"Alright Naruto, what do you think you can train the most in one week?" Kakashi asked Naruto, curious as to his progress in choice. Naruto looked at him, asking a question before getting started.

"I will answer that in a minute. First though, why is this the first time you have trained me, despite you giving me a jutsu library? And second, why is this only a clone of you?" Kakashi sighed, not really wanting to get into this at the moment.

"The Hokage ordered me not to teach you anything useful." Naruto gave no reaction, cerulean eyes staring apathetically at him. "Of course, seeing my reaction to the news, the man is probably thinking he should have been a lot more specific with that order, seeing as he said nothing about letting you find jutsu during an exercise, or having my clone train you while outside the village. I'm looking for every loophole that I can get." Naruto nodded, and started to answer Kakashi's earlier question.

"I can train a lot of things in one week thanks to shadow clones," Kakashi nodded in agreement. "However, I think that I need to work on two things. First is to get my jutsu library to the point where I can use them in battle, that means refining them, increasing my speed in using them, cutting down on hand signs, and using one handed seals with them." Kakashi looked a little shocked.

"You can use one-handed seals?" Naruto nodded. "Anyways, the second thing is to work on my kenjutsu, I need to improve that a great deal." Kakashi looked at him curiously. "That reminds me, how did you manage to stop Zabuza's zanbato? Even I had trouble doing that." Naruto looked at him, somewhat amused.

"Earth Chakra." Seeing Kakashi's stunned and disbelieving look, Naruto sighed before taking out a kunai. He charged it with Doton chakra and threw it into a tree.

Kakashi's eye followed the kunai, widening in shock as the kunai, instead of penetrating as it should of, left a massive dent in the tree, the wood exploding away from the kunai.

"Let me guess, like most others, you thought that because there was no obvious benefit, like cutting or burning, you thought earth chakra was useless, am I right?" Kakashi nodded dumbly, gaining another sigh.

Naruto started his explanation. "First and foremost, earth chakra is possibly the most versatile chakra. While we who have earth natures cannot cut like wind, burn like fire, shock like lighting, or flow like water, we have several things to our advantage."

"But earth is considered the weakest element after water, after all the earth nature control exercises are the easiest to master, even if you have an opposing element." Naruto snorted at Kakashi's ignorance.

"Wrong. What most people don't seem to realize is that it's damn near impossible to master an element. The first two exercises are to master manipulating an element. There is a third and a fourth exercise that is a great deal harder. For example, earth's third exercise is to master using iron. Once I finally finish that, I'll be able to make weapons in the middle of battle, my jutsu will be so much stronger, and other benefits." Kakashi was stunned, he had never even heard of these.

'I guess it wasn't him who left those books in my apartment after all.' "Earth's forth element seems damn near impossible to me, seeing as I do not have a bloodline." Kakashi looked at him, curious.

"For most of Earth's techniques, one needs to be calm, cool, and collected. This set of techniques brings out the heat in everyone. Once I complete the fourth exercise, I will be able to use lava." Kakashi felt like he had been punched.

"Admittedly, I will never have the control over it that someone with a bloodline would, but that won't really matter with lava now will it?" Blue eyes gleamed for a moment in anticipation.

"Once all four exercises are mastered, something that takes several lifetimes mind you, only then can someone claim mastery over an element. However, I'm getting off topic. Earth jutsu, when used correctly, are more defensive in nature than offensive. In fact, even the more offensive ones are best used to counter attack, such as the hell zone rock shard, or stone spear. Also, to make up for this, we have a multitude of the more offensive "Dragon" type jutsu, such as mud dragon, mud dragon bullet, Earth dragon, Earth dragon blast, Earth dragon god blast, and the most powerful Lava Dragon Explosion technique." Kakashi felt like his head was spinning. He had never even heard of four of those jutsu.

"Now, for channeling Earth chakra into weapons, it can do one of two things, like wind can either cut or penetrate. The first, as you saw, would cause an explosive amount of blunt force trauma, the amount one is able to channel depending on the person's skill and the weapon used. Like kunai caused that, whereas a senbon would only break a bone." 'Break a bone? Only?' Kakashi was beginning to regret not experimenting with the various chakra natures.

"The second choice, depending on the way you form the earth chakra, allows…" "Wait, wait, wait…form the earth chakra?" Naruto looked annoyed at the interruption. "Yes, formed. You do know the two types of jutsu? The ones where you can channel a set amount of chakra and then let it go and the other one where you have to channel a continuous amount of chakra for the entire duration of the jutsu? Same principle."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "This one takes up more chakra to use, but that's not much of a problem for me. With continuous channeling of Earth chakra, well, I'm not really sure how to describe it. Basically, the penetrating power is increased because of added weight to the weapon. I'm not sure how it works, or just how the extra weight doesn't affect the throw or stab, but there are still a lot of things I don't know.

Besides that, Earth jutsus are used to control the battlefield. If I have the time to use the jutsu, in an area I'm not afraid of modifying, I can control the entire pace and pattern of whatever fight I am in."

Kakashi felt like an idiot. In fact he felt like most of the shinobi world was made up of idiots. So much can be done with chakra, and apparently they have barely scratched the surface.

"How did you learn all this Naruto?" The boy decided to keep a few things to himself for a moment. "I learned some of it in a few books I found" 'Not exactly a lie.' "And the rest of it I learned from experimenting. I didn't even use my clones for that either, so there is no reason for people not to know this." Kakashi sighed.

"Well, let's get started." And the training began.

~Break~

It had been a long week for Kakashi. Training Naruto, well more accurately training with Naruto seeing as he learned quite a bit as well, had been great, and he learned quite a bit about the boy. Training the other two had been irritating though. Sakura downright refused to train, and Sasuke was to prideful to accept help. Why oh why couldn't they all be like Naruto?

He had actually been worrying about the upcoming fight that was going to happen on the bridge, but Naruto brought up a good point. "What about Tazuna's family? If they run the risk of getting hurt, it's as good as killing Tazuna himself." That point gave Kakashi a way out, on one week and one day after the first fight he and Naruto left for the bridge, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to protect the bridge builders family. Of course, it took a great deal of misdirection, but now he didn't have to worry about the death of his team.

Naruto, under the tutelage of a man with a great deal of experience using Doton jutsus and also a former ANBU had gotten better. Dozens of spars with the man's shadow clone and he had only won once. Experience, greater speed and strength, greater skill, and more jutsu had won the day. Naruto though had become a great deal more resourceful, and had learned many methods to trick a superior opponent.

That day started off pretty good, both Naruto and Kakashi discussing a few things while walking to the bridge. Then things got screwy.

~Break~

"What happened to you?" Tazuna shouted in an anguished voice as he looked at the injured bodies of his employees. "Tazuna….run…Demon." was all that a man managed to pant out before he passed out. Both Kakashi and Naruto whirled around when they heard chuckling.

"Well well well, where are the other two genin? I would have thought that you would have brought them all here?" came a disjointed voice from several directions. A thick mist rolled in as Zabuza spoke, six images of him surrounding the two ninja. "Naruto." Kakashi spoke.

The blonde nodded and flicked both wrists, a senbon piercing through each clones neck, the group dissolving into water. "Haku, you will handle the brat." The masked figure standing next to the real Zabuza nodded, rushing forward to engage him as Zabuza and Kakashi moved to a different part of the bridge.

~Naruto vs. Haku~

"I ask that you surrender, I do not wish to have to kill you." Came an emotionless tone from the masked man. Naruto gave off an odd aura, and she saw the flash of something in his eyes. "I will kill you." It was a simple statement, made in a dead tone that caused Haku to shiver. Haku ran towards Naruto, senbon in hand to stab him with.

'Disappointing. A senbon, though great for ranged attacks, is not something to use in melee combat.' Naruto thought. He raised a kunai, catching the senbon with the edge of it. Haku tried uselessly to push him back, but soon gave up.

"I am afraid that you are at a disadvantage. I have a hand free." Haku stated, hand beginning its first seal. He had no time for any more, as Naruto lashed out with his right hand, punching Haku in the face hard enough to break his mask.

'What? How did he?' Haku could no longer afford to mess around. Zabuza was counting on him. Fifteen seals were made as he back flipped from the momentum, "Hyouton: Demonic Ice mirrors!" Naruto's eyes narrowed as a multitude of mirrors rose up around him. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he reopened them Haku gasped, the cerulean eyes replaced by the hard eyes of a hawk. 'A bloodline?' He ignored the eyes for a moment, instead beginning his attack.

Haku flew from mirror to mirror at high speeds, throwing nearly a hundred senbon at Naruto. Naruto drew his ninjato, spinning it with his right hand at an even greater speed, deflecting every senbon. His golden eyes narrowed as Haku attempted to recover from his shock. He threw several of his own senbon at him, but they bounced off the mirrors, the cracks they caused shocking Haku yet again.

'Brute force will work, but now he will not let me get a greater weapon out…constant channeling with senbon will work, but I need a distraction.' Haku started moving again, utilizing the full power of his bloodline, over three hundred senbon thrown towards Naruto from multiple directions. 'Shit' He sheathed his ninjato as soon as Haku started moving, his hands moving through two separate sets of hand seals. "Doton: Gou no Doro! (Mud moat)" A large part of the ground around Naruto turned to mud, except for a small part where he stood. "Doton: Geigeki No Doro!" (Mud interceptor)

Hundreds of small mud balls intercepted every senbon, the academy level technique multiplied and empowered until it was more than a match for all of Haku's attacks. However, even while Haku was watching the last of his attacks be defeated, Naruto was moving. A dozen hand seals and Haku was in a genjutsu, he took full advantage of the moment.

All Haku saw was the blonde staring at her as the mud solidified back into stone, returning the bridge to its original state.

Naruto moved fast, knowing he only had a minute at the most. He channeled Earth chakra into a kunai, tying a bit of ninja wire to the ring of a kunai. 'Misdirection is a powerful thing.'

The illusion on Haku ended just as he finished his move, throwing the kunai at her. Just as he expected, he fled from the mirror, not wanting to be there in case it was broken. Thanks to his eyes and the ninja wire, Naruto managed to smack Haku into the ground with the flat side of the kunai, his hands dropping the few feet of wire and throwing four senbon into four specific points, keeping him from being able to use his arms or legs as her jutsu failed.

'I'm sorry Zabuza-sama…I've failed you.' Was Haku's saddened thought as Naruto redrew his ninjato, all twenty-five inches of steel glinting ominously. Haku lost sight of Naruto, the blonde appearing right in front of him, apathetic face filling his vision, and Haku knew he was about to die.

*CLANG!*

Haku opened his eyes, the massive form of Zabuza barely an inch away. "Zabuza-sama!" The man turned to face Haku a little, before returning his full attention to the shinobi in front of him. An angry visage took over his face, as he snarled "Get away from my boy!" And he kicked Naruto into the air, the boy spitting up blood from the force. "Haku, stay back" And Zabuza was off, appearing below the flipping Naruto and swinging his massive blade upwards at great speed.

Naruto's golden eyes met Zabuza's brown ones as the boy spun around Zabuza's blade. Ten one handed seals were flashed through in that instant, and he spat mud at Zabuza after muttering "Doton: Kajuu No Doro! (Mud weights) Zabuza was just gone as soon as the first ball of mud left his mouth, Naruto dropping to the ground, the two just ten feet away from each other.

'If Zabuza's here, with so few injuries, that means he was a great deal stronger than Kakashi. In fact, Kakashi is most likely dead. I need to do everything I can…time to remove my weights and I'll need to use Soru. I just hope I don't go over my limit.'

Zabuza moved, and it was only because of Naruto's eyes that he was able to track him. He blocked Zabuza's blade, stopping it completely with his ninjato, but quickly realized Zabuza expected that and dodged the punch that was sent. He could not dodge the knee, and was once again sent flying, but Naruto sent four senbon at the man, who blocked it with the Kubikiribocho held diagonally across his torso, getting sent back several inches from the force.

He looked at Naruto, incredibly curious as to how the genin managed to get that much force behind a kunai. He watched Naruto as he removed wristlets and anklets, and grew amused as Naruto charged him after flipping his ninjato into a reverse grip.

Naruto charged Zabuza, ducking the man's left to right swing and blocking the return one, his momentum continuing onwards as spark flew from the connected blades. He embedded a great deal of earth chakra in his shoulder, shoving the older man back several feet. He flipped forwards, going into a hand stand and bringing a heavy kick down onto the older man's face. Continuing the flip, he moved over Zabuza, landing on the man's mighty zanbato that had been forced behind him, his ninjato ready to stab the swordsman in the neck.

It was not to be as Zabuza jerked his sword out from underneath him, whirling around and forcing Naruto to block a mighty blow, the lack of bracing sending Naruto flying. Zabuza smirked, enjoying the fight despite his anger. "I've never fought a monkey before." He taunted, hoping to make the fight a bit easier on himself. It had no effect.

Naruto landed on the ground, muttering "Soru!" and he disappeared from Zabuza's view for a moment, before he felt a great deal of pain from now broken ribs. Naruto didn't stop his attack, even as he hit the ground from his attack he was making seals, saying "Doton: Rijujou Shougekiha no Jutsu! (Ground shockwave technique)" to ensure that the Man could not regain his footing. He began another hand sign sequence to end it, but he was forced to dodge a multitude of water needles. He looked over at Haku, who had managed to rip one senbon out of his shoulder with his mouth to regain control over that arm, panting, but satisfied that he had saved Zabuza's life.

Zabuza smirked, knowing that this kid was an even match for him. Sure, he could tell that the boy was nowhere near as skilled or experienced, hell, he was even a bit faster than the kid, but the kid's unorthodox fighting method kept him off balance, and he seemed to know just the right moment to use a jutsu. Still, with his ribs now busted, his movement was impeded, and would have insured that the blonde brat would have won. Not with that jutsu, but he would have won sooner or later unless Zabuza could pull out a miracle technique. It was times like this he regretted not learning the quicker, but less powerful jutsu like this kid was using. It would have obviously helped him in this encounter.

However, with Haku recovering and able to use that water needle attack, he had a chance, not a big one, but a chance to defeat the brat. His musing were cut off as those golden eyes he had swiftly grown to respect opened after a brief closure, and the blonde's cold voice penetrated the ears of both ninja.

"It's over." Zabuza accepted it, but that didn't mean he was going down without a fight. He did feel mildly curious as to how the boy would end it.

The entire bridge felt the chakra that gathered inside the blonde, the force of it blowing away the mist. Golden eyes glowed with power, an invisible wind running through sun-kissed blonde hair. It was time.

"Kenjutsu: Earth-Bound Hawk!"

Zabuza saw an apparition appear behind the boy, a pair of golden, feathered wings, a chain binding them to the ground, and the boy with them. That didn't seem to matter though, as he moved perfectly fine.

Haku barely had time to blink before he was beheaded, and Zabuza only had enough time to regret that Haku wouldn't live both their lives for him before he joined the man he considered a son in death.

Naruto panted out, the combination of genjutsu, two Soru's in quick succession, and engulfing his entire body with chakra getting to him. Kakashi showed up behind him, looking at the two dead bodies, explaining his absence to Naruto.

"I'm sorry. The mist fooled me into thinking the Zabuza I was fighting was the real one, when in reality it was merely a dozen water clones. However, it was enough to keep Tazuna threatened, so I didn't even think you were fighting anyone but that boy until the mist cleared."

An ominous laughter rolled through the air as both Naruto and Kakashi turned to the uncompleted part of the bridge, seeing a midget and around three hundred bandits. The midget said something Naruto couldn't quite make out, as he was already focusing on a new technique to get rid of the enemy.

His voice rippled with power as he said "Doton: Shindoryuudan no Jutsu! (Earth Dragon God Blast)", using the most powerful technique in his arsenal.

A large, bronze dragon head peaked out of the ground, roaring and revealing its solid stone body. The bandits were rather unnerved, but Gato forced them to stay, telling them that they wouldn't get paid if they ran. The disappearance of the dragon gave them courage, and they worked up the nerve to charge.

"Foolish…" the word danced on the wind, originating from the mouth of an icy blond, before the jutsu took effect.

Blasting out of the ground and sending dozens of bandits into the air, the massive body of the dragon revealed itself, obsidian eyes glowing ominously in its bronze skull. It thrashed around for a few moments, crushing a multitude of bandits, before its entire body glowed and it exploded.

The only thing left of the bandits and Gato were blood stains. The control that Naruto had over the technique insured that the bridge was unharmed. Naruto turned to Kakashi, stating "This will be a bitch to explain to the others." Kakashi nodded wordlessly.

~Break~

The scout from the organizers of the bingo books raced to his headquarters, eagerly anticipating the bonus he would gain from bringing in this information. He burst inside; eyes alit with a triumphant fire, yelling "I have news! Let the bingo books print the newest powerhouse of the Elemental Nations! The A-Rank War hawk of Konoha!"

AN: My first big fight scene. Please review to help me make better ones.