Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


"So how things went?" asked Naruto as he saw the approaching figure of Asuma Sarutobi.

"Well…" He said getting into a contemplative pose. "It's just the start, Kurenai speaks with me, that's a progress, considering the first time we spoke after I came back to the village she threatened with a fate worse than death."

"But she still has to pardon me for my mistakes. And that's a very long road."

"But that's enough about me, what about you? You look surprisingly happy considering you had to wake up five in the morning."

Naruto grinned. "Well you're not the only one that went on a date yesterday."

"Bullshit. Who?"

"Ino Yamanaka."

"Ino Yamanaka as in Kurenai's pupil and Inoichi's daughter?" Asuma asked incredulously

"Yep."

"Boy, you know that you picked a troublesome girl to date right?"


Contrary to what you expected, nobody at the Nara compound sneezed, no way in hell they would be wake that early in the morning.


"I know." Naruto said chuckling "but I think I like her more than as a friend, and we're both single. Besides she's the prettiest girl in Konoha and she likes me."

"Are you going to ask her out again?"

"Yes, but not right now, I think we both need to focus on training for the exams, but after the exams are over I'm definitively asking her out." Naruto explained

"Well, good to see that we're both finally having luck finding love." Asuma commented, before adopting a serious posture. "But now we've got work to do."


A week later, with one week remaining to the start of the Chunin Exams.

"Come with intent to kill." Asuma said to the impassive figure of Naruto Uzumaki.

The blond genin took out his knives from his weapons pouch and entered his newly developed Suraiken (Slicing Fist) offensive instance. Standing sidewards toward his opponent, with a visible base, on his tiptoes and his hands guarding his chest and waistline this didn't looked like an offensive instance of any sorts, but once Naruto sprinted towards Asuma you could see the offence clearly. This particular usage of the Suraiken consisted of constantly attacking the opponent, aiming to affect his balance and drain his energy in order to weak them with constant, non-fatal, restraining hits.

Naruto used the tiptoes to slightly increase his speed before throwing an uppercut slash towards Asuma. The bearded jonin saw the move and used his own knives to block the strike. Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto aimed a left leg kick towards Asuma knee. The son of the Sandaime forced Naruto's knife back and used his now free right arm to target a strike a Naruto's incoming leg. Seeing the opponent's intention, the genin changed his strike mid-air and used Asuma's now extended arm as a launching pad to jump and do a spinning roundhouse kick at Asuma's face, propelling the jonin backwards.

"Impressive Naruto, I wasn't fighting at my full capabilities, but the fact you managed to land a hit of this magnitude is still an impressive feat."

"Now let's see your ninjutsu."

"Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu (Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique)" the jonin said performing the technique and using his hands in front of his mouth to direct a stream wind infused with dust to amplify the cutting power.

"Fūton: Yae Hayate (Wind Release: Multi-Layered Gale)." Naruto said creating a three layers vacuum wall, which barely held the attack. As the wall dispelled, Naruto glanced a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) coming at him with worrying speed.

"He used the dust to disrupt my field of vision."

The jinchūriki then made a Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) that threw the original upwards before getting hit by the Fireball and dispelling. The blond, still in airborne decided to take the initiative.

"Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)" he fired three medium sized bullets in succession.

Asuma looked unfazed, as he launched his Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique) a technique that would be described as a mixture of the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) and the Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique), this jutsu launched a dragon faced large fireball that easily consumed the Air bullets and headed towards Naruto, still in airborne.

The Uzumaki then took his chakra knives and infused them with wind natured chakra before launching the knives at the Gōryūka, successfully managing to reduce the area of the jutsu that it barely missed him.

Seeing the genin defenses open, Asuma rushed forward. Only to be surprised by Naruto's new Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu (Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique). Asuma cursed his stupidity, this was one of the many techniques that he taught him as part of his help with his date with Kurenai. He quickly stepped back , careful to not touch the smokescreen Naruto created, aware that it burned whoever came in contact with the jutsu. He stood in a defensive position, waiting to Naruto's next move. He felt a strike coming to his right and promptly dodged. Glancing he realized that Naruto probably used the smokescreen to recover his knives, and readied himself for another strike from the same direction.

The expected strike indeed came, but to Asuma's surprise, from his left. The jonin managed to escape this other strike only due to his above average reflexes and now was perplexed. His bewilderment was replaced by sheer incredulousness when he found himself being assaulted once again from both directions by the knives.

"Now I'm serious. WHAT THE FUCK?"

"He must be using a Kage Bunshin to corner me." Asuma theorized after dodging yet another strike from the knives.

"This ends now." He said throwing two deadly precise kunai at the smokescreen, being careful to not target any vital point.

Asuma thought he was successful when the relentless knife strikes stopped coming. He realized he was wrong when Naruto appeared in front of him with his katana pointing at his neck.

"No, this is the end." Naruto said pointing his katana to Asuma's neck.

An astonished Asuma could only raise his hands in defeat. He became even more surprised when the Naruto was pointing the katana to his throat turned out to be a clone, and the original jumped from atop a tree as the smokescreen dissipated.

"How?" was the only question Asuma could ask.

"My new jutsu, let me demonstrate to you." Naruto said holding his hands together in the Snake seal.

To Asuma's amazement, Naruto's chakra knives that rested on the ground began to levitate, and soon were racing at a tree with impressive speed.

Naruto grinned, before explaining proudly. "I call this Fūton: Suiran Reppū (Wind Release: Verdant Mountain Gale), it allows me to control my knives remotely by infusing them with potent wind chakra."

Asuma was slack-jawed. "You gotta teach me how to do that."

"Don't worry I will when I have free time."

"Naruto, I noticed that in this fight you used a totally different strategy. I mean, usually you wouldn't think of planning too many steps ahead. It has to do with that mission in Suna right?"

Naruto's happy mood soon changed to a neutral one, which carried hints of disappointment.

"I fucked things up, Asuma-sensei. I am lucky to be alive. Worst of all, my teammates could have died. Because of dumb mistakes from me, Suna could have lost their Kazekage, and worst of all Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino-chan fathers could have died. All of this because I was overconfident in my abilities and always thought the opponent couldn't surprise me."

Asuma looked thoughtfully at Naruto, before offering him his wisdom. "Naruto it's great that you learnt from your mistakes, but don't let the 'what ifs' consume you. Thankfully nobody died and you matured from the experience. But don't lose your essence, if you try too hard to emulate someone else you won't be successful and will lose yourself in the process. Of course there are exceptions, like this spar. You constantly did the unexpected and managed to make me surrender, what is a feat to be proud of. But don't think for a second that you won't be surprised again, or that you won't have to change approaches again. Focus on your skills and you won't be surprised by the opponent's ones. Know yourself instead of trying to discover the enemy. When you learn that, there'll be nothing else I have to teach you."

"Thanks for the advice, Asuma-sensei." Naruto said, bowing.

"No problem kid, I learnt as much as you."

"Before I forget: I've found someone to teach you Raiton." Asuma said, causing Naruto's ears to perk up.

"Who?"

"Kakashi Hatake."


Ino stood in front of the Haruno house after knocking on the door two times. After waiting for three minutes and still without answer, she was turning her back when he heard the door opening.

"Oh. It's you." Sakura said

"Hey, Sakura. Can we talk?" Ino asked trying to keep her polite tone.

"No forehead brow? What happened?"

"Sakura, I came here trying to repair our friendship but I understand that this was impulsive of my part." Ino said angrily turning her back again.

"No…wait." Sakura said. "I'm not giving up on Sasuke so we could be friends again."

"And you don't need to." Ino said grinning and remembering her date with Naruto.

"Okay…" the cherry blossom said narrowing her eyes "…who are you and what you did to Ino-pig?"

Before the Yamanaka could answer, the former best friends were surprised by a barrage of water balloons thrown by a kid no older than nine. The kid wears grey pants, a yellow t-shirt with a red Konoha symbol, green academy googles on his forehead and extremely long blue scarf around his neck. He has a brown colored and spiky hair, and his eyes are black.

"Bull's-eye." He said as the balloons hit the duo.

Ino and Sakura stood still for about five seconds, before Sakura turned to Ino.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

And then the first Konoha monkey hunt started.


Meanwhile, Naruto was making his way to his house. Asuma explained that Kakashi agreed to teach him the basics of Raiton ninjutsu. However he was busy during morning and afternoon training Team 7, so he could only train Naruto at night. It was still morning, but Naruto decided to go home and sleep until evening as he wanted to be in the best of his capabilities when training. He could have used the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to get home faster but he decided to walk instead, he had free time and with one week left before the start of the exams he would have the chance to see the kind of competition he would be facing as shinobi from other villages had already reached the village.

As he was walking in the main street he heard some shouting, and turned out to see Ino and Sakura arguing with a girl, around sixteen with blonde hair, although leaning towards a more opaque tone, being noticeably different than his and Ino's blond, tied in four pigtails and carrying a giant fan on her back and a guy, despite his use of makeup, with an entirely black outfit, with exception of a circle in the middle of his belly area, that had white outline and was split vertically in a pale yellow and red halves. The boy's had a cat-ear like hood covering his entire face, so Naruto could only see the makeup, his black eyes and finally the Suna Hitai-ate.

What concerned the Konoha genin most was that he was strangling Konohamaru, despite the protests from Ino and Sakura. So he decided to step in.

"Hey girly boy, drop the kid."

The Suna nin, turned to him angrily.

"Who are you calling girly?"

"The only guy I see wearing makeup."

"IT'S A WAR PAINT" he yelled

"Whatever" Naruto said shrugging before deciding to adopt a different approach. "I take you're here for the Chunin Exams, so I recommend you to drop the kid. Despite our alliance I'm sure it'll cause a diplomatic incident if a Suna shinobi is caught strangling the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, even if you both are children of the Kazekage." The jinchūriki said, releasing a bit of killing intent.

The black clad man promptly released his grip on Konohamaru and his sister turned to Naruto.

"How do you know we are children of the Kazekage?" she demanded

"Because I saw your father once, the make-up guy there" he said pointing to her brother who promptly yelled about war paint "has very similar face features and the same eyes as Rasa. You share some of his facial features and I assumed that you're his sister, is that correct?" the girl just nodded.

"Besides that, the guy standing in the tree is almost a carbon copy of the Kazekage, with exception of his eyes, that are similar to yours. By the way, you both can go down now, I assure you that there won't be any fights here." He said surprising everyone present.

Sasuke who was in fact hiding on the tree promptly came down standing beside Naruto, who turned to him.

"Thanks for having my back Sasuke." He said and received an almost unperceptive nod from the Uchiha.

In the same moment, a guy, shorter than everyone else, with exception of Konohamaru of course, appeared in a swirl on sand. The boy has spiky red hair, a tattoo with the kanji for "love" in his right forehead, and teal eyes, similar to his sister.

"Kankurō, Temari, you are a shame to Sunagakure." He said in threatening tone to his siblings, causing them to cower in fear.

He then turned to the Konoha genin duo, and bowed "I apologize for my siblings actions, my name is Gaara and those are my siblings Kankurō and Temari."

"It's no problem, clearly a misunderstanding, by the way my name is Naruto Uzumaki."

"I seek proving my existence against you, Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha." He said before turning to the siblings "We're leaving."

As the sand trio left, Ino had hearts in her eyes for Naruto dealing with the Suna. Sakura was impressed. And Sasuke was just bothered that Gaara, a tough opponent, clearly ignored him in spite of Naruto. The blond jinchūriki crouched a bit so he could stand in eye level with Konohamaru.

"So, what that was all about?"

"I was minding my own business when those two scary ugly girls started to hunt me." Konohamaru said, causing Naruto to narrow his eye and Sakura and Ino fume with anger.

"And you expect me to believe that? Now tell me what really happened."

"Okay, I pranked them, so I could be like you." Konohamaru said embarrassed

Naruto sighed "Konohamaru, how many times I have to explain you that? I pranked a lot, I still do sometimes, it keeps your reflexes sharp and prepares you for real missions, by having you to think on your feet. But I never pranked anybody that don't deserved. Look at Ino-chan and Sakura-san. Okay, they are so pretty that it's almost a crime" he said causing the before mentioned girls to blush "but they never did anything wrong."

He then turned to Sakura and Ino and bowed "I apologize for Konohamaru's actions."

"Hey boss let's prank someone right now." Konohamaru said enthusiastically.

"Again, next time." Naruto said before poking Konohamaru's forehead, surprising Sasuke as it reminded him of Itachi.

As Konohamaru left pouting, Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto fight me."

"I can't accept your request right now, I have important matters to attend to. However let's fight during the Chunin Exams, I see you on the top, and I feel like you belong there too. Goodbye Sasuke-san, Sakura-san, Ino-chan." He said before disappearing in swirl of leaves.


The third training ground, where Naruto was scheduled to meet with Kakashi was a calming sight. There is a view of mountains in the landscape and a large and deep river with forests in the both of its sides. There is a glade and in its center there are three stumps lined side by side. Next to the training ground there was a kunai shaped memorial, which honored those who died in service of Konoha. Naruto knew about Kakashi's fame of being late, so he came prepared, he bought a few books, but he decided to pay his respects to the fallen shinobi of the leaf.

"Paying your respects to the deceased?" came a calm and lazy voice from behind

"Yes." As Naruto turned, he saw the infamous copy-ninja Kakashi standing in front of him.

"Kakashi-san." Naruto said bowing "thanks for taking time to teach me Raiton."

"He looks exactly like you sensei." Kakashi thought as he glanced at Naruto

"It's no problem, I've heard great things about you kid, let's see if they are indeed true." He said handling a leaf to Naruto.

"I take that you are well versed in Fūton?" as the blond nodded, he proceeded to speak "the first steps of Raiton training are similar to Fūton training. For the first step you should use your Raiton chakra to crumble a leaf partially, the second step consists of totally crumbling the leaf in one burst." Kakashi explained. "My personal hint is that you should focus on fluidity and precision rather than cutting power like you did with wind."

Naruto focused his chakra, and in his first try he impressed Kakashi and himself as he managed to crumble the leaf completely.

"That means I'm ready for step three?" Naruto asked still a little taken aback by the result of the training.

Kakashi gave his trademark eye smile. "Impressive Naruto, now for step three…"

"He has the same kind of geniality of Minato-sensei and the mindset of Kushina-sama… I wonder what he'll be able to accomplish."


Five days later

"You managed to learn the jutsu I gave you?"

"Yep, Kakashi-sensei."

"Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)." Naruto said, creating a stream of lightning with his hands. This jutsu was a short ranged attack, used mainly to discharge a paralyzing stream on lightning on the opponent although if infused with enough power it could kill the opponent with a cardiac arrest.

"Raiton: Denkō Noroshi (Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Fire)." The jinchūriki said, forming the dragon sign, and raising his hand to the sky, releasing a burst of light. The Raiton: Denkō Noroshi could be used offensively but it was a weak surge of lightning, with extreme shine, so it was better used as a signal of sorts, in order to indicate your position to allies.

"Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Technique)". Naruto said creating a Raiton infused Shadow Clone. This was a modified version of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, that held some differences to the original one. It consumes a lot more chakra, making even Naruto, probably owner of the biggest chakra pool in Konoha, to only be able to create twenty five clones and not risk chakra exhaustion. The clones are still able to use jutsu and physically exist, but they had a shorter life span than the regular ones. What made this technique impressive is that upon dispelling from a hit, the clone wouldn't send the chakra back to the user, but instead reverting back to lightning, therefore electrocuting anyone in close range.

"Raiton: Sandāboruto (Lightning Release: Thunderbolt)." After performing the required handseals, Naruto extended his arms sidewards, releasing two powerful thunderbolts from his hands.

"Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang)." Naruto's favorite Raiton technique, the Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga was created by Kakashi himself, using his Raikiri (Lightning Cutter) as a base. It lost a lot of power when compared to the original version, but it could be used from mid-range. It consisted of forming a hound, in Kakashi's use, or a fox, as Naruto adapted the jutsu, of pure Raiton chakra and launching it towards the enemy. The hound, or fox, would still be connected to the user's hand, making it more unpredictable as the jutsu caster could freely manipulate the speed and movements of the technique.

"Very good Naruto, you progressed better than I expected." Kakashi complimented the genin

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei, without your guidance that progress would be impossible."

"Now, you only have two days to the start of the Chunin Exams, so our training is over. I'd like to work with you again after the exams, but right now you need to rest." He explained

"Naruto, I knew your parents" Kakashi said, causing the genin's eyes to light up "I'm forbidden to tell you about their identities as they had powerful enemies in the elemental nations, but I can answer some questions about them, there's anything you'd like to know about them?"

"Yes. They loved me? Or they abandoned me because of the fox?"

"They loved you very much Naruto, they died protecting you in the night of the Kyubi attack." Kakashi explained

"I see, thanks for the training and your answer Kakashi-sensei."

"You only wanted to know one thing about them?"

"Yes, it was the only thing that mattered." Naruto said smiling


Naruto was resting at his home when he noticed the scroll Idate gave him when he left Tea Country.

"He said to open before the Chunin Exams, might as well check it now."


"Naruto,

Again thanks for helping us during the race and most of all thanks for killing Aoi, it'll help to clear my name with the village. I know that your services were paid accordingly by Jirōchō-sama, but I feel like I deserve to give your team a thank you gift too. I don't have money, so I can help you by providing intel of the Chunin Exams. The Chunin Exams in Konoha re held in a three stages format. The first stage is a written test, the second is a survival training in the Training Ground 44th , also known as the Forest of Death. Finally the third stage is a series of one on one matches. I never got past the first stage, but I can assure you some things: the questions in this test aren't regular ones, it takes at least a Chunin level intelligence shinobi to answer them, so be prepared to cheat your way through the exam. Also, if your examiner happens to be Ibiki Morino, my brother, you'll face an extra challenge, the tenth question of the test. He will say that you can choose between taking the final question and risking being a genin for life should you fail correctly answering the question or you can opt to forfeit the exam and take it again the next time. However the tenth question is the choice itself, so you shouldn't worry about the drawback of failing the question.

That being said, on a personal level I'd like to inform you that I plan on coming back to Konoha soon, so expect to see me there.

Good luck,

Idate Morino"


"That changes a lot of things. I must inform Shino and Hinata."

Ino stood watching the conversation between Team 7 and Kabuto, a self-proclaimed exam expert, develop. She wasn't paying that much attention as she was eyeing the door every five seconds, waiting for her Naruto-kun to show up.

"Do you have personal information on individual applicants?" Sasuke asked

"Yes, I'll be happy to share it with you." Was Kabuto reply

"I want info on Gaara of Suna and Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki from Konoha." Sasuke said, catching Ino's attention as he said the last name.

"You know their names? No sweat then." he said channeling chakra into three previously blank cards.

"First up is Rock Lee from Konoha. He's a year older than you and completed 40 D-ranked missions and 22 C-ranked ones as part of Team 9, under the tutelage of Maito Guy. It's his first time applying for the exams. His teammates are Tenten Higarashi and Neji Hyūga. Rock Lee is notable for his physical proficiency and mastery of taijutsu although he doesn't has any particular talents besides that. "

"Next is Gaara of the Sand. 16 C-ranked missions and 2 B-ranked missions. This is impressive as most genin aren't allowed to go past C-rank. Teammates are his siblings, Kankurō and Temari, under the leadership of Baki. As he's from a different village I don't have any other info about him, the only noteworthy thing is that he never suffered a single scratch during those missions."

"Finally, Naruto Uzumaki" Kabuto said, before widening his eyes and rechanneling chakra into the card. "That can't be."

"What?" Sasuke asked irritably

"His record, it is even more impressible than Gaara's."

"Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha: completed 30 D-rank missions and 10 C-rank missions under Team 10, having Asuma Sarutobi as sensei and Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyūga as teammates. However it says that Naruto Uzumaki also completed one solo B-ranked and another solo A-ranked. It also states that he completed a S-ranked one under classified information. He also claimed the bounty of missing-nin Aoi Rokushō , from Konoha that was serving as a jonin in Amegakure. This feat made Ame put a 750,000 ryō bounty for his head. His skills lie in taijutsu and Fūton and Katon ninjutsu. His perfect mission record in his first year made him one of the few genin in Konoha's history to achieve that kind of record. Notable members of this select group include Orochimaru, Minato Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake, Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha."

Kiba Inuzuka, whilst happy for his friend's success was also jealous of his achievements.

Sakura Haruno was very impressed and blushed a little as she recalled that Naruto called her beautiful during their last encounter.

Shikamaru Nara, was also impressed, and happy for his friend, but made a mental note to avoid hanging with Naruto outside of the village as bounty hunters tended to be very troublesome.

Chōji Akimichi was thinking on the same lines of the Nara, but his biggest concern right now was that he was nearing the end of his bag of chips.

Sasuke Uchiha was impressed, he really was. However this was overlapped by his anger at being surpassed as he was the best in academy. Naruto, achieving this status and fitting alongside his sensei and two legend of his clan, including the man he wanted to kill, was a proof that he was a strong rival, one that should be defeated.

Ino felt proud of her love interest, she was proud actually. Her amazement was replaced by worry as she learnt that the boy she liked had already risked his life several times and already had a bounty on his head. She made a mental note to scold Naruto for being too awesome and carefree later on.

As in a clue, the Uzumaki showed up in the room, followed by Shino and Hinata.

Kiba was the first to notice him. "DUDE! Do you know Ame has a bounty on your head?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow "Really? How much?"

"750,000 ryō"

"BULLSHIT."

"It's true, they say you killed one of their jonin…" Kiba tried to explain only to be cut off by Naruto.

"I know, what I'm saying is that I deserve more than 750,000 ryō. I'd say I'm valued at 2,000,000 at least." He said earning chuckles from Kiba, Shikamaru, Chōji and even Sasuke and Shino.

The chuckling was interrupted by a very angry Ino, unleashing killing intent and surprisingly being backed up by her eternal rival, Sakura and the shy Hinata Hyūga.

"This isn't funny Naruto." Ino said getting nods of approval from Sakura and Hinata

"Ino-pig is right, you should be worried about bounty hunters."

"Sorry Sakura-san, but I disagree, I know that there'll be some people after my head, but I'm not going to worry about them, because I trust myself, and most of all, because I'm promising right here, right now that I'm not going down easily."

Ino was ready to argument once again, when an imposing man, wearing a blue uniform, and darker blue coat.

"Enough with the lover's quarrel." He said, causing Naruto and the three girls to blush.

"Because the Chunin Exam begins now."


Author's note: A speedy update as I felt overly excited with the fic surpassing 400 followers and being near to the mark of a hundred reviews. I was going to end this chapter in the start of the second part of the exams, but I changed my mind to be able to provide you with some reading material for the weekend. I personally enjoyed writing about the Asuma x Naruto spar, Naruto's training with Kakashi and writing some parallels of Naruto and Itachi's acts and backgrounds.

This chapter marks the start of the NaruSaku with a few moments, setting the base for what I plan to do later on. For the fans of this pairing, I'd suggest you to eagerly wait for the interlude month between the preliminaries and the finals, as this will be the changing point of their relationship.

Next chapter will cover the end of the first part of the exam and the forest of death. Then it'll also introduce Karin, although I only plan on developing this pairing after the exams. Now, for a brief Q&A.


Q: Will Naruto still have the Toad Summon or something different?

A: He will keep the toads, as I couldn't think of anything more innovative for this fic. His usage of the toads will be different, however.

Q: Karin and Naruto's encounter?

A: I couldn't create anything new, so I plan on having Naruto to show up instead of Sasuke.

Q: Will Naruto revive the Uzumaki clan? What about the other girls in the harem?

A: Naruto stated two chapters ago that this is really his objective to revive the clan, I'd say this is his final objective. For the other girls besides Ino, Sakura and Karin… I'm still not sure I may be leaning towards Hinata and maybe Samui, but this is still undefined.

Q: Will Hiruzen tell Naruto about his parents or will someone else tell him and how pissed will Naruto be when he finds out?

A: Hiruzen will be present when Naruto learns the truth, but he isn't the one directly telling him. And pissed, very pissed, he will try to pull a Sasuke, if you know what I mean.

Q: Will Naruto be angry at Jiraiya for leaving him in the village when they first meet or will Naruto understand why Jiraiya wasn't there for him?

A: His relationship with Jiraya is different from anything I've read in fanfictions so far. The original Naruto's respect towards Jiraiya leans towards the fact of Jiraiya being someone who took interest in him when everyone else spurned him. In this fic, Naruto had already lots of people acknowledging him, so he won't have that kind of respect for him at first.. I'd say that his first interactions towards Jiraiya won't actually be friendly ones.

Q: About Inoichi entering Naruto's mind.

A: Inoichi isn't dumb, he knows that entering Naruto's mind is a one way ticked to meet the Kyubi. But Naruto doesn't knows that yet, so Inoichi will use this as an empty threat of sorts. I've read some excellent fics that put Inoichi as a bit of father figure to Naruto, so I plan to emulate this here. Naruto will always regard Asuma as his "father" but due to his relationship with Ino, Inoichi will become really his second father.


Power Stats:

Team 10:

Shino Aburame

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 1.5

Stamina: 2

Hand seals: 2

Total: 17

Hinata Hyūga:

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 2.5

Strength: 1

Speed: 3

Stamina: 1.5

Hand seals: 2

Total: 16.5

Naruto Uzumaki:

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 2

Speed: 4

Stamina: 5

Hand seals: 2.5

Total: 26.5

Asuma Sarutobi:

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Taijutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 3.5

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 4

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 3.5

Hand seals: 3.5

Total: 31.5

Three Sand Siblings:

Temari:

Ninjutsu: 3

Taijutsu: 2.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 2.5

Strength: 3

Speed: 2.5

Stamina: 2

Hand seals: 2

Total: 19

Kankurō:

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2.5

Hand seals: 3.5

Total: 19

Gaara:

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 3.5

Strength: 2

Speed: 3

Stamina: 4.5

Hand seals: 4

Total: 26

Baki:

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 3.5

Intelligence: 3.5

Strength: 4

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 2.5

Hand seals: 4

Total: 29.5


Extra (Naruto's full jutsu listing):

As Naruto learnt several different jutsu early in his career, I decided to put up a full listing of jutsu by order of apprenticeship. Keep in mind that not every single jutsu here was used.

Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)

Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique)

Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)

Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)

Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon)

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)

Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet)

Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)

Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)

Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Release: Gale Palm)

Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)

Hien (Flying Swallow)

Fūton: Kaiten Daitoppa (Wind Release: Rotating Great Breakthrough) (original technique)

Fūton: Taifūikka (Wind Release: Passing Typhoon)

Fūton: Yae Hayate (Wind Release: Multi-Layered Gale)

Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)

Kaze no Yaiba (Blade of Wind) (incomplete)

Fūton: Suiran Reppū (Wind Release: Verdant Mountain Gale)

Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)

Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning)

Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)

Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)

Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu (Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique)

Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

Raiton: Denkō Noroshi (Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Fire)

Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Technique)

Raiton: Sandāboruto (Lightning Release: Thunderbolt)

Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang)

So, 32 jutsu as a six month genin, not bad at all.


I'm still working on next update, so I'd estimate it to be ready Wednesday.