So a reviewer pointed out that substitution with a living being was a bit overpowered for an E-rank basic ninjutsu, no matter how good one's mastery over it is. To be honest I agree with him, but I was thinking of what Kakashi did in the bell test with one of Naruto's clones when I wrote that. I'm not sure whether that was only possible with a clone and not the original, or if Kishimoto just decided not to implement that anymore, but I've decided to forgo it. So for those of you who want to read that part of the fight again, I've made edits. It's not necessary in order to keep reading though. Just know that D-rank substitution with a living, breathing human won't be happening. And now, onto chapter 4!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter IV: The Training

Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi stared in shock at the recent arrival. They had to be dreaming. This could not be happening. This was the last thing they expected to happen this century. At the very least there would have to be a Fourth Great Shinobi War for this to happen. How could this happen? But there was no denying the plain and obvious as the last man they were expecting to see right now stood before them, raising an eyebrow at their incredulous expressions. Kakashi Hatake was 5 minutes early.

"What's with you two?" the masked man asked. "You looked like you were just trapped in Guy's sunset illusion for an eternity." Asuma narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you and what kind of transformation technique are you using?" he asked.

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Kurenai peered at him closely. "He's definitely not under a genjutsu…" she muttered.

The other jounin watched in amusement before Hiruzen coughed loudly behind them. "If you two are quite done, I would like to get started. Just because I'm three hours ahead of schedule now doesn't mean I have time to waste."

"Three hours ahead? We're only 5 minutes early Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, scratching his head.

"Shut up Kakashi," Asuma grunted.

"Very well," Hiruzen began. "Since everyone is here, we'll start recording which teams have been allowed to pass. Now then, team 1?"

"Pass." The hokage checked a box on the paper in front of him and continued.

"Team 2."

"Fail."

"Team 3."

"Fail."

"Team 4."

"Pass."

"Team 5."

"Fail."

"Team 6."

"Pass."

"Team 7."

"Pass."

"Team-"

"Hold on a second." Genma interrupted. "You actually passed a team Kakashi?"

"Well yea," Kakashi said lazily. Mutterings broke out amongst the jounin, and Asuma stared at the masked man with wide eyes before turning to Kurenai.

"Hey, have you been to hell recently? Was it frozen?" he asked her.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes dangerously. "What makes you think I've been to hell?"

As the jounin continued to stare at him, Kakashi sweatdropped. "What can I say? They're a very motivated group of genin. I told them only three teams could pass. Scared the crap out of them there. You should have seen them after that. They actually got the bells from me."

"And...you passed them?" Raido asked dumbly.

"I think we've already established that he passed them," Hiruzen said in a slightly impatient tone. At that, everyone quieted down and he continued.

"Team 8."

"Pass."

"And team 10."

"Pass."

The hokage nodded. "Your teams will start taking missions tomorrow. Until then, dismissed." All the jounin filed out, glancing at Kakashi as he lingered in front of the hokage's desk. Once they were gone, the hokage looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Was there something else you needed Kakashi?" he asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about Naruto," the silver haired man said seriously.

Hiruzen set his pen down and gave Kakashi his undivided attention. "What did you think of him?" he asked curiously.

"He was...interesting to say the least. I was surprised when he told me his dream. I knew he wanted to become hokage, but did you know he also wants to bring peace to the 5 great nations?"

Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow again. "This is the first I've heard of it. What is the source of such an ambition?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I was hoping you would know," Kakashi admitted. "The kid has never seen war before after all. Has he ever experienced anything that would lead him to wish for something like that?"

"Not that I know of," Hiruzen said before frowning thoughtfully. "Was there anything else about him that caught your attention?"

"You mean besides chunin level taijutsu and chakra control, liberal use of the shadow clone jutsu, and wind manipulation?" he asked.

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "Are you absolutely sure of this?"

"There's no mistake," Kakashi replied. "He utilized shadow clones in conjunction with his taijutsu as if he already had experience with them. His taijutsu style was unpredictable and erratic, as was his use of the clones. He also demonstrated the ability to fluently focus chakra throughout his body to suit his needs in combat, as if he'd been doing it for years."

Hiruzen was having trouble taking this in. "And wind manipulation?" he prompted.

"That's the strangest part," Kakashi continued. "Supposedly it should take years of training to unlock one's elemental affinity and use it in battle, but he was able to use a B-rank wind manipulation jutsu. I'm wondering how he did it."

It was about a minute before Hiruzen responded. "I assume you know of the incident with the traitor Mizuki about a month ago?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded. "I heard that it was Naruto who caught him, but I was skeptical until today."

"Around the time of that occurrence, Naruto had already started to show a rather fast rate of improvement in certain areas. He if he was already training to better himself, then it's possible that when he caught Mizuki with the scroll, he couldn't help but peek. He is a child after all." He rubbed his chin. "It's a stretch, but that could explain how he learned the art of the shadow clone. As for how he managed the rest, I'm at a bit of a loss."

"The fact that he learned to use shadow clones could very well be the explanation we're looking for," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "There are many ways in which that technique can be utilized."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "You think he's been using them to amplify his training?"

"It's possible," Kakashi confirmed. "If he were to figure out the secret on his own. Normally I'd be worried if he was training that way. It's a forbidden technique for a reason. But as I could tell from the beginning, Naruto's chakra reserves are massive. He could very likely make hundreds of them without tiring. If he's really been pushing himself to the limits with such a training method, it's believable that he's come this far, even if it's still surprising." He paused. "Hokage-sama, I don't mean to sound like I'm suspicious of him, but don't you find it strange that he showed nothing like this in the academy? That his growth rate rapidly increased around the time that he learned about his burden?"

The hokage narrowed his eyes. "You think he's hiding something?"

"Like I said, I'm not suspicious of Naruto," Kakashi amended. "Rather, I'm worried that it might have influenced him."

Hiruzen's face turned grave at this. "If he was being influenced, we would likely know by now."

"I'm not saying anything for certain," Kakashi replied. "But not much is known about his particular seal. He he has indeed been in contact with it, then we're treading on dangerous ground. There's no telling what it could say or do."

The hokage thought for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I want you to keep an eye on him. Report anything of interest to me, but don't be too conspicuous in your observations. I don't want him to feel like we're suspicious of him, but my priority is his wellbeing."

Kakashi nodded and turned to leave before the hokage called out to him again. "Kakashi." The silver haired man turned around. "Take care of him. We've already failed him in so many ways." Kakashi nodded before leaving in a body flicker.

Team 7 sat in awkward silence. It had been a week since they had passed the bell test, and Kakashi's punctuality hadn't improved much. Lately on the days when Naruto decided to show up on time, he and Sasuke had taken to sparring. It was originally Naruto's suggestion. Sakura had been surprised when Sasuke had agreed to it the first time, but Naruto had just smirked, not missing the curious glint in his eyes.

The two had already sparred for about an hour while Sakura watched. Naruto had asked if she wanted to join in, but she had nervously declined. Now that they were finished with that, they were quickly getting bored. Naruto yawned and turned to Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, what temperature does paper burn at?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at him before turning away.

"232 degrees C," she replied.

"So in theory, if Sasuke were to use fire natured chakra to heat sensei's book to 232 degrees C while I held sensei down, would it catch fire?"

Sakura sighed. "I don't know Naruto, I've never tried burning a book with fire natured chakra before, but in theory it should. Why couldn't he just use a fireball jutsu though?"

"That's too quick! I want it to be slow and painful," Naruto said firmly. "That way he'll know what its like to wait for him." He turned to his other teammate. "Come on Sasuke, back me up here."

The Uchiha completely ignored him, and Naruto pouted. It was another half hour before Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke in front of them, staring down at his book. "Yo! Sorry I'm late. I saw a little old lady trying to cross the street and-"

Before he could finish, Naruto swiped the book out of his hand. The masked man's eyes widened in horror, his nonchalance all but evaporating, as Naruto tossed the book to his teammate. "Sasuke!" he shouted as the book left his hand.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Kakashi as the book soared towards the raven haired Uchiha. He reached out his hand and leaned forward, slowly, ever so slowly, in a desperate attempt to prevent what was about to happen.

The book sailed right past Sasuke, who made no attempt to catch it, and landed on the ground. Naruto and Kakashi stared down at it with blank expressions, until Kakashi finally made a dash for it and grabbed it. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"You suck," he said as he pouted again.

"Well, now that that disaster's been thwarted, what do you say we start our training for the day?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. Naruto groaned. For the past week they'd been doing nothing but team building exercises and D-rank missions. It was unbearably dull.

"So what are we learning today?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Well, today we're going to learn how to climb trees."

Naruto perked up in interest at this while Sasuke grunted in annoyance and Sakura looked at their sensei in confusion. "Climb trees? How is that training?" she asked.

"Well, to be more accurate, you're going to be climbing trees without your hands," Kakashi stated. Sakura stared at him in obvious skepticism, and Kakashi smiled. As he led them over to the forest to demonstrate, Naruto was lost in thought. In the previous timeline Kakashi hadn't taught them this until the mission to Wave. Did he simply think they were ready sooner this time, or was it something else that had caused the change?

They all watched as Kakashi head over to the tree and casually started walking vertically up the side of the trunk as if he was strolling through a park. Sakura's expression was surprised, Sasuke's was focused, and Naruto's was blank as the masked man turned to face them, still seemingly defying gravity.

"The hardest parts of the body for a ninja to channel chakra to are the feet. If you can focus your chakra to the soles of your feet proficiently enough to stick to the bark of the tree, then you'll be able to make use of your chakra much more effectively in combat by drawing it forth to different parts of your body as needed. You will also be able to use chakra more efficiently when you use jutsu because you will be able to better control how much you use." As he finished his explanation, he threw three kunai at the genin's feet, then continued. "Focus chakra to the soles of your feet in order to ascend the tree without the use of your hands. You might want to start out running, then try walking when you get the hang of it. Use those kunai to mark your progress."

The three of them each picked up a kunai and stared at the tree. Sasuke was trying to visualize his goal, while Sakura was worried about falling from a decent height if she screwed up. Naruto broke the ice. "Well, what are you waiting for, rookie of the year? Show us how it's done!"

Sasuke didn't look at him as he responded. "You mean you're not going to run at the tree before us to try to get a head start?" he asked absently as he started feeling out his chakra as he focused it to the soles of his feet.

Naruto shrugged. "Opening act comes before the headliner," he said nonchalantly. Sasuke's eye twitched, and, having gotten a feel for the chakra flow, he ran at the tree. He made it about 10 feet up before the wood cracked under his foot and he was pushed off. Grunting, he slashed at the three with his kunai before executing a backflip and landing in a crouched position away from the tree. He glared up at the mark he had made. If I use too much chakra, I get repelled, but if I use too little, I won't even stick to the tree.

"Alright, my turn!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically, before charging at his own tree. He ran up the bark until he made the same mistake about 15 feet up and was repelled, though the indent he made was noticeably smaller than that of Sasuke's. "Damn," he muttered. "Almost had it." Kakashi's eyes narrowed from where he stood watching.

"Hey, this is pretty easy!" came a familiar voice from above. They all looked upwards to see Sakura sitting on one of the high branches of her tree, and looking down at them in obvious satisfaction.

Kakashi probably could have motivated the other two better by degrading their first efforts, but he decided to keep silent and simply observe. Something was off here. Sasuke was predictably glaring up at Sakura, but Naruto seemed surprisingly upbeat for someone who had just been shown up.

"Hah!" the blonde shouted. "She left us in the dust. Who knew?" He turned to Sasuke. "I don't know about you, but my pride has been damaged. Come on bastard, let's go. I'm not being left behind!"

Sasuke grunted. "Don't order me around, dobe," he said. I'm in last. Unacceptable, he thought, before making another run at the tree, Naruto right behind him.

Kakashi called up to Sakura as she climbed down the trunk of the tree. "Sakura, keep practicing until you can stay on the tree for an extended period of time. I'll be back to check on your progress soon."

He started walking away, lost in thought. Naruto had his suspicions raised again. The way he had flawlessly channeled chakra throughout his body during their taijutsu session on day 1, he should have easily been able to get to the top. So why was he holding back…? Kakashi frowned as a possible explanation presented itself. Sasuke. He was definitely the type who excelled when he had something to motivate him, but when that motivation was a seemingly insurmountable goal, his frustration at not being able to reach it only deterred him in the long run. Such was the case with Itachi, and such would be the case if he felt he was already far behind his teammate in chakra control. If Naruto were to keep pulling ahead of him bit by bit, it would most likely produce the best results for the Uchiha. But had Naruto realized this? Was he really that perceptive? Even if he was, it would be surprising if he was already that committed to his teammates. He did have his own training to think about after all. Nevertheless, his most unpredictable student had surprised him once again. He had originally been planning to hold off on this training until later, but his team had been progressing nicely, and he wanted to see how they would take it. He also wanted to see how Naruto in particular would handle it, and the boy had surpassed his expectations without even trying to do so. Deciding to think on it when he returned, he promptly leaned against the memorial stone and pulled out his book.

Sakura panted heavily as she sat against the base of the tree. It had been an hour since they had started, and she was beginning to have some trouble focusing her chakra. It simply wasn't flowing as easily anymore. She had managed to stay on the bark for several minutes at a time, but now she felt she needed a long break. She looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, who were still inching their way further up the tree after every attempt, and wondered how they did it. She briefly remembered something she had learned back in the academy. They had been taught in a lecture that chakra control initially came more easily to those with lower reserves because they had less to work with, and it was therefore easier to direct the flow. Suddenly she felt slightly disappointed. Was the only reason she was so much better at controlling her chakra that she had a lot less compared to her teammates? That was a depressing thought.

Judging from how Naruto and Sasuke were progressing, she could therefore conclude that they had about the same amount of chakra, and maybe Sasuke had a bit more. But then she frowned. Somehow, that didn't seem right. They were both already capable of elemental jutsu...somehow. But Naruto could also make a rather large number of shadow clones. During their D-rank missions over the past week, he had been using them liberally to speed up their work rate, dividing multiple tasks up among the copies of himself. She never complained about the dramatic increase in noise simply because it helped them get their missions done much faster, but one day she had been curious, and had done some research on the shadow clone jutsu when she had gotten home.

It was a B-rank forbidden jutsu that was only used by jounin level shinobi or above due to its exhaustive chakra requirements. The user needed to have a high amount of chakra even for a jounin in order to utilize it effectively because it required the distribution of a decent amount of chakra in each clone in order for said clone to function properly. Shadow clones weren't like the elemental clones, which simply infused a substance such as water or earth with chakra to create a copy of the user. Shadow clones created a copy using pure chakra, which was why they were that much more draining, but had a much more versatile usage in combat due to their higher degree of intelligence.

Sakura did not mess around with her research, and she was coming to an extremely bizarre, yet equally inescapable conclusion. If Naruto could make over 20 copies of himself using the shadow clone jutsu without even feeling winded, which she had seen him do, then he had higher chakra reserves than most jounin. She snuck another glance at him as he marked his next record using his kunai, which was a few feet above Sasuke's latest achievement, and she begrudgingly came to another conclusion. If Naruto really had that much chakra and was still pulling ahead of Sasuke, then she really needed to step up her game, otherwise she would be eating his dust soon. And with that thought, she decided that her break was over and scurried back up the tree.

It had been two hours since Kakashi had left his students alone, and he was now walking back into the forest to check up on them. He was moderately shocked when he was greeted by the sight of Sakura sprawled on the ground, unconscious, while Naruto squatted next to her with clear concern on her face, and Sasuke stood off to the side, his concern well hidden behind a mask of indifference but still there. As Kakashi walked up beside them, Naruto turned to him.

"She has a mild case of chakra deprivation, I think. Luckily she was smart enough to get down from the tree once she felt the strain," the blonde said. Kakashi nodded in confirmation. He was surprised. He knew Sakura wouldn't be able to keep practicing as long as Naruto and Sasuke, but he hadn't expected her to work herself to exhaustion like this. It's not that he was disappointed, far from it. He was just glad that she hadn't been in the tree once she had collapsed.

Suddenly the girl groaned and her eyes slowly opened. She was greeted by the sight of Naruto hovering over her. For a brief moment Kakashi worried she might try to hit the blonde or something, but she just smiled lightly before turning to Kakashi and mumbling something incoherent. Naruto looked at her questioningly.

"Uh, wanna try that again Sakura?" The girl spoke again, louder this time, as she faced Kakashi."

"Seven minutes. My record was seven minutes," she mumbled. Kakashi smiled down at her.

"Well done."

A/N: And chapter 4 is done. Tell me what you thought.