Hello friends, I am not dead. At least, I believe that to be the case. As such, I have a new chapter for you all, along with some replies to reviews. At the end of this chapter, I will provide a rough road map for chapter updates in the coming months, and thank you all for the kind reviews, follows, and favorites.

Elarmi: Continuing this story is the plan :).

Dynasty Guest: I think I recall your reviews for Hypotheticals, and I will say that for now, I will be focusing on this story, but might get around to a few chapters soon enough, centering on a character I haven't covered as much, and as such, am having a difficulty or three. Until then, I should be updating this story here and there, and hope that you enjoy reading it. I'm glad you also understand the college grind, and thank you for your patience with my unreliable updates on my stories.

Nel Reus: Merry Christmas! Here is a new chapter for your reading pleasure.

Caretoonanimewritter: Thank you for the positive feedback - I try to incorporate rational storytelling and solid details into my stories, namely because I believe they are the spice of a good story - if I'm being honest, I scroll through just about every action scene in a fic, because it eventually boils down to the names of jutsu and descriptions of action. I will say that Fu will not have direct interactions with Jiraiya or Orochimaru, seeing as how her next chapter will match the rough time of Naruto's corresponding chapter.

With those responses complete, I present to you my latest chapter of WotJ.

Naruto walked into his group's hideout. In honor of their location, they gave themselves the name of "Yama", or mountain. At his side was Sasuke, and waiting for them in the hideout was the rest of their group. If one had looked in the hideout before the Uchiha Massacre and looked at it in this point of time, a few years after the dreaded event, one would wonder how such change had occurred.

The original entrance that connected to the room with the strange 'Ku' table was sealed off with a Doton jutsu, and a proper, more hidden entrance was created. Upon entering through the new entrance, one would see a substantial lobby area, with paintings made by the Kurama heiress.

The boys had asked her to make paintings, paying her fairly for her work. Unfortunately, after a period of sickness, it was deemed that she was unable to return to the academy. That being said, Choji, Naruto, and Shino kept in touch with her. As she had done much more painting in her free time, the boys were happy to provide money in exchange for paintings of landscapes and of the village.

To the left of this main entrance there was a kitchen area. Due to Sasuke's Uchiha training, he was able to use Katon fairly easily, and thus if the boys wanted to eat together after hanging out at the hideout, it was fairly common for them to get together, and cook ramen, soup, or some other simple cuisine.

To the right, there was a storage/information room, where plans, goals, and ambitions were listed, and people did what they could to get them accomplished, and generally helped each other out. An example would be Naruto's goal of mastering the Gentoshin no Jutsu, which was accomplished with the assistance of Shikamaru, or Shino's goal of establishing a safe location to experiment with his hive, which was completed with the help of Choji and Kiba's various techniques and physical strength.

Beyond that room was the mysterious 'Ku' room. While Shikamaru and Shino wanted the room to have some sort of practical use, Sasuke was worried that based on the dimensions of the stone construction, it could be a coffin of some sort, and no one wanted to risk opening up or destroying someone's final resting place, especially Sasuke.

If one continued straight from the entrance into the lobby, that person would look directly into the meeting room, where seals linked to the Gentoshin were hooked up. All Naruto had to do was hook those seals up to an object of some sort, at which point they could assemble, no matter where people were.

Above was Shino's hive, accessible through stairs which presented themselves if a button on the back wall was pressed. While Shino was a massive fan of the Kikaichu, he also wanted expand his reach to the Shokaichu, a beetle used in sensory techniques, the Rinkaichu, the deadly beetle used by his adoptive brother Torune, the bees of the Kamizuru clan, and the Bikochu, an insect with immense sense of smell. Should Shino manage to successfully integrate these beetles within his system while not completely draining himself of chakra, the young Aburame would be well on the way to be the strongest in his clan, and one of the strongest in Konoha, if not in the elemental nations as a whole.

With Naruto and Sasuke's arrival, the group moved into the meeting room, and sitting down in the chairs assembled.

"As we're all here, I suggest we get the meeting underway." Stated Shikamaru. The goals of the group hadn't changed – they all were still antsy to become Genin, so they could work on the first step towards becoming Chunin, and eventually Jonin. These boys desired a lot of things – acceptance, strength, peace, dominance, but they were also fiercely protective of each other, and of the people they cared about. If becoming Hokage and Jonin was the best way to protect each other, that's what they would do.

"Alright." Said Naruto, as everyone turned their attention to their leader.

"I did some research and asking around, and I got a little bit of information about how teams are assigned." Everyone was listening now.

"Some teams are pre-determined, such as the Ino-Shika-Cho." Said Naruto, nodding to the resident Nara and Akimichi.

"Another team will guaranteed be the dead-last, Rookie of the Year, and Kunoichi of the Year. Other teams will be assigned due to standings, or if there are various purposes." Kiba looked over towards Sasuke.

"You think you can hold rookie of the year for a while longer?" Sasuke nodded solemnly. Ever since his family's massacre, Sasuke had been considerably more introverted and serious. While the reaction was likely trauma-based, it did hurt for a while to see Sasuke completely withdraw, but as the young Uchiha gradually came to terms with the state of affairs, he spent more time with his friends and cousin.

The two Uchiha shared an apartment together, and Sasuke swore to be a better brother to Shuko than Itachi had ever been to him. Considering Itachi had quite literally slaughtered Sasuke's entire family, that promise would be fairly difficult to fail.

"Well, Naruto and myself are already hanging around the bottom of the pack anyhow, I think one of us will end up on your team. What do you think, Naruto?" Naruto shrugged.

"I'll do it. If your grades get too low, your family will ground you, or worry. Jiji trusts me to do what I have to in order to graduate." Naruto said, giving his standard glowing smile to the group.

While the other students clearly felt some apprehension about this plan, Naruto was adamant. He would not take no for an answer on this one. Naruto, more curious about the formation of teams, had gone to the Sandaime Hokage, where he had seen the man with a small child on his lap.

Several Hours Earlier

"Jiji!" Naruto strolled into his office, and was surprised to see the Sandaime with a child on his lap. Naruto was surprised, considering he rarely saw other people when he went into his surrogate grandfather's office, and had never seen the Sandaime laughing and playing with a child before.

While Naruto knew that the Sandaime had biological grandchildren of his own, he still felt irked that someone else was getting the affection of his adoptive grandfather.

"Oh, Naruto. Come in, and meet little Konohamaru." Naruto walked in and stared at the little child. Konohamaru, a little nine year old with a round face and spiky brown hair, looked up at Naruto eagerly, like a child expecting praise of some kind.

"Oh. Hi." Said Naruto, quickly brushing past the child. "Jiji, could you give me more information about how genin teams are decided?" Sarutobi's eyebrow raised, but obliged the elder of his grandchildren. As he described that teams have various functions, and noted that sometimes children were matched at the request of their jonin sensei, or based off of recommendations of who might build up each other's strengths while helping shore up potential weaknesses, Konohamaru looked up at Naruto.

To the little Sarutobi, the blonde boy was an enigma. He wasn't Asuma-Oji's son, yet he called the Hokage Jiji, just like him. Not only that, but this strange whiskered boy also brushed him off, as if he was nothing! Most people at least said hello kindly, especially if Jiji was around.

"Who are you? Do you not care who I am? The Sandaime is my Jiji!" Konohamaru said, looking angrily at Naruto. The Uzumaki's expression was blank, and he glanced at Sarutobi, before crouching down with a smile.

"You're absolutely right, Konohamaru-kun." Konohamaru smiled, here was the praise he was expecting.

"The Sandaime is your Jiji, and I don't care in the slightest. Have a good day, gaki." The last word has extra force in it, building up the little fire within the Sarutobi's heart. Were this Naruto someone who hadn't spent years around people within Yama, playing Shogi and Chess with Shikamaru, building up his social skills with Choji, or learning how to mince his words from Shino and Sasuke, the Uzumaki child might have shouted and raged at the young Sarutobi, maybe even bopped him on the head. But this Naruto understood the idea of choosing one's battles.

Thanking the Sandaime for the wise words and help, Naruto left the office, as Uzuki Yugao came in, in full ANBU regalia, to report another successful mission. While Yugao's mission record wasn't at the solid 98% with 10% chance of casualty that she had held with Shisui, Itachi, and Tenzo with Kakashi as a captain, they still pulled together a solid 85% success rate, with a 15% casualty report.

Yugao started debriefing, and the Hokage became invested – this was the mission that would determine a major decision for the Sandaime's foreign policy. As Yugao continued on about the mission, neither noticed the young boy slipping off of his grandfather's lap, running after where he had seen the Uzumaki go.

Naruto walked down the streets, as he reflected the immense amount of learning that he and his friends had done at the behest of Shino and Sasuke. As the young Uchiha already had learned Katon, and had a jutsu or two under his belt, he had insisted that the others start picking up their ninjutsu as well, even if they didn't show it at school. The next day, Sasuke had brought chakra paper in order to find the primary affinity of each group member.

As Choji, Shino, and Kiba had Doton, the three of them trained together, with Choji finding the most success with Doton jutsu, while Kiba and Shino had difficulty until they used Doton chakra in combination with other techniques, such as using Shino's bugs to clear out parts of the mountain*, or using various techniques to make Kiba and Akamaru's claws as sharp as steel during battle.

Shikamaru was another Katon user, but focused more on utility jutsu instead of combat. His Katon: Gokyaku was barely strong enough to light up the fireplace, and he insisted that was all he needed out of troublesome elemental techniques.

Sasuke, assuming his primary element was fire, neglected testing his own affinity.

Strangely enough, Naruto was a Fuuton user, perplexing the rest of the group, who had no idea how to help Naruto. Therefore, he focused his time into building up more strength in Taijutsu, Shuriken and Kunai accuracy, and work in basic academy techniques.

As Naruto walked down the street, he eyed his favorite ramen stand and decided to enter. Apparently, some 'fitness monstrosity' in the words of Teuchi, insisted that the Ichiraku menu add Curry Ramen and Spicy Ramen to it. While Naruto wasn't exactly the best at tolerating spicy food, he resolved to at least give each a try. If he didn't like those varieties, he could finish them quickly and down them with a few helpings of pork ramen instead.

Greeting Teuchi and Ayame, Naruto sat down and requested a bowl of each of the new ramen flavors, placing some ryo on the counter. As he was digging in to the Curry Ramen, he heard footsteps directly behind him. Looking, he saw the rather bratty grandson of the Sandaime behind him, in a pose that would look defiant (or perhaps heroic) were he not six years old and a spoiled brat.

"What do you want, brat?" Konohamaru pointed towards him.

"You! You got more attention from my grandpa today! I want you to teach me whatever let you get his respect!" Naruto paused his inhalation of ramen for a few seconds, thinking about the boy's offer. While the young Uzumaki's first response was to tell the kid to buzz off, Naruto had an epiphany. Perhaps the annoyance he felt was akin to his academy sensei's annoyance at Yama's pranks and some of its members' class-skipping? Of course, no one would stop his pranks, but Naruto wondered if he could kill the kid's brat-like tendencies.

"I'll teach you when you learn to respect your elders." This, of course, was hypocritical to the point of insanity, but the little brat didn't need to know that. As Teuchi smirked, Konohamaru ran off, planning to get a couple helping hands. As Naruto ate, he felt a slight prickling on the back of his neck. Turning around, he saw ANBU members doing their usual rounds, and noticed one in particular that he recognized – Neko, her long purple hair clearly visible, even at a distance.

While Naruto was always happy to see Neko or Branchy running around the village, seeing them always made Naruto feel just a little bit empty. He hadn't seen Inu in at least a year or two, Weasel was quite possibly Naruto's most hated person at the moment, and of course, he would never see Karasu again. While Naruto, like many children, was brash, impatient at times, and bull-headed, the past few years had calmed him down a fair bit.

Naruto was aware of the difficulties of a Shinobi profession – his favorite ANBU squad was proof of this – even at the pinnacle of one's shinobi career, they could be brought down, they could leave this world with nothing but memories and remains left behind.

Finishing his curry ramen and noting that it didn't seem to agree with his stomach, he thanked the Ichiraku family and walked towards his apartment building. Climbing up the fire ladder, Naruto first walked past his door and rapped on his neighbor's. Had Naruto not been friends with Sasuke, and rapidly becoming a friend with Shuko, neither would ever consider living in the same building as Naruto. Of course, after spending the first few days out of the hospital in his apartment, Naruto convinced them that they should just move in beside him.

Naruto reminded Sasuke that they should get a move on, and as such, they walked towards the mountain.

Back to actual time…

"So, if my team is pre-determined, and yours can be achieved through grades," noted Shikamaru, looking at Naruto, "is there anything we can do to make sure Kiba and Shino are on the same team? This seems troublesome."

Naruto shrugged.

"Do they have something in common that would make a sensei want to combine their skills?" Choji, who was becoming more inquisitive as time went on, asked this question.

"Their family jutsu are pretty good for sensory-type missions." Pointed out Sasuke, who had some level of knowledge about both families. Shino nodded, while Kiba gave a thumbs-up. Akamaru wagged his tail. That was all.

"So, we just have to pass this genin exam itself – has everyone studied well enough?" Inquired Shikamaru, who started pulling out the notes he had brought with him.

"Only issue is the Bunshin technique." Said Naruto, who had always struggled with it. Shikamaru nodded. At this point, the six had done just about everything they could to help Naruto with that technique, but it just didn't work most of the time. Hopefully, lady luck would shine down on Naruto.

The next day, Shikamaru's hope wouldn't come true, but Naruto was tracked down by someone else.

"Naruto-kun, may I speak with you for a minute?" Naruto looked up to see Mizuki, one of the sensei who always seemed to treat him alright, and had asked Iruka to let him pass without the Bunshin.

"Mizuki-sensei, how are you?" Asked Naruto with a weak smile.

"I'm alright, but I imagine things are a little rougher for you, no?" Naruto nodded. "What if I could help you out a little? The make-up test isn't really used anymore, but I bet I could make an exception for this time." Naruto's ears perked up as he looked at his sensei.

"Naruto, have you heard of the Scroll of Seals…"

A few minutes later, Naruto was in Sasuke and Shuko's apartment, talking to the two Uchiha.

"There's no way this is real." Said Sasuke, as Shuko nodded.

"Nii-san is right – our family was the old police force, you know. Breaking and entering the Hokage's office is such a serious crime that the ANBU usually dealt with it, not us." Naruto frowned.

"What should I do then? I need to become a genin!" Shuko put her chin on her hand and looked out of the window for a couple of seconds before snapping her fingers, clearly seeing something the others couldn't.

"What if we told the Hokage about this plot, and then worked on a plan to catch Mizuki? The Hokage will see Naruto is smart and will give him his rank!" Sasuke pondered a few seconds before nodding, and then turning towards Naruto.

"That might work." Naruto nodded, grateful. He was desperate to become a shinobi. One journey to the Hokage's office later found Naruto standing alone before his Jiji.

"Naruto, good evening. Is everything alright?" Naruto shook his head, and informed the elderly Sarutobi about the 'make-up exam', and suggested that he could trick Mizuki and use himself as the bait for a trap. Sarutobi looked pensive at this suggestion, but eventually decided to go along with young Naruto's plan.

Several minutes later, Naruto was in the forest, looking through the scroll, before he saw a very interesting-looking technique – the Kage Bunshin. After quite a bit of practice, Naruto became aware of two people approaching his location. Turning, Naruto saw Iruka-sensei. Iruka, being both a responsible older brother figure and Naruto's teacher, was enraged.

"You idiot! What on earth are you doing? You could be tried for treason, Naruto! You need to return that scroll immediately!" Iruka was then cut off by the second person.

"Naruto, give the scroll to me!" Iruka then turned towards Mizuki, an unspoken question working its way through the Umino's mind.

"I learned a Jutsu from the scroll, Mizuki-sensei! I did just what you asked me to! Am I a genin now?" Mizuki gave a wicked grin.

"Give the scroll to me, and you'll be a genin." Naruto was winding up to throw it to him. In reality, Naruto wouldn't, but Iruka didn't know that.

"Naruto, stop! Mizuki is tricking you! He is lying!" Naruto turned towards Iruka, but was cut off by Mizuki.

"Naruto, you want to know something? The entire village is lying to you! You aren't some normal kid! You are the nine-tailed fox who attacked the village! You are the reason the Yondaime Hokage is dead! The Yondaime was Naruto's idol, and as such, hearing those words was cripping to the young Uzumaki.

Am I really the reason he's dead? Naruto thought, faltering briefly. Naruto assumed that nothing Mizuki said or did would rattle him, but apparently he was wrong.

"Don't you see how the villagers look at you, Naruto? How they hate you, how they fear you, how they talk about you? It's because they aren't just talking about some boy, they're talking about a demon!" Naruto, still lost in his thoughts, didn't notice the massive shuriken flying towards him, but did hear the squelching sound of their impact, and saw a shadow over him, blocking.

Naruto's heart stopped as he saw the massive shuriken sticking out of Iruka-sensei's back, and ran away.

"Iruka, why would you take a blow for such a foul beast? Look at him, using you and running away…" Iruka coughed.

"That's what a beast would do." Naruto felt sadness overcome him again as he crouched behind a tree. "But he isn't a beast. He's a shinobi, he's my student, and even now he's ten times the man you will ever be, Mizuki!" Naruto looked towards the clearing and saw Mizuki approaching the wounded Iruka.

"Shame you feel that way. The very least I can do is put you out of your misery, I suppose." Naruto now felt rage overcome him. Iruka-sensei would not die here. Naruto knew, in his heart of hearts, that he needed to protect his sensei. Dashing out from beyond the cover of the trees, Naruto formed a hand seal that would one day become iconic – his crossed Kage Bunshin handseal.

Much to the young Jinchuriki's delight, hundreds of clones popped up, shocking the other men in the clearing, and giving Neko and Tenzo, who just arrived, something to look forward to.

The two ANBU would later claim that they were, in no way, shape, or form, consuming popcorn as Naruto army of clones beat Mizuki to the moon and back, but Sarutobi's crystal ball said otherwise.

Iruka looked at Naruto, as his student apologized over and over for the wounds he had taken, and was shocked that the young Uzumaki had planned this out with the Hokage in order to lure out the traitorous Mizuki. Several seconds later, Naruto now found himself in possession of his sensei's hitai-ate, and knowledge that he passed.

As the next day rolled around, Naruto sat down with his friends. All of them, with the exception of Sasuke, had celebrated graduation with their families, so the fact that Naruto had to undergo his second exam was unknown. However, Naruto put the memory of the previous night behind him as his team was announced – him, Sasuke, and Sakura Haruno, with a sensei by the name of Kakashi Hatake.

After the first Jonin sensei picked her team up – Hinata Hyuga, Kiba, and Shino, Iruka left the room, telling all students to stay until their sensei arrived. While Naruto waited, and saw each team get picked up by their respective sensei, Naruto allowed his mind to wander.

While Naruto and Sasuke learned how to be more or less on the same page over their years living in the same building and going through the same experience of being an orphan, Sakura had a different relation with the boys – she detested Naruto and revered the last Uchiha. This issue was exacerbated by the fact that once upon a time, Naruto was deeply jealous of Sasuke because of the pink-haired girl's affection for him. While these feelings had decreased in intensity, Naruto still felt vestigial anger from his old jealousy.

Blinking to stamp out his emotions, Naruto stared at the clock at the front of the room – they were the last team, and had waited at least ten minutes longer than any other team. Feeling slight frustration, Naruto turned towards Sasuke, who raised an eyebrow at the blonde's frustrated, yet determined expression.

"Want to make this man pay for making us wait this long?" Sasuke cracked a small grin.

"What's your idea?" Naruto grinned. Sakura through them both a look.

"Sasuke-kun, don't listen to him. There is a reason that he's the dobe. Actually, there's probably a lot of reasons." Sakura's initial sentence was mentally matched by Sasuke and Naruto, although neither knew their thoughts lined up so well: Yeah, there is a reason. He/I chose to be dead-last.

"Well," said Naruto, ignoring his other teammate for now, "Shadow clones exist, they aren't just illusions like Bunshin." Now, both teammates were interested, even if Sakura was more skeptical than anything else.

"Oh?"

"I was thinking about sending a couple back to my apartment. They can bring some supplies back here, and we can set something up." Sasuke nodded, but added his own terms.

"Whatever you bring, make sure there's nothing too… incriminating. Also, make sure it won't need major cleanup. I don't want to spend my first day as a genin doing detention." Naruto grinned at his neighbor and nodded, before creating a couple of clones who grinned wickedly and exited the building.

Not terribly far off, Kakashi looked at the two clones and figured out where they were headed. While he was sure that Naruto had some reason for sending them, it probably wasn't his business, and, quite frankly, Kakashi didn't give a damn as long as the three stayed in the classroom until he arrived. Plus, Jiraiya-sama's new book really was something else, thought Kakashi.

The chapter he was curerently reading featured a, er, romantic bedroom scene featuring Kashika, a mysterious shinobi, Panko, a sadistic but intensely attractive kunoichi, and Gaia, Kashika's kunoichi rival, a master of exercise who admired Kashika's mysterious nature.

Several Hours Later

Naruto and Sasuke sat back, trying to look as bored as possible. Sakura was suppressing a sly grin as she kept looking towards the monstrosity that Naruto and Sasuke had constructed, before turning away and forcing her expression to remain neutral.

Eventually, the door opened, and a man with gravity-defying silver hair and a mask walked into the room. As he walked inside, several traps sprang into action. Firstly, balloons filled with bright red and orange paint flew at the jonin, as several stink bombs rolled under his feet before detonating, letting forth a smell that could only be suitably described as the anger of one thousand skunks.

As the Jonin sensei of Team 7 avoided the balloons, sidestepped the stink bombs before they detonated, and dodged the paint cans that swung from the ceiling a minute later. Of course, he did all this, yet failed to dodge the eraser jammed in the door.

Kakashi looked towards his students. He immediately knew who was primarily responsible – orange paint was something of a specialty of Naruto's, yet the masked Jonin wasn't as sure who all supported him. He knew that Naruto had something of a good relationship with the last two Uchiha, but that boy was known more for his stoicism rather than any specific pranking tendencies. The girl, while amused, was also known for her frustration with Naruto and her adoration of Sasuke. Perhaps then, the last male Uchiha in Konoha had to be involved, otherwise her reaction would likely steer more towards frustration than anything else.

Little did Kakashi know, he was not the only one remembering Naruto's younger years, as Naruto wondered if his new sensei was Inu, the captain of his favorite ANBU squad. Deciding that there would be a few ways to test this possibility, Naruto placed his most innocent, angelic smile on his face and decided to see what would happen.

"Well, I must say this isn't exactly the normal way to greet your new Sensei." Deadpanned Kakashi, eyes flickering on his students, but resting on Naruto. "Wouldn't you agree?" Naruto, seeing his sensei's expression and interpreting it as somewhere between 'your innocent face is full of shit' and 'I wonder how much I can maim these kids without someone calling me out?' Naruto rather hoped it was the former, but felt no guilt for his actions.

"Gomen, sensei. We were all asleep after the first hour of waiting for you to show up. Maybe if you were a little earlier we could've caught the prankster!" Naruto wasn't fully lying – if Kakashi did show up earlier, he probably would have caught his most mischievous student and his right-hand man in the middle of their prank setup.

"I see." Said Kakashi, eyes not leaving Naruto. "Well, meet me on the roof, we can do our introductions there."

Five minutes later saw Team 7 sitting on a bench on the academy roof, facing their sensei.

"Let's do some basic introductions," said Kakashi, his one-eye smile in place, "let's mention some important information – your name, your goals, hobbies, dreams, stuff you like and dislike, that sort of stuff." Kakashi demonstrated with his own.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like some things, I dislike others," his eyes briefly flickered to Naruto, and the young Uzumaki boy fought hard to keep his wicked grin off of his face, "I have some hobbies, and I suppose I have a dream or two." Naruto was now almost certain this was Inu. Inu, even more than the ANBU in his squad with the possible exception of Itachi, put very little of himself out there. Next, he gestured to Sakura to introduce herself.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My dreams are to be a great kunoichi, and maybe…" she looked briefly at Sasuke before blushing and turning away. "I suppose I like my parents and my friends, and I enjoy all sorts of stuff." Kakashi gestured for her to continue, as she realized what she had forgotten.

"And I dislike Naruto!" Said blond dropped his head into his lap unhappily, as Kakashi felt a mix of pity and sadistic satisfaction at how the tables had turned.

"I guess I'm next." Said Naruto, energetic grin plastered on his face again, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like my friends, Ichiraku Ramen, my old nii-sans, and Jiji, I don't like cruel people. My dream is to become Hokage, and to help my friends achieve their goals." Kakashi felt a wry smile creep up beneath his mask, while his heart clenched just a little.

Kakashi, while he had seen much of Kushina's personality in Naruto, felt a wave of nostalgia upon hearing his dream – the dream of Hokage was not only one of Minato-sensei's more outward goals, but a desire to help friends was right up his old sensei's alley. Of course, a little part of his positive reaction might be the fact that Naruto also had positive memories of Kakashi's old ANBU adventures, but that totally wasn't a part of it. At all. Definitely.

"I guess I'm last. My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like my friends and the people who have helped me out over the years," In this last statement, he was directly referencing Naruto – the blonde had done a great deal for him and Shuko that no adults had ever done. As his clan was rather isolationist, all things considered, no adult friends of his parents nor Shuko's parents were willing to adopt them. Instead, the Sandaime Hokage had told them to pick out a reasonable apartment, and purchased the two survivors some cooking instructions along with basic supplies for a home.

"I dislike a lot of things, but mostly suck-ups and fools" Sakura assumed this was a reference to Naruto. She was not correct.** "And I suppose I have a dream, but it will come true. There's someone out there who I will remove from this world, and nothing is going to stop me."

Naruto nodded, his eyes taking a downcast turn. Kakashi, while having no visible reaction, knew both of the massacre, as one of the first ANBU on-site, but also knew there was a certain weirdness to the massacre, not only because of the sudden shift in Itachi's personality, but also because he had, along with other ANBU from that time period, observed the Uchiha clan for anything suspicious.

Sakura was left in the dark, but this realistically wasn't her fault – Naruto only knew what was going on because of his close, and rather intimate relationship with the people at the heart of the massacre, and Kakashi was both a high-ranking ex-ANBU, and the old captain of Itachi.

"Well, now that we've gotten pleasantries out of the way, I should inform you all that you actually have one more test before becoming a genin." This drew the attention of his students. "Meet me in Training Ground Three at eight tomorrow morning." The three nodded.

"And also, a word of advice: don't eat breakfast. I'd hate for you to make a mess in the training ground." With that ominous word of advice, he dismissed his team, and watched as Sakura and Sasuke left, the latter wondering why Naruto was sticking around.

"I'll catch up with you in a bit!" Said Naruto, as the Uchiha survivor nodded and left. Naruto turned towards his sensei, wicked grin shifting to a more pensive, thoughtful smile. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, wondering why Naruto was sticking around.

"I'm glad you're still alive, Inu-nii-san." Kakashi's visible eye widened ever so slightly, but Naruto didn't see.

"You know, the identities of ANBU are kept secret for a reason. What makes you think I'm your 'nii-san'?"

"I didn't mention that Inu was in the ANBU." Kakashi chuckled.

"Actually, you did. Remember the things you said you like?" This time, Naruto's expression became embarrassed as he realized that he did remember such a thing.

"You're right, but I don't think many people have hair like that." Said Naruto, gesturing towards his sensei's silver, gravity-defying hair.

"Fair enough." Said Kakashi, realizing that lying wouldn't do much good.

"You know, I wondered what happened to you. Obviously, I know about Karasu and Weasel, and I still see Neko and Branchy around the village from time to time, but mostly Neko." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, wondering why her in particular. Naruto saw this and quickly reminded Kakashi that long purple hair does very little for preserving one's secrecy in terms of their identity. Amused, Naruto walked off to Sasuke and Shuko's apartment, knowing they'd have at least a couple hours to plan before she came back from the academy.

As he knocked on Sasuke's door and was let in, the two enjoyed a lunch of salad, dressing, and sandwich meat, as Naruto explained why he was late.

"Kakashi-sensei was an ANBU a few years back – he was Shisui-sensei's captain." What was unsaid between them was that he was also Itachi's old captain, but Sasuke put the dots together quickly enough.

"Huh. What do you think the test will be?" Naruto shrugged, before pulling out some paper and a pen.

"What's that?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who was watching the various designs the young Uzumaki was sketching.

"I was thinking about using a tattoo as the catalyst for Gentoshin no Jutsu, for our meetings." Sasuke looked at the various designs, which showed animals, and various drawings of the mountain.

"What if we used 'Ku' instead?" Naruto drew the Katakana symbol on his drawing, and stared at it for a second before nodding.

"I like that. That way if someone sees it, they won't look around the mountain." With that in mind, Naruto and Sasuke delivered the tattoo ideas to the other Yama members, who agreed readily. Each member placed the tattoo on his left shoulder, as Sasuke and Naruto knew that ANBU typically had a tattoo on their right. As such, should any of them join ANBU, there would be no issues.

As the tattoos were placed, each member got into his own home, with only Naruto and Sasuke being in the same room; the latter's apartment. Running through the hand-seals and channeling his Chakra, Naruto closed his eyes and opened them, but he was now in the Ku room, and noted that despite sitting down in the real world, his multi-colored, semi-transparent image was standing up, holding the ram hand sign. Undoing the seal, Naruto looked around, as Shikamaru and Shino's semi-transparent images flickered in, followed a few seconds later by Sasuke's.

"Naruto, this may be troublesome, but I don't think Choji and Kiba will know what to do." Naruto frowned and tried to project his thoughts as the scroll had encouraged him to: Choji, Kiba, try channeling your chakra to the tattoo I gave you. Doing as instructed, the Inuzuka and Akimichi found themselves in the room as well, looking at themselves and everyone around.

"Well, I don't look half-bad!" Said Kiba, inspecting his now orange and purple fingers.

"So, I guess this jutsu works pretty well." Said Shikamaru, looking around. "Any reason you wanted to call this meeting, Naruto?" He nodded.

"We were wondering what types of exams your Sensei will be giving you tomorrow."

"Ours just wants some one-on-one sparring to gauge where we're at – she said it's unlikely we'll fail." Said Kiba, as Shino nodded.

"Asuma-sensei wants us to use our Ino-Shika-Cho formation, and then do a little one-on-one sparring." Said Choji, who looked nervous at the sparring.

"Why do you ask?" Asked Shikamaru.

"Ours is doing something different." Said Sasuke.

"He told us to arrive early in the morning, and to not eat breakfast." Choji's eyes narrowed.

"One of the core concepts of Shinobi health is to eat before a mission – you can't do very much on an empty stomach." Kiba nodded, his clan preached a similar philosophy for their human and ninken members.

"Yeah, Choji's right. What's your sensei on about?" Naruto shrugged.

"We have no idea, that's why we asked you guys." Shikamaru let the gears in his mind run for a bit before asking his next question.

"Just who is your guys' sensei anyhow?" Naruto answered.

"A guy by the name of Kakashi Hatake. He used to be an ANBU captain." This drew the attention of the others. While Asuma was definitely no slouch in terms of his history, he also wasn't terribly high in the village hierarchy. Kurenai's reputation was more lackluster compared to both, considering she was a new Jonin.

"That's odd. Odd, and troublesome. Do you think he's lying to you guys? It sounds like something ANBU would do." Naruto and Sasuke turned towards each other. Neither had thought of the possibility of their sensei lying.

"It would certainly make sense. That is because it is in the shinobi job description to lie and deceive when necessary." Said Shino, his shades turned towards Naruto.

"But it's not really necessary, is it?" Said Kiba, although he agreed with Shino's point.

"Like Naruto said, Kakashi-sensei is an ANBU. Maybe his test is just stricter than the other sensei – it would explain a couple things." At this point, Sasuke and Naruto were more uncertain than anything else – Shikamaru's analysis of their situation made sense, but neither wanted to take an active step and potentially screw up their chances of becoming Shinobi.

Sasuke didn't want to ruin his family's legacy, and Naruto didn't want to be a three-time failure, especially because his classmates had such a comparatively easy test. Sighing, Naruto and Sasuke agreed to at least think about what was going on before long.

Additionally, Naruto said they should suspend their meeting for a later date, incase Shuko walked in. To their knowledge, no one knew about their secret organization – none of the boys had told their family members, Naruto hadn't told Iruka or the Sandaime, and Yakumo was never told what her artwork was purchased for. Of course, both Yakumo and the Sandaime knew that something was going on, and had a pretty good idea of where, but neither saw the need to directly intervene.

As their meeting ended, Naruto and Sasuke finished up their lunch and cleaned off their dishes, as Shuko came back from the academy. While some Uchiha had shorter hair, many wore long hair kept back in a ponytail or otherwise. Shuko was one of these Uchiha, having long, dark hair that she kept in a braid using senbon. After greeting Shuko, the two boys were hounded with questions about their new team, their new sensei, and their new test.

Later on, after Naruto had left to get dinner at Ichiraku's and turn in for the night, Shuko and Sasuke had a rather heated debate about what should be done about their Sensei's command.

"I'm not going to disobey our sensei on our first day, Shuko!" Shuko glared at her elder cousin.

"I don't care, nii-san. You and Naruto-nii will get something in your stomach tomorrow, even if I have to jam it down your throat!" One of the side-effects of the Uchiha massacre and the psychological impact it had on Shuko was her attachment to her elder brother figures, the last vestiges of her family – should either of them be in remote signs of trouble, she would rage through every obstacle necessary to find them, drag them out of their situation, and then express her disapproval until deafness became a very real concern for the elder Uchiha and his Uzumaki friend.

The next morning, Shuko made good on her promise. Waking up before the crack of dawn, she blocked the door to their apartment until Sasuke sat down and consumed Miso soup, and cooked rice with natto. Additionally, she gave Sasuke a small package of rice and natto wrapped in seaweed.

"For Naruto-nii." She said, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke shrugged and accepted the package – if he was going to break the rules willingly or otherwise, Naruto should do the same. Rapping on Naruto's door, the blonde answered quickly enough and headed to the training ground, eating the rice, natto, and seaweed as they walked.

Arriving at eight, they met up with Sakura and waited for their sensei, who, as they later found out, wouldn't show up for another three hours. Needless to say, the two boys were simultaneously grateful towards Shuko and felt pity for Sakura, who seemed to have taken her sensei's word to heart. As the man showed up, he informed them that they each had one hour to get a bell – whoever didn't would be sent back to the academy, tied to a pole, and given no lunch. Following this, Kakashi said that he had serious doubts if any of them could even land a hit on him.

As the three split up, Naruto decided he wanted to talk with his best friend before proceding further in this exam, but also knew that he needed time. Quickly summoning a few dozen Kage Bunshin into existence, he allowed them to fight Kakashi while he found Sasuke.

As he met the Uchiha, the two started talking.

"Looks like Sakura's gonna have to be left behind, right?" Naruto pondered before shaking his head.

"I don't think that's possible – have you ever heard of a team with only two genin on it?" Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Have you ever seen a genin test like this before?" Naruto opened his mouth to answer, before realizing something.

"This test was based on a lie to begin with, what with the breakfast rule and all. What if this is just another lie?" Sasuke thought through Naruto's point, and was about to answer before Naruto jumped a little.

"Sasuke, we need to hide."

"What?"

"My clones, I don't know how, but I can see what happened. Anyway, you know how Kakashi-sensei said we would never hit him?" Sasuke nodded.

"Well, he was right, but while they didn't hit him, they cut up his book." Sasuke's eyebrow raised.

"His book? The perverted one?" Naruto nodded.

"The instant a clone slashed through his book, he started killing them all." And suddenly, Sasuke understood.

"He's going to kill you, isn't he?" Naruto had time to do little more than nod before the two boys became aware of something rushing towards them, and a sensation of dread overcome them.

"Run!"

*It should be noted that Yama's hideout is little more than 1% of the mountain itself, and thus Shino's technique has very little effect, all things considered.

** A little note about characterization in this fic: while some may interpret this as simple Sakura-bashing, I am going for a more realistic perspective on her behavior and psychological state – she dislikes Naruto and like Sasuke, and as such, believes that Sasuke's words are similar to her worldview. Additionally, 12-year olds are generally delusional, even if it's just a little bit in the grand scheme of things.

Something else worth pointing out is that in this chapter, Shuko seems to fix everything she possibly could - she comes up with the solution to the Mizuki dilemma, and forces both boys to consume food before their exam. As such, I feel the need to state that I do not expect her role to be as major in future chapters, and she will not be some game-breaking character who fixes everything, and is the absolute pinnacle of perfection. In this chapter, she manages to avert disaster, but will not be some god-tier OC insert.

For those who have an interest in the upcoming chapters, here is my rough timeline:

May 24: Publish this chapter, complete outline for the next chapter, starting with where we left off and ending with Fu.

May 25-28: Will be out of town with rather sporadic internet, which means I will have ample opportunities to storyboard, write, and edit various chapters. As my college starts in August and ends in May every year, I have plenty of time both before my summer job starts, and my various commitments kick in. This weekend will be a great period of writing.

~May 29: Publish next chapter, continue/finish following chapter.

Early June: Depending on how far ahead of my own schedule I am, I will see what I can do about finishing my next chapter for Hypotheticals (DW), and then work towards finishing and posting the new chapter.

I will likely not have too many more updates between early June and late June, at which point I start working. I will likely only write sporadically, and do light storyboarding during July. In the weeks before August, I will likely be more busy than I am now, but will do what I can to make updates happen. My goal is to crest 100k words for this fic before I return to college, and will see what I can do about preparing and posting new chapters for Thanksgiving break, Winter break, Spring break, and next summer.

Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you all are having a solid day.

~KoS