Okay, so I may have lied again. Sorry, it's becoming a bad habit. It's a short chapter, but the next chapter should be out fairly soon. Sorry for the long delay, but I've been dealing with personal issues as well as college, always fun. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Even after all this time, Naruto still, doesn't belong to me.


"Kiba Inuzuka," Iruka called out. Kiba got out of his seat with a knowing smirk. The class had been performing various jutsu as well as taking a written exam all day. Today was the graduation exams.

Iruka stood at the front of the class expectantly. "Just like your classmates before you, you are to perform the clone jutsu. As you know, you need at least two fully functional clones to pass. You can begin whenever."

"Ha! Childs play. I got this in the bag!" Kiba exclaimed arrogantly. He walked over to the front of the class with Akamaru on his head as usual. He readied his stance and put his hands in the Ram sign.

"Clone jutsu!" And with four puffs of smoke, there stood four Kibas, all with smirks on their faces.

"Very good Kiba. You pass." Iruka said with a smile. Then with four more puffs of smoke, the clones dispelled.

"Heh, told you so. I bet I can make the most in the entire class." Naruto couldn't help but think that Sasuke's lost arrogance must of migrated to Kiba. The dog boy sat back down and propped his feet on his desk and put his hands behind his head. Iruka just sighed at the boy.

'Man I sure hope that kid grows up. His arrogance might get him killed on a mission one day,' Iruka thought solemnly.

"Alright, next up is Sasuke Uchiha. Please come to the front of the room," Iruka said with his trademark teacher smile.

Sasuke just huffed disinterestedly and got up to make his way over. Naruto shot him a smirk and just couldn't resist.

"Come on Sasuke-chan you can do it! Don't mess up and make puddles of goo!" Naruto yelled with a grin. Sasuke just gritted his teeth at the "fangirlish" remark. He just muttered 'whatever dobe' under his breath as he took his position. Naruto's remark however brought a wave of snickering from the other boys in the room as well as Iruka, and a wave of glares from the girls, aka 'fan club de Sasuke'. Sasuke just waited for the snickers to die down before he readied his stance. He, unlike Kiba, had a relaxed pose and pulled up one hand in a half ram seal. Without uttering the jutsu, ten puffs of smoke filled the room. There standing were ten Sasuke's.

"Great job Sasuke! You definitely pass with flying colors." Iruka said with a grin.

Sasuke just dispelled the clones and went back to his seat, all the while the 'fan club de Sasuke' were cheering loudly at the oh-so-talented Uchiha. Sasuke just sat down with a huff.

"Hey good work there Sasu-kun, for a minute there I didn't think you'd be able to pass," Naruto said with a devious smirk. Sasuke just shot the blonde a glare. He would remark on Naruto's lack of ability to do better, but Sasuke very well knew what Naruto was capable of, or at least what he showed him in their sparring sessions. He knew that Naruto could make shadow clones already, so regular clones would be a joke for him. Sasuke then turned his head with a "hn" to look out the window. So far, all the tests had been painfully simple for the Raven haired boy. He could only imagine what Naruto was going through.

"Next up is Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka said with a smile once again. Naruto smirked at this and decided he'd show off just a little before he intentionally, or rather unintentionally failed. Naruto had been thinking about this day for a while now. He wasn't sure whether or not he'd show off any or if he'd just wait until they were assigned teams. He decided against it for the most part, but this being the last test that he knew he was going to fail, the blonde changed his mind.

"Alright sensei," Naruto said exasperatedly while waving his hand in front of his face.

"Do your best Naruto," Hinata said almost inaudibly. Naruto caught it however and smiled.

"Thanks Hinata-chan." With that Hinata's face grew bright red and snapped her head down to stare at her lap.

Then, before anyone could blink or even think, Naruto was just gone from his seat. Iruka was confused at first, then widened his eyes in realization. He seemed to be the only one that caught on to, because the rest of the class were either not paying attention, or were confused but not interested enough to care.

"Let's get this over with sensei." Iruka shot forward and turned 180 degrees to see a Naruto leaned back against the chalkboard with his arms behind his head with a bored expression. Iruka's sudden movement caught the rest of the classes attention and just added more confusion to the confusion that was already present. The only one that didn't really notice was Hinata, her being too wrapped in her thoughts about her 'not-so-secret' crush. Mukuzi also noticed Iruka's movement, but had otherwise not been paying attention, his nose being in a few stacks of documents. Not paying it any mind, he returned to his papers until he noticed blonde and orange.

Iruka quickly relaxed his battle stance and tried to wipe the look of shock off his face the best he could.

"Erm, uh, yes, please continue when you're ready," Iruka said a bit shakily. With that Naruto walked to the position in front of the lectern.

Our favorite purpled haired girl that was sitting in the seat next to Naruto's looked up out of her daze and then couldn't help but silently cheer on her object of affection.

'At first I didn't know what happened, but now that I do I just can't believe it. Naruto just moved from his seat to directly behind me in a mere instant! Silently at that! I didn't even see him move! It's like he teleported or something! That kind of speed is absolutely unheard of by someone that young! Just what are you Naruto? Have you been hiding your true potential from everyone?' These were the racing thoughts of Iruka, having a mini freak out in his head.

"Alright here I go!" Naruto exclaimed. He squatted down and took the same stance Kiba did. After growling a bit in concentration, one puff of smoke appeared next to the blonde. After the smoke cleared, there was a very sickly looking Naruto laying on the floor with its tongue unfurled and swirls for eyes.

"Well, I guess that didn't as good as I thought it would," Naruto said with a chuckle, very well knowing that this would be the result. With the insane amount of chakra that he has, Naruto was surprised he even managed to get the clone to look like this. He was slightly worried that it might have exploded or something. With that thought, he suddenly got an idea for his shadow clones, but filed it away for later.

There was silence in the classroom for a few seconds, until the entire class, minus a few, started bursting out laughing at the failed attempt at one of the simplest jutsu. Naruto just chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Iruka, seeing all of this, just couldn't make sense of it. Here was a boy that just demonstrated Jonin level speed, if not greater, moments ago, and yet he couldn't produce a single clone. After about of minute of fast-paste contemplation, Iruka calmed down and just decided that the speed he witness, or rather didn't witness was either a fluke or just him simply not paying attention.

Iruka took a deep breath and then started to try to get the class to quiet down. Sasuke was up in his seat in disbelief. He knew Naruto was capable of making sealess shadow clones, yet he couldn't make a single clone? He was just as confused as Iruka had been.

"Wow Naruto! Nice clone you got there! If I ever need a footrest I know who to ask!" Kiba exclaimed while holding his sides from laughing.

"Yeah I guess I'm just not cut out for being a shinobi," Naruto said sarcastically, chuckling at the comment. His sarcasm went unnoticed however amongst the noise.

After a few minutes Iruka had had enough, and then used his Bighead no Jutsu, so scream to get all of his students to shut up. After this, Iruka just sighed.

"Okay Naruto, I'm sorry but you fail for the third time. Better luck next year," Iruka said dejectedly. He was really hoping that Naruto would graduate this year with the friends he had made in his class. But there was nothing he could do unfortunately.

Naruto "sighed in defeat" and headed for his seat. He plopped down with mock sadness, which Sasuke picked up on. Hinata not knowing what Sasuke did about Naruto's abilities, had a worried expression on her face.

"I-it's okay Naruto-kun. Maybe you'll do so w-well in the other areas that they'll l-let you graduate," Hinata said softly, cautiously looking up at her favorite blonde.

"Eh, don't worry about it Hinata-chan, I'll be a shinobi this time next week, just you watch," Naruto whispered confidently. Hinata looked back down at her lap with a smile.

'That's Naruto for you. He never gives up no matter what,' Hinata thought fondly.

As Iruka continued reading off names for students to perform the jutsu, Sasuke decided to find out what was up with his blonde rival.

Sasuke leaned over to Naruto to whisper. "Hey dobe, what's going on, I know you'd be able to pass this idiotic test. Why did you fail it on purpose?" Naruto just chuckled.

"Believe or not Sasuke, it wasn't on purpose. I have so much chakra, that making clones is nigh impossible for me. They require so little chakra, that producing even twenty functioning ones would be like taking a grain of sand out of the desert of Suna. That's why I can do shadow clones remember? They require so much chakra normally that it's more or less my equivalent as far as chakra reserves go," Naruto explained, being sure to keep his voice down so that only Sasuke could hear him. Sasuke nodded in understanding at this, but was still confused about something else.

"You could have made shadow clones then and everyone would of been none the wiser. Why did you want to fail?"

"Eh, I'll tell you later. I do have my reasons though. Don't worry, I'll be a certified shinobi by the end of the week," Naruto whispered with a smile. Sasuke smirked at this, trusting the blonde's judgement.

"Whatever dobe. Just make sure you do. I'll look bad if you don't end up a shinobi, with me training with you all the time," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah. Don't you worry that pretty little emo head of yours." Sasuke closed his eyes with a huff at the comment and waited for the rest of the students to finish.

"Alright that's everyone. Great work this year everyone. I'm very proud of all of you and all of your improvements you've made. Congratulations to those who passed, and good luck next year for those who didn't," Iruka said with his teacher smile. "You will get the test results by mail in a few days with instructions on what to do from then. Besides you Naruto, you're all dismissed."

"Catch ya later dobe. Come by and train with me sometime this week."

"Alright then ja-ne." Witnessing this exchange, Sakura and Ino just glared at the blonde as they exited the classroom.

"B-bye Naruto-kun. I hope things turn out well for you," Hinata said before leaving.

"Thanks Hinata. I'm sure everything will," Naruto said with a reassuring smile. Hinata blushed at his visage as she went to go back to her compound.

"Nice one there Naruto. I knew you'd fail again this year. You are dead last after," Kiba remarked with a laugh as he walked by the blonde. Naruto smirked and thought, 'just you wait dog breath.'

With that the classroom steadily began to empty until only Naruto, Iruka, and Mizuki remained, with the latter at his desk looking over documents and tests. Once the last student left, Naruto got up to walk over to Iruka's desk where his sensei had taken a seat.

"You wanted to see me Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, I just wanted to double check something. When you went to demonstrate the clone jutsu, how'd you get behind me so fast?" Iruka asked with curiosity. He already wrote it off, but he had to make sure.

"I don't know, sensei, maybe you just weren't paying attention," Naruto responded disinterestedly. "Is that all?"

"Well, erm, yes, I suppose. I'll you see you back here in a month after breaks over then." Iruka said with a smile.

"I don't know sensei. I just might not be here," Naruto said with a knowing smirk as he walked out of the classroom.

"Well what does that mean?" Iruka asked himself, but just shrugged it off to start grading the tests that the students had taken that day.

Mizuki on the other hand, had been plotting something ever since Naruto failed the clone test.

'Yes, that'll do nicely. I'll trick him to getting the scroll of sealing for me. He's so pathetic and stupid, that demon brat is sure to fall for it,' Mizuki though deviously with a grin matching his thoughts. No longer attending to his assistant sensei duties, he began working out the logistics of his escape plan. 'Man I wonder what reward Lord Orochimaru will give me when he gets a hold of the scroll of sealing. Just the thought of it is making get all fired up!' he thought.

XXX

Naruto landed silently on the roof of a nearby building to wait for Mizuki and his so called 'offer'. He summoned his event journal, to see when the teme would be coming.

"Huh, well I guess I still have about an hour to kill. Say Kurama can I come and hang out with you until then?"

The fox just sighed. "If you must." She had given up on trying to make Naruto leave her alone and let her sleep peacefully. Whether she protested or not, he'd just come and annoy her anyway. Plus with what happened a few months ago, they had been spending more and more time together. You could say their bond had strengthened, but the proud fox would never say such a thing aloud.

*Flashback: Four months ago*

(Forest of Death: Naruto's training ground)

"Hey thanks for doing this Anko I really appreciate it," Naruto said with a smile.

"No prob gaki. It's the least I can do since you're trying so hard to get this fuck mark off me," Anko said with her trademark grin.

"Anyway could you explain what you're doing again and why you need my help, with maybe a little more detail?"

"Yeah sure thing. It's a precaution more than anything. I'm going to attempt to release the seal that binds the Kyuubi's chakra within me as I said before. Typically you'd need a certain 'key' to do this, which just happens to be currently at Mt. Miyoboku, the land of the toad sages. Right now I don't have a way to get there, so I kind of improvised. For the past few years, I've been working on a seal array that mimics the key. Since I haven't tried to release the full seal with it yet, I'm not sure if it will work. On top of that, I have to fight the Kyuubi for control of that chakra. If the Kyuubi wins, then it will be released. That's where you come in. If you see me start showing signs of releasing the Kyuubi, I want you to put these three seals on me and activate them as fast as you can. You get me so far?"

"Yeah I'm with you. Side note though, this is still fucking crazy. Anyway, continue."

"Alright. This first seal completely shuts down both the Kyuubi's chakra network, as well as mine, which in turn will rip me out of my mindscape. This has to be first. The second seal here, keeps me artificially alive until I can regain consciousness or my chakra network begins working again. The last one here is also a precaution, which can serve two purposes. One is if the 'seal key' I made doesn't work, then this will cancel it out before anything bad can happen. You'll be able to tell by my body suddenly reacting to something that isn't red, malicious chakra. The second purpose is if I lose the fight, it forcibly reseals the Kyuubi back in the seal by reactivating the seal matrix on my stomach here. The actual key for this seal can't reseal the Kyuubi, but this acts as a seal reversal. Hopefully it doesn't come to that because forcibly reverse sealing an eight tetragram seal that isn't meant to go backwards could potentially, ruin, my body. That one was a lot more theoretical so I'm not sure what the outcome will be besides the desired purpose. That's it as far as the seals go and why I asked you to help. I also want you to make sure the barrier seals I put up around this place hold. I'm pretty sure they will, but it's once again, just a precaution. Is that enough detail? Because I could go into the intricacies of the complex sealing matrices and how they function."

"NO." Anko stated firmly. Her head was already spinning from the influx of information she was receiving. She was by no means unintelligent, but this fuinjutsu went way over her head no matter how simple.

"Anyway, so I put these three seals on the seal on your stomach if I think the Kyuubi is about to escape, and this third one if your key thing doesn't work. That about cover it?"

"Yeah more or less." Anko swatted the back of the blonde's head.

"Then you should of just told me that! I don't give two shits about what they do as long as they work! Geez. Sometimes you're too smart for your own good," Anko said with crossed arms and an annoyed expression. Naruto had explained what he was going to do when he first asked her for help. She almost choked on her dongo in disbelief at the ridiculous notion. He had assured her that it would be okay, and that he'd be taking every precaution. Eventually she just accepted it and decided to trust the crazy kid.

"Hehehe sorry about that. I do tend to ramble when it comes to fuinjutsu," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Anyway are you ready?" Naruto asked suddenly serious. Anko, just as serious, nodded firmly.

"Alright then here I go." Naruto, in his typical meditative pose, closed his eyes and reached into his mindscape.

"So are you sure you're ready to do this? You can still wait until you meet Jiraiah to get the key from him," Kurama said with the smallest amount of worry in her voice. She didn't like the boy risking himself with seals the way he was about to do.

"Yeah I'm sure. Plus I get to pound on you again, which will be fun," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Pound on me will you? We'll just see about that. I never fall for the same trick twice," the fox said with her own smirk.

"Not only that, but I get to see dad again," Naruto said softly with a warm smile. Kurama just smiled at her vessel fondly.

"Man 'cus won't he be in for a surprise!" Naruto chuckled. "But anyway, time to see if my hard work paid off," the blonde said with a determined gleam in his eye.

Kurama watched the boy walk up to the iron bars and then float up to the seal.

"Well, first there's this." And with that, he ripped off the paper that had the kanji for 'seal' on it. Almost immediately afterward, Naruto felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. With a warm smile, Naruto almost couldn't contain his emotions.

"I've been looking forward to seeing you dad, ever since I came back," Naruto said with a lone tear streaming down his right cheek.

"You and me both son." Naruto turned around to face his deceased father, with another tear going down his left cheek.

"Heh, I bet you're wondering how I know you're my dad and why I'm unsealing Kurama," Naruto said wiping away his tears with his sleeve.

"Actually not at all," Minato said with a smile. "I've been watching you this whole time. Since my chakra was stored within you, I was able to see the memories you've been making. You can imagine how surprised and dumbfounded I was when a sudden influx of memories invaded your mind a few years ago," Minato said with a chuckle.

"Really? That makes things a lot easier then," Naruto said with a relieves sigh.

"By the way, I like what you've done to the place. Grassy fields over a bright sun. I wouldn't think our lovely fox over here would like such a setting," Minato said smiling once again. Kurama, who had begun to doze off while the pair talked, half-opened her eye and gave a slight growl. Naruto just chuckles at her antics.

"Well since we don't have to go over what we had to the last time, and now that our circumstances are quite a bit better than last time, can we just talk about your life since you know all about mine? Like some stuff about mom!" Naruto said excitedly. Minato once again chuckled at his son.

"Yeah sure thing. I think I have a few hours in here compared to the few minutes last time. Now where should I start?"

Over the next few hours, the two blondes talked about Minato's life, what had happened before Naruto's mind came back in time, times Minato spent with Kushina, and adventures that Minato had as a shinobi early on in his life.

Both were now just looking up at the artificial clouds with content smiles on their faces. "Well, Naruto, I'm so happy that we got to do this, and I'm so proud of who you've become, as well as what you've accomplished. Kami, like making a reverse eight tetragram sealing technique, that's just insanity. I would of never thought it possible, heh but leave it to the son of an Uzumaki."

"Yeah thanks for this dad. I think out of all the memories I've had in this life and previous, this is one of the best ones I've had."

"I'm glad Naruto." With that Minato began to light up and flake away. Both of them then stood up.

"I don't have much time left. One last thing that you already know though, I will always love you Naruto, and I'm so proud of you," Minato said with a radiant smile.

"Yeah, I love you too dad," Naruto said with tears in his eyes, before embracing his father as a last goodbye. Soon after the last of Minato's chakra body flaked away, leaving one very sad, happy, as well as content Naruto.

"You know Kurama you could of joined in if you wanted to. I'm sure you could of said something on some of the stuff we talked about," Naruto said turning back to the iron bars where the red ball of fur was laying.

"Eh. I thought I'd let you have that moment. It was an important to you after all," the fox said stretching out.

"Yeah but you're important to me too. I couldn't imagine having any more memories without you," Naruto said with his own radiant smile that was brighter than the artificial sun to the fox. Taken aback by the comment and not knowing how to handle it, the fox turned to lay down in the opposite direction.

"Anyway, unlock this thing and go see Kushina already," the fox said irritably, not irritably because of what Naruto said, but irritably because of her lack of knowledge on how to respond to what the blonde had just said.

"Sounds good to me." With that, Naruto activated the seal matrix on his hand, it traveling up his arm and extending to his chest. He once again floated up to the round seal, put his hand on it, and twisted it to the right. Suddenly, the iron bars dropped and phased through the ground.

"Hey it worked. Cool," Naruto said with a bit of relief. He was confident in his fuinjutsu abilities, but with such an obscure art as it is, it always paid to be careful.

"Naruto?" Naruto froze as the melodic sounding voice called his name out from behind him. Tears again started to form at the edges of Naruto's eyes. He turned around to see his beautiful mother standing there with a warm smile on her face.

"Mom."


Well, there it is. Not too impressive, but the story's moving along at least. Hope you enjoyed and once again sorry for the delay. Till next time.

PS: I added an important note/edit at the end of chapter 1 regarding this fic and some of the feedback I've been getting. You don't have to read it, but it clarifies a few things, and it's not very long so... please read it? Anyway, off to class!