, which raised his hopes... but deep down he had a feeling it would end this way.

Kyuubi had sort of prepared him for this outcome, in its own way. On no uncertain terms, it had declared Naruto was too young for things like this, but was willing to humor him anyway.

Turning away from the two girls, Naruto walked to the row directly across from them. There was an empty seat at the end of the row, to which he immediately sat down on, only to lean forward and place his face in his hands as his elbows rested on the desk. Kyuubi would now hold him to the bet they made, which meant no more goofing off. He was going to be a shinobi soon anyway, so that made sense. So what if he had to put up with being ignored for a little while - he'd be Hokage eventually anyway.

Leaning back in his seat, he tuned out the two still arguing girls, turning his head to look out the window. In so doing, he realized that he actually sat down a seat over from Sasuke, and there was only that empty seat between them.

"Hey, Sasuke."

The other boy was leaning forward slightly, his hands folded in front of his face as his elbows rested on the desk - it was how Naruto typically saw him sitting if there was nothing else going on. Sasuke didn't acknowledge him with much more than a glance from his peripheral vision and a raised eyebrow.

"What do all the girls like so much about you, anyway?"

Sasuke actually turned his head in Naruto's direction this time, beginning a sort of staring contest for nearly a full minute before the raven haired boy looked away.

"If I knew, I would stop it. They all annoy me."

Naruto growled internally. That answer was much too similar to ones that Kyuubi gave him. Essentially it was an answer that didn't really clarify anything. Something told him Sasuke knew exactly what caused the girls to swoon all over him, but the Uchiha simply chose to ignore it.

Naruto was about to snap out a retort, but the classroom door opened, and one of his classmates stepped through with a large grin on his face and a forehead protector in his hands. He began talking excitedly to another one of his classmates in the front row as Iruka-sensei leaned in through the doorway, announcing for the next student to follow him.

The reminder of the exam was all Naruto needed to forget about Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest - and to proceed back into his mind to work on his control some more.

"Iruka-kun, do you have a moment?"

The young Chuunin's back went rigid as he promptly whirled to his right, where the Sandaime Hokage was currently gazing up at him.

"O-Of course, Hokage-sama! What can I do for you?"

The Sandaime gestured with his head back towards the entrance of the Academy, and Iruka immediately fell into step next to him after excusing himself from the parents he was talking to. There were no words spoken as they traveled back to the entrance, Iruka was a stickler for rules, and common courtesy was that the Hokage always spoke first.

Hiruzen did notice as Iruka discreetly looked back over his shoulder, towards where a boy was sitting alone on a swing at the far end of the Academy grounds. If the situation were not so serious, the act might have brought a fond smile to the Hokage's face.

As soon as they entered the school building, Hiruzen continued walking down the hallways, casually greeting other teachers and students still in the school, Iruka doing likewise when appropriate. It wasn't until they entered the empty teachers lounge, and Iruka closed the sliding door behind them, that the Hokage spoke.

"You still don't agree with this entire process. I can tell."

Iruka immediately stiffened, but eventually shook his head as he sat down in the chair at his desk. The Hokage sat down in another chair across from his.

"No, Hokage-sama, I don't agree. It wasn't fair to him. He should have passed."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slowly. "I agree with you."

Iruka looked at the Hokage, shocked. "But then... but then why-"

A hand went up, and Iruka's mouth clicked shut. Of all people for him to question...

"I understand your frustration completely. Were I in your shoes, I know I'd be feeling the same way. What I couldn't tell you before is that there are several other things going on that influenced the way this whole situation has played out. Naruto is a strong boy, he can handle it, since I have it on good authority that he will be a shinobi by this time tomorrow."

The first thing Iruka felt go through his system was relief, followed by sadness and a bit of anger. "I think I understand, Hokage-sama, but for the record I don't believe it was fair."

"Perhaps it wasn't. But that's why it's my duty to make the decisions like this. Allow me to explain a little more, and perhaps then you'll be able to fully comprehend my reasoning."

The scarred Chuunin simply nodded, leaning back in his chair as the Hokage started his explanation.

"As I told you before, I have always planned to have Naruto be placed under Hatake Kakashi, for more than one reason. If Naruto had passed his first graduation exam, he likely would be a Chuunin himself, by now. However he did not pass, therefore we had placed several contingency plans into effect.

"Naruto's test was altered so that he failed his second exam on purpose. The reason for this was because one year was too little time for Kakashi to train Naruto, I didn't want to push the boy out from Kakashi's tutelage too early. There was another student coming along that I had to place under Kakashi as well, because of his eyes."

Realization was slowly dawning on Iruka's face as the Hokage continued. Hiruzen found himself smiling slowly as Iruka began to realize what was going on.

"Now I know you're probably curious as to why Naruto still hasn't passed, and why I had you mess with his grades. It is common knowledge that the first and second best students in their overall grades get partnered up with the worst student, because that is the best we can hope to salvage from the failures."

The emphasis placed on the word 'failures' was not lost on Iruka, and he sighed as it all started to fall into place. Naruto hadn't failed any of his tests, in fact he had fallen around the middle of the class for most of them, including the written test. However, the Hokage had assigned Iruka a mission to mess with Naruto's grades, to make them just one point worse than the overall worst person in the class.

Nara Shikamaru just happened to be the person with the worst overall grades in class. Having him on a team with the smartest girl and arguably second smartest boy in the class, after the real Shikamaru that was sharp witted and incredibly intelligent, would have made them a superb team. However other plans were in effect that would keep that from becoming a reality, the latest of which Iruka was currently learning.

Of course it went without saying that he felt dirty and horrible for messing with the grades of one of his students, espeically one that was doing fairly well for himself. That might have been part of the reason why he made sure to take special care of Naruto outside of the Academy - in the beginning, at least. After while the blond had simply started growing on him, and he found himself looking forward to spending time with the boy outside of the classroom.

But the look on Naruto's face when he had to tell the blond that he had failed to make perfect clones... that would be something that lived with him forever. If he hadn't edited Naruto's grades, the boy still could have passed based on his performance in other categories, and he only would have had to edit the grade slightly to keep him as the overall worst in the class. In an ironic way, it made him feel even worse because he was essentialy being paid to fail the boy.

As if he was picking up Iruka's distress, the Hokage placed a wrinkled yet strong hand on the Chuunin's shoulder. "Iruka, Naruto's failing of the clone test was not your fault. There is another thing I need to tell you, and another mission I need to give you."

Nodding slowly, Iruka gave the Hokage grim smile, and awaited his assignment.

Clearing his throat, the Sandaime continued, "I read your report after the final test, and I could tell you were confused about why Mizuki would seemingly want to nitpick on Naruto's clones when you usually saw him as being the more lenient of the two of you. Over the past several months, I've been made aware of a spy within Konoha."

Iruka immediately sat up straight, focusing completely on the Hokage's words. "You dont mean..."

Sarutobi simply tapped the desk he was sitting at. Iruka looked, and realized with a start that it was his assistant's desk... Mizuki.

"What? How?"

"The person he is spying for has many means of getting information in and out of Konoha, of that I am certain. You don't need to concern yourself with that, however. We leave some channels of communication open, simply so we can know who uses them. In this case, your assistant has been using one of those methods frequently, and we know what he is after. Konoha's Forbidden Scroll."

Iruka paled at the implications behind what the Hokage was saying. Granted, the Forbidden Scroll wasn't in the most difficult of places to access, but since it was located just outside the Hokage's office, any attempt at stealing it was like trying to commit suicide. Between the Hokage and ANBU that guarded him at all times, there was a lot to deal with before even attempting to take it.

"But he couldn't possibly... wait..."

Iruka worked it through his head for several moments as the Hokage simply watched him, waiting for the Chuunin to piece it together in his head. It wasn't long before Iruka had his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth slowly.

"So that's why he wanted to fail Naruto, it's his plan to get the scroll. If Naruto can't get it, he should prove to be enough of a distraction to allow Mizuki to get by and take it himself. Nearly everyone in the village, especially the shinobi, know that you and Naruto are fairly close, and he plans to use that to his advantage."

Hiruzen smiled at the teacher, nodding. "Very good. We anticipate that Mizuki will have a meeting location set up, should Naruto somehow manage to get the scroll. I've told my ANBU to stand down and shadow Naruto, should he get by me. I'm actually excited and curious to see how he would do it."

"You... don't mind if he gets the scroll?"

The Hokage actually laughed at that. "I've actually already noted a section of the scroll that I'm certain he'll focus on as soon as he sees what I've written. It should help him out with his clone creation problem."

"But the only thing I can think of that would be similar and in that scroll... is the Shadow Clone technique, isn't it? But the rank of that technique-"

"It is S-Ranked and forbidden, yes. However, the main reason it is forbidden is because of the chakra drain. To someone like Naruto, it will likely barely tap his reserves. If he learns of its secondary function, he could literally be unstoppable by the time he's twenty years old."

"Unst... but wha... what could make someone that strong in so little time?" Iruka's voice was dripping with incredulity. Even the Densetsu no Sannin weren't recognized as such until they were in their early twenties, and powerful though they were, they weren't exactly unstoppable.

The Hokage grinned, and wagged a finger back and forth. "Ah-ah. It's forbidden for another reason too. I'm afraid that's all I can say."

Chuckling as he shook his head, Iruka couldn't help but let out a sigh. "So... when does my mission start?"

"Ah, yes - while you were thinking, one of my ANBU motioned to me through the window that Mizuki has made contact. They will shadow Naruto for the rest of the day. As soon as you leave the school, one of them will hand you a communicator so that you may listen in and follow what is happening."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen chuckled as he stood up, stretching slightly. "I hope you're a good actor, Iruka-kun. You'll need to make it look like you have no idea what's going on in front of everyone, myself included."

Iruka couldn't help but grin. "It's been a while since I've been able to do any pranks, but I think I can manage."

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Only those who graduated are supposed to be here today."

Naruto simply grinned at the classmate who asked him, and jerked a thumb at his forehead protector - the exact same one that all the other graduates were wearing. "Whaddaya think this is? I completed a mission Mizuki-sensei gave me, and they made me a shinobi!"

"A mission? What did you have to do?"

Another classmate asked this question, and Naruto noticed that several people were now paying attention to him, likely interested in what he had done. Even Sasuke had turned to look at him.

"Well... you see, Mizuki-sensei had asked me to get him a scroll..."

Naruto proceeded to regale the few classmates of his that were listening in about how Mizuki wanted him to take a scroll from the guarded section of the shinobi archives. If he could do it, then they would acknowledge he was shinobi material. Of course, it was a greatly edited version to downplay what he actually did, since several things needed to be kept secret. They couldn't know about Kyuubi, obviously, nor about the Forbidden Scroll and how Mizuki-sensei was actually a traitor after the Forbidden Scroll.

Of course, every time Naruto thought about Mizuki he had to hold back laughter at the look of surprise on the Chuunin's face when he tried to tell Naruto that he was the Kyuubi. Naruto simply scoffed at him, said he knew the Kyuubi was sealed in him, and proceeded to use his newly-learned Shadow Clone technique to beat Mizuki's face in, since his 'sensei' had broken the 'no telling' rule. The fact that Mizuki was threatening him and had injured Iruka-sensei, who had come to investigate and tell Naruto what was really going on didn't give him any reason to hold back, either.

His story told, most of his classmates that were listening in seemed to accept it, with a few tossing him skeptical glances, though no one challenged him outright. Even Sasuke seemed to accept it, and appeared to be giving Naruto a more critical appraisal than he ever had before.

"Naruto!"

That was his name, being called by a voice he clearly recognized. Turning to look, his eyes widened slightly as Sakura stood before him. Briefly recalling the scene from yesterday, his heart started beating faster. After hearing of his mission, perhaps she had-

"Can you move? I want to sit on the other side of you, next to Sasuke-kun!"

His fragile hopes dashed once again, Naruto turned his head the other way to see Sasuke simply scoff and shake his head. Remembering that he had been ignored yesterday, he pretty much classified that as the 'no' answer and he was going to follow up on his promise to not ask her again. Shrugging his shoulders, the blond pivoted his lower body from where he was sitting. This effectively moved his legs into the main aisle, allowing Sakura to easily shift past him and over to the middle seat of their row.

When she didn't move to go past him immediately, as he would have expected, he looked up at her curiously. For some reason she was hesitating, but as soon as his eyes met hers, she broke contact and quickly moved past him with a murmured thanks. Shifting back properly into his seat, Naruto did his best to not look in the direction where he could hear Sakura's monologue of love coming from.

He didn't have to ignore it for long, however, as Iruka-sensei walked through the door shortly after, effectively stopping most of the conversations currently taking place. Naruto closed his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, listening to Iruka drone on about congratulations and what it meant to be a shinobi. He found himself nodding his head on occasion, to show that he was listening, even just barely. The blond figured it was probably a good time to go speak to the Kyuubi about their bet; the time spent in his mind was only a fraction of the time spent out in the 'real' world, and he had been too tired to concentrate last night.

"I was expecting you sooner."

Opening his eyes, Naruto saw that he was standing in front of the Kyuubi's prison, as usual. He had gotten better in the last few months of appearing exactly where he wanted to in his own mind, instead of having to travel through tunnels to get here. Kyuubi had attributed it to both his growing concentration and chakra control.

"Sorry. I was too tired last night after... everything that happened. I couldn't concentrate, and fell asleep."

"I am aware. I meant I was expecting you earlier today."

"Oh." Naruto scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "I uh... didn't think about it before now, honestly."

Kyuubi grumbled slightly from behind the bars, but otherwise said nothing.

"Hey, um... you won the bet from yesterday, remember? So... I won't goof off for attention anymore, okay?"

He was expecting Kyuubi to open an eye and look at him, but it didn't.

"I decided yesterday that I would not hold you to that bet. The terms were that you would get a yes or no answer. You received neither, therefore the bet is void."

Naruto had to brace himself slightly as a wave of hot air - the Kyuubi's breath, it didn't stink at all like he thought it would - washed over him, blowing at his hair and clothes.

"However, I think it would be in your best interests to act more seriously from now on. You are recognized as a shinobi of your village, and while you are still but a child, people will look at you differently from someone who is your age and not a shinobi."

Naruto pondered this for a few moments. If nothing else, it was worth a shot. The Kyuubi said it wasn't holding him to the bet, so if things didn't work out, a prank or three wouldn't hurt. Nodding to himself, Naruto closed his eyes and imagined himself back outside of his body. When he became aware again, Iruka was preparing to read off the team lists. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room as various classmates reacted to hearing who their teammates would be.

Strangely, he found himself not really caring who his teammates would be. Just a few days ago he really would have liked to have Sakura and didn't want Sasuke, but Kyuubi told him it didn't really matter since no Hidden Village would turn down a good shinobi who shows promise anyway even if their teammates are horrible, they'll just put them somewhere else. It sort of put a damper on things, but nothing Kyuubi had said to him so far had ended up being false, so he understood that so long as he proved he was capable, they'd put him anywhere.

"Team Seven will consist of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto saw Sakura jump up in a cheer about halfway through the team announcement, then go rigid and slowly sit back down when his own name was announced. Sasuke didn't move at all, which Naruto expected, but he was puzzled by Sakura's reaction. He had expected her to groan and complain, or at least something other than what she was doing now.

That something was looking at him warily, yet again. Iruka was just finishing up listing teams, and moved right into giving a congratulations speech, so he wasn't about to ask her what was wrong just yet. He tried to ignore it, but she wasn't exactly being discreet about staring a hole in his head.

"That's all I have to say for now. Take a break for the next half an hour, your Jounin sensei are still in a meeting with the Hokage and won't be out for a little while. When we come back, your teams will leave one by one. Dismissed."

By the time Iruka had exited the room, Naruto forgot all about Sakura, and immediately headed for the exit. Iruka mentioned food, and whenever food was mentioned, all Naruto could think about was gods of ramen demanded he visit, and Naruto was more than happy to oblige.

"Okay, I guess we should get this meeting started by introducing ourselves to each other." Nodding his head, he waited for one of the three in front of him to take the cue and start talking. The girl of their group did, but not quite in the way he was expecting.

"Uh... sensei, we don't know anything about you. Maybe you should start and show us how it's done?"

"Right. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have... a few things that I like and dislike. I have dreams... well, they're more like hobbies. Okay, you next."

Kakashi pointed at Naruto, who was frowning. Sakura echoed his thoughts, that all the man in front of them told them was his name; they still knew nothing about him. Sighing, Naruto slowly shook his head, then began to talk.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, gardening, and training. I don't like the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, arrogant know-it-alls, and being ignored. My dream is to one day be Hokage so that everyone will acknowledge me."

Kakashi was giving Naruto what he would have had to call a bored look. Giving a miniscule nod in Naruto's direction, he turned his head to the next person in line.

"Nice dream. Okay, you next."

"My name is Haruno Sakura." She blinked, then giggled a little and turned her head slightly towards Sasuke. "Well, I like... um..." Giggling again, she covered her mouth with her hands, and spoke through them, "My dream is to... well..." More giggles.

Naruto had seen this before many times, it was annoying but didn't really affect him any more, especially after yesterday. He had to hold back a snicker, though, as he watched his new sensei roll his visible eye.

"My dislikes? I hate Na-" Naruto stiffened as he heard the beginning of his name come from her mouth. If he had to be honest with himself, he knew it was coming, but it would still hurt to hear it. When the silence dragged on, however, he turned a curious glance towards her. For some reason she flinched as he looked over, but then she quickly looked away and muttered a 'nevermind' and didn't appear inclined to say anything further.

"How thoroughly interesting. You. Next."

Sasuke grunted, let out an extended sigh, then began talking. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I like training and learning new techniques. I don't like sweets, and I hate idiots with big mouths. My dream... no, my ambition is to kill a certain man, and then restore my clan."

Naruto and Sakura both looked over towards Sasuke in surprise, it was the longest either of them had ever heard him speak and not say something condescending at the same time.

"Thats nice. Alright you three, each of you take one of these memos. It has the information on it that you need to prepare for your survival training tomorrow."

"Survival... training?" Sakura looked up at Kakashi with a puzzled expression as she received the memo. "But didn't we already pass the Academy? We did survival training there."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "That's true, you did. But this is different. The training from the Academy was testing you to make sure you have the ability to become Genin. If you pass this training tomorrow, then you become official Genin and can start taking missions."

"So what's the catch?"

The other three turned to Naruto and stared at him with varying degrees of surprise. Sakura was wide-eyed once again, Sasuke was squinting at him, and Kakashi simply seemed to have honest curiosity on his visible features.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto briefly scratched the back of his head, offering his new sensei a puzzled look. "Well, they aways tell us far in advance if we had a test coming up in the Academy. But if they didn't tell us about this, that must mean it's really hard, right? Why else wouldn't they warn us?"

Kakashi chuckled lightly as he gave Naruto a somewhat appraising stare. It was still hard to tell, as most of the man's face was covered by his headband and a mask.

"Well, you're pretty sharp after all. That's a good sign. The catch is that of the twenty seven graduates, it's likely that only three teams will pass this test. That's nine people. It has a sixty six percent failure rate consistently, pretty much every time this test is given. So I suggest you all get plenty of rest and don't eat breakfast, otherwise you might puke."

That said, Kakashi promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura sat there staring agape at where their new sensei was a moment ago, but both Sasuke and Naruto rose to their feet at the same time.

"Well, see you guys tomorrow morning. Later!" Naruto waved a hand, catching the attention of the other two, then promptly began jogging towards the stairs that they arrived from.

"Hn." Sasuke didn't linger around either, walking in the same direction as Naruto, but at a slower pace.

"Ah! W-Wait for me, Sasuke-kun!"

"Naruto! Hey, Naruto!"

The blond stopped walking, turning around for the familiar voice. He had just left Ichiraku after a nice big celebratory meal because his team passed the second graduation test, and he couldn't help but be in high spirits.

Placing his hands behind his head and offering a big smile, he greeted the girl who ran up next to him, "Hey, Sakura-chan! What's up?"

The pink haired girl was panting slightly, and leaning over with her hands on her knees. After a few seconds, she straightened, then gave him a slightly puzzled look.

"I'm sorry about earlier, when we were all leaving I was so busy listening to Kakashi-sensei that I forgot we left you tied to the pole. How did you get out? I've been all over the village looking for you."

Naruto's grin became more of a grim one as he dropped his hands, then jerked a thumb against his chest.

"I'm a shinobi, remember? It didn't take me that long to get out of it."

That was enough of an answer to cause Sakura to go red in the face from embarrassment and look away quickly, muttering more apologies.

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto idly looked about for a few seconds, watching various people walk by on the street. Ichiraku was located on one of the main paths in the village, so it got a fair amount of traffic; not quite enough to get lost in even during the busiest parts of the day, but enough to give anyone standing around enough to look at.

Turning back towards Sakura after a few moments, he was slightly startled to see that she was staring at him again. Apparently she realized that she was staring when their eyes met, as she let out a squeaky noise and promptly turned away again, but didn't move away from him.

"Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Huh?" Sakura turned to look in his direction again and was obviously still blushing, though she was looking everywhere but his face. "Oh... uhm... well, I was wondering... are... are you, well, okay?"

Naruto's head tilted to the left as he looked at her, puzzled. He made a slight show of looking at each of his hands and arms, then down at his torso and legs. Looking at her once again, the puzzled expression remained.

"Yeah, I feel fine Sakura-chan. Do I look hurt, or something?"

His teammate hesistated for a few seconds, before quickly shaking her head. "I don't mean physically - I mean, you look like you're okay. But you've been acting... well... different."

So that's where this was going. Kyuubi had warned him later that day that people might question his 'change' in personality, even if it always was his real one and he was just goofing around for attention before.

"I'm not different, Sakura-chan. This is me. I was just playing around before because it was fun. But I'm a shinobi now... I can't really act like that anymore. I've gotta grow up."

Sakura once again looked shocked, her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Eventually she looked down at her feet and spoke quietly, "You know, if you acted like this all the time, when you asked me out on a date I might have said yes."

Naruto winced internally, and he was pretty sure it showed on his face too. From her posture and sad expression, not to mention the whimsical tone to her voice, she likely didn't mean it in a harmful way... but it still hurt.

"Well, you were never able to give me a yes or no answer even once, anyway. You either ignored me or called me annoying or an idiot."

Sakura 's expression was bouncing back and forth between forlorn and angry... her eyes were squinting and appeared to be getting wet. It didn't take long for her to start yelling, however. "Well what did you expect me to do? You were always acting like an idiot in front of everyone! Any time I tried to get Sasuke-kun's attention, you were constantly in my way, trying to get mine!"

Naruto let her words sink in for a moment before shaking his head and sighing.

"I tried to get your attention because I like you, Sakura-chan. That's all."

Sakura let out a small choked gasp as he spoke, her fists were clenched and he could see her shaking. Naruto was surprised with himself, being able to tell her that he liked her so directly, yet strangely he also felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His heartbeat was also slowing down again as he relaxed; strangely, he couldn't recall when it started beating faster.

His teammate's expression had displayed the entire spectrum of emotions so far in their short encounter, and now it was flickering between embarrasment and outrage, but she seemed to be having a hard time coming up with something to say. Because of that, Naruto figured it would be best if he simply finished it for them.

"You never gave me an answer when I asked you for that one last chance, so I guessed it would have been a no anyway. You can give the bastard all the attention you want to now, Sakura-chan, because like I promised I won't ask you on dates anymore."

He tried to avoid looking at her as he finished his statement, barely noticing as her expression finally closed in on itself, then proceeded to turn around and walk away. Waving a hand, he spoke over his shoulder, "See you during tomorrow's training, Sakura-chan."

That said, he continued walking.

Sakura didn't follow.

Naruto grunted as he sat down in front of the tree he was supposed to be climbing. Well, not exactly climbing, but more like running up the side of it. Of course he had seen shinobi in the village climbing up walls all the time, but it was such a natural occurance that as he got older, he didn't really think much about it.

He knew that it would eventually be an acquired skill, but he had no idea that it would be this annoying to obtain it. Part of the problem, he figured, was that he was still aggravated by that little twerp Inari's comments just over an hour ago before they began training. Team Seven, his team, was staying at their client's place. It belonged to some drunk bridge builder named Tazuna, along with his daughter Tsunami and his grandson, Inari.

The kid kept telling them they were going to die, and it was all Naruto could do to hold his temper in check. That wasn't the worst of it either, apparently Inari had a really hard life, and everyone from Konoha had very simple, easy lives. Naruto noticed Sasuke visibly twitch a few times, and he knew his own face was turning red as his anger increased; if it wasn't for Sakura tugging slightly on his jacket arm and pulling him outside, he likely would have started a shouting match.

On their way to the training area, Kakashi had admitted he was impressed that they all managed to keep quiet, as it was probably for the best. Naruto knew Kakashi's eyes were on him as his sensei spoke, likely because Kakashi was surprised that he had remained silent as well. Sasuke, as always, didn't appear to care one way or the other, and Sakura was giving him the strange looks again.

Thinking about his pink haired teammate caused his thoughts to slant off in a new direction. Naruto honestly had no idea what was going on in Sakura's head, and he found himself hesitant to ask her what was wrong. Over the last few weeks of running D Ranked missions, she had been talking to him about regular, everyday things - it didn't matter who started the conversation, they were all civil and typically brief. It also wasn't difficult to notice that she was nagging Sasuke less often about dates, and as a result Sasuke had been slightly more receptive to talking with the both of them - so long as the conversation had a purpose.

That didn't mean that any of them were on 'best friend' terms; likely nowhere near it. Naruto was more confused by these changes than anything else, and whenever he went to Kyuubi for advice, it simply muttered something about 'human nature' and refused to elaborate, effectively leaving him to come to his own conclusions.

Leaning back and bracing his hands on the ground behind him, Naruto looked at the tree once again, checking his progress. He had made it barely a couple meters off the ground, according to his highest kunai scratch. There was a crack noise to his left, and he turned his head to see Sasuke do a flip in the air, then land in a crouch as small pieces of bark fell around him. The raven-haired boy placed his hands on his hips and looked up at his latest scratch, which was easily several meters higher than Naruto's own.

"Hey Sasuke, do you have any tips for me?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and let out a snort, then bolted for the tree one more time. Shaking his head, Naruto turned slightly to look over at Sakura, who had finished climbing her tree a while ago. He noticed her head jerk away as he spotted her in his vision, purposefully making it seem like she wasn't looking over at him.

It was yet one more thing that made him wonder what was going on. Many times when he had looked in Sakura's direction, he could notice her head shift away from him. She was obviously looking at him, or at least in his direction, but for some reason she always refused to make eye contact. It wasn't annoying or anything, but it was definitely disconcerting. He usually only got her glares or exasperated looks, and that had morphed into more neutral, worried, and curious glances over the past couple months.

Rolling his head back, Naruto looked up at the sky before he let his eyes close. He briefly contemplated going to ask the Kyuubi for advice, but part of him was hoping that he could figure this one out on his own. The Kyuubi had often given him advice regarding new techniques he was learning from school, and even when he learned the Shadow Clone technique, but it had never taught him anything original. Supposedly there was a chance he might have been taught one if he had won that bet... but since he didn't win, he'd never know now.

"Naruto?"

The blond's eyes shot open and he sat upright, looking to his right where he heard the feminine voice. Sakura was sitting there next to him on her knees, a careful distance away but still close enough to where she could talk quietly and he would be able to hear.

"What's up, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura immediately looked away for a second, in the direction of Sasuke, who was currently sitting on a low tree branch and staring at his latest marking. Naruto followed her gaze, only to snap back towards her when he heard her inhale, then ask a question.

"Do you want me to give you some pointers?"

Naruto blinked, and he realized that his mouth was likely hanging open, so he immediately closed it with a slight 'click' noise. His reaction must have amused Sakura in some way, because the corners of her lips were definitely twitching upwards.

"U-Uh... sure, Sakura-chan! Anything you can tell me would be great!"

He was sorely tempted to give her a big grin as a form of thanks, but decided against it as she had been more receptive to him when he didn't do that. It was likely the better choice, as she immediately started rattling off a list of things he needed to do in his mind to prepare. She even recognized that it was likely easier for her since she had a small amount of chakra compared to him and Sasuke - something that he hadn't even thought of.

The two of them went over some brief excercises of Sakura's that she claimed always helped her focus. Naruto wasn't sure how well they would work since he simply had so much chakra, but at this point he was willing to take any pointers he could get. As soon as the little impromptu study session was concluded, Naruto hopped up to his feet and simply focused.

Calming his mind, he first imagined his chakra flowing through his body, then began to gradually pay more attention to the chakra running through the coils in his feet. As Sakura said, when first learning things, it was best to take it slow and steady. Eventually with enough practice, things like this would become second nature.

Imagining his chakra reaching like a hand and grabbing hold of the ground underneath him, Naruto then focused on releasing the grip just enough so that it could be firmly re-established as soon as he put the foot down again. He could feel both of his teammates eyes on him as he walked around in a slow circle on the ground, getting a feel for his chakra grabbing and releasing.

Slowly he walked faster and faster, until he got up to a small jog. After getting enough of a feel for it, he stopped in front of the tree, and looked up it one more time.

Sakura started to say something, but he didn't hear her as he took off at a sprint towards the tree looming ahead of him. As he approached the base, he promptly leaned backwards, letting his first foot release from the rough dirt below and latch onto the rough bark of the tree. At nearly a ninety degree angle, it was quite the momentum shift, but after a tiny stumble, Naruto focused on the grab and release of chakra under his feet.

Left, right, left, right, left, right. He kept going and going, still running full speed. The pull of gravity was grabbing for his head, shoulders, and back, willing him back down towards the ground, but the blond managed to find enough concentration to reinforce his legs and hips, and continued running up, higher and higher.

After dodging two branches, he finally noticed that he was running out of room to place his feet. The trunk of the tree was getting smaller the closer he got to the top, and eventually there was nothing left for him to step on. His momentum kept him going up into the air for a brief moment, and he hung comically suspended in the air for a handful of seconds before landing on the top of the tree, where the trunk split off into two small horizontal branches, leaving a spot to stand in the middle.

Naruto inhaled deeply, shocked that he made it all the way to the top after a few small pointers from Sakura. Thanks to her, this was one thing he wouldn't need to bother the Kyuubi about. He was pretty sure that he heard her shouting congratulations from down below, but a nice breeze rustled through the leaves, drowning out most other sounds.

After taking in the sights from the top of the canopy for a minute, he began looking for a clear way down. Seeing what looked to be a good spot, Naruto jumped a bit, falling down through the canopy below. As he burst through several bunches of leaves, they were obscuring a rather large branch almost directly under him. His original plan was to use the branch to slow his descent as he approached the ground, but the snap judgement proved to be his downfall. There was a resounding crack noise as the combination of his weight from the freefall and his chakra grabbing the branch simply ripped a chunk of wood right out of it.

It slowed his descent, certainly, but it twisted him about at the same time. As a result, he landed on his back, knocking the wind out of him and leaving a distinct ringing noise in his ears as the back of his head hit the ground too. Naruto just lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky through the canopy, and didn't really focus on the voice he was hearing until a panicked face and a mop of pink hair obscured his vision.

"N-o? Naru-o! F-cus!"

His vision gradually cleared, and he began to inhale big gasps while trying not to cough at the same time. Sakura was waving a hand in front of his face, so he reached up to grab it as proof that he was coherent enough now. The ringing continued, but he could clearly focus on Sakura's words now, so it didn't bother him that much.

"Thank goodness! What happened? You did so good going up, but you messed up coming back down!"

The blond nodded, still inhaling deeply and coughing. In the middle of one of his coughing fits, a funny thought struck him, causing him to laugh and cough even harder. Sakura started to fuss over him, but he simply waved her off and tried to smile through the coughing and watery eyes.

"I just... I just thought it was... pretty funny."

Sakura seemed puzzled, but worry was still the most visible emotion on her face. "What was funny about you crashing to the ground?"

Naruto chuckled and coughed again, shaking his head as his breathing finally starting to settle down. "I just thought that I was so cool getting up there in one run... only to make an idiot of myself on the way down. The worst part is that this time I didn't want to."

Naruto rubbed his chest as he laughed, finally sitting up a little. He absently noticed that Sakura had gotten down on her knees next to him at some point, as she was now climbing back to her feet. The worry that was on her face before had vanished, and her relief was obvious. He was cracking jokes now, and she apparently couldn't help the small grin that worked its way onto her face.

Shaking her head, she offered him a hand, which he graciously accepted. "Silly. Maybe you should just run down it next time, instead of jumping."

"Hey, that's a good idea. Wish I'd thought of it."

Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes but was grinning even more, but before either of them could say anything else, a colder voice interrupted them.

"Naruto. How did you do that?"

The two teammates looked at their third member briefly before both looking at each other again. Naruto couldn't help but frown; sure Sasuke was a frigid bastard, though he was sure that the Uchiha had been warming up to them a little over the past couple months. The name calling had pretty much stopped between the two of them unless one of them did something really stupid and deserved it, which was still progress.

But he couldn't understand why Sasuke had to act like he did. First he would refuse to help anyone, then when someone did things better than him, he expected help or answers automatically. Shaking his head, Naruto's frown grew deeper as he saw Sasuke scowl before he had even said anything.

"I can't tell you."

Before Sasuke could blurt out an angry comment, Naruto placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and spoke up quickly.

"But Sakura-chan can explain it. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to do it. I'd probably just mess something up and make you angry at me anyway."

The Uchiha's scowl immediately faded, and he gave a grunt and a barely perceptible nod - his way of saying that the explanation was acceptable. Naruto got a few private chuckles at his knowledge of Sasuke's facial expressions and grunts, he had developed a sort of 'grunt-sense' that let him know Sasuke's intent merely by the look on his face and the noises he made.

The blond gently pushed Sakura's shoulder forward, towards Sasuke. She took a few steps before turning and looking back towards him.

"Do... do you really think I can explain it?"

Naruto chuckled, then jerked his thumb up against his chest. "Sakura-chan, if you can teach me how to do something, then all you have to do is breathe and the prodigy can probably figure it out. So don't worry. If he gives you a hard time, come tell me and I'll kick his ass!"

Sasuke's expression quickly soured once again, but for a change he decided against making any gutteral noises. Sakura on the other hand... she was actually smiling at Naruto for the first time in... well... ever. It wasn't just any smile, either. It was the same smile he had seen her gazing at Sasuke with.

Only this time, she was looking at the blond - directly into his eyes.

"Thank you, Naruto. I will."

The blond struggled to remain coherent as he pitched forward slightly, sluggishly moving one leg forward to balance himself. Wobbling on his feet, he looked around, having to spend more energy on movement than he would have liked. Unfortunately his peripheral vision had started going dark, and he could only see a small area directly in front of where he was.

He heard Sasuke's heavy breathing as well, and still failed to understand why his teammate had entered this ice prison. According to Sasuke, it was on Kakashi's orders, but the way Sasuke was focused on the masked ice user make Naruto think otherwise.

Sasuke had mumbled something about the masked shinobi in front of them having a familiar chakra signature, but he couldn't really place it. He had an idea, but needed to see who was behind the mask to confirm it. Something about it being similar to someone he met in the forest when he had passed out from exertion due to the tree exercise.

Apparently he had been out in the forest all night last night, continuing the exercise even after he had managed to climb the tree. According to the very brief explanation given, he met someone out there who seemed to be very similar to the person facing them now, though he wanted to confirm it. Unfortunately he was already running lower on chakra than he would have liked - there was an attempt on the lives of Tsunami and Inari, and then he had to expend more just getting to the bridge they were supposed to be protecting in a decent amount of time.

A whistling noise sounded from within the dome, and before Naruto could really think about what he was doing, he simply acted. Moving as fast as his legs could get him, he stood in front of Sasuke, taking in the multitudes of needles that were meant for his teammate. He grunted and hunched forward, spikes of brief pain followed by numbness overtook most of his extremities, he was having a hard time standing on his feet. Trying to pump chakra into various places on his body wasn't working either, he was simply going numb all over.

"N-Naruto? You idiot! Why did you take those for me? You're already weakened!"

Naruto snorted, turning his head completely to look at Sasuke's spinning sharingan via what little vision he had left.

"I... I don't know. You're... you're my friend. My teammate. I have to... I'm stronger, when I... when I have something to protect."

Naruto barely finished speaking before falling to his knees, thin senbon needles stuck in his legs snapping like twigs, but he didn't feel any more pain since his they were already numb. He was barely aware of falling forward onto his chest as his vision had faded out to nothingness. He swore he heard someone calling his name, but it sounded muffled, as if he was underwater.

No matter... for some reason, he felt really... really tired.

drip... drip... drip...

Did someone leave the water running?

drip... drip... drip...

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, only to see a ceiling made out of something that resembled brick.

drip... drip... drip...

Shooting upright with a large gasp, the blond shinobi placed his hand over his heart as he felt it begin beating a mile a minute. Taking several deep breaths in a row, he took a moment to get his bearings as he looked around where he was.

There was the Kyuubi's cage, it was still sealed, and he didn't really feel the Kyuubi's chakra any more than normal. So he wasn't dead... but somehow was forced into his subconscious. Looking around the room for more potential hints, the only thing of note was that the water-like substance that was usually about ankle high... was only about a centimeter in depth. What could that mean?

"Kyuubi? Are you awake?"

"Yes."

The deep, grating voice of the Kyuubi pressed down on his senses a little more than he was used to, but that was only a minor inconvenience right now.

"I know I'm not dead... but do you have any idea what's going on?"

There was a low growl from behind the bars, and the noise of something very large shifting position. That could mean that the explanation might be a long one, and he might not understand all of it.

"Your opponent used senbon needles to strike at various pressure points and tenketsu on your body. This did two things; it made you numb, and severely restricted your chakra flow. Right now if anyone was to check on you, they would believe you were dead. Your chakra is flowing just enough to keep you from true death... nothing more."

Naruto blinked rapidly as he began to process exactly what Kyuubi was saying. So he was dead... but he wasn't at the same time. Naturally his thoughts wandered towards what Sasuke must be thinking, and then what would happen with Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, the old man...

"But if I'm here then I'm not dead! How can I wake up again?"

There was a loud snort, and Naruto's clothes and hair blew about as the hot air washed over him.

"You cannot."

"Huh? I've always been able to wake up before!" Naruto closed his eyes and focused on waking up outside his body... but nothing was happening. He remained in his subconscious. "What the hell is going on?"

"To any medic, you would be dead. Only an exceptional medic would be able to find the subtle traces of your chakra and recognize that you were in a deep, induced coma. Do not worry, your tenketsu will fix themselves gradually. You'll likely wake up in an hour or two, and be at full strength again by tomorrow."

"I don't have that long!" Naruto slammed his fist against one of the large metal bars of the cage in aggravation. "My teammates are in danger out there and could die! I can't let it end like this! An hour is too long to wait!"

Frustrated, Naruto immediately spun away from the cage, and began pacing back and forth, a look of intense concentration on his face. After several minutes of this, he let out a grunt, then sat down on the ground, his head in his hands.

"I can't fail them, I need to think of a way... Ugh, I'll never be Hokage at this rate!"

"Well... there is a way..."

Naruto was immediately back on his feet, up at the cage bars once again. "What? How?"

"You would need someone to open your tenketsu, that would awaken you. Since I am a separate chakra source, I can do this."

"What are you waiting for? Do it!"

The Kyuubi made a rumbling noise before answering. "It will hurt."

That simple statement was enough to make Naruto take a step backward, eyes wide. In all the time he had known Kyuubi, it had never warned him about something hurting before. Plenty of things he had done in the past had injured him, some of them were rather bad too. But the Kyuubi had never, ever warned him about pain before. Until now. That alone made him consider the offer for several moments.

"Thanks for the warning, but do whatever you have to do. I refuse to wait here until I wake up normally. Besides, if it's your power, I'm going to have to get used to it eventually, right?"

Naruto was grinning up into the blackness of the cage, hoping the Kyuubi would appreciate that response. Of course, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the pain, but it would be something that he'd have to deal with eventually. Might as well start adjusting to it now.

"I can respect that answer. As a special consideration, tell those whose lives you value to get out of the way, because you will not be able to control my power. Now... prepare yourself."

Before Naruto could say anything, an itching sensation began to work its way across his body, which eventually turned into an intense burning. It suddenly flared, and he felt himself come alive again. He would have screamed at the sheer... power and the... and the... malice... hatred... pain... suffering...

Naruto felt a weight and a slight dampness on his chest as his eyes opened wide and he inhaled sharply. With a startled cry, the cause of the pressure on his chest leaned up, shock on its... her, features.

"N-Naruto! You're... alive! I checked, and I swear... I swear your heart wasn't beating!"

The itching sensation was climing through his limbs now, his entire body was on pins and needles as the numbness was forcefully removed from him. Blinking and glancing at his teammate, he noticed that her hair was a mess and her eyes were bloodshot, tears smeared across her cheeks. She had obviously been crying a lot. For who... him?

Turning his eyes slightly, he saw the old bridge builder, Tazuna, looking at him with no small amount of surprise as well. Looking beyond the old man, he saw what appeared to be his opponent from before, on their knees and holding their shoulder, and Kakashi-sensei standing in an agressive stance but facing in another direction. He couldn't see Zabuza or Sasuke, though in the distance the mist was slowly clearing.

Something squeezed his hand, and he turned his head to stare at it, dumbly. It barely registered that Sakura was holding his hand, and she had moved her other one to his neck, apparently checking to make sure that he really was alive.

"Sa... Saku..."

"Naruto! How do you feel? Can you understand me? We thought you were dead!"

Her fantic look spoke volumes, and Naruto vaguely began to recall what Kyuubi told him before the pain hit. He needed to tell her to get away... from what, he didn't know, and that scared him. But as the numbness wore off, he felt the surging anger, the hatred for the person who had caused this pain for him, for his teammates, for the old man and his family and this entire village and...

Naruto sat upright, causing Sakura to gasp, then gradually climbed to his feet as the power surged through his body. He was angry... he was pissed... and this power felt so good...

"N-Naruto?"

His head turned to look at his teammate, who was starting to look scared. Scared of him. Sakura was looking at him in panic, but he didn't know why. She still had a vice-grip on his hand though, for whatever reason. He needed her to let go so that he could go stop her... their teams... pain. Suffering. Someone needed to die to fix it. Someone... kill... kill her... kill her...

No! "S-Sakura! Sakura-chan! Get... get back!"

"What? No! Naruto, what's wrong with you? You were just dead and now... and now..."

The well of power that Naruto had tried to hold back as it surged through him finally broke beyond what he could control, and he felt the air around him shift as whatever it was pushed outwards. Sakura was yanked from his grip... or pushed away, more accurately... and she hit the ground behind her with a pained cry. He was vaguely aware as he heard the old man grunt from somewhere nearby, apparently it hit him too.

Raising an arm, he saw as reddish-hued steam rised from the exposed areas on his arm through his jumpsuit. That was definitely new. But now was not the time for idle curiosities. Someone needed to die.

Focusing his anger, the first person he thought of was the hunter nin impersonator. If it wasn't for them, he would not have had to take the fall for Sasuke, and they could all be working as a team and fighting... fighting...

He approached the hunter nin swiftly, who was too busy clutching the stump of their arm at the shoulder, apparently too concerned with that to pay attention to him. It would be such an easy target to kill.

No! Focusing again, he pushed back against the surging well of hate as he knew that this ninja was just the puppet of another, as they had said. Yes... just a tool... a tool for their master. Zabuza. Without a master, a tool is useless. With a new focus, Naruto sped past the injured ninja, who made no movement and still didn't even acknowledge that Naruto had just run by.

There. Zabuza was facing something... a crowd of... of mercenaries? It didn't matter. The missing nin was only looking at him over his shoulder, a look of curiosity? Maybe it was fear. Fear was good. Fear meant he would have a good death, because if it wasn't for him none of these bad things would be happening. Time to kill...

"What is that feeling? Is that blond twerp the one causing it? You guys, I'll double your pay! Get rid of Zabuza and that blond!"

Hate was replaced by confusion at the words. Naruto wanted to kill, but kill what? Why were these mercenaries going to kill Zabuza? They didn't get to kill Zabuza, he was going to kill Zabuza! But then... why did they want to?

Looking around briefly, Naruto finally took note of his sensei, Kakashi, who was standing very, very rigid. A cursory glance noted that he had one arm and hand spread out at his side, holding back an agitated looking Sasuke, while his other arm was covering a bloody gash over his chest.

"Kakashi-sensei. What's going on?"

"Naruto. Is that really you?"

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be? Now answer my question."

Naruto idly noted that Sasuke seemed surprised at something, an expression that only stood out because he had never seen it before. Kakashi, however, did not change, and simply answered the question.

"Remember we talked about Gato, the man behind all these problems? It seems he tricked Zabuza into attacking Tazuna - he was never going to pay him in the first place."

"Ha! That's right! You ninja are all so gullible, especially the ones who have forsaken their villages! Alright you morons, what are you standing around for? Get them!"

Naruto turned his gaze to Zabuza, who returned the stare evenly, expression openly readable since his mask-wrap was hanging in tatters around his neck.

"So it's true?"

The missing nin nodded briefly. "Yes."

Naruto smiled, and he was sure that his seemingly enhanced vision picked up on some of the hairs on the back of Zabuza's neck and head stand upright. "Good."

They can all die. But first... Gato.

Less than five minutes after Naruto's last spoken word, a severed head that still had a look of complete surprise was dropped at Kakashi's feet. A few seconds after that, a twelve year old boy - spiky blood-splattered blond hair, orange and blue jumpsuit dyed a deep crimson - passed out on the ground next to it.

"Kakashi..."

"Later, Sasuke. Much later."

A/N: So yeah, hi everyone. It's been a little while, and my first post in almost two months is a horrendously long chapter in my least-read still updating story. Go figure, maybe folks will get a kick out of this story now, since there is actually some meat with the potatoes. This chapter takes place while Naruto is still twelve, hence why so much happened. I wasn't going to re-hash EVERY scene from the manga, because that's just friggin' pointless, and as a result only the most pivotal scenes are shown. There are changes from canon, obviously, otherwise this fic wouldn't be at all interesting, would it?

Even if it looks like I'm headed in that direction, this will not be a NaruSaku fic. Just a reminder.

Lastly, as a bit of a shameless not-quite plug - if you have any interest in Naruto/manga parodies, browser-based games, or know what I'm talking about when I say 'Billy versus SNAKEMAN'', please check my profile. Thanks! (I updated my profile before posting this. If it hasn't updated yet, refresh the profile in a little bit.)