The Dichotomy of Namikaze Naruto

by Thundereaper

What lies behind the Shiki Fuuin? Who is Naruto, really? Told from the Mizuki incident onwards, a new Naruto emerges, smarter, stronger, and better. Female Kyuubi. NaruXFemKyuuXFemHakuXTentenXHinataXIno.

4. Mother's Gift, and the Bell Test

Chapter Four! YAY! Not as much action as I was hoping, but I hope it comes out well all the same. Also, I had some gnarly misspellings of certain things, like "Bijou" instead of "Bijuu"…my bad. Really, I didn't know.

As for those who assert that Kage Bunshin trains the mind as opposed to the body…you're probably right. I'll see if I can't correct that when it becomes necessary.

Nope, still don't own Naruto. That's evidenced by the fact that the filler staff hasn't come to an untimely death yet. Just saying.

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A snapshot of time. That's what it was. Unchanged for twelve years, this was the basement of his father…Namikaze Minato.

Naruto and Kyuubi had passed through the barrier that the master security seal had erected rather easily…all it did was elicit a slight tingling sensation on Naruto's upper back, nothing more. He didn't exactly want to find out, however, what would happen to someone who did not have permission when they tried to enter. Even to the untrained eye, there were traps abound, and seals lined the walls, infused with enough chakra to make even Naruto's own relatively untrained senses tingle with what he interpreted to be danger.

His father had been in a hurry. That much was painfully obvious. Scrolls were strewn about as so much waste…books thrown haphazardly on shelves, and various other repositories of information were simply sitting in the open with no real organization to them. If Naruto didn't know that it was impossible for anyone else to get down here, he would have thought that the basement had been ransacked.

Naruto took in the scene with a slight frown. He had expected something simpler than this…and he had certainly not expected to have to clean up the place. With a hand seal, he created about twenty Kage Bunshin, setting them to the task of simply organizing the mess in front of him…he didn't have any illusions of being able to completely sort the cabal of paperwork in front of him. He'd tackle that particular challenge sometime later.

The room's own design, however, was rather simple. The basement could be used as a meter for how large the house actually was. It was a circular room that stretched to a probable 100m diameter or so…the ceiling itself was probably 25 feet up from the base. The floor was simple smoothed concrete and the ceiling looked as though there was only simple paneling keeping the rafters from showing. The ring's unbroken wall seemed to be paneled with the same material. The actual 'furniture' in the room was as minimalist as the rest of the room. File cabinet structures lined the outside of the ring in a circle, and there were simple fluorescent lights that illuminated the room in a blinding artificial glow.

Naruto was broken from his musings, as he came to the center of the room. On the floor was a seal…it was complex, various amounts of kanji coalescing into an octagon like symbol, with a grid like structure lining the inside. Naruto guessed that it was the master security seal that Sarutobi had told him about. Sitting on top of this seal was a desk…about fifty feet long and about fifteen feet wide. The whole configuration gave the room a very 'open' feeling to it.

Naruto's eyes took in the various scrolls that lay on the desk, finding scrolls for seals that Naruto had no comprehension of. Some of them had the kanji for 'forbidden' on them, others simply had 'dangerous'. Most were simply unmarked and looked almost as if they had been…created…on the spot. Naruto wondered, not for the first time, if his father was more of a genius than he gave him credit for.

His eyes reached the center of the table, and his breathing stopped.

There lying in the middle of the table was a drawing of a seal that he had definitely seen before.

Shiki Fuujin.

But…there was more than the Shiki Fuujin…what were all these other drawings?

Naruto's gaze wandered to the label for the drawing, his breath once again becoming hitched…he took off his mask as if to get a better look.

Finished Shiki Fuujin with supplementary seals for symbiosis – Complete

In a flash of inspiration, Naruto realized what this was.

It was his seal…his seal array. What was on the paper in front of him was exactly what was on his stomach. This paper held the documentation to his seal. Naruto's eyes wandered over the paper in front of him, taking in every little detail…he noticed that every single seal was listed under the drawing, a description following shortly afterwards. His father may have been messy, but at the very least he was thorough.

Kyuubi by this time had noticed the drawing as well, and was pouring over it with an intensity that Naruto had never quite seen on her face before. Her fingers traced certain seals, her eyes darted from place to place, and every once in a while, her eyes would widen almost imperceptibly before schooling themselves again.

After some time, she spoke. "Naruto…this…this is absolutely incredible. The implications…the usage…the application…all of the seals are perfectly melded with each other, no conflict. I've never seen anyone able to combine seventy seals together without conflict…not even the greatest seal masters in Makai were this proficient…" Naruto himself was awed at the respect and astonishment in Kyuubi's voice. For her to praise someone so openly was rare, or at least he assumed.

"Explain it to me. I want to know what we can do with this thing." Naruto had finally found his voice, and he was not about to let an opportunity like this go to the wayside.

Kyuubi simply gave him an incredulous look. "I can't explain this. The seal itself is so complex as to be undecipherable…if not for the descriptions at the bottom, I would have no clue what any of these did." Naruto deflated slightly before realizing that at the very least, he should read the descriptions.

Kyuubi beat him to it. "The descriptions are rather straightforward. It lists the Shiki Fuujin overseal, the impression seal, and the suppression seals first, followed by…interesting. Chakra flow seals." Naruto gave Kyuubi a puzzled look before she continued.

"Chakra flow seals, at least in this usage, are there for the explicit purpose of allowing my own chakra to be forced into yours. Consider it sort of a flood gate. The Shiki Fuujin is a dam of sorts, holding back my chakra. If I force my chakra out of the seal and into you, the chakra flow seals allow the chakra to be channeled into your own system correctly, as opposed to simply being used haphazardly and without purpose. Basically, it allows you to use my chakra more efficiently and with greater effectiveness. In this case, there are fifteen of these seals placed on you. The more chakra flow seals you have, the more chakra you're able to take from me when you need it." Naruto nodded…interestingly enough, he had understood that.

"Well, that takes care of forty-seven of the seals placed on you…thirty suppression, fifteen chakra flow, the Shiki Fuujin, and the Impression seal…after that comes the Shiki Fuujin backup seal…the one that I told you about that kills us both if the Shiki Fuujin dissipates, remember?" Naruto nodded. He would very much like it if that seal were not on him.

"That makes forty-eight…there's a seal that converts my chakra into a chakra that heals you innately…it's the whole reason why you heal as quickly as you do. There's the submission seal…that's the one that controls this collar around my neck." Kyuubi scowled and Naruto simply smirked. He thought it looked good on her.

"That makes fifty. According to this, there are eighteen different purification seals. Huh, so that's why you have so much chakra…" She trailed off, as if thinking to herself. It took a nudge from Naruto to break her from her musings and actually explain what that meant.

"The purification seals…well…purify my chakra into a type that you can use. Basically, a small amount of my chakra is filtered through the purification seals at all times, and that chakra is then innately added to your own reserve. Your chakra coils are forced to expand, and your capacity grows. Although, that's only one use for the seals. The other use is actually the main reason why you have it, I'd assume. If your natural chakra reserve ever draws an empty, you'll end up refilling it much more quickly than a normal person would, due to the purification seals on you. Not only would your natural processes be refilling your chakra reserves, but a small amount of my own chakra would be being converted to regular chakra and shoved into your coils that way. Whereas someone else may require a day or more to completely refill their own reserves, you'd only take a few hours at most. The best thing is I don't lose any chakra capacity due to the fact that it's taking chakra as opposed to actual power…not like the suppression seals."

Naruto simply smiled. "So I basically never run out of chakra, is that it? Awesome." He rested his forearms on the table and gave an almost imperceptible smirk. "So now all I have to worry about is chakra control." Kyuubi's own smirk widened slightly at this. "Basically. Of course, you can still run out, but that's why you have my chakra reserve." She glanced at him slightly with an almost imperceptible smirk on her face. "You do realize though that with your already gigantic reserves, learning chakra control is going to be exceedingly difficult." Naruto's smile faltered slightly at this before setting itself back into one of determination. "It doesn't matter how difficult it is. What matters is that I am going to do it, regardless." Naruto set his gaze back on the drawing in front of Kyuubi, giving her an almost imperceptible cue to continue. She smirked wider. Of course he would do it…he was Naruto.

She continued to pour over the descriptions. "The last two seals are…interesting. The first is a seal…repellent…for lack of a better term. It prevents any other seals from being added to the Shiki Fuujin overseal, either deflecting them with my chakra, or dissolving them after they've been put on. It prevents people from messing with the seal." Naruto nodded.

"The second…" Kyuubi's eyes widened slightly before they schooled themselves again. Her face, however, betrayed them. On it, there was warmth and something almost…kind…on her face.

"The second of the last two seems to be a gift from your mother, Naruto. It is a…medical conversion seal." Naruto's own face showed confusion. "The seal is one I've never actually seen before…it's ingenious though." Kyuubi saw that Naruto was even more confused than before, and she realized, to her chagrin, that Naruto really had no idea how med-nin's actually healed people.

She sighed. "Medical ninja work on the premise of being able to use chakra to heal. This is done either by simple regeneration through cellular stimulation, or through precise and thorough procedures with chakra scalpels and various other techniques. Either way, med Nin need an intimate grasp of human anatomy and basic biology to perform their function, and the best med Nin is able to cure even the most virulent of diseases and the most shattered of bodies with it." She saw comprehension dawn on Naruto's face and she continued.

"Normally, this would be fine…but to perform medical techniques, one must first be able to control a medical version of chakra. This is done by being able to change the very nature of your chakra into a form that stimulates regeneration and healing. To do this, normally, you'd need more chakra control than you are even able to possess…in fact, very few males have the ability to create medical chakra, as most males have too much chakra to control it enough to produce it. That's what this seal fixes. If you activate this seal while focusing chakra to your hand, the chakra will come out as healing chakra…the seal takes care of the conversion. It's truly a gift, and it's absolutely brilliant."

Naruto was deep in thought. This was all well and good, but how exactly was he supposed to 'activate' this seal? Did he simply think of it, and it activated, or is there something else? He decided that Kyuubi would probably have the answer. "How exactly do I 'activate' this seal?" Almost as an afterthought, Naruto added, "And how do you know so much about medical techniques?"

Kyuubi nodded, as if expecting the question. "Nearest I can tell, you simply focus on trying to produce healing chakra, just as med Nin would, and the seal takes it from there. My guess is that you'll have to find a med Nin and ask them how to actually produce medical chakra…as soon as you find out, you should be able to simply do it, without much hassle." Naruto nodded. He would have to ask the old man if he knew of anyone who would teach him about medical chakra.

"As to the question of how I know about medical techniques…chakra based medical treatment has been in use for hundreds upon hundreds of years. In fact, chakra based medical techniques came before most jutsu were even created. It falls under the category of chakra manipulation and control…both of which I am tremendously proficient in. Remember, I said that I didn't know jutsu, not that I didn't know chakra and the manipulation thereof." Naruto seemed to accept that answer and turned his gaze back to the seal drawing, as if trying to burn it into his memory.

"That makes seventy different seals, just as the Hokage said. Amazing. When he first said that there were seventy seals placed on you, I thought he was exaggerating. I guess he wasn't." Kyuubi looked awed as she continued to stare at the seal diagram in front of her. To her, it was a work of art.

Naruto suddenly had an influx of data come into his mind, and he noticed that his clones had just dispersed themselves after they completed their task. He looked around to find the scrolls, books, and other such things in neat and tidy piles. He even noticed that they had managed to sort them somewhat…different category of jutsu were in different piles. It would certainly make things easier in the long run.

"My clones are done organizing all the jutsu…we should see what exactly we're up against here." Naruto desperately wanted to find out just what he could and couldn't learn…it was enough to drive him up the wall.

She simply nodded and motioned Naruto to follow her. "To be honest, I'm not very good with jutsu…like I said, I never took any time to learn anything about them. I do know, however, that humans manipulate elemental chakra much differently than those of my kind do. To be honest, we'll have to ask someone…perhaps your sensei or the Hokage about them. I seem to remember something about 'elemental affinity', but I don't remember enough to really describe it to you." Naruto shot Kyuubi a disappointed look before schooling his features into a deadpan rather quickly. If there was one thing he was good at, it was putting on a façade.

"Elemental jutsu are only one of many types you can learn though, I think. For instance, before you saw the seal, I was checking out a cabinet that was relatively undisturbed, full of jutsu that had no elemental affinity. There was also a book that I managed to snatch from one of your clones…" She reached into her bust and pulled out a plain brown book that had the markings of being frequently used. Kyuubi never noticed the blight red hue that Naruto's face had taken after she pulled the book out…he was able to quash it rather quickly.

Kyuubi handed him the book, and for the first time, he saw the title. Sealing Techniques for beginning Shinobi. Slightly confused, he opened the book to find that the pages were full of kanji and seal diagrams that he didn't understand at all. The pages were marked at certain points, and the pages seemed to be dog eared all over the place. It was easy to see that the book had gotten quite a bit of good use over the years.

"Interesting. If you're such a seal master, however, why do I need a book to teach me about them?"

Kyuubi gave him a dismissing wave and returned to gazing about the room. "I could teach you about sealing, or you could have a Kage Bunshin read that thing, and do something completely different. You have to learn to prioritize." Naruto sneered slightly at that, not willing to outwardly admit that she was right.

After a few more moments of walking, they arrived at the cabinet Kyuubi had mentioned. Naruto noticed immediately that there was something…different about it as compared to most of the other cabinets in the room. It had a spiral emblem imbedded into the center, and there was a strange looking circular seal adorning the single opening lock.

Kyuubi simply got a perceptive smile on her face. "I see. Only those of a certain blood can open this thing…I guess this cabinet is full of the family jutsu." Naruto's head snapped to Kyuubi so quickly that she feared his head may twist off.

"This…family jutsu…blood…what?" His disjointed 'sentence' gave away his underlying astonishment, awe, anticipation, and anxiety.

She couldn't help but giggle slightly. "The seal on the cabinet is a blood seal…simply bite your thumb as you do during the Kuchiyose, and smear some blood on it. It should unlock automatically." Naruto nodded, somewhat dumbfounded and did as told.

It snapped open with an audible click, and with a shaking hand, Naruto reached in and pulled out the oversized scroll contained therein. It took him a good two minutes to fully unravel the thing along the concrete floor, but once he did…

"Namikaze Family Techniques – Authored by Namikaze Minato…hmm. There are only four jutsu on this scroll…" Naruto glanced at the unfurled scroll and noticed that there were only four jutsu described in the scroll itself. He noticed with a smile, however, that they were all either A or S-class type jutsu.

"I guess my dad's philosophy was quality over quantity. These jutsu are advanced…am I seeing this right, or do none of these require hand seals?" He noticed just from a passing over of the jutsu in the scroll that he hadn't seen any lists of hand seals needed for the jutsu themselves.

Kyuubi herself gave the scroll a once over, and her eyes widened slightly. "You're right…none of these require hand seals. In fact…all save for one are simple chakra manipulation and seal techniques. The two A-class don't require seals…they're simple chakra manipulation. The two S-classes require both seals and advanced chakra manipulation. Very interesting." She was pouring over the jutsu as though to burn them into her own memory, and Naruto himself was nigh giddy at the prospect of learning two A-class jutsu and two S-class jutsu.

His hopes were dimmed considerably though, by the next statement. "If I'm getting these correctly…it could take you years, even with the Kage Bunshin training method, to master these. The raw amount of chakra control, manipulation, and theory that these require…you could create three thousand clones a day for the next year, and I doubt you'd learn the highest one on here." Kyuubi's outside expression was neutral, but inside she was smirking up a storm. If anything could motivate Naruto, it was being underestimated.

It worked like a charm. "Bullshit. Regardless of how hard they are, I'll master them much more quickly than you or anyone else thinks." His face was a mask of determination and guts, and she couldn't help but have a small smirk form on her lips watching him. There was no doubt in her mind that he would…he just needed to be motivated properly.

"We'll see. Don't go getting cocky, though. Even if by some chance you manage to master some of these jutsu more quickly than we think, they are tremendously hard to pull off. They're powerful, yes, but there are things you have to learn before you can even think of learning these. You have to drastically increase your control, you have to increase your speed, your strength, your physical toughness…like I said before, you must learn the basics before you go off on a tangent to try to learn these jutsu. Remember too, that you're going to be learning a sword style, and other various things during this time as well…jutsu practice is going to take a time slot just as much as the other ones are." His determined look went unabated, slightly impressing Kyuubi…she had been trying her hardest to discourage him…but then again, she really shouldn't be surprised that it had the exact opposite effect. Hell, it had what she had been hoping for.

He gave an almost dismissive wave to Kyuubi, earning him a somewhat irked glare. "Basics and general improvement are great…but I will learn these jutsu, and more. Remember, I can do more than one thing at a time." He almost smirked at that last part. His Kage Bunshin training method allowed him to multitask in the most extreme sense of the word.

Kyuubi herself allowed a slight smile to creep on to her face. "Good. I don't think you quite know what you're getting yourself into, though." At that, the Kyuubi gained a sadistic smile, and to Naruto's credit he kept his only visible reaction to a gulp.

Kyuubi decided that one last little bit of motivation was in order. "If you pass your Genin initiation test tomorrow, I will start to teach you the only technique on this scroll that I truly understand. But only if you pass." She watched as his face all but lit up, and she couldn't suppress a grin.

"Deal. Just be ready to train when I get home tomorrow." He shot her his own grin, showing off his somewhat elongated incisors.

Naruto then glanced at his watch, and with a start, he realized that they had been down here for almost two and a half hours. If he wanted to be at the training ground on time tomorrow, he should really go to bed now.

Kyuubi seemed to recognize the same thing. "Right then. I'll clean up a bit down here, seeing as how I don't really need nearly as much sleep as you do." Naruto nodded, and pounded his way up the stairs, getting the same tingling feeling when he passed through the barrier as he had before.

Kyuubi simply smiled a genuine smile. This was going to be fun. She rolled up the Namikaze scroll and put it back in the cabinet before moving to the other piles of scrolls and sorting them as well. Assuming the boy passed the next day, she would be teaching the one technique from the scroll that was right up her alley. It used chakra manipulation, control, and technique on an extremely high level, and those were the exact things that she excelled at.

She closed another cabinet door with a click. She decided that the Rasengan truly would be a great jutsu to start off with.

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Naruto entered the master bedroom with slight trepidation. This would be his first time spending the night at his new…home…he realized with a start. The fact that he really had a home only really hit him once he realized that he never had to go back to his apartment again. It was an odd feeling…he had never really had a true home before.

He went about his nightly ritual with the same practiced ease as he usually did, however. There was a pair of pajamas that were quite too big for him in one of the dressers, but they fit with a little creative folding. The bed was freshly made, and just from giving it an experimental bounce, it seemed to be tremendously comfortable.

He made his way into the master bathroom, and he stopped short. It was incredible. White marble tile lined the room, and the bathroom itself was almost as large as his apartment…just like everything else in the house. It was very brightly lit, and there was gold trim on some of the fixtures. The shower was very large, and the bath counterpart was just as big. The whole thing was just…well…it made him feel bad to have to do what one normally did in a bathroom.

After finishing up, he made his way out to the bed, and with an unceremonious plop, he landed on the goose down mattress and let out an extremely contented sigh. He was home. He was home…and no one could take it away. It was only moments after that that he fell into a blissful slumber.

After what felt like only minutes, he awakened, but to a much different environment. He realized after a few moments, that he was in his seal, and there was an almost amused looking Kyuubi standing right in front of him. It took him a few moments to realize what was going on.

"Wait…we're having lessons tonight?! Can't I even have one night of good sleep?" He was whining, but he didn't care. Sleep was just too damned tempting.

Kyuubi just smirked. "But you seemed so enthusiastic about it only a day or so ago…but, if you want, I can just cancel our little deal, and not teach you anything…" Kyuubi's smirk widened when that got the desired rise out of the boy standing in front of her.

"NO!...er…no. It's fine. We can do this." His face set itself into one of determination again, and he promptly plopped himself down on one of the recliners. Kyuubi smiled again, and walked over to a now almost full bookshelf and got out a book before tossing it to Naruto. He read the title…Beginning Anatomy.

He almost gave her a scowl. "If I'm just going to read a book, why don't I just get a Kage Bunshin to do it?" Kyuubi matched his scowl rather well.

"Because, dimwit, you're going to follow along in that book while I explain it to you. That book is simply a representation of what I know. If you tried to read that book without me guiding you, it would be disjointed and completely ineffective. That book is simply an aid for you. I'm still going to be doing the majority of the teaching." Naruto almost looked sheepish before he gave Kyuubi a slight nod.

She slid herself into the adjacent recliner to Naruto and they both took in the 'heat' of the roaring fireplace in front of them for a few moments before Kyuubi turned to Naruto and signaled him to open his book.

"The first chapter will cover the Integumentary system, or as you may call it, your skin…"

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He had been awake all night…and yet he felt more rested than any day of his life before. It was quite the interesting feeling.

They had spent roughly the equivalent of twenty four hours in his seal studying basic human anatomy and just a hint of chemistry…after all, the body is made up of approximately sixty five percent water…and water is a chemical. It was a bit of a stretch, but Kyuubi used it to segue rather well.

Naruto took in his surroundings with a smile. He could get used to waking up in a room like this. He unceremoniously plopped his feet on the floor and went about his daily rituals with little hassle, noting that the lingering presence of Kyuubi was in the back of his mind. He surmised that she must be sleeping.

After he had done what needed to be done in the bathroom, he got dressed in his clothes, strapped his sword to his belt, snapped his mask on, tied his forehead protector around his neck, and after grabbing a quick breakfast of cereal (someone had restocked the kitchen), he bounded off towards training ground seven.

It was after a short trip that he arrived at the outskirts of the training ground. He noted with a bit of hesitancy that Sakura was the only other teammate of his currently there. If there was one thing he hated, it was an awkward situation.

He realized with a start that even just two days ago, this wouldn't have been an awkward situation at all. Hell, he probably would have been shouting and running around with nigh boundless energy…he shuddered. He was beginning to understand why people had called him annoying.

It was strange to Naruto, however, that he had managed to somehow instantaneously get over his 'crush' on Haruno Sakura. It wasn't that he somehow hated her now…far from it. He simply felt absolutely apathetic towards the whole situation. His 'feelings' for the pink haired girl were…simply…not there. Perhaps it was a function of his new persona, or maybe…just maybe…his old persona had used Sakura as a 'crutch' of sorts. She was the one person that he could constantly derive attention from…he realized with a start that it was almost like a neglected puppy. You bark and annoy someone enough, and you'll get attention…it may be bad attention, but it's still attention nonetheless. Naruto sported a slight frown. Was he really that starved for attention before?

He was broken from his musings as he came upon a stump in the middle of the training grounds that Sakura was currently leaning on. Before he could mutter out a greeting, however, she beat him to it.

"Naruto? What's with the mask…and the sword? You just keep changing…" Sakura's voice was almost awed, and Naruto wondered briefly if perhaps she was herself a bit too used to him being annoying…perhaps it was a two way street. Maybe she derived confidence out of being able to feel superior to others. He realized with another start, that perhaps he had been a crutch to her as well…a much needed confidence boost. After all, everyone has to feel superior to someone.

"The mask is to cover my face. The sword…is to cut things." He decided that brevity was the better part of valor.

Sakura apparently disagreed. "Baka, I know what a sword and mask are for! I was asking why you were wearing them!" She seemed a bit peeved at his lack of prolix…she was going to have to get used to it.

He punctuated his mood with a sigh before delivering his rebuttal. "Sakura…I'm wearing the mask because my face is different than normal. I have the sword because it is…an heirloom. I intend to learn to use it." He hoped beyond hope that explanation would satisfy her.

She seemed confused for a moment before tapping her chin in thought. "That's right…I never did find out why your face was different and stuff…" She seemed to wince slightly. "Then again, you didn't really want to tell me." Though you couldn't tell it, Naruto almost winced himself.

He had been…peeved to say the least the prior day. Sakura had been a tremendously convenient outlet for his pseudo-anger at the time…and he had used that to his full advantage. That's not to say that she hadn't deserved it…she was as annoying in her own way as Naruto used to be. Besides, it had shut her up rather effectively at the time. He remembered his revelation the previous day that being feared seemed to trump being loved…he may well have to put that theory to the test…again.

"That's right…I do not really wish to talk about it Sakura. I would appreciate it if you would drop it." He again decided to place his faith in brevity.

This time at least, it seemed to work. "I…understand. I'm just curious, you know?" She seemed as though she was going to say something else…but she caught herself short. He briefly wondered what exactly she had been meaning to say. Naruto simply nodded to Sakura, and with an unceremonious plop, he rested himself on the ground. If his sensei's previous day's performance had been any indication, they may be in for quite a long wait.

Luckily, Sasuke broke the monotony when he showed up about fifteen minutes after Naruto arrived. It was a godsend…any and all attention that Sakura might have been directing his way was immediately redirected towards Sasuke, and that was just perfectly fine in his opinion. The less 'attention' that Sakura gave him, the better.

Of course, Sasuke was now the one to comment on his new appearance…again. "Dobe…what's with the mask and the sword?" Naruto sighed.

"I'm wearing the mask because my face is different than normal. I have the sword because it is an heirloom. I intend to learn to use it." He repeated exactly what he said to Sakura…it was a good explanation.

Sasuke seemed…peeved for a moment, but his face quickly schooled itself into the mask of the uncaring brooder, and he took up a space on the stump next to him. For a while, everything was quiet, and Naruto was enjoying it. Of course, it did not last.

'G'morning kit. I see you're sitting around doing nothing.' Naruto's face contorted itself into an almost pout. He had hoped to have at least a little time to himself. It was not to be.

'You have some time before your sensei arrives, I imagine…if he was almost three hours late yesterday, he'll be just about that late today. Why don't I get you started on something I've been meaning to train you in…' She sounded almost distracted, as though she was contemplating just exactly how to train Naruto in whatever she was meaning to train him in.

'Oi, find somewhere where you can summon me…this would be an opportune time to introduce me to your teammates…we did spend some of last night thinking up a back story and fake name for me for a reason. After you summon me and introduce me, I can train you in something quickly.' Naruto remembered that they had indeed diverted some of their training to thinking up a back story and fake name, albeit unoriginal, for the Kyuubi to use when around his teammates. They had decided that she would become almost like that Akamaru dog is to Kiba…even though she detested being referred to as a dog, or even as a companion…it was all she could do.

Naruto gave what amounted to a mental nod, and with a bound, he leapt off into the trees, much to the bewilderment of his two teammates. After running for a bit, he settled down in a semi-sheltered area, and performing the hand seals, he whispered, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

He felt the familiar tugging on the back of his mind, and after siphoning some of Kyuubi's chakra to her, the smoke cleared to reveal…a fox. That had been the other thing they decided. Around anyone other than those who knew who she was, she would have to use her fox form. It was more versatile in combat anyway.

Her fox form outside of the seal was…ordinary, for the most part. Her fur was a bright red, as opposed to a matte red of a regular fox, but other than that, she looked exactly as a small fox kit might. She even had just one regular bushy tail swinging behind her. Her eyes were different, of course…they were red and feral…but that was something they simply couldn't hide. All in all, no one would think her different than a regular fox unless they were to deliberately piss her off…in which case, she'd kick their ass…or try to.

Naruto, on the other hand, found it funny. One of the most powerful beings in existence looked like a cute little baby fox. Kyuubi of course, found it humiliating. She should be able to decimate entire cities with her tails, not be hugged to death by females who thought she might look cute! It was a cruel, cruel world.

'Lord I hate this form…try giving me more chakra, see what that does' Kyuubi had explained to Naruto that her form outside of the seal was simply a chakra construct…it wouldn't be able to hold more chakra, until Kyuubi herself got used to manipulating it properly. She wouldn't get a real body, until she was able to manipulate enough chakra within herself to literally manufacture one using her own chakra. That could take months, or even years.

Naruto nodded, and with a slight mental push, he was able to give just a small amount more chakra to Kyuubi before he once again registered that she was 'full'. It wasn't even enough to make Kyuubi grow, although her tail may have gotten slightly longer. Kyuubi gave what amounted to a scowl on her fox face.

'I'm going to have to get used to this later…I can't go around with just this much chakra…I'll be almost useless in combat.' Naruto thought it over for a moment before shaking his head.

'I don't think so. For now, you're the perfect diversion. Not to mention the fact that you still have access to your killing intent, right? That can come in handy.' Naruto watched as Kyuubi's little fox eyes widened just slightly, before they schooled themselves.

'I suppose so. Nevertheless…I need to get used to this.' She'd get no argument from Naruto about that.

Naruto got ready to walk back to his teammates, when he felt Kyuubi latch onto his leg, and with a deft leap, she threw herself on top of Naruto's shoulders, curling herself up inside the space between Naruto's forehead protector and his neck. She was surprisingly warm, and before Naruto could question her, she gave him an almost grunt in his mind.

'It's more comfortable up here.' With that, she let her breathing slow and she relaxed tremendously. He let himself have a small smile…it was cute, in a way. He imagined that with her being as weak as she was, she may just be feeling a bit insecure…with an almost wry grin, he realized that she was using him like a security blanket. His grin widened. Kyuubi no Kitsune, using a security blanket…hilarious, but cute.

He walked back towards his teammates, and before he could even get within five meters of Sakura, she noticed the 'cute fox kit' around his neck.

"Oh my god, how cute! Where did you get that thing? Can I hold it? Pleeeeeease?" Naruto sighed, again, and he noticed that Sasuke had done the same…although he did look interested.

"She is named Vix. I found her abandoned a few days ago in the forest. No, you cannot hold her." Sakura put on a pouting expression and tried to look pitiful. She did a great job.

"Why not? She's just so cute!" Her pouting expression was gone in an instant. "She's…a bit afraid of others. Maybe later." He turned his back to Sakura and leaned up against the stump, this time keeping Sasuke between himself and Sakura. Luckily, she let it drop…but he noticed that he was still getting glances and outright glares from Sakura and Sasuke respectively. He sighed once again. It had gone just about as well as he could have hoped, he guessed.

'Afraid? Me? That was the best excuse you could come up with?! You make me out to be a coward!' Naruto mentally gave a groan as he tried to get himself out of this rather troublesome situation.

'What was I supposed to say? If I had let her hold you, she would have squished you into oblivion. You know how females get about cute animals.' He immediately regretted saying that.

Kyuubi growled from her perch on his neck and her tail whapped on him on the back of the neck. 'I am not cute. I am the fearsome and powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune, and don't you forget it, damn it!' Naruto couldn't help but stifle a slight laugh.

'Right, you're great and powerful and all that stuff…now, can we please get to that thing you were going to teach me?' His easy dismissal of her assertions as a great beast of power earned him another tail whap, but she had already conceded defeat. It sucked being cute.

'Insolent gaki…anyway, what I'm going to teach you is relatively simple. It's the method by which to enhance your own senses by the use of chakra. Seeing as how you aren't a fox, and you most certainly aren't going to be getting enhanced senses from me, we'll have to make do with you learning how to enhance your senses with chakra exercises.' Naruto perked up somewhat.

Kyuubi almost gave a snort. 'I thought that may interest you. The means by which to do it is relatively simple. You simply flow chakra to your nose, or your ears, or your eyes…any sense that you want to enhance, you simply flow more chakra than usual to that particular organ, and in turn that chakra stimulates that organ to work more efficiently and powerfully. For example…focus some chakra to your nose. Not a lot, just a relatively small amount.' Naruto gave what amounted to a mental nod, and while forming a ram seal, focused chakra to his nose.

The results were immediate and overwhelming. He could immediately smell everything around him. From the smells of the forest surrounding them, to the insects that lived in the stump he was leaning on, to his teammate's choice of laundry detergent and shampoo. The senses all but overwhelmed him, and he quickly undid the ram seal, halting the flow of chakra to his nose. It took all of his willpower to keep from sneezing.

Kyuubi on the other hand, was laughing with gusto. Her little fox form was giving off yips and growls that Naruto guessed were the physical equivalent of the laughing that he heard in his mind. He was so glad that he could be such excellent entertainment.

'Damn fox, that was…damn! If it's always going to be like that, then I don't want enhanced senses…man…' This simply caused the Kyuubi to laugh even more, and after a few minutes of Naruto giving Kyuubi his best 'evil eye', she eventually quieted down enough to speak.

'That was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in ages…oh man. Your chakra control sucks, kit. I told you to channel a little bit of chakra to your nose, and you go and channel enough chakra to your nose to produce a Kage Bunshin through your nostrils…' She started laughing again, and didn't stop until he bopped her on her little fox head.

Kyuubi gave him a glare but settled down. 'Ok…we'll work on that later. You've got the basic concept down, but we need to work on your control so that you don't overload again. We can either work on our chakra control until your sensei gets here, or you can simply drift off…I'll vote for the drifting off part. I'm tired.' She almost seemed to pout.

He almost scoffed. They were switching roles so easily. 'We'll work on control. If it really is going to be another few hours until sensei arrives, I don't want to waste that time just sitting around. Besides, you don't have to do anything.' After a few moments, he got a slight grunt from Kyuubi that she agreed.

'Very well. We'll start with something simple. Walk over to that tree and focus some chakra into your feet. I'll explain the rest of it in a minute.' With that, she hopped off of Naruto and strode over to Sakura. Naruto was confused for a moment before shrugging and walking over to the tree. He looked back to Kyuubi to find that she was pawing at Sakura's feet. The girl picked her up while squealing 'Kawaii' and within moments, Kyuubi had found a new perch. Naruto simply looked irked.

Kyuubi gave him a deadpan expression. 'What? You're about to train, I need a perch that I can sleep on. This girl seems more than eager to accommodate me.' This irked Naruto even further.

'Sleep? What are you, a cat?' This got her attention.

'I AM NOT A CAT!...I simply value my rest…' Naruto gave her a look that clearly showed his amusement.

Kyuubi just dismissed him. 'Right then. Humans have been doing this exercise for hundreds of years. You focus a small amount of chakra to your feet, and you walk up the tree. The basic concept is that if you exude enough chakra from your feet, you'll stick to the tree…too much, and you'll repel, too little and you'll fall off. The process of trying to get just enough chakra to stick increases your overall chakra control by leaps and bounds and also gives you the useful ability to stick onto objects with chakra. Go on, try it.'

Naruto looked skeptical for a moment, but he did exactly as Kyuubi said. He focused a small amount of chakra to his feet, and put his foot on the tree, followed by his other foot. He was amazed when he didn't fall off.

He was able to take three full steps before he felt himself slip slightly, and his feet met ground once again. He was astonished. He really could stick to surfaces using his chakra. He gave a mental beaming grin to the Kyuubi.

'This is great! Damn, why didn't they teach us this in the academy?!' He focused chakra to his feet and walked up the tree a few steps again before slipping and flipping down again.

Kyuubi gave him what amounted to a foxy grin. 'Just keep doing that for a while and your chakra control will shoot up considerably. You might even want to create a few hundred Kage Bunshin to do it with you.'

Naruto nodded and with a hand seal, he shouted, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Immediately, the area was filled with a fine smoke, before a small gale blew it away, astonishing his teammates. There in the clearing stood almost three hundred Kage Bunshin. With a simple mental command from the original Naruto, each of them found a tree and started doing what he had been doing.

Naruto was about to turn back around to face his own tree when he noticed the reactions of his teammates. Sakura's face was one of simple astonishment…her jaw looked as though it was almost unhinged. Sasuke on the other hand, looked as though he were about to blow a gasket. Undoubtedly, Naruto knowing a technique that he didn't know was some sort of blasphemy in his mind.

Seeing that they were expecting some sort of an explanation, he sighed and tried to think something up. It came to him rather quickly.

"It was in a scroll that I found a few days ago." It wasn't really a lie…he had 'found' the forbidden scroll of seals…he had simply 'found' it in the Hokage tower after breaking in.

Sakura looked somewhat satisfied by his answer, but Sasuke obviously didn't. "Oi, dobe…how…how were you able to create so many?" His tone of voice was clipped…it sounded like a mix between being astonished and absolutely furious.

Naruto simply scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I…uh…have an unnaturally large chakra capacity. It's one of the perks of being what I am." He regretted it as soon as it left his lips.

Sasuke and Sakura's expressions both immediately turned curious, all traces of anger leaving Sasuke's face. "Being what you are? What does that mean?"

Kyuubi groaned in his mind and Naruto almost smacked himself. He had gotten so used to talking about himself as a Jinchuuriki over the past few days, that it hadn't even registered to him that it most certainly wasn't common knowledge among those in the younger generation.

Then again…this could be an opportunity. Undoubtedly, he would be using her chakra at some point with his two teammates around…and he would have to have an explanation ready. If he could somehow come up with a viable explanation for having a secondary chakra now, then he wouldn't have to worry about using it later. Something clicked in Naruto's mind…and he had an explanation.

"I have a…I guess you could call it a bloodline. I have a secondary chakra source I can call upon at will to use if my regular chakra source becomes exhausted. Basically, I have an almost never ending chakra supply. That's why I'm able to make as many Kage Bunshin as I do…I'm also the last of this 'bloodline' of mine. The rest of my family died in the Kyuubi attack." He managed to punctuate the end of his explanation with a solemn tone of voice. If that didn't convince them, nothing would.

It worked like a charm. Sakura had an almost pitying look on her face, and Sasuke…his visage was almost one of understanding. Naruto wasn't tremendously surprised. If anyone knew what losing family was like, it was him.

Something else clicked and he almost stopped breathing.

Family.

Sasuke…

Sasuke was…family to Naruto. Naruto was blood related to Uchiha Sasuke…it had taken him this long to realize this. If anyone were able to see behind his mask, they would see an almost hopeful expression on the young boy's face. He had completely forgotten…he may not have any family alive on his father's side, but…his mother. His mother had been an Uchiha. Sasuke was an Uchiha.

He realized with a start that Sasuke may very well be the only blood relative he has alive in all of Konoha. He wasn't exactly sure if he liked that or not.

His musings were brought to a halt as he heard Kyuubi trying to get a hold of him through their mental link.

'Hey, Naruto…you ok? You're feeling weird…' Naruto's mood went from hopefully pensive to confused in an instant.

'Feeling weird? How do I feel weird to you?'

Kyuubi gave an almost relieved sigh. 'There you are…you spaced off on me. Anyway…this link of ours…I sort of feel your emotion, at least to a certain extent. I can feel when you're angry, when you're anxious, when you're happy, sad…etcetera. You were feeling…I don't know, sort of a mix between sad, happy, hopeful and desperate. I just wanted to know if you were ok.' Naruto almost smiled at the fact that Kyuubi cared about his wellbeing.

Almost being the key word. 'You mean, this whole time, you could feel what I felt?! When were you planning on telling me about this?' He was a bit peeved at information being held from him.

Kyuubi had the grace to act sheepish. 'It wasn't terribly important…I figured I'd tell you when it was necessary…I did tell you, didn't I?'

Naruto felt the urge to bop her again. 'Not terribly important, she tells me. She has an empathetic link to me this whole time, and it's not terribly important…oye.' Kyuubi simply glared at him while he glared at her…reestablishing a much needed normalcy.

Naruto was the first to break the glare, and with a slight nudge, remembered that he was supposed to be training chakra control. He turned back towards his tree and took a few steps before falling down again. He sighed. Thank god for Kage Bunshin, other wise this would take forever.

He was getting ready to take another trial run at the tree when he nearly tripped because of being interrupted.

"Oi, dobe…what are you and your clones doing running up trees like an idiot?" Sasuke sounded superior as always…but with a hint of true curiosity.

Naruto decided to humor his possible cousin. "Chakra control. Run up to any tree and focus a small amount of chakra to your feet. Too much, and you'll repel from the tree, and too little and you won't stick…just the right amount, and you'll stick to the thing. Helps out your chakra control, and gives you the pretty cool ability to stick to surfaces with chakra. Try it out." Naruto then turned around to the tree he was currently practicing on, and gave it another test run.

Sasuke on the other hand, was perplexed. He had heard of being able to stick to surfaces with chakra, but he had never actually been shown the exercise to learn it…and here was the dobe of his class simply trying it like it was nothing. Sasuke got slightly peeved. If the dobe could try it, then by god, so could he.

Sasuke ran up to a tree, and doing as Naruto had said, he focused chakra to his feet. He gave the tree an experimental touch, and then without further ado, proceeded to walk up a few steps before losing control and dropping down. With a visible scowl, he tried again, and again, and again, until he finally figured out that this might not be as easy as he thought it was.

Nevertheless, he continued, just as Naruto was. He would not be left behind.

Naruto on the other hand, simply smirked. That's one of the other reasons Naruto thought Sasuke was an ok person. He took being a ninja seriously, unlike many. Naruto would freely admit…when he first signed up to be a ninja, he thought it was simply another job…albeit a really cool one. As he learned more about what Shinobi did, however, he began to realize that being a ninja was more than simply doing a job. It was fighting. It was pushing ones self to the limit, and then beyond it. It was killing. It wasn't something to be taken lightly. That's one of the reasons, he surmised, that he didn't have much of a feeling for Sakura at the moment. She most certainly did not take the job of being a Shinobi seriously. Her whole reason to be a Shinobi was for the express purpose of being with Sasuke…and he realized with a frown that that might just one day get her killed.

As he began running up the tree again, he looked over his shoulder to see that Sakura hadn't moved from the spot she was in. She had undoubtedly heard his explanation of the exercise…she was no more than a few feet away from Sasuke when he had explained it. She was simply sitting down, ogling Sasuke, and absently petting Kyuubi. He frowned. This was an exercise that she should be learning just as much as he and Sasuke should be.

He dropped down after another attempt, and instead of running at the tree again, he turned towards Sakura. "Oi, Sakura…aren't you going to try this exercise? Even though you're a Kunoichi, you still need to work on chakra control." He had by this time walked up to within a few meters of Sakura and crossed his arms over his chest.

She looked at him as though he had grown another head. "What, and waste my energy before the test? Whatever test Kakashi-sensei has planned for us, I want to be fresh for. Besides, I'm comfortable here."

Naruto shook his head. "If Kakashi-sensei's tardiness yesterday was any indication, he won't be here for another few hours. Are you telling me that you're just going to spend hours sitting here because you're comfortable, when you could instead be training?" Naruto hoped beyond hope that whatever small amount of faith he had in Sakura wasn't unfounded.

Unfortunately, it was. "Training before a physical test? That may be ok for you, but I'm not about to get sent back to the academy because I was stupid enough to waste my energy!" She looked so sure in her assertion that Naruto just somehow knew that reasoning with her was a lost cause.

He simply shrugged and walked back to his tree. He could almost feel Kyuubi mentally agreeing with him in his mind. A team was only as strong as their weakest member…and it was becoming painfully obvious who that was.

----------------------------------------------------------------

It was times like this that he realized just how awesome his own chakra capacity was.

It had been approximately two and a half hours since Naruto had started his chakra control exercise, and while he and his clones had undoubtedly made progress, he wasn't even showing that he was winded. In fact, the only thing that showed he had even been training was the fact that he had a slight sheen of sweat covering his body.

Sasuke on the other hand, was almost wheezing with exertion. He had made great progress as well…he had made it almost half way up the tree before he had to stop. Naruto too had made it half way up the tree…but he had yet to dispel his Kage Bunshin. He had no doubt that when he did, he'd have the tree walking exercise down pat.

He decided to do just that. With a half-ram seal, he sent a pulse of chakra to his clones and with another puff of smoke over the area, his clones dispersed.

And Naruto all but collapsed.

The influx of information was incredible. His mind felt as though it was under tremendous pressure. He suddenly just understood how to walk up a tree with chakra. It was as if he had been doing it for a month…and ostensibly he had. With his Kage Bunshin, he had logged close to seven hundred and fifty hours of training…roughly equivalent to thirty one days of training in a little under two and a half hours. He marveled at the usefulness of Kage Bunshin. This had been his first real taste of how to train with them…and he loved it.

Gathering himself, he ran at the tree he had just been practicing on, and with little effort, was able to scale the entire tree as if it were an every day occurrence. He was able to jump on the branches, hang upside down, and even jump from tree to tree on the way up as if it were nothing. He couldn't help but let a wide smile creep onto his face. This was amazing.

Unseen to Naruto, Sasuke had a wide scowl on his visage. After two and a half hours of intense training that had left him everything but passed out, he had managed to make it only half way up the tree. To him, this had been fine…Naruto had only accomplished roughly the same. But when he saw the Kage Bunshin disperse, and Naruto walk up the tree as if it were nothing…it pissed him off. What was Naruto doing so much differently than him that he could learn the entire exercise in the space it took Sasuke to simply get the hang of it?

Naruto did notice, however, that Sasuke had virtually no chakra left. That much was evidenced through the fact that the brooding Uchiha was barely able to move. He frowned. That most certainly wouldn't do.

'Oi, Kyuubi…is there any way that I can give Sasuke some of my Chakra to fill him up? I mean, I have more than enough to give him a boost, right?' He didn't get an answer for a second, but then he felt the familiar stirring in the back of his mind that signified the Kyuubi coming to.

'You're still almost full on chakra…so yeah, you do have enough. As to if you can give him any…I think so. My guess is that you simply flow a large amount of chakra through one of your hands directly into his chakra coils. The coils should absorb it readily." Naruto nodded, and proceeded to make his way over to Sasuke.

Sasuke noticed this and became confused. Was he coming over to gloat? Perhaps to shove it in his face that he was so much better than him? He scowled and readied a few choice retorts before he became even more confused. He was lifting up his shirt and placing his hand on his stomach. Truthfully, he wondered just what the fuck he was doing.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

Naruto had the nerve to chuckle. "I'm giving you chakra. I still have enough left, and you've worn yourself out. Just let me do this." Naruto proceeded to gain an aura of concentration, and then Sasuke felt…

He felt better. He felt energized, almost. He looked down at his stomach and found that Naruto's hand was glowing blue, and he realized with a start that Naruto was flowing his own chakra into his coils. He could feel himself start to simply recover, and after a few minutes, he was once again completely full of chakra as if he had never expended any at all.

Naruto was breathing only slightly more hard than he had been before. He had misjudged Sasuke's chakra capacity pretty badly. It had taken a bit out of him to refill his raven haired teammate, but he surmised that he would be completely full again soon enough. He still had at least half of his own chakra capacity full, and he could already feel Kyuubi's chakra filtering into his own system at a steady pace.

Sasuke sat up and simply stared at Naruto with a confused expression. Naruto had not only taught him a chakra exercise that very much helped his chakra control, but he had refilled his own reserves completely after he had worn himself out performing said exercise. Sasuke wasn't sure if he should be thanking his blonde haired teammate or if he should be cursing the fact that Naruto was surpassing him. He defaulted to the former.

"Thanks." His forte wasn't verbosity.

"You're welcome." Neither was Naruto's, apparently.

Naruto offered a hand to Sasuke, and with a slight scowl, Sasuke allowed himself to be helped up. He may be full on chakra, but his body was still worn out.

The two calmly walked over to Sakura, who by now was openly gaping at the two. She had never seen Sasuke and Naruto actually get along together, let alone had she seen Naruto actually help Sasuke…and Sasuke had said thank you? She was almost wondering if perhaps Sasuke was closer to Naruto than he was to her…but quickly squashed that idea. Sasuke-kun was hers, and Sasuke just had yet to admit it to himself that he loved her unequivocally.

All three were broken from their musings, however, as a poof sounded in front of them, and their seemingly perpetually tardy sensei appeared from under a veil of smoke.

"Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Sasuke and Naruto both were rubbing their ears furiously at the outburst from the pink haired banshee in front of them, but Kakashi seemed to simply be amused.

"Sorry I'm late, but a black cat crossed my path…" His explanation continued but Naruto tuned it out. Whatever it was, it was obviously a lie. He would have to find out exactly what caused his sensei and honorary godfather of sorts to be late every day.

He was broken from his musings on Kakashi's retardiness, when he heard Sakura give another outburst of "LIAR!" He was forced to rub his ears once again.

Kakashi just cleared his throat and produced two bells from his shuriken pouch. "Right. Well, the test today is simple, I suppose. You three are to come at me and try to get these bells from me. Whoever manages to get one of these bells from me gets to eat lunch, and passes the test. Whichever of you don't have to watch the other's eat, and gets sent back to the academy."

Sakura and Sasuke's stomach's grumbled, while Naruto's own was completely silent. It wasn't that he had been smart enough to realize that Kakashi had been lying…more that it was simply that he had forgotten completely that Kakashi had said not to eat. At that very moment, he was glad.

Sakura was the one to ask the obvious. "But Sensei, there are only two bells! That means that one of us will automatically fail!" She was almost pouting. Naruto would be pouting too if he were as weak as Sakura.

Kakashi simply shrugged and clipped the bells to his waist. "Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, when I say start, you are to use everything in your arsenal to try to get one of these bells. You can use Shuriken, Kunai…whatever you feel is necessary. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never pass this test." This got an almost shocked look from the three Genin, before they set themselves to a determined demeanor. Even Sakura seemed to be determined to pass…even though it was probably more to do with Sasuke than it was with her.

Naruto's own stance showed determination, but his mind held confusion. What was the point of putting people into three person teams if individual skill determined whether you would be sent back to the academy? Furthermore, did Kakashi really expect a Genin to be able to beat a Jounin? Perhaps he would be holding back considerably…or maybe…

There had to be something else. There was something else going on here…too much of this simply didn't add up. Naruto put his mind to work on figuring out just what exactly was going on.

He was broken from his thoughts on the true purpose of the test by Kyuubi jumping back onto his shoulders and once again curling up around his neck. This drew an almost startled glance from Kakashi, before it became one of almost amusement. Perhaps he found the idea of the 'great Kyuubi no Kitsune' being a simple cute fox kit amusing. Naruto sure as hell did.

Naruto's own amused expression was soured by Kakashi's next directive. "Oh…and no summoning. This is a test for the three of you, not your summons." Naruto shot Kakashi a glare. Truthfully, he hadn't even entertained the idea of calling out a summon here…it would have caused a bit too much of a commotion. The idea that he wasn't allowed to, however, peeved him to no end.

Sasuke and Sakura however just started at Kakashi as though he had suddenly put on a pink tutu. Summoning? They were Genin for Kami's sake. Did Kakashi really expect them to summon? Sakura was simply baffled, but Sasuke was also thinking that perhaps that was aimed not at them, but at Naruto. It wouldn't really surprise him if the dobe had yet another trump card hidden up his sleeve…or lack thereof.

All three were broken from their thoughts as Kakashi eye smiled and with an unceremonious gesture, he shouted, "START!"

In a blur, Sasuke and Sakura took to the trees, attempting to find a good hiding spot to strike from. Kakashi commended them on their stealth and speed…before he realized that Naruto had not been among them. He turned his head to find Naruto still leaning on the stump, giving him an obvious perplexed stare. If anyone could see beyond a real mask, it was Kakashi.

Kakashi's musings over Naruto were broken as he spoke. "Kakashi-sensei…something doesn't add up here. What's really going on?"

Kakashi almost beamed. Truthfully, he had expected maybe Sakura or even Sasuke to grasp the concept…but for Naruto to grasp it meant that he truly had matured and gotten smarter over the last few days. Even if he was forced to send Sasuke and Sakura back to the academy, he resolved himself to teach Naruto…if for no other reason than he owed his Sensei.

Instead of giving a verbal response, he reached into his shuriken pouch. Naruto tensed, unconsciously reaching for his own Kunai. The situation was tense for a few moments, before Naruto almost face-faulted. Kakashi had pulled his orange book out of its resting spot, and was currently reading it while giggling without reservation.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get any straight answers out of their silver haired Jounin sensei, he finally leapt into the foliage, again trying to figure out what was going on.

---------------------------------------------------------

Something wasn't right here. That much was obvious.

Sasuke was currently sitting in a tree, masking his chakra signature somewhat. Not that it mattered…this guy was a Jounin. If he wanted to find him, he doubted that there was anything he could do about it. That just added to his trepidation.

They were being expected to beat a Jounin…not only that, but they were expected to be able to not only beat a Jounin, but be able to take something from a Jounin. They were Genin. Sasuke knew for a fact that his skills were good…he hadn't been named rookie of the year for nothing…but that didn't at all mean he was powerful enough to take on Kakashi.

His thoughts were interrupted by a slight snapping sound below him, and with a swift kunai draw, Sasuke leapt down from his perch to attack whoever was below him.

Luckily, or unluckily, he missed with his initial strike, to find that instead of Kakashi, it was Naruto. He was currently gazing upon Sasuke from behind his mask. Sasuke suppressed an almost shudder. He never liked masks.

They stood there for a moment, each debating the merits of attacking the other, when Naruto decided to break the stalemate with words instead of Kunai.

"Something's not right here. You figured that out, right?" Sasuke suppressed his surprise. He truly hadn't figured that the dobe would figure it out.

Instead, he nodded ever so slightly. He didn't have time for this…if Naruto wasn't going to attack, then Sasuke had to find another hiding spot quickly so he could attack Kakashi.

Naruto seemed to give an almost relived sigh. "I suggest we work together. There are two bells, and two of us. Working together, we can make sure that we both pass…Sakura might be left out, but she isn't really ready to be a Ninja anyway."

Sasuke suppressed his surprise once again. Work together? With him? Only a few days, he would have scoffed at the idea…but now…

Naruto had created hundreds of solid Bunshin. Not only that, but he had refilled Sasuke's own chakra capacity afterwards. He was obviously more powerful than he had let on in the academy…and couple that with the fact that he apparently had some sort of bloodline…perhaps the dobe would be a useful asset after all.

Then again, Sasuke had never been very good at working with others. His entire fighting style was centered on himself…working another person into that equation…he wasn't sure what it would do. It would either completely mess up, or they would completely overwhelm Kakashi. Truthfully, it was a lose/lose situation. If he didn't team up with Naruto, he knew that he had no chance against Kakashi. If he did team up with Naruto, they still probably had no chance against Kakashi. Even if they were to somehow get Sakura in the equation, they still didn't really have a chance in hell.

But it was a foregone conclusion that if Sasuke were to pair up with Naruto, he had a better chance.

"Fine. Just don't get in my way." Naruto seemed to relax somewhat, before he glanced back towards the clearing that Kakashi was currently reading in.

"I think I have a plan…"

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Sakura was, at the moment, cursing the fact that she hadn't taken her actual training more seriously.

This test was something that she knew she had no chance with. While her book smarts and overall test scores were almost top of their class, her own true Shinobi training was…lacking, to say the least. She knew the three academy jutsu…and that was it. She knew how to throw kunai and shuriken, and she had the basic academy taijutsu style down rather well…but without any real physical strength behind them, they were akin to throwing a pebble at a boulder…it didn't do a damned thing.

Sasuke's taijutsu and other skills, on the other hand, were incredible. His taijutsu was top of their class, his shuriken and kunai throwing were unparalleled and she knew from various times that she had observed him training, that he knew at least one rudimentary fire jutsu. If anyone stood even a small chance against Kakashi-sensei, it was him.

Naruto…before, she had assumed that Naruto was absolutely the worst ninja she had ever seen. He had no book smarts, his kunai and shuriken throwing was simply adequate, and he didn't even know one of the three academy jutsu. His taijutsu style was near non-existent…it simply consisted of haphazard punches and brawling, with no real thought as to style or planning. She had been beyond surprised when he had actually managed to get a forehead protector…and absolutely astounded at his seeming overnight change from a horribly annoying pseudo-ninja to a calm calculating almost hot ninja. It was a change that wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination…but she had never really imagined that he had it within him to be a good ninja.

Then she had seen him produce almost three hundred solid Kage Bunshin this morning…and not only that, but he had in the few hours between them showing up and Kakashi showing up, seemingly mastered a chakra control exercise that Sasuke himself was having trouble with. As if that weren't enough, he apparently had some sort of bloodline that gave him near infinite chakra. It had become obvious to Sakura that Naruto had easily surpassed her as a ninja…she wouldn't admit to herself that he had probably done so quite some time ago.

She let forth a sigh. There were two bells…two chances at actually passing the exam. Sasuke had the best chance to get one…Naruto probably had at least a passing chance…and she…she had virtually no chance. She would get sent back to the academy, and lose her chance to be on a team with Sasuke-kun forever. She contemplated simply going home and reporting to the academy tomorrow.

Before she could make any life-altering decisions, however, she sensed a presence behind her. Whirling around with kunai already in hand, she took up a defensive stance. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was, and then she saw no more.

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Sasuke and Naruto had seen Kakashi move from his position near the stump…and had summarily abandoned their plan. It had revolved around the concept that Kakashi wouldn't actively seek them out. That concept was broken rather loudly as they heard a scream from Sakura somewhere deeper in the forest.

Their plan still had a chance, though. All they had to do was somehow draw Kakashi back into the clearing enough so that they could put it into action. It was risky…but it was really the only chance they had.

With a nod to each other, they set out towards the spot that they had heard Sakura scream from. It didn't take them long to arrive, but when they did, they found no trace of Kakashi or Sakura. The only thing that gave away that this spot had even been occupied was the fact that the leaves were displaced, and there was a broken twig on the ground.

Naruto figured that he had to chance it. If they were to find Kakashi, they needed some way to track him. Forming another half-ram seal, he focused chakra to his ears and nose this time, hoping that his chakra control had increased enough that he didn't overload himself.

For the most part, it worked. He suddenly became aware of all the minute sounds around him, and his sense of smell perked up considerably. It wasn't nearly as powerful as it was before…but Naruto was thankful for that. He wasn't entirely sure that he would have been able to take such a drastic increase in sensory perception so easily.

He closed his eyes and concentrated as he tried to find anything that gave away Kakashi's position. He could smell the forest around him, Sasuke beside him, and even the residue of Sakura from the place where she had been…he could hear termites in some of the wood to his left, and all of the little sounds that one doesn't usually hear in the forest became alive to him as much as they might be a to a wild animal.

Then he found something. It was faint, but it was definitely something that didn't belong. The smell was suppressed…that much he could make out rather easily. What he heard, however, was different. It was giggling. The same perverted giggling that he had heard before when the pervert had been reading his perverted novel. With a sour expression, he released the chakra flow to his ears and nose, and with a simple gesture of the head, he motioned Sasuke to follow him.

After a few more minutes of hopping from tree to tree, they came upon Kakashi sitting in another clearing, leaning against a tree and reading his book. Naruto couldn't be sure if they had been spotted…but they assumed they had. Kakashi was a Jounin…even if they hid themselves underground, chances were that he would find them.

The clearing he was in seemed to be rather opportune. It would work rather well for the plan they had in mind. With a nod to Sasuke, Naruto bounded off into the tree tops, while Sasuke made his way towards Kakashi. Their plan only had one real shot of working, and they had to make this count.

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Sakura's ability to read genjutsu had been pitiful, he decided.

It had been a rather weak genjutsu…it showed Sasuke broken, bloody and mutilated to the point of near death, and Sakura had fallen for it hook line and sinker. He hadn't even needed to knock her out, she simply fainted from shock. It was a dreadful performance, to be sure.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small amount of movement, and he immediately sensed that Sasuke and Naruto were above him somewhere. He nearly smiled. They didn't get the entire meaning of the exercise, but at the very least they were willing to work together to a common goal. He took his focus off of the book and got into a somewhat ready state of mind. Fighting off both of them just might require him to actually stow his book.

In a flash, Sasuke was upon him. With a deft flying kick, he attempted to nail Kakashi in the chest; however he simply sidestepped and just as deftly dodged. Sasuke. Sasuke pivoted on his left foot and attempted to hit Kakashi with a roundhouse that would have knocked him out, but again, Kakashi simply dodged.

This, of course, pissed Sasuke off.

He swung out his right arm and found it blocked by Kakashi's open palm. His left arm tried the same, only to be blocked by Kakashi's other palm. Sasuke noticed that at the very least, he had made him put away that book of his. He almost smirked.

Sasuke twisted his body in mid motion and threw his weight behind a kick aimed at Kakashi's midsection. The older Nin twisted his palms out of the way and with a crossing motion, blocked Sasuke's kick rather easily.

Sasuke saw his chance. With another twisting motion, he brought his right hand out to Kakashi's waist and stretched his middle finger out to try to grab one of the bells. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi saw this motion, and with a burst of chakra to his legs, he flew backwards out of the raven haired Nin's grasp.

Kakashi nearly smiled. Sasuke was good. His taijutsu was superb…enough to warrant him to put his book away. This kid was certainly something else.

"I will acknowledge that you're different from the others…but you're still not good enough to get a bell from me. Maybe you should try again next year?" Kakashi loved taunting.

Sasuke took the bait, predictably, although Kakashi was now wondering if perhaps he shouldn't have egged him on. With hand seals that Kakashi intimately recognized, Sasuke ended with a tiger seal and somehow shouted even while his mouth was occupied, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Kakashi's eyes widened and he disappeared from everyone's view as Sasuke's fireball descended upon him. After a few seconds of the searing red hot flame burning the spot where Kakashi had stood, it burnt out, and Sasuke looked on astonished as Kakashi simply wasn't there.

Sasuke began feverishly looking around, attempting to find the silver haired Nin anywhere, before he felt something stir beneath him. In a flash, Sasuke realized where Kakashi was. But not quickly enough.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

Kakashi grabbed both of Sasuke's feet, and with a deft pull, dragged him underground, leaving naught but his head exposed. Sasuke's expression wore a deep scowl, and Kakashi simply looked as he always did.

That is, until Sasuke popped out of existence.

Sasuke…the real Sasuke, appeared out of the trees, aiming a flying kick for Kakashi once again. But this time, he was flanked by almost fifty different shadow clones, all of them henge'd to look like Sasuke. Kakashi almost cursed. Sasuke had used kawarimi with a shadow clone right before he had dragged him underground. It was a great strategy, and only by working with Naruto could Sasuke have ever pulled it off.

Kakashi blocked Sasuke's kick with an arm, and proceeded to take out a kunai. He was surrounded by over fifty different Kage Bunshin, Sasuke, and he didn't know where exactly Naruto was. It was a bad situation.

Three of the Kage Bunshin appeared on his left side, aiming to punch or kick him in different areas of his body. He swung his kunai in a backhanded grip towards them, feeling satisfied when he managed to make all three poof out of existence. However, as he had been doing that, three other Kage Bunshin from his right side had attacked in the same way. He pulled out another kunai, this time in his other hand, and swung it in the same fashion as he had the other.

It passed right through them. They were regular Bunshin.

Or rather, two of them were. He was off balance from having his attack overextended, and the third Bunshin managed to connect with Kakashi's upper shoulder, further throwing the Jounin off balance. He corrected easily and plunged the kunai into the Kage Bunshin's thigh, before turning around to see Sasuke readying yet another Katon jutsu.

He made ready to push chakra to his legs to get out of the area, when he noticed that he was weighted down. He looked down in horror to see that the Bunshin, or what he thought was a Bunshin that he had plunged his kunai into was the real Naruto. Six other Kage Bunshin attached themselves to Kakashi as quickly as possible, and suddenly he found himself all but trapped under the weight of over seven different Naruto's.

The rest of the Kage Bunshin dispersed, as Sasuke jumped up in the air and shouted, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The fireball came hurtling down on Kakashi, and he knew that the only way to stop it in time was with his own jutsu. Pushing chakra into his own limbs, he managed to overpower the Bunshin holding him down, and after punching Naruto in the gut sending him flying the other direction, he made his hand seals and shouted his own jutsu.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!"

A wall of water materialized in front of Kakashi at the last possible moment, creating a rather loud hissing sound to emanate from the spot where the giant fireball had crashed into it. After the commotion died down, a mist settled over the area, obscuring everyone from vision.

Kakashi was impressed. Not only had they teamed up to try to beat him, but they had made him actually use two Ninjutsu. While they might not have gotten the bells-

Kakashi froze as his hand glided over the area where his bells had been. Realization washed over him as he realized just when Naruto had taken the bells. He had allowed himself to underestimate both of them, and when he had stabbed Naruto in the thigh, thinking that it was a Kage Bunshin, he had let his guard down for just an instant…long enough for Naruto to grab the bells and grab him around the waist to hold him in place so that Sasuke could nail him with a Goukakyuu. It had been ingenious…and it had relied on the fact that Kakashi would underestimate their abilities. Under normal circumstances, a plan like that would have never worked on him…but he didn't believe that Sasuke could perform a fire jutsu…and he didn't know that Naruto had such a keen sense of timing. This time, he did smile. Naruto and Sasuke had at the very least earned the right to a second chance at it all…they hadn't fully grasped the true meaning of the test, but they had gotten very close. And they had gotten the bells.

He had also noticed Sakura in the treetops…she would need to be adjusted before she could be a member of this team. He had just the idea of how to do that, while at the same time accomplishing getting the real idea across to Sasuke and Naruto. He smiled almost sadistically.

With a loud ringing sound, the alarm clock in the middle of the area went off, and Kakashi got his book out of his shuriken pouch once again and sighed. It seemed as if he would actually be taking on a Genin team this time…there went all his free time…

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Sakura didn't curse often, but this time, she figured, she could make an exception.

She had been caught in a rudimentary genjutsu…she was smart enough to at least recognize that, but only after the fact. It hadn't lasted long…only about ten minutes passed before the genjutsu wore off…but it was enough to put her ten minutes behind the others.

Sakura sighed. She could feel three chakra presences in the brush, and could hear just bits and pieces of a pitched battle that was going on. She assumed that Sasuke was the one battling her sensei…after all, if Naruto went up against Kakashi, it wouldn't be a battle, so much as a slaughter. Naruto was probably hanging by his feet somewhere, simply observing…and she was just sitting on the ground doing nothing. She briefly entertained the idea of going to help Sasuke, but remembered that this was an individual exercise. Besides, if Sasuke managed to get the bells, who would he give the other one to, Naruto, or Her? It was a no brainier, at least in her mind.

Against her better judgment, however, she began to make her way towards the sounds of the battle. As she approached the clearing, she noticed that Naruto was indeed up in the trees, simply gazing upon the battle. But she noticed something else, too. There were a few dozen Kage Bunshin in the trees with him, all henge'd to look like Sasuke. It was almost as if he was waiting for something.

She drew the conclusion that Naruto was waiting until Sasuke got a bell, and then attack him instead of Kakashi. The nerve! She would definitely have to do something about it.

She hopped up the trees, gaining altitude until she was even with Naruto. "Na-ru-to! I can't believe you're going to attack Sasuke-kun!" She was truly pissed. Naruto knew that he didn't have a chance against Sensei, so he would take the coward's way out and attack her Sasuke-kun! Inner Sakura was just dying to get out.

Naruto on the other hand was confused, and just a little peeved. He had absolutely no intentions of attacking Sasuke…and that little outburst from Sakura may just have given his position away. Sasuke's diversion may be for nothing. He decided that he needed to get rid of her.

"Sakura! I'm not going to attack Sasuke! Get out of here or be quiet, I don't care which…this plan has to work, and you're being too loud." Naruto switched his gaze back to the fight occurring below them, and noticed that Sasuke's Goukakyuu had just burned out. It was almost time for them to go.

Sakura, however, hadn't taken his advice. She was livid. Not only was Naruto lying about his intentions, but he had the gall to call her loud? Inner Sakura took hold, and with a piece of skewed logic, she moved to attack Naruto before he could mess up her Sasuke-kun's chances of being a ninja!

She was caught from behind by what she assumed was a Sasuke clone. "Where did she come from?" She was puzzled for a moment…the clones wouldn't have to ask Naruto about that, right?

Naruto seemed to sigh. "I have no clue…she seems to think that I'm trying to attack you." Sakura blanched. This was Sasuke holding her.

Sasuke simply scowled and unceremoniously threw Sakura off of the branch they were on. Sakura managed to land feet first, but she was now more confused than ever. With a start, she saw the Sasuke that was out fighting Kakashi poof out of existence, and the horde of Sasuke's that resided in the tree branches took that moment to charge.

Sakura realized in a flash of inspiration, that Naruto and Sasuke were working together. Not only that, but she had just tried to attack Naruto…while Sasuke and Naruto were working together, she was working against them…

It was almost enough to make Sakura tear up. Sasuke and Naruto would surely pass…together, they would simply overwhelm Kakashi…and she would be left out. They worked as a team…and she simply wasn't part of that equation. She noticed that the battle had come to a close, and there was a fine mist over the area. After a few more moments, the mist cleared, revealing Kakashi standing in the middle of the clearing, reading his book once again.

And then it was all over when she heard the bell. She dropped her head and let a few tears fall. She didn't have any chance of being a Ninja now. She would be sent back to the academy, and she would lose her chance to be with Sasuke-kun forever.

She suddenly felt a presence behind her and turned around to see Kakashi gazing at her with a deadpan expression. "It seems as though you didn't manage to get a bell…you know what that means." Kakashi simply turned around and headed for the original clearing, a bleary eyed Sakura trudging behind him. This day couldn't get any worse.

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Naruto watched with an almost satisfied smirk as Sakura was unceremoniously tied to the post. Their plan had worked almost perfectly…save for the slight interruption and almost foiling of it by Sakura.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit…off…however. It wasn't that he felt bad for Sakura…at least, not that bad. He could imagine the pain of having to relive the academy, and that much made him feel at the very least somewhat empathetic towards the girl….but his mind was simply not clicking the way it was supposed to.

He had never heard of two man teams. Genin squads were made up of three Genin, and a Jounin instructor…or at least, that's what he'd read somewhere. The concept of a two Genin and one instructor setup was never mentioned, and he couldn't recall ever meeting one…unless he were to come upon a team that had lost a member somewhere along the way.

There was something else going on here, and Naruto needed to find out what it was.

His thoughts were interrupted by his sensei finishing his job of tying Sakura to the post, and then summarily producing two bento's from…somewhere. He didn't exactly want to inquire as to where.

Kakashi redirected his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke and gave an eye-smile. "You two did excellently in getting the two bells from me. You showed great teamwork by working together." His eye smile changed however, into a simple glare.

"Sakura, on the other hand, did not. You didn't give any thought to using teamwork, even when you could have easily asked Naruto and Sasuke if you could help them. You even had the audacity to attack Naruto when you thought Sasuke was the target of Naruto's attack. You didn't even bother to find out. Teammates do not attack teammates, Sakura." If possible, Sakura's expression got even more sullen.

Kakashi's eye smile returned quickly. "There's no reason for any of you to return to the academy, however." At this, Sakura perked up considerably while Naruto and Sasuke shared a questioning glance.

Kakashi paused for a moment before his eye smile got even more pronounced. "Instead, you all should quit being ninja!" His eye smile was gone.

Naruto nearly face faulted at hearing this outburst from Kakashi. Quit being Ninja? Him and Sasuke had managed to get the requisite bells from their teacher…Kakashi had even complimented them on it! What exactly was going on?!

His answer came in the form of a rather ticked off Kakashi. "Sasuke, Naruto…while you got the closest to the true meaning of this test, you still managed to fail. You chose to work together, and completely exclude your third teammate from the equation. You gave no thought to Sakura whatsoever."

"And Sakura refused to work with Naruto at all, preferring to try to gain favor with Sasuke. She even attacked Naruto when she believed that he was a hindrance to Sasuke. Because of all of that, none of you will pass."

Sasuke was pissed, and it showed when he blindly charged Kakashi. In a flash of motion, Kakashi had pinned him in a typical submission posture with a Kunai to his neck. "You three think that this is a game or something? You're ninja. You're going to be out on the field in life or death situations, and you're going to have to rely on your teammates to help you, or you're going to die."

He held his kunai even closer to Sasuke's neck. "What do you think the real purpose of this test was? Why do you think we were divided up into three man teams? Is it just because it makes it easier to send people back to the academy? No. It is because you are to learn what it really means to be a ninja."

"You three didn't get the true purpose of this test." He sent a particularly nasty glare at Sakura and Naruto.

It finally clicked.

"Teammwork…" Naruto managed to breathe it out, shocked that he hadn't seen it earlier. Sakura and Sasuke both turned to him, both with somewhat confused expressions on their face.

"This test…it was never meant to test our skills…no one expects a Genin, or even a few Genin, to beat a Jounin in a fight…this test…the reason we're in three man teams…it's teamwork. We have to show teamwork to pass…right, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi almost grinned. "Exactly. Working together, you got the bells. But Sasuke, Naruto, neither of you gave any real thought to including Sakura, preferring to sacrifice her to achieve your mission. And Sakura, you didn't even give a passing thought to even trying to get a bell from me, nor did you even think about teaming up with the other two, did you?" She had the grace to look ashamed.

"Missions are life and death situations. For example…Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" All three prospective Genin tensed visibly at that, and Sakura even made a slight gesture to her kunai pouch before Kakashi released Sasuke and put away his own kunai rather slowly.

"That's the sort of thing that can happen on a mission. You need to be able to have actual teamwork to accomplish a mission, rather than blithely ignoring it and sacrificing those on your team."

Kakashi seemed to bore his gaze into all three Genin before his expression softened slightly. "I'll give you three a second chance…you'll have to get the bells from me again, but neither of you are to give Sakura any food, understood? If she eats anything, you're all disqualified." With that, he poofed out of existence, leaving three bewildered Genin in his wake.

Or rather, two bewildered Genin. Naruto immediately understood what was going on…he knew Kakashi at least that much. With a gesture, he drew a Kunai and cut Sakura down from the post, and with another gesture, his bento and utensils were in Sakura's lap.

Sasuke seemed to catch on, offering a slight smirk. He too gave his bento to Sakura with a gesture, and then leaned back against the log, awaiting what was to come.

Sakura on the other hand, simply blanched. "Wh-what…what are you two doing? You heard Kakashi-sensei…if I get any food…we…we all fail…" She trailed off at the end, as if regretting her actions after the fact.

Naruto simply smiled. Perhaps she had some hope after all. "I'm not about to go barreling into a fight with Kakashi-sensei with a hungry and weakened teammate. Eat up. Sasuke still has plenty of energy left, and I ate this morning by accident. Just eat up…I don't smell Kakashi anywhere nearby." It was a carefully placed lie…he hadn't even tried to smell him out…but he had an inkling that he'd be a bit better hidden than he was before.

Sakura simply smiled a slight sad smile. "Thank you…both of you…I…I'm sorry. For how I acted out there. We'll work together this time, ne?" She smiled at Naruto and Sasuke, who both smiled back…Naruto a bit more than Sasuke.

As predicted, Kakashi took that moment to appear, spewing hellfire and brimstone as if the apocalypse was upon them. "You! You gave her food! What did I tell you about that?!"

They flinched, more from the force he was using than the consequences. "You know the consequences! You three…you three…!"

The sky cleared somehow, and Kakashi's expression changed immediately…making Naruto wonder about any possible bi-polar disease that his sensei may have.

"You three pass! Congratulations!" Sasuke simply smirked, Naruto smiled widely, and only Sakura seemed surprised…but her brains seemed to kick in, and she finally realized just exactly what was going on.

This earned Naruto a bop on the head. "You planned this, didn't you? You didn't give me your bento because you wanted to, you did it because it would pass us!" She shook her fist at Naruto before Naruto gave her a placating gesture, making both of them laugh somewhat. It was a good tension breaker.

"Because you put your teammates ahead of your own wants and needs, you three will become Genin in team seven! That's what it means to be a ninja…" Kakashi trailed off before he turned to face the three Genin.

Kakashi simply eye-smiled again, before his expression grew somewhat solemn. He walked over to a stone that sat near the edge of the training ground and kneeled next to it, staying silent for a moment before he spoke in a softer tone.

"This stone…this stone marks all of those who have given their lives in the service of the village. Quite a few of my friend's names are on this stone…and one friend in particular…" He seemed to trail off and get an almost reminiscent look on his face.

"He told me something that to this day, I follow with all that I am. He told me, 'Those who don't follow the rules are considered trash…but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash'. I refuse to teach a team that doesn't recognize this." Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's expressions dimmed somewhat at this, but all three recognized the importance of what he was saying.

After a few more moments, Kakashi broke from his reverie and turned towards the three Genin who were simply sitting there. "Right. Tomorrow we start missions as Team Seven. Be at the bridge just south of here at eight o'clock sharp every morning." All three gave him a look that clearly told him to stick that where the sun didn't shine, but he just waved them off, and with a poofing sound, disappeared from existence.

The three new Genin just sat there for a moment before Naruto smiled and stood up, noticing that throughout the entire ordeal, Kyuubi hadn't woken up at all. He almost bopped her on the head, but decided to let it go. She deserved her rest.

"Well, I'm off to train…I'll see you all tomorrow." Naruto threw a gesture to Sasuke and Sakura before putting his hands in his pockets and sauntering off.

He was stopped by Sasuke. "Wait. That training you did this morning…who did you learn it from?" Sasuke seemed a bit peeved that Naruto was obviously receiving 'special' training of some sort.

Naruto almost flinched. How was he supposed to answer that? He couldn't exactly tell them that a rampaging nine tailed fox was stuck inside of him and now teaching him things…but…he could tell them something about family…it was sufficiently vague.

"I found out about my…family…yesterday. I've been learning off of some of their scrolls." He again, managed to punctuate it with a solemn tone.

It worked like a charm…again. Sasuke had another understanding look on his face, and Sakura again looked at him with a pitying gaze. Naruto was forcibly reminded however, about his plight regarding Sasuke. Sasuke was his family…and Sasuke was obviously suffering due to the fact that his only family was a mass murdering nuke-nin. Not to mention the fact that Sasuke may have valuable information regarding the Sharingan that Naruto would eventually need.

Then again, the Sharingan was something he really wouldn't have to worry about for a while. While he did have the ability to activate the bloodline limit, he hadn't, yet…and until he did, he really didn't have any reason to worry about it. That just left him with the pseudo-moral quandary of telling Sasuke or not…and there were implications regarding that particular divulgence that he absolutely needed guidance on.

In the end, he decided that he needed to talk to Kakashi or the Hokage…or both.

"Anyway, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow…Ja ne!" With that, he proceeded to ninja-run towards the Hokage tower as fast as his legs would carry him.

Sasuke was slightly unnerved. Naruto had been staring at him after he had talked about his family…for almost a good thirty seconds. What the hell did that mean? He put that into the back of his head, and proceeded to make his way to the Uchiha district. If the dobe was training, then he would too.

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"Ah, Kakashi, there you are! May I assume that you deprived yet another team of youthful youths from their pursuit of being a ninja?" Oh joy. Gai was here too.

Kakashi had expected Kurenai and Asuma to be here when he arrived…but he had never expected Gai of all people to be here. Unless he was here for some sort of a mission debriefing, he had no business actually being here when the newest Jounin senseis reported their team's success or failure.

Of course, he couldn't let Gai know that. "Hmm? Did you say something?" This got the requisite reaction out of the green 'beast', as he began prancing around the room shouting something about being 'hip'…he didn't really listen.

That's not to say that he didn't take Gai seriously. The man was probably the most skilled and strong overall Jounin out of any of his peers, excluding himself. The man was an absolute monster when it came to hand-to-hand fighting, and his jutsu skills were incredible when he was actually forced to use them…under the physical duress of opening the celestial gates, of course. If someone were ever to actually force his true opinion of the man out of him, it would be an absolutely glowing report, and Kakashi trusted the man implicitly. Overall, he was probably the closest thing he actually had to a 'friend'…but he would never admit it.

Not that he needed to. He and Gai had a…thing. They understood each other almost perfectly. Gai understood that Kakashi was a deeply emotionally scarred man who read Icha Icha paradise for the express purpose of escaping reality, and Kakashi understood that Gai was one of the most goal oriented, motivated, and serious people that lived, when forced to be…his mask was simply to protect him emotionally. Gai's own past wasn't exactly peachy, either.

He was broken from his musings on his strange friendship with the green-spandex wearing freak across the room when the Hokage opened his office door and strode in, giving Gai a look that clearly showed amusement as well as exasperation. His act could wear on the nerves sometimes.

They were all broken from their thoughts as the Hokage sat down and motioned to Gai to turn in his mission report. Gai at that moment showed his serious side, calmly walking over to the Hokage and handing in his report. With a nod to Kakashi, he simply disappeared from view…pure speed, too. No poof no jutsu.

The Hokage glanced over the mission report, grimacing slightly over something that was particularly gruesome, Kakashi imagined…Gai got some of the toughest missions of any Jounin, and he had probably killed more men than even Kakashi had in his lifetime…which was saying something. The Hokage put down the mission report and calmly took a puff on his pipe before motioning to his son Asuma…somewhat unacknowledged as he was…to give his own report.

Asuma took a puff on his own cigarette and calmly delivered it. "Team 10 passes. Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji showed that they had ample skill and teamwork abilities to pass my test…they're not without their faults though. Ino is bossy, rude, and shows no real compunction to follow the lead of others, but when push comes to shove she does what's needed. She's mature for her age, no doubt about that. Shikamaru is almost her antithesis…lazy, uncaring and no motivation whatsoever…but he's smart. Very smart…I'll probably end up giving him an impromptu IQ test later…but he can come up with strategies in a heartbeat that rival even the best Jounin strategists. Chouji…he follows Shikamaru with an almost blind loyalty. He's kind, generous, and while smart, is certainly no genius. He's as powerful as his father was at his age…with the right training, he could be absolutely incredible. Altogether, they make a good team…just about as well as their parents, really." Asuma took another puff on his cigarette, and the Hokage nodded to him. The new Ino-Shika-Cho line up was almost a given to pass…it just remained to be seen if they really could live up to their parents shadow.

The Hokage took another puff on his pipe and motioned to Kurenai to begin. "Team 8 passes. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata passed my test with flying colors. Kiba is a blowhard and has the beginnings of being a pervert…but he's strong, loyal to a fault and shows that he does have a mature side when pressed. Shino…is an enigma, just as much as any Aburame is. He's good at what he does, uses logic to solve most problems, and works well in a team environment. Hinata…has a definite confidence problem. She's adequate with her family taijutsu style, and shows a basic proficiency with academy jutsu…but her lack of confidence or even motivation is a definite disadvantage of hers. Overall though, they work well as a team…they'll do." Kurenai threw a furtive glance towards Asuma and stepped back, before the Hokage nodded to her as well and turned his gaze to Kakashi.

Kurenai and Asuma did the same, but they both had an almost knowing look on their face. Kakashi hadn't passed a Genin team for his entire tenure as a Jounin outside of ANBU…and even though he had two of the villages most famous…or infamous…orphans on his team…it didn't guarantee at all that they would pass.

"Team 7 passes." Kurenai and Asuma both had shocked expressions on their face, before they schooled themselves back into ones of simply amused surprise. This would be an interesting story.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzum…aki…Naruto showed that they can work in a team…if given the right incentive." Everyone noticed his stumbling over the 'Uzumaki' in Naruto's name, but paid it little heed. "They'll need some work…the Uchiha is a brooder and relies mostly on himself for everything…but he has shown at least a bit of camaraderie with Naruto. Sakura fawns over Sasuke to a fault…and I'll need to break her of it…but she could be a good ninja if she tries. Naruto has immense potential for obvious and not so obvious reasons…and he has shown that he's matured considerably since gaining the title of Genin. All three have their pro's and con's…but they showed that they can meet the requirements to pass my test." The Hokage nodded, a knowing smile on his face. He was about to congratulate them and give them more detailed instructions when the door behind them burst open.

"Damn it, I don't care if I need an appointment, I will speak to the old man! If you want to stop me, call the damn ANBU or something!" Kakashi almost grinned…it was definitely Naruto.

The Hokage just shook his head and sighed. Naruto was still Naruto, despite his changes in the past 48 hours. It was almost refreshing, and a bit comforting. He gestured to the almost exasperated Chuunin that was desperately trying to stop Naruto from entering the office with his free hand, signaling to let the boy in. Whatever it was, he should just get it out of the way now, he supposed.

"Naruto-kun, what brings you here so soon after your Genin test?" Everyone in the room noticed the fox that was trailing after him extremely closely…it looked like it was scared out of its wits…it probably was.

Naruto simply glanced at the occupants of the room and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He hadn't meant to actually intrude on the old man…he just needed some clarification. "Uh, ojii-san…I kind of need to ask some questions about some of the jutsu…in…the basement…" This immediately got the elderly Hokage's attention, as well as Kakashi's. Kurenai and Asuma just looked confused.

"Ah, I see Naruto. Kurenai-san, Asuma-san, if you'd be so kind as to give us a bit of privacy…" Kurenai nodded to the Hokage, striding out the back door, while Asuma just stared at Naruto for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and poofing away. Naruto almost sighed. He was beginning to wonder if someone was going to ask him questions.

He took a seat in front of the Hokage again, noting that Kakashi took up a position by the window. "Ojii-san…uh…well, I wanted to ask about 'elemental affinity'…and also, about something to do with Sasuke." Kakashi looked mildly surprised, while the old man just chuckled.

"Elemental affinity, eh? I had figured as much." He took the pipe out of his mouth and pulled something out of a drawer of his desk. It was a simple square sheet of paper, no larger than a few inches in overall perimeter. He handed it to a confused Naruto before setting down his pipe.

"That sheet of paper tells people what their elemental affinities are. Elemental affinities…are basically what different elements a particular ninja is able to wield the most effectively. For instance, I can wield all elements to some degree, but I have the most effectiveness with both fire and earth. Kakashi here can manipulate most elements to a certain extent, but he can wield lightning and water more effectively than others. Most people start out with one or two elemental affinities, and end up with 3, or sometimes four…very, very rarely, someone has the ability to wield all five. There hasn't been someone like that in hundreds of years, however." He noticed that Naruto had taken off his mask, and had an almost half-perplexed and half-understanding look on his face. Sarutobi just chuckled.

"Naruto, channel some of your chakra into that piece of paper, and we'll find out your elemental affinities. Depending on what the chakra does in relation to your chakra, we'll be able to tell." Naruto looked as though he understood that much, and as he closed his eyes, he directed chakra to his hand.

Sarutobi and Kakashi looked both shocked and amused, at least somewhat. The aged Hokage almost laughed. Imagine, a Genin having three elemental affinities…it was almost unheard of.

The paper was split vertically down the middle, a sign that the boy could wield wind chakra…not surprising, considering his father's own affinity for it. The top of the paper was also smoldering somewhat after having burned rather fiercely. His fire element came from the Uchiha, no doubt. His third affinity, however, was most perplexing. Neither of his parents had actually shown any real talent in earth element jutsu…how he had gained such affinity with it would take some investigating.

Kakashi simply smiled. Wind and fire complimented each other tremendously well…fire burned, wind severed, and both combined absolutely incinerated. Earth on the other hand was an affinity that only a few people in Konoha actually had. Then again, so was wind. To Kakashi's knowledge, the only person who was an active wind chakra user in Konoha was Sarutobi Asuma…the Hokage's son. He only knew of a scant few people who could use earth jutsu effectively…himself being one of them, even if only somewhat. He had learned quite a few Doton jutsu in the war with stone during his youth…it seemed as though he had someone he could pass them on to.

Sarutobi simply smiled. Wind to compliment his close range fighting, fire to make up his long range fighting, and earth to protect…it was an absolutely perfect trifecta. "Well, it seems as though you have talents with earth, wind and fire equally. That's extremely rare, you know." Naruto absolutely beamed. He had something else that was rare. Damn straight.

Sarutobi just sighed. "Well, that answers one question…you can come to us with help with jutsu and whatnot whenever you need, of course. Kakashi would probably be a better outlet for that than I would however…being that I'm constantly busy." He shot his paperwork a glare that would have melted titanium…but paperwork by its nature was immune.

Kakashi simply nodded. "I know a fair share of earth jutsu…and if I remember correctly, Asuma is a wind element user. You can ask almost any Nin born in Konoha to teach you fire, though. It's our own element, after all." Naruto simply nodded. They did live in fire country.

Sarutobi remembered that Naruto had had a second question when he initially came in, and sobered somewhat thinking of it. It was a bit of a sensitive topic.

Noticing the Hokage's change in demeanor, Naruto sobered somewhat as well. "As for the Uchiha boy…" The Hokage sighed. "That's up to your discretion, Naruto. He is your blood family…but as you well know, there is more to family than blood relation. You will need access to some of the Uchiha scrolls at some point to learn more about your Sharingan, so it would probably behoove you to tell the boy at some point…not to mention the fact that both of you are completely without family…it would probably do you both some good to know that you aren't alone in this world." The Hokage desperately wanted Naruto and Sasuke to become friends…Sasuke needed a friend, and family…and Naruto needed them just as much. He wasn't going to force them, however.

Naruto seemed to be pensive for a moment before his face hardened somewhat, but with a softer tinge to it. "You're right…family is more than just blood…but…he is family…" He sighed again, as if coming to some internal conclusion.

"I'll talk with him…sometime…probably soon, I guess. But…I don't know if I want to tell him everything…you know?" The Hokage nodded. He guessed that Naruto would be sensitive about revealing some of his secrets.

Kakashi on the other hand simply put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him another patented eye smile. "You don't have to tell him what you don't want to, Naruto. I think though…that you underestimate some people. I don't think Sasuke would hold much of what you are against you. He may have a cold exterior…but he's just about as fragile as you are underneath the mask he's set up to the world. Give him a chance. That's all I'll ask of you." Naruto seemed to mull this for a moment before giving a soft nod in Kakashi's direction. Naruto would be the first to acknowledge to his closest friends that he had an emotional shell…it was an absolute necessity.

Kakashi simply patted him on the shoulder and bowed slightly to the Hokage before poofing away. Naruto scowled again, once again resolving to learn that jutsu. He was about to say his own goodbyes to the Hokage, before he was reminded by his…other half…that there was something else to learn, as well.

'Remember to ask him about the medical chakra thing…you won't be able to use that particular part of your seal until you have someone train you in it.' Naruto perked up somewhat and gave a mental nudge of thanks to the Kyuubi before turning back to the Hokage.

"Um…ojii-san…one last thing. Is there anyone you know that can teach me how to make medical chakra?"

The Hokage blinked. Why on earth would Naruto need to know about medical chakra? Surely he didn't have the chakra control necessary to actually make medical chakra, let alone use it…

As if sensing his question, Naruto told him about finding the seal diagram in the basement, and the different components to it. Sarutobi was awed, and he too began to realize just how much of a genius the blonde haired Hokage had been. He mulled over Naruto's question for a moment before finally setting on a course of action.

He pulled out a notepad and wrote something down on it before handing it to Naruto. "Go to the hospital sometime, and ask for someone named Yakushi Kabuto. He's a Genin like you, but he has an intimate grasp of healing. He should be able to tell you what you need to know about medical chakra." Seeing Naruto's almost apprehensive face, Sarutobi just chuckled.

"Kabuto is a very nice young man…even if he did know about…you….he wouldn't hold it against you. Rest assured, he'll teach you what you need to know, especially after being ordered to do so by me." Naruto positively beamed at the prospect of having someone who would actually be nice to him, aside from those who knew him, or were his friends. It was a rarity to find someone who wouldn't just dismiss him out of hand. He was also tremendously thankful to the old man for having someone teach him about medical chakra, even if it was just a passing course. He already had someone to teach him about anatomy and whatnot…he simply needed to know how to manipulate medical chakra.

"Arigato, Ojii-san! I owe you one!" Naruto stood up and bowed to the Hokage before waving goodbye and running out the door at a breakneck pace. Sarutobi just chuckled again. Yes, Naruto was indeed still very much, Naruto.

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A/N: DUN DUN DUN…pseudo-cliffy. Aren't I devilish?

I don't like the way the bell test came out. I really don't. I might edit it at some point later on, but it's really the best I could do. Sorry.

Again, expect chapter 5 in a week or two…I guarantee nothing! Also, if anyone knows why Microsoft word is an asshole, let me know. Really. I hate this program.

Still haven't figured out the exact makeup of the harem yet…but I'm thinking Naruto + 4. Not one hundred percent sure. We'll see if I can actually pull it off.

'Till next time.

Oh. And...heh...I made his elements 'Earth, Wind and Fire'. Trust me...it's only a passing joke to the band. I thought of that after the fact. Bwehehehehe.