This chapter is dedicated to Ayrmed. She was one of my favorite fanfiction writers, and I am glad to know that her pain is over. If you talked to her in a PM, you'd know she was a nice lady. And even though she won't be here to finish her story Love's Never Easy, It's still a beautiful piece to check out.

As this is a dedication chapter, no reviews will be answered this time on this page. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know and I will answer them via PM.


Now on to the story.


Life was good for Ichiraku-Uzumaki Naruto. He'd been working hard day in and day out on his various training methods. Ayame and Teuchi kept adding more and more weight until Anko requisitioned some chakra enhanced weights from Maito Gai's connection at the Tenten's parents weapon shop. Little by little Naruto's speed improved to the point he was forbidden to add any more chakra by Anko out of fear of him tearing ligaments despite great increases in speed, endurance and durability.

Ayame and Teuchi taught Naruto stealth attacks. Sneaking up on someone without being caught unless they are a powerful sensor. And how to hide one's aroma from hunting animals, or clans such as the Inuzuka. They also insisted on teaching Naruto how to move silently. While shinobi also had the same general idea, they still very loudly called out their attacks, and left themselves wide open do to such ostentatious training. Naruto was happy when he got to train with Anko however. She allowed him to run wild. He would show her some of the things he learned and found that he could even use a few things he learned from home to help with his training with Anko. Though the snakes that came out of her arms kept biting him using multiple poisons and he constantly had to be given antidotes... though Anko suspected that his tenant could have cured him. But she'd rather have him build up an immunity just in case.

Anko was so proud of Naruto that she was tempted to request the snake summoning contract be given to Naruto via the boss snake Manda... but that was where Jiraiya stepped in and drew the line.


Hokage tower-A Warm Saturday Morning, Jiraiya stood resolved in front of the hokage's desk.


"...give a rats ass how powerful it will make him in the future. The Toads can do the same for him! Or even if he is chosen by another animal summon. But I promise to Kami that if you let Naruto sign the snake contract I am retiring my commission!"

Hiruzen raised his killing intent to monstrous levels. So much so that most shinobi within a half mile radius felt it. Jiraiya's reply, without even the slightly tremble was, "Quit the drama sensei. That shit's not going to work with me. And no matter how powerful you are... I have long ago claimed the right to leave Konoha as a free unaffiliated man as per the mandates set forth by the shodai hokage! I've served my time two times over. You have NO power to force me to stay. The only reason you were able to recall Tsunade is because she didn't remember to fill out her exit papers before she left the first time."

The sandaime took a moment to calm down and gather his thoughts. "Please calm down Master Jiraiya. If it will cause that much of an uproar, I just won't offer him the contract. I didn't even mention it to him in case there was an issue with it," Anko tried weakly.

Hiruzen sighed, "Thank you for your understanding Anko. I know Jiraiya's reasons. They are valid, but I will let you know at a later time what I finalize on."

Reconizing she'd been dismissed, she vanished in a shunshin with a nod.

"Fine Jiraiya. You win... but if you ever do that again in front of..."

"Give it a rest old man. You might be the almighty 'k'ami-no Shinobi, but you're becoming as decripid and crooked as Danzo was. Maybe it is time you gave up the chair... despite Seresete-sama's gifts."

"GET OUT!" Hiruzen demanded, his nostrils flaring. Jiraiya vanished without another word.

He looked at the orb he was given by the goddess Celeste and thought, Is he right my love? Is he right my Biwako?


Three hours later, Naruto.


Naruto finally got a day off from training with his family and sensei. He'd been working five months straight with little to no breaks. His bond with Tennie seemed to grow even further than that of mere friendship. After a quick stop home and grabbed some sushi Ayame just made and some leftover miso soup, Naruto raced to meet up with his secret girlfriend. Tennie being nine and Naruto recently turning eight didn't matter to them as long as they were together. They didn't need the adult side of being a couple. Holding hands and sharing a meal, training and a play date now and then was enough to keep them happy.

As Naruto approached training ground nineteen, he noted his godfather there with Tennie. He had been intentionally avoiding his godfather until now, but decided that he must honor her family as well as her shisou. He stepped onto the training field, but far enough out not to get in the way. Jiraiya mentally noted this and was impressed at the boy's wisdom and restraint. After a few moments Jiraiya stopped and Tennie waved Naruto over.

Naruto, having never officially met his godfather bowed respectfully and formally stated, "Konichi wa godfather. I am Ichiraku Uzumaki Naruto. It is a pleasure to meet you face to face."

Jiraiya, equally calculated, "It is good to finally meet you as well Ichiraku-Uzumaki-kun."

"I feel I owe you more than you could ever know... especially after what Tennie recently revealed to me. Not to mention putting in a good word with the old man about Anko-sensei teaching me," Naruto admitted sheepishly.

Jiraiya was slightly caught off guard with such a proclamation, but it did not show as he simply inquired, "hm?"

"Months ago you spoke with Tennie's mom and dad about her friendship with me. You helped get Tennie back home to Konoha. You've been training her to make her a strong Kunoichi. I am indebted to you. I never go back on my word. I guess that's my nindo. My ninja way."

The white haired man smiled in appreciation for what the young blonde said, and continued talking to the two shinobi in training for a while until Naruto and Tennie left. He then wondered, If Anko-san thought Naruto has the potential for summons, maybe it's time for a chat with Gamabunta.

After about thirty minutes Tennie and Naruto came across a pink haired girl in a red dress, black jacket and covered with the slightest touches of makeup outside of training ground thirteen. The girl was crying. Tears as if she had just lost a family member. Naruto being the nice guy he was tugged on Tennie's white coat. She sighed, knowing what Naruto wanted to do.

Tennie looked at Naruto and asked, "Do we have to?"

Naruto smiled his multi-million ryo gigawatt smile, and Tennie stood no chance. They walked over to the girl and Naruto asked, "Haruno right?"

Said girl wiped away her tears and nodded. "I saw you talking to a friend of mine earlier today. Is Sasuke the reason you're sad?"

The pink haired girl's head shot up in surprise at how right he was. Naruto just laughed a little bit then asked, "If you asked him for a date, he likely said no. Not because you aren't a nice girl. Tennie and I have seen you in class... well, before Tennie got promoted to the year ahead," he griped slightly to which Tennie rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's minor outpouring of jealousy.

Again the pink haired green eyed girl was stunned at how accurate his observations were. "Okay. Sasuke is likely going to kill me for this, but you seem really nice and weren't mean to me and Tennie like Ino and a few of the other girls in his little fan club.

"I'm sort of the vice president under Ino in the club," Haruno Sakura admitted.

Tennie and Naruto face faulted as this new information hit them, but quickly recovered. Neither actually expected Sasuke to have an actual fan club. Much less the VP was the fan girl in question.

Tennie finally spoke up and said, "Sasuke and I are friends. I never had a crush on him etc. He gets along with girls who are more interested in being strong shinobi than looks. I mean look at you. You're a beautiful girl, with a beautiful dress and a great hair style," which caught Sakura off guard, "But," she continued, "Sasuke sees someone who spends way too much time on that stuff. He likes seeing girls who are a bit more rough and tumble. Not so worried about looks. Someone who is worthy to help him restore his clan to greatness. Only a strong Kunoichi will do. If you want to get Sasuke's attention... you will have to focus on being one of the best Kunoichi Konoha's ever produced, AND not being a fan girl. He also despises fan girls. But it might not be too late for you."

"What she said," Naruto chimed in with a shrug.

Sakura had an idea and tested, "You two seem like you know what you are talking about. Can I train with you sometime?"

"Dammit Naruto-kun. now we will have to split our time even more between the academy, our sensei and our parents training. Not to mention our training with the teme sometime. We barely get any alone time Naru-kun," she whined for good measure after learning of it's uses from Ayame.

Naruto reddened slightly, but tried to hide his face. Haruno noticed this and fought back an 'awe!' but couldn't fight back the, "Kawaii! You two are sooo cute together!" to which Naruto turned on his heels and started walking away with Tennie's hand in his grip as he called back, "Not nice to tease your potential nakuma this early on!"

Sakura's heart nearly screamed out, 'Nakuma?' as it's a term used for friendship as close as family. She tilted her head a little in contemplation as she asked herself, Can it really be that easy? Having had trouble finding more than a few friends.

Meanwhile Naruto and Tennie continued on toward the Uchiha district to meet up with their training partner and friend Sasuke. At first it seemed as if they would not be welcomed, but after a few visits Itachi lessened some of the restrictions he set for the compound where Naruto and Tenten where concerned as Sasuke seemed to communicate with them more than anyone else outside of Itachi himself and Shisui.

At the front door of Sasuke's family home, Tenten knocked politely. After a moment Naruto yelled out, "Hurry up teme! Or we're training without you!"

In the back yard however Itachi trained Sasuke brutally and said, "You can not answer them until you've landed a hit on me otouto."

This pissed Sasuke off as he retorted, "I'm more interested in why that Kato woman is always around?!" Itachi of course ignored the barb. But after a few seconds of thought having calmed down, Sasuke did something Itachi would remember for the rest of his life. He raced forward and predictably Itachi underestimated his younger brother. Itachi kicked, but instead of Sasuke trying to block or leap back. Sasuke leaned back under Itachi's kick as he slid by, simultaneously placed his hands into an advanced jonin level seal formation and called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A single clone appeared behind Itachi, flipped up and kicked Itachi square in the back of the head. The clone dispersed and Sasuke was on one knee as he caught his breath from the chakra intensive technique. It took a lot to leave Uchiha Itachi speechless, but that did. He looked to his brother to chastise him for using such a dangerous technique until he noticed Sasuke standing up.

"Way to go teme!" Naruto chimed from the Uchiha's roof alongside Tenten.

Itachi glanced up to Naruto and asked, "Since I am not batshit crazy enough to teach Sasuke the Kage Bunshin, am I correct in assuming a teacher of yours taught you and you taught him?"

"Nope," Naruto lied, much better than he could have in the past. "I saw Anko-sensei doing it once and tried it until I figured it out. Sasuke wanted to know how to make physical clones. I warned him I had a ton of chakra and he needed to build his up to be able to use them. We've done tons of exercises to build up his chakra stream along with Tennie's. Then he used his Sharingan to help him with the execution of the Kage Bunshin, with my okay of course."

What Itachi took from this was, "You! You Managed to learn Kage Bunshin without being shown in detail how to do it?"

Naruto looked mockingly offended, abashed, and his voice even dropped a few notes, "Hey. Just because I don't have a sharingan doesn't mean I am not good. I'm going to be Hokage one day. You'd better Believe it! Dattebayo!"

Itachi held his hands up in mock defeat and let the children go on their way after a warning to Sasuke about chakra exhaustion to which Sasuke replied his prior knowledge to it as he fought day and night on building higher reserves.

After leaving the Uchiha district they stopped and grabbed some tomato soup from one of the Akimichi restaurants at Sasuke's insistence. The boy loved his tomatoes. After a quick lunch and refuel for them, they made their way to Naruto's family's personal training ground. An area of the hokage's personal training ground he partitioned for Naruto's personal training in which Naruto, Tenten and Sasuke came to use whenever they could train together. A bit before reaching the training area's hidden entrance Naruto, Sasuke and Tenten saw three slightly older boys with Konoha Hitai-ite kicking a pale girl with white nearly pupil-less eyes. Naruto, Sasuke and Tenten immediately recognized the girl and raced to her side as they punched and kicked the ninja who attacked, thus catching them off balance.

Naruto held out a hand to the dark haired girl and asked, "You alright?" After shaking off the strikes, she answered in the affirmative. "Keep your head guys. If they beat the Hyuuga -hime, they are not to be taken lightly," Sasuke warned.

Naruto scoffed at this and said, "All four of us are up for rookie of the year in our respective classes. Let's show these bitches how it feels to be bullied. Maybe they'll learn not to try it again!"

The three said bullies looked at each other and burst out laughing and the tallest took a step forward and said, "We're about to enter into the chunin exams. Like four little weaklings like you can do anything against us."

Naruto then smirked and asked, "Did I forget to mention our sensei are the head of the Hyuuga clan Hiashi, same Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi, Mitarashi Anko:The Snake Mistress, and Jiraiya of the legendary three who's her (He pointed to Tenten) sensei, my godfather respectively. You might have caught Hinata off guard, because that's the only way I could see you losers taking her, but against all four of us... you'll be lucky if you leave this encounter alive," he taunted in hopes of scaring the bullies without actual bloodshed. Sasuke and Hinata activated their doujutsu for added effect as all four went into taijutsu stances.

Two of the three bullies wanted to test the younger kids, but the shorter sensible placed his hands on the other two and said to Hinata, "Just because you're a Hyuuga doesn't make you special. We just wanted to make sure your pathetic family remembers that. You'd better not tell anyone what happened... or else."

As the three shinobi took off, the four academy students eventually relaxed their bodies and Naruto looked at Hinata and asked, "Why did you let those bozos walk all over you? I know you are stronger than that. I just pointed it out. Even if they outnumbered you, you should have been able to take one of them down before we got here. Or at least made them think twice before attacking you. I wasn't lying when I said you are in contention for one of the strongest in our class. Rookie of the year. Do you hear me?" he almost yelled. He wasn't trying to be mean, but he saw something in Hinata. A strength she herself did not.

Hinata felt a bit hurt but emboldened by anger at the same time. Her eyes hardened a bit as she replied, "I was caught off guard. No one a..asked for your help. But since it was given, I..I will repay my debt somehow. S...some day. A..as heir of t..the Hyuuga, you have m..my word," Hinata relayed to her secret crush. Naruto only nodded in acceptance as she turned around to leave.

Sasuke simply gave his usual 'hn' which Tennie and Naruto figured to be the usual reply to the Uchiha as Shisui and Itachi tended to do the same thing... a lot.

The three finally reached the secret lot given to Naruto's family to train where he and his closest friends had also come to utilize. Sasuke and Tennie sparred generously, but without chakra as Sasuke's reserves were still not replenished. Naruto however set up a few seals given to him by the sandaime so he could practice chakra control in a controlled environment. He used the base tune of his whistle to send out more and more chakra, then less and less. He did this with twenty shadow clones which sped his progress. Eventually he had enough precision to perform three regular clones, but could not lower his chakra enough to create just one. But with time, he believed he could even achieve that. After a quick break, Tennie and Sasuke opted to switch off which meant it was time for Naruto to spar. Tennie took the opportunity to take on her 'boyfriend.' A concept her father found charming and adorable. So much so that he gave a mock talking to-to Naruto. Naruto didn't really fear for his life when Umino-san stood up for him, but even with his own father Teuchi standing behind him, Naruto was terrified. Especially after seeing the nightmares Teuchi inflicted on would be suitors to Ayame.

Sasuke was becoming more open when he sparred with his new friends, but still thought about his lost parents, aunts and uncles daily. He looked forward to the distraction that was training to exert the frustrations of having lost those closest to him. And he came to appreciate Naruto and Tennie little by little as they didn't pry into his life. They stood by his side, and even helped him out of a few situations with his brother such as earlier that very day. After another hour of sparring, the three sat down and rested for a bit as they looked up to the stars which started to come out as the night began blanketing the sky above.

The three friends decided to make their way to their homes before it got too late. Naruto and Tennie walked Sasuke home since his house was on the way. Afterwards Naruto walked Tennie home even though her house was a bit out of the way. As they came up on the corner of Tennie's house, the lights started to flicker throughout the entire block. The ground began to shake. The very windows began to shatter and break. A voice could be heard. A terrifying voice that sent chills down Naruto and Tennie's spine before it happened.


"Almighty Push!" (Shinra Tensei).


AN: As you can see I do know what it's Japanese name is, but sometimes things just sound more bad ass to me dubbed or subbed. Don't judge. Haha. Now... for those in the know... 'Back To Action!'

The area less than a mile behind Naruto and Tennie exploded outward. The shops that were there destroyed within seconds including Tennie's father's weapon's shop.

"Papa!" She screamed as she took off toward the desolate area.

"Damn it! Tennie, stop! Wait, please!" Eight year old Naruto yelled as he followed her without a hint of hesitation.

"Papa said he'd be working late tonight and I told him you'd take me home," Tennie wailed as she continued racing until she saw her father's shop. Or what was left of it. Tennie made her way inside and saw that the underground door was still there. She kicked the rubble off and added a little of her chakra which opened floor cover and made her way down the ladder. Her eyes opened wide as she saw her tou-san bandaging a cut. She ran over to him and hugged him. He hugged her back ignoring the wince from the painful embrace.

"Naruto, close that shelter door. I'm in no condition to help out there and you two will be safest here for right now," Tennie's father ordered.

Naruto looked back to Tennie and her dad, gave her a small smile with a look that said 'be safe my Tennie,' and took off out of the shelter and locked sealed the door from the outside. Naruto hoped Tennie's dad would finish locking the door from the inside. He had to make it home. He had to make sure his Nee-chan and Tou-chan were alright.

Naruto ran past all the shinobi and the nosy civilians. He wondered why the Sandaime hadn't ordered an evacuation until he remembered... the evacuations were usually to the hokage mountain where the secret compartments led to safety out the back as his sensei Anko warned him.

Naruto felt himself being scooped up, but before he attempted to resist he heard a familiar, "Chill shorty, it's only me. You're doing good trying to get home, but Ayame and Teuchi are already at training field forty four. I set them up in my secret bunker. You know what to do."

Naruto nodded and prepared to go through what he had a hundred times before. Solidify any traps Anko may have missed in her speedily leaving, to find Naruto. Hide and don't move until a Chunin or Jonin he recognized came to retrieve him and even then, only with the correct password, and after examining there movements, speech patterns and even there hair style.

Naruto took off after giving Anko a big hug after taking a quick look at her arms, and noting it was only her garter snake which was harmless... for the most part. Anko took off back toward the action as Naruto raced toward the hidden bunker to meet up with his family.

Naruto thought back to Tennie, then to his family, Please be alright mina! (Mina=Everyone).


At the front gates of Konoha... A man with a face reminiscent of a shark stood with a weapon wrapped in cloth, a woman with blue hair, and cold eyes, and the man in the middle. A red haired man whose eyes were covered by darkness. Before their feet remained two hundred injured, sixty dead.

Before they could step foot inside the gates of Konoha however, three puffs of smoke appeared.

A young blonde woman, who's eyes lit up like a tree ablaze as she said, "I don't know how you attacked the middle of Konoha... and normally I wouldn't care. I was on my way back out of town... but the moment that attack nearly brought down one of my medical centers... That made it personal."

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, Senju Tsunade, and I, Jiraiya the Great Toad Sage of Mt. Myoboku have taken center stage. Team Hiruzen has arrived," Jiraiya announced and got the morale of most of the broken shinobi's spirit back in fighting form with 'woops,' and 'hell yeahs!' greeted them.

"You have attacked my house. Now I do believe that warrants me to break out my whippin stick boy," Hiruzen pointed to the red haired masked man in the black cloak with red clouds adorning it.


To be continued in late October, or November.


I hope you enjoyed the chapter...

Have a great rest of your week.

Sasuke Out.