I don't own it, and I might never; you wanna know why? Because I might have bloody rabies! No joke!

Plucking Strings

"Shouldn't the low strings be at the bottom?" - Jules Shear

There was a twenty-minute reprieve given to the contestants after Sakura's 'death', allowing them time to both come to terms with what had happened, and for a small team of Chuunin to adequately clear the arena of both debris and blood. It was mostly silent in the large room save for the sounds of the clean-up crew working and a few hushed whispers. Only the sand team seemed particularly unperturbed with the development, uncaring for the loss of a single Konoha kunoichi, even if the Sand and Leaf were supposed to be allies. Finally though, they couldn't put the proceedings off any longer and the board began its inevitable cycle through the remaining names.

"Naruto…" Kakashi started as he saw his student push off the wall he had been slumped against for the better part of the last twenty minutes. "You don't have to force yourself to do anything." At some point over the break Naruto had removed his goggles, letting them hang from around his neck so that Kakashi could see his stony blue eyes.

"It's fine Sensei." Everything about the blond seemed muted all of a sudden; his tone, the way he stood, even his usually vibrant hair seemed dulled. "I'm still a part of this competition aren't I?" He intoned slowly, as if testing each word before allowing them to roll over his lips without any real lustre or emotion.

Kakashi wanted to say something then, maybe a reassurance? Perhaps a condolence? He might have even asked Naruto how he was feeling. However the grey-haired Jounin had never been a paragon of emotional stability, nor of handling grief particularly well. In the end he just nodded quietly and turned a dark eye on the arena himself as the board finally stopped on two names.

"Come on Akamaru, let's just do this," Kiba growled as he stared across the arena at his opponent; his own voice lacked its usual unquenchable enthusiasm. The small white dog riding in his jacket gave a subdued yip of approval, having read the tone of the room. They hopped over the railing at the same moment Kankuro did, or 'Sabaku no Kankuro' as the board named him. Naruto wondered what he had to do to get an epitaph like that; it seemed rather generic for a Sunagakure shinobi.

"So, you're my opponent?" Kankuro sniped, his features set into a scowl as one hand impatiently drummed against the wrapped bundle on his back. "All that wait for a mutt… oh, and his dog of course."

Kiba naturally fell for the taunt, brash and impatient hothead that he was, and growled something unintelligible that may or may not have been for the benefit of Akamaru more than the spectators. Naruto just sighed; he and the rest of the rookies knew an angered Kiba was both more and less dangerous. His attacks became wilder and more vicious, but they lost precision; that would be fatal if Naruto's suspicions over Kankuro proved true.

The match was started and immediately Kiba bull-rushed his opponent without a second thought, going down on all fours like the dogs the Inuzuka were so linked to. Kankuro only seemed briefly startled by the burst of speed, Kiba appearing within his guard in only a few seconds. He leaned back, but obviously not enough to escape the reach of Kiba's suddenly clawed hands as they raked up his face, causing more than a few of the Genin to wince. Kankuro only stumbled back, not even crying out in pain; it was quickly revealed why when his 'face' crumbled away.

Behind it lay a disturbing and decidedly wooden, three-eyed visage that suddenly began chattering an unsettling manner. Naruto blinked as he saw the rest of the disguise fall away; at least his theory had been proven correct. There was another puppeteer at the exams. That was… interesting. It lurched forward, looking to grab Kiba, which likely wouldn't have ended well given how many concealed weapons it likely held. Kiba was fast enough to jump back, not rash enough to engage the obviously unknown threat.

Behind the puppet Kankuro emerged from the wrapped bundle, confirming another of Naruto's suspicions at the same time. He was learning quite a bit already. As much as Sakura's deaths had confused and muddled his emotions, the chance to see a real life Sunagakure puppeteer, even if he was only a Genin, was a childhood dream of his.

Naruto thought his decision was likely a bad one. Knowing Kiba, the Inuzuka would have left the bundle alone, quite happy to chase the puppet about every which way like a dog with a toy. Unless of course Kankuro could not control the puppet from within the bandages; in which case why begin the match like that? Unless it was some kind of quick substitution? Naruto's mind was awhirl with thoughts watching this battle.

"Heh! You use dolls like Naruto; this should be a piece of cake!" Kiba's comment made both Naruto and Kankuro's eyebrows twitch simultaneously. Naruto had to fight down the urge to point out that every time he had successfully snuck a puppet into the Taijutsu spars, Kiba had never once beaten him. Kankuro, unused to the Inuzuka's boastful ways, took a little more offense to the comment.

"Please, like you could ever call a cheap imitation like that real puppeteering." Kankuro responded, the sneer plastered over his features stretching out his stylised face paint. "And it certainly isn't playing with dolls! Let me show you how it's really done."

Naruto's brow twitched again, wondering why everybody suddenly felt the urge to insult him.

"Whatever, come on Akamaru, let's go!" It at least seemed that Kiba had learned something from growing up with Naruto, to attack the Puppeteer and not the puppet. In this open and cover-less arena, a puppeteer couldn't hide, making them a sitting duck unless they had other means to defend or conceal themselves. It seemed Kankuro didn't, as evidenced by the look of shock on his face as both Kiba and Akamaru barrelled towards him. It quickly turned into a smirk though as his fingers began to dance.

Naruto wasn't sure why he had been expecting to understand the pattern of the other puppeteer's fingers. Maybe he was seeking validation for his own style through a pre-established one? In any case, the movement of Kankuro's fingers was complete gibberish to him; it was like trying to understand a new language the first time hearing it. It almost made the blond feel silly for concealing his fingers with his too-long jacket. But then, it did help to hide the ruse he pulled with Sakura's body.

Something different swelled within him; pride. He had created an entirely new style of puppeteering separate from Suna's. Whether or not it was superior remained to be seen.

Kankuro's puppet suddenly interjected itself between Kiba and the puppeteer, still chattering away in that irritating manner. Naruto briefly wondered if all Suna puppets did that; it was actually rather annoying. Various compartments opened up along the constructs barrel-like body, it certainly wasn't winning prizes for aesthetics, and began launching tightly-packed bundles of senbon. Again, the blond was forced to wonder if that was a design choice; it was certainly more intimidating, but a wider spread increased the likelihood of contact.

Perhaps Kankuro lacked faith in his poison? Naruto had often wondered what kind of chemicals Suna could make considering their landscape's severe lacking when it came to plant life. Seeing the viscous green liquid dripping off the metal implements as they clattered to the ground, Naruto hazarded a guess at animal venoms. In any case, Kiba and Akamaru – now bearing a startling resemblance to his master through the use of a special clone technique – were able to dodge the hail of weaponry by twisting their body abruptly until they resembled twin tornadoes.

"Gatsūga!" With a shared cry, man and dog sheared straight through the barrage of weaponry, taking out one of the puppet's four arms in the process. With a yank on his threads, which Naruto could occasionally see glinting in the light much to his amusement, the puppet jerked back over to its master. That was another thing bugging Naruto; the puppet had the uncanny ability to hover mid-air, as well as fly about at Kankuro's command. He desperately wanted to know how the boy was doing that and whether or not it was a trait of Suna puppeteering or unique to that particular puppet.

Kiba broke off his attack, the two spinning Inuzuka suddenly separating and ricocheting off the floor. It was a diversion, as the dog-like Genin managed to slip a smoke bomb onto the ground, filling the area around Kankuro with a thick purple smokescreen. Almost immediately, Kiba started up his attack again and soon the two rapidly spinning tornados were bouncing in and out of the smoke cloud. They left craters everywhere they hit, showing just how devastating the attack was. Naruto had never seen the attack before; it made him wonder when the rash braggart from the academy had grown up and become a serious contender for Chuunin.

Finally Kiba skidded to a stop, Akamaru mirroring him on the other side of the cloud as the henge finally wore off. The thick veil of smoke was finally dying down and Kiba grinned victoriously as Akamaru bounded over to him with a happy bark.

"Yeah, there's no way he's standing after that, boy." Kiba asserted, allowing the small white puppy to jump up on top of his head like the strangest hat ever. A chuckle broke through his reverie, the smoke finally clearing enough to reveal the puppet still standing at the centre of it all. It was battered and missing two more limbs, but it was still operational, proven when Kankuro suddenly climbed out of its chest cavity. Naruto clicked his tongue in irritation. So he wasn't the only one to have thought of hiding within his puppet as a defensive measure; figures.

"Hah, if you think Karasu would be destroyed from such a weak attack, then you're underestimating the Suna puppet corp!" Kankuro asserted, a bit muffled due to the cloth he was holding up to his mouth. Kiba simply glared at the other boy as he motioned for Akamaru to hop down again.

"It doesn't matter now that you've gotten out; come on boy, let's get him!"

When Akamaru only gave a whimper in response the Inuzuka looked up worriedly. "What's wrong Akamaru?" The dog slumped in his spiky brown hair, weakly trying to get up only to have his limbs fail him. A moment later and Kiba felt the very same effects travel through his body, causing his limbs to feel like lead.

"Heh, it was too easy to slip some vaporised poison into that convenient smoke screen you provided, and you were gracious enough to throw yourself headfirst into it a few times too. You're just lucky I didn't user anything lethal otherwise the pup there would have more than just a bit of trouble moving." Kankuro sneered, already walking back towards the stands, passing the proctor along the way. "Call it, the mutt's done for." Just like he said Kiba only managed to stumble a few paces forward, glaring so hard that Kankuro almost felt it, before falling forward.

"B-Bastard," Kiba managed weakly, before passing out from the drug in his bloodstream. It only earned a derisive chuckle from Kankuro who seemed more interested in sending challenging glances Naruto's way. The blond gave the Suna puppeteer nothing back, staring forward with a stony face that betrayed nothing of his thoughts. He was more interested in what Kankuro had shown, intentionally or not, than any assumed challenge between the two. Yes it would be interesting to pit his style against the very techniques that inspired him, but not his end goal. No, he had a much larger target than some fresh Genin that was likely at the lowest rung in the puppeteer corp.

"Troublesome."

Naruto glanced over, snapped out of his thoughts as Shikamaru lazily shuffled by, sending furtive glances over at his opponent. Said opponent scowled at everything as he vanished in a swirl of sand, reappearing down on the arena floor and following Shikamaru's slow progress to the floor with an intense gaze. It wasn't a particularly long or interesting match if Naruto was honest with himself. Gaara did show frightening control over the sand he kept contained within his gourd as well as what seemed to be some kind of automatic three hundred and sixty degree defense.

After a few minutes of Shikamaru testing Gaara's defence, finding out that Gaara could still direct his sand while restrained – and generally avoiding being pummelled into a bloody paste by the unrelenting beige cloud – he finally just raised his hand and surrendered. It was obviously a lost cause; nothing he could do would reach Gaara, he wasn't fast or strong enough to breach the seemingly impenetrable sand, and it was fairly obvious that the longer he stayed in the arena with the clearly unbalanced Suna Genin, the higher the chance that he wouldn't be leaving it.

Gaara for one seemed particularly irritated he had been denied a satisfying conclusion to his fight, muttering to himself disconcertingly the entire way back to his spot on the other balcony. Naruto suddenly felt glad he had the length of the room separating him from that psycho; he couldn't imagine what would have happened had he tried to face the boy with only Kin as his puppet. Others seemed to share his opinion as more than a few unsettled glances were thrown Gaara's way, all ignored as the boy seemed more content to talk to himself and glare at nothing.

"Eep."

A surprised squeak was the only sign Naruto got that another pair of Genin had been chosen, before a vaguely blueish blur hurried past him nervously. The sand Kunoichi on the other hand chose a more extravagant way of getting to the floor, vaulting the railing and landing with a flourish of the long metal object she carried. It seemed to be a common trait of the Suna team, carrying heavy objects as their weapons; was Suna really that far behind on their sealing knowledge?

"I've heard of the Hyuuga clan," Temari, as the board introduced her, started up, cutting off the proctor before he could begin the match. "You're supposed to be undefeatable in close-quarters combat or something, plus you have those funky eyes, right?"

Hinata shrank back on herself, her fingers coming up and pressing together nervously under the more confident Kunoichi's harsh gaze.

"I don't see it; all I see is a little girl playing Ninja." The sandy-haired Kunoichi smirked and brought the massive metal bar around with a spin, opening it slightly to reveal it was a giant fan with a single blue circle inscribed on it.

"Well don't worry girl, you won't get close enough for that to be an issue, I can promise you," Temari stated with an arrogant smirk. The proctor simply looked over in annoyance as if asking if he could start the match yet. He did so and as his arm descended Temari was already in motion, bringing the fan around in a great swinging arc. From the balcony Naruto watched on in interest; he had read up on a few different Suna styles alongside puppeteering, and he wondered how a fan-user would compare with a Hyuuga.

Hinata at least wasn't immediately defeated, she managed to jump out the way of the initial blast of wind that would have easily picked up her body and sent it crashing into the far wall. It wasn't particularly graceful, and when she picked herself up Naruto couldn't help but notice that she was sending furtive glances towards the section of the balcony holding Gai's team. It was a shame really; Naruto was actually rather interested in the Byakugan from an objective standpoint. People could argue about Doujutsu all they liked and whether or not the Sharingan was superior.

In Naruto's eyes it was no contest; the ability to see that far in every direction as well as through object and people in minute detail… it was a Puppeteers dream. He wouldn't have to stay so close to his puppets to control them and it would make integrating more intricate systems far easier. Not to mention they could see through Genjutsu, a personal bane of his and a weakness brought to his attention during his confrontation with the Oto team.

It seemed that Hinata only just realised this as she got to her feet, facing Temari and shifting into some semblance of a stance.

"B-Byakugan!" Her timid cry barely reached those leaning right up against the balcony like Naruto but the change was significant. This time when Temari launched a wind blast Hinata was able to see the Chakra in it immediately, showing her the exact boundary of the blade-like projection of wind. Her movement was more fluid as she slipped around the blast. Motions that seemed ingrained deep in her muscle memory easily guided her around the next swing and she was even able to slide under the third, more desperate and larger blast Temari sent when she saw her attacks were becoming less effective.

Unfortunately, Hinata seemed hesitant to press any advantage she had, simply dodging the attacks instead of trying to move into a closer range so her Taijutsu would actually be effective. Again, she kept sending those nervous glances up into the crowd, causing Naruto to look over and see the other Hyuuga, the one they had met before the first exam, glaring down at her. He returned to staring at Hinata intently, her movements fascinating him as he wondered just what she was seeing through those eyes of hers. Hinata's gaze slid over to him as she seemed to catch his intent look, blinking in surprise.

The blond wasn't exactly sure what happened at that moment but it seemed for the better. Hinata appeared to re-affirm her stance, her eyes setting into a modicum of determination. Meanwhile, Temari finally seemed to realise her current tactics were ineffective and seemed in the process of opening her battle-fan up more. Hinata finally pressed the attack, running forward in that brief lull between wind blasts. Temari swung wildly but Hinata's hand glowed with Chakra; a quick swipe down at the right moment cut a gap right through the wind blast, large enough for the petite Hyuuga to slip through.

Suddenly, she was right inside Temari's guard.

Temari proved to be no slouch with her weapon in close-combat, however there was a reason Hyuuga were so feared in Taijutsu. It was little known, but because the Byakugan allowed them to actually see their opponent's Chakra system, they were able to see the flow of their enemies Chakra, actually anticipating their movements somewhat. That, combined with the devastatingly efficient Jyuuken that could lock down the Tenketsu and prevent said Chakra flow, made them nearly unsurpassed at close range. Only the Uchiha, with the Sharingan's predictive abilities, were able to keep up with them in Taijutsu, and often, even that wasn't enough.

The Jyuuken still proved superior here. Temari was caught off guard by Hinata suddenly diverting her fan to one side with an unexpected and well-placed palm strike. The fan swung wide and for a fraction of a moment Temari's mid-section was completely exposed. In that instant Naruto was privy to what few had seen outside of the Hyuuga compound and survived to tell about it. Hinata's hands moved as blurs, her pupil-less eyes darting about at the same speed as she closed one, then two, then four tenketsu all in a row. She didn't stop there though, using Temari shock and surprise against her as she took advantage of the girl's sudden immobilisation to finish her off.

"I'm n-not playing Ninja." Hinata managed, some semblance of actual confidence managing to come through in her voice as Temari dropped to the ground, her face seemingly frozen in an expression of shock. Over on the balcony Kankuro was in a similar state, not at all having expected his sister to be taken out with such apparent ease.

Funnily enough though, a moment seemed to pass before the events caught up with Hinata herself, her face blooming into a brilliant red as she suddenly shrank back in on herself.

"Ah, sorry!" She quickly bowed, leaving her teammates to groan quietly and Neji's glare to intensify. The timid Hyuuga quickly hurried out of the arena. As she passed by Naruto, whose eyes still hadn't left the arena floor where Temari was being taken away, he swore he heard her mumble something like a thank you. He blinked, turning to ask her what she meant only to see she had scurried off back to her teammates, a virulent blush adorning her cheeks as she did her best imitation of a turtle, with her jacket being the shell.

He continued looking in her direction with a mild frown until he was suddenly shoved out of the way as Neji passed by him in the opposite direction. Naruto scowled in the older Hyuuga's direction but Neji barely even seemed to notice him, a firm grimace set on his usually impassive features. It was in stark contrast to his opponent as Shino too took to the arena floor, revealing nothing behind his high-collar jacket and reflective black lenses. Naruto had always had a sort of quiet respect for the passive Aburame; he was in the higher end of every subject in the academy yet he was never loud or boastful about it.

Of course, in this instance it didn't particularly improve his chances against his current opponent, a prodigy in his own right and the previous graduating class' Rookie of the year. Normally Naruto didn't take stock in such titles but simply seeing the confident, disinterested way he stood and the calm, levelled glare he maintained with his faintly grey eyes; he knew Shino would be in for a tough fight. Wordlessly, the long-haired boy activated his Byakugan, an impressive feat by its own right at his age, and with what looked suspiciously like a calming breath, he allowed a smirk to take the place of his scowl.

"You might as well give in now Aburame, I can see every one of the kikaichū beetles swarming in your body, as well as the trap you were attempting to set up around me." A few of the spectators turned a little green at the knowledge there were insects inside of the Aburame, proven as a few scuttled out of what looked like tiny pores in his neck. However Shino remained impassive, titling his head slightly as the proctor raised his arm to initiate the fight.

"Seeing, does not predicate being able to act." Shino intoned monotonously, adjusting his glasses until they reflected the ceiling lights ominously. "Why? Because sometimes you cannot trust your eyes." When the hand descended, both boys immediately acted. Most were confused as Neji suddenly rushed in a seemingly random direction, Shino chasing after him. The Hyuuga vaulted through the air, again seemingly without reason, only for the part of the floor he jumped to suddenly come alive with tiny, crawling insects.

In a split second, his body whirled around, his movements infinitely more graceful and perfectly coordinated than Hinata's. His fingers lashed out at thin air only for Shino to suddenly phase into existence upon contact, flinching back from the finger strike. Across the room the other 'Shino' dissolved into a swarming black mass of kikaichū that immediately rushed to protect its master and hive.

Neji didn't stop with a single finger strike, he was unrelenting as his narrowed eyes darted from spot to spot, picking out the minute Tenketsu that controlled his opponent's vital Chakra flow. By the time he was done Shino was on the floor, a look of obvious pain straining to get past his stoic façade as Neji poised two fingers above a spot on his shoulder.

"Surrender," Neji stated coldly, his fingertips humming with a faint blue glow that was obviously more a show of force than part of any necessary measures for the Jyuuken. "One more strike, and I will have blocked off the necessary Chakra required to control your swarm; they will literally eat you from the inside."

Shino quickly complied, seeing he was both outclassed and sorely underprepared to face an opponent as ruthless as Neji. Obviously being a teammate with Hinata hadn't helped him face a Byakugan user, but then Hinata wasn't exactly the paragon, nor even the standard of her clan.

"I always trust my eyes; they see everything, Aburame," Neji said as he walked away from the fight. Yet again the loser needed to be carried out of the arena.

It looked like Hinata wanted to rush and see her teammate but at that moment the winners of the preliminary fights were all called down to the arena floor where the Hokage could address them.

"Congratulations all of you for advancing this far, in the final rounds of the Chuunin exams you will finally be allowed to place all your honed battle skills and disciplines on display."

Naruto caught the Hokage glancing across at him for a split second, a strange expression on the old man's face for a brief instance.

"Accordingly, the final exam will take place one month from now." He waited for any kind of objections or comments but they never came, the Genin simply stood waiting patiently, or in Hinata's case trying to appear as small and unnoticeable as possible.

"Good, this should grant you sufficient time to come up with new battle strategies for your opponents, as they are no longer unknowns as they have been so far. It will also be a good opportunity to rest up, take stock of your own abilities and evolve them accordingly."

At that Naruto had to fight down a small smirk. Evolving his abilities? Sounded good.

"Now, before we can continue there is one more matter to attend, everybody will need to take one of the pieces of paper from the box Anko here is holding." Said woman simply smirked in their direction, jiggling the simple wooden box she held and messing up the slips of paper inside.

"Hear that kiddies? Just stay where you are and I'll come along right up to you, okay?" She wore a near-feral grin as she moved down the line of assembled genin until each of them had a slip.

Naruto couldn't help but notice as he rummaged around in the box that Anko seemed to be eyeing him up intently, not even bothering to hide it. He glanced down at the slip in his hand, unfurling it to reveal the large and bold number six; looking down the line he saw the other competitors had similar numbers in their hands.

"Good, good…" The Hokage started, taking a long drag of his pipe rather unprofessionally, before continuing "…if each contestant would call out their number then?" He looked to the end of the line where Kankuro stood.

"Five." The Suna puppeteer stated gruffly.

"One! A perfectly youthful number, I bet Gai-sensei would be proud!" Lee called out exuberantly, everybody ignoring the boisterous reply from somewhere on the balcony. The Hokage quickly moved on before that could go anywhere.

"…eight." Gaara stated after a moment, snarling at the piece of paper in his hands; it likely meant a late fight.

"Two." Sasuke drawled indifferently, his face a blank mask as it had been since Sakura's 'death'.

"F-Four." Hinata squeaked nervously, looking along the line a bit further to where Neji suddenly gained a cruel and victorious smirk, having come to the same conclusion as Naruto had concerning the numbers.

"Six." Naruto intoned softly, nobody questioning his curt, almost whispered answer, similar to Sasuke. However he too was looking down the line like Neji, eyeing up Kankuro with a gaze hidden by his goggles.

"Three." Neji finished, still staring intently at Hinata who only seemed to shrink under his gaze. She suddenly seemed very glad for the buffer of Naruto between the two.

The Hokage nodded as they finished, puffing on his pipe again and blowing out a wispy white cloud before continuing.

"And that leaves number seven for Yamanaka-san, good. Then the match ups are decided for the last round of the Chuunin exams; numbers one and two, three and four, five and six as well as seven and eight will fight one another to proceed further into the tournament." He raised a hand, pre-empting the questions he could already see percolating on a few of the participants' tongues. "While the final exam will be in the style of a tournament, for the benefit of the visiting judges and spectators, not only the winner of the tournament will be allowed to become Chuunin. In fact, even they may not make the rank." Again he raised a hand, quietening the questions before they could be asked.

"During the tournament, you will be assessed on the qualities we believe Chuunin should possess. This means that even if you were to be defeated in the first round, but still manage to showcase these traits, you will advance in rank. However, one who manages to win the tournament, yet display none of these qualities, will be as likely to fail as any of you. As of this point, all of you have the potential to be made Chuunin." The Hokage nodded once at the assembled genin. "Do your villages and your nations proud." And with those parting words he left the Genin to mill about or return to their sensei.

Naruto took the opportunity to make for the door of the tower, he just wanted to get out of this forest as fast as possible; he felt like it would be a long month ahead of him. Already thoughts and ideas, inspired by what he had seen today alone, swirled through his mind. However, there was also the emotional turmoil he felt just beneath the surface he badly needed to sort out. In any case, some rest in the comfortable, familiar environment of his apartment would do him good; he needed to have puppets on hand that just weren't… Kin. As he passed through the door out into the forest he was stopped by Kakashi rushing up to him.

"Naruto, good, you didn't vanish," he said, causing Naruto to grumble in his mind; he had been about too. "I wanted to talk to you about the month break; I arranged to have you trained by a Jounin instructor called Ebisu." Naruto blinked at that; despite the cold, rather bland tone Kakashi was using, the Jounin was holding his emotions back well.

"That shows remarkable prescience considering we had no idea whether or not I would pass before today." Naruto drawled, matching Kakashi's bleak tone note for note. The grey-haired man shrugged like it was inconsequential.

"I had faith in my students…" He smiled, although it seemed rather forced "…and arranged training for all three of you, in case you needed it. I'll be taking Sasuke with me, we need him to unlock the Sharingan and right now I'm the only one in the village with one. Ebisu is a private instructor who has trained a number of Chuunin up to levels acceptable for Jounin; I'm sure he can find something to work on with you."

Naruto paused, considering it for a moment; he somewhat remembered a man named Ebisu from his limited interactions with the Hokage's grandson. The man seemed not to like him very much.

"Thank you, but it won't be necessary," Naruto finally admitted quietly. "I have a lot to work on by myself over the break if I am to be ready for opponents like Gaara, Neji and Sasuke. An instructor who does not understand my discipline will only be a hindrance."

Kakashi studied him for a moment before apparently finding something in Naruto's features the blonde personally didn't think was there. He nodded slowly with another strained smile

"Okay, I understand; sometimes it is better to be… alone, to deal with issues like this." He nodded again, this time more to himself than anything. "Heh, I had to trade one of my rarer Icha Icha's to Ebisu just to get him to agree you know, so you owe me, alright?"

Naruto stared at the Jounin curiously for a few moments before nodding, albeit with hesitation. Even if he was sure the man was joking, Naruto didn't like to owe anybody anything. He turned to leave only to get stopped again; this time Kakashi's features were indecipherable.

"But if you need anything Naruto, even if it's just to talk, you'll come see me okay?" Again Naruto paused before giving a slow, uncertain nod, earning a smile from the silver-haired man that seemed a little more genuine.

With that out of the way, he left. Kakashi waited until the blond was out of his sight and range of senses before he let out a sigh. He placed a hand on his forehead and slowly ran it through his hair, his posture slumped and despondent. Taking another minute to compose himself, which included wiping away the very beginnings of a tear trying to form in his visible eye, he turned back and headed for the tower; he needed to collect Sasuke.

It was going to be a long month; for everybody.

Translations:
Gatsūga: Fang Passing Fang