Chapter 8 – New Sensei

Hey people! Tibo here.

Sorry this chapter was a bit late, uni exams put me a week behind. This chapter covers Yugao's intro. In canon she doesn't feature much, so we don't know a lot about her personality or abilities.

I plan on making Naruto and Yugao's relationship more of a teammate dynamic rather than student / teacher. Yugao will quickly realize that Naruto is close to her level so she'll rely on him in missions and respect his opinion. They'll function more as a two person team instead of a master/apprentice. Though she will make one important addition to Naruto's skill set which will feature this chapter.

This chapter also introduces Hayate and some other canon characters.

Check out my profile page for an update on ideas for Naruto's techniques.

In response to some questions:

Mommerally: I read your rant, and I agree completely. Don't get me started on Konoha's citizens, I'll rant all day. I never really understood the point Kishimoto was trying to make there, essentially for Naruto to be treated as human he had to save the entire village/world. It doesn't exactly set a good precedent.

Fortunately my Naruto was saved from developing a truly dark (or broken) persona by meeting Akeginu (if he was just left on his own its hard to imagine him ending up being anything other than someone consumed by hate or in a psyche ward).

I do intend on Naruto starting up a group of ninja. Probably won't be 10 , more like 5 or 7. Obviously Akeginu will be in on it, so will Kagerou and Saemon eventually. Haven't decided who else, probably one or two of Orochimaru's ninja, maybe Karin (an Uzumaki, if Naruto meets her he will be interested), or Tayuya.

Hakka the Great: You raise an interesting point with Tsuande. On one hand she's in bad shape and losing comrades comes with the territory of being a ninja. On the other hand this Naruto is smart and is aware of the physiological strain involved in war, perhaps he'll think Tsuande just reached her breaking point, and is damaged. Either way it'll be interesting to write, will Naruto despise her, ignore her, or help her?

Cold Blue: I like the questions, they let me now what my audience is curious about. Some of your questions will be answered this chapter (the Kurama genjutsu one and Yūgao /sensor chakra questions).

I won't answer all your questions since I don't want to give away too many spoilers. See profile update for Kagerou question. I like gaara so I won't kill him off. The Itachi and Kisame confrontation will occur as in canon (only with Iga Naruto replacing canon – much more even fight).

Saemon strikes me as a cool customer (he didn't even lose his cool after finding his dead sister), so he'll be curious when he meets Naruto. Hotaru Bi will be hostile before calming down when she sees Akeginu.

Yeah, I'm still trying to come up with a good bingo book name.

Rikudo Naruto: Not really sure about Kushina yet. At this stage I haven't made any conclusive decision regarding her but I'll welcome any suggestions you have.

Mpren87: In regards to the other genin's skill I just up the age to make it more realistic, I didn't change the curriculum, so they all still suck.


[Standard disclaimer: I do not own Basilisk or Naruto.]

Naruto stood still, cloaked in the shadows, hidden beneath the trees that were scattered around Training Ground 21, waiting patiently for his new sensei to arrive. Fractured rays of sunlight filtered down around him providing just enough light to make out his pale face and darkly dressed form. He had arrived an hour ago and hidden himself amongst the trees to the south of the grounds, he hoped he would be able to observe his sensei's arrival. He didn't like waiting out in the open, years of training had made him too cautious to ever leave himself that vulnerable, even if he was awaiting the woman who was to be his new teacher.

Training ground 21 was located on the southern outskirts of Konoha. It was more secluded than most of the other grounds. Like most training grounds this one had a light sprinkling of trees and forest areas which provided the useful hiding places and ambush sites that made them perfect for shinobi training. Unlike most training grounds in Konoha this one had a number of rock formations scattered across the landscape, what was most unusual was that the rocks were not naturally occurring; they had been moved there by someone and from the look of the holes in them, used for some sort of crazy taijutsu training.

To Naruto's left stood Akeginu. She had decided to tag along to see his new sensei, after all, she had a vested interest in what he would be learning. She was dressed in her standard red kimono and like Naruto was cloaked in the shadows of the trees, though to anyone other than Naruto she would be completely invisible.

"I'm surprised you came…you rarely leave the ruins," commented Naruto.

"Hmph, don't read too much into it. I just wanted to see my replacement," replied Akeginu, speaking a little colder than she usually would.

Naruto tried not to wince at her tone. He recognized it; it was the tone she used whenever she was pissed off. He had only ever experienced it a few times, once when he had gotten a glimpse of her with her kimono off, and another time when she had somehow found out he had fought Itachi all those years ago. Lets just say the tone was usually the precursor to a severe beating.

"Replacement? As if I could ever replace you," replied Naruto, attempting to placate his angry and potentially abusive sensei.

"With a younger and sexier model no doubt," said Akeginu, her tone dropping another two degrees in temperature.

Yep, she was pissed. Naruto didn't know whether it was the fact that he had a new sensei or more specifically that his new sensei was a young woman. He might have suspected she felt threatened by Yūgao, though the thought was ridiculous to him, she had been his sensei for over a decade and nothing could change that. Before the conversation could progress any further and Naruto could dig himself into a bigger hole his new sensei arrived in the middle of the training ground in a swirl of leaves.

Yūgao had forgone the Neko mask, leaving her rather attractive face visible for all to see. She had a heart shaped face with long purple hair, which she wore loose, her fringe cascading down in front of her dark brown eyes. Unlike his sensei she was decked out in combat gear; wearing a sleeveless ANBU flack vest, long gloves that almost came up to her shoulders, standard ANBU pants and black sandals. The whole outfit was quite form fitting, although not designed to seduce like Akeginu's kimono the outfit would still undoubtedly attract the male eye. He noticed that she also had violet lipstick on. Two birds with one stone, thought Naruto. Yūgao was dressed for both combat and distraction. He also took note of the sword strapped to her back, it looked shorter than his katana,possibly a kodachi like his sensei's.

"Looks like she's here. Why don't we go say hello?" said Naruto.


Yūgao arrived at training ground 21 right on time. She couldn't help but feel excited, eager to see what her new apprentice could do, after last night she had high expectations. Naruto would be her first ever student so she wanted to make a good impression. However, looking around the ground she couldn't spot her new student, "Where is h-"

"Morning sensei."

Yūgao jumped in the air, startled by the voice coming from behind her. Spinning around as quickly as possible she brought a kunai down towards the chest of whoever had snuck up on her, after so many years in ANBU it was a purely natural reaction.

The descent of her kunai was stopped abruptly by Naruto, who clamped his hand around her wrist. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction, "Is this how you greet all your students sensei?"

What the fuck? Thought Yūgao. That shouldn't be possible. Naruto had just scared the absolute shit out of her, no one had been able to sneak up on her like that in years, I'm ANBU damn it.

Yūgao looked at Naruto smiling and resisted the urge to punch her apprentice in the face. Instead she tried to calm the nerves that Naruto had just shot before she made an even worse impression.

"Hello Naruto, your awfully spry this morning." greeted Yūgao, trying to act like the last twenty seconds never happened though the slight twitch in her right eye suggested she was failing miserably.

To Yūgao's frustration Naruto's smile deepened after hearing her strained greeting.

"Are you ready for today Naruto?" Yūgao asked hoping to save some dignity by moving on as fast as possible.

"Of course, are you sensei?" Naruto replied smugly with a heavy emphasis on the last part.

Yūgao's twitch became even more pronounced, but she decided to ignore Naruto. He was obviously trying to provoke another reaction out of her, "Alright enough of that Naruto, let's get down to business."

Naruto playful demeanor faded instantly, his eyes became sharper and his features more detached, "Where do we start sensei?"

"Well since neither of us have met formally before last night I thought we'd start with some introductions, after that we can spar so I can get a better gauge of your level," explained Yūgao who also took note of Naruto abrupt shift into a professional persona.

Naruto nodded his head in agreement, "Very well. My name is Uzumaki Naruto of the Uzumaki clan. I enjoy training and discovering new things. My hobbies include reading and researching ancient ninpo. My dislikes include the majority of this village, people who abuse others for their own enjoyment, and hypocrites. My dream is to be the strongest ninja in history and rebuild my clan."

Yūgao blinked trying to process what she just heard; strongest ninja in history? Uzumaki clan? Ancient ninpo? This wasn't what she had been expecting; it was common knowledge and a running joke amongst the ninja that Naruto wanted to be Hokage. Apparently that wasn't the case, though after last night she wasn't be surprised that he had different goals from his fake persona.But strongest ninja in history? The files she had read on Naruto were useless as well since they were based off the fake persona and written by moronic teachers. She'd have to find out about Naruto the old fashion way, by getting to know him personally. She would have to find out exactly how he had managed to pull the wool over Konoha's eyes one day. It was damn impressive whatever he'd done.

Thinking on what Naruto had said it wasn't surprising he didn't like the villagers; she wouldn't either if she'd been treated like he had been, and still was if Mizuki's attitude was any indication. She was glad he was upfront about it and not trying to hide it from her. It meant he was willing to give her a chance but also that he would expect her to be equally forward with him.

"Uzumaki clan?" Yūgao asked.

"There an old clan that was wiped out some time ago. You should look up Uzumaki Mito next time you're in the library…you'll be surprised, in fact your wearing one of their symbols," replied Naruto, pointing at her headband.

Yūgao frowned in confusion, "The leaf?"

"No, the whirlpool inside the leaf. It's on the chūnin and jōnin flack jackets as well. The whirlpool is the Uzumaki clan's symbol and the symbol for Uzushiogakure. Konoha probably shouldn't be wearing it anymore since they've long since reneged on their obligations."

"What do you mean?"

"Konoha's use of the whirlpool was as a symbol of respect and goodwill to the Uzumaki clan. I think that with their treatment of myself and the fact that the Uzumaki clan isn't even mentioned in the academy's history books, Konoha has lost the right to use that symbol."

"I've never heard of that," said Yūgao, honestly she couldn't even think of the Uzumaki clan being mentioned in the history books at academy. In fact the only timed she had herd the name Uzumaki was in reference to Uzumaki Kushina.

"Not surprising. It's standard propaganda. Konoha likes to overlook the role the Uzumaki clan played in the founding of the village. They've relegated them to obscurity, instead promoting the actions of the Senju and Uchiha clans. I suppose its just another reason why Konoha has lost the right to use that symbol."

"I'll have to look it up," said Yūgao in genuine interest, in fact she might even ask the Hokage about it, after all he is called 'the Professor'.

"You do that."

Yūgao decided to move on, it was clear that this was a sensitive subject for Naruto and she didn't want to say anything offensive. She would redress her ignorance on the subject later but for now it was time for her introduction. "Alright, my name is Uzuki Yūgao. I like swords, kenjutsu and my boyfriend Hayate who also like swords. My hobbies are training and maintaining my swords. I dislike rapists, kunoichi who don't take ninja business seriously and people who don't maintain their swords."

Naruto sweat dropped, "So…you like swords?"

Yūgao just gave her student a level gaze, "Yes, I've always been fascinated by kenjutsu. When I was a young ninja at the academy I had a particular interesting the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and I practically worshiped the ground Uzumaki Kushina walked on."

"You knew my mother?"

Yūgao almost face planted when he said that, "Your mother?!"

Naruto nodded his head, "Surely the thought crossed your mind sensei. I mean...we have the same last name, she was pregnant during the Kyuubi attack and as far as I know there was no other Uzumaki family in Konoha."

"I was told you were assigned that name in honour of her sacrifice."

Naruto gave an undignified snort, "You should know by know that most of things you've been told about me were lies."

"So it would seem.." Yūgao reflected on what she knew about Kushina Uzumaki. But that would mean…Naruto is the Yondaime Hokage's son!

"Then your father is—"

"— Namikaze Minato? Correct."

"But…"

"The old man thought he was protecting me from Iwa's retribution but he failed to consider that he was leaving me prey to…more localized threats."

Yūgao winced at what Naruto was saying, he made the villagers sound like predators. But...I suppose they are, what else do you call people who abuse children?

"So did you know my mother?" Naruto asked, bringing Yūgao's thoughts back to the original question.

"Only by reputation, she was the strongest kunoichi of her time...I looked up to her as the type of the ninja I wanted to become," replied Yūgao.

"Was she a kenjutsu user too?" Naruto asked while indicating to the katana at his waist.

Yūgao nodded her head, Kushina was a highly regarded swordswoman. "Do you mind?" asked Yūgao pointing at his katana.

"How about after we spar, I don't want you placing any seals on my sword," said Naruto with a wry smile.

Yūgao approved of Naruto's wariness. She knew he was both joking and completely serious at the same time. The thought hadn't crossed her mind but she was happy to see her student thinking outside the box and showing a professional's awareness despite the good atmosphere they had going.

I should expect that though, he has been living in a hostile environment his whole life.

Yūgao sighed, getting Naruto to trust her was going to be hard work, but she welcomed the challenge, it didn't hurt that she generally liked Naruto and was looking forward to training him. He he...I could end up being the sensei of the strongest ninja in history. From what she had seen so far it wasn't that big of a stretch since he was clearly the best of his generation in Konoha. Add in his massive chakra reserves and you have the makings of an S rank nin.

I'm going to cash in during the chunin exams this year. I wonder if Anko still has that betting ring going?

"Alright, so most jōnin-sensei give their students another test to see if they're actually ready to be genin but after last night I think we both know you're more than ready. So instead of wasting our time I think we'll just spar so I can get a better indication of what level you're really at," explained Yūgao.

Naruto nodded then took a few steps back opening up some space between them before saying, "Sounds good sensei…Come at with me with the intent to kill."

Yūgao sweat dropped, isn't that my line?

Before she could come up with a suitably witty retort she was forced to duck as Naruto's katana cut though the air straight where her neck would have been. Her eyes widened in surprise as she barely managed to duck out of the way of what would have been a fatal strike. She spotted several strands of her purple hair floating in the breeze indicating how close she had just come to dying.

Shit, that almost killed me. Was that Iaido? I can't believe he knows Iaido, was he trained by a Samurai? Yugao wondered while quickly trying to adapt to this new information.

She had heard of, read about and even seen Iaido but she had never had it used against her. Rumor has it that a skilled swordmaster could use it to the degree where you couldn't even see the blade being drawn before it was sheathed again. Mifune, the swordmaster from Iron Country was rumored to be so proficient at Iaido that it was pointless to use hand seals against him since he could stop them with his draw. From what Naruto just showed her, his level couldn't be far off that.

Yūgao drew her own blade; it was a single edged chokutō, a simple but practical weapon, perfect for a ninja. (1) It was fortunate that she chose to draw her sword when she did because Naruto didn't give her any more time to prepare, quickly attacking her with a barrage of sword strikes. Yūgao marveled at the speed of the attacks, it was easily jōnin level. She blocked all of his attacks with significant effort before parrying the last and replying with a riposte straight at Naruto's chest. Instead of blocking Naruto evaded with a side step, letting the momentum pull Yūgao forward, before countering with a diagonal slash intended to open up her chest. Yūgao took the attack head on, blocking it but was surprised when her knees almost buckled under the strength of the attack.

Damn, where's he getting that strength from?

Naruto capitalized on his advantage delivering a straight kick to Yūgao's stomach sending her back several meters. Yūgao flowed with the kick and flipped back landing on her feet. She took what little time was available to her to prepare a suitable response. She decided to go one handed, she would sacrifice power for speed and try to overwhelm Naruto rather than try and break through with strength.

She closed the distance between her and Naruto moving at her quickest pace which was high jōnin level. In fact she was pretty sure in Konoha only Might Gai and maybe Kakashi could move faster than her. She pushed Naruto back with an offensive onslaught of sword strikes, frequently reversing her grip on her sword to try catch Naruto off guard.

Naruto managed to handle the attacks but he was being pushed back as he tried to adjust to Yūgao's speed. He decided to change styles, switching out Tenzen's technical form for Akeginu's faster more free form style. (2) It did the trick as he was able to make up the physical difference between them by using the different style to slow Yūgao down.

Yūgao was amazed at what she was seeing, she expected Naruto's level to be high chūnin but the skill level he was showing her now was equal to, if not higher than hers, the only difference between them was her experience and her adult body which allowed her to keep a step ahead of him during the spar. What was even more interesting was the style of kenjutsu Naruto was using; she had never seen anything like it before, that and he was switching between more than one style of kenjutsu.

Up till now most of her sword duels had been with ninja from either Kiri or Kumo where Kenjutsu was far more common. The style Naruto was using was different from what she'd seen in those places. In Kumo almost all kenjutsu users tend to focus on powerful and fast attacks supplemented by Raiton. In Water Country Kenjutsu users are far more varied, ranging from the many common two-handed zanbato styles to more esoteric ones such as the famed Kaguya clan style that incorporated their Shikotsumyaku bloodline.

Naruto's style was different from all of them. It was very technical, economical in its movements, relying on fast precise strikes rather than brute force. It looked designed for a pure swordsman, to be used without the use of armor since in defence he used parries and evasion rather than blocking attacks head on. There was also the Iaido, which had clearly been added to the style to strengthen its offense by giving it an opening attack that could finish most opponents in a single hit. She definitely had to figure out where he learned it and if possible get him to teach her of some of it. His other style was definitely a shinobi style, it was fast, used single handed attacks clearly designed for a shorter blade. It also incorporated acrobatic movements and taijutsu.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she saw Naruto crouch preparing to deliver a horizontal attack. Anticipating it she moved to her right giving her ample room to doge the strike and before attacking Naruto with a counter. To her surprise, rather than evading the attack she felt Naruto's blade cut deep into her left shoulder.

Yūgao bit down on her lip so she didn't scream. How the hell did I get hit… I'm sure I dodged that attack.

She looked down at her left shoulder to see a deep gash bleeding profusely. Shit, that's going to need stitches.

"First blood to me." said Naruto.

She looked over at him in annoyance but frowned when she saw his sword, there was no blood on it. In fact it looked absolutely clean.

That's impossible, what the…oh...of course, she realized what Naruto had done, "Kai!"

The genjutsu around Naruto sword shattered to reveal a blade three inches longer than the one he had been using. It was a katana not a kodachi. Red blood dripped from the tip onto the ground.

She tried to keep her mouth from hanging open but she was extremely impressed. Making objects appear different or even invisible was standard practice for a genjutsu user, but what was impressive in this case was the application. Genjutsu users rarely engaged in close quarters combat precisely because it could disrupt their concentration yet here Naruto was doing the exact opposite, it was ingenious. Naruto had made an alteration so subtle it would be extremely difficult to detect for all but the most observant or adept genjutsu users. Furthermore his Iaido and rapid attacks from the moment the spar started made it impossible for her to get a good look at the length of his blade and therefore pick up on the genjutsu, it was excellent use of tactics. The control required was also amazing; to be able to hold his concentration while fighting in close quarters combat was an impressive feat.

Every action from the moment the battle started was geared towards injuring me with that genjutsu attack… very impressive Naruto.

"Not bad Naruto, I didn't even see you set it up." said Yūgao.

Naruto smiled at her, "I didn't use hand seals that's why. "

Yūgao's eyebrows shot up in surprise at that, it took years of practice to use a jutsu without hand seals. What she didn't know was that Akeginu wouldn't let Naruto use a jutsu in the field unless he could do it without hand seals, she didn't want him advertising his attacks in any way whatsoever. As a consequence Naruto only had a small arsenal of jutsus but what he had he could use without hand seals.

Naruto held his katana up to her, suddenly the entire Katana turned invisible, "I call it Kakushi Ken (Hidden Blade) . I can change the length of the blade at any time I want, even turn it invisible mid swing."

She cringed at that, she could only imagine how surprising it would be to be in a intense sword fight with him only to have his blade disappear during an attack. He'd kill a lot of people with that attack. Naruto had turned a simple genjutsu into a lethal support jutsu.

"No hand seals?" Yūgao asked, wondering how he managed that.

"Tajū Kage bunshin," Naruto replied, expecting her to know the answer.

She nodded her head. She knew the shadow clone technique herself as well as the benefits and drawbacks, but how had he learnt the kinjutsu A rank multiple shadow clone version of the technique?

"How many can you make?" Yūgao asked.

"Over a thousand," Naruto replied.

Yūgao's eyes bulged at that, ONE THOUSAND!

She could only imagine how fast he could learn techniques like that. She knew the Kyuubi no Kitsune gave him massive chakra reserves but that was ridiculous, she could only manage three at most.

"You're aware of the dangers of using it right?" Yūgao asked. She was pretty sure he would be aware of it but as his teacher she had to make sure.

Naruto nodded his head, "Feedback's a bitch."

Naruto waved his katana breaking the genjutsu before saying, "Let's take this up a notch."

Without hands seals Naruto channeled wind chakra into his katana. Yūgao watched him intently; she had seen him use this last night so she wasn't surprised to see him bring it out. What was impresisve was that chakra channeling at this level was an A rank Jōnin class ninjutsu, and he was doing it without hand seals. She was a little jealous that Naruto seemed to have an affinity for wind; wind increased the cutting potential of the blade dramatically, so naturally every Kenjutsu wanted to have it. Not that she couldn't do the same thing but having an affinity made training and using the jutsu much easier, it took her many years before she was able to do the same thing Naruto was doing right now.

"Two can play that game Naruto." said Yūgao as she channeled fire along her blade. (3) It wasn't as sharp as wind but the heat it would add an extra keenness to her blade and increase to blade's ability to damage armor. The fire would also defend against Naruto's wind enhanced strikes since fire was strong against wind.

As soon as Yugao's fire channeling was complete both ninja met in a clash of blades. The fight progressed along similar lines as it did before only this time both fighters knew that the slightest mistake could result in severe injury. Naruto's wind enhanced blade could sever a limb with ease while Yūgao fire enhanced one could cause third degree burns and make healing any cut extremely painful and difficult.

Naruto slashed at Yūgao from the left, then in the opposite direction from the right. Yūgao parried both attacks before spinning with the last and delivering a sharp kick to Naruto chest sending him back several meters.

Instead of pursuing him and following up the attack Yūgao yelled, "Mikazuki no Ma (Dance of the crescent moon)"(4) creating three shadow clones of herself and positioning them at Naruto's blind spots.

Yūgao and her clones moved to surround Naruto before simultaneously attacking. To her surprise Naruto body flickered with amazing speed directly behind her before delivering a slash at her neck. She rolled forward escaping the strike but Naruto used this time to flicker behind her clones cutting each of them down in turn.

Yūgao hadn't seen shunshin used in this manner since Uchiha Shisui. She also noticed that each of Naruto's shunshins were disguised in a cloud of red mist. She briefly wondered what the red mist was before Naruto flickered straight in front of her to deliver a kick to her solar plexus. She dropped to her knees and managed to do a kawarimi with a log just in time as Naruto brought his blade down splitting the log in half.

"Alright Naruto, your kenjutsu is easily jōnin level but what about your other skills?" Yūgao asked after appearing about twenty meters to Naruto right. Before Naruto could reply Yūgao flew through a large amount of hand selas and yelled, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"

A giant water dragon was released from Yūgao's mouth moving towards Naruto at an extreme velocity.

Instead of dodging Naruto sheathed his sword adopting his Iaido stance. Yūgao briefly wondered what Naruto was doing before Naruto dew his katana faster than the eye could see and released a crescent blade of wind cutting straight through Yūgao's water dragon, splitting it in half. Yūgao managed to roll to her right just in time as the blade of wind sliced open the ground where she had been standing.

That was an A rank wind ninjutsu technique from Wind country, I haven't seen it used outside of Suna, and never with Iaido before observed Yūgao.

"So you know another A rank ninjutsu Naruto, but it's mostly seen over in Wind country, where did you pick that up?" commented Yūgao.

"I know, I've read about it before. I figured it would be a useful addition to my Iaido, its pretty much an extension of channeling wind chakra so it was a fairly natural progression of my skills." replied Naruto, before following up the attack by hurling a kunai at Yūgao. Her sharp eyes picked up the tag attached to it.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" She yelled as she slammed her hands into the ground creating a wall of earth five meters in front of her. Naruto's kunai hit the wall of earth before exploding sending chunks of rock and earth in every direction.

As the smoke and dust cleared Yūgao got a good look at the damage. The explosive tag had created a large crater in the middle of their training ground.

Talk about overkill she thought.

Yūgao went to create another ninjutsu attack before wincing as she felt a stab of pain in her arm, damn I'm going to have to get that treated.

"We might have to stop there for today Naruto, you got my arm pretty good."

Naruto sheathed his sword and approached Yūgao examining his handiwork, "You'll probably need some stitches sensei."

Yūgao nodded, she'd definitely need stitches. "Alright Naruto, we'll have to cut things short for now, while I go and get my arm treated I want you to work on your ninjutsu. Here's the hand seals for Fūton: Daitoppa, it's a C rank offensive wind jutsu," said Yugao as she showed Naruto the hand seals for the jutsu before performing it for him. A large gust of wind exploded from Yugao clearing all the dust that had resulted from the earlier explosion.

"I've got it sensei." said Naruto.

"Right then, I'll see you in an hour or so," said Yūgao before leaving for the hospital in a swirl of leaves.


"So, what did you think?" Naruto asked Akeginu who had been watching from the sidelines.

"She's alright…I suppose." Akeginu replied grudgingly.

"You suppose?"

"She's nothing special, but you could have done a lot worse," explained Akeginu thinking of some of the fools masquerading as Ninja in the village.

"Definitely, I probably would have ended up with some pervert who wouldn't teach me anything," said Naruto, thinking of that fool who taught the Hokage's grandson. He doubted he would have made it through one training session without killing the man.

"You should break her and make her your own, she could be a useful pawn." said Kurama.

"No, I won't be doing that." replied Naruto.

"What?" asked a confused Akeginu.

"Sorry, the Kyuubi thinks I should turn her to my side, mentioned something about breaking her." explained Naruto.

Akeginu shook her head, "That won't be happening."

"Oh, she just wants you for herself. I think she's a little jealous."

Naruto just shook his head; this conversation was going nowhere fast.

Naruto sub vocalized, Kage Bunshin making several hundred clones appear, "Alright people, you know what to do, I want half of you practicing Fūton: Daitoppa, the other trying to use those water and earth jutsu Yūgao-sensei just used. Get to it."

"On the up side, you'll be able to increase your arsenal of ninjutsu." commented Akeginu.

"I suppose, I don't really need them but it won't hurt to have them just in case." said Naruto before going over to join his clones in their training.


One hour later Yūgao arrived back at the training ground, left arm freshly bandaged. She had just left the hospital with some painkillers and twenty stitches in her shoulder. While she was getting treated she had been thinking about how she should go about training Naruto. The boy was much stronger then she originally estimated. After witnessing him last night she had estimated his skill level to be high chūnin but he'd just shown her that he could be classed as tokubetsu jōnin with his kenjutsu. He had also shown a remarkable aptitude for tactics and strategy in their fight, that trick with the genjutsu was ingenious and showed his mentality was also quite advanced.

Those things aside what had really intrigued her was how he had snuck up on her at the start of the training session. Sure his kenjutsu, use of A rank ninjutsu and shunshin were impressive but sneaking up an ANBU like that meant he must be able to completely suppress his chakra. Considering how huge his chakra reserves were his control must be amazing. His use of genjutsu also supported her theory. Those two factors had immediately led her mind to the two the forms of ninjutsu that required high level of chakra control, medical ninjutsu and sensory ninjutsu. She knew little about being a medical nin but she knew enough about sensory ninjutsu to start Naruto off on it. She was by no means an expert and couldn't be classed as a sensor nin but a lot of people in ANBU had an understanding of how the techniques worked, it was a useful skill to have if one had the discipline to learn it. It would also be the perfect supplement for his stealth and chakra suppression abilities. If he mastered it no one would ever be able to sneak up on him.

Focusing back in the present Yūgao found Naruto and an army of clones practicing Fūton: Daitoppa and nailing it perfectly. She smiled at her apprentice, with that many clones and his amazing control, learning ninjtsu would be a cinch.

"Looks like you've got that jutsu pinned down." observed Yūgao.

Naruto smirked before turning to facing his army of clones, he made the hands signs for the jutsu and a huge blast of wind erupted from him bowling over a number of clones.

"I've noticed you don't say the name of the jutsu Naruto," Yūgao observed.

"I sub vocalise. I don't want to give away the nature of my attack."

Yūgao nodded her head at that; it was a good idea, why did ninja yell out their attacks anyway? Looks like she'd have to change her habits.

"Alright dispel your clones Naruto, I want to talk to you about your training."

Naruto nodded his clans and dispelled all his clones before walking over to Yūgao.

"I've given it some thought...your kenjutsu is amazing, all you really need is experience rather than new techniques so I'll be sparring with you for that and I'll see if I can bring one of my friends along sometimes as well, he's probably Konoha's best swordsman. "

"Sounds good to me." remarked Naruto.

"We'll continue to add to your ninjutsu, I can also show you some advanced chakra control exercises that will assist your genjutsu. I'm decent at Genjutsu's but its not my strong point, I've always used Kenjutsu and ninjutsu to defeat my enemies. So instead of focusing of genjutsu I'd rather teach you something else… What I want to know is whether you're interested in learning sensory ninjutsu?"

Yūgao smiled as she watched Naruto's eyes light up as soon as the words left her mouth.

"Now you've got me interested sensei."


Later that night

Yūgao stood in front of the Hokage as she gave him her report on Naruto.

"So he can use body flicker without hand signs to the extent that he would be comparable to Shisui Uchiha." said Hokage. The loss of someone as talented as Shisui had been unfortunate; they never got to see what he was truly capable of.

"Yes sir, combined with his kenjutsu skills…it makes for a deadly combination."

"Yes I saw, I still can't believe he was able to go toe to toe with you in a sword fight," said the Hokage, amazed by Naruto's display of skill. He had been watching that fight through his crystal ball.

Yūgao nodded her head, "I was expecting him to be quite good after last night but his level… particularly his speed surprised me. That's not even mentioning the Iaido."

The Hokage agreed, Iaido was rare among shinobi. He had had the chance to fight with Mifune, the sword master from Iron country many years ago so he knew what a competent practitioner of Iaido was capable of. The fact that Naruto was so accomplished at it was astounding; a swordsman could spend a lifetime perfecting that art. It spoke volumes as to the skill of whoever trained him.

"Sir, I was wondering if I could bring Hayate in on Naruto's training? Hayate has wind affinity and the more exposure Naruto gets to different types of kenjutsu the better." Yūgao asked. Seeing as though Naruto was jōnin level with his kenjutsu he really only needed experience and exposure against different kenjutsu users.

"That's fine Yūgao, just make sure he's aware of the conditions, I don't want him talking up Naruto around town just yet."

"Of course Hokage-sama."

"Now moving on, you said you wanted to train Naruto as a sensor." said the Hokage.

"Yes sir, in addition to adding to his ninjutsu I think the best way to improve him as a ninja is to teach him sensory ninjutsu. He has the chakra control for it." replied Yūgao.

"I agree with you Yugao," the Hokage said walking over to his bookshelf, "take these books and scrolls. Have a read then give them to Naruto, they should be all you need to start his training as a sensor nin."

Yūgao took the books and scrolls, "Thank you Hokage-sama."

"If that's all Yūgao you're dismissed. Keep up the good work."

"Um…before I go sir, Naruto brought up some interesting facts about the Uzumaki clan."

The Hokage looked interested at that, "What did he say Yūgao?"

"He said I should look up Uzumaki Mito, and that his clan played an important role in the founding of Konoha…He also implied that Konoha had reneged on some agreement between the clan and the village."

The Hokage let out a sigh, it seemed Naruto had done his research, "Naruto is correct."

"Hokage-sama?"

"The Uzumaki clan has been around since the founding of Konoha. In fact at one point they were arguably the strongest clan in the elemental nations. They originated form Whirlpool country. I knew Mito myself, she was arguably the strongest kunoichi in history. She was so good at Fūinjutsu that she'd make the Yondaime Hokage and Jiraiya the Sanin look like amateurs."

Yugao's eyes widened in surprise at that. Those two were considered masters of Fūinjutsu.

"What most people don't know is that Minato learned most of his Fūinjutsu from his wife Kushina Uzumaki."

"They were Naruto's parents?" Yūgao asked.

The Hokage nodded, "So Naruto told you that did he?"

"Yes, I brought up Kushina and he asked if I knew his mother."

"What most people don't know is that Naruto is the third holder of the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi has been passed down for three generations through the Uzumaki clan."

"How is it that people don't know of this?" Yūgao asked. If this was the case there was no way Naruto should have been treated like he'd been.

"Ah, but people do know Yūgao, while it wasn't exactly common knowledge that Kushina and Mito held the Kyuubi, some of the older council members surely know. It seems people have short memories," said the Hokage with a resigned sigh. "Naruto is correct about Konoha failing that clan. My teachers the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages would be disgusted if they saw how Naruto was treated."

Yūgao didn't know what to say to that, the people of her village had betrayed the very principles the village was founded on.

"Thank you for sharing that with me Hokage-sama."

"Its fine Yūgao, I don't mind reminiscing about better days."

Seeing the Hokage adopt a distant look she decided it was time to leave, "If that's all Hokage-sama I'll take my leave."

The Hokage nodded his head and Yūgao disappeared in a swirl of leaves.


Later that week (5)

Iruka sighed as he waited outside the door to the classroom; the brats were making a racket again. He could hear Sakura and Ino arguing over Sasuke like they did everyday, he'd hoped they'd have grown out of their fan girl tendencies now that they were genin but apparently not. Their respective sensei would have to break that out of them. I don't envy them…

He stifled a yawn. Damn I'm tired, he thought. He'd spent the last few days in hospital getting patched up the doctors. The doctors didn't want to discharge him but he insisted; his wounds weren't too bad, he'd be walking with a limp for a few weeks though.

Of course thinking about his injuries invariably brought his thoughts to that night and Naruto. That had been a startling revelation, to think that Naruto would be so talented. He wasn't sure what to make of it, part of him was annoyed that Naruto had obviously been lying to him all these years while the other part was proud that he had become strong despite all the obstacles in his path. He knew that the other teacher's sabotaged his learning. There wasn't much he could do about it unless he caught them in the act, so he was happy that Naruto had come up with his own solution to the problem.

Before he had been discharged the Hokage had briefed him on the changes that had resulted from Mizuki's actions the other night. Naruto would no longer be on Team 7 and would instead be taking an apprenticeship under Uzuki Yūgao. He thought that was a wise move, the skills displayed by Naruto last night put him miles ahead of the rest of his class, even ahead of most chūnin. The Hokage had ordered him not to bring up Naruto's new allocation or talk about his skills unless absolutely necessary; he didn't want the council interfering with the boy's education.

With a tired sigh Iruka steeled himself for another hard day of teaching and entered the room. He walked to the front of the classroom and observed his students. Looking around the room he couldn't spot regular Naruto or the scary version of him anywhere. That wasn't surprising since Naruto already knew who his sensei was; they were probably training already. He twitched as he noticed he was being ignored by the class, "BE QUIET!" he yelled while utilizing his big demonic head jutsu to quell the brats into submission.

The class fell immediately silent. He he, works every time, thought Iruka.

"All right, you're all genin now so start acting like it." he said.

Seeing that he had everyone's attention, "Starting today, all of you are shinobi…but you are still genin, its only the start of your journey. Soon you will get missions to help the village, so today we will create 3 man teams and each team will have a jōnin sensei."

Iruka finished the rest of his introduction speech before moving onto team placements.

"Next is team 7. Haruno Sakura , Uchiha Sasuke and Sai."

"Hell Yes!" Sakura screamed.

Sasuke and the home-schooled kid Sai just looked bored.

"Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino."

"Team 9 is already in rotation, so Team 10 will be: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choiji and Yamanaka Ino."

Iruka frowned as he finished the team placement, not a single person had asked where Naruto was. Didn't he have a single friend? Sasuke had looked around perplexed for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. Hinata kept trying to find him but had no success and she was too shy to put up her hand and ask where Naruto was. The rest of the class seemed too distracted by their team allocations to bother with finding out what happened to the 'dead last'.

He sighed again, "Wait here, your Jōnin sensei's will be along shortly."

As soon as he finished Iruka moved out of the classroom, he had a bunch of paperwork to complete after his extended stay in hospital.


Meanwhile Naruto stood still, sword drawn on guard five paces from a male jōnin who mirrored Naruto's stance perfectly.

The jōnin moved first, darting at Naruto with impressive speed. The jōnin slashed at Naruto's right, Naruto evaded and replied with a sharp cut at the Jonin's leg. The jōnin rolled away before launching a counter attack with a barrage of sword strikes. Naruto parried most of the attacks and just as the jōnin look like he was about to break through Naruto's guard he body flickered out of the way.

Both figures stood still examining each other. Naruto the younger of the two didn't look winded in the slightest while the Jōnin, Gekkō Hayate looked to be struggling for breath.

"(Cough)…Not bad kid, but Yūgao says you know Iaido, so lets see it already," said Hayate.

"Iaido?"

"Yes Iaido."

"I don't know Iaido," said Naruto.

"What?" Hayte turned to Yugao who was standing to the side observing them. "You said he knew Iaido."

Yugao looked at Naruto, "He does. You've been using it regularly since we started training Naruto."

"Oh you mean my draw. That's a combination of Battojutsu and Iaijutsu. Not Iaido."

"What's the difference?" Hayate asked.

"As I understand it they're both precursors to Iaido. They both involve the art of drawing the blade but there's a difference in style. Battojutsu is aggressive and involves drawing the sword and following it up with a range of attacks. Iaijutsu is all about the draw, you use it as a counter and draw the blade once before sheathing it. My Kenjutsu style utilises both," explained Naruto.

"Precursor? So they're older then Iaido?" Yugao asked. Both her and Hayate were listening intently.

"Yes, much older. I haven't met any Iaido users so I can't comment on the differences...if there are any," said Naruto.

"Where the hell did you learn a style older than Iaido?" Asked Hayate. Iaido was a Samurai art and Samurai techniques were generally older than ninja ones since Ninja only rose to prominence after the first shinobi war.

Naruto shrugged, "My teacher was a great sword user. She made sure I was well educated."

"So...can I see this Batjutsu?" Hayet asked.

Naruto twitched, "Battojutsu moron. Are you sure, you look like you're about to keel over," said Naruto, a smirk appearing on his face.

"(Cough)…Out with it kid."

Naruto smiled and changed his footwork, moving into his Battojutsu stance; knees bent, left hand on his sheath near the guard, right hand on the grip of his katana.

Hayate moved forward heading straight for Naruto. Naruto waited until he was in range of his draw before unleashing his blade, meeting Hayate's attack head on blowing the jonin's stance right open before moving inside his guard and leveling his katana straight at Hayate's neck.

"(Cough)…Not bad, not bad at all. (Cough)…definitely better off dodging that than trying to meet it head on," observed Hayate.

"That's the option Yūgao-sensei took…you know you're not bad yourself half-dead guy," said Naruto.

"Yeah…the name's Hayate kid."

"Yeah, but I've never been good with names, and most people's aren't worth remembering, so for the time being I'm calling you half-dead guy. "

"You call Yugao by her name…cough." said Hayate with a twitch appearing in his right eye.

"But I like her, and you look like you're going to be dead by next week anyway so there's no point in remembering it. By the way…that's not contagious is it?" Naruto asked.

"…Fuck you…(cough)," replied Hayate.

"All right, that's enough dick measuring from you two. Naruto stop provoking Hayate, and Hayate stop falling for it," said Yūgao.

"Alright I've seen enough anyway," said Hayate as he turned to Yūgao who had been observing the spar from the sidelines. "Your kid has got talent Yūgao, there hasn't been anyone this talented with the sword since we were young…(cough)...not unless you count Itachi...(cough)... but he always preferred his genjutsu."

"So how about it Hayate, will you teach Naruto Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon) ?" Yūgao asked.

Hayate gave a shrug, "We'll see, I'll start by showing him my kenjutsu, if it goes well then sure, I'll show him. (Cough)…Whether he learns it depends on how we'll he adapts to the forms…(cough)."

"Alright Naruto why don't you go and work on those sensor exercises I'd showed you yesterday. Hayate and I are going to start working on your teaching program." directed Yūgao.

"Got it sensei," said Naruto before body flickering away in a cloud of red mist.

"Is that… blood?" Hayate asked.

"I don't think I want to know." Yugao replied.


The respective Jonin-sensei minus Yugao stood in front of the Hokage ready to give their reports. Each had just come from their individual teams genin tests.

"Team 6 failed"

"Team 7 passed," said Kakashi.

All the Jōnin present looked surprised that Kakashi had actually passed his team; to date no team had passed that bell test of his.

Kakashi seeing the surprised looks form the Jōnin explained, "There's some issues there but the team has potential. Sakura is pretty much useless in the field and will only follow Sasuke around, but she has excellent chakra control and potential as a medic or genjutsu user. Sasuke's talented but has an arrogant streak and doesn't want to work with anyone. Sai was actually the one who got them to pass since he figured out that teamwork was the point of the exercise. At this stage he seems the most ready out of the three for actual ninja work."

"Alright, what about Team 8 Kurenai?" The Hokage asked.

"Passed. Kiba's a bit arrogant and a pervert but once I beat that out of him he'll make a good shinobi. Hinata has major confidence issues but I'm confident I can fix that. Shino was very good all round."

"Team 10?"

"Passed, Choji will make a decent shinobi as long he focuses on work instead of food. Ino's a fan girl but she has potential. Shikimaru's lazy but he'll make a good ninja. I'm going to give him an IQ test, I'm pretty sure he's a genius like his dad." said Asuma.

"Hokage-sama, do you mind me asking, why was my team changed at the last minute?" Kakashi asked.

The Hokage cursed, Damn, no doubt Kakashi's wondering why his sensei's son wasn't given to him to train. But since when has Kakashi cared about what Naruto does, he hasn't showed much interest in him before…Just my luck. I'm too old for this shit.

"Naruto got re-assigned, that's all I'll say for now. He passed his test if you must know, with flying colours I might add."

That got a few raised eyebrows, especially from Kurenai, she had heard the boy was useless, unfit to be shinobi.

Hoping no one would raise any further questions the Hokage decided to dismiss the jōnin,"That's all for today, you're dismissed."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to protest and decided not to follow the rest of the Jonin out of the room. The Hokage frowned thinking of the other Jonin's reactions to Naruto. It was clear none of them except Kakashi wanted Naruto on their team, and he had doubts about Kakashi's sinceity as well — the man had never been all that interested in Naruto hoped that they would be able to look underneath what was written in the academy reports. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out the authors of those reports were highly prejudiced against Naruto. He smiled in anticipation; he couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when Naruto showed them his skills. The chūnin exams will sure be interesting this year.

The Hokage breathed a sigh of relief as the Jōnin left his room before turning to Kakashi. He was pretty sure Kakashi was suspicious, the man didn't get to be ANBU Captain for nothing and removing a genin of the team even before the first training session was highly unusual.

"Yes Kakashi-kun?"

"Can you tell me what's really going on?"

"Someone volunteered to be Naruto's instructor."

Kakashi briefly showed surprise,"What?"

"That's all I will save for now. Naruto is in good hands. It's for the best anyway, you know as well as I do Kakashi that the council will be pressuring you to focus on Sasuke. You likely wouldn't have had the time to give Naruto the attention he deserved."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to challenge that but couldn't since the council, especially the elders had indeed been pressuring him to train Sasuke in private.

"Yes Hokage-sama." said Kakashi as he left the room.

The Hokage didn't think that would be the last he heard of this from Kakashi. No doubt the former ANBU Captain would think something was up. Fortunately for him Kakashi would distracted by his team's duties for a while.


Yūgao, Anko and Kurenai met for lunch at the dango stand like they did most days. Kurenai and Yugao wouldn't mind going elsewhere for a change but Anko was quite insistent on always having dango. Yūgao didn't mind, at least she got a discount because of it.

Yūgao had left Naruto to torture Hayate while she went off to grab a bite to eat and catch up with her friends. She pushed back the guilt she was feeling; something about Hayate seemed to bring out Naruto's sadistic side. She had little doubt that right now Naruto was beating the crap out of her boyfriend.

"So Nai-chan, word is your team passed." said Anko in between shoving dango into her mouth.

"They did fine Anko." Kurenai replied.

"Really, call me skeptical but I find it hard to believe that they did okay with that horn dog of an Inuzuka running around that shy littlle Hyuga girl. You're probably going to have to get him neutered you know." said Anko.

"Most genin that come out of the academy with some bad habits Anko, you know that." said Yūgao.

"Pfft"

"That's right Anko…and I got the team I wanted anyway." said Kurenai.

"Really? You never found your mysterious savior did you Nai-chan? I'm sure you would have preferred to be teaching him, and not just on the training field, am I right?" Anko asked, almost cackling with glee as she saw a blush appear on Kurenai's face.

'ANKO!" yelled Kurenai, indignant at what Anko was implying.

As Anko was teasing Kurenai something clicked in Yūgao's mind, long blonde hair, blue eyes, super stealth, crazy sword skills…Naruto! Kurenai's fantasy boy was Naruto!

Anko and Yūgao had been teasing Kurenai about her obsession with finding her mysterious savior for years and it turns out he was Yūgao's new student.

Wait…this meets Naruto has already killed! Thought Yugao in surprise before she sweat dropped, Wait what am I thinking of course he's killed, the image of Naruto clinically torturing Mizuki and the head of Aoi came to mind, Yep, he's definitely got blood on his hands.

"No Anko I never did find him, he must have been a foreign ninja passing through," Kurenai said in disappointment.

It took all of her will power not to spill the beans to Kurenai right then, but the Hokage would be pissed off after expressly telling her to keep Naruto's abilities quiet. She had already blabbed to Anko, she didn't think she'd be allowed another chance.

"So Yūgao, heard anything else about Konoha's newest super genin? Anko asked.

Yūgao just glared at Anko, "That's need to know Anko and Anko…you-don't-need-to-know."

"Fine be that way, still you should introduce me, I could teach N-"

Yūgao clamped her hand over Anko's mouth, "Damn it Anko it's classified!"

Kurenai just looked confused at her friends." What are you two on about?"

"Nothing Kurenai, just some ANBU stuff that happened the other day, something Anko shouldn't be talking about in public," said Yūgao with a pointed look at Anko.

Anko put both her hands up in a placating gesture, "Alright Yūgao, sheesh you don't have to bite my head off."

Yūgao just rolled her eyes at Anko being Anko. "Alright you two, thanks for lunch but I have to get back to work," said Yūgao moving to leave.

"See you Yūgao," said Kurenai, while Anko just waived, her mouth full of dango.


Yūgao returned to training ground 21 to find a battered Hayate lying on his back and Naruto standing next to him looking no worse for wear.

"What happened you?" Yūgao asked standing over Hayate.

"Your apprentice happened." replied Hayate, before groaning and getting up.

Yūgao raised an eyebrow at Naruto who just smiled at her, "Your boyfriend had trouble keeping up."

"Cough…the gaki's been spamming those wind blades from his sword. Cough…I almost died like five times…cough."

"Hmm…oh well you survived to live another day Hayate, just think of this as practice in case you ever fight a suna nin. Why don't you go have a rest I'll take over." said Yūgao. Silently laughing at Hayate, he'd been dodging wind blades while she'd been eating dango.

"Alright…cough…see you later Yūgao...gaki." said Hayate before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"So Naruto can you channel lightning as well?" Yūgao asked her apprentice.

Naruto smirked before channeling lighting into his katana, "Of course I can."

5 hours later

Yugao stood with her hands on her knees taking in heavy breaths.

"Alright… Naruto, let's… call... it a day… I'm stuffed," said Yūgao, in between deep breaths.

"You sure sensei? I could go another round," replied Naruto watching his sensei with amusement.

"Damn Naruto, how much stamina do you have?" Yūgao asked, she couldn't believe Naruto still wasn't tired. They had sparred for an hour before stopping to work on some advanced chakra control exercises for Naruto's sensory ninjutsu. After that they had worked on his ninjutsu before sparring again for another hour or so.

"More than you apparently." Naruto quipped.

"Ha ha, alright Naruto what do you want to have dinner? My treat."

"Your paying, you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Yep, anything you want," replied Yūgao.

30 minutes later

Naruto and Yūgao entered Ichiraku ramen. Naruto wore a nostalgic smile on his face while Yūgao was wishing she had taken the time to have a wash before going out to dinner with her apprentice.

"Ramen Naruto?" Yūgao asked, surprised Naruto didn't want to go some place higher class.

Naruto shrugged, "I haven't been here in a while personally, and they're the only two of the people I actually trust in this village. To date they're still the only people who will serve me without over charging me or spitting in my food."

Yūgao tried not to flinch at that statement, but she understood after protecting Naruto through his early childhood, most of the villagers wouldn't hesitate to kill him if they had the chance. She couldn't help but feel down, the Hokage was right, they would lose Naruto if things stayed the way they were. The village couldn't afford to lose the next's generation greatest talent, especially after losing Itachi. Yūgao sighed, it only made her task all the more important.

"What can I get you two?" Ayame asked, after the two were seated.

Naruto motioned for Yūgao to order first.

"I'll have one vegetable ramen please," ordered Yūgao.

"I'll have seven orders of tonkatsu ramen," ordered Naruto.

Yūgao's eyes bulged, Seven!

"Where do you think I get my stamina from?" said Naruto seeing Yūgao's reaction.

Yūgao just shook her head, "I'm never treating you ever again."

Ayame looked confused," But that's Naruto's-"

Before Ayame finished her sentence Naruto removed his hood. "It's been a while, Ayame-chan" said Naruto giving her a small smile.

"Naruto...Is that you?" Ayame asked, a small blush appearing on her face.

Yūgao smirked, Naruto would be turning more than a few female's head if he started walking around without that hood of his.

"In the flesh." replied Naruto.

"Dad, Naruto's here…I think." yelled Ayame.

"Naruto?" said Teuchi coming out from the Kitchen.

"Hello Teuchi-ojisan" said Naruto.

"Is that you Naruto?" Teuchi asked, seeing Naruto not dressed in his usual orange, and looking quite different.

Naruto just nodded his head, "Forgive the deception, it wasn't safe for me to display my usual self inside the village. I've been coming here under a genjutsu for some time. Now that I'm a shinobi…well...lets just say there's no longer any need for the illusion."

Teuchi nodded his head in understanding. Naruto had been coming to this stand ever since Ayame brought him as a four year old. She had seen him searching for food in a trash can and brought him in for a free meal. Naruto was always a very bright child; he always found it hard to believe he would fail the academy three times. No doubt the teachers there were treating him as bad as the rest of the village.

Teuchi was about to reply when Iruka entered the Ramen stand.

"Hey Naruto, Yūgao-san," greeted Iruka seeing Naruto and Yūgao sitting down.

"Iruka-san," greeted Yūgao.

"Scar face," greeted Naruto.

Iruka twitched at Naruto's greeting. It seemed Naruto calling 'scar face' was permanent. With a sigh he took a seat next to Yugao.

"So Yūgao-san, how is Naruto's training going?" Iruka asked.

"Good Iruka-san, I've started training Naruto in sensory ninjutsu."

"Sensory ninjutsu?" Iruka asked curious as sensory ninjutsu required a huge amount of chakra control.

"If you haven't realized it yet scar face, I could do a bunshin before I even started attending the academy. Failing three times was my own choice, not due to incompetence." said Naruto.

Iruka could only nod his head, it seemed he never really did know Naruto all that well, though scary Naruto didn't seem to hate him. He cringed when he looked back on how he used to treat Naruto. He was no better than the villagers back when Naruto first started, he treated Naruto like he was the fox and took his anger at losing his parents out on him. He had apologized to Naruto on numerous occasions for his past behaviour but he was still ashamed whenever he thought about it.

"So scar face, I'm surprised you're out of hospital so early, you were in pretty bad shape a few days ago."

"Yeah, I'm still sore but it wasn't as bad as it looked." replied Iruka.

"Uh ha, does that mean you were just pretending to be injured so you could relax and let me do all the work?" Naruto teased.

"Wha…of course not Naruto I had a shuriken in my stomach, that hurts you know!" said an indignant Iruka.

"I wouldn't know, I generally move out of the way when someone throws one at me."

"Why yo-"

"Calm down Iruka, he's just doing it to get a rise out of you. He's been doing the same thing to Hayate for the last couple of days and like him you're falling for it,. said Yūgao before Iruka let Naruto provoke him further.

"Why sensei, I didn't know you keeping such a close eye on me. You know...sexual relations between student and teacher are generally frowned upon."

Yugao almost choked on the miso she was been drinking when Naruto said that.

Yugao turned to Naruto who was laughing his ass off, "Do you get some sort of pleasure from pissing people off?"

"Yep!" piped in Kurama

Quiet you Naruto sub vocalized.

"Maybe, its interesting to see how easily supposedly experienced shinobi fall to basic provocation." replied Naruto.

"Are you documenting our reactions or something?"

"Now there's an idea…why didn't I think of that."

Yugao only sighed as she waited for her apprentice to finish gorging himself. There goes the pay from my last mission thought Yūgao.

The three on them sat around for about forty minutes after they finished dinner. Naruto caught up with Ayame and Teuchi while Yugao filled Iruka in on Naruto training since he was one of the few 'in the know' about Naruto's abilities. Ayame and Teuchi while initially surprised at Naruto's new look and temperament but took it in stride, it seemed they really were his only true friends. When they were done Naruto excused himself before disappearing in a red cloud of mist.

"Is that blood?" Iruka asked.

"Don't ask." was Yugao's reply.


Like always Naruto appeared in front of the brass gate to find Kurama waiting for him. Like always she was naked and beautiful, too beautiful. While Akeginu was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen Kurama's beauty eclipsed even hers but it was an unnatural beauty, there was something artificial about, something distinctly inhuman.

"So what do I owe the pleasure, my host?"

"I want to talk about our agreement," said Naruto.

"Ah, so you're interested in some of my other abilities Naruto-kun," said Kurama.

"I'll admit you have me curious." said Naruto.

"So what are we to discuss? Genjutsu? Shape-shifting? Or is it my knowledge you want?"

"Genjutsu for now,.

"I don't mind showing you my genjutsu Naruto-kun, I'll even teach you but you'll owe me."

"Owe you what?"

"One favor that I can cash in at any time I want."

Naruto froze, "No, the only way I would owe you anything is with heavy limitations in place."

"That's fine Na-ru-to-kun. I won't ask you to do anything too…arduous." said Kurama, a sly smile gracing her face. Naruto didn't like it when she made that face, it meant she was getting what she wanted.

"I won't take the seal off." said Naruto.

"I wasn't going to use my favour on that." said Kurama.

"I also won't accept anything that would injure Akeginu or myself." said Naruto.

"I figured as much, after all that woman and yourself are the only things you actually care about. Don't concern yourself Naruto-kun I wouldn't ask you to injure yourself or your sensei, where's the value in that?" said Kurama, her smile getting bigger with every word.

After a few moments of consideration he conceded, "Fine then." He could actually hear thunder as he said those words. I'm so going to regret this.

"Good, now come over here." she said making a come hither motion with her hand, Naruto walked up to the gate hesitantly not wanting to get too close to her.

"That'll do."

As soon as the words left her lips, her form began to liquefy allowing her to squeeze through the gates before reforming into her human form.

Naruto took a cautious step backwards and prepared to activate his mystic eyes, he didn't know she could do that.

"Relax my host, the seals still intact, the majority of my power in still trapped behind the seal, and I wouldn't be able to resist your mystic eyes without it."

"How are you doing this?"

"Shape-shifting, and the fact that you've used enough of my chakra to allow me some influence outside the seal."

Seeing Naruto confused look Kurama decided to explicate, "I can change my makeup at a molecular level . That and the fact that you've started using my power to heal and constantly regenerate your cells means I can exist for a time outside the seal."

"What now?"

"Now certain…customs must be adhered to if I'm to give you the ability to use my genjutsu. Exchanges must be made. "

"What type of exchanges?

Kurama looked at him, eyes half lidded with desire.

Shit thought Naruto. He didn't think offending the Kyuubi by rejecting her would be good for his health but he really didn't want his first sexual experience to be with a Yokai, no matter how hot she was.

Before he could force an opinion on the matter Kurama was directly in front of him. He briefly wondered how she could move so fast if the majority of her power was stuck behind the gate, but those thoughts were quickly washed away as Kurama yanked his face down to meet her lips.

The first kiss was tender, her tongue invaded his mouth and it was delicious, enjoyable until he felt her fang piece through his lip. Before he could so much as wince in pain Kurama flung him to the ground in an impressive display of strength.

He tried to put up some form of resistance, he really did, but his senses were being flooded with her scent, the sweet intoxicated smell of honey, it was over powering, he could practically taste her in the air.

Kurama morphed her fingers into razor sharp claws and ripped off his clothes before straddling him. "Now… I take you," said Kurama as she licked his blood off her lips.

Naruto went to say something but she slapped him hard with her clawed hand cutting his face. "Shut up, and enjoy this."

Over the next several hours Naruto experienced both pleasure and pain. For every feeling of pleasure he felt there there would be a bite, a dragging of claws across his skin, and tuff of hair pulled out, she even punched him once.

Kurama wasn't a quiet participant either; there was a lot of moaning and screaming on her end, as well as some babbling in languages he didn't understand. Between his various climaxes he realized she was actually doing some sort of ancient ritual but he couldn't make heads or tails of it. He lost count of how many hours she was riding him but eventually she declared that she was finished and got off him. Leaving him lying on the ground exhausted and bloody.

"Ow, that hurt." he quietly whimpered.

"You weren't complaining five minutes ago."

"There was a whole lot more biting and hitting than I thought there would be." commented Naruto while examining the wounds on his neck and shoulder. He had just spent an entire day training with Hayate and Yūgao but the last few hours with Kurama had left him more drained than anything he did with them.

Kurama just shrugged, "You're welcome."

"For what?"

"The genjutsu of course." said Kurama, her tone making it clear she thought it was a stupid question.

"This was the exchange?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, a symbolic exchange of fluids and some primal energies. You can now use my genjutsu. Usually more would be required but since I'm already technically inside you the seal will do the rest of the work. We could have done a blood exchange, I drink yours, you drink mine but I think this way is more fun, don't you?"

"Maybe…I don't know. I still can't work out if that was amazing or excruciating."

Kurama laughed at that, it was a disturbing sound. He really wished she would change her vocal chords when she shifted, that flanging sound was scary.

"We'll start training tomorrow, it'll take you awhile to adjust to my way of doing genjutsu but from now on the necessary amendments have been made to your body."

"What did you do to my body?"

"We'll discuss it tomorrow, you're too tired to be of any use and I demand an attentive audience.

Naruto could only sigh at the dismissal. He had got what he wanted even though tonight had turned out differently than he had expected. Only time would tell if he would regret giving the Kyuubi that favour.


Foot Notes

(1) I'm not sure if she used a chokuto or a kodachi but most sword fighters don't put a katana on their back so for this fic she used a single edged straight blade.

(2) Remember Naruto was taught Akeginu's style first before being introduced to Tenzen's and Iado. Think of Akeginu's style as an acrobatic one handed style (since she uses the shorter blade).

(3) Hayate the creator of the attack, but Yugao also knows it.

(4) Correct me if I'm wrong but we never find out her affinity in the manga, so for the purposes of this fic her affinities are Fire and Earth.

(5) Like Baki's techniques only from a sword. You see similar attacks in a lot of manga.

(6) I wasn't sure of the exact timing of this meeting, but since Iruka was seriously injured for him to be present I made it later in the week.


And there goes what was left of Naruto's innocence. As I said before its not a femkyuubi pairing, she more or less will take what she wants from him, sex or otherwise. Moving on, Kurama now has significant leverage over Naruto in the form of that rather open ended favour. The genjutsu is a powerful ability (more details next chapter) but only time will tell if it was worth it. I suppose it will come down to what Kurama asked of him. The favour could function as insurance to make sure Naruto kills Obito but Kurama's smart and will likely work out that they'll come into conflict without any influence on her part. Will she use it to make Naruto eradicate the Uchiha clan? Get rid of the Sharingan for good? Or maybe she'll want any Uzumaki's gone, after all it seems their chakra is needed to properly contain her. Whatever the case it adds an interesting dynamic to their already complex relationship.

I added sensor abilities to Naruto's build because it supplements his skills pretty well. He can already suppress his chakra so it's a natural progression and it supports his silent killing and blood mist. As I've said before the jutsu Naruto will use will either enhance or support his Basilisk abilities. Although he's learning ninjutsu he won't use a lot of it.

I'm still not sure about how I'm going to write Kakashi (that's why he only featured shortly here). In canon his actions during part 1 are negligent in the extreme in regards to his treatment of Naruto, almost to the point where one wonders if it was intentional. Though tha doesn't make much sense either since he is skilled at Fūinjutsu and knows Naruto is only a container for the fox. Thoughts? Should Kakashi have a harmful or beneficial interest in Naruto? You'll see more interaction between them during Wave.

I decided to leave out Naruto meeting the rest of the rookies until chunin exams. He'll meet team 7 durring wave but I think the chunin exams will be a more dramatic stage for the surprise than the classroom.

Tune in next chapter for Yugao and Naruto's mission and the start of the Wave arc.