So, here is Chapter 7. Hope you all like it. Next two chapters should be them finishing up the academy. But let's forget about that, let's get to the story, now shall we?

…..

Iruka Umino could only put his face in his palm at the current situation of his class. Graduation was in six months, and he couldn't wait until it got here. This time it involved Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, and a toad named Gamatatsu. He only needed one guess to know where the toad was from.

Naruto had spent months before he could actually summon a toad. As it turned out, he didn't have the chakra control or power needed to do so. So in his free time, he did any exercise he could to make it so he could summon more than tadpoles. Uncle Inoichi even taught him and Ino the tree-walking exercise normally reserved for genin in order to help him. And after months and months of trying he finally summoned one, a small orange and blue toad named Gamakichi. He was apparently the son of the big boss, and quick friends with the young lad. His brother Gamatatsu and their second cousin Kosuke, part of the messenger toads, were all the toads Naruto could summon at the moment but he still thought they were awesome. And they thought he was awesome, so they would listen to whatever hare-brained scheme they could come up with. Which led to situations like the one they faced today.

Iruka had pieced together exactly what had happened from the babbling testimonies of his students. Apparently, Ino and Naruto had gotten into a debate over the color orange and stealth back at their home, and had tried to get Shikamaru involved. Apparently, Naruto was not satisfied with his answer and decided to use a test run with a toad. He tried summoning his orange toad Gamakichi, but instead managed to summon the bright yellow toad Gamatatsu. Still going through with it, he ordered Gamatatsu to sneak by Sakura and steal Sasuke's paper to prove his point. But Gamatatsu sucked with stealth and got caught by Sakura, who was disgusted and flung it onto Sasuke by mistake. He got pissed in general, and Ino got mad at Naruto for letting her Sasuke-kun get toad-faced. Sasuke realizes Naruto is to blame and attacks him, but he uses Shikamaru as a shield. Shikamaru thought the whole thing was troublesome and stopped Sasuke in his place, while an enraged Gamatatsu who got thrown onto the floor tried to attack Sasuke with his little toad limbs. Sakura and Ino were now trying to kick Naruto's ass, and Shikamaru was keeping a shadow bind to prevent both him and the toad attacking Sasuke from getting smushed. That was the scene Iruka walked in on and had to decode.

Yeah, he couldn't wait for graduation to occur.

After getting Gamatatsu sent back to his home realm, Iruka was forced to create appropiate punishment for each individual. He gave Shikamaru a pass since he was an innocent bystander in the situation, and let off Sasuke with a warning that another outburst would lead to real punishment. Ino got a warning as well while Sakura got the punishment to write 100 lines of, "I will not throw toads or beat up fellow classmates." And Naruto got detention for being the impetus.

During detention, Iruka was grading papers while he had Naruto stack chairs and properly sweep the floor in the classroom. Iruka kept an eye on Naruto as he grumbled to himself.

"Come on, Naruto, don't act all haughty. You knew you would get in trouble for pulling a dumb stunt like that." Iruka told the blonde.

He rolled his eyes at his sensei. "Yeah yeah, but nee-san didn't get in trouble and it is her fault this happened. And she actually hit me!"

Iruka was aware of that, but their was an actual academic rule exempting her. "You know about the Sibing Dispute rule, Naruto. You would have had twice as many detentions if it didn't exist. If 'siblings' are in the same class, they need a little leeway or else things could get ugly. Which they nearly do with you and Ino."

"Whatever." Naruto brushed him off.

Iruka sighed. He didn't want to be on Naruto's bad side, which meant pranks, and he wanted to remind Naruto that he wasn't trying to be unfair to him. "Fine, how about we make a deal. You do a good job and finish sweeping the floors before I am done grading, I will buy you two bowls of ramen. If not, you owe me a bowl. How does that sound?" He bet his student.

Naruto gave him a fox-like grin. "Oh, you are so on, Iruka-sensei!" His lazy sweeping became far more brisk and concentrated while Iruka was able to focus back on grading papers. He hadn't been able to talk to Naruto in weeks. He liked talking to him as a friend, since he knew he was a lot like Naruto back in the day.

Naruto won, of course. Iruka took his time making sure all the papers were properly graded, and it would look poorly on him if he conned a 12 year old out of some money. (Elsewhere, Jiraiya sneezed on the road to Kusagakure for a check on Orochimaru's influence there.) So they sat an Ichikaru's side by side in the early evening, Iruka eating miso ramen while Naruto enjoying two beef ramen's.

"So, it seems like you have mastered the Summoning jutsu. I still can't believe how you got it. You saved Jiraiya from getting caught from peeping in the bathhouse and blackmailed him." Iruka laughed. "I know the Yamanaka family are good with head games, and you seem to have picked up it up with ease."

Naruto nodded at the cover story that had been given. He wished he could simply say, "My dad was the frikkin' Fourth Hokage!" But he couldn't. Not just cause of the seal, but for his aunt Nikko. She would revealed to be a cheater, along with his dad, and he wasn't ready to do that to her. He wouldn't hide his and Ino's parentage forever, but not when they were still in the academy. He chewed on a delicious morsel of beef as Iruka continued.

"Though I am pretty sure you should be trying to finish the Bunshin Jutsu, am I right?"

Naruto harshly gulped his mouthful of ramen. He knew he still had a few months to get it down, but everyone else in the class could do it. But he still couldn't. "I know sensei. I just wish it wasn't so hard."

Iruka let out a sigh. "It is odd, because you are talented. I mean, since you have been putting effort into your class work you are doing well enough and you are a good fighter and can summon toads. Bunshin should be a breeze." Naruto nodded in agreement. "I think it would be stupid to put in all that effort just to fail over this one jutsu." Iruka continued.

"Is there any way I can get an exemption or something. I mean, I could just summon a toad and transform them into me. Could that count?" Naruto asked his sensei.

Iruka shook his head. "I could, but that would be giving up. And the Naruto Uzumaki I know doesn't give up."

Naruto felt that one hit close to home. He was going to be Hokage! He couldn't give up on some stupid Academy Jutsu! He downed his second bowl fairly quickly before getting up from his seat. "You're right, Iruka-sensei. I don't give up. I'm gonna go home and get this Bunshin jutsu or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki!" He proudly declared.

Iruka looked proud at his student. "Good to hear, Naruto. Now, no more stupid pranks with your toads and work hard." He gave him an encouraging thumbs up.

Naruto grinned. "Of course! See you in class, sensei!" With that, Naruto headed home. He was going to conquer the Bunshin, even if it meant doing the one thing he hated more than anything else.

"Ino Yamanaka is the best ninja in the world and better than her baka brother at almost everything. She is SO kind and SO helpful. She is the best." Naruto grovelled to his smarter sister Ino. He had no shame in this. She knew the Bunshin for over a year, and was second in the class to Sasuke Uchiha. He knew he was the better fighter, but Ino was the brains of this duo.

Ino grinned from her desk. "That is what I like to hear. So, nii-chan, what do you need help with?" She was also very vain and had told her brother to say that anytime he needed help with something to prove he really needed it.

"Bunshin."

"Bunshin?"

"Yeah, the stupid Bunshin jutsu! I can't figure it out, and I need it to pass. And sensei said I was talented so it shouldn't be this hard. You know how to do it, so I need you to help teach me."

Ino let out a sigh. "Well, of course I'm gonna help my little brother pass. And I think I know why you are having trouble. Dad said you have a lot of chakra but no control of it. Maybe if you get better control of it, you can do it easier."

Naruto nodded, remembering that conversation. Inoichi said that he had as much chakra as full grown adults even though he was barely 12 and didn't have much control. So he knew what he had to do. He just didn't know how.

"So, um, what sort of chakra control things are there?" Naruto asked, unsure of them.

"Well, uh, dad did say something about advanced tree walking or something about needing a lake to walk on. But I don't know how to do any of that. But the Leaf Concentration exercise should work!" Ino exclaimed

"Leaf Concentration?" Naruto had no idea.

Ino rolled her eyes. "We covered it on a day you and lazy and your friends skipped. It means using your chakra to make sure a leaf sticks on your forehead, even if you are doing pushups or running. You have to concentrate your chakra and control it, so it is perfect. Want to give it a try?"

Naruto thought about it for a second. "Sure, that can work." He told his sister. With that in mind, they stepped out of their house and went to a nearby tree. Snatching a half dozen leaves off its branches, they went back to Ino's room. Ino held one leaf in her hand and sat in her chair.

"This is what you should try to do." She instructed, before she tilted her head back and placed the leaf on her forehead. After concentrating for a few seconds, she slowly brought her head up to a normal position with the leaf not budging. She continued until she was in a half-bow in her chair, but the leaf was still attached.

Naruto eyes lit up. That was cooler than expected. "My turn!" He excitedly said. He placed the extra leaves in his pocket, tilted his head back, and plopped the leaf onto his forehead. After concentrating for a few seconds, the leaf jumped off his forehead and stuck to Ino's ceiling. They both looked up at the leaf and then to each other.

"Um, nee-san, I think I messed up."

"Yeah, ya baka! I don't even know how you did that. Except you put in way too much chakra." She looked back at the leaf on the ceiling and suddenly grinned. "Though that seems like it could be a pretty cool jutsu."

Naruto eyed the leaf and raised an eyebrow at his sister. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Ino began to explain, "it seems like if you are holding something and overload it with chakra, you can push it onto something and it will stick. I don't know how you would use it but it could be dangerous."

Naruto eyes lit up. "Like maybe if you can't move your arms, you can use it to throw a shuriken or kunai!" He thought up a way on the spot.

Ino agreed. "That could work. Or maybe, if there is a handheld jutsu, you can use it to push it out of your hands and at your enemy. Make a short range jutsu long range!"

Naruto suddenly had a giant grin that worried his sister. "Um, nii-chan, you look a little scary that happy. What are you thinking?"

He turned to his sister. "Didn't dad have a famous handheld jutsu?" He gave her a knowing look.

Ino eyes raised. That was right, he totally did! And they knew for a fact Naruto's perverted godfather had said they would teach them it. She doubted she would have the chakra to do it for a while, but her little bro was like a battery. But she shook her head. "That isn't what we are supposed to be doing. We are working on your chakra control to learn Bunshin so you can pass. We can talk about this once you can actually become a shinobi, alright?" As she finished, the leaf finally expended the chakra stored inside of it and fell off the wall. It landed on Naruto's shoulder.

Ino got up and plucked it off, handing it to him. "Come on, you got a lot of work to do."