"NARUTO" this is how Naruto knew life was truly unfair. "IT'S TIME TO GET OUR MORNING TRAINING STARTED."

Naruto tried to ignore him but Haku pushed him off the bed.

"You told him you would, and we both know he won't leave without you" Haku could be very grumpy after being woken up early it turned out.

"Fine but when I die you have to find my corpse" Naruto groggily got off the floor to get dressed in his workout clothes.

"A price I'm willing to pay for peaceful sleep" Haku buried his head under the pillow as Lee called out again.

"I'll be done in a minute Lee stop yelling" Naruto called out his window down to Lee.

"OK" Lee really was just a strange guy.

Now dressed and with a snack bar Naruto went downstairs to meet Lee. How he found this place so quickly was a mystery Naruto didn't want the answer to.

"I brought one of my old pairs of weight for you to use since I didn't think you had any" Lee was holding said weights.

"Oh, thank you" that was actually pretty cool of Lee.

Or it was until Naruto took the weight and realized they were insanely heavy.

"Lee, how much do these weigh?" he was insane and a demon.

"Twenty-two kilograms each, why?" Lee said that like it was a normal thing.

"How, how much are your current ones?" Naruto was so afraid of Lee all of a sudden.

"Oh these are thirty six kilograms each" Lee was a monster beyond compare.

Naruto sighed and put the weights on, this was going to be a very rough day of training.

Around three in the afternoon they were in an empty training field, having finished the log lunges there. Naruto felt like he was going to die. Thankfully for him Kakashi was there waiting for him.

"There you are Naruto" Kakashi was just reading his book. "I forgot to tell you all something yesterday so we're having a team meeting today, sorry if it's interrupting your training."

"Oh No" Lee seemed so upset. "I can't keep you from a team meeting but I'm sure one of these days we'll get to finish a whole workout."

"Maybe next week" Naruto tried to hide his join of being free of this torturous workout.

"Well, I must finish my morning workout, goodbye to you both" Lee waved goodbye and took off doing lunges at break neck speeds.

"Kakashi you're my hero, I really truly mean that" Naruto slumped to the ground exhausted and weak.

"We do have a meeting I wasn't lying about that" Kakashi just casually flipped a page.

"I'll do a hundred meeting over working out with Lee, he's insane" Naruto rolled onto his back to breathe easier.

"Is Naruto ok?" Sakura was arriving to the field, not sure what she was seeing.

"No" Kakashi replied for him.

"What happened to him?" Sasuke was curious but clearly didn't care too much.

"Too much" Naruto was speaking between large breaths. "Training."

"Right, well now that you're all here and before Naruto dies, I've signed you up for the Chuunin exams next month" Kakashi handed them some forms. "You all have to fill these out to attend the exam though, be sure to submit it by next Monday."

"I love you Kakashi" Naruto used the paper to cover his eyes, happy to not actually have a meeting or be training still.

"Do you think we're ready for the exams?" Sakura seemed unsure about their skills.

"I mean, you're all still alive after a mission we normally would send Jonin for so, yeah I think you are" Kakashi actually seemed kind of proud of them. "And I'll be upping our training session's intensities for the next month to help guarantee you're all ready."

"Bet I'll win the exam" Sasuke was quick to show his confidence in his own skill.

"Sure if I die before then, enjoy second place idiot" Naruto was quick to quip back.

"Be real, you're both going to get knocked out by me" Sakura actually joined in on the team banter to assert herself.

"You know it is a team exam right?" Kakashi knew they didn't know this since he hadn't told them.

"Fine we'll just kick every other team's ass" Naruto felt really confident about their chances. "After all, we're team Naruto and his lackeys."

"Get real we're team Zubzuba" Sasuke still was making fun of him for that.

"I think team Sakura and two hopeless idiots is the strongest sounding" Sakura was pulling no punches here.

"Well you lot have fun deciding on name" Kakashi stood up and started to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow for a mission, and then we'll be training as a team afterwards so don't be late."

"Well I'm gonna go train some more" Sasuke also went to leave. "Naruto stop by later I want to test out my reaction times."

"I'm gonna be working on more strategies for us so make sure you both give me a full list of jutsu you know" Sakura also was leaving now. "And if sexy jutsu is on the list I'll kill you Naruto."

"Bye guys" Naruto was still on the ground exhausted.

"Come on get up already geez" can it fox, this shit is hard. "Maybe if you'd ever worked out for real before you'd be able to do this easier."

"I do workout I'll have you know" Naruto slowly got up, stretching as he did so. "I'm just sane about it."

"More like a wimp" not everyone can be made of pure chakra jackass. "Anyways I want you try expanding your limit again."

"Fine but be ready to heal me when I collapse" Naruto took a deep breath and focused.

After a few seconds the red charka erupted from him, it didn't sting while within his limit anymore but it still felt weird. After a few moments the chakra started coming out more intensely.

"Ugh" Naruto had to grit his teeth to ignore the pain, his skin was burning at the feeling of the chakra. "More."

It was now a pillar of chakra coming from him, he could feel his body begin to shift as it tried to accommodate the large amount of power. It wasn't like the first time where it felt like something ripping into him. It was more like his body was a vessel filling to the brim, ready to burst but still holding together.

"MORE" he was at his limit but didn't want to stop, this power would help him and he needed every edge he could get.

He went past the limit, his clothes were now being torn and burned as the charka grew more dense and hot around him. It hurt but he could maintain it, he could control it. He shifted it into a form around him, claws over his hands and feet. He rushed the training pillar in the field, the weights felt like nothing with this rush of energy. With the claws he ripped apart the wood pillar in a few hits, his strength and speed amplified to great heights.

"Not bad kid, want me to cut it?"

"I can, handle more" Naruto wanted to push himself further to his breaking point and beyond.

Another huge surge of chakra erupted from him, the ground around him was starting to be affected by it. The grass burned up and the earth began to crack apart. His body felt like it would come apart any moment but he kept going. A single tail formed out of the chakra before all at once it dissipated.

"Dammit" Naruto was back on the ground breathing hard. "I felt it, I was so close."

"You getting good kid, you're limit should increase exponentially once you can handle a full tails worth of my power" the fox seemed impressed with him. "But we can't push it too hard, you are a human after all."

"Um, excuse me I saw a weird chakra and came here to, uh, investigate it" it was that blue haired girl again, shit did she see the foxes charka up close.

"That's just my new, uh, technique" Naruto figured this lie would work since who actually knows how jutsu or chakra work.

"But it was red…" dammit blue haired girl don't see through the lie.

"Yeah it's my Flaming Hot Naruto jutsu" Naruto was lying like his life depended on it. "I heat up my chakra and body to make chakra flames to attack."

"Oh…" she seemed unconvinced entirely. "Do you, want help with it, my family has techniques using chakra like that."

"Suuuuuure" Naruto really felt weird accepting this help, since he still didn't know her name. "But I wouldn't want to take up your time since I'm sure you're super busy."

"Oh, no, I um, don't have anything to do, um, today" she really was a weirdo, no wonder Kiba and her are friends.

"Well, ok then" this was going to be awkward.

After about an hour of working with her, Naruto still didn't know her name. Her help was kind of nice though, she knew her stuff for forming and molding chakra.

"Wow you're really good at this stuff" Naruto could now make chakra claws using a lot less of the fox's chakra.

"No I'm actually quite awful at this" damn she was low self-esteem central.

"You helped me learn how to do it, and I'm a known dumbass so you clearly know your stuff" Naruto wanted to just pay her a compliment and be done with it.

"Compared to the rest of my family I'm… trash" she suddenly seemed quite sad, or hurt?

Naruto wasn't good at reading this girl, and didn't know what to say to that at all. So he panicked a bit.

"What nah, you're like, recycling" Naruto Uzumaki master of helping people who are sad.

Naruto got ready to freeze time and bail, except he heard a quiet laugh from her. He was in the clear.

"Thank you" she seemed to cheer up after that, this girl was all kind of weird.

"Naruto!" Haku had entered the field holding a bag with presumably some food in it. "Oh I thought you'd still be with Lee so I came prepared to lie you away from him."

"No thankfully Kakashi came and save me I've just been working on some of my special techniques" Naruto knew Haku would know what he meant. "And she's been helping me because she's a nice person."

"Oh no I just was passing by and saw some weird chakra and um wanted to check it out" the blue haired girl seemed kinda like she was lying now for some reason. "And then I, um, offered to help."

"That is very nice of you" Haku gave her a smile and turned to Naruto. "Did you thank Hinata for all of her help?"

"Thank you for all of the help Hinata" Naruto now finally knew her name, thank you Haku.

"Oh, it wasn't any problem" Hinata now was blushing for some reason and was back to talking kind of strangely. "Oh I have to go now immediately I'm sorry goodbye."

With that hodge podge of a sentence Hinata took off. Naruto was a little confused but wrote it off as she was a weirdo.

"I'm surprised" Haku was the first to speak following Hinatas departure. "From what I can tell she either really likes you or really hates me."

"What? That's ridiculous" Naruto would know if either were the case.

"No it actually kind of explains all the weirdness from that team" Haku had no real proof then. "Also the sunglasses kid told me since he was fed up with it."

"Oh so you think she doesn't like you because she likes me?" Naruto had to admit that Shino knew Hinata better since he only five minutes ago learned her name.

"Yeah but I figured she'd like, try and one up me or something? Like try and do something to get you?" Haku was going to an odd place here. "Instead she just kinda bailed. Weak."

"I've never had people fight for my affection before" this was new for Naruto.

"Well it's not a fight since I won already" Haku pulled Naruto into a hug with this declaration. "But if you do dump me for her I'll get you banned from every ramen shop in the village."

"THAT'S CRUEL WHAT THE HELL" Naruto was panicking imagining that.

"No I'm kidding, sorry that was too far" Haku gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"Please don't scare me like that, I saw my life flash before my eyes" Naruto only had ramen and Haku, losing both would be too much.

"I won't say something like that again, promise" Haku pulled the food he had brought out of the bag. "But for now let's eat since you've been training hard all day."

"Oh hell yeah" Naruto gladly dug into the food, only now realizing how he was starving.