The Uzumaki Chronicles: Rising Tides

by ShadowsEdge96

What if Naruto was trained by Itachi and Kurama early on in his life? What if the Uzumaki and Namikaze hid a dark secret about their clans? Watch as Naruto rebuilds himself from a broken boy with a shattered soul, to the beginnings of a warrior of legend, and start on a path to find both the pieces of himself, and his origins. Rated M for violence, gore, and sexual themes/lemons

10. Graduation'

Aaand here's the next update :D.

Sooo, just wanted to start this one off with saying that this fic is NOT for everyone...not in the least. Unless you're a fan of descriptive writing and what not, you're almost guaranteed to get frustrated with the pace that this story will go at. This is my first original fic, and it's basically my testing grounds for changes in my style and what not. I apologize for you faithful readers that want this story to go at a "regular" pace, but i don't think that's going to happen in this fic. If you want a faster pace, i'd suggest reading my other stories that go at a much faster rate than this one, because as it is, if you couldn't tell already, this is going to be a behemoth sized story simply because of it's nature. And i've accepted that not everyone is going to enjoy this story as much as i do, or the other readers that like this story and appreciate the time and effort that i put into it.

Buut, enough of that, without further ado...

enjoy :)

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Chapter Ten: 'Graduation'

'You cannot not care for anyone…'

One black-hooded figure could still hear the last words that his brother had said to him, before succumbing to his illness, and slipping into the coma that he had been in for what was now two months, though it seemed an eternity.

'You must not feel remorse or sympathy. A sense of justice, or morality…'

That had been after his last year of training. Training that had him on the edge of breaking both physically, and mentally. He had done more in a week's time after he put on the masks than he had in an entire month during his previous years of training with the slayer of the Uchiha.

'You cannot hesitate, or doubt yourself. Show, no mercy…'

And he had discovered more about himself during those week-like days and year-long months than he had thought possible. At least ability wise anyway. He still only knew mere whispers of who he was, and what he really is. Who his people were, and what they had truly been exterminated for.

'You cannot be bound to anyone, controlled.'

But he could not say the same, for Itachi.

'But above all else, remember…'

"No family."

The husky voice of a teenager who had seen and heard too much for his age sounded out above the hissing cry of stone running along the glistening blade of an ebony handled, silver ninjato. He sat with one leg hanging off a large, thick branch of a tower-like tree and the other stretched out with his back pressed up against the trunk. The forest of Death, hardly seemed to appeal to him anymore.

"No friends."

Naruto had spent the remaining year of academy going through training that he was sure no other could ever endure.

Minutes. Days. Weeks…

Months.

He lost track of how long he had 'been away' far sooner than he thought possible after his brother gave him the only remaining artifacts of his dead clan, apart from himself, that was accessible. The Sotogawa no kaigan masuku, Masks of the Outer Shores, had kick started his and his brother's operation.

Well…it was just his now. It was the second month now, but he hoped that when his brother wakes up, when he wakes up, that it would be as if he had never fallen asleep in the first place.

But, as things stood. Shadow Fall was established. A good number of the shops in Konoha were secretly under his symbol, and his organization's influence was starting to grow beyond the borders of just fire country.

The masks made sure of that. His brother, made sure of that.

Taking in a deep breath, the hooded blonde stood up and placed his sword back in its sheath. Its handle sticking out just above his right shoulder, and his two fang blades strapped to his back with the hilts pointing down for lightning fast draws, he was the epitome of what a ninja looked like.

And he did much more than just look the part.

He lightly hopped off the branch he was resting on, and plummeted through the air with the grace of an Olympic diver. His descend lasted a good five or six seconds, but to him, it was a small eternity.

Landing with only a small rustle in his wake and a slight pulse of chakra meant to spread the force of his sudden stop, the now fourteen year-old Uzumaki and Namikaze heir stood up to his height of five feet, and five inches. Just four inches shorter than his Uchiha brother.

Fixing his gear and adjusting the multitude of blades and seals he now kept concealed in and around his armor plated limbs, he set off to the last place he would never miss. The ninja academy of Konoha. His last day, and the day he could begin his quest to establish his persona in Konoha. He had taken to his brother's advice and waited to graduate from the academy to start his campaign from the inside out.

As of now, Shadow fall had a grand total of fourteen members. Hiashi and Hizashi had recruited three of their clansman to join, having run into difficulties sneaking more members under the watchful eyes of the elders. Hiashi had proposed to simply pay off the elders somehow, or find some way to keep them quiet. But having learned all he could from his brother, Naruto had told him that it was best to keep everything either under the radar, or ensure their loyalty. Their confidence wasn't high enough for the second option, so they went with the first.

Killing the elders was not an option, Shadow fall was much too young to be brought into light just yet.

Ko had been an excellent choice and was actually the first true 'recruit' of the currently small organization. He had been approached when Hiashi felt that Hinata was capable enough to be her own escort…the fact that she spent nearly all of her time outside of training with Naruto while bearing the knowledge that he was at the very least jonin material had nothing to do with his willingness to let her traverse the village without a guard. Nothing at all.

The Hyuuga had become quite the ninja after joining, and going through training under the taciturn Uzumaki had made him a fine Jonin. He was also training with the blind Hizashi, and quickly realizing that there was still much to be cautious of with the sightless Hyuuga. Ko was an exceptional scout for the Shadows (a shorter/alternative name for Shadow Fall), and also served as a skilled medic.

Within the Inuzuka clan he had recruited Hana, a Jonin who happened to be Kiba's sister oddly enough, and Nobu. A Chunin cousin of theirs who was all but too eager to join. If he remembered correctly, Hana had offered her loyalty the moment he mentioned the breaking down and rebuilding of the ninja system. Apparently, many of her clansmen had been killed in the last war while on scouting missions which she remembered having to tend to both Inuzuka's and their canine companions as a child. They served as scouts as well as taijutsu specialists for obvious reasons.

He found out real quick that the two dog clansmen were all for his idea of unity and strife for a peaceful world…Even if they had a lot of bodies to go through to achieve it.

From the Akimichi he received Masaso and Misashi, two brothers who were both chunin and had a passion for food like no other of their clan. They were also the group's cooks, and had single handedly created an assortment of various soldier pills and rations that were more efficient for their missions. Who would've thought the husky food destroyers were also formidable with a smith's hammer in hand? Naruto's armor as well as the group's weapons showed a significant increase in quality, and lethality.

The Yamanaka's had sent him three of their best. Eiko, a Jonin who had very…particular abilities with the mind jutsu that her clan was famous for. Satomi, a chunin who was balanced with her clan's jutsu, hand to hand combat and other jutsu. And finally, Yoji. He had been picked by Inoichi himself from the interrogation department, and Naruto could say with utmost confidence that when The Shadows were in need of a prisoner prodded for information, that they would have no trouble at all finding out what they needed to know.

The Aburame's were an odd lot, but could relate to him in many ways. Their strange practice's with bugs and essentially becoming living hives for them, had left them as outcasts within Konoha. They weren't targeted in the same way he was, but the villagers did go out of their way to avoid them. Afraid that somehow they would lose control of their bugs and the like.

He had received two chunin from them as well. Toshio, and Kenji. Both were as talkative as Shino…which meant they never spoke unless spoken too. But they were dedicated, and had taken to increase the offensive capability to their bugs as much as possible. They knew that full scale battles wouldn't happen anytime soon under the Shadow's banner, but when it was time to make their organization known, they all knew that Hell would rain down on them if they weren't ready.

Last, and unsurprisingly least were the Nara's. Shikaku had sent him five of his supposed 'best'. Out of the five, only one had actually mustered up the effort required to join. The rest had fallen out under the universal Nara motto of life, and simply said that the whole mission of Shadow Fall was just 'Too troublesome'.

Damn Nara's.

Shota, so far, had been an excellent addition to Shadow Fall, and took to being something of a one man librarian as far as records and dealings went. He was the calculative brain and served as an advisor as well. The guy was about as active as a rock, but he knew what was going on in the ninja world and hadn't led the Shadows astray so far. In fact, he had mentioned that there were pricing oddities in the market that had Naruto dig for more information and had come to find out that Gato, owner and CEO of Gato shipping industries, was on his way to water country. Particularly…

Wave.

Naruto ran a hand through his now somewhat lengthy hair. The red in it having claimed a quarter of his blonde locks with more full red strands than before. As of now, his hair made him look like a very rebellious version of his father when he was a teenager. His exotic mixture of cold and warm blue eyes made him look all the more mysterious, and dangerous.

He couldn't help but feel lost whenever his thoughts drifted towards water country. The reason being, was that Uzushio was in water country. His clan's village. His origin…his home.

He had wanted to go there with his brother in toe, but that wasn't possible anymore. And Tsunade had proven to be quite the elusive slug. From what he had heard about her gambling debts, she had to be. It shouldn't have been a problem, but as of now he had no resources or time to go out and search for the sannin. If he left now, he would become a missing ninja legitimately and even worse, a missing Jinchuriki.

Hunter ninja and Anbu would be on his trail wherever he went, and that would undoubtedly expose Shadow Fall. And that simply could not happen right now. Timing was everything in his world. If he revealed his organization now, it would crumble before it was even fully built. Too late, and he risked missing a chance to have the name of his organization known throughout the elemental nations. And hopefully, reach the ears of a certain group who bore the colors of black coats and red clouds.

Oh yes, he knew everything there was to know about the Akatsuki. Or more accurately, everything that his brother knew about them. After all, he used to be one. After growing up the way he did, and training himself to the point of breaking day in and day out for the better part of his childhood years, meaning all of it. He knew that whatever fairytale legend they were striving for couldn't, and wouldn't, end well. The whole thing spelled disaster, what with the idea of literally creating a dream world by waking up some ancient god that was sealed long ago.

Something just wasn't right about the whole thing. He could feel it in his gut. And he trusted that much more than some writing in stone.

"Naruto-kun!"

The hooded assassin looked up, and let everything that was storming in his mind fade away. Felt all the pressure of what he was doing, and what was to come disperse like a light mist under a warm sun. She was dressed in a grey sweater a size or two too big for her with dark blue Anbu pants and standard blue shinobi sandals.

"Hinata." He responded quietly, taking in the sight of his childhood friend with a small smile in correspondence to her warm, full one. 'Am I at the academy already?' he asked himself. Training ground forty-four wasn't exactly close to the ninja academy. But being who he is, and after all the work he had put into making his body nothing short of a weapon, it was natural for him to move at a pace that others would find just insane for someone his age. To put it simply, nobody under Jonin rank would stand a chance in a fight with him, let alone keep up with him.

Itachi…he had made sure of that.

Unless he had some objective to reach, Naruto hardly noticed the trip it would take him to get somewhere, having the tendency to drift into deep thought as he moved. He was broken out of his shadowed haze this time by a tight hug from the indigo haired teen that had successfully become one of the only people who he was bound to in the village. She had grown into a true beauty for one her age, when Naruto allowed himself to think of her that way.

Her hair was shoulder length now and she was about a head shorter than him, standing at just over five feet. She hadn't grown much height wise, but different could definitely be said about her body.

Naruto could feel the form of her back and the full hips that adorned her some ways further down where he had wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug. And he could feel the maddening softness of her now D-cup breasts pressing up against his chest due to their embrace. And if that weren't enough, her smell just served to make it even more difficult to concentrate. Her lavender scent burning his nose and body in the most frustrating of ways.

She was lean in every part that counted, and soft in all the right places.

The Hyuuga heiress was thinking along the same exact line as she buried her face in the nape of her childhood crush's neck, just underneath his chin. The way his strong arms wrapped around and engulfed her into his hard body made her feel like she was untouchable. The future life of being a ninja not worrying her in the least while she was in his arms like that.

"I missed you." The soft voice of a young teenager lulled his ears into nearly hearing nothing else but her gentle tone, despite everything that had been instilled into him to always be aware of his surroundings. To never lose focus.

Concern. Uncertainty…Fear. Relief. Hinata saturated so many different things into just those three words, that they always made him think of her whenever he went out on his personal missions for one reason or another. It always made him smile and frown at the same time. She always thought about him. Worried for him.

He gave a soft, playful snort, "I've only been gone for three days…You worry too much."

Cared for him.

It did not escape him that his shy lavender-eyed friend held more than just friendly feelings for him. And he was fully aware of his feelings for her in return. He couldn't quite place when he had developed them, but he did know why.

The Indigo-haired girl gave a small, almost inaudible huff in return, and locked her hold on him just a bit tighter as she closed her eyes and savored the moment.

She saw through him. Into him. Hinata knew more about him than any other save for his brother, emotionally. He kept nearly all of his ninja matters a secret from her. The only thing she knew was that he was, in fact hiding his true skill. She just didn't know how effective he was at doing that.

The pupiless, pale girl could see through his masks, and always knew how he was feeling inside. When he was angry, she calmed him. When he was stressed, she took him for a walk through the forests outside the training grounds, knowing that he enjoyed the outdoors more than the confines of a home or a park. When he was sad…she comforted him.

Yes, they had grown very close over the last three years of the Academy, and today they would be taking their final test to become genin. Naruto rolled his eyes mentally, as if he needed to wait this long.

"Hey, there's a place for that you know!" a light, but sharp-toned voice called out with just enough volume to make the pure soul in his arms jump.

'And there's the other one.' Naruto thought to himself as he and Hinata pulled away from each other. She sporting a blush, and he feeling the all too familiar sting in his chest for causing it.

He couldn't understand it. Why he couldn't just stay away from her. He was damned, and knew that his downfall was inevitable. Naruto knew in his heart that he would only break hers if he allowed her any more entry to his life than she already had. He was not entirely human, if at all. But she still…

A raspy and slightly gruff voice chuckled right after the feminine voice finished teasing, "Heh heh, yeah! Break it up you two!"

Their eyes stayed locked for a second. Hinata's pale orbs relishing the sight of his predatory slits for as long as she could before having to turn to greet the other blonde of their group. And Naruto's own teal and dark-blue eyes refusing to turn away from her serine gaze, despite how much he knew he should.

Hinata smiled a little, somewhat sad that their little private moment had been ended so quickly, "Somebody has to worry about you." She sighed quietly, answering his claim of her worrying too much after almost a minute of silence. Breaking eye contact first, she brushed the slightly lengthy bangs out of her eyes with her right hand. The uneven silky locks of hair were long enough to cover her eyes, but thin enough to only lightly veil them. Giving her framed face an allure that Naruto found himself unable to resist, and savored every look at her.

"Hello Ino-san, Kiba-san. A-are you ready for our last day?" the shy Heiress asked with her usual stutter. Nobody understood it. Sometimes she was as shy as a ghost, and at other times bolder than a tiger facing down an intruder in its territory. Usually she was shy with almost everybody else, and only got stubborn as an ox when it came to anything involving Naruto and a possible dangerous situation.

Her definition of dangerousalso changed with every appearance of her stainless-steel backbone.

Naruto lowered his eyes for a quick moment before turning to face the two arrivals of their now sizable group. "Hey there Ino."

Although the two blondes were still very much close friends, they had somewhat grown apart over the last year. For a number of reasons really, but Naruto didn't deny that most of them were because of him. He had changed over the months since the three had known each other. He rarely ever walked around with a light air around him anymore. Ino was especially perceptive of him as well. She could always tell he was tense, or prepared to lash out at anything in a moment's notice…usually both. It was funny really.

Hinata could read his eyes, but Ino could read his body. With the shy Heiress, he was like a locked door and she had the master key. His brother always said that the gates of the soul were in a person's eyes. But with the platinum-blonde Yamanaka, he was an open book…and she had a magnifying glass.

Both girls could see the real him, but each had their own interpretation. And he dare say that Ino could see what he had eaten for breakfast that morning with her ability to peer at his surface, and beneath it.

"Hi Naruto." Ino greeted with a small smile. Kiba and Hinata were a step or two ahead, carrying out a small conversation while the two blondes stayed a little behind. He had a special connection with Ino, just as Hinata did with him.

"Feeling confident on today's tests?" Naruto asked. Taking in the form of his other childhood friend. Ino had grown into quite the beauty herself. She had grown out her hair to a long pony-tail that went down past her shoulders and had a single bang hanging along the left side of her face. Her dress hadn't changed much, what with her sleeveless dark purple sweater and blue Anbu pants. But she had filled them in quite nicely.

She crossed her arms over her just under her now full C-cup breasts and furrowed her brow in a pout, "Yes and no. I do fine when I'm training with you and the rest of the group, but I get nervous under the instructor's eyes and wind up getting too rigid and sloppy."

Naruto nodded slightly, seeing how the sky-blue eyed Yamanaka would feel that way, "Not many people take to having their movements under a microscope." He flexed his hand as they walked through the hall on their way to their class, "But that would only be if you were performing a demonstration." He turned to her, giving her view of a single glinting and slitted eye, "Today you'll be fighting. You won't have time to feel nervous. Only act."

Most of everyone in their small group of friends had come to accept Naruto's sort of 'outsider' personality. Hinata, Kiba, Tenten, and Ino had all gotten used to his usual mysterious and somewhat dangerous atmosphere as well. Oddly enough, Kiba became quite the decent friend after his double-team spar against Naruto. It had been the one and only time he had ever engaged in combat at the academy, but he left no doubts about his abilities. Only questions.

Who would have known that all you needed to do to get Kiba to be a decent guy was to knock him out; and give him a good ass kicking to get him to be your friend?

Ino gave Naruto a small, innocent but curious smile, "You would know." It was not a question, but a statement. She knew that her friend was hiding himself from her. She just had no idea just how much he hiding. It was actually part of the reason she felt that they weren't as close as they used to be.

"Perhaps." came the response from her ever reclusive friend. She couldn't help but give a small sigh as they entered their soon-to-be, used-to-be classroom and notice a particular raven-haired boy wearing a navy-blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and khaki shorts, staring intently in front of him as if some invisible enemy was there.

Everyone went to their respective seats, leaving Hinata and Naruto to sit next to each other in the back of the class.

"Hey Sasuke." It had taken her a while, but Ino had developed a bit a crush on the silent Uchiha. The onyx-eyed boy had the same malevolent aura about him that Naruto had, but it wasn't as suffocating. She liked her long-time odd friend, truly, he would always hold a place in her heart. But, she couldn't get past his walls. Even when they were just spending time together as a group or by themselves, the heavy aura around him never left. How Hinata could withstand it was beyond her, but Sasuke wasn't that bad at least.

Besides, at least now she could rest easy knowing that Hinata had Naruto all to herself now. She couldn't imagine what would happen to their friendship if she had developed anything beyond friendly intentions for her fellow blonde.

Ino blinked as she realized that all she got in response while she was lost in her thoughts was a sideways glance and a 'Hn.'

She sighed and rested her head on her hand as the class's sensei walked in and greeted the class.

Iruka walked in, followed closely by Mizuki and both wore a serious expression on their face. Today was the start of many of the present student's long and treacherous lives as shinobi after all.

"Good morning class." The majority of the class responded with their own greeting, "Today is a day I'm sure you've all been waiting for. The last day at the academy. But, be that as it may, you still have some things you need to do first before you may put on a forehead protector, and call yourself a shinobi of Konoha."

The instructor's eyes fell on each and every one of his students, though they did linger on two individuals. One being a spikey red-tipped blonde and the other undoubtedly an Uchiha if his jet-black hair and onyx eyes were anything to go by.

"Today you will be judged on whether or not you are ready to begin the life of a ninja based off three tests. The first is a written test designed to see how much you know, and how much you retained throughout the academy. The shinobi is only dangerous if they remain unknown to their enemies, and if he or she knows everything about everybody else. Sometimes the difference between life and death is knowing your enemies abilities and being able to get them to show them to you without getting killed."

As Iruka was giving his little speech, he passed out a packet test to each student. The last test was Naruto's, and the brown-haired chunin couldn't help but feel like he was walking on egg shells around the blonde. The only time he had interacted with him aside from instructing was when he had tried to ask him to take his hood off in class.

That had been a mistake.

Aside from scaring half the room of potential ninja candidates with his eyes alone, the chunin couldn't help but feel as if he had put himself on his students list of undesirables, as bizarre as it sounded to himself.

"You have one hour to complete the test. Anything longer, and you wouldn't be here in the first-place. Good luck, my students."

He didn't like being that 'hard-ass' teacher, but one thing that Iruka Amino always stressed in his lessons was safety and teamwork. Safety meaning that he wanted all of his students in the best shape possible both physically and mentally. Teamwork was to basically become a family member with whoever you were working with, normally that's how the three-man cell worked.

Having handed out the tests and giving them the appropriate prep-talk, the academy instructor sat down and hoped the best for his students.

The class of clan heirs and heiresses got to work fast. Each student hoping to become a genin dug into their test like it was a jutsu scroll. Each one sported a focused brow showing the intensity of their effort going into their tests

All accept one.

One hooded figure flipped through the five pages of general and specific questions covering basic chakra theory to field tactics, summing up to a hundred and twenty-five questions in total, like it was disintegrating news report.

Skimming through the test packet, he let out a silent sigh at how bland it was. Were it not for the fact that a few questions actually pertained to what one would do during a mission and how one should defend a downed comrade or client, the young assassin would've thought it was just an advanced survival test.

But, he was still under the disguise of being an 'above average' student. He'd play along for one last day under a scope.

'Your teammate is down and you have an enemy squad advancing on your position, what do you do? Kill them.' That's exactly what he would do. He wouldn't risk trying to outrun the enemy squad because his mobility would be limited to a pace that would be catering to his wounded comrade. He wouldn't try surrendering because that just wasn't in his nature. The only option he would have is to hide his wounded teammate, and face the other team alone, or with whoever else may be in his cell.

Shadow Fall doesn't leave a man behind.

'You have been separated from your team during a scouting mission and you can see that one of your teammates has been captured. Do you leave them, and carry out the mission or attempt a rescue?'

Naruto's pencil snapped as he stifled a growl at the double standard question. What was taught in the academy was to complete the mission at all costs, but another and even greater rule, was to defend your team until your last breath. Protect each other at all costs. Did that not mean to save them if they are in enemy hands as well?

The hooded blonde chose to use his pull with the hokage and simply ignore the written test. It was designed to instill the fact that there is no right or wrong answer anyway. The entire thing was a ruse, anybody with a sense for being a shinobi would see that after the first ten questions, and he would have no part in it. The only part he figured would actually be graded was the section on chakra theory, and basic survival. Everything else was trivial, and had too many variables to be scored.

Hinata looked over to her crush and frowned slightly. He flew through the test like an angry wind before stopping completely. She peered at the page he had stopped on and a worried frown marred her face. 'He only did the first two parts. Why won't he do the last section?' She could feel it again. The restlessness in his chakra. She still didn't know why, but Hinata knew for a fact that Naruto had at least some idea why they could feel each other's chakra.

And she could tell that right now, her friend was conflicted.

Naruto eyed the sword he propped up against his desk. The Ebony hilt's glossy finish reflecting the image of his face with the light overhead. For a moment, his face flashed and a different image took its place. His face now adorned in a shadowy-grey shinigami mask, painted red with splattered blood. The look on the masks face was one of hunger, and pain, and sorrow melded in a way that just spelled agony for the one who wore it.

'Do you leave them…or do you save them.'

The next half hour was silent. Naruto kept a lock on his thoughts, and Hinata finished her test with confidence that she did fairly well on it.

After all the tests were collected, Iruka told the class to form two lines.

"This next test is to make sure that you can use a decoy and attempt to fool the enemy, making an opening in the process. The bunshin no jutsu is a standard distraction, and can save your life if applied properly. Are there any questions?"

For a moment, no one rose their hand. Each student feeling fairly confident in their ability to create a simple bunshin that required hardly any chakra at all to execute. Alas, there was the problem. It took hardly any chakra to do.

A pearly clawed hand went up, and everyone turned to see that it was the hooded Uzumaki that had a question, "Can someone use a different bunshin jutsu for this test if they don't have enough control to make a regular one?" he asked in his usual cold tone. He had very good chakra control for someone with his level of reserves, but a regular bunshin was just too simple of a jutsu for him to do. Granted he could do it, he'd just need to use his reaper's sight to do so. But, Naruto didn't feel like using that ability for such a simple jutsu.

A few snickers erupted in the two lines of students, one of which spoke out, "Hah, Uzumaki can't even make a bunshin! There's no way he's going to make Genin!"

Another round of snickers went around the classroom. Sasuke hid a small smile, while others in the class out right laughed.

"Settle down! Settle down!" Iruka held his hands up in a 'tone it down' gesture. The instructor raised an eyebrow at the strange question, having already formed a guess as to what he would receive in an answer, "Why do you need a supplement jutsu Uzumaki-san? The bunshin no jutsu is as simple as jutsu's come."

More hushed laughs escaped a few of the students at the notion of Naruto not being able to perform the simplest jutsu there is.

Said blonde merely shrugged a little as he put his hands in his pockets, not even registering the members of the class that were laughing at him. They weren't even flies compared to him, and their words did nothing but make him bored, "I have too much chakra to make a regular bunshin." The simplicity laced with his voice could make even a scribe feel stupid. His cold voice silenced everyone in the room. It never ceased to amuse him, how easily his peers were frightened of him.

And, he had never made a bigger understatement in his life. His knowledge of bunshins was unrivaled in the ninja world, so far as he knew. The reason? He is the last of a dead clan that has the necessary chakra, life force, and curse to make the ultimate bunshin…a long since forbidden technique. One that should've stayed forgotten, in his opinion.

Iruka thought it over for a second and decided to just let it slide like he usually did with the blonde. He was told to pass Naruto as a genin and to simply let him be during his years in the academy by his hokage. He wouldn't question his order, but he wouldn't like it.

"Very well."

Another half hour went by as each student stepped forward and created their bunshin. As an added bonus, they could attempt to perfectly henge into one of the instructors for extra points. Mostly everybody did and got the points, and now, Naruto was up next.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Called Mizuki with his usual undivided and intentionally displayed glare of hatred for him. Not that Naruto actually cared. If the half-assed instructor was foolish enough to attempt to harm him, he would find himself missing the limb he tried to use to do it before he could blink.

Naruto walked up seeming looking like he didn't have a care in the world with his hands in his pant pockets and hood on, but two in the class knew better. Hinata could feel that he was agitated, and Ino could see that his body was tense, coiled like a snake, and ready to strike in the blink of an eye.

He got in front of the class, and with a nod to continue from Iruka, Naruto brought his right hand up in a single hand seal and spoke softly, "Kage bunshin."

Another Naruto formed out of what looked like pitch-black smoke tendrils that darted out from his shadow. (I never liked the fact that "shadow clones" formed out of a puff of smoke, so I thought up a different version of it.)

Everyone whispered and a few student's eyes widened along with the two instructors of the class at the jutsu that Naruto had just performed.

"The kage bunshin no jutsu is a kenjutsu, how is it that you know that technique, let alone perform it?" Iruka asked the blonde who was staring into his clones eyes, his voice laced with shock at how easy his hooded student made a B-rank kenjutsu look while not even being a genin yet. Iruka himself could only make a couple in succession before he had to take a break and let his chakra replenish.

"Yeah! How is the dead last able to do a kenjutsu?!" a random student yelled out. A couple others joined in but were hushed by a sharp look from Iruka.

Naruto continued to stare into his clones eyes, which was creeping everybody out actually, but little did they know that he actually had a purpose for the intense calculative gleam. He was looking to see if his shadow clones were affected by what he had done the previous day. Looking to see if maybe some of his…other power leaked through the miniscule bond that each bunshin has to their creator.

Luckily, there wasn't anything strange about his clone.

"I told you…" Naruto began, finally breaking his gaze away from his clone as he surveyed the room of ignorant soon-to-be cannon fodder, "I have too much chakra." And dispelled his clone in the same fashion he formed it.

He walked back and sat back down in his seat next to Hinata. 'At least some of my class won't be liabilities.'

Kami this was such a waste of his time.

~An Hour Later~

"Alright my students, this is your last test in the academy. And it also happens to be the hardest." The young instructor began as he took a look at each of his students. He watched each of them grow from just little kids into now what he hoped were now ninja. After today, he would no longer be responsible for them…

"Today you'll be sparring my fellow instructor Mizuki. There will be no restrictions placed on your fight, and you will need to face him with the intent to kill. Otherwise, you will not last three minutes." Said chunin with grey hair and a bandana-like forehead protector smirked as he thought about how he was going to humiliate a certain Uzumaki.

"Aburame Shino, make your way to the sparing ring." Iruka called out the first name on the list, "Your match will last for at least five minutes, or until either myself or Mizuki-sensei think you've performed to the required ability."

Naruto sighed, gaining Hinata's attention. He nodded his head towards the decent sized platform in the academy training field as he and the rest of the class sat cross-legged around the ring in a big circle, "And now it starts."

The hooded assassin looked on as names were called, and partly trained pre-teens walked up and got mercy passed. At least in his opinion they did.

There were a few of his nameless classmates that didn't do too bad, but for the most part only the students who came from actual clans of ninjas held their own and made the fight somewhat interesting to watch.

When it came time for Hinata's match, Naruto felt that the wait for his fight was bearable.

"W-wish me luck Naruto-kun." Came the nervous soft voice that he always found familiar and amusing.

He gave her a small smile and nodded, "He's overconfident. Watch his footing, and you can counter when throws with his left, and kick with his right. You've got this one, Hinata."

The lavender-eyed heiress blushed at the advice, and how his smile was so contradictory to the predatory gleam in his slitted, exotic eyes. With a quick nod, the Hyuuga made her way to the sparing platform in a hurry to try and hide the heat on her face.

Naruto's smile dropped to a frown as soon as she was a couple feet away.

'Above all, remember…no family. No friends.'

His brother's weak voice haunted him in the back of his mind. "It's the only way to keep them safe." He finished with a soft sigh.

Feeling a jab at his side, his eyes snapped to his left to where Kiba had poked him, a sly grin plastered on his face, "C'mon bro, when're ya gonna seal the deal eh?" the Inuzuka chuckled at the silent stare that he received in return. It had been a long running jest between the two. After his defeat, the hard-headed tanned boy actually took to liking the quiet but dangerous Uzumaki. He wasn't as close as Hinata or Ino were to Naruto, but he was as close to being a best-friend that the red-tipped blonde had.

At least as far as bros went. Or so Kiba put it.

Halfway through the match, Naruto's words held true as Mizuki planted his feet each time he went to throw a power shot, but overextended his reach in a sloppy form. Hinata's Byakugan eyes saw this and she responded accordingly with a few well-placed juuken strikes to his left shoulder and the back of his right thigh, making his left arm lose nearly all mobility and causing his right leg to give out completely.

It was rather embarrassing for Mizuki to say the least, but when facing against a Hyuuga who makes full use of their infamous doujutsu and taijutsu, it was hard not to lose when your student can effectively shut down your chakra network.

That, and the shy heiress had somehow figured out one of his tells that he, for the life of him, couldn't iron out no matter how hard he tried. Though he did do his best to cover it up, which made him suspicious. 'How did she notice that?' most ninja don't develop the ability to pick apart other people's movements in combat until they made chunin.

Mizuki narrowed his eyes at the retreating Hyuuga after she reactivated his chakra points with an apologetic 'sorry!' and went straight towards a certain Blonde to collect her praise. 'It was that damned Kyuubi that read my movements and told her! I'd expect nothing less from the little demon-shit.' The chunin instructor rolled his shoulders as he prepared for his next little spar with an evil smirk in his mind. 'Don't worry, I'm warming up for you Uzumaki.'

"Wish me luck you love birds, I'm next!" a certain shaggy haired boy with red fangs painted on his cheeks cheered as he pushed the two together when he went to pat their shoulders. With a smirk, he left with Naruto's slitted eyes narrowed down to blades and Hinata's face beat red in his wake. Though Naruto still placed a firm hand in the small of her back to keep Hinata steady, telling himself that he only did so because the mutt was so damn ruff! Hinata made no move to…well, move away from the blonde's hand, and secretly thanked him while she told herself that she totally didn't want to feign falling over from Kiba's push right about now.

"K-kiba-san!" "Keep it up dog breath…"

Were the responses the rough teen snickered at as he hopped up the platform, though Naruto growled his retort under his breath, Akamaru heard it and relayed it to him.

Kiba's match was interesting to say the least, the Inuzuka had shown great promise even before he beat him silly, but now the brash teen was starting to take his profession serious. Mizuki had actually taken a few decent cuts from his claws during their taijutsu battle.

'But dog boy still needs to work on his ninjutsu.' Naruto said in his head with a roll of his eyes. His left hand somewhat brushing up against the tip of his sheathed ninjato. He was growing very impatient with all this needless waiting around.

A couple matches later, he felt eyes on him. Someone was watching him.

Looking around, he noticed that it was Sasuke that was staring at him. The two had a very…strange relationship since their first real fight a year and some change back. While Kiba had become something of a friend, the supposed Last Uchiha was a passing acquaintance. He didn't gun after Naruto anymore, but he didn't necessarily like him.

The two last of their respective clans shared a small nod of respect as Sasuke was called to have his match.

'Let's see how well you've trained yourself, Little Brother.' Naruto spoke in his mind.

And as the miniature version of Itachi hopped onto the platform, an all too familiar, and now amused voice chimed in his head. 'By Kami, you're starting to sound like him now.' An elegant and slightly deep feminine tone echoed in his head, and brought a small smile to his face. (Imagine something like Ada Wong's voice from Resident Evil…and if you don't know who that character is or the game she's from, you don't deserve to live x) ) 'You spend enough time with somebody…they start to rub off on you after a while.' Oh yes, his ever present bijuu had become even more a part of him than she was before. It was funny, now that they couldn't be in each other's company in the mindscape anymore they never left each other alone while either one was still awake.

She had also shared with him another big secret of hers. 'Tailed Beasts' wasn't exactly an all-around term that could be used with the Bijuu, when they could take mortal form. Of course, by the time Kurama had worked up the nerve to reveal this dirty little secret of hers, it was already too late; their mindscape was no more.

It was a tragic thing really, after performing the ritual and putting on the masks, he not only lost his inner peaceful world, but the part of himself he had just barely gained on top of not being able to communicate with his fox guardian like he used to. Well, for the most part anyway. He could still contact Shade at any time…

Just not in the same way as before.

Kurama's beautiful giggles caressed Naruto's ears as he felt her gently pushing his attention towards the sparing ring. 'But you're right, let us see if the little Uchiha has bettered himself.' Naruto hid a small smile at his oldest friend's antics, 'You're starting to sound like me.' He felt a playful push on his chakra, 'I've spent a lot of time with you.'

The Uzumaki merely snorted in amusement, gaining a look from the heiress sitting closely next to him to which he nodded his head in the still glaring Mizuki's direction for cover. He still hadn't told Hinata or Ino about his tenant. Nor anyone for that matter…he wasn't quite yet willing to risk losing the only people he called family because of his situation.

"Begin!"

Naruto shook of his thoughts in favor of looking to see if his wayward second Uchiha brother had improved any.

At first he expected him to simply take off as soon as he was given the OK to, but surprisingly enough the Uchiha decided to fling a well-placed Kunai that forced Mizuki to jump awkwardly upwards and to his left. A rookie mistake, since he was sure the cocky chunin couldn't dodge while in mid-air leaving him only able to block.

But from the looks of it, Sasuke had been hoping for the assistant instructor to do just that and sent a controlled fireball jutsu to where he knew the grey-haired man would be landing.

In a show that he wasn't a chunin for nothing, Mizuki made a bunshin a few feet away and replaced himself with it with the aid of a Kawarimi (Substitution jutsu) and immediately rushed him right after. Leading in with a straight left punch, Mizuki spun and threw a hard spinning heel-kick with his right leg and growled in frustration after Sasuke redirected his punch, and leaned back under his following kick like it was a limbo pole.

Sasuke turned with the kick as he ducked under it and landed a sharp elbow in Mizuki's side, making him grunt and attempt to catch the Uchiha with a hook. Many of the surrounding soon-to-be-genin gasped excitably (the majority of which were female) when the Uchiha slid his right hand alongside Mizuki's and redirected the intended right hook just before thrusting the said right hand and nailing a powerful blow on the chunin's jaw.

He had leaned forward and stepped just enough to make his arm cock-back because of his redirecting movement and sent the punch straight to the side of the grey-haired instructor's chin. A well-executed counter that completely caught the experienced chunin off guard, which was made noticeable by the bewildered look in his eyes as Mizuki stumbled back. A bit dazed from the unforeseen and hard shot.

Smirking slightly, Sasuke took advantage of his opponent's semi-stunned state and went to barrage him with a quick series of jabs and a mix of hooks and overhands, a few placed kicks here and there as well. The chunin had trouble keeping up with the Uchiha's sudden show of both surprising, and lethal speed/dexterity for what was supposed to be an academy student, and was caught off guard yet again by a fainted right hook that hid a following left straight that held a lot of power behind it.

Mizuki couldn't believe how the fight had turned against him so fast. Hell, things took a turn for the worst at the very start of the match. He had been set up right from the beginning with that kunai that made him dodge right off the bat, and got him all worked up.

The use of a controlled fireball jutsu was impressive, and made him weary. He meant to finish off the Uchiha quickly after that switch with his bunshin, but apparently that was exactly what the raven-haired boy wanted.

He had completely underestimated his opponent because Sasuke didn't have the eyes that his clan was feared for yet, and now…he had a pretty fast moving foot coming towards his face, and didn't think it was going to feel all that good.

Mizuki had gone through all of that in his head while Sasuke immediately spun with great momentum after he stunned the dazed assistant instructor, yet again, and launched a lethal roundhouse kick with his left leg.

The usually smirking chunin let out a cry of pain upon the making of contact between Sasuke's vicious kick…and his face. Mizuki was sent sailing through the air and clear off the platform where he rolled to a stop, next to a clapping Iruka who gave him a sheepish smile for sympathy.

Nearly all of the 'hopefully' genin's stood up and cheered as Iruka walked up the sparing ring's steps with a proud smile on his face, "Very well done Sasuke, I'm impressed, as I'm sure the rest of the class is as well!"

A few whistles sounded out as a few of the aspiring kunoichi in the bunch made their opinions known.

"Wooo, way to go Sasuke-kun!"

"You're the best!"

"That was so cool!"

The Uchiha hid a pleased smirk as he hopped off the platform and casted a glance towards a certain hood wearing blonde that he had been aching to fight again.

Naruto had watched the entire fight with a gaze akin to a magnifying glass, taking in each detail and replaying each move in his head as he analyzed them. 'Heh, seems Sasuke was able to learn a thing or two from our last fight. I'm impressed, he took a chance with that kind of movement.' He had only been able to somewhat mimic Naruto's style of movement for a few seconds. The way he redirected an attack, but then turned what was once a defensive maneuver, into an offensive one was an incredibly daring and tedious way of fighting, especially in the middle of combat.

But, training with one of the most dangerous ninja in the elemental nations if not the most dangerous ninja without pause and endless clones had made that style of fighting second nature to Naruto. 'But, how he managed to practice that without me or Itachi to teach him is a question I don't know the answer to…it seems he has the same aptitude for the ninja arts as his older brother. That was a decent fire release jutsu he executed as well.'

He could sense Kurama ponder the young Uchiha with the same train of thought as him, the feel of the very small droplet of her power constantly flowing through him gave Naruto a fairly accurate reading on how the ancient kitsune was feeling. 'He doesn't have that much chakra, but he makes due with the amount that he has very well.' The bijuu replied nonchalantly, though she did show some respect toward the child of the clan of eyes which she hated like none other. Mostly because Naruto considered him a sibling, even if they hadn't really bonded all that much. Aside from his foot making firm contact with the side of his face of course. That was how Naruto said 'hi'.

Naruto scoffed in his head, 'Not everyone is born with an abnormal amount of chakra. Though, he does have a lot of potential.' Itachi had more than a decent amount of chakra when he had graduated the academy, coupled with his natural ability as a ninja and it was no surprise when he had caught the attention of the instructors and graduated early. It would seem that both brothers had a few things in common after all. Even with him.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Please make your way up to the sparing ring!"

Letting out a silent sigh, he got up slowly, and started gathering the patience he would need in order not to kill Mizuki while he tested him. Cracking his neck, the hooded Uzumaki felt nervous eyes on him. Well, he could feel everyone's eyes on him, the nervousness he sensed in his chakra. Which meant…

"G-good luck N-naruto-kun."

Looking down to his left, Naruto could feel his heart thrum with extra vigor as he gazed at Hinata's nervous, but warm smile. Her face showed nothing but care, and the utmost confidence that he would turn out the victor no matter what. His piercing eyes travelled up from her soft, full lips, to the lavender orbs that threatened to swallow him whole with the amount of effort Hinata put in to taking in his shadowed face…and with the level of which she was succeeding in pulling him in. The red-tipped blond fought the urge to give in to her gaze, despite how easy it could be to just be lost in the sweet warmth that was Hinata.

And how he knew she must be sweet. The taste of her, rich, and excruciating to think about. Even though it was a pain that Naruto was all too willing to endure, if it would allow him to keep his distance from the angel peering up at him.

Giving a small smile, the blonde assassin's hand twitched as his throat dried, and a sensation of something between thirst and hunger hit his body with a force that would've rendered anyone else on their knees with its sudden intensity, "Thanks Hinata."

It was getting harder to deal with his craving. If he could even call it that, his main problem was more like an urge. A feeling of sudden…need that nearly consumed him every time it hit. 'Kurama…' a caress on his chakra was all Naruto needed to feel safe. He didn't like it, literally leeching off of his closest friend so that he didn't feed off others. But, he dealt with it. Mostly because the stubborn kitsune would seep her chakra through his stigmata if he refused anyway.

His training with his stigmata helped in leagues with allowing Kurama's chakra to interact with his cursed markings. Before he had activated and used them subconsciously, instinctually at his best. Now, he could do much more than just make them glow. But he had no intention of showing anyone that now.

If only Itachi had had more time…

"Go easy on 'em bro!" an enthusiastic and smirking Kiba joked with a thumbs up. He wasn't the smartest guy in the group, but he knew damn well that the feral blonde didn't just look dangerous. He was dangerous. Like the canine on his head, the Inuzuka could simply feel that he was in the presence of a superior predator. Not only that, but he could see it in his eyes. That glint, literally, that anyone with half a brain could tell right off the bat that they were still breathing because they had given no reason for them not to be breathing anymore.

Shaking his head in slight amusement, the blonde gave his own thumbs up as he made his way to the sparing ring. So used to ignoring the whispers and occasional cry for his expulsion that he hardly even heard them anymore. His only focus was not ending things too quickly since he had to make it look like he was being tested.

But, he had a feeling that the only that was going to be tested today was his patience.

Everyone took in his form as he stood on his side of the fairly large platform. He hadn't changed his style much. The only difference was he didn't wear as much orange anymore. His tight fitting black sweater was cut-off at the elbow and his black Anbu-styled pants ended just above the grey wrappings around his ankles. Black fingerless gloves and combat boots finished his attire. And the sleek, ebony finish of his lethal looking ninjato going along his back. He channeled chakra into the turning mechanism that he designed into the leather fastenings of his sword so that the hilt was over his right shoulder now instead of being beside his left hip.

A new addition to his arsenal besides his throwing tools that he had changed. It wasn't so much useful in combat, but it was definitely a plus in comfort. Though there had been times where he was sneaking around and a well-timed switch of sword positioning and a quick draw had kept him under the radar during his raids on Danzo's bases. Which he was currently running out of, at least any that actually held anything of use towards gathering necessary information that would prove his brothers innocence. Still, things were all going according to plan.

"Begin!"

Now all he had to do was try not to wipe the insidious smirk on the grey-haired chunin's face before him with his sword. Actually, he didn't plan on using it anyway, that would make things much too easy for him to slip up and slice that arrogant smirk off his face. Naruto just wanted to get this over with.

Rolling his shoulders, the blonde cracked his neck and slipped into an unreadable stance with his legs shoulder width apart and his left foot forward. His arms were slightly tense, and held on his sides as he leaned forward a bit. He didn't need anyone marking down the styles he could use for the next headline in the paper, so he was going to do exactly what he had done the one and only other time he had fought in public. Try not to kill the guy with the annoying facial expression.

Mizuki looked on with amusement, 'Is this kid for real? I mean sure, he messed up Sasuke and the Inuzuka kid pretty good the last time he fought, but that was a long time ago. Everyone progresses, and that includes me.' As he finished his inward conversation, the grey-haired chunin's smirk grew and he immediately took off with intent to knock the silent hood wearing Uzumaki around like a rag doll.

Completely forgetting to be weary since his very last statement applied to him as well. But, so focused was he to pummel the Kyuubi Brat that he negated his training and to be wary of any and all enemies.

'This fool. This is exactly why Konoha is so weak now, the loss of numbers is only part of the reason. It all starts here, the foundation.' Naruto thought this as he redirected a straight punch to his face, and scarcely ducked his head enough to avoid a high kick to his temple.

He had to stop himself several times from finishing Mizuki as the arrogant and bigot of a chunin left himself wide open after a few weighted throws that were intended to put him down. Leaning his head back just enough to avoid another high kick, Naruto returned with his own thundering straight kick to the chunin's midsection as he turned with the intended kick on his face, and mashed his left foot into the fuming Mizuki's chest like a jackhammer.

The grey-haired chunin nearly flew back with an audible 'Oof!' and grit his teeth in anger. 'Damn brat…alright fine, let's kick it up a notch.'

Tensing his legs, the chunin shot off at a speed that nearly all the surrounding genin struggled to keep up with, and immediately went in for the kill. The two were a blur of punches, kicks, and bodies to the genin. To Iruka, the humble academy instructor was left stunned by what the ghost of a blonde student was doing to his long-time friend.

Sasuke's performance was impressive to say the least, completely taking his friend off guard and taking hold of every advantage presented to him. But Naruto…the boy was fighting Mizuki on equal grounds. It was obvious to him that the hooded Uzumaki had a thirst for combat, and it showed in the way he seemed to toy with his fellow instructor as if he were a kitten playing with a ball of yarn, only Naruto had a string attached to it and yanked it away just before the chunin could seize it.

Having been teaching children how to become ninja for a number of years now granted Iruka a level of insight on people, and he could tell by watching how the boy fought…that this was only a taste of what the taciturn blonde was capable of.

Mizuki had begun to let loose more and sloppier strikes as Naruto either kept redirecting them, or dodged them with minimal and precise movement. Whatever was most comfortable really. Deciding to have a little fun, Naruto read the disgrace-of-a-chunin's movements and wanted to see how frustrated he could make him.

The chunin instructor threw a violent round house kick with his left leg, only for it to be dodged once more with just enough room for a hair in between his head and his foot. 'Damn Kyuubi brat is good…for a genin.' Smirking, Mizuki shifted his weight on his newly planted left foot, and unleashed a lethal back-spin kick with his right. An attack meant to finish off the supposed genin he was facing.

He hit nothing but air, and as he spun, he noticed that the silent blonde wasn't where he was before.

"Gmph!"

The chunin's head snapped up and his teeth clacked together as a searing pain erupted underneath his chin.

The moment Naruto avoided his attempted high kick, He predicted exactly what Mizuki's reaction would be next based on how the cocky chunin had fought so far and set out to intercept it. Spinning on his right foot, the hooded assassin swung his whole body to the left, forward and then down as he turned his back to the overconfident chunin, save for his planted right leg, and sent the heel of his left foot directly into the bottom of his opponent's jaw.

Carrying his momentum with his arms, the Uzumaki spun on his hands and flipped back onto his feet so he could watch as the chunin instructor finished his painful and awkward backflip arc and crashed into the ground.

Now thoroughly frustrated.

'Hmph, take me seriously and I'll do the same for you.' A playful tug on his chakra alerted Naruto to an amused Kurama, 'So feisty.' Her elegant voice was full of satisfaction and mischief. 'Only when I'm presented an opponent who won't treat me like I'm a threat.'

A round of 'Ooh's' and 'Woah's' went around the sparing ring after a dead silence induced by the sheer shock of the match. Steeling a quick glance, he could see that Iruka was stunned by his performance so far. It would seem he needed to tone it down a little. Looking to his left, he could see the surprise in Hinata's eyes, and the sharp glint in Ino's. Great, now he had to start thinking of how he was going to get himself out of this one…damn his liking for punching people who piss him off.

Getting up a little slowly, Mizuki's face was a red flame of anger and embarrassment. "What the hell!" he whispered harshly to himself. And decided to put his training and career as a shinobi to good use as he took out several kunai.

Launching them at speeds that had Iruka worried, as it was his understanding that Naruto was just a talented academy student and not a shinobi yet…though he was seriously starting to doubt that, the frustrated instructor wasted no time and aimed for crippling blows in Naruto's legs, arms, and one in his shoulder for good measure.

Sighing just before Mizuki let loose his kunai, the blonde took off at an incredible speed (for an academy student) and began weaving through the thrown universal ninja tools like it was a dangerous dance. It only took mere seconds for him to get within distance of Mizuki, but the chunin had actually became quite panicked when the supposed student in front of him began dodging his kunai as if they weren't even there.

As a last ditch effort, he took a chance at getting written up just to spite the bearer of the Kyuubi, and sent a kunai sailing to where it would hit its mark just under the collar bone, and be a huge pain to take out.

Being only a few feet away at this point, Naruto saw what the chunin was going to do and reacted. Taking a small leap in the air and letting his momentum carry him, the blonde used his finely toned body to spin in the air and around the kunai, catching it in the process with his left hand.

Mizuki's eyes widened as the blonde's body spun like a corkscrew and a left leg flashed out to hit him in the side of the head with enough force to make him flip into the ground. With the way the angle of the kick was delivered and the force behind it made him buckle and fly to the ground almost immediately.

'Shit.' Naruto inwardly cursed as he was now forced to place the kunai to Mizuki's neck and end the match as his win, less he drag this out any longer than he regrettably had already.

The plan had been to have Iruka step in and state that he had shown himself capable of being a genin, not win his match and in the manor that he did so. He'd have more eyes on his for sure, a nuisance at worst but it was still something he'd have to deal with.

Looking around, the feral looking Uzumaki noticed that not a single eye was off of him. 'This…is going to be troublesome.' An elegant snicker in his mind was all that replied to his approximation at humor.

"Uzumaki Naruto…y-you pass." Iruka stuttered out with just enough strength in his voice to hold at least some sliver of the authority he had.

Walking back to his small group of friends, Naruto sat down with a hidden scowl behind his calm face.

"N-naruto-kun, that was amazing!" Hinata stammered as she gripped the sleeve of her left arm, wanting very much to wrap her arms around him as she gave him a kiss for w-ahem, a hug to celebrate. She hadn't expected for him to let loose so much during his fight, but then, it only halfway surprised her. Naruto loved to fight, whether he admitted it or not.

"That was not going easy on 'em bro." Kiba chimed in with amusement rapidly growing over his sarcastic tone. "You know he's gonna feel thatin the morning right?"

Ino took a break from her blushing faraway thoughts about a certain Uchiha to give a sharp look towards her fellow blonde. "I wouldn't think that too soon Kiba."

Naruto looked at his fellow soon-to-be genin with a calm face, and attempted to feign a shy look…though the slitted eyes and darkened whisker marks made it a little unnerving for the group of rookies to picture on the usual stoic blonde's face, "All I did was move when he moved, and then move with him. I didn't think that fight would turn out like it did." Which was the honest truth.

Mostly.

Years of crushing training, and a final year of a near suicidal regime had him accustomed to adapt to his opponents damn near intimately. He only needed to spend a couple minutes exchanging blows with someone in order to get a sufficient feel of their movements to start predicting what moves they were going to throw next. His perception during combat lacked only the ability to truly see a move coming and pick up chakra signatures, otherwise, he could honestly claim to have eyes on par with a newly manifested Sharingan.

Well, not entirely. Itachi had told him that his reflexes and knowledge/talent for fighting just boosted his already sharp eyes to the point to where he could predict a following attack by reading and memorizing his opponent's body language during several different exchanges. A deadly skill, and it made him extremely dangerous in close quarters combat, on top of his skill with a blade. He would admit, if only to himself, that he could not say the same about long-range combat with equal confidence.

He was a close-quarters fighter, and knew it. He could extend his effectiveness to mid-range, but with only a hand full of jutsu and weapons. He needed something for distance, because if there was one thing that Uzumaki Naruto did not like…it was being out of reach of something he needed to do. Whether that was achieving an objective, or taking the life of an enemy.

"N-naruto-kun…"

The hooded blonde was broken from his thoughts by the shy heiress that was now standing over him with her hands clasped together over her nap nervously, "It's time to see h-how well we all did. Iruka-sensei will be telling us who will be s-showing up to be placed in their squads tomorrow."

Naruto cracked his neck as he had to waste more time in the academy, but then, at least seeing the happiness on Hinata's and Ino's faces will make it worth it. He could probably make a wise crack at Kiba while he was at it too.

Sighing, Naruto allowed a small smile to mare his face as he locked eyes with his self-appointed guardian angel.

"Let's get this over with."

---

The sound of Tabaco being burned as someone puffed on a pipe could be heard in the quiet of the Hokage's office. Glancing from one clan-head and long-time friend to another, Hiruzen could see the half-looks of surprise on each of their faces and the sense of pride that radiated off of the Hyuuga brothers sitting down a few feet away from him.

The jutsu he had on the crystal ball in the middle of his desk faded as he no longer concentrated on it, and the image of a hooded genin walking closely next to a certain Hyuuga heiress, and surrounded on either side by the Inuzuka heir, and the Aburame that hardly said a word in the group all day.

Inoichi let out a small whistle of amazement, "Well, needless to say…I think Naruto passed."

Choza stopped munching on one of the many snacks he kept on his person at all times with a slight opening of one eye, "No kid'n *munch* he kicked that instructor's ass."

Shikaku grumbled a bit and crossed his arms, "He's going to be very troublesome when he gets older."

The tired hokage peered over to a particular pair of Hyuuga brothers with a raised brow, "What do you two think of Naruto-kun's performance?" his voice carried a both calm, but knowing tone.

Hizashi smiled a little, while Hiashi's face gave away nothing, "Naruto performed extremely well, and showed that it is most unwise to underestimate him."

Hiruzen nodded slightly at the expected answer. He knew full well that everyone in the room was working for the sharp blonde, and other clans in the village as well. Hell, the young Uzumaki heir even had half of the village shops on his side…or was it most of them? He hadn't checked in a while, and to tell the truth, he really didn't care anymore. The only thing he cared about was that the mission he had given to the young assassin, if he could even call it a mission, was on track. And the last time he checked, it was ahead of schedule.

So long as Naruto had Shadow Fall moving at the pace it should be, he had free reign in the village.

"And how would you gauge young Naruto-kun's skills?" asked the curious old kage.

This time, Hiashi allowed a smirk to show on his usual stoic face, "It would be most un-wise to underestimate him." The slightly smug look on his face was well warranted and completely necessary in the clan head's opinion. Nobody in the room apart from himself and his brother had anyidea what the red-tipped blonde was truly capable of. Not to mention that even he, nor his brother knew allof what Naruto had up his armored and blade-lined sleeve.

But they did know this, the boy was no genin…that was for damn sure.

Inoichi snorted in amusement, and Choza chuckled a bit. Shikaku mumbled a quiet 'troublesome' but otherwise remained neutral on that revealing, but non-revealing statement.

The weary kage just closed his eyes and nodded. That was all he needed to know. Hell, he had seen the blonde in action. Well…if you count seeing the body of a root agent fall dead in front of him without even picking up the boy's movement seeing. But still, the point remained that Naruto was obviously dangerous. He supposed it didn't matter if he knew just how dangerous he really was, he had seen enough to satisfy what curiosity he could muster.

"Very well…" Hiruzen brought up a hand to rub his forehead as he lazily puffed on his old wooden pipe.

That was all the hokage business he planned to do today.

Line break.

"Good, now keep advancing on alternating sides. Don't let your opponent keep his feet, and mind your own."

A smooth and somewhat raspy voice spoke up over feminine grunts and pants of exertion (picture a cross between Leon's voice from Resident evil, and Jack's voice from Metal Gear Solid 'otherwise known as Raiden…and again, if you don't know either of those games (especially the second one) you are a gaming heathen and deserve to be dragged through the nine circles of Dante's Inferno by the hooks going through your toes and fingertips.)

"Hah…hah...O-ok!" a certain lavender-eyed heiress replied back in between huffs. She and her blond childhood crush had been sparing non-stop for the past twenty minutes at a pace she was not used to. She had thought that her father pushed her during their training together, but that was quickly looked back on as a light exercise when she had started training with Naruto a couple months ago.

For some reason, he wasn't very comfortable training with her at first.

A chakra covered palm lashed out in a sharp strike aiming for a chakra point on Naruto's side, just under his chest, that would disrupt his chakra network and render him unable to use his Juuken.

Naruto saw the strike coming, and sent his own palm to meet hers, resulting in a small forceful pulse of chakra to discharge from the impact of both juuken strikes on each other. Stepping forward, he put pressure on the indigo-haired girl with strikes to her left shoulder, center chest, stomach and a few toward her ribcage, all of which were done in rapid succession.

Hinata focused her unenhanced eyes and parried most of the blows sent her way, and blocking what she couldn't. It was difficult using her Byakugan when she was this close to Naruto because she was still working on reducing the 'glare' that strong chakra signatures such as the hood wearing blonde whose focused gaze on her was really distracting since her heart was already racing enough from their fight…it's a good thing they were going at it pretty hard, otherwise she'd have nothing to blame her obvious blush on.

But anyways, it was actually very good practice fighting without her Byakugan as it really made her pay attention to where the tenketsu points in the human body were. Not to mention the wonders it did for her form. That, and fighting someone as talented in taijutsu as the feral-eyed hunk in front of her. 'Dammit Hinata, bad girl!' the shy heiress scolded herself, now was not the time to be thinking that way.

Paying careful attention to her crush's movements, which really wasn't that hard to do for some…odd…reason…yeah, Hinata saw an opening and seized it with all the effort she could put into a single move.

Naruto was fairly decent with the Gentle Fist, but he couldn't say with full confidence that he could match up to Hinata's practiced style. Not to mention that she was, in fact, a Hyuuga and had a natural disposition to both the very tedious fighting style and the chakra control that was required to use it.

What that meant was that when the somewhat small-statured girl sent a Juuken strike his way, he gave it his full respect and did everything in his power to avoid getting hit by it.

So. While he was occupied with the right cross that was heading toward his head, so focused was he on either blocking or parrying the blow that he was completely taken off guard when it turned out to be a feint, and his sweet and bright Hinata sent a juuken strike with her knee straight into the inside of his left thigh.

"Unf!" the chakra infused blow was extremely effective as it was intended to be, and brought him down to his right knee as his left leg gave out. His instincts and unfathomable training took hold of him instantly, and time froze to a snail's crawl as chakra was sent to his heart and his brain simultaneously.

His vision pulsed and blurred for only a second before he was allowed to form his plan. With impossible precision and foresight, Naruto waited until the opportune moment where Hinata's palm was half the distance to his face, no chakra was present so it was only meant to knock him back though it would no doubt be a finishing blow in another circumstance, to make his move.

Channeling chakra to the bottom of his right foot, Naruto made sure he had the maximum amount of force output and grip with his only operational leg. Like a rattle snake that had coiled its body in preparation for a strike, Naruto pushed off his leg with enough force to manipulate the charging Hinata, and keep himself on the ground.

With a show of physical prowess and technique, he batted Hinata's right-palm with his left and grabbed hold of her wrist as he turned them both with the aid of both their momentum. He rotated the chakra on the bottom of his foot to the right like a disk which aided him in his turn and let it discharge, causing both him and the wide-eyed Hinata whom he pinned in mid-air to hop two or three feet in the air.

Time started to slowly go back to normal as Naruto pinned both Hinata's hands above her head and positioned himself over her to disable her ability to attack. The Hyuuga heiress landed on her back with a yelp of surprise more so than pain and Naruto soon followed, only his knees and left elbow hit the floor while the rest of him hovered over her in a rather intimate looking position.

Hinata gasped as she opened her eyes, only to see a pair of slitted eyes with iris' like auroras of dark and light blues boring into her as if she was prey. Her breath hitched as she took in her blushing face in the reflection of his glinting eyes. Her own lavender moon-like orbs were wide and incapable of blinking.

She had never actually gotten a pristinely good look at Naruto's eyes. Most of the time his hood concealed their color and the few times that he had his hood off, he was in the shade which pretty much did the same thing despite her own eyes being sharp as a blade. The animal-like reflective glint of his eyes never allowed her to truly look in them.

But now, she was staring into a sea of blues. Some warm, and some cold. And it was impossible to determine which had more dominance. What she could see though, was a small touch of green in his irises.

The green in his eyes were like specs of emerald dust, or stars in the vibrant display of blues in his eyes along with stray traces of gold. Just enough to be seen and have a significant presence when looking at his predatory orbs closely, but not enough to be seen unless you were looking directly into his eyes from extremely up close. Like personal space, intimately close…just like she was right now.

'Kami…his eyes are so beautiful. I-I can't stop staring into them.' But then again, did she really want to stop staring into his eyes as if they were the light of God? The answer was no. Absolutely not. There was no possible way she was moving even a finger if it meant breaking away from her crush's otherworldly orbs.

While Hinata was debating on how illegal it should be to have eyes like that, Naruto was having a much different debate in his head.

'Shit…why did I do this? I should've let her hit me.' His predatory slits never so much as twitched away from the center of her lavender orbs. They were trembling just enough to be noticed, but that was probably because neither had blinked in the last twenty seconds.

Realizing he hadn't breathed in a while, Naruto drew in a small but deep breath…and immediately regretted it.

His pupils narrowed to razor blades as the scent of his shy childhood friend underneath him filled his nostrils and numbed his senses. She smelled of fresh lavender and fine soaps, no doubt her hobby picked up by her status of nobility serving her especially well at the moment.

His eyes narrowing only served to entrance her more as more of his exotic irises were exposed…and put her in more danger.

A powerful urge was starting to build, and Naruto knew it. Only he couldn't bring himself to move away from the heiress's reach. He dimly noticed that her hands had relaxed in his grip, when before they were tense in both surprise and shock of their resulted position.

But now, her whole form was lax and her rose-dusted face looked up to him in innocent longing. Naruto's mind fogged as he took in the sight of his indigo-haired friend. There was nothing innocent about her. Right now, she was torturing him. He knew she wanted him as more than just a friend. And he was fairly sure she knew that he wanted her the same way as well. Or at least she should.

No one else was allowed as close and make as much physical contact with him as Hinata was.

No one.

Not even Ino was allowed to touch him as much as Hinata was able to. Everyone aside from those two got a hand shake or a fist bump, and even then those were far and between. Ino would get a hug or was allowed to her mock punching him and what not, but Hinata by far was allowed much more than anyone he knew.

Hell, every greeting consisted of at least one hug since she never wanted to let him go. When they were spending time outside of training, which was a lot, there wasn't more than a few inches of distance between them at any point in time…it amazed him how close Hinata was able to get to him without him even realizing it. More than half the time they forgot how long they were spending time with each other, and he would bring her home an hour after nightfall.

And now, they were mere inches apart with their bodies in a position he never thought they would end up in.

It was only when Naruto noticed Hinata's face getting closer and closer his own that he realized just how close they were to doing something that he wanted, really wanted with everything he had…but could not allow.

For a moment he was stuck. Entranced by the half-lidded, angelic face of Hinata as she pushed her head up a little more up towards his. Though the action only lasted a very few dire seconds, to him, it was an eternity. The closer her face got and the more her eyes closed, the more time slowed. His vision pulsed once more as his panic made him activate his scarcely used technique. An inch away, her eyes slowly closed all the way and her lips parted a bit…only for her eyes to snap right back open.

Somewhere between panicked and thrilled like never before, Naruto pushed up off the ground with enough force in his arms that he actually made himself shoot back and smack his back on the ground right behind him. The young heiress's eyes snapped back open in shock, not to mention embarrassment, and sat up with a flaming blush on her face as she brought up both sleeved hands to hide it.

'What are you doing Naruto…you know you can't let her in any closer than she already is.' The cursed Uzumaki sat up with an embarrassed chuckle and brought up his left hand to scratch the back of his head as he scolded himself with righteous fury, "U-ugh, s-sorry about that Hinata. I-I erm…didn't know I was pinning you down for that long."

'You are not human, remember that! Now fix this situation before you make it worse!' Damn that was such a shitty excuse. What the hell was wrong with him? This was Hinata, his best friend and the heir to the most respected clan in the village, what the hell was he doing?! He didn't give a damn about the village because he had no place in it, but the same could not be said for her. Hinata's home was here in Konoha, and he was about to ruin that!

Hinata had just got done clearing her head after it was completely fogged over by the heat of the moment. Her blush only deepened and she hoped to kami that having both her sleeve covered hands concealing everything but her eyes wasn't a dead giveaway to her total and utter embarrassment…even though she was definitely sure that it was, "N-no N-naruto-kun, I-it's completely fine! I-I just-"

"No Hinata, it's not." The young blonde cut her off as he got on his feet. Hinata shifted to where she had both legs curled with one sticking out further than the other and her upper-body resting on her left arm which was used as support.

She was about to say it was really ok when Naruto's entire demeanor changed. His head lowered and his shoulders tensed. His eyes locked with hers once more, only now they were…sad?

"I'm sorry."

Hinata could feel the regret that was thick in her childhood friend's slightly growling voice. She didn't understand it, what had he done wrong? Or was it her that had done something wrong? What was wrong, was her only question.

But before she could ask it, Naruto put his hood back on making sure that it blocked out the sunlight and turned around after another quiet 'I'm sorry'.

The Hyuuga heiress felt lost with her friend's behavior and got on her feet to ask him what was wrong as she was absolutely sure she was missing something, "Naruto-kun?" she asked in a confused and curious tone.

They both took a step forward, before the hooded blonde vanished in a swirl of grey leaves and silver-grey smoke.

Hinata brought her right hand up over her chest as she chewed on her left index finger in nervousness and fear.

"What did I do?"

~An hour later, somewhere in the outskirts of Konoha~

"*pant* *pant* Grraaah!" Naruto let out a roar as he smashed his right fist into the side of a decent sized rock face. He didn't channel any chakra into his arm, so his hand was thoroughly broken from the impact. Blood began dripping and running down the cracks of the indentation his hand had made in the stone as he kept it buried a few inches into the small mountainside.

'No friends…no family. No love.'

His feral eyes were glowing dangerously with anger as he dislodged his fractured hand, and sent it slamming back into the hard rock in front of him without so much as a flinch to signify that he felt the painful throb in his hand, and the agony shoot up his arm.

'Naruto…' The ancient kitsune that resided within him called out in a soft and worried voice. The following left straight punch into the rock that made a resonating boom in its wake was a dead giveaway that her plea fell on deaf ears. 'Naruto please, listen to me…'

A deep growl answered her as the raging blonde cocked his right arm for another go at the already pulverized section of rock in front of him, "Why did I *boom* do that?! *smash*"

Though he couldn't see her anymore, he knew that his ever present fox guardian had to be frowning. She hated it when he blamed himself for something…mostly because it resulting in him letting his anger out through training, and hurting himself in the process.

'You didn't do anything Naruto, what you feel for that girl is completely normal.' She tried to keep her voice even, but her container's self-destructive streak whenever he felt bad about something always had her on edge…it wouldn't be the first time he did something stupid as a form of 'penance' for something he thought he did. 'I don't see why you are so afraid to let her in. You know she looks at you the same way you do her. For kami's sake, you two were nearly in a trance earlier!'

He was breaking his hands almost as soon as they were done healing just so that he would feel more pain, and it was irritating the bijuu who had grown to care for the Uzumaki immensely.

Another fist plowed into the already abused rock face that had the extreme misfortune to be near Naruto at the moment, "That's exactly the problem! *smash* She shouldn't feel anything for me!" the section of rock he was destroying was pretty much done for, so he whirled around and started doing the same to the surrounding trees.

Kurama was starting to get heated. This more or less happened every time Naruto and 'White-eyes', as she liked to call Hinata, got even remotely close to crossing the bridge of friendship into something more. He would shut himself away, and curse himself for letting his feelings for the girl take over. 'She shouldn't feel anything? Or you don't want her to feel anything?' the millennia old being scathed back with an accusing tone.

Naruto's eyes flashed a corrupted silver iris and flickered next to the destroyed section of rock wall. A monstrous growl radiated out from him in a rattling boom.

His eyes were now black as night with a silver iris that seemed to try and engulf it like an evil entity, Naruto pierced both hands into the walls as his markings lit up in a mixture of dark grey and blackish blue. With a growl of frustration he ripped off a boulder sized chunk of rock from the mountainside and shattered it to pieces with a devastating punch after tossing it in the air.

"She can't be with me Kurama! She can't-" a lump in his throat stopped him from saying anything further as his stigmata lit up in a flare of dark grey and pitch blue. A smoke-like but solid obsidian energy seeped out of his exposed markings, outlining him in a cloak of dark energy. Unnatural energy.

Cursed energy.

The last Uzumaki dropped to his knees before allowing himself to fall back against the portion of rock he had destroyed. His right leg extended out but curled lifelessly as his left leg didn't even move, so he used his left arm to support his head as he shielded his now hyper-sensitive eyes from the sunlight. There were clouds over head now, but there was still more than enough light to make his eyes sting.

He clenched his eyes shut, but for more than just the sake of keeping the sunlight out. With a tired sigh, Naruto looked up in the clouded and shifting sky. The sun was losing its place as the grey clouds circled and bunched in around it like a lazy elemental serpent.

The last rays of sunlight before the clouds engulfed it whole could be seen in Naruto's eyes as the blackened whites of his eyes bled back in to their normal color. And with it, the silver root-like pigmentation that replaced his usual vibrant blue irises. The dark aura around him receded along with his fading stigmata. Leaving only his tired face that was slightly hidden behind the mattered hair that spilled over his eyes.

"You know what I am Kurama." The sadness in his voice reminded her of her missed pale and red-headed 'roommate'. Which meant that the sorrow in his voice nearly broke her heart.

"There can be nothing between me and her…because you can't love a monster like me."

He held up a clawed hand, and willed the markings in his palm to reveal themselves. A small spark of his excess soul energy rose up in his hand like a mystical fire as his claws turned black to match the fleeting color of the dead pale-grey of his skin going down to half his fore-arm.

The small aura covered orb was like a dark blue star that was stuck in the middle of being pure, and evil with the way the obsidian veil radiated off the dark blue energy. So much like chakra, and yet so different at the same time. He hadn't thought of a name for the power he could harness from his soul. And he hadn't discovered one either, he didn't know how much time he had left of being normal, so a few months with nothing to show for was unacceptable to him.

Kurama frowned as her cherished container viewed himself as some sort of creature rather than the misunderstood person that he was. After his descend and transformation into his wraith form, he couldn't get the image of his grey skin and demonic eyes out of his mind. He was a monster in his own eyes. Through and through. And it was something that Kurama had been trying to break him from thinking that way ever since the night he staked himself to his apartment wall to keep from hurting anyone.

'You're not a monster Naruto…'her chakra seeped out of his pores in the form of embers and slowly came together to outline his resting body. Her power wrapped around him in a hug and completely filled him with warmth that always comforted him. The feeling of a hand being placed on his cheek made the Uzumaki look up. Nothing but the red glow of his bijuu's power surrounded him, but he placed a hand over his right cheek anyway. They had a strange form of skinship, Kurama and him, but it was a skinship nonetheless.

As the clouds brought about thick shade, his skin changed with it. His skin clouded with a deathly pale-grey and quickly reverted back to normal sporadically as the sunlight broke through the overcast and hit his person. His markings moved about slowly, like snakes along with the change in his skin as he looked up in the spotted grey sky once more. His eyes gaining their corrupted silver iris in the dark.

"Not yet…"

---

The classroom door opened as one Amino Iruka walked through with a small folder in hand, with Mizuki trailing behind with a chest in his arms.

The bruised-face chunin set down the chest on the large desk at the front of the class, grumbling about various aches in his body and the three particular students who were the cause of it all. With a grumpy look on his face, the grey-haired man plopped down in his chair in the corner of the large class and sulked quietly.

Hinata, who was startled from her little world of worry from the sudden barge in the room, couldn't keep the frown off her face. A certain blonde hadn't shown up yet if the empty seat next to her was anything to go by. She had even activated her Byakugan, but with no results. Naruto wasn't anywhere near her, otherwise she'd have spotted his star of a chakra signature the moment she activated her doujutsu.

Iruka took one last look around the class, pride all but plastered on his face at what a fine bunch of genin most of them had become. "Good morning students, I'd imagine you're all very anxious to be assigned to your teams and your sensei's so I'll make this brief. *chuckle* After all, after today you won't be looked at as students anymore, but shinobi."

A frown worked its way onto his face. This was the last time he would see them all together like this. Years of being a ninja had brought him to the harsh reality that at least a quarter of the occupants in his class would not make it to their eighteenth birthday. It was just a fact of life, and he had steeled himself for it. But it was hard for any teacher to not feel something for his students.

The murmurs of excitement were silenced as the scarred chunin spoke up, "Now that comes with a price. A price that many in our line of work pay within the first two years of graduating." All eyes were on the lightly tanned man as he paced slowly from one side of the front of his desk to the other, "And that, my students, is our lives."

Nearly all those in their seats tensed, and their faces hardened as the reality of their chosen careers was voiced without hesitation.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you young men and women. If I did, I might as well take my headband off and be the enemy that kills you."

A dead silence fell on the room, until it was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

Through it came Naruto, who had been missing for the beginning of squad assigning. He was dressed in his usual attire of a black half-sleeve hoody with the hood up and bandages running to just above his wrists, black Anbu styled pants and combat boots. And ever present on his back, was the ebony ninjato that was never seen missing on Naruto's person.

Reaching into a pocket on the inside of his now unfastened jacket (I repeatedly forgot to mention that most ninja attire in my story use a system of buckles and/or metal/leather bindings of some time, I imagine buttons and zippers wouldn't last very long in a shinobi fight.) and pulled out a small scroll with a crimson tie around it. He tossed it lightly over to Iruka, only sparing him a nod as he caught it with a frown.

The chunin instructor had already been informed of Naruto's special arrangement, and knew that he was just getting the official documentation to silence any protests from the counsel or the Jonin sensei's.

Making his way up to his seat in the back, the blonde talked to no one as he passed them by and only spared a one handed wave for his small group of friends.

Hinata chewed her lip in worry for her best friend and crush, but otherwise did nothing but give him a slight smile and wave. She was relieved when his eyes softened and gave her a hug but couldn't help but notice the way his body was tense enough to bend metal as he did it. 'Something wrong.' she thought to herself, but was kept from doing much else by Iruka picking up where he left off.

"I don't need to tell you what you'll be facing out there. And I don't need to tell you what kind of life you've signed up for. You all knew that coming into this academy and I am proud of each, and every one of you who've made it."

Opening the chest, and taking a list of names out, he began to call out the names of students and their respected jonin-sensei.

Nearing the end of the list, he called out names of a nervous bunch who were hoping to be paired with their friends of long standing. And in some blushing cases, their love interests.

"Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji. Your jonin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." The jonin squad leaders came in no particular order. But they were expected to assemble their team that day so that they could begin their squad's painstakingly long journey to become ninja and be able to hold their own during missions.

Hinata felt herself getting really anxious now, 'Ooh, I hope I end up on the same team as Naruto-kun. I-I mean, not to say Kiba-san or Shino-san are bad or anything, b-but I'm already familiar with Naruto-kun.' Her face flushed and she looked away. Kami, she was stuttering in her thoughts because she was so nervous. She just hoped she didn't end up on the same team as Sasuke. Everyone knew that Hyuuga Hinata did not like the last remaining Uchiha. Mostly because of his past with Naruto, but that was beside the point.

And despite hers and Naruto's confusing/rollercoaster friendship, she wanted to be there for him on his team. He may act tough, even scary at times, but she could see how lonely he was underneath his hood. He wanted help. Needed it in fact…He just didn't know it.

"Hyuuga Hinata…"

Said heiress hid a surprised gasp as she silently prayed that Naruto would end up on the same team as her. The Hyuuga's brain gave a simple one worded answer to how she was feeling, nervous.

"Inuzuka Kiba…"

All of the nerves! It was a wonder how the shy girl wasn't shaking as her mind raced with the possibilities her higher brain functions were dishing out to her.

"…and Aburame Shino, your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi."

Like an air mattress that had been stabbed by a wooden stake, Hinata deflated and sent a sad look in Naruto's direction.

Naruto glanced to his left to see his most cherished friend, aside from Kurama, nearly in tears that she wasn't on the same team as him. He didn't blame her, they had trained together since they were basically toddlers. But…

'Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.' that didn't stop Naruto from remembering his self-appointed 'place' and attempt to curb the dangerously developing…whatever it was that was going on between them.

'Naruto.' Came a stern, though elegant, voice that made him inwardly wince. 'Comfort the girl.' She may not like how close those two had been getting, for reasons she could not explain nor did she want to dive into…even though she really wanted to, the shy Hyuuga had been a godsend for her container who had put himself through impossible strain the last three years of his 'academy' life. Though she was extremely irritated with how she entranced Naruto, the bijuu still found her innocent looks suspicious, Kurama could not deny that had it not been for the seduct-sweet pearl-eyed girl…she feared for how mentally stable her precious partner would be in.

While Kurama was debating on how much she liked but disliked Hinata, Naruto was clenching his teeth in frustration as he couldn't help but see how the indigo-haired beauty next to him visibly slumped her shoulders as her head hung.

'Ignore it.' she held her left elbow with her right hand in a self-soothing manner. 'IGNORE IT.' her connection to him through their chakra showed him that she was extremely bummed out, she started to fiddle with the strings to tighten her hood very slowly as though it would make her feel better. 'Ignoreitignoreitignoreit.'

'Naruto.' He felt a slightly harsh tug on his chakra that felt all sorts of levels of uncomfortable mixed with a hint of pain, Kurama's version of a slap that she first used when he was training with Itachi and asked him to help raise his tolerance of pain by-…ok so he probably deserved that one, but it sounded like a good idea at the time. It worked too, the young assassin doubted anything could hurt worse than that. He could say without shame that he honestly couldn't be near fire for nearly a month afterwards, and considering how long each day was drawn out…that was saying something.

And considering what he did, or rather, what he had Itachi do, he could see why his guardian Fox was so furious with him. The fact that she hated the mere mention of a Mangekyo Sharingan, let alone the sight of one, probably contributed to her anger that night.

The saddened Hyuuga girl stopped fiddling with the strings of her hood and elected to just have her hands in her lap, and just wait for her sensei to arrive. And then go off with her team. That didn't have Naruto in it. And then train for mission. That most if not nearly all of them wouldn't have Naruto in it. And then go back home, and probably be alone because Naruto would most likely be with his team.

Hinata sighed, no Naruto.

Said red-tipped blonde had been watching every change in her body language from disappointment, to saddened, to damn near depressing. 'Ignoreitignoreit-FUCK!' seemingly against his will, he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed a little, giving her an understanding look.

Hinata smiled a little in return and brought a hand up to cover his own. 'Well, at least we'll still see each other after missions and training. Maybe even spend a little time together?' she thought with a blush.

Naruto noticed it and carefully slid his hand out of her grasp, and rested his arm on the table. Though it was curiously close to Hinata's, and by the time Iruka got through assigning Tenten and the other dead last Lee as replacements for her cousins team, there was no space between the two limbs and they were pressed firmly against each other. It couldn't be more suspicious even if they held hands and Kiba, who had turned around to tell Hinata not to worry so much that Naruto wasn't on her team, smirked at the pair that were pretty much shoulder to shoulder at that point.

A subtle, but obvious act of soothing. Naruto didn't like physical contact with people. Well, anyone aside from Hinata or Ino. If they were alone, Hinata had no doubt that she'd be spoiled by an iron grip hug, but they were in the middle of a classroom. Too many people for Naruto to be comfortable, so she settled for sitting closely next to him.

Kiba, however, would make sure that Naruto knew that his efforts were not going unnoticed.

The Inuzuka gave a thumbs up with a sly smirk that screamed 'Yea-heh-haah, way to go bro!' all the while nodding his head continuously in approval.

The sound of claws digging into wood could be heard as Naruto gripped the top of his desk and let out a low growl that made Akamaru hide in Kiba's hood. It scared Kiba too, he would admit it, not even the most feral Inuzuka could growl like Naruto. It was a clear warning to stop while he was ahead. But, he knew the scary blonde wouldn't hurt him too bad when he got the chance, and decided to ignore the alpha male's command of 'stop, or ill destroy you.'

((Ok so I use a lot of body language in my story, and when it comes to guys were all body language given the right circumstances. Hell, there was a time where me and my friends have had full on conversations without saying a single word while one of our buddies was being chewed out by his mom while she was drunk (A long and funny story that I won't get into for the sake of my story.)

That and we use what I like to call "double-speak". Meaning we'll say one thing, but really say something completely different. We only use "double-speak" in instances of confrontation, when we wanna talk about something but someone we don't want to pick up on what we're saying is nearby, or when were caught in a situation and all we have is the bro next to us. A very weird description I know, and I also know that those aren't the only times we use double speak, but it's hard to explain in words…in short, you have to be a guy to know what I'm talking about.

Am I right Bros? Same thing with you women, you have a language us guys have no idea how to read. Though with practice, we can learn it…mostly.

So, what this means (and sorry for the giant author's note midway through the chapter, but unfortunately it's necessary.) is that in some instances, I will translate the duo male body-language/doublespeak gestures that I'll be implementing in the story on some occasions now that the relationships are going to start building and what not.

So basically, I will be translating the language of guys for Rising Tide purposes. The language of the bro (Me and my group of friends actually named the secret language that all men know, yes, and it sounds really immature, I know…we're all fresh out of high school and we all have a very weird sense of humor, deal with it.)

I understand that if you're a guy you most likely won't need the translations given that you're, well…a guy. Or you just happen to be a female who understands our language since half of it is universal anyway. BUT, "Bro" is not an easy language to put into words, for it is a language that can only be performed/done, not written. So for anyone who has difficulty understanding the "Bro" that I will be implementing at times appropriate and needed, I will provide a translation in *" "* after the paragraph or whatever its in so that you'll know what I actually intended the characters to say.

Alrighty then, back to the story.)

Kiba looked down to see Naruto's claws sunken into the wood of his desk, and his smirk slowly changed into an innocent face that held no ulterior motives as he raised a brow and shrugged while he brought his hands up in a motion of 'what?' and tilted his head to the side. He made a motioning gesture towards Hinata, then back to Naruto and raised a clenched fist around his chest area and cocked it in an accomplishing gesture as he angled his head down and to the side while he nodded. Biting his lips to make a face that had 'mmph' written all over it.

*"What? I'm just say'n bro. You? And her? Fuu~ck, don't even think twice about it man. Go for it man!"*

Naruto let out a silent growl, boring into Kiba's brown orbs with his own predatory blues like two water dragon jutsu's.

*"You know it's not like that, mutt. Stop pestering me about it."*

The Inuzuka chuckled a bit as he shook his head a little before giving a lazy wave and turning back around.

*"Alright, alright, no reason to get all touchy about it. Like I said, I was just say'n."*

Naruto shook his head in annoyance at the little pup's insinuations and his seeming encouragement of him and Hinata's…closeness. There was trust, and familiarity, that was it. 'I don't know what the mongrel is playing at, there is nothing between me and Hinata. And there never will be anything between us.' He snorted quietly, 'He acts as though were a couple already. Or act like it.'

He tapped the claw of his right index-finger when he felt eyes on him. Turning to his left, he saw that it was the very Hyuuga he was thinking about. Her face was cast in a worried frown…which got him worried in turn, "Is everything alright Hinata?" His eyes softened and his body visibly relaxed, though he was still tense enough to react to anything that would need him to within a moment's notice.

The shy heiress chewed her lip and chanced scooting just a tad bit closer, making their resting near shoulder-to-shoulder arms make full contact with each other, "You're d-digging into the desk w-with your claws." She pointed out with a faint whisper. She made her stomach to backflips as she slipped her right hand over to cover Naruto's left, instead of leaving them back to back.

The change was instantaneous, and the Uzumaki found his claws retracting back to where they just barely counted as being more than just sharp nails almost against his will. The smooth feel of her silky skin calming him down like a hot stone dropped in cold water.

His predatory slits locked with her pupiless lavender orbs as his mind started to get hazy and he was beginning to have difficulty registering what she was saying to him, "W-what happened yesterday Naruto? You just…left a-all of a sudden. Did I do something wrong?"

He started to get lost in her warm gaze, and tried to keep control of himself by roaming his vision to the different contours of her face. Her smooth, pale cheek that made her face small and a tad bit round. Her small nose and partially exposed ears that were halfway concealed by her silk-like hair. Her now more angular jawline that would most certainly accentuate how small her face and general person was.

This turned out to be a mistake.

Time seemed to still, and loud empty noise started to deafen him. Her eyes slowly blinked as the sound of his heartbeat boomed above anything else Naruto could process in his mind. Except of course, the intoxicating smell engulfing all of his senses.

The fair scent of herbs and feminine musk. A light tinge of bathing soap and oils laced with incense. And…something else. Not quite something with a distinct label to describe it, but it called forth an impulse within him that wanted nothing more than to respond with every ounce of masculine instinct that inhabited his body.

"No Hinata. You didn't do anything. It's…It's me." He could feel it. Feel it crawl up his body and pierce into his mind like a hot-poker. His hunger was growing with each day, and he didn't know how long he could fight it. He was looking her in the eye, but all he saw was the veins that barely showed through her pale neck. But as he watched it pulse slightly with his eagle-like eyes…Naruto started to wonder if her life force was all that he was hungry for.

Hinata frowned, "What do you mean it's you? Are you ok?" she was starting to get worried again. It wasn't the first time he started acting like this, but that didn't mean she liked it. She could feel through his chakra that he was wound up tighter than a caged lion. As if he were in a prison cell and it just kept getting smaller.

Naruto limited his breathing, her scent was driving him mad enough already. "I'm fine."

The shy heiress was no longer present, and Hinata gained a steel look in her pupiless lavender eyes, "No, you're not. You may be wearing a hood Naruto, but that doesn't mean I can't see you. Your eyes don't lie to me."

Naruto had to breathe now, but that wasn't what set him off. A constriction on his chakra did.

Their bond allowed emotions, and imprints of strong thoughts to be conveyed to one another. And right now Naruto's nature was being assaulted by that of Hinata's. Her disciplined yet gentle soul was now ragged with slight anger. Not so much towards him, but how he was afraid of…something. And his own wild, nearly primal fragments of what he kept of his second soul was responding with enthusiasm.

The more you pressure an animal, the more it will want to retaliate. Only with Naruto, he was not responding with intentions to fight. His darker half was interpreting this as a battle of wills, of dominance. And he would very much like to see Hinata try and control him. Before his gaze was aimless, looking at her but not at her. Now, his eyes were goblets of blue flame, and his slits narrowed in a blazing stare as they pierced into her lavender orbs.

Hinata was not what one would call a 'daring girl', at least not by shinobi standards. You have to have guts to be a trained killer by the time you hit puberty. But, this did not mean that sweet little Hinata didn't react to a boy, that she liked, who was giving her a look that she couldn't decide if he was looking at her or prey. But either way, it was a dangerous look, 'U-umm…' and she'd be a damn liar if she said that lookwas not welcome. Or enjoyed.

If she had pupils, they would be dilated.

"Uchiha Sasuke…"

Like a flame that flickered out of existence, the smoldering look that Naruto was attempting to melt her with…and succeeding, was gone, replaced with a freezing glare that she had only seen a few times since knowing him.

The moment his brother's clan name had been spoken, time returned to normal and his mind cleared. The trance that Hinata's scent had had him in was broken, and he was no longer Naruto the academy student. He was something else.

"Haruno Sakura…"

Naruto turned back to the blushing Hinata, who had developed her rosy tone when she couldn't form any thoughts while under his smoldering stare, and breathed out a breath he hadn't known was being held in the first place. "There's something that I need to tell you. But not here." He gave her a resolved look, "After we've met with our teams, I'll meet you at the estate."

He may not be telling her everything, but he would be revealing something very significant to her. Perhaps, if she took it well, then maybe with some more time he'd tell her everything.

"U-um, O-ok." Hinata's mind raced with ten different thoughts on twenty different guesses of what he might want to tell her. And the sudden urge to rub her thighs together after being subject to her friend's furnace-like stare made her both hot, and extremely embarrassed 'Geez…why do I always get him worked up?' oh yeah, because she liked the way he responded to her when he was running on instinct…right.

Naruto looked back down, and started thinking of how he was going to cheer up his friend once his name was called.

He already knew what was coming. But, at least he could make it up to her after he was done with his team's 'first day'. After all…

He would be seeing her and Ino much more than they were probably expecting.

"And Uzumaki Naruto, your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake."

The blonde got up, and went down to retrieve his headband. And with great patience, went to sit with his team. He didn't feel like possibly starting something with his semi-brother, so the silent blonde chose to sit next to the emerald-eyed pinket in the red battle dress.

Having called out all the teams, Iruka was no longer needed, and went to give his class one last piece of advice.

Damn kids, making him all soft…

"You are no longer my students, and I am no longer responsible for your safety. But, that does not mean that you are on your own now. I am no fool to what our profession involves, and the dangers we face nearly every day of our lives. But look after each other out there. The genin in your squad, and the jonin who will be leading you…they are your family now. Protect them, and you will stay alive. That is all the knowledge I have left to give you, the rest, you will have to learn in your teams."

The chunin instructor took one last proud look around the room before giving a small bow to his class, "I have faith in you all, and I hope to see you become finer ninja than you already are. Good luck out there."

Even the still grumpy Mizuki gave a friendly salute, though his was a little less resolute, "Give 'em hell."

The scarred chunin smiled and motioned for his best friend and assistant to follow him out. Now it was just a matter of the jonins to come and retrieve their teams.

The next two hours were lonely for Naruto, Kurnai had come to pick up Hinata's team fairly soon after Iruka excused himself out of the class. Ino's team left only a half hour later.

One by one, team after team left until it was just the blushing Haruno, the silent Uchiha…and himself. Who he knew wasn't much of a talker either.

Sakura had been ecstatic when her name was called after Sasuke's, she and Ino had been having something of a silent war with each other on who was going to end up with the troubled Uchiha. After nearly two hours of dead silence however, her excitement was thinned out to barely anything.

'Geez, I know Sasuke-kun isn't one to start a conversation but he could at least try to talk to his team. If only to help get some familiarity for missions…' the pink haired genin glanced towards her crush and felt a tick of annoyance twitch on her brow. 'I bet he hasn't even noticed that were the only one's here. Let alone that I'm sitting right next to him.'

Another fifteen minutes of silence. It was afternoon now, around three o'clock, and still no sign of their jonin sensei.

Sakura shifted her emerald orbs behind her to the hood-wearing member of their squad…if she could even call him that. She knew next to nothing about the equally quiet Naruto, and even less about his skills. Sasuke she knew was talented at ninjutsu, and proficient at taijutsu…but Naruto was a complete mystery to her except for, well, the grand total of two times she had seen him fight.

Both of which times he had completely decimated his opponents…including her Sasuke-kun.

Blushing, she turned back to the dark-haired Uchiha who was currently burning holes into the wall in front of him with his eyes and decided to be the human being of their group and actually attempt some form of communication.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, are you excited to meet our sensei today?" she asked with a slight cheer in her tone. The notion of her being on the same squad with her crush bringing back a spark in her.

…She waited…He blinked.

Deciding to just wing it, she sat on top of her desk and dangled her feet so that she could feel some level of comfort in the deafeningly quiet room, "I wonder what kind of person he'll be. A cheery guy who'll encourage us? An intellectual who'll tell us to always improve ourselves? Or maybe he's a veteran who'll train us into the ground to make sure we'll be able to hold our own while out on missions...What do you think Sasuke-kun?"

She leaned back a bit as she swung her feet back and forth, before a smooth and slightly deep voice of a young teenager seemed to boom in the quiet of the room, "My only concern…is that our teacher will be able to make me strong. Nothing more, nothing less."

The room was so quiet that Sasuke's voice seemed to be right in her ear, even though he spoke barely above a whisper.

Just last year, the council members Koharu and Homura, his legal guardians had given him the full spew of what had transpired with his clan. How they were once a proud and formidable people, powerful, and feared amongst the elemental nations.

Until he killed them. All of them.

All accept him.

He was dedicated to being a ninja before, but with nothing other than a ghost town of a district and files to tell him of what his family was like, he threw himself into his training. And vowed to kill the one who had taken everything from him as an infant. Sasuke wouldn't call him brother. That would imply that he had a level of love for him.

Sakura's feet swung a few more times before they froze in place as she turned her head to look at the introvert Uchiha. He was still staring holes into the wall in front of him, and his face was shadowed by jet-black bangs as he leaned forward with his hands folded and elbows propped up on his desk.

'Kami, it's like talking to a statue…I'll try again later.' Sasuke didn't so much as blink when Sakura hopped off her desk, being much too occupied on his darkened thoughts of how he was going to kill Itachi. She ascended up the stairs towards a certain red-tipped blonde clad in black who was…drawing? 'Maybe tall, hood, and dangerous will actually respond to human interaction.'

She made it up to the back row and a couple seats to the left where the silent blonde had been…doing whatever it is he was drawing on a small scroll laid out on his desk. A few symbols looked familiar, and she began to suspect what it was the taciturn Uzumaki had been working on.

"Hey there Naruto…umm…" she got a good look at the way his hood shadowed his face, and made his eyes glint like a wolf in the dark. His claws that looked as if they could rip flesh from bone, or bone from body. And the sword resting nonchalantly, but warningly against the desk right next to his left leg.

His whole aura seemed to say to her, 'I may be sitting down, but I can kill you before you so much as blink without having to get up from my chair. You respect me, I respect you. And nobody gets hurt.' And she immediately stopped staring at the dangerous looking pearly white clawed hands that were gentle enough to hold an ink brush and draw. Instead, opting to look him where she thought his eyes would be…since all she could see now under the hood from her angle was a nose, and soft but firm lips.

"…h-how are you doing?" she felt her face heat up as his calligraphy stopped, and for moment nothing happened. Rumors about the blonde bounced around her head as she half expected her head to be rolling off her shoulders any second with the ebony ninjato next to him to blame.

Any thoughts that were running through her head ceased though as slitted, cold and warm blue eyes pierced into her more than she thought any kunai or sword ever could. The light in the room reached his eyes just enough for the animal-like glint in them to flash over as he sat up and looked at her.

She couldn't get a read on his emotions, his face was the epitome of calm. But something about it made her doubt how…tranquil he seemed. She could see nothing. No worry, no stress, no sadness. His face looked like it was carved out of stone. His face betrayed nothing.

But Sakura knew that anyone who could look so calm, was the one who was furthest away from it.

She was about to apologize for bothering him when a growling, soft but still slightly deep voice purred in her ears, "I'm alright…waiting on our wayward sensei, just like you."

Sakura blinked. 'I was expecting to be either blown off or ignored. Or…' her thoughts were interrupted by the same low, cold, growling tone. Only this time it was mixed with just a hint of…amusement? "Snapped at? A threat of possession…or a flash of my claws perhaps?"

He drew two more symbols on the complicated array of elegant scripture before she processed what was said and immediately brought up her hands in a gesture of peace, "N-no, no I didn't mean that. I mean, I was just surprised you talked to me, t-that's all."

Naruto's exotic orbs met her own, and held her gaze for a few seconds more before falling back down to the scroll on his desk and went back to drawing the strange symbols, "I know."

The young kunoichi tilted her head to the side as she sat down on the desktop next to him, "Really?" out of the years that she had known him, well…his name anyway, she had always had him figured to be easily offended. Aggressive even.

Naruto continued working on a seal he had been experimenting with for a very long time, its basic function was supposed to be a concentrated chakra grenade that would replace the relatively unreliable explosive tags that nearly all ninja in his world used. But a problem had arisen…elemental natures being separated from the base chakra that needed to be fed into the seal for storage so that it could discharge violently, hence being the replacement for explosive tags.

"Yes." He spared her a corner glance and nodded his head slightly, "I'm not going to hurt you, so you can rest assured that you can talk to me without fear of my claws…Or my sword." He raised his hand a little, gaining her attention and retracted his already sheathed claws even further, "Relax."

Sakura blinked again and blushed, feeling slightly uncomfortable with how the silent blonde who seemed to hardly pay attention to her was so freely voicing corrections to her thoughts as if he could read her mind.

Meanwhile Naruto was still playing around with his latest creation. His chakra grenade showed amazing promise, the problem however, rested in the effect of the elemental nature being separated from the raw chakra within the seal. It caused an imploding effect that reversed almost instantly once all the chakra required filled the set storage in the seal, resulting in a collapse in the structure of the seal. Which caused the explosion.

The sealing matrix that he created to make the grenade was designed to hold the chakra within a sort of fuel tank that would hold a set amount of energy before being overloaded by an exterior burst of chakra that would be shot into it in an intense stream and cause the explosion.

Basically, Naruto had made a simple exploding tag that would hold the maximum amount of chakra which the seal was designed for, and it would explode shortly after it was activated by the user feeding a small amount of chakra to the tag which acted as a trigger.

The problem, was that the single reservoir for the chakra that the tag used to create the explosion, was having an internal shoving match over what aspect of chakra would be dominant within the seal. The basic raw form of chakra that powered simple jutsu, or the refined elemental form of chakra that fueled specialized jutsu.

It was an unforeseen problem when he started making it, but he thought he pretty much figured out a way to separate the different chakra natures and re-write the seal in a way that would allow raw chakra, and its elemental counterpart to split and reform. The idea sounded good, and he theorized that it would actually make the exploding tag much more energetic.

"H-how did you know what I was thinking?" the young kunoichi asked with more than a bit of hesitance. Perhaps her new teammate had some sort of mind-reading jutsu that was a little more advanced than her Yamanaka rival? Sakura would be lying if she said that she wasn't surprised by how easily Naruto was voicing what was in her head.

Taking a break from his latest research with fuinjutsu, a skill he had been forced to limit his time for a while due to all his activities concerning a certain bandaged and one eyed ninja councilman, the young assassin decided that he would get this out of the way and make sure his teammate wouldn't be afraid to ask for his help.

Looking up to her with his glinting eyes, Naruto put her thoughts at ease, "I can tell by your body language that you're cautious around me. And I can see in your eyes that you're trying to decide whether or not I'm dangerous to you."

Sakura shifted, and seemed to be gathering her thoughts before giving her response. Though Naruto spoke up before she could attempt to say anything, "And before you tell me that you aren't seeing if I'm a friend or foe…" he tapped the side of his nose twice with his right index finger, "I can smell your fear." He looked at her unflinchingly with his usual piercing eyes as he crossed his arms, his glistening pearly claws made his lean and muscular arms seem that much more powerful as they cradle them, "Like I said before, I'm not going to hurt you."

The pink-haired kunoichi licked her lips nervously as the hooded blonde gave her a patient look, and awaited a reply. Sakura had no idea what to think…at all. All throughout academy she had only ever seen Naruto, not once had she ever talked to him. Within the span of fifteen seconds, he had completely destroyed the image of being the silent dunce of the class that never showed up except to fight, and replaced it with an air of mystery that she found unnerving, but workable as well.

She cleared her throat and shifted again, crossing her legs in an attempt to lessen the feeling of being a kitten that was pawing at a sleeping lion, "Y-you can…smell my fear? What do you mean?" she looked at him curiously, her heart pounding with nervousness at how easily he had gotten under her skin with his fierce eyes, and his blunt, almost careless words…not to mention the slight growl in his voice sent shivers down her spine. If she was going to have any chance at working with Naruto, she would have to know more about him other than the fact that he was a mix of being a red head and a blonde, had crazy looking eyes, and wore a hood all the time.

Because he was way too scary to work with while she knew literally nothing about him.

Naruto, looked at her for a second before taking on a pondering expression, and seemed to come to some silent agreement with himself as he nodded his head ever so slightly while his eyes stared off into nothing.

Picking up the brush and ink, he sealed it into the scroll he was working on and put it away. Then, he leaned back in his chair and gazed up to the ceiling as he thought about what he should say to get her somewhat more comfortable with him.

'Hmm, a question meant to both get familiar with me and my abilities…alright, I'm a part of her team if only until I complete my own missions here.' He looked at her again from the side, seeing how Sakura was still a bit cautious by the way her shoulders were tense and her absolute attention was on him, 'Be that as it may, I'm on her team…her life is in my hands, and so is her future. It wouldn't make sense to have her afraid of her own teammate, especially since I'll have to be "looking out" for these two while I'm at it.' sitting up, he nodded inwardly, 'Very well.'

At least it would get his mind off of a certain lavender-eyed Hyuuga, whose eyes he still had an image of in his mind in perfect clarity. He could still detect her lingering scent, and that didn't help in trying to clear his head.

Sakura was about to go back to sitting next to Sasuke, having gotten nothing in response from her small question that was just meant to get to know her teammate. Perhaps she had asked for too much since he apparently had some sort of ability he was keeping secret. She'd apologize later and try starting over again, but right now the cherry blossom genin didn't want to offend him in any way and decided to just retreat back into maddening silence which she seemed to be the only one to have a problem with it.

"Animals in general give off various pheromone signals at certain times, humans are little different."

She turned back around, surprised that the usual mute blonde (at least with everyone but Hinata, Ino and Kiba) had spoken again.

"It's…trickier to pick up the scent of 'fear' from humans. Animals have a much more distinct smell to them, and lack the other smells that people use to cover up their own." Sakura nodded, everyone used some form of perfume or cologne to make their odor 'pleasant'. Naruto continued, "But the smell is unmistakable when you know how to tell it apart from others." He looked back at her, his hands folded together in his lap and exaggerated his breathing through his nose, "You can draw as many squares and circles, in different shades of color as you want…but a sharp eye will always be able to find the one's in solid black."

Sakura shook herself out of her entranced state, the way he talked really drew her attention in and made her feel…comfortable. Like she had known him for a very long time, "But I'm not afraid of you." That didn't mean she didn't catch the slight jab at her for being startled earlier. Just another thing she learned about the mysterious Naruto. He had an odd, but amusing sense of humor.

Naruto closed his eyes and leaned his head back again, his face giving nothing away at whether or not he had just made a joke, or was being completely serious, "I know."

Sakura blinked, and then smiled. The gloomy mood of being in complete silence all but a memory now. Sure, Naruto was a strange one…maybe a little more than strange, but at least somebody on her team was human, and didn't mind a little conversation.

Her legs swinging a little again, the pinket in the red combat dress decided not to let this chance at having a normal afternoon go to waste, "Describing a scent with shapes, how does that work?" really, how did that work? The last time she checked, there wasn't very many fragrances that were described with anything like 'circles', let alone squares.

Naruto cracked an eye open to look her in the eye, "When you're able to smell pheromone changes in a person, let alone your normal scents of the world, you'll find that there aren't many words that can describe what you're picking up." He closed his eye again, relieved that Sakura was able to distract him from his troubling thoughts, "It's easier to make you picture it rather than describe to you what fear smells like."

Sakura nodded, amazed that this was probably the most she had ever heard Naruto say in the six years of academy that she had known him.

"So…" she began, "Is there anything else you can do besides sniff around like Kiba?" she giggled a little at the silent response that she got in return. Naruto's face didn't change at all, but call it her developing woman's intuition that she could just tell that what she said irked him.

Seriously, how do you women always know…

The hooded blonde gave a small snort of slight amusement, "That depends."

The pink-headed girl raised an eyebrow in wonder, "On what?"

"If you ask the right questions." So she wanted to play that kind of game hmm? Well, Uzumaki Naruto may be a quiet person, but it has always been a saying…'It's the quiet one's you have to look out for.' he thought to himself with a hidden smile.

Sakura pouted at the social 'lock' of a question. It would seem that she would have to attempt to 'pick' it to get any answers from him.

"Are you good with that sword of yours?"

"It's a ninjato, and sure, you can say that."

A small fragment of cold wind went unnoticed by the newly appointed genin as a piece of fabric that was sticking out of the shoulder of her sleeve was cut off with impossible precision, not to mention speed.

'Kami that was bugging me…and she needs to work on her reaction time. She didn't even hear me draw my sword.' Naruto mused to himself. If there was one thing that he hated, it was that one little itty-bitty string, poking out of the seam of his or other people's clothes. (Me too…god I hate that.)

Kurama chimed in with an incredulous tone to her elegant, and seductive voice, 'You're damn near an Anbu-rank ninja, and you used your reaper's sight. That doesn't count…And I think you meant, ninjato.' She smiled, and he knew she was by how her chakra had a light feel to it. She was happy again, and that meant he was too. 'She still could've felt the fabric of her dress shift just a bit…' he chuckled inwardly at the jab at his technicality between a sword, and a ninjato, 'and that's not the point.'

"What are your chakra levels like?" Sakura asked with a curious tone as she tilted her head to the side.

"Bigger than yours."

'That's an understatement. You also have me.' The bijuu said in a voice that was positively dripping in arrogance…even though her voice even made something that self-centered seem elegant.

An attempted playful shoulder-punch was caught like a mouse in a trap. "Are you good at ninjutsu?" the cherry blossom girl asked with another tilt of her head, this time in the opposite direction.

'Actual size alone I have more chakra than the old man in his prime, four times over.' Naruto mused to himself mostly, but he and Kurama had conversations like their current one all the time, they were used to each other's quirks.

Sakura shook her hand as Naruto released it back to her, "Damn, that's a hell'uva grip you have there Naruto."

He simply nodded, which prompted a pout from the pink-haired genin. She was hoping for a more…energetic response.

'And it's so dense that you have to multiply that by ten, and then you two are equally matched. In terms of power anyway.' It was true. The Uzumaki's chakra was like liquid ice if chakra was to be compared to water. It was very potent, and if it weren't for his dual chakra networks, he'd have a very difficult time controlling his chakra.

"I'm good at the ones that I know."

Sakura's pout deepened as she went back to swinging her dangling legs. 'That told me a lot.' She thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

"How many do you know?"

Naruto hid a frown as the topic of power drifted his thoughts to a darker corner of his mind, 'Not to mention my other self…'

"Enough."

Sakura scoffed at the somewhat expected answer, and rolled her eyes again.

Kurama frowned, 'Naruto…please, stop scrutinizing yourself. You are not a monster.'

"O~k" the young genin tapped a finger on her chin in thought, "Umm…what kind of weapon do you prefer?" She asked as she pulled out a kunai and twirled it on her finger.

Naruto ignored his vulpine friend's plea for him to change his view of himself, "Whatever is most suited to the situation I'm in." 'Even though all I really need is my sword.' He thought to himself. Though not a second later, he felt a tug at his chakra and a feminine fury starting to rise, 'Don't change the subject.'

"What weapon are you best with then?" Sakura asked, completely unaware of the conversation inside of her teammate's head start to heat up.

'If I don't, you'll get angry with me.' He responded calmly back to his nine-tailed partner.

"That's a good question." It was started to get difficult for him to focus on both women's conversations at the same time…HINT, HINT. (lol, I couldn't resist. By the way, I'm doing this on purpose. You're supposed to feel everything that Naruto does. It's my job, and I take pride in it. FEEEEL!)

Sakura couldn't hold back another scoff. 'How did I not see that coming?' she asked herself in sarcasm.

'I'll be angry with you if you change the subject.' Kurama hissed back with growing irritation at how nonchalant Naruto was being. Her goddess-like voice refusing to be blocked out of his head.

"Ok, what were you working on before I came to talk to you? Those looked like some pretty difficult seals." Sakura knew of fuinjutsu, she just didn't have the interest to dive into it.

The hooded blond blinked and looked at her with slight surprise, 'So she knew they were seals eh? Smart girl. Most people tend to forget about fuinjutsu all together.' He thought to himself. It was a dying art for a reason. 'Naruto…' Kurama growled out in a warning tone, her angry celestial voice making the young assassin tense ever so slightly.

"Fuinjutsu. And it's more so trickyto put together, than it is hard to understand."

'What?' he asked the immortal fox innocently. Though he knew she probably wasn't going to let this go.

Sakura scrunched up her face in confusion, the wheels in her analytical mind coming to a halt, "Doesn't that mean the same thing?"

'You know what.' Naruto knew at this point Kurama's tails were waving about her in anger, if he could still see her in their non-existent mindscape that is.

"Depends on how you look at it." he answered Sakura.

'Not really, no.' he replied back, attempting to curb the conversation away from where it was heading. Damn his curse.

Sakura tilted her head to the side in an expression that said 'huh?', "Well than how do you look at it?"

'…' and now she was starting to get quiet. Naruto sighed quietly, this was starting to get out of hand.

"You don't." the blonde answered truthfully. He didn't look at his seals, he pictured their entire structure in his head like a three dimensional construct. Adding and removing parts of it as needed.

'Naruto…' the demoness growled.

"Huh?" was Sakura's intelligent answer.

'What?' Naruto asked, his mental tone being one of both sadness and resignation.

"You don't lookat the seals, you picture them." He clarified for the confused cherry genin.

'I'm not going easy on you during our chakra exercises tonight.' With a tone of finality, she fell silent, and Naruto was alone in his mind for the first time in months. He and the ancient bijuu rarely ever fought and remained silent with each other. He was not taking this lightly.

Naruto kept his calm demeanor up, though inside he was both excited, and guilty that he had made Kurama angry. Excited, because their chakra tug-of-war would be more intense than usual and make him stronger. But guilty because he had made her angry with his disgust for himself. An odd thing really, and to top it all off, he was saddened that he had made his life partner angry enough to give him the silent treatment.

"Aaah. I see, I see." The kunoichi hid a frown, 'Not really…'

'Bring it on', he knew he was just making it worse, but at least he'll be able to make it up to her when she's throwing his chakra around like a ragdoll later. It would provide her with a level of release at the very least, "Yeah."

Sakura crossed her arms and made an audible 'hmph' as she looked away from Naruto.

Said blonde cracked an eye open and looked her way. He was starting to get a headache from being in two different conversations. One being a heated argument, and the other an intellectual 'get to know you' sort of talk, "What?"

The pinket looked back with an attempted scowl on her face, though it was more like a child pouting to Naruto, "I've asked you all these questions and I still don't know anything about you! I'm not stupid you know, you're giving me round-about answers that hint at something but give away nothing, on purpose!" Sakura shouted, "I'm onto you!" she finished with an accusing, not-to-mention waving pointed finger. "What gives?!"

The hooded blonde found the whole thing to be actually amusing and wondered if the bright girl would give into her temper like he had seen before. It would seem that once she got comfortable enough with somebody, she let every aspect of her personality shine through…meaning her obvious case of being bipolar.

Seriously, that came out of fucking nowhere.

Naruto smiled a little as he answered back with his usual cold voice, only, amusement had also bled through, "You didn't ask the right questions."

His amusement only grew when he saw her face redden with embarrassment and anger. Her hands and shoulders shook as she charged up her rage. He highly doubted she was trying to calm herself down, and went to throw a good well-executed punch with a fairly decent amount of power behind it.

"Grrr, you baka!" she yelled out as she threw her punch. She was so angry that she didn't even care that he caught her power punch too. Instead she elected to glare at him for a few more heated seconds before pulling back her fist, which Naruto had timed so that she seamlessly retracted her arm without interruption just to annoy her even more, and crossed her arms before looking away again, "Hmph!"

So focused was she on ignoring Naruto before turning back to talk to him again, he had been her only source of entertainment thus far, that she didn't notice said blonde staring towards the new arrival in the long since empty classroom. Save for them, of course.

"Kakashi." The hooded assassin said lowly, his predatory eyes narrowing as he had caught his scent just before he caught Sakura's punch.

He stood up with Sakura following not long after when she noticed him moving down the stairs heading towards a taller man with gravity defying grey hair and a facemask that came up to halfway the bridge of his nose with his Konoha headband lazily covering his left eye.

The duo stood next to Sasuke, who had stood up and stood a few feet in front of the new arrival just as he walked in, and took in the man's sluggish posture. His shoulders were slouched and his hands were in his Anbu pant pockets while his one eye lazily surveyed them from left, which was Sakura, to right, which was Sasuke.

Sakura looked curious and somewhat nervous, Sasuke didn't really seem to care all that much and just looked impatient more than anything else. Naruto however, had a sharp edge to his eyes. He wasn't fooled by the man's lazy appearance. In fact, he seemed rather familiar.

"You all…" the man lazily started with a tone that seemed drained of any and all effort, with a speed that lacked even the idea of motivation, "Seem very…" his gaze traveled over the three of them once more, and with a pace that even the oldest, most sluggish snail in existence could beat…

"Boring."

Sakura blinked, Sasuke actually seemed interested in what the man had to say now, and Naruto's eyes narrowed just a tad bit more.

"Meet me on the roof."

And like that, their sensei was gone…having walked right out the door he came in which was very slowly closing behind him. Just adding to the idea that their sensei was not a very active person.

And was now meeting them on the roof, apparently.

"What just happened?" Sakura asked after the trio of newly graduates stood in silence for a couple seconds.

Sasuke weighed his options, and decided not to care and made his way to the door, "Hn."

The green-eyed genin frowned as her crush left them behind, and turned back to Naruto who had followed the Uchiha with his narrowed eyes, having remembered that he had mentioned a name before their odd sensei had said anything, "Do you know him?" she asked, honestly curious if the once 'silent' blonde had prior knowledge of their grey-haired jonin teacher. He seemed to know something about him, if the way he was looking at him said anything.

"That, Haruno…" Naruto started with his chillingly cold tone as he stared at the door that Sasuke walked out of. He took a deep breath in through his nose, remembering an Anbu captain in a dragon-mask with a very similar scent to him, and turned back to look her in the eye. After a pause that he used to strap his brother's sword Hinshi no Hikari (dying light) across his back, he finally answered her, "Is the right question.

---

It was another fifteen minutes of waiting on the roof before their teacher shunshinned in front of them. Sakura jumped a bit, Sasuke 'Hn'd' and Naruto narrowed his eyes first at Sasuke, and then the lazy jonin that decided to show up.

"Where the heck have you BEEN Kakashi-sensei?!" shrieked Sakura as she was starting to get extremely annoyed with her jonin teacher's habits, "We've been waiting for almost THREE hours. THREE HOURS!"

Naruto winced as his sensitive hearing responded to the impressive pitch of Sakura's voice. Sasuke seemed to be annoyed but otherwise said nothing while Kakashi just chuckled a bit and his eye smiled at them.

Wait.

Naruto did a double-take. No yeah, he wasn't imagining things, the man's eye was smilingat them. 'How the hell is he doing that? Kurama, look at his eye, it's like a…upside-down U!' he gazed harder at his sensei's physiology defying eye, 'Kurama?'

A celestial 'Hmph!' sounded in his mind. 'Shit, she's still mad at me…' another elegant, universal female sound of frustration and disapproval echoed in his head. How the bijuu made that sound so classy and majestic was beyond him, but he would not deny that he deserved it. Or that he kinda liked the sound of it anyway because her voice was quite simply the most beautiful thing he had and probably will ever hear in all his life.

Silence was all that occupied his mind before the goddess-like voice rang out in his head in what he knew as Kurama's annoyed/I'm-ignoring-you voice, 'That's not going to work Naruto.'

The blonde under the hood was silent, and his stone-like passive-calm face gave away nothing, '…Damn.'

"Well you see, I was on my way up here when I saw a black cat walk directly across my path…"

The flat look that he received from Sakura and even Sasuke ceased his story from continuing on, "Eheh heh heh…Team introductions?" he said/asked his team, and from the nod/hn/stare…that he got in return, Kakashi decided on his next course of action.

"You first pinky." The strange jonin said in his lax tone, and freakish eye-smile still in place.

Sakura blinked, looked left and right before pointing to herself in a silent question of 'me?', and got a single nod in return.

Kami, that eye-smile was weird.

"U-um, why don't you go first? That way we know how it works?" after all, Kakashi was their teacher.

The jonin let out a deflated sigh, "Alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. What I like to do is not that important, my dislikes are even less important, my hobbies include reading and things that aren't really important, and lastly, my dreams are none of your concern." All of this was said with his eye smile in place, and a thumbs up.

Sakura felt a drop of sweat form on the side of her head and for whatever reason, it slid down her hair without breaking or evaporating, probably breaking a few laws of the natural world in the process.

"U-um ok. I guess...I'll…go. Now. Ok." The fresh kunoichi took a deep breath and introduced herself, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…well." She blushed and quickly looked down at her feet after her eyes darted over to the Uchiha next to her, "I dislike being teased, and my dreams are to…well." Another round of blushing while her eyes darted to and to Sasuke, and the ground. "And my hobbies are studying and spending time with friends.

She heard stifled giggles and noticed that it was her eccentric sensei who was laughing over…something, "Hey! What's so funny?" Sakura asked as she could feel her temper build up.

The jonin covered his mouth, even though the facemask he wore already did a pretty good job at that, and giggled even harder, "Nerd."

The cherry blossom kunoichi's face got as pink as her hair, flustered at the comment that her sensei had made about her hobbies, "Hey, that's not very nice!" she yelled while pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi.

The grey-haired man scratched the side of his head, his giggling nowhere to be found, "I'm sorry Sakura, did you say something?"

Sakura's emerald eyes widened and her face boiled before she finally turned away, "Hmph!"

Kakashi scratched his head as his eye smiled, "O~k. You're next tall, dark and moody."

Sasuke blinked before crossing his arms and replying back in an annoyed tone, "I'm not moody."

"Your arms are crossed, you're annoyed and you're grumpy"

The Uchiha growled, "I always cross my arms, and I'm annoyed because you said I was grumpy."

The jonin replied back with his ever present eye-smile and amused tone in his voice, "Because you're moody."

Sasuke shook his head a bit as his eyes widened in bewilderment, "What the-?!" he sputtered, "What do you mean I-?! You just said that I-!"

He was cut off by the strange jonin waving a pointed right index-finger back and forth, "Now, now Sasuke-tan, Uncle Kakashi won't teach you any new fun jutsu to play with if you can't take a joke." That unnerving eye-smile never left his face as he spoke.

Sasuke's face reddened and he quivered in anger before having to take a deep breathe to calm down and continue, "Fine." He said as he sighed out the rest of his calming breath. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much of anything. And what things I dolike is fewer still. Hobbies are a waste of time, I have no dreams, but I do have a goal. A goal, to kill a certain person. What I do after that, is irrelevant."

Kakashi seeming lazy gaze eyed the Uchiha over critically as he did with Sakura before him. His eye-smile widened, if that is even possible, as he turned towards Naruto and gave him a thumbs up.

"O~k, your turn dark, hood and mystery."

The Uzumaki's narrowed eyes didn't falter, and his guard never let up at the halfway decent act the supposed joninwas trying to put up. He doubted Hiruzen was still keeping tabs on him, the old man didn't really care much about anything anymore. No, what gave away the shinobi before him was the look in his eye. He had seen before in his brother when they had first met, and it was something that nobody could hide with a few jokes and a smile…he had given up.

"My name…" he started, and noticed the almost non-existent wince in his one eye as he introduced himself, "…is Uzumaki Naruto. I like being around the people I cherish, and I hate anyone who has ill intentions towards them." The two ninja gave nothing to one another as their silent game of chest continued. Right now, Kakashi was deciding how much Naruto knew about his Father…and Naruto was deciding whether or not he should kill the Anbu in front of him.

"My hobbies are the same as what I like most in this world, and my dreams are my own." And with that, Naruto closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall behind him. Kakashi wasn't a threat to him, the man had no purpose and didn't have a will, not to mention a reason to be a threat to him. No, Naruto figured that there was a reason Kakashi was assigned to him, and from what Itachi had told him…it was probably to honor some sort of self-oath to his Father. His gripped on his crossed arms tightened ever so slightly at the thought of the once great Kage.

But, it wasn't like that actually mattered. He had his own path to walk.

The grey-haired ex Anbu nodded, quietly muttering, "Very good."

Sakura turned towards Kakashi with a glare, "How come he doesn't get teased?"

The jonin turned towards her with a look of surprise on his face, as if he had just realized she was there, "Oh Sakura, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there. Did you say something?"

The pink-haired girl let out a groan as her shoulders slumped.

"Alright, now that everyone introduced themselves it's time to get serious." The trio of genin straightened up and paid attention. Well, Sakura and Sasuke did, Naruto didn't move an inch, "That means no more fooling around Sakura."

A certain pink-haired girl buried her face in her right palm.

"Today you'll be taking the real test to become genin, yesterday's tests were just to see if you were even able to become shinobi." Naruto opened his eyes and waited for the man to just get on with it, "The first part of the test…" Sakura leaned in, and even Sasuke narrowed his eyes in anticipation. Kakashi leaned forward a bit as well, a look of dead seriousness on his face as he did so, "Is to meet me at training ground three. You have five minutes to get there or you fail."

And with that, the jonin disappeared in a swirl of leaves with a faint, dramatic whisper that softly said, "Hurry…"

Sakura sputtered, and Sasuke took off without a second thought.

The pinket turned to her hooded teammate, "B-but training ground three is on the other side of the village! Well never make it!" she shouted in disbelief.

Naruto stood up from leaning back on the wall and walked towards the edge of the roof, "Let's go."

He leaped in the air and immediately shot forward with amazing speed, at least in Sakura's opinion, and called out to her, "Stay there and you'll be left behind!"

"H-hey! Wait for ME!"

Nearly tripping on her own feet in the hurry that she was in, Sakura leaped after her stupidly calm teammate.

---

In a field of grass surrounded by wild trees and a good sized pond towards the back of the open cut area, there stood a lazy figure in the center. His clothes were wrinkled, and seemed as if even the very fabric of his ninja attire didn't want to put in the effort to cling to his body.

His forehead protector covered his left eye in such a way, that it looked like if a slight breeze were to think about blowing by him, the woven cloth with a metal plate attatched to it would come undone and fall without shame or grace.

His one eye looked to be so tired, and his eye lid so heavy, that if not for the human body being flesh and blood and not an anime…his eye would droop down to the floor and pool around his feet because it wouldn't require any level of effort.

His hand slowly reached back to the pouch he had on the back of his belt. Being an ex-Anbu, a captain at that, he could have any sort of devious object of the upmost lethality. Anything from the subtle smoke bomb, shuriken, or senbon. To the up close and personal kunai, trench knives, and explosive tags. Perhaps he had something of a more specialized deadliness? Perhaps ninja wire, or some sort of specialized explosive tag or poison.

The life-long ninja narrowed his eyes as he grabbed hold of what he would need to help him pummel his new students to the ground.

With the speed of the Raikage himself, his arm whipped out in a blur of a perfect draw. The smooth, precise action being something only capable of having practiced it and repeated thousands of times.

He held his prize up proudly, a few inches away from his face, and just a tad bit to the right so that he could look even more smug.

A giggle erupted from his chest, and it was a sound that made women everywhere…shiver.

"Hugugugu! Now, let's see what Miya-chan is gonna do with that mouth of hers."

At first he started reading slowly, but as the sentences of A-grade porn grabbed his attention…and rather teenager imagination, his eye started picking up speed, and widened. Faster and faster it went, "Oh my…" and even faster still, "O-oh…Nice." His pupil dilated, and his breathing turned into a sort of pant, "Kami, those are some talented lips. Not to mention tongue…" he was so engrossed in his book, that he didn't even notice the arrival of a raven-haired Uchiha, followed by a hooded teen in all black and a heaving pink-haired girl in a red battle-dress. His students. But they were of no importance now, "F~uuuu-"

"Sensei! What the HELL are you READING?!"

The screeching sound hit him so suddenly that he nearly sent a kunai her way, before noticing that his students had reached the training field.

'Damn…' he sighed dramatically in his head, 'It was just getting to the good part too.' snapping his book closed, he closed his eyes…well, eye, and a grim look overcame his face, "Three minutes and twenty six seconds." he looked up, his grim face/eye still the embodiment of seriousness, "Not bad."

The kunoichi deflated a little, but she still felt like she should be extremely offended for some reason.

"And this…" Kakashi continued as he held up his orange book that was recognized by males everywhere, even females, "Is some of the best literature you will ever read. Icha Icha: Paradise." The look on his face, or eye, said it all as his giggle returned with a vengeance.

"YOU SICK PERV!"

And it died with honor.

Pocketing his precious for later, the jonin actually got serious because his test was about to begin, "Alright then, first things first. The only one who passed my information gathering test was Naruto, both you and Sasuke failed."

Naruto kept his eyes closed while his other teammates squawked in surprise and denial.

"What?!" "Is that what that was?!" they yelled in unison.

"You didn't gain any crucial information from me, how could I have failed?" Sasuke glared through clenched teeth.

Sakura was equally flustered and was confused down to the bone, "B-but, how? When? What did we say?"

Kakashi sighed, "You don't have to say anything to let information about you slip. The way you two reacted earlier, and the way you're acting now gives me all the information I need to pick you apart." He looked towards the wide-eyed blossom girl, "Sakura, you let your self-consciousness get the best of you and lose focus. The way you always refer to yourself as 'we' when I said that 'you' gave yourself away leads me to believe that you are dependent on others.

While that's good for teamwork, you're not always going to have your squad around you all the time. You will find yourself alone at some point fairly soon. And when that happens, I need you to be able to operate on your own. It's not the end of the world, you just need to tighten up a few screws."

Sakura digested what her sensei had told her and realized just how much she gave away with just a simple reaction, and nodded her head. She'd work on it.

The jonin's gaze fell on Sasuke next, "Sasuke." Said Uchiha looked at him anxiously, waiting to be told what was wrong with him so that he could rectify it as soon as possible, "You're not dependent at all on other people which isn't a bad thing, but it's not good either. You can't take on the world by yourself, you'll almost always be facing more than just one enemy at a time and for that, you need your team to watch your back.

You get frustrated with yourself very easily if you think something is wrong with you, that you're not good enough and you lose sight of everything but what's in front of you, and just focus on what you can see. Enemy ninja look for ninja like you who get lost in their anger and charge ahead without thinking, mostly because they have a plan or two already formed to kill you when you do. As far as life threatening habits go, I think yours is the higher of the two, you can't shoulder everything by yourself."

While angry that he was being told that he was rash and needed to ask for help…he could see the wisdom in it. With great reluctance, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He'd think about it.

"Naruto."

The two other members of Kakashi's squad looked back to see the jonin staring at their teammate with an unreadable expression. The look on Naruto's hooded face they could only imagine as being equally cold, or colder.

The ex-Anbu captain couldn't stop the haunted feeling of regret enter his heart at the side of his sensei's child staring back at him with an almost dead glare. He didn't know who he got his training from, or what kind of training it was, but he could tell that he was trained like no other child had been trained before.

Not even Itachi had the same look or feel to him, and he was an Anbu at the age of eleven, and promoted to captain only two years later.

He never questioned the hokage. It wasn't his place. But a few years back, he had been requested to meet two individuals who he was informed were special 'contacts'. He was pretty sure he knew who one of them was, anyone who had met and conversed with Itachi would know the eyes of The Reaper, Sharingan active or not.

But the other person he saw that night. That one, made him question. Eyes neither mortal nor animal…but something else. Eyes as blue as the ocean and colder than the thickest ice. And that stare. It was not one he would soon forget. It wasn't the look of a ninja who had seen too much, but rather, the look of a ninja who had been born in conflict and darkness.

Death, is what he saw in those eyes that night. And he could see that Naruto, had those very same eyes.

"You are very good at hiding. I'll have to see you in action to point out your flaws."

An hour-long moment passed by in silence as Sakura looked between the two, feeling an eerie cold crawl up her arms and legs. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and began to wonder just who was that Uzumaki under that hood.

Finally, Naruto lifted his head a bit to reply back. Making sure that Kakashi fully understood who he was dealing with, "You won't find any."

It wasn't arrogant. It wasn't joking. It wasn't spiteful or even overconfidence. Kakashi analyzed those four words and could only find one thing behind them.

Truth.

The two remained in silence as the other genin of the team glanced back and forth between them for lack of knowing what to do.

Deciding that he had given his students enough rest from their sprint over to him, Kakashi reached into his pocket and brought out two little items that held many memories for him, "Your test will be to take these bells away from me." He jingled them once to give them a clear look at them before tying them to his waist, "If you don't take them in within the next three hours, you fail, and will be sent back to the academy."

"W-what?" Sakura called out weakly, her eyes widening and her face showing just how panicked she was. Not to mention that that had come out of freaking nowhere.

"You'll have to come at me with the intent to kill if you're going to have any chance of taking these bells away from me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and Naruto got into a comfortable stance as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"You may begin…" the jonin opened his book again and started reading, "Now."

Immediately, Sasuke leapt away to hide somewhere so he could survey the area around his sensei. The act of him reading was meant to offend their pride in their skills, as if they weren't a threat, and make them charge forward. Based on what Kakashi had said earlier, he probably had a few traps set up somewhere. Sasuke would have to be vigilant.

Sakura, not knowing what to do, immediately followed after her crush and hid herself in a thick bush.

The jonin glanced around the surrounding foliage with a sharp eye, 'Well, they certainly know how to conceal themselves. Very good. Now, what is this one doing?' Kakashi tightened up his alertness and was ready to react. It seemed that he was going to find out who his sensei's son was, really soon.

Looking over to where her eccentric teacher was, Sakura's eyes widened a bit before she took on an irritated frown. 'What the hell is Naruto doing? He's just…standing there.' She took a closer look at his body posture, and blinked, 'He's not actually going to try and fight Kakashi-sensei alone is he?'

The not too far away Sasuke was perched in a densely covered tree, 'What the hell is the dobe doing?'

Kakashi looked over his book slightly to see what his dark and mysterious student was doing. He was on guard, and very suspicious, but he doubted that the Uzumaki would be able to take him on alone.

Naruto looked Kakashi dead in the eye, and then trailed off to the ground around him and the trees surrounding both of them.

'Dead center of the clearing and standing there with a book…does he really think himself so above their skill level that he only set one trap. A spring noose at that. Only a complete idiot with no business being a shinobi would fall for that, let alone not be able to see it.'

Feeling his heart begin to beat powerfully, Naruto's hands closed into fists as he decided to withhold any blade-fighting unless Kakashi drew first. 'It's been a while since I've fought a shinobi with skill who wasn't a mindless drone. Let's see if Kakashi of the Sharingan still lives up to his title.'

On a silent signal, the hooded blonde shot forward in a blur of pure speed. His body naturally attuned to using chakra much more efficiently than others to make him stronger, and faster than he already was.

Kakashi only had enough time to widen his eye in surprise as he turned his body just enough to dodge a thunderous kick by a hair that…landed softly on the ground? 'What the hell?!' the jonin thought in alarm as immediately after Naruto's left leg touched the ground from his missed heel-drop kick, the Uzumaki heir spun the opposite direction and kicked with his left again in a sweeping motion while he was crouched down.

Kakashi jumped away and sprung off of his hands to land on his feet, slipping his prized book back into safety, 'That was ridiculously fast for someone his age. Naruto is no genin to be able to move like that.' Kakashi admitted, if only to himself, that he was taken by complete surprise. Those eyes. Being called in with Itachi as a 'contact'. Something was up, and he wanted to know what.

Tensing himself, the veteran jonin got into his specialized Anbu fighting stance. A mixture of strong fist and a much more refined version of the academy taijutsu taught to all of Konoha ninja. Though through his years of experience, not to mention copying, Kakashi had turned his style into something only suitable for him. And he had more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

'Alright Naruto. Let's see what you can do.'

Shooting off at what he thought would be a speed difficult for Naruto, the jonin threw a punch that was just a bit too far away to land, and a little over to the left. A faint. Swooping down and keeping balance with his hand, Kakashi swung into an arching backspin kick which would've caught any normal genin square on the side of the head unexpectedly.

Naruto saw right through Kakashi's deception, 'He thinks I'm an academy student.' He weaved his head around and under the kick and retaliated with a hard knee to his solar plexus as Kakashi corrected his body, knocking the air out of him instantly and stunning him. 'Well you did pose as one.' Kurama answered back, the irritated tone in her voice still hadn't left yet though.

'True. I suppose ill just keep it that way. He doesn't need to know who I am just yet.' And with that, Naruto gave him a shove with his shoulder before jumping away to create distance. 'If he insists on measuring me, I'll disappear. I just need to see one more thing before I go.'

Kakashi stumbled back with a surprised look in his eye. 'Naruto really is sensei's son alright. He's fast, and knows how to read movements extremely well. He won't be genin for long if he keeps this up.' Hardening his gaze and flicking a kunai into existence, the jonin charged forward once more, 'Now let's see if he can hold a kunai.'

Naruto drew a kunai of his own and went to meet his 'sensei'.

In a shower of sparks the two universal ninja tools met with a loud clang. They locked for only a second before each broke away with their own strikes at each other. Kakashi threw a left hook aiming for the blonde's head, while Naruto redirected it and kicked out the jonin's left leg.

The lazy-eyed shinobi cart-wheeled on his left hand to keep himself moving and threw the kunai he had out to cover the opening Naruto had created.

The hooded Uzumaki leaned his head to the side just enough to be clear of the flying kunai and retaliated by throwing his own blades.

Kakashi had just gotten back onto his feet and into a suitable fighting stance when the gleam of metal flying through the air caught his eye. Sailing at him was a standard kunai, but he could just barely make out two somewhat smaller glinting objects moving much faster than the kunai.

The three objects hit their mark, two of them nearly simultaneously while the kunai came in last trailing a little behind. 'Kakashi' grunted as the three blades hit him, but by the time the Kunai had hit, the jonin was engulfed in smoke.

A log of wood hit the ground and Naruto was immediately waiting. He'd expected no less from a jonin, let alone the copy-cat ninja.

Without a blink to tell that he was surprised, Naruto leaned his upper body back to dodge a roundhouse kick, and spun the opposite direction, sending a kunai sailing to cover his back.

Kakashi would've capitalized on Naruto exposing his back, but found himself having to block an impressively thrown kunai. 'He doesn't leave himself open. Good.' He thought to himself as he shot forward, this time with two kunai in hand.

Naruto increased the force of his spin and threw out two throwing knives that made the Cyclops-jonin duck and swivel on his way over to him.

A straight kick met air, and a diagonal slash resulted in a shower of sparks as metal contacted metal.

Kakashi was confident in his skills, and he found it odd that Naruto seemed to be inconsistent with his.

Most of his strikes were met with either steel, or a glancing block. His hooded student seemed to favor dodging with a thrown kunai as his cover than redirecting his blows. And from the report that he had read that the academy compiled, Naruto's grand total of two fights were stated as him completely controlling them with his style of meeting every blow head on.

He was redirecting his hits often, but not on the same level that was mentioned in his report. Blows he threw purposefully into his guard were pushed aside. There was no manipulation that he was known for doing, and it seemed like he was too slow to counterattack as well. Kakashi had increased his speed to match Naruto's, but it never went above the speed he had moved at the start of the fight.

It made no sense to Kakashi. Everything about Naruto's style screamed that there was more. The way he moved, the way he reacted. He was moving with purpose, and it didn't look like he was holding back…but it didn't look real. The veteran shinobi couldn't explain it.

The two continued their dual, while Naruto kept his razor-blade eyes trained on him like a hawk eyeing the unsuspecting rodent below. 'He keeps his attention on his left side while his Sharingan is covered. Attacking from behind on his left will bear no fruit. But if it's from his right…' the Uzumaki got what he was looking for, and decided it was time to leave.

He had made a clone the second Kakashi fainted with that punch, and turned his sight away from him during that kick. And now, it was time to leave.

Kakashi sent a dropkick his way, and he sent one of his own to meet it. Upon making contact, Naruto sent a burst of chakra through the right foot he had used to hit the jonin's left the moment it touched earth, and propelled himself back.

Flipping backwards, he sent three of his deadly throwing knives flying towards Kakashi at speeds he was incapable of dodging because of their close distance to each other. Naruto landed in a readied stance, and watched as the ex-Anbu's body puffed into smoke once again to reveal a log with a few new additions to its already decorated front.

Not a moment later, two hands exploded from the earth and grabbed hold of Naruto's ankles. Kakashi eye-smiled while underground, 'Gotcha.' And pulled.

The young assassin was buried neck deep in the ground with only the hilt of his ninjato sticking out aside from his head, his face was still in its cold and passive expression even in the situation that he currently found himself in.

A few feet away, the smiling jonin rose up from the ground with his arms crossed. Taking a leisurely few steps forward the veteran ninja peered down to his student, "You did well for a while there, most impressive Naruto. BUT, I'm afraid impressive isn't enough. You simply do not have the experience necessary to take on a ninja of my caliber alone. That's where teamwork comes in."

The jonin shook his head a little, "Not only that, but if this were a real life or death situation, you would've been dead even if you had gotten away. You may not have shown me any jutsu, but you have pretty much shown me all of your taijutsu capabilities. No matter how much chakra you have, you still cannot give away any weakness of yours. The longer you fight a shinobi, the better chance they have at killing you. The same goes for the importance of either capturing them, or taking them out. Simply put, you took a risk, and it failed."

He didn't like scolding anybody, but if anybody knew about risks coming back to haunt you it was Kakashi. He had lost everyone he held close to him, and half of them were gone because of him.

"Actually."

The veteran was broken from his haunted memories by the unreadable cold mask of his hooded student.

"I didn't."

And with a poof of condensed streaks of silky dark-grey smoke, the buried Uzumaki was gone.

Kakashi stood there, not sure what to make of what had just happened. 'Huh, he replaced himself with a shadow clone when he saw that he didn't hit me with his kunai. Not bad.' He walked over to the log that he had replaced himself with, and frowned. 'Throwing knives? Not a very common ninja tool. Not as quite as accurate as shuriken in my opinion, but a lot more effective.' Taking a look at the placement of the thrown objects, his frown increased.

'He picked his shots. There's the center chest throw which is common, a hit to the heart means probable death. But those throwing knives…one aimed for the lung, another for the liver, and the rest hit in various parts of the intestine. Those are meant to maim, painfully so.' The kunai was imbedded a little past halfway, but the five inch throwing knives were down all the way to the hilt that took up just under a third of their length.

Looking back to the hole the clone had been in, and recalled its words. "He didn't use his sword."

He went over everything in his head, and confirmed that something didn't feel right. But, he could always deal with that later, "I guess I better go look for my other cute little students."

~Somewhere in the surrounding forests~

Sasuke had seen all that he needed to when Naruto had been pulled into the ground, and took off to circle around and hope to catch his sensei off guard.

'Damn, Naruto didn't stand a chance against Kakashi-sensei. He put up a hell of a fight, I give him that, but I'm no fool. He could've ended that fight whenever he wanted to. The Cyclops was just getting a feel for his capabilities.'

Indeed. The fight could have ended…whenever he wanted it to.

'If I get around to Kakashi's back and he isn't there, ill free the dobe if I can. I may not like it, but he's obviously way too much for any one of us to handle.' The fact that he had lost to Naruto multiple times in the most ridiculous of fashions had absolutely nothing to do with his theory of not being able to take on the jonin alone. Not in the least.

The Uchiha growled inwardly, 'Now if only that Sakura girl had any skills to her brains, she'd be able to help us out too but as it is the only use she would be is to come up with a plan.' Sasuke rolled his eyes, 'I'm smart, but I know that I'm no tactician. I'll leave that to the book worms.'

Having made up his mind, the last active Uchiha leaped up into the trees to avoid being seen.

~Not too far away~

'Oh man, what do I do? I can't find Sasuke-kun, and Naruto he-' Sakura shook her head as she weaved in, out and switched from running on the ground to hoping from tree to tree. She was tiring quickly, but in her panicked haze, she thought it was the smartest thing to do to avoid being detected.

"*pant* *pant* *pant*" the cherry blossom ninja could already feel her body protesting, not to mention her chakra reserves were already running low from using it to enhance her body to do all of the vigorous and unnecessary movement that she was doing.

And to top it off, she was paranoid as hell! The emerald-eyed kunoichi could feel the skin of her head burn while the rest of her body was making her movements rigid from being so tense. She could see it now. With her luck, she'd be right in the middle of jumping down from the tree branch she was on and heading back down to ground level when-

"Eee-!" her frightened scream was silenced just as it began by a strong hand that clamped down on her mouth like a vise.

She saw the trees whirl by and the ground approach far faster than it had been when she was descending normally. The whole thing seemed to go on forever before her movement suddenly stopped, and she was brought into a large bush that she could only assume would hide herself along with Kakashi-sensei.

That's funny, she didn't remember hearing anything when she had first been caught. Well, he was a jonin, so that was to be expected. But then, why didn't she even hear the ground crunch? She was taught in the academy how to muffle her movement, all ninja were, but surely her sensei couldn't possibly muffle his landing to the point of silence…right?

And what were those four pointy things poking into her left cheek? They felt really weird there, but the one on the right side of her jawline felt kind of nice…wait, what the hell!

Her eyes widened as her face was turned to the right and tilted up to see two searing hot and freezing cold blue eyes glinting in the darkness of their hiding spot. The predatory slits in them narrowed as he made a nodding gesture that she figured was an indication for her to look in the same direction as him. She may not have known Naruto for long, but you don't look at eyes like his and forget them anytime soon.

Her heart slowing down from its previous thundering race, the once frightened genin followed her teammates lead and looked directly in front of her.

At first she didn't see anything, and wanted to smash Naruto's head in for scaring her so bad, and then slap him for the rather…compromising position they were in right now. She tried not to focus so much on his hard chest pressing up against her back with each breath, and opted to look forward, but it was kind of distracting when she could feel his lean build through his clothes. Not to mention she was directly in his lap, and if it weren't for the stem of the bush propping their heads up, she'd actually be laying completely on top of him with her face right next to his.

What she saw next stopped all of that though.

Twenty yards away, in between two closely rooted trees, she saw the top of jet-black hair in a flared out sort of style as the rest slicked its way down to the front, and the hump of a back that was slumped over.

There was a knife in the figures back…and she knew exactly who this person was.

'Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun is hurt! I-I, I have to do something!' Sakura's heart started racing again as the alarm of seeing her crush in such a condition had her in a panic. He was slumped up against a tree now and was only still on his knees because his torso was leaning against the slightly slanted trunk of the tree he had collapsed against.

Naruto's hold on her tightened, and an arm wrapped around her waist to keep her in place, as well as a leg being looped around her own so that they were kept from squirming and giving away their position.

'Dammit Naruto, let me go!' Sakura tried to look back with a glare, but the hand on her mouth kept her from moving her head even an inch.

A second later, she felt a rush of warmth flow through her body, and at the same exact time an enormous weight as well. 'W-what? What's happening?!' her body felt like it was made out of rubber, but was filled with stone. She couldn't move.

Just behind her right ear, she heard the low growling voice of her mysterious hooded teammate, "Quiet." He whispered.

If it weren't for the sudden weight of the entire academy on her body, the blossom girl would've shivered from the hot breath on her ear and neck, and the throaty growl of a whisper commanding her to be quiet. She was pissed off that Naruto was acting so strangely, but she honestly didn't know how to feel about her current situation.

All of her blood was in her face right now.

The hand on her belly lifted, which also removed the tingling sensation she was getting from having the tips of his claws dig into her side just a tad, and was brought up close to her face so she could see. It was his left hand, now that she could actually see something other than the bandages on Naruto's forearm, and he made a signal for her to wait.

She felt a little lighter now, so with a struggle, she nudged her head in Sasuke's direction indicating that she wanted to go help him.

Naruto wagged his index finger slowly from side to side, declining her request to go to their comrade's aid.

Sakura was about to start struggling again, when Naruto made a 'wait' hand signal again, and pointed to Sasuke with a clawed finger pointing out to just above his slumped form.

The genin was puzzled, but finally gave in to what Naruto was trying so hard to get her to see. Sakura squinted her eyes to try and see what Naruto was pointing at, if there even was something. For a moment she saw nothing, and was going to start acting up again before she saw a streak of something in the air above Sasuke. Another second went by, and another fine glint came and went like a flicker of a spark.

'Ninja wire?' she asked herself. She figured that Naruto must've realized that she finally saw what he was trying to point out to her, because he was slowly peeling away his hand. With a nod from her, he completely removed it a third of the way through.

She was about to turn to ask him what they should do, but was silenced when his arm blocked her view, and she looked back in front of her to see his right hand extended forward. A small mass of ninja wire glinted as he manipulated the near-invisible metal tensile. A flick of his finger followed by a flash of paper-thin light was all she saw before her eyes bugged again.

Within the tree above Sasuke, a group of what looked to be needles shot out towards the slumped genin. But as they hit him, the image of his body flickered out of existence.

Sakura gasped, 'A bunshin! How did Naruto know?' the cherry blossom girl glanced back, and got a nod of approval in return. He nodded his head back in the exposed bunshin's direction, and she could already feel something wasn't right.

A Naruto clone jumped down and pointed in a particular direction, before a kunai sailed into its skull and destroyed it.

The inexperienced genin shivered at the sight and thought of her teammate being killed so suddenly, but tried to remember that it was just a clone.

The tree that the clone had pointed out suddenly shifted a bit, but was otherwise undisturbed.

Naruto took a sniff of the air, and pulsed his chakra ever so slightly to make extra sure that the ex-Anbu jonin had left the area. Old habits die hard, once exposed, he went to go into hiding again so he could draw them out.

He was long gone.

Letting Sakura go, Naruto emerged from the bush and dusted himself off, leaving the still flustered cherry blossom girl behind him as if nothing had happened. It wasn't until he got to the tree the Sasuke bunshin had been that Sakura snapped out of her stupor, and went after him as he started inspecting the area and began to familiarize himself with Kakashi's work.

"H-hey!" Sakura started off with as much anger as she could muster, which was more embarrassment than anything else, and hoped that her voice wasn't shaking that bad. The hooded assassin gently placed his hands over parts of the ground and tree that he could detect a presence in, taking in the occasional quick sniff of the air to memorize the ex-Anbu's scent.

The fiery girl waved her hands around in burning embarrassment as Naruto seemed to ignore her presence completely, "Hey! What the hell was that huh?!"

The Uzumaki answered her back, "What was what." But otherwise didn't so much as twitch in her direction. He continued to scan and sample the area of the tree like some monster hunter who was tracking a beast to its lair. He didn't even ask her an actual question either. It was more like he just said some words so that she would stop yelling…which really just pissed her off even more.

Sakura blushed, "What was what? You know what was what! First the-…the" she pointed up to the anaconda maze of branches overhead, "A-and then you came in out of nowhere-…And then" she made a swiping/crashing motion with one hand onto the other after she pointed off towards the branches some yards away and making a 'swushing' sound to go with it. He had plucked her out of the trees somewhere around there.

"Then we land, and I didn't hear a kami damn thing!" her blush spread down her face and into her neck, "And then to top it all off!" one hand on her hip, and the other stretched out into an accusing finger…if there was ever a stereotype…"You go and drag me into a bush a-and…" was it hot out in the training grounds today? "a-and Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-" those claws of his were all keeping her clamped down onto him, the jerk! "Sasuke turned out to be a bunshin and well…" that scared the living shit out of her!

'Had the baka not held me back I would've gone and helped Sasuke-un, and then…' Sakura blinked. And then what?

She took on a confused scowl, and looked at the ground as if it would give her an answer. The next few moments were silent as she looked at different parts of the ground below her, and off to different trees as well. There were a few twigs and fallen leaves scattered about. Some of the trees looked weird. Like a cross between a pine and some jungle looking thing. And, well…

Sakura looked up to Naruto, and his eyes told her he was waiting for an answer. She didn't know how, nor could see consciously care how, but somehow she knew that he knew what she had been thinking and was waiting for her to say something.

"I could have helped."

Well she wasn't lying. She could've.

Naruto leaned up against the massive trunk of the tree he had been investigating and crossed his arms, sending a calculative but also…almost patientlook her way.

"How?"

Sakura's head snapped back a tiny bit. How?

"What do you mean how? I'd…you know, help him."

The hooded teen let out a silent sigh. 'And now starts the teamwork', "I'll ask again, how?"

Sakura blinked and her face started turning red again, only this time out of anger. What the hell did he mean how? Was he implying that she was useless? She was about to tell him to go shove something up his asshole when she was interrupted by his usually growling but now…soft voice?

"You're not useless, I'll tell you that right now."

The hot-blooded genin cooled down a bit and smiled a little, ok so he wasn't calling her dead weight. 'You know, I think I had Naruto figured wrong all along. He isn't all that bad after all.' He raised his head a little to say something more, catching her attention.

"You're just not very useful."

Sakura's eyes lit up in flames and her face matched her hair in an instant, 'KILL!' she balled her fists and shouted, "HEY-" her screeching scream came out her mouth, and went straight into her ears they damn near fell off from ringing so much. It was like she just screamed, her scream hit a wall, then it bounced back and hit her right in the face. She held the sides of her head as she rubbed her ears, "Owwww."

She cracked an eye open and saw that Naruto was still as calm as ever. He expected this.

"What happened just now was the result of the little fuinjutsu you saw me doing earlier. Well, a past accomplishment anyway." He waved a dismissing hand, "I'll keep things brief and give you the short, manageable version. I was looking into how to make an area effecting sound suppressing seal, the one that you're standing in right now-" he gestured to the glowing blue seal about four square feet in size that she was standing in the middle in, which also had spread to cover her person in the same glowing-blue kanji…how had she not noticed that, "-is the incomplete version of what I created. It has an enclosed echoing effect, and before you give yourself a headache, ill spare you the breath by telling you that sound is in a one-way track for you right now. You can hear me, but I can't hear you.

And if you try to exit or break the seal, you'll only pass out from the exhaustion. My chakra is much stronger than yours, and the small amount that I put in there out powers your reserves by several folds."

She was pissed. Royally so. But, from what she had just heard and what had just happened, Sakura wasn't going to take any chances and just listen to whatever her crazy teammate had to say. She was locked in a soundproof box that could only be talked into, not out of. Apparently, he had something to say. She got that much.

So she crossed her arms and glared with eyes that spelled retribution.

Naruto sighed. He already put her in the seal, and was therefore committed to carrying out what he had planned to do since he found out that the love sick puppy of a genin was on his team.

Cracking his neck, and calling forth all the patience in his body, the Uzumaki stared her down like a parent who was dealing with a rebellious child who thought they knew better.

'Time to give her that reality check.'

---

Sasuke was really starting to get annoyed now. Not only did he have a crazy looking mime who keeps on showing that he's more skilled than the Uchiha, though not by much in his mind, but he also had an infatuated fangirl who is too dug into the idea of him to notice that their jonin sensei was playing with them.

He had just ran into their elusive and rather eccentric sensei a few minutes ago, and barely escaped him after a taijutsu fight via Kawarimi and most of his smoke-bomb supply.

Approaching on a small clearing ahead, the Uchiha slowed down to a crawl as he heard voices, and a look of surprise faintly showed on his face as he got closer, to what looked like a blushing Sakura and a still ever I'm-here-but-I-really-don't-want-to-be Naruto standing kind of close to each other; at least it was close in Naruto terms since the guy never allowed anyone but those in his small band of rejects to get close to him, let alone touch him.

"T-thanks Naruto. Umm…I don't really know what to say." The Haruno girl clasped her hands together bashfully and sported a healthy blush on her face.

Sasuke turned his attention to the blonde who had his hands dug into his pockets as usual, "You don't have to say anything. Words won't change you as much as action will."

The Uzumaki turned around, but only enough for Sakura to exit his vision before her next words stopped him, "But they will compel you, which is the best kind of action sometimes." Sasuke raised a brow at the somewhat familiar way the two were acting. Didn't Naruto like, not talk to anyone who didn't know him? And now he and the useless one in the group were talking philosophy in the middle of their genin test as if they were some intricate pair of friends still feeling each other out.

Naruto's body stopped cold as his head tilted downward, his face set into a thinking expression was effectively hidden by his hood before he looked back at her, peering into her with one exotic predatory eye showing beneath the darkness of his hood, "You're definitely not full of air, or stuck on a face. I'll give you that."

Before Sasuke could make himself known and tell the idiots on his team that they were still undergoing their test, Naruto faced his way again and nodded to him almost unnoticeably, "But enough of that, right now we have to form a plan of attack."

Jogging lightly to his side, Sakura rubbed the side of her cheek nervously, "B-but we kind of need Sasuke-kun don't we?" the cherry blossom nin peered up underneath Naruto's hood with pulse of warmth going through her body, it seemed so…intimate in a way, to look at Naruto's face because he always hid it. How did Hinata deal with him? Finding herself feeling uncomfortable, Sakura opted to just settle for looking at the side of his hood where his face should be.

Naruto said nothing, and merely pointed a clawed finger right at Sasuke who happened to choose to come out of the bushes that he was hidden in at the same time.

"Oh." Was Sakura's intelligent response, and another round of warmth dusted her cheeks as her crush dusted himself off.

"We've wasted enough time, Sakura, start working on a plan." Straight to the point, and thoroughly annoyed. Yep, Sasuke was back.

The pink-haired kunoichi let out a small sigh as she looked over to the hooded-teen in her squad who had reverted back to his usual quiet self. Which meant that all he replied to the 'I'm here now, so follow my orders' attitude of the Uchiha was a crossing of the arms and a grunt that signified that he didn't care. Though he did lock gazes with her, could it be that Naruto agreed with the plan-making being her responsibility? After they just had that seriously embarrassing heart-to-heart no less?

Well, it was more like a 'here's everything that's wrong with you and the best way I think you can fix it'-to-heart, but considering that Naruto had never even spoken to her before Sakura took most of it in with a clear head and thanked him for his advice. She'd admit to being a little emotional, if not even a bit of a temper, but Sakura also liked to think that she was mostly logical in her decision making as well; she wasn't a bitch about everything.

"O-ok, well umm…I know you're pretty good at taijutsu and ninjutsu Sasuke-kun…" she started off with a bit of a bashful streak, before her emerald orbs met azure and ice that made her gain a bit of confidence as her posture straightened up, "And I know that Naruto is good with taijutsu, tracking, and fuinjutsu. What ninja tools do you two have?" she asked after a moment of pause while looking between the two males.

Sasuke blinked a little, and shot a questioning glace over to the taciturn red-tipped blonde. Taijutsu he knew first hand that Naruto was proficient in, though he hated to admit it, but tracking and fuinjutsu? Neither of those fit the feral blonde's description…"I have some ninja wire, a few smoke bombs left and a Fuma-shuriken."

Naruto's expression gave away nothing as usual while he debated on what tools he should name off his arsenal, "I have ninja wire, a few specialty seals, a dozen shuriken, and smoke-bombs." Eh, why not make things interesting and just use a few.

Sakura nodded and fished out some explosive tags, "I think we can work something out with what we have."

"Actually, I'd like to make a suggestion…" Naruto started, "But it involves you getting angry." He nodded towards Sakura, who sent him a look of confusion in return.

"How would you like to be useful?"

~An hour later~

Taking another five-minute breather to read his book, Kakashi sighed as he leaned up against a tree he had fancied and felt a bit disappointed. He thought that his little students would have tried their hand at teamwork by now, but he supposed that considering he had an avenger, a fangirl, and an enigma for a team, he really wasn't that surprise that they hadn't figured out the point of his test yet.

So here he was, all be his lonesome, just reading the masterpiece that was always kept on his person and flipping the pages without skipping a beat.

"Mmm, Miya-chan sure does love to be spoiled." An 'old-man' giggle erupted from the masked-jonin's mouth as his eye twinkled while turning another page, "My, my, what a naughty little thing you are Miya-chan Fufufu…"

His concentration on the work on the work of art in his hands was broken as a kunai sailed towards his head. Kakashi tilted his head and gravity defying grey-hair to the side and gazed at the ninja tool imbedded in the tree trunk lazily, and sighed as he put it away. Paying to mind to the explosive tag that had turned out to be a dud, the smoke coming off of it instead of it sizzling making the attempt on his life a little funny if he were being honest with himself.

Glancing up as he took his time getting to his feet, the lazy-eyed jonin shook his head slightly at the sight of a lone Sakura Haruno who looked posed for battle.

"You know, I hoped you three would've learned by now that none of you can take these bells on your own." Kakashi stretched half-heartedly and did a quick sweep of the area to see if his cute little students were up to something, and sighed when he saw that there was no one around except the blossom genin who had yet to engage him. "Guess I'll have to try a little harder."

Darting out to meet Sakura head-on, he wasn't all that surprised when she turned on her heels and ran after throwing down another explosive tag. This one wasn't a dud however, and Kakashi jumped to the side to avoid it and the resulting debris, resuming his chase at a fixed pace so that his student would get a feel for being on the run.

The lazy jonin sighed and mused out loud, "When will they learn?"

Just as the words rolled out of his mouth, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps and turned to see a charging Sasuke preparing for a powerful kick.

Years of experience guiding him, Kakashi turned and caught the Uchiha by the ankle and the back of his knee, Sasuke having gone for a flying kick, and twisted him in mid-air before using the momentum Sasuke had built up to throw him into a nearby tree.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I thought you all would have learned by now." Kakashi commented, shaking his head. That was weird, was it him, or was he projecting his voice more than normal? The jonin turned back to where Sasuke had appeared from, hearing shuffling in the bushes, and saw Sakura stand up to where the upper-half of his body was visible. 'Well there's two…now where's the other one?' he asked himself, and got his answer when a figure in all black dropped down in a crouch around fifteen yards to his front, a kunai with a different looking tag tied to it hit the ground just in front of Naruto at the same time.

Kakashi raised a brow at the action, but couldn't do much else as he whipped his head and hand around to catch another sailing kunai, curtesy of Sakura, making him miss the other kunai with an explosive tag landed a few feet away from the first one's position.

The jonin sweat-dropped after catching Sakura's kunai, 'Are they seriously just going to keep throwing these in hopes of distracting me or something?'

The moment Kakashi finished that thought, a the deafening sound of an explosive tag going off right in his ear made him feel as though his skull was splitting in half before darkness consumed him.

Sakura and Sasuke both launched themselves back with a scream as well, leaving only Naruto with his thoughts and ever present partner within him for company.

"And that is where the 'you getting angry' comes in."

---

Aaaalrighty then, that's a wrap. I know, i know...progression is really slow. Bear with me or don't, i kinda stopped caring. This is my fic, and i will write it as i see fit, albeit i will incorporate advice and what not from reviews into it because that's what good writers do. I apologize if the pace bothers you, and if you must leave this story because of that, I'm sorry to see you go.

Anyways, Review, and pm me if you want/need to and i'll get back to you as soon as humanly possible.

Happy reading my friends :)