Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

Author's Note: Again thanks for the reviews, and everything else. This chapter is a bit more dull, for certain reasons, but I will make up for it in the next chapter. So please, enjoy yourself. No one beta-ed this since my bro and I are at college again.

"So the brat made it to the second stage," Tsunade said with a smirk. Next to her Shizune was frowning and Jiraiya was laughing his ass off.

"Of course he did! He was trained by me after all!" the toad sage boasted. Tsunade then whacked him on the back of his head.

"You barely train him. Most of the time he's training on his own or with Itachi. Refining his own skills," the slug princess told him. "Heck most of the time you are with him is tell him to focus his chakra and to eat right."

"Hey! I'm just preparing him to start training in the ways of being a sage!"

"You want to take him as an apprentice?" Shizune asked surprised.

"Yeah, I want to teach him my ways. Although, I'll probably wait until he's at least a jounin to start doing so."

"You better wait. Give him more time to grow up at least," Tsunade scolded him. She then looked over at the clock. "She's running late, that girl."

"What are you talking about Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked

"Oh I forgot to tell you two, but yesterday I had a visitor."

"A visitor you say?" Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow. "Who would this be?"

"Kushina."

"What!" both Jiraiya and Shizune shouted.

"She visited me yesterday, asking questions."

~Flashback~

Tsunade was sitting in the kitchen drinking some coffee. She had taken the day off from the hospital that day and left Shizune to practice her skills. She was just resting when she heard a knock on the door. Walking to it, she opened the door. "Good morning Tsunade-sama how are you today?" Kushina greeted as Tsunade opened the door. Alongside her were her two daughters in a carriage.

"Kushina..." Tsunade gasped. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"I came here to talk, about a person. May we come in?" Tsunade nodded her head and moved aside. Kushina walked in brought the stroller as well. "Do you mind if I unseal their crib?"

"No not at all," Tsunade answered even though she was surprised seeing the woman there.

"Are you okay Tsunade-sama?" the red haired woman asked as she unrolled a scroll and unsealed a crib from it. Gently placing both baby girls into the crib next to the sofa, Kushina sat down and looked at Tsunade.

Remembering that she hasn't answered yet. "I'm fine, it's just that I'm surprised you're here. I mean we rarely get to talk to each other nowadays. You're taking care of Yuri and Tsubaki there almost all the time."

"And you're almost always in the hospital," Kushina teased. Tsunade rolled her eyes and looked at Kushina.

"What are you doing here?" the blond asked. "It's not everyday you visit someone like me."

"I'm here to ask you a few questions actually."

"What about?"

"The boy living with you. I want to know about him," Kushina admitted. "I wanted to talk to you about Naruto Uzumaki." Tsunade's eyes widened when she heard that.

"Why do you want to know about him?" Tsunade asked looking suspiciously at her guest.

"Minato and I were having a conversation and he came up. For some odd reason, He keeps trying to avoid the topic all together. Like he doesn't want anything to do with him."

"I see..." Closing her eyes Tsunade shook her head and giving out a sigh. "To be honest you should talk to him and not me. He is the one you want to find out about right?" Kushina nodded. "Then you should go talk to him. Although, he is at the Chunin Exams right now."

"I know that, that is why I came to ask you. I mean he does spend a lot of time with you right?" the red haired woman asked.

"He spends more time with Shizune and the Uchiha's then he does with me," Tsunade told her. "Sadly, both of the Uchiha's that know him the best are with him in the exams and Shizune is privy about her friendship with Naruto. I think she has a crush on him, even though she is a decade older than himself."

"That's odd..." Kushina frowned.

"It is, but she won't say it. I mean who would say they have a crush on a seven year old?" Tsunade chuckled.

"I see. So are you going to tell me about Naruto?"

"I'll tell you about him, but only the basics about him. The rest, you have to ask him personally."

~Flashback End~

"Why did she come of all times to talk about him now?" Jiraiya asked after hearing the story. "Why two years?"

"I think it's because Naruto is interacting more with Minato through the course of missions," Tsunade explained. "You know how sometimes the teams have to report to the Hokage himself for some certain missions?" Shizune and the toad sage nodded. "Well, I know Minato wants to spend as much time as possible with his kids, and Kushina brings them so I think the reason she's seeing him more. That and I think the fact that another Uzumaki, that is "not part of her family" is in Konoha is having her worried."

"I see," Shizune stated before her eyes widened in recognizing something said in the story. "HEY! I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON NARUTO!"

"If you're denying it, it just makes it more suspicious!" Tsunade smirked. "So you are a pedophile!"

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune shrieked. Jiraiya, who was forgotten in the moment, was writing something down in a black book.

'An older woman, who the hero thinks of as a sister, holds more than sisterly affection for said hero...I'm going to use this as my new story plot," the pervert thought. 'I think Naruto will give me better story ideas as he grows up. More so than Minato."

~Team Nine~

It was two days after the first test, and Team Nine found themselves back in the same room. Since they got there a lot earlier than the previous time, they decided to just sit down. When they got to the door, they showed the jounin there their wrists with the bands on them. The jounin had let them in and saw that other than Yugito's group, and the group from Iwa they were some of the first ones there.

So they just sat there spending their time doing nothing, while waiting for every other team to appear. Rather, they tried to, but someone decided to bother them. "I see you guys made it past the first round," a female voice said. Looking to their left, Yugito was standing there, with the rest of her team standing a few feet away.

"Why wouldn't we have made it through the first round?" Naruto asked. "I mean you and your kids are here too."

"It's because we are some of the best Kumo has to offer. I'm not sure if I could say the same about you and Konoha."

"You can think whatever you want," Itachi answered as he looked towards the front of the room. "All that matters is that we are here. Other than that all I can say is that all we can do is move forward."

"Good words Itachi," Naruto smirked. "So you can tell your little group to watch out for us. For we will get the better of you guys." Yugito glared and then walked back to her group.

~Team Kumo~

"What were you doing over there?" the dark skinned boy drawled at Yugito as she came back. Yugito looked at him with a slight glare.

"It's nothing Darui," Yugito mumbled.

"I here she had met up with them before this too," the other boy on their team stated.

"Oh? Is that true C?" Darui asked.

"Yeah, apparently they had met at the ramen stand where those kids passed on the test two days ago."

"Did any jounin of from our place see how they acted throughout the first test?" To answer Darui's question, C shook his head.

"Apparently they didn't do any of the fighting. One of them placed a genjutsu on the chunin's going after them and had them go out and make other people believe that they were the kids from Konoha. Well, at least that is what I heard from A-sama," C explained.

"I see...Do you know anything about them Yugito?" Darui asked looking at the older girl.

"One of them smalls like a cat," Yugito stated. "The blond one. He said a lion licked him one day and for some reason I could smell it."

"That is odd...but will come in handy if we are going to be have to find them. C, what else do you know about them?"

"The other male in their group, from what I've gather, his name is Itachi. From what we know of other villages, the symbol he wears on the back of his shirt is none other than the Uchiha fan symbol. So that means we area against an Uchiha," C informed the other two. Yugito and Darui stiffened a bit.

"Do you know if he has the sharingan yet?" Yugito asked.

"Not sure, again they didn't fight during the first exams against the chunins that were sent after them."

"Just like us huh? That makes this kind of dull," Darui mumbled. He then looked over at Team Nine. "They make an interesting group. What do you know about the female in their group."

"Nothing to be honest."

"How about the skills of the blond?"

"Nothing."

"Damn that dull," Darui sighed. "Although, this is going to be an interesting match then."

~Team Nine~

"All I'm saying is that we're going to eat steak after this test," Naruto frowned.

"And I'm saying that we're going to eat at that soba place," Yugao beat us. "Cold noodles are better than steak!"

"Steak is better!"

"Soba!"

"Steak!"

"Soba!"

"Itachi what do you think we should eat?" they both asked their third teammate.

"Buffet..." Itachi drawled out. That got the other two to stop arguing.

"Well...that makes sense right?" Yugao said to Naruto.

"I agree, we all get what we want..." the blond stated. He then smirked. "Since Itachi suggested it, I say he pays for it."

"What!" Itachi shouted.

"Seconded," Yugao smiled. Itachi began to mumble to himself, cursing himself for even suggesting the idea to the two.

~Team Iwa~

"So what do you think of the brat over," asked a black haired teen. If one were compare his height, he was about twice as tall as Naruto. He had on a dark purple kimono top and black pants. His right arm and shoulders were exposed, but there were several bandages covering his chest. On his back was a large blade, and his hair was about as long as he was tall.

"Which one Irouh?" a shorter male asked. He had red hair, just about as long as he is tall too. He was wearing a yellow shirt and a black shorts. On his legs were some bandages, seemingly red with blood. He wore his forehead protector around his head, and it covered his right eye. Across his back was a staff.

"The blond one from Konoha, Ura," Irouh supplied. "He's looks suspiciously like the Fourth Hokage doesn't he?" Ura squinted and looked at Naruto before gasping.

"He does doesn't he!" Ura then turned to the last member of his group. "Deidara! Do you think he looks like the Yondaime?"

"He actually does, hn," Deidara replied. He was the other kid in the tournament, the one Itachi had noticed on the first day. "I didn't know that the hokage had a kid."

"I did, but from what I heard, it was only two years ago and that they are girls," Irouh mumbled. "Do you think that blond has any relations to the Hokage in any way?"

"Looking like him makes him suspicious hn," Deidara stated. "If anything we can tell the Tsuchikage about this later, but for now we should focus on the test. This is a great place to show my art to the world!"

"You and your art," Ura sighed. "I still don't see how they agreed to train you already for the blast corps even though you are only six."

"I'm just great hn."

~Team Nine~

"Why do they keep staring at us?" Yugao asked her teammates. Naruto and Itachi looked around and saw that every team was looking around the room, but the fact that the remaining Konoha teams, the Kumo teams and the Iwa teams were all looking their way.

"It's rather obvious isn't it," Itachi whispered, only looking ahead. "Kumo is staring this way because it is likely that the bet between our idiot over here and A-san has reached the ears of the council and want us to fail."

"Iwa's reasons are obvious too," Naruto continued as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "I, for some reason, remind them of the one who had shamed them during the Third Ninja War, the Yondaime Hokage." When he said that, Yugao finally noticed it. Even after two months with being with them, for some reason she couldn't make the connection.

"You do look like the Hokage," the purple haired girl whispered. "Why?" Naruto looked at her with a sad smile before looking up again.

"That...is a story you'll hear after these exams. I promise you that much Yugao-senpai." Turning to Itachi she asked him if he knew what he was talking about with just a look.

"I already know of Naruto's secret. We basically grew up together, so that much is obvious. Again, you will be told at the end of the exams, since by then Naruto will be able to speak to you without problems occurring."

"What?"

"I'll tell you at the end of the exams because there is a chance where I will no longer be part of Konoha anymore and their laws won't apply to me," Naruto stated. Yugao wanted to continue but was interrupted by a loud voice.

"ALRIGHT KIDDIES CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" a loud cheerful voice shouted. Naruto and the group had to cover their ears as they looked up to see who the heck was talking. At the front of the room was none other than Sawate smiling at them. "It is nice to see you all here! I'm glad to see that more than a few of you had made it through the easy first round."

"You weren't much of a proctor you know!" Naruto shouted from his place.

"I know that! It was part of my job to over see the ninjas working for us to catch you." She then smiled at everyone. "As you may know that this part of the exams had required you to get a wrist band from the jounin you met with correct?" Multiple heads nodded to confirm it. "Now those will be a big part of the second exam! Those bands will act like watches for this next exam."

"What is this exam you keep telling us about hn?" Deidara asked from the background.

"It's will be called the Key Battles!" Sawate exclaimed.

"Key battles?" Yugito mumbled.

"That's right Key Battles!" Sawate then produced a key from somewhere on her body before showing it to the rest of the testers. "Keys similar to this one have been placed in various spots all over the mountainous areas near Kumo. Just like the paper in the previous exams, these will guide you towards a set of keys your group needs to find. The wrist bands have been inscribed with various seals to show a map if you focus some chakra into it. The map will show you the locations of several nearby keys, as well as a way to get back to Kumo. Now the whole point of this test is to get a key and unlock those wrist bands of yours. When you do a jounin will appear to take you back to Kumo."

"So this is like a item finding test?" Yugao asked.

"Oh its more than, it's called the Key battles for a reason! There are only eleven hidden keys in all, meaning that the current twenty four teams will be cut down by more than half!"

"That's a lot of people going to be out!" some Konoha genin shouted from the back.

"Of course it is! We need to cut down on all the slackers attending this thing after all! This will take place outside of Kumo just as I had said, in the mountain side. There will be a ring enclosing the area in which all of you will be competing in, and several jounins making sure you don't leave the area by accident. Also there is a five day time limit. If you don't find a key in fie days you are immediately disqualified! So will you all follow me towards the designated area?" She got up and started to walk out of the room.

~With A and Killer B~

"So the second part of the exams started?" A asked a Kumo chunin kneeling before him.

"Hai, Raikage-sama," the chunin replied with his head hung low.

"I see, you are dismissed." The chunin nodded his head and walked out the door. A sat alone, with B outside of his window rapping about how awesome he was. " I really had hoped the council would not do anything to hinder the exams, but with them finding out about our bet it will be harder to do things now. I don't wan to win unfairly, but I will need to butt in now."

"You know A," B stated as he popped his head through the window, "I didn't know you were up for fair play!"

"I'm usually not," A mumbled. "This time is different. This time my life is on the line and I'm actually intrigued by what the boy will do in the next few days."

"Are you worried you might die? Don't worry 'cuz I don't think Naruto is that kind of guy!"

"Why do you think that?"

"It's because he likes to rhyme like me! And you know you can trust Killer B! OH YEAH!" A groaned in despair at the continuous rapping.

"I hope you don't mind but I'm going to ignore that. And while I do trust you, I don't trust that Naruto kid. At least not enough to entrust my life with him."

~In Konoha~

"So Fu, Torune and Tera had made it to the second exams?" an elderly voice asked.

"Hai Danzo-sama," a man with a black rain coat with a white porcelain mask in the shape of the face of a rabbit replied emotionlessly.

"Very good," the elderly man replied. Stepping out of the shadows was a man who looked to be about in his late sixties. His hair was still black, but it was mostly covered up by bandages, in fact most of his face was covered up by bandages. From his forehead and his right eye were covered by it. He wore a white top and black shinobi pants. His entire right side of the body was covered by some odd ceremonial gown that was red and black. On his chin was cross shaped scar. His left eye stared at the ninja in front of him before asking something else. "What news do you have on Mikoto Uchiha's team?"

"Team nine as they are called have advanced into the second exam as well Danzo-sama. Unfortunately our spies were not able to get any information about what had happened during the first exam."

"They were not able to gather information on the kids?"

"Hai. It seems that the boys, Itachi Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, were able to completely stay off the radar during the exam."

"I see, that is sad. I will have to retrain them to make them better in their job then. Any other information on that team?" Danzo said sternly

"There was a rumor going on about them going on in the council of Kumo that our spies have been able to hear."

"Explain."

"It seems that the Uzumaki boy has made a bet with the current Raikage."

"What sort of bet?"

"The Raikage has agreed to teach the boy how to use the legendary Lightning Armor Jutsu if the boy manages to get to the finals of the Chunin exams." Now that had Danzo interested.

"The technique that only Raikage's are supposed to know?" The ninja in front of him nodded. "What happens if the boy loses?"

"He will give to Kumo an Uzumaki. An Uzumaki who can bind and control jinchuuriki."

"Do you mean that he is willing to give up Kushina Namikaze to Kumo? One of the girls maybe?" Danzo asked, still intrigued.

"No sir. From what we have gathered, it seems that he is offering himself to up to Kumo." Danzo remained silent for a time, with his ninja still kneeling before him. Turning his back to the ninja, Danzo gave out his order.

"Have Torune, Fu and Tera help out team nine. We need that team to win at all costs. And you are dismissed."

"Hai Danzou-sama," the ninja nodded his head before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Danzo walked down a hall into a room, his own office. It was bare of many things, for all it had was a desk and a bookshelf.

Sitting down in his chair Danzo began to think. 'Naruto Uzumaki: surrogate grandson to Hiruzen, the surrogate son of two Sannin and the long forgotten son of the current Hokage. He is either hard headed beyond all belief or very confident in his abilities. If his test results during the previous results and missions, it must be the latter. Also, if what he is offering to Kumo is true, he will be able to tame the jinchuuriki. Then if he can learn the jutsu of the Raikage, he will be strong and a major asset to Konoha.' Using his left hand Danzo rubbed his chin. 'Knowing Hiruzen, he probably made sure the boy would know about ROOT and make sure he wouldn't join, but still as long as the boy doesn't get lost to Kumo, he will become one of the greatest assets to Konoha in history. They must not fail.'

~With Minato~

"I see, thank you Tora," Minato told a ninja kneeling in front of him.

"It was my job Hokage-sama," the man replied. This man looked just like the one talking to Danzo but several difference. He was wearing a white coat instead of black, he had a tiger mask instead of a rabbit, also this person had emotion in his voice and wasn't devoid of it.

"Thank you, you are dismissed Tora." The one known as Tora nodded and actually walked out the door instead of using a shunshin. Minato sat there for a moment and the frowned. "Naruto is much better than I thought. However, he still needs to fail. He must fail."

"What do you mean by that?" a voice asked.

"What do you need Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked aloud. It was still for a few moments before the sound of wood meeting stone was heard. Looking over to the window, Minato saw the toad sage standing there.

"Well, I came here to greet my one and favorite disciple, but then I hear this." Jiraiya glared at the Hokage. "Now, what do you mean that Naruto must fail?"

"It is nothing..." the blond tried to avoid the subject.

"It is not nothing. I have the right to be worried when one of my students wants his own son, my godson, to fail the chunin exams."

"He is not my son! Not anymore!"

"Why are you so rough on Naruto! Why do you hate him!"

"Because he will ruin my life!" Minato shouted, his face full of rage. Jiraiya, on the other hand, looked extremely confused.

"What do you mean that he will ruin your life?" the toad sage asked. Minato's eyes widened, before he cursed under his breath. The Hokage knew he wouldn't be able to escape from this situation, and that Jiraiya was not weak enough for a seal to work on him. Taking his time, Minato let out a sigh before speaking.

"Jiraiya-sensei, please have a seat. I have something to tell you about." Jiraiya did just that, waiting for Minato to speak. "The day after the Kyuubi attack, the day after you came with the prophecy, the toads have came to me with a message."

"Message?" Jiraiya repeated.

"Yes, a message that contained a prophecy that concerned me."

"What did it say."

"That in a little over a decade, my life would be ruined." Minato gulped down the saliva that was caught in his throat as he spoke, since he was the only one who knew about this. It was a hard subject to tell anyone. "All my friends, my family, and the rest of the village will come to dislike me. Not only that, but my title of Hokage will be taken from me as well. Although that last part was not clear who will take it."

"And you think it is Naruto?" Jiraiya asked. Minato nodded. "That is some total bullshit! How the hell do you think it will be Naruto that will ruin your life. How do you know that it is him that will do this to you! That prophecy was vague enough for it to be anybody!"

"I know it will be Naruto, but you didn't let me finish to explain." The blond man sighed, feeling as if the weight of the world on his shoulders. "The prophecy gave a small description of what the person would look like. It will be a person with my hair and my eyes who will do this to me. There is no one else I know of that looks like me, so it only leaves one person..."

"Naruto," Jiraiya finished. The two were quiet before Jiraiya spoke again. "You do know, that by doing what you have done to Naruto you may have already started him on that path you are afraid off. He may hate you because of this."

"He won't hate me, from the looks of things he seems perfectly fine and happy." Minato replied. "Although he seems mad at some points, especially when he sees me."

"And you don't think he'll hate you through your actions?"

"No, not at all."

~Mikoto~

It has only been four hours since the second exams started, four hours since she last saw her kids off for the exams. Three hours since they were told to wait, and Mikoto was was surprised at her team. She was already summoned to the area where they were, their wrist bands were off and a key was in their hands. It was safe to say that she was stunned. They stood there with a smirk on their faces, even Itachi had one, as they looked at her.

She was worried about what would happen to them at the beginning of the exams, especially with the whispers coming from the other Konoha jounin senseis. They had all been talking amongst themselves, forgetting that she was in the room. She heard that most of the teams from Konoha were gunning for her team for some unknown reason. She was worried for their safety, but she didn't have to be. Again, standing before her was her team, perfectly fine...if you count the small amount of bruises, cuts and dirt on them fine.

"What happened to you three?" she asked gobsmacked. She knew they were strong, she was there when they trained with each other, but she didn't know how strong they were since the three would train together outside of their usual meetings with each other.

"Found a key, fought some genin, got dirty, waiting in this exam hall for the next four days to wait for the rest of the people to arrive," Itachi stated. "We'll see you later okaa-san. Naruto, Yugao and I have to were just allowed to greet you. For the rest of the week we aren't allowed to speak to you." The trio turned around to leave, but Naruto and Yugao gave her a tired wave before leaving. That left Mikoto even more confused.

"Just how strong are those kids now?"

~Within the testing grounds (same time)~

Yugito, Darui and C had arrived at the epicenter of a battle field. At the start of the test, they were dropped down in a random place by Sawate and a couple of jounin. They had found that the wrist bands did show a map when they channeled some chakra into it, with the person wearing the bands marked as a triangle and keys represented as dots. The downside was that there was no real indication as to how far the keys really were. They had found that they were far away from several keys and decided to run in a certain direction. After a few minutes of running, they had witnessed several battles along the way, but they were all far away from the keys. Within four hours, they had seen avoided most fights they had come across since all of them were still looking for keys. They were heading to the south towards a key when suddenly went out.

Were they arrived caused them to look confused. The land was burnt, several long cuts were in the surrounding forests and mountain sides, and there were some upturned boulders here and there. "What happened here?" Yugito asked.

"I don't know, but it looks like there was a big battle," C replied looking around. "Darui what do you think?"

"We just must have missed the fight, and whoever won had gotten the key," the dark skinned boy answered. The group then heard a groan coming from somewhere, and they followed it. A few minutes later they found a group of six Konoha genin tending their wounds. "What happened to you guys?"

The six reacted at the words and were wearing fear on their faces. Looking at them, they were not ready for another fight. "Don't worry, we won't harm you seeing as there is no key nearby," C told them. The genin looked at each other before calming down a bit. "So tell us what happened to you guys."

A male genin looked around, before he licked his dry lips to wet them. "We...we were beaten badly," the genin answered. "Our teams met up, and decided to ambush another team. A team our leader wanted to eliminate from the tournament. But...it turned out bad. We couldn't even handle the situation."

"Care to explain?" Yugito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We had ambushed them, a group of one girl and two kids, from Konoha. We jumped them from the bushes, and what not. But there was snag..." The boy swallowed. "It was like they were expecting us. The three we jumped were just kage bunshins that were henged. After the failed ambush, a heavy wind blew us away from each other. Then boy, the Uchiha, came out of nowhere and separated us even more, by putting a fire in between us and our groups. Then the girl, she knew some Doton jutsu and made a wall around us to make sure we wouldn't interfere. Then they took us out one by one. The blond did most of the physical fighting, he even broke one of our members legs."

Darui and them looked over and saw that a girl's leg was in a splint and winced. "He apologized to me before he did it," the girl mumbled. "He left me a first aid kit after the fight." She then blushed thinking about him. "Now that I think it, he seemed apologetic the entire thing. Makes him kind of cute."

"So are you telling me that a group of six genin, were over powered by seven year olds and a girl?" Darui asked. Almost wincing at the fact the they were in the same boat.

"They were not just seven year olds and a girl," stated the original boys. "They were like the perfect team. They watched each other backs, knew each others moves. The boys provided long and midrange help, even close range they were annoying. The girl used a sword, cutting us and keeping us at bay, and provided protection in her use of jutsu. They are just too good." That left Team Kumo silent for a moment.

"Damn, we better hope that the next round isn't a team battle or every other team will be in trouble," Darui grumbled.

End Author's Note: Tell me what I did right and wrong. Tell me what you think! Also I am intentionally leaving out most of the fight scenes that concern Naruto's group, just so you can keep guessing at their skills just like the other major people in the story are too.