A/N: I know it has been a long time since I updated this (not exactly a long time compared to other authors but just for me) but I got some virus on my computer and it wiped out my internet connection and I wasn't able to get on here and put up my chapter that I had almost finished. Then I got some kind of flu (it wasn't swine flu) and was out for a few days. Thank you to all you guys who held out and didn't abandon this story because I hadn't updated in a while. The circumstances of it sucked and I was pissed about not updating the story. Sorry about the delay but here's the next chapter which features the battle between Kakashi and Naruto.

BTW: Thank you to InARealPickle who pointed out that I accidently put 16 years instead of 12. I don't know what I was thinking, if I was at the time.

Kyubi/Inner Sakura: Hi

Naruto Characters: Hi

Jutsu: "Doton: Fart no Jutsu" (Earth Release: Fart Jutsu)

Thoughts: 'I am thinking of something'

Chapter 4

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'You have become very good brother'

This thought was wandering through his head as he thought about the other times he saw Naruto in action. Naruto had vastly improved from the boy he once was. These thoughts were all going through the head of Sasuke Uchiha.

'His power rivals mine, while I don't think it surpasses my own, it is on my level. No way is this the same Naruto I remember as the dead last'

To Sasuke, Naruto had always been the brother figure that he wanted Itachi to be. After Itachi left the village Sasuke became lonely and was always alone. People bothered him with their stupidity and lack of awareness he found fault in every person he met. Other classmates took this as arrogance but Sasuke was just really picky about the people he liked. Then, Naruto became apart of team 7 along with Sasuke.

'He really has come a long way from the little annoying brat'

Sasuke hated Naruto at first, thinking he would always be the dead last in the class because of the way he took the shinobi lifestyle. Sasuke then began to realize Naruto's potential after the battle with Zabuza. Naruto was a shinobi capable of great things and Sasuke realized this, he also knew that Naruto had potential to match his own power and they were both genin with chunin power.

'Team 7 is very strong now, both myself and Naruto have great power, while Sakura seems to take the place of Naruto when he first became a team 7 member, she has very little to no power. Her only plus is her chakra control, but that can't save a person in battle unless they know how to use that control'

Since the day he realized that Naruto had great power, Sasuke had Naruto become his rival, although they acted like enemies on the surface, Sasuke was sure that both knew it was a friendly rivalry among two people that consider each other to be brothers in battle. Naruto always seemed to push Sasuke to the next level and while Sasuke didn't exactly like the exaggerated cheerful attitude of Naruto, he tolerated it.

'I'm sure that I'm the only one who knew it was a facade up until now, everybody sees what the darkness has done to Naruto. In that way we are both alike, we have both succumbed to some darkness within our hearts'

Sasuke also knew that the façade had been in place since he knew Naruto. Naruto acted cheery on the outside but on the inside he was building his hate and anger, how Naruto kept it bottled up inside was a mystery to Sasuke. Naruto had all this hate and anger but chose not to release it on the people of Konoha, and to that they should be grateful. Sasuke thought to let it pass by because he didn't want to let Naruto know that somebody had found out about his façade. That might have made Naruto go further into a state of anger, but Sasuke knows that their friendship could have been stronger.

'I'm going to want to fight him one day, which would be a great match between us. I better work on my sharingan before that match though.'

Just as Sasuke had those thoughts cleared out of his head, Naruto flew by lower and looked to be headed back into town.

'Phew, that was a close one. Naruto almost found out about me being up here and that's because I was careless and too wrapped up in my own thoughts'

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Naruto was headed back into town so he could rest up before his fight with Kakashi. Over the past few days, Naruto had become a better shinobi in the arts of ninjutsu and taijutsu. The only weakness that Naruto had was genjutsu and Naruto himself knew it. People like Kurenai would have a field day with him.

'Hmmm maybe I should stop for ramen before I go to sleep for the night. I hope Kyubi doesn't bother me tonight and let's me have a good sleep for tomorrow, I'm going to need it going against a jonin like Kakashi'

Naruto stopped for ramen and was able to refuel before heading to bed peacefully, people had not bothered him for the day. Naruto was beginning to like this but he knew that people were still looking for a little kid with an orange jumpsuit instead of a darker, brooding person with all black attire.

'Tomorrow is going to be the day, I'm going to be able to fight Kakashi and prove to him that I'm really a strong shinobi now. Then I can have a few more days of rest before these chunin exams starts'

Naruto was beginning to drift off to sleep when he remembered something

'That's right; I promised Anko a day in the forest of death.'

"You mean a date, right?"

Naruto blushed at the statement that Kyubi made about Anko and himself.

"No Kyubi, that's not a date you baka"

"Don't call me baka, I'm the great Kyubi I will annihilate you puny shinobi wannabe. Anyway, I'm saying that because you think she's attractive right?"

Naruto began running images of Anko and himself on a date, Naruto began to immerse himself in a dreamland in which he and Anko were a couple.

"I knew it, she's got your feelings just like that Haruno girl had your feelings a long time ago, and you've gotten way too clingy." Kyubi snorted at its own comment about Naruto's feelings for women.

Naruto snapped out of dreamland and into "angerland" with the mention of one Sakura Haruno.

"No Kyubi, I was blind and naïve back then. I had no grip on reality and feelings whatsoever. They had no correlation but now I have finally matured into what an adult would say is a teen with thinking beyond his years."

"I agree that you have gotten wiser and being able to read your thoughts, you have also gotten quite a bit darker as well. So tell me why do you like this Anko person?"

Naruto paused and thought about what he was going to say to Kyubi, Kyubi was trying to get into Naruto's mind but Naruto was able to block out Kyubi for a minute while he was gathering his thoughts.

"I like Anko because she shares a similar path to my own. Unlike many people, you know that I'm a pretty observant person and pick up on things quickly, and the fact that I've broken into the files of the village shinobi and kunoichi many times. So I know about Anko's past, she's rejected by the village because she was a student of Orochimaru before he defected from Konoha. They fear that she will do the same exact thing to Konoha as he did. She's not that type a person and the rejection of the village hurts her on the inside, many people can't see this but I can, mainly because I went through the same things"

Kyubi began pondering something

"I like Anko because we share the same pain, pain is usually a negative but it can be used as a positive. Pain is a major theme in my life and I make bonds with my pain, exactly why I like Anko and why I call Sasuke brother"

Kyubi decided that Naruto indeed needed his rest and with that he vanished from Naruto's mind and back into its dark cage.

'I guess Kyubi decided not to bother me anymore'

Naruto drifted back into a slumber, he spent a little while imaging what the next few days were going to be like. He was looking forward to showing how much he had grown to Kakashi and then spending time the next day with Anko. Naruto knew that the bonds with pain were only half the reason he liked Anko but he was still wondering what the other half of it was, it was undiscovered. Naruto wasn't a big fan of surprises. That being, since Naruto discovered the Kyubi and the "surprise" beatings of the villagers. Naruto fell into a deep sleep in which for the first time in a long time, he was happy and actually looking forward to the next few days and what lie ahead in his shinobi life.

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(The next morning)

Naruto woke from his peaceful dream, one of the first since he had graduated from the academy. For Naruto, life was chaos and turmoil. He had relatively no friends and was hated for the thing sealed inside of him. This alone drove him insane on the inside, while showing no effect of it on the outside. Things never got better for Naruto once he woke up; he always wanted to stay asleep but never was able to. This day was no different, except Naruto wanted to wake up. Today he had a purpose.

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(An hour later)

Naruto was quickly making his way over to the training grounds where he would be sparring with Kakashi. He didn't know what lie ahead for him or what Kakashi knew that he didn't. Naruto was sure that Kakashi knew techniques that Naruto may never learn, but Naruto knew he had power, a lot more than before and he was ready to show Kakashi.

'I hope he is able to see that I have a new purpose in my shinobi life, I'm more determined and willing to take action. In a few days, it feels like I have matured well beyond my years'

That was Naruto's thought as he was quickly jumping from building to building, at speeds which some Anbu couldn't even catch him at.

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(At the training grounds)

Kakashi was facing the memorial for those who have fallen in battle. He felt a chakra signature very familiar to him approaching. Kakashi took a deep breath and began walking to the middle of the field to meet the incoming shinobi; he knew that this would be quite the fight for him.

Just as Kakashi projected, Naruto arrived about 30 seconds later, Kakashi was prepared for him. Kakashi knew Naruto wouldn't sneak attack him and would rather face him with a face to face style of combat. Kakashi looked into Naruto's eyes and saw something different.

"Naruto, it seems your eyes have changed a bit, what's with that?"

"These are the eyes of a person who has something to prove to another. That's all"

Kakashi saw that Naruto's eyes had stayed the same for the most part but the black pupil in the center had an orange ring around it. It wasn't a massive ring but it was big enough where a person could notice it.

"So are you ready to do battle against me?" asked Kakashi

"Of course I am, just so you know. I'm going at you with killing intent" Naruto said with a cheerful look on his face.

Kakashi sweatdropped at the news he just heard.

'Killing Intent? I thought this would be a bit easier than that, it means I'm actually going to have to protect myself'

"Alright Naruto, if that's the way you want it then let's begin our battle.

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(The Battle of Kakashi vs Naruto)

Naruto and Kakashi stood opposite of one another. Kakashi was wearily eyeing Naruto, waiting for the boy who he thought of as "impatient" to make the first move. Naruto did just that, reaching into his pack and throwing 2 shurikens at Kakashi.

'Just like I thought, his personality and fighting style changed but somethings about him don't, like his impatience.'

Kakashi easily ducked under the shurikens and threw 3 of his own from his pouch with lightning quick speed.

Naruto quickly got out of the way so the shurikens wouldn't hit him in the jugular, where the shurikens were aimed. Both shinobi stared each other down, waiting for each other to make the first move.

'I'm going to wait for him to make the first move. Then I'll be able to see how he reacts to my speed development. I just have to think of a good way to get him defenseless.'

'Naruto is waiting for me to make the first move now; he wants to gauge my fighting style. I'll just use another weapon to counter that.'

Kakashi took out a kunai and threw it at Naruto. Naruto who was expecting a physical attack quickly moved out of the way to avoid the kunai. The kunai missed Naruto and sliced into the middle of the tree. The kunai was lodged in the center of the tree when the tree tipped over and fell down with a thunderous 'Thud'

'That could have been my head, looks like Kakashi-sensei is also coming with killing intent'

Naruto took the initiative and made the first move this time. He charged at Kakashi and tried a kick to the mid section, Kakashi blocked with his arm. Naruto used the momentum to swing his leg the opposite way into a sweep that would have taken out an ordinary shinobi but Kakashi moved out of the way by jumping in the air. Kakashi saw an opening and attempted a punch that almost landed if Naruto had not moved out of the way at the last second.

Naruto had to duck under the punch by Kakashi while trying to recover from his sweep attack, the result was Naruto having to almost do a split but both of his legs luckily ended up in front of him. Naruto kicked away Kakashi's arm and rolled back onto his feet while Kakashi was still moving backwards from the kick's force.

Naruto formed a cross with his index finger and his middle finger from both hands.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" (Shadow Clone Jutsu). 4 Naruto's formed along with the original Naruto. All 4 attacked at the same time. Kakashi was trying to decipher which Naruto was the real one and try to focus on isolating that Naruto. Kakashi was unable to detect which is the real Naruto before the shadow clones quickly got to him. Kakashi and the clones engaged in a short battle series where Kakashi defeated all 4 clones in a quick round of taijutsu in a short amount of time. The real Naruto was now hidden but Kakashi knew he was watching.

Naruto was now hidden in a treetop, after he had clone and Kakashi had focused in on the clones, Naruto henged and hid in the treetop. Naruto was planning his next attack as Kakashi was waiting. He knew that he was going to have to try to end the battle quickly. Naruto knew that Kakashi would have a better chance of catching Naruto off guard as the battle progressed due to his superior experience in battle and also the fact that Naruto had chunin level power to Kakashi's jonin level power. Naruto took out a kunai and began pouring some chakra into it, modifying the shape into a kunai with a curve shape; the edges also became sharper and grew a point at the center where the curve was.

Naruto finished the process and immediately threw the new kunai at Kakashi. Kakashi sensed it coming and quickly moved out of the way. The kunai continued through a tree. Kakashi thought he was safe now that Naruto revealed where his location was but wondered why Naruto hadn't popped out and started to battle in the open again. Much to Kakashi's chagrin, he didn't notice the same kunai that Naruto had thrown earlier was coming back to Naruto and Kakashi was in the way. Kakashi did notice when he heard an unfamiliar noise and moved out of the way but not before the kunai took a small piece of his silver hair from the back right side of his head. Naruto laughed when this happened and easily caught the kunai's handle when it came back to him.

"So Naruto that was a clever strategy. I don't get caught often with my guard down, your strategy was well planned and I didn't see it coming until the last second. However, I'm going to go ahead and level the playing field"

Naruto jumped out of the tree top and watched as Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate to reveal his sharingan.

"You are going to use it now. I guess I really have improved that much"

Kakashi smiled and quickly went on the offensive. Kakashi went for a kick that would have landed on Naruto's chest if Naruto had not blocked with his arms. Kakashi threw a flurry of punches and kicks and Naruto was able to dodge most of them until Kakashi feigned a punch and hit Naruto in the chest with a kick instead. Naruto had both the air knocked out of him and was vaulted backwards with him landing on his back. Naruto quickly regained his air and stood back up.

Kakashi and Naruto started trading several blows in which each combatant would land one blow after throwing about 20 blows. To Naruto, this was a real challenge where he had to keep up with Kakashi to prevent himself from getting injured. To Kakashi, this was merely a game and a test to see how Naruto had improved. He was passing the test on taijutsu and Kakashi was about to switch to ninjutsu with taijutsu.

Kakashi quickly stepped back after making Naruto fly in the air with one swift kick. Kakashi jumped on top of the near by river that flowed by the training ground. Kakashi began quickly spinning through 44 hand seals that started with the Ox hand seal and ended with the Rooster hand seal.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu" (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique). A giant dragon formed behind Kakashi and sprayed out 4 large water bullets from its mouth and aimed them at a falling Naruto. Naruto knew that even if one of the bullets landed he would be done for. Thinking quickly he came up with a solution to the predicament he was facing. Naruto quickly did hand signs and spit water out of his mouth in a stream

"Suiton: Suijinheki" (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall). Naruto was surrounded by the water that he spit out of his mouth. The projectiles moved towards the wall and bounced right off and disappeared. Doing this defense used up quite a bit of Naruto's chakra supply. Naruto then let the water begin flowing to the ground but quickly thought otherwise in a split second and decided to use it for something else

"Suiton: Suihachi" (Water Release: Hand of Waves). Naruto had the water from the wall and some from his hand jet out quickly at Kakashi. Kakashi swiftly moved quickly and dodged the quick jet of water that was going at his head. Kakashi moved back onto the surface and began doing more hand signs.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu" (Shadow Clone technique). Out popped two more Kakashi. Naruto thinking fast began another taijutsu spar with the clones. It took more time than expected but Naruto defeated both the clones. Even though he was a stamina freak, Naruto was beginning to get tired. A taijutsu spar mixed with ninjutsu was no easy task when you were fighting Kakashi Hatake. Naruto had to remember that he had chunin level power but Kakashi was a jonin, so spreading out his chakra would make this a much more balanced match.

Kakashi decided to move again but Naruto switched his game plan.

'I'm going to try to end this quickly and throw all my remaining chakra into these final moves.'

Naruto was letting Kakashi get a little bit closer before he revealed what he was going to do. "Fūton: Daitoppa" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough). All the sudden, a great amount of wind was released from the location Naruto was and began to level anything in its path, its destination was Kakashi. Naruto couldn't see when the attack was released due to the amount of chakra he had used in the attack. Naruto opened his eyes after the attack was finished to see Kakashi was gone.

Unknown to Naruto, Kakashi had used "Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu" (Earth Release: Underground Move Jutsu). Kakashi had moved underground quickly so he would not be hit by Naruto's powerful wind move. Naruto began to think about where Kakashi would be and came up with a plan in a split second.

"Fūton: Senpūken" (Wind Release: Whirlwind Fist). Naruto punched the ground and inside the ground being released was a small whirlwind. The whirlwind ripped up the ground both revealing and injuring Kakashi, so it seemed to Naruto. Naruto was analyzing the downed Kakashi when all the sudden, Kakashi poofed to smoke.

'No, it was a shadow clone'

"Yield Naruto"

Kakashi was behind Naruto holding a kunai in front of his throat and instantly ready to plunge it in if Naruto didn't yield.

"Guess I have no choice, good match Kakashi-sensei"

Kakashi removed the kunai from Naruto's throat and put it away. Kakashi then deactivated his sharingan and put his hitai-ate back on over his sharingan eye.

"It was a good match and I think this was a success. You displayed good battle techniques and know how to use your jutsu together. I was very impressed with you using the Whirlwind Fist when I was underground. That was a very unique battle strategy and I almost had no time to react"

Naruto smiled but in a way he felt like he had failed. He was hoping that he would be able to injure Kakashi but the maximum he had accomplished was to take just a sliver of hair off Kakashi and the occasional punch or kick that barely landed.

"Don't worry that you hardly hit me Naruto. Remember that I'm a jonin and I possess the sharingan, it will be difficult to even touch me. The fact that I didn't take out the 'Icha Icha' book for you is a good accomplishment by itself, never less the fact I had to use the sharingan and almost use full force".

Hearing those words made Naruto feel better on the inside since his sensei was actually commending him for the battle techniques he had used and was pleased with how much progress he had made.

"Naruto you really deserve some rest after this fight but there is something I need to explain to you before I go"

Naruto sat down on the ground expecting Kakashi to go off on some long tangent about what was going to happen next for him, and unbeknownst to him, he was right.

"Now that this training is a success, you are going to have to join back up with team 7"

Naruto looked at the ground dejectedly at this point, he wasn't very happy about the news he had just received. He wished that he had a lot more time alone to hone and perfect his skills. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to his old team.

"I know this sounds bad for you but there is likely going to be no more missions between now and the time that the chunin exams start. The only time that you are going to be able to see your teammates is for group meetings in the morning"

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you know when the chunin exams start?"

This question took Kakashi off guard, he wasn't supposed to know when the chunin exams start but due to a certain event, he got to know ahead of time in case of special planning.

"In reality, I'm not supposed to know, but since you went off to go do your training on your own, Hokage-sama told me when the chunin exams were since they were so close to the time that your training ends. I expect that rival genin from other villages and the brown hawk that chirps to be here at anytime now. Likely in a day or two but not today."

Naruto looked up into Kakashi's eyes, that orange ring around his eyes with there again; it had disappeared after the fight but reappeared again now.

'I'm curious as to what that ring indicates. It could be a plethora of different things. It could be a kekkei genkei, it could be some technique that Naruto does or doesn't know about and isn't telling anybody, or it could be the Kyubi giving him a kekkei genkei. I would doubt that Naruto has a natural kekkei genkei since his father or any relatives before him didn't have one. So that leaves the possibility of the technique or the Kyubi kekkei genkei. It's not the right time to ask about it, maybe some other time later'

"Alright Naruto, I'm going back to report my findings to the Hokage. For now you should rest up because I know you used a lot of chakra during that fight. It was a good fight and the whole training was a success"

Kakashi disappeared into a whirl of leaves and was on his way to the Hokage's office. Naruto sat there on the ground just looking at it.

'I wasn't able to even land a ninjutsu blow on him. While I did manage to land a few taijutsu kicks and punches on him, I wasn't able to land anything on him. I really still have a lot to learn though; I don't think I'm going to be able to learn anything before the chunin exams because I've got to go home and rest now. My body feels like its all mush.'

With that thought, Naruto began to walk back to the apartment he owned but he was walking back at a very slow rate.

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(At the Hokage's office)

"Report" said the Hokage

With that Kakashi entered the office of the Hokage, Sarutobi looked on with great interest in what he was about to report.

"The training was a success Hokage-sama, Naruto is a capable shinobi now."

"Ah that is good to here Kakashi, how much power does he possess"

"He is in the range of low to mid level chunin in every category except genjutsu, he shows no development at all in that category, the only thing he needs to learn is how to break free from them. The other thing is that I overshot his progress a little bit, he is low to mid level chunin, that being leaning a little bit more towards mid chunin, that is down from my original estimation of mid to high level chunin."

"It's okay Kakashi, his progress from the last place genin to mid level chunin is still very exceptional. I commend you for the work you did on his training. Myself and Naruto are grateful for all you did for him."

"One more thing before I leave Hokage-sama. When battling Naruto I noticed that he had some kind of orange ring around his pupil. It's very weird and looks unnatural; I had never seen it up until this point. It disappeared after the fight and reappeared again when I said about the chunin exams being in a few days. I honestly don't know what this is"

Sarutobi was in deep thought and he didn't know what it was either.

"I came to the conclusion that it could either be a family kekkei genkei, a technique that Naruto could be developing but has yet to tell anybody about it or the Kyubi is giving him a kekkei genkei or a new technique."

Sarutobi continued to think this new predicament over, he didn't know about Naruto's ring either. It was very odd that it would spawn out of nowhere all the sudden.

"I doubt it is a family kekkei genkei" Sarutobi spoke up but then quickly was in thought again

"I came to the same conclusion since Minato-sensei didn't have a kekkei genkei either. So that leaves the other two"

"It could be that the fox has talked to Naruto recently and given him some kind of advantage or is manipulating him somehow. We already know he has made contact with the fox once so he is able to speak to it now."

"Well the weird thing about the battle spar is that he didn't use the Kyubi's chakra at all, maybe he was concerned about hurting me or didn't want to use it. It was all of Naruto's chakra. He could have been testing out his own capabilities without the Kyubi's chakra."

"That's interesting, maybe by centralizing the Kyubi's chakra into two points, Naruto can be assured that Kyubi won't interfere on his battle but there must have been some kind of transfer if that was to happen. Naruto is an intelligent kid but he's not that intelligent to have already found a way to seal the Kyubi like that."

"These are all theories of course, that's all" replied Kakashi

"Yes, it is an interesting situation, one we will have to look at in the future" said Sarutobi

"That is all Hokage-sama"

"Good work Kakashi, you are dismissed"

Kakashi vanished into a swirl of leaves; nobody knows where he was going to, not even the Hokage. Kakashi could be a very mysterious figure sometimes.

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(At Naruto's apartment)

Naruto had just gotten back from the training ground; he was thoroughly exhausted from the battling with Kakashi. Kakashi was a strong opponent but Naruto was still depressed about not landing a blow on him.

"Hey kit, I have a question for you. Why didn't you use my chakra source?"

Naruto sighed to himself, he knew that question was coming sooner or later, he just didn't want to deal with Kyubi right now, and he was tired and exhausted.

"I didn't want to use your chakra because I wanted to see how I could do on my own, without your powers. I know how I can do with your power; it just increases my attacks power. I wanted to see what I could do without your chakra mixing in."

"Very well, I have another question…"

Kyubi was cut off by Naruto's snoring, Kyubi knew that Naruto didn't really want to talk but this was just blatant disrespect to the greatest of all the tailed beasts. Kyubi was thinking about waking him up but decided against it because he knew that he would need a long day of rest, especially if he was going to take that Anko chick up on her offer.

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(The next morning at the usual team 7 spot aka the bridge)

Naruto had just arrived at the bridge; he knew that Kakashi would want him here today since the chunin exams were on the horizon. The only problem is that neither one of his teammates knew he would be there. Another problem is that he will be alone with Sakura for a while, something he didn't want to encounter again though his former self would have begged for the opportunity. Naruto arrived with about 10 minutes until the deadline knowing Kakashi will be anywhere from 5-20 minutes late.

Sakura noticed a presence approaching nearby, she thought immediately it was Sasuke but noticed the wardrobe was different than Sasuke's usual blue shirt with khaki shorts, the person was dressed in all black and from afar looked like a very scary presence. She knew who it was since the person had blonde spiky hair.

'He looks like a scary presence but he can't harm a fly' thought Sakura to herself.

"I could take him down with the Haruno taijutsu set, CHA!" screeched inner Sakura in Sakura's head.

Naruto drew closer to the bridge and noticed only Sakura was there, Naruto was hoping Sasuke was there in case Sakura got way to out of hand. Even then it wouldn't be pretty since Sasuke would either reprimand Sakura and she would go back into fan girl mode or he would do nothing and watch Sakura just lay into Naruto.

"So I see you got a new wardrobe, you look scary but you still can't harm anything" said Sakura to Naruto once he got on the red bridge.

Naruto just totally ignored her presence while she was talking about him. Sakura had become a corrupted form to him, just another fan girl who somewhat had potential to be a kunoichi but was dragged down by her fangirl acts. At this rate, she would stay genin for a while and then quit being a kunoichi but still have a fangirl status for Sasuke, the same goes for Ino. Naruto immediately dived into his inner world as he sat down leaning against the side of the bridge.

"Kyubi I need something interesting to talk about to kill about 15 minutes"

"Well let's talk about later today; you have a 'date' with that Anko chick in the forest of death." Kyubi greatly put expression on the word date.

"It's not a date Kyubi, I don't even know what the hell it is really. She probably just wants to hang out anyway. She's an outsider just like me. That's all.

"But you can make it more than just friends hanging around with each other". Kyubi was just harassing Naruto know, the beast knew nothing would likely habits but pushing Naruto's buttons became one of the Kyubi's favorite pastimes.

"This was a bad idea to try to talk to you, I can hardly ever get a serious conversation in with you" Naruto was now thinking about breaking the connection between the Kyubi and himself, but decided to trust the Kyubi that it wouldn't say something that would make him sever the connection.

"You know just because it is a twelve year old with a twenty four year old doesn't make it wrong"

And it was going…going…gone

Naruto opened his eyes to see that Sasuke had arrived as well. Kakashi then appeared soon after, about a few minutes later.

"Well team, we look like we are in a better mood today, and look what we have here, a visitor returning to his squad" Kakashi said with a humorous intent in his voice.

Sakura and Sasuke looked over at Naruto who was still sitting on the bridge. All the sudden a brown hawk was in the air chirping noisily.

"Just as I thought" Kakashi remarked out loud. Just as Kakashi finished saying that, he reached into his pocket and handed each member of the team a form.

"These are for the chunin exams. Soon you will see rival ninja from each village sending their respective genin to this village to take this test. Just fill these out and give them to me by tomorrow if you want to participate. But if you don't want to participate and stay genin and do these low ranked D missions then don't fill them out and bring nothing but the rest of this team stays genin as well."

All three members of the team already had made up their minds. They wanted to take this test. Each for different reasons and purposes but all wanted to take this test.

"Alright you guys are dismissed"

As soon as Kakashi said those words both Naruto and Sasuke left without saying a word leaving a stunned Sakura on the bridge by herself.

'When did Naruto get so anti-social as well? Is he trying to mimic Sasuke so he can finally get his undying love for me across? No matter, I'm always going to favor Sasuke over the brat anyday'

Sakura was thinking merry thoughts of her and Sasuke having a future as she skipped away from the bridge.

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(Training Ground Number 44, Forest of Death)

Naruto had dropped the form off at his house and kept it in a secure place before heading off to the Forest of Death. It took him an hour to get there; most of it was spent at Ichiraku's getting another dose of ramen before heading out to the Forest of Death. Naruto was again, standing outside of the gates pondering what could be within the gates. All the sudden he felt a presence near him

"So you finally arrived gaki? I was wondering how long it would take you to finally get here. Don't you know not to keep a woman waiting? Especially one as beautiful as myself."

With that Naruto found that Anko had her arms wrapped around Naruto's midsection and all of the sudden he felt two creatures slithering out of her sleeves and wrapping themselves around his midsection. Naruto looked down to see snakes starting to constrict around his mid section. All the coolness had been sucked out of Naruto, he wanted them off and didn't care if he would make an embarrassment out of himself.

"AHHHHHH! GET THEM OFF ME THEY ARE SQUEEZING HARDER ON ME!!!!"

Anko began to laugh as Naruto released himself from her grip and started running around in circles as the snakes were still attached to his mid section. He didn't know that the more he ran around the more the snakes would squeeze him.

'I wonder how much longer I should keep this up?' wondered Anko to herself.

While Anko was laughing at this, Naruto was not having such a fun time. He was running around in hopes of somehow being able to get them off him but that didn't work. Naruto in the spur of the moment decided stop, drop and roll might work on them. Anko quickly decided to release the snakes off of him and they vanished in a poof of smoke. Naruto was in such a state of panic that he didn't realize this and Anko got a chance to laugh at Naruto rolling around on the floor like a dog without any danger around him. Naruto was brought back to reality a few seconds later by realizing there was no more squeezing and Anko was laughing at him. He quickly got back to his feet.

"What the hell was that for?" yelled Naruto in a state of rage.

Anko continued laughing and almost fell down because she was laughing so hard. It took her a while but she eventually regained her composure.

"I just wanted to surprise you but I didn't know I would get that reaction out of you, I took it you were the more cool and collected type but was I wrong or what?" Anko said with a voice that sounded like she was ready to laugh again.

"Apologize to me now" Naruto said darkly with a bit of killing intent leaking out

"Nope, Anko Mitarshi doesn't say sorry to anybody" said Anko with a "back off" look on her face.

Naruto decided that he wasn't going to win this conversation if it was going to go anywhere.

"So are we going inside or not?" asked Naruto darkly, still mad about the whole snake fiasco that took place

"Quite the anxious and impatient one aren't you"? Anko said with a smile on her face

Anko went first and jumped the gate and then Naruto quickly followed right behind her. They started jumping around when Anko said something of importance.

"We aren't going too far in since I don't want you to be in too much danger of attacks from the creatures that lie within" said Anko with a military type voice.

Naruto wasn't too happy about this news but didn't outwardly express this, maybe he would have the chance to train some other time in here.

'That was close. I just needed a good reason for not taking him deeper in. If anybody found out about this I would be removed from being the proctor of the second exam and that would be no fun. Even taking him this far in means that I have shown favoritism on one of the students taking the chunin exams. I'm facing a lot of punishment here if I get caught'

"Hey Naruto, if anybody asks you where you have been, just don't tell them it was here. I don't like people knowing where I am"

Naruto knew there was something suspicious with that remark and request, Anko seemed like the type of person who didn't care of what people knew about her or not. It was a bit out of the ordinary and Naruto just nodded at her request.

'Another close one, he could have slipped on that but I don't think he would have. It is ok just to make sure he doesn't slip and say where he was'

Anko and Naruto trekked around most parts of the Forest of Death and had run into a few creatures. Most of them were dealt with easily and Anko got an understanding of how strong Naruto had really become. Anko and Naruto had been out for a few hours before when they first stop at two tree branches that faced each other. Anko took the branch on the left while Naruto on the right. Naruto was staring at his surroundings for about a minute before starting the conversation.

"So Anko, why do you want to become my friend? Not everybody wants to be my friend these days..."

Anko had been wondering that same question to her self but finally realized what the answer was while in the Forest of Death

"You have grown up in a similar path to me. The village has a universal sense of rejection towards me as well because of my past. Much like yours"

Naruto looked into Anko's eyes and could see the emotions that she didn't want to show. Unknown to Anko they were showing.

"My sensei left the village because he couldn't attain the position of Hokage. That's all he wanted, was just power. He used me as a person to attain the power he wanted and do cruel experiments on"

Naruto flinched visibly at the descriptions of those words. He knew the same thing, torture through experiments, just how the villagers beat him and wanted to see how close they could bring him to death without actually making him die. The game was called 'Naruto on the brink'

"I actually liked my sensei and didn't want him to leave but he showed his true colors when he left. He showed that he didn't really care about anybody but himself when he left. He abandoned everybody, his sensei, me and the rest of the village. He just left and became a missing-nin" Anko looked down as she was saying this

"What was his name?" asked Naruto

"His name is Orochimaru and he left the village a long time ago" Anko said with a tone of depression clearly evident

'This person must have hurt Anko badly, I mean even I couldn't imagine if Kakashi-sensei left the village all the sudden.'

Naruto made another spur of the moment decision and leaped over to the other branch, startling Anko and pulled her in closely to hug her.

"It's alright Anko, one day somehow he will fail and brought to justice"

"I don't know Naruto, he's really strong" Anko said, tears were on the verge of falling from her eyes.

"Then we just have to get stronger, and I've got an advantage over him, he may know about it or not but there isn't a way he can stop that" replied Naruto with a eerily confident expression in his voice

Anko and Naruto just sat like that for a while, not caring about the creatures and what they saw of the two just sitting there. Of course, there were no people around so they had no worries about people stumbling along and seeing this.

Naruto eventually made the move to get up and both him self and Anko went back to the entrance and jumped back over the gate. Anko and Naruto then just stared at each other quietly.

"I want to thank you for helping me get over my thoughts there. It is okay to admit it was kind of weird but I tend to get emotional with that subject"

"It is okay Anko, that's what friends do for each other. Anyway I have to go and it's getting late"

"Bye Naruto, see you soon"

'He doesn't know how soon I'll be seeing him, if he makes it past the first part of the exam with Ibiki, knowing him he will.'

Anko returned from her thoughts and noticed Naruto was gone.

'It's okay, I opened up a lot to him and he accepted it, he's a true friend and one of the few I have. Plus we have a lot in common'

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(Back in Konoha the next day at the team 7 meeting spot)

All the three genin were present and were waiting on Kakashi who had returned to his old role and was late. A few minutes later than expected Kakashi arrived.

"You're late!!" shouted Sakura

Kakashi noted how Sakura still shouted at him but Naruto didn't. This was going along the lines of how Naruto had changed and Sakura was still very immature.

"I'm sorry, one of my eyes wouldn't open this morning and it was a major inconvenience" replied Kakashi with a smirk on his face. Kakashi let the joke settle in for a few seconds and then went back to a serious tone.

"Alright, do you have your forms?"

All three of the genin handed their forms in and gave them to Kakashi.

"Good, the exams start tomorrow morning at eight in the morning, you guys are dismissed"

Kakashi poofed into smoke and all three genin went along their ways, all with a sense of excitement in their steps. You couldn't tell from the outside because they all went along their normal lives. Sakura was out with Ino doing "girl stuff" and shopping, Sasuke was back at the Uchiha compound training to become stronger and Naruto was on the rail of the Hokage Mountain looking down at the wealth of the genin in the village now. Even though they looked like ants to Naruto, there was a bunch of different characters out there. The lives of the genin of team 7 rolled along into nighttime where they all took rest at an early hour so they could be prepared for tomorrow.

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(Timeskip to midnight)

The clock struck twelve and all was silent in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The guards had a few nights of sound sleep (because nobody could declare war or infiltrate during the chunin exams at whatever location it was at, it was a treaty among the villages). The entire village was asleep except for one genin perched on the top of the roof where his team was staying. The boy had capabilities well beyond his years but couldn't sleep at all. The boy stared at the crescent moon high in the sky; he was staring at it in deep thought.

'Mother, the blood which you have asked for will soon be delivered to you.'

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A/N: Chunin exams are closing in and I know some people hate this part but the matches will be different than the ones in the anime. There is going to be a few twists that you don't expect and some that you will expect. Sorry about the late update again, I couldn't help what happened. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.