I didn't change this one much, unfortunately I couldn't figure out anything to add. I'm trying to go as fast as I can, and I'm working on two stories at once. Sorry for the short chapie. And I'll be gone the week after Christmas, so probably no updates during that time.

Remialcsid: I OD TON nwo oturan

~Test~Day~

Naruto woke with a start, the sun shining in his eyes and grass poking at his bare back. He sat up slowly. The back of his neck hurt…and so did his stomach. The sun seemed to be so much brighter and he blinked, trying to get used to it. Naruto looked around warily. Why was everything so bright? And colorful, and vivid? He dismissed it as he stood and called for Kyuubi.

"Kyuubi sensei?"

Yes? Kyuubi's voice came from inside.

What day is it? Why are you not outside anymore? What happen-?

Kit, I used a lot of energy I'm going to be out for a while. There is a present for you in your apartment, from me. You'd better hurry…the test will be…starting…soon… Kyuubi's eyes closed heavily as he curled inside his cage.

Thank you Kyuubi sensei.

Have fun kit…

The blond jumped up. He stretched, pulling his arms over his head and yawned. Then he was off. Naruto ran through the woods, full of energy. His bare feet padded against the grass and collected dew. He smiled, realizing the bracelets weren't so heavy anymore. He was making progress.

When he arrived in town he slowed, not wanting to attract any attention. But people still looked over and raised their eyebrows at him. Some even hissed as he passed. That was new. He shrugged it off until he realized how warm the pavement was. He wasn't wearing any shoes.

Oh crap! He started to run again. He arrived at his apartment and ran straight to the bathroom. After flicking on the light he looked into the mirror. Whatever clothes he still had on were trashed. Dirt was sprinkled everywhere, and grass stained his knees and elbows. His pants were ripped in several places and muddy up to the knees. He couldn't go to the test like this! He groaned. Then he remembered the "present" sensei told him about. Curious, Naruto looked around and found a brown bag on the kitchen table.

Naruto reached inside and pulled out a pair of black ninja sandals. Clothes? Well, it was good. Kyuubi probably noticed he needed more. He grinned, set them aside and pulled out a red zippy. He stretched on the arms and opened it up. It was pretty plain with a black swirly design on the back. Naruto draped it across the chair and reached into the bag again. This time he pulled out a black T-shirt. Setting it aside he mentally thanked Kyuubi as he felt a pair of pants. They were baggie beige pants with several pockets. It had a zip around each leg near the knees so he can make it into a pair of shorts too. Naruto set it on top of his shoes. Next in the bag was a pair of black fingerless gloves with a metal plate sewn in the back. Then he found scroll, a note, and four silver fox pendants.

Naruto opened the note and read:

Kit,

The pendants weigh ten pounds each. (I know you can do it.) Put them on, one on each bracelet. You need to keep up your training, but you may take them off in a fight as the last resort. The scroll is a summoning. You know by what I've taught you that every demon apprentice has a partner, they were demons as well you will have one too. It will be an animal of sort; I cannot say what animal will come out, most likely a fox. Luck.

Naruto sighed and put on the pendants. Look at the bright side, he told himself, you're getting stronger by the minute.

He stripped off his dirty pants and pulled on the cargo ones. He had completely forgotten about the orange jumpsuit, though it was still his color. He pulled on the T over his head and grabbed his gloves, making his way to the bathroom. Naruto grinned at his reflection as he slipped on his gloves. Then he stopped. Blinked, leaned closer. His pupils were slitted.

"Wha-" he started. Opening his mouth, he saw his K-9's were sharper. "Okay, that is definitely NOT normal. How am I going to explain this to Sakura and Sasuke? Kakashi will get suspicio-"

Sakura. Sasuke. Team 7. THE TEST! Naruto yelled "Oh shitake mushrooms I'm late!" Jamming on his shoes he put one arm through his new jacket and disappeared out the door. As he ran down the streets, ignoring glares and whispers he thought of the scroll laying on his kitchen table.

A partner…could be interesting.

~bridge~

Sasuke and Sakura hovered around the meeting spot, pacing back and forth.

"Where's Naruto and Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura whined. "They should've been here by now!" her pink hair furled in the wind.

Sasuke watched the road and pointed. "Here comes Naruto."

"Oh thank god he got rid of that stupid orange!" Sakura giggled, expecting Sasuke to join. She glanced over, saw his stony face and folded her arms.

Naruto jogged up grinning. His cool red hoodie, black shirt and baggie pants made him look…well, cool. Not to mention the awesome gloves. Sasuke frowned, jealous.

"You're late idiot."

"I know, sorry." Sakura huffed, eying him. "What?" Naruto looked her in the eye, frowning. "Something wrong?" Sakura took a deep breath as she saw his slitted eyes.

"Naruto, what's with your eyes?" She leaned closer, and his gaze immediately dropped to the ground. "They're, well…"

"Slitted." Sasuke said, still jealous.

For once with perfect timing, Kakashi appeared. "Sorry I'm late; I had to go to the hospital for an eye injury."

Naruto laughed. "Hey you took my excuse!" he put his arms over his head.

Sakura groaned. "Okay you clowns, now we're all here, what's this test thing?"

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Distracted. Sasuke watched him out of his peripherals.

"Oh, it's easy. You just have to get-" Kakashi pulled out two bells and dangled them in front of Sakura's face. "These two bells. The one out of you who doesn't goes back to the academy. IF, by some small chance, anyone does get a hold of the bells, they will become genin."

Naruto thought for a moment. He's only making two of us genin? No way. The gears in his mind started to whirr. He blurted something out before Kakashi could continue. "Bullshit." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him and Sakura growled at his annoying behavior.

"How so?"

"You can't send just one or two of us back, because a team needs three members and a Jounin or Chunin leader." He paused, deep in though. "Which means you're already planning to pass or fail us all." He said slowly. "Which means this isn't about your bells at all; there is some other test you're judging us on. Because there are only two bells and not three, you're pinning us all against each other." Naruto was on a roll. "You think we won't work together!"

Sasuke and Sakura both looked at Naruto. Wow, I never would have pinned him for smart, Sakura thought. But Naruto wasn't done yet.

"Because you're testing our teamwork. You want to see if we can work together not only get the bell, a physical challenge itself, but to do it knowing it's not a win/win situation, that even if we do succeed someone is going back. Someone will have to sacrifice themselves. At the same time you'll see the extent of our physical skill, and the range and variation of our Jutsus." Naruto smiled, proud of himself. He was thinking like a fox. He was also a little peeved. Sneaky white-haired bastard.

"Well, well Naruto Uzumaki. What are you going to do about it?" Kakashi eyed the kitsune. Since when had he gotten so smart? Thankfully, the Kyuubi not only trained him physically but mentally to, giving him fake situations and asking him what he would do.

The blond looked to his teammates. Sakura was suspicious, while Sasuke had his typical mask on. Naruto guessed he really just didn't care. "I guess we'll just have to get those bells." The two other teens nodded in agreement, albeit hesitantly.

I think I just got a little closer to my teammates, Naruto thought. One small step for Naruto, one huge leap for demon kind. He chuckled.

"Alright. Start." Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura looked around anxiously.

"What, already? What now?" the pinkette squealed, sounding scared.

"We can't just stay here in the open!" Sasuke growled. "We've got to move!" They both looked over to Naruto.

He turned his head slightly. "Hide."

They vanished.

~forest~101~

Sasuke crouched on a branch in a tree overlooking the clearing. He saw Sakura disappear underneath a bush. Naruto just vanished. What was Kakashi up to? And how did Naruto figure it out so quickly? Then he decided he didn't care.

Well, at least we can hide alright, but what now?

"Hey." Naruto was crouched beside him.

"Oh my GOD don't do that!" Sasuke hissed.

"Sorry." He grinned. "Do you want to hear my plan or not?"

~Shuunnnthenonbeliever~

"Sakura, you'll be the bait." Naruto and Sakura sat across each other, surrounded by bushes and trees. "Look helpless and run around. Kakashi will come."

Sakura sighed. "Alright but you'd better have me covered." She eyed her teammate. Naruto was always stupid and reckless, and here he was making a plan.

~shunnn~

"We'll follow Sakura and when he shows up, wham, I'll attack from the front and you get him from behind." Naruto sounded excited. He was finally going to prove himself!

Sasuke frowned. "And the bells…?"

"Sakura will find an opening and take it. Three against one is hardly a fair fight." The blond smiled. "This will totally work!"

"Alright Naruto, but before we go…" Sasuke stopped. He couldn't help himself, he had to ask.

"yeah?"

"What's with the eyes?" Naruto looked away, wondering what he should say. Could he trust him? He decided with a half truth.

"I…I don't know for sure."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Look, I woke up this morning and my pupils were mutated alright?" He growled angrily.

"Okay okay, no need to be so sensitive." Sasuke almost smiled as he teased him.

"Let's go."

~Narwhal~of~death~

Sakura ran, panicked. She thrashed threw the thicket as trees reached out and grabbed her. Tears ran down her face as her clothes became scratched and torn. "Sasuke I won't let you hurt my Sasuke!" She yelled. Spotting Kakashi she skidded to a halt behind a log.

Good he didn't see me.

"Sakura." Kakashi sat behind her. "You fell for the clone trick."

Sakura smiled and turned around, freaking out Kakashi. "And you fell for the bait." Without warning and yelling, Naruto jumped out of the forest and landed a punch on kakashi's cheek. He flew back and landed against a tree. Wow, not bad Team 7. His eyes widened as Sasuke punched through the tree from the other side and hit him. Kakashi landed and flipped to his feet. Naruto and Sakura on one side, Sasuke on the other. Needless to say he was thoroughly impressed. But they had to fight him, and he sued to be Anbu. The only way was to catch him off guard. And he was never off guard.

Kakashi smiled. "Good. But can you get the bells?"

Naruto grinned and took off his bracelets, setting them gently by his feet, along with his anklets. Naruto held up a finger to Sasuke, who nodded back. Kakashi turned, curious about what they were communicating. He saw Naruto step forward and take a stance.

"Fight me." Oh good old reckless Naruto. Kakashi chuckled. What was that going to accomplish?

"Alright. Let's see what forbidden Jutsus you have up your sleeve." Naruto couldn't possibly learn anything from that right? The other teens looked to each other and back to Naruto. They heard the rumors, but they were never really sure if they were true.

Naruto flew forward. 1…2… he counted silently with each kick and punch. Kakashi dodged every one, but Naruto smiled in spite, knowing that wasn't really the point. Kakashi frowned at the style. What kind of Tai jutsu is this? He wondered as he dodged Naruto's nails.

Sasuke watched as Naruto attacked Kakashi. Earlier, the blond had told him to wait until he catches Kakashi off guard. Sasuke was skeptical, but Naruto told him to trust him, and he'd know it when he saw it. He was still skeptical, but he wanted to know what the blond could do.

Sakura also watched, amazed. Could Naruto do this a week ago…? And he's so fast… She waited for her cue to jump in. It really was a solid plan, though she would never admit that to Naruto.

The blond kicked and punched, counting. When he got to twenty, he stopped, holding his position and smiling with small K9's.

"You didn't learn that at the academy." Kakashi stated. Where could ha have possibly…

"It's amazing what you can learn from a thousand pound giant nine-tailed fox." Naruto whispered so only he and Kakashi could hear. Kakashi's eyes widened in fear as thoughts whirled through his head.

No…it can't be…controlling Naruto...? Hokage needs to know…dangerous…he's too young…vulnerable to its will…the seal? Kakashi blinked. Naruto was in danger…he felt his heart pumping. If there was anything that scared Kakashi, it was one of the tailed beasts. He panicked. He had to tell the hokage before something bad happened.

Naruto kicked again. Once again, Kakashi dodged and it didn't land. Flames erupted from the kick and Kakashi, already unsteady, lost his balance and started to fall. His defense wavered and Sasuke jumped in, throwing shurikan. Kakashi's mind spun as he looked into Naruto's eyes and saw them slitted. There's no way…the seal…but the fire…The fox demon had control over fire, is the Kyuubi influencing Naruto? Kakashi barely managed to dodge between the fire and the shuriken, coming out with only a few scratches.

"Kakashi? You look a little unsteady, do you feel alright?" Naruto smirked.

"Naruto…" He gasped. "You-" Naruto interrupted and punched him with his hand engulfed in fire. Well, tried to punch him. It actually went past him but made him stumble again. As he fell through the air, a pink blur whirled past and tugged at his waist.

Sakura stopped by Naruto and Sasuke laughing. "I've got them!" she held up the small bells.

"We did it!" Naruto jumped and tried to high five Sasuke. When the boy didn't respond Naruto pulled his hand and high fived it limply. Kakashi still stared at Naruto, his heart racing. He couldn't say anything in front of Sasuke and Sakura. And how did Naruto know about the Kyuubi in the first place?

"Naruto." He said warningly.

"Kakashi, come on. Enemies will say ANYTHING to distract you. I'm surprised you fell for it." He grinned, showing his k9s, arms over his head.

"Naruto. You WILL explain this."

"Yeah, later. But I'm kind of offended. You looked at me like I was evil. Not like I'm not used to it, but I thought you at least would be different." Naruto sighed and watched Kakashi. His words had the right effect, pity and sorrow spread over Kakashi's face.

Meanwhile, Naruto turned to his teammates. "We did it!" Sasuke nodded, back into his uninterested demeanor, but inside he was laughing. Naruto saw Sakura fall back behind her walls after Sasuke, and he frowned. This will be harder than I thought. He walked around Kakashi and picked up his bracelets, groaning as he put the thirty pound weights back on.

Kakashi sighed. "Meet me at the bridge tomorrow. 8 AM. Congratulations team 7." And I have a meeting with the hokage to schedule...he thought, thinking of Naruto's words. He then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto laughed loudly and yelled, his celebrations being heard throughout the forest.