Naruto and Pokemon: Power of Partnership

by Mhyrloc

Upon graduation, new ninja are presented with a Pokemon. Chosen by Arceus itself, the pokemon support their partners, just as the ninja protect their pokemon. This is the story of a boy as he struggles for acceptance, and the Pokemon who guides his way.

10. Examining the competition

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

---

Naruto slapped his alarm into silence and disentangled himself from Ralts, deciding to let the lucky pokemon sleep a bit more.

No reason she should have to get up as early as him, she rarely needed much to be ready for the day. Even her hair never needed more than a few strokes with a brush, unlike his own perpetually messy mop.

While Naruto changed clothes and attempted to tame the unruly beast he called hair, Ralts snuggled deeper into the covers, using Confusion to tug them over herself.

He smiled softly at the sight, then headed to the kitchen. Nothing better than a nice hot breakfast to help a ninja and pokemon face the day.

Not that he could blame her laziness, he hadn't realized how much he missed that lumpy mattress until he'd slept in it after nearly two months of sleeping bags.

In fact, most of their first day of their two day vacation was spent asleep. A waste of time maybe, but it just felt so good to be home.

He met with Iruka-sensei once hunger had forced them to rejoin the waking world, and they'd discussed his assigned projects, as well as what he should do from there.

Naruto had done well in his identification exercise, though he was short by about a dozen. Iruka assured him that he'd managed better than he thought, given the fact that he'd been gone nearly twice as long as the teacher had expected.

His economic assignment however...

Well, Iruka wanted more than "Gato made things bad, he's dead. Things'll get better now."

They discussed the situation in more detail, and Naruto explained what he knew of the restoration efforts and the decision to finance the improvements with Sogen Handou, as well as the decision to court trade relations with Konoha.

Iruka pointed out the details that were important for inter-country relations, such as the restoration and production of Wave's sailing vessels, and those that weren't, such as Kakashi giving Tsunami a bunch of money to repay someone for a bar he'd somehow ruined.

The second morning, Naruto had met Iruka early in a part of town he'd rarely visited.

It was an old, but well maintained area, with imposing buildings of wood and stone, and ninja were an even greater presence than normal. Bored looking chunin stood near most doorways and there were almost twice as many visible Anbu.

Iruka had told him that they were in the primary financial district, where banks and most prominent trading firms were located.

Naruto practically had to be dragged into the monolithic structure that was Iruka's destination.

It was a giant building of gray stone, who's oversized doors were flanked by glowering statues of the Shodaime and a long haired man Naruto didn't recognize.

Passing between the two intimidating stone gazes, which seemed to be glaring half at each other and half at whomever bisected them, Naruto entered into the spacious interior of the 'First Bank of Konoha'.

The foyer was huge, with a white marble floor inlaid with a massive rendition of the spiral leaf in green stone.

Iruka led Naruto to a teller positioned under a plaque labeled 'New Accounts' and worked through the process of opening one for the genin.

The teller went through the process in the cool, impersonal manner of one who had repeated himself so often that it had become mostly mechanical.

While he worked, the teller projected a stream of bank related technobabble that Iruka later explained in more human terms.

The bank's finances were secured through the village's own prosperity, making it very nearly the safest investment possible. In exchange, only ninja or members of a clan comprised of more than forty percent ninja could open an account.

Most importantly, In case of the creator's death, the account was secured for their heirs or illegitimate descendants, through the use of a complex blood analysis system.

When Naruto donated a sample of his own blood, he'd been told that if a match was found, he would be informed, assuming the existing account wasn't marked as confidential, in which case the Hokage would be notified of the nameless account's details and the identification left to him.

In case of his own death, any children or clan members he left behind would have a period of twenty years to step up and claim whatever funds were deposited. After that period, anything in the bank's possession would default to the bank itself, with the exception of any ninja tools, scrolls, or such.

Iruka explained the bank's unusual policies and restrictions to be the result of the founders of Konoha setting the terms in stone, literally, during the village's creation.

Both Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had considerable interest in thinking for the long-term security of their clans, and so a heavily clan focused banking system was created to support those interests.

The security offered by this policy also attracted the attention of a number of other ninja clans, who liked the idea of investing in their own successes, and so Konoha had grown exponentially.

Iruka also explained some junk about interest and fees for maintaining the account if he stopped working as a ninja for non-involuntary reasons, but Naruto mostly ignored that stuff.

Afterall, why would he ever wanna stop being a ninja?

That boring task done, and most of his substantial paycheck deposited, the pair went shopping, and to Naruto's supreme pleasure, a new product he'd ordered from Touji's publicly displayed catalog had arrived: Self heating instant ramen.

It was one of a number of similar soups and hot drinks produced in the Land of Frost for convenient cold weather dining.

The insulated plastic containers used a combination of chemicals to heat the can's contents. While far from a good bowl of Ichiraku's finest, it was a bit above average compared to other cup ramen, for a considerably increased price.

Naruto had requested two cases, and happily left with three, since Touji had ordered a number of extras and other varieties to test their marketability.

The fact that the food cooked itself without either fire or chakra would be quite appealing to ninja running stealth operations, or who might find themselves in situations where even the normally simple comforts were unavailable.

Regardless of how well or poorly the other flavors sold, Naruto would happily continue to buy the ramen, if only to supplement the more nutritious dry rations.

The rest of the day, Naruto had spent catching up with his relatively few friends and acquaintances, including the Hughes family.

Maes had a truly staggering number of 'unique and exciting' photos of the barely three month old Elisa, and Naruto found himself forced to see far more than he'd prefer. Thankfully, Gracia came to his rescue after a couple hours.

After securing his escape, Naruto continued his relaxing day until finishing it off with a big dinner at Ichiraku's.

---

After a healthy, if imperfectly prepared, breakfast, Naruto and Ralts left for their first team meeting since their return to Konoha.

They had barely settled into their newest academic project, with Sasuke and Sakura doing their own training as usual, when Kakashi appeared in his usual fashion.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, "You wouldn't believe the day I've had. First my alarm clock didn't go off, so I overslept, but I really didn't want to be late today, so I decided to make a jutsu to take me back in time, but that took a lot longer than I expected..."

"But... You're on time..." Sakura replied.

"Then it worked!" Kakashi beamed. He'd been waiting a long time to use that one, Obito had only used it a couple times in all the time he'd known him.

He expected laughs, or signs of disbelief... what he got was tackled by the Uchiha.

"Teach me!" Sasuke demanded, grabbing his vest with quivering hands, and the hope and desperation almost hidden by the imperious voice he tried to maintain made Kakashi regret his poor choice of humor.

"Sasuke, it was a joke," Kakashi said quietly. "Time travel can't be done. Believe me, I've tried."

Sasuke's grip tightened, then released and the boy sat heavily.

Kakashi dropped his hand to the boy's shoulder and knelt next to him. "The math for determining one's location in space alone is formidable, that's why the Yondaime used fuuinjutsu to create a work-around for his Hiraishin. Calculating time as well? Simply impossible."

"Ralts can teleport. It can't be that hard... Can it?" Sasuke protested, though the fire had seemed to go out of him.

"Pokemon are bound by different rules than humans." Kakashi replied. "They know things instinctively that even our greatest minds struggle with. But even she cannot move through time with impunity."

"Or at all," Ralts agreed. "There are some who can, but most are Legendaries."

"Damnit!" Sasuke fumed, punching the ground in frustration. Charmeleon looked up from his place, curled up on the pile of stones and roared a column of flame to the sky in response.

Naruto and Sakura shared a concerned look, well aware of why Sasuke would want a jutsu like that, and Naruto decided to change the subject, hoping to distract his rival.

"Why are you on time anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Well... We have a lot of training to do, and we start our next mission today, so I figured we might as well make an early day out of it." Kakashi replied, happy for the opening.

"Fine, let's just get on with it," Sasuke muttered, if he couldn't solve his problem in one glorious moment of time travel, he'd at least get back to work doing it the normal way.

"Alright then, gather around for story time," Kakashi called, taking a seat on his training post.

"Just a sec, guys," Sakura said, jogging over to the post first.

The girl ran through her handsigns, and slapped the ground, where a thick line of clay six feet long and two feet high rose from the earth before the posts.

At Sakura's direction, a mildly interested Sasuke and Charmeleon heated the creation into a simple ceramic, leaving them a new bench to sit on.

"Cool, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered as the girl took her seat in the middle.

"Thanks," the girl replied. "I told Kurenai-sensei about my time in Wave, and she taught me how to channel it through my hands... It's a lot cleaner this way, and it seems to take less chakra too."

"And that's a good place for me to butt in," Interrupted Kakashi. "I wanted to talk with you all about jutsu theory anyway."

"You see, there are many ways to utilize even basic jutsu, and the only limitations on many, are your own imaginations and control. For example..." He hopped off the post and paced a few feet away.

With enough control, it is possible to channel a jutsu through almost any part of your body." He ran through the same seals as Sakura and stomped his foot, and a column of clay lifted him into the air a few feet.

"However, you cannot create a physically manifesting jutsu without a medium to begin the process, which is why I taught you the method I did. You won't always be able to find sand or dirt, but your body should always be at hand. The reason you spent less chakra here is because there's so much relatively damp earth available to manipulate."

"Had you tried the same method against Froslass, you'd have found it nearly as difficult as you did creating the elements within you, since while there was ample water, there was very little else to work with... until Charmeleon started smashing the bridge anyway."

"The various methods of channeling jutsu carries over to others as well... Gale Palm," Kakashi stated, hopping off the mound of earth and spinning into a sweep kick, which sent a line of wind blasting away from him in a half-circle, ripping dirt and grass from the ground and tossing it through the air in a maelstrom.

"Sasuke, toss a kunai into the air," he ordered once the mess had calmed down.

The Uchiha complied, and Kakashi whipped out a kunai of his own and knocked it from the sky. When the two collided, a line of blue electricity arced between them with a loud pop.

"Suji Jiinto," Kakashi said. "Imagine if you were holding Sasuke's kunai when that happened..."

"Would it kill you?" Probably not. Would it hurt like hell? Oh yes, it would. And that might give the user the chance they need to win." Kakashi explained.

'When I chose which jutsu to give you, there were two things I took into consideration, aside from your elements."

"First, as necessity, your chakra control and capacity limited my choice. And second, I chose techniques that were versatile."

"It was my hope that you would find ways to use the jutsu innovatively, and I am pleased to say that none of you failed me in that regard." Kakashi continued with a note of pride.

"Sakura, you turned a jutsu that most would regard as purely defensive into a way to hold off an opponent you couldn't even touch otherwise. Well done." Sakura's cheeks lit up at the praise, but she smiled proudly nonetheless.

"Naruto, the Gale Palm was designed to deflect and accelerate projectiles. Not only did you use it to it's intended purpose, you also turned your opponents into projectiles and repurposed it into a battering ram, to say nothing of your use lifting Lapras." Kakashi left it at that, seeing as the grin on Naruto's face looked like it was about to eat his ears.

"Sasuke, while you may not have used Suji Jiinto in an unusual way, you did manage to manipulate your opponent into letting you use it on her, despite her greater experience... Besides, you started this whole mess with your cold fireball." Kakashi finished with mock annoyance, and Sasuke smirked proudly at the assessment.

"Keep in mind that there are still many ways to build on your jutsu in the future. Don't forget the basics just because you learn something newer or more powerful. Many times, it's not the strongest ninja that wins, but the one who is most clever," Kakashi advised.

"That said, I want to move onto something new," he said, resuming his seat.

"Who can tell me the name and intent behind this seal?" Kakashi asked, twisting his wingers together.

"It's the rat seal, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied promptly. "It's used to mentally control portions of a jutsu that can't be directed easily with hand signs."

"Precisely," Kakashi confirmed. "And this one?" He continued, moving onto the bird sign.

"Bird!" Naruto called out. "An' it controls wind!"

"Yes, and no," Kakashi replied. "It is the bird seal, but it's the Kumo version, so it acts the same as Konoha's Rat."

The genin stared in some surprise, for the seal was exactly identical to the bird sign they knew.

"And what about this one?" Kakashi asked again, bringing his palms together over his thumbs and spreading his fingers wide.

"Same as rat I bet," Sasuke remarked, already guessing the point of this lesson.

"Exactly.," Kakashi answered. "The Kiri octopus seal, used almost exclusively by their Seven Deadly Tides."

"And of course, there's the one we learned from Haku, who learned her seals from Zabuza," he said, demonstrating the one-handed seal.

"The point of this, is to demonstrate that the seals you know aren't all there is to know. If it were, the Uchiha would never have risen to prominence. Anyone with good eyes can watch a jutsu in use and mimic the handsigns, but the sharingan also helps read the intent behind the signs."

"However, there are ways to fool, or bypass, the sharingan's ability to copy jutsu, as I expect Sasuke has already learned, right?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile at the dark-haired boy.

The Uchiha glowered at Kakashi, which was confirmation enough.

"You see, Sasuke cannot copy Naruto's Kage Bushin jutsu, because Naruto doesn't use the true handseals," He flipped through the proper seals faster than Sasuke could activate his eyes, trusting his speed to allow him to get through the long chain faster than the genin could register, and a clone burst into being.

"How?" Sasuke demanded, his red eyes blazing belatedly. "How can the Dobe do it with just one sign?"

Kakashi sent a prompting look Naruto's way, and the boy scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I was tryin' to do it the right way, but my fingers kept getting' all twisted up," he explained. "So I figured, this is kinda halfway to a bunch of signs," he said, holding up the vertical half of his cross sign. "An' this is almost halfway to a bunch more," he continued, completing the sign. "An' then I just went through the seals in my head until it worked."

"It can't be that easy..." Sasuke muttered in annoyance.

"Easy? It took me hours!" Naruto protested. "I had to try a hundred times, at least!"

"You're both right, of course," Kakashi confirmed. "It's not usually easy to use a jutsu that complex in a single sign. I expect it was equal parts luck and sheer determination that let Naruto pull it off. One thing about the impossible: Eventually, someone might be too stupid to realize it can't be done and do it anyway."

Of course, the Uzumaki bloodline might have had something to do with it, but that was a discussion for another day, after Kakashi had some idea of how to help the boy benefit from it.

"It's not unheard of for ninja, even those in your age group, to do similar." Kakashi continued, before Naruto could figure out if he'd been insulted or complimented. "For example, the Nara in your class would have known a jutsu nearly as complicated, and have mastered it to the point where he could use it with a single rat seal."

"You mean that shadow trap thing?" Naruto asked.

"Yep." Kakashi confirmed. "The Shadow Possession jutsu. The Nara clan are sticklers about protecting their clan techniques, and as a result, none of their ninja are allowed to use a clan technique outside of their personal dojo until they've mastered it to that level. Not that most mind, the Nara are all pretty lazy"

"By comparison, the Yamanaka use a method more similar to Naruto: Inventing signs to serve their purposes. And the Akimichi work to remove their seals entirely, to work them more smoothly into their taijutsu."

"Like this one?" Sakura asked, displaying the square seal she'd seen Ino use when the two had still been best friends, and she'd been Ino's training buddy.

"That would be their first, yes," Kakashi replied. "They have a number of others they use with more advanced techniques as well."

"The practical portion of this lesson is that, with enough dedication and practice, you can omit or even change the apparent function of your techniques," Kakashi continued. "For example, Sasuke could remove the inverting snake seal from his cold fireball, and so leave it identical to his normal one, up to the point of release. Taking it further, you could all work to remove the seals from your jutsu entirely, leaving you with techniques you could fire off with little to no warning."

"Very few ninja expend the effort to master many techniques to that level though, and obviously, more complicated jutsu take more work to do so, but the benefit for those who do is considerable."

"Sasuke, any weapon you touch could carry a crippling charge."

"Naruto, any punch, any kick, could be backed by the force of a wind storm."

Sakura, with enough chakra, control and knowledge, you could turn any terrain to your advantage, between steps if necessary."

He paced a short distance, and various terrain obstacles appeared from the earth around him. Caltrop-like spikes, small trenches, pillars, and mounds littered the ground behind him.

"And this is just a few options for a few jutsu. Always remember that your minds are your most fearsome weapons in ninja warfare. If you can out-think your opponent, you can beat your opponent."

"Now, I intend for you all to put this lesson to use immediately," Kakashi said, after letting his lecture sink in a bit. "Today's training will be another game of tag. I need a volunteer."

Naruto's hand shot up instantly.

"Good, Naruto, you sit out the first round." Kakashi said with an eye smile, while the boy fumed silently.

"Since it's you two, Sakura, you're 'It'. Sasuke, you will start in the center of the clearing while she tries to catch you. When I say go, you'll begin."

"As to the rules... The chaser may not use any jutsu at all. No shadowclones, no sparky fingers, no mud slinging, none. The person being chased may only use one: Kawarimi. No running at all. Your only movement will be through the use of the Kawarimi. Also, it's a five seal jutsu, but I don't want to see you using anything higher than four, for now."

"The purpose of this training is to teach you to use a relatively simple jutsu on short notice, when faced with a hostile pursuer, and I will enforce those two rules if necessary. I'm not sure how yet, but let's not test my imagination for unpleasantness, hmm?" Kakashi warned in an inappropriately cheerful voice.

"Any questions?" He asked after a long beat.

Sakura raised her hand slowly, and he nodded at her to proceed.

"Um... When you say 'catch'..." she began, a fangirlish gleam flickering in her eyes once more.

"Hmm... Let's make it interesting." Kakashi said slyly. "'Catch' means grab him. I'll allow anything 'G' rated. So if you can, feel free to glomp him into the dirt."

Sakura and Sasuke's faces morphed into opposite expressions of joy and dismay.

"But bear in mind that this goes for everyone, and remember who's chasing you on your turn..." Kakashi warned her, pointing towards the grinning Naruto.

"And of course, Sasuke will be chasing Naruto, so I doubt any glomping will occur then... or at least I hope not..." Kakashi mused.

"In fact, that's a good punishment if you break the rules. You have to stand there and take one 'catch' from the chaser... and if you ask nicely... I might even let you go a little farther..." He illustrated that thought be revealing the two page spread in his book, the artfully illustrated wedding kiss at the story's climax.

Not that he would show them the epilogue... Brats weren't old enough to appreciate a proper honeymoon yet.

He snickered at how easily he had motivated the genin.

Sakura and Sasuke would rather die than be caught, and Naruto and Sakura would be just as eager to get their hands on their targets.

Of course, the Sasuke chasing Naruto round might be a bit dull for the first few tries, but eventually good old fashioned pain and rivalry would change that.

---

The three pokemon and resting genin sat on, or near, Sakura's bench, cheering their favorite in each match while Kakashi oversaw the training exercise from his own post. His book's absence spoke to how seriously he'd decided to take the training.

Kakashi kept each match going until he felt Sakura and Sasuke had reached their chakra limits, and called Naruto's time at evasion in a timeframe close to Sasuke's. If he let the boy go to his limits they'd be stuck here all day.

Sasuke had been caught easily the first few times, as he stumbled through the one-handed seals he'd copied from Haku. Obviously his sharingan-copied knowledge was no match for half a decade of habitual practice with the Konoha signs. Kakashi reminded him that the goal was to remove signs entirely, and Sasuke reverted to the more familiar set. His annoyed scowl all but promised that he would fix his problem quickly, despite the weeks of work spent so far trying to do the same.

Kakashi was somewhat pleased that Sasuke had made that error. It was best that he learn the limits of his bloodline early, potentially preventing the ingrained habits that Zabuza had hoped to exploit in himself.

Sakura didn't catch him again until he was severely low on chakra, and Kakashi let him push himself until he failed twice in a row before calling the round to an end.

Sakura, through greater control or determination, avoided Naruto's grasp until she was too low on chakra, and Kakashi let her fail twice too before moving on.

Naruto got caught about as often as Sasuke, mostly because he forgot the rules. Though when he remembered them, he proved to be surprisingly capable, probably as a result of practicing with the much more complicated shadowclone jutsu.

In fact, not long before his round ended, he kicked the bar up for the next one by skipping the fourth sign as well, performing a perfect three seal Kawarimi right in front of Sasuke's fist.

Sasuke cracked the log with his fist, then launched it away with a savage kick when he realized the Dobe had taken the lead.

The match continued, but Kakashi called it after Naruto failed an attempted two seal Kawarimi, which might have been a bit mean to Naruto, but it left the two a bit balanced in progress and would push Sasuke on his turn, which would invariably push Naruto on his next one.

The team rested for an hour, a true rest enforced by Kakashi, who provided restorative rich rations, which were recommended by Gai long ago, for marathon training sessions. Kakashi had intended to ignore the suggestion at the time, but the information had come in handy eventually.

During the break, he talked a bit more, discussing jutsu theory, and telling the team some stories of his own ninja career, particularly times where jutsu had been used in unusual ways, often to considerable effect.

By the end of the second cycle, all three had managed to do the jutsu with only two seals, and Sasuke and Naruto had both managed to whittle it down to a single rat seal on a couple attempts. Sakura hadn't attempted it herself, but Kakashi was confident she would pull it off on her third.

After another break, he ordered them to all move on to single seals for their last match, promising that they would work on something more interesting the following day if they could all go without being caught until he called time.

The hardest step was always removing seals entirely, and while he did intend to get them there before the exams, going from five seals to zero in one day was a bit more than could be expected, even for a jutsu they'd been using since learning it in the academy.

Besides, if they were already this good, another day of this exercise wouldn't help much, and it would be horrible risking a fangirl relapse in Sakura, or worse a sudden onset of fanboyism in Naruto... Probably a good idea to limit the number of times Sasuke could hit Naruto too...

They nearly met his challenge, but since there was outside interference in the last round, he decided to shift to the more advanced training anyway,

---

Sasuke charged his target, fist cocked back and ready to fly.

He was aware of two things: First that if he did manage to catch the Dobe, that they would lose the challenge, in which case the next day's training would probably be a repeat of today's, and second: His desire to wipe that moronic smile off Naruto's face made the first fact seem rather unimportant.

By this point, his knuckles were torn and bleeding from the number of logs he's pummeled, but both his teammates had hugged more trees than a herd of cats in the Inuzuka compound, so at least his suffering wasn't as humiliating as theirs.

He had to admit though, the look on Sakura's face the first few times had been priceless. He wished this idea had occurred to him back in the academy.

He could have gotten training and a show, with the help of those useless fangirls. Some might have even gotten good enough to be interesting, with proper motivation.

Most would probably have just kept the logs though...

Just as he was swinging into the punch, he noticed Naruto's tell, a slight unfocusing of his eyes as his thoughts turned inward, to run through the signs needed in his mind, followed by a widening as his eyes flickered upward, above Sasuke's head.

Just before Sasuke creamed him.

Naruto flew heels over head and landed in a tangled heap, where Ralts appeared in a flash of blue and looked him over worriedly.

Sasuke straightened from his follow-through, and smirked a moment before grimacing as he remembered the stakes in this competition.

An instant before he'd have been struck, Sasuke sensed something coming at him fast, and he fell to the ground, spinning to a knee and drawing a kunai defensively, as a strange red and white bird passed over him, so low it would have clipped his hair.

The unusual pokemon backwinged lightly and landed next to Naruto, looking him over and chirping a delighted 'Deli!'

"Who're you?" The blond asked groggily, rubbing his jaw and looking at the creature that had distracted him.

"Delibird!" it replied proudly, digging through it's strangely shaped tail and pulling out a glowing white orb and offering it over.

Naruto accepted the object, which pulsed brightly and popped with a cloud of chakra, revealing a pristine envelope with his name on it, attached to the top of a small box.

"Naruto," Kakashi called sternly, before the boy got too involved. "Why didn't you dodge Sasuke?"

"Well, I saw the bird, an' I kinda got distracted, since it was comin' right for us..." he replied sheepishly.

"If this had been a real fight, you might be dead right now," Kakashi said gravely. "If the delibird had been a threat, you would certainly be so. It's always good to pay attention to your surroundings, but never forget the opponent in front of you."

"Given the odd circumstances, and the team's overall success, I'll call this part f your training complete. We'll continue with a more advanced version tomorrow." Kakashi informed them.

"In the mean time, we'll break for lunch. We'll reconvene at the Hokage's tower in an hour for today's mission." Orders given, Kakashi slipped away in a swirl of leaves.

"You guys wanna go get some lunch or somethin',?" Naruto asked, looking to his teammates hopefully. It didn't happen often, but he actually did enjoy hanging out with them.

"No thanks, I'm gonna go home and get cleaned up. I'm dirtier than Ino-pig in a mud bath right now," Sakura replied apologetically. Eevee thrilled her own goodbye and took off in a loping run, with Sakura chasing after her.

"Alright, Sakura-chan. How bout you Teme?" Naruto persisted.

Sasuke looked to the boy in confusion, he'd just spent a fair chunk of the morning trying to beat the Dobe's face in, and he just let it go that easily? What a weirdo.

"I'm... gonna go do some stuff," Sasuke replied, leaving without another glance at his team

Charmeleon rose from where he had lounged watching them train, and trailed after his partner, tail-flame waving idle patterns in the air behind him.

'You should see what Delibird brought you," Ralts suggested when it looked like Naruto wasn't sure what to do now that his teammates had left.

"Oh, right! Sorry 'bout that lil' guy," he said to the delibird who had delivered it.

Naruto tore open the envelope carefully, and pulled out a letter in Haku's handwriting.

'Dear Naruto,

I am sorry it took so long for me to write, but things have been quite busy since my arrival in the Land of Snow.

It seems that a number of years ago, the Daimyo of this country was assassinated by his brother, and the princess went missing in the confusion surrounding the event.

With the true heir absent, and no witnesses able to report his treachery (and the 'accidental' deaths of any who try), Dotou claimed control under the veil of regency.

On the same night as Dotou's attack, a number of his co-conspirators assassinated the leader of their ninja village of Fubukigakure, and then proceeded to murder as many of the village's ninja as they could.

I now sit within the village of Hanagoori, along with those few ninja and samurai who survived the attacks, as well as the traitor ninja's continued hunts.

The events in this land seem much more complicated than those in Wave, for while there are those willing to fight for their freedom, they hold strongly to the hope that their missing princess will be found.

It is my fear that if the princess is dead, or cannot be located, that the spirits of those few will be crushed.

To further complicate matters, Dotou is far more devious than Gato was, and much of the country is unaware of the relatively minor injustices he has taken to secure his reign, or the inevitable escalation that will follow.

As such, it seems that this war is one which we must fight alone, at least until princess Kazehana is returned.

I am sorry for burdening you with my troubles, but it seems so much more than I can bear some days.

Thankfully, despite the weighty matters I now face, at least I know I am working towards a noble goal.

Moving onto happier subjects, how are things in Konoha? Certainly warmer than up here I would expect.

How is little Ralts-chan, and the rest of your team? And of course, how are you doing?

Did things go well with the rebuilding efforts in Wave? I have heard tales even this far away, but it is hard to tell truth from exaggeration sometimes.

Despite my complaints, it bears mentioning that things are going as well here as can be expected, and I am happy with how my life is proceeding.

The people treat me well, many act as if I am family already, possibly because of my bloodline. Though it is strange to see something that caused me such pain as a child treated as a blessing in another part of the world.

It does make me a little sad at times, but it's not unexpected.

I do hope to hear from you soon,

Haku

P.S. The package contains a few treats called poffins, as well as a recipe you can use to make more. The Delibird that delivered them has agreed to wait for you, if you wish to send a reply, so long as you don't take more than a day or two. The poffins are his payment for doing so.

If you ever need to send me a letter, just bake up a batch. If you make them properly, any delibird in the area should come to you. They can't resist poffins, and can find almost anyone.

Naruto read through the letter a second time, committing his first non-bill mail to memory as best he could. Before turning to the box and revealing it's contents.

Inside were a half dozen light blue cookie-muffin things. He picked one up and sniffed it, surprised at how fruity it seemed... He decided to test out the recipe soon, just in case Ralts-chan liked them, she was watching it rather intently, but these were promised already.

"Here ya go buddy, you earned 'em," he said, tossing the poffin to Delibird, who caught it with a hop and a snap of it's beak.

He pushed the box towards the bird and rose to his feet, packing the letter and recipe safely in Ralts' carrier with his bookwork and shrugging into it.

"I'm gonna go get some lunch, if you wanna come along, I'll buy ya some too," he promised the bird. "I only got an hour, so I might not be able to write Haku-chan a reply until tonight. That okay?"

"Deliba!" The delibird agreed readily, nodding it's head for emphasis. It turned the box of treats back into one of those weird balls of light and stuffed it back into it's tail.

That done, it hopped up with a few flaps of it's wings and settled onto Naruto's shoulder, looking at him and Ralts expectantly.

"Ralts-chan, lets just take the fast route, Ichiraku's or bust!" Ralts complied immediately, and upon arrival Naruto called out "Three for lunch Ayame-neechan!"

The three ate their fills, and Delibird even shared a poffin with Ralts as desert.

---

Before running to the tower to wait for his team, Naruto and Ralts took Delibird to Iruka-sensei to see if he would be willing to take care of the pokemon until Naruto met up with him after his mission.

Needless to say, a genin teleporting into an academy class in session caused a bit of an uproar, but thanks to his own history in pranking, he was able to shift the class into a spontaneous lesson on pokemon, with Ralts demonstrating a few of her abilities, and Delibird showing off a good few of it's own and remaining for the rest of the class.

Meeting at the tower, Kakashi revealed the mission scroll he'd received a few days before.

"For the next week, we will be helping Hikari Suzuhara redecorate her store. I'm not entirely certain what that entails as yet, but she specifically requested team seven, so I expect you all to do well," he said once the team had gathered.

"Some of you may know where the Suzuhara shop is, but if not, I'll show you. We'll be meeting there every day after lunch until we're finished."

That said, he leapt to the roof of a nearby building with a single lazy hop, turning to look back at his genin once he landed.

Sasuke and Naruto shared a challenging glance and took off after him, Naruto in a series of leaps, and Sasuke using a nearby signpost to swing himself up, while Charmeleon simply used Flame Charge to rocket himself to the rooftops.

The two boys arrived simultaneously, each looking to the other confident in their own superiority, when Sakura arrived a second later, having chosen to just run up the side of the building with Eevee in her arms.

As soon as they were all together once more, Kakashi took off across the rooftops at what he felt would be a comfortable pace for the genin, though apparently comfortable wasn't enough for some of the team.

"Race ya there, Teme!" Naruto shouted, taking off across the rooftops in a near sprint. In her carrier, Ralts blew a raspberry at Charmeleon as he did.

Sasuke and Charmeleon roared similarly fiery responses, though only one actually ignited the air before him, and took off after them. Thankfully, the buildings were spaced rather close together in the crowded village, and even Charmeleon could leap from one to another with relative ease.

"Hey! Do you two even know where the place is?" Sakura called after them, not that either boy bothered to stop and answer.

"I know Naruto does," Kakashi assured her, "but I'm not sure about Sasuke..."

"Then how can Sasuke-kun win if he doesn't know where they're going? That's practically cheating!" Sakura grumbled, matching the pace Kakashi set easily enough that he pushed a bit harder, just to see what she could do.

"Nah, cheating would be if Ralts teleported them," Kakashi disagreed with an eye-smile. "This is just boys having fun."

Sakura just rolled her eyes and took off after her team.

They arrived to find Sasuke and Naruto arguing in front of the store about the fairness of the race, which Kakashi diffused by simply declaring the competition void.

Naruto plastered a pout on his face, and Sasuke smirked victoriously.

An unknown, angry voice called out, just as the door burst open.

"What's with all the racket!"

The genin looked to the doorway... and up into one of the ugliest faces any of the ninja had ever seen.

The gray skinned pokemon glowered down at the formerly noisy genin and cracked it's knuckles, all twenty of them spread across four hands, any one of which looked big enough to encompass their heads, with arms thick enough to lift them easily if such a grapple was attempted.

"Move it you big lug!" the voice called, this time accompanied by the sound of flesh striking stone.

"Chaaamp," drawled the pokemon in it's deep voice, shifting slightly to let a rather petite woman slip through. Despite the motion, Machamp's gaze never left the two boys.

The woman shook her hand a few times, muttering about overprotective muscle-heads, before turning to the team.

The second she realized who they were, her face lit up, and a somewhat disconcerting grin managed to work it's way onto her face.

"Champ, go tell Touji the team is here, and get to work clearing the walls. No more time to procrastinate, now chop chop!" She ordered briskly, waving one hand at Touji's pokemon in a shooing manner.

He made an agreeable sound and turned to go, walking away with heavy steps.

"As for the rest of you, we're going to be painting this place up so it looks nice," she explained. "I'm tired of our store looking like a boring old warehouse, so I want it spruced up."

"And why exactly will this take a week?" Sasuke asked. A couple layers of paint, some cleaning, they should be able to wipe it out in a few days tops.

"Because it took a lot of convincing to get Touji-kun to agree to redecorate, and I want it to be perfect when it's finished," Hikari admitted. "Which is why I requested Mister Magic Paint here to do the job," she finished, grabbing Naruto in a one-armed hug.

"We're going to try everything we can think of until it turns out right!" She declared excitedly.

Sasuke groaned and Sakura facepalmed, while Naruto just looked stunned that someone would have looked at his masterpiece and find a way to make a mission out of it.

"Well then, since it's pretty essential for the mission, Naruto, you have full permission to abuse the Kage Bushin as much as you like," Kakashi said with some amusement.

"Thank Arceus," Sakura replied, and even Sasuke nodded his agreement to that sentiment. The store wasn't huge, but it was a modified warehouse, so it was big enough that multiple paintings would be time consuming.

"But don't think you're getting out of work," Hikari warned. "I've got big plans for this place, and we're going to do it right, and today, we're going to clean until it shines!"

She dragged the group through the store and into the storage area that was walled off from the rest of the building, where a large assortment of cleaning supplies sat new and unopened.

"Hokage-sama warned me that the shadowclones can copy supplies, but that they might not be up to the heavy stuff, so I made sure to have plenty," she explained, setting the team to carting most of what they would need outside.

"First order of the day: I want the walls and roof scrubbed clean. Leaves, dirt, bugs, I want all of it gone. I want this place looking better than the day it was finished. Once that's done, we'll get started with the primer."

Leaving the team with their orders, she strode back inside once more, where they could faintly hear her complaining at her husband for putting of the preparation work inside.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto complained.

"Now now, I'm sure if you work hard, she'll stay happy and not bother you too much," Kakashi replied. "But just to be safe, you better get started..."

Naruto grabbed a broom and walked up the wall to the roof, followed closely by his teammates, Kakashi watched them until he spotted the telltale smoke that announced the arrival of a veritable army of helpers.

On the ground, Eevee and Charmeleon looked for things to do to help. Eevee did some sweeping and dusting with her bushy tail, but Charmeleon's options were pretty limited, at least until it became time to incinerate piles of refuse.

With generous assistance from Naruto's clones, the team managed to finish the first two phases of Hikari's grand plan. The exterior and interior were both spotlessly clean, and primed in eggshell white.

Naruto had also promised to stop by on his way to training the following day to set more clones to work with a second layer of primer, so it would hopefully dry before they arrived for the day's mission work.

Hikari immediately declared him to be her favorite customer ever.

---

The next morning, Naruto arrived at the training ground half an hour early.

He'd stopped off at the Suzahara shop and set his clones to work, and then continued on to his team's meeting place to find a strange sight: a six foot high wall of rough stone, completely encircling the clearing they trained in.

And from within this shell of stone emanated a thumping like the heartbeat of some great beast.

Brave though he might be, Naruto decided he might not wanna pick a fight with something that could turn a ninja training ground into it's nest unopposed...

At least not without making sure it wasn't some kinda huge monster first.

"Whaddaya think's in there?" He asked his partner in a whisper as he tried pressing his ear against the wall.

Ralts mimicked Naruto's posture and focused her senses into the hidden area.

Within she could feel a single being, though it's emotions were nearly as airy as fog. Boredom was foremost, underscored by mild anticipation. Beneath that was idle interest paired with fond familiarity, with a hint of amused attraction...

She knew she'd felt this person before, but before she could remember where, the answer came to them both in the form of a perverted giggle.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in puzzlement. On time was strange enough, but actually arriving early?

'He has... an unusual mind,' Ralts replied, making a mental note to remember the jounin's oddly vague emotional presence. She had never spent much time looking into his psychic presence, largely because Naruto was worried he might always have perverse thoughts running though his mind.

Mystery solved, Naruto hopped up onto the wall and looked in on the fruits of Kakashi's labor.

While the outside wasn't anything special, the inside was actually quite impressive. The inner walls were so smooth and polished that they gleamed in the morning light, and from one side to the other, the ground was just as perfect, level and glossy brown stone, except for a circle of tan about five feet across in the center.

Within that circle stood Kakashi, reading his favorite book and bouncing a fist-sized rubber ball with his free hand.

He looked up when Naruto sprang to the top of his creation, but held his tongue while the boy looked it over. One nearly unique aspect of Naruto was that he was astonishingly easy to read when he was impressed, and it was oddly satisfying to have his efforts be appreciated openly.

His mother was the same way whenever she witnessed a new jutsu, one of his fondest memories was the day he showed her the chidori. The woman had practically been beside herself with excitement.

"First one here, hmm?" Kakashi asked when Naruto had finished his appraisal.

Naruto looked down at him with a grin, and Ralts waved cheerfully.

"Yeah, Iruka-sensei's got me learning about other village's fighting styles an' jutsu an' stuff, so I figured I'd come out early, so I could do a bit more studying, just in case you got here on time again," Naruto explained.

"Didn't expect me early, did you?" Kakashi replied with an obvious smirk.

"You can say that again," Naruto chuckled. "You wanna get started on somethin' now, or wait for Sakura-chan an' the Teme?"

Kakashi thought for a bit... Would now be a good time to talk to Naruto about his heritage? He still hadn't come up with a very good plan to help Naruto learn to use the bloodline.

"I think you should focus on what Iruka wants you to learn for now, you never know when it might come in handy," Kakashi advised.

"Gotcha, Kakashi-sensei. I'll have it all down before you know it, the chunin exam's gonna be a piece of cake! Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Chunin exam?" Kakashi prompted, he was certain he hadn't mentioned it to the team yet...

"Ino said it's coming up soon, I kinda figured that's why you're wantin' us to work so hard," Naruto explained.

"Ah... well, you're right there, but I promised the Hokage I wouldn't tell anyone, so keep it a secret, okay?" Kakashi requested.

"You got it Kakashi-sensei," Naruto agreed. He didn't feel right keeping it a secret from his teammates, but a promise to the Hokage was important.

"Alright then. What do you say we both get on with our reading, I'm sure the others will get here soon enough anyway," Kakashi replied.

Naruto plopped down on top of the wall, which Kakashi had made thick enough for the pokemon to comfortably sit on, since they would be spectators again, at least until Absol returned from his scouting trip and took them for training.

Kakashi himself was confident that the pokemon were ahead of the curve for now, which was why he'd chosen to focus on the genin for this training... That and he knew Absol would handle things far more efficiently on their side anyway.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived almost simultaneously, though it was obvious from the direction of his arrival that the Uchiha had taken a circuitous route to avoid walking with his beaming fan.

Sasuke jumped from the trees he'd traveled upon to the wall, as Charmeleon raced raptor-like across the ground and joined him with a soaring leap.

Sakura, with Eevee in her arms, jogged to the wall and hopped onto it with a level of carelessness that she wouldn't have even been able to pretend to a few months before.

Kakashi closed his book with a snap and returned it to it's pocketed safety, before turning his attention to the gathered genin.

Unlike Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked upon his arena not as an amazing piece of work, but more practically. Sakura saw it as an inspiring and advanced example of the mud wall,and Sasuke simply wanted to know what use it might be in helping him get stronger.

Sometimes it was a pain being able to read people as easily as he could.

"Now that we're all here," Kakashi began, getting the group's attention easily. "It's time for today's training."

"I want the humans to join me in here," he said, gesturing to his creation. "Today's lesson is a continuation of yesterday's, but it will be a bit more weighted towards real combat conditions."

"What I mean by that, is that today you can dodge both physically or with single seal kawarimi, but no other jutsu are permitted. Additionally, you won't be chasing each other, sorry to dash any hopes you might have had."

"Then who's chasing today?" Naruto asked.

"Nobody," Kakashi replied. "Yesterday's training was intended more to help you learn to kawarimi faster in general, today you'll be training to do so while in a more severe situation."

"What kind of situation?" Sasuke asked, interested in the idea of real, serious training.

"Your opponent is me," Kakashi replied gravely, earning nervous looks from the genin. "I will not be trying to catch you. In fact, I won't even leave this circle, but you will have to work hard to avoid my attacks."

"What kinds of attacks?" Sakura asked, eying the wide stretch between Kakashi and the wall critically. If he was going to be throwing jutsu at them, they would have to be on their toes...

"This kind," Kakashi replied, launching the ball he held straight at her face.

Sakura fell to her back with a shriek, and rolled to her knees, looking frantically between Kakashi and the still flying ball, ready to dodge again at a moment's notice.

The ball hit the wall spinning, causing it to kick off at an odd angle, flying at Naruto, who dodged it too.

The ball bounced off two more walls as the genin watched, moving to avoid it as needed, until it was recaptured by Kakashi.

"If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a kunai," the jounin said cheerfully.

"We will continue this exercise until I think you're proficient enough in both evasion and basic spacial awareness to dance through a warzone untouched."

"Don't expect that to be any time soon though. When I think it's too easy for you, I will increase the difficulty," he punctuated that warning by pulling two more rubber balls from his pouch.

"Like yesterday, we will continue until I call for a break. Unlike yesterday however, I will not be generous., you should expect to go for at least an hour at a time. This is as much to test your physical endurance as your chakra."

"Are there any questions before we begin?" He prompted, without response.

"Very well then... Evasion training round one... Begin!" Kakashi called out, sweeping his arms in a grand arc and sending all three balls zipping through the air.

True to his word, Kakashi worked the genin hard, sending attacks at them from nearly impossible angles.

Each day he added at least one ball to the mix, until the genin couldn't take a step without having to avoid one or more.

Eventually, he started adding true jutsu to the mix, a demonstration of his faith in their abilities, though he never did go all out against them. When they reached that point, he gave them permission to counter his attacks by catching the balls and using their own jutsu, albeit with limits. In exchange, he left the circle, though he still attacked mostly at range.

Once he was satisfied with that level of survival training, he halved the time each day that they spent on it, and instead set about teaching them to bring the hurt as effectively as they could avoid it. And in their off time, he had set them to learning the water walking exercise.

A few days into their evasion training, Absol returned to collect the young pokemon.

The quartet left via teleportation, as Absol directed Ralts' destination.

They returned hours later, exhausted and occasionally a bit beat up, but Ralts had wonderful stories of battles against a variety of pokemon, under Absol's supervision, and the trio grew visibly stronger from the effort.

---

One day, not long after the team had begun their mission efforts for the day, repainting the shop according to yet another of Hikari's chosen designs, Kakashi flagged down a member of the orange-clad horde of Narutos painting on ladders.

"Somethin' ya need, Kakashi-sensei?" the boy asked.

"I need to speak with the real Naruto, are you him?" Kakashi replied. It was downright disturbing how alive shadowclones seemed at times.

"Nah, but if ya gimme a minute, I can find him for ya," the clone offered.

"Hmm... I think I have a faster way..." Kakashi replied with a sly look.

He put his own face very close to the now nervous clone's and spoke in a forceful tone. "Naruto, if you aren't here in ten seconds, I will forbid you from eating ramen for a month."

That said, he grabbed the stunned clone by the back of his jumpsuit and yanked him from his ladder, causing it to crash to the ground and dispel.

Kakashi's count had only reached six when the boy in question fell to the ground, crouching before him.

"Am I on time?" He asked hurriedly.

"For what?" Kakashi asked in apparent confusion.

"You said I only had ten seconds to get here!" Naruto repeated loudly.

"I don't remember telling you that..." Kakashi mused strolling away idly. "In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've talked to you since lunch..."

"But I remember it! Naruto protesting, chasing after him. "You said you wanted to talk to me, but I wasn't me, and then you said I had to get here or I wouldn't be allowed to eat ramen for a month! Then you pulled me off the ladder..."

Kakashi just smiled as the boy scratched his head, confused by his own explanation.

"Want a hint?" The jounin asked after a minute or two, during which Naruto tried to puzzle out how he could remember being outside talking with Kakashi, when he had just run from the storage locker where Hikari kept the real paint cans.

"What kinda hint?" Naruto asked. Ralts just narrowed her eyes at the familiar feeling of mischief in the making she felt emanating from the jounin.

"The kind that everyone who knows the shadowclone jutsu is supposed to know," Kakashi replied.

"What's that?" Naruto prompted when Kakashi didn't seem like he was going to continue. Try as he might, he couldn't reconcile the disparate memories.

"Anything your shadow clone learns," he said, pointing out a group of them still painting, "you learn." He finished, pointing at Naruto himself.

Naruto's jaw hit the floor at that revelation.

"You didn't think you were some kind of bridge building and store painting prodigy, did you? You just crammed a few months worth of effort into days or weeks." Kakashi explained.

"That is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "I could learn everything! I could be the best ninja ever! Tomorrow! Dattebayo!"

"Not so fast," Kakashi objected. "It is a powerful advantage, but you can't risk using it too much. Remember when you were working on the bridge? Pushing it too far can cost you big time."

"But I wasn't using chakra to help with the bridge," Naruto protested.

"Not at all?" Kakashi asked. "Not even a little bit to increase your strength or speed a little bit?"

"Well... maybe a little..." Naruto admitted sheepishly.

"A little here, a little there, it all adds up when spread over a lot of clones. Especially since you were also training and getting very little rest," Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto nodded his understanding, and Kakashi continued.

"Whenever you create a shadow clone, you split your chakra with it, so one leaves you with half your capacity. If you make ninety nine, you each are left with only one percent of your original amount. For most people, that would make them useless, but of course, you have a unique advantage," Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto frowned and patted his stomach.

"One thing to keep in mind is that when the shadow clone disperses, any chakra it didn't use to maintain itself, or use jutsu, returns to you, along with it's memories."

"All ninja generate chakra as time passes, and over the course of a day, most will regain about a third of their capacity, though they can increase that amount significantly with rest. If a ninja exceeds that limit, they crash, and if they push it too far it can actually kill them."

"Of course, your limits are much higher than most people, thanks to your advantage, but they do exist, as you found in Wave," Kakashi warned Naruto.

"The more clones you have using your chakra to train, the easier it will be for you to reach that limit, so I want you to take it easy with any clone training you do. Start with a couple and see how it goes, but lay off if you feel tired after dismissing them, okay?"

"You got it Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto agreed eagerly. Sure it wasn't an ultimate training option like he had thought at first, but it was bound to do a lot of good, especially if the clones weren't doing a lot of hard stuff...

The pair continued walking for quite a while before Naruto left his planning tunnel vision long enough to realize it.

"Hey, where we goin', Kakashi-sensei?" He asked, once he finally noticed.

"To visit a friend of mine," Kakashi replied. "There's something else I wanted to test, but I don't think she would appreciate it if I brought the whole team along."

"Oh..." Naruto replied, seeing that his teacher didn't want to elaborate further.

They continued on, following a meandering route through the streets of Konoha, until they came to a plain looking apartment building.

In this case, plain was a gross understatement. The building was so bland that just looking at it made Naruto want to yawn... Or splatter it with so much paint it would make Hikari jealous.

Kakashi led the way inside, to an even more dull lobby, and up a nearby staircase to the fourth floor.

The entire way, Naruto had the strangest feeling that he was being watched, despite the fact that the only living thing he'd seen in the entire building was a potted plant that looked as gray and lifeless as everything else in the odd building.

Kakashi knocked on an unnumbered door and waited patiently, until it opened to reveal a purple haired woman in what looked to be comfortable 'lazy day' clothes.

"Hiya," Kakashi said cheerfully. "Yugao, meet Naruto. Naruto, this is Yugao."

She nodded to the boy, who waved back a bit hesitantly, before turning narrowed eyes back to her former captain.

"Kakashi, what a surprise." She said, though her tone held little pleasure.

Ralts huddled deeper into her carrier, trying to keep away from the unpleasant emotions coming off the woman, despite their focus on the jounin.

"Well, aren't you going to invite us in?" Kakashi prompted, ignoring the woman's ire as easily as he did anyone's.

The woman's eye twitched a couple times, and she turned back into her apartment without a word, though she did leave the door open in tacit invitation.

They entered Yugao's home, and Naruto was shocked at how different the place was from the building around it... and it immediately informed him of the woman's profession.

Only a ninja would have a wall sized weapon display.

Or a picture frame made from the broken remains of a pair of swords, holding a photo of her with some sick looking guy.

The rest of what he could see wasn't what he could call 'cozy', but it did have a kind of charm to it.

Most of the decorating was in earth tones and simple designs, leaving it looking a bit like something out of a country home.

"Just take a seat wherever you like, Naruto. Kakashi, can I speak to you in private?" Yugao said, moving into what Naruto guessed would be the kitchen.

Naruto removed the carried and settled into one of the overstuffed chairs with Ralts in his lap. He retrieved the book Iruka had set him to learning from as well, and got to studying.

Inexperienced though he may be n the ways of women, he still recognized the tone that meant 'long angry talk', so he figured he'd have some time to kill before they got back.

---

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Yugao hissed the instant the door clicked shut behind Kakashi. "It's bad enough you're teaching him Anbu codes, you want him to check out the real estate too?"

Kakashi smothered a grin at how much Yugao looked like a hissing cat at that moment and patted the air in his usual fashion.

"Not at all, " he replied. "This is completely different, but it does have to do with my conversation with the Hokage that day. You remember the other secret thing we talked about, right? About his mother?"

"Of course," Yugao replied, somewhat puzzled by the change of topic, and how it might relate to her.

"Well, I had some thoughts, and I want to test a theory, and since you already know that secret and have what I need, I figured we could stop by," Kakashi explained.

"So you just walked a genin into one of the Anbu barracks?" Yugao asked exasperatedly. "I know you have a thing about breaking rules Taichou, but how exactly did this seem like a good idea?"

"I considered the risk, and realized that there wasn't any," Kakashi replied. "That boy is more loyal than most jounin, despite his unpleasant situation."

"And what if he decides to come back for a visit?" She pressed. "You know the security seals won't stop someone who's been granted access privileges by an approved resident, and who knows when Jiraiya-sama will come around again and remove his authorization."

The simple fact that he was guided in by an Anbu captain, which Kakashi was still registered as in the defense matrix, would disable most of the deterrent seals intruders and visitors would trigger.

"I'll just tell him you were doing me a personal favor, and not to visit you. If I explain it to him properly, he'll comply. He tries to be polite, within the limitations of his experience," Kakashi assured her.

"And probably make me look like a total bitch in the process," Yugao muttered sourly.

"Nah, just a little catty," Kakashi replied with a wink... or blink, hard to tell really.

"Fine, he's already here anyway, not much we could do to fix the problem now," Yugao admitted. "What exactly did you need?"

"Nothing much, just want to borrow one of your cats. That lazy silver one will do, if you still have him."

Yugao stared at her former captain for a few seconds before she realized he was being serious.

"I... guess I'll go get him," she replied, leaving for the almost constantly sleeping cat's favorite nap spot.

---

Naruto looked up from his reading to watch Kakashi stroll into the room and lean against the wall below an elevated shelf holding a few colorful boxes. Behind him, Yugao entered with a silver, long haired cat in her arms.

The cat's ears flicked forward when it saw Naruto and Ralts, but they relaxed again by the time Yugao reached him.

"Naruto, this is Doraneko, and Kakashi wanted you to meet him," Yugao said, bringing the cat over to the boy's seat.

Determining the woman's intent, Ralts shifted so she was beside Naruto in the chair, and sent the book floating over to the nearby table.

Yugao set the cat in Naruto's lap, where it tensed slightly. She crouched before the skittish feline and pet it lightly, gesturing for Naruto to do the same.

Ralts started petting the simple animal, thinking soothing thoughts, and after a bit of nervous hesitation, Naruto joined her.

It wasn't long before Doraneko got over it's own nervousness and lay in contented near-slumber, purring loudly.

Yugao stepped over to Kakashi and addressed him quietly. "I've never seen him act like that," she said, referring to the cat's skittishness. She'd seen her niece use him as a pillow before and Doraneko hadn't even blinked at the toddler.

Kakashi nodded and replied just as quietly. "Pakkun says that Naruto smells dangerous, like a predator. Might have to do with his tenant, but it limited my options for this test."

"What is this about, anyway?" Yugao asked. "I can't see any way for this to help him learn how to use his... inheritance."

Kakashi just smiled and called over to his student. "Naruto, since you have a cat handy, I want you to look it over and figure out what parts of your cat henge you did wrong, back when we were going to Wave."

"Um... Alright, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied. Keeping one hand petting the relaxed feline, Naruto inspected it's ears and tail as best he could.

After a few minutes, Kakashi decided that it was time to test his theory. "Naruto, let's see that henge again."

Naruto moved to stand up, and Kakashi waved him back down.

"No reason to inconvenience Doraneko, just show me from there," he suggested.

Naruto formed the rat seal for his henge, which he'd just recently realized was an early example of jutsu internalization from way back in the academy itself, and made the ears and tail appear.

Naruto winced as Doraneko jerked in surprise at the mist that accompanied them, and his needle-sharp claws dug into the legs beneath him, though not deeply enough to effect Naruto's jutsu.

The hair on this set was longer, and the tail was shorter, evidence of a new model, rather than what he'd guessed was the first inspiration: Tora.

Kakashi inspected the ears first, noting without surprise that they were still nonfunctional and that they lacked the normal reflexive evasiveness that normal cats had, but their texture was spot on, as he'd hoped.

"Give me your tail," Kakashi ordered, and Naruto complied, twisting the additional chakra appendage up and towards his teacher in a rough approximation of a true cat's serpentine grace.

Again, Kakashi was satisfied with the improvement. Gone was the cloth-on-wire feel, replaced with flesh-on-bone realism.

"Very nice," Kakashi complimented. "You've duplicated both the ears and tail almost perfectly. Now, let me see your hands."

Naruto looked at his hand, then to the cat's once more relaxed paw. What was he supposed to copy there?

"No, that won't do at all," Kakashi said, looking at the perfectly normal hand. "Try it again."

"Try what?" Naruto asked in confusion, lifting one of the paws for inspection. He knew cats had claws, but they were really tiny, at least for any cat other than Tora, and they were usually hidden anyway.

"Allow me to show you," Kakashi said in a mischievous tone. He reached up and grabbed one of the boxes on the shelf.

"Taichou don't!" Yugao tried to say, but it was too late. Kakashi had already twitched the box in a little shake, and the contents shifted with a dry rattle.

Doraneko's eyes widened and his pupils slit into narrow slits, and right in front of Naruto's face, his claws magically appeared like a handful of vicious hooks on the formerly delicate paw.

With a yowling mew, Doraneko threw himself from Naruto's lap, eliciting a yelp of pain from the genin as the claws tore into him. The cat was across the room and twisting around Kakashi's legs with two other cats before his cry even ended.

"So what did you learn?" Kakashi asked, shaking some of the apparently tasty cat treats into his palm and tossing them for the cats to retrieve.

"That you're a jerk," Naruto replied in an annoyed tone.

"While that is an entirely valid lesson, I would rather you learn that cats have pretty nasty claws, which they keep hidden until they get scared or excited," Kakashi clarified.

"An' how is that supposed to be important?" Naruto asked. He'd already learned that one when he watched Tora systematically murder his clones.

"Well, why don't you make some claws of your own and we'll see," Kakashi advised, ignoring the dark looks he was receiving from Naruto, Ralts, and Yugao, as well as the mewling beggars wrapping around his feet once again.

Naruto made his seal again, and his hands shifted, growing claws which, through design or instinct, were nearly identical to the ones he wore during the bell test. At the same time, the ears and tail appeared once more.

Kakashi nodded in satisfaction, "That's good, you can release it now."

Naruto let the transformation go, and sighed, hoping that this ridiculous lesson would end soon. What possible use could there be in looking like a humanoid cat? He couldn't even pass for a pokemon. Heck, he'd only done it the first time to get a laugh out of Sakura-chan.

"Okay, one last henge and we'll be done for now," Kakashi ordered. "Bring back the claws, nothing else."

Naruto growled in exasperation and did as he was asked.

"I want to show you something important, so pay attention," Kakashi commanded seriously.

Naruto looked up, and Kakashi henged his own hand into a mirror replica of his own.

"What difference is there between my claws and yours?" the jounin asked.

"They look the same," Naruto replied, after looking between them a few times.

"True, but there is one very, very, big difference," Kakashi said.

Then, in a blurring motion, he shot forward, jabbing into Naruto's chest in a fingertip strike, his claws leading the way.

Naruto fell back with a cry made breathless by the force of the blow, and he crashed onto the chair next to Ralts, who had hopped onto the chair's arm to avoid her partner's fall.

Naruto looked to his chest in horror, expecting to find four holes in his jumpsuit and flesh, but the outfit was pristine.

"Mine aren't real," Kakashi said, drawing the genin's attention once more. "Yours on the other hand..." He looked pointedly to where Naruto's own claws had torn into the chair's back, trying to catch himself.

"Is... is it because of... that?" Naruto asked, hand on his gut and eyes flicking toward Yugao.

"I'm pretty sure Kyuubi wouldn't be Making you grow cat tails," Kakashi replied drily. "And don't worry, Yugao already knew. She doesn't hold it against you."

"Not even going to make you pay to fix my chair," Yugao agreed. "Kakashi on the other hand..." she finished with a hint of menace in her voice.

"I'll handle it," Kakashi promised, as if he had a choice to do otherwise.

"Then how can I do somethin' like this? Naruto asked, staring at the potentially deadly weapons incredulously.

"Because it's your bloodline," Kakashi said softly. "A gift from your mother, you might say."

"My mother?" Naruto gasped, the solid henge poofing away as he recoiled from the shock of Kakashi's words.

"Kakashi..." Yugao warned quietly.

"Sarutobi gave me leave to say what I felt safe," Kakashi answered. "Naruto, you will find out everything when you become chunin, but for now, what little I can tell you must remain secret, understand?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, not even considering the fact that the Hokage had known his parents already. It had been obvious, even in his childhood, but Jiji had always promised to tell him when he was older.

"Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, and while she was a loyal Konoha kunoichi, she was born in the village of Uzushiogakure," Kakashi explained.

"She moved to Konoha as a child, and went through the academy here, which is how she survived when her home village was destroyed."

"Uzu was almost totally destroyed by an alliance of villages who were afraid of them because of their support of Konoha in the second world war."

"I read about that!" Naruto realized. "That's what started the third war, right?"

"Correct," Kakashi agreed. "And some of the people behind that attack might still be around, so keep your new ability low key for now. Sarutobi wasn't even certain it was a true bloodline until I told him you could do it. And even if those people are all dead now, at least one village might still be a threat. Kumo did try kidnapping your mother once."

"Didn't the Yondaime rescue her that time?" Yugao asked, interested despite herself.

"Well, he wasn't Hokage yet, but yes," Kakashi replied casually, taking some joy at the way Naruto's face lit up at that news.

Naruto thought it was amazing that his hero had saved his mother. It was like the Yondaime had protected him before he was ever born!

Heck, if Yondaime hadn't saved his mom, he might not ever have been born. That practically made the legendary Hokage his uncle or godfather or something!

"We... that is to say, those few of us who know who your parents are, have hidden a lot from you over the years," Kakashi admitted. "But I hope you won't hold it against us."

"Sarutobi and I agreed that if I could find a way to help you learn to use your bloodline, that I could tell you about your mother, though for reasons I can't speak of, there are limits to what I can tell you now."

Naruto sat down stunned. Here was a door opening before him. One that might hold the answers to questions he'd never expected to have solved. Ralts moved into his lap and held him comfortingly.

Deciding on the first question, Naruto asked. "Do you know who my father is too?"

"Yes I do," Kakashi replied. "But I can't tell you who he is. He made a lot of enemies in the last war, and plenty of those might just want to kill you for revenge."

"Rather than risk you telling someone, and them telling someone, and so on, we decided it's best that you not know for now," Kakashi explained.

"But I promise you this: The day you become a chunin, I will personally take you to the Tomb of Ancestry to learn all about them," Kakashi swore.

"You said my dad made a lot of enemies, so was he as badass as Yondaime?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Hmm... I'd say he was exactly as badass as the Yondaime," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. "I saw him in action a few times, and rest assured, he was cooler than you can possibly imagine."

"What about Mom?" Naruto asked, warming up to the idea of having parents. "I bet she kicked butt too!"

"Well, I never saw her fight in the war, but she did have a reputation for being too hot to handle..." Kakashi replied with a sly grin.

"I've got a question," Yugao put in. "How many people know about this? I know for a fact it's not Anbu level secrecy."

"I only know of four people who know Naruto's full parentage. Myself, Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade," Kakashi replied. "I can think of one or two others they might have told, but that would be all who know his father's identity. His mother is a bit more obvious, but... she was a bit of a fireball, so she didn't have a lot of friends..."

He mimed looking around sneakily, and whispered to Naruto. "She got picked on a lot in the academy, but she grew up to be H. O. T. Hot. Lotta girls got jealous when she got that pretty."

"What'd she do to the ones that picked on her?" Naruto asked, his eyes alight with mischief.

"She beat them like a rented training post," Kakashi replied smugly. "She didn't have a lot of friends her own age as a result, but her best friend was actually Sasuke's mother."

"My mom was best buddies with the Teme's? Naruto repeated, scandalized.

"Yup, imagine that," Kakashi teased. "If things had gone differently, you and Sasuke might have been friends from birth."

The horror on Naruto's face was priceless, but Kakashi knew they had to end their visit soon.

"Well, we've been here for a pretty long time now," Kakashi said. "So tell you what, one more question for now, then we'll head back. You can spend some time getting used to what I told you, and I'll join you at Iruka's tonight and we can talk some more."

Naruto nodded his agreement and screwed up his face in thought. If he only had one question, it had to be good. He patted Ralts as he thought, her silent support a rock within his own turbulent thoughts.

Looking out from that perspective, he realized there was only one question to ask. And if he didn't, it would wait like a hidden needle in the back of his mind until he did.

"Kakashi-sensei... Did they... My parents, did they... want me?" Naruto asked haltingly.

"They loved you more than you love ramen," Kakashi replied comfortingly. "They wanted you more than I can say, and if they loved anything in this world more than they loved you, it was each other."

Naruto held Ralts close and pulled that knowledge around himself like a blanket on a cold morning.

He had been wanted.

He had been loved.

Almost fourteen years of the bone deep fear that lived with all orphans was lanced with that knowledge. The pain of loneliness was still there, but it would fade in time. It might even heal completely, now that he had parents.

Kakashi and Yugao watched him silently. Both knew some degree of what he was going through.

When Kakashi judged him once more ready to face the world, he spoke.

"Okay, I'm sure Hikari-san will be ready for the next color scheme soon, so you and Ralts should head back. Feel free to teleport home first, if you need to clean up. I'll be along shortly. Remember that I'll be coming to Iruka's later tonight, we can talk more then."

Naruto and Ralts nodded their thanks and vanished .

"That was... nice of you, Taichou..." Yugao said, once he was gone.

"Don't spread it around, you might ruin my hip reputation," Kakashi replied sarcastically.

"It would have been nice to get him a picture of her though, I'm sure he'd be ecstatic," Yugao mused.

"I tried," Kakashi replied with a bit of frustration. "But the Intelligence department is swamped with preparation work for the exams, and the red tape to push through that mess is a nightmare, even to access the non-classified files, let alone copy them."

"Couldn't the Hokage get it easily?" Yugao remarked, puzzled.

"Yeah, but then he'd want to know my idea for training Naruto's bloodline. If he knew this was as far as I got, he might have axed the whole idea," Kakashi explained.

This is it?" Yugao repeated, surprised. "What about the shuriken shadowclone? Isn't that the same thing?"

"Yes, in a sense," Kakashi agreed. "But it's designed so that anyone can do it. I want to see what he can do on his own initiative for a while before he learns that. The way I see it, his ancestors had to do the same, but I'd be surprised if they were half as unpredictable as Naruto."

Yugao chuckled her agreement. Naruto had been something of a nightmare for village security, even if it was all rather limited in regards to threat potential.

"Still wish I had a picture for him though..." Kakashi grumbled.

"Don't you have any?" Yugao asked. It had sounded like he had known her quite well.

"None that didn't have Minato-sensei in it too..." he replied.

"Why would that matter?" Yugao asked, before noticing the look in Kakashi's eye. Her jaw dropped.

"Oops," Kakashi said, completely disingenuously. "Not that it'll stay secret much longer anyway, but don't spread that around either, okay?"

Yugao blinked, and Kakashi was gone, and she couldn't even be mad at him for getting her floor dirty this time.

Naruto Uzumaki...

Well, isn't that something?

Yugao crossed her arms underneath her modest bust and brought her thumb to her mouth, worrying at the nail in nervous habit.

Kakashi didn't simply let secrets slip. He was strong, clever and manipulative. If he let her learn something this important, it was because he thought she might need the information.

But why?

Was it simple paranoia, or did he know of a specific threat?

And why her? Did he want her specifically to know, or just someone he could trust in Anbu, just in case?

She blew out a breath grumbled a few unpleasant things about her former captain.

It was things like this that made him one of the prime candidates for Hokage, if Sarutobi were to retire soon.

There was no doubt that he'd planned everything that had happened there, and had a sneaky feeling that there was more going on in his tricky little mind than even she could guess at.

Deciding to take things slowly, just in case, Yugao promised herself that she would hold the secret close, until something serious occurred that might force her hand.

But just in case, she would tell Hayate-kun, after forcing a promise of secrecy from him.

Naruto Uzumaki, heir to the Yondaime, would have two secret defenders, and woe to any who might wish him harm.

---

After a week of effort working for Hikari, the team had repainted the Suzuhara shop more than twenty times, and by then, even Naruto was thoroughly sick of paint.

So it was with some joy that Naruto's clones finally applied the real paint.

Two coats later, the shop was painted in colors the team had only used separately, and in a pattern they hadn't used at all, but Hikari was delighted with the final results.

As a side effect to it's rapidly changing decor, and it's change from looking like a simple warehouse, interest in the shop skyrocketed.

In response to the influx of new customers, many of which were civilians, Touji posted a hand painted notice just outside the doors listing store policies.

True to form, the first thing written on the sign was the phrase 'My store. My rules. You don't like 'em? Shop somewhere else.'

Hikari had objected of course, until Touji started sending the people with 'advice for any new businesses' her way.

Machamp soon added Bouncer to his lengthy list of business related skills.

So, with the mission complete to Hikari's satisfaction and beyond, the team left for a well earned break.

Of course, for some ninja, a day's work is never done.

"Finally finished Boss?" Konohamaru called, running up to Naruto with his two friends.

"You bet! Looks great, don't it?" Naruto bragged, flashing his little friend a grin.

The loud boy had tracked him down a couple days after his conversation with Kakashi, and pestered him until Naruto had sent a shadowclone away with him to see what the brat wanted.

Naruto was surprised when the clone dispelled hours later. It had decided on it's own to help the brat, not that he could blame it. They weren't too different when he'd heard Konohamaru's story.

Since then, Naruto had met with the kid personally, once Konohamaru was out of the academy and he'd ditched his pajama wearing tutor.

Adhering to Kakashi-sensei's 'team stays together' rule, Naruto took a seat on a bench in front of the shop and tried to teach Konohamaru and his two buddies.

He'd have felt bad about leaving Sakura-chan and the Teme to the work, but by then his clones were doing all the painting, while the team mostly helped Touji and Hikari deal with the influx of customers, since they didn't want to close up shop completely.

Most of his time with the students was spent teaching them some of the more interesting lessons he'd learned from his own senseis, including the idea of using their imaginations to help create and use jutsu.

He demonstrated somewhat, though his options were limited by his relatively small repertoire of jutsu. Though when Ebisu finally managed to track down his student, Naruto talked the prideful tokubetsu jounin into demonstrating some of the ones Kakashi had shown team seven, as well as a few of his own devising.

The week continued in this manner, and if Ebisu took just as long to find the students each day, no one called him out on it.

Even an 'elite ninja tutor' knew a good things when he saw it, and Naruto was a decent inspiration for the kids.

It didn't hurt that he could relate to their own frustration at still being in the academy either.

"Sure does!" Konohamaru replied excitedly, and his two shadows agreed completely. "So what'cha gonna do now? Gonna go save another country or somethin'?"

"Nah. Kakashi's got us training pretty hardcore, so we're probably gonna be stuck with crappy D-ranks for a while," Naruto said, trying not to let it get him down.

"Besides, gotta let the other guys save the girl once in a while, right?" He added with a grin and a wink towards Moegi, Konohamaru's kunoichi-in-training friend.

"Yeah! Save some for us!" Konohamaru replied. "I'll show you good when we're finally genin!"

"I'm sure you'll try, brat," Naruto said with a Sasuke-like smirk. "But just think about how much cooler I'm gonna be by then. You better work hard if you wanna catch up! Dattebayo!"

"Then I will!" Konohamaru declared, with his friends cheering their agreement. "Me an' Moegi an' Udon will work harder than anyone you know! Harder than anyone you ever heard of even! Then we'll show you!"

"You darn well better," Naruto replied forcefully. "If my first student doesn't give me more challenge for the hat than Dog breath, I am gonna be so ticked." He turned a glare on the three that was so overdone that it was more comedic than threatening.

"Bah," Naruto grumbled when he realized his look wasn't getting the response he'd hoped for.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei gave us the rest of the day off, so if you guys wanna go do somethin', I'm up for it. Dunno what's goin' on tomorrow yet though, so let's make it count, 'kay?"

"Yeah! You're the best boss!" Konohamaru cheered. "Whack-a-clone, all the way!"

"We played that last time, let's play Henge & Seek," Moegi countered.

"Um... I'd really rather play Save the Princess..." Udon said with a sniffle.

"You always wanna play that," Moegi complained.

"It's just 'cause the Boss makes the princess so pretty," Konohamaru remarked.

Naruto grinned at that. He'd picked the girls he knew to have his clones copy to portray the princesses. Only Haku-chan and Sakura-chan so far, but in the same manner, he'd replicated Zabuza and the Demon Brothers so he could play a properly scary villain.

He still laughed at the memory of the kids busting in the door to the little shed he'd chosen for his hideout that day and found a giant like Zabuza, rather than a basic clone of Naruto like they'd had to fight through to reach it.

He'd even gotten a really big stick so he could henge with it, so it looked like he had the huge sword Zabuza used, but it broke after a few hits, and was about as sharp as an egg.

Oh, it felt like a sword and all, just like his claws looked like pretty dangerous claws, but they were as fragile as shadowclones, and he hadn't quite figured out how to fix that.

But it'd only been a few days, and Naruto was sure he'd figure it out soon enough, maybe even before the exams began.

"Tell ya what," Naruto said, interrupting their dispute. "Since I got some time today, we'll do all three."

"First, we'll go get some lunch, cause I'm hungry enough to eat a ponyta whole, and then we'll do Henge & seek. You guys go hide on the path between Ichiraku's and our usual spot, an' I'll try to find you on the way."

"When we get there, I'll make a bunch of clones for ya, then I'll go set up a cool rescue mission for you to start on when ya finish clearing them out."

"Yeah!" "Awesome!" "You're the best Boss!" his unofficial students cheered.

"It's settled then," Naruto declared. "Off to Ichiraku's!"

As he led the group in a quick jog, Ralts lounged half in her carrier and half on her partner's shoulder. She basked in the glow of the warm feelings flowing between them, luxuriating in them the way others might a nice patch of sunlight.

---

Four long and exceptionally tiring weeks later, team seven made their way through the outskirts and towards the village proper. They had just finished a particularly long training session with Kakashi sensei, but luckily he'd given them a break from missions, thanks to the upcoming exams.

The team walked together, as much due to exhaustion as for companionship, though, as usual, Naruto was still full of energy.

He paced along beside his more tired allies, bragging about how they were going to 'kick so much ass, the other villages will think it's our national sport' during the exams.

Over the top, typical for him, but none of his teammates could claim to feel less than confident, especially with how hard they had been training.

Even Sakura held high hopes for their chances.

She had recently returned Kurenai-sensei's journal, more because she had managed to memorize everything she could imagine needing from it, rather than because her strength training was complete.

As a reward for her considerable progress, she'd received a scroll of genjutsu techniques from the lovely jounin, along with an invitation to stop by in the future if she needed help learning them

She'd been practicing with those since then, and had even gotten a couple of the simpler ones down.

Unfortunately, Kakashi-sensei hadn't been of much help, since he claimed to have very little talent for that type of genjutsu, so she did have to consult with Kurenai-sensei more than she'd have preferred, knowing she might be competing against the woman's own students in the exam.

Despite his lack of ability, Kakashi still did what he could to help her, if only by agreeing to be a test target a couple days each week. He spent an equal amount of time on Naruto and Sasuke, but he was able to be a bit more proactive in their lessons.

It was obvious that the boys were confident in their skills as well.

Sasuke wasn't as loud about it as Naruto of course, but every step he took seemed to state his intentions for success. He was stronger, that much was obvious, but Sakura could tell that he wasn't flaunting the full measure of his growth. He held back a bit, hiding it from everyone, even during their spars.

She figured he wanted to make his world debut one hell of an event, but knew he could also be preparing, just in case the team had to fight each other eventually.

Naruto was also stronger, and not shy about showing it, Sakura noted as Naruto mimed through a one-two-uppercut combo, releasing a blast of wind seallessly as he finished, launching some imaginary opponent into the stratosphere.

Sakura wasn't certain, but she suspected he was hiding something too. It could easily be part of the fighting style Kakashi had taught him, but he hadn't perfected yet. The odd swipes and fingertip jabs did seem to fit into his fighting style.

The pokemon had grown considerably as well, under Absol's stoic tutelage.

None had evolved, but they all had learned more attacks, and were much more capable of holding their own against a typical genin level pokemon, at least that's what Kakashi believed.

The team passed through the guarded checkpoint between the training grounds and Konoha proper, and Sasuke and Charmeleon headed off toward their home near the Uchiha district, while Naruto and Sakura, with their pokemon, continued on deeper into the village towards their own homes.

Sasuke found the idea of living alone in the clan compound unpalatable, haunted as it was by his memories, so he had chosen to stay in an apartment complex owned by the family just outside of it.

From his balcony, he could look out over the empty homes, reminding himself of his formerly beloved brother's treachery.

His personal training however, he did within the district's own dojos. He wanted the ghosts of his dead family, if any still remained in the blighted place, to know that he was working hard to avenge them.

Sakura and Naruto walked through the village together, though there was enough space between them to prevent anyone from thinking they were 'together', so Sakura didn't raise a fuss. They did have to go the same general direction afterall.

Besides, as annoying as his rambling antics usually were, at the moment she found his confident predictions of victory to be reassuring.

It was hard to be angry, with the level of faith he had in her, himself and Sasuke, to say nothing of their pokemon companions.

Naruto suddenly went silent, and Sakura glanced at him curiously.

She noticed the half-focused look in his eyes, certain evidence that he was either speaking with Ralts telepathically, or trying to concentrate on something, but didn't want to be obvious.

She felt his chakra flicker an instant before he froze completely.

"Shadow Possession jutsu: Complete." Shikamaru's apathetic voice muttered.

Before he even finished, Ino's Oddish leapt forward and sent a cloud of yellow powder at Naruto with a wave of it's leaves. (Stun Spore)

Ino strode confidently up to Naruto, gloating pride in her steps. "You can't run away this time! Now you're gonna stand there and talk to me!"

"Not likely, Ino-pig," Sakura replied, reaching over to tap the blond boy's shoulder.

The fragile illusion surrounding his Kawarimi replacement collapsed, revealing a typical log with a taunting face carved into it.

"He's really getting good at that," Sakura remarked, a little jealous that he could already alter his replacements in transit. Tricky little moron probably considered it a combat prank, but at least he didn't have the exploding tag logs trick Kakashi demonstrated yet... hopefully.

"Dammit!" Ino shouted, punching the immobile log in it's cartoonish face. "How hard is it to catch one dead-last genin!" she demanded of the world around her, gaining quite a few odd looks.

"You've been trying for a month now... So I guess it's pretty hard," Chouji pointed out.

"Well, he can't have gone far. Come on guys, we can still catch him!" Ino said, attempting to herd her team into the chase.

"Actually, I'm done," Shikamaru replied tiredly, standing up and looking up at the sky longingly.

"What!" Ino protested. "You can't say that! We had a deal, you promised you'd help me catch him!"

"Yeah... about that. The deal was that I would 'try' to help you catch him, if you did my chores for the week. All you did was bribe Chouji to do them for you."

"They got done, didn't they?" Ino grumbled.

"Yeah, which is why I hired him to keep doing them," Shikamaru agreed. "And if Mom finds out and complains, I can just tell her that it's a fair trade thing between us. He gets money to help take care of Aron, and I get more time for cloud watching."

"Besides," he added with a shrug. "This is Naruto, if he's really trying to avoid you, you have no chance of catching him."

Ino sat down in a huff, glaring at the carved face of Naruto's decoy.

Sakura watched the two best friends leave, Beldum floating patiently behind Shikamaru, while Aron hopped around chasing and eating small metal treats Chouji tossed for it.

Once they were gone, she sidled up to her longtime friend-slash-rival. She was a bit concerned about the gloomy aura surrounding Ino, but couldn't resist the urge to pull on the girl's ponytail... metaphorically speaking of course.

"So..." she began sweetly. "You've been chasing Naruto for a whole month? Does that mean you're done trying to take my Sasuke-kun?"

Ino was on her feet and in Sakura's face in a flash.

"You wish Forehead!" She replied aggressively. "Sasuke-kun is mine, even if he doesn't realize it yet! You should count yourself lucky if we even invite you to the wedding." The blonde beauty sniffed primly and turned her back to her rival in love.

"Then why are you trying to chase down Naruto?" Sakura asked pointedly.

The superior stance Ino held shattered like glass, and she hung her head in shame.

"I messed up," she admitted. "Shikamaru told me I did, and you know how he is. That lazy bastard won't even say 'good morning' unless he's certain it's true."

"But I think it's worse than even he knew..." she said regretfully. "He's been avoiding me since he gave us those leaves, and I really have no idea how to make him stop and give me a chance to apologize..."

"What on earth did you do?" Sakura asked, amazed at this turn of events. She certainly hadn't noticed anything odd about Naruto's behavior.

"Oh no. No, no, no." Ino said rapidly, waving her hands defensively before her. "The only person I'll even consider repeating it to is Naruto, then he'll forgive me, and I can forget this whole mess ever happened... I hope."

"That bad, huh?" Sakura questioned, frowning in sympathy.

"How do you apologize for something serious, when you don't even know why it was wrong?" Ino grumbled in frustration.

"Flowers, chocolate, promises you don't intend to keep..." Sakura suggested with a teasing grin.

"I'm being serious, Sakura," Ino replied sourly. "And it's not like I forgot his birthday, I need something bigger than 'lame boyfriend apology' gifts."

"Well, my mom always said that the best gifts to give are things that the person needs, but doesn't know they do," Sakura replied after some thought.

"Then I should buy him some new clothes," Ino declared. The thought of some fashion shopping, even for someone like Naruto wasn't unpleasant.

"While I might agree, remember that you're trying to be nice, and he really likes that ugly jumpsuit," Sakura advised cautiously.

"Explosive tags, or new weapons then?" Ino suggested. All guys loved stuff like that, or at least the normal ones, Shikamaru and Chouji didn't count.

"Better than clothes," Sakura agreed, "but after that mess in Wave, we're all pretty well set for buying normal stuff like that."

"Why are boys are so hard to shop for?" Ino complained loudly.

"Well, do you really have to buy something?" Sakura asked. "You were just planning to talk to him earlier."

"I know, but after all this... it just sounds kinda weak. I mean 'Sorry I screwed up so bad you ran from me for a month' doesn't really measure up," Ino said in a depressed voice.

"I guess you have a point there," Sakura agreed.

"Of course I do. Not that it matters, since I can't catch him anyway," Ino growled in frustration.

"You don't have to catch him," Sakura replied. "Just walk up to him when he can't run away."

"Like where?" Ino asked. "I already tried Ichiraku's, the patrol won't let me near your training ground, since the exams are soon and they don't want anyone spying, and I can't get in his place. Where else does he go?"

"Well, he shops at the Suzuhara place, and he visits Iruka-sensei almost every day..." Sakura answered. "And sometimes he visits the Hughes family."

"Really?" Ino replied in surprise. "He actually visits that weirdo?" That man redefined obsessive. If he put as much effort into his career as he did showing off his daughter, the man might be a Kage.

Sakura laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Yeah, Maes is a bit unusual, but he is a good guy... Plus, we did help with Elisa's birth and all. Maes told us that it practically makes us family. I think that means a lot to Naruto."

"That's right, Naruto's an orphan, isn't he?" Ino remembered sadly.

"Yeah, but unlike Sasuke-kun, I don't think he knows who his real family was," Sakura agreed.

"Hey Forehead, your team's gonna be in the exams, right?" Ino asked after a few minutes of thought filled silence.

"Yeah, there's no way the boys will pass on something like that, and I'm pretty sure I'm ready for it too," Sakura replied confidently.

"Good, that's where I'll do it then," Ino said, nodding firmly. "He can't run there."

"So you have an idea now?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I have a great idea," Ino beamed. "But it's gonna take some work, and I'll need to talk Daddy into helping, so I'll see you later!"

Sakura stared as the blonde nearly sprinted away. She shook her head in exasperation at the weird blondes in her life and continued her walk home.

A nice hot bath was waiting, and she was really learning to appreciate them with all the training she'd been doing lately.

---

Naruto reappeared standing horizontally on the side of a building two streets east of his known stalker.

"Thanks for the warning, Ralts-chan," he said, flashing his partner a grin. She could easily have teleported them away, but free training was too good to pass up.

Besides, he got to show off in front of Sakura-chan, and that was bound to be good for his image, right?"

"Awesome boss! We were just lookin' for you!" Konohamaru called from the ground not far away.

"H-how did you know where we were?" Udon asked with a noisy sniffle.

"Me an' Ralts-chan are just that good." Naruto stated proudly, pretending the purely accidental coincidence was all skill.

Those three thought he was the coolest thing since ramen ice cream (which sounded much better than it tasted, he sadly learned) and it would be a crime to disabuse them of that belief.

He hopped down in what he hoped was a cool and relaxed manner, trying to emulate Kakashi-sensei a bit, and walked up to his pupils.

Ralts rolled her eyes at his blatant act, and made faces at him from where he couldn't see, earning a few odd looks from passerby, and giggles from the students.

"You were lookin' for me, an' now ya found me," he said in what he hoped was a cool manner. "So what'cha want?"

"We want to play ninja some more!" Konohamaru said predictably, with earnest agreement from his friends.

"Hmm... Well, Kakashi-sensei did give us the rest of the day off... but I gotta meet Iruka-sensei later to talk about the exam... Alright, I'll give ya an hour or so," he decided.

"That's not very long at all," Moegi pouted.

"No, but I'm still training for the chunin exams, so it's all I have to give. Take it or leave it," Naruto replied. He couldn't afford to risk his promotion, or his life, by shirking his preparations, even if it meant the kids had to be unhappy with him once in a while.

"We'll take it!" Konohamaru replied quickly.

"But how do we decide what to play?" Udon asked quietly.

"You settle it like ninja," Naruto decided.

"A fight?" Konohamaru asked excitedly.

"That is one way," Naruto admitted. "But that might take up a lot of your time, so instead: A race! First one to the training ground gets to choose!"

The kids looked surprised at this solution, but soon recovered and took off at top speed through the streets. Laughingly, Naruto chased after them, though he took the lead easily.

Not that he was actually competing, a genin against academy students wouldn't be fair, but it couldn't hurt to show the kids what they'd be able to do themselves in a few short years.

With this in mind, he ran alongside them, jumping from walls and fences with ease and cheering on whichever of the trio was furthest behind. Ralts gave her own encouragement via both telepathy and cries of 'Ra!' as the race continued.

He rounded a corner running backwards, making faces of his own at the racers after catching Ralts doing the same, though he didn't realize that the children weren't her target, and only a warning from Ralts kept him from plowing into a pedestrian.

He leapt straight up , latched his hand onto the wall with chakra and using that arm as a pivot, rotated so he was standing on the wall facing down.

"Watch out for the obstacle guys!" Naruto shouted, just as the Konohamaru squad rounded into sight. The three split around the pair and continued on for a few more seconds before an angry shout from the black-clad person made them stop.

"Hey! Who the hell are you calling an obstacle, runt?" Kankuro shouted. He got enough disrespect from his family, he sure as hell wasn't going to take it from some random brats here too.

"Well... it's a race, and you were in the path, so you kinda are..." Moegi pointed out, a bit out of breath from the exertion.

"An' live obstacles are the best kind, good for training reflexes an' observation, an' stuff," Naruto agreed, trying to sound like a seasoned trainer.

"So you kids are already training to be ninja?" Temari asked.

"You bet! We're gonna be the best genin team ever!" Konohamaru boasted. He'd always been the primary spokesman for the trio, largely because the jerks who refused to see him as anything but the 'Honorable Grandson' had trouble arguing against him.

"And what? That makes you their sensei or somethin'?" Kankuro asked, looking to the blond runt that insulted him off in the first place.

"Nah, I'm still a genin, so I can't be a real sensei yet," Naruto replied. "But I remember how much of a pain it was being stuck on the academy stuff, so I agreed to help them learn some of the neater parts of being a real ninja."

"The boss is cool like that," Konohamaru added.

"I'm sure he is," Temari replied with a touch of sarcasm. How seriously could Konoha possibly take their ninja if they allowed them to play with children?

If Naruto noticed her tone, he gave no indication.

"So you're from Suna, right? Here for the exams?" He asked, genuinely interested.

"That's right, what's it to ya?" Kankuro replied crankily.

"Just curious, I'm gonna be there too," Naruto said proudly. "I know Suna an' us are allies an' all, but don't think I'll go easy on ya. I gotta win the whole thing so I get promoted an' get even closer to becoming Hokage" Dattebayo!"

"Hokage? A little pest like you? That's rich!" Kankuro laughed cruelly. "A Kage's gotta be strong and smart, not a little runt! Plus, a Kage wouldn't waste his time messing around with snot-nosed brats!"

"We are not brats!" Konohamaru protested, stepping forward aggressively. Moegi and Udon chimed their agreement as they fell in beside him, ready to put their training with the boss to use.

Naruto waved the three back carelessly, though his eyes were hard as he glared at Kankuro.

"A Kage's job is to train and protect his village's ninja and citizens with all his power. If all I can do to uphold that tradition is train academy students, then that's what I'll do for now. If you got a problem with that, come at me, and I'll show you how strong I am," he said in his best 'Zabuza' tone.

"An' that goes for all of ya," he added for the benefit of the hidden people Ralts had noticed.

Kankuro and Temari looked worried until a boy with short spiky brown hair and an embarrassed smile poked his head around the corner.

"You noticed me, huh?" He said with some chagrin. "Sorry for eavesdropping, but I heard you talking about the exam... I didn't want to interrupt, but I was hoping I might ask you for some info, when you're done..."

Naruto nodded in assent and turned his gaze up into a nearby tree, where a redheaded boy stood on a branch glowering down at the group.

"What about you? You just waitin' to talk too?" He called up.

The two Suna ninja followed his gaze, and the instant they recognized Gaara, fear poured off them like heat from a bonfire.

"No," Gaara replied in his rough voice. "I simply came to ensure that my... teammates were not embarrassing our village."

"Us? N-no way. We're just having a chat, scoping out the competition, that's all," Kankuro replied, nervous fear obvious in his voice.

"Kankuro, shut up, or I will kill you," Gaara said, his dark ringed eyes never leaving Naruto.

Ralts watched Gaara carefully. His emotional presence was almost as strange as Kakashi's, but while the jounin's were wispy and intangible, probably as a result of hiding them for so much of his life, the boy's were harsh and primal, like a statue cut from obsidian, all sharp edges and deadly lines.

He was like a child who knew emotions by name, but had never felt any but the most vicious of it's forms.

As he stared at Naruto, a bubbling sickly feeling emerged from deep within him, and as it rose, the rest of Gaara's emotional shards fell into formation around it. When it reached the surface of his mind, the bubble burst, and a flash of ancient and malevolent emotion sparked, igniting a predatory interest in the boy, directed at Naruto.

"Be careful, there is something... wrong within him," Ralts warned, and Naruto nodded at the message.

"You... Naruto Uzumaki... To become the Hokage is the purpose of your existence, is it not?" Gaara rasped, a mad gleam in his eye.

"Yeah, why?" Naruto replied cautiously.

"Mother is interested... which of us bears the more valid existence," Gaara replied maliciously. "If I wish to test your strength, I need only 'come at you', correct?"

"That's right. You got a problem with me, we can settle it here and now," Naruto replied boldly. It was obvious this guy was from Suna too, maybe they all had bad attitudes or something. But nasty or not, Naruto wasn't about to back down from a challenge.

What's the worst that could happen anyway? A foreign ninja wouldn't risk everything on a whim, right?

"Very well then, Naruto Uzumaki. Show me your strength, validate my existence!" Gaara said forcefully.

Without any obvious signal, a column of sand shot from the mouth of the gourd on his back, curling around in the air to crash into where Naruto had been standing.

Naruto redirected his dodge, rebounding from a shop sign projecting from the wall he'd been perched on and leapt at the redheaded maniac, only to come up short when something grabbed his ankle and yanked him to the ground.

He landed nimbly and shot a glare at the brown haired boy, but turned his eyes forward again when he heard two waves of sand slam together right where he would have been, had the other boy not interfered.

The sand coiled around itself with serpentine swiftness and darted at him again, a number of smaller tendrils splitting off in an attempt to cut off his escape.

"Stay behind me!" Naruto ordered the stranger, facing the largest of the attacks.

Naruto flipped each hand into Haku's version of the bird seal and pumped a healthy measure of chakra into his jutsu.

"Gale palm!" Naruto shouted, pushing both hands forward and angling the attacks together. The winds caught against each other and twisted into a spiraling blast that ripped through the sand, scattering it into uselessness.

Barely blunted by the interposed attack, it continued on to Gaara, who hadn't expected his sand to be obliterated so easily and slammed him into the tree at his back. Far from hurt, the mad jinchuuriki cackled with excitement, pleased that he had found worthy prey so easily.

Before he could collect his dispersed weapon, a number of branches moved to encase him in a leafy prison. He looked at his opponent in surprise.

Ralts leaned over Naruto's shoulder, stubby arms pointed at her prisoner, and a look of extreme concentration in her green glowing eyes. (Grass Knot)

"Wait! Stop fighting!" Temari called, moving to block Naruto's attack, with her own if necessary. "If you two keep acting like this, you might catch your Anbu's attention, and that won't be good for anyone."

"So? He attacked me!" Naruto replied in consternation.

"But you challenged him," Temari pointed out, not technically true, he just said he'd accept any challenge against him, but it was close enough for her purposes. "If the authorities get involved, they'll probably take us all into custody. Host villages get really paranoid about infiltrations and assassination attempts around exam time."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully. "I can see that, especially since Konohamaru here is the Hokage's grandkid." While he wasn't involved directly in the conflict, he was close enough that it might complicate things.

Temari nodded, slightly impressed that he'd realized the implications well enough to make the logical connection. "And since we're the Kazekage's heirs, that makes this whole mess a potentially primed explosive tag waiting to go off. Odds are good that we'd end up in cells until the Kages can get together and decide how to handle it."

"Which might make us miss the exams..." Naruto replied sourly.

"Do you believe a mere prison cell could hold me?" Gaara asked threateningly. He hadn't made a move to escape Ralts' technique, but it was obvious that he didn't consider it a threat.

"I believe they will try," Temari said cautiously. "And that might not be good for the village. You know how important these exams are to our future prosperity."

Gaara looked back to Naruto and Ralts, as well as the brown haired boy watching curiously from behind him.

He remained silent for a time, but eventually nodded his assent and vanishing in a swirl of sand, to appear with his teammates, who flinched away from him violently.

"We will continue our battle another day, Naruto Uzumaki. We will learn which of us has the stronger purpose," he assured his chosen target.

"Lookin' forward to it," Naruto replied confidently. He'd seen the guy's trick now, how hard could it be to beat? "I'll show you and everyone else at the exams how strong I can be! Dattebayo!"

Gaara's eyes flashed, and he smiled cruelly at the promised validation. He then turned an emotionless stare at the interloper who had prevented a swift end to the battle.

"Your blood does not interest Mother, but should we meet again, I will kill you for your actions this day," Gaara promised, and the boy shivered at how cold the jinchuuriki's voice was.

Without another word, Gaara turned and strode away, ignoring the scattered dirt, testament to his wrath.

"Dude, you are so dead," Kankuro muttered as he rushed after his homicidal little brother.

Temari didn't say anything, but the pitying glance she sent over her shoulder stated her agreement poignantly.

As Gaara walked away, an olive green creature poked it's head out of his gourd and looked back at the site of the skirmish sadly.

Unfortunately only Ralts noticed this, since Naruto had turned to the brown haired boy.

"You all right?" Naruto asked in concern. It was odd enough that he'd just shown up, but actually trying to help in a fight like that?

"Yeah, though I think I have a certifiable reason to avoid beaches and deserts now," The boy replied with a grimace, eying the sand which had begun creeping in to surround them before Temari spoke up.

'That's probably a good idea," Naruto agreed. "Thanks for the save there, never seen a jutsu like that before."

"Pretty sure it was a magnet release, though I've never seen one that didn't use actual metal as a medium," the boy replied.

"Magnet, huh?" Naruto repeated, it sounded cool enough, but it wasn't anything he didn't think he could beat.

"Yeah, rare ability from Suna, their third Kazekage was famous for it. Rumor is their fourth has it too," the boy elaborated.

"Eh, I'll still kick his butt if he picks another fight with me," Naruto boasted confidently.

The boy laughed at Naruto's bravado, and the blond glowered at him.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. I'm gonna be Hokage, so I can't let people just push me around," he objected.

"I'll remember that then. Naruto Uzumaki: Future Hokage. Not someone to mess with," The boy replied seriously.

"That's right!" Naruto agreed.

"So, you got some time to talk about the exams a bit?" The boy prompted.

"Sure, we were having a race, but I think maybe it'd be a good idea to walk from here... What'cha need to know?" Naruto replied, stepping away along their route.

"Thanks a lot. All I really need to know is where the building is we're supposed to meet the proctors at," the boy replied as he fell into step beside Naruto.

The students trailed along behind them, disputing among themselves how they were supposed to decide what to play now.

"Why do you need to know that?" Naruto asked. "The address is right on the application form."

"Well... it's kinda complicated, but the short version is this: My team's sensei couldn't make the trip, so we got stuck with a substitute team leader for the duration. Problem is, he's an espionage type, and he's got a thing for stupid games, so he decided we need to prove we're ready for the exams by finding the place without help from him, and he confiscated our applications."

"That's pretty stupid..." Naruto agreed.

"Yeah, especially since none of us are really 'spy material'," the boy added. "So, will you help me out?"

"I guess I could..." Naruto admitted, looking the boy over. "But how do I know you're telling the truth? You aren't wearin' a headband or anything."

"Sorry, part of the rules. I'm not allowed to let anyone know what village I'm from. I'm just lucky he didn't think to say I can't just ask or we'd be stuck," the boy replied with an annoyed frown. "Probably thought we wouldn't be dumb enough to try, but I'm tired of looking for the damn place."

Naruto watched carefully for any signs of deceit, but neither he nor Ralts sensed any dishonesty.

"Alright, I'll show ya, but I want a name at least," Naruto decided.

"I'm called Shugorei," the boy replied easily. "Most of my friends call me Shu though. It's less of a mouthful."

"Shoe? That's a funny name," Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah yeah, make any foot jokes and I'll put mine up your butt," Shugorei replied sourly. "Most people from my village have strange names."

"Not like I can say much, I'm named after a fishcake," Naruto replied affably. "Or a whirlpool, which is much cooler, but ya don't see much of those around Konoha. But I guess I can show ya the place."

"Thanks man, you're a lifesaver," replied Shugorei gratefully.

"Hey, no fair! The boss already promised to play with us!" Konohamaru protested loudly.

"Yeah, and we already lost a lot of time thanks to those jerks!" Moegi added.

"Hey, don't forget who I am!" Naruto replied, striking a pose. "I'm the amazing Naruto Uzumaki, and I can do both at once!"

Naruto created a shadowclone, and presented it to Shugorei with a flourish.

"He'll show ya where to go, while I keep my promise to the kiddies," Naruto said, grinning wider when the students objected to being called 'kiddies'.

"Neat trick, and thanks again. I owe ya one," Shugorei said earnestly.

"Any time," Naruto replied. "Call it inter-village relationship building. I gotta do stuff like that when I'm Hokage anyway."

"I'll be sure to tell Leader-sama when I get back home then," Shugorei promised, as he walked away from the group, following his designated clone as it leapt away across the rooftops.

---

"He cheated!" Whined a voice, malicious despite it's childish claim. "Not fair just asking! Not fair, not fair at all!"

"There wasn't a rule against asking, and it's not exactly fair of you to assign a stupid test like that in the first place," Shugorei countered, his tone more forceful than it had been earlier, despite the fact that he was now arguing with his temporary leader.

"Stupid? Stupid! Is that any way to speak to your sensei!" Raged the older man. In the nearly lightless room, his strange, billowy black clothing made him appear as little more than a white hideous face floating in the air above Shugorei's head, with similarly colored forearms and hands waving in time to his exclamations.

"You are not our sensei," interrupted a cold voice from the darkest corner of the room. Eyes like twin chips of blue topaz glared at their chaperone coldly. "You are merely a convenient replacement for our true teacher, and you know what she and the Old Letch will do if your games cost us this opportunity."

"You should not speak of Leader-sama so disrespectfully," chastised their kunoichi companion. "Though it is true that he will be displeased if we have to return home..."

"Please, he's as proud of his vice as that Sannin," the blue eyed boy scoffed.

"True enough, but that's a matter for another day," interrupted Shugorei. "Right now we need to do what we should have days ago: Benge, we need to leave the village and come in the right way."

Benge the Shadow-weaver deflated a bit at that news. He took pride in his ability to get into any place, no matter how guarded. He excelled at breaking other people's rules, and obeying another village's policies, even in this limited way, rankled. But the brats were right, the Old Letch would have his head if they failed before the real test even began.

"And if we come in announced, we won't have to sneak around anymore..." pointed out the kunoichi, her red eyes glittering in the darkness.

"I'm sure there are some interesting opponents you could go up against..." Shugorei added, winking at her for the idea. It was common knowledge in their village that Benge considered his greatest rival to be the current Nara clan head, it was the entire reason he had volunteered for this mission.

"Fine! Fine, you brats win," Benge grouched. "gather your things, we leave immediately." The mildly psychotic assassin crossed his arms and tapped an unseen foot impatiently.

Shugorei grabbed a pair of packs as his teammates stood and settled cloaks around themselves. He offered one to the kunoichi, and she shrugged into it while he put on the other.

She fidgeted with the straps a bit, then sighed in annoyance and retrieved a thick strip of black cloth from a pocket of her cloak and tied it around her eyes, but not before her teammates saw the familiar melancholy in her expression.

Shugorei squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, as their third teammate stepped over to join them, wearing no pack of his own, but covered head to toe in a dark blue cloak.

With them all together, Benge somehow flowed around and over them, and in mere seconds, all that remained of the group was a length of black cloth fluttering to the floor, empty and abandoned, as the elite assassin of Nakagakure drew the team into the shadows that were his truest home and out into the wilds surrounding Konoha.

---

The day of the chunin exams, Naruto arrived early, as had become his habit, but to his surprise, Sasuke was already there.

He plopped down on the grass near where Sasuke stood, leaning against the wall. Charmeleon looked over at him from where the pokemon lazed in the sun, and Naruto and Ralts greeted him cheerfully.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Naruto said, attempting to make small talk while they waited for Sakura and Eevee.

"Hngh," Sasuke grunted. Somehow he managed to make the sound both an affirmative and an insult. If nothing else, his association with Charmeleon was improving his nonverbal vocabulary.

"Same here," Naruto replied, ignoring the typically surly response from his teammate. "I kept tryin' to figure out what kinda tests they're gonna have us do... You got any ideas?"

"Hmph?" Sasuke replied, which Naruto chose to translate as 'How should I know?'

"Yeah, just figured I'd ask. Even Iruka-sensei was real secretive about it, but he did tell me that there's usually three tests, an' we gotta pass the first two to have any chance at getting' promoted," Naruto elaborated.

"Hmm?" Sasuke replied, curiosity evident in his tone.

"Yeah, apparently the first two will be team tests, with some other stuff mixed in depending on who's in charge, an' what they think is important. The last test is always a one-on-one tournament though, with a bunch of big shots coming to watch," Naruto explained quietly. He didn't want to be overheard, just in case rival competitors might be near.

Sakura joined them near the end of the explanation, so he recapped it for her benefit, before telling her that he and Sasuke were having a friendly conversation, to which Sasuke grunted derisively.

"I find that a bit hard to believe," Sakura commented. Sasuke-kun didn't have 'friendly conversations' with anyone. Not even her or Kakashi-sensei...

"Ya just gotta listen the right way," Naruto replied. "He's just like a pokemon."

"Gngh," Sasuke scoffed.

"I think you're right," Sakura exclaimed. "I clearly heard 'Shut up Dobe' in that one."

"Finally, we've cracked the secret Uchiha language!" Naruto cheered. "We can now understand Sasukese!"

"Let's just get in there and start the stupid exam," Sasuke said in an exasperated tone.

"Sakura-chan! I think he just said Konohamaru's trapped in a well and we need to go save him!" Naruto gasped, feigning fearful worry.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in annoyance, ignoring the quiet laughter from Sakura, Eevee, and even Charmeleon.

Sensing the Uchiha's discomfort, and wanting to forestall any conflict before the important day, Ralts took the initiative and whacked her partner in the back of the head.

When Naruto looked back at her in surprise, she crossed her little arms and gave him her best stinkeye, which still ended up being rather cute, but Naruto did get the message.

"Okay, I get it," He said sheepishly. "No more teasing the T... Sasuke today."

Ralts nodded firmly at his correction, then turned a happy smile at the smirking Uchiha.

"You are so whipped," Sasuke snickered.

"You're just jealous that your fans aren't as cute as Ralts-chan," Naruto replied with a superior sniff. "Not to say Sakura-chan isn't really pretty though..." he added with a wink her way.

"Whatever Dobe. Let's just head inside before Sakura decides which comment you deserve to get hit for more," Sasuke suggested.

Naruto heard the familiar sound of popping knuckles popping, and rushed the door. "Good idea Teme, let's get going!" He called back.

Sasuke chuckled at his escape, until he realized Sakura was laughing too. He looked back at her to find her watching him fondly.

"What? Not gonna pound him?" He asked.

"Nah, not today. We've still got an exam to win," she replied, her smile turning a bit sharp. "Besides, even you have to admit he has a point about 'Sasukese'."

"Hmph," Sasuke grunted in response as he led the way inside.

"Oh Sasuke-kun, you say the sweetest things!" Sakura cooed at him teasingly.

---

They caught up to Naruto in the central stairwell of the building.

He stood on the bottom landing, leaning against the wall within clear sight of the door, frowning as he watched a team from Kusa climb the steps chatting animatedly.

"Thanks for waiting for us," Sakura said, wanting to reassure him that she wasn't going to attack him or anything, though she was surprised that they caught up to him before reaching the room they had to turn in the forms in.

"Sure thing Sakura-chan," he replied in his normal voice, though his expression didn't change, and he held a hand up, displaying their hand signal for silence.

"Something's weird about these stairs.," Naruto whispered the moment the door clicked shut behind the foreign ninja.

"Weird how? Sakura asked, eying the innocuous stairway.

"I dunno, it just doesn't feel right..." naruto tried to explain. "It doesn't look right when people walk up 'em either." He demonstrated by climbing up to the next floor's landing and back to his team.

Sakura and Sasuke watched him, noticing what he meant. Once he was there it seemed normal, but the angle of movement was odd when he was moving, at least when viewed from a stationary position.

"What do you think?" Sasuke asked Sakura when Naruto had returned.

"Me?" Sakura squeaked in response. Sasuke-kun was asking her opinion!

"You are the most tactically minded person on our team. Plus, you've been learning genjutsu recently, right?" Sasuke noted.

"Genjutsu? Yeah... Oh! You're right, this must be a variation of the 'False Surroundings Technique'! ...But why would it be here? Could it be part of the test?" Sakura wondered.

"More likely some of the competition trying to thin out the opposition. If the Dobe could see through it, it can't be that strong," Sasuke reasoned.

"Well... I didn't really 'see' through it, so much as I 'crashed' though it." Naruto replied, ears tinting red from embarrassment.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look before the pinkette prompted him to explain.

"I was kinda excited... so I jumped up there," he said, pointing to what looked like the third floor landing.

"An' I hit the stairs right about there," he finished, pointing to where the staircase continued on almost directly above his head.

"Leave it to you to 'dumb luck' your way through the first obstacle," Sasuke snickered, accepting that the flawed nature of the illusion was just to give the genin a chance to pass what was probably an unofficial test, since slamming into it should have dispelled a weak one.

"Hey! Long as we beat it, what's it matter how we did?" Naruto argued.

"Naruto's right," Sakura agreed, "But we should get out of here before someone else comes in. We don't want to accidentally help someone who might eliminate us later."

The group made their way to the fourth landing before they heard a door open beneath them and indignant shouts assaulted their ears.

"Release me at once!" A boisterous boy was demanding. "I must go teach those unyouthful bullies not to strike my beloved teammates! We will show them the reddest flames of our righteous anger!"

"Ty! Ty, ty, rogue. Reh. Rogue!" agreed the boy's pokemon, miming an impressive combination of punches and kicks.

"Lee! Calm down! I'm not hurt, it was all a plan, remember?" The female ordered, shaking the boy roughly to get his attention.

"I... of course Tenten-san. I am sorry. I forgot the plan in my most unyouthful anger," Lee apologized, bowing his head in shame.

"Reh." Tyrogue stated, pulling a face towards the door they had just exited.

"It was your own plan," replied the third person, his voice full of scorn and disapproval.

"And it was a good plan," Interjected Tenten. "Did you see how many people got involved in that argument? If even half of them don't notice the proctor's genjutsu, we'll have cut the competition by a lot."

"An irrelevant concern," replied the unpleasant boy. "Those losers would fail without our efforts. They are failures, and will continue to be so, even without our interference."

"Snee!" Agreed his pokemon, rubbing it's blade-like claws together with a vicious grating sound.

He smiled cruelly at the pokemon and turned to ascend the stairs.

Neji paused when he noticed Team Seven watching from the next landing up, and a cold look settled onto his features.

"Identify yourselves!" He demanded imperiously.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's," Sasuke replied, stepping to the top step and preventing Naruto from introducing himself.

Neji's eyes narrowed with anger. "You're just a rookie, aren't you?"

"Even if I am, I'm not obligated to answer," Sasuke replied blandly, though he felt like smirking at the obvious displeasure in the rude Hyuuga's nearly colorless eyes.

Neji activated his dojutsu, a brief flicker that was barely noticeable, save for the bulge of veins and chakra coils around his eyes, and he sneered victoriously.

"I don't need your answer, Sasuke Uchiha," he taunted, having easily identified the rival clan's crest on Sasuke's shirt. "I now know everything I need to about you. Rookie of the year in a class with only nine graduates... First among a class of failures, one might say."

"Perhaps, but I already know everything I need to about you as well, Hyuuga," Sasuke countered confidently.

"Unlikely," Neji replied coldly. "I would be surprised if you even knew my name."

"What possible reason would I have to care about the name of a lowly branch member?" Sasuke replied with a superior air.

Rage slid into Neji's eyes like burning oil into a pond, a level of anger that Sasuke had seen in his own eyes innumerable times, when he looked into the mirror and saw his brother's coal black eyes looking back from his own face.

Neji blinked, and just like that the rage froze over, forcing it deep inside to become a festering hatred.

"Come. We have wasted enough time here," he commanded his team, once more as calm and stoic as any Hyuuga could wish to be.

"I would like to remain behind a moment... but please, proceed without me," Lee requested.

"No. I will not allow you to risk our entry into the exams with one of your ridiculous challenges," Neji replied icily. "It will be easy enough to determine which of you is the bigger loser based on the results of the actual examination."

Neji stalked up the stairs, intending to shoulder aside the impertinent Uchiha who stood atop them.

Just before he could make good on that intention, Sasuke slid aside, and Neji, who'd been expecting him to resist, stumbled.

"Careful," Sasuke warned cockily. "Wouldn't want the proud Hyuuga to trip over his own feet."

Neji looked up at him, byakugan active and in a tone colder than Haku's jutsu gave his own warning.

"Pray that we do not meet again in the course of these exams, Uchiha. If we do, I will teach you why you should care to know my name. It will not be a pleasant lesson for you."

Neji rudely stormed by the remaining members of Team Seven, and despite his exposed back, Sasuke could still feel the glare upon him.

He simply smirked at the retreating Hyuuga and called it a win.

Neji's pokemon tried it's own intimidation tactic on Charmeleon, but the fire type sent the sneasel scurrying after it's partner with a blast of fire.

"I apologize for my teammate's most unyouthful attitude," the green-clad boy said, bowing formally to Sasuke, though his eyes kept drifting towards his pink haired teammate. His pokemon duplicated his act contrition, and presumably the peace making intention, towards Charmeleon, with considerably more focus.

"Neji's... been a bit unbearable lately," the kunoichi added, nodding towards the team casually. "In fact, we really shouldn't keep him waiting..." She grabbed Lee and dragged him after her up the stairs, a necessity since he kept trying to pause and call back to Sakura.

"What a jerk," Naruto muttered. That guy had to be twice the teme that the Teme was. At least.

"I'd heard the Uchiha and Hyuuga didn't get along, but I never thought it was that bad," Sakura remarked, trying to ignore the way the one with the strange look and freaky eyebrows kept trying to catch her eye.

"It usually isn't... wasn't," Sasuke replied. "That guy's just full of himself. Probably didn't like the fact that he can't push us around." Nothing in Sasuke's voice or posture hinted that he recognized the hypocrisy of his statement.

"But he was right about one thing," Sasuke continued. "We aren't going to win anything standing around here. Let's get to the exam room."

He resumed his walk up the stairs and his team fell in behind him.

It would take more than a weak genjutsu and a pissy Hyuuga to shake Team Seven's determination.

---

They entered a crowded room after meeting with Kakashi in the hallway. He'd given them a short pep talk, during which he explained that if any of the three genin hadn't arrived, that the whole team would have been dropped immediately.

Not that there had been any actual fear of that. The team had worked hard, and busted more ass than a booby-trapped bathroom, to get ready for these exams, and Kakashi was one hundred percent confident that they were ready...

Even if he knew the other three teams led by his friends had also ramped up their training in response.

While Naruto and Ralts were distracted by the horde of tough looking competitors, scores of Ninja and pokemon, every one of which was a threat simply due to their presence, they were attacked.

Naruto felt the carrier on his back lighten as Ralts was lifted out of it, an instant before his body locked up.

"Shadow Possession jutsu: complete." Shikamaru muttered in his eternally bored manner.

"Sorry guys, Ino really needed us to help out," Chouji apologized sincerely. Ralts could sense hope and nervous anticipation from the gentle giant and decided not to fight her way back to Naruto, but she did ready herself to attack if necessary.

"I will never tell her." Naruto growled between clenched teeth. Would that harpy never leave him alone?

"That's totally fine, because I wasn't planning to ask anymore," Ino replied, walking into his line of sight. "I even talked to Mom, and she agreed to stop asking too. You should be grateful."

"Then why the heck have you been chasing me around all month?" Naruto asked in annoyance.

"Cause you kept running away!" Ino fired back. "I just wanted to apologize and you made it such a damn hassle!"

"Fine, you apologized. I forgive you. We done now?" Naruto replied. Behind him, both her team and his snickered at how easily he took the wind from her sails.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no!" Ino growled, grabbing the boy by his collar and dragging his face to hers. "You are not just gonna blow me off! Not after the effort I put into this!" She said angrily, shaking him as she did.

"Could you two hurry it up? People are starting to stare..." Shikamaru asked from an awkward stance. When Ino had grabbed Naruto and yanked him around, the Nara had been pulled along for the ride.

Ino glowered at her teammate, but set Naruto back on his feet.

She then retrieved a plain looking folder from her pouch and cleared her throat pointedly.

Shikamaru sighed and grumbled under his breath, but held his hands out as if to accept the folder, and Naruto mimicked him, bound as he was by the jutsu.

Satisfied, Ino spoke an obviously practiced speech. "Naruto, I'm sorry I acted like such a bad friend, especially since you'd just given us those awesome gifts. I already promised not to keep asking, but since I upset you so much, I wanted to give you this to make up for it."

To Naruto, she sounded sincere, and once she'd placed the folder in his hands, Shikamaru released the jutsu with a mutter about 'troublesome blondes.'

"I hope you appreciate it..." Ino said a bit nervously. "It wasn't easy to get, and I had to get help from Daddy and Hughes-san... And I guess I should admit that Forehead gave me the idea."

"Um... That's cool an' all, but what is it?" Naruto asked, inspiring an annoyed twitch from Ino, who really wanted to see his face when he found out.

"Would that not be most easily determined by opening it and seeing for yourself?" Pointed out Shino, as he and his team joined the other rookies.

Naruto opened to the first page, an official looking document similar to the one he'd had to fill out as part of his official acceptance into Konoha's ninja forces. This one had many lines filled in with black bars though, apparently censored by the Intelligence department.

But the top line stood out as bright as if someone had aimed a spotlight right at it. Two words in big bold letters: Kushina Uzumaki.

"Mom..." Naruto whispered, his eyes watering with emotion. "Ino, how did you get this?"

"You'd be surprised what you can do when your Daddy is a clan head and high in Konoha's T&I department..." Ino explained. "And like I said, Hughes-san helped, he was excited to, once he knew what I wanted it for, so you might want to thank him too, next time you see him."

This has to be the best present ever!" Naruto replied excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

"Hey now, don't get all teary-eyed yet. There's better stuff in there," Ino answered, turning to a two page spread that she'd set up earlier so they would have maximum effect.

Right in front of Naruto's eyes were the front pages of the two most valuable documents in the folder, or at least from Ino's perspective.

Fittingly, they were the first and last chronologically. Specifically: The entrance documentation from when she became a genin, and the retirement forms from when she left the service.

They were also two of the few reports to have full color photos attached.

One one side, Kushina's genin photo, a plump faced girl with bright red hair grinned hugely at the camera, holding a victory sign with one hand and proudly framing her headband with the other.

On the other was her retirement photo. In that picture she had grown into the beautiful young woman Kakashi-sensei had described her as. The fact that he arms were crossed over her barely swollen belly and a petulant pout on her face did little to detract from her looks.

"She's related to Naruto, no doubt there," Sakura remarked, looking over her teammate's shoulder to see the pictures.

"You think that's proof? Check this out," Ino replied, pointing to the ambitions section of the genin page, which was really more of a questionnaire for their sensei's benefit.

"My dream is to become the first female Hokage! Dattebane!" Ino read out for her.

"That... is kinda creepy..." Sakura said.

"Tell me about it. She even listed her hobby as pranking and her favorite food as ramen!" Ino continued. It was like Naruto was a smaller, blond Kushina.

Kiba started snickering, an evil glint in his eye.

"W-what's so funny?" Hinata asked, in a tone that was her weak attempt at a reprimand. She was trying to become more forward, but it was slow going.

Plus, she really, really wished she'd thought to give Naruto-kun such a sweet and unique gift. She had considered trying to find his father's information for him, but unfortunately the only clues visible, even to her byakugan was the censored 'Marital status' section, which would only be blacked out if she were married, and the 'reason for retirement' section, which claimed she was only doing it because 'Nato-kun insisted, for the baby's safety'.

She had also edited the line to read 'Reason for Temporary retirement'.

"Naruto's got his mom's hobby, his mom's tastes, even his mom's dreams..." Kiba explained though his laughter. "It's like he's been a mama's boy his whole life and never knew!"

Shikamaru and Chouji, chuckled at how red Naruto's face turned at that, and Even Sasuke had a tiny smile at the Dobe's discomfort, though it was easily missed, he had been a bit of a mother's boy too afterall.

"Ugh. Shows what you boys know," Ino said, glaring at her teammates. "I think it's really sweet. Like she was there with him, even if he couldn't see her."

"Ino's right," agreed Sakura. "You don't see Sasuke-kun or Hinata laughing, and they know what it's like to miss a parent. So grow up, this is really special for Naruto."

"Aw, I was just jokin' around," Kiba replied. He did have a parent to miss too, but really, his father had just run for the hills after some argument with his Mom. "Besides, I'd be a mama's boy too if mine looked like her. She was a total babe!" he added, pointing at her retirement photo.

Hinata subtly jyuuken tapped her teammate in the side for that remark.

"H-he means that she's l-lovely, Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly.

"Thanks, Hinata," Naruto replied with a sunny smile, causing the girl to turn redder than he had been when Kiba teased him.

"Not to interrupt the festive occasion, but you should really be taking this more seriously," suggested a silver haired, spectacled genin, who looked like a dirty look might be enough to defeat him.

"What makes you think we aren't?" Sasuke asked the unknown leaf ninja coolly.

'Well, you might be..." admitted the shifty looking person. "But to them, you are being a bit frivolous..." he gestured to the room full of ninja warily.

Naruto looked up from the folder and stared at the horde for a moment before returning to his reading. "Eh, seen meaner," he said with a shrug.

"Really? I'm not sure if I should be impressed or afraid of you, if that's the case," the boy chuckled with apparent worry.

"Who are you anyway?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously. "Comrades or not, we're still opponents in the exam, so why do you want to help us?"

"Oh, I never did introduce myself, how rude of me," he said in embarrassment. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi, and to be honest, I was hoping you might be able to help me out too, if we run across each other during the tests I mean."

"The tests aren't really designed with support types like me in mind, so I figured since we're all Leaf ninja, a bit of 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' couldn't hurt?" Kabuto continued.

"You've taken the exams before?" Sakura inquired.

Seven times now," Kabuto mumbled in a depressed voice. "I've never even made it to the finals..."

"Damn, you must suck!" Kiba exclaimed.

"But I bet you know a lot about how the exams work..." Sasuke remarked, with a sly expression.

"And about the competition too," Kabuto agreed proudly. "I may not be much good in a fight, but I'm an expert medic-nin, and my information gathering is second to none, at least among genin."

"Wait, Yakushi? Are you related to Doctor Yakushi?" Sakura asked in recognition.

"Yes, he's my father... well, adopted father," Kabuto replied. "Do you know of him?"

"Yeah, we met him with Elisa was born," Naruto replied absently. "He was pretty cool, for a doctor an' all."

"He is a great man," Kabuto agreed fondly. "He taught me all of my medical techniques."

"Well, I say we help him out," Sakura decided. "As long as it doesn't hurt our chances, I don't see any reason not to."

"I dunno, I ain't buyin' it," Kiba disagreed. "What's he got that we could possibly need?"

"I'm with the mutt," Ino agreed. "How do we know he has anything worth knowing?"

"I could always give you a sample," Kabuto suggested. "If you like what I have to say, then we can cut a deal."

"That seems equitable," Shino stated.

Seeing that no one was going to object, Kabuto pulled out a thick deck of cards from his pocket.

"These are my Ninja Info cards," he explained. "They're a form of sealing jutsu, but instead of holding kunai, gear, or things of that nature, they're imprinted with a pattern that only reacts to my chakra."

He channeled a bit of energy into the card, and a representation of the Elemental Kingdoms appeared, with transparent columns raising from it's surface.

It showed the home villages of the competitors, most of which were from the villages of Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, and Sound, with a smattering of smaller villages.

Kabuto talked a bit about the exam's role in maintaining the balance of power among the ninja countries, but stuff like that wasn't really a point of interest for the genin.

"Do you have information on the contestants themselves?" Sasuke asked, when Kabuto looked to them for a decision.

"Well, yeah," Kabuto admitted. "But I'm not just going to give something like that away for free. I want at least some assurance before I start sharing valuable information."

"And if we won't agree to help you, someone else might, and if they want info on us..." Shikamaru implied leadingly.

"Afraid so," Kabuto admitted uneasily.

"Then it would seem that you have us in a situation where assisting you is in our best interests as well..." Shino mused.

"Unless we just burn those stupid cards..." Kiba pointed out, growling threateningly, which was picked up by both Akamaru and Cranidos in an odd example of surround sound.

"Which will be useless if he has another deck," Shikamaru countered. "And he'd probably make our information his new sample, just out of spite."

"Which explains why he came here first," Sakura noted. "We're the only large group obviously talking together, so if one of us accepts his offer, it's almost a given that we all will, just to stay even."

"I also expected you would be smart enough to realize that," Kabuto affirmed. It was tough to put one over on a Nara, add the Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Aburame in the mix and it became nearly impossible.

"So he's a devious little bastard who isn't giving us much choice except to work with him," Sasuke remarked. "Sounds like a perfectly viable strategy for an espionage type ninja."

"You can't seriously be saying you approve of this joker?" Said Kiba in surprise.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Chouji quoted.

"Or at least a useful tool," Shikamaru replied.

"I'm in, Sasuke said. "And I know just the person to ask about. Give me everything you have on Neji Hyuuga."

Kabuto shared everything he knew about the branch house prodigy, and like Sakura predicted, all three teams took him up on his offer.

Naruto asked about the redhead from Suna, and summarily blew off his paltry B-rank achievement.

Since her teammates had both made a request, and she hadn't met any of the opposition outside of the leaf, Sakura requested information on Ino, who retaliated by doing the same to her rival.

Shikamaru decided it would be too troublesome to ask about anyone before they knew about the tests to come, and Chouji followed his lead.

Shino requested a list of ninja who specialized in techniques that would be detrimental to his colony, while Hinata couldn't decide on a good question and chose to wait too.

Kiba, in a rare moment of tactical brilliance, asked which teams would be the best targets for the rookies.

"Well, that's actually a pretty tough one to answer," Kabuto replied thoughtfully, staring at the first card as if it would have the solution for him.

"Stop makin' excuses and answer the question!" Kiba demanded. He still didn't trust this guy, but he'd be damned if he wasn't gonna grab any advantage he could get.

"It's not an excuse," Kabuto replied defensively. "There's almost a hundred teams here, and I can't be expected to know everything about them all on the top of my head."

Kabuto thought a bit more while Kiba grew more annoyed by the second.

'Alright. The easiest way would be a breakdown by village," the medic decided. "Starting with Konoha, who has the most entrants, you'll have a hard time picking a weak team at random, but we're likely the one with the most. A lot of jounin will have entered their students too soon, thinking that a local exam will be safe, but there are also plenty of repeat entrants who's sensei just held them back from the other exams for the same reason. Sorry, but that's the best I can advise there."

"Sand on the other hand is easy. They're in the middle of a serious financial crisis, so they can't afford a bad showing in front of the final exam guests, who will be some of the biggest hiring names in the Elemental kingdoms. You should expect every Suna team to be strong. They'd only send the cream of the crop this time."

"Grass is another tough call. They send genin to every exam, so if nothing else, they'll probably be experienced. Whether they have the strength to profit from that experience is a whole other matter, since they tend to promote quantity over quality."

"You can expect Rain ninja to be average at best. Hanzo only sends his weakest genin to the exams, and only so their jounin can scope out the host village. However, Rain is a militaristic, isolationist village, so don't expect anyone from there to be a pushover. Their regular genin forces are as strong as most chunin."

"Waterfall, like Sand, is an ally of Konoha. They're one of the smallest villages, and seem to be on the decline of late. However, Village success isn't very telling in regards to the individual, so don't underestimate them."

"In fact, if I were to suggest a target, I'd have to say Sound is your best bet. They're a small village that only recently sprang up, and this is their first exam attendance. While they're still an unknown overall, they're bound to be inexperienced."

Kabuto listed a few of the lesser villages with entrants, none who had sent more than two teams, but before he could finish, the sound of steel drew their attention.

Ralts shouted her name, and nearly two dozen senbon froze in the air, bells hanging limply from a number of them.

Kin looked surprised at how easily her attack had been stopped, but her task of distracting the ninja had been successful.

Attacking from another angle, his own hostility hidden in the vast sea of violent emotions emanating from the now keyed up examinees, Zaku launched a fistful of kunai at the bastard who'd insulted his village.

Said bastard dodged away faster than most of the other leaf ninja even noticed the attack in progress, but Dosu had expected as much and planned for it. If nothing else, this Kabuto had to be skilled at saving his own hide, just to survive seven exams in a row.

What he didn't expect was a girl in a dark blue cloak getting in his face an instant before he could make his attack.

She grabbed his arm just past the elbow and held his slash back, smiling slightly as she faced him.

Her hand on his arm was pale to the point of translucency, and the hood of her cloak had slipped from the speed of her movement, revealing short, light blue hair framing what would have been a cute face, if not for the blindfold obscuring most of it.

"Did you have to get involved, Kaeru? It was just getting interesting," a cold voice put in from where a pair of identically cloaked boys leaned against the nearby wall.

Rather than answer, she gripped Dosu's sleeve tightly and pulled it back, revealing his unusual weapon.

"Ah... well then," the thinner of the two boys said, stepping over to inspect it, humming casually in interest.

Dosu ripped his arm back, and slid his sleeve back down, glaring at the blindfolded girl with his one eye.

"Why did you interfere?" He growled menacingly.

"We are indebted to one of those who made a pact of support with Yakushi-san," Kaeru replied cocking her head towards him, obviously listening intently.

"You are?" Kabuto asked in surprise.

"Of course," the third boy replied, joining the group himself, lowering his own hood with a nod towards the group. "And ninja of Nakagakure always repay our debts."

"I remember you!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're that Shoe Guy Roy who wanted directions!"

"Shoe Guy Roy?" Shugorei repeated indignantly, ignoring Kaeru's giggle at his disbelief.

"You know... I'm sure we could make that work," mused the still hooded boy. "There are records of a kunoichi who specialized in killing men with her poisoned stiletto heels..."

"Shut up, Ao," Shugorei replied. "I'm not changing my style just because the kid mispronounced my name."

"Of course not. He'll take up candy making like that guy who thought his name was Sugar Ray suggested," Kaeru added.

"I hate you all," Shugorei complained grumpily. "I swear, when I take my chosen name, it's going to be something simple. Like Tai, or Ash, or something else monosyllabic. There'll be no more confusion then."

No one cares about your damn name!" Zaku shouted as he joined the discussion. "All we care about is teaching trash talking little shits like that not to disrespect our village!" he declared, jabbing an accusing finger at Kabuto.

"I'd tell you to make a note that we Sound ninja will definitely be chunin by the end of the exams, but I don't think you'll be needing those cards for much longer..." Kin added in a sweetly threatening tone. "In fact, I doubt you'll even need to worry about the chunin exams ever again..."

A glance around the room revealed how serious a threat that was, for all of the teams from Sound were leveling glares at the silver haired genin.

Even worse, some of the more predatory of their pokemon were eying him the way an Akimichi might a nice side of beef.

Not that Kabuto or any of the ninja around him noticed, but there was one disguised sound ninja not having evil thoughts centered around Konoha medic ninja.

Hers were too tied up with the information that interrupted her oogling of tall, dark and brooding... Karin wasn't the only Uzumaki left in her world anymore.

Before she could come to grips with that revelation, there was an explosion of smoke and a full platoon of ninja appeared in the front of the room.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, and I am the proctor for the first phase of these exams," declared a huge scar-faced man.

"Remember my name, and memorize my face, because by the time I'm through with you, I will be the ruler by which you measure your nightmares," he promised menacingly.

"As for you jokers from Sound, there will be no fighting during the exams without proctor approval. This is your first, last and only warning, but you are the only ones even receiving that much. Any ninja who even thinks of disobeying me will be disqualified immediately, as will their teammates."

Dosu and his team stepped away from the group, but not without one last growled threat towards him and the Nakagakure ninja.

"Very well, if there are no more interruptions, we will begin the first stage of the exams," Ibiki said, looking over the genin critically. "This will be a written test assessing your knowledge as a ninja, so no pokemon will be permitted in attendance."

"My assistants will escort you by teams to the test room," Ibiki said, gesturing to the ninja with him. "You will be required to turn your forms and pokemon over to them in exchange for one of these," he said, holding up a square tile with a number on it. "This will determine your seating for the duration of the first exam."

"When you are ready to proceed, come forward and speak to one of these ninja," Ibiki said, before turning to leave the room.

"Waitaminute!" Called Naruto. "Why're you takin' our pokemon away!"

Ibiki looked back over his shoulder, sweeping his gaze over the assembled genin, noting who seemed to bear similar sentiments to the boy.

"As I said: This is a test of your own knowledge and ability, not your pokemon's." Ibiki explained. "That being the case, there's no reason for them to be stuck sitting around in a stuffy room for an hour or more. We have an area set aside in which they will be perfectly comfortable, but if you would rather not comply, you can easily leave and try again in six months."

"What if our pokemon aren't with us?" another genin asked.

"Then I suggest you bring them out. This is a rule, not a request," Ibiki answered, turning to leave once more.

"And if we have no pokemon at all?" Ao asked brazenly interrupting his exit again.

"Then your forearms will be inspected to ensure that you really are a hitori-nin," Ibiki answered without turning around.

"Well, that will be interesting..." Shugorei remarked.

"Won't it though?" Ao agreed, white teeth flashing in a grin within the deep blue darkness of his cowl.

---

Most of the genin were arranged in a large tiered classroom when Shugorei's team entered. Ao took his seat near the back while Shugorei guided Kaeru to the place furthest from the windows, before moving over to his own. All three ignored the odd looks their escort sent Ao as he took one of the chairs around the perimeter.

He looked over the room, locating his blond haired benefactor and the rest of his rookie friends, as well as the redheaded jinchuuriki and the aggressive sound ninja.

He took his seat and settled back to watch the fun. Information was a large part of what Nakagakure thrived on, and they knew that if Ibiki Morino was part of things, it was bound to be interesting.

---

Naruto was a bit nervous... okay, a lot nervous. This was the furthest he'd been from Ralts since her hatching, and he was preparing for what might be the the most important written test he'd ever encountered.

But he wasn't that same ignorant kid he'd been in the academy.

Iruka-sensei had been hammering everything he could imagine Naruto needing into his head for the past month.

History, math, tactics, jutsu theory, all of it, so if he wasn't ready to pass this test now, it was pretty likely that he never would be, and that was inconceivable.

And it did make him feel a little better that he could look out the huge windows and see Ralts-chan in the fenced off field just outside, being overseen by more ninja, just in case.

When all the genin were seated, Ibiki nodded to his assistants and two stood on opposite sides of each row, materializing a stack of papers from somewhere and starting across the class.

Naruto looked up as the closer man placed a paper before the kunoichi next to him, some redheaded grass ninja with glasses who kept looking at him from the corner of her eye.

The guy with the papers skipped Naruto, placing his next form in front of the Rain ninja in pajamas on his other side.

Naruto considered raising a stink, but noticed that the pattern had been inverted on the next row down, and inverted again on the one below that, so it looked like a big checkerboard, a few rows down and to his right he saw Sakura-chan receive hers, and look to her blank-desked neighbors curiously.

His patience paid off when the man coming from the opposite side reached him and placed one of his tests in front of Naruto.

When the assistants finished, they sat in the chairs their opposite had vacated and stared over the genin. Or at least that's what most of them did. A couple were actually blindfolded, and it was kinda creepy to think of them watching him...

As soon as they were seated, Ibiki tapped the blackboard with a piece of chalk to get the room's attention.

He explained the complicated rule system he had decided on, which Naruto had to admit he only bothered memorizing the important parts: The test is scored backwards for some weird reason, if he failed Sakura-chan and the Teme were gonna kill him, and if he got caught cheating he'd be royally screwed.

Oh, and he really really had to get at least one question right... or he'd kill the whole team's chances.

Naruto flipped his paper over hesitantly and looked over the questions... and the more he read through the questions, the more his heart sank.

He leaned back and crossed his arms, frowning as he stared at the blank paper and it's nearly impossible questions.

The strange redhead kept glancing at him with a puzzled expression, but she didn't try talking to him, and so Naruto ignored her, turning the test over in his mind.

Problem: He needed to answer at least one question correctly in order to pass.

Problem: He couldn't make heads or tails of a single question on the whole thing.

Problem: If he got caught cheating, he would lose points and need even more correct answers, unless he got caught too much, in which case he would lose immediately.

Solution: ...either suck it up and fail, or find a way to cheat where he couldn't get caught.

"How the heck am I supposed to cheat without gettin' caught?" Naruto thought frustratedly. It wasn't like he had any neat info gathering skills... well, the Shadowclone was pretty neat, but that would get him caught for sure.

"Cheat at what?" Ralts asked innocently.

"This stupid test," Naruto replied. '"I can't answer any of the questions, but I gotta get one or I'll fail, an' if I fail then Sakura-chan an' Sasuke will too."

"Are you worried about them?" Ralts asked.

"What? About them failing?" Naruto replied. "No way! Sakura-chan's really smart, an' the Teme will probably just cheat with his freaky eye jutsu or somethin'."

He sensed amusement through the connection, and his link with Ralts magnified.

It was an odd feeling, like a balloon within his mind expanding outward, passing through him like a shadow through glass. It continued spreading, giving Naruto a small glimpse at the emotions of every person it passed.

Curiosity and a strange longing from the strange redhead.

Bravado underscored by worry from the pajama guy.

Feelings of worry and confidence, panic and smug superiority ran rampant through his mind, occasionally mingled with softer feelings, until an actual thought was permitted into the bubble of his awareness.

"Dammit! How could it be this wrong? I copied him perfectly!" Cursed Sasuke. But despite his perfection, there was no way some rant on kunai steel had anything to do with the diagrammed question on his test.

Almost immediately after, Sakura was brought into the mind link as well.

"... way any more than a dozen people here could be up to answering these questions," She was thinking. "I mean, I'm barely this good, I doubt the boys would be able to even understand half of it..."

"Sakura?" thought Sasuke, at the same time Naruto thought, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sakura-chan..."

"Naruto? Sasuke-kun? How are you... Ralts!" Sakura thought in amazement.

"How are you doing with the test?" Sasuke asked when Sakura didn't continue immediately.

"Not too bad," She replied. "The questions are difficult, but not impossible..."

"What was your answer for the first question?" He asked further.

"Just someone's opinion on how to tell good weapons from bad based on quality of the metal. I can read it to you if you need?"

"No, I got that already, but it's got nothing to do with the question on the test," he replied frustratedly.

"What do you mean? The first question is a cypher, and not even a very difficult one," Sakura replied.

"No, it's a diagram of a ninja in a tree, and wants us to figure out trajectories based on distance, angle and the like," Sasuke countered.

"That's mine too," Naruto agreed.

"Well, that's not mine at all..." Sakura said thoughtfully. "Could there be two tests?"

"That would explain why they handed em out the way they did... a hint that we need to be careful who we cheat from, if we want the right answer," Sasuke reasoned.

"That kinda makes sense," Naruto added. "These questions are all stuff that I don't think anybody really uses a lot. I sure don't think through all the junk they wanna know when I throw a kunai at somebody. They must want us to cheat, so they can test how sneaky we can be."

"And how accurately we can gather information, since half the tests are effectively decoys, not counting the ones that people just get wrong," Sasuke agreed.

"If that's the case, then I'm a bit worried about the last question," Sakura replied. "It's almost guaranteed that whatever it's supposed to be will be a lot more devious..."

"We'll beat that challenge when we reach it," Sasuke replied confidently. "Right now, someone who should have the same test as me is writing, I'm going to try copying from him. After that, if it fits the question, I'll send what I get from him over to the Dobe."

"Good idea," Sakura replied. "If he's further along than you, tell me and I'll help solve the ones you're missing. Let's finish this at the top, perfect scores all around!"

"We probably already have a perfect score for cheating, or would if they knew how we're doing it," Sasuke replied smugly.

"What can I say? Ralts-chan is just that awesome," Naruto replied with overflowing pride.

---

By the forty-five minute mark, Team Seven had filled out all their tests completely, and had discussed possibilities for the 'surprise' that would be coming along with the tenth question. As a result, all three felt that they had the first phase pretty much in the bag.

Of course, not everything went predictably, most poignantly illustrated by the surprise visit they received from Ino, when she used one of her family jutsu on Sakura. Thankfully it had startled Ino as much as it had the team, and she collected the information she needed quickly, though she did complain about how unfair it was that 'Forehead can talk to Sasuke-kun whenever she wants".

Neither boy cared enough to mention that this was the first time Ralts had used such a trick.

Ibiki ceased his silent pacing and looked over the remaining genin, mildly impressed at the number that had managed to survive so far... but the tenth question, and it's accompanying risks, would take that number and mangle it.

"Alright, listen up!" Ibiki called from the front of the room, easily earning the attention of everyone in the room. "It is now time for the final question, but first... there is a new rule that you need to be aware of... This rule applies only to question ten, so you better pay attention."

"The rule is simple: You may decline to take the tenth question, however, if you do so, you instantly fail, with all the penalties that includes. If you refuse, your hopes, as well as your teammates', end here."

"However... should you take the tenth question and answer incorrectly... You will be barred from ever entering the chunin examinations again!" Ibiki declared boldly.

"That's bull!" Kiba roared in response. "Plenty of people took the exams before!"

"Yeah! You think the other villages will honor some crappy penalty just 'cause you Konoha jerks wanna throw your weight around?" A ninja from Grass objected as well.

"Well, I guess you're just unlucky," Ibiki replied with an evil laugh. "I wasn't making the rules before... and as to the other villages? Well, I guess you should have read your applications more carefully... Paragraph six, sentence four: 'The undersigned agrees to comply with all rules, penalties, or consequences determined by the proctors in the course of the examination." I am the proctor, I make the rules."

"If you didn't read, or consider the full implications of that sentence, then it's your own foolish mistake. No ninja squad leader should ever accept a mission without reading the contract and understanding what the client wants. Rookie mistakes like that will never slide on my watch."

"But don't worry, if you're not confident enough, you can always decline and go home..." He added leadingly.

Ibiki swept his gaze over the now nervous genin and smiled maliciously, one more push, and these brats would crack like ice in summer...

"Before you make your decision... there is one more penalty to consider..." Ibiki said. "The final question is the most important for any ninja to understand, not like those esoteric questions you had to answer for the first nine."

"In fact, it is my firm belief, that a ninja who is incapable of answering it correctly doesn't even deserve to be a ninja. The Hokage refused my choice of expulsion from the ninja program for the first penalty, so I added this second one, and got approval from someone else..."

"Any ninja who chooses to take the final question and fails, will not only be forbidden from attending promotion exams, but they will also be have their pokemon unbonded... permanently."

Shouts of denial filled the room, as almost every ninja argued against his ability to do something so extreme.

Silence fell when a tornado of flame taller than the building exploded into being in the center of the training field where the pokemon were waiting.

After a long moment, it cleared to reveal the full majesty of Moltres, towering above them like a golliath.

"I said I got approval," Ibiki remarked. "Suffice to say, the Legendary aligned with Konoha agrees with me as to this matter's importance."

"But there is some good news... I am now finished explaining the special circumstances for the tenth question. Any of you who aren't confident enough to continue, raise your hand and you will be marked off as the failures you are, after which, you may leave," Ibiki concluded.

"I... I don't wanna risk it," Said one depressed sounding shinobi, standing with his arm raised. "I just can't take that chance!"

"Number fifty, failed! Numbers seventy-three and ninety-two, also failed!" A sentry called out, sending the quitter and his teammates away.

"What do I do?" Naruto thought in a panic. "What do I do? What do I do?" Ralts had retracted the greater portion of her mental link after the team had finished their deliberations, but she could still speak with Naruto easily.

"What is wrong?" She asked, trying to comfort her partner.

"This jerk's gonna try takin' you away!" Naruto said in the mental equivalent of a near wail. "He says the last questions so important that if anyone misses it, he'll take their pokemon away!"

"Is that why Moltres-sama is here?" Ralts asked curiously. It was strange that she didn't sense anything of the sort from the Legendary firebird.

"I think so..." Naruto replied. "Kakashi-sensei did say that it's almost impossible to break a bond... Maybe it's so important that he convinced Moltres to do it for him?"

"What could be that important to both ninja and pokemon?" Ralts wondered.

"I... don't know..." Naruto admitted. "I don't wanna risk losing you, but I can't just let everybody down... Sakura-chan an' Sasuke are counting on me... and Iruka-sensei an' Kakashi-sensei both said we were as ready as we'd ever be..."

"Then you can do it," Ralts replied comfortingly.

"Then... I guess we got no choice," Naruto sighed. "Even if I quit, there's no guarantee it wouldn't be worse next time... but what if I fail?"

"Then we'll just have to fix things," Ralts replied, sending Naruto a mental collage of the other nearly impossible things he'd done.

Because really, what was a proctor and his stupid rules in comparison to Konoha's Anbu, a quartet of ninja assassins and a guy with pockets deeper than the Valley of the End? Heck, even Tora was scarier than Scarface there... In fact, she's probably what gave him those scars, now that he considered it...

He came back to himself and noticed that more than half the room had emptied, and to his shock, he could see Sakura-chan's arm creeping up...

"Why would she do that?" He wondered? "She's a genius, no way she'd fail... could she be worried about me?" He found that thought pleasant before it clicked that she was trying to give up, and the reason was largely irrelevant... he had to stop her! But how, when she couldn't see him behind her?

"Tell Sakura-chan not to quit... unless she really is worried about herself," Naruto asked of Ralts, who began trying to reestablish the connection with the pink-haired girl.

Not wanting to leave everything to Ralts, he decided it would be well advised to make some noise... One Uzumaki Special comin' up!

"You can take your rules and choke on 'em!" Naruto shouted, leaping onto his desk and pointing an accusing finger at the proctor. Never let it be said that Naruto Uzumaki ever did things halfway.

"I'm gonna take your stupid question, pass it and win this stupid exam! Ralts-chan is my family, and there ain't an Arceus-damned thing you can do to take her away! Dattebayo!"

Even if Ralts-chan hadn't gotten the message to Sakura yet, she and every other person in the room was staring at him like he'd grown another head.

"Are you certain about that?" Ibiki asked mildly. "You don't know what the question is, or even how difficult it can be. You might still fail, and then 'Ralts-chan' won't be with you anymore."

"That won't happen," Naruto swore, glaring at the man.

"You'd be surprised at the things that can happen in a ninja's life," Ibiki replied confidently. "What will you do if it does?"

"Then I'll get her back," Naruto promised. "Whatever it takes, I'll do it. An' when I do, we'll come back an' kick your ass for making me."

Ibiki let out a bark of laughter. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a single pokemon in the entire world?" He asked, ignoring the threat as the useless barking it seemed to be.

"Doesn't matter," Naruto replied with finality. "I made a promise, an' I never go back on my word. Ralts-chan's family lives on an island, an' I know where it is..." "More or less... how hard can it be to find though?" Naruto added silently.

"Ah, an island..." And how will you reach this island?" Ibiki asked tauntingly.

"Water walking," Naruto replied.

"I think you underestimate the size of the ocean. You can't just walk across it like a river," Ibiki remarked, to a chorus of laughter from the people in the room who had a similar opinion.

"Then I'll build a bridge instead!" Naruto replied forcefully. What did it matter how he did it, as long as he did?

"That's even worse!" Ibiki replied, pointless though this argument was, it was entertaining. "You'd never be able to make one tall or long enough to cross the ocean."

Naruto growled in anger, this jerk was just trying to humiliate him... "Then if I can't do that I'll... I'll..."

"If he cannot do that, the he will swim! And I shall join him in his most youthful quest!" Shouted the green-clad weirdo from the stairwell, leaping to his feet and flashing a thumbs up and giant grin.

"Damn right, Bushy brows!" Naruto replied, glad for both the save and the vote of confidence.

"Have either of you even seen the ocean?" Ibiki asked incredulously. Seriously? Their ideas were simply impossible.

"B-boat!" Hinata squeaked, forcing herself to her feet, though she kept her eyes shut tight and her face lit up in embarrassment, but she couldn't just sit and watch Naruto-kun stand up to the bully. "W-we can b-buy a b-boat... and..."

"And we'll come too!" Kiba added, trying to help. "Shino was just tellin' me how much he needs to work on his tan!"

Every Konoha ninja in the room who knew Shino looked to him in a mix of wonder and fear.

"A fabricated claim, but I concur with his offer. The five of us will be much more capable of locating little Ralts-chan, than he would be alone," Shino said.

"Well, you can make that six!" Ino replied, "I'll get such a luscious tan that Sasuke will fall for me instantly!"

"Not if I do first, Ino-pig!" Sakura replied, bringing the total to seven.

"Hey, Dobe, You think Ralts will be able to teleport us to wherever our own pokemon are after you get her back?" Sasuke asked.

"Um... I dunno, but she's gotta have parents, and they might be able to..." Naruto replied thoughtfully.

"Good." Sasuke replied with a smirk. "I'm in, but I want a piece of the big guy there when we get back too."

"Consider it done," Naruto promised with a sly smile. "Same offer to anyone else who wants to join."

The next few minutes were an inversion of the previous few, with the genin falling in behind the blond brat's idea one by one.

It wasn't long before the genin supporting the 'retrieve pokemon and kick Ibiki's ass' faction outnumbered those who weren't worried from the start, with representatives of every village in the exams, including one of the Nakagakure ninja and a full team from Sound.

It quickly became obvious that his carefully planned scenario had been disrupted, though he did take some small pride in being the villain that inspired an alliance among so many disparate villages.

But despite that, it was apparent that the genin were through being manipulated. If he tried to push again, he might have a riot on his hands.

"Fine then, if you're all through posturing, we will move on with the exam itself. To those of you still here... Congratulations on passing the first exam." Ibiki said. There were a lot more than he'd prefer, but thankfully his statement seemed to shock the fight out of most of the genin.

"Wha...?" Naruto said eloquently.

"To put it simply," Ibiki explained. "The tenth question was: Will you give up when faced with a task of unknown difficulty that carries significant risk. Those who did, left, failing themselves and their teammates, while those who stayed, passed. There was never any actual risk, because the only way to fail the question was by refusing to take it..."

"I explained the purpose of this test to Moltres, and she agreed to help grant a measure of authenticity, and from your reactions, it seems to have worked."

"So... the last question tested... what exactly?" One of the ninja with Naruto asked.

"The most important trait a ninja can possess," Ibiki answered. "The determination to push on towards success no matter the risk. Those who will stand tall and never waver in the face of adversity, those who are truly needed to lead and elevate their villages to the peaks of their potential."

"Then the first nine were useless? A waste of time?" Temari asked.

"Not at all, they were to test your ability to gather knowledge under adverse circumstances. Those of you who were unable to cheat well, were weeded out, while those who chose the wrong targets to cheat from were penalized by being required to try again, since the tests were different enough that such mistakes should have been obvious."

Ibiki continued his explanation, pointing out the chunin in attendance who already had the answers, and explaining the value of information in the ninja society, and the risks inherent in being a chunin, and a leader of other ninja.

As he was winding down his speech, a giant ball of dark cloth smashed through the window, spinning through the air as two kunai flashed through the air and anchored it to the ceiling.

"Heads up brats! No matter how good you did for Ibiki-kun, you better be ready for the real deal now!" The strange and nearly naked woman revealed said boisterously. "My name's Anko Mitarashi, and I'm the proctor for the second phase of the exams!"

More distracting than the fishnet outfit she wore was the eight foot long black and gold snake wrapped twice around her waist, it's head lifted up to stare at the genin from her level and it's blade-like tail swinging at her side like a sword.

There was a flash of dim light from behind the cloth, which itself was nothing more than a large introduction for her, and hopefully not valuable, because a large portion of it simply ceased to exist, thanks to the flaming breath of a demonic looking canine.

"You're early... Again." Ibiki growled, scratching his Houndoom behind the horns idly, and ignoring the sulfurous stench of Houndoom's flames.

"Hey, how many did you let pass anyway? Are you off your game or something? I expected to have to wade in here through a lake of piss and tears," Anko replied, completely dismissing the reprimand as easily as she generally did. She and Kakashi had similar habits in that regard, a holdover from their time in Anbu when they were almost literally unpunishable by anyone less than the Hokage.

"They're just a bit more durable this time," Ibiki countered. "In fact, I think you'll find them very interesting."

"Oh?" Anko prompted.

"The loud blond one convinced them that they might need to 'kick my ass', if I took their pokemon away, as well as offering to help everyone get them back," Ibiki explained quietly.

"You're kidding?" Anko replied, eyes lit up with excitement. "Maybe this will be fun..." She purred.

"Alright brats, looks like you had it easy dealing with Ibiki's little test, but that ends tomorrow morning. I'll tell your squad leaders where to meet, so don't be late!" Anko ordered firmly. "For now, you might wanna go celebrate what little success you've already had, cause I promise more than half of you won't have a damn thing to be proud of by the end of the second phase! Dismissed!"

---

Omake: A Legendary Discussion

"The boy is obviously unstable!" Roared Entei. "How many pokemon must he murder before you see reason!"

"You misrepresent the boy's actions," Countered Rayquaza calmly. "To date, he has slain none but those who have threatened him first."

"A semantic difference," replied Latios. "You have seen into his soul, same as we. Already he takes pride in his ability to deal death to his adversaries."

"Perhaps it would be truer to say that he prides himself on surviving, when so many seek his death?" Reasoned Latias. "He does suffer from the same soul-madness that inflicts so many of Shukaku's jinchuuriki."

"And his life is a nightmare that even his sleepless state cannot dissuade," added Darkrai.

"All of these ninja lead nightmarish lives," argued Thundurus. "Must we excuse their every misdeed, simply because of their upbringing?"

"Better than punishing the boy for his father's transgressions!" shot back Cresselia.

"I have no qualms with repaying the boy's sire for his hubris as well!" replied Thundurus. "This sealing was a betrayal of both kin and home, all for the sake of his greed and pride!"

Arceus sighed as he looked upon the bickering Legendaries from his reclined position.

On rare occasions there arose a question of a ninja's acceptability as a possible partner, which sometimes became serious enough to attract the attention of multiple Legendaries.

When such conflicts arose, it was standard procedure to call those in disagreement before him and air their grievances so that he could mediate the issue and an equitable solution could be reached.

But this was a veritable civil war of opinions.

Jinchuuriki almost always caused some conflict, and had since their inception, but while many of the Legendaries were against the practice of creating them, the biju had spurned all attempts at creating an alliance, even when Arceus itself sought them out with the offer.

And so the sealing of said biju remained a matter between them and humanity, for better or worse.

But while jinchuuriki were almost a matter of contention, this Gaara was a more significant one than most.

A jinchuuriki who had begun killing, admittedly in self defense, before he was even old enough to enter the ninja's academy was a bit concerning.

Arguments regarding his acceptability had begun even before his formal training, and only intensified as he moved inexorably towards graduation.

And so, here they were, watching through one of Arceus' windows as Gaara sat sullenly upon a pillar of sandstone, staring at the barest crescent of moon that rose above the desert.

One hand rested listlessly upon the golden plate in his lap, as if he expected it to vanish any moment. and wasn't certain if he should try and prevent it.

Only a silent minority remained neutral in the dispute, though an equal number simply disdained to attend the convocation.

Nearly three quarters of the Legendaries however, chose a side in the dispute, defending their view stubbornly, and at this point a consensus was impossible.

Knowing that the group could argue this way for most of eternity, and not wanting to be forced to witness such, Arceus stood, causing a respectful hush to fill the demiplane he called home.

"We have discussed this subject for years, as humans recon time, and could continue to do so far beyond the boy's natural lifespan, or even beyond the lifetime of his very world... I for one, have no wish to endure such a tedious fate."

A number of pokemon from all three sides nodded their accord with this statement.

"I therefor propose arbitration. I will choose a represenative from the neutral party, whom I feel most qualified to decide this matter. If you as a collective approve my choice, then you must abide by their decision. Is this acceptable?" Arceus asked.

The agreement was unanimous.

"Mewtwo, with Genesect's absence, you are the only one who truly understands the jinchuuriki, will you act as arbiter in this matter?" Arceus requested of the pokemon who had been silent but attentive for the duration of the debate. He had never chosen a side, which was his standard practice in matters concerning jinchuuriki.

His decisions regarding humans, on the other hand...

"I will," Mewtwo replied telepathically, another typical habit, for he had never liked the sound of physical speech, a remnant of his time sealed helpless in a lab and spoken of as if he were a mere curiosity.

"Those in favor of the boy's partnering: Let any who objects to this choice speak now," Arceus ordered solemnly.

None objected. Mewtwo was made as a weapon, and had acted in a manner not dissimilar to Gaara's not long after his escape from his creator.

"Those against the boy's partnering: Let any who objects to this choice speak now," Arceus repeated after a long moment.

None objected. Mewtwo was well known for hating all threats to Poke-kind, and for dealing with such threats in a decisive and often permanent manner.

"Very well. Mewtwo, what is your decision in this matter?" Arceus asked.

Mewtwo stared silently through the window towards the lonely boy.

"The humans who created him, intended him to be a weapon. They raised him to be a blade with no hilt, a bomb with a trigger they could not diffuse. And when they realized that they cannot wield their weapon, they sought to destroy it," Mewtwo said, and despite his monotone mind-voice, there was some empathy in him for the situation Gaara was born to.

"Their attacks were not merely physical. They stripped him of all comforts, all hope, all except that which they had given him in hopes of creating their ultimate being of destruction."

"And he struck back. Proved that their creation had surpassed all hopes of success. He crushed all who sought to harm him. Human or pokemon, all threats were eliminated with the same certainty."

"The decision we must make is not whether ot not he should receive a partner, but whether we will hold him to blame for what he was created to be. Should we blame the boy for what his experiences have made him, knowing the crimes against him that caused it?"

"Should we repeat the idiocy which his human peers have persisted in, since that first attempted murder so long ago?"

"I believe we owe this boy our support as much as we do any of their kind. But I also believe we must take care in the making of that decision."

"We should offer the boy our support, if for no more reason than to balance the betrayal of his kin. Partner the boy with one of the desert princes, the Larvitars. Their natural desert adaptations should protect it from Shukaku's machinations, as will their ability to eat the biju's weapon of choice."

"So it is decided, so shall it be," Arceus agreed.

The imprinting of the pokemon bond was the first physical pain Gaara had ever felt, but it was actually one of his few fond memories, and like Naruto, he kept Larvitar close, making a den of sorts for it in his gourd.

---

Omake: Pen Pals 1

Haku entered her room in the underground training area she and the remaining Fubuki ninja had begun building under the small town where they were hiding and shut the door with a sigh.

She removed her mask and set it aside along with her pouch and armor lined combat kimono. She had just returned from a spying trip, trying to learn what Dotou was up to, but all she had found out was what Sandayu-san had already known: Dotou wants the legendary Kazehana treasure.

She set a teapot heating on a small electric burner in her room, which itself was powered by a fair sized generator the samurai had smuggled in from somewhere, and prepared for some tea.

Ice element master or not, a girl could only take so much cold.

She had just changed into a new outfit, complete with a thick sweater in a dark shade of orange when there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she called, palming a senbon casually.

"Got good news for you..." Sandayu said cheerfully, entering the room and trailing off when he caught an eyeful of the uncharacteristically bright sweater. Haku usually wore winter colors, blue, white, dark brown, he'd never seen her wearing orange, even if it was a shade found on fallen leaves rather than citrus fruits. "Is... something wrong?" he asked, when she dropped the senbon on the desk carelessly.

"No... it just... reminds me of a friend..." Haku replied in embarrassment, blushing a bit. She should have expected a reaction like that, Sandayu acted like everybody's grandfather, but he was rather astute at times, and she had only bought this sweater because it reminded her of Naruto...

"Ohhh... That kind of friend, eh?" He asked, trying to tease her a little.

"No!" Haku replied too quickly. "No... he's just a friend..."

"Oh, I see. Not the sort of guy who'd write 'Haku-chan' on a letter for you at all, hmm?" He grinned at the look of shock on her face, and his Delibird hopped up to his shoulder from behind, holding the pristine letter in it's beak.

Haku darted over in a flash, grabbing the letter and blushing brightly at the scrawled 'Haku-chan' on it... until she realized what the letter's presence, and Delibird's return, meant.

She looked to Sandayu sadly, and he dropped a hand to her shoulder in support.

"You'll do fine. The people trust you, and the samurai and ninja respect you," he said sincerely. "You know as well as I that without Princess Kazehana, the people won't be willing to do what's needed to dethrone Dotou. I'll find her and bring her back, no matter how long it takes, I just need you to have an army waiting for us when I do..."

"I will do my best..." Haku replied, though she would admit that she was more than a little worried. It was a new experience to have so many people's lives in her hands, and unfortunately, she was probably the most experienced ninja left alive in the country, with the possible exception of Dotou's lackeys.

"I know you will," Sandayu said. "Now, it's bad luck to watch someone leave on a sea voyage, so you get to reading that love letter and I'll see you when I get back."

He was gone before she could formulate a suitable response, and so she just let it be.

Instead, she carefully opened the letter, and set some tea to steeping, more to calm her nerves than to chase away a chill. Naruto(-kun?)'s letter had done a good job of that.

Hey Haku-chan,

This is my first letter, can ya believe it? Does this make us pen pals or something? Sorry if I don't write it right... I asked Iruka-sensei for advice, but he told me to just write what comes natural... so here goes...

Things sound pretty bad over there, if you ever need a hand fixing things, just gimme a call and I'll come down with both fists swinging. Might even bring Sakura-chan an' the Teme too, if it's bad enough. Saving a princess is on my 'Pre-Hokage to do' list, so I gotta get it done fast, you'd be doing me a favor by asking, really!

I'm really glad things are going good for you there, pretty girls deserve to be happy... actually, so do ugly girls, and boys... everyone deserves to be happy, but I'm glad you're really happy, that's all I'm trying to say.

It is sad that you get sad sometimes, but Jiji used to tell me that people can't really appreciate the good without a little bad, so maybe it's a good thing, ya know?

Things were goin' pretty good in Wave when we left, they got a whole bunch of the shiny leaves and sold them to Jiji to buy a bunch of the stuff they needed, and Tsunami's working with some guy to get it all, she was really excited last time I saw her too.

I gave the other teams their leaves and things went pretty good there, though Ino-chan scared me a bit when I did. She also said some bad things about me for being nice to you after you beat up Sasuke, but she's one of those teme-obsessed girls, so I don't much care what she thinks anyway.

She did tell me the chunin exam's coming up though, and Kakashi's training us really hard, so I think he's getting us ready for it. If that's what it is, then we are gonna kick ass so hard you'll hear it all the way over there!

Um... I'm not sure what else to say, so I guess I better end it here... Sorry if I messed it up anywhere,

Naruto

P.S. Ralts really liked the poffin Delibird gave her, I'm gonna have to make a bunch more sometime soon for her, and Delibird really liked Ichiraku's food too, I'll really have to take you there someday. They added a bunch of stuff to their menu too, so it's not all ramen anymore, and most of the new stuff's really tasty. (Ayame-neechan made me try all of it)

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Longest chapter thus far... done and dusted, and thank the shadows for that, hehe.

For those who may be curious, the self heating (plastic) cans exist in the real world. I saw a thing on TV about them a while back and thought of how useful they'd be, and so I decided to use them as a little option for hot ramen on the go, which I've seen done in numerous other fics in various ways.

Terms:
Fubukigakure: 'Village hidden in the Blizzard'
Nakagakure: 'Village hidden Within'

Unsigned review response:

Mesojoe: I always like long reviews, they tend to be the equivalent of yanking the starter chord on the lawnmower of my mind... if that makes sense to anyone, you must be as out of it as I am right now. Thank you for the compliments, and the critiques, they're always appreciated, and rest assured I have no plans to give up the story soon, I have a ton of ideas, including one during the Pein invasion that will break my own heart if I don't use. I might have to address the chapter one paragraph size at some point, it's been mentioned a few times, as well as my proofreading to catch the grammar...

RG: I had read that Manga, but it completely slipped my mind that Karin was in the exams, but since I had some ideas after reading your review, I slipped her in a couple places, and have an idea to use her next chapter that should make for some interesting things in the longterm.

As a side note, when he appears, Nagato's paths will be spelled as Pein, if only to differentiate him from actual pain. (Minor detail, but I know it bugs some people.)

Partnerships this chapter:
Lee: Tyrogue: Basically a small version of Lee himself, too perfect not to use, though I'm not sure what it will evolve into yet.
Neji: Sneasel: Fast, smart, vicious, enjoy picking on the weak. All terms that describe both Sneasel and early Neji, seems to fit pretty well to me
Tenten: Skarmory: A steel/flying type who's feathers can be harvested to make knives and swords. This has too much potential to pass up, even if it does lack evolutions and is pretty big (which has advantages too)

Gaara: Larvitar: My reasons are pretty much the same as Mewtwo's, with the addition of it starting with Sandstorm which allows it to just create sand for him to use whenever needed.
Temari: Vibrava: It's evolution is known as 'The spirit of the desert' which suits Temari's role as the spirit of her team, plus as a dragonfly-like pokemon, it's fairly wind alligned.
Kankuro: Golette: Kankuro, like Kiba, was a bit of a bugger for me, I decided on Golette half because it's a golem/puppet type, and half because I really think it'll be fun to play with, particularly since it's half ghost

Kin: Chingling: Admittedly, this is mostly because Kin uses bell and Chingling is one, but there's a fair bit of potential I think, particularly as a support type.
Dosu: Whismur: I bounced around a fair bit whith this, but eventually chose Whismur since it seems to fit with his attack style of intense soundwaves used to destroy (another option was Duskull, for visual similarity)
Zaku: Yanma: Yanma uses a lot of wind and sound moves (Supersonic and Screech for instance) and got a fair bit of screentime, if I need ideas for him. Really has anyone done anything with Zaku longterm?

Kabuto: Kecleon: Considering how many times Kabuto's changed sides, and apparent loyalyties, I can't really imagine a better partner for him, especially early on

Ibiki: Houndoom: Demon dog for a guy like Ibiki? If nothing else it makes a hell of an image.
Anko: Seviper: Her having a snake partner is arguable, since I don't know if she was associated with Orochimaru prior to graduation, but if nothing else the amount of hatred seviper has for zangoose matches Anko's for Orochimaru.

And finally, Looking at where things are going now, I'm not sure how long I have til Eevee will need to evolve, so I'm opening the floor for discussion as to what she should evolve into. And while we're at it, Lee as well.

As usual, Review or PM as you prefer, and thank you once again for reading.

-Mhyrloc