Author's note: Reviews inspire me so much! I just had to write this all today! I'm so excited! Thanks everyone so much! I love it when you tell me your thoughts because, to be honest, not only does it motivate me to keep going but it also helps me plan out the little stuff that comes in between the big events! Keep up all the good work! :D Thanks again! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and made up characters! :D

Warnings: Nothing really, maybe just language.

Word Count: 5,334

The two boys inch closer to the large house, amazed by it's size. It's large enough to be a mansion. Naruto doesn't know much about wealth, or people really for that matter, but it seems to be a little pointless to have such a large house for just one person. Itachi-nii... er, just Itachi... that man said it was just the Fourth that lived there and that there wasn't much known about him. How can someone be the hokage, yet no one know anything about them? What if people are just saying that no one knows anything about him but really that's all a lie?

Naruto scratches his head, looking at the door, seeing a similar seal but the design on it is different. Wanting to go and see if he can open that door too, but he catches Sasuke walking toward the oak tree. Naruto looks at the seal curiously, promising himself to come back to the seal again later. He runs off after the other boy, meeting him by the tree. Sasuke reaches up and touches something engraved in the bark.

"What is it?" Naruto asks.

Sasuke pulls his hand back. "M.N + K.U."

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "What is that? Math? I really hate math."

Sasuke rolls his eyes, turning to Naruto. "No, moron. I think they are initials. You know. Between two people who are in love?" At Naruto's blank look, Sasuke sighs. "My cousin, Hima, told me that she engraved her initials and the one she loved into the wood of the bridge in the land of water. It was suppose to be like solidifying the relationship to the gods or something. I don't know. It's just something lovie dovey couples do."

Naruto blinks rapidly, not all that sure he understands but at the bland look Sasuke gives him, he's not too keen on asking for more information. So he looks at the two sets of initials with the heart engraved around it. Naruto reaches out to touch the rough bark, walking around the trunk. Feeling the rough ridges of the bark, casually stepping over think roots that peek out of the dirt before disappearing beneath it once more.

The blond stops on the back side of the tree, eyes finding an engraving in the bark here too. Except it's a series of numbers. "Hey Sasuke," Naruto says. "Come take a look at this."

"Huh?" Sasuke walks around the other side, stopping next to Naruto he looks at the other engraving. "2-5-14-5-1-20-8 20-8-5 6-21-6-20-8 18-15-15-20. What is this? Some kind of code?"

Naruto shrugs. "Hm. I don't know. Maybe? By why here on this tree?"

Sasuke shakes his head, shrugging. "I don't know."

Naruto steps back and shrugs too. He turns his head away from Sasuke to see the true expanse of the back yard. His eyes widen He takes off running toward it, unable to hold back his jubilation. "No way! Sasuke, come take a look at this!"

Sasuke follows at his heels, eyes widening too. He lets out a small huff of breath at the large open area, perfect for training in, in amazement. There is no way the land was this big on the outside. Could the Fourth Hokage's seal be doing this too? Concealing the actual size of this entire place? Is that even possible? Or is Sasuke reading too much into this?

"Wow! This place is huge! It's at least three times the size of normal training grounds!" Naruto says, not at all noticing that his friend's preoccupied with his own thoughts.

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Maybe twice the size, but definitely not three times. Still," Sasuke looks over the wide open field. Large open space. A few trees, a big pond and three wooden posts. A smile of excitement crosses his face. "This place would be perfect for training. No one would know that we're here and everything we learn could be done in secret."

Naruto nods. "We don't want those pesky adults trying to stop us from completing our goal."

Sasuke rolls his eyes again, but the smile doesn't fade. "That's right. No one would be able to stop us. And most of all, no one, not even that brother of mine, will be able to see us in here."

Naruto grips his hands tightly, shaking with anticipation. The entire prospect of this place being like a secret club. Just for Sasuke and Naruto. The two of them can use this place to become powerful shinobi rivalling and even surpassing that of Itachi Uchiha.

The young Uchiha heir's eyes find a door in the grass next to the side of the house. They look to lead into a cellar, perhaps a wine cellar. But unlike the front door, this one doesn't have a seal on it. Sasuke nudges Naruto in the ribs. "Hey look. I think it's a wine cellar."

Naruto looks at the door, and then to Sasuke. "So what?"

Sasuke gives Naruto a bland look. "Perhaps there is another way of getting into the house without having to mess with that seal. For all we know, that one could explode for all we know." Sasuke's still very weary of dealing with the seals. Especially with the fact that they have no real idea what the seals even mean, let alone what they do. Best not to mess with them until they know more.

"Let's check it out, then," Naruto says simply.

Sasuke and Naruto both make their way over to the cellar door and just like Sasuke thought, no seal. Although it is partially covered by the grass and weeds there is still enough revealed to show that the wood is bare. Naruto grabs both of the rusty handles and jerks the wooden doors open. They groan loudly in protest but yield to Naruto's superior strength. They open all the way, slamming into the ground on either sides of the opening with a loud thump.

The dank smell of stagnant air, reaches their nostrils, eking out of the darkness of the cellar. Stone steps lead into the blackness. Sasuke takes a few deep gulps before stepping down onto the first step. Naruto's hands wrap around Sasuke's upper arm, squeezing so tightly Sasuke feels his arm start to lose all blood flow. Naruto gives Sasuke a frightened look, face pale as a ghost.

Surprised, Sasuke tries to pry the fingers from his arm. "What is your problem, Naruto?"

The blond boy shakes slightly, looking hesitantly down into the darkness. "N-Nothing's... wrong..."

Sasuke blinks a few times, looking between the shaking blond and the cellar's shadow, then back. He purses his lips slightly before an amusing smile crosses his face. He leans closer to Naruto, his smile taking on a touch of cruelty. "Naruto... you aren't afraid of the dark... are you?"

Naruto tenses, eyes watering slightly, nose running a bit. He shake shakes head, trying to appear less horrified. "N-No! Of course not, dummy!"

Feeling a bit playful, Sasuke steps aside slightly. "Okay, good. You first, then." The look the Uchiha heir gets is one of complete and utter horror, more snot running down his face. Sasuke can't help himself from cracking up at the pitiful look. Sasuke shakes his head and pushes Naruto's shoulder playfully. "I'm just messing with you, Naruto. Come on." Sasuke turns forward and heads into the darkness slowly.

Naruto grabs the back of the young Uchiha's shirt and follows him mutely into the cellar. Sasuke takes slow, tentative steps deeper into the blackness, his sandles slapping against the concrete stairs.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Step, step, step. Sasuke's eyes are slow to adjust. But he starts to see shadows in the darkness, taking shapes and if Sasuke has to guess, they look to be rows and rows of wine glasses. Sasuke gets to the floor, taking an awkward step after assuming there would be another one, before catching a string hanging from the ceiling.

Reaching up and yanking it hard, the light sputters on. Flickering a few times before finally staying on completely. The two boys squint around the room, Naruto finally releasing Sasuke's shirt, leaving behind wrinkles from his fist. Sasuke is right. There are rows of wine shelves filling the room with an opening walkway large enough to lead to a door with a seal on it too. A think layer of dust has already settled over the entire room.

On the left side of the room, beyond the rows of wines there is another door, one without a seal, and the same on the other side. Another door without a seal. Sasuke looks over his shoulder at Naruto. "Which side should we take first?"

Naruto looks between the two. He shrugs a few times, looking a mixture of contemplation and wonder. "How about the right?"

Sasuke nods. "Sure." The two boys make their way over to the door. They open the door and walk in, the light's already on in this room. It must be connected to the light in the other room. This room looks like...

"A whole lot of books..." Naruto notes. The room looks like a miniature library. Two bookshelves, one on each wall and a desk on the opposite side of the room from the door. The room is maybe ten feet by ten. Not too large, but not a really small room. The bookshelves are covered with books and the desk has a few on them along with strewn papers littering the wooden surface and the floor around it.

Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke steps into the room, walking toward one of the bookcases. "What is with this room? A library under ground? And it's unguarded? Why put seals on the house, but not on a library?" Sasuke scratches the back of his head, messing up his already messy hair. The books are stuff like "Training Novice" and "Simple Practice Techniques" and "Fast and Simple: Improvised Training". Other than the obvious, what the hell is all these for? If Sasuke had to be painfully honest, there is no need for training tools when the Fourth Hokage is... well, the Fourth Hokage. Why would he need this?

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto calls from over by the desk. In his hand is a single slip of paper. "Come look at this. This we could use this to help our training?"

Sasuke walks over to the blond, looking over his shoulder at the slip of paper. He skims over the strangely beautiful handwriting, if it can be considered that, and even though it is old and worn, it's still legible. Sasuke reads in silece for a moment before his eyes widen.

"Shadow Clone Training Technique?" Sasuke reads aloud.

The Shadow Clone Training Technique is a form of training I surmised would be able to increase the level of output power from a single shinobi. The theory is that with the use of a single jutsu, the shadow clone jutsu, one will be able to increase the level of training he or she is able to get in a single day. The theory lies in the idea that learning a simple jutsu whilst using clones along side the user will decrease the overall time needed to learn the jutsu.

It is believed that while using the shadow clone jutsu, whether it be in battle or for reconnaissance, a bit of the information that the clone has obtained during its lifespan (from creation to the act of being dispelled or taking enough damage from an enemy and popping) will return to the creator. This information is so minute that it isn't generally recognized and hardly makes much of a difference to the creator. But, the theory is, if one wishes to learn a jutsu, if the clone participates in learning as well, it will be learned quicker than if learned alone.

For example: If purposed a jutsu that would take 30 days to learn, if I were to create a single clone to help learn it with me and dispel it at the end of each day and gather the minute bit of knowledge that it learned about the jutsu to add to my own knowledge, then I should, in theory, learn the jutsu twice as fast, so in 15 days, I would have it learned. The idea is similar to if I had 29 clones working on it, along side myself, the end result should be, by the time I have learned a jutsu, after dispelling all of my clones, only a single day would have passed.

Now, expanding that theory a bit, the act of meditation increases the reserves of chakra in a single person's body. While meditating, the chakra in a person's body crunches together, creating more space, which the body then fills with more chakra, and when the meditation is done, the crunched chakra expands out again as far as it can without pushing any chakra out of the body. This is a difficult and long winded process. It takes a very clear mind and lots of dedication for one to being to notice the difference. But, by increasing your chakra supply, you also run the risk of straining the control you have over the chakra. Basically, the more you meditate, the more chakra you get, and the more chakra you get, the less control over it you have.

So why can't meditation be used by clones as well? Well, it actually can. A single clone, sitting off by itself, meditating will gather chakra into its own body. Once dispersed the gathered chakra will return to the creator, expanding their own chakra supplies. Down side: Not all of the chakra from the clone returns. I deduce it would be a little less than half. But it is a considerable amount and would easy replace the chakra lost while performing the jutsu if the clone meditated long enough.

Then the question: How to get more chakra without sacrificing the users control, came up.

The answer is simple: also focus on chakra control methods such as tree and water walking. There are multitudes of different forms of chakra control methods that one can be used that would be effective, however, you will need to do at least twice as much work on control than you will gathering. What that means is, if I have two clones working on gathering chakra, I need to have at least four working on control in order to keep the amount of control I currently hold over my chakra supply, regardless of it's growing size. Any more working on control and it will only improve what I already have.

If learned young enough, this could be an effective way to train our genin and get them to be more powerful shinobi even before they take the Chunin Exams. Trials must be run. But the theory is too new and if does prove to be as impressive as I believe it will be, the trials must be done in secret. I will have to practice with them myself, before introducing it to anyone else.

That was it for that portion. That writing is old, definitely older than Sasuke and Naruto are alive. But it seems like the Fourth came back to this a little while later, hence why it's still on the desk. This writing, while the same perfect lettering, is far newer, less worn than the rest.

A simple jutsu and enough training time could bring a shinobi's power to levels unexplored. I myself have begun using this training, and after a few years have come to see the fruits it's bore. My body has never had so much chakra, and I have never had such pinpoint accuracy and control over it. I'm learning jutsu in no time at all, even jutsu that go against my elemental base are relatively easy to learn using this form of training. I have set off into the world gathering any and all jutsu that I can. But I must in secret, careful of what I gather and who sees me do it.

I will leave this here, at the top, for you, Master. When you see this, I need you to give this to Lord Hokage, or perhaps the next successor if the Third doesn't return to reign. This is the most successful form of training in this library. We need to get this into circulation as quickly as possible. I know much doesn't make sense, Master, but I need this trianing to be utilized. We need to become strong. Stronger than we are now.

If you are reading this, Master, that means that my worst fear has come true. I was right, and so was Fugaku. Show no one but the Third this. There is people in the government that we can't trust. I know you might not understand, but all of the answers you need are within my house. I have made the seal on the gate only resposive to you and Kushina and my chakra.

Hopefully, if all goes well, my son will be able to use this training as well.

And then there is an intricate signature that looks like: Minato

Sasuke and Naruto both share confused looks.

"Do you understand any of that?" Naruto asks, tilting his head at Sasuke.

The Uchiha heir takes the piece of paper and reads over it again, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I think I do." He turns the paper over and his eyes widen even more. Written on the back is the jutsu formula for the Shadow Clone jutsu. And a list of different methods of chakra control at the bottom of the paper, just under the shadow clone jutsu formula.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you think we can learn this jutsu?" Naruto asks, looking at the paper, giving a strained look. "I'm not sure I understand how to do it."

Sasuke lays the paper down. "Yeah, we can learn it. Maybe not yet. I only know one jutsu and it's one my... my dad," Sasuke almost chokes on the word but immediately moves on, trying to quench the anxiety and sadness stirring in the pit of his gut. "My dad taught it to me. I didn't see the writing form of it, though. We have to find someone who has."

Naruto's eyebrows pull together. "An adult?"

Sasuke and Naruto both stare at each other, not knowing any other option. An adult would be the likely choice. They are sure to be able to understand all of the signs on the paper but what if they start asking questions? What are they going to say? They have to think of something else, then. No adults.

Sasuke shakes his head slowly, shoulders drooping. "No, I guess not..."

Naruto blinks a few times before looking into Sasuke's eyes quizzically. "You said that your dad taught you a jutsu right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why did he teach you that?"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at that, crossing his arms over his chest, being mindful of the paper still in his hand. "What do you mean why? He taught it to me because I asked him to."

Naruto deflates a bit. "Oh, I thought that if it was like an Uchiha family jutsu thing, that there would... uhh... I guess that doesn't make any sense..." Naruto rubs the back of his neck. "Uh, sorry."

The Uchiha heir blinks a few times, using his right hand to cup his chin in thought. Thinking over the blond's words before his face lights up. "Naruto! You're a genius! We do need help! But we don't need to go to adults to do it. We have other people we can go to."

Naruto perks up at that. "Really? We do? Who?"

Sasuke grins. "Other clan children!"

A single yellow eyebrow rises. "What do you mean?"

"Naruto, there is no jutsu that I know of in the Uchiha clan that passes on through the ages, but there are other clans that do that. Such as the Inuzuka and the Nara. If we can get either Kiba or Shikamaru to help us, we'd be golden!" Sasuke says, throwing his hands up in the air. This is the most fun he's had since before the problems started arising in his clan.

Naruto brightens even more. He jumps up into the air, excited. "No way! Let's do it! Who should we ask?"

"It has to be someone we can trust," Sasuke says, thinking strategically. "The last thing we want to do is show this to someone who will turn around and tell their parents about it."

Naruto nods. "So what should we do?"

"Hang out with them, see who we can trust." Sasuke nods to himself. "How does that sound?"

Naruto grins, large enough to split his face in half almost. "Awesome! That sounds awesome! Let's get started immediately!"

The black eyed boy grins back, nodding once, assuredly. "Yep, let's do it!"

With that, the two boys run out, leaving the piece of paper behind. Sasuke pauses at the last second by the stairs leading out of the cellar to turn the light off before continuing after the blond. They don't spare a second glance to the house as they run to the gate, open it, step out and leave, closing the gate behind them. The two boys run toward the main street in the village. They keep close and people have to dodge out of their way.

"To the academy playground!" Naruto calls up to Sasuke. The blue haired boy nods. He alters his course to head to the playground with Naruto at his heels. When they get there, only a few kids are there. A pink haired girl and a blond haired girl sitting on the bench on the far side of the playground. Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru play around on the swings. Another boy and girl hanging upside down on the spider web.

"You are so lazy, Shikamaru," Kiba says, letting his feet drag across the dirt while he swings.

The young shirker shrugs. He tilts his head back to look up at the clouds. It's getting late, soon he'll have to go home or the insatiable woman will send his father to come out looking for him. Like anyone in their right mind would want someone like him. "So what if I am?"

Kiba rolls his eyes. "Are you going to do the homework Iruka-sensei assigned?"

Shikamaru gives him a dry look. "Do you even know me?"

Choji sits in front of them, eating chips from a bag. He looks at them stoically, more concerned with eating then anything else. Shikamaru and Kiba both look at Choji with mixed looks of disgust. They look back at each other.

"Why is he here?" Kiba asks, eyes darting toward Choji, trying to be discrete.

Shikamaru shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He leans close so he's not so easily heard. "My old man and his are friends. They want us to be friends too, so my dad is making me hang out with him." Shikamaru shrugs. "Oh well. He's quiet so I barely realize he's there."

"What luck?" Naruto says in a mixture of excitement and wonder.

Sasuke nods. "Yeah, but we have to be cool about it so follow my lead."

Naruto looks at Sasuke indignant. "I'm cool."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Sure you are. Come on."

The two boys approach the trio slowly. Kiba and Shikamaru get quiet when they draw near and Choji looks over at them as they draw near. Sasuke and Naruto stop in front of the trio.

"You guys mind if we hang out with you?" Sasuke asks.

Kiba raises an eyebrow. "The high born and noble Uchiha and the village vagrant want to hang out with us?"

"Hey!" Naruto says annoyed and angered.

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "You don't have to be a jerk about it, Kiba. The easiest answer would have just been no."

Kiba purses his lips, digging the toe of his right shoe into the ground. "Sorry. I was just a little surprised is all. You guys seriously want to hang with us? I mean we aren't doing anything interesting." He shrugs, gripping the links of the chains. "Well, we actually could do something interesting, if you wanted." He leans forward with a cunning smile on his face.

Sasuke shifts slightly uncomfortable. Shikamaru rolls his eyes but Naruto on the other hand looks interested. "Yeah, what do you have in mind?"

"Let's play a prank on Iruka-sensei tomorrow."

Shikamaru grins, giving Kiba a sideways glance. "What were you thinking?"

Kiba stops swinging to cup his chin in thought. "Umm..."

"Flour."

All four boys turn to look at Choji. He lowers the chips and stares at Kiba for a moment, then to Naruto, then Shikamaru.

"Flour," Naruto and Kiba both echo. "Flour."

"We make a sling shot," Choji says, "and fill it with flour. Get Iruka-sensei when he's doing role call in the morning."

Sasuke blinks rapidly. "Oh no."

"Perfect!" Naruto says.

"Oh no," Sasuke says again.

Kiba grins down at Choji, revealing two rows of sharper than human teeth. At least his canines are larger than normal humans. "You are brilliant, Choji!"

The young Akimichi looks a little shocked at first but then he smiles a little. "Thanks. Should we make plans?"

"Oh no," Sasuke exasperates.

Shikamaru, who was looking at Sasuke, laughs a little before grinning at Naruto, Kiba and Choji. "Yeah, I think we should. Man, I can see we are going to have some trouble filled times with one another." He huffs out another laugh. "This is going to be interesting."

"Oh. No." Sasuke says blandly, slow blinking once. Naruto looks at him, grinning.


The next morning all five boys sit up front, Sasuke being the most reluctant of all of them. He fidgets every couple of seconds, Naruto keeps nudging him and telling him to stop moving so nervously.

"You are going to give us away," Naruto says.

"Sorry," Sasuke grumbles. "I don't want to do this. Besides this is not what I had in mind when I said we need to make friends with them."

Naruto laughs. "I think this is the perfect idea to build our friendship. I seriously couldn't have planned this entire thing out any better myself. This is perfect. Shh! He's coming."

The five boys stare straight forward when Iruka-sensei walks in, clipboard in hand. He pauses half way to his desk, looking at Naruto, blinking rapidly. Shock evident on his face. "Naruto," he says, "you're here. I thought I would have to go out chasing you around the village again today."

Sasuke glares at the blond who laughs sheepishly. "Nope, Sensei, I'm here."

"For how long, I wonder?" Shikamaru mumbles under his breath. Choji nudges him.

"Shh, Shikamaru." The brown haired boy shrugs but watches curiously, not wanting to miss this.

Iruka eyes the blond for a moment, then the four boys next to him suspiciously. Kiba, in the middle holds his hands tightly under the desk, blinking at him innocently. Iruka narrows his eyes and stop in front of his desk and begins role call.

Kiba grabs two ends of rubber band and lays it on the desk in front of him. Shikamaru grabs one side and Naruto grabs the other. Both pinch the ends down onto the desk and Kiba pulls it taut. He reveals a water balloon filled with watery flour that was sitting on his lap and sets it to launch.

Iruka, with his eyes staring down at the clipboard, calling out the names of the children and them calling out "here" or "present" doesn't notice what's happening right in front of him.

"Here goes nothing," Kiba says lowly.

"Oh no," Sasuke says, eyes wide. He wants to cover them but his hands won't move. Naruto grins mischevious.

"Kiba Inuzuka?"

Kiba laughs. "I'm here, Sensei!" And he releases the balloon.

It hits Iruka in the chest, splattering all over him. Some drops paint the front his his desk and on the black board behind him. Iruka recoils slightly from the hit, he quickly regains his balance and lowers the clipboard to see what happened. Immediate following a 3-second dead silence, the class erupts into either laughter or gasps. Only a few, like Sasuke, stare with their eyes wide and their mouths drop.

After a brief moment though, Sasuke doubles over laughing just like Naruto and the rest of their band of no good doers. Iruka looks at himself, then finds the source of the assalt, a cackling Kiba and his friends, still holding the rubber band. Confusion melts into anger as his face turns red and the vein in his forehead begins to throb.

"You little brats! Wait until I get my hands on you!" Iruka snaps, making a leap toward them.

All five boys scramble, jumping out of the way. Shikamaru is the first that makes it to the window, throwing it open yelling, "Freedom!" And then leaping out. Choji, who was closest to him is the next to follow. With Kiba being the primary focus of Iruka's wrath, Naruto and Sasuke quickly make a break for the window. First Naruto, then Sasuke, both laughing uncontrollably. They spot Shikamaru and Choji running off the school grounds and make to follow them.

"Get back here, Kiba!" Iruka snarls somewhere behind Naruto and Sasuke.

Kiba laughs out loud. "Sorry, Sensei, got to catch me to kill me!"

After a few minutes of running, all five boys find themselves huddled up in a semi-circle, most doubled over and breathing heavily. They all grow quiet when someone runs by the entrance but doesn't stop. They all wait a heart beat before looking around at each other. Grins work their way across all of their faces and soon the laughter comes.

"My dad is going to kick my ass," Shikamaru laughs through his panting, shaking his head.

"Your dad isn't gonna do shit, Shikamaru," Kiba chuckles. "Hanna's gonna flay me when she hears. I'm glad mom's out again or she'd do worse!"

Choji, the only one sitting down. "I've always wanted to do something like that. I just never had the gall to do it before. That was awesome!"

Naruto laughs especially loud, thinking back to the way that vein bulged out of Iruka's neck. That will be a fond memory for years to come. "That really was awesome. And definitely something we have to repeat!"

Sasuke, still grinning, shakes his head. "Oh man, I knew this was going to be a mistake."

"You didn't have to come, Uchiha," Shikamaru says, finally catching his breath. "He had no way of knowing you would be involved. Or you, Choji, but both of you morons ran and now he knows."

Sasuke blinks a few times, thinking about it. His palm flies to his forehead with a loud slap. He drops his hand as a red mark appears perfectly center between his bangs. "Damn it."

"Too late now," Choji shrugs, grinning.

Naruto looks over at Sasuke with bright eyes. The blue haired boy stares back for a long moment before nodding. If these three kept this up, they'd be perfect.