Chapter Seven

Disconcerting Revelations

To say that Sasuke was getting nothing accomplish since he started training with his cousin would have been an understatement.

"Why isn't this working!?" Sasuke exclaimed in frustration as he threw his hand out again to perform the Wind Jutsu. Absolutely nothing happened and this caused Sasuke to flip and punch a nearby tree with as much strength as he possibly could.

Obito frowned up in his own tree as he watched his little cousin. 'This isn't making sense.' Obito thought as he allowed Sasuke to blow steam off by attacking a tree with his fists and feet. 'This is a basic jutsu, even for a genin, so he should be able to get this without too much of a problem. So the question is why he isn't. Especially after two days work on this jutsu.' Obito watched as Sasuke went through the hand signs for a first jutsu, letting off a powerful fireball that hit a tree, lighting it on fire. Obito quickly put it out with a water jutsu, infinitely happy that he had positioned them to train near a lake.

"Obito!" Sasuke finally yelled as he looked up at the older Uchiha. "Why aren't I getting this!? What am I doing wrong?" Sasuke asked with frustration once the lit up tree had been put out.

Obito stood up and leapt down from the tree, staring at the genin before running a hand around through his hair in his own sign of frustration. "I don't know." Obito admitted as he ran through the image of Sasuke doing the hand signs and gathering the chakra. "You have performed the hand signs perfectly and your gathering of chakra is also perfect. The follow through of actually performing the jutsu has looked perfect as well. But for it not working I can only think of one thing for it really." Obito admitted as he held his chin in his hand for a moment before turning and walking off towards the bridge.

"Where are you going!?" Sasuke yelled in anger. "You're supposed to be helping me! You can't just walk away in the middle of training me!"

Obito waved his hand but didn't stop walking. "Practice some tree climbing, I need to talk to Itachi right quick so I'll be right back." The Chuunin called before jumping up into a tree and disappearing

Sasuke watched his cousin disappear with a frown before huffing and turning to a tree. "Work on tree climbing huh, fine but whatever it is you had to talk to Aniki about had better be freaking important!" Sasuke stated before running at the tree full speed.

Itachi Sensei

Sakura groaned as she landed on the forest floor with a thud. She was so tired and exhausted from all the climbing she had been doing since Rin had dragged her out to train that morning and the last two mornings as well.

"Come on, up you get." Rin said as she came up from behind Sakura and lifted the girl from underneath her armpits and set her back on her feet. "You aren't done until you pass out and only then do you get to rest." Rin stated with a bright smile on her face.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sakura shouted out in exhaustion. "I know I already have little chakra but exhausting myself isn't really going to help me is it?" Sakura asked as she looked at the Medic Nin with confusion and exhaustion.

Rin looked at the pinkette with a gentle smile as she sat onto the ground cross legged and then patted the area next to her. Sakura quickly settled down with a soft thump onto the grassy floor of the forest. "Let me ask you something Sakura, did you train outside of the academy before you graduated?" She asked with a soft gentle voice.

Sakura blinked at that and shook her head. "No, my mother wanted me to play like any child would so I normally went out and played with Ino or Ino's mom taught us about flower arrangement." Sakura explained as she watched Rin shake her head sadly.

"Now tell me," Rin went on, "did Sasuke and Naruto train outside of the academy before they graduated?"

Sakura frowned before she nodded her head. "Sasuke is from a prestigious family and so he has to train almost all of the time so he doesn't bring shame to his family." She said thoughtfully. When Rin motioned for her to continue Sakura turned to her other teammate. "Naruto spent a lot of time pulling pranks and causing trouble." Sakura stated as she thought about her blonde teammate. "But he never seemed to get caught by anyone but Iruka-sensei."

Rin smiled and nodded her head. "Both of your teammates trained in different ways and used their chakra differently, but they used their chakra and trained outside of the academy, so their chakra levels are higher because they pushed themselves harder." Rin explained as she looked at the tree. "By training hard every day and using their skills and techniques everyday they have increased their chakra reserves. You did not do any of that outside of the academy so you have chakra reserves matching that."

Sakura nodded her head with her brows furrowed as she took that in. "So I guess I'll have to work extra hard to get my reserves up to their levels and work outside of training and missions too." Sakura stated as she picked at the grass.

Rin nodded her head with a soft frown. "If you had started training harder and working harder you wouldn't be as far behind as you are now, but we can't change the past so we'll change the future instead." Rin said with a grin as she stood back up and hauled Sakura to her feet. "So get back to work on climbing that tree until you pass out!" Rin yelled as she pointed at the tree in front of them.

Sakura smiled and nodded her head. "You got it Rin-sensei!" She shouted back and then ran full tilt towards the tree, intent on becoming strong enough to help her teammates instead of being a liability.

Itachi Sensei

Naruto sat on the ground with the three scrolls all in front of him, opened all the way to show all of the writing on them. There were no pictures within.

"How the hell am I supposed to understand any of this!?" the blonde shouted out in frustration as he kicked at one of the scrolls, sending it flying at a tree. It hit with a thump and then landed in a heap at the bottom of the tree. "None of that makes sense to me at all!" Naruto growled as he crossed his arms and stared moodily at the scroll he had just kicked away. "How am I supposed to get stronger if I don't understand anything?"

The forest was silent for long moments and Naruto stayed sat where he was, just watching as a soft breeze brushed against the grass and scrolls, rustling them gently as if too sooth away some of his anger somehow.

It felt like hours later, but in reality was only twenty minutes, when the sound of footsteps caught his attention and he turned to see a girl, about three years older than him in a pink kimono and a dark black band around her neck, walking towards him. She had long raven hair and dark chocolate eyes that shined in the sunlight. "I'm sorry, am I disturbing you?" She asked as she looked at Naruto with a tilted head.

Naruto blinked and looked at her for several minutes before shaking his head in a negative. "No you're not." Naruto said as he motioned for her to come further into the clearing. "I'm just trying to get some training done is all." Naruto stated with a glare sent at the scrolls again.

"Oh, you're a ninja are you?" She asked as she came and sat beside Naruto, the blonde edging to the side slightly to put a little more distance between them. "What are you training for?"

Naruto looked at her out of the corner of his eyes before looking back down at the scrolls. "Some big Nuke-Nin that attacked my group and me, he got away and our Captain thinks he'll come back so we're training to fight him again."

She nodded her head in understanding before picking at some of the plants that Naruto was sat in the middle of. "I see." She said before she blinked and then smiled sheepishly. "I don't think I introduced myself. My name is Haku."

Naruto turned and looked at her fully with a friendly smile. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." He introduced himself back. "Nice to meet you."

Haku smiled back and looked back down at the herbs that she was picking. "It's nice to meet you as well." There was silence for a long time as Naruto just watched Haku pick the herbs and Haku concentrated on picking them. It was only when she felt that she had sufficient amounts of the herb that she turned back to Naruto. "I'm curious about something, may I ask you something?"

Naruto blinked in surprise before nodding his head slowly. "Sure, I'll answer if I can, but don't expect a whole lot." Naruto said as he waited for her to ask whatever question.

Haku nodded in understanding before speaking again. "Why are you a ninja?" She questioned.

Naruto blinked at this question in surprise, unsure of how to answer. "What…what exactly do you mean?" Naruto asked back with uncertainty.

Haku smiled gently before asking in a different tactic. "I mean, why did you become a ninja? Was it just to become stronger, for power, knowledge, or to protect someone?" She explained further.

Naruto formed an 'O' with his mouth before tilting his head to the side to think about it. "You know, I think I had this question thrown at me before, just in a different way." Naruto stated before looking at the ground and picking at the grass lightly. "I said getting stronger to protect someone."

Haku beamed at him when Naruto looked up at her, causing Naruto to blush at the smile. "That is a good answer, for one will always get stronger when fighting for someone else's good." Haku said.

Naruto blinked at that and frowned slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that one will become truly strong when they want to protect what is precious to them." Haku explained gently. "The strength to keep their precious ones safe will always surface when needed, so one will almost always find a way to protect those they wish to protect." Haku stated as she stood to leave. "I'm sorry, I've interrupted your training. I'll be going now, it was nice to meet you." Haku picked up her basket and bowed to Naruto and began to walk back the way she had come.

Naruto watched her for a minute while chewing on his lip. It was when she was almost out of the clearing that he stood up and called out to her. "Wait!"

Haku stopped and turned to look at him with curiosity in her eyes. "What is it?" She asked.

Naruto picked up a scroll and ran over to her with a red face and came to a stop in front of a fully turned and curiously watchful Haku. "I know that I probably shouldn't ask but would you help me?" He asked as he held the scroll out to her. "I want to get stronger to protect those that are precious to me." Naruto stated with glowing determined eyes.

Haku smiled gently at him as her surprise disappeared from her face. "I'll gladly help but before I do, I should probably tell you something."

Naruto blinked and tilted his head. "What is it?" he asked.

"I'm a boy."

"WHAT!?"

Itachi Sensei

Obito had made sure that he had ran all the way to Itachi, who was guarding the bridge builder and all of his workers at the bridge. The bridge itself was almost finished when Obito arrived. The structure was a brilliant sight, especially when Obito hadn't ever seen a bridge almost complete and he was able to see the process of it being built interesting.

Obito quickly shook his head so as to get back on track and looked around for Itachi. He quickly found the elder Uchiha as Itachi was leaning against the start of the bridge and was keeping watch from there at the moment. "Itachi!" Obito called as he jumped right in front of the elder who didn't even flinch at Obito's sudden arrival.

"Obito, what can I do for you? You haven't killed Sasuke have you?" Itachi questioned with a raised eyebrow, making Obito narrow his eyes at him and cross his arms in a huff, as if offended by such a notion.

"No! Your baby brother is just fine besides some bloody knuckles and toes of course." Obito stated as he shook his head. "I was wondering though if you had some Chakra Paper that I could have." He said quickly to get to the point.

Itachi blinked in surprise at that and stood up straight as one of his hands went to a pouch on his vest and pulled out a small stack of paper. "Sure, but can I ask what you need it for?" He asked as he handed the paper over.

Obito took it with a grateful smile. "I need to test a theory and if I'm right about it I'll tell you at dinner tonight. Until then I'm off to train the second heir to the Uchiha family!" Obito stated with a wide smile and disappeared back into the forest, heading straight back to Sasuke and leaving behind a bewildered if not amused Itachi.

It was only minutes later that the orange goggled wearing Chuunin reappeared in the clearing he had left Sasuke to find the Genin running up a tree full speed, dodging branches and knots as he did. "Sasuke!" Obito yelled to get the younger Uchiha's attention.

Sasuke came to a stop and jumped onto a branch so he wouldn't fall easily from being called out to. "Bout freaking time you came back!" He snapped at his grinning cousin. "I've been waiting fifteen minutes!" Sasuke exclaimed as he jumped back down in front of his cousin. "Where did you go?"

Obito quickly pulled out one of the sheets of paper. "I had to go and get these?" Obito stated as he held the paper so Sasuke could see it clearly. "Do you know what this is?" He asked and when Sasuke shook his head no began to explain. "This is Chakra paper, it'll tell you what your chakra nature is. You know what a chakra nature is right?" Sasuke shook his head no again. "Huh, I thought for sure Fugaku would explain that at least." Obito stated while he scratched the back of his head.

Sasuke frowned at that and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Father is the head of an entire clan, what makes you think he has time to train me personally?" He questioned with a touch of bitterness in his voice.

Obito sighed at that before shaking his head. "Anyways, Chakra nature is what element your chakra is most attuned to." Obito explained. "Like for example, I have Wind Nature, so I can perform wind jutsu easier than any other elemental jutsus."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Okay so does everyone have a nature then? What's Itachi's?" Sasuke questioned.

Obito nodded his head. "Yes, everyone is more attuned to one nature. Like how mine is wind, Kakashi's is Lightning, and Rin's is Earth." Obito explained further. "I don't know what Itachi's is though, you'll have to ask him that."

Sasuke nodded his head before continuing. "So what does this have to do with my training? I assume that you got that paper for a reason."

Obito nodded his head and smiled at his cousin happily. "Correct dear cousin. I got this because I have a suspicion on why you're having such trouble accomplishing this jutsu, and to prove that I need you to find out what Chakra nature you have." Obito explained as he held up the paper again. "All you'll have to do is pump some chakra into the paper like this." Obito said as he demonstrated on what to do. The paper swiftly split in half. "For each nature the paper will react differently. Wind it'll slice in half, earth it'll crumble to dust, water will turn it soggy, fire will turn it to ash, and lightning will crumple it."

Sasuke nodded his head and took a new sheet of Chakra Paper from Obito and focused his chakra into the paper. Obito watched anxiously as the paper was filled with chakra, hoping that his theory was correct and that he'd be able to help Sasuke further.

The paper crumpled.

"Ha! I was right!" Obito exclaimed as he threw a fist into the air and then jumped in excitement. "I knew I was right! My gut is never wrong!" Obito announced as he pumped his fists in the air in excitement.

Sasuke watched this act with derision before bringing the attention back onto him. "So what exactly does this mean? Why exactly can't I perform the wind jutsu?" He asked as he threw the paper off to the side. "What does being a lightning nature got to do with it?"

Obito quickly calmed down as he looked around the area, finding a stick and then crouching down so he could draw something. Sasuke watched this as symbols were drawn in a circle. "This is the Elemental Circle." Obito explained. "Fire, wind, lightning, Earth, water. Each element is strong against one other and then weak against another."

Sasuke nodded as he finally recognized the symbols drawn as the elements. "So fire is strong against wind, wind is strong against lightning, lightning is strong against earth, water is strong against fire." Sasuke said almost to himself. "But it can also be said backwards. Fire is weak against water, water is weak against earth, earth is weak against lighting, wind is weak to fire, and lighting is weak to wind."

Obito nodded at that. "That's correct and that is why you are having such problems with wind jutsu. You, being a Lightning Nature, are naturally weak against wind. Most people are unable to ever perform a jutsu that they are weak against, Uchiha being a large exception because of the Sharingan, which you have yet to awaken." Obito explained. "I still have problems with fire jutsu because I'm naturally weak against it, even with my Sharingan. Keep in mind though that though one element has an ultimate weakness they can all be weak against another if used correctly. Like Fire can win if one uses it to create steam instead of just destroying and earth can conduct electricity to a point to be used against your opponent."

Sasuke grimaced at the mention of his still un-awakened Sharingan before returning to the subject at hand. "So I won't be able to perform a wind jutsu to strengthen my fire jutsu." Sasuke stated instead of asking, already knowing the answer.

Obito nodded his head anyways. "Not without months of work, which we don't have. So I think it'll be better if we get you some Lightning jutsu instead, let's go find Naruto and see if he'll lend a scroll or two for us to use." Obito suggested as he headed of in the direction that Kakashi had said that he could find the blonde in if needed.

Sasuke followed his cousin with a little excitement and anger since he had to ask Naruto to lend a scroll for them to use. It was something that pushed at Sasuke's pride but the raven soon pushed that away, rationalizing that it was either ask for a scroll or ask Naruto to teach him what he had learned so far instead.

Asking Naruto to teach or for a scroll was an easy choice in Sasuke's opinion.

They walked in silence for at least half a mile before they came upon the blonde, but the scene they walked on wasn't one that either Uchiha had expected.

Naruto was standing up and going through hand signs while a girl sat on the forest floor with one of the scrolls in her lap, instructing Naruto on how to perform the jutsu. "Now just think of a ball like shape and form your chakra into that. It should start taking shape and from there you think of the crackling of lightning." She said calmly as Naruto did as she told him.

The ball in his hand quickly formed to about the size of a grape and the sound of crackling echoed in the clearing before it suddenly exploded and tossed Naruto into one of the trees. "I almost had it that time!" Naruto shouted as he stood back up from where he had slammed into the tree and shook himself off slightly. "That hurt." He complained as he rubbed at his head and shoulder with either hand.

"You did better that time. You got it to form and some of the lightning appeared, you just seemed to have lost control of it at the end." She said as she stood up and handed him the scroll back. "But it seems that your comrades have appeared so I think it's time for me to take my leave. May we meet again Naruto." She said as she picked up her basket and walked towards Obito and Sasuke on her way out.

Obito barred her way through as he gave her a narrowed eyed look. "Who are you?" Obito asked as he looked her over and then into the basket that she had. "What are you doing picking herbs to lessen burns?"

She stared at him with a calm and gentle smile. "My mother got burnt while cooking dinner the other night so I came to get herbs to help heal her. There are very little things that I can buy at the market at this moment in time so I must resort to my grandmother's old remedies. My name is Haku."

Obito stared at her for a long moment before closing his eyes and lowering his arms so she could pass. "Thank you for keeping an eye on my teammate." Obito bowed to her before turning back towards Naruto.

She nodded her head and began to walk away but stopped after a single step. "I wonder, do you know that he is unable to read?" She questioned aloud, causing Obito to stiffen in surprise as Naruto's face blared a bright red while Sasuke gaped at the blonde. "Hm I wonder why, if you're his teammate, he did not inform you of this." She said before she walked away, disappearing into the forest.

Obito stared at the beet red blonde in front of him in horror and disbelief. Sasuke was in a similar position behind Obito as he stared at his teammate and rival. "Please tell me she was lying." Obito whispered as Naruto looked at the ground in embarrassment and shame.

It was quiet for a long time in the clearing before Sasuke stepped forward with a calm expression. "She wasn't lying, was she?" He asked Naruto.

Naruto just hunched his shoulders and kept his head bent, intent on keeping his gaze on the ground and not looking at either of his comrades at that moment. He had always been ashamed of his lack of reading abilities, especially when his teachers belittled him back in the academy. No one had bothered to teach the blonde in the past and he didn't expect it in the future.

"Why haven't you said anything? We could've helped you idiot." Sasuke said as he laid a hand on the blonde's shoulders, only to have it thrown off as Naruto's eyes flashed with anger and he glared at the youngest Uchiha.

"I'm not an idiot." He snarled as he clenched his fists and looked back at the ground, growling as he worked to control himself. "I'm not an idiot." He repeated as he turned and walked over to where the scrolls were laid on the ground and picked one up. "What do you want Teme?"

Obito frowned at his blonde counterpart before shaking his head and deciding on a decision. "We came to see if we could borrow a scroll on lightning jutsu." Obito stated truthfully as he smiled at the blonde who had turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. "And since my suspicions on Bakashi abandoning you on your own was true, me and Sasuke will stick around and train with you."

Sasuke blinked at his cousin before sighing and nodding his head, not wanting to admit that he had in fact wanted to keep talking with Naruto about his reading skills or the lack thereof. "Che, having to ask for scroll from Naruto is so stupid." Sasuke muttered as he shook his head in disgust, following his cousin's lead in acting normal.

Naruto looked at the Chuunin and then his teammate and then back again, thinking as hard as he could. He knew that the real reason they had decided that was because of his lack of certain skills but he didn't want to just reject it. He needed help if he was going to get stronger. He nodded his head. "Yeah sure." He said as he held the already open scroll out to Sasuke, who walked over and took it from him. "I was learning the Lightning Style: Thunder Orb before you came." Naruto explained.

Obito nodded his head in understanding before he turned to Sasuke who was already looking over the scroll. "So, think you can accomplish this one Sasuke?" He asked his cousin, already knowing that the boy could.

Sasuke nodded his head before handing the scroll back to Naruto and ran through the hand signs. "Lightning Style: Thunder Orb!" the Uchiha heir exclaimed as an orb about the size of a dango formed between his hands, crackling and booming of thunder erupting from it. Once Sasuke was certain he had it formed he threw it into a tree where it exploded against it.

Obito took the scroll from Naruto, who was staring blankly at the damaged tree, and read over the description of the jutsu. "Good job Sasuke, you almost have it. Once you get it to the size of your hand and it decimates a boulder you'll have it perfected." Obito stated aloud for the blonde genin's benefit mostly.

Naruto looked at the trunk of the tree where the attack had hit. It had a small hole it in, the size of a hand, with black rings surrounding it and smoking lightly. "You got that after only reading that scroll once." Naruto said with a little dismay, wondering if he could get it just as fast if he was able to read the scroll too.

Sasuke shrugged while Obito pulled out another Chakra Paper. "It's more than just that, Sasuke is more attuned to lightning jutsus because he's a lightning elemental." Obito explained.

Naruto looked at Obito with furrowed brows. "Wait what? Sasuke is a what now?" He asked the blonde turned to looked at his raven haired teammate in confusion.

Obito sighed as he explained all over again about Chakra natures and their weaknesses and strengths. "See that's why Sasuke got that jutsu so fast while you're having trouble. It's only natural for that to happen Naruto and if you like we can find out what your nature is as well." Obito offered as he held the proffered paper to the blonde. "All you have to do is fill this with chakra and it'll show us what you are."

Naruto looked at the paper with considering eyes, taking the paper only moments later and held it in his hand. "So all I have to do is fill this with chakra and it'll tell me what chakra nature I have?" He asked just to make sure. Obito nodded his head with an encouraging smile, Naruto looked down at the paper again and closed his eyes.

The two Uchiha watched with baited breath for the paper to react and were not disappointed when it did.

It split in half.

Obito's smile widened and he pumped his fists in the air at the result. "Wooohoooo! No longer am I and Asuma the only Wind Natures!"

Naruto stared at the paper before looking back up to Obito and then looked at Sasuke. "Doesn't that mean I have a natural advantage over Sasuke-Teme?" He asked and then looked down at the split paper.

Sasuke scowled and Obito nodded his head with a grin. "That's right, you and I both have a natural advantage over our teammates. Kakashi is a lightning natural as well, but that doesn't mean that you automatically win, they can still defeat you by using other means." Obito stated seriously before turning towards the scrolls that were sat off to the side. "So these are the scrolls you were given, let's see what they got."

Naruto and Sasuke watched as Obito opened one of the scrolls and looked it over. It was a light blue scroll with waves on them. "This one is a water jutsu scroll and something I think would come in handy later on, especially since we're up against water specialized ninja." Obito said as he looked at the two. "With Sasuke's ability with lightning as well this could turn into a deadly combination if one of you know a water jutsu."

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he looked at the older boy in slight confusion. "But I'm a wind nature, doesn't that mean I should learn a wind jutsu instead of water?"

Obito smiled at that and nodded his head. "I would agree but I have a feeling that you'll learn a wind jutsu without too much of a problem so instead we'll have you learn a water jutsu so you and Sasuke can use a massive hit combo together." Obito explained calmly. "Once you learn wind jutsu as well you can pump up his fire jutsu for more combinations. We'll work further on that soon alright, so let's get started." Obito announced before reading off the jutsu on the scroll and showing the hand signs.

Itachi Sensei

"So how did the training go today?" Itachi asked at dinner that night as he took in the state of his three genin and the three Chuunin.

Sakura looked exhausted. Her haired was frizzy and flying all over the place as well as having dirt and leaves in it. Her clothes and skin were covered in dirt and mud and she looked all over miserable at the moment.

Rin sat next to the pink haired girl with an innocent smile on her face, as if she had done absolutely nothing to the younger one, though Itachi was sure that Rin had put Sakura through her paces. "Sakura is doing better with the Mystical Palm. She's almost got it down but she'll have to increase her chakra reserves more if she wants to master it." Rin explained to Sakura's horror as she knew what that meant.

Itachi nodded his head at the two of them. "Alright then, keep doing what you're doing then and report to me about her progress."

Kakashi looked calm and cool as ever as he ate his dinner with without ever displacing his mask. The silver haired male looked as if he had done nothing at all during the day and had only relaxed the entire time.

The last of Team Wolf Obito was busy shoving food in his mouth hurriedly. He had several cuts on his cheeks, arms, hands, and legs. He was also covered in dirt and his hair was dripping with water. Then there was the fact that his clothes were charred slightly on the edges and burn marks on his ears and tips of his fingers.

The last two members of the team were nowhere to be seen though. "Where are Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi, Obito?" Itachi inquired as he took a sip of his tea and then turned his eyes onto the two teenagers.

Kakashi paused but then shrugged his shoulders at the questioned. "I gave the brat scrolls to study from and left him to it. You said it yourself, he would work better on his own then having someone working with him. I haven't bothered to check up on him to make sure he's alive though." Kakashi admitted at the end.

Itachi felt an eyebrow twitch at this and he knew he'd have to go looking for Naruto to make sure he was alive.

Obito quickly swallowed the mouthful of rice he had just taken and looked at Itachi with a smile. "Sasuke and Naruto are both out about north, about a mile from here, training on the jutsus that Bakashi left for Naruto." Obito explained calmly. "They refused to come in until they had this combination, which they came up with, down pat. I got tired of being electrocuted after the third time I tried to get them to stop."

Itachi blinked at that before his smiled at Obito. "So you got Naruto to let you help him huh, that's good to know." Itachi said with relief. "That must've been a fight in itself." He commented as he took another sip of tea.

Obito tilted his head to the side before shaking his head. "Actually no, I offered and he took it."

Itachi just about chocked on his tea at this while Sakura stared at Obito in curiosity and disbelief. "Naruto took help from an Uchiha willingly?" Sakura asked as she looked at the orange goggle wearing nin. "What did you do? Use Genjutsu on him?"

Obito blinked in surprise at this before shaking his head. "No, I just found something out about him and didn't blatantly question him about it." Obito stated before he turned to look at Itachi with a serious eye. "Which reminds me, I need to speak with you after we're done eating. It's about Naruto."

Itachi locked gazes with Obito and held it for several moments before nodding his head. "Alright, as soon as we're done here. Kakashi and Rin can help with the dishes while Sakura heads up to take a bath and go to bed." Itachi instructed calmly as he sped up eating by just a bit. He wanted to know what it was that Obito wanted to talk about, especially about one of his students.

Itachi Sensei

A loud explosion echoed through the forest and then two yells of excitement.

"We got it!" Naruto yelled out excitedly as he looked at the charred area in the forest with a wide grin on his face. "I can't believe we already have this down! Especially since Obito said that combos normally take being in synch with one another." Naruto stated as he bent down to take a closer look at the charred area he and Sasuke had just created.

Sasuke smirked at that as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Dobe, it's because of me that we were able to do this." Sasuke stated arrogantly as he stuck his nose in the air. "Otherwise this would've been impossible, especially since it involved you."

"Hey! Don't get so hot there hot shot!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at Sasuke. "You messed up just as much as I did! We had to work together to make this work, just like we did back when we got that scroll from Itachi-Sensei." Naruto stated with a serious eye. "I messed up a lot, I know that, but so did you. Don't get arrogant just because we got this one down." Naruto said seriously.

Sasuke blinked in surprise at this before nodding his head. "I get it, so you don't have to get all angry on me dobe." Sasuke gave in with a nod but what Naruto had said had gave him an idea. "Talking about working together…" Sasuke started and trailed off, thinking on how to continue.

Naruto blinked at that before tilting his head to the side. "What is it?" Naruto asked curiously but a bit of wariness could be seen in his eyes.

Sasuke gulped before looking directly at Naruto with determination. "If we're going to work together, than we should help each other as well, right?" Sasuke asked as he pulled a scroll from his pocket. "So let me help you."

Naruto stared at the Uchiha quietly, unsure of how to take this offer.

Itachi Sensei

"So what is it that you want to talk about Obito?" Itachi asked as he stared out across the ocean from on top of Tazuna's roof. "What is it about Naruto that has that look on your face? You don't normally have such rage in your eyes cousin."

Obito snarled at nothing specific as he got his thoughts together. It was a long time before Obito finally decided on a way to deliver the information on his temporary student. "What do you know of Naruto's education back in the academy?" Obito questioned as he quelled the urge to activate his Sharingan.

Itachi's eyes furrowed as he stared at the crashing waves, arms crossed, as he dived into the information that had been given to him by the Third Hokage. The file had held little information on the education of one Naruto Uzumaki, only that he had passed each class by the skin of his teeth. Otherwise the file was just of Naruto's trouble making ways and complaints of the villagers. "Not much, only that he barely passed each class." Itachi admitted.

Obito growled at this before shaking his head and taking a deep breath. "Well it seems that those teachers of his were negligent towards your student when he was in their care." Obito said as Itachi turned to stare straight in the other's now red eyes.

"What are you getting at Obito?" Itachi questioned as he watched the other warily, knowing that when Obito truly got mad, he was as ferocious as the Tailed Beasts themselves.

"I'm getting at the fact that Naruto can't read and I bet he can't write or do math as well." Obito stated with an undercurrent of rage in his voice and his body trembling in his anger.

Itachi stared at the other boy in disbelief for several moments before his eyes narrowed. Obito looked up at the other and waited to see what the elder would do but was stunned when Itachi disappeared with a swirl of leaves. Obito blinked in surprise.

"Shit, I think I just got Naruto in trouble."

Itachi Sensei

A.N. Uh oh, what did I just do to Naruto and what is Itachi going to do to our poor blonde kitsune? Oh man I really do have it out for Naruto don't I? Oh well. Review and tell me what you thought!