-x-x-x-

Chapter 11.

Team.

-x-x-x-

Naruto sat down on a bench and stared in the eyes of his opponent. "This time, I'll definitely win," he said with confidence.

Nara Shikamaru smirked. "Want to bet on that?"

"What's the stake?" Naruto asked. Before meeting Kyuubi, he would have said yes without thinking, even if he had no idea how to play shoji. If he did that now however, Kyuubi would be really upset, and for good reason. At first, she'd despaired of his usual "jump headlong without thinking" mindset, but he was better now. A friendly bet was well and good, but he now understood the difference between confidence and delusion. Like the delusion of yelling to everyone he was going to be Hokage. If he were honest to himself, Naruto was a little embarrassed now.

"The loser treats everyone to lunch," Shikamaru said, interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

Naruto glanced at Chouji, who perked up at his friend's words.

"Okay," Naruto said.

-x-x-x-

"I win," Shikamaru declared. "Again."

Naruto sighed in disappointment. "Yeah. And I was sure I was going to finally get you."

"Well," Shikamaru shrugged, "don't feel sorry about it. You've gotten a lot better since our last game. I'm actually surprised that your skill rose so quickly."

"Well, I've been practicing," the masked Naruto explained. It had not been too hard to put a few clones to play among themselves. Naruto actually enjoyed it. True, he loved training, but sometimes the mind numbing repetition begun to tire not only his clones, but Naruto himself. Fortunately, training was not all he did. He still had over fifty solid clones that worked. He also had fifty more clones who did nothing else but read. When combined, all these different types of memories combined into a daily experience that balanced itself. The one thing Naruto could not say was that he was bored.

"Well, better luck next time," Shikamaru smirked.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "So, where to?"

Shikamaru looked over Naruto and his smirk grew wider. He deserved it for being so troublesome. He wouldn't have done this to the old Naruto, whose weapons and clothes were far below quality. This new Naruto, however, would be able to afford it.

-x-x-x-

Naruto, Hinata, Ino and Chouji followed Shikamaru toward the merchant district. They passed Ichiraku, and Naruto realized that he'd never been anywhere else to eat as himself, without a disguise. He'd sometimes eat with the girls at the ramen stand, but usually, they ate at Naruto's home.

'Well, it is time to let them know,' Kyuubi said from the back of his mind.

'Are you sure? What if they react the way they did before?'

'You're having lunch with four clan heirs,' Kyuubi replied. 'Do you think even they can be stupid enough to do anything? Besides, what's the worst that can happen? It's not like even before we met, they tried all that much.'

Naruto nodded to himself. That was true. They mostly threw him out. It was a rare thing for them to try anything physical. Still, the rejection he received hurt worse than physical pain ever did.

'And if they were to throw you out now, then what?' Kyuubi asked. 'Do their feelings count at all?'

Naruto gave a gentle smile. 'No. I have you, and Hinata and Ino now; Anko and the old man; some of my classmates are a pretty good sort too.'

If some, (or most, if he was honest to himself,) villagers disliked him, why would that matter to him? He had people he cared for and loved, that returned his feelings.

The group finally stopped in front of a fancy restaurant and Naruto resisted the urge to demonstrate some of his new skills to the Nara boy.

-x-x-x-

Yamanaka Inoichi covertly observed the five Academy students, enter one of the better restaurants in Konoha. He transformed himself into a nondescript civilian and followed them inside.

The children were ushered to a good table and Inoichi selected a table that had a good view of Naruto and the two girls with him.

The Yamanaka clan head watched the overly polite waiter begin to take the children's order. When he got to a stiff and tensed Naruto, he seemed a little perplexed that Naruto still had his white mask on, but he said nothing and took his order.

Inoichi watched the children banter among themselves, and gradually, Naruto relaxed.

When the food finally came - one portion each for Shikamaru, Naruto, Ino and Hinata, and a restrained three for Chouji, both Shikamaru and the waiter stared at Naruto, who still had his mask on.

For a moment, Inoichi thought that Naruto was skilled enough to eat like Kakashi, but then, Naruto lowered his mask with what looked like reluctance.

The look in the waiter's face was priceless. As if he'd invited a good friend into his house, only to discover that he was actually a disguised ... daemon.

Shikamaru glanced from Naruto to the waiter, whose mouth was opened in surprise.

"You," the man hissed. "You..." The waiter's eyes widened and his pupils dilated. All of his muscles trembled, and for a moment, Inoichi thought that the man was about to faint.

This was focused killing intent, Inoichi realized.

Suddenly, the waiter took a step back, released from the killing intent. A cunning smirk came to the man's face.

Inoichi needed only a moment to realize the reason. The man now had a reason to throw Naruto out. Looks like the boy's rashness backfired, the Yamanaka clan head thought.

The waiter opened his mouth, but then, he froze. Inoichi wondered why and followed the man's gaze to his daughter's and Hinata's eyes.

The look on their faces made him gasp in surprise. His gentle daughter's face was too much like Anko's when she was about to spend some "quality time" with one of Ibiki's "guests".

Hinata's however, was even more disturbing. Her Byakugan was active. Her white, empty stare, coupled with the bulging veins around her eyes reminded him why the Hyuuga were so feared in close combat.

Hinata said only one word. "Leave." She didn't say it in a threatening tone. It was a statement. An order. The man glanced to Naruto, who looked at the girls with a soft smile, then at Shikamaru, whose eyes were narrowed at Hinata's eyes, at Chouji, who was busy with his food and finally at Ino, who sneered in disgust. The man nodded nervously, and left.

Shikamaru glanced between Naruto and the two girls, before muttering something under his breath, (probably "troublesome") and started to eat.

-x-x-x-

"Well, it's time to go to our training," Ino said after their lunch.

"Yeah," Shikamaru groaned. "Ino," The young Nara looked at the blond girl and sighed. "You want to come train with Chouji and I?" From his tone, it was obvious that the lazy Nara had no desire to do something as troublesome as training.

"Huh?" Ino stared at Shikamaru as if he grew a second head. "You train?"

"Sometimes," the boy admitted reluctantly, "when mom gets too troublesome."

"So you want me to train with you?

"And Chouji."

"Why?"

"Well, traditionally, our clan members end up in the same team more often than not. Given who we are and who our parents are, it's almost certain that we'll be placed in the same team. Dad said it would be a good idea if we started to train together."

Chouji grunted in agreement.

Ino's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I think I'd rather continue to train with Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan."

"Okay," Shikamaru nodded.

"Okay?"

"Yes, Dad told me to ask you to train together. Since you have a different training program, I won't have to do something troublesome like training. I'd rather use my free time with something that is not troublesome, like cloud watching."

"Of course you would," Ino said with a fond smile.

"Well, we'll be off," Ino said.

Naruto, Hinata and Ino jumped away and Shikamaru sighed. "That was so troublesome!" Shikamaru groaned.

Besides him, Chouji grunted in agreement, opened a bag and started to munch on his chips.

-x-x-x-

Naruto and the two girls jumped down in the clearing in front of Naruto's house. The boy looked at his companions and smiled in gratitude. "Thank you for what you did back there," he said.

Hinata put her arms around Naruto. "They have no right to behave like that," Hinata said fiercely. "And if anyone does it again, I'll do the same thing. I love you, Naruto-kun." Hinata gave Naruto a long kiss. "No one will hurt you if I can help it." Hinata released Naruto and glanced at Ino.

"That's right," Ino said fiercely. The blond hugged Naruto and buried her head in the crook of his neck. Ino sighed in contentment when Naruto ran his hands over her back. Suddenly, Ino realized how close she was to Naruto. She looked in his red-slit eyes, and remembered her visit in his mind. Those eyes gave her comfort and she lost herself in their depths. Without realizing it, her lips parted and locked to Naruto's. His hands tightened around her and Ino moaned when Naruto's tongue brushed against her lips. The blond allowed him entrance, enjoying the dance of their tongues.

Ino lost herself in the kiss. It felt so good and now she wondered why she hadn't done this before. No wander Hinata and Kyuubi...

Ino froze and ended her kiss with reluctance. She glanced at Hinata, but instead of anger, there was genuine happiness on the girls face.

Hinata smiled and gave Ino a soft kiss of welcome.

-x-x-x-

A week later, Inoichi decided to have a little talk with Ino.

"So, princess, how was your day?"

"The usual," Ino replied happily. "Hinata and Naruto are really good training partners. I've learned a lot from them."

"That's good. But what about Shikamaru and Chouji? Shikaku said you were going to start training together from now on?"

Ino stared at her father, who showed no sign of his inner machinations. Ever since she told her parents that she was training with Hinata and Naruto, she'd been waiting for them to interfere between her and Naruto. The girl shifted her eyes towards her mother, who wasn't as good as her husband at hiding her thoughts. "Why would I train with them? I prefer training with Hinata-chan and Naruto-kun."

"Well, you, Chouji and Shikamaru are likely to be on the same genin team."

"Why?"

"The members of the Nara, Inoichi and Akimichi clans have skills that complement each other, princess. Teams formed by members of our clans are preferred. And since Shikaku, Chouza and I were such a successful team, you, Shikamaru and Chouji are an obvious choice for a successful team."

"You could say that it's predestined," Ino's mother added. "It's not a coincidence that Shikamaru and Chouji are the same age as you. You grew up together with them, you are in the same class, so it would be obvious that you'd make a good team."

"I don't think I want to be in their team," Ino said slowly.

"Did you have a fight with them, dear?" her mother asked.

"No, mom. It's just that... well I think I'd do better if I were in the same team with Hinata and Naruto."

"But what about Shikamaru and Chouji?" Inoichi asked.

"To be honest, I don't think we'd make that good of a team. They're good guys, but we wouldn't work that well together. Shikamaru is... even lazier than his dad and Chouji is pretty laid back as well. I really like training with Hinata-chan and Naruto-kun. They train a lot and I need that."

"Well, I'm sure they'd be happy to train more..."

"No, they wouldn't," Ino cut off her father. "They would resent it. I don't see why you're so ... adamant on training with them. It's not like in the past we trained together." Ino stared at her parents until her mother looked away. "Or is it," Ino continued softly, "something else that bothers you?" the blond girl's eyes bored into her father's. "Is it Naruto-kun? Are you just like the rest of the villagers who despise him for something he never did?"

Inoichi flinched at the accusation. "No, Ino." Her daughter was obviously attached to the boy. He'd seen her, the boy and Hiashi's eldest interact and saw that their friendship was deep. As deep, or even deeper than he and his teammates had in their youth. By now, it was known in the village about Naruto's change. While alone, the boy was almost unnoticed by the villagers. However, by this time it was known that the three academy students were almost inseparable. When the villagers saw Hinata and Ino accompanied by Naruto's shadowy form, they knew who their masked companion was. He'd seen the look on both girls' faces when the villagers were showing their distain for the boy. He never wanted that look directed at him.

"Then it's Hinata-chan?" Ino asked skeptically.

"No."

"Anko-sensei? I thought you worked with her and didn't care about her former sensei."

Inoichi groaned. "Anko is training you?"

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, princess. Just... just try not to pick any of her bad habits."

Ino nodded. "I wasn't planning to. So, if you have no problem with the people I train with, what's the problem?"

Inoichi looked at his wife. "Dear, could I talk with Ino in private?"

"Of course," the woman nodded.

"I talked with the Hokage," Inoichi said once they were alone. "I understand that you know of Naruto's secret." At Ino's shrug, the man continued, "and I also know that ... Kyuubi is able to manifest."

"I see. Do you want me to end my friendship with Naruto?" Ino asked calmly.

Inoichi sighed at the mutinous look on his daughter's face. If he said yes, he might be able to keep Ino away from the danger that Naruto and Kyuubi represented, but it would not be for long. As soon as she graduated the Academy, she would become an adult by village law, and she would be able to do as she pleased.

"No, princess," the Yamanaka clan head, said. "However, Naruto's situation is complicated."

Ino narrowed her eyes at her father.

"You weren't born when Kyuubi attacked our village. If news of Kyuubi's new ability is revealed to the village, Naruto and anyone close to him will be in danger. I understand that he is your friend, but it would be safer for you if you distanced yourself from them."

"I'm not going to do that," Ino said.

Inoichi smiled slightly. "Yes, I thought you wouldn't. In that case, I want you to be ... careful. Kyuubi's rampage ended the lives of many of our people. Holding a daemon imprisoned is one thing, making friends with it is a whole different thing. You must understand that if word of this gets out, the villagers will be out for his blood."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "They'll be sorry if they do. He's strong enough to protect himself now."

"I know," Inoichi said. "However, you're not. Being known as someone close to Naruto could be dangerous."

"I know. That's why I've been training so hard lately."

"Yes, I noticed you progressed a lot in the clan techniques as well."

"So you're fine with Naruto?"

"Yes," Inoichi said.

Ino smiled and gave her father a hug. "Thank you daddy."

"Anything for you, princess."

Ino smiled innocently. "Then you could talk with the Hokage to put me in the same team with Naruto and Hinata?"

Inoichi's smile faltered. "But what about Shikamaru and Chouji? Besides... the composition of the teams is only up to the Hokage."

"But if you tell him that you're fine with me being in the same team with Naruto and Hinata, we'd have a much better chance to be in the same team. Besides, I know that while publicly that is true, most of the clan leaders can tell the Hokage of their preference for the teammates of those who are part of their clan. While that wouldn't work for every request, I'm sure that when it's about the clan heirs, the Hokage can be accommodating if he wants. I'm sure that if he'd know that you're in favor of us being together in the same team, he'd be more inclined to do it."

"I'll think about it," Inoichi sighed.

-x-x-x-

Hinata knocked at the door to Hiashi's personal dojo.

"Enter," the girl heard the Hyuuga clan leader's voice say.

"You wanted to see me, father?"

"Yes. Have you finished the technique I showed you?"

"Yes, father," Hinata said, a little reluctantly. She wondered if she would be required to demonstrate her technique, knowing that the most probable test dummy would be her little sister.

Fortunately, Hiashi didn't ask for a demonstration. Instead, he gave Hinata a new scroll. "This scroll will show you the main house's defensive technique - the Kaiten."

Hinata took the scroll from her father, not knowing what to say. "You may go," the man said.

Hinata nodded and left without a word.

Hiashi stared at his daughter's back without a hint of emotion on his face. He knew that Hinata was surprised that he hadn't asked for a demonstration of her technique.

The truth was that he had seen her perform it when she was training with Uzumaki. He would have liked for Hinata to demonstrate it personally to him, but such a release of chakra might draw unwanted attention. If the rest of the main family were to find out of his eldest rising skill, they would pressure him to choose her as the heir and brand his youngest child with the caged bird seal. He wanted to postpone this event as long as possible. As long as the older Hinata was seen as a failure and Hanabi as a genius, he would be able to postpone Hanabi's branding and the final selection of the Hyuuga heir. The longer he could wait, the better.

If both Hinata and Hanabi became powerful kunoichi, he could even be able to keep them both in the main family. If Naruto became as powerful as he thought, with his backing, Hinata might be able to keep Hanabi in the main family. Such things were not unheard of, though they were rare.

Generally, the main family had a constant number of members. Each of the elders had exactly one heir that would inherit the position at the death of the main family elder. It was a rare event for the number to increase, but it was not unheard of. For a moment, Hiashi was slightly tempted to assassinate one of the more annoying elders and his heir.

Unfortunately, he was the Hyuuga Clan Leader first and father second. Besides, given the present circumstances, he wouldn't be able to push one of his daughters into the position.

Hiashi still had hope that Hinata would gain enough strength to protect both her sister and clan. Uzumaki Naruto, and the power inside him would help her. Yes, he thought, it is the boy's fate to be strong. It is in his blood. The boy will be powerful. Powerful enough to protect my children from enemies inside and outside the clan and village.

-x-x-x-

Naruto an Ino watched Hinata closely as she stood in the middle of a clearing. Her father had given her another main branch technique - Kaiten. Hinata was about to try it for the first time.

The Hyuuga girl drew a deep breath, distanced one of her legs, put a hand in front and the other, symmetrically behind, and then, in an explosion of blue chakra, she spun.

For a second, everything seemed to go well, but then, she faltered and her perfect spin turned into an erratic one. Hinata's form begun to fall while still in a spin. The small crater made by Hinata's Kaiten deepened, and Hinata's speed bled off.

The girl tried desperately to stop herself, but she was too inexperienced with the technique. The shield of chakra disappeared, but Hinata was still spinning and she ended rolling away in an uncontrolled tumble. The girl slammed into a tree and groaned.

"Hinata!" Naruto and Ino rushed to the girl's side.

"I'm all right," Hinata gasped.

"You don't sound all right," Naruto said and begun to inspect Hinata for injuries. Despite training his chakra control for months, he still wasn't nearly anywhere close to the control a medic nin had. Still, he had Chuunin level chakra control, so he was able to perform a few simple medical techniques. Naruto breathed in relief when he realized Hinata's injuries were minor - only a few scratches. Naruto's hands begun to glow green and he slowly passed them over Hinata, who sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," the girl said.

Naruto smiled and helped Hinata to her feet.

"So, what went wrong?" Ino asked.

"She just needs to practice more," Naruto said. "Learning any high level technique is supposed to be hard. The Kaiten necessitates not only a extreamly high level of control over your chakra, but also needs a huge amount of chakra. I doubt you'll be able to practice it more than once or twice per day, Hinata."

The Hyuuga girl nodded. "I know. I have to pour chakra through all of my chakra points and I have to balance it perfectly. The mental strain as well as the chakra drain is quite heavy."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I doubt anyone else than a Hyuuga could do this technique. If you don't have the Byakugan, then not only you can't create a stable chakra sphere, but also, you can't keep yourself balanced."

Hinata nodded. "I need to constantly compensate for any change in the chakra sphere's structure. It must be spherical and remain of the same size. Keeping the sphere so stable is difficult even for a short time."

"That sounds pretty hard," Ino noted. "Isn't there another way to do it without needing to constantly compensate?"

"There could be, but that would mean far more power than the Kaiten. It requires a lot of power, but since the chakra is kept in the sphere, it is never lost, but recirculated through it."

"So if you wouldn't need to keep the chakra in check, it would require less concentration?" Ino deduced.

"Yes," Hinata nodded. "But only someone like Naruto-kun could do it. Though even with his chakra capacity," Hinata glanced at the boy in question," I doubt he would be able to make an effective defense."

Naruto nodded. "You're right. The only thing I could do is to blow out chakra. Since I don't have the Byakugan, it would be impossible to mold it into a sphere." Naruto's eyes widened and he looked off into space for a minute.

"Did you think of something?" Hinata asked.

Naruto grinned and nodded. "If I could use elemental manipulation, I think I could get a few useful techniques."

"Elemental manipulation is a Jounin technique," Ino said.

Naruto made a clone, who dashed toward the house to get some money, before heading into town. "I know, but that isn't going to stop me. I've read a few things on elemental manipulation and it wouldn't be too hard to begin training."

-x-x-x-

The children waited for the clone Naruto sent, to return. It gave each of the three children a small paper and dispelled.

"What's this?" Hinata asked.

"Chakra paper," Naruto explained. "Channel your chakra into the paper and we'll see what our affinity is."

The girls nodded and channeled their chakra through the paper. Hinata's paper became wet and Ino's crumpled.

"Hinata, you're water, and Ino, you're lightning."

"What about you?" Ino asked.

Naruto channeled his chakra through the paper. It split into two and the pieces dampened. "Huh," Naruto observed.

"What?"

"I have two types," He said. "Wind and water."

"Is that unusual?" Ino asked.

"Not really. It isn't unusual, but it isn't that frequent, either."

"So what are you going to learn?" Hinata asked.

"Well," Naruto said slowly, "Affinities can be trained. I think I originally had only the wind affinity, but because of how much time I spend training my chakra on the lake - manipulating water, I gained a second affinity. Theoretically, anyone can master all affinities, though practically, that is extremely difficult."

"But since you can train with your shadow clones," Hinata said, "you can train all of them."

"Yes. There's a simple leaf exercise where you try to split, burn, crumple, dampen or crumble a leaf. It requires little chakra, so you girls could do it too.

The girls nodded. "Naruto-kun, are you going to tell us what idea you had about the Kaiten and elemental affinity?"

"Oh, that," he nodded. "Well, the concept is pretty simple. Instead of controlling the chakra into a tightly controlled sphere that defends, I could expel chakra from all my chakra points and turn it into wind elemental chakra, for example. I wouldn't bother to keep it into a perfect sphere."

"You could use it as an offensive shield," Hinata breathed.

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "Unfortunately, that would also mean that it wouldn't be good to have any allies close by."

The girls nodded soberly, realizing what someone with Naruto's chakra could do.

-x-x-x-

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay... real life issues. With this, I've finished with Naruto's pre-Academy days. Next chapter will be the Academy graduation.

Published: June 12, 2010;

-voider-